English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 27/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
“The Healing Miracle of the Paralytic
Gospel of Saint Mark ( 02/1-12): “The Healing Miracle of the Paralytic”: “When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house. Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”— He said to the paralytic— “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.” He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 26-27/2022
The Healing Miracle of the Paralyzed Miracle & The Significance Of Praying For Others/Elias Bejjani/March 27/2022
The Dhimmitude and Iscariot so called strong Lebanese President will be, among the guests of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and in his unquenchable Eternal fire/Elias Bejjani/March 26/2022
The Lebanese people shall have No mercy for those who like Judos sold their country and honor for thirty silver dinars./Elias Bejjani/March 25/2022
Miqati Meets Emir of Qatar, Says Arabs to Restore Ties with Lebanon
Health Ministry: 290 new Corona cases, 6 deaths
Reminder of daylight saving time tonight
Mikati meets with Qatari Prince and officials: All Arab & Gulf countries will restore their relations with Lebanon
Judge Aoun appeals to Supreme Judicial Council to intervene to stop the violent campaigns against judges
Al-Shami's Press Office: ‘Capitol Control’ bill on the agenda for Tuesday's Parliament session
Capital Control draft has nothing to do with our proposal," tweets Kanaan
Abou Faour: It is the coup itself!
Derian denounces aggression against Saudi Arabia: A described crime that violates international laws & norms
Mawlawi condemns attacks on Saudi energy facilities
UK Embassy 'Deeply Concerned' by Lebanese Banks Closure of Accounts Belonging to Britons, UK Residents

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 26-27/2022
Yemen Rebels Attack Oil Facilities near Saudi F1 Track
Abdollahian: Iran welcomes normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia
Saudi official: The Houthis presented a cease-fire initiative
Houthis announce a 3-day cease of attacks on Saudi Arabia
Reuters: Eight people were killed in Sanaa as a result of coalition air strikes
Biden Labels Putin a ‘Butcher’ after Meeting Ukrainian Refugees
Russia takes control of the city of Slavutych
Biden meets two Ukrainian ministers in Warsaw
Biden: Putin cannot remain in power
After describing Putin as a "butcher", the Kremlin warns Biden and reminds him of “instigating bombing of Yugoslavia & killing of its children”
Biden: Poland shoulders a huge burden in the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine
Ukraine's defense and foreign ministers meet with their US counterparts
West is waging ‘total war’ on Russia, Lavrov says
Qatar's Foreign Minister calls for global attention to Middle East conflicts similar to Ukraine
Ukraine captures one of Russia's most advanced electronic warfare systems, which could reveal military secrets, say reports
Russia Signals Less Ambitious Goals in Ukraine War

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 26-27/2022
Biden Administration's Nuclear Deal: "This Isn't Obama's Iran Deal. It's Much, Much Worse."/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 26/2022
Hillary Clinton: Madeleine Albright Warned Us, and She Was Right/Hillary Clinton/The New York Times/March, 26/2022
Wonking Out: To Shale and Back, Redux/Paul Krugman/The New York Times/March, 26/2022
Putin: Strike First and Strike Hard/Mamdouh al-Muhainy/Asharq Al Awsat/March, 26/2022
This Economist Really Loves Free Markets/Peter Coy/The New York Times/March, 26/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 26-27/2022
The Healing Miracle of the Paralyzed Miracle & The Significance Of Praying For Others
Elias Bejjani/March 27/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/73457/elias-bejjani-praying-for-others-and-the-healing-miracle-of-the-paralyzed-miracle/
On the fifth Lenten Sunday the Catholic Maronites cite and recall with great reverence the Gospel of Saint Mark ( 02/1-12): “The Healing Miracle of the Paralytic”
This great miracle in its theological essence and core demonstrates beyond doubt that intercessions, prayers and supplications for the benefit of others are acceptable faith rituals that Almighty God attentively hears and definitely answers.
It is interesting to learn that the paralytic man as stated in the Gospel of St. Mark, didn’t personally call on Jesus to cure him, nor he asked Him for forgiveness, mercy or help, although as many theologians believe Jesus used to visit Capernaum, where the man lives, and preach in its Synagogue frequently.
Apparently this crippled man was lacking faith, hope, distancing himself from God and total ignoring the Gospel’s teaching. He did not believe that the Lord can cure him.
What also makes this miracle remarkable and distinguishable lies in the fact that the paralytic’s relatives and friends, or perhaps some of Jesus’ disciples were adamant that the Lord is able to heal this sick man who has been totally crippled for 38 years if He just touches him.
This strong faith and hope made four of them carry the paralytic on his mat and rush to the house where Jesus was preaching.
When they could not break through the crowd to inter the house they climbed with the paralytic to the roof, made a hole in it and let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on in front of Jesus and begged for his cure.
Jesus was taken by their strong faith and fulfilled their request.
Jesus forgave the paralytic his sins first (“Son, your sins are forgiven), and after that cured his body: “Arise, and take up your bed, and walk”.
Like the scribes many nowadays still question the reason and rationale that made Jesus give priority to the man’s sins.
Jesus’ wisdom illustrates that sin is the actual death and the cause for eternal anguish in Hell.
He absolved his sins first because sin cripples those who fall in its traps, annihilates their hopes, faith, morals and values, kills their human feelings, inflicts numbness on their consciences and keeps them far away from Almighty God.
Jesus wanted to save the man’s soul before He cures his earthy body. “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?” (Mark 08:/36 & 37).
Our Gracious God does not disappoint any person when he seek His help with faith and confidence.
With great interest and parental love, He listens to worshipers’ prayers and requests and definitely respond to them in His own way, wisdom, time and manner.
“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened”. (Matthew 07/07 &08)
Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up”. (James 05:15)
In this loving and forgiving context, prayers for others, alive or dead, loved ones or enemies, relatives or strangers, are religiously desirable.
God hears and responds because He never abandons His children no matter what they do or say, provided that they turn to Him with faith and repentance and ask for His mercy and forgiveness either for themselves or for others. “
There are numerous biblical parables and miracles in which Almighty God shows clearly that He accepts and responds to prayers for the sake of others.
Jesus cured the centurion’s servant on the request of the Centurion and not the servant himself. (Matthew 08/05-33 )
Jesus revived and brought back to life Lazarus on the request of his sisters Mary and Martha. (John 11/01-44)
Praying for others whether they are parents, relatives, strangers, acquaintances, enemies, or friends, and for countries, is an act that exhibits the faith, caring, love, and hope of those who offer the prayers.
Almighty God, Who is a loving, forgiving, passionate, and merciful Father listens to these prayers and always answers them in His own wisdom and mercy that mostly we are unable to grasp because of our limited human understanding.
“All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21/22)
Almighty God is always waiting for us, we, His Children to come to Him and ask for His help and mercy either for ourselves or for others.
He never leaves us alone. Meanwhile it is a Godly faith obligation to extend our hand and pull up those who are falling and unable to pray for themselves especially the mentally sick, the unconscious, and the paralyzed.
In this realm of faith, love and care for others comes our prayers to Virgin Mary and to all Saints whom we do not worship, but ask for their intercessions and blessings.
O, Lord, endow us with graces of faith, hope, wisdom, and patience.
Help us to be loving, caring, humble and meek. Show us the just paths.
Help us to be on your right with the righteous on the Judgment Day.
God sees and hears us all the time, let us all fear Him in all what we think, do and say.

The Dhimmitude and Iscariot so called strong Lebanese President will be, among the guests of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and in his unquenchable Eternal fire
Elias Bejjani/March 26/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107345/107345/
We strongly believe that not even one sane and patriotic Lebanese was shocked by the subservience and Dhimmitude rhetoric of the mullahs’ so called strong Lebanese President, that he viciously uttered in an interview with an Italian newspaper.
In his interview, he allegedly claimed that, Hezbollah the terrorist Iranian proxy, protects the Christians in Lebanon, and that it is not a terrorist entity, but a Lebanese resistance body.
This odd opportunistic and chameleon creature does not represent the Lebanese Christians, or the majority of the Lebanese people.
He was handpicked by the Iranian Mullahs, and by their servant Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, and illegally and unlawfully imposed by force and intimidation as president.
Practically, and in reality he is a mere puppet, trumpet and an Iranian mouthpiece, and accordingly has no free, patriotic or independent saying or stance in any matter.
He echoes in every word that he utters his Iranian masters faramans (decrees) no more no less. and accordingly all his stances and what ever he alleges in any domain, has no constitutional weight, or creditable value at all.
In summary, We strongly believe that this so called, “strong president” will end in the in the pin of history, and with no shed of doubt as a guest of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and in his unquenchable Eternal fire.

