LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 29/17
Compiled &
Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations
He will put the sheep at his right hand and the
goats at the left.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/31-46/:"‘When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the
throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed
by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you
gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you
visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw
you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And
when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you
clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?"
And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of
the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Then he will
say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you
gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a
stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing,
sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, "Lord,
when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or
in prison, and did not take care of you?"Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell
you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it
to me."And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life."
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is
written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord
Letter to the Romans 12/09-21/:"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold
fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another
in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the
needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but
associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay
anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If
it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are
hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by
doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good."
Question: "What does it mean that humanity is made in the
image of God (imago dei)?"
Answer: On the last day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in
our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Thus, He finished His work with a “personal
touch.” God formed Adam from the dust and gave him life by sharing His own
breath (Genesis 2:7). Accordingly, humanity is unique among all God’s creations,
having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit.
ing the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms, that we were
made to resemble God. Adam did not resemble God in the sense of God’s having
flesh and blood. Scripture says that “God is spirit” (John 4:24) and therefore
exists without a body. However, Adam’s body did mirror the life of God insofar
as it was created in perfect health and was not subject to death.
The image of God (Latin: imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity.
It sets human beings apart from the animal world, fits them for the dominion God
intended them to have over the earth (Genesis 1:28), and enables them to commune
with their Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.
Mentally, humanity was created as a rational, volitional agent. In other words,
human beings can reason and choose. This is a reflection of God’s intellect and
freedom. Anytime someone invents a machine, writes a book, paints a landscape,
enjoys a symphony, calculates a sum, or names a pet, he or she is proclaiming
the fact that we are made in God’s image.
Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a
reflection of God’s holiness. God saw all He had made (humanity included) and
called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Our conscience or “moral compass” is a
vestige of that original state. Whenever someone writes a law, recoils from
evil, praises good behavior, or feels guilty, he or she is confirming the fact
that we are made in God’s own image.
Socially, humanity was created for fellowship. This reflects God's triune nature
and His love. In Eden, humanity’s primary relationship was with God (Genesis 3:8
implies fellowship with God), and God made the first woman because “it is not
good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Every time someone marries, makes
a friend, hugs a child, or attends church, he or she is demonstrating the fact
that we are made in the likeness of God.
Part of being made in God’s image is that Adam had the capacity to make free
choices. Although they were given a righteous nature, Adam and Eve made an evil
choice to rebel against their Creator. In so doing, they marred the image of God
within themselves, and passed that damaged likeness on to all of their
descendants (Romans 5:12). Today, we still bear the image of God (James 3:9),
but we also bear the scars of sin. Mentally, morally, socially, and physically,
we show the effects of sin.
The good news is that when God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the
original image of God, creating a “new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That redemption is only available
by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from the sin that
separates us from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Christ, we are made new
creations in the likeness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17).
**GotQuestions.org?
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on October 28-29/17
Patriarch Al Raei's Visits To Kuwait & Saudi Arabia/Elias Bejjani/October 28/17
Lebanon's civil war scars reemerge with assassination case verdict/Scott
Preston/Al Monitor/October 27, 2017
'Muhammad' is the Future of Europe/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/October
28/17
Re-Defining the Near East’s Borders/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/October
28/17
Be Careful Who You Call a 'White Supremacist'/Megan McArdle/Bloomberg
View/Saturday, 28 October, 2017
In long run, Israel favors secular Assad over Shiite Islamist regime in
Syria/Dr. Yaron Friedman/Ynetnews/October 28/17
How two stubborn men talked their way into a crisis/Cornelia Meyer/ArabNews/October
29/17/
The Future Investment Initiative and the new Saudi Arabia/Raghida Dergham/ArabNews/October
28/17
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
October 28-29/17
Patriarch Al Raei's Visits To Kuwait &
Saudi Arabia
1,000th Syrian Evacuated from Lebanon Arrives in Italy through 'Safe Corridor'
Hariri, Anastasiades discuss general situation, bilateral relations between
Lebanon and Cyprus
Rahi Voices Calls for Ending Wars and Conflicts, Urges Refugees to Return Home
US Congress Delegation in Beirut
Jumblat Says Biometric Cards 'Additional Waste of Money'
Report: Registration of Syrian Refugees Births a Prelude for their Return
Culture Minister arrives in Paris to partake in UNESCO Conference
Hashem: Elections will take place as scheduled, no reason for postponement
UK Minister reaffirms support for Lebanon's security, says UK investing in
Lebanon's future through education, economy
Berri cables his Spanish counterpart in support of her country's unity
Foreign Ministry reiterates support for the unity of Spain
Lebanon's civil war scars reemerge with assassination case verdict
Lebanon rejects citizenship for Syrian refugees
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on October 28-29/17
Kurdish official: Masoud Barzani will not extend presidential term beyond
Nov. 1
18 dead, more than 30 wounded in Mogadishu hotel blast
Mass grave with 50 bodies of Iraqi soldiers found in Kirkuk
Turkey arrests alleged ISIS members over ‘holiday attack plot’
Third woman accuses Islamist thinker Tariq Ramadan of sexual harassment
New ‘rape’ case filed against Islamist Tariq Ramadan
Egypt’s Sisi names new armed forces chief of staff
Mattis Warns 'Massive' Response to North Korea Nuclear Weapon Use
Canada Pauses Military Assistance to Iraqi Troops
Spain Takes Control of 'Independent' Catalonia
Canada condemns use of chemical weapons in Syria
Statement by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs on Guatemala high court
decision on death penalty
Latest Lebanese Related News published on October 28-29/17
Patriarch Al Raei's Visits To Kuwait & Saudi Arabia
Elias Bejjani/October 28/17
In Case that His eminence our Maronites Patriarch Bchara Al Raei is visiting
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to advocate for Hezbollah's occupation, the Minorities
Pact & Al Assad as he did in France and other countries it would be better and
safer not to go on with these visits.
1,000th Syrian Evacuated from Lebanon Arrives in Italy
through 'Safe Corridor'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 28/17/Over 120 Syrian asylum seekers were
brought safely to Rome Friday, bringing the number using a Christian
"humanitarian corridor" to seek refuge in Italy from the war in their homeland
to 1,000. The evacuation of displaced Syrians from Lebanon to Italy was launched
in February 2016, and steps are now under way to bring asylum-seeking Eritreans
out of Ethiopia. The Syrians, including around fifty children or adolescents,
landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport and were greeted with tears and hugs by
members of religious organizations and -- in some cases -- by relatives. "This
project will continue, because it has united everyone. The doors will remain
open, because integration through humanitarian corridors works," said Marco
Impagliazzo, head of the Catholic Sant'Egidio community. The programme, which
targets vulnerable Muslims and Christians alike, is an alternative to dangerous
smuggling routes. The charities behind the so-called corridor help new arrivals
with housing, Italian language courses and skills training.
Hariri, Anastasiades discuss general situation, bilateral
relations between Lebanon and Cyprus
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Saturday evening in Nicosia
with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, with the general situation in Lebanon
and the region and bilateral relations topping their discussion. Talks also
touched on ways of developing bilateral cooperation in various fields,
especially in the economic sector. Attending the meeting on the Lebanese side
was PM Hariri's Chief-of-Staff Nader Hariri, and on the Cypriot side Defense
Minister Christopher Fucaidis, as well as Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism
Minister George Lakkotrypis and Cypriot Ambassador to Lebanon Christina Rafti,
in addition to other senior Cypriot officials. Anastasiades and Hariri are due
to make a joint press statement later this evening. A dinner banquet hosted by
the Cypriot President in honor of PM Hariri will follow.
Rahi Voices Calls for Ending Wars and Conflicts, Urges
Refugees to Return Home
Naharnet/October 28/17/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi voiced calls on the
international and Arab communities to work on ending wars all around the world
and urged all the displaced to return to their homeland, the National News
Agency reported on Saturday. Al-Rahi who is on a tour in the United States said:
“I call on the International and Arab communities to put an end to wars in
Middle Eastern countries.”Speaking during a mass service in Boston, he urged
said communities to “work on returning refugees, kidnapped and the displaced to
their countries and to preserve their citizenship rights.” Furthermore, the
Patriarch voiced calls for “finding political and diplomatic solutions for world
conflicts in order to bring a comprehensive and lasting peace to the region.”
US Congress Delegation in Beirut
Naharnet/October 28/17/A delegation from the US congress arrived in Beirut where
it is scheduled to meet with several Lebanese officials, the State-run National
News Agency reported on Saturday. NNA did not provide further details about the
visit. The visit comes following a US legislation on Wednesday that approved a
new batch of measures against Hizbullah party targeting its finances. The U.S.
House of Representatives approved bipartisan legislation to block the flow of
money to Hizbullah and to sanction the Iran-backed group for allegedly using
civilians as "human shields" during the 2006 war with Israel.
Jumblat Says Biometric Cards 'Additional Waste of Money'
Naharnet/October 28/17/Progressive Socialistic Party leader MP Walid Jumblat
said Saturday it would be needless to squander more public funds for the
issuance of biometric voter cards, and has called instead for establishing
garbage sorting plants before a major landfill for the Beirut area approaches
its absorptive capacity. “Biometric cards is an extra waste of money. Let the
focus be on a modern sorting plant for the capital and its suburbs. Investment
in the environment is a priority,” said Jumblat in a tweet. Jumblat's remarks
come in light of cabinet divisions over whether the government should approve
the creation of biometric identity cards to be used in the May 6, 2018
parliamentary elections. Reports have said that an amount of LBP 202 billion
needs to be allocated for the creation of said cards. The MP has said that the
sums of money can be used to establish garbage sorting plants to receive the
trash of Beirut and its suburbs instead. The Costa Brava landfill, which
receives waste from Beirut and its suburbs, reaches its full capacity by the end
of 2018.
