Detailed Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For September 27/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor
Luke 04/14-21: "Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’"

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Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 26-27/18
That is what it's called the living in a Box, or the Boxes/Dr. Walid Phares/Face Book/September 26/18
Aoun in his address at UN General Assembly: In Lebanon, we are groping our way to rise from consecutive crises/NNA//September 26/18
James Jeffrey: We Are Working With Russia to Get Iran out… Remove Assad Through Constitution/Heba El Koudsy/Asharq Al-Awsat/September,26/18
Help the People of Iran/Lawrence A. Franklin//Gatestone Institute/September 26/18
The Palestinians' Three No's: What They Mean/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/September 26/18
Theresa May Sends a Brexit Message to Two Sets of Skeptics/Therese Raphael/Bloomberg/September, 26/18
Another Look at the Definitions of Right and Left/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/September, 26/18
Using the Ahwaz Attack/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/September, 26/18
The Yield Curve’s Day of Reckoning Is Overblown/Brian Chappatta/Bloomberg/September, 26/18 Angela Merkel's Ugly Romance With The Iraniaqn Regime/Benjamin Weinthal/The Tablet/September 26/ 2018
Pope, Russia and the US: A bipolar world order déjà vu/Walid Jawad/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
The need to end tension with philosophy/Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
Who hates Trump’s siege of the Iranian regime/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
The Iranian ‘surgeon’ is also ill/Ghassan Charbel/Al Arabiya/September 26/18


Titles For The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on September 26-27/18
That is what it's called the living in a Box, or the Boxes.
Aoun in his address at UN General Assembly: In Lebanon, we are groping our way to rise from consecutive crises
Lebanon's Parliament Approves Arms Trade Treaty
Lebanon: ‘Tactical’ Withdrawal of Future, LF Deputies From Parliament Session
Lebanese media: Army blocking internal security forces from Beirut airport
Scuffle Briefly Halts Inspection of Passengers at RHIA
Salameh: BDL to Set Stimulus Packages for Housing Loans
Rampling Meets Hariri, Says UK 'Friend, Ally of Lebanon'
Jumblat: Aoun an Advocate of Reform Should Begin with Electricity File
Macron Says 'Working with Aoun, Hariri' to Return Syrian Refugees
Germany, Saudi Arabia to Restore Envoys after Lebanon Row
Head Of Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV Receives Award Honoring The Network's 'Martyrs' At Italian Event Sponsored By Foreign Ministry And Parliament


Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 26-27/18
Syria says new air defenses will make Israel think twice
Russia Insists on Supplying Syria With S-300 Defense Systems
IS Threatens More Attacks against Iran
Trump Backs 2-State Solution, Pledges Peace Plan within 4 Months
Netanyahu Stresses Israeli Security after Trump 2-State Comments
IS Threatens More Attacks against Iran
Rouhani Says U.S. Will Eventually Rejoin Nuclear Deal
Syria Says New Air Defences Will Make Israel Think Twice
Syrian official says S-300 defenses will give Israel pause
Erdogan says court, not politicians, to decide American pastor’s fate
Druze in Israel Urges Russia’s Intervention to Free Hostages From Syria’s Sweida
Bahrain: Prosecution Charges 169 Over 'Bahraini Hezbollah' Group
Aboul Gheit Discusses Arab Files With International Officials in New York
World Bank Report Warns Gaza's Economy in 'Free Fall'

The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on September 26-27/18
That is what it's called the living in a Box, or the Boxes.
Dr. Walid Phares/Face Book/September 26/18
In Lebanon there are several time zones coexisting at the same time. Those stuck in the 1920s and the French Mandate time, those stuck in the 1943 National Pact era, those who lament the good old Paris of the Middle East years before 1968. Those who believe the leftwing Hamra street souvenirs are the best to go back to. Those who sunk in the 1975 fifteen years war and keep watching the good old videos. Those who praise the Taif heaven and Ghazi Kanaan era. Those who cry about the missed opportunity of the Cedars Revolution and March 14 dreams. And obviously those who religiously believe that Hezbollah's divine days are what will last for ever. All of the above exist at the same time. All are stuck in the present and in the past. Few are trying to get out, get rid of the boundaries and move towards a different future. Most blame each other, blame mostly others. And most firmly state, that had it not been for some conspiracies, "their times" were the best. That is what it's called the living in a Box, or the Boxes...
 
Aoun in his address at UN General Assembly: In Lebanon, we are groping our way to rise from consecutive crises
NNA//September 26/18
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, delivered Lebanon's speech on Wednesday at the 73rd UN General Assembly.
Below, the full text of the President's speech:
"At the onset, I would like to congratulate Your Excellency on chairing the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly, wishing you success in this mission. I would also like to thank His Excellency Mr. Miroslav Lajcak for his efforts in the conduct of the previous session.
It gives me pleasure to also laud the efforts of the UN Secretary General Mr. Guterres for his endeavors, in particular his reform project at the top of the international organization.
You proposed as a theme for the general debate: "making the United Nations relevant to all people: global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies". It is indeed a commendable proposition because it means that the United Nations is aware that its present reality requires a serious improvement of the future role expected from it.
According to its objectives and founding principles, the United Nations must be the global conscience that preserves balance, prevents aggression, establishes justice and protects peace. Indeed, at many junctions, the Security Council failed to adopt fair, and sometimes defining, resolutions for some people, due to the right of veto, or because some States abstained from implementing resolutions that do not suit them, even if they were binding and immediate, without any accountability or sanction.
Let me give you a few examples from the very heart of our region's suffering:
Security-Council Resolution 425 of 1978, which called Israel to withdraw its forces from all the Lebanese territories immediately, was only implemented 22 years later, under the pressure of the resistance of the Lebanese people.
In contrast, we see that the General Assembly's Resolution 181 of 1947, stipulating the division of Palestine, took a binding character although it is not binding, and it was immediately executed while Resolution 194, also adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, calling for the return of the Palestinian Refugees to their home as soon as possible, remained as mere ink on paper for seventy years.
In this context, the right of veto or the right of objection, has undoubtedly many considerations and grounds at its origin, but its consequences affected adversely many countries and peoples, especially in our region, and deprived them from fundamental rights.
Therefore, for the United Nations to be "a global leadership and to be relevant to all people...", there must be a reform project that sets out the enlargement of the Security Council, the increase of the number of Member States and the adoption of a more transparent, more democratic and more balanced system. On another hand, it is of paramount importance for the General Assembly to express better the effective orientation of the international community.
The United Nations is also invited to promote the protection of human rights in the world. Having made a remarkable contribution to the setup of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights", and having committed itself expressly to them in the preamble of its Constitution, Lebanon affirms that it regards human rights as it does the freedom of the individual in society, and that any assault against human rights today, in any country, paves the way for tomorrow's disputes.
It is worth noting in this respect that Lebanon is steadily moving forward in the promotion of human rights at both legislative and executive levels. Indeed, the Lebanese Parliament has already adopted the law on the establishment of the national commission for human rights, including a committee to investigate the use of torture and the mistreatment.
In a related context, we are on the verge of finalizing a national action plan pertaining to the execution of Security Council Resolution 1325 which called on the member States to set action plans to enable women to take part in decision-making processes, negotiations and countering conflicts. The Lebanese action plan has indeed introduced the four axes of this Resolution, and it included the guarantee of women participation in decision-making at all levels, as well as the activation of their role in conflict prevention, adopting the laws to ban discrimination against women, and to protect them from violence and abuse.
In Lebanon, we are groping our way to rise from the consecutive crises that stroke us at various levels;
In security, Lebanon managed to consolidate its security and stability after having abolished the agglomerations of terrorists from its Eastern and Northern barrens, and after having dismantled their sleeper cells.
In politics, Lebanon held its parliamentary elections according to a law based on proportionality for the first time in its history, which led to a fairer representation of all the components of the Lebanese society. Today, the formation of a government is under way, based on the outcome of the elections.
In economy, the guidelines of an economic recovery plan which take into account the resolutions of the CEDRE Conference, based on activating the productive sectors, modernizing the infrastructure, and bridging the gap between revenues and expenses in the budget.
Nevertheless, the neighborhood's crises still weigh heavily upon us with their consequences. With the break out of the events in Syria, the displacement waves fleeing the hell of war began to pour into Lebanon, which tried, to the greatest extent possible, to ensure the conditions of a dignified decent life for the displaced. Yet, their large numbers and their fallout on the Lebanese society from various perspectives, from a security perspective through the increase in regular crime rate to more than 30%, economically through the increase of the unemployment rate to 21%, demographically through the increase in population density from 400 to 600 people per square kilometer, in addition to our limited resources, and the scarce international assistance for Lebanon, which makes it impossible for us to keep shouldering this burden, especially that most of the Syrian territories have become safe. I therefore called for the safe return in my address from this very rostrum last year, and I differentiated between the safe return and the voluntary return; the Syrians who have taken refuge in Lebanon are not political refugees, except for a few; most of them were rather displaced due to the security situation in their country, or for economic motives, and these from the majority.
Let me present to you, Madam President and Honorable assembly, this Map issued on 2014 by the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), showing the evolution of the numbers of registered displaced from 25.000 in 2012 to more than a million in 2014, precisely over a span of two years barely, and their repartition on the Lebanese territories; and this is the best illustration of what I am trying to explain to you. (map enclosed)
Here, I would like to note that the United Nations has stopped counting the displaced in 2014. After that date, the Lebanese General Security continued its counts which showed that, since that date and on till the moment, the numbers have exceeded 1.5 million displaced.
Against this background, I reiterate the stance of my country which seeks to consolidate the right of dignified, safe and sustainable return of the displaced to their land, rejecting absolutely any project of settlement, whether for the displaced or the refugee. In this context, we wish to note our favorable welcome of any initiative which seeks to resolve the issue of the displacement, such as the Russian initiative.
History has taught us that oppression induces explosion, and the absence of justice and the double-standards create a feeling of grudge, and fuel all the tendencies of extremism, and the violence and terrorism they entail.
Unfortunately, the international political approaches for the Middle East region still lack justice and use double standards, which makes our peoples question the concept of democracy in the States considered as pioneers in this respect. The Palestinian cause is the best reflection of this picture; for the absence of justice in addressing it triggered many wars in the Middle East and created a resistance that will only end by eliminating oppression and establishing justice..
The world has voted lately, at the Security Council and the General Assembly, against the proclamation of AL-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel. Despite the results of the two votes which reflected the will of the international community, some embassies were transferred to it. Then the law on the "Jewish nation-State of Israel" was adopted, this displacing law which relies on the rejection of the other, expressly undermines all the endeavors of peace and the two-State project.
And to complete the landscape, there came the decision to withhold the assistance for the UNRWA which by definition stands for the "United Nations Agency for the Relief and Work of the Refugees of Palestine in the Near East, in addition to ensuring assistance and protection for them pending a solution for their suffering".
Has their suffering ceased so that UNRWA's role comes to an end? Or does the neutralization of its role pave the way to taking the status of refugee away from them and integrating them in the host countries to wipe away the Palestinian identity and impose settlement?
A people just found itself overnight who found themselves overnight with no identity and no nation, by the decision of those who were supposed to be the defender of weak countries.
Let each one of us imagine for a moment that an international resolution about which they have no say, rips their land and their identity off; and while they are trying to hold on to them, the strikes befall them from every side to make them give up… this is the case of the Palestinian people today, wandering stateless in the four corners of the world. Do we accept this situation for ourselves or our peoples? Does the world's conscience accept this? Is this what is stipulated by the international laws and charters?? And what guarantees that small peoples, notably the Lebanese people, do not face the same fate?
Simultaneously, the Israeli violations of Resolutions 1701 persist, by land, sea and air, exceeding 100 violations a month, despite Lebanon's total commitment to it.
Our world suffers today from a crisis of extremism and fanaticism, manifesting itself in the rejection of the different "other", the rejection of their culture, religion, color and civilization, the rejection of their very existence in absolute; this crisis is likely to aggravate, and no State is any longer safe from it, with all the devastating effects it has on the societies and States because it causes their implosion.
The United Nations, and before it the League of Nations, failed to prevent wars, establish peace and restore right, especially in our region, and one of the major reasons thereof is not forming a global culture for peace, based on the knowledge of the different "other" and the practice coexistence.
This is why the need is pressing for the dialogue of religions, cultures and races, and for building international cultural institutions specialized in spreading the culture of dialogue and peace.
With its plural society where Christians and Muslims live together, co-govern and share the administration, with the expertise of its citizens spread all over the globe, and with what it stands for as the essence of the civilizations and cultures it represents and which it embraced throughout the eras, Lebanon is considered exemplary to establish therein an international academy to disseminate these values, the "Human Academy for Encounter and Dialogue".
From this podium, I launched last year an initiative to make Lebanon an international center for the dialogue of religions, cultures and races, and we aspire to see this initiative materialize today with a multilateral convention to establish the Academy in Lebanon, serving as an international project for permanent gathering and dialogue, and for the promotion of the spirit of coexistence, in line with the objectives of the United Nations and the adoption of preventive diplomacy to avoid conflicts.
Humans are the enemies of what they ignore, and the road to salvation resides in convergence, dialogue, the rejection of the language of violence, the establishment of justice between the peoples, and it is the only path that brings back stability and security to our societies, and achieves the sustainable development that we aspire to."
 
