English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese
Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 04/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.july04.20.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these
little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose
their reward.’
Matthew 10/40-42/11,01: “‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever
welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name
of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous
person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the
righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little
ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose their
reward.’ Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went
on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.”’”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 03-04/2020
Lebanon Records 34 New COVID-19 Cases
MoPH confirms 34 new Covid19 cases in Lebanon
Ministers of Health, Information inspect Beirut airport
Report: Hizbullah Still Backing Diab, Aoun Won't Accept Hariri's Return
Report: Diab Doesn't Intend to Quit, Govt. Reshuffle Not Imminent
Wazni Says Negotiations with IMF 'Still Ongoing'
Bassil Hits Out at Hariri, Urges Salameh to Rein in Dollar
Aoun receives first copy of icon of “The Mother of God, Our Lady of Lebanon”,
meets Boustany
PM broaches security situation with Army Commander
Diab meets Iraqi ministerial delegation
Diab chairs financial meeting
Lebanon’s tourism sector warns of ‘black tourism day’ on August 3
Sit-ins outside Kadisha Electricity and Tripoli Port
Protesters block Interior Ministry road to protest marginalization of Sunni
community
Shreim: We will stay in this government, shoulder our responsibility until last
minute
Lebanese cabinet member: ‘international community closed to us’
Two Suicides Spark Outrage at Govt. over Economic Crisis
Turkey Trial Begins into Ghosn Escape from Japan
Japan Seeks Extradition of Americans Accused in Ghosn Escape
Hariri On Full Blast to Reorganize Al-Mustaqbal Movement
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 03-04/2020
Jean Castex appointed French Prime Minister after Edouard Philippe
resigns
French Government Resigns as Macron Vows 'New Course'
Natanz “incident” was a blast at Iran’s largest enrichment site
Iran Pressured for Compensation on Downed Plane
US Forces Expand East of Euphrates, Block Russian Convoy
Kadhimi Keen on Fighting Corruption in Iraq
Turkey Trial of Saudi Suspects in Khashoggi Murder Begins in Absentia
Turkish court convicts Amnesty official, three other activists on terror charges
Iraq reinforces border posts to try to prevent advance of Turkish troops
Readout: Call of the International Coordination and Response Group for the
victims of Flight PS752
Palestinian Authority Cuts Staff Pay in Half
Cairo to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water Rights
UN Calls on Yemeni Parties to Support Ceasefire
Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on July 03-04/2020
Are three mysterious explosions in Iran linked? - analysis/Seth
J.Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/July 03/2020
Mysterious Explosion and Fire Damage Iranian Nuclear Enrichment Facility/David
E. Sanger, William J. Broad, Ronen Bergman and Farnaz Fassihi/The New York
Times/July 03/2020
A Will to Overthrow the United States/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/July
03/2020
The Palestinian Response to the Annexation is Rational, Necessary/Nabil Amr/Asharq
Al Awsat/July 03/2020
A Bad New Tax Idea Is Doing the Rounds/Ferdinando Giugliano/Bloomberg/July
03/2020
Coronavirus Brings US Decline Out in the Open/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 03/2020
Battered EU faces a turning point/Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/July 03/2020
Question: "Individualism vs. collectivism—what does the Bible say?/GotQuestions.org/July
03/2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on July 03-04/2020
Lebanon Records 34 New COVID-19 Cases
Naharnet/July 03/2020
Lebanon on Friday recorded a significant surge in its daily coronavirus tally.
According to the Health Ministry, 19 expats and 15 residents tested positive for
the virus over the past 24 hours. Thirteen of the local cases have been traced
to known infected individuals, the Ministry said. It said the expats had arrived
from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UK, the UAE and Qatar. One of the local cases was
meanwhile recorded in Beirut, four in the Baabda district, one in Metn, four in
Aley district, five in the Zgharta district and one in Bint Jbeil. The new cases
raise the country's tally to 1,830.
MoPH confirms 34 new Covid19 cases in Lebanon
NNA/July 03/2020
Lebanon has recorded 34 new Covid-19 cases within the last 24 hours, the
Ministry of Public Health said in a statement on Friday, raising the total
number of infected people in the country to 1830. 15 cases were locally detected
and 19 others among returnees.
Ministers of Health, Information inspect Beirut airport
NNA/July 03/2020
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, and Minister of Information, Dr.
Manal Abdel Samad Najd, at 7:00 pm on Friday paid an inspection visit to Rafic
Hariri International Airport to follow up on the measures taken to ensure a safe
return of travelers. In an address to the press, Minister Abdel Samad made clear
that today’s few mistakes managing some returning flights would hopefully be
avoided in the coming days. “We must stand united with our stances to purvey a
beautiful image of Lebanon,” she added, expressing great satisfaction with the
overall measures and meticulous organization that have accompanied the reopening
of Rafic Hariri international airport.
“Things are organized, and I do not think that in other countries things are
being managed any better. This should encourage everyone to come to Lebanon,
especially as it is among the first 15 countries who have managed to fight the
Coronavirus worldwide,” Abdel Samad said.
On another level, she vehemently condemned any assault against the media. “The
security forces are our other eye watching over the press,” she added.
For his part, Minister Hassan said, “The ministerial committee tasked to combat
the Coronavirus pandemic has taken a decision to set the PCR test price at $ 50
for all travelers,” adding that the test will be conducted free for children
under the age of 12.
The Minister went on to laud the adopted measures at the airport, deeming them
“exceptional”. “The PCR testing procedure, and the work of the medical staff and
surveillance teams, all aim to protect arriving travelers and residents alike,”
Hassan said, noting that out of 11,250 arriving travelers, only 19 have tested
COVID-19 positive.
However, the Minister of Health warned that despite all the measures that were
being taken, awareness remained key in the Lebanese community. He also reminded
that the positive cases must strictly adhere to quarantine measures. As for the
ailing economic situation in Lebanon, Hassan said, “We are trying to confront
these problems. Surrendering is not one of our characteristics, nor one of
Lebanese society’s characteristics. We hope that the summer tourist season will
be a cornerstone to help resolve our outstanding issues.”
Report: Hizbullah Still Backing Diab, Aoun Won't Accept
Hariri's Return
Naharnet/July 03/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab has inquired about Hizbullah’s stance on the reports
and statements suggesting that the government’s departure is imminent and has
been told that his government will stay in the foreseeable future,
highly-informed sources said. He was told that he should seek instant solutions
that can “ease the popular tensions on the streets to prevent a deterioration,”
the sources added in remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Friday.
The sources noted that Industry Minister Imad Hoballah’s statement from the
Grand Serail on Thursday had properly reflected Hizbullah’s stance, which is
still “clinging to Diab’s government and offering it a cover in the face of the
pressures it is being subjected to.”As for Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli’s meetings
in Ain el-Tineh and the Center House and his calls for changing the government,
the sources linked Ferzli’s drive to a deterioration in his relation with Free
Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil. Diab has been also told that President
Michel Aoun “will not, under any circumstances, accept to sign the decree of a
government led by Hariri, because he would signing the decree of his tenure’s
end with his own hand,” the sources added. The sources also revealed that Aoun
had recently dispatched his adviser Salim Jreissati to ex-PM Najib Miqati to
explore his stance on the possibility of him forming a government containing
Bassil. Jreissati was told that Miqati “is not ready to endorse such a
proposal,” the sources added.
Report: Diab Doesn't Intend to Quit, Govt. Reshuffle Not
Imminent
Naharnet/July 03/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab does not intend to resign, because he refuses to
“evade his responsibility” and plunge the country into “the unknown,”
ministerial sources said. In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published
Friday, the sources added that a government reshuffle is not currently on the
table. “Diab can resign only in one case, which is securing domestic and
external consensus on the new government and its premier,” the sources
clarified. “Any other premier is required to bring billions of dollars from the
international community to Lebanon and to put an end to the siege imposed on it,
and if someone who can do so can be found, Diab will not hesitate to sacrifice
and resign for the sake of Lebanon,” the sources said. “But he cannot accept to
be asked to leave only to be replaced by someone else,” the sources went on to
say.
Wazni Says Negotiations with IMF 'Still Ongoing'
Naharnet/July 03/2020
Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni announced Friday that Lebanon’s negotiations with
the International Monetary Fund are “still ongoing.”“The Fund has asked the
negotiating Lebanese delegation to unify its numbers and speed up the execution
of the needed reforms,” Wazni’s press office said in a statement. Lebanese
Forces leader Samir Geagea had recently announced that Lebanon’s talks with the
IMF had “ended before they began.”Lebanon is experiencing an unparalleled
economic meltdown, rooted in years of mismanagement and excessive public
spending. In recent weeks, the highly indebted country defaulted for the first
time on its sovereign debt and began talks with the IMF for assistance while a
liquidity crunch deepened. Now, nearly two months into the negotiations, the
talks have been deadlocked, mostly because of disputes between Lebanese
political rivals over a rescue plan and calculating liabilities. Two officials
in the Lebanese delegation resigned in the past few days in protest of the
internal discord. IMF managing director Kristalina Gerorgieva has described the
talks as "difficult."
Bassil Hits Out at Hariri, Urges Salameh to Rein in Dollar
Naharnet/July 03/2020
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Friday hit out at ex-PM Saad
Hariri and said the political settlement that led to President Michel Aoun's
election is over. "First of all, I had said on February 14 that (Hariri's return
to power) will be difficult and will take a long time," Bassil tweeted.
"Secondly, we never made a settlement over corruption and we never will. What we
do are understandings," Bassil added. "Thirdly, we're done with the settlement
for which we paid a hefty price," he said. Bassil added: "What's important today
is for the government to make reforms, parliament to approve them and the
central bank governor to rein in the dollar."On February 20, Bassil had tweeted,
addressing Hariri: "Whatever you do or say, you won't be able to target me. No
matter how I am, I won't accept to be like you. Some values and principles
separate us, but national accord will bring us together again. You went too far
but you'll come back, but the difference is that the return path will be longer
and more difficult for you."On Thursday, Hariri said he has "conditions" to
return as premier. Asked whether these conditions include the exclusion of
Bassil from the Cabinet't line-up, Hariri said: "They know my conditions."
Aoun receives first copy of icon of “The Mother of God, Our
Lady of Lebanon”, meets Boustany
NNA/July 03/2020
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, received the first version of
the icon of “The Mother of God, Our Lady of Lebanon”, which the fortified nuns
of Our Lady of Carmel in Harissa developed specially for the first centenary of
Greater Lebanon, and which was also blessed by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal
Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahy, in a ceremonial mass held for the occasion at the
Patriarchal Edifice, in Bkerke, attended by representative of the Holy Father,
Pope Francis, and the Papal Ambassador of Lebanon, Monsignor Joseph Spitry.
President Aoun received the icon, during his meeting with Father Fadi Tabet,
head of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, heading a delegation that
included: Secretary General of the Council of the Catholic Patriarchs of the
East, General Assembly of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries Father Khalil Alwan,
Director General of the Printing Press, Father Charbel Muhanna, and the agent of
the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, Father Georges Bou Chaaya. On behalf of the
delegation, Father Tabetpresented the first version of the icon, calling for
Lebanon and its people to be protected in these difficult circumstances,
offering an explanation of its symbolism, making it a unique icon in Lebanon and
the world. President Aoun was also handed an invitation to attend the
inauguration of the Kabila “House of Mary” in the Harissa shrine, where the main
icon will be placed.
For his side, the President thanked Father Tabet and the accompanying delegation
for their initiative, stressing the importance of the shrine of the Lady of
Lebanon established by the honored Patriarch Elias Al-Houaek, the great father
of Lebanon, who has become a world religious and national monument,
congratulating the Father Tabet on the efforts made to highlight the importance
of this edifice.
Former Minister Boustany:
President Michel Aoun met former Minister, Nada Boustany, today at the
Presidential Palace.--Presidency Press office
PM broaches security situation with Army Commander
NNA/July 03/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab received the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, and
the Director of Army Intelligence, General Antoine Mansour, in the presence of
PM Advisor Khodor Taleb. Discussions featured high on the general security
situation in the country.— PM Press Office
Diab meets Iraqi ministerial delegation
NNA/July 03/2020
Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, received today an Iraqi ministerial delegation
headed by the Iraqi Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail. The delegation
included: the Iraqi Agriculture Minister Mohammad Karim Jassem, Former Iraqi MP,
Hassan Alawi, M. Saif Talal Omran Al-Tamimi, of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, M.
Dergham Mohammad Karim, of the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry, M. Ammar Sabbah
Moustafa, of the Iraqi PM Office, M. Amin Al-Nasrawi, the Chargé d'affaires of
the Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon, and Dr. Ahmad Jamal, Political Advisor at the
Iraqi Embassy, in the presence of Ministers of Industry Imad Hoballah,
Agriculture Abbas Mortada, and Energy and Water Raymond Ghajar, in addition to
General Director of the General Directorate of General Security Major-General
Abbas Ibrahim, PM Advisor, Khodor Taleb, and the Head of PM’s Office, Judge
Khaled Akkari.
PM Diab welcomed the delegation and praised the historical relations between
Lebanese and Iraqi. He expressed his keenness on boosting bilateral cooperation
on all levels, hoping that this visit would be a good start for the future of
both countries.
The delegation then stressed on the importance of reclaiming the position of the
important relationship between both countries. Afterwards, talks touched on the
promotion of bilateral relations at all levels, especially trade and agriculture
exchange, as well as cooperation in the fields of energy and tourism.