Report: Registration of Syrian Refugees Births a Prelude
for their Return
Naharnet/October 28/17/In light of the efforts exerted to return the displaced
Syrians back to their homeland, Lebanon's foreign ministry initiated measures
for the registration of refugees' births and civil documentation at the Syrian
embassy in Beirut, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday. For that purpose,
the “foreign ministry has referred to the interior ministry a memo from the
Syrian Embassy wishing on the competent Lebanese authorities to work on personal
status registration of refugees, especially marriages and births, mainly for
Syrian persons who do not hold valid legal residence to facilitate access to
Syrian identity documents and thus facilitate their return to their homeland,”
said the daily. “The embassy also proposes the cancellation of fines imposed on
unlawful residency of Syrians who wish to leave Lebanon permanently,” it added.A
Lebanese minister who spoke on condition of anonymity told the daily: “The
number of Syrian births in Lebanon are almost countless. We have been able to
register around 260 thousand births since 2011.”The daily added that several
letters have been exchanged in that regard since the beginning of October
between the foreign ministry, interior ministry and the Syrian embassy. The
Norwegian Refugee Council said in a report that around 92 percent of refugees in
Lebanon are unable to complete all the legal and administrative steps to
register the birth of their children. NRC added that “thousands of children in
Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq lack basic identity and civil documents, impacting
their ability to claim a range of rights and protections and endangering their
access to education and other services if they choose to return to Syria.”
Lebanon hosts more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, who amount to more than a
quarter of the country's population not to mention undocumented individuals,
many of whom live in informal tented settlements. The Syrian refugee influx into
Lebanon has strained the country's infrastructure, and has also sparked
accusations that refugee camps are harboring militants from the war.
The World Bank says the Syrian crisis has pushed an estimated 200,000 Lebanese
into poverty, adding to the nation's one million poor.
Culture Minister arrives in Paris to partake in UNESCO
Conference
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - Minister of Culture, Ghattas Khoury, began Saturday a
visit to France, where he will be participating in the opening of the 39th
session of the UNESCO General Conference in Paris. On the sidelines of the
Conference, Khoury visited the headquarters of the Arab World Institute in Paris
currently holding the "Christians of the East" exhibiiton, which includes icons
and rare paintings and treasures of the National Museum in Lebanon. The Culture
Minister also attended the "For You Baalbeck" Show, previously hosted in
Baalbeck two years ago on the 60th commemoration of the Baalbeck International
Festivals foundation, in the presence of the Festivals Committee Head, Nayla de
Freij, and a large crowd of diplomatic, social and cultural figures. '
Hashem: Elections will take place as scheduled, no reason
for postponement
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - "Development and Liberation" Parliamentary Bloc Member, MP
Kassem Hashem, stressed Saturday that the legislative elections would be held on
time, referring to the absence of any reason or justification for their
postponement. "The ongoing debate within the ministerial committee or outside
will have no effect on the parliamentary elections' scheduled date, and this is
recognized by all political forces despite the differing observations and
positions vis-à-vis fundamental issues such as the biometric card and
pre-registration," said Hashem. The Minister's words came before a delegation
from the town of al-Arqoub who visited him at his Shebaa residence earlier
today. "As institutions assume their natural role, the responsibility becomes
greater in addressing the accumulated dossiers and crises, exacerbated by the
failure and recklessness in solving the daily problems and dilemmas facing the
Lebanese people," added Hashem. "The Lebanese have the right to worry about the
future of the generations as the status quo persists in all sectors and fields,"
he indicated. "With the approach of the government's discussion of the 2018
budget, we urge the cabinet to develop a national plan to meet the developmental
and service needs of the Southern border areas," stressed Hashem, reminding
officials of the deprivation suffered by many villages and towns in South
Lebanon.
UK Minister reaffirms support for Lebanon's security, says
UK investing in Lebanon's future through education, economy
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - Minister of State for the Middle East and
International Development Alistair Burt has reaffirmed the UK's commitment to
supporting a strong and prosperous Lebanon, announcing further support to the
Lebanese Army and celebrating the UK's investment in Lebanon's future.
At a reception hosted to launch the Association of Lebanese Graduates of UK
Universities, Minister Burt formally announced SoUK.LB, a new initiative to help
the growing social enterprise sector in Lebanon, which he described as an
investment in Lebanon's economy to boost job creation. He also urged ambitious
Lebanese to apply Masters programmes under the UK government's Chevening
scholarship scheme. On the second day of his two-day visit, His Excellency
Minister Burt visited the Second Land Border Regiment at Ras Baalbek to see the
Fajr el Jouroud operations room and witness firsthand how the UK is helping the
Army move its border posts forward onto reclaimed territory. A number of brand
new military positions have been built by the LAF throughout this area in the
last few weeks, putting the Lebanese flag back on the furthest reaches of
Lebanese territory, thanks to British support and funding. The new towers are
just some of the 74 positions built with UK support since 2012, which will soon
ensure the Lebanese Army secure the whole border with Syria, from the
Mediterranean to Mount Hermon. The Minister's tour also involved a visit to Al
Irshad Public School for Girls in Beirut and an Informal Tented Settlement in
the Bekaa, where he saw how the UK is helping to manage the challenge of the
refugees as well as working on improvements to public schooling for the benefit
of all children in Lebanon.
Speaking at the end of his visit Minister Burt said:
"I am delighted to be back in Lebanon, a country I know well having visited
three times since 2010. A lot has happened since my last visit [in 2013]. The
Lebanese people are generously hosting more than 1.5 million refugees, an
undeniable burden. The LAF were the first army in the region to repel Daesh in
2014, and in 2017 they have successfully expelled Daesh from Lebanese territory.
I held very constructive meetings with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister
Saad Hariri, Speaker NabihBerri, and Foreign Minister GebranBassil. I reiterated
the UK's support for a strong, stable and prosperous Lebanon. We are proud of
the excellent bilateral relationship between our two countries. Today I have
witnessed first-hand the strength of our partnership in boosting the economy by
creating jobs up and down the country; I saw it in our flagship programme of
quality education in public schools for all children in Lebanon; in our
humanitarian assistance to refugees; and in our steadfast support to the brave
men and women of the Lebanese army who tirelessly defend Lebanon from terrorism.
I extended my congratulations on the successful military operation of the
Lebanese army 'Fajr El Jouroud' against Daesh. This operation has anchored the
army's reputation as a professional and respected institution that has
dramatically increased its capabilities in recent years. We are proud of the
trust the LAF has shown in the UK as a partner, from the streets of Beirut to
the borders. I am also proud to see the results of the UK's contribution of £60
million to build over 70 military watchtowers, and provide over 300 Land Rovers
and 3,000 sets of body armour. We have trained 8,000 soldiers and sent 150 LAF
officers to the UK's finest military academies. We are also providing £13
million to improve the police across Lebanon and especially here in Beirut, in
support of the ISF's own vision for reform by 2022. The UK will remain by
Lebanon's side in actions and not just words, shoulder to shoulder for security,
prosperity and stability. It has been a great pleasure to be back. I have
enjoyed my visit. I look forward to returning".
Berri cables his Spanish counterpart in support of her country's unity
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, sent a cable Saturday
to his Spanish counterpart, Ana Maria Pastor Julian, confirming Lebanon's
support for Spain's unity. "On behalf of the Lebanese Parliament, I offer our
sincere support for a united and strong Spain in confronting the dangers and
challenges arising from the events related to the declaration of Catalan
independence," Berri stated in his cable. "We firmly stand in favor of
respecting the Constitution as a means for maintaining a unified and strong
Spain," the Speaker asserted.
Foreign Ministry reiterates support for the unity of Spain
Sat 28 Oct 2017/NNA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates issued
Saturday a statement stressing its support for Spain's unity. "Following the
political developments in the Kingdom of Spain as a result of the declaration of
Catalan independence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms its support of
the territorial integrity of Spain, in line with Lebanon's position in favor of
the unity of states and the cohesion of their political systems and
constitutional institutions," the statement said. "Lebanon urges the return of
the political stability to united Spain in a way that will serve the interests
and unison of the Spanish people," the statement concluded.
Lebanon's civil war scars reemerge with assassination case
verdict
Scott Preston/Al Monitor/October 27, 2017
On Oct. 20, Lebanon’s highest court issued a landmark ruling, sentencing two
members of the local Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) to death. The
verdict marks the end of a decadeslong case that prosecuted Habib Shartouni for
the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel during the country’s civil
war. For some Lebanese, the sentence provided a sense of justice, while others
suspect that political motivations were behind the ruling.
Gemayel, who was a prominent leader within the predominantly Maronite Catholic
Kataeb (Phalange) Party, has been a highly revered figure by Christians both
inside the party and out. Shortly after his election in 1982, he had agreed to
discuss the normalization of diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Israel,
which was opposed by several leftist groups in the country. In response,
Shartouni planted a bomb outside the Kataeb headquarters on Sept. 14, 1982,
killing Gemayel and at least 32 others.
Following the bombing, Shartouni was arrested and imprisoned for eight years
without trial. He escaped during a Syrian military offensive. Although his
current whereabouts are unknown, he had spent several years in hiding in
Damascus, which has backed the SSNP. Shartouni was tried in absentia along with
Nabil al-Alam, who was accused of masterminding the bombing. Some believe Alam
is already deceased.
Speaking to Al-Monitor, member of parliament Nadim Gemayel, Bashir’s son, hailed
the trial as a victory of transitional justice, which could deter similar
attacks in the future. “This judgment is very significant, not only for me and
my family and our son, or the daughter or wife of Bashir Gemayel who was
assassinated. It is very important for all the country and for the state of law
of Lebanon since none of all the terrorist attacks that happened in Lebanon in
the last 40 years, none of them have been judged or elucidated. So it is very
important for us to know that, in Lebanon, justice can prevail,” said Gemayel.
Yet the sentencing has exposed political divisions across the country, as many
leftists regard Shartouni with the estimable stardom that Lebanese Christians
confer upon Gemayel. For supporters, Shartouni is perceived as a defender of
Lebanon amid fears that Gemayel would have consented to wider Israeli influence
in the country. Accordingly, the issue has proved controversial as members of
both Kataeb and the SSNP rallied in front of the court during the recent
proceedings. The past week has seen a flurry of heated social media activity
surrounding the case.
