LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 28/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
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Bible
Quotations
The one
who believes in me will also do the works that I do
John 14/08-14: "Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will
be satisfied.’Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time,
Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am
in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not
speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then
believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one
who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do
greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."
Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on July 27-28/18
Fears that Lebanon Strikes, Popular
Demands Could Blow Out of Proportion/Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/July 27/18
Lebanon's Cannabis Heartland, Bekaa, Hopes for Legalization/Associated
Press/Naharnet/July 27/18
Lebanon pricing itself out of tourism industry/Georgi Azar and Zeina Nasser/Annahar/July
27/ 2018/
Palestinian youth on a stabbing rampage murders an Israeli man, injures two/DebkaFile/July
27/18
This is not your grandfather’s KGB/David Ignatius/The Washington Post/July
27/18
Who Leaked the Trump Tape/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/July 27/18
The Intelligence Community Has Never Faced a Problem Quite Like This/David
Ignatius/The Washington Post/July 27/18
In Iran: The Past is a Different Country/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/July
27/18
A Natural End to the ‘Two-States’ Illusion/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/July
27/18
Suspension of Bab al-Mandeb Oil Shipments May Be a Good Thing/Salman Al-dossary/Asharq
Al Awsat/July 27/18
Dignity for the Palestinians/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/July 27/18
Analysis/The Pitfalls and Perils of the Trump-Putin-Netanyahu Triad/Chemi
Shalev/Haaretz/July 27/18
Mike Pompeo: Top spy and top diplomat/Mamdouh AlMuhaini//Al Arabiya/July
27/18
Iran’s attack on Bab al-Mandeb/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 27/18
Will Europe obstruct the liberation of Yemen/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/July
27/18
Rethinking the conflict in Yemen/Saad Alsubaie/Al Arabiya/July 27/18
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on July 27-28/18
Lebanon’s Druze leader Jumblatt
attacks Syrian regime over massacre
Fears that Lebanon Strikes, Popular Demands Could Blow Out of Proportion
Machnouk to Asharq Al-Awsat: Early Presidential Battle Delays Government
Formation
Aoun: Russian Initiative to Return Thousands of Refugees to Syria
Berri: Two UN Officials Banned from Entering Ain el-Tineh
Hakim Foretells "Blazing" September Due to Looming Problems
Kataeb Delegation Visits Al-Aqoura
Hankache: We Will Not Keep Mum over Any Transgression
Gemayel Hails Russia over Refugee Return Plan
Hariri meets Kuwaiti, Pakistani ambassadors
Azerbaijan ambassador after visiting Shaar: Our government shall not spare
any effort in providing assistance in oil fields
Two Lebanese to participate in Junior NBA Championship
Hasbani from Bkirki: Confident of overcoming government formation obstacles
Lebanon's Cannabis Heartland, Bekaa, Hopes for Legalization
Mashnouq: Premature Battle for Presidency Delaying Cabinet Lineup
Lebanese Found Dead in Her Dubai Apartment
Lebanon pricing itself out of tourism industry
Titles For The Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 27-28/18
Mattis: US goal to change Iran behavior in Middle East, not regime change
Syrian Kurdish-backed council holds talks in Damascus for the first time
As protests mount in Iraq, top cleric Sistani warns politicians
Soleimani: Red Sea No Longer Safe
Israel to Build New Settler Homes after Deadly Knife Attack
Israel Ministers Seek Changes after Jewish Nation Law Outcry
Knife Attack Kills One Israeli, Wounds Two Others in West Bank
Palestinian youth on a stabbing rampage murders an Israeli man, injures two
Pakistan's Imran Khan Wins Vote but No Majority
Iraq’s Sistani Calls on Formation of New Govt. ‘as Soon as Possible’
US Moves Closer to Unfreezing Military Aid to Egypt
The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on July 27-28/18
Lebanon’s Druze leader
Jumblatt attacks Syrian regime over massacre
Reuters, Beirut/Friday, 27 July 2018/The main leader of the
Druze sect in Lebanon on Friday attacked the Syrian government for failing
to stop an ISIS massacre of Druze in Syria, saying it should have noticed
the militants gathering to attack. “No one can tell me that the squadrons of
many American, Russian and foreign planes did not see this gathering which
suddenly took the regime by surprise and raided Jebel al-Arab,” said Walid
Jumblatt. ISIS assault on the city of Sweida and nearby villages in the
Jebel al-Arab area on Thursday killed more than 246 people, many of them
civilians. Syrian state media said the army had intervened and battled the
militants with both ground forces and air strikes. Jumblatt, who heads the
largest Druze political party in Lebanon, is a strong critic of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad. The other Druze parties are pro-Damascus. He also
accused Assad of wanting to send Druze from the Jebel al-Arab area including
the city of Sweida to fight in a future offensive against rebels in Idlib
province in northern Syria. Many community leaders and top Druze religious
leaders have refused to sanction enlistment in the army during Syria’s
seven-year conflict. “They want to sacrifice the youths of Jebel al-Arab in
Idlib,” Jumblatt said. He asked Assad’s main ally Russia to help prevent
that. “We want its (Russia’s) guarantee to the people of the Jebel that they
will remain in the Jebel and not be used by Bashar as fodder, living or
dead, for his personal ends.”
Fears that Lebanon
Strikes, Popular Demands Could Blow Out of Proportion
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/July 27/18
Protests, strikes and growing demands by labor unions are threatening the
government of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri before it sees light. The
past week witnessed several protests organized by the Unions and Leagues of
Land Transportation, which closed down roads ahead of its planned nationwide
strike on August 2. The head of the Unions and Leagues, Bassam Tleis, said
the last strike was aimed at raising an objection to all the pledges made by
Lebanese officials, including President Michel Aoun, the premier, and the
ministers of interior and transportation. Truck and taxi drivers are
protesting what they say is inadequate government supervision of competition
from non-Lebanese drivers. Other demands include that the interior minister
stop issuing permits to trucks that weigh over 21 tons. The drivers also
want the police do more to stop taxis and vans from using fake license
plates and the government to approve a public transportation plan. Other
demands threatening Hariri’s mission to form a new cabinet include providing
better salaries to the staff of public hospitals, who have also held a
strike to object the last pay raise approved by the government for public
sector employees. The strike of the public hospital workers, who claim that
the salary hike did not treat them fairly, has paralyzed emergency services
and the admission of patients except for those undergoing dialysis and
chemotherapy or radiotherapy. A hospital worker told Asharq Al-Awsat that
the government’s policies are taking public health towards “destruction.”Most
professional doctors have abandoned their work at the Rafik Hariri
University Hospital, which is on the verge of turning into a skeletal system
with no functions, said the worker. In the education sector, which has
witnessed strikes for years, Lebanese University teachers have called for
better salaries. Private school teachers have also been demanding for a
salary hike after the government’s pay raise covered solely public school
educators. The strikes and labor union demands could have a snowball effect.
A minister, who refused to be identified, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the
unions’ demands are “righteous.” “They need swift solutions,” he said,
lamenting the lack of a government capable of taking action. He accused
several parties of hindering Hariri’s efforts, saying “everything hinges on
the formation of the cabinet which some are trying to paralyze.”
Machnouk to Asharq Al-Awsat: Early Presidential Battle
Delays Government Formation
Beirut- Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 27 July,
2018/Lebanon’s Interior Minister in the caretaker government Nohad Al-Machnouk
described his recent visit to Saudi Arabia as successful, praising the Saudi
stance on Lebanon and expecting a breakthrough in bilateral relations after
the formation of the new government. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat,
Machnouk said: “Saudi Arabia, by its religious, economic and political
nature, is a leading country in the region, and I always consider that the
balance in the region, especially in light of this Iranian expansion, should
be based on a solid Saudi-Egyptian alliance, because each country possesses
elements of strength.”He added that the Kingdom was waiting for the
formation of the new Lebanese government to revive the Higher Ministerial
Committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Lebanese side
prime minister.
Underlining the need for Lebanese parties to commit to the policy of
dissociation, Machnouk said: “Lebanon is a liberal country and the level of
freedoms is high, but this should not be a pretext for practices, actions,
and statements that threaten Lebanon’s relations with its Arab surroundings
and its responsibilities towards the constants of Arabism.” Asked about the
Yemeni government’s complaints about Hezbollah’s interference in Yemen, the
interior minister said: “This is a new development, but all people know that
this is true. The Yemeni government itself has published identity cards and
information about Lebanese individuals, advisers, fighters or experts in the
manufacture or installation of missiles.”“I think that the Yemeni position
is normal, because it is no longer acceptable, after all these international
developments, that Hezbollah remains an outlet for Iranian policy in the
region and does not expect international resolutions to be taken against it
at the same time,” he added. Back to the Lebanese arena, Machnouk commented
on the delay in forming a new government, saying: “The criteria for forming
the government since the first day have been wrong, because they were based
on numerical rules, such as those on the calculator or the tailor's pipe,
which I call the Bassil tailor's pipe (in reference to Foreign Minister
Gebran Bassil). “The government should be formed based on constitutional
principles and the Lebanese consensual system… not just on numerical
standards,” he stressed. The interior minister noted that the delay in
forming the new government was mainly due to early talks on the presidency
and ambitions for political inheritance.“I think that the main flaw that
delays the formation of the government is that the battle for presidency
stared early, accompanied by ambitions for political inheritance,” he
stated. Asked about the relations between the Future Movement and the Free
Patriotic Movement, Machnouk said: “The harmonious relationship between the
Future Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement has turned into an
understanding with limited headlines and a narrow horizon.”
Aoun: Russian
Initiative to Return Thousands of Refugees to Syria
Naharnet/July 27/18/President Michel Aoun said on Friday that Lebanon hopes
the Russian initiative meets the United Nations’ support, in order to “end
the suffering” of Syrian refugees. “We hope the Russian initiative to return
displaced Syrians to their country gets the backing of the United Nations in
order to end their suffering,” Aoun told visiting Acting UN special
Coordinator for Lebanon Bernell Cardel.“Lebanon has welcomed the initiative
because it ensures the return of around 890,000 displaced Syrians back to
Syria. A committee will be formed to coordinate, with the Russians, the
technical details related to the return mechanism,” he added. On Thursday,
Aoun presided over a meeting at Baabda Palace that tackled the Russian
proposals aimed at securing the return of displaced Syrians to their
country. The meeting was held in the presence of Speaker Nabih Berri,
Premier-designate Saad Hariri and a Russian delegation led by special
presidential envoy Alexander Lavrentiev. After the talks, Lavrentiev said he
held "very interesting and very positive talks" with the three leaders.
Russia, Syria’s ally has put forward plans to the United States to cooperate
for the safe return of refugees to Syria. Moscow has proposed the
establishment of working groups in Lebanon and Jordan, to where many
refugees have fled, a Russian defense ministry official said last week.
Berri: Two UN Officials Banned from Entering Ain el-Tineh
Naharnet/July 27/18/Speaker Nabih Berri refuses to receive two UN officials
at his Ain el-Tineh residence over what he described as “repulsive behavior,”
al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. Berri refused to receive the Acting
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Bernell Cardel. “I refused to receive her
at Ain el-Tineh because she crossed the lines. Not only did she harm
Lebanon, but she also harmed the United Nations’ role,” Berri told the daily
in an interview. During his last meeting with Cardel, Berri said he “sensed
that she is in accord with the Israeli policy at the expense of our rights
and our borders. I brought to her attention that she has made a commitment
to continue with the policy of her predecessor Sigrid Kaag, but she
denied.”Berri pointed out that the UN official "violated the diplomatic
norms and objective facts when she visited Lebanese personalities and held
me responsible for disrupting the resolution of the border dispute with the
Israeli occupation entity.” He added saying “I was aware of the aggressive
orientation she has against me.”Another figure that Berri refused to meet
was Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, former UNIFIL Commander when he asked to visit
him as part of farewell visits to Lebanese leaders. Berri said that his
“decisive” position from Beary was because the latter participated in the
celebration of the Israeli occupation entity with its so-called
"independence" or "national holiday.”“Not only did Beary do that, but he
also tweeted congratulating Israel on this occasion, ignoring the fact that
he is the UNIFIL commander in Lebanon and his role requires different
behavior and respect for his position and the feelings of the Lebanese who
have paid great price for the aggression of the Israeli occupation and its
wars,” concluded the Speaker.
Hakim Foretells "Blazing" September Due to Looming Problems
Kataeb.org/Friday 27th July 2018/Former Economy Minister Alain Hakim warned
that the month of September will be clamorous and blazing due to the looming
economic problems that will emerge due to the rising school tuition fees and
other factors, blaming not only random taxes, but also the salary scale law
which was approved without a thorough assessment study of its impact.
"Citizens are today paying the price for voting again for the lawmakers who
assured that prices will not increase due to taxes, instead of holding them
accountable for that," Hakim told Al-Markazia news agency.
Kataeb Delegation Visits Al-Aqoura
Kataeb.org/Friday 27th July 2018/A Kataeb delegation, headed by the party
leader's top adviser Fouad Abu Nader, visited Al-Aqoura on Friday to provide
the municipality with logistical and medical supplies. The Kataeb party's
donation consists mainly of transmitters and wireless devices to help link
the outskirts of Al-Aqoura to the village center in light of the events that
took place there recently. A few months ago, armed men from Baalbeck’s
Yammouneh village opened fire at an Aqoura police patrol and confiscated the
officers' phones. The two villages have been at odds over a piece of land
that separates them. “We hope that the army would remain the guarantor of
security in Al-Aqoura's outskirts and establish a zone of peace while
waiting for a permanent solution to the ongoing dispute," Abu Nader said.
Hankache: We Will Not Keep Mum over Any Transgression
Kataeb.org/Friday 27th July 2018/Kataeb MP Elias Hankache on Friday said
that the party is committed to giving the presidential term a new chance,
affirming, however, that it will always speak up against anything that harms
the country's best interest. "The Kataeb party will not keep mum over any
transgression, neither today nor tomorrow," he said in an interview on New
TV. Hankache said that the Kataeb party has decided to give the presidential
term a chance based on the dissatisfaction and will to make a change voiced
by both President Aoun and PM Saad Hariri, noting, however, that the same
old approach seems to be re-emerging, "which will lead to the same outcome
as before". Hankache blasted attempts to muzzle and suppress the Kataeb
lawmakers during yesterday's parliamentary committee meeting on waste
management, adding that preventing someone from expressing his technical
remarks and viewpoint draws suspicions over the plan being imposed. "They
keep accusing the Kataeb party of being populist, while they end up adopting
its proposals. This is exactly what is happening today with Russia's refugee
return plan which was initially put forth by Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel
during his latest visit to Moscow," he explained. Hankache slammed the
growing greed and the mentality of partitioning that are hindering the
government formation, adding that the country is in dire need of a new
government given the economic, financial and social problems that it is
witnessing. The lawmaker said that the party would participate in a balanced
government that has a serious rescue plan to face challenges, assuring that
the Kataeb is not willing to bear a false witness inside any Cabinet. “If we
could turn back time, we would opt for the same approach in dealing with all
the files as we have done with the power barges, waste crisis and other isa,”
Hankache reiterated.
