LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 04/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
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Bible
Quotations
The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to
become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, "One does not
live by bread alone."
Luke 04/01-13: "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted
by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were
over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is
written, "One does not live by bread alone." ’Then the devil led him up and
showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said
to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has
been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will
worship me, it will all be yours. ’Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
"Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him." ’Then the devil took him to
Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If
you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
"He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you", and "On their
hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a
stone." ’Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, "Do not put the Lord your God to
the test." ’When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him
until an opportune time."
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on May 03-04/18
Candidacy, conflict and territorial
claims: Lebanon’s election posters/India Stoughton/The National/May 03/18
Lebanon election 2018: A bloody history that encapsulates the country's
woes/Arthur MacMillan/The National/May 03/18
Outsiders face uphill battle in Lebanese elections/Gulf News/May 03/18
What Did The Mossad Actually Get From Iran/Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem
Post/May 03/18
Iran's Proxy Wars: The Four Battlegrounds Iran Uses to Threaten Israel and
the Middle East/Haaretz/May 03/18
Trump Has All but Decided to Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal, Sources Tell
Reuters/Haaretz and Reuters/ May 03/18
Opinion Netanyahu Claims 'Iran Lied' About Its Nuclear Program, but Israel
Has Been Lying for Decades/Gideon Levy/Haarz/May 03/18
Beware the Korean Peace Trap/Eli Lake/Bloomberg/May 03/18
A Nobel for Trump/Ruthie Blum//Gatestone Institute/May 03/18
Turkey: Erdoğan's World of Terrorists Includes Everyone but Terrorists/Burak
Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/May 03/18
Why Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey Are Battling Over Somalia/Haaretz/Reuters/May
03/18
Armenia escapes its post-Soviet malaise/David Ignatius/Washington Post/May
02/18
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on May 03-04/18
Aoun pleads for Arab intervention in refugee return
Election Day security measures in place: Army chief
Lebanon Polling Station Employees Cast Ballots
Rabat: We Weren't Pressured by Other Countries to Sever Ties with Iran
Berri Says 'Shiite Duo' MPs to 'Defend Coexistence, Fight Corruption'
Hariri Hits Back at Nasrallah over Terror Support Remarks
Cabinet Hails Lebanese Expat Vote 'Achievement'
Mustaqbal-Ahbash Dispute Erupts into Gunfire in Beirut
Israeli Spy Device Found in Southern Town
Free Rides on May 6, Uber Unveils Election Day Promo Code
Electoral Supervisory Committee Reminds of ‘Binding’ Pre-Election Silence
Polling Station Employees Cast Early Vote
Candidacy, conflict and territorial claims: Lebanon’s election posters
Lebanon election 2018: A bloody history that encapsulates the country's woes
Outsiders face uphill battle in Lebanese elections
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 03-04/18
King Salman, Moroccan king, discuss coordinating efforts to contain Iran
threats
Iran Says Will Quit Nuclear Deal if U.S. Walks Away
Hundreds Prepare to Exit Rebel Areas near Damascus, Says State Media
Merkel Calls for Discussion on Iran Missile Program, Regional Role
Tehran Mobilizes Syria’s Kurds against International Coalition
Exclusive: Iran Celebrates World Press Freedom Day with Regime-Imposed
Shackles
Birds’ Bring Down Russian Fighter Jet Off Syria, 2 Dead
Bosnia Refuses to Extradite a Person 'Involved' in Assassination of Hamas
Official
Kuwaiti Government Stands Still During Vote of No Confidence Session
Turkey Hands over Baghdadi-Linked ISIS Leader to Iraq
Bahrain Questions 37 Security Men Based on Complaints from Prisoners,
Detainees
Russian Fighter Jet Crashes Off Syrian Coast; Both Pilots Killed
Latest
Lebanese Related News published on May 03-04/18
Aoun pleads for Arab intervention in refugee return
Joseph Haboush/The Daily Star/May 03, 2018
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Wednesday stepped up his call for the return
of Syrian refugees to their homeland as he appealed for intervention from
the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. “He asked them for help
because the international community has not responded to the Lebanese
government’s request to facilitate the return of refugees,” a Baabda Palace
source told The Daily Star.
Aoun requested the three Arab states’ help to secure the return of Syrian
refugees to their country, “to stop their [sufferings] on the one hand, and,
on the other, to end the repercussions of this displacement on Lebanon
socially, economically, educationally and in terms of security,” a statement
from the presidency said, after Aoun met with diplomats from the three
countries.
During the discussions, the four spoke about developments in Lebanon and the
region, including the refugee crisis.The source suggested that these three Arab countries, in particular, have
the ability to exert influence on the international community concerning
this issue.
The president demanded that action be taken to put an end to competition in
the Lebanese labor market – presumably in a reference to refugees – and to
protect the country’s productive sectors.
But it remained unclear how the countries would be able to help with the
areas that have been called “safe zones” inside of Syria, as they are under
the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Refugees have reportedly fled out of fear of both Daesh (ISIS) fighters and
Syrian army members. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been
openly vocal in their criticism of Assad and his allies, while Egypt has
maintained a line of communication with the Syrian government. Lebanon, on
the other hand, is sharply divided over whether or not to communicate with
the Syrian government to coordinate the return of refugees.
To manage this, an international humanitarian source suggested outside
countries mediate. “You have so many influential countries [involved in]
Syria now, so perhaps Russia,” the source said, could intervene between
Lebanon and Syria to discuss allowing refugees back into certain areas
deemed safe. “With 6 million internally displaced, I’m not sure that Assad
wants more [refugees outside Syria] back,” the source said. Some Lebanese
sides have suggested that since there are diplomatic ties between Beirut and
Damascus, there should be coordination between the two countries over
refugees’ return. Others reject any communication with the Assad regime and
advocate for a tripartite line with UNHCR in the middle.
Meanwhile, the U.N. and some Western states have stated that returns should
not be undertaken in the absence of a political solution to the conflict.
As a result of the failure by the Lebanese government to draft a unified and
comprehensive policy for dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis’ impact in
the country, tensions are increasing between organizations working with the
displaced, both international and local.
UNHCR and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry have been at odds in recent weeks,
with the ministry lashing out at the aid body for “scaring” refugees from
returning to Syria.
Separately, General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said that
international aid to Lebanon “was and continues to be minor” relative to the
social and economic burden placed on the country by the roughly 1 million
Syrian refugees in the country. In an interview published Wednesday in
General Security’s monthly magazine, Ibrahim suggested that aid is needed
for refugees who have returned to Syria and “not just conferences to support
the refugee crisis.”Ibrahim defended the return of some 500 Syrians who left Lebanon’s Shebaa to
Syria’s Beit Jin on April 18, describing it as completely “voluntary and
safe.”He suggested that a general amnesty allowing all refugees back to Syria
could be a solution, “but coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian
governments, with the participation of the international community, is the
best solution.”During Wednesday’s meeting, Aoun also noted that Lebanon was keen on
maintaining the best relations with Arab countries, saying, “Lebanon cannot
be [used as] an arena for interference into the concerns of any Arab
country.”
Election Day security measures in place: Army chief
The Daily Star/May 03/18/BEIRUT: Lebanese Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun said
Thursday his forces were aiming to “prevent the exploitation of delicate
conditions that the country is going through,” as Lebanon gears up for its
first parliamentary elections in nine years amid heightened security. Aoun
also warned the military against “being dragged into provocations” as
Election Day – now just three days away – draws nearer. The Army commander’s
comments, released in an official statement from the Army, come as thousands
of polling station employees cast their ballots across Lebanon Thursday in
an early vote preceding the general election slated for May 6. Our country
“is preparing to enter the elections ... in all Lebanese regions,” Aoun said
while speaking of security preparations Thursday, though he did not provide
details of the particular procedures that had been put in place.
“The appropriate measures have been taken to keep pace with this national
event, especially in terms of providing citizens with security, to enable
them to move and express their opinions at the ballot boxes in an atmosphere
of freedom, tranquility and democracy,” Aoun said. Aoun has asserted in
recent days the Army’s neutrality regarding the elections, saying in a
statement last Friday that his forces were at “one distance from many
different parties and candidates.” “[The Army’s] only concern is to preserve
security and stability both before and during the election process.”
Lebanon Polling Station Employees Cast Ballots
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/Thousands of polling station
employees began casting their ballots on Thursday, three days ahead of the
countrywide parliamentary elections. Polling stations maintained a “calm and
organized atmosphere,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The polls are set to close at 7:00 pm, NNA said. On Wednesday, Interior
Minister Nohad al-Mashnouq said during a press conference following a
meeting with security officials in Baalbeck that he had given clear
instructions to security forces to remain neutral. The country has not held
a parliamentary poll since 2009. Sunday’s elections will be the first under
a new law based on proportional representation under which voters will
choose one list of allied candidates, as well as a preferred candidate from
among them. The law also allows Lebanese living abroad to vote.
During his press conference, Mashnouq mentioned the expatriate voting that
took place over the weekend, calling the preliminary overseas polling a
"huge success that we must learn from and carry out on the same level inside
Lebanon."
Rabat: We Weren't Pressured by Other Countries to Sever Ties with Iran
Rabat - Algiers - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/Morocco accused Iran
on Tuesday of providing military support to the Polisario Front and denied
that its decision to sever diplomatic relations with Tehran was the result
of pressure from some countries. The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a
statement that following Morocco’s decision to cut off diplomatic relations
with Iran, “some circles claimed, without any arguments, that the Kingdom
made this decision under pressure from some countries.” The statement added
that Morocco was among the few Islamic countries that normalized ties with
Iran, when the Moroccan ambassador returned to his post in Tehran in
November 2016, while Tehran’s crisis with some Arab and Western countries
was at its peak. It also said that Morocco has shown in a number of regional
and international crises that its positions were taken independently, in
full conformity with its principles and with its own assessment. On Tuesday,
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told reporters that his country
would close its embassy in Tehran and would expel the Iranian ambassador to
Rabat. He said that Iran and the Lebanese “Hezbollah” were supporting
Polisario by training and arming its fighters, via the Iranian embassy in
Algeria. The ministry stressed that the Moroccan decision was not in any way
against Iranian and Lebanese citizens, who are not involved in “such
hostilities, which are committed by Hezbollah in collusion with the
Polisario Front and with the blessing of Iran.”Meanwhile, the Iranian
embassy in Algiers said in a statement that it “categorically denies
Moroccan allegations about its relationship with the Polisario
activities.”“The accusations are false and the [embassy] confirms its
commitment to exercise its legal and natural role in consolidating and
deepening the good relations between the two brotherly countries, Iran and
Algeria,” the statement said. The Algerian foreign ministry has summoned the
Moroccan ambassador in the wake of the recent measures.
Berri Says 'Shiite Duo' MPs to 'Defend
Coexistence, Fight Corruption'
Naharnet/May 03/18/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday urged a
massive turnout in the upcoming parliamentary elections, saying the MPs of
his AMAL Movement and its ally Hizbullah will “defend coexistence” and
“fight corruption” after being elected to the new parliament. “Be great in
your democracy the same as you were great in your resistance,” Berri said in
a call to voters three days before the parliamentary polls, the first that
Lebanon organizes in nine years. “You are asked to participate heavily in
this fateful event and to vote for the Hope and Loyalty lists,” the Speaker
added. He said the MPs of the two Shiite parties will express their
electorate's aspirations and hopes and will “defend unity, coexistence, the
rise of the state of institutions and equal opportunities.”They will also
“fight corruption and preserve the army-people-resistance equation of
strength,” Berri went on to say.
“They will be lawmakers for the sake of entire Lebanon and they will work on
preserving the dignity of the human, liberating the land and defending
sovereignty,” the Speaker added.
Hariri Hits Back at Nasrallah over Terror
Support Remarks
Naharnet/May 03/18/Prime Minister and al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad
Hariri on Thursday snapped back at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,
who has accused his movement of supporting terrorist groups.
“Days ago, al-Mustaqbal Movement was accused of backing Daesh (Islamic State
group) and the terrorist groups. This is a totally baseless accusation,
because we are the ones who rescued the country, offered martyrs and stood
in the face of Daesh before anyone else did,” Hariri said during an
electoral rally.
“Al-Mustaqbal Movement is the movement of moderation and it has protected
the country. Had someone other than al-Mustaqbal Movement and Saad Hariri
been in power, the country would have descended into the abyss,” the premier
noted.
