English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 07/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know
John 04/21-24: “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 06-07/2022
Aoun, Miqati want US mediation after Israel gas ship move
Israel readies for possible Hezbollah attack on gas rig
Berri calls for amending Decree 6433 if Hochstein doesn't act 'to stop Israeli violations'
Israel says gas rig 'entirely in undisputed territory'
Israel says gas dispute to be resolved through US mediation
FPM: President can't adopt Line 29 without govt. decree
Israel 'ready to prevent' possible Hizbullah attack on Karish gas rig
Bayram says Hizbullah practicing 'positive silence' in offshore gas row
Lebanon Urges US Envoy to End Maritime Dispute with Israel
More of the same in Lebanon as Mikati slated to be next PM
Mikati to Asharq Al-Awsat: I Won't Be PM of Govt that Prolongs Lebanon's Crisis
Reformist MPs urge for amending Decree 6433, adopting Line 29
Lebanon to invite US to mediate Israel maritime border talks/Kareem Chehayeb/Al Jaseera/June 06/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 06-07/2022
Israel rains missiles on Damascus, but most were intercepted: Syrian state media
Iran’s Intelligence Minister: Enemies Focus on Popular Protests, Assassinations
Iran warns IAEA against resolution
Death Toll in Iran Tower Collapse Rises to 41
Iran to Face Censure amid Stalled Nuclear Talks
Burglars Cut through Wall to Rob Bank Deposit Boxes in Iran
NATO nations block Russian envoy's plane from Serbia visit
Russia Says Ban on Lavrov’s Plane a ‘Hostile Action’
UK to Give Ukraine Long-range Missile Systems
Ukraine Says Controls 'Half' of Severodonetsk
After ‘Partygate’, UK PM Johnson to Face Confidence Vote on Monday
Israeli nationalists wage battle against Palestinian flag
Canada/Minister Joly meets with Baltic dignitaries
S. Korea, US Fire Ballistic Missiles in Response to N. Korea Tests
Bangladesh Depot Accused over Blast that Killed at Least 49

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 06-07/2022
SOS: Is The Pentagon Losing the U.S. to China?/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2022
The Liberation of a Continent and the Fall of the Nazi Third Reich/Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2022
The Battle of Damietta: Saint Louis’ Greatest Victory Over Islam/Raymond Ibrahim/June 06/2022
When the Myth of the Clash of Civilizations Collapses in Kyiv/Mohammed al-Haddad/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
Lavrov's Visit to Turkey Shows that Ukraine and Syria Are Tied/Omer Onhon/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
Fear Returns to the Old Continent/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
Why Russian superyachts found safe harbour in Turkish ports/Alexandra de Cramer/The Arab Weekly/June 06/2022
How Iran’s malign proxies are tearing a nation apart/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/June 06, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 06-07/2022
Aoun, Miqati want US mediation after Israel gas ship move
Naharnet/June 06/2022
President Michel Aoun and Caretaker PM Najib Miqati agreed on Monday to invite U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to visit Beirut in order to resume the stalled negotiations over the maritime demarcation with Israel, the Presidency said. The two leaders agreed that the demarcation must be completed "as soon as possible in order to avoid any escalation," after a gas drilling ship had entered a disputed sea area, sparking Lebanese condemnation. Aoun and Miqati also decided to make diplomatic calls with the major world powers and the United Nations to explain Lebanon's adherence to its rights and maritime resources.
"Any gas drilling carried out by Israel in a disputed area is considered a provocative and hostile activity, threatening peace and obstructing the demarcation negotiations led by the U.S.," the statement said. After the Presidency's statement, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab contacted Hochstein to schedule a visit, media reports said.

Israel readies for possible Hezbollah attack on gas rig
I24News/June 06/2022
Israeli naval vessels will protect the drilling platform in the disputed maritime region amid protracted border demarcation dispute with Lebanon and concerns terror group would act out on past threats. The Israeli military is readying for a possible attack by Lebanon’s Shiite group Hezbollah on the Energean gas rig off of Israel’s Mediterranean coast, Hebrew media reported Sunday. According to Kan public broadcaster, Israeli navy vessels will help secure the drilling platform, which entered a disputed maritime zone between Israel and Lebanon. The new gas rig arrived at the Karish site on Sunday and is expected to drill gas for Israel in the coming months. In response to the rig’s arrival, Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun warned Israel against any “aggressive action” in the disputed waters where both states hope to develop offshore energy.“Any action or activity in the disputed area represents a provocation and a hostile act,” Aoun’s office said. Bassam Yasin, the head of Lebanon’s negotiations delegation, said “a response is in the hands of the state and Hezbollah,” Kan reported. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group has warned Israel in the past against unilaterally searching for natural gas in the disputed maritime region. The Walla! News site quoted an unnamed senior Israeli on Sunday as saying that Lebanon’s claims to the site “contradict the positions that Lebanon itself presented in the past.”Israel says the field in question is within its exclusive economic zone, not in disputed waters. A naval version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense systems, along with submarines, will reportedly protect the rig. The United States began mediating indirect talks between the sides in 2000 to settle a long-running dispute between old foes that has obstructed energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Berri calls for amending Decree 6433 if Hochstein doesn't act 'to stop Israeli violations'
Naharnet/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has urged U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to visit Lebanon and to take the necessary measures to stop the Israeli violations, after a gas drilling ship crossed the so-called Line 29 and entered a sea area disputed by Lebanon. Berri stressed, in a press interview, that Lebanon will not tolerate the Israeli violations."If Hochstein does not respond and if no results are reached, then Cabinet must convene to take a national unanimous decision to amend Decree 6433 and send it to the United Nations," Berri said. The Decree 6433 is based on a 2009 delineation undertaken by the Lebanese army. An assessment of the 2009 demarcation by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) proposed two potential lines that would add 300 or 1,430 square kilometers to the old 2009 demarcation. The second line is known as Line 29.President Michel Aoun and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati had also condemned Israel's "provocations."

Israel says gas rig 'entirely in undisputed territory'
Associated Press/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The Israeli energy ministry claimed on Monday that an oil rig had arrived Sunday to an “entirely undisputed territory” in Karish, after a five-week sail from Singapore. “It’s not even (above) the southern line that Lebanon submitted to the United Nations. Even according to the United Nations, it’s not in Lebanon,” Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharrar said, in an interview. President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Miqati agreed Monday to invite U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein to return to Beirut as soon as possible to work out an agreement amid the rising tensions along the border. Elharrar also called on Lebanon to return to indirect negotiations. She added that the Israeli defense ministry is taking the necessary steps to protect the rig, without elaborating further. A report by Kan news had said that the Israeli navy military is preparing to prevent a possible attack by Hizbullah on the drilling platform and that navy vessels and a naval version of the Iron Dome missile defense system will arrive in the area to protect it. The Karish field, according to the Israeli energy ministry, is projected to provide half of Israel’s demand for natural gas and will allow greater exports to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.

Israel says gas dispute to be resolved through US mediation
Naharnet/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that the gas field dispute with Lebanon will be resolved through a U.S. mediation. "The dispute will be resolved in the framework of negotiations between us and Lebanon, mediated by the United States," Gantz said.
Lebanon had called for U.S. mediation Monday after the arrival in disputed waters of a vessel intended to start producing gas for Israel. Israel claimed that the rig is “entirely in an undisputed territory.”

FPM: President can't adopt Line 29 without govt. decree
Naharnet/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The Free Patriotic Movement on Monday defended President Michel Aoun, noting that he or others “cannot consider Line 29 to be an official line for Lebanon if it does not get endorsed in a decision or decree by the Lebanese government.”“Line 29 has been adopted by the Lebanese team as a negotiations line, and the President and others cannot consider it to be an official line for Lebanon if it does not get endorsed in a decision or decree by the Lebanese government,” the FPM said in a statement. Slamming the “ignorance, bad intentions, lies and disinformation of some parties,” the FPM noted that it was its chief Jebran Bassil who “demanded the endorsement of the equation ‘No gas from Karish without gas from Qana.’” “The line that the Lebanese state officially endorsed and demanded ten years ago, with all its components and institutions, is Line 23, and ever since Israel has been working in Karish without objections. As for the person who warned of the seriousness of the matter, it was the Movement’s chief at a press conference in 2013, when he was the energy minister,” the FPM added. Addressing “those behind the overbidding campaign,” the Movement said that they should know that “any balance equation as to lines or fields would require relying on the equation of strength towards Israel, which has been imposed by the resistance.”The FPM also called on the Lebanese state not to accept that Israel extract gas from the Karish field before “consolidating its rights and lines in the southern blocks,” and to “take all the necessary measures to ensure this.” The statement comes after reports said Sunday that the Greek-owned Energean Power FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit) had crossed the so-called offshore Line 29 that is disputed by Lebanon. Israel's Energy Minister Karine Elharrar said in an interview on Monday that the field is "entirely in undisputed territory" and called on Lebanon to return to indirect negotiations. "It's not even (above) the southern line that Lebanon submitted to the United Nations. Even according to the United Nations, it's not in Lebanon," she said.

Israel 'ready to prevent' possible Hizbullah attack on Karish gas rig
Naharnet/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The Israeli navy military is preparing for a possible attack by Hizbullah on a new drilling platform in Karish, Israeli media reports said. A report by Kan news said that navy vessels and a naval version of the Iron Dome missile defense system will arrive in the area to help protect the platform. Another Israeli newspaper said Monday that the drilling platform that had arrived at the Karish site on Sunday is expected to become operational in the next few months. Israel had assigned Energean to drill gas in the disputed Karish field. Karish contains 1.4 trillion cubic feet of proved and probable gas. The area around Karish is thought to also contain large hydrocarbon deposits. The media reports quoted Bassam Yasin, the head of the Lebanese delegation to the negotiations, as saying that "the decision about a response (to the ship’s entry) is in the hands of the state and Hizbullah." Hizbullah had previously warned Israel against unilateral gas drilling in the disputed maritime region before any agreement is reached. President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Miqati condemned Monday the "hostile" and "provocative" Israeli activity and agreed to invite U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to visit Beirut in order to resume the stalled negotiations over the maritime demarcation with Israel and to prevent any escalation.

Bayram says Hizbullah practicing 'positive silence' in offshore gas row
Naharnett/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram on Monday announced that Hizbullah is practicing “positive silence” regarding the Lebanon-Israel row over offshore gas drilling. “The resistance is practicing positive silence and the Lebanese stance must remain firm,” Bayram, who is close to Hizbullah, told al-Jadeed TV. “President (Michel) Aoun knows very well how to act in these situations and he has the sufficient wisdom,” Bayram added, describing the stances of Aoun and caretaker PM Najib Miqati as “advanced.”“The resistance does not want to impose the war and peace decision; it is the enemy that is rather imposing it and the resistance will act according to the state’s decision and orientations,” Bayram went on to say. “We don’t want war and we don’t wish for it, but as Lebanese we have all agreed that we have maritime rights and resources and the drums of war would beat according to the Israeli enemy’s actions,” the minister added, noting that “Lebanon possesses a very strong card that says that the enemy cannot extract its oil as long as we haven’t done the same.”As for Washington’s mediation, Bayram said his party “does not trust American mediations,” because “they have always been in Israel’s favor.”
The minister also noted that Hizbullah has learned that Aoun “has asked the Army Command to clarify where the Greek ship will be positioned in order to act accordingly.”The remarks come after media reports said Sunday that the Greek-owned Energean Power FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit) had crossed the so-called offshore Line 29 that is disputed by Lebanon.