Gemayel Hails Russia over Refugee Return Plan
Kataeb.org/Friday 27th July 2018/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel thanked Russia
for according a paramount importance to the return of Syrian refugees to
their homeland, expressing his appreciation of Moscow for committing to its
promise to help Lebanon. Gemayel hoped that the Lebanese government benefits
from the Russian initiative, saying that it must devise a clear and unified
vision so as to reach the much-anticipated solution. The Kataeb chief
stressed that Lebanon's government should do whatever serves the country's
best interest, away from petty political bickerings and external political
agendas that don't do any good to Lebanon, its stability and citizens.
Hariri meets Kuwaiti, Pakistani ambassadors
Fri 27 Jul 2018/NNA - Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri received on
Friday Kuwait's Ambassador to Lebanon Abdelaal Al-Qenai with whom he tackled
the overall situation and means to activate bilateral relations. Hariri also
received the Pakistani Ambassador to Lebanon Aftab Khokher on a farewell
visit marking the end of his Beirut diplomatic mission. "I thank Prime
Minister Hariri for the support he gave me during the period of my mission
in Lebanon. Without his support I could not do have succeeded in improving
bilateral relations between our two countries. PM Hariri has uttered wishes
for the success of the Pakistani government to be formed after the
parliamentary elections. He also expressed optimism that the formation of
the new government in Lebanon would be imminent and promised to work towards
closer trade relations between Lebanon and Pakistan to reach the level of
excellent political relations between the two countries," the ambassador
said.
Azerbaijan ambassador after visiting Shaar: Our government shall not spare
any effort in providing assistance in oil fields
Fri 27 Jul 2018/NNA - Mufti of Tripoli and North Lebanon Sheikh Malek al-Shaar
welcomed on Friday at his residence in Tripoli the Ambassador of Azerbaijan
to Lebanon, Agasalim Shukurov, accompanied by the President of the North
Lebanon Traders Association, Asaad Hariri, and a delegation of merchants. On
emerging, Ambassador Shukurov said that the purpose of his visit was to
maintain coordination between the two countries, and to become more
acquainted with Tripoli's pioneering merchants and businessmen in a bid to
explore means of implementing joint projects and bolster bilateral
relations. The ambassador of Azerbaijan also indicated that he broached with
Mufti Shaar the current educational conditions in the northern city,
announcing that he offered on behalf of Azerbaijan five university
scholarships for students from Tripoli and the North. In reply to a
question, Ambassador Shukurov said that his government will not hesitate to
provide Lebanon any needed assistance in the oil fields, especially at the
level of training specialized Lebanese engineers in the exploration works.
Mufti Shaar, for his part, said that the Ambassador of Azerbaijan visited
the city of Tripoli in a bid to establish cooperation and coordination
between traders and merchants of Tripoli and Azerbaijan. Shaar commended
Azerbaijan as "a country enjoying a plethora of economic potentials,"
branding it an "oil and tourism country."Shaar relayed the Ambassador's
earnest desire to bolster bilateral relations between the two countries,
notably in terms of economic exchange, within the framework of a memorandum
of understanding and the signing of a future roadmap. The Mufti also brought
to attention Azerbaijan's longstanding history, with several Lebanese
students graduating from the universities of Azerbaijan, especially in the
fields of oil and petroleum engineering.
Two Lebanese to participate in Junior NBA Championship
Fri 27 Jul 2018/NNA - The Junior NBA World Championship is a new competition
launched by the NBA in the form of a basketball tournament dedicated to
young boys and girls aged under 14. For the first time, two Lebanese
youngsters will participate in this professional basketball championship and
compete on the world title. This tournament will bring together 317
participants from 35 countries, and will take place in Orlando, United
States, from August 7 till 12.
Hasbani from Bkirki: Confident of overcoming government formation obstacles
Fri 27 Jul 2018/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi
received on Friday at the Bkirki Patriarchate, Deputy Prime Minister and
caretaker Minister of Public Health, Ghassan Hasbani, with talks touching on
an array of local issues.
"We discussed the health sector and the developments that are taking place
in this regard. We thanked the Synod members for their support of the
mechanism that was developed to distribute the hospitalization budget
ceilings, for the first time, with full transparency and without any
unfairness vis-a-vis hospitals," Hasbani said in the wake of the meeting.
"We have also tackled the current situation and we wish that the government
will be formed soon," he said, uttering optimism over the next stage and
overcoming the obstacles that stand in the face of forming the government,
"in order to preserve the economic, security and social stability enjoyed by
Lebanon."
Lebanon's Cannabis Heartland, Bekaa, Hopes for
Legalization
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 27/18
In the fields of this quiet village
surrounded by mountains, men and women work clearing dirt and dry leaves
from around cannabis plants, a major source of livelihoods in this
impoverished corner of Lebanon, The fertile Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon
has long been notorious as one of the world's major narcotics-growing
regions, producing some of the finest quality cannabis, mostly processed
into hashish. Today, the country is the third biggest producer in the world
after Morocco and Afghanistan, according to the U.N. But the valley's
residents have rarely felt the benefits. Now they are hoping their work will
soon become legal after decades of crackdowns and raids. This week, a draft
bill was introduced in parliament that would allow cultivation and use of
cannabis for medical purposes. The idea has fueled dreams of Lebanon raking
in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and exports, a desperately
needed source of income for a country weighed down by low growth, high
unemployment and one of the heaviest debt burdens in the world. The legal
industry will also create jobs and bring order in the Bekaa, a region
notorious for lawlessness, proponents say.
"I want to find a solution for what's going on," said legislator Antoine
Habchi, who sent the bill to parliament. The aim is to "allow farmers to
live with dignity." Habchi, who hails from cannabis-growing part of the
Bekaa region, said the bill would bring economic returns and would include
provisions to prevent and treat addiction. Under the bill, cultivation would
be tightly controlled. Private pharmaceutical companies would provide seeds
and seedlings to farmers and during harvest plants would be counted to make
sure nothing had been diverted. The size of fields would be regulated. It
will likely take months for the bill to go through discussions before it can
come to a vote. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri last week informed U.S.
ambassador Elizabeth Richard that the legislature was working on the draft
bill. In the past, the United States has provided aid for counter-narcotics
efforts in Lebanon, trying to stem the trade.The move is not without
controversy.
The northern parts of the Bekaa Valley where cannabis is widely grown is
under the influence of the militant group Hezbollah, which opposes the use
and production of all types of drugs. The group and its allies dominate
parliament; it has not said whether it would try to stop the bill.
The United States has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of drug trafficking,
charges that the group strongly denies. Legalization seems to have gained
traction in Lebanon after global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. included it
among its suggestions in a government-commissioned study on ways to boost
Lebanon's economy. Still, economists are split on the benefits.
Louis Hobeika, an economist at Lebanon's Notre-Dame University, warned that
cannabis profits won't go to state coffers or citizens but will be devoured
by the widespread corruption among the ruling elite. "This is a move that
aims to finance the political mafia in Lebanon," he said. Habchi disagrees,
saying farmers and workers would finally have their rights in the trade.
Traditionally, drug dealers benefit most, imposing a purchase price on
farmers then selling the product for high higher prices. The Bekaa became
notorious for the drug trade during the 1975-1990 civil war, producing some
$500 million a year in opium and cannabis. After the war, authorities
launched crackdowns on the fields and encouraged alternative crops like
potatoes, tomatoes and apples.
Cannabis planting bloomed once more after Syria's civil war erupted in 2011
and Lebanese authorities shifted attention to other security concerns.
Driving through villages in the Baalbek and Hermel regions in eastern
Lebanon, cannabis can be seen planted on the side of roads and in gardens.
At some cases, security force's checkpoints are only a few hundred meters
(yards) away. There are more than 40,000 arrest warrants against locals in
the Bekaa Valley, many drug-related. Most often, authorities prefer to turn
a blind eye.
Well armed residents are ready to fend off any force trying to destroy their
fields. When security forces move in to destroy fields with bulldozers and
trucks, they can come under barrages of automatic weapons fire or even
rocket-propelled grenades.
On Monday, troops surrounded a compound in the village of Hamoudiyeh run by
a notorious drug dealer, Ali Zeyd Ismail, who had dozens of warrants against
him. An hours-long battle left eight people dead, including Ismail, who was
known as Lebanon's Escobar after the late top Colombian drug trafficker
Pablo Escobar.
Hashish is also smuggled out of the country. Hardly a week passes without
authorities saying that they busted drugs at the airport or seaports.
Legalization could turn that into a legal export market. Several countries
in Europe and South America, as well as Australia and Canada allow imports
of medical cannabis. Canada and the Netherlands dominate exports. Several
U.S. states allow medical or recreational cannabis, but importing is
illegal. In the Bekaa, farmers welcome legalization, saying it would bring
badly needed jobs. "Let them deal with it the way they deal with tobacco,"
said Mayez Shreif, referring to a state-run company that monopolizes tobacco
purchases from farmers. He spoke one morning this week as he ate fruit and
drank coffee in a garden near cannabis fields. The 65-year-old Shreif has
worked for decades at cannabis plantations in Yammoune. The area's dry
weather, its elevation above sea level and its local springs come together
to make some of the finest product in the world. Residents have tried
planting apples, tomatoes and potatoes, but most often lost money, he said.
Growing potatoes costs 15 times as much as cannabis and earns far less. With
cannabis, the farmer just puts seeds and water and it grows, he said. In
Yammoune, a Syrian who has worked for seven years in cannabis fields said
his Lebanese boss pays him $500 a month, seven times the average salary in
Syria. He asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals from
authorities.
"Hashish keeps me employed for much of the year," he said.
Mashnouq: Premature Battle for Presidency Delaying
Cabinet Lineup
Naharnet/July 27/18/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said the major flaw
delaying the formation of Lebanon’s Cabinet is because the “battle for the
presidency has begun way too soon,” the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper
reported on Friday.
He said the “ambitions for political heredity have engaged the country into
a clash. The main reason delaying the Cabinet formation is because the
battle for the presidential post has prematurely begun,” he told the daily
in an interview. Media reports believe that Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil,
President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law, has aspirations for the future
presidential post when the term of his father-in-law ends. The Free
Patriotic Movement, led by Bassil, has reportedly rejected the Cabinet
shares demanded by the Lebanese Forces and Progressive Socialist party which
has so far delayed the formation. “The approach of forming the new Lebanese
government through numbers is wrong,” added Mashnouq. He was referring to
wrangling between political parties over Cabinet quotas. On his latest visit
to Saudi Arabia, the Minister said “it was a successful political visit. I
noticed through the discussions that there is a decision to deal with the
official Lebanese government that will be formed. Preparations are underway
for the signing of economic, financial and trade treaties between the two
countries. “They are waiting for the formation of the government to revive
the Higher Ministerial Committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
from the Saudi side, and the Prime Minister from the Lebanese side.”
Lebanese Found Dead in Her Dubai Apartment
Naharnet/July 27/18/The dead body of a Lebanese woman was found in her
apartment in Dubai, media reports said on Friday. The victim was identified
as Arlett Obeid, LBCI station said. She was found lying dead in her house.
No further details about the incident were revealed.
Lebanon pricing itself out of tourism industry
Georgi Azar and Zeina Nasser/Annahar/July 27/ 2018/
Lebanon has been lagging behind other regional touristic hubs for an ongoing
number of years, with officials reluctant to address the drop, instead
laying the blame at the feet of the media for painting Lebanon in a negative
light.
BEIRUT: While Lebanon’s tourism sector witnessed an increase of 3.3 percent
in the number of visitors in the first half of 2018 compared to the same
period of last year, it still has a long way to go to recover its peak of
2010, the record year for tourism activity in the Mediterranean country.
Lebanon has been lagging behind other regional touristic hubs for an ongoing
number of years, with officials reluctant to address the drop, instead
laying the blame at the feet of the media for painting Lebanon in a negative
light.
“There’s a media war against Lebanon’s tourism industry,” Pierre Achkar,
head of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners, told Annahar, alluding to the recent
coverage which highlighted the alarming levels of metals, chemicals and a
bevy of other toxins in coastal waters.
The reasoning behind this drop, however, is much more intricate than
pollution according to some experts.
Exorbitant prices and a higher cost of living compared to destinations like
Istanbul, Turkey, or Larnaca, Cyprus have undoubtedly played a role in
deterring potential visitors.
The number of incoming visitors to Lebanon totaled 853,087 in the first six
months of 2018, compared to 826,129 in the lead up to the summer of 2017.
In 2010, considered one of the golden years of Lebanese tourism, 964,067
visitors flocked to the small touristic hub to the excitement of those in
the hospitality sector.
Regional instability and political unrest, which plagued the country in
recent years, were the obvious culprit for this drop.
Yet by looking at the average cost of a five day trip to Beirut, a grimmer
picture is evident.
A flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, home to nationals who provide the bread
and butter to many in the hospitality industry, costs $889, compared to $671
to Istanbul and $581 to Larnaca.
Data was compiled from global travel technology company Expedia on July 24
for the following dates: 23/08/2018 till 28/08/2018
Meanwhile, a single room at The Phoenicia Hotel, part of the global
Intercontinental chain, comes in at a hefty $316 per night, while its
equivalent at the Istanbul and Larnaca branch costs $233 and $203
respectively.
Add to that the average price of a three-course meal at a mid-range
restaurant, and a five day trip to Lebanon carries a weighty $2739 price
tag, excluding transport.
Data was compiled from Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user
contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.
A five-day trip to Istanbul however, costs 1926$, while the equivalent in
Larnaca comes in at $1678, a decrease of 29.6 percent and 38.7 percent
respectively.
Wealthy GCC nationals escaping the desert heat have also seen their
purchasing power decrease amid falling oil prices, and their visits are
expected to continue dwindling despite travel warnings and restrictions
being lifted.
Repercussions are still being felt to this day, after spending by visitors
from Saudi Arabia decreased by 21.4 percent in the first half of 2018,
followed by spending from Kuwait (-4.2 percent) and the UAE (-1.1 percent).
Visitors from Saudi Arabia accounted for 2.7 percent of tourists in the
first half of 2018, dropping by 21.1 percent compared to the same period of
last year while the number of visitors from the UAE dropped by 32.2 percent
year-on-year.
Touching on the costly airplane tickets, President of the Association of
Travel and Tourist Agencies John Abboud told Annahar that “prices are
correlated to the capacity of airline companies”, i.e supply and demand.
Yet, limited airline capacity is not only to blame for the relatively higher
travel cost to Lebanon.
A nationwide tax hike enacted last year to fund the salary increase for
public sector workers, has hiked ticket prices. Travelers leaving Lebanon on
economy seats now pay a $40 exit fee while business class travelers and
first-class passengers incur a fee of $73 and $100, respectively, bringing
Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport on par with some of its most
expensive counterparts.
Australia’s passenger movement charge (PMC) is the second highest in the
world according to a 2016 report by Airport Technology after it imposed a
$42 tax on all travelers leaving the country via international flights or by
sea.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) argues that abolishing
the PMC would bring a $1.2bn worth of tourism to Australia.
In a study conducted by the World Economic Forum, Lebanon ranked 96th out of
136 countries on the 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, in front
of only Kuwait and Yemen in the Middle East after dropping two places since
2015, further aggravating the situation.
The solution, experts say, lies in the government dismantling the airport
monopoly, which yields higher charges and taxes that burden airlines with
excessive costs, pushing up the price of tickets.