He added: “Accordingly, Hizbullah has no right to accuse us of funding
extremism, seeing as if someone is funding extremism, it would be Hizbullah
itself, through its actions and behavior.”Nasrallah had on Tuesday accused
Mustaqbal and the Lebanese Forces of “having ties” to the terrorist groups
that had been entrenched in the outskirts of some eastern border towns.
Cabinet Hails Lebanese Expat Vote 'Achievement'
Naharnet/May 03/18/The Lebanese government convened on Thursday to discuss
several items on the agenda, as the ministers hailed what they described as
“achievement” that allowed Lebanese expatriates to cast their votes from
abroad in the country’s general elections. The ministers praised the
Lebanese expat vote that took place for the first time from abroad on April
27 and 29, as they discussed other items on the agenda, the National News
Agency said. They have collectively hailed the “achievement” that paved way
for Lebanese expats to practice their constitutional right.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil
meanwhile presented a joint report to the Cabinet detailing the voting
operation.
As for other issues on the agenda, Minister of Social Affairs Pierre Bou
Assi said in a statement he read to reporters after the meeting: “The
Cabinet has approved to appoint 14 employees to 14 vacant posts at the
Economic and Social Council.”
Mustaqbal-Ahbash Dispute Erupts into Gunfire in
Beirut
Naharnet/May 03/18/An elections-related dispute escalated into gunfire
Thursday in Beirut's Tariq al-Jedideh area. The National News Agency said
the clash between al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Association of Islamic
Charitable Projects (al-Ahbash) broke out when an electoral convoy belonging
to al-Ahbash was roaming the area's Hamad street. “When the convoy passed by
an office belonging to al-Mustaqbal Movement, the clash erupted and
escalated into gunfire,” NNA said. “An army patrol
immediately arrived on the scene and worked on containing the clash,” the
agency added. MTV meanwhile said stones were hurled and knives were used
during the clash, adding that several people from both sides were wounded in
the incident. The capital Beirut has witnessed several electoral clashes in
recent weeks. All clashes pitted supporters of al-Mustaqbal against others
loyal to rival electoral lists. Al-Mustaqbal Movement later issued a
statement distancing itself from the clash. It said its electoral office in
Burj Abi Haidar was attacked after a clash pitting supporters of an al-Ahbash
candidate against residents of the Tariq al-Jedideh area. The movement said
the clash was sparked by “the behavior of some of those who participated in
the rally” of al-Ahbash in Tariq al-Jedideh.A spokesman for al-Ahbash
meanwhile confirmed that the Association's office in Qasqas was attacked by
stone-hurling Mustaqbal supporters.
Israeli Spy Device Found in Southern Town
Naharnet/May 03/18/An Israeli spy device was found Thursday in a southern
Lebanese town, state-run National News Agency reported. “The Lebanese Army
found an aerial reconnaissance device belonging to the Israeli enemy in the
outskirts of the town of Touline in Marjeyoun district,” NNA said. The
device was transported to a military post for inspection, the agency added.
Israeli spy devices are frequently discovered in south Lebanon.
Free Rides on May 6, Uber Unveils Election Day
Promo Code
Naharnet/May 03/18/Following its social elections day initiative launched
few weeks ago, Uber, the leading ride-sharing technology that connects
drivers with riders at the push of a button, announced today the related
promo code that will allow users to benefit from free rides on Lebanese
elections day.
Upon entering the promo code (Sawwet18) on Uber’s mobile app, citizens will
avail of free rides around Beirut, Metn, and Baabda on May 6, to get to
their polling stations and cast their ballots.
Uber’s decision to take part in this important day comes to further anchor
the commitment of a company that has always strived to make a positive
change in the communities it serves. Through this initiative, Uber aims at
contributing in a smoother voting process, limiting traffic jam around the
polling stations saving voters the hassle of finding nearby parking lots.
The company hopes this will further encourage Lebanese citizens to take part
in the first parliamentary elections since 2009 and express their right.
It’s not the first time Uber demonstrates the important role of
technology in regards to social issues. The company had launched several
initiatives in the past, among which the #UberRecycle initiative in response
to the garbage crisis erupted in Lebanon in July 2015.Regional General
Manager for Uber in the Middle East, Mr. Anthony Khoury considered that
“this initiative is an opportunity to emphasize the positive impact of
technology on our city. We pride ourselves to be trend-setters in that
field, specifically at this crucial elections momentum, by making our
platform accessible to all Lebanese” It’s worth
mentioning that the promotion will cover the areas of Beirut, Metn
(stretching to Mansourieh, Mtayleb, Dbayeh) and Baabda, and will include two
free rides up to $7 per ride credit on each.
How does it work?
- Download the Uber app
- Enter the promo code (Sawwet18)
- Request a ride to and from your polling location
- Enjoy your free ride from 7am to 7pm, knowing that each ride cannot exceed
the value of $7.
Electoral Supervisory Committee Reminds of
‘Binding’ Pre-Election Silence
Naharnet/May 03/18/Head of the Electoral Supervisory Committee, Judge Nadim
Abdul Malak reminded parliamentary hopefuls to observe the period of
pre-election silence in accordance with the law ahead of Sunday’s general
elections, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.
The campaign silence allows a period for voters to reflect on events before
casting their votes. Abdul Malak pointed out to Article 78 of the electoral
law which stipulates that “starting 12:00 a.m. on the day before elections,
until the closing of ballot box, media outlets are prohibited from
broadcasting any declaration or direct electoral promotion, except for
sounds and/or images that are difficult to avoid during direct coverage of
the polls.”On polling day, media coverage is limited to the transmission of
the actual electoral process on the ground.
During election silence, no active campaigning by the candidates is allowed.
Often polling is also banned. The silence is generally legally enforced.
Lebanon launches its legislative elections on Sunday in 15 electoral
districts.
This time, the country is holding the elections based on a complex
proportional representation system replacing a majoritarian winner-takes-all
system.
Polling Station Employees Cast Early Vote
Naharnet/May 03/18/Thousands of polling station employees started casting
their votes on Thursday in an early election, two days before the country
launches its first legislative elections in nine years on Sunday. Polling
stations opened at 7:00 a.m. for employees assigned as polling station heads
and polling station clerks, said the National News Agency. 14,000 employees
are scheduled to vote today, before the polling stations close at 7:00 p.m.
Observers from the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) were
seen standing inside the polling stations in different voting districts.
Governor of the South, Mansour Daou, praised the state’s measures ensuring a
calm electoral process, and said: “Sidon Serail is fully prepared for
today’s and Sunday’s election,” urging people to “practices their
constitutional right."
For his part, North Lebanon Governor Ramzi Nohra said: “The security
situation is under control and no one will be allowed to violate the laws in
force and undermine security."He explained “the ballot boxes will be
transferred to the Banque du Liban under strict security when the voting
closes at 7 p.m.”Lebanon will hold its general elections based on a complex
proportional representation system replacing a majoritarian winner-takes-all
system. Lebanese expats, who cast their votes from abroad for the first time
in Lebanese history, have also cast early votes late in April.
Candidacy, conflict and territorial claims: Lebanon’s election posters
India Stoughton/The National/May 03/2018
What Lebanon’s election campaign posters reveal about the country’s complex
political system
In the weeks running up to May 6, the date of the first parliamentary
elections to be held in Lebanon for nine years, walls, billboards and the
sides of buildings all over the country have become foot-soldiers in a
silent battle.
Election posters are affixed to private balconies, the walls of derelict
buildings, the sides of bridges and the facades of skyscrapers still under
construction, some towering up to 10 storeys high. Posters are prominently
displayed at major urban intersections and along the coastal highway, where
people from across the country are likely to see them, reflecting the fact
that Lebanese citizens are required to vote in the district where their
birth was registered, rather than where they live. “If you’re a candidate
you put your posters where you are running but also where your voters are
potentially living,” says Ammar Abboud, a political scientist and co-founder
of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections.
The Cain and Abel law
Although at first sight most of these posters are unremarkable – and
occasionally unintentionally comic – collectively they provide insight into
the nuances of an election complicated by a convoluted new law and
characterised by unlikely alliances between parties and candidates
determined to exploit the system.
Most election posters feature a headshot of the candidate standing for
office, accompanied by a name, a small logo denoting the candidate’s party
or list, and occasionally a simple campaign slogan. Little attention has
seemingly been given to design or originality, beyond the colour palettes
that candidates use to associate themselves with a particular party.
The prevalence of individual posters is a departure and reflects the new
electoral law. Combining proportional representation with Lebanon’s complex
religious system, whereby a certain number of seats are allotted to each
sect, the new law means that voters will be asked to vote not only for a
list consisting of an alliance of candidates from different sects and
parties, but also to express a preference for one candidate on their chosen
list.
In Arabic, voters have started referring to the new system as “the Cain and
Abel law”, says Lokman Slim, an activist, political commentator and the
founder of Hayya Bina, an organisation set up during the 2005 elections to
promote citizen involvement in politics. This reference to the biblical
fratricide reflects the way the preferential vote pits candidates on the
same list against each other. The prevalence of individual posters is “a
literal reflection of the electoral law with its preferential vote”, he
says.
Some of the independent candidates who have banded together to form lists in
an alliance known as the Tahalouf Watani (National Coalition), however, are
bucking the trend.
Many of them are part of a civil society movement that grew out of the
anti-government protests held amid the rubbish crisis in 2015 and have based
their platforms on a series of liberal reforms, including human rights and
environmental improvements.
Muscle flexing
In the Beirut I district, comprising the Christian east of the city, the
Kollouna Watani (We Are All National) list, made up of candidates linked to
civil society groups including You Stink, LiBaladi and the Sabaa Party, is
one of the few to have produced collective posters, capturing the candidates
standing shoulder to shoulder in a show of solidarity. Some of the
candidates, such as television presenter Paula Yacoubian, running with the
Sabaa Party, have also produced individual posters targeting the
preferential vote. By contrast, politicians associated with entrenched
political dynasties are focusing on self-promotion. In the Beirut
neighbourhood of Tariq Al Jadideh, a Sunni stronghold in the Beirut II
district, portraits of Prime Minister and leader of the Future Movement Saad
Hariri stare down from buildings and bridges. On the motorway heading south,
posters of Parliament Speaker and head of the Amal Movement Nabih Berri are
displayed near election posters for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose
troops have been fighting alongside Hezbollah in Syria.
Posters aggrandising leaders fall into a long tradition stretching back
before war time, according to academic Zeina Maasri. In her 2009 book, Off
the Wall: Political Posters of the Lebanese Civil War, she tells how the
Arab tradition of the za’im, or leader, is part of a historical model
whereby political allegiance is linked more to individuals than to
organisations.
This is evidenced in the election posters that play on family dynasties.
Many of Saad Hariri’s posters include a portrait of his father, former prime
minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005. A controversial banner
in Beirut’s Ashrafieh district, meanwhile, features a portrait of Bashir
Gemayel, a Lebanese Forces leader during the civil war who was assassinated
in 1982, alongside his famous speech calling for Syrians to leave Lebanon.
Originally made in reference to the Syrian occupation, it resonates very
differently amid the current refugee crisis. Portraits of his son, Nadim
Gemayel, the incumbent Kataeb party candidate in Beirut, cover walls all
over the east of the city. Maasri describes political posters as “symbolic
sites of struggle” – a tool used to legitimise political messages and lay
claim to certain neighbourhoods. “It is a form of marking territory
spatially – on the street, in public spaces,” she says.
Slim agrees that election posters are a way of asserting power and
dominance. “When you have these huge posters in large quantities, it’s a
kind of muscle flexing, more than anything else,” he says, adding that they
tend to be more prominent in districts where the outcome is uncertain. “It’s
where the demarcation lines are deep or when you need to encourage voters to
go to the polling station.”
In the run-up to Sunday’s election, campaign posters have been torn down and
burned and have even led to physical confrontation.
Popularity contest or battle of ideologies?
On April 22, Ali Al Amin, an independent Shiite candidate running against a
Hezbollah-Amal alliance in south Lebanon was putting up campaign posters in
his village when he was beaten by a group of Hezbollah supporters and ended
up in hospital. Later the same day, supporters of rival Druze parties were
involved in an altercation over electoral posters in Choueifat, south of
Beirut. Machine-guns were fired into the air before the army arrived to
break up the confrontation.
Why Hezbollah will be paying close attention to Sunday's elections in
Lebanon
“The culture of posters by political parties – especially armed political
parties – doesn’t permit any alternative or any dissent being expressed. Any
poster that is not theirs is an affront to them,” says Abboud. “In other
areas, where the dominant faction is not that dominant, there is more of a
balance. You tend to see various posters, which could sit side by side.”
