LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 06/2019

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them
Matthew 06/01-04: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on March 05-06/2019
What is The Ash Monday/Elias Bejjani/March 04/19
The Holy Journey Of The Lent/ Elias Bejjani/March 03/19
Zasypkin: Aoun’s Visit to Moscow Is Vital for Developing Cooperation
Satterfield in Beirut: U.S. Hopes Lebanon Choices Don’t Serve Foreign Parties
Report: Military Appointments Expected at Cabinet this Week
Cheap Iranian Steel Floods Lebanon
Lebanon: Protest Against the World Bank-Financed Bisri Dam Project
Lebanon Withdraws Hayek from World Bank Leader Race
Saudi Arabia Says British Hizbullah Ban 'Constructive'
Future bloc convenes at Center House to discuss latest developments
Khalil Says Financial Controversy 'Not Based on Facts', Refers Accounts to Audit Court
Kataeb Leader Meets with High-Ranking U.S. Official
Abdullah: Border Control an Urgent Economic Necessity for Lebanon, Syria
Jumblat Backs Anti-Corruption Battle but Not 'Attacks' on Saniora
Bassil Slams 'Sectarian Protection' for Corrupts, Proposes Anti-Graft Laws
Japan Court OK's Nissan Ex-Chairman Ghosn's Release on Bail
Demo Outside World Bank Offices in Beirut over Dam Project
Democratic Gathering MPs Discuss Electricity File with Hariri
Survey: 95% of Lebanese Believe Things Are Moving in Wrong Direction
Derian says accusations against Siniora cross 'red line'
UK's Decision on Hezbollah Exposes Philosophy of Hate

Litles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 05-06/2019
Prince Turki al-Faisal: US pullout from Syria will ‘create a vacuum’ for Iran
French extremist Jean-Michel Clain killed in Syria: Wife
Syria Force to Resume Evacuations after Piercing Last IS Redoubt
Iran daily calls for expulsion of French diplomats
Macron's Plea for Europe Gets Backing outside French Borders
Iran FM Resigned Because He Was Not Informed About Assad Visit
Khamenei Insists on Mistrusting Europe, Zarif Slams Obstruction of His Ministry
Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Operation to Chase ISIS Militants

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 05-06/2019
UK's Decision on Hezbollah Exposes Philosophy of Hate/Alan Mendoza/The National/March 05/19
Revolutionary Guards’ Soleimani flexes political muscle/Ynetnews/Reuters/March 05/19
Hamas secretly co-opted to Egyptian-Israel war on ISIS in Sinai finds pretext for extorting cash/DEBKA file/March 05/19
Ex-Pakistani leader, Pervez Musharraf calls for diplomatic relations with Israel/Ynetnews/The Media Line/March 05/19
Exoticizing ‘jihadi brides’ ignores that women can be terrorists too/Ghada AlMuhanna/Al Arabiya/March 05/19
Yes, the Internet Can Make Us Happier/Tyler Cowen/Bloomberg/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019
How the US Can Escape the Graveyard of Empires/James Stavridis/Bloomberg/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019
A Project to Transform France/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/March 05/19

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on March 05-06/2019
What is The Ash Monday
Elias Bejjani/March 04/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72716/elias-bejjani-what-is-the-ash-monday/
Ash Monday is the first day of Lent and It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God.
On The Ash Monday the priest ceremonially marks with wet ashes on the worshippers’ foreheads a visible cross while saying “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. Worshippers are reminded of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly, of their need to repent in time.
Ash Monday (Greek: Καθαρά Δευτέρα), is also known as Clean and Pure Monday.
The common term for this day, refers to the leaving behind of sinful attitudes and non-fasting foods.
Our Maronite Catholic Church is notable amongst the Eastern rites employing the use of ashes on this day.
(In the Western Catholic Churches this day falls on Wednesday and accordingly it is called the “Ash Wednesday”)
Ash Monday is a Christian holy day of prayer, fasting, contemplating one’s transgressions and repentance.
Ash Monday is a reminder that we should begin Lent with good intentions and a desire to clean our spiritual house. It is a day of strict fasting including abstinence not only from meat but from eggs and dairy products as well.
Liturgically, Ash Monday—and thus Lent itself—begins on the preceding (Sunday) night,[2] at a special service called Forgiveness Vespers, which culminates with the Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness, at which all present will bow down before one another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin Lent with a clean conscience, with forgiveness, and with renewed Christian love. The entire first week of Great Lent is often referred to as “Clean Week”, and it is customary to go to Confession during this week, and to clean the house thoroughly.
The theme of Ash Monday is set by the Old Testament reading appointed to be read at the Sixth Hour on this day (Isaiah 1:1–20), which says, in part: Wash yourselves and You shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and let us reason together, says the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool (vv. 16–18).
The Holy Bible stresses the conduct of humility and not bragging for fasting: Mathew 06/16-21: “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It is worth mentioning that Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief. When Tamar was raped by her half-brother, “she sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying” (2 Samuel 13:19).
Examples of the Ash practices among Jews are found in several other books of the Bible, including Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Book of Esther 4:1, and Hebrews 9:13.
Jesus is quoted as speaking of the Ash practice in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13: “If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago (sitting) in sackcloth and ashes.

