English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 11/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant: You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on
your fellow servant just as I had on you
Matthew 18/23-35/ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to
seven times?”Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven
times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle
accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten
thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the
master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold
to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be
patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s
master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.“But when that servant
went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver
coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he
demanded.“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with
me, and I will pay it back.’“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the
man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw
what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything
that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’
he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t
you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his
master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back
all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you
forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on March 10-11/2022
STL Reverses Acquittals of Merhi and Oneissi in Hariri Case
Aoun: Lebanon Committed to Timely Elections, Resolution 1701
Govt. Drops Megacenters Plan, Names New Information Minister, State Security
Chiefs
Hizbullah Bloc Backs Megacenters, Urges Elections on Time
Hariri Slams Hizbullah after STL Reverses Acquittals of Merhi and Oneissi
Miqati Urges U.N. to Discuss Lebanese Crisis in Security Council Talks
Judge Aoun Slaps Travel Bans on Chairmen of 5 Lebanese Banks
Report: Possibility of Elections Postponement More Than 65%
Fears Mount Over Iran’s Use Of Lebanon Front To Respond To Israeli Raid In Syria
France to Donate Buses to Lebanon in Integrated Transport Plan
WHO, UNICEF Hand over Reconstructed Central Drug Warehouse to MOPH
Americans in Japanese Prison in Ghosn Escape Seek to Go Home
Lebanon: Government to Start Disbursing Social Aid Next Week
Closed for Decades, Theater Returns to Lebanon's Tripoli
Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad: We Would Rather Leave Natural Gas Underwater Than
Share It With Israel, Even If It Could Pay Our Debts
Lebanese TV Show Claims Jews, Israelis Control The Media: This Enemy Infiltrates
Our Culture, Societies, And Systems Of Morality
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on March 10-11/2022
Iran Vows to Avenge the Death of 2 IRGC Members in Syria
Iran Rejects Curbs on its Defensive Power, Regional Presence
Iran Nuclear Talks Stumble Over Russian Demands
Iran Says Lack of US Decision on Nuclear Deal Complicates Talks
US National Intelligence: Iran Poses Major Threat to US Security
US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran and Iraq Jennifer Gavito: Washington
Committed to Defending Saudi Arabia, Confronting Iranian Threat
No Breakthrough in Russia-Ukraine Talks amid Fury over Hospital Strike
Experts Says Russia Tactics in Ukraine War Mirror Syria Testing Ground
Attack on Ukrainian Hospital Draws Outrage as Talks Stall
U.S. VP Harris Embraces Call for War Crimes Probe of Russia
From 'Puppets' to Players: Ukraine War Reveals Shift for U.S.' Gulf Allies
Israeli President Ends Turkey Trip with Synagogue Visit
Trump-Era Israeli Settlement Growth Proceeds in His Absence
Battleground Ukraine: Day 15 of Russia's Invasion
Islamic State Names New Leader, Confirms Death of Predecessor
S. Korea's President-Elect Wants Tougher Stance on N. Korea
Titles For The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on March 10-11/2022
Europe’s Future is Our Present/Hussam Itani/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
The Goal is Not to Save Ukraine/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
Russia’s Brain Drain Will Be Hard for Putin to Stop/Stephen Mihm/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
Palestinians: US Weakness Facilitates the Rise of Jihad and Fundamentalism/Khaled
Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/March 10, 2022
on March 10-11/2022
STL Reverses Acquittals of Merhi and Oneissi in Hariri
Case
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
The Appeals Chamber of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Thursday
reversed the acquittals of Hizbullah operatives Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi,
convicting them of all charges against them and issuing arrest warrants for
them. "The chamber has unanimously decided to reverse the acquittals of Misters
Merhi and Oneissi. We unanimously find Mr Merhi and Oneissi guilty," presiding
judge Ivana Hrdlickova said. "The evidence shows a significant number of
exchanges between the (third) mobile phone and both Misters Merhi and Oneissi in
the hours following the assassination of Mr Hariri," Hrdlickova added.
"Telecommunication evidence shows that Misters Merhi and Oneissi...
simultaneously discarded their phones after the attack," she said. It had been
established "beyond reasonable doubt" that Merhi "knowingly and willingly
entered into an agreement to participate in the commission of a terrorist act,
namely the assassination of Mr Hariri by means of an explosive device," the
judge added. Moreover, Merhi could have foreseen that in attacking Hariri in
such a public place "other people could have died." Similarly, Oneissi too
"knowingly and willingly" agreed to participate "in the commission of a
terrorist act," said Hrdlickova. Appeals judges at the Netherlands-based court
said trial judges "erred" in 2020 by acquitting the two men, together with a
third, in finding that there was a lack of evidence. The Appeals Chamber will
now proceed with sentencing proceedings in relation to Merhi and Oneissi.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the STL said the convictions of Merhi and
Oneissi “resulted from the Prosecutor’s successful appeal against findings by
the Trial Chamber,” adding that both men “played a significant role immediately
after the attack to shield the perpetrators from justice.”
“Shortly after the attack, Merhi and Oneissi participated in the distribution of
a video in which a fictitious group falsely claimed responsibility for the
attack and ensured that the video would be collected and broadcast on Al-Jazeera
television within hours of the attack,” the OTP said.
“The acts for which they have been convicted were callous and manipulative,
designed not only to shield the real perpetrators from justice but to deceive
the Lebanese people,” stated STL Prosecutor Norman Farrell “But accountability
does not end with their conviction. Merhi and Oneissi, along with their
co-conspirator Salim Ayyash remain fugitives. Justice demands that they be
arrested,” added the Prosecutor. In addition to convicting Merhi and Oneissi,
the Appeals Chamber concluded that a network of phones, labelled by the
Prosecution as the “Green Network”, was used to coordinate the attack.
“Despite the sophisticated efforts by the perpetrators to conceal what took
place in Lebanon on 14 February 2005, their role and participation were revealed
through a complex investigation using technical data showing their use of
telephone networks to coordinate and carry out the attack,” the Prosecutor said.
“This result would not have been reached without the efforts of courageous
witnesses, including the victims. It is hoped that this judicial process and
outcome will contribute to the strengthening of accountability as well as the
role of international justice. I wish to thank my Deputy, and my team in The
Hague and in Beirut for their excellent work and dedication,” the Prosecutor
added. The STL had in August 2020 convicted Hizbullah member Salim Ayyash of
involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as
it acquitted Merhi, Oneissi and Assad Sabra. The STL said back then that Ayyash
was guilty as a co-conspirator of five charges linked to his involvement in the
suicide truck bombing. Hariri and 21 others were killed and 226 were wounded in
a huge blast outside a seaside hotel in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. The tribunal's
2020 verdict was met with anger and disappointment in parts of Lebanon after
judges said there was no evidence that Hizbullah's leadership and Syria were
involved in the attack, despite saying the assassination happened as Hariri and
his political allies were discussing calling for Syria to withdraw its forces
from Lebanon. Prosecutors based their case largely on data from mobile phones
allegedly used by the plotters to plan and execute the bombing. During the
trial, which started in 2014 and spanned 415 days of hearings, the tribunal in
Leidschendam, near The Hague, heard evidence from 297 witnesses. Initially, five
suspects were tried, all of them Hizbullah members. Charges against one of the
group's top military commanders, Mustafa Badreddine, were dropped after he was
killed in Syria in 2016. The court said in 2020 it could not prove that
Badreddine was the mastermind behind the assassination. Hizbullah has vowed not
to hand over any suspects. The Iran-backed also denies involvement and claims
that the case is an Israeli plot to tarnish the group. The Special Tribunal is
expected to close after the appeals phase because of a cash shortage, with a
further case against Ayyash over attacks on several politicians likely to go
unheard.
Aoun: Lebanon Committed to Timely Elections, Resolution
1701
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
President Michel Aoun on Thursday stressed to U.N. Special Coordinator for
Lebanon Joanna Wronecka that Lebanon is committed to holding the parliamentary
elections on time. “Lebanon is committed to working for holding the
parliamentary election on time on May 15 and to continuing the negotiations with
the International Monetary Fund to approve the economic and financial recovery
plan,” Aoun told Wronecka. He also emphasized that Lebanon is abiding by U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1701 and will continue to support the work of the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Wronecka visited Aoun to put him in the picture of the briefing that she intends
to present to the U.N. Security Council on March 17 over the situations in
Lebanon and the implementation of UNSCR 1701. According to the National News
Agency, the U.N. official expressed her relief over the support she has received
from Aoun in her work as Special Coordinator for Lebanon.
Govt. Drops Megacenters Plan, Names New Information
Minister, State Security Chiefs
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Cabinet agreed Thursday to drop a controversial plan for setting up voting
megacenters for the May 15 parliamentary polls, as it took note of the
appointment of Ziad Makari of the Marada Movement as a successor to resigned
information minister George Kordahi.The conferees, however, agreed that it is
necessary to implement the megacenters plan in the 2026 elections. MTV meanwhile
reported that Sport and Youth Minister George Kallas rejected during the session
that he be allotted the information portfolio, which led to naming Makari as
information and not sport minister as initially planned. Separately, Cabinet
approved the appointment of Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba as a civilian head of the
State Security directorate and named Brig. Gen. Hassan Shqeir as his deputy.
Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine meanwhile walked out of the session
after Cabinet refused his request to re-discuss the issue of Syrian refugees.
Hizbullah Bloc Backs Megacenters, Urges Elections on
Time
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Thursday stressed the need to hold the
May 15 parliamentary elections on time, while stressing that the voting
megacenters plan is a “required and landmark step.”In a statement issued after
its weekly meeting, the bloc said it “categorically rejects any postponement of
the parliamentary elections under any excuse.”“The adoption of megacenters is a
required and landmark step that should be taken in this electoral round, on the
basis of holding the elections on time,” the bloc added. The bloc also said that
it “strongly opposes” the official Lebanese stance on the Russia-Ukraine
conflict, noting that “the Lebanese Foreign Ministry statement and the vote
against Russia at the U.N. General Assembly harm Lebanon and its interests and
do not reflect the true stance of the Lebanese people.”
Hariri Slams Hizbullah after STL Reverses Acquittals of
Merhi and Oneissi
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Ex-PM Saad Hariri on Thursday lashed out at Hizbullah for “protecting the
criminals,” after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon reversed the acquittals of
Hizbullah operatives Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi in the case of Rafik
Hariri’s assassination. “Ex-PM Saad Hariri renews his full confidence and
complete commitment to what the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issues in the case
of the assassination of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and his companions as well
as in the connected cases,” his press office said in a statement. “The Appeals
Chamber’s decision to reverse the acquittals of the Accused Hassan Habib Merhi
and Hussein Hassan Oneissi obligates the Lebanese state and all its military and
security authorities and agencies to seek the arrest of the convicts to hand
them over to the STL for the execution of the decided penalties,” the statement
added. It said that Hariri also calls for the arrest of the third convict in the
case – Hizbullah operative Salim Ayyash. Hariri “holds Hizbullah responsible for
covering up for the crime, protecting the criminals who belong to it, and
evading the rulings of international justice,” the statement added. “History
will not be merciful on all the culprits and plotters who planned the
assassination crime, and it will remain on the lookout for every party or
leadership that fails to implement justice and penalize the criminal murderers,”
the statement said.
Miqati Urges U.N. to Discuss Lebanese Crisis in Security
Council Talks
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Miqati called Thursday on the United Nations to intensify
the international efforts to support Lebanon. He asked U.N. Special Coordinator
for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka to urge the U.N. Security Council to address the
Lebanese crisis, in its upcoming session next week. Wronecka discussed with
Miqati possible propositions to be added to the report she will send to the
Security Council that will discuss in a session on March 17, the implementation
of the U.N. resolution 1701.
Judge Aoun Slaps Travel Bans on Chairmen of 5 Lebanese
Banks
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Thursday issued travel bans against
the chairmen of five Lebanese banks in connection with a financial corruption
complaint, the state-run National News Agency said. NNA identified the five
chairmen as Salim Sfeir of Bank of Beirut, Samir Hanna of Bank Audi, Antoine
Sehnaoui of SGBL, Saad al-Azhari of BLOM Bank and Rayya al-Hassan of BankMed.
Aoun had interrogated several chairmen of banks in recent weeks over the
complaint, which is filed by an activist group called the People Want to Reform
the Regime. The complaint targets the chairmen of all Lebanese banks in
connection with a lawsuit alleging that the central bank had transferred $8
billion to seven banks to pay to depositors abroad, and that the banks paid only
$1 billion and kept the remaining $7 billion in their coffers. The lawsuit also
targets Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and six central bank officials.
Report: Possibility of Elections Postponement More Than
65%
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
The country’s top leaders are afraid that the repercussions of the
Russian-Ukrainian conflict might have an impact on the organization of the
upcoming parliamentary elections, a media report said on Thursday. “The
possibility of the parliamentary elections’ postponement is around 65%, and this
possibility surged after the eruption of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” ad-Diyar
newspaper quoted a senior leader as telling his visitors. “All political forces,
specifically the top leaders, want to postpone the parliamentary elections, but
the question remains ‘who would be the suicidal person who would dare announced
that,’” the senior leader added. The daily added that “when the Tourism Minister
suggested postponing the elections for six months in the last Cabinet session,
his stance was not met with objections, contrary to what was leaked to media
outlets.”