The sudden closure of the 35-year trial has also raised questions regarding the
timing of the verdict and whether it is meant to serve larger political goals.
Since 2016, the Kataeb Party has been largely excluded from the government, due
in part to the reconciliation of Gen. Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement
(FPM) and another Christian party known as the Lebanese Forces. Later, when Saad
Hariri’s Sunni Future Movement backed Aoun’s presidential candidacy — leading to
Aoun’s election Oct. 31, 2016 — the Kataeb lost out on ministerial posts.
Khalil Khairallah, who serves as the SSNP’s dean of culture, told Al-Monitor
that the trial was resurfaced to serve political aspirations ahead of upcoming
parliamentary elections. “For example, the Kataeb, the Lebanese Forces and
President Aoun’s party all want to make the election with a big front. For me,
[there is] only that purpose.”
“There were many, many massacres in Lebanon. Some of the actors of these
massacres are still alive now. Why can’t we judge them?” mused Khairallah. “Why
only Habib Shartouni, and why now? Because this sentence had the chance to unify
these parties in the coming elections.” The suspected formation of a new
Christian political alliance was also echoed by Shartouni himself in an
interview on Oct. 19 with Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese media outlet. It is unclear,
however, if the interview was done in person.
Imad Salamey, the director of the Institute for Social Justice and Conflict
Resolution at the Lebanese American University, told Al-Monitor that Shartouni’s
sentencing may affect dynamics among the Christian parties of the March 14
political bloc that opposed Iranian and Syrian interventionism in Lebanon.
“[The verdict] indicates first of all that Christian parties, particularly those
on the March 14 side, are trying to seek some kind of justice in their favor. It
also signals a new alignment between those who accused Bashir Gemayel of being a
collaborator, an Israeli collaborator, and those who really … [saw him as]
president of the country,” explained Salamey. “So we have witnessed in the past
week a renewal of old rhetoric that perhaps impacted political alignment in the
country, particularly Christian-Christian alignment whereby the FPM kept silent
about the verdict compared to other March 14 Christian parties.”
In 2006, the FPM forged an alliance with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is
thought to be collaborating with the SSNP in supporting Syria’s President Bashar
al-Assad. The FPM has not publicly celebrated Shartouni’s sentencing with the
pomp of other Christian parties, although FPM minister Gebran Bassil did attend
a commemoration ceremony for Gemayel following the trial.
Mohanad Hage Ali, the director of communications at the Carnegie Middle East
Center, has been closely monitoring developments among Christian parties in
Lebanon. According to him, the FPM may have more to gain from Shartouni’s trial
than the Kataeb Party. “Everyone is trying to score before the elections,” Hage
Ali told Al-Monitor. “I think my assessment is, it works well for the Lebanese
Forces and for the FPM, but especially so for the FPM, as they are saying, ‘Look
at us, we are in power and we are doing what the Christians really want, so
Bashir’s killers will not get away with it as they used to before we were here.’
So it is a different vibe; they are telling Christians that ‘things are
different now,’ and I think they will fare well in the elections.”
However, Salamey contended that issuing the death sentence prior to the
elections primarily helps mobilize the Kataeb’s base of support, despite their
exclusion from government. “It definitely signals a boost for the Kataeb Party
among the Christian constituency. It boosts their positions on the eve of the
elections, but you know, I think the electorate in Lebanon is pretty solidly
being entrenched behind particular leaders and political parties. So [the trial]
has some morale boost, but it does not have significant influence on electoral
outcomes.”
**Scott Preston is a journalist based in Beirut, writing about social and
political issues in the Middle East. On Twitter: @scottapreston
Lebanon rejects citizenship for Syrian refugees
MEM/October 28, 2017 /The President of Lebanon has rejected the proposal to give
citizenship to Syrian refugees. Michel Aoun made this clear during a meeting in
Beirut with Britain’s Minister of State for Middle East Affairs, Alistair Burt,
the official Lebanese news agency reported on Friday. “Lebanon urges a speedy
solution to the Syrian crisis,” explained President Aoun, “because any delay
resolving this calamity increases the sufferings of Syrians, not to mention the
repercussions for Lebanon.”
The Lebanese leader hailed his country’s “strong relations” with Britain and
thanked Burt for Britain’s support for the Lebanese Army. British troops have
been training Lebanese units deployed along the eastern border with Syria. Aoun
expressed the hope that Britain would consider increasing its aid in a bid to
maintain stability and combat terrorism. He pointed out that his country “bears
a heavy burden” as a result of the displacement of the Lebanese refugees.
“Lebanon is no longer capable of addressing the security, economic and social
consequences resulting from the presence of Syrian refugees,” he made clear.
President Aoun also asked Burt to intervene to stop the “hostile Israeli
actions” against Lebanon and to put pressure on the Israeli government to end
the threats that have been increasing recently. In response, Burt stressed
Britain’s desire to develop bilateral relations with Lebanon in all fields,
especially on military and economic issues. “My country looks forward to
supporting the Lebanese economy and development projects, as well as everything
that would help to mitigate the repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis on
Lebanon.”
Burt arrived in Lebanon early on Friday along with an economic delegation. As
well as President Aoun, the British minister also met with the Speaker of the
Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri.
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Kurdish official: Masoud Barzani will not extend
presidential term beyond Nov. 1
AFP, Reuters/28 October 2017/IRBIL, IRAQ: Iraqi Kurdistan leader
Masoud Barzani will not extend his presidential powers beyond November 1,
Reuters reported a Kurdish official as saying. Parliament in Iraq’s autonomous
Kurdish region said it will meet Sunday to redistribute the powers of president
Masoud Barzani. A statement from Barzani will be read out at the meeting which
is set to open at 1100 GMT, parliament said on Saturday. On Tuesday, parliament
decided to freeze the activities of Barzani, his vice president Kosrat Rasul and
the head of the presidential cabinet, Fuad Hussein.
Barzani came under growing opposition from his detractors after he organized the
September 25 referendum on Kurdish independence that triggered a deep crisis
with Baghdad. The federal government opposed the vote which it deemed
unconstitutional, and its forces have since seized a swathe of disputed
territory from Kurdish fighters. Iraqi Kurdistan’s main opposition party, the
Goran movement, called on Barzani to step down after the loss of
Kurdish-controlled territory. Kurdish MP Iden Maarouf said parliament will meet
on Sunday to see how best to “redistribute the president’s powers” among the
legislative, executive and judicial authorities. Despite scoring a major victory
with a resounding “yes” for independence in the referendum, Barzani found
himself increasingly isolated. After the vote, the sweeping operation by the
central government reclaimed from the Kurds swathes of territory and oilfields
in and around the disputed province of Kirkuk. The loss of the oilfields, which
provided income that would have been critical to an independent Kurdish state,
sparked recriminations among the Kurds. Two main parties dominate political life
in Kurdistan, Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK) of late Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. Iraq’s current
president, Fuad Masum, is also a member of the PUK and had supported a UN-backed
push for dialogue between the Kurds and Baghdad before the referendum.After the
vote Masum said the independence referendum had triggered the assault on Kirkuk.
On Tuesday, when parliament froze Barzani’s powers, it also announced its
decision to hold legislative elections in eight months. Regional legislative and
presidential elections had both been due on November 1 but were postponed after
Baghdad seized territory and oilfields from the Kurds. The Kurdish parliament
has not set a date for a new presidential election.
18 dead, more than 30 wounded in Mogadishu hotel blast
ABDI GULED | AP | Published — Sunday 29 October 2017/Germany
jails two extremists for fighting in Somalia, Syria
MOGADISHU, Somalia: A suicide car bomb exploded outside a popular hotel in
Somalia’s capital on Saturday, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than
30, and gunfire continued as security forces pursued the attackers inside the
building, police said. Two more blasts were heard, one when an attacker
detonated a suicide vest. Speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from the
scene, Capt. Mohamed Hussein said more than 20 people, including government
officials, were thought to be trapped as security forces battled extremists
holed up on the top floor of the Nasa-Hablod hotel, close to the presidential
palace. Two of the five attackers were killed on the first floor, Hussein said.
The others hurled grenades and cut off the building’s electricity as night fell.
Saturday’s blasts came two weeks after more than 350 people were killed in a
massive truck bombing on a busy Mogadishu street in the country’s worst-ever
attack. Al-Shabab, Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, quickly claimed
responsibility for Saturday’s attack and said its fighters were inside the
hotel. As night fell, sporadic gunfire could be heard as soldiers responded. A
senior Somali police colonel and a former lawmaker were among the dead, Hussein
said. Mohamed Dek Hajji said he survived the bombing as he walked beside a
parked car that was largely destroyed by the explosion. He said he saw at least
three armed men in military uniforms running toward the hotel after the suicide
bombing at its gate. “I think they were Al-Shabab fighters who were trying to
storm the hotel,” he said, lying on a hospital bed. He suffered small injuries
on his shoulder and skull from flying glass.Witnesses in some previous attacks
have said Al-Shabab fighters disguised themselves by wearing military uniforms.
Al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu. It has not commented on
the massive attack two weeks ago; experts have said the death toll was so high
that the group hesitated to further anger Somali citizens as its pursues its
insurgency. Since the blast two weeks ago, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
has visited regional countries to seek more support for the fight against the
extremist group, vowing a “state of war.” He also faces the challenge of pulling
together regional powers inside his long-fractured country, where the federal
government is only now trying to assert itself beyond Mogadishu and other major
cities. A 22,000-strong multinational African Union force in Somalia is expected
to withdraw its forces and hand over the country’s security to the Somali
military by the end of 2020. US military officials and others in recent months
have expressed concern that Somali forces are not yet ready. The US military
also has stepped up military efforts against Al-Shabab this year in Somalia,
carrying out nearly 20 drone strikes, as the global war on extremism moves
deeper into the African continent.
Mass grave with 50 bodies of Iraqi soldiers found in Kirkuk
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishSaturday, 28 October 2017/The Joint Operations
Command in Iraq announced that its forces have found a mass grave which included
50 bodies belonging to members of the army and police in Hawija district.
