English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 16/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.march16.22.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 15-16/2022
God says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomsoever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomsoever he chooses
Letter to the Romans 09/14-18/:”What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.’So then he has mercy on whomsoever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomsoever he chooses.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 13-14/2022
Geagea & Hariri Sold the Blood Of the 14Th of March Martyrs/Elias Bejjani/March 14/2022
Aoun signs Competition Law, gets briefed on new housing plan
Berri tackles developments with Mikati, Ein al- Tineh visitors
Mikati chairs meeting of committee tasked to follow up on national food security
Lebanese govt talks with IMF moving in the right direction: Deputy PM al-Shami
U.N. Chief Warns Russian War is Hurting Lebanon, Poor Countries
Shea Denies Nasrallah's Accusations that Electricity Deals for Lebanon Shelved
Saniora Says Will Fully Engage in Elections without Running in Person
High-Level Saudi Team in France for Strategic Aid to Lebanon
Political Fog in Lebanon as Doors Close for Parliament Candidacy
Judge Aoun Freezes Assets of 5 Banks in Ongoing Probe
Sea Border Panel Meets Anew, Still Expected to Reject Hochstein's Proposal
Shami's Office Says IMF Negotiations 'Going Well'
Jumblat Decries Arab Abandonment Due to 'Absurd Statements'
Hariri Denies Scolding Mufti for 'Siding with Saniora'
Bou Habib inks agreement with Japanese Ambassador to establish JICA office in Lebanon, discusses developments with Danish and Swiss diplomats
Energy Minister discusses electricity plan with US Ambassador
Visiting Iraqi delegation discusses oil-for-services agreement with Hamieh, Boujikian
Fondation Diane” Calls for Women’s Solidarity and Organizes the Roundtable Discussion: “8/8 Women Change Makers: Union in Times of Crises”
The Biden Administration is Poised to Hand Hezbollah a Win in Vienna/Tony Badran/Newsweek/March 15/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 15-16/2022
Russia Says Received U.S. Guarantees on Iran Nuclear Deal
Russia Drafting Thousands in Syria for Ukraine War, Monitor Says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for no-fly zone in Canadian Parliament address
Russia bars entry to Biden and Canada's Trudeau
Russian drone ‘shot down after flying into NATO airspace’
Zelensky Says Ukraine Must Recognize It Will Not Join NATO
Russian Forces Press in on Kyiv as Talks Resume
Russia Calls for U.N. Council Vote on Ukraine 'Humanitarian' Resolution
UK's Johnson to Visit Saudi Arabia for Oil Supply Talks
Canada imposes additional sanctions on enablers of President Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine
GCC Seeks to Host Yemen Govt., Rebels in Riyadh for Rare Talks

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 15-16/2022
Russia’s Putin looks to import Syrian mercenaries to do the ‘dirty tricks’ against Ukraine’s population/Ben Evansky and Benjamin Weinthal/ March 15/2022 |
Lifting Human Rights Sanctions on Iran Would Be a Mistake/Orde Kittrie/The National Interest/March 15/2022
Russia sanctions grow faster, larger than South Africa sanctions in 1980s/
James Brooke/The Berkshire Eagle/March 15/2022
A chance for a ‘longer and stronger’ deal, rather than a contract of capitulation/Jacob Nagel and Meir Ben-Shabbat/Israel Hayom/March 15/2022
North Korea Shows How the Iranian Nuclear Deal Will Fail/Anthony Ruggiero and Michael Rubin/The National Interest/March 15/ 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 13-14/2022
Geagea & Hariri Sold the Blood Of the 14Th of March Martyrs
Elias Bejjani/March 14/2022 (From 2016 Archives)
الياس بجاني: جعجع والحريري باعوا دماء شهداء تجمع 14 آذار/من أرشيف عام 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/47461/elias-bejjani-geagea-hariri-sold-the-blood-of-the-14th-of-march-martyrs/
All those Lebanese parties, political and clergymen who nominated MP, Michael Aoun for the Lebanese president’s post, while he is still a dire servant and cheap Trojan tool for the Iranian anti-Lebanese and anti-Arabs’ scheme, especially Dr.Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces Party leader, and the Ex PM, Saad Al Hariri, The Future Movement leader have openly and with no shame or self respect sold Jobran Tuieni’s blood as well as all the sacrifices and martyrdom of all the 14th of March Martyrs.
Samir Geagea and Saad Al Hariri have totally surrendered to Hezbollah’s terrorism and betrayed the Lebanese people, the 14th of March Coalition aims and objectives and with humiliation licked all their promises and vows.
Geagea and Hariri decided to be a replicate of MP, Michael Aoun and House Speaker, Nabih Berri; mere servants to the terrorist Hezbollah Iranian militia and its Iranian-Syrian masters.
They gave up on the holy cause of liberating Lebanon from the bloody Iranian-Syrian occupation, abandoned cowardly their roles as top notch 14th of March Coalition leaders and with no shame accepted to join the occupier against their country and its people.
They belittled themselves, and betrayed every and each Lebanese citizen who trusted them and believed their promises and vows.
Why did these two prominent 14th of March coalition surrender?
Did actually the Iranian occupier win in Lebanon, or the Iranian invaders have been victorious in their expansionism fights against the Arab….Definitely no, they are not.
Sadly both of them have lost their faith and hope.
They changed their skins, fell preys to Hezbollah’s power lust and governing temptations.
Hariri is hoping to become the coming PM, as a price for his surrender, and Geagea apparently was promised to have for his party two or three influential ministerial portfolios.
Sadly Al Hariri is totally lost on all levels and in all domains. Meanwhile his speech rhetoric is merely delusional. We strongly believe he did commit suicide and did explode him self for just nothing in return. Hezbollah will not allow him to drink from the rivers of honey and yogurt or enjoy the virgins of the PM, post. In conclusion, both Geagea and Hariri have betrayed the Lebanese people, licked all their promises and vows and surrendered with humiliation to the Iranian-Syrian Occupier, no more no less.
Accordingly they do not any more represent the free and sovereign Lebanese people or the Cedar’s Revolution.
N.B: The Above Piece Is From The writer’s 2016 Achives

Aoun signs Competition Law, gets briefed on new housing plan
NNA/March 15/2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, signed Law No. 281 of 15/3/2022 relating to the Competition Law. This Law was approved in the last Parliament session, and was referred to publication according to the rules.
Human Academy for Convergence & Dialogue:
The President chaired a meeting for the coordination cell for the establishment of the Human Academy for Convergence and Dialogue.
The meeting was attended by Presidency Director-General, Dr. Antoine Choucair, President Aoun’s Advisor for Christian-Islamic Dialogue, Mr. Naji Khoury, Dr. Elham Kallab Bsat, and advisors Ibrahim Berbery, Osama Khashab, and Chris Jabbour Tchourian.
The meeting was devoted to address the stages that the academy’s establishment project has gone through, especially in terms of allocating the land provided by Damour Municipality, which has an area of 100,000 square meters, setting the administrative foundational structure and researching the academy’s curricula, in addition to the on-going contacts to urge countries to sign the international agreement in coordination with the Foreign Ministry.
Finding a temporary center to start administrative work and prepare for the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Academy was also tackled in the meeting.
The President praised the efforts to complete the necessary preparations for the launch of the Academy, which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly at his initiative on 16/9/2019 and was approved by 165 out of 167 countries that attended the voting session, bearing the United Nations resolution No. A/73/L107.
Housing Corporation Director General:
President Aoun received the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Housing Corporation, Engineer Roni Lahoud.
The institution’s conditions, especially the amount of prepayment of housing loans, which exceeded 15,000 loans, while work continues to complete the remaining files that were affected by the Corona pandemic and staff shortage were discussed in the meeting.
Eng. Lahoud indicated that he briefed the President on the new housing plan prepared by the Foundation in 2018, which will be referred to the Cabinet for approval. The plan includes rent, ownership rent and financing methods, which is composed of 41 items, and also includes cooperation with the private sector, joint transportation and urban planning.
For his side, the President noted the efforts made by the Housing Corporation in addressing the housing file, especially in these difficult economic conditions, and called prioritizing the social needs of citizens, especially in the housing sector.—Presidency Press Office

Berri tackles developments with Mikati, Ein al- Tineh visitors
NNA/March 15/2022
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday welcomed in Ein al-Tineh "Democratic Gathering" MP Wael Bou Faour and former Minister Ghazi al-Aridi. Talks reportedly focused on the country’s general situation, and the latest political developments. Berri was separately briefed by Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Ali Hamieh, about his ministry’s work environment and its programs in the current and future phases. Later in the afternoon, Speaker Berri discussed the general situation and the most recent political developments with Prime Minister, Najib Mikati. However, Mikati left without making a statement.

Mikati chairs meeting of committee tasked to follow up on national food security
NNA/March 15/2022
Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, is currently chairing a meeting by the ministerial committee tasked to follow up on national food security. The committee includes Ministers of Economy and Trade Amin Salam, Industry George Boujikian, Agriculture Abbas Hajj Hassan, Culture Mohammad Mortada, and National Defense Brigadier General Maurice Seleem, as well as Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Judge Mahmoud Makieh, and Director of the PM’s Office, Jamal Karim.

Lebanese govt talks with IMF moving in the right direction: Deputy PM al-Shami
Reuters/15 March ,2022
Talks between the Lebanese government and the International Monetary Fund are moving in the right direction and have made important progress, Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami told the National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday. The International Monetary Fund said in February it would remain “closely engaged” with Lebanon’s authorities to help the crisis-ravaged country formulate an economic reform program. Lebanon’s financial system unraveled in late 2019 under the weight of huge public debts, slicing more than 90 percent off the local currency’s value and plunging a majority of the population into poverty.

U.N. Chief Warns Russian War is Hurting Lebanon, Poor Countries
Associated Press/March 15/2022
Lebanon, facing skyrocketing food and fuel prices amid an unprecedented economic crisis exacerbated by the Russian war, is now seeing its breadbasket “being bombed.”The United Nations chief has warned that the war on Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that “Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower oil and about 30 percent of the world’s wheat” and that “grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the Arab Spring and the food riots of 2007-2008.”He told reporters that 45 African and least developed countries import at least one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and 18 of them import at least 50%. These countries include Lebanon, Egypt, Congo, Burkina Faso, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, he said. “All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe,” Guterres warned. Lebanese authorities are in talks with the U.S., India and Canada to find other sources for a country already in financial meltdown. A ministerial panel led by the economy minister was formed in March to “tackle the food security crisis” in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The committee would “protect the markets in terms of preventing monopolization and price manipulation.”

