English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 30/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.march30.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Young man, I say to you, rise!’The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 07/11-17/:"Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us! ’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 29-30/2022
Press Release: The "Le Nouveau Cenalcle Libanaise (NCL) concluded its two day conference that highlighted Lebanon's deeply rooted crisis under the title: Lebanon, a united entity to be divided, or a divided country to be united.
Corona - Health Ministry: 321 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
Arrest of German Lebanese antiques smuggler solves sarcophagus riddle
Lebanon faces education ‘emergency’, warns UN
Paris Hails Kuwaiti Initiative towards Lebanon
House of Parliament approves 13 bills, law proposals
Berri Rejects Miqati Proposal for Turning Legislative Session into Confidence Session
Capital Control Dilemma in Cabinet Tomorrow
Miqati Says Won't Resign before Elections, Urges Govt.-Parliament Full Cooperation
Bou Habib Says Return of KSA, Kuwait Envoys Not Officially Confirmed
Raad Says Rivals Want to Win Elections to 'Normalize with Israel'
Aoun broaches banking sector’s conditions with ABL’s Sfeir, Housing Bank’s Habib
Mikati celebrates restoration of 150 schools damaged by Beirut Port explosion
Darian tackles developments with Hajjar, Ambassador of Malaysia
More than 34 associations stage sit-in at Mazraa-UNESCO against extension of municipal councils’ mandate
Arslan meets Russian Foreign minister in Moscow
Panel discussion entitled “Pressing Economic Situation in Lebanon: Challenges and Solutions” at May Chidiac Foundation-Media...
Lebanese American Coordinating Committee Delegation in Beirut Diaspora Commitment and the Protection of the Lebanese Identity An Obligation to Fight Corruption and Restore Sovereignty

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 29-30/2022
At Least 5 Dead in Gun Attack near Tel Aviv
Israel Raids Homes of Islamic State Suspects, Arrests 2
Top Diplomats from Egypt, Qatar Discuss Ties in Cairo
Turkey hails Istanbul talks as 'most significant progress' since Ukraine war began
Blinken in Morocco amid Shifts in Mideast, NAfrica Diplomacy
Iran says Huthi ceasefire plan can help end Yemen war
Gulf States Plan Yemen Talks without Houthi Rebels Present
Clashes in Syrian camp housing IS families kill at least 3
Russia Says It Will Cut Back Operations near Ukraine Capital
Turkey says Ukraine-Russia talks concluded, hails ‘significant progress’
Many in Mideast See Hypocrisy in Western Embrace of Ukraine
UK detains Russian-owned superyacht in 'warning' to Putin
U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Chief Visits Ukraine
King Abdullah reaches out to President Abbas as Jordan adjusts to new Arab-Israeli peace track

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 29-30/2022
Is the US Pretending That Iran’s IRGC, “Mother of All Terrorist Groups”, Is Not a Terrorist Group? ...The Biden Administration’s Never-ending Appeasement of the Mullahs/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 29/2022
U.S. Uses New Mideast Forum to Address Iran Deal Concerns/Gwen Ackerman and Peter Martin/Blooberg/March 29/2022
Biden risking new wars with Iran 'diplomacy' — and our Middle East allies know it/Michael Rubin/Jonathan Schanzer/The Hill/March 29/2022
Turkey says Ukraine-Russia talks concluded, hails ‘significant progress’/The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 29-30/2022
The "Le Nouveau Cenalcle Libanaise (NCL) concluded its two day conference that highlighted Lebanon's deeply rooted crisis under the title: Lebanon, a united entity to be divided, or a divided country to be united.
Press Release
March 29/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107411/107411/
The conference was held on March 24 and 25 in the "Rahbani Brothers' Hall" in the Monastery Of "Mar Elias-Antelias".
On day one, March 24, 2022, the conferees discussed in two separate sessions the Lebanese structural discrepancies prior to the "Taif Agreement", as well as the numerous developments that followed it. The discussions shed light on the political imbalances, proposed the necessary means to correct them, and openly highlighted the dire differences related to the identity and sovereignty concepts, the economy and growth tribulations, the constitutional inconsistencies, and the need for the power separation between all governing authorities.
The conferees concluded that the causes of the deep Lebanese structural discrepancies lie in the solid fact that Lebanon is a pluralistic country, while the ruling -governance setup formulas are not compatible with the plurality of its multicultural and diversified communities. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to come with an improvised formula that is compatible with the Lebanese pluralistic structure, in a bid to overcome the on going painful realities that the people, the state, and the institutions are encountering.
On the second day, March 25, 2022, the conferees addressed the systematic and organized vicious quests that aim to change the Lebanese identity, and to obviate Lebanon's intellectual and cultural heritage.
During the session that carried the title: From Killing Based On The Identity, To Killing With The Identity", the focus was on the systematized means that direct, control, mislead, poison and distort the public Lebanese awareness, through forging history books, and by giving full freedom and access to media and all social facilities to Trojan influential figures in numerous domains, as well as electronic armies who advocate and promote rumors, and news that serve foreign, regional, and international anti-Lebanese agendas.
In this same distorting and deviating context, media facilities prioritize entertainment programs, political dialogues, talk shows and trivial drama serials, while marginalizing totally cultural and national issues, on the pretext that the Lebanese drama, is below the level required to be marketed.
Accordingly the Lebanese TV Channels are stormed with programs, series, movies, and dialects that are alien to the deeply rooted Lebanese traditions, customs, culture and diversity of the Lebanese society.
In the same context, the conferees shed light on the fabrication of security and judicial cases against patriotic activists in all fields, as well as the spreading of false rumors, and their dire impacts on the society.
In the last session of the conference, The "Le Nouveau Cenacle Lebanese (NCL)" presented its integrated proposal to save Lebanon, under the title “Revival and Salvation.” The proposal was thoroughly discussed and dissected by constitutional, legal, and financial experts who unanimously agreed that the SOS rescuing map laid out in the proposal is suitable, clear, and applicable for bringing back Lebanon to the shores of democracy, that preserves freedom, particularity, and equality for all Lebanese Multicultural and diversified communities, under the rule of law.
Meanwhile, and despite the conviction of the conferees that the regional and international current status quo is not suitable for the implementation of the "Revival and Salvation" proposal, they encouraged NCL not to give up, and to proceed with its implementation mechanisms.
Based on all that was discussed during the conference, NCL began to prepare a charter, that paves the way to restore the confidence and interest of the international community in Lebanon, and thus urging the United Nations to help liberate the Lebanese decision making process, and at the same time helping the Lebanese in improvising an appropriate governance formula for living together, within the frames of their pluralism.

Corona - Health Ministry: 321 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
NNA/March 29/2022 
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Tuesday the registration of 321 new infections with the Coronavirus, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1091413. The report added that 4 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Arrest of German Lebanese antiques smuggler solves sarcophagus riddle
The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022
LONDON: A long-running art-world mystery has been solved following the arrest of a German Lebanese antiques smuggler. During the Egyptian uprising in 2011, tomb raiders dug out the golden sarcophagus of a first century B.C. Egyptian priest. Studded with jewels and embellished with scenes and hieroglyphic texts — said to guide Nedjemankh, chief priest of the ram-headed Egyptian god Heryshef, through the afterlife — the treasure passed through art dealers in the UAE, Germany, and France before being sold for nearly $4 million to the Met Museum in New York City in 2017. The arrival of the piece in the US was deemed suspicious by the American law enforcement agency the FBI, which began an investigation with French authorities. When the artifact was returned for display in Egypt in 2019, two Frenchmen, named only as Christophe K and Richard S, were arrested over its theft. Now the mystery of the artifact has been solved, as a German Lebanese antiques dealer turned smuggler Roben D has been linked to the illegal sale of the sarcophagus. Roben D was intercepted at Hamburg airport after an EU arrest warrant was issued. Liddy Oechtering, of the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office, said Roben D, 42, had been extradited to France this month accused of commercial fraud, receiving stolen goods, and trading in cultural assets. Roben D, thought to be a seasoned art smuggler, is being held in Paris. He is suspected of illegally selling five other historical artifacts, said to be worth approximately $55 million, to the Louvre Abu Dhabi art museum.

Lebanon faces education ‘emergency’, warns UN
AfP/The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022
Lebanon is grappling with an education "emergency," a United Nations official said, as years of economic collapse weigh heavily on students and teachers. "We are now in an emergency situation. Education in Lebanon is in crisis because the country is living in crisis," Maysoun Chehab of the UN education and culture body (UNESCO) told AFP. She spoke on the sidelines of an event Monday celebrating the completion of a $35-million UNESCO project to rehabilitate 280 education centres damaged by a 2020 blast. The explosion caused by haphazardly-stored fertiliser at Beirut port killed more than 200 people, destroyed swathes of the capital and disrupted the education of at least 85,000 school children. UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay visited Beirut weeks later, driving efforts to restore heritage sites and damaged schools. Students and teachers now have brand new classrooms but they are still suffering from the twin effects of an unprecedented economic crisis in Lebanon and the coronavirus pandemic. Since late 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost over 90 percent of its value, pushing most of the population into poverty. Daily power cuts lasting more than 20 hours and soaring petrol prices mean many students can neither afford to reach their classes nor study from home. "Schools do not have enough funds to operate as they should, teachers do not have sufficient salaries to live in prosperity, students do not have transportation means due to high fuel prices," said Chehab, UNESCO's education chief for Lebanon.
"This is all affecting the quality of education."The minimum wage once worth $450 is now valued at $28. The crisis has forced students to quit school or university to make ends meet. Enrolment in educational institutions slumped last year from 60 percent of those entitled to study to 43 percent in the current academic year, a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report found, adding that 31% of young people are not in education, employment, or training. The cash-strapped state has been unable to enact substantial reforms, a requirement to access billions of dollars from international lenders.
Support has been largely limited to humanitarian aid. UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini, however, said she was optimistic the international community will keep supporting education in Lebanon. "This is my third visit to the country in a year and a half," she said. "I know the economic crisis is still very much affecting (the country), but I am also confident Lebanon will not be left behind in the bigger picture of crises in the world."

Paris Hails Kuwaiti Initiative towards Lebanon
Naharnet/March 29/2022
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Tuesday that Paris “lauds the Kuwaiti mediation for allowing Lebanon to overcome its crisis.”“We stressed that we will continue to closely work for the sake of peace and security in the region,” La Drian added in Kuwait, following talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed al-Nasser Al-Sabah. The Kuwaiti minister had recently carried a mediation paper to Lebanon that is aimed at repairing ties between Gulf nations and the small Mediterranean country.

House of Parliament approves 13 bills, law proposals
NNA/March 29/2022  
The House of Parliament on Tuesday approved in its legislative session 13 bills and law proposals, most notably the “student dollar” decree in favor of Lebanese students who studied abroad in 2020-2021.The House of Parliament also approved financing parliamentary elections abroad through an exceptional and additional appropriation in the 2022 general budget. The Parliament also extended the mandate of municipal and mukhtar councils until May 31, 2023. It also approved the amendment of the Social Economic Council’s establishment, the protection of areas affected by Beirut Port blast, as well as granting compensations and pensions to the families of Tleil-Akkar explosion victims. It is to note that the expedited law proposals were not raised due to the adjournment of the session after loss of quorum.