The Holy Journey Of The Lent
 Elias Bejjani/March 03/19
 A true believer is the one who through faith can like Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ turn  the water it into wine, and enjoy genuine happiness that never ends.
 http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72693/elias-bejjani-the-holy-journey-of-the-lent/
 Lent that is a forty-day period  that starts on the ASH Monday and ends on the Easter Day.
  Lent in principle is a Holy period that is ought to be utilized with Almighty God in acts of genuine praying, contemplation, self humility, repentance, penances, forgiveness, and conciliation with self and others.
 Lent is a privileged time for an interpersonal pilgrimage towards Almighty God Who is the fount of mercy.
 Lent is a Holy pilgrimage Journey in which Almighty God accompanies us far away from the deserts of our human poverty in a bid of sustaining us on our way towards the intense joy of Easter.
 During the Lent time Almighty God will be guarding us all the time to strengthen our faith and to open our eye, minds and hearts to see and understand the truth.
 Lent through prayers and repentance we can help ourselves to understand  God's Word with particular abundance.
 During the lent and though meditating and internalizing we learn how to live with the Word of God every day.
 During the Lent we are ought to learn a precious and irreplaceable form of prayer; by attentively listening to God, who continues to speak to our hearts.
 Via the lent we nourish the itinerary of faith initiated on the day of our Baptism.
 The Act of Praying during the lent allows us to talk to Our Holy Father, Almighty God all the time.
 The lent is a crossing journey from all that is a mortal lust of instincts to all that is genuine faith and spirituals through graces of Christ.
 Lent is a journey of spiritual joy and an interaction with the heavenly bridegroom.
 Lent is also a process of liberation from selfishness and hatred.
 Lent is a time of repentance and reconciliation with Almighty God, own self and all others
 Lent is  a 40 day period of contemplation, prayers and all possible acts of charity.
 Lent is a period of taming our own mortal hunger and lust for all that is earthly riches.
 Lent is time for sharing and helping those who are in need.

Zasypkin: Aoun’s Visit to Moscow Is Vital for Developing Cooperation
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 05 March, 2019/Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, discussed on Monday the upcoming visit of President Michel Aoun to Russia. In remarks following the meeting, Zasypkin said: “Discussions have touched on the preparations for the visit of President Michel Aoun to Russia. The date of the visit will be announced soon.”According to the ambassador, the Lebanese president’s meetings in Moscow would be an “important platform for developing Russian-Lebanese cooperation in all fields.”“We stressed the need to intensify political dialogue between the two countries to find peaceful solutions to the conflicts in the region, to cleanse the atmosphere and rule out new escalation, and to strengthen efforts to provide assistance for the return of the displaced by the international community,” he said. Asked about the Russian initiative for the displaced, the Russian ambassador said: “As I have made clear before, Russia is doing a lot of work inside Syria, with regards to the provision of proper conditions and reconstruction works. We call on all the parties to participate in that process, but the position of Western countries is now clear.”