The Lebanese people shall have No mercy for those who like Judos sold their country and honor for thirty silver dinars.
Elias Bejjani/March 25/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107305/107305/
We hear every now and then some odd voices downplaying our resistance, and taking sarcastic attitudes towards its outcome. We also receive from time to time some advise saying, do not waste your time, the era of resistance has become history, have lost its glamour and not worth your time and effort.
They add, Realism is the master of stances, be like every body else, cope with the current status quo, live and let others live. Do what is required to be done, and protect your personal interests, even if you have to compromise freedom, dignity and divine beliefs.
To all those losers we loudly say, it is a well known historical fact that Lebanon is not going to be liberated by the opportunists who exchange peace with surrender, independence with subservience, liberation with collaboration, freedom with slavery, honor with submission and sacred national causes with individual interests and benefits.
Lebanon the 10452 km square, and the sacred land, by God’s will shall be liberated by the honest, dignified, patriotic, faithful and courageous Lebanese who are devoted to serve their people and country, and not themselves.
Those patriotic Lebanese are the lit torch in an era of defeatism, collaboration and cajolism.
In summary, neither history, nor the Lebanese people shall have no mercy for those officials, politicians and leaders who like Judos sold both their country and honor for thirty silver dinars.

Miqati Meets Emir of Qatar, Says Arabs to Restore Ties with Lebanon
Naharnet/Sat, March 26, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks Saturday in Doha with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Miqati and Qatar's ruler discussed "the relations between Lebanon and Qatar and the relation between Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Lebanon's National News Agency said.
Miqati also met with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Khaled bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz Al-Thani and discussed with him the Lebanese situation and the bilateral Lebanese-Qatari ties. Speaking at a press conference after the two meetings, Miqati stressed that "Lebanon always needs such Arab sponsorship." "Qatar is standing by Lebanon and God willing all Arab countries, especially the Gulf nations, will restore their normal relations with Lebanon," Miqati said. "We need this Arab embracement of our country," he added. The premier also noted that the Emir of Qatar "fully understands the problems in Lebanon" and that he promised that the Qatari foreign minister would visit Lebanon to "personally inquire about Lebanon's needs."

Health Ministry: 290 new Corona cases, 6 deaths
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
In its daily report on COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced the registration of 290 new Coronavirus infections, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,090,498. The report added that 6 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Reminder of daylight saving time tonight
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
The "National News Agency" reminded today of the content of the memorandum issued by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. 21/m dated 3/7/2022, regarding advancing the clock by one hour as of midnight of March 26-27, the beginning of summertime.

Mikati meets with Qatari Prince and officials: All Arab & Gulf countries will restore their relations with Lebanon
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Saturday with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the headquarters of the "Doha Forum" in the Qatari capital, during which bilateral Lebanese-Qatari relations were presented, in addition to the relationship between Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.Mikati also met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, with talks centering on the general situation in Lebanon and the Lebanese-Qatari relations. Following the two meetings, Mikati held a press conference in which he said: "Lebanon always needs such Arab patronage, and Qatar is on the side of Lebanon and, God willing, all the Arab countries and the Gulf States in particular will restore their normal relations with Lebanon, for we need this Arab embrace of our homeland."The Prime Minister stressed that the correct path is that Lebanon maintains an excellent relationship with the Arab countries and the Gulf States at all times. “Lebanon should have a strong relationship especially with the Arab countries, for it is one of the founders of the League of Arab States and harbors belief and conviction in these relations,” he said. Mikati described what happened in the recent past as a “passing summer cloud”, hoping that with his visits to the Arab countries and the restoration of diplomatic relations between Lebanon and the Gulf states, things will return to normal, underlining Lebanon’s need for such relations especially with the Saudi Kingdom. On a different note and referring to the Lebanese government’s efforts to find a solution to the dire economic conditions, the Prime Minister said: “The current economic situation in Lebanon denotes a set of problems accumulated over the past thirty years, and this matter cannot be resolved overnight...The government is striving to restore the economy to its recovery path and, God willing, that will soon be detected…”Asked about the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, Mikati said: "The negotiations between Lebanon and the Fund are continuing, and next Tuesday, a mission headed by the President of the Fund will begin a visit to Lebanon to complete the negotiations, and we hope that after the new round of deliberations, which will last for two weeks, a preliminary agreement will be signed between Lebanon and the Fund."He added, "We have no choice but to cooperate with the International Monetary Fund, to put Lebanon on the path of recovery."
On the sidelines of his participation in the “Doha Forum”, the Prime Minister also held talks with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi over frameworks for strengthening cooperation relations between the two brotherly countries, regional developments and issues of common interest.
PM Mikati conferred as well with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman, Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, over bilateral relations between both countries. Mikati also met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

Judge Aoun appeals to Supreme Judicial Council to intervene to stop the violent campaigns against judges
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor, Judge Ghada Aoun, addressed a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council on Saturday, in which she said: "To the Supreme Judicial Council, to those entrusted with the mission of preserving the rule of law by preserving the prestige of the judiciary and imposing its respect…all that can be summed up in describing the current stage are summarized in two words: targeting judges to intimidate them.”She added: “At times, I was targeted with slander and insults, similar to what happened yesterday during the TV episode, ‘It’s About Time’, and at other times, Judges Jean Tannous or Amani Salameh, and again, Mariana Anani are targeted…Why? Because they dared to open files that influential people in this country do not want to open in order to generalize the rule of impunity…"Aoun affirmed that such “moral regression” in dealing with a judge against the background of opening a dossier, waged by media professional Ghanem and attorney Habka, cannot be tolerated “particularly in a country that claims that its capital is the mother of law legislation…” “Therefore, I appeal to you to intervene to stop these ferocious campaigns against judges, not only to preserve the prestige of the judge, but also to prevent generalizing the phenomenon of media immorality and impunity,” Judge Aoun concluded.

Al-Shami's Press Office: ‘Capitol Control’ bill on the agenda for Tuesday's Parliament session
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
The press office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh Al-Shami, indicated, in an issued statement today, that “the meetings with the International Monetary Fund continued throughout this week, most of them focusing on the ‘Capitol Control’ bill to take the Fund’s opinion and observations, at the request of members of Parliament,” adding that “the project law was referred to the joint parliamentary committees for discussion on Monday, after which it will be placed on the Parliament’s agenda in its session next Tuesday.”Additionally, the statement also disclosed that “this week, the Deputy Prime Minister called for consultative meetings to discuss the outlines of the economic and financial recovery plan, on the basis of which negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are to be conducted, and to this end, three meetings were held with representatives of depositors, the labor union, trade unions and a group of economists and experts in financial affairs and with representatives of economic authorities and the Association of Banks.”“These meetings were very useful, and the observations and suggestions made during these deliberations will be taken into consideration for discussion with the International Monetary Fund mission, which will begin its work in Beirut next week," the Deputy Prime Minister's statement concluded.

Capital Control draft has nothing to do with our proposal," tweets Kanaan
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
MP Ibrahim Kanaan said today via his Twitter account: “The Capital Control draft circulating via social networks has dropped down upon us, as usual, from outside the norms and is not relevant to our proposal...We reject it as we reject any formula that does not protect the rights of depositors and gives absolute powers to a committee that includes the government and the Central Bank of Lebanon instead of enshrining these rights in the body of the law."

Abou Faour: It is the coup itself!
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Member of the Democratic Gathering, MP Wael Abou Faour, said in a statement today, "Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity are prohibited, because the darkness Movement wants to impose an unnecessary plant in Selaata, and does not want to form a regulatory body that will lift its power off the electricity dossier….”He added: “The Council of Ministers accepted a verbal settlement that did not solve the problem." "Negotiations in the file of demarcation of the maritime borders are also suspended awaiting the lifting of sanctions off the Free Patriotic Movement, in the real, undeclared negotiation that is taking place undercover...," Abou Faour said. "The judiciary is harnessed to serve the covenant and its allies in an electoral game, and there is an attempt by the men of the future era to seize all the joints of the state, from the judiciary to the military and security apparatuses, the officials of which are being plotted against to try to overthrow and bring in compliant followers,” the MP went on. “It is the coup itself, and an attempt to re-elicit and extend the era of Michel Aoun through his political heir, who was adopted by the opposite group for the republic presidency,” Abou Faour underlined.

