Detailed
Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For October 11/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
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Bible
Quotations
You
hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey
from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?
Luke 13/10-17: "Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for
eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free
from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up
straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant
because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are
six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured,
and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You
hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey
from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this
woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be
set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’When he said this, all his
opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the
wonderful things that he was doing."
نشرات اخبار عربية وانكليزية مطولة ومفصلة يومية على موقعنا الألكتروني على
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Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published on October 10-11/18
Hariri upbeat govt will be formed after Aoun returns/Ghinwa ObeidHussein
Dakroub/The Daily Star/October 10/18
Who will replace Nikki Haley/New York Morning/October 10/18
China’s Got Its Own Swamp/Michael Schuman/Bloomberg/October,10/18
Italy Isn’t Like Greece. It’s Better and Worse/Mohamed El-Erian/Bloomberg/October,10/18
Death or Life for Christian “Blasphemer”? Pakistan Ruling on Asia Bibi
Expected/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/October 10/18
Why is the Qatari-Brotherhood media really interested in the Khashoggi case/Mamdouh
AlMuhaini/Al Arabiya/October 10/18
Tunisia’s Ennahda and the secret apparatus/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/October
10/18
Israel's exilic existential anxiety/Ynetnews/Aviad Kleinberg/October 10/18
‘Forever war’ in Afghanistan fading from Americans’ memory/Michael Kugelman/Arab
News/October 10/18
Cooperation key to resolving issues between religions/Peter Welby/Arab
News/October 10/18
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
October 10-11/18
Czech Intelligence Service Helps
Uncover Hezbollah Hacking Network
Kataeb Party Hosts Meeting in Defense of Freedoms
Lebanon’s Hariri Says Won’t Return if he Steps Down
Palestinian president thanks Aoun for UN positions
Lebanon’s Hariri says concessions made, hopes for govt formation soon
Aoun Travels to Armenia to Attend Francophonie Summit
Report: Hizbullah Pressuring Officials to Invite Syria to AESD Summit
Berri Voices Cautious Optimism on Govt. Formation Process
Jumblat: An Offer for Settlement Doesn’t Mean Relinquishing Principles
Army Nabs Top Ain el-Hilweh Passport and Currency Forger
Police Arrest Suspect in Akkar over IS Links, Bombing Plans
Gunfire Erupts at SSNP Offices in Aley
Hankache Stresses Kataeb's Openness, Commitment to Dialogue
Hariri upbeat govt will be formed after Aoun returns
Who will replace Nikki Haley?
Titles For The Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October 10-11/18
Statement by The
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs on World Day Against the Death Penalty
Quds Force Official Demands Scrapping Draft Law to Block Terror Financing in
Iran
Iran is a Trade Transit Point for Somali Terrorist Movement
Iranian Diplomat in Belgian Court over 'Bomb Plot'
Public Strike in Iran Protests Worsening Living Conditions
US VP Pence: Ready to assist in finding Khashoggi in Turkey if Riyadh
requests
Dhahi Khalfan: Khashoggi case can be resolved in 72 hours, ready to help
Turkey Checks CCTV for Clues in Missing Saudi Journalist Case
Qatar accused of ‘undermining Palestinian Authority’ through fuel move
Trump: Planned Kim Summit Narrowed Down to 'Three or Four' Locations
Hurricane Michael Strengthens, Florida Panhandle Braces for Worst in Decades
Turkey Says Heavy Arms Pullout Completed in Syria's Idlib
The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
October 10-11/18
Czech Intelligence
Service Helps Uncover Hezbollah Hacking Network
Radio Prague/ Wednesday 10th October 2018/The Czech Security
Intelligence Service (BIS) on Monday issued a press release saying that it
had cooperated with foreign partners in identifying, analysing and disabling
servers in the Czech Republic and the wider world, which Hezbollah was using
for cybernetic espionage. According to the press release, a network of
Hezbollah hackers has been using tricks on social media to hack into mobile
devices across the world. Posing as attractive girls on Facebook, they would
contact users and start chatting. After steering the conversation to
increasingly sensual topics, the profiles would then ask the user to install
a ‘more private and secure application‘. According to the
counterintelligence service’s press release, some impassioned users would
comply and install the app. Unaware that it gave hackers access to their
sensitive information, including contacts, photographs, calls, text
messages, GPS data and the option to secretely record the owner via the
mobile device. The hacking attacks through servers placed in the Czech
Republic, the wider EU and the U.S., originated from the middle east. They
were aimed at various regions across the world including Central and Eastern
Europe and the Middle East itself. The head of the BIS, Michal Koudelka,
stated that intelligence gathered by the agency played a direct role in the
eventual takedown of the Hezbollah hacking network.
Kataeb Party Hosts Meeting in Defense of Freedoms
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 10th October 2018/The Kataeb party on Wednesday hosted
a broad meeting of Saydet Al-Jabal Gathering at its headquarters in Saifi to
voice absolute oppositon to the growing political oppression in the country
and to renew unwavering commitment to all forms of freedom. Last week, a
meeting of Saydet Al-Jabal Gathering, that was set to be held at the Bristol
Hotel in Beirut, was forcibly cancelled. Hezbollah's senior official Wafik
Safa admitted that he had personally asked the hotel to not host the event.
Following the meeting, former MP Fares Souaid thanked the Kataeb for hosting
the meeting, saying that this act reflects the party's history throughout
which it has defended political pluralism, cultural diversity and
intellectual exchange. "The blatant attack on the Lebanese people's
political rights is part of the growing oppression targeting activists,
journalists and politicians," he said. "We hold the ruling authority
responsible for what Lebanon has been witnessing lately, as we warn against
replicating a new model of suppression." Souaid called for a united stand to
defend the principles and constants on which Lebanon was built, urging full
loyalty to the martyrs of the Cedars Revolution. "The persistent attempts to
muzzle and beleaguer free minds, as well as Hezbollah's confiscation of the
state's decision-making power amid the shameful submissivness of most of the
political forces, require the other parties to unite in defense of the
people's constitutional rights." Souaid revealed that Saydet Al-Jabal
Gathering will hold a meeting on Sunday at Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut,
hoping that no one would opt for the same "blunder" that took place last
week. The meeting, chaired by the Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel, was also
attended by former MP Ashraf Rifi, Kamil Chamoun representing the National
Liberal Party Chief Dory Chamoun, LBCI chairman Pierre Daher, Al-Liwaa
editor-in-chief Salah Salam representing former President Michel Sleiman,
former MP Boutros Harb and former MP Ahmad Fatfat representing ex-PM Fouad
Siniora.
Lebanon’s Hariri Says
Won’t Return if he Steps Down
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 10 October,
2018/Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced on Tuesday
that if he stepped aside during the government formation process, he would
not accept to be re-designated. "If I step down from forming a government, I
won’t accept being asked to form another one,” he told reporters before
chairing the meeting of his parliamentary bloc. The PM said the government
would be formed within the next ten days because the country is in dire need
of it, and the economic situation necessitates it and compels everyone to
make concessions for the country. Mohammad Chamseddine, a researcher with
the Beirut-based research and statistics company Information International,
told Asharq Al-Awsat that Lebanon’s fiscal deficit for this year would
amount to $4 billion, while ministries, public institutions and
municipalities suffer from excessive staff after hiring more than 10,000
employees in the past two years. Facing the dire economic situation, Hariri
said his optimism on the cabinet formation stems from his last meeting with
President Michel Aoun. He said all parties have made concessions including
the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement. However, Hariri pointed
out that there are some changes in the distribution of portfolios, refusing
to disclose the number of ministers that each party will get. “The only
criterion I adopted in the formation is that it is a national accord
government. When we set standards, we bind ourselves when forming any
government in the future and this has no origin neither in the constitution
nor in the customs,” he said. Hariri denied any knowledge of a French
initiative to help him form a government, stressing that the results of the
CEDRE conference are in danger. The international community had pledged $11
billion in loans and grants during the CEDRE conference in Paris last April
to support Lebanon’s fragile economy. “These funds were put to help the
Lebanese economy but if the Lebanese don’t want to help themselves, is the
world going to wait for them?”He added: “There is a loan that was approved
by the World Bank for Lebanon and we will lose it if the government and the
parliament don’t approve it.”
Palestinian president thanks Aoun for UN positions
The Daily Star/October 10/18/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Tuesday received
a thank you letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for his
positions on Palestine during his speech at the United Nations General
Assembly last month. Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour handed
Aoun the letter during a meeting at Baabda Palace, a statement from the
presidency said. “The letter included a confirmation from the Palestinian
president of the solid and stable historic relations between the Lebanese
and Palestinian people,” the statement said, quoting the letter.
The letter also underscored the importance of mutual Arab cooperation to
face the challenges that threaten the Palestinian cause. During his speech
on Sept. 26 in New York, Aoun said the international political approach
toward the Middle East continues to lack justice and employs double
standards. He added that the Palestinian cause reflected these problems.
Aoun also said the absence of justice in addressing the issue had “triggered
many wars ... and created a resistance that will only end by eliminating
oppression and establishing justice.”
Lebanon’s Hariri says concessions made, hopes for govt
formation soon
Reuters, Beirut/Tuesday, 9 October 2018/Lebanese Prime
Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri said on Tuesday all political sides had
made concessions and he hoped a new government would be formed after
President Michel Aoun returns from a trip abroad. In the more than five
months since a parliamentary election in May, politicians have been unable
to agree a unity government that can get to work on badly needed economic
reforms. Lebanon, which has the world’s third largest public debt as a
proportion of national output, faces an economic crisis if the political
stalemate drags on, politicians have said. “There are concessions from all
sides, including the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM),” Hariri told reporters
after a meeting of his Future Movement party. “We hope for the formation of
a government after the return of the president from Yerevan because the
economic and social situation calls for a speedy government formation,” he
said. Aoun is expected to return from Armenia on Friday. Rivalry between the
two leading Christian parties - Aoun’s FPM, allied to Hezbollah, and the
anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces (LF) - is widely seen as the main obstacle to
a deal. Hariri said his optimism that a government could be formed soon
stemmed from a meeting he had with Aoun last Wednesday. Hariri said on
Thursday he believed the government would be formed within a week to 10 days
because the economy could not tolerate further delay. The formation of a new
government would allow Lebanon to begin the substantial fiscal adjustment
that the International Monetary Fund says it needs to improve its debt
sustainability. It would also likely unlock more than $11 billion worth of
infrastructure investment pledged at a donors’ meeting in Paris in April.