Fears Mount Over Iran’s Use Of Lebanon Front To Respond To
Israeli Raid In Syria
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Fears mounted in Lebanon over a possible Iranian retaliation from the south of
the country, after Tehran vowed to respond to the killing of two Revolutionary
Guards officers in Syria following an Israeli raid. On Tuesday, the IRGC
announced the death of two of its officers in an Israeli bombardment targeting
sites near Damascus at dawn on Monday, threatening that Israel would pay “the
price for its crime.” The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)
reported that the bombing targeted “at least a warehouse of weapons and
ammunition belonging to Iranian fighters” in the vicinity of Damascus
International Airport, and led to the killing of “two fighters loyal to Iran.”
Following Iran’s announcement, concerns mounted over the possibility that Tehran
would use the Lebanese southern front to respond to the Israeli strike. Some
Lebanese expressed their fears of the outbreak of a confrontation, given
Hezbollah’s ties with Tehran, and the party’s previous declaration of “the unity
of the fronts.”However, Makram Rabah, a researcher in history and conflicts,
downplayed the importance of these concerns, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that the
party was involved in the fighting in Syria, and was exposed to the Israeli
night strikes that also target Iranian-affiliated militias. Rabah said that a
direct confrontation in southern Lebanon was unlikely, “because Israeli raids on
Iranian militias have been ongoing for years, and despite the threats of the
Revolutionary Guards, they did not trigger tensions in Lebanon’s southern
front.”
Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has provided
political, economic and military support to Damascus since the outbreak of the
war in 2011. While Tehran claims that members of its armed forces were in Syria
on advisory missions, Hezbollah emphasizes the unity of fronts from Syria to
southern Lebanon.The nuclear talks in Vienna prevent Hezbollah from responding
from southern Lebanon, according to Rabah, who said that Iran “does not want the
military response to affect the negotiation process.”He continued: “Hezbollah
does not care about the Lebanese economy and security, but at this very moment,
it sees the priority in the Iranian project and the success of negotiations that
will give Tehran the ability to sell oil to the West if the confrontation in
Ukraine continues.”
France to Donate Buses to Lebanon in Integrated
Transport Plan
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
French Transport Minister delegate Jean-Baptiste Djebbari arrived in Beirut on
Thursday to donate buses to Lebanon. Djebbari will sign with Public Works and
Transport Minister Ali Hamiyeh a memorandum of understanding. France will
successively provide Lebanon with buses as part of an integrated transport plan.
The first donation will be 50 buses, Hamiyeh said. A surge in gasoline prices
and an unprecedented economic crisis have exacerbated the need for public
transportation, that is effectively non-existent in Lebanon. Several proposals
over the decades to revamp public transport have been shelved. In 2018, the
World Bank approved a $295 million package to jumpstart the country's first
modern public transport system. The Greater Beirut Public Transport Project,
however, never took off, as Lebanon has been struggling since 2019 with a major
financial crisis dubbed by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst in modern
times. Lebanon has had a railway network since the end of the 19th century but
it has been out of service since the start of the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
Spain is also expected to sign a deal with Lebanon to finance a plan to revive
the railway network.
WHO, UNICEF Hand over Reconstructed Central Drug Warehouse
to MOPH
Naharnet/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Thursday marked the handover of the Ministry of Public Health’s Central Drug
Warehouse (CDW) in Qarantina, one year and a half after it was destroyed by the
Beirut port explosions, WHO Lebanon said.
Early in 2020, WHO initiated the expansion of the CDW from 600 m3 to around
2,000 m3. However, the work was put on hold by the devastating explosions in
August 2020. In response, a new plan was developed "aiming at fully
reconstructing the warehouse and increasing the storage capacity to 8,000 m3, as
well as modernizing the storage and distribution capacities of the
warehouse."“Within our support to the people living in Lebanon who are burdened
under so many difficult livelihood circumstances, we prioritized our efforts to
ensure that this medicine hub that gives relief to people is restored and
upgraded to serve faster, better and leave no one behind,” said Dr Iman Shankiti,
WHO Representative in Lebanon. The team of engineers supervised by WHO rebuilt
the warehouse with the highest standard and safety measures. Bloc A houses the
cold rooms, short-term storage, order preparations, with office spaces on the
higher floors; Bloc B is dedicated to long-term storage and has safe rooms for
high-value medications. Through the support of UNICEF, 14 refrigeration rooms
were also rebuilt at the warehouse and linked to a solar power system to
guarantee the safe storage of all vaccines. “The restoration of the cold rooms
at the central drug warehouse was critical to ensure the safe delivery of
vaccines to support the routine immunization of children and mothers, as well as
the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign,” said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF
Representative in Lebanon. “We are extremely grateful to the Government of
Australia for having provided critical funding to restore the cold chain for
vaccines.”The statement went on to say that the whole project was made possible
"through the generous funding from the Government of Japan, the State of Kuwait
and WHO Emergency Funding, while Australian Aid through UNICEF provided 12 cold
rooms, two refrigeration rooms and a photovoltaic electricity system (with solar
source of electricity) as per WHO recommendations on sustainability and clean
sources of energy."
It stated that the structure also includes a server room to operate the new
fully-automated Logistic Management System (LMS) and provide backup for the
servers located centrally at the MOPH in Bir Hassan.
“This project is an integral part of the process of the storage and delivery of
essential medications and medical supplies to patients. We thank our partners
for their support in rehabilitation of the physical part of this process, and
pledge to continue working with them on the digital transformation of our
logistics to ensure a transparent, efficient and timely distribution practice,”
said Dr Firass Abiad, Minister of Public Health. The new capacity of the
warehouse allows for the storage of medication supplies and vaccines that can
serve over 1 million beneficiaries either directly or through 830 primary
healthcare centers, dispensaries or mobile clinics across the country. "The
storage of the warehouse is almost at full capacity with essential medications
for chronic, acute and mental health conditions, as well as vaccines, which are
provided through generous support from the European Union and distributed
through primary health care centres in Lebanon," the statement concluded.
Americans in Japanese Prison in Ghosn Escape Seek to Go
Home
Associated Press/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Two Americans imprisoned in Japan for helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos
Ghosn avoid trial and escape to Lebanon are hoping to serve the rest of their
time in the U.S. The Boston-based attorney for Michael Taylor and his son Peter
Taylor, Paul Kelly, said Thursday that the elder man was suffering from serious
back pain and frostbite. The U.S. Justice Department in October requested the
Taylors, who were convicted in the same trial, be transferred to a U.S. prison.
"It's not been an easy time for them, between the extreme cold and the
isolation," Kelly told The Associated Press. "Japan has not acted on the
transfer issue at all. If Japan were to grant the transfer, then Michael and
Peter would be literally taken immediately out of Japan and brought back to the
United States," he said. Japan's Justice Ministry must agree for the transfer to
be carried out. The ministry had no immediate comment.
Ghosn fled to Lebanon in late 2019, hiding in a music instrument box aboard a
private jet. Japanese prisons lack Western-style heating, air-conditioning or
beds. Inmates get a mattress that's rolled out at night. Japanese authorities
say their prisons meet humanitarian standards. Michael and Peter Taylor were
convicted in Tokyo District Court in July for their roles in helping Ghosn
escape Japan for Lebanon, the country of his ancestry. Lebanon has no
extradition treaty with Japan. Taylor, 61, was sentenced to two years in prison.
Peter Taylor, 29, was accused of arranging the escape and sentenced to 20 months
in prison. Since he is athletic and younger, he is in better shape than his
father, Kelly said. In their trial, they said they had been misled and wanted to
save Ghosn from an unfair system, believing Ghosn could not expect a fair trial.
Japan's justice system has been long criticized by human rights advocates.
The Taylors were extradited from the U.S. in February 2021, after spending nine
months in detention. They were kept in solitary confinement in Japan while
awaiting their verdict. That is fairly standard in Japan for suspects not given
bail. But they were not given credit for the time spent before they were
sentenced. The Taylors' family members have not been able to visit or telephone
them. They have only been able to meet with their attorneys and U.S. Embassy
officials. Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and charged with under-reporting
his compensation and of breach of trust in misusing Nissan money for personal
gain, such as fancy homes, a yacht and lavish parties. He says he is innocent.
Another American, former senior Nissan Motor Co. executive Greg Kelly, recently
returned home to the U.S. after being cleared of nearly all charges related to
Ghosn's compensation. Kelly says he is innocent and is appealing. He is not
required to stay in Japan while the Tokyo High Court hears an appeal. Tokyo
prosecutors, who demanded two years in prison for Kelly, also are considering an
appeal, spokesman and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hiroshi Morimoto said. Ghosn was a
superstar for two decades at Nissan's helm. Kelly's trial has highlighted
discontent at the Japanese automaker over what was perceived as its lesser
position in the alliance with French partner Renault.
Lebanon: Government to Start Disbursing Social Aid Next
Week
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
The Ministry of Social Affairs will begin disbursing social assistance to
150,000 eligible families, amid rising unemployment levels and procrastination
by the Lebanese authorities in addressing economic and social crises. Following
a meeting with President Michel Aoun on Wednesday, Minister of Social Affairs
Hector Hajjar said that the distribution of aid to eligible families within the
so-called Aman program “will start next week for 150,000 families,” stressing
“full adherence to the criteria set by the ministry and the relevant ministerial
committee in selecting the families.”The Lebanese government is working on three
internationally supported local programs to provide social assistance to the
most vulnerable groups in the country. Tens of thousands of Lebanese families
are expected to benefit from the projects, which aim at helping the population
withstand the economic and living crisis that has marred the country since 2019.
In remarks to reporters at the Baabda Palace, Hajjar explained that the selected
families will receive monthly the amount of $25, in addition to $20 for each
child and up to 6 children per family. The Aman program will take into account
at the first stage, families with elderly persons or with special needs,
inappropriate housing and other criteria, such as the lack of a monthly income.
In a statement, member of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Nehme Tohme said that
the measures taken by the government were not commensurate with the scale of the
disasters.
The deputy stressed that the ongoing financial, economic and social collapse
required firm steps, saying: “It seems that those concerned live on another
planet, and are not aware of the people’s suffering… How can they see the
tragedies at the doors of hospitals, difficulties in settling school and
university tuitions, and the impossibility of securing heating, in addition to
the unprecedented migration wave?”Tohme regretted the “absence of statesmen,”
pointing to “arbitrary and random policies in addressing the accumulated crises,
away from any clear vision or a practical and scientific approach to these
problems.”
Closed for Decades, Theater Returns to Lebanon's Tripoli
Associated Press/March 10/2022
The hissing of a water hose spraying the ground reverberates around the walls of
the dimly lit Empire Cinema in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli. From the
floor of a paint-chipped room that was once a ticket office, a man sorts through
rusty bolts and screws, while in the adjacent foyer, a woman sweeps dust off a
mirror. The person leading the restoration efforts is 35-year-old actor and
director Kassem Istanbouli, known for his theater work throughout Lebanon.
Several days a week, his team — which includes a Syrian, a Palestinian, a
Lebanese and a Bangladeshi — drives three hours from their homes in the
country's south to work on the space, built in the early 1940s but abandoned for
decades. The restoration project launched last month is the first of its kind in
hardscrabble Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city more often known in recent
years for sectarian and other violence. "What we are trying to say is that
Tripoli is a city of culture and art," Istanbouli said. "When you open a cinema
and a theater, people will come and attend. But if you give them a gun, of
course they will shoot at each other and kill each other," he added. For much of
the rest of Lebanon, Tripoli's artistic history is considered a relic of the
past, overshadowed by crushing poverty, corruption, and migration. But Tripoli
has an especially long cinematic tradition, once boasting up to 35 movie houses,
including Lebanon's first. Cinema Empire is the last of five historic cinemas
still standing in Tripoli's Tell Square, which encircles a clock tower gifted by
Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the early 20th century. It shut down in 1988 as
massive cinema complexes opened inside malls, and home video players grew in
popularity.
Istanbouli, founder of the Tiro Association for Arts in the southern city of
Tyre, has already transformed three abandoned cinemas there into theater and
film venues. Much like Tyre's Rivoli theatre which he restored in early 2018,
Istanbouli aims to transform the Empire into a multi-purpose venue featuring not
only arts festivals and plays, but also a library, a visual arts studio and area
for workshops. That's no small order these days, given a crippled economy and
over 80% of the population living in poverty. Even before a financial crisis led
to the current depression, Tripoli was already Lebanon's poorest city — plagued
by government neglect and a lack of investment. It has been a major point of
departure for illegal migration, with Lebanese now following the same precarious
path as Syrians fleeing their civil war, trying to reach Europe via the
Mediterranean. The director's project was inspired by his father, an electrician
who used to repair movie houses in the south, and his grandfather, who was a
sailor and hakawati — a storyteller who sported a red fez while recounting
folkloric tales in Tyre's old cafes. "This project will improve the city
economically. It will bring tourism and change to its reputation," Istanbouli
said.