Derian denounces aggression against Saudi Arabia: A described crime that violates international laws & norms
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
In an issued statement on Saturday, Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, condemned the aggression against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the targeting of oil installations in the north of Jeddah. He said: "The attack on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis is a described crime that violates all international and humanitarian laws and norms," adding, "The security of the Saudi Kingdom is part of the security and stability of the Arab region and all Arabs and Muslims in the world."
Derian called for "solidarity and standing by the country of the Two Holy Mosques to counter terrorism against the Arab Gulf states."

Mawlawi condemns attacks on Saudi energy facilities
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
In a tweet this morning, Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi condemned attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday by the Houthis, saying: "Targeting the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a clear and direct terrorist targeting of Arab legitimacy." He added: "We always stand by the Kingdom's side in defying the challenges facing our common Arab security, and in confronting any attack on the sovereignty and security of the Kingdom in contravention of international laws and covenants."

UK Embassy 'Deeply Concerned' by Lebanese Banks Closure of Accounts Belonging to Britons, UK Residents
Naharnet/Sat, March 26, 2022
The British Embassy in Beirut has announced that it is "deeply concerned" by the closure by some Lebanese banks of certain accounts belonging to account holders in Lebanon who are nationals or residents of the United Kingdom. "This unilateral action by the banks has singled out account holders on the basis of their British residency or nationality, in what appears to be a targeted and discriminatory manner," the embassy said in a statement. "We continue to raise our strong concerns with senior representatives of the Lebanese government, the Lebanese financial authorities and Lebanon’s banking institutions," it added.
Since the banks began closing accounts, British Ambassador to Lebanon Ian Collard has met the Depositors Union, the Chair of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, senior representatives of some of the banking institutions, the Chair of the Banking Control Commission, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the embassy noted. In each of his meetings, the Ambassador "made clear his concerns about the treatment of British national and British resident depositors in Lebanon and the legitimate perception of discriminatory action against them, as well as possible breaches of relevant banking laws and regulations," the embassy said. Collard has urged the Lebanese authorities to ensure that all depositors are "properly and fairly treated," and he underlined the importance of "Lebanese banks not discriminating against account holders on the basis of their British nationality or residency," the embassy added. It noted that the Ambassador has been assured by the Chair of the Banking Commission and Governor of the Central Bank that "steps are actively being considered to appropriately protect all affected depositors." In light of the banks’ actions, the British Embassy said any British national who has been impacted by the banks’ decisions should seek qualified legal advice in Lebanon.
"This is not a service that the Embassy can provide. Should they need it, British nationals can find a list of English-speaking legal representatives in Lebanon on the UK government website," it said. It added: "This unfortunate situation is symptomatic of Lebanon’s failing economy. Since the beginning of the economic crisis, the United Kingdom has joined international partners in calling on the Government of Lebanon to adopt overdue and essential economic reforms. Without such reforms, Lebanon’s economy continues its free fall, with serious impacts on all banking depositors in Lebanon, as well as Lebanese citizens more generally and others residing in Lebanon," the embassy warned. It stressed that "reforms represent the only path to rebuild Lebanon’s economy.""The British Embassy will continue to make the case in our engagements that British nationals and residents should not be unfairly impacted by the banks’ decisions, and calls for a rapid resolution to this matter," it added. Certain Lebanese banks began closing accounts of British nationals and residents following an order from the UK High Court of Justice on 22 February 2022 for Bank Audi and Société Générale de Banques au Liban to make an international transfer from Lebanon to one of their account holders who has UK residency.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 26-27/2022
Yemen Rebels Attack Oil Facilities near Saudi F1 Track
Agence France Presse/Sat, March 26, 2022
A Yemeni rebel attack on a Saudi oil plant set off a huge fire near Jeddah's Formula One circuit during televised practice sessions on Friday, part of a wave of assaults on Aramco facilities. Smoke billowed near the circuit and the second practice was delayed in the attack, one of 16 drone-and-missile attacks by the Iran-backed rebels around the kingdom. The wave of assaults comes ahead of the seventh anniversary of a Saudi-led coalition's military intervention against the rebels in Yemen, a country in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis. Oil prices have soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked supply fears, prompting Western powers to implore Saudi Arabia and other members of the OPEC cartel to ramp up production. Friday's attacks targeted "Aramco facilities in Jeddah and vital facilities in the capital of the Saudi enemy, Riyadh", tweeted Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebels confirmed the Jeddah attack.  The rebels have frequently launched similar assaults on Saudi oil facilities but the Jeddah attack came as a worldwide audience tuned in for the F1 Grand Prix. World champion Max Verstappen was one of the first drivers to be aware of the drama unfolding. "I can smell burning... is it my car?" Verstappen said over the team radio during the first practice session. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the fire had been brought under control and would not have an impact "on activities in Jeddah".F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has insisted the race weekend will go ahead as planned.Drivers, team bosses and Domenicali had four hours of meetings which ended early Saturday without an official announcement. Mexican Red Bull driver Sergio Perez however said he was ready for the qualifying session. "Ready and totally focused for tomorrow's qualy!" Perez tweeted after the meetings ended at 2:20 am, apparently confirming the decision to race on Sunday. A F1 spokesperson earlier gave assurances that "the event can continue as planned" as the delayed second practice session got underway.
Retaliatory strikes -
The attacks were launched from Sanaa, the rebel-held Yemeni capital, and Hodeida. In response, the coalition launched air strikes "against sources of threat in Sanaa and Hodeida" early Saturday. "The military operation will continue until its objectives are achieved," the coalition said in a statement quoted by the official Saudi news agency SPA. The U.S. State Department condemned the rebel attacks, calling them "unacceptable." "We will continue to work with our Saudi partners to strengthen their defenses while also working to advance a durable resolution that ends the conflict in Yemen," said State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter. The rebel attacks also hit an electrical station and a water facility in Jizan province, which borders Yemen.
'Direct threat' to oil supplies -
Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil exporters, warned on Monday that the attacks posed a "direct threat" to global supplies. The kingdom "will not incur any responsibility" for shortages in oil supplies in light of the Iran-backed Huthi attacks, the foreign ministry said. The statement on Monday came after the kingdom acknowledged a temporary drop in production after the Huthis attacked a refinery with an armed drone. A Saudi energy ministry official reiterated the warning, saying Huthi attacks could affect the country's "production capacity and its ability to fulfil its obligations to global markets.""They (rebels) are trying to impact the nerve-center of the world economy," the coalition said in a statement. The Saudi-led coalition intervened to support Yemen's internationally recognized government in 2015, after the rebels seized the capital Sanaa the previous year. The war has killed hundreds of thousands directly or indirectly and left millions on the brink of famine in what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe. Formula One is one of a number of high-profile events brought to Saudi Arabia in recent years, drawing accusations of "sportswashing" -- using sports events to distract from criticism of the country's human rights record. Saudi Arabia executed 81 people on a single day earlier this month, prompting condemnation from human rights activists who questioned whether the prisoners received a fair trial. The executions came just days before a visit by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who failed to secure any Saudi promises to pump more oil to help stabilize oil markets. Johnson, who met the 36-year-old de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, became one of the few Western leaders to visit Saudi Arabia since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
"I fully condemn the latest Huthi attack against critical sites in Saudi Arabia, including in Jeddah," the British leader tweeted on Friday. "These strikes put civilian lives at risk and must stop."

Abdollahian: Iran welcomes normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced today that Tehran welcomes the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, and is seeking to expand its cooperation with Syria. He said, in statements reported by Reuters, quoting Iranian state television, that "lifting US sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards was among the main demands of Tehran in talks to revive the nuclear agreement concluded in 2015,” stressing that Iran will not cross its "red lines."

Saudi official: The Houthis presented a cease-fire initiative
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
A high-ranking Saudi official confirmed today that the Houthis in Yemen have submitted a ceasefire initiative that includes a truce and the opening of Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeidah. The official, who preferred not to be named, told AFP: "The Houthis have put forward an initiative through mediators that includes a truce, opening the airport (Sana'a) and the port (Hodeidah) and Yemeni-Yemeni consultations." He added that "the rebels continue their attacks because they want to announce the initiative as if they are still strong."Regarding Riyadh's position on the initiative, the official said: "We are waiting for it to be officially announced because they (the Houthis) are constantly altering their words."

