LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 08/18
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
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Bible Quotations For today
No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old
Luke 05/33-39: "Then they said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding-guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, "The old is good."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 07-08/18
Lebanon: 'No reason' for military confrontation with Israel
IDF worried Hezbollah tunnels could endanger IDF patrols
IDF to UNIFIL: Neutralize additional Hezbollah tunnel
Israel may expand anti-tunnel operation into Lebanon, minister warns
Lebanon: Presidency Office Denies Premiership Remarks Attributed to Aoun
President Aoun Says Normal to Refer Government Formation Stalemate to Parliament
Samy Gemayel, Aoun Confer over Latest Developments
Hariri Says Not behind Govt. Delay, Rejects 32-Minister Govt. Proposal
Jumblat Criticizes Expansion of Cabinet Seats Proposal
Rudderless Lebanon Could Miss Out on Aid, France Warns
U.S. Ambassador Celebrates Achievements under the USAID-Funded Project
Japan to Indict Nissan as Well as Ghosn
Lebanese Businessman (Kassim Tajideen) Tied by Treasury Department to Hezbollah Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy in Furtherance of Violations of U.S. Sanctions
Analysis/Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Prove Nasrallah Has Cracked Israel's DNA

Titles For The Latest  English LCCC  Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 07-08/18
Netanyahu Told Sultan Qaboos He Is Willing to Cede Some Land
Shin Bet Inspects Qatari Money to Prevent Delivery to Hamas Military Wing
Israeli PM Netanyahu hails UN Hamas vote despite defeat
American activist tortured, killed in Syria, claims human rights group
US cautions Russia against tampering with suspected chemical attack site in Syria
Ex-FBI Director Comey Grilled Again in U.S. Congress
Trump Nominates ex-Fox News Anchor Nauert as U.N. Envoy
Iran mass-executes 12 prisoners of drug-related cases
Report: Iran Nuclear Program has Cost over $500 Bn
Turkey Asks U.S. to Lift Syria Observation Posts
OPEC, Russia Slam Trump's Intervention in Oil Producers’ Policies
Sadr Bloc Calls for Dialogue With Amiri to Resolve Interior Ministry Portfolio Crisis
Egypt Slams UN Rapporteur’s Statement on Cairo’s Housing Policies
Canada Arrests Huawei CFO for Violating US Sanctions on Iran -Report
Yemen Rebels Rebuff Govt. Demand for Hodeida Withdrawal

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 07-08/18
Lebanon: 'No reason' for military confrontation with Israel/Ynetnews/December 07/18
IDF worried Hezbollah tunnels could endanger IDF patrols/Ynetnews/December 07/18
IDF to UNIFIL: Neutralize additional Hezbollah tunnel/Ynetnews/December 07/18
U.S. Ambassador Celebrates Achievements under the USAID-Funded Project/Naharnet/December 07/18/
Lebanese Businessman (Kassim Tajideen) Tied by Treasury Department to Hezbollah Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy in Furtherance of Violations of U.S. Sanctions/USA Department of Justice/Office of Public Affairs
Analysis/Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Prove Nasrallah Has Cracked Israel's DNA/Amos Harel/Haaretz/December 07/18
5 Steps for America to Retake Global Leadership/James Stavridis/Bloomberg View/December,07/18
George Bush Sr.: An End of a Generation and a Political Culture/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,07/18
The Contortionist Who Would Bend but Not Break/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,07/18
Spare a Thought for Libya’s $67 Billion Wealth Fund/Mark Gilbert/Bloomberg/December,07/18
Italy Adopts Hardline Immigration Law/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
Palestinians: No Difference Between Hamas and Fatah/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
Why the Press Pays Less Attention to the Murder of Journalists Not Named Khashoggi/Peter Baum/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
Doha and Riyadh summit: What’s new?/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/December 07/18
How Arabs can tackle food security/Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al Arabiya/December 07/18

Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 07-08/18
Lebanon: 'No reason' for military confrontation with Israel
Ynetnews/December 07/18
In the wake of Operation Northern Shield, Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri condemns Israeli 'violations' of Lebanon's sovereignty but refrains from directly mentioning IDF activity on the border meant to neutralize Hezbollah's terror tunnels. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said Wednesday there is no reason for a military confrontation with Israel despite the IDF's Operation Northern Shield to destroy Hezbollah terror tunnels along the Israel-Lebanon border. "The Lebanese government is fully committed to UN resolution 1701, to the cooperation and coordination between the authorities in the two countries and the international emergency forces,” Hariri said in a statement. “The Lebanese army is the one authorized to ensure peace on the borders,” the Lebanese leader said. “The government is committed to protecting the country’s sovereignty.”On Tuesday, a tripartite meeting was held between the IDF, UNIFIL and representatives of the Lebanese military in the area of Naqoura/Rosh HaNikra on the Israel-Lebanon border.
"During the meeting, the Israeli team presented the evidence of the terror tunnels that were discovered,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. Hariri stated that during the meeting the Lebanese representatives expressed their opposition to “the continuing violations” of the country’s borders. The Israeli side violates Lebanon's airspace and maritime border … this is what the Lebanese representatives emphasized at the meeting,” he stressed, adding, “The government will continue to monitor the matter in cooperation with the relevant parties in the UN Secretariat and the Security Council."However, the Lebanese prime minister refrained from addressing the discovery of the terror tunnel network, while officials in the Lebanese army rejected the IDF’s claims and demanded to be provided with the exact location and coordinates of the underground terror infrastructure. The IDF's Northern Command said they have enough intelligence and operational information regarding the location of all the tunnels within 120 meters from the Israeli border, but the military cannot guarantee that all of them will be exposed. "Hezbollah has lowered its profile since the surprising and embarrassing discovery," a senior Northern Command officer explained. “After we complete the task, we don’t intend on building an underground wall like we are doing in Gaza to stop tunnel digging, therefore the operation might last not weeks but months, and we are prepared for it,” the officer added. On Tuesday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit released footage of two Hezbollah terrorists running away from a surveillance camera planted by the IDF inside one of the tunnels, as the camera—which had explosives attached to it—blows up. “For years, Hezbollah and Hamas invested huge sums and efforts in building tunnels and concealing them. Well, the army is methodically, calmly, and decisively dismantling this weapon," said Prime Minister Netanyahu at the onset of the operation. "The operation is due to last several weeks and will be led by the head of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick," said IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, emphasizing the Cabinet approved the operation on November 17 when "conditions were ripe.”

IDF worried Hezbollah tunnels could endanger IDF patrols
Ynetnews/December 07/18
Senior IDF officials say they've known about the tunnels along Israel-Lebanon border for more than two years but waited until plans for Operation Northern Shield were finalized. The IDF's decision to launch Operation Northern Shield to neutralize Hezbollah terror tunnels this week stemmed from a growing fear the underground infrastructure would be used by terrorists to carry out attacks against IDF patrols in the area, according to a senior commander of the 91st Galilee Division. "For two and a half years, we have been certain that there are tunnels, but the element of surprise was very important to us," the commander stressed Wednesday during a tour of the Metula area where one tunnel was uncovered. According to senior officials in the Northern Command, Hezbollah’s plan for the next war with Israel involved infiltrating Israeli territory through the tunnels, ambush the IDF forces that would be sent to the area, paralyze Route 90 leading to the city of Metula and isolate the area so the main Hezbollah force could invade unopposed from Lebanon. "We were debating when to uncover the tunnel," explained the senior officer. "Should we save it for war time or not, but my position was not to wait," he stated.
The officer underlined that the operation could continue for a long time and that the IDF is prepared to deal with any possible scenario. The IDF's plans for Operation Northern Shield were finalized a year ago but had been kept under wraps. The few officers entrusted with planning the operation worked in conjunction with the Gaza Division to study the methods to locate the tunnels, but at a certain point it became clear that a different approach would have to be adopted in light of the different geological conditions in the north, that include rocky terrain as opposed to the sandy soil of Gaza. At this point, the tensions in the north have subsided. Senior political and military sources say Hezbollah had been left surprised and embarrassed by the Israeli discovery of the tunnels."They don't know exactly the extent of our knowledge on their tunnel project or their plans, but we know a lot," a senior military source emphasized.

IDF to UNIFIL: Neutralize additional Hezbollah tunnel
Ynetnews/December 07/18
GOC Northern Commander Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick shows UNIFIL commander the tunnel IDF uncovered near Metula and presents him with aerial photos of another tunnel in Lebanese village of Ramyeh, demanding UNIFIL neutralize it. GOC Northern Commander Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick on Thursday gave the commander of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) a tour of the Hezbollah terror tunnel the IDF uncovered near Metula, and protested the violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Maj. Gen. Strick presented UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Sefano Del Col with aerial photos of a group of houses in the Lebanese village of Ramyeh, where the IDF says there is another terror tunnel is crossing into Israel. Strick demanded UNIFIL to work in conjunction with the Lebanese army to investigate and neutralize the tunnel. "We urge ... that UNIFIL take action together with the Lebanese armed forces to clear the area, clear the access to the tunnels and make sure that it is not used for (hostile) purposes against Israel," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a senior military spokesman. The UN peacekeeping force confirmed the existence of a tunnel near the "blue line" frontier between the two countries in a statement on Thursday, describing it as a "serious occurrence". Israel this week launched an open-ended operation meant to expose and thwart tunnels built by Hezbollah aimed at infiltrating Israel. The IDF said it "holds the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Armed Forces and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), responsible for all events transpiring in and emanating from Lebanon."Meanwhile, the IDF presented dozens of foreign military attachés, including the US, with information on Hezbollah's tunnel project. The IDF stressed Operation Northern Shield will continue despite the winter weather. "We've prepared for that with suitable equipment, warm food and heating to the hundreds of soldiers who are part of the operation alongside civilian bodies," the army said in a statement. "We continue with the effort of gathering intelligence about what's happening in Lebanon. Many Hezbollah members, including senior members, didn't even know about these tunnels," the IDF continued. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the operation's area with a group of ambassadors Thursday. "I told the ambassadors that they need to unequivocally condemn this aggression against us by Iran, by Hezbollah and by Hamas, and of course, to also strengthen the sanctions against these elements," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said he will demand the UN Security Council discuss the matter.
He said that at the end of the operation, the tunnels "will no longer exist and will no longer be effective."Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that the army is now operating in three areas where tunnels have been discovered. "We are aware of additional tunnels," he said. In Lebanon, the LBC TV posted an audio message that it said some residents of the border village of Kfar Fila received on their cellphones Thursday warning them to stay away from tunnels. "Hezbollah is putting your lives in danger because of digging tunnels," said the Arabic audio message, which appeared to have been sent by Israel. "These tunnels could explode. Anyone who is close to the tunnels is putting his or her life in danger."IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis rejected Lebanese reports from recent days that Hezbollah already has accurate missiles. "An accurate missile hits a specific target, like a building, and Hezbollah's capability in this regard is minor to non-operational. We continue operating against Hezbollah's accurate missile project, in Syria as well," he said.
*The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

Israel may expand anti-tunnel operation into Lebanon, minister warns
Reuters, Jerusalem/Friday, 7 December 2018/Israel is prepared to take action in Lebanon against Hezbollah cross-border tunnels if necessary, an Israeli cabinet minister warned on Friday. Israel’s military said earlier this week that it had found a number of passages dug across the Israel-Lebanon border to be used in carrying out attacks inside Israel. The Israeli military sent mechanical diggers, troops and anti-tunneling equipment to the border to shut them down. The Israeli military, which launched the operation on Tuesday, has said its activity would, for now, stop on the Israeli side of the border. But Israeli news media on Thursday quoted a unnamed senior official saying that Israel could extend its activity into Lebanon, and on Friday Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz reiterated that messages. “If we think that in order to thwart the tunnels that one needs to operate on the other side - then we will operate on the other side of the border,” Katz told a local Radio in Tel Aviv. What form the action would take was not clear. Over the past year, at least 15 tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel were found and destroyed, the Israeli military said. The United Nations peacekeeping Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), confirmed the existence of a tunnel near the “blue line” frontier between the two countries on Thursday, describing it as a “serious occurrence”. In the aftermath of the Israeli tunnel announcement, the situation has remained calm on both sides of the border. But the Israeli operation has brought renewed attention to a frontier across which Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war in 2006. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has instructed the country’s envoy to the UN to complain that Israel is waging “a diplomatic and political campaign against Lebanon in preparation for attacks against it”, Hezbollah’s l-Manar TV said. Since the 2006 war, Israel has largely refrained from striking at Hezbollah on Lebanese soil, but it has carried out dozens of attacks in Syria against what it said were advanced weapons shipments to the Iranian-backed Shiite group.