Shea Denies Nasrallah's Accusations that Electricity Deals for Lebanon Shelved
Naharnet/March 15/2022
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea announced Tuesday that she had a “positive discussion” with Energy Minister Walid Fayyad, while denying claims by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah about the fate of Lebanon's U.S.-sponsored energy deals with each of Egypt and Jordan. “I am encouraged when I hear about the continued progress on these regional energy deals. It is a long and complicated process, and I would urge the audiences out there to not believe the naysayers who would have you believe that there is no progress,” Shea said after the talks, apparently responding to Nasrallah’s remarks.
“I just reviewed some very lengthy documents, contractual documents, that require hours of painstaking review by lawyers on the part of multiple parties, and I am really appreciative to the advice that the minister and his team have been getting from the World Bank, because they are bringing to the forefront the best practices in the international arena on such arrangements,” the ambassador added. “We are relying on their very good advice, when it comes to things like the overall plan for which the Council of Ministers gave their preliminary approval some weeks ago, and we're looking forward to continued progress on that,” she went on to say. Shea pointed out that “this is not an easy exercise, especially not right now, given all the other complications in the world and the disruptions to the world energy markets because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”She, however, stressed that there is “ongoing communications between the Minister and his counterparts, and the other stakeholders in these deals.” “They are ongoing and they are productive and positive, and we look forward to a successful outcome,” the ambassador added. “Hang in there. We have not given up hope and you shouldn't either,” she said, addressing the Lebanese people. In a speech on March 9, Nasrallah had said that “the U.S. State Department has not granted Egypt and Jordan a written document confirming that they would be exempted from the Caesar Act sanctions if they exported gas and electricity through Syria.”“Until now, everything that the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon has said has been lies and deception… Where is the electricity? There is no electricity!” Nasrallah charged.

Saniora Says Will Fully Engage in Elections without Running in Person
Naharnet/March 15/2022
Ex-PM Fouad Saniora on Tuesday officially announced that he will not nominate himself for the upcoming parliamentary elections. At a press conference, Saniora added that his decision is aimed at “making way for competent and new faces,” while noting that he will be “fully involved” in the elections in terms of backing certain electoral lists. He accordingly called on voters in Beirut, Sidon, the North, the Bekaa, Mount Lebanon and the entire country to “take part in this important and critical electoral juncture in order not to allow opportunists and outsiders to falsify representation, and in order to fill the vacuum” resulting from ex-PM Saad Hariri’s withdrawal from politics. Responding to a reporter’s question, Saniora denied accusations that he has turned against Hariri. “My relation with ex-PM Saad Hariri, and before him with martyr premier Rafik Hariri, will continue… We share the same explanation, analysis and reasons that pushed him to take this decision, but the difference is that he has decided to suspend his participation in political actions, whereas I have sensed a need to prevent newcomers and adventurists from filling this vacuum,” Saniora explained.

High-Level Saudi Team in France for Strategic Aid to Lebanon
Naharnet/March 15/2022
A high-level Saudi delegation has visited the Élysée Palace to strength the strategic partnership in the Lebanese affairs, al-Jadeed TV said. The channel said Tuesday that in late February, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had talked with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan about the situation in Lebanon. The two foreign ministers had discussed how to support the Lebanese people and agreed to finance humanitarian projects in Lebanon. The French-Saudi aid will fund organizations for the distribution of food and infant milk in Lebanon. The aid will also finance some educational facilities and some hospitals and care centers in Lebanon, al-Jadeed said.

Political Fog in Lebanon as Doors Close for Parliament Candidacy
Associated Press/March 15/2022
Today, Tuesday, doors will close for candidacy for the parliament elections on May 15. A low turnout is expected in the Sunni community, as former prime minister Saad Hariri's political exit created a vacuum and a need for a new mantle. After former PMs Saad Hariri and Tammam Salam, Prime Minister Najib Miqati also said he would not run for parliament, vowing to continue work to pull Lebanon out of its crippling economic and financial crisis. Ex-PM Fouad Saniora, for his part, will back a list in Beirut, al-Akhbar newspaper said Tuesday, amid a lack of support from Beirut's families, who according to the daily, have decided in a meeting to respect Hariri's wish. The daily added that Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan has also informed Saniora that he will not support his list after having received a message from Hariri who blamed him for supporting Saniora. The Hariri-Saniora conflict was reflected in Dar al-Fatwa as Sunni clerics were divided between Hairiri supportes and Saniora supporters, al-Akhbar said. On another note, Lebanese opposition groups have struggled to form a united front while Hizbullah will be running on a joint list with its allies, including President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal group. Hizbullah and its allies hold majority seats in the 128-member legislature. Their opponents hope to deprive them of the majority in May’s vote, riding on the wave of public anger against the country’s political class. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who launched his electoral campaign on Monday, said Hizbullah is not a resistance but an "Iranian occupation."He asked voters to "avenge the blood of all the martyrs who fell in order for Lebanon to stay."

Judge Aoun Freezes Assets of 5 Banks in Ongoing Probe
Associated Press/March 15/2022
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun has frozen the assets of five of Lebanon's largest banks and those of their board of directors as she investigates possible transfers of billions of dollars aboard during the country's economic meltdown. The state-run National News Agency said the decision covers real estate, vehicles and shares that the five banks or their directors own in other companies. The move came days after Aoun imposed travel bans on the directors of the five banks. Local TV stations said the travel bans were precautionary as auditors look into transfers by the banks worth $5 billion. Lebanese banks have imposed informal capital controls since the economic crisis began in October 2019 after decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country's political class. Since then, people do not have full access to their savings and those who withdraw cash from their U.S. dollar accounts get an exchange rate far lower than that of the black market. In January, Aoun also imposed a travel ban on Lebanon's central bank governor after a corruption lawsuit accused him of embezzlement and dereliction of duty during the crisis.

Sea Border Panel Meets Anew, Still Expected to Reject Hochstein's Proposal
Naharnet/March 15/2022
A Lebanese committee studying a proposal put forward by U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein held its second meeting yesterday in Baabda, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. Hochstein had recently submitted to Lebanon a new proposal for the demarcation of its sea border with Israel. According to the newspaper, Hochstein’s suggestion includes modifications to the maritime border that would give Lebanon less than the 860 square kilometers that Line 23 would secure. “The atmosphere within the committee, whose meeting was partly attended by President Michel Aoun, does not indicate that Lebanon has endorsed any option,” the daily said. “It is still studying all possibilities,” the newspaper added. A source informed on the meetings meanwhile told the daily that the conferees discussed “the disadvantages of the U.S. proposal, with Lebanese Petroleum Administration head Wissam Chbat and the head of the army’s hydrographic dept. Lt. Col. Afif Ghayth presenting technical explanations about the proposal and warning of the risks emanating from agreeing to Hochstein’s suggestion.”“Therefore, there are broad expectations that the proposal in its current format will not be accepted,” al-Akhbar said.

Shami's Office Says IMF Negotiations 'Going Well'
Naharnet/March 15/2022
The negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have not stopped and "things are going well," Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Shami's office said. Shami's office negated, in a statement Tuesday, media reports that said the negotiations had stopped and that no results have been reached.
The statement affirmed that negotiations are "progressing and going in the right direction."It added that daily meetings with the IMF are being held "in a technical and professional way" and that macro-economic reforms are being discussed to help Lebanon recover financially and economically.

Jumblat Decries Arab Abandonment Due to 'Absurd Statements'
Naharnet/March 15/2022
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Tuesday lamented that the Arab countries have “abandoned” Lebanon due to “the absurd statements of top leaders against the Gulf countries.”“Amid this suffocating social and economic crisis that Lebanon is going through, today we are bearing the price of the Arab countries’ abandonment of us,” Jumblat tweeted. “Will we receive support from the Great Orient through convoys of wheat, fuel, saffron and other goods as they have promised us?” the PSP leader added rhetorically.

Hariri Denies Scolding Mufti for 'Siding with Saniora'
Naharnet/March 15/2022
Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday denied a media report claiming that he has sent an admonishing message to Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan over his “siding with” ex-PM Fouad Saniora in his endeavor to “inherit the House of Hariri and al-Mustaqbal Movement.”“In line with its habit of fabricating news, al-Akhbar newspaper today published a report that is full of lies about what it called ‘an admonishing message from Hariri to the Grand Mufti,’” Hariri’s press office said in a statement. “The Office reiterates that the mere publishing of this report in al-Akhbar makes it a flagrant fallacy,” it added.

Bou Habib inks agreement with Japanese Ambassador to establish JICA office in Lebanon, discusses developments with Danish and Swiss diplomats
NNAMarch 15/2022
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants on Tuesday inked a technical cooperation agreement between the Lebanese and Japanese governments, stipulating the establishment of an office for Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Lebanon, which allows the Japanese government to assist the Lebanese government in various fields, whether in kind or through experts and volunteers. The agreement, which was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Bou Habib, and Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, Takeshi Okubo, comes in the wake of lengthy negotiations between Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Embassy in Beirut. It aims to organize the relationship between the two countries and reveals the extent of Japan's desire to help Lebanon within the legal frameworks required by Japanese laws. On the other hand, Minister Bou Habib discussed with Danish Ambassador to Lebanon, Merete Juhl, the best means to bolster cooperation between the ministry and the embassy. Bou Habib separately discussed with Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon, Marion Weichelt, the repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis on the two countries, as well as the means to face said challenges on the levels of food security and energy. Talks between the pair also touched on the impending parliamentary elections.

Energy Minister discusses electricity plan with US Ambassador
NNAMarch 15/2022
Minister of Energy and Water, Dr. Walid Fayad, on Tuesday welcomed US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, with whom he discussed preparations underway within the energy sector, especially those leading to an increase in power supply nationwide.
For his part, Minister Fayad said that he had sensed Ambassador Shea’s ongoing commitment to help with agreements to import gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, as well as with the remaining steps leading to the final approval of the electricity plan, which is listed on the cabinet's agenda tomorrow.
“Presenting this plan to the public opinion is a demand made by the funders, especially the World Bank," Fayad added, stressing that "this plan is not politicized, but based on scientific foundations and a guiding scheme developed by France’s EDF.”
“The second step involves securing funds from the World Bank, and the third step requires the approval of the US administration regarding the Caesar Act, and the US ambassador has reiterated commitment to drop this project from the Caesar's sanctions list."
The following are remarks made by U.S. Ambassador, Dorothy Shea, during her meeting with Minister Fayad:
“Good morning, and thank you, Your Excellency, Mr. Minister, for the really positive discussion that we had this morning. I am encouraged when I hear about the continued progress on these regional energy deals. It is a long and complicated process, and I would urge the audiences out there to not believe the naysayers who would have you believe that there is no progress. You know, I just reviewed some very lengthy documents, contractual documents, that require hours of painstaking review by lawyers on the part of multiple parties, and I am really appreciative to the advice that the minister and his team have been getting from the World Bank, because they are bringing to the forefront the best practices in the international arena on such arrangements. We are relying on their very good advice, when it comes to things like the overall plan for which the Council of Ministers gave their preliminary approval some weeks ago, and we're looking forward to continued progress on that. Also the tariff structures, and other arrangements to make sure that this sector, your electricity sector is going to be run as efficiently as possible so that the end users, your consumers, your Lebanese people, your hospitals, your other institutions can get the benefit of sustainable electricity. This is not an easy exercise, especially not right now, given all the other complications in the world and the disruptions to the world energy markets because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine–which is deplorable for other reasons. But I want to acknowledge the ongoing communications between the Minister and his counterparts, and the other stakeholders in these deals. They are ongoing and they are productive and positive, and we look forward to a successful outcome. Hang in there. We have not given up hope and you shouldn't either. Thank you.”