“We are wrong if we think the world will wait for us to save ourselves.
There are loans that won’t wait,” Hariri said.
Aoun Travels to Armenia to Attend Francophonie Summit
Naharnet/October 10/18/President Michel Aoun departed on Wednesday leading
an official delegation to Armenia to partake in the 17th Summit of the
International Organisation of la Francophonie (IOF) in Yerevan on October
11-12, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday. The delegation
included caretaker Minister of Culture Ghattas Khoury, caretaker Tourism
Minister Avedis Kedanian and several other officials, NNA said. Caretaker
Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil is expected to join the delegation later on
along with several ambassadors and diplomats, it added. The President is
planned to deliver a speech at the Summit tomorrow. He will meet with
attending state leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
Report: Hizbullah Pressuring Officials to Invite Syria
to AESD Summit
Naharnet/October 10/18/As Lebanon continues to invite Arab
leaders to the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit it hosts in
January, Hizbullah party has reportedly been “pressuring President Michel
Aoun into inviting Syria” to the summit, the Kuwaiti Asseyasah daily
reported on Wednesday.
The daily said some Lebanese “political forces allied to Damascus and led by
Hizbullah began a pressure campaign to urge Aoun to invite the Syrian regime
to attend the summit,” said the daily. Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri and a number of political forces have
rejected the matter it added, arguing that Lebanon must abide by the
decisions of the Arab League which suspended Syria’s membership back in 2011
over its failure to end government crackdown on protests.
The Arab Economic and Social Development Summit will be held in
Beirut on January 19-20.
The Arab Economic and Social Development summits are summits of the Arab
League, held at the head of state level to address issues of economic and
social development among member-states.
Berri Voices Cautious Optimism on Govt. Formation Process
Naharnet/October 10/18/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday voiced
cautious optimism over the reported progress in the cabinet formation
process. “It's about time everyone shouldered their responsibilities to
finalize the government issue,” Berri told lawmakers during the weekly Ain
el-Tineh meeting. Urging all parties to “show modesty in dealing with the
formation process,” the Speaker said “there is a vigorous momentum nowadays
and some are speaking of promising and positive developments.”"The economic
situation is very critical and this requires us all to cooperate to address
this challenge which has an impact on the general situation in the country,”
Berri added. He also emphasized that “the parliament will shoulder its
responsibilities and perform its role,” noting that “there will be a
legislative session before the end of this month.”
Jumblat: An Offer for Settlement Doesn’t Mean Relinquishing Principles
Naharnet/October 10/18/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat
emphasized on Wednesday that his offer to make a settlement to ease the
government formation process must not be taken as a relinquishment of the
party’s principles. “Appealing to all political parties to make concessions
is required, but beware of misinterpreting it as a relinquishment of
principles,” said Jumblat in a tweet on Wednesday. After announcing
willingness to ease the PSP demands in order to help the formation process,
Jumblat said that Wednesday’s “clarifications is necessary in order to
silence the sounds of discontent and the hoot of owls.” he said. On Monday,
Jumblat hinted that he could agree to offer “concessions” regarding his
party's share in the new government. “A settlement is necessary and it is
not wrong to offer concessions for the sake of the country,” he had said,
referring to the stalled formation process. Jumblat had been insisting on
getting all three Druze seats for his PSP but has recently shown some
flexibility. Lebanese Democratic Party chief MP Talal Arslan, backed by
President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement, has stressed that he
has the right to get one of the Druze seats. In remarks he made to al-Joumhouria
daily on Wednesday, Arslan refused Jumblat's latest “offer” saying he would
“either accept three centrist Druze ministers or that Jumblat names two
ministers” while he names the third.
Army Nabs Top Ain el-Hilweh Passport and Currency Forger
Naharnet/October 10/18/The most notorious passport and currency forger in
the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp was arrested Wednesday in a
special army operation. “Following surveillance and follow-up, the
Intelligence Directorate managed today to arrest Palestinian fugitive Hassan
Nawfal, aka Hassan al-Hakim, and an accomplice,” the army said in a
statement. It described the detainee as “one of the most notorious forgers
of passports, identity cards and foreign and local currencies.”An
investigation has since been launched under the supervision of the
judiciary.
Police Arrest Suspect in Akkar over IS Links, Bombing Plans
Naharnet/October 10/18/The Internal Security Forces Information Branch
arrested a suspect in the northern region of Akkar over links to the Islamic
State terror organization, ISF said in a statement on Wednesday. The
detainee admitted during investigations that he had joined the IS ranks
eight months ago through groups that encouraged him to carry out terror
attacks in Lebanon instead of Syria, said the statement. He was taught how
to make explosive bombs and decided to plant one on a highway in a bid to
bomb a Lebanese army patrol whenever one passes through the area where he
resided, it said. The suspect was referred to the related judicial
authorities.
Gunfire Erupts at SSNP Offices in Aley
Naharnet/October 10/18/Gunfire erupted Tuesday evening inside the offices of
the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in the Mount Lebanon city of Aley, the
National News Agency said. The shooting broke out during a dispute between
party members inside the building, NNA reported, adding that the offices
were later cordoned off by security forces. Senior SSNP official Hussam al-Israwi
meanwhile told MTV that the gunfire erupted after “undisciplined party
members tried to storm the offices,” denying reports that he was injured
during the incident.
Hankache Stresses
Kataeb's Openness, Commitment to Dialogue
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 10th October 2018/MP Elias Hankache on Wednesday
reiterated the Kataeb's openness to all political factions, stressing that
contacts are ongoing with everyone in accordance with the party's position
as an independent opposition force. “The Kataeb party has repeatedly
announced that it is open to everyone [...] as it is keen to serve the
country’s interest and believes in the importance of safeguarding dialogue
amid the critical conditions facing the country,” Hankache said following
talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as part of his weekly meeting with
lawmakers in Ain Al-Tineh.
Hariri upbeat govt will be formed after Aoun returns
Ghinwa ObeidHussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/October 10/18
BEIRUT: Sticking to his optimism, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
Tuesday expressed hope that a new government would be formed after the
president returns from a trip to Armenia later this week.
President Michel Aoun is set to leave on a two-day visit to Armenia
Wednesday to attend the Francophone conference. He will be back in Beirut
Friday. A source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star that a meeting between
Aoun and Hariri to discuss an amended Cabinet formula could take place after
the president’s return from Armenia.
Hariri disclosed that all the political parties had made concessions to
facilitate the formation of a new government, saying that all obstacles,
mainly the problems of Druze and Christian representation the two main
stumbling blocks to the formation were on their way to being resolved.
“The economic situation obliged everyone to make concessions for the sake of
the country and all the problems are on the way to being resolved,” Hariri
told journalists before chairing the weekly meeting of the Future Movement’s
parliamentary bloc at his Downtown Beirut residence. He said all parties,
including the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement, have made
concessions to speed up the government formation.
Hariri said he was still optimistic that the government would be formed
within the 10-day period that he set for himself last week, adding that the
deadline could be extended if the need arose.
He said his optimism about breaking the government formation deadlock, now
in its fifth month, stemmed from his meeting with Aoun last week, but
lamented FPM leader Gebran Bassil’s recent hard-line Cabinet recommendations
were “not positive.” Hariri said no date was set to meet with Bassil to
discuss the problem of Christian representation in the next government.
This was Hariri’s first public reaction to Bassil’s tough stance on the LF’s
Cabinet share. Bassil said last week that the LF should not be allocated
more than three ministers, despite having boosted its MPs from eight to 15
in the May elections.
Bassil, the caretaker foreign minister, proposed a criterion for the
representation of major blocs in the new Cabinet that calls for one minister
for five MPs. Bassil’s proposal seemingly appeared to target the LF which
has been pushing for a significant Cabinet share of five ministers.
Hariri, who presented Aoun with his first draft Cabinet formula on Sept. 3
and which drew a number of reservations from the president over the
allocation of ministerial posts to the LF and the Progressive Socialist
Party, said there has been a change in the proposed line-up, but did not
give additional details on these changes. But in what appeared to be a
response to Bassil’s controversial criterion, Hariri said: “The only
criterion I adopted in the formation is that it is a national entente
government.
“When we set standards, we bind ourselves when forming any government in the
future and this has no origin whether in the Constitution or in norms.”
Hariri said if he stepped aside during the formation process, he would not
accept to be redesignated to form a government.
“If I step down from forming a government, I won’t accept being asked to
form another one,” he said. “The circumstances that prevailed in my first
government are different from the current situation.” In 2009 Hariri stepped
down during the formation process before being redesignated as premier.
Hariri denied the existence of a French initiative to help him in the
government formation, but warned that the results of the CEDRE conference
were in danger.
“If we think that the world will wait for us, we are wrong. The world is
moving and the days are passing, and these funds [from CEDRE] were put to
help the Lebanese economy. But if the Lebanese don’t want to help
themselves, is the world going to wait for them?” Hariri said.
He added that Lebanon also risked losing a World Bank loan if the government
and Parliament did not approve it. Donor countries at the CEDRE conference
held in Paris on April 6 pledged more than $11 billion in grants and soft
loans to finance investment and infrastructure projects in Lebanon.
After chairing the bloc’s meeting, Hariri met at his residence separately
with caretaker Information Minister MP Melhem Riachi as a special envoy from
LF chief Samir Geagea, and MP Wael Abu Faour as an envoy from PSP leader
Walid Joumblatt, discussing with them ways to overcome the problems of
Christian and Druze representation respectively.