Berri Rejects Miqati Proposal for Turning Legislative Session into Confidence Session
Naharnet/March 29/2022 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday rejected a suggestion from Prime Minister Najib Miqati for turning an ongoing legislative session into a general discussion session that would involve a vote of confidence over the government’s policies. “This is a legislative session and I have not received a request,” Berri told Miqati, who responded by saying that “the issue is being raised through the media.”Parliament later approved a host of laws, including one for extending the mandate of municipal councils and mukhtars and another for financing expat voting.

Capital Control Dilemma in Cabinet Tomorrow
Naharnet/March 29/2022 
The capital control law will be discussed tomorrow, Wednesday, in Cabinet, as it was rejected in a joint parliamentary committees' meeting on Monday. "It will be discussed in Cabinet, passed and referred to Parliament," PM Nicolas Nahhas said. The committee members asked Cabinet to present a better version to Parliament, criticizing its form and its content. Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli who chaired the joint committees meeting said the law should be "coherent" and should "prioritize the depositors' rights."Nahhas said the PMs expressed their personal opinions, but "this does not necessarily mean that the blocs they represent in Parliament will reject the law." While Parliamentary sources reportedly considered that it is very unlikely to issue the law before the Parliament elections in May, other sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that it is possible. Since October 2019, banks have been imposing informal capital controls, barring depositors from reaching into their dollar accounts, as well as stopping transfers, amid a severe financial crisis. The capital control draft law that was rejected by the parliamentary committees, proposes forming a committee that includes the prime minister, a number of ministers, and the central bank governor. The committee would take all the decisions related to the transfers, withdrawals, exchange rates and ceilings, Asharq al-Awsat said. Meanwhile, al-Liwaa newspaper said Tuesday that the capital control draft law was distributed to the ministers on Monday night. It added that ministerial sources questioned if the delay in distribution was intentional, considering that it was "imposed" at the last minute and that the ministers weren't given enough time to go through its details, in order to discuss it tomorrow in Cabinet.Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh won't attend the Cabinet session on Wednesday in Baabda, the daily went on to say.

Miqati Says Won't Resign before Elections, Urges Govt.-Parliament Full Cooperation
Naharnet/March 29/2022
Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed Tuesday that the government will not resign before the parliamentary elections. "One of the government's tasks today is to hold parliamentary elections, and my resignation might be a reason for disrupting the polls," Miqati said. "For this reason I will not resign," he added.
Miqati had asked Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to turn an ongoing legislative session today into a general discussion session that would involve a vote of confidence over the government’s policies, but Berri refused. "I heard yesterday remarks about the possibility of holding a vote of confidence in the government," Miqati said, adding that he wouldn't mind holding the vote if Parliament was ready to cooperate. Miqati said he has sensed international efforts to support Lebanon while local electoral campaigns are attacking the Presidency and the government. He mentioned "useless attacks" that are harmful to the country, and a lack of cooperation between Cabinet and Parliament. "This is not right," Miqati stated. "We cannot get out of the crisis, if we don't unite to find solutions."A capital control law proposal had been rejected in a joint parliamentary committees meeting on Monday. The committee members asked Cabinet to present a more coherent version to Parliament, criticizing its form and its content. Miqati called for full cooperation between the government, the PMs and the parliament. "Enough with putting personal interests ahead of national interests, because the country is paying the price," he decried.

Bou Habib Says Return of KSA, Kuwait Envoys Not Officially Confirmed
Naharnet/March 29/2022 
Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has noted that the latest improvement in the Lebanese-Gulf ties had started with the Kuwaiti paper that had been submitted to Lebanon. “We thank Kuwait’s foreign minister for his efforts and we hope the Lebanese-Saudi relations will be gradually restored,” Bou Habib said in remarks to OTV. “We have not heard from Saudi Arabia that its ambassador will return to Lebanon and everything said was only published in newspapers,” the minister added. “As for the Kuwaiti ambassador, he will return, but no date has been set until the moment,” Bou Habib went on say.

Raad Says Rivals Want to Win Elections to 'Normalize with Israel'
Naharnet/March 29/2022
The head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, claimed Tuesday that political rivals want to win the parliamentary majority “in order to secure laws that would allow them to normalize relations with the Israeli enemy.”“All parties want to keep us away from the parliamentary action arena in order to implement their agendas,” Raad added, at a political rally in the southern town of Yohmor. As for the issue of offshore gas exploration, the MP said: “We have international proposals for gas exploration that are in our interest and for which we wouldn’t pay a cost, but the Americans are refusing, because they want to bring a company that would impose its conditions.”And accusing Washington of “blackmailing us with the Israeli enemy,” Raad emphasized that “the Israelis cannot threaten us with anything.”“Lebanon has a resistance that owns drones and precision missiles. Let the Israeli dare come near,” the Hizbullah lawmaker added.

Aoun broaches banking sector’s conditions with ABL’s Sfeir, Housing Bank’s Habib
NNA/March 29/2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Tuesday welcomed at Baabda Palace, President of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), Dr. Salim Sfeir, and Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of the Housing Bank, Antoine Habib.
Talks reportedly focused on the country’s financial and banking conditions, and the role of banks amid the prevailing stage.

Mikati celebrates restoration of 150 schools damaged by Beirut Port explosion
NNA/March 29/2022
Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Education, Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Tuesday sponsored a celebration at “Mufti Hassan Khaled High School" marking UNESCO's completion of restoration works on 150 schools in Beirut that were damaged by Beirut Port explosion. The celebration was attended by Premiere Mikati, Minister of Education, Judge Abbas Al-Halabi, Minister of State for Administrative Development, Najla Riachi, Minister of Information, Ziad Al-Makari, MP Bahia Hariri, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, Najat Rushdi, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Stefania Janini, and a number of ambassadors, dignitaries, as well as educational, academic, and social figures.

Darian tackles developments with Hajjar, Ambassador of Malaysia
NNA/March 29/2022
Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, on Tuesday welcomed at Dar Al-Fatwa, Minister of Social Affairs, Hector Hajjar, with whom he discussed the country’s political, social, and economic affairs. The Grand Mufti separately met with Malaysian Ambassador to Lebanon, Azri Mat Yacoub, who paid him a protocol visit. Discussions between the pair touched on the current situation in Lebanon, and the best means to strengthen relations between both countries. Future steps to provide assistance and support to Lebanon and its people were also discussed.

More than 34 associations stage sit-in at Mazraa-UNESCO against extension of municipal councils’ mandate
NNA/March 29/2022
More than 34 associations on Tuesday staged a sit-in at Corniche Al-Mazraa-UNESCO intersection in objection against the House of Parliament’s bill, which aims to extend the mandate of municipal and mukhtar councils for a period of one year.

Arslan meets Russian Foreign minister in Moscow
NNA/March 29/2022
Head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, MP Talal Arslan, on Tuesday met with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, at the HQ of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow. MP Arslan was accompanied by a delegation comprising: former minister Saleh Al-Gharib, Party members, Alman Al-Jurdi and Mohammed Al-Muhtar, as well as Arslan’s advisor, Lawyer Farhan Abu Hessen. The meeting took place in presence of the Russian Special Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Russian Foreign Ministry officials. As per a statement by the Party, it said that talks touched on the current political, international and regional developments, as well as the bilateral relations between the two countries, describing the meeting as cordial. Discussions also reportedly touched on the current Russian-Ukrainian situation.