The joint operations said in a statement that ISIS executed government forces in
the village of Bakara in the center of Hawija during terror attacks, launched on
areas south-west of Kirkuk. The statement added that legal procedures will be
taken to investigate the cemetery and examine the remains in it. Earlier in
October, army sources said that security forces found two mass graves containing
the remains of dozens of members of the army and police who were killed by armed
men in the village of Abu Sakhra, southeast of Hawija. On Oct. 8, Iraqi forces
fully restored the center of al Kadhaa, located south-west of Kirkuk, from the
control of the extremist organization. For his part, the police captain of
Kirkuk Hamid al-Obaidi told Anatolia that the security forces were commissioned
to conduct searches and investigate the mass graves of the army and police in
the province of Hawija.
Obaidi has dozens of soldiers whose fate is unknown since 2014. In the summer of
2014, ISIS controlled large areas in the province of Diyala in the east of the
country. Iraqi army forces, supported by the International coalition, carried
out large-scale military operations in which they liberated the seized areas.
Turkey arrests alleged ISIS members over ‘holiday attack
plot’
AFP, AnkaraSaturday, 28 October 2017/Turkey arrested 49 alleged ISIS members on
Saturday, some of whom were suspected of planning an attack on Turkey’s national
holiday on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The arrests in the capital Ankara came a day before celebrations across the
country for the 94th anniversary of Republic Day. Turkish authorities issued
warrants for 55 suspected foreign IS members, believing some were planning an
attack on Republic Day, Anadolu reported without giving further details. Turkey
has been hit by several bloody attacks blamed on ISIS militants over the past
two years, including a New Year attack this year on an elite Istanbul nightclub
during which 39 people were killed by an ISIS gunman. There has been a lull in
attacks since, but tensions remain high and Turkish police launch raids almost
daily against suspected IS cells across the country.
Third woman accuses Islamist thinker Tariq Ramadan of
sexual harassment
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnnglishSaturday, 28 October 2017/A third woman has
come forward and accused Islamist thinker Tariq Ramadan of allegedly sexually
harassing her some years ago. Yasmina, not her real name, spoke to French daily
newspaper Le Parisien and said the Swiss-Muslim professor threatened her with
rape in 2012. The woman has previously opened up about her story with local
French media in 2013. “At first he gave me religious advice through his website,
and then asked me for my picture so that he would know who he was talking to. He
found me beautiful, and since that day, things became pornographic between us,”
she told Le Parisien. “Two years later he called me to a hotel in the suburbs
and then threatened me that he had compromising things on me,” she added. A
second complaint was filed on Friday in France against the Ramadan for rape and
sexual assault, following accusations of raping Salafist-turned secular liberal
activist Henda Ayari. Ayari’s lawyer Eric Morain added that he has received
other testimonials from women who are thinking of filing a complaint against the
intellectual for harassment or sexual assault. Ramadan is the grandson of the
founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan al-Banna and currently a professor of
contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
New ‘rape’ case filed against Islamist Tariq Ramadan
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishSaturday, 28 October 2017/A complaint was filed
Friday in France against the Islamist philosopher and theologian Tariq Ramadan,
for rape and sexual assault, following accusations of raping Salafist-turned
secular liberal activist Henda Ayari. Three days after the opening of an
investigation similar accusations against him, were filed on Friday, reported
AFP. Ayari lawyer Eric Morain added that he has received other testimonials from
women who are thinking of filing a complaint against the intellectual for
harassment or sexual assault. Ayari filed a case on October 20 against
Swiss-Muslim thinker Ramadan, the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder, of
raping and sexually assaulting her in a Paris hotel room in 2012. She was
interrogated for six hours by police in Rouen (Normandy, north-west), said her
lawyer, the day after the opening of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor
for “rape, sexual assault, violence and death threats “. According to Le
Parisien, a new complainant is filled by a disabled 42-year-old woman, who
converted to Islam claiming brutal sexual violence at a big hotel, in autumn
2009. In the aftermath of the first complaint, Tariq Ramadan denied the
accusations and in turn complained Monday for “slanderous denunciation” against
Ms. Ayari. Ramadan is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
Hassan al-Banna and currently a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at
Oxford University in the United Kingdom. (With AFP)
Egypt’s Sisi names new armed forces chief of staff
AFP, CairoSaturday, 28 October 2017/Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has
named a new armed forces chief of staff, the presidency said in a brief
statement on Saturday. He appointed former defense ministry secretary general
Mohammed Farid Hegazy to the post, it said, without giving a reason for the
change. His predecessor Mahmoud Hegazy, who had held the post since March 2014,
was named a presidential adviser. Linked to Sisi through the marriage of their
respective children, Mahmoud Hegazy recently returned from Washington where
military chiefs had gathered to discuss fighting “terrorism”. Mohammed Farid
Hegazy’s appointment is a major change in the military establishment. Sisi came
to power after the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, for whom he
had served as defense minister. The country’s armed forces have since faced an
Islamist insurgency including by ISIS, with hundreds of policemen and soldiers
killed. The insurgency is concentrated on North Sinai province, although ISIS
has also extended its presence to southern Egypt and the Nile Delta, north of
the capital.
Mattis Warns 'Massive' Response to North Korea Nuclear Weapon Use
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 28/17/US Secretary of
Defense Jim Mattis on Saturday warned North Korea of a "massive military
response" to any use of nuclear weapons as tensions remain sky-high ahead of
Donald Trump's visit to South Korea. Pyongyang in recent months has sparked
global alarm by conducting a sixth nuclear test and test-launching missiles
capable of reaching the US mainland, while Trump and the North's young ruler Kim
Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults. Mattis, on a trip to
Seoul for annual defence talks, maintained that diplomacy remained a "preferred
course of action" but stressed, "our diplomats are most effective when backed by
credible military force". Make no mistake -- any attack on the United States or
our allies will be defeated," Mattis said at a joint press conference with his
South Korean counterpart Song Young-Moo. "Any use of nuclear weapons by the
North will be met with a massive military response, effective and overwhelming,"
Mattis said, adding Washington "does not accept a nuclear North Korea." "I
cannot imagine a condition under which the United States will accept North Korea
as a nuclear power," he said.
Mattis did not specify the threshold of nuclear weapon activity that would
trigger a military response. Pyongyang's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho said on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month that his country could test a
nuclear bomb over the Pacific. But Mattis said Pyongyang should "harbour no
illusion", saying the isolated state is militarily "overmatched" by the US and
South Korea -- a key ally of Washington that hosts 28,500 US troops.
- 'Not rushing to war' -Mattis' trip comes ahead of Trump's first presidential
visit to South Korea next month as part of his Asia tour which also includes
Japan, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. All eyes will be on Trump's message
to the North and Kim. Trump is expected to deliver a speech at the South's
parliament and to visit an US military base during a November 7-8 trip to Seoul.
Trump's recent remark that "only one thing will work" with the North fuelled
concerns of a potential conflict on the divided peninsula where the 1950-53
Korean War had left millions dead. But Mattis has repeatedly stressed a
diplomatic solution to ease tension during his trip to Asia this week, saying
Washington was "not rushing to war" and its goal was "not war." Some Trump
advisers have said US military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch
an artillery barrage on the South's capital Seoul -- only about 50 kilometres
from the border and home to 10 million people. The North is estimated to have
some 10,000 artillery pieces and at least 50 short-range missiles stationed
along its heavily fortified border with the South. The country has made
significant progress in its atomic and missile technology under Kim, who took
power after the death of his father and longtime ruler, Kim Jong-Il, in 2011.
Since then he has overseen four of the country's six nuclear tests and hailed
its nuclear weapons as a "treasured sword" to protect itself from potential
invasion by the "imperialist enemy" the US. Growing nuclear threats by the North
prompted calls by some Seoul lawmakers to deploy tactical US nuclear weapons in
the South, but Song dismissed such a possibility. "We believe that tactical
nukes are not worth deploying to the Korean peninsula," Song said, adding Seoul
was capable of responding to potential nuclear attacks by the North without its
own atomic weapon.
Canada Pauses Military Assistance to Iraqi Troops
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 28/17/Canadian special
forces have temporarily suspended military assistance to Iraqi troops due to
tensions between the Middle Eastern country's military and Kurdish fighters, the
defense ministry said Friday. Cooperation will resume "once more clarity exists
regarding the inter-relationships of Iraqi security forces, and the key
priorities and tasks going forward," said Dan Le Bouthillier, a spokesman for
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. Earlier Friday, Iraqi forces paused
operations against the Kurds to allow for talks after the two sides -- both
armed and trained by the US -- exchanged heavy artillery fire in the latest
flare-up of a crisis sparked by a Kurdish independence vote last month. Canada,
which is part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group,
said that although its special forces were suspending their mission in training
and assisting Iraqi forces in the country's north, its work in other areas
continued. That includes supporting the coalition in tactical aviation,
intelligence, targeting, command and control, and at a medical facility.Canada
tripled its special forces contingent in Iraq in February 2016 to 210 troops.
Spain Takes Control of 'Independent' Catalonia
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 28/17/Spain moved Saturday
to seize direct control of Catalonia, sacking its police chief a day after the
Catalan regional parliament's independence declaration sent shock waves through
Europe. The firing of Josep Lluis Trapero, the highest-ranking officer of the
Mossos d'Esquadra regional police, follows Friday's dismissal of Catalonia's
president, his deputy, all ministers, and the entire parliament. Moving to quash
what he termed an "escalation of disobedience", Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
called December 21 elections in the region under sweeping powers granted by the
Senate in response to Catalan lawmakers voting to declare an independent
republic. The dismissal of Trapero, seen as an ally of his region's separatist
leaders, was announced in Saturday's official government gazette. Madrid accuses
Trapero of disobeying court orders to block a banned October 1 independence
referendum. Instead, the ballot was disrupted, violently in some cases, by
officers from Spain's national police and Guardia Civil paramilitary forces. All
eyes this weekend will be on whether Catalonia's separatist executive, led by
Carles Puigdemont, will willingly step aside for caretaker envoys from Madrid.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is due to meet later
with secretaries of state who will likely take charge of Catalonia's regional
ministries.