Satterfield in Beirut: U.S. Hopes Lebanon Choices Don’t Serve Foreign Parties
Naharnet/March 05/Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield said, after holding talks with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, that the United States truly hopes that Lebanon takes “positive decisions that solely serve its own interests and not that of foreign parties,” the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. “Lebanon now has a new government to take sensitive decisions related to the country’s economy, security and combating corruption,” he added. “The United States is deeply committed to Lebanon and wants to see it move forward and face its options,” he said, adding “the U.S. and other states will deal (with Lebanon) based on the means it is going to adopt these options which we hope are positive and serve Lebanon and its people without serving the interests of foreign parties,” he added. Satterfield had arrived in Beirut for talks with senior Lebanese officials and political party leaders, al-Joumhouria daily had reported. He is expected to meet with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in addition to party leaders.His visit is the first by a U.S. diplomat to this level after the formation of Lebanon’s government. The U.S. diplomat, the last in charge of the controversial maritime border file between Lebanon and Israel, is coming to Beirut this time after the Warsaw Conference that was dedicated to promote sanctions against Iran, an ally of Hizbullah. His visit reportedly aims to pave way for a future visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Lebanon to look into the latest developments in Lebanon following the U.S. sanctions against Hizbullah, said al-Joumhouria. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, also arrived in Beirut late on Monday for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Lebanese officials on the issue of Syrian refugees. He is expected to visit Damascus after.

Report: Military Appointments Expected at Cabinet this Week
Naharnet/March 05/Lebanon’s cabinet is expected to approve on Thursday a series of appointments to fill the vacant seats in the Military Council, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. The four vacant seats in the Military council are: Army chief of staff, secretary-general of the Higher Defense Council, general inspector and a full-time council member. The daily listed the appointees as follow: Brigadier General Amin al-Aram (Druze) as Army Chief of Staff, Brig.Gen. Milad Ishaq (Orthodox) General Inspector, Brig. Gen. Elias Shamia (Catholic), a full-time member of the Military Council, and Brig. Gen. Mahmoud al-Asmar (Sunni) to the Secretary General of the Higher Defense Council position.

Cheap Iranian Steel Floods Lebanon
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019/Owners of Lebanese steel importers have complained that the local market has become inundated with cheap Iranian steel. They said that the steel was being smuggled in vast amounts from Syria without being subjected to necessary lab tests to ensure that it meets international standards. A trusted source revealed that Iranian ships transport the steel to Syria’s Latakia port where it is unloaded in trucks and smuggled to Beirut. In Lebanon, it is sold at less than $150 for the ton, it told Asharq Al-Awsat.The United States is following up on the issue and has contacted Egyptian authorities to inform them that the Iranian ships are passing through its Suez Canal to reach Latakia. It urged measures to prevent the smuggling, seeing as Tehran is selling the product for cash and hard currencies.

Lebanon: Protest Against the World Bank-Financed Bisri Dam Project
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019/Dozens of Lebanese staged a protest on Monday in front of World Bank offices in Beirut, calling on the international institution to withdraw its important financial contribution planned for a controversial dam project. "Bisri Dam = Destruction, Pollution, Earthquakes" and "Save The Bisri Valley", read banners and posters carried by demonstrators gathered in downtown Beirut. The dam in question is planned to be built in south Lebanon’s Bisri Valley, about 30 kilometers south of Beirut, and be used for irrigating agricultural land and providing drinking water to 1.6 million people living in greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Environmental groups strongly contest the creation of the dam, citing issues related to biodiversity, cultural heritage, public health, local economy, and seismic activity. In a statement distributed during the event, the environmental NGO Lebanon Eco Movement warned against the "threats" posed by the construction of the dam on a seismic fault. "According to experts, the infiltration of dam water in the subsoil is inevitable and will naturally cause seismic activity," the statement said. Environmentalists and local farmers dispute assurances from the government and World Bank, the main financier with a loan of $474 million, that the dam to be built on a seismic fault line does not increase the risk of earthquakes. "The World Bank is financing a project which will cause an ecological massacre and expel residents from their region," said Boutros Salim, a 54-year-old demonstrator.