Lebanon's Parliament Approves Arms Trade Treaty
The Associated Press/Sept. 25, 2018/BEIRUT — Lebanon's parliament has ratified the international Arms Trade Treaty, angering Hezbollah legislators, some of whom walked out in protest. The 2014 treaty seeks to regulate international trade in conventional arms and prevent illicit trade. Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar walked out of the parliament Tuesday, saying it "infringes on the weapons of the resistance." After Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990, Hezbollah was allowed to keep its weapons since it was fighting Israeli forces occupying parts of southern Lebanon.Hezbollah today has a massive arsenal including tens of thousands of rockets and missiles. The group sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to fight along President Bashar Assad's forces.
 
Lebanon: ‘Tactical’ Withdrawal of Future, LF Deputies From Parliament Session
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/Lebanon’s Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned on Tuesday an afternoon legislative session for the lack of quorum, following a “tactical” walkout of Future Movement and Lebanese Forces deputies. Prior to adjourning the session, Parliament had endorsed eight draft laws, mainly the housing loans for citizens with limited income and the International Arms Trade Treaty. It also discussed the file of missing and forcibly disappeared persons. The Lebanese Parliament held its first legislative session on Monday under the caretaker government, with political forces failing to agree on a new government in the presence of disputes over ministerial shares. On Tuesday, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri linked attending the evening session to discussing “legislation of necessity,” or in other terms, articles linked to the CEDRE conference. Less than an hour after Berri opened the evening session, LF and Future Movement deputies started leaving after some deputies rejected to discuss legislation of article 17 following articles related to the CEDRE conference and the legislation of necessity. During the morning session, and despite being ratified by Parliament, the International Arms Trade Treaty was rejected by Hezbollah deputies. The party’s MP Jawwaf Moussawi said the Israeli enemy is a partner in that treaty and therefore, Lebanon has no interest in signing it. However, Hariri defended the treaty, saying it has nothing to do with Hezbollah’s weapons. “Lebanon must sign the treaty because it serves its interests,” Hariri said. Another debate erupted between Hariri and MP Jamil Sayyed after Parliament endorsed a draft law for a $50 million loan from the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development for wastewater treatment in the Chouf region and a $15 million loan from the European Investment Bank for the wastewater treatment for the Ghadir River Basin. Sayyed said this law would only benefit Syrian refugees. But, Hariri said those projects would benefit both Lebanese and Syrians, and when the Syrians leave, they will be beneficial for the Lebanese. After adjourning Tuesday’s session, Speaker Berri did not set a date for a new one.

Lebanese media: Army blocking internal security forces from Beirut airport
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 26 September 2018/The inspection of departing passengers at Rafik Hariri International Airport was interrupted on Wednesday, local media reported.The Daily Star Lebanon said that the development was a result of a "dispute that erupted in the airport between members of both the Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese Army," citing an unnamed source. It was also reported that the army blocked the Internal Security Forces from the airport.

Scuffle Briefly Halts Inspection of Passengers at RHIA
Naharnet/September 26/18/The Inspection of passengers at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut was briefly disrupted after a scuffle between members of the ISF and the airport police, media reports said on Wednesday. They said a dispute erupted between members of the ISF and the Lebanese Army. Activity resumed normalcy shortly after. It is not a first for Lebanon’s airport to witness disruption, as conflict between political parties seems to take its toll on the country's only commercial airport. It is not a first for Lebanon’s only commercial airport to witness disruption. For over five years, the terminal has reportedly been working well above capacity. Early in September, an outage of the luggage and registration processing system stranded thousands of passengers who sat for hours waiting in crowded halls at the terminal.

Salameh: BDL to Set Stimulus Packages for Housing Loans

Naharnet/September 26/18/Lebanon Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh announced on Wednesday that Banque du Liban (BDL) is going to set stimulus packages for housing loans in 2019, LBCI TV station said on Wednesday. Salameh said that BDL will later decide the amount, LBCI said. Salameh’s remarks came one day after the parliament approved an LBP 100 billion financial support for housing loans meant for low-income citizens. The decision came following a push by political parties urging the government to find a solution to the housing loans crisis that emerged in July. The Lebanese Public Corporation for Housing (PCH) declared on July 8 that housing loans requests are to be rejected starting July 9th.BDL regularly finances the housing loans through the PCH.

Rampling Meets Hariri, Says UK 'Friend, Ally of Lebanon'
Naharnet/September 26/18/British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling met Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and underscored that the United Kingdom “is a friend and ally of Lebanon.”“The United Kingdom is a friend and ally of Lebanon and very proud of what we have been doing together with the Lebanese authorities, including strengthening and to continue to support the Lebanese state,” Rampling said after the talks. “We've been able together to help to secure the border with Syria for the first time in Lebanon’s history, to provide the opportunity of education for all, strengthen service delivery in municipalities and also provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable,” he added. “As I told His Excellency, I look forward to continuing to work with him over the coming years,” the ambassador went on to say.
It was his first meeting with Hariri since his recent arrival in Beirut as British Ambassador to Lebanon.

Jumblat: Aoun an Advocate of Reform Should Begin with Electricity File
Naharnet/September 26/18/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat stressed he has “no personal conflict” with President Michel Aoun, urging him to address the problematic file of electricity “since he is an advocate of reform,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. “I don’t have a problem with anyone. When I say the (presidential) mandate is a failure I don’t mean the President. I mean the whole system,” said Jumblat in an interview to the daily. “I have nothing against President Aoun. I don’t have a personal conflict with him. He has called for reform so let him begin with the electricity file,” he added. Lebanon has for decades struggled with daily power cuts. Blackouts have been a fixture of life in the country since the 1975-1990 civil war. On the government formation delay, Jumblat reiterated commitment to allocate three Druze ministerial portfolios for the PSP. “We insist that we get three ministers. When serious talk begins, then we would be ready for negotiations taking the (parliamentary) elections outcome into consideration,” he said, pointing out that further delay would entail additional costs on the treasury.

Macron Says 'Working with Aoun, Hariri' to Return Syrian Refugees
Naharnet/September 26/18/French President Emmanuel Macron revealed Tuesday that he is “working hard” with President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to “return the displaced Syrians to their country safely.”“I'm working hard with Aoun and Hariri to return the displaced Syrians to their country safely, until we find a drastic political solution in Syria, that's why we have started efforts to repatriate small groups,” Lebanon's MTV quoted Macron as saying. “I have helped Lebanon to organize three economic conferences,” the French leader boasted.

Germany, Saudi Arabia to Restore Envoys after Lebanon Row

Naharnet/September 26/18/Germany and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to return ambassadors some 10 months after the kingdom fumed over criticism about its role in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia, which has increasingly challenged Western governments who speak out on its record, in November recalled its ambassador from Berlin following the eyebrow-raising resignation of Saad Hariri as Lebanon's prime minister while visiting Riyadh. Sigmar Gabriel, who was then Germany's foreign minister, said that Lebanon's neighbors should let the recovering country decide its own fate, angering Saudi Arabia which like Hariri denied that he was coerced. Gabriel's successor Heiko Maas, meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, voiced regret and said the two countries would send back ambassadors. "In recent months our relations have witnessed misunderstandings which stand in sharp contrast to our otherwise strong and strategic ties with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we sincerely regret this," Maas told reporters. "We should have been clearer in our communication and engagement in order to avoid such misunderstandings."Jubeir, speaking next to Maas, invited him to visit and affirmed "deep strategic ties" with Germany. "The kingdom and Germany play a leading role in bolstering international security and stability and the global economy," Jubeir said. Saudi Arabia, which has especially close ties with US President Donald Trump, has increasingly made clear it would not tolerate reprimands. Last month Riyadh expelled the ambassador of Canada and froze all new trade after Ottawa denounced a crackdown on activists in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia similarly pulled its ambassador from Sweden in 2015 over human rights criticism. Hariri, who eventually returned to Lebanon and reversed his resignation, also holds Saudi and French nationality. The episode was seen as the latest chapter in Saudi Arabia's intensifying feud with regional rival Iran after Hariri improved ties with longtime rival Hezbollah, a militant Shiite movement backed by Tehran.
 
Head Of Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV Receives Award Honoring The Network's 'Martyrs' At Italian Event Sponsored By Foreign Ministry And Parliament
MEMRI/September 26/18/On September 24, Al-Manar TV reported that its General Director, Ibrahim Farhat, participated in the Marzani International Awards Conference for Journalism and Literature held in Benevento, Italy on September 15-16, 2018. According to the report, the conference, sponsored by the Italian Parliament and Foreign Ministry, honored Al-Manar TV journalists who were "martyred" in the Syrian city of Maaloula. Ibrahim Farhat attended the conference alongside European Parliament member Massimo Paolucci, Tunisian consul Leila El Houssi, and the mayor of San Giorgio del Sannio, Mario Pepe. "The Italian Organizers Of The Conference Honored The Martyrs Of Al-Manar TV"
Host: "The General Director of Al-Manar TV, Ibrahim Farhat, is participating in an international conference honoring journalists and novelists in Italy. Al-Manar's martyrs were the most prominent of those honored."
Reporter: "Al-Manar TV was an honored guest at the 11th International Awards for Journalism and Literature held by the Marzani association in the southern Italian city of Benevento.
"The two-day conference was sponsored by the Italian Parliament and Foreign Ministry. It was attended by a group of journalists, and political and literary activists. The first day of the conference featured a symposium which was titled 'The Role of the Media in Conflicts and the Issue of Immigration.' It was attended by the General Director of Al-Manar TV, Ibrahim Farhat, alongside European Parliament member Massimo Paolucci, Tunisian Consul Leila El Houssi, and the mayor of San Giorgio del Sannio, Mario Pepe."
Ibrahim Farhat: "Those martyrs fell in the Christian town of Maaloula. [They died] so that Maaloula may live, and so that its people may return."
Reporter: "The Italian organizers of the conference honored the martyrs of Al-Manar TV, who fell in the Syrian city of Maaloula. As he received the award, Al-Manar's General Director lauded the sacrifices of journalists, first and foremost of which were the martyrs of Al-Manar TV."
Ibrahim Farhat: "We dedicate this award to all the martyrs of the press who bore witness to the word [of truth], and particularly to the martyrs of Al-Manar, killed in Maaloula. They prayed their prayers in the mosque, and they saluted the Virgin Mary."


