English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese,
Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 20/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.december20.20.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Circumcision of the child, John: Zacharias, was full of the
Holy Spirit, and with the voice of a prophet said these words: Praise be to the
Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and made them free,
Luke 01/57-80: Now it was time for Elisabeth to give
birth, and she had a son. And it came to the ears of her neighbours and
relations that the Lord had been very good to her, and they took part in her
joy. And on the eighth day they came to see to the circumcision of the child,
and they would have given him the name of Zacharias, his father's name; But his
mother made answer and said, No, his name is John. And they said, Not one of
your relations has that name. And they made signs to his father, to say what
name was to be given to him. And he sent for writing materials and put down: His
name is John; and they were all surprised. And straight away his mouth was open
and his tongue was free and he gave praise to God. And fear came on all those
who were living round about them: and there was much talk about all these things
in all the hill-country of Judaea. And all who had word of them kept them in
their minds and said, What will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with
him. And his father, Zacharias, was full of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice
of a prophet said these words: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for he
has come to his people and made them free, Lifting up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David, (As he said, by the mouth of his holy
prophets, from the earliest times,) Salvation from those who are against us, and
from the hands of those who have hate for us; To do acts of mercy to our fathers
and to keep in mind his holy word, The oath which he made to Abraham, our
father, That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us,
might give him worship, In righteousness and holy living before him all our
days. And you, child, will be named the prophet of the Most High: you will go
before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways; To give knowledge of
salvation to his people, through the forgiveness of sins, Because of the loving
mercies of our God, by which the dawn from heaven has come to us, To give light
to those in dark places, and in the shade of death, so that our feet may be
guided into the way of peace. And the child became tall, and strong in spirit;
and he was living in the waste land till the day when he came before the eyes of
Israel.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 19-20/2020
Health Ministry: 1626 new cases of Corona, 11 deaths
Rahi receives Ghattas Khoury, delegated by PM-designate Hariri
Beirut neighborhood damaged by explosion opens Christmas village
Reports: Endeavors Ongoing to Break Govt Stalemate Before Year’s End
Rifi to Franjieh: You Should Have Blamed the Main Blast Culprit
FPM: Delay in forming government an attempt to override President of the
Republic's powers
Abdallah: Cancelling of French President’s visit spared us a well-deserved
rebuke!
Geagea: If I Were the President, I Would Have Resigned
Lebanon police clash with AUB students protesting tuition hikes
Hezbollah, Global Criminality, Political Subversion and the Parody of Lebanese
Politics/Charles Elias Chartouni/December 20/2020
Secret Paris meeting lifted the lid on Hezbollah’s global criminal empire/Paul
Peachey/The National/December 14/ 2020
US, Iran dampen France’s plan for Lebanon
Lebanon’s rule of law proves arbitrary as Beirut port explosion probe stalls/Rami
Rayess/Al Arabiya/Saturday 19 December 2020
Why Hezbollah is losing the support of Lebanon’s Shia community/Hanin Ghaddar/Al
Arabiya/Saturday 19 December 2020
Hezbollah’s global trail of criminality and corruption/Baria
Alamuddin/Arab News/December 19/2020
Titles For The
Latest
English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on
December 19-20/2020
Egypt court acquits men who attacked elderly Christian
woman
Iran executes two ethnic Baluchis on unclear charges: Rights group
Trump says cyberattack ‘under control,’ plays down Russian role
Islamists in Kuwaiti parliament see favourable momentum for amnesty bill
Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel rollout
Macron 'Stable' after Virus Infection, Says Presidency
Tensions in Armenia as Thousands Mourn Karabakh Victims
U.S. Authorizes Moderna as Second Covid-19 Vaccine
U.S. Planning to Close Last Consulates in Russia, Says Report
IMF Approves Release of $1.67 Billion in Aid to Egypt
Titles For The Latest
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on December 19-20/2020
China: The Conquest of Hollywood/Judith Bergman/Gatestone
Institute/December 19/2020
New star rises in the east/Cornelia Meyer/Arab
News/December 19/2020
What pushes Turkey and Iran to ride out the storm of poem?/Sinem
Cengiz/Arab News/December 19/2020
How ‘America first’ has mostly failed the US/Andrew
Hammond/Arab News/December 19/2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 19-20/2020
Health Ministry: 1626 new cases of Corona, 11 deaths
NNA/Saturday 19 December 2020
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Saturday, that
1626 new Corona cases have been reported, thus raising the cumulative number of
confirmed cases to-date to 156,570.
It also indicated that 11 death cases were also registered during the past 24
hours.
Rahi receives Ghattas Khoury, delegated by
PM-designate Hariri
NNA/Saturday 19 December 2020
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, met this evening at the
Patriarchate in Bkirki with former Minister Ghattas Khoury, delegated by Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri, within the framework of the efforts and contacts
made by the Patriarch to overcome the obstacles standing in way of forming the
new government. Former Minister Sejaan Azzi also attended the meeting, during
which talks broached the outcome of al-Rahi's contacts and encounters held in
the past hours regarding the cabinet formation. For his part, Khoury briefed the
Patriarch on the latest developments in the government formation dossier and the
contacts made by the PM-designate after his last visit to Bkirki. Later, the
Patriarch received "Democratic Gathering" member, MP Nehme Tohme, with
discussions touching on the general conditions in the country, stressing on the
importance of preserving and strengthening the Mountain's national
reconciliation. Both men also agreed on the urgent need to accelerate the
government formation process, for the Lebanese can no longer bear the burdens of
the economic and social crisis.
Beirut neighborhood damaged by explosion opens Christmas village
AFP/Saturday 19 December 2020
The Lebanese NGO “Solidarity” opens a Christmas village in the neighborhood of
Mar Mikhael near the port of Beirut, which was severely damaged in a huge
explosion in August that killed at least 181 people, injured more than 6,500 and
left scores of people homeless. “Despite the fact that our homes were lost, we
will remain strong and continue to move forward. The Lebanese people are used to
being united and whatever happens we will remain united. We will not let them
(politicians) humiliate us any more and I’m sure they will leave. We will be
united in our celebration of Christmas despite the fact that we lost a lot of
people we love, but we will stay strong and we will not fear anything,” said Ula
Deeb, resident of the neighborhood of Achrafieh affected by the blast. Christia
Amyouni, a resident of Beirut, said the event organized by the NGO ‘Solidarity’
was done in order to let residents witness again the atmosphere of Christmas “in
the middle of these sad circumstances.”“Joy came back to Beirut residents, we’re
very happy and I encourage everyone to come with their children to vent their
frustration and to feel the atmosphere of Christmas,” Amyouni said. Families of
blast victims are increasingly frustrated that details have not emerged from an
investigation since the Aug. 4 explosion caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium
nitrate, which was stored in unsafe conditions. The blast, one of the biggest
non-nuclear explosions in history, injured thousands of people and devastated
several districts in the center of the capital.
Reports: Endeavors Ongoing to Break Govt
Stalemate Before Year’s End
Naharnet/December 20/2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi joined the ongoing efforts aiming to form a
new government in Lebanon "before the year’s end," the Saudi Asharq el-Awsat
newspaper reported Saturday. Rahi had met Friday with President Michel Aoun and
head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Jebran Bassil. Friday's meeting came
after Rahi's talks with PM-designate Saad Hariri a day earlier. Sources that
followed up on Aoun-Rahi meeting in Baabda, said the Patriarch has briefed Aoun
on his talks with Hariri. Aoun meanwhile explained to the Patriarch the
government formats that were discussed during his meeting with the PM-designate,
said the daily. It added that Aoun emphasized his goal to form a productive and
efficient government capable of confronting the current issues internally and
regionally. The Patriarch encouraged Aoun to resume communication with Hariri,
and Aoun expressed his readiness for this matter, it concluded.
Rifi to Franjieh: You Should Have Blamed the Main Blast
Culprit
Naharnet/December 20/2020
Former justice minister and ex-Internal Security Forces head Maj. Gen. Ashraf
Rifi replied on Saturday to Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, saying the
official should have pointed his finger at the main parties responsible for the
presence of ammonium nitrate that triggered Beirut’s deadly explosion on August
4. “You held the security agencies responsible and they do bear part of it, but
you should have rather accused the main and not the secondary players,” said
Rifi in a tweet addressing Franjieh. He was hinting at Hizbullah. Franjieh said
in an interview with Lebanon’s MTV that security agencies are the main culprit
in the Beirut port explosion that devastated large swathes of the capital.
Franjieh also distanced his ally Hizbullah from the ammonium nitrate shipment
that exploded at port and instead pointed the finger at President Michel Aoun
and the security agencies. “The Rhosus ship, the ship of death, docked directly
in the port of Beirut and did not pass through Tripoli. The ammonium nitrate was
emptied and stored for seven years without anyone daring to disclose the
matter,” said Rifi. Rifi had announced last week that ammonium nitrate was
shipped to Lebanon for Hizbullah's benefit. “In my testimony before Judicial
Investigator Judge Fadi Sawwan, I reiterate that the ammonium nitrates were sent
to Lebanon by the Iranian revolutionary guard for the benefit of Hizbullah,”
Rifi said in a statement on Thursday.
FPM: Delay in forming government an attempt to override
President of the Republic's powers
NNA/December 20/2020
In an issued statement today following its periodic electronic meeting headed by
Free Patriotic Movement Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, the Movement's political body
considered that "the delay in the government formation is due to the existence
of a clear attempt to bypass the constitutional authority of the President of
the Republic as a full partner in the cabinet formation process and as head of
the country, in addition to the insistence of the Prime Minister-designate not
to adopt clear and unified criteria for dealing with all the Lebanese." The
statement referred to "the existing intention to override all national balances
and return to the era of marginalization, which cannot be tolerated." The FPM
polit-bureau also warned against "wasting the investigation into the crime of
the Beirut Port explosion," stressing "the right of the Lebanese to know the
truth about who brought in the ammonium nitrate and how, who used a large part
of it, and who made the decision to store it for years at the Port." "Besides
the importance of defining the various security, administrative and functional
responsibilities in terms of negligence and shortcoming, what is required is to
determine the criminal responsibility for the explosion," the statement added.