Lebanon Urges US Envoy to End Maritime Dispute with Israel
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The Lebanese government invited on Monday a US envoy mediating between Lebanon and Israel over their disputed maritime border to return to Beirut as soon as possible to work out an agreement amid rising tensions along the border. The invitation for Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the US State Department, came a day after Israel set up a gas rig at its designated location at the Karish field, which Israel says is part of its UN-recognized exclusive economic zone. Lebanon insists it is in a disputed area. The US-mediated indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel have been stalled for months amid disagreement within Lebanon over how big the disputed area is. Hezbollah has warned it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon’s economic rights. On Sunday, Lebanon warned Israel not to start drilling in the Karish field and President Michel Aoun said maritime border negotiations have not ended, adding that any move by Israel will be considered "a provocation and hostile act."
Aoun’s office said Lebanon formally notified the United Nations in February that Karish is part of the disputed area and that the UN Security Council should prevent Israel from drilling there in order "to avoid steps that could form a threat to international peace and security."The Israeli energy ministry confirmed that the oil rig arrived Sunday, after a five-week sail from Singapore. The ministry said that the Karish field is projected to provide half of Israel’s demand for natural gas and will allow greater exports to neighboring Egypt and Jordan. Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharrar said in an interview on Monday with Army Radio that the field was "entirely in undisputed territory" and called on Lebanon to return to indirect negotiations. "It’s not even (above) the southern line that Lebanon submitted to the United Nations. Even according to the United Nations, it’s not in Lebanon," she said. Elharrar added that the Israeli defense ministry is taking the necessary steps to protect the rig, without elaborating further. Elharrar also told the 103FM radio station that the Lebanese allegations were "very far from reality" and that "all the relevant forces are involved, and I recommend not trying to surprise Israel." But she said the likelihood of conflict was small. Satellite images on Sunday from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Marshall Islands-flagged Energean Power floating production storage and offloading vessel in the Karish field area of the Mediterranean Sea. Nearby was the Bahamas-flagged platform Arendal Spirit. Ship tracking data from the two vessels analyzed by the AP also confirmed the vessels’ presence in the area.
On Monday, the office of Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that he has agreed with Aoun to invite Hochstein to return to Beirut for talks on the border dispute and "to work on concluding them as soon as possible in order to prevent any escalation that will not serve the stability that the region is currently witnessing."Israel and Lebanon, which have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948, both claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with an economic crisis.
Last year, the Lebanese delegation - a mix of army generals and professionals - offered a new map that pushes for an additional 1,430 square kilometers (550 square miles). An official at the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said "Karish is a natural gas reservoir within Israel’s UN-recognized exclusive economic zone." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said that the Lebanese themselves had recognized it as Israeli waters in the past. A Lebanese legal expert said if Israel begins exploration work in Karish, the risk of conflict between the neighboring countries will increase, adding that Hezbollah’s precision-guided missiles can easily hit the oil rig. "Their missiles are long-range and they are more precise in hitting these targets that are not mobile like ships and fighter jets," said Paul Morcos, founder and owner of Justicia Consulting Law firm in Beirut. The Israeli military and ministry of defense declined to comment on whether they were taking any specific measures to protect Karish.

More of the same in Lebanon as Mikati slated to be next PM
The Arab Weekly/June 06/2022
No date has yet been set for Lebanese President Michel Aoun to start the necessary parliamentary consultations that will precede his choice of the new prime minister-designate, who will be tasked with forming the new government. But all signs point to the likelihood of the selection of current Premier Najib Mikati, who wields a parliamentary majority of more than 65 deputies and may yet garner the support of seventy MPs, even without the backing of the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange and the Forces of Change. Well-informed sources said that President Aoun is preparing the ground for his consultations, which he is expected to launch next week or very shortly thereafter. Sources said that among the reasons for the delay in the consultations is the failure of the representatives of the Forces of Change to resolve their disagreements over the choice of political allies.But in any case, Mikati is perceived as the clear front runner for the premier’s job, especially since no real rival has so far emerged.
The Lebanese Forces and some of their allies in parliament are leaning towards nominating their own candidate. The Forces of Changes are also trying to agree on a potential nominee, while the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) is exploring other options beside Mikati, after the latter confirmed his rejection of any preconditions, thus dashing the hopes of Gebran Bassil to improve his own position within the new government. Joining a consensus around Mikati does not seem to appeal to the disparate opposition factions. The Lebanese Forces Party (LFP) for example, believes the mere “cloning” of the current government will not make possible the changes that people sought through the polls, even if new faces are added to the cabinet to represent the forces that emerged from the parliamentary elections. The LFP is sticking to its view that the so-called “national consensus governments”, which it prefers to call “governments of national lies,” have proven to be the “worst models” of government and are inadequate to deal with the crises Lebanon is facing.
In the choice of the premier, LFP-affiliated politicians prefer to throw the ball into the court of the representatives of the Forces of Change, leaving them with the challenge of either fulfilling the trust put in them by the voters or repeating the same “sin” of electing the speaker of parliament and his deputy. Mikati's nomination is supported by the duo of the Amal Movement and Hezbollah and their allies as well as a significant number of independents or other MPs who won their seats outside the framework of the Future Movement and the Armenian Tashnaq deputies. Political analysts said that the Lebanese president had told a number of visitors at Baabda Palace that he is not opposed to ​​renewing his confidence in a Mikati government, unless there are constitutional objections. Mikati said earlier that he is not seeking the premiership and would not accept being tasked with forming the government.
Hezbollah strongly supports keeping the caretaker government and keeping it afloat until the next presidential term, even if it is not possible to elect a new president after this October when Aoun's term ends. Advocates of this option say it has the advantage of not wasting the remaining period of the presidential term in consultations and quota-based bargaining sessions for a new government whose lifespan will not exceed four months. With this process, the Shia duo is expected to maintain its dominance over the government the same way it was able to re-elect Nabih Berri as speaker of parliament while independents and Forces of Changes challenged the Amal-Hezbollah manoeuvres with their ranks divided. If the positions remain unchanged, it is likely the next government’s make-up will be similar to that of the present line-up except for changes in names or distribution of portfolios.The analysts point out the Mikati-led cabinet can start working quickly as it is familiar with all pressing issues, besides having to a large extent succeeded in obtaining regional and international support. France, according to recent reports, may be among the leading international powers likely to back the Mikati government as it starts work.

Mikati to Asharq Al-Awsat: I Won't Be PM of Govt that Prolongs Lebanon's Crisis
Beirut - Mohammed Choucair/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed that he will not shirk his responsibilities, vowing that he is committed to saving the country. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said he will not become the head of a new government that would only prolong Lebanon's crises. Mikati is favorite to retain his position ahead of binding parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister after the parliamentary elections and election of a new parliament speaker. Mikati added that if he were to be renamed to the post, he would be committed to adopting reforms and the financial recovery plan and addressing the electricity crisis. The caretaker PM recently met with President Michel Aoun. Asked about the meeting, he replied that he will not be the head of a government that "manages and prolongs the crisis while the country is on the verge of total collapse." The imminent collapse "demands that everyone work together to save Lebanon instead of becoming embroiled in debates that serve no purpose but to impede salvation efforts." Meanwhile, prominent sources from the government and opposition revealed that Aoun will not call for the binding consultations before head of the Free Patriotic Movement and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil completes his search for candidates other than Mikati. The delay is seen as an attempt to pressure Mikati to extort him to comply with his conditions, added the sources. MPs have revealed that Bassil adamantly refuses the return of Mikati if he will not accept his demands. Aoun is aware, however, that delays in naming a PM and forming a government will be costly on Lebanon and raise popular anger. The sources have ruled out the possibility that the consultations will be held this week, unless Aoun succumbs to the demands of the independent blocs and MPs.
They wondered at the delay even though the constitution does not set a deadline for them and neither does it set a deadline for the designated PM to form a government. They warned of past experiences when Saad Hariri was named as PM-designate and was months later forced to step down after refusing to yield to Bassil's conditions and which Aoun had blindly accepted, refusing to pressure his son-in-law to facilitate the formation of the government. The sources revealed that Bassil is in direct contact with several potential PM candidates and has in fact met several of them, arranging meetings with them with political leaderships so that they can present their programs on how to save Lebanon. He has made little progress.

Reformist MPs urge for amending Decree 6433, adopting Line 29
Naharnet/June 06/2022
the Oct. 17 MPs condemned Monday the arrival in disputed waters of a vessel intended to start producing gas for Israel. "Amending the 6433 Decree is a national duty and we have legal proofs that Lebanon has the right to the Line 29," MP Melhem Khalaf said from Parliament on behalf of the reformist MPs. Khalaf said the group calls the Lebanese to stand in solidarity in Naqoura next Saturday to demand the amendment of the Decree 6433 and the adoption of the Line 29. "The Decree must urgently be amended and sent to the U.N.," Khalaf said, urging for a clear, national and official decision.