The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 26-27/18
Syria says new air defenses will make Israel think twice
AFP/September 26, 2018/DAMASCUS: A top Syrian official has said a new air defense system from ally Russia will force Israel to “think carefully” before carrying out any more air strikes in the country.Moscow announced on Monday it would deliver the advanced S-300 air defense system, a week after the Syrian military downed a Russian plane by mistake following an Israeli air strike. Russia has blamed the friendly fire on Israeli pilots using the larger Russian plane as “cover.”Late Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Meqdad said Damascus welcomed the delivery of the advanced S-300 system promised to arrive within two weeks. It replaces Syria’s existing Russian-built S-200 system, which dates back to the Soviet era, in a move that had been due to take place in 2013 but was held up by Russia at Israel’s request. “I think that Israel, which is accustomed to carrying out many attacks under different pretexts, will have to think carefully about attacking Syria again,” Meqdad said. In recent years, Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in war-torn Syria against Iranian targets and what is says are advanced arm deliveries to Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah are allies of President Bashar Assad in the seven-year civil war. “Let the Israelis try, we will defend ourselves as we always do,” the state SANA news agency quoted Meqdad as saying. The downing of the Russian plane late Monday last week killed all 15 soldiers on board, after an Israeli plane targeted a military position in the northwestern province of Latakia. The accident was the deadliest friendly fire between Syria and Russia since Moscow’s game-changing military intervention in the war in 2015.More than 360,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

 
Russia Insists on Supplying Syria With S-300 Defense Systems
Moscow, Tel Aviv- Raed Jabr and Nazir Majli/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/Political sources in Tel Aviv said on Tuesday that after holding two phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and following a visit by commander of the Israeli Air Force to the Russian Defense Ministry, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu decided to ask for the help of the US administration to de-escalate Russian-Israeli tensions and stop the delivery of S-300 air defense missile system to Damascus. A source close to Netanyahu said the S-300 crisis would be raised during talks held this week between US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York. Moscow announced on Monday it would supply the Syrian government with modern S-300 missile defense systems. And despite objections from Washington and Tel Aviv, Russia insisted on Tuesday it has the “right” to offer “military and technical support to its partners.” Last Monday, Putin defended Moscow’s move during a telephone call with Netanyahu, by telling the Israeli PM that the Russian move was “aimed primarily at fending off any potential threat to the lives of Russian servicemen.”If delivered, the air defense missile system is capable of intercepting air assault weapons at a distance of more than 250 kilometers and hit simultaneously several air targets.Meanwhile, the newly elected US special representative to Syria James Jeffrey told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that US forces would remain in Syria to achieve three objectives: Uproot ISIS, remove Iranian forces from Syria and implement a political operation that leads to the establishment of a committee, which should later draft a new Syrian constitution and hold elections. Jeffrey said he was convinced that head of Syrian regime Bashar Assad could be removed from power through a constitutional operation, similar to what happened with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He said Washington was coordinating with Russia at all political and military levels. “We want the Russians to use their power to secure that Iran-backed forces leave Syria,” Jeffrey explained.

IS Threatens More Attacks against Iran
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/The Islamic State jihadist group on Wednesday threatened to carry out new attacks in Iran, days after it claimed a deadly shooting at a military parade in the country's southwest. Iran is "flimsier than a spider's web, and with God's help, what comes will be worse and more bitter", the group said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. Iranian authorities have blamed "jihadist separatists" for the assault Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, which killed 24 people including a four-year-old child and other civilians. The attack targeted a parade in Khuzestan province, commemorating the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The border region, home to a large ethnic Arab community, was a major battleground of the conflict and saw ethnic unrest in 2005 and 2011. Iranian officials initially blamed Arab separatists, who they claimed were behind previous unrest, for the attack, saying they were backed by Gulf Arab allies of the United States. This version was bolstered when a movement called "Ahwaz National Resistance", an Arab separatist group, claimed responsibility shortly after the assault. But the Islamic State group (IS) was also quick to claim responsibility and later posted a video of men it said were the attackers. In a three-minute audio recording released Wednesday, the Sunni jihadist group's spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said Iran "had not recovered from the fearful shock, which God willing will not be the last."Shiite-dominated Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday linked the attackers to Iraq and Syria, where IS once had major strongholds. "This cowardly act was the work of those very individuals who are rescued by the Americans whenever they are in trouble in Iraq and Syria and who are funded by the Saudis and the (United) Arab Emirates," Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website. On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.
 
Trump Backs 2-State Solution, Pledges Peace Plan within 4 Months
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would present a two-state peace plan for the Middle East in the coming months, voicing confidence the Palestinians would return to talks despite his unwavering support for Israel.
Speaking before entering talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York, Trump said that it was a "dream" of his to bring about a peaceful solution to a conflict that has eluded several of his predecessors. "I would say over the next two to three to four months," Trump said, referring to his prospective timetable for presenting a plan as he met Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Trump for the first time said explicitly that he backed a two-state solution that would create an independent Palestine, saying: "That's what I think works best, that's my feeling.""I really believe something will happen. It is a dream of mine to be able to get that done prior to the end of my first term," added Trump, who was elected to a four-year term through January 2021. The Middle East peace process has effectively been stalled since the Palestinians broke off contacts with the Trump administration last year in protest at the U.S. president's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. The Palestinians also want Jerusalem to be their capital and have long argued that the status of the holy city should only be settled as part of a larger peace agreement. Relations between the Palestinian Authority and the United States have fallen even lower in recent weeks after Washington cut off funding, including to a U.N. agency that helps millions of Palestinian refugees. Trump, however, said that he was in no doubt that the Palestinians would soon return to the negotiating table. "They are absolutely coming back to the table," he said. "Absolutely, 100 percent."
 
Netanyahu Stresses Israeli Security after Trump 2-State Comments
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel must retain security control in any peace deal with the Palestinians, Israeli media reported, after U.S. President Donald Trump's comments supporting a two-state solution to the conflict. Speaking to Israeli journalists after meeting Trump in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu reiterated his stance that Israel must control security west of Jordan to the Mediterranean -- which includes the occupied West Bank. "I am willing for the Palestinians to have the authority to rule themselves without the authority to harm us," Netanyahu said, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "It is important to set what is inadmissible to us: Israel will not relinquish security control west of Jordan. This will not happen so long as I am prime minister and I think the Americans understand that."As in the past, Netanyahu did not specify whether he could support full Palestinian statehood in a peace deal or some lesser form of autonomy. A key Israeli government minister and Netanyahu rival said after Trump's comments that a Palestinian state was out of the question. "The president of the U.S. is a true friend of Israel," Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party said on Twitter. "However, it must be emphasized that as long as the Jewish Home party is part of Israel's government, there will not be a Palestinian state which would be a disaster for Israel." When meeting Netanyahu on Wednesday, Trump said explicitly for the first time that he backed a two-state solution that would create an independent Palestine, saying: "That's what I think works best, that's my feeling."The Palestinian leadership cut off contact with Trump's administration after he recognized the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December. Trump has also cut more than $500 million in Palestinian aid. Palestinian leaders accuse his White House of blatant bias in favor of Israel and of seeking to blackmail them into accepting his terms. Trump has nevertheless spoken of wanting to reach the "ultimate deal" -- Israeli-Palestinian peace.
He said Wednesday he would present his plan before the end of the year.

IS Threatens More Attacks against Iran
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/The Islamic State jihadist group on Wednesday threatened to carry out new attacks in Iran, days after it claimed a deadly shooting at a military parade in the country's southwest. Iran is "flimsier than a spider's web, and with God's help, what comes will be worse and more bitter", the group said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.Iranian authorities have blamed "jihadist separatists" for the assault Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, which killed 24 people including a four-year-old child and other civilians. The attack targeted a parade in Khuzestan province, commemorating the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The border region, home to a large ethnic Arab community, was a major battleground of the conflict and saw ethnic unrest in 2005 and 2011. Iranian officials initially blamed Arab separatists, who they claimed were behind previous unrest, for the attack, saying they were backed by Gulf Arab allies of the United States. This version was bolstered when a movement called "Ahwaz National Resistance", an Arab separatist group, claimed responsibility shortly after the assault. But the Islamic State group (IS) was also quick to claim responsibility and later posted a video of men it said were the attackers. In a three-minute audio recording released Wednesday, the Sunni jihadist group's spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said Iran "had not recovered from the fearful shock, which God willing will not be the last."Shiite-dominated Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday linked the attackers to Iraq and Syria, where IS once had major strongholds. "This cowardly act was the work of those very individuals who are rescued by the Americans whenever they are in trouble in Iraq and Syria and who are funded by the Saudis and the (United) Arab Emirates," Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website. On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.

Rouhani Says U.S. Will Eventually Rejoin Nuclear Deal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani predicted Wednesday that the United States will eventually rejoin an international nuclear deal, saying talks this week at the United Nations showed his counterpart Donald Trump's isolation.
"The United States of America one day, sooner or later, will come back. This cannot be continued," Rouhani told a news conference.

Syria Says New Air Defences Will Make Israel Think Twice
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 26/18/A top Syrian official has said a new air defence system from ally Russia will force Israel to "think carefully" before carrying out any more air strikes in the country. Moscow announced on Monday it would deliver the advanced S-300 air defence system, a week after the Syrian military downed a Russian plane by mistake following an Israeli air strike. Russia has blamed the friendly fire on Israeli pilots using the larger Russian plane as "cover". Late Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad said Damascus welcomed the delivery of the advanced S-300 system promised to arrive within two weeks. It replaces Syria's existing Russian-built S-200 system, which dates back to the Soviet era, in a move that had been due to take place in 2013 but was held up by Russia at Israel's request. "I think that Israel, which is accustomed to carrying out many attacks under different pretexts, will have to think carefully about attacking Syria again," Meqdad said. In recent years, Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in war-torn Syria against Iranian targets and what is says are advanced arm deliveries to Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah are allies of President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year civil war. "Let the Israelis try, we will defend ourselves as we always do," the state SANA news agency quoted Meqdad as saying. The downing of the Russian plane late Monday last week killed all 15 soldiers on board, after an Israeli plane targeted a military position in the northwestern province of Latakia. The accident was the deadliest friendly fire between Syria and Russia since Moscow's game-changing military intervention in the war in 2015. More than 360,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
 
Syrian official says S-300 defenses will give Israel pause
The Associated Press, Beirut /Wednesday, 26 September 2018/A Syrian official says Israel should think carefully before attacking Syria again once it obtains the sophisticated S-300 defense system from Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said late Tuesday that the S-300 should have been given to Syria long ago. He says Israel, “which is accustomed to launching many aggressions under different pretexts, will have to make accurate calculations if it thinks to attack Syria again.”Russia said Monday that it will supply Damascus with the defense system after last week’s downing of a Russian plane by Syria forces responding to an Israeli airstrike. The Russian Il-20 military reconnaissance aircraft was downed by Syrian air defenses that mistook it for an Israeli aircraft, killing all 15 people on board.

Erdogan says court, not politicians, to decide American pastor’s fate
Reuters, New York/Wednesday, 26 September 2018/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a Turkish court, not politicians, will decide the fate of an American pastor whose detention on terrorism charges has roiled relations between Ankara and Washington. In an interview on Tuesday while he was in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, Erdogan said Turkey will continue to purchase Iran’s natural gas, despite US sanctions on Tehran. Erdogan said it was impossible for Syrian peace efforts to continue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, adding that the withdrawal of “radical groups” had already started from a new demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region. Erdogan also said the decision of Turkey’s central bank to raise its benchmark rate was a clear sign of its independence, adding that as president he was against increasing the rates.

Druze in Israel Urges Russia’s Intervention to Free Hostages From Syria’s Sweida
Tel Aviv/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/Israel’s Druze spiritual leader Moafak Tarif met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Tuesday in Moscow to seek the help of Russia in the release of women and children abducted by ISIS in the Sweida region of Syria around two months ago.Tarif told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit came within efforts initiated by the Druze community in Israel with several Arab and international parties to stop the terrorist massacre in Sweida. “Around two months have passed since the massacre, which claimed the lives of 255 people, while the fate of 29 women and children, who have been horribly abducted, is still unknown,” Tarif said. “We have called on the Syrian government to work for their release. Then, we resorted to the United Nations and to several countries in the world, such as the United States, Germany, Britain and France. Since the beginning of the crisis, we had contacted the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv, and today we are meeting today with Mr. Bogdanov, who is in charge of the Middle East file in the Russian Foreign Ministry.” ISIS launched attacks on Druze villages in the province of Sweida at dawn on June 25. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 255 people were killed in the attack: 142 civilians, including 38 children and women, and 113 armed men, most of them from the province, who took up arms to protect their towns and their families. ISIS began its attack by blowing up four suicide bombers in the city. The terrorist organization abducted 36 civilians, including women and children, during the attack. Four women managed to escape later, while the bodies of two others were found; one was shot in the head and the other was old. Thus, 30 people are still being held by the extremist organization, according to the Observatory, which confirmed that the fate of 17 other men was still unknown.

