English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 03/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone
First Letter to the Corinthians 12/01-11/:”Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 02-03/2021
Mikati Holds Talks with World Leaders in Scotland on Ways to Resolve Lebanon’s Crisis with Gulf
Lebanese PM visits Saudi Arabia’s pavilion at COP26 amid Gulf row
Saudi Arabia says 'pointless' dealing with Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon
Macron Urges Gulf to Re-Commit to Lebanon' amid Efforts for Kordahi Resignation
Bitar Reportedly Vows Not to Bow to 'Pressures or Threats'
Miqati Meets U.S. Secretary of State in Glasgow
Report: March 8 Forces Want 'Price' for Kordahi Resignation
Bahrain Urges Its Citizens to Leave Lebanon amid Row
Kordahi Stresses 'National Dignity', Says Awaiting Miqati's Return
Why Saudi Arabia is Upset, Lashing Out at Lebanon
Lebanon's Oldest English-Language Daily Goes Under
Qatar faces tough balancing act as it mediates Saudi-Lebanese crisis
The Regional Civil Wars and the Unraveling of Lebanon /Charles Elias Chartouni/November 02/2021
How the Lebanese prime minister lost everything/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/November 02/2021
Lebanese Journalist Nadim Koteich: Peace With Israel Will Benefit Lebanon's Economy/MEMRI/November 02/2021
The case for a united opposition/Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/November 02/2021
Ceux qui s’en sont partis, ces vieux qui nous quittèrent./Jean-Marie Kassab/Noverbre 02/2021
Silence on tue/Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 02/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2021
COP26 leaders in $19bn green pledge to save world’s forests
Israel Uses 'Secret' Anti-Tank Guided Missile to Attack Damascus
Israeli Generals Support Probe Into ‘Submarine Case’
Russia Holds Black Sea Navy Drills with Eye on US Ships
US Envoy Arrives in Sudan
Israel Approves Plan to Build 1,303 Palestinian Housing Units in Area C
Sisi Stresses Importance of Restoring ‘Nation-State’ to Resolve Regional Crises
Iconic Syrian Singer Sabah Fakhri Dies in Damascus
19 Dead, 50 Hurt in Suicide Attack on Kabul Military Hospital
Burhan plays on US Russian rivalry as mounting pressures boost Hamdok

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2021
How Islam Mutilates Christ/Raymond Ibrahim/November 02/2021
Why Biden's Palestinian Policies Will Not Bring Peace/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2021
China and the Crisis Presidency of Joe Biden/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2021
The making of President Dbeibah/Habib Lassoued/The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021
The Gulf is well-positioned to invest in climate technology/Joseph Dana/The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 02-03/2021
Mikati Holds Talks with World Leaders in Scotland on Ways to Resolve Lebanon’s Crisis with Gulf
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks in Glasgow on Monday with various world leaders on ways to resolve Beirut’s dispute with the Gulf in wake of Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi’s offensive remarks against Saudi Arabia. Mikati, who was taking part in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The PM held a series of meetings with Arab and international leaders on the situation in Lebanon, ways to support it and end its current crisis, said a statement from his press office. Mikati also met with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who informed him he will dispatch his foreign minister to Beirut to address pending issues and the Gulf dispute. Mikati also met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khalid al-Hamad Al Sabah. Talks focused on “Lebanon’s keenness on the close relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council and efforts to address any problem through the spirit of fraternity and cooperation.”Sheikh Khalid informed Mikati of Kuwait’s keenness on Lebanon and its constant efforts to support it in all fields. “At the same time, it is also keen on the unity of the GCC state,” he added, according to Mikati’s office. “Lebanon can address any problem and it will find all the necessary support from Kuwait and other Arab countries,” he stressed. Mikati held talks with European Council President Charles Michel on ways the bloc can support Lebanon. He met with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, who informed him that the organization was determined to help Lebanon resolve its current crisis.

Lebanese PM visits Saudi Arabia’s pavilion at COP26 amid Gulf row
Najia Houssari/Arab News/November 02, 2021
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited Saudi Arabia’s pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference, amid attempts to ease the diplomatic and economic fallout triggered by a government minister’s remarks on the war in Yemen. Mikati was received at the pavilion by the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UK, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al-Saud, who explained his country’s vision for the environment, a green economy, and climate change. The prime minister praised the green initiatives launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and he also visited the UAE’s pavilion at COP26. Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi has caused anger by saying the Iran-backed Houthis were defending themselves in Yemen and that the war should stop. Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, have recalled their ambassadors from Lebanon and also instructed Lebanon’s ambassadors to leave.

Saudi Arabia says 'pointless' dealing with Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon
AFP/November 02/2021
Saudi FM Prince Faisal - whose comments come amid diplomatic rift over Yemen war - says Iranian proxy hampers Levantine nation from dealing with economic crisis
The Gulf diplomatic crisis with Lebanon deepened Sunday, with Saudi Arabia saying dealing with Beirut was "pointless" due to Iran-backed Hezbollah's dominance, and the UAE pressing its citizens to leave the country. The developments, sparked by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi's remarks on the Yemen war, have dealt a fresh blow to crisis-hit Lebanon, where a fragile government is struggling to secure international aid, including from wealthy Arab countries. "There is a crisis in Lebanon with the dominance of Iranian proxies over the scene," Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan told Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya television in an interview on Sunday. "This is what worries us and makes dealing with Lebanon pointless for the kingdom and for, I think, Gulf countries." Kordahi, who was nominated by the Marada Movement -- a Christian party allied to Hezbollah -- said Yemen's Houthi rebels were "defending themselves... against an external aggression" and slammed as "futile" a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.
The comments were aired this week but made in August, before he became a minister. Saudi Arabia has expelled Lebanon's envoy and recalled its ambassador from Beirut, with Bahrain and Kuwait quickly following suit. The United Arab Emirates has recalled its diplomats from Lebanon in "solidarity" with the kingdom, and on Sunday it urged its citizens to leave the country "as soon as possible". Saudi Arabia also suspended all imports from Lebanon. The foreign ministry said it took the measures after the "insulting" remarks on the Yemen war, but also due to the influence of Lebanon's Iran-backed Shi'ite movement Hezbollah. Prince Faisal said Sunday that the problem in Lebanon was "the continuous dominance of Hezbollah over the political system", and the Lebanese government's inability to steer Lebanon "out of this tunnel". The issue went "beyond a statement or particular position", he said, adding that Hezbollah's role requires "reform and comprehensive revision". The Lebanese information minister said on Sunday that resigning was "out of the question". Both Hezbollah and the Marada Movement have rejected calls for his dismissal. Kordahi has won plaudits in Yemen's rebel-held Sanaa, with the Houthis on Sunday putting up posters in support of the under-fire Lebanese minister. Yes George, the Yemen war is absurd," said posters bearing his image that were pasted onto billboards and lamp posts. The Houthis also plan to rename a street in Sanaa after Kordahi, according to shopkeepers and media reports in the city.
The Saudi-led coalition that has included the UAE and Bahrain intervened to prop up the Yemeni government in 2015, after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. Rights groups have accused both sides of war crimes.

Macron Urges Gulf to Re-Commit to Lebanon' amid Efforts for Kordahi Resignation
Naharnet/November 02/2021 
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the Gulf nations to “re-commit to Lebanon with the aim of achieving reforms and regaining the country’s sovereignty,” a French Presidency source said, shortly after Macron met Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Glasgow.
In their talks, Macron reiterated his support for Mqiati to “realize and implement the reforms program,” hoping the Lebanese political parties “will allow Cabinet to convene despite the crisis with the Gulf countries,” the source added, according to al-Liwaa newspaper.
The daily meanwhile reported that “contacts are underway with (Information) Minister (George) Kordahi and his allies to urge him to take the country’s interest into consideration and voluntarily submit his resignation.” “His sacking is out of the question because it would threaten the collapse of the entire government and plunge Lebanon into a long dark tunnel,” al-Liwaa added. It also noted that the contacts “have not led to a result” because “the argument of Kordahi’s allies is that the problem with Saudi Arabia is not linked to a personal stance by the minister prior to his appointment, but rather to the Saudi stance on Lebanon and on the entire government.”“His resignation therefore will not lead to a chance in the Saudi stance and will not allow for restoring normalcy in the relations,” the daily quoted Kordahi’s allies as saying.

Bitar Reportedly Vows Not to Bow to 'Pressures or Threats'
Naharnet/November 02/2021
Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge probing the Beirut port blast, stressed to the families of the victims on Tuesday that “pressures or threats will not push him to back down,” al-Jadeed TV reported. “I will not back down from the Beirut port file unless I’m removed through the available legal means,” al-Jadeed quoted Bitar as telling the families during a meeting on Tuesday. “Bitar told the families of the martyrs that he is continuing the investigation and all its aspects in a simultaneous manner and that the issue of selectivity is baseless, seeing as the probe is summoning anyone who received and looked into a memo related to the port file,” the TV network added. He also told the families that some of those charged have wrongfully accused him of only tackling one part of the file, emphasizing that this claim is unfounded and that “the probe cannot be revealed because it is confidential.”

Miqati Meets U.S. Secretary of State in Glasgow
Naharnet /November 02/2021
Prime Minister Najib Miqati met Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the climate summit in Glasgow.
The meeting was attended by Environment Minister Nasser Yassine and Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. In a TV interview, Yassine stressed that “we need to rebuild confidence between Lebanon and the Gulf countries.”“We are counting on an Arab effort,” the minister added, noting that “Arab support had contributed to resolving a lot of Lebanese crises in the past.”He added that Information Minister George Kordahi’s resignation is “one of the options” to resolve the diplomatic crisis with the Gulf countries, stressing that “there is a need to start a dialogue with Saudi Arabia on which we can capitalize to resolve the crisis.”

Report: March 8 Forces Want 'Price' for Kordahi Resignation
Naharnet /November 02/2021
The Hizbullah-led March 8 forces have not completely closed the door in the face of the possibility of the resignation of Information Minister George Kordahi, highly informed sources said. March 8 would accept such a move “for the sake of keeping the government, after they sensed seriousness in its premier’s intention to resign should intransigence continue,” the sources added, in remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper. “The political sides concerned with negotiating over ‘Kordahi’s head’ seemed over the past hours open to the choice of his resignation, but they are still refraining from offering this card without something in return,” the sources went on to say. The sources added that the discussions are currently focused on “the price that can be obtained on the dialogue table with Saudi Arabia in return for moving forward with this choice.”