Former Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud argued recently in a local newspaper
that another airport should be established in northern Lebanon while
expanding Beirut’s airport and focusing on accommodating low-cost carriers (LCCs).
Mobility – the movement of people and goods – is both a fundamental right
and a linchpin of the global economy, experts say, with LCCs on the rise
worldwide giving many people the ability to travel for the first time.
Another remedy Abboud says is Middle East Airlines' capacity to create its
own LCC subsidiary at more affordable prices to attract tourists.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on July 27-28/18
Mattis: US goal to
change Iran behavior in Middle East, not regime change
Reuters, WashingtonFriday, 27 July 2018/The United States has
not instituted a policy of regime change or collapse in Iran, US Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday, telling reporters that the goal was
still to change Iran’s behavior in the Middle East. Asked whether the Trump
administration had created a regime change or collapse policy, Mattis said:
“There’s none that’s been instituted.”“We need them to change their behavior
on a number of threats that they can pose with their military, with their
secret services, with their surrogates and with their proxies,” he added.
Syrian Kurdish-backed council holds talks in Damascus
for the first time
Reuters, Beirut Friday, 27 July 2018/A top Syrian Kurdish official is in
Damascus this week for talks with Syrian government officials at the head of
a delegation including members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces,
their first declared visit to the capital. The visit points to moves by the
Kurdish-led authorities that control roughly one quarter of Syria to open
channels to President Bashar al-Assad's administration as they seek to
negotiate a political deal that preserves their autonomy. The delegation in
Damascus is headed by Ilham Ahmed, executive head of the Syrian Democratic
Council (SDC), said Riad Darar, SDC co-chair, speaking by phone from Vienna.
The delegation arrived two days ago, he added. The meetings were expected to
primarily discuss matters of service provision in the areas controlled by
the Kurdish-led authorities, but Darar added that there was no set agenda
and the talks might widen to political and security matters. The outcome of
the meetings is not yet clear, he said, adding that he did not know which
officials they would meet. It was not clear how long the delegation would
stay in Damascus. The main Syrian Kurdish groups have mostly avoided
conflict with Assad during the seven-year-long war. (AP)
Seven-year-long war
The main Syrian Kurdish groups have mostly avoided conflict with Assad
during the seven-year-long war, at times even fighting common foes --
including rebels that his forces are gradually crushing with help from
Russia and Iran. Talks recently began over a return of state employees and
repairs to one of Syria’s most important pieces of infrastructure: the Tabqa
dam, Syria’s largest, which the SDF took from ISIS last year with the help
of US air power. Darar said the talks over the Tabqa dam had been held with
delegations that had come from Damascus. Referring to this week’s visit to
Damascus by the SDC, he said: “This is certainly the first visit that
happened.” Syria’s Kurds, which the state systematically persecuted for
years, say they do not seek independence, but hope a political deal will
safeguard the autonomy they carved out during the war. For the first time,
Assad said in May that he was “opening doors” for talks with the SDF, while
also threatening to use force.
As protests mount in Iraq, top cleric Sistani warns
politicians
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 27 July 2018/Iraq’s top Shiite
cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan said on Friday that if the Iraqi government
does not abide by its commitments, people will develop other peaceful means
of protests to impose their will on the authority, adding that in this
situation there will be a different scene which we will regret before it is
too late. Sistani voiced his concerns in his Friday sermon delivered by his
Representative Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai. The sermon was delivered in the
Iraqi city of Kerbala. The Iraqi top cleric also called for the formation of
a new government as soon as possible, calling for the appointment of a
strong and decisive prime minister who can meet the people’s demands
urgently. He also called for the change of privileges given to some groups
in the Iraqi parliament. Sistani encouraged the incumbent government of
Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to respond urgently to protesters’ demands
seeking better basic services and jobs. “The current government must work
hard urgently to implement citizens’ demands to reduce their suffering and
misery,” Sistani’s representative said. Sistani said the next prime minister
in the new government had to be strong and courageous to fight corruption in
government. “He (the new prime minister) must launch a relentless war
against the corrupted and those who protect them,” Sistani’s representative
said. Sistan further said “We demand that the electoral law be fair and that
the Commission be independent and over the years we advised senior officials
to avoid reaching the current tragic stage.”Anger is mounting at a time when
politicians are struggling to form a government after the May 12 election,
which was marred by allegations of fraud that prompted a recount. Sistani, a
reclusive octogenarian, is revered by millions of Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq
and abroad. Thousands have protested this month in cities in the
long-neglected south, Iraq’s Shi’ite heartland, against the lack of proper
government services. Demonstrations over the same issues have occurred in
the past but the unrest this time is more widespread and is politically
sensitive. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is seeking a second term after the
parliamentary election which was tainted by allegations of corruption. (With
Reuters)
Soleimani: Red Sea No Longer Safe
London- Adil al SalmiAsharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 27 July,
2018/Iran’s Major General Qassem Soleimani said on Thursday that the Red Sea
was no longer safe for US vessels, threatening President Donald Trump of
launching proxy wars led by Failaq al-Quds against US forces without the
interference of Iran’s armed forces. “You are aware of our power in the
region and capability for launching asymmetrical war?” he said. Speaking
from a military base in the suburbs of the Hamdan city, Soleimani was
responding to Trump’s tweet addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani,
in which he threatened the Islamic Republic with actions “the likes of which
few throughout history have ever suffered before.”“You may begin the war,
but it is us who will end it,” the Iranian commander said. Soleimani
described Trump’s threats as being “a cabaret owner” style. “As a soldier,
it is my duty to respond to your threats ... If you want to use the language
of threat ... talk to me, not to the president (Hassan Rouhani). It is not
in our president’s dignity to respond to you,” Soleimani was quoted as
saying by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. He praised Rouhani’s
threats against the US and in return, criticized parties inside Iran of
undermining the president’s positions. Rouhani had earlier threatened the US
of closing the Hormuz Strait if Washington enforces new sanctions against
Iran next November. Soleimani said liberals in Iran agree on closing all
negotiation windows with the US administration. The commander of Iran’s
elite Quds Force addressed Trump several times in his speech. "We are near
you, where you can't even imagine. We are the nation of martyrdom, we are
the nation of Imam Hossein, you better ask. Come; we are ready,” Soleimani
said. His speech came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened
that Iranian regime leaders, especially those at the top of the IRGC and the
Quds Force like Soleimani, would feel painful consequences of their bad
decision-making.
Israel to Build New Settler Homes after Deadly Knife
Attack
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 27/18/Israel is to build hundreds of new
homes in a settlement in the occupied West Bank where a Palestinian stabbed
three Israelis, one fatally, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday.
"The best answer to terrorism is the expansion of settlements," Lieberman
wrote on Twitter, announcing 400 new housing units in the Adam settlement
north of Jerusalem a day after the deadly stabbing. The teenage attacker
snuck into the settlement on Thursday evening, the Israeli army said,
stabbing three people before being shot dead. The army named the man who
died as Yotam Ovadia, 31, with Israeli media saying he had two young
children. The attacker was later identified by official Palestinian media as
Mohammed Dar Youssef, 17, from the village of Kobar. The army said Friday it
had raided the village, questioned a number of his family members and
suspended their work permits. During the raid on Friday morning, clashes
broke out between young Palestinians and soldiers firing tear gas, an AFP
journalist reported. Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said three people
were arrested. The attack came after a period of relative calm in the West
Bank, although there has been recurrent violence between the Israeli army
and Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip in which at least 154
Palestinians have been killed since late March. In a statement, Gaza's
Islamist rulers Hamas praised the "courageous operation" in the West Bank
without claiming responsibility for it. "The West Bank is ready and able to
avenge the blood of the martyrs," it said. All Israeli settlement
construction in the occupied West Bank is considered illegal by the
international community.
Israel Ministers Seek Changes after Jewish Nation Law
Outcry
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 27/18/Two key ministers have called for
changes to a deeply controversial law declaring Israel the nation state of
the Jewish people after a backlash and a court challenge from the Druze
minority. Opponents have called the law "racist" as it makes no mention of
equality and Israel's democratic character, implying that the country's
Jewish nature comes first. Members of Israel's 130,000-strong Druze
community -- many of whom willingly serve in the police and military -- have
been among those strongly denouncing the law. Community leaders have filed a
court challenge to the law, given final passage in the middle of the night
on July 19. It becomes part of Israel's so-called basic laws, a de facto
constitution. On Thursday, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon called for changes
in response to the concerns of Druze, saying the law had been "passed in
haste." "The last thing that we want is to harm the Druze community," Kahlon,
whose Kulanu party is the second largest in Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's coalition, told army radio. His comments followed similar ones
on Wednesday by Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the religious
nationalist Jewish Home party. Bennett, who was a prominent advocate for the
law, said he had now realized damage was done, adding that the Druze were
"our brothers who stand shoulder to shoulder with us on the battlefield."
"We, the government of Israel, have a responsibility to find a way to heal
the rift," he said. Druze lawmakers were expected to meet Netanyahu, Kahlon
and Defenسe Minister Avigdor Lieberman on the issue later Thursday. Druze
leaders are also planning a demonstration against the law in central Tel
Aviv on August 4. The Druze are an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Officials say
there are 110,000 of them in northern Israel and another 20,000 in the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The legislation makes Hebrew the country's
national language and defines the establishment of Jewish communities as
being in the national interest. Arabic, previously considered an official
language, was granted only special status. Arab Israelis have also denounced
the law, saying it encourages discrimination and racism. Arab citizens make
up some 17.5 percent of Israel's more than eight million population.
Knife Attack Kills One Israeli, Wounds Two Others in
West Bank
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 27/18/A knife attack by a Palestinian in
a West Bank settlement on Thursday killed one Israeli and wounded two
others, while the assailant was shot dead, authorities said. The 17-year-old
attacker entered the Adam settlement near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank
on Thursday evening, Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. "A
terrorist infiltrated into (the Adam settlement) and stabbed three
civilians," the army said in a statement. "The terrorist was shot and
killed," it added. One of the wounded, a 31-year-old, later died from his
injuries after having arrived at hospital in critical condition, the
hospital treating him announced. A 58-year-old victim was said to be
seriously wounded but stable. The third victim, who also shot the
Palestinian, was slightly wounded in the leg. Conricus said the attacker,
from the Palestinian village of Kobar, had been shot by a civilian who was
passing at the time and witnessed the incident. The Palestinian managed to
jump the fence of the settlement and stab two passersby, Israeli media
reported. Lone Palestinian attackers have carried out multiple deadly
stabbings and car-rammings against Israelis in recent years. The last
stabbing attack in a West Bank settlement was in April 2018, when a
Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli with a screwdriver near a petrol
station in an industrial area connected to the Maale Adumim settlement east
of Jerusalem.
Gaza tensions -Thursday's attack comes amid
recurrent violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian groups in the
besieged Gaza Strip, but the West Bank has remained relatively calm. Earlier
in the day, Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, promised
revenge after Israeli strikes on the coastal enclave killed three of its
members. Israel said the artillery fire late Wednesday was in retaliation
for shots fired at troops along the border that injured one soldier. "The
enemy shall pay a high price in blood for the crime which it commits daily
against the rights of our people and our fighters," said the al-Qassam
Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The flare-up came five days after the
United Nations and Egypt brokered a deal to halt a July 20 surge in violence
that claimed the lives of four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier -- the
first killed in the area since the last war in Gaza in 2014. On Tuesday,
Israel partially reopened its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip, after
a two-week closure prompted by border tensions and incendiary kites had
sparked fears of a severe fuel shortage in the blockaded Palestinian
enclave.
Tensions along the Gaza border increased in late March when Palestinians
launched a mass protest movement. At least 149 Palestinians have been killed
in Gaza by Israeli fire since March 30. Israel says its blockade is
necessary to keep Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be
used for military purposes. But UN officials and rights groups have
repeatedly called for the blockade to be lifted, citing worsening
humanitarian conditions in the enclave, home to two million people.
Palestinian youth on a stabbing rampage murders an
Israeli man, injures two
DebkaFile/July 27/18
A 17-year old terrorist climbed the security fence into the Adam community
north of Jerusalem Thursday night, July 26, and slashed one victim after
another. Yotam Ovadia, an Israeli man of 31, whom he repeatedly stabbed,
died soon after from multiple wounds, a second man, aged 58, was badly hurt
and a third though injured managed to pull his gun and shoot the killer
dead. The terrorist came from the nearby Palestinian village of Kobar. He
must have studied the electronic fence in advance, because he was able to
climb over without triggering the sensors for an alarm.
IDF forces were alerted and rushed to the scene with medics for treating the
casualties. Magen Adom teams tried to resuscitate Yotam Ovadia, the first
victim, before sending him to Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus, where
surgeons worked for hours to save his life, before pronouncing him dead. The
other two victims were hospitalized and a member of the Adam community, a
woman, was treated for shock.
OC IDF Central Command Maj. Gen Nadav Padan and head of the Binyamin
Brigade, Brig. Gen. Sharon Asman, reached the scene with the first troops.
The location was combed for more terrorists in hiding. Members of the
community were advised to stay indoors and shut their doors and windows
while soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in neighboring communities
of the Binyamin district. Kobar and additional Palestinian villages in the
vicinity were placed under lockdown. Kobar has a history. Almost exactly a
year ago, on July 21, a Palestinian of 19 from the same village broke into a
home in the Halamish community in the Binyamin region, where the Solomon
family were celebrating the birth of a grandchild. He massacred five members
of the family. The mother of the newborn managed to hide with her other
children in an upstairs room until help arrived. It came too late to save
her husband. In Halamish too an electronic security fence was no proof
against a terrorist attack. A guard on duty attributed the alarm to an
intruding animal. Following the attack in Adam, the IDF poured more troops
into the Binyamin district in case of more Palestinian terrorist incidents
on Friday. Thursday night, President Donald Trump’s Middle East negotiator,
Jason Greenblatt, issued this statement: “Yet another barbaric attack
tonight. When will President Abbas and Palestinian leaders condemn violence?
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families tonight.”
Pakistan's Imran Khan Wins Vote but No Majority
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 27/18/Imran Khan has won a disputed
Pakistan election but has fallen short of an outright majority, according to
official results announced Friday that indicate he will need to enter into a
coalition to form a government. A jubilant Khan has already declared victory
in the pivotal vote, which has drawn allegations of massive vote-rigging in
his favour. The Election Commission said Friday that with only 11 seats left
to count, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoys a strong lead with
114 seats, and will be the biggest party in parliament. At a press
conference the commission said that the outgoing Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
had 63 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which could prove
kingmaker in a coalition government, had won 43. The count indicates PTI
will not achieve the 137 seats needed in the National Assembly to form a
majority government in its own right. Election officials are under fire for
the lack of a full official result two days after ballots closed, an
unprecedented delay that observers say has undermined the legitimacy of the
exercise. The ECP has dismissed allegations of manipulation -- blaming the
delay in the results, an unofficial version of which had been expected late
Wednesday, on technical glitches. International observers, including a
European Union delegation, are due to give their preliminary assessments of
the vote on Friday, after rival parties, including the outgoing Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz, alleged "blatant" rigging. The vote is meant to be a
rare democratic transition in the nuclear-armed Muslim country, which has
been ruled by the powerful army for roughly half its history, but has been
marred by violence and allegations of military interference. Khan, a
65-year-old former cricket star, claimed victory in a wide-ranging address
to the nation Thursday. "We were successful and we were given a mandate," he
said from his home in the capital Islamabad. The former all-rounder's
statement came after his supporters took to the streets to celebrate winning
an election that opponents have said the military fixed for him.