Panel discussion entitled “Pressing Economic Situation in Lebanon: Challenges and Solutions” at May Chidiac Foundation-Media...
NNA - March 29, 2022,
The May Chidiac Foundation - Media Institute organized, within the framework of the project “Renewing the Political and Economic Structures in Lebanon” organized in partnership with the Public Affairs Department of the American Embassy in Beirut, a panel discussion entitled “The Stressful Economic Situation in Lebanon: Challenges and Solutions” at the Foundation’s studio. The participants were:
Former Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Ghassan Hasbani, former Lebanese Minister of Economy and Industry Dr. Nasser Al-Saidi, Ambassador in charge of coordinating international support to Lebanon Pierre Dukan, former Lebanese Minister of Labor Camille Abu Suleiman and Senior country officer of the International Finance Corporation Saad Sabra.
The journalist and economic expert, Maurice Matta, moderated the discussion that took place on the economic crisis in Lebanon and its repercussions on the living and social conditions in the country.
At the beginning of the discussion, the floor was given to Dr. Nasser Saidi, who started the panel, saying, “The truth is that what is happening in Lebanon has historical dimensions, and the GDP decline since 2018 by about 58 %, exceeds the biggest crisis we have known previously, which was in Chile in 1926. So this is a huge drop. In the gross domestic product, and multidimensional poverty now affects 80 percent of the population and the unemployment rate is up to 50 %, and there is a mass immigration, and thus this leads to a loss of our human capital. The value of the Lebanese pound has fallen by more than 85 %. The economy is in danger right now.
And he added, "So the impact in terms of poverty, and the impact in terms of population, is amazing, just so that people understand a little bit about what we're talking about." A college professor earns about $156 a month, a soldier $54 a month and a judge about $187 a month.
So, you can imagine the impact of this on people's daily lives, but the most dangerous of that is the destruction of wealth, inflation, the depreciation of the exchange rate, and what people call as a eupherism, "Lolar", and the haircuts actually mean that financial wealth as well as other forms of wealth in Lebanon decreased by about 85%. This is the wealth of several generations whose money was introduced into Lebanon. The terrible thing about this situation is that it's man-made, it's not the result of a natural disaster, it's man-made and it's a deliberate policy to actually avoid reform.
And he continued: We need a comprehensive approach because the problem is financial, there was a large financial deficit, which led to a large accumulation of debt, exceeding 175% of GDP, there was a large current account deficit, i.e. overuse, and this was allowed by stabilizing Exchange rate It is a long-term policy of the Central Bank which has allowed us to consume far more than we can afford.
This led to unsustainable deficits, current account deficits and fiscal deficits and these problems exploded effectively at the beginning of 2020 and the implosion was driven by the closing of the banks in October and November 2019. This was unprecedented and created a loss of confidence in the banking system and thus led to a rush to banks, which in turn led to the suspension of payments and the prohibition of deposits in Lebanese pounds and later in dollars as well. The result is indeed an economic and financial crisis, but it must be emphasized that it is also a political crisis and a deep governance crisis. Now, we are living in an educational and health crisis and of course public services have been severely affected as well as electricity and water. Most people do not get two hours of electricity a day. There must be accountability for what happened, and that accountability must also extend to other events that occurred, such as the explosion in the port of Beirut.
To this day, no one has been held accountable, either politically or economically. And he stressed that there is a need to think about solving the economic, banking and financial crisis as a fundamental solution. And the banking system is at the heart of that so, from now on, what is needed is multidimensional solution. The public debt must be restructured, because the government can no longer amortize the debt. We have three interconnected budgets resulting from the crisis. They are the balance sheet of the government, the banks and the balance sheet of the Banque du Liban, these three are interconnected, and you cannot solve one without the other, so the central bank must also be restructured, starting with a legal audit. This should lead to a restructuring of the banking sector.
We will not be able to move forward in terms of rebuilding the economy and restoring confidence if we do not tackle the core of the problem, which is the banking sector.
When asked whether he believed that the banking sector would survive in Lebanon, he answered: If he wants the private sector to play its role, then it will need the banking and financial sector to finance it, and it will also need external financing. The plan first is to restructure the banking system and we said we need banking decision authority which means we will have to look at mergers and acquisitions and liquidations of some banks, maybe 50% of the banks will disappear but the main point is that we need to recapitalize. Bank shareholders need to understand that they have lost their capital, so we will need to bring in about 20 billion into the recapitalization of the banking system by the shareholders and the bankers themselves.
Secondly I think we need to restructure the central bank, my radical suggestion is that we should change the “Banque du Liban” to something like the Swiss National Bank.
A Swiss National Bank is a company incorporated by number of shares under a monetary law, but is also owned by the public. Owned by part of the government, but also by the public. And it's a registered facility, so what we'll do next is turn it into a joint stock company, the monetary policy will also exist independently. But then depositors can become shareholders in banks and in the central bank.
So, if we had a new central bank, which is very similar to the NSB. I think we would start heading towards a solution.
Thirdly, a National Wealth Fund must be established, whereby state-owned companies, government lands and institutions are part of the National Wealth Fund which is managed independently. It will enable us to improve governments, remove politicians, and take over a lot of state-owned assets from communications to water and electricity and the rest. It must be managed efficiently and independently as it should, as in Temasek in Singapore which bought an average of fifteen per cent for the government. So, if we put all of that together and start running it efficiently, we can start to reap some revenue in the future. Then the depositors will also become part of the national wealth.
So, instead of experiencing the huge losses that we have now, the depositors will become shareholders in banks, shareholders in the central bank, and shareholders in National Wealth Fund. And if we have a properly structured and governed wealth fund, we can attract a lot of private capital and then we can hope, if we restructure our banking sector by starting to finance the private sector.
I think these are three building blocks that if we really want to solve Lebanon's problems, we have to think about them.
Turning to Ambassador Pierre Duquesne, he said: I imagine that we all know the challenges and solutions, and that the key words are only political will and implementation. And when I say political will, I mean from all stakeholders, not just from the classical political elite, but from everyone, from the economic elite, from the researchers, from the new powers, the entire population. There is still some kind of denial in all sectors. Regarding the nature of the crisis. Let me take two extremes. Some argue that the crisis is purely financial and even some may say that it is purely a crisis of quality so that it is at least a solvable crisis and these people easily imagine that the passage of time, the classic flexibility and the strong resilience of the Lebanese people will suffice. And another group ie the other party thinks it's purely a governance crisis and that the massive change in leadership and the solution is to fight corruption permanently and you can easily designate names under these two extreme positions I think these two groups share, if I could use John Maynard Keynes' terms, the same critical illusion, They all think in nominal terms, not in real terms and think burden sharing is the answer. The matter is, of course, different in both cases. In the financial sector losses, in the broad sense, the solution to the crisis will, of course, not. What is at stake is not a nominal solution to the crisis, but rather the real solution.
This crisis in its entirety, as has just been said, is multidimensional. And it should be used to complete the redefinition of the Lebanese economic and social model which was sufficiently said to have been based on false prosperity but at an exaggerated exchange rate and mounting debts. Even today, many Lebanese, I repeat in all circles, do not acknowledge the gravity of the crisis or believe that External developments will change the face of Lebanon, and in this context, it has not been addressed. Now the consequences of the war in Ukraine do not represent an altering nature of the crisis, but merely a change in its degree and severity. It is somewhat surprising to see that the Ukraine crisis has increased the structural weakness of the Lebanese economic model, financial turmoil, currency volatility, dependence on imports in general, and the widespread role of fuel imports for energy production. There may be a decrease in the level of these stocks, especially after the explosion in the port.
He added: In this context also with regard to non-various imports from Russia and Ukraine, there is a lack of vision in the economic policy, so all this is before our eyes and has been highlighted. Therefore, the Ukrainian crisis was not a catalyst nor was it a revealer of the Lebanese crisis. But I hope that this crisis in Ukraine, including of course the refugees and the humanitarian side, will not be a competitor in the mentality of the international community and a competitor to the Lebanese crisis.
When asked about what should be done to push the concerned authorities in Lebanon to save this country and how to ensure some economic recovery in Lebanon, he answered: I know a lot about what is happening, I know the backgrounds, and I know what is happening behind the scenes with the Lebanese authorities.
So, I think what we can try to do is take things a little differently, I'm not going to get into the discussion about financial losses and so on, because I said it's not necessary. And he continued: I will suggest that during an election campaign and here is where Lebanon is, like France. Not only the government but also the people will talk about the usual topics that we imagine will be on the agenda.
We all know that Lebanon is rich in local resources like water, sun, etc. When people talk about energy, they talk about regulating and reforming the sector and reducing the role of private generators and so on
But they say nothing, oddly enough, to increase the share of renewable energies under a national plan. I know they are local initiatives, but they do not include the national vision. I am referring to what I may know behind the scenes. I am not Lebanese, I am French, but at the end of the plan it was recently established that there are five goals, and none of these five increases a portion of renewable energy sources and at the end of the period, in 2030, perhaps a stock will be placed at a rate of 10 % of energy production is under consideration. Therefore, the role of the public sector is to stipulate that there is another unstable issue that must be raised, which is the problem of governance, bad governance, and corruption. And I know that because of that there is a feeling among the Lebanese that the state is not a good party, you know? The same sentiment was present in Eastern Europe before or in the early 1990s. On the other hand, the international community does not trust public finances and is now directing its humanitarian aid to the population through NGOs and international organizations. I think that there can be discussion at least on two issues: What should be the role of the state in the various sectors? Health and education come first, but also transportation, energy and water, so these are some of the basic needs. This is not brought up in public debate by anyone and secondly, this is a risk as the risk of being a failed state. How do you avoid Lebanon becoming a new republic of NGOs?
Of course, inequality is exacerbated by the crisis itself but also by the means of dealing with it and I would argue with that. The dollarization of bank accounts on one hand and, on the contrary, the dollarization of cash payments is a factor that increases inequality. So it is no longer a question of monetary policy but rather a part of inequality so there must be a reversal now, let me refer to social protection and social inclusion.
Later, former Minister Ghassan Hasbani said during his intervention: I will not add much to what has already been said, but we all know the diagnosis, how far the crisis has reached and how deep it is. Unfortunately, if we continue the way things are going, I think that the situation will be deeper and more complex in the future. So, it seems there is no end to how bad the situation can get to a point where we really no longer have foreign reserves, we are completely cut off from the rest of the world and very difficult to be part of any international equation.
He added: There is no sign of how a recovery plan will be developed, there is a lot of talk, a lot of ideas in the previous government and the current government, and there is an IMF program that is still far from being implemented, but without implementation.
Today it is a matter of political mix, political will, and seriousness in managing the country, and addressing the state issues that led to the economic collapse.
All the events were talking about whether it was a financial deficit, a trade deficit, economic stagnation and collapse, but all of these things are interconnected and return to the political situation that led to complete chaos in the management of the country. It is certainly a problem of governance and a problem of corruption but it is also a problem of globalization of Lebanon and the Lebanese political system was not used to this in the past because the international community has always turned a blind eye and is trying to create a common denominator to accept the situation and continue to move forward with the situation that has been increasing for the past 30 years.
This was until the international community woke up to this situation and the fact that it could no longer continue, we started to realize the drying up of capabilities and resources so what we're looking at now is practically a failed state scenario and we're looking at a state that is politically controlled by certain groups that have power over the decision, that have the power to obstruct any decisions. If we continue to ignore the fact that today there is no sovereign, independent and properly functioning state and we continue to ignore the fact that some parts of the international community still consider this to be in fact an effective counterpart, then on the other side we will have to deal with the same problem.
Lebanon today is in need of a rescue that requires international intervention and requires international sponsorship. Other than that, we constantly hear that the solution must come from within, and from time to time someone withdraws from the system, leaving others to try to solve problems. . We cannot expect the same groups that created and caused problems to go forward and try to solve the problem that exists today. It only serves certain political agendas. We have to look at that honestly and state the problem clearly. It is part of a regional and global situation that cannot be completely cut off, and what we need in Lebanon now is a political rescue plan that will eventually lead to an economic rescue plan.
And he continued: I do not think that this government will sign anything with the International Monetary Fund, let's be realistic. Because this government represents the existing parliament and it represents the dominant political parties today that have representation in the current parliament. So, any action that this government takes will be reflected in the parliamentarians you mentioned. And from a political perspective, realistically, it's very difficult and that's why we didn't have as radical solutions as we would expect like an IMF program. For the same reasons we encountered a problem with the implementation of CEDRE. And I had this conversation with Mr. Duquesne several times before and after CEDRE where we were all trying to put reforms as a precondition and we did everything we could, but there was a political hitch and many political hitches in those reforms. So I totally understand, respect and agree with all the solutions that are being made. Put it on the table. And I agree that the IMF program is the only starting point for solutions but the concerns expressed by Mr. Duquesne, I also fully share them if there is no solution today with this current government there will be a caretaker government that may be for some time and then there will be Presidential elections after that, so we will not witness any progress in the economic aspect until we have a complete political solution after the presidential elections. When asked about what the international community should pay attention to when coming to help a country like Lebanon, he replied:
He should be aware of the lies of the Lebanese political class. First I think we've been through this many times in the past and Mr. Duquesne has seen it himself many times I think. I think it's very important to understand that this conversation that we're having now would be very useful and moving if it were, say, two or three years ago, a more appropriate time then. Now I think we are further from this kind of discussion of recovery. And we need to understand that the international community has always been misled by the people in power in Lebanon. And recovery through the International Monetary Fund.
All the ideas are great, we have laws in place and we have electrical law and telecom law and all kinds of other great reform ideas. And recently we had the Public Procurement Law. These are very good titles, very good excuses to get the attention of the international community with legislation but we can even have a capital control law with empty content or malicious content, and laws being thrown left and right without a whole program to bring it all together as one package. Because you can't have the Capital Control Act and wait 5 years before you have any reforms in the government or any hope of getting a decision on bank restructuring for example. We came up with the idea of ​​using public assets more than three years ago or two and a half years ago. It was partly adopted in the government's plan, in the Diab government's plan but it was camouflaged in various forms so there is always a good title to the legislation there is always a good promise for reforms. There are visits and in these visits a lot of promises are thrown on the table and yet nothing is achieved. In fact the main issue here, as already said, is most of what the IMF program would demand if a lot of it was achieved by default, except for the parts that require reforms in the public sector that remove power from the political class for example, something as simple as a specially designated regulatory body Right for electricity or telecommunications, the use of assets in terms of setting up a privatization program when the value of these assets is at the right level, we have more than 70 laws that are not enforced. We are completely transitioning to the informal economy gradually, the banking sector is barely escaping the political class, trying to get the last reserves that are in the central bank without making solutions.
We have a judicial system that is used as a tool by the ruling elite and who are basically trying to take every dissent or attempt to reform out of the equation. This is completely devastating to the rest of the banking sector
And we're facing a situation where the international community is still hoping that these ideas will be implemented by someone or somewhere and that someone will do a good job, that can't happen now I think we are beyond that. What we need to start focusing on very quickly is how the international community can avoid these pitfalls now, and start talking about more policy solutions.
When Dr. Camille Bou Suleiman was asked whether he agreed that Lebanon today needs a political rescue plan and if Lebanon is considered a failed state today, he replied:
We're not a total failed state, but we're fast approaching that, I want to try to focus a little more on the positives and not go into the reasons why we're really here. I think we know them I think there was really a deliberate attempt as the World Bank actually said, to not address the causes and actually to deepen the crisis. I think there are a few important things for us to know. First, I think that there is no understanding in Lebanon of the importance of time, and if we had started with the solution two and a half years ago when the crisis started, we would probably have been out of the crisis by now.
It took Ukraine less than two and a half years to get out of its crisis, and it took Greece about three years. We wasted two and a half years.
We were in a much better position at the beginning of the crisis in terms of reserves were much higher we wasted maybe $20 billion in reserves without any accountability or transparency. So time is incredibly powerful, and the politicians in Lebanon do not understand the value of wasting time. This is the first comment. The second is that accountability is obviously critical and I personally think that anyone who transferred any money after October 19 was obviously subject to exceptions, such as medical emergencies and overseas students. But any politician, bank or shareholder about the money has committed a crime in my view and should return the money so I think accountability is important. And we need to do any solution by having credible people, because the solutions will be difficult, of course, not as difficult as the situation we lived with, 90% inflation and consumption, but there will be sacrifices. We need credible people to try to discuss these solutions with the population, but we are confusing accountability with solution. When the IMF arrives in a country they don't start asking who was responsible for the crisis. Rather, they deal with solutions. In Lebanon, with the fewest number of goals, we need goals. But we can't wait to get the accountability done completely before moving on to a solution. I think we need to do three things right away. First, trying to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund before the elections, before May. I don't think it's impossible, I think it's possible of course but it won't be implemented because the prior procedures will need the new parliament. What we need is to turn to the IMF, There is no other solution, no one has suggested a viable solution.
This is first, and secondly, we urgently need a capital control law as soon as possible and we cannot continue like this. I don't think people understand the harm that happens without capital control, in addition to the lack of norms for transferring money abroad.
Most importantly, we need to protect the assets of the banks abroad, these are not the assets of the banks, and these are the assets of depositors and anyone who gets paid. Because they understand that offshore judgment is being paid by other depositors it's like someone is transferring money after October 19th, except one is doing it legally and another is doing it illegally. But the net result on the depositors is also the same, if we risk losing the attachments on the bank account it also affects the new money and the new coins, because the banks are still the same as the banks so we need a law to control the capital.
And for those who worry that in the last draft they granted immunity to bankers, well, let's make a provision that says nothing in this law grants immunity to anyone for the past. So I think this is an easy point to address. But we need a capital control law. We need to restructure the bank appropriately, as Dr. Saidi and others said. We cannot let every depositor sue independently and go to court that is why bankruptcy systems exist. The existing laws in Lebanon, the two laws dealing with bank restructuring and bankruptcy are unfortunately very old and not fully adapted to the situation.
We need a proper framework to solve the bank problem. We need a proper process it’s quite messy and unacceptable from a legal perspective. That everyone does selective credit control That's why you have bankruptcy rules, we need to stop spending the mandatory reserve in the central bank including now the artificial increase in the Lebanese pound makes no sense so it doesn't make sense to support the currency in the absence of a reform plan and of course we need a proper reform plan by the government that the government should share and discuss publicly with stakeholders There is no time to do all this, but I still think we can get somewhere between now and May 15. And when Mr. Saad Sabra made his intervention, he said: A lot has been said, and I completely agree with all the points that were said regarding the diagnosis and analysis of what happened in Lebanon and what led us here, and what the problems are. I think it goes back to several decades that sort of coalesced until I got here and in October 2019 there were events that shut down the banking sector I would like to repeat this, because I agree with Dr. Saidi that this was one of the important catalysts that really led to this situation today which is deteriorating. I also agree with Mr. Hasbani that there is no rock bottom and the situation will continue to deteriorate in this way. But I think the idea for me is that instead of looking back and analyzing the situation, because everyone knows that Lebanon has lived through several shocks, but the trauma we are experiencing today is very multidimensional and very complex. It is an accumulation of many errors. But now to move forward I mean to be completely honest, I also agree with Mr. Abu Suleiman that the situation today can be viewed from this kind of mentality. When asked what kind of incentives exist and that the Lebanese can benefit from, he preferred:
Signing the agreement with the IMF is an incentive, that's the main thing. It's a nice positive trick that can create some kind of signal that Lebanon is going somewhere. When asked whether it is feasible and currently possible, his answer was:
There are a lot of obstacles on the political front but let me focus a little bit on where Lebanon is going in terms of mobilizing support, mobilizing capital, and maybe a little focus on the private sector. Because the truth is that Lebanon is in a crisis and there is a fine line between being in a crisis situation and a development situation.
For the international community to be able to support Lebanon and the Lebanese people if they take a very hard work on that mentality because of that very bleak vision. So, as part of the crisis, there will be a piecemeal approach here and there. We hear about emergency funding here, humanitarian support that's happening here and there, but it's limited and won't be able to meet the requirements and you'll see some social protection projects or health education funding. But if I look at the broader baseline of the economy today I'm trying to focus a little bit on the private sector, the private sector is still the engine of this economy. -- May Chidiac Foundation - Media Institute