Bahrain: Prosecution Charges 169 Over 'Bahraini Hezbollah' Group
Manama- Obeid Al-Suhaimi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/Bahrain’s Terror Crime Prosecution referred 169 suspects to trial for the case of formation of a terrorist group detonating a bomb, attempting murder, training on the use of firearms and explosives and handling, possessing, making and using explosives and firearms.The authorities apprehended 111 members of the group named “Bahraini Hezbollah”, and it is still pursuing 58 members who are believed to be residing in Iran. Other charges included receiving and giving money allocated to the terrorist group, hiding ammunition and explosives and damaging public and private property. The Public Prosecution had received a report from the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) regarding the formation of a terrorist cell inside Bahrain after Iranian regime leaders issued their orders to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to unify the elements of various terrorist factions that carry out terror attacks in Bahrain. Chief of Terror Crime Prosecution Ahmed al-Hammadi explained that the group’s orders included holding intensive meetings with the leaders of the groups and movements in Iran, coordinating with trained elements in other countries, and providing various forms of financial, logistic and technical support to unite them. IRGC’s purpose of the merger is to activate all affiliated terrorists who had received military training over the years and who were planted as dormant cells in order to use their capabilities. They also wanted to compensate for the shortage of militarily trained leaders in Bahrain who had either been apprehended or escaped the country. They want to share their military training on how to use weapons and make or implant explosives and detonate them remotely as well as their experience in setting up secret warehouses in houses and farms and other locations. Elements with military training were assigned to recruit and facilitate sending Bahraini youth who are not known to the security agencies in order to undergo training in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon in training camps run by the Corps.
Trained members were also tasked with preparing terrorist elements in the country to use ‘dead spots’ in transporting, exchanging, delivering, receiving funds, weapons, ready for use or locally made ammunition and explosives and remotely-detonated explosive devices.
Later, they were to carry out attacks to assassinate public figures, target security patrols and personnel, attack oil and service installations and vital economic establishments in order to undermine Bahrain’s security and incite public opinion against the constitutional regime.

James Jeffrey: We Are Working With Russia to Get Iran out… Remove Assad Through Constitution

Heba El Koudsy/Asharq Al-Awsat/September,26/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/67714/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%A4%D9%83%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D8%AC%D9%8A/
The new US envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, expressed his optimism that the Sochi agreement, signed by Turkey and Russia, could be sustained. He said the opportunity was ripe after the fighting stopped relatively in Syria to discuss how to move ahead with a political process that would include a new constitution and general elections. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in New York, Jeffrey stressed that the US forces would remain in Syria, not as an occupying power, but to carry out three goals: to uproot ISIS and prevent its re-emergence; to expel the Iranian forces out of the country; and to guarantee the implementation of a political process that would lead to the formation of a committee to draft the constitution and hold general elections. The US envoy said he believed that the agreement reached in Sochi between Turkey and Russia was good and could be maintained, hoping that it would represent a turning point in the Syrian conflict and would pave the way for negotiations based on the Geneva process and UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Asked about his evaluation of the Russian role in Syria, Jeffrey noted that the US had continuous contacts with Russians at all levels, stressing that President Donald Trump had spoken extensively with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during the Helsinki summit in July.
“Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the military commanders of the two sides communicate on a daily basis to calm any clashes,” he added. In this regard, Jeffrey explained that the US wanted to see Russia support UNSCR 2254 and use its influence to guarantee the withdrawal of pro-Iranian forces from Syria.“We see no reason for the Iranians to stay in Syria once this war ends,” he stated. Jeffrey stressed that only Russia could help the US to remove the Iranians from Syria. “The United States will not use military force to get the Iranians out of Syria,” he added. According to the US envoy, there are five foreign forces involved in the conflict in Syria: the United States, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Israel. He noted that every country had its own goals and was pursuing another player: Israel pursues Hezbollah, the United States hunts ISIS, the Russians and the Iranians chase Assad’s opponents and the Turks pursue the Kurds and ISIS.
He noted that while all these forces were successfully confronting those players, he emphasized that any misjudgment or bad calculation could raise concern and lead to a very dangerous situation. Asked about the US vision of a political solution to the Syrian crisis, Jeffry underlined that any solution required a commission to draft a new constitution, the achievement of security and the holding of elections. He noted that imposing economic and financial pressure on Syria would not be enough to push for a political process, underlining Syria’s need for international recognition as a normal country.
“The international community, the Arab states, the European Union and the United States do not view Syria as a normal state… So the Syrian regime is isolated diplomatically and bankrupt economically,” Jeffrey said. As for the fate of Bashar Al-Assad, the US envoy emphasized that his country’s goal was not to remove Assad. “We will be happy if he leaves and declares his departure voluntarily. But this is not our goal. Our goal is a different Syria that does not threaten its people or neighbors, does not use chemical weapons, does not expel refugees and displace people from its territory, and does not provide Iran with a platform to launch rockets against Israel,” he noted. “[Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki was removed from office through the constitution because he could not prevent ISIS from taking control of areas in Iraq. No country in the Middle East had removed a leader because he did not meet the expectations of his people… I was present when the Iraqi constitution was drafted, and I was skeptical; but the Iraqis believed in the constitution, and I do not know what prevents Syria from moving in this direction,” the US envoy concluded.

Aboul Gheit Discusses Arab Files With International Officials in New York
Cairo- Sawsan Abu Hussein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit participated in the consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in New York on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. He also met with a number of international officials in New York to discuss a number of Arab files, mainly the Palestinian cause. Ambassador Mahmoud Afifi, spokesman for the Secretary-General, said that the meeting witnessed an exchange of views on the most important topics on the agenda of the current session of the General Assembly. He also said that extensive talks were held with the aim of securing as much international support as possible for Arab visions and stances. Afifi also said that Dr. Riyad Al Malki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Palestine, presented during the meeting the latest developments and the contacts made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to face the repercussions of the recent US decisions, including the suspension of the financial contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The Palestinian minister expressed his appreciation in this regard to the Arab countries which have provided additional financial support to the international agency to cover the gaps that resulted from the US decision. According to the spokesman, the consultative meeting also witnessed an exchange of views on the latest developments in Syria, Libya and Yemen, where the ministers agreed on the need to activate the relevant resolutions issued by the Arab League. Aboul Gheit also met with Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, with whom he reviewed developments in Arab countries witnessing armed conflicts. The secretary-general highly valued the European stance on the Palestinian issue, including the EU’s commitment to the two-state solution.

World Bank Report Warns Gaza's Economy in 'Free Fall'
Ramallah- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 26 September, 2018/A report from the World Bank warned Tuesday that the Gaza Strip's economy is in "free fall," calling for urgent action by Israel and the international community to avoid "immediate collapse."The bank's report will be presented to the international donor group for Palestinians, known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, at its meeting in New York on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The meeting will coincide with the speeches to the assembly of both Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin. Already squeezed by the more than decade-long Israeli blockade, Gaza's economy has been further weakened by US aid cuts and financial measures by Abbas's Palestinian Authority. US President Donald Trump's administration has meanwhile cut more than $500 million in aid to the Palestinians, including ending all support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. "A combination of war, isolation, and internal rivalries has left Gaza in a crippling economic state and exacerbated the human distress," said Marina Wes, the World Bank's director for the region.
Wes said the increasingly dire economic situation in Gaza "has reached a critical point.""Increased frustration is feeding into the increased tensions which have already started spilling over into unrest and set back the human development of the region's large youth population," she added.Gazans have staged near-weekly demonstrations along the border with Israel since late March, in part to protest the blockade enforced by Israel since 2007, when Hamas seized the territory. Hamas has led and organized the protests, but turnout has also been driven by growing despair over blockade-linked hardship, including lengthy power cuts and soaring unemployment. At least 187 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began on March 30. One Israeli soldier has been killed in that time. Israel says its actions are necessary to defend the border and accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to attempt infiltrations and attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups say protesters have been shot while posing no real threat. "The economic deterioration in both Gaza and West Bank can no longer be counteracted by foreign aid, which has been in steady decline, nor by the private sector, which remains confined by restrictions on movement, access to primary materials and trade," the bank said. Gaza's economy shrunk by six percent in the first quarter of 2018 "with indications of further deterioration since then," it said. The bank said one in two Gazans now lives below the poverty line and that unemployment is running at 53 percent. More than 70 percent of young people are jobless, it said. On September 20, UN envoy for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council that "Gaza can explode any minute."Mladenov and Egyptian officials have been seeking to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas, but those efforts have stalled in recent weeks. Gaza's economic situation is likely to deteriorate further because of the failed attempts to negotiate an easing of the blockade. Hamas leaders said this week that Egypt-mediated efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire with Israel have stalled. Repeated attempts to broker a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions have also failed. In the report, the World Bank calls upon Israel to lift restrictions on trade and movement of goods and people to help improve Gaza's economy, and urges development of "legitimate institutions to govern Gaza in a transparent and efficient manner."