Charles Hayek, a 39-year-old historian and conservationist said that
Istanbouli's project will do more than just fight negative perceptions.
"Kassem is saving one of the heritage buildings and giving it back life," he
said. Tripoli has lost much of its architectural heritage — especially around
Tell Square — in the past decade due to neglect. Before the 1975-1990 civil war,
the square's oldest cinema, Inja, once attracted two of the Arab world's biggest
music celebrities: Umm Kalthoum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. That building has now
been demolished, replaced by a parking garage. For rehabilitation funds,
Istanbouli has partnered with the DOEN Foundation and The Euro-Mediterranean
Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders.The cinema contract from a
private owner is for five years, and he hopes to officially open within six
months. One afternoon, Istanbouli led volunteers who had finished with repairs
through acting exercises. "Pretend that you're an animal," he said to a woman
who then announced she was a panda. "Now I want you to face off against a dog…
who wants to be a dog?" he asked. Maha Amin, one of the attendees from Tyre who
was sweeping dust off mirrors in the morning and was now on stage, never thought
about the possibility of acting, let alone visiting Tripoli. "The environment we
live in doesn't accept a woman who is my age to do this," the 57-year-old
special needs teacher said. She initially went to Istanbouli's Rivoli theater in
Tyre to enroll her seven grandchildren, but ended up joining them. "Especially
in the tough times today, people need to breathe and express themselves," she
said. "It's here on stage after a long day of work that I'm able I'm able to say
what I want, in total freedom."
Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad: We Would Rather Leave Natural
Gas Underwater Than Share It With Israel, Even If It Could Pay Our Debts
MEMRI/March 10/2022
Source: OTV (Lebanon)
Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad, the leader of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc in
the Lebanese parliament, said in a February 28, 2022 interview on OTV (Lebanon)
that it would be better to leave the natural gas off the shores of Lebanon
untouched rather than share it with Israel. Emphasizing that this is the
preferable course of action even though extracting the natural gas from the
water could pay off Lebanon's debts, he said: "We'd rather leave the gas buried
underwater until the day comes when we can prevent the Israelis from touching a
single drop of our waters." Raad's statements were made on the backdrop of an
ongoing debate in Lebanon about the demarcation of maritime borders with Israel
and the sharing of natural gas reserves.Mohammad Raad: "In order to be able to drill in our territorial waters and
extract natural gas that would pay our debts, they tell us that we can drill in
the water, but it may turn out that you will need to share the gas field with
the Israelis.
Lebanese TV Show Claims Jews, Israelis Control The Media:
This Enemy Infiltrates Our Culture, Societies, And Systems Of Morality
MEMRI/March 10/2022
Source: Mayadeen TV (Lebanon)
In a February 18, 2022 show on Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), show host Yahya Abu
Zakariya said that Jews own half of the world's media, including influential
Arab TV channels, and that Western platforms bankroll films that call for
"Arab-Israeli love," for outlawing "the resistance," and that support
homosexuality and pedophilia. Sheikh Muhammad Khidr, the head of the Islamic
Forum for Da'wa and Dialogue, claimed that the Israeli Radio and Television Law
talks about broadcasting Arabic programs outside Israel "in order to achieve the
goals of Zionism and defend the Israeli policy of settlement, Judaization, and
all the violent acts of war carried out by Israel." He said: "This enemy
infiltrates into our culture, our societies, and our moral system."
Yahya Abu Zakariya: "How can we protect our situation when the Western platforms
that invade our cultural and artistic scene bankroll films calling for
normalization, Arab-Israeli love, the outlawing of the resistance, supporting
homosexuality and pedophilia, and everything that goes against the general Arab
and the Islamic traditions?
"Why do we seem helpless and incapable of producing sublime artistic works that
would serve our cultural values and bolster our national identity?
"You can see that wealthy Jews spend money on the media. I can give you the
names of Jews who own half of the world's media. They have even bought half of
the Arab media. Some of the influential Arab TV channels are owned by Jews. 50%
of their capital. Where are the wealthy Muslims? It's sad."
Sheikh Muhammad Khidr: "In validation of what you just said, I bumped into
Article 3 of the Israeli Radio and Television Law. It states, in short, that
'the goals of the Israeli media in all areas is to highlight the Zionist
character of Israel.' Then it says: '...in addition to broadcasting programs in
Arabic outside of Israel, in order to achieve the goals of Zionism, and defend
the Israeli policy of settlement, Judaization, and all the violent acts of war
carried out by Israel.' With this in mind, I would like to add to what you have
said that we do not want to pin all our problems on conspiracy theories, I fear
that we are inclined to giving this arrogant enemy a clean bill of health. This
enemy infiltrates into our culture, our society, and our moral systems, and we
say that the only problem is our emptiness."
Abu Zakariya: "Let me play the devil's advocate. Have you heard in the Israeli
discourse any dispute between Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews? In the Islamic
TV Channels, you have Sunnis, Shiites, Ibadis, Zaydis, people accusing one
another of heresy, 'You go to hell, and we go to Heaven...' We are mentally ill.
Why not admit that?"
Khidr "True. That is the reality. This is why Ben-Gurion said in the past: 'The
media founded our state, and helped us gain international legitimacy.'"
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on March 10-11/2022
Iran Vows to Avenge the Death of 2 IRGC Members in Syria
Tel Aviv, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Israel awaits with anticipation Iran's retaliation for the airstrike on Syria
that killed four people on Monday, including two of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC). Syrian state media said that two civilians were killed
during the attack, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said
they were two Syrian militants fighting with pro-Iran militias. The Observatory
said the two dead Iranians killed were affiliated with al-Quds Force. Six
militiamen were also wounded, it added. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed
Khatibzadeh said revenge for Monday's strike will be taken, adding that holding
Israel accountable for such attacks "is one of the main goals of the resistance
(forces) in the region."The IRGC's Sepah News website said: "Guard colonels
Ehsan Karbalaipour and Morteza Saidnejad were martyred, a crime committed by the
Zionist regime, during a rocket attack on the suburbs of Damascus, Syria,
yesterday morning."The site stated that Israel would "pay for this crime."The
strike's target was an ammunition depot operated by Iran-backed militias near
Damascus international airport. SOHR said Israel has carried out raids in Syria
at least seven times this year. Iran is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
strongest ally in the conflict. The Syrian army and thousands of Iranian-backed
militants are fighting the Syrian opposition, backed by the Russian air force.
According to Walla's military correspondent, Israel is aware of Iran's
determination to respond to the killing of the two IRGC members.
The Israeli army raised the state of alert and readiness of its units operating
the "Iron Dome" systems along the border with Syria and stated that it was
preparing for a possible missile attack from Syria. In April, Iran admitted to
casualties among its forces during an Israeli attack on sites in Syria,
including seven fighters killed in an attack on T4 airport east of Homs. A month
later, Iran responded with a barrage of missiles fired by armed militia at
Israeli sites. The Quds Force unofficial Telegram channel reported that Iran
retaliated for the death of its members at the Syrian T4 base after an Israeli
raid that killed seven Iranian forces in 2018. The channel reported that Tehran
responded by bombing an Israeli base in the occupied Golan with fifty missiles,
noting that Israelis did not report the attack and the damage incurred. Several
Israeli experts admitted that the firing of 50 missiles from Syria at Israeli
bases was an unprecedented matter that surprised observers.
Iran Rejects Curbs on its Defensive Power, Regional Presence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that Tehran will not bow to
pressure to reduce its defensive power, regional presence and progress in
nuclear technology, Iranian state media reported.
“Suggestions to reduce our defensive power so as to appease the enemy are
nothing more that naive and ill-advised. Over time, these flawed proposals have
been rebutted, but if they weren’t, Iran would have now faced great threats,”
the country's top political authority said according to state media. “Regional
presence gives us strategic depth and more power," Khamenei said. "Why should we
give it up? Scientific progress in the nuclear field is related to our future
needs, and if we give that up, will anyone help us in the future?” he added.
Iran on Thursday called on the United States to drop "unacceptable proposals" in
the talks on the nuclear deal, while Russia's demands for guarantees from
Washington have complicated efforts to close an agreement.
Iran Nuclear Talks Stumble Over Russian Demands
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Parties trying to revive the Iran nuclear deal scrambled on Wednesday to resolve
last-minute Russian demands that threaten to scupper negotiations, diplomats
said, with the United States appearing unwilling to engage with Russia on the
matter. Western powers on Tuesday warned Russia against wrecking an almost
completed deal on bringing the United States and Iran back into compliance with
the 2015 accord. Iran's top negotiator returned to Vienna on Wednesday from
consultations in Tehran. Russia's envoy to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, dismissed
any suggestion Moscow was holding up an agreement and said a final text had in
any case not been completed. Eleven months of talks to restore the deal, which
lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program, have
reached their final stages with several diplomats saying there was broad
agreement. But just as the final issues were being resolved, Russia presented a
new obstacle by demanding written guarantees from the United States that Western
sanctions targeting Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine would not affect its
trade with Iran. Ulyanov said Moscow's demands had not received a positive
reaction. "In view of the new circumstances and wave of sanctions against Russia
we have the right to protect our interests in the nuclear field and wider
context," Ulyanov said. He said the United States and the European Union had to
make it clear that neither now or in the future sanctions could hit the
implementation of nuclear projects in Iran as well as its trade and economic
relations. Ulyanov met the coordinator of the talks, Enrique Mora of the
European Union, on Tuesday evening and again on Wednesday. He said he would
still have to report back to Moscow for a final decision after the text was
finalized. "There is no final text so how can our position delay anything if
final negotiations are not finished," Reuters quoted him as saying. "A number of
participants at this moment are not ready to confirm that the text is fully
acceptable to them." US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria
Nuland on Tuesday accused Russia of seeking to reap extra benefits from its
participation in the effort to restore the nuclear agreement, but she said
Washington would not be playing "Let's Make a Deal."Two Western diplomats said
it was still not clear what the exact nature of Moscow's demands were, while a
European diplomat said Russia was demanding sweeping guarantees on trade between
Moscow and Tehran, demands that were deemed unacceptable. They said the talks
were now not likely to end this week. Mora broke off informal meetings on Monday
saying the time had come for political decisions to be taken to end the
negotiations. European negotiators from France, Britain, and Germany had already
temporarily left the talks as they believed they had gone as far as they could
go and it was now up to the United States and Iran to agree on outstanding
issues. Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, returned to Tehran
unexpectedly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Moscow's new
demands. Iran's foreign minister said at the time that Tehran would not let its
interests be harmed by "foreign elements".
Iran Says Lack of US Decision on Nuclear Deal Complicates
Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
The United States does not have the will to reach an agreement to revive a 2015
nuclear deal with Iran at talks in Vienna where it is insisting on "unacceptable
proposals", Iran's top security official, Ali Shamkhani, said on Thursday. The
2015 deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear
program was on the verge of being restored after 11 months of negotiations until
Russia presented a new obstacle by demanding written guarantees from the United
States that Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine would not affect its
trade with Iran. Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme Security Council, said
on Twitter that in the absence of a political decision by the United States the
talks "become more complicated every hour". The United States “has no will to
reach a strong agreement", he said adding that it was making “unacceptable
proposals (and) insists on a quick agreement with false pretenses”. According to
Reuters, he did not elaborate on the US proposals. US Under Secretary of State
for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on Tuesday accused Russia of seeking to
reap extra benefits from its participation in the effort to restore the nuclear
agreement. European negotiators from France, Britain, and Germany have
temporarily left the talks as they believed they had gone as far as they could
and it was now up to the United States and Iran to agree on outstanding issues.
Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, returned to Tehran unexpectedly after
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Moscow's new demands. Iran's
foreign minister said at the time that Tehran would not let its interests be
harmed by "foreign elements".
Bagheri Kani flew back to Vienna on Wednesday.
US National Intelligence: Iran Poses Major Threat to US
Security
Washington - Muath al-Amri/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March,
2022
In light of the Biden administration’s continuous attempts with Iran to restore
mutual compliance over the nuclear agreement, the US intelligence service warned
that Tehran is still pursuing a policy of “aggressive actions” and that it has
become a “major threat” to the security of the US and allied networks and data,
calling for the need for maximum cyber protection. The US intelligence report
presented to the Congress revealed that Iran’s growing expertise and willingness
to conduct aggressive cyber operations make it a major threat to the US and
allied networks and data security. “Iran’s opportunistic approach” to
cyber-attacks makes critical infrastructure owners in the US susceptible to
being targeted by Tehran, “especially when Tehran believes it must demonstrate
that it can push back against the United States in other domains.” Intelligence
experts indicated that recent Israeli and US targets attacks show that Iran is
more willing than before to target countries with stronger capabilities, as
Tehran was responsible for multiple cyber-attacks between April and July 2020
against Israeli water facilities. The report warned that Tehran would try to
leverage its expanding nuclear program, proxy and partner forces, diplomacy, and
military sales and acquisitions to advance its goals. The Iranian regime sees
itself as “locked in an existential struggle” with the US and its regional
allies while it pursues its longstanding ambitions for regional leadership. The
report indicated that “the election of President Ebrahim Raisi in 2021 has
invigorated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to try to make progress toward his
long-term vision of molding Iran into a pan-Islamic power,” adding that: “Iran’s
hardline officials deeply distrust Washington and do not believe the United
States can deliver or sustain any benefits a renewed JCPOA might offer.”