Lebanon Withdraws Hayek from World Bank Leader Race
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019/Lebanon has withdrawn its nomination of Ziad Alexandre Hayek to run for World Bank president, but the government privatization official said he is trying to persuade board members of the multilateral development lender to re-nominate him. Hayek told Reuters on Monday that he received a formal notification from Lebanon’s finance ministry that his nomination was rescinded, two weeks after he announced his candidacy on Twitter. He said the decision was due to pressure from other governments, which he declined to name. An official with Lebanon’s finance ministry confirmed that the nomination had been withdrawn before it was registered by the World Bank’s nominating committee, adding: “there was no American pressure or other (pressure).” The same official said some parts of the Lebanese government – which includes nearly all of Lebanon’s rival political factions - wanted to nominate Hayek, but others did not. In the end, the finance ministry decided not to proceed with a candidate viewed as having little chance of winning, the official said. The withdrawal leaves US Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass as the sole announced candidate to lead the World Bank with about 10 days to go before the nomination period closes on March 14. A World Bank spokesman declined to comment on the decision. The United States, which wields the most voting power on the World Bank’s board, has chosen every leader of the institution since it began operations in 1946. Challengers from Nigeria and Colombia emerged in 2012 under a new open nomination process when the US nominee, Jim Yong Kim, was first elected as World Bank president. Kim resigned in January to join a private infrastructure fund
Hayek, a former investment banker who runs Lebanon’s privatization agency, said he was meeting this week in Washington with World Bank executive directors to try to persuade them to back his candidacy. Hayek told Reuters that he respects Malpass, who he knows from their careers at the former Bear Stearns investment bank, but wanted to offer more of a “globalist perspective” at the World Bank, focusing on the growing refugee problem, using the bank’s capital more efficiently and engaging local civil society groups more effectively. “Even if at the end of the day Mr. Malpass is elected, having somebody else in the running gives more legitimacy to that election,” he said. “We need to move away from the idea the that the president of the United States appoints the president of the World Bank,” he said. Hayek, a former refugee from Lebanon’s 1970s civil war who now holds US and Lebanese citizenship, said he would work to stretch the bank’s capital by focusing more on enhancing private credit rather than direct loans, securitization loans and developing capital markets in client countries. “Instead of funding the next dam, maybe we should fund the next exchange,” he added. Malpass, who worked in emerging market finance earlier in his career, has been critical of the World Bank’s continued lending to China in the past, but said his views had shifted since the bank agreed to reforms last year aimed partially at “graduating” China and some other middle-income countries away from World Bank support. The World Bank has said it intends to have its new president elected by the time of its April 12-14 spring meetings with the International Monetary Fund.

Saudi Arabia Says British Hizbullah Ban 'Constructive'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/Saudi Arabia on Tuesday welcomed Britain's decision to outlaw the political wing of Lebanon's Hizbullah, describing it as an "important and constructive" step. Britain announced on February 25 it would seek to make membership of the movement or inviting support for it a crime. The decision followed outrage over the display of the Hizbullah flag, which features a Kalashnikov assault rifle, at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London. "Categorizing the (Hezbollah) militia, which is backed by Iran, as a terrorist organization is an important and constructive step in combating terrorism around the world," said a foreign ministry source, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. "Britain's decision is in line with the decision Saudi Arabia has taken towards the terrorist party, both politically and militarily."London's move was welcomed by other foes of Iran, Hizbullah's key supporter, including the United States and Israel. Hizbullah meanwhile said Britain had "insulted the sentiments and the will of the Lebanese." In 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council -- which includes regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- designated Hizbullah a "terrorist" organization. Hizbullah was established in 1982 during Lebanon's civil war and is now a major political party in the country, holding three cabinet posts. Britain blacklisted Hizbullah's military wing in 2008 but had until now made no move against its political wing. However, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said last Monday that any distinction between its military and political wings "does not exist."The U.S. designated Hizbullah a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

Future bloc convenes at Center House to discuss latest developments
Tue 05 Mar 2019/NNA - Future bloc on Tuesday convened at the Center House under the chairmanship of MP Bahiya Hariri, to discuss most recent political developments in the country. In a statement issued in the wake of the periodic meeting and read out by MP Rola Tabsh, the bloc emphasized the importance of the current supervisory and legislative workshops in the parliament, and the role played by the concerned parliamentary committees notably in relation to dossiers on administrative reform and follow-up on the government's program for economic advancement and development. The bloc renewed its call to protect the opportunity available for the launch of the government's investment project, reform plan and economic advancement, and to halt vicious debates and campaigns conducted by some media outlets in order to disrupt this opportunity. The bloc called for halting the malicious diatribes and to address differences of views in terms of keenness for the national interests.