Visiting Iraqi delegation discusses oil-for-services agreement with Hamieh, Boujikian
NNA/March 15/2022
Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Dr. Ali Hamieh, on Tuesday met with a delegation representing the Iraqi government to discuss a joint cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Iraq in several fields. The Iraqi delegation included Iraqi Prime Minister’s advisor, Dr. Alaa Al-Saadi, Iraqi ambassador to Lebanon, Haidar Al-Barrak, and other senior Iraqi and Lebanese officials. Minister Hamieh welcomed the Iraqi delegation, noting that Iraq has never been stingy with Lebanon and has always provided it with all kinds of support. He also thanked Iraq for its permanent presence on Lebanon’s side. “Today, we’re activating and strengthening bilateral relations within the mutual benefit of both of our countries," Hamieh added, referring to the services that the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation can provide to Iraq through Rafic Hariri International Airport, the Aviation Training Center, and Lebanese ports, in addition to the border crossings linking Lebanon from Syria to Iraq. “Had it not been for the Iraqi fuel, Lebanon would have been submerged in complete darkness,” Hamieh added. For his part, Ambassador Al-Barrak affirmed, "The delegation's visit to Lebanon today is to guarantee the renewal of the oil-for-services agreement before its expiry in September 2022."In turn, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s advisor confirmed that "this agreement stems from the Iraqi government's keenness to avoid any obstacles and ensure its continuity."
The Iraqi delegation also visited Minister of Industry, George Boujikian, with whom discussions focused on the means to translate the Iraqi state’s decision to supply Lebanon with oil derivatives, as well as on the means of payment with Lebanese services, goods, and products.

Fondation Diane” Calls for Women’s Solidarity and Organizes the Roundtable Discussion: “8/8 Women Change Makers: Union in Times of Crises”
NNAMarch 15/2022
In the occasion of the International Women’s Day, “Fondation Diane” organized a roundtable discussion entitled “8/8 Women Change Makers: Union in Times of Crises”. The event took place at Saint Joseph University (USJ) - Campus de l'Innovation et du Sport (CIS), and gathered men and women, and representatives of institutions, associations and organizations that believe in the effective role of women in society and their cause. It featured interesting interventions and discussions from 8 prominent figures for women empowerment: Diana Sfeir Fadel, Ali Khalife, May El Khalil, Madiha Raslan, Michel El Helou, Sarah El Yafi, Tracy Chamoun & Joellle Abu Farhat. This roundtable discussion falls within the mission of “Fondation Diane” that is to empower women, and promote civic awareness & active citizenship on the one hand, and achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the other hand. Through this initiative, the foundation contributes to the implementation of the fifth goal (SDG5) which calls for “achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.”
Diana Fadel, Founder & President of “Fondation Diane”
In her opening speech, Mrs. Fadel delivered a touching and moving message about Lebanon. She then shed the light on the effective role of women in society, especially in times of crises. She continued: “The status of women in our country is miserable and their rights are violated. Just look at the personal status laws, and count the number of women in parliament”. In this context she called for women’s solidarity “their union constitutes an unstoppable force for change!” She focused on women's ability to revive the nation and put it back on the right track, starting by reaching the parliament in big numbers, and fiercely fighting for their rights. She concluded: “Women are majority. Since they constitute 52% of the electorate in Lebanon, they are capable, with their votes, to elect half of the parliament members. Let’s unite to make history and empower women with decision-making positions they deserve with dignity, independence, responsibility, and authority".
Ali Khalife, Researcher and Professor of Citizenship Education – Lebanese University
Khalife focused on the declining status of women when it comes to their participation in politics, and their diminished civil rights in light of the religious personal status laws. He said: "The 2018 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Lebanon amongst the lowest on the political empowerment of women in Arab countries, knowing that the Lebanese women were given the right to vote and to stand for a seat in the parliament since 1952, way before many Arab countries. He believes that Lebanese women should be encouraged to stand for elections and become at the center of the political scene, to be able to carry out necessary gender reforms in order to advance the status of women in Lebanon, and consequently the political situation in general. He concluded by focusing on the importance of breaking the stereotyped image of women, starting from education at home and school.
May El-Khalil, President of the “Beirut Marathon Association”
May El-Khalil stressed the role of women in sports. She said: "Contrary to traditional beliefs, women are physically powerful and strong. That’s why we introduced the annual Women’s Race and training programs. "This race aims at empowering women, supporting their psychological and physical health, and contributing to their self-realization. She concluded: "Our decision is to continue our path as women for the sake of life and hope, and for the sake of women. To every woman I say, your path is your decision. We will stand with you inside and outside the parliament."
Madiha Raslan, President of the “Women Leaders Association” (WLA)
Raslan confirmed: “Businesswomen are agents of change, in many economic fields as their fellow businessmen”. She continued: “We at the Women Leaders Association are working towards promoting investment and trade in the Arab World. Consequently, we established with the Union of Arab Chambers the Arab Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN) which will enhance women's ability to innovate and accumulate funds and technical expertise to benefit their nations. AWEN was announced during the “Ana Lubnaniya –Arabiya” conference organized by WLA at the Dubai Expo where Arab businesswomen convened to discuss business opportunities”. Raslan affirmed: “Now is the best time for women to invest and grow to become active players in the local economy especially in growing our National GDP after this severe economic crisis”.
Michel El Helou, Candidate of the National Bloc - Baabda in the upcoming parliamentary elections
El Helou affirmed that "the struggle for women's rights concerns all of us, and the beneficiary is society as a whole, including men." He gave an example on the strength of the European Union, which is headed by three women and the difficult decisions they take in light of this exceptional crisis, namely the war between Russia and Ukraine. “This strong image of women in decision-making ends all doubts regarding their ability to reach the most important positions of power and rule.” Moreover, he dwelled on the “huge gap between the Lebanese society’s progress and the current unjust laws” that limit it. He continued: "Based on my experience in journalism, topics related to women's rights attract a large number of readers, which means that the Lebanese society is ready for change." He concluded: "My message to all women who wish to stand for elections, don't think, do it! Today our country needs a mother to protect it!"
Tracy Chamoun, Politician and former Lebanese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Jordan
In her speech, Chamoun shed the light on patriarchy and its monopoly of the political sector. "The representatives - who often fight each other - united and voted against women's quota." she said. She added that "the Lebanese are in a difficult situation, and women have a national duty and role. Women should be encouraged to stand for elections, to elevate women in the political sector, which to this day still deprives them access to decision-making positions." She stressed the importance of amending masculine expressions regarding political titles. Based on her experience as a former ambassador to Jordan, she explained the bold step taken by Jordanian legislators which helped amend the constitution to achieve gender equality. She also gave an example of the Irish sectarian war which could not have ended without women’s unity.
Sarah El Yafi, Public Policy Consultant and Political Activist
El Yafi clarified some misconceptions, such as feminism and women's rights, especially that a part of the society believes that women are not eligible to demand for equality with men, because the two genders are biologically different. Based on this concept of difference, she emphasized that men have access to all positions of power, job vacancies, and history writing. El Yafi presented a historical approach to the situation of women over the years, stressing that the issue of equality was not addressed since Plato and Epicurus 300-400 B.C. and later on in the eighteenth century. "22 centuries of human civilization and progress that are completely devoid of any mention on equality! Moreover, women have been denigrated, deprived of power and dignity." She concluded her speech by stressing that all societies that do not adopt equality are more violent, poorer and less stable than others, underdeveloped on the economic and cultural levels... and are doomed to disappear!
Joelle Abou Farhat, President of "Fifty Fiftylb"
In her speech, Abou Farhat touched on the importance of transforming women's jealousy into an honest competition between them. She added, "Lebanon ranked 183rd out of 187 countries in the world, in terms of women's representation in parliament, and 15th out of 17 in the Arab world, being the only Arab country that did not take any serious measures to support women." She urged women to participate massively in the upcoming parliamentary elections to modernize the unfair laws against them. She stressed the responsibility of ruling and emerging parties in putting out ballot lists that include 50% of women. Finally, she highlighted the importance of the preferential vote in changing facts and granting women seats in the parliament.

