LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 09/2019

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Letter to the Romans 14/14-23: “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
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Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on April 08-09/19
Pompeo Says U.S. to Mull Sanctions on Anyone who Backs Hizbullah
Hariri Hails 'Achievement' as Govt. Approves Electricity Plan
Hariri Endorses Bteish's Economic Recommendations
Khalil: Lebanese Lira Not Depreciating, State Budget to Be Approved this Week
'Imaginary Heroics Have Ended', Says Bassil after Power Plan Passed
Geagea Urges Asking Russia to Create Border Zones for Refugees
Fenianos Suspends Decree Barring Taxis from Entering Airport Premises
Berri from Qatar: Monetary and Security Stability Sustained in Lebanon
Geagea: Public audit law stipulates transfer of all tenders to Tenders Department
Choucair winds up visit to Moscow, meets Bogdanvo
Lebanon Cabinet approves watershed electricity sector reform
Military prosecutor files charges ISF's Information Branch
Former President Amine Gemayel Calls for 'Democratic Resistance' to Defend Sovereignty
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Arrives in Brussels to Attend EPP's Political Assembly
The Trump Administration Is Making Hezbollah Stronger
What the Trump Administration Should Do in Latin America to Go after Hezbollah

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 08-09/19
US designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization
Pompeo warns all banks, businesses to end dealings with the IRGC
Floods force evacuation of hospital in southwest Iran
Netanyahu, Gantz make final pitches before Israeli vote
Palestinians denounce Netanyahu’s annexation pledge
New Palestinian government to be formed in days
South Africa downgrades its embassy in Israel
Nissan Shareholders OK Sacking Ghosn From Board
Sudan: Thousands Protest Near President’s Residence
Sudanese security forces try to break up sit-in protest outside defense ministry
Putin and Erdogan discuss S-400 missile deal
Thousands march in Montreal to denounce Quebec government's secularism bill
Putin and Erdogan Discuss S-400 Missile Deal
Battle rages for Libya’s capital, airport bombed
Egypt unveils 2,500-year-old mummy at forgotten cemetery

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 08-09/19
The Trump Administration Is Making Hezbollah Stronger/Anchal Vohra/Foreign Policy/April 08/19
What the Trump Administration Should Do in Latin America to Go after Hezbollah/Emanuele Ottolenghi/The Hill/April 08/19
US designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization/Agencies/April 08/19
Netanyahu, Gantz make final pitches before Israeli vote/AFP/April 08, 2019
Battle rages for Libya’s capital, airport bombed/Reuters/April 08, 2019
When Will Iran's Regime Finally Cave In?/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/April 08/19
Europe’s Right Is Making a Noise. But Can It Win an Election?/Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/April 08/19
Netanyahu: The Changing Scenes and the Gifts/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/April 08/19
Boeing’s Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse/Brooke Sutherland/Bloomberg/April 08/19
India: Women's Plight Remains Grim/Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone Institute/April 08/19
Opinion/How Netanyahu Saved Assad, Helped Russia and Gave Iran the Run of Syria/Kyle Orton/Haaretz/April 08/19
Are incinerators answer to Lebanon's waste crisis?/Nicholas Frakes/Al Monitor/April 08/19
A new wave of revolutions without the Arab Spring spirit/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/April 08/19
The Trump Administration's Designation Of The IRGC As A Foreign Terror Organization – Goals And Impact/A. Savyon/MEMRI/April 08/19

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on April 08-09/19
Pompeo Says U.S. to Mull Sanctions on Anyone who Backs Hizbullah
Naharnet/April 08/19/U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced that Washington might impose sanctions on anyone who backs or deals with Hizbullah. Asked about reports that the U.S. intends to slap sanctions on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his AMAL Movement, Pompeo said during a press conference that Washington will consider sanctions against anyone who supports or deals with the Tehran-backed party. And noting that Hizbullah is not a political movement but rather an armed group, the top U.S. diplomat said he told Lebanese officials during his recent visit to Beirut that the U.S. will not tolerate Hizbullah's continued growth and rise in Lebanon and the region.Earlier in the day, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Gaby Issa said reports claiming that Berri will be placed on a U.S. sanctions list were unfounded.

Hariri Hails 'Achievement' as Govt. Approves Electricity Plan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 08/19/The Council of Ministers on Monday approved a plan to resolve the country's chronic electricity problem after “some amendments” were introduced, TV networks said.
Earlier in the day, the National News Agency said President Michel Aoud told conferees that the session would not be adjourned before the endorsement of the plan. “Energy Minister Nada al-Bustani's plan has managed to overcome all hurdles and the manner in which it has been presented has not allowed anyone to practice obstruction,” NNA added. The agency said the plan “takes into account the Free Patriotic Movement's concerns over the possibility of obstruction of the plan at the Public Procurement Management Administration” and that a “unanimous agreement” had been reached on this point. Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab meanwhile said that a ministerial panel has been tasked with following up on the implementation of the plan in order to prevent any obstruction. "The electricity plan is an achievement for all political parties," Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced at a press conference after the session.
"The electricity plan is an achievement for Lebanon and no one will obstruct it," Hariri added. Hariri also noted that the Public Procurement Management Administration and a technical panel from the Energy Ministry will be in charge of the tendering process. Asked whether the plan will satisfy the international donors, Hariri said: “The electricity plan will satisfy the Lebanese people because it will bring them electricity 24/7 and contribute to lowering the deficit.”“All international institutions will see that we are taking real decisions to improve this sector,” Hariri added, noting that the plan will “improve Lebanon's international financial ranking.” “The electricity tendering process must take place as soon as possible because the state's finances cannot withstand a single day of delay,” the premier went on to say.
President Aoun meanwhile telephoned Speaker Nabih Berri to ask him to put an urgent draft law for amending Article 288, which is related to the electricity plan, on the agenda of parliament's Wednesday session. The decision is the most significant by the Cabinet since it was formed in late January and is a step towards unlocking billions in aid pledged to Lebanon in exchange for slashing public spending and overhauling the electricity sector. Energy Minister Bustani, who first presented the plan last month, described the Cabinet's approval as a "positive step." The plan still needs to be approved by parliament. A dated electricity grid, rampant corruption and lack of reform has left power supply lagging way behind rising demand since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. According to the McKinsey & Company consulting firm, the quality of Lebanon's electricity supply in 2017-2018 was the fourth worst in the world after Haiti, Nigeria and Yemen. Government subsidies to state-run EDL electricity firm have also worsened the cash-strapped government’s budget. EDL receives one of the largest slices of the government's budget after debt servicing and salaries. According to the World Bank, government transfers to EDL averaged 3.8 percent of gross domestic product from 2008 to 2017, amounting to about half of Lebanon's fiscal deficit. Lebanon is one of the world's most indebted countries, with public debt estimated at 141 percent of GDP in 2018, according to credit ratings agency Moody's. A conference dubbed CEDRE in the French capital in April pledged aid worth $11 billion, promising to stave off an economic crisis. At the Paris conference, Lebanon committed to reforms including slashing public spending and overhauling the electricity sector. In exchange, the international community has pledged major aid and loans, mostly for infrastructure projects that need to be signed off by the new government.

Hariri Endorses Bteish's Economic Recommendations
Naharnet/April 08/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday endorsed the reform proposals recommended by Economy Minister Mansour Bteish during a meeting attended by the premier's economic team, media reports said. LBCI TV said Bteish briefed Hariri on the recommendations that he mentioned in his Thursday press conference, adding that “Hariri agreed to the eight reform proposals and said he would endorse them in two batches.”“The first would be within the 2019 draft state budget and the second would be after the approval of the budget with what that would entail of necessary legislation,” the TV network added. In his press conference, Bteish had criticized Lebanon's monetary policy and the “financial engineering” tactics of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, proposing several draft laws for “putting the state's finances on a sustainable reformist course.”
Bteish's recommendations include a draft law for reforming the tax system, another for abolishing unnecessary state institutions and a proposal for “organizing exemptions and incentives” targeted at the productive sectors.

Khalil: Lebanese Lira Not Depreciating, State Budget to Be Approved this Week
Naharnet/April 08/19/Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil declared on Monday that the State budget will be discussed this week in order to be approved, reassuring that Lebanon is not facing the collapse of the Lira despite the financial deficit and a difficult economic situation. “The delay in the formation of the government has delayed the work on the budget. It was raised by the Ministry of Finance during the month of August as per the constitution,” Khalil said. Khalil’s remarks came during an open dialogue on Monday at a conference on “Employment Opportunities for 2019.”“Public deficit increased 3.5%,” he said, “while the growth rate failed to reach 1.5% last year.’ “We are not facing the Lira’s collapse but are facing challenges. Lebanon is still capable of taking measures to meet its international obligations,” he said. Turning to Lebanon’s imports and exports, Khalil said “the problem is that Lebanon imports goods at a cost of $19 billion, while its exports do not exceed $3 billion. The fiscal deficit therefore reaches 15 to16 billion dollars,” he said. “We have to take strict and unfair measures to cut spending which could include cutting the salaries of lawmakers and ministers,” he concluded.

'Imaginary Heroics Have Ended', Says Bassil after Power Plan Passed
Naharnet/April 08/19/Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Monday boasted that the “real” electricity plan was approved by the government. “They cost Lebanon years and they cost the treasury funds,” Bassil tweeted, referring to political parties that had since 2010 voiced objections and reservations over plans by two FPM ministers to reform the electricity sector. Monday's plan was approved during the tenure of a third energy minister belonging to the FPM, Nada al-Bustani. “What's important is that the imaginary heroics have ended and the real plan has been approved. It has remained the same from the very beginning and the rest is mere talk,” Bassil added. “What's important is to see implementation without obstruction so that the promises can be fulfilled: 24/24 electricity and zero deficit,” the FPM chief added. The plan was approved earlier on Monday with some amendments as it was decided that the Public Procurement Management Administration and a technical team from the Energy Ministry would carry out the tendering process. Media reports said Bassil and the FPM ministers had sought to eliminate the PPMA role.

Geagea Urges Asking Russia to Create Border Zones for Refugees
Naharnet/April 08/19/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday announced that Lebanon's refugee crisis cannot be resolved by “proposing the same ideas.”“The solution lies in exerting a Lebanese diplomatic effort with Russia, seeing as it is the only force present in Syria and it has ties with Iran and the Syrian regime, in order to create safe zones on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon,” Geagea said after a meeting for the Strong Republic bloc. He added: “The international community would continue to offer aid, the same as it is doing now in Lebanon, and through that we would secure a dignified life for the refugees, but in Syrian rather than in Lebanese territory.”

Fenianos Suspends Decree Barring Taxis from Entering Airport Premises
Naharnet/April 08/19/Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos on Monday announced that a decision banning taxis from entering the airport premises is aimed at “regulating this sector.”“The decision has been misapplied, so we suspended it and gave every citizen the freedom to choose the transport method they want,” Fenianos said after meeting representatives of the taxi drivers syndicate. The minister had issued a decree barring all taxis from entering the airport premises and accordingly obliging arriving travelers to exclusively use official airport taxis which are known for being overpriced.
The decree infuriated citizens and travelers, prompting some of them to dub the airport the “airport of humiliation” after footage showed travelers walking a long distance with their luggage in order to hail taxis outside the airport premises.

Berri from Qatar: Monetary and Security Stability Sustained in Lebanon
Naharnet/April 08/19/Speaker Nabih Berri said from Qatar that security and monetary stability in Lebanon were sustained, despite the financial crisis, the National News Agency reported on Monday.. “I cannot hide the financial crisis related to the public deficit, in addition to demands related to the environment, electricity and the creation of job opportunities in our country," Berri told the Lebanese Diaspora at a reception ceremony hosted in his honor by the Lebanese Ambassador to Qatar, Hassan Najm. “Security and monetary stability in Lebanon is sustained,” he said, stressing that Lebanon can recover its economic peace through the “continuous support of its brothers, friends and sons."Moreover, Berri indicated that the time had come to resolve the Syrian refugee crisis, highlighting the necessity to communicate with the Syrian state and to open the Nassib border crossing. "It is also time for Lebanon to have a position alongside the countries of the East like Egypt and Syria, and to start oil and gas drillings," he said. Moreover, Berri renewed support for the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and to a Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital, as well as for Syria's unwavering right to its Golan Heights. Accordingly, he underlined that Lebanon was utterly ready to withstand challenges that might result from the Israeli enemy's maneuvers along its northern front. He also highlighted the importance of the "diamond equation" embodied by the people, the Resistance and the army, which led to victory, stressing that it also constitutes the "equation of deterrence."Furthermore, Berri called for the normalization of Qatar's ties with the Gulf and Egypt, and for political solutions in Syria, Yemen and Libya. He also highlighted the necessity to form an international front to combat terrorism.

Geagea: Public audit law stipulates transfer of all tenders to Tenders Department
Mon 08 Apr 2019/NNA - "Lebanese Forces" party leader, Samir Geagea, stressed at the end of the meeting of the "Strong Republic" parliamentary bloc, that "the public law stipulates the transfer of any tender to the Tender Department." The "Strong Republic" parliamentary bloc convened in session Monday under the chairmanship of Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, at his Meerab residence. "We called for the formation of a Regulatory Committee and the appointment of a new EDL Board of Directors. We were not trying to disrupt but to achieve the best results," he corroborated.
On the displaced Syrians' crisis, he stressed the importance of a Lebanese diplomatic action in association with Russia as the only force present in Syria and maintaining relations with Iran and the Syrian regime for the creation of safe areas inside the Syrian territory along the Lebanese border. He insisted on the need for the continuation of international aid for refugees on Syrian territory.