Khalil Says Financial Controversy 'Not Based on Facts', Refers Accounts to Audit Court
Naharnet/March 05/19/Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil announced Tuesday that the latest controversy over financial corruption is “not based on facts,” as he sent auditing reports and final accounts for the period between 1993 and 2017 to the Court of Audit. “A debate has taken place over the state's public accounts and the discussion was not based on accurate and real facts,” Khalil said at a press conference. “I announce that we have referred the account statements for the period between 1993 and 2017 to the Court of Audit for further measures according to norms, along with the relevant documents. We have also referred final accounts for the aforementioned years to the Court of Audit and the Council of Ministers' general-secretariat,” Khalil added. Responding to a question about “lost funds,” the minister said: “If I speak and issue a verdict, inspection authorities will no longer have a role to play, but with the reevaluation of accounts, it turned out that there are gaps regarding the previous years and they have been addressed and the transfers of funds have been clarified in detail without any concealment.”“There are no missing accounts but rather financial accounts detailed in reports and the Court of Audit and Parliament will take the appropriate stance on them,” Khalil added. And stressing that no one will enjoy immunity should there be any wrongdoing, the minister emphasized that Speaker Nabih Berri has not asked him to take any specific measure. “The Finance Ministry is committed to its duties and it will carry on with the file until the end without engaging in the political debate,” Khalil went on to say. On Friday, ex-PM Fouad Saniora described the issue of the “missing” $11 billion as a “farce,” as he announced that those “setting up mini-states inside the state” are the real corrupts, in an apparent jab at Hizbullah. At a press conference he held to respond to remarks by MP Hassan Fadlallah, Saniora added that the 11 billion dollars in question were spent on interest hikes, treasury loans for Electricite Du Liban, and wage hikes and recruitment expenses for the armed forces.

Kataeb Leader Meets with High-Ranking U.S. Official
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 05th March 2019/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Tuesday met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Satterfield, with talks featuring high on the latest developments in Lebanon and the region. Following the meeting, Satterfield said that the U.S. wishes to see some real stability and security in Lebanon, stressing that these two are forged through national will. “Real stability is achieved through national decisions, not those imposed by others,” Satterfield stated. “Lebanon has long suffered from conflicts due to foreign ideologies disseminated by others on its land."“This situation must change and serious decisions must be taken to make that happen," Satterfield urged. "The U.S. will do its best to support Lebanon’s national decisions." The meeting, held at the Kataeb's headquarter in Saifi, was attended by U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Richard, Kataeb's Vice President Salim Sayegh, former Minister Alain Hakim and International Secretary Marwan Abdallah.

Abdullah: Border Control an Urgent Economic Necessity for Lebanon, Syria
Naharnet/March 05/19/MP Bilal Abdullah on Tuesday stressed the need to tighten security along Lebanon’s porous border with Syria in light of commercial smuggling of commodities after reports that low-grade Iranian iron has been smuggled into the Lebanese market. “Controlling the Lebanese-Syrian border is no longer a political issue, it has become an urgent economic necessity for both countries because the smuggling mafia is active in both directions incurring heavy losses on both treasuries,” said Abdullah in a tweet on Tuesday. “It is time for a calm and lasting management of this dilemma without tension or slogans. The entire authority is responsible,” he added. Abdullah’s remarks came after reports that huge amounts of “low-grade” Iranian iron has been smuggled into Lebanon through Syria and sold at low prices. According to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, the owners of Lebanese companies importing iron and steel materials complain about dumping the local market with large amounts of Iranian iron, which is being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon without being subject to tests of the Scientific Research Council in Beirut to ensure that its specifications conform to the international standards in force in Lebanon. A reputable source told the daily that Iranian ships loaded with iron unload their cargo at the port of Latakia in Syria that is later transported to Beirut by trucks and sold in the Lebanese market at reduced prices of less than $ 150 per ton.

Jumblat Backs Anti-Corruption Battle but Not 'Attacks' on Saniora
Naharnet/March 05/19/Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat announced Tuesday that he supports a “methodical battle against corruption” and not “a return to the March 8 and 14 calculations,” in reference to Lebanon's rival political camps. Asked about the corruption-related war of words between MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hizbullah and ex-PM Fouad Saniora and other al-Mustaqbal Movement officials, Jumblat told reporters that he is “against such attacks ex-PM Fouad Saniora.”As for the controversial issue of civil marriage, the PSP leader noted that he was the first official to voice support for its legalization, expressing surprise over the “silence” of the civil society in this regard. Asked whether the Syrian regime has “strongly returned to Lebanon,” Jumblat said: “When did it ever leave us in order to return now?”