طوني بدران/ نيوزويك: تستعد ادارة الرئيس بايدن لإهداء حزب الله الإرهابي مكسباً جديداً في المحادثات النووية الإيرانية
The Biden Administration is Poised to Hand Hezbollah a Win in Vienna
Tony Badran/Newsweek/March 15/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107064/tony-badran-newsweek-the-biden-administration-is-poised-to-hand-hezbollah-a-win-in-vienna-%d8%b7%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%b2%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%83-%d8%aa/
The Biden administration is on the verge of announcing a new nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite an eleventh-hour delay caused by Russian maneuvering, the agreement is reportedly ready. As part of that deal, the administration presumably will lift sanctions on a host of Iranian banks and companies involved in terrorism, even removing the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the foreign terrorist organization list, releasing billions of dollars to the clerical regime that will finance its regional ambitions from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. In other words, the president and his team are planting a bomb in the Middle East and lighting the fuse.
A primary beneficiary of the deal’s impending windfall will be Iran’s most potent export: Hezbollah, the Lebanese legion of the IRGC. The terrorist group knows what’s coming its way, because it has seen this play before. Back in 2015, on the eve of the first Iran deal, the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah gloated: “If Iran gets back this money, what will it do with it? A rich and strong Iran will be able to stand by its allies and friends…more than in any time in the past.”
That is indeed what happened last time, and no doubt it will happen now, with horrible results. As the cash that will fill Iranian coffers trickles down to Hezbollah, the group will be able to further advance its arms buildup, especially in the production of precision-guided munitions (PGM) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). It was no coincidence that, as the trajectory of the talks in Vienna became obvious, Nasrallah highlighted in a speech his group’s plan to enhance existing PGM and UAV capabilities.
Israel is watching these proceedings closely. Hezbollah’s growing PGM capabilities are a primary threat to Israeli security. It’s bad enough to have thousands of “dumb” rockets raining in randomly on civilian areas. It’s another threat altogether if the IRGC unit on your border were able to hit strategic targets with precision. UAVs pose a complementary threat, as evident from how the Iranians deployed them against strategic targets and energy installations in Arab Gulf states. Hezbollah itself launched two drones into Israel the day after Nasrallah’s boastful speech.
Given the Biden administration’s determination to seal a deal with Iran, and thereby reaffirm former president Obama’s legacy, Israel’s choices have been clear for a while now—and they’re not good. The administration’s deal, negotiated in partnership with Iran’s Russian patrons, reportedly guarantees Iran will become a threshold nuclear state. This offer is intended to function as a Sword of Damocles over the heads of those who oppose the administration’s deal at home and abroad. Israel has been vocal that it is not bound by the new deal, and that it will take any action it deems necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran.
If Israel takes action against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, an Iranian response likely will come through Hezbollah, potentially sparking a larger conflagration. Other scenarios ensuing from the deal likewise raise the real possibility of war on Israel’s northern border. Increased transfer of strategic weapons from Iran to Lebanon, and accelerated local production of PGMs and UAVs, could quickly cross Israeli red lines. This buildup of Hezbollah capabilities is in part designed to protect Iran’s nuclear infrastructure by deterring Israel. Team Biden, by paving Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, has dramatically raised the likelihood of conflict. More than ever, Israel cannot afford to let Hezbollah’s buildup in Lebanon grow to the level of a strategic threat.
In Lebanon, too, Iran can count the Biden administration as an ally. Over the last two years, following Lebanon’s 2019 financial meltdown, Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars stabilizing the Hezbollah-run order in Beirut. As part of this policy, the administration has been trying to resolve a maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon to open the door for European and Russian companies to begin energy exploration in Lebanese waters. Biden administration officials have even spoken about having U.S. companies invest as well.
The more the U.S. invests in Lebanon and treats it like an American protectorate, the more loath it will be to see Israel act against Hezbollah there. Israel would do well to disentangle itself from the administration’s initiatives in Lebanon.
As it considers all its options, made narrower and more urgent by the Biden team’s new deal, Israel will also need to walk a tightrope with Russia—the U.S. administration’s preferred partner in brokering the deal. Russia controls the airspace to Israel’s north ever since it entered Syria in 2015, a consequence of Barack Obama‘s deal with Iran that year. Furthermore, the deal might include the removal or non-enforcement of U.S. sanctions aimed at preventing Russia from selling arms to Iran—which, under the 2015 deal, was to be allowed by October 2020, but which then-president Donald Trump blocked with an executive order just before the expiration of the arms embargo.
During Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israel has had to maneuver very delicately to avoid antagonizing Moscow. Israel pointedly refused to go out too far against the Russians, and as a result has been attacked by administration surrogates in the media. Heightened Israeli-Russian tensions, the Israeli government understood, could constrain Jerusalem’s options for action against Iran—unquestionably a Biden administration preference. Israel’s leadership has wisely avoided this trap.
Still, the road ahead for Israel is littered with landmines. The Biden administration’s Iran deal, the second act of Obama’s catastrophic turn toward Iran, presents Jerusalem with a terrible choice: act alone or live under the threat of a nuclear Iran and its Hezbollah army, operating under a nuclear umbrella.
In other words, the Biden administration has sped up the countdown to a regional explosion.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria and the geopolitics of the Levant. He tweets @AcrossTheBay. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
https://www.newsweek.com/biden-administration-poised-hand-hezbollah-win-vienna-opinion-1687188?s=09

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 15-16/2022
Russia Says Received U.S. Guarantees on Iran Nuclear Deal
Agence France Presse/Tue, March 15, 2022
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow had received guarantees from Washington on its ability to trade with Tehran as part of ongoing talks to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. "We received written guarantees. They are included in the text of the agreement itself on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. More than 10 months of talks in Vienna have brought major powers close to renewing the landmark 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on regulating Iran's nuclear program.The negotiations halted after Moscow earlier this month demanded guarantees that Western sanctions imposed following its military operation in Ukraine would not damage its trade with Iran. Lavrov said that the guarantees it had received from Washington would protect Russian involvement in Iran's sole Bushehr nuclear energy plant. The minister said Moscow and Tehran share the position that Western sanctions are imposed with the aim of overriding international law and accused Washington and its partners of directing the penalties "primarily against ordinary citizens". The 2015 deal gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The agreement aimed to ensure Iran would not be able to develop a nuclear weapon, which it has always denied seeking. "Russia will not be an obstacle to reaching an agreement," Iran's Amir-Abdollahian said at the press conference with Lavrov. "There will be no relation between Ukraine's developments... and Vienna negotiations," he said, referring to the ongoing conflict and talks on renewing the 2015 agreement. He praised Russia's "very positive and constructive role" in the talks and said Moscow would "stay beside the Islamic Republic of Iran until the end of the negotiations and reaching a good, strong and lasting agreement."

Russia Drafting Thousands in Syria for Ukraine War, Monitor Says
Agence France Presse/Tue, March 15, 2022
Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from Syrian army and allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine, a war monitor said Tuesday. The Kremlin said last week that volunteers, including from Syria, were welcome to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists said Russian officers, in coordination with the Syrian military and allied militia, had set up registration offices in regime-held areas. "More than 40,000 Syrians have registered to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine so far," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the UK-based monitor. Moscow is recruiting Syrians who acquired combat experience during Syria's 11-year-old civil war to bolster the invasion of Ukraine it launched on February 24.
Russian officers deployed as part of the force Moscow sent to Syria in 2015 to support Damascus had approved 22,000 of them, Abdel Rahman said. Those fighters are either combatants drawn from the army or pro-regime militias who have experience in street warfare and received Russian training. In a country where soldiers earn between $15 and $35 per month, Russia has promised them a salary of $1,100 to fight in Ukraine, the Observatory reported. They are also entitled to $7,700 in compensation for injuries and their families to $16,500 if they are killed in combat. Another 18,000 men had registered with Syria's ruling Baath party and would be screened by the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor with links to the Kremlin, the monitor said.
Misinformation about Syrian recruits in Ukraine has been spreading online. Last week, pictures were shared of a Syrian soldier they said had died in Ukraine, but it later appeared he had been killed in his homeland in 2015.
Lack of jobs
The Observatory said it had no confirmed reports yet of any Syrian recruits leaving for Ukraine. Abdel Rahman said Russia had drawn Syrian army recruits from the 25th Special Mission Forces Division, once better known as the "Tiger Forces", and from the Russian-run 5th Division.
Fighters from the Palestinian Liwaa al-Quds group and the Baath party's military branch had also enlisted. A Syrian government representative denied the recruitment drive. "Until now no names have been written down, no soldiers registered in any centers nor has anyone travelled to Russia to fight in Ukraine," Omar Rahmoun of the National Reconciliation Committee told AFP. Syrian mercenaries have already fought on opposing sides of foreign conflicts, in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. More than a decade of war has pushed 90 percent of the population into poverty, a factor Syrians for Truth and Justice said was a key factor in the recruitment. A Syrian soldier told the activist group this month that he enlisted to fight in Ukraine because he could not find a job after his military service. "The situation is extremely dire. There is no electricity, heating, or household gas," he said, adding he had registered at an air force intelligence office near Damascus.
'A few hundred dollars'
Regime-allied forces opened recruitment centers in the eastern towns of Al-Mayadeen and Deir Ezzor, according to Omar Abu Layla, who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet. "Wagner started the whole thing in Deir Ezzor; only dozens have registered so far," he said. "In a country that lacks basic necessities, some have no choice but to fight... for a few hundred dollars." Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria are also gearing up to send fighters on the opposing side. An AFP reporter in northern Syria said the factions preparing for Ukraine include the Sultan Murad, Sulaiman Shah and Hamza divisions, all of which had previously sent hundreds of fighters to fight in Libya and Azerbaijan. While money is the main driver for Syrian mercenaries on both sides of the conflict, rights groups said Ankara's proxies often exploited fighters and withheld wages. One fighter told AFP he was promised $3,000 to join the Ukraine battlefield. "We are tired of the hunger... I will go and never come back. From Ukraine, I plan to go to Europe," another said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for no-fly zone in Canadian Parliament address
Elisabetta Bianchini/Yahoo/Tue, March 15, 2022
In a historic moment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Canadian Parliament, asking Canadians to imagine the horror Ukraine has experienced over the last 20 days. In Ukrainian, Zelenskyy said this is "an attempt to annihilate Ukrainian people.""It's actually a war against Ukrainian people," he said. Zelenskyy also called for more support and to close airspace by instituting a no-fly zone, to stop the bombings as Russia is "destroying everything." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Zelenskyy a "friend" and a "champion of democracy," which resulted in resounded applause in the House of Commons.
"Your courage and the courage of your people inspires us all," Trudeau said. "You're defending the right of Ukrainians to choose their own future and in doing so, you’re defending the values that form the pillars of all free democratic countries." "Beyond that, you’re inspiring democracies and democratic leaders around the world to be more courageous, more united and to fight harder for what we believe in. You remind us that friends are always stronger together." The prime minister announced that with European allies, sanctions are being imposed on 15 additional Russia officials, including government and military elites who are "complicit in this illegal war.""Ukrainians are already paying incalculable human costs," Trudeau said. "This illegal and unnecessary war is a grave mistake. Putin must stop it now." "Ukrainians are standing up to authoritarianism and as parliamentarians united in this House today, and all Canadians, we stand with you. As friends, you can count on our unwavering and stedfast support." Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen called Vladimir Putin a "war monger" and a "violent predator.""Every day he tells the world lies and then he proceeds to kill innocent and vulnerable Ukrainians,… and while on his rampage he continues to threaten the world, saying if he doesn’t get his way he will use the worst extremes possible," Bergen said. "It’s sickening to watch. Putin must be brought to justice.""We must do more, together with our allies to secure Ukraine's airspace. We need to protect, at a minimum, the airspace over the humanitarian corridors so that Ukrainians can seek safe passage away from the war zones and to allow humanitarian relief to reach those areas under siege."

Russia bars entry to Biden and Canada's Trudeau
Reuters/Tue, March 15, 2022
Russia said on Tuesday it had put U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a dozen top U.S. officials on a "stop list" that bars them from entering the country.
Alongside Biden, U.S. officials on the list included Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The ban was in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. The foreign ministry later added Trudeau to the list of sanctioned individuals. The measures appeared to be mainly symbolic, as the Foreign Ministry said it was maintaining official relations and if necessary would make sure that high-level contacts with the people on the list could take place.
(Reporting by Sujata Rao, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Russian drone ‘shot down after flying into NATO airspace’
Kate Buck/Yahoo/Tue, March 15, 2022
A Russian drone breached Nato airspace after flying into Poland before being shot down in Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's airforce have said. The unmanned aircraft is said to have been circling the Ukrainian city of Yavoriv to assess the damage caused by a Russian strike on the Yavoriv military base near Lviv. An attack over the weekend killed at least 35 people and injured at least 134, authorities said. Yavoriv is located just 15 miles from the Polish border, but was targeted with more than 30 cruise missiles on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian forces said: "As we can see, the occupiers continue to carry out their provocative actions without hesitation, flying into the airspace of Nato member states." According to The Times, Ukrainian military sources said they thought it was a Russian Forpost drone, which is not flown by any other country. "There are no NATO personnel in Ukraine," a NATO official said, when asked if any NATO personnel were at the base. Ukraine's government has pleaded with Nato to enforce a no-fly zone in their airspace, but Nato have so far declined over fears it would trigger a war against the Russian Federation. Speaking on Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said bringing in the no-fly zone would cause direct conflict between Russia and Nato - something he was determined to avoid. On Monday, health secretary Sajid Javid warned of a "severe response" if Russia encroached on Nato territory. He said: "We've been very clear from the start, with our Nato allies, that if there is any kind of attack on Nato territory then it will be war with Nato and there will be a severe response. "Even if just a single toecap of a Russian soldier steps into Nato territory, then it will be war with Russia and Nato would respond. "That hasn't changed throughout this conflict and there would be a significant response from Nato if there was any kind of attack from Russia. "Our message has been very clear from the start. Any kind of attack, anything that touches Nato territory or impacts Nato in any significant way, then we would respond."Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting.

Zelensky Says Ukraine Must Recognize It Will Not Join NATO
Agence France Presse/Tue, March 15, 2022
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that his country should accept that it will not become a member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, a key Russian concern it used to justify its invasion. "Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We understand that. We have heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It's a truth and it must be recognized," Zelensky said during a video conference with military officials.

Russian Forces Press in on Kyiv as Talks Resume
Agence France Presse/Tue, March 15, 2022
Russian forces pressed in on Kyiv Tuesday with a series of strikes on residential buildings that killed four people in the Ukrainian capital, despite a fresh round of talks aimed at halting the war. In the highest-level EU delegation to go to Kyiv since the war began, the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia travelled to the besieged capital in a sign of support for Ukraine. But tensions were mounting, with Kyiv's mayor announcing a 35-hour curfew to deal with what he called a "dangerous moment", while Russia broadened its assault across Ukraine with a huge strike on an airport. Nearly three weeks into Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, more than three million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries and 97 Ukrainian children have died, the country's president told Canadian lawmakers in a virtual address. In a response to crushing Western sanctions on Russia, Moscow announced that US President Joe Biden and a dozen other top officials had been banned from entering the country, criticizing "the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by the current U.S. administration." According to the United Nations, nearly 1.4 million children have fled Ukraine since the conflict began on February 24 -- nearly one child per second. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported 1,834 civilian casualties.Addressing a key Russian concern used to justify the invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine should accept that it would not become a member of NATO's military alliance. "We have heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. It's a truth and it must be recognized," he told a video conference with military officials. Ukraine's capital has been transformed into a war zone, with apartment blocks badly damaged from Russian bombardments and half of the city's 3.5 million people now gone. The 35-hour curfew will come into effect from 8:00 pm, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko announced, saying that four died in the capital on Tuesday.
'Are you alive?'
"This is why I ask all Kyivites to get prepared to stay at home for two days, or if the sirens go off, in the shelters," he added. Four large blasts were heard from the center of the capital early Tuesday, sending columns of smoke high into the sky. A fire raged in a 16-storey housing block and smoke billowed from the charred husk of the building, as emergency services and stunned residents navigated an obstacle course of glass, metal and other debris littering the road. Another residential building in the Podilsk area also came under attack. "At 4:20 everything was very thunderous, crackling. I got up, my daughter ran to me with a question: 'Are you alive?'," Lyubov Gura, 73, told AFP. The district was once "a place to get coffee and enjoy life. Not anymore," Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko said. A Fox News cameraman, Pierre Zakrzewski, was killed and his colleague Benjamin Hall wounded when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, on Monday, the U.S. network announced. Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian parliament's human rights chief said three other journalists had been killed since the invasion began, including a U.S. reporter shot dead Sunday in Irpin, also on the outskirts of the capital. Russian troops surround the city to the north and east, and authorities have set up checkpoints, while residents are stockpiling food and medicine. Overnight Russian shelling also caused massive damage at the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, regional authorities said. "Two strikes. The runway was destroyed. The terminal is damaged. Massive destruction," said regional governor Valentin Reznichenko.
'Pretty good' talks
An AFP team saw large plumes of black smoke spewing out of the airport site but could not get closer as it was cordoned off by soldiers, who said the airport could be bombed again anytime. In the besieged south-eastern city of Mariupol around 2,000 civilian cars managed to escape along a humanitarian evacuation route, local authorities said, following another 160 cars the previous day. Outwardly, at least, the two sides are still far apart in negotiations, with Moscow demanding Ukraine turn away from the West and recognize Moscow-backed breakaway regions. Ukraine is pushing for a ceasefire and Russian troop withdrawal. On Tuesday, Zelensky sounded a note of cautious optimism about ongoing peace talks and claimed Russia was realizing victory would not come on the battlefield. "They have already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything by war," Zelensky said. He said Monday's talks were "pretty good... but let's see."In an unprecedented show of solidarity with the embattled president, the Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers took a train to Kyiv to meet Zelensky on Tuesday. "In such crucial times for the world, it is our duty to be in the place where history is being made," Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki said in a Facebook post. Russia's military progress has been slow and costly, with Moscow apparently underestimating the strength of Ukrainian resistance. Western defense experts believe Russia's military now needs time to regroup and resupply its troops, paving the way for a possible pause or slowdown in fighting.
- Fined and released -
NATO worries that Russia is gearing up to carry out a chemical attack in Ukraine, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said, citing "absurd claims" that Ukraine possesses biological weapons labs and warning that Russia would pay "a high price" if it did so. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China does not want to be impacted by Western sanctions on Russia, as U.S. pressure grows on Beijing to withdraw support from Moscow. "China is not a party to the crisis, still less wants to be affected by the sanctions," Wang said. Reports this week said Moscow had turned to Beijing for military and economic help -- prompting what one U.S. official called "very candid" talks between high-ranking US and Chinese officials. A Britain-based war monitor said Moscow had drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from Syrian army and allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine. In the face of the assault, Kyiv's allies have piled economic pressure on Putin's regime, as Britain added 350 more Russians to its sanctions list, hiked tariffs on a swathe of imports from vodka to steel and banned exports of luxury goods. The Kremlin also faces domestic pressure despite widespread censorship of the war. A journalist who brandished -- in a brief but electrifying moment on live TV -- a slogan protesting the invasion of Ukraine was fined and released by a Russian court on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to violating demonstration laws. Marina Ovsyannikova, the dissenting employee, barged onto the set of Russia's most-watched evening news broadcast on Channel One late Monday, holding a poster reading "No War". Under Russian law, she had risked a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Russia Calls for U.N. Council Vote on Ukraine 'Humanitarian' Resolution
Agence France Presse/March 15/2022 |
Moscow's envoys to the United Nations on Tuesday called for a Security Council vote on a resolution it has drafted about the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an all-out assault. Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said he regretted that France and Mexico opted not to present a draft resolution on humanitarian aid to the Council, and that Moscow would put forth its "own draft" for a vote. His deputy, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told AFP that Russia would request that a vote on the text take place Wednesday. The United Arab Emirates, which holds the council's rotating presidency this month, would be asked to set a time. Nebenzia emphasized that since French President Emmanuel Macron launched the prospect of a Council resolution, Russia had said it was prepared to adopt one, provided it did not include "political" language.
Paris and Mexico City, with significant pressure from London and Washington, had planned to ask for a "cessation of hostilities" in its resolution -- but that phrase would have likely sparked a Russian veto. The Russian draft expresses the Council's "grave concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in and around Ukraine" and amid "reports of civilian casualties, including children."The resolution "demands that civilians, including humanitarian personnel and persons in vulnerable situations, including women and children, are fully protected."The text -- which takes up several ideas developed by France and Mexico in their draft resolution -- would likely get the required nine out of 15 votes to pass, unless one of the permanent members should veto it. Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States have Council veto power. Paris and Mexico City have opted to present their text to the U.N. General Assembly, where Russia cannot veto. No date has been set for that vote. Earlier this month, the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in late February, in a 141-5 vote with 35 abstentions.

UK's Johnson to Visit Saudi Arabia for Oil Supply Talks
Associated Press/March 15/2022 |
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with its crown prince for talks on oil supplies, as he stressed that the West must end its dependence on Russian energy. Johnson will also use the trip to press Saudi Arabia to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a Foreign Office official said Tuesday. Ahead of the trip, Johnson said Western leaders made a "terrible mistake" by letting Russian President Vladimir Putin "get away with" annexing Crimea in 2014. He wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Western "addiction" to Russian fuel had emboldened Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
"We cannot go on like this. The world cannot be subject to this continuous blackmail," Johnson wrote. "As long as the West is economically dependent on Putin, he will do all he can to exploit that dependence." Officials have not confirmed details about the visit to Saudi Arabia but Johnson will reportedly meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week in the hope the Gulf state can increase its production of fuel supplies. The visit has met with an outcry of protest from U.K. lawmakers, coming just days after Saudi Arabia said it executed 81 people in the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. Defending his trip, Johnson told reporters in London that "if we are going to stand up to Putin's bullying," it will be necessary to talk to other producers. His spokesman told reporters that Johnson will raise the issue of executions reported in Saudi Arabia during his visit.
"We routinely raise human rights issues with other countries, including with Saudi Arabia, and we'll raise Saturday's executions with the government in Riyadh," the spokesman said. Johnson's government announced last week that the U.K. will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year. But the U.K. is much less reliant on Russia fuel than its European allies, taking about 3% of gas from Russia, Johnson said.

