LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 24/2018
Compiled &
Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations
let us love one another, for
love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
1 John 4/07-21: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love
comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever
does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed
his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might
live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we
love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is
how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior
of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in
them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is
love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is
made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment:
In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to
love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love
their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have
not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love
their brother and sister."
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 23-24/18
Washington Chooses Syria as a Battlefield/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq
Al Awsat/January 23/18
EU Quietly Turning the Heat on Iran/ Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18
The U.S. and Pakistan: Time for a Divorce/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone
Institute/January 23/2018
Prison in France: Terrorism and Islamism/Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/January
23/2018
The American Stake in the Czech Elections/Jiri Valenta/Gatestone
Institute/January 23/2018
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on January 23-24/18
Aoun in Kuwait on Two-Day Official Visit
STL Thanks Lebanon for 'Ongoing Commitment' to Tribunal
Garbage on the Beach: Flood of Waste Stirs Uproar in Lebanon
Khatib Says Gemayel Trying to 'Gain Popularity'
Hariri Arrives in Davos, Says Lebanon Committed to STL
Cleaning Starts after Garbage Accumulates on Keserewan Beach
Number of Syrians who Died of Cold Fleeing to Lebanon Rises to 17
Aoun Meets U.S. Treasury Official, Says Lebanon Actively Fighting Money
Laundering
Lebanese NGO Alarm at Spate of Deadly Domestic Violence
Lebanon: Efforts to Unify Beirut’s First Electoral District
Berri-Jumblatt Unite to Confront 'Violating Taif Accord'
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on January 23-24/18
Iranian Judiciary Chief Warns against Undermining Protests
Sochi Statement: Syrian Army to Be Brought Under Constitution
France Sanctions Dozens of Individuals, Firms for Syria Chemical Weapons Links
Russia Welcomes Arab Coalition’s Humanitarian Measures in Yemen
7.9 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes off Alaska
Israeli Officer Confesses: We 'Blow' Violence into Palestinians like Poison
Sisi Discusses with Head of French Intelligence Deteriorating Situation in
Middle East
British Efforts for Political Solution in Yemen in Cooperation with Saudi-Led
Coalition
Tillerson Says Russia 'Bears Responsibility' for Syria Chemical Attacks
Turkey in Deadly Kurdish Militia Clashes in Syria as U.S. Sounds Alarm
Congress Votes to End Shutdown, Trump Claims Victory
Three French Female Jihadists Risk Death Sentence in Iraq
Pence Visits Western Wall after Pro-Israel Speech
Israeli Minister Calls for Banning Author who Praised Palestinian Teen
Latest Lebanese Related News published
on January 23-24/18
Aoun in Kuwait on Two-Day Official Visit
Naharnet/January
23/18/President Michel Aoun arrived for an official visit to Kuwait on Tuesday
where he was received by Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah,
the National News Agency reported. The President and the Emir headed to the main
palace of the Emir, the Bayan Palace, where Aoun will stay during his two-day
visit, NNA added. Talks began shortly after and focused on bilateral relations
between the two countries, as the two men agreed to “promote cooperation in all
fields.”They agreed on the necessity of “activating joint Arab efforts,” and the
need for the “upcoming Arab summit to pave way for the unification of Arab
positions and restoring stability.”The two men denounced the US decision that
recognized Palestine as the capital of Israel. The Kuwait Emir told Aoun that he
has "instructed" the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development "to activate economic
aid for Lebanon and to respond to its needs.”Aoun's visit aims to revive
relations with the Gulf country where he is scheduled to hold talks with other
senior Kuwaiti officials. Aoun led a delegation comprised of Foreign Minister
Jebran Bassil, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, Minister of
Telecommunications Jamal al-Jarrah, Minister of State for Administrative Reforms
Inaya Ezzedine, State Minister for Human Rights Ayman Choucair, General Security
chief Abbas Ibrahim, Nabil a-Jisr head of the Council of Development and
Reconstruction.
STL Thanks Lebanon for 'Ongoing Commitment' to
Tribunal
Naharnet/January 23/18/The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon confirmed
Tuesday that it has received Lebanon's share of the Tribunal’s 2018 budget from
the Lebanese government, following an announcement from Prime Minister Saad
Hariri's office. “The full sum of 28,827,533 euros, amounting to 49 percent of
the Tribunal's budget, was transferred to the Tribunal's bank account yesterday
by the Lebanese government,” the STL said in a statement. “The STL thanks the
Government of Lebanon for its 2018 contribution and its ongoing commitment and
support to the work of the Tribunal,” it added.
Hariri said in a statement before leaving to Davos on Tuesday that Lebanon is
“committed to the United Nations Security Council resolution that established
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and looks forward to the day when justice will
say its word in the assassination of Martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his
martyr companions.”Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive and shocking
suicide bombing in 2005 that destabilized the country. Five Hizbullah suspects
are being tried in absentia by The Hague-based STL over the attack.
Garbage on the Beach: Flood of Waste Stirs
Uproar in Lebanon
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 23/18/Lebanon's festering trash crisis came
crashing ashore this week, after residents woke up to find a powerful winter
storm had laid a mantle of waste at a beach just a minutes' drive north of the
capital, Beirut. The scenes were a national embarrassment for a country that
once prided itself on its sparkling Mediterranean coastline but appears unable
to wean itself off the convenience of throwing its trash into the sea. "Somebody
needs to pay for this," said Paul Abi Rached, a local environmentalist who
spearheaded a campaign to overhaul the government's waste policies three years
ago. Few issues have driven a wedge between the Lebanese and their leaders like
garbage — the most conspicuous of the government's many failings to provide
basic services to its constituents. Lebanon has long been plagued by daily water
and electricity outages, but it was not until the trash started going
uncollected in Beirut that despair erupted into a wave of protests in 2015.
Demonstrators rallied under the banner "You Stink" — a reference not only to the
stench accompanying the summer heat, but to the corruption and favoritism that
has defined politics and paralyzed administrative services in the country.
Civil society groups say officials are making fortunes on shady deals for
landfills and incinerators, at the public's expense. They say, too, that the
government is using trash to fill in land along the coast — a bonanza for
politically connected developers who can cash in on the property that's been
raised, quite literally, from the sea. A fleet of heavy machinery has been
working the coastline east of Beirut since 2017, pouring trash into the sea at a
land reclamation site at Dbayeh. Officials say they are doing nothing untoward,
and that the landfills they operate are done to technical specifications. But
the stench is impossible to deny. Travelers arriving to Beirut's Rafiq Hariri
International Airport are greeted with a waft of odors from an expanding
landfill at the end of one of the runways. After years of being unused,
officials reopened the Costa Brava landfill to absorb the trash left out in
2015. In December, Prime Minister Saad Hariri ordered officials to close a
waste-sorting plant in the city of Tripoli, built with $1.6 million from the
European Union, just six months after it was inaugurated. Locals said the odors
from the plant and the nearby fill were suffocating. The scandal at Zouq Mosbeh
beach led Lebanon's nightly news broadcasts on Monday, but environmentalists say
they were not surprised by the scene — a pile of cattle bones, footwear, tires
and vast amounts of plastic waste towered over 30 meters (100 feet) high on the
beach. "The sea is regurgitating our trash," said Joslin Kehdy, who heads
Recycle Lebanon, an NGO that has organized a clean-up of Zouq Mosbeh beach each
year since 2015. The country's official waste management plan provides scant
support to recycling initiatives. Abi Rached said this time, rough waves broke
down a faulty retaining wall around a coastal dump just east of Beirut, spilling
the trash into the sea. The garbage saga is likely to spill into campaigns ahead
of parliamentary elections in May. Lawmaker Sami Gemayel, who leads the
country's Kataeb party, said he would take the government to international court
over the pollution. Prime Minister Hariri said he ordered authorities to clean
the Zouq Mosbeh beach immediately but those efforts may have to wait for another
storm to pass through — and bring even more waste ashore. Meanwhile, Human
Rights Watch launched a campaign last Friday against burning waste at over 150
open-air dumps around Lebanon. The New York-based watchdog says the Lebanese
government is in violation of international human rights law for failing to deal
seriously with the pollution from burning waste.
Khatib Says Gemayel Trying to 'Gain Popularity'
Naharnet/January
23/18/Environment Minister Tarek al-Khatib said he is still “not certain” about
the source of the trash that accumulated on Monday at the Keserwan's shore and
accused Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel of trying to gain popularity for the
upcoming parliamentary elections, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. “I
can not define the source of the trash. A technical team has been dispatched to
conduct a detection report after which I can determine the source,” Khatib told
the daily. Seawater has invaded a garbage landfill present near the Zouk
Mobseh-Nahr el-Kalb shore and pulled piles of trash into the Mediterranean on
Monday. Gemayel who inspected the site on Monday blasted the government anew
over the waste management crisis, and called on the Environment Minister to
resign. Replying to Gemayel's calls that Khatib submits his resignation after
the “scandal”, Khatib said: “I heard him. But I will not resign just because he
asked me to.”Khatib accused Gemayel of trying to gain popularity in the upcoming
parliamentary elections, he said: “I wish he had joined the Free Patriotic
Movement ministers who had rejected the government waste plan that approved the
Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud landfills, instead of having three Kataeb ministers
approve it and then pretend to be fighting it in order to win popularity in the
elections.”Gemayel announced that he will take the government to “international
courts” for polluting the sea with garbage.
He also said: “The sea has filled with garbage because officials who lack
conscience and competency are in charge of the waste file.”
Hariri Arrives in Davos, Says Lebanon Committed
to STL
Naharnet/January 23/18/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday arrived in
Switzerland to participate in the meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Hariri's office said the premier will take part on Tuesday evening in a dinner
banquet that will be thrown by Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman
of the Forum. On Wednesday, Hariri will hold separate talks on the Forum's
sidelines with the leaders of Jordan, Switzerland, Brazil, Italy, Iraq, Belgium,
Armenia and Norwar. He will also meet with International Monetary Fund chief
Christine Lagarde. Separately, Hariri's press office announced Tuesday that
Lebanon’s contribution to the budget of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for
Lebanon for the current year has been transferred. The STL received Lebanon’s
contribution, which represents 49 percent of its budget, on Monday morning.
Hariri said in a statement before leaving to Davos that Lebanon is “committed to
the United Nations Security Council resolution that established the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon and looks forward to the day when justice will say its word
in the assassination of Martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his martyr
companions.”Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive and shocking suicide
bombing in 2005 that destabilized the country. Five Hizbullah suspects are being
tried in absentia by The Hague-based STL over the attack.
Cleaning Starts after Garbage Accumulates on
Keserewan Beach
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 23/18/Under the supervision of the High Relief
Committee and at PM Saad Hariri's orders, trucks have started Tuesday removing
the trash that accumulated on the Keserewan shore after rough waves broke down a
faulty retaining wall around a coastal dump just east of Beirut, spilling the
trash into the sea. Maj. Gen Mohammed Kheir, the head of the High Relief
Committee stressed that the cleaning process "will continue despite bad weather
conditions and in commitment to Hariri's directions."Lebanon's festering trash
crisis came crashing ashore this week, after residents woke up to find a
powerful winter storm had laid a mantle of waste at a beach just a minutes'
drive north of the capital, Beirut. The scenes were a national embarrassment for
a country that once prided itself on its sparkling Mediterranean coastline but
appears unable to wean itself off the convenience of throwing its trash into the
sea. Kataeb party leader Sami Gemayel blasted the government on Monday over the
waste management crisis, announcing that he will take it to “international
courts” for polluting the sea with garbage.
Number of Syrians who Died of Cold Fleeing to
Lebanon Rises to 17
Naharnet/January 23/18/ At least 17 Syrians trying to flee to Lebanon have died
of extreme cold and a snowstorm on the border since last week, a Lebanese
security official said Tuesday. Lebanon's National News Agency said that "the
body of a Syrian refugee woman who had died of the cold" was retrieved on
Tuesday in the border region. The latest find raises the number of such deaths
since Friday to 17, the security official told AFP. The army and civil defense
services said Friday that two children and six women were among 10 Syrians whose
frozen bodies were found, and the death toll rose over the weekend. Lebanon, a
country of four million, hosts just under a million Syrians who have sought
refuge from the war raging in their neighboring homeland since 2011. Many live
in informal tented settlements in the country's east and struggle to stay warm
in the winter. The U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF said on Saturday that
it was distributing blankets, warm clothes and heating fuel to refugees. In
2015, Lebanese authorities introduced new restrictions to curb the number of
Syrians entering the country, which shares a rocky 330-kilometer border with
Syria with no official demarcation at several points.
Aoun Meets U.S. Treasury Official, Says Lebanon
Actively Fighting Money Laundering
Naharnet/January 23/18/President Michel Aoun reassured Monday that Lebanon is
actively fighting money laundering during talks in Baabda with Marshall
Billingslea, the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. “Lebanon is taking part effectively in the global
efforts aimed at combating terrorist financing and money laundering, through its
central bank and competent financial authorities and according to the applicable
international standards and laws,” Aoun told the U.S. official. “Lebanese
security institutions are vigilantly pursuing sleeper terrorist cells after the
defeat that the army inflicted on the Daesh (Islamic State) organization in
Lebanon's outskirts,” the president added, noting that “preemptive security
operations have proved effective.”Billingslea for his part lauded the
cooperation that the U.S. Treasury received from Lebanon's central bank and
financial authorities while stressing that Washington is committed to supporting
the Lebanese economy and army, the National News Agency said. The meeting was
attended by Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Justice Minister Salim Jreissati,
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, the president's chief adviser Mireille
Aoun-Hachem, Presidency director general Antoine Choucair, and U.S. Ambassador
to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard. Billingslea held separate talks on Monday with
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and is scheduled to meet Tuesday with a number of
Lebanese ministers and officials.
Lebanese NGO Alarm at Spate of Deadly Domestic
Violence
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/A Lebanese man fatally shot his wife
in Beirut Monday, the latest in a string of murders a rights group said showed
much work remained to eradicate violence against women. A law on domestic
violence was passed by Lebanon's parliament in 2014 but watchdogs said many
changes were still needed. A man shot his wife in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood
of Beirut on Monday, the National News Agency reported, adding that the killer
was on the run. Also on Monday, another Lebanese man was arrested after stabbing
his wife in a village in the South, the same source reported. The woman survived
the attack. The latest violence brought to eight the number of deadly cases of
violence against women since the start of December, according to Kafa, a
watchdog advocating for gender equality in Lebanon. A total of 17 cases were
recorded last year in Lebanon, a country of around four million inhabitants,
including those of women killed by their husbands but also that of a 15-year-old
girl who committed suicide after a forced marriage. In a high-profile case last
month, Briton Rebecca Dykes, who worked for the UK Department for International
Development at the embassy in Beirut, was killed by an Uber driver who tried to
rape her. Kafa's spokesperson Diala Haidar said recent improvements to the legal
framework were failing to challenge "a society dominated by a machismo and that
justifies violence against women.""Working against this mentality and preventing
the justification of violence against women is the hardest thing," she said.
Lebanon: Efforts to Unify Beirut’s First Electoral District
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al
Awsat/January 23/18/Lebanon’s political forces and parties are preparing to
engage in the upcoming electoral battle, amid uncertainty over the elections
results in the wake of the adoption of a new electoral law based on the
proportional system. Beirut’s first electoral district - which comprises the
areas of Ashrafieh, Rmeil, Saifi and Medawar - is one of the most difficult and
complex districts, because of the presence of parties and figures opposed to the
forces represented in the government, such as the Phalange Party and the
National Liberal Party and independent forces. In this regard, Minister of State
for Planning Michel Pharaon is seeking to resolve obstacles that make alliances
difficult in his constituency (Beirut I) through meetings and contacts with the
concerned parties. The minister is trying to reach the broadest understanding to
avoid political battle that might have negative repercussions on the
post-election phase. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Pharaon said he “will
consult with the forces that form the electoral list of Beirut’s first
constituency,” acknowledging that such step “requires much work and cooperation
coupled with the availability of sincere intentions.”“I have started a round of
consultations about the possibility of weaving an electoral alliance, with the
encouragement of President Michel Aoun and Dr. Samir Geagea, head of the
Lebanese Forces Party. I will be in contact with Prime Minister Saad Hariri
soon,” he stated. Pharaon, however, pointed out that the nature of the election
law makes the task difficult to achieve, “contrary to the majority law that
facilitates the formation of a balanced list.” Some of the ruling parties have
revealed their intention to forge alliances in Beirut. The Future Movement is
moving towards an alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM], the Armenian
Tashnag Party and Minister Michel Pharaon, waiting for the results of
consultations with the Lebanese Forces.
Berri-Jumblatt Unite to Confront 'Violating Taif Accord'
Beirut - Nazeer Rida/Asharq Al
Awsat/January 23/18/Head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt
openly joined on Monday the battle of Speaker Nabih Berri to protect the “Taif
Accord,” currently fought against the Free Patriotic Movement, in light of a
dispute that emerged early this month between President Michel Aoun and Berri
over a decree to promote a number of officers without the approval of the
Finance Minister. Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri had signed a decree that
sees the promotion of officers who graduated from the military school in 1994.
Berri insists that the decree should be approved by the Finance Ministry, before
going into effect.The Speaker and Jumblatt both believe that the absence of the
Finance Ministry’s signature on the decree violates the Taif Accord, a statement
denied by the Free Patriotic Movement. On Monday, Berri deplored what he
described as the implementation of "unconstitutional and anti-Taif" practices in
Lebanon. His worries were echoed by a tweet posted earlier by Jumblatt, who
said: “Behind almost every Cabinet decision, deficit is increasing instead of
being limited; yet the most dangerous thing is that Taif Accord is being emptied
instead of being held onto and developed.” Later on Monday, MP Wael Abou Faour,
who is delegated by Jumblatt, visited Berri. "Unfortunately, we are still in the
same vortex regarding the 1994 military officers' decree, and it seems that the
discussion on this subject has sparked yet another debate on the respect of the
text and spirit of the Taif agreement," he said, adding that his party "cannot
accept the logic that says that the military officers' decree is a thing of the
past.” Sources informed about Berri and Jumblatt’s positions told Asharq Al-Awsat
on Monday that cautions against violating the “Taif” were not limited to the
latest disputes over the military officers’ decree, but involve files piled from
last year, and that shows the presence of “a disputed explanation of the Taif
Accord and an attempt to adjust some of its items to fit the interests of a
particular political party.”However, parliamentary sources from the “Change and
Reform” parliamentary bloc said the FPM was attached to the Taif Accord, adding
that the crisis is rather linked to the explanation of the Constitution, which
was amended based on the Taif document.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on January 23-24/18
Iranian Judiciary Chief Warns against Undermining Protests
London - /Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18/It has been nearly one month since the
rise of popular protests in several parts of Iran, yet senior Iranian officials
continue to accuse foreign parties of standing behind these demonstrations in
the Iranian streets. The latest of these accusations was from Iranian Judiciary
Chief Sadegh Larijani, who did not address the internal reasons behind the
protests and said that the United States has invested millions of dollars in
order to provoke "unrest and destabilization as it seeks to overthrow the
regime." Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, for his part, said
that the protests were caused by a decline in popular confidence in governors
and political movements, including his reformist movement. In an address to a
meeting of senior Judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday, Larijani said that
during the recent incidents, “some newspapers and people were saying that such
events usually occur in every society." "Is there really no problem with chaos,
sabotage and extraordinary (anti-regime) attitudes?” Larijani asked. In December
28, protests broke out in the city of Mashhad under the slogan "No for hike in
prices," soon after that, 80 Iranian cities witnessed spontaneous protests that
turned from slogans calling for improving the living situation to slogans
calling for the overthrow of the regime and death of senior officials, most
notably the Iranian Supreme leader. Relative calm returned to Iranian cities
after 10 days of clashes between security forces and protesters. Revolutionary
Guards Commander Mohammad Ali Jaafari said his forces partly intervened in three
provinces that witnessed widespread protests. He called on “closing the road of
infiltration by learning from various events." "We do not allow some to reduce
the cost of unrest and chaos because we believe that reducing the cost of unrest
for the anarchists threatens security, competence and popular rights."Contrary
to what officials said regarding the release of protesters, Larijani said that
"the bad guys and the saboteurs in the recent protests will definitely receive
the punishment they deserve."Larijani claimed that the Iranian regime is an
alternative to the liberal democratic system, pointing out that the Iranian
behavior at the regional and international levels, which is opposed by the
United States, is a result of this alternative system. He noted that US has
publicly and clearly stated that it seeks regime change in Iran. This, he said,
is a sign of its enmity towards Iran. He said that these realities make it
necessary for the Iranian officials and nation to remain vigilant about US overt
and covert plans to infiltrate and weaken Iran.
Sochi Statement: Syrian Army to Be Brought Under
Constitution
London – Ibrahim Hamidi/Asharq
Al Awsat/January 23/18/A draft paper to be issued at the end of the Syrian
National Dialogue Congress due in Sochi next week stipulates the need to form a
“national army brought that operates under the constitution” and that the
security apparatus abide by the “human rights law.”The paper also calls on the
Syrian regime to stress “national unity” and provide “a just representation of
the self-administrated authorities.”Asharq Al-Awsat received on Monday a copy of
the declaration written by Moscow. According to how Russia sees a solution in
Syria, the Sochi Congress is expected to lead to the establishment of three
committees: a presidential committee for the Congress, a special committee for
constitutional reforms and a committee for elections and the registration of
voters. The meeting is scheduled for January 29 and 30. Moscow was also keen
that its draft paper be based on the 12 political principles previously
presented by UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura in Geneva last November. De
Mistura had then published 12 principles for a future Syria that he handed to
both regime and opposition delegations. His principles stipulate that the
country “shall be democratic and non-sectarian.” A western official said on
Monday: “It will be difficult for Damascus to reject the Sochi principles.” He
added that Moscow wanted to include the 12-point principles in its Sochi
declaration to secure the attendance of de Mistura at the congress after UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres had set a series of conditions for the UN to
attend the meeting. According to the draft paper, members attending the Syrian
Congress in Sochi could reach 1,600 participants who “represent the entire
factions of the Syrian community and the different political, civil, ethnic,
religious and social forces.” Meanwhile, talks held between High Negotiations
Committee (HNC) leader Naser al- Hariri and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov on Monday evening, are expected to play a decisive role concerning the
group’s participation at the Sochi Congress, particularly in the presence of
objections voiced by Syrian armed factions. Before meeting with Lavrov,
al-Hariri had avoided receiving an official invitation to the Congress. Earlier,
Syrian opposition groups said they would attend the UN-sponsored Vienna talks
next Thursday and Friday. The talks are part of the Geneva negotiations and will
this time around be held in the Austrian capital. The Vienna meeting will
constitute a test for Moscow to text its authorities on Damascus and its
capacity to achieve a “constitutional breakthrough” ahead of the Sochi meeting.
France Sanctions Dozens of Individuals, Firms for Syria Chemical Weapons Links
Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18/France revealed on Tuesday that it was imposing
sanctions on 25 individuals and firms for their connection to Syria’s chemical
weapons program. The announcement was made as diplomats were set to meet in
Paris to push for action against perpetrators of the deadly attacks. The list
published in the government's official gazette gave the names and addresses of
traders and businesses based mostly in Beirut, Damascus and Paris, as well as a
Chinese businessman from the export hub of Guangdong. The other individuals, who
will face asset freezes under the French action, were either Syrian, Lebanese or
Canadian with companies working in electronics, metal work, logistics or
shipping. No member of the Syrian regime was targeted, with an aide in the
French foreign ministry explaining: "We don't have enough information to enable
us to take this up to the political level in Syria."The latest reported chemical
weapons attack in Syria was reported on Monday when rescue workers said that
victims of regime bombardment showed signs of suffocation. Some 21 people,
including children, suffered breathing difficulties after an alleged chemical
attack on the besieged rebel enclave of East Ghouta outside Damascus. The attack
prompted a sharp warning from the US to Russia to rein in its ally, Syrian
regime head Bashar al-Assad. Diplomats from 29 countries including US Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson were set to meet in Paris later on Tuesday pushing for
further sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of chemical
attacks in Syria. Tillerson and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian will
also co-host a meeting of ministers ahead of a new round of peace talks in
Vienna later this week and again in Sochi in Russia the week after.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in June that the use of chemical weapons
was a "red line" and warned that France, which is part of the US-led coalition
fighting extremists with air strikes in Syria, would respond. Macron's words
echoed a warning by Barack Obama, who as president had said that any chemical
weapons use would trigger a shift in his country's position on Syria. After
hundreds were killed in attacks near Damascus in August 2013, a landmark deal
with Russia was struck to rid Syria of its chemical weapons stash, staving off
US air strikes. Despite the disarmament drive, chemical attacks have continued.
United Nations investigators have gathered evidence that Assad’s regime has
repeatedly used chemical weapons against rebels and civilians during the war
since it erupted in March 2011. France estimates that there have been 130
chemical attacks between 2012 and 2017, but the ISIS extremist group is thought
to have used chemical weapons too. Russia and China have blocked Western-backed
efforts at the UN to impose sanctions on Damascus over their use. "Today the
situation is blocked at the highest international level," an aide to Le Drian
said. "The perpetrators of chemical attacks must know that they can be
prosecuted and that we won't let this lie."
Russia Welcomes Arab Coalition’s Humanitarian
Measures in Yemen
Moscow - Taha Abdul Wahed/Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18/Moscow welcomed on
Monday the humanitarian steps taken by the Arab Coalition in Yemen and
underlined the need for a political solution to the crisis in the
country.“Russia welcomes the decision of the Arab coalition to ease the blockade
of the Yemeni port of Al Hudaidah, the only transport route that connects the
country’s main city and northern provinces with the outside world,” Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a joint news conference on Monday
with Yemen’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdul-Malik Al-Mekhlafi
in Moscow. “We believe that the UN should henceforth be able to deliver
humanitarian aid to Sanaa without fail. It is important to strive to lift the
sea and air blockade, to remove all limitations on the deliveries of food,
medicines and other prime necessities to all regions of Yemen with no
exceptions,” he added.
Lavrov noted that Moscow would maintain its dialogue with all the Yemeni
components and concerned parties, to “contribute to the settlement and the
transition from war to a political dialogue to do so as soon as possible.”The
two ministers held talks in Moscow on Monday on the situation in Yemen and the
prospects of a political settlement. Mekhlafi conveyed a message from Yemeni
President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lavrov
emphasized Russia’s stance that there was no alternative to dialogue to end the
crisis in Yemen.
“We consider it absolutely necessary to stop the armed standoff in Yemen, as
well as the need for the conflict participants to abandon the use of force in
resolving the accumulated problems. We believe it necessary to not only
continue, but also boost the relevant international efforts with the central
role of the UN to create conditions for establishing a sustainable intra-Yemeni
dialogue with the participation of all political forces in the country,” he
stated. Lavrov went on to say: “Only the Yemeni people themselves can define the
fate of their country. Russia, which maintains contacts will all Yemeni groups,
is ready to facilitate this process. We see that this approach is accepted and
supported by the leadership of the Republic of Yemen.”Mekhlafi, for his part,
asked Russia to exert pressure on Iran to stop its military support for Houthi
militias. He emphasized that a political solution to the crisis was the only
option for the Yemeni government. He noted in this regard that the government
“has always approved the initiatives of the international community” to settle
the conflict, pointing out that the Houthis were those who always rejected such
initiatives, and “they still put a lot of obstacles to the political process.”
7.9 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes off Alaska
Asharq Al Awsat/January
23/18/A tsunami warning was lifted across the western US and Canada coasts after
a powerful earthquake struck the US state of Alaska. The warning was originally
issued across the south and southeast Alaska and the west coast of Canada and
the remainder of the US West Coast came under a watch following the
7.9-magnitude quake. It struck at 0931 GMT in the Gulf of Alaska, 280 kilometers
(175 miles) southeast of the town of Kodiak, the US Geological Survey said,
revising a preliminary estimate of 8.2 magnitude. The epicenter was 10
kilometers under the seabed. Less-ominous tsunami watches were issued for the US
west coast -- the entire coasts of California and Oregon and part of Washington
state -- and Hawaii out in the Pacific. Heather Rand, who was 360 miles away in
Anchorage, told CNN it felt like the longest earthquake she had ever
experienced. "It was a very long, slow build up. Creepy, more than anything.
Definitely the longest, and I was born here," Rand said, adding the only damage
was cracks in the wall. So far no quake damage or large waves have been reported
in Kodiak, which is on an island off the coast, police spokesman Tim Putney told
AFP. "We are half an hour beyond the time we were told the first wave might hit.
Nothing has happened," he said around 1115 GMT. The earthquake woke Putney up
out of a dead sleep, and he estimates it shook for at least 30 seconds. Larry
LeDoux, superintendent of the Kodiak Island Borough School District, said
schools were open as shelters and estimated there were about 500 people at the
high school. He described the atmosphere inside as calm, with people waiting for
any updates. He said sirens go off in the community every week, as a test to
make sure they are working. He said the sirens were sounded for the early
Tuesday tsunami warning.
Israeli Officer Confesses: We 'Blow' Violence
into Palestinians like Poison
Tel Aviv – /Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/While right-wing officials in Israel are
trying to prevent human rights' seminars for Israeli army, "Breaking the
Silence" will publish a new pamphlet containing testimonies of officers and
soldiers who admit that during their military service they abused and tortured
Palestinians and violated Palestinian human rights. Former officer Ram Cohen
admitted in his testimony that violence is an integral part of the daily and
humiliating occupation. "Taking control of the other means feeling what I felt
during my reserve service when I stopped a Palestinian bus that was returning
after a day's work in Israel. They were sleepy, tired and exhausted, and wanted
to just go home. I stood there with my M16 rifle in my hand and my ammunition
ready ordering them all to step down from the bus. I aligned them in a long
queue," he narrated. Cohen went on to say how he ordered the Palestinians to
present their IDs, and then he searched their belongings "hoping to find
something there.""Finally, I ordered them back to the bus. "Stop!" I shout, "Why
did you move?!" They obeyed, went down, walked, stood, came back, and returned
to the bus. I felt strong. I have a rifle with a full ammunition of live
bullets, my finger ready on the trigger. I thought at the time that Palestinians
were not human beings. Enemies. Potential terrorists," he added. The officer
felt that Palestinians lacked any human trait that could make him feel
sympathetic or like them. "The soldiers feel free and blow violence inside them
like poison. This is not only practiced against Palestinians, but also against
Ethiopian refugees, even gay and left-wing Jews," he added. Israeli Culture and
Sports Minister Miri Regev's official Facebook page: "It is unnecessary to point
out to you that Breaking the Silence works to tarnish the image of Israel,
presenting it as an immoral state and its army and soldiers as an immoral army."
Cohen believes that by writing this, the minister is seeking to defend the
country as a Jewish democratic state, but rather the occupied territories. "What
should we do with the territories we occupied in 1967?" wondered Cohen, adding:
"if we want it, we must include it in accordance with the law and grant equal
rights to its two and a half million Palestinian residents. By doing so, we will
undermine the entire Zionist project and endanger the identity of Israel as a
Jewish state. If we are not willing to pay this price, we must plan for a smart
and organized separation of regions and authority that fascinate us." Cohen then
concluded: "There is one thing we should not forget: with pikes we can achieve
everything, but sit on it. "It is worth mentioning that Israeli Information
Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B'Tselem, organizes several
seminars and sessions for the Israeli army, in which legal experts talk about
"human rights in the occupied territories".The director-general of B'Tselem,
Shai Glick, sent a letter to Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, warning him not
to concede to the demands of the right-wing parties and cancel the sessions.
Sisi Discusses with Head of French Intelligence
Deteriorating Situation in Middle East
Cairo - Sawsan Abou Hussein/Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/Egyptian President Abdul
Fattah al-Sisi met in Cairo on Monday with French Foreign Intelligence Chief
Bernard Emie, in the presence of Acting General Intelligence Chief Major General
Abbas Kamel. In a statement issued by Egypt’s presidency, Spokesman Bassam Radi
said that the two officials discussed the deteriorating situation in the Middle
East and means to boost international efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.
He also said that Sisi extended his greetings to French President Emmanuel
Macron, while stressing the “exclusiveness, depth and strength of relations”
with France. Sisi also underlined his country’s keenness to promote bilateral
cooperation in various fields, according to Radi. Emie, for his part, emphasized
France’s commitment to continued coordination and consultation with the Egyptian
side over different challenges faced by the two countries, especially regional
matters. He also praised Egypt’s pivotal role in strengthening security and
stability in the region. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources said that France was
considering re-launching an initiative to hold an international peace conference
for the Middle East to end the stalemate in the Palestinian file, in wake of the
Palestinian Authority’s refusal to deal with the United States as a neutral
mediator for the establishment of a two-state solution. On a different note,
Cairo received an official invitation from Moscow to attend the Sochi conference
on Syria, which is scheduled to be held in Russia at the end of this month,
Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said. He underlined Egypt’s
support for the ongoing negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in
Geneva, which are based on Resolution 2254, while welcoming any other
initiatives on the table as long as they seek to strengthen the same peace
process.
British Efforts for Political Solution in Yemen
in Cooperation with Saudi-Led Coalition
Jeddah - Asmaa al-Ghaberi/Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18/British Ambassador to
Yemen Simon Shercliff stressed that his country is leading diplomatic efforts to
reach a political solution in Yemen in cooperation with the Saudi- led coalition
to support legitimacy in Yemen. Shercliff said that his country is seeking to
attract international players to find solutions to achieve peace and cooperate
with the coalition forces, in collaboration with the UN Security Council. He
noted that his country continues to provide political support for the military
action of the Saudi-led coalition, which was formed at the request of the
legitimate Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to deter the Houthis and
restore legitimacy in Yemen. Shercliff also explained that Britain has been
contributing to the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as it has
provided more than 250 million dollars, making it the second largest supporter
of the UN humanitarian appeal in Yemen. “Britain has also been urging all
parties to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aids quickly and safely,”
Shercliff added. He pointed out that Houthis continue to violate the
international law and resolution 2216 through attacking Saudi cities and lands
with missiles and threatening the security of maritime navigation in Bab
el-Mandeb. Regarding the will to drop sanctions on the family of former
President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Security Council to enable them to engage in
the resistance front against Houthis, Shercliff said, “any UN Security Council
resolution on individual sanctions requires the consensus of the international
community to cooperate with the parties in the region to have an effect, and the
current priority is to urge the concerned parties to return to negotiations and
implement the clear requirements of the June 15 Security Council presidential
statement.”That statement, according to the British ambassador, was prepared in
cooperation with Britain and shows the concern about the humanitarian situation
in Yemen, particularly with regard to the deteriorating health situation, the
demand for a return to the UN-led peace negotiations, the unhindered entry of
humanitarian aids and the facilitation of access to basic foodstuffs, fuel and
medical supplies from the port of Hodeidah.
Tillerson Says Russia 'Bears Responsibility' for Syria
Chemical Attacks
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/U.S. Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson on Tuesday said Russia bore responsibility for recent chemical attacks
by the Syrian government, which it backs in the country's civil war. "The recent
attacks in East Ghouta raise serious concerns that Bashar al-Assad's Syrian
regime may be continuing its use of chemical weapons against its own people,"
Tillerson told reporters in Paris. "Russia ultimately bears responsibility for
the victims in East Ghouta."
Turkey in Deadly Kurdish Militia Clashes in Syria as U.S. Sounds Alarm
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/The Turkish army on Tuesday clashed
with Kurdish militia in Syria in an operation that has already left two of its
soldiers dead, as the United States voiced alarm the offensive could endanger
attempts to end the Syrian civil war. Speaking at the funeral of the first of
two Turkish soldiers to be killed so far in the four day cross-border campaign,
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Ankara would emerge victorious. Turkey
on Saturday launched operation "Olive Branch" aimed at rooting out the Kurdish
People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara sees as a terror group,
from its Afrin enclave in northern Syria. The campaign has caused ripples of
concern among Turkey's NATO allies, especially the United States which is still
working closely with the YPG to defeat Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria. In
his strongest comments yet on the offensive, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
called for Turkey to show "restraint" and warned it could harm the fight against
the jihadists. He warned the offensive "disrupts what was a relatively stable
area in Syria and distracts from the international effort to defeat" IS, on a
visit to Indonesia.
'Until the last terrorist'
Turkish artillery on Tuesday pounded targets of the YPG inside Syria, the
state-run Anadolu news agency said. Meanwhile, Turkish drones were also carrying
out attacks, state television said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitor said fighting was "very violent" northeast, northwest and
southwest of Afrin. The Observatory said the offensive took control of two
villages so far. As well as the artillery and air strikes, Turkish ground troops
and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels have punched over the border several kilometers
(miles) into Syrian territory, taking several villages, according to state
media. After intense exchanges, Turkey's forces took control of the hill of
Barsaya, a key strategic point in the Afrin region. The Observatory said 43
Ankara-backed rebels and 38 Kurdish fighters had been killed in the fighting so
far. It has also said 28 civilians have been killed on the Syrian side but this
is vehemently rejected by Turkey which says it is only targeting militants.
Sergeant Musa Ozalkan, 30, the first Turkish military fatality of the operation,
was laid to rest with full honors in a ceremony in Ankara attended by the
Turkish leadership. "We will win and reach victory in this operation together
with our people, together with Free Syrian Army," Erdogan assured mourners,
referring to the Ankara-backed rebels. "We have full confidence," he added. A
second Turkish soldier was killed in Syria Tuesday in clashes with the YPG, the
military said in a statement. He was named as First Lieutenant Oguz Kaan Usta.
The campaign -- which Erdogan has made clear has no fixed timetable -- is
fraught with risks for Turkey. Two civilians have been killed inside Turkey in
border towns in the last two days by rocket fire from Syria blamed on the YPG.
"This operation will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated," Turkish
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. The leaders of the YPG-controlled enclave
meanwhile announced a "general mobilisation," calling up civilians to defend
Afrin against Turkish attack.
Russian green light?
The offensive against the YPG is also fraught with diplomatic sensitivities with
Western capitals particularly concerned that it will take the focus away from
eliminating IS. France and the European Union have made similar comments to
those made by Mattis. But Ankara has expressed impatience with such sentiments,
arguing that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
which has waged a bloody three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. The
foreign ministry of Qatar -- Turkey's closest Gulf ally -- gave its unequivocal
backing to the operation. Critical is the opinion of Russia, which has a
military presence in the area and a cordial relationship with the YPG but is
also working with Turkey to bring an end to the seven-year Syrian civil war.
Erdogan said Monday that the offensive had been agreed with Russia but this has
not been confirmed by Moscow. However many analysts argue that Turkey would
never have gone ahead with the offensive without the Kremlin's blessing.
Turkey's previous incursion into Syria was the Euphrates Shield campaign in
August 2016-March 2017, targeting both the YPG and IS in an area east of Afrin.
The Turkish security forces have meanwhile imposed a clampdown against anyone
suspected of disseminating "terror propaganda" against the operation on social
media. Ninety-one people were detained in 13 provinces in Turkey, state media
reported on Tuesday, after 24 people had been detained in other cities on
Monday.
Congress Votes to End Shutdown, Trump Claims Victory
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/Congress put the US
government back in business Monday by voting to end a three-day shutdown, as
President Donald Trump claimed victory in his standoff with Democrats in
Washington. The House voted 266 to 150 to extend federal funding, hours after
Senate Democrats dropped their opposition to the plan after winning Republican
assurances of a vote on immigration in the coming weeks. Trump signed the
measure into law Monday night, and government operations would essentially
return to normal on Tuesday. "I know there's great relief that this episode is
coming to an end," House Speaker Paul Ryan told colleagues. "But this is not a
moment to pat ourselves on the back. Not even close." The stalemate consumed
Washington for the better part of a week, as lawmakers and the White House
feuded over immigration policy and the nation's two main political parties
exchanged bitter barbs before finally reaching a deal. "I am pleased Democrats
in Congress have come to their senses," Trump said in a defiant statement, as
lawmakers moved to get hundreds of thousands of federal government employees
back to work. Democrats decided to end the three-day shutdown after making
progress with ruling Republicans toward securing the fate of hundreds of
thousands of so-called "Dreamers" brought to America as children, many of them
illegally. With Democratic support, a bill keeping the government funded until
February 8 easily passed the Senate, where different versions of the funding had
languished for days. Word of the compromise deal struck in Washington sent US
stocks surging to new highs. But the White House appeared in no mood for
bipartisanship or magnanimity after a shutdown that overshadowed Trump's first
anniversary in office. Trump moved to undercut Democrats, saying he would only
accept a comprehensive immigration reform -- one that notably addresses his
demands for a border wall with Mexico as well as the fate of the "Dreamers.""We
will make a long-term deal on immigration if, and only if, it is good for our
country," he said. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer earlier announced his party
would vote with Republicans to end the shutdown, but in a sign of the poisoned
politics of Washington he pilloried Trump in the process. "The White House
refused to engage in negotiations over the weekend. The great deal-making
president sat on the sidelines," Schumer said.
Trump spent the weekend stewing at the White House when he had planned to be
among friends and family at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida for his anniversary
bash. And with the fundamental row on immigration and funding of Trump's border
wall unresolved, Republicans and Democrats may very well find themselves back in
a similar stalemate come February 9.
- High-profile holdouts -Schumer told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
that he expected Republicans to make good on a pledge to address Democrats'
concerns over the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals (DACA) program that shields
immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation, but expires on
March 5. There are an estimated 700,000 "Dreamers" whose fates are up in the
air. "If he does not, of course, and I expect he will, he will have breached the
trust of not only the Democratic senators but members of his own party as well,"
Schumer said. Trump has staked his political fortunes on taking a hard line on
immigrants, painting them as criminals and scroungers. Senator Tim Kaine summed
up the view of the more optimistic Democrats: "We got a commitment that I feel
very, very good about." But if no progress is made on an immigration bill, Molly
Reynolds of the Brookings Institution warned, "Democrats still have the ability
to potentially force another shutdown over the issue."The House is under no
obligation to pass any Senate bill generated as a result of McConnell's pledge
to cooperate with Democrats -- although Speaker Ryan did say his chamber needs
to "move forward in good faith" on DACA and immigration. Notably, many of the
Senate Democrats who voted against the funding agreement included a litany of
potential 2020 presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders,
Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. - Dealmaker on sidelines -Ahead of the
deal, Trump had goaded Democrats from the sidelines, accusing them of shutting
down the government to win concessions on immigration, in service of "their far
left base."There have been four government shutdowns since 1990. During the last
one, in October 2013, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary
leave. Essential federal services and the military were operational on Monday.
Three French Female Jihadists Risk Death Sentence in Iraq
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/Three French women who joined the
Islamic State group before being captured by Iraqi forces could be facing the
death penalty as they await trial in Baghdad, sources close to their cases told
AFP. The women were detained after Iraqi fighters ousted the jihadists from
Mosul last July, one source said, confirming a report on RMC radio. One
28-year-old woman left in 2015 for the group's "caliphate" stretching over parts
of Syria and Iraq along with her husband, who has reportedly been killed. She is
being detained with her daughter, who was born after their arrival. "We don't
know what exactly she is accused of, what her detention conditions are like and
whether she is being allowed the means to defend herself," said the woman's
lawyer, Martin Pradel. He said he had received "no response" from France's
foreign ministry on the case, for which the Red Cross has been his only source
of information. A second woman, a 27-year-old named as Melina, also left for the
region in 2015, and is being held with her baby. Her three older children have
been returned to France. "We expect France, if Melina is sentenced to death, to
mobilize with the same intensity it has for other French citizens sentenced to
death, in particular Serge Atlaoui," said er lawyers, William Bourdon and
Vincent Brengarth. French diplomats have waged an intense campaign to free
Atlaoui, who is being held in Indonesia and facing the death penalty on drug
trafficking charges. But government officials have said French fighters arrested
in Syria and Iraq should be tried there if they can be guaranteed a fair trial.
Defense minister Florence Parly said Sunday that "we can't be naive" regarding
French citizens who left to join IS. "When they are caught by local authorities,
as far as possible they should be tried by these local authorities," she told
France 3 television.
Children detained
On Sunday, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death by hanging after
finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case
involving a European woman. In December, an Iraqi-Swedish man was hanged along
with 37 others accused of being IS or al-Qaida members, despite efforts by
Sweden to have the prisoner serve a life sentence instead. Iraqi authorities
have not disclosed how many jihadists are being held prisoner since the
counter-offensive that dislodged IS fighters from the country's urban centers
last year. Around 40 French citizens, both men and women, are currently in
detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq, including about 20 children, a
source close to the matter has said. On Monday, Parly reiterated that she had
"no qualms" regarding the fate of French jihadists, despite requests by some of
them to be repatriated. "These jihadists have never had any qualms about what
they're doing, and I don't see why we should have any for them," she said.
Pence Visits Western Wall after Pro-Israel Speech
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/U.S. Vice President Mike Pence
visited Jerusalem's Western Wall on Tuesday while Palestinians held a general
strike after denouncing his fervently pro-Israel speech the previous day as "messianic."The
devout Christian's speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday laden with
biblical references was praised by Israelis as perhaps the best they could ever
hope for from a U.S. administration, but Palestinians saw it as confirming some
of their worst fears. Pence proudly reaffirmed U.S. President Donald Trump's
December 6 declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and pledged to move the
embassy to the disputed city by the end of 2019. The vice president said "the
friendship between our peoples has never been deeper. And I am here to convey a
simple message from the heart of the American people: America stands with
Israel." On Tuesday, as he wrapped up his trip, Pence, who was boycotted by the
Palestinians, visited one of the holiest sites in Judaism, the Western Wall. The
site lies in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the sector the Palestinians want as
the capital of their future state, and many Israelis are likely to interpret it
as Pence further backing their claim over the entire city. "Very inspiring,"
Pence said after the visit during which he was not accompanied by Israeli
government officials. Pence followed in the footsteps of Trump, who became the
first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall in May. In December, a
U.S. senior administration official said "we cannot envision any situation under
which the Western Wall would not part of Israel." "But as the president said,
the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the
final status agreement." Pence also toured Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust
memorial accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and
met President Reuven Rivlin. He said the White House believes the Jerusalem
declaration "will set the table for the opportunity to move forward in
meaningful negotiations to achieve a lasting peace and end the decades-long
conflict".
'Gift to extremists'
The Palestinians face a dilemma over how to deal with what they see as a
blatantly biased U.S. administration as they seek to salvage hope of a two-state
solution.
A top Palestinian official called Pence's parliament speech "messianic" and a
"gift to extremists," reiterating the view that the Trump White House is
incapable of being an even-handed mediator in peace talks. Pence has issued no
criticism of Israel's half-century occupation of the West Bank during his visit.
Around a dozen Arab Israeli lawmakers were expelled from the chamber as Pence
began his speech after they shouted in protest. On Tuesday, a general strike was
observed in the Palestinian territories, but there were expressions of
resignation among some."It's useless, the strike. Nothing will happen," Adel
Humran, a Palestinian against the strike, said in the West Bank town of
Ramallah. "Only the shops will be closed. The people won’t benefit from it at
all."A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, however, said the
strike was a "message of rejection of the visit and the American
position.""Jerusalem is a red line we cannot compromise on," said Nabil Abu
Rudeina. A few hundred Palestinians also protested near an Israeli checkpoint in
the West Bank, throwing stones at soldiers who occasionally fired back with tear
gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets. The Palestinian leadership has sought to
look elsewhere for backing, and Abbas met European Union foreign ministers in
Brussels on Monday. The 82-year-old urged them to recognize a Palestinian state,
but such a move was not forthcoming from the bloc as a whole. Abbas said he was
committed to negotiations, but he has sought an internationally-led process.
Netanyahu, bolstered by the unstinting support of the Trump administration, says
there is no substitute for U.S. leadership. He has warmly welcomed Pence,
calling him a "dear friend" and lauding Trump's Jerusalem declaration.
Deadly unrest
The U.S. move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital broke with decades of
international consensus that the city's status should be settled as part of a
two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Unrest since the
announcement has left 18 Palestinians dead, most of them killed in clashes with
Israeli forces. One Israeli has been killed in that time. Israel claims all of
Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians see the eastern sector as the
capital of their future state. Israelis and Palestinians alike interpreted
Trump's move as Washington taking Israel's side in the conflict -- a view
reinforced by the White House's recent decision to withhold financing for the
U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. In Jerusalem, Pence reiterated Trump's
position that the United States will support a two-state solution "if both sides
agree." Pence's visit, initially scheduled for December before being postponed
after the Jerusalem declaration, was the final leg of a trip that included talks
in Egypt and Jordan as well as a stop at a U.S. military base near the Syrian
border. Arab outrage over Trump's Jerusalem decision had prompted the
cancellation of several meetings planned ahead of the start of Pence's tour.
Israeli Minister Calls for Banning Author who Praised
Palestinian Teen
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/January 23/18/Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor
Lieberman on Tuesday instructed army radio to censor a prominent author who
compared a Palestinian teen facing trial to a Jewish girl murdered in the
Holocaust. Ahed Tamimi, 16, was arrested in December for slapping two Israeli
soldiers in the occupied West Bank, in an incident caught on video. She has been
charged with 12 counts including assault and ordered kept in custody until the
end of the legal proceedings. Hailed as a hero by Palestinians who see her as
bravely standing up to Israel's occupation, Tamimi has also caught the attention
of the Israeli left, including prominent writer and poet Jonathan Geffen, who
dedicated an Instagram post to her. "A pretty 17-year-old girl did a terrible
thing, and when a proud Israeli officer once again raided her home, she slapped
him," he wrote on Monday. "She was born into that, and in that slap there were
50 years of occupation and humiliation," he wrote. "On the day the story of this
struggle is told, you, Ahed Tamimi, red-haired like David who slapped Goliath,
will be on the same page as Joan of Arc, Hannah Szenes and Anne Frank," Geffen
said on Instagram. In posts on his own social media accounts, the outspoken
Lieberman lashed out at the writer, whose songs -- for adults and children --
are very popular in Israel. "I've instructed the commander of army radio
to stop playing or interviewing Jonathan Geffen in all the station's broadcasts,
and I call on all media in Israel to do the same," the defense minister said.
"The State of Israel won't give a platform to a drunkard comparing a child
(Frank) who was killed in the Holocaust and a hero warrior (Szenes) who fought
the Nazi regime to Ahed Tamimi, the brat who attacked a soldier," he said.
"Geffen's pursuit of headlines is sickening and infuriating," Lieberman
continued, saying Hizbullah's Al-Manar television channel would be a more
suitable venue for Geffen's "nonsense." Israel's military radio station is under
the command of the army chief and ultimately the defense minister -- but not on
matters relating to content of what is broadcast. The justice ministry issued a
statement reiterating that Lieberman "has no legal authority to intervene in the
content of the station's broadcasts."
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published on January 23-24/18
Washington Chooses Syria as a Battlefield
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/January 23/18
Despite all the criticism
against the current US administration’s policy in the Middle East, we must admit
it is clearer and more committed than previous ones. It has chosen Syria as a
center for testing its new strategy in fighting ISIS, Russia and Iran. However,
we do not know whether or not it will be able to complete the path it had
recently planned and announced. Early in the 1990s, the Soviet Union collapsed
ending the Cold War and the only US foreign policy left was countering
terrorism. This policy became more about reactions to the September 11, 2001
attacks. This saw it confront terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria,
Yemen and Libya. This stage lasted for a decade and a half. We can now see
glimpses of confrontations between Washington and Moscow in countries like
Syria, Ukraine, Iran and, to a lesser extent, on the Korean Peninsula. This
conflict between the Russian and US powers brings back to mind the Cold War,
which was highlighted last week when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke
about his country's new strategy and said it generally relies on fighting rival
powers, mainly Russia and, to a lesser degree, China.
Washington’s policy in the Middle East in general, and in Syria and Iraq in
particular, changed under the Trump administration. It has decided to confront
Russia’s presence and that of its ally Iran, in addition to fighting ISIS. The
US chose Syria as its battlefield, which became very complicated after several
powers became involved in the crisis there.
With Washington’s adoption of a clear policy for the first time, it is likely to
produce new issues that never existed before, such as that the US will expect
its allies to support its policy and restore old alliances. Stances on the
Syrian crisis will be classified and, later on, this will apply to other major
regional issues, like dealing with Iran. Turkey, which is a NATO member and
historically a US ally, was trying to use the crisis for its own interests,
until the battle for Afrin erupted, bringing it into confrontation with Iran,
Russia and the Syrian regime. Therefore, Turkey, as well as the rest of the
region, will realize their options will narrow down with time. So will Turkey
align with Washington or Moscow in Syria? The US abandoned last year’s policy of
cooperating with Russia in Syria and adopted a new policy based on confronting
Russia through regional proxies and alliances. However, Moscow preceded
Washington in adopting such a policy by using Iran and its agents, such as
Lebanese, Iraqi, and other militias, to fight their battles. On the other hand,
the US is using Kurdish-Syrian militias on the ground, along with remnants of
the Free Syrian Army factions east of the Euphrates. The new US approach is
based on thwarting the Russian-Iranian project in Syria and foiling ISIS
attempts to return after toppling its “caliphate” in Raqqah. Luckily for us in
the region, decision-makers in Washington have finally realized the danger of
the new transformations in Syria. They also oppose what Iran is doing in
Iraq.Even if the situation there does not escalate to the extent of a military
confrontation, adopting a hostile policy is enough to raise the cost of war for
the Iranian regime and make its ability to control the region an unlikely option
at the moment.
EU Quietly Turning the Heat on Iran
London - Amir Taheri/Asharq Al
Awsat/January 23/18
Last month when US President Donald Trump called for a renegotiation of the
so-called Iran nuclear deal, Tehran, the European Union, Russia and China
responded with a chorus of “No! No!” and dismissed Trump’s move as “totally
unacceptable.” Trump, however, set the clock ticking by fixing a 120-day delay
in which those involved in the “nuke deal” should come up with a clear agenda
for renegotiation. With the clock ticking, the thunderous “no! no!” became
a sotto voce “well, maybe!”Last week, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn surprised
everyone by announcing that the Commission, in consultation with Britain, France
and Germany, is “closely studying President Trump’s statement and its
consequences.”
More importantly, Hahn revealed that the EU had raised the issue of fresh
negotiation during a brief visit to Brussels by Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammed Javad Zarif. Special focus on projected talks would be on “Tensions in
the Middle East, Iran’s ballistic missiles projects and end of the year the mass
protests in Iran.”It is significant that the EU’s nuanced response to Trump’s
statement has come from Commissioner Hahn and not the union’s official foreign
policy spokesperson Ms. Federica Mogherini, who is regarded as a passionate
advocate of the Islamic Republic. The impression that the EU is moving towards
Trump’s position, at least half-way, was reinforced when, according to the
Financial Times, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel telephoned US Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson to signal the EU’s readiness to engage Iran in talks on
Tehran’s missile projects and regional ambitions. Gabriel went further to claim
that Iran had expressed its readiness for new talks during Zarif’s visit to
Brussels.
Though Iran denied those reports, it did not call in the German Ambassador to
Tehran for “explanations”, a routine move in the diplomatic sphere. The reports
were given additional weight when the German Foreign Ministry refused to deny
them. “The world has three months in which to find a compromise,” says Farid
Vashani, an analyst of Iran’s foreign relations. “Trump has said this may be the
last time he signs a waiver on the Iran nuclear deal. He could, of course, do a
Frank Sinatra and have another last time in three months’ time. But that is
unlikely. The Europeans, Russia and China will have to give him something not to
throw the whole thing out of the window.”
But, what could the EU, and others, give Trump?
The first item would be the reassertion for the fact that the “deal”, known as
the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action (CJPOA) is an implicit verbal
understanding with no legal basis and thus capable of countless
reinterpretations. This was pointed out in some detail in an editorial published
by the Tehran daily Vatan-e-Emruz. “The totality of sanctions the US has
accepted to suspend represents a small portion of sanctions imposed on Iran by
the US Congress and presidential decrees,” the paper said. “At the same time
there is no commitment not to impose new sanctions.”
Thus the second item on list of concessions that he EU, Russia and China could
give to stop Trump from denouncing the CJPOA is to impose new sanctions on Iran
related to issues not directly linked to the nuclear project. According to
reports broadcast by Manoto, a popular Iranian satellite TV channel, the EU has
already decided to ban all flights by Mahan Air, Iran’s second biggest carrier
by next March. Mahan Air is charged with transporting thousands of Afghan and
Pakistani “volunteers for martyrdom” from Iran to fight in Syria. This violates
the International Air Transport Agency (IATA) protocols under which civilian
aircraft cannot be sued for military purposes. An end to Mahan Air flights would
reduce Iran’s capacity to ferry troops and mercenaries to Syria and to ship arms
to the Lebanese branch of “Hezbollah”.
Despite Ms. Mogherini’s lyrical praise of the Islamic Republic, the EU is coming
up with other measures against Iran.
Germany has suspended the application of export guarantee rules, known as
Hermes, for trade with Iran and France has toughened its trade rules known as
COFACE. Under new procedures the so-called “dual use” rule would be applied to
all trade with the Islamic Republic. This is supposed to prevent Iran from
obtaining know-how, materiel and equipment that could have military use. But its
net effect would be to slow down deliveries to Iran and increase the cost. For
its part Britain has reneged on an earlier promise to release some $500 million
in Iranian frozen assets, citing “technical difficulties.”Last week, the
financial control authority in Luxembourg authorized the Clear Stream an
investment firm to freeze some $4.9 billion in Iran’s assets until further
notice. The firm reports that some $1.9 billion of the sums involved have
already been handed over to a US court for payment to families of 241 US Marines
killed by “Hezbollah” in a suicide attack in Beirut in 1983.
On a broader scale the EU has all but suspended a number of contracts already
signed with Iran in the form of memorandums of understanding. The largest of
these is the $5 billion deal with the French oil giant TOTAL to develop an
offshore Iranian gas field. The EU Commission wants to reexamine that in detail.
In Austria, the government has refused to provide guarantees for a $1 billion
loan negotiated by a private Vienna bank with Iran, making sure that no transfer
of money will happen in the near future. A similar deal between Tehran and a
consortium of Italian banks is likely to meet the same fate.
A number of EU members have also imposed strict limits on number of visas issued
to Iranian citizens for either business or pleasure. Britain has chosen a limit
of 2,000 visas a month, including hundreds issued to Islamic Republic officials
and their families. Greece has imposed no limit, but is under investigation for
reports that its consulate in Tehran was selling Schengen visas, allowing travel
to 19 EU countries, for up to $3,000 apiece.
The emerging EU strategy seems to be aimed at persuading Trump to help keep
CJPOA in place, at least in name, but make its implementation conditional to a
parallel set of talks aimed at stopping Iran’s missile project, ending Iran’s
intervention in the Middle East and improving respect for human rights inside
Iran. The time-limit fixed by Trump ends in March, which will coincide with date
set for a review of the CJPOA by the foreign ministers of all the seven nations
involved in it. At that time Tehran would be given the option of either
accepting a new set of restrictions on its military, economic and domestic
policies or bang the door and walk out in anger, something that might not
displease Trump.
The U.S. and Pakistan: Time for a Divorce?
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone
Institute/January 23/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11769/us-pakistan-divorce
"The amount of pain that Pakistan has inflicted upon the United States in the
last 12 years is unprecedented." — Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan's former spy
chief.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency continues to sponsor, equip, and
train several terrorist organizations that directly target American troops in
Afghanistan, as well as regional allies of the United States, such as India. The
U.S. could direct the Department of State to place Pakistan on the list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
It is long past time for the U.S. to choose what type of relationship it wants.
U.S. President Donald Trump's recent denunciation of Pakistan's "lies and
deceit" is long overdue. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawajah Asif's retort --
"We do not have any alliance" with the U.S. -- appears to administer the last
rites to a relationship long battered by mistrust. Are there, however,
sufficient U.S. interests served by maintaining military cooperation with
Pakistan, despite the contentious relationship?
Pakistan's two-faced role in joining the U.S.-led war on terror, while at the
same time giving sanctuary and assistance to terrorist groups, was apparent even
before the 9/11 attack on America and continues to this day. President Trump's
decision to withhold military aid may cause Pakistani intelligence agencies to
be even less cooperative than they were in the past in assisting U.S. forces
deployed to Afghanistan. Moreover, Pakistan's commercial, economic, and
investment interests appear now more closely aligned with China.
It is also in America's interest to end its own double game of attempting to be
allied with both India and Pakistan, countries that are mortal enemies; it would
be wise to choose India over Pakistan. As the world's most populous democracy,
India shares U.S. liberal democratic values. Its power in Asia is exceeded only
by that of China, America's principal competitor in the Pacific.
The recent liberation by Pakistani troops of an American family -- kidnapped
five years ago in Afghanistan by Pakistan-based terrorists -- should not be seen
as a decision to cooperate more fully with the U.S.-led war on Islamic
terrorism. U.S. Navy SEALs were ready to liberate the hostages in the event that
Pakistan refused to do so. Reports suggest that U.S. intelligence passed to
Pakistan the exact location of the hostages, making it difficult for the
Pakistanis not to act. Consequently, Pakistan, as an alleged ally of the U.S.,
had little choice but to assist.
The terrorist group holding the hostages, the Haqqani Network, has close
operational planning links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
These links between Pakistan and the Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups,
such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, underscore the untrustworthy nature of such a professed
ally. Ironically, it is arguable that America's greatest enemy in the region is
not al-Qaeda, but Pakistan. Afghanistan's former spy chief, Amrullah Saleh,
seems to agree. He assessed that "the amount of pain that Pakistan has inflicted
upon the United States in the last 12 years is unprecedented." So why should we
be surprised that Osama bin Laden's hideaway was in Abbottabad, less than a
30-minute drive from Pakistan's "West Point," the Pakistan Military Academy at
Kakul?
U.S. policymakers should not have been surprised -- if they were -- at
Pakistan's decision to give refuge to bin Laden. In the years prior to 9/11,
Pakistan was one of only three countries to have diplomatic relations with the
Taliban regime in Afghanistan. And, as host to al-Qaeda, the Taliban offered the
infrastructure to support the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.
U.S. policymakers should not have been surprised -- if they were -- at
Pakistan's decision to give refuge to Osama bin Laden, whose hideaway (pictured)
was in Abbottabad, less than a 30-minute drive from the Pakistan Military
Academy at Kakul. (Photo by Getty Images)
Pakistan's ISI continues to sponsor, equip, and train several terrorist
organizations that directly target American troops in Afghanistan, as well as
regional allies of the United States, such as India. Groups such as the Afghan
Taliban and its subsidiary, the Haqqani Network, are considered assets by the
ISI to help Pakistan accomplish its goals in Afghanistan, one of which is to
create enough instability to prevent its rival, India, from gaining influence
there.
The Haqqani Network also continues hostile operations against the U.S. military.
Other terrorist groups, such as the Pakistani-supported Lashkar-e-Taiba, too are
employed by Pakistan's ISI to commit terrorist acts against Pakistan's regional
archrival, India.
Pakistan does cooperate with the U.S., however, when American troops target
those terrorist groups that Pakistan's ISI does not control -- those working to
overthrow the Pakistani state. Most of these groups operate out of Northwest
Pakistan's remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA), regions that have never been under complete control of the
central government.
Pakistan also has a poor record on controlling nuclear proliferation. As is well
known, the scientist most responsible for Pakistan's development of nuclear
weapons capability, Abdul Qadeer Khan, disseminated technical information that
aided the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, both of which are long-time
adversaries of the United States.
Given the critical nature of his research, Khan could not have acted so freely
without protection from high-ranking Pakistani intelligence officers. It matters
not whether Khan was motivated by greed or ideology; his deeds dealt a severe
blow to the U.S. effort to keep nuclear weapons knowledge from the world's rogue
nations, such as Iran and North Korea.
Pakistan is not a democracy, despite its current regularly-scheduled elections.
It remains a violent, intolerant society in which religious minorities, such as
Shia Muslims and Christians, are under constant threat of persecution. In fact,
not a week goes by without a massacre of minorities in some part of the country.
There is little doubt, then, that Pakistan is more enemy than ally, and acts
more like a rogue state than a responsible member of the family of nations.
So why does the U.S. continue to have normal relations with Pakistan? To what
end does the U.S. continue its military cooperation? What U.S. national security
interest does this cooperation serve?
In part, the military alliance continues as a Cold War relic; Pakistan once
served as a bulwark against Soviet expansionist policies in South Asia. For
instance, during the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan (1980-1988),
Pakistan served as a staging and training area for anti-Soviet fighters from all
over the world. Despite the implosion of the Soviet Union, this
military-to-military relationship endures.
It is not, however, in the U.S.'s interest for Pakistan to dissolve as a
nation-state no longer sovereign in its territorial space. This would invite
Islamic terrorists throughout the world to flock to a newly failed and
ungoverned region, jam-packed with nuclear weapons. Nor would such a scenario be
in the interest of India, which could become the principal target of a collapsed
Pakistan. The collapse of nuclear Pakistan would require action by outside
powers, probably including the U.S., to interdict any possible efforts by
terrorist groups to seize its nuclear weapons.
Finally, as long as the United States and its allies have troops deployed to
Afghanistan, it is prudent to paper over existing tensions. Pakistan and
Afghanistan share an approximately 2500-kilometer border, etched with
mountainous topography and remote passes that can facilitate terrorist
infiltration. Without Pakistan's present limited cooperation, however, American
troop casualties in Afghanistan could rise sharply. Pakistan might entirely end
its already less-than-ideal assistance to the war effort in Afghanistan.
Several policy initiatives might motivate Pakistan to cooperate more fully in
the U.S.-led war on Islamic terrorism. The U.S. could cease all military aid for
an extended period. The U.S. could direct the Department of State to place
Pakistan on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The U.S. could use its
influence with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to deny
Pakistan loans. The U.S. could cut off all economic assistance. The U.S. could
declassify intelligence reports revealing Pakistan's ties to terrorist groups.
Such moves would certainly inconvenience the Pakistani leadership. Finally, the
U.S. could threaten to support internal separatist movements, such as the ethnic
Baloch desire for independence in Pakistan's western province of Balochistan. It
is long past time for the U.S. to choose what type of relationship it wants.
**Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense
Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in
the Air Force Reserve.
© 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.
Prison in France: Terrorism and Islamism
Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/January 23/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11787/france-prison-islam-terrorism
Like its police and the firefighters, France's prison guards say they live in a
permanent climate of violence and fear. And their exasperation is growing.
"Before, every morning, I was afraid to discover a guy hanging in his cell. You
know what I'm dreading today? To be slaughtered, stripped, stabbed in the back.
In the name of Islam and ISIS. Every day, on my way to work, this fear gnaws at
my belly." — 'Bernard,' a French prison guard.
"In the old days, aggressive behavior was linked to the difficulties of everyday
life. Now hatred and violence are unleashed [by Islamists] against [our]
authority, our society and its values." — Joaquim Pueyo, MP, former director of
Fleury-Mérogis prison.
Instead of understanding that the famous deradicalization centers have not been
useful because deradicalization did not take place, France's policymakers
persist in thinking that the solution to the Islamist war is appeasement. Their
new experiments all go in the same direction: pursuing the fantasy that "if we
are nice with jihadists, they will be nice to us."
French prison guards are on strike. In a period of less than 10 days, a number
of guards in various prisons were attacked and wounded, mainly by Islamists
incarcerated for terrorist offenses or petty criminals apparently on their way
to becoming radical Islamists. In reaction, the guards have blocked the normal
functioning of the majority of prisons.
The wave of attacks began on January 11, 2018. Three guards of Vendin-le-Vieil's
prison, in the north of France, were lightly wounded in a knife attack committed
by the Christian Gantzarski, a German convert to Islam who joined Al Qaeda and
masterminded the bombing of a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, in 2002.
On January 15, 2018, seven guards were attacked and injured by a "radicalized"
inmate at Mont-de-Marsan prison, in the south of France.
France's Mont-de-Marsan prison. (Image source: Jibi44/Wikimedia Commons)
On January 16, a guard at Grenoble-Varces prison almost lost an eye in an
attack. Before entering a cell, he looked through the eye-hole in the door, when
suddenly an inmate tried to put out his eye by jabbing a pencil through the
eye-hole. Luckily, the guard was not injured.
On the same day, a 28-year-old inmate at the Tarascon prison punched a female
supervisor in the face. Imprisoned for robbery, this detainee was suspected of
being an Islamist undergoing radicalization.
On January 17, a guard at Grenoble-Varces prison was assaulted by an inmate who
wanted to go to the prison infirmary without a doctor's appointment. Press
reports did not mention if he were an Islamist or not.
On January 19, two guards were attacked by four Islamist inmates at the Borgo
jail in Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. The guards were taken
to hospital in serious condition. According to the prosecutor, "It is not
possible to say that it is an Islamist terrorist attack."
On January 21, two guards -- a man and a woman -- at Longuenesse Penitentiary in
northern France, were severely beaten by an inmate armed with an iron bar. They
were later hospitalized.
On January 21, a total of 123 inmates of Fleury-Mérogis prison, in a suburb of
Paris, refused to return to their cells at the end of exercise period.
Intervention teams were called in to prevent a riot.
On January 22, guards at Craquelin Penitentiary in Chateauroux (central France),
disarmed an inmate shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the Greatest") while
threatening others with a knife. Before the guards managed to secure him, he
managed to throw a chair at the security officers, slightly wounding one of
them.
On January 22, according to the Ministry of justice, 27 prisons were totally
blocked by guards on strike. According to the unions, between 120 and 130
prisons, out of a total of 188, were half- or totally paralyzed. Also according
to the unions, a majority of the 28,000 guards on strike say they will not end
the strike until the government provides sufficient resources to ensure their
security.
Like its police and the firefighters, France's prison guards say they live in a
permanent climate of violence and fear. And their exasperation is growing.
'Bernard,' a prison guard who requested anonymity, says:
"Before, every morning, I was afraid to discover a guy hanging in his cell. You
know what I'm dreading today? To be slaughtered, stripped, stabbed in the back.
In the name of Islam and ISIS. Every day, while I am on my way to work, this
fear gnaws at my belly"
"What the guards are communicating is their feeling of abandonment," writes Le
Monde.
Punches in the face, sprains, dislocations: Anthony, a supervisor at the
Baumettes prison in Marseille, claims to have suffered four physical attacks in
the last three years. Each time, he filed complaints, but all of them, were
classified by the prosecutor. "We are asking for manpower, that is true," he
said, "but also for judges to do their jobs because physical violence is
becoming more and more common."
Terrorism and Islamism have changed the story of prison. According to Joaquim
Pueyo, former director of Fleury-Mérogis prison, today a Member of Parliament,
the situation is very simple:
"In the old days, aggressive behavior was linked to the difficulties of everyday
life. Now, hatred and violence are unleashed [by Islamists] against [our]
authority, our society and its values. [It is] not a surprise that guards, who
are confronted with inmates' radicalization, become targets".
According official statistics of the Ministry of Justice, on December 1, 2017,
slightly fewer than 80,000 people were in jail and prison in France. How many
Muslim inmates are there in France? It is difficult to know, because the law
prohibits any data based on race, religion or origin. In 2015, an official
report from a Member of Senate, Jean-René Lecerf, quoted a study saying that in
four of the biggest French prisons, more 50% of prisoners are Muslims. According
the Ministry of Justice, 500 Muslims are currently in prison for terrorism and
another 1,200 are common criminals that are being tracked as radical Islamists.
The prison guards' strike reveals much about the consequences of inadequate
policies that have been pursued so far in criminal and prison matters. Guards
are no longer willing to tolerate the violence and risk of death at the hands of
Islamists and other radicals who threaten their lives in prisons.
Instead of considering that Islamism has apparently fundamentally changed the
issue of criminal policy, the Ministry of Justice appears to continue thinking
that the major problems are prison overcrowding and poor prison conditions.
Of course, problems of overcrowding and poor prison conditions are important.
But administrative inertia, combined with the permanent political denial that
Islamists are at war with France, make the politicians and civil servants blind
to the disruptive character of Islamism in prison.
Instead of rethinking all prison policies from the position of Islamist risk --
the risk of guards being murdered, and the risk of Muslim inmates, who are the
majority of 70,000 prisoners, being transformed into authentic jihadists -- the
government tries to buy peace from the guards with a few salary increases and
"experiments" to make Islamists "reintegrate" into a "normal life" in "normal
society".
Instead of understanding that the famous deradicalization centers -- often
converted medieval castles -- have not been useful because deradicalization did
not take place, France's policymakers persist in thinking that the solution to
the Islamist war is appeasement. Their new experiments all go in the same
direction: pursuing the fantasy that "if we are nice with jihadists, they will
be nice to us."
The situation is deadlocked because of a refusal to formulate the problem on
factual basis. As long as policymakers do not consider Islamism as the number
one problem -- the problem for which prison policy overall must be rethought --
France's prison guards will continue to pay with their suffering, and one day
with their lives.
After the prison guards, it will be us. By the end 2020, 60% of convicted
jihadists will be released -- that is, in less than three years.
**Yves Mamou, author and journalist, based in France, worked for two decades as
a journalist for Le Monde. He is completing a book, "Collaborators and Useful
Idiots of Islamism in France," to be published in 2018.
© 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.
The American Stake in the Czech Elections
Jiri Valenta/Gatestone Institute/January 23/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11786/czech-elections-us-interests
Czech President Milos Zeman adamantly refuses to obey the European Union
immigration quotas, even in the face of EU lawsuits.
As for the widely bruited charge that he is pro-Russian: In 1968, this writer, a
former classmate of Zeman's in the Prague School of Economics, together defended
the Prague reforms before hostile academic audiences in Leningrad and Moscow
just weeks before the Soviet invasion. Expelled from the Communist Party, for
his opposition to the Soviets, Zeman was also thrice in two decades fired from
his job. In contrast, his opponent in the run-off, Jiri Drahos, repeatedly
traveled to West under the watchful supervision of the Czech secret police.
Zeman's defeat would deprive Europe of a powerful voice against anti-Semitism
and Islamo-fascism. Drahos, an inexperienced leader, is more likely to be
malleable to Brussels's demands on accepting quotas on Muslim immigration. The
result of the Czech vote will reverberate through Europe. Consequently, Zeman's
reelection is in America's national interest.
The significance of the upcoming run-off of the presidential election in Czech
Republic is largely underestimated in Washington. But its prevalent view of it
as a not too significant event in a small European country is dead wrong.
Contenders include the sitting President, outspoken and politically incorrect
Milos Zeman, who garnered 39% of the vote in the first of a two-phase election.
His rival is chemist Jiri Drahos, the correct, low key, former president of the
Czech Academy of Sciences, who won 27%. A tight race is expected in the January
26-27 vote.
Pictured: Czech President Milos Zeman (left) and Jiri Drahos (right), the two
contenders in the January 26-27 run-off vote for the Czech Republic presidency.
(Image source: Zeman, OISV/Wikimedia Commons; Drahos, Jindřich Nosek/Wikimedia
Commons)
In America, Zeman's foes are led by former Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, together with President Barack Obama's State Department holdovers.
They yearn for Zeman's defeat at they do for the downfall of President Donald
Trump, whom Zeman in some ways resembles.
As with Trump, one of key issues is whether Zeman is pro-Russian as maintained
by his foes in U.S and Czech media. Yet even more crucial is Zeman's hard line
on Muslim immigration. He adamantly refuses to obey the European Union
immigration quotas, even in the face of EU lawsuits.
A bit of Czech history is in order here. Curiously, the Prague events in last
century on dates ending in the number 8, have often witnessed developments with
major implications. In 1918, the founding of democratic Czechoslovakia by exiled
Czech politician Tomas Masaryk intensified the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian
empire. In 1938, British and French appeasement of Adolf Hitler at Munich and
the Nazi occupation of the Czech Sudetenland adumbrated the outbreak of World
War II a year later. In 1948 a Communist coup in still democratic Prague was a
key impetus for the creation of NATO a year later.
In 1968 the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia aimed at quelling the infectious
Prague Spring, became in the words of my mentor, Josef Korbel (Madeleine
Albright's father), "the inextinguishable spark" for future democratic
revolutions. That happened in 1989 as playwright Vaclav Havel, "an outstanding
dissident," in Zeman's words, became president of a new, democratic Czech
Republic.
This is 2018. Is change again in the wind? Hungary's prime minister, Viktor
Orbán, opposing Brussels' dictates along with Zeman, thinks so:
"Europeans have a clear will. They don't want to live under the threat of
terrorism, they want their borders to be protected ... I believe 2018 will be
the year of the restoration of the will of the people of Europe."
As for the widely bruited charge that he is pro-Russian: In 1968, this writer, a
former classmate of Zeman's in the Prague School of Economics, together defended
the Prague reforms before hostile academic audiences in Leningrad and Moscow
just weeks before the Soviet invasion. Expelled from the Communist Party, for
his opposition to the Soviets, Zeman was also thrice in two decades fired from
his job. In contrast, his opponent in the run-off, Drahos, repeatedly traveled
to West under the watchful supervision of the Czech secret police.
Thus, it is comical and disturbing to see the mainstream media cast the
Zeman-Drahos struggle as a choice of whether Prague will "lean east or west." A
January 14 The New York Times article even cited a political observer's
Kafkaesque absurdity that if Zeman is reelected he'll be "flying a Russian flag
from Prague Castle."
While Havel used to belittle the concept of national interest, Zeman, an
economist, favors good relations with Russia because geo-economics requires
this. The Czech Republic still depends on the Kremlin's energy resources and
trade, leading Zeman to remain neutral in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Yet, he
is serious about fulfilling the required Czech contribution to NATO.
Zeman has been vehement in his support of Israel. He compared Arafat to Hitler
for supporting terrorism. He launched yearly meetings of the Israeli and Czech
cabinets. He supported Trump's decision to move the U.S.to Jerusalem. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled him out as "the best friend Israel has
in Europe."
Zeman's defeat would deprive Europe of a powerful voice against anti-Semitism
and Islamo-fascism. Drahos, an inexperienced leader, is more likely to be
malleable to Brussels's demands on accepting quotas on Muslim immigration. The
result of the Czech vote will reverberate through Europe.
Consequently, Zeman's reelection is in America's national interest.
*Jiri Valenta is a nonresident senior fellow at the BESA Center for Strategic
Studies at Bar Ilan University, Israel and author of "Soviet Intervention in
Czechoslovakia, 1968" (Johns Hopkins, 1990).
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