Choucair winds up visit to Moscow, meets Bogdanvo
Mon 08 Apr 2019/NNA - Telecommunications Minister, Mohammed Choucair, culminated his visit to Moscow by meeting with the Special Representative of the Russian President for Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, in the presence of Lebanese Ambassador to Russia Shawki Bou Nassar. The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Advisor for Russian Affairs, George Shaaban, the President of the Lebanese-Russian Business Cuncil Jacques Sarraf and the President of the Russian-Lebanese Business Council Alexander Gogolev. Talks reportedly touched on means of strengthening the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. Minister Choucair described the meeting as "important and positive" paving the way in front of a new promising phase in the bilateral economic relations between the two countries.

Lebanon Cabinet approves watershed electricity sector reform
Associated Press/April 08/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday that the new plan will eventually provide 24-hour electricity to the country’s population of over 5 million.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Cabinet has approved a much-anticipated plan to restructure the electricity sector, which has been deeply dysfunctional for over four decades since the time of the country’s civil war. Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday that the new plan will eventually provide 24-hour electricity to the country’s population of over 5 million. Lebanon relies on a network of private generator providers. Subsidies to the state electricity company cost the government nearly $2 billion a year. The plan, expected to get parliament’s approval, will reform the state electricity company, introduce new pricing policies and boost power production. International donor institutions have recommended electricity reform as a major step to deal with the massive public debt, one of the largest in the world, estimated at nearly 150 percent of GDP.

Military prosecutor files charges ISF's Information Branch
The ISF first launched an investigation from within to root out corruption and identify members partaking in bribery. Annahar Staff/April 08/19/BEIRUT: Lebanon's top military prosecutor brought charges against the information branch of the Internal Security Forces for disobeying his orders, distorting and leaking preliminary investigations to the press and holding suspects beyond the legal detention period. The government's commissioner to the military court Judge Peter Germanos accused the ISF of conducting investigations without his knowledge before referring the case to Military Judge Fadi Sawan for investigation. Germanos told Annahar that all investigations carried out by security services are to be done under his supervision. State Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud has not been involved in the proceedings, telling Annahar that the case falls under the jurisdiction of the military prosecutor as those accused are security officers, despite the investigation bringing into the fold civilians. The ISF first launched an investigation from within to root out corruption and identify members partaking in bribery, which led to the involvement of civilians and judges. In the case of civilians, Hammoud referred the cases to the respective public prosecutors of Mount Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa. Hammoud also tasked a number of prosecutors to investigate the involvement of the accused judges. This latest corruption scandal comes in the wake of Justice Minister Albert Sarhanthe arresting of four judges in a separate case.

Former President Amine Gemayel Calls for 'Democratic Resistance' to Defend Sovereignty
Kataeb.org/Monday 08th April 2019/Former President Amine Gemayel called for foiling all schemes aiming to sabotage Lebanon's sovereignty, stressing the need for a "democratic resistance" in order to eliminate the presence of illegal non-state arms.Speaking at a ceremony held in his honor in Melbourne as part of his Australia tour, Gemayel urged unity unity because it is the only way out of the crises battering Lebanon, voicing confidence in the Lebanese people's ability to overcome hardships. “Through you, expatriates, Lebanon is an empire on which the sun never sets,” Gemayel hailed. The event was attended by more than 600 people, including Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten, Australian Minister Marlene Kairouz, MPs Nazih Asmar and Cezar Melhem, Lebanese Consul General to Victoria Ziad Itani, Australia-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and Industry Fadi Al-Zouki, and representatives of different Lebanese political parties.

Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Arrives in Brussels to Attend EPP's Political Assembly
Kataeb.org/Monday 08th April 2019/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel arrived in Brussels on Monday to take part in the political assembly of the European People's Party (EPP), and attend the meeting of the executive committee of the Centrist Democrat International (IDC-CDI). During his three-day visit, Gemayel will hold talks with senior officials in the EPP as well as the European Parliament. He will also meet with Kataeb partisans in Belgium. Gemayel was received at the Brussels Airport by the Lebanese Ambassador to Belgium, Fadi Hajj Ali, head of the Kataeb's chapter, Kamil Abou Assi, as well as party partisans. The Kataeb leader is accompanied by the party's International Secretary Marwan Abdallah. The Lebanese Kataeb party was unanimously elected in 2016 by the political assembly of the European People's Party to join a new partnership platform for parties from the MENA region. Founded in 1976, the European People's Party, pan-European party of the centre-right, is the largest political organization in Europe with 80 parties and partners from 42 countries, 13 heads of state and government (both, EU and non-EU), 14 European Commissioners and the largest Group in the European Parliament. EPP serves as the European division of the Centrist Democrat International which was founded in 1961.

The Trump Administration Is Making Hezbollah Stronger
Anchal Vohra/Foreign Policy/April 08/19
At the press conference that concluded his visit to Lebanon in late March, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listened with a grin as his Lebanese counterpart, Gebran Bassil, described in the usual diplomatic parlance the importance of the longstanding U.S.-Lebanon relationship. Pompeo, however, didn’t spend much time on ceremonial cliches. Instead, he quickly issued a warning: Contain Hezbollah or else. Pompeo attacked the group for carrying out Iran’s agenda in the region at the expense of Lebanon’s domestic order and “the prosperity of future generations.” He added that the Lebanese had a choice between Hezbollah—and its backer Iran, which sends hundreds of millions of dollars to the group every year—and the United States, which provided $800 million to Lebanon in assistance just last year. Pompeo concluded by seemingly encouraging an uprising against Hezbollah when he said, “It will take courage for the nation of Lebanon to stand up to Hezbollah’s criminality, terror, and threats.” Pompeo’s threat was clear: If Lebanon fails to limit Hezbollah’s political and military power, it would risk not just losing U.S. aid but also a more severe response, possibly in the form of debilitating national sanctions.
If the United States follows through on this plan to inflict collective punishment on Lebanon over Hezbollah, the results are likely to be the opposite of what administration officials intend.
Lebanon’s politicians reacted to Pompeo’s remarks with the world-weary defensiveness they regularly deploy against Westerners who they believe misunderstand their political system. They tried to explain to Pompeo that Lebanon’s sectarian political system forbids treating Hezbollah, which has a parliamentary faction legitimately elected into office, as an illegal entity. They also pointed out that the military power of Hezbollah, with its Iranian weapons and training, is superior to that of the Lebanese Armed Forces. It has successfully branded itself to the Lebanese public as capable of standing up to Israel in ways that the Lebanese army manifestly cannot.
Even Lebanese officials critical of Hezbollah dismissed Pompeo’s calls to directly challenge the group, warning that were they to follow his advice, the country could descend into a second civil war. That assessment may be overly dire. The United States, however, is undoubtedly risking Lebanon’s basic stability in ways that may ultimately benefit Hezbollah. The United States already has sanctions in place against Hezbollah leaders and Hezbollah-affiliated businesses. To contain the group further, Washington is expected to target banking institutions that facilitate the flow of funds to the group. It may also sanction Hezbollah’s allies in parliament, including Lebanon’s largest Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement.
Political insiders in Lebanon have been abuzz for weeks about what transpired during Pompeo’s visit, including behind closed doors. At the dinner organized for Pompeo, he allegedly warned multiple officials—including President Michel Aoun and Bassil, the foreign minister, who are the Free Patriotic Movement’s leaders, as well as the speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri of the Shiite Amal Movement, another current Hezbollah ally—that they were potential personal targets of sanctions. Pompeo, in an interview with a local television channel, said that the United States was prepared to sanction “particular individuals”.
Makram Rabah, a history lecturer at the American University of Beirut and a vociferous supporter of sanctions against Hezbollah, said he expected the United States to impose more sanctions under the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act, which could include Lebanese state institutions if the United States thought Hezbollah was using them to bypass Iranian sanctions. “If Hezbollah bypasses American sanctions on Iran or on itself, then the U.S. will sanction Lebanon, and it can sanction under” the act, he said. “Maybe they will sanction Lebanon’s health ministry, which is under Hezbollah’s control, or maybe all of Lebanon as a country.”
Pompeo left no doubt that U.S. policy had radically changed toward Lebanon and that it had withdrawn what has been famously described as the “Lebanese exception”—the idea that because of its fragile democracy and multi-sectarian identity, the country should be given some leeway despite Hezbollah’s designation as a terrorist entity by Washington. Sami Nader, a Lebanese political analyst, said this shift came as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s reversal of his predecessor’s Middle East policy toward confronting Iran. “Now the U.S. says, ‘Hezbollah is your problem.’ As in a Lebanese problem that Lebanon must sort out and not America,” Nader said.
The Lebanese government isn’t sure how to deliver on Pompeo’s wishes. It can neither take on Hezbollah militarily nor stop it from accessing its share of government resources. According to Aoun, Hezbollah scored two-thirds of Shiite votes in the last elections. That’s make it entitled, under Lebanese convention, to offer services and jobs to its constituents, just as Sunni, Druze, and Christian parties do. Nobody doubts that the United States has sufficient power to coerce actions from Lebanese politicians and institutions. The question is whether sweeping sanctions against the Lebanese government would weaken Hezbollah or strengthen it in the longer run. Alain Aoun, a Free Patriotic Movement member of parliament and the president’s nephew, said that if the United States were to impose sanctions on individuals in his party, it would alienate itself from many of its Christian supporters, who otherwise feel they share U.S. cultural values. “America will lose supporters in our voter base, because they would see the U.S. as targeting them and the Lebanese state,” Aoun said.
Thanassis Cambanis, a fellow with the Century Foundation and an author of a book on Hezbollah, said the group was deeply entrenched in Lebanese society and that its supporters would not abandon the group simply because the United States applied pressure to banks or to its Christian allies. “The current U.S. approach smacks of wishful thinking and punitive bullying,” he said. Even while making it harder for Hezbollah, Cambanis said, the United States was treading a fine line. “When Hezbollah is encircled, its base rallies to its side,” he added.
History backs this assessment. Israel’s wars in Lebanon, often targeting Hezbollah, have rallied people to the group well beyond its natural Shiite base. In 1993, Operation Accountability was supposed to punish the Lebanese for Hezbollah’s firing of Katyusha rockets at northern Israel. However, the group merely became more popular, as it also did after Operation Grapes of Wrath in April 1996, and again after the 2006 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon.
This tactic of causing domestic Lebanese turmoil to weaken Hezbollah was also tried by Saudi Arabia as recently as November 2017. The Saudis hoped to put pressure on Sunni politicians to act against Hezbollah by forcing the Sunni prime minister, Saad Hariri, to resign while he was on a visit to Riyadh. They reportedly also hoped to instigate the formation of a Sunni militia to rival Hezbollah. Again, this approach did not work. Instead, it gave Hezbollah a chance to appear statesmanlike as it called for restraint and sided with Hariri.
The United States appears now to be venturing in a similar direction. Critics say, however, that any collective punishment ordered by Washington against Lebanon would make Hezbollah’s victimhood narrative resonate more strongly in the wider region, especially at a time when the United States has been backing Israeli policies so strongly. Once seen as an honest arbiter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Washington’s recognition of the occupied Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory has given more credence to Hezbollah’s declared campaign of resistance against Israel and boosted its anti-American narrative beyond its core base.
Aoun, the Free Patriotic Movement MP, said that the only way to curtail Hezbollah’s powers is to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Hezbollah is supported because people in the region see U.S. policies to be wrong,” he said. “If the Americans come up with a deal which is acceptable to the Palestinians, then what’s the reason for Hezbollah? What do they expect us Lebanese to do when this is such a contentious issue in the Arab world?”It’s not yet clear precisely what Washington has in store for Hezbollah. But most Lebanese seem to be hoping that Pompeo’s veiled threats were rhetoric aimed at Trump’s political base at home. Otherwise, Hezbollah might be the only group to benefit.