Iraq’s Sistani Calls
on Formation of New Govt. ‘as Soon as Possible’
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 27 July, 2018/Iraqi cleric Ali al-Sistani
urged on Friday the formation of a new government “as soon as possible”
after the country witnessed waves of protests against corruption,
unemployment and poor basic services. He also urged the incumbent government
of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to meet the demands of the demonstrators.
"The current government must work hard urgently to implement citizens'
demands to reduce their suffering and misery," Sistani's representative said
in the city of Karbala. The rallies had initially erupted in the southern
oil-rich port city of Basra on July 8. They then spread to central and
southern parts of the country. They have since waned after security forces
repeatedly used force to disperse demonstrators. On Thursday, one youth
complained that the country’s government had increased unemployment, posing
threats to stability in southern Iraq. Karar Alaa Abdul-Wahid tried for
years to get a stable job in the Iraqi government and in the private sector
— to no avail, reported The Associated Press. He once was offered a job with
the Oil Ministry in his energy-rich hometown of Basra, but he would have had
to pay a bribe of $5,000, which he couldn't afford. He says that "if you are
well-connected mainly among political parties and have money, you will get
any job you dream of.""If not, you will get nothing."Rights commission
official Fadel al-Gharrawi said earlier this week that 14 people had died in
Basra, Samawah, Najaf and Karbala and in the provinces of Diwaniyah and
Babylon. He did not specify whether those killed were protesters or members
of the security services. Gharrawi said 275 protesters and 470 security
personnel were wounded during thousands-strong demonstrations against
corrupt officials. He said over 800 people had also been arrested, but said
"the majority were later released", without providing a precise figure.
US Moves Closer to Unfreezing Military Aid to Egypt
Cairo – Mohammad Abdo HasaneenAsharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 27 July,
2018/Washington says to resume military aid to Egypt set at a value of $195
million, a package once frozen on the premise of human rights concerns. An
Egyptian diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat that Cairo has been informed of the
decision to resume aid, saying it is now awaiting procedural matters. He
pointed out that the agreement is moving in the right direction and without
any obstacles, in light of Washington's recognition of the importance of
Egypt’s role in stabilizing the Middle East. In August last year, the US
administration froze $195 million in military aid to Egypt because of
Egypt's failure to make progress with respect to human rights and democracy.
The decision sparked angry reactions in Egypt, signaling negative
repercussions on relations between the two countries.Egyptian Foreign
Minister Sameh Shoukry received a telephone call from US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, and discussed various aspects of Egyptian-American relations,
as well as consultations on a number of issues of common concern. In a
statement, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement
that Pompeo affirmed full US commitment to strengthen its strategic
relations with Egypt and its commitment to Egypt's political, economic and
developmental support. US aid to Egypt, both economic and military, aims to
strengthen Egyptian capabilities in the face of security challenges, and to
promote regional stability. The statement did not explicitly mention a
resumption of frozen aid, but pointed out that the coming period will see
more US support for Egypt, and a trend towards removing any obstacles in
this regard. However, an Egyptian diplomatic source told Asharq Al-Awsat
that “it was agreed to resume the $195 million in frozen military aid,”
adding that “things are moving in the right direction, pending some
procedure.” Speaking under the condition of anonymity, a source said that
the change in the US position came in the wake of Egyptian high-level moves
towards motivating the US administration to reassess the Egyptian situation,
especially with respect to human rights files and counterterrorism efforts,
in addition the nation’s strategic depth. The Egyptian foreign ministry said
that Pompeo had valued Egyptian efforts to achieve Palestinian
reconciliation and deal with regional issues in order to promote stability.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on July 27-28/18
This is not your grandfather’s KGB
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/July 27/18
Looking at Russia’s competing spy services, their overlapping operations against
the United States and their sometimes careless tradecraft, some CIA veterans are
wondering if the Russian spooks actually want to get caught.
The truth is, President Vladimir Putin probably doesn’t mind that his
intelligence activities are so blatant that they’re a subject of daily public
debate. His goal isn’t to steal secrets but to destabilize America’s political
system. The more people obsess about the swarms of Russian spies, the better,
from Putin’s perspective. “Russian intelligence activities over the past several
years have become not only more energetic, but more eclectic,” explained former
CIA director John Brennan in an email. “It’s a diverse, entrepreneurial and
frequently competitive ecosystem. . . . Some of their work is really, really
good, showing exquisite tradecraft. Other stuff, not so much.”
Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA Russia specialist, sees a generational change
in Russian intelligence. “The price of the shift to a faster, quick-kill
approach is an increase in sloppiness. Ill-advised decisions are common. There’s
less oversight by older, more experienced cadre.”
The new freewheeling, anything-goes style is evident in Russia’s 2016 assault on
the U.S. political system. The Kremlin attacked from three directions: GRU
military intelligence, the FSB security service and a social-media troll farm
known as the Internet Research Agency, managed by one of Putin’s oligarch pals.
The Russians floated their covert-action propaganda through Facebook, Twitter,
WikiLeaks and other social media outlets. Who knows whether there was
“collusion,” but Russian officials maintained contact in 2016 with a string of
Donald Trump associates, high and low, in ways the FBI couldn’t miss. It was the
opposite of a subtle campaign of manipulation. “Operation Chaos” might be a good
name.
Moscow monitored public speeches, not dead drops. According to the Justice
Department’s July 13 indictment of 12 GRU operatives, the Russian conspirators
began hacking Hillary Clinton’s personal emails “after hours” on July 27, 2016.
Earlier that day, Trump had proclaimed: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope
you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”Putin was shaped by the
KGB’s rigid bureaucracy and tight secrecy. But as Russia’s president, he has
embraced a different operating model — looser, more fragmented, with different
services competing for the leader’s favor. The old KGB was broken into two
pieces starting in 1991 — the SVR, which inherited the foreign spying mission
that Putin had served, and the FSB, which took over domestic security.
The FSB has become increasingly involved in foreign operations and may now
overshadow its twin, said Michael Sulick, a Russia expert and former CIA
operations chief, in an interview. The FSB probably ran the “Cozy Bear” hack of
the Democratic National Committee in 2015, and was indicted last year by the
Justice Department for hacking 500 million Yahoo emails. “To put it crudely, the
FSB does the kinds of things everyone else thinks about doing but doesn’t
because they’re too risky, too politically inflammatory, or too likely to
backfire,” wrote Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian intelligence, last year in
the Atlantic.The GRU, traditionally the most adventurous wing of Russian
intelligence, now appears to be resurgent after costly mistakes in the 2008
Georgia war. Ukraine has been “the perfect showcase” for the GRU’s covert
insurgency tactics, wrote Galeotti this month. He sees the GRU’s hand in the
2014 annexation of Crimea and shoot-down of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner; the
2016 intervention in U.S. politics; and the attempted assassination this March
in Britain of Russian defector Sergei Skripal.
The Skripal poisoning illustrates Russia’s willingness to take risks and its
lack of concern about getting caught. The Novichok nerve agent allegedly used
could easily be traced to Russia.
An intriguing example of Russia’s new generation of spycraft is the case of
Maria Butina, who was indicted by the Justice Department this month on charges
that she plotted a covert influence campaign that partly targeted the National
Rifle Association. The indictment alleges that she was run secretly by a Russian
official who had served in parliament and the Central Bank, and was bankrolled
by a second Russian who was a billionaire oligarch.
When Butina was photographed near the U.S. Capitol on Inauguration Day, her
alleged Russian handler messaged approvingly, “You’re a daredevil girl,”
according to court papers. Three months later, when Butina’s American contacts
were outed in the media, her alleged handler wrote: “How are you faring there in
the rays of the new fame? Are your admirers asking for your autographs yet?”
This is not your grandfather’s KGB. Putin is running a multiplatform spy service
for the Internet era — as quick, disposable and potentially devastating as a
Snapchat image.
Who Leaked the Trump Tape?
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/July 27/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12767/who-leaked-the-trump-tape
The reason this is important to all Americans, beyond the immediate parties
to this taped conversation, is that it may well discourage clients,
patients, penitents and others from confiding in their lawyers, doctors,
priests and the professionals who promise them confidentiality.
Cohen promised confidentiality and yet the world heard what his client
confided in him.
Obviously, people who are willing improperly to leak confidential material
may also be willing to lie about it under oath, but the consequences of
lying under oath are greater than leaking, since leaking is not a crime but
perjury is.
Someone leaked the lawyer/client confidential tape containing a conversation
between President Donald J. Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen. A former
judge, assigned by the presiding judge to evaluate the seized tapes,
reportedly concluded that this conversation was privileged. Yet someone
leaked their contents. The President Trump's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
then waived the privilege as to that tape. He said he never would have
waived it had its existence and content not been improperly leaked.
So, the question remains: Who leaked this privileged material? If it was
anyone in the Trump camp, there would be no violation of confidentiality, as
the privilege belongs to the client, namely Trump, who can waive it. But no
one else, most especially his lawyer, may properly waive the privilege. And
Giuliani has categorically denied that it was leaked by Trump or anyone on
his behalf. Indeed, he has expressed outrage at the leak.
Whom does that leave? Cohen is an obvious suspect, although I am confident
that his excellent and experienced lawyer, Lanny Davis, would not have done
so. Perhaps Cohen himself, who ran into Michael Avenatti at a restaurant,
told him about the tape. We simply do not know.
It is unlikely that any judicial or prosecutorial authority is responsible
for the leak, because they would have more to lose than to gain if they were
caught.
The reason this is important to all Americans, beyond the immediate parties
to this taped conversation, is that it may well discourage clients,
patients, penitents and others from confiding in their lawyers, doctors,
priests and the professionals who promise them confidentiality. Cohen
promised confidentiality and yet the world heard what his client confided in
him. We know he recorded the confidential conversation without the knowledge
of his client. That is bad enough. Then it was deliberately leaked by
someone who must have believed he or she would reap some benefit or
advantage from having the public hear it.
We must find out who is the source of this damaging leak — damaging to all
Americans who place their faith in the promise of confidentiality from the
professionals in whom they confide.
It is an ethical violation, subject to serious sanctions including
disbarment, for a lawyer to disclose, or cause to be disclosed, privileged
conversations. And for good reason. The obligation of a lawyer not to
disclose confidential information is codified in Rule 1.6 of the New York
Bar. This broad rule prohibits, subject to exceptions not present in this
case, any knowing disclosure of confidential information. That plainly
covers the kind of conversation we have all now heard in the leaked tape:
namely, the discussion between Trump and his attorney as to how to deal with
a potential messy problem. We may not like the subject matter under
discussion, but it is fully covered by the privilege, as the former Judge
rightly found. That is why this leak is so difficult to fathom. The risks to
the leaker are greater than any short-term benefit. But the fact remains
that the leak occurred, and now it is imperative that the leaker be exposed
and held to account.
This can be accomplished in several ways. Judge Kimba Wood, who is presiding
over the matter, could hold a hearing in which the potential suspects are is
placed under oath and asked the simple question whether they leaked the
contents of the tape and/or whether they know who the leaker was. Obviously,
people who are willing improperly to leak confidential material may also be
willing to lie about it under oath, but the consequences of lying under oath
are greater than leaking, as leaking is not a crime but perjury is.
Notwithstanding the importance of this issue, there seems to be little
interest among the participants in determining who leaked the tape. There
has been no call for an investigation. Perhaps this is because both sides
think they benefited from the leak. I leave that to the public, and
eventually the courts, to determine. What is clear is who was hurt by the
leak: all Americans who rely on confidentiality – which means all of us –
were hurt when the world was allowed to listen to a lawyer/client privileged
conversation, that no one except the participants should ever have heard.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at
Harvard Law School and author of "The Case Against Impeaching Trump",
Skyhorse Publishing, 2018.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here
do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be
reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of
Gatestone Institute.
The Intelligence Community Has Never Faced a Problem Quite Like This
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/July 27/18
The American intelligence community has never faced a problem quite like
President Trump — a commander in chief who is suspected by a growing number
of Republicans and Democrats of deferring to Russia’s views over the
recommendations of his own intelligence agencies.
“There are almost two governments now,” worries John McLaughlin, a former
acting CIA director. He discusses the Trump conundrum with the same vexation
as a dozen other former intelligence officials I’ve spoken with since the
president’s shockingly acquiescent performance onstage Monday with Russian
President Vladimir Putin. How are current intelligence chiefs handling this
unprecedented situation? They are operating carefully but correctly, trying
to balance their obligations to the president with the oaths they have sworn
to protect and defend the Constitution. The officials continue to serve the
elected president, but they are also signaling that they work for the
American people. Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence,
admirably rebuffed Trump on Monday, a few hours after the president seemed
to accept Putin’s denial of meddling in the 2016 election. Coats gave the
White House a heads-up, but he didn’t clear his statement. He believed it
was essential to defend the intelligence community immediately.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray made a similar show of independence here
Wednesday at the Aspen Security Forum, saying the Russia investigation
wasn’t a “witch hunt,” as Trump claims, and affirming, “Russia attempted to
intervene with the last election, and . . . it continues to engage in malign
influence operations to this day.”The brazen contempt that Putin has shown
for the United States is an extraordinary feature of this ultimate spy
story. In Helsinki, Putin publicly affirmed that he had supported Trump and
evaded a question about whether he had compromising information on him; in
their private meeting, he asked for Trump’s help in questioning a former US
ambassador, Michael McFaul, with Trump promising he would study the matter.
Putin, the ex-KGB officer, has described himself as a specialist in dealing
with people, according to Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief in
Moscow. Putin’s tradecraft, Hoffman says, is summarized in a phrase popular
among Russian intelligence operatives: “What makes a person breathe?”
Putin seems to have an uncanny sense for how Trump breathes. That has led
some observers to speculate that perhaps Trump is a controlled Russian
agent. This seems unlikely to me, partly because the Russians would never
allow a true mole to take such crazy risks of exposure. “He’s not a
controlled agent, because if he was, they’d tell him how to behave so as not
to endanger himself,” observes a former head of CIA operations against
Russia.
No, Trump is something different, what Trump offers Russia isn’t the
information he knows but his role as a human wrecking ball against America’s
traditional allies and trading partners.
What will be different in the spy world in the aftermath of this
jaw-dropping week? Probably not much. Intelligence agencies are resilient;
they “get on with it,” as legendary CIA Director Richard Helms liked to say.
The president remains the first customer, and most veterans of the spy world
can’t imagine withholding information from him. Officials may be more
cautious, briefing especially sensitive details first to the national
security adviser, say, or cautioning the president that he doesn’t want to
know how a piece of information was obtained.
What about the agents who are risking their lives in Moscow or Beijing to
spy for America? Will they balk now? Again, probably not: Spies have deep
reasons for working for America, positive and negative, and they know the
risks they’re taking. Agents who have helped America because it represented
something different from Putin’s authoritarianism may have second thoughts,
however. That’s the hidden intelligence cost of Trump’s presidency: We’re a
less admirable nation.