The incidences of violence reveal the tensions bubbling beneath what – on
the surface – is an unusually bland visual campaign, more of a popularity
contest than a battle of ideologies. In the absence of the clear political
divide that characterised the last two elections, parties have formed
diverse alliances of convenience in different districts, making it difficult
for candidates to criticise other parties or to express strong opinions
about the election’s contentious issues.
A new discourse
“I made an effort to look [to see] if any of the candidates, be they
individuals or parties, talked about the refugee issue. This is totally
absent,” says Slim. “Regarding the arms of Hezbollah, it’s almost absent…
People are less interested in big issues and much more interested in
day-to-day issues.
“I would say that the political discourse is becoming more and more casual.
It’s departing from the formal language… to messages which are much easier
to be seized by the public, and sometimes they try to be funny… They are no
longer talking about blood, about truth, about justice – all these concepts
which were used in 2005 and a bit in 2009.”
At the same time, the growth of the civil society movement has influenced
the campaigns of entrenched politicians and parties. “Everyone is taking
ownership of the slogans that the so-called civil society promoted in 2015,”
says Slim. “For example, the main slogan, ‘We need to fight corruption’.
This wasn’t part of the Lebanese discourse… What’s interesting is that
politicians are appropriating the slogans of those who should be their foes,
and I think this is the evil genius of the Lebanese politicians, that they
can turn things upside down.”
The gender imbalance in visual campaigning
An analysis of election posters is also revealing when it comes to the role
of female candidates. A total of 86 women are standing for election this
year, alongside 511 men, a significant increase on the 2009 elections, which
featured 12 female candidates.
The dominance in the number and scale of election posters featuring male
candidates, however, supports Abboud’s theory that many established parties
are fielding female candidates as a token gesture, while intending male
candidates to win the available seats.
“Unfortunately, the increase in women’s candidacy is not an indication of
the decrease in macho behaviour in the political system,” he says.
“Actually, it’s an indication of a big increase in the macho culture,
because in their minds – ‘We’ll put women in the list because they are less
of a competitor pertaining to the preferential vote than men… It’s good for
a poster and she doesn’t represent a danger to me later on when we are
competing for the preferential vote.’”
The imbalance in visual campaigning may also be symptomatic of the disparity
in funding available to established male politicians – many of whom are
millionaires in their own right – and first-time female and independent
candidates, some of whom have resorted to crowdfunding to raise money for
poster campaigns and work on social media outreach. “The new law does not
place adequate limits on campaign spending, skewing the balance in favour of
traditional political parties and leaders with greater resources,” says Mona
Khneisser, a researcher at the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares
Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.
Slim estimates that the total amount spent on campaigning exceeds $700
million [Dh2.6bn]. Wandering the streets of Beirut, where enormous posters
bearing the smiling faces of candidates hang from walls riddled with bullet
holes on buildings that have stood derelict since the civil war, the irony
of this kind of expenditure in a country with struggling infrastructure and
debts of almost $80 billion is hard to miss. No wonder so many of these
slogans on billboards around the city evoke the same keywords: loyalty,
corruption, change.
https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/candidacy-conflict-and-territorial-claims-lebanon-s-election-posters-1.726902
Lebanon election 2018:
A bloody history that encapsulates the country's woes
Arthur MacMillan/The National/May 03/18
When the dealmaking begins after Sunday’s elections, one party will remain
frozen out of government
For a country whose modern political history is written in blood, perhaps no
family has suffered as much tragedy as the Gemayels.
The name is synonymous with Lebanon’s Maronite Christian community and the
civil war that tore the nation apart between 1975 and 1990. The patriarch,
Pierre Gemayel, an opponent of France’s mandate over Lebanon, founded the
Phalange political party in 1936, advocating for an independent state, free
from foreign control. He did so in reaction to the formation of the Syrian
Socialist Party, created years earlier to try and influence Lebanon towards
the interests of Damascus.
Since independence in 1943, he has been regarded by all Lebanese as a
founder of the republic.
His son, Bachir Gemayel, commander of the Christian militias, was elected
president in August 1982, only to be assassinated nine days before his
official inauguration. The bomb in Beirut that killed him also left 25
others dead. The killers, Syrian nationalists, were sentenced to death in
absentia only last year by a court in Beirut. The judge said they had
committed an act of terrorism that derailed efforts to stabilise the country
which were coming to fruition at the time, under the president elect. An
assassination attempt two years earlier had failed; he was not in his car
when a bomb targeted it. But his 18-month-old daughter, Maya, was, and died.
Today in Achrafieh, the Beirut neighbourhood in which his father was killed,
Nadim Gemayel’s political office is emblazoned with memorials. One large
wartime photograph carries the caption, "Le President Martyr Bachir Gemayel
1947-1982."
It is difficult to avoid wondering why politics would appeal, after so much
loss, and with Lebanon again in the maelstrom of a fight among outside
powers for control.
“Passion,” comes the reply, when asked why on Sunday he will try to return
to parliament in the country’s first legislative elections since he took
office in 2009, then aged 26. “At stake are the same things we stood for
nine years ago: independence, freedom and sovereignty.”
Nadim was only four months old when his father was killed. He entered
parliament three years after another family figure – Pierre Amine Gemayel,
an MP widely expected to become president – was assassinated. Lebanon’s
constitution says the head of state must be a Maronite. Nadim’s cousin, Sami
Gemayel, leads the Kataeb Party, a successor to the Phalange, that they both
represent. But their influence has diminished in recent years, with the rise
of Hezbollah, the Shiite militia and political party currently dominant in
Lebanese politics.
Some prominent Maronites have struck deals with Hezbollah – the current
president Michel Aoun, founder of the Free Patriotic Movement took office in
2016 among them.
That party is now led by Mr Aoun’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, the foreign
minister who has twice failed to become an MP but is considered likely to be
elected on Sunday.
In contrast, the Gemayels and their supporters stand outside the
increasingly fractured inner circle that rules Lebanon. They say there will
be no compromise, as long as Hezbollah retains its arsenal of weapons
outside the authority of the Lebanese state.
“There is a group that is completely affiliated to Iran, to Syria, that
includes Hezbollah, Amal, Aoun and all his team,” Mr Gemayel said, referring
to the present government.
“These are the people who want the influence of Iran and Syria to control
Lebanon, under their vision of dictatorship. This is the main problem.”
A new electoral law has made it difficult to predict the outcome of Sunday’s
polls. But it is accepted that no party will win outright, meaning renewed
manoeuvring between Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement, a
grouping collectively known as March 8. A list of independents are also
expected to back Hezbollah, which could push them collectively toward 65
seats, and a parliamentary majority.
As such, the Kataeb Party finds itself isolated. Yet, to Gemayel, this is
for the right reasons.
“Unfortunately, they have the power of arms, of assassination, and
throughout the years have killed all the people and all the symbols of
freedom, such as Pierre Gemayel, Gebran Tueni, like Mohamad Chatah,” he said
of March 8.
“They killed them, one after one. So this created a kind of fear, throughout
the entire sovereign entities. So some of them surrendered. Some of them
changed and at the end it has weakened our state.”
Lebanon is never far from political crisis. In November last year the Prime
Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, vanished from Beirut only to turn up
in Riyadh and announce his resignation, following condemnation from Saudi
Arabia, his longtime backers, of Hezbollah.
He later returned to Beirut and rescinded it.
Since December 2016, Mr Hariri, like Mr Aoun, has also had a partnership
with Hezbollah in government. But the prime minister’s rival election
grouping, known as March 14, is expected to lose seats to Amal, potentially
bringing uncertainty about whether their political understanding can hold.
The ramifications of the new electoral law mean that every political group’s
numbers may change but the powerbrokers will not.
Such trading over seats, said Mr Gemayel, is likely to play into Hezbollah’s
hands.
“We stand against the entire hegemony of Hezbollah, which has taken the
presidency and has imposed Michel Aoun after two years of vacancy. Hezbollah
has taken the government and imposed itself, controlling all the important
institutions and ministries, including defence and justice,” he said.
“Now remains the third legal entity: the parliament. With this law,
Hezbollah will obtain 45 per cent, and along with Aoun and their other
stakeholders, they’ll have 55 per cent, and full control of the state
entities. This, for me, is unacceptable.”
Pressed on how there can be any change to the current situation in Lebanon,
Mr Gemayel was hesitant. But the mood among many Lebanese is that it is not
a matter of if, but when, another war may affect the country. It is the
inability of the Lebanese citizenry to dictate their own future, he says,
that has bred the apathy that is expected to see less than half the
electorate vote this weekend.
Asked about whether a stronger stance from Saudi Arabia against Hezbollah,
and an offer of greater international engagement, would change the current
situation, he said he and his colleagues, estimated to take only three to
five seats on Sunday, would work with anyone to achieve goals of security,
economic development but, above all, sovereignty, whenever the time comes.
“The Christian DNA is based on sovereignty. After 2005, all these martyrs
who have been assassinated, they stood against tyranny. I don’t know what
can break the current equilibrium, but we cannot have a strong state while a
Kalashnikov is pointed at our head.”
Outsiders face uphill battle in Lebanese elections
Gulf News/May 03/18
Political outsiders form ‘We Are All Patriots’ coalition hoping to provide
an alternative to country’s traditional powers
Beirut: With campaigning in full swing for Lebanon’s first national election
in nine years, parliament candidate Laury Haytayan was trying to rope in
passers-by with her message: She and other political outsiders are running
in a new coalition that aims to be an alternative to the country’s
traditional powers.
Some were clearly reluctant to engage, but that didn’t stop the
irrepressible Haytayan.
“Hello! Are you registered to vote in Beirut?” she asked as she canvassed
the capital’s Ashrafieh neighbourhood one recent afternoon.
“That’s no problem,” said Haytayan, as she handed out brochures about the
coalition, Kulna Watani — ‘We Are All Patriots,’ in Arabic. Explaining that
it was a break with the politicians who have run Lebanon for decades since
the 1975-1990 civil war, she urged them to vote for it in their own
districts.
Watani is hoping to ride a wave of discontent over the country’s failing
public services, its daily water and power cuts, and its pervasive
corruption to create an independent bloc in parliament.
But short on money and campaigning to an electorate doubtful that change is
even possible, it is unlikely to win more than a handful of seats in
Sunday’s parliamentary election.
“We are going to the streets and meeting lots of people who say to us, ‘We
can’t change anything in Lebanon,’” the 42-year-old Haytayan said. “Their
experience is right because every time they vote for the same individuals
and same people and same political class, because there was no alternative.
But today, we created an alternative.”
Their experience is right because every time they vote for the same
individuals and same people and same political class, because there was no
alternative.”
Pierre Choueiry, 27, said he agreed it was time for a change, but wouldn’t
promise his vote. He said he thought the Lebanese Forces, a former Christian
militia during the civil war, was needed to protect Lebanon’s Christian
population.
“We hope one day we can have someone like you with us,” he told Haytayan.
Philippe Aoun, who greeted Haytayan with a smile at his hair salon, said he
was voting for the party of incumbent President Michel Aoun. He said he was
confident Aoun, who has been in office for 18 months, would steer the
country out of its many crises. The two are not related.66
candidates have been fielded by Kulna Watani in elections
Fielding 66 candidates in nine of Lebanon’s 15 election districts, Watani is
the largest coalition of political outsiders and independents to run for
office since the civil war.
Many are civic activists who rose to prominence as organisers of protests
over a 2015 trash collection crisis that left garbage in the streets for
months and laid bare the extent of the public sector mismanagement plaguing
Lebanon. And many were active well before that, struggling to chip away at
the complex political patronage networks that have kept the country’s civil
war-era warlords and their sons in power since 1990.
Other candidates are businessmen, engineers and former journalists like
Haytayan, who used to be a reporter on a 1990s TV political news programme
that has since gone off air. Today she is a manager at the Natural Resource
Governance Institute, an international non-profit group.
Haytayan has made a run for parliament twice before, in 2013 and 2014, but
those votes were cancelled by politicians who extended their own mandates,
citing security concerns caused by the war in neighbouring Syria.128
are the total seats in Lebanon’s national assembly
Despite a climate ripe for change in this election, polls indicate the
Watani coalition’s only hope for victory is in a small Beirut district
represented by eight seats in the 128-seat national assembly, according to
political analyst Abdo Sa’ad, the director of the Beirut Centre for Research
and Information.
Aware of the challenges, Haytayan and other Watani candidates have adjusted
their expectations.
“There will be pressure on the incumbents for them to change their ways,”
even if few political outsiders get in, Haytayan said.