Competing rallies -Tens of thousands celebrated in Barcelona and other Catalan
cities after Friday's independence declaration, which analysts say the region
has no legal power to execute.But anti-secession rallies have been called for
the capital, Madrid, on Saturday, and for Barcelona on Sunday. The move to quash
Catalan powers under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution is likely to anger
many in a region of some 7.5 million people that enjoyed considerable autonomy,
with control over education, healthcare and police.
It is the first time the central government has curtailed autonomy in the region
since dictator Francisco Franco's repressive 1939-75 rule. Independence
supporters have warned they will resist the temporary measure, implemented under
a constitutional article devised to rein in rebel regions. "We won't cave in to
Rajoy's authoritarianism nor to 155," the far-left CUP party, an ally of
Puigdemont, tweeted on Friday. A motion to declare Catalonia a "republic" was
passed Friday with 70 votes out of 135 in the regional parliament, where
pro-secessionists hold sway. Catalan leaders point to the "Yes" vote in the
deeply-divisive October 1 referendum as a mandate for independence, even though
less than half of voters took part. Echoing widely-held fears, Federico Santi,
Europe analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, warned the crisis
could become violent, with "more serious clashes between national police and
pro-independence activists."
Speaking after the parliament's proclamation, Puigdemont urged activists to
"maintain the momentum" in a peaceful manner.
Unwavering support for Spain -The Spanish government has received unwavering
support from the United States and its allies in the European Union. The bloc is
increasingly wary of nationalistic and secessionist sentiment, particularly
after Britain's dramatic decision last year to leave the bloc. EU President
Donald Tusk insisted Madrid "remains our only interlocutor" in Spain, but urged
it to exercise restraint. "I hope the Spanish government favours force of
argument, not argument of force," he tweeted.
Canada condemns use of chemical weapons in Syria
October 28, 2017 - Ottawa, Canada - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the
following statement:
”Canada welcomes the impartial report issued by the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism. We are
deeply concerned by this report’s findings, which demonstrate that the Assad
regime and Daesh are responsible for killing scores of people using chemical
weapons in Syria.
”This is evidence pointing to the use of sarin gas by the Assad regime in the
April 4, 2017, attack in southern Idlib province that killed dozens of
civilians, including children─and confirmation that Daesh used sulphur mustard
in an attack in Umm Hawsh in September 2016.
”Canada vigorously condemned these attacks in the past on various occasions and
announced sanctions affecting high-ranking individuals in the Syrian regime
linked to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
”Canada is a top contributor to the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism which
works to attribute responsibility for the use of chemical weapons.
”The use of chemical weapons by any actor is a breach of international law,
continued impunity is unacceptable, and the perpetrators must be held to
account.
”We are deeply disappointed by Russia’s decision to veto renewal of the Joint
Investigative Mechanism at the UN Security Council earlier this week─the ninth
veto it has cast to shield the Assad regime.
”Canada will continue to rally the international community to hold perpetrators
of war crimes in Syria to account.”
Quick facts
Since 2016, Canada has contributed $9 million to support the critical
verification and fact-finding work of the OPCW in Syria, as well as the OPCW-UN
Joint Investigative Mechanism for attributing responsibility for chemical
weapons attacks in Syria.
The OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism has concluded in the past that the
Government of Syria has used chemical weapons against its own people.
Statement by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs on
Guatemala high court decision on death penalty
October 28, 2017 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the
following statement:
“Canada welcomes the decision by Guatemala’s highest court to find the
application of the death penalty in civilian cases to be unconstitutional. We
hope this important step leads to the full abolition of executions in all
circumstances.
“This form of punishment is ineffective as a deterrent and incompatible with
human rights and human dignity. We urge all countries that still use the death
penalty to stop.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
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28-29/17
'Muhammad' is the Future of Europe
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/October 28/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=59852
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11095/europe-demography-muhammad
During the next thirty years, the population of Africa is expected to increase
by one billion.
The French economist Charles Gave recently predicted that France will have a
Muslim majority by 2057 -- and this estimate did not even take into
consideration the number of expected new migrants.
No doubt, Africa's exploding population will try to reach the shores of a
wealthy, senile Europe, which is already undergoing an internal demographic
revolution. Europe, to retain its culture, will need to make hard-headed
decisions, not just amuse itself to death. The question is: Will Europe protect
its borders and civilization before it is submerged?
French President Emmanuel Macron this summer ended up in the middle of a
political storm -- with accusations of "racism" -- for saying that women "with
seven or eight children" are responsible for the current condition of the
African continent, thus creating a challenge, according to Macron, that is "civilizational".
The United Nations states that Macron is right. According to the UN's annual
demographic report, "World Population Prospects," one-sixth of the world's
population currently lives in Africa. By 2050, the proportion will be
one-quarter, and at the end of the century -- when Africa will have four billion
people -- one-third.
In Africa today, there are four times more births than deaths. According to
figures for 2017, the total fertility rate is 4.5 children per woman, against
1.6 in Europe. During the next thirty years, the population of Africa is
expected to increase by one billion. It is not hard to imagine how mass illegal
immigration will affect Europe through such unprecedented demographic pressure.
African demography has already begun pressing on the "old continent".
When Germany recently opened its doors to over a million people from the Middle
East, Asia and Africa, supporters of open borders repeatedly said that a million
migrants are nothing in a European population of 500 million people. That,
however, was the wrong comparison. The right comparison is between recent
arrivals and new births. In 2015 and 2016, 5.1 million children were born in
Europe. In the same period, according to a Pew Research Center report,
approximately 2.5 million migrants reached Europe. And, as many countries, such
as France, refuse to list the new births according to ethnic origin, there is no
way to know how many of Europe's births can be attributed to Muslim communities.
In 2015 and 2016, approximately 2.5 million migrants reached Europe, according
to a Pew Research Center report. Pictured: Migrants off the coast of Libya
attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, on February 18, 2017. (Photo by
David Ramos/Getty Images)
Other UN studies also report about European perspectives, when "Europe" means
not only the EU but enlarged continent to the east. In 1950, Europeans numbered
549 million; in 2017, 742 million. In 2050 they are expected to number 715
million. In 2100 the number is projected to drop to 653 million. So, in 30
years, due to the demographic collapse, Europe will lose 30 million people and,
by the end of the century, almost 100 million. "Birth control" has worked most
effectively in Europe, which demographically did not need it, and worst in
Africa, which did.
Within Europe, there will be countries that shrink and countries that grow. The
growing ones will tell us what kind of continent it will be. Europe, with the
addition of demographic pressure from Africa, will be dominated by Muslim
majorities.
Europe is committing social euthanasia. Germany is projected to lose 11 million
people; Bulgaria will go from 7 to 4 million; Estonia, from 1.3 million to 890
thousand; Greece, from 11 to 7 million; Italy from 59 to 47 million; Portugal
from 10 to 6 million; Poland from 38 to 21 million, Romania from 19 to 12
million and Spain from 46 to 36 million. Russia is expected to shrink from 143
to 124 million.
Among countries with population growth, France is expected to grow from 64 to 74
million, and the UK from 66 to 80 million. Sweden is projected to grow from 9
million to 13 million, and Norway from 5 million to 8 million. Belgium's
population of 11 million is expected to increase by 2 million. These five
European countries are also among those with the highest proportion of Muslims.
In addition, last week a new Eurostat report related that the number of deaths
in the "old continent" rose 5.7% in one year, due to a population that is aging,
but that the demographic growth in high-density Islamic areas is tremendous:
"the highest rates of natural population growth were recorded in the eastern
London regions of Hackney & Newham (14 per 1000 inhabitants) and Tower Hamlets
(12 per 1000 inhabitants) and the north-eastern Parisian suburbs of
Seine-Saint-Denis (13 per 1000 inhabitants)".
The French economist Charles Gave recently predicted that France will have a
Muslim majority by 2057 -- and this estimate did not even take into
consideration the number of expected new migrants.
Last week, in the UK, the Office of National Statistics announced that this
year, among newborn boys, Muhammad is one of the most popular names, and "by far
the most popular if different spellings are accounted for". The same is true in
the Netherlands' four biggest cities. In the capital of Norway, Oslo, Mohammed
is the top name not only for newborn boys, but for men in the city overall. One
would have to be blind not to understand the trend: "It's the demography,
stupid".
No doubt, Africa's exploding population will try to reach the shores of a
wealthy, senile Europe, which is already undergoing an internal demographic
revolution. Europe, to retain its culture, will need to make hard-headed
decisions, not just amuse itself to death. The question is: Will Europe protect
its borders and civilization before it is submerged?
**Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and
author.
© 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.
Re-Defining the Near East’s Borders
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/October 28/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=59849
Recurring calls by Lebanese President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Foreign
Minister Jebran Bassil for the “return” of the Syrian displaced persons, remind
me of the campaigns of Eastern and central Europe’s extreme right leaders
against Syrian refugees. These calls are issued, however, against a background
larger than Lebanon, even possibly larger than the Arabs.
What underlines this impression is the campaign orchestrated by security
services associating most crimes and transgressions committed with those
displaced; which makes weak souls and dimwits believe the President and his camp
are right.
However, the most dangerous aspect of the Aoun-sponsored campaign is that it
intentionally ignores what created the “displacement” phenomenon and the
identity of the Lebanese culprits responsible for it. These culprits are none
other than those who pushed for Aoun’s election to be president, while hiding
behind his, his son-in-law’s and some security services’ pressure for two
reasons:
The first, is their wariness about future regional developments, since Moscow
has now overtaken Iran as the main power broker in Syria.
The second, because they want to perpetuate the lie that they value “Muslim
unity”, while working to destroy the credibility of moderate Sunni leaders, who
are deluding themselves by acting as if they occupy positions of real authority.