The report issued Tuesday indicated that Iran’s hybrid approach to warfare using
both conventional and unconventional capabilities would threaten US interests in
the region. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its
proxies will remain central to Iran’s military power, and Tehran will seek to
improve and acquire new conventional weaponry despite its economic challenges.
Iran’s ballistic missile programs, which include the largest inventory of
ballistic missiles in the region, continue to threaten countries across the
Middle East. The experts assessed that Iran is not currently undertaking the key
nuclear weapons-development activities that they judge would be necessary to
produce a nuclear device. The report also warned that Iran would threaten US
persons directly and via proxy attacks, particularly in the Middle East. Iran
also remains committed to developing networks inside the US, an objective it has
pursued for more than a decade. Iranian-supported proxies will launch attacks
against US forces and persons in Iraq and Syria, and perhaps on other countries
and regions. Iran has threatened to retaliate against former and current US
officials for the killing of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020
and has previously attempted to conduct lethal operations in the US. Meanwhile,
a Justice Department official told the Washington Examiner newspaper that the
al-Quds Force was plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John
Bolton and that this was not the first time that the IRGC attempted to carry out
a high-profile assassination on US soil. In 2011, security officials disrupted
al-Quds Force’s plot to assassinate the then-Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir as
he dined at Cafe Milano in the Georgetown district of Washington.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran and Iraq Jennifer
Gavito: Washington Committed to Defending Saudi Arabia, Confronting Iranian
Threat
Riyadh - Fatehelrahman Yousif/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran and Iraq Jennifer Gavito, in an interview
with Asharq Al-Awsat, confirmed that Washington is committed to reinforcing
Saudi defenses. Gavito admitted US concerns towards Iranian influence in Iraq
undermining the stability and security of national institutions in the
country.She pointed out that US diplomacy seeks to dissuade Tehran from
financing and arming groups outside the control of governments throughout the
region. Gavito stressed that illegal flow of weapons from Iran to Yemen has led
to an increase in the Houthis' brutal attacks and the suffering of civilians.
Here is the full text of the interview:
What worries the US administration the most about the development of events in
Iraq, and what impact does this have on the security and stability of the
country?
· ISIS remnants and armed groups operating outside of government control are the
biggest obstacles to Iraq’s security and stability. Another area of concern is
the economic challenges Iraq faces. We look forward to assisting Iraq diversify
its economy and encourage foreign private sector investment in the country.
· Once government formation is complete, we look forward to working with a new
government that reflects the will of Iraqi voters and that strives to improve
services for all citizens and combat corruption in the interest of the Iraqi
people.
· I believe that if we help Iraq strengthen its own sovereignty and institutions
over time, improve the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces, and continue to
encourage Iraq’s reintegration into the Arab neighborhood, then Iraq will be
stable and prosperous. Moreover, it will be a stabilizing force for the entire
region.
Some observers believe that the US presence in Iraq has not achieved what the
people aspire to. What is your comment?
· We have been and will be a steady, reliable partner that supports Iraq’s
sovereignty and security, anti-corruption and economic reform efforts, helps it
improve regional relationships, provides humanitarian and demining assistance,
supports respect for the human rights of all Iraqis, backs efforts to combat
criminal activity and control unlawful armed groups, and advises and assists the
Iraqi security forces.
· We are committed to these efforts because our aspiration is to see a stable,
prosperous, democratic, and unified Iraq. I believe that the Iraqi people have
the same hope and aspirations.
To what extent do the elements of corruption and sectarianism contribute to the
complexity of the situation in Iraq?
· Corruption is a threat to all nations as it undermines the rule of law and
tears at the fabric of trust and respect between people and their government.
· We share interests with our Iraqi partners in maintaining respect for freedom
of expression and of peaceful assembly, enforcing the rule of law, respecting
the rights of protesters, journalists, women, members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic
and religious communities, and members of other marginalized groups, and
pursuing judicial accountability for violent crimes committed against persons
belonging to those groups.
To what extent does Iran have a role in the complexities of the political and
security situation in Iraq?
· While we encourage Iraq to maintain friendly, productive relations with all
its neighbors, we remain concerned about Iranian influence that undermines the
stability and the integrity of Iraqi national institutions. Our diplomatic
approach seeks to dissuade Iran from funding and arming groups outside the
control of governments around the region, including Iraq.
How do you view the risks of Iranian activity on the security and stability of
the region?
· The United States is concerned about Iranian influence that undermines the
stability and the integrity of Iraq’s sovereignty and national institutions, and
so are the Iraqi people.
· President Biden has made very clear that the United States wants to resolve
our differences with Iran through diplomatic means.
· We firmly believe that a stable, sovereign, economically prosperous Iraq is
key to broadening our mutually beneficial partnership with the Iraqi people and
to bringing greater stability to the region.
· This Administration is committed to working toward regional de-escalation and
wider economic and political integration in the region, including across
historical lines of conflict.
· If regional actors and Iraq’s neighbors follow the same strategy with the same
goal in mind, our chances of success will be far greater.
What is your assessment of the Iranian support for the Houthis in Yemen and its
implications for the safety and security of the region?
· The United States has consistently seen evidence of the smuggling of arms from
Iran to the Houthis. This represents a flagrant violation of the UN targeted
arms embargo. It is yet another example of how malign Iranian activity is
prolonging the war in Yemen.
· Iran’s support for armed groups throughout the region threatens international
and regional security, our forces, our diplomatic personnel and citizens in the
region, as well as our partners in the region and elsewhere.
· The Biden Administration is committed to countering this threat from Iran. The
US seized dozens of anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of assault rifles, and
hundreds of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from similar
vessels in December, May, and February of last year.
· The illegal flow of weapons from Iran to Yemen is enabling the brutal Houthi
offensives in Yemen, increasing the suffering of civilians. Further fighting -
whether in Marib or elsewhere – is only bringing more suffering.
What is your assessment of the Saudi-US cooperation in the security and
strategic fields? How important is this to international peace and security?
· Saudi Arabia faces significant threats to its territory; we are committed to
working together to help the Saudis strengthen their defenses to defend its
territory, its citizens, and the thousands of US citizens residing in Saudi
Arabia.
· Cross-border attacks launched by the Houthis on the UAE, as well as Saudi
Arabia, have killed civilians - including the January 17 attack on the Abu Dhabi
airport that resulted in civilian casualties.
· There were more than 400 cross-border attacks last year launched by the
Houthis with Iranian support, which affected Saudi infrastructure, schools,
mosques, and workplaces, and endangered the civilian population, including
70,000 US citizens living in Saudi Arabia.
· With US support Saudi Arabia has been able to intercept 90 percent of the
attacks, but we need to aim for 100 percent.
· The United States is committed to advancing Saudi defenses through security
cooperation, arms transfers, and defense trade, exercises, training, and
exchanges, alongside engagement on human rights and civilian harm mitigation. We
have a number of tools available to assist Saudi Arabia to strengthen its air
defense capabilities and will continue to discuss a range of security needs with
our partners.
No Breakthrough in Russia-Ukraine Talks amid Fury over
Hospital Strike
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Russia and Ukraine failed to make a breakthrough Thursday in their first
top-level talks since Moscow's invasion two weeks ago, amid international
outrage over the bombing of a children's hospital that Kyiv said killed three
people, including a young girl. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said
there was "no progress" even on a 24-hour ceasefire, after talks with Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Turkey, although the latter said Moscow would keep
talking. Russian forces on Thursday rolled their armored vehicles up to the
northeastern edge of Kyiv, an AFP team saw, edging closer in their attempts to
encircle the Ukrainian capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said half the population
had fled, adding: "Kyiv has been transformed into a fortress. Every street,
every building, every checkpoint has been fortified." The UN estimates more than
2.3 million refugees have left Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24,
which prompted unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow along with a
cultural and sporting boycott. At least 35,000 civilians were evacuated from the
cities of Sumy, Enerhodar and areas around Kyiv on Wednesday, President
Volodymyr Zelensky said, with three more routes set to open up Thursday,
including out of the southern port city of Mariupol. The children's and
maternity hospital in Mariupol was attacked on Wednesday in what Zelensky
described as a Russian "war crime", and which sparked global outrage. Local
officials said Thursday that at least three people were killed in the attack,
including a young girl. Overall, at least 71 children have been killed in
Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 100 have been wounded, said
Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukraine parliament's point person on human rights.
'Barbaric' hospital attack
Ten days of constant attacks on Mariupol have already left more than 1,200
civilians dead, according to the mayor, and created what aid agencies call an
"apocalyptic" situation, with no water, power or heat. Zelensky shared footage
on Wednesday of massive destruction at the hospital, saying the "direct strike
by Russian troops" had left children under the wreckage. Officials had
previously said 17 people were injured, including doctors. Video shared from the
site by rescue workers showed a scene of complete devastation, with the wounded
being evacuated, some on stretchers, past charred and burning carcasses of cars
and a massive crater by the building. The White House slammed the "barbaric" use
of force against civilians, while EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell echoed
Zelensky in calling it a "heinous war crime". "Strikes of residential areas from
the air and blocks of access of aid convoys by the Russian forces must
immediately stop," Borrell said. Russia's foreign ministry did not deny the
attack but accused Ukrainian "nationalist battalions" of using the hospital to
set up firing positions after moving out staff and patients. Lavrov reiterated
the claim on Thursday, saying it was a military base for members of the radical
Azov Battalion. Asked by a Turkish reporter if Russia was planning to attack
other nations, Lavrov replied "we don't plan to attack other countries" and
claimed "we did not attack Ukraine". He insisted that Russian President Vladimir
Putin launched the operation as the situation in Ukraine "posed a direct threat
to the Russian Federation".
'Nowhere to run'
On the northeastern edge of Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers described a night of heavy
battles for control of the main highway leading into the capital. An AFP team
witnessed missile strikes in Velkya Dymerka, a largely deserted village just
outside Kyiv's city limits. Ukrainian forces only had a minimal presence in the
village, which locals said witnessed heavy fighting overnight. "It's
frightening, but what can you do, there is nowhere to really run or hide. We
live here," said Vasyl Popov, a 38-year-old advertising salesman. In the
surrounding villages, there were few cars on the road and they drove with utmost
caution in what was now frontline territory. On their rear windscreens, they fix
handwritten signs saying simply: "Children", in the hope this will protect them
from Russian bombardment. The conflict has raised fears of a nuclear accident in
a country with major nuclear plants and the site of the Chernobyl disaster.
The UN's atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Wednesday
it saw "no critical impact on safety" at Chernobyl, location of the world's
worst nuclear disaster in 1986, after a loss of power there. But it warned it
was not receiving updates from either Chernobyl or Zaporizhzhia, Europe's
largest nuclear plant, which is also now under Russian control.
US aid passes House
The United States meanwhile rejected Russian claims that it was involved in
bioweapons research in Ukraine, and warned Russia could be preparing to use
chemical or biological weapons in the war. Washington has strongly backed
Ukraine, leading the push for tough international sanctions and sending weapons
and other aid. But it has ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone and rejected a
Polish plan to transfer fighter jets via a US air base for fear of being drawn
into the conflict directly. Washington has however beefed up defenses in Poland,
where it said Wednesday it was sending two new surface-to-air missile batteries.
And Britain said it was preparing to send more portable missile systems to help
Ukraine, in addition to more than 3,000 anti-tank weapons sent so far, while
Canada pledged an additional $50 million of military equipment. In Turkey on
Thursday, Lavrov said the supply by EU and other countries of deadly weapons to
Ukraine was "creating a colossal danger for themselves". The US House of
Representatives green-lit a spending package including nearly $14 billion for
Ukraine and allies in eastern Europe, which must be rubber-stamped by the
Senate. The International Monetary Fund has meanwhile approved a $1.4-billion
emergency package for Kyiv to provide "critical financial support." Western
nations and allies are also trying to squeeze Moscow with unprecedented
sanctions, hitting the Russian economy but also its oligarchs and those close to
Putin. The United States this week imposed a ban on Russian imports of oil and
gas, a move followed by Canada and a pledge from London to end the imports
within the year. Britain urged the entire G7 to follow suit, but some nations
are wary, with Germany and Italy both dependent on Russian energy.
