LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
June 27/17
Compiled &
Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
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Bible Quotations For Today
Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions
for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block
comes
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/06-10/:"‘If any of you
put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it
would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and
you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of
stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one
by whom the stumbling-block comes! ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to
stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed
or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal
fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it
is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be
thrown into the hell of fire. ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these
little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of
my Father in heaven."
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?
They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One
Acts of the Apostles 07/51-60.08,01a./:"‘You stiff-necked people,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just
as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not
persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and
now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received
the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’ When they heard
these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled
with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’But they covered their
ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged
him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats
at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he
prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a
loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he
died. And Saul approved of their killing him. That day a severe persecution
began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were
scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria."
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June
26-27/17
Who actually governs Qatar/Hussein Shobokshi/Al
Arabiya/June 26/17
Saudi pledge of allegiance reflects wealth of society/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/June
26/17
A Hint of ‘Modesty’ Is What Qatar Needs/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/June
26/17
The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence/KAI-FU LEE/The New York Times/June
26/17
London Tower Fire … Lessons Learned/Megan McArdle/Bloomberg View/June 26/17
Palestinians: Why Abbas Cannot Stop Funding Terrorists/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone
Institute/June 26/17
Greece: A Drug-Smuggling Case with Global Implications/Maria Polizoidou/Gatestone
Institute/June 26/17
Golan battles bring Hizballah near Israeli border /DEBKAfile Special Report June
25/2017
Is Iran plunging the Middle East into another war/Heshmat Alavi/ Al Arabiya/June
26/17
Qatar corrupting US’ national security ‘Deep State’/Staff writer, Al Arabiya/June
26/17
Trump allies push White House to consider regime change in Tehran/Michael
Crowley/Politico/June 26/17
Titles For Latest
Lebanese Related News published on
June 26-27/17
Through society's solidarity we can face drug
addiction, Aoun says
Mustaqbal-LF 'Coordination' Expected in Upcoming Period
Syrian Diva Briefly Held at Beirut Airport over Cocaine Possession
Mogherini on International Day in Support of Torture Victims: We will continue
to work with international and regional partners so that torture becomes
obsolete
Berri receives congratulatory calls from Aoun, Hariri
Bou Assi on Addiction Prevention Day: We are by your side, stay clean to stay
free
MP Alain Aoun brushes off concerns on US relations, sanctions
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
June 26-27/17
Syria warns Israel: Further attacks will have serious repercussions
Liberman: Syria won’t be another Hezbollah front against Israel
US: Doha is Reviewing Demands to End Crisis with Arab States
Bahrain accuses Qatar of military escalation in Gulf row
Israeli party chair slams Berlin mayor for allowing Hezbollah rally
Russian Military Base Engages in US-Iranian Conflict in Syrian ‘Badia Region’
Iraq Forces Combing West Mosul after ISIS Attack, General Says Battle to End in
Days
ISIS Slaughters 7 Iraqis After Eid Prayers
Irish Ship Rescues Hundreds Near Libya as EU Effort to Halt Migrants Founders
Iran’s Supreme Leader seeks to find successor closer to him ideologically
ISIS wives escaping Raqqa regret joining group ‘that deviated from Islam’
World record: Canadian sniper kills ISIS militant from 2.1 miles away
U.S.-Backed Force Seizes a Quarter of Raqa from IS
Iraq Forces Combing West Mosul after Surprise IS Attack
May's Party Signs UK Power Deal with N. Ireland's DUP
Latest Lebanese
Related News published on
June 26-27/17
Through society's solidarity we can face drug addiction,
Aoun says
Mon 26 Jun 2017/NNA - President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, called Monday on
the Lebanese society to stand together in confronting the danger of drug
addiction, on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking. "Through the solidarity of the Lebanese society, we will be
able to confront and overcome this drug addiction predicament," President Aoun's
statement came via his personal account on Twitter. "Victims of drug addiction
are more than the victims of wars," Aoun went on, adding that the use of drugs
has destructive repercussions on the individual, family and society.
Mustaqbal-LF 'Coordination' Expected in Upcoming Period
Naharnet/June 26/17/Al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces are expected
to “boost their coordination” in the upcoming period, a media report said on
Monday.
“Mustaqbal parliamentary sources have expressed their deep satisfaction with the
atmosphere of the meeting that was held between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and
LF leader Samir Geagea,” Kuwait's al-Seyassah newspaper reported. The meeting's
outcome will “boost coordination” between the two parties “for the
implementation of the Baabda document, especially amid the pressures that the
Lebanese are facing,” the sources told the newspaper, referring to the recent
Hariri-Geagea meeting and the Baabda talks that were hosted by President Michel
Aoun. “The upcoming period will be economic and social par excellence, seeing as
PM Hariri is determined to implement the pending clauses of the ministerial
Policy Statement and he is receiving full support from President Michel Aoun,
the LF and the political components that are represented in Cabinet,” the
sources added.
Syrian Diva Briefly Held at Beirut Airport over Cocaine
Possession
Naharnet/June 26/17/Prominent Syrian diva Asala Nasri was briefly held overnight
Sunday at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport over the possession of two
grams of cocaine, media reports said. State-run National News Agency said
Internal Security Forces inspection officers found two grams of cocaine in a
small plastic box that Asala was carrying. “She was immediately referred to the
relevant authorities and consequently to Mount Lebanon's prosecutor who in turn
referred her to the relevant judicial authorities,” NNA said. And after she
“tested positive for drug abuse,” Judge Claude Karam decided to release her on
the condition that she would undergo another drug test, LBCI television said. In
her preliminary hearing testimony, Asala had denied that the drugs belonged to
her, claiming that she did not know who put them in her suitcase. Sky News
Arabia meanwhile quoted “informed sources” as saying that Asala told
interrogators that someone was trying to frame her with the aim of “tarnishing
her reputation.” “She expressed dismay over the repeated incidents that aim to
insult her and her reputation over her political views every time she visits
Lebanon,” the sources added.
The diva was eventually allowed to leave Beirut for Cairo after she “signed a
pledge obliging her to undergo a drug test every time she visits Lebanon.”After
she left Beirut's airport, Asala posted an Instagram picture showing her in the
plane with the caption “Thank God”. The Syrian diva, which is known for her
anti-Assad stances, was in Lebanon for the annual iftar banquet organized by
Eagle Films.
Mogherini on International Day in Support of Torture
Victims: We will continue to work with international and regional partners so
that torture becomes obsolete
Mon 26 Jun 2017/NNA - The European Union's Higher Representative for Security
and Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, Monday vowed to "continue to work with
international and regional partners to render torture a thing of the past."In a
statement issued on behalf of the Federation marking World Day in Support of
Victims of Torture, Mogherini renewed the call to "stop all forms of torture and
to help all those who have been subjected to this heinous and inhuman practice,
and their families and loved ones to overcome their suffering.""Torture is
prohibited under international law, in all circumstances and without exception,
but the struggle to eradicate it has not yet achieved its objectives," she
indicated. Mogherini went on to explain that "the
European Union's commitment to combating torture and ill-treatment wherever it
occurs is enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and highlighted in the
European Union's Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for the period of
2015 to 2019." She added: "To achieve this goal, the
EU is building alliances with partners and civil society. Last December, we
celebrated World Human Rights Day by organizing the EU and Non-governmental
Organizations on Human Rights Forum for the year 2016, which focused on the
prevention of torture and treating it at the global level." "We are convinced
that respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, strengthening of inclusive
societies and activating and supporting the openness of civil society are the
only ways to ensure sustainable stability and security," Mogherini underscored.
Berri receives congratulatory calls from Aoun, Hariri
Mon 26 Jun 2017/NNA - House Speaker, Nabih Berri, Monday received phone calls
from President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri,
congratulating him on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.The Speaker also received
similar calls from former Prime Ministers Fuad Siniora, Najib Miqati and Tamam
Salam. Among Berri's well-wishers for today was also "Marada Movement" Head, MP
Sleiman Franjieh, and a large number of ministers, deputies and diplomats, as
well as spiritual, judicial, security and military senior officials.
Bou Assi on Addiction Prevention Day: We are by your side,
stay clean to stay free
Mon 26 Jun 2017/NNA - "We stand by your side, stay clean to stay free," Minister
of Social Affairs, Pierre Bou Assi, Monday reassured the Lebanese youth, warning
them of the danger of drug addiction on the occasion of "Addiction Prevention
Day". "Entering addiction stage is easy due to sufferings or searching for
delusional happiness," Bou Assi told the youth in a televised message, adding
that its reality actually destroys health, family and social integration.
MP Alain Aoun brushes off
concerns on US relations, sanctions
Daily Star/June 26/17/BEIRUT: Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun dismissed
concerns with Lebanon's relationship with the United States, despite the latter
discussing passing more aggressive sanctions on Hezbollah. "It’s a problem it
[the United States] has with Hezbollah for political reasons," the MP said in an
interview with Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat, published Monday. "On the
contrary, the two countries [Lebanon and the United States] have great ties,
especially with the support of the Lebanese Army."The United States is a
consistent supporter of the Lebanese Army, most recently in May when the U.S.
donated 1,000 machine guns to aid the Army in fortifying security along the
Lebanese-Syrian border. "What we are doing is talking to our American
counterparts ... and warning them about the dangers these sanctions would have
on Lebanon [as a whole]," Aoun added.