Last week, the Lebanese President, repeated his now familiar tune against the
Syrian displaced, but this time he added another ominous sentence, when he said:
“We are not going to wait: neither for a political nor a security solution in
Syria, as it is our duty to defend our nation’s interest”. These words were
uttered at a ministerial session in front of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and all
the ministers, including those who represent parties that presumably opposed and
still oppose Hezbollah’s fighting inside Syria. In other words, these are the
same parties which know enough about Hezbollah’s role in uprooting and
displacing tens of thousands of Syrians, beginning with the border town of al-Qusayr
and continuing with Greater Damascus and Barada River Valley. Yet, some Sunni
leaders are playing a waiting game, not only compromising, appeasing and
conceding to Hezbollah, but also accusing of hypocrisy and outbidding, anyone
who criticizes their appeasement and concessions.
Such a weird situation is inseparable from a regional picture where “border
lines” are collapsing and the ground is being prepared for new “partition
lines”!
It would be absurd now to talk of a “pre-2003 Iraq” or a “pre-2011 Syria”. The
tragic play is finished, against a background of rivers of blood, mountains of
hatred, and a dawn of adventurism, subservience, sectarianism and racism of
every color, shape and form.
Last week, even Arab intellectuals found themselves torn between supporting the
Iraqi Kurds’ referendum from a standpoint of respect to the right of
self-determination in light of Iraq being dominated by Iran’s mullahs and
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) through their henchmen in the Popular Mobilization
Forces (PMF); and supporting the Iraqi army’s reclaiming of “the Disputed
Territories” by force because it was its duty to save Iraq’s sovereignty from
the Kurdish secessionist threat.
In the meantime, there were those expressing doubts as to whether the Baghdad
government would be able to rid Iraq of Iran’s hegemony over the country’s armed
Shi’ite militias, unless western powers led by the US deal decisively with
Tehran’s aggressive policies. In fact, until now, and despite the change in
Washington’s handling of the Iran file under Donald Trump, its positions have so
far been more like a “letter of intents” rather than a courageous practical
strategy in a highly sensitive region; and is becoming even more sensitive as
Moscow tries to reclaim its lost influence.
In the same vein, it is clear that one reason behind the latest Kurdish setback
in Iraq was their over-confidence that Washington was now supportive of their
cross-border dream of “Greater Kurdistan”. Regardless whether the insistence of
Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on going ahead with the referendum was or was not
a wise decision, one might say that ambiguous American messages to Kurds in
northern Syria encouraged Barzani to go far.
Even a less clever Kurdish leader than Barzani, I reckon, would have never taken
such a huge gamble had these messages been there, given old Kurdish divisions,
open Iranian and Turkish aggressive opposition, and the hesitation of the
international community in partitioning Iraq at this stage.
Well, what about Syria then?
Ever since Washington “invented” a militia, and gave it the attractive name
“Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF); even before that, ever since it chose to back
the “People's Protection Units” (YPG) Kurdish militia – which is the backbone of
SDF – in the battles in Ain al-Arab (Kobane), with no regard to Turkey’s
reservations and criticisms, it encouraged Kurdish dreams of “Greater
Kurdistan”. Dreams that would create an entity extending from Alexandretta
(Iskenderun) on the Mediterranean to Kermanshah in Western Iran, and from
Diyarbakir in Eastern Turkey to Urmia in Northwest Iran, including all of
Northern Syria and Iraq. Moreover, Washington’s backing of the YPG in the battle
of Ain al-Arab against ISIS, took place shortly after former US President Barack
Obama openly made light of the potential and capabilities of the Syrian
opposition, namely the Free Syrian Army. One would argue however that had
Washington given this opposition a quarter of what it gave the YPG the situation
in Syria could have been different.
Anyway, all this is in the past now.
The Obama presidency is over, while Moscow’s engagement with the “peoples” of
Syria is now a vital element of how Syria, along with Lebanon, may look like in
the future in cooperation with both the US and Israel.
The Geneva peace process and its UN envoy Staffan de Mistura are now nothing but
a meaningless show after Washington had allowed Moscow to make the “Astana
talks” (sponsored with Turkey and Iran) as the real alternative; and after the
demise of ISIS, that sham organization the Great Powers used to justify
partitioning the region after uprooting and expelling around 20 million Sunni
Arabs from Syria and Iraq.
In short, what we are dealing with today is redrawing the map of the Arab Near
East, from Lebanon to Iraq; a project much bigger than the local players as Mr.
Masoud Barzani has now discovered.
Be Careful Who You Call a 'White Supremacist'
Megan McArdle/Bloomberg View/Saturday, 28 October, 2017
“The NFL Protests Are a Perfect Study of How White Supremacy Works” reads the
headline on a recent article at the Root. Which is confusing if you think of
“white supremacy” as an apartheid system like Jim Crow, and “white supremacists”
as angry people running around in sheets and hoods. The Root's looser use of
“white supremacy,” to describe something considerably less explicit than
advocating a race war, has become increasingly common.
The term was popularized by academic race theory, where it seems to have largely
replaced previous terms of art like “institutional racism” or “systemic racism.”
Now it is migrating out of the ivory tower and into everyday discourse, puzzling
the millions of Americans who are used to an older, narrower meaning.
It’s easy to see why writers and academics find the term appealing.
“Institutional racism” conjures up images of beige-carpeted offices and rows of
desks; “systemic racism” sounds like some sort of plumbing problem. “White
supremacy,” on the other hand, packs a visceral punch that commands the reader’s
attention. Because they’re describing something that needs attention, it’s
useful to have a phrase that does the job.
Nonetheless, using “white supremacy” this way is a mistake. It leads to
confusion in the national conversation, because opposing sides are using a
critical term in very different ways. It hampers our ability to discuss the
phenomenon that the anti-racists actually want to discuss. And ultimately, if we
continue to use it this way, it will lose the very emotional resonance that made
it an appealing substitute for more clinical terms.
The redefinition of “white supremacy” is part of a broader tendency to take
words with narrow meanings and a highly negative connotation, and redeploy them
in much broader ways. Take the use of the word “misogyny.” The word literally
means “hatred of women”; politics transformed it into “someone who believes that
women are not men’s social and intellectual equals.” But recently, that
definition has broadened to include, for example, people who do not support the
right to an abortion, people who do not think that women should serve in combat,
or Google engineers who think that maybe fewer women than men are interested in
high-level STEM careers.
If you strongly disapprove of these political views, it’s tempting to conflate
them with hatred of women. Unfortunately, when you use “misogyny” in this way,
you do not get people to take lesser forms of sexism more seriously. In fact,
you run the risk that people might stop taking actual misogyny so seriously.
It’s the inverse of what Steven Pinker has dubbed “the euphemism treadmill,”
where we try to find nicer words for something we don’t think is very nice, and
find that the new words quickly take on all the old connotations. So “toilet,”
turns into “bathroom,” then migrates onward to “rest room.” Only we still know
there's a toilet behind that door, and whatever words we use about it, our
feelings don’t change.
This is why attempting to change how Americans feel about illegal migrants by
changing the terms we use to describe them is a project doomed to failure;
whether they are “illegal aliens” or “undocumented immigrants,” the political
realities remain the same. People who feel negatively toward “illegals” feel
just as negatively toward “undocumented immigrants.”
The invective treadmill works in a similar fashion, only in reverse.
The lexical activists seem to hope that by using strong words to describe
diffuse structural and social problems, they can tap into the moral outrage that
society feels toward men who deride female equality, or toward those who prate
of race war while strutting around in swastika armbands. The idea is apparently
that if we put the racial inequalities perpetuated by the criminal justice
system on the same moral plane as lynch mobs and segregated lunch counters,
people will have to attack the former with the same vigor we would use against
any attempt to bring back Jim Crow.
This overestimates the power of words. People make a stark moral distinction
between sins of omission and sins of commission; between policies that
disadvantage some group inadvertently, in the process of pursuing some other
goal, and those that are expressly aimed at oppression; between the petty
tribalism that all humans engage in, and the advocacy of genocide. You are
unlikely to erase these moral distinctions by rewriting the dictionary.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, I found myself confronted by a curious
problem: Many of my readers simply didn’t take it seriously when I pointed out
that Donald Trump was, if not an outright racist himself, at least happily
pandering to people who were.
“The media calls every Republican racist,” my conservative readers replied.
“They said it about Mitt Romney, they said it about George Bush, so what’s
different about Trump?”
They were right. Other columnists had accused Romney and Bush of being racist
and pandering to racists. I pointed out that Trump's racist appeals were
different, and much worse, than anything that earlier Republican presidential
candidates had been accused of. But it didn’t do any good. The media had cried
wolf to condemn garden-variety Republicans; labels like “racist” had been
rendered useless when a true threat emerged. We shouted to no avail as Trump
coyly flirted with hardcore white supremacists, something no mainstream party
had done for decades.
Indeed, it seems to me that critical race theorists have gone to “white
supremacy” precisely because the increasingly broad uses of the word “racism”
have made it less effective than it used to be at rallying moral outrage. The
term still packs some wallop, but less than it once did, because it is now
defined so broadly that a Broadway musical could sing “Everyone’s a Little Bit
Racist.” White supremacy, on the other hand, is still clearly understood as
beyond the pale.
But if we indiscriminately apply the term to everything from the alt-right white
nationalist Richard Spencer, to anyone who thinks that football players should
stand for the national anthem … for how long will white supremacy still be
considered beyond the pale? What happens if people accused of racism start
shrugging off the epithet -- or worse, embracing it? And when another Richard
Spencer comes along, how will we convey how dangerous he is?
In long run, Israel favors secular Assad over Shiite
Islamist regime in Syria
Dr. Yaron Friedman/Ynetnews/October 28/17
Analysis: Russian-Iranian relations experienced many ups and downs over the
years, but have been improved following the cooperation in the civil war in
Syria. Will this new alliance break up once the battles in Syria are over? No
one knows, but Saudi Arabia and Israel have both indicated they would rather see
a Russian Syria than an Iranian Syria.
The map of the civil war in Syria has changed dramatically over the past few
months. The Islamic State’s collapse gave all parties—the Syrian army, the Turks
and the Kurds—a chance to seize lands that were under the Sunni terror
organization’s control.