Bahrain Urges Its Citizens to Leave Lebanon amid Row
Agence France Presse/November 02/2021
Bahrain on Tuesday urged its citizens in Lebanon to immediately leave the country amid a row between Beirut and Arab Gulf states over a Lebanese minister's remarks on the Yemen war. The foreign ministry "urged all citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately, following the tense situation there, which calls for extra caution," it said in a statement carried by the official Bahrain News Agency. The call came a day after the United Arab Emirates also urged its citizens to leave Lebanon. Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi triggered the row with an interview recorded in August and aired last week in which he said that Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels were "defending themselves... against an external aggression."A Saudi-led military coalition that has included the UAE and Bahrain intervened to prop up the Yemeni government in 2015, after Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014. Saudi Arabia on Friday gave Lebanon's ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, recalled its envoy from Beirut and suspended all imports from Lebanon. Bahrain and Kuwait quickly followed suit with similar measures, and the UAE on Saturday recalled its diplomats from Beirut in "solidarity" with Riyadh. The Saudi foreign ministry said its moves were taken after the "insulting" remarks on the Yemen war, but also due to the influence of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbullah. Saudi Arabia, which suspended all imports from Lebanon, has said dealing with Beirut was "pointless" due to Hizbullah's "dominance." Meanwhile, Kordahi has said that resigning was "out of the question."Lebanon on Monday called for talks with Saudi Arabia to ease the row, which is a fresh blow amid its deep economic crisis and while Beirut's fragile government is struggling to secure aid, including from wealthy Arab countries

Kordahi Stresses 'National Dignity', Says Awaiting Miqati's Return
Naharnet/November 02/2021 
Embattled Information Minister George Kordahi has announced that the diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia “has turned into an issue of national dignity.”“I totally understand and feel the plight of the Lebanese abroad and their fear of any measures that might target them, but the matter has turned into an issue of national dignity,” Kordahi told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday, in response to a question about possible further escalation by the Gulf countries. “I’m not clinging to a post nor to a job, but the issue has exceeded that to reach dignities,” Kordahi added. Moreover, he said that he is waiting for Prime Minister Najib Miqati to return from the climate summit in Glasgow to “put all cards on the table and reach a decision on which we both agree.” “The entire issue is being studied… When the premier returns, possibly with new feedback after the meetings he is holding, I will sit with him and we’ll take a decision based on the information he will have gathered,” Kordahi added. Asked about the “timing” of his possible resignation, the minister said: “Let’s wait for the premier’s return. We’ll sit and talk and act accordingly.”

Why Saudi Arabia is Upset, Lashing Out at Lebanon
Associated Press/November 02/2021
A televised remark by a game show host turned Cabinet minister in Lebanon about the war in Yemen has taken the country's crisis with Saudi Arabia to new depths. Anger over George Kordahi's comments led to steps by Gulf Arab countries that further isolate Lebanon and threaten to split its new coalition government, tasked with halting the country's economic meltdown. Punitive measures from Saudi Arabia, once an important ally that poured millions of dollars into Lebanon, could cause more economic pain. The kingdom has banned all Lebanese imports, a major blow to a country whose main trading partners are in the Arab Gulf. It is the latest escalation in the rivalry that has long played out in Lebanon between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tensions have dragged on for years over the dominant role in Lebanon of Iran-backed Hizbullah. Now Saudi officials insist it is pointless to deal with the government in Beirut after so much drift toward Iran. But what is really behind Saudi's angry response, and what does it mean for the already embattled Lebanon?
WHAT WAS THE SPARK? -
The immediate spark were comments by Kordahi, who had gained popularity in the Arab world for hosting "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on a Saudi-owned TV network. During a mock parliament streamed online last week, Kordahi fielded questions from an audience of young people from the region. In one answer, he called the war in Yemen "absurd" and said the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked no one and have the right to defend themselves. The online program was recorded about a month before Kordahi was named information minister in the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, formed in September. Kordahi was named by the Hizbullah-allied Marada Movement. Saudi officials blasted his remarks as "offensive" and biased toward the Houthis. Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis, who a year earlier took control of the capital, Sanaa, and northern parts of Yemen. Most commentators have said they believe Kordahi's comments were a pretext for the Saudis to vent their frustration at Iran's influence in Lebanon.
WHAT DO THE SAUDIS WANT? -
The Saudis know what they don't want -- growing Iranian influence in Lebanon -- but they don't know what to do about it, said Joseph Bahout, research director at the American University of Beirut. Saudi Arabia has long been a close ally of politicians in Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community, which chooses the prime minister under the country's sectarian system. But the kingdom never forged the divided community into a strong political proxy the way the Shiite Hezbollah -- with its powerful armed force -- became Iran's stalwart ally in Lebanon. Particularly since the 2005 assassination of its most powerful ally, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the kingdom lost its tools of influence. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- known for his assertive, some say brash, foreign policy -- Saudi Arabia took sporadic action trying to impose its will but failed to develop a cohesive strategy or find new well-rooted allies. It could only watch as Hizbullah and its allies came to dominate most recent Lebanese governments. Saudi Arabia's most drastic move came in 2017, when it reportedly forced then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri to announce his resignation, citing Hizbullah's domination, in a televised statement from a brief visit to the kingdom, where he was apparently held against his will. The incident backfired. Hariri returned home and revoked his resignation, supported by Hizbullah and its allies. He lost Saudi backing. Relations have been chilly since. Last spring, Saudi authorities banned imports of all Lebanese produce over allegations they were used for drug smuggling. Most recently, Riyadh refused to back Miqati as prime minister because of his coalition with Hizbullah. The Saudis found themselves alone when Washington and Paris expressed support for Miqati, after Lebanon had been without a government for over a year.Frustrated, the Saudis appear to have gone for a strong move over Kordahi's comments. Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, withdrew their ambassadors from Lebanon and expelled Lebanese envoys to the kingdom.
IMPACT ON LEBANON
The Saudi measures are a huge blow to Miqati's new government.
The import ban means the loss of millions of dollars in desperately needed foreign currency. Any further escalation could undermine jobs of more than 350,000 Lebanese in Gulf Arab states who send home millions in remittances.Miqati and other officials have appealed to Kordahi to resign from the Cabinet, but it's uncertain that would resolve the rift. Hizbullah has stood firmly behind the minister, saying his resignation won't resolve what they called "extortion" to force Lebanon to change its foreign policy. It all portends more internal divisions in a government already paralyzed over the investigation into last year's massive Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people. Hizbullah has demanded the chief investigating judge's removal. A recent burst of street violence, the worst in years, raised the specter of social tensions ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in March that are expected to be a test for Hizbulah and its allies. In a WhatsApp message to his Cabinet read on local TV stations, Miqati said the country is "at the edge of a precipice."He flew to Glasgow to seek French and U.S. mediation but his options are limited. "We know they are upset. We know that they don't want a government with Hizbullah as strong," Bahout said of the Saudis. "We know that they know that we can't have a government without Hizbullah." "It is kind of a completely blocked and stalemated situation," he added.

Lebanon's Oldest English-Language Daily Goes Under
Agence France Presse/November 02/2021
Lebanon's oldest English-language daily newspaper laid off its entire staff and became the latest casualty in the collapse of the country's once-flourishing press, employees said Tuesday. The Daily Star's employees were notified a few days earlier that they were all being made redundant from October 31, according to an email which was sent to the staff and seen by AFP. The newspaper, which is co-owned by the family of former prime minister Saad Hariri, had halted its print edition early last year and stopped updating its website two weeks ago.
There was no statement from the newspaper but the layoffs put an end to years of financial difficulties during which staff were routinely paid late. Hariri's once prosperous media empire has unraveled in recent years, with his Future TV channel and Arabic-language al-Mustaqbal daily downsizing to bare bones. Lebanon's prominent As-Safir daily shut down five years ago and An-Nahar, another of the country's historical newspapers, is clinging on for dear life. The Daily Star was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mroue, then owner and editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper. It closed for more than a decade during the 1975-1990 civil war, returning to news stands in 1996.

Qatar faces tough balancing act as it mediates Saudi-Lebanese crisis
The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021
BEIRUT--Remarks made by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, after he met Monday with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, show Qatari authorities to be readying for a mediating role in the escalating crisis that has jolted Saudi-Lebanese relations since last week. Arab diplomatic sources in the Lebanese capital said they expect this mediation to be different from previous Qatari diplomatic interventions in Lebanon. Differently from the past, when Doha delved into Lebanese politics for the purpose of helping Hezbollah, Qatar finds itself today undertaking a mediation that is welcomed by Saudi Arabia in the hope that it would contain the repercussions of the crisis between Riyadh and Beirut so as to preserve Saudi influence and stature in Lebanon. Continued escalation of the crisis could lead to full rupture of relations and a complete Saudi withdrawal from a country where Riyadh has endeavoured for years to exert influence and contain the role of Iran. Lebanese analysts say the new diplomatic efforts by Qatar will test Doha’s ability to play the role of a neutral mediator, in contrast to its previous interventions in Lebanon where it sought to extricate Hezbollah from its crises and limit the damage from the pro-Iran proxy’s adventures at home and abroad, or to disrupt the Saudi role in Lebanon.
The Lebanese cabinet said that Sheikh Tamim promised to send his Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Beirut to discuss ways to help resolve the Lebanese-Gulf crisis.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib had previously thanked his Qatari counterpart for “all efforts made to contain the current crisis between Beirut and Riyadh.”Analysts see Qatar as facing a tough balancing act as it cannot pursue a mediation with two conflicting goals. It will have to find a compromise between showing that Doha is still a traditional friend of Hezbollah, with Iran behind it, while also confirming that Qatar has changed its regional posture after the GCC summit in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, which ushered in an era of Gulf reconciliation. One of the main conditions underlying the Al-Ula summit reconciliation process is that Doha distances itself from Tehran and puts the interests of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries first.
Qatar did not remain silent about the escalation against Saudi Arabia during the recent crisis sparked by the remarks made by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi over the Saudi-led coalition’s role in Yemen. The Qatari ministry of foreign affairs denounced Kordahi’s comments as “irresponsible”, after the Lebanese minister described the Saudi-led coalition’s military campaign in Yemen as an “aggression” and defended the military attitude of the Iran-backed Houthis as a form of “self-defence”.Analysts said that Doha took a measured step by denouncing Kordahi in a public statement but refrained from toeing the line of the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain who showed solidarity with Riyadh by recalling their ambassadors from Beirut or calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon. “Having the left the door ajar, it can now embark on this mediation, ” said an analyst.
Pro-Hezbollah members of the Lebanese government found in the Qatari mediation offer an opportunity to ratchet up their demands from Riyadh. After previous calls on Kordahi to resign in order to absorb the anger of Saudi Arabia and prevent a conflict where the Lebanese stand most to lose, the Mikati cabinet is now advocating “dialogue” with Riyadh. “Lebanon invites Saudi Arabia to engage in dialogue to solve all outstanding problems and not just the latest spat, so that the same crisis is not repeated every time,” Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, told AFP. He added that “problems between friendly and brotherly countries can only be resolved through dialogue, communication and trust, and not through imposition”.The Lebanese foreign minister’s remarks implied that responsibility for the crisis is equally shared. “We want the best relations with Saudi Arabia, but they must cooperate with us so we find solutions to all the problems facing the two countries,” Bou Habib said.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia gave Lebanon’s ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, recalled its envoy from Beirut and suspended all imports from Lebanon. The Saudi foreign ministry said the measures were taken after “insulting” remarks made by Lebanese Information Minister Georges Kordahi on the Yemen war, but also due to the influence of Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant movement Hezbollah. In an interview recorded in August and aired last week, Kordahi said Iran-backed Houthi rebels were “defending themselves… against an external aggression,” by a Saudi-led military coalition.
His comments sparked angry rebukes from Saudi Arabia and its allies, worsening diplomatic ties that have weakened significantly in recent years over the growing dominance of Hezbollah. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia said dealing with Beirut was “pointless” due to that dominance. The diplomatic crisis with the kingdom and its allies is a fresh blow to Lebanon, a country in financial and political turmoil where a fragile government is struggling to secure regional and international aid, especially from wealthy Arab Gulf neighbours. Saudi Arabia is Lebanon’s third largest export market, accounting for six percent of the country’s exports in 2020, worth around $217 million, according to the Lebanese chamber of commerce.