Canada imposes additional sanctions on enablers of President Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine
March 15, 2022 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada is imposing new sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations in response to the Russian regime’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.
These new measures impose restrictions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Putin’s choice to invade a peaceful and sovereign country.
As part of Canada’s growing list of sanctions on Russian leadership, these new measures will apply additional pressure on President Putin to reverse course. His choice to further invade violates Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
Aligning with measures taken by our partners in the international community, the actions taken today demonstrate a global commitment to impose sweeping economic measures on the Russian leadership to weaken its ability to wage war.
Quote
“Canada will not relent in its support of Ukraine and its people. President Putin made the choice to furher his illegal and unjustifiable invasion, and he can also make the choice to end it by immediately ending the senseless violence and withdrawing his forces. Canada will not hesitate to take further action should the Russian leadership fail to change course.”
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Quick facts
Since Russia’s illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea in 2014, Canada has sanctioned over 900 individuals and entities, with many of these sanctions undertaken in coordination with our allies and partners. Canada’s sanctions will impose asset freezes and dealings prohibitions on listed persons.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Canada has sanctioned nearly 500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

GCC Seeks to Host Yemen Govt., Rebels in Riyadh for Rare Talks
Agence France Presse/March 15/2022 |
Gulf Arab countries are seeking to host rare talks between Yemen's warring parties, including the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, in Riyadh at the end of the month, officials said on Tuesday. Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been wracked by a devastating war since 2014, pitting the Huthis against the internationally recognized government.
Repeated diplomatic efforts to get the two sides to agree a peace deal have failed over the years. The Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council "is considering holding talks between Yemen's warring parties to put an end to the conflict", an official from the six-nation bloc, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday. An official from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, which has been embroiled in a seven-year conflict with the Huthis, said the conference would take place between March 29 and April 7. "We don't have a problem if the Huthis attend the talks to try to find a solution to security, military and political issues," the official told AFP. But he added it was unlikely the insurgents would accept the invitation to go to Riyadh, which has been leading a military coalition to back the government against the rebels since 2015. Another official in Riyadh confirmed efforts for talks were underway, saying: "Saudi Arabia will not be party to negotiations."Efforts would be led by Oman, which hosts Huthi officials and has regularly played the role of mediator in regional conflicts. A Huthi spokesman told AFP the rebels had yet to receive an invitation. "Saudi Arabia wants to present itself as a neutral country... but this call (for talks) is for media attention, nothing serious," he said, without confirming whether or not. The talks are scheduled to take place as the Saudi-led coalition marks seven years since its intervention in the Yemen war on March 26, 2015 -- shortly after the rebels seized the capital Sanaa.
Famine conditions -
Riyadh has repeatedly called on the US administration to redesignate the Huthis as a terrorist organization. The grinding war has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, directly or indirectly, and displaced millions, in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Around 80 percent of Yemen's population of nearly 30 million depend on some form of aid for survival. On Monday, U.N. agencies warned the number of people in the country starving in famine conditions is projected to increase five-fold this year to 161,000 amid fears of a dire shortfall of life-saving aid. Over 30,000 people are already struggling in famine conditions, they said, calling the sharp rise "extremely worrying". Efforts to convene Yemen's warring parties in Riyadh comes on the heels of a high-level conference to raise aid for Yemen, as fears mount that Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens global food supplies.
Yemen depends almost entirely on food imports, with nearly a third of wheat supplies coming from Ukraine, the U.N. said. The U.N. has repeatedly warned that aid agencies are running out of funds, forcing them to slash "life-saving" programs. Last year the UN pleaded for $3.85 billion for aid, but raised just $1.7 billion.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 15-16/2022
Russia’s Putin looks to import Syrian mercenaries to do the ‘dirty tricks’ against Ukraine’s population
Ben Evansky and Benjamin Weinthal/ March 15/2022 |
Putin launches recruitment operation of Syrian armed forces
As Russia’s war machine grinds into the third week of its brutal invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has launched a recruiting operation in the Syrian Arab Republic in an effort to attract reinforcements for his armed forces.
Commentators believe the announcement is in part due to Russia’s poor planning of the war, which has led to many Russian soldiers being killed. Last week a U.S official told CBS News the number of Russian deaths could be between 5,000 and 6,000.
Putin and his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, recently declared that as many as 16,000 combatants from the Middle East will enter the Ukrainian war on the side of Russia. The promised pay, according to news reports and anti-Assad organizations, is around $3,000 per month.
“It appears that Russia has opened 14 mercenary recruitment centers in Syria in territories controlled by the regime of Bashar al-Assad (Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor),” Theodore Karasik, a fellow on Russian and Middle Eastern Affairs at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, told Fox News Digital. “After a short training, the mercenaries will be transported to Russia through the Khmeimim Air Base by two Tu-134 (up to 80 passengers) and Tu-154 (up to 180 passengers) aircraft to the Chkalovsky Air Base, Moscow region.”
Karasik added that “We need to be aware that there is an information war ongoing regarding the recruitment of fighters by multiple parties to this conflict. There is some evidence that these fighters will enter into the battle space in greater numbers in the coming weeks.” The battle space, he continued, “is being prepared for partisan warfare and taking lessons learned from Grozny and Syria are going to be important for all actors. Recruitment drives are robust and supported by state actors.”
Grozny saw intensive urban warfare conducted by Russian forces during the initial stages of the First Chechen War in 1994-95 and the Second Chechen War in 1999-2000, with some military observers claiming they are now doing the same with Ukraine.
Karasik said the recruiting effort is about applying Syrian fighters’ capacity in another theater because of the experience they acquired in the long civil war. “I think it’s a mixed picture because of the multiple groups [in Syria] and how they’ve split and come back together again,” he said. “So really, it’s about the quality of the recruits, and what we need to look at next is who are they really sending? Who is signing up for this? How do they guarantee the quality of the fighters?”
Brig. Gen. Ahmad Rahal, who resigned in protest from the Syrian military in 2012 over the policies of President Bashar Assad and joined the opposition Free Syria Army, told Fox News Digital that the Russians will use the Syrian and other mercenaries to carry out the “dirty tasks” of fighting in the cities, which will lead to more civilian deaths and it will help them avoid being blamed for the war crimes.
“The Russian army is besieging most of the Ukrainian cities, and now it is taking the appropriate fighting arrangement around the cities, and the next stage will be military operations by storming the cities, and these mercenaries coming from Syria from Assad’s army and Assad’s mercenaries will perform a large part of those tasks,” Rahal said.
He added, “As a military observer, it is clear that the Russian army had to change its military plans. At first the Russians wanted a classic war, a war of armies, and the task assigned to the Russian army was a lightning and quick operation that President Putin called a ‘special operation’ through which the Ukrainian army would be crushed and then the leadership would collapse political in the capital Kyiv, but this did not happen.”
The brigadier general noted that, “It is clear that the Ukrainian military leadership was a good reader of the military reality and the great difference between the capabilities of the Russian army and the capabilities of the Ukrainian army, so the Ukrainian leadership succeeded in dragging the Russian army into a war of resistance around cities, a guerrilla war, a war of ambushes, and later a street war if the Russian army stormed the Ukrainian cities.”
Rahal said his information about the forces coming to fight in Ukraine included the following units: the 4th Division, commanded by Assad’s brother; the Syrian army’s special forces; the republican guard; the 25th division; the Russian backed 5th Corps; and “the Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade, which is fighting with the Assad army (their nationalities are Palestinian and Syrian); and the National Defense Forces militias (Syrian mercenaries who have been fighting alongside the army since the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011).”
The Assad regime has been engulfed in war since 2011, when the Syrian dictator launched a violent crackdown on citizens seeking democracy. Russian forces intervened in 2015 to crush the revolt. The Syrian civil war has resulted in over 500,000 deaths.
Retired Col. Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan, told Fox News Digital, “It’s not clear how many Syrians or other fighters from the Middle East are likely to answer Russia’s call. They will have to be paid significant amounts to volunteer to do so. There is no doubt that among them will be Islamic State jihadists who might be looking to stay in Russia or even travel on from there to Western Europe. They are likely to be disappointed if that is their aim, unless Putin is looking to help some of them infiltrate westwards.”
Kemp noted that “Middle Eastern fighters will be used to a completely different form of conflict than they will find in Ukraine. They are unlikely to be a match for well-armed and organized Ukrainian forces, but Putin will be happy to throw them away as cannon fodder.”
Rahal concluded with this warning: “As a Syrian general, I refuse to push the Syrians into that war that Putin declared against the peaceful people of Ukraine. Putin wants to achieve political and personal goals at the expense of the Ukrainian people, and this is what Putin did before here in Syria.”
*Ben Evansky reports for Fox News on the United Nations and international affairs. Benjamin Weinthal is a research fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @BenWeinthal. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