Will foreign spy services that share sensitive intelligence through what’s
termed “liaison” reduce the flow? Once again, probably not. Their
relationships with the CIA, FBI, NSA and other agencies go back so many
decades that cooperation is almost hard-wired. If Trump continues to speak
of the European Union as a “foe,” or to undermine British or German
politicians he doesn’t like, that cooperation could eventually change. But
our foreign partners need US intelligence, however much they dislike Trump.
“At the end of the day, our work is what endures,” Wray said here. His
commitment to the law and the facts offered a moment to appreciate that
Trump is checked, not by some imaginary “deep state,” but by patriotic men
and women doing their jobs.
In Iran: The Past is a Different Country
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/July 27/18
“The past is a different country; there they do things differently!” This is
how English writer L. P. Hartley, in his novel “The Go Between”, comments on
the ambiguity of our relations with a past that fascinates and confuses us.
I was reminded of Hartley’s enigmatic phrase last week as I skimmed through
a series of news stories indicating the discovery by the Khomeinist
establishment in Tehran of Iran’s past. There was Islamic President Hassan
Rouhani advising US President Donald Trump not to ignore Iran’s “7000-year
old civilization” in stark contradiction to Ayatollah Khomeini’ claim that
the whole of Iranian history before his seizure of power should be
classified as “Jahiliyah” (Darkness). Then there were the so-called
“reformist Khomeinists” who took US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to task
for expressing support for what he saw as “the national uprising in Iran.”
They invited Pompeo to remember Dr. Muhammad Mussadeq, the man who served as
Prime Minister of Iran in the early 1950s and, so his supporters believe,
was overthrown in a putsch backed by the United States. “Mussadeq was the
hero of Iranian national uprising,” one Khomeinist apologist commented. He
forgot that according to the propaganda of the regime he has served for
almost four decades Mussadeq was “a traitor and enemy of Islam” and that he
had become a non-person in the Islamic Republic. You may also remember the
recent brouhaha made about the discovery of mortal remains reportedly
belonging to a mummy of Reza Shah the Great. According to the governor of
Rey, the place where the remains were discovered, the mummy was quickly
reburied “with full respect” on orders from “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei.
What a contrast with the campaign by Ayatollah Sadeq Giwi (alias Khalkhali),
one of Khomeini’s key associates, to have the Pahlavi king’s mummy burned in
public. And what about this surprising comment by Islamic Environment
Minister Ibrahim Kalantari that “for over 7000 years Iranians knew how to
manage their natural resources”, an art that has disappeared during the four
decades of Khomeinist rule, threatening Iran with “total destruction”?
Nostalgia for the past doesn’t stop there.
Tehran’s government-controlled media are full of stories about ancient
relics, old buildings and historic sites that recall Iran’s glories over
millennia. Even hoses that once belonged to the grandees of the ancien
regime, and the Qajar dynasty before that, are featured admiringly amid
calls for them to be classified as national treasures and preserved. Again,
what a contrast with the heady days of four decades ago when Khomeini and
his cohorts fanned the fires of rage and called for destruction of whatever
reminded Iranians of the past. Nostalgia for the good old days that had
initially been branded “the bad old days” is not limited to historic events
and figures or relics and buildings. Scavenging in the past the Khomeinist
clique is also beginning to discover other “goodies”. Last May the Islamic
Deputy Foreign Minister Jaberi Ansari astounded European Union officials
when, in a visit to Brussels, he suggested that an association accord signed
between the Shah’s regime and the then European Economic Community in 1975
be revived restoring to Iran a series of privileges that the Islamic
Republic today couldn’t even dream of. Under the agreement signed by the
then Iranian Economy Minister Hushang Ansary and the Common Market’s
Commissar for Foreign Trade Lord Tugendhat, Iran was given tariff-free
access to its agricultural and manufactured goods and granted special
facilities for raising capital on European markets.
That is not all. Facing almost total diplomatic isolation, the Khomeinist
clique have also revived the idea of a regional cooperation framework that
could include Iran, Turkey and Pakistan on the lines of the regional
Cooperation for Development (RCD) outfit that Iran created under the Shah.
The Islamic Chief of Staff Gen. Muhammad Baqeri is also chasing another
elusive gazelle from the past: a system of military cooperation with Turkey
and Pakistan. Such a gazelle existed under the Shah and was called the
Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). It also included Great Britain as full
member and the United States as associate member. (The US didn’t become a
full member because Iran did not accept the NATO-like arrangement under
which, in case of war, troops of all member states would be under US
command. Iranian law prohibited putting Iranian troops under foreign
command; a reason cited by the Shah for refusing to send troops to the wars
in Korea and then Vietnam while Turkey did take part under US command.)
Islamic Foreign Minister Muhammad-Jawad Zarif, too, has rediscovered an
enticing piece of the past in the form of two cooperation accords signed
between Iran and the United States in the1950s to give a legal framework to
American humanitarian aid to Iran, mostly in the form of mass vaccination
and the building of schools and clinics under President Truman’s CARE and
Point IV scheme which continued until 1964 when Iran announced it no longer
accepted foreign aid. Zarf’s argument is that those accords contradict
Trump’s threatened decision to impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Khomeinist clique has also discovered that before the mullahs seized
power Iran had visa-free travel agreements with 34 countries, including
virtually all present-day members of the European Union. Today, however, the
reaction of all those countries to Zarif’s demand to restore the agreement
is stark: It was then, and this is now! Another discovery by the Khomeinist
clique concerns the 1972 accord with Afghanistan regarding the sharing of
waters from four border rivers: Hirmand, Parian, Harirud and Farah. Having
denounced the accord as a betrayal of Islam, the Khomeinist clique is now
demanding Kabul to implement it to save large chunks of Iran from economic
death due to shortage of water.
At the opposite side of the country, the clique has rediscovered the 1975
Algiers accord with Iraq under which the two neighbors share sovereignty
over the border estuary Shatt al-Arab. Last Tuesday President Hassan Rouhani
threatened to shut the Shatt al-Arab, presumably to prevent Iraq from
exporting oil if and when Trump tries to impose an oil export ban on Iran.
What Rouhani didn’t know is that Iraq isn’t exporting oil through the Shatt
al-Arab and that Iran’s refusal to implement the Algiers Accord has
prevented the dredging operations needed to reopen the estuary and
reactivate the Iraqi port of Basra and tis Iranian sister-port of
Khorramshahr. Khomeini, and his successors, branded all accords that Iran
signed under the Shah as “a Zionist conspiracy against Islam.” Now they are
trying to eat humble pie in the hope of regaining some of the privileges
Iran lost when they seized power.
However, in Iran today, as in Hartley’s novel, the past remains a different
country where people do things differently.
A Natural End to the ‘Two-States’ Illusion
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/July 27/18
One has to say that the Israeli knesset’s passing of the new ‘Nationality
Law’ defining Israel as a ‘Jewish state’, thus, turning the Arab minority
into ‘second class citizens’, has been expected.
All signs, whether local, regional or global, have without exception been
pointing in that direction. Even the well-chosen diplomatic jargon that
appeared in the ‘Balfour Declaration’, albeit proved eventually meaningless,
today appears nothing but quite a bad joke. 122 years after Theodore Herzl’s
‘dream’, the fulfilled dream looks something totally different! The long
suffering people dispersed throughout the world is suffering no more. Its
former ‘diaspora’ is now more applicable to another people, whom Mr Balfour
remembered its ‘interests’ in polite but yet worthless words when he said:
“His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of
a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to
facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that
nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of
existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political
status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.
The period of the British Mandate, which witnessed several developments from
the promulgation of ‘Land Laws’ of 1921 to the acceleration of Jewish
immigration and crushing the ‘1936 Palestinian Uprising’, prepared the
ground for the powerful and arrogant Israel we know today.
The ‘grand plan’ was clear then, becoming clearer in the following decade;
however, the Arabs – including the Palestinians – were neither willing to
comprehend its nature nor the capabilities of those behind it. Thus, due to
a combination of misunderstandings, absurd gambles, suicidal divisions, and
relying on the unworthy, vast lands were lost as a result of accumulating
defeats, and the number of settlers increased and so did the element of
extremism in their ranks.
The early settlers, who included many farmers, trades unionists and
romantics, had left homelands where they were persecuted and maltreated,
settling in agricultural communes and collective farms many of which were
bought by The Jewish Agency and other Zionist organizations and
personalities that benefitted from the Mandate’s Land Laws.
It is true that there was local Palestinian bitterness behind the ‘1936
Uprising’, partly fuelled by accelerated immigration and land purchases many
of which were made possible by legislations that restricted the ability of
absentee landlords to exploit their lands. However, these restrictions which
were driving these absentee landlords (many of whom lived in Damascus and
Beirut) to sell were quite modest compared to what happened later;
particularly, after the ‘birth’ of the State of Israel, and its eventual
development into a strong nuclear power.
Many notables from Damascus, Beirut and other Levantine cities who had owned
many valuable lands across Palestine during Ottoman rule, felt obliged to
sell their properties and estates; and naturally, the Jewish Agency, the
Rothschild family and other Zionist entities were ready to buy. This was not
actually far from what took place following the collapse of the USSR; when
upon privatizing the Soviet state’s assets, those ready to pounce with
enough cash, and a lot of zeal to liquidate or divest, were Western
financial trusts which began to buy those privatized assets, either directly
or through local ‘middlemen/frontmen’ who suddenly became among the world’s
richest people.
But, as time passed, the ‘generation’ of the Israeli – Arab wars became
gradually hateful towards a ‘sea’ of frustrated Arabs that threatened it
nationalistically and demographically. This hatred further increased after
the emergence of Palestinian armed resistance groups following the June 1967
Arab defeat. The Israeli wars’ ‘generation’ became less trustful of
coexistence and ‘Leftist idealism’, and this has been exactly the case
across the barbed wire divide, as the Palestinian and Arab Left was steadily
losing support.
With the retreat of Leftist discourse on both Israeli and Arab camps the
exclusionist ‘religious alternative’ established itself. Israeli voters ran
in droves to their generals, and settlers’ groups became ever more
extremist, greedy and militant. On the Palestinian side, after the demise of
the idea of ‘people's'’ wars of liberation’, the collapse of Palestinian
Leftist organization with enough clout and credibility to talk to their
Israeli peers, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the
disintegration of Soviet Communism, a new ‘resistance movement’ appeared
raising Islamist banners and benefitting from regional Islamist powers
beginning with Iran and ending up with Turkey.
The ‘rules of the game’ were no longer ‘Arab’. Even the Syrian regime,
falsely espousing ‘Arabist’ mottos it never believed, embarked on widening
the Palestinian rifts, once under the slogans of ‘steadfastness and
confrontation’ (against Israel), another as an incubator for Islamist groups
it has exploited in order to weaken the Palestinian leadership, outbid it,
and deprive it of the ever decreasing chance of an acceptable peace deal.
In the meantime, the international climate too was moving closer to the
position of Israel ‘hawks’. As the Likud - backed by its extreme right wing
allies - became the natural party of government at the expense the old
Labour parties and organizations which pioneered the build of the State,
America’s victory in the Cold War relieved it of its fake neutralism in
sponsoring the Israeli – Palestinian peace process. After claiming for a
long time in the past that it was committed to “a balance of power in the
Middle East” it now openly talks of “insuring the continuation of Israeli
superiority”.
Thus, officially declaring the ‘Jewishness’ of the State, comes as a natural
result of the victories scored by right wing, racist and neo-fascist forces
everywhere. In fact, how could a state that was founded under religious
pretexts and aspiration not became a fully ‘religious state’ if greater and
older major state in Europe, as well as the USA, are no longer ashamed of
espousing religious of racist policies?!
Why should we find it strange if a small country, whose psyche and social
culture have been shaped by historical fear, fight for survival, and
exclusive identification seeks to adopt discriminatory measures against
others … when major powers are doing the same?!
Suspension of Bab al-Mandeb Oil Shipments May Be a Good
Thing
Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/July 27/18
The development that no one wanted has finally transpired with Saudi Arabia
suspending its oil shipments in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in wake of two of
its giant tankers, which were carrying 4 million barrels of oil, coming
under attack by the Houthi militia on Wednesday night. Reuters meanwhile,
reported a Kuwaiti official as saying that his country may follow in
Riyadh’s footsteps and also stop shipments in the 18-mile wide strait, one
of the world’s busiest. The Houthis’ ongoing terrorist attacks against ships
in the area may lead to the strait’s complete closure, meaning petroleum
tankers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq may be
forced to change their routes and sail from the southern-most tip of Africa.
This will consequently lead to longer transportation times and greater
costs. More serious though, is that the world will then be unable to
confront the repercussions of this closure.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, some 4.8 million
barrels of crude oil and oil derivatives pass through Bab al-Mandeb every
day. Experts predict that oil prices will be affected by the increase in
marine transportation costs and the use of strategic reserves, which will
cost between 1 and 3 dollars per barrel.
Most importantly, the suspension of global oil supplies is very dangerous
for the world economy. Saudi Arabia had previously warned of this and said
that successive attacks on tankers pose a dangerous threat on the freedom of
navigation and global trade in the Mandeb Strait and Red Sea. Additionally,
the ongoing use of Yemen’s Hodeidah port as a launchpad for terrorist
attacks and rocket and arms smuggling remains the greatest problem in
securing supply routes in the strait. Securing freedom of navigation in Bab
al-Mandeb and finding a secure route for transporting crude oil, which is
important for oil derivatives to reach Europe and the global markets, is the
responsibility of all countries that benefit from navigation in the strait.
This responsibility is not limited to Saudi Arabia and members of the Arab
coalition alone. If the world were concerned about the possibility of Iran
obstructing oil shipments through the Arab Gulf and Hormuz Strait, then it
should realize that Tehran has been doing so for three years in Bab
al-Mandeb. This is evidence that the danger of Iran’s backing of the Houthi
militia is affecting the entire world, not just the countries of the region
that are playing their part in confronting Tehran’s destabilizing actions.
The Houthis, together with the Iranians, have for the past three years been
violating international law, and yet, no one in the international community
- while not disregarding the major role played by the American
administration of President Donald Trump - dealt with them seriously. It is
impossible not to distinguish between a tanker, carrying two million barrels
of oil, and a warship. This was confirmed by Qassem Soleimani, commander of
the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, on Thursday when he said that
the “Red Sea was no longer safe.”
This is where Saudi Arabia’s decision to suspend oil shipments through Bab
al-Mandeb could be a good thing. It could serve as a warning to the
international community of the Houthi-Iranian alliance that is harming the
world economy. Perhaps the suspension may pave the way for reaching a
decisive decision to form an international coalition to stop this threat on
international navigation.
Dignity for the Palestinians
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/July 27/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12762/dignity-for-the-palestinians
Given that all Palestinian leaderships have called for a Palestinian state
that will encompass and obliterate the state of Israel, it is not surprising
that they cannot bear to accept any proposal that will give them only one
small state (or two small states) in the territory allotted to them by the
United Nations in 1947.
Re-imposition of Islamic waqf law will not restore Spain, Portugal, Sicily,
India, Greece and all the other states of the abandoned caliphal empires to
Muslim rule, and it is futile to think that is nothing more than a fantasy.
A recent US report revealed that there are, it seems, actually no more than
20,000 Palestinian refugees in the world.
In the end, it is so-called pro-Palestinian activists such as Robert Fisk or
writers for papers such as The Independent, The Guardian, or the New York
Times who do their utmost to persuade the world to favour Palestinian
intransigence over offers of upgrading lives and international law.