Sunday’s election is the first since the reorganisation of Lebanon’s
electoral map, which consolidated 23 districts into 15 and awarded seats by
the share of the vote received, instead of on the principle of
winner-takes-all.
Politicians sold it as a more flexible map. But the biggest winner appears
to be Hezbollah and its allies, who look set to scoop up some of the seats
lost by Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri’s coalition.
For outsiders and independents to win big, there would have to be a single
electoral district for the whole country, where their influence can’t be
diluted through gerrymandering, said Beirut Centre for Research and
Information’s Sa’ad.
Facing political dynasties that have raised fortunes through political
deal-making, the Watani coalition and another list of political outsiders,
Sawt Al Nas, or ‘The Voice of the People,’ are finding themselves hopelessly
outspent in the contest for airtime and votes.
The main news channels, which once showered the 2015 garbage pick-up
demonstrations with favourable coverage, are now charging candidates tens of
thousands of dollars for interviews.
Just registering a candidacy costs $5,300 in fees.
And many voters are expecting to be compensated for their vote by
establishment candidates promising $200 and sometimes many times more, Sa’ad
said.
“In Lebanon, we have nothing called fair and equal. Our elections are for
the rich,” said Naamet Badr Al Deen, 37, a candidate for Sawt Al Nas and a
former leader of the 2015 demonstrations over the trash crisis.
Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on May 03-04/18
King Salman, Moroccan king, discuss
coordinating efforts to contain Iran threats
Arab News/May 03/18
Morocco on Tuesday announced that it was severing ties with Iran after
finding that Tehran was arming and training Polisario separatists via
Lebanon's Hezbollah militia
In addition to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have also expressed their
support to Morocco
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Morocco's King Mohammed VI spoke on
Thursday to emphasize the need to unite their positions and coordinate
efforts to counter the aggressive tendency of the Iranian regime.King Salman
called the Moroccan king and confirmed that Saudi Arabia stands with Morocco
"against what could jeopardize its security, stability and territorial
integrity," the Saudi Press Agency said. "The two
leaders underscored the importance of unifying their positions and
coordinating the efforts to confront the aggressive tendency of the Iranian
regime, its intervention as well as that of its agents in the affairs of
Arab countries and its policies aiming at destabilizing the security of the
Arab world," said the report. Morocco on Tuesday
said it was cutting ties with Iran over Tehran’s support for the Polisario
front, which is seeking independence from Rabat.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Morocco will close its embassy
in Tehran and will expel the Iranian ambassador in Rabat after finding out
that the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been training Polisario
militants. Morrocco also accused the Algerian government of being complicit
with Polisario militants and Hezbollah. Bourita had said that "a first
shipment of weapons was recently" sent to the Polisario Front via an
"element" at the Iranian embassy in Algiers. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and
Bahrain have expressed their support to Morocco's move to sever its ties
with Iran, whom the Gulf allies have accused of causing chaos and
instability in the region by arming militias such as the Houthis in Yemen
and Shiite militias in Iraq. Iranian agents have also been accused of
inciting Shiites in Kuwait and Bahrain into committing acts of sedition.
Iran Says Will Quit Nuclear Deal if U.S. Walks
Away
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 03/18/Iran warned on Thursday that it will
quit a landmark nuclear deal with world powers if President Donald Trump
pulls the United States out of the accord. "If the United States withdraws
from the nuclear deal, then we will not stay in it," Ali Akbar Velayati,
foreign policy adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted
as saying by the state television website. Trump has threatened to abandon
the agreement when it comes up for renewal on May 12, calling it "insane."
Iran has always denied it sought a nuclear weapon, insisting its atomic
program was for civilian purposes. Velayati warned
against any move to try to renegotiate the deal signed by Iran and six world
powers in 2015 curbing Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions
relief. "Iran accepts the nuclear agreement as it has been prepared and will
not accept adding or removing anything," he said. "Even if countries allied
with the United States, especially the Europeans, seek to revise the nuclear
agreement... one of our options will be withdrawing from the accord,"
Velayati added. Britain, France and Germany -- the
three European countries that signed the deal -- have repeatedly tried to
persuade Trump not to abandon it. French President Emmanuel Macron on
Wednesday reiterated his commitment to the accord but admitted that it
needed strengthening. "I don't know what the U.S. president will decide on
May 12," Macron said during a visit to Sydney. "I just want to say whatever
the decision will be, we will have to prepare such a broader negotiation and
a broader deal, because I think nobody wants a war in the region, and nobody
wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region," he said.
Hundreds Prepare to Exit Rebel Areas near
Damascus, Says State Media
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 03/18/Hundreds of rebels and civilians
prepared to leave Thursday from three districts south of Syria's capital,
state media said, under a negotiated withdrawal to secure the last
opposition holdouts of Damascus. The departures come two days after a
similar deal was reached to evacuate fighters once linked to Al-Qaeda from
Yarmuk, a Palestinian camp in southern Damascus. Syrian state news agency
SANA reported on Thursday that empty buses were entering the towns of Babila,
Yalda and Beit Saham, to be filled up with rebels and civilians who would
head to opposition-held parts of northern Syria. "Around 5,000 terrorists
and their families are expected to leave, fulfilling an agreement reached on
Sunday between the Syrian government and terrorist groups," the agency said.
It did not specify which rebel factions were among the evacuees, but Syria's
government refers to all armed opponents as "terrorists." The deal was
reached after "negotiations between figures from the three towns on one
side, and Russia and the regime on the other," according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. Those rebels who
wanted to leave for the north could do so, and those who wanted to stay
would abandon their weapons and have their status with the Syrian state
regularised. Beit Saham, Yalda, and Babila had for
several years fallen under a "reconciliation" agreement with the Syrian
state, meaning they remained in rebel hands but a local ceasefire was
enforced. But after capturing the Eastern Ghouta rebel stronghold outside
Damascus last month, regime forces have sought to secure the entirety of the
capital and its surroundings with a blend of military operations and
negotiated withdrawals. They first seized control of other "reconciled"
towns east of Damascus, then began a military operation against Yarmuk. The
camp was mostly held by the Islamic State group but also had a small
presence of fighters from Al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate, Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham (HTS). Under military pressure, HTS fighters agreed to quit Yarmuk
with their families earlier this week. HTS said late Wednesday the deal saw
141 of its fighters reach northern Syria. In
exchange, it said, 18 wounded people and their relatives were allowed to
leave a pair of regime-controlled villages besieged by hardline rebels in
northwest Syria. That deal is still expected to see some 5,000 people leave
the two villages, Fuaa and Kafraya, according to SANA.
Merkel Calls for Discussion on Iran
Missile Program, Regional Role
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Iran’s missile program and
its political influence in Syria needed to be discussed, adding that this
was a widespread position in the European Union. Speaking to reporters in
Berlin, Merkel said it was important for Israel to quickly make the
information it has on Iran available to the International Atomic Energy
Agency. Reuters quoted her as saying that the nuclear deal with Iran should
not be canceled but its negotiating framework needed to be broadened. “We
will continue with our argumentation, namely keeping the JCPOA (nuclear
deal) plus expansion of the negotiating framework,” Merkel said. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave details on Monday of what he said was
evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, in a bid to encourage
the United States to pull out this month of the 2015 nuclear deal between
Iran and world powers. US President Donald Trump is reportedly poised to
scrap the agreement ahead of a May 12 deadline for Washington to renew its
support for the deal. European leaders, including French President Emmanuel
Macron, have been pressing Trump to strengthen rather than abandon the
three-year-old deal that took more than a decade to reach. "I don't know
what the US president will decide on May 12," Macron said Wednesday during a
two-day visit to Sydney, speaking alongside Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull.
Tehran Mobilizes Syria’s Kurds against
International Coalition
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May,
2018/Damascus and Tehran have begun mobilizing tribes and Kurds against the
US-led international coalition in northeast Syria, in parallel with letters
sent by Damascus to the Security Council against the alliance. Russia Today
quoted on Wednesday Iran’s Adviser for International Affairs Ali Akbar
Velayati as saying that the Syrian Kurdish tribes were fighting the United
States and would expel it from the area east of the Euphrates in northeast
Syria. “Tehran is confident that if the Americans did not come to their
senses and leave Syria, the Kurds will expel them,” he added.
Velayati’s comments came during his talks with representatives of Syrian
tribal sheikhs in Tehran. This coincided with a meeting between Chairman of
the Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy in the Iranian Shura
Council Alaeddin Boroujerdi and the head of the Syrian regime Bashar Assad.
“We will respond (to Israel) in the right place and time,” Boroujerdi said
at a press conference at the end of a visit to Damascus. “Iran’s military
presence in Syria was based on a request from the Syrian government,” he
stressed. On Sunday night, military bases were attacked in the cities of
Hama and Aleppo, regime media said, without specifying the source of the
missiles. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Israel could be
responsible for the strikes, pointing out that weapons were stored at the
targeted bases that were manned by Iranian forces. The strikes killed 26
pro-Damascus gunmen, most of them Iranians, according to the Observatory.
Meanwhile, regime media also reported that the Foreign Ministry addressed a
letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security
Council, saying the US-led international coalition “has committed a new
massacre against innocent Syrians.”“We call for ending the illegal presence
of the US and other foreign forces on Syrian territory and preventing the
United States from implementing its plans aimed at dividing Syria,” the
ministry said.
Exclusive: Iran Celebrates World Press Freedom Day with Regime-Imposed
Shackles
Tehran - Firaz Safai/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/Guarding press
freedoms, freeing detained journalists and establishing a journalists union
are promises Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made when running for a second
term in office. On World Press Freedom Day, progress on those promises is
harder to spot than ever. A long list of journalists and freedom speech
activists can rule out any effort exerted by Rouhani being fruitful. Human
rights activists shed light on a government crackdown on small town
journalists that go undocumented for the fact that they occur in rural
areas. Only months ago, journalists became the prime target in raids taking
place after conservatives took control over the board of founders and the
board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University. Ali Akbar Velayati, a top
adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on international affairs, now
heads the university’s board. The new board head began a far-reaching
screening of university-affiliated media outlets. Velayati’s campaign so far
saw the firing of over 30 journalists because of political alignments and
intellectual differences with the ultra-conservative regime led by Khamenei.
In contrast, journalists and the media industry cling tightly to their
profession despite facing security threats. Perhaps over half of media
workers don't have contracts or insurance, but are still devoted to the
practice. For this, journalists are fighting to reopen the national union
for journalists, a body that defends rights and provides health insurance
and pensions for press workers. Rouhani had pledged five years ago to
restore the Association of Iranian Journalists, but no license has been
issued so far to re-establish the body. The organization was created in 1997
at the onset of the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami. With the
inauguration of the presidency of ultra-hardline conservative Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the association faced systematic harassment from authorities,
which culminated in its shutdown in 2009. The media in Iran today is at a
crossway, either to be part of the pro-regime propaganda “machine” that
receives authority validation and financial support, like dozens of
newspapers and news agencies linked to the Revolutionary Guards, or possibly
face criminal charges in their pursuit of truth.
Birds’ Bring Down Russian Fighter Jet Off Syria,
2 Dead
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/Russia's Defense Ministry said
Thursday that one of its warplanes, an advanced multi-role fighter jet, has
crashed in the Mediterranean Sea off Syria and that both pilots aboard were
killed. State news agency Tass cited the ministry as saying the Su-30
crashed on Thursday morning while climbing after takeoff from the Russian
airbase at Hmeimim in Syria’s Latakia Province. The ministry said the plane
did not come under fire and that preliminary information indicates the crash
could have been caused by a bird being sucked into one of the plane's
engines. “According to preliminary information, the reason for the aviation
disaster could have been birds getting into the engine," it said. The most
recent acknowledged Russian military loss came when a transport plane
crashed on landing at the Hmeimim airbase in March, killing all 39 people on
board.
Bosnia Refuses to Extradite a Person 'Involved'
in Assassination of Hamas Official
Tunisia - Al Munji Saidani/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/The Bosnian
authorities have refused to extradite a person suspected of involvement in
the assassination of Tunisian national Mohamed Zaouari, a member of the
Palestinian Hamas Movement. Zaouari, a 49-year-old engineer and Tunisian
citizen, was murdered at the wheel of his car outside his house in Tunisia’s
second city, Sfax, in December 2016. Tunisia’s Prosecution Spokesman Sofiene
Al-Sliti said on Wednesday that one of the two Bosnian suspects was arrested
in Croatia, adding that the two people who carried out the assassination
were identified -- both were of Bosnian nationality. Al-Sliti noted that the
Tunisian judiciary has sent international letters rogatory to seven
countries in coordination with the Interpol, namely Turkey, Egypt, Cuba,
Croatia, Lebanon, Bosnia and Sweden. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Sliti
said that one of the perpetrators of the assassination was arrested on March
13, but the Bosnian state refused to extradite the main suspect, to the
Tunisian authorities, and justified its refusal by the fact that its laws
prevent the extradition of its nationals to other countries. Zaouari was
shot dead on December 15, 2016 in front of his home in the city of Sfax.