Lebanon to invite US to mediate Israel maritime border talks
Kareem Chehayeb/Al Jaseera/June 06/2022
Lebanese officials agree to invite US senior energy adviser Amos Hochstein to Beirut to mediate dispute with Israel. Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon has agreed to call on the United States to resume mediating indirect maritime border talks, after a ship arrived in disputed waters to produce gas for Israel. President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Monday and agreed to invite United States senior energy adviser and mediator Amos Hochstein to Beirut. Member of Parliament Elias Bou Saab, President Aoun’s adviser on international cooperation, reportedly spoke to Hochstein following the meeting to plan a date for a visit. The Israeli defence ministry said the dispute will be resolved through American mediation. Lebanon and Israel do not have diplomatic relations and are officially enemies. A vessel operated by Energean arrived in disputed waters Sunday to produce gas for Israel, angering Lebanese officials. Israeli authorities say the area, known as the Karish field, falls under its exclusive economic zone. Lebanon says part of the field falls within its claimed maritime territory under negotiation. A previous round of talks to resolve the decades-long dispute began in October 2020 at UN peacekeeping forces’ headquarters in southern Lebanon, but the negotiations stalled within weeks. Hochstein has since resorted to shuttle diplomacy between Beirut and Tel Aviv in an attempt to break the impasse, without success. Though tensions are now flaring between the two countries, Israeli energy minister Karine Elharrar dismissed concerns about a potential conflict and rejected Lebanon’s claims to the territory, calling them “very far from reality”. Meanwhile, senior Lebanese officials have accused Israel of an aggression into the disputed waters. Prime Minister Mikati said Israel was imposing a “fait accompli” in an attempt to swing negotiations in its favour. ‘Lost a decade of opportunity’
As Lebanon scrambles to halt Israel’s preparations to produce gas at the Karish site, experts have blasted senior Lebanese officials for not staking their claim to the greatest extent of maritime territory possible. Lebanon in 2011 issued Decree 6433 to the United Nations of its claims to maritime territory in the Mediterranean Sea, dubbed as Line 23, which does not intersect with the Karish field. However, studies conducted by the UK Hydrographic Office and later by the Lebanese Army indicated that Lebanon could claim a further 1,430 square km (889 square miles), which breaks into the Karish field. It is referred to as Line 29, but Lebanon has never amended Decree 6433. “The Army conducted extensive studies on Line 29, and it has valid technical and legal considerations,” Marc Ayoub, associate fellow at the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut told Al Jazeera. “We have lost a decade of opportunity to reach a point where we are losing our [economic] rights.” Lebanon’s government has struggled to keep its institutions functioning, as the prospects of economic reform and recovery are hampered by political bickering among ruling elites and the systematic mismanagement of resources. In April 2021, then-caretaker Prime Minister Hasan Diab approved a draft decree to amend Decree 6433 that would expand Lebanon’s claims, but President Michel Aoun has yet to sign the document. “He said it was because the draft decree was from a caretaker government and because negotiations with the United States had already opened,” Ayoub said. Some parliamentarians have responded to the recent developments calling the government and president to amend the decree. Member of Parliament Hassan Mourad, allied to Hezbollah, presented a draft law to Parliament on Monday to amend Decree 6433 to expand Lebanon’s claims to Line 29.
Meanwhile, 13 anti-establishment MPs, referred to locally as the change forces, in a press conference called on the government and president to deliver an amended Decree 6433 to the United Nations, send a warning letter to Energean, and file a complaint against Israel to the UN Security Council. “Under public international law and international agreements, we have legitimacy to impose this matter,” legislator Melhem Khalaf of the bloc said. Legislator Mark Daou of the same bloc told Al Jazeera that there are no valid excuses for President Aoun and the government to not sign off an amended decree.
“There is nothing stopping them,” he says. “Lebanon should do what it should have done from day one; send an updated map recognising Line 29 as the sovereign line for Lebanon.”
No unified position
Parliament is set to meet on Tuesday, but Decree 6433 is not on the agenda.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, nor did caretaker energy minister Walid Fayyad. Member of Parliament Alain Aoun, a senior legislator in President Aoun’s party the Free Patriotic Movement, says the situation is not as straightforward as critics claim. “It is more complex than just signing [the decree],” Aoun told Al Jazeera, without disclosing further details. Since late 2019, Lebanon has suffered financial and economic collapse. The Lebanese pound has lost 90 percent of its value against the US dollar and 80 percent of the country’s population live in poverty. While a fledgling oil and gas industry would not be sufficient for it to pay off its ballooning debts and pay back millions whose savings were trapped in the country’s banks, experts say that Lebanon is losing an economic opportunity to boost its coffers.
“Poor governance, an inability to strategise and implement a vision for the sector has hampered prospects for Lebanon to develop an oil and gas industry that would, at least, cater for the country’s domestic energy needs or even position it as a possible export for Europe which is seeking alternatives to Russian gas,” Sibylle Rizk, Director of Public Policies at Lebanese advocacy group Kulluna Irada told Al Jazeera. But in the meantime, as Lebanon scrambles to get indirect talks back on track, Rizk expressed concern that the lack of a unified position among Lebanon’s political leadership could result in a diplomatic debacle. “Is it Line 23 or Line 29? The Lebanese Army and the Naqoura delegation have built a strong case for Line 29, but the official position is still at Line 23,” Rizk said. “This lack of clarity leaves the door open to all sorts of foreign intervention and political bargaining that could benefit some stakeholders, but most certainly not the collective interest of the Lebanese people.” Talks are ongoing between Lebanese officials. Following Aoun’s talks with Mikati, caretaker foreign minister Abdullah Bou Habib met with Speaker Nabih Berri.But it is not clear whether an agreement is likely, nor whether the authorities will amend Decree 6433. When a reporter asked Bou Habib about why President Aoun has not yet signed the decree, he told him to “go ask at the presidential palace.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 06-07/2022
Israel rains missiles on Damascus, but most were intercepted: Syrian state media
AFP/June 07, 2022
DAMASCUS: Syrian air defense intercepted Israeli missiles south of Damascus on Monday, with no casualties reported, a military source told Syria’s official news agency SANA. “The Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting points south of Damascus,” with Syria’s air defense intercepting most of the missiles, SANA quoted the military source as saying. “The losses were limited to material damage.”An AFP correspondent in the capital Damascus heard loud noises in the evening. Last month, Israeli surface-to-surface missiles killed at least three Syrian officers near Damascus, according to war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Israeli strikes had targeted Iranian positions and weapon depots near Damascus, the monitor said. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah. While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of them. The Israeli military has defended them as necessary to prevent its arch-foe Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep. The conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister: Enemies Focus on Popular Protests, Assassinations
London – Tehran/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib has said that his country is facing two enemy strategies centered around popular protests and assassinations. The country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had earlier accused foreign parties of stoking conflict between the public and Iranian authorities. “The enemies are mobilizing all their energies against us because they realized that there is a force within the regime that is ready to confront any threat, despite the presence of all these foreign intelligence services," Khatib said at a Revolutionary Guards meeting in Zahedan, the capital of Balochistan province.
Khatib accused the US of mobilizing equipment and facilities of “18 intelligence and security agencies” against Iran. “Their expenditures are greater than Iran's general budget,” claimed the minister without providing evidence for that. He then went on to say that currently, the enemy is focused on three issues:
First, it counts on the people’s protests and Iran’s social conditions, and tries to broaden them by misleading the true demands of the people and organizing networks and illegal gatherings. Second, it is capitalizing on terrorist actions, which are committed by the Israeli regime. And third, it is trying to “confuse" the minds of Iranians through cyberspace and social media. One of these events was the assassination of Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei -- a member of IRGC’ Quds Force, responsible for operations outside Iran’s borders. Khodaei was killed outside his home on a residential street in Tehran on Sunday when two gunmen on motorcycles approached his car and fired five bullets at him. Iran blamed Israel and vowed revenge for the killing. Israel informed the US that it carried out the assassination. The New York Times has quoted an Israeli intelligence official as saying that Tel Aviv has informed American officials it was responsible for the killing of the Revolutionary Guard colonel in Tehran.

Iran warns IAEA against resolution
Al-Monitor Staff/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Iran has threatened to reduce its cooperation with the IAEA if a resolution is written against it. Iranian officials have continued to fire back at the United Nations nuclear watchdog over its findings as the negotiations to revive the Iranian nuclear deal remain at a standstill. During a television interview, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh discussed the latest findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Khatibzadeh said that the IAEA's board of governors is currently in a meeting that is expected to last several days. One of the points on the board's agenda is to discuss the status of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA was signed in 2015. It reduced Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump exited the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran increased its nuclear program and reduced its cooperation with the IAEA. Western countries that were part of the signing of the JCPOA (France, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom) are urging the IAEA to write a resolution condemning Iran for its lack of cooperation.
Khatibzadeh accused IAEA director Rafael Grossi of writing a “hurried, biased and inaccurate” report against Iran. He said that Iran and the IAEA still have a third round of meetings and added that Iran has already addressed the technical questions of the IAEA, stating that accusations in the IAEA are “footprints of the Zionist regime.” Grossi visited Israel recently and met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Israel reportedly has nuclear weapons and has never signed the nonproliferation treaty, but its research activities are subject to IAEA verification — though nothing that would require the head of the agency to personally visit. Khatibzadeh said that the IAEA board of governors would likely be discussing Iran on Tuesday or Wednesday. Iran will make its next decisions based on what's discussed, he said, but he warned it would impact the nuclear negotiations. As part of a previous deal with the IAEA, Iran had agreed to continue to record work at its nuclear sites but keep the recordings until negotiators agreed to a nuclear deal. Iran is a member of the nonproliferation treaty but has also signed additional protocols and permits deeper inspections due to the JCPOA. Iran’s position is that if the JCPOA is not implemented, it should reduce cooperation with the IAEA — presumably just short of leaving the IAEA.  Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted that he spoke with High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell about the nuclear talks in Vienna and how to move forward. He warned that the countries pushing for a resolution from the IAEA against Iran “will be responsible for all the consequences.” He added that Iran would welcome a “good, strong and lasting agreement,” and it can happen if the United States and the three European countries are “realistic.”

Death Toll in Iran Tower Collapse Rises to 41
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The death toll in the collapse of a building in southwestern Iran rose Monday to at least 41, state media reported, two weeks after the disaster struck. Ehsun Abbaspour, the governor of the city of Abadan, gave the figure based on an official report, state television said, according to the Associated Press. The May 23 collapse at the Metropol Building some 660 kilometers southwest of the capital, Tehran, has dredged up painful memories of past national disasters and shined a spotlight on shoddy construction practices, government corruption and negligence in Iran. It follows weeks of sporadic protests roiling Khuzestan province over skyrocketing prices after the government cut subsidies for several food staples. There have been protests in Abadan over the collapse, which have seen police club demonstrators and fire tear gas.

Iran to Face Censure amid Stalled Nuclear Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Major European countries and the United States are expected to seek to censure Iran when the UN atomic watchdog meets this week amid stalled talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. The resolution drafted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany is a sign of their growing impatience as diplomats warn the window to save the landmark deal is closing. The International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors meets Monday through Friday in Vienna. If the resolution urging Iran to "cooperate fully" with the IAEA is adopted, it will be the first motion censuring Iran since June 2020. Talks to revive the accord started in April 2021 with the aim to bring the United States back into the deal and lift sanctions again and get Iran to scale back its stepped-up nuclear program. The 2015 landmark deal -- promising Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs in its nuclear program -- started to fall apart in 2018 when then president Donald Trump withdrew from it. Talks to revive the agreement have stalled in recent months. The coordinator of the talks, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell, warned in a tweet this weekend that the possibility of returning to the accord was "shrinking". "But we still can do it with an extra effort," AFP quoted him as saying. In a report late last month, the IAEA said it still had questions that were "not clarified" regarding traces of enriched uranium previously found at three sites which had not been declared by Iran as having hosted nuclear activities. Iran has warned "any political action" by the United States and the so-called E3 group of France, Germany and the UK would "provoke without any doubt a proportional, effective and immediate response". "There is no excuse for Iran's continued failure to provide meaningful cooperation with the agency's investigation," Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association, told AFP. "A resolution censuring Iran is necessary to send a message that there are consequences for stonewalling the agency and failing to meet safeguards obligations," she said. China and Russia, which are also parties to the Iran nuclear deal -- together with Britain, France and Germany -- have warned that any resolution could disrupt the negotiation process.
Russia's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, in a tweet called on the EU to "undertake extra diplomatic efforts". But even if the climate is tense, negotiations are unlikely to fall apart, according to Clement Therme, associate researcher at the Rasanah International Institute for Iranian Studies. "Given the war in Ukraine, the Europeans are not ready to trigger a new crisis with Iran when they are already dealing with a crisis with Russia" which invaded its neighbor in February, he said. The expert suggested that the resolution would be worded "in a way that does not close the door to further negotiations".
A key sticking point is Tehran's demand for Washington to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from the official US list of terror groups. US President Joe Biden's administration has refused to do so ahead of tough November midterm elections.
"The political cost Biden will pay for lifting sanctions on the IRGC is high, but it pales in comparison to the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran," Davenport said. She said Biden's administration "should double down on other creative proposals to get negotiations back on track". According to the latest IAEA report, Tehran now has 43.1 kilograms (95 pounds) of 60-percent-enriched uranium. If enriched to 90 percent, this could be used to make a bomb in under 10 days, Davenport warned in a report last week. "Weaponizing would still take one to two years, but that process would be more difficult to detect and disrupt once Iran moved the weapons-grade uranium from its declared enrichment facilities," Davenport said.Iran has always denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.

Burglars Cut through Wall to Rob Bank Deposit Boxes in Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Dozens of safe deposit boxes were robbed after burglars cut through the wall of a bank from a neighboring building in Iran’s capital, state TV reported Monday. The report said several bandits took advantage of a three-day holiday in Iran to break into a major branch of the government-owned Bank Melli Iran and rob 250 boxes. Safe deposit facilities are underground in many banks in Tehran. The report did not say what items were stolen from the boxes or how much the haul totaled. No additional details were provided. The bank in a statement acknowledged the incident but said it caused "limited damages." The semiofficial Mehr news agency reported that an alarm went off, triggering an automatic alert that was sent to the branch's manager. However, he ignored the alarm because in the past he had received false alarms, the news agency reported. Mehr said the alarm system was not set up to alert police.The robbers also stole surveillance cameras and other monitoring items from the bank, which is located on one of Tehran's major streets near Tehran University and in walking distance of a police station. Police said several suspects, including some bank staffers, are under investigation.Robbery of governmental banks is rare in Iran.