Lebanon: Presidency Office Denies Premiership Remarks Attributed to Aoun
Naharnet/December 07/18/The Presidency’s media office stressed on Friday that government formation remarks attributed to President Michel Aoun were “inaccurate.”“Remarks attributed to President Michel Aoun are inaccurate and do not apply to his positions on the government formation,” the president’s media office said on Twitter. “The Constitution has given lawmakers the right to name the PM-designate. If the delay to form a government persists, then it will be normal to refer this issue to the Parliament,” the office added. A media report attributed remarks to Aoun on Thursday that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri could be replaced by another figure should he reject a proposal to form a 32-minister cabinet as a way out of the Sunni representation dilemma.The reports also said that Aoun’s visitors have quoted him as saying that he “will give a brief ultimatum to Hariri to declare his stance on the 32-minister proposal or else he will address a letter to Parliament to discuss the governmental situation.”

President Aoun Says Normal to Refer Government Formation Stalemate to Parliament
Kataeb.org/ Friday 07th December 2018/President Michel Aoun on Friday denied a press report claiming that he will soon ask the Parliament to question the ongoing failure to form a new government. Local media quoted Aoun as telling his visitors that he's intending to send a letter to the Parliament calling for lawmakers to question PM-designate Saad Hariri over the government formation stalemate. In a statement issued by his media office, President Aoun dismissed said allegations as "inaccurate", adding that they contradict with the stance he had voiced repeatedly regarding the government formation. "The truth is that the President considers that the Constitution has given lawmakers the right to name the Prime minister-designate through the binding parliamentary consultations (Article 53- 2nd clause)," the statement noted. "Therefore, if the government stalemate persists, it will be normal that his Excellency refers this issue to the Parliament."

Samy Gemayel, Aoun Confer over Latest Developments
Kataeb.org/ Friday 07th December 2018/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Friday met with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda palace, with talks featuring high on the latest developments. Gemayel was accompanied by his adviser, Fouad Abu Nader. No statement was made following the meeting.

Hariri Says Not behind Govt. Delay, Rejects 32-Minister Govt. Proposal
Naharnet/December 07/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stressed Friday that he is not to blame for the continued delay in the cabinet formation process but rather the Hizbullah-led camp. “The government formation mechanism is clear according to the constitution and it stipulates that the PM-designate forms the government in agreement with the President. Period. This is the constitution that was devised by those who participated in the Taef conference after the bloody civil war that the Lebanese lived,” Hariri said. “There’s no doubt that a lot of parties do not prefer that implementation of the Taef Accord, the constitution and the laws. What these people want and what their project is have become clear and what happened last week does not harm Saad Hariri but rather Lebanon,” the PM-designate added, referring to verbal attacks against him by pro-Hizbullah parties and a botched Internal Security Forces operation in ex-minister Wiam Wahhab’s hometown Jahliyeh. “Everything that is happening is aimed at obstructing the formation of the government. The problem has become clear and no one can hide behind any issue to justify what they are doing. My political beliefs are well-known and the subservience of the others is blatant,” Hariri went on to say. Referring to the verbal attacks against him and against slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri, the PM-designate said: “What happened insults Lebanon and my family and this is something I won’t allow or tolerate no matter what they do. In the end, every person must bear the responsibility for his actions.” A statement distributed by the premier’s office had earlier said that “reviving the 32-minister proposal to justify naming a minister from the group of six MPs is unacceptable.”“Creating a new norm in the formation of governments is rejected and the PM-designate categorically rejects to endorse it,” the statement added.

Jumblat Criticizes Expansion of Cabinet Seats Proposal
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized on Friday a suggestion to expand the cabinet seats from 30 to 32, in light of the state’s “efforts to curb squandering and expenses.”
“In light of full swing efforts to curtail squandering and expenses, it seems cloning two new ministers is what’s required,” Jumblat said in a sarcastic tweet. Lebanese parties are currently mulling a new proposal under which a 32-minister government would be formed instead of one comprising thirty members. This would give Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri a Alawite seat in return for him giving up a Sunni seat to the pro-Hizbullah MPs. An obstacle related to the representation of pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs has been delaying the formation of the new cabinet for several weeks now after the so-called Christian and Druze hurdles were resolved.

Rudderless Lebanon Could Miss Out on Aid, France Warns
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 07/18/France on Friday warned Lebanon it could lose the international community's goodwill and much-needed investments if it takes any longer to form a government. Lebanon's economy has looked on the brink of collapse for some time but a Paris conference dubbed CEDRE in April earned it $11 billion in aid pledges. Polls held the following month gave Saad Hariri a new term as prime minister but Lebanon's fractious political class has since failed to agree on a government line-up. Seven months on, a breakthrough does not seem imminent and French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher warned that Lebanon stood to lose a lot. "We deeply regret that our Lebanese friends are not able to agree on a government," he said during a press conference held on a French frigate making a stop in Beirut. The amounts pledged in Paris were unexpectedly high and other conferences have also mustered support for Lebanon, whose economy has been in a downward spiral for years due to political divisions and corruption. The outbreak of violence in neighboring Syria in 2011 added to those woes, keeping tourists away and triggering a massive influx of refugees that has strained public services. "The lack of a government in Lebanon means running the risk that this dynamic in the international community is lost," Foucher said."That moment could pass." The French envoy explained that a new government was needed to undertake the program contained in the CEDRE plan and warned that investors would not wait for forever. "There are other countries that may need international assistance," he said. Government formation is often a drawn-out process in Lebanon, where a complex governing system seeks to maintain a precarious balance of power between its various political and religious communities.'

U.S. Ambassador Celebrates Achievements under the USAID-Funded Project
Naharnet/December 07/18/
U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Richard celebrated the successes and achievements of the $46 million agribusiness and rural development project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US embassy said in a statement on Friday.
Held in the presence of 300 officials, partners, beneficiaries, and stakeholders, the event showcased the Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD) project’s achievements in the agro food and rural tourism sectors over the past six years. LIVCD reached 19,000 beneficiaries, leveraged $27.7 million in private investment, and generated more than $140 million in sales, including about $20 million in new exports.
In her remarks, Ambassador Richard reiterated the U.S. Government’s ongoing commitment to enhance economic opportunities for small businesses, women and youth. Ambassador Richard then toured an exhibition where LIVCD partners displayed their products and new technologies introduced by the project. Participating enterprises shared their experiences and communicated the impact that USAID had on their businesses.
Launched in 2012, LIVCD worked to strengthen the agriculture and agro-processing sectors by increasing the productivity and competitiveness of Lebanese products with potential to spur economic growth in rural areas of Lebanon. Supported value chains include olives, honey, grapes, avocados, cherries, apples food processing, and rural tourism. The project has increased the incomes of more than 8,800 rural households, creating new opportunities for local people to remain in or return to their hometowns. Since 2007, the U.S. government has provided nearly $5 billion dollars in assistance to Lebanon.
Following are Ambassador Richard’s remarks:
I am really delighted to be here today. Thank you so much for inviting me and thank you all for coming. We are here to celebrate something tonight. We are here to celebrate our joint achievement under USAID’s Lebanon Industrial Value Chain Development project. This is a big congratulations to everyone for a successful six years of support to the agro food and rural tourism sectors in Lebanon. Together, we helped build better businesses and we increased the incomes of thousands of rural households.
The U.S. Government views Lebanon as a vital partner in this important region and we want our partners to have a strong and healthy economy that benefits the whole population.
We invest in Lebanon because we believe in Lebanon. Our investments cross a broad range of areas, from education, to security, to essential services, to agriculture.
It is particularly important to ensure the success of Lebanon’s rural areas that are vulnerable, and yet vital to its economy. This is why for the past 10 years the United States has engaged with local partners to promote economic opportunities in all of Lebanon’s rich agricultural areas.
We must all work to ensure the participation of all Lebanese in the country’s prosperity.
With our partners under the LIVCD program we have reached 19,000 beneficiaries, we have leveraged 27.7 million dollars in private investment, and we have generated more than 100 million dollars in sales.
More than 4,700 of the businesses we helped improve or establish are owned or managed by women. By directly engaging with local communities, this project has created jobs and sustainable sources of income necessary for individuals to remain in their familial villages.
These accomplishments are part of what makes us proud of the more than 46 million dollars that the U.S. Government provided for this support. And this is only a small percentage of the nearly 5 billion dollars that the United States has provided to Lebanon since 2007.
But beyond numbers, what really inspires us is seeing first-hand the impact of this assistance on farmers, beekeepers and small and medium-sized enterprises. From an olive farmer in Koura to a pickles producer in Zahle to a beekeeper in Metn El Aala, we have partners in all areas of Lebanon.
Each of these entrepreneurs has turned a small window of opportunity into a gateway to a better future. Some of their stories are reflected in the exhibition you see down there, and I encourage everyone to go have a look.
Tonight ladies and gentlemen is the closing ceremony for this project and it is a chance for us to look back, and to celebrate our successes, and thank all those who made the great accomplishments that we see here today happen, from the implementing partners to the farmers themselves and to the municipal authorities across the country.
But that does not mean we are finished. Our next strategic partnership will be based on the successes and the lessons learned from this effort, and will shift toward value-added food processing quality enhancement, branding and exports.
So, in closing, I want to thank you all really for being here tonight. Clearly, you all believe in the importance of local economic development, the importance of creating jobs, and the rewarding work of improving people’s lives. Your commitment was the principal engine driving this project’s success. We will continue to support Lebanon and we urge all of you to continue your commitment to help move the wheels of the Lebanese economy and lay a strong foundation for a more stable and prosperous Lebanon. Thank you very very much and congratulations to everyone who worked on this project. Thank you all.

Japan to Indict Nissan as Well as Ghosn
Tokyo prosecutors have decided to indict Nissan as well as its former chairman Carlos Ghosn and another executive as early as next week over alleged financial misconduct, a report said Friday. The report comes amid speculation that Ghosn and his right-hand man Greg Kelly will face new allegations related to under-reporting of the auto titan's compensation.The pair were arrested on November 19 on suspicion of conspiring to understate Ghosn's pay by some five billion yen ($44 million) in official filings during the five years up to March 2015. The Nikkei business daily reported Friday that Ghosn and Kelly would likely be indicted on those allegations as soon as Monday, when their current detention period expires. The daily said prosecutors had decided that Nissan was also responsible for the alleged financial wrong-doing and would bring charges against the firm.It reported that Nissan's chief executive Hiroto Saikawa signed documents discussing payment and employment for Ghosn after his term as chairman. But prosecutors reportedly doubt Saikawa was involved in the under-reporting, though he may face questions about failing to correct the false reports even though he apparently had opportunities to do, the Nikkei said. Under Japanese law, prosecutors can hold suspects for up to 22 days while investigating a single allegation. But they can seek an additional 22 days of detention for each new accusation against a suspect. Reports suggest Ghosn and Kelly could face a new accusation related to under-reporting of the former chairman's compensation by another four billion yen ($35.5 billion) over the last three years. The new accusation is also expected to be announced next week. Japanese prosecutors said they could not comment on the report and Nissan said only that it was cooperating with the prosecutor's office. "The company has been... fully cooperating with its investigation. We will continue to do so," spokesman Nicholas Maxfield told AFP. Neither Ghosn nor Kelly have yet been officially charged, and they deny any wrongdoing. Ghosn's November 19 arrest in Tokyo shook the business world, where he has long been a highly regarded top executive. In Japan, Ghosn was celebrated as a charismatic business leader who saved Nissan from the brink of failure and rebuilt it as a money-maker in the alliance with Renault. But since his shock arrest, he has been removed from the boards of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. Nissan has begun the process of choosing Ghosn's successor, with the final decision expected on December 17.