A number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives have prepared a draft
for a bill entitled “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act
of 2017” that is mainly aimed at cutting off all forms of financial support to
the party, which Washington has labeled as a terrorist organization. The new
draft, which has not yet been introduced in the House, has reportedly added new
entities such as the Amal Movement to the list of sanctioned parties. A similar
draft is said to be making the rounds in the Senate. The proposed amendments
have caused alarm in Lebanon among both politicians and the banking sector. Aoun
also spoke about Parliamentary elections, scheduled for May 2018, and the
11-month "technical delay" following the agreement on a new electoral law
earlier this month. "President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and
Speaker Nabih Berri agreed [at last week's meeting in Baabda] to turn the
negative aspects of extension to positive[s] by using it to get [legislative]
work done,” the MP said, citing that among "Lebanese priorities" are improving
its economic situation, resuming work at state institutions, and passing
legislation in Parliament.
President Aoun earlier this month signed a decree to hold an extraordinary
Parliamentary session between June 21 and Oct. 16, with the 2017 draft state
budget at the top of the agenda.
He also said that political parties' electoral campaigns will be more active
after the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
June 26-27/17
Syria warns Israel: Further attacks will have serious
repercussions
Jerusalem Post/June 25/17/The Syrian military threatened Israel on Sunday
evening that should it launch any further attacks on Syrian army targets, Israel
will have to take the responsibility for repercussions that can ensue, according
to The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv, citing Lebanese television
news outlet Al Mayadeen. This threat comes after the IDF struck targets
belonging to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in response
to the errant fire that hit northern Israel earlier in the day. Several
projectiles fired from Syria landed in open territory in Israel's Golan Heights
on Sunday afternoon, the IDF confirmed. No injuries were reported in the
incident. The military stated that the errant projectiles were the result of
internal fighting in Syria.Sunday was the second day in a row that the
Israeli-Syrian border has been effected by a spillover from the ongoing conflict
in Syria.
Liberman: Syria won’t be another Hezbollah front against Israel
Lahav Harkov/Jerusalem Post/June 26/17 /Israel will not allow Hezbollah to
attack from Syria, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said, entering a Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting Monday. “There are many prophets
out there predicting a hot summer,” Liberman said sardonically. “They say there
will be a war in the south or the north. I want to make it clear one more time
that we have no intention of initiating a military act – not in the north, not
in the south.” At the same time, Liberman said Israel will not stand idly by as
the war in Syria spills over into the Golan. “We won’t let anything pass,
whether it’s just spillage or not. Everything will get a powerful response,” he
stated. Liberman gave a warning to Damascus: “Whoever wants to turn Syria into a
base of Syria and the Iranians against Israel should think again. We will not
accept Syria being turned into another base and front against Israel.”
The defense minister added that Israel is enjoying quiet and economic growth,
and he hopes that will not be disturbed. Liberman also turned his barbs towards
the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, announcing that any IDF officers
criticized by its members will not appear before the panel.
Public criticism of the IDF’s top brass “harms our national security and is the
wrong attitude. The Defense Minister is responsible, and whoever wants to
attack, can attack the Defense Minister,” Liberman stated. Liberman pointed out
that officers are not supposed to respond to criticism from politicians.
“Ministers and MKs can’t expect that they’ll attack the Coordinator of
Government Activities in the Territories and the next day invite him to the
committee,” Liberman said. The defense minister said he told COGAT commander
Maj.-Gen. Yoav “Poli” Mordechai and his officers not to speak to the committee
after public “attacks.”“It won’t work,” he emphasized.
US: Doha is Reviewing Demands to End Crisis with Arab
States
Asharq Al Awsat/June 26/17/Washington, Dammam, Khartoum – US Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that Qatar has started to review the list of 13
demands to end its crisis with the Arab states. Tillerson urged each of Saudi
Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, as well as Qatar, to sit down together in
order to reach a solution to the ongoing crisis. “A productive next step would
be for each of the countries to sit together and continue this conversation,” he
stated. “We believe our allies and partners are stronger when they are working
together towards one goal which we all agree is stopping terrorism and
countering extremism,” he added. He also stressed that the United States would
continue to stay in close contact with all the concerned parties. The 13-point
list includes a demand on the closure of the Al-Jazeera television station that
is owned by Qatar. It also demanded that Doha limit its ties with Iran.
Meanwhile, Turkey stepped up the Gulf crisis by announcing its decision to line
up with Qatar. It added that the demands submitted by the four Arab countries
were a violation of the international law.
In remarks on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the
demands on Qatar, adding that his country approved Doha’s stance against the
13-point ultimatum.
“We approve and appreciate the attitude of Qatar against the list of 13 demands
…This approach of 13 demands is against international law because you cannot
attack or intervene in the sovereignty of a country,” the Turkish president
said, speaking outside an Istanbul mosque after prayers marking Eid al-Fitr. In
parallel, Gulf States have reiterated that resolving the crisis with Qatar
through diplomatic means remained their utmost priority. UAE Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Saturday: “This is not about regime
change, this about behavioral change.” “The alternative is not escalation, the
alternative is parting of ways, because it is very difficult for us to maintain
a collective grouping,” he added. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir reiterated
his support to Kuwait in bridging the gap between Gulf States and Qatar. He also
praised continuous efforts aimed at forging consensus to resolve the crisis.
Bahrain accuses Qatar of military escalation in Gulf row
Reuters/Jerusalem Post/June 26/17/RIYADH - Bahrain's foreign minister accused
Qatar on Monday of creating a military escalation in a dispute with regional
powers, in an apparent reference to Doha's decision to let more Turkish troops
enter its territory. Bahrain, alongside Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt imposed
a boycott on Qatar three weeks ago, accusing it of backing militants - then
issued an ultimatum, including demands that Qatar shut down a Turkish military
base in Doha. Turkey, the most powerful regional player to stand with Qatar, has
increased the number of its troops in the base since the crisis erupted. "The
foundation of the dispute with Qatar is diplomatic and security-oriented, never
military," Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, said
in a message on Twitter. "Bringing in foreign armies and their armored vehicles
is the military escalation that Qatar has created," he added, without mentioning
Turkey. In earlier tweets on Sunday, Sheikh Khalid said external interference
would not solve the problem. The four Arab powers' ultimatum, which also
includes demands for the closure of Al Jazeera television and the curbing of
ties with Iran, appears aimed at dismantling Qatar's two-decade-old
interventionist foreign policy. That policy has reflected the clout generated by
its vast natural gas and oil wealth but incensed conservative Arab peers over
its alleged support for Islamists they regard as mortal threats to their
dynastic rule. Qatar rejects accusations of fomenting regional unrest, saying it
is being punished for straying from its neighbors' backing for authoritarian
hereditary and military rulers. Two contingents of Turkish troops with columns
of armored vehicles have arrived in Doha since the crisis erupted, along with
100 cargo planes loaded with supplies. Turkey also rushed through legislation to
send more troops to the base days after the sanctions were imposed in a show of
support. On Sunday, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the ultimatum as
unlawful interference in Qatar's affairs.
Israeli party chair slams Berlin mayor for allowing
Hezbollah rally
Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/June 25/17
Lapid has sent a hard-hitting letter to Berlin Mayor Michael Müller for
permitting Hezbollah to march in the German capital over the weekend. In the
letter, which was sent Saturday, a day after the rally, and obtained by The
Jerusalem Post, Lapid wrote: “This past week a lecture by a Knesset member from
Yesh Atid [Aliza Lavie] was violently disrupted by radical anti-Israel activists
at a university in Berlin. A few days later, demonstrators marched through your
city proudly displaying photographs of the leader of an antisemitic terrorist
organization. “As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I was deeply disturbed that
in the same week that a group of Jews are targeted, antisemites are given the
freedom of the city. We have stood in solidarity with Germany when you were hit
by brutal terror attacks. We did that because we identified deeply with the pain
caused by terrorism and we wanted to express our support for the people of you
city.”Activists from the BDS campaign verbally attacked Lavie and Deborah
Weinstein, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor at Humboldt University in Berlin. A
spokesman did not respond to a Post query as to whether the activists, who have
been identified, have been banned from the university. Lapid, whose father,
Yosef “Tommy” Lapid, survived the Hitler movement in Hungary, took aim at the
mayor’s apparent reluctance to crackdown on Islamic terrorism in the capital.
“We cannot fight terrorism alone. Terrorism is global and so is the fight
against it. We must share intelligence, share experience and develop the methods
which work. Before all else, we must fight back against the attempt by
terrorists to take advantage of democracy and freedom of speech to advance their
criminal agenda,” wrote Lapid. “The leader of Hezbollah, whose image was held
aloft in your streets, delivered his Al Quds Day speech in Lebanon this week
while crowds chanted ‘Death to Israel.’ When people march in the streets of
Berlin holding up photographs of the leader of Hezbollah, they celebrate the
murder of our families and of our children, they celebrate the attempt to
destroy the fragile coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Israel. They celebrate
terror.”Lapid, who serves on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,
continued: “Freedom of expression doesn’t extend to the glorification of murder.
Freedom of expression doesn’t extend to incitement. Hezbollah is no different to
ISIS or al-Qaida in their attitude towards us.
They hate Jews and they hate Christians, they hate women and they hate the LGBT
community, they hate us and they hate you. Someone who is willing to carry the
image of the leader of Hezbollah on the streets of Berlin is someone who is
willing to murder on the streets of Berlin.
The people who marched in your city on ‘Al Quds Day’ aren’t just our enemies,
they are yours.
“Mr. Mayor, your decision to remain silent in the face of this incitement and
hatred is a grave mistake. Allowing the glorification of terrorism in your city
won’t appease extremists, it will embolden them.”He ended his letter, asking
Müller: “We would never allow a parade celebrating the murder of your citizens,
why do you allow a parade celebrating the murder of ours?” According to Berlin’s
intelligence agency, there are 250 active Hezbollah members and supporters in
Berlin ad some 950 Hezbollah operatives in Germany. The Merkel administration
outlawed Hezbollah’s military wing in 2013 but declined to outlaw all of
Hezbollah in the Federal Republic. When asked about the Hezbollah march, a
spokesman for Müller told the Post on Friday that the mayor does not comment on
foreign organizations. In an email to the Post on Sunday, the mayor’s
spokeswoman, Claudia Sünder, wrote: “a ban of the demonstration is a matter for
the Senate administration of the interior” and does not fall under the mayor’s
purview.