NATO nations block Russian envoy's plane from Serbia visit
Associated Press/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Serbia and Russia on Monday formally confirmed that a planned visit by Russia's foreign minister to the Balkan country will not take place, with Moscow accusing the West of preventing the trip. The announcement followed reports that Serbia's neighbors — Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro — had refused to allow Sergey Lavrov's plane to fly through their airspace to reach Serbia. "An unthinkable thing has happened," Lavrov said during an online news conference Monday. "A sovereign state has been deprived of its right to conduct foreign policies. The international activities of Serbia on the Russian track have been blocked." Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic earlier Monday met with Russia's ambassador to Serbia who informed him that Lavrov could not come because the Russian government plane was denied necessary flyover permissions, a statement issued after the meeting said. Vucic expressed "dissatisfaction" over the "circumstances" that prevented the visit and added that "despite all, Serbia will preserve independence and autonomy in political decision-making." While formally still seeking European Union membership, Serbia has maintained friendly ties with Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine, refusing to join Western sanctions against Moscow. Many in Serbia view the fellow-Slavic nation as a close ally and Moscow has backed Serbia in its effort to retain its claim on Kosovo. Lavrov blamed NATO countries for engineering the flight ban — Montenegro, Bulgaria and North Macedonia are all members of NATO — noting that the action showed again that the main purpose of the alliance expansion is to try to isolate Russia. Lavrov is set to travel to Turkey on Wednesday, where he can fly directly over the Black Sea. Turkey has sought to harbor good relations with both Russia and Ukraine while also trying to help international mediation efforts in the crisis. The Russian foreign minister said the West has trampled on the principle of a free choice of foreign policy partners. "From the Western viewpoint, Serbia mustn't have any choice, any freedom in choosing its partners," he said. "The West clearly shows that it would use any base means to apply pressure."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov deplored what what he described as "hostile actions," but said this "won't significantly hamper the continuation of our country's contacts with friendly countries like Serbia."In Belgrade, Serbia's pro-Russian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin expressed "deep regret" that a "great and proven" friend of Serbia could not come. Vulin added that "Serbia is proud that it is not part of anti-Russian hysteria, and the countries that are (part of it) will have time to be ashamed." Serbia, meanwhile, also is almost fully dependent on Russian gas. Vucic recently talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone to arrange a new deal on gas supplies for the next three years. Analyst Slobodan Stupar described Lavrov's attempted visit to Belgrade as a "show" that would have been used by Moscow to further vilify the West. "I believe the Russians invited themselves" to Serbia, Stupar told The Associated Press. "They are terribly isolated. ... They can now say that Europe and the world are not democratic and won't allow a simple flyover." Stupar said Vucic has placed himself "in between" Russia and the West.
"That is the worst possible position one can imagine," Stupar said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in the region later this week.

Russia Says Ban on Lavrov’s Plane a ‘Hostile Action’
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
The Kremlin on Monday said airspace closures by three eastern European countries which prevented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from traveling to Serbia were a "hostile action."Countries surrounding Serbia - Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro - closed their airspace to an official plane that would have carried Moscow's top diplomat to Belgrade on Monday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters such actions could cause problems with the timetabling of high-level diplomatic meetings. But they would not prevent Moscow from maintaining contacts with friendly countries, he said.
Serbia on Monday confirmed that a planned visit by Lavrov to the Balkan country will not take place. President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday that Russia's ambassador to Serbia had met with him and informed him of the reasons why Lavrov could not come.
Vucic offered no details, but the pro-Russian Vecernje Novosti daily carried photos of what it said were official documents rejecting the overflights. Lavrov described the ban as "unprecedented", adding that he had yet to receive an explanation for the decision. He said that he would instead invite his Serbian counterpart to visit him in Moscow, adding: "The main thing is no one will be able to destroy our relations with Serbia".Lavrov told reporters: "If a visit by the Russian foreign minister to Serbia is seen in the West as something approaching a threat on a universal scale, then things in the West are clearly pretty bad."Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine, refusing to join sanctions against Moscow. Serbia also is fully dependent on Russian gas. Vucic recently talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone to arrange a new deal on gas supplies for the next three years.
Serbia's Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said he deeply regretted "the obstruction" of the visit of Lavrov, whom he described as "a great and proven friend of Serbia.""A world in which diplomats cannot seek peace is a world in which there is no peace. Those who prevented the arrival of Sergei Lavrov do not want peace, they dream of defeating Russia," Vulin said in a statement. "Serbia is proud that it is not part of the anti-Russian hysteria, and the countries that are, will have time to be ashamed."Analyst Slobodan Stupar described Lavrov's attempted visit to Belgrade as a "show" that would have been used by Moscow to further vilify the West. "I believe the Russians invited themselves" to Serbia, Stupar told The Associated Press. "They are terribly isolated. ... They can now say that Europe and the world are not democratic and won't allow a simple flyover."Analysts in Belgrade have pointed out that Lavrov's visit would further erode Serbia's standing in the West after Belgrade rejected imposing sanctions on Moscow. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in the region late this week. Stupar said that Vucic has placed himself "in between" Russia and the West, by attempting to maintain ties with Moscow while Serbia is seeking membership in the European Union at the same time. "That is the worst possible position one can imagine," Stupar said.

UK to Give Ukraine Long-range Missile Systems
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Britain said Monday it will mirror the United States and send long-range missile systems to Ukraine, defying warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin against supplying Kyiv with the advanced weapons. The UK Ministry of Defense said London had coordinated closely with Washington over its gift of the multiple-launch rocket systems, known as MLRS, to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, AFP said. The M270 launchers, which can strike targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away with precision-guided rockets, will "offer a significant boost in capability for the Ukrainian forces," the ministry added. The US last week announced it would give Kyiv its high mobility artillery rocket system, known as HIMARS, which can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles and is superior in range and precision to existing systems Ukraine has. However, US President Joe Biden has ruled out supplying it with systems that could reach as far as Russia, despite Kyiv's repeated demands for them. Despite that, the US move prompted Putin to warn Sunday that Moscow will strike new unspecified "targets" if the West supplies the missiles to Ukraine and said new arms deliveries to Kyiv were aimed at "prolonging the conflict". But unveiling the latest UK contribution, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace insisted Ukraine's Western allies must maintain their weapons deliveries to enable it to "win" its war repelling invading Russian forces. "The UK stands with Ukraine in this fight and is taking a leading role in supplying its heroic troops with the vital weapons they need to defend their country from unprovoked invasion," he said in a statement. "As Russia's tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine. These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin's forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities."Ukrainian troops will be trained on how to use the launchers in the UK, so they can "maximize the effectiveness of the systems", Britain's defense ministry said. London has so far offered more than £750 million ($937 million, 874 million euros) in military support to Ukraine, including sending air defense systems, thousands of anti-tank missiles and various types of munitions, hundreds of armored vehicles and other equipment.

Ukraine Says Controls 'Half' of Severodonetsk
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Ukrainian troops have beaten back Russian forces to control half of a flashpoint eastern city, local officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front lines to support his country's "true heroes".As the see-saw battle raged on for the strategically important city of Severodonetsk -- the largest in the Lugansk region not under Russian control -- more help was promised from abroad, reported AFP. The United Kingdom said it would follow the United States and send long-range missile systems to Ukraine, defying warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin against supplying Kyiv with the advanced weapons. Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24. Fighting since April has been concentrated in the east of the country, where Russian forces have made slow but steady advances after being beaten back from other parts of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. Ukraine's gains in Severodonetsk, announced by regional governor Sergiy Gaiday, would represent a significant advance by Kyiv's troops, who earlier appeared on the verge of being driven out of the city. "The Armed Forces have cleared half of Severodonetsk and are moving forward," Gaiday posted on Telegram. However, he warned in a video in the same post that a major new Russian push on the industrial hub appeared imminent.
'It's a horror show' -
Across a river in the neighboring city of Lysychansk, pensioner Oleksandr Lyakhovets said he had just enough time to save his cat before the flames engulfed his flat after it was hit by a Russian missile. "They shoot here endlessly... It's a horror show," the 67-year-old told AFP. Lysychansk was among areas visited Sunday by Zelensky, who "got himself acquainted with the operational situation on the front line of defense", the presidency said. He also visited Bakhmut, to the southwest in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, and talked with servicemen, his office said. "I want to thank you for your great work, for your service, for protecting all of us, our state. I am grateful to everyone," he told them. "I am proud of everyone whom I met, whom I shook hands with, with whom I communicated, whom I supported," Zelensky said in his daily evening address after his visit. "Each family has its own story. Most were without men," he said. "Someone's husband went to war, someone's is in captivity, someone's, unfortunately, died. A tragedy. No home, no loved one. But we must live for the children. True heroes –- they are among us."Sunday also brought the first Russian missile strikes on Kyiv since April 28. "High-precision, long-range missiles fired by the Russian Aerospace Forces on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by eastern European countries and other armored vehicles that were in hangars," a Russian defense ministry spokesman said.
One person was wounded, and AFP reporters saw several buildings with blown-out windows near one of the sites that were targeted.
- UK pledges missiles -
Ukraine has asked supporting countries for ever more powerful arms to fend off the Russian attack, and its deputy defense minister stressed Sunday this support was needed until Moscow was defeated. The United States last week said it would supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems, the latest in a long list of weaponry sent or pledged to the pro-Western country. But Putin said long-range missile supplies to Ukraine meant "we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms... to strike targets we haven't hit before". Unveiling the latest UK contribution, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace insisted Ukraine's Western allies must maintain their weapons deliveries to enable it to win. The UK Ministry of Defense said London had coordinated closely with Washington over its gift of the multiple-launch rocket systems, known as MLRS. The M270 launchers, which can strike targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away with precision-guided rockets, will "offer a significant boost in capability for the Ukrainian forces", the ministry added. Western powers have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia but divisions have emerged on how to act, particularly on whether to engage in dialogue with Russia. Speaking from the apostolic palace in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis on Sunday renewed calls for "real negotiations" to end what he called the "increasingly dangerous escalation" of the war. Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine's territory, according to Kyiv, and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports, sparking fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world. The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine's grain harvest to leave the country.

After ‘Partygate’, UK PM Johnson to Face Confidence Vote on Monday
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a confidence vote by lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party later on Monday, the chairman of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady has told lawmakers. "The threshold of 15% of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded," he wrote in a note to Conservative lawmakers. Brady said a vote would be held between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. (1700-1900 GMT) on Monday. "The votes will be counted immediately afterwards. An announcement will be made at a time to be advised," Brady said. Johnson, appointed prime minister in 2019, has been under growing pressure, unable to move on from a report that documented alcohol-fueled parties at the heart of power when Britain was under strict lockdowns to tackle COVID-19. Dozens of Conservative lawmakers have voiced concern over whether Johnson, 57, has lost his authority to govern Britain, which is facing the risk of recession, rising fuel and food prices and strike-inflicted travel chaos in the capital London. Jesse Norman, who served as a junior minister in the finance ministry between 2019 and 2021, was the latest Conservative lawmaker to publicly request a confidence vote, joining a growing number who have voiced concern about Johnson's electoral appeal. Norman said he could no longer stand by Johnson. "Recent events have served to clarify the position this country is in under your leadership, beyond any doubt; and I am afraid I can see no circumstances in which I could serve in a government led by you," Norman said in a letter he published on Twitter. A majority of Conservative lawmakers - or 180 - would have to vote against Johnson for him to be removed - a level some Conservatives say might be difficult to reach. If passed, there would then be a leadership contest to decide his replacement. Since the release of the damning report into the so-called "partygate" scandal, which listed fights and alcohol-induced vomiting at lockdown-breaking parties at his Downing Street office and residence, Johnson and his government had urged lawmakers to move on.