Lebanese American Coordinating Committee Delegation in Beirut Diaspora Commitment and the Protection of the Lebanese Identity An Obligation to Fight Corruption and Restore Sovereignty
Press Release/March 29/2022
A delegation from the Lebanese-American Coordination Committee (LACC) representing the Assembly for Lebanon (AFL), the Lebanese-American Renaissance Partnership (LARP), the Lebanese Information Center (LIC), Our New Lebanon (ONL), Shields of United Lebanon (SOUL), the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) and the Civic Influence Hub CIH), as a national partner, visited Beirut (February 28 till March 16-2022) to closely examine the situation as well as the preparations made by the sovereign reformist stakeholders of change in prelude of the parliamentary elections and the challenges they face in this context on the one hand, as well as informing them of the effort that the Lebanese-American Coordination Committee is doing in the United States with the Lebanese community, and with the American administration to safeguard the Lebanese cause, protect Lebanon’s higher national interests, and put the efforts necessary for Lebanon’s recovery and State restoration.
The delegation, formed by two Coordination Committee members namely former US Diplomat Walid Maalouf, President of the American-Lebanese Renaissance Partnership (LARP), and Dr. Joseph Gebeily, President of the Lebanese Information Center (LIC), and was accompanied for some meetings by the Executive Director of the CIH, met with the US Ambassador to the United States H.E. Dorothy C. Shea, and discussed the importance of consolidating Lebanese-American relations, supporting reform, combating corruption, and restoring the exclusive sovereignty of the Lebanese State over its entire territory. The delegation also had a meeting with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Suhail Abboud, in support of all the steps to establish the independence of the judiciary, and ensure that justice is made in the Beirut port explosion investigations. It also met with the Lebanese Opposition Front, in presence of MP Sami Gemayel, president of the Lebanese Kataeb. Another meeting was held with the Sovereignty Front attended by the head of the National Liberal Party, Camille Dory Chamoun, and the Front’s leadership. The delegation also met activists from the societal forces at the CIH headquarters. The LACC team held additional meetings with the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Dr. Samir Geagea, with the President of the Independence Movement, Michel Moawad, and with the President of the Project Watan, Neemat Frem. Throughout the meetings, all attendees emphasized that Lebanon faces an existential and identity danger, which requires concerted efforts at all levels, namely to motivate the Lebanese, both in Lebanon and abroad, to vote for change and secure the salvation of Lebanon and the restoration of Lebanon’s pioneering role as a message of peace and dialogue, while affirming its neutrality from all conflicts and axes. It is worth noting that LACC is in the process of preparing a policy conference to consult with experts on the best public policies for Lebanon during the next stage, which will be held in Washington, and will be announced soon.
LACC Members Organizations:
Assembly for Lebanon (AFL)
Lebanese American Renaissance Partnership (LARP)
Lebanese Information Center (LIC)
Our New Lebanon (ONL)
Shields of United Lebanon (SOUL)
World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU)
Lebanese World Partner Organizations:
Civic Influence Hub (CIH)
Advisory Committee:
Abbas Dahouk, Col.(Ret.) US Army
Hanin Ghaddar
Wajih Kanso, Ph.D
Jessica Obeid
Philip Salem, M.D.
Stephen Stanton, Barrister

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 29-30/2022
At Least 5 Dead in Gun Attack near Tel Aviv
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Israeli paramedics said Tuesday that at least five people were killed in a shooting in the central city of Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. The shooting took place two days after a shooting in the city of Hadera that left two Israeli police officers dead, and a week after a stabbing in the southern city of Beersheba in which four people were killed. The attacks have raised concerns that there could be further violence. Israeli police said Tuesday's shooting took place at two locations, apparently by a gunman riding a motorcycle. The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for both attacks in the past week, in which the assailants were killed.

Israel Raids Homes of Islamic State Suspects, Arrests 2
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Israeli security services raided the homes of at least 12 Arab citizens and arrested two suspected of having ties to the Islamic State group in a crackdown sparked by recent deadly attacks, authorities said Tuesday. Hours before the raid, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the recent assaults inside Israel, which killed six people, marked a "new situation" that required stepped-up security measures. Law enforcement officials said 31 homes and sites were searched overnight in northern Israel, an area that was home to the gunmen who killed two police officers and wounded four more people in the city of Hadera over the weekend. The Islamic State group claimed Sunday's attack, as well as a stabbing rampage in southern Israel last Tuesday in which four people were killed. Police shot and killed the two gunmen, and the stabber was shot and killed by a passerby, police said.
Israeli leaders condemned the killings and pointed to the timing. Both attacks came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Sunday's killings came on the eve of a high-profile meeting between the foreign ministers of four Arab nations and the United States in the Israeli Negev. All four Arab nations — Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — along with the United States, condemned the killings. Ramadan is expected to begin on Saturday. Last year, clashes between Israeli police and Muslim protesters during the holy month boiled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Hamas praised the shooting as a "heroic operation." Attacks by IS inside Israel are rare.The group operates mainly in Iraq and Syria, where it has recently stepped up attacks against security forces. It no longer controls any territory but operates through sleeper cells. IS has claimed attacks against Israeli troops in the past and has branches in Afghanistan and other countries.

Top Diplomats from Egypt, Qatar Discuss Ties in Cairo
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Egypt's foreign minister has held talks with his Qatari counterpart that focused on improved ties between the two countries. Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry met with Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Cairo. It was the second visit for Qatar's chief diplomat since Egypt and three Gulf nations ended their dispute with the energy-rich country last year. Al Thani told a joint news conference that Qatar's ties with Egypt were improving "after we overcame the previous period, which was marred by some tensions." Shukry said they have "great ambitions" to further improve ties on all levels and announced a joint committee co-chaired by the two ministers with the aim of achieving that goal. A declaration in January 2021 ended a diplomatic crisis that began in 2017 with a rift between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on one side and Qatar on the other. The four countries had jointly boycotted Qatar and hoped an embargo and media blitz would pressure it to end its close relations with Turkey and Iran. Since the dispute ended, ties between the five countries have improved and top officials exchange visits. Al Thani visited Cairo in May and met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Turkey hails Istanbul talks as 'most significant progress' since Ukraine war began
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Turkey's foreign minister said Tuesday that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have reached “a consensus and common understanding” on some issues. Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two sides made “the most meaningful progress” since the start of the war at a meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday. He said the meeting would be followed by a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers. Cavusoglu said a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders was also “on the agenda,” he said. He didn't give a timeframe. He said that difficult issues “will be taken up at a higher level.”Cavusoglu added that Turkey encouraged the two sides to “secure a cease-fire” and an agreement on the issue of the opening of humanitarian corridors.