Russian Military Base Engages in US-Iranian Conflict in
Syrian ‘Badia Region’
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 26/17/London –Russia has entered the arena of conflict
between the US and Iran in the Syrian Badia region, as Moscow established a
military base eastern Damascus in parallel with Tehran’s move to transform
“Al-sin” airport into a base for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Debka’s intelligence news agency reported that the Russian engineering corps had
started building a new base in southeastern Syria at a small village called
Khirbet Ras Al-Waar in the Bir al-Qasab district. The report added that the new
facility was the first to be established since Moscow’s initial military
intervention in the Syrian war in September 2015. Military sources quoted by the
agency said the new base would provide Russia with a lever of control over the
Syrian southeast and its borders, which are witnessing fighting between US and
Iranian forces. The area of Khirbet Ras Al-Waar is located 50 kilometers from
Damascus, 85 kilometers from central Golan Heights and 110 kilometers from
southern Golan, not far from the American and Jordanian special forces garrison
at the al-Tanf crossing inside the Syrian, Jordanian and Iraqi border triangle.
Last week, the US, Russia and Jordan have agreed on a trilateral accord to
establish safe zones between Damascus and Jordan. One of the points of the
memorandum of accord stipulates that non-Syrian forces, in reference to
Hezbollah and the IRGC, are kept 30 kilometers away from the borders with
Jordan.
The memorandum has eight points, including the withdrawal of all Shiite militias
from Daraa and the southern front, the opening of humanitarian corridors, in
addition to a pledge by the Russian side to guarantee its commitment to the
truce. Meanwhile, Zaman al-Wasl reported on Sunday that the IRGC forces have
seized “Al-Sin” airport eastern Damascus. It added that several Iranian
aircrafts have landed in Syria’s third largest airport. Also on Sunday, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Israeli airstrikes targeted areas
in the countryside of al-Quneitra, for the second time in the past 24 hours.
Iraq Forces Combing West Mosul after ISIS Attack, General Says Battle to End in
Days
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 26/17/The battle to take full control of Mosul from ISIS
will be over in a few days, a general said Monday as Iraqi forces searched
neighborhoods of west Mosul they retook weeks ago after a surprise jihadist
attack on their rear that left several dead. “Only a small part remains in the
city, specifically the Old City,” said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi,
commander of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) elite units in Mosul. From a
military perspective, ISIS is finished,” Assadi said. “It lost its fighting
spirit and its balance, we are making calls to them to surrender or die.”The
area now under ISIS control in Mosul, once the militant group’s de facto capital
in Iraq, is less than 2 sq kms, the Iraqi military said. An attempt by ISIS
militants late on Sunday to return to neighborhoods outside the Old City failed,
Assadi said, adding the city would fall “in very few days, God willing”. The CTS
is leading the fight in the densely populated maze of narrow alleyways of the
historic Old City which lies by the western bank of the Tigris river. A US-led
international coalition is providing air and ground support in the
eight-month-old offensive. The militants last week destroyed the historic Grand
al-Nuri Mosque and its leaning minaret from which their leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning parts of Iraq and Syria three years
ago. The mosque’s grounds remain under the militants’ control. Iraqi troops
captured the neighborhood of al-Faruq in the northwestern side of the Old City
facing the mosque, the military said on Monday. A top commander in the CTS said
Sunday’s attackers had infiltrated the area by blending in with returning
displaced civilians. “The group came with the displaced and settled in the Tanak
district. They regrouped and launched counter-attacks,” Staff Lieutenant General
Abdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP. “Yarmuk is being searched house to house,” he
said, adding that two groups of ISIS attackers were still believed to be in the
area, which lies on the western edge of the city. A CTS medic said the attack
had caused several victims but he could not say how many. He said 15 to 20
terrorists were also killed in the battle. The east bank of Mosul was retaken in
January and a push to wrest back the western side was launched in mid-February.
ISIS Slaughters 7 Iraqis After Eid Prayers
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 26/17/Baghdad- Iraqi security sources said on Sunday that
ISIS slaughtered 7 civilians following the Eid prayers by “cutting their bodies
into small pieces” in the province of Kirkuk, located 250 kilometers north of
Baghdad. A source said the so-called Sharia court of ISIS in Hawija District
sentenced seven civilians to death on charges of cooperation with Iraqi security
forces, Alsumaria News reported on Sunday. The source added that the terrorist
group slaughtered the civilians on Sunday morning in public after the Eid Al-Fitr
prayers. Also, the source said on condition of anonymity that ISIS militants cut
the bodies of the civilians into small pieces, then put the flesh in plastic
bags and threw them in the southern suburb of Hawija. ISIS still controls the
Hawija District and the areas of al-Rashad, al-Abbasi, al-Zab and al-Riyad,
considered as the strongholds of the terrorist group. ISIS also uses those areas
to launch attacks on Salahuddin province and the outskirts of Kirkuk. Meanwhile,
a security source from Salahuddin said that four people were killed and three
were injured when a Katyusha rocket fell on people as they gathered in the
village of al-Mazra’a. The German news agency dpa quoted one security official
as saying that “several people were exchanging congratulations on the occasion
of the Eid Al-Fitr outside one of the houses before a rocket fell on them on
Sunday morning.” The source said the injured were transferred to the Tikrit
hospital for treatment, adding that one of them was in critical conditions.
Several villages surrounding Biji were being targeted by Katyusha rockets, while
the Iraqi authorities were still not allowing residents to return to the city
despite being liberated two years ago. ISIS still controls areas east and north
of the city, particularly the Makhoul Mountains and the desert area stretching
from the provinces of Salahuddin to Anbar.
Irish Ship Rescues Hundreds Near Libya as EU Effort to Halt
Migrants Founders
Asharq Al-Awsat/June 26/17/Ireland’s Defense Forces said on Monday that an Irish
naval ship rescued 712 people including pregnant women and infants off the coast
of the Libyan capital as part of an international migrant rescue effort. The LÉ
Eithne ship led the rescue of multiple vessels in distress 40 kilometers
northwest of Tripoli throughout Sunday. Six migrants, including one baby, were
revived from states of unconsciousness. The ship will transport the people,
including 14 pregnant women and four infants below the age of four months, to a
designated “port of safety” to be handed over to Italian authorities.
“I’m very proud to say all lives were saved, no lives were lost. It was a
complex operation where lives were at stake at every turn over a full eight-hour
period,” Commander Brian Fitzgerald told national broadcaster RTE from the ship.
“Overall, they were really in a wretched condition but in all cases healthy
enough to undertake the journey to a port of safety.” Half a million people have
crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy over the past four years, mainly
sub-Saharan Africans who pay smugglers to shepherd them across the desert to
Libya, and onward to Europe in unseaworthy dinghies. An estimated 13,000 of them
have drowned. According to Reuters, European governments want to stop the
migrants and break the grip of the smugglers. But more than four months after
Italy and the European Union launched a new push to tackle the crisis, accounts
by migrants, aid workers and officials show that effort is all but failing to
make a difference. When Libyan authorities do catch migrants, they take them to
detention centers nominally under the control of the government, which already
house about 8,000 people. Though Europeans have pledged funding to improve the
camps, some are still so cramped that migrants have to sleep sitting up. At
Tripoli’s Tariq al-Siqqa migrant center, where visiting dignitaries are brought,
flowers have been planted in the courtyard and wash-basins installed. But behind
a padlocked metal gate hundreds of migrants still languish, crammed side to side
on mattresses in a single unventilated room.
“They shut us up, they imprison us, they ask us for money,” said one 22-year-old
from Guinea, who has been in the center since March, when he was intercepted by
the Libyan coastguard with about 120 other migrants shortly after they set off
for Italy. “They hit people.”Since last year, the EU has made a push to
cooperate with a new Libyan government backed by the United Nations. Coastguard
training began on board EU ships in October. In February, Italy signed a
memorandum of understanding with Tripoli that the EU quickly endorsed,
earmarking 90 million euros. But Europe has delivered little concrete support.
“They want us to be Europe’s policeman. At the same time, that policeman needs
resources,” said naval coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem. “I challenge anyone to
work in these conditions.” Tarek Shanbour, a senior coastguard official, also
said: “We meet, we talk, we take decisions, we make agreements, but on the
ground there is no execution.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader seeks to find successor closer to
him ideologically
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 26 June 2017/Observers have begun
analyzing who could be Iran’s next supreme leader as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s
deteriorates, with many saying that Khamenei’s death will mark a turning point
for the Iranian Republic. This comes as Foreign Affairs magazine ran an analysis
saying that Khamenei desperately wants a smooth transition and is insisting that
someone personally and ideologically close to him take over the helm once he
dies. Sanam Vakil and Hossein Rassam, authors of the Foreign Affairs piece,
argue against the notion that “the deep state” will “safeguard the Islamic
Republic long after he is gone.”Who might succeed Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme
Leader? “The problem with this argument is that the deep state is hardly
invincible, and those in the regime who are aching for reform, including
President Hassan Rouhani and his circle, are hardly impotent,” Sanam Vakil and
Hossein Rassam wrote. While Iran has a presidential system, much of the key
decision are made by the supreme leader himself. Khamenei said that it was not
important who became president after Iran’s presidential election last month. He
believed it was only important that Wilayat al-Faqih system should win by
raising the level of voter participation in the ballot.