Bashar Assad’s army controls nearly two-thirds of Syria, following about two
years in which forces loyal to Russia and pro-Iranian forces fought side by
side. But as the moment of truth draws nearer, the question is: Do Russia and
Iran share the same goals? And what is the Israeli and Saudi stance on the
issue?
Unlike Israel-US relations, Russia and Iran share no values whatsoever. Russia
is a sort of secular dictatorship, and Iran is a religious Islamic country. The
future of the interest-based cooperation between these two countries in Syria is
unpredictable.
Iran and Russia relations experienced many ups and downs over the years. After
the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran severed ties with the Soviet Union and even
referred to it as “the lesser Satan.” From 1980 to 1988, Russia helped Iraq in
its war against Iran. The revolution began after the Soviet Union’s dissolution,
when Russia built Iran’s nuclear reactor in Bushehr in 1992.
Russian President Vladimir Putin upgraded the relations between the countries
and signed many agreements with Iran in the military and energy fields. The fact
that both countries were subject to hostility and sanctions from the United
States and the West only brought them closer together. The crisis in Syria
created, for the first time, a military coalition between the two countries and
between their protégés—the Syrian army and different Shiite militias.
Disagreements about Syria
The conflicts of interest between Russia and Iran emerged, however, at the start
of the direct Russian involvement in Syria in the summer of 2015. The repeated
ceasefires declared by Russia were regularly violated by the Shiite militias
supported by Tehran. Russia realized its Iranian partner had no interest in an
agreement, but only in a military takeover, using the advantage gained by the
“resistance axis” (the “makauma”) over the Sunni opposition for the first time
since 2015.
Russia, on the other hand, is willing to settle for an agreement that would end
the war and secure the Syrian army’s advantage, allowing Moscow to sustain its
naval and air bases in northwest Syria over a long period of time.
Russia and Iran’s long-term conflicts of interests are more fundamental and have
to do with the definition of the nature of the post-war Syrian state. Russia
wants secular Assad’s regime to continue and has no problem with its dictatorial
nature, as long as it maintains its absolute loyalty to the Russians and keeps
purchasing Russian weapons as it did before the war.
Iran, on the other hand, has far-reaching aspirations concerning Syria and it
won’t settle for restoring the situation to its previous state. As far as Tehran
is concerned, Syria is part of the “Shiite project,” in which the entire
southern part of Syria, including some of its capital, Damascus, would turn into
a base of Hezbollah and Afghan and Iraqi militias under the Revolutionary
Guards’ supervision.
Iran is interested in creating a land corridor from its territory to Lebanon
through Iraq and Syria, as well as in opening a new front against Israel in the
Golan Heights. The way Iran sees it, the future state of Syria will be under the
influence of Shiite religious clerics, who the Alawi sheikhs will be subject to
as well. The past two years have seen Shiite ceremonies being held in public for
the first time in Damascus, which used to be the heart of the Sunni world.
Russia doesn’t want to discover that it launched a war on Sunni Islamic terror
it launched only for it to be replaced by a new Shiite Islamic entity. Russia is
aware of the fact that Iran took advantage of its intervention in favor of the
Syrian regime to settle scores with Sunni organization based on Shiite religious
revenge.
Which protégé will control the region?
Russia isn’t interested in a continued involvement of Hezbollah, Iran’s main
protégé, in all the wars taking place in Syria. Rather, it is interested in
bolstering the Syrian military’s wing that is under its command. Moscow is thus
making an effort to dissolve the militias loyal to the Assad regime and get them
to join the Syrian army, hoping to secure Russian control of the areas conquered
from the moderate rebels and from ISIS and to prevent Iran from seizing these
lands. In the past two years, Russia established two new brigades in the Syrian
army for that purpose, and it is providing the army with weapons, training and
even medals for merit.
Although it won’t admit it, Russia is following Hezbollah’s takeover of entire
quarters in the main cities of Aleppo and Damascus, and the establishment of
Hezbollah’s permanent bases along the border with Lebanon on Syrian soil, with
great concern. The Russians believe there are units within the Syrian army that
are under Russian control but obey the Revolutionary Guards. These units could
turn into rivals at the end of the war.
The Iranian aid, which saved the Syrian regime from 2012 to 2014, is basically
no longer needed since the summer of 2015, when Russia became directly involved
in the Syrian civil war. Now that the Syrian army is growing and being led by
the Russians to occupation and victory in most parts of Syria, the Iranian
involvement is turning into a burden. Iran is interested in receiving a return
for its huge sacrifice and financial investment in the Syrian regime since the
beginning of the crisis. But, as we know, there are no free gifts.
Russian-Iranian cooperation still needed
Meanwhile, since the war isn’t over yet, Russia is demonstrating its loyalty to
its Iranian ally. ISIS hasn’t been completely eliminated yet, and there are
other serious problems in northern Syria which require a continuation of the
Russian-Iranian cooperation.
In the northeastern arena, the Kurds scored a huge achievement recently with the
occupation of the city of Raqqa, the Sunni terror organization’s capital in
Syria, and are about to progress in full force to Deir al-Zour, Syria's oil
center, where they are expected to clash with the Syrian army. This is another
area where there will likely be a clash between the Russians, who are willing to
consider a compromise with the Kurds, and the Iranians, who see the Kurds as
“agents of the Zionist enemy” and a threat the fulfillment of the “Shiite
project.”
In the northwestern arena, Turkey was put in charge in the Astana talks of
maintaining the Idlib province, near Turkey’s Hatay province, as a “deconflict
zone.” Instead, Turkey has used the situation to bring its forces and protégés,
the Syrian rebels from the Free Syrian Army, into the province. The Syrian
regime responded furiously, stating Saturday that it sees the move as a military
invasion of Syrian territory. According to the Assad regime, instead of fighting
terror, Turkey is invading the province in full coordination with Fath al-Sham
(formerly the al-Nusra Front) jihadists, who control most of the area.
Russia’s ties with Iran’s enemies
In fact, Russia is indirectly harming forces loyal to Iran. The best example is
its full coordination with Israel and the recent cementing of its relations with
Saudi Arabia.
The fact that Russia is turning a blind eye to the Israeli bombings of Hezbollah
posts in Syria is quite puzzling in light of the alleged honeymoon between
Russia and Iran. Its warming relationship with Saudi Arabia is another
indication that Russia is looking into new options for the day after the war in
Syria. Saudi King Salman visited Russia for the first time about two weeks ago.
This was a surprising move in light of the fact that Saudi Arabia supports the
Syrian opposition.
Russia is well aware of the fact that the countries capable of helping in
Syria's reconstruction after the war are Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states—not
Iran. Saudi Arabia, on its part, is interested in isolating Iran and driving
Russia further away from it. The Iranians were undoubtedly concerned by the
talks between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which focused on drafting economic
agreements and signing arms deals. Saudi Minister Thamer al-Sabhan’s comment
last week, that there is a need to create an international coalition against
Hezbollah, received no response from Russia.
Dealing with a Kurdish force which already sustains an autonomy in northern
Syria and is supported by the US army requires Russian cooperation with
Washington. The possibility that, in the long run, Russia will favor the US over
Iran as a partner for the division of control over Syria must not be ruled out.
Unlike Iran, the US has no demands concerning the area beyond the Kurds’
control. Russian-American coordination would prevent a tough war between
Kurdish-Arab organization The Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian army. Iran
is aware of this option, which is why it vetoed an American participation in the
talks in the Astana conference, a move which was criticized by Russia.
A particularly explosive bone of contention between Russia and Iran is Russia’s
willingness, as it negotiates with the moderate rebels, to accept the idea of
evacuating the foreign militias from Syria. In March, a Russian newspaper
reported that during the Astana conference—in which Russia, Iran and Turkey
discussed Syria's future—the Russians offered to supervise Hezbollah’s
evacuation from Syria. According to the proposal, in the first state Hezbollah
would be allotted an area where its forces would be concentrated, and in the
second stage the fighters would return to Lebanon.
‘Shuffling the cards’
The fall of Aleppo, the opposition’s capital, in early 2017 marked the end of
the revolt that began in Syria in March 2011. All parties came to terms with the
bitter fact that after all the victims and suffering, the war in Syria was about
to end with a complete failure for the rebels. The Syrian regime wasn’t toppled
and the option of replacing it no longer exists. Post-war Syria won’t be a
democracy, but it won’t be an Islamic emirate either.
Commentators in the Arab world are now defining the unexpected situation taking
shape in the Middle East in general and in Syria in particular as a “card
shuffling.”
Russia and the moderate opposition are upholding ceasefires for the first time
since the beginning of the war, and meetings are taking place between former
rivals—Saudi Arabia and Russia, Turkey and Russia. What will the new ties lead
to? Will the Russian-Iranian alliance break up at the end of the battles in
Syria? No one knows. But Saudi Arabia and Israel have already indicated to the
Russians that they would rather see a Russian Syria than an Iranian Syria.
Dr. Yaron Friedman, Ynet's commentator on the Arab world, is a graduate of the
Sorbonne. He teaches Arabic and lectures about Islam at the Technion, at Beit
Hagefen, and at the Galilee Academic College. His book, "The Nusayri Alawis: An
Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of the Leading Minority in
Syria," was published in 2010 by Brill-Leiden.
How two stubborn men talked their way into a crisis
Cornelia Meyer/ArabNews/October 29/17/
Events reached a dangerous showdown in Catalonia on Friday. After much to-ing
and fro-ing, the Catalan President Carles Puigedemont instructed the Catalan
parliament to vote on independence. The opposition conservatives, liberals and
socialists left the chamber in protest and independence was approved. While this
was happening in Barcelona, in Madrid Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy prepared to
fire the Catalan government, dissolve the regional parliament and call for a
snap election on December 21. This has plunged the country into its biggest
political crisis since the death of General Franco in 1975 and the return to
democracy three years later.