Israeli nationalists wage battle against Palestinian flag
Associated Press/Monday, 6 June, 2022
It's not a bomb or a gun or a rocket. The latest threat identified by Israel is the Palestinian flag. Recent weeks have seen a furor by nationalists over the waving of the red, white, green and black flag by Palestinians in Israel and in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Yet the fracas over the flag tells a broader story about how much hopes for peace with the Palestinians have diminished and about the stature of the fifth of Israelis who are Palestinian. They for long have been viewed as a fifth column because of their solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Palestinian citizens of Israel see the campaign against the flag as another affront to their national identity and their rights as a minority in the majority Jewish state. "The Palestinian flag reminds Israelis that there is another nation here and some people don't want to see another nation here," said Jafar Farah, who heads Mossawa, an advocacy group promoting greater rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel. In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have gone out of their way to challenge the hoisting of the Palestinian flag. Police at a funeral in east Jerusalem last month for the well-known Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh snatched Palestinian flags from mourners, reportedly following an order from a district police chief to make sure the Palestinian colors don't fly at the politically-charged event. Two Israeli universities were slammed by nationalists for allowing Palestinian flags to be waved at campus events. Israel Katz, a senior opposition lawmaker, urged flag-waving Palestinian-Israeli students to remember the war leading to Israel's establishment in 1948, saying Jews "know how to protect themselves and the concept of the Jewish state."A group promoting coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis raised the Palestinian flag alongside the Israeli one on a high-rise outside Tel Aviv, only to have authorities remove the Palestinian flag hours later. Those events culminated in a push by opposition legislators to ban the waving of the Palestinian flag at institutions that receive state funding, which would include universities and hospitals, among others. The bill passed overwhelmingly in its first reading on Wednesday, 63-16, although several parties in the governing coalition were absent and the coalition may seek to block the bill from moving forward. "In the state of Israel there is room for one flag: the Israeli flag, this flag," Eli Cohen, the legislator who sponsored the bill, said from the dais of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, as he pointed to an Israeli flag hung behind him. "This is the only flag there will be here," he said to applause from some legislators. According to Adalah, a legal rights group for Palestinian Israelis, waving the flag is not a crime under Israeli law. A police ordinance grants officers the right to confiscate a flag if "it results in disruption of public order or breach of peace."Israel's Palestinian citizens make up 20% of the population and they've had a turbulent relationship with the state since its creation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to flee in the events surrounding the establishment of the state. Those who remained became citizens, but have long been viewed with suspicion by some Israelis because of their ties to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. That sense deepened last year when mob violence erupted in mixed Jewish-Arab cities, with looting and attacks scarring residents on both sides.
Palestinian citizens have carved a life for themselves in Israeli society, reaching the highest echelons in various spheres, including health, education and public service. An Arab Islamist party for the first time in history is now a member of a governing coalition. But Palestinians in Israel are generally poorer and less educated than Jewish Israelis and they have long suffered discrimination in housing, government funding and public works. While there have been efforts in recent governments to address that socio-economic gap, the nationalist rights of Palestinians have been slowly eroded over the years, especially as Israeli nationalist sentiment has grown. "It is our right to raise our Palestinian flag," said Alin Nasra, an activist and student at Tel Aviv University. "This is something that distinguishes us as a minority inside Israel." Yitzhak Reiter, president of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel, said the uproar against the flag is part of a feeling by nationalists and some mainstream Israelis that they are "losing the state," to Palestinian nationalism from within Israel's borders. He cited previous laws that bar municipalities or institutions from marking Israel's Independence Day as a day of mourning or the Jewish state law that tried to strengthen Israel's character as a Jewish state but which Palestinian citizens saw as a further downgrade of their status and a blow to their national identity. Israel's national symbols — a biblical candelabra, the star of David on its flag — do not include Palestinian or Arab emblems and Israel's anthem speaks of the yearning of the Jewish soul. The flag, Reiter said, "symbolizes the enemy, but waving the flag, for those who oppose it, is harmful to Israeli sovereignty."Israel once considered the Palestinian flag that of a militant group, no different than the Palestinian Hamas or the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah. But after Israel and the Palestinians signed a series of interim peace agreements known as the Oslo Accords, the flag was recognized as that of the Palestinian Authority. The left-leaning daily Haaretz chided the bill against the flag, saying Israel had an "obsession" with it because it reminds the country of "the sin of the occupation" of lands the Palestinians want for a future state. With peace talks a distant memory and the occupation dragging on, the battle over the flag shows how far from reality Palestinian statehood is, with the nationalist narrative in Israel increasingly going mainstream. Ronni Shaked, of Jerusalem's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, said he remembers a time when politicians wore lapel pins that bore both the Israeli and Palestinian flags and that even hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the current head of the opposition and Israel's longest serving leader, had a Palestinian flag hanging behind him during events with the Palestinian leadership when relations between the sides were less frosty. "If we are afraid from the Palestinian flag," he said, "it means that we are afraid to make any kind of peace with the Palestinians."

Canada/Minister Joly meets with Baltic dignitaries
June 5, 2022 – Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, this week welcomed to Canada Eva-Maria Liimets, Estonia’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Latvia’s Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In meetings with the Baltic representatives, Minister Joly discussed the collective effort to strengthen European security and address the humanitarian and economic impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, both immediately and in the long term. Minister Joly emphasized Canada’s commitment to NATO’s presence in the eastern flank, including through Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia, a key assurance and deterrence mission.
Together with the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence, Minister Joly and the Baltic delegations visited CFB Valcartier to meet and thank the Canadian Armed Forces personnel stationed there, many of whom have been or will be deployed to Operation REASSURANCE.
Minister Joly also met with each of the Baltic representatives bilaterally, and discussed the importance of building on more than three decades of restored relations with each of them to further expand cooperation. This conversation continued in Toronto, where Minister Joly and the Baltic delegations met with business leaders across multiple sectors to deepen Canada-Baltic economic ties.
Given the current global context, Minister Joly and the Baltic delegates affirmed that their security relationships are now more important than ever and expressed their desire to build on the already strong transatlantic relationship.

S. Korea, US Fire Ballistic Missiles in Response to N. Korea Tests
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
South Korea and the United States fired eight ballistic missiles on Monday in response to North Korean weapons tests the previous day, Seoul's military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the allies launched the ground-to-ground Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile at targets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, in the early morning, AFP said. The 10-minute volley comes a day after North Korea launched eight short-range ballistic missiles following a South Korea-US joint military exercise involving a US aircraft carrier."Our military strongly condemns the North's series of ballistic missile provocations and sternly urges it to immediately stop acts that raise military tensions on the peninsula," it added. Monday's launches mark the second such joint show of force by the allies under South Korea's hawkish new President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed a tougher stance against Pyongyang. "Our government will respond decisively and sternly to any provocations from North Korea," Yoon said Monday during a speech commemorating Memorial Day. Last month, Seoul and Washington carried out combined launches after Pyongyang fired three ballistic missiles -- including a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile -- in their first such joint move since 2017. Pyongyang has doubled down on upgrading its weapons program, despite facing crippling economic sanctions, with officials and analysts warning that the regime is preparing to carry out a fresh nuclear test.
The regime has carried out a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at full range.