الموقوف في أميركا قاسم تاج الدين تاج الدين يعترف: انتهكت العقوبات لمصلحة حزب الله
Lebanese Businessman (Kassim Tajideen) Tied by Treasury Department to Hezbollah Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy in Furtherance of Violations of U.S. Sanctions
USA Department of Justice/Office of Public Affairs
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/69714/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d9%82%d9%88%d9%81-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83%d8%a7-%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%b3%d9%85-%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%ac-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%ac-%d8%a7%d9%84/
Thursday, December 6, 2018
For Immediate Release
Kassim Tajideen, the operator of a network of businesses in Lebanon and Africa whom the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated as an important financial supporter to the Hezbollah terror organization, pleaded guilty today to charges associated with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him.
The announcement was made by Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker; Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers; U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia; Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan of the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Special Agent in Charge Valerie A. Nickerson of the DEA’s New Jersey Field Division and Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Tajideen, 63, of Beirut, Lebanon, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, in furtherance of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Tajideen was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2009 as a result of his provision of significant financial support to Hezbollah, which was named a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department of State. This designation prohibited Tajideen from being involved in, or benefiting from transactions, involving U.S. persons or companies without a license from the Department of the Treasury.
“This Department of Justice has put a target on Hezbollah,” Acting Attorney General Whitaker said. “In January, we started the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team, and in October, former Attorney General Sessions named Hezbollah one of the five priority organizations for our Transnational Organized Crime Task Force. The DEA worked for three years to bring this prosecution of a Treasury Department-designated terrorist for sanctions violations to successful completion. I want to thank the prosecutors and agents Trial Attorney Joseph Palazzo and AUSAs Thomas Gillice, Luke Jones, Karen Seifert, Deborah Curtis, and SAUSA Jacqueline Barkett for helping us achieve this victory today. We are going to keep targeting Hezbollah and other terrorist groups and their supporters, and we are going to keep winning.”
“This guilty plea demonstrates our commitment to vigorously investigate and prosecute violations of U.S. economic sanctions,” said U.S. Attorney Liu. “Through the efforts of law enforcement here and abroad, this defendant has been held accountable for violating laws protecting our national security and foreign policy interests.”“This is the latest example of DEA’s recent successes against Hezbollah’s global criminal support network and reflects DEA’s determination in combatting this transnational criminal organization,” said Special Agent in Charge Donovan. According to the statement of facts signed by Tajideen in conjunction with his plea, after his designation, Tajideen conspired with at least five other persons to conduct over $50 million in transactions with U.S. businesses that violated these prohibitions. In addition, Tajideen and his co-conspirators knowingly engaged in transactions outside of the United States, which involved transmissions of as much as $1 billion through the United States financial system from places outside the United States.
The plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 60 months in prison. The plea agreement also calls for Tajideen to pay $50 million as a criminal forfeiture in advance of his sentencing. Tajideen has been detained since extradition to the United States in March 2017 after his arrest overseas. Sentencing is scheduled to occur on Jan. 18, 2019. This guilty plea is the result of a three-year investigation by the DEA’s Special Operations Division (SOD)/Counter Narcoterrorism Operations Center (CNTOC) and the DEA New Jersey Field Division, with the assistance by CBP. Assistance was provided by the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Tajideen’s case falls under DEA’s Project Cassandra, which targets Hezbollah’s global criminal support network - dubbed by the DEA as the Business Affairs Component (BAC) - that operates as a logistics, procurement and financing arm for Hezbollah. This investigation and others are part of the Department of Justice’s Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team (“HFNT”), a component of the Department’s Transnational Organized Crime initiative (TOC). The HFNT was formed in January 2018 to ensure an aggressive and coordinated approach to prosecutions and investigations, including Project Cassandra cases, targeting the individuals and networks supporting Hezbollah. Comprised of experienced international narcotics trafficking, terrorism, organized crime, and money laundering prosecutors and investigators, the HFNT works closely with partners like the DEA, the Department of the Treasury, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among others, to advance and facilitate prosecutions of Hezbollah and its support network in appropriate cases.
This case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the DEA and CPB’s National Targeting Center Counter Network Division, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph Palazzo of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas A. Gillice, Luke Jones, Karen Seifert and Deborah Curtis and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline L. Barkett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/lebanese-businessman-tied-treasury-department-hezbollah-pleads-guilty-money-laundering
Component(s):
Criminal Division
National Security Division (NSD)
Press Release Number: 18-1613

Analysis/Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Prove Nasrallah Has Cracked Israel's DNA
عاموس هاريل من هآرتس: انفاق حزب الله الهجومية تثبت أن حسن نصرالله قد صدع ال دي ان اي لإسرائيل
Amos Harel/Haaretz/December 07/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/69735/amos-harel-haaretz-hezbollahs-attack-tunnels-prove-nasrallah-has-cracked-israels-dna-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3/
Three days after the revelation of the attack tunnels, the military significance of the discovery is beginning to emerge.
Three days after the exposure of the attack tunnels that Hezbollah dug into Israeli territory under the Lebanon border, the significance of the discovery is becoming clearer. After the criticism of the IDF media blitz and the political leveraging by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it’s best not to lose sight of the military implications of the events. After years of searching, the army located a vital component of Hezbollah’s offensive plans in the north.
If the confidence that the intelligence community is expressing in its information proves to be well-founded, Israel is hoping to deprive the enemy of an important capability upon which a portion of its preparations for a future war relied. (This war is not erupting yet because at present is still does not serve the interests of either side.) Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal and its attempt to upgrade their level of precision are still its top priority, but the tunnels were also a critical aspect of its program.
When Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah first began issuing threats about his organization’s intention “to conquer the Galilee” in the next war, Israel was initially dismissive. But after Nasrallah kept saying the same thing in public, Israel’s military intelligence seriously set about trying to decipher his meaning.
Why would Nasrallah boast in this way when the most his organization could hope to do was send a few cells of attackers across the border for a surprise attack on a single community? Even Hezbollah couldn’t turn a few rocket barrages on the Israeli home front into a victory photo.
The answer gradually became clear only after the 2014 Gaza war. Israel realized that Hezbollah was aiming to copy the Hamas model of attack tunnels, in a slightly different form.
The tunnels it dug, which apparently were fewer in number and shorter, were designed to meet the specific needs of the northern front: the quick and secret transfer of hundreds of fighters from the outskirts of the villages in southern Lebanon into Israel, thus to lay the groundwork for a wider ground offensive that would immediately follow.
The balance of power between the sides is clear. Hezbollah, with no air force, would not be able to maintain any strongholds it seizes in the Galilee for long, but the shock that such a surprise attack would have on the Israeli public would be enough to give Hezbollah an image of victory, and all the Israeli air strikes and ground incursions that would ensue inside Lebanon would not erase this impression.
Nasrallah understands Israeli society’s DNA very well, as a member of the IDF general staff said the other day. The tunnel plan was directed precisely at this. “This was the cornerstone of Hezbollah’s approach, a move that was supposed to take us by surprise without us knowing what hit us.”
Asked how critical this operation was at this time, given the criticism in the media and the questions that have arisen in the political arena, his response was unexpectedly forceful: Had war broken out and we had left this threat untreated, the Agranat Commission’s criticisms of the IDF following the Yom Kippur War would have paled in comparison to what would have happened in this case, and rightly so. “We could not go on living with this threat for one day. And this is a genuine answer, not covering our ass.”
The suspicious Lebanese factory
The effort to locate the tunnels, which was coordinated by army intelligence and the IDF Northern Command with the aid of technology and engineering units, covered a very extensive area along 130 kilometers of the border fence. It was some time before a breakthrough was achieved. The teams of experts identified methods of operation and looked for unusual characteristics. At the same time, the area was analyzed from what would be Hezbollah’s vantage point: Which roads and sites are vital to Israel and where are the vulnerable spots that would allow access to them?
The IDF spent many months searching before it found the tunnel next to Metula, whose entry shaft on the Lebanese side was dug beneath a cement block factory in Kafr Kila. When the army noticed that the factory was not receiving materials but just transporting cargo from the site on trucks, it realized what was really going on there.
By the summer, conditions were ripe to launch an engineering operation. Brig. Gen. Dror Shalom, head of Military Intelligence’s research department, felt that more information was still needed to have the most accurate intelligence and be certain that the tunnels would be found. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, MI chief Tamir Heyman and Northern Command head Yoel Strick felt it was time to act.
Eisenkot permitted Shalom to present his minority position to the cabinet as well. Meanwhile, a debate arose over which action was more important. Avigdor Lieberman, who was still defense minister, felt that the threat in the north was not as urgent as the ongoing escalation in the south. Lieberman also suspected that Eisenkot was using the need for an operation in the north as an excuse to justify avoiding an operation against Hamas in Gaza.
When Eisenkot became chief of staff in February 2015, he cited the removal of enemy tunnels into Israel as a top priority. The trauma of the tunnels in Operation Protective Edge was still fresh and the defense establishment had begun a major project (budgeted at close to 4 billion shekels, or just over $1 billion) to build the tunnel barrier wall and develop technology to locate the tunnels.
In early 2017, credible information about tunnels on the Lebanon border began to accumulate as well. Eisenkot pushed to advance the move. We can’t repeat the mistake of hoping that the tunnels will grow rusty like the rockets, he told his people, alluding to former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon’s controversial statement prior to the Second Lebanon War.
But more time passed until the army had solid and sufficiently detailed information on the northern tunnels, and other challenges popped up in the interim. Israel began a campaign to strike Iranian targets in Syria with the aim of halting the entrenchment of the Revolutionary Guards and the Shi’ite militias there.
In the summer of 2018, with the tension rising over the incendiary kites and balloons on the Gazan border, the northern operation was postponed once more, though Eisenkot insisted that it not be put off as late as winter. It would be negligent not to start dealing with the tunnels in the north, he argued.
In September, the planned operation was presented to Netanyahu and then, on November 7, to the cabinet. In the cabinet discussion, Lieberman said again that the threat was less urgent than portrayed by the army and that the most necessary move at this time was a ground incursion against Hamas in Gaza.
During the interlude, in October, Eisenkot traveled to the United States and presented the tunnel threat to the American administration for the first time. Netanyahu also discussed it early in the week at his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels. The prime minister had many topics to discuss with Pompeo. The operation to locate the tunnels was first on the list.
So what will Hezbollah do now? The defense establishment is somewhat surprised by the relative quiet with which the Israeli action along the northern border was received in Lebanon this week. The sense is that Hezbollah genuinely did not anticipate the Israeli move and is still assessing the impact of its lost military assets that were exposed. However, Nasrallah is unlikely to let Israeli propaganda go unchecked for very long.
For now, a military escalation does not seem to be in the offing. And yet, the continued efforts to locate the tunnels will generate tension on both sides of the border, with an even more challenging problem for Israel lurking just around the corner: the Iranian effort to build production lines in Lebanon for systems that will improve the precision of Hezbollah’s rockets.
Netanyahu and other Israeli spokespeople have stated again and again that Israel will not allow such factories to be built. The fuse that could ignite the next war has already been shown to us. At the same time, many voices are still pressing for restraint. But all signs indicate that 2019 is going to be extra tense on the security front, regardless of when the next Israeli elections are held.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on December 07-08/18
Netanyahu Told Sultan Qaboos He Is Willing to Cede Some Land
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/A senior Palestinian official said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Oman’s Sultan Qaboos that he was willing to give up some land to the Palestinians, but not security control. “The Omani foreign minister informed us of what Netanyahu told Sultan Qaboos,” said Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee. “We were notified that Netanyahu told him that he was ready to cede some land, but he would not give up security control.”The Israeli premier met Sultan Qaboos in Muscat in late October as part of an Omani plan to advance peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Ahmad noted that President Mahmoud Abbas told Omani Foreign Minister Youssef bin Alawi, during a meeting in Ramallah, that Netanyahu had not come up with anything new and was not serious about reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. “Abbas told Oman’s foreign minister that what Netanyahu said is old talk that he often repeats,” Al-Ahmad said, as quoted by Times of Israel. “He told him that what he said is a form of deception and that Netanyahu is not serious about peace.” A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment in response to a question on the PLO official’s remarks. The Sultanate of Oman launched mediation efforts between Palestinians and Israelis, with Sultan Qaboos receiving Abbas and Netanyahu, respectively, in Muscat in October. The Omanis tried to bring the views closer in an attempt to start a new peace process based on the US peace plan. In this regard, the Omani foreign minister said that his country was proposing ideas to help the Palestinian and Israeli sides converge, but did not play the role of mediator. He said his country “counts on the United States and the efforts of its president, Donald Trump, to work towards the deal of the century.”

Shin Bet Inspects Qatari Money to Prevent Delivery to Hamas Military Wing
Tel Aviv/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/With the arrival of the second batch of Qatari installment to pay the salaries of Hamas employees in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, political sources in Tel Aviv said that mechanisms were adopted to ensure that these funds were properly distributed and would not be used to finance terrorism. The sources confirmed that all the lists prepared for the transfer were approved by the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet), to guarantee that the funds would not finance the activities of Hamas’ military wing. The sources told the official Israeli radio that Hamas employees, who are entitled to receive salaries, signed in writing documents proving that they have received their dues at the post office in Gaza and attached a copy of their identity card. The office of the Qatari delegate, Mohammed al-Emadi, who brought the $15 million in bags from Doha to Tel Aviv, through the Erez crossing near Beit Hanoun, handed Israel tens of thousands of documents for inspection. The first installment stirred controversy in Israel and anger in Ramallah, which has accused Qatar of supporting plans to separate the Gaza Strip by providing financial support to Hamas. The two batches are part of a sum of $90 million Qatar has allocated to pay the salaries of Hamas employees. In remarks on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified his government’s decision to allow the transfer of the Qatari funds. He explained that humanitarian problems in Gaza also impacted Israel. “The money was delivered in the past through the Palestinian Authority, but Abu Mazen [President Mahmoud Abbas] chose to suffocate the Gaza Strip,” he said. The Israeli premier stressed that his country demanded, and received, close supervision of those who collect the money, including their signatures and fingerprints.