Bassil Slams 'Sectarian Protection' for Corrupts, Proposes Anti-Graft Laws
Naharnet/March 05/19/Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday stressed that no corrupt official should enjoy “sectarian protection,” as he proposed three laws to fight rampant corruption in Lebanon. “We are not in a battle against anyone and let no one seek protection from their sect,” Bassil said after the weekly meeting of the Strong Lebanon bloc. “We are not concerned with the ongoing sectarian clash” over the file of corruption, Bassil added. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, Lebanon's most senior Sunni Muslim cleric, had on Monday thrown his support behind ex-PM Fouad Saniora in the face of corruption accusations. "Ex-PM Fouad Saniora is a red line, because he is a statesman par excellence," Daryan warned. "We pride ourselves in him and we will defend him against any unjust accusation,” he said. Bassil meanwhile reminisced the period that preceded the election of President Michel Aoun. He said: “The 'Impossible Acquittal' battle was not a political battle against a political group, but rather a reform battle that the FPM carried out and led to a law that obliged the Finance Ministry to release financial accounts.”'Impossible Acquittal' is a book released by the FPM in which the movement argues that public funds were spent by the governments of Rafik Hariri, Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri without proper auditing. “There are three essential laws for fighting corruption: lifting parliamentary immunity, lifting bank secrecy and recovering the stolen money,” Bassil added.
“We have decided to start with the issue of lifting bank secrecy and we have drafted a law that has been signed by 10 MPs from the Strong Lebanon bloc,” the FPM chief added. “The issue of lifting bank secrecy does not involve all people, but is rather confined to those in office starting by the president of the republic, and it can only happen through filing a lawsuit,” Bassil clarified. He added that the proposed law would apply to all state officials and civil servants during their time in office and for another five years after they leave their posts. Bassil also revealed that the bloc intends to submit a draft law for combating the spread of “fake news.”“Rumors are like bullets and can be considered an assassination method,” Bassil added, referring to corruption accusations against political officials and parties.

Japan Court OK's Nissan Ex-Chairman Ghosn's Release on Bail
Associated Press/Naharnet/March 05/The Tokyo District Court approved the release of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) bail on Tuesday, ending nearly four months of detention. The acceptance of Ghosn's request for bail, his third, came a day after one of his lawyers said he was confident the auto executive would gain his release. The newly hired attorney, Junichiro Hironaka, is famous for winning acquittals in Japan, a nation where the conviction rate is 99 percent. Hironaka said Monday that he had offered new ways to monitor Ghosn after his release, such as camera surveillance. Hironaka also questioned the grounds for Ghosn's arrest, calling the case "very peculiar," and suggesting it could have been dealt with as an internal company matter. The 1 billion yen bail set by the court is relatively high but not the highest ever in Japan. Among the conditions for Ghosn's release were restrictions on where he can live, a ban on foreign travel and other promises not to tamper with evidence or try to flee, the court said. The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance has been detained since he was arrested on Nov. 19. He says he is innocent of charges of falsifying financial information and of breach of trust. Ghosn's release from the Tokyo Detention Center might come as soon as later in the day. In Japan, suspects are routinely detained for months, often until their trials start. That's especially true of those who insist on their innocence. Prosecutors say suspects may tamper with evidence and shouldn't be released. Two previous requests submitted by his legal team were denied. His previous defense lawyer, Motonari Ohtsuru, had said Ghosn's release might not come for months. Hironaka is among many critics of the Japanese justice system who say such lengthy detentions of suspects are unfair. He referred to the situation as "hostage justice."Ghosn is charged with falsifying financial reports by under-reporting compensation that he contends was never paid or decided upon. The breach of trust allegations center on a temporary transfer of Ghosn's investment losses to Nissan's books that he says caused no losses to the automaker. They also name payments to a Saudi businessman that he says were for legitimate services. Ghosn's family had appealed for his release, calling his detention a human rights violation. Nissan Motor Co. declined comment on the criminal case but said it was working on strengthening corporate governance. Nissan has dismissed Ghosn as chairman, although he remains on the board pending a decision at a shareholders' meeting. "Nissan's internal investigation has uncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct," company spokesman Nick Maxfield said.