شارل الياس شرتوني: الحروب الأهلية الإقليمية وتفكك لبنان
The Regional Civil Wars and the Unraveling of Lebanon
Charles Elias Chartouni/November 02/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/103828/charles-elias-chartouni-the-regional-civil-wars-and-the-unraveling-of-lebanon-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d8%b1/
The tumult elicited by the inopportune statement of the information minister is reflective of the revived political tensions between the mutating Sunnite-Shiite power rivalries throughout the larger Middle East, their impact on tattered State textures, bankrupted national scripts and shredded civil concord. The current wave of Iranian imperialism is vocal about the politics of destabilization, the gradual destruction of the interstate geopolitical order born after WWI, and the reconfiguration of Islamic politics as a platform for political and militarily interventionism. Lebanon’s actual conflicts are unlikely to be understood if we fail to come to terms with these inner dynamics and their incidence on regional and topical conflicts.
The Lebanese operational theater has evolved into a proxy terrain instrumentalized by the protagonists of Islamic civil wars. The policy of deliberate aggression followed by Hezbollah and its auxiliaries has elicited major geopolitical realignments pitting the leading Sunnite power brokers in the Middle East against the progressive inroads of the Iranian imperial policy, resuscitated the imperial ambitions of neo-ottoman islamism, and energized the totalitarian proclivities of Sunnite radicalism.
Lebanese institutions have mutated into simulacrums and political life is a playground for competing regional power politics, and Lebanese society is witnessing its meteoric disintegration under the sway of long hauled systemic crises questioning the country’s viability and ability to deal with their different issues in due time. The politics of procrastination, deliberate sabotaging and total neglect of the need for an immediate and orderly reformist transition, unveils the intentions of Hezbollah, and its determination to oversee the destruction of the Lebanese polity and pursuit of its project of geopolitical recomposition. We are in no position to understand the ongoing political dynamics unless we connect them to the priorities of the Iranian imperial policy.
The idle maneuvering of the newly formed cabinet, the rapid dissipation of its enframing consensuses, its erratic public policy agenda and inability to project itself as a coherent institutional entity, betrays its structural brittleness and inability to define and enforce a policy line all along. The jockeying of the prime minister, his moral ineptitude and incapacity to operate as an independent actor testify to the advanced decay of Lebanese Statehood and the hollowness of its institutional infrastructure. One wonders what’s next and whether the ongoing political plot is worth rescuing, or we are wasting whatever little time is left on reviving a deadlocked political horizon, whereas time has come to consider alternative strategic scenarios with no further delay and idle maneuvering.

How the Lebanese prime minister lost everything
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/November 02/2021
Kordahi has not quit despite a request from Mikati, and his refusal to resign has the backing of Hezbollah and the Marada Movement.
Saudi Arabia said Kordahi’s stance reflected Hezbollah's hegemony over Lebanon. A delegation of economic bodies met Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi on Tuesday to express their concern about the damage being done to the country and its people. The secretary-general of the economic bodies, Nicolas Chammas, said: “We condemn all that is happening today between Lebanon and the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom has been the leader of the Gulf Cooperation Council for the past 70 years. The Kingdom and Arab Gulf countries have always supported Lebanon at the political, social, humanitarian, financial, and economic levels, especially during the civil war and post-civil war eras. “As economists, we were appalled by the setbacks happening today, for the Kingdom is the primary employer of the Lebanese in the Gulf and elsewhere, and is the primary importer from Lebanon. It is also the primary investor. This means that any setback will have severe repercussions on the country, and we should not forget that we heavily rely on the Kingdom regarding voting inside the IMF to retrieve Lebanon out of this crisis.”
He warned that thousands of families would be directly affected by the crisis as there were factories in Lebanon that were dependent on the Kingdom and the Arabian Gulf for imports of raw materials, which had already stopped.
The head of economic bodies, Mohammed Choukair, said there was no progress on the political track to resolve the crisis.
He expressed regret that Lebanese President Michel Aoun was distancing himself from the issue and was in “full acquiescence.”The damaged relations with the Gulf come as Lebanon tries to climb out of its economic and financial difficulties.  During a meeting with Mikati, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that Washington would “continue to support the efforts of the Lebanese government to re-establish stability and achieve economic recovery, and the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund until the next parliamentary elections.”
Mikati’s media office said that Blinked stressed “continuous support” to the Lebanese army, the education, healthcare, and environment sectors. The prime minister met French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, who stressed his country's support for Lebanon’s political and economic stability.
In a meeting with Mikati, German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed her country’s readiness to support Lebanon in all fields, and stressed Germany’s keenness to support Lebanon's stability and recovery. Leaked information said that all those who met Mikati expressed their opposition to his government’s resignation so that it could “achieve what is required from it in getting the country out of its economic and financial predicament.”

لا حل للبنان خارج السلام مع إسرائيل/نديم قطيش/الشرق الأوسط
Lebanese Journalist Nadim Koteich: Peace With Israel Will Benefit Lebanon's Economy
MEMRI/November 02/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/103825/lebanese-journalist-nadim-koteich-peace-with-israel-will-benefit-lebanons-economy-%d9%86%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%85-%d9%82%d8%b7%d9%8a%d8%b4-%d9%84%d8%a7-%d8%ad%d9%84-%d9%84%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86/
In a recent column in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Nadim Koteich, a Shi'ite Lebanese journalist and media figure known for his opposition to Hizbullah, wrote that this organization is holding Lebanon hostage and is beggaring the country, for instance by preventing it from reaching an agreement with Israel that would enable it to exploit its natural gas resources. Referring to the deal that is currently under discussion, for alleviating Lebanon's energy crisis by importing gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, Koteich wondered why, as a country on the shores of the Mediterranean, Lebanon could drill for its own offshore gas.
What prevents this, he said, is Hizbullah's culture of perpetuating the conflict with Israel in order to justify its existence as an armed organization. It is this 'conflict first' strategy, he explained, that keeps Lebanon from reaching understandings with Israel on the demarcation of the maritime border, which would enable it to drill for gas. Koteich called on the Lebanese to free themselves of Hizbullah's grip and sign a peace agreement with Israel, since there is no ideological dispute between them but only technical problems that can be resolved.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Koteich has called for Lebanon to make peace with Israel. In September 2020 he published a similar article under the headline "When Will There Be Peace Between Lebanon and Israel?", in which he advised the Lebanese to join the dynamic of peace in the region, and argued that peace with Israel was in Lebanon's interest, but that Hizbullah was standing in the way. Similar calls were also made by other Lebanese politicians and journalists over the last 18 months.[1]
Nadim Koteich (Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London)
The following are translated excerpts from his column:[2]
"A surreal [farce] is now unfolding in Lebanon: the country is about to be plunged into total darkness, yet the media, political and popular [arenas] are preoccupied with a 'criminal investigation' into suspicions that the Egyptian and Jordanian gas [delivered to Lebanon] might be 'contaminated' by molecules is Israeli [gas]. Lebanon, [the land of] 'heroism, honor and resistance,' insists that it can only enter the age of electricity… after making sure that every molecule of gas [it receives] is free of normalization bombs!...
"The Egyptian gas is to be delivered to Lebanon via Syria, through the Arab pipeline that starts in Al-'Arish in Egypt, reaches 'Aqaba [in Jordan], continues northward along Jordan's territory, and then crosses Syria before arriving in Lebanon. But the thing is that, in northern Jordan, this pipeline is joined by the Israel-Jordan pipeline, carrying gas from the shores of Haifa to Al-Khanasiri in the Al-Mafraq region in Jordan's north, as part of an agreement signed in 2016 and implemented since 2020. From this point onward, one can no longer be certain of the 'racial purity' of the gas piped to Lebanon.
"As for the Jordanian electricity that was promised Lebanon, 40% of it is generated using Israeli gas. This means that Lebanon cannot find a way out of its darkness while completely avoiding 'Israeli contamination.'
"But can Lebanon be sure that the pharmaceutical labs all over the world have no Israelis working in research and development? Can the Lebanese make sure that their children studying in universities abroad will graduate without having their ideas contaminated by ideas of Israeli philosophers, who are now among the world's leading thinkers, such as Yuval [Noah] Harari and Daniel Kahneman? Can they ensure that [what they watch] on Netflix and on similar entertainment platforms is free of Israeli content?
"All this militaristic nonsense is published in a country in severe and perpetual crisis, which is deteriorating by every realistic standard… Why does Lebanon need to bring in gas by this circuitous route, from Al-'Arish in Egypt through Jordan and Syria, when, as a country on the Mediterrenean, it could immediately start drilling and tapping its [own] gas [fields], adjacent to the Israeli ones? Alternatively, it could reach practical understandings with Israel and discuss joint energy projects with it, like the ones Israel has with Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece, or at least reach internationally-brokered understandings [with Israel] about dividing the natural resources in accordance with international law. Why do we not hear Nicosia or Athens complaining about 'Israeli greed' with respect to their natural resources, or at least not to the extent that we hear this in Lebanon?
"The strange thing is that, instead of starting its first meeting with a serious discussion about the demarcation of its maritime border with Israel, the [new] Lebanese government started begging Egypt and Jordan for gas and electricity, and demarcating the boundary between Israeli and Arab gas molecules in the pipe!
"[To outline it very] briefly, the maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon revolves primarily around an area of 860 square kilometers, and stems from an error made by Lebanon when it delineated its border with Cyprus. The [dispute] emerged after Lebanon discovered the error and after Israel unilaterally demarcated its border with Lebanon. After five long rounds of U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at reaching understandings regarding this area, Lebanon decided to introduce new parameters in determining the boundaries of its exclusive economic zone. This expanded the disputed area to 2290 square kilometers… suddenly enlarging Lebanon's territory by some 10% and the disputed area by 1,430 [square] kilometers! As a result the talks came to a halt, and the Hizbullah militia scored a new victory, adding the 'maritime Shab'a Farms' to the Shab'a Farms on land. This paves the way to perpetuating the dispute with Israel and as a result also the legitimacy of [Hizbullah's] weapons.
"This is the 'conflict first' strategy, [promoted] even [at the cost of] pauperizing the [Lebanese] republic. As part of this strategy the 'resistance' [i.e., Hizbullah] neutralizes every option of drilling for gas, and distances Lebanon from the economic reality emerging in the Middle East. Because, even if Lebanon had started drilling for gas yesterday, it would still need seven years before seeing any profits from the gas, and this assuming it could invest the funds needed in order to [build] the drilling infrastructures [and then] drill, produce, distill and pipe the gas. Israel, on the other hand, was quick to reap profits from its gas. Instead of waiting for an undersea pipeline to be built from its shores to Europe, and spending $7 billion on this, it started piping its gas to Egypt, and from there to Europe…
"What prevents Lebanon from being part of the changes that have taken place in the Eastern Mediterranean in the area of gas? Very simply, what prevents this is the culture of perpetuating the conflict with Israel. Lebanon insists on ignoring the fact that the most conspicuous wave of changes in the Middle East is the recent wave of peace [with Israel], which was spearheaded by the UAE and joined by the kingdoms of Bahrain and Morocco and by Sudan, and which was welcomed [even] by Arab capitals that did not join the peace [agreements].
"Thanks to this peace, Morocco made a series of important [achievements involving] recognition of its sovereignty over the Sahara… and for Morocco, this is a strategic issue. Thanks to this peace, a strategic economic conference was held on Sudan, following which many of its debts were forgiven and an economic roadmap was drawn for [the country]… As a result it has started to recover and is becoming one of the most promising countries in Africa, according to reports by the World Bank.
"The Lebanese have no reason to perpetuate an ideological conflict that does not involve a single ideological element impinging on the [relations between] the Lebanese and the Israeli peoples. After all, Lebanon is not under Israeli occupation. The two [countries merely] disagree whether certain territories, such as the Shab'a Farms, belong to Lebanon or to Syria. Furthermore, Lebanon is not part of the 'Jewish homeland enterprise,' and its dispute with Israel is over specific technical issues, for which there are specific technical solutions.
"I understand [why] Lebanon does not dare sign a peace agreement with Israel, even if I disagree agree with this reluctance. In fact, [I believe such an agreement] would be one of the most reasonable moves in the overall context of Israeli-Arab relations. [But] what no Lebanese must accept is that Lebanon is being prevented from [utilizing all its] options, with the aim of perpetuating the weapons of the Hizbullah militia and the factors that enable it to justify itself. It is unacceptable to keep Lebanon hostage to the Hizbullah militia's narrative on the conflict with Israel, and to preoccupy the Lebanese with divining the 'identity' of each molecule of gas they beg [from other countries], while the Lebanese gas [still buried] in the Mediterranean is slowly being dropped from the gas equations in the Middle East."
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8962 – Lebanese Journalists: Lebanon Must Advance Towards Peace With Israel, October 12, 2020; MEMRI TV Clip No. 8271 - Former Lebanese Minister Sejaan Azzi: Israel No Longer Presents An Imminent Threat To Lebanon; Israel Wants Peace With Lebanon; We Cannot Live In Constant War – March 9, 2021; MEMRI TV Clip No. 8345 - Lebanese Journalist Rami Naim: Peace With Israel Is Coming No Matter What; Normalization Started When Speaker Berri Announced Border Negotiations – October 2, 2020.
[2] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), October 12, 2021.