Iraqi Oil Minister:
Then, Iraqi Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, speaking on behalf of the
delegation, said:
"Our official visit to the brotherly Lebanon comes in the framework of previous
discussionsheld between both governments. Lebanon is an important country for
Iraq. Many Iraqis go to Lebanon to study and seek medical services, which
strengthens the relationship in the interestof all parties. Today we discussed
several axes, the most important of which is how to benefit from Lebanon’s
experience in the fight against coronavirus epidemic, and what are the
possibilities of joint cooperation between the two countries, especially that
Iraq currently faces the highest infection rate; moreover, a general culture
prevails among Iraqis, which consists in benefitting from Lebanese health
institutions. We have also discussed a new agreement and axes to activate it,
which is improving Lebanese health services provided for Iraqis entering
Lebanese hospitals.
The third axis touches upon ways to reclaim the Lebanese companies that were
previously working in the field of agriculture, agricultural restoration and
agricultural industries back to Iraq, especially since Iraq is a promising
market, and it has witnessed, over the past two years, a great development in
the volume of agricultural production and the creation of great opportunities
for food industries. Everyone knows that Iraqi customers respect Lebanese food
industries operating in Iraq and are contented with them. Iraq is a big country
and needs some kind of partnership in this direction.
The meeting also discussed the exchange of expertise in the fields of education,
educational and study opportunities in Lebanese universities, especially the
American University, and the possibility of expanding these opportunities. The
fourth issue raised touches on the Iraqi market which is a promising market and
offers many job opportunities whereLebanese companies have had little
participation.
We have also discussed the reasons that have previously led to the weak presence
of these Lebanese companies in the Iraqi labour market and the possibility of
building partnerships between the private sector in each of the two countries,
so as to provide services to the energy market, in light of the successful
experiences of Lebanese companies during the seventies and eighties in the
energy market in Iraq, and the possibility of restoring this opportunity at a
wider scale.
We also deliberated on exporting some surplus petroleum products, especially
black oil, to the energy market in Lebanon, the export mechanism, and how to
organize long-term relations. Iraq is one of the black oil and gasoilexporting
countries, and the Lebanese market is one of the markets that import this
product through some intermediaries. We discussed the possibility of concluding
an agreement between the Lebanese and Iraqi governments to export this product
in order to achieve a higher surplus for both governments, enabling the Lebanese
government to obtain good prices without intermediaries’ intervention, and
enable the Iraqi government to secure a permanent market for the consumption of
its products. These are the most important topics that have been discussed and
which depend on both countries securing the elements for partnership.
Minister Mortada:
Minister Mortada also said: “We welcome the Iraqi ministers. Today we discussed,
in the presence of Prime Minister Diab and relevant Lebanese ministers, ways of
cooperation, and we talked about the health, cultural, agricultural, industrial
and oil sectors. We stressed that we have longstanding relations with the Iraqi
state, with old historical and economic relations; we are re-strengthening and
re-exploring these relations today so as to facilitate collaborationbetween both
countries in all processes; at the very least, we should strengthen our
relations with an Arab country. We emphasizecooperation and further
strengthening of ourrelationship with Iraq, especially in economic terms and in
terms of food security. We welcome the Iraqi delegation in Lebanon.”
Minister Ghajar:
Then Minister Ghajar said: "We met the Iraqi ministerial delegation and
discussed with the Minister of Energy several issues, most importantly the
import of oil derivatives for the benefit of EdL. We also talked about other
issues, notably the import of petroleum products and fuels to the Lebanese
market. We still import heavy fuel and diesel for EdL from Sonatrach and Kuwait.
Contracts will expire at the end of the year and we are preparing the rulebooks
so that other companies can apply for this offer. At the same time we are
initiating talks with countries that have national oil companies to study the
possibility of granting the Lebanese State the best and conditions, especially
in the way of payment. The Iraqi market can take agricultural and industrial
materials instead of money, and in exchange, our import will follow the same
method that we adopted with Sonatrach, that isby ships from the Iraqi port to
the Lebanese port.
We put the general framework and there is an intention to cooperate with Iraq.
About the impact of the crisis in both Iraq and Lebanon on their cooperation, he
commented: "They export most of their oil and they will not give us oil for
free. Today we held the first meeting and there will be other meetings soon with
technical experts to follow up on the discussions we had. As Minister of Energy,
I know the quantities of fuel and oil that we need. A cell must be created by
the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to keep track of thecontinuous
developments. They will determine the price of oil and we will give them
agricultural supplies and pay the remaining difference in cash. --PM Press
Office
Diab chairs financial meeting
NNA/July 03/2020
Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, chaired in the evening a financial meeting
attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Zeina Akar, Minister
of Environment and Administrative Development Demianos Kattar, Minister of
Finance Ghazi Wazni, Minister of Economy and Trade Raoul Nehme, Central Bank
Governor Riad Salameh, Head of the General Security Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, Central
Bank’s vice governors Wassim Mansouri, Bachir Yakzan, Salim Chahine and
Alexander Mouradian, Advisor to the President of Republic, Charbel Cordahi, PM
Advisors Khodor Taleb and George Chalhoub, in addition to the vice-president of
the Association of Banks, Nadim Qassar, Secretary Walid Raphael, ABL member
Roger Dagher and Chairman of the Board and General Manager of Bank Audi, Samir
Hanna.
The meeting was dedicated to following up on the technical discussion regarding
the financial approach and reviewing the money market’s conditions. BdL governor
has also informed interlocutors of the intention to open credits in banks to
import subsidized food and consumer goods, based on the list prepared by the
Ministry of Economy.—PM Press Office
Lebanon’s tourism sector warns of ‘black tourism day’ on
August 3
NNA/July 03/2020
Pummeled by an unprecedented economic crisis in Lebanon’s new history, the
tourism sector on Friday gave the government, and the relevant authorities, one
month to meet a list of the sector’s demands or else a “Black Day for Tourism in
Lebanon" will be announced on August 3, 2020 — in the event that the ailing
sector’s demands are not met. “We will make of the ministries of Tourism and
Economy a place for us to stage an open sit-in,” their statement of
recommendations read.
The Federation of Tourism & Hotel Associations in Lebanon held a press
conference this morning at the Phoenicia Hotel, in the presence of President of
the Federation, Pierre Ashkar, Vice President of the Union of Restaurant Owners,
Tony Rami, Secretary General of the Syndicate of Maritime Tourist
Establishments, Jean Beiruti, President of the Syndicate of Travel and Tourism
Companies in Lebanon, Jean Abboud, President of the Syndicate of Furnished
Apartments in Lebanon, Ziad al-Labban, President of the Syndicate of Car Rental
Companies, Muhammad Dakdouk, and other figures involved in the country’s tourism
industries.
The conference ended with a list of recommendations addressed to the Lebanese
government and officials at all levels:
1- Approval of the plan referred by the Minister of Tourism to the cabinet,
which includes proposals for projects, decrees, tax exemptions, and loan
installments.
2- Approval of the implementation decrees of the aforementioned plan, and
reference of the required draft laws to the House of Parliament.
3 - Adoption of a "tourism dollar" rate; otherwise, there is no possibility for
the remaining institutions to keep operating in light of the outrageous cost of
commodities and raw materials in the markets, especially that many traders are
required to pay in US dollars, in cash, at the black market exchange rate while
tourist institutions still sell their services at the official exchange rate of
LBP 1550.
4- Seeking a supportive plan for travel ticket prices to activate foreign
tourism to Lebanon.
The tourism sector then warned that if the aforementioned list of demands was
not recognized by the Lebanese state, then on August 3, 2020, the tourist unions
will call for an extraordinary meeting and a press conference to declare a
“Black Day of Tourism in Lebanon”, after which the following steps will be
taken:
1- Closure of all the tourist establishments in Lebanon.
2- Placement of all the owners and employees of tourism institutions such as
hotels, restaurants, cafes, clubs, swimming pools, travel and tourism offices,
furnished apartments, car rental, and tourist guides, under the government's
responsibility due to the relevant institutions’ inability to fulfill their
obligations.
3- Call for a massive demonstration by all of the workers in the tourism sector
and their families.
Sit-ins outside Kadisha Electricity and Tripoli Port
NNA/July 03/2020
Activists carried out a sit-in in front of the Kadisha Electricity Company,
closing its doors and preventing employees from entering their offices, in
protest against the dollar exchange rate and the harsh rationing of electricity.
A number of others protested gathered outside the port of Tripoli and prevented
the trucks from passing, demanding the recovery of looted money and holding the
corrupt accountable.
Protesters block Interior Ministry road to protest
marginalization of Sunni community
NNA/July 03/2020
Protesters partially blocked the road in front of the Ministry of Interior to
protest against "the marginalization of the Sunni community, its deprivation of
its rights and the seizing of posts designated for the sect in the State."
Protesters considered that the "Sunni community is a symbol of moderation",
calling out slogans condemning "a government that does not represent them and
does not care about the high prices, the rise in the dollar exchange rate, or
the blackout."
They affirmed that "PM Saad Hariri is the representative of the Sunnis in
Lebanon," and carried banners reading "Sunnah, a red line."
Shreim: We will stay in this government, shoulder our
responsibility until last minute
NNA/July 03/2020
Minister of the Displaced, Ghada Shreim, said in an interview with Sawt Al-Mada
radio that "we sensed yesterday, same as all Lebanese people did, the tense
atmosphere and the pace at which this atmosphere has been exacerbating in recent
days after talks of forensic financial scrutiny. Our insistence on it, along
with other colleagues, has sharpened the confrontation."
Shreim said "The government is working hard today, as if it were to stay. As for
later, how will the circumstances will change, no one knows. We are staying in
the government and shouldering our responsibility within it until the last
minute."
"Events are accelerating and people are expecting a lot from us. We must move
forward with concrete files," she added, stressing that hints at resignation
"only aimed at re-adjusting the compass. What we are doing in this government is
laying the foundations and the cornerstone for reform."
Lebanese cabinet member: ‘international community closed to
us’
The Arab Weekly/July 03/2020
Unclear if statement reflects government intent to resign.
BEIRUT – For the first time since the formation of the current government in
Lebanon, a prominent member of Hassan Diab’s cabinet has publicly admitted that
“the international community is closed to us.”The statement was made in an
interview with journalists by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Zeina
Akar Adra (an Orthodox Christian married to a Sunni). Adra spends most of her
time at the government palace where the prime minister is, and that led
political sources to consider that her words reflected the state of confusion in
which the current government, founded five months ago and controlled by
Hezbollah, evolves, lacking coordination and cohesion. Adra also admitted that
the international community’s reluctance to deal with Lebanon was a “political
decision," noting that external powers invoked the question of absence of
“reforms” to justify their ban on foreign aid to Lebanon. Lebanese political
sources could not determine whether or not the deputy prime minister's
declarations indicated the possibility of the current government being pushed to
resign. They pointed out, however, that the real problem facing President Michel
Aoun and Hezbollah at the same time is former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s
refusal to form a new government except under certain non-negotiable conditions.
The sources indicated that these conditions are not acceptable, at least not
yet, for Aoun and his son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, and especially for Hezbollah,
which is adamant on having representation in any Lebanese government.
Meanwhile, the French minister of foreign affairs expressed on Wednesday his
country's concern about the crisis in Lebanon and said that social discontent
could lead to an escalation of violence.
“The situation is alarming in light of the existence of an economic, financial,
social and humanitarian crisis, which is now exacerbated by the risks of the
COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian during a French Parliament session.
Le Drian called on the Lebanese government to start implementing needed reforms
so that the international community can extend a helping hand to Lebanon,
indicating that he will visit Lebanon soon to clearly inform the authorities of
this. American pressure on the political class in Lebanon also increased in the
context of a plan to screen between genuine Hezbollah supporters on the one hand
and those who are participating in the current Hezbollah government to serve
particular interests on the other, especially since the continued control of the
pro-Iranian party over Lebanese institutions will double US sanctions on the
country. The recent controversy over statements made by US Ambassador to Lebanon
Dorothy Shea revealed that the Lebanese decision has become hostage to
Hezbollah, and this would reinforce the American administration's tendency to
increase pressure on the country already experiencing an unprecedented economic
and financial crisis.
Observers point out that the “solidarity” that the current poles of power are
keen on highlighting at every successive meeting between them, and their
statements that tend to absolve the government of any wrongdoing and accuse
foreign powers of aggravating the situation, are nothing more than
tranquillisers meant to sedate regular Lebanese citizen who find themselves
facing imminent hunger in light of soaring prices of basic commodities. Talking
to reporters, Adra insisted that the current government was not put in place
simply to buy extra time, stressing at the same time the need for all Lebanese
to “join hands to succeed, and if we all come together as one team, we can raise
Lebanon up without waiting for foreign aid.”Adra stressed that the government,
despite all the talk about resignations, “continues to work and produce and
there are no splits within it.” “When I get to a point where I can't work
anymore, I will quit. We came to work and persist in working,” she said.