Houthis announce a 3-day cease of attacks on Saudi Arabia
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
The Houthis announced this evening a three-day cease of ballistic missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
The head of the Supreme Political Council in Sana'a, Mahdi Al-Mashat, said that all operations targeting Saudi Arabia by land, sea and air will be stopped for a period of three days. He expressed his group's readiness “to release all coalition prisoners, including the brother of President Hadi,” stressing "the suspension of offensive operations on the Ma'rib front and the rest of the fronts", according to "Russia Today".

Reuters: Eight people were killed in Sanaa as a result of coalition air strikes
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
"Reuters" news agency quoted residents in Sanaa as saying that air strikes by the Arab coalition hit two houses in Haddah neighborhood in the early hours of this morning, killing eight people in the first strike, while residents of the other house managed to flee before the second strike.

Biden Labels Putin a ‘Butcher’ after Meeting Ukrainian Refugees
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
US President Joe Biden spoke with top Ukrainian government officials in Warsaw on Saturday, and branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a "butcher" during a meeting with refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine to the Polish capital. On the second day of a visit to Poland, Biden dropped in on a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Ukraine had received additional security pledges from the United States on developing defense cooperation, Kuleba told reporters, while Reznikov expressed "cautious optimism" following the meeting with Biden. "President Biden said what is happening in Ukraine will change the history of the 21st century, and we will work together to ensure that this change is in our favor, in Ukraine's favor, in the favor of the democratic world," Kuleba told Ukrainian national television. After a separate meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Biden reiterated Washington's "sacred" commitment to security guarantees within NATO, of which Poland is a member. Ukraine is not a member of the Western military alliance, and the United States is wary of getting dragged into direct confrontation with Russia, but Washington has pledged to defend every inch of NATO territory. The White House said that in a speech in Warsaw later on Saturday, Biden "will deliver remarks on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war, and defend a future that is rooted in democratic principles".
Refugees
In Warsaw, Biden also visited a refugee reception center at the national stadium. People, some waving Ukrainian flags, lined the streets as his motorcade wound its way towards the stadium. After being greeted by celebrity chef Jose Andres, Biden talked to refugees who had gathered to receive food from the World Central Kitchen NGO, asking their names and hometowns and posing for pictures with some. More than 2 million people have fled the war to Poland. Altogether, about 3.8 million who have left Ukraine since fighting began on Feb. 24. Asked about the impact that Putin's decision to invade Ukraine had had on the Ukrainian people, Biden said the Russian leader was a "butcher". Russia's TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin spokesman as saying Biden's latest comments about Putin narrowed the prospects for mending ties between the two countries. Putin calls Russia's military actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" the country. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Standing outside the stadium, Hanna Kharkovetz, a 27-year-old woman from the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, expressed frustration that the world was not doing more to help. "I don't know what he wants to ask us here. If Biden went to Kyiv ... that would be better than speaking here with me," she said as she waited to register her mother for a Polish national ID number. The invasion of Ukraine has tested NATO and the West's ability to unite. Poland was under communist rule for four decades until 1989 and was a member of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact security alliance. It is now part of the European Union and NATO. The rise of right-wing populism in Poland in recent years has put it in conflict with the EU and Washington, but fears of Russia pressing beyond its borders has drawn Poland closer to its Western allies. Biden's election put the nationalist Law and Justice government in an awkward position as it had set great store in its relationship with his predecessor, Donald Trump. But as tensions with Russia rose before it invaded Ukraine, Duda appeared to seek to smooth relations with Washington. In December, he vetoed legislation that critics said aimed to silence a US-owned 24-hour news broadcaster. Biden and Duda were expected in their meeting to address a disagreement over how to arm Ukraine with warplanes, and other security guarantees.

Russia takes control of the city of Slavutych
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Russian forces have taken control of the city inhabited by crew members of the Chernobyl nuclear facility and detained its mayor, according to Ukrainian officials, as reported by Agence France-Presse, citing Ukrainian officials. On the Instagram application, the military administration of the Kyiv region, which falls within the city's scope, announced that "the Russian occupation forces invaded Slavutych and occupied the municipal hospital."The city of about 25,000 people, located about 160 km north of the capital, was built after the catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl facility in 1986. Residents organized a march carrying a huge Ukrainian flag and headed towards the hospital, according to the authorities, noting that Russian forces fired in the air and threw stun grenades to disperse the crowd. On Instagram, the authorities posted scenes showing dozens of people gathered around the Ukrainian flag, chanting "Glory to Ukraine."

Biden meets two Ukrainian ministers in Warsaw
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
US President Joe Biden held talks today with the Ukrainian foreign and defense ministers at the Marriott Hotel in central Warsaw during a meeting with their American counterparts, according to AFP, quoting journalists accompanying the US President on his visit to Poland.

Biden: Putin cannot remain in power
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
US President Joe Biden described the conflict in Ukraine as a "strategic failure" for Russia, stressing that the Russian people "are not our enemy," according to AFP. "There is no doubt that this war has become a strategic failure for Russia," Biden said from the Royal Castle in the Polish capital, Warsaw. "I refuse to believe that you accept the killing of innocent children and grandparents, or that you accept Russian bombing of hospitals, schools and maternity hospitals," he added addressing the Russian people, stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power, as reported by “Reuters”. He said, "American forces are in Europe to defend NATO allies, not to clash with Russian forces."

After describing Putin as a "butcher", the Kremlin warns Biden and reminds him of “instigating bombing of Yugoslavia & killing of its children”
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
The Kremlin has commented on a new insult by US President Joe Biden against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, against the backdrop of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. "He is a butcher," Biden said today, after a meeting with Ukrainian refugees in a sports stadium in the center of the Polish capital, Warsaw, in response to a question about his position on Putin after seeing these refugees. Soon, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the words of the US president, saying: "It is surprising to hear such accusations against Putin from Biden, who had previously issued orders to bomb Yugoslavia and kill people."Peskov warned that "the new humiliation against Putin by Biden further narrows the window of opportunity for normalization of relations between Russia and the United States," according to "Russia Today".

Biden: Poland shoulders a huge burden in the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
US President Joe Biden assured his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda that Poland bears a huge responsibility in the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and that other NATO countries should help ease the burden. Biden told the Polish President that he considered the obligation of Article 5 of the NATO Mutual Defense Charter a "sacred" obligation. For his part, Duda thanked Biden for his support for Poland and the deployment of troops, and said that the people of Poland understand the meaning of Russian imperialism and the attacks launched by its army, as per Reuters.

Ukraine's defense and foreign ministers meet with their US counterparts
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced today that he and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held a joint meeting with their American counterparts for the first time. "We are discussing current issues and cooperation in the political and defense spheres between Ukraine and the United States," Reznikov said on Twitter. He also published a photo of the meeting in Warsaw with US Secretary of State and Defense Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, as reported by Reuters.

West is waging ‘total war’ on Russia, Lavrov says
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of launching a “total, hybrid war” against his country, saying that a recent wave of sanctions aim to “exterminate” the Russian economy. The comments came during a meeting of the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund in Moscow on Friday, where Lavrov said Western retaliation to Russia’s attack on Ukraine last month amounted to “war.” --- RT

Qatar's Foreign Minister calls for global attention to Middle East conflicts similar to Ukraine
NNA/Saturday, 26 March, 2022
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called for global attention to conflicts in the Middle East, similar to that enjoyed by Ukraine since the Russian invasion, Agence France-Presse reported. In a dialogue session on the first day of the "Doha Dialogue" forum in its twentieth edition, he said: "The human suffering that we saw in Ukraine, and everyone is talking about it now, is suffering that many countries in the region have endured for years, and nothing happened.""We have never seen a global response to address this suffering," he added, noting in particular to "witnessing the brutality against the Syrian people, the Palestinians, the Libyans, the Iraqis, or against the Afghans."  The Qatari Foreign Minister believed that "without accountability for those who committed these acts, we will witness more and more expansion of such behavior," adding, "I hope this is a call for everyone in the international community to look at our region and address the issues that occur here with the same level of commitment that we have seen towards Ukraine."