"Likewise, it is not permissible to miss the opportunity for investigations to
reach their conclusion because of mistakes that accumulate by those in charge of
the investigation, which renders suspicions against the judicial investigator a
matter that tops this file instead of there being unanimous agreement over his
good role performance," the statement underlined. The political body then moved
on to condemn, in its statement, "Al-Jadid TV Station's persistence in attacking
the Office of the Presidency of the Republic in a campaign of slander and
defamation characterized by demagoguery, humiliation and violation of people's
dignity." It deemed that "this has lost the station its credibility and
professional ethics, rendering it a tool of extortion for known-unknown goals
that are discovered by the public, respectively." "The Free Patriotic Movement,
which is being targeted politically and in the media, will not hesitate to do
all the necessary to show that certain media, led by Al-Jadid TV Station, are a
tool for spreading lies, distorting facts, protecting corruption and preventing
its fight by spreading accusations and intellectual and media chaos," the
statement emphasized. The FPM political body also affirmed that "the door to
reform is through conducting a forensic audit of the Central Bank of Lebanon's
accounts and scrutinizing all public spending since 1990, as well as knowing the
fate of the Lebanese people's deposits in banks and how to recover them," vowing
not to spare any effort to accomplish these goals.
Abdallah: Cancelling of French President’s visit spared us
a well-deserved rebuke!
NNA/December 20/2020
“No government yet, despite the total collapse…no abandonment of sectarian and
authoritarian constants, even at the expense of daily livelihood…no retreat from
foreign bets at a time when our isolation intensifies…! In the end, we are
fortunate that Corona canceled the visit, because it spared us the reprimand and
reproach that we deserve…The entity that we know is on the path of demise,”
regretted MP Bilal Abdallah in a tweet this morning.
Geagea: If I Were the President, I Would Have Resigned
NaharnetCharles Elias Chartouni/December 20/2020
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea criticized the “incompetent” ruling
authority on Saturday and indirectly urged President Michel Aoun to step aside.
“If I were the President, I would have resigned,” said Geagea in remarks at a
meeting of the Strong Republic bloc. The LF chief said the entire ruling
authority in Lebanon “should step aside,” as the country grapples with an
unprecedented economic and financial crisis, amid the paralysis of authorities.
“The sequence of events proved that the ruling group is incompetent and
nonviable. The crisis has recently become a crisis of powers of positions while
the battle is not a battle of powers and the problem is not between Muslims and
Christians, but rather the ruling class that brought the country to where we
are,” said Geagea. He added that “the only solution is to stage early
parliamentary elections.”
Lebanon police clash with AUB students protesting tuition
hikes
AFP/Saturday 19 December 2020
Lebanese riot police on Saturday scuffled with students protesting a decision by
top universities to adopt a new dollar exchange rate to price tuition –
equivalent to a major fee hike. Near the entrance of the American University of
Beirut (AUB) in the city’s Hamra district, security forces fired tear gas to
disperse protesters who were trying to approach the main gate. Students
responded by throwing water bottles and other objects at riot police blocking
their path. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries. The protest
came in response to a decision by AUB and the Lebanese American University
(LAU), another top private institution, to price tuition based on an exchange
rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. The nosediving currency is still
officially pegged at around 1,500 pounds to the greenback. The move has prompted
fears that other universities could follow suit, potentially leading to an
exodus of students from private institutions while public universities remain
underfunded and overstretched. Hundreds of students had gathered in Hamra
earlier Saturday in a protest they billed a “student day of rage.”
Hezbollah, Global Criminality, Political Subversion and the
Parody of Lebanese Politics
Charles Elias Chartouni/December 20/2020
شارل الياس شرتوني/حزب الله إجرام عالمي، تخريب سياسي
وهزلية السياسة اللبنانية
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/93841/charles-elias-chartouni-hezbollah-global-criminality-political-subversion-and-the-parody-of-lebanese-politics-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86/
The reports on global criminality networks run by Hezbollah, throw into sharp
relief the inner connection between the three pillars which account for its role
in different operational theaters.
Based on lawyers and intelligence reports, they spotlight the critical nexus
between the variables on the basis of which proceed the subversive dynamics of
Hezbollah.
This elaborate perspective helps us understand the gist of its strategy,
relativize the role of Lebanese politics in its scheme, and get a better grasp
on why its Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, downplayed the centrality of
Lebanese issues in the general design of Hezbollah’s politics.
Lebanese politics are ancillary to an overall subversion strategy which
harnesses the rules of the internal political game, and tie them to the
objectives set by the Iranian commands and their domestic subsidiaries.
The successful hijacking of Lebanese politics testifies to the state of
institutional simulacrum to which Lebanese political life is relegated, whereas
the real power lies in the hands of Hezbollah and its different agencies that
took effective control of the country’s strategic levers (politics, finance,
economics, security … ) and muted it an operational platform to run its criminal
and subversive activities worldwide.
The illegal trade mechanisms ( drugs, armament, car dealerships, financial
fraud…. ) intertwining with money laundering schemes, front companies and
complicit Lebanese banks and lawyers, have yielded a complex architecture based
on cooperation between Hezbollah’s institutional conglomerates, Shiite
diasporas, religious institutions and occasional partners (al Qaida, Latin
American drug cartels, international mafias).
This power configuration cannot, by any means, adjust to the institutional
mandates of a regular State, and therefore the plot around which spins the
actual Lebanese political life, is a mere ploy to set foreclosures and solidify
the dynamics of subversion.
The deliberate degradation of public life, the dismantling of the constitutional
State for the sake of the predatory State, the politics of systemic corruption (clientelism,
patrimonialism, rentier politics and prebends, communal and individual
plundering of State resources….) are antithetic to reformists attempts, and
destructive of any sense of national belonging and civic boundedness.
The deliberate dispelling of the Lebanese national narrative, disseminated by
various Shiite religious authorities, that relayed the terrorist attack of
August 4th 2020, is no hazard, it conveys a brutal disengagement from the
national, civic and moral compact, and the end of the Lebanese national comity
and its attending civility.
Shiite fascism is in the business of overt political subversion, and the current
political simulation is part of its choreography and transient political
repertoire, and nothing seems to deviate from the initial political plan.
Lebanese have to reckon with raw political facts before re-engaging the
fallacies which have concealed a long term subversive strategy and made it
possible.
Secret Paris meeting lifted the lid on Hezbollah’s global criminal empire
Paul Peachey/The National/December 14/ 2020
Lebanese group operated in concert with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
On a clear, crisp spring day in Paris, a couple sat down at the popular Cafe de
L’Avenue on the broad, tree-lined Boulevard Haussmann. For the well-groomed
Lebanese woman, the goat’s cheese flan and the onion soup on the menu of classic
French staples was less alluring than her companion’s bag.
Inside was more than €214,000 ($260,200) – the purported proceeds of a
drug-smuggling operation that the middle-aged businesswoman had promised to
launder through European banks, in return for a 20 per cent cut. “My gift,” the
woman, Iman Kobeissi, told her dining partner as she took possession and
promised in future to rent an apartment in a nice part of Paris so their
meetings would go unobserved. But for Kobeissi, it was already too late. The
handover had been caught on camera by the French police, the culmination of 18
months of painstaking work by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Her
dining partner was one of its undercover agents. The National reviewed court
documents, sanctions notices, drugs seizures, police reports and government
statements to examine how Hezbollah used France and other European countries as
a centre of money-laundering operations and a lucrative market for its drugs
rackets.The FBI sting uncovered how the Lebanese group built a multilayered
network in France to sustain its role in the drugs trade and procure weapons.
Underpinning its actions is the deal Hezbollah struck with the cartels to source
cocaine in Brazil and mainly Colombia, with Venezuela becoming the gateway out
of the region. “Where was the cocaine going? Europe,” said a senior US official.
“And where was the money coming back through? Well, every damn thing you could
imagine.”Of more than 2,000 people and groups around the world named by the US
as “foreign narcotics kingpins”, almost a 10th are affiliated with or connected
to Hezbollah, according to a report by US researchers. Senior investigators from
the US government’s counter-Hezbollah programme fed intelligence to lawyers
representing families of hundreds of US soldiers killed in Iraq between 2004 and
2011 for legal action against Lebanese banks accused of assisting Hezbollah. An
822-page legal complaint sought to tie together the illegal drugs rackets with
overseas military action “committed, planned and authorised” by Hezbollah in
concert with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Senior officials said the
legal document represented one of the most detailed accounts of Hezbollah’s
drugs and arms smuggling capabilities.It details the leadership of Hezbollah’s
business affairs component, a unit that runs its criminal operations in Europe,
and outlines its money-laundering operations, trade in conflict diamonds, arms
and drugs.
How Iman Kobeissi was ensnared
The wooing of Kobeissi started after a meeting in Lebanon where she first
offered her money-laundering services to a drug smuggler and DEA informant, who
fed the information back. Her subsequent meetings with a DEA agent took her to
New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, to Paris with the prospect of future meetings
in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Lebanon and Iran’s Kish Island, a playground for organised
crime, according to court papers. By the time Kobeissi was lured to the United
States and arrested in late 2015, she had unwittingly handed over a detailed
picture of the vast network of criminal operations ranging across Europe,
Africa, and South America run by the terrorist group Hezbollah. Kobeissi, 50,
spoke of her associates in Hezbollah who wanted to buy cocaine and “fireworks” –
her code for weapons and ammunition. Kobeissi and her accomplice Joseph Asmar, a
lawyer with high-level connections to banks throughout Europe and the Middle
East – offered to arrange for planes laden with massive shipments of cocaine to
land in West Africa before being moved into Europe and the US.She also talked
about shipping aircraft parts to Iran in a secret sanctions-busting operation
and handed over a shopping list for an Iran-based customer that included more
than 1,000 military-style assault rifles. “That investigation … really blew the
doors open in terms of giving authorities insight into the depth and extent of
the activity happening through Paris and France,” said Matthew Levitt, a
Hezbollah expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The fact
that these two based in Paris are running these activities all over the place is
quite telling. Some of Hezbollah’s most important illicit finance activities –
and certainly the most important ones in Europe right now – are happening in
Paris and Brussels.”Kobeissi and Asmar – who was arrested in Paris – were both
extradited to the US and convicted. Asmar was released in January 2018 and
Kobeissi in September last year. Early release typically points to a deal for
shorter sentences in return for information, experts say. But some US officials
say that key intelligence secured during years of high-level cross-agency
operations pursuing Hezbollah was wasted after senior leaders left key roles and
the administration’s focus shifted away.
US missed opportunities to eradicate Hezbollah
Despite other successes, David Asher, who advised the US government on pursuing
the terrorist group’s finances under the administrations of George W Bush and
Barack Obama, said that the US had missed opportunities to wind up the group.
“Frankly, it was a mix of tragedy and travesty combined with a seriously
misguided turn of policy that resulted in no real strategic gain and a serious
miscarriage of justice,” he told a US congressional committee. Hezbollah
operates a business model based on crime, donations from the Lebanese diaspora,
legitimate business activities as well as support from Tehran, experts say.
Intelligence analysts say Hezbollah’s criminal operations have expanded since
the 1990s and they now run one of the world’s largest drug-smuggling operations
to support their growing foreign overseas programme. The expansion has been
particularly pronounced in Europe and South America.