What the Trump Administration Should Do in Latin America to Go after Hezbollah
Emanuele Ottolenghi/The Hill/April 08/19
On Friday, a Miami court sentenced Ali Nasreeddine Kassir, a Miami-based Lebanese businessman and suspected Hezbollah facilitator, who pleaded guilty to passport fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering totaling over $70 million. Kassir’s conviction is the opening salvo in a string of interconnected cases implicating alleged Hezbollah financiers Nader Mohamad Farhat and Mahmoud Ali Barakat, and their U.S.-based business counterparts. When combined, these cases involve money transfers worth hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system, allegedly for laundering criminal proceeds, including from drug trafficking, and terror finance.
In response to this clear threat to the integrity of the U.S. financial system, the administration has begun to ramp up its pressure against Hezbollah’s overseas networks, yet South American governments need to offer much more cooperation for Washington’s efforts to succeed.
Both Farhat and Barakat are from Ciudad Del Este, the Paraguayan city in the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, or TBA. A recent Miami Herald investigative piece called Ciudad Del Este “a giant washing machine for Latin American drug profits, knockoff consumer goods and terrorist fund-raising.” Hundreds of tons of commercial goods clear customs there on a monthly basis, mostly flying from Miami on commercial cargo flights. Last year, the Justice Department correctly labelled Hezbollah a Transnational Criminal Organization. Also, since January 2017, the Departments of Treasury and State jointly made dozens of sanctions designations against Hezbollah’s overseas networks. Yet in order for these actions — from investigations to sanctions — to have their maximum impact, the U.S. is reliant on the cooperation of regional allies to block monies and assets before Hezbollah’s financiers can move them out of reach. Local governments have been slow to act against Hezbollah networks, sometimes even flat-out denying their existence.
Given the risks of local inaction and, occasionally, even obstruction, the Trump administration needs to calibrate its strategy to encompass a number of tools that can concurrently exercise maximum pressure on both Hezbollah networks and their corrupt enablers.
First, the U.S. must convince its regional allies to take tangible measures to meet the challenge. None of the three TBA governments has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. While Argentina has made important advances in this direction, Brazil and Paraguay, the two countries where Hezbollah financial networks are most active, lag behind. Such legislation is critical and President Trump should use his prestige to urge his counterparts to take this step.The recent, successful visit of Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, to Washington has created the basis for a fruitful personal relationship between the two leaders. Trump enjoys similar warm relations with Argentinian president Mauricio Macri, and he should leverage these personal relationships to compel Brasilia and Buenos Aires to take action.
Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina also need new legislation to enhance investigative and preventive measures by intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. Once in place, this legislative framework would enable these governments to impose sanctions and conduct investigations jointly with the United States. Joint designations would send a strong message to the global financial system, and the freezing of assets related to the designated parties would be more comprehensive and effective. The TBA governments should also work to contain the damage caused by leaks, or worse, the active obstructionism mounted by corrupt officials. That is why the United States must be prepared to act independently when partner governments refuse to cooperate, or when their actions are undermined by corrupt local officials.
U.S. criminal investigations, indictments, and successful prosecutions must, where possible, continue, with added resources allocated to relevant government agencies in order to increase the number of cases prosecuted and increase the rate of successful convictions.
This is necessary because in the TBA large investigations into alleged money laundering schemes with possible terrorist financing connections frequently fail to go to trial. Last November, Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color tied Hezbollah to the 2016 “megalavado” (“mega-wash”) investigation, which uncovered one of the largest money-laundering schemes in Paraguay’s history. It remains to be seen whether the alleged scheme benefited the terror group. Regardless, the U.S. State Department flagged the case as a sign of Paraguay’s failure to fight money laundering.
It has been more than two years since Paraguayan authorities conducted raids against the suspected perpetrators. The prosecutors in charge of the case have been replaced several times — including, most recently, over the past Christmas holiday. There have been neither indictments nor exonerations.
Finally, the United States should leverage existing sanctions legislation, not just to disrupt Hezbollah’s overseas networks, but also target those who facilitate Hezbollah’s networks through complicity, collusion, corruption and protection. In October 2018, President Trump signed into law the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act Amendments Act. This legislation augmented previous efforts by the U.S. Congress to expand the reach of U.S. financial sanctions against Hezbollah through the original Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act. Combined, this legislative framework presents a two-tiered threat to Hezbollah’s corrupt enablers in the TBA.
First, the legislation imposes secondary sanctions not only on known Hezbollah entities, but on those “determined by the President to be engaged in fundraising or recruitment activities for Hizballah.” While these activities are already prohibited by U.S. sanctions law, the secondary sanctions require the administration to sanctions “any foreign person that the President determines knowingly provides significant financial, material, or technological support to or for” Hezbollah fundraisers. This could include any Paraguayan, Brazilian, or Argentine individual or company that rents facilities to, provides banking services for, receives bribes from, or takes any other action that aides a person designated for fundraising or recruitment.
Second, the legislation authorizes the application of enhanced due diligence measures for US banks with respect to entire jurisdictions other than Lebanon — at the federal, state, or municipal levels — that “expressly consent to, or with knowledge allow, the use of their territory by Hizballah to carry out terrorist activities, including training, financing, and recruitment.” This means that if local politicians and bureaucrats in the TBA know about and disregard Hezbollah’s fundraising and recruitment in areas that they administer, the administration could subject the area itself to increased financial scrutiny.
The administration has an opportunity to utilize diplomacy, law enforcement actions, and sanctions designations to crack down on Hezbollah’s operations in the TBA, and Latin America more broadly. Doing so will not only limit Hezbollah’s operational capabilities, but defend the U.S. financial system against the drug profits and terrorist fund-raising that pervades that region.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on April 08-09/19
US designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization
Agencies/April 08, 2019 17:16
Donald Trump says IRGC 'actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft'
US says Middle East can not be stable until the IRGC is weakened
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced Monday that the US is designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a "foreign terrorist organization" to help stabilize the Middle East and bring maximum pressure on Tehran. In an important step to counter the Iranian regime’s terrorism, the U.S. has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, incl. Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We must help the people of Iran get back their freedom. Trump said the “unprecedented” move “recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump said. It is the first time the United States has designated part of a foreign government a terrorist organization, rather than guerrilla groups or other more informal entities.
The move comes on top of Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of an international deal with Iran that was meant to lift crippling economic sanctions in return for the government allowing its nuclear technology to be restricted and kept under close supervision. The Trump administration argues that Iran’s government, which is locked in a deeply hostile standoff with top US ally Israel, cannot be trusted and should face “maximum pressure.”Israeli’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warmly welcomed the move by his “dear friend” Trump.The terrorist designation for the Revolutionary Guards is meant to strike at the heart of the Iranian government’s power structure. The elite force was formed after the 1979 Islamic revolution with a mission to defend the clerical regime, in contrast to more traditional military units that protect borders.
At home, it has amassed strong political and economic influence.
Abroad, the Guards’ Quds Force supports Iranian allies, including Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Addressing reporters following Trump’s announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned all banks and business of consequences to dealing with the Revolutionary Guards from now on. “The leaders of Iran are racketeers, not revolutionaries,” Pompeo said. “Businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial transactions are not conducted with the IRGC in any material way.”
Brian Hook, the State Department’s special representative for Iran, said the Middle East can not be more stable without weakening the IRGC. "It is the blunt instrument of Iran's foreign policy," he added. A senior Trump administration official said the new measure would criminalize contact with the Guards and “enable our prosecutors to bring charges to those that bring material support to the IRGC.” “The IRGC is interwoven into the Iranian economy.... The safest course is to stop doing business with the IRGC. If you do business with the IRGC you run the risk of bankrolling terrorism,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Another official said the force has “been a principal driver of violence on a vast scale for many decades” in an attempt “to reshape the Middle East in Iran’s favor.”The dramatic escalation of Washington’s attempt to undermine Iran’s leaders comes on the eve of Israeli elections where close Trump ally Netanyahu is seeking to extend his 13 years in office. “Thank you, my dear friend, US President Donald Trump, for having decided to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued minutes after the White House announcement. “Thank you for responding to another important request of mine, which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region.” Iran’s parliament has vowed to retaliate by passing an urgent bill putting American troops on its own terrorism blacklist. “Even though we believe one should not play along with America’s extreme acts, the reality is that we must retaliate,” the head of Iran’s influential national security and foreign policy commission, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, told ISNA. A statement signed by a majority of lawmakers in support of the bill said any action against Iran’s national security and its armed forces was “crossing a red line” and the US administration would “regret” its decision.

Pompeo warns all banks, businesses to end dealings with the IRGC
Al Arabiya English and agencies/Monday, 08/April 2019/US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday warned all banks and businesses against dealing with Iran's Revolutionary Guards after Washington designated the group as a terrorist organization. “The leaders of Iran are racketeers, not revolutionaries,” Pompeo said. “Businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial transactions are not conducted with the IRGC in any material way.”During the press conference, Pompeo said the designation would come into effect in one week. “In an important step to counter the Iranian regime’s terrorism, the US has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the Quds Force, as a foreign terrorist organization. We must help the people of Iran get back their freedom,” Pompeo tweeted on Monday. “The use of terrorism is central to the Iranian regime’s foreign policy. The designation of IRGC, including the Quds Force, will help starve the regime of the means to execute this destructive policy. Maximum pressure will be unrelenting until Iran’s regime abandons its deadly ambitions,” Pompeo added.

Floods force evacuation of hospital in southwest Iran
AFP, Tehran/Monday, 8 April 2019/Iranian authorities on Monday evacuated patients from a hospital threatened by floodwaters in the southwestern city of Ahwaz, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported. Iran has been hit by several weeks of unprecedented flooding across most of the usually arid country that has killed 70 people, according to the emergency services. On Monday, authorities were battling to prevent floods reaching Ahwaz, which is the capital of Khuzestan province and home to about 1.3 million people. The advancing waters sparked fears that a hospital on the city’s northern outskirts would be submerged after the nearby Karkheh river burst its banks. “Salamat hospital has been evacuated and all patients transferred to Golestan hospital on the orders of the crisis management authorities due to the risk of the hospital being flooded,” the head of Golestan hospital, Meysam Moazi, told ISNA. The huge floods have forced authorities to release water from one of the largest dams in the area, which has left some of the cities downstream under threat. A “significant amount” of floodwater from Karkheh started moving toward Ahwaz on Sunday, according to city mayor Mansour Katanbaf. “We’ve been trying to manage the water ... most of it has been diverted toward other channels and what’s left is being handled,” Katanbaf told ISNA. Authorities ordered the evacuation of six new cities along the Karkheh river on Saturday as the situation neared “critical” status. According to ISNA, a total of 210 villages along the river have been evacuated, 61 of which are now flooded. Flooding swamped northeast Iran in mid-March before spreading to the west and southwest of the country later in the month. Heavy rains brought more floods to the west and southwest at the start of April. The flooding has caused damage worth 150 trillion Iranian rials, more than $1 billion at the free market rate, according to an official estimate given by lawmaker Mehrdad Lahooti.

Netanyahu, Gantz make final pitches before Israeli vote
AFP/April 08, 2019
The general election — in which Netanyahu is seeking to extend his 13 years in office — is expected to be close, as ex-military chief Benny Gantz poses a serious challenge
Netanyahu has made last-minute appeals to the right, issuing a deeply controversial pledge to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to energise supporters on the eve of Tuesday’s elections with warnings and controversial promises, while his centrist challenger urged voters to tell the premier the country has had enough. The general election — in which Netanyahu is seeking to extend his 13 years in office despite corruption allegations against him — is expected to be close, as ex-military chief Benny Gantz poses a serious challenge. The two men spent the campaign’s final hours exhorting voters with two different strategies: Netanyahu repeatedly warned that his Likud was at risk of losing, while Gantz made the case that Israel was on the verge of historic change. The truth was more complicated, with opinion polls giving Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White a similar number of seats in the 120-seat parliament. Under those polls, both would fall far short of an outright majority and would need to pull together a coalition.
If polling trends hold, Netanyahu would be best placed to build an alliance thanks to smaller right-wing parties close to him. But there have been repeated warnings about opinion polls’ historical unreliability and the fact that many voters say they remain undecided. Netanyahu’s claims that Likud may lose were widely seen as a way to encourage his base to turn out. Netanyahu has made last-minute appeals to the right, issuing a deeply controversial pledge to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank. If done on a large-scale, applying Israeli sovereignty there could extinguish remaining hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
In an interview on Sunday, Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump, who is expected to release his long-awaited deal for Israeli-Palestinian peace sometime after the election, was aware of his plans. Netanyahu said he planned to apply sovereignty gradually, and that he did not differentiate between Israel’s large West Bank settlement blocs and the isolated ones located deep in the territory on land the Palestinians see as part of a future state. “Who else can do this? Who can do this? Come on. Honestly,” Netanyahu said, making the case as he has throughout the campaign that he is Israel’s essential statesman. “Who can stand in front of the world? Who can stand in front of the American Congress? Who can move public opinion in that direction?“ Gantz has called Netanyahu’s pledge an “irresponsible” bid for right-wing votes. He says he favors a “globally backed peace agreement” that sees Israel hold on to the large settlement blocs in the West Bank and maintain security control over the territory.
Gantz has also highlighted his security credentials while saying he will heal divisions he accuses Netanyahu of exacerbating. “There’s a need for change and an opportunity for change,” Gantz told Israel’s army radio on Monday. “Israel needs to choose a direction of unification, connection and hope — or of extremity.”The two were also engaging in typical pre-election campaigning, including Gantz riding a motorcycle to his rally on Sunday and Netanyahu visiting Jerusalem’s main market on Monday. “The only way to close the gap and to ensure that Likud will form the next government for sure is to have a big Likud,” Netanyahu told supporters at the market.
Gantz said Monday at his party headquarters in Tel Aviv that supporters had to make sure “everyone goes to the polling stations because we are going to serve all voters from the right and from the left, all of the Israeli citizens.”Netanyahu will be on track to surpass founding father David Ben-Gurion as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister should he win on Tuesday. But even if he triumphs, he faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. The attorney general has announced he intends to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending an upcoming hearing.
The premier’s opponents have seized on the allegations to argue that the 69-year-old Netanyahu has lost his way and must go. But the premier has been defiant, calling the investigations a “witch hunt” and denouncing journalists reporting on them — similar to the tactics used by his ally Trump. While the threat of indictment hangs over Netanyahu, he has also built a reputation as guarantor of Israel’s security and economic growth. He has repeatedly claimed Trump’s recognition of the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights as two of his major accomplishments. Gantz has sought to overcome that in part by allying with two other former military chiefs of staff and ex-finance minister Yair Lapid.