Security investigations conducted by the Ministry of the Interior revealed
that two persons were involved in the assassination. Hamas’ Ezzedine Al-Qassam
Brigades revealed that Zaouari was one of its members and a key component in
its weapons development, especially in the area of unmanned drones. The
brigade accused the Israeli Mossad service of being behind the
assassination.
Kuwaiti Government Stands Still During Vote of No Confidence Session
Kuwait - Mirza al-Khuwaildi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/The
Kuwaiti government easily passed Wednesday one of three obstacles during a
marathon session to discuss three interrogation requests. While Prime
Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak survived the questioning, both the
government and the speaker of the National Assembly seemed satisfied with
the outcome of the vote of confidence for Oil and Electricity Minister
Bakheet al-Rashidi and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind al-Sabeeh
on May 10. Following a 24-hour marathon session, which witnessed the
discussion of three government-directed interrogations, 10 lawmakers filed a
no-confidence motion against Rashidi and Sabeeh. Speaker of the National
Assembly Marzouq al-Ghanim said that the two ministers would not resign
during next week’s session. Ghanim told reporters the first no-confidence
request was submitted by MPs Abdul Wahab al-Babtain and Omar al-Tabtabaei
against Rashidi. A no-confidence motion has been filed against the minister
and the voting on the motion will take place during Thursday’s session on
May 10, Ghanim added. He said that if a request is submitted for the
formation of a commission of inquiry in this regard, then the issue will be
voted on at the same session. Meanwhile, Rashidi told the press on Wednesday
that he will continue working to make oil prices stable. He said he has no
intention of resigning before the vote of confidence session. The second
request was filed by MP Hamdan Azemi against the Prime Minister, and the
government submitted a request for a closed-door session followed by the
disciplinary procedures, which were announced at the session and approved by
a majority of MPs present. Ghanim said that following the session, no
request for non-cooperation was filed against the premier. The third
request, however, was submitted by MP Saleh Ashour against Sabeeh. In a
related issue, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah sent a cable to
the premier in which he praised his excellent democratic practice and
distinguished performance on the discussion sessions during the
interrogations. He also praised the MPs for showing the spirit of
responsibility and sound parliamentary practice within the framework of
their constitutional rights.
Turkey Hands over Baghdadi-Linked ISIS Leader to
Iraq
Baghdad - Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/A militant
commander, held in Baghdad, confessed on Wednesday having been in direct
contact with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He added that he met Baghdadi
in the summer of 2017 for the last time. Iraq’s judiciary announced that the
Central Criminal Court of Iraq, or CCCI, has upheld confessions given by the
detained ISIS official, whose name was not disclosed. He was first arrested
in Turkey and then handed over to Iraq following extensive Iraqi
intelligence efforts. Judge Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, in an official
statement, said the CCCI has issued the documented confessions of the
detained suspect, in which he admits affiliation with ISIS and meeting with
Baghdadi. Baghdadi disappeared after ISIS’ defeat in its main Syria and Iraq
strongholds. Many reports claimed his death, but none were confirmed. “The
arrest was made by virtue of joint efforts of Iraqi intelligence service and
the Turkish security services,” Birqdar declared. “The suspect confirmed
that the last meeting between them (Baghdadi and the suspect) was in July
last year,” Birqdar said. He added that the detainee was a member of the
general committee overseeing ISIS affairs after dividing the organization
into five “caliphates” in Iraq, the Levant, Africa, Europe and the Gulf. The
suspect also claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack which targeted
Iraq’s Al Tarmia town, located north of Baghdad, in the hopes of shaking up
national security prior to elections scheduled for next week.
Strategic and military experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that what happened in Al
Tarmia is a clear breach of security. “There is an imbalance, whether in the
nature of investigating intelligence efforts or the speed of response by the
security services,” said Dr. Moataz Mohieddin. “There are still sleeper
cells in these areas."
Bahrain Questions 37 Security Men Based on
Complaints from Prisoners, Detainees
Manama - Obeid Al Suhaimi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 3 May, 2018/Bahraini
concerned authorities have questioned 37 security men after complaints from
prisoners and detainees for maltreatment and excessive violence against
them. The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), a monitoring body that
investigates complaints by prisoners and detainees in security facilities,
disclosed legal violations in the case of citizens sentenced to death. This
prompted the Bahraini Attorney General to request the Minister of Justice to
revoke the death sentence and reopen the case file and trial. The SIU dealt
with 43 complaints during the first four months of 2018, involving torture,
maltreatment and excessive violence attributed to servicemen affiliated with
the public security. Judge and SIU member Mohammed Youssef al-Zebari said
that the panel had launched inquiries to investigate all the complaints.
Zebari said that the unit heard 50 complainants and 113 witnesses during the
same period, questioned 37 accused servicemen from the public security and
referred 10 complainants to medical examiner. Five other complainants were
referred to the SIU psychiatrist to examine them. The unit inquired into the
complaints filed by Hussein Ali Moussa and Mohammed Ramadhan Isa, who were
sentenced to death for killing a policeman and attempting to murder others
in a terrorist explosion. The unit demanded the retrial of the two convicts,
taking into account the new elements in the case. The Public Prosecutor
approved the proposal and referred the case to the Justice, Islamic Affairs
and Endowments Minister. The unit has also finished investigating two other
separate cases and referred two servicemen affiliated with the public
security to the relevant criminal court. The lower criminal court has also
acquitted a suspect accused of assaulting a complainant during his arrest.
It has also convicted 10 out of 13 public security affiliates and sentenced
them to six months in jail. The panel has also investigated complainant
filed by tenants at a rehabilitation center, who claimed that policemen
assaulted them physically. Punitive disciplinary measures were also taken
against three people accused of involvement in two separate cases. The unit
followed up the cases, which were referred to the military courts at the
Ministry of Interior.
Russian Fighter Jet
Crashes Off Syrian Coast; Both Pilots Killed
The Associated Press and Jack Khoury/Haaretz/May 03/2018/Putin is a main
ally of Assad and has bases in the coastal areas of Syria. Russia's Defense
Ministry said one of its fighter jets crashed off the coast of Syria
Thursday morning and that both pilots aboard were killed.
State news agency Tass cited the ministry as saying the Su-30 crashed while
climbing after takeoff from the Russian air base at Hemeimeem in Syria. The
ministry said the plane did not come under fire and that preliminary
information indicates the crash could have been caused by a bird being
sucked into one of the plane's engines. Russian President Vladimir Putin is
a main ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has bases in the coastal
areas of Syria, a stronghold of Assad. According to reports in the Russian
media last week, the Kremlin is planning to give Syria its advanced S-300
air defense system. The S-300 has become almost a byword over the last
decade for a strategic advantage, also sought by Iran to counter Israel’s
dominance in the air. For years, Israel has lobbied the Kremlin not to
supply the system to the Syrian regime. In an interview last week, Defense
Minister Avigdor Lieberman sent a message to the Kremlin: “One thing should
be clear – If someone fires on our planes, we will destroy them.”
*The Associated Press
Latest LCCC Bulletin
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on May 03-04/18
What
Did The Mossad Actually Get From Iran
بالحقيقة ماذا تمكن
الموساد من احضاره من إيران
By: Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/May 03/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64364/jerusalem-post-what-did-the-mossad-actually-get-from-iran-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%83%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AF/
What was actually presented, and second, how does it matter or not matter?
Everyone has an opinion about the importance or irrelevance of the secret
nuclear documents that the Mossad appropriated from Iran, but does anyone
have a clue as to what they are talking about? Do people know what it was
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually presented in his PowerPoint
presentation, what was really old news and what was clearly new? Let’s break
it down. First, what was actually presented, and second, how does it matter
or not matter? Based on a careful analysis of the slides and a comparison to
past IAEA reports, and without putting down the Mossad’s extraordinary
spy-craft achievement, the majority of the Mossad Iran documents presented
were from the period 1999-2003 – meaning not new.
The Amad program and Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh emphasized by
Netanyahu in slide 19 and other slides, appear in paragraphs 22-23 of the
IAEA’s December 2015 report summarizing Iran’s past nuclear activities.
Many of the other elements presented by Netanyahu could also be found in the
same IAEA report. Slide 24 about developing nuclear cores can be found in
paragraphs 33-35 of the report.
In Slide 25, when the prime minister explains that Iran was designing a
multipoint initiation (MPI) system – a system for multiple detonations of a
warhead – he is echoing paragraphs 41-46 of the report.
Likewise, Netanyahu rattled off a list of specific claims Iran made to the
IAEA that the new documents disproved.
Slide 37 showed the documents contradicted Iranian claims that they had not
done work conducted with MPI technology in making calculations related to
the hemisphere and geometry. But the IAEA had figured that out on its own in
paragraph 41.
The same is true about Slide 39 about hydronamic testing – testing the
impact of the compressive shock on a simulated core of a nuclear explosive
device – the IAEA said it recognized Iran had put obstacles in its way to
understanding its activities back in paragraphs 48-57.
Slide 23 in which the prime minister describes Iran’s development of a
nuclear weapons design, specifically implosion simulations, can be found in
paragraphs 58-62 of the report.
An impressive breakdowis and others are citing as old news where the new
twists could be quite important.
For example, Lewis is correct that an and comparison between Netanyahu’s
speech and past reports was done by top nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis from
the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Some of the comparison certainly dents the shine in part of Netanyahu’s
presentation.
BUT THERE ARE items that Lewnyone who read the IAEA report already knew from
paragraph 66 that Iran had performed “preparatory experimentation relevant
to testing a nuclear explosive device.” From this perspective, it might seem
that Netanyahu’s announcement that the treasure trove of secret Iran nuclear
documents shows five sites where Iran was considering testing a nuclear
device was also old news. But that misses the point.
Knowing that Iran was looking into nuclear test sites versus knowing the
exact locations of the five sites – two in the Semnan Region in the northern
center of the country and three in the Lot Desert in country’s central east
– are night and day different. Also, now Western intelligence agencies can
invest more in following suspicious developments at these sites. This was
new information.
Further, the prime minister’s presentation gave the specific number of five
warheads of 10 kilotons each as the Iranian goal. There is nothing small
about this information.
Experts have long debated whether Iran was looking to make one dirty bomb, a
full mature nuclear arsenal or something in between. This information
indicates that Iran’s nuclear weapons goals over the years, while dangerous,
were also modest – which is valuable to know for either diplomacy or any
strike on those capabilities.
In contrast, there are wide-ranging informed estimates about how many
nuclear weapons North Korea has and may want, but no one has a real clue.
There is another potentially important piece of information in Netanyahu’s
presentation.
Paragraphs 81 and 85 of the IAEA report contend that Iran continued aspects
of its nuclear weapons program between 2005 and 2009, but that these aspects
were “not a coordinated effort” like during the 1999-2003 period. They also
contend that there is no information about new Iranian nuclear activities
after 2009.
First, this IAEA determination is based on a limited view. Iranian ballistic
missile testing, which has continued after the 2015 nuclear deal since it
was left out of the agreement, can help Iran with the weaponization and
delivery of enriched uranium, but is not being looked at by the IAEA.
But beyond that, Netanyahu and an anonymous Israeli intelligence official
have added into the mix that the Mossad started following where Iran was
hiding the documents, which prove it lied about not pursuing nuclear
weapons, in February 2016.
Furthermore, they have said that the documents were moved and concealed at
the Shirobad district warehouse in southern Tehran in 2017.
No Israeli government official will explain why the files were moved
specifically then, but Netanyahu has proved that the Iranians concealed the
documents in multiple locations after they were supposed to have come clean
in 2015, and moved the files in 2017 to avoid detection.
None of this proves new violations of the 2015 deal, but this level of
organization undermines the idea that Iran’s nuclear efforts after 2003 were
not coordinated from the top.
Toward the end of the period covered by the nuclear deal, key restrictions
would expire if the IAEA formally reaches a “broader conclusion” that
Tehran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
The evidence presented by Netanyahu could impact this broader conclusion.