The case for a united opposition
Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/November 02/2021
Lebanon braces for parliamentary elections in 2022, and some opposition groups advocating for a civil state are ready to make themselves known and heard, but they still have to defeat a decades-long sectarian system that has benefited many people.
Lebanese protesters wrapped in their national flag take part in a human chain along the coast from north to south as a symbol of unity during ongoing anti-government demonstrations in the area of Jal al-Dib in the northern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Photo: Patrick Baz, AFP.
Minteshreen. In Arabic, the word holds two meanings: “spread out” and “from October”. The Lebanese secular group that has recently launched a website and a list of candidates for the upcoming general elections to be held in Spring 2022, wants to stand for both – spread the October 17, 2019 protest movement ideas to the larger Lebanese society.
Like Minteshreen, several alternative political groups that sprung out of the October 17 protests, as well as others that had run on independent lists in the 2018 elections, and some that are rebranding themselves as opposition, are aiming at scoring at least some parliament seats.
However, experts say, positioning themselves as seculars and anti-establishment may not be enough for the new wave of politicians to be successful in elections. They need to make themselves more visible and offer some concrete solutions for the country’s economic and political deadlocks. “Electorally, the opposition has a chance to win but they need a clear vision and a clear political program,” Fadia Kiwan, political science professor at Beirut’s Universite Saint Joseph told NOW.
“The number of party supporters dropped significantly due to their incompetence, but the alternatives need to unite and provide a unified plan that they will all follow to increase their chances of winning,” Kiwan said.
Starting or re-starting from scratch
The problem is that all non-sectarian groups don’t have much to build on. Some lack visibility, especially outside the cities, and are up against traditional sectarian parties with clear hierarchies, sustained by decades-long cohesive patron-client relations. Others have been active for longer, but have been marginal to the Lebanese political scene.
The National Bloc, for example, is a secular, social liberal party formed in the 1940s by former Lebanese president Emile Edde. It was one of the main political forces in Lebanon during the end of the 1940s and 1950s. However, the party did not participate in the civil war and also refused to adhere to the Taif Agreement, losing ground in favor of sectarian factions that rose to power. In February 2019 it relaunched with a progressive agenda. The National Bloc comprehensive political program focuses on recovery from the economic crisis: limit the budget deficit to 4 percent within 3 years, cut the electricity deficit to zero within 2 years, and rationalize the public sector’s employment policy; it wants to overhaul and enumerate the losses of “Banque du Liban”, redirect its focus back to its core mission of maintaining currency stability and financial soundness in the banking sector, and gradually adopt a floating exchange rate; It also wants to reform the banking sector by encouraging consolidation, protecting small depositors, and ensuring the financial needs of citizens and the economy are met. “Priorities right now are creating social safety nets and the stimulation of the economy”, Rim Haidar, a policy analyst at the National Bloc told NOW.
Another secular group, Beirut Madinati, has the experience of the 2016 municipal elections. The movement started during 2015-2016 you stink protests – triggered by a trash crisis in the Beirut capital in addition to power cuts and lack of infrastructure – and it ran with independent lists in the municipal elections in 2016, when it managed to win one of the three Beirut districts, but lost against the list supported by the sectarian factions. Its list ran in 2016 on a 10 point program advancing policies on mobility, public spaces, housing, waste management, community services, environment, health and municipal governance.
Minteshreen, however, is new to the political scene. The group born out of the 2019 protests launched its website last week, where it published a detailed political program that focuses on economic recovery, sustainable environmental policies, as well as energy policies based on scrapping outdated and costly equipment and practices. In terms of foreign policy, Minteshreen favors sovereignty by establishing a civil state and a defense policy based on strengthening the Lebanese army. The new group has a four-member executive council as well as a steering committee made of the heads of several specialized committees focusing on labor unions, environment, communications, social policy, recruitment, external relations, civil rights, as well as youth.
For Samer Makarem, a member of Minteshreen’s executive council and the party’s recording secretary, the upcoming electoral battle is about building a proper functioning state and redefining what it means to be a citizen and the rights and responsibilities that come alongside it.
Two other movements that are new to the political scene, Kulluna Irada, an advocacy group for political reform, and Nahwal Watan, an organization for political change, announced on October 28 that they joined forces therefore to create a united platform for political transformation in Lebanon. The newly elected board of directors equally representing both organizations, elected Albert Kostanian, strategy expert and political journalist, as chairman of the alliance.
However, Nahwal Watan announced on November 2 that it was discontinuing the merger with Kulluna Irada due to “disagreements on strategy”.
The Kataeb party, which has been active since the civil war, has joined the revolutionary groups in their opposition against the current political class after it completely resigned from the government in 2020. The Christian party joined forces with 8 opposition groups – Taqaddom, Rebels, Haraket Al Estiklal, Khat Ahmar, Liqaa Teshreen, Nabed Al Janoub Al Montafed, Etihad Thouwar Alshamal and Third Republic – and set up an opposition front, announced on April 15.
They focused on the country’s sovereignty with one of its main priorities being disarming Hezbollah and building a neutral Lebanese state with an emphasis on the Lebanese Army as the only defense institution.
Mark Daou, a member of the Taqqadom movement, told NOW that the front prioritized three major points, holding the corrupted politicians accountable, state sovereignty, and constitutional work.
“We believe that the people want a strong opposition front that shows them that change is possible. We’re trying to reach out to several groups that share the same vision in order to put a proper political program,” he said. Daou also explained that Taqaddom was aware of Kataeb’s past as a civil war militia and sectarian party. He said that the old party gained their trust since they were no longer a main political player and participated in many civil society movements.
“We’re not going by people’s opinions of them. As long as we get along politically and share the same principles then there’s no issue,” Daou said. An electoral billboard An electoral billboard that reads in Arabic "The people has decided, the change has started" was put up in the area of Dbayeh, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on October 7, 2021.
Making themselves known
A united opposition front for the 2022 elections is on everyone’s mind.
“The country needs a united strong force that can put an immediate rescue plan to save the country rather than to have individual groups that would merely replace their precedents on the parliamentary seats,” Kiwan pointed out. The political groups’ members agree that they need to stand together in order to break through a rather hostile electoral legislation. “On April 13, we invited several opposition parties to our headquarters with the intention to collaborate and work on unifying our powers as we all share the same goal,” the National Bloc’s Haidar explained. The opposition alliance that resulted was named “the April 13 Call” and brought together the National Bloc, Beirut Madinati and Minteshreen.
Beirut Madinati’s citizen council member Tarek Ammar said that unity needed to be based on shared political principles.
“We work with whoever shares the principles that the 2019 revolution inspired. We’re not going to work with sectarian people when we’re aiming for a non-sectarian system,” Ammar said. With solid plans in place, members of the political groups say they are aware that they need to reach out to voters, being that they are all rather new and many voters, especially in rural areas, don’t really have any information about them. They need a stronger media presence, particularly on billboards and television, the main channels of political advertising in Lebanon. Social media presence is not enough, as it only reaches a small part of the population and some diaspora.
Minteshreen’s Makarem explained that it was imperative for voters to know the candidates, not just vote for a given list just because “they were running against the traditional parties”. He also said that the lesson learned from the 2018 general election failure is that politicians need to talk to voters, make themselves and their skills known. Also, even when they fail to get elected, they should not simply vanish from the public sphere. “But if [independents] kept working after the elections, we would have credible figures that the people already trusted,” Makarem added. Beirut Madinati, which has been through municipal elections and various civil movements since 2015, is willing to put those lessons into practice, Ammar said.
“People need to get to know us and hear our action plan. We even go to areas where we might not win electorally but it’s important to show up and speak to people,” he pointed out. “People are upset from the ruling class and they hold them accountable for everything we’ve been through, but they’re not familiar with the alternative options so this is why we plan to tour around Lebanon to make sure we’re seen and heard.”
The battlefield
Kiwan explained that fear seems to be the biggest challenge to overcome in regards to sectarian rifts, especially in light of recent clashes and the fact that sectarian parties seem to thrive on fear of the other. “People are scared of each other because each sect wants to protect itself and is scared of being annihilated by the other,” Kiwan said. The opposition parties’ central and unifying principle is to abolish sectarianism in Lebanon, which, Kiwan says, is the traditional parties’ strength. The fight against sectarianism means dismantling a system that many people continue to rely on and benefit from.
Despite the fact that the crises have reached virtually every house in the country, some find it hard to let go of their support for the traditional parties. Two main reasons are fear of the unknown and losing the social benefits such as jobs, food, and money that the sectarian factions offered in return for support. Makarem pointed out that Minteshreen expected the political class to use every tool it had in this battle, from fear tactics and smear campaigns, to physical threats.
Protestors in 2019 have already been through the mill. Some politicians raised conspiracy theories regarding funding for the protesting groups claiming that foreign parties were involved. Amal and Hezbollah supporters also attacked demonstrators on multiple occasions.
“They’re going to say we’re funded by foreign embassies or unequipped for the roles. Basically, everything they blamed us on in 2019,” he said.
“We can’t be scared. Change is going to happen and that’s inevitable. But they’ll definitely say we are funded by certain foreign groups or that we are inexperienced in order to belittle us and we know that 2022 is just the beginning and that the real work is on the long term,” he added.
The traditional parties are still a force to be reckoned with within the society, but by creating a coalition, Kiwan expected the opposition to amass around 25 of the 128 parliamentary seats.
“These 25 from various sects could have a big influence on the government and then they would be able to take over various ministries such as social affairs, environment and energy and leave out the ministry of defense and foreign affairs, the ruling class favorites,” the professor explained.
Ammar said that Beirut Madinati members held a clean record of consistent action like participating in protests, syndicate and municipality elections, that people could refer back to as proof of credibility.
Haidar explained that the National Bloc was open about finances as they made all information about their funds accessible. They also provided annual reports and detailed information about their program.
Makarem said that Minteshreen currently focuses on minimizing the effects of the economic collapse by working with partner NGOs to provide support for those in need.
Another big hurdle is overcoming differences between different opposition groups and creating that united front. Some prioritize economic reforms before sovereignty, others insist that sovereignty comes before reforms. Some want to include reformed sectarian parties in their political projects, others are more radical and refuse to cooperate with any reformed faction. But segmentation of the opposition is a story the Lebanese electorate has been seeing very frequently during the past 15 years, since Syria has left Lebanon.
“The people can’t take any more political disappointments and the opposition should understand the urgency of the matter,” Kiwan said.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of trying. We have to try these new faces, watch their performance closely and hold them accountable for their actions. The lack of accountability was the reason behind the state collapse.”
*Dana Hourany is a multimedia journalist with @NOW_leb. She is on Instagram @danahourany