Palestinians denounce Netanyahu’s annexation pledge
The Associated Press/Jordan/ April 08/19/Israel’s leader will face a “real problem” if he follows through with his election campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Foreign Minister said Sunday. Riad Malki told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge was likely aimed at rallying his nationalist base in the final stretch of a tight race. He added that Palestinians would “resist” such a policy if carried out. “If Netanyahu wants to declare Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, then you know he has to face a real problem, the presence of 4.5 million Palestinians, what to do with them,” Malki said. He said Israel cannot expel the Palestinians. Malki added: “We will stay there, the international community has to deal with us.”The Palestinian FM accused the US of encouraging Netanyahu by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and, more recently, recognizing Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights. In a prime-time interview Saturday, Netanyahu was asked why he hadn’t annexed some of the larger Jewish settlements in the West Bank during his current term. “The question you are asking is an interesting question, whether we will move to the next stage and the answer is yes,” he said. “We will move to the next stage, the imposing of Israeli sovereignty,” Netanyahu added. Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion in his four terms as prime minister, but until now refrained from presenting a detailed vision for the West Bank, viewed by Palestinians as the heartland of a future state. It would mark a dramatic shift for Netanyahu, ahead of Tuesday’s balloting. Annexing settlements would all but end any chance of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and potentially push the sides toward a single, binational state.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also expressed concerns about America’s “illegitimate decisions” in the region. “We see the solution in dialogue between countries, because unilateral actions will never lead to anything good,” he said.

New Palestinian government to be formed in days
AFP, Ramallah/Monday, 8 April 2019/Palestinian prime minister-designate Mohammad Shtayyeh will announce the make-up of his new government in the coming days, Palestinian officials said Monday. Shtayyeh has until April 14 to form a new government which is expected to exclude all supporters of Hamas, a longtime rival to the Fatah movement of both Shtayyeh and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Analysts say real decision-making power remains with 84-year-old Abbas, in power since 2005. Abbas on March 10 charged Shtayyeh with forming the new government, replacing Rami Hamdallah’s technocratic administration which had the nominal backing of Hamas. The movement controls the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Authority Abbas heads is based in the West Bank, where Israel also maintains a military occupation. Five smaller factions will also join Fatah in the new government, officials said. Others, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, refused to take part. Deputy President Mahmoud Aloul told AFP a meeting would be held Monday evening between Shtayyeh and Abbas to decide on candidates for remaining ministries. He said agreements had been reached over which factions would control which ministries. Hamas has criticized the formation of the government, accusing Fatah of a power grab. Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads since the Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip in a 2007 near-civil war, a year after winning parliamentary elections. Palestinian politics has effectively been frozen since, and multiple reconciliation attempts have failed. Former government minister Shtayyeh has been part of a number of Palestinian negotiating teams in US-brokered talks with Israel.

South Africa downgrades its embassy in Israel
AFP, Johannesburg/ Monday, 8 April 2019/South Africa has downgraded its embassy in Tel Aviv, the foreign minister said Sunday, following a decision taken by the ruling party more than a year ago. Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told journalists in Johannesburg that the plans to downgrade the embassy in Israel were well underway. “We will not be putting up a nomination for a representative at the level of an ambassador in Israel,” Sisulu said. “The office will remain at the level of a liaison and that is how it will operate,” she added. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) resolved to downgrade the South African Embassy in Israel to liaison office level 16 months ago. The party of the late president Nelson Mandela has in the past voiced its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, which many South Africans see as similar to the struggle against white minority rule in South Africa which was ended in 1994. Last May South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel after at least 52 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during protests over the United Sates moving its embassy to Jerusalem. Addressing delegates at the South African Institute of International Affairs on Wednesday, Sisulu said the liaison office in Tel Aviv “will have no political mandate, no trade mandate and no development cooperation mandate. It will not be responsible for trade and commercial activities.”She added that the office would focus on consular and “people-to-people relations”.

Nissan Shareholders OK Sacking Ghosn From Board
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 8 April, 2019/Nissan shareholders approved on Monday the ouster from the Japanese automaker's board of its former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, who is facing allegations of financial misconduct. The approval, which was expected, was indicated by applause from the more than 4,000 people gathered at a Tokyo hotel for a three-hour extraordinary shareholders' meeting. Other votes had been submitted in advance. Ahead of the vote, Nissan's top executive apologized to its shareholders for the scandal at the Japanese automaker and asked them to approve Ghosn's dismissal. Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa and other Nissan Motor Co. executives bowed deeply in apology to shareholders attending the extraordinary meeting at a Tokyo hotel. Shareholders also approved the appointment of French alliance partner Renault SA's chairman Jean-Dominique Senard to replace Ghosn. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan. Senard, introduced to shareholders at the meeting's end, thanked them and promised to do his best to keep the automaker's performance on track. "I will dedicate my energy to enhance the future of Nissan," said Senard. They likewise also gave a green light to removing from the board a former executive direct, Greg Kelly, who has been charged with collaborating with Ghosn in the alleged misconduct. Angry shareholders demanded an explanation for how wrongdoing on an allegedly massive scale had gone unchecked for years. The meeting was closed except to stockholders but livestreamed.
One shareholder said Nissan's entire management should resign immediately. Saikawa said he felt his responsibility lay in fixing the shoddy corporate governance at Nissan first, and continuing to lead its operations. Another shareholder asked if Nissan was prepared for a damage lawsuit from shareholders since its stock price has plunged. "I deeply, deeply apologize for all the worries and troubles we have caused," Saikawa said. "This is an unprecedented and unbelievable misconduct by a top executive." He outlined the findings of an internal investigation, such as payments of a consultation fee to Ghosn's sister for 13 years. The investigation has also found too much power had been focused in one person, he said. Ken Miyamoto, 65, a Nissan shareholder, said he was disappointed.
"It is really such a pity as he was a brilliant manager," Miyamoto said of Ghosn before heading into the meeting. "I guess he became complacent as people kept praising him too much."Ghosn says he is innocent of all allegations and has suggested the accusations were made by some people at Nissan hoping to remove him from power. He has been charged with under-reporting his compensation in financial documents, and with breach of trust in having Nissan shoulder investment losses and making suspect payments to a Saudi businessman. Ghosn says the compensation was never decided on or paid, no investment losses were suffered by Nissan, and the payments were for legitimate services. Ghosn was arrested in November, released on bail in early March and then re-arrested for a fourth time last week. The latest arrest was in connection with fresh allegations that $5 million sent by a Nissan Motor Co. subsidiary and meant for an Oman dealership was diverted to a company effectively controlled by Ghosn. His detention on that allegation has been approved through April 14 but could be extended. The date of his trial has not been set. Yokohama-based Nissan, which makes the Leaf electric car, March subcompact and Infiniti luxury models, was on the brink of bankruptcy when Renault sent Ghosn to turn it around two decades ago. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance now rivals auto giants Volkswagen AG of Germany and Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. in global sales. Saikawa told shareholders the company will stick by the alliance, fix its governance problems and make the ouster of Ghosn "a turning point.""We had allowed a system in which wrongdoing could be carried out without detection," he said.

Sudan: Thousands Protest Near President’s Residence
Khartoum - Ahmed Younes/Asharq Al Awsat/April 08/19/Thousands of Sudanese protesters took the streets Monday for the third day outside army headquarters as they urged the military to back calls for President Omar al-Bashir to step down. Several vehicles carrying National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) personnel and riot police arrived in the early hours Monday at the site where protesters have been demonstrating continuously since Saturday, witnesses told AFP. Security forces began firing tear gas at protesters, according to a witness. The gas was felt by residents in an upscale Khartoum district some five kilometers away from the army complex.On Sunday, over one million people chanted against the president, as the National Defense and Security Council acknowledged protesters' demands. Asharq Al-Awsat monitored thousands of people pouring in from all directions towards the sit-in at al-Jish Street outside the army headquarters that also houses Bashir's residence and the defense ministry. The numbers of protesters increased later throughout the day. Protests first erupted on December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread. They accuse Bashir's administration of economic mismanagement that has led to soaring food prices and regular shortages of fuel and foreign currency. Chanting anti-government slogans, protesters have been urging the military to back them in demanding Bashir's resignation. Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) announced that six people were killed on Saturday and Sunday while tens were injured by live bullets and tear gas at the site of the sit-in. According to reports, the army forces ordered protesters to return to their homes at night and imposed a citywide curfew. However, they continued and were joined by additional crowds. Young protesters insist on their demands and assure they will not leave before overthrowing the regime. The opposition, affiliated with the Alliance of Freedom and Change, insists that Bashir and his government must step down, hoping the army would join the people. However, the President insists on his position and refuses to leave office before holding elections. Opposition considers the President’s claim to step down from the position after elections an attempt to win more time which could enable him to amend the constitution, thus granting him the chance to rule for another term. The opposition Sudanese professional Association (SPA) warned of security services and loyalists of the army leaders schemes to end the sit-ins, urging all people to join the general command for support. In the meantime, citizens and families rushed to provide drinking water and food to the protesters. A protester told Asharq Al-Awsat that the citizens provided everything, including cigarettes, coffee and tea. The Central Committee was quick to provide medical supplies to the protesters, including a number of doctors and ambulances ready to provide medical assistance when needed. Several celebrities, artists, and sports figures participated in the sit-ins. A number of videos circulated the social media showing famous singer Nancy Ajaj singing near the general command. In Khartoum, demonstrators blocked roads leading to the city center disrupting many public institutions, and various private companies closed for the protests. Despite the hot weather, protesters remained in their positions and closed Khartoum's largest streets and banned cars from passing except those carrying food, water and supplies, as well as army vehicles. The President held Sunday an “emergency meeting” with the National Defense and Security Council asserting the importance of responding to the demands of the protesters. Authorities blocked social network such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, forcing activists to use proxies to access their accounts.

Sudanese security forces try to break up sit-in protest outside defense ministry
Reuters, Khartoum/Monday, 8 April 2019/Sudanese security forces on Monday launched an attempt to break up a protest by thousands of demonstrators camping outside the defense ministry in central Khartoum, witnesses said. They said security forces on pickup trucks were firing tear gas extensively as they charged towards the sit-in. Meanwhile, Sudanese soldiers intervened to protect protesters from security forces, demonstrators and witnesses said. Thousands of protesters held a sit-in outside Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's residence in central Khartoum on Sunday, and crowds chanting anti-government slogans filled several main streets, witnesses said. Sudan has seen sustained protests against Bashir and his National Congress Party since Dec. 19. Security forces have fired tear gas, stun grenades and live bullets to disperse protesters and dozens have been killed during demonstrations. Bashir has refused to step down, saying that his opponents need to seek power through the ballot box. On Sunday evening, dozens of demonstrations took place in the Sudanese capital, eyewitnesses said. Protesters marched in several streets of central Khartoum, setting fire to car tyres and blocking a main road, a Reuters witness said. Demonstrators also blocked a bridge that connects Khartoum and Khartoum North.

Putin and Erdogan discuss S-400 missile deal
Mon 08 Apr 2019/NNA - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart on Monday discussed a missile deal slammed by the US as well as closer military cooperation during a visit by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Moscow. The two sides must "strengthen cooperation in the military-technical sphere," Putin told Erdogan as they met in the Kremlin. "These regard first of all the completion of the contract to supply S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey," he said. "There are other promising projects on the agenda related to the supply of modern Russian military products to Turkey," Putin added.
NATO member Turkey's missile deal has tested its already soured relations with Washington. The US has put a freeze on its joint F-35 fighter jet programme with Turkey in protest. Last week, US acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he was confident Turkey would drop the plan and buy the US Patriot system instead. Erdogan has said the S-400s are needed to protect Turkey's borders. He said he turned to Russia because no acceptable US missile deal was available at the time. The first S-400 delivery is expected in July. Erdogan is on his third visit to Russia since the beginning of this year.—AFP

Thousands march in Montreal to denounce Quebec government's secularism bill
The Canadian Press/April 08/19/MONTREAL — Thousands of Montrealers chanted for solidarity and loudly denounced Premier Francois Legault on Sunday as they took to the streets to oppose the Quebec government's proposed secularism bill. The crowd chanted slogans such as "Quebec, it's our home!" as they marched against the legislation that would ban the wearing of religious symbols on the job for public sector employees deemed to be in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers. The protesters included Aymen Derbali, who was seriously injured in the January 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting where six Muslim men were killed. Derbali, who attended with fellow survivor Said El-Amari, told the crowd that rather than working to reduce stigma and Islamophobia, the government is tabling discriminatory legislation that unfairly targets Muslim women. "Instead of weighing in on societal problems, (the Legault government) wants to adopt a law that oppresses the rights of women to wear their hijabs and to work," said Derbali, who was partly paralyzed in the shooting and now uses a wheelchair. Taran Singh, a member of Montreal's Sikh community, said the government should focus on issues such as the school dropout rate and hospital emergency room wait times rather than pitting Quebecers against each other. "What the political parties in Quebec are doing is dividing us," Singh said. "Anglophones against francophones, federalists against sovereigntists, laypersons against religious immigrants. "This mentality of us versus us doesn't serve anyone." Selsabil Hamiham, a 21-year-old student, said the proposed bill attacks her identity. "I don't believe Francois Legault has the power to tell me how to dress, how to be," she said. Wearing a hijab was her own choice, she added. "Since nobody forced me to wear it, nobody can make me take it off," she said. Sunday's event was the largest of a series of protests that have been held to denounce the legislation, known as Bill 21. The crowd included representatives from many of Montreal's cultural groups, including the Muslim, Sikh, Jewish and Chinese communities. The event was organized by Adil Charkaoui, a controversial Islamic educator who was once accused by Ottawa of having terrorist ties. Charkaoui was arrested under Canada's security certificate system in 2003, but he was never charged. On Sunday, he called on Quebecers to reject the bill, which he said aims to tell Muslim women how to dress and where to work. The Quebec government argues the bill is reasonable and in line with the values of Quebecers, and last week Legault said it doesn't violate religious freedom. People who would be excluded from public sector jobs because of the law can find other work, he said. Legault also noted that his government included a grandfather clause that would exempt current employees from the restrictions as long as they remain in the same job.