The vote of the Catalan parliament was flawed in several ways. For one, it was
illegal, because the constitution does not allow secession of any region. The
drama unfolded after an ill-fated general vote on Catalan independence on
October 1. Forty-three percent of the electorate cast their ballots, and voted
overwhelmingly in favor of independence. The civil guard disrupted the voting
process on the basis of its unconstitutionality. Europeans, who espouse lofty
principles of governance and civil rights, were shocked when they saw the
violent scenes unfold on their television screens. The European Court of Justice
and the EU declared the vote illegal. The US and the UN came down on the side of
the constitution and the central government. They did so again on Friday. The
government now faces the task of implementing direct rule for the first time
since General Franco and the world is watching with bated breath, recalling the
raucous scenes earlier in the month.
This was a clear case of the regional and central governments escalating the
situation with rhetoric rather than allowing calmer heads to prevail.
Puigedemont achieved the opposite of what he wanted: Instead of independence
Catalonia is now under central rule. The people of Catalonia are deeply divided
between the separatists and the Spanish loyalists. He gained neither favor nor
sympathy from the EU (which he wanted to join), or with any of its member
states. Only the Scots were supportive of the Catalan President’s aspirations.
History may not look favorably on Rajoy’s actions either. There was the violence
on October 1 and his inability to calm things down. He refused dialogue, citing
the unconstitutionality of the actions by the Catalan government. So much did
Rajoy bungle the situation that even an ardent supporter of Scottish
independence complimented the UK government on the professional way in which it
allowed for the Scottish independence referendum within constitutional
boundaries in 2014. She did so during the BBC’s prime-time flagship program
Newsnight.
The Catalan leader demanded independence and has achieved the opposite, while
the Spanish Prime Minister’s bungling has led to violence on the streets. It is
time for calm heads to prevail.
Cornelia Meyer
Project Catalonia is at this point neither politically nor economically
feasible, irrespective of the now suspended regional government’s views. The
population is deeply divided. There are no provisions for government
institutions to make defense or foreign policy, and there is no currency.
Outside the EU it would be difficult for the Catalan economy to exist. There
would be no access to European Central Bank funding or to EU grants. There would
also be no access to the customs union or to the common market. This has been
reflected by the fact that more than 20 of the region’s largest companies are in
the process of moving their headquarters elsewhere in Spain – among them the two
largest Catalan banks, Caixa General and Banco Sabadell. Catalans may have a
genuine cause for complaint in that they produce about 20 percent of the
country’s GDP and do not see enough of the tax revenues they generate
redistributed back to their region. They might feel differently, though, if they
had to take on their fair share of the Spanish debt, which stands at about 100
percent of GDP.
This crisis also puts a strain on the EU. There are not just the Catalans and
the Scots. The Flemish want out of Belgium and there are rumbles in Corsica. The
Lombardy and Veneto regions in Italy have just voted for greater autonomy from
Rome. And all this against the background of Brexit.
The EU is ill equipped to deal with all these separatists sentiments. They put a
severe strain on the organization’s structure and call into question its
architecture, which is based on the nation state. It is therefore not surprising
that EU and international law come down on the side of the nation state, which
they see as the guarantor of stability and certainty. In the meantime we have to
hope for a minimum of violence in Catalonia before December 21. Puigdemont’s
call for resistance to Spain is singularly unhelpful in that context. Europe and
the world will be glued to their television sets until the snap election takes
place.
• Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert.
Twitter: @MeyerResources
The Future Investment Initiative and the new Saudi Arabia
Raghida Dergham/ArabNews/October 28/17/
Saudi Arabia is determined to “amaze,” as part of its strategy for national
renaissance based on social and economic liberalization, and next-generation
innovation, moving the kingdom away from the constraints of traditionalism to
fascinating horizons of science and technology. During the Future Investment
Initiative launch in Riyadh this week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled
the Neom mega-city project, fearlessly embracing pioneering futuristic
technology unprecedented in the Arab region, in partnership with top
international talent and leading global investment minds.
In his remarks on Neom, the Red Sea city for “dreamers,” the crown prince, who
is the brain behind Vision 2030, expressed political and social gravity when he
spoke of 1979 as a turning point in the rise of Islamic extremism and the spread
of the “Sahwa” religious awakening project across the region. He said: “Saudi
was not like this before 1979. Saudi Arabia and the entire region went through a
revival after 1979 … All we are doing is going back to what we were: a moderate
Islam that is open to all religions and to the world and to all traditions and
people … Some clear steps were taken recently and I believe we will obliterate
the remnants of extremism very soon.”
Such clarity about confronting extremism carries domestic, regional, and
international implications. It comes amid an engagement with Iraq and an
estrangement with Qatar, with the conflict in Yemen still raging. It also comes
amid a strengthening of Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States, but
also the opening of new chapters in Saudi policy, for example in Africa. Nothing
short of a quiet, pragmatic revolution is taking place in the kingdom, to
execute a calculated leap toward radical change. However, obstacles, pitfalls
and resistance are to be expected.
Several interesting observations can be made about the Future Investment
Initiative, attended by more than 3,500 international figures from the worlds of
finance, technology and entrepreneurship. One of the first things visitors
noticed was that the Saudi women in attendance were not wearing the traditional
black robes, but colorful garments. This is important because the theme it
captures is the right to self-expression. Saudi women, who were recently were
given the right to drive in the kingdom, have worked quietly and patiently
behind the scenes, lobbying for important rights, and the emancipation from the
logic of conformism behind black robes that all Saudi women must adhere to
captures this, and is no superficial matter.
Everyone expected the crown prince to attend his session, make his speech, then
leave, as is the habit especially in Saudi Arabia. Instead, he sat on a panel
that brought him together with three others, and responded to spontaneous
questions that brought him closer to the audience and Saudis at large, launching
himself as one of a new breed of rulers in the kingdom. At the dinner banquet
later, Prince Mohammed also surprised those attending, interacting with the
guests and taking pictures with them for over an hour. Again, this is unusual in
these occasions in the kingdom.
Certainly, the conference worked as an advertisement for the Neom project and
more importantly, the new Saudi Arabia as imagined by Vision 2030. There were
deliberate stunts such as granting the robot Sofia Saudi nationality, a
precedent anywhere.
Expectedly, reservations were expressed about the massive Neom project, to be
located in the northwestern corner of the kingdom over an area of 26,500 sq km,
with 469km of shoreline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The sunlight and
wind the area receives make it possible for its entire energy needs to be met by
renewables. Some voices said the project was in the realm of science fiction,
with no specific timetable set to bring it to reality, although the talk behind
the scenes was that it would take 15 years to materialize. Some expressed
concern over the huge funds that would be poured into the “dreamers’ project,”
given that the long-term economic reality is not stable. Some also spoke about
the gap between the fantastical aspirations of the project and the very real
problems faced by Saudi Arabia, from the differences with Qatar to the conflict
in Yemen and the rivalry with Iran.
Vision 2030 is only a few months old but it has already proved to be a leap
forward to a dynamic and bold future and the precursor to a new regional order.
Thanks to Uber, the taxi-app company, there was a chance to survey the opinions
of some Saudi youths. The first surprise came when it turned out that the
majority of Uber drivers are young Saudi men, rather than foreigners, usually
from the Asian subcontinent. Their views were not homogeneous, which is also
unusual when surveying Saudi citizens publicly. One protested at the situation,
saying he held an MA in law and had to work as a taxi driver after failing to
find work in his field. He said he was opposed to the crisis with Qatar and the
intervention in Yemen, and expressed reservations over the structure of absolute
power concentrated in one individual, no matter how visionary he may be. In
contrast, another driver said he absolutely supported the concentration of
leadership and its boldness in tackling extremism and moving the kingdom
forward. He said he was a dentist but needed to work as an Uber driver because
he needed two jobs, which he said he did not mind, and hated indolence. He was
full of enthusiasm for the new Saudi Arabia, which would attract top talent and
innovation.
The change in the Saudi mindset is not absolute. But something is happening,
namely the downscaling of that high-handedness that many had the impression was
the norm in the kingdom’s leadership. This change has not yet reached Saudi
foreign policy, but important steps have been made especially with Western
leaders in various fields as evinced by the Future Investment Initiative.
Clearly, the new leadership wants to strike deals with various nations, and no
longer deal exclusively with the US and Europe. The three main contractors that
signed deals with the Public Investment Fund for the Neom project are Germany’s
electronics giant Siemens, America’s financial group Blackstone, and Japan’s
SoftBank – the third largest corporation in that country after Toyota and
Mitsubishi.
Knocking on the doors of tomorrow with such major partnerships seeks to make
Saudi Arabia a global magnet for futuristic investments. It is a leap from an
inert past to a dynamic and bold future.
Such a leap to new Saudi liberalism from politics to the economy will no doubt
have regional implications. It is the precursor of a new regional order that
will be led by the Gulf nations and Egypt, and the private sector across the
region, and Iran will not be able to ignore it. The leap forward is taking place
in all sectors, in health, education, manufacturing, agriculture and employment.
Saudi Arabia has finished reorganizing its ministries and has established
mechanisms to monitor their performance. Riyadh has launched a revolution in the
relationship between the public and private sectors. The first major test for
the leap was when control of the oil sector was shifted from government hands to
a corporation, with 5 percent of Aramco’s shares to be offered in an
international IPO.
Saudi Arabia’s gradual upturning of traditional notions and policies is part of
a collective workshop based on an executive approach, to effect a historical
shift from a welfare state in which citizens have automatic privileges, to a
dynamic, modern economy unprecedented in the history of the kingdom.
This quiet revolution is far from the populist coups, and seeks to topple the
culture of complacency, while also confronting resistance from the
traditionalists opposed to liberalization. Vision 2030, which was launched in
April, is not even a year old yet. Nevertheless, only six months later, it has
proved itself to be a serious and astounding vision that is determined to create
a renaissance in the kingdom, by rewarding the dreamers and inventors, and
boldly going in a new direction instead of complacent catching-up.
• Raghida Dergham is a columnist, senior diplomatic correspondent, and New York
bureau chief for the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper since 1989. She is the
founder and executive chairman of Beirut Institute. She is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, and an honorary fellow at the Foreign Policy
Association and has served on the International Media Council of the World
Economic Forum. Twitter: @RaghidaDergham