Blinken in Morocco amid Shifts in Mideast, NAfrica Diplomacy
Associated Press/March 29/2022
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Morocco Tuesday to discuss recent shifts in the diplomatic dynamic in the Middle East and North Africa that could upend some of the region's long-standing disputes. A day after an unprecedented gathering in Israel's Negev Desert with the Israeli foreign minister and their counterparts from four Arab nations that have normalized relations with Israel, Blinken was holding talks with senior Moroccan officials to look at opportunities for expanding those ties. In Morocco and again in Algeria on Wednesday, Blinken will also be exploring options for helping end the neighbors' festering row over Western Sahara after new developments offered fresh hope but added new complications for a resolution. In Rabat, he will also see the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to try to ease U.S.-UAE tensions over a possible resurrection of the languishing 2015 Iran nuclear deal and a recent spat over a visit to the Emirates by Syrian leader Bashar Assad. The meeting between Blinken and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita was their second direct encounter in two days. The pair were together on Monday in the Israeli town of Sde Boker, where they each confirmed their countries' commitment to supporting a revitalized Middle East with growing ties between Israel and Arab states. Morocco, along with the UAE and Bahrain, was one of the countries to fully normalize relations with Israel during the Trump administration's push to negotiate the so-called "Abraham Accords," in which the U.S. pledged significant support in exchange for such recognition. While technically not an Abraham Accords signatory, Morocco won U.S. recognition for its claim to Western Sahara in return for its agreement with Israel.
In a rare endorsement of a Trump foreign policy initiative, the Biden administration has signaled its full backing for the Abraham Accords and pledged to try to expand and strengthen them. However, while the administration has not revoked Trump's decision on Western Sahara, it has been largely silent on the matter. That has led to questions about whether Washington is fully on board with Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony. Just last week, Spain shifted its long-standing position on the territory by backing Morocco's plan to give Western Sahara more autonomy as long it remains under Moroccan control, calling it "the most serious, realistic and credible" initiative for resolving the decades-long dispute. The move was immediately welcomed by Rabat, which reinstated its ambassador to Madrid after a 10-month absence. But it was sharply criticized by Algeria, which supports Western Sahara's Polisario Front independence movement, and recalled its ambassador to Spain. In his meetings with the two protagonists, Blinken hopes to explore the potential for compromises on Western Sahara. The vast territory, which Morocco annexed in 1976, is largely barren but rich in phosphates and faces fertile Atlantic Ocean fishing grounds. The Polisario called Spain's decision a "grave error" that yields to Morocco's leverage over the control of migrants crossing into Europe and accuses Madrid of taking sides in a dispute that the Spanish government for decades said could only be settled in a referendum held under UN auspices.

Iran says Huthi ceasefire plan can help end Yemen war
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Iran offered its support on Tuesday for a ceasefire plan put forward by rebels it backs in Yemen's war, saying it could be an "appropriate platform" for ending the conflict. The Huthi rebels on Saturday announced the proposal and offered peace talks on condition Saudi Arabia stops its air strikes and blockade of Yemen and removes "foreign forces". The offer came a day after the insurgents fired on 16 targets inside the kingdom, which heads a military coalition fighting on the side of Yemen's internationally recognized government. On Tuesday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Huthi "plan contained a strong message of determination to end the war". "If there is serious and positive interaction with (the plan), it could provide an appropriate platform for ending" the conflict, he said in a statement. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa the year before, and it has enforced an air and sea blockade of rebel-held areas since 2016. "We hope that on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, by prioritizing humanitarian issues and advancing the exchange of prisoners, we will see an end to the conflict and witness national reconciliation in Yemen," Khatibzadeh said. The Yemen war has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and displaced millions, creating what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council this month proposed hosting talks between Yemen's warring factions in Riyadh, from March 29 to April 7. But the rebels responded by saying that while they were open to resolving the conflict peacefully, they would not take part in dialogue "in enemy countries".

Gulf States Plan Yemen Talks without Houthi Rebels Present
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Gulf Arab states were to gather for a summit Tuesday about the yearslong war in Yemen, which the country's Houthi rebels are boycotting because it's taking place in Saudi Arabia, their adversary in the conflict. The decision by the Iran-backed Houthis to skip the summit, called by the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council, immediately called into question the effectiveness of such a gathering. The United Nations, diplomats and others have been pushing for another potential cease-fire to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, similar to efforts for a truce over the past years. Ramadan is likely to start this weekend, depending on the sighting of the new crescent moon. The GCC — a six-nation club including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — was to hold closed-door talks Tuesday in Riyadh. On Monday, the GCC's Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajraf held talks with British Ambassador to Yemen Richard Oppenheim and Yemeni officials allied with its internationally recognized but exiled government. Those talks saw al-Hajraf, a Kuwaiti politician, discuss "efforts to stop the war and ways to achieve comprehensive peace to alleviate the human suffering witnessed by Yemeni people," according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The Houthis, meanwhile, have rejected the summit because of its venue in Saudi Arabia, as well as the continuing closure of Sanaa's airport and restrictions on the country's ports by the Saudi-led coalition that is waging war on the Houthis. The rebels, who over the weekend attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah ahead of a Formula One race there, have called for the talks to be held in a "neutral" country. "The Saudi regime must prove its seriousness towards peace ... by responding to a cease-fire, lifting the siege and expelling foreign forces from our country," Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdul-Salam wrote on Twitter. "Then peace will come and it is time to talk about political solutions in a calm atmosphere away from any military or humanitarian pressure."U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke late Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. The State Department said the two "discussed support for the U.N.'s proposal for a Ramadan truce in Yemen and efforts to launch a new, more inclusive and comprehensive peace process."Yemen's war began in September 2014, when the Houthis swept into the capital, Sanaa, from their northwestern stronghold in the Arab world's poorest country. The Houthis then pushed into exile the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, elected in 2012 as the sole candidate after the long rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh. A Saudi-led coalition, including the UAE, entered the war in March 2015 to try and restore Hadi's government to power. But the war stretched into long bloody years, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the warfare, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Those include both fighters and civilians; the most-recent figure for the civilian death toll in Yemen's conflict stands at 14,500. Also, Saudi airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians and targeted the country's infrastructure. The Houthis have used child soldiers and indiscriminately laid landmines across the country.

Clashes in Syrian camp housing IS families kill at least 3
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Clashes between U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters and members of the Islamic State group killed at least three people inside a restive camp in northeastern Syria that houses IS families, local Kurdish authorities and an opposition war monitor said Tuesday. The clashes broke out late Monday night at al-Hol in Syria's province of Hassakeh, when Kurdish fighters exchanged fire with an IS sleeper cell, according to Shixmus Ehmed, head of the Kurdish-led administration's department for refugees and displaced. He spoke to The Associated Press via voice messages Tuesday. The fighting involved pistols, automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades, he said, adding that the situation remains tense. The sprawling al-Hol camp has for years held tens of thousands of women and children — mostly wives, widows and children of IS members. The Kurdish police force, known as Asayish, said its members were attacked and fired back, killing an IS member and wounding others. It said police were careful during the clashes because IS fighters had hidden themselves among civilians. The police did not give casualty figures among civilians. Syrian Kurdish fighters have intensified their inspections at al-Hol in recent weeks, following a late January attack by IS on a prison in the provincial capital of Hassakeh, where some 3,000 militants and juveniles are held.That attack led to 10 days of fighting between the U.S.-backed fighters and IS militants that left nearly 500 dead before the situation was brought under control. It was the biggest attack by IS since the fall of the group's so-called Islamic "caliphate" in 2019, and stoked fears it may be staging a comeback. Following the Sunday night clashes, the Kurdish fighters surrounded the area to prevent any IS gunmen from escaping, Ehmed said, without giving a breakdown for the casualties. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights, an opposition war monitor, said a woman and a child were killed as well as an IS fighter. The Observatory added that four women and six children were wounded. The Kurdish fighters imposed a curfew inside the camp, the Observatory also said, adding that the fighting was concentrated in areas housing family members of Iraqi and Syrian IS fighters. Some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are located in al-Hol. Nearly 20,000 of them are children while the rest are mostly women. A nearby separate and heavily guarded section of the camp known as the "annex" is where about 2,000 women from 57 other countries are held, with about 8,000 children. The women in the annex are considered to be the most die-hard IS supporters. In February, women at al-Hol tried to kidnap their Kurdish guards, leading to a shooting that left one child dead and several people wounded. IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed days after the January prison attack. U.S. officials said he blew himself up along with members of his family as American forces raided his hideout in the northwestern Syrian town of Atmeh, near the border with Turkey, on Feb. 3. The Islamic State group has named Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as its new leader.

