LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 14/2018
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Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations
Saint Paul's Instructions for Christian Households
Ephesians 05/21-31/ "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives,
submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is
the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he
is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit
to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who
loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but
they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are
members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound
mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you
also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her
husband."Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor
your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so
that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and
fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them
not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ,
doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were
serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each
one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters,
treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he
who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with
him".
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Khamenei’s predictable modus operandi of dodging accountability
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab
Times/January 12/2018
In recent days, Iranian authorities declared an end to the uprising encompassing
upward of 130 towns and cities over the course of roughly two weeks. The Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had dispersed the most significant
gatherings. But reports of ongoing protests and civil disobedience suggest that
popular sentiment has not been as easy to suppress as Tehran would have us
believe. That sentiment began with outrage over economic hardships and wealth
disparities between the regime and the people, then quickly transformed to
explicit calls for the ouster of President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei, and for the wholesale dismantling of the system of clerical rule. Some
onlookers were shocked by the much bolder slogans of this uprising than the one
in 2009. The regime is still struggling to pin down its narratives. Predictably,
it blames the unrest on everything except its own incompetence and disregard for
the interests of the Iranian public. Khamenei identified the leading Iranian
opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), as a main contributor, doing his
best to conceal its popular appeal by describing it as part of a “triangle of
enemies” that had planned, financed and carried out the latest uprising.
He also identified “Americans and Zionists” as the masterminds behind
protesters’ call for regime change. According to Khamenei, Arab adversaries put
up the cash while the opposition acted as foot soldiers. Of course, there is no
evidence of such a conspiracy.
He was trying to undercut the significance of domestic support for regime
change, but his feeble effort did little to diminish the unprecedented admission
that the MEK had provided many of the activists for a protest movement that
spanned nearly the entire country.
Since its establishment in 1979, the Iranian regime has resorted to blaming
foreign ‘enemies’ for its domestic problems and the population’s dissatisfaction
with it. Since its establishment in 1979, the regime’s modus operandi has been
to blame foreign “enemies” for its domestic problems and the population’s
dissatisfaction with it. Iranian authorities have also used this tactic to
suppress domestic opposition. By blaming foreign powers, the regime avoids
taking any responsibility or accountability.
Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of Iran’s clerical Guardian Council, said the
uprising resulted from a relatively small faction of committed opponents, plus a
much larger population of demonstrators who had been “deceived” into endorsing
the cause. It is hard to imagine how any person, let alone tens of thousands of
them, could be deceived into taking to the streets and joining in chants of
“death to the dictator.” People do not express support for regime change in
their home country on a whim. And if the opposition was a leading voice in this
uprising, it must be a leading voice for the Iranian people in general.
Khamenei has inadvertently admitted that there is a substantial threat to the
regime’s future. This threat has been underscored by independent analysts, who
say the violent crackdown on the uprising will only engender more protests down
the line, especially if no serious measures are undertaken to address the
people’s economic, political and social demands. The regime has already
acknowledged the arrest of 3,700 people. The judiciary has warned that death
sentences may await those deemed responsible. But there is no sense that these
actions will serve to uproot the opposition’s deep integration into Iranian
society.
The world should thus expect to see another surge of protests, and with the
opposition still in place as a major organizational force, it stands to reason
that the demands will continue to escalate. Although authorities pay lip service
to the people’s right to peacefully air their grievances, it is difficult to
imagine they will find a sympathetic ear among the mullahs, who are torturing
and killing protesters, according to Amnesty International.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political
scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman
and president of the International American Council. He serves on the boards of
the Harvard International Review, the Harvard International Relations Council
and the US-Middle East Chamber for Commerce and Business. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh