LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 16/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.july16.18.htm
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Bible
Quotations
The
Miracle Of Reviving Lazarus From the Grave
John 11/01-16: "Now a certain man was ill,
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the
one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her
brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he
whom you love is ill.’But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does
not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may
be glorified through it.’Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two
days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the
disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the
Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’Jesus
answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the
day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who
walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’After saying this,
he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to
awaken him.’The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he
will be all right.’Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but
they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them
plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that
you may believe. But let us go to him.’Thomas, who was called the Twin, said
to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on July 15-16/18
They are all alienated from the Virtues Saint Charbel represented and
Personified/Elias Bejjani/July 15/18
German Intel Report: Iran Seeks To Shatter States' Stability With WMD/Jerusalem
Post/July 15/18
How the Mossad Broke Into an Iranian Facility and Stole Half a Ton of
Nuclear Files/Haaretz/July 15/18
Story of a Foiled Islamist Terrorist Attack/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute/July 15/18
France: A Second Jihad in the Bataclan/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/July
15/18
What the Best World Cup Teams Say About Immigration/Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/July
15/18
What Trump’s Trade War Is Really About/Christopher Balding/Bloomberg/July
15/18
New Weapons Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria/Faye Flam/Bloomberg/July
15/18
The outcome of the Helsinki summit will prove if critics of Trump and Putin
are right or wrong/Raghida Dergham/The National/July 15/18
Threats to Strait of Hormuz demonstrate Iran’s desperation/Dr. Majid
Rafizadeh/Arab News/July 15/18
Syrians left to choose between extremist options/Hazem Saghieh/Al Arabiya/July
15/18
Chaos at the Iraqi borders/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 15/18
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on July 15-16/18
They are all alienated from the
Virtues Saint Charbel represented and Personified
Bassil Promises Revival of Beirut-Damascus Political Relations
Speculation on Hariri-Bassil Meeting as 'Marada Obstacle' Surfaces
Rahi celebrates Mass of Saint Charbel in presence of Geagea: We pray for
Lebanon
Rahi: Clinging to quotas, restricting them to certain blocs does not justify
cabinet delay at expense of public good
Rahi Slams 'Clinging to Shares, Exclusion' in Govt. Formation Talks
Geagea and al-Rahi Discuss Cabinet Formation Process
Al-Sayyed, Zoaiter Spat over 'Shiites of State, Resistance'
Third Power Barge Arrives in Lebanon to Help Long-Ailing Sector
Jaberi Ansari to deliver Rouhani's message to Lebanese president
Sitin by Seven Party at Riad Solh Square demanding new cabinet, emergency
economic plan
Bukhari from Wadi Khaled: Lebanon lies in the conscience of the Saudi
Kingdom
Politics – Berri to head Parliament Council Bureau meeting on Monday
Hawat describes relationship with Berri as excellent, says he will take on
administration development dossier
Hasbani heads Lebanon's delegation to UN political forum
Titles For The Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 15-16/18
German Intel
Report: Iran Seeks To Shatter States' Stability With WMD
How the Mossad Broke Into an Iranian Facility and Stole Half a Ton of
Nuclear Files
Netanyahu, Trump discuss Syria, Iran ahead of Helsinki summit
G7 Foreign Ministers statement on MH17
Syrian Opposition Hands Over Heavy Arms in Daraa
Syria Rebels Begin Evacuating 'Cradle' of Uprising in Daraa
After No End of Drama, Trump and Putin Take to Summit Stage
Key Israeli Documents Extent Of Iranian Nuke Plan Revealed By Netanyahu
Gaza Truce Mostly Holds after Heavy Israel Strikes, Hamas Rocket Fire
Iraq: Protests Expand, Security Forces on High Alert
Trump, Putin Draw in Helsinki New Course of US-Russian Relations
Eritrea's Afwerki Ends 20 Years of Adversity on Historic Ethiopia Visit
Afghan Civilian Deaths Hit Record As Suicide Attacks Surge
Thousands Rally in Morocco for Jailed Rif Opponents
France become World Cup champions after defeating Croatia 4-2
Pride and tears for Croatians after World Cup final loss
The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on July 15-16/18
They are all alienated
from the Virtues Saint Charbel represented and Personified/هم في غربة عن كل
ما يمثله مار شربل
Elias Bejjani/July
15/18
Are our religious and civil Lebanese leaders who are today celebrating Saint
Charbel's Day actually practising in their own private lives and in their
dealings with others certain virtues that the Saint adored and devoted his
life for such as love, tolerance, honesty, humility, asceticism and
transparency?
هم في غربة عن كل ما يمثله مار شربل
الياس بجاني/15 تموز/18
هل قادتنا الدينيين والزمنيين الذين يحتفلون اليوم بعيد مار شربل يمارسون في
حياتهم الخاصة وفي تعاطيهم مع الغير أي من صفاته كالمحبة والتسامح والصدق
والتواضع والزهد والشفافية!!
Bassil Promises
Revival of Beirut-Damascus Political Relations
Beirut- Asharq Al Awsat/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/The head of
the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and foreign minister in the caretaker
government, Gebran Bassil, said that the political life between Beirut and
Damascus would be revived, stirring an internal debate over the dangers of
communicating with the Syrian regime. The Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc,
headed by Bassil, considers that a rapprochement with Syria would have a
positive outcome, especially with regards to facilitating the return of
Syrian refugees to their homeland and activating the land route for the
export of Lebanese products across Syrian territory into the Arab world. On
the other hand, those who oppose such normalization of relations stress that
Bassil’s remarks were a “personal demand” and that the decision belonged
solely to the Lebanese government.
“The government will be formed with well-known and defined landmarks,
without any changes,” Bassil said on Saturday. “All roads between Lebanon
and Syria, Syria and Iraq, and Syria and Jordan will open, and Lebanon will
resume its breathing through these terrestrial arteries,” he added, noting
that political life between “Syria and Lebanon will be restored.”
The Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party
are among those who strongly oppose the restoration of ties with Damascus,
and consider it as a “normalization of relations with the Syrian regime.”The
Lebanese government, which turned into a caretaker government in August,
disagreed over the relationship with Damascus and the visit of Lebanese
ministers to Damascus at the invitation of Syria to participate in the
opening of the Damascus International Fair. Minister of State for the
Displaced Affairs Mouin al-Merhebi told Asharq Al-Awsat that relations with
the Syrian regime were a “matter to be decided solely by the new government,
and not by Minister Bassil.”In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Merhebi stressed
that Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri “refuses categorically to open
any channel of communication with the Syrian regime beyond the minimum
necessary for security coordination or border control and other common
matters that are handled by a staff of a certain level and not at the level
of ministers or governments.”Democratic Gathering MP Akram Chehayeb told
Asharq Al-Awsat that Bassil’s remarks were only “personal desires”, and
“affect a large segment of the Lebanese people, who have not forgotten the
actions perpetrated by the Syrian regime in Lebanon."
Speculation on Hariri-Bassil Meeting as 'Marada
Obstacle' Surfaces
Naharnet/July 15/18/Any progress in the Cabinet formation process is hinging
on the outcome of the expected meeting between Prime Minister-designate Saad
Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil, informed sources
told al-Hayat daily. Noting that an “agreement” has been reached between
Hariri and each of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive
Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat on the Christian and Druze
representation in the government, sources following up on Hariri's efforts
said “the problem is now revolving around what Bassil wants and what Hariri
might suggest.”The sources confirmed to al-Hayat that “Bassil wants 10 or 11
ministers for the FPM and the president, with seven or six going to the FPM
and four to the president.”“He wants most of the key portfolios for those
named by his camp,” the sources added. In remarks to Kuwait's al-Jarida
newspaper, political sources meanwhile ruled out a Hariri-Bassil meeting in
the next two days. “Communication between the two men was completely severed
a few days ago, which indicates the presence of conflicting viewpoints
between Hariri and the President over the powers of each of them regarding
the formation process,” the sources said. The sources added that in addition
to the Christian and Druze obstacles, a new obstacle related to Marada
Movement's representation has emerged. “Caretaker Public Works and Transport
Minister Youssef Fenianos has told Hariri during a meeting that Marada chief
Suleiman Franjieh rejects settling for only one portfolio for his movement
and that he is insisting on another portfolio that could go to a Sunni or
Christian figure,” the sources said. The candidates for this second
portfolio are MP Jihad al-Samad and MP Farid al-Khazen, the sources added.
Rahi celebrates Mass
of Saint Charbel in presence of Geagea: We pray for Lebanon
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi,
raised prayers on Saturday evening to Saint Charbel to protect the nation
during these difficult circumstances, and to preserve the State of
Institutions and accelerate the formation of the new government.
Presiding over a Mass celebration marking "Saint Charbel Day" in the village
of Bekaa-Kafra yesterday evening, in the presence of Lebanese Forces Party
Chief Samir Geagea, the Patriarch said in his homily that any delay in the
cabinet formation will have political, economic, social and security
implications on the situation in Lebanon. At the end of Mass, the Patriarch
discussed in a closed meeting with the LF Chief the government formation
process.
Rahi: Clinging to
quotas, restricting them to certain blocs does not justify cabinet delay at
expense of public good
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Butros al-Rahi
criticized Sunday the continuous delay in the cabinet formation, deeming
that "clinging to quotas and restricting them to certain blocs while
excluding other parties does not justify this delay at the expense of public
good." "Everyone at home and abroad is waiting for the decision to form the
government, because each day of delay has significant repercussions and
serious losses in all economic sectors, in the work of State institutions
and departments, and in the public's confidence in officials," warned al-Rahi.
He added that nothing justifies the cabinet delay at the expense of
citizens' lively interests, noting that this contradicts with the general
constitutional standards and with the Lebanese Constitution's spirit and
content. Additionally, the Patriarch warned that such delay would lead to
the loss of the international community's attention and interest in
assisting Lebanon, namely in its financial aids decided upon during the "CEDRE
Conference" last April. The Patriarch's words came in his homily
during Sunday Mass organized by the Lebanese Maronite Order at its Monastery
in Byblos this morning, marking the Day of Saint Charbel.
Rahi Slams 'Clinging to Shares, Exclusion' in Govt.
Formation Talks
Naharnet/July 15/18/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday criticized
parties insisting on certain shares in the new government and attempts to
“exclude” certain parties. “Clinging to shares or limiting them to certain
blocs while excluding other parties and competent individuals from the
non-partisan civil society do not justify delaying the government at the
expense of public welfare,” al-Rahi warned in his Saint Charbel Day sermon.
“Everyone inside and outside the country are awaiting the formation of the
government, because every day of delay carries major repercussions and grave
losses to the economy and all its sectors,” the patriarch cautioned. Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri was tasked with forming the new government on
May 24. Several obstacles are hindering his mission, especially political
wrangling over the Christian and Druze shares.
Geagea and al-Rahi Discuss Cabinet Formation Process
Naharnet/July 15/18/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea held a closed-door
meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the sidelines of a mass
marking St. Charbel Day in the town of Bqaa Kafra, the LF said. The talks
“tackled the Cabinet formation issue,” the LF said in a statement. During
his sermon, al-Rahi called for “forming the new government that the people
are awaiting,” warning that “any delay in its formation has its political,
economic, social and security repercussions.”Prime Minister-designate Saad
Hariri was tasked with forming the new government on May 24. Several
obstacles are hindering his mission, especially political wrangling over the
Christian and Druze shares.
Al-Sayyed, Zoaiter Spat over 'Shiites of State,
Resistance'
Naharnet/July 15/18/Caretaker Agriculture Minister Ghazi Zoaiter of the AMAL
Movement hit back Sunday at remarks by MP Jamil al-Sayyed, the controversial
ex-General Security chief who was elected a lawmaker for the Baalbek-Hermel
region after allying with Hizbullah in the May parliamentary polls. “Those
whom you claimed are the Shiites of the state are the Shiites of the
resistance and are the Lebanese of all sects. We did not perform our duty
when we refrained from responding to you several times... Unfortunately, it
turned out that the 'son of the state' wants those who are like him to stand
by him and we are not like him,” Zoaiter tweeted. Al-Sayyed had tweeted that
the Shiite divide is “not between the Bekaa and the South” but rather
between “the Shiites of the state, led by Speaker (Nabih) Berri, and the
Shiites of the resistance, led by (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed (Hassan Nasrallah).”“The
Shiites of the resistance performed their duty fully, in the South and
against terrorism in the Bekaa! The Shiites of the state gave a lot to the
South, but the Bekaa was not given what it deserves! Today the Bekaa is a
ticking time bomb, so do not lose it,” al-Sayyed warned.
Third Power Barge Arrives in Lebanon to Help
Long-Ailing Sector
Kataeb.org/ Sunday 15th July 2018/A third power-generating vessel arrived in
Lebanon to help the country deal with its electricity deficit. According to
the National News Agency, an additional power barge operated by the Turkish
company Karadeniz will drop its anchor off the Jiyeh power plant. Shortly
after the arrival of the barge, the municipal council and the residents of
Jiyeh issued a statement voicing utter rejection of having the vessel off
their area's coast, calling on officials to spare Jiyeh the "deadly
pollution". "We won't tolerate new sources of pollution in our area," the
statement read. The company had told the Daily Star newspaper in a written
statement that the new barge would provide an additional 200 megawatts of
power “for the two months that have the highest electricity demand in
Lebanon.”Caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil recently claimed that
the new barge would be providing its services for free after the government
had extended the Karadeniz contract for three years. The company has been
operating two power-generating vessels off the Lebanese coast since 2013.
Jaberi Ansari to deliver Rouhani's message to Lebanese
president
TEHRAN, Jul. 15 (MNA) – A senior assistant to the Iranian foreign minister
will travel to Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Monday to deliver the
message of President Rouhani to Lebanese President Aoun. Hossein Jaberi
Ansari, the senior assistant to the Iranian foreign minister, who is now in
Damascus meeting with Syrian officials, is slated to pay a visit to Lebanon
on Monday. In Beirut, he is expected to meet with senior Lebanese officials
and deliver the special message of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to
Lebanese President Michel Aoun. An Iranian diplomat residing in Beirut told
Iranian state news agency IRNA that the visit of Jaberi Ansari is in line
with the recent tour of Iranian officials and diplomats to different
countries with the aim to expound on Iran’s policies and stances after the
unilateral withdrawal of US from the nuclear agreement of July 14, 2015.
Sitin by Seven Party at Riad Solh Square demanding new cabinet, emergency
economic plan
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Seven Party staged a sit-in Sunday afternoon at Riad
El-Solh Square facing the Government Serail in Central Beirut, in protest
against the deteriorating situation at various levels, with the country
being on the verge of economic collapse. Protesters demanded a quick cabinet
formation and an emergency rescue plan to save the country's economy and
cater to citizens' dire needs. Participants began to gather in the Martyrs'
Square in Central Beirut and then headed to Riad El-Solh, marching through
the city's downtown streets and carrying banners demanding the immediate
formation of a new government and combating corruption.
Bukhari from Wadi Khaled: Lebanon lies in the
conscience of the Saudi Kingdom
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Saudi Charge d'Affaires in Lebanon,
Walid Al-Bukhari, said Sunday that the Saudi Kingdom holds Lebanon in its
conscience, stressing continuous support to the Lebanese nation and its
people. Al-Bukhari's words came during his visit this morning to the area of
Wadi Khaled in the Province of Akkar, at the invitation of Future Bloc
Member MP Mohamad Sleiman who welcomed him at his residence in the town of
al-Haisha, in the presence of former Deputy Jamal Ismail, heads of
municipalities and tribal dignitaries from the region. "I am grateful to MP
Sleiman for this visit to Wadi Khaled...We harbor all the love for its
people and neighborhood, for their authenticity and their Arabism...You are
an extension of a long history, and I am here today among you feeling like I
headed from home to home," said Al-Bukhari. "Akkar and its people, as well
as Tripoli and all of Lebanon, are present in the conscience of the Kingdom
and its people," he assured. The encounter included a brunch held by MP
Sleiman in honor of Al-Bukhari and the region's dignitaries, following which
Al-Bukhari met with Wadi Khaled's mayors and mukhtars.
Politics – Berri to head Parliament Council Bureau meeting on Monday
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, will preside over a
meeting by the Parliament Council's Bureau at 11:30 am on Monday. He will
also chair another meeting by the “Development and Liberation” Parliamentary
Bloc at 2:00 pm on Monday.
Hawat describes relationship with Berri as excellent,
says he will take on administration development dossier
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Member of the "Republic Parliamentary Bloc", MP Ziad
Hawat, disclosed Sunday that "the relationship with House Speaker Nabih
Berri is excellent and mutual communication is continuously ongoing,
especially during this period involving the government formation."
In an interview with Radio "Voice of Lebanon" this morning, Hawat
highlighted the need for the upcoming government to include in its
ministerial statement "basic national principles", stressing that "there are
a lot of responsibilities that must begin immediately.""Our goal is not
quotas and popularity, but rather what we aim for is to combat corruption,
and the Prime Minister-designate understands the need for our Bloc to be
represented within the government and not put under a veto with regards to
sovereign portfolios," Hawat underlined. Over the Parliamentary Committees
session scheduled for next Tuesday, Hawat indicated that he will be
responsible for the administration development dossier [e-government],
noting that "this will free the Lebanese citizen from many burdens and will
enable him to carry out his transactions more quickly."
Hasbani heads Lebanon's delegation to UN political
forum
Sun 15 Jul 2018/NNA - Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, Public Health
Minister Ghassan Hasbani departed to New York Sunday on head of an official
Lebanese delegation, where he will be presenting the first report on the
status of Lebanon concerning the goals of sustainable development for 2030
before the high-level political forum at the United Nations. On the first
day, Hasbani will present the report of the ESCWA region in his capacity as
Chairman of the Sustainable Development Forum for the region. This denotes
the first step towards promoting the concepts of development in Lebanon and
the region, by focusing on the sustainability and integration of the
objectives and the governmental bodies associated with them. It is to note
that Hasbani had chaired several committees and workshops comprising
ministries, civil society and economic bodies to cooperate in the
preparation of Lebanon's first report.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on July 15-16/18
German Intel Report:
Iran Seeks To Shatter States' Stability With WMD
Jerusalem Post/July 15/18
جيروزاليم بوست: تقرير إنتل ألماني: إيران تسعى إلى تحطيم استقرار الدول بأسلحة
الدمار الشامل
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66062/j-pgerman-intel-report-iran-seeks-to-shatter-states-stability-with-wmd-haaretz-how-the-mossad-broke-into-an-iranian-facility-and-stole-half-a-ton-of-nuclear-files-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1/
Iran and North Korea aim to circumvent embargoes
The German intelligence agency of the state of Hesse published a new
document on countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction, singling
out the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of two states seeking to obtain the
ultimate form of powerful weapons.
The Jerusalem Post reviewed the late June document that states: “Weapons of
mass destruction are a continued instrument of power politics that also, in
regional and international crises situations, can shatter the entire
stability of state structures. States like Iran and North Korea attempt, in
the context of proliferation, to acquire and spread such weapons by, for
example, disguising the transportation ways through third countries.”
The report said that the goal of the intelligence agencies of Iran and North
Korea is “to circumvent control mechanisms in countries that are not
especially subject to embargo restrictions.”
According to the Hesse report, proliferation is defined as “the production
and spreading of weapons of mass destruction” and “the acquisition of
compatible missile carrying systems and technology by states for which these
weapons were not previously available.”
The intelligence agency explained that the “goal of counter-intelligence is
to prevent” countries like Iran and North Korea, who seek weapons of mass
destruction.
The report listed some types of illegal proliferation technology that
countries want for the production of weapons of mass destruction. The
examples include “equipment for the enrichment of uranium, nuclear reactors
in connection with reprocessing plants, bioreactors, drying installation
facilities, and the production process for precursor chemical products.”
As a general rule, the intelligence agency noted, countries do not obtain
completed weapons of mass destruction, rather secure “individual components,
equipment, technologies and their products.”
German regional domestic intelligence agencies like the Hesse organization
are the rough equivalent of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The state of Hesse has not yet published its intelligence report covering
the year of 2017. Germany’s 16 states each publish intelligence reports
covering threats to the constitutional, democratic system. The federal
government publishes a nation-wide report that covers more broad terms, such
as threats like radical Islam, weapons proliferation and right-wing and
left-wing extremism.
The 2017 national report ignored the North Rhine-Westphalia intelligence
report that said Iran sought to obtain illicit technology that could be used
for military nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In North
Rhine-Westphalia, Iran’s regime made “32 procurement attempts... that
definitely or with high likelihood were undertaken for the benefit of
proliferation programs,” the state’s intelligence agency wrote last year.
German state reports frequently list more concrete data on Iran’s illicit
nuclear, missile and espionage activities in the federal republic than the
national intelligence report.
Take the examples of the southern German states of Baden-Württemberg and
Bavaria: The Post reported in early June that the intelligence agency of
Baden-Württemberg wrote in its report: “Iran continued to undertake, as did
Pakistan and Syria, efforts to obtain goods and know-how to be used for the
development of weapons of mass destruction and to optimize corresponding
missile-delivery systems.”
Bavaria’s intelligence agency noted in its April report: “Iran, North Korea,
Syria and Pakistan are making efforts to expand their conventional weapons
arsenal through the production of weapons of mass destruction.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas are both
energetic supporters of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that aims to curb
Tehran’s drive to become an atomic weapons power.
Neither Merkel nor Maas has commented on the state intelligence agency
reports that documented Iran’s illegal proliferation activities in 2017 in
Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
How the Mossad Broke Into an Iranian Facility and Stole Half a Ton of
Nuclear Files
Haaretz/July 15/18
الهآررتس: كيف تمكنت الموساد من سرقة وثائق إيران النووية
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66062/j-pgerman-intel-report-iran-seeks-to-shatter-states-stability-with-wmd-haaretz-how-the-mossad-broke-into-an-iranian-facility-and-stole-half-a-ton-of-nuclear-files-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1/
Using blowtorches in the dead of night: The
operatives had six hours and 29 minutes to break into the warehouse, obtain
the files and flee, reports the New York Times
An operation by the Mossad earlier this year to steal files relating to
Iran's nuclear program was conducted on January 31, according to a report by
the New York Times. Mossad operatives broke into a warehouse in an
industrial area in Tehran and, according to the report, had six hours and 29
minutes to finish the job before the morning shift arrived at 7 A.M. During
this limited time, they disabled the alarms, broke through two doors, burned
open dozens of safes and fled the city with the documents.
The agents were carrying blowtorches that burned at some 2,000 degrees
Celsius to cut through the safes, according to the Times,. The report
suggests that Israel may have had help on the inside, since it says that the
Mossad agents knew exactly which safes to break into – leaving many of the
others untouched. At the end of the night, the agents fled with half a ton
of secret materials, including 50,000 pages and 163 compact discs containing
files, videos and plans.
The Iranians began storing the files at the warehouse after signing a
landmark 2015 accord on its nuclear program with the United States, European
powers, Russia and China. The deal gave the UN nuclear watchdog access to
suspected nuclear sites in Iran.
Israel claims that after signing the agreement, the Iranian regime collected
files from across the country about the nuclear program, storing them at the
warehouse. The warehouse wasn't guarded around the clock so as to not arouse
suspicion.
The report was based on briefings Israel gave Western media outlets last
week and included details from the stolem documents, which were presented in
April by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a prime time address.
The reoprt further stated that Israeli officials said Tehran received help
for its nuclear program from Pakistan and from other foreign experts.
Another report, from the Washington Post, says that Iran was on the verge of
acquiring "key bombmaking technologies" when the program, code-named Project
Amad, was halted some 15 years ago.
Netanyahu, Trump
discuss Syria, Iran ahead of Helsinki summit
Reuters, Jerusalem/Sunday, 15 July 2018/Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he discussed Syria and Iran
with US President Donald Trump ahead of the latter’s meeting in Helsinki
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow is the big-power ally of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose advances against rebel areas close
to the Israeli frontier worry the Netanyahu government. The Russians are
also regular interlocutors with Iran, an adversary of Israel and the United
States that has forces fighting alongside Assad in Syria. In remarks to the
Israeli cabinet, Netanyahu said that in a phone conversation on Saturday he
and Trump discussed “security and diplomatic issues arising from regional
developments, chiefmost among them, of course, Syria and Iran”. Netanyahu
said he thanked Trump for his tough stance against Iran. The US president,
Netanyahu said, “reiterated with sharp clarity his commitment to the
security of Israel and his willingness to help Israel in various realms”.
Trump meets Putin in the Finnish capital on Monday. Last week, Netanyahu
flew out to Moscow for talks with Putin that focused on Israel’s demand that
Iranian forces leave Syria.
G7 Foreign Ministers
statement on MH17
July 15/18/The G7 foreign ministers today issued the following statement in advance of
the anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17:
“We, the G7 foreign ministers, of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of
the European Union, are united in our condemnation, in the strongest
possible terms, of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a civilian
aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014.
“MH17 was carrying 298 crew and passengers, nationals of Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Vietnam,
the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
“We fully support the work of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), an
independent criminal investigation led by the Netherlands, Australia,
Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. The JIT’s findings on Russia’s role in the
downing of MH17 are compelling, significant and deeply disturbing. The G7
recalls that UN Security Council Resolution 2166 demands that all states
cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability. We are united in
our support of Australia and the Netherlands as they call on Russia to
account for its role in this incident and to cooperate fully with the
process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of MH17
and their next of kin.
“In a rules-based international order, those responsible for unacceptable
actions, such as the firing or launching of the BUK missile of Russian
origin, which intercepted and downed a civilian aircraft, must be held
accountable. To this end, we call on Russia to immediately engage with
Australia and the Netherlands in good faith to explain and to address all
relevant questions regarding any potential breaches of international law.
“We express once again our deepest condolences to the families of the
victims of MH17. We stand together against the impunity of those who engage
in aggressive actions that threaten the rules-based international order,
anywhere, anytime, and under any circumstances.”
Syrian Opposition Hands Over Heavy Arms in Daraa
Beirut, London/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/Opposition factions and
fighters in southern Daraa began surrendering and handing their heavy
weapons to regime forces, under a deal brokered by Russia, at a time when
reports stated that regime forces were taking strategic hills in Daraa
countryside.Regime forces hoisted the Syrian flag over neighborhoods that
had been under the opposition’s control dominated for years in the southern
city of Daraa, signaling the army’s full restoration of the city. According
to Reuters, hundreds of Syrian rebel fighters and their families were
preparing to leave Daraa city in southwest Syria on Sunday, to be taken on
buses to opposition-held areas in the north. A rebel official, Abu Shaima,
said at least 500 fighters were boarding around 15 buses and that he will be
one of those leaving. The fighters are leaving the Daraa al-Balad
neighborhood of Deraa city which had been under rebel control for years
until a surrender deal last week. Under the deal, rebels would hand over
weapons and fighters who do not wish to live under state rule would be
transferred out. State-owned news agency Sana reported that armed groups,
positioned in Daraa al-Balad, began to hand over their heavy and
medium-sized weapons to the Syrian army. “The process will continue until
handing over all heavy and medium-sized weapons by the armed groups,” added
SANA. On June 19, Syrian Army, backed by Russian forces, began bombarding
rebel areas in Daraa and the neighboring province of Quneitra. The forces
advanced quickly against opposition factions most of which operate under
Jordanian-US influence. Following military pressure, Russia made a deal with
opposition factions in the province to cease fire on July 06. The agreement
indicates that factions have to hand over their heavy weapons, the gradual
entry of state institutions into their areas of control and the evacuation
of fighters against the deal in Idlib to north Syria. Authorities removed on
Saturday all the barricades that were set up by terrorist organizations on
the international highway that connects the Old Customs and the Jordanian
borders in Daraa, SANA reported. Daraa city was the scene of the first major
peaceful protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian
rule in March 2011 which spiraled into a war now estimated to have killed
half a million people. Regime forces now hold more than 85 percent of Daraa
province. Some western areas of the province remain under opposition
control, and the deal excludes a southwestern patch held by an ISIS
affiliate “Khalid Ibn Walid Army”, according to the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights. Meanwhile, Free Syrian Army (FSA) began opening the road
leading to Sajna neighborhood, in Daraa, in preparation for the withdrawal
of the regime forces from it. General coordinator of Crisis Cell in Daraa
Adnana Msalma said that the bulldozers began openning the road and removing
the barricades from the old customs point towards the bridge of Sajnah.
Syria Rebels Begin Evacuating 'Cradle' of Uprising in
Daraa
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 15/18/Syrian rebels and their relatives
began evacuating the southern city of Daraa on Sunday under a deal to bring
the "cradle" of the country's uprising back under government control. The
highly symbolic transfers came as Russian-backed government forces advanced
in the neighboring province of Quneitra, with air strikes pounding rebel
positions perilously close to the Israeli-occupied Golan heights. After
securing Damascus in May, President Bashar al-Assad turned his attention to
rebels in the strategically vital south, where protests against his rule
first erupted seven years ago. Nearly three weeks of bombardment saw
beleaguered rebels agree with Russia earlier this month to hand over Daraa
province, before reaching a similar deal for its capital this week. In
recent days, rebels have handed over heavy-duty arms and other equipment to
government forces who entered the city's rebel-held southern districts for
the first time in years to plant the national flag. On Sunday, rebels and
civilians who did not want to live under regime control were granted safe
passage to opposition-held Idlib in Syria's northwest. Hundreds of fighters
and some of their relatives, carrying suitcases packed with clothes, boarded
around 15 buses in Daraa city, AFP's correspondent there said. The vehicles,
parked on a main thoroughfare connecting the city's government-held north
with its rebel-held south, were searched by Russian forces before setting
off just after midday for Idlib. Syrian state television also said the
transfers had begun, broadcasting images of white buses they said were
carrying the fighters, their blue curtains drawn, surrounded by military
forces.
More heavy arms surrendered
State news agency SANA said rebels were surrendering more heavy and medium
weaponry in Daraa on Sunday. That would pave the way for the entire city to
come under government control in accordance with the handover deal. The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said an estimated 1,400 people
were to be evacuated on Sunday, including rebels from the city and broader
province. "Buses began moving from the gathering point towards the edge of
the city to be searched," said the head of the Britain-based group, Rami
Abdel Rahman. The so-called "reconciliation" deal for Daraa city is the
latest in a string of such agreements the regime has used to retake large
parts of the country. They usually follow ferocious military campaigns and
sometimes stifling sieges that effectively force rebels to surrender. Their
terms also typically include the mass transfer of thousands of rebels and
civilians to opposition-held Idlib, in what rights groups and activists say
may amount to forced displacement. Moscow has brokered many of these deals.
It had reportedly insisted to southern rebels such transfers were not on the
table for them, but seems to have ultimately relented.
Strikes on Quneitra
The regime fully regaining its rule over Daraa city will be a hugely
symbolic blow to the opposition. In 2011, teenagers were arrested for
scrawling anti-Assad slogans on the walls of a school in the city, sparking
mass protests against the government. A brutal crackdown saw the movement
develop into a full-fledged conflict that has since killed more than 350,000
people and displaced half the country's pre-war population. Assad has
regained much of the territory he initially lost to opposition groups, now
comfortably holding more than 60 percent of Syria. In the south, he holds 80
of Daraa province but parts of its western countryside and most of the
adjacent province of Quneitra still escape his control. On Sunday, regime
forces battered Quneitra province with hundreds of missiles and seized the
town of Masshara, according to the Observatory. The clashes had left 18
regime forces and 13 rebels and allied jihadists dead, the monitor said.
Four air strikes also hit an opposition position in Quneitra that lies
within four kilometers (less than three miles) from the sensitive buffer
zone with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The Observatory said they were
the first strikes in the area in over a year, when Russia, the U.S., and
Jordan agreed a ceasefire deal for parts of the south. Around 160,000 people
who were displaced by the regime's offensive on Daraa are still trapped in
Quneitra, near the border with the Golan. Israel has been on high alert in
recent weeks amid the spike in hostilities in the south. The Israeli army
said on Friday it had fired a missile and "very probably" destroyed a drone
flying over the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, after
intercepting another drone on Wednesday.
After No End of Drama, Trump and Putin Take to Summit
Stage
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 15/18/Before coming to Europe, U.S.
President Donald Trump raised eyebrows by predicting that Monday's historic
Helsinki summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would be the
"easiest" stage of his tour. The rest of his trip, to Brussels and Britain,
has indeed crackled with controversy so far. But new indictments from an
investigation into alleged Russian interference in U.S. politics have
dropped with embarrassing timing, focusing attention again on whether the
Trump campaign may have benefited from Putin's covert help to win the White
House.
And it is far from the only charged issue to loom over the two leaders'
first full-blown encounter. British accusations that Russia unleashed a
deadly nerve agent in an English city, the fears of NATO allies that Trump
is not serious about defending the Western alliance, and Putin's support for
the Syrian regime after years of civil war also form part of the crowded
backdrop. Putin will head to the Finnish capital on a diplomatic high after
presiding over Sunday's World Cup final in Moscow, basking in the glow of a
trouble-free tournament that burnished Russia's credentials. Ahead of the
leaders' first one-on-one summit, the Kremlin said it considers Trump a
"negotiating partner.""The state of bilateral relations is very bad,"
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Friday. "We have to start to set them
right."Trump meanwhile teed up the summit with a quiet weekend of golf at
one of his courses in Scotland, a calm end to his stormy visit to Britain,
where he shocked his hosts by attacking Prime Minister Theresa May's
strategy for Brexit. The visit heaped more trouble on the transatlantic
alliance after Trump ripped into NATO leaders in Brussels for not spending
enough on defense, and rebuked Germany for building an energy pipeline from
Russia which he said would leave Europe's biggest economy beholden to
Moscow. Trump was dogged by protests during his four days in Britain, and
more are scheduled in Finland. But this time Trump will share the opprobrium
with Putin, with the biggest rally -- dubbed "Helsinki Calling!" -- on
Sunday to focus on issues that demonstrators say both presidents neglect:
human rights, democracy, freedom of expression, inequality and the fate of
refugees.
'Mano a mano'
All eyes Insight into their relationship will be on offer when Trump and
Putin hold a joint news conference on Monday afternoon after their meeting
in the Gothic Hall of the Finnish presidential palace. The talks are set to
begin with only their interpreters in the room, before opening up to their
delegations over a working lunch. Allies are nervously waiting to see if
Trump sidles up to the canny Russian leader in the same way he has embraced
other autocrats such as China's Xi Jinping, and even North Korea's Kim Jong
Un. "Putin has proven himself to be incredibly savvy at reading
personalities and characters," said Alina Polyakova, a foreign policy fellow
at the Brookings Institution in Washington, noting that Putin was trained as
a KGB spy. "He will praise Trump and try to bond with him in sort of a
mano-a-mano way. Trump will be responsive to that tack," she said. On
Friday, Trump said: "I'm not going in with high expectations, but we may
come out with very surprising things."He also insisted that he had been "far
tougher" with Russia than has been recognized by the "dishonest" media, and
would "absolutely" bring up the question of election meddling.
Don't 'wing it on your own
Shortly after, news broke of the indictments of 12 Russian military
intelligence agents for hacking Democrats during the 2016 elections.
Democratic leaders quickly called for Trump to cancel the summit in light of
the indictments. After that suggestion was rebuffed by the White House, the
Democrats said Trump should at least ensure his national security team is
alongside him with Putin at all times, "not wing it on your own." Some in
Washington -- along with U.S. allies -- are worried about what Trump might
bargain away after he used a stormy G7 summit in Canada to ponder whether it
was time to readmit Russia to the club and move past sanctions imposed over
Moscow's seizure of the Crimea region from Ukraine. Putin has less reason to
cheer from Trump's imposition of trade tariffs on countries including
Russia, and from his decision to abandon a nuclear pact with Iran. Trump
also says he intends to pressure Putin over the rapid growth and
modernization of Russia's nuclear arsenal. But for Putin, merely getting
Trump to sit across the table counts as "an informal recognition of Russia
as a great power", political analyst Alexei Malashenko said.
Key Israeli Documents Extent Of Iranian Nuke Plan
Revealed By Netanyahu
Jerusalem Post/July 15/18/New wild details have emerged about how the Mossad
stole some of Iran’s most sacred nuclear secrets from under its nose in the
heart of Tehran. From Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s April 30 press
conference and leaks soon after, it was known that there was a new treasure
trove of evidence that Iran had been pursuing a nuclear weapons program
until and after 2003 while lying to the world about it. But recently,
Israeli government officials provided to the New York Times, the Wall Street
Journal and the Washington Post, copies of some of those newly revealed
documents proving Iran’s nuclear weapons efforts. Maybe more significantly,
new details were revealed about how the Mossad scored the secret documents.
Apparently around two dozen Mossad agents were involved and they were given
exactly 6 hours and 29 minutes to get in and out of the Shirobad facility in
Tehran. Intelligence had clearly scoped out the facility well enough to know
where the alarm was and how to fake out the alarm so that Iranians
monitoring it would think nothing was wrong. The Mossad agents also knew
when the morning guard rounds would come by and when they would discover the
break-in. The Mossad break in began around 10:30 p.m. on January 31. They
broke through two doors, cut through dozens of giant safes and got out of
the city with a half-ton of secret materials. They used special torches
burning at least at 3,600 degrees. The agents knew this was hot enough to
slice through the 32 Iranian-made safes.Also, there were focused. Leaving
many safes untouched, they first went after the safes containing the black
binders, which had the most vital designs. They left at 5:00 a.m. to give
them a head-start on the Iranian crew that discovered the break-in only at
7:00 a.m. – too late to catch anyone.
Gaza Truce Mostly
Holds after Heavy Israel Strikes, Hamas Rocket Fire
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 15/18/A ceasefire
announced by Hamas largely held Sunday after the most severe exchange of
fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since a 2014
war, easing fears of a wider conflict for now. Hamas, the Islamist movement
that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, said late Saturday a ceasefire had been
reached with the help of Egypt and others, though Israel declined to
comment. The United Nations' Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov was in Gaza
and "working with all concerned parties to de-escalate the situation," a
U.N. official said on condition of anonymity. Despite a few lower-level
exchanges of fire overnight, relative calm returned to the Gaza Strip. In
one incident on Sunday, an Israeli aircraft fired at what it said was
militants launching balloons carrying firebombs over the Gaza border fence.
It was not yet clear if there were casualties. Saturday saw dozens of
Israeli air strikes, killing two Palestinians, while some 200 rockets and
mortars were fired from the enclave at Israel. Four Israelis were wounded
when a rocket hit a house in the city of Sderot near the Gaza Strip,
authorities said. The two Palestinians killed were aged 15 and 16, caught in
an Israeli strike on a building in the west of Gaza City, the enclave's
health ministry said. Twenty-five people were wounded across Gaza, the
ministry said. Hamas said it fired at Israel in defense in response to air
strikes, which came after a soldier was wounded by a grenade along the Gaza
border. Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman, said "the protection and the defense
of our people is a national duty and a strategic choice."Israel blamed Hamas
for the escalation, pointing to months of protests and clashes along the
border that its military argues the Islamist movement is seeking to use as
cover for attacks. There have also been hundreds of fires at Israeli farms
caused by kites and balloons carrying firebombs from Gaza, leading to
political pressure on the government and military to take action against
Hamas.
Hardest blow
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas had been hit with
"the hardest blow" since a 2014 war and that "we will increase the strength
of our attacks as necessary."At the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, he
denied what he said were reports that "Israel has agreed to a ceasefire that
would allow the continuation of terrorism by incendiary kites and balloons."
"This is incorrect," he said. "We are not prepared to accept any attacks
against us and we will respond appropriately."Thick plumes of smoke had
risen over parts of the Gaza Strip on Saturday as Israel hit dozens of
targets it said belonged to militants, including a high-rise building
allegedly used by Hamas as a training facility with a tunnel underneath. The
army said the strikes targeted Hamas military facilities, including a
battalion headquarters, training facilities and weapons storage areas. In
Israel, air raid sirens on Saturday sent people rushing to shelters in areas
surrounding the Gaza Strip as rockets and mortars were fired from the
Palestinian enclave at nearby communities. Israel said its air defenses
intercepted around 30 of the some 200 rockets and mortars fired. Tensions
have been building between Hamas and Israel for months over mass protests
and clashes along the border fence. The two sides have already fought three
wars since 2008. The protests have called for Palestinian refugees to return
to their former homes now inside Israel. Since the protests and clashes
broke out along the border on March 30, at least 141 Palestinians have been
killed by Israeli fire. The majority of those killed were involved in
protests and clashes but others were seeking to breach or damage the border
fence. No Israelis have been killed. The arson balloons and kites from Gaza
have caused 750 fires and burned 2,600 hectares, leading to hundreds of
thousands of dollars in damage, according to Israel's fire service. On July
9, Israel closed its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip in response to
the fires. Hamas called the move a "crime against humanity," with Gaza
already suffering from deep poverty and worsening humanitarian conditions.
Border protests
Border protests peaked on May 14, when the United States moved its Israel
embassy to the disputed city of Jerusalem, but have continued at a lower
level since then. On Friday, Israeli troops shot and killed two
Palestinians, including a teenager, and wounded hundreds of others in border
clashes. An Israeli soldier was also moderately wounded when a grenade was
thrown at him from the northern Gaza Strip, the military said. Israel says
its use of live fire is necessary to defend its borders and stop
infiltrations. Palestinians and rights groups say unarmed protesters are
being shot while posing no real threat.
Iraq: Protests Expand, Security Forces on High Alert
Baghdad- Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/Iraqi police
fired in the air as hundreds of protesters tried to storm the main
provincial government building in Basra on Sunday, wounding four people in
the seventh day of unrest that has swept southern cities over poor services,
police sources said. "Some of the protesters tried to storm the building. We
prevented them by using water cannons and tear gas," said one of the police
sources. An activist told AP that thousands of protesters gathered on Sunday
outside the local government building and closed the roads leading to major
oil fields north and west of Basra. There were also similar protests on
Saturday in Baghdad. Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister, commander-in-chief of
Iraq’s armed forces, Haider al-Abadi, had issued a nationwide order placing
security forces on high alert in the southern provinces in response to
week-long protests against lack of government services and corruption in the
southern governorates.Reinforcement troops from both the Counter-Terrorism
Service and the Army’s Ninth Division have already been dispatched to Basra
to help protect the province’s oil fields, security sources said. Abadi’s
directive aims to control the ongoing protests, which on Friday spread from
Basra, where residents had blocked access to the nearby commodities port of
Umm Qasr, to the cities of Amara, Nasiriya and Najaf. Demonstrations
continue in Basra for the seventh day in a row to protest unemployment and
lack of services. Tensions increased after a demonstrator was killed last
Sunday. The death toll from the demonstrations rose to 3 on Friday night,
after two demonstrators died after sustaining injury from gunshot wounds in
the provincial capital Amarah. Spokesman for the Maysan health authorities,
Ahmad al-Kanani, said it was not clear who killed them but added there had
been "indiscriminate gunfire" in the city. Media reports indicated that
several protests were held outside the headquarters of various political
parties in Maysan, including Abadi's Dawa Party, and some were set on fire.
On Friday Abadi flew to Basra to try to restore calm, where he immediately
met with head of military operations, tribal sheiks, and local officials.
After visiting Basra, the prime minister chaired a security cabinet meeting
in Baghdad, his office said in a statement accusing "infiltrators" of
feeding on "peaceful protests to attack public and private property". "Our
forces will take all the necessary measures to counter those people," the
statement asserted. But Abadi’s visit didn’t bring stability to the city as
demonstrations spread to Dhi Qar and Najaf. On Friday, angry protesters
stormed into Najaf International Airport, and other protesters tried to burn
the offices of some parties in the city, before the situation calmed down. A
small protest also took place after midnight in the northern Baghdad
district of al-Shula amid a heavy deployment of security forces. Rumors
circulated the social media calling for massive demonstrations to take place
on Saturday in Baghdad. Some urged demonstrators to head for the fortified
Green Zone, an area where the country's key institutions and embassies are
located. Iraqi politicians face growing unrest as they try to form a
coalition government after a May 12 parliamentary election tainted by
allegations of fraud. Abadi is heading a fragile caretaker government, in
place until the new government is formed. A political bloc led by cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr won a majority in the poll on an anti-corruption platform
which had appeal across Iraq’s electorate.
Trump, Putin Draw in Helsinki New Course of US-Russian
Relations
London- Camille Taweel/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/Finland’s
capital, Helsinki, will be the focus of world attention on Monday when it
will host the summit of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Finnish
President Soli Neneisto will receive his guests in the 19th-century
presidential palace overlooking the market square.Later, they will hold a
private bilateral meeting and will be joined afterward by members of their
respective delegations before holding a joint press conference in the
afternoon. The private bilateral meeting and the "chemistry" in which it
appears may play a role in determining the success or failure of the summit,
but the failure or success will also be linked to the ability of the two
leaders to bridge the gap in their views. This requires bargaining and
making concessions as it usually happens in the buying and selling markets.
The market square, which is located few meters away from the presidential
palace, where they have met twice before but on the sidelines of meetings,
might remind the two leaders that buying and selling require swaps and
concessions in which the seller and buyer get what they want. The Finnish
presidential palace has hosted a Russian-US summit before. In 1990, it
brought together US President George Bush and former Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev. When that summit was held back then, Gorbachev's Soviet
Union was weak and its republics were disintegrating, but Russia is now in a
different situation in which Putin is trying to revive his country's glory
and restore it to the same position as before. However, regardless of the
divergence or rapprochement that will emerge at the Helsinki summit between
Putin and Trump, the bet is that the summit will redraw a new course of
US-Russian relations, focusing on areas where cooperation is possible.
On the summit’s eve, the Elysee Palace announced that President Emmanuel
Macron, who will attend the final of the World Cup between his national team
and the Croatian team, will hold a political summit with President Putin in
Moscow.
Both parties, according to the Elysee, will discuss the file of the Syrian
crisis, which is believed to be also a pivotal subject in the Trump – Putin
summit on Monday. In regards to the Syrian file, the Russian president is
said to attend Helsinki summit in a strong position since his military
intervention has managed to completely reverse the balance of power. With
the direct Russian cover (and with the support of a mix of
Iranian-controlled militias), the regime's forces managed to recover most of
the country's main areas.
Eritrea's Afwerki Ends 20 Years of Adversity on
Historic Ethiopia Visit
Cairo- Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/Eritrean
President Isaias Afwerki pledged to resolve his country’s dispute with
Ethiopia on Saturday in a historic visit to Addis Ababa aimed at cementing
peace less than a week after the nations declared an end to two decades of
conflict. Isaias arrived in the Ethiopian capital just five days after
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Eritrea as part of a dizzying
peace process aimed at ending years of violence and animosity between the
neighbors who were once part of the same nation. Abiy and Isaias shared
laughs and hugs at an official lunch on Saturday as the Ethiopian leader
said his counterpart was “beloved, respected and missed by the Ethiopian
people.”“We are no longer people of two countries. We are one,” Isaias told
political and cultural figures gathered in a palace built during Ethiopia’s
imperial days. “We’ll go forward together.”Isaias started his three-day
visit at Addis Ababa’s airport, where he and Abiy strode down a red carpet
as a brass band played and traditional dancers cheered. The leaders then
drove into the city on a road lined with thousands of people dressed in
white shawls and waving palm fronds as Ethiopian and Eritrean flags flew
side-by-side from lampposts.There were also banners and pictures of the two
leaders who on Monday signed a declaration declaring an official end to the
war. “Welcome home President Isaias!!” Abiy’s chief of staff Fitsum Arega
wrote on Twitter as the Eritrean leader arrived. Later in the day, the two
leaders flew to the southern city of Hawassa where Isaias toured an
industrial park that’s key to Ethiopia’s economy. Eritrea was once part of
Ethiopia and comprised its entire coastline on the Red Sea until it voted
for independence in 1993 after decades of bloody conflict. The move left
Ethiopia landlocked, and the deterioration of relations after the outbreak
of the war in 1998 forced Addis Ababa to channel its foreign trade through
Djibouti. The two countries showed little sign of rapprochement since the
signing of the Algiers peace agreement in 2000 after a conflict which left
80,000 people dead before settling into a bitter cold war. Analysts say the
surprisingly rapid burying of the hatchet was possible only because of
Abiy’s ascension to the post of prime minister in April. As part of a
whirlwind set of reforms, Abiy announced last month that Ethiopia would
abide by a 2002 UN-backed ruling and hand back disputed border territory to
Eritrea, including the flashpoint town of Badme. However Ethiopia has not
announced the pull-out of troops from the area. Abiy then paid a historic
visit to Eritrea, where the two leaders announced the re-establishment of
diplomatic and trade ties that could mean big benefits for both nations, and
the wider Horn of Africa region, plagued by conflict and poverty. The
emotional reunion between the two countries has allowed residents to speak
to each other by telephone for the first time in two decades as
communication lines were re-opened.
Direct flights are due to start next week. “Can one find appropriate words
to describe the intensity of popular emotions that has gripped both
countries; the depth and significance of the promising changes underway in
the region!” Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said on
Twitter after Isaias arrived. Ethiopia’s state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting
Corporate said Isaias would also re-open the Eritrean embassy during his
three-day stay.
A state dinner in his honor will be held on Sunday.
– Catalyst for change –
Eritrea and Ethiopia are both among Africa’s poorest nations. However,
Ethiopia has seen double-digit growth in recent years and is seeking wider
options for importing goods and exporting from its nascent manufacturing
industry by eyeing ports in Somalia and Eritrea. Meanwhile Eritrea, one of
the world’s most isolated nations, has pursued policies that have hamstrung
the economy by scaring off investors, including an indefinite military
conscription program the UN has likened to slavery. Amnesty International
said Saturday that the newfound peace should be a catalyst for change in
Eritrea, where thousands of people, including rights activists and
opposition politicians are “languishing in detention simply for expressing
their views.”“The end of hostilities with Ethiopia is a joyous moment for
Eritreans, but it must be followed by tangible reforms that make a real
difference in the daily lives of the people and put an end to decades of
repression in the country,” said Seif Magango, AI’s deputy director for the
region. In a statement he said Eritrea was the biggest jailer of journalists
on the continent, and that its last independent media house was shut down 17
years ago. Amnesty also called for an end to forced military conscription,
seen as a key driver of the departure of hundreds of thousands of Eritreans
from their country.
Afghan Civilian Deaths Hit Record As Suicide Attacks Surge
Kabul/Asharq Al Awsat/Sunday, 15 July, 2018/The number of civilians killed
in Afghanistan in the first half of this year has increased by 1 percent,
compared to the same period last year, according to a report released Sunday
by the United Nations. Deaths rose 1 percent to 1,692, although injuries
dropped 5 percent to 3,430 in the January-June period, the UN Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan said in its latest civilian casualty report. Overall
civilian casualties were down 3 percent from the first six months of 2017.
UNAMA started a systematic documentation of civilian casualties in 2009. The
UN mission renewed its call on parties to the conflict to increase efforts
to protect the civilian population and work toward reaching a peaceful
settlement. Sunday's report and others like it reflect the grim reality of
Afghanistan today. Since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their
combat mission at the end of 2014, a resurgent Taliban have stepped up their
attacks across the country and an ISIS affiliate has also emerged to launch
horrific high-profile attacks that have claimed the lives of scores of
civilians. The UN report also cited a lull in June, when the Taliban
accepted a three-day cease-fire over the Eid al-Fitr holiday that caps the
Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The insurgents later rejected a subsequent
call by President Ashraf Ghani to extend it. Ghani has repeatedly extended
calls to the Taliban for peace talks but they have rejected them outright.
Speaking at a press conference Sunday in Kabul, Ghani said the NATO summit
last week in Brussels fully backed his government's efforts and peace
initiatives. "The brief cease-fire demonstrated that the fighting can be
stopped and that Afghan civilians no longer need to bear the brunt of the
war," the report quoted Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General's
Special Representative for Afghanistan. "We urge parties to seize all
opportunities to find a peaceful settlement - this is the best way that they
can protect all civilians," added Yamamoto, who is also head of UNAMA.
According to the report, 157 women were among those killed and 387 were
wounded in the January-June period, the report said. The mission also
recorded a total of 1,355 child casualties, with 363 deaths and 992 children
wounded in the first six months of the year. "UNAMA continued to document
the toxic consequences of this conflict, with Afghan boys and girls killed,
maimed, sexually assaulted, abused, recruited and used by parties to the
conflict," said Danielle Bell, mission's human rights chief. The violence,
she added, "continued to erode the rights of children to education,
health-care, freedom of movement and other fundamental rights, as well as
family life, playing outdoors and simply enjoying a childhood free of the
brutal effects of war." The use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs,
remained the leading cause of civilian casualties, according to the report.
The combined use of suicide and non-suicide bombings caused nearly half of
all civilian casualties. The report attributed just over a half — or 52
percent — of civilian casualties from suicide and complex attacks in the
first half of the year to the ISIS terrorist group, mainly in the capital of
Kabul and the eastern Nangarhar province, where it has gained a foothold. On
Thursday, at least 10 civilians were killed in Nangarhar's Khogyani district
after the army launched an operation against insurgents there, said Ajmal
Omar, a member of the provincial council. The dead were mostly shopkeepers
caught in the cross-fire. The Taliban were responsible for 40 percent while
the remainder were attributed to unidentified anti-government elements, the
report said.
Thousands Rally in
Morocco for Jailed Rif Opponents
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 15/18/Thousands of people demonstrated in
Morocco's capital Rabat on Sunday against the jailing of leaders and
activists of a northern protest movement. "The people boycott the justice
system!" and "free the detainees!", yelled the protesters, AFP reporters
said. The demonstrators also chanted against militarization of the Rif, the
northern region rocked by the Al-Hirak al-Shaabi (Popular Movement) protests
in 2016 and 2017. Under the watchful eyes of the police, people marched
towards parliament brandishing pictures of the movement's leaders and
activists. A Moroccan court on June 26 sentenced 53 Hirak members to prison
terms ranging from one year to 20 years. Protest leader Nasser Zefzafi and
three others were handed each 20-year jail terms for "plotting to undermine
the security of the state." Islamist group Al Adl Wal Ihsane -- tolerated
but unrecognized by the government -- was one of several groups to take part
in Sunday's protest. The group mobilized between 6,000 and 8,000 people,
local authorities said. Those sentenced in June include journalist Hamid el
Mahdaoui who has given a three-year jail term for "failing to denounce an
attempt to harm internal state security" in his coverage. The activists are
appealing the sentences and Amnesty International has called for the
verdicts to be overturned. The 2016 protests began when fisherman Mouhcine
Fikri was crushed to death in a rubbish truck, while he was apparently
trying to retrieve swordfish seized by authorities as it was caught out of
season. Subsequent unrest in the Rif region, where the marginalized Berber
ethnic group is the majority, focused on social issues as demonstrators
demanded jobs and development.
France become World
Cup champions after defeating Croatia 4-2
Reuters/Sunday, 15 July 2018/France has clinched its second World Cup title
with a 4-2 win over Croatia in a dramatic final in Moscow featuring a series
of firsts and a pitch invasion orchestrated by Russian protest group Pussy
Riot. France led 2-1 at halftime courtesy of the first own-goal and the
first video-reviewed penalty in a World Cup final. The own-goal off the top
of Mario Mandzukic's head was the 12th of the tournament. That's double the
previous World Cup record of six. Croatia rallied to equalize on a terrific
left-foot strike by Ivan Perisic, but France took the lead right back when
Perisic handled the ball in the area. Argentine referee Nestor Pitana
initially didn't call the handball but awarded the spot kick after a video
review. Antoine Griezmann converted the penalty to put France back in front.
Four pitch invaders disrupted the game in the 52nd minute for about a minute
before being dragged away by security and police. Punk rock group Pussy Riot
quickly claimed responsibility for the pitch invasion via social media,
saying it was a protest aimed at ending illegal arrests of protesters and to
allow political competition in Russia. Play resumed and France quickly took
a 4-1 lead with goals from Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe in the 59th and 65th
minutes before Mario Mandzukic pulled one back for the Croatians in the
69th. Croatia was playing in its first World Cup final. For France, it was a
first World Cup crown since winning on home soil in 1998.
Pride and tears for Croatians after World Cup final
loss
Reuters, Zaghreb/Sunday, 15 July 2018/After watching their football team
lose 4-2 to France in the World Cup final in Moscow on Sunday, some
Croatians wept with sadness while others felt pride that their tiny nation
had gone so far in the tournament. When the final whistle blew fans who had
gathered in Ban Jelacic square in the capital Zagreb to watch the match on a
big screen hugged each other in commiseration. One young woman used a
red-and-white Croatian flag to wipe tears from her eyes as a female friend,
also crying, put her arm around her. Others continued waving Croatian flags
and scarves through the disappointment after watching their country play in
the World Cup final for the first time. Croatia's Lovre Kalinic is embraced
by President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic as the players receive
their medals from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, President of Russia
Vladimir Putin and President of France Emmanuel Macron during the
presentations. (Reuters) “The French proved better in decisive moments
although we practically let them score the first two goals too easily.
Still, it is a great achievement to play in the final and we can only be
proud of what our football team has done in the World Cup,” 59-year old
Darko Ilakovac said. Croatia, with a population of only 4.2 million people,
were not among the favourites at the start of the tournament. Their progress
to the final gripped the imagination of the Balkan nation and members of the
Croatian diaspora living in countries from Germany to Australia. “For a
nation of four million people it’s a miracle to come to the World Cup
final,” said Aleksander Ceferin, the head of European football’s governing
body UEFA. Croatia will stage on Monday a welcoming party for the football
team in Zagreb. Thousands of Croat fans are expected to come to the main
Zagreb square in the early afternoon when the players are due to arrive.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic appealed to employers to let staff leave
work early to join the celebration. Train tickets will be 50 percent cheaper
for those wishing to travel to Zagreb from other Croatian cities for the
occasion.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on July 15-16/18
Story of
a Foiled Islamist Terrorist Attack
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/July 15/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12701/foiled-iranian-terrorist-attack
You [Europeans] are supporting a terrorist regime that is determined to
terrorize your countries.
You are supporting a regime that does not hesitate to commit some of the
worst human rights abuses inside its own country, and abroad.
Where is your sense of decency and respect for human rights that you boast
about so often?
Tens of thousands of Iranians, and non-Iranian human rights defenders from
all across the world, recently gathered at a Free Iran rally in Paris,
France, to further peace and extend human rights to every person. European,
American, and Middle Eastern leaders, as well as many other influential
people participated, including former Canadian foreign minister John Baird
and other international leaders.
Suddenly, according to Reuters, an Iranian diplomat, along with six other
individuals, was arrested in Europe over a plot to commit a terrorist attack
at that rally.
First of all, please imagine the plot these men had in mind for their
terrorist attack; it parallels so many other attacks that have occurred. If
those men had been successful in this attack, many more people, including
international leaders, could have been injured or killed.
Secondly, the Islamist state of Iran apparently orchestrated the attack with
the intent to kill. Should this not this plan, even though it was aborted,
be considered an act of terrorism and war against other nations and
governments? Should this planned attack not urge European leaders to stop
their policies of appeasement policies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran?
Third, if you have been following how this news item has been unfolding on
various media outlets, you have reason to be concerned. Many waited far too
long after initial reports by organizations such as Reuters, Euronews and
the Guardian, to begin their own reports about the planned attack. This is
information that should have been made available immediately. At the very
least, it might have to generate the outrage needed to stop such terrorist
attacks from continuing in the future, rather than having many media outlets
seen as protecting the world's largest exporter of terrorism, Iran, from
possible criticism. More importantly, this failed act of terrorism should
lead governments around the world to be more careful about what is truly
going on inside Iranian embassies and consulates in their countries. The
Islamist state of Iran has shown that it uses its embassies in foreign
countries as spy and terrorist cells. Recently, Kuwait expelled 15 Iranian
diplomats after they were convicted of a running a terror cell there.
This again highlights the tendency of so many apologists for Iran's leaders
-- not its people -- to be somehow soft on the Iranian regime. Why is it,
when the Iran is listed as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism?
Why is it, when the ruling mullahs are ranked top in the world when it comes
carrying out more than half the executions the world over, including those
of children? Why would anyone want to shield or appease a government guilty
of crimes against humanity?
This is not the first time that Iran has committed a terrorist attack
against other nations. In 1994, it carried out the bombing of a Jewish
community center in Argentina, which is still under investigation.
Examples of Americans killed by Iran's leadership include the suicide
bombing in Lebanon that killed 241 American servicemen (220 Marines, 18
sailors, and three soldiers); the Khobar Towers bombing, the bombing of the
USS Cole with the direct support and involvement of Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and
Iran, as well as participation in the 9/11 attacks on the US mainland in
2001.
Intriguingly, still under investigation, an Iranian MP recently leaked that
the Obama administration had granted American citizenship to 2,500 Iranian
citizens "to please" the Iranian regime. Who, if any, are these people who
were granted citizenship -- the regime's spies and agents who are now going
to live among us for decades? Why should the U.S. "please" any regime that
is built on the slogan of "Death to America"? Why would a US president
commit such an act -- if he did -- to satisfy the demands of an Islamist and
terrorist regime?
These are questions that every Westerner should be ready to ask his
politicians.
President Donald Trump is correct that the U.S. should stand against the
aggressive and destructive behavior of the Iranian regime, or any other. To
those that would seek to appease the Iranian regime, I put myself forward as
a prime example of why this must not continue to happen.
If Iran's terrorist attack had been successful, countless people would have
been killed. My message to those who continue to appease the Islamist state
of Iran – such as many Europeans, (here, here and here) -- is that you are
supporting a terrorist regime that is determined to terrorize your
countries. You are supporting a regime that does not hesitate to commit some
of the worst human rights abuses inside its own country and abroad. Where is
your sense of decency and respect for human rights that you boast about so
often?
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a business strategic and advisor, Harvard-educated
scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review,
and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He
has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached
at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 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.
France: A Second Jihad in the Bataclan?
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/July 15/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12702/france-bataclan-jihad
Organizations representing the families of the Bataclan victims said that an
Islamic rap concert praising jihad, in a place where people were murdered
and tortured by jihadists, would be an insult to the memory of the victims,
and asked that the concerts be canceled.
"France is at war, and leaves the enemy in peace". — Ivan Rioufol,
journalist, in Le Figaro.
Macron and the French government speak and act as if the enemy has won and
as if they want to gain some time and enjoy the moment before the final
surrender.
"The French Suicide" ("Le suicide français") is a book published by the
author Éric Zemmour in October 2014. Just one year later, on November 13,
2015 in Paris, a horror took place at the Bataclan Theater, when three
terrorists fired into the crowd during a concert, murdered 130 people, and
injured 413. Some of the victims had been tortured.
The French population reacted as usual: shock and horror quickly gave way to
resignation and submission. Flowers, candles and teddy bears were placed at
the scene of the attacks. The government promised to act, but did almost
nothing. A ceremony was organized that ended with a song that said, "When
All You Have is Love".
A parliamentary commission of inquiry drafted a report. Military forces,
deployed in the streets before the attacks, were reinforced. A climate of
resignation and submission reigned.
Pictured: Policemen outside of the Bataclan Theater in Paris, France on
November 16, 2015, three days after the murderous terrorist attack. (Photo
by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
When the Bataclan Theater reopened a year later, the musician Sting sang a
song called Inshallah ("If it be your will, it shall come to pass").
Commemorative plaques bearing the word "murders" -- not terrorism, and of
course not jihad -- were laid to honor the victims so that passers-by would
learn that people were killed, but not by whom. For the second anniversary
of the attacks, political leaders from left and right released balloons and
smiled as they rose in the sky.
The attacks of November 13, 2015 had seemed to be relegated to an almost
forgotten past, when two recent events put them back on the map.
Lawyers for the victims of the attacks carefully read the report of the
commission of inquiry (released to the public on July 5, 2016), and
discovered a few shocking facts. It turned out that soldiers in charge of
anti-terrorism operations had been standing nearby on the night of the
attack. Also, when the police officers who arrived at the scene as the
attack began discovered that they had no adequate weapons with which to
confront the terrorists, they asked the soldiers for help. The soldiers
contacted the Military Governor of Paris, General Bruno Le Ray, who replied
that France was "not at war", and that it was "unthinkable to put soldiers
in danger to save lives". Therefore, while dozens of innocent people were
being murdered, the soldiers, a few dozen meters away, did not respond.
Meanwhile, the police waited for reinforcements, which took more than three
hours to arrive.
The lawyers for the victims were horrified. They spoke of non-assistance to
persons in danger and decided to sue the army and the police. The complaint
was officially filed on June 8, 2018.
Shortly after that, posters announcing two events at the Bataclan were
posted in Paris.
These events -- Islamic rap concerts -- are scheduled to take place this
October, close to the third anniversary of the attacks. The artist who will
perform them is called Médine, after Medina, the city from which the Prophet
of Islam began to conduct his jihad. Médine's lyrics are filled with hatred
towards non-Muslims, France and the West. One of his best-known songs, in
fact, is called "Jihad". Apparently to make sure that his message clear,
Médine has released pictures showing him wearing a T-shirt on which the "J"
in the word jihad is replaced by a vertical sword. In other photos, Médine
can be seen making a "quenelle", a hand gesture similar to a chest-level of
the Nazi salute and made famous by Dieudonné, a comedian convicted for
anti-Semitism.
Organizations representing the families of the Bataclan victims said that an
Islamic rap concert praising jihad, in a place where people were murdered
and tortured by jihadists, would be an insult to the memory of the victims,
and asked that the concerts be canceled.
The lawsuit filed by the lawyers is unlikely to succeed. The government has
already said that the army and the police have "done their duty."
The concerts will most likely not be canceled. French Prime Minister Edouard
Philippe said that "freedom of speech" has to be respected and accused the
complaining organizations of playing the game of the "extreme right." Muslim
organizations spoke of "Islamophobia."
Laurent Wauquiez, president of the conservative Les Républicains party, said
that "the role of the police and the army is to watch over the safety of
people and not wait passively while people get killed." He also said that if
the concerts were held, it would be a "sacrilege" and the second death of
the victims of the attacks. Other conservative politicians shared his
opinion. They were immediately accused of "racism".
Most mainstream French media outlets remained silent. Those who broke the
silence accused the lawyers of needlessly wanting to reopen old wounds.
Virtually no journalist spoke of booking Médine's concerts at the Bataclan:
those who did, such as Edouard Philippe, invoked "freedom of speech".
Evidently, then, France is a country where the police and the army can
refuse to protect people, and where generals can order dereliction of duty
without being sanctioned. France is also evidently a country where praising
jihad in a place where jihadists massacred people is acceptable.
Although there has been no major attack in France since July 14, 2016, when
a Muslim terrorist murdered 86 people by ramming a truck into a crowd in
Nice, other, smaller, Islamic attacks have taken place. A priest was
beheaded in Normandy while he was saying mass. Two elderly Jewish women were
tortured and murdered in their Paris apartments. Two young women were hacked
to death with a machete in front of the Marseille train station. Three
customers of a supermarket and a gendarmerie officer were slaughtered near
Carcassonne. And on May 12, 2018, a young man was stabbed to death near the
Place de l'Opera in Paris.
No one even reacted.
French President Emmanuel Macron, a few weeks after he was elected, while
sharing an iftar dinner during Ramadan with the leaders of the French Muslim
community, said that "attacks" were the results of "perverse lies" that have
nothing to do with Islam. He also said that in France, Islam must have "the
place it deserves". He is working on that. A big event called "Assises de
l'Islam de France" ("The Foundation of the Islam of France") is scheduled
for this fall.
In the coming months, 450 people defined as "radicalized" and dangerous will
be released from prison: they all will have completed their sentences.
France is a country where people who commit first-degree murder rarely spend
more than 15 years in prison. The government claims that everyone released
will be monitored. During the last decade, however, most of those who
murdered in the name of jihad were supposedly monitored.
President Macron, noting that a growing minority of the French are anxious
about the future, and that people throughout Europe vote more and more for
parties eager to defend Western civilization, spoke of a "rising leprosy".
"France is at war, and leaves the enemy in peace", wrote the journalist Ivan
Rioufol recently in the daily Le Figaro. Macron and the French government,
however, do not seem to think that France is at war. They speak and act as
if the enemy has won and as if they want to gain some time and enjoy the
moment before the final surrender.
On July 3, in Nantes, a young thug named Aboubakar Fofana, while trying to
escape arrest, injured a police officer, and in the process was shot by
another police officer. Three nights of chaos followed. Dozens of cars and
shops were burned. The policeman who shot Aboubakar Fofana is charged with
manslaughter and could be sentenced to prison -- simply for trying to
enforce the law. He was, it was ruled, in the wrong. Whenever a police
officer in France wants to enforce the law and a violent incident happens,
the policeman is punished. Two other cases of the same kind:
In October 2005, policemen tried to arrest two young men, Zyed Benna and
Bouna Traoré. The young men escaped and tried to hide in an electricity
substation, where they were electrocuted by accident. Ten days of riots
followed, which caused up to €200 million in damage. Two policemen were
accused of "failure to help" and "deliberately endangering the lives of
others". They were fired and indicted. They were declared innocent ten years
later.
In February 2017, a young man called Theo Luhaka attacked policemen, and was
arrested. He was hurt and accused policemen to have "raped" him. A policeman
was fired and was indicted by a judge. Riots occurred all over the country.
François Hollande who was then President came to visit Theo at the hospital.
One year later, the policeman was declared innocent, the policeman still
receive death threats. The police officers and soldiers who did nothing for
hours during the November 13, 2015 terrorist attack may just not have wanted
to risk being punished.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of
27 books on France and Europe.
© 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.
What the Best World Cup Teams Say About Immigration
Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/July 15/18
Three of the four national teams in the World Cup semifinals — France,
Belgium and England — are, one might think, icons of European diversity.
Immigrants and sons of immigrants are overrepresented on these squads
compared with the demographics of these countries as a whole. But one could
also see this diversity as a sign that integration isn’t working too well in
much of Europe.
France’s starting lineup in Tuesday’s semifinal against Belgium contained
five players born overseas or to immigrant parents: Cameroonian-born Samuel
Umtiti; N’Golo Kante, whose parents came from Mali; son of Guinean parents
Paul Pogba; Kylian Mbappe, whose father is Cameroonian and mother Algerian;
and Blaise Matuidi, son of an Angolan father and a Congolese mother. That’s
45 percent of the starting 11. Non-European Union immigrants and their
children make up only 13.5 percent of France’s population, according to
Eurostat.
Belgium’s starting 11 also had five players of immigrant background: Nacer
Chadli, who started out playing for the Moroccan national team before he
switched to Belgium; Marouane Fellaini, whose parents are also Moroccan;
Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku, whose fathers are Congolese; and Mousa
Dembele, whose father is from Mali. Belgium’s population of first- and
second-generation non-EU immigrants is 12 percent.
England, too, has a greater proportion of players with non-European
immigrant backgrounds — mostly Caribbean, as in the cases of Kyle Walker,
Ashley Young, Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard; Dele Alli’s father is
Nigerian — than the U.K. has such residents. Their share is 14 percent of
the overall U.K. population. England head coach Gareth Southgate is not
quite right when he says his team “represents modern England.” Neither he
nor the French and Belgian coaches, who have voiced similar sentiments, are
wrong to be proud of the diversity, however. The national teams and the
powerful player selection systems in the three countries pick the best
players regardless or their origin, religion or skin color. Soccer has to be
meritocratic because it’s competition in its purest form, not constrained by
national borders to the same degree as American sports. In soccer, the son
of a banker and a lawyer (that’s the background of French goalkeeper Hugo
Lloris) is on an equal footing with someone like Lukaku, whose family
couldn’t pay its electricity bills for weeks at a time and whose mother had
to water down his milk to make it last longer. Or like Sterling, whose
mother cleaned hotel rooms to put herself through school.
For immigrants without fast-twitch muscles and great footwork, however,
there is no level playing field. Employment rates are noticeably lower among
first-generation immigrants than for the population as a whole, and they
don’t improve much for the second generation.
The odds are stacked against kids with the same background as the
world-class soccer players in a number of important ways. Statistics show a
higher percentage of second-generation immigrants than native-born people go
to college in France and the U.K. (though not in Belgium) — but, according
to a 2017 report from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development, an overwhelming majority of young people with low educational
attainment in all three countries are second-generation, non-EU immigrants.
The report says:
Educational aspirations are generally high among migrant families. However,
while educational aspirations may support educational upward mobility, by
itself they are not sufficient, particularly when support structures and
knowledge on how to attain these goals is lacking.
As a result, in Belgium, people with non-EU-born parents are 13.2 percent
less likely than the native-born to get a better job than their parents; in
France, the likelihood is 8 percent lower, and in the U.K., 4 percent lower.
People are stuck in low-paid occupations — and in low-income areas full of
other people with migration backgrounds. This creates a vicious circle for
millions of people, even if it gives the extremely talented few the impulse
to fight harder.
“Let me tell you something — every game I ever played was a final,” Lukaku
told The Players’ Tribune.
When I played in the park, it was a final. When I played during break in
kindergarten, it was a final. I’m dead-ass serious. I used to try to tear
the cover off the ball every time I shot it. Full power. We weren’t hitting
R1, bro. No finesse shot. I didn’t have the new “FIFA”. I didn’t have a
Playstation. I wasn’t playing around. I was trying to kill you. In a column
for The Times, Patrick Vieira, the former French international, echoes the
violence of that self-description as he recalls his childhood in a poor
Paris suburb — the kind of place from which most of the current French
team’s second-generation immigrants hail from. “When I trained and played,”
he wrote, “it was with a knife in my teeth. By that I mean I had a hunger to
succeed. I loved the game but I also had a drive from my mother. To so many
people in those estates, there are no jobs, no help. You see that
determination in a lot of footballers from those concrete pitches.”Sports —
in particular, soccer with its well-developed, lavishly funded selection
systems and powerful clubs — can be a straight path out of poverty. Several
of the French and Belgian players’ fathers are former small-time soccer
pros, and they gave their sons good advice, providing some of the networking
benefits that immigrants, whether first- or second-generation, lack in
Europe. The soccer meritocracy can’t give every ghetto kid an upward path,
though. All it can do is make sure the ones who play every game like their
last make it onto big club rosters and national teams.
There’s a lesson in this for the rest of society. Soccer’s support networks
for talented kids can and should be replicated in other areas of endeavor.
Some of the boys and girls growing up in no-hope areas today could be the
Mbappes and Lukakus of tech, finance or the arts. The national teams,
multicolored as they are, exist to remind governments, businesses and
educational institutions that they just need to look harder.
What Trump’s Trade War Is Really About
Christopher Balding/Bloomberg/July 15/18
As the trade war between the US and China escalates, with President Donald
Trump imposing tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports, both sides are
trying to portray themselves as victims of an unconstrained unilateralist
rival. They're both wrong: This dispute is about something much bigger.
For many years, American foreign policy adopted a fairly strong pro-China
stance. The US was a major proponent of China's accession to the World Trade
Organization and took no direct policy actions in response to its
long-running manipulation of the yuan. It advocated for China's development
and tried to integrate it into the broader international system, despite
China's abuses in areas such as intellectual property. All along, America's
goal was to avoid conflict, get China to reform and open its economy, and
assimilate it into a system built around open markets and liberal values.
The problem was that China never really accepted this system.
As Princeton professor Aaron Friedberg recently described the conflict:
America's post-Cold War strategy for dealing with China was rooted in
prevailing liberal ideas about the linkages between trade, economic growth
and democracy, and a faith in the presumed universality and irresistible
power of the human desire for freedom. The strategy pursued by China’s
leaders, on the other hand, was, and still is, motivated first and foremost
by their commitment to preserving the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on
domestic political power. A rapidly growing China that respected liberal
norms and rules would've been widely welcomed. Europe, the US and Japan have
all engaged in long-running disputes with each other, but they also share an
understanding of what the rules are and an ultimate vision of more open
markets. China doesn't share that vision; in fact, it sometimes expresses
contempt for it. This is the fundamental issue dividing the two countries.
Had Trump's administration entered into negotiations on these grounds, it
would've had significant leverage. Almost no other country shares China's
vision on these issues, and America's many allies likely would've been
willing to act as a united front if the US were pursuing coherent goals.
Unfortunately, Trump seems to have lost the plot in this regard, focusing
instead on issues such as the bilateral trade deficit and manufacturing
jobs. His administration has also taken to referring to China as a
"strategic competitor," thereby playing right into China's rhetoric. Faced
with this more aggressive approach, China now says it will not negotiate
with a "gun to its head" and state media argues that Washington is trying to
prevent China's rise. That charge isn't true, but Trump's approach has given
it more credibility.
The good news is that both sides seem to be engaging in some introspection.
Trump has given ZTE Corp. — which was rocked by US penalties after violating
sanctions — at least a temporary reprieve and China's state media has been
reflecting on the wisdom of closed markets. Despite the public bellicosity,
both seem to realize they're on a dangerous path. Even so, a resolution
isn't obvious. If the dispute was simply over product subsidies or market
access, a path forward could be reached. This is a much more fundamental
conflict about values.
New Weapons Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Faye Flam/Bloomberg/July 15/18
It’s frustrating enough when progress in medicine plods along slowly, but
downright alarming when it starts to backslide. Bacterial infections were
considered essentially conquered in the 20th century, and now resistant
strains are projected to kill more people than cancer by 2050.
While some people dispute the projected death rate, it’s agreed that
bacteria are evolving resistance to antibiotics faster than the drug
pipeline can produce new ones.
But in the battle between mankind and microbes, our side has a few new
tactics. Some scientists are finding new, more precise strategies for adding
to our antibiotic arsenal. Others are finding ways to slow down the
relentless evolution of resistant bacteria. One lab, with new results
published last week, is combining those tactics. Bacteria have been evolving
for more than 3 billion years, so they have pretty good arsenals of their
own. They can evolve with ferocious speed using tricks to increase their
genetic diversity, and some can communicate and cooperate. Evolutionary
biologists who work on the resistance problem say it will take more to hold
them back than simply avoiding unnecessary or inappropriate prescriptions.
In an opinion piece published last December in the journal PLOS Biology,
evolutionary biologist Sam Brown of Georgia Tech University advocated a hard
push to find alternative ways to treat the most common bacterial ailments –
urinary tract and bronchial infections and strep throat. Scientists are
already scrambling to come up with alternative ways to treat the sorts of
life-threatening infections people get in hospitals, he said, but a better
long-term strategy for saving lives would be to focus on preventing the
evolution of resistant bacteria in the first place, and most of that
evolution happens because of those much more common conditions and
treatments.
Others have begun to question the longstanding tradition of asking patients
to take the whole bottle, often using the drugs for days after they feel
better. As several evolutionary biologists have pointed out, if a few
resistant bugs remain after the patient feels better, then taking more of
the same drug won’t wipe them out. As this piece in the medical website STAT
News points out, the current medical wisdom isn’t based on testing but
became accepted before resistance had become recognized as a threat.
It might turn out that letting the immune system wipe out any stragglers
would better prevent the breeding of resistant strains. If another new study
is right, then continuing antibiotics after recovery may dampen the
effectiveness of the immune system, thus giving any resistant strains that
do crop up the chance to flourish.
In that study, MIT medical engineer James Collins and colleagues used the
basic antibiotic ciprofloxacin on lab mice, and made a detailed analysis of
how the drug affected the metabolism of the mouse cells. What the
researchers found was that the drug affected many activities of the mouse
cells in counterproductive ways – favoring the spread of the bacteria. “It’s
a relationship that’s been largely overlooked,” said Collins. In building up
our antibiotic arsenal, he said, it would help for prescribers and patients
to know, for example, that antibiotics can inhibit the immune system.
The ability to keep the immune system in high gear might come out of the
sort of precision work being done at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory. There, biologist Nassos Typas and colleagues pitted a few
strains of multi-drug-resistant bacteria against 3,000 combinations –
antibiotics paired with each other, or with other drugs or food additives.
The findings, published July 4 in the journal Nature, included a few
surprisingly powerful combinations, including an outdated antibiotic called
spectinomycin – developed to treat gonorrhea – combined with the food
additive vanillin. The vanillin, which is what gives vanilla its flavor,
worked very narrowly, enhancing just one antibiotic’s effect on one strain
of E. coli.
Most of the 500 combinations that showed some mutually enhancing effect
worked narrowly, said Typas. Many of the drugs that boosted the antibiotic
effectiveness against one strain detracted from it against others. That’s
potentially a good thing, he said, because it could help target the
disease-causing bacteria while avoiding collateral damage to our friendly
bacteria – what’s become known as the microbiome. The billions of bacteria
that make up your microbiome help you digest food and perform other tasks,
and studies show that antibiotics can disrupt them for at least a year. But
worse still, once the organisms of the microbiome become antibiotic
resistant, they can pass that on to future infections. Unlike animals,
bacteria have a very efficient way of building their genetic diversity – a
process called horizontal gene transfer. There are a number of ways it
happens. Sometimes, in an encounter that looks a bit like sex, different
bacterial cells connect to each other, but instead of each one combining
genes in a new offspring, bacteria can just swap genetic material directly.
They don’t have to be from the same species to do this.
So you don’t have to fail to kill an earlier infection in order to breed
antibiotic-resistant bacteria in your body. A successful course of
antibiotics will also build up genes that confer resistance in your
microbiome. And the microbiome can transfer these genes to dangerous,
disease-causing bacteria.
That’s why Typas said he was so encouraged that some of those combinations
had a powerful killing effect on one strain of bacteria but very little
effect against others. That would add to mankind’s arsenal without giving
away anything to the microbes.
The outcome of the Helsinki summit will prove if critics
of Trump and Putin are right or wrong
Raghida Dergham/The National/July 15/18
Trump will seek to contain Iran, while Putin will demand concessions on Syria.
Will it work?, asks Raghida Dergham
The features of the putative accord between US President Donald Trump and his
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are the subject of much speculation and
analysis ahead of their summit on Monday. Some predict that there will be a deal
which would involve compelling Iran to rein in its incursions in the region and
return to its borders intact, based on a US-Russian agreement, where the US
would get a change of Iranian behaviour blessed by Russia for oil-related
reasons. Others believe the patient and coolheaded Mr Putin would "devour" the
arbitrary, short-tempered Mr Trump, with the US president handing over Syria’s
reins after securing Israel’s interests, including rubber-stamping the de facto
annexation of the occupied Golan Heights and preventing Iran from achieving its
objectives up to forcing it to gradually withdraw from Syria – if the Russians
deliver their end of the bargain.
The Trump administration itself is divided on these issues. One camp has
fundamental suspicions about Russian intentions and fears the shrewdness of its
strongman. The other camp sees wisdom in letting Mr Putin lead the Syrian
caravan and shoulder the burden and face the pitfalls alone. One common trait
between the two men is that they tolerate the other’s presence in Syria and feel
they need each other to execute a face-saving exit from that conflict after
securing their interests and guaranteeing Israel’s interests in the Golan.
Both also seem to agree on the need to contain Iran’s regional expansion, but
differ on the method of achieving this. Mr Putin will probably try to persuade
Mr Trump that hastiness regarding the expulsion of Iran from Syria – or
pressuring Russia immediately to sever its alliance with Iran – is not the right
policy. Mr Putin is likely to explain the nuances of strategy and tactic, and
ask Mr Trump to understand Russia’s need for its tactical alliance with Iran
until its strategic position is consolidated. Yet this is exactly what worries
the camp that distrusts Mr Putin, because it fears he could end up enlisting the
fickle US president in Russia’s grand strategy.
But Mr Trump’s crude and undiplomatic methods have taken the world by surprise,
not least because it seems to be achieving results, whether with North Korea or
with the European allies in Nato. The transatlantic partners seem to have
kowtowed to his demands for increased defence spending and partially agreed to
Mr Trump’s demands with regard to Iran, after European firms diverged from their
governments and fell behind his campaign. In other words, it would be premature
to declare Mr Putin the winner of the Helsinki match, even if it ends up giving
him Syria’s reins with the US president repeated his intention to withdraw from
the troubled nation.
The US president had sparred with his allies, especially the German chancellor
Angela Merkel then with the British prime minister Theresa May, ahead of the
summit. Mr Trump showed Ms Merkel – a strong advocate of the Iran nuclear deal –
no quarter, and accused her of being "captive" to Russia. The backdrop was the
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project that would bring Russian gas to Germany. Ms
Merkel defends it as a purely economic venture while Mr Trump considers it a
political project that would bring billions to Russia’s coffers.
In the UK, Mr Trump left Mrs May reeling, criticising her Brexit plan and
praising Boris Johnson, the outgoing foreign secretary who resigned in protest
at the plan, as a potentially “great prime minister”. Mr Trump has since walked
back from his comments in his own odd way, saying: “[Mrs May] is a very smart,
very tough, very capable person, and I would much rather have her as my friend
than my enemy.”
Of Mr Putin, he had earlier said: “He’s not my enemy…he’s a competitor,” adding:
“Hopefully, someday, maybe, he’ll be a friend.”
The equation of friend-or-enemy, as Mr Trump sees it, seems to be about money
rather than strategy. With Mr Putin, the US president will find a man who
understands his language, because the Russian leader himself espouses the same,
especially with regard to oil and gas, behind the veneer of bombastic threats.
Interestingly, oil came up prominently this week in Moscow, days before the
Helskinki summit, in talks between Mr Putin and Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian
supreme leader’s senior adviser for international affairs.
Mr Velayati told Iranian state TV: “Our leader (Khamenei) values improving ties
with Russia as a strategic partner”, adding that Iran and Russia will continue
to cooperate in Syria. Interestingly, Mr Velayati said that Mr Putin in the
meeting “reiterated that Russia rejects America’s decision to impose sanctions
on Iran…[and] said Russia will stand by Iran and will defend Tehran’s rights”.
Mr Putin, according to Mr Velayati, also said that Russia “is prepared to
continue its oil investment in Iran at the level of $50 billion”.
This comes as Mr Trump declared an oil war on Iran, threatening sanctions
against firms that deal with Tehran, forcing energy companies to draft plans to
exit the Iranian market. But Mr Velayati said Russia’s putative investment was
“an important amount that can compensate for those companies that have left
Iran”. In his remarks, quoted by Reuters, he revealed that a Russian major oil
companies has signed a $4 billion deal with Iran while “two…major Russian oil
companies, Rosneft and Gazprom, have started talks with Iran’s Oil Ministry to
sign contracts worth up to $10 billion”.
On Syria, Mr Velayati said Mr Putin “underlined the importance of political and
defense cooperations between Iran and Russia in Syria”, after recalling that the
two countries had played a crucial role in turning the tide of war in favor of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Another visitor to Moscow this week, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, seemed
to praise Mr Assad, saying: “We haven't had a problem with the Assad regime, for
40 years not a single bullet was fired on the Golan Heights”. Mr Netanyahu
suggested Israel did not object to Mr Assad regaining control of Syria. But the
Israeli leader stressed the importance of Iranian forces fully withdrawing from
Syria, yet his tone was not belligerent. Rather, he seemed to be willing to
bargain on a gradual basis, with his current top priority being securing a Golan
empty of Iranian elements and proxies, and the full annexation of the Golan
Heights, in return for agreeing to the survival of the Assad regime.
One informed intelligence source said the joint decision of the US and Russia is
for “Iran to return to Iran”, with the current stage set to pave the way for
gradually achieving that goal. The source cited the “Russian pressure on Iran
and its role in Syria”, because, ultimately, as the source said, the Russians
will not allow another party to dictate things in Syria.
According to the source, another factor is oil and gas, because Russia “would
never accept a pipeline that would carry Iranian oil to the Mediterranean and
compete with it in Europe,” and would therefore not allow Iranian expansion
through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean.
One aspect of the problem lies in the leaks coming out of Washington claiming
that US policy is incoherent. For this reason, we hear one day that Mr Trump
intends to withdraw from Syria, only to hear the next day that he has changed
his mind. We hear about radical differences in his administration, with reports
suggesting his new national security advisor John Bolton has started to
experience his boss’s penchant for monopolising decision-making, in a way that
undermines Mr Bolton’s platform on Iran and Russia, namely: fully and decisively
block Iran’s schemes in Syria by dictating this to Mr Putin, in return for a new
chapter in the US-Russian relations.
If it is true that Mr Trump is bringing Mr Putin the offer of US withdrawal from
Syria in return for gradual Iranian withdrawal, this could potentially mean the
US president has decided on a truce with Iran, rather than full subjugation. In
other words, Mr Putin’s logic would have won over Mr Trump, at the expense of Mr
Bolton and likeminded hawks.
The test lies in the “gaps that foes can exploit during execution”, according to
one strategic source. And Helsinki will test the performances of both Mr Trump
and Mr Putin and their ability to silence those who accuse them of collusion,
and prove wrong those who fear Mr Putin’s shrewdness and Mr Trump’s naivety, as
profoundly naive themselves.
Threats to Strait of Hormuz demonstrate Iran’s
desperation
الدكتور مجيد رفيع زاده: تهديدات إيران بإغلاق مضيق هيرمز تبين يأسها
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/July 15/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66059/dr-majid-rafizadeh-threats-to-strait-of-hormuz-demonstrate-irans-desperation-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%83%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b1-%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b9-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af/
The Iranian authorities are escalating their confrontational rhetoric. Iran’s
state-controlled Persian news outlets have been putting great emphasis on the
nation’s strategic advantage and superiority over the Gulf passageway, the
Strait of Hormuz.
In terms of their strategic influence, Iranian leaders are also ratcheting up
their threats to block the Strait of Hormuz. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, was recently quoted by the semi-official
Tasnim News Agency as saying: “We will make the enemy understand that either
everyone can use the Strait of Hormuz or no one.”
Although some scholars, policy analysts and politicians argue that these threats
are hollow, the issue should be taken seriously. The Iranian regime is not a
rational state actor, but a revolutionary one. The threats are precarious not
only for the Middle East but also for the rest of the world, due to the fact
that roughly one-third of global oil exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Closing one of the world’s most important naval passageways would drastically
disrupt the global oil market. Most likely, oil and gas prices would skyrocket
to unprecedented levels, which would impact the costs of other commodities
around the world. Subsequently, this would create a substantial crisis in the
global financial system and negatively impact people across the world.
More importantly, closing the Strait of Hormuz would be significantly damaging
to the national security interests of several countries in the region —
including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait — because of the
direct impact it would have on their economic sector.
This is not the first time that the Iranian leaders have made such dangerous
threats. In fact, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the
regime has frequently threatened to block or cause serious damage to the
shipment of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Threatening to block one of the world’s most critical passages has been a core
pillar of Iran’s foreign policy. Almost four decades of the Islamic Republic
reveals that the theocratic establishment has historically threatened to choke
off the Strait of Hormuz when it could not achieve or further advance its
revolutionary, ideological and political objectives through other means,
including hard power and interventions in the domestic affairs of other nations.
For example, Iran’s threats to close the strait escalated dramatically during
the Iran-Iraq War due to the fact Tehran was incapable of defeating or
conquering Iraq through its military, including the use of its air force, the
national army and the IRGC.
Iran regime must be stopped from endangering the world economy and stability of
the region by its frequent threats to close the Strait of Hormuz.
In addition, when the Iranian regime is seeking to obtain concessions from
global powers or trying to force them to change their policies in favor of Iran,
Tehran again resorts to such threats. For instance, during the Barack Obama
presidency, and specifically during the negotiations to sign the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, IRGC leaders strongly threatened to shut off the
strait. The Obama administration and European powers then made significant
economic and political concessions to Tehran as part of the nuclear deal.
In other words, from the Iranian regime’s perspective, threatening to close the
Strait of Hormuz is a powerful tool that can be used to force other nations into
submitting to its demands, as well as altering their policies in order to
appease the Islamic Republic. Furthermore, it is worth noting that, whenever
Iranian leaders use harsh rhetoric with respect to the Strait of Hormuz, oil
prices go up for a short period as a result of fears generated by the crisis.
This has helped the regime to gain more revenues from its oil exports. For
instance, when Iran threatened to close Strait of Hormuz in 2016, crude oil
prices went up more than 3 percent.
More importantly, the Iranian regime is currently desperate because President
Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal and ordered the re-imposition of US
sanctions against Tehran. Iranian leaders are fretting over the primary and
secondary sanctions. The deadline is approaching, as some of the major sanctions
will be re-imposed on Aug. 6. In addition, the regime is critically concerned
because the Trump administration is pressuring the international community to
abandon Iran’s oil exports, and it is working with other regional powers,
including Saudi Arabia, to contain Tehran economically.
In fact, Iranian leaders are perturbed and unsettled to such an extent that the
so-called moderate politicians are using confrontational rhetoric similar to the
harsh language used by the hard-liners, such as the IRGC leaders. Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani has recently threatened that, if other countries do not
buy oil from Iran, no other countries in the Gulf will be allowed to ship oil
through the strait.
The Iranian regime must be stopped from endangering the world economy and
stability of the region by its frequent threats to close the Strait of Hormuz.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and
president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Syrians left to choose between extremist options
Hazem Saghieh/Al Arabiya/July 15/18
Inhabitants of the Daraa province, especially those who escaped death by fleeing
towards the Syrian-Israeli border, vividly summarize the tragedy of the Syrian
people.
Before escaping death, they had freed their spirits from a murderous regime.
They were the first to revolt against the latter following the infamous tragedy
that befell their children. If they were to cross the border into Israel, which
is not possible, they would have been deemed agents of the Zionist enemy.
Returning to their homes and villages means submitting to the murderous regime
they rebelled against in the first place – the regime which has become even more
vengeful after receiving international support with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump
and Benjamin Netanyahu accepting it as “the best” for them and for Syria.
This plight resembles Dante’s Inferno, but it’s a hell that is neither followed
by anything purifying nor a paradise. This situation summarizes the available
options for the Syrians who want nothing other than to live as free, safe and
respected citizens. Now, however, they can either surrender to governance that
humiliates them, persecutes them and impoverishes them or they can flee to
countries where they will be chased away by racists or deemed as foreign agents
and traitors. There is also the option of these people resorting to lying and
manipulation in order to survive thus gaining the satisfaction of the regime
along with benefits and privileges and perhaps even a government position.
This plight resembles Dante’s Inferno, but it is a hell followed neither by
anything purifying nor by a paradise.
In other words, the choice is between surrendering or giving up on principles.
It’s to either to submit to the regime or turning against oneself!
After all this, they talk about ISIS and extremism. Extremism is of course a
product of many complicated factors. Living in the Syrian slaughterhouse remains
the most important reason for extremism, especially when desperation fills the
hearts of those who wish to escape after having attempted to destroy it. In
addition to international support, there are those who fight tooth and nail to
restore the slaughterhouse, changing the frozen blood on the walls into
concrete. This is what has come to be known as the “Syrian reconstruction
project,” which appears a mouthwatering proposition for many.
In its penultimate issue, the British magazine Economist called Syrians “the new
Palestinians.” According to the magazine, they will be the demons of the region
- desmons whom injustice and discrimination will push them to violence, weapons
and chaos, like what happened to the Palestinians before them. What is certain
today is that Daraa which was the cradle of the revolution will not be the final
chapter of griefs. In its saga of vendetta, the Assad regime is going to bring
down Idlib, which awaits its turn. The victims of Daraa, Idlib and other Syrian
areas also have their own records in which they write down the names of their
killers. Those who have died many times are destined to kill many.
Chaos at the Iraqi borders
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 15/18
An unusual summer at southern Iraq, hot weather as if in hell, few hours of
electricity a day after Iran had cut it off, and a large state without a
government, except that the Iraqi summer season is ripe for problems, and it has
a history in igniting chaos, invasion and revolutions.
The distance between the cities of Najaf and Basra is far, more than 400
kilometers, and yet the chaos has reached the two cities. Basra specifically is
suffering more than the rest of the Iraqi cities. Seems there is an intention to
escalate in the south to weaken the central government and threaten the region.
Iraq as a whole, not only Basra, is struggling to get out of the impact of two
turbulent phases. Saddam’s rule which was a period of wars and crises for 25
years. Then there is the invasion stage and what came after it, where the
country became a chaos. Then we saw it trying to recover slowly with Haider al-Abadi
rule.
Basra’s chaos was the normal result for the weak central government. The
government in Baghdad is weak and cannot play its role, as there are many
partners in authority; militias, authorities and parties and with the US-Iranian
conflict which became obvious to everyone. There is no doubt that Iran is the
biggest challenge for Iraq to be independent and successful. The regime in
Tehran considers Iraq as a natural geographical, sectarian extension for it.
Weakening Baghdad
During the past few years, it succeeded in creating entities that had weakened
Baghdad with a parallel authority, like the popular mobilization units, unfair
bilateral agreements, using oil revenues to finance its operations, seeking to
have full control by imposing a government that belongs to it. Tehran did not
succeed completely but it managed to hinder the authority in Baghdad, until it
became incapable of providing enough electricity, to get the militias that
imposes control over cities out, to provide jobs and even incapable to stop the
intervention of Iran and its militias in the southern Iraq affairs.
Iraq, along with Kuwait and Iran, is the northern Gulf, a potentially permanent
area of tension as a result of the three forces sharing its land and water
borders, in addition to a large US military presence on land and sea, within a
complex military balance in this sensitive region
It became more complicated since the end of the elections, as there is a crisis
because of the vacuum in authority, which has doubled the suffering. The
government almost became disabled waiting for a Prime Minister to be named and
who would join the coalition amid a party dispute that may exacerbate the period
of the power vacuum, and extends the country’s crises. This is what is happening
in the internal affairs.
Iraq, along with Kuwait and Iran, is the northern Gulf, a potentially permanent
area of tension as a result of the three forces sharing its land and water
borders, in addition to a large US military presence on land and sea, within a
complex military balance in this sensitive region
Opening several fronts
Iran wants to do the same as it did in Lebanon and Yemen, opening several fronts
to weaken its adversaries and provoke the international community. The militias
in south Iraq are prepared by the Revolutionary Guards to be like Hezbollah in
Lebanon, and the Houthi in Yemen; an advanced battalion fighting on behalf of
the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
We see signs of a crisis that would fill the Gulf region with chaos and ignite
battles inside Iraq and with its neighbors. Later, we would hear Tehran saying
that it is ready to mediate to stop the fighting, if its conditions are accepted
in return. Due to increasing US pressure, the Iranian authorities are trying to
make everyone pay and fail Trump’s administration plan to economically and
politically straighten Iran to force it to sign a nuclear agreement with better
conditions that the previous one.
South Iraq might be the new field for the Iranian regime, after it had lost a
lot in the Syrian war due to the Israeli attacks against its forces and
militias, and the Russian position which has changed against it.