Putin and Erdogan Discuss S-400 Missile Deal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 08/19/Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart on Monday discussed a missile deal slammed by the U.S. as well as closer military cooperation during a visit by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Moscow. The two sides must "strengthen cooperation in the military-technical sphere," Putin told Erdogan as they met in the Kremlin. "These regard first of all the completion of the contract to supply S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey," he said. "There are other promising projects on the agenda related to the supply of modern Russian military products to Turkey," Putin added. NATO member Turkey's missile deal has tested its already soured relations with Washington. The U.S. has put a freeze on its joint F-35 fighter jet program with Turkey in protest. Last week, U.S. acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he was confident Turkey would drop the plan and buy the U.S. Patriot system instead. Erdogan has said the S-400s are needed to protect Turkey's borders. He said he turned to Russia because no acceptable U.S. missile deal was available at the time. The first S-400 delivery is expected in July. The pair also discussed Syria, where they have backed opposite sides in the eight-year conflict but have been working closely to end the fighting. Putin said they were unable to reach an agreement to set up a monitoring center in Syria's jihadist-held Idlib region, agreed at a summit in Sochi in February. "We have so far not been able to create the monitoring center," Putin said. "But I am sure that we will do this." Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and rebel backer Turkey in September inked a buffer zone deal to prevent a massive regime offensive on the Idlib region, near the Turkish border. On Sunday, 13 civilians died in bombing in Idlib. Along with Iran, Russia and Turkey have positioned themselves as key foreign players in Syria's long-running war. Erdogan is on his third visit to Russia since the beginning of this year.

Battle rages for Libya’s capital, airport bombed
Reuters/April 08, 2019
Libyan authorities closed the only functioning airport in the capital Tripoli after an air strike
2,800 people have been displaced by clashes around the Libyan capital, but in some areas civilians are trapped
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI: A warplane attacked Tripoli’s only functioning airport on Monday as eastern forces advancing on Libya’s capital disregarded global appeals for a truce in the latest of a cycle of warfare since Muammar Qaddafi’s fall in 2011. The fighting threatens to disrupt oil supplies, fuel migration to Europe and wreck UN plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west. Casualties are mounting.
The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar — a former general in Qaddafi’s army — said 19 of its soldiers had died in recent days as they closed in on the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.
A spokesman for the Tripoli-based Health Ministry said fighting in the south of the capital had killed at least 25 people, including fighters and civilians, and wounded 80. The UN said 2,800 people had been displaced by clashes and many more could flee, though some were trapped.
“The United Nations continues to call for a temporary humanitarian truce to allow for the provision of emergency services and the voluntary passage of civilians, including those wounded, from areas of conflict,” it said in a statement. UN envoy Ghassan Salame met Serraj in his office in Tripoli on Monday to discuss “this critical and difficult juncture,” the world body’s Libya mission said. The violence has jeopardized a UN plan for an April 14-16 conference to plan elections and end anarchy that has prevailed since the Western-backed toppling of Qaddafi eight years ago.
The UN refugee agency expressed anxiety about thousands caught in cross-fire and detention centers in conflict zones in a “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.”Libya FAC "I just spoke to @UN SE @GhassanSalame. I think the first message we need to pass is the full implementation of humanitarian truce. Avoid any further military action and escalation. And return to the political negotiations" @FedericaMog pic.twitter.com/oC19spP8DN
— European External Action Service - EEAS (@eu_eeas) April 8, 2019
As well as the United Nations, the European Union, United States and G7 bloc have all urged a cease-fire and called on all parties in Libya to stop military escalation and return to the negotiating table, voicing support for the efforts of the UN envoy. But that seemed to fall on deaf ears. Matiga airport, in an eastern suburb, said it was bombed and a resident confirmed the attack. No more details were immediately available.
Haftar’s LNA, which backs the eastern administration in Benghazi, took the oil-rich south of Libya earlier this year before advancing fast through largely unpopulated desert regions toward the coastal capital.
Seizing Tripoli, however, is a much bigger challenge for the LNA. It has conducted air strikes on the south of the city as it seeks to advance along a road toward the center from a disused former international airport.
However, the government of Prime Minister Fayez Al-Serraj, 59, is seeking to block the LNA with the help of allied armed groups who have rushed to Tripoli from nearby Misrata port in pickup trucks fitted with machine guns.
A Reuters correspondent in the city center could hear gunfire in the distance southwards. Serraj who comes from a wealthy business family, has run Tripoli since 2016 as part of a UN-brokered deal boycotted by Haftar. His Tripoli government has reported 11 deaths in the last few days, without saying on which side. Since NATO-backed rebels ousted Qaddafi, Libya has been a transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants trekking across the Sahara in hope of reaching Europe across the sea. Daesh staged some high profile attacks in Tripoli last year, but the militant group has largely retreated to the desert of southern Libya since the loss of its former stronghold in Sirte late in 2016. France’s stance has created tensions with Italy, which has sought a leading role to end the turmoil in its former colony that has played into the hands of militants and smugglers.

Egypt unveils 2,500-year-old mummy at forgotten cemetery
April 08/19/MINYA: Egypt has unveiled the 2,500-year-old mummy of a high priest at an ancient cemetery south of Cairo. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and an Egyptian team opened three sealed sarcophagi from the 26th Dynasty. One contained the well-preserved mummy of a powerful priest, wrapped in linen and decorated with a golden figure depicting Isis, an ancient Egyptian goddess. The team also opened two other sarcophagi, one containing a female mummy decorated with blue beads and another with a father in a family tomb. The finds were revealed live on air on the Discovery Channel on Sunday. At the burial site in Minya province, the team also found a rare wax head. “I never discovered in the late period anything like this,” Hawass said. Egyptian archaeologists discovered the site a year and a half ago and the excavation is continuing. “I really believe that this site needs excavation maybe for the coming 50 years,” Hawass told Reuters a day before the sarcophagi were opened. He expects more tombs to be found there. In 1927, a huge limestone sarcophagus was found in the area and placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but the site was then forgotten, Hawass said. But two years ago an unauthorized digger was found at the site and stopped, he said. That’s what alerted archaeologists and excavation began.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 08-09/19
When Will Iran's Regime Finally Cave In?
جوليو ميوتي/معهد جيتستون: وأخيراً متى يستسلم وينهار النظام الإيراني
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/April 08/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/73640/giulio-meotti-gatestone-institute-when-will-irans-regime-finally-cave-in%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%87%D8%AF-%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13892/iran-regime-cave-in
"Yes, the accused fled from a country where virtual bullies push against science, knowledge and expertise and resort to conspiracy theories to find a scapegoat for all the problems because they know well that finding an enemy, spy or someone to blame is much easier than accepting responsibility and complicity in a problem". — Kaveh Madani, one of Iran's leading environmentalists, who recently fled to London.
Despite its economic crisis, Iran continues to provide hundreds of millions of dollars every year to terrorists. " When you throw in the money provided to other terrorists, the total comes close to one billion dollars. Let's pause to consider that, because it bears repeating:The Iranian regime spends nearly a billion dollars a year just to support terrorism". — Nathan A. Sales, U.S. State Department Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
This impressive decline of the Iranian regime is being accompanied by petty and repressive laws. Iran recently handed down a sentence of 33 years in prison and 148 lashes to a prominent Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who dared to defend girls who were protesting Iran's forced veiling laws. In another recent incident, an Iranian couple were arrested after their public marriage proposal went viral on social media.
The Islamic Republic of Iran today, through its terror proxies and puppet regimes, has been extending its hegemony to many capitals of the Middle East: Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Sanaa. Iran continues to threaten the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin and potentially Europe. Forty years after its theocratic revolution in 1979, the mullahs speak (wishfully, one assumes) of a "declining" America.
"America cannot manage its own affairs now", Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the powerful Guardian Council, said on state television. "Millions of people are hungry there and America's power is in decline". Such declarations may be intended to hide Iran's own terrible decline, fleeing reality and crumbling from within.
Iran was the first country, in 1979, to bring down a secular, pro-Western government and replace it with an Islamic theocracy. The experiment, however, seems to have failed. Instead of bringing prosperity and freedom, it brought poverty and repression. Even without considering the terrible persecution of women, journalists, academics dissidents and sexual minorities, the Iranian regime is crumbling.
Statistics published by the World Bank note that Iran has had an appalling economic meltdown over the past 40 years since the Islamic clerics came to power. Its drop in economic rankings relative to other countries has been "one of the steepest declines in modern history". According to World Bank data:
"Using GDP ranking as another metric of economic importance, in 1960, Iran was the world's 29th largest economy. Turkey ranked 13th and South Korea ranked 33nd. By 1977, Iran had climbed to 18th place, Turkey was 20th, and Korea 28th. In 2017, Iran was 27th, Turkey hovered around 18th, and Korea had by now become the 13th largest economy in the world."
The average per capita GDP based on the Iranian currency's real purchasing power from 1976 to 2017 shows that since the revolution, the average Iranian became 30% poorer.
"One country chose openness, democracy and innovation," tweeted U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands about the different paths taken by South Korea and Iran. "The other one didn't".
According to Mohsen Delaviz of the Iran Fuel Conservation Company, "Iran with its 80 million population annually spends $45 billion for energy subsides, while this figure stands at $38 billion in China with population of 1.5 billion."
Unfortunately, Europe has now chosen to appease Iran's regime rather than to increase pressure on it. That view possibly accounts for the absence of foreign ministers from major European powers, such as Germany and France, at the recent Warsaw meeting, called by the US and other allies to pressure Iran. A few days after the Warsaw meeting, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sent a shameful congratulatory telegram to Iran's leaders on the 40th anniversary of their revolution.
Iran's oil production has yet to recover to pre-1979 levels. According to Bloomberg:
"Even if the U.S. lifted sanctions, Iran would be hard-pressed to pump near 6 million barrels a day like it did just before the 1979 revolution. It produced less than half that amount -- 2.74 million a day -- in January, data compiled by Bloomberg show."
"The economy is even worse than they let on," commented Alireza Nader, the CEO of New Iran, a research and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. Yet despite its economic crisis, Iran continues to provide hundreds of millions of dollars every year to terrorists across the world.
"Iran provides Hezbollah alone some $700 million a year", said Nathan A. Sales, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
"It gives another $100 million to various Palestinian terrorist groups. When you throw in the money provided to other terrorists, the total comes close to one billion dollars. Let's pause to consider that, because it bears repeating: The Iranian regime spends nearly a billion dollars a year just to support terrorism".
Iran, however, does boast numerous records. According to Amnesty International, "more than half (51%) of all recorded executions in 2017 were carried out in Iran". In relation to its population, Iran holds the world record for executions per capita. There was an increase of 333% in prisoners between 1985 and 2017 in Iran. The newly appointed head of the Islamic Republic's judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, "was involved in mass executions of political prisoners," according to U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson.
In the last 40 years, the corruption of Iran's regime and its wretched management of environmental resources have led Iran to a natural disaster. The country is running out of water. "Iran is committing suicide by dehydration." Foreign Policy recently wrote:
"In 2013, the former head of Iran's environmental protection agency reported that 85 percent of the country's groundwater was gone, while the population had doubled in the last 40 years."
That unpleasant truth may well be why environmental experts are treated as a "security threat" by the Iranian regime. When some scientists tried to identify the problems and offer the solutions, Iranian security forces arrested them. According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, 40 of these experts were arrested in just one month.
In addition to a scarcity of water, there is also a human brain-drain. According to the U.S. State Department:
"One in 4 of Iran's most educated citizens leave their country when given the opportunity... Iran has one of the highest rates of citizens leaving their homeland — an estimated 5 million Iranians have left the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution."
Chapman University Professor Shahrzad Kamyab wrote:
"According to the International Monetary fund (IMF), which surveyed 91 countries, Iran has the highest rate of brain drain in the world: every year, 150,000 educated Iranians leave their home country..."
Iran's leading environmentalist, Kaveh Madani, recently fled to London and tweeted:
"Yes, the accused fled from a country where virtual bullies push against science, knowledge and expertise and resort to conspiracy theories to find a scapegoat for all the problems, because they know well that finding an enemy, spy or someone to blame is much easier than accepting responsibility and complicity in a problem."
World Bank figures put Iran's youth unemployment at about 30% for 2018.
Iran's youths are fleeing abroad as the regime is fleeing from reality and the Iranian clerics are getting wealthier. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, controls an empire worth $95 billion, according to a Reuters investigation. As in the Soviet Union, the Iranian government's budget reportedly comprises 80% of the gross national product. U.S. News & World Report wrote that Iran is ranked third-most corrupt country (by perception) in the world, after Iraq and Pakistan.
The American economist and news analyst David Goldman has compared Iran to the former Soviet Union. From the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia through their invasion of Afghanistan in the 1970s, the Soviet leadership began to act aggressively in foreign policy, as if they understood it was a last chance to push for power in what was clearly an economic and demographic meltdown -- just as Iranian mullahs are doing now.
"Iran has experienced one of the fastest fertility reductions in the world" Farnaz Vahidnia explained. "A fertility decline of more than 50% in a single decade is not only unique for a Muslim country but has never been recorded elsewhere". The South China Morning Post reported:
"In one generation, Iran registered one of the most rapid fertility declines ever recorded in human history," said Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, who conducts demographic research. It took Europe 300 years to record a similar drop, he said. "I'm sceptical that this trend can be reversed," Eberstadt said.
Karim Sadjadpour, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, describes "the essence of Islamist rule in Iran" as: "Dogmatic septuagenarian clerics forcing their own antiquated views on a young, diverse society... It can only be sustained through coercion".
This impressive decline of the Iranian regime is being accompanied by petty, grotesque and repressive laws. Last month, dog-walking was reportedly banned from public places in Tehran. Previously, the Iranian regime censored even using the word "wine" and the names of "foreign animals" from books published in the Islamic Republic. The Iranian regime, after 1979, tried to control what people could read. Iran recently handed down a sentence of 33 years in prison and 148 lashes to a prominent Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who dared to defend girls who were protesting Iran's forced veiling laws. In another recent incident, an Iranian couple were arrested after their public marriage proposal went viral on social media.
When will this theocratic regime, which terrorizes its own people and destabilizes the region, finally cave in, as the communist Soviet regime did in 1991?
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2019 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.
N.B: Picture Enclosed: Iran recently handed down a sentence of 33 years in prison and 148 lashes to a prominent Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who dared to defend girls who were protesting Iran's forced veiling laws. Pictured: Nasrin Sotoudeh. (Image source: Hosseinronaghi/Wikimedia Commons)