Two Suicides Spark Outrage at Govt. over Economic Crisis
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 03/2020
Two suicides in Lebanon on Friday, apparently linked to the country's deepening
economic downturn, have sparked a new wave of criticism over the government's
mishandling of the crisis. A 61-year-old man committed suicide in the morning on
Beirut's Hamra Street, reportedly leaving a death note denouncing "hunger" in
condemnation of the dire economic and financial situations in the country. The
National News Agency said the man, identified as Ali Mohammed al-Hiq, was found
dead after he shot himself in the head.Nearby he left an official criminal
record confirming that he had never committed an offence، a Lebanese flag and a
banner quoting a famous Ziad Rahbani song that says "I'm not a blasphemer but
hunger is blasphemy". Protesters later gathered in the area, outside the Dunkin
Donuts cafe, to deplore the country's dire situations. Some of them later
blocked the road and carried banners blaming officials for the man's death, as
they rejected claims that he had been suffering from a mental illness. "He
killed himself because of hunger," the man's cousin screamed as the security
forces carried away the body.
"Curse the government!"
The Lebanese pound, officially pegged at 1,507 pounds to the greenback, reached
more than 9,000 to the dollar this week on the black market in a dizzying
devaluation. Prices have soared almost as fast as the exchange rate has
plummeted, meaning that a salary of one million pounds is now worth a little
more than $100, compared with almost $700 last year. "He did not commit suicide,
he was killed in cold blood," read one sign, blaming the government. Saba Mroue,
a protestor, said: "the political class is responsible."A second suicide, by a
van driver near the southern city of Sidon, was also apparently linked to the
economic crisis, a local official said. The 37-year-old van driver hung himself
in his home in the town of Jadra and his body was found on Friday morning, said
municipality head Joseph al-Azzi. The official said the suicide was linked to
the economic crisis, saying the man was struggling financially. A spokesperson
for the Internal Security Forces confirmed the two suicides, saying that suicide
rates are up this year, although he could not provide figures. Jad Chaaban, an
economist and anti-government activist, described the suicides as a "murder by a
ruling class that is prepared to kill us, starve us and impoverish us so that
they can guard their interests."
Turkey Trial Begins into Ghosn Escape from Japan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 03/2020
The trial opened in Turkey on Friday of seven suspects over the audacious escape
of former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon via Istanbul in
December, local media reported. Ghosn, who faced multiple charges of financial
misconduct that he denies, managed to slip out of Japan despite having handed
over his three passports to his lawyers. It is believed he transferred between
private jets at an Istanbul airport after arriving from Japan before he flew to
Lebanon where he has been since his escape. The suspects were expected to give
testimony during the hearing in Istanbul, the private DHA news agency reported.
The indictment said Ghosn was smuggled via a large "foam-coated" musical
instrument case which had 70 holes for air, DHA reported. According to the
Turkish prosecutor, Michael Taylor, a former member of U.S. special forces, and
Lebanese national George-Antoine Zayek, recruited an employee of private Turkish
airline company MNG Jet to ensure Ghosn was able to transit through Istanbul.
The airline employee, Okan Kosemen, and four pilots were charged with "illegally
smuggling a migrant" and risk up to eight years in jail, according to the
official Anadolu news agency. They were arrested shortly after the case and
remain in custody. Two flight attendants are also accused of not reporting a
crime and face a one-year jail sentence, Anadolu reported. They are free pending
trial. The pilots and flight attendants deny the accusations. The indictment
said the MNG employee received several payments into his bank account totalling
over 250,000 euros in the months before Ghosn's flight. MNG filed a complaint in
January alleging its aircraft were used illegally, and said at the time that one
employee apparently admitted to falsifying the flight manifest to keep Ghosn off
the passenger list. Ghosn, who led Nissan for nearly two decades before his
arrest in 2018, was out on bail awaiting trial when he fled Japan.
Japan Seeks Extradition of Americans Accused in Ghosn Escape
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 03/2020
Tokyo prosecutors said Friday they have filed a request for the extradition of
two Americans arrested in the U.S. for allegedly helping Carlos Ghosn, the
former chairman of Nissan, flee Japan while he was out on bail. "We express our
deepest gratitude for the cooperation the U.S. authorities have shown to our
request," the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office said in a statement. "We plan to
cooperate in all ways possible so the extradition procedures for the two can be
carried out quickly," it said. The completion of the extradition request does
not immediately mean Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and
private security specialist, and his son Peter Taylor, 27, will be handed over.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Takahiro Saito sounded upbeat about the prospects while
stressing the decision was up to the United States. The request had to be filed
within 45 days of the arrests.
Saito said Peter Taylor came to Japan last year and met with Ghosn at the office
of his Japanese lawyer six times, including the day before Ghosn's escape. "We
believe that plotting the escape can be the only reason for his visit to Japan,"
he said. If they are extradited, the Taylors will be arrested after reaching
Japanese territory and then will be investigated, Saito said. Suspects are held
and interrogated without a lawyer present, sometimes for months, under a system
critics call "hostage justice." Arrested in May in Massachusetts, the Taylors
are accused of helping Ghosn flee to Lebanon in December while he was awaiting
trial on financial misconduct charges. Their lawyer has argued that jumping bail
is technically not a crime in Japan. Japanese prosecutors have brushed off that
argument, stressing that Japan has arrest warrants out for the Taylors for
allegedly helping a criminal escape, which is a crime under Japanese law.
Prosecutors have also been trying to bring Ghosn back to Japan, but Lebanon,
unlike the U.S., does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. If convicted in
Japan, the Taylors could face a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a
300,000 yen ($2,800) fine. Authorities say the Taylors helped sneak Ghosn out of
Japan on a private jet with the former Nissan boss hidden in a large box.Ghosn,
who led Nissan Motor Co. for two decades, has repeatedly said he is innocent. He
said he fled because he believes he could not have a fair trial in Japan.
He faced charges of under-reporting future income and breach of trust in
diverting Nissan money for personal gain. He says the compensation was never
decided on or received, and that the payments were legitimate.
Hariri On Full Blast to Reorganize Al-Mustaqbal Movement
Beirut - Mohammed Shukair/Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2020
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is trying to unify the ranks of the
Al-Mustaqbal Movement ahead of the holding of the party’s general conference.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hariri has “extended his hand to veterans to
activate the role of his parliamentary bloc in the political life after he
realized that there was a need to bridge the gap between the leadership and its
base.”
Several ministers and former deputies - who are considered as “veterans” because
they formed the political team of late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - said
that Saad has “changed, and this calls for optimism that he will move forward
towards change within Al-Mustaqbal.”They emphasized that Hariri has made a
critical review of the reasons that aborted the political settlement that
brought General Michel Aoun to the presidency, including the role that the head
of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), MP Gebran Bassil in this regard. The same
sources noted that Hariri has decided to devote himself to settle the affairs of
his movement, “in a manner that allows him to address his partisans and his
audience with a coherent political speech that would get them out of confusion
that afflicted them since he stepped down from the premiership.”
They revealed that Hariri has recently strengthened his parliamentary bloc with
several former deputies and ministers, who are now attending the bloc’s
meetings, including former Deputy Speaker Farid Makkari, Ahmed Fatfat, Raya
Al-Hassan, Mustafa Alloush, Nabil de Freij, Ghazi Youssef, Ammar Houry, Mohammad
Qabbani, Jamal Al-Jarrah, Antoine Andraous, and Bassem al-Shabb. The sources
also noted that the “veterans” would be regarded as the Movement’s “Shura
Council”, and they could be joined at a later stage by some political figures,
who were among the political team that accompanied the late Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri. They also expressed their satisfaction with Saad’s decision to
communicate with the Union of Beirut families but stressed that most of these
meetings were held away from the media.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on July 03-04/2020
Jean Castex appointed French Prime Minister after Edouard Philippe resigns
The National/July 03/2020
President Emmanuel Macron names Castex as PM amid French Cabinet reshuffle aimed
at boosting his popularity
France's President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new prime minister in an
effort to relaunch his government in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and with
an eye on the next election in 2022. Jean Castex, a technocrat from the
centre-right, was named as the new head of the executive just weeks after he was
tapped to lead the French recovery strategy on the coronavirus lockdown. Mr
Castex worked for former president Nicolas Sarkozy and was also appointed by
President Macron as a ministerial delegate to the International Olympic
Committee. The popular outgoing prime minister, Edouard Philippe, handed in his
resignation on Friday before the government reshuffle. The Elysee presidential
palace said Mr Macron had accepted the resignation of Mr Philippe and his
government, which would continue to handle "day-to-day matters" until a new
government is named.
Mr Macron vowed to chart a new course for the remaining two years of his term
after a poor performance by government allies in last week's municipal
elections. France is grappling with the deepest economic depression since World
War Two, a sharp downturn that will shrink the economy by about 11 per cent in
2020 and reverse hard-fought gains on unemployment. Investors will be watching
to see if Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who has overseen reforms to
liberalise the economy and spent big to keep companies like Air France and
Renault afloat during the crisis, keeps his job.
“The return from summer holidays will be difficult, we must get ready,” Mr
Macron told regional newspapers in an interview published late on Thursday. Mr
Macron hopes a cabinet reshuffle will reinvigorate his party’s fortunes. Despite
a bounce in Mr Macron’s own personal popularity, the French government has been
criticised over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Mr Philippe has
become increasingly popular and won a considerable victory in his home town of
La Havre, where he ran for mayor, during local elections last month. Questions
over the prime minister’s job have swirled since mid-June when Mr Macron
declared he wanted to "reinvent" his presidency and voters punished the former
investment banker and his party in nationwide municipal elections. The elections
revealed surging support for the Green party and underlined Mr Macron's troubles
with left-leaning voters. With only 21 months until the next presidential
election, Mr Macron wants to reposition himself, close advisers say. It is a
political gamble for Mr Macron to replace Mr Philippe, who is more popular with
the public than the president, political analysts say. The outgoing prime
minister has shown steadfast loyalty during waves of unrest and could emerge as
a presidential rival in 2022. Keeping Mr Philippe in office could have been
problematic, too. It could have suggested that Mr Macron was too weak to let go
of his prime minister and that his young party lacked the depth to allow for a
full-blooded cabinet overhaul.
French Government Resigns as Macron Vows 'New Course'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 03/2020
The French government resigned Friday ahead of a cabinet reshuffle that
President Emmanuel Macron says will set out a "new course" as the country
grapples with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. A government source
confirmed to AFP that Prime Minister Edouard Philippe would be leaving his job
after serving Macron since the president came to power in 2017 elections.
However, there was still no firm clue over who a successor might be, with the
replacement also facing the task of rescuing the fortunes of the ruling party
following a stinging defeat in local elections at the weekend. Macron, who has
pursued ambitious economic reforms since coming to office in 2017, has already
admitted that the recession caused by the health crisis would require the
government to shift tack. In an interview with regional newspapers published
late Thursday, Macron said France must prepare for a "very difficult" economic
crisis, "so we have to chart a new course.""I see this based on an economic,
social, environmental and cultural reconstruction," he said. "Behind this, there
will be a new team."An Elysee Palace official told AFP that a new prime minister
would be named "in the coming hours," and possibly the new cabinet cast as well.
Sources later confirmed that Philippe would not be re-nominated for the post he
has held for the past three years, pushing through a series of controversial
overhauls that sparked massive strikes as well as the fierce "yellow vest"
anti-government revolt. Speculation that Philippe was on the way out mounted
this week after Macron's centrist party was routed in municipal elections last
Sunday and Greens took control of several major cities. Philippe, a right-wing
politician who never joined Macron's Republic on the Move party, easily won his
bid to become mayor of Le Havre. But while Philippe's approval ratings have
surged over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, Macron was widely expected
to try to burnish his social justice credentials with a more centrist or
leftwing premier. "A new phase is opening, with new talents and new methods for
governing," the Elysee official said Friday.
Heavy turnover
At a meeting Thursday, Macron and Philippe "agreed on the need for a new
government to embody a new phase for this term," the source said. Press reports
have suggested that possible replacements could include defense minister
Florence Parly or foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, both Socialists before
joining Macron's team. Other names being floated are those of Valerie Pecresse,
president of the Ile-de-France region encompassing Paris, or Jean Castex, who is
piloting the government's cautious lifting of its coronavirus restrictions. But
analysts say Macron has a thin bench of potential replacements, not least
because his young party has failed to produce any standouts from its
parliamentary ranks -- meaning he could tap someone relatively unknown to the
public. Among other officials who could be replaced is interior minister
Christophe Castaner, who has been assailed by critics over the failure to
contain the rioting and looting that marred the "yellow vest" protests of
2018-2019.More recently Castaner has drawn the ire of police who say he has
failed to support them against renewed claims of violence and racism in the wake
of the Black Lives Matter movement. Already since the start of Macron's
presidency, a total of 17 ministers have quit the government, most recently
Agnes Buzyn, who stepped down as health minister in a doomed bid to wrest the
Paris mayor job from Socialist Anne Hidalgo.
Natanz “incident” was a blast at Iran’s largest enrichment
site
DebkaFile/July 03/2020
US satellites photos indicated to analysts that the “incident” at the Natanz
enrichment facility on July 1 was an act of sabotage caused by a bomb. The blast
was seen to damage a newly opened centrifuge production site at the northwest
corner of the Natanz complex, 250km south of Tehran. In an effort to play down
the occurrence, Iran officials described the target as an “industrial shed” and
maintained that production at the facility was not interrupted. However,
according to one Middle East observer, a bomb was likely planted inside the
facility and caused substantial damage.