Ceux qui s’en sont partis, ces vieux qui nous quittèrent.
Jean-Marie Kassab/Noverbre 02/2021
Ceux qui s’en sont partis, ces vieux qui nous quittèrent.
Qui sont-ils ? Que reste-t-il d’eux ?
Une stèle en marbre de Carrare aux veines saillantes comme leurs bras mais figées dans le temps au fond d’un cimetière lointain ?
Un musée d’histoire aux étagères poussiéreuses où trônent les contes des mille et une nuit qui racontent leur vie ?
Un livre magique aux bords écornés, lu et relu devant les yeux écarquillés de petits enfants à moitié endormis ?
Des photos souriantes de moments heureux écoulés trop vite, mais qui hantent nos nuits et nos sommeils ?
Un foulard chamarré enroulé sur le col d’un manteau endeuillé de noir au tissu rugueux?
Une cravate accrochée sur une tringle comme une médaille d’honneur sur la poitrine d’un héro ?
Une brosse à cheveux envahie de poussière de souvenirs et à la manche pourrie par l’humidité d’une salle de bains ?
Une chaussure au cuir brillant craquelée par les mille sentiers d’une vie remplie et gisant sagement dans un coin de l’armoire ?
Une broche suspendue sur un tailleur de jours glorieux enfouis dans la mémoire de la famille ?
Un flacon de parfum à moitié vide venu d’une autre époque mais dont le parfum envahissait nos narines tout en annonçait leur venue ?
Ils sont notre passé comme nous étions leur avenir.
Chérissons-les à jamais comme nos enfants nous chériront un jour quand le jour viendra.
Gardons un objet des leurs, ils sauront ainsi qu’une partie d’eux est toujours là et dormiront du sommeil des justes, plus profondément…

Silence on tue…
Jean-Marie Kassab/Novembre 02/2021
L’Iran assassine le Liban. Ils assassinent la République Libanaise pour créer la République Islamique du Liban.
Pendant ce temps : un silence assourdissant de la part des politiciens Libanais soi-disant souverainistes.
La Thawra, dodo. La Résistance à l’affut mais pas assez…
Silence on tue. Pas grave ils disent on se prépare pour les élections. Ces élections qui n’auront sans doute pas lieu et à l’issue très douteuse. Mais on les prépare. Reflexe Pavlovien. Le chien qui bave dès qu’on lui dit élections. Les politiciens sortent leurs plus beaux atours. Ils mentent comme jamais.
Puis on sort, on fait ses emplettes, on covoiture vu le prix de l’essence, puis c’est les pubs le soir, la fiesta à la con. On dépense le peu d’argent qui nous reste et on dort sans compter de moutons parce qu’on est des moutons.
Sommes-nous des moutons ? That is the question.
Silence of the lambs. Silence on tue les moutons. Et les moutons sont contents. Les moutons bêlent : je vais gagner aux urnes et déloger les Iraniens. Wow. Les Iraniens tremblent.
Et ces sous qui nous maintiennent à flot ? La plupart de la manne des expats dans les pays arabes. L’Arabie et le Golfe. Cette Arabie qui fut pour de longues années, de très longues décennies et à ce jour une source de fortune renouvelée. Sans doute la principale pour un pays sans ressources naturelles comme le nôtre. Juste un peu de cervelle ( de mouton ?)
Défendre les pays du Golfe. Pourquoi pas ? Donnez-moi une famille qui n’ait pas un expatrié ou un cousin ou un voisin de palier qui n’ait pas quelqu' un qui y bosse.
Les Iraniens poignardent le Liban. Et la vie continue… Continue-t-elle ?
Sans action brutale et décisive on ne s’en sortira jamais.
Sans coup de poing on tournera en rond et le cercle se rétrécira encore plus.
Il faut donner le pouvoir au gens de Ain-Remmaneh. Je leur fais confiance. Ils ne bêlent pas, ils griffent. Mon genre de copains. Les gars de Ain-Remmaneh , ceux qui ont dit non et croupissent dans les prisons.
Vive la Résistance.
Vive le Liban

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2021
COP26 leaders in $19bn green pledge to save world’s forests
Arab News/November 03, 2021
More than 100 countries pledge to halt forest loss and land degradation by 2030
Strategy pioneered by Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi Green Initiative
GLASGOW: World leaders at the COP26 have woken up to the benefits of halting deforestation and desertification — a strategy pioneered by Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi Green Initiative to combat climate change.
More than 100 countries, including the US, China and Brazil, signed a pledge on Tuesday to “collectively halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.” Together, the signatories comprise 80 percent of the world’s forested areas. The pledge to plant more trees will be supported by a $12 billion fund for development backed by 12 countries, of which $1.5 billion will go to the Congo Basin, the second largest forested area on Earth after the Amazon. A further $7.2 billion will come from private sector investors, who also pledged to stop investing in activities linked to deforestation such as cattle, palm oil and soybean farming and pulp production. Environmental experts believe tree planting can help significantly with greenhouse gas emission, and help reduce ambient temperatures in urban areas. Mangrove forests, which are prevalent in the Arabian Gulf, are believed to be particularly effective in carbon neutralization. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a plan last month to plant hundreds of millions of trees in the Kingdom by 2030 in a move to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere and contribute to the “greening” of the capital, Riyadh. A Saudi official at COP26 told Arab News: “It is heartening to see that the world is following the example we have set. Reforestation, and the related issue of effective use of water resources, are crucial areas for the Kingdom and the world. As the largest producer of desalinated water in the world, we are keen to develop technologies that effectively deal with irrigation at the same time.”The COP26 leaders pledged to “conserve forests and other terrestrial ecosystems and accelerate their restoration,” in a declaration on forests and land use. They also committed to “working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.” The agreement was seen as a major advance for the environmental lobby at COP26, and the first big step taken by the Glasgow summit. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who also signed the declaration, called it a “landmark agreement.”

Israel Uses 'Secret' Anti-Tank Guided Missile to Attack Damascus
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Israel released footage for the first time of its "secret fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile" after Syria claimed the weapon was used in an alleged Israeli attack in the country. A recent report by Ynet newspaper claimed that the surface-to-surface "Tamuz" missile was developed by Israel's military industries in 1973 and had never been revealed publicly. The project of Tamuz missiles remained top secret, and a senior military source told the newspaper that some of its types were used in wars against Hezbollah and Hamas. Ynet said that 30 years after the weapon became operational, never-before-seen footage shows experiments conducted with the highly accurate surface-to-surface projectiles believed to be used in the recent attack on an Iranian weapons convoy in Syria. Tamuz missiles were given to the Air Force to be installed on Apaches as an accurate long-range weapon. It was successfully used against Hamas and Hezbollah targets. Though Tamuz missiles are kept as a last resort solution due to their very high cost, according to Syrian reports on Saturday, Israel attacked a convoy carrying advanced weapons systems. The missile has an accurate 50 km long-range and was sold in various versions to 38 countries worldwide, including NATO forces. Last Saturday, sources in Syria accused Israel of bombing Damascus countryside during the day, injuring two Syrian soldiers. State-owned SANA news agency reported that Syria's air defenses responded Saturday to Israeli missiles fired toward Damascus suburbs, injuring two soldiers. "The Israeli enemy fired a salvo of surface-to-surface missiles from northern occupied Palestine targeting positions near Damascus," SANA said, quoting an unnamed military official. "Our anti-aircraft defenses were activated and were able to hit some of the enemy missiles," the source said, adding that the attack wounded two soldiers and caused other damages.

Israeli Generals Support Probe Into ‘Submarine Case’
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Several Israeli army leaders are running a media campaign in support of Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s request to launch a probe into a deal to purchase submarines and warships from a German company, in an attempt to reveal former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in it.
Former head of the defense ministry’s political-security department Amos Gilad and the former deputy chief of staff, Dan Harel, lead the campaign. "High-ranking political figures, a group of beneficiaries and several officers are most probably involved in this case," Harel said on Monday. He echoed a statement by former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who considered it “the gravest corruption case in Israel’s history.” “I have submitted to the cabinet secretary a proposal for the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the purchase of the submarines and naval vessels,” Gantz said. The formation of the commission is critical for the defense establishment and the State of Israel — if we do not uncover the truth, we will not be able to learn lessons for the future,” he added. “This is not a personal matter. It is a national imperative,” he underlined. Netanyahu’s government has been accused of concluding a deal to buy three submarines from a German industrial company without taking the army’s approval. The charges include bribery, money laundering and fraud. Several officers and senior officials have been suspected to be involved in the case. However, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit refused to include Netanyahu on the list of defendants, which is why his opponents insist on launching an official investigation. Netanyahu is currently being tried on three corruption cases, and court sessions are being held three times a week. He was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases in which he is accused of trading regulatory or legislative favors in exchange for lavish gifts and favorable news coverage. Netanyahu has professed innocence in all three, saying the charges are trumped up by a biased justice system egged on by a liberal media.

Russia Holds Black Sea Navy Drills with Eye on US Ships
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Russia's Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two US warships in the area. President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship "through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its … defense systems" and complained about NATO activity near Russia's borders. On Tuesday, the Black Sea fleet said its ships had rehearsed destroying enemy targets and that their air defense systems had been put on alert at its bases in Novorossiysk and on annexed Crimea, the Interfax news agency reported. "They... destroyed airborne targets of a mock enemy with anti-aircraft missile weapons and artillery," it said in a statement. Russia has previously warned Western countries against sending warships to the Black Sea and approaching the coast of Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Russia considers Crimea part of its territory, but the peninsula is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.The US Navy said on Monday that the USS Mount Whitney had arrived in Istanbul and that it would soon join forces with other ships in the Black Sea. "Following this port visit, Mount Whitney will join USS Porter (DDG 78) in the Black Sea to further enhance collaboration between US and NATO forces at sea," the US Navy said in a statement. The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected as a "low-quality fake" a US media report about a Russian military buildup near Ukraine, although it said it was up to Moscow where it moved troops around on its territory. The Politico news outlet reported that commercial satellite photos taken on Monday confirmed recent reports that Russia is once again massing troops and military equipment on the border with Ukraine after a major buildup this spring. Ukraine said on Monday it had not observed any increase in Russian troops or equipment near the border. A NATO official said: "NATO is vigilant and routinely monitors Russian force movements. It’s important to ensure transparency and avoid any miscalculation." Russia has repeatedly accused NATO of carrying out provocative activities close to its borders. The alliance says it is determined to reinforce the security of member states lose to Russia following Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its backing for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

US Envoy Arrives in Sudan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
The United States' special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday to try to defuse a crisis following a coup last week by Sudan's top general, Al Arabiya TV channel reported. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's cabinet on Oct. 25 and put him under house arrest, prompting Western states to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Sudan. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday condemned the military takeover and the arrest of Sudan's civilian leaders. The coup has derailed a transition meant to steer Sudan to democracy, with elections in 2023, after long-serving ruler Omar al-Bashir was toppled in 2019.