Russia Says It Will Cut Back Operations near Ukraine Capital
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Russia's military said Tuesday it would "fundamentally" cut back operations near Ukraine's capital and a northern city, potentially a significant concession by Moscow since it invaded its neighbor more than a month ago. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant "to increase trust" in talks aimed at ending fighting, as negotiators met face-to-face after several rounds of failed negotiations. But Russia's troops have been bogged down and struggling to make major advances recently. The talks in Istanbul raised flickering hopes there could be progress toward ending a war that has ground into a bloody campaign of attrition. Fomin said Moscow had decided to "fundamentally ... cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv" to "increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations." Ukraine's military said it had noted withdrawals around Kyiv and Chernihiv, though the Pentagon said it could not corroborate the reports, An adviser to the Ukrainian president said the meeting in Istanbul was focused on securing a cease-fire and guarantees for Ukraine's security — issues that have been at the heart of previous unsuccessful negotiations. Ahead of the talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country was prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded, and was open to compromise over the contested eastern region of Donbas — comments that might lend momentum to negotiations. But even as the negotiators assembled, Russian forces hit an oil depot in western Ukraine and demolished a government building in the south, with several deaths.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the two sides that they had a "historic responsibility" to stop the fighting. "We believe that there will be no losers in a just peace. Prolonging the conflict is not in anyone's interest," Erdogan said, as he greeted the two delegations seated on opposite sides of a long table. Russian President Vladimir Putin's aim of a quick military victory has been thwarted by stiff Ukrainian resistance. But any hope that raised about prospects for an end to the conflict was accompanied by Western skepticism about the Russian leader's commitment to seeking peace. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she thought Putin was "not serious about talks."
In fighting that has devolved into a back-and-forth stalemate, Ukrainian forces retook Irpin, a key suburb northwest of the capital, Kyiv, Zelenskyy said late Monday. But he warned that Russian troops were regrouping to take the area back. "We still have to fight, we have to endure," Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation. "This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children." He also lashed out at Western countries, which he has repeatedly accused of not going far enough to punish Moscow with sanctions or support Ukraine. Western hesitancy in providing weapons makes those nations partially responsible for the destruction wrought, he said. "Fear always makes you an accomplice," he said. A missile struck an oil depot in western Ukraine late Monday, the second attack on oil facilities in a region that has been spared the worst of the fighting. On Tuesday morning, an explosion blasted a hole in a nine-story administration building in Mykolaiv, a southern port city that Russia has unsuccessfully tried to capture. Seven people died in the missile attack and 22 were wounded, Zelenskyy said in an address to Danish lawmakers. "It's terrible. They waited for people to go to work" before striking the building, said regional governor Vitaliy Kim. "I overslept. I'm lucky."
In other developments:
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog arrived in Ukraine to try to ensure the safety of the country's nuclear facilities. Russian forces have taken control of the decommissioned Chernobyl plant, site in 1986 of the world's worst nuclear accident, and of the active Zaporizhzhia plant, where a building was damaged in fighting. Russia has destroyed more than 60 religious buildings across the country in just over a month of war, with most of the damage concentrated near Kyiv and in the east, Ukraine's military said in a post Tuesday.
Bloomberg News said it has suspended its operations in Russia and Belarus. Customers in both countries won't be able to access any Bloomberg financial products and trading functions for Russian securities were disabled in line with international sanctions, it said.
Earlier Russia-Ukraine talks, held in person in Belarus or by video, failed to make progress on ending a more than month-long war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country.
Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining the western NATO alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat. Zelenskyy indicated over the weekend he was open to that, saying Ukraine was ready to declare its neutrality, but he has stressed that the country needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal. Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said ending the war was contingent on "international security guarantees for Ukraine."
Also in the room at the Istanbul talks was Roman Abramovich, a longtime ally of Putin who has been sanctioned by Britain and the EU. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Chelsea Football Club owner has been serving as an unofficial mediator approved by both countries — but mystery about his role has been deepened by reports that he may have been poisoned during an earlier round of talks.
The investigative news outlet Bellingcat reported Monday that Abramovich and two Ukrainian delegates suffered eye pain and skin irritation consistent with chemical weapons poisoning after attending peace talks on March 3. The British government said the allegations were "very concerning," but Peskov said the reports "do not correspond to reality."As well as Irpin, Ukrainian forces also seized back control of Trostyanets, south of Sumy in the northeast, after weeks of Russian occupation that has left a landscape devastated by war.
Arriving in the town Monday shortly afterward, The Associated Press saw the bodies of two Russian soldiers lay abandoned in the woods and Russian tanks lay burned and twisted. A red "Z" marked a Russian truck, its windshield fractured, near stacked boxes of ammunition. Ukrainian forces piled atop a tank flashed victory signs. Dazed residents lined up amid charred buildings seeking aid. It was unclear where the Russian troops went, under what circumstances they fled and whether the town will remain free of them.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it would try to evacuate civilians from three southern cities on Tuesday. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said humanitarian corridors would run from heavily bombed Mariupol as well as Enerhodar and Melitopol. The latter two cities are under Russian control, but Vereshchuk didn't say whether Moscow had agreed to the corridors.Putin's ground forces have become bogged down because of the stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, combined with what Western officials say are Russian tactical missteps, poor morale, shortages of food, fuel and cold weather gear, and other problems.In response, Russia appeared to be concentrating more on Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking region where Moscow-backed rebels have been waging a separatist war for eight years, the official said.
In a further indication of that shift, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that "liberating Donbas" was Moscow's main military goal. Shoigu, whose few public appearances this month raised questions about his health and whereabouts, told top military officials that Russia had largely completed the first stage of its operation and was shifting to "the main goal — the liberation of Donbas." While that presents a possible face-saving exit strategy for Putin, it has also raised Ukrainian fears the Kremlin aims to split the country, forcing it to surrender a swath of its territory. Still, Zelenskyy's comments that he was open to compromise on the region indicated a possible path for negotiations.

Turkey says Ukraine-Russia talks concluded, hails ‘significant progress’
AP/The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022
Peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams, held in Istanbul on Tuesday, have concluded and will not continue for a second day, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Russia has decided to drastically cut its military activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv in Ukraine, one of its deputy defence ministers said earlier. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said talks Tuesday between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul marked the “most significant progress” since war broke out between the two countries. Speaking after three hours of talks between delegations from both Moscow and Kyiv, Cavusoglu said the discussions represented “the most significant progress since negotiations began” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Talks would not resume on Wednesday, he added. In a televised speech to the negotiators ahead of their first discussions in more than two weeks, Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire in the war that began last month when Russia invaded Ukraine. "It is up to the sides to stop this tragedy. Achieving a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible is to the benefit of everyone. We think we have now entered a period where concrete results are needed from talks," he said.
"The negotiating process, which you have been carrying out under the orders of your leaders, has raised hopes for peace."Turkey previously hosted on March 10 the first meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Those talks in the southern city of Antalya failed to produce a ceasefire nor make any other visible progress. On Monday evening, Erdogan said his country was the only one, since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, to have made genuine efforts to find a solution to the crisis through dialogue, negotiation and an agreement. Turkey, which shares a Black Sea coast with both Russia and Ukraine, is seeking to maintain good relations with both and has offered to mediate since the start of the war. Ankara is a traditional ally of Kyiv's and has supplied the country with Bayraktar drones, which Ukraine has deployed in the conflict. But Turkey is also seeking to stay on good terms with Russia, on which it depends heavily for gas imports and tourism revenues. Turkey is also working with France and Greece on a "humanitarian operation" to evacuate people from the devastated Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which has been pounded by Russian forces.

Many in Mideast See Hypocrisy in Western Embrace of Ukraine
Associated Press/March 29/2022
Within days of the Russian invasion, Western countries invoked international law, imposed crippling sanctions, began welcoming refugees with open arms and cheered on Ukraine's armed resistance. The response has elicited outrage across the Middle East, where many see a glaring double standard in how the West responds to international conflicts. "We have seen every means we were told could not be activated for over 70 years deployed in less than seven days," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told a security forum in Turkey earlier this month. "Amazing hypocrisy," he added.
The U.S.-led war in Iraq, which began 19 years ago this month, was widely seen as an unlawful invasion of one state by another. But Iraqis who fought the Americans were branded terrorists, and refugees fleeing to the West were often turned away, treated as potential security threats.
The Biden administration said Wednesday the United States has assessed that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine and would work with others to prosecute offenders. But the U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court and staunchly opposes any international probe of its own conduct or of its ally, Israel. When Russia intervened in Syria's civil war on behalf of President Bashar Assad in 2015, helping his forces to pummel and starve entire cities into submission, there was international outrage but little action. Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe died on perilous sea voyages or were turned back as many branded them a threat to Western culture. In Yemen, a grinding yearslong war between a Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels has left 13 million people at risk of starvation. But even searing accounts of infants starving to death have not brought sustained international attention.
Bruce Riedel, formerly of the CIA and National Security Council, and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said it was "understandable" that many in the Middle East see a double standard by the West. "The United States and the United Kingdom have supported Saudi Arabia's seven-years-old war in Yemen, which created the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe in decades," he said.
Israel's occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state is well into its sixth decade, and millions of Palestinians live under military rule with no end in sight. The U.S., Israel and Germany have passed legislation aimed at suppressing the Palestinian-led boycott movement, while major firms like McDonald's, Exxon Mobil and Apple have won praise by suspending business in Russia. On social media, the world has cheered Ukrainians as they stockpile Molotov cocktails and take up arms against an occupying army. When Palestinians and Iraqis do the same thing, they are branded terrorists and legitimate targets. "We resisted the occupiers, even when the world was with the Americans, including the Ukrainians, who were part of their coalition," said Sheikh Jabbar al-Rubai, 51, who fought in the 2003-2011 Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces.
"Because the world was with the Americans, they didn't give us this glory and call us a patriotic resistance," instead emphasizing the insurgency's religious character, he said. "This is of course a double standard, as if we are subhuman." Abdulameer Khalid, a 41-year-old Baghdad delivery driver, sees "no difference" between the Iraqi and Ukrainian resistance. "If anything, the resistance to the Americans in Iraq was more justified, given that the Americans traveled thousands of kilometers to come to our country, while the Russians are going after a supposed threat next door to them," he said. To be sure, there are important differences between the war in Ukraine — a clear case of one U.N.-member state invading another — and the conflicts in the Middle East, which often involve civil war and Islamic extremism.
"By and large, Middle East conflicts are incredibly complicated. They are not morality plays," said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Mideast adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations.
He said the Ukraine conflict is unique in its degree of moral clarity, with Russia widely seen as launching an aggressive, devastating war against its neighbor. The closest Mideast analogy might be Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when Washington responded by assembling a military coalition including Arab states that drove out the Iraqi forces. Still, Miller acknowledges that U.S. foreign policy "is filled with anomalies, inconsistencies, contradictions and yes, hypocrisy."
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was a response to the 9/11 attacks, which Osama bin Laden planned while being sheltered by the Taliban there. The U.S. justified its war in Iraq with false claims about weapons of mass destruction, but the invasion also toppled a brutal dictator who had himself flouted international law and committed crimes against humanity. Still, the invasion is regarded by most Iraqis and other Arabs as an unprovoked disaster that set the stage for years of sectarian strife and bloodletting. Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a White House adviser when the U.S. invaded Iraq, said there was a difference between Ukrainians battling Russian invaders and insurgents in Iraq who fought Americans. "Iraqis who fought U.S. troops on behalf of Iran or ISIS were not freedom fighters," he said, referring to the Islamic State group. "Making these moral distinctions is not an act of hypocrisy." The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back more than a century — long before the 1967 war in which Israel seized east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the world considers those areas to be occupied Palestinian territory and Israel's ongoing settlement construction to be a violation of international law. Israel portrays the conflict as a territorial dispute, accusing the Palestinians of refusing to accept its right to exist as a Jewish state. "Only the severely context-challenged could compare Israel's wars of defense to Russia's invasion of its neighbor," the Jerusalem Post said in a March 1 editorial on the topic. Russia's intervention in Syria was part of a complex civil war in which several factions — including the Islamic State group — committed atrocities. As IS seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, many feared extremists would slip into Europe amid waves of refugees. Still, many in the Middle East saw harsh treatment of Arab and Muslim migrants as proof that Western nations still harbor cultural biases despite espousing universal rights and values. Many feel their suffering is taken less seriously because of pervasive views that the Middle East has always been mired in violence — never mind the West's role in creating and perpetuating many of its intractable conflicts. "There's this expectation, drawn from colonialism, that it's more normal for us to be killed, to grieve our families, than it is for the West," said Ines Abdel Razek, advocacy director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy.

UK detains Russian-owned superyacht in 'warning' to Putin
Agence France Presse/March 29/2022
Britain on Tuesday detained a Russian-owned, $50-million superyacht boasting a fresh-water swimming pool, in what it called a "warning" to Moscow of the consequences for invading Ukraine. The impounding of Phi, the first superyacht ever to be held in British waters, comes after the UK sanctioned hundreds of Russian individuals and entities in recent weeks over the Kremlin's war.  Authorities held the vessel, which was docked at Canary Wharf in London, after the "combating kleptocracy" unit of the National Crime Agency (NCA) uncovered that its ultimate owner was a Russian businessman. Although the unidentified individual has not been sanctioned by the UK, new powers allow Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to detain ships controlled, chartered or operated by people connected to Russia. On a visit to the wharf, Shapps said the 58.5-metre (192-foot) vessel worth £38 million ($50 million, 45 million euros) was in London for a refit but now "won't be going anywhere." The seizure sent a "clear and stark warning" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said. "It's just another indication that we will not stand by whilst Putin's cronies are allowed to sail around the world in these kinds of yachts and people in Ukraine are suffering." Phi is the third-biggest yacht built by Dutch shipbuilder Royal Huisman and includes what the company calls an "infinite wine cellar" and patented fresh-water swimming pool. The ship is registered to a company based in the Caribbean country of St Kitts and Nevis, and sails under a Maltese flag, according to the NCA."The ownership of the yacht was deliberately well-hidden," the agency said in a statement. Its anti-kleptocracy cell has been bolstered in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, with increased funding and personnel. "The results of this are already bearing fruit," NCA investigator Andy Devine said. Authorities in France, Italy, Spain and Gibraltar have also seized Russian yachts as part of the sanctions campaign against Russia. Britain has impounded at least two oligarch-owned private jets.