Six days earlier, the Iranian capital was rattled by a huge, mysterious
explosion in the mountains east of Tehran near the Parchin military base and a
missile factory, after a blast in the city itself. One analyst, Fabian Hinz,
described the blast at Natanz as “very, very suspicious” with the potential for
significantly delaying the Iranian nuclear program’s work with centrifuges. The
main enrichment facility is said to be sunk underground with more than seven
meters of concrete on top as protection. It is there, under close guard after
previous attacks, that spinning centrifuges produce enriched uranium for a
nuclear weapon. “Theoretically speaking, Israel, the US and others have an
interest to stop this Iran nuclear clock, or at least show Iran there’s a price
for going that way,” said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute
for National Security Studies. “If Iran won’t stop, we might see more
‘accidents’ in Iran.”
Both US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu have repeatedly
vowed not to let Iran attain a nuclear bomb. However, the Islamic Republic
appears to be bent on its drive for a nuclear arsenal. The nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, recently reported that its
inspectors were denied by Tehran access to at least two suspicious sites and
voiced concerns over the work concealed. Iran is calculated by most analysts to
have this year amassed enough low enriched uranium to produce a single nuclear
weapon by successive breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers,
from which President Trump took the US out in 2019. Based on the IAEA’s most
recent report, Iran’s breakout time could be just 3-4 months and become shorter
as its store of enriched uranium accumulates.
Iran Pressured for Compensation on Downed Plane
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 3 July, 2020
Canada announced Thursday an agreement to launch negotiations with Iran on
compensation for the families of the foreign victims of a Ukrainian passenger
plane shot down in January, with Sweden expressing confidence Tehran would pay.
An international "coordination and response group" of countries whose nationals
died on the plane signed a memorandum of understanding, formally paving the way
for negotiations with Tehran, according to a Canadian government statement.
The countries -- Canada, Britain, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan -- each had
citizens die when Tehran's armed forces mistakenly shot down Ukraine
International Airlines Flight 752. "The five states created the legal structure
necessary to start these negotiations," Canadian Foreign Minister
Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP. "It is a first step -- necessary but only
a first step -- to begin negotiations to obtain reparations for the victims'
families," he said. Earlier in the day, Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde told
news agency TT that Tehran had agreed to compensate the families of foreign
victims. There is "no doubt" that Iran would follow through on the compensation,
she said, adding that it was still unclear what sums would be paid out. "We have
signed an agreement of mutual understanding that we will now negotiate with Iran
about amends, compensation to the victims' next of kin," Linde said.
Ukraine, the group's designated speaker on the negotiations, will be responsible
for proposing a date to launch the talks in Tehran, Champagne said. "These kinds
of negotiations generally take several months or even years," added Champagne,
whose country chairs the coordinated group. "Iran had indicated to us its desire
to start negotiations. I always judge Iran not by its words but by its actions,"
he warned. The 176 victims of the crash, which occurred shortly after taking off
from Tehran airport on January 8, were mostly Iranian-Canadians. Of countries
apart from Iran, Canada was the hardest hit, with a total of 85 victims (both
citizens and permanent residents). Iran admitted days after the downing that its
forces accidentally shot the Kiev-bound jetliner. At the end of June Iran
officially enlisted the help of France's BEA air accident agency to download and
read the data on the flight recorder.
Ottawa had been demanding that Iran, which does not have the technical means to
extract and decrypt the data, send the plane's black boxes abroad.
US Forces Expand East of Euphrates, Block Russian Convoy
Qamishli – Kamal Sheikho/Friday, 3 July, 2020
A Russian-Turkish joint patrol toured on Thursday the border west of Ain Al-Arab
city (Kobani) in the countryside of eastern Aleppo.
The joint patrol, which included eight military vehicles, set off from Ashmah as
Russian helicopters hovered overhead. Also in eastern Aleppo, residents threw
stones on Turkish vehicles that entered the area. This came a few days after a
Turkish drone targeted a home housing a meeting for a women’s conference in the
village of Halnaj near the border with Turkey, in Kobani, killing three people.
Meanwhile, locals in the town of Gharanij in the eastern countryside of Deir
Ezzor staged demonstrations against local councils linked to the
Self-Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, calling for the improvement
of economic conditions. Activists published videos and photos on social media
showing that demonstrators cut the main roads in Gharanij and burned tires amid
the closure of commercial shops. This came one week after residents from the Abu
Hamam village in the Bukamal region in the eastern countryside of the province
staged demonstrations against the self-administration council, raising slogans
that demanded bread, and improvement in electricity and water supplies.
Meanwhile, a US military patrol, stationed near the Wanek village at the
entrance of Al-Malikiyah (Dayrik), blocked the road to Russian patrols that
tried to enter the Semalka border crossing in northeastern Syria, forcing them
to return to their positions in Qamishli. Also on Thursday, US forces set up a
new military checkpoint in the town of Yaarabiya on the Iraqi border in the
countryside of eastern Hasaka. The forces were seen bringing military equipment
and logistic materials, lifting concrete blocks and paving the roads.
Kadhimi Keen on Fighting Corruption in Iraq
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 3 July, 2020
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has stressed that the government is keen
on fighting corruption and holding accountable those who blackmail the private
sector. He welcomed businessmen to visit his office and present their complaints
in any blackmail case. According to a statement by the Media Office of the Prime
Minister, Kadhimi received a delegation of Iraqi businessmen and was briefed on
their challenges, investments, and obstacles hindering the activation of the
private sector in the country. The current government is a cabinet of accord,
solidarity, and national understanding to overcome the crisis and bring Iraq to
safety, the PM affirmed. It places the corrupt as its main target, while it
confronts several challenges including the COVID-19 outbreak and its economic
impact. Kadhimi called on all parties, syndicates and the private sector to show
cooperation and solidarity against challenges. He further shed light on the
significance of the private sector in Iraq as well as reinforcing it and pushing
it to have an instrumental role in the economy. The government intends to
support the private sector and create adequate environments that help it
contribute to building the country. It plans on making Iraq an
investment-friendly environment. The PM noted that the government works on
liberating the economy from oil dependency and directing efforts towards sectors
such as agriculture, industry, tourism, investment, transportation and services.
He reiterated that the government is serious in its battle against corruption,
especially on the border.
Turkey Trial of Saudi Suspects in Khashoggi Murder Begins
in Absentia
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 03/2020
Twenty Saudi suspects including two former aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman went on trial Friday in absentia in Turkey, accused of killing and
dismembering journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Khashoggi, 59, was an
insider-turned-critic who wrote for The Washington Post before he was killed
inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 where he had gone to
obtain documents necessary for his wedding to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.
Turkish prosecutors claim Saudi deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and
the royal court's media czar Saud al-Qahtani led the operation and gave orders
to a Saudi hit team. They were formally charged in March with "instigating the
deliberate and monstrous killing, causing torment."Eighteen other suspects --
including intelligence operative Maher Mutreb who frequently traveled with the
crown prince on foreign tours, forensic expert Salah al-Tubaigy and Fahad al-Balawi,
a member of the Saudi royal guard -- were charged with "deliberately and
monstrously killing, causing torment". The prosecutor has already issued arrest
warrants for the suspects who are not in Turkey. Cengiz, who is a complainant in
the case, was attending the trial alongside the U.N. special rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard. Yasin Aktay, a
close friend of Khashoggi and advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's ruling party, was also in the courtroom.
Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of
the Saudi government but has never directly blamed Prince Mohammed.
- 'No rest until justice' -
Cengiz said she hoped the trial "brings to light the whereabouts of Jamal's
body, the evidence against the killers and the evidence of those behind the
gruesome murder.""I will continue to pursue all legal avenues to hold Jamal's
killers accountable and I will not rest until we get justice for Jamal," she
told AFP before the trial. During the Istanbul prosecutor's investigation, the
suspects' phone records, their presence at the consulate confirmed by CCTV
images, as well as Khashoggi's laptop, two phones and an iPad were analysed.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in a case that
tarnished the reputation of the crown prince despite his strenuous denial of any
involvement. Khashoggi's remains have never been found. Saudi Arabia describes
the murder as a "rogue" operation but both the CIA and Callamard have directly
linked the crown prince, the de facto ruler and heir to the Saudi throne, to the
killing. Callamard called for an independent international probe into the murder
last year after she said Khashoggi was the victim of a "premeditated
extrajudicial execution."A closed-door trial of 11 suspects in Saudi Arabia
ended in December with five unnamed people sentenced to death. The crown
prince's former aides, Assiri and Qahtani, were exonerated.The sons of Khashoggi
said they forgave his killers in May this year, a moved expected to allow the
government to grant clemency for the five convicts on death row. Relations
between Ankara and Riyadh are rocky, having worsened significantly after
Khashoggi's murder. The two countries are also on opposing sides in the Libyan
war, where Ankara has recently helped turn the tide in favor of the
U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli.
Turkish court convicts Amnesty official, three other
activists on terror charges
Reuters, Istanbul/Friday 03 July 2020
A Turkish court sentenced a former executive of Amnesty International Turkey to
more than six years in jail and convicted three other rights activists on
terrorism-related charges on Friday, the rights group said. Amnesty Turkey said
on Twitter that seven other defendants, who were detained three years ago during
a crackdown following a 2016 attempted coup, were acquitted in a case which
fueled concern over Ankara’s human rights record. “This is an outrage. Absurd
allegations. No evidence. After three year trial Taner Kilic convicted for
membership of a terrorist organization,” Amnesty representative Andrew Gardner
wrote on Twitter as the verdict emerged on the former honorary chairman of
Amnesty Turkey. Three other rights activists were sentenced to two years and one
month in jail. Peter Steudtner, a German national, and Ali Gharavi, a Swede,
were among the seven acquitted. Ten of the defendants were detained while they
participated in a workshop on digital security held on the island of Buyukada,
off the coast of Istanbul, in July 2017. The prosecution alleged that the
gathering had been a secret meeting to organize an uprising and foment chaos. It
alleged they had links to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen,
accused by Ankara of engineering the 2016 coup attempt against President Tayyip
Erdogan. Since the coup attempt, authorities have carried out a sustained
crackdown, jailing about 80,000 people and dismissing 150,000 civil servants,
military personnel and others and closing some 180 media organizations.
Iraq reinforces border posts to try to prevent advance of
Turkish troops
The Associated Press, Erbil, IraqFriday 03 July 2020
Iraqi troops were enforcing positions along the border with Turkey, officials
said on Friday, to prevent Turkish forces from advancing deeper into Iraqi
territory after two weeks of airstrikes as Ankara continues to target Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq.
Security officials said Ankara has established at least a dozen posts inside
Iraqi territory as part of a military campaign to rout members of the Kurdistan
Worker’s Party, or PKK, who Turkey says have safe havens in northern Iraq. The
airborne-and-land campaign, dubbed “Operation Claw-Tiger,” began June 17 when
Turkey airlifted troops into northern Iraq. Since
then, at least six Iraqi civilians have been killed as Turkish jets pound PKK
targets, and several villages in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region have been
evacuated.
Turkey plans to set up more military bases in north Iraq after offensive:
Official. The invading Turkish troops set up posts in
the Zakho district in northern province of Dohuk, about 15 kilometers inside
Iraqi territory, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to
discuss the military operations.
Zerevan Musa, mayor of Darkar, said there were five Turkish posts close to his
town, including two on the nearby Mt. Khankiri. He said Turkish airstrikes have
hit Sharanish and Banka villages in the area. “We demand from both sides, the
Turkish government and the PKK, to keep their fight away from us,” said Qadir
Sharanshi, a resident from Sharanshi village. He said his village has been hit
several times. Iraqi border guards erected two posts along the Khankiri range,
said Brig. Delir Zebari, commander of the First Brigade of the Iraqi Border
Guards, tasked with securing a 245-kilometer (153-mile) stretch of border
territory. Speaking from the brigade base, he told The Associated Press that his
troops’ task is to “eliminate attacks on civilians in the area."
Turkey regularly carries out air and ground attacks against the PKK in northern
Iraq. It says neither the Iraqi government nor the regional Iraqi Kurdish
administration have taken measures to combat the group. The recent incursion
into Iraqi territory has drawn condemnation from Baghdad, which has summoned
Ankara’s ambassador to Iraq twice since the campaign was launched.
Turkey maintains that until the Iraqi government take actions against the PKK,
it will continue to target the Kurdish group, considered a terrorist
organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union for its
decades-long insurgency within Turkey. Turkey’s latest campaign poses a dilemma
for the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, which relies on Turkey
for oil exports through a pipeline running from Iraq’s Kirkuk province to the
Turkish port of Ceyhan. Kaiwan Kawa, a 30-year-old store owner displaced with
his family from the area, said a Turkish airstrike last month struck his mini
market in the village of Kuna Masi in Sulaymaniyah province. The airstrike
targeted a pickup truck with PKK members who had stopped by his store to buy
some eggs. At least one of the fighters was killed, his body torn to pieces,
Kawa said. Kawa’s wife, Payman Talib, 31, lost a leg in the bombing while their
6-year-old son, Hezhwan, had shrapnel wounds to the head. Doctors say it’s too
dangerous to remove the shrapnel. Kawa said he had opened the shop just a month
before. Now he can never go back. “I will always carry the fear in my heart,” he
said. “It will never be the same.”
Readout: Call of the International Coordination and Response Group for the
victims of Flight PS752
July 2, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight
PS752 held a call today.
Members of the group (Afghanistan, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom)
formalized a common approach to holding the Iranian regime accountable and
signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation regarding negotiations on
reparations by Iran, paving the way for state-to-state negotiations.