Israeli PM Netanyahu hails UN Hamas vote despite defeat
AFP, Jerusalem/Friday, 7 December 2018/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday hailed majority backing in the UN General Assembly for condemning militant group Hamas even though a draft resolution failed to win enough votes to pass. The US draft won 87 votes in the General Assembly on Thursday compared to 58 against but fell short of a required two-thirds majority. Thirty-two countries abstained. “The draft condemnation of Hamas in the UN General Assembly received a sweeping majority by countries that stood against Hamas,” Netanyahu said in an English-language statement. “This is the first time that a majority of countries have voted against Hamas and I commend each of the 87 countries that took a principled stand. “I thank the American administration and US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for the initiative.” Haley, who steps down from her post at the end of the year, has repeatedly accused the United Nations of having an anti-Israel bias.
Latest confrontation
She has defended Israel in its latest confrontation with Hamas, the group which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has fought three wars with Israel since then. The United States had won crucial backing from the European Union, with all 28 countries supporting the draft that would have condemned Hamas for firing rockets into Israel and demanded an end to the violence. The European Union, like the United States, blacklists Hamas as a terrorist organization. It was the first draft resolution condemning Hamas to be presented to the 193-nation assembly, which has been meeting since 1946. Hamas praised the outcome of the vote, describing it as a “slap” to President Donald Trump’s administration. “The failure of the American venture at the United Nations represents a slap to the US administration and confirmation of the legitimacy of the resistance,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri tweeted, referring to militant groups that oppose Israel.

American activist tortured, killed in Syria, claims human rights group
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishFriday, 7 December 2018/A US citizen who had been held in Syria by the regime of Bashar al Assad for nearly three years was killed while in its custody, according to a human rights group and the State Department. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that Layla Shwekani, who was born and spent her early years in Damascus, but lived in Chicago was a “humanitarian activist.” In a newly released report, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said that Shwekani returned to Syria in 2015 and was detained in February 2016 by regime forces.
“She was registered in civil registry department as dead on December 28, 2016, and we believe she was executed in Sednaya military prison in the Damascus suburb ,” the group said. The report released on December 2, details 15 people killed by torture in Syria in November. The State Department confirmed to ABC News that they’re “aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in Syrian regime custody,” but they declined to comment further because of reasons of privacy. The Syrian civil war has claimed more than 500,000 lives, according to monitoring groups. An additional 60,000 people have gone missing since the war began, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons.

US cautions Russia against tampering with suspected chemical attack site in Syria
Reuters, Washington/Friday, 7 December 2018/The US State Department on Friday cautioned Russia and Syria against tampering with the site of a suspected chemical attack in Syria’s Aleppo last month. It also said that it had information indicating that Russian and Syrian personnel were involved in what it called a tear gas attack. “We caution Russia and the regime against tampering with the suspected attack site and urge them to secure the safety of impartial, independent inspectors so that those responsible can be held accountable,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement.

Ex-FBI Director Comey Grilled Again in U.S. Congress
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 07/18/Former FBI director James Comey, sacked by President Donald Trump in 2017, testified Friday before U.S. lawmakers for the first time in over a year, but this time out of the camera glare. The hours-long Capitol Hill grilling comes amid turbulence at the White House, and mounting intrigue over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump's presidential campaign and Moscow. Comey smiled as he walked past reporters towards a closed-door House meeting, telling them "maybe later" he would answer questions. Trump's bete noire had pleaded for a public hearing after he was subpoenaed by members of the outgoing Congress in November, but House Republicans including some of Trump's allies insisted on a private session before the judiciary and oversight committees. Comey was questioned as part of a Republican-led House inquiry into possible Russian interference in the US election, and email use by Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. Congressman Darrell Issa said he wanted answers about what he called the "fake dossier," a 2016 intelligence report including opposition research that alleges misconduct and ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. "We want to know what he knew and when he knew it," Issa said of Comey. He also complained that Comey's lawyers were preventing the former FBI chief from answering some questions from lawmakers. In May 2017 Trump abruptly sacked Comey, who was the senior official leading a criminal investigation into possible collusion with Moscow. Three months earlier the president met privately with Comey and urged him to end the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a move that many Democrats interpreted as an obstruction of justice. Flynn, who was indicted for lying to investigators, has been cooperating with Mueller's probe. Mueller was expected to provide court filings Friday related to Trump's jailed former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen. The president has repeatedly blasted Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt," and on Friday unleashed a Twitter tirade against Mueller, Comey and other current and former officials tied to the Russia probe. "Robert Mueller and Leakin' Lyin' James Comey are Best Friends, just one of many Mueller Conflicts of Interest," Trump tweeted. Comey's testimony will likely be one of the last sessions conducted by the judiciary and oversight panels this year. Control of Congress shifts in January to Democrats, who are keen to end or alter the probe. Incoming House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said the probe into FBI behavior was a "waste of time" and that he would shut it down. "The entire purpose of this investigation is to cast aspersion on the real investigation, which is Mueller," Nadler told reporters outside Comey's testimony. Comey had resisted answering questions privately, but struck a deal with Republicans that will see a transcript of the testimony published 24 hours after his interview.

Trump Nominates ex-Fox News Anchor Nauert as U.N. Envoy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 07/18/U.S. President Donald Trump nominated State Department spokeswoman and former Fox TV news anchor Heather Nauert Friday as ambassador to the United Nations. Trump told reporters that Nauert, who is in line to take over from Nikki Haley, had done well at the State Department. "She's very talented, very smart, very quick, and I think she's going to be respected by all," Trump said. Nauert, 48, had been touted for the post since October when Haley, a former governor of South Carolina seen as entertaining future political ambitions, announced that she was stepping down. Nauert -- a former anchor of "Fox and Friends," among the television-loving Trump's favorite shows -- became the spokeswoman of the State Department with no foreign policy experience. Unlike Haley, she is not expected to have cabinet status, meaning that foreign policy decisions will remain firmly with Trump's hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, and Nauert's current boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.She will need confirmation by the Senate, where Trump's Republican Party enjoys a majority. Early praise for the appointment came from Israel, which has long counted on the United States to veto unfriendly resolutions on the U.N. Security Council. "Ms. Nauert has stood by the State of Israel in her previous positions, and I have no doubt that the cooperation between our two countries will continue to strengthen as ambassador to the U.N.," Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said in a statement. Haley, in what could be a final diplomatic push, on Thursday failed in a bid for the U.N. General Assembly to condemn the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for firing rockets at Israel. But for the United States, the vote also succeeded in reinforcing its stance that the world body is allegedly biased against Israel.

Iran mass-executes 12 prisoners of drug-related cases
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 7 December 2018/News based on judicial Iranian sources spread on Friday about Iranian authorities committing mass prisoner executions in “Karman” prison. A minimum of 12 prisoners were executed, most of whom remain anonymous. The judicial sources said that most of the executed are charged with drug-related cases, according to the prison’s authorities. Meanwhile, Hrana News Agency said that human rights activists were able to identify six of the executed prisoners. Hrana’s report added that Iranian authorities delivered the dead bodies to the prisoners’ families. Iran has the highest record of executions worldwide, especially when calculating the ratio between the executed and the population. Political monitors have often confirmed Iran’s execution of political enemies as well. Children rights organizations list Iran as one of the countries that execute children under the age of 18, with the last case being Zeinab Sekaanvand who was accused of killing her husband when she was 17 and was later executed by Iranian authorities. Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who won the nobel peace prize in 2003, said that the Iranian code of criminal procedure does not allow a fair trial. Also, Shahindokht Molaverdi, Rouhani’s special assistant to citizenship rights, was heavily criticized by the Iranian regime less than two years ago, when she leaked news on the Iranian authorities executing an entire village’s men after accusing them of drug dealing.

Report: Iran Nuclear Program has Cost over $500 Bn
Dubai - Asharq Al-Awsat/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/A report issued by the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai has estimated the total cost of Iran’s nuclear program to have exceeded more than $500 billion since 2006. The report titled ‘The Economic Costs and Consequences of Iran’s Nuclear Program’, found that international economic sanctions have cost Iran more than $500 billion to date. The costs of developing and operating infrastructure and facilities for the program have added some US$50 billion to the bill, it said. The Arab Strategy Forum is set to take place on Dec.12 in Dubai. Its report was issued at a panel discussion on Wednesday in collaboration with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. Led by Dr. Sultan Mohammed Al-Nuaimi, Associate Professor at Abu Dhabi University and Expert on Iranian Affairs, the discussion drew the participation of prominent academics and media personalities. In addition to the cost of the Iranian nuclear program, the report “examines the consequences of the program in terms of economic hardship among the population," Nuaimi said. According to the report, the adverse economic situation in Iran has led to frequent protests in various regions across the country throughout the past years, with protesters citing inflation, unemployment, poverty, and corruption as their primary concerns. The United States decided in May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran, making the situation worse. The report highlights how the ongoing sanctions on Iran have limited foreign direct investment, FDI, flow to the country. Moreover, foreign companies have canceled new investment contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, especially in the energy sector that needs between $130 billion and $300 billion of new investments to maintain productivity until 2020. As a result, unemployment rates in Iran have risen, especially among youth. About one-third of the country’s young people have no job opportunities, which fuels their frustration with the local economic situation. The value of the Iranian rial has also plummeted due to sanctions, especially the recent US sanctions, which led to a surge in the price of the US dollar on the black market to IRR112,000 in August 2018, compared with IRR36,000 on the official market in early 2018, before the new sanctions regime. The inflation rate has witnessed unprecedented levels and is projected to reach an annual average of 203 percent by end-2018 according to some estimates, said the report. Various economic sectors in Iran were affected by the sanctions and their consequences, it said. Notably, the oil sector, which the country’s economy heavily relies on, has seen production and exports decline. The Iranian industrial sector, another target of the recent US sanctions, has also suffered. The agricultural industry has borne the negative impact of insufficient automation and the absence of modern technologies, and, to make matters worse, the local industrial sector is unable to provide an alternative. International sanctions have also led to the deterioration of Iran's infrastructure due to the drop in public revenue from oil exports and the reluctance of foreign companies to invest in the sector. Also, the sanctions have restricted knowledge exchange and imports of modern equipment, which has adversely affected the technology sector. This has resulted in heavy wear of Iran's infrastructure, especially energy networks, which has caused significant annual losses due to reduced efficiency and productivity.

Turkey Asks U.S. to Lift Syria Observation Posts
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 07/18/Turkey on Friday asked the U.S. to scrap observation posts in northern Syria aimed at helping prevent clashes between Turkish forces and a Kurdish militia backed by Washington. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar made the demand during a meeting with James Jeffrey, the U.S. Special Envoy to Syria, his ministry said in a statement. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had said that Washington wanted the observation posts to help minimise tensions between Turkish forces and Washington's Kurdish allies, including the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia which Ankara regards as a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).Akar also asked Jeffrey to stop the American collaboration with the YPG. Syria's long-oppressed Kurdish minority has established a semi-autonomous region in the north of the country, which has been wracked by conflict since 2011. Turkey refuses to recognize the territory on its border, fearing it will stoke the separatist ambitions of Kurds in its own country. Ankara has carried out two operations against Kurdish forces since 2016, the last against the border enclave of Afrin, which it seized in March and is now controlled by pro-Turkish Syrian rebels.

OPEC, Russia Slam Trump's Intervention in Oil Producers’ Policies
Vienna/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held its meeting in Vienna on Thursday to agree on a production cut aimed at curbing price declines. The participants did not hesitate to slam US President Donald Trump's interventions in its policies. Trump urged OPEC to maintain oil output to keep the pressure on prices. “Hopefully OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher oil prices,” he tweeted. Before Thursday’s meeting, Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih pointedly said Washington should back off. "We don't need permission from anyone to cut," he said. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, for his part, said OPEC does not make its decisions based on "politicians’ appeals on Twitter.”Rebuffing Wednesday’s tweets by Trump, Novak said the group’s members make decisions based on the market situation, the balance between oil supply and demand and available reserves. "In the first place we are focusing on the industry’s objective index," he stressed. After stressing that his country opposes reducing its oil production due to US sanctions, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh complained that it was the first time a US president was trying to tell OPEC what to do. "They should know that OPEC is not part of their Secretary of Energy," said Zanganeh. He explained that the estimated surplus currently on the market amounted to 1.3-2.4 million barrels per day.
Ideally, "the price would be better to stand at $60-70. That is acceptable for most OPEC countries."As for OPEC’s future trends, which the market is waiting for, Falih pointed out that the meeting “seeks enough reduction to achieve market balance.” OPEC, which pumps one-third of global output, wants to curb a 30 percent fall in prices in the past two months. He said that a cut of a million barrels per day would be ideal. "Ideally, everyone should join equally. I think that's the fair and equitable solution," he said.