Speaker Nabih Berri also discussed the Cabinet formation impasse in separate
meetings with Riachi and a delegation from the PSP’s parliamentary
Democratic Gathering bloc.
Hariri said recent statements made by PSP leader Joumblatt and his rival,
Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan, showed that there might be
a solution to their struggle over Druze shares in the next Cabinet.
Earlier in the day, Arslan took to Twitter to say he would allow Aoun and
Speaker Nabih Berri to name a Druze minister in the future Cabinet.
Following its meeting chaired by Hariri, the Future bloc reiterated the
prime minister-designate’s commitment to the formation of a national entente
government. The bloc considered that Hariri’s stances during his televised
interview last week constituted an integrated road map to get out of the
“tunnel of disruptions” and start preparing the mechanisms required for the
birth of the government, a statement issued after the meeting said.
It said Hariri has reaffirmed his “adherence to the formation of a national
entente government that includes all the main political forces represented
in Parliament, without responding to any calls that violate this.”
Hariri “insisted on a governmental team that works and achieves, and doesn’t
engage in political maneuvering, or in turning the Cabinet into an arena of
partisan and sectarian infighting,” the statement said.
Hariri also emphasized the “good relationship” with Aoun and his commitment
to the requirements of the political settlement that ended the presidential
vacuum with Aoun’s election on Oct. 31, 2016 and launched work in
constitutional institutions.
The bloc said Hariri’s interview bolstered the hopes of the Lebanese for the
formation of the government, but the reactions that followed the interview
and the criteria put forward were enough to dispel the atmosphere of
optimism. “The Future bloc lays emphasis on its commitment to any decision
that Prime Minister Hariri might take toward the deliberate obstruction of
the government formation and the insistence on keeping the country hostage
to the race for shares and positions,” the statement said.
“The bloc also refuses to recognize any new norms that some are trying to
impose on the formation of governments.”
The FPM’s parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc expressed hope Hariri would
overcome the remaining hurdles to the government formation.
“We are still waiting, as do all the Lebanese, [for Hariri] to settle this
issue. Certainly, we are building on the optimism expressed by Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri and on whose basis we hope that negotiations
will end and the government will be formed,” a statement issued after the
bloc’s weekly meeting, chaired by Bassil, said.
Who will replace Nikki Haley?
New York Morning/October 10/18
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy fully endorses Dr. Walid Phares
to become the new US Ambassador to the UN.
Professor Walid Phares served as a Foreign Policy Advisor to Presidential
candidate Donald Trump in 2016. He also served as a National Security
Advisor to Presidential Advisor Mitt Romney in 2011-2012
Professor Phares has been an advisor to the US House of Representatives
Caucus on Counter Terrorism since 2007 and is the Co-Secretary General of
the Trans-Atlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism since 2008.
He is Fox News Terrorism and Middle East Expert since 2007 and has been
MSNBC-NBC Terrorism Analyst from 2003 to the end of 2006.
He has taught Global Strategies at the National Defense University in
Washington DC since 2006, lectured at the National Intelligence University
since 2008 and was a Professor of Middle East Studies, Ethnic and Religious
Conflict at the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic
University (FAU) from 1993 to 2006.
Professor Walid Phares was a Senior Fellow and the director for Future
Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in
Washington (2001-2010). He was also a Visiting Fellow with the European
Foundation for Democracies in Brussels (2006-2010).
As an international expert on conflicts and terrorism, Professor Phares
lectures on campuses, nationwide and internationally. He testifies to and
conducts briefings at the US Congress, the European Parliament and
Commission, and the UN Security Council, as well as to US State Department
and other foreign ministries worldwide and to officials on Counter Terrorism
in Europe and the United States. Dr Phares was an advisory board member of
the Task Force on Future Terrorism of the US Department of Homeland Security
(2005-2007) and a member of the NSC advisory task force on Nuclear Terrorism
(2006-2007).
Dr Phares has also lectured to and advised the US Departments of Justice,
Defense, and Homeland Security, as well as regional commands such as CENTCOM,
SOUTHCOM, AFRICOM, on academic research on Terrorism. He has served as an
expert on Terrorism with the US and European Governments and briefed law
enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL since 2003. Dr Phares serves as an
academic advisor to several Human Rights and Middle East and Africa
communities groups.
He has published 13 books including, Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies
against the West, The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle
East, which predicted the Arab Spring and projected the ongoing revolts in
the Greater Middle East. His most recent book is, The Lost Spring: U.S.
Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on
October 10-11/18
Statement by The
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs on World Day Against the Death Penalty
October 10, 2018 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued
the following statement:
“The death penalty is an inhumane and barbaric form of punishment that goes
against all Canadian values and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“In Canada, we ended the death penalty more than 40 years ago. We will
always oppose its use abroad, as well as seek clemency in every case of
Canadians facing execution, without exceptions.
“This year, Canada is pleased to join the Group of Friends of the Protocol,
initiated by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. We will continue
to advocate against the death penalty where it is still being used and will
keep working toward the universal abolition of this form of punishment.
“Those who break the law must face the consequences of their actions and be
held accountable, but the death penalty is never the solution.”
Quds Force Official Demands Scrapping Draft Law to Block Terror Financing in
Iran
London – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 10 October, 2018/The
Iranian Revolutionary Guard expressed its reservations towards a draft law
passed by the Iranian parliament for the country to join the international
Terrorist Financing Convention treaty. Iran’s Quds Force, the Revolutionary
Guard’s foreign arm, stands to be harmed the most from the bill given that
it funds and aids proxy militias in the region. Meanwhile, the country’s
Second Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ali Motahari called for lawsuits and
investigations to face parties that have gone as far as making death threats
against lawmakers who voted yes on the draft resolution. Quds Force
official, senior cleric and Supreme Leader Representative Ali Shirazi urged
the Guardian Council to reject the draft law approved by the parliament to
allow the Iranian government to join the anti-terror Financial Action Task
Force (FATF). The Guardian Council, which oversees the country’s legislative
procedures, is supposed to announce its decision on three out of four laws
that would help President Hassan Rouhani achieve his aspirations to join
FATF. Joining the international body will persuade foreign banks to continue
financial cooperation and investment with Iran. Shirazi denied Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei ever agreeing to the draft resolution, and raised
questions as to whether the law is related to halting Iranian support from
flowing into Syria and Lebanon. The Guardian Council must address this
implicit project, Shirazi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. It
was not clear whether the Guardian Council would approve the bill. "It is
too early to announce the opinion of the council," Guardian Council
Spokesman Abbas Kadkhodaei said. Parliament passed the draft law, but it was
not yet to the Council which has the power to overturn the law. Kadkhodaei
also pointed out that the Council has not arrived to a decision yet on two
laws passed by parliament for the country to join international bodies
similar to FATF that combat money laundering and terror funding.
International parties accuse Iran of buying time when it comes to applying
for the FATF. Joining the taskforce would mean that Iran needs to amend its
laws on money laundering. Hardline critics of the law say it poses “a threat
to funding Iran’s Revolutionary Guard regional activities.”
Iran is a Trade Transit Point for Somali Terrorist
Movement
New York – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 10 October, 2018/UN sanctions monitors
said that criminal networks were using Iran as a transit point for the
export of illicit Somali charcoal, according to a report seen by Reuters.
This illegal trade provides extremist militants Al-Shabaab with millions of
dollars annually in tax, according to the unpublished annual report
submitted to the UN Security Council. The report says, according to Reuters,
that since March the main destination for shipments - using fake country of
origin certificates from Comoros, Ivory Coast and Ghana - has been ports in
Iran, where the charcoal is packaged into white bags labeled “Product of
Iran”.“The bags were then reloaded onto smaller, Iran-flagged dhows (boats),
and exported to Port Al Hamriya, Dubai, UAE, using certificates of origin
falsely indicating the ‘country of manufacture’ of the charcoal as Iran,”
the monitors wrote, as published by Reuters. UN monitors, who are tracking
compliance with UN sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea, said Iran and the UAE
had not “substantively engaged” when observers raised concerns about the
transshipment of Somali coal. The report estimated the total value of
Somalia’s illegal coal trade at about $150 million a year in the UAE, where
it is widely used in cooking and nargile smoking. It was also estimated that
about three million bags of charcoal were exported from Somalia in the past
year. “The charcoal trade continues to be a significant source of revenue
for al Shabaab, generating at least $7.5 million from checkpoint taxation,”
the report said, according to Reuters. UAE Ambassador to the UN Lana
Nusseibeh said she could not comment because the report had not yet been
published. “That being said, the UAE is fully aware of all Security Council
resolutions and is in full compliance with the sanctions imposed,” she told
Reuters. “We also reaffirm our continued cooperation with the Monitoring
Group throughout its mandate.”
Reuters also said that the Iranian mission to the UN did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
Iranian Diplomat in Belgian Court over 'Bomb Plot'
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 10 October, 2018/An Iranian diplomat
linked to a bomb plot against an Iranian opposition rally in France will
appear before a Belgian judge on Wednesday after he was extradited from
Germany. The Vienna-based Iranian, who has previously been identified as
Assadollah Assadi, was handed over and will appear in court on Wednesday,
the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office told AFP. The plan to target a
gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a Paris
suburb came to light a few days after the June 30 event. Six people were
arrested afterwards in coordinated raids by European police forces,
including Assadi. Iran last week staunchly denied French accusations that
one of its diplomats was involved in the plot that took place just ahead of
a visit to Europe by President Hassan Rouhani. "We deny the accusations and
forcefully condemn the Iranian diplomat's arrest and call for his immediate
release," the Iranian foreign affairs ministry said on October 2 in a
statement. But French security services believe the Iranian intelligence
ministry was behind the foiled plot. In retaliation, France announced last
week it had frozen Assadi's assets for six months.
Public Strike in Iran Protests Worsening Living
Conditions
London -Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 10 October, 2018/Many shop owners in
Iranian cities joined truck drivers in their strike, which is on its 16th
day, protesting against worsening economic conditions and rising prices.