Also, it can indirectly impact whether the US and the EU affirm that the
limits on Iran’s nuclear program can be lifted as mandated under the deal’s
“sunset provisions,” or whether they must stay in place due to the lying.
Similarly, the prime minister presented a slide about integrating a nuclear
warhead to be placed on a Shahab-3 missile.
This is not new and comes up in paragraph 69 of the IAEA report.
But how one looks at that report and whether Iran can even attempt a claim
with a straight face that it is continuing to test ballistic missiles with
no thought about using them for nuclear weapons, is certainly impacted by
the details of Iran’s continued efforts to hide its program.
There are other possible reasons, besides a desire to develop nuclear
weapons, why Iran might hide its past activities.
But it is extremely incriminating.
The bottom line is that the lion’s share of what Netanyahu presented could
have been gleaned from the IAEA’s 2015 report. But some of the points he
added could influence key aspects of the nuclear deal if it continues, and
could influence the shape of the debate if the deal is nixed or fixed.
**click on the link below to enter the report page on the Jerusalem
Post..You can watch Netanyahu's presentation
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/What-did-the-Mossad-actually-get-from-Iran-553354?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=3-5-2018&utm_content=what-did-the-mossad-actually-get-from-iran-553354
Iran's Proxy Wars: The Four Battlegrounds Iran Uses
to Threaten Israel and the Middle East
حروب إيران بالوكالة:
الجبهات الأربعة التي تستعملها إيران لتهديد إسرائيل والشرق الأوسط
Haaretz/May 03/2018
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64368/haaretz-irans-proxy-wars-the-four-battlegrounds-iran-uses-to-threaten-israel-and-the-middle-east-%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8/
One of Donald Trump's main arguments for cancelling the Iran nuclear deal has
been Iran's role in devastating conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon
Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a proxy war for almost 40 years,
competing for regional supremacy from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon to Yemen.
U.S. President Donald Trump has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in its efforts to
counter Iran's influence in the region. On multiple occasions, Trump has cited
constraining Iran’s influence in the Middle East as cause for canceling the 2015
Iran nuclear deal, which he claims allows Iran to continue to terrorize the
region. French President Emmanuel Macron offered a proposal last week at the
White House to both save the Iran nuclear deal and address Trump’s issues with
the deal. Under Macron’s proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to
block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran’s
ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to
contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in battle for regional control as the Sunni
majority Saudis try to expand influence to match and overtake the Shi'ite
majority Iranians. Saudi Arabia has vowed to pursue nuclear weapons in the event
the Iranians restart their nuclear program.
Israel and the U.S. fear Iran could fall back on its regional militant allies or
proxies to retaliate against alleged air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, a
strategy Iran has used with great success since its ruinous 1980s war with Iraq.
After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the U.S. blamed
Iran for training Iraqi militants to build so-called explosively formed
projectiles, which penetrated armored vehicles to maim and kill soldiers. Tehran
denied doing this. Western nations and U.N. experts also say Iran has supplied
the Shiite rebels now holding Yemen’s capital with weapons, from small arms to
ballistic missiles, something Tehran also denies.
Lebanon
Iran’s greatest proxy achievement is Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and
political organization that pushed occupying Israeli forces out of Lebanon in
2000. Since then, Hezbollah has remained an adversary of Israel and fought one
war against it in 2006. Southern Lebanon’s rolling hills bordering Israel remain
Hezbollah’s stronghold. Iran could retaliate through Hezbollah, but the group
has been battered in the Syrian war. Supporting embattled Syrian President
Bashar Assad has seen hundreds of its fighters killed and wounded.
Hezbollah also wants to further integrate into local Lebanese politics as the
nation votes on Sunday for a new parliament for the first time in nine years.
Launching a new war could endanger its political support base, including
possibly among its Shi’ite constituency, which is wary of another ruinous war
with Israel.
After the surprise and temporary resignation of Lebanese prime minister Saad
al-Hariri in November 2017, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said Hezbollah
had been "calling the shots" in the Hariri government, which included two
Hezbollah ministers and was formed last year in a political deal that made
Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, head of state. Hezbollah and its allies will
struggle to form a government without Hariri or his blessing, leaving Lebanon in
a protracted crisis that could eventually stir Sunni-Shi'ite tensions, though
there is no sign of this yet as all sides urge calm.
Announcing his resignation, Hariri cited an assassination plot against him and
slammed Iran and Hezbollah for sowing strife and trying to "kidnap" Lebanon away
from the Arab world. The declaration came as a surprise even to Hariri's aides.
It is not clear what comes next: Saudi-backed efforts to weaken Hezbollah in
Lebanon failed badly a decade ago, ending with a bout of Sunni-Shi'ite fighting
on the streets of Beirut that only underlined Hezbollah's military dominance.
Iraq
Iraq is unique in the Middle East as it is both a U.S. ally and an Iranian ally.
In Iraq, Tehran-backed militias and Iranian commanders have often seemed as
powerful as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military, most recently in an operation to
retake Kirkuk from Kurdish forces.
So emboldened was Iran that top Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati trumpeted
his regional alliance's success from Beirut early November 2017, declaring
victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. His statement to the media after a meeting
with Lebanon’s Hariri was seen as a major provocation to regional Sunni
powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Iraq votes in a May 12 election, which could complicate
and delay the formation of a government, threaten gains against Islamic State
and let Iran meddle further in Iraq's politics.
About 60 percent of Iraqis are 27 or younger and many young people in urban
areas say they want a secular government, underscoring the split within the
Shi'ite voter base.
Syria
Since at least 2012, Iran has provided vital support for Syria's military.
Tehran says its goal is battling extremist Sunni militancy. Its critics say it
seeks to cement regional power extending through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force - an overseas arm of the
IRGC - has appeared on frontlines across Syria, and coordinated with Moscow over
its deployment in Syria in 2015. Iran says its forces are in Syria in an
advisory role.
More than 1,000 Iranians have been killed in the war, including senior members
of the Guards.
Iran-backed Shi'ite militias have come to Syria from around the region including
from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to fight on the side of government forces.
They have often been led in battle by Hezbollah.
Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia
would be prepared to send troops into Syria under the U.S.-led coalition if a
decision is taken to widen it.
Asked about Saudi troops on the ground in Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo said: "We will sit down and talk about... how to best make sure that this
is not America alone working on this, it's the Gulf states working alongside
us."
Their manpower has helped pro-government forces hold ground in various battles,
helping fill gaps in the Syrian army's capacities.
Yemen
Yemen's armed Iranian-aligned Houthi movement, which took out the Saudi-backed
government in Yemen in March of 2015 and now controls northern Yemen, has fired
over 100 missiles into Saudi Arabia, the latest salvo killing a man on Saturday
in the southern Saudi province of Jizan. Those missiles have targeted the Saudi
capital and key oil production facilities near Yemen - as well as Saudi oil
tankers.
The United States and the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen's civil
war in 2015 accuse Iran of providing the missiles to its Houthi allies, which
Tehran denies.
The war in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, which pits a coalition of
Sunni Arab states friendly to the West against a Shi'ite armed movement
sympathetic to Iran, has unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
The Houthis control the north of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. Saudi
Arabia and its allies have been fighting on behalf of an exiled government with
a foothold in the south
The Saudi-led coalition has launched thousands of air strikes on Yemen in the
past three years, some of which have hit hospitals, schools and markets, killing
hundreds of civilians while bringing Riyadh little closer to military victory.
The kingdom has said hundreds of its own soldiers and civilians have been killed
in Houthi mortar and short-range missile attacks across their rugged southern
border.
The United Nations says 10,000 people have died in the conflict so far, and
millions face potential famine and disease because of disruption to food and
medical supplies.
Around 22 million civilians, or 75 percent of Yemen's population, require
humanitarian aid, according to latest U.N. data. The conflict has caused the
worst cholera outbreak in modern history, with over 1 million reported cases.
**Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/the-four-battlegrounds-iran-uses-to-threaten-israel-and-the-middle-east-1.6049886?utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fisrael-news%2Fthe-four-battlegrounds-iran-uses-to-threaten-israel-and-the-middle-east-1.6049886
Trump Has All but Decided to Withdraw From Iran Nuclear
Deal, Sources Tell Reuters
لم يعد على ترمب سوى أن
ينسحب من الإتفاق النووي الإيراني
Haaretz and Reuters/ May 03, 2018
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64372/a-nobel-for-trump-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A8-trump-has-all-but-decided-to-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal-sources-tell-%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%8A/
Europeans losing hope for a compromise to keep the deal
Days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a presentation arguing for the
end of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, U.S. President Donald Trump has all but
decided to withdraw on May 12, two White House officials and a source familiar
with the administration's internal debate told Reuters on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, it remains unclear how exactly Trump will do so
There is a chance Trump might choose to keep the United States in the
international pact under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return
for sanctions relief, in part because of "alliance maintenance" with France and
to save face for French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trump last week and
urged him to stay in, the source said.
A decision by Trump to end U.S. sanctions relief would all but sink the
agreement and could trigger a backlash by Iran, which could resume its nuclear
arms program or "punish" U.S. allies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon,
diplomats said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday against
scrapping an international deal onIran's nuclear program unless there was a good
alternative in place
Technically, Trump must decide by May 12 whether to renew "waivers" suspending
some of the U.S. sanctions on Iran. One of the White House officials who spoke
on condition of anonymity said it was possible Trump will end up with a decision
that "is not a full pullout" but was unable to describe what that might look
like.
A presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday about what
he said was documentary evidence of Tehran's past nuclear arms program could
give Trump a fresh argument to withdraw, even though UN inspectors say Iran has
complied with the terms of the deal
Iran has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and accuses its arch-foe Israel of
stirring up world suspicions against it.
The pact between Iran and six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany,
Russia and the United States - was among former U.S. President Barack Obama's
signature foreign policies but has been described by Trump as "one of the worst
deals I have ever witnessed."
The White House official said Trump was "most of the way there toward pulling
out of the deal but he hasn't made the decision" and that he "seems poised to do
it but until a decision is made by this president it is not final."
Top aides are not seeking aggressively to talk Trump out of withdrawal because
he seems intent on it, a second White House official said.
Europeans losing hope
Trump gave Britain, France and Germany a May 12 deadline to fix what he views as
the deal's flaws - its failure to address Iran's ballistic missile program, the
terms by which inspectors visit suspect Iranian sites, and "sunset" clauses
under which some of its terms expire - or he will reimpose U.S. sanctions.
While European officials continue to work toward such a "fix," they believe the
odds are against reaching one.
One of the main sticking points has to do with the "sunsets," where the United
States in effect wishes to find a way to extend some of the limits onIran's
nuclear program beyond their expiration dates under the agreement.
The source familiar with the debate said U.S. negotiators are hamstrung by the
fact that they do not really know where Trump's "red line" is and so they cannot
tell the Europeans what would secure Trump's blessing.
Trump could refuse to renew the waivers but give new U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo time to negotiate more with the Europeans, exploiting the deal's
dispute resolution mechanism or the time before the most draconian sanctions
take effect.
Several sources familiar with the negotiations said that if Trump pulls out, a
question for the Europeans will be whether this would be the start of a much
harder U.S. line toward Iran, including military confrontation.
"The Europeans are not keen to be dragged into a regional conflict by the U.S.,"
said one source familiar with the talks.
Two U.S. intelligence officials said they were particularly concerned about
Iranian retaliation in harder-to-trace actions such as cyber attacks on the
United States or its allies and attacks on soft targets by people without
obvious ties to Tehran.
Such attacks are considered more likely than actions that might trigger a U.S.
military response against Iranian nuclear and military targets.
Opinion Netanyahu Claims 'Iran Lied' About Its Nuclear Program, but Israel Has
Been Lying for Decades
Gideon Levy/Haarz/May 03/2018
Shimon Peres made up the official disclaimer that ‘Israel won’t be the first
country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East,’ which was the fraud
of the century
Let’s leave aside our discomfort at the sight of the prime minister’s Office
Depot performance. That’s a matter of style and taste. But it’s impossible to
ignore the new records Israel keeps setting, again and again, for lack of
self-awareness, or one might say double standards and hypocrisy.
Israelis really and truly believe it’s shocking to discover how Iran brazenly
lied to the world, just as they really and truly believe it’s terrible when
dictatorships shoot live bullets at demonstrators, when tyrannical regimes
imprison political opponents without trial, when apartheid states maintain two
penal systems, when residents of dictatorships are kept in their own country as
if in a cage, when people are persecuted for their religion or nationality, when
societies close their doors to refugees, when countries scoff at international
law. The nation of morality can’t remain indifferent to such shocking
developments.