ISIS wives escaping Raqqa regret joining group ‘that
deviated from Islam’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 26 June 2017/Whether they joined their
husbands willingly or not, many wives of ISIS militants say the group’s
extremist members are desperate for their families to leave as Iraqi armed
forces inch their way closer to recapturing towns close to the center of Mosul.
“We wish for nothing except to go back to our home countries. We regret our
decisions to come here and join our husbands in the first place,” one woman, who
wished to remain unnamed, told Al Arabiya. Iraqi
forces on Monday seized control of al-Farouq district on the northwestern side
of Old Mosul on Monday. The neighborhood is located on the opposite side of the
historic al-Nuri Mosque, which was destroyed by ISIS last week. In Raqqa,
US-backed fighters seized a quarter of Syria's Raqqa from ISIS group, a monitor
said Monday, less than three weeks after they first entered the northern city.
Noor al-Huda al-Qassim is one of the wives who managed to escape by help
from her own husband, who said the situation in Raqqa was growing so desperate
that he forced his wife to pose as a refugee and flee with civilians. “My
husband came to me and said what is important for now is that you leave the
state (ISIS) and we’ll find you a way to reach your family,” she said.
Many women joined ISIS back in 2014 willingly after the militant group
opened up a “marriage bureau” for women who wanted to marry its militants in
Syria. However, women who escaped the group told Al Arabiya that many quickly
became disillusioned once they realized the reality of life under ISIS rule.
“Above all, we regret joining a group that deviated from Islam,” the unnamed
ISIS wife said.
World record: Canadian sniper kills ISIS militant from 2.1
miles away
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 26 June 2017/A Canadian sniper has set
a new world record in military history when he shot an ISIS militant in Iraq
from 3,450 meters or approximately 2.14 miles distance, Canada’s Department of
National Defense has recently confirmed.
“The Canadian Special Operations Command can confirm that a member of the Joint
Task Force 2 successfully hit a target from 3,450 meters,” the Department of
National Defense confirmed in a statement to the local Global News. It added:
“For operational security reasons and to preserve the safety of our personnel
and our Coalition partners, we will not discuss precise details on when and how
this incident took place.” The Globe and Mail newspaper, meanwhile, reported
that the shot was fired from a high-rise building in the Iraqi city of Mosul
using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle and hit the target - a stationary fighter standing
in front of a wall. The new long-distance shot shatters a 2009 record held by
British Corporal Craig Harrison in Afghanistan at 2,263 meters.So far, Canadian
soldiers claim three of the top five longest confirmed shots ever recorded in
the history of warfare, the report said.
U.S.-Backed Force Seizes a Quarter of Raqa from IS
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 26/17/U.S.-backed fighters have seized a
quarter of Syria's Raqa from the Islamic State group, a monitor said Monday,
less than three weeks after they first entered the northern city. Arab and
Kurdish militiamen from the Syrian Democratic Forces smashed into the jihadists'
main Syrian bastion on June 6 after a months-long drive to encircle it. "Since
the offensive began, the SDF have captured around 25 percent of the city's
built-up neighborhoods," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, told AFP on Monday. Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, the
SDF has fully seized the southeastern districts of al-Meshleb and al-Senaa, as
well as al-Rumaniya and Sabahiya in the west, he said.
From those neighborhoods, they were bearing down on Raqa's Old City in a pincer
movement on Monday, with fighting raging in the western al-Qadisiya district and
parts of the city's east. SDF fighters also hold part of Division 17 -- a former
Syrian army base -- and an adjacent sugar factory on the northern edges of the
city. "They want to cut off the city's northern part, including the Division 17
base, so that there's more pressure on IS in the city center," Abdel Rahman
said.
The battle for Raqa is the SDF's flagship offensive, with heavy backing from
coalition air strikes, advisers, weapons and equipment. The US-led coalition is
also backing a major assault on the last IS-held pockets of Mosul in neighboring
Iraq. IS overran Raqa in 2014, transforming it into the de facto Syrian capital
of its self-declared "caliphate."It became infamous as the scene of some of the
group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings, and is thought to have
been a hub for planning attacks overseas.
Iraq Forces Combing West Mosul after Surprise IS Attack
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 26/17/Iraqi forces on Monday were searching
neighborhoods of west Mosul they retook weeks ago after a surprise jihadist
attack on their rear that left several dead, officials said.
The attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, sowed panic
among residents who returned to live in the Tanak and Yarmuk neighborhoods of
west Mosul. A top commander in the Counter-Terrorism
Service (CTS), which sent forces to fight the IS gunmen, said the attackers had
infiltrated the area by blending in with returning displaced civilians.
"The group came with the displaced and settled in the Tanak district.
They regrouped and launched counter-attacks," Staff Lieutenant General
Abdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP. "Yarmuk is being
searched house to house," he said, adding that two groups of IS attackers were
still believed to be in the area, which lies on the western edge of the city.
A CTS medic said the attack had caused several victims but he could not
say how many. "There are martyrs who were killed by
Daesh," the medic said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
He said 15 to 20 jihadist fighters were also killed in the battle.
Iraqi forces, led by the CTS, have for a week been pressing a perilous
assault into the Old City in central Mosul, the last pocket still controlled by
the jihadists. Federal forces backed a U.S.-led
coalition launched an offensive to retake the country's second city from IS more
than eight months ago. The east bank of Mosul, a city divided by the Tigris
River, was retaken in January and a push to wrest back the western side was
launched in mid-February. More than 800,000 people
have been displaced from the Mosul area since October last year and the security
forces are struggling to carry out effective screening. While the exact
circumstances were unclear, Sunday night's attack was described as a
diversionary tactic by west Mosul "sleeper cells" to ease the pressure on the
Old City, where the jihadists appear to be on their last legs.
"The sleeper cells carried out a surprise attack against the security
forces, in an attempt to ease the siege on the Old City," a local official told
AFP on condition of anonymity. "Operations to flush out pockets controlled by
Daesh are ongoing," he said. Hundreds of families, who in some cases had
returned to their homes weeks ago, fled the area again overnight, fearing the
return of jihadist rule.
May's Party Signs UK Power Deal with N. Ireland's DUP
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 26/17ظBritish Prime
Minister Theresa May's Conservatives signed a deal Monday with Northern
Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party that will allow them to govern after losing
their majority in a general election this month. "An agreement has been signed,"
May's spokesman told AFP without revealing the details. Northern Irish DUP
leader Arlene Foster said she was "delighted" that a deal had been struck, while
May said the Conservatives and the DUP "share many values" and Monday's
agreement was "a very good one." The agreement was signed by senior Conservative
official Gavin Williamson and senior DUP member Jeffrey Donaldson, as May and
Foster looked on. The Conservatives have 317 seats in the 650-seat parliament
after the June 8 election and need the support of the DUP's 10 MPs to be able to
govern. Discussions between the two began immediately after the election and
centered on a "confidence and supply" deal in which the DUP would support the
government in any confidence votes and to pass budgets. The prospect of a deal
with the ultra-conservative DUP has caused consternation in Britain since the
party opposes gay marriage and abortion. Some of its representatives have also
been criticized in the past for homophobic comments, climate change denial
statements and sectarian rhetoric. Ireland's former premier Enda Kenny has
warned that a deal with the Protestant and pro-British DUP could upset Northern
Ireland's fragile peace.
London's neutrality is key to the delicate balance of power in Northern Ireland,
which was once plagued by violence over Britain's control of the province.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on
June 26-27/17
Who actually
governs Qatar?
Hussein Shobokshi/Al Arabiya/June
26/17
With the repercussions of the recent events and the result of the political
crisis between a number of Arab countries and the coup regime in Qatar, the
biggest question that is emerging on the scene is: Who actually governs Qatar?
With the abdication of Hamad Bin Khalifa, the ruler of Qatar, in favor of his
son Tamim, who came to power in a controversial manner for the post of state of
the covenant, before that, the father’s waiver remained very vague and the
reasons presented for this “waiver” is at best, strange, funny and cause for
wonder and questionable.
With the arrival of Tamim officially to the post of Emir, began features of the
New Testament and the formal salvation of the old guard of his father, led by
the former controversial Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim, and the appointment
of the “new” faces and supporters. However, the reality is otherwise.
The leader of the coup, Hamad Bin Khalifa, was and still, is the one who is
following things and keeps the political, diplomatic, and media compass trends,
which continue as they are. Support for the armed terrorist groups in Egypt,
Libya, Syria, Yemen and other destinations has increased very significantly in
recent days, and the confusion has begun to clear on the ruling party in Qatar.
Tamim was unable to win any battle for his benefit, whether in the diplomatic or
political arena, but increased the number of countries that Doha has conflict
and rivalry with in ways that have become known and denied by them, is no longer
useful and convincing
Routine retraction
A speech by Emir Tamim was abruptly cut off without any subsequent explanation.
The same thing happened with former Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim, who
announced an unexpected talk on Jazeera Channel. Justifying, and of course one
cannot ignore, the initial statements that came out from Tamim and then
retracted, was said to be the signs of sharp differences of opinion between the
father of the coup leader and his entourage and Tamim and the new faces.
The current Emir Tamim is handcuffed by the father, especially in financial
affairs. As it is known any disbursement by the Central Bank of Qatar exceeding
the barrier of one billion Qatari riyals must be approved by the signature of
the father personally and everyone who deals with the Central Bank of Qatar
knows this very well.
Appointments in major positions such as the Ministry of Defense, Interior,
Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers must be approved
by the father of the Emir, as well as the selection of ambassadors of Qatar to
Washington, Moscow, London and Paris and the GCC countries too.
Under pressure
Therefore, Tamim is under severe pressure from the circle of his father and his
mother to impose policies that he adopts so that the approach of ruling becomes
monstrous and a copy of his father’s already hated rule.