Bangladesh Depot Accused over Blast that Killed at Least 49
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 6 June, 2022
Bangladesh authorities accused a container depot operator Monday of not telling firefighters about a chemical stockpile before it exploded with devastating consequences, killing at least 49 people -- nine of them from the fire service. The toll from the giant blast, which followed a fire at the B.M Container Depot in Sitakunda and sent fireballs into the sky, was expected to rise further, AFP said. Some containers were still smoldering on Monday, more than 36 hours after the explosion, preventing rescuers from checking the area around them for victims. Around a dozen of the 300 injured were in critical condition.
The nine dead firefighters are the worst toll ever for the fire department in the industrial-accident-prone country, where safety standards are lax and corruption often enables them to be ignored. "The depot authority did not inform us that there were deadly chemicals there. Nine of our officers were killed. Two fighters are still missing. Several people are also missing," fire department official Mohammad Kamruzzaman told AFP. Purnachandra Mutsuddi, who led the fire-fighting effort at the 26-acre facility on Saturday night, said it "didn't have any fire safety plan" and lacked firefighting equipment to douse the blaze before it turned into an inferno. "The safety plan lays out how the depot will fight and control a fire. But there was nothing," Mutsuddi, an assistant director of the Chittagong fire station, told AFP. "They also did not inform us about the chemicals. If they did, the casualties would have been much less," he said. The B.M Container Depot in Sitakunda, an industrial town 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Chittagong Port, is a joint venture between Bangladeshi and Dutch businessmen with around 600 employees, and began operations in 2012. Its chairman is named on its website as Bert Pronk, a Dutch citizen, but AFP was unable to reach him for comment. Few European businessmen operate in the country. Local newspapers said another of its owners is a senior official of the ruling Awami League party based in Chittagong, who is also the editor of a local Bengali daily. Police have yet to lay charges over the fire. "Our investigation is going on. We will look into everything," said local police chief Abul Kalam Azad.
'Falling like rain'
Wisps of smoke rose into the bright morning sky from dozens of twenty-foot containers at the depot on Monday. "Some 30-40 containers are still smoldering," said fire department inspector Harunur Rashid. "Fire is under control. But chemicals are main problems."Once the flames are entirely out rescuers will search the area for more victims, he said. Mujibur Rahman, a director of B.M. Container Depot, said the cause of the initial fire remained unknown. The container depot held hydrogen peroxide, according to fire service chief Brigadier General Main Uddin, and witnesses said the entire town shook when the chemicals exploded. "The explosion sent fireballs into the sky," said Mohammad Ali, 60, who runs a nearby grocery store. "Fireballs were falling like rain. "We were so afraid we immediately left our home to find refuge," he added. "We thought the fire would spread to our locality as it is very densely populated." Elias Chowdhury, the chief doctor in Chittagong, said doctors at multiple hospitals had been called back from holidays to help treat the hundreds of injured. Around 90 percent of Bangladesh's roughly 100 billion dollars in trade -- including clothes for H&M, Walmart and others -- passes through the Chittagong port at the top of the Bay of Bengal. Rakibul Alam Chowdhury from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said that about 110 million dollars worth of garments were destroyed in the fire. "It is a huge loss for the industry," he said.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 06-07/2022
SOS: Is The Pentagon Losing the U.S. to China?
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2022
"We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion." — Nicolas Chaillan, former first Chief Software Officer for the Air Force, who resigned in protest over the Pentagon's slow pace of technological development, citing China's fast advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and general capabilities in cybersecurity, Financial Times, October 10, 2021
"By the time the Government manages to produce something, it's too often obsolete." — Preston Dunlap, the Pentagon's first Chief Architect Officer, responsible for promoting technological innovation at the Pentagon, who also resigned, labelling the Pentagon "the world's largest bureaucracy;" The Japan Times, April 19, 2022.
"Our lack of adopting these [commercial innovations] quickly creates an asymmetric disadvantage if our adversaries adopt them more rapidly... These differences are extremely relevant for conflicts we may face in the next decade where our adversaries effectively employ commercial technologies. For example, when U.S. troops were stationed in Iraq, ISIS sent small drones, which can be purchased on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, with grenades to kill American soldiers in Mosul... The DoD must add new capabilities like these in 1-2 years rather than 1-2 decades." — Michael Brown, Director of the Defense Innovation Unit at the Pentagon, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, April 6, 2022.
"[In the PRC and Russia], private companies... work together closely with their militaries to gain experience with new technologies and concepts. From drone swarming to anti-satellite weapons programs, Russia and the PRC have studied our capabilities carefully and are rapidly modernizing its own military capabilities with a priority both on asymmetry designed to neutralize U.S. overmatch and accessing innovations in its commercial sector... Imagine how well our forces will defend against PLA swarms of drones if we have not experimented with this concept," — Michael Brown, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, April 6, 2022.
"The current sequential process lags commercial product cycles and delivers technology several generations behind which would be the equivalent of supplying flip-phones and fax machines to our warfighters today..." — Michael Brown, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, April 6, 2022.
The US Defense Department's current outdated and slow approach to technological innovation could eventually lead China to overtake the US in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and space. Pictured: A showcase of artificial intelligence usages at the 14th China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, China on October 24, 2018.
Last July, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, William J. Burns, said that China is "the single biggest geopolitical challenge that the United States faces far out into the 21st century" and that "the main arena for competition and rivalry with China" is technology.
The Pentagon has been facing massive criticism for being unable properly, if at all, to meet that very technological challenge. "The U.S. government is not prepared to defend the United States in the coming artificial intelligence (AI) era," the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence warned in March 2021, while also saying that China was on its way to become the world's top AI superpower.
In October 2021, a senior cybersecurity official at the Pentagon, Nicolas Chaillan, who was the first Chief Software Officer for the Air Force, resigned in protest over the Pentagon's slow pace of technological development. "We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it's already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion" Chaillan said, citing China's fast advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and general capabilities in cybersecurity. "Whether it takes a war or not is kind of anecdotal."
"I realized pretty quickly, we're very behind in cyber, to a point that it was very scary when it comes to critical infrastructure and the lack of security," Chaillan said in August 2021. "And we see it every day, more and more, and I still don't believe we have any kind of handle on what's going on."
In April, another senior official, Preston Dunlap, the Pentagon's first Chief Architect Officer, responsible for promoting technological innovation at the Pentagon, also resigned. In a nine-page resignation statement, Dunlap made it clear that the Pentagon, which Dunlap labeled "the world's largest bureaucracy", was far behind the American domestic commercial sector in data, distributed computer processing, software, AI and cybersecurity and that it badly needed "structural change."
"By the time the Government manages to produce something, it's too often obsolete," he wrote. "Much more must be done if DoD is going to regrow its thinning technological edge." Additionally, Dunlap pointed out that the Pentagon would have to stop focusing on internal turf wars and "reinventing the wheel" and work together with the private sector.
In this, he echoed Nicolas Chaillan, who also pointed out that the Pentagon suffers from "silo thinking" where different agencies work on the same tasks and do not share information. "We have silos within silos," Chaillan said.
"We have people reinventing the wheel, whether for good reasons or bad reasons, whether it's ego-driven or for little kingdom-building exercises... we need to start having a cohesive cybersecurity and IT capability stack."
Also in April, another outgoing official, David Spirk, the Pentagon's Chief Data Officer, said that the organization would have to accelerate efforts to counter adversaries developing military tools based on modern technologies.
The concerns do not only come from resigning DoD officials but also from high-ranking current officials.
"In an era where the PRC has stolen plans for our exquisite weapons platforms and carefully studied our way of fighting, advances in commercial technology offer a unique opportunity to achieve surprise rapidly," Director of the Defense Innovation Unit at the Pentagon, Michael Brown, said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 6.
"Despite its importance, the Pentagon does not currently have a systematic or effective approach to rapidly access and leverage commercial technologies at scale."
Brown went on to say that 11 of the 14 critical technologies for national security are commercial and that the absence of an effective approach for the military to rapidly adopt commercial technology, such as advanced communications, AI software, small drones, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery and many others, represents a "glaring weakness". There is little difference in those commercial technologies from strictly defense technologies, and the Department of Defense (DoD) needs to "move much faster in assessing and fielding these technologies". The Pentagon, in other words, does not adopt the immense advances made in the commercial sector for the benefit of the military broadly or fast enough and that puts the US at a serious disadvantage compared to adversaries such as China.
"Since DoD does not control the global diffusion of these technologies, our lack of adopting these quickly creates an asymmetric disadvantage if our adversaries adopt them more rapidly," Brown said.
"These differences are extremely relevant for conflicts we may face in the next decade where our adversaries effectively employ commercial technologies. For example, when U.S. troops were stationed in Iraq, ISIS sent small drones, which can be purchased on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, with grenades to kill American soldiers in Mosul... The DoD must add new capabilities like these in 1-2 years rather than 1-2 decades."
Brown delivered more damning testimony, when he detailed how much the DoD lags behind:
"The current sequential process lags commercial product cycles and delivers technology several generations behind which would be the equivalent of supplying flip-phones and fax machines to our warfighters today... While the Pentagon prides itself on following voluminous and well-specified DoD processes, the result is that in commercially advanced technologies such as advanced communications, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cyber and autonomous systems, we will be placing outdated, overpriced technology in the hands of our warfighters... DoD has not yet established a complementary process to the one Secretary McNamara put in place in the 1960s for defense technologies... At DoD, we continue in a 'business as usual' fashion at our peril."
By comparison, Brown made it clear that:
"The PRC and Russia compel their private companies to work together closely with their militaries to gain experience with new technologies and concepts. From drone swarming to anti-satellite weapons programs, Russia and the PRC have studied our capabilities carefully and are rapidly modernizing its own military capabilities with a priority both on asymmetry designed to neutralize U.S. overmatch and accessing innovations in its commercial sector...
"Imagine how well our forces will defend against PLA swarms of drones if we have not experimented with this concept... Imagine if we do not support more non-traditional suppliers of satellites or quantum sensors such that these technologies do not remain competitive in the U.S. and go the way of solar panels or small drones—controlled by the PRC."
There are also concerns about a widespread sense of risk-aversion in the Pentagon. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, also in April, warned that risk-aversion is standing in the way of technological innovation.
"Innovation is slowed down by resistance to technological risk, especially for hypersonic weapon programs, Hicks told Defense Writers Group reporters in Washington, D.C. The United States used to be first class in its approach to innovation, which necessitated a willingness to fail during tests, she said."
China tested its first hypersonic missile last summer. In March, Russia said that it had used a hypersonic missile, known as the Kinzhal, in Ukraine for the first time.
According to Hicks:
"What we see in general is a real resistance to that approach and concern over whether the U.S. investments are making a difference up on Capitol Hill, and so you get curtailment of programs, you get concerns over concurrency""
The current outdated and slow approach to technological innovation could eventually lead China to overtake the US in space, among other areas. NASA, for instance, has spent more than $23 billion to build the single-use Space Launch System (SLS), as a replacement for its Space Shuttle program. Announced back in 2010, the project has been delayed by more than five years so far and is already obsolete, in addition to being, at $4.1 billion per launch, almost prohibitively expensive to deploy. By comparison, China has been advancing in space by copying the commercial space sector, specifically the American one. The Long March 2C rocket that China launched in the summer of 2019 for the first time had parts -- the grid fins -- that were "virtually identical" to those that are used to steer the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A year after that test, according to Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, "China's main space contractor revealed plans to develop the ability to reuse its Long March 8 booster, which is powered by kerosene fuel, the same type of power that fuels SpaceX rockets. By 2025, Chinese officials said, this rocket would be capable of landing on a sea platform, like SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster does.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 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 Liberation of a Continent and the Fall of the Nazi Third Reich
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/June 06/2022
Understanding who we are today as Americans living in a democracy -- because of the sacrifices of those we honor on June 6th -- is a solemn responsibility for every American. Pictured: US Army infantrymen wade ashore at Omaha Beach in France, during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
Understanding who we are today as Americans living in a democracy -- because of the sacrifices of those we honor on June 6th -- is a solemn responsibility for every American. Yet few will acknowledge the date or the solemn obligation.
On that date, June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, confronting Nazi troops that had conquered much of Europe. General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the invasion, reminding his troops, "We will accept nothing less than full victory."
More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end, the Allies had begun to push the Germans back, but some 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded that day.
Pinned down for hours by German fire, brave Allied soldiers recognized what was at stake: literally the liberation of a continent. Confronting unimaginable obstacles, they found the means to push the enemy back, climb the heights overlooking at the beaches, destroy the bunkers that contained heavy cannons and begin the task of defeating the Nazi Third Reich.
Having walked the Normandy beaches with my wife a number of years ago, we were struck by the serenity of its current condition as we quietly reflected on the carnage and courage that was on this same stretch of beach the morning of June 6th, 1944. We would offer silent prayers to the thousands who fell there that day and those now buried not far from where they died.
To their credit, the French have never lost sight of what occurred there. They continue to honor those interred just behind the beaches with a daily flag ceremony at the cemetery that leaves the visitor choked with emotion.
Yet too many Americans will mark June 6th as just another day on the calendar. We have no reason to blame them, however, for our society has not instilled within them an appreciation of our nation's history, the sacrifice of those who have worn the uniform, or the fact that on one dreary morning in June 1944, the world held its breath. It was fate and the indomitable courage of young Americans who determined whether our world would be plunged forever into darkness or be offered the ability to rekindle the spark of freedom.
*Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 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 Battle of Damietta: Saint Louis’ Greatest Victory Over Islam
Raymond Ibrahim/June 06/2022
Today in history, on June 6, Louis IX of France—better known to posterity as Saint Louis—scored a dramatic victory over the Islamic jihad.
It was late May, 1249, and the Seventh Crusade had begun. Louis and his army, which consisted of some twenty-five thousand Crusaders, set sail from Cyprus. Their destination, based on the by now standard Crusader logic that Egypt must be neutralized before Jerusalem could be secured, was the Egyptian port of Damietta.
Considering that Damietta was also the focus of the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221), none of this came as a surprise to Egyptian sultan al-Salih Ayyub. He sent men under Emir Fahreddin to refortify Damietta’s garrison and hold the coast against any Crusader landing. He next sent a message warning Louis to forfend: “No one has ever attacked us without feeling our superiority,” the sultan boasted. “Recollect the conquests we have made from the Christians; we have driven them from the lands they possessed; their strongest towns have fallen under our blows.”
The heart of the Muslim world, the Middle East and North Africa—from Iraq in the east to Morocco in the west—later Turkey, and for centuries Spain and the Balkans, were originally inhabited by and conquered from Christians. Muslims, such as al-Salih Ayyub, were well aware of and enjoyed throwing this fact in the face of Christians.
By June 4, the Christian fleet had anchored on the west bank of the Nile, across from Damietta. Between it and the city, legions of Muslims lined the shore and river bank, where they “made a loud and terrible noise with horns and cymbals.” A council was held in the king’s ship. Although some said to wait for the other ships that had been delayed by a storm, Louis was set on taking the shore now. “Our men,” wrote Gui, one of the knights present, “seeing the lord King’s steadfastness and unwavering resolve, at his bidding made ready…to occupy the shore by force and go on land.” When his counsellors urged him not to join in the initial landing, due to the danger it posed to his person, Louis responded, “I am only one individual whose life, when God wills it, will be snuffed out like any other man’s.”
And so, on today’s date, June 6, 1249, the Crusaders, to a loud battle cry, furiously paddled to shore in smaller boats, and “in accordance with the lord King’s strict and most urgent command, hastily leaped into the sea up to their loins.” Clad in heavy iron and slowly plodding toward the coast, they were met by and fended off a hail of arrows. “Of all the ships, the lord King’s put in first,” continues Gui. “Louis leapt into the water up to his armpits and waded ashore, shield round neck, helm on head, and sword in hand.” Jean de Joinville (1224–1317), a close friend of Louis who participated in the Crusade, continues: “So soon as they [Muslims] saw us land, they came toward us, hotly spurring. We, when we saw them coming, fixed the points of our shields into the sand and the handles of our lances in the sand with the points set towards them.” Confronted by this massive spike-studded shield wall, and seeing “the lances about to enter into their bellies,” the Muslims “turned about and fled”—all except one, who, thinking his comrades were charging behind him, was instantly “cut down.”
Thereafter, the Crusaders “fell manfully upon the enemies of the Cross like strong athletes of the Lord,” writes Gui: “The armed Saracens, stationed mounted on the shore, disputed the land with us…maintaining a dense fire of javelins and arrows against our men. And yet our men… pushed on and set foot on the land despite the Saracens.” The more the Muslims gave way, the more the Christians advanced onto dry ground. Before long, horses had been ferried over and mounted, leading to heavy, splashy cavalry charges, all under the cover of missile fire from the Christian fleet. Terrified by such daring, the Muslims tucked tail and ran.
Rather than falling back on and holding Damietta, Emir Fahreddin entirely fled the scene. On seeing this ignominious retreat, and not wanting to face, in the words of Muslim chroniclers, “the fury of the Christians,” the garrison in Damietta, followed by its entire citizenry, fled the city under the cover of night in great disorder and panic—“barefoot and unclad, hungry and thirsty, in poverty and disarray, women and children”—though not before cutting the throats or “dashing out the brains” of most of their Christian prisoners, many of whom were captured during the Fifth Crusade.
A few escaped captives and slaves intercepted the Crusaders on their march to Damietta, which they were astonished to find completely deserted. On the morning following this spectacular start to his Crusade, Louis and his men went to Damietta’s chief mosque. “Here, three days earlier,” a shocked Gui wrote, “the prisoners categorically assured us, the most filthy Mahomet had been glorified with abominable sacrifices, cries from on high, and the blast of trumpets.” But because the mosque was formerly a church—“where [Coptic] Christians long ago had been in the habit of celebrating Mass and ringing their bells”—the king had the mosque purified with holy water and, “once it had been utterly purged of the pagans’ filth,” celebrated mass there. In this manner, and as Louis’s mother, Blanche, wrote to Henry III, “the site of the mosque, which some time ago—when the city was previously captured [by Muslims in the seventh century]—was the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was reconciled and thanks were given there to God Most High.”
As these accounts make clear, thirteenth century Europeans were not oblivious to the fact that all of the Near East and North Africa—not just Jerusalem—were originally part of Christendom. This comes out especially in the Crusaders’ talk concerning Egypt. For example, the foundation charter for the re-consecration of this church-turned-mosque-turned-church again, dated November 1249, makes the following assertions: “after this country [Egypt] is liberated from the hands of the infidels” and “when this land is liberated.” Similarly, Guillaume de Sonnac, the Grand Master of the Templars, wrote about how “the Lord King plans…to return the entire country [of Egypt] to Christian worship.”
Lofty aspirations to be sure. At any rate, it was an amazing start to the Seventh Crusade.
*This article was abstracted from Raymond Ibrahim’s new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam (which includes a chapter on Louis IX, or Saint Louis).