Anyone who cares for Israel, who aspires to peace, who has a good
understanding of the historical, ethical, political, and legal facts that
underpin the right of the Jewish people to a state of which they are the
indigenous people, will be familiar with the name of Robert Fisk. But not in
a good way.
For decades, Fisk has been one of the most unrelenting of Israel's many
haters and one of the most uncritical supporters of the rights of the
Palestinians and their unending calls and actions aimed at the total
destruction of Israel and the expulsion or massacre of the Jewish people
living there.[1]
Fisk is a clever man. He took his PhD in 1983 from Trinity College, Dublin,
an ancient and respected university. Although his doctorate was in political
science on a topic related to Ireland and Britain, he has worked as the
Middle East correspondent for the Times (1976-1988) and, since 1989, for the
left-wing daily, The Independent.
Over the years, he has reported on many wars in many countries and has
written and co-authored many books about them, all of them about their
conflicts.[2]
Given his Jack-of-all trades character, it is not surprising that Fisk does
not always get his facts straight, and for this he has often been criticized
by people with deeper knowledge, as here or here: He is opinionated, often
in an extreme way, functioning more as an activist than a reporter.
According to UKMediaWatch:
Among other words we could use to describe Robert Fisk, he's clearly a
curmudgeon, one who views the West's foreign policy towards the Middle East
as a "cynical charade" without ever offering readers any insight into how a
more noble, principled stance would take form. Though he's the Independent's
Middle East 'analyst', he's more of a professional cynic than a learned
student of the region. Moreover, though he feigns neutrality in his scathing
attacks on political hypocrisy, his body of work clearly suggests that he
sees some targets as more deserving of opprobrium than others.
Over the years, his chief target has been Israel. Wars and terrorism have
never really stopped there. For Israel-bashers, there never cease to be
opportunities for scathing attacks -- witness the recent condemnations of
Israeli defence measures on the Gaza border, some by Fisk himself.
Fisk's obsession with Israel presents a threat to Jews elsewhere, as is well
explained here by Britain's Community Security Trust, the country's leading
body in charge of Jewish security:
Writing in the Independent, Robert Fisk gives a startling example of
anti-Israel obsession, expressed in words that are about Jews, not Israelis.
In doing so, he illustrates how far Israel's most trenchant critics will go
in order to focus scrutiny and disgust upon it, rather than other targets:
in this case, the extremes of Jihadi terrorism. Given the links between
anti-Israel agitation and antisemitic attack levels, this rhetorical trend /
temptation brings obvious risks for Jews.
Nothing seems to irritate Fisk more than attempts to bring about peace
between Israel and the Palestinians, since no matter what is proposed it can
never satisfy Palestinian demands. As is well known, since 2017 the United
States administration has been working on a peace plan, under the
supervision of Jared Kushner. The full details of the plan have not yet been
revealed, but it has already come in for criticism. It need hardly be said
that any peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians anyone has ever advanced
has come in for criticism, not least unremittingly from the Palestinians and
their supporters. Given that all Palestinian leaderships have called for a
Palestinian state that will encompass and obliterate the state of Israel, it
is not surprising that they cannot bear to accept any proposal that will
give them only one small state (or two small states) in the territory
allotted to them by the United Nations in 1947.
Not surprisingly, Fisk was one of the first to condemn what was already
known of the plan, but for all the wrong reasons. He focuses on the offer
that the US, assisted by Israel, Saudi Arabia and perhaps others will
underwrite a major financial input into the Palestinian economy, thereby
easing the lives of millions and enabling the creation of a prosperous
Palestinian state. Writing on June 28, Fisk arrogantly claimed that the deal
"would strip the [Palestinian] people of all their dignity." His article
begins thus:
Is there no humiliation left for the Palestinians? After Oslo, after the
"two state solution", after the years of Israeli occupation – of "Area A"
and "Area C" to define which kind of occupation the Palestinians must live
under – after the vast Jewish colonisation of land thieved from its Arab
owners, after the mass killings of Gaza, and Trump's decision that
Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem, must be the capital of Israel, are the
Palestinians going to be asked to settle for cash and a miserable village?
Is there no shame left?
He continues in the same vein for almost three pages.
"How can he [Kushner] humiliate an entire Arab people by suggesting that
their freedom, sovereignty, independence, dignity, justice and nationhood
are merely 'politicians' talking points'? Is there no end to this insanity?"
Insanity? To help put an end to a conflict of more than 70 years, one that
has taken countless lives, including those of Palestinians, to bypass the
greedy and intolerant Palestinian leadership by offering the Palestinian
people a path to prosperity, peace, and lives they cannot today imagine for
themselves? A peaceful resolution that could mean that the religious and
nationalist fanatics who have ruled the Palestinian territories for so long
may be pushed from illegitimate office and be replaced by a democratic
system?
Peace and prosperity, however, evidently mean little to Fisk and his ilk.
There is, for him, something much deeper here. It is, essentially, the
long-established belief, here endorsed strongly by Fisk, that the
Palestinians are victims -- and, not only that, the most important victims
of the entire world -- forcibly victimized by Western imperialism. This
imperialism, according to him, made the former land of "Palestine" [in
reality under the mandate of the British: everyone born there from 1920-1948
-- Jews, Christians and Arabs -- had Palestine stamped on his passport]
supposedly a colony, built by the Jewish people after the Second World War,
a view that totally disregards more than 3,000 years of both history and
archeology. His view is, of course, by now a dogma that has become the basis
for what is, for some inexplicable reason, the core campaigning issue for
left-wing would-be revolutionaries across the globe, above all in Europe and
North America. From that warped perspective, to offer the Palestinians a
state (or two states) and to make their lives far better than anything they
or their ancestors have ever known is to humiliate them.
There is no room to elaborate fully on what this means here, but some facts
and views need to be aired. No one in history has humiliated the
Palestinians more than the Palestinian leadership and its many acolytes, or
the thousands of Palestinian men, women and youths who have gone out to
commit suicide-bombings and a vast range of other attacks on innocent Jewish
Israelis. The Israelis have spent more than 70 years fighting for their
survival from the wars and terrorist attacks of the Palestinians and several
Arab states. Tragically, it has for decades been a source of pride for
Palestinians to say they have spent that long trying to destroy a state long
yearned-for and established mere years since the Jewish Holocaust, even if
that now means the slaughter of another six million and more.
The suicide bombings and other assaults that lead to Palestinian deaths
demonstrate a society that values a corrosive status of martyrdom above the
lives of children and young people who might have gone on to the true
heroism of building a nation, as so many Holocaust survivors did when taming
the land of Israel to create the powerhouse that it is today. What possible
honour has there ever been for brainwashed youngsters blowing themselves to
pieces in cafés or cutting the throats of babies? And why are these willing
"martyrs" celebrated as rock stars, football heroes, models to be emulated
by children, honorary exemplars of what it means to be Arab or Muslim?
Underlying this prioritization of sacrifice, even of one's own children is
an Islamic concept embraced by all Muslim terrorist movements, including
Hamas, that "we love death more than you love life". In a recent Friday
sermon in Chicago, Dr. Ashraf Musairat denounced adherence to non-Islamic
norms, saying it was humiliating to do so and insisting that:
"All this is happening because of our distance from the religion of Allah,
and because we love this world more than we love Allah and Islam, because we
love our children more than we love making sacrifices for the sake of Allah,
and because we love our spouses more than we love making sacrifices for the
sake of Allah and Islam."
Is this the sort of humiliation Robert Fisk says is being imposed on
Palestinians?
Perhaps Robert Fisk can explain what honour accrued to Palestinians when,
after being given one of the most generous peace offers in history, and
after having all but guaranteed for himself the highest honour in the eyes
of the world, Yasir Arafat walked away from the Camp David negotiations in
2000 and soon after started the second intifada that took so many lives on
both sides? As President Bill Clinton later put it: "Arafat's rejection of
my proposal after Barak accepted it was an error of historic proportions."
Israel has made highly successful peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.
Would Fisk say that either the Egyptians or the Jordanians were humiliated
by this? Quite the opposite, surely: President Anwar Sadat and King Hussein
acquired the status of peacemakers. Anwar Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize
alongside his Israeli counterpart, Menachem Begin. King Hussein was admired
for his long-term willingness to meet with Israeli officials on what was a
long but dignified road to peace.
Israel has made many generous offers of peace and mutual assistance over the
years, and has repeatedly offered to give up physical territory for airy
promises of peace: by handing back Sinai to the Egyptians in 1979 or fully
(and painfully) pulling out of Gaza in 2005. Agreements have been reached
and offers made in 1949, 1979, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2000 again (re the Golan
Heights), 2008, 2009, 2010, and to the present day.[3]
But the Palestinians -- including the current Palestinian Authority leaders
of the Fatah in the West Bank and the intractable Hamas fundamentalist
regime in Gaza -- have never let themselves be inspired by the Egyptian and
Jordanian examples even to contemplate peace or collaboration to bring the
Palestinian people to a better life. Next February, Israel will become the
fourth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon. Meanwhile,
Gazans persist in sending flaming kites -- some bearing swastikas -- across
the border, causing severe damage to Israeli farmland and nature reserves.
Does that bring honour to Hamas or its subjects? In their own eyes,
undoubtedly; but for the rest of the non-Fisk world? Swastikas are not
badges of honour, quite the opposite for the vast majority of people.
Destroying the environment does not contribute in the smallest measure to
making Gaza a better place in which to bring up children.
Palestinians and their supporters in the West often take to the streets
chanting "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free". The river is
the Jordan; the sea, the Mediterranean. The territory in between comprises
Gaza, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the entire state of Israel.
Since the Palestinians have claimed that, although they have no prejudice
against Jews, they will not tolerate Jews currently living in settlements on
the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria), and that they will never agree to live
alongside Israel as a Jewish state, we must ask on earth it will ever be
possible to envisage a Palestinian state at all.
At the heart of this dilemma lies a so-far unbridgeable breach between how
Palestinians and their supporters and Israelis and their supporters view
Israel and its surrounding territories, including the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan. For the Palestinians, all Muslim states, and their Muslim supporters
worldwide, the refusal to compromise rests on a basic assumption in Islamic
shari'a law -- the principle that any territory, once ruled as an Islamic
state, must never be allowed to pass out of Muslim hands. This is because
such territory is considered a waqf, a term applied to any property or
stretch of land dedicated as a religious trust in perpetuity. The principle
behind this is set out clearly in Article 11 of the 1988 Covenant of Hamas:
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an
Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day.
It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it,
should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab
countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents,
neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab,
possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated
for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim
to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?
This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law)
and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because
during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands
to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.
The meaning of this for Hamas is set out well by Dr. Samantha May of
Aberdeen University in this article. It
"proposes that Hamas' understanding of waqf as both God's land in perpetuity
and the territorial justification for an independent Palestinian state
challenged Western assumptions of national territory and the monopoly of
legitimate violence."
However, whether we date the modern international ordering of states,
borders, treaties and the apportionment of territories from the 1648 Treaty
of Westphalia that ended the Thirty-Years War, or the end of World War I in
1918, or the end of World War II in 1945 and the establishment of the United
Nations in the same year, the fact is that international affairs are now
deemed to be conducted and negotiated, not on the basis of any one religious
law, but through the principles laid down in hundreds of documents, major
legislation and international law.
Israel was brought into being on the basis of international law, first as a
mandate territory through the League of Nations, then the United Nations in
1947. So was modern Syria. Likewise, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and many other Muslim and Arab states, as well as states in the
Balkans and elsewhere. Tear away the fabric of international law and the
treaties, conventions, and resolutions that knit it together, and any one of
these could collapse through cross-national conflict. The Palestinian Arabs
were offered a state in 1947, along with Israel. If they expect to have a
state or states now, they can only do so on that basis. Re-imposition of
Islamic waqf law will not restore Spain, Portugal, Sicily, India, Greece and
all the other states of the abandoned caliphal empires to Muslim rule, and
it is futile to think that is anything more than a fantasy.
Trapped by allegiance to a thoroughly outdated and discredited system of
international law, unwilling to exchange fantasy for realism, the
Palestinians have tried everything except for what might actually make them
free and prosperous: true peace with Israel. As Bassam Tawil puts it:
By insisting on all Palestinian "national rights," including the "right of
return," and by refusing to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish
people, the Palestinians are in fact signalling that their true goal is to
see Israel removed from the Middle East. How do we know that they want to
destroy Israel? Abbas says he sees Israel as a "colonialist project that has
nothing to do with Judaism."
Fisk makes much of this "right of return": "Right of Return. Forget it," he
says in his article. But that is yet another fantasy. The European Court of
Human Rights has just ruled that there is no such right (in the legal sense
of a human right). Given that the overwhelming majority of people currently
identifying themselves as Palestinian "refugees" have never set foot in the
territory that became Israel.
A recent US report revealed that there are, it seems, only about 20,000
Palestinian refugees in the world.
Furthermore, it is precisely the insistence that Palestinian refugees from
1948 and generations of their descendants constitute a special category of
refugee with their own refugee organization (UNWRA) that has served to
perpetuate refugee status and to condemn these "refugees" to live in the
humiliating conditions of refugee camps. If anyone has humiliated these
people, it has not been Israel (where there are no such camps and Arabs are
full and free citizens) but the host countries such as Lebanon, Syria,
Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank, whose rulers impose restrictions that
condemn these "refugees" to endless dependence on international aid, unable
to build real lives through their own endeavours.
It is highly unlikely that Jared Kushner or President Trump will achieve
what so many great statesmen have floundered at. The Palestinian leaders
will resist to the bitter end and the last Palestinian standing. Even with
Saudi Arabia's crown prince urging Mahmoud Abbas to work for peace in line
with US and Israeli proposals, nothing will satisfy the Palestinian craving
for either destroying Israel or abject victimhood.
In the end, it is so-called pro-Palestinian activists such as Robert Fisk or
writers for papers such as The Independent, The Guardian, or the New York
Times who do their utmost to persuade the world to favour Palestinian
intransigence over offers of upgrading lives and international law. And this
view itself is promoted by the belief that the West is to blame for just
about everything wrong, and that non-Western people must never be asked to
take responsibility for their actions or indeed just about anything.
Dr. Denis MacEoin has studied, lectured on, and written extensively about
the Middle East for some forty-six years. He is a Distinguished Senior
Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
[1] For an extensive archive of Palestinian media, religious, and political
anti-Israel propaganda, see Palestinian Media Watch here.
[2] Eg: Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War on the civil war; Syria: Descent
into the Abyss; The Age of the Warrior; The Arab Spring Then and Now: From
Hope to Despair; Robert Fisk on Afghanistan: Osama Bin Laden; Robert Fisk on
Israel: the Obama Years; Robert Fisk on Algeria; Robert Fisk on Egypt; The
world of Robert Fisk: Volume 1: 1989-1998 from Beirut to Bosnia, Volume 2:
1999-2008 from Kosovo to Baghdad; The Great War for Civilisation: The
Conquest of the Middle East; Islamic Extremism: Middle East in Crisis. He
has also written articles on the Soviet and international wars in
Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq war, the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflicts,
the Gulf War, the Kosovo war, the war in Bosnia, and the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. These regions speak very different languages – Pashto and Dari/Farsi
in Afghanistan, Arabic in very different dialectical forms in Algeria,
Lebanon, and Iraq, Albanian and Serbian in Kosovo, Hebrew in Israel, and
Persian (Farsi) in Iran. He may have learned some Lebanese Arabic during his
years in Beirut, but linguistic limitations have surely restricted the
expertise he might have in any one region. Despite this, he has published,
not only articles but entire books on more than one area: Lebanon; Syria;
Ireland; Northern Ireland; the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya,
Bahrain, Yemen and Syria; Afghanistan; Algeria and Algeria again; Egypt; the
Middle East as a whole; and all the places from which he has reported.