Tamim was unable to win any battle for his benefit, whether in the diplomatic or
political arena, but increased the number of countries that Doha has conflict
and rivalry with in ways that have become known and denied by them, is no longer
useful and convincing.
The footnote surrounding Tamim’s circle and his father from the Muslim brothers
and the Arab caliphate, and the suspicious advisers from the Western
decision-making circles, combined with enormous pressure on the coup regime in
Qatar, convinced himself that he was a maker of change in the Middle East.
He wears a garment much larger than his size. He also acts on this basis, but
because he is “unconvincing” and does not apply what he claims and asks others
to reveal himself and to reveal that in fact is only a “tool” in the hands of
others.
Therefore, the pivotal question remains: “Who rules Qatar?”
Saudi pledge of allegiance reflects wealth of society
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/June 26/17
The scenes depicting pledge of allegiance witnessed recently is a reflection of
the society. Old experienced princes, young promising princes, scholars,
preachers, muftis, people belonging to different walks of life and loyal men who
have lived through the eras of wars with King Abdulaziz during the foundation
phase were all present. The interesting statements were those made by that
cleric in his white turban as he addressed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
while pledging allegiance to him. His words show the difference between the time
back then, when wars were waged and when King Abdulaziz carried his sword and
led his army in the Peninsula to execute the unification plan. The scenes
demonstrating pledge of allegiance is a reflection of the society in all its
diversity. It reflects Saudi Arabia’s social plurality, which is certainly its
wealth
Security is essential
This cleric said security is essential for the country, adding that we can get
rid of anyone who does not appreciate this. He recalled the years of King
Abdulaziz’s pledge of allegiance when defectors and undisciplined members either
returned to their senses or went to war. The cleric understood the meaning of
combating terrorism early. Who forgets the year when Al-Sabla battle was fought?
The scenes demonstrating pledge of allegiance is a reflection of the society in
all its diversity. It reflects Saudi Arabia’s social plurality, which is
certainly its wealth.
A Hint of ‘Modesty’ Is What Qatar Needs
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/June 26/17
In brief words of wisdom directed at an ambitious young writer, a more renowned
and established journalist says “Over the years, I was enthralled with seeing my
name going to print, but days showed me better.”“Always be reminded that a
newspaper dies at sunset, and that readers are rather keen on being forgetful of
the pen behind the words. Do not lose yourself to dreams and illusions— once you
find yourself caught up in the clamor of ego take a trip down to the closest
library, there you’ll see that the world is greater than you think.”“The shelves
are stocked with books and to each there is an author. Look closely, you’ll
discover that they have written grander pieces than you have. And should you
ever find success, you can all but hope to be a drop in an overwhelming sea.”
“Modesty is an educator and vanity is an open trap.”
“With time you will learn that the above goes for both journalism and
politics—take say, the example in Charles de Gaulle, a French President who
overdid self-conceit to the point where the people forced his resignation.”
“Similarly, the concept can be sampled in the experiences of other pompous
leaders. Libya’s notorious Muammar Gaddafi was unmistakably envious of
historical figures that had their legacy etched in time. Owing to prodigious
poets like Al-Mutanabbi rulers like Emir of Aleppo Sayf al-Dawla had managed to
endure time. But such phenomenal poets able to carefully and wittily document
the lives of leaders in perfectly worded verses of praise emerge once every blue
moon.”
Emboldened by economic clout, wealthy leaders wrongly believe that history has
tasked them with reshaping the world. They later on abandon their natural duty,
which is developing their nations and leaving foreign policy to the guidance of
international norms. The fallout is almost always catastrophic.
Some would go as far as saying that Colonel Gaddafi’s “The Green Book” was
written for the sole purpose of joining the league of grand pieces of writing
like Gamal Abdel Nasser’s “The Philosophy of The Revolution,” or even “The Red
Book” by Mao Tse-tung. We can easily imagine the prosperity Libya would have
enjoyed had its leader chosen to invest in a prestigious university rather than
supporting the Japanese Red Army and its likes. The absence of modesty in
Gaddafi’s mindset has cost his people, neighbors and the world very dearly.
In another encounter of political pretentiousness, Qatar’s ex-Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim arranged a dinner with the then Emir of
Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa and Libya’s former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril
and ex-Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Shalgam.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly
in 2011 in New York.
The dinner was intended to clear the air after a misunderstanding taking place
when the Emir of Qatar abruptly interrupted Jibril in a Paris meeting, and in an
audience including France’s then President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK former Prime
Minister David Cameron. Qatar’s Emir refuted Jibril’s proposal on disarming
paramilitary factions and rebels, and reinstating national institutions and
authorities to power. Hamad’s attempt at mending bridges did not succeed.
Qatar’s Emir was determined to leave Jibril without solidified authority over
security and defense. At the time, Doha was committed to giving Abdelhakim
Belhaj, a Libyan politician and veteran who fought in Afghanistan, reign over
Libya’s security. Qatar’s foreign policy aggravated the situation later forcing
Jibril to resign.
The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence
KAI-FU LEE/The New York Times/June 26/17
What worries you about the coming world of artificial intelligence?
Too often the answer to this question resembles the plot of a sci-fi thriller.
People worry that developments in A.I. will bring about the “singularity” — that
point in history when A.I. surpasses human intelligence, leading to an
unimaginable revolution in human affairs. Or they wonder whether instead of our
controlling artificial intelligence, it will control us, turning us, in effect,
into cyborgs. These are interesting issues to contemplate, but they are not
pressing. They concern situations that may not arise for hundreds of years, if
ever. At the moment, there is no known path from our best A.I. tools (like the
Google computer program that recently beat the world’s best player of the game
of Go) to “general” A.I. — self-aware computer programs that can engage in
common-sense reasoning, attain knowledge in multiple domains, feel, express and
understand emotions and so on. This doesn’t mean we have nothing to worry about.
On the contrary, the A.I. products that now exist are improving faster than most
people realize and promise to radically transform our world, not always for the
better. They are only tools, not a competing form of intelligence. But they will
reshape what work means and how wealth is created, leading to unprecedented
economic inequalities and even altering the global balance of power. It is
imperative that we turn our attention to these imminent challenges. What is
artificial intelligence today? Roughly speaking, it’s technology that takes in
huge amounts of information from a specific domain (say, loan repayment
histories) and uses it to make a decision in a specific case (whether to give an
individual a loan) in the service of a specified goal (maximizing profits for
the lender). Think of a spreadsheet on steroids, trained on big data. These
tools can outperform human beings at a given task.
Continue reading the main story
This kind of A.I. is spreading to thousands of domains (not just loans), and as
it does, it will eliminate many jobs. Bank tellers, customer service
representatives, telemarketers, stock and bond traders, even paralegals and
radiologists will gradually be replaced by such software. Over time this
technology will come to control semiautonomous and autonomous hardware like
self-driving cars and robots, displacing factory workers, construction workers,
drivers, delivery workers and many others. Unlike the Industrial Revolution and
the computer revolution, the A.I. revolution is not taking certain jobs
(artisans, personal assistants who use paper and typewriters) and replacing them
with other jobs (assembly-line workers, personal assistants conversant with
computers). Instead, it is poised to bring about a wide-scale decimation of jobs
— mostly lower-paying jobs, but some higher-paying ones, too.
This transformation will result in enormous profits for the companies that
develop A.I., as well as for the companies that adopt it. Imagine how much money
a company like Uber would make if it used only robot drivers. Imagine the
profits if Apple could manufacture its products without human labor. Imagine the
gains to a loan company that could issue 30 million loans a year with virtually
no human involvement. (As it happens, my venture capital firm has invested in
just such a loan company.)
We are thus facing two developments that do not sit easily together: enormous
wealth concentrated in relatively few hands and enormous numbers of people out
of work. What is to be done? Part of the answer will involve educating or
retraining people in tasks A.I. tools aren’t good at. Artificial intelligence is
poorly suited for jobs involving creativity, planning and “cross-domain”
thinking — for example, the work of a trial lawyer. But these skills are
typically required by high-paying jobs that may be hard to retrain displaced
workers to do. More promising are lower-paying jobs involving the “people
skills” that A.I. lacks: social workers, bartenders, concierges — professions
requiring nuanced human interaction. But here, too, there is a problem: How many
bartenders does a society really need?
The solution to the problem of mass unemployment, I suspect, will involve
“service jobs of love.” These are jobs that A.I. cannot do, that society needs
and that give people a sense of purpose. Examples include accompanying an older
person to visit a doctor, mentoring at an orphanage and serving as a sponsor at
Alcoholics Anonymous — or, potentially soon, Virtual Reality Anonymous (for
those addicted to their parallel lives in computer-generated simulations). The
volunteer service jobs of today, in other words, may turn into the real jobs of
the future. Other volunteer jobs may be higher-paying and professional, such as
compassionate medical service providers who serve as the “human interface” for
A.I. programs that diagnose cancer. In all cases, people will be able to choose
to work fewer hours than they do now. Who will pay for these jobs? Here is where
the enormous wealth concentrated in relatively few hands comes in. It strikes me
as unavoidable that large chunks of the money created by A.I. will have to be
transferred to those whose jobs have been displaced. This seems feasible only
through Keynesian policies of increased government spending, presumably raised
through taxation on wealthy companies.
London Tower Fire … Lessons Learned
Megan McArdle/Bloomberg View/June 26/17
We aren’t conclusively sure how the fire spread in London’s Grenfell Tower so
quickly, consuming the entire 24-story building.