They also discussed the downloading of the flight recorders in France,
compensation from Ukraine International Airlines and the criminal investigation
into the tragedy.
The group continues to advocate for accountability, transparency, justice and
compensation for the families and loved ones of the victims.
Palestinian Authority Cuts Staff Pay in Half
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 3 July, 2020
Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara announced that the government would
only pay 50 percent of salaries for its employees for the months of May and
June, with a minimum of 1,750 shekels. This will affect thousands of workers as
the Palestinian Authority (PA) refuses to receive its taxation revenues from
Israel.The transfers, about USD190 million a month, make up more than half of
the PA's budget and stem from duties on imports that reach the West Bank and
Gaza via Israeli ports. The PA snubbed the taxes after declaring bilateral
agreements with Israel null in May. Bishara pointed out that the PA is currently
faced with three financial challenges; the first one resulting from the
Palestinian leadership’s protest against Israel’s annexation move, the second
resulting from Israel’s attempts to sue Palestinian banks, and the third is the
outcome of grappling with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In June, the PA received zero clearance funds at a time when local revenues
declined by 280 million shekels. Besides, the PA did not receive 100 million
shekels in external financial aid, a situation which resulted in the PA not
receiving 380 million shekels in revenues,” said the Minister. In terms of the
monthly expenses, Bishara pointed out that they totaled 760 million shekels,
including 550 million shekels accounting for the minimum public wages besides
210 million shekels in other expenses, particularly health expenses following
the coronavirus outbreak. The resulting government budget gap was covered
through a bank loan of 250 million shekels, he stated, adding that those whose
salaries are below 1,750 shekels will be fully paid, and those whose salaries
are above it will receive 50 percent of their salaries. Bishara said that the
payment of fifty percent of salaries will continue in the coming period "as long
as the tax revenues crisis continues." Yet, he added that in case more funds
were available, a greater percentage of the salary would be paid next month.
Cairo to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water
Rights
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 3 July, 2020
One week ahead of an African Union deadline set for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as
the latest bid to reach an agreement on the mega-dam that Addis Ababa is
building, Cairo threatened to thwart any attempt of transgression of its water
rights.
“Egypt will never allow any transgression of its rights or accept any deal
underestimating its rights or affecting its people’s lives,” Irrigation Minister
Mohamed Abdel Atti said Thursday. He said his country was keen to show goodwill
and cooperate with Ethiopia concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD),
but Ethiopia hampered the course of negotiations. In an interview with the DMC
satellite channel, the Minister said his country is strong and all its agencies
are working on the GERD dispute. “Ethiopia is withdrawing from all agreements
reached during trilateral meeting in Washington and clinging to unilateral
filling of the dam,” Abdel Atti said. Previous rounds of negotiations between
the three countries, held virtually from 9-17 June, failed to reach an agreement
due to Ethiopia's refusal to enter into a legally binding agreement and its
announcement that it will begin filling the dam in July even without approval
from the two downstream countries. “Egypt’s annual quota of Nile water is 55.5
billion cubic meters, expounding that filling the dam during periods of dryness
will cause a huge crisis,” Abdel Atti said, adding that Cairo wants a written
agreement reassuring both Egyptian and Sudanese people over their rights. The
Minister explained that his country always seeks to achieve stability in the
region. “I am looking forward to make use of the African Union intervention to
settle the dam crisis,” Abdel Atti said.
UN Calls on Yemeni Parties to Support Ceasefire
Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 3 July, 2020
UN Special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths discussed on Thursday with
representatives of Yemeni parties United Nations proposals for agreements on a
nationwide ceasefire, key economic and humanitarian measures to alleviate the
suffering of the people and support the country’s ability to respond to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and the urgent resumption of the political process. According
to the official Yemeni news agency Saba, Griffiths urged the parties to accept
the proposed agreements without delay and begin working together through a
formal comprehensive political process to end the war.
The meeting between the UN envoy and the Yemeni party representatives also
tackled the growing risk of Safer tanker's explosion in the governorate of
Hodeidah and which might lead to a man-made environmental disaster in the Red
Sea due to the intransigence of the Houthi militias.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly called on the Iran-backed
militias to allow a UN technical team to carry out the necessary maintenance
work on the Safer floating storage and offloading terminal to avoid an
environment disaster. The vessel is loaded with an estimated 1.1 million barrels
of oil and is described by experts as a floating bomb. During their meeting with
Griffiths in Riyadh Thursday, a number of National Coalition parties in Yemen
expressed their support to the envoy’s ongoing efforts to install peace in the
country. The parties expressed their hope that the UN exert more pressure on
Houthis to resort to peace based on the three references. The meeting also
discussed the works to implement the Riyadh Agreement and the great Saudi
efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on July 03-04/2020
جيرازلم بوست/هل الإنفجارات الثلاثة التي
طاولت مواقع حساسة في إيران هي متصلة ببعضها البعض
Are three mysterious explosions in Iran linked? - analysis
Seth J.Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/July 03/2020
Three mysterious incidents, linked by explosions – at least two of them at
secretive nuclear and weapons facilities – have rocked Iran in the past week.
Three mysterious incidents, linked by explosions – at least two of them at
secretive nuclear and weapons facilities – have rocked Iran in the past week.
All three have been reported by Iranian media with various excuses about how
they are less serious than
they appear, that they are being investigated and that there is no major story
to tell.
On June 25, a massive explosion, seen many miles away in Tehran, burned a
hillside near a missile complex at Khojir. On June 30, a medical center suffered
a fire in Tehran, killing at least 18 people. And on July 2, an incident at
Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility was mentioned by the country’s official media,
without elaboration. Officials claimed that only a shed was damaged. In each
case, officials appeared to try to get ahead of the story by obfuscating about
the seriousness of the incident or why it took place at a sensitive facility.
This leads to key questions about why so many explosions or incidents have
affected key aspects of Iran’s military-industrial complex. Rumors posted on
social media and elsewhere online have suggested not only a cover up but also
allegations of a “cyber” attack or other concerns about how these incidents
unfolded. Iran alleged a cyber attack harmed Shahid Rajaee port in May, in the
wake of an Iranian cyber attack on Israel.
AT THE HEART of this are concerns about Iran, increasingly pressured by US
sanctions, lashing out across the region. The Islamic Republic has
systematically walked away from the 2015 Iran deal, enriching uranium and
ramping up its weapons programs. It has focused on ballistic missiles and
precision guidance for munitions, as well as drones and nuclear facilities. The
Natanz facility was well known for being affected by the malicious Stuxnet
computer worm in 2010. Stuxnet was developed by the US and Israel according to
The New York Times, and may have destroyed up to 1,000 centrifuges at the Natanz
facility.
Natanz consists of a fuel enrichment plant and is Iran’s largest gas centrifuge
uranium enrichment facility, according to the BBC. It began working in 2007.
Iran’s Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization,
said on July 2 that there were no casualties at Natanz and that the incident was
being investigated. He said there was no need to worry about the possibility of
contamination “due to the inactivity of the complex.” It was a strange
statement, to deny that anyone had been injured and highlight that the facility
was not operating. Kamalvandi’s statements headlined the Iranian Students News
Agency website and others in Iran on Thursday.
At the same time, Tehran prosecutors have said that the explosion at the Sina
Medical Center in Tehran was unintentional. But at least 18 people are dead.
High level officials in the government speaking about the June 30 explosion also
highlighted the mystery of it. If it was just a routine tragic fire and mistake,
what was the need to have high-level officials looking into it, commenting on it
and vowing to investigate?
The explosion at the medical center may be less mysterious than the Natanz and
Khojir incidents because it is not immediately clear what links it to Iran’s
clandestine military programs. For instance, the explosion at Khojir was
initially said by Iran to be in Parchin, with media showing a gas tank that had
exploded. The size of the explosion caught on video seemed much bigger than the
gas tank Iran alleged it came from.
KAMALVANDI HAS been Iran’s point man for explaining the country’s willingness to
systematically break the Iran deal guidelines. In August 2019, he said that Iran
could reach up to 20% enrichment of uranium. He confirmed further breaches of
the nuclear deal that July. Iran says this is in response to the US walking away
from the deal in 2018. An accident or explosion at Natanz would call into
question what Iran is really up to and whether its nuclear facilities are as
secure as Iran says they are.
The need to rush Kamalvandi in front of the cameras to get Tehran’s story out
first appeared to underline his agenda. This also appears to be the messaging
behind the medical center and Khojir explosions: Get the news our first so
rumors don’t spread. That is why Iran admitted that people died at the medical
center and tried to show video of what they claimed was the minor Khojir
explosion. This sounds a bit like “nothing to see here.”
Iran can’t hide the Khojir incident because it was too big. Conspiracy theories
have been advanced about what might have occurred. Why are at least two of the
incidents linked to “gas canisters”? That was the explanation given for the
medical center explosion. When the medical center exploded, many reports noted
that it was only four days after the Khojir explosion and that both involved gas
leaks – supposedly.
While Iran’s Tasnim and Fars News media, linked to the IRGC, posted photos of
the medical center explosion, one article at Iran’s official IRNA website said
that the center was not linked to radioactive materials. Iraj Harirchi, Iran’s
deputy health minister who is well known for having had COVID-19 in February,
said that the Sina Athar D-Clinic was a dental and imaging center and there were
no radioactive materials affected. He appeared to deny it was linked to any
nuclear issues. This is also a strange statement: a high-level official denying
rumors apparently floating online. He appeared to deflect the rumors by claiming
there was regular radiology at the center.
IT APPEARS that Iran’s messaging is directed at the international community as
well as for internal consumption to allay concerns that something very bad is
happening in Iran. Iranians consume media reports and the public has been on
edge for a year due to sanctions and protests last year that saw the government
kill some 1,500 people and shut down the Internet. Protesters have been angered
at Tehran’s insistence at plowing money into weapons programs rather than local
social programs. Explosions at Natanz and the missile facility at Khojir will
lead to questions among the public.
This leaves us with three mysterious incidents and no clear answer as to how
they are linked. The Khojir explosion was shown to be falsely linked to Parchin
when in fact it was likely at a ballistic missile site linked to important
industrial groups that built Iran’s solid- and liquid-fueled missiles. What we
can see on the surface however is just a burned patch of earth. It may be that
whatever exploded has deeper roots underground. Some of these sites appear
nondescript on the surface – just a warehouse or shed – while they are actually
more important than they seem.
What is clear is that Iran has attempted to admit and showcase these incidents
rather than hide them. This appears to be a concerted effort to try to pretend
that it is hiding nothing, such that US officials or others cannot point to
these sites after the event and show the explosions as evidence Iran is up to
something nefarious. Asked about the explosion at Khojir, for instance, US-Iran
envoy Brian Hook was non-committal on a visit to Israel.
Tehran will be quick to try to move these stories off the front page. Having
“admitted” that nothing important happened, it will then go on to highlight
other regional issues, such as the Houthis fighting Saudi Arabia or Hamas
“resisting” Israel. Any suggestion that three incidents in Iran in a week are
linked can be brushed aside by Tehran by saying they had already been
investigated and commented upon.
Mysterious Explosion and Fire Damage Iranian Nuclear
Enrichment Facility
David E. Sanger, William J. Broad, Ronen Bergman and Farnaz Fassihi/The New York
Times/July 03/2020
نيويورك تايمز: انفجارات غامضة وحرائق تدمر موقع إيراني للتخصيب النووي
Iran released a photograph showing evidence of what appeared to be a major
explosion at the site. Early evidence suggests it was most likely an act of
sabotage.
A fire ripped through a building at Iran’s main nuclear-fuel production site
early Thursday, causing extensive damage to what appeared to be a factory where
the country has boasted of producing a new generation of centrifuges. The United
States has repeatedly warned that such machinery could speed Tehran’s path to
building nuclear weapons.
The Atomic Energy Agency of Iran acknowledged an “incident” at the desert site,
but did not term it sabotage. It released a photograph showing what seemed to be
destruction from a major explosion that ripped doors from their hinges and
caused the roof to collapse. Parts of the building, which was recently
inaugurated, were blackened by fire.
But it was not clear how much damage was done underground, where video released
by the Iranian government last year suggested most of the assembly work is
conducted on next-generation centrifuges — the machines that purify uranium.
A Middle Eastern intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
to discuss closely held information, said the blast was caused by an explosive
device planted inside the facility. The explosion, he said, destroyed much of
the aboveground parts of the facility where new centrifuges — delicate devices
that spin at supersonic speeds — are balanced before they are put into
operation.
The fire and explosion took place inside the nuclear complex at Natanz, where
the Iranian desert gives way to barbed wire, antiaircraft guns and an industrial
maze. The damaged building is adjacent to the underground fuel production
facilities where, a decade ago, the United States and Israel conducted the most
sophisticated cyberattack in modern history, code-named “Olympic Games.” That
attack, which lasted for several years, altered the computer code of Iran’s
industrial equipment and destroyed about 1,000 centrifuges, setting back Iran’s
nuclear program for a year or more.
The early evidence strongly suggested on Thursday the damage was in fact
sabotage, though the possibility remained that it was the result of an
industrial accident.
The timing was suspicious: A series of unexplained fires have broken out in
recent days at other facilities related to the nuclear program. Still, experts
noted that if the explosion was deliberately set, it showed none of the stealth
and secrecy surrounding the complex cyberattacks by the United States and Israel
that were first ordered by President George W. Bush toward the end of his term,
and then extended by President Barack Obama.