[3] For full details of these offers, see Denis MacEoin, Dear Gary, Why
You're Wrong about Israel: A Letter to an Anti-Israel Activist, London,
2012, pp. 38-45.
© 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.
Analysis/The Pitfalls and Perils of the
Trump-Putin-Netanyahu Triad
كامي شليف من الهآررتس: مخاطر وانزلاقات الثلاثي ترامي-بوتين-نتانياهو
Chemi Shalev/Haaretz/July 27/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66326/chemi-shalev-haaretz-the-pitfalls-and-perils-of-the-trump-putin-netanyahu-triad-%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%B4%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%81-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D9%85/
The prime minister has achieved
unprecedented global prominence but may have forgotten that the higher they
climb, the harder they may fall
Benjamin Netanyahu has run into a rough patch. The north is on fire, Gaza is
seething, police investigations continue unabated, the nation-state law is
exploding in his face, tens of thousands gathered to protest in Tel Aviv’s
Rabin Square and the polls – after spiking – are now in a tailspin. Small
wonder that the lust for early elections in 2018 has been replaced by a
yearning for later elections in 2019.
But the dark days of Netanyahu on the domestic scene stand in stark contrast
to the aura that surrounds him in superpower diplomacy. He has become the
indispensable go-between in the problematic relations between the Kremlin
and the White House. He is the only world leader praised by both Donald
Trump and Vladimir Putin. He negotiates with Putin as an equal and he sways,
and possibly directs, Trump. There has never been an Israeli prime minister
with such global influence.
Netanyahu fostered his ties with Putin when Barack Obama was president, but
Trump’s election launched a quantum leap. Unlike Obama, Trump praises
Netanyahu incessantly and basks in his good relations with the Israeli
leader. Netanyahu, for his part, has long forgotten his Obama-era insults
and tantrums and has emerged as general advocate, secret adviser,
cheerleader-in-chief and, often, fig leaf for the U.S. president. When the
whole world was recoiling from the Helsinki summit, Netanyahu praised it.
When America was reeling this week from Trump’s tweet threatening Iran with
virtual extinction, Netanyahu lauded the president’s “tough position.”
And the ground on which Netanyahu is building his new-found eminence is
Syria. Russia seeks to take control of Syria and to stabilize Bashar Assad’s
rule, but fears a conflagration between Iran and Israel that could upset its
plans. In other days, the Kremlin would have negotiated with the U.S.
administration on the assumption that each side is bringing its clients to
the table. But in the era of Trump, the Kremlin is talking to the Israeli
prime minister on the assumption that he can seal the deal with his client
Trump.
The void is compounded by the fact that Trump doesn’t seem to give a fig
about Syria. If Obama opened the door for the Russians, Trump is willing to
hand over the keys and deeds as well. His primary concern is withdrawing the
two thousand American troops currently stationed in the country’s northeast.
His eagerness is so pronounced that U.S. officials worry that their
president is squandering strong leverage on Putin, who wants to see the
Americans gone.
In essence, Trump has delegated authority to Netanyahu to negotiate with
Putin in his stead. "Close the deal," he’s telling the leaders of Russia and
Israel, "and I’ll sign it." On the eve of the Helsinki summit, Netanyahu and
Putin agreed on some of the main principles of a new Syria deal, and
Netanyahu called Trump to brief him – or explain to him – what it’s all
about. In doing so, Netanyahu gave Trump and Putin something positive to
showcase in Helsinki. In return, he secured a public commitment by Putin to
safeguard Israel’s security, and another round of fulsome praise from Trump.
Perhaps this was the background to Trump’s tweeted warning to Iran that it
would face “CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER
SUFFERED BEFORE.” Ironically, the dire U.S. warning against its greatest
enemy was greeted in Israel with yawns, either because such threats against
Iran seem natural or because Israelis have learned not to take Trump’s
tweets too seriously. U.S. media, on the other hand, went into DEFCON 1
mode. Trump has lost control, analysts surmised. He will attack Iran in
order to divert attention away from Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, Michael
Cohen’s tapes or the $12 billion dollar payout to farmers hit by his
tariffs. Things went back to normal 48 hours later, however, after Trump
reversed course and offered the Iranians a new deal to replace the one he
ditched three months ago. This time, however, Netanyahu kept silent.
But perhaps, for a change, Trump should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe his apocalyptic tweet wasn’t the usual discharge from America’s
favorite midnight rambler, but a coordinated move synchronized with the
Israeli-Russian talks on Iran. It may have been a shot across the bow meant
to warn Tehran to cooperate with the emerging deal. In such a scenario,
Trump is the big stick that Putin and Netanyahu wave at their convenience in
order to keep the Iranians in line.
The curious fact is that the Kremlin did not react to the fire and brimstone
tweet, even though Iran is considered a semi-client state of Russia. Moscow
did not stand up for its loyal ally in the fight against the Syrian rebels.
Vera Michlin-Shapir, a researcher at the Institute for National Security
Studies, says the Russians took a step back. They refrained from sparking
unnecessary tension in their delicate relationship with Trump at a time when
they need his cooperation. The fact is that the Russians no longer claim
that Iran's ejection from Syria is “unrealistic.” But Russia’s reticence can
be taken one step further than the cautious Michlin-Shapir would allow:
Perhaps they initiated the warning, and welcomed it.
Netanyahu’s immediate aim is to distance Iran from Israel’s northern border,
to work out security arrangements with Bashar Assad’s army – which will soon
take up positions it held before the civil war – and to ensure the Israeli
Air Force’s freedom of action to prevent transfers of arms to Hezbollah. A
senior source told Israeli reporters this week that the Russians are
offering to set up a 100-kilometer security zone void of Iranian presence,
but Israel is still pushing for a complete ouster of Iran from Syria and
severe restrictions on its activities north of the proposed zone, at the
very least. Netanyahu is well aware of widespread skepticism about Putin’s
ability to expel pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias from the designated security
zone or to confront Iranian units to the north. U.S. Director of National
Intelligence Dan Coats said last week that it’s doubtful whether Russia has
the will or capability to do so. This is where the U.S. supposedly enters
the picture: Either Iran will be compelled to withdraw within the framework
of a larger settlement, or, if an overall conflict breaks out between the
two countries, the problem will pale in significance.
With Putin, however, there is no such thing as a free lunch. He hasn’t
turned into a Zionist overnight. He isn’t riveted by Netanyahu’s hazel-green
eyes and isn’t mesmerized by his eloquence either. Netanyahu’s appeal isn’t
limited to being a partner to Putin’s wish to stabilize Syria. According to
a report in the New Yorker, which has yet to be denied, Netanyahu and his
Washington Ambassador, Ron Dermer, are proposing – and may still be pushing
– a “grand bargain” of Syria for Ukraine in which Trump would press to ease
sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of East Ukraine in exchange for
a Syria deal. Michlin-Shapir says that even if such a specific “grand
bargain” does not exist, there should be no doubt that Putin wants to tie
Syria to an overall dialogue with Washington over other points of friction
between the two countries.
In his current situation, however, when any gesture to Putin will inevitably
be seen as a payoff, Trump will be hard pressed to persuade Congress or
public opinion to support any kind of deal with Putin – in Syria, Ukraine or
anywhere else. Trump discovered this week that he couldn’t even invite Putin
to his own White House, and Netanyahu will have to carry much of the burden.
He will be Trump’s salesman. He will tell Congress that the little deal in
Syria, or the grander bargain that includes Ukraine, are good for Israel and
good for the United States. Putin, who has a lot of arguably anti-Semitic
respect for the influence that Netanyahu, in particular, and the Jews, in
general, have on America, is relying on the Israeli prime minister.
It is no coincidence that Trump revealed Putin is “a fan” of Netanyahu’s or
that he presented the two leaders’ agreement on Syria as the main
achievement of their talks in Helsinki – the contents of which, amazingly,
are still unknown, even to administration officials. And it’s no
coincidence, of course, that Netanyahu praised the Helsinki summit and
placed it within a context of vastly improved U.S.-Israeli relations.
Netanyahu’s word still carries a lot of weight among Republicans, who are
shell-shocked by Trump’s fawning in Helsinki, and especially in Trump’s
crucial Evangelical heartland.
Netanyahu’s willingness to assume the role of a major player in the
relations between Russia and the United States, as he has in the talks on
Syria, is “a minefield,” Michlin-Shapir concedes. Less cautiously, one can
describe it as a dangerous gamble. Netanyahu has agreed to recognize
Russia’s hegemony in Syria and has even embraced the idea of deploying
Russian “police units” in the proposed security zone. And what will happen
if Moscow, as many expect, doesn’t expel the Shi'ite militias or Iranian
forces and installations to its north? Will Netanyahu stand alone against
Russia, as he has in his talks with Putin? Can he risk a military
confrontation? Would he be able to enlist the U.S. to his side if the
agreement that he brokered and promoted falls apart?
Netanyahu is ignoring two red lines that have restrained Israeli leaders
since the state’s inception. Israel has always taken care not to come
between the two superpowers on issues other than Israel’s security and
well-being. In the 1970’s it maintained a low profile even as the U.S. was
gearing up for the fight to liberate Soviet Jewry. Israel has also avoided
at all cost any risk that it might be portrayed as pushing America to war.
Fifteen years ago, Israel paid a steep price for the mere suspicion that it
nudged George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq despite the fact that most senior
officials kept mum – with the exception of Netanyahu, then a private
citizen, who assured Congress that invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein
was a great idea. In case of conflict in Syria – and even more so, of
conflagration with Iran – Netanyahu will have nowhere to hide. If there are
American losses, he will be portrayed as the warmonger who whispered in
Trump’s ear.
The beautiful friendship between Trump and Netanyahu has already harmed
Israel’s standing among Democrats and many American Jews, although Netanyahu
can still claim that his actions and policies are aimed at fortifying Israel
militarily and on the world stage. But against the backdrop of the fierce
polarization in U.S. politics, if and when Netanyahu turns up as Trump’s
front man and Putin’s champion, he will be seen as an active collaborator of
a much-reviled president.
Netanyahu seems to be betting, based on White House assurances, on Trump
getting off scot-free from Robert Mueller’s investigation. If, however, the
president is ultimately implicated of collusion with the Kremlin, before and
possibly after the elections, Netanyahu could suddenly be cast as an aider
and abettor, if not a ranking member, of the Putin-Trump-Netanyahu triad.
More than enough names of Israelis or people connected to Israel have
already cropped up in connection with the alleged contacts between Trump’s
aides and Putin’s agents.
In fact, Netanyahu isn’t just gambling: He’s going all-in. He's putting his
trust in Putin, who is notorious for bailing. And he is placing all his
chips on Trump, an impulsive and controversial president who disdains
America’s historic alliances and changes positions like most people change
their clothes. Starry-eyed Dermer described Trump this week as “the new
sheriff,” but failed to mention that he randomly shoots in all directions –
and often hits himself. As long as his triumvirate with Putin and Trump is
viable, Netanyahu is king of the world. But he may have forgotten that the
higher they climb, the harder they fall.
Mike Pompeo: Top spy and top diplomat
Mamdouh AlMuhaini//Al Arabiya/July 27/18
At US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s swearing-in ceremony, Trump jocularly
told those present that he did not believe that Pompeo graduated first in
his class when he majored in mechanical engineering at the US military
academy in New York.
“I heard that rumor a long time ago. I thought it was a rumor. And I’ve
heard it many times. So I (asked him) is that true? And he said yes.” And
laughter filled the hall. Excellence, however, has not been a stranger to
Pompeo’s career. He attained his PhD in law from Harvard and worked as
editor of the university’s famous law magazine. He worked in successful
business and was member of the US House of Representatives for Kansas for
six years. “Mike was the type of guy who was just born smart,” one of his
friends says. Pompeo’s name did the rounds recently following the historic
meeting with North Korea’s leader. This is besides his role in the Trump
Administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and his
intensified attack on the Tehran regime, especially his latest speech, which
has been truly historic.
It is fortunate to have a character such as Pompeo at this particular time.
He is a man with moral values and principles and he seeks to implement them
via realistic methods.
He has deep understanding of issues and a clear vision regarding threats and
players who threaten world order and its stability, such as al-Qaeda,
Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.
It seems Pompeo has the biggest influence on Trump ever since he was head of
intelligence. He established a close and honest relation with his superior
that further strengthened during the daily sessions he held with him to
inform him of the dangers that threaten US’ national security.
What Pompeo has in common with Trump is that he is also street smart and did
not only become witty thanks to books and academic curricula
Chemistry with Rex
There was chemistry between the two men unlike the case with Rex Tillerson
and Trump and whom the latter fired after he acted like a stubborn bull who
repeatedly gored his owner.
Tillerson was a rigid personality that lacked the simplest skills for the
job, which is executing his boss’s agenda. Trump thus fired him in tweet
while he was still sleeping. The same happened to McMaster, the national
security advisor who did not read his boss’s approach well and whom Trump
hated due to his arrogant behavior, studded stars on his chest and the use
of big academic terms. Pompeo knew the keys to Trump’s character despite the
possibility that he could pose a threat and scratch his ego with his wits
and degrees. What Pompeo has in common with Trump is that he is also street
smart and did not only become witty thanks to books and academic curricula,
and this is what Trump wants in his administration. He wants strong
characters that are close to his heart and distant from the American elite
in Washington and New York and which despises him and seeks to topple him.
In his early days, Pompeo read books by playwright and philosopher, Ayn
Rand, who is originally Russian. Her writings influenced him and this
perhaps made him closer to Trump who fits as a hero in her writings because
he reflects her philosophy of individualism, self-interest and unrestrained
capitalism.
Rand despised ethical altruism to the extent that she was described as
“goddess of the market.” Pompeo is more Republican than Trump, the
businessman who’s been immersed in the world of media and finances for
decades before he decided to engage in politics and exploit his mobilization
abilities to win the presidency. Trump proved that he is a political animal
and an electoral promotion machine. Pompeo is a Republican in his principles
whether in or outside the US. When he worked in trade, he realized how
government interference destroyed businesses and said once that he is going
to Washington to change this.He was for decreasing taxes, limiting the
government’s role and against subsidy programs. He supported the pure
teachings of the founder fathers as they have been written.
American exception
On the foreign level, he is a hawk who believes in the American exception
and of the importance of maintaining the international order and combating
the powers that seek to destroy it, even if they are individuals. He did not
hesitate to demand execution of Edward Snowden who leaked dangerous and
confidential data from the National Security Agency. His experience in the
Congress, the CIA and the Department of State deepened his convictions and
his approach. The New York Times described him as the first person to have
served as both the United States’ top spy and top diplomat. There is a huge
contradiction between these two tasks but he proved his competence in both.