What we do know is that there are ways to help control the spread of fire in
apartment buildings, such as sprinkler systems. This has the makings of a
scandal for Prime Minister Theresa May’s beleaguered government. Her immigration
minister, Brandon Lewis, was formerly the housing minister. He declined to
require developers to install sprinklers. The Independent quotes him as telling
Parliament in 2014: “We believe that it is the responsibility of the fire
industry, rather than the Government, to market fire sprinkler systems
effectively and to encourage their wider installation. … The cost of fitting a
fire sprinkler system may affect house building — something we want to encourage
— so we must wait to see what impact that regulation has.”
People who died in the Grenfell fire might be alive today if regulators had
required sprinkler systems. This does not play well for the Tories.
But before we start hanging them in effigy, there are a couple of things we
should consider. The first is that, even if the regulation had passed, and
required existing developers to retrofit sprinklers into older buildings,
Grenfell Tower might not have gotten a sprinkler system before the fire
occurred. Regulations are not implemented like instant coffee; they take time to
formulate, and further time for businesses to comply. All the political will in
the world cannot conjure up enough sprinkler systems, and sprinkler-system
installers, to instantly transform a nation’s housing stock.
This, however, is only a quibble; even if Grenfell Tower could not have been
saved, there are surely other buildings where fires will soon occur that would
benefit from sprinklers. Must we wait for those deaths before we can say that
his was a bad calculation?
Well, no. But we should wait until we can establish that it was actually a bad
calculation.
It may sound heartless to discuss life-saving measures as a calculation. But the
fact is that we all make these sorts of calculations every day, about ourselves
and others. We just don’t like to admit that we’re doing it.
Consider the speed at which many of you drove to work this morning. I’m sure
you’re all splendid, careful drivers. Nonetheless, when a vehicle is being
piloted at 50 or 60 miles an hour, the margin of error for avoiding an accident
is pretty small. To drive a car even at 5 miles per hour is to accept a small
risk of killing oneself and others. To drive at 50 miles per hour is to accept a
much higher risk of doing so. It’s a calculation: risk versus reward.
In the US, tens of thousands of people were killed in auto accidents last year.
We could probably eliminate most of those deaths if we simply made sure that no
one ever piloted their personal vehicle above some prudent speed — say, 25 mph —
which would reduce both the likelihood of crashes occurring, and the damage any
crashes would do.
Are you willing to make that trade-off? To avert 40,000 deaths a year, all you
have to do is move closer to work, take public transportation (where available),
or spend a lot more time in the car.
Americans have made that choice: Nope, not worth it. We are manifestly not
willing to exchange personal convenience for lower auto fatalities. Nor, as far
as I am aware, is anyone anywhere else. Government sets much higher speed limits
— speeds that are still quite deadly! — and most drivers opt for even deadlier
speeds. Every speeding driver knows, at some level, that what they’re doing is
dangerous; they simply care more about what the boss will say when they’re late
than they do about the increased risk of killing other people. (Pro tip: If you
started late, just accept that you’re going to get there late.)
Now, I won’t defend the folks who go 90 in a 50 mph zone. But in less extreme
cases, the broader calculation is probably correct. Auto accidents cost lives.
But automobile transport has also saved a lot of lives, by enabling the economic
growth that has made us richer and healthier. Slowing traffic down to a crawl
would make a lot of that economic activity impossible, or at least,
unprofitable. Very few people would like to lower a very small personal risk of
death by agreeing to live in the economic equivalent of 1900.
When the cost is as personal, as glaring and obvious, as restricting every car
to a snail’s pace, we can see that not all safety trade-offs are worth it.
However, when the cost seems to be borne by someone else, we suddenly become
safety absolutists: no price is too great to pay.
Unfortunately, “other peoples’ money” has a way of ultimately coming out of our
own pockets. If it costs more to build buildings, then rents will rise. People
will be forced to live in smaller spaces, perhaps farther away. Some of them, in
fact, may be forced to commute by automobile, and then die in a car accident. We
don’t see those costs in the same way as we see a fire’s victims; we will never
know the name of the guy who was killed in a car accident because he had to live
far from work because rents rose because regulators required sprinkler systems.
But that is a distinction for public opinion, not for good policy making. Good
regulations would take into account the proximate and distant effects. Back to
the case at hand: Maybe sprinkler systems should be required in multifamily
dwellings. It’s completely possible that the former housing minister made the
wrong call. But his comment indicates he was thinking about the question in the
right way — taking seriously the fact that safety regulations come at a cost,
which may exceed their benefit. Such calculations have to be made, no matter how
horrified the tut-tutting after the fact.
And he is certainly right about one thing: When it comes to many regulations, it
is best to leave such calculations of benefit and cost to the market, rather
than the government. People can make their own assessments of the risks, and the
price they’re willing to pay to allay them, rather than substituting the
judgment of some politician or bureaucrat who will not receive the benefit or
pay the cost. Grenfell Tower, of course, was public housing, which changes the
calculation somewhat. And yet, even there, trade-offs have to be made. The
government spends money on a great number of things, many of which save lives.
Every dollar it spends on installing sprinkler systems cannot be spent on the
health service, or national defense, or pollution control. Would more lives be
saved by those measures or by sprinkler systems in public housing? It’s hard to
say.
It’s possible that by allowing large residential buildings to operate without
sprinkler systems, the British government has prevented untold thousands of
people from being driven into homelessness by higher housing costs. It’s also
possible that a sprinkler system would not have saved lives in that Grenfell
inferno, as the fire apparently spread outside the building as well as within
it. Hold these possibilities in mind before condemning those who chose to spend
government resources on other priorities. Regulatory decisions are never without
costs, and sometimes their benefits are invisible.
Palestinians: Why Abbas Cannot Stop Funding Terrorists
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/June 26/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10583/palestinians-funding-terrorists
ay of expressing their gratitude to those who have chosen to "sacrifice" their
lives by trying to murder Jews. It is also their way of encouraging young people
to join the war of terrorism against Israel. The financial aid sends a specific
message: Palestinians who are prepared to die in the service of murdering Jews
need not worry about the welfare of their families.
The more years a Fatah terrorist serves in Israeli prison, the higher the salary
he or she receives. Some Fatah terrorists held in Israeli prison are said to
receive monthly stipends of up to $4,000. Many of them are also rewarded with
top jobs in both Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Why should any
Palestinian go to university and search for a job when he can make a "decent
living" murdering Jews?
Such a plan to dry up the funds that support terrorists and their families, is
doomed from the start unless these leaders reverse their behavior and embark on
a process of de-radicalizing their people.
For the record, this is not a defense of Palestinian Authority (PA) President
Mahmoud Abbas or of funding terrorists. It is simply an explanation of what is
taking place. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that the idea of ending payments
to Palestinian terrorists and their families is a challenging one, to say the
least. Old habits, especially of hate, are hard to break.
The practice of paying salaries to terrorists and the families of "martyrs" is
as old as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was founded in
1964. It did not start after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA)
in 1994. Nor did this practice start after Abbas was elected as president of the
PA in January 2005.
Prior to the establishment of the PA, the PLO relied solely on Arab and Islamic
financial aid to pay salaries to imprisoned terrorists and the families of those
killed in terror attacks against Israel.
But after most of the Arab countries turned their backs on the PLO, following
its support for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent
establishment of the PA, the Europeans and Americans became the major donors to
the Palestinians -- including payments to the terrorists and their families.
The PLO is not the only organization that rewards terrorists and their families.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups have also been paying monthly
stipends to terrorists and their kin. This is their way of expressing their
gratitude to those who have chosen to "sacrifice" their lives by trying to
murder Jews. It is also their way of encouraging young people to join the war of
terrorism against Israel. The financial aid sends a specific message:
Palestinians who are prepared to die in the service of murdering Jews need not
worry about the welfare of their families.
In the past few decades, various Palestinian groups have used the payments to
buy loyalty and recruit new members. Because Fatah -- the dominant party of the
PA -- has always reaped the largest share of Arab, Islamic and Western
donations, it was able to recruit the largest number of loyalists and members.
Headed by Abbas, Fatah terrorists receive the highest salaries for their
"contribution" to the Palestinian cause.
The more years a Fatah terrorist serves in Israeli prison, the higher the salary
he or she receives. Some Fatah terrorists held in Israeli prison are said to
receive monthly stipends of up to $4,000. Many of them are also rewarded with
top jobs in both Fatah and the PA.
Take, for example, the case of Karim Younes, a Fatah terrorist who has been in
prison for over three decades for kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier.
Recently, Younes was appointed as member of the Fatah Central Committee, one of
a number of key decision-making bodies dominated by Abbas loyalists. As a member
of the Fatah Central Committee, Younes will now be entitled to thousands of
dollars each month.
In his recent meeting with US presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Jason
Greenblatt in Ramallah, an enraged Mahmoud Abbas rejected their demand that he
halt payments to terrorists and their families.
Some of Abbas's aides have gone as far as describing the demand as "crazy,"
arguing that it will instigate instability and turn many Palestinians against
their leaders. One of Abbas's advisors was quoted as accusing Kushner and
Greenblatt of serving as "advisors" to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu. Abbas is also well aware that his life would be in danger if he stops
the payments, because he will be killed by the same terrorists he and other
Palestinian leaders have been praising and promoting for many years.
In his recent meeting with US presidential envoys Jason Greenblatt (left) and
Jared Kushner (center) in Ramallah, an enraged Mahmoud Abbas (right) rejected
their demand that he halt payments to terrorists and their families.
Abbas's argument that halting the payments would turn his people against him is
not baseless. In fact, in an attempt to appease Israel and the Trump
Administration, Abbas has already cut off payments to scores of terrorists and
their families, particularly those who are not necessarily associated with his
Fatah faction.
In the past few weeks, dozens of former Palestinian prisoners and their families
have staged daily protests against Abbas's decision to cut off their salaries.
They are accusing Abbas of bowing to Israeli and American pressure, with some
dubbing him a "traitor."