Video footage shared by Iranian activists on social media showed massive
strikes in markets across several Iranian cities. The strike received no
coverage by official and Revolutionary Guard news agencies that only
reported “normal” activity in Tehran markets on Monday. Alternatively,
reports said security forces deployed to a number of Iranian cities.
According to the activists, Tabriz, Isfahan, Mashhad and Sinandaj were among
the biggest cities that have seen recurrent market strikes. Eyewitnesses
also reported protests taking place in several Tehran markets, as well as a
number of smaller towns. Truck drivers, encouraged by trade unions, have
been staging a sit-in for weeks. This is a second such strike they hold this
year. Police have arrested over 100 drivers in recent days, according to
human rights centers in Iran. These strikes included all the provinces of
Iran, according to social media posts. Trade union sources pointed out
during the past few days that the strikes were taking place in Urmia,
Ardabil, Ahwaz, Isfahan, Qazvin and Bandar Abbas. Despite threats by Iranian
authorities and police, strikes have lasted over a week so far.Although
economic conditions have worsened enough to provoke strikes, official
agencies say that the Iranian rial was improving. Nevertheless, reliable and
independent information on dollar to Iranian exchange rates have disappeared
after the government shut down multiple economic monitoring websites.
Sources said the government launched a misinformation campaign in hopes to
tame the demand for the dollar. The Iranian government is using its official
media outlets to build confidence in and demand for other foreign currency.
Observers say the market has seen the demand for the dollar fall. Meanwhile,
official media reported a rise in gold rates. Dollar exchange rates
continued to fluctuate, varying between 140,000 and 135,000 rials, according
to official agencies.
US VP Pence: Ready to assist in finding Khashoggi in Turkey if Riyadh
requests
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 10 October
2018/US Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday the United States is
ready to help in any way in the investigation of the disappearance of
prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Reuters. Pence was
asked on the Hugh Hewitt syndicated radio program if Washington would send
FBI investigators to Turkey if Saudi Arabia requested it. “I think the
United States of America stands ready to assist in any way,” Pence said. On
Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he does not know anything about
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. The Turkish ministry of
foreign affairs had stated that Saudi Arabia has provided all assistance and
cooperation in the case of the missing journalist who has disappeared in
Istanbul last week. Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Bloomberg which was published on
Friday, that Khashoggi is not in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, expressing
his readiness to allow the Turkish authorities to search the consulate
though the premises “are sovereign territory… We have nothing to hide,”
according to the crown prince statement to Bloomberg.
With Reuters
Dhahi Khalfan: Khashoggi case can be resolved in 72 hours, ready to help
Huda al-Saleh, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 10 October 2018/Former Dubai
Police chief Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan on Wednesday denounced the
confusion shown by Turkish security in uncovering the details of the
disappearance of Saudi writer and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one week since
his disappearance in Istanbul. The outspoken former police chief told Al
Arabiya English: “So-called unknown operation is not relevant in today’s
crime science. Today, police forces have advanced capabilities to locate and
determine those behind the crime.”“The security authorities can determine
the last location of Jamal Khashoggi, even without any surveillance cameras,
and the logic of research and investigation, is that it can be reached and
does not require all this ambiguity,” he said. The Lieutenant General Dhahi
Khalfan, confirmed that the case related to disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
does not require more than 72 hours in getting resolved. He said that before
the body of the missing person can be found, it is impossible to talk about
his death, and the case remains that of disappearance.
He even expressed his readiness to assist in uncovering who is behind
abduction of Khashoggi in Istanbul. Khalfan pointed out the success of Dubai
Police in uncovering the details of the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
in 2010, in a hotel in Dubai within 72 hours, and accused agents of the
Israeli intelligence “Mossad” of being behind the assassination.
Khalfan said during the interview: “Is there more complicated than
Mossad operations? We revealed all those who were behind that crime in 72
hours. I can confirm that the most complex issues do not need more than 72
hours.” Earlier, the outspoken former police chief said in a tweet: “We can
help with revealing who kidnapped Khashoggi in Turkey… Our experience in
revealing the Mossad enables us to show the truth within 48 hours.”
Turkey Checks CCTV for Clues in Missing Saudi
Journalist Case
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 10/18/Turkish investigators are examining
CCTV footage showing the moment missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
entered the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul and the movements of a team
suspected of involvement in his disappearance.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, vanished on October 2 after
entering the consulate to obtain official documents ahead of his marriage to
his Turkish fiancee. His fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, made an appeal to U.S.
President Donald Trump in an opinion piece for the Washington Post on
Tuesday, calling on him to "help shed light on Jamal's
disappearance."Government sources said at the weekend that police believed
Khashoggi was killed by a team specially sent to Istanbul and thought to
consist of 15 Saudis. CCTV released on Wednesday by Turkish TV showed a man
believed to be Khashoggi enter the consulate as well as a vehicle of
interest entering and leaving the building after Khashoggi went inside. But
Riyadh insisted the 59-year-old journalist had left the building and the
murder claims were "baseless." Khashoggi, a former Saudi government adviser,
had been living in the United States since last year fearing arrest. He has
been critical of some policies of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
and Riyadh's intervention in the war in Yemen. Turkish police were looking
into two private aircraft that landed at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on
October 2 at different times carrying the individuals of interest in the
case.
A source told the Washington Post that U.S. intelligence "intercepted
communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture him." The
same source said the Saudis hoped to "lure" Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia "and
lay hands on him there."
Possible kidnapping
One of the first images from the CCTV footage shared by 24 TV broadcaster
showed Khashoggi enter the consulate at 1.14pm (1014 GMT). Footage also
showed some of the Saudis arriving in Istanbul after the first plane landed
before 0030 GMT on October 2 and the men later checking into a hotel near
the consulate. Aksam daily said some of the men went into the Saudi
consulate before Khashoggi. According to the images, a vehicle that went
inside the consulate was then driven to the consul-general's residence
nearby after 1200 GMT, two hours after Khashoggi had entered the mission.
Aksam newspaper's editor-in-chief Murat Kelkitlioglu speculated on 24 TV
that it was "almost certain" that Khashoggi had been taken in the vehicle.
Local media on Tuesday reported on the possibility that Khashoggi was
kidnapped and taken aboard one of the private planes. Both planes later
returned to Riyadh with one stopping in Dubai and the other in Egypt,
pro-government Sabah daily said. According to Hurriyet daily, nine Saudis
who arrived in Istanbul on the same day that the journalist vanished, had
bought luggage at the Grand Bazaar. However, a police search revealed that
they did not take the luggage on their return. Sabah daily on Wednesday
published the names and images of what it called the "assassination team"
including a man called Salah Muhammed Al-Tubaigy whose name it said matched
that of a lieutenant-colonel in the Saudi forensic department. Sabah added
that no "body parts" appeared on scans of the belongings of seven passengers
of relevance to the case at Istanbul airport. Turkey has said Saudi
authorities gave officials the greenlight to search the consulate but it has
not yet taken place.
'I shouldn't go'
As pressure increases on Washington to intervene on the issue, U.S. Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. was following the situation "very
closely."President Trump expressed concern about the case while U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously called for a thorough
investigation. In his last interview three days before his disappearance,
Khashoggi said that he did not think he would return to Saudi Arabia. "When
I hear of the arrest of a friend who did nothing that (deserved being)
arrested, it makes me feel I shouldn't go," he told the BBC.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which ranks the kingdom 169th out of 180 on
its World Press Freedom Index, said in a statement between 25 and 30
professional and non-professional journalists are currently detained in
Saudi Arabia. RSF said at least 15 Saudi journalists and bloggers have been
arrested since September 2017.
Qatar accused of ‘undermining Palestinian Authority’
through fuel move
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 10 October 2018/The Palestinian
Authority said that Qatar’s move of bringing in fuel to the Gaza Strip
without coordinating with Palestinian official authorities has “crossed all
red lines.”Trucks loaded with Qatari fuel began entering Gaza to supply a
power station amid completely ignoring the sovereignty of the Palestinian
national reconciliation government. The Palestinian Authority has often
warned of transforming the Palestinian cause into a mere humanitarian cause
in which the call for national rights is replaced with humanitarian aid.
These warnings, however, were ignored as Qatar decided to overlook the
Palestinian official stance and coordinated with Israel, UN departments and
Hamas in order to bring trucks loaded with fuel to Gaza. The Palestinian
Authority says the Qatari intervention undermines its efforts. "When Qatar
pays for the fuel, Hamas in Gaza will collect the bills and put it in its
pocket, and this is an indirect financial aid to Hamas," said a PA official,
speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to
reporters. Mahmoud al-Habbash, the Palestinian president’s consultant, said
those who want to serve the Palestinian cause must first help end divisions.
“We believe that those who want to help the Palestinian cause must first
help end the divisions and achieve a reconciliation. Any party that these
days seeks to provide financial support to Hamas is certainly working
against national interest,” Habbash said.
Trump: Planned Kim Summit Narrowed Down to 'Three or Four' Locations
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 10/18/US President
Donald Trump on Tuesday said that planning for his next summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un is advanced and that "three or four locations"
have been short-listed. Trump said at the White House that the meeting would
"probably" not be in Singapore, where their historic first talks took place
in June. The pair discussed ending the reclusive state's nuclear weapons
program and hostilities between Washington and Pyongyang.
Trump said that in terms of timing, the summit "won't be too far
away," later telling reporters it would take place after the November 6
midterm elections. He also said that there could "eventually" be a meeting
on US soil. "On their soil also," Trump added. US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo met with Kim on Monday in Pyongyang to discuss the next summit. "I
returned late last night from North Korea from a trip where we made real
progress. While there is still a long way to go and much work to do, we can
now see a path to where we'll achieve the ultimate goal which is the full
and final verified denuclearization of North Korea," Pompeo told reporters
at the White House. "We will, in short order, be able to talk about when the
president will get to meet with him at what will be the second summit."
Trump talked of "incredible progress," hailing the absence of missile or
nuclear tests this year and the recent return of remains of US service
members killed during the Korean War. "You have no nuclear tests, you have
no rockets, and we have a very good relationship with Chairman Kim, which is
very important," Trump said.