The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
September 26-27/18
Help the People of Iran
Lawrence A. Franklin//Gatestone Institute/September 26/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13023/help-iran-people
Are the Iranian people actually seeking regime change? If they are, why have past protests failed and how can current demonstrations have a better chance of success?
Currently, Iranians who oppose the Islamist regime are an unarmed population, bereft of leadership, and faced down by hardened militia units that are ultra-loyal to the economic benefits of backing the theocrats in power.
The tragic reality, however, is that without further help to the people of Iran who want an end to repressive laws -- as well as to the regime's squandering of money domestically for corruption and repression, and abroad to fund terrorism and aggression -- we may not see a change either in Iran's regime or its behavior.
During a recent speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that America would support the Iranian people should they seek to replace their regime. "While it is ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country," Pompeo said, "the United States.... will support [their] long-ignored voice..."
What "direction," then, is that? Are the Iranian people actually seeking regime change? If they are, why have past protests failed and how can current demonstrations have a better chance of success?
Some commentators are suggesting that today's demonstrations indicate that the regime of the mullahs may be in trouble. This idea is partly based on the recollection that the general structure of Tehran and other cities remain much as it did in the late 1970s, when merchants played a critical role in the overthrow of the late Shah Reza Pahlavi.[1] Today, however, the political power, financial strength and religious influence of the bazaar class is much reduced.[2]
Within two years of establishing the Islamic Republic, however, the theocratic regime carried out a massive purge of politically active businessmen in Tehran's Grand Bazaar;[3] presently, economic influence is in the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and ideological theocrats affiliated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The IRGC is now a powerful economic conglomerate in Iran, with IRGC veterans heading major industries. IRGC retirees are able to take economic advantage of their political contacts in the Majles, Iran's parliament, many of whose members are also IRGC veterans.
Nevertheless, on occasion, bazaari businessmen did stage protests against regime policies, such as in 2008 and 2010. These merchants, however, were not advocating regime-change, but rather were expressing anger over the decision by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to raise taxes.[4]
When protests erupted in July 2009 over Ahmadinejad's electoral victory -- and the public sense that he had not actually won the election -- many outside observers speculated that the regime was on the verge of collapse. The protests were quashed; no change took place.
What sectors of Iranian society supported Ahmadinejad? They included IRGC members and many branches of the Basij militias, on which the regime has relied to suppress protests.
Although the 2009 protests were sizeable, they did not, as Egypt's protests against President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, reach a critical mass. One Tehran demonstration allegedly drew three million people,[5] but the greater national capital area alone has a population of 15 million. The northern neighborhoods of Tehran have a high concentration of wealthier and more educated constituents, including students, professionals and members of the middle class, all of whom generally tend to be critical of the regime. This concentrated group may have given the impression that the majority of Iranians wanted regime change in 2009 and still do today. In addition, some reporters are ordered out of the country during periods of public disorder and others are confined to their homes or are severely restricted in their ability to travel across the country. Consequently, most reportage on unrest emanates from opposition strongholds in Tehran.
Meanwhile, most Western journalists do not speak Farsi and therefore primarily interviewed English-speaking students. Most of those supported leading opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi, who himself was featured in news clips and articles. This impression likely contributed to the view that Mousavi was the legitimate, even landslide, victor in the election -- which may or may not have been accurate.
As there is no evidence that the regime has ever implemented political reforms to assuage an opposition, its staying power should not be underestimated. One possible explanation for the regime's survival, apart from raw repression, is that while a majority of Iranians appear to want reforms, it may be, as in Turkey, that sizable elements of Iran's population may still support the regime. As for the regime's brutally efficient repressive measures, one could make the case, that Mohamed Reza Shah's government was also brutal, yet was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.[6] Even though the Islamic Revolution ended up reducing Iranians' liberty rather than expanding it.
What are the opposition's weaknesses?
In the failure of the 2009 protests, there seems to have been a substantial disconnect between two groups -- those who championed the opposition leaders, Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi -- both of whom supported the Islamic Revolution and sought reform, not overthrow, of the regime -- and the more radical anti-regime demonstrators, who shouted slogans such as: "With God's help, victory is near; death to this deceptive government."[7] The discrepancy between the objectives of the protests' leaders and many demonstrators appears to have stemmed, in part, from the Iranian citizenry's distrust of Mousavi and Karoubi. Mousavi, for example, during his tenure as prime minister in the late 1980s, was responsible for mass executions.[8]
Meanwhile, there were rumors that Karoubi had enriched himself by embezzling large sums of money, and was responsible for several sex scandals.[9]
One current shortcoming might the absence of a hardened political infrastructure capable of weathering regime crackdowns on protest leaders and key agitators. The "Green Movement" was swiftly decapitated when both Mousavi and Karoubi were placed under house arrest. The regime was prudent enough not to make them martyrs, but still cut protestors off from their leaders. There were also mass arrests and, worst of all, US silence -- thanks to the Obama Administration's feckless pursuit of what became the JCPOA "Nuclear Deal."
Today, the absence of leaders -- there is no Lech Walesa as in Poland's resistance of Soviet domination -- also makes protestors vulnerable to regime-contrived and self-generated rumors, conspiracy theories and false hopes. The regime has also severed internet communications,[10] disrupted phone- and mobile-networks' connectivity,[11] arrested dozens of journalists,[12] and banned pro-reform newspapers,[13] further disorienting demonstrators.
Today, the opposition's most significant shortcoming continues to be its relatively narrow base. Activists are still failing to reach out successfully to Iran's working poor, particularly in the less affluent neighborhoods of south Tehran.[14] This strategic failure may be a product of centuries of class cleavage in Iranian society. (While there remains little linkage among dissident students, middle-class office workers and the masses of Iran's agricultural laborers, however, some protests suggest that this might beginning to change, with farmers demonstrating for improved water-distribution policies.)
The shallow foundation of the regime's opponents is also evident in their failure to establish substantive ties to Iran's ethnic minorities, including Arabs, Azeris, Balochis, and Kurds,[15] who together account for about half of the country's population. One reason for the lack of open protest by these minorities is that the regime -- like its Pahlavi-led predecessor -- is equally unyielding in its intense repression of them.[16]
Another factor has been the failure fully to exploit poor economic conditions by staging strikes, again as Walesa did in Poland. Past and present work stoppages have been sporadic, and have not disrupted delivery of goods and services. Strikes have also not prevented the export of income-producing Iranian petroleum products. Truck transportation routes and seaports have remained open.
Currently, Iranians who oppose the Islamist regime are an unarmed population, bereft of leadership, and faced down by hardened militia units that are ultra-loyal to the economic benefits of backing the theocrats in power. The protestors, so far, have unfortunately, not been able to elicit significant defections from the regime's military and security services. Reports of defections by IRGC and Basij members from the regime to the opposition are few and far between.
Recently, National Security Advisor John R. Bolton emphasized that the US is not seeking regime change, just "hoping that the regime will change its behavior."
Stiffer economic sanctions for Iran are scheduled to start in November. The tragic reality, however, is that without further help to the people of Iran who want an end to repressive laws -- as well as to the regime's squandering of money domestically for corruption and repression, and abroad to fund terrorism and aggression, rather than to solve domestic problems such as unemployment or the water crisis -- we may not see a change either in Iran's regime or its behavior.
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
[1] "Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed" by Misagh Parsa. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2016. p. 72.
[2] Ibid. p. 72.
[3] Ibid. p. 72.
[4] "Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran" by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett. Henry Holt and Company: New York. 2013. pp. 144-145.
[5] "The Iran Wars" by Jay Solomon. Random House: New York, 2016. p. 180.
[6] "The Commemoration of the Martyrs of Tehran" in Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini. Mizan Press: Berkeley, Ca., 1981. "Declaration of Ayatollah Khomeini, 40 days after "Bloody Friday" (9 September 1978). p. 239.
[7] "Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed" by Misagh Parsa. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2016. p. 226.
[8] "The Forbidden Truth: Voices of Regime Change in Iran." (An Interview with Roozbeh Farahanipour) Ketab Corporation: Los Angeles, 2011. p. 40.
[9] Ibid. p. 41.
[10] "Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed" by Misagh Parsa. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2016. p. 249.
[11] Ibid. p. 249.
[12] Ibid. p. 220.
[13] Ibid. p. 219.
[14] "The Iran Wars" by Jay Solomon. Random House: New York, 2016. p. 255.
[15] "Iran: The Islamic Republic" Country Handbook. U.S. Department of Defense: Intelligence Production Program. 2000. P.42.
[16] "Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed" by Misagh Parsa. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2016. p. 168.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Palestinians' Three No's: What They Mean
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/September 26/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13029/hamas-rejection
When Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad talk about "paying a political price," they are referring to demands that the Palestinian terrorist groups lay down their weapons, halt terrorist attacks on Israel, and abandon their dream of eliminating Israel. These are terms, of course, to which no Palestinian terrorist group could ever afford to agree.
Accepting such conditions would make them look bad in the eyes of their supporters, who would then accuse them of betraying the Arabs and Muslims by failing to fulfill their promise of destroying Israel. As far as these groups are concerned, keeping their weapons is tremendously more important than improving the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
To be clear: when the Palestinian terrorist groups talk about "resistance," they are referring to terror attacks on Israel. These include suicide bombings, launching rockets towards Israel, and hurling explosive devices and firebombs at Israeli soldiers and civilians. These groups do not believe in any form of peaceful and non-violent protests. For them, there is only one realistic option to achieve their goal of destroying Israel: the armed struggle.
Why are the Palestinian terrorist groups conducting indirect talks with Israel to reach a new truce agreement in the Gaza Strip under the auspices of Egypt and the UN? The answer is simple. They want a truce, or period of calm, so that they can continue preparing for the next war against Israel without having to worry about Israeli military operations.
What does Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, mean when it says that it "won't pay any political price" in return for a truce agreement with Israel? Answer: No to recognizing Israel, no to abandoning the dream of eliminating Israel, and no to disarming.
In recent weeks, several Hamas leaders and spokesmen have repeatedly been quoted as saying that their group will not make any political concessions as part of a truce deal with Israel. The statements came as Egypt and the United Nations continue their effort to reach a truce that would end the ongoing violence along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
"We want a decision to end the blockade on the Gaza Strip," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a recent speech marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of his group. "Any understandings that are reached to end the blockade will not be in return for a political price."
Haniyeh's remarks were echoed by several Hamas leaders and officials belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ,) the second largest terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the Gaza-based Al-Istiklal newspaper, senior PIJ official Nafez Azzam claimed that the Egyptians and the UN were recently close to achieving a truce deal that does not require the Palestinian terrorist groups to "pay a political price."
When Hamas and PIJ talk about paying a political price, they are referring to demands (by Israel and many in the international community) that the Palestinian terrorist groups lay down their weapons, halt terrorist attacks on Israel, and abandon their dream of eliminating Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state. These are terms, of course, to which no Palestinian terrorist group could ever afford to agree, not even in return for the blockade on the Gaza Strip being lifted or economic and humanitarian aid to the two million Palestinians living in the coastal enclave. Accepting such conditions would make them look bad in the eyes of their supporters, who would then accuse them of betraying the Arabs and Muslims by failing to fulfill their promise of destroying Israel.
Anyone who thinks that Hamas or PIJ or any other terrorist group would ever agree to disarm is living in an illusion. It is unthinkable. As far as these groups are concerned, keeping their weapons is tremendously more important than improving the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
"We will not hand our weapons to the Palestinian Authority, which conducts security coordination with Israel [in the West Bank]," leading Hamas official Ahmed Bahr said in a recent Friday prayer sermon in the Gaza Strip. "The weapons of the resistance are the legitimate weapons that will be used to restore our rights and liberate our lands. The option of resistance is the only and shortest way to liberate our land and restore our rights."
To be clear, when the Palestinian terrorist groups talk about "resistance," they are referring to terror attacks on Israel. These include suicide bombings, launching rockets and mortars towards Israel, and hurling explosive devices and firebombs at Israeli soldiers and civilians. These groups do not believe in any form of peaceful and non-violent protests. For them, there is only one realistic option to achieve their goal of destroying Israel: the armed struggle.
Anyone who thinks that Hamas or any other terror group would agree to abandon its extremist ideology in return for easing the economic restrictions on the Gaza Strip is also living in a dream world. This is an ideology that clearly states that Jews have no right to live in a sovereign and independent state of their own on what many perceive as "Muslim-owned land." The Hamas charter is refreshingly clear on this subject:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."
To their credit, Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip openly remind the world at every opportunity that their ultimate goal is to "liberate all of Palestine," from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River: the exact area of Israel.
"The Palestinian resistance has a real army whose mission is to liberate all of Palestine," declared Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official. "By God's will, this army will reach Jerusalem."
If this is the case, why are the Palestinian terrorist groups conducting indirect talks with Israel to reach a new truce agreement in the Gaza Strip under the auspices of Egypt and the UN? The answer is simple. They want a truce, or period of calm, so that they can continue preparing for the next war against Israel without having to worry about Israeli military operations.
The Palestinian terrorist groups see the proposed truce as a temporary measure that will allow them to continue smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip and building new tunnels that would be used to infiltrate Israel and kill as many civilians and soldiers as possible. They want Israel to ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip so that they can continue to launch terrorist attacks against Israelis without having to lay down their own weapons or abandon their radical and vicious ideology.
The Palestinian terrorist groups are at least honest about their true intentions. They do not hide their desire to destroy Israel and kill as many Jews as possible. Hamas and its allies do not care about the well-being of their people in the Gaza Strip. They are determined to fight Israel to the last Palestinian.
It is time for all those involved in efforts to achieve a truce in the Gaza Strip to listen to what the Palestinian terrorist groups are saying. The message the terrorist groups are sending is very clear: no to recognizing Israel's right to exist, no to abandoning our dream of eliminating Israel, and no to laying down our weapons.
*Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Theresa May Sends a Brexit Message to Two Sets of Skeptics

Therese Raphael/Bloomberg/September, 26/18
With the European Union summit in Salzburg this week viewed in the U.K. as a failure for Theresa May's Brexit plan, the U.K. prime minister felt the need to issue a clarifying statement on Friday. In it, May did what she always does in negotiations: She doubled down.
It was a statement for two different audiences. Her message to Europe was simple: We have made a proposal. You can't reject it without giving us a counterproposal. That's how negotiations work. The ball is now in your court.
Her message to her own Conservative Party was different: My plan is the only alternative to leaving the EU without agreement on the terms, which would be bad for the UK, so I'm going to see it through.
She needs to win both arguments to get to a Brexit divorce deal. If May's party, which meets later this month for its annual conference, loses faith in her negotiating abilities, or in the deal she is trying to strike, then they may decide that the better option is trying to unseat her. Up to now, the hard-line group seeking to do that hasn't had the numbers to do so.
If the EU, which ultimately has more room to negotiate than May, cannot find a way to get a deal, then it will give the hard-liners what they want and more: a leadership crisis, and possibly a bigger political crisis in the UK, plus economic pain in Ireland and Britain and a long road to piecing together a new working relationship with a major trading partner and ally.