And indeed, it is periodically shocked, and sometimes even raises an outcry.
Until it comes to itself.
When Benjamin Netanyahu proved with file folders that Iran lied about its
nuclear program, not one person thought Israel was the last country on earth
that should have had the nerve to complain about this. After all, how has Israel
acted on this very same issue for decades? Iran’s nuclear archive doubtless
looks like a neighborhood lending library compared to Israel’s nuclear archive.
But Israel doesn’t sign conventions, it doesn’t allow inspections and it lies.
It mocks and winks – 60 years of continuous nuclear lies. In fact, it has never
said a single true word about its nuclear program. It’s all for peaceful
purposes, just as Iran claims its nuclear program is. The Dimona reactor was
built for lifesaving PET/CT scans at Ichilov Hospital’s nuclear medicine
department.
Israel is allowed to lie. Israel is a special case. “Israel won’t be the first
country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East,” Shimon Peres said.
He was proud of making up this claim, which was the fraud of the century. What
is Israel’s policy of nuclear ambiguity if not a series of refusals to tell the
truth?
Every time someone tries to expose Israel’s nuclear lies, whether in Israel or
overseas, he’s denounced as an enemy and a traitor. Only Iran’s lies must be
exposed. Israeli nuclear scientists win the Israel Defense Prize.
Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, is a “dangerous
mind” and a “Dr. Strangelove,” “a sought-after lecturer by day and a secret
agent by night,” “the chairman of the department of death.” And what about his
Israeli counterparts? Are they Janusz Korczak? Or Mother Teresa? The admired
Prof. Ernst David Bergmann didn’t lecture by day and work as a secret agent by
night? Yuval Neeman wasn’t Dr. Strangelove? And Prof. Israel Dostrovsky didn’t
work for departments of death? Doubtless they were all involved in preserving
rare species of endangered wildflowers.
What’s the difference between them and the terrible Dr. Fakhrizadeh, whom Israel
will undoubtedly assassinate someday? The difference is huge. It’s okay for us
to do it. After all, we’re a special case. We’re just defending ourselves. We’re
in danger of being destroyed. We’re always in danger of being destroyed, by
Tehran of course, but also by kites from Gaza (which is why it’s permissible for
us to execute the kite-flyers).
But perhaps the regime in Tehran also feels that it’s in danger of being
destroyed? Perhaps it, too, knows that regimes with nuclear weapons are regimes
with a life insurance policy?
Can Israel, a fairly violent and aggressive country – in fact, one of the most
violent and aggressive in the world today – really convince anyone that nuclear
weapons are safe in its hands? In the hands of Netanyahu and Defense Minister
Avidgor Lieberman on a bad day? In the hands of their successors?
We need to fight Iran’s nuclear program insofar as possible, even though it’s
apparently less dangerous than its hysterical depiction here. But we should also
periodically examine the hump on our own back.
Netanyahu tried to shock the world by proving that Iran lied. But if the world
had been shocked by Tehran’s lies, it would have had to be shocked by
Jerusalem’s lies as well. For when it comes to nuclear lies, there’s no
difference between them. In fact, Israel’s lie is bigger.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/netanyahu-claims-iran-lied-but-israel-has-been-lying-for-decades-1.6052474?utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fmiddle-east-news%2Firan%2Fnetanyahu-claims-iran-lied-but-israel-has-been-lying-for-decades-1.6052474
Beware the Korean Peace Trap
Eli Lake/Bloomberg/May 03/18
On the surface it looks like the doubters were wrong.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, traveled into South Korea on Friday to meet
his counterpart. They agreed in principle at least to formally end the war that
has divided the peninsula they share. Kim even agreed to a joint statement
calling for the denuclearization of the peninsula. What's not to like?
Plenty. To understand why, examine the "Panmunjom Declaration for Peace,
Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula" issued by Kim and President
Moon Jae-in Friday after their meeting.
Let's start with the issue most important to America and North Korea's neighbors,
the nuclear file. The joint communique says, "South and North Korea confirmed
the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free
Korean Peninsula." It also says the two states "shared the view that the
measures being initiated by North Korea are very meaningful and crucial for the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to carry out their
respective roles and responsibilities in this regard."
Finally it pledged that both would seek help and cooperation from the
international community to achieve the goal of denuclearization.
That sounds pretty good, but it isn't. North Koreans have historically used the
phrase "denuclearization" to mean the US should no longer extend its nuclear
umbrella to protect South Korea. As former senior State Department official
Evans Revere explained in a recent policy brief for the Brookings Institution,
North Korean interlocutors have explained the concept in talks to US officials
and experts as "the elimination of the 'threat' posed by the US-South Korea
alliance, by US troops on the Korean Peninsula, and by the U.S. nuclear umbrella
that defends South Korea and Japan."
Revere goes on to say that in return for those steps that would undermine the
US-South Korean alliance, North Koreans have offered to "'consider
denuclearization in 10-20 years' time if Pyongyang feels 'secure.'" Maybe they
mean something different this time around. But it's a red flag that Kim is
agreeing to the same phrase that in past discussions has meant something very
different than verifiable disarmament.
Then there is the strange language about how Kim's recent announcement to pause
missile tests is considered by both leaders "very meaningful and crucial for the
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." It isn't.
As Kim himself said in his New Year's Day address, he no longer sees a need to
test its intercontinental ballistic missiles.The real test of Kim's commitment
for denuclearization will be measured in the level of transparency he provides
to weapons inspectors.
Along those lines it's particularly troubling that South Korea appears to agree
to stop allowing its citizens to send leaflets over the border to break North
Korea's information monopoly over its citizens. The communique says, "The two
sides agreed to transform the demilitarized zone into a peace zone in a genuine
sense by ceasing as of May 1 this year all hostile acts and eliminating their
means."
This is hugely detrimental to the North Korean people.
Finally, President Donald Trump should be careful about next steps. He needs to
make sure South Korea will not seek a separate peace with its rival. He also
needs to get a better sense of the real steps Kim will take to disarm. Until
then, Trump should slow the diplomacy down and wait. Kim has shown he is adept
at getting optimistic headlines. That is a testament to his connivance, not his
intentions.
A Nobel for Trump!
Ruthie Blum//Gatestone Institute/May 03/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64372/a-nobel-for-trump-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A8-trump-has-all-but-decided-to-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal-sources-tell-%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%8A/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12245/trump-nobel
"President Trump's peace through strength policies are working and bringing
peace to the Korean peninsula. We can think of no one more deserving of the
Committee's recognition in 2019 than President Trump for his tireless work to
bring peace to our world." — 18 Members of the US Congress to the Norwegian
Nobel Committee, May 2, 2018.
US President Donald Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a group of 18
members of Congress. In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, dated May 2,
Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) and 17 other House lawmakers -- including Mark Meadows
(R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Diane Black (R-Tenn.)
and Steve King (R-Iowa) -- wrote that Trump has worked "tirelessly to apply
maximum pressure to North Korea to end its illicit weapons programs and bring
peace to the region."
The letter further stated that the Trump administration
"successfully united the international community, including China, to impose
one of the most successful international sanctions regimes in history. The
sanctions have decimated the North Korean economy and have been largely credited
for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table. Although North Korea has
evaded demands from the international community to cease its aggression for
decades, President Trump's peace through strength policies are working and
bringing peace to the Korean peninsula. We can think of no one more deserving of
the Committee's recognition in 2019 than President Trump for his tireless work
to bring peace to our world."
Although the letter constituted a formal nomination, it was not the first
suggestion that Trump might, or should, win a Nobel Peace Prize. On May 1 --
mere days after an historic summit between Moon and North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un,
during which the two leaders vowed to work toward "complete denuclearization" of
the Korean Peninsula -- Moon was quoted by a Blue House official as saying,
"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace."
As she walked the red carpet of the White House Correspondents' dinner on April
30, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked by a Pajamas Media
reporter whether Trump would be eligible for a Nobel Peace Prize in the event
that North Korea actually agrees to denuclearize, House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) replied:
"We're a long way from that, but let's see. There's always an opportunity for a
president of the United States to qualify. Let's see how it goes."
Pelosi and other Trump detractors are in an uncomfortable position where the
Nobel Peace Prize is concerned. Former US President Barack Obama was awarded the
prize in 2009, "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special
importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."
In 2015, however, the non-voting Director of the Nobel Institute until 2014,
Geir Lundestad, published a memoir -- "Fredens sekretær. 25 år med Nobelprisen"
("Secretary of Peace: 25 years with the Nobel Prize") -- in which he expressed
regret about the decision to give the prize to Obama, "as it did not achieve
what the committee had hoped for."
However the upcoming discussions between the US and North Korea turn out,
regardless of whether one is Republican, Democrat or independent, the US
president's historic initiative to denuclearize the Korean peninsula deserves
this recognition.
*Ruthie Blum is the author of To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the
'Arab Spring.'"
© 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.
Turkey: Erdoğan's World of Terrorists Includes Everyone but Terrorists
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/May 03/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12241/turkey-erdogan-terrorists
Anyone who freely thinks for himself regarding Turkish President Erdoğan's
one-man rule, at home or abroad, can get the label "terrorist."
On April 25, a Turkish court sentenced 14 staff members of the opposition
newspaper Cumhuriyet to prison on charges of "terrorism," and handed down
sentences ranging from 2½ years to 7½ years.
When Erdoğan is not fighting hundreds of millions of "terrorists," including
almost the entire European continent, the U.S. and probably half his own nation,
he is busy cultivating deeper ties with countries such as Russia, Sudan and
Iran.
Many Middle East despots have historically accused the free world of being
terrorists.
For Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, for instance, the entire Western
civilization is a terrorist machine programmed to spill Muslim blood. Turkey's
strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is no exception.
In an April speech Erdoğan, evidently overcome with amnesia regarding Turkey's
invasions of Northern Cyprus and, a few weeks ago, Syria's Afrin, called Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "terrorist." Erdoğan told party loyalists:
"We don't have the shame of invading on us, Netanyahu. You are an invader and
right now are present in those lands as an invader. At the same time, you are a
terrorist."
In another speech, again apparently succumbing to amnesia regarding decades of
Arab and Muslim wars against Israel, he said: "You [Israel] are a terrorist
state. It is known what you have done in Gaza and what you have done in
Jerusalem. You have no one that likes you in the world." -- as if the entire
world were a fan of Erdoğan.
On April 7, Erdoğan accused France of abetting terrorists by "hosting them" at
the Élysée Palace, amid a diplomatic row between NATO allies Turkey and France
over Paris's support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main,
Kurdish-dominated ground force that defeated Islamic State swathes of land in
Syria. SDF also is an ally of the U.S. troops fighting in Syria. But Erdoğan
said:
"You [France] will not be able to explain this. You will not be able to rid
yourself of this terror burden... As long as the West nurtures these terrorists,
you will sink".
Then, there is the United States that "works with the terrorists:" In February
Turkey warned American soldiers in Syria of the possibility of being treated as
terrorists if they keep backing Kurdish militants. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir
Bozdağ threatened that U.S. soldiers risk being caught up in clashes and that
Turkish troops would not make a distinction if Americans appear in Kurdish
uniforms.
In the worldview of the Turkish government, almost the entire continent of
Europe is made up of terrorist states. In an April 25 speech, Prime Minister
Binali Yıldırım accused European nations, with the exception of Spain, of
supporting terrorist organizations. A few weeks earlier, Yıldırım warned
Bosnia-Herzegovina, a state friendly to Turkey, that it could be a target if it
supported the "Gülenist terror organization," a reference to the Muslim cleric,
Fethullah Gülen, who was once Erdoğan's staunch ally, but now is in self-imposed
exile in Pennsylvania.
Anyone who freely thinks for himself regarding Erdoğan's one-man rule, at home
or abroad, can get the label "terrorist." On March 24, Erdoğan criticized
anti-war students at one of Turkey's best universities, Boğaziçi, calling some
of the people there terrorists after a fight that erupted on campus over
Turkey's military incursion into a Kurdish enclave in neighboring Syria. He
called the protesting students "communist, traitor youth" protesting a
"religious, nationalist, local youth." The "communist, traitor youth" were
immediately detained.
On April 25, a Turkish court sentenced 14 staff members of the opposition
newspaper Cumhuriyet to prison on charges of "terrorism," and handed down
sentences ranging from 2½ years to 7½ years. Another defendant in the case, who
was not employed by Cumhuriyet and had been charged for his activities on
Twitter, got the stiffest sentence, 10 years. "It has been journalism itself
that has been in the dock and today's verdicts defy logic and offend justice,"
said Milena Buyum, Turkey campaigner at rights group Amnesty International.