"I like him, he likes me, the relationship is good."
Hurricane Michael Strengthens, Florida Panhandle Braces
for Worst in Decades
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 10/18/Hurricane Michael
swelled to an 'extremely dangerous' category four storm as it rumbled toward
the Gulf Coast of Florida early Wednesday in what forecasters warned was an
unprecedented weather event for the area. The National Hurricane Center said
the storm is now packing maximum wind gusts of 130 mph (210 kilometers),
could grow even more and is expected to slam ashore later in the day along
the Florida Panhandle or Big Bend area as a "life-threatening event".As
outer rainbands from the storm began to lash the coast, the center said a
monster storm surge of up to 13 feet (four meters) is expected in some
areas. Separately, the National Weather Service office in the state capital
Tallahassee issued a dramatic appeal for people to comply with evacuation
orders. "Hurricane Michael is an unprecedented event and cannot be compared
to any of our previous events. Do not risk your life, leave NOW if you were
told to do so," it said. The hurricane was forecast to make landfall
somewhere along the Florida Panhandle -- a finger-shaped strip of land on
the Gulf of Mexico -- or the Big Bend, which connects the former to the
peninsula jutting south. The storm was expected to bring hurricane force
winds and heavy rainfall, the Miami-based NHC said. It will then move across
the southeastern US for another day or so as it heads toward the Atlantic.
The NWS office in Tallahassee said it had searched its historical database
for category four hurricanes -- the second highest level on the Saffir-Simpson
hurricane wind scale -- that made landfall in the panhandle and Big Bend and
found none. It posted a map of the coast on its tweeter feed. "This map says
it all -- it's BLANK -- this situation has NEVER happened before," the
office said. Governor Rick Scott has activated 2,500 members of the National
Guard and warned Michael could be the most destructive storm to hit the
Florida Panhandle in decades. President Donald
Trump issued an emergency declaration for the state, freeing up federal
funds for relief operations and providing the assistance of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "It is imperative that you heed the
directions of your State and Local Officials. Please be prepared, be careful
and be SAFE!" Trump tweeted. State officials issued disaster declarations in
Alabama and Georgia, both of which are also expected to feel the impact from
the storm.As of 0600 GMT, Michael was about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south
of Panama City and moving north at 12 miles per hour (19 kph).
Flash flood, tornado warnings
The NHC said some areas of the Florida coast could expect storm surges of
nine to 13 feet and as much as a foot of rain. The heavy rains could cause
flash floods, the NHC said, and spawn tornados in northwestern Florida.
About 120,000 residents were under mandatory evacuation orders in Bay County
in the panhandle, a low-lying area of beachfront resorts and retirement
communities. In other areas, residents of mobile homes were urged to leave.
Michael was forecast to have the power to uproot trees, block roads
and knock out power for days when it hits Florida. It is expected to weaken
as it moves up into the southeastern United States. Drivers waited in long
lines at gas stations and residents hurried to fill sandbags, while tolls
were suspended on some roads to aid movement ahead of the storm's landfall.
"Since 6:00 am it's been backed up. We're just now running out of
regular (gasoline)," Danny Hess, an employee at a gas station in Panama
City, told local WJHG television. The Carolinas
are still recovering from Hurricane Florence, which left dozens dead and is
estimated to have caused billions of dollars in damage last month. It made
landfall on the coast as a Category 1 hurricane on September 14 and drenched
some parts of the state with 40 inches of rain. Last year saw a string of
catastrophic storms batter the western Atlantic -- including Irma, Maria and
Harvey, which caused a record-equaling $125 billion in damage when it
flooded the Houston metropolitan area. Scientists have long warned that
global warming will make storms more destructive, and some say the evidence
for this may already be visible. At their most fearsome, these low-pressure
weather fronts pack more power than the energy released by the atomic bomb
that levelled Hiroshima.
Turkey Says Heavy Arms
Pullout Completed in Syria's Idlib
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 10/18/Turkey on
Wednesday said a planned buffer zone in the northwestern Syrian province of
Idlib has been cleared of heavy weapons as part of a deal reached between
Moscow and Ankara. "The pullout of heavy weapons from the de-militarized
zone was completed on October 10," the Turkish defense ministry said in a
statement. Turkish state media reported earlier this week that Syrian rebels
concluded their withdrawal of heavy armaments from the zone.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on
October 10-11/18
China’s
Got Its Own Swamp
Michael Schuman/Bloomberg/October,10/18
Beyond retaliating with more tariffs and ads in Iowa newspapers, Chinese
leaders have yet to devise a coherent strategy for contending with US
President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. Perhaps they can’t figure out
what his divided and erratic administration actually wants. Or maybe they’re
so dead set on pursuing their own economic agenda that they just don’t care.
There may be another factor, too: President Xi Jinping and his closest
allies appear to be more isolated than their predecessors, and that may have
left them out-of-touch with what’s really happening in other countries,
including the US. That may be leading them to misread warning signs and
stumble into policy missteps, serious enough to threaten China’s larger
diplomatic agenda. Americans know all too well how such mistakes can happen.
They’ve coined the term “inside the Beltway” to describe how a self-absorbed
Washington can become dangerously disconnected from the outside world. Just
look at the disastrous consequences of US support of Iran’s Shah, or its
miscalculated invasion of Iraq -- both the result of horrible
misunderstandings of reality on the ground.
In China, the political elite are similarly trapped inside the “ring roads,”
the thoroughfares that enclose the sprawling capital. They appear to have
been caught off guard by the severity of Trump’s trade war: The scant offers
Beijing made earlier this year to stave off tariffs showed how little
appreciation Chinese policymakers have of the growing ire among its trading
partners.
Nor do they seem to have any plan to reverse the escalating resistance to
Xi’s most high-profile international initiative, the infrastructure-building
Belt and Road program. Xi characterizes the scheme as a selfless quest for
peace and development. By contrast, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, wary of the intentions of the Chinese program, warned recently of
“a new colonialism.”
It’s not hard to figure out how Xi got himself into this mess. When
paramount leader Deng Xiaoping toured the US in 1979, he hung out at a Texas
rodeo, chomped on barbecue and endured assorted mispronunciations of his
name. It’s impossible to imagine Xi similarly cavorting with foreigners. On
the rare occasions Wang Qishan, China’s vice president and a top Xi adviser,
has emerged from hiding to meet foreign business and government leaders,
he’s often done more lecturing than listening and, according to the
Financial Times, struck his guests as somewhat oblivious to the darkening
attitude in America towards the Middle Kingdom. China’s Communists have
never been the most accessible bunch. But when capitalist reform began in
the 1980s, they actively sought out foreign ideas and advice as they strove
to remake their moribund economy. Now Chinese leaders, made (rightfully)
confident by their own success over the past four decades, are more and more
charting their own course. As Scott Kennedy, director of the Project on
Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, D.C., notes: “China’s current leaders
now seem to think China has all the answers and that foreign experiences
offer less of a guide than in the past.”
Adding to the problem is an ever-more stifling political environment. While
the authoritarian Chinese state never fostered free thinking, Deng did at
least encourage Party members to “emancipate the mind” and devise new ideas
to help the nation. Xi has instead imposed a climate that demands greater
ideological conformity and personal loyalty. His dismissal of term limits
means that subordinates have every incentive to tell him what he wants to
hear. As Bloomberg News recently reported, officials at one ministry spent
countless hours compiling documentation to prove they’ve been faithfully
following Party guidance. Such an atmosphere certainly doesn’t incentivize
mid-level officials to challenge policy orthodoxy, suggest alternatives or
bear bad news.
The point isn’t that Chinese leaders should do what foreigners say. It’s
that an insulated leadership will struggle to achieve its superpower
ambitions. That’s most definitely one lesson Beijing can learn from
Washington, where an often-arrogant foreign policy, immune to outside
criticism, has gotten the US into all sorts of avoidable quagmires. If Xi
and his comrades don’t venture outside the ring roads more, they’ll never
escape their troubles.
Italy Isn’t Like Greece. It’s Better and Worse.
Mohamed El-Erian/Bloomberg/October,10/18
After four successive days of increasing risk spreads, and after a prominent
politician, Claudio Borghi, said there was an advantage to having your “own
currency,” Italy is back squarely on both public and private radar screens
as a potential source of systemic economic and financial disruptions. This
has led to suggestions that the country could become “a new Greece.”While
there are similarities between the Italian and Greek cases, the differences
are big enough to suggest that investors in Italy should focus on a
different set of factors.
In less than two weeks, the risk spread on 10-year Italian bonds has climbed
about 60 basis points to around 3 percent, a level not seen since 2014. This
has spilled over onto the equity market in Italy, and to a lesser extent,
elsewhere in Europe. It has also put pressure on the euro.
The immediate trigger for the widening risk spreads was the government’s
announcement of a budget deficit target that exceeds the European Union’s
guideline. The gradual reduction in purchases of Italian bonds by the
European Central Bank is also an issue for some investors. But the deeper
contributors to the turmoil are the medium-term mix of high public debt,
some unsteady banks and persistently sluggish growth. Market worries have
been exacerbated by some unhelpful public remarks, and not just from
euroskeptic Italian politicians such as Borghi. European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker told a television interviewer that “We have to
do everything to avoid a new Greece — this time an Italy — crisis.”The
parallel with Greece of a few years ago is understandable. The two cases
share at least three important similarities.
Mohamed A. El-Erian is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the chief
economic adviser at Allianz SE, the parent company of Pimco, where he served
as CEO and co-CIO. His books include “The Only Game in Town” and “When
Markets Collide.”
After four successive days of increasing risk spreads, and after a prominent
politician, Claudio Borghi, said there was an advantage to having your “own
currency,” Italy is back squarely on both public and private radar screens
as a potential source of systemic economic and financial disruptions. This
has led to suggestions that the country could become “a new Greece.”