Experts Says Russia Tactics in Ukraine War Mirror Syria
Testing Ground
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Besieging cities, shelling civilian infrastructure and arranging "safe
corridors": the tactics used by Russia in its war on Ukraine mirror those it
tested and fine-tuned to drain resistance in Syria's conflict. But unlike its
Syria play book, the challenge Russia faces from a Western-backed army in
Ukraine dwarfs that of Syrian rebels who lacked military might or broad
international backing, analysts said. Russia entered Syria's civil war in 2015
on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, allowing Damascus to clock up
decisive victories in the decade-long conflict. Since President Vladimir Putin
ordered an invasion on February 24, tens of thousands of Russian troops have
swarmed into Ukraine, where they have shelled urban centers and forced people to
flee, sparking international outrage. Moscow denies targeting civilian areas in
Ukraine, despite widespread evidence suggesting otherwise, with Western powers
and rights groups accusing it of committing possible war crimes. A French
military source said Russia's operations in Ukraine marked a "change of scale".
"Syria was a small theatre," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. But many of
the tactics deployed in Ukraine draw from Russia's battles in Syria, where it
tested weapons systems and gained vital combat experience. "For Russia, Syria is
a training ground for men and equipment," said analyst Fabrice Balanche.
Strategy to 'terrorize'
Russia has long been accused by rights groups of supporting Syria's regime in
besieging civilian populations and bombing infrastructure to draw rebels out of
key areas. To bolster Assad, "Russia's first goal in Syria was to reconquer big
cities," including the economic hub of Aleppo and rebel-held districts around
Damascus, Balanche said. In Ukraine, Russia's push towards major cities
including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa follows a similar pattern but is meant to
strip legitimacy from authorities there, he said. Balanche said indiscriminate
Russian bombing of hospitals and schools is another aspect of the Syrian
conflict playing out in Ukraine as part of a strategy to "terrorize" civilians.
At least 270 medical facilities in Syria have been attacked by Russia and
Assad's regime since 2011, according to the Syrian Archive, a non-profit
organization that archives digital material from the war. Russia also targeted
schools and markets during a blistering Aleppo offensive in 2016 and a
devastating 2019-2020 campaign against rebels in neighboring Idlib province, the
country's last major opposition bastion, according to rights groups. "Russia
bombs military targets... then health and energy infrastructure to make life
impossible for civilians and to push them to leave," Balanche told AFP. "Once
the civilians are gone, it is easier for the army to move forward."Last month,
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accused Russia of using cluster
munitions on a hospital and school in Kharkiv, saying the attacks could
constitute war crimes. On Wednesday, Russian forces reportedly bombed a
children's hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol that Kyiv says killed
three people, including a girl. That attack sparked international outrage with
many global powers accusing Russia of committing an atrocity.
Different battlefield
In another parallel strategy, Russia has announced so-called safe corridors to
allow civilians to exit Ukrainian cities it has laid siege to.
It is a strategy tried and tested in Syria, sometimes resulting in the death,
injury and detention of civilians who try to escape besieged rebel districts
without international guarantees, according to experts. But Russia faces a
different landscape in Ukraine, where it has deployed a much larger contingent,
in a high-stakes intervention. "In Syria, Russia primarily relied on its air
power and certain specialized units to advise and assist the pro-Assad forces,"
said Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute in Washington. "Whereas in Ukraine
the Russians are the (main) fighting force," he added. Another key difference,
according to Heras, concerns the capabilities of Russia's opponents. In Ukraine,
Russia is confronted by an army that is armed and supported by Western nations,
Heras said, flagging its anti-air and anti-armor capabilities. Meanwhile,
"Russia was involved in a minor league war in Syria where it had total
dominance," he added.
According to Anton Mardasov, a non-resident expert at the Russian International
Affairs Council, Moscow now has a sharper sense of its weapons systems. It has
"corrected many of the shortcomings of high-precision ground, sea and air-based
weapons that were identified during the use of missile systems in Syria," he
told AFP. "In Ukraine, high-precision weapons are used quite actively and
accurately."
Attack on Ukrainian Hospital Draws Outrage as Talks
Stall
Associated Press/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
A Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital that killed three people
drew outrage on Thursday, with Ukrainian and Western officials branding it a war
crime. As talks to reach a broad cease-fire failed, emergency workers renewed
efforts to get vital food and medical supplies into besieged cities, and to get
traumatized residents out. Ukrainian authorities said a child was among the dead
in Wednesday's attack in the crucial southern port of Mariupol. Another 17
people were wounded, including women waiting to give birth, doctors and children
buried in the rubble. Images of pregnant women covered in dust and blood
dominated news reports in many countries, and brought a new wave of horror at
the 2-week-old war sparked by Russia's invasion, which has killed thousands of
soldiers and civilians, driven more than 2 million people from Ukraine and
shaken the foundations of European security. Millions more have been displaced
inside the country. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said Thursday that about 2
million people — half the residents of the capital's metropolitan area — have
left the city, which has become virtually a a fortress. "Every street, every
house … is being fortified," he said in televised remarks. "Even people who in
their lives never intended to change their clothes, now they are in uniform with
machine guns in their hands." Bombs also fell on two hospitals in a city west of
Kyiv on Wednesday, its mayor said. The World Health Organization said it has
confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities since the Russian invasion began two
weeks ago.
As the war entered its third week, Western officials said Russian forces have
made little progress on the ground in recent days. But they have intensified the
bombardment of Mariupol and other cities, trapping hundreds of thousands of
people, with food and water running short.
Temporary cease-fires to allow evacuations and humanitarian aid have often
faltered, with Ukraine accusing Russia of continuing their bombardments. But
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 35,000 people managed to get out on
Wednesday from several besieged towns, and more efforts were underway on
Thursday from towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine — including
Mariupol — as well as the Kyiv suburbs. The Mariupol city council posted a video
Thursday showing buses driving down a highway, with a note saying that a convoy
bringing food and medicine was on the way despite several days of thwarted
efforts to reach the city. "Everyone is working to get help to the people of
Mariupol. And it will come," said Mayor Vadym Boychenko.
Images from the city, where hundreds have died and workers hurried to bury some
of the bodies in a mass grave, have drawn condemnation from around the world.
The living have resorted to breaking into shops for food or melting snow for
water. The city has been without heat for days as nighttime temperatures fall
below freezing and daytime ones hover just above it. When the series of blasts
hit the children's and maternity hospital in Mariupol, the ground shook more
than a mile away. Explosions blew out windows and ripped away much of the front
of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims,
carrying a bleeding woman with a swollen belly on a stretcher past burning and
mangled cars. Another woman wailed as she clutched her child. Britain's Armed
Forces minister, James Heappey, said that whether hitting the hospital was
"indiscriminate" fire into a built-up area or a deliberate targeting, "it is a
war crime."U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, on a visit to Ukraine's neighbor
Poland, backed calls for an international war-crimes investigation into the
invasion, saying "the eyes of the world are on this war and what Russia has done
in terms of this aggression and these atrocities."
Polish President Andrzej Duda called the strike on the hospital an "act of
barbarity" and said "it is obvious to us that in Ukraine Russians are committing
war crimes."Regional Ukrainian police official Volodymir Nikulin, standing in
the ruins, called the Mariupol attack "a war crime without any justification."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed concerns about civilian
casualties as "pathetic shrieks" from Russia's enemies. He claimed without
providing evidence that the Mariupol hospital had been seized by far-right
radical fighters who were using it as a base — despite the fact that photographs
from the aftermath show pregnant women and children at the site.
Several rounds of talks have not stopped the fighting, and a meeting in a
Turkish Mediterranean resort between Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro
Kuleba failed to yield much common ground. In their highest-level talks since
the war began, the two sides discussed a 24-hour cease-fire but did not make
progress, Kuleba said. He said Russia was still seeking "surrender from
Ukraine." "This is not what they are going to get," he said, adding that he was
willing to continue the dialogue. French President Emmanuel Macron and German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for an "immediate cease-fire" in a phone call with
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Lavrov also said Russia was ready
for more negotiations but showed no sign of softening Moscow's demands. He said
Putin could meet with Zelenskyy but only after further negotiations about
Russia's broader grievances. Russia has alleged that western-looking,
U.S.-backed Ukraine posed a threat to its security — but Western officials
suspect Putin would like to install a government friendly to Moscow in Kyiv as
part of efforts to draw the ex-Soviet state back into its orbit. Russia's
military is currently struggling, facing stronger than expected Ukrainian
resistance and heavier losses of its own troops. But Putin's invading force of
more than 150,000 troops retains possibly insurmountable advantages in firepower
as it bears down on key cities. Despite often heavy shelling on populated areas,
American military officials reported little change on the ground over the
previous 24 hours, other than Russian progress against the cities of Kharkiv in
the east and Mykolaiv in the south, in heavy fighting. Western countries have
sought to hasten the war's end by imposing punishing sanctions on Russia, and a
cascade of global companies have abandoned the country, plunging its economy
into isolation. Britain added more oligarchs to its sanctions list on Thursday,
including Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Premier League soccer club
Chelsea. The government said Abramovich's assets — including Chelsea — were
frozen, he was banned from visiting the U.K. and barred from transactions with
U.K. individuals and businesses. The fighting has repeatedly raised the specter
of a nuclear disaster. It knocked out power to the decommissioned Chernobyl
nuclear plant on Wednesday, raising fears about the spent radioactive fuel
stored there that must be kept cool. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said
it saw "no critical impact on safety."Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna
Vereshchuk pleaded Thursday with the Russian military to allow access for repair
crews to restore electricity to the plant, and to fix a damaged gas pipeline in
the south that left Mariupol and other towns without heat.
U.S. VP Harris Embraces Call for War Crimes Probe of Russia
Associated Press/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday embraced calls for an
international war crimes investigation of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine,
citing the "atrocities" of bombing civilians, including a maternity hospital.
Speaking alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda at a press conference in
Warsaw, where she is demonstrating U.S. support for NATO's eastern flank allies,
Harris expressed outrage over the bombing Wednesday of the maternity hospital
and scenes of bloodied pregnant women being evacuated, as well as other attacks
on civilians. She stopped short of directly accusing Russia of having committed
war crimes. "Absolutely there should be an investigation, and we should all be
watching," said Harris, noting that the United Nations has already started a
process to review allegations. "I have no question the eyes of the world are on
this war and what Russia has done in terms of this aggression and these
atrocities."Duda, for his part, said "it is obvious to us that in Ukraine
Russians are committing war crimes." He added that in his view the invasion was
"bearing the features of a genocide — it aims at eliminating and destroying a
nation." Harris praised the Polish people for their generosity for taking in
nearly 1.5 million refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine last month. "I've been
watching or reading about the work of ordinary people doing extraordinary
things, and so I bring you thanks from the American people," Harris said earlier
during a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hours after the
U.S. House passed a massive spending bill that includes $13.6 billion in aid for
Ukraine and its European allies.
The legislation includes $6.8 billion to care for refugees and other economic
aid to allies.
Later Thursday, the vice president was slated to meet with Ukrainian refugees
who have fled to Poland since the Russian invasion began. The vice president is
also scheduled to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while in
Warsaw. The Canadian leader has been in Europe in recent days meeting with
allies about Ukraine. Harris' whirlwind visit to Poland and Romania was billed
by the White House as a chance for the vice president to consult with two of the
leaders from eastern flank NATO nations about the growing humanitarian crisis
caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Already, more than 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine — with more than half
coming to Poland — and even more expected to arrive in the days ahead. Duda
warned of a "refugee disaster" if Poland doesn't receive more assistance to help
house and feed Ukrainians fleeing the conflict. He said he asked Harris for the
U.S. to "speed up" the process for those Ukrainian refugees who would want to go
to the U.S. and might have family there. The United States is absolutely
prepared to do what we can and what we must to support Poland, in terms of the
burden that they have taken on," said Harris.
But differences between Warsaw and Washington over a Polish plan to send
Soviet-made fighter jets to a base in Germany for Ukraine's use have cast a
shadow over Harris' visit to Poland. Just as Harris arrived in Warsaw late
Wednesday evening, the Pentagon definitively rejected the idea.
The proposal was publicly floated by Poland — without first consulting the U.S.