Sadr Bloc Calls for Dialogue With Amiri to Resolve Interior Ministry Portfolio Crisis
Baghdad - Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,07/18/The Reform and Construction bloc, whose one of its prominent figures is head of the Sadrist movement Moqtada al-Sadr, called for a dialogue with Al-Bina (Construction) bloc headed by Hadi al-Amiri in order to reach a compromise to avoid a chaos that might hit the country as protests continue in Basra, south Iraq. This initiative coincides with Al-Bina endeavor to garner votes in favor of its candidate for the interior ministry Faleh al-Fayad. In its statement following a meeting for the leaders on Wednesday, Sadr bloc said that the necessity of resuming the government cabinet has been underpinned as well as presenting qualified ministers and abiding by the democratic and constitutional contexts. The statement, which Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper received a copy from, reported that the convening members decided to come out with a unified standpoint to hold a national dialogue with Bina bloc and the Kurdistani blocs, and to persuade the political blocs and deputies in the necessity of rerunning to the legal and constitutional contexts in resolving pending topics. The Reform and Construction bloc values the adequate time to assess the current government performance, its abidance by the government project, provision of services and implementation of anticipated development programs. The statement highlighted a fair representation of the Turkmen and Yazidis components in the government. A reliable source from Bina, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the crisis because of Fayad intentional and does not influence the alliance between Saeroun and Fatah since Bina didn’t impose its nominee. Reform and Construction bloc MP Nada Shaker Jawdat stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that it is not right that the bloc rejects Fayad for his person, as a matter of fact, it only demands that all nominees be subject to the agreed-upon standards. In the same context, Tasheh Party General Secretary Kamel al-Dalimi told the newspaper that all indicators show that the political process in Iraq is likely to be hit by a political tsunami that spares nothing.

Egypt Slams UN Rapporteur’s Statement on Cairo’s Housing Policies
Cairo - Sawsan Abu Hussein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Thursday a recent report by UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, saying that it contained “baseless” allegations about the state’s housing policies. Egypt has “invited the special rapporteur to visit the country from September 24 to October 3 as part of the government’s openness to cooperate with UN human rights bodies and to present the challenges faced by the government in providing suitable housing,” it said in a statement. “Egypt was surprised by the special rapporteur’s attempts to fabricate facts and create problems in her meetings from the very start of her visit to Cairo even though the state had provided her with all the assistance needed for her to carry out her duties,” the statement added. The UN rapporteur’s actions upon arriving in Egypt “raised suspicions that she deliberately intended to defame the country.” “These doubts were confirmed after the rapporteur communicated with Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel – which is known for its blatant support for terrorist organizations – immediately after the report was issued,” the ministry pointed out, stressing that the rapporteur’s actions “proved that the report was intentionally malicious and politicized, hiding behind human rights and fundamental freedoms.”The UN rapporteur “deliberately downplayed and concealed the government’s unprecedented achievements in providing adequate housing for citizens and the progressive and bold decisions taken by the government to create a shift in housing policies to ensure decent living standards for citizens without discrimination,” the ministry explained. It pointed out that the special rapporteur had seen the government’s plan to build some 600,000 social housing units, with 300,000 units already completed, given that five percent of the project units has been allocated to the disabled people. She had also seen the state’s plan to re-develop 46 unsafe slum areas inside and outside Cairo. The Egyptian foreign office said that the rapporteur’s “irresponsible and untrusted” actions raised concerns about her neutrality. It called on the UN Human Rights Council to take a “deterrent action against those who exploit their posts in politics.”“Egypt strongly rejects this threat to halt the work of special rapporteurs with Egypt,” the ministry said, stressing that such decision was “entirely outside the rapporteur’s jurisdiction and is a violation of her duty”.

Canada Arrests Huawei CFO for Violating US Sanctions on Iran -Report
Beijing, Vancouver/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 December, 2018/Canada has arrested Huawei's global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the United States on suspicion she violated US sanctions against Iran, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday. Meng Wanzhou, who is one of the vice chairs on the Chinese technology company's board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on Dec. 1 and a court hearing has been set for Friday, a Canadian Justice Department spokesman said, according to the Globe and Mail. The shock arrest of Meng, 46, raises fresh doubts over a 90-day truce on trade struck between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Saturday - the day she was detained. Her arrest, revealed late on Wednesday by Canadian authorities, is related to US sanctions, a person familiar with the matter said. Reuters was unable to determine the precise nature of the possible violations. Sources told Reuters in April that US authorities have been investigating Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker, since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping US-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of US export and sanctions laws. The arrest and any potential sanctions on the world's second-biggest smartphone maker could have major repercussions on the global technology supply chain.US stock futures and Asian shares tumbled as news of the arrest heightened the sense a major collision was brewing between the world's two largest economic powers, not just over tariffs but also over technological hegemony. Huawei is not listed, but China's second-largest telecom equipment maker, ZTE Corp <0763.HK><000063.SZ>, sank nearly 6 percent in Hong Kong while most of the nearby national bourses lost at least 2 percent. MSCI's benchmark for global stocks <.MIWD00000PUS> declined 0.61 percent, and US markets were on track to open lower by 1 percent or more. Investors stampeded for the safety of government debt, pushing the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note back below 2.9 percent to its lowest level in three months.
Huawei is already under intense scrutiny from US and other Western governments about its ties to the Chinese government, driven by concerns it could be used by the state for spying. It has been locked out of the United States and some other markets for telecom gear. Huawei has repeatedly insisted Beijing has no influence over it. Huawei, which generated $93 billion in revenue last year, confirmed the arrest in a statement. "The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng," it said.
She was detained when she was transferring flights in Canada, it added. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing on Thursday that China had asked Canada and the United States for an explanation of Meng's arrest, but they have “not provided any clarification".
The Chinese consulate in Vancouver has been providing her assistance, he added, declining further comment. On Wednesday, China's embassy in Canada said it resolutely opposed the arrest and called for her immediate release.

Yemen Rebels Rebuff Govt. Demand for Hodeida Withdrawal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 07/18/Yemen's Huthi rebels will not hand over the key port of Hodeida to the rival government, a rebel representative said Friday, as the two parties met for U.N.-brokered talks in Sweden. "This is not on the table," Abdulmalik al-Ajri, a member of the rebel delegation told AFP after the Yemeni government said it was seeking a full Huthi withdrawal from the flashpoint port city. The Iran-backed rebels, locked in a war with the President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his allies in a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, control the Red Sea city of Hodeida, a conduit for 90 percent of food imports. The Saudi-led coalition has for months led an offensive to retake Hodeida. The battle has sparked fears for more than 150,000 civilians trapped in the city. Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the rebels of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeida as well as the defunct Sanaa international airport, a charge Tehran denies.U.N. Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths, who has pushed for months for the Yemen talks, urged both parties to spare Hodeida as the talks opened on Thursday. Ajri also rebuffed a government suggestion that the defunct Sanaa international airport be reopened as a hub for domestic flights. "Sanaa airport is an international airport," Ajri said, slamming government-imposed restrictions on the airport as "arbitrary." The airport was shut down in the aftermath of 2014, when the Huthis overran the capital and a string of Yemeni ports, triggering the intervention of the Saudi-led alliance on behalf of the embattled government the following year. Saudi Arabia and its allies have targeted the airport and control Yemeni airspace. The Sweden talks, which opened Thursday, are the first meeting between the warring parties since 2016, when more than three months of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a breakthrough in the war. The Yemen war has triggered what the U.N. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis and pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine, with 14 million people facing imminent mass starvation.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 07-08/18
5 Steps for America to Retake Global Leadership
James Stavridis/Bloomberg View/December,07/18
As we approach the end of a long and complex year, and a turbulent election that saw a change of power in the House, it seems an appropriate time to hit pause and contemplate an approach toward a long-term global strategy for our country. We live in a highly tactical age, one that often seems categorized by the old saying, “the carnival moves on.” We seemingly have lost the collective ability to stop and consider where America needs to set its course.
Strategy is actually simple: it is the rationalization of ends, ways and means. But in today’s America, we have extreme difficulty staying focused on a single set of ends (what we want to accomplish); ways (how do we accomplish our goals?); and means (how do we pay for it?). Having spent a lifetime studying, developing and executing strategy, I have come to understand that simpler and shorter are better. Here I offer you a brief teaser on what our global strategy should encompass as we head toward the end of the second decade of this turbulent century.
All strategy must be understood and executed in a context, and the outlines of the global situation faced by the US are at once daunting and promising. On the dangerous side of the curve, we see the rise of an increasingly nationalistic China; a resurgent but fundamentally weak Russia; centrifugal forces pulling apart our greatest pool of partners in Europe; a lack of progress in much of Africa and Latin America; a Middle East in complete turmoil; a distressing deterioration of the global natural environment, especially the oceans; rising levels of cyber-insecurity; potential pandemics; growing numbers of authoritarian regimes; and a surge in international criminal activity — from human trafficking to weapons to narcotics.
But these negatives are balanced by what is going surprisingly well: startling improvements in biotechnology; advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning; better agricultural production; the rise of India, a huge and potentially powerful democracy; increasing engagement of women in the workplace and leadership roles; the resilience of democracy and institutions, in the US in particular; and better uses of what might be termed smart power: humanitarian assistance, medical diplomacy, education, strategic communications and the like.
This mixed picture is a good starting point for crafting the outline of a truly overarching approach for the US. Five crucial points are critical, some of which appear in this year’s National Security Strategy, largely penned by now-ousted National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
First, we need to maintain a truly international approach to our strategy. The US cannot simply retreat behind “big beautiful walls.” The slogan America First makes some sense, but if it leads to America Alone it is foolish. Let’s coherently include our greatest national advantage — a vast network of allies, partners and friends — as we decide how to approach the world. We tried isolationism in the 1920s and 1930s — how did that work out? We built tariff walls, cracked the global economy, precipitated the Great Depression, and walked away from the League of Nations - How did that work out? You can drop a plumb line from those decisions to the rise of fascism and World War II. We can do better, but only if we stay engaged across the globe.
Next, we must do better at unifying the interagency process of the US government and bringing the cabinet into the 21st century. Our agencies and cabinet departments simply do not work well together. We have Departments of Agriculture and Interior — perfect for the 19th century, when they were founded, and still relevant — but no one at the cabinet level looking at or overseeing technology and the cybersphere, the absolute heart of our economy. A coherent national strategy would seek to unify these disparate organs of government, and along the way place a premium on bipartisan cooperation. In Washington, we are more famous for political gridlock than for understanding our electric grid — that must change.
Third, and most importantly, our national strategy must encompass a new era of private-public cooperation. If you think about our national ability to influence events, you should visualize an iceberg — with the tiny tip of visible ice representing what the government can accomplish. The vast mass underwater — one-fourth of the global GDP — is the private sector. By linking our government to the vibrant American public sector — from the biotech belt around Boston to Silicon Valley to the innovative industrial complexes of our defense industry — we can achieve so much more.
Next, we should realize that our values matter deeply, and how we communicate them must be part of our national strategy. Democracy, liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of education, gender and racial equality — we execute them imperfectly, but they are the right values. Unfortunately, we are less confident in them than we should be, and are losing ground to authoritarianism, totalitarian capitalism and outright dictatorships.
The key to turning this around is our ability to construct a national focus on strategic communications — what some have termed public diplomacy. Our values are the right ones and can compete with other systems. But too often, we cede the rich communication terrain of the internet to others. We are not in a “war of ideas;” rather, we are in what John Stuart Mill more than a century ago so aptly called a “marketplace of ideas.” Our values can compete, but not if we don’t show up on the field, and above all if we arrogantly believe that they are so powerful we don’t have to even make the case.
Fifth and finally, the value of education is often underrated in our strategy. Having spent five years in higher education as dean of a graduate school of international relations, I understand this realm well, for all its challenges and frustrations. Education is at the heart of what we must accomplish, and a few strategic components here would include: cybersecurity at every level, beginning in preschool; international relations and an understanding of how the world interconnects; the study of languages, starting with Spanish (we are well on our way to being a bilingual country); the ability to discern truth from fiction on the internet; the basics of genomics and the bio-revolution that is just ahead of us; and an appreciation for the values that are what truly makes America great.
In short, there are five components that lie at the heart of what an American strategy for this century looks like: international, interagency, public-private, strategic communications, education. There are more complex layers to be added, but an approach that begins with those five elements has a reasonable chance at success. Pursing them would send set us on course to achieve our ends: a peaceful, prosperous, democratic world with a secure global commons.
Finally, in term of means, much of what I have described above is well within our national budget. We should look at how we allocate resources, particularly between the Defense Department and national entitlements (between them, the vast majority of the US budget), and consider how specific resources furthering our goals could be found. In every case, they are pennies on the dollar compared to many of the “requirements” in the current budget process.
None of this would be easy, or without controversy — but without a strategy, we are doomed. As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it: “To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.”
Without a grand strategy we are adrift. Let’s get underway.