Ukraine captures one of Russia's most advanced electronic warfare systems, which could reveal military secrets, say reports
Alia Shoaib/Business Insider/Sat, March 26, 2022
Ukraine has seized the command module of a Krasukha-4, one of Russia's most advanced electronic warfare systems. The hi-tech unit was found abandoned on the outskirts of Kyiv. Western spy agencies will examine it, say reports.
Ukrainian forces have seized part of one of Russia's most advanced electronic warfare systems, which could reveal its military secrets, reports say. The Krasukha-4 command module was found abandoned on the outskirts of Kyiv partly damaged but otherwise intact, The Times of London reported. Photos of the unit posted on social media appear to show the container containing the module covered in tree branches, possibly in a hasty camouflage attempt by retreating Russian forces. The system is designed to jam low-orbit satellites, drones, and missiles, but it is also believed to be able to track NATO aircraft, The Times said. A complete Krasukha-4 is a two-part system consisting of a command post module and an electronic warfare system, mounted separately on two trucks. It is believed that a Krasukha-4 system was used against Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones in Syria, interfering with their control signal and causing them to crash, according to The Telegraph. The highly-rated Bayraktar TB2 drones are among those used by Ukrainian forces, used to destroy Russian tanks, armor, and truck convoys. The seized unit will be examined by Western spy agencies, The Telegraph reported, adding that it would likely be taken by road to the US Air Force's Ramstein Air Base in Germany, before being flown to the US. Examining the unit could reveal secrets of how it works, which could help Ukraine and Western allies render it useless on the battlefield. Justin Crump, a military veteran and CEO of risk analysis consultancy Sibylline, told The Times that the seizure was among "lots of goodies that have been recovered on the battlefield." "It shows how scattered the fighting is and the lack of communications on the Russian side," Crump told the paper.

Russia Signals Less Ambitious Goals in Ukraine War
Agence France Presse/March 26/2022
Russia has signaled it may dial back its war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation's resistance in a month of fighting and attacks on civilians, including up to 300 feared killed in the bombing of a theater. The possible shift came ahead of a planned meeting by U.S. President Joe Biden with Ukrainian refugees in Poland and talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw before he gives a speech on the "brutal war," the White House said. Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the February invasion to destroy Ukraine's military and topple pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelensky, bringing the country under Russia's sway. But Sergei Rudskoi, a senior general, suggested a considerably reduced "main goal" of controlling Donbas, an eastern region already partly held by Russian proxies. His surprise statement came as a Western official reported that a seventh Russian general, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, had died in Ukraine and that a colonel had been "deliberately" killed by his own demoralized men. Complicating Moscow's challenges, invasion troops were facing a counteroffensive in Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city under Russian control. Visiting Rzeszow, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Ukraine, Biden praised Ukraine's "incredible" resistance, comparing the conflict to a bigger version of communist China's 1989 crushing of protests in Tiananmen Square. Biden told soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division that the struggle in eastern Europe represents a historic "inflection point.""Are democracies going to prevail... or are autocracies going to prevail? And that's really what's at stake," Biden said. The U.S. leader was briefed on the humanitarian situation, with more than 3.7 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, most of them into Poland. Earlier, he ended a trip to Brussels for meetings with Western allies by announcing new measures to help the European Union shed dependence on imported Russian energy.  The plan is part of a sea change in the West, which for years has shrunk from direct confrontation with the Kremlin, but now seeks to make Putin a pariah.
'Children' written clearly -
Russia's far-bigger military continued to combat determined Ukrainian defenders who are using Western-supplied weapons -- from near the capital Kyiv to Kharkiv, the Donbas region and the devastated southern port city of Mariupol. Authorities said they fear some 300 civilians in Mariupol may have died in a Russian air strike on a theater being used as a bomb shelter last week. The theater was targeted despite the word "children" being written large in Russian on the ground outside, so as to be visible to pilots. Russian forces hammering Mariupol's out-gunned resistance consider the city a lynchpin in their attempt to create a land corridor between the Crimea region, which Moscow seized in 2014, and the Donbas. France's President Emmanuel Macron announced a bold plan with Turkey and Greece to evacuate "all those who wish to leave Mariupol", adding he would discuss it with Putin soon. One Mariupol resident who already left the city, 33-year-old Oksana Vynokurova, described leaving behind a hellscape. "I have escaped, but I have lost all my family. I have lost my house. I am desperate," she told AFP after reaching the western city of Lviv by train. "My mum is dead. I left my mother in the yard like a dog, because everybody's shooting."Zelensky said in a video statement Friday that despite thousands of evacuations from Mariupol, "the situation in the city remains tragic."
Counter-attacks -
Russia's army was predicted by some to roll across Ukraine with little resistance. But Putin's military has exhibited poor discipline and morale, faulty equipment and tactics, as well as brutality toward civilians. Amid heavy censorship, Russian authorities Friday gave only their second official military death toll since the start of the invasion, at 1,351. This is far below Western estimates, with one senior NATO official saying between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have died. Rudskoi's announcement of a pivot to the battle for eastern Ukraine was accompanied by claims of success. He said Ukraine's military has been severely degraded and that Russia hadn't seized cities to "prevent destruction and minimize losses among personnel and civilians". But his reference to plans for a "liberation" of the Donbas region could lay the groundwork for the Kremlin to focus on an easier campaign that can be sold to Russians as a victory.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians are mounting an increasingly aggressive defense and in places taking back ground. Britain's defense ministry said Ukrainian counter-attacks are underway near Kyiv and a Pentagon official said Ukrainian forces were also attempting to recapture Kherson, the only major city held by Russian invasion troops. Ambulances rushed more people out of the devastated commuter town of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv on Friday, AFP journalists said, as Ukrainian forces tried to push back Russian forces. A giant pall of black smoke rose from the direction of Irpin, scene of some of the war's heaviest fighting, while shell explosions echoed off nearby apartment blocks. Paramedics took one elderly woman with a waxen face out of an ambulance on a bloodstained stretcher, as the sound of blasts and air raid sirens could be heard late into the night across the capital.
Chemical weapons warning -
As the Russian war machine stumbles, Western officials are warning Putin could resort to chemical weapons. In Brussels on Thursday for NATO, EU and G7 summits, Biden said the transatlantic alliance would "respond" if Putin does use chemical warfare -- though a top advisor stressed the U.S. itself "has no intention of using chemical weapons". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Biden of seeking to "divert attention."And Putin, whom Biden again branded a "war criminal", gave a speech Friday saying Russia was the victim, comparing Western boycotts to "Nazis in Germany".
Energy strategy -
Earlier Friday, Biden and EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced a joint energy task force seeking a way for Europe to break its energy dependence on Russia.Germany, Moscow's biggest customer in Europe, said it would halve Russian oil imports by June and end all coal deliveries by the fall.
The effort to reorient Europe's energy supplies will take time and, together with sweeping sanctions aimed at isolating Russia's currency and industries, is already shocking Western economies. But von der Leyen said the campaign is working, and "draining Putin's resources to finance this atrocious war."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 26-27/2022
Biden Administration's Nuclear Deal: "This Isn't Obama's Iran Deal. It's Much, Much Worse."
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 26/2022
"By every indication, the Biden Administration appears to have given away the store.... What is more, the deal appears likely to deepen Iran's financial and security relationship with Moscow and Beijing, including through arms sales." — Statement from 49 US Republican Senators, March 14, 2022.
With the increased flow of funds to the ruling mullahs, do expect an increase across Iran in human rights violations and domestic crackdowns on those who oppose the regime's policies, as hardliners tend to be the ones gaining more power as a result of any lifting of sanctions. Iran's hardliners already control three branches of the government: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
Regionally speaking, a nuclear deal will undoubtedly escalate Iran's interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, despite what the advocates of the nuclear deal argue -- just as when then US President Barack Obama predicted that with a nuclear deal, "attitudes will change." They did. For the worse.
Sanctions relief, as a consequence of a nuclear accord, will most likely finance Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force (the IRGC branch for extraterritorial operations) and buttress Iran's terrorist proxies, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, Iraq's Shiite militias, and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The worst parts of the new deal are, of course, that it will enable the Iranian regime, repeatedly listed by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism, to have full nuclear weapons capability, an unlimited number of nuclear warheads, and the intercontinental ballistic missile systems with which to deliver them. In addition, as a separate deal, the US will reportedly release the IRGC from the US List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, "in return for a public commitment from Iran to de-escalation in the region" and a promise "not to attack Americans."
Iran's leaders, for a start, never honored their earlier "commitment," so why would anyone think they would honor this one? In a burst of honesty, though -- and a pretty explicit tip-off -- they stated that they "didn't agree to the U.S. demand and suggested giving the U.S. a private side letter instead."
Then there is that revealingly narcissistic condition, "not to attack Americans"? Oh, then attacking Saudis, Emiratis, Israelis, Europeans, South Americans and everyone else is just fine? Thanks, Biden.
Worse, the Iranians were complicit with al-Qaeda in attacking the US on 9/11/2001. So we are rewarding them?
To top it off, the US State Department just confirmed that Russia and its war-criminal President Vladimir Putin could keep Iran's "excess uranium." (Excess of what?) Seriously? So Putin can use Iran's uranium to threaten bombing his next "Ukraine"?
One can only assume that just as the region has become relatively more peaceful and stable, the Biden administration would like to destabilize it. After surrendering to the Taliban in Afghanistan and failing to deter Putin from invading Ukraine, has the Biden administration not created enough destabilization? Why would a US president want a legacy of three major destabilizations unless someone was interested in bringing down the West?
The US proposals -- negotiated for the Americans by Russia of all unimpeachable, trustworthy, above-board advocates -- have been described as: "This Isn't Obama's Iran Deal. It's Much, Much Worse." That sounds about right.
The Biden administration continues to disregard major concerns regarding the Iran nuclear deal, and has reportedly "refused to commit to submit a new Iran deal to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, as per its constitutional obligation." The US proposals -- negotiated with Iran for the Americans by Russia of all countries -- have been described as: "This Isn't Obama's Iran Deal. It's Much, Much Worse." That sounds about right.
The Biden administration continues to disregard major concerns regarding the Iran nuclear deal, and has reportedly "refused to commit to submit a new Iran deal to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, as per its constitutional obligation."
Forty-nine Republican Senators recently told the Biden Administration that they will not back the administration's nuclear deal with Iran. The Senators stated:
"By every indication, the Biden Administration appears to have given away the store. The administration appears to have agreed to lift sanctions that were not even placed on Iran for its nuclear activities in the first place, but instead because of its ongoing support for terrorism and its gross abuses of human rights. The nuclear limitations in this new deal appear to be significantly less restrictive than the 2015 nuclear deal, which was itself too weak, and will sharply undermine U.S. leverage to secure an actually 'longer and stronger' deal. What is more, the deal appears likely to deepen Iran's financial and security relationship with Moscow and Beijing, including through arms sales."
A Biden nuclear deal with the Iranian regime will have major benefits for the ruling mullahs. It will enrich the Iranian regime with billions of dollars in revenues as it lifts sanctions on Tehran's energy, banking and shipping sectors; reintegrate the Islamic Republic into the global financial system, enhance Tehran's legitimacy in the world, increase Iran's exports of oil, and ratchet up foreign investments in Iran -- particularly in the energy industry.
Do not expect the extra revenues to trickle down to the ordinary people of Iran or raise their standard of living. As Ashkan, a construction worker and father of three who lives in the capital Tehran with his family, told me, "people had a lot of hope in 2015 when the nuclear deal was reached," under the so-called moderate administration of then President Hassan Rouhani.
"The officials made us believe that the nuclear deal will be good for the people as well. But after the nuclear deal, inflation kept going up, wages stayed the same, the value of the currency kept going down, price of goods continued to go up, unemployment remained high, and people were still financially struggling during the period of the nuclear deal until the US government of Trump left the deal."
With the increased flow of funds to the ruling mullahs, do expect an increase across Iran in human rights violations and domestic crackdowns on those who oppose the regime's policies, as hardliners tend to be the ones gaining more power as a result of any lifting of sanctions. Iran's hardliners already control three branches of the government: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
The Iranian regime will most likely first utilize the extra revenue by increasing its military budget. This scenario is what occurred in 2015 after the Obama's nuclear deal was struck. Iran immediately raised its military budget by $1.5 billion from $15.6 billion to $17.1 billion. On April 10, 2015, The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Mohammad Reza Pour Ebrahimi, a member of the parliament's Economic Affairs Committee, stating:
"In addition to the approved figures, $1.5 billion has been allocated to prop up defense of the country and this amount has been approved by this committee."
Regionally speaking, a nuclear deal will undoubtedly escalate Iran's interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, despite what the advocates of the nuclear deal argue -- just as when then US President Barack Obama predicted that with a nuclear deal, "attitudes will change." They did. For the worse.
For the first time, Lebanon's Hezbollah became emboldened and admitted receiving financial and military assistance from Iran. In addition, Iran's military adventurism in Iraq rapidly escalated. Iran became more forceful in supporting and assisting the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad militarily and economically.
Sanctions relief, as a consequence of a nuclear accord, will most likely finance Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force (the IRGC branch for extraterritorial operations) and buttress Iran's terrorist proxies, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, Iraq's Shiite militias, and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The worst parts of the new deal are, of course, that it will enable the Iranian regime, repeatedly listed by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism, to have full nuclear weapons capability, an unlimited number of nuclear warheads, and the intercontinental ballistic missile systems with which to deliver them. In addition, as a separate deal, the US will reportedly release the IRGC from the US List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, "in return for a public commitment from Iran to de-escalation in the region" and a promise "not to attack Americans."
"Administration officials who have briefed the media say the IRGC would only be delisted if it promises not to attack Americans and commits to curtailing its destabilizing activities outside Iran. If it doesn't keep its word, it can be redesignated an FTO. This might have been reassuring but for the fact that Biden is currently ignoring requests, from members of Congress as well as from U.S. allies, to put the Houthis back on the list."
Iran's leaders, for a start, never honored their earlier "commitment," so why would anyone think they would honor this one? In a burst of honesty, though -- and a pretty explicit tip-off -- they stated that they "didn't agree to the U.S. demand and suggested giving the U.S. a private side letter instead."
Then there is that revealingly narcissistic condition, "not to attack Americans"? Oh, then attacking Saudis, Emiratis, Israelis, Europeans, South Americans and everyone else is just fine? Thanks, Biden.
Worse, the Iranians were complicit with al-Qaeda in attacking the US on 9/11/2001. So we are rewarding them?
To top it off, the US State Department just confirmed that Russia and its war-criminal President Vladimir Putin could keep Iran's "excess uranium." (Excess of what?) Seriously? So Putin can use Iran's uranium to threaten bombing his next "Ukraine"?
One can only assume that just as the region has become relatively more peaceful and stable, the Biden administration would like to destabilize it. After surrendering to the Taliban in Afghanistan and failing to deter Putin from invading Ukraine, has the Biden administration not created enough destabilization? Why would a US president want a legacy of three major destabilizations unless someone was interested in bringing down the West?
The US proposals -- negotiated with Iran for the Americans by Russia of all unimpeachable, trustworthy, above-board advocates -- have been described as: "This Isn't Obama's Iran Deal. It's Much, Much Worse." That sounds about right.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.