— days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration was
"very, very actively" looking at a proposal under which Ukraine's neighbor
Poland would supply Kyiv with Soviet-era fighters and in turn receive American
F-16s to make up for their loss. Polish government officials, however, insisted
any transfer of planes must be done within the NATO framework. "In a nutshell we
have to be a responsible member of the North Atlantic Alliance," said Duda. On
Wednesday, the Pentagon shut the door on the prospect of NATO transferring jets
to Ukraine, saying such a move with a U.S. and NATO connection would run a "high
risk" of escalating the Russia-Ukraine war. Harris, in her remarks, brushed
aside any notion of tensions between Poland and the U.S. over how to effectively
support Ukraine. "I want to be very clear, the United States and Poland are
united in what we have done and are prepared to do to help Ukraine and the
people of Ukraine, full stop," she said. Gen. Tod D. Wolters, the commander of
U.S. European Command, said in a statement Thursday that the "most effective way
to support the Ukrainian military in their fight against Russia is to provide
increased amounts of anti-tank weapons and air defense systems." That effort by
the U.S. and allies is ongoing, Wolters added. Harris will travel on Friday to
Bucharest, where she's to meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
From 'Puppets' to Players: Ukraine War Reveals Shift for
U.S.' Gulf Allies
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exposed a once unthinkable divergence between
Washington and key Middle East allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the oil giants
that are increasingly independent on the international stage. The wealthy Gulf
nations, which host U.S. forces and have dependably backed Washington for
decades, have notably refrained from supporting President Joe Biden's
administration as it tries to choke Moscow's lifelines, from energy to
diplomacy. Analysts say the new position, rooted in many discords including the
2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad, reveals a
turning point in Gulf relations with the U.S., long the region's protector
against neighbor Iran. "More than an actual shift, this moment is definitely a
catalyst for Gulf-U.S. relations," Anne Gadel, a Gulf expert and contributor to
the French think-tank Institut Montaigne, told AFP. "The optics are that they
are conscious that they need to prepare for a different Middle East, and that
the balance of power is changing in general," she added. The United Arab
Emirates, which currently holds the rotating U.N. Security Council presidency,
abstained last month from voting on a U.S.-Albanian draft resolution condemning
the invasion of Ukraine. And as the now two-week-old war in Ukraine since sends
energy costs soaring, the Gulf countries have so far resisted Western pressure
to raise oil output in an attempt to rein in prices. Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
meanwhile, have stressed their commitment to the OPEC+ oil alliance, which
Riyadh and Moscow lead, despite mounting U.S. sanctions on Russian crude that
culminated in a ban on Tuesday. The UAE reaffirmed that commitment on Thursday,
a day after its ambassador to Washington said his country would encourage OPEC
to "consider higher production levels".
Oil for protection
According to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday citing Middle East and U.S.
officials, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE's Sheikh Mohammed
bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, their countries' de facto rulers, have both declined U.S.
requests to speak to Biden in recent weeks. However, the report "does not
reflect reality", said Emily Horne, spokeswoman for the White House's National
Security Council, adding that Biden had spoken to Saudi King Salman last month.
"There have been no requests for calls since that conversation," she said. But
the U.S. president and the crown prince haven't spoken since Biden took office
and vowed to treat the kingdom as a "pariah" state over Khashoggi's October 2018
murder in Istanbul that the CIA blamed on the Saudi royal. Asked by The Atlantic
magazine whether Biden misunderstands him, the 36-year-old prince shrugged:
"Simply, I do not care." Founded on an American battleship in 1945, when then
Saudi king Abdul Aziz bin Saud and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt first
held talks, the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, and later with neighboring
monarchies, has always been defined as an oil-for-protection arrangement. In the
Arab world, the six Arab countries of the Gulf, hosting U.S. and other foreign
troops and bases, were long regarded as "puppets" for the Americans. This
started changing a decade ago when the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings sidelined
traditional Arab powers such as Egypt and Syria, allowing the stable and
prosperous Gulf states to play a more prominent role. With this change, Saudi
Arabia and the UAE, the two biggest Arab economies, made clear that they are
seeking an independent foreign policy based on national interests. The Gulf
allies are now fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen and have strengthened
ties with Russia and China, while the UAE has established ties with Iran's
arch-enemy, Israel. "The UAE (shouldn't) be projected as a puppet of the United
States anymore," Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political science professor in the UAE,
told CNN this month. "Just because we have such great relations with America, we
do not take orders from Washington, and we have to do things consistent with our
own strategy and priority."
Military downgrade
Many frustrations have strained relations, including Biden's engagement with
Iran, the U.S. refusal to label Yemen rebels as terrorists, and the showdown
over Khashoggi's murder. But security is at the heart of the matter: the lack of
a strong U.S. response when Saudi's Aramco oil facilities were attacked in 2019,
and Washington's announced desire to downgrade its military commitments in the
Middle East. "Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE... are no longer
willing to rely on the United States as the ultimate guarantor of security,"
Hussein Ibish from the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington wrote last week.
"While the United States remains a primary strategic partner, these...
vulnerable states with much to lose have no choice but to diversify their
diplomatic options and strategic toolkits." "The rise of a multipolar world
involving much greater global power and influence, mainly by Russia and China,
is inevitable," he added.
Israeli President Ends Turkey Trip with Synagogue Visit
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
Israel's president on Thursday ended his landmark trip to Turkey with a visit to
the Jewish community in Istanbul, a day after the two countries hailed a new era
in relations. Isaac Herzog held talks in Ankara on Wednesday with Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first visit by an Israeli president
since 2007. He then took part in a prayer for Ukrainian refugees as well as
"Turkey and President Erdogan" with members of the Jewish community in Istanbul
at the Neve Shalom synagogue in the historic Galata district. "The entire
process is without illusions, but reflects strategic and bilateral interests,"
Herzog told journalists about the visit and talks before entering the synagogue.
He left Turkey shortly after. "We will not agree on everything... But we shall
aspire to solve our disagreements with mutual respect and goodwill," Herzog said
during a press conference with Erdogan on Wednesday. The Neve Shalom synagogue,
which is also home to a museum about Jewish heritage, holds a special place for
local Jews. It is a synagogue which "suffered in the past", Herzog said,
referring to terror attacks in 1986 which left 22 dead, and others in 1992 and
2003. On November 15, 2003, 30 were killed and over 300 others were injured
after vehicles filled with explosives targeted two synagogues in Istanbul. The
attacks were claimed by a Turkish cell of Al-Qaeda. Under the Ottoman Empire,
Istanbul, then Constantinople, welcomed many Jews expelled from Spain in 1492
who found refuge and established thriving communities until the 20th century. In
the 1930s, Jews were subject to discriminatory laws and pogroms. These "500
years" of living together is often cited by Turkish officials, although the
status of Turkish Jews has sometimes been less than equal. Around 15,000 Jews
live in Turkey today, the majority in Istanbul, compared with 200,000 at the
start of the 20th century.
Trump-Era Israeli Settlement Growth Proceeds in His Absence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 10 March, 2022
The growth of Israel’s West Bank settler population accelerated last year,
according to figures released by a pro-settler group on Thursday, despite
renewed American pressure to rein in construction on occupied territory that the
Palestinians want for a future state. The figures show that a settlement surge
initiated when President Donald Trump was in office shows no sign of slowing
down. Trump provided unprecedented support for Israel’s claims to land seized in
war, reversing decades of US policy. President Joe Biden’s administration has
returned to the previous approach, criticizing settlement expansion as an
obstacle to resolving the conflict. But Israel has continued to build and expand
settlements, and major road projects are expected to bring even more settlers
into the territory, The Associated Press reported. The statistics, compiled by
WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com and based on official figures, show the
settler population grew to 490,493 as of Jan. 30, a nearly 3.2% rise over 13
months. The population has risen by 16.5% since the group began compiling
statistics in 2017, it says. Israel’s overall annual growth rate, by comparison,
is around 1.7%. In 2020, the last year of the Trump administration, which also
saw repeated coronavirus lockdowns, the settler population in the West Bank grew
by 2.6%, according to the group. “There’s a tremendous amount of construction
going on,” said its CEO, Baruch Gordon, including in his community of Beit El,
just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is
headquartered. “Right now there’s 350 units going up that will probably be
finished within a year, year and a half. So when that hits, that’s going to
increase the size of our town by about 25%,” he said.
The settler population tends to be younger and more religious, with a higher
average birth rate. Many Israelis are drawn to the state-subsidized settlements
for the quality of life. They resemble suburbs or small towns and offer lower
housing prices than Israel’s crowded and increasingly unaffordable cities. The
pandemic might have made the settlements even more attractive. “Just like in
America, people moved out of Manhattan and went to suburbs and found that they
could live in more open spaces, and the same is happening in Israel,” Gordon
said. His figures do not include east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move
not recognized internationally, and which is now home to more than 200,000
Jewish settlers. The West Bank and east Jerusalem are together home to some 3
million Palestinians. Israel captured both territories, along with Gaza, in the
1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians view the growth of settlements as the main
obstacle to peace because they cut off Palestinian communities from their land
and from one another, and make it nearly impossible to create a viable state.
Settlements have expanded under every Israeli government, even at the height of
the peace process in the 1990s.
There have been no serious peace negotiations in over a decade, and Israel’s
current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is a former settler leader opposed to
Palestinian statehood. Israel’s political system is dominated by pro-settler
parties that view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the
Jewish people. The international community still considers a two-state solution
to be the only realistic way of resolving the century-old conflict, but it has
provided no incentive for Israel to end the occupation — now well into its sixth
decade. Hagit Ofran, an expert at the anti-settlement monitor Peace Now, says
the population figures are an imprecise measure of growth, as they reflect the
higher birth rate and people moving into homes built after years of planning and
approvals.
She says that while US pressure appears to have succeeded in pausing some of the
most controversial settlement projects, the overall enterprise is proceeding in
the same way it always has, with several projects gradually advancing and new
homes and roads being built. “The Americans, as far as I know, are trying to
stop it and have had very limited success,” she said. The seemingly permanent
military occupation has led three well-known human rights groups to conclude
that Israel is committing the international crime of apartheid by systematically
denying Palestinians equal rights. Israel rejects those accusations as an attack
on its very existence as a Jewish-majority state. The increasingly authoritarian
and unpopular Palestinian Authority, established through agreements with Israel
in the 1990s, administers parts of the West Bank, while the Islamic militant
group Hamas controls Gaza, from which Israel withdrew troops and settlers in
2005. Israel’s current government, which relies on the support of parties from
across the political spectrum, has vowed to preserve the status quo, with
neither a settlement freeze nor any formal annexation. It has also taken some
steps to improve economic conditions for Palestinians.
But Ofran says that in practice, pro-settler ministers and other officials do as
they please, and the government does damage control when it is called out. “The
minister of foreign affairs gets phone calls from the Americans, or whatever,
and suddenly the government needs to do something about it,” she said.
Battleground Ukraine: Day 15 of Russia's Invasion
Agence France Presse/March,10/2022
On the 15th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces were encircling
at least four major cities Thursday and inched closer towards the city limits of
Kyiv. The capital remains under Ukrainian control but is increasingly at risk of
being surrounded, with many observers believing Russia is still aiming to
capture the city. Here is a summary of the situation on the ground, based on
statements from both sides, Western defense and intelligence sources and
international organizations.
The east
Kharkiv remains in Ukrainian hands despite increasingly intense Russian
bombardment, according to Western sources, and the city is likely now
surrounded. Russian forces are also pressing an offensive through the separatist
Donetsk and Lugansk regions that are backed by Russia and seeking to join up
with Russian forces who entered from the north.
The city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine is now encircled by Russian troops but
thousands have been able to leave through a humanitarian corridor.
Kyiv and the north
Kyiv remains under Ukrainian control despite heavy bombardments, though Western
observers point to a Russian column of hundreds of vehicles outside the city. An
AFP team saw Russian armored vehicles rolling up to the northeastern edge of
Kyiv, edging closer in their attempts to encircle the Ukrainian capital. But the
British defense ministry said the column was suffering "continued losses" at the
hands of Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian forces also retain control of the northern town of Chernihiv, which
has seen heavy civilian casualties in recent days and appears to be encircled.
The south
Russia has besieged the strategic city of Mariupol, and attempts to evacuate an
estimated 200,000 civilians from the city have so far failed.
The children's and maternity hospital in Mariupol was attacked on Wednesday in
what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as a Russian "war crime."
The major port city of Odessa remains under Ukrainian control and has so far
been spared fighting. But the U.S. Defense Department said Russian ground forces
appeared primed to attack the city, possibly in coordination with an amphibious
assault.
Russian forces last week took the southern city of Kherson, just north of
Crimea, and there is now heavy fighting for control of the city of Mykolayiv to
the northwest. Some sources believe Russia could bypass Mykolayiv and head
direct for Odessa.
The west and center
The west of Ukraine remains largely spared from the fighting. The main city of
Lviv has become a hub for foreign diplomatic missions and journalists as well as
Ukrainians seeking safety or wanting to leave the country.
Casualties
The United Nations said Thursday that it had recorded 549 civilian deaths in
Ukraine, including 41 children, though the actual toll could be far higher.
Ukraine and Western sources claim that the Russian death toll is far higher than
Moscow has so far admitted to. Ukraine says more than 12,000 Russian soldiers
have been killed, though U.S. estimates put the number of Russians killed at
2,000 to 4,000. Russia's only official toll, announced last week, said 498
Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine.