The significant growth in European demand for cocaine over the past 15 years
filed in New York “provided Hezbollah with a golden opportunity to put its
sophisticated logistics capabilities to work on behalf of South and Central
American drug cartels and generate vast new revenue streams”.
In June, police in Italy seized 14 tonnes of amphetamine pills worth an
estimated €1 billion hidden inside rolls of paper at the port of Salerno on the
country’s west coast. The spotlight initially fell on ISIS but authorities were
focused on the Iran-backed Lebanese group. The drugs were tracked back to an
area of Syria under the control of the Assad government that was known as a
Hezbollah smuggling centre. “They are prepared to work with virtually anyone to
achieve their goals,” said David Daoud, a research analyst at the US-based group
United Against Nuclear Iran who tracks Hezbollah activity.
US, Iran dampen France’s plan for Lebanon
Reuters/Friday 18 December 2020
During a visit to Paris last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear
that Washington was unhappy with France’s strategy to help resolve the economic
and political crisis in Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron has been
spearheading international efforts to rescue the former French protectorate from
its deepest crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. He has travelled twice to
Lebanon since a huge explosion at Beirut port in August devastated the city.
Macron is trying to use Paris’ historical influence in the former French
protectorate to persuade squabbling Lebanese politicians to adopt a roadmap and
form a new government tasked with rooting out corruption, a prerequisite for
international donors including the IMF to unlock billions of dollars in aid. He
had been due to return for a third visit on December 22, but postponed the trip
on Thursday after testing positive for coronavirus. An official involved in
organizing the visit said he may speak by phone to Lebanese President Michel
Aoun but there were no other plans for now. The 42-year-old leader has from the
outset faced the inertia of Lebanon’s fractious political class, which has
bickered and ignored international warnings of state bankruptcy, as well as
resistance to his plans from Washington. “The Lebanese political class is stuck
in its own contradictions and is happy to play the clock,” said Nadim Khoury at
the Arab Reform Initiative. “(Prime Minister-designate) Saad al-Hariri is not
able to form a government and internationally the US will not facilitate French
efforts to form a government.”The US objection to Macron’s plan is centered on
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed movement that wields enormous power in
Lebanon and which Washington brands a terrorist group. Hariri, a former prime
minister, was given the task of forming a government after Mustapha Adib
resigned in September. He is so far struggling to cobble together a cabinet to
share power with all Lebanese parties, including Hezbollah. Paris was not
initially keen for Hariri to take up the role, having previously failed to
implement reforms, three French officials said. But given the lack of progress
in forming a credible government, Macron did not oppose the nomination. France
says Hezbollah’s elected arm has a legitimate political role. The US has already
imposed sanctions on three leading politicians allied to Hezbollah. During a
dinner in Paris last month with eight ambassadors, including from Europe, Pompeo
made clear more measures would follow if Hezbollah were part of the government,
according to two people with knowledge of his visit.
The stalemate has important ramifications for all sides.
Without US backing, international organizations and donors will not give Lebanon
the money it needs to claw itself out of a financial crisis which the World Bank
says will likely see more than half the population engulfed in poverty by 2021.
Macron, having vowed amid the rubble in Beirut not to abandon the Lebanese
people, is scrambling to show some foreign policy success in the region after
walking empty-handed from high-profile initiatives on Libya and Iran in recent
years. For the outgoing US administration, a tough stance on Hezbollah, which it
deems a terrorist group, is key to demonstrating that its overall Middle East
policy, including maximum pressure on Iran, has been effective. Three diplomats
said they did not expect President-elect Joe Biden to change policy quickly
given the bi-partisan nature of the US stance and other priorities for the new
administration. Biden has said he plans to scrap what he calls the “dangerous
failure” of President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy on Iran, but people
familiar with his thinking have said he will not shy away from using sanctions.
Warning signs The differences with Washington exacerbate what was always going
to be a difficult challenge for Macron.
When he had lunch with Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun and parliament speaker
Nabih Berri on September 1, his objective was to ensure Berri, head of the Shia
Muslim Amal Movement, committed to a deadline to form a new government. Macron
insisted on 10-15 days, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.
Berri, a stalwart of Lebanese politics who has in the past had a hand in picking
key ministers, twice responded with “Insha’allah,” (God Willing), a polite way
sometimes used in the Middle East to react to something you don’t want to do.
Macron put out his palm to say no and again emphasize his demands.
Berri’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Macron’s office said: “The president continues his calls with the various
political players in Lebanon as he had previously committed to.” A week later,
although Macron said he had got all factions to back his plan, the United States
blacklisted two former ministers, including one from Amal, for their ties to
Hezbollah. “You’re right to say the sanctions policy of the American
administration, done without consultation or coordination with us, has strained
the game,” Macron said not long afterwards, when asked about the US not being
warm to his efforts. Since then Gebran Bassil, son-in-law of Aoun, who heads the
Free Patriotic Movement, Lebanon’s largest Christian party, has been sanctioned
over his ties to Hezbollah. US, European and regional diplomats say new
sanctions are imminent.
Punitive measures
Hezbollah has become the overarching power in Lebanon, with elected members of
parliament and positions in government. While its support from Iran has been hit
by US sanctions, the group remains a pillar of Tehran’s regional influence.
French officials say Washington’s punitive measures have done nothing to change
the situation on the ground. A French presidential official told reporters on
Dec. 2 “they did not block anything ... but haven’t unlocked anything
either.”Speaking at an online conference of the CSIS think-tank, US Ambassador
to Lebanon Dorothy Shea said that while avoiding state failure in Lebanon was
“first and foremost,” Washington viewed Hezbollah as being “wholly in service to
their Iranian masters” and said US measureswere having an effect. Israel, the
closest US ally in the Middle East, regards Iran as its biggest threat and
Hezbollah as the main danger on its borders.
Iranian officials said that Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was in
contact with Tehran on how to handle Macron’s initiative, but they would not
allow Hezbollah to be weakened. Macron has meanwhile been left admonishing
Lebanon’s politicians for betraying their commitments. “As of today, these
commitments have not been kept,” he said on December 2. “So far, there is
nothing to show that they were more than words. I regret that.”
Lebanon’s rule of law proves arbitrary as Beirut port
explosion probe stalls
Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/Saturday 19 December 2020
The Beirut port explosion investigation has been put on halt for 10 days,
signaling that the probe’s path will likely be rocky even once it continues.
Investigators last week charged caretaker Prime Minister Hasan Diab and three
other former ministers with negligence after the August Beirut port explosion
that killed nearly 200 people. But such investigations in Lebanon rarely come to
fruition. Where some have supported the development, others have opposed the
step based on confessional affiliations. But for justice to be served, those
responsible need to be held to account. Naming these four public officials is
the first step. The most prominent support came from Prime Minister designate
Saad Hariri, a long foe of Diab since the latter assumed office last January.
Hariri paid a rare visit to Diab and expressed his solidarity saying that
“violating the constitution and indicting the premiership is unacceptable.”
A few politicians threw their support behind the judiciary that charged Diab,
and Lebanon’s former prime ministers and the grand mufti of Lebanon stood behind
Diab, saying he cannot be indicted on such charges. Former Prosecutor General
Hatem Madi said in a televised interview that the judge in charge has the full
right to prosecute former premiers, according to the law, and can even question
the president, should the need arise. The Lebanese constitution outlines that a
supreme council can convene to charge presidents and ministers, though this
council has rarely, if ever, convened.
In the mid-1990s Finance Minister Fouad Saniora (who would go on to serve as
prime minister) and Minister of Oil Shahe Barsoumian were charged in front of
regular courts. The “Club of Judges” a non-partisan, informal body that includes
tens of judges who advocate for the independence of the judiciary, announced
that it is within the jurisdiction of the judge to try officials for regular
crimes, such as the Beirut port explosion, rather than crimes relating to their
work as government officials. Yet, the judiciary suffers from its inability to
act independently because it has to secure political approval of all its
appointments and promotions. The president and the prime minister approve
judicial appointments which makes it hard, if not impossible, to divorce
political considerations from judicial behavior. Judges need to earn political
support for their career development and promotion.
This has led to a paralyzed judicial authority as several posts are vacant and
cannot be filled unless the decree is signed and published in the official
gazette.
After the charges were filed, Diab’s office issued a statement saying that he
will not testify in front of the judge and the caretaker’s firm position
reflects how difficult applying the law is in Lebanon. There is still a long way
to go before high officials are held responsible for their crimes.
Unless the judicial authority stands up and uses its power to prosecute
officials involved in the port explosion, the nearly 200 victims from the blast
will not have justice. Additionally, by not prosecuting those in power, it sets
a precedent that will make it more challenging to right wrongs in the future
when atrocities are carried out by those in power.
This is detrimental for any democracy, no matter how fragile it is. Whether or
not the charged officials will be heard by the judge is yet unknown. However, it
is becoming clearer that the culture of respecting law in Lebanon is eroding.
The law remains applicable only to those citizens who lack political support.
Respect for the constitution has become more of an arbitrary talking point,
rather than compulsory behavior. In Lebanon, essential values are now at stake,
and if those responsible for the Beirut port explosion are not held to account,
the backslide will continue. Now, the future of the probe is at stake. As
victims’ families await the result of investigation, there is little hope, if
any, that any politician will be accountable. Politicians in Lebanon have never
been held accountable, and it’s unlikely to happen now. The ruling elite still
refuse internationally mandated reform and the absence of accountability have
further hindered the process. Unfortunately, without reforms, Lebanon will
disintegrate further in the coming months as the unprecedented economic crisis
continues and the judiciary which is bound to politicians continues to protect a
corrupt ruling elite. The worst is yet to come.
Why Hezbollah is losing the support of Lebanon’s Shia
community
Hanin Ghaddar/Al Arabiya/Saturday 19 December 2020
حنين غدار/موقع العربية: لهذه الأسباب يفقد حزب الله دعم البيئة الشيعية في لبنان
Hezbollah’s adventurism in Syria and the wider region has alienated the support
of many Lebanese Shia. The organization has also lost its military discipline
and is under financial pressure, putting it in a precarious position.
Hezbollah currently faces four main challenges that have disillusioned previous
supporters. First, its ongoing involvement in the war in Syria has exhausted the
organization militarily and undermined its mission statement to its support
base. The heavy price paid by Lebanese Shia, without any tangible victory, has
caused some to question their relation and loyalty to the militia and its ties
with the Iranian regime. Hezbollah originally emerged in south Lebanon in 1982,
with substantial training and funding from the Iranian Islamic regime, with
resistance as its core goal. However, its mission statement clearly adhered to
the Islamic revolution and with a broad goal of creating an Islamic state in
Lebanon. Gradually, its Shia ideology, commitment and support to Iran’s regional
operations in the region – first in Iraq then in Syria – exposed its real goal:
supporting Iran’s hegemony in the region. Its members and support-base
constituted mostly of Shia fighters and loyalists, who eventually found
themselves tied up in Iran’s regional plans. With the outbreak of the war in
Syria, Hezbollah decided to intervene on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s regime,
sending thousands of fighters across the border.