Hillary Clinton: Madeleine Albright Warned Us, and She Was Right
Hillary Clinton/The New York Times/March, 26/2022
Late one night in 1995, in a cramped airplane cabin high over the Pacific, Madeleine Albright put down a draft of a speech I was set to deliver in Beijing at the upcoming United Nations conference on women, fixed me with the firm stare that had made fearsome dictators shudder, and asked what I was really trying to accomplish with this address.
“I want to push the envelope as far as I can,” I replied. “Then do it,” she said. She proceeded to tell me how I could sharpen the speech’s argument that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.
That was Madeleine, always cutting right to the heart of the matter with clarity and courage. She pushed the envelope her entire life. She did it on behalf of women and girls, shattering the glass ceiling of diplomacy as the first woman to serve as secretary of state and calling out atrocities against women all over the world. She did it for the country that took her in as a child fleeing tyranny in Europe, championing the United States as an indispensable nation and the leader of the free world. She never stopped pushing the envelope for freedom and democracy, including cajoling sometimes skeptical generals and diplomats to see human rights as a national security imperative.
For Bill and me and her many friends all over the world, Madeleine’s passing is a painful personal loss. She was irrepressible: wickedly funny, stylish and always game for adventure and fun. I’ll never forget how excited she was to walk me through the streets of her native Prague and show me the yellow house where she lived as a girl. We couldn’t stop laughing when an unexpected rainstorm blew our umbrellas inside out, and couldn’t stop smiling when the captivating playwright and dissident turned president Václav Havel charmed us over dinner. Madeleine was 10 years ahead of me at Wellesley, and for decades we used to address and sign our notes to each other “Dear ’59” and “Love, ’69.”
Madeleine’s death is also a great loss for our country and for the cause of democracy at a time when it is under serious and sustained threat around the world and here at home. Now more than ever, we could use Madeleine’s vital voice, her cleareyed view of a dangerous world and her unstinting faith in both the unique power of the American idea and the universal appeal of freedom and democracy. We can honor her memory by heeding her wisdom.
Stand up to bullies and dictators
In the 1990s, when my husband named Madeleine UN ambassador and then secretary of state, she went toe-to-toe with the blood-soaked Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. She helped marshal American power and the NATO alliance to end the brutal war in Bosnia and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. She saw the chronically underestimated Russian president Vladimir Putin for what he is: a vicious autocrat intent on reclaiming Russia’s lost empire and a committed foe of democracy everywhere. In a prescient column in The Times published Feb. 23, she warned that an invasion of Ukraine would be “a historic error” that would leave Russia “diplomatically isolated, economically crippled and strategically vulnerable in the face of a stronger, more united Western alliance.” As happened so often, the man with the guns was wrong and Madeleine was right.
She was a woman of action, especially when facing injustice. Madeleine understood that American power is the only thing standing between the rules-based global order and the rule of the sword. That did not mean she was ever quick or casual about the use of force, even for the right cause. Madeleine was a diplomat’s diplomat, ready to talk to even the most odious adversary to advance the prospects of peace. In 2000, she was the first secretary of state to travel to North Korea, where she spent 12 hours negotiating with the dictator Kim Jong-il. But, as she often said, her crucial historical frame of reference was Munich, not Vietnam, so she had a deep appreciation for the risks of inaction. Today, with a rising tide of authoritarianism threatening democracy not just in Ukraine but all over the world, that is a lesson worth remembering.
NATO and US alliances are the cornerstone of world peace
As secretary of state, Madeleine helped my husband welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO after the end of the Cold War. Years later, I asked her to head up an international commission for the Obama administration to redefine NATO’s mission for the 21st century. Having experienced Europe’s historic traumas firsthand, she understood that the security provided by NATO was the key to keeping the continent free, peaceful and undivided. She saw it as a political alliance, not just a military pact, cementing democracy in countries that had only recently freed themselves from authoritarianism.
Madeleine rejected the criticism, renewed recently, that NATO’s expansion needlessly provoked Russia and is to blame for its invasion of Ukraine. As the Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin has noted, that argument ignores Russia’s centuries-long efforts to dominate its neighbors. Madeleine would be quick to add that it also erases the aspirations and autonomy of the former Soviet bloc countries that threw off their chains, built fragile democracies and rightly worried about Russian revanchism. She would encourage us to listen to the insights of leaders like our friend Mr. Havel, who said the message of NATO expansion is that “Europe is no longer, and must never again be, divided over the heads of its people and against their will into any spheres of interest or influence.”
Make no mistake, if NATO had not expanded, Mr. Putin would be menacing not just Ukraine but the Baltic States and likely all of Eastern Europe. As the historian and journalist Anne Applebaum recently argued, “The expansion of NATO was the most successful, if not the only truly successful, piece of American foreign policy of the last 30 years.”
Madeleine also strongly disagreed with Donald Trump’s approach of treating America’s alliances as a protection racket where our partners must pay tribute or fend for themselves. She knew that US alliances — especially with other democracies — are a military, diplomatic and economic asset that neither Russia nor China can match, despite their best efforts, and are crucial for our own national security.
Attacks on democracy at home play into the hands of dictators abroad
They make it harder for the United States and our allies to champion human rights and the rule of law. In her searing 2018 book, “Fascism: A Warning,” Madeleine described Mr. Trump as the first US president in the modern era “whose statements and actions are so at odds with democratic ideals.” She observed that his assault on democratic norms and institutions was “catnip” for autocrats like Mr. Putin. After the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn a free and fair election, Madeleine imagined Abraham Lincoln weeping. “My family came to America after fleeing a coup, so I know that freedom is fragile,” she wrote. “But I never thought I would see such an assault on democracy be cheered on from the Oval Office.” With the Republican Party recently declaring the insurrection and events that led to it to be “legitimate political discourse,” and some of the party’s most powerful media allies pushing Kremlin talking points on Fox News and elsewhere, it’s clear that the threat to our democracy that so alarmed Madeleine remains an urgent crisis.
The fundamental truth that Madeleine understood and that informed her views on all these challenges is that America’s strength flows not just from our military or economic might but from our core values. Back in 1995, Madeleine told me a story that still inspires me. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, she visited parts of the Czech Republic that had been liberated by American troops in 1945. Many people waved American flags as she passed, and to her surprise, some had just 48 stars. They had to be decades old. It turned out that American G.I.s had handed out the flags a half-century earlier. Czech families said they had kept them hidden all through the years of Soviet domination, passing them down from generation to generation as the embodiment of their hope for a better, freer future.
Madeleine knew exactly what that meant. Even at the end of her life, she treasured her first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, sailing into New York Harbor in 1948 as an 11-year-old refugee on a ship called the S.S. America. She would have been thrilled by President Biden’s announcement on Thursday that the United States will welcome up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, and she would encourage us to do more to respond to this unfolding humanitarian nightmare. She would warn, as she did in her book, about the “self-centered moral numbness that allows Fascism to thrive,” and urge us to keep pushing the envelope for freedom, human rights and democracy. We should listen.