Refugees
Around 2.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, more
than half going to Poland, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Islamic State Names New Leader, Confirms Death of
Predecessor
Agence France Presse/March,10/2022
The Islamic State jihadist group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Ibrahim
al-Qurashi in a statement Thursday and named Abu Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi as
his replacement. IS jihadists have "pledged allegiance" to "Abu Hasan al-Hashemi
al-Qurashi as an emir over believers and the caliph of Muslims," the group's
spokesperson said in an audio recording. The recording confirmed the death of
the former IS chief along with the group's ex-spokesman. "Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi
and the official Islamic State group spokesman... Abu Hamza al-Qurashi... were
killed in recent days," the new spokesperson said. The former leader blew
himself up in early February during a U.S. raid in northwest Syria, according to
Washington, in an area controlled by rival jihadists. Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi,
who led IS from 2019, was an ethnic Turkmen from the Iraqi city of Tal Afar. He
replaced IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid in October
that year. Little is known about the new leader, who will serve as the group's
third chief since it's inception. He rises to the helm at a time when the group
has been weakened by US-backed operations in Iraq and Syria aiming to thwart a
jihadist resurgence. IS' self-declared caliphate, established from 2014, once
stretched across vast parts of Syria and Iraq and administered millions of
inhabitants. A long and deadly military fightback led by Kurdish-Syrian and
Iraqi forces with backing from the United States and other powers eventually
defeated the jihadist proto-state in March 2019. The remnants of IS in Syria
mostly went to their desert hideouts from which they continue to harass
Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops. A U.N. report last year
estimated that around 10,000 IS fighters remained active across Iraq and Syria.
S. Korea's President-Elect Wants Tougher Stance on N. Korea
Associated Press/March,10/2022
South Korea's president-elect Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday he would solidify an
alliance with the United States, build up a powerful military and sternly cope
with North Korean provocations, hours after he won the country's hard-fought
election to become its next leader.
Yoon, whose single five-year term is to begin in May, said during his
campaigning he would make a boosted alliance with the United States the center
of his foreign policy. He's accused outgoing liberal President Moon Jae-in of
tilting toward Pyongyang and Beijing and away from Washington. He's also
stressed the need to recognize the strategic importance of repairing ties with
Tokyo despite recent bilateral historical disputes. Some experts say a Yoon
government will likely be able to reinforce ties with Washington and improve
relations with Tokyo but can't really avoid frictions with Pyongyang and
Beijing.
"I'll rebuild the South Korea-U.S. alliance. I'll (make) it a strategic
comprehensive alliance while sharing key values like a liberal democracy, a
market economy and human rights," Yoon told a televised news conference. "I'll
establish a strong military capacity to deter any provocation completely," Yoon
said. "I'll firmly deal with illicit, unreasonable behavior by North Korea in a
principled manner, though I'll always leave door for South-North talks open."
After his election win, he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden on the phone.
According to a White House statement, Biden congratulated Yoon on the election
and emphasized the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea. The statement
said the two also committed to maintain close coordination on addressing the
threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. North Korea hasn't
made any comments on Yoon's election. In recent weeks, it's launched a spate of
sophisticated, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in what experts call an
attempt to modernize its weapons arsenal and pressure the Biden administration
to making concessions like sanctions relief amid stalled diplomacy. Last week,
North Korea said it tested cameras and other systems needed to operate a spy
satellite. Its state media on Thursday cited leader Kim Jong Un as saying his
country needs reconnaissance satellites to monitor "the aggression troops of the
U.S. imperialism and its vassal forces."On Japan, Yoon said that Seoul and Tokyo
should focus on building future-oriented ties. "The focus in South Korea-Japan
relations should be finding future paths that would benefit the people of both
countries," he said. The two countries are both key U.S. allies and closely
linked to each other economically and culturally, but their relations sank to
post-war lows during Moon's presidency over disputes related to Japan's 1910-45
colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday expressed a desire to
communicate with Yoon to bring back good ties. But he still said Tokyo will
stick to its position that all compensation issues have been settled by a 1965
bilateral treaty.
Yoon, who ran on the ticket of the main opposition People Power Party, had
previously served as Moon's prosecutor general. But he left the Moon government
and joined the opposition last year after high-profile infighting over his
investigations on some of Moon's allies.
Wednesday's election was largely a two-way showdown between Yoon and liberal
ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung. The two spent months slamming, mocking and
demonizing each other in one of the most bitter political campaigns in recent
memory, aggravating the country's already severe domestic division.
Lee and his allies attacked Yoon over his lack of experience in foreign policy
and other major state affairs.
They said Yoon's hardline stance on North Korea would unnecessarily provoke the
North, and picking a side between Washington and Beijing would pose greater
security threats to Seoul. Yoon has accused the Moon administration of being
"submissive" to Pyongyang and Beijing at the expense of Seoul's 70-year alliance
with Washington. Yoon's razor-thin victory against Lee was partly seen as a
referendum on the liberal government, whose popularity waned in recent years
over failures to deal with stark economic inequalities, decaying job markets and
soaring house prices that paint bleak financial futures for many people in their
20s and 30s. Yoon during the campaign focused much of his message on vows to
create more jobs and restore social mobility by creating a fairer, competitive
environment for young people. He fiercely criticized Moon's government over the
policy failures and high-profile investment scandals surrounding Moon's allies
that he said exposed hypocrisy and disregard for law. On domestic agendas, Yoon
faces urgent tasks to suppress a record-breaking COVID-19 surge, ease widening
economic inequalities and runaway house prices and heal a nation sharply split
along regional antagonism, ideologies, age and gender. Yoon was criticized
during the campaign for stoking gender animosities by promising to abolish the
country's Gender Equality and Family Ministry, which he accused of pushing
policies unfair toward men.
While he was apparently trying win the votes of young men who decry gender
equality policies and the loss of traditional privileges in a hyper-competitive
job market, exit polls released after Wednesday's election indicated that his
gains in male votes were largely canceled out by young women who swung toward
Lee. During Thursday's conference, Yoon rejected accusations that his campaign
raised gender tensions but repeated a view that the country no longer had
structural barriers to women's success.
"Regarding gender issues, laws and systems are pretty much in place now," he
said. "Instead of approaching the issue as a matter of equality and fairness
between groups, I think the government should provide stronger response and
protection regarding individual cases of unfairness."Yoon said building a better
pandemic response would be a priority for his power transition committee, which
will have a dedicated team designing plans to reinforce the country's medical
capacities and more effective financial packages to help devastated service
sector businesses.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
March 10-11/2022
Europe’s Future is Our Present
Hussam Itani/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
The Europeans are terrified by the prospect of Ukraine’s flames reaching their
countries. They are afraid that their safe countries, thriving economies, and
free societies will be Russia’s next target. The specter of losing today’s
privileges is a major motive for their cautious and confused support for
Ukraine. Memories of the 1938 Munich Agreement with Hitler and the 1945 Yalta
Conference with Stalin invoke deep apprehension of repeating the mistakes of
“deescalation” and agreeing to share spheres of influence with hardened
authoritarian rulers.
Europeans and the West more generally want to stay true to the values of
democracy without undermining their standard of living. Their governments have
denounced the Russian invasion and sent weapons and money. However, they are
also extremely hesitant about halting imports of oil and gas from Russia.
However, it seems that nothing comes free. Those seeking to save face
politically should expect a spike in fuel costs in their country and the
electoral losses that this spike could cause in the French Presidential
elections and the congressional midterms in the United States.
And the Europeans do not have to dig deep in the history books. The prospective
future they tremble at the thought of unfolding is being experienced today by
the peoples of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries that have fallen into
the hands of despotic and oppressive regimes, slogans, and infallible leaders.
The “Aleppo strategy,” which Putin is said to be implementing today against
Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, encompasses a political track as well as the
destruction of cities. Rather, political objectives are the primary mover of
this strategy, which some Lebanese newspapers cheered on when it began, calling
it the “Sukhoi storm.”This storm that led to the destruction of entire cities
and the deaths of children and entire families was particularly successful in
its bid to rescue a shaky regime from collapse. It left the worst aspects of
this regime, its prisons, political nihilism, moral bankruptcy, and an economy
that has left more than half of the Syrian population hungry. The political
objective that justified the use of barrel bombs was the need for the armed
junta to stand “steadfast” and maintain their power and privileges.
It is the “future of the past” in which, like zombies, regimes and governments
rise from the dead. Their only concern is roaming the destroyed streets of
Aleppo, Beirut and Baghdad and eliminating all apparent signs of life. A song
from here and a book fair from there…
Each of these regimes has its own pretext to justify taking human life. Not the
least of which is resistance, the fight against terrorism, and preparations to
march on “occupied Jerusalem.” As for the argument that ends all discussion and
boggles the mind, is that “Russia cannot allow Ukraine to join NATO.” Russia is
so worried for its national security that it has forgotten that the small
countries neighboring it would not have thought of joining NATO if they had not
been scared of Russia, whose leadership is obsessed with a false narrative of
history and avenging the humiliation- as they see it- of their country.
All the post-war national frameworks for this country being discussed agree that
it will lose some of its territory and sovereignty and that it will be subjected
to being ruled by a regime loyal to Moscow, even if it pretends neutrality.
Experiences like those of Finland and Austria will be brought up to tempt the
Ukrainians with opportunities for the prosperity that reconstruction offers if
the war effort is abandoned. Ukraine has already lost the war. That is what they
are saying. Russia will come out on the other side weak and on the brink of
collapse. The ramifications that will ensue from this war will be felt for many
years… Something resembling the situation in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, where
Iran, which is bankrupt and extremely drained, runs things. Nonetheless, all of
them lead proud, dignified lives, their stupid, meaningless propaganda claims.
The debris of states and rubble of peoples and societies fighting for scarce
resources amid an exacerbating climate crisis and threat of another pandemic and
new diseases more dangerous than COVID-19. All the talk about alternative energy
and abandoning fossil fuels did not stand up against suggestions of stopping gas
exports to Europe by the man in the Kremlin.
It will be a multipolar world, scream the supporters of Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine. The unipolar world that the West failed to lead has been brought down.
It has become necessary, they claim, for countries like Russia and China to
occupy positions among nations worthy of their stature. Moscow and Beijing have
no alternative to the model of autocratic personalistic rule to offer the world.
People like Eric Zemmour in France, Viktor Urban in Hungary, and Matteo Salvini
in Italy will pluck its fruits. Countries like Ukraine, with their “Nazis,”
should disappear from the face of the earth.
As for the question of who gave Russia the right to safeguard its security and
deprive Ukraine of security, there is no answer right now, as the world is
currently preoccupied assessing the implications of a potential nuclear attack
by Putin, who is deeply concerned for the “single nation” in Ukraine and Russia.
Perhaps the poet Said Akl had been mistaken when he said, “The most beautiful
history happens tomorrow.”
The Goal is Not to Save Ukraine
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
This is the biggest crisis in world history since World War II, a far cry from
the Cuban missile crisis, the chaos of the collapse of the Soviet Union, wars in
the Middle East, etc. These kinds of wars go beyond defining the borders and
interests of countries to deciding the fate of humanity. Their direct
consequences, if extended, would be devastating to weaker nations, as the
African proverb goes, “When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.”
It’s only a matter of time – days or maybe weeks – before Russia takes over
Ukraine, unless, of course, an unexpected miracle happens. As long as it is
fighting alone, the Ukrainian resistance cannot prevent the inevitable,
especially since the NATO will not dare enter into a direct confrontation with a
nuclear-armed Russia.
The massive Western diplomatic, economic, and military pressure aims primarily
at making Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine as expensive as possible, so the
spoils are not cheap. This will make Russia think twice before moving on to its
next target if it has a hidden expansion agenda. The second objective is to
drain Russia economically and technically and isolate it politically, as the
West hopes to push the Kremlin to retreat in the future or push it towards its
collapse within a few years in order to achieve European security.
Russia will take over Ukraine in no time, but can it bear the consequences of
the next phase of the crisis that could last for years? It is difficult to
assess that today because of the ambiguity surrounding the numerous
possibilities that the future holds, including the balance of power or even the
conflict with China. The need will arise, then, to either neutralize Russia and
win it over as an ally or reconcile with China as Henry Kissinger did back in
the 1970s and raise the level of pressure on Moscow.
However, these are different times, and the future is uncertain. No one can
claim to know how the Kremlin will respond if cornered. The world has been
haunted by the nuclear dilemma for nearly seventy years, with no decision made
yet on whether or not to use nuclear weapons. It is a dangerous nightmare. In
reasonable political conditions, no one would choose to commit nuclear suicide.
But this is not necessarily the case today. Those who spend their time
criticizing “double standards” may need to look at things from a different
perspective. In short, the rule is that standards are dropped in times of war,
even in wars of smaller scale. The West punished Saddam’s Iraq and Iran by
depriving these regimes of aviation, information, media, markets, sports, and
art. We must deal with crises realistically.
The state of panic that reigns in Europe, and the West in general, is evident,
especially since this is the first direct war to erupt since WWII. In wars,
countries fight over resources, such as oil, gas, and wheat, which they consider
key weapons in any battle. All three are at stake in the Ukrainian war, and
every country in the world –regardless of its distance from the war and Kyiv– is
paying dearly. For instance, we may benefit from the rise in oil prices, but on
the other hand, we are paying a high price for our purchases of wheat and all
imported goods. The rise in the price of oil preceded the Ukrainian crisis, as
it came in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and the recovery of global
markets. But naturally, the war and the fears that pervaded the markets did not
help with the price hike.
The magnitude of today’s crisis goes beyond the Ukrainian borders, and the goal
is not to save Ukraine, but to stop the global deterioration. Good fortune is
not having to take sides in a crisis, but neutrality might be out of place here,
for even Switzerland has adopted sanctions against Russia.