The Persian language service of the BBC reported that several members of its
staff received an email from a previously unknown group, which referred to
itself as the Homeland Cheetahs, before news of the fire became public. The
group claimed responsibility and said it was composed of dissidents in Iran’s
military and security apparatus. They said the attack would target aboveground
sections of the targeted facilities so that the Iranian government could not
cover up the damage.
There was no way to confirm if Homeland Cheetahs was a real group, and if so
whether it was domestic, as it claimed, or supported by a foreign power.
The facility is a key choke point in Iran’s ambitions to speed up its nuclear
work, as part of an effort to pressure the United States to suspend the
sanctions President Trump has reimposed, and to convince Europe to compensate it
for lost revenues as its oil revenue has dried up.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump’s C.I.A.
director and ordered new operations to disrupt Iran’s nuclear progress, told the
United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that Iran’s advanced centrifuges
posed a threat.
“Iran is also accumulating dangerous knowledge,’’ he said, arguing for an
extension of an arms embargo on Tehran that expires in October. “Late last year,
Iran announced that its scientists were working on a new centrifuge — the IR-9 —
that would allow Tehran to enrich uranium up to 50 times faster than the IR-1
centrifuges allowed" under the Obama-era deal.
David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International
Security, a nonprofit group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation,
said in an interview that a number of factors suggested the disaster was most
likely an act of sabotage.
The existence of the facility was no secret: The Iranians promoted its opening
in June 2018, and Mr. Albright’s institute described the plant in a report. The
Iranians ran a glossy picture of it in a report last year.
The assembly plant, Mr. Albright said, was unlikely to have stockpiled the kinds
of highly combustible materials that could generate a large explosion. The
Iranian images of the plant released last year show the assembly of the
centrifuges — tall, thin machines that enrich, or concentrate, uranium’s rare
component, uranium 235.
Enriched to around 3 percent, the fuel can be used in nuclear reactors; at 90
percent, it can fuel atom bombs. Iran has insisted that its operations are
entirely for civilian purposes, but both American intelligence assessments and a
trove of documents stolen by Israel from an Iranian warehouse in January 2018
showed evidence of planning work on nuclear weapons.
The assembly facility “wouldn’t be prone to these kinds of accidents,” Mr.
Albright said. “They get subcomponents and put them together. You wouldn’t have
a lot of flammable liquids. The assembly operations are not dangerous per se. It
seems like it could be sabotage. It’s a high-value site for the Iranians. It’s a
very important building.”
The building is assembling a new generation of centrifuges meant to redouble the
pace of Iran’s production of atomic fuel. The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy
Agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said there was an “incident” at one of the
aboveground facilities at Natanz and denied reports that there were centrifuges
inside the facility. He said the building was empty and there were no casualties
and no damage to the environment.
The central role of the factory complex and its importance for the advancement
of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Mr. Albright said, added weight to the idea of an
intentional strike. “It’s not a crazy place to hit if you wanted to set the
program back,” he said.
Mr. Albright cautioned that the apparent presence at the plant of a diesel-fuel
generator for the production of electricity might in theory explain the roots of
the explosion, and said the sabotage idea should be treated with skepticism
until proven true. The factory is a ripe target. “It is a new and very important
site and it was already operational,” said Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iran’s
military and security and a researcher at the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute.
The assembly work on the centrifuges was permitted under the 2015 nuclear accord
that Mr. Obama reached with Iran, and that Mr. Trump exited two years ago.
Shortly after Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the deal, the Iranians
announced they were speeding forward with assembling centrifuges at Natanz and
released photographs of the facility and some of its staff.
A Will to Overthrow the United States
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/July 03/2020
The statement "Black Lives Matter" assumes from the start that, for the police,
the judicial system and everyone else, black lives do not matter. What is so
conspicuous and tragic is that black lives only seem to matter if they were
taken by a white person.... Sadly, when it comes to black-on-black violence, no
one seems to care.
Are the politicians who claim to want help distressed communities the very ones
keeping the distressed communities distressed -- and in a perpetual state of
reaching out to those same politicians for dangled promises of help?
The mob's destruction or removal of statues appears an attempt to erase the
history of the United States... What they are doing looks like just an
old-fashioned power-grab. The first law of power-grabbers is that if no one
stops them, they keep on going -- often with catastrophic consequences.
The recent damage inflicted on thousands of people who lost their possessions
and businesses -- as well as the many murders and assaults -- shows what happens
to a society with fewer police or no police.
That the name Black Lives Matter is present everywhere, and that everyone seems
to ignore or forget what the organization Black Lives Matter really is, shows
that a violent, anti-democratic organization, which calls for the murder of
police officers and accepts anti-Semitism and anti-White racism, can use
threats, intimidation and destruction -- and find public acceptance.
"Their disruptive and violent behavior is happening because governors, mayors,
and police chiefs have over the last decade sent the message that they will not
respond with mind-concentrating force in order to restore order and hold rioters
accountable...." — Bruce Thornton, Professor of Classics and Humanities at
California State University and research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover
Institution, June 19, 2020.
The mob's destruction or removal of statues appears an attempt to erase the
history of the United States... What they are doing looks like just an
old-fashioned power-grab. The first law of power-grabbers is that if no one
stops them, they keep on going -- often with catastrophic consequences.
Pictured: Protesters pull down a fence surrounding the statue of Andrew Jackson,
in an attempt to topple the statue in Lafayette Square, near Black Lives Matter
Plaza in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2020.
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a police officer, Derek Chauvin, who
already had 18 complaints lodged against him, killed a black man, George Floyd,
by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Angry protests in Minneapolis quickly turned into riots that ravaged the city.
The police did not intervene; the mayor had ordered them to withdraw and do
nothing.
More protests soon broke out in major cities throughout the country and rapidly
led to widespread disorder. In the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,
1,500 buildings were vandalized, looted or destroyed. Again, the police did
little to intervene: the mayors of most of the cities had asked the police to
act with restraint.
The rioters attacked churches and synagogues, and looted stores, often belonging
to minority owners in distressed neighborhoods.
The riots ended, but the damage was immense. An area of Seattle's city center
that was taken over, the "CHAZ" or "CHOP" zone, has since been disbanded, but a
copycat effort to take over an area has installed itself in New York, near City
Hall.
Statues throughout the country were attacked -- first Confederate statues, then
tributes to Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Prominent
politicians supported the rioters. The mayor of Boston said he wanted to remove
from a city square a statue of Lincoln standing in front of a liberated black
man. Members of the New York City Council requested that a statue of Thomas
Jefferson be removed from the City Hall. In Portland, Oregon, a statue of George
Washington was pulled down and set on fire. Statues of Christopher Columbus were
toppled and some beheaded.
The mob's destruction or removal of statues appears an attempt to erase the
history of the United States and to treat great men such as Abraham Lincoln, who
abolished slavery, George Washington, first president of the United States or
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and author of the
Declaration of Independence, as if they were irredeemably despicable. What they
are doing looks like just an old-fashioned power-grab. The first law of
power-grabbers is that if no one stops them, they keep on going -- often with
catastrophic consequences.
"Why do I even worry about some silly little statues coming down or some silly
little street names changing?" asked Elizabeth Rogliani, who lived through
Venezuela's transition to communism.
"[W]hen I was living in Venezuela. Statues came down — Chavez didn't want that
history displayed. And then he changed the street names. Then came the [school
curricula]. Then some movies couldn't be shown, then certain TV channels, and so
on and so forth....
"We didn't believe it could happen to us. Most Venezuelans — Cubans warned us —
and we were like, 'This is Venezuela, we know about freedom. That's not going to
happen here.' Yet it happened. And there are literally a lot of people wanting
to destroy the U.S."
Two movements have been active in the violence. One is Antifa, which has been
called "a revolutionary Marxist/anarchist militia movement that seeks to bring
down the United States by means of violence and intimidation." Antifa, although
it claims to be antifascist, behaves in a fascistic way.
The other movement, Black Lives Matter, was founded in 2013 by three black
women, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors. Cullors declared that she
and Garza are "trained Marxists". The Black Lives Matter founding manifesto,
published in 2016 (then removed from BLM website), describes the United States
as a "corrupt democracy originally built on Indigenous genocide and chattel
slavery" that "continues to thrive on the brutal exploitation of people of
color" and that perpetuates "the ugly American traditions of patriarchy,
classism, racism, and militarism". In December 2014, a slogan at a Black Lives
Matter demonstration organized by Al Sharpton's National Action Network, was:
"What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want it? Now."
If Antifa is widely rejected, Black Lives Matter is not. Its name has become a
slogan on walls, storefronts and restaurants. The posters state: "No justice, no
peace."
There are widespread calls for defunding or abolishing the police. The city
council of Minneapolis in fact voted on June 6 to disband its police force. New
York Mayor Bill de Blasio cut $1 billion from New York City's $6 billion police
budget. At least six other cities have also slashed police budgets.
What seems to be trying to gain more influence is a wish -- born before the
riots -- to rewrite the history of the United States. The New York Times, for
instance, on August, 14, 2019, launched "The 1619 Project". Its author, Nikole
Hannah Jones, wrote that the United States had been founded on slavery and is
therefore -- presumably still -- guilty of "structural racism."
Prominent historians Gordon Stewart Wood, recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize
for History, and James M. McPherson, former president of the American Historical
Association, noted that the 1619 Project is based on "misleading and
historically inaccurate claims". On June 17, Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from
Virginia, laughably said that the United States had "created slavery".
"Reparations," author and attorney Larry Elder commented on the subject, "is the
extraction of money from those who were never slave owners to be given to those
who were never slaves."
"Every life matters," said former Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Newt Gingrich. If only.
The idea that in the United States there is "structural racism" (defined by the
Aspen Institute as "a system in which public policies, institutional practices,
cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing
ways to perpetuate racial group inequity") has led, it seems, to a form of
obsessive expiation. Films have been removed from streaming services. Gone with
the Wind will now be shown with five-minute disclaimer. (One minute would not
have been enough?)
The film is probably just first on a lengthening list. A reporter from Variety
recently listed "10 Problematic Films That Could Use Warning Labels". They
include Forrest Gump: for a brief moment, the title character is described, in
an ironic fashion, as having been named after a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Consumer product brands, such as Uncle Ben's Rice and Aunt Jemima syrup are
abruptly having their names and logos changed. Princeton voted to expunge the
name of Woodrow Wilson from its public policy school. Demands have been made
that universities and corporations show that they are not racist by declaring
their support for Black Lives Matter. Many have bowed to the demand.
On June 12, less than a month after the killing of George Floyd, another white
police officer, Garrett Rolfe, in Atlanta, Georgia, shot and killed a black man,
Rayshard Brooks. The police officers were arresting Brooks for drunk driving,
and after a cordial exchange with the officers, he unexpectedly resisted arrest,
and seized a Taser from one of the officers. He began to run, but when he turned
and fired the Taser at Rolfe, Rolfe shot and killed him. Rolfe was dismissed
from the police force without due process, and charged with felony murder, which
potentially carries the death penalty. Although video recordings of the event
were widely broadcast, District Attorney Paul Howard tried to claim that Brooks
was calm and "cheerful". He added that a Taser is not a deadly weapon – after
having said a few weeks earlier that it was.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, between June 12 and June 15 a black man was fatally shot
by another black man and 32 others were wounded by gunfire. Sadly, when it comes
to black-on-black violence, no one seems to care.
What basically appears to be at work has nothing to do with either black lives
or the police. It is a will to overthrow the United States. This desire includes
American institutions, everything on which the United States is founded and the
United States itself.
The statement "Black Lives Matter" assumes from the start that, for the police,
the judicial system and everyone else, black lives do not matter. What is so
conspicuous and tragic is that black lives only seem to matter if they were
taken by a white person.... Sadly, when it comes to black-on-black violence, no
one seems to care.
Normal democratic functioning means that the voters of a city pay taxes and
elect a mayor to take care of the city, to ensure the safety of its people and
property -- not to let the city sink into anarchy and destruction. When, in the
face of violence, a mayor asks a police force not to act, thereby allowing
violence to take place, he or she is not only complicit in the devastation, but
also delinquent in doing the job for which he or she was elected.
Although most police officers are usually decent and eager to protect the
community, and daily put their lives at risk, if they use unnecessary violence,
the problem needs be addressed. Unfortunately, at times it is not. Police unions
may do a lot of good, but in disputes, they require "arbitration" -- often
despite misconduct. In some police departments, it is almost impossible to fire
anyone who should be fired; he can, instead, be dispatched to a different
precinct. (A similar problem exists with teachers' unions for unacceptable
teachers.)
Last week, federal legislation recommending police reforms was proposed by
Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina. The House Democrats,
refusing even to discuss any of them, blocked the measure. Later the House
Democrats came up with a reform bill of their own, however it seemed aimed more
at eradicating police forces than reforming them.
"The bill would restrict chokeholds and ban federal agents from conducting
no-knock drug raids. It would curtail transfers of military equipment to police,
create an officer misconduct registry, end qualified immunity from lawsuits and
lower the threshold to federally prosecute officers if they show 'reckless
disregard' for someone's life."