إن رفع العقوبات عن إيران وتحديداً تلك المتعلقة منها بانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان سيكون خاطئاً
أوردي كيتري/ناشيونال إنترست/15 آذار/2022
Lifting Human Rights Sanctions on Iran Would Be a Mistake
Orde Kittrie/The National Interest/March 15/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107067/orde-kittrie-the-national-interest-lifting-human-rights-sanctions-on-iran-would-be-a-mistake-%d8%a5%d9%86-%d8%b1%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d9%82%d9%88%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a5%d9%8a/
Lifting pressure on human rights abusers is not necessary to negotiate effective arms control agreements.
The Biden administration is reportedly poised to lift all sanctions on many of Iran’s worst human rights abusers and terrorism sponsors in exchange for remarkably weak nuclear concessions from Iran. History has shown that sacrificing human rights concerns to achieve arms control objectives is both unnecessary and counterproductive.
Both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, due in part to the insistence of Congress, maintained strong human rights pressure on the Soviet Union while successfully negotiating major arms control agreements. The current Congress should step in to ensure that the administration’s eagerness for a deal with Iran does not undermine accountability for Iran’s egregious human rights abuses and sponsorship of terrorism.
The Iranians who will reportedly be freed from all sanctions under the nuclear deal include Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, Vice President Mohsen Rezaei, and Hossein Dehghan, a former brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Each has a horrific record of personal responsibility for human rights abuses and terrorism.
Khamenei was Iran’s president from 1981 until 1989 and has been its supreme leader since then. As such, Khamenei is ultimately responsible for four decades of Iranian human rights abuses and support for terrorism. A U.S. federal court held Khamenei personally responsible for the deaths of nineteen U.S. servicemembers in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Federal courts have also held Khamenei personally responsible for the deaths of U.S. civilians in three terrorist bombings in Israel—two on public buses and one at an outdoor market in Jerusalem.
Raisi is responsible for the execution of thousands of political prisoners and the unlawful torture and execution of hundreds of peaceful protesters. All sanctions will likewise reportedly be lifted on Rezaei, a former IRGC commander in chief who is wanted by Argentina for organizing a 1994 attack on a Jewish community center that killed eighty-five people. Dehghan is responsible for mass executions as commander of the IRGC’s Tehran branch. He also commanded the IRGC in Lebanon when Iran ordered the Beirut barracks bombing, which killed 241 U.S. Marines.
The nuclear deal is reportedly also poised to lift all sanctions on the IRGC, which is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and has carried out terrorist activities that have violated human rights around the world for decades. This sends a particularly counterproductive message in the wake of recent reports that the IRGC is actively working to assassinate former U.S. government officials, including former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton.
Lifting sanctions on these Iranian human rights abusers and terrorism sponsors would send a dangerous message of impunity to Vladimir Putin and his henchmen at a time when they are committing war crimes in Ukraine and human rights abuses in Russia. Such a decision is contrary to America’s values, would wrongly abandon the Islamic Republic’s many victims—including hundreds of current political prisoners and detainees—and would also weaken deterrence against future abuses in Iran and make it harder for the Iranian people to liberate themselves from the Iranian regime. Iran saw mass uprisings in 2018, 2019, and 2020; the regime reportedly killed 1,500 demonstrators in November 2019 alone. The regime’s repression is likely to cause even more mass uprisings in the future. If Washington lifts these sanctions, Iranian officials will have even fewer worries about the personal price they might pay for crushing new uprisings.
Lifting sanctions on these Iranian human rights abusers will also empower these hardliners in the broader Iranian political arena. Islamic Republic officials who violate Iran’s legally binding obligations on human rights—including those under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party—are among those most likely to violate Iran’s nuclear commitments. The United States should isolate and sanction them, not relieve them of sanctions pressure or otherwise rehabilitate them.
A decision to lift human rights and terrorism sanctions on these Iranian officials would be inconsistent with the previously expressed policies of the Biden and Obama administrations. For example, during his confirmation hearing, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said that Washington “should not be loosening sanctions on terrorism or human rights or anything else that checks back Iran’s destabilizing activities.”
In 2015, while discussing the very deal that Biden officials say they seek to resurrect, then-Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate that the United States would not be violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) if Washington used “our authorities to impose sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights, missiles, or any other nonnuclear reason.” Kerry also said that “the JCPOA does not provide Iran any relief from United States sanctions under any of those authorities.”
The United States’ experience negotiating with the Soviet Union, which had a much more advanced nuclear program and military than Iran does today, demonstrates that lifting pressure on human rights abusers is not necessary to negotiate and implement verifiable arms control agreements. In fact, past efforts have shown that it is counterproductive.
Neither Carter, while negotiating the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II), nor Reagan, while negotiating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, made concessions on human rights in order to achieve progress on arms control. Instead, both Carter and Reagan made clear to the Soviets that progress on human rights was key to increasing trust on arms control.
In a June 1978 speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, Carter both discussed the importance of the ongoing SALT II negotiations and sharply criticized Soviet human rights violations, saying, “The abuse of basic human rights in their own country … has earned them the condemnation of people everywhere who love freedom.” Even at the height of the SALT II negotiations, Carter publicly “condemned” and “deplored” a Soviet sentence on dissident Anatoly Sharansky.
Both Carter and his secretary of state, Cyrus Vance, used public and private forums to impress upon Soviet leaders that continued human rights abuses would anger the American public and hinder the possibility of the Senate ratifying the completed SALT II treaty. Carter and Soviet chairman Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II treaty in June 1979. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan eventually derailed Senate ratification, but both the United States and the Soviet Union announced they would nevertheless abide by its provisions.
Reagan also negotiated and signed a major arms control agreement—the INF treaty—while strongly pressuring the Soviets on human rights. Reagan publicly called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” He and his administration pressured the Soviets by raising human rights in meetings with them, highlighting human rights in presidential speeches, and openly discussing the issue with members of Congress, human rights activists, and Soviet dissidents.
After a summit with the Soviets, Reagan publicly declared that “we didn’t limit ourselves to just arms reductions.” Rather, he also discussed the Soviets’ “violation of human rights,” noting that “a government that will break faith with its own people cannot be trusted to keep faith with foreign powers.”
Reagan, like Carter, found it helpful to portray Congress as a “bad cop” on human rights issues. He emphasized to the Soviets that progress on other bilateral issues, given the human rights concerns of both his administration and congress, would be easier if Moscow would improve its human rights record.
Congressional action underscored this point to Moscow. The House and Senate passed numerous resolutions condemning Soviet human rights violations, while individual lawmakers criticized the administration when it even vaguely appeared to subordinate human rights to arms control.
Kenneth Adelman, Reagan’s top arms control adviser at the time, eloquently described the interplay between human rights and arms control in a January 1987 speech. He argued that human rights advocacy is not a hindrance, but rather a contributor, to effective arms control agreements.
It is no surprise, said Adelman, that “a nation that makes no effort to abide by its human rights agreement commitments also violates its arms control agreements.” It also comes as no surprise, he added, when a nation “that systematically lies to its own people fails to comply fully with an arms agreement it signs with us.” Adelman concluded that “openness and arms control go together.”
Thus, lifting human rights and counterterrorism sanctions would actually decrease the prospects for Iran’s lasting and verifiable abandonment of its nuclear weapons ambitions. It would also weaken deterrence against further abuses, abandon victims, empower Iranian hardliners, and send a dangerous message to Putin and his henchmen.
Much as it did with Carter and Reagan, Congress should act to ensure that the United States continues to pursue an end not only to Iran’s nuclear program but also to its egregious human rights abuses and state sponsorship of terrorism.
*Orde F. Kittrie is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a law professor at Arizona State University. He previously served as the U.S. State Department’s lead attorney for nuclear affairs. FDD is a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter @OrdeFK.

Russia sanctions grow faster, larger than South Africa sanctions in 1980s
James Brooke/The Berkshire Eagle/March 15/2022
When I lived in Moscow, I worked for Bloomberg, banked at Citibank, used my Visa card at Ikea, lunched at McDonald’s and flew home on Aeroflot to New York.
As of this week, all that is over. As more than 300 Western companies head for the exits, financial sanctions have hit Russia’s economy like an atom bomb. Next month, Russia is expected to default on its $40 billion worth of bonds held by foreigners. This would be Russia’s first major default since the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917. Since then, Czarist railroad bonds have made nice wallpaper. Today, foreign banks, largely European, have $121 billion in exposure to Russia.
For now, public opinion polls show a majority of Russians support Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine. Let’s see how they feel after the world’s 11th biggest economy becomes the world’s biggest North Korea. For the last 23 years, Putin’s post-Soviet deal with Russians was: You get a consumer goods revolution, and I get unchecked political power.
With one stroke, Putin’s attack on Ukraine triggered the unwinding of three decades of foreign investment in Russia.
In the two weeks following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, more than 300 major western companies have halted Russian operations, according to a tally maintained by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management professor. This exceeds the 200 big companies that took part in the 12-year campaign to divest from white-ruled South Africa.
Let’s look at the Western companies that were my daily companions when I lived in Moscow from 2006 to 2014. After Russia passed a law imposing 15-year jail sentences on reporters calling Russia’s actions in Ukraine a “war,” Bloomberg stopped covering Russia. The New York Times announced this week it is withdrawing its reporters from Russia. Last week, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe closed their joint bureau in Moscow. The VOA bureau opened in 1989 under Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The Times bureau dates back to 1922, the time of Vladimir Lenin.
Today, Citigroup is trying to sell its retail operations in Russia. UniCredit, an Italian bank I also used in Moscow, warned Wednesday that it faces up to $8 billion of losses in Russia.
Last week, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal stopped processing foreign purchases for millions of Russian citizens. Apple and Google shut off their smartphone payments, cutting off cashless commuters at Moscow subway stations.
Ikea, the Swedish home goods retailer, is temporarily closing its 17 stores across Russia. Among the retailers joining the shutdowns are: Adidas, H&M Group, L’Oréal, Nike, LVMH, Louis Vitton, Hermes, Chanel and Zara.
Levi Strauss & Company has stopped sales in Russia of its blue jeans — a symbol of post-Soviet consumer freedom. From the consumer side, Russians’ purchasing power vaporized after the ruble devalued by 50 percent since the war’s start.
On Tuesday, McDonald’s announced that it will temporarily close all 847 restaurants in Russia. Starbucks also said they would temporarily close all of its 130 coffeeshops in Russia.
“Western companies probably haven’t lost so much money so quickly due to geopolitics since the Shah was overthrown in Iran,” Renaissance Capital chief economist Charlie Robertson told Reuters, referring to the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Aeroflot, Russia’s national flag carrier, is now a domestic airline. Last week Aeroflot announced that the suspension of all international flights. Russian airlines are banned from flying to the European Union, United Kingdom and the U.S. Delta has dropped Aeroflot from its codeshare alliance.
Boeing and Airbus account for about two-thirds of all passenger jets used in Russia. Last week, Boeing and Airbus said they will no longer service the planes. Three Irish companies lease a total of 200 jets to Russian airlines. Now the companies want to repossess the jets, valued at $3 billion, reports the Irish Times. But a new Russian law may bar their return. On Thursday, President Putin threatened to nationalize foreign-owned companies.
His chief propagandist, Russia Today editor Margarita Simonyan wrote on Telegram: “Is there a reason why all these Pizza Huts and Ikeas and so on aren’t nationalized already?”
Irritating Simonyan, the European Union last week banned Russia Today as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. RT America closed last week in the wake of a massive boycott by U.S. cable networks.
Worrying the Kremlin is the threat that millions of jobs will evaporate due to the West’s massive divestment campaign.
In Russia’s key natural resources sector, a series of heavyweights have announced plans to pull out of Russia: Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell. Ford, GM, Daimler Truck, Volvo and Volkswagen announced last week that they are suspending operations in Russia.
Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian multinational that owns the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation, says it is “terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business.” Rio Tinto owns 80 percent of a joint venture with Rusal, the world’s second-largest aluminum company. Vladimir Potanin, the nickels magnate and reportedly Russia’s richest man after Putin, warns nationalizations would “bring us back 100 years, to 1917.”
For Russians, doing business, creating companies and selling products abroad are increasingly difficult. Two weeks ago, most Russian banks were largely cut off from SWIFT, the international payments system. This cutoff puts Russian in a category approaching North Korea today and Iran a decade ago.
Goldman Sachs, emblematic of Russia’s go-go financial era, announced that it is closing in Russia. Further hampering Russian companies ability to raise money, the “big four” audit firms — E&Y, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte — plan to withdraw from Russia. Robert Homans, an American financial expert, wrote Thursday on the impact of the war: “[this departure] may make it difficult for lesser-known Russian companies…to gain legitimacy with international investors, through having audit reports prepared by Big 4 firms.”
With no sign of Putin withdrawing from Ukraine, the Biden Administration is asking Congress to remove Russia’s status of “permanent normal trade relations.” This could raise tariffs on U.S. imports of Russian goods from 3 percent to 33 percent. There are bipartisan calls in Congress to kick Russia out of the World Trade Organization. Maersk and two other major shipping lines have stopped servicing Russian ports. With Moscow’s stock market closed for last two weeks and international ratings agencies cutting Russian sovereign bonds to junk status, Russia’s gross domestic product is expected to contract by 15 to 20 percent this year.
“The crisis will be most severe for a minimum of three years — take the 1998 crisis and multiply it by three,” Oleg Deripaska, a metals billionaire, said referring to the partial default, big devaluation and five percent GDP drop in 1998. This 1998 economic crisis paved the way for the rise of Putin to the presidency in the following year.
Back in 1970, Andrei Amalrik, a young Soviet dissident, wrote an essay with a heretical title: “Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?”
Now the question may be: Will Putin survive until 2024?
*Lenox native James Brooke is a visiting fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