While there are similarities between the Italian and Greek cases, the
differences are big enough to suggest that investors in Italy should focus
on a different set of factors. In less than two weeks, the risk spread on
10-year Italian bonds has climbed about 60 basis points to around 3 percent,
a level not seen since 2014. This has spilled over onto the equity market in
Italy, and to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Europe. It has also put pressure
on the euro. The immediate trigger for the widening risk spreads was the
government’s announcement of a budget deficit target that exceeds the
European Union’s guideline. The gradual reduction in purchases of Italian
bonds by the European Central Bank is also an issue for some investors. But
the deeper contributors to the turmoil are the medium-term mix of high
public debt, some unsteady banks and persistently sluggish growth. Market
worries have been exacerbated by some unhelpful public remarks, and not just
from euroskeptic Italian politicians such as Borghi. European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker told a television interviewer that “We have to
do everything to avoid a new Greece — this time an Italy — crisis.”
The parallel with Greece of a few years ago is understandable. The two cases
share at least three important similarities.
1- On debt: a fragile mix of sizable public liabilities relative to GDP,
lots of the related government bond issuance residing in the domestic
banking system and medium-term debt sustainability concerns. 2- On the real
economy: a growth model that has repeatedly failed to produce high and
inclusive prosperity.
3- In politics: the emergence of anti-establishment movements that do not
shy away from politicizing the issue of the euro zone. Yet there are also
important differences suggesting different dynamics governing the extent of
the systemic threat in the two countries.
Unlike Greece, Italy is one of the largest economies in Europe and an
original member of the European economic integration project. Because of its
size, its gross funding needs in euro terms are sizable relative to the
regional safety nets put in place to deal with troubled countries. As such,
a big problem with Italy would constitute a much larger and more durable
source of systemic risk, economically and financially. It is no exaggeration
to say that, if it were to stumble very badly, the southern European country
could present an existential threat for the euro zone.
But also unlike Greece, Italy doesn’t have a current account deficit (it has
a surplus), and the average duration of its outstanding debt is longer. With
lower risk of financial default in the short term, the main determinant of
possible disruptions resides in dislocations originating from domestic and
regional politics. That is the most important factor for investors to
monitor closely. What ultimately saved Greece’s membership in the euro zone
a few years ago was the imminent threat of default. Fearing a shock that
would tip the economy into a multiyear depression and fundamentally alter
many of Greece’s regional economic and financial relationships, the Syriza
government opted for an orthodox approach, even though it had won both the
election and the referendum by backing a political agenda that advocated
doing the opposite.
The hope of many investors — as well as EU officials, ECB officials and
several policy makers in European capitals — is that the Italian government
will perform a similar pivot, even though the immediate default risk is
lower. In doing so, Rome would need to design a more comprehensive program
aimed at generating high, inclusive and sustainable growth.
Death or Life for Christian “Blasphemer”? Pakistan Ruling on Asia Bibi
Expected
ريموند إبراهيم: من المتوقع صدرور حكم بالموت أو الحياة ضد المسيحية
الباكستانية اسيا بيبي المتهمة بالتجديف
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/October 10/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/68017/raymond-ibrahim-gatestone-institute-death-or-life-for-christian-blasphemer-pakistan-ruling-on-asia-bibi-expected-%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87/
On October 9, Pakistan’s Supreme Court heard the final appeal
of a Christian woman who has been on death row for nearly a decade on the
accusation that she insulted Islam’s prophet Muhammad. The woman’s fate is
now sealed: “They [judges] have come to a decision, but it has been
reserved,” reported Mehwish Bhatti, an officer with the British-Pakistani
Christian Association, from the courthouse.
Aasiya Noreen—better known as “Asia Bibi”—is a 47-year-old married mother of
five children who fell afoul of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law nearly a
decade ago.
According to her autobiography, Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over
a Cup of Water, on June 14, 2009, she went to work picking berries in a
field. Although she was accustomed to being ostracized by the other female
pickers on account of her Christian faith, things came to a head when the
dehydrated woman drank water from a common well on that sweltering summer
day.
“Don’t drink that water, it’s haram [forbidden]!” screamed a nearby woman,
before turning to the other dozen or so female workers and crying, “Listen,
all of you, this Christian has dirtied the water in the well by drinking
from our cup and dipping it back several times. Now the water is unclean and
we can’t drink it! Because of her!” (Such beliefs are not uncommon in the
Muslim world. In one video, an Egyptian cleric expresses his great disgust
for Christians, and how he could not drink from a cup that was merely
touched by a Christian.)
The argument spiraled, and the women began calling on Bibi to convert to
Islam in order to save herself. “What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to
save mankind?” the embattled woman shot back.
A report summarizes what happened next: After this, Bibi said the women
started screaming, spitting at her and physically assaulting her. She ran
home in a fright. Less than a week later, she went fruit-picking in another
field when she was confronted by a rioting crowd, led by the woman who had
initially shouted at her.
The crowd surrounded her, beat her and took her to the village, screaming:
“Death! Death to the Christian!”
The village imam said: “I’ve been told you’ve insulted our Prophet. You know
what happens to anyone who attacks the holy Prophet Mohammed. You can redeem
yourself only by conversion or death.”
She protested: “I haven’t done anything. Please, I beg you, I’ve done
nothing wrong.”
Bibi was taken to the village police station, covered in blood, where police
interrogated her and put a report together. She was then put into a police
van and taken straight to prison.
She has been in that cell ever since.
Despite inconsistent witness testimonies, a Punjabi court fined and
sentenced her to death by hanging before cheering crowds in late 2010. Since
then,
“I’ve been locked up, handcuffed and chained, banished from the world and
waiting to die,” says Bibi in her smuggled memoirs. “I don’t know how long
I’ve got left to live. Every time my cell door opens my heart beats faster.
My life is in God’s hands and I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.
It’s a brutal, cruel existence.”
This is to say nothing of the sufferings of her husband and five children:
“I really love her and miss her presence. I cannot sleep at night as I miss
her,” her husband Ashiq Masih once explained: “I miss her smile; I miss
everything about her. She is my soulmate. I cannot see her in prison. It
breaks my heart. Life has been non-existent without her. … My children cry
for their mother, they are broken. But I try to give them hope where I can.”
All of this for asking a rhetorical question—“What did your Prophet Mohammed
ever do to save mankind?”—variants of which non-Muslims have been asking for
centuries.
In the late 1390s, for instance, Roman Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos
responded to a group of Muslim scholars bent on converting him to Islam by
saying, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will
find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the
sword the faith he preached.” Over 600 years later, in 2006, when Pope
Benedict passingly quoted this assertion, anti-Christian riots erupted
around the Muslim world, churches were burned, and an Italian nun who had
devoted her life to serving the sick and needy of Somalia was murdered
there.
In Pakistan, however, such “vigilante justice” is unnecessary to avenge the
honor of Muhammad. According to Section 295-C of that nation’s penal code,
“Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or
by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles
the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be
punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to
fine.”
Because non-Muslims—particularly Christians, who by definition are known to
reject Muhammad’s prophecy—are more likely to be suspected of blasphemy, and
because the word of a Christian is not valid against the word of a Muslim,
blasphemy accusations by Muslims against Christians are common and routinely
result in the imprisoning, beating and even killing of Christians (as when
1,200 Muslims deliberately burned a young Christian couple to death in 2014
for allegedly insulting Islam).
In other words, Asia Bibi’s story is the notorious tip of a large but hidden
iceberg. Seemingly not a month — sometimes not even a week — goes by in
Pakistan without some Muslims accusing some Christians of insulting
Muhammad, often just to settle a personal score (here, here, here, here,
here, here, here and here) or to seize land (here, here, here, and here).
These are followed by the usual riots, home- and church-burnings, beatings
and expulsion of Christians, and, finally, arrest and imprisonment of the
supposed “blasphemer.”
Although Bibi’s case has sparked outrage around the international community,
all calls for her release have for a decade fallen on deaf ears. This is not
so much because the nation’s authorities are determined to execute her—one
infidel is surely not worth the world’s criticism and contempt—but because
excusing her in order to save face with the world would instantly make them
lose face with many of their own. That consideration is why, whenever there
is any serious talk that Bibi might be spared, protests and riots often
ensue. As Bibi’s husband once explained, “The Maulvis [clerics] want her
dead. They have announced a [monetary] prize … for anyone who kills Asia.
They have even declared that if the court acquits her they will ensure the
death sentence stands.”
Authorities sympathetic to or siding with such “blasphemers” are also
targeted. For example, two of her prominent advocates, Governor Salmaan
Taseer and Minority Affairs Minister Shabaz Bhatti, were both assassinated
in 2011. Taseer was shot twenty-seven times by Mumtaz Qadri, his own
bodyguard. After the murder, more than 500 Muslim clerics voiced support for
Qadri, who was further showered with rose petals.
This is arguably why Pakistani authorities continue to delay issuing a final
verdict—to give Bibi time to die “naturally” in jail (as not a few
Christians have under “mysterious” circumstances). Instead of placating the
world but angering Islamists by releasing her, or placating Islamists but
horrifying the world by executing her, the Pakistani judicial system
abandoned Bibi to a deathtrap of a jail cell for a decade, where wretched
conditions, severe maltreatment, unattended illnesses, psychological abuse
and beatings should have killed her, as they did many others before her.
Much to their vexation, however, “She is psychologically, physically and
spiritually strong,” Bibi’s husband explained days ago. “Having a very
strong faith, she is ready and willing to die for Christ. She will never
convert to Islam.”
In her memoirs, Bibi “wonder[s] whether being a Christian in Pakistan today
is not just a failing, or a mark against you, but actually a crime.” Her
question is finally about to be answered by Pakistan’s supreme court.
“All around Pakistan and even many parts of the world, the sense of
anticipation . . . regarding Asia Bibi’s final appeal hearing are now at
fever pitch,” said Leighton Medley of the British-Pakistani Christian
Association concerning Bibi’s recent and final hearing. “There is a sense
here in Pakistan that once again, battle lines are being drawn: the battle
between those who support hatred and intolerance and those who fight for
peace and justice.”