The intervention has been costly. Not only has Hezbollah lost many fighters and
commanders, but it has failed to achieve a clear-cut victory that it could use
for propaganda purposes, such as the “divine victory” against Israel that was
proclaimed in 2006. The main so-called achievement has been keeping President
Assad in power, which has done little for Lebanese Shia. In contrast, many
Lebanese were killed fighting for Assad in Syria, while at home the community
feels more isolated than ever, as they lost access to and help from regional
stakeholders, mainly the Gulf, which has a history of supporting Lebanon in
times of need. With Hezbollah’s growing regional activities, the Shia felt they
had to pay the price.
Second, Hezbollah’s rhetoric of resistance has lost much of its appeal. The
organization has taken on an increased regional role under its Iranian backer.
Beginning in Syria, the group is now involved with pro-Iranian forces in Iraq
and Yemen. This expansion has led to considerable and frequent Israeli military
responses, with air strikes and targeted killings causing major losses to
Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Iraq, Syria,
and Lebanon. Despite its rhetoric of resistance, Hezbollah has not retaliated to
any of the Israeli strikes on its bases.
Instead, both Hezbollah and Iran now prioritize regional hegemony over
resistance against Israel. They are reluctant to sacrifice the significant
investments they have made in their regional infrastructure means in a conflict
with Israel, which could lead to major losses in their arsenal and
infrastructure that they would struggle to replace immediately.
Third, Hezbollah’s military has lost its discipline and has weaknesses in its
arsenal.
To sustain its involvement in Syria, Hezbollah needed to recruit tens of
thousands of new fighters who lack the discipline and training of the group’s
previous fighters. Hezbollah now has a fighting force that has been infiltrated
by disruptive elements that could easily go out of control. Whether the group’s
leadership will have the time to establish discipline and control over its
entire force remains to be seen, as it is overextended and could find itself in
a conflict. As for their arsenal, although they have started to develop a
network of precision missiles, these are now more exposed to Israeli strikes and
international pressure, because they constitute a serious danger on Israel’s
infrastructure, and at the same time they endanger US regional allies.
Forth, Hezbollah is going through an unprecedented financial crisis due to the
US sanctions on Iran.
This crisis is affecting Hezbollah’s capability to build its social and
military. Most of their social services – such as health and welfare system –
are no longer catering for the whole Shia community. Instead, they are only
offered to the close circle of military personnel and high-ranking executives.
Even the contractors that were hired to fight in Syria are not all able to
access Hezbollah’s welfare system. Hezbollah has recently created a new system
to avert the repercussions of this crisis, which is now aggravated by the
deterioration of the Lebanese economy. However, flooding their stores and
centers with Syrian and Iranian goods, and moving hard currency within a small
circles of loyal Shia, will only increase tensions. The financial crisis is
exacerbating divisions within the Lebanese Shia, first between Hezbollah’s
military and civilian employees, and second between Hezbollah members and the
wider Shia community.
While most Shia have lost their jobs or are receiving a fraction of their
salaries, Hezbollah’s important personnel are still receiving their salaries in
US dollars – a rare privilege in Lebanon today.
Accordingly, the sense of inequality is exacerbating discontent among the wider
Shia community, many of whom are feeling sidelined. Most importantly, many in
the Shia community feel that they are going through the same pains and struggles
as the rest of the Lebanese, who have called out a corrupt political class that
includes Hezbollah. The Shia are not immune to the political elite’s destruction
of the country, and Hezbollah will not shield them from the collapse. This is a
feeling that will grow, and could lead to more tension within the community.
Eventually, the Shia will regain their national identity, one that highlights
their Lebanese citizenship, rather than a dependence on Hezbollah and the
Iranian regime. Rebuilding Lebanon’s state institutions, rather than foster a
deeper relationship with those who weaken it, will protect all Lebanese,
including the Shia population.
*Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Fellow in The Washington Institute’s Geduld
Program on Arab Politics.
Hezbollah’s global trail of criminality and corruption
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/December 19/2020
بارعة علم الدين/عرب نيوز/مسار حزب الله العالمي للإجرام والفساد
While Lebanon bleeds, many essential medicines are unobtainable in mainstream
hospitals and pharmacies. Yet in Hezbollah-land a parallel system of health
facilities exists where a full spectrum of cheap Iran-imported drugs are readily
available.
Hezbollah uses its control of the health ministry to systematically divert
medical funds for its own purposes. Hospitals damaged by the Aug. 4 Beirut port
explosion, while treating thousands of injured blast victims, lost out on funds
— but the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Rassoul Al-Azam Hospital, far from the blast
zone, raked in $3.6m in additional funding. With its system of parallel ATMs
from which dollars are miraculously available —parallel schools, parallel banks,
parallel economies, parallel systems for paying salaries — Hezbollah is
profiteering from Lebanon’s demise.
Hezbollah demands continued control over Lebanon’s finance, health and transport
ministries precisely because the budgets and executive powers of these
ministries multiply opportunities for criminal gain. Lebanon’s airport, ports
and national borders are vital nodes for smuggling arms and narcotics. Lebanese
financial institutions have been sanctioned for laundering funds for Iran.
Since Hezbollah’s 2018 State Department designation as one of the top five
global criminal organizations, its criminal operations have massively increased,
following explicit instructions from Tehran to “make money” any way it can to
offset the impact of sanctions. Drug enforcement officials have been surprised
to find Hezbollah criminal networks sometimes operating hand-in-hand with both
Daesh operatives and Israeli criminal gangs to achieve this goal.
Hezbollah exports tons of the amphetamine-based drug Captagon throughout the
Middle East and Europe,most of it produced in Hezbollah-controlled areas of
Lebanon and Syria. A single 2020 seizure in Italy consisted of 84 million
tablets worth $1.1bn.
Europol warns of intensified Hezbollah criminal activities “trafficking diamonds
and drugs.” Between Africa and Europe, Hezbollah has used its Lebanese émigré
connections to carve out a niche in the illegal diamond trade, as well as major
arms-smuggling operations throughout Africa.
Two Hezbollah-linked Lebanese businessmen sanctioned by the US in 2019 for their
role in illegally trading diamonds were also thought to be trading artworks by
Warhol and Picasso for laundering purposes. The 2017 arrest of Ali Kourani
highlighted Hezbollah’s efforts to deploy sleeper agents, identify attack
targets, and engage in criminal activities in the US itself.
In 2011 a US Drug Enforcement Administration investigation highlighted the role
of Hezbollah operative Ayman Jouma (still at large) in shipping an estimated 85
tons of cocaine into the US and laundering over $850 millionin drug money
through various front companies, including the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Jouma’s
labyrinthine trafficking network stretched from Panama and Columbia, via West
Africa and back to Lebanon.
Although Hezbollah’s Latin American network (masterminded by the late Imad
Mughniyeh) was initially based in the tri-border region of Argentina, Paraguay
and Brazil, these operations have increasingly consolidated themselves in
Maduro’s Venezuela.
I’ve always been proud to be Lebanese, but it’s a source of intense shame when
the world sees our beautiful nation hijacked by Hezbollah’s corruption,
criminality and terrorism.
Lebanese émigré clans operate vast narcotics networks embedded along the
Venezuelan coast, primarily targeting the US. These clans enjoy intimate ties
with Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela’s oil minister and specialenvoy to Iran, who
has been sanctioned for his role in the drugs trade. In one 2020 scam, Aissami
contracted the National Iranian Oil Company to fix several Venezuelan oil
refineries. The refineries remain out of service, but Iran netted $1 billion in
gold bars from Venezuela’s bankrupt economy.
Hezbollah’s international crime portfolio is primarily managed by Hassan
Nasrallah’s cousin, Abdallah Safieddine, Hezbollah’s envoy to Tehran. Safieddine
and Hezbollah official Adham Hussein Tabaja oversee a vast network of businesses
active in tourism, real estate, beef, charcoal, electronics and construction
that are essential for laundering Hezbollah’s criminal revenues. Bulk materials
such as charcoal are frequently used as cover for smuggling cocaine.
In Iraq and Syria, Iran-backed Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary forces are part
of these transregional smuggling rings. A crucial difference, particularly since
the assassinations of Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, is that rival
militias compete over territory and criminal opportunities, meaning that Iraq is
torn apart by warring clans while citizens and their businesses are extorted for
funds. These militias have made locations such as Basra world centers for
crystal meth, and transit points for heroin and other contraband goods.
In southern Iraq, locals warn that a crackdown against Turkish alcohol,
including paramilitary bomb attacks onshops, is motivated by aggressive efforts
by Iran’s proxies to flood markets with infinitely more dangerous crystal meth
and other Iran-sourced drugs. As one expert explained: “The drugs market
rejoices in the misfortune of the alcoholic beverages market,” making Iraq the
battleground between Turkey, the “mother of alcohol,” and Iran, the “mother of
all drugs.”
Hezbollah’s spiritual advisers during the 1990s ruled that the narcotics trade
was “morally acceptable if the drugs are sold to Western infidels as part of a
war against the enemies of Islam.” Yet today, from Beirut to Tehran, these
nations are plagued by millions of addicts, thanks to the theologically
sanctioned criminality of the so-called “Party of God.”
One rarely discussed reason why Hezbollah and associates don’t want to put down
their weapons is that Hassan Nasrallah, Hadi Al-Amiri, Ali Khamenei and their
families manage billion-dollar criminal operations that make them unimaginably
wealthy while their nations disintegrate as a direct consequence of these
criminal enterprises.
In accordance with Israel’s predilection for panic-mongering about Hezbollah’s
offensive capabilities, retired Israeli colonel, Eli Bar-On has been warning
that Hezbollah’s firepower exceeded that of 95 percent of the world’s
militaries. As usual, Al-Manar TV gleefully promoted Bar-On’s comments, proud of
Hezbollah’s global-menace status.
Too many states continue to ignore Hezbollah’s criminal and terrorist
activities. Rather than Saad Hariri and French President Emmanuel Macron bending
over backwards to meet Nasrallah halfway on government formation (with
sympathetic Shiite appointees turning a blind-eye to long-running criminal
operations), Hezbollah should be banished from politics altogether, and UNIFIL
and the Lebanese Army should play a beefed-up role in combating industrial-scale
smuggling and organized crime.
I’ve always been proud to be Lebanese, but it’s a source of intense shame when
the world sees our beautiful nation hijacked by Hezbollah’s corruption,
criminality and terrorism.