George Bush Sr.: An End of a Generation and a Political Culture
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,07/18
When I told an Iraqi friend that I was thinking about writing my weekly opinion column about President George Bush Sr., his reply was a short silence tacitly reflecting disappointment.
Realizing his true feeling, his short but polite silence allowed me enough time to explain what I wished to say. In truth, I am neither a political “glorifier” nor a pro or against activist; but rather a serious analyst who observes political phenomena, studies them and concludes the outcome, especially, when the affect our lives and the fate out nations.
Thus, a serious reading of the career of a leader of a great nation must never be touched by a subjective emotional stance, but link relevant data, and study causes and repercussions on both the present and the future.
In the Arab world, Bush Sr.’s name is directly connected with the Liberation of Kuwait in 1991. While, on the global stage, during the Cold War era, his legacy was his quiet diplomatic approach which was less severe than the “ideological” approaches of both his predecessor President Ronald Reagan, and later on his son Pres George Bush Jr. However, what interests me most about this man, after his passing, is what has become of his political “trend”, and whether common denominators exist between his “school of thought” and what we see around us on the global stage.
Does the passing of Bush Sr. mark the end of American and international politics we knew between the end of WWI and the end of the Cold War? Moreover, does it point to the end of the American Republican Party of which he, and perhaps, the late Senator John McCain were the last representatives.
I recall that, as an inquisitive young man who was deeply interested in US politics, I followed the career of the then Congressman George H. W. Bush of Texas. I remember his Senate campaign in 1970 when he was defeated by his Democratic opponent Lloyd Bentsen.
Sure enough, that defeat did not spell the end of the political rise of the scion of a prominent New England family. Indeed, thanks both to Bush’s personal qualities, and being a son of the political and financial “establishment” that fuels the Republican party, that defeat was just a hiccup, after which he continued his impressive rise. Bentsen, too, did not end his career in the Senate, Democratic Party’s once powerful “machine” was steadily weakening and its power base shrinking. The old senator was appointed Secretary of Treasury under President Bill Clinton, after being a presidential running mate to the Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. It was actually ironic that the 1988 resulted in George Bush Sr.’s victory, which not also a belated electoral revenge for Bush against former old foe Bentsen!
Bush Sr. represented a different kind of “Republican party” which is estimated is living its final days in the states of New England, its former bastion, and home to America’s Anglo-Saxon early-immigrants. In fact, if Senator Susan Collins loses her seat in Maine come next elections after two years, there would be no Republican in the US Senate from New England’s six states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine).
In the past, Boston, America’s most venerable city and its cultural and educational “Athens”, and the city where George Bush Sr. was born, was like its state Massachusetts, a Republican stronghold. Its rich Republican “Brahmin” families were busy founding companies, leading schools and great universities.
Those days, the Republican Party – nicknamed the Grand Old Party – was the natural environment for Bush and those like him. His father, Prescott Bush, the son of a rich industrialist, served as a US Senator from Connecticut; and before his Presidents son and grandson, he graduated from the prestigious Yale University. The Bush family, would later spend summer vacations in Maine, although its business and political interests took it across America to Texas and Florida.
Today, however, the GOP is a different party from the one Bush Sr. built his political career in. Moreover, the “America” known to generations of the Bush family, from the grandfather Prescott through George Sr. to the grandchildren George Jr. and “Jeb” – a former Governor of Florida – is also totally different!
In a certain way, the generation of George Bush Sr. is similar to a comparable generation represented within the UK Conservative Party, by the moderate “One Nation Tories” wing, which was ruthlessly fought and almost destroyed by Margaret Thatcher.
When Bush Sr. initially entered the Presidential Election campaign, he was actually running against the “Reaganite” phenomenon, before calls to unify the party led to bringing together in one electoral ticket the “hardliner” Ronald Reagan and “moderate” George Bush.
This was achieved, and thanks to the strategy of a “balanced ticket” the Republicans managed to win three consecutive Presidential Elections between 1981 and 1993. Indeed, when Bush became the Party’s presidential choice, the “hardliner” Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana was chosen as his vice presidential running mate. Despite his distinguished military service during WWII, and his intelligence service peaking as head of the CIA between 1976 and 1977, George Bush Sr. always believe in politics through dialogue; and despite his patrician background and personal wealth he was a flexible statesman who would open doors and talk even with political opposites, which is why he was appointed as “Chief of the US Liaison Office” (i.e. ambassador) in China, thus putting the final touches of opening up to the Communist giant which began under another GOP President … Richard Nixon.
The rules of the game have now changed, the GOP has changed too, as have both America and the whole world. Politicians now regard mutual understanding as a burden, which is why they shun and seek exclusion and blaming others. The World is not large enough to accommodate even conditional coexistence. The “freedom” of the “free economy” is checked, and while “racism” is not an accusation to be ashamed of anymore, even in advanced societies which colonized the globe under the pretexts of spreading liberty, enlightenment, tolerance and … human rights!

The Contortionist Who Would Bend but Not Break
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,07/18
Visitors to the United States these days are struck by the bitterness, not to say hatred, that pervades the nation’s political debate. From the ringside, American politics resembles a giant pool of mud where those mired in it aim to sling as much mud as they can on everyone around.
To be sure, American politics has always had a streak of violence, sometimes beyond mere words. After all, 22 of the nation’s 45 presidents have been victims of assassination plots that succeeded in the case of four, and some say, six of them. (Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F Kennedy, plus Zachary Taylor and Warren Harding.) Since the surprise election of Donald Trump as President, the situation has worsened as trading of accusations and insults replaces political debate. One friend, a lifelong Republican, has been so angered by Trump’s election that he has moved to the other end of the spectrum, starting a new career as a critic of conservatism. Another, a moderate “one-nation” style conservative has gone in the opposite direction, out-Trumping Trump in his attacks on “the liberal elite.”So, you can imagine how surprised I was to scan reactions to the death last week of former President George HW Bush aged 94. It was as if his death had brought back a kinder, gentler, not to say more gentlemanly, America. Even when I dug into the dark corners of Anti-Republican partisanship I failed to find the kind of vitriol used against President Barack Obama and, now, against Trump. One “Socialist” paper noted that Bush had come from “a privileged background” but could not deny that he had been a decent adversary.
Those who tried not to elevate him too much insisted that he had been a “one-term president” as if that diminished his stature. In fact, of the 12 US presidents since the end of World War II, three others became “one-termers”: John F Kennedy, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Two more inherited half of one term from their predecessor and won one term on their own: Harry S Truman and Lyndon Johnson. One, Gerald Ford, inherited a term from his predecessor and didn’t win a term of his own. Three won the presidency without securing half of the votes cast: Bill Clinton (in both his terms), George W Bush in his first term and Trump. Only three won with more than half the votes and served two terms in full: Dwight D Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Richard Nixon, too, won two terms but served only one. George HW Bush’s failure to win a second term was mainly due to the presence of the populist candidate Ross Perot who broke with Republicans and split their votes into southern states. Had Perot not been on the ballot, Bush would have won in any configuration. In his characteristic disdain for shady shenanigans, Bush refused to make a deal with Perot in exchange for withdrawing his candidacy. Rectitude was a key feature in a life dedicated to public service. George HW Bush’s presidency had another special feature: it was the first time in four decades that one of the two parties kept the White House for 12 consecutive years.
Both presidents Obama and Trump have praised Bush in almost identical tones of respect and admiration. One wonders what would happen if they and their supporters maintained the same tone in debating their clashing visions for America. I first met George HW Bush, often referred to as “41” because he was the 41st President of the United States, in 1971 when he was named by President Nixon as Ambassador to the United Nations. He had forged a friendship with Fereydoun Hoveyda, then Iran’s ambassador to the UN. Hoveyda called Bush, who was tall and thin, (the Boneless Valentin) after the figure of a contortionist in the paintings of 19th Century French painter Toulouse Lautrec.” Like Valentin,” Hoveyda used to say, “this American can twist and bend but will not break!”
In his spell at the UN, Bush established himself as a credible figure in global diplomacy. However, fate had traced other paths for him. Two years later he was named Chairman of the Republican Party at one of its most traumatic moments. A year later, the political parenthesis closed, Bush was sent as head of the liaison office in Beijing to oversee a transition to full diplomatic relations with Washington. Bush’s next move, to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was away from politics and diplomacy and yet related to both.
By the end of the 1970s, Bush had decided to bid for the presidency. His first attempt stopped just short of the final goal and he agreed to become Ronald Reagan’s vice-presidential running-mate. He kept his own circle of personal friends, among then James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, Frank Carlucci, Robert Gates and Robert Mosbacher, and from the mid-1980s, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Hushang Ansary.
Bush’s success in steering towards a peaceful transition at the end of the Cold War is too well known to need repeating. When the Berlin Wall fell advisers urged him to fly there and do his own “I am-a-Berliner” number. He refused because he did not want to humiliate the losers of history towards seeking revenge. He led the war to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait with firmness and moderation and under a United Nations’ mandate. Victory in Iraq helped attenuate the dark memory of America’s botched war in Indochina.
Bush had a natural talent for winning friends. He turned Bill Clinton, the rival who had defeated him, into a friend to the point that First Lady Barbara Bush quipped that “Bill is one of my sons.” In 2009 I saw Bush at the library named after him at Texas University sitting at a table with President Obama munching a hamburger in an informal manner. And yet the deference that Obama showed was glaring. In the past few days, many adjectives have been showered over Bush’s casket, among them graceful, humble, compassionate, and patriotic. I think the adjective he would have preferred is “good”. In 2012 at a dinner in Washington DC for his Points of Light charity, I asked Bush whether he would back Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for the presidency.
“Yes,” he said. “Romney is a good man.”I think Bush took the adjective “good” in its Greek sense of “Agathon” which means “beneficial”, that is to say, beneficial to society, a concept that includes but goes beyond the moral sense. To have a good society one needs “beneficial” men in charge, an old American concept of politics As Americans bury their longest living president in history they might do well to revive some of the old concepts, or dare we say values, which guided the contortionist for nine decades?

Spare a Thought for Libya’s $67 Billion Wealth Fund
Mark Gilbert/Bloomberg/December,07/18
In a tough environment for asset managers battling with declining stock markets and still ultra-low benchmark bond yields, spare a thought for Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. It also has to contend with militia attacks on its staff, competing claims about who runs the fund, and United Nations sanctions that have frozen its investments for the past seven years. The Libyan Investment Authority was created a decade ago, echoing the efforts of other oil-rich nations to build a nest egg for future generations. The bulk of the LIA’s money, though, is subject to sanctions imposed by the UN in 2011 designed to safeguard the nation’s wealth from being pilfered. Ali Mahmoud Hassan was appointed chief executive and chairman of the LIA in 2017. The UN notes that so-called parallel institutions have at various times claimed to represent the LIA, but Hassan has the backing of the Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, which in turn is recognized by the UN as Libya’s legitimate government. The fund has assets of about $67 billion. That includes roughly $8.5 billion invested in some 84 companies in Europe and the US, including German insurer Allianz AG, UK telecoms company Vodafone Group Plc and Italian bank UniCredit SpA.
Dividend and interest payments from the investments, which the LIA says aren’t subject to sanctions, have been transferred via the Brussels-based settlement system run by Euroclear Plc to the fund’s accounts at Arab Banking Corp. in Bahrain. Opposition lawmakers in the Belgian parliament earlier this year questioned whether the funds had been misused to buy weapons for Libyan militias. In recent weeks, the LIA has ascertained that “there has been no misuse and no disappearance of money,” Hassan told me, speaking through an interpreter in an interview in London. Some of the income, which he says amounts to “a few hundred million dollars,” has been used to cover administrative and operational expenses, as well as the cost of pursuing legal actions. “But no third parties have received money,” he said.
As a result of the sanctions, returns on the investments have been miserly, amounting to about 1.5 percent to 2 percent in the past year. The sanctions that have frozen the funds limit its room for maneuver, meaning $21 billion is trapped in deposit accounts. As the portfolio’s bond holdings matured in recent years, the proceeds had to be transferred to the fund’s cash accounts.
In dollars, the interest rates on cash are negligible. In euros, the negative interest-rate policy still in force at the European Central Bank means the fund pays for the privilege of keeping money in its accounts in Belgium — and the sanctions forbid the fund from swapping currencies.
Ideally, Hassan says no more than 10 percent of the fund’s assets would be in cash. He’d favor buying US Treasuries as a low-risk, liquid alternative. The LIA is a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, which represents more than 30 such funds that have agreed to abide by the so-called Santiago Principles which outline best practice for governance and risk management. Hassan acknowledges that his fund currently does poorly versus its peers in complying with those guidelines and needs to improve.
The LIA’s next step will be to appoint an independent firm to go through several years of accounts and prepare a full audit that can be presented to the UN. Hassan says he’s got a short list of proposals from accountancy firms — PwC has worked for the fund in the past — and expects to select one shortly, making an audit possible by the middle of next year.
The LIA has been involved in several high-profile lawsuits. It lost a case against Goldman Sachs & Co. in 2016 after accusing the US firm of pushing the fund into derivatives trades that lost $1.2 billion. Societe Generale SA has paid more than $1.7 billion to resolve charges of bribing Libyan officials. In September, the LIA sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London saying the bank paid more than $6 million in bribes to win a $200 million bond deal more than a decade ago. With Libya still politically fragmented, it’s probably too soon for the UN to lift the sanctions on the LIA. A summit in Italy earlier this year that was meant to pave the way for national elections in 2019 ended with little progress, although it did host an informal meeting between Al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who controls most of eastern Libya.
But the UN could make a start in preparing the LIA for its future independence by allowing it to freely invest the proceeds of securities as they mature. Provided it makes good on its promise to deliver fully audited accounts, the LIA should be unshackled to invest the proceeds of about $1.5 billion of bonds that will steadily get repaid in the coming years — a small but significant step toward normalizing operations at the wealth fund.