Accordingly, in the last few days, Christians around the world prayed and
fasted, even as extremist Muslims riled each other and called for riots on
social media, should the “blasphemer” escape death. Either way, “There will
be protests on both sides and you can bet there will be trouble ahead,”
continues Medley. “It truly is D-Day for Asia, this is the final countdown
and we will soon know whether the extremists win or lose. And whether there
will be peace and justice in Pakistan or just more hatred, prejudice and
intolerance which sadly has come to typify Pakistan today.”
*Picture enclosed: Asia Bibi with two of her five children, prior to her
death row imprisonment for “blasphemy” in 2010.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13114/pakistan-asia-bibi-appeal
Why is the Qatari-Brotherhood media really interested
in the Khashoggi case?
Mamdouh AlMuhaini/Al Arabiya/October 10/18
The outpouring of grief from Al-Jazeera channel and Qatari and
Brotherhood-affiliated channels and websites over the disappearance of
journalist Jamal Khashoggi is not out of concern for journalism or freedom
of speech, as they claim, and is not out of concern for his safety. But it’s
only because he has a Saudi passport. They will
certainly act the same if Khashoggi were an Emirati, a Bahraini or an
Egyptian, i.e. from the countries that have boycotted Doha. It’s unlikely to
see this intensified coverage and organized campaign if Khashoggi had
another Arab nationality or any other foreign nationality.
It’s possible to overcome this and believe this claim if Al-Jazeera, as well
as its affiliates, were well-known for moderation, concern over human
dignity and freedom of expression and maintaining people’s safety, but it
has done the complete opposite and adopted a cheap credibility that’s
stained with blood. It violated all professional values and ethical
standards when it transformed into an open platform to all extremists and
terrorists who committed and promoted massacres and later appeared with wide
smiles via its screens.
It also sponsored the ideology of violence in an organized and planned
manner until it became the “Kaaba” to which extremists and hate preachers go
to from all over the world to perform pilgrimage. Takfirists’ speeches were
once limited to suspicious forums and pursued gatherings but now we see them
on Al-Jazeera channel during prime time. Al-Jazeera promotes their rhetoric
to the public in such an unprecedented manner and grants their violent
ideology wide intellectual and theoretical legitimacy.
This Qatari-Brotherhood media turned Bin Laden into a TV star and broadcast
all his speeches without editing them or commenting on them to respond to
his dangerous propaganda and codes in every message and letter. It supported
him via anchors and commentators who sympathized with him and called him
Sheikh Osama at a time when al-Qaeda members were executing explosions in
Riyadh, Baghdad and other cities.
It’s via its channel that we heard the most violent and bloodiest fatwas
such as the fatwa permitting suicide operations and which was issued by its
permanent guest Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and this became the favorite strategy of
terror groups which this media adopted from Al-Qaeda to Al-Nusra Front, the
terror group which the Qatari government sponsored and whose media colored
and rehabilitated.Qatari and Brotherhood-affiliated media are exploiting
Jamal Khashoggi’s name and politically abusing him not out of concern for
him or for journalism, but to serve the political aims of Doha.
With the digital era and the wave of social media, we saw this huge
amount of news websites and flies on Twitter and users on Facebook who do
not only settle with promoting Al-Qaeda’s and the Brotherhood’s ideology of
violence but also attack those who fight it, whether individuals or
institutions, to break their will and tarnish their reputation.The most
important thing that other media institutions are doing is attempting to
provide professional journalism as much as possible and combat this bloody
rhetoric with a moderate and tolerant one instead of leaving the arena open
for these deceptive crocodiles.
Cheap pawns of the Qatari machine
We know that these malicious Qatari channels that promote this violent
rhetoric implement the wishes of Doha and the Brotherhood which are allied
together and which share the mutual interest that aims to destabilize
countries, spread chaos in them, topple them, replace them with the
extremist organization and expand the influence of the Qatari regime which
is paying billions to achieve this mad goal. Al-Jazeera and its channels are
mere cheap pawns of this machine. And now, the
disappearance case of Saudi journalist Khashoggi emerged. Of course it’s
worth media follow-up but what we’ve seen is an organized and planned
campaign that depends on unreliable sources, invents fake reports and
changes the story within hours from abduction to disappearance to murder
without referring to official sources regarding such a sensitive case.
Of course, Al-Jazeera and other channels and websites are exploiting
Khashoggi’s name and politically abusing him not out of concern for him or
for journalism, but to serve the political aims of Doha. They are also
serving the extremists whose humanitarian and professional conscience only
awakens when the missing person is of a certain nationality, while going
into a deep sleep when the missing is a Qatari or Iranian, or from a country
whose regime is friendly to Doha.
Tunisia’s Ennahda and the secret apparatus
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/October 10/18
On July 26, 2013, unidentified gunmen assassinated leftist Tunisian
politician Mohamed Brahmi, who opposes the Tunisian Brotherhood Ennahda
Movement. He was fatally shot in front of his house in Tunis. Few months
before that, Chokri Belaid, the official in the Popular Front and who also
opposed Ennahda and its government, was also killed.
Who assassinated the two politicians who oppose Ennahda?
Nothing is clear until now but the team defending the two victims dropped a
political bombshell when it revealed that Ennahda has a “secret apparatus”
that performs dark practices and that it’s the party which covered the
killers and hid documents. This is of course according to the defense team’s
statements.
The team defending Brahmi and Belaid confirmed in a press conference that
Ennahda Movement has a special organization that’s linked to political
assassinations. The man who supervised the apparatus – the defense team
publicly stated his name – possessed documents linked to the assassination
of Brahmi and Belaid.The defense team confirmed that in December 2013 it
found documents in the place where the apparatus’ supervisor lived, and who,
by the way, is currently detained on accusations of manipulating with
documents.
Commenting on these dangerous accusations, Sufian al-Sulaiti, a spokesman
for Tunisia's counter-terrorism apparatus, said: “The prosecution is
investigating the accusations made at the press conference of the defense
team of Brahmi and Belaid and about Ennahda Movement’s theft of files
related to their assassination.”We are waiting for the judiciary’s last word
in this regard. However, what is important is that this behavior, i.e.
acting in two different ways: apparent and vague, public and secret, soft
and hard and elusive and frank, is a characteristic of the old Brotherhood
traits as there are things that can be said to the “brothers” and things to
be said to others.
It’s an old trait which source is religious preaching about the virtue of
“secrecy” and which is a result of the political and partisan atmosphere in
which the Brotherhood was born in the first half of the past century, and
which was the era of secret movements and militias par excellence in Egypt,
where there were the green and black shirts and the iron guard, and outside
Egypt in Lebanon and Iraq. All this is imported from the political European
culture especially Spain, Italy and of course Germany.
Hence, it’s not strange if this is the case with the Tunisian Ennahda
Movement. As we said, the final word is for the Tunisian judiciary. We’re
here just ending this shock which some kind people may feel.
In brief, there are always words said in public and other words said in
private, there is always what’s evident and what’s hidden and what’s public
and what’s secret. This is how they’ve been and this is how they will
remain. Those shocked must save their shock for what’s worth it!
Israel's exilic existential anxiety
Ynetnews/Aviad Kleinberg/October 10/18
Op-ed: Israel's founding fathers hoped that when we have our own country,
where we can defend ourselves by ourselves, the existential anxiety that had
characterized us over 2,000 years of exile would disappear. But it hasn't.
Our hysterical treatment of BDS supporters is not strategic in nature, it's
psychological.
Israeli society is living in internal contradiction. On the one hand, we
champion the "we don't care what others think about us" attitude.
Supposedly, as Ben-Gurion declared, "it's not important what the gentiles
say, it's important what the Jews do."
The new Jew neglected his outward appearance, dismissed manners in the name
of the sacred Hebrew "dugri" (direct speech) attitude, and carried out
retaliatory actions that drew criticism in the world. Any attention to what
others think—on the way we dress, speak or run our country—is seen as
exilic, as an offensive symptom of that hyper-sensitivity to the gentiles.
The exilic Jew didn't want to cause antagonism, he wanted to be invited to
dinner by the neighbors, he was willing to adapt to the expectations of the
non-Jewish crowd. The new Jew doesn't need this. He's home, and at home he's
doing whatever he wants, and damn the neighbors.
On the other hand, the new Jew is hyper-sensitive to what others say about
him. He would've liked—after the first moments of shock—the neighbors to
love him, appreciate him, follow his example. He wants to be a "Light unto
the Nations."
This theoretical yearning is connected to something deeper than anxiety over
one's image. Armed from head to toe, protected by nuclear warheads
(according to foreign reports), no longer a servant with no rights, but an
over privileged master who has his own "Jews"—the new Jew has yet to
complete the mental recovery that Israel's founding fathers wished for.
After we returned to our land and established a sovereign state in it, they
hoped, after we once again became accustomed to being able to defend
ourselves by ourselves, the existential anxiety that characterized us over
the course of "2,000 years in exile" would disappear. The new Jew will get
rid of the nightmares of the old Jew, of the terror that was always hovering
over our very existence. Without this anxiety, which made the Jew constantly
vigilant so he could prepare himself in advance for the blow to come, we
would finally be "like all other nations."
What does it mean to be "like all other nations"? That's a good question. It
appears it's not about becoming similar to them in customs or faith; the
State of Israel was established so we could be different without fear. Being
"like all other nations" means not to act out of the existential need to
please, but also not out of complete disregard to the world. To stop viewing
everything in the terms of "what will they say about us," but also not give
ourselves a general indulgence (a pardon) because of our chosenness or past
suffering. To listen to criticism without having to accept it right away,
but at the same time not automatically define it as anti-Semitic. To examine
our actions and the actions of our friends in their own right, based on the
principles of universal justice: whether—in the terms of philosopher
Immanuel Kant—we'd be willing to make our actions the norm. Meaning, are we
willing to be treated in the same way we've treated others? This process
hasn't happened. Under the Netanyahu governments, the exilic existential
anxiety has become the main characteristic of the Israeli. And if there's no
existential threat, there's no choice but to make one up.