Wonking Out: To Shale and Back, Redux
Paul Krugman/The New York Times/March, 26/2022
The price of oil, which was extremely low during the worst of the pandemic — it actually went below $0 for a brief, weird period — has spiked as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This price spike is adding to already high inflation, and it is inhibiting the Western response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression — governments are reluctant to tighten sanctions against Russian energy exports, lest rising prices anger their voters.
But shouldn’t we expect the market to help reduce this problem? Don’t higher prices provide an incentive to increase oil production outside Russia? Yes, they do, and there are in fact signs of at least some supply response to high prices. So far, however, most media accounts suggest that this response is limited, and that the US oil industry — which is where most of the extra production would probably have to come from — is reluctant to expand.
OK, obligatory reminder that higher oil production would not necessarily be a good thing. The dangers of climate change just keep getting even more terrifying, and the world needs to wean itself from fossil fuels, not produce more. At best, you can make a St. Augustine argument — “Make me chaste and celibate, but not yet” — for higher oil production during the Ukraine war. But even that’s dubious.
Still, the tepid response of oil producers to very high prices needs explaining. Why aren’t they rushing in to take advantage of the Putin premium?
Of course, the usual suspects blame President Biden, who is responsible for everything bad — hey, I blame him for the fact that my first cup of coffee this morning was a bit weak. Or they denounce environmentalists and government regulation — remember the rush to blame the 2021 electricity crisis in Texas on renewable energy, when disrupted supplies of natural gas were actually the main factor?
But the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas recently carried out a survey of oil producers, asking them what was inhibiting their expansion, and for the most part they didn’t blame either regulators or environmentalists. Instead, they blamed their bankers:
What’s that about? The answer is, we’re looking at the aftermath of the debt-financed shale bubble of the 2010s.
The introduction of fracking — using high-pressure water jets to fracture shale containing trapped natural gas and oil — was, without question, a big deal. But many people in the business world (and, for what it’s worth, the national security community) treated it as a bigger deal than it was. I don’t know how to quantify this, but my sense all through the 2010s was that Very Serious People were far more enthusiastic about fracking than they were about the truly revolutionary advances in renewable energy. After all, extracting oil and gas sounded hardheaded and realistic, while a surprising number of influential people still associate solar and wind power with hippie fantasies.
And this Serious Person enthusiasm for hydrocarbons translated into a willingness to throw money at the fracking industry, which bled cash year after year but kept going by running up hundreds of billions in debt.
Eventually, however, this debt-financed boom hit a wall. The death of the former chief executive of Chesapeake Energy in 2016 seemed to mark the end of the industry. Chesapeake eventually became one of more than 230 oil and gas companies to declare bankruptcy since 2015.
But the financial implosion of fracking didn’t provoke a broader financial crisis, as some observers worried. The bad news is that the aftermath of that implosion is, as I said, inhibiting the West’s response to Putin’s aggression today: Having been burned in the past, the energy sector’s bankers are keeping a tight leash on spending despite the surge in oil prices. They may be overdoing it: Whatever happens in the war, it’s hard to see Russia fully rejoining the world economy for a long time, so oil prices are likely to stay high for a while. Still, the caution of fracking creditors is understandable. And to be fair, the really important energy adjustments will have to come from Europe, which needs to end its dependence on Russian natural gas.
There are, I think, two broader lessons here. First, bubbles don’t necessarily involve obviously flaky ideas. We can and should make fun of investors taken in by Silicon Valley technobabble, but it’s perfectly possible to lose hundreds of billions on ventures that seem perfectly solid, except for the fact that their math doesn’t add up.
Second, burst bubbles can have long lasting effects. One reason rents are surging right now, adding to inflation, is the long drought in home building that followed the housing bubble — a bubble that burst 15 years ago.
I just hope that fossil fuel advocates don’t manage to use the current oil shock to bash climate activists, who bear no responsibility for the mess we’re in.