When the Myth of the Clash of Civilizations Collapses in Kyiv
Mohammed al-Haddad/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
A lot is being said about the war between Ukraine and Russia: its facts, motives, and implications for the world. This article does not delve into these matters, nor does it present a projection regarding its outcomes. Instead, it asks, far away from the loudness of war though not separate from it, how will this war affect human culture, regardless of its potential conclusions, militarily and politically? It seems the answer is as follows: The myth of a “clash of civilizations” has collapsed. This myth has been shaping global culture for more than a quarter of a century, especially since 1996, the date of publication of the book by American political scientist Samuel Huntington, who used this phrase as his title. This myth has been embedded in all cultures. The dominant powers saw in it justification for their dominance when it supposed that the “other” was malevolent, seeking its downfall (this was one of Huntington’s theories). And the dominated world saw in it a justification for rejecting reform, arguing that it is an alien demand aimed at solidifying that hegemony.
The great Arab philosopher Mohammed Abed al-Jabri responded to the theory of the “clash of civilizations” in a book titled “Criticizing the Need for Reform” (2005). Among his more prominent arguments is the need to abandon the notion of “reform” because it is a Western demand. We are still embroiled in this debate for more than a quarter of a century; neither are we reforming nor are we overcoming others’ hegemony, nor will the other reform us nor remove its influence on us.
The “clash of civilizations” thesis was not broadly adopted because of the strength of its arguments, the clarity of its concepts, and the depth of its implications. Rather, it was popular because of major events that it seemed to have predicted before they occurred. It provided the simplest explanation for these developments, the most prominent of which is what was called the second and third Gulf War, i.e., the US interventions in Iraq between 1990 and 2003. Writing about this matter, the Arab philosopher Mahdi Elmandjra, in The First Civilization War, predicts the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein along the exact same lines that some have interpreted Putin’s war in Ukraine. He saw it as a defensive act and the invasion and the West’s reaction as the beginning of a new phase, one of “disobedience,” referring to the myth of a clash of civilizations and using it against the dominant party.
However, the clash of civilizations is nothing but a myth that can be used by both the dominant and dominated party. It was not necessary for Arab thinkers to busy themselves with building their ideas on the basis of that myth or for Huntington’s book to be translated into Arab several times while other, more important modern works have yet to be translated. Arab thinkers did not have to choose between Huntington’s clash of civilizations hypothesis and that of the End of History and the Last Man, which Francis Fokoyama published years ago and is also a myth.
And in any case, this ongoing war in Ukraine has disproved the clash of civilizations hypothesis for all to see. It is a war between two neighbors who share the same religion; indeed, not only are they both Christian, they are also both Orthodox. Moreover, they share the same (Russian) culture and history (Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is the historic capital of the Russian nation and its first empire), the countries’ borders used to be open, and millions of Russians used to vacation in Ukraine. Despite all of that, war nonetheless broke out. Like the second Gulf war, which began with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, two countries that also share the same civilization, this is not a clash of civilizations.
The question here is not why the war in Ukraine broke out. That question implies political analysis, but everyone listening to the long speech given by the Russian President hours before the war, in which he justified it, noticed that it is rooted in the distant past. There is no reference to any clash between civilizations or even the Cold War, though the Soviet period was violently criticized. His rhetoric is that of the conflicts nineteen century and the first half of the twentieth century, when it was normal to justify wars with questions of strategic depth and national security. That is how wars were justified at that time, including the First and Second World Wars. These wars reached an unimaginably horrific scale with Nazism, and the justifications of old seemed a thing of the past because of how heavily the impact of these conflicts on our conscience.
In the final analysis, why do wars break out? Firstly, for interests. The Cold War was not a clash between imperialism and socialism like Lenin wanted it to be. Instead, it was fought between an imperial project led by the US and another led by the USSR. It propelled a confrontation between new geo-economic poles, with Russia the weaker of the two because its economy remained dependent on the export of raw materials. Thus, it took the initiative in starting wars because it could not continue to compete economically. As for the West, which pays lip service to democracy, pluralism, and acceptance of difference, it is once again reaffirming that it does not tolerate seeing a power outside the global economy and does not share its view of how the world should operate.
Second to furthering interests, we have ideology. Certain cultural traits could be catalysts for war or used as a pretext to perpetuate even after interests are not realized. We can classify religious wars within this category, and the same could be said of the conflict between the Arabs and Israel, which continues despite the parties not furthering any interests through it.
And on this basis, the clash of civilizations theory is not a useful analytical tool. It does not help explain the new world order, which has nothing new about it to begin with. The Ukraine war has made this uselessness all the more evident. As for the relationship between wars and interest, the two influence one another; theirs is a “dialectical” relationship, as Marx put it. Neither are interests merely the fodder of a clash of civilizations, as Huntington believed nor is culture a pretext for furthering interests as Marxism claims. A particular cultural conviction can intersect with a particular interest, and the same conviction can intersect with a different or contradictory interest. Therefore, no culture can be associated with class or nation’s interests, nor can any class or national produce a culture of its own.
In the end, no hypothesis can provide a comprehensive explanation; neither the holy wars hypothesis, the imperialism hypothesis or the clash of civilizations hypothesis. Every historical case has its particularities. As for the anthropology of war, it is the anthropology of man’s relationship with violence or violence in man. Man is, of course, civil, and of course, violent as well. The clash between violence and civilization dates back to the Stone Age, as no one can know for sure whether the first men sharpened the stones to build dwellings, enjoy the beauty of their shape, or kill their rivals. But they undoubtedly declared, with this obscurity surrounding their intentions, the emergence of civilization, which is a mixture of all that.

Lavrov's Visit to Turkey Shows that Ukraine and Syria Are Tied
Omer Onhon/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov continues his diplomatic rounds in and beyond the region. Recently, he met with foreign ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as Russia regards the stance of Arab countries, in general, as balanced.
Lavrov is going to visit Turkey on June 8. There are a number of items to be discussed including Ukraine and Syria, which are at the top of the agenda.
In fact these issues are somehow connected now.
The war in Ukraine continues with some Russian advances and fierce resistance from the Ukrainians. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview that they will continue to fight but that an end to the war can only be reached at the negotiating table. That statement is correct and gives hope, but both sides aim to take their seat at the table as the side with a stronger hand.
One of the foremost issues related to the war in Ukraine is the food crisis. Even though there are different statistics, it is a fact that grain from Ukraine and Russia make up an important portion of grain supplies in the world. Many countries, especially in the Middle East and Africa, have been suffering the consequences of shortage of grain supplies.
Millions of tons of grain are waiting in silos in Ukraine. They can not be exported because of Russia’s blockade and security conditions, including the mines laid in the Black Sea.
Efforts are underway to work out a plan or a mechanism which would allow the Ukrainian grain to be exported. The aim is to open a safe corridor where grain could be loaded onto ships and then transported to their destinations without becoming a target.
There are quite a number of issues to deal with including payment methods. Then, there is the problem of trust. Ukrainians are concerned that Russia may use this as something to use in order to capture Odesa.
As one of the Black Sea countries and as the one who has the control of the Straits (the Turkish Straits), Turkey is in the picture and its foreign minister told the press last week that Turkey has been talking to Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations to facilitate efforts to move the grain out of Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued last Friday that the food crisis was artificial. He said the grain in question could be exported through Belarus but added that in order to be able to do this, sanctions against Belarus would have to be lifted. Belarus' President Aleksandr Lukashenko made a statement to the same effect.
It is difficult to say how these thoughts of Putin fit into the aforementioned efforts of the UN to come up with a plan to deal with the problem.
Sanctions are hurting Russia. But Putin is not giving in and is trying to reverse the situation with various tactics. Russia aims to make or at least make the other side feel that sanctions are self-defeating, He aims to create tensions among the opposite camp.
The EU’s difficulties in imposing sanctions against oil imports from Russia, Hungary’s opposition and the exemption can be regarded within this framework.
Syria will be another issue that will be on the table during Lavrov’s visit to Turkey.
Turkey’s president stated that terror organizations on the other side of the border in northern Syria pose a threat and Turkey aims to cleanse these areas. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has even specified the targets: Tal Rıfaat and Manbij. That is not something which is usual, as it gives the enemy warning and time to prepare. The areas in question are leftovers from operations which were carried out in past years. These areas are under the control of People's Protection Units (YPG).
The Russians, Americans, Iranians and Assad regime forces are “in, around and in the vicinity” of these areas. In Syria, Russia has military bases and an unknown number (estimated at around 30-40,000) of military personnel, including Chechens, mostly functioning as military police, and the Wagner mercenaries.
As I pointed out before, Russians may be re-positioning in Syria, or re-locating some troops and hardware to Ukraine, but they are certainly not abandoning or withdrawing. Syria has become very important for Russia and unless something very dramatic happens, Russia will continue to remain in this country in one form or another. Where Russia is re-locating from, Iran and allied militias are moving in. They are not occupying or grabbing, but moving in within the framework of understandings or agreements between the two countries in question and the Assad regime.
In the bigger picture, Iran continues to pursue a policy of influence and expansion throughout the region through various means, with the objection of several countries.
In the coming days or weeks, some sort of Turkish operation directed at the YPG looks inevitable. There are those who argue that the operation will be comprehensive and others foresee one of limited scope operation in places that are much less likely to cause any tension with other international forces deployed there. We must point to two notes: The fact that Russia still controls the airspace in Syria is something that cannot be overlooked; and that a Turkish operation, which would lead to a fresh tensions among NATO allies, would be very welcomed by Russia.
Against this background and the availability of a variety of issues which can be up for negotiations, Lavrov's visit will be interesting to follow.