Europe’s Right Is Making a Noise. But Can It Win an Election?
Leonid Bershidsky/Bloomberg/April 08/19
Next month’s election to the European Parliament will be a test of a phenomenon that has roiled US and UK politics: the use of social networks to promote divisive issues.
Anti-immigrant parties make a disproportionate noise on social networks, helping to push their cause further up the list of voters’ concerns. That may help such groups to make gains in the election, but it’s far from clear they can turn that momentum into a cohesive coalition in the European Parliament.
According to Alto Data Analytics, a Madrid-based firm which collects real-time data in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain, less than 0.2 percent of social network users in those countries were responsible for up to 11 percent of all activity. That is largely explained by right-wing activity across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms.
In Germany, for example, supporters of the Alternative for Germany party and anti-immigration forces account for 16 percent of Twitter users and 50 percent of retweets. They represent most of the 0.09 percent of accounts that generate 9.6 percent of political posts across all social networks.
In France, more than half of the 280 users who generate 11 percent of politicized activity on Twitter are backers of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party. In Spain, there’s a similar pattern with a small number of users promoting the views of the far-right Vox party. Only in Poland and in Italy are liberals giving as good as they get.
The debate on the social networks is easy to skew, and right-wing parties, which have learned quickly from the success of Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign, are good at it. For relatively small parties that lack the extensive infrastructure and resources of their more established centrist rivals, it is an opportunity to shape the debate — at least until their opponents catch up.
Anti-migration movements have been remarkably successful in pushing their agenda. YouGov recently conducted a poll across 14 member states which account for four out of every five seats in the European Parliament. The survey, for the European Center for Foreign Relations, found immigration was the top issue for voters in four countries, and one of the top three in eight more.
There are strong majorities across Europe in favor of preventing illegal immigration and providing more aid to developing nations to discourage it. But an astounding 38 percent of the 41,600 people polled by YouGov wanted a halt to all immigration, both legal and illegal. Only 45 percent — a minority — supported legal immigration.
Drawing its own conclusions from the poll, the ECFR pointed out that voters don’t appear to be that preoccupied with immigration. In France, for example, they are more worried about the cost of living, in Eastern Europe corruption and in Southern Europe unemployment. In Italy, Spain, and Poland, more voters are worried about emigration than about foreigners coming in.
This suggests the European election won’t turn into a referendum on immigration, as populist leaders such as Italy’s Matteo Salvini hope. But, as the importance of the subject in voters’ minds show, the right’s social network strategy appears to be working.
Converting that agenda-driving power into actual seats in the European Parliament and a cohesive political force will be a different matter. Politics, after all, aren’t limited to mobilizing users of social networks. Polls predict Europe’s nationalist parties will make only modest gains on their showings in the 2014 election.
Salvini’s efforts to end the right’s current fragmentation are making little observable progress. Even Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose strongly anti-immigrant views are close to the Italian populist, is reportedly staying away from the launch event of a new pan-European political force Salvini is planning. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon’s own effort at uniting Europe’s populist forces has largely petered out.
Politicians for whom keeping out immigrants is just part of an ideology centered on their own countries’ sovereignty will resist any serious effort to herd them into a European pack. The supranational nature of the European project should act as a counterweight to right-wingers’ technology-based success. It should also give centrists some breathing room to improve their social networking skills and push their own agendas more effectively.

Netanyahu: The Changing Scenes and the Gifts
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/April 08/19
Israeli voters head to the polling stations, in an election that will not likely re-open the door of the quest for peace that was shut by radical Israeli policies and changing international scenes.
Observers tend to believe that the elections are more about Benjamin Netanyahu’s position on the map of Israel’s top players than about the prospects for peace. Despite the difficulty in making accurate predictions, given the nature of the electoral system, many consider that Netanyahu will remain in his post, either through a more right-sided lineup or through a “national unity” government advocated by the supporters of the so-called “Deal of the Century”.
Even if a surprise comes in favor of the Blue and White Party - described as the moderate right - led by Benny Gantz and Yair Lebed, analysts assume that such a government would not go against the general rules of peace imposed by Netanyahu.
The recollection of some scenes in previous decades helps underscore the magnitude of the deterioration of the idea of a just peace.
President Mahmoud Abbas has the right to comment on the huge difference between an old picture and the current scene. The old picture is that of Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands on September 13, 1993, in the Rose Garden in the White House, in the presence of President Bill Clinton. It was a historic encounter between two men, each enjoying full legitimacy in his own camp. The handshake was aimed, as it was said at the time, “to destroy the wall of hostility, to recognize the other, his rights and fears.” After that scene, one must remember Rabin’s assassination, followed by the image of Arafat besieged at his headquarters.
There is no need to delve into the details of the enormous gap between Arafat and his people and the current depressing Palestinian scene, which is experience deep divisions, the proliferation of settlements, the decline of international attention and the preoccupation of regional countries with their wounds and fears.
In the meantime, Israel continued to assassinate peace opportunities and occupy more land, and succeeded in taking advantage of events that rocked the world and the region to weaken and paralyze the Palestinian partner.
Another picture highlights the difference between the past and the present. On March 26, 2000, hundreds of journalists gathered at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva to follow up on the meeting between Clinton and President Hafez al-Assad. By merely holding such a meeting in Geneva, the importance of Syria, its weight and rights were emphasized.
Before the meeting, they agreed on a set of principles, including the full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and the establishment of normal peace relations between the two countries. There are those who said that it was even agreed that the Israeli embassy be located in Yafour, outside the Syrian capital, to avoid raising the Israeli flag in Damascus itself.
The debate during the meeting revolved around a narrow strip on the shore of Lake Tiberias, especially after Assad stressed that the Syrian soldiers used to wash their feet in the water before the occupation. The meeting stalled because over the strip and there are those who say that Assad, who was sick, did not want his successor to start his tenure with a peace deal with Israel and its subsequent consequences.
There is no need for any comparison between Syria, whose president went to Geneva to hold negotiations with Clinton and the country at present. Syria is divided by non-Syrian flags, amid scenes of destruction and ruin and a war, the last chapter of which has not yet been written.
Another striking scene emerged in the early 20th century. In 2002, the Arab Summit in Beirut endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative, which is based on the principle of land in exchange for peace and a two-state solution. Neither the formulation of the initiative, nor adopting it in the summit was easy.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the last decade, Netanyahu played a very dangerous role in assassinating the significance of the previous scenes and the pillars of a just peace. There is no need to go into analyses. It is enough to retrieve some scenes in recent years… gifts that Netanyahu is trying to turn into an opportunity to remain in his post as prime minister.
The first scene is the declaration by President Donald Trump of transferring the US Embassy to Jerusalem, a move that his predecessors have always sought to avoid in an attempt to preserve the role of “honest mediators.” Shortly before tomorrow’s elections, Netanyahu received an extraordinary gift: Washington’s declaration of recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in which it bypassed international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.
Netanyahu was almost confused by the rush of gifts. It is not easy for the Israeli prime minister to succeed in being a friend of both the White House and Kremlin at the same time and penetrate the aura of the Russian umbrella over Syria, to launch successive raids on Iranian targets.
President Vladimir Putin was generous with him. A few days before the elections, Netanyahu received from Russia the remains of Israeli soldier Zacharia Baumel, who was killed in a battle with the Syrian army during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Three years ago, Netanyahu received from Russia an Israeli tank captured by Syrian forces in that battle and given to Moscow to uncover its secrets.
Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s visit to Israel and the recent truce on the border with Gaza are also more gifts to the Israeli premier.
Netanyahu’s gifts prompted him to go farther in his policies, especially to cover the corruption charges against him. He pledged to work to annex the settlement blocs in the West Bank, should the new government be headed by him.
It is clear that the Israeli elections are about Netanyahu’s future, not about the future of peace. His victory in a fifth term will allow him to bypass David Ben-Gurion himself to become the longest-standing resident of the Israeli government, a feat senior generals have failed to achieve.

Boeing’s Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse
Brooke Sutherland/Bloomberg/April 08/19
Boeing Co.’s 737 Max crisis has been largely self-inflicted, but now it’s passing some of consequences onto its suppliers.
A crash of an Ethiopian Airlines-manned Max in March — just five months after a Lion Air jet of the same type went down — has put the planemaker at the center of a political, legal and increasingly financial firestorm where its reputation for safety is being openly questioned. A fix for a flight-control system that’s believed to have been a factor in both accidents is taking longer than expected amid the scrutiny, and Boeing can’t deliver the planes without it. And so, the company announced late Friday that it will curtail production of the Max to 42 planes per month, down from a current rate of 52. Before all this, Boeing had planned to ramp up production of the Max to 57 a month, an aggressive goal that suppliers had been preparing for by hiring more employees and expanding capacity.
Boeing plans to work with suppliers to blunt the financial impact from this shift. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. and CFM International, the joint engine venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA, both said they intend to maintain their current pace of production. But it’s unclear what Boeing will do with that inventory. The longer the grounding lasts, the more unlikely it is that suppliers will emerge from this debacle unscathed. They risk losing revenue from lower demand and cash-flow hits should their investments go unneeded.
Legal complaints are mounting, with consumer advocate Ralph Nader urging a recall of the Max on behalf of his grand-niece who died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. That may not go far, but meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines said Friday that it was rethinking plans to purchase an additional 25 Max jets because of the “stigma” associated with the plane. PT Garuda Indonesia had already initiated steps to cancel a $4.8 billion order because its customers don’t trust the plane.
Investigators said this week that pilots on the Ethiopian Airlines flight attempted to follow procedures to disable the flight-control system that Boeing had laid out after the Lion Air crash. The pilots were unable to regain control, suggesting the procedure wasn’t as simple as Boeing made it seem and undercutting its previous attempts to deflect blame away from itself as it insisted the plane was airworthy. The investigators’ report appears to have been a rude awakening for Boeing, which has at times come off as tone-deaf in its response to the crashes and seeming resistance to the implication that its design or processes were flawed. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg made a halfway attempt at accountability in a video released on Thursday, apologizing for the pain the accidents have caused, while at the same time characterizing the crashes as the result of a “chain of events.” He stopped short of saying Boeing’s initial recommendations were insufficient, acknowledging only that erroneous activation of the software “can add to what is already a high workload environment.”
Regardless, it’s on Boeing to fix the software and that’s proving to be complicated. The company said earlier this week that it would be several more weeks before it could submit the software update to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval. That’s a bit awkward as Boeing had hosted a junket the week before to sell the fix to pilots and journalists and said it would have the final paperwork to the FAA by March 29. Obviously, Boeing should be sure it has all the kinks worked out this time. The company reportedly discovered a problem with integrating the fix with existing flight-control infrastructure in the final audit and unearthed an unrelated software issue. But this underscores the fact that this is a process that can’t be rushed, especially as international regulators feel compelled to piggyback on the FAA with safety reviews of their own amid uncomfortable questions about whether the organization was too cozy with Boeing to catch and prevent these problems ahead of time.
Investors in Boeing — and its suppliers — should start getting used to the idea of a long delay before the Max returns to the skies.