Iran and its mafioso affiliates represent one of the world’s largest and most
lucrative criminal franchises. Only when we begin dealing with these entities as
the criminal-terrorists they are can progress be made in confronting the
hydra-like threat that Tehran poses.
**Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 19-20/2020
Egypt court acquits men who attacked elderly Christian
woman
AFP/Saturday 19 December 2020
An Egyptian court acquitted Thursday three defendants who stripped and dragged
an elderly Coptic Christian woman through her village in 2016, a judicial source
said. Soad Thabet, 74, was paraded naked by a mob of violent vigilantes after
rumors surfaced that her son was having an affair with a Muslim woman. The
sectarian incident in Al-Karm village in Minya governorate, about 300 kilometers
south of the capital Cairo, saw also homes of Christian families torched and
villagers angrily calling for the expulsion of Copts. Egypt’s Christians, the
largest religious minority in the Middle East, make up 10-15 percent of the 100
million population. The three defendants – a father and his two sons – were
acquitted after a re-trial where they were initially sentenced to 10 years in
prison. Thursday’s verdict can be appealed, the judicial source added. Local
Coptic newspaper Watani reported Thabet was distraught upon hearing the verdict.
“After all these years, how can they be let off after they stripped me naked in
front of everyone to see? What can I say? God will bring back my rights,” she
said according to the publication. Leading rights group Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights (EIPR) condemned the verdict in a statement urging the public
prosecution to lodge an appeal. “Perpetrators of sectarian attacks must be held
accountable for their actions in order to avoid their repetition,” the watchdog
said. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi lambasted the sectarian violence, which
turned into a national controversy, at the time describing it as “unacceptable.”
Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination in public life in the
Muslim-majority country, especially after sectarian incidents where the state
oversees community reconciliation sessions which find mostly in favor of the
culprits. In recent years, ISIS has also targeted churches killing dozens.
Iran executes two ethnic Baluchis on unclear charges:
Rights group
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 20
December 2020
Iran executed on Saturday two ethnic Baluchi citizens on unclear charges, a
rights group reported. Behnam and Shoaib Rigi were executed in a prison in the
southeastern city of Zahedan, according to the Europe-based rights group Baluchi
Activists Campaign. The two were members of a local Revolutionary Guards-backed
militia, according to the rights group. They were arrested in 2018 after
engaging in a deadly shootout with plain-clothed anti-narcotics agents that they
mistook for drug smugglers, the rights group said. The charges against them
remain unknown. The Iranian judiciary has not reported any executions from
Sistan-Baluchestan. Three other death row inmates in the same prison also face
imminent execution, the rights group added. On Friday, Iranian lawyer Mostafa
Nili warned in an interview with an Iranian outlet that at least five death row
inmates in Zahedan face imminent execution. Oslo-based rights group Iran Human
Rights (IHR) also reported citing an unnamed source that Behnam and Shoaib Rigi
were executed on drug-related charges. The two were members of the Revolutionary
Guards, and “it is possible a judicial case was filed against them following
disputes they had with officials from the Guards,” IHR quoted the source as
saying. In 2019, Iran executed 30 people on drug-related charges, according to
IHR. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan, which according to official
figures, is Iran’s poorest province. Iranian security forces often clash with
armed drug smugglers and Sunni militants in the province, which is mostly
populated by Sunni ethnic Baluchis, a minority in predominantly Shia Iran.
Baluchi activists complain of ethnic and religious discrimination and accuse the
regime of deliberately neglecting their region due to its population’s Sunni
faith.
Trump says cyberattack ‘under control,’ plays down Russian
role
AFP/Saturday 19 December 2020
President Donald Trump Saturday downplayed a massive cyberattack on US
government agencies, declaring it “under control” and undercutting the
assessment by his own administration that Russia was to blame. “I have been
fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Trump tweeted in his first
public comments on the hack, adding that “Russia Russia Russia is the priority
chant when anything happens” and suggesting that China “may” also be involved.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Russia was behind the
devastating cyberattack on several US government agencies that also hit targets
worldwide. “There was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party
software to essentially embed code inside of US government systems,” Pompeo told
The Mark Levin Show.
Islamists in Kuwaiti parliament see favourable momentum for
amnesty bill
The Arab Weekly/December 19/2020
KUWAIT – Kuwait’s general amnesty bill represents a ready-made recipe for a tug
of war between the authorities and the representatives of the opposition in the
new parliament. The early introduction of this bill indicates that the
opposition intends to make it its battle horse during the first session of the
freshly elected National Assembly.
Five opposition MPs, Hamad al-Matar, Fayez al-Jamhour, Abdul-Aziz al-Saqabi,
Osama al-Shaheen and Thamer al-Sweit introduced a bill introdcuing a general
amnesty. Some have argued that making the bill into law is tantamount to opening
a “new page in the file of national reconciliation.”
The obvious eagerness for this bill shown by the candidates of the opposition
during and after the election campaign reflects its exceptional importance to
them, and especially the Islamists among them. The general amnesty is in fact
considered by Islamists a challenge inherited from the previous parliament,
which had rejected the bill with encouragement from the authorities and help
from MPs loyal to the government, including the former and current Speaker of
Parliament Marzouq al-Ghanem. The proposed law generally provides for a
comprehensive amnesty that drops the sentences issued against those who were
tried in the case of storming the National Assembly building and tampering with
its contents in November 2011, including well-known Kuwaiti opposition figures
and representatives in previous parliaments. Those convicted in the case could
in principle benefit from a special pardon issued by the emir of the country, by
which the sentence is cancelled or reduced without dropping the charges. A
general amnesty, on the other hand, is the prerogative of the parliament, and
drops both charges and sentences, in addition to restoring their full rights to
the those concerned.
It seems that those involved in the case of the storming of the National
Assembly do not want to admit to committing a crime and consider their actions
part of their “struggle”, which explains their quest for a general amnesty.
The Kuwaiti authorities do not want to set a precedent that would make the
unrest that Islamists have stirred in Kuwait during the events of the “Arab
spring” of the beginning of the current decade in a number of Arab countries as
a “legitimate act of struggle.”
Against this background, the authorities are adhering to a single course of
action for a possible amnesty in the case, namely to have those who were
sentenced and had fled the country return to Kuwait and start serving their
sentences, then submit a special request for pardon to the emir of the country.
This course of action was indeed applied in the case of former MP Walid al-Tabtabaei.
The Salafist MP returned to Kuwait from Turkey, went to jail for a short period,
then subsequently submitted a request for pardon to the former Emir of Kuwait,
Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and he received it.
Among the most prominent figures condemned in the case is former Muslim
Brotherhood MP Jamaan al-Herbish, who is still in exile in Turkey. He is betting
on the success of his movement in putting pressure on the government through
Parliament and succeeding to have the general amnesty bill passed, which has not
happened to this day.
A group of MPs in the new parliament decided to reintroduce the bill during the
new session, betting on the changes taking place in the public scene in the
country, as they expect that the severe economic crisis has placed the authority
in a weaker position, rendering it more willing to give in to parliamentary
pressure, in addition to the increase in the number of opposition MPs in the
newly elected National Assembly. The Islamists in particular are hoping that the
passing of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad, an experienced and charismatic leader,
will weaken the authority and make it more flexible and receptive to passing the
changes that they have been wanting to introduce for many years now, which would
them to be champions of democratic reforms in the country and pave their way to
reaching power and controlling its most important pillars. The shelving of the
general amnesty bill in the previous parliament is one of the causes of
hostility between opposition MPs and the speaker of the National Assembly, who
is accused by Islamists of playing a major role in preventing the passage of the
law. Ghanim had previously described raising the issue of a blanket amnesty,
saying that its goal was to “create imaginary heroes.”Against this background,
the opposition had tried unsuccessfully to prevent Ghanem from returning to the
presidency of the National Assembly, but through a series of unannounced
settlements and deals, he managed to defeat his rival Badr Al-Hamidi, although
the latter had been supported in his candidacy for the important position by a
large number of opposition representatives. The previous Kuwaiti parliament
witnessed fierce “battles” because of the general amnesty bill, which reached
the point of coming to fist fights between parliamentarians. At the beginning of
the current year, the bill was about to be approved after a fierce pressure
campaign by the Islamists, who had succeeded in pushing it through Parliament,
but the Parliamentary Legislative Committee had frustrated their plan by
introducing amendments to the bill. These amendments sought to include in the
bill an amnesty for former MP Abdul Hamid Dashti, who was convicted in several
cases related to abusing the Kuwaiti government and Gulf countries, as well as
for those convicted and sentenced in the case of the Abdali Cell, related to a
terrorist cell linked to Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, and which was dismantled
in 2015. The opposition saw that the inclusion of these cases was a legal ploy,
woven by Ghanim to render the bill impossible to pass, since it wouldn’t be
acceptable to anyone to pardon offenders and terrorists. Former member of the
Islamic Constitutional Movement, Muhammad al-Dalal, had said at the time that
putting the cases of storming the parliament, the Abdali cell and of Abdul Hamid
Dashti in the same bag was an unconstitutional and unlawful measure, and a
negative and absurd political move aimed at killing all these proposals and
confusing parliamentarians and society.
Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel rollout
AFP/Saturday 19 December 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a COVID-19 vaccine jab on
Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days. Netanyahu, 71,
and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live
on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. “I asked to be
vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as
personal examples and encourage you to be vaccinated,” Netanyahu told the
television audience. They must each receive a booster shot in three weeks for
optimal protection from the novel coronavirus. United States Vice President Mike
Pence got the jab live on television Friday, while President-elect Joe Biden is
set to receive his shot on Monday. President Trump has made it clear he is not
planning to take the vaccine imminently, citing the belief that his recovery
from a brief but severe bout of COVID-19 has given him immunity. Latest Israeli
health ministry figures reported over 370,000 people had tested positive for the
virus since the country confirmed its first case in February. Just over 3,000
people have died, in a country of around 9 million. The vaccine will be rolled
out at 10 hospitals and vaccination centers around Israel for healthcare workers
from Sunday, according to the health ministry. During the course of the week, a
ministry statement said, vaccinations will be extended to the general public,
starting with those over 60 years of age.
Macron 'Stable' after Virus Infection, Says Presidency
Agence France Presse/December 19/2020
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has tested positive for the coronavirus,
is in stable condition, and examinations had given reassuring results, a
statement from his office said Saturday. Macron, who is working in
self-isolation from an official residence outside Paris, "is still presenting
the same symptoms of the Covid-19 illness (fatigue, coughing, stiffness)", said
the brief statement, signed by his doctor. But they were not preventing him from
carrying out his duties. On Friday, Macron had promised to provide a daily
update and, for the time, posted on social media a short video message filmed on
his own phone. Speaking of the general situation in France, where the number of
deaths passed 60,000 on Friday, he warned: "We have to be vigilant as the virus
is gaining in strength again." The French authorities are concerned that the
holiday period could see a new spike in infections. On Friday, a total 15,674
new cases were reported in the past 24 hours in France, down from 18,254 the
previous day. And the so-called positivity rate -- which measures the number of
confirmed contaminations as a proportion of the number of tests carried out --
slipped slightly to 5.9 percent from 6.1 percent on Thursday.