Another Look at the Definitions of Right and Left
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/September, 26/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/67718/eyad-abu-shakra-another-look-at-the-definitions-of-right-and-left/
Among the most interesting ironies I have known is the weird relationship between the USA and Communism. The Great Superpower that has always carried the banner of Capitalism and led the fight against Communism to the extent of refusing entry visas to any member in any Communist movement, gave us John Reed who perhaps was the best historian of the Bolshevik Revolution which created the Soviet Union.
It definitely is an irony that an American Harvard-graduate Leftist journalist would write “Ten Days that Shook the World” to chronicle the October 1917 Revolution, but it is a fact!
Two years ago, we witnessed another irony, when the US Republican Party picked the Right-winger billionaire Donald Trump as its candidate in the 2016 Presidential Elections. This time Trump’s electoral rhetoric was so populist that it ran against the grain of Capitalist thought; as he raised the banner of Protectionism which directly opposes the principles of Competitiveness and free movement of goods, services and investment. Moreover, he not only championed the cause of unskilled manual labor in the face of cyber communications, robotics and high technology but also called for a return to the mining industry which is facing extinction, in America as well as in most countries of Western Europe, as they move to alternative sources of energy.
At least, from the outside, Trump 2016 slogans looked very much like the slogan of Europe’s Left a few decades ago. In fact, Trump won the election in early November 2016 thanks to winning only around 77000 votes distributed among three industrial and former ‘Democratic’ state, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. These votes were enough to give him all three states’ votes in the ‘Electoral College’, and thus, hand him a majority in the ‘Electoral vote’ count.
However, what happened in the US was not a purely American phenomenon; since we have seen it happen again and again throughout Europe, where the tidal wave of liberal Capitalism - based Globalization is being confronted by an aggressive isolationist reaction bordering on outright racism. But what is more interesting in this respect, is that such a reaction against Globalization and free movement is not the monopoly of the classical nationalist and racist Right, but is being shared by groups from the classic and hardline Left, and the remnants of fossilized trade unions which have all but lost out the fight to keep traditional and labor intensive ‘old industries’, such as mining and textiles.
France ushered the beginnings, as the Communists began to weaken during the term of the Socialist president Francois Mitterrand. Fears of the fast demographic increase of Muslim immigrant population grew in some parts of France, soon multiplied by the influx of cheap labor flocking into France from the former Communist East European countries as they became full members of the European Union, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
In the light of these developments, a sizeable part of the French ‘blue collar’ workers relinquished its internationalist and ‘class allegiance’ and carried its bitterness at losing its ‘job security’, politically and electorally, from the camp of the traditional Left to the camp of the extreme anti-immigrant and anti-immigration extreme Right. What happened in France soon spread out to other parts of western Europe, especially to countries that host large immigrant communities such as Germany, or countries that live with an identity crisis or active separatist – or quasi-separatist movements such as the UK, Italy and Spain.
Germany, had actually, paid a heavy price after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and reunification, as diehard radical Right and Left cultures permeated the former ‘West Germany’ from the former Communist ‘East Germany’. Today, the extreme Right is gaining more support, by highlighting the ‘danger of immigration’ and ‘Muslim identity’.
On the other hand, in the UK, the fragility of the ‘European’ loyalty has increased as a reaction against foreign immigration and East European labor; and hence, there was the shocking vote to exit the European Union, i.e. BREXIT. In this case, similar to the fall of ‘separating lines’ between the extreme Right and extreme Left in both America and France, the British hard Left voted with the isolationist and racist Right in favor of exiting the EU! The Leftist Labour Party leadership, as represented by Jeremy Corbyn continues to oppose a second referendum on BREXIT. However, the most interesting case must be that of Matteo Salvini, Italy Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister who, personally, crossed the ideological divide from the Leftist camp to lead one of Europe’s most virulent extreme Right and xenophobic anti-immigrant Parties.
How can we read into what is currently taking place in Western democracies – at least – as far as we have been familiar with of ‘Right’ vs ‘Left’, and wealth and development against poverty and backwardness?
A dear relative recently sent a recording containing interesting data, that deserves being discussed. The data, said to have been collected from reliable sources, including the UN, claims that 200 years ago the ‘rich countries’ were only 3 times richer than the ‘poor countries. By 1960, they became 35 times richer, and now they are 80 times richer.
The recording goes on to tell us that the ‘rich countries’ try to ‘compensate’ this huge discrepancy by giving aid to the ‘poor countries’ which today is estimated at 130 billion US dollars; however, this amount is dwarfed by the 900 billion US dollars the ‘rich countries’ draw from the ‘poor countries annually through trading regulations and practices; noting that the latter pay no less than 600 billion annually in debt servicing! In addition – according to the recording – every year no less than 2 trillion US dollars leave ‘poor countries’ to ‘rich countries’!
Furthermore, from a human perspective, only 2% of the World’s population own more than half of its wealth, and only 1% control 43% of the wealth, compared to 80% who own not more than 6%. Still, perhaps, the most significant piece of statistics is that wealth of the richest 300 individuals is equal to what is owned by 3 billion people, which is actually the combined total of the populations of China, India, the USA and Brazil.
I think, given these figures, many hypotheses become irrelevant, and many principles, ideals, and obsessions collapse.

Using the Ahwaz Attack
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/September, 26/18
Tehran’s government is trying to transform the armed attack in Ahwaz that happened a few days ago into a national cause, and to consider it an attack on the nation (Ummah), not just an attack targeting the state.
It wants to take advantage of the attack to unite the ranks behind the besieged regime. The government, however, has a bigger worry than a single armed operation in Ahwaz as the incident is just another terror attack and our region is full of such incidents, in Egypt’s Sinai, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and others. They all suffer from terrorism. The Iranian regime fears a more dangerous attack that threatens its existence, and it’s the economic siege. This siege, which began a month ago, will reach a phase where it further pains the government when the oil purchase and dollar bans are implemented.
In addition to the seriously harmful economic repercussions, this siege puts the Iranian people in a confrontation with the regime, and this is unlike the previous American and international boycott as back then the regime partially succeeded in convincing the ordinary Iranian people that the sanctions against it were a conspiracy that targeted its power and capabilities. This time, however, implementing the siege comes after two major popular uprisings against the regime: The Green Movement, which erupted in 2009 in major cities to protest the forged elections and the protests last year when demonstrations were held in cities and rural areas harmed by the state’s economic policies and security oppression. Hassan Rouhani’s government has raised its voice claiming that the Ahwaz attack was a Gulf-Israeli-American plan that aimed to shake its stability. These are intentional allegations, as an attack like this does not shake the regime but the Iranian government is leading a political propaganda to intimidate 80 million Iranians into believing that terrorism is targeting them and not the government that will defend them.The regime has previously tried to mislead the Iranian public opinion when it began its wide interferences in Syria around five years ago. It justified its interference by stating that it was in Syria to protect Shiite shrines and that defending the Damascus regime defends Iran’s security and stability because ISIS would have reached Iran hasn't it been for its presence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza.
The result is that Iran’s involvement in these areas increased in quantity and quality. Iranians who were forced to fight to defend political regimes outside their countries were killed, and the mad war cost the Iranian governments billions of dollars at a time when the country was going through a dangerous economic hardship. As time passed by, truth became clear to the Iranians so they revolted against the government. The slogans raised at protests spoke out against involvement in foreign wars and demanded to stop squandering money on Hezbollah, Assad and Hamas.
As for the Ahwaz attack itself, it did not come as a surprise to the Tehran regime. United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told Iran after the attack: “Look in the mirror,” i.e. the violence that happened in Ahwaz resembles it. Violence brings violence and the Iranian authorities are the ones that fund it and support it in Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and other areas.
If the Iranian government is serious about uprooting violence, it would have given up on supporting these groups in other countries. Iran to this day rejects to hand over wanted men from Al-Qaeda and other groups, and it defies the world by supporting them.
It celebrates terrorists like Khalid Islambouli, the murderer of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, and it has named a major street in Tehran after him. It has given prominent terror figures like Saif al-Adel and the Khobar Towers bombers the right to reside in Iran and work there. Iran will always resort to the propaganda of blaming others and its problem will remain in Tehran and in its insistence on its military adventures in the region, support of extremist groups and interferences in other countries’ affairs.

The Yield Curve’s Day of Reckoning Is Overblown

Brian Chappatta/Bloomberg/September, 26/18
For having assets totaling more than $3 trillion, the US corporate pension industry does an awfully good job of remaining a mystery to the world’s biggest bond market.
Ask Wall Street strategists about the impact of pension demand on the Treasury market, and a consensus will emerge: It has helped drive the relentless flattening of the yield curve over the past year. Citigroup Inc. estimates that the retirement funds’ purchases alone may have compressed the spread between five- and 30-year Treasuries by as much as 32 basis points since last September. That’s a staggering amount considering that the curve is only 30 basis points from inversion. There is no agreement, however, about what to expect from pensions in the months ahead. After Sept. 15, companies won’t be able to deduct contributions at the 2017 corporate tax rate of 35 percent; instead, they have to settle for the new 21 percent level. As some tell it, corporations have plowed so much cash into their retirement funds ahead of the deadline to capture the tax advantage that purchases of long-dated Treasuries are destined to dry up. That would end the curve-flattening trend that’s captivated investors and Federal Reserve officials alike. I’m not so sure Sept. 15 is the day of reckoning for the flattening yield curve, though. And neither are strategists at BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and TD Securities.
The trickiest part in determining whether it’s a make-or-break moment is figuring out how much pensions have thrown their weight around in the Treasury market. Citigroup’s flattening estimate, which strategists cautioned “is necessarily imprecise,” was based on total contributions so far this year of about $150 billion, compared with $146 billion for all of 2017. At a company-specific level, TD Securities noted that Lockheed Martin contributed $3.5 billion to its pension in the first half of 2018, compared with nothing in the period a year earlier. And based on a late 2017 announcement from General Electric, the company still has $5.1 billion of funding on tap before the end of the year.
Of course, not all contributions are used to buy long-term bonds. One way to gauge demand is by looking at Treasury Strips, which are long-duration securities broken into their component cash flows. They’ve surged in popularity lately — the market has grown by $26.7 billion in 2018, the most ever for a seven-month stretch, Treasury Department data show. In part because of this, Citigroup concludes that “pension fund demand did exacerbate the recent curve flattening trend meaningfully,” though it doesn’t expect the tax advantage’s expiration to spur much steepening.
Morgan Stanley strategists led by Matthew Hornbach took a stab at sifting through data, including primary dealer positioning, in a Sept. 4 report. Remarkably, they “conclude that the evidence of strong demand from pension funds is weak.” Therefore, they say, Sept. 15 won’t reverse the curve-flattening trend.
By contrast, here’s what NatWest Markets strategists had to say in an Aug. 30 report:
“We think increased demand from pension funds has been a major contributor to the back-end’s outperformance this year … as this window closes on September 15th, we see corporate contributions slowing in Q4 and in turn expect pension fund support for the long-end to dip.”
How can these major Wall Street firms have such different views? For one, it comes back to the lack of precise data on what pensions are doing with their money. But, crucially, Morgan Stanley has been calling for the yield curve to flatten further, and Citigroup is positioned for continued modest curve flattening. NatWest, on the other hand, has been an advocate for steepening.  In other words, Sept. 15 is not necessarily a turning point for the $15.1 trillion Treasuries market but rather a moment to reaffirm views on the yield curve. If you’re a trader who has been waiting all year to time a reversal, then the prospect of a large buyer exiting the market seems like a good time to take the plunge. If you’ve been telling yourself not to fight the flattening, then you’ll point to other reasons pension demand will persist — like costly fees from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. — and this will prove nothing but a bump in the road.
The truth, in all likelihood, falls somewhere in the middle. “It matters, but it isn’t going to turn the tide of the market,” said Ian Lyngen, head of US rates strategy at BMO. Part of the reason the curve from five to 30 years has steepened by the most in months over the past week, he said, may have been people trying to get ahead of trades closer to Sept. 15. Morgan Stanley says the real risk to the flattening trade could come later this month, when Fed officials update their projected path of interest-rate increases. Indeed, questions abound over how many more times the central bank can hike before it has to pause. For now, short-term yields are the highest they’ve been in about a decade, while the long bond has ample breathing room before testing its crucial 3.22 percent support level.
Traders probably wish Treasuries would break out from their quietest quarter since 1965. They very well still could. Just don’t expect the pension contribution deadline to be the catalyst.