What if every officer-involved shooting were followed by a prosecution? Why
would anyone ever sign up for a job that put him at such risk in the first
place? "Revolving door" policies must already feel so defeating: a police
officer puts his life in jeopardy to make an arrest, only to find the person
arrested back out on the street soon after. The House Democrats appeared only to
want to block the Republicans from having a victory and an issue about which to
rail instead of a solution. (The same political thinking also appears to
underpin why so many American children are not able to receive a quality public
school education.)
The question then arises: are the politicians who claim to want help distressed
communities the very ones keeping the distressed communities distressed -- and
in a perpetual state of reaching out to those same politicians for dangled
promises of help?
Unfortunately, always and everywhere, the absence of police -- for instance
replacing them with social workers -- will lead to an explosion of crime and
disorder, as most recently seen in Seattle. Furthermore, using a crime committed
by a single police officer to claim that all police officers are racist is to
lie in order to paralyze the police, to prevent them from doing their work:
helping the community and providing safety. To ask to defund the police is to
ask for an explosion of violence and pandemonium.
The recent damage inflicted on thousands of people who lost their possessions
and businesses -- as well as the many murders and assaults -- shows what happens
to a society with fewer police or no police.
Former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, had suggested early on, to avoid a
confrontation, dismantling Seattle's seized zone. This could be done, he
suggested, by disconnecting the water, the electricity, and especially the
cellular communication -- and then seeing how long the hostage-takers enjoyed
the experience.
Graffiti painted during the riots on the walls of synagogues in Los Angeles
revealed, as well, the presence of anti-Semitism: Melina Abdullah, "the lead
organizer of Black Lives Matter in LA and a professor of Pan-African Studies at
Cal State", is it turns out, a supporter of Louis Farrakhan the anti-Semitic
leader of the Nation of Islam. Abdullah calls him "The Honorable Minister
Farrakhan." Black Lives Matter, it appears, "is structurally anti-Semitic."
That the name Black Lives Matter is present everywhere, and that everyone seems
to ignore or forget what the organization Black Lives Matter really is, shows
that a violent, anti-democratic organization, which calls for the murder of
police officers and accepts anti-Semitism and anti-White racism, can use
threats, intimidation and destruction -- and find public acceptance.
Of course there is still some racism among individuals, but the idea that the
United States today is a society where "structural racism" exists is
contradicted by decades of political decisions to repair the damage and, as in,
for example, affirmative action programs, to favor equality for all Americans.
As Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an American author who fled her homeland of Somalia, wrote:
"The problem is that there are people among us who don't want to figure it out
and who have an interest in avoiding workable solutions. They have an obvious
political incentive not to solve social problems, because social problems are
the basis of their power. That is why, whenever a scholar like Roland Fryer
brings new data to the table—showing it's simply not true that the police
disproportionately shoot black people dead—the response is not to read the paper
but to try to discredit its author."
For many years, American films dealing with racial questions have been
explicitly hostile to any racial discrimination, and it would be impossible to
find a book put out by a U.S. publishing house supporting racial discrimination,
unless it dates from an era long gone. Rewriting history by falsifying it is
simply an attempt to replace history with propaganda. Removing films and other
information that do not correspond to a predetermined vision of history has long
been the practice of totalitarian despotisms. Dictating that universities and
corporations face severe consequences if they refuse to bowdlerize the past is
simply a fascistic, tyrannical means of coercion. Worse, the submissive attitude
of so many universities and corporations is what enables the bullying to
continue.
What is taking place has roots.
"The success of America's recent cultural revolution can be measured not in
toppled governments but in shattered values," the American commentator, Roger
Kimball wrote in his book, The Long March (2000), about upheavals in the 1960s
in the United States. Radical people, he observed, had taken power in the
universities, and their ideas spread throughout the educational system -- in
culture, politics, justice, and the economy. Radicals still dominate most
American universities -- now even more than then, and their ideas are now more
widespread.
Former President Barack Obama, on October 30, 2008, said, "We are five days away
from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." Five days later,
he was elected President.
Twelve years later, one wonders: What was he hoping to transform it into?
It would have been hard to imagine in 2008 that a mayor could abandon his or her
city to rioters, or that they would accept tearing down and destroying statues
of Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln. When will they be coming to tear down
statues of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
It would also have been hard to imagine that a violent organization such as
Black Lives Matter would not even be questioned, or that riots similar to those
that touched Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, or Baltimore in 2015 would break out
and spread across the country.
It would hard to imagine just two months ago that any city council would
actually vote to abolish the police force.
The United States seems at a pivotal moment. Bruce Thornton, a Professor of
Classics and Humanities at California State University and a research fellow at
Stanford University's Hoover Institution, noted that:
"Indeed, apart from opportunistic thugs and felons, the bulk of the 'troops' who
would comprise one side of some civil war are pretty much denizens of the young
comfortable classes. Their disruptive and violent behavior is happening because
governors, mayors, and police chiefs have over the last decade sent the message
that they will not respond with mind-concentrating force in order to restore
order and hold rioters accountable..."
The rioters in the U.S. appear to have inspired protester in Western Europe.
Angry slogans used in the United States are being used in London and Paris; the
same charges against democracies are being made, and statues that were signposts
of history are being pulled down.
In a speech on July 6, 2017, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said:
"The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to
survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?
... Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the
face of those who would subvert and destroy it?"
Good question.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27
books on France and Europe.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The Palestinian Response to the Annexation is Rational,
Necessary
Nabil Amr/Asharq Al Awsat/July 03/2020
There is consensus over rejecting annexation in principle, regardless of its
scope; as for the means employed to resist it, they diverge and will remain so
as long as Fatah calls the shots in the West Bank while Hamas makes the
decisions in Gaza.
The divergence was apparent in the official positions declared by both parties.
In the West Bank political confrontation is preferred, to organize mass protests
and pursue a peaceful struggle, while in Gaza a call to arms has been raised,
albeit at not as loudly as before, and their rhetoric about the path of popular
resistance through demonstrations and days of anger is exaggerated.
The supporters of the two main powers in Palestine will abide by these official
positions, and work on implementation had begun before the official annexation
but was postponed amid promises to pursue it to the greatest extent possible.
For its part, Israel does not conceal its relief that the armed force was
categorically ruled out by Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Of course, it also
welcomes the fact that armed retaliation has been made secondary to popular
action by the authorities in Gaza, as this does not pose a security threat that
would call for the kind of military action that had previously been taken in
both the West Bank and Gaza.
In Gaza, there are armed factions, though they understand Hamas' influence and
its capabilities and take them into account, who can take military action that
furthers their agendas and those of their supporters. This puts Hamas in an
awkward position, if it were to arrest the resistance fighters, something it has
sought to avoid through any mean possible, it would undermine the foundations of
the trust in its sincerity to its slogans, and if it were to condone or pretend
to approve the actions and claim responsibility for them, it would pay the price
if the Israeli policies adopted in the past in such cases are implemented.
The Israelis have reiterated that Hamas alone, as the de facto rulers of Gaza,
are to be held responsible for everything that goes on in Gaza and every attack
launched from it. Undoubtedly, Hamas has a lot to lose if military action
outside of its control is taken and solicits an Israeli response that creates a
broader conflict. Such a conflict would make it impossible to speak of a
prisoner exchange agreement, which Hamas considers a major potential
achievement, and it would also remove the possibility of a badly needed
alleviation of Gaza's harsh conditions, especially in light the economic and
financial recession caused the blockade and the coronavirus epidemic.
In the West Bank, if threats to end security cooperation have real implications,
unlike previous cases, the revival of lone-wolf attacks would become a real
possibility. These kinds of attacks, regardless of their size, are a source of
very serious apprehension for the Israeli security leadership, which has not
found and will not find decisive solutions to. The hustle and bustle that comes
with demonstrations and protests and the sharpening of the rhetoric rejecting
and condemning annexation do not conceal the Palestinians’ divisive and explicit
inclination to respond rationally. This is a rationality of necessity that stems
from past experiences; the Palestinians reaped significant benefits from the
first unarmed intifada, and pay devastating costs for the second armed intifada.
Despite the danger posed by annexation and political initiatives hitting rock
bottom with the Deal of the Century. The Palestinians’ reasonable and calculated
decisions, though did not go as far as canceling the annexation, but they
provided the means necessary for making progress in the political battle the
international climate of which seems promising as condemnations of the
annexation project become more widespread and allows the millions of
Palestinians determined to keep their land and receive their rights to avoid
having rivers of blood flow, an option the Israeli right openly states its
willingness to resort to if the pretexts were provided. Cutting their losses is
a realistic and practical aim for the Palestinians at this stage, as is
prioritizing popular reliance and taking to the ground, as political solutions
and negotiated settlements are very distant.
A Bad New Tax Idea Is Doing the Rounds
Ferdinando Giugliano/Bloomberg/July 03/2020
There’s a new bad idea doing the rounds in Europe. Many governments are
convinced that a reduction in value-added tax will help relaunch their
economies. Some, including Germany, have already wielded the ax. Others, such as
Italy and the UK., are taking this option seriously. But the benefits of cutting
VAT are limited, and the costs are large.
As with any other tax cut, the key question is who gains from it. The answer for
VAT depends on a concept economists call “incidence,” which refers to how the
tax burden or benefit is shared between companies and consumers. In the case of
VAT, retailers can either pass on any reduction to shoppers by lowering their
prices or they can keep their prices unchanged and pocket the difference.
Unfortunately, research shows they’re more likely to do the latter, which
wouldn’t be much use for any policymaker looking to use such cuts as a way of
fostering a consumer-led recovery.
Youssef Benzarti, a professor of economics at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, and Dorian Carloni, an analyst at the US Congressional Budget
Office, have produced a very detailed study on VAT. They looked at a large cut
(from 19.6% to 5.5%) for sit-down restaurants in France in 2009, after the
financial crisis. The results showed that consumers weren’t the chief
beneficiaries of the reduction. It was the restaurant owners. The price of a
restaurant meal decreased by a mere 1.4% in the month after the steep VAT cut,
and it didn’t fall much further over the next two and a half years. The two
researchers showed that restaurant owners pocketed 41% of the economic gain from
the VAT reduction, while consumers got 19%. Restaurant staff obtained 25% in the
form of higher wages, and suppliers accounted for the rest.
The poor consumer gets the short end of the bargain when VAT is increased too,
the study shows. When the French government hiked VAT again in 2012 and 2014,
between a third and a half of the tax hike was passed on to consumers in the
shape of higher prices.
These results broadly mirror those of another study, of Finnish hairdressers,
and another that looked at a wide range of commodities and European countries
between 1996 and 2015.
In fairness, a VAT cut would still have some benefits. Retailers, which have
suffered during the Covid-19 lockdowns, would get the chance to improve their
profits and repair their balance sheets. This targeted help might make some
sense for some sectors such as tourism. But it’s not the “demand booster” of
governments’ dreams. Moreover, the winners from this policy would include
internet retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., which have done very well in the
pandemic. Do European politicians really want to give them extra assistance?
Another problem is that VAT cuts are very expensive. Germany’s reduction, which
will last six months, is expected to cost about 20 billion euros ($22.4 billion)
in lost tax revenue. In Italy, lowering the main VAT rate from 22% by a single
percentage point would cost between 4 billion euros and 4.5 billion euros a
year. In Britain, each percentage point reduction costs a little less than 7
billion pounds ($8.7 billion). Even at a time of fiscal largess, one needs to
ensure that such hefty sums are spent well.
There are better options for governments. If they want to get their economies
moving, boosting public investment is the best approach. If they want to lift
consumption, then income tax cuts are a shrewder option. Finally, if they want
to help companies directly, they can reduce their social security contributions
temporarily. That might let them hire people too.
These are all better ideas than a generalized VAT cut.
Coronavirus Brings US Decline Out in the Open
Noah Smith/Bloomberg/July 03/2020
The US’s decline started with little things that people got used to. Americans
drove past empty construction sites and didn’t even think about why the workers
weren’t working, then wondered why roads and buildings took so long to finish.
They got used to avoiding hospitals because of the unpredictable and enormous
bills they’d receive. They paid 6% real-estate commissions, never realizing that
Australians were paying 2%. They grumbled about high taxes and high
health-insurance premiums and potholed roads, but rarely imagined what it would
be like to live in a system that worked better.
When writers speak of American decline, they’re usually talking about
international power -- the rise of China and the waning of US hegemony and moral
authority. To most Americans, those are distant and abstract things that have
little or no impact on their daily lives. But the decline in the general
effectiveness of US institutions will impose increasing costs and burdens on
Americans. And if it eventually leads to a general loss of investor confidence
in the country, the damage could be much greater.
The most immediate cost of US decline -- and the most vivid demonstration --
comes from the country’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Leadership failures were pervasive and catastrophic at every level -- the
president, agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and
Drug Administration, and state and local leaders all fumbled the response to the
greatest health threat in a century. As a result, the US is suffering a horrific
surge of infections in states such as Arizona, Texas and Florida while states
that were battered early on are still struggling. Countries such as Italy that
are legendary for government dysfunction and were hit hard by the virus have
crushed the curve of infection, while the US just set a daily record for case
growth and shows no sign of slowing down.
This utter failure to suppress a disease that most other countries managed to
contain will have real economic costs for Americans, as fear of the virus drives
people back into their homes and businesses suffer.
In addition to worrying about their jobs and livelihoods, Americans must now be
subjected to months of images of Italians casually walking around on the streets
while they cower in their houses. It’s a painful and stark demonstration of
national decline. Even more galling, the US’s Covid failure means that its
citizens can no longer travel freely around the world; even Europe plans to
impose a travel ban on Americans.