Those who know him say he is polite and not weak, a smooth-tongued but
strict, a diplomat but steady. He negotiates but he does not forget major
issues or principles. He knows how to please his boss but without turning
into a puppet in his hand and an echo of his voice.
He knows how to frankly voice his opinion without harming Trump’s
narcissism. This is why the president saw a trustworthy character in him and
why he listens to him and is convinced by his views. Pompeo believes in the
idea of force and crushing rivals if needed. When he was the CIA director,
he ordered secret missions to pursue and kill dangerous Taliban members.
This is new as such dangerous operations were usually only planned for
al-Qaeda members. He is once reported to have said: “We cannot accomplish
our mission without being cruel.”
Espionage and diplomacy
The objective remains the same in espionage and diplomacy, and power can be
used at any time especially after the Obama era which was marked by
hesitation and which he repeatedly criticized. Pompeo was a fierce critic of
Hillary Clinton and he opposed her stance toward the terror attack on the
consulate in Benghazi, which killed US envoy Christopher Stevens. When she
announced she was running for the presidency, he said he will stand with any
Republican who confronts her no matter who he/she is. Through Pompeo’s
strong speeches and statements, we can understand the American
administration’s solid and clear position with regard to Tehran. It is
nothing new for Pompeo as he strongly opposed the nuclear deal.
After it was announced that Trump won the presidency, he tweeted celebrating
victory and expressed the extent of his deep hatred of the Iranian regime.
“I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world's
largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
In his latest speech, he addressed the Iranians across the world and inside
Iran and said that the Trump Administration dreams the same dream of the
Iranians, that this nightmare formed by the Iranian regime ends, adding that
“through our labors and God’s providence, (this dream) will one day come
true.” People in the hall applauded him, and it is certain that millions
also cheered as they too dream of the end of the nightmare, which has been
on for 40 years now.
Iran’s attack on Bab al-Mandeb
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 27/18
Tehran’s regime is cunning, and this is what distinguishes it from other
evil regimes like Saddam’s regime in Iraq. The Houthis’ targeting of Bab
al-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea is an Iranian attack. Iran has been
threatening to target passages used for oil transport, like the Strait of
Hormuz in the Gulf. It gave orders to its Yemeni Houthi agent – which are
supplied missiles by the regime – to shell oil tankers in Bab al-Mandeb
Strait.
On one hand, Iran will have succeeded in implementing its promises against
the US and the region’s countries without bearing direct responsibility as
the executors are Yemenis and the Iranians cannot be held accountable for
their actions. If oil exporting countries, like Saudi Arabia, stop
transferring their oil through the Red Sea, Iran will have succeeded in
partially obstructing oil export and stirring chaos in the global oil
market.
Iran’s agents in the region, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza,
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen are practically Iran’s
military whom Iran spends massive amounts of money on and whom it has been
training and arming for decades.
The West made a mistake while dealing with the Iranian game at the beginning
of the conflict with Iran. The US in particular made this mistake
considering it’s the country that is most involved in the region as it had
yielded and dealt with Iran’s agents as independent organizations although
it knew they were linked to Iran. If the West had in the 1980s and 1990s
viewed the practices of these organizations as directly affiliated with
Iran, there wouldn’t be Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq
and others
Nature of relations
It did not deal with them because they were unware of the nature of this
relation but to avoid a confrontation with Iran. The US thus limited its
confrontation with Tehran to small groups.
When the Lebanese Hezbollah Party abducted and killed some Americans and
westerners in Beirut in the 1980s, western governments requested Iran’s and
Syria’s intervention to be mediators and release the kidnapped. These
practices thus established the rules of the game in a wrong manner that
enhanced Iran’s influence and cost it a little.
Iran never paid a price for its crimes. The maximum punishment the West
dealt Iran was assassinating Lebanese Hezbollah officials. It’s a cheap
investment as Iran can replace them with other Lebanese figures. The real
criminal mastermind in Tehran never paid a price for the past 30 years.
If the West had in the 1980s and 1990s viewed the practices of these
organizations as directly affiliated with Iran, there wouldn’t be Hezbollah,
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and others. Iran was not held
accountable for killing American people in Beirut or killing Americans in
the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia. It was not held accountable for its
bloody attacks in Paris’ streets or the hijacking of planes like the
hijacking of the TWA flight.
Repeat in Yemen
Tehran is now repeating in West Yemen what it used to do in South Lebanon.
The Houthi Movement is an Iranian organization that takes orders from
Tehran.
This attack on Bab al-Mandeb executes the threat, which Iranian commanders
made in response to White House decisions. They said they will obstruct oil
exports in the Gulf.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Brigade commander General Qassem
Soleimani’s statements are a mere distraction from the real scheme, which is
to appoint the Houthis to carry out this task on his behalf. As for Iran, it
will not dirty its hands with such operations.
Tehran wants to impose its influence and conditions using its armed groups
without any consequences reflecting on it. No opposing state tried to build
agents to balance the conflict of proxies or militias, except in Syria
during the past years of war.
In this proxy war and after the failure of its proxy Hezbollah, Iran had to
send its troops to directly be involved in the fighting for the first time
in its history as it feared the collapse of its ally, the Assad regime.
Despite all this, Iran failed while confronting the armed Syrian opposition
so it sought the help of Russian forces. The Iranians will not stop
propagating chaos, spreading terrorism and interfering in Lebanon, Syria and
Iraq unless the Tehran regime feels it’s being held accountable for its
organizations’ practices and directly paying the price of their crimes.
Will Europe obstruct the liberation of Yemen?
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/July 27/18
Does the world (or shall we say the Europeans’ vileness) need to wake up
from its slumber to the incident of targeting a Saudi oil tanker in the Red
Sea and until Saudi Arabia issues a decision to “immediately and
temporarily” halt the passage of Saudi oil shipments via these waters?
Did we need the bragging of Qassem Soleimani, the general of terrorism who
is roaming the region, about this crime to know who incited Tehran’s
followers in Yemen against world trade and not just against Saudi Arabia?
In a statement published by a news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary
Guards, the terrorist Soleimani threatened American President Trump who
economically suffocated Khomeinism at the international level. The Supreme
Leader’s confederate threatened Trump saying: “The Red Sea is no longer
secure.”
There’s no doubt that this Iranian aggression via the Houthi claw on the
heart of the world trade security is due to the Khomeini regime’s and the
Revolutionary Guards’ feeling that they are extremely besieged amid Trump’s
seriousness to discipline the Iranian regime.
Soleimani frankly noted Iran’s adoption of “an uneven war” approach, in
reference to wars of gangs, militias and intelligence. This is what Iran’s
gangs in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon actually do. What’s confusing is
that after the departure of the “catastrophic” President Barack Obama, there
is still some sort of western love toward the Khomeini regime. There’s
frankly what I described as western political “vileness” especially by the
European group towards the Yemeni case. The only real international pressure
on the Khomeini regime’s behavior is being exerted by the Trump
administration as it has taken it upon itself to force the Europeans to
abandon this tale of affection with Iran
Real obstacle
The real obstacle in terms of liberating the Hodeidah Port where the Houthis
are acting like thugs is the western resistance and pressure. It is as if
the Houthis had not staged a coup and as if they are not condemned and
illegitimate based on international decisions! It’s as if what’s requested
from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries is to reconcile with a
situation in which the Houthis control Yemen or participate in governance
via an obstructing third, like the case is in Lebanon, and use their
missiles to shell Saudi cities and threaten trade’s activity in the Red Sea.
This is however something that’s impossible for Saudi Arabia to accept. Yes,
UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash was right when he
said this attack has significances that go beyond the region and as he noted
that there are limits to patience when it comes to Hodeidah. He also
interestingly added that “the divergence of points of view between the US
and Europe over Iran is worrying.”This means more reliance on individual
military, political and economic capabilities like Saudi Arabia did via its
smart decision to temporarily halt the transport of Saudi oil via the Red
Sea amid the crisis of prices in the energy market and which Europe suffers
from. The only real international pressure on the Khomeini regime’s behavior
is being exerted by the Trump administration as it has taken it upon itself
to force the Europeans to abandon this complicated tale of affection with
Iran.
This is on the international level. As for Iran’s neighboring countries,
they have the decisiveness, determination and men’s resoluteness.
Rethinking the conflict in Yemen
Saad Alsubaie/Al Arabiya/July 27/18
As the war in Yemen continues into its fourth year, the Saudi-led Arab
coalition is facing severe criticism, even from critics who initially
supported the military intervention.
An understanding of the conflict must begin with the issues that led to the
war in the first place. The problem with much of the literature on the war
in Yemen is twofold.
First, critics of the military intervention in Yemen do not account for the
security ramifications of the rise of a Houthi militia state in Yemen, which
are similar to those of the earlier rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Instead,
critics simplistically frame the Yemen conflict as a sectarian war.
Second, by focusing on the day-to-day war events, critics overlook the long
and costly road that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
followed to try to avoid the war.
To understand the war in Yemen and its implications for regional security,
one must consider it as part of an evolving historical and regional security
dynamic rather than as just a sectarian conflict.
Historical background
Since the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen to form the present-day
Arab Republic of Yemen, stabilizing Yemen has been a Saudi priority for
several reasons. In addition to the long border the two countries share,
Saudi Arabia and Yemen share historical, social, and strategic bonds.
Despite the ups and downs in its relations with the former Yemeni president
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Saudi Arabia set up a generous foreign aid program and
opened its borders to Yemeni expatriates for many years.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia supported Yemeni accession to the GCC. By 2000,
Yemen was allowed to join the GCC’s Ministers’ Councils for education,
health, labor, and sport as a prelude to full accession.
With the rise of international terrorism in the late 1990s, Yemen emerged as
a major security concern for the international community. From Yemen,
Al-Qaeda launched its early attacks, such as the attack on the USS Cole in
Aden in 2000.
After Saudi Arabia drove out al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from the
kingdom in 2005, the group relocated to Yemen to join forces with other
members driven out from Afghanistan and other places.
The causes of the war in Yemen in particular and the post Arab-spring
conflicts in general are complex. Framing these conflicts as one sectarian
conflict is overly simplistic and misleading
Since then, al-Qaeda in Yemen has launched brutal attacks that have included
the attacks in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia in 2006, Detroit, USA in 2009, Saada,
Yemen in 2010, and Sharurah, Saudi Arabia in 2014.
The deteriorating security situation in Yemen offered an opportunity for
other extremist organizations to emerge. One of these organizations was the
Houthi militia, which rebelled against the government to further the
autonomy of their province, Saada.
To exploit public sentiment against America’s war on terrorism, the Houthis
adopted the Iranian slogan “Death to America.” Supported by Iran and the
Lebanese Hezbollah, they waged an insurgency that spun off six wars between
2004 and 2010.
Despite the spillover of the fight into Saudi territories, Saudi Arabia did
not intervene into Yemeni affairs. Instead, it beefed up its border security
and increased its security cooperation with and foreign aid to the Yemeni
government to stabilize it against terrorist and outlaw groups.
The long road to war
The failure of the Saleh government to manage the situation in Yemen led to
a regime-change uprising against Saleh during the Arab Spring in 2011.
Instead of siding with their historical partner Saleh, the neighboring
states of the GCC pushed for a peaceful transition of power.
Their efforts culminated in the GCC Initiative, which was designed to
achieve a peaceful political settlement and keep Yemen from slipping into
full-scale war. The international community, including the UN, the United
States, and the European Union, supported the initiative.
Eventually, Saleh stepped down and signed the agreement in Riyadh in
November 2011. The Yemeni people then elected Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in a
UN-monitored election.
The international community then went further to support the political and
economic transition in Yemen. The “Friends of Yemen,” a group of more than
30 countries co-chaired by the UK and Saudi Arabia, met in Riyadh in May
2012, where they pledged a total of $6.396 billion, $3.25 billion of which
was pledged by Saudi Arabia.
Although the generous diplomatic and financial support of the international
community put Yemen on a road to order and stability, the situation took on
a new dynamic. The Houthis, who had fought six wars against Saleh and taken
part in the uprising against him, allied themselves with his forces instead
of siding with the elected government. Aided by Saleh’s military forces and
Iran’s supply of weaponry, the Houthis ended up taking over the Yemeni
capital, Sanaa, putting President Hadi and members of his cabinet under
house arrest in February 2015. The Houthis did not stop there; they started
setting up ballistic missile sites on the Yemeni-Saudi border in range of
Saudi cities and oil installations. The UN reacted by adopting Resolution
2216, which urged the Houthis to “end the use of violence… withdraw their
forces from all areas they have seized… refrain from any provocation or
threats to neighboring states.”
In addition, the UN imposed an asset freeze, arms embargo, and travel ban on
Saleh and Houthi commanders. When the Houthis ignored the demands of the
international community, President Hadi, who had escaped to Aden, wrote a
letter to the leaders of the GCC asking them “to provide instant support by
all necessary means, including military intervention, to protect Yemen and
its people from continuous Houthi aggression.”An Arab coalition led by Saudi
Arabia answered President Hadi’s call by launching Operation Decisive Storm
on March 26, 2015. The coalition consisted of the GCC members (except Oman),
Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and Morocco, and was supported by the Arab League, The
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the US, the UK, and France.
War in perspective
The long road to the war in Yemen indicates that Operation Decisive Storm
was a last resort in a long history of diplomatic, economic, and security
efforts by the GCC states to stabilize Yemen.
It was neither a sectarian reaction, as its critics wanted to frame it, nor
a full-scale war to conquer Yemen, as some of its proponents had mistakenly
expected. It was a surgical operation with the use of minimum force to roll
back the situation to normalcy, where the legitimate government could be
restored, the threatening ballistic missile sites destroyed, and the people
of Yemen rescued from a humanitarian catastrophe. Thereafter, Operation
Storm of Resolve began with a 25-day air campaign to take out the ballistic
missile sites. This was followed by Operation Restore Hope, which integrates
three dimensions: military, political, and humanitarian relief. These
state-building efforts are directed to enhance the capabilities of the
legitimate state and to address humanitarian needs, many of which pre-date
the war.The asymmetrical nature of the war in Yemen, in which the militants
blend in with the population, makes it difficult for the coalition
conventional forces to avoid collateral damage and civilian casualties. In
one tragic incident, the coalition wrongly targeted a funeral in Sanaa.
After investigating the incident, the coalition admitted that they made a
mistake owing to incorrect information. As a result, the coalition
established an independent Joint Incidents Assessment Team, updated their
rules of engagement, and offered compensation for the families of the
victims.
Meanwhile, Houthis continue their indiscriminate attacks against civilians
in Yemen and Saudi Arabia with impunity.
Conclusion
The causes of the war in Yemen in particular and the post Arab-spring
conflicts in general are complex. Framing these conflicts as one sectarian
conflict is overly simplistic and misleading.
If they have something in common, it is not sectarianism, but rather the
looming threat of the rise of the authority of militias over the legitimacy
of the state. Revolutionary militias and terrorist organizations such as
ISIS, the Houthis, al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah have been using sectarianism as a
tool to dismantle and control their states. Alarmed by the threat, GCC
states have joined regional and international coalitions to fight militants
disregarding their sectarian affiliations. The fight against militia states
and their supporters in the region is critical to international security.
Therefore, the international community has a responsibility to act
collectively and intervene to protect states from falling into the hands of
militants and terrorist organizations.