Tensions in Armenia as Thousands Mourn Karabakh Victims
Agence France Presse/December 19/2020
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan led Saturday a thousands-strong march in
memory of those killed in clashes with Azerbaijan as the Caucasus country began
three days of mourning amid persisting tensions. Pashinyan has been under huge
pressure from the opposition to step down after nearly 3,000 Armenians have been
killed in six weeks of clashes with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of
Nagorno Karabakh. As Armenia began three days of mourning for the victims of
clashes on Saturday, the opposition kept up pressure on Pashinyan to resign over
the handling of the conflict and what they say is a humiliating peace deal with
Azerbaijan. Accompanied by top officials, Pashinyan led a thousands-strong
procession to a memorial complex in the capital Yerevan where victims of the
conflict are buried. "The entire nation has been through and is going through a
nightmare," Pashinyan said in a video address ahead of the memorial march.
"Sometimes it seems that all of our dreams have been dashed and our optimism
destroyed," he added. The opposition has called the 45-year-old leader a
"traitor" for agreeing to end the war on Azerbaijan's terms. Pashinyan, whose
wife and son were at the front during the conflict, has said he has no plans to
quit and the peace deal was Armenia's only option, ensuring Karabakh's survival.
'Beg for forgiveness'
Many critics said on Saturday the leader should stay away from the memorial
cemetery where the procession headed. "He must not desecrate the graves of our
children," Misak Avetisyan, who lost a son in the war, told reporters. The
grief-stricken father said the prime minister should get down on his knees and
"beg for forgiveness".Many critics chanted "Nikol the traitor" as authorities
dramatically beefed up security at the cemetery. The war ended in November with
a Moscow-brokered peace agreement that saw the Armenians cede swathes of
territory to Azerbaijan which has been backed by close ally Turkey. The
opposition were to hold a separate march later in the day. Pashinyan's critics
have called on supporters to stage a national strike from December 22. A member
of the Pashinyan-led procession said the prime minister should not be blamed for
the mistakes of previous leaders. "He is not guilty of anything," said Karo
Sargsyan. Pashinyan, a former newspaper editor, was propelled to power in 2018
after he channelled widespread desire for change into a broad protest movement
against corrupt post-Soviet elites. But after the war with Azerbaijan, many now
say Pashinyan has betrayed Armenia's interests. Numerous public figures
including the influential head of Armenia's Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin,
have called for Pashinyan's resignation. As part of the peace deal Russia
deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Karabakh. Moscow said on Friday
that a Russian mine clearer was killed by a blast in Karabakh when an explosive
went off earlier this week. More than 5,000 people including civilians were
killed during the fighting between the ex-Soviet rivals, who also fought a war
in the 1990s over the mountainous region.
U.S. Authorizes Moderna as Second Covid-19 Vaccine
Agence France Presse/December 19/2020
The United States on Friday authorized Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency
use, as the country grapples with a brutal winter surge that is killing over
2,500 people a day. The US is the first nation to authorize the two-dose
regimen, now the second vaccine to be deployed in a Western country after one
developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. "With the availability of two vaccines now for
the prevention of Covid-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight
against this global pandemic," Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Stephen
Hahn said. President Donald Trump -- who has frequently taken credit for the
fast pace of vaccine development -- tweeted: "Congratulations, the Moderna
vaccine is now available!" Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in November's
presidential elections and is due to take office in January, hailed the news as
"another milestone" in the fight against the virus. But he also warned of "the
immense challenges ahead, including scaling up manufacturing, distribution, and
the monumental task of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans." Meharry
Medical College President James Hildreth, who was part of a panel of experts
convened by the FDA to discuss approval matters, said Thursday it was a
"remarkable achievement" to have developed and authorized the Pfizer and Moderna
vaccines within a year. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine was approved by Britain
on December 2, followed by several other countries including the US last week.
Less-vetted inoculations have also been rolled out in China and Russia. The
United States alone has seen more than 310,000 people die from coronavirus
infections and is currently witnessing a brutal winter surge, with nearly
115,000 people hospitalized, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Millions
of doses will begin shipping out as early as this weekend from cold-storage
sites outside Memphis and Louisville, overseen by logistics firm McKesson. From
there they will be delivered to sites around the country via partnerships with
FedEx and UPS.
Cutting-edge technology
Moderna has several other drugs under development, but has never seen any
authorized until this week. The decade-old Massachusetts-based biotech company
received $2.5 billion in federal funding for its efforts and co-developed the
vaccine with scientists at the National Institutes of Health. Both the Pfizer
and Moderna vaccines are based on cutting-edge mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid)
technology, and both have been shown to protect about 95 percent of people
against Covid-19 compared to a placebo. Clinical trials involving tens of
thousands of people each have also found no serious safety issues. The most
commonly reported side effects were, according to the FDA, "tiredness, headache,
muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the
injection, nausea and vomiting, and fever."But there have now been a handful of
people around the world who developed significant allergic reactions after
receiving the Pfizer vaccine, and the FDA has said it will remain vigilant. Both
vaccines come with warnings for people who have histories of allergic reactions
to their ingredients. FDA scientist Peter Marks told reporters that the total
number of cases of allergic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine across the United
States was now around five. He said investigations were underway, and suggested
the culprit might be an ingredient called polyethylene glycol, which is in both
vaccines. The FDA will also be on the lookout to see whether both vaccines may
in extremely rare cases be linked to Bell's palsy, a temporary facial paralysis
condition, a handful of cases of which emerged during clinical trials.
Placebo dilemma
Both vaccines work by giving human cells the instructions to make a surface
protein of the coronavirus, which simulates an infection and trains the immune
system for when it encounters the real virus. They each differ in the
formulation of the fatty particles used to deliver the mRNA, allowing Moderna's
vaccine to be kept in long term storage at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees
Fahrenheit), unlike Pfizer's, which must be stored at -90 degrees Celsius.
Moderna carried out a clinical trial of more than 30,000 people, roughly half of
whom were given the product and the other half a placebo, with neither
recipients nor their health care providers knowing who was in each group. It has
proposed to "unblind" the whole study and offer placebo recipients the vaccine.
But some experts have raised concerns about that plan, saying scientists will be
deprived of valuable data and warning that some people will end up getting the
vaccine ahead of others in their priority group. Moderna proposes to ship 20
million this month and 80 million more in the first quarter of 2021, with the
remaining 100 million in the second quarter.
U.S. Planning to Close Last Consulates in Russia, Says Report
Agence France Presse/December 19/2020
Donald Trump's outgoing administration is planning to close the two remaining US
consulates in Russia, media reports said Friday, as President-elect Joe Biden
prepares to take office amid high tensions with Moscow. The US will close its
consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and suspend operations at its
post in Yekaterinburg, CNN reported, citing a December 10 letter sent to
Congress from the State Department. The move comes in "response to ongoing
staffing challenges for the US Mission in Russia in the wake of the 2017
Russian-imposed personnel cap on the US Mission and the resultant impasse with
Russia over diplomatic visas," the report said, citing the letter. Ten diplomats
assigned to the consulates will reportedly be relocated to the US embassy in
Moscow, while 33 local staff will lose their jobs. "No action related to the
Russian consulates in the United States is planned," CNN cited the letter as
saying.
The closures would leave the embassy in Moscow as the United States' last
diplomatic mission in Russia. In March 2018 Moscow ordered the closure of the US
consulate in St Petersburg amid a diplomatic spat sparked by the poisoning of
Sergei Skripal on UK soil. It was unclear whether the closures would happen
before January 20, when President-elect Biden takes office. AFP reached out to
the State Department for comment on the report, but did not receive a response.
On Friday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was "pretty clearly" behind
a devastating cyberattack on several US government agencies that security
experts say could allow attackers unfettered access to critical IT systems and
electric power grids. Yohannes Abraham, executive director for the Biden
transition team, said the hack was of "great concern" and that under the new
administration cyber attacks would meet a response inflicting "substantial
cost."Russia has denied any involvement in the cyberattacks.
IMF Approves Release of $1.67 Billion in Aid to Egypt
Agence France Presse/December 19/2020
The board of the International Monetary Fund on Friday approved the release of a
second tranche of aid valued at $1.67 billion for Egypt, saying public debt and
Covid-19 threatened its economic recovery. In June, the board approved a
one-year, $5.2 billion financing package for Egypt. With the latest
disbursement, more than $3.6 billion will have been released. "The Egyptian
authorities have managed well the Covid-19 pandemic and the related disruption
to economic activity," Antoinette Sayeh, the IMF deputy managing director, said.
"There are still risks to the outlook particularly as a second wave of the
pandemic increases uncertainty about the pace of the domestic and global
recovery. "The high level of public debt and gross financing needs also leave
Egypt vulnerable to volatility in global financial conditions." The IMF carried
out a virtual mission to Egypt last month and then announced an agreement in
principle for the release of the second tranche, which has now been approved by
the board of directors.
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on December 19-20/2020
China: The Conquest of Hollywood
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/December 19/2020
One Hollywood producer told PEN America that suggestions for projects critical
of China aroused the fear that "you or your company will actively be
blacklisted, and they will interfere with your current or future project. So not
only will you bear the brunt [of your decision], but also your company, and
future companies that you work for. And that's absolutely in the back of our
minds."
"It's not just the Hollywood issue, it's not just the tech issue, it's not just
the basketball or the sports issue, or various other industries. ... It's all
across the board. To get products and services into that market, there are
certain rules you have to play... so they allow you access to the consumers. But
those processes... have gotten worse and worse... and more amplified over
time.... [It]has got to the point where we either need to stop it now and fight
back, or we are just going to lose...." -- Chris Fenton, Hollywood executive and
author of Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing
Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business. voanews.com, October 16, 2020.
The problem is much larger than just the movie business.
In October, for the first time, China overtook North America as the world's
largest film market. Pictured: Wang Jianlin (second from left), chairman of
China's Wanda Group, attends the opening ceremony of the Wanda Qingdao Movie
Metropolis, billed as "China's answer to Hollywood," in Qingdao on April 28,
2018.