"These politically motivated sentences are clearly intended to instill fear and
silence any form of dissent."
All that is insane. When Erdoğan is not fighting hundreds of millions of
"terrorists," including almost the entire European continent, the U.S. and
probably half his own nation, he is busy cultivating deeper ties with countries
such as Russia, Sudan and Iran. During a December visit to Sudan, Erdoğan called
his host, President Omar al-Bashir "his brother". Sadly, Erdoğan's brother, al-Bashir,
is a man who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of
genocide and war crimes against his people. Erdoğan, meanwhile, is allying with
Russia and Iran, ironically, to topple Syria's Russia- and Iran-backed dictator,
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to "bring peace to Syria" while invading
the Kurdish enclaves in the country's north.
In Erdoğan's ideological divide, the world consists of "terrorist" countries
such as the entire continent of Europe (minus Spain), plus the U.S. and half of
his own country -- as opposed to "noble" countries such as Russia, Sudan and
Iran.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from
Turkey's leading newspaper after 29 years, for writing what was taking place in
Turkey for Gatestone. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Why Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey Are Battling Over
Somalia
الأسباب التي من اجلها تتواجه السعودية وقطر وتركيا في الصومال
Haaretz/Reuters/May 03/18
At stake: not just the busy waters off the Somali coast but the future stability
of the country itself
A battle for access to seaports is underway in one of the world's unlikeliest
places: Somalia, now caught up in a regional struggle between Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates on one side, with Qatar backed by Turkey on the other.
At stake: not just the busy waters off the Somali coast but the future stability
of the country itself.
Somalia has been at war for decades and until the last few years it has
struggled to attract foreign investment. But rivalries in the nearby Arabian
peninsula are resulting in serious inflows into Somalia.
A year ago, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates government signed a $336
million contract to expand the port of Bosaso, north of Mogadishu in the
semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland.
Less than a year before that, another UAE-owned firm took control of the Berbera
port in the breakaway northern region of Somaliland and pledged up to $440
million to develop it. In March, Ethiopia took a stake in the port for an
undisclosed sum.
At the same time, Turkey, an ally of UAE rival Qatar, is ramping up a
multi-billion dollar investment push in Somalia. A Turkish company has run the
Mogadishu port since 2014, while other Turkish firms have built roads, schools,
and hospitals.
The rivalries have intensified since June, when the most powerful Arab states,
led by Saudi Arabia and including the UAE, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar,
accusing it of supporting Iran and Islamist militants.
That Middle Eastern feud is driving the desire to control the Horn of Africa and
its waters, according to diplomats, businessmen, scholars and Somali officials.
Somalia is close to vital oil routes and its ports could also serve landlocked
Ethiopia, which has a population of 100 million.
Gulf nations have had trade and religious ties with Somalia for centuries, but
those relationships are now up in the air as new rivalries emerge.
"Somalia has been caught in the middle of this effort to try to expand
influence, commercial and military, along the coast," said Rob Malley, president
of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasingly view the Somali coastline - and Djibouti
and Eritrea to the north - as their "western security flank", according to a
senior western diplomat in the Horn of Africa region.
Qatar and Turkey, whose investments are almost all in Mogadishu, are focussed on
supporting President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. He and his chief of staff are
widely viewed in Somalia and by western diplomats as loyal to Doha after
receiving funds for their 2017 election campaign.
A Qatari official told Reuters Doha had provided $385 million in infrastructure,
education and humanitarian assistance to the central Somali government.
The official said making deals directly with regional governments in Somalia, as
the UAE has done, undermined the central government.
Somali finance minister Abdirahman Duale Beileh agreed
"The Gulf region has a lot of money and if they want to invest in Somalia we
welcome them with open arms," he told Reuters. "But it's a question of going
through the right doors."
The federal government in Mogadishu has long been at odds with the
semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland. The latter operates
virtually as an independent state and has for years sought to secede from
Somalia, but has not won international recognition.
Detrimental effect
Less than a decade ago there was virtually no commercial interest in Somalia.
That began to change in 2011 when al Qaeda-backed al Shabaab militants retreated
from Mogadishu. Months later, Turkey launched famine relief operations, opening
the door for projects that now make it Somalia's biggest foreign investor.
The government hopes new investment, especially in infrastructure, can help the
country rebuild.
Better tax collection is boosting government revenues, but this only covers
public sector salaries. Huge amounts of capital are needed for roads, schools
and other basics. Middle Eastern companies and charities could provide some of
it.
However, the money could also destabilise the country further by deepening
tensions between the central government, aligned with Turkey and Qatar, and
Puntland and Somaliland, which both receive money from the UAE.
"These investments are having a detrimental effect on our political stability
and worsening the relationship between our federal government and the regions,"
said former national security adviser Hussein Sheikh-Ali.
"This could cause a constitutional crisis that only al Shabaab will benefit
from."
The Gulf crisis has already deepened rifts in Somalia. The central government
has stayed neutral, to the annoyance of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which Puntland
and Somaliland have backed against Qatar.
"Getting out of this mess is very difficult," Sheikh-Ali said. "Without unity we
cannot."
The Somali presidency and the UAE government did not immediately respond to
requests for comments.
Western nations fear the Gulf rivalries playing out in Somalia could sideline
their multi-billion dollar, U.N.-led efforts to build a functional Somali army
to fight Shabaab before the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers in 2020.
Political crises between Mogadishu and the regional authorities are undermining
government efforts to strengthen financial systems and embark on other core
tasks of a state, diplomats say.
Trouble
The Gulf rivalry is also being felt on the ground in Somalia.
In mid-April, Somalia and the UAE ended military cooperation. Since 2014, the
UAE had trained and paid the salaries of Somali troops in Mogadishu and built an
anti-piracy force in Puntland. Hundreds of weapons were looted from the training
centre in Mogadishu as it shut down.
This came after Somali security forces seized nearly $10 million flown in from
the UAE to pay soldiers and temporarily held the plane which brought the cash.
The UAE also closed a hospital that offered free care.
Last week Puntland officials travelled to Dubai to meet UAE counterparts and
P&O, the state firm developing its port.
"Investing millions of dollars in Somalia at this critical juncture in history
is very important for us," Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said.
Similarly, Somaliland officials hosted UAE diplomats last week to discuss
"enhancing bilateral ties".
"For Somalis themselves, this kind of geopolitical game of chess, where Somalia
is solely a proxy conflict to the trouble in the Gulf, this is obviously bad
news," said Harry Verhoeven, professor at Georgetown University in Qatar.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/why-saudi-arabia-qatar-and-turkey-are-battling-over-somalia-1.6051936?utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fmiddle-east-news%2Fwhy-saudi-arabia-qatar-and-turkey-are-battling-over-somalia-1.6051936
Armenia escapes its post-Soviet malaise
David Ignatius/Washington Post/May 02/18
Armenia appears at last to be breaking with its post-Soviet malaise and
embracing democratic change, thanks to a grass-roots movement that has found a
way, for now, to straddle Russia and the West.
Tens of thousands of people thronged Yerevan’s central square Wednesday night,
chanting “Victory! Victory!” in what one Armenian reform supporter in the United
States told me was “a celebration of the country as much as a protest.” The
movement’s mass street demonstrations over the past month have deposed the prime
minister, Serzh Sargsyan, and this week appeared ready to topple his
long-entrenched ruling party.
Videos circulating on social media Wednesday captured a country embracing the
reform movement headed by Nikol Pashinyan, who is seeking to replace Sargsyan.
Responding to Pashinyan’s call to shut down the capital, conservatory students
played classical music at one intersection; protesters did a line dance at
another; a small boy blocked a street with a lineup of toy cars, in a photo
circulated by CNN.
Pashinyan made what sounded almost like a victory statement Wednesday, when he
told the crowd, “Now, we will stop our actions for a while and rest.” On
Tuesday, the Armenian parliament, controlled by Sargsyan’s party, had narrowly
defeated Pashinyan’s bid to form a new government. But another vote is scheduled
for May 8, and the ruling Republican Party signaled it won’t oppose the
reformer.
If Pashinyan succeeds in establishing a new government, it will be in large part
because the police and army refused to open fire on the protesters who turned
out in huge numbers to support him. This refusal to kill fellow citizens is
often the fulcrum of social change; it’s especially powerful in Armenia, which
last month commemorated the anniversary of the 1915 genocide by Ottoman Turks
that left more than a million Armenians dead.
Armenia’s basic political dilemma over the past 25 years has been how to
reconcile its pro-Western political sympathies with its military dependence on
Russia. This impasse helped foster a circle of pro-Moscow oligarchs around
Sargsyan, who siphoned much of the country’s wealth. For all the entrepreneurial
spirit of its people, a corrupt and authoritarian Armenia never achieved the
capitalist takeoff of some other former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact
countries following the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991.
Reformers asked why Armenia ranked below many other former Soviet-bloc countries
in measures of political freedom, rule of law and economic growth. The Policy
Forum Armenia, an activist group based in Washington, has compiled a series of
well-documented reports on corruption, human rights and legal-reform issues.
The popular uprising has been tolerated, so far, by Russian President Vladimir
Putin. He seems to have decided that it was better to sacrifice his ally,
Sargsyan, than to risk losing Armenia itself. “He wanted to avoid another
Ukraine,” a reform leader told me Wednesday. Because of the long kinship between
Russia and Armenia, the images of protest in Yerevan may have a galvanizing
effect in Russia, too.
Pashinyan broke through the post-Soviet morass for several reasons, his reform
movement colleagues argue. First, his movement has been nonviolent and broadly
based, from young people to grandmothers; “Arms up,” symbolizing civil
disobedience, became a slogan of the protesters who joined Pashinyan’s march on
Yerevan last month that culminated in Sargsyan’s resignation. Second, Pashinyan
avoided taking sides between Russia and the West. He has walked a narrow line in
what one reform leader told me was an “Armenia-centric” approach. He has
reassured Moscow by saying that he doesn’t intend to withdraw from military and
trade pacts with Russia if he becomes prime minister. At the same time, his
pro-democracy movement has roused sympathy in Europe and the United States,
offering the prospect of wider friendships for the small, embattled nation.
The Armenian reform movement has been building for the past two years, ever
since armed protesters seized a police station in Yerevan in July 2016 and held
it for two weeks, to protest what rebels claimed was the government’s political
repression, corruption and vacillation on the emotional issue of Karabakh, an
Armenian-populated enclave seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in 1994.
“We refuse to become a region of Russia,” proclaimed one of the rebels allied
with Jirair Sefilian, a Lebanese-born former Armenian military leader who was
one of the organizers of the 2016 protest, which took the name “Founding
Parliament.” Sefilian would be a candidate for defense minister if Pashinyan
succeeds in forming a new government, though his strong pro-Western sympathies
might antagonize Moscow.
Pashinyan’s movement promises change, but as is often the case with grass-roots
uprisings, the details are fuzzy. His group is called “Civil Contract,” built on
a pledge that a new government will deliver specific reform commitments to the
people. Even his movement’s supporters admit they aren’t sure yet what that
agenda might include. But in the excitement of Wednesday’s mass protest, the
details could wait.
*David Ignatius writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column and contributes to
the PostPartisan blog. Follow @ignatiuspost
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/05/02/armenia-escapes-its-post-soviet-malaise/?utm_term=.a852fe13cc8e
Iran's Proxy Wars: The Four Battlegrounds Iran Uses to
Threaten Israel and the Middle East
حروب إيران بالوكالة: الجبهات الأربعة التي تستعملها إيران لتهديد إسرائيل والشرق
الأوسط
Haaretz/May 03/2018
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64368/haaretz-irans-proxy-wars-the-four-battlegrounds-iran-uses-to-threaten-israel-and-the-middle-east-%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8/
What Did The Mossad Actually Get From Iran
By: Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/May 03/18
بالحقيقة ماذا تمكن الموساد من احضاره من إيران
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64364/jerusalem-post-what-did-the-mossad-actually-get-from-iran-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%83%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AF/
A Nobel for Trump!جائزة نوبل لترمب
Ruthie Blum//Gatestone Institute/May 03/18
Trump Has All but Decided to Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal, Sources Tell
Reuters
لم يعد على ترمب سوى أن ينسحب من الإتفاق النووي الإيراني
Haaretz and Reuters/ May 03, 2018 1:28 PM
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64372/a-nobel-for-trump-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A8-trump-has-all-but-decided-to-withdraw-from-iran-nuclear-deal-sources-tell-%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%8A/