During the UN General Assembly’s vote to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
an eagle-eyed Washington was watching for countries voting against it. Russians
then announced that their side will not forget the countries’ positions
regarding the crisis. Today, our increasingly divided world is living on a
knife-edge. Tension is growing, signaling the end of the post-Cold War peace era
and the return to war camps.
Russia’s Brain Drain Will Be Hard for Putin to Stop
Stephen Mihm/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,10/2022
As President Vladimir Putin was launching his battle to restore Russia’s former
glory by leveling Ukraine, something as important to his country’s future had
already begun to play out at home. Russia’s most valuable asset — its young
people — were indicating they want out.
A poll taken before the Feb. 24 invasion found that 43% of Russians between the
ages of 18 and 24 want to leave the country for good. Of those, 44% cited the
economic situation as the primary reason for departing. That sentiment will
surely be strengthened by the impact of global sanctions and domestic
crackdowns. As growing numbers of Russians contemplate leaving their country,
Putin will face a predicament familiar to his Communist predecessors and other
authoritarians. China is seeing financial professionals flee Hong Kong in
response to its crackdowns, a reminder that repressing citizens is one thing;
keeping them from voting with their feet is another. That’s a challenge Putin
will find difficult to win.
To understand why, consider what happened in Eastern Europe after World War II.
When the Soviet Union began to consolidate its sphere of influence over what
would soon become known as the Eastern Bloc, a first wave of emigrants from the
new Communist countries fled west, seeking refuge in the democracies of Europe
as well as the US.
The leading edge of this exodus included the country’s most successful people.
In Poland, for example, one historian has described the initial wave as
encompassing “former political elites, wealthy landowners, professionals [and]
entrepreneurs who saw grim future prospects in the Communist dominated country.”
Something similar happened in Germany. An article published in West Germany’s
Der Spiegel observed that the first wave from 1945 to 1947 consisted “mostly of
owners of large businesses and industries, deposed by Soviet reorganization.”
Then came small-business owners, followed by members of commercial firms.
As Communists intensified their hold on East Germany, doctors and pharmacists
fled, too. By the end of 1952, the magazine noted, “the exodus of the farmers
had begun. The iron stirring the cauldron of the transformation had now reached
the depths of the social pyramid.”
At a certain point, the Soviet satellite states realized that these runaways
cast doubt on claims that the Eastern Bloc was a socialist paradise. The
authorities dealt with it the only way they knew how, locking their citizens
behind the Iron Curtain.
Repression took many forms: brutal punishments meted out for anyone caught
trying to flee; domestic travel restrictions designed to steer people away from
borders with the West; military checkpoints at any vulnerable crossing, and even
more draconian measures. Hungary, for example, created a no-man’s land 30
kilometers wide on its western border.
The crackdown served its purpose but was a disaster in other ways. The spectacle
of the Eastern Bloc turning its societies into country-wide jails was hardly a
winning strategy in the global battle of ideas.
The West understood this, of course, and exploited it. As early as 1952, the
administration of President Harry Truman created the United States Escapee
Program, which targeted high-profile defectors, providing enticements to
intellectuals, scientists and others to flee the Soviet Union and its client
states.
As one historian of this program has noted, the term “escapee” deliberately
“conjured the Soviet sphere as one vast prison, surrounded by barbed wire,
watchtowers, and guards zealously posed over automatic weapons.” American
popular culture helped cement this perception around the world.
Still, one portal to freedom remained open: Berlin. The city’s anomalous status
in the Cold War, even after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s failed attempt to
starve the city into submission, meant that East Germans could cross into the
western half of the city and never return. And they did. Between 1949 and 1961,
it’s estimated that upward of 3.5 million East Germans — 20 percent of the
country’s population — fled for the West. These individuals tended to be the
smartest, best educated and youngest members of East German society. More than
75 percent of those who left were under 40.
The outflow of human capital caused no end of consternation for the East German
state, which eventually declared these departures a crime: “Republikflucht,” or
“flight from the republic.” The authorities described such behavior as an “act
of political and moral backwardness and depravity.” But millions of East Germans
failed to get the memo. As East Germany bled its best and brightest, the
government finally got permission from Moscow to build its infamous wall,
closing the migration loophole in Berlin and stanching the exodus. But by then
the damage had been done.
Putin may soon face a similar dilemma. If the youngest, most enterprising people
make a break for it, he can sit by as they take Russia’s future with them. Or he
can turn his vast country into a gigantic prison, resurrecting Soviet-style
controls on borders.
Either way, Putin and Russia will lose.
Palestinians: US Weakness Facilitates the Rise of Jihad and
Fundamentalism
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/March 10, 2022
"America is unable to decide on war against Russia, and therefore the US will
not be a decision-maker in international politics." — Musa Abu Marzouk, member
of the Hamas "politburo," Twitter, February 26, 2022.
As far as Hamas is concerned, the weaker the US the greater are their chances of
fulfilling their goal of replacing Israel with an Islamic state.
Articles 13 of the Hamas Charter states "There is no solution to the Palestinian
problem except by Jihad."
Washington's image in the Arab world has been battered to the point at which
even its allies are beginning to challenge its policies and decisions, Atallah
said.
"Biden [in his State of the Union speech] ignored the Afghanistan issue,
especially in light of the confused [US] withdrawal. He was also cautious not to
talk about relations with China so as not to provoke it. Biden's speech confirms
with full clarity the loss of a consistent strategic vision with regard to
central issues globally. This is a sign of the loss of the prestige of the great
country [the US]. Biden's speech was a message of a historical recognition of
the upcoming political defeat and the beginning of the birth of a new
international order." — Hassan Asfour, former Palestinian Authority minister,
Khbrpress.ps, March 2, 2022.
"When two Gulf countries refuse to support the US, this means the image of
America in the region is deeply tarnished, and that there is a changing mood." —
Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas official, Khbrpress.ps, March 4, 2022.
The Americans need to understand that no matter how many gifts they give to the
Palestinians, that will not stop Hamas and many others from continuing to hate
the US and look at it as an enemy.
Some Arabs hate the US because of its support for corrupt Arab dictatorships and
its war against Islamist terrorist groups. Others see the US as a country that
represents the anti-Muslim "infidels" in the West.
The only way for the Americans to deal with these Muslim extremists is by not
showing any sign of weakness or appeasement. The weaker you are and the more you
try to appease them, the bigger their appetite becomes to fight against the US.
Such voices coming from the Palestinians corroborate claims of the erosion of
the US standing, especially among the Arabs. They are responding to an anemic US
under the Biden administration that has forfeited its credibility as well as its
capacity to stand behind its allies and friends. This US approach does not bode
well for the future of the region. The pattern of weakness and inaction are
being interpreted as a sign of cowardice posing as "caution," and as a green
light to pursue jihadi and terrorist schemes and establish yet another Islamic
fundamentalist state.
The Iranian-backed Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip sees the
Russia-Ukraine war as evidence of the weakness of the Biden administration and
the end of the status of the US as the world's sole superpower. "America is
unable to decide on war against Russia, and therefore the US will not be a
decision-maker in international politics," said Musa Abu Marzouk (pictured), a
member of the Hamas "politburo."
Like many Palestinians and Arabs, the Iranian-backed Hamas movement that
controls the Gaza Strip sees the Russia-Ukraine war as evidence of the weakness
of the Biden administration and the end of the status of the US as the world's
sole superpower.
The timidity of the Biden administration and the perceived decline of the US in
the international arena are good news for Hamas, whose leaders are hoping that
this will pave the way for them to achieve their goal of replacing Israel with
an Islamic fundamentalist state.
Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas "politburo," said recently:
"The Russia-Ukraine war indicates that the era of America's unipolar role has
ended. America is unable to decide on war against Russia, and therefore the US
will not be a decision-maker in international politics..."
The Hamas leader seems predictably optimistic about the prospects of killing
Jews and eliminating Israel under a weakened US. Abu Marzouk is so excited about
the perceived decline of the US that he believes that now Hamas and the
Palestinians can start talking about the "future" of the Middle East.
What future does Hamas and many Palestinians foresee?
The Hamas leaders deserve credit for being transparent about their ambitions and
for reminding the world that Hamas remains committed to its 1988 Charter, which
explicitly and unambiguously calls on Muslims to wage jihad (holy war) to
displace both Israel and the Jews.
The charter expresses hatred of Jews by quoting a hadith (saying) attributed to
the prophet Mohammed:
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the
Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say: O Muslims,
O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." (Article 7).
In the charter, Hamas defines its slogan as follows:
"Allah is its goal, the prophet (Mohammed) its model, the Koran its
constitution, jihad its path and death for the sake of Allah as the loftiest of
its wishes." (Article 8).
The charter lays out the strategies and methods of Hamas as follows:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an
Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection. No
one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it." (Article 11)
Articles 13 of the Hamas Charter states "There is no solution to the Palestinian
problem except by Jihad."
Last year, Hamas leaders celebrated the US "defeat" in Afghanistan and said it
too was a sign of the weakness of the Americans in general and the Biden
administration in particular.
In a phone call to congratulate the Taliban "foreign minister" on the "victory"
after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who is
currently based in Qatar, expressed hope that the Taliban will support the
Palestinians in their war on Israel.
Another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, also expressed joy over the US "retreat"
in Afghanistan.
The statements of the Hamas leaders show that they see the US withdrawal from
Afghanistan and failure to take tough measures against Russia as signs of
weakness and retreat. As far as Hamas is concerned, the weaker the US the
greater are their chances of fulfilling their goal of replacing Israel with an
Islamic state.Palestinian political analyst Akram Atallah also appears to
comprehend the perception that the standing of the US has dramatically
diminished as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. Washington's image in the Arab
world has been battered to the point at which even its allies are beginning to
challenge its policies and decisions, Atallah said.
He pointed out that the United Arab Emirates abstained on a US-led resolution to
condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council, due
to the Gulf state's frustrations over the Biden administration's weak response
to recent drone and missile attacks on Abu Dhabi by Yemen's Iranian-backed
Houthi militia. Atallah also pointed out that Saudi Arabia recently rejected
requests from the US to increase its production of oil in order to reduce
prices.
"This reflects the self-confidence of the two [Arab] countries and their ability
to challenge and contradict the demands and interests of the US... When two Gulf
countries refuse to support the US, this means the image of America in the
region is deeply tarnished, and that there is a changing mood. We are not only
facing countries that may rediscover their strength, but also rediscover
American weakness. Does America understand that the world is changing and that
the wings of an eagle are weakened by factors of natural erosion and time?"
Hassan Asfour, a former Palestinian Authority minister, wrote that he too
believes that the US has lost its "central" role in the Middle East. Asfour
pointed out that Biden, in his State of the Union speech, did not make any
reference to the Iranian nuclear issue and the negotiations in Vienna about
reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. "It did not stop here," Asfour added.
"Biden [in his speech] ignored the Afghanistan issue, especially in light of the
confused [US] withdrawal. He was also cautious not to talk about relations with
China so as not to provoke it. Biden's speech confirms with full clarity the
loss of a consistent strategic vision with regard to central issues globally.
This is a sign of the loss of the prestige of the great country [the US].
Biden's speech was a message of a historical recognition of the upcoming
political defeat and the beginning of the birth of a new international order." (Khbrpress.ps,
March 2, 2022)
Hani al-Masri, a prominent Palestinian political analyst, wrote that America's
"retreat can be seen in several areas in the world, such as what happened in the
shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan and its quest to reach an agreement with
Iran."
Ahmed Issa, former Director General of the Palestine Institute for National
Security Research, said that the current war shows that Israel can no longer
rely on the US to play an influential role in the international arena.
The Americans need to understand that no matter how many gifts they give to the
Palestinians, that will not stop Hamas and many others from continuing to hate
the US, looking on it as an enemy and chanting, "America is the Great Satan!"
Some Arabs hate the US because of its support for corrupt Arab dictatorships and
its war against Islamist terrorist groups. Others see the US as a country that
represents the anti-Muslim "infidels" in the West.
The only way for the Americans to deal with these Muslim extremists is by not
showing any sign of weakness or appeasement. The weaker you are and the more you
try to appease them, the bigger their appetite becomes to fight against the US.
Fayez Abu Shamala, a political analyst from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, also
sounded optimistic regarding the growing weakness of the US and its allies. He
wrote:
"Today, NATO stands unable to protect its allies and is facing a rising Russian
power. Some NATO countries want to be liberated from American hegemony. The
coming days will bring many surprises. We, the Arabs and Palestinians, have
nothing to do but watch events with great caution and ponder how to exploit the
developments."
Such voices coming from the Palestinians corroborate claims of the erosion of
the US standing, especially among the Arabs. They are responding to an anemic US
under the Biden administration that has forfeited its credibility as well as its
capacity to stand behind its allies and friends. This US approach does not bode
well for the future of the region. The pattern of weakness and inaction are
being interpreted as a sign of cowardice posing as "caution," and as a green
light to pursue jihadi and terrorist schemes and establish yet another Islamic
fundamentalist state.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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