The most typical example of the Israeli anomaly is the hysterics over the
BDS Movement. This movement, which calls for boycott—full or partial—of
Israel, represents the margins of the margins. Most of the world's
governments have friendly relations with Israel. So what is the problem? In
some of the universities in the West, there are BDS groups that get little
support from their institutions.
When you inquire about the achievements of the BDS movements, you are
presented with a list of entertainers who refused to perform in Israel. The
exalters of BDS also mention several academics who refused to come to Israel
and even—may the all-merciful protect us—won't write letters of
recommendation. How many of them? Let me tell you that in my three years as
the head of the History Department at Tel Aviv University, hundreds of
guests visited us. How many refusals did we receive, in a field that is
supposedly a breeding ground for bleeding heart liberals? You can count them
on one hand.
How did the BDS Movement become an existential threat that justifies
unfounded conduct, like in the case of Lara Alqasem? The answer will not be
found in the field of strategy, but in psychology.
‘Forever war’ in Afghanistan fading from Americans’
memory
Michael Kugelman/Arab News/October 10/18
Sunday marked the 17th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan.
The conflict has dragged on for so long that, very soon, America’s youngest
soldiers could be fighting in a war that began before they were born.
Aside from a series of news articles, this 17-year milestone didn’t garner
much attention around the world. And that’s no surprise, given that few
people talk about the war in Afghanistan anymore. Not only is it a “forever
war,” it is also a forgotten war —particularly in America, which has
stationed troops in Afghanistan for nearly two decades.
I recently came across one of the most sobering US public opinion polls I’ve
ever seen on Afghanistan. Back in July, a Rasmussen Reports survey found
that 20 percent of “likely US voters” did not think that America was still
at war in Afghanistan. And another 20 percent were not sure. This profound
lack of awareness prevails even as US troops continue to die — including
most recently a soldier on Oct. 4 — and billions of dollars continue to be
spent.
It is easy to forget that, in its early weeks, the war made constant
headlines. The conflict, launched in October 2001 in order to avenge the
9/11 attacks, achieved its initial goals — eliminating sanctuaries for
Al-Qaeda and removing the group’s Taliban hosts from power — in relatively
short order. For most Americans, the war back then was easy to understand
and support. So what happened? How has it morphed from the good and
necessary war to the endless and forgotten war?
Academics Tanisha M. Fazal and Sarah Kreps offered a convincing analysis in
an August essay in Foreign Affairs magazine. Americans are largely
disinterested, they wrote, because “the public is no longer directly
affected by the war legally, personally, and financially.” The conflict,
which had no formal declaration of war, is relatively informal and is thus
“easily normalized and even obscured from public view.” Additionally, the
lack of a draft means that most Americans have no personal link to the war.
“Today’s public,” Fazal and Kreps wrote, “is more insulated from the human
costs of war than previous generations.” Finally, because of the lack of
financial costs directly tied to the war — such as the war taxes imposed
during the Vietnam War — its financial impact “is easily overlooked.”There’s
also a simpler reason why people don’t think or talk about the war: They
simply can’t process it anymore
These are all valid explanations. But there’s also a simpler reason why
people, and particularly Americans, don’t think or talk about the war: They
simply can’t process it anymore, and feel a need to push it away.
Consider how the dynamic of the war, and perceptions of it, have shifted
over the years. After those early objectives were achieved, US policymakers
became diverted by the need to prepare for the eventual intervention in Iraq
in 2003. Ever since then, successive American leaders have struggled to
articulate and justify exactly why the country’s military continues to stay
in Afghanistan. Justifying that endless military presence has grown more
difficult in recent years, as the war has taken a major turn for the worse.
Afghan casualty rates are soaring, and drug harvests — which fund the
insurgency — are breaking new records. The Taliban holds more territory than
at any time since US forces entered Afghanistan. And American troops
continue to die, albeit at a much slower rate than in previous years.
Little wonder this is so hard for Americans to process. Their country is
fighting in and paying for a war with poorly defined objectives, which has
gone from bad to worse, and has no end in sight. Dominic Tierney, writing in
The Atlantic back in 2015, said it best: “Raising the topic of Afghanistan
these days is like mentioning mortality. There’s a profound desire to change
the subject.”The Pew Research Center released a survey last week that found
that about 50 percent of American adults believe the US has “mostly failed”
in achieving its goals in Afghanistan.
Efforts are now afoot to try to launch a peace process with the Taliban to
bring a merciful end to a war that can’t be won on the battlefield. This
will be a hard sell to the insurgents, whose battlefield success gives them
little incentive to stop fighting. Perhaps, in due course, Washington and
Kabul will agree on a series of generous concessions that the Taliban can’t
refuse.
However, getting the Taliban to say yes will take quite some time. It took
more than 50 years to negotiate an end to the insurgency in Colombia, a war
comparable in many ways to the one in Afghanistan.
In all reality, the war will most likely go on to reach its most dramatic
milestone yet: Its 20th anniversary. And, sadly, few will likely be paying
any attention.
**Michael Kugelman is deputy director of the Asia Program and senior
associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars. Twitter: @michaelkugelman
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do
not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view
Cooperation key to resolving issues between religions
Peter Welby/Arab News/October 10/18
The secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdul Karim Al-Issa, always has interesting things to say, and last week’s
MWL conference drove headlines on some important issues. Last Thursday,
before an audience of religious leaders and policy makers in New York, he
gave a speech that included a call for Christians, Muslims and Jews to
jointly visit Jerusalem, visit each other’s holy sites, and begin a new
approach to resolving the long-running Israel-Palestine conflict: A brave
religious initiative for a conflict focused on a religious city.
The conference was on “Cultural rapprochement between the Muslim world and
the US.” Being neither a US citizen, nor a Muslim, I’m not sure what I could
add by my presence, but I was nonetheless happy to be there, and to speak
myself, on the second day.
Of course, cultural rapprochement between the Muslim World and the US
actually requires rapprochement across the West. Modern politics and
cultural movements are so interconnected, US politics cannot be considered
to be in a vacuum. The cultural memory that has led to such a distrust of
Islam in the US is shared across the Western world, both old and new.
As I prepared for my own speech at the conference, I came across an
interesting 2011 poll of Muslim attitudes in Muslim-majority countries
toward Westerners, and non-Muslim Westerners toward Muslims. It found that a
majority of Muslims regarded Westerners as greedy, immoral, violent, and
fanatical. No positive terms received over 50 percent. Meanwhile, majorities
in the West regarded Muslims as fanatical, violent and — just to mix things
up — honest.
Such attitudes don’t arise from nothing. They are the legacy of 1,400 years
of rivalry around the Mediterranean. In North Africa, the bastion and
theological proving ground of the early Christian Church, though fatally
riven by schism, there remains only one church with a history predating the
Muslim conquest: That of the Copts. Jerusalem, a city sacred to the three
Abrahamic faiths, was surrendered by Patriarch Sophronius to Caliph Umar in
637, and the loss of which struck deeply at the Western Christian psyche,
with a direct link to the Crusades. The loss of Spain and the glorification
of what is known as the Reconquista; the fall of Constantinople and the
Eastern Roman Empire; the creeping conquest of the Ottomans in the Balkans
and Eastern Europe; and no list of rivalry between Christendom and Islam
would be complete without mentioning the Ottomans at the Gates of Vienna in
1683.
This may seem like ancient history. The majority of people in the West won’t
be able to tell you about the defeat of the Ottoman armies in 1683 — but by
that time the European colonies in North America were well established. In
any case, the cultural impact of historical events last long beyond their
popular memory. And, however much the West secularizes and moves toward a
post-faith society, its attitudes and values are shaped by the legacy of
Christianity.
Cultural memory can be changed through engagement. It is hard but necessary
Cultural memory perpetuates hatred long after all reason is forgotten. That
cultural memory can be found in the deep suspicion of Islam in the West
today. History is a story of winners and losers: Victory or defeat does much
more to foster identity than examples of engagement.
That is not a counsel of despair. A house, which takes months to build, can
burn down in an afternoon, but no one would suggest that is an argument
against building houses. Julius Caesar killed or enslaved at least 20
percent of the population of Gaul, but the history of cooperation between
Italy and France long ago expunged that memory. Cultural memory can be
changed through engagement. It is hard but necessary.
Which brings us back to Al-Issa’s keynote speech. His agenda, apparent in
all of his work since his appointment as secretary general in 2016, is
cooperation in order to resolve some of the most pressing areas of distance
between the Islamic, Jewish and Christian worlds, as he put it,
“spiritually, politically, economically and culturally.”
The most striking area in which he views an opportunity for cooperation is
in Jerusalem. He called for a “peace caravan” of Christians, Muslims and
Jews without political affiliation in the dispute to work together to bring
a new perspective on its resolution. These were significant words, and it is
right that they were noticed. But there are opportunities here to work with
those already seeking to do just that.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem (the successor to Sophronius) is the acknowledged
“primus inter pares” (first among equals) of the Christian leaders in
Jerusalem, and treads a difficult line between Israeli and Palestinian
politics, as well as threats from extremists on both sides. His only concern
is that there should be peace, security, and protection for the Christians
of the Holy Land.
Another such figure is Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah — mentioned in this column
previously — who, two years ago, set up an “American Caravan of Peace” to
bring together Christians, Muslims and Jews in the US to work together for
the common good.
This concept is not one that we have heard previously from the MWL. But
then, its secretary general, as he outlined in a detailed interview in this
newspaper, is someone who is bringing fresh ideas to the table, suffused
with energy and vision. That vision should become a reality, working
together with others engaged in the field of building peace through
friendship and cooperation. It is much needed, and a requirement for
long-lasting reconciliation.
Peter Welby is a consultant on religion and global affairs, specializing in
the Arab world. Previously he was the managing editor of a think tank on
religious extremism, the Center on Religion & Geopolitics, and worked in
public affairs in the Arabian Gulf. He is based in London, and has lived in
Egypt and Yemen. Twitter: @pdcwelby