Demo Outside World Bank Offices in Beirut over Dam Project
Naharnet/March 05/19/Demonstrators staged a protest outside World Bank offices in Lebanon's capital Monday over its key role in financing a controversial dam project that environmentalists say will destroy a valley rich in biodiversity. "Bisri Dam = Destruction, Pollution, Earthquakes" and "Save The Bisri Valley", read banners and posters carried by the dozens of demonstrators gathered in downtown Beirut. The dam to be built in the valley 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the capital aims to supply drinking water as well as irrigation for 1.6 million residents. Environmentalists and local farmers dispute assurances from the government and World Bank, the main financier with a loan of $474 million, that the dam to be built on a seismic fault line does not increase the risk of earthquakes. "The World Bank is financing a project which will cause an ecological massacre and expel residents from their region," said Boutros Salim, a 54-year-old demonstrator.

Democratic Gathering MPs Discuss Electricity File with Hariri
Naharnet/March 05/19/A delegation from the Democratic Gathering held talks Monday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail. The delegation comprised Industry Minister Wael Abu Faour and the MPs Bilal Abdullah and Hadi Abu al-Hosn and a number of advisers and the meeting was held in the presence of former Minister Ghattas Khoury. “Discussions focused on the electricity plan and the delegation briefed the Prime Minister on their views on this subject, particularly in terms of the necessary reforms,” a statement issued by Hariri's office said. After the meeting, Abu al-Hosn said: “We visited the Prime Minister to continue the consultations and confirm the good relations between Mukhtara and the Center House. We discussed the electricity file and it was a deep scientific discussion in the presence of specialists and we agreed on a number of steps.”He added: “The main focus was to act quickly to save the electricity sector from the situation in which it is floundering and the start of the solution would be by implementing the laws. There are laws passed in Parliament, and there is a plan that the Prime Minister seeks to apply.”“We will work together through a joint committee between the two groups and then we will present the recommendations to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister has the desire and intention to form a ministerial committee concerned mainly with the electricity file,” Abu al-Hosn went on to say. “Today, we emphasized the importance of implementing the law, firstly by appointing a new board of directors for Electricite Du Liban, and the regulatory committee for the electricity sector. We will continue the discussion through the joint committee that we agreed on today,” he added.

Survey: 95% of Lebanese Believe Things Are Moving in Wrong Direction
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 05th March 2019/The majority of the Lebanese are facing challenging socio-economic conditions as the high cost of living is seen as the major problem burdening them, a survey carried out by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung indicated. The overwhelming majority of the survey respondents (95%) believed that things in Lebanon are moving in the wrong direction, while only 4% considered that things are moving in the right direction. Just 22% are optimistic about the future outlook of the country, compared to 77% who are pessimistic, the Economic Perceptions Amidst Challenges survey showed. The biggest three problems facing Lebanon today according to the respondents are:
- Corruption (40%)
- High cost of living/ high prices (39%)
- Job opportunities (34%)
Moreover, the three biggest problems facing the respondents’ families today are:
- High cost of living (51%)
- Job opportunities (36%)
- Electricity (21%)
Overall, up to two-thirds (68%) considered the current economic situation in Lebanon to be as very bad, with the majority saying to have lower levels of trust in Lebanese Lira in the future. According to the respondents, the Lebanese economy can only be improved by stopping corruption, solving the electricity crisis, approving the health card, controlling waste of government resources, planning a public transport system, abolition of sectarianism, extraction of oil and gas, re-activating the Civil Service Council, and legalization of cannabis for medical purposes.
Participants also believed that prices for consumer goods as well as for the interest rate for loans will increase during the next 12 months.
More than half (52%) of the respondents were pessimistic about finding a solution to the housing loan crisis over the next year, whereas 33% were optimistic about solving this issue. Overall, the Lebanese described their financial situation as having enough for survival, but not for extra things since they are unable to save nor spend money on luxury/extra items.
Respondents, therefore, are not willing to spend money on home appliances, renovation, new car or home, neither are they willing to invest inside or outside Lebanon. In the survey, two-thirds (66%) of the respondents said that it is the wrong time to buy home appliances such as home furnishing, TV, fridge, or any similar items and expected to buy fewer household appliances compared to the past 12 months.
An overwhelming 85% of respondents are not willing to buy a new car in the next 12 months. And half of those who are willing to buy a car (12%) will buy a used one.
The vast majority (92%) are not willing to buy or build a house in the next 12 months. Similarly, 91% are not intending to spend large sums on improving and renovating their homes within the next 12 months.
The overwhelming majority of the survey participants are neither considering investing in Lebanon (92%) nor outside Lebanon (96%).
Only one in ten is intending to go on vacation abroad. A considerable number of respondents (93%) reported not having any health coverage and the majority had no life insurance policy. Tree-in-ten (30%) are considering emigration mainly to improve their financial situation (64%) or seek employment (25%). Majority of the respondents (63%) who are considering emigration want to permanently leave Lebanon and 33% are considering a temporary emigration.