Italy Adopts Hardline Immigration Law
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13392/italy-immigration-law
Under the new law, the Italian government will only grant asylum to legitimate refugees of war or victims of political persecution. Asylum seekers may now lose their protection if they are convicted of crimes including: threat or violence to a public official; physical assault; female genital mutilation; and a variety of theft charges.
"I wonder if those who contest the security decree have even read it. I do not really understand what the problem is: it deports criminals and increases the fight against the mafia, racketeering and drugs." — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini.
Italy will not sign the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, nor will Italian officials attend a conference in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 10 and 11 to adopt the agreement. The Global Compact not only aims to establish migration as a human right, but also to outlaw criticism of migration through hate crimes legislation.
Italy, a main European gateway for migrants arriving by sea, has approved a tough new immigration and security law that will make it easier to deport migrants who commit crimes. Pictured: Migrants in a wooden boat wait to be picked up by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station Phoenix vessel on June 10, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The Italian Parliament has approved a tough new immigration and security law that will make it easier to deport migrants who commit crimes and strip those convicted of terrorism of their Italian citizenship.
Italy's lower house of parliament, the Camera dei Deputati, voted 396 to 99 on November 28 to approve the new law, which was sponsored by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. The law had previously been approved by the Italian Senate on November 7. The measure was promulgated by President Sergio Mattarella on December 3.
Also known as the "Security Decree" or the "Salvini Decree," the new law includes several key provisions:Eliminates Humanitarian Protection. A primary objective of the new law is to limit the number of migrants granted asylum in Italy. To achieve this aim, Article 1 of the decree abolishes residence permits for so-called humanitarian protection, a form of security available to those not eligible for refugee status.
Under the previous system, the conditions to qualify for humanitarian protection — one of the three forms of protection granted to asylum seekers, in addition to political asylum and subsidiary protection — were vague and subject to abuse. Migrants arriving in Italy were able to claim humanitarian protection, which lasted for two years and provided access to a job, social welfare benefits and housing.
Under the new law, the Italian government will only grant asylum to legitimate refugees of war or victims of political persecution. The new law also introduces a series of special permits (for health reasons or natural disasters in the country of origin) with a maximum duration of between six months and one year.
Extends Period of Detention for Migrants. Article 2 of the new law authorizes Italian authorities to detain migrants held at so-called repatriation centers (Centri di permanenza per il rimpatrio, CPR) for a maximum of 180 days, up from a maximum of 90 days. The extension is in line with the period considered necessary to verify a migrant's identity and nationality.
In addition, Article 3 provides that asylum seekers may be held for a maximum period of 30 days at so-called hotspots, identification facilities at the EU's external borders. If identity is not established in the 30 days, asylum seekers may also be held in repatriation centers for 180 days. In other words, asylum seekers may be held for 210 days to verify their identity.
Increases Funds for Deportation. Article 6 provides for the allocation of additional funds for repatriations: 500,000 euros ($570,000) in 2018, 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) in 2019 and another 1.5 million euros in 2020.
Eases Revocation of Protection. Article 7 extends the list of crimes for which refugee status or subsidiary protection can be withdrawn. Asylum seekers may now lose their protection if they are convicted of crimes including: threats or violence to a public official; physical assault; female genital mutilation; and a variety of theft charges.
The asylum application may also be suspended if the applicant is in a criminal proceeding for one of the aforementioned crimes and would result in the refusal of asylum in the event of a final conviction. Furthermore, refugees who return to their country of origin, even temporarily, will lose international and subsidiary protection.
Establishes List of Safe Countries of Origin. Article 7-bis provides for the establishment of a list of safe countries of origin, namely countries which have democratic political systems and where "generally and consistently" there is no political persecution, torture or inhumane or humiliating treatment or punishment, threat of violence or armed conflict.
At least 12 EU countries already have such lists, which are used to prevent abuses of EU and national asylum systems.
According to the decree, asylum seekers from countries on the list will be required to provide proof that they face danger in their home countries. The law also introduces new categories that qualify an asylum application as "manifestly unfounded" in the case of: people who have made inconsistent statements; people who have made false information or provided false documents; people who refuse to be fingerprinted; people who are subject to deportation orders; people who constitute a danger to order and security; foreigners who entered Italian territory in an irregular manner and who did not immediately apply for asylum.
In addition to the list of safe countries of origin, Article 10 institutes the principle of "internal flight," that is "if a foreign citizen can be repatriated in some areas of the country of origin where there are no risks of persecution, the application for international protection is rejected."
Downsizes the Asylum Seeker Shelter System. Article 12 stipulates that henceforth only unaccompanied minors and those persons who qualify for international protection will be allowed to use the system for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees (Sistema di protezione per richiedenti asilo e rifugiati, SPRAR), the ordinary reception system managed by Italian municipalities. All other asylum seekers will be processed through the Extraordinary Reception Centers (Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria, CAS) and by Reception Centers for Asylum Seekers (Centri di Accoglienza per Richiedenti Asilo, CARA). The changes are aimed not only at reasserting central control over the asylum process, but also at restricting access to all but the most basic social services.
Authorizes Revocation of Citizenship. Article 14 provides for revoking Italian citizenship from those who are not Italian by birth and convicted of crimes related to terrorism. Those subject to revocation include: foreigners who acquired citizenship after ten years of residence in Italy; stateless persons who acquired citizenship after five years of residence in Italy; children of foreigners born in Italy who acquired citizenship after the age of 18; spouses of Italian citizens; and adult foreigners who were adopted by an Italian citizen.
The revocation of citizenship is possible within three years of the final conviction for crimes related to terrorism, by decree of the President of the Republic on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior.
Article 14 also increases the waiting period to obtain citizenship to 48 months from 24 months.
Boosts Security Measures. The new law also introduces rules aimed at strengthening measures to guarantee public safety, with particular reference to the threat of terrorism and the fight against criminal infiltration in public tenders.
In an effort to prevent vehicular attacks on pedestrians in crowded places, Article 17 requires car rental agencies to increase controls on individuals who rent trucks and vans. Article 19 authorizes police in municipalities with populations above 100,000 persons to use electric tasers, while Article 24 includes measures to strengthen anti-mafia laws and prevention measures. The Italian mafia has been accused of profiting from the migration crisis.
At a press conference, Interior Minister Salvini said that the new law would provide order for a dysfunctional asylum system. "With criteria, common sense and excellent results, we put order, rules, seriousness, transparency and uniformity in the asylum reception system that had become a commodity, a business out of control and paid for by the Italian people." He added:
"We must welcome those fleeing wars, but there is no room for economic migrants. In the era of global communication, a clear message is being sent to migrants in all countries of origin, and also to smugglers, who will understand that they need to change jobs. He who escapes from war is my brother, but he who comes here to sell drugs and create disorder must return to his country."
The new law has been roundly condemned by Italy's mainstream media, left-leaning political parties, as well as by NGOs and other groups dealing with immigration. Salvatore Geraci, of Caritas Italia, an Italian charity, described the law as "the worst in Italian history" and as "pathogenic, useless and harmful." He added: "The text is largely a result of prejudices and electoral calculations, simplistic approaches to a complex and articulated phenomenon."
Salvini retorted: "I wonder if those who contest the security decree have even read it. I do not really understand what the problem is: it deports criminals and increases the fight against the mafia, racketeering and drugs."
Salvini, leader of the anti-immigration League (Lega) party, formed a new coalition government with the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) on June 1. The government's program, outlined in a 39-page action plan, promised to crack down on illegal immigration and to deport up to 500,000 undocumented migrants.
Italy is a main European gateway for migrants arriving by sea: 119,369 arrived by sea in 2017, after 181,436 in 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). An estimated 700,000 migrants have arrived in Italy during the past five years, but since Salvini took office, the number of arrivals has fallen sharply. During the first eleven months of 2018, only 23,000 migrants arrived, according to the IOM.
Meanwhile, Salvini announced that Italy will not sign the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, nor will Italian officials attend a conference in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 10 and 11 to adopt the agreement. The Global Compact not only aims to establish migration as a human right, but also to outlaw criticism of migration through hate crimes legislation.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, addressing Parliament on November 28, said:
"The Global Migration Compact is a document that raises issues and questions that many citizens have strong feelings about. Therefore, we consider it right to put the debate in parliament and subject any final decision on the outcome of that debate, as Switzerland has done. So, the government will not participate in Marrakech, reserving the option to adopt the document, or not, only when parliament has expressed its opinion."
More than a dozen countries have announced they will not sign the agreement. Western countries include: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United States.
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2018 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.

Palestinians: No Difference Between Hamas and Fatah
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13391/palestinians-hamas-fatah-difference
It is supposedly fine for Mahmoud Abbas and his officials to condemn Hamas on a daily basis. It is supposedly not fine, however, for the US administration to condemn Hamas for its terrorist attacks against Israel.
"The proposed [unseen] US resolution is harmful to the Palestinians' right of resistance." — Emad Omar, Palestinian political analyst.
This is obviously a short-lived honeymoon that will end the day after the UN General Assembly vote on the anti-Hamas resolution. The morning after the vote, Abbas will wake up to the realization that Hamas was a strange bedfellow indeed.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's hatred of Hamas is far from secret. But Abbas is now defending Hamas because he despises the Trump administration, which has sponsored a UN draft resolution that condemns Hamas. Pictured: Abbas (right) meets with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on May 30, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Abu Askar/PPO via Getty Images)
Has Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas changed his position toward his rivals in Hamas? This is the question that some Palestinians have been asking in the wake of Abbas's opposition to a US-sponsored draft resolution that asks the United Nations General Assembly to condemn Hamas for repeatedly firing rockets at Israel and instigating violence.
Abbas's hatred of Hamas is far from secret. For years – and until today – Abbas has used every available platform to launch scathing attacks on Hamas.
He accused Hamas of foiling Arab efforts to end the dispute with his ruling Fatah faction.
He accused Hamas of masterminding a series of explosions targeting the homes of some of his senior Fatah officials in the Gaza Strip.
He accused Hamas of staging a coup in 2007 against his Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Gaza Strip and seeking to establish a separate Palestinian there.
He accused Hamas of standing behind the botched assassination attempt on his prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. He even made a metaphoric remark that, "shoes will be pouring on the heads of Hamas leaders."
In his last speech at the UN General Assembly, Abbas repeated his charges against Hamas and threatened to impose new punitive measures against the Gaza Strip unless Hamas allows his government to assume full control over the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
In the past few days, however, the rhetoric of Abbas and his senior officials in Ramallah toward Hamas has made a 180 degree turn. What is behind this sudden change? Has Abbas discovered that he was mistaken about Hamas all these years and that its leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Zahar and Yeyha Sinwar are actually his good buddies?
The US-sponsored UN draft resolution condemning Hamas seems to have brought Hamas and Fatah closer to each other. Just last week, it seemed that Egyptian efforts to end the Hamas-Fatah rivalry had once again belly-flopped.
The Palestinian Authority and Fatah are strongly opposed to all the policies of the US administration. They have already rejected US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East, widely known as the "deal of the century." They have rejected Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. They have rejected and condemned Trump's transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They have rejected and condemned Trump's decision to cut financial aid to the PA and UNRWA.
Now, in line with their refusal to accept anything that emerges from the Trump administration, the Palestinian Authority and Fatah have also found themselves in the awkward position of needing to reject and denounce the US initiative to condemn Hamas for firing rockets at Israel.
It is supposedly fine for Abbas and his officials to condemn Hamas on a daily basis. It is supposedly not fine, however, for the US administration to condemn Hamas for its terrorist attacks against Israel. This is the logic of the Palestinian Authority, which has also been imposing financial and economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip in the past year. The sanctions include, among other things, the suspension of salaries to thousands of civil servants, cutting financial aid to needy families in the Gaza Strip, and refusing to pay for fuel and electricity supplied by Israel to the residents living under Hamas.
Abbas and Hamas have been working separately to thwart the US draft resolution at the UN General Assembly. Abbas has instructed his envoy to the UN to make an effort to foil the anti-Hamas resolution, while Hamas leaders have been urging Arab and Muslim leaders and governments to help thwart the US initiative. "Despite all our differences with Hamas, we are categorically opposed to the American and Israeli attempt to label Hamas a terrorist group," explained Osama Qawassmeh, a senior Fatah official. We will fight to thwart the US resolution."
Another senior Fatah official, Abbas Zaki, was even more adamant in his defense of Hamas. "Hamas belongs to us and we belong to Hamas," he said. "If Hamas, which is practicing resistance, is considered a terrorist organization, this would mean that all Palestinians are practicing terrorism. Hamas, like all Palestinian factions, is a national liberation movement."
Abbas and Fatah are defending Hamas not out of love for Hamas, but because they despise the Trump administration to the extent that they are willing to go to bat for their arch-rivals in Hamas. Judging from the statements of some of Abbas's top officials, it is nevertheless clear that they fear that a condemnation of Hamas would pave the way for similar moves against other Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian president's own Fatah.
As Palestinian political analyst Emad Omar put it, "The proposed US resolution is harmful to the Palestinians' right of resistance. As president of the Palestinians, Abbas is forced to defend Hamas and any other Palestinian faction."
Hamas, for its part, has expressed gratitude to Abbas and Fatah for their strong opposition to the US-sponsored draft resolution.
Does all this mean that Fatah and Hamas have agreed to patch up their differences and open a new page in their relations? The answer, of course, is no. This is obviously a short-lived honeymoon that will end the day after the UN General Assembly vote on the anti-Hamas resolution. Abbas wants to score points on the Palestinian street by showing that he is capable of challenging the US administration at the UN. For now, Abbas is prepared to swallow the bitter pill of defending Hamas. The morning after the vote, Abbas will wake up to the realization that Hamas was a strange bedfellow indeed.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2018 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.