Angela Merkel's Ugly Romance With The Iraniaqn Regime
بينجامن وينثل: غرام انجيلا ماركل البشع مع النظام الإيراني
Benjamin Weinthal/The Tablet/September 26/ 2018
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/67711/benjamin-weinthal-angela-merkels-ugly-romance-with-the-iraniaqn-regime-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AB%D9%84-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%8A/
Why Germany seeks to increase trade with a murderous theocracy bent on Israel’s destruction
In a remarkable comment that was ignored by the German media last month, the president of the country’s roughly 100,000-member Central Council of Jews suggested that Germany has failed to internalize the lessons of the Holocaust. According to Dr. Josef Schuster, Angela Merkel’s flourishing trade with a regime in Tehran that is both the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world and also the world’s top sponsor of lethal anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, is incompatible with the spirit of the Federal Republic’s own foundational commitments, and with the laws of a country where Holocaust denial is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
To understand Schuster’s frustration and disappointment with German society, it is worth citing his critique: “It seems paradoxical that Germany—as a country that is said to have learned from its horrendous past and which has a strong commitment to fight anti-Semitism—is one of the strongest economic partners of a regime [Tehran] that is blatantly denying the Holocaust and abusing human rights on a daily basis. Besides, Germany has included Israel’s security as a part of its raison d’être. As a matter of course this should exclude doing business with a fanatic dictatorship that is calling for Israel’s destruction, pursuing nuclear weapons and financing terror organizations around the world.”
Schuster called for “an immediate halt to any economic relations with Iran. Any trade with Iran means a benefit for radical and terrorist forces, and a hazard and destabilization for the region.”
Yet Merkel, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, and her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, of the Social Democratic Party, rejected Schuster’s plea, and are now working overtime to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Maas, who claimed earlier this year that he entered politics “because of Auschwitz,” argued for an alternative method to facilitate financial transfers to the radical clerical regime in Tehran, to bypass a United States plan to re-institute the ban on Iran’s use of the SWIFT system.
The moral and economic danger represented by Merkel’s emergence as Iran’s major champion in Europe has been a kind of secret that dare not speak its name in the media and among the chattering classes in the Federal Republic. A rare exception in a country that does not have the Anglo-American tradition of aggressive investigative reporting was the BILD newspaper’s exposé on a German company that sold material to merchants based in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. The components were later found in Iranian-produced rockets that contained chemicals used to gas Syrian civilians in January and February of 2018.
The rockets caused 21 Syrian children and adults to be poisoned. Germany’s export control agency told this writer that it will not bar the sale of such material in the future as a “dual-use” good that can be used for military and civilian purposes. The Krempel company that sold the material continues to do business with Iran and has a distribution center in the United States.
So what animates Germany’s devotion to Iran’s murderous regime, and its lack of solidarity—in both words and practice—with Israel? Economic interests are certainly front and center. Germany exported $3.42 billion in merchandise to Iran in 2017. Economic analysts said shortly after the 2015 nuclear deal was reached that German-Iranian trade could soon surpass $10 billion per year. Approximately 120 German companies operate inside the Islamic Republic, and 10,000 German businesses conduct trade with Iran. It should be noted that the German government not only rejects U.S. sanctions but also provides state credit guarantees to German companies that do business in the Islamic Republic, as means of facilitating German trade with Iran.
After Maas visited Auschwitz in August, he declared in a series of didactic statements that “We need this place because our responsibility never ends.” One of Germany’s most popular journalists, the Jewish author Henryk M. Broder, then asked Maas in an article, “Does it belong to the never-ending responsibility that the [German] federal government follows the law requiring German firms to oppose U.S. sanctions against Iran?”
While Angela Merkel’s appeasement policy toward the Iranian regime has come into sharp focus over the past few years, it began at least a decade ago. In 2008, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights, denied the Holocaust and called for the obliteration of Israel during a German foreign ministry-sponsored event held close to Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. Then-Foreign Minister Frank Walter-Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who is now the German president, did not strongly rebuke Larijani and no criminal charges were filed against the revolutionary Islamist.
Larijani’s brother Ali—the speaker of Iran’s phony parliament, the Majlis, and a former lead negotiator for Tehran’s nuclear team—caused outrage a year later when he said at the prestigious Munich Security Conference that his country has “different perspectives on the Holocaust.” When Pierre Lellouche, a French legislator, told Ali Larijani it was unlawful to deny the crimes of the Holocaust, Larijani’s answer was: “In Iran we don’t have the same sensitivities.”
Opponents of prosecuting the Larijani brothers in Germany for incitement against Jews argue that they are protected by diplomatic immunity. Yet local prosecutors in Berlin and Munich did not even investigate the alleged incitement.
In sharp contrast to the tolerance for Iranian genocidal anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial within Germany’s borders, Merkel in 2009 called on then-Pope Benedict to “clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial” that the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. Merkel’s condemnation was prompted by the British Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson’s Holocaust denial. In an interview with Swedish television conducted in Germany in November 2008, Williamson had said, “I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler,” and, “I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them in gas chambers.” A German court fined Williamson 12,000 euros in October 2009 for his claim that the mass extermination of Jews did not take place. (The fine was subsequently reduced on appeal.)
Yet Merkel has made no similarly explicit demand of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that he reject Holocaust denial and lethal anti-Semitism. Rather, she merely opines, using language perhaps more befitting union-management negotiations, that language used by Khamenei and other regime figures who deny the Holocaust and call for the dismantling of Israel is “unacceptable.”
The mainstreaming of Iran’s mullah regime by the Merkel administration has moved at an astonishingly fast pace since world powers reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the formal name for the Iran nuclear agreement—with Tehran in July 2015. Mere days after the atomic accord was signed, the then-German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel flew to Tehran with a large business delegation to pursue deals with the Islamic Republic. A year later, the Social Democrat Gabriel, who has repeatedly termed Israel an “apartheid regime,” traveled to Iran with another delegation of German industrialists.
The following year, in 2017, Gabriel welcomed to the foreign ministry a leading Iranian cleric who has advocated at the annual al-Quds Day rally in Berlin for the elimination of the Jewish state. The religious fanatic Hamidreza Torabi is widely considered the long arm of Ali Khamenei in Germany. Torabi directs the Islamic Academy of Germany that is part of the Islamic Center of Hamburg. The institutions are owned by the Iranian regime along with the Blue Mosque in Hamburg.
To fathom the chasm between Merkel’s rhetoric about Germany’s commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and support for Israel—Merkel, in an address to Israel’s Knesset, declared that the security of the Jewish state is “non-negotiable” for her country, and will visit Israel again in October—consider the case of Canada, which does not have a so-called “special relationship” with Israel. Yet Canada terminated its diplomatic relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran and has not re-established relations.
Some of the concrete punitive measures Berlin could impose on the Islamic Republic to show solidarity with its purported ally Israel include: withdrawing Germany’s ambassador from Tehran; expelling Iran’s ambassador from Germany; announcing a break in German-Iran diplomatic relations; curtailing the robust German-Iranian trade; outlawing all of Hezbollah (there are an estimated 950 active Hezbollah operatives in Germany), and sanctioning Iranian officials.
Yet within the Federal Republic, the leading opponent of German trade with Iran is the American ambassador, Richard Grenell—a Republican who spearheaded the campaign that prevented the Deutsche Bundesbank—the central bank—from delivering, via the Hamburg-based European-Iranian Trade Bank, an estimated $400 million in cash to Tehran. The Iranians wanted the money ahead of new U.S. sanctions soon to be imposed, to bypass the crackdown on their financial sector. Grenell announced in the spring on his popular Twitter feed that German businesses should wind down business with Iran, reiterating the U.S. government’s policy—for which he was angrily slammed as undiplomatic.
As shown by Maas’ memorial tour of concentration camps, and frequent invocations of the “lessons of the Holocaust,” it would appear that memorializing the Holocaust can be a way for German politicians to inoculate themselves against criticism for their unwillingness to confront the lethal anti-Semitic Islamic regime in Tehran. Moreover, the Holocaust commemoration process leads many Germans to believe they are actually on the side of the Jewish state, when their government is not.
The German society’s so-called “working through of its past” can also culminate in large numbers of Germans, to paraphrase the writer Wolfgang Pohrt, behaving as Israel’s probation officers, acting on the highest moral grounds to stop “their victims” from recidivism. This form of morality-animated anti-Semitism is quite widespread in the Federal Republic, where a recent government-commissioned anti-Semitism report revealed that 40 percent of Germans across the political spectrum hold anti-Semitic attitudes. The German journalist Eike Geisel (1945-1997) captured one of the least discussed forms of anti-Semitism in his country.
“To be against Israel in the name of peace is something new,” Geisel wrote. “This new anti-Semitism does not arise from base instincts, nor is it the product of honorable political intentions. It is the morality of morons.”
Henryk Broder and Geisel played crucial roles in the 1980s and ’90s, in the German-speaking world, by dissecting the loathing of Israel as a result of incorrigible reactionary peace movements and widespread “guilt-defensiveness anti-Semitism,” a term coined by the German Jewish philosophers Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer in the 1940s to capture the German reaction to the Shoah. In broad terms, Germans seek to purge the pathological guilt associated with the crimes of the National Socialists by blaming Jews for war crimes. The Israeli psychoanalyst Zvi Rex, in a flash of biting historical sarcasm, reduced Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory to a single profound sentence: “The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz.”
Today’s Germans, it seems, will never forgive Israel for the Holocaust. The preoccupation with turning Israel into a human punching bag expresses itself across all walks of life in Germany. The sociological forces unfolding in Germany do not portend even a semblance of a solid base of support for Israel. In contrast to the situation in the United States, where there are broad swaths of grassroot support for Israel that inform power politics, German support for Israel has been a project of the country’s political elite, which now seems preoccupied with increasing trade with a murderous theocracy bent on Israel’s destruction. The absorption of over one million Muslim refugees and economic migrants into German society, many of whom were socialized to despise Israel and Jews, adds to the already existing anti-Israel hysteria in the country.
As for the roughly 100,000 members of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, it is hard to imagine how their future is likely to get brighter.
*Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and reports on Germany for The Jerusalem Post. His Twitter feed is @BenWeinthal.
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Pope, Russia and the US: A bipolar world order déjà vu
Walid Jawad/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
Pope Francis’ current pilgrimage to the Baltics states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is a politically telling one. The three nations have been sounding the alarm of a sinister Russian plot to co-opt them into the sphere of Moscow’s influence.
The Pope’s visit to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of these countries’ independence brings to mind that for five of those 10 decades they were under Russian occupation, from the 1940s to the 90s. Pope Francis predecessor St. John Paul II paid a visit merely days after the last Russian troops withdrew from Lithuania in 1993 confirming the significance of the Baltics. Pope Francis is directing global attention to the Baltics at a moment when Russia is posing a real threat to their sovereignty. All the while, the international community is theoretically concerned with Russia’s hegemonic expansionist strategy.
The US is reluctant to use its power to curb Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s designs to restore Russia’s glory and prestige as a global Superpower. This is an exceptionally opportune moment for Putin to take advantage of the US commitment to an isolationist strategy. The potential is glaringly clear, Russia has a chance to reshape the current world order.Putin has been successful in exploiting opportunities to hasten US exit from Syria resulting in marginalizing the American role in the conflict, and challenging US influence in the Middle East in general
Global balance of power: The American retreat
The world is observing an unfolding power structure train wreck: an antagonistic American retreating from the world stage. The “America First” policy has translated in practice to an America alone reality.
Early last year in 2017, the US withdrew from the trans-Pacific trade deal, the Paris climate accord and the UN science, educational and cultural organization. The latest episode of this exclusionary policy, removing the US from international institutions, was in June: ceding its seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
The US administration of Donald Trump has been methodical in advancing its exclusionary strategy by digging political trenches as it antagonizes friends and foes. Trump is finding points of divergence to create a rift with historically reliable European allies.
The US saga of withdrawing from the JCPAO redrew the lines pitting the US against the world. In fact its partners: the UK, France, and Germany ended up holding the bag of an unworkable nuclear agreement with Iran.
Southern neighbor
Simultaneously, the US is uncompromisingly alienating its southern neighbor, Mexico, and shocking its northern Canadian kin by renegotiates the mutually beneficial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The current trade war with China and other countries completes the picture; the US is committed to an isolationist track. The vacuum left behind is allowing Russia to expedite it’s already acted upon and alluded to expansionist goals.
Putin has been successful in exploiting opportunities to hasten US exit from Syrian resulting in marginalizing the American role in the conflict, and challenging US influence in the Middle East in general. Such gains has not distracted Putin from his priority to restore Russia’s hegemony over countries falling under its old sphere of influence. The annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Russian exploits in Georgia in 2008 whereby it is incrementally seizing more land ever since provide a blueprint for whats to come.
Abdicating global leadership is not a solely American issue. Numerous European countries have seen a rise in right-wing forces steeped in anti-immigration fear-based politics. The stalled Brexit negotiations with the EU prompted Theresa May to threaten this past Saturday to unilaterally exit the European Union furthering the UK’s own isolationist streak.
‘Mother Russia’
Putin is skillfully playing a weak hand and reaping the benefits of his calculated bold moves. Putin’s expressed his own Russia First early on in his presidency. He laments the demise of the Soviet Union expressing nostalgic remorse emanating from leaving millions of ethnic Russians beyond the borders of today’s Russian Federation. Moreover, Putin felt slighted by the US as it never showed Russia the respect it was due as a former Superpower after the disillusionment of the Soviet Union.
“We are a free nation and our place in the modern world will be defined only by how successful and strong we are” Putin announced early on in his presidency continuing “the moment we display weakness or spinelessness, our losses will be immeasurably greater,” clearly framing his political philosophy.
Russia’s battlefronts have been expanding to include territorial claims of 460,000 square miles of Arctic Ocean seabed, misinformation campaigns in western democracies, providing funding to European far-right and far-left fringe parties as well as extending political, economic, institutional and military ties with China.On the military front, Russia is increasing the frequency of submarines spying in proximity to undersea cables, donating military equipment to the Ortega regime in Nicaragua, providing support and arms to separatists in eastern Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea in addition to shoring up the Iranian and Syrian regimes.
A new frontline
The American democratic system is built on trust and openness, which is being exploited by Russia. The Achilles heel of democracy; i.e. freedom and openness, has been tested post-9-11 when the US government took aggressive security measures in an attempt to avoid any future 9-11 type attacks.
Intrusive intelligence and security services practices of monitoring and spying on the once sacred personal communication of its citizens is now a matter of fact. The rush to protect the US from Russian cyber attacks, designed to manipulate American citizens and exploit the democratic system, gave rise to zealot nationalism and authoritarian tendencies. Russia’s digital offense, attacking the US in cyberspace, has been yielding the desired results. The profound and devastating disinformation volley is compromising the cohesion of American society, causing ethnic rifts and undermining the democratic system itself.
The Robert Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections has revealed Kremlin methods and sources with 13 Russian nationals indicted in the course of the probe. Cyber hacking and disinformation attacks continue into the 2018 midterm elections. Most recently, members of the US Senate are finding their emails targeted by hackers. The US is ill-equipped to combat the digital assault.
Beyond church and state
Perhaps outside actors without political titles are inclined to refocus our attention on the mounting concern over Russia’s global designs. Pope Francis is playing such a role beyond the limitation of church and state on his Baltic trip. On the second day of his trip, he visited the site of the old KGB headquarters in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius offering respect to all of the lives lost at the hands of the Russians. The memory of the Russian occupation is still fresh in the minds of those who lived through it. The KGB museum that was once called the “Genocide Museum” has been renamed the “Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights” focusing on Soviet atrocities. The sequence of political posturing on the world stage between the US and Russia is painting a clear picture: the power balance is swinging back to the long-gone cold-war type world order.
Reverting to a polarity dynamic between the US and Russia is marking the beginning of a new cyclical pattern whereby nations will have to dance between the east and west to avoid the crushing swinging of the bipolar wrecking ball.