In October, for the first time, China overtook North America as the world's
largest film market. "Movie ticket sales in China for 2020 climbed to $1.988
billion on Sunday, surpassing North America's total of $1.937 billion, according
to data from Artisan Gateway. The gap is expected to widen considerably by
year's end," wrote The Hollywood Reporter on October 18. "Analysts have long
predicted that the world's most populous country would one day top the global
charts. But the results still represent a historic sea change".
"The day has finally arrived when China is the world's No.1 film market,
surpassing the box office total of North America for 2020," said the authorized
government portal site to China, published under the auspices of China's State
Council Information Office, also known as the CCP's Foreign Propaganda Office,
China.org.cn, in a self-congratulatory article, "China officially the world's
biggest film market." The article, published on October 20, went on to mention
the Chinese blockbuster, The Eight Hundred, a WWII movie about a group of
Chinese soldiers under siege by the Japanese army, which was the highest
grossing film in the world in 2020, as well as a handful of other Chinese-made
films scheduled for release in the final quarter of 2020.
That is what the CCP has been working towards for at least a decade; a
communiqué it released back in October 2011, spoke of "the urgency" of enhancing
China's "soft power and the international influence of its own culture" and the
wish to "build our country into a socialist cultural superpower".
The development is bad news for Hollywood, which for years has sought more
access to China's enormous and lucrative market. China no longer relies on
American blockbusters to fill its cinemas. Hollywood, however, needs the Chinese
market to make its movies a financial success.
Since 2012, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has permitted a quota of just 34
foreign films -- before 2012, the numbers were even lower. Only films that meet
the strict demands of the censors of the Central Propaganda Department of the
CCP are even eligible for consideration to the enormous and lucrative Chinese
market. The Central Propaganda Department is responsible for "supervising
national film production, distribution, and screening, organizing the review of
film content...the import and export of all films, media, publications and other
content...including any cooperation with overseas organizations". The Central
Propaganda Department works to "implement the party's propaganda guidelines".
"China's regulations and processes for approving foreign films reflect the
Chinese Communist Party's position that art, including film, is a method of
social control," according to a 2015 staff research paper for the US-China
Economic and Security Review Commission, "Directed by Hollywood, Edited by
China: How China's Censorship and Influence Affect Films Worldwide."
"As a result of these regulations, Hollywood filmmakers are required to cut out
any scenes, dialogue, and themes that may be perceived as a slight to the
Chinese government. With an eye toward distribution in China, American
filmmakers increasingly edit films in anticipation of Chinese censors' many
potential sensitivities".
"Hollywood's decision makers," noted an August report, Made in Hollywood,
Censored by Beijing, published by American PEN "are increasingly envisioning the
desires of the CCP censor when deciding what film projects to greenlight..."
"The Chinese Communist Party...holds major sway over whether a Hollywood movie
will be profitable or not—and studio executives know it. The result is a system
in which Beijing bureaucrats can demand changes to Hollywood movies—or expect
Hollywood insiders to anticipate and make these changes, unprompted—without any
significant hue or cry over such censorship."
"Beijing uses the substantial leverage it has over Hollywood to political
effect", according to American PEN.
"Pushing Hollywood decision-makers to present a sanitized and positive image of
China and its ruling party, and encouraging Hollywood films to promote messages
that align with its political interests. Beijing's goal is not merely to prevent
its own population from receiving messages that it deems hostile to its
interests, although that is a major element of its censorship structure.
Instead, the CCP wants to proactively influence Hollywood toward telling stories
that flatter it and play to its political interests".
The censorship takes different forms. There are films that Hollywood no longer
makes, because they would upset the CCP and instantly end all business with
China. These might include films with political themes, such as Kundun and Seven
Years in Tibet, about China's invasion and occupation of Tibet, or Red Corner,
about the human rights abuses in China's legal system. After those movies were
made in 1997, China ordered a halt to business with the three Hollywood studios
distributing the films, and apologies were distributed instead. "We made a
stupid mistake. The bad news is that the film was made; the good news is that
nobody watched it," Disney Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner told Chinese
Premier Zhu Rongji about Kundun in 1998. "Here I want to apologize, and in the
future we should prevent this sort of thing, which insults our friends, from
happening."
It is not just the most sensitive political issues that are a no-go. Even
fictional depictions of Chinese villains are removed from Hollywood films,
before they are viewed by a single Chinese censor. Red Dawn, a remake of an
older movie about a Soviet invasion of America, was digitally altered, changing
the Chinese invading soldiers to North Korean ones, in order not to make the
Chinese look bad. At the time, a producer and distributor of films in China, Dan
Mintz, of DMG Entertainment, said that if the movie had been released without
altering the Chinese invaders, "there would have been a real backlash. It's like
being invited to a dinner party and insulting the host all night long. There's
no way to look good.... The film itself was not a smart move."
Sometimes facts are also manipulated to fit a narrative that will please China.
In the 2013 film, Gravity, in which Sandra Bullock played an American astronaut,
Russian satellite debris damaged her space shuttle and Bullock only saved
herself by getting to a Chinese space station. In reality, however, "the
Russians have never sent a missile into one of their own satellites, as the
movie depicts. But the Chinese did exactly that in 2007", wrote Michael
Pillsbury in The Hundred Year Marathon.
"US Intelligence Officials were given no warning by the Chinese about their
missile launch and in fact had been repeatedly assured that the Chinese
government did not have an antisatellite program. The Chinese recklessly created
by far the largest, most dangerous space debris field in history, but the
Russians get the blame in the movie. The effect of these misrepresentations is
that the Chinese look like heroes in Gravity... the writers went out of their
way to distort the history of what has happened in space...."
One Hollywood producer said that suggestions for projects critical of China
aroused the fear that "you or your company will actively be blacklisted, and
they will interfere with your current or future project. So not only will you
bear the brunt [of your decision], but also your company, and future companies
that you work for. And that's absolutely in the back of our minds."
Another Hollywood producer said, "It is tough to figure out how to
self-censor... You just don't know what is right and what is wrong." China
deliberately makes the issue of what will pass the censors and what will not
opaque. Such ambiguity ensures that Hollywood producers will prefer to
self-censor more, rather than risk being rejected by the censors.
One way for Hollywood studios to bypass the quota of 34 foreign films per year
is to co-produce films with Chinese production companies, thereby effectively
giving the CCP creative control of the project. Such partnerships also,
unsurprisingly, often appear to pander to China. In the highest-grossing
U.S.-Chinese co-production, The Meg – dubbed by some "a mediocre Jaws update --
for example, Chinese moviegoers saw through the pandering. "In this movie,
Westerners were either swallowed whole or ripped apart. But all of the Eastern
characters all died a graceful death, with their faces unscathed..." one viewer
commented. Another said: "This megalodon, which eats only foreigners and leaves
a beach-full of Chinese people unscathed, is so thoughtful."
China has "amazing influence over Hollywood" according to Chris Fenton, a
long-time Hollywood executive and author of Feeding the Dragon: Inside the
Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business.
"Even if a particular movie or TV series isn't expected to be monetized in
China. Maybe they go and say: 'The budget for this film doesn't need the China
market to create revenues for it. We are going to work on it, be free with the
content and make it for America and other democratic countries.' Well in that
case, China does find out about those movies and knows about them, even if that
particular film does not get into China, China will penalize the studio or
filmmakers involved with that particular movie, so that they can't get other
movies in".
Most moviegoers are probably not aware that the CCP had a say over the movie
they are watching: censored Hollywood movies do not come with a label stating
that fact. Nor is CCP censorship a topic that Hollywood is willing to discuss
openly. "One of the most striking things about PEN America's research was how
reticent Hollywood professionals were to speak either specifically or publicly
on this issue," Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing found.
"The reasons given for such reticence were several, but they all revolved around
fear of a negative reaction—from Beijing, from their employer, or from Hollywood
at large. As one Hollywood producer said to PEN America, 'All of us are fearful
of being named in an article even generally discussing China in Hollywood.'"
It is incongruous, to put it kindly, for Hollywood to submit to censorship and
pandering to the CCP for the sake of financial gain, while simultaneously
selling itself as a progressive industry that claims to speak truth to power,
and stand for social justice and the equal opportunity for everyone, regardless
of gender, skin color, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Such pretense
does not sit well with the fact that Tibetans and Uighur Muslims, to mention
just two groups, do not exist in the Hollywood universe anymore, only because
the CCP said so. Surely, that is something that ought to be frequently
questioned and loudly debated -- unless there is now a general consensus that
the CCP should forever decide what movies are made in the US, Europe and beyond.
If this is what happens without so much as a struggle in the large studios, what
hope is there for smaller studios, independent filmmakers and others?
The problem is much larger than just the movie business.
"It's not just the Hollywood issue, it's not just the tech issue, it's not just
the basketball or the sports issue, or various other industries...." Chris
Fenton said.
"It's all across the board. To get products and services into that market, there
are certain rules you have to play... so they allow you access to the consumers.
But those processes... have gotten worse and worse... and more amplified over
time....[It] has got to the point where we either need to stop it now and fight
back, or we are just going to lose...."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished
Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 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.
New star rises in the east
Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/December 19/2020
The big story of the 21st century will be the ascent of China and a shift in
both economic and political power from West to East.
This has been a long time coming, but we are nearing some kind of a climax.
Several economists forecast that by 2024 China’s economy as measured by GDP will
overtake that of the US. The exact year matters less than the ironclad fact that
China’s economy will overtake America’s in this decade. This will also have huge
geopolitical ramifications. You can ask any sporting champion what they feel
like when they are dethroned from pole position. They will attest to
psychological difficulties in accepting the new reality. So how will America and
its new president deal with what is unfolding?
Donald Trump had a point when he questioned some of China’s behavior, but his
tariffs may simply haveemboldened Beijing. For example, the ban on Huawei, while
probably justified, led China down the path of aspiring to become
self-sufficient in semiconductor technology. Beijing’s economic blueprint makes
technology and the quest for self-sufficiency a key priority, and China intends
to become a world leader in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and
robotics within the next 15 years.
Joe Biden has made clear that he will remain tough on China, and he needs to,
because the narrative in the US, in both major parties, has become distinctly
skeptical of Beijing. We can expect the Biden approach to be more consistent
than the Trump approach.
On the political stage, Biden will revert to the US mantra of defending
democracy and human rights. Therefore, we can expect him to be more outspoken on
mass imprisonment of the Uighur population and other human rights violations
within China — not just in Hong Kong.
Biden, who is close to the labor unions, will view trade through the lens of
protecting American jobs. This will have moved up on his priority list now that
the pandemic-ravaged US economy faces mass unemployment. It will be Biden’s job
to keep his country safe from the virus and to fight growing inequalities. The
latter can only happen if he puts the nation back to work. The long lines in
front of food distribution centers will grow smaller only when people receive
paychecks again.