Abbas and other Palestinian leaders can only blame themselves, however, for the
backlash on the Palestinian street following the decision to halt the payment of
salaries to some terrorists and their families. After all, it was these leaders
who in the first place recruited the terrorists and encouraged them to launch
terror attacks against Israel, and promised that they would care for their
families if they were imprisoned or killed. For decades, Abbas and other
Palestinian leaders have heaped praise on Palestinian terrorists, calling them
"heroes" and "freedom fighters" who sacrifice for their people. The "sacrifice,"
to clarify, means murdering and wounding Jews.
Under Abbas and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, countless institutions have been
established to support terrorists and their families. At one point, they even
set up a special ministry called the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees
Affairs. Its main goal: "to ensure a decent life for prisoners and care for
their children and their families." Why should any Palestinian go to university
and search for a job when he can make a "decent living" murdering Jews?
In 2014, after protests from Western donors, Abbas abolished the ministry.
However, the decision turned out to be nothing but a cosmetic change intended to
dupe the donors. The ministry continues to function, but under a different name:
Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. Abbas defended the decision by
claiming that the new commission was now part of the PLO, and not the PA
government. This is like claiming that the House of Representatives and the
Senate are two different bodies that are not linked to the United States
government.
Palestinian terrorists have become an integral part of a culture that has long
been glorifying and promoting acts of terrorism against Israel. Generation after
generation, Palestinians have been taught that prisoners and terrorists killed
by Israel are the "esteemed sons of the revolution," the "untouchables." The
official Palestinian narrative is that these men were imprisoned or killed for
nothing but "resisting Israel." This narrative has successfully concealed the
truth concerning the imprisonment or death of Palestinian terrorists.
Faced with a new reality in which many in the international community are no
longer willing to have their taxpayer money designated for terrorists and their
families, Abbas now finds himself trapped between what for him are two terrible
moves.
He is currently scurrying to explain to his people why suddenly it has become
hard to pay salaries to the very terrorists he trained and continues to glorify
by naming streets, public squares and sports centers after them. His people, of
course, do not buy his excuses, and many are accusing him of serving Israeli and
American interests by abandoning the "good boys" of the "revolution."
It will take a long time, and a massive shift in attitude, before Abbas or any
other Palestinian leader manages to dry up the funds that support terrorists and
their families. Such a plan is doomed from the start, unless these leaders
reverse their behavior and embark on a process of de-radicalizing their people.
This will require a drastic about-face in their existing narrative of violence,
as well as a move toward a culture of peace -- precisely the issue about which
Abbas recently lied so disrespectfully when meeting with US President Donald
Trump.
Judging from Abbas's rage-response to the demand to halt payments to terrorists
and their families, it seems that Abbas and his cohorts in Ramallah plan to
continue their same old antics.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 2017 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.
Greece: A Drug-Smuggling Case with Global Implications
Maria Polizoidou/Gatestone Institute/June 26/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10577/greece-drug-smuggling
If even the partial information that Efthimios (Makis) Yiannousakis revealed
during the interviews is true, the upper echelons of Greek society have good
reason to want to silence him.
The true culprit, however, is the "deep state" and its links to Iran, through
the drug trade. It is an open secret by now that heroin revenues are used by
Middle East regimes to fund terrorist and other questionable organizations, such
as ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The case of the Noor 1
illustrates one of the ways that both the drugs themselves and terrorist
operations are exported to Europe.
The possible direct and indirect involvement of figures at the highest levels of
Greek society makes it nearly impossible for the government alone to get to the
bottom of the case, and protect key witnesses from bodily harm. It needs help
now, preferably from the U.S. Justice Department and security agencies. The
complete dismantling of the drug-terrorism circuit is not only a pressing issue
for Greece. It is an international security imperative.
New details surrounding a three-year-old drug-smuggling case in Greece are
causing a political storm that could have global implications.
In June 2014, the Greek Coast Guard uncovered and seized 986 kilograms of heroin
stashed in a warehouse in a suburb of Athens, and another 1,133 kilograms in two
other locations, claiming that the more than two tons of drugs -- valued at $30
million -- had been smuggled on a tanker, the "Noor 1," from the "territorial
waters between Oman and Pakistan."
As was reported by Gatestone last December, the heroin, which was to be
distributed throughout Europe -- in addition to 18 tons of oil also smuggled on
the Noor 1 -- originated in Iran. Two years later, in August 2016, a criminal
court in Piraeus sentenced five of the defendants, two Greeks and three foreign
nationals, to life imprisonment. Among these was the (now former) owner of the
Noor 1, Efthimios (Makis) Yiannousakis.
The Noor 1 case, and particularly Yiannousakis's role in it, has hit the
headlines again, due to a leaked recording of a telephone conversation he had
with Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos. In the conversation, Kammenos
allegedly asked Yiannousakis to turn state witness against a certain businessman
connected to the heroin smuggling, in exchange for amnesty.
After coming under fire from members of the opposition, Kammenos claimed that it
was Yiannousakis who had requested -- through journalist Makis
Triantafyllopoulos -- judicial protection in exchange for testimony. "As it was
my duty to do, I immediately informed the prosecutor and the responsible
minister," Kammenos said.
According to Triantafyllopoulos, who has been covering the case from the outset
and has interviewed Yiannousakis extensively, Yiannousakis fears that the
information he is willing to reveal puts him at risk. He has appealed for
American protection for him and his family, so that he can speak freely about
all aspects of the case.
Yiannousakis' apprehension is well-founded. Since the smuggling case emerged,
several witnesses were murdered or have died of "unknown causes". In addition,
the judge presiding over the trial received a bomb in a package sent to his
home. The explosive, which was filled with razor blades and screws and placed
inside a hollowed-out book, was detonated by bomb squad agents before it had a
chance to kill its recipient -- a day after the prosecutor recommended life
sentences for the five main suspects.
Furthermore, between the first and second telephone interviews he gave to
Triantafyllopoulos, Yiannousakis was transferred from a correctional facility to
a closed prison, which he believes is a move by the authorities -- a web of
political, financial and media elites implicated in the affair -- to put
psychological pressure on him to keep his mouth shut. If even the partial
information that he revealed during the interviews is true, the upper echelons
of Greek society have good reason to want to silence him.
What he indicated was that the amount of heroin transferred to the Noor 1 from
an Iranian ship was far greater than that which was seized by the Greek Coast
Guard. He claimed that it was not 2.1 tons, but rather 3 tons that were found,
and that the extra 900 kilograms were taken by Vangelis Marinakis -- a powerful
businessman, shipowner, member of the Piraeus city council and owner of the
football (soccer) clubs Olympiacos in Greece and Nottingham Forest in Britain --
who sold it to a network of Serbian drug dealers. He also accused Marinakis of
being involved in illegal oil-trafficking in the Persian Gulf.
These allegations, if accurate, are particularly startling, given Marinakis's
newfound control over much of the media in Greece, and extensive ties to the
foreign media. He recently purchased the Lambrakis Press Group (DOL) and a 22.1%
stake of the private Greek network MEGA TV. According to Triantafyllopoulos,
this is only the tip of the iceberg where Marinakis's media holdings are
concerned.
Marinakis denies the allegations; he says that they were concocted by the
government to counter the loss of control over the media. Yet, there is no
denying what is behind Marinakis' desire to buy newspapers, radio stations and
television networks, all of which have been losing money and are in serious
debt. In other words, it is not for immediate financial gain that he has spent
tens of millions of euros on bad investments, but rather for long-term political
and economic influence at home and abroad. Clearly, his strategy is working: he
is considered today one of the most powerful men in Greece.
The complexities of this case have become the source of a fierce confrontation
between the government, headed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the opposition New Democracy Party, headed by Kyriakos
Mitsotakis. Each blames the other for ties to the Noor 1 protagonists and
culpability in the case. The true culprit, however, is the "deep state" and its
links to Iran through the drug trade. It is an open secret by now that heroin
revenues are used by Middle East regimes to fund terrorist organizations, such
as ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The case of the Noor 1
illustrates one of the ways that both the drugs themselves and terrorist
operations are exported to Europe.
Ironically, Greece, a country in poverty and beholden to Germany and the
European Union to keep it afloat, appears manipulated from within by malevolent
forces posing as legitimate members of the elite.
The possible direct and indirect involvement of figures at the highest levels of
Greek society makes it nearly impossible for the government alone to get to the
bottom of the case, and protect key witnesses from bodily harm. It needs help
now, preferably from the U.S. Justice Department and security agencies. The
complete dismantling of the drug-terrorism circuit is not only a pressing issue
for Greece. It is an international security imperative.
**Maria Polizoidou, a reporter, broadcast journalist, and consultant on
international and foreign affairs, is based in Greece.
© 2017 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.
Golan battles bring Hizballah near Israeli border
معارك الجولان تقرب حزب الله من حدود إسرائيل
DEBKAfile Special Report June 25/2017
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=56566
In the last 48 hours, Israel has conducted air strikes on and aimed tank fire at
Syrian army positions near Quneitra’s northern suburb of Baath city, 3km from
IDF Golan border defenses. (See map). Those positions were the source of the
mortar shells that exploded on the Israeli Golan – 10 on Saturday, June 24 and
three the next day. They came from a battle in which Syrian and Hizballah units
were fighting off a Syrian rebel offensive around Quneitra. The rebel militias
set up a coalition to coordinate their offensive. It is dominated by the Hay’at
Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which Damascus claims is an arm of Al Qaeda-Syria. In
fact, it is an alignment of dozens of Islamist groups, some of which belonged
and still do to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – the former Nusra Front.
Fighting on the side of the Assad regime are the remnants of the Syrian army’s
90th Brigade, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards South Syrian command center, and
the pro-Iranian Afghan Shiite militia.