The need to end tension with philosophy
Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
The new Saudi Arabia, with all its economic, political, social and religious weight, is making an unprecedented cultural and developmental leap. This is demonstrated by the fact that anyone visiting the kingdom’s cities and regions can see the projects being carried out.
Saudi Arabia has witnessed an abundant educational renaissance as is evident in the number of universities which are among the best in the region. Many of these universities offer the best curriculums in natural sciences, yet in the disciplines of philosophy and humanities we have faced a problem since the beginning of modern education till this day. Islamic doctrine and some philosophical texts are taught in sharia faculties and so are linguistic concepts and modern literary criticism but when it comes to humanities and their modern products or philosophy with all its important history, we only find fear and apprehension from these disciplines.
Muslim philosophers
The establishment of educational curricula and the building of academic institutions and the whole structure of education developed under special circumstances as the state was young, and it was gradually establishing itself. But after a century, we can aspire for exceptional development at all levels including in the institutional and social relation with different portals of knowledge including philosophy. Our Islamic history has had exceptional philosophical legacy since the early centuries as there were major debates of thinkers and benefiting from Greek philosophy. Curiosity to learn from adjoining civilizations was the features of the times. There are immortal names in our Islamic history such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Arabi, Al-Razi, Ghazali, Avicenna, Averroes, Brethren of Purity and hundreds others. Decadence hit the Muslim world, as if the universe called on the world to stop thinking and the world responded, as was lamented by Ibn Khaldun. A prejudiced movement took control over the mental and philosophical discourse, and history was drawn into a long babble outside the context of science and logic, and years passed in intellectual stagnation as a long passage of debate continued between Tarabishi and Jabri. In the disciplines of philosophy and humanities we have faced a problem since the beginning of modern education till this day.Senior scholars tried to humanize Islamic culture, such as Ibn Miskawayh, al-Tawhidi and another important philosopher Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri (10th century AD). Mona Abu Zeid has many writings on this subject such as her book “Philosophy in the Thought of the Amiri” but Mohamed Arkoun’s book “Battles for the sake of humanizing Islamic context”, which is a continuation of his thesis on “the generation of Ibn Miskawayh and Tawhidi” delved more into this topic.
Arkoun entitled the fifth chapter in his book “the central Logos and the religious truth through the book ‘An Exposition on the Merits of Islam’ by Abi Hassan al Amiri.”
Arkoun’s argument
Arkoun’s aim of examining Amiri’s work is to highlight two points: to show the fault in banning teaching philosophy and the fault in preventing teaching religions in France. He also criticized Jules Ferry, the founder of the Modern Secular School, as he calls for the teaching of comparative religions considering it is an essential part of the students' curriculum so they learn about the history that crushed them. Arkoun does not believe that this method would bring to the surface any religious fanaticism. It is for these reasons that fanatic Muslims and traditional secularists are furious with Arkoun. Thinker Hashem Saleh said his teacher Arkoun is like Renan in Christianity. Of course, fanaticism denies the ability for knowledge and learning. Amiri refuses to challenge modern sciences when he wrote: “Science has been challenged by prejudiced people who claimed that it is against religious sciences, and that those who wish to study this field would lose the world and the afterlife. They said it’s only huge words decorated with fancy words to deceive the young ignorant. However this is not the case.” Amiri added that science’s origins and branches are supported by evidence.
This has been said eleven centuries ago, yet we still resist modern sciences whose concepts develop daily in the world. After his death, a book about the life of Arkoun was published entitled “Human formation” in which he bitterly said: “Personally, I feel like a human being in a barren desert of thought with my writings and research. I feel lonely.”

Who hates Trump’s siege of the Iranian regime?
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
American President Donald Trump’s speech at the podium of the United Nations, the glass building with its famous hall and even more famous podium, clearly revealed his plan to force the ruling regime in Iran to change its behavior or to exert “maximum pressure” on it.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said his administration is working with Gulf countries, Jordan and Egypt to establish a regional strategic alliance. He clearly defended the policies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the rest of the Coalition’s countries in Yemen and called on world leaders to join him in isolating the Khomeini Iranian regime whom he said its leaders “sow chaos, death and destruction.”Trump promised the leaders of the velayat-e faqih regime that Washington will impose more sanctions after resuming oil sanctions on Iran on November 5. In terms of the exploding Syrian affair, Trump linked his approach to the Iranian role in the region and said that any solution in Syria must include a plan to deal with Iran. We hope US President Donald Trump succeeds in his efforts against “the behavior of the ruling Iranian regime” as this will be good for us, for the Iranian people and for the entire world.
Frankly, those who oppose Iran’s “poisonous” role in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and the Gulf, and those who hate this role are a majority, will be glad with Trump’s statements even if only half of them are achieved. It’s the Iranian regime which fired missiles on Saudi cities, planted bombs and spies and formed terror cells (the Abdali cell in Kuwait is an example). These are few examples of the many practices by the dark Khomeini terrorism.
Why do some Arabs not want us to strengthen this endeavor to maintain the security of Arab countries, their airspace and land? This is what the columnist in the last page in a famous London-based daily does as he has nothing to do but make daily accusations, as per the American teenage leftist way. One feels pity for some of these naïve people who believe Khomeini voices and their blabber against the American Great Satan. Truth is it is a complicated love, hate, desire and dread relationship. Where are the analyses of the genius Sigmund Freud from it!
Colleague Ghassan Charbel, the editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper wrote in his recent article: “The Iranian surgeon is also ill” about this story which happened before Trump became president: “One day, former Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki made important remarks to late Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. He said: ‘Tell your friend, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, what do the Americans want from us? We supported the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein. We supported the Governing Council and the election of the President of the Republic. We supported this new situation that the Americans have established in Iraq. There is nothing the Americans did and we did not support. Tell your friend what more do they want from us?’”
What can we say? We hope US President Donald Trump succeeds in his efforts against “the behavior of the ruling Iranian regime” as this will be good for us, for the Iranian people and for the entire world.

The Iranian ‘surgeon’ is also ill
Ghassan Charbel/Al Arabiya/September 26/18
This month saw two events related to the Iranian “prestige”. On September 8, Iranian missiles rained down on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Koysinjaq, southeast of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. The IRGC claimed responsibility for the rocket attack and distributed videos showing how it hit the target at a meeting of the leadership of the opposition Kurdish party. It was clear that claiming responsibility and disseminating images of the strike constituted an explicit message from Iran to its enemies in the region that its missiles were able to cross the border separating maps and also capable of hitting definite targets. This power display came at a time when Iranian positions in Syria were under constant attack by Israel, while Iran could not respond through the Syrian territory because of Russia’s tight controls there.
On September 22, Iran was stricken by an incident also related to its “prestige”, but this time on its own territory. Armed men surprised the IRGC and the Iranian army by attacking a podium for senior officials during a military parade in Ahwaz, killing and injuring dozens of IRGC and army members. If the first incident provided evidence, from Tehran’s view point, that the Guards were capable of reaching enemies, the second incident gave proof that Iran’s security was vulnerable. Moreover, if the attack against the KDP headquarters in Koysinjaq revealed that Khomeini’s Iran could not solve its chronic problem with its Kurds, the Ahwaz incident also showed that Iran’s problem with the Arabs of Ahwaz continues and worsens.
It is evident that the Iranian authorities’ anger mounts not only because of the security breach of a place that is supposed to be highly fortified, but also because this incident revealed the persistent problem of ethnic and sectarian minorities, despite Tehran’s attempt to present itself as guarantor of the safety of minorities in some parts of the region. Forty years ago, the Iranian revolution tried to say, upon its victory, that a new era in the Middle East had begun, and that the uprising that was born outside the world of the two camps that existed at that time had sufficient solutions for the suffering of the “vulnerable peoples.”
There are those who believe that the Ahwaz attack will give President Hassan Rouhani the opportunity to speak in New York about “terrorism” that targets his country
Resorting to memory
Resorting to memory is helpful sometimes. A few days after the revolution, Khomeini received a high Kurdish delegation from Iraq’s Kurds, who came to congratulate the new regime and explore the stances. The delegation discussed the grievances of the Kurds, who are subjected to attempts to uproot them and obliterate their identity, culture and aspirations. Khomeini’s response was that these injustices against the Kurds of Iran would no longer exist “because the revolution is Islamic, belongs to all and does not differentiate between Muslims.” Forty years later, the attack on Koysinjaq came to remind that the situation of Iran’s Kurds has not changed. Iran accused separatists from Ahwaz of carrying out the attack. It said they had received support from two Gulf States, and that their move “is part of an American-Israeli conspiracy to destabilize Iran.” The country promised a quick and decisive response.
There are those who believe that the Ahwaz attack will give President Hassan Rouhani the opportunity to speak in New York about “terrorism” that targets his country. But it is certain that the rising Iranian tension is also linked to other dates.
It is obvious that President Donald Trump will employ his presence at the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to launch a broad campaign on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, missile arsenal and destabilization policy in the region. This date gains more importance as it comes weeks ahead of Trump’s deadline for the second round of sanctions against Iran - oil sanctions that he said would be the toughest in history.
There is no doubt that Iran’s recent behavior bears the hallmarks of the loss that resulted from America’s exit from the nuclear deal and Washington’s insistence that the missile arsenal and regional behavior be part of any future agreement with Iran.
Dreams of taking advantage of the fruits of the nuclear deal to fund the large-scale attack in the region have ended. The past weeks have shown that the European stance, which is committed to the nuclear agreement, is by no means a reasonable or acceptable cushion for Iranian concerns.
Currency slump
Taking into consideration the drop of the Iranian currency, the recent protests in different parts of the country and the disclosure of Iran’s crises with its Kurdish, Arab, Baloch and Turkmen citizens, we can understand the current tension.
As the Soviet citizens once complained about the deterioration of their situation, while their country was pumping billions into the veins of the Castro regime, Iranians will complain about the deterioration of their situation and the spending of their country’s wealth in regional adventures.
It is clear that we are on the threshold of a more heated chapter in Iran’s relations with the region and with the United States. Iran behaves as if it has lost the “deal of the century” when it lost the US signature on the nuclear deal. Then it discovers that the Middle East works like communicating vessels…
That those who export strife, will surely import it one day… And that those who contribute to the dismantling of maps of others, may push their own map to a similar fate. Iran thought it was a skilled surgeon in a sick area, and now it discovers that the “doctor” is also ill.
Most likely, Iran was harassing the “Great Satan” to force it to be its biggest partner in the region. Back to the recent past: One day, former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said important words to the late Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. He said: “Tell your friend, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, what the Americans want from us? We supported the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein. We supported the Governing Council and the election of the President of the Republic. We supported this new situation that the Americans have established in Iraq. There is nothing the Americans did and we did not support. Tell your friend what they want from us more.”