Putin: Strike First and Strike Hard
Mamdouh al-Muhainy/Asharq Al Awsat/March, 26/2022
Today, as his military fights a bloody war, President Putin has not ceased to give speeches that mix political and cultural criticism of the West. In one angry speech, Putin said the West was an empire of lies and vowed that the Russians would not bow their heads.
However, this is not the first time such statements have been made. For years, Putin focused in his rhetoric on criticizing not only the Western liberal order, whose demise he repeatedly declared, nor NATO, which he views as a threat, but also Western cultural values in which he sees the scourge of this age. At times, Putin appeared as if a cultural theorist seeking to impose a model of thinking that is anti-Western. This appears to be part of a trend of leaders who have achieved internal political and economic success for years, enjoy broad popular support, and then pursue military expansion (such as in Syria) to promote their ideological and cultural worldview.
It is unlikely that Putin will achieve his ideological ambitions on a large scale, at least not in the foreseeable future. However, this helps us understand that the war on Ukraine is not only aimed at preserving Russia’s strategic security, disarming the “Nazis” in Kyiv and transforming Ukraine into a neutral country, as the Russian narrative claims. Its actual, further goal is to usher in an entirely different political and cultural system.
President Putin appeared indifferent to harsh Western sanctions and was on occasion seen making jokes, surrounding himself with a group of flight attendants, and dismissing the idea of meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky. Perhaps the only explanation for these actions is that they are a mere attempt to show fortitude and cohesion in difficult times. Rather, it reflects a real conviction on Putin’s part to isolate Russia from the West and obstruct its political and cultural influences. This is similar to the Chinese formula, which seeks isolation from external influences, maintenance of economic growth and the political system’s stability. President Putin seeks to create a new global pole taking after the Chinese, who are politically isolated, culturally fenced, and economically connected insofar as this serves China’s interests. In Putin’s words, one discovers how embittered he is at the colored revolutions, which he sees as Western involvement, maintaining the belief that the ultimate goal of Western states is to overthrow his regime. At some point, Putin wished to test the waters and asked that Russia join NATO, but his request was quickly rejected, which was expected as Putin’s goal was to undermine the alliance, his closest enemy, from within. Recently, Putin said that Russia’s demands had been ignored for years and accused the West of attempting to stifle Russia as a resurgent global power. These words express Putin’s current vision of the world order that besieges Russia and threaten its existence with revolutions, calls for democracy, as well as support for anti-Russian activists and turning them into heroes. All this, Putin claims, must be changed in order to allow Russian power to re-emerge, stating in an article he wrote about the reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union: “Only once we lost confidence in ourselves, but it was enough to change the balance of power in the world.” Putin does not seem reluctant to achieve his goal, repeating that a unipolar system is unacceptable. Perhaps, he views this as the second ideal moment to restore lost Russian glory and create the parallel world of his dreams.
We are seeing today the elements of cultural isolation, smearing Western social values and deeming them as decadence, even in sports. Recently, Putin discussed the participation of transgender athletes in women’s tournaments, saying that this means eliminating women’s sports. Putin is not only talking about sports here but something broader. We can see, recently, in the context of the war, Putin’s efforts to contain the West’s influence on his people by blocking social media sites in a recent blanket ban. Certainly, following the Chinese model, domestic platforms for the Russian people will be created, and we have already seen alternatives to Instagram, Facebook and Google – whose news services have been blocked.
Putin seeks to create a culturally fortified Russian pole, one that is now facing economic difficulties due to the sanctions. However, the rhetoric coming from Russian officials suggests they are creating a new economic system, one that does not depend primarily on the West and is unaffected by its political positions. Despite Western pressures, many countries did not suspend their trade or cooperation with Russia, while China and India have also refused to acquiesce to pressure to isolate Russia economically. The Kremlin’s spokesman pointed out more than once that the world is too big for US and EU sanctions alone to ensure Moscow’s isolation. The claim that Russia will continue to annex other countries after Ukraine or repeat the German scenario of World War II is perhaps far-fetched. This situation is different, and we can see the world taking shape and changing its features. In his book, “First Person”, Putin says: “In dealing with your enemies, there is only one thing to do when confronted, and that is to go on the offensive. Strike first and strike hard, and then your opponent can do nothing.” Putin wanted to strike first and hard to restore the glorious Russia he had deeply ingrained in his mind, to avert the loss of confidence vis-à-vis the West that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. Will he succeed in his endeavor?

This Economist Really Loves Free Markets
Peter Coy/The New York Times/March, 26/2022
Capitalism and free enterprise might seem synonymous, but Americans don’t view them the same way. According to Gallup, only about 60 percent of Americans have a positive image of “capitalism,” while 84 percent view “free enterprise” positively.
That distinction makes sense to Clifford Winston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “‘Free markets’ is an unambiguous term, which implies a lack of inappropriate government intervention as consumers and firms pursue their own interest in a competitive environment,” he wrote to me in an email on Friday. “So, I certainly support free markets.” In contrast, he went on, “‘capitalism’ does not necessarily exclude what is known as crony capitalism, where firms take advantage of the government to get an unfair advantage.”
I’ve been exchanging emails with Winston about his advocacy for free markets and deregulation for several months and I decided it was time to write a newsletter about his ideas, because even though I don’t agree with everything he says, he makes some strong points that I think readers would benefit from hearing.Winston, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been at Brookings since 1984, has written, co-written or coedited 16 books and has had scholarly articles published in top journals such as The American Economic Review. His latest book, “Gaining Ground: Markets Helping Government,” came out last year.
Winston cites the rapid development of Covid vaccines as an example of how markets can compensate for flaws in governance. Much of the federal government, including the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underreacted to Covid, Winston writes in “Gaining Ground.” After at first underestimating the risk of Covid, the Trump administration tried to drum up domestic manufacturing of medicines, pharmaceutical ingredients and masks that were readily available abroad at lower prices, he writes.
The private sector came to the rescue as drugmakers rapidly developed effective vaccines, Winston writes. He gives some of the credit for the vaccines to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed effort, but faults the government for then botching the deployment, partly by not adequately opposing anti-vaccine messaging.
The toilet paper shortage of 2020 was another pandemic development that looked like a market failure at the time but was actually solved by market forces, Winston argues. The shortages occurred because the pandemic broke supply chains and fearful consumers hoarded supplies, but profit-seeking companies quickly found ways to ramp up production and fix distribution to fill unmet needs, he says.
Market forces also could have helped in December when thousands of domestic flights were canceled during the outbreak of the Omicron variant, he argues. He says the government should end regulations that prohibit foreign airlines from flying domestic routes in the United States. Deregulation, he says, would increase competition and lower fares.
In a 2020 book, “Autonomous Vehicles,” Winston and a co-author argued that regulators should not stand in the way of the development of self-driving cars and trucks, which they said could revolutionize transportation. (At the same time, he’s not entirely hands-off when it comes to autonomous vehicles. In an essay this year for Barron’s, he and Joan Winston, his wife, a technology policy analyst, wrote that Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla, had hurt the reputation of autonomous vehicles by “establishing his own proprietary testing procedures and adoption standards.”)
Winston’s faith in markets extends even to political strife. After the billionaire investor Ray Dalio said in February that the United States appeared to be on the path to “some form of civil war,” Winston wrote an essay for Barron’s arguing that market forces have the ability to mitigate civil conflict if business leaders step up. Winston would also dismantle a lot of occupational licensing, which he says needlessly inflates prices for services and benefits only incumbents, such as hairdressers and lawyers. Lawyers shouldn’t need to graduate from accredited law schools to practice, and bar exams should be optional, he argues. He points to Abraham Lincoln and Clarence Darrow as good lawyers who never graduated from law school.
Winston also told me he’s frustrated by recent arguments that blame markets for problems such as trucker burnout and last year’s Texas blackout. He says those arguments cherry-pick facts to falsely imply causality and ignore the overall benefits brought by deregulation.
“Both markets and governments make mistakes,” Winston wrote last year in a blog post for the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics. “The big difference is that inefficient government policies persist indefinitely, while markets have incentives to correct their inefficiencies given sufficient time, often by developing technological and product innovations.”