A chance for a ‘longer and stronger’ deal, rather than a contract of capitulation
Jacob Nagel and Meir Ben-Shabbat/Israel Hayom/March 15/2022
The halt to the Vienna nuclear talks due to Russia's demand that sanctions on it exclude trade with Iran, have led to a watershed moment to expose the dangers of the deal.
Unexpectedly, the world powers have decided on an unspecified halt to the negotiations for a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Russian envoy to the talks Mikhail Ulyanov – who was interviewed a few days ago and expressed pride (justifiable, his opinion) that under his leadership and with help from the Chinese, the Iranians were about to receive a much better deal than they could have hoped for in their wildest dreams – fell into line with orders from Moscow and led to a freeze in the talks. But he wasn’t acting alone.
The round of talks last week was surprising from the opening gambit. Although the leading EU representative declared that they were no longer negotiations but rather political decisions, each side arrived with demands, both new and old.
The Iranians laid out at least three new demands: that the list of entities to be removed from the sanctions list be reopened and include the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and its terrorist arms; precisely-worded guarantees and compensatory mechanisms should the US withdraw from the agreement again; and a promise about the final result of the IAEA’s open investigations, due in June.
The Americans made a new demand that the Iranians commit to stopping their aggression in the Persian Gulf, including the launch of a direct communications channel between Iran and the US. Even the Chinese appear to have made demands having to do with restrictions placed on them in the past that have nothing to do with the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Still, it appears that the demand that broke the camel’s back was when Russia asked that the sanctions applied to them in response to the Ukraine invasion exempt trade with the Iranian market, which was due to reopen after the deal was signed.
The disadvantages of the deal
At the moment, the negotiations have been frozen, but because all sides want a deal, it is likely that we will soon see them start again. Because most of the demands, other than that of Russia, are issues that can be resolved, it is important at this time to lay out the disadvantages and dangers of the deal and point out steps that Israel will have to take (apparently on its own) if it is signed, or with the US and other partners if it is not.
The nascent agreement, spearheaded by Russia and China, has the full support of the American team, led by Robert Malley, minus those senior team members who have resigned because of his ineffectual conduct. This deal is both bad and dangerous, and it allows Iran to secure a nuclear bomb in the next few years, which will lead to a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East.
The deal, which is partly based on the 2015 agreement, hasn’t solved a single one of the fundamental problems, and adds new ones. A “proper” agreement would ensure that Iran will not become a nuclear threshold state and certainly not a nuclear one, but the many mistakes made in the negotiations did not allow anything close to a deal of that kind.
The deal does not have the tools or leverage to force the Iranians into another round of negotiations for a “longer and stronger” agreement, as Biden promised. According to the timeline of the original deal, the limitations on Iran’s nuclear program are due to expire soon, and will certainly expire now that a future deal will not be signed within the next few months.
The deal that has been reached is based only on good will and will give the Iranians everything they want, and more – without demanding nearly anything in return, other than a stop to some of their more blatant violations of the deal, especially since Biden was elected president.
Dangers and harm
The world powers will almost immediately (in 2025) lose any practical ability to reestablish the snapback mechanism, which allowed sanctions to be reapplied, leaving them without any way of pressuring the Iranians, who – very soon after the deal is signed – will see assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars released.
The future of the IAEA’s open investigations met with an embarrassing defeat after IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s visit to Vienna. The sides presented the agreements as an achievement because unlike the decision to close the handling of PMD under the 2015 deal, this time, the signing won’t end the investigations.
The IAEA closed the investigation into illegal use of metal uranium, and left three cases open, in which Iran must respond by the time the IAEA Board of Governors meets in June. Can anyone doubt that after the deal is signed, no one will dare demand real answers from the Iranians or threaten the deal? Even without a deal, it doesn’t look like anything will happen in June. The stature of the IAEA, which is supposed to oversee the deal, has been irreparably damaged, but if the deal fell apart it might be possible to repair the harm.
The deal also does not address oversight of activity to develop its weapons systems (Section T). It appears that a secret 2015 agreement between the Russians, the Iranians, and the Americans, about a lack of intention to enforce that section, is still in effect. We can assume that the new draft agreement also includes secret documents and side deals.
In addition, the deal includes an almost immediate lifting of most of the sanctions – including ones applied to organizations, institutions, and individuals – regardless of the nuclear program. And this comes at a time when the Iran-backed Houthis are attacking oil facilities in Riyadh and threatening an escalation, and the Iranians are firing precision ballistic missiles at American targets in Iraq. There can be no bigger prize for Shiite terrorism.
The goal: To weaken Iran
Whether or not the deal is signed, it is important to now expose all the problematic details and create a wave of opposition to it in the US Congress going into the midterm elections.
This is a watershed opportunity to make opposition to the deal a bilateral issue and bring some Democrats on board so a message can be sent that business as usual with the Iranians is very dangerous. This is why the Iranians asked for an addendum outlining understandings stipulating that they are the ones who will decide if the US (and Britain) will leave the deal, and ensure that if so, Iran is compensated by receiving legitimacy to enrich uranium to 60%, as well as permission to set up thousands of advanced centrifuges.
In the mid- and long-term, Israel has to prepare for a campaign to weaken Iran in every way possible – economically, diplomatically, militarily, politically, through cyber, kinetic means, soft and legal tools, and more – and invest the appropriate resources in every aspect of this, like it has already begun to do.
Iran’s leader must realize that the era is over in which the head of the hydra stays invulnerable while it reaches out (through satellites in the Middle East and the Gulf) to attack and destabilize. This change first appeared in the defense outlook Netanyahu published in 2018, and to which Prime Minister Bennett recently returned.
Responsibility for the campaign to weaken Iran should be assigned to the Mossad, the IDF, and the Shin Bet security agency, in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry and the political leadership, through the National Security Council. It is crucial to build a mechanism that can carry messages to the international audience, especially in the US, that underscore the direct and expected nuclear threat to every US city after Iran finishes testing its intercontinental ballistic missiles. If the deal isn’t signed, this could be done in partnership with the American administration.
Rather than exerting maximum financial pressure combined with a credible military threat, the US was ready to sign a dangerous, disgraceful “contract of capitulation” in Vienna. The halt to the talks has created an unplanned opportunity for the US and Israel to build a joint plan that will force Iran to move quickly toward a “longer, stronger deal,” one that would truly block its path to a nuclear weapon.
*Brig. Gen. (Res.) Professor Jacob Nagel is a former national security adviser to the prime minister and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Meir Ben-Shabbat, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, served as Israel’s national security adviser and head of the National Security Council between 2017 and 2021.

North Korea Shows How the Iranian Nuclear Deal Will Fail
Anthony Ruggiero and Michael Rubin/The National Interest/March 15/ 2022
Nuclear negotiations with North Korea have shown us that limited nuclear deals allow the proliferator the time and space to develop nuclear weapons.
Over thirty years ago, North and South Korea signed a “Denuclearization” declaration forswearing plutonium reprocessing, uranium enrichment, and the development, testing, or possession of nuclear weapons. To reach an agreement, the United States removed its own nuclear missiles from South Korea and canceled its annual military exercises. Secretary of State James Baker patted himself on his back. “American diplomacy [was] directly responsible for an end to six years of intransigence by the North.” The deal assuaged Washington but did not derail Pyongyang’s ambitions. Fourteen years later, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. It was not the last time an American president would claim that a limited nuclear deal ended a proliferators’ nuclear desire.
Rogues know that brinksmanship against the United States works. Thirteen months after the United States declared victory, North Korea threatened to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) over concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. The Kim regime’s nuclear escalation should have raised red flags in Washington, but failed to do so. Instead, diplomacy’s cheerleaders preferred to blame Americans for these failures. As a remedy, President Bill Clinton briefly considered military action but decided against it, and by the end of the year, all signs of progress evaporated. North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire,” and Pyongyang again blocked inspections.
Clinton sought to keep North Korea inside the NPT at any price. “If North Korea could walk away from the treaty’s obligations with impunity at the very moment its nuclear program appeared poised for weapons production, it would have dealt a devastating blow from which the treaty might never recover,” U.S. negotiator Robert Gallucci explained.
It was a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. The scramble to preserve the limited deal blinded Washington to Pyongyang’s greater interest: preventing inspectors from sites that would demonstrate nuclear work. Just as with the Iran nuclear negotiations now, the goal appeared more for the president to show “the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine” than to prevent an adversary’s empowerment.
Clinton eventually reached a deal—the 1994 Agreed Framework—that, in theory, put North Korea’s nuclear program in a box. But, it did nothing of the sort. Instead, the agreement ignored Pyongyang’s past NPT violations and provided Kim’s regime a $4 billion payout.
Unfortunately, the George W. Bush administration repeated this pattern. Almost eight years after signing the Agreed Framework, North Korea admitted to pursuing a covert uranium enrichment program after U.S. intelligence confronted them. President Bush initially listed Pyongyang as a member of his “Axis of Evil,” but six years later, he paid the Kim regime $2.5 million for the political theater of blowing up the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.
Today, the same pattern repeats with only minor variations in the Iran negotiations. When, in July 2015, the P5+1—the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, and China—agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, politicians sang its praises. We have “achieved something that decades of animosity has not — a comprehensive, long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” President Barack Obama declared. The Biden administration is repeating this pattern with its singular focus on returning to the expiring, limited nuclear deal.
Herein lies two interlinked problems with the limited Iran nuclear deal.
First, the JCPOA does not address past and future Iranian covert nuclear activities. The deal spelled out an inspections regime for Iran’s declared nuclear facilities. While JCPOA supporters claim the deal includes stringent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections—a debatable assertion—what is certain is that the IAEA did not know about Tehran’s undeclared nuclear activities before Israel stole Iran’s nuclear archive in 2018. That operation proved false Obama’s assertion that the accord has “the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program.” He added, “The bottom line is, if Iran cheats, we can catch them—and we will.”
Iran has also consistently blocked full inspections, especially of sites it defined as military. Indeed, this has always been among the red lines articulated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In February 2021, Iran reduced the IAEA’s ability to monitor Tehran’s nuclear program. While partisans will blame President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, this agreement did not supplant Iran’s NPT commitments that it again violates. Countries do not reduce monitoring if they have nothing to hide. It is possible to hide a centrifuge cascade. The Institute for Science and International Security estimates that if Iran used its current stockpile of enriched uranium in a clandestine 650 IR-6 cascade, a configuration that could be placed in a small warehouse, it could make enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear weapon in about a month.
Second, the 2015 deal does not address Tehran’s cooperation with North Korea. The UN Panel of Experts determined that Iran and North Korea had resumed cooperation on long-range missiles in 2020. North Korea’s weaponization program has advanced since its first nuclear test in October 2006. Pyongyang can provide lessons learned or specific techniques to help Iran’s weaponization efforts. Certainly, the renewed resourcing of the Islamic Republic as a result of sanctions relief, waivers, and new foreign investment could allow Iran to fund this cooperation from a North Korean regime that is willing to sell weapons and missile technology to the highest bidder. At a minimum, Pyongyang could provide expertise and information that allow Tehran to shorten its weaponization timeline. The work could occur in North Korea or Iran if Tehran would not allow any off site work by Iranian scientists. All of this covert activity would be hard to detect and disrupt.
Nuclear negotiations with North Korea have shown us that limited nuclear deals allow the proliferator the time and space to develop nuclear weapons. President Joe Biden must reject the mistakes of his predecessors and insist on a longer and stronger deal that eliminates Iran’s pathway to a nuclear weapon.
*Anthony Ruggiero and Michael Rubin are, respectively, senior fellows at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the American Enterprise Institute. Follow Anthony on Twitter @NatSecAnthony. FDD is a Washington, D.C.-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.