India: Women's Plight Remains Grim
Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone Institute/April 08/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14001/india-women-discrimination
In spite of the recurring lip service, however -- as well as attempts at reform -- the situation for women in India remains unacceptable. Women face discrimination in every aspect of life.
Women in India also continue to be victims of various forms of violence, including being aborted, infanticide, genital mutilation, honor killings, acid attacks, sex-trafficking and rape. In fact, 99% of sexual assaults go unreported. Last year, two cases of child rape, allegedly perpetrated by police officers and a politician, led to mass protests demanding greater protection for women and children.
"The cultural design of oppression is so clever, that it instils a habit of distrust and trains women to demean, dismiss and discount other women... The real genius of this system lies in the fact that oppression has been recast as a virtue." — Deepa Narayan, author of Chup: Breaking the Silence About India's Women.
In India's crucial agricultural sector, women are paid 22% less than their male counterparts. (Image source: Neil Palmer/CIAT/Wikimedia Commons)
Addressing an International Women's Day gathering in Varanasi on March 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the "crucial role" that women play in his country's development.
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind echoed this sentiment on social media, tweeting: "Women are the sheet-anchor of society, an inspiration for their families and for our nation. Let us strive to ensure equality of opportunity for every women [sic] and every girl child."
Less than three months earlier, "women's empowerment" was also a theme at India's annual January 26 Republic Day parade.
In spite of the recurring lip service, however -- as well as attempts at reform -- the situation for women in India remains grim. Women face discrimination in every aspect of life. Before they are even born, their existence is under threat: mothers are pressured to abort female babies.
Girls not aborted are then denied the level of education their brothers receive. Not only is female illiteracy higher among girls than boys in India; it is significantly higher than the world female average.
In addition, women have little freedom to choose romantic partners: many are forced by their families and societal pressure to enter into arranged marriages.
Indian women also rarely enjoy the same property rights as their male counterparts, in spite of the 2005 amendment to the 1956 Hindu Succession Act, providing females with equal inheritance rights. Furthermore, even with the amendment, the law says that if a childless Hindu widow dies without a will, her property automatically goes to her husband's heirs.
In addition, there is the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956, according to which fathers are the "natural guardian" of Hindu children. Mothers are considered guardians only in cases where fathers are absent or where the children are under the age of five.
Bigamy is illegal, but permitted under certain conditions in a number of Hindu sectors. According to the Civil Code of Goa, for instance, a Hindu man is permitted to take a second wife if his wife fails to deliver a child by the time she is 25, or if she fails to deliver a male child by the time she is 30.
Children born to a Parsi woman and a non-Parsi man are not considered Parsi. A non-Parsi wife of a Parsi man can inherit only a part of his property.
A Christian woman cannot divorce her husband on the grounds of adultery, but that law does not include her husband. A divorced Christian woman is not entitled to property accumulated during the marriage, even if she contributed to acquiring it; she can only claim maintenance.
India's Muslim community is governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, which is archaic and discriminatory to women. This is in spite of the fact that the practice of "triple Talaq" divorce [a husband merely saying, "I divorce you " three times] was recently outlawed.
Women continue to be underrepresented in Indian politics and civil service. In the country's crucial agricultural sector, women are paid 22% less than their male counterparts, and in the industrial sector, women earn 19% less than men.
Females in India also continue to be victims of various forms of violence, including being aborted, infanticide, genital mutilation, honor killings, acid attacks, sex-trafficking and rape. In fact, 99% of sexual assaults go unreported. Last year, two cases of child rape, allegedly perpetrated by police officers and a politician, led to mass protests demanding greater protection for women and children.
The sad irony of the plight of women in India is that gender equality is enshrined in the country's Constitution, which includes 13 clauses not only safeguarding women's rights, but allowing for affirmative action. There are also 23 pieces of legislation aimed specifically at protecting women's rights, both in the family and at the workplace.
Why, then, is India guilty of what the social scientist, Deepa Narayan -- author of Chup: Breaking the Silence About India's Women -- has called the "largest-scale human rights violation on Earth: the persistent degradation of the vast majority of its 650 million girls and women"?
The answer, according to Narayan, lies in the pervading culture:
"This everyday violence is the product of a culture that bestows all power on men, and that does not even want women to exist... even in wealthy families...
"Women whose sense of self has been worn down, by definition must depend on others... Over 50% of Indian men and women still believe that sometimes women deserve a beating... But dependency is still presented as a virtuous habit and independence as a bad characteristic...
"The right to assemble is a right taken away by dictators. In India it is the culture that subverts women's desire to organise. The cultural design of oppression is so clever, that it instils a habit of distrust and trains women to demean, dismiss and discount other women...
"The real genius of this system lies in the fact that oppression has been recast as a virtue. So erasure of self – the most treacherous human rights violation – hides in plain sight, sanctified by loving families, perfumed by our definitions of goodness. And the private sphere, the family, remains impenetrable and untouchable..."
The point is that legislation alone -- even when backed by the Modi government -- is no match for the traditions and social mechanisms that are so powerfully embedded in India's culture.
What is needed urgently, says Narayan, is a "national conversation about what it means to be a good woman and a good man in India today."
To be sure, it is a discussion that must be engaged in seriously and repeatedly across the country -- in all of India's religious, cultural and educational institutions -- not merely highlighted once a year on International Women's Day.
*Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi.
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Opinion/How Netanyahu Saved Assad, Helped Russia and Gave Iran the Run of Syria
كايل أورتن/هآرتس: كيف أنقذ نتنياهو الأسد وساعد روسيا وأعطى إيران مجالاً لإدارة بسوريا
Kyle Orton/Haaretz/April 08/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/73644/kyle-orton-haaretz-how-netanyahu-saved-assad-helped-russia-and-gave-iran-the-run-of-syria-%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AA%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%81/
As Assad consolidates power, Israel's prime minister is basking in plaudits for his 'prescient' strategy on Syria. But Netanyahu has been played - and exposing Israel to potentially disastrous consequences
As the regime of Bashar Assad appears to be consolidating in Syria, many Israelis have concluded that their government’s handling of the crisis was generally laudable.
The most comprehensive statement of this view was given recently in Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer (Netanyahu Outfoxed Russia, Iran and ISIS With His Cynical, Ruthless Syria Policy.) Every aspect of this is open to question.
Clearly Pfeffer is no apologist for the Israeli government, and Haaretz no government mouthpiece, which is what makes his case all the more important - and worrying. Pfeffer states outright that for him "complimenting [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu…on the eve of an election…is hardly an easy thing to do."
Pfeffer credits Netanyahu for getting four big things right in Syria: avoiding entanglement in the contest between the Assad regime and the rebellion, recognizing the Islamic State as a menace and preventing terrorist infiltration, containing and deterring Iran, and deftly handling the Russians.
In truth, Netanyahu, far from having orchestrated a genius-level strategy, has exposed Israel up to potentially disastrous consequences.
Let’s examine each of these contentions in turn.
Pfeffer praised Netanyahu for his double scepticism: that the "Arab spring" revolt could unseat Assad, and that his downfall would be beneficial to Israel. When "[s]ome Western leaders supported shipping advanced weapons to the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups in Syria, Netanyahu counseled caution," Pfeffer says.
This reluctance to help the Syrian opposition was "prescient," since these weapons could have fallen into the hands of ISIS. Netanyahu "was one of the first leaders to identify the significance of the rise of Islamic State in the power vacuum that had been created in Syria and Iraq."
First, this account gets the timeline and causality all wrong. The "vacuum" that ISIS crept into was opened up because the Assad regime - supported by Iran and Russia - created it, deliberately bombing and destabilizing rebel areas, while leaving ISIS to grow and even helping to foster it and similar jihadist groups.
Among other things, Assad released Islamist militants from prison at the outset to try to divide and discredit the uprising, and by 2017 oil and gas sales to the regime were ISIS’s largest source of revenue, above even the "taxes" the terrorists had been taking from the population under its control. It was keeping Assad in place that helped ISIS grow.
Moreover, ISIS and other extremist groups never lacked for the heavy weapons - like surface-to-air missiles - that Netanyahu helped prevent the mainstream rebels acquiring. The extremists could simply use their better sources of funding to buy the weapons from Assad himself, so corrupt was and is his regime. Only the mainstream rebels, whose so-called supporters offered words of encouragement and very little else, struggled for resources.
Had proper and sufficient weaponry been supplied to the mainstream opposition in time to complete the revolution, it might have forestalled the rise of ISIS altogether in Syria, and would have at a minimum bettered the odds of the least-worst forces, from Israel’s perspective, when the rebellion went to war with ISIS - and found itself simultaneously being attacked by the Assad regime, which provided de facto air support to the jihadists. (Russia took over these tactics later to help further the narrative of a binary choice in Syria: the dictator or the terrorists).
Pfeffer says that while Netanyahu was right to remain on the "sidelines" of the underlying war in Syria - the rebels against Assad - this did not "mean he shied away from acting in Syria, quite the opposite." Netanyahu drew and enforced clear red lines against the Iranians, says Pfeffer, attacking the aid convoys to Hezbollah, the Islamic Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) bases - indeed blocking the formation of "permanent bases" by Iran - and even killing IRGC commanders like Jihad Mughniyeh when necessary.
But Netanyahu did get involved in the main Syrian war, albeit incoherently, by initially putting his thumb on the scale against American anti-Assad actions (not that Barack Obama needed much encouragement) and then, belatedly, providing support for opposition groups.
The Israeli-supported rebels provided a buffer against Iran and ISIS in the southern Syrian provinces of Deraa and Qunaytra (the Golan Heights) that border Israel. In July 2018, Netanyahu got played by the Russians into letting Deraa fall to Iranian-controlled forces. The goodwill Israel had built up by providing Syrians with food, medical care, and the means to protect themselves was pointlessly squandered, and Israel’s assets were co-opted by Hizbollah.
Beyond that, even in the coldest "realist" terms, as defined by Netanyahu himself, the fall of Deraa was a disaster. As Pfeffer notes, "Netanyahu always saw Iran as a much bigger threat than ISIS," yet he facilitated the replacement of the ISIS pocket with IRGC-run militias. The harvest is already before us, with Hezbollah terrorist cells organizing for cross-border attacks into Israel from Syria.
The story Pfeffer tells about Netanyahu’s "timely, effective" action against Iran in Syria echoes what was said when Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot resigned in January this year. Like Pfeffer, Eisenkot identified the Iranian drive for a permanent position in Syria as having begun in 2017 - five years after Iran’s decisive intervention with thousands of IRGC-controlled ground forces. By now, Iran’s social and military power is woven into the fabric of Syria, positioned to outlast Assad.
In other words, Iran has a position in Syria that is as permanent as it gets. And this is not surprising: Eisenkot said clearly that Israel largely did not even intend to eliminate the IRGC operatives who are key to Iran’s project in Syria. Eisenkot’s reasoning was that Israel could disrupt Iran’s project by striking at infrastructure, and not killing Iranian personnel would avoid provoking Iranian retaliation.
There are several problems with this. One is that, in the execution, Israel has vastly exaggerated both the scale of its operations in Syria, as well as their efficacy. But more serious is the conceptual problem: it is personnel who do the networking and ideological dissemination that entrenches Iran’s influence, so putting them off-limits is an error. Moreover, even on its own terms, Eisenkot’s argument has hit diminishing returns, with Iran sending armed drones into Israel from Syria.
Which brings us to the Russia component.
Pfeffer regards Netanyahu’s approach to Russia as perhaps his greatest success. Soon after the Russians openly intervened in Syria in September 2015, Bibi established "ground rules" with Vladimir Putin, preserving Israel’s freedom of action because he shrewdly "understood that Putin had no interest in helping Iran, just in ensuring his client Assad survived," and that only Israel could threaten that. The Israeli security guarantee to Assad meant Russia continued "standing back, allowing Israel to conduct its business in Syria," regarding this as a worthwhile trade.
As events in Deraa outlined above suggest, the Kremlin has grievously damaged Israel’s interests in Syria, yet still Netanyahu turned up in Moscow as recently as February praising Putin’s cooperativeness. Indeed, he was back there again last Thursday, lauding Putin as "my friend" and thanking the Russian ruler for "everything you have done" for Israel.
American policy in Syria has left Israel exposed many threats, Russian power among them, in a manner not dissimilar to what has happened to Turkey. But it does not follow that Israel (or Turkey) are thereby obligated to embrace Moscow.
This is not a moralistic point. Some Israeli commentators have portrayed Russia as a quasi-neutral arbiter between Israel and Iran, and the notion that Russia is or can be helpful to Israel in Syria is very widespread. But it is dangerously mistaken, based on an illusion - actually, two illusions.
The first illusion is that there is meaningful distance between Russian and Iranian aims in Syria, and this gap means Russia is willing to assist Israel in certain ways.
Whatever Russian officials say to Israelis in private meetings about their Iranian partners - and it can hardly be worse than what the Russians have said in public about Assad - Iran and Russia are strategically bound to one-another: Assad’s battered regime would have collapsed without the de facto takeover of its security and other sectors by Iran, and Russia has no influence inside Syria in the absence of these Iranian-led ground forces.
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer, with Israel flag drawn on his boots, at a graduation ceremony for military cadets. Tehran, Iran. June 30, 2018
Which leads to the second illusion: that Russia can help Israel. The weakness of Moscow’s position makes it useless to Israel, even if it wanted to help. This is not a secret. The Russians have said publicly that they cannot get Iran out of Syria, and Netanyahu says that Putin reiterated the same thing to him personally last November. The assumption of a capable Russia has led to the belief that Moscow "allows" Israel to act in Syria.
The reality is that Russia has simply been unable to prevent Israeli attacks - up to now. Iran is digging in and stockpiling missiles all around the Jewish state, with Russia’s full cooperation, extending from Syria to Lebanon to Gaza.
This Iranian deterrance capacity - the threat of attacks on Israeli population centres if Israel attacks Iranian assets in Syria or elsewhere - is building up under a Russian air defense network, which is also expanding. Absent what would now be a major conflict, Israel’s manoeuvrability will be further constricted over time.
The removal of Assad’s regime would take out the keystone of this Iranian-Russian imperium. Instead, Netanyahu has provided a security guarantee to Assad on the basis of a Russian bluff that has, in turn, guaranteed Iran’s position in the Levant.
*Kyle Orton is a British researcher focused on Syria. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Telegraph, and other outlets. Twitter: @KyleWOrton