They are joined by members of Hizballah’s Southern Shield Brigade.
This brigade is made up of Palestinians, Druzes, Circassians and local Syrians,
whom Hizballah recruited and has posted in Hermon villages ready to launch
terrorist attacks inside Israel.
The battle around Quneitra was preceded on June 17 by the assassination of Majd
a-Din Khalik Khaymoud, commander of the Southern Shield Brigade and his two
lieutenants, who were caught in an ambush near the village of Khan Arnabah. No
party took responsibility for this attack.
Then, on Saturday, June 24, the rebel coalition launched its offensive on the
Syrian-Hizballah units at Al-Baath, boasting that they would not stop until they
reached Damascus. Although they caught the enemy by surprise, they were unable
to follow up with a rapid advance, because they were pushed back by superior
fire power. Since the Syrian mortars were aiming their fire at the rebel units
concentrated around Quneitra, i.e., from east to west, some of the shells
spilled over the border into the Golan.
When the rebels saw they were falling short of their objective, they drummed up
a more modest goal: It was to open a second front in order to lighten the
pressure on a separate rebel organization which for nearly three weeks has been
fighting off fierce assaults on their positions in the southern Syrian town of
Daraa, close to the Jordanian border. Assad’s army, combined with large-scale
Hizballah units and pro-Iranian forces, are therefore in full flight to seize
control of Syria’s borders with Jordan and Israel. Amman and Jerusalem therefore
face a twin peril on the Daraa and Al-Baath fronts. Both are anxious to keep
Hizballah as far as possible from their territory. But for now, both these
warfronts hang in the balance and are undecided. Also undecided on how and when
to react are Israel and Jordan. Hizballah is already 3km from the Golan border,
although Israel’s government and military leaders have pledged repeatedly that
they would be allowed to come in so close.
Is Iran plunging the Middle East into another war?هل
تغرق قطر الشرق الأوسط في حرب جديدة
Heshmat Alavi/ Al Arabiya/June 26/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=56569
The days of ISIS are numbered and voices are heard about the entire region being
forced into a far more disastrous conflict. Various parties, mainly the US and
Iran, have begun jostling, seeking to inject their influence onto what the
future holds for Syria. As Iran has also wreaked havoc in Iraq and Yemen,
concerns are rallying on Tehran going the distance to pull the US full-scale
into the Syria inferno. Such a mentality results from misunderstanding the
nature of what is known as the Iranian regime.
Escalating tensions
After establishing a foothold in the strategic town of al-Tanf near the
Iraq-Jordan-Syria border, US forces designated a buffer zone to provide
protection for their own troops and resources, alongside their allies of
anti-Assad opposition rebels.
1) On three different incidents Iran-backed militias have made advances into the
buffer zone, only to receive warnings and eventually be attacked by US
warplanes.
2) Raising the stakes, on two occasions Iran-made pro-Assad drones have been
downed by US-led coalition forces.
3) And maybe the ultimate incident came when a US F/A-18 fighter jet shot down a
Syrian Sukho-22 warplane after the latter dropped bombs on US-backed Kurdish
forces north of Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS.
Understanding its conventional and non-conventional forces stand no match
against the classical armies of the US and the unity of its Arab allies, Iran
has for the past 38 years resorted to tactics of its own. Terrorist attacks
across the region through proxy groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah have
proven successful. The 1982 Beirut bombings of US and French barracks led to the
American pullout of this highly fragile country. As a result, Tehran has used
this method ever since to send its message. Following the wars of Afghanistan
and Iraq, Iran yet again resorted to paramilitary and proxy methods to advance
its interests in the region. Seeing no strong response only emboldens Iran in
its pursuit of wreaking havoc. Witnessing the disastrous and premature
withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, and Obama’s refusal to live up to his own red
line after Assad resorted to the extreme low of gassing his own people in 2013,
Iran came to a conclusion such actions will continue unabated.
The language of force
There have been cases otherwise, however, including Operation Praying Mantis on
April 18th, 1988 when the US Navy launched a campaign against Tehran’s naval
fleet in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the
Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship. The attack came
as a major wake-up call for Iran as the mullahs in Tehran only understand the
language of force. The 59 cruise missiles the US used to target the Syrian
regime airfield used to launch a chemical attack on Homs earlier this year also
rose eyebrows not only in Damascus, Moscow and Tehran, but the world over. The
recent incidents in Syria are further serious signals for Iran that such
belligerence no longer will go tolerated, especially considering a new US
administration in Washington adopting a far different perspective and strategy
than its predecessor.
Solution
What needs grave understanding is the fact that Iran is the last party that
seeks a full blown war in Syria, Yemen or any other region of the Middle East.
The Iranian regime is seeking a win-win solution, enjoying an open hand in
meddling across the region to such extent to prevent any major international
community retaliatory action. Has Iran been successful? To this day, mostly it
has, unfortunately, thanks to the West’s highly flawed belief in adopting a
policy of engagement with Iran to tame the mullahs and enjoy short-term economic
gains.The tides, however, are changing for the better. Iran’s Achilles Heel must
be the main target as seen in the recent US Senate resolution imposing sanctions
on the regime’s ballistic missile program, support of terrorism and human rights
violations. Tehran may kick, scream and threaten to abandon the Iran nuclear
deal in retaliation. Yet rest assured the mullahs will not make such a grave
mistake, triggering the automatic re-imposition of sanctions under six previous
United Nations Security Council resolutions. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards lies at
the heart of the mullahs’ illicit activities both inside the country and abroad.
This entity also controls around 40 percent of the country’s already fragile and
highly corrupt economy. To this end, there is no need for another war in the
region. Iran knows better that such an outcome would only accelerate
developments against its interests. The US and Arab world can and should lead
the international community by designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign
terrorist organization. This will be a complementary measure to the
abovementioned Senate resolution, and bring Tehran to its knees. Such an
initiative will place the international community alongside the Iranian people
in their struggle against the ruling mullahs’ regime. This is especially true
after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to Washington’s support for
domestic forces seeking peaceful regime change in Iran.
Qatar corrupting US’ national security ‘Deep State’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya/June 26/17
In a detailed analysis published recently by Security Studies Group, author and
expert Angelo Codevilla, who is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at
Boston University and a fellow of the Claremont Institute, goes into the
historic role of American institutions, including the State Department and the
CIA, to forge relationships with terror groups in the mistaken belief that they
can be weaned away from violence. He traces this flawed thinking by these state
institutions and other actors to the Arab Gulf states rift with Qatar. Codevilla
writes: “As he applauds Saudi Arabia’s and its Gulf allies’ attempt to force
Qatar to stop supporting terrorists, even his secretary of State not so subtly
echoes the Establishment’s chorus that this is a bad idea. No one denies that
whoever supports terrorism should stop doing so, that the state of Qatar in fact
does support terrorists with billions of dollars, facilities, and a television
network, and that the Muslim Brotherhood carries out terrorist acts directly and
through affiliates. Hence the question imposes itself: how do opinions so
contrary to reality and to the common sense of ordinary people acquire such
power in high places?” The author then lists the ways that Qatar has been
peddling its influence in the West and especially in the US, even corrupting
many institutions of the US national security “Deep State”. “The
counterintuitive influence of Muslim Brotherhood/Qatar is yet another example of
what Herman Kahn used to call ”educated incapacity” – the inability of a few,
acquired only by sustained effort, to understand or even to perceive realities
obvious to the unschooled many,” writes Codevilla. He then exmines how that
influence has taken hold. “It is a story of how the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideas
and the Qatari state’s money have encouraged the professors, think-tankers and
bureaucrats of America’s National Security State to foist upon America a
peculiar set of values and priorities by indulging their own prejudices.”
Indentical articles
The author points out that as President Trump was about to command the State
Department “to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization (Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates had already done so), Foreign
Policy magazine and the Brookings Institution published nearly identical
articles.” After President Trump praised Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies’
cutting of diplomatic and commercial contact with Qatar to force it to end its
support for the Muslim Brotherhood, among other terrorists, an adviser to
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told The New York Times that, while “The
president is focused on ending terrorism; the secretary is focused on diplomacy
that will return GCC focus to fighting terrorism.”In other words: The US
government – the President notwithstanding – far from helping to isolate Qatar,
will focus on ending that isolation and hope that this will have a beneficial
effect on fighting terrorism. Tillerson himself, while admitting that Qatar was
supporting terrorism, made clear that this support was less important than the
relationship itself. Codevilla says that this was tantamount to saying: “We
would rather support a Qatar that does not support terrorism. But we’ll support
it even though it does.”The answer also lies in the confluence between the
Progressive prejudices of the American foreign policy establishment and the
material reinforcement thereof by Muslim regimes, particularly that of Qatar.
The author painstakingly goes back to the post-World War II American security
establishment and its moral compass, viewing view themselves on the side of the
world’s emerging peoples, as “the true revolutionaries.”
Crude influence-buying
“Qatar is one of the many entities that have capitalized on the US foreign
policy establishment’s predispositions to Progressive ideology and to meddling.
Let us abstract from such crude influence-buying as the Qatari government’s gift
of one million dollars to the Clinton Foundation on the occasion of Bill
Clinton’s 65th birthday or the lucrative business connections,” the author says.
“Qatari operatives rightly regard these contributions, many deployed by their
National Research Foundation, as having produced the political equivalent of
strategically located military units,” says Codevilla. There are American
academic institutions in Qatar, and there are as well dozens of Qatari-supported
foundations and countless scholars. Codevilla concludes:“The al Thani family,
which has ruled it for decades, has used the country’s great wealth to pursue
influence abroad in ways that are inherently incompatible. Tamim, the current
emir, has taken that foreign policy to a point where the incompatibilities may
no longer coexist.”