But the consequences of US decline will far outlast coronavirus. With its high
housing costs, poor infrastructure and transit, endemic gun violence, police
brutality and bitter political and racial divisions, the US will be a less
appealing place for high-skilled workers to live. That means companies will find
other countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere a more attractive destination for
investment, robbing the US of jobs, depressing wages and draining away the local
spending that powers the service economy. That in turn will exacerbate some of
the worst trends of US decline -- less tax money means even more urban decay as
infrastructure, education and social-welfare programs are forced to make big
cuts. Anti-immigration policies will throw away the country’s most important
source of skilled labor and weaken a university system already under tremendous
pressure from state budget cuts.
Almost every systematic economic advantage possessed by the US is under threat.
Unless there’s a huge push to turn things around -- to bring back immigrants,
sustain research universities, make housing cheaper, lower infrastructure costs,
reform the police and restore competence to the civil service -- the result
could be decades of stagnating or even declining living standards.
And a biggest danger might come later. The US has long enjoyed a so-called
exorbitant privilege as the financial center of the world, with the dollar as
the lynchpin of the global financial system. That means the US has been able to
borrow money cheaply, and Americans have been able to sustain their lifestyles
through cheap imports. But if enough investors -- foreign and domestic -- lose
confidence in the US’s general effectiveness as a country, that advantage will
vanish.
If capital begins to abandon the US and the dollar in large amounts, the
currency will crash and Americans will find themselves paying much more for
everything from cars to televisions to gasoline to imported food. Interest rates
will be raised in an attempt to lure back investment capital, and the country
might undergo a period of stagflation worse than the 1970s. Large-scale unrest
would undoubtedly result and -- in the worst-case scenario -- the US could
collapse like Venezuela.
This is an outcome to be avoided at all costs. But it’s an outcome that is no
longer out of the realm of possibility, thanks to the complacency, arrogance and
misplaced priorities of US leaders and the deep and bitter divisions among US
voters. If the US goes from rich, world-straddling colossus to floundering
dysfunctional developing nation in just a few decades, it will be one of the
most spectacular instances of civilizational decline in world history. Every
mind in the country should be bent towards the task of reversing the decline and
restoring national competence.
Coronavirus is exploding in big southern states such as Texas, Florida, and
Arizona. This entirely preventable disaster will have devastating consequences
for these states’ economies.
The outbreaks that slammed the Northeast and much of the Midwest in the spring
are now mostly under control. But in much of the South and the West, the virus
is now on the rampage. Hopes that the summer sun would suppress the disease have
been dashed -- in fact, by driving people inside to mingle in air-conditioned
spaces, the heat may be facilitating the spread.
This was a human blunder. Leaders such as Texas governor Greg Abbott and Florida
governor Ron DeSantis started reopening their state’s economies in early May,
long before the threat of the virus had passed. And many voters scoffed at the
threat of the virus; some even loudly disdained the practice of mask-wearing.
Fortunately, death rates are not yet as high as they were during the epidemic’s
Northeastern wave -- possibly because society is doing a better job of isolating
the old and vulnerable, possibly because treatments like dexamethasone are
saving the lives of the critically ill. But even those who survive the virus
often suffer severe long-term health problems.
In any case, the economies of states like Florida and Texas are going to take a
big hit. Research shows that fear of coronavirus, rather than lockdown policies,
is responsible for the vast majority of the economic impact of an outbreak. This
will be true of the new wave as well. Already, restaurant reservations -- an
early bellwether of virus avoidance behavior -- are falling in the new
epicenters:
The obvious losses will accrue to local service businesses. But the hit to
tourism could be even more damaging. The industry is Florida’s largest,
accounting for an estimated 11% of the state’s gross domestic product. .
Although less famous for beaches and amusement parks, Texas took in $164 billion
from tourism in 2018 (more in dollar terms than Florida’s $112 billion). Arizona
and Southern California also depend a lot on the sector. All these places will
suffer, as their names become more associated with uncontrolled disease than
with sunshine and fun.
Health care is another vulnerable Sun Belt industry. Hospitals and medical
offices are some of the most obvious places to catch coronavirus, so people
suffering non-life-threatening problems or needing routine care will tend to
stay away. The sector generates about $150 billion a year in Texas and $132
billion in Florida, and has recently been the single biggest driver of job
growth in Arizona.
These tentpole industries are important because they bring in outside dollars.
Reduced tourism echoes through a state’s economy, as fewer tourist dollars mean
less spending by locals. Less health care spending hurts cities, as fewer people
drive in from surrounding towns to see the doctor. Reductions in tax revenue
hurt education, infrastructure, transportation, and everything else state and
local governments spend money on.
It’s important to reiterate that these economic losses will not stem from
lockdown policies. Even if Florida chooses to keep Disney World open, people
will be scared to go there. Allowing routine medical procedures won’t make
hospitals any less terrifying.
Instead, the losses are the direct result of a failure to control the virus
itself. Texas, Florida, Arizona and California have lagged badly in terms of
hiring contact tracers, so they can’t use test-and-trace approaches to contain
the pandemic. They also have avoided strict mask requirements in public places,
despite masks being proven to reduce spread. And they opened restaurants, bars,
and other high-risk crowded indoor spaces too soon. Thus, when the economic hit
comes, they will largely have themselves to blame.
Battered EU faces a turning point
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab News/July 03/2020
The great American writer, the expatriate James Baldwin, summed up Europe, and
its intellectual relationship with America, perfectly. The Old Continent “has
what we (in the US) do not have yet, a sense of the mysterious and inexorable
limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely
need: A sense of life’s possibilities.”There is little doubting that the past
generation has been a geostrategic tragedy for Europe. Two decades of economic
sclerosis, military irrelevance, and deep political divisions have put paid to
any further grandiose thoughts about the EU’s place in the world. Saying this,
the EU, at present, must heed Baldwin’s call for the continent to have a sense
of possibility. While it is surely true that the EU has failed to become a
superpower, the new world we live in is characterized by loose bipolarity,
wherein great powers just behind the US and China in capability — such as the
EU, Russia, the Anglosphere countries, India, and Japan — have a great deal of
strategic room to maneuver independent of Sino-American wishes and dictates. As
such, a battered Europe very much matters again.
The EU, at the grand strategic level, has a real choice to make about the
brewing Sino-American Cold War: It can side with rising power China, continue to
primarily back its long-time US ally or hew its own neutralist path. The
ultimate decision Brussels comes to will have profound effects on the Cold War’s
ultimate outcome, as well as for the EU itself. In terms of tilting to China,
there is no doubting the explosion in trade between the two powers is drawing
them together. The EU as a whole is Beijing’s primary trading partner, with
China accounting for 19 percent of all EU imports in 2019. Fully 18 EU member
states have linked up with China’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, its
geostrategic effort to bind the Eurasian continent economically together under
Beijing’s dominance.
But for all the growing economic synergies between the two, a full-fledged
Sino-European alliance — generally directed against the US — is simply not on
the cards. As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the EU and China
“do not share the same values, political systems, or approach to
multilateralism.”
This strategic point is crucial. EU member states’ general (vague if heartfelt)
worries about human rights, the rule of law, and multilateralism just do not
mesh well with a China imprisoning 1 million Uighurs in western Xinjiang
province, extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedoms, or bullying people in the South
China Sea, in defiance of UN rulings in the Hague over China’s overweening
claims there. Due to all this, a decisive EU tilt toward Beijing as a whole
remains a pipe dream.
However, the US has been far too cavalier during the current administration in
just assuming that the EU will fall meekly in line behind the US in this new
Cold War. A June survey, conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations,
found a 59 percent majority saying that their view of the US has deteriorated
during the coronavirus crisis. The administration's signal mismanagement of the
pandemic seems to have turned into a broader question of American competence.
Given European hatred of the president specifically, and policy disagreements
with his administration more generally (over Iran, trade, energy policy, global
warming, the World Trade Organization, etc.), it must now be an open question as
to whether the centrality of the transatlantic alliance remains the EU’s goal in
the new era. If American incompetence is added to these policy disagreements,
coupled with the White House’s shockingly bad efforts at alliance management,
things, frankly, do not look good.
But could the EU really follow French President Emmanuel Macron’s fevered
Gaullist dream, making the dynamic policy changes necessary to refashion the EU
to “be able to stand up against China, against the US, against the disorder we
are currently witnessing.” I think not.
Although the joys of neutrality for the EU in the new Cold War are enticing, it
simply won’t work as a successful strategic policy option. Again, the EU is only
a great power and not a superpower. As the world is not tripolar, a relatively
weaker EU will remain divided and unable to globally compete on its own with
either China or the US. The EU, at the grand strategic level, has a real choice
to make about the brewing Sino-American Cold War.
EU member states would have to pay to construct the bloc’s own independent
military, eschewing US-dominated NATO. There has been no empirical sign in
decades that EU states will ever pay an appropriate amount for their own defense,
whatever the institutional configurations. This will not change now in a time of
economic peril. In the end, much like the aging Rolling Stones, EU-US relations
are based less on liking one another and more on the reality that they are
practically stuck with one another.
Saying this, history is replete with examples of great powers making the wrong
decision. The next US administration must be very careful not to stupidly throw
the EU into the arms of neutrality through arrogant and unnecessary antagonisms
of allies who once again matter. For the EU, as Baldwin hinted at, may just
discover its new possibilities.
*Dr. John C. Hulsman is the president and managing partner of John C. Hulsman
Enterprises, a prominent global political risk consulting firm. He is also
senior columnist for City AM, the newspaper of the City of London. He can be
contacted via www.chartwellspeakers.com.
Question: "Individualism vs. collectivism—what does the
Bible say?"
GotQuestions.org/July 03/2020
Answer: Individualism can be defined as putting the interests of the individual
above those of the group. The idea of collectivism is that the needs of the
group take precedence over each individual in it. There are entire cultures that
have a bent toward one of these two philosophies; for example, the United States
has historically encouraged individualism, while the culture in South Korea
leans more toward collectivism. Is one better or worse than the other, from a
biblical standpoint? The answer is not a simple “Thus saith the Lord.” The truth
is, the Bible gives examples of both individualism and collectivism.
Individualism puts the focus on doing whatever is best for “me,” regardless of
what effect that has on the “group.” Collectivism puts the focus on doing
whatever is best for “the group,” regardless of its effect on individuals within
the group. From a biblical perspective, neither of these ideologies—when played
out to their full extent—is what God intends. Ultimately, God created humans for
His sake (Isaiah 43:7), not for their own or any other person’s sake. A godly
focus would be to do what is best for God and His kingdom (Matthew 6:33a).
There are verses in the Bible that illustrate collectivism to a certain extent.
Caiaphas’s inadvertent prophecy that “it is better for you that one man die for
the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:50) is one case of
collectivist thought. In the early church in Jerusalem, people pooled their
resources and gave to those in need so that no one lacked anything (Acts
2:44–45; 4:32–35). In 2 Corinthians 8:12–14, Paul encourages the church in
Corinth to give financially to the church in Jerusalem “that there might be
equality” (verse 13). The key to note in these examples, however, is that the
people who gave had a choice in the matter. Their giving was strictly voluntary
(Acts 5:4). No one was forced to give his resources for the benefit of the
group, but they willingly did so out of love for the Lord and for the church. As
an individual gave to benefit the group, that individual was blessed, as well (2
Corinthians 9:6–8). This principle of the Kingdom contains some elements of
collectivism but goes beyond it. Our motivation for serving the church is not
just to benefit the church as a collective; our motivation is that it pleases
God (Hebrews 13:16).
Other verses in the Bible illustrate the value and significance of the
individual. In one of His parables, Jesus emphasizes the importance of growing
and stewarding well the things God gives us because individually we are held
accountable (Luke 19:15). In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who
left his flock to seek one lost lamb and the story of a woman who turns her
house inside out to find an individual piece of an heirloom (see Luke 15:3–10).
Both parables illustrate the value God places on the individual over the group.
As we saw with collectivism, though, these examples demonstrate the idea of
individualism only partially. God values the individual over the group at times
because it pleases Him and gives Him glory. When God is glorified, everyone
benefits, individuals and the group—notice that in the parables of Luke 15,
every time what was lost is found, everyone rejoices (Luke 15:6, 9).
God values both the individual and the collective. The Bible doesn’t really
argue for either individualism or collectivism as the correct ideology. Instead,
it offers something else altogether, illustrated in the description of the Body
of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul tells us that individual believers are like
parts of a body, each playing an incredibly important and vital role to the
success of the body to function as it should (1 Corinthians 12:14, 27). The
various parts of a body function only when they are a part of the body as a
whole. A thumb can do things no other part of the body can do, but only when
it’s connected to the hand! (see 1 Corinthians 12:18–20). Likewise, the body as
a whole is an amazing organism, but only when all the parts are taken care of
individually (see 1 Corinthians 12:25–26).
The debate over what the Bible says about individualism vs. collectivism will no
doubt continue; nevertheless, we can all learn from C. S. Lewis on the topic, no
matter what position we take: “I feel a strong desire to tell you—and I expect
you feel a strong desire to tell me—which of these two errors [individualism or
collectivism] is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends
errors into the world in pairs—pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us
to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He
relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the
opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal
and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that
with either of them” (from Mere Christianity, book 4, chapter 6).