Israel Approves Plan to Build 1,303 Palestinian Housing Units in Area C
Tel Aviv - London – Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021 -
Israel on Monday advanced plans to build slightly over 1,300 homes for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, days after giving the green light to build settlement units in the area. The Civil Administration’s high planning committee gave final approval to 170 homes and initial endorsement for another 1,133 residences for Palestinians, a spokesman for the military body that oversees civilian matters in the occupied Palestinian territories told AFP. The units approved were scattered throughout a large swathe of the West Bank known as Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control. On Wednesday, the same committee gave final approval to 1,800 Jewish settler homes, and initial endorsement for another 1,344, after the United States said it “strongly” opposed such new construction in the West Bank. More than 600,000 Jews live in 145 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Sisi Stresses Importance of Restoring ‘Nation-State’ to Resolve Regional Crises
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stressed that restoring the concept and pillars of the nation-state, through supporting its institutions, and boosting the capabilities of national armies and central governments, was key to resolving regional crises and achieving stability. Sis was in Glasgow to attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26). He met with Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, expressing Egypt’s keenness to advance cooperation with Austria in all fields. Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Radi said the talks also covered several regional issues and crises in several countries in the region. Sisi and Schallenberg exchanged views on the most critical developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and ways to revive the peace process based on international agreements. “They also discussed Egyptian efforts to firm up the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the reconstruction of the Strip for the benefit of the Palestinian citizens.”Schallenberg affirmed his country’s keenness to strengthen relations with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability and security in the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions. He also stressed Austria’s hope to further bolster coordination with Egypt to boost bilateral cooperation, to in turn achieve mutual interests. He lauded Egypt’s efforts in combating illegal immigration, terrorism, and extremism, in addition to efforts to develop religious discourse. Later, Sisi met Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. Radi stated that the meeting addressed advancing bilateral relations in areas of common interest, particularly trade, tourism, and immigration. The two leaders also touched on the ongoing cooperation in water management and the means to benefit from the Dutch expertise in irrigation and agriculture projects and the field of port management.
They also discussed the latest developments in several regional issues of common interest. Rutte stressed his country’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Egypt to maintain regional peace and security in the Middle East and Africa.

Iconic Syrian Singer Sabah Fakhri Dies in Damascus
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 November, 2021
Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri, considered one of the most famous in the Arab world, died in Damascus on Tuesday at the age of 88, his son told AFP. "He died a natural death in Damascus. His heart stopped beating," said Anas Fakhri, lamenting his father's passing as a "huge loss for Syrian art." Born in the northern province of Aleppo and hailed as one of Syria's greats, Fakhri was known for his masterful delivery of traditional Syrian songs that combined Arabic poetry with music. The short stout man modified and popularized the Qudud Halabiya -- a traditional form of Aleppine music that combines lyrics based on the poetry of Al-Andalus with old religious melodies collected mostly by musicians from the northern Syrian city. "He was a living legend and legends do not die," his son said. "He will continue to be the legend of Syria and Aleppo."A symbol of the golden age of Arabic song, Fakhri was able to keep his audience in suspense for hours by tirelessly repeating the verses of classical or contemporary Arabic poems. In 1968, he broke a record singing for 10 straight hours on tour in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

19 Dead, 50 Hurt in Suicide Attack on Kabul Military Hospital
Agence France Presse/Tuesday 02/November, 2021
At least 19 people were killed and 50 others wounded in an attack on a military hospital in Kabul on Tuesday, the latest assault to rock Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power. The attack got under way when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the entrance of the sprawling site. Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, firing their weapons there, the Taliban said. "Nineteen dead bodies and about 50 wounded people have been taken to hospitals in Kabul," a health ministry official who asked not to be named told AFP. The Taliban spent 20 years waging an insurgency against the ousted U.S.-backed government. Now they face the struggle of bringing stability to Afghanistan, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of bloody assaults claimed by the Islamic State group's local chapter. Tuesday's attack has not yet been claimed by any group. "All the attackers are dead. The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital," a Taliban official from the media team said. "Some attackers entered the hospital compound."Two explosions targeted the hospital area, he had earlier said in a statement. AFP staff in the city heard a second explosion some 30 minutes after the first was reported. "I heard a big explosion coming from the first checkpoint. We were told to go to safe rooms. I also hear guns firing," a doctor at the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital in Kabul told AFP while the attack was being carried out. "I can still hear gun firing inside the hospital building. I think the attackers are going from room to room... like the first time it was attacked," the doctor added.
Ambulances speeding through Kabul
The hospital, which treats wounded soldiers from both the Taliban and former Afghan security forces, was previously attacked in 2017, when gunmen disguised as medical personnel killed at least 30 people in an hours-long siege. Although both IS and the Taliban are hardline Sunni Islamist militants, they differ on details of religion and strategy. IS have claimed four mass casualty attacks since the Taliban takeover on August 15, including suicide bomb blasts targeting Shiite Muslim mosques. The group regards Shiite Muslims as heretics. In the 2017 attack on the military hospital, militants went room to room killing people, switching to knives when they ran out of ammunition.  That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and the Taliban denied responsibility. However, survivors told AFP that the attackers chanted "Long live Taliban" in Pashto and attacked all but two wards on the hospital's first floor where Taliban patients were admitted.
Black smoke
An Italian NGO which runs a separate hospital in the capital tweeted on Tuesday that it has received nine patients with injuries from the blast site. Pictures shared on social media showed black smoke billowing into the air after the explosions, the first of which went off at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT). AFP journalists saw Taliban fighters racing to the scene in at two armored personnel carriers (APCs) and pick-up trucks.Roads close to the heavily fortified "Green Zone" where the buildings of several former Western embassies were located were closed off to traffic and Taliban guards scaled up searches.

Burhan plays on US Russian rivalry as mounting pressures boost Hamdok
The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021
KHARTOUM--Facing domestic and international pressures avec last week’s coup, Sudan’s military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is playing on American-Russian competition as US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, started, Tuesday, a visit to Khartoum.
Earlier this week, Burhan has waved the card of the Russian base on the Red Sea coast as part of his attempts to stave off American pressures ahead of the visit by Feltman, who is expected to apply additional on the army in order to restore the military’s partnership with civilians.
On Monday, Burhan left the door open to activating military agreement with Moscow, which provides for the establishment of a Russian naval base in the port of Port Sudan, declaring that his country has “an agreement with Russia, including the establishment of a naval base, and we are constantly talking about it, and we have some observations that we need to take into consideration before proceeding with its implementation.”“We are committed to international agreements and we will continue implementing the agreement with Russia to the end,” he told the Russian “Sputnik” news agency, Monday. “Sudan’s cooperation with Russia is old and has not been interrupted, as it is sincere in its dealings with us.”Analysts said Burhan’s statements constitute an implicit warning to Washington that continued support to civilians could be at the expense of US interests in the Red Sea, and that the army could make a policy shift towards Russia in order to try to fill the vacuum that Washington would leave if it insisted on freezing the $700 million transition assistance package. At home, Burhan has now to reckon with the boosted position of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as he seems to enjoy a new momentum as a result of foreign interventions.
The UN envoy to Sudan met Sunday with Hamdok, who is under house arrest. Volker Perthes said on Twitter they “discussed options for mediation and the way forward for Sudan.”Perthes on Monday urged Sudan to return “to the steps of political transition, as we viewed it before 25 October,” the date of the coup. “Many of the interlocutors we are speaking with in Khartoum, but also internationally and regionally, are expressing a strong desire that we move forward quickly to get out of the crisis and return to the steps of normalcy,” Volker Perthes told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York, during a video conference from the Sudanese capital. On Monday, Hamdok said the reinstatement of his government could pave the way to a solution in the country, according to a statement from the information ministry, which is still loyal to the ousted premier.
Hamdok, according to the statement, demanded that the situation in Sudan return to what it was before the coup, refusing to negotiate with the military rulers. Hamdok, an international economist, was later released and placed effectively under house arrest.
Jonas Horner, senior analyst for Sudan at International Crisis Group think tank, speaking to AFP earlier Monday, said Hamdok will “find that his political cache has been boosted” by recent events, “and that he is in fact strengthened from what was a relatively weak position previously.”
Horner cited, for example, Hamdok’s “principled stance” prior to the putsch in refusing to dissolve his government. Burhan had since August 2019 chaired the council, working alongside Hamdok’s government under a power-sharing deal that outlined the post-Bashir transition.
The arrangement came under strain, however, as splits deepened between the civilians and the military. On October 25, Burhan dissolved the cabinet as well as the ruling joint military-civilian Sovereign Council which had been heading Sudan’s transition towards full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. In a move widely condemned internationally, Burhan declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan’s civilian leadership, including Hamdok and members of his government.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2021
How Islam Mutilates Christ
Raymond Ibrahim/November 02/2021
Not only does Islam claim Abraham, Moses, and Jesus; it apparently claims post biblical figures, such as Saint George, as well. So states a recent article on My London, the real point of which is apparently to assert Christian and Muslim “commonalities.” Thus, we learn that “on St George’s Day, which in Eastern Christianity is marked on May 6, Muslims in the area [of Nazareth] join Christians in their venerations of the saint.”
Judaism also finds its way into this article on religious syncretism: “According to some Sufi traditions, the [Hebrew] Prophet Elias, Al-Khidr [a character in the Koran], and Saint George are all the same person. They believe Elias reappears at different times in human history under different names to help stricken believers in times of crisis.”
The entire article is a testimony to the widely entrenched conviction that, because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many of the same characters, creating rapprochement between the three faiths is not just easy; it’s the most natural thing to do.
Left out of this calculus is the all-important fact that Islam does not treat biblical characters the way Christianity does. Christians accept the Hebrew Bible, or “Old Testament,” as it is. They do not add, take away, or distort the accounts of the patriarchs that Jews also rely on.
Conversely, while also relying on the figures of the Old and New Testaments—for the weight of antiquity and authority attached to their names—Islam completely recasts them in a manner that validates itself and invalidates Judaism and Christianity. This would seem to burn rather than build bridges.
Consider, for example, Islam’s treatment of Jesus (‘Isa in the Koran). Not only does Islam vehemently deny Christ’s sonship to God, a new book on Islamic sources inadvertently underscores the fact that ‘Isa is the antithesis of Jesus—his doppelganger.
Although Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period by professors James E. Lindsay and Suleiman Mourad is full of important historical documents from that era, including first time translations, the writings of Ibn ‘Asakir (1105-1175)—an influential Islamic scholar who also authored the popular Forty Hadiths for Inciting Jihad—on Jesus, based on established hadiths, are germane to our topic. From beginning to end, Ibn ‘Asakir, like all other Muslim scholars before and after him, uses Jesus to validate Islam and invalidate the actual faith founded by Christ.
According to these Muslim accounts, Jesus will indeed return—Christian “bridge-builders” to Islam can be happy about that—but only to “break the crosses, slaughter the pigs, end the jizya tax on non-Muslims, making warfare against the People of the Book (e.g. Jews ,Christians, Zorastrians etc.) and others licit…” (p. 158) In short, Islam’s Jesus seems to be a jihadist on a par with ISIS.
Here are a few selections from Ibn ‘Asakir’s “biography” of Jesus/‘Isa (from Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period):
He quotes Muhammad asserting that whoever is willing to make him, Muhammad, Christ’s equal, as well as contradict the oldest Christian Creed (1 Cor. 15: 3-7), will go to heaven:
Whoever testifies that there is no god but God, alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and that Jesus is His servant and messenger, the son of His servant, His word which he gave to Mary, and a spirit from Him, Allah will admit him to paradise for saying that (p.159).
When a woman says to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that suckled you,” a shocked Jesus replies: “No, but blessed is he who reads the Qur’an and follows what is in it” (p.159).
In several of these hadiths, Muhammad appears intent on making himself Jesus’s equal. Thus when his child-bride, Aisha, asks the prophet: “If I outlive you, would you permit me to be buried beside you?” “No,” responds Muhammad: “in that place there is only room for my grave, for Abu Bakr’s grave [Muhammad’s companion and successor, or first caliph], for ‘Umar’s grave [Muhammad’s companion and second caliph], and for the grave of Jesus son of Mary” (p.160).
In another account, Muhammad says, “The biblical prophets are siblings of the same lineage. I and Jesus too are siblings because he prophesied me and there are no prophets between me and him (p.161).”
In yet another account, Ibn ‘Asakir presents Jesus as “praying behind” yet another caliph (Muawiya I): then, “after Jesus finishes his prayer, he will take his lance, go toward the Antichrist and kill him. Then Jesus will die and the Muslims will wash him and bury him” (p.161).
Such is the transformation—or mutilation—that Jesus has undergone in the Muslim tradition. And Christians are supposed to see this as a possible “bridge” to Islam, a source of “commonalities”?
It’s the same, incidentally, with other biblical characters. Consider Abraham (Ibrahim), whom this entire “Abrahamic” movement is named after. While Jews and Christians focus on different aspects of Abraham—the former see him as their patriarch in the flesh, the latter as their patriarch in faith or in spirit (e.g., Gal 3:6)—they both rely on the same verbatim account of Abraham found in Genesis.
The Muslim account, however, introduces and exemplifies the hate Muslims are obligated to have for non-Muslims: “You have a good example in Abraham and those who followed him,” Allah informs Muslims in Koran 60:4; “for they said to their people, ‘We disown you and the idols that you worship besides Allah. We renounce you: enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in Allah alone.’”
In fact, this verse is the cornerstone verse that all “radical” Muslims, especially of the Islamic State, cite as proof that Muslims must hate all non-Muslims. In other words, far from serving as a bridge between Islam and Judaism and Christianity, the Muslim Abraham teaches Muslims to hate Jews and Christians.
One can go on and on: according to Islamic traditions, Mary, the mother of Christ, is Muhammad’s “wife” in heaven—yet another characterization that would seem to sever hardly build “bridges,” especially for Catholics.
Surely it’s a curious thing: when certain people—namely, whites—“appropriate,” say, the superficial dress or costume of another people, woe, all is woe. But when Islam appropriates and completely perverts the central figures of two faiths, Judaism and Christianity, Jews and Christians are supposed to feel good about it, see it as an opportunity for “reconciliation” with Islam. Interesting how that works.
To be clear, the Muslim appropriation and subsequent mutilation of biblical figures is a source of problems, not solutions. It is only the secular mindset, which cannot rise beyond the surface fact that three religions claim the same figures—and so they must all eventually “get along”—that does not and never will get it. The Saint George article on My London—which spends an inordinate amount of time cracking jokes about drinking in pubs—is a perfect example.