Fear Returns to the Old Continent
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/June 06/2022
A journalist sometimes falls in love with a city he visits in search of a story or to carry out an interview or write a report. Perhaps this love stems from the sense that the city sleeps on ageless poems, melodies and art. Or perhaps because they are heirs to a raucous history that has left deep wounds in its spirit.
Traveling the world, I was taken by Baghdad and Paris. History is the greatest and harshest teacher. Wrong are those who do not learn from it, whether they are rulers, the opposition or journalists.
I love Baghdad regardless of who is ruling it or what system governs it. It boasts a rich history and the pride of Al-Mutanabbi and Al-Jawahiri. I love Paris because its streets boast the names of poets and writers who, more than generals, helped shape its crown
The difference between the two cities is that when night sets on the Tigris, I sense the fear of coming days that is absent in Paris, which pretends to have completed its wars and left behind the days of bloodshed.
Envy is a bad feeling but it is natural among the people of the terrible Middle East. I used to feel it when I slept in Vienna, Paris or Berlin. I envied these cities that never thought to prepare their armies for a possible invasion or to prepare themselves for impending civil war. I used to ask myself: "When will the capitals in our region shake off the fear of the outside and the inside?"
We used to say that we are a generation of lucky journalists. We witnessed the end of an empire, without the eruption of a major war. We witnessed successive technological and media revolutions. We listened as Mao Zedong's heir defended the benefits of capitalism at Davos. We watched as products and capital made their way throughout the "global village". We see governments that are preoccupied with the environment and global warming. But the generation that thought itself lucky in wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall may yet witness a world that goes back to darkness and turn to missiles, drones and tanks. It is evident that the clever and wounded Vladimir Putin has started to write a Russian novel that is more dangerous than those written by his predecessors.
A little over a hundred days ago, Putin dealt a painful blow to the post-Wall world. He has allowed alarm to creep back into European capitals that were hesitant about increasing their defense spending, as if they believed that the time of armies and general was over.
It is not odd for Poland to panic. History hasn't been kind to it. Foreign invaders have eaten up its map several times. The Russian war has reawakened old demands. It fears that the Ukrainian feast will not be enough to satiate the czar, who is waging the greatest coup since the suicide of the Soviet Union.
The same fear has pushed Sweden and Finland to abandon neutrality, reservations and hesitation to join NATO to protect themselves against the Russian army.
Stable and confident Germany used to welcome refugees from sick and sad countries. Days ago in Berlin I sensed Germany's fear that was translated into dedicating a massive budget to bolstering military capabilities that it thought it would not need.
When Germany becomes frightened, then Russia must take the situation seriously. This economically strong country has the ability to form a powerful army. The powerful Germany will return old envies and fears to Europe even though is committed to its democratic choices. When the first shots were fired in the Russian war on Ukraine, Europe woke up to a new scene that almost made it forget its celebration of the fall of the notorious Wall. Fear has returned to the continent. As the war dragged on, it seemed that Europe, including France, would pay a hefty price for the conflict that would exceed the rise in costs of gas, oil and grain.
France spent decades befriending the US in NATO. The American shadow looming large over the continent bothers it and it is uncertain over Washington's long-term commitment to defend the "Old Continent". European countries have no choice but to increase their defense spending and shoulder the impending economic crisis. Europe has no choice but to extend its stay under the wing of the American general. Putin has re-pushed the European continent into the American lap. Only Joe Biden's country has the massive abilities that can alter the course of the major coup that was launched by Putin.
The master of the Elysee is trying to promote the idea of refraining from humiliating Russia. But as it stands, it appears as though Putin is seeking a victory for his coup, not a way out from it. Sitting under the American wing also means going along with Washington's stance on Taiwan. Any further tensions with China would likely lead to a major economic catastrophe.
Visiting Paris, I had to discuss some issues from Middle East and of course, Ukraine was the main topic at hand. I sat down with a former foreign minister who served in his post for nearly a decade. He believes that the West mishandled Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It did not realize how much Ukraine means to Putin, both in history and geography. The former FM said the ruler sometimes feels that the fate of his country is tied to another. I paused at this. It reminded me of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, whom the minister had met dozens of times. He said Assad believed that Syria would remain isolated and surrounded if Lebanon sailed off in a different direction or strayed too far away from it. That is why Assad was obsessed with Lebanon as a negotiations card with the West and regional countries. If you go back in history, you'll realize that Russia and Ukraine are more historically interconnected that Lebanon is with Syria. It is a completely new stage. It is no simple feat for fear to visit European capitals and reserve a long-term stay. The world has indeed changed.

Why Russian superyachts found safe harbour in Turkish ports
Alexandra de Cramer/The Arab Weekly/June 06/2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted an international hunt for superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs. In a bid to punish those close to President Vladimir Putin, governments everywhere are seizing vessels and preventing them from leaving port.
Everywhere, that is, except in Turkey.
Oligarchs with foresight have swiftly moved their luxury toys to the sanction-free Turkish Riviera. Roman Abramovich, a businessman with ties to Putin, was one of the first to do so. Abramovich’s 140 metre-long superyacht, My Solaris, entered the port city of Bodrum at the end of March. Eclipse, his 162.5 metre yacht, the second largest superyacht in the world with two swimming pools, 18 guest cabins and a helicopter deck, docked in Marmaris a few weeks later. Clio, the 73 metre vessel owned by the founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal, Oleg Deripaska, arrived off the coast of Gocek in mid-April. And the $400 million Flying Fox has been moored in Bodrum since May.
Hosting Russian billionaires is consistent with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regional strategy. His foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, recently commented that “Russian oligarchs could do business in Turkey as long as it was not against international law.” It is Erdogan’s special relationship with Putin that allowed Turkey to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine back in March. Keeping ports open for Russian superyachts as the Mediterranean season kicks off is undisputedly a smart move for local economies.
But there is an even more pragmatic reason for Turkey to let the yachts sail: seize and freeze campaigns are time-consuming, legally complicated, and potentially costly.
The reality is that countries cannot simply take ownership of private property. Even when assets are frozen, oligarchs retain ownership until a court has proven that they were used to commit a crime or harbour illegal activity. As laws vary by country, it is likely that these proceedings will take years. How courts might tie oligarchs’ vessels to a crime is unclear. Super yachts are typically owned and managed by third parties; such is the case for Scheherazade, which carries a Cayman Island flag, is managed by Imperial Yachts out of Monaco and its owner is undisclosed.
Most seized yachts are a financial drain on the country doing the seizing, as it is rarely decided beforehand who will pay docking fees, insurance payments and other expenditures. La Ciotat Shipyards, where Russian state oil company Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin’s Amore Vero is held captive, does not even know where to send its invoices. French authorities have passed on the responsibility to the ship owner, yet nobody has reimbursed the shipyard.
It seems like the outburst of excitement at having captured these superyachts will surpass the reality of the situation of what to do with them. Why, then, make such a show of seizing the luxury toys in the first place?
Forcibly taking oligarchs’ property is an aggressive means of sanctions implementation. In 2021, Russia’s uber-rich owned nine percent of the world’s superyachts and squeezing the wealthy has been heralded as one way to force Putin’s hand in Ukraine. The only problem is it does not seem to be working. For months yachts and other luxury properties have been seized in Britain, France, Italy, Fiji and beyond and yet, Russia’s brutal campaign in Ukraine continues.
Personally, I have a problem with superyachts in general and would not mind seeing all of them idled. For one, they are highly polluting and owning one in an era where the world is on fire should be outlawed internationally. A superyacht’s carbon footprint averages 7,020 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Abramovich’s superyachts produced 22,440 tons of CO2 in 2018 and was responsible for two-thirds of the oil and gas mogul’s carbon footprint that year, according to an estimate by Forbes.
Yachts are also the epitome of economic inequality. While most of us labour in a figurative raft, the world’s ultra-rich snub their noses from the decks of actual floating cities. To think that the pandemic prompted an increase of 75 percent in superyacht sales is alarming. The newest captain is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is set to receive the biggest private yacht ever built. As tall as a 13-story building it will require the city of Rotterdam to dismantle a historic bridge for it to pass into international waters.
In the end, Turkey’s approach may prove prescient. The complications of seizing a yacht are manifold, the costs excessive. While owning a multi-million-dollar toy is environmentally and socially dubious, commandeering them to change Putin’s behaviour is a policy that is clearly sinking.
**Alexandra de Cramer is a journalist based in Istanbul. She reported on the Arab Spring from Beirut as a Middle East correspondent for Milliyet newspaper. Her work ranges from current affairs to culture and has been featured in Monocle, Courier Magazine, Maison Francaise and Istanbul Art News.

How Iran’s malign proxies are tearing a nation apart
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/June 06, 2022
The Iran-backed Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary movement has adopted a “divide-and-conquer strategy” in its efforts to dominate Iraq’s ethnically diverse Nineveh province.
A new report by the International Crisis Group also warns that the activities of these Iranian proxies risk triggering a regional war with Turkey, with tensions further exacerbated by Ankara’s proposed new military incursion into northern Syria.
As Daesh was pushed out of this ethnically complex region between 2015 and 2017, the Hashd backed a confusing range of local militias, pushing civil tensions to breaking point. Every conceivable local sect and ethnicity — Yazidi, Shabak, Shiite Turkmen, Sunni, Kurd, and Assyrian and Chaldean Christian — now has their own Hashd faction, who in turn have preyed upon local populations while competing to monopolize the local economy and cross-border smuggling trade.
A wider regionalized power play is at work. Turkey has sought to cultivate ties with the Kurdish Democratic Party in Iraqi Kurdistan, while trying to eliminate the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, and its Iraqi affiliate the Sinjar Resistance Units. The Hashd have even brought segments of the latter on to their payroll as the “80th battalion,” while Hashd factions have staged provocative attacks against Turkish military positions in northern Iraq. Turkey has meanwhile assassinated Hashd-affiliated Kurdish personnel, including 80th battalion commanders.
This is a deeply traumatized region. When Daesh unleashed its genocidal campaign in 2014, minorities suffered the worst fates imaginable. Yazidi men were slaughtered en masse. Women were captured for sexual slavery and brutal servitude. While enslaved women have sometimes been received back into communities, they were often forced to take the inconceivable step of leaving behind children from forced marriages to Daesh members.
Such devastating traumas require generations to alleviate. Each time I meet the Yazidi activist and Nobel peace laureate Nadia Murad, I am struck by her oceanic, sad eyes, which eloquently speak of unimaginably shattering experiences that will cling to her for ever.
Many Nineveh communities initially viewed the Hashd as their saviors for their role in liberating these territories. However, citizens have come to bitterly recognize that the Hashd’s divide-and-conquer agenda serves only Iran. Likewise, Shiite communities in southern Iraq have increasingly turned against this predatory movement, which exists under the pretext of defending them.
Iran manipulates confessional identities for its own ends: “Christian” militias stage ceremonies to venerate Shiite imams, while Shiite populations were mustered to vote for pro-Hashd politicians to occupy parliamentary seats reserved for minority groups. An Iran-funded school in the Christian district of Bartella was even named after Imam Khomeini! The mind boggles as to what ideological agendas such institutions indoctrinate children with.
There has been fierce rivalry among smaller minority militias to get themselves included on the Hashd payroll, financed at the expense of the Iraqi state. This creates a dangerous dynamic whereby these groups struggle to outdo each other in advancing Iran’s aggressively expansive agenda. Hashd-aligned militias have reaped millions of dollars from illegal checkpoints and extorting “protection money” from local businesses.
Impoverished Christian and Yazidi farming communities have been dispossessed of their lands. Mosul is awash with Hashd economic offices, as rival factions compete to dominate every conceivable sector of the local economy and monopolize reconstruction funds.
To counter this blatant corruption, successive Iraqi prime ministers sought to have the worst-offending militias relocated. However, these factions defied orders from Baghdad, mustered supporters to cause chaos, and secured high-profile backers such as the Iranian ambassador and Hashd leadership figures to fight their cause.
Efforts by Hashd factions to permanently entrench themselves at a local level throughout Iraq come at a time when these groups are fighting tooth and nail to mitigate the consequences of their shattering election losses in October last year. These parasitic entities believe they can’t be ousted if they dominate all levels of society. They hope to compel rival parties to grant them Cabinet seats and allow their retention of powerful positions throughout Iraq’s governing system.
When Hezbollah wields the means to drag Lebanon into war with Israel, or the Hashd controls large segments of the Iraqi economy, there is little hope for the survival of these states as coherent nations.
As with Hezbollah in Lebanon, these groups’ control of key border points allows them to exert a stranglehold on the Iraqi governing system, while dominating regional trade and preventing customs revenues from reaching the state purse.
The wider region is awash in weapons, drugs, laundered funds and counterfeit goods peddled by these militants. Assad mafiosi, Hezbollah and the Hashd collude to drown Jordan, the GCC and other Arab states in tons of narcotics. What the world fails to acknowledge is that these are not scattered, miscellaneous activities but part of a wider strategy by Iran and its proxies to dominate the region and cause rival states to dissolve into civil chaos.
Arab states consequently must respond at the highest levels with a holistic and ambitious strategy for countering this regionwide threat. They must ensure that outcomes of elections in Iraq and Lebanon are respected and government institutions are given the necessary capabilities to extend their powers throughout these nations, so that out-of-control paramilitary factions can’t dominate the resulting vacuum. The Iraqi government meanwhile must crack down against programs of cultural, social and ideological brainwashing perpetrated by these paramilitary forces.
Nations cannot be truly sovereign if they do not monopolize the use of force throughout their territories. When Hezbollah wields the means to drag Lebanon into war with Israel, or the Hashd controls large segments of the Iraqi economy, there is little hope for the survival of these states as coherent nations.
Furious local-level tensions between Nineveh’s complex patchwork of ethnicities and sects are replicated at the national level as Tehran plays Sunni, Kurdish and Shiite factions off against each other.
It little bothers Iran that the ripping apart of Iraq’s social fabric and the undermining of its democratic institutions will surely at some point tip the country back into civil conflict and state collapse.
Indeed, Tehran may even be banking on this ruinous outcome, in the belief that such chaos could be exploited to enable its proxies to permanently erase the Arab identity of these shattered states, and establish its supremacy over the rubble that remains.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.