Why the Press Pays Less Attention to the Murder of Journalists Not Named Khashoggi
Peter Baum/Gatestone Institute/December 07/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13375/journalists-murder
Ironically, the same members of the media who have been obsessed with Khashoggi and the Saudi-US alliance have devoted little space to the reality that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has been imprisoning, torturing and killing journalists for years.
The ongoing story of Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, more than being a function of concern for the Saudi journalist, was less important to Western journalists than attacking the Trump administration.
Raed Fares, who was among the most prominent critics of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal regime, was assassinated on November 23, 2018.
While the October 2 murder of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, continues to be discussed across the world, the November 23 assassination of a Syrian journalist, Raed Fares, and his devoted friend and cameraman, Hammoud al-Jneid, gunned down in Fares's home village of Kafrandel, Syria, does not.
This neglect is noteworthy: Fares was among the most prominent critics of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal regime. According to CBS News:
In 2013, Fares posted a satirical YouTube video depicting cave men repeatedly killed by the men representing the Syrian government as men wearing American and European Union flags idly sit by. "This is how the international community reacted to the genocide committed by Assad against the Syrian people," Fares wrote.
Fares was also a key voice in the "Arab Spring," and he daily challenged Assad as well as terrorist organizations operating in Syria, such as the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah. According to The New Yorker:
Three years before his assassination, to the day, Fares posted a photo on Facebook of a protest banner lampooning the fact that other countries were fighting proxy wars in Syria: "BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL OFFER, WHOEVER WHEREVER YOU ARE, BRING YOUR ENEMY AND COME FIGHT IN SYRIA FOR FREE (FREE LAND & SKY) LIMITED TIME OFFER."
"In the absence of peaceful, democratic political voices," Fares noted in an op-ed for The Washington Post, "terrorists have been able to convince Syria's vulnerable youth that violence and destruction can somehow pave the way to stability." One can view his talk to the Oslo Freedom Forum here. In an interview with NPR, Fares said:
"... Jabhat al-Nusra tried to bomb my car. And I was in it, but I survived. And December, 2014, Jabhat al-Nusra, they kidnapped me from their checkpoint, and three days in their jail. They hanged me to the ceiling for six hours. But an activist in Istanbul, he came and talked to them and convinced them to release me. And earlier this year, they attacked my Radio Fresh station and attacked the Women's Center, which belongs to us."
In 2013, Fares established Radio Fresh, where he bravely broadcast support for the Syrian civilian population, without regard to their religious affinities. In 2014, he escaped being murdered at the hands of ISIS.
From that time on, he was targeted by both the Assad regime and the Islamist militias whom he constantly criticized and satirized for their human-rights abuses and totalitarianism.
The US State Department, the British Foreign Office and Syrian human-rights groups all expressed their horror and sadness at Fares', murder, which took place during a cease-fire.
Although many mainstream media outlets have reported on the murder, their coverage of it is so far less than that of Khashoggi, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
What is the difference between the two cases, each of which involved the targeted killing of an Arab journalist with Arab state involvement?
One probable reason is that Khashoggi not only wrote for the Washington Post, but was allegedly killed at the behest -- or at least knowledge -- of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States. The ongoing story of Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, more than being a function of concern for the Saudi journalist, was yet another opportunity to bash the Trump administration.
Ironically, the same members of the media who have been obsessed with Khashoggi and the Saudi-US alliance have devoted little space to the reality that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has been imprisoning, torturing and killing journalists for years.
The mainstream media have also not devoted much attention to the October 2017 car-bombing that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist who led the "Panama Papers" corruption investigation into her government -- a member state of the European Union.
How come the murders of Fares, al-Jneid and Galizia did not merit as much media attention as that of Khashoggi? Evidently, calling countries such as Malta and Syria to task appears to be less important to Western journalists than attacking the Trump administration.
*Peter Baum, Vice Chair at New Fair reporting, is based in Great Britain.
© 2018 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.

Doha and Riyadh summit: What’s new?
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/December 07/18
The Qatar-Brotherhood propaganda machine has been active, ahead of the GCC summit that will be held in Riyadh. The propaganda machine wants to create an illusion that the presence of the Qatari representative, whether it is the emir or any other figure, is proof that the Arab quartet – and in this case the Gulf tripartite – has “backed down” on boycotting Qatar’s authorities to punish them for their evil against the security of these countries. They’re grabbing a “protocol” related piece of news from here and there and build upon it pyramids of illusions, wishes and lies which the makers of this loud propaganda has mastered. They’re supported by a “network” of websites, television channels, dailies and social media accounts that are operated by those who market Qatar’s rhetoric either because they believe in it or because they are after making gains from the money of the burning gas.
The justice of the stance adopted by Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama on the Gulf level and Cairo on the Arab level is clear. The position is based on the duties to defend the security and people of these countries. This fairness became more rooted and credible in the wake of Qatar’s further involvement with the enemies and haters of the stability of these countries, primarily the Khomeinist Iran and Erdogan’s Turkey whom the Qatari state melt in their cup like an effervescent tablet!
Whether Qatar’s authorities go to Riyadh or not, and regardless of who goes, this will not change the scene and the fact that the reasons behind the quartet’s boycott regarding Qatar’s behavior continues to exist
Has anything changed?
What has Doha changed so Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Manama and Cairo change?
Have Qatar’s authorities stopped supporting the Brotherhood? Have they stopped supporting al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Al-Houthi and the Popular Mobilization networks? Have they stopped supporting extremists who call for destruction and undermining the state like London’s mouthpieces whose public appearances and gossip expanded on their televisions, mainly on Al-Jazeera network, like al-Massari and Al-Faqih? Have the Qatari authorities stopped inciting against the Egyptian state and the Egyptians’ security and supporting the terrorist Brotherhood there? Who went further in the media campaign against Saudi Arabia regarding the Khashoggi case both in secret and in public?
The same can be said about the Qatar-Brotherhood media campaigns against the UAE as we’ve seen in the case of the British Matthew Hedges.
Hence Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was right during his interview yesterday with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper as he spoke about the Gulf summit and described the ongoing dispute with Qatar as “unprecedented and very deep” and noted that “after committing to the enemies of the region like Iran,” Qatar “has burned the return ships to the GCC.”In brief, whether Qatar’s authorities go to Riyadh or not, and regardless of who goes, this will not change the scene and the fact that the reasons behind the quartet’s boycott regarding Qatar’s behavior continues to exist. The justifications and evidence to the reasons of this boycott have even increased. The other point is that this not the first “protocol” occasion linked to Qatar and its “bad” relation with its neighbors. What has changed?

How Arabs can tackle food security
Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al Arabiya/December 07/18
Arab states are particularly susceptible to food shortages and food-price shocks. Besides, recent prognoses reveal that Arab countries will be powerless to meet increasing demand with production. Thus, there is a necessity to cultivate strategies to ameliorate food security which depends on consolidation of safety nets, enhancement of home food and management of market capriciousness. This explains why Arab countries have a wide gap of food due to lack of agricultural fecund powers to meet the rise in demand for agricultural produces. This exacerbates into a predicament of food security which threatens their national security as their decisions are prone to political pressures from other states. The Arab world is undergoing food deficit that is becoming progressively critical. The volume of food production is inadequate to meet consumption, which requires the need to import from other countries to meet the growing needs and to offset the deficit. This poses excessive threats to Arab economies; affecting their political sovereignty and independence. Since dependence on imports to meet basic needs of consumers would develop consumerism in the Arab countries to be a phenomenon that makes them loyal to imported products, such pattern would also destroy domestic products as well in favour of foreign goods. Why Arab states have food security concerns? Arabs should be self-dependent and determined to improve and execute a rational stratagem for sustainable agricultural growth and food security
Frail economies
Food scarcities are not only the upshots of feeble Arab economies, but may also be a foremost factor for keeping such economies frailer. The capitals to import products to payoff deficits and shortfalls are often those apportioned to acquire resources needed to bring about sustainable development and progress.
This disparity is primarily mirrored in foodstuff prices, where the majority of household budget is directed towards purchasing food. Thus, this will have a negative impact on other sectors such as the industrial, curbing countries’ ability to compete and grow. The issue of food deficit in the Arab world is strongly attributed to the fragmentation of the Arab world and the lack of integrated strategic development planning at the national level, especially in the agricultural sector. Though regional and international economic blocs have become a tool for economic progress, social development, and political unity, the Arab states have not yet managed to get rid of the dominion of illicit foreign countries’ plans and plots through food security. Lack of natural, human and financial resources are real reasons for this good shortfall for many Arab states. How to solve food shortfall?
Human resources
Accordingly, solving food shortfall in the Arab world can only be achieved through optimum utilization of economic potential and human resources. By increasing agricultural investments and controlling development of agricultural technologies, food production will increase to meet the growing demand.
To achieve such an objective, Arabs states should first advocate their economic integration, coordinate their policies and development plans, reduce disharmony and conflict, and reduce their independence on imported products to encourage local farmers to produce more as this business will be lucrative and profitable unlike the current one. When foreign countries extend their assistance to the developing nations including Arab states, the main objective is to dominate their economies and to hamper them from producing adequate food supplies to meet the growing domestic demand. Agricultural assistance programs are used by developed nations to dominate the economies of the developing countries to dissuade them not to produce agricultural products. Such food aid programs open others’ markets to purchase the donor’s products which will gradually replace all domestic products, including agricultural produce. Such aid programmes take the form of subsidies for basic commodities. Within few years, food deficit facing Arab economies will not be solved by depending on foreign subsidies or donor nations; Arabs should be self-dependent and determined to improve and execute a lucid rational stratagem for sustainable agricultural growth and Arab food security.
Determinants of food strategy
Any strategy to accomplish food security in the Arab world must hinge on sustainable agricultural development to identify fundamental reasons of the problem of Arab food security to be able to find a drastic and long-term solution. The aggregate number of population, the inadequate agricultural natural resources and lack of expertise to develop agricultural produce had aggravated food dilemma in the Arab world, augmented food gap and economic dependence of Arab countries. Statistics indicate that the population of the Arab world has tripled in less than 30 years. The population rose from 122 million in 1970 to 350 million in 2017. The number is expected to hike again to 480 million by 2030. This demographic explosion has put pressure on economic activities as agricultural produce cannot meet the growing demand for food. Moreover, the increasing number of population necessitates the development of limited natural resources. The arable area in the Arab world is estimated at about 200 million hectares, which constitutes 13.4 percent of the total area of the Arab states. The percentage of arable land cultivated for the year 2017 is about 41 percent. The limited and poor utilization of water resources makes it impossible to cope with the growing demand to meet the needs of the population. As more than 50 per cent of water resources emanate from non-Arab countries, food and water security in Arab states will always be in the hands of others. nless Arab states enhance their efforts to reform their agricultural objectives and plans by improving their productive capabilities and competitiveness, developing natural resources and preserving the environment to achieve the objectives of current generation and generations to come in an integrated framework that serves the interests of all Arab countries, they will lag behind in food security and continue depending on other countries. This would always affect their decision-making process and their sovereignty on the short, medium and long terms.