Why Biden's Palestinian Policies Will Not Bring Peace
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2021
The Biden administration is apparently hoping that engaging Mahmoud Abbas would undermine Hamas and other Palestinian extremists and embolden "moderate" Palestinians who are prepared to make peace with Israel and renounce violence.
The results of the polls, however, show that the Palestinian public is moving in precisely the opposite direction – towards more extremism and disillusionment with the PA leadership.
Referring to the peace process with Israel, 68% of the Palestinians said that they oppose a return to negotiations with Israel led by the US under the Biden administration.
The millions of dollars that the Biden administration is pouring on the Palestinians will not make them more moderate and encourage them to abandon violence and terrorism. There is only one way to deradicalize the Palestinians: halt the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews.
It is the catastrophic failure to hold Abbas and the PA to account for their incitement against Israel and for their corruption that is emboldening Hamas and others who seek to destroy Israel.
The Biden administration is apparently hoping that engaging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) would undermine Hamas and other Palestinian extremists and embolden "moderate" Palestinians who are prepared to make peace with Israel and renounce violence. The results of the polls, however, show that the Palestinian public is moving in precisely the opposite direction – towards more extremism and disillusionment with the PA leadership.
The Biden administration's policy of engaging with and strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA) has suffered a setback: most Palestinians continue to express dissatisfaction with the performance of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and demand his resignation.
The Biden administration's hope of reviving the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has also suffered another blow: a majority of Palestinians remain opposed to returning to negotiations with Israel under the leadership of the US. In addition, half the Palestinian public favor a return to an armed struggle Israel.
Moreover, many Palestinians are not convinced that they will benefit from the Biden administration's decision to resume financial aid to the PA because of the corruption of the Palestinian leadership.
The Palestinian attitudes were reflected in the findings of public opinion polls published over the past two months by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
The results of the polls indicate that the Biden administration's policies towards the Palestinians in particular and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general are detached from reality.
The Biden administration is apparently hoping that engaging Abbas would undermine Hamas and other Palestinian extremists and embolden "moderate" Palestinians who are prepared to make peace with Israel and renounce violence.
The results of the polls, however, show that the Palestinian public is moving in precisely the opposite direction -- towards more extremism and disillusionment with the PA leadership.
The growing anti-Israel sentiments among the Palestinians are mainly the result of decades of indoctrination and incitement against Israel in the Palestinian media, mosques, schools and rhetoric of Palestinian leaders.
The most recent poll, published on October 27, found that the past six months witnessed a significant decrease in the popularity of Abbas and his ruling Fatah faction. The pollsters attributed the decline to a number of developments, including Abbas's decision to call off the Palestinian Authority general elections, the most recent war in May between Israel and Hamas, and the murder of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat, by PA security officers who beat him to death in June.
According to the poll, dissatisfaction with the performance of Abbas stands at 71% and about 74% want him to resign.
If new presidential elections were held today, the poll showed, most Palestinians would vote for the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, or imprisoned Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti, currently serving five life terms in prison for his role in lethal terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Those who want to see Haniyeh as their president support Hamas's charter, which openly calls for jihad (holy war) against Israel.
The most recent, supposedly moderate, 1988 version of the Hamas charter, views the "problem of Palestine" as a religious-political Muslim issue, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a confrontation between Islam and the "infidel" Jews. "Palestine" is presented as sacred Islamic land and it is strictly forbidden to give up one inch of it because no one has the authority to do so.
Even so, the second paragraph of the revised Hamas charter states: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
Article 7 states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: 'The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him'"
Article 11 of the Hamas charter states:
"The Islamic Resistance [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection; no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it."
Article 13:
"There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad. The initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility."
Article 14:
"It is necessary to instill the spirit of jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters. It is necessary to instill in the minds of the Muslim generations that the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis."
A previous poll conducted by the same center in September found that 45% of the Palestinians believe that Hamas is more deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people, while only 19% believe Abbas and Fatah are more deserving.
Barghouti, for his part, is popular among Palestinians because he is regarded as being more extreme than Abbas, and because he was indicted by an Israeli court on 26 charges of murder and attempted murder. In 2014, Barghouti called from his prison cell for launching a third intifada (uprising) against Israel. He also urged the PA leadership to immediately end security coordination with Israel.
Haniyeh and Barghouti are popular among Palestinians because each one has spent time in Israeli prisons. Abbas, on the other hand, never spent a day in an Israeli prison, which is one of the reasons he commands less respect from his people.
In the world of the Palestinians, those who murder Jews or are committed to the elimination of Israel are the most suitable candidates for the presidency.
Another interesting, though not surprising, finding of the poll: half of the Palestinian public described the status of human rights and democracy under the PA as very bad.
Referring to the peace process with Israel, 68% of the Palestinians said that they oppose a return to negotiations with Israel led by the US under the Biden administration.
According to the September poll, 83% of the Palestinians believe there is corruption in Palestinian Authority institutions. This figure should serve as a red light to the Biden administration in wake of its decision to restore financial aid to the PA.
When Palestinians talk about rampant corruption, they are sending a warning to the Biden administration and other Western donors against pouring money on Palestinian leaders unconditionally, without transparency and accountability.
On October 18, Abbas decided to form a "National Committee for Reform" in an attempt to persuade Palestinians and international donors that he is serious about combating financial and administrative corruption in the PA. Some Palestinians, however, do not buy Abbas's ploy. In response to Abbas's decision, the Palestinian Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) said:
"The PA is in dire need of serious structural reform, especially given the disruption of peaceful transition of power and elections, which serve as a democratic mechanism for access to power... Government practice is marred by weak transparency, participation, and integrity. Although it has a major influence on the political system, formal oversight of the executive branch of government has been debilitated...
"[O]bjections have also been raised against oppressive practices, including measures characterised as infringements on public freedoms and fundamental rights. Combined with the ongoing Palestinian internal political divide (between Fatah and Hamas), this situation has, consequently, prompted a continued decline in government integrity and a rapid slide into a totalitarian and authoritarian political system."
The policy of strengthening Abbas and the PA is probably good in the short term. It is good as long as the PA continues to manage the daily affairs of the Palestinians (Israelis do not want to go back to the days when they had to run the schools and hospitals of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip) and conducts security coordination with Israel, thereby preventing Hamas from taking control over the West Bank.
In the long term, however, this policy is not going to change the sentiments among the Palestinian public.
The millions of dollars that the Biden administration is pouring on the Palestinians will not make them more moderate and encourage them to abandon violence and terrorism. There is only one way to deradicalize the Palestinians: halt the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews. It is the catastrophic failure to hold Abbas and the PA to account for their incitement against Israel and for their corruption that is emboldening Hamas and others who seek to destroy Israel.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