U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Chief Visits Ukraine
Associated Press/March 29/2022
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Ukraine for talks with senior government officials on delivering “urgent technical assistance” to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Rafael Mariano Grossi’s aim is to “to initiate prompt safety and security support” for Ukraine’s nuclear sites. That will include sending IAEA experts to “prioritized facilities” and sending “vital safety and security supplies” including monitoring and emergency equipment. It said that Grossi will travel to one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants this week, but didn’t say which one. Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four active power plants, and also is home to the decommissioned Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Russian forces have taken control of Chernobyl and of the largest active power plant, at Zaporizhzhia. Grossi said in a statement that “the military conflict is putting Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive material in unprecedented danger.”He added that “there have already been several close calls. We can’t afford to lose any more time.”

King Abdullah reaches out to President Abbas as Jordan adjusts to new Arab-Israeli peace track
The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022
Jordan's King Abdullah II met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, on his first trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2017. Abdullah's visit came as foreign ministers from four Arab countries and the US wrapped up a meeting which host Israel hailed as "historic", building on a series of normalisation agreements last year. Well-informed Jordanian sources have linked the previously unannounced visit of the Jordanian king to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, to the Negev Summit. They said that Jordan was uncomfortable with the new “Abrahamic” peace process between Israel and Arab countries. It particularly resents being marginalised and losing control over its most important card, the Palestinian issue.
According to the sources, Amman’s unhappiness with the new process was reflected in the Jordanian monarch’s insistence that the stability of the region requires solving the Palestinian issue. The new path illustrated by the Negev summit seems to be at variance with Amman’s view of the peace process and risks being put in place at its expense.
Such calculations prompted Jordan to reach out to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, although the latter has lost most of his influence within Palestinian, regional and international spheres. His virtual isolation has become pronounced even within the Fatah movement itself.
Until recently, Jordan viewed the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty with Israel as part of the regional stability equation. But the marginalisation of Jordan's role and the decline in support for the Hashemite kingdom, especially from the Arab Gulf countries, whether by the fall of assistance levels or reduction in the number of Jordanian/Palestinian expatriate workers in the Gulf, had put Jordan under particular pressure. This has compelled Amman to now try and take the moral lead in raising the Palestinian issue and the particularly sensitive question of Jerusalem.
In recent years, the Palestinian leadership had reached its own type of peace agreements with Israel, but then allowed the Islamist currents to hijack the process amid a struggle between Hamas and Fatah for control of the West Bank and Gaza.
While Egypt overcame the cold spell following the Camp David Accords, taking into account the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza, Jordan remained hostage to its demographic realities as a large part of its citizenry is of Palestinian origin.
Middle East sources say the Palestinians are now expected to be partners in the new peace process, directly and without mediators or regional proxies. They are being offered economic incentives that would benefit the Palestinians and not just their leaders in Ramallah. The sources point out that the Cairo and Negev meetings could open the way for Arab investments in the Palestinian territories without any interference and ulterior motives by opportunistic parties.
When meeting with the Palestinian president on Monday, the Jordanian monarch said that stability in the region requires solving the Palestinian issue and that Jordan "will always stand with our Palestinian brothers and their rights … despite all challenges."
Abdullah added, “The region cannot enjoy security and stability without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
He stressed the need to "stop all unilateral measures, especially in Jerusalem and the Haram al-Sharif, which impede the chances of achieving comprehensive and lasting peace in the region, which is the goal for all of us as we want to see an independent Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel."
He stressed that Jordan is continuing its efforts to preserve the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem and to care for Islamic and Christian holy sites in the holy city, under Hashemite guardianship.
Observers believe that Jordan is seeking to maintain its position as the guardian of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that it is looking for moral dividends more than it is seeking practical solutions to the economic crisis faced by the Palestinians. It would like to ensure its inclusion in the broader peace track with the hope that the Palestinians cannot be pushed towards achieving a measure of self-reliance and weaning themselves off aid dependence. Well-informed Jordanian sources told The Arab Weekly last Friday, on the sidelines of the Arab quartet summit, that Jordan was being urged to help de-escalate tensions with Israel over the issue of Jerusalem, to give priority to strategic partnerships and act on the premiss that the main problem for the region is not Israel but the Iranian threat. Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967, was on the verge of "exploding".
Tensions in the occupied territory remain high between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers, who live in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law. Tahani Mustafa, West Bank analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told AFP that Jordan was seeking to be proactive after having been "caught off guard" last year, when Ramadan tensions escalated into an 11-day conflict between Israel and the Hamas Islamists who control Gaza."It only makes sense for Jordan to try and intervene in some way to quell tensions."
Analysts also believe it is in Amman’s interests to warm up its ties with Arab Gulf countries and adjust its priorities to unprecedented shifts in Arab-Israeli relations.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 29-30/2022
د.ماجد رفي زاده/معهد جيتستون: إسترضاء إدارة بايدن للملالي لا متناهي وفاق كل تصور ….. وهل تتظاهر الولايات المتحدة بأن الحرس الثوري الإيراني، أخطر كل الجماعات الإرهابية في العالم، هو ليس إرهابياً؟
Is the US Pretending That Iran’s IRGC, “Mother of All Terrorist Groups”, Is Not a Terrorist Group?
The Biden Administration’s Never-ending Appeasement of the Mullahs
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 29/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107406/majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-is-the-us-pretending-that-irans-irgc-mother-of-all-terrorist-groups-is-not-a-terrorist-group-%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7/
“It [the IRGC] is also a chief supporter and enabler of other FTOs and insurgent groups in the region. These organizations include, but are not limited to: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthi insurgency. The IRGC’s actions have led to decades of instability and conflict across the Middle East and the group is responsible for countless deaths, including more than 600 U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq.” — Letter from 80 Republicans to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Fox News, March 23, 2022.
“In Havlish, et al. v. bin Laden, et al., Judge Daniels held that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran’s agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (‘MOIS’), and Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11.” — PR Newswire, December 23, 2011.
One of the IRGC’s elite branches, the Quds Force, deploys its proxies and militia groups to attack the interests and assets of the US and its allies in the Middle East, as well as the soft underbelly of the US, Latin America. The Quds Force exerts significant influence, direct or indirect, through a conglomerate of more than 40 militia groups….
“The Iranian Al-Quds Force packs weapons, ammunition and missile technology to Hezbollah in suitcases and puts them on Mahan Air flights…. these planes fly directly to the airport in Lebanon or Damascus and from there the weapons are transferred on the ground to Hezbollah.” — Amb. Danny Danon, then Israeli Ambassador to the UN, from a 2016 letter to UN Security Council members.
The IRGC “continues transferring weapons and drones to terrorist proxies.
The mission of Jihad for the IRGC is unmistakably clear in Iran’s Constitution. Its Preamble states: “the Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad… the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are to be organized in conformity with this goal, and they will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of (Shiite) jihad in God’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God’s (Shiite) law throughout the world in the hope that this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others.” [Emphasis added.]
“These assessments, combined with the IRGC’s lengthy history of killing hundreds of Americans… make it clear: The IRGC is a terrorist organization and should remain labeled as such…. The pursuit of an ill-conceived ‘deal’ should not compel American leaders to acquiesce to the demands of a terrorist regime to deny the truth. American lives are at stake, and this is a time to project strength, not weakness.” — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, joint statement, Axios, March 22, 2022.
If the Biden administration removes Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the terrorist list, it will be enabling this terrorist organization to gain legitimacy, do more business, obtain more funds, kill and harm more innocent civilians, pursue more aggressively its mission of Jihad, anti-Semitism and the elimination of countries in the region, crack down more forcefully on the Iranian people, and carry out more terrorist plots throughout the world. Pictured: IRGC members on parade, marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, on September 22, 2018, in Tehran.
To appease the ruling mullahs of Iran, the Biden administration in January 2021 first suspended some of the anti-terrorism sanctions on Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis that the Trump administration had imposed. Soon after, the Biden administration revoked the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group. Since then, the Houthis have been attacking their neighbors, as recently as this week.
Now, the Biden administration is considering also removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), called the “Mother of All Terrorist Groups,” from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The Biden administration, then, wants to preserve — by sparing it from the terrorist list — an organization that has killed hundreds, no thousands of Americans “before and after 9/11”:
“In Havlish, et al. v. bin Laden, et al., Judge Daniels held that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran’s agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (‘IRGC’), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (‘MOIS’), and Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11.”
Judge Daniels stated that Iran was liable because its support for Al-Qaeda had allowed the terrorist attacks to occur.
The Biden administration’s move to take the IRGC off the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) has raised serious concerns. According to Fox News:
“More than 80 Republicans wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to express opposition ‘to any move to legitimize the IRGC’s reckless, destabilizing, and antisemitic actions throughout the Middle East.'”
The letter continues:
“The IRGC continues to actively participate in acts of terror and destabilizing actions in the region—particularly against one of our closest allies, Israel. It is also a chief supporter and enabler of other FTOs and insurgent groups in the region. These organizations include, but are not limited to: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthi insurgency. The IRGC’s actions have led to decades of instability and conflict across the Middle East and the group is responsible for countless deaths, including more than 600 U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq.”
One of the IRGC’s elite branches, the Quds Force, deploys its proxies and militia groups to attack the interests and assets of the US and its allies in the Middle East, as well as the soft underbelly of the US, Latin America. The Quds Force exerts significant influence, direct or indirect, through a conglomerate of 40 militia groups, which operate under the banner of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
The Quds Force is in charge of Iran’s extraterritorial operations, which include organizing, supporting, training, arming and financing Iran’s predominantly Shiite militia groups in foreign countries; launching wars directly or indirectly via these proxies; fomenting unrest in other nations to advance Iran’s ideological and hegemonic interests; attacking and invading cities and countries; and assassinating foreign political figures and prominent Iranian dissidents worldwide.
The IRGC’s Quds Force has additionally been implicated in failed plans to bomb Saudi and Israeli embassies, including a failed attempt in 2011 to assassinate then-Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir. An investigation revealed that the group was also behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The IRGC has been smuggling advanced weaponry to its militias and proxies, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, including kits that can convert unguided rockets into precision-guided missiles. According to Danny Danon, then Israeli Ambassador to the UN, from a 2016 letter to UN Security Council members:
“The Iranian Al-Quds Force packs weapons, ammunition and missile technology to Hezbollah in suitcases and puts them on Mahan Air flights…. these planes fly directly to the airport in Lebanon or Damascus and from there the weapons are transferred on the ground to Hezbollah.”
The IRGC continues transferring weapons and drones to terrorist proxies.
The mission of Jihad for the IRGC is unmistakably clear in Iran’s Constitution. Its Preamble states: “the Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad.” The document goes on to say:
“[T]he Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are to be organized in conformity with this goal, and they will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of (Shiite) jihad in God’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God’s (Shiite) law throughout the world in the hope that this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others.” [Emphasis added.]
Former US officials have been pleading with the Biden administration not to remove the IRGC from the terrorist list. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe recently pointed out in a joint statement that the Iranian regime is a direct and indirect threat to U.S. persons and “previously attempted to conduct lethal operations in the United States”. They added:
“These assessments, combined with the IRGC’s lengthy history of killing hundreds of Americans… make it clear: The IRGC is a terrorist organization and should remain labeled as such…. The pursuit of an ill-conceived ‘deal’ should not compel American leaders to acquiesce to the demands of a terrorist regime to deny the truth. American lives are at stake, and this is a time to project strength, not weakness.”
If the Biden administration removes the IRGC from the terrorist list, it will be enabling this terrorist organization to gain legitimacy, do more business, obtain more funds, kill and harm more innocent civilians, pursue more aggressively its mission of Jihad, anti-Semitism and the elimination of countries in the region, crack down more forcefully on the Iranian people, and carry out more terrorist plots throughout the world. Does Biden really need this to add to his increasingly notable legacy?
*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
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18375/us-irgc-terrorist-group