Whichever way we look at this story, the post-1945 Pax Americana is about to run
its course and Beijing has ascended as a force to be contended with.
Climate change will be another priority for Biden. He will address these
concerns, because they are his too and because the left wing of his party will
hold his feet to the fire. This is where the US can play a big leadership role,
when it comes to issues such as a universal carbon tax applying globally. China
has vowed to become carbon neutral by 2060, but it is not necessarily delivering
on this issue judging from how many new coal-fired power plants have been fired
up.
Let there be no confusion: Many of these battles will not be fought in China or
in the US, but in third countries. The US will have to deal with what the new
assertiveness of China’s foreign policy means in the South China Sea, the
Straits of Taiwan, across the stretch of the Belt and Road countries in
southeast and central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. One could argue that the
US dropped the ball with regards to the geopolitical ramifications of the Belt
and Road Initiative and China’s raw material / investment push into Africa and
Latin America, which had been in the making for several decades.
China’s “charm offensive” will feel very different from Pax Americana. The
latter had economic and geopolitical power elements for sure, but it was
underpinned with concerns for democracy and human rights, and aimed to create
allies rather than vassal states. China’s approach is more economically minded
and the end goal is to promote its own economy and position of power than a
level playing field. Going forward this has ramifications for the geographies
mentioned above.
Lastly and always, there is money: The big asset managers are all eager to
broaden their base in China. The bifurcation of economic development East and
West of Suez during the pandemic has accelerated this trend, if anything. China
was the first country to be affected by COVID-19. Its economy was also the first
to emerge from the pandemic comparatively unscathed. This exerts an unimaginable
pull for money managers’ dollars.
Beijing has opened the capital markets somewhat, for instance allowing foreign
financial institutions to take majority control of their divisions. More open
money markets work both ways. They make foreign investors feel more comfortable
and by that virtue attract more foreign investment. This is a clever move from
the Chinese perspective in more ways than one, given the big influence Wall
Street lobbyists have on Capitol Hill.
Whichever way we look at this story, the post-1945 Pax Americana is about to run
its course and Beijing has ascended as a force to be contended with. That does
not mean that Washington and its geopolitical influence are riding into the
sunset. It means, however, that Beijing is the vital new kid on the block and
will not shy away from asserting itself.
*Cornelia Meyer is a Ph.D.-level economist with 30 years of experience in
investment banking and industry. She is chairperson and CEO of business
consultancy Meyer Resources. Twitter: @MeyerResources
How ‘America first’ has mostly failed the US
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/December 19/2020
As Donald Trump enters his final month in office, it is increasingly clear that
his much-hyped “America first” foreign policy revolution has largely failed.
When he entered the White House four years ago, Trump promised a platform of
policies that could have reshaped US foreign and trade policy more radically
than at any point since the beginning of the Cold War, when Harry Truman helped
build a multidecade, bipartisan consensus around US global leadership.
To be fair, Trump has made some moves to deviate from this postwar orthodoxy by
withdrawing from initiatives such as the Paris climate deal and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, but what was billed as a
transformative shift has proved threadbare and incoherent in practice, despite
much bluster.
Seeking to dismantle previous policies, which could all be reversed again by Joe
Biden in the next four years, is one thing. But building sturdy foundations of a
new order, as Truman put in place, is quite another. This is why Trump has
failed to forge any clear or coherent doctrine centered on “America first,”
despite the political support this agenda enjoys in much of the US from those
skeptical about US engagement overseas.
This is not to say that Trump has had no foreign policy achievements. He has,
for instance, brokered Middle East peace agreements between Israel and Bahrain,
the UAE, Sudan and Morocco that have been welcomed by many.
Nevertheless, much of US policy has been characterized by incoherence and
failure. On issue after issue Trump has flip flopped and U-turned, including his
stance toward NATO, which in his words has been both “obsolete” and “not
obsolete.”
Another example is Trump’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), a process he has celebrated as a “wonderful” and “historical
transaction” when a revised deal was announced last year. However, the
concessions he won were not nearly as big as he claimed possible after calling
NAFTA the “worst trade deal ever,” underlining why he decided for public
relations reasons to give the pact a new name to the United States-Mexico-Canada
deal to try to disguise the significant continuities from before.
As Donald Trump enters his final month in office, it is increasingly clear that
his much-hyped “America first” foreign policy revolution has largely failed.
Moreover, he has also failed to push through signature initiatives in North
Korea where he attempted to preside over “denuclearization” of the Korean
peninsula and seal a peace treaty between North and South to supplement the
armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War. Another example is Russia, where
Trump’s instincts to redefine relations in a significantly warmer direction
alarmed even allies in his administration, and was set back by tightened US
sanctions legislation.
These failures, sleights of hand, and flip-flops reflect not just the ad-hoc
nature of the president’s style of governing, but also the divisions within his
team on key foreign issues. While Trump appears to be much more aligned with US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo than predecessor Rex Tillerson, the divisions
within his top team have gone much deeper than the State Department.
Trump’s relationship with key intelligence officials, including Dan Coats, who
was CIA director from 2017 to last year, was extraordinary and unprecedented.
The president has been at odds with the intelligence community on issues from
North Korea to Iran and Daesh.
Another example is Trump’s announcement a year ago that US military personnel in
Syria were “all coming back and they are coming back now.” This proclamation,
which appeared not to have been shared in advance with allies, was a
contributory factor in the resignation of defense secretary Jim Mattis and,
later, national security adviser John Bolton.
The one unquestioned accomplishment of Trump’s foreign policy has been to
provoke significant global backlash as underlined from polls by organizations
such as Pew and Gallup. Both have found that the image of US leadership is
significantly weaker worldwide, and in some cases at historic lows. Among the
key drivers of this is widespread resentment with the way the Trump team has
been perceived to make its decisions, which often appear unilateral, leading to
a sustained, deep spike in anti-US sentiment that may be only partially reversed
under Biden’s presidency.
With his presidency now almost over, Trump’s window of opportunity to put an
enduring stamp on foreign policy is slim. While he has done much damage, the one
saving grace is that no first-order foreign crisis, especially an armed conflict
involving the US, has taken place on his watch, for which his ill preparedness
and maverick instincts could have been immensely dangerous.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics
What pushes Turkey and Iran to ride out the storm of poem?
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/December 19/2020
There is sometimes a tendency among analysts to overstate the significance of
relationships between countries and their contribution to respective national
interests when the reality is seemingly different. On the contrary, there is
also a tendency to exaggerate the tensions between countries. In particular,
Turkey’s foreign relations are read through these angles, which in fact leads to
a misreading of the reality beneath the surface.
Last week, a diplomatic spat happened between Ankara and Tehran due to a poem
issue, and then within a few days, things got back on track. When reading
Turkish-Iranian relations, which is one of the most complicated and fragile ones
in the region, it is always crucial to check what’s actually the status of the
relationship both, above and the below the surface.
Political tensions sparked when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recited a
poem composed by an Azeri poet during an official visit to Baku on Dec. 10 to
celebrate Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. The poem refers
to the Aras River that marks the border between Azerbaijan and
ethnic-Azerbaijani provinces of northwest Iran. Concerned that the poem recited
by the Turkish leader could fan separatism among Iran’s Azeri minority, the next
day, Iran summoned the Turkish ambassador to Tehran to express its “harsh
condemnation” over the matter.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry considered Erdoğan’s words as "unacceptable and
meddlesome." Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went further,
asserting via Twitter that the poem "refers to the forcible separation of areas
north [of the] Aras from [the] Iranian motherland. Didn’t he realize he was
undermining the sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan?" Iranian politicians
went further with aggressive statements, and even Iranian media outlets accused
Ankara of fueling separatism in Iran, putting the country’s territorial
integrity at risk. In retaliation, the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the
Iranian ambassador to Ankara over his country's “aggressive” reaction.
Turkey's ruling party's spokesperson Ömer Çelik immediately reacted to Iranian
politicians' remarks, saying "We condemn the ugly language used by some Iranian
politicians against our president." Turkey's Communications Director Fahrettin
Altun said Iran had distorted the meaning of the poem “to fuel senseless
tensions.” This followed phone traffic between foreign ministers of the two
countries, and the Iranian side said the parties resolved a misunderstanding.
“The parties emphasized the importance of strengthening and expanding the
relations between the two countries,” the Iranian embassy in Ankara tweeted.
Iran, which considers Muslim Azerbaijan as a potential threat to its national
security, has been providing direct and indirect support to Armenia since the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
The highest-level remark came from Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani who said
Tehran could move past a diplomatic quarrel with Turkey. “In my opinion, with
the explanations (Turkish officials) gave, we can move beyond this issue, but
the sensitivity of our people is very important,” Rouhani told a televized news
conference in Tehran.
Getting back to the beginning, the above statements indicate what has been on
the surface in Turkish-Iranian relations. Regarding what is beneath the surface,
there is a list of laundry factors that have led to such a reaction from the
Iranian side; but few of them would be mentioned here.
There are certain reasons why officials in Tehran have overreacted to the poem.
It is hard to say Tehran was happy with Turkey’s active role in the
Azerbaijani-Armenian tension and with how the conflict has ended up. Iran, which
considers Muslim Azerbaijan as a potential threat to its national security, has
been providing direct and indirect support to Armenia since the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
Secondly, Israel joining the ranks of Turkey and Azerbaijan – with political
means – in the recent conflict in Caucasia was a nightmare scenario for Tehran.
Although Ankara and Tel Aviv cooperate with and lend support to Azerbaijan
differently; two countries are decisively in support of the Azeri leadership.
While Azerbaijan brings Turkey and Israel on the same page in Caucasia, it
widens the gap between Turkey and Iran- who are two potential rivals for
influence in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Although Turkish-Iranian rivalry in
these regions has been muted, it is impossible to neglect Iranian leadership’s
concerns over Turkey having the upper hand in this region, where Russia is a
dominant player as a regional power broker.
Thirdly, there is still a Syria file that is open despite the Arab uprisings
completing their ten-year anniversary this week. There is ongoing cooperation
between Iran and Turkey whereby Russia is always involved. However, the degree
of cooperation between them should not be exaggerated. While both Ankara and
Tehran share certain economic and security interests, their interests are at
odds in many areas still. The two states, which have fundamentally different
political identities and ideologies, have historically been, and continue to be,
rivals despite cooperation in some areas.
Lastly, now that the Biden administration is to take office soon, both Tehran
and Ankara have engaged in regional calculations, and this has been the other
dimension of how this poem spat ended so quickly. In the past, Turkish and
Iranian officials had harsh tit-for-tats that the relations have reached rock
bottom due to disagreements on regional matters. Now the stakes are high enough
for two sides that the best formula is to sweep the things under the carpet.
*Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey's
relations with the Middle East. Twitter: @SinemCngz