China and the Crisis Presidency of Joe Biden
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2021
How does a president who is struggling on so many fronts lead a nation against China, its biggest geostrategic competitor? China's military buildup, the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, America and the West's over-reliance on China in the supply chain, Chinese aggression against Taiwan and in the South China Sea, and China's aggression against India along the common land border are all pressing issues that are only getting worse.
The Chinese communists have made clear in word and deed, however, including their Belt and Road Initiative and Made in China policies, that they have every intention of knocking-off America as global leader and supplanting the West in global standing.
[I]n 2008 Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia. European Union leaders offered a pitifully limited response and Russia faced very few negative reactions from either the EU or the U.S. But there were consequences. Many believe this painfully mild answer was an indicator to Russia that it could employ a more militaristic approach in areas of previous Russian influence. Six years after its invasion of Georgia, Russia invaded Ukraine, annexing Crimea and occupying parts of the Donbas region. The lesson seems clear and quite literal -- give a tyrannical country an inch and it will take as many other countries as it can.
[F]or global stability and the standing of the United Sates, it is time for the president to draw a bright red line signaling to the Chinese communists the limits of what they can do and where they can go.
How does a president who is struggling on so many fronts lead a nation against China, its biggest geostrategic competitor? China's military buildup, the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, America and the West's over-reliance on China in the supply chain, Chinese aggression against Taiwan and in the South China Sea, and China's aggression against India along the common land border are all pressing issues that are only getting worse. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping with then US Vice President Joe Biden in Beijing, China on December 4, 2013.
Less than a year in and Joe Biden's presidency is beset by crises. Domestically, his increasingly unpopular agenda has been stalled by his own political party in Congress. On the international front, the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle continues to reverberate along with Europe's growing frustration in dealing with the administration. Even on matters where we can agree, such as the submarine deal and our alliance with the Australia and the United Kingdom to counter China, the announcement was so badly handled it became just another friction point in U.S.-European relations. Then there is China itself. From the origins of COVID to its recent hypersonic missile test -- an event the Pentagon's top general Mark Milley concedes was a near "Sputnik moment" -- and China's ability to crush all US satellites as "debris," the challenges between the U.S. and China only continue to grow.
Against this backdrop, President Biden went to Capitol Hill to plead with Democrats to come together to pass his big domestic spending plans mere hours before he was set to hit the international stage in Europe for a meeting with Pope Francis, the G20 summit, and a big environmental gathering in Scotland. Notable in all these events, the Vatican announced it would only release a self-edited video of Biden's meeting with the Pope, and Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping and Russia's President Vladimir Putin have declined to appear in person for the G20 gathering and climate summit with Biden.
How does a president who is struggling on so many fronts lead a nation against China, its biggest geostrategic competitor? China's military buildup, the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, America and the West's over-reliance on China in the supply chain, Chinese aggression against Taiwan and in the South China Sea, and China's aggression against India along the common land border are all pressing issues that are only getting worse.
Making the matter more difficult, the U.S. and many European nations do not agree on the strategy and approach necessary to address Chinese aggression, and are instead focusing on China as a market to do business. The Chinese communists have made clear in word and deed, however, including their Belt and Road Initiative and Made in China policies, that they have every intention of knocking off America as global leader and supplanting the West in global standing.
A free and independent Taiwan stands as possibly the last important test of the issues between the U.S., the West, and China. Having so far failed to force an international resolution of the Chinese Uyghur genocide, the political subjugation of Hong Kong, a credible study of the Wuhan origins of COVID, or Chinese expansionist aggression, Taiwan has emerged as the next big flashpoint and test of American and Western resolve.
Europe has witnessed what happens when a country is allowed to aggressively expand its territorial borders against international norms and how capitulation in the face of aggression only fuels further aggression. In the lead up to World War II, Europe stood aside as Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The result, as Europe stood aside and engaged in appeasement: Germany continued to conquer more land and engage in genocide and political repression until the world was forced to address the threat.
More recently, in 2008 Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia. European Union leaders offered a pitifully limited response and Russia faced very few negative reactions from either the EU or the U.S. But there were consequences. Many believe this painfully mild response was an indicator to Russia that it could employ a more militaristic approach in areas of previous Russian influence. Six years after its invasion of Georgia, Russia invaded Ukraine, annexing Crimea and occupying parts of the Donbas region. The lesson seems clear and quite literal -- give a tyrannical country an inch and it will take as many other countries as it can.
It is for these reasons that the West's response to aggressive, Chinese expansionist actions in the South China Sea and against Taiwan must be one of vigorous opposition and willingness to intervene. Failure to respond, or even a hint of doubt about countering these actions by China, will be devastating.
China already has signaled it will target areas of Southeast and East Asia and areas where it has established a foothold with its Belt and Road initiative. Our friends and allies across the globe are watching what posture the U.S. will take. China also is watching.
Biden's presidency really is in a historic crisis at the moment, but for global stability and the standing of the United Sates, it is time for the president to draw a bright red line signaling to the Chinese communists the limits of what they can do and where they can go.
*Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors.
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The making of President Dbeibah
Habib Lassoued/The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021
Over the past few months, Abdulhamid Dbeibah has become the focus of a well-oiled operation aimed at shaping his image as a popular leader. Specialists from Libya and abroad have been part of the exercise, which has been managed by a central operations room in Turkey working with PR firms in the United States and the United Kingdom. Huge contracts were reportedly signed and teams mobilised to polish the image of Dbeibah and present him to the people as the man of the future.
There is a determination to ensure that Dbeibah and his team remain at the helm of the wealthy country for at least another decade. There are even those who talk of absolute control of the country by a government that will remain in the hands of a specific region and a particular group of the population.
This means that the accession of Dbeibah to the premiership was not a coincidence and the spending of at least $20 million to buy votes in the Political Dialogue Forum sessions in Tunis and Geneva was not some random bribery. It was every bit as calculated as the dismissal of the results of the international investigation into corruption accusations in the Political Dialogue Forum. With wealth and money, doors open by themselves. The international community in the final analysis is not a charitable organisation working for the general interest of one side or another. Decision-makers are not angels. They are human beings who have interests and maintain links with transnational corporations, including oil and gas companies and construction firms. Senior officials in the West are not impervious to corruption, which they practice outside their countries. They receive hefty privileges, gifts and deals. Moreover, Libya is a wealthy country and it is currently governed by a successful businessman who has surrounded himself with a team of rich people, merchants, economic operators and credit barons. The governor of the Central Bank is part of the picture. His role is in fact indicative of the nature of the current stage.
Whoever follows the course of events will realise that Dbeibah has been following a plan that was meticulously prepared by regional and international players. They have been working to consolidate a political leadership premised on hostility to the Libyan National Army (LNA) leadership, the marginalisation of Cyrenaica and Fezzan, keeping a distance from the Presidency Council, accommodation of militias and mercenaries and working to gain popular support by promising the public that it will benefit from the vast wealth of the country, a dream cherished by Libyans for many decades.
The international community has allowed Dbeibah to take advantage of his political position and executive authority. The governor of the Central Bank was asked to go along with the prime minister in all his requests. What matters at the end of the day is to succeed in presenting Dbeibah as the face of the future with the traits of a liberal and democratic businessman who keeps pace with the times and is ready to strike transactional deals.
It is only natural for conspiracy theorists to have a following. Forces supporting Dbeibah are thought to have called on the United Nations to intervene in order to ensure the adoption of the amendments proposed by the Independent High National Electoral Commission to the Presidential Election Law issued by the House of Representatives on September 9. The statement from the UN mission was clear in calling for the removal of “restrictions on participation in elections so as to allow Libyans holding public office the opportunity of suspending their official activities from the moment they apply for candidacy to the presidency, as proposed by the High National Elections Commission.”
The issue here is related to Article 12 of the Presidential Elections Law issued by the House of Representatives. This states that “every citizen, whether civilian or military, shall be deemed to have stopped working and exercising his duties (for three months before the election date); and if he is not elected, he shall return to his previous position.”
The first to respond was Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar when he decided on September 22 to devote himself to running for the presidency by temporarily relinquishing his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the LNA to Chief-of-Staff Abdulrazak al-Nazhuri.
And because the international community insisted on organising the elections on time, contrary to what some parties were working to achieve, it was suggested to the Electoral Commission that it amend that article to state that “every citizen, whether civilian or military, is deemed to have stopped working and exercising his duties (at the date of the Commission’s announcement of the start of the electoral process)” .
This means that the would-be candidatess can stop working on the day they submits their candidacy, provided that the office they held will be managed by their assistants who can continue promoting their reputation and making sure they are positioned to be the most prominent candidate for the position of head of state.Libya now faces two main options. Either amend the law and allow Dbeibah to run for president, or postpone the elections to allow him to prepare for the ballot and relinquish his position three months before the new date. The goal, then, is to allow Dbeibah to run for the presidency and to be the next president of Libya and thus to pull the rug from under the feet of Haftar, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, Fathi Bashagha and all the other controversial figures who are expected to run.
He is undoubtedly capable of this after the tremendous work done by loyal media and PR agencies staffed by the most prominent specialists in the image industry and also by taking advantage of his position as prime minister to allow huge sums to be spent on many social groups.
Dbeibah has in addition tried from the beginning to take advantage of regional and tribal sensitivities, working on the calculation that Tripoli is the largest demographic base and electoral reservoir and that the votes of Misrata, Tripoli, Zawiya, Amazigh (berber) areas and some other regions are sufficient to give him the lead. It is natural for the international community to find itself among the accused, as it has practiced all forms of lies, hypocrisy and deception regarding the Libyan crisis since its outbreak in February.
It is still leading with the same approach and when Dbeibah spoke a few days ago about his country’s frozen funds abroad, he knew what he was saying. He was hinting that in the next stage each party will receive the reward it deserves.

The Gulf is well-positioned to invest in climate technology
Joseph Dana/The Arab Weekly/November 02/2021
Our approach to climate change and curbing carbon emissions is broken. Let’s face it: governments and international organisations have so far failed to alter the trajectory of our warming planet. This isn’t for lack of trying but the sad reality is that governments and international organisations haven’t been able to curb the global market’s appetite for fossil fuels. Yet, there is an obvious and potentially lucrative way out of this mess.
The key to altering this imbalance is through the market itself. The technology underpinning clean and renewable energy is accelerating exponentially, with costs plunging through the floor. As a result of these developments, clean energy will soon be cheaper across every metric than traditional fossil fuels. Since these trends are happening by the forces of the market alone, the best thing that governments can do is meaningfully invest in climate technology infrastructure and companies.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to curb carbon emissions to net-zero by 2060 is welcome news. Still, the real opportunity of the kingdom’s pledge remains unrealised. As one of the world’s leading producers of hydrocarbons, Saudi Arabia wields incredible influence over global carbon emissions through its ability to curtail oil production. A dramatic shift in oil production isn’t realistic because the world is still dependent on fossil fuels. The market won’t allow it at this stage but things are changing fast. When it’s cheaper and easier to get electricity from solar energy and drive an electric car, there won’t be much room left for fossil fuels. Along with other leading countries in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia has a unique opportunity to invest in this future of energy while transforming the regional knowledge economy by following these historic announcements with substantial investments into climate technology.
The path forward is not about simply cutting emissions nor planting trees but committed investment in climate technology. Larry Fink, the CEO of hedge fund Blackrock, recently said that the next 1,000 unicorn startups worth at least $1bn would be involved in climate technology. Moreover, international organisations need to ensure that capital is invested in climate technology in developing nations. Not only is the market exploding, but there is significant room for governments to help direct the energy to emerging and developing nations. Given the Gulf’s strong connections with emerging market countries in Africa, the subcontinent, and Asia, it is perfectly positioned to be an exporter of climate technology.
Clean energy will be universal at some point in the near future and that’s one reason for Fink’s optimism. Current market and technology trends suggest that it could take shape much sooner than we realise. Consider the price of solar energy as an example of how fast the market is changing. Over the last decade, the price of electricity from utility-scale solar projects has dropped by a factor of five. That equates to an 80% price decline. This remarkable drop means that building a new solar plant is cost-competitive with new coal or gas power plants. What’s even more impressive is that costs are falling so fast that they are outpacing forecasts. Solar electricity in 2020 is roughly a quarter the price the International Energy Agency projected in 2010.
The market will render fossil fuels obsolete. The question is how long this shift will take and whether we have the time to wait. The forces are already taking shape as the market is course-correcting through deeper adoption of renewable energy. Just look at the skyrocketing share price of Telsa and the explosion in global electric vehicle sales. There are examples of the shift everywhere. Governments can accelerate this transition with intelligent policy investment in climate technology and (hopefully) stave off dire climate change forecasts.
This is where the Gulf could potentially step in. Leading Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already laid out ambitious green energy goals. Saudi Arabia plans to build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant powered by wind and solar energy in the city of Neom. Long-term projects are good targets, but smaller-scale investments in startups now can be the catalyst for real change.
With the capital to invest and the ideal conditions for research and development, Gulf states are positioned to support the next generation of climate technology startups. These aren’t limited to renewable energy projects but can focus on agricultural technology, smart city development, and green hydrogen energy. Not only are such investments valuable for the global fight against climate change, but they are critical for building the strength of the region’s knowledge economy. Moreover, the Gulf can export such technology to emerging market countries around the world. When Cape Town, South Africa, nearly ran out of water in 2018, the UAE was close to exporting desalination technology to ease the crisis. That’s a specific example of how the Gulf could spread its climate-related industry across the world.
Government pledges to curb carbon emissions are significant, but they aren’t enough. The industrial revolution and the triumph of resource-hungry capitalism are a big reason we are facing climate challenges. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we need to embrace the mechanism of capitalism to foster real change in the hydrocarbon industry and the transition to renewables.
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