U.S. Uses New Mideast Forum to Address Iran Deal Concerns
Gwen Ackerman and Peter Martin/Blooberg/March 29/2022
The U.S. said it would work with Middle Eastern states against threats from Iran as it sought to reassure allies concerned about efforts to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined a meeting on Monday hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and attended by counterparts from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco. The grouping represented a “new regional architecture” that would deter “common enemies” such as Iran and its proxies, and become a permanent forum, Lapid said at a joint news briefing.
Ahead of meeting in Israel’s Negev desert, the U.S. said Blinken would address worries over the Islamic Republic, as well as the diplomatic and economic fallout of the Ukraine war. At the media briefing, he vowed the grouping would “work together on common threats, including Iran.”
The UAE and Israel -- which only established diplomatic relations in 2020 -- have been lobbying the U.S. to formulate a security strategy should the atomic accord with world powers be revived, including boosting missile defense and intelligence sharing.
Talks in Vienna on restoring the deal, which collapsed after the Trump administration exited in 2018, are stalled by key differences, including over an Iranian demand that its elite military force is removed from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.
Gulf Arab governments and Israel opposed the 2015 deal that curbed Iran’s atomic program in return for sanctions relief. They argue it failed to address worries over the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile capabilities or its support for militias including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi fighters, who since 2015 have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition seeking to oust them from the Yemeni capital.
Attacks by the Iranian-allied Houthis on Saudi Arabia make regional cooperation more urgent, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani told the news briefing.  Blinken also used the meeting to point to growing diplomatic and economic ties between Israel and regional countries it signed normalization agreements with, including Bahrain and Morocco. But he said “regional peace agreements are not a substitute for progress” between Palestinians and Israelis, an idea echoed by Bahrain and Egypt. Blinken’s trip coincided with a shooting attack in the Israeli town of Hadera in which two armed Israeli Arabs identifying with Islamic State killed two Israelis and seriously wounded two others before being shot dead. Bennett will talk to his top security officials later on Monday. “The attack by two supporters of ISIS inside Israel obligated the security forces to quickly adapt to a new threat, and that is what we shall do,” he said in a statement.  The Israeli leader had tested positive for Covid-19 after talks on Sunday with Blinken, who will undergo “appropriate testing,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Blinken’s visit to Israel is part of a regional tour, including Morocco and Algeria, and a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
— With assistance by Alisa Odenheimer, Kateryna Kadabashy, and Tarek El-Tablawy

Biden risking new wars with Iran 'diplomacy' — and our Middle East allies know it
Michael Rubin/Jonathan Schanzer/The Hill/March 29/2022
“It’s time to end this forever war” — those were President Biden’s words as he issued the order for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan. America’s chaotic withdrawal certainly fulfilled a campaign promise, but it was foreign policy malpractice. The poorly executed exit, the rapid Taliban takeover, and Washington’s abandonment of its longtime allies to the fate of jihadist death squads was like blood in the water for cynical autocrats, revisionist powers, and rogue regimes.
Look no further than Ukraine: Vladimir Putin understood that American retrenchment amounted to lack of appetite for confrontation.
Iran also saw opportunity: The clerical regime continues to fleece American diplomats at the nuclear negotiations in Vienna while assisting the Houthi militia’s violent campaign against oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, further exacerbating the energy crisis that spread across the globe. The recent strike on the compound hosting the American consulate in Erbil demonstrated that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) no longer even bothers to work through Iraqi militias for plausible deniability.
Biden has all but encouraged this Iranian malign activity. As a candidate, he excoriated the Trump administration’s policy of squeezing Iran as a “a self-inflicted disaster.” The former vice president and his top aides, many of whom helped craft the Obama administration’s appeasement of Tehran, blamed both Trump’s 2018 departure from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal and the subsequent maximum sanctions pressure campaign for the regime’s recent strides on the nuclear front.
This was wrong for three reasons. First, Iran’s program remains governed by its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement. Regardless of whether the JCPOA is in force, this applies. Second, the Islamic Republic’s decision to violate its nuclear commitments rests on the Supreme Leader. To accept his efforts to blame the West for his dangerous choices is to serve as useful idiot for world’s most prolific sponsor of terrorism. Third, the vast majority of Iran’s nuclear advances came after Biden took office. Until then, the regime was remarkably careful not to provoke the unpredictable, even volatile, commander-in-chief. All the more so after Trump removed Iran’s most capable military commander, Qassem Soleimani, from the battlefield in January 2020.
Moreover, Trump’s maximum pressure sanctions campaign reduced Iran’s hard currency reserves from more than $100 billion to roughly $12 billion, if not far lower. The regime was running on fumes when Biden took office. This constricted the regime’s ability to fund its terrorist proxies, and caused Tehran to think twice about engaging in other provocations, including on the nuclear front.
The IRGC was among the hardest hit. The Guards maintain a stranglehold over Iran’s oil industry, manufacturing, and construction. The group’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) curtailed its ability to conduct international business.
Today, the Biden administration is signaling its intent to allow the Guards to resume business as usual. As a result, the IRGC will be the primary beneficiaries of the estimated $131 billion that will flow to the regime under the proposed new nuclear deal. Such a move will backfire. Never has flooding an enemy’s military with cash moderated its ideology or bought peace. It is particularly preposterous to expect peace from a regime built upon the idea of rejecting America’s global leadership.
Tehran’s leaders have openly vowed to maintain hostility toward the west. Not only that. The regime’s proxies are eagerly awaiting the financial benefits of the West’s failed nuclear diplomacy. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other terrorist groups will expand their arsenal of increasingly sophisticated weapons. They will unleash them separately or, worse, in concert. This will put American allies like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Israel in the crosshairs. The regional turmoil that America is set to unleash as a result will only exacerbate the current challenges to the U.S.-led world order.
Israel unquestionably understands this. The government of Naftali Bennett, following in the footsteps of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, is engaged in a full-on asymmetric battle to weaken Iran’s capabilities. The “War Between Wars” continues to flare up in Syria, cyberspace, and Iran itself. The regime has failed to land a solid blow in response. But it may only be a matter of time before it does.
As the region braces for greater instability, the Biden White House has demonstrated a desperate obsequiousness to rejoin the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal that defies logic. There apparently is no Iranian demand so outrageous as to solicit a “no” from Robert Malley, the U.S. envoy to the nuclear negotiations. While feigning a commitment to nuclear restraints that begin to unravel in 2025, the regime is planning a massive expansion of its military machine.
The White House may believe its own spin, but no Middle Eastern state does. They understand what awaits because they have already seen it. The 2015 nuclear deal led to an uptick in regional violence by Iran’s terrorist proxies. But now the global landscape has changed. The dangers are greater. America is taking a grave risk. Rather than ending “endless wars,” new fronts may be on the verge of opening.
*Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. A former Pentagon official, he teaches classes on terrorism for the FBI and on security, politics, religion and history for U.S. and NATO military units. He has a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.
*Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (@FDD); follow him on Twitter @JSchanzer

Turkey says Ukraine-Russia talks concluded, hails ‘significant progress’
The Arab Weekly/March 29/2022
It is difficult to describe Iranian attacks on the kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory, as anything other than a further step in Tehran’s policy of turning the countries of the region into hostages of the “Islamic Republic.”At this complex moment, when the world faces new dangers that are unprecedented since the end of World War II, the Joe Biden administration must be convinced that it has to surrender to the Iranian regime. This regime, which had held 52 American diplomats hostages for 444 days in November of 1979, and with total impunity, can now also take Arab countries hostages.
The regime's methods have evolved over time. The “Islamic Republic” has moved up from a policy of holding individuals hostage, which it still pursues with Americans and Europeans in particular, to a policy of holding whole countries as hostages. Is the Biden administration willing to surrender to this reality?
There is reason to be concerned this might be the case in the light of the way the Biden administration has so far dealt with the Houthis, as it refuses to acknowledge the terrorism they practice against the Yemenis themselves and against the neighbouring countries, which have helped Yemen. Iran's transition from detaining people to detaining states is illustrated by the fate of Iraq, which has become an Iranian hostage par excellence. Iraq has not been able to elect a president nor form a new government, a full six months after parliamentary elections, because Iran is not happy with the outcome of those elections.
The political parties loyal to Tehran did not win a majority. The result was the use of the blocking third as a political tactic, just as has happened in Lebanon. The objective is to keep Iraq in a complete political paralysis at every level. Iraq will wait for a long time before electing a president to succeed Barham Salih, just as Lebanon has waited for a long time to elect a successor to Michel Aoun.
The Iranian regime took advantage of the popular revolution in Syria to encroach further into this country in a variety of ways, including the dispatch of affiliated militias to ensure that Bashar al-Assad remains in power in Damascus. It is no longer a secret that Iran has been able to change the nature of the Syrian regions and introduce demographic changes there. Assad enjoys no margin of freedom vis à vis Iran.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia, launched from Yemen, illustrate the US administration's ignorance of the Houthis, their role and the depth of their subservience to the Iranian regime. At no time have the Houthis shown any interest in a political settlement in Yemen. They have rejected such a settlement, even when it was proposed to recognise them as an integral part of the Yemeni fabric. Instead, the Houthis are driven on by Iranian myths while Tehran views Yemen as a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula. The US administrations could never comprehend this reality.
The Joe Biden administration went a step further with the Houthis. It encouraged them and the Iranians behind them, to turn Yemen into a base for Iranian missiles and drones, without accountability or oversight. This is more than enough reason for Arab countries of the region to be wary of US policies. There is a deep American misunderstanding of what has happened and is still happening in Yemen. Exactly a year ago, Saudi Arabia launched a peace initiative. Iran, through its ambassador in Sana’a, Hassan Erlo, an officer in the Revolutionary Guards, categorically rejected the Saudi plan. Erlo confronted the Houthis with a fait accompli by imposing the Iranian position. He wanted to say that the “Islamic Republic” had the first and last word in Houthi-controlled areas.
The Biden administration refuses to take note of such a development, just as it refuses to admit that the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are being targeted by Iran from Yemen. Is this a demonstration of America's standing by its allies in times of need ... or an American invitation to Iran to further blackmail these allies? It is feared that the Biden administration is ready to yield to Iran in the nuclear programme deal. This means that America, whose president declares he is ready to confront Russia if it attacks any NATO member state, does not seem concerned with what Iran is doing in the Gulf region. On the contrary, we see him encouraging Tehran to seize more hostages. Certainly, it is not with such a policy, that America will be able one day to curb the insanity of Vladimir Putin (whom Biden wants to push out of power) nor will it be able to stand in the face of the Chinese challenge!