Are incinerators answer to Lebanon's waste crisis?
Nicholas Frakes/Al Monitor/April 08/19
ARTICLE SUMMARY
The plan to build incinerators in Lebanon raised the concerns of nongovernmental organizations and activists who put forward suggestions to solve the country's never-ending waste crisis.
REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirResidents cover their noses as they walk past garbage piled up along a street in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 26, 2015.
Politicians and civil society groups are continuing to raise concerns and protest plans to build incinerators in Lebanon in the government’s effort to tackle the continued waste crisis.
The Lebanese government is moving forward with plans to build incinerators across the country in an attempt to combat the 2 million tons of solid waste produced each year. According to the Green MED Initiative, around 80% of this waste is then dumped into landfills that span acres.
The waste crisis in Lebanon reached its peak in 2015, and, in response, the Beirut municipality put forward plans to build an incinerator. This plan, which also includes building incinerators in Zahle and Tripoli, was ratified in parliament in September 2018.
However, the Waste Management Coalition (WMC), a group of 15 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working to create a more sustainable Lebanon, started the Toxic Flag campaign to warn the public about the health risks involved with incinerators, which saw billboards throughout Beirut telling those looking at it, “If you are reading this, you are in the danger zone.”
Samar Khalil, a member of the WMC, told Al-Monitor, “We distributed these billboards all over Beirut to let the people know that they are in the danger zone. A simulation conducted by a professor from the American University of Beirut showed that if they [the authorities] place one of the incinerators in the Karantina area [of Beirut], air pollutants will reach areas like Achrafieh and Bourj Hamoud [also in Beirut], while around 10% of emissions will reach Aley and Baabda.”
Baabda, where the presidential palace is located, lies around 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Beirut and Aley is 20 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital.
Khalil explained that the WMC opposes the use of incinerators due to the composition of waste in Lebanon, which would also cause a loss in resources and jobs. Meanwhile, the country would be unable to monitor the pollution that is created by such incinerators.
She said, “You need a certain calorific value for the waste to be able to sustain combustion. In Lebanon around 53% of our waste is organic with a level of humidity reaching 60%, so it has a very low calorific value. To burn this waste it has to be dried and then burned with plastics and cardboards, which have high calorific values. This process also means losing these resources [plastics and cardboards], which can be recovered and recycled and thus create job opportunities."
She added, “We also know that incinerators are used everywhere in the world. However they are under strict monitoring and strict enforcement of laws — which [so far] we don’t have. We also don’t have a laboratory that can test pollutants that are carcinogenic.”
Independent member of parliament Paula Yacoubian did not comment when asked by Al-Monitor about the subject, But she has previously expressed her concerns over the health risks posed by the use of incinerators.
During a press conference last year, Yacoubian said, “They are insisting that European countries are using these in their capitals. … While it is true, these countries are trying to close down their incinerators … and are competing on who is greener. We are responsible for our health, not the Europeans.”
Al-Monitor obtained the audit conducted by the French engineering company EGIS of the proposed plan. The audit recommended that the government “allow a total of 1.5 to 2 years to arrive at the launch of the design-build construction tender.”
EGIS also said that an environmental and social impact study for the chosen sites must be carried out, while also stressing the need to “conduct a preliminary study of a master plan for waste management. Another study is also necessary to identify the deposits to be taken into account, their characteristics and their evolutions.”
In addition, the audit explained ways to handle the different types of ashes that would be produced by the incinerators, which is another concern raised by the WMC.
“So you have two types of ashes,” Khalil explained. “The bottom ash, which is in the furnace, and the fly ash, which is captured by the filters.”
She added, “The fly ash is very toxic because it contains all heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; they have hazardous waste landfills or even old salt mines worldwide. We don’t have these facilities in Lebanon. We don’t have any hazardous waste management system. Our hazardous waste is mixed with our municipal waste and this will also affect the quality of the bottom and fly ashes.”
According to an economic simulation done by the WMC, to make up for the $1.125 billion needed to install the three proposed incinerators, the government would have to charge around $160 per ton of waste, which would be a significant increase from the current $120 per ton.
Rather than using incinerators, Khalil recommended, “We should try to minimize waste, start with sorting at the source, increasing recycling rates, biologically treating the organic waste and whatever is left — which will constitute around 20% of the remaining waste — can be, at the moment, landfilled until we find other solutions.”
Yacoubian argued at last year’s press conference that people could help by sorting waste in their homes.
Georges Bitar, one of the founders of Live Love Recycle, an NGO that picks up bags of recyclables from homes in Beirut, told Al-Monitor, “When we founded the organization, we wanted the service to be free in order to give people tips and to teach them how to recycle.”
Bitar explained that people need to find ways to reduce their waste, such as using reusable cups instead of plastic bottles. He added that while he believes recycling “is part of the solution, it is not the [ultimate] solution.”
According to Lebanese law, a decentralized system is in place, where municipalities are responsible for waste disposal rather than the government being in charge of its pickup and removal. But the language used in the law refers more to centralization and does not define what decentralized units are. This has caused overlapping in the government’s and municipalities’ duties when it comes to solid waste management.
Khalil explained that in order to have a more efficient and lasting solution for the waste crisis, there needs to be “technical expertise.” She noted, “[The Ministry of Interior] needs to release the funds [allocated] to the municipalities so that they can afford the collection [of waste], recovery of resources and establishment of sorting facilities.”
She added, “You need this and at the same time you need some strategic guidance from the Ministry of Environment because none of them can see what’s happening now."
Minister of Environment Fady Jreissati did not comment when contacted by Al-Monitor. But during a March 11 meeting of the parliamentary Public Works, Transportation, Energy and Water Committee, Jreissati called for more waste sorting as a short-term solution.
“The number of landfills must be minimal,” Jreissati said. "We should also not forget [waste] materials from hospitals. … We are working to find a solution to this [problem].”
The exact time frame and cost to build the incinerator remain unknown.
*Nicholas Frakes is a freelance journalist and photojournalist based in Lebanon. Frakes covers the Middle East for multiple outlets, including the New Arab and Public Radio International. On Twitter: @nicfrakesjourno

A new wave of revolutions without the Arab Spring spirit
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/April 08/19
If we assume that what is happening simultaneously in Libya, Algeria and Sudan represents a series of popular uprisings and a collective desire for political change, we would then assume that we are witnessing the second chapter of the Arab revolutions that erupted in 2011.
The difference, however, between the two chapters is the tepid manner in which Arabs seem to be receiving the second one — there is much skepticism and little enthusiasm. How can we identify people’s feelings amid the absence of surveys at a time when the streets of Algiers and Khartoum are packed with hundreds of thousands of protesters?
Indeed, the demand for change aside, there are significant differences between the revolutions of early 2011 and what we see and hear today. There is skepticism about the motives of the new uprisings, being openly expressed by intellectuals. Moreover, there is concern about change despite the popular anger toward the regimes targeted by the protests.
Who can guarantee that these countries will not end up like Syria, where the regime stayed and the country was devastated; or like Yemen, where the revolution was hijacked; or even like the countries that achieved change and established stability — Tunisia and Egypt — but only after having gone through phases of difficult transitional disorder? Perhaps change could have been achieved without having to go through such a difficult labor.
No doubt enthusiasm has faltered regionally because the results of the so-called Arab Spring have been a terrible nightmare. Even in the positive uprising in Sudan, which is growing with time and reflects a long state of unrest, demonstrators have not demanded anything except to change the regime that is stifling the Sudanese people, but there is no sign yet of a better replacement. Leading opposition figure Sadiq Al-Mahdi reflects the current disfavored rule and an old religious and family image that the Sudanese people are now fed up with.
In Libya, change has come from above — from the army, which has decided to refuse to share power with the militias, taking the risk of confronting local, regional and international forces. It has been an armed uprising, not a peaceful one, which has won great support and may, according to opponents, establish a dictatorial regime.
No doubt enthusiasm has faltered regionally because the results of the so-called Arab Spring have been a terrible nightmare.
However, eliminating the legacy of the 2011 revolution is a popular demand because it has torn Libya apart and put people’s lives in danger every day. Unlike in Sudan, where people have risen up against the longstanding status quo, in Libya there is a revolution against the revolution.
As for Yemen, there is a war on the coup led by the Houthis. The war aims to re-establish the legitimacy of the 2011 revolution and get rid of those who hijacked it, including the Houthis and the rebels supporting the former regime.
The situation in Algeria looks like a proactive process for a larger popular revolution. The streets and squares have welcomed demonstrators under the army’s protection. This is almost a repeat of the scenario that took place during the 2011 revolution in Cairo, when Tahrir Square and the streets surrounding it saw a major presence of army forces and tanks to help protect the demonstrators, after the security forces vanished from the streets.
In fact, the military establishment in Algeria has led the ranks of protesters, announced its demand for change, compelled President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down and pull out of the presidential election, and then got rid of most pro-regime leaders, either by dismissal or arrest. The popular-military revolution continues to work on new arrangements for change.
Libya, Algeria and Sudan represent a new wave of change, but it does not have the same spirit and climate as the Arab Spring. Even the international powers that had raced to welcome the earlier revolutions are now silent via-a-vis this wave, except for a few warnings and calls for peace.
*Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat. Twitter: @aalrashed

The Trump Administration's Designation Of The IRGC As A Foreign Terror Organization – Goals And Impact
أ. سافيون/ميمري: ادراج إدارة ترامب الحرس الثوري الإيراني كمنظمة إرهابية أجنبية... - الأهداف والنتائج المرجوة
A. Savyon/MEMRI/April 08/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/73654/a-savyon-memri-the-trump-administrations-designation-of-the-irgc-as-a-foreign-terror-organization-goals-and-impact%D8%A3-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%B1/
Introduction
On April 8, 2019, President Trump announced the designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), including its Qods Force (see Appendix).[1]
This report will discuss the impact of the designation, economically and militarily, both within Iran and on the regional and international level.
The IRGC As An Economic Organization
The IRGC, part of Iran's military, is a huge economic entity; its economic arms are an integral part of Iran's strategic infrastructure in construction, energy, communications, and agriculture. Designating the IRGC as an FTO will be a tremendous blow to its economic might within Iran and to its ability to operate outside Iran.
The Economic Aspect Of Designating The IRGC As An FTO
Thus, designating the IRGC an FTO constitutes a continuation of the Trump administration's policy that focuses on economic sanctions against Iran. If the U.S. sanctions to date have mainly concerned the oil sector – the main sector of Iran's economy – and banking, the sanctions will now harm the Iranian regime's most vital economic entity.
This move appears to be aimed at thwarting Iran's partial consent to the guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)[2] aimed at fighting money laundering and terrorism – guidelines which Iran has so far rejected for fear that by consenting to them it will expose the IRGC and its organizations to direct harm. Under European pressure, Iran has so far obtained a series of postponements for the imposition of FATF guidelines on it, and there is now a fear that Iran will obtain special status, in the framework of which it will be required to comply with only some of the FATF laws and regulations. The Trump administration's move at this time to designate the IRGC an FTO appears to preempt the possibility that Iran will accept such a special arrangement, which would allow the IRGC to continue its activity in the country and across the region.
The Regional Aspect Of Designating The IRGC As An FTO
An additional aspect of the Trump administration's designation of the IRGC as an FTO is that this would block Iran's activity within Iraq and Syria, which is being carried out by the IRGC. Iran is working to exploit Iraq's banking infrastructure, construction projects, bilateral trade, and energy, primarily in the oil sector, as an important platform for circumventing the U.S. sanctions on Iran; see the following MEMRI reports:
*In Advance Of Iranian President Rohani's Iraq Visit, Iran Takes Control Of Iraqi Banking System – In Cooperation with Iraqi Prime Minister – In Order To Circumvent U.S. Sanctions, March 7, 2019
*Iraq's Importance To The Survival Of Iran's Regime And Economy Following U.S. Sanctions, January 30, 2019
*Former Senior Hashd Al-Sha'bi Official To Saudi Alarabiya.net: Iraqi Central Bank Governor Is Collaborating With Iran In Counterfeiting, Money-Laundering – As Part Of Iran's Efforts To Circumvent U.S. Sanctions, March 28, 2019.
Designating the IRGC enables the Trump administration to level sanctions against Iraq for violating the U.S sanctions on Iran.
The International Aspect Of Designating The IRGC As An FTO
With the designation, the U.S. is again aligning with its traditional allies – the moderate Sunni Arab world and Israel – against Iran, its Islamic Revolution, and the resistance axis it has established across the Middle East.
The Military Aspect Of Designating The IRGC As An FTO
Iran may choose to operate Shi'ite militias – perhaps in Iraq – against American interests there. As IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari warned on April 7, 2019, designating the IRGC "will harm Iran's national security" and will bring in its wake "disquiet for American forces in the region."[1] See the following MEMRI reports:
*Iran-Backed Shi'ite Militias In Iraq: We Will Drive Out The Americans By Force, January 8, 2019
*Legislative Efforts To Expel U.S. Troops From Iraq, Alongside Shi'ite
Militias' Threats To Force Them Out, March 6, 2019.
Appendix: Statement from the President on the Designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization – April 8, 2019
Today, I am formally announcing my Administration’s plan to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft. The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.
This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as an FTO. It underscores the fact that Iran’s actions are fundamentally different from those of other governments. This action will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime. It makes crystal clear the risks of conducting business with, or providing support to, the IRGC. If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism.
This action sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences. We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behavior.[4]
*A. Savyon is Director of the MEMRI Iran Media Project.
[1] Whitehouse.gov, April 8, 2019
[2] The intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering; in 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing.
[3] ISNA (Iran), April 7, 2019.
[4] Whitehouse.gov, April 8, 2019.