Derian says accusations against Siniora cross 'red line'
The Daily Star/Mar. 04, 2019/BEIRUT: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian came to the defense of former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, saying accusations against him crossed a “red line,” after a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri Monday.
“Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is a red line,” Derian said, according to a statement from Hariri’s office. “He is a statesman par excellence. He is the one who brought back transparency and credibility to the state's finances.”
Siniora had previously been accused of illegally spending some $11 billion over the course of his premiership, from 2005 to 2009. The former prime minister said Friday that any claims he had a hand in illegal extrabudgetary spending were “fabrications” to shift attention from more pressing problems the country faces.In the meeting with Hariri, Derian congratulated the premier on Cabinet releasing the ministerial statement and gaining Parliament’s vote of confidence.
Derian stressed the importance of fighting corruption in order to establish a strong state, adding that he was optimistic about the government’s performance.
“If I have any advice to the Cabinet members, I tell them to put political differences aside and work for the benefit of Lebanon and the Lebanese, because the economic ... crisis is very significant,” Derian said.

UK's Decision on Hezbollah Exposes Philosophy of Hate
Alan Mendoza/The National/March 05/19
Since the demise of Al-Muhajiroun, the frothing, angry crowds of the Al Quds Day rally are the closest Britain’s streets have seen to the public cheer leading for terrorism familiar in portions of the Middle East.The march is backed by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, an extremist group with a penchant for nasty anti-Semitic conspiracies, but its cause célèbre and de facto purpose is to support Iran’s Lebanese catspaw, Hezbollah. The flags flown don’t put a particular amount of effort into hiding what the intentions of Hezbollah are: they’re dominated by a jet green AK47 rifle.
Several attempts to halt the march or prosecute its ringleaders have been made, yet all have failed. They have been thwarted by the peculiar legal loophole that while Hezbollah’s military wing is a proscribed group, support for which carries a ten year sentence, its political wing was exempted.
Until today that was, as Home Secretary Sajid Javid barred the group in the UK in its entirety.
Why now, critics will cry – questioning whether the Conservative Government’s decision is motivated in part by the desire to shame the Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn, who once called Hezbollah his “friends”.They have a point, but only insofar as why the decision was not taken many years ago. The Home Office conceded the inevitable today that it was “no longer tenable to distinguish between the military and political wings of Hezbollah”. One person who will not be surprised in the slightest to hear that is Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s general secretary, who has said that “the story of military wing and political wing is the work of the British” and poured scorn on the notion of any separation. The truth is these supposedly separate entities were always two sides of the same coin who made no effort to disguise their joint mission or activities. Familiar with the challenges of Sunni extremism in this country, we have at times forgotten that its Shia counterpart is equally insidious if slightly less immediate. It is Iran’s clerical regime that has acted as the chief sponsor of such terrorism in recent decades, yet Hezbollah has largely escaped the consequences of its actions. Previous inaction has largely been driven by geopolitical tea-leaf reading, that claims to discern in intricate detail the long-term consequences of any decision on the geopolitical balance in the Middle East. This sort of thinking usually concludes that doing the right thing on any issue will drive aggrieved parties into the hands of the Russians. It is a lesson far from borne out by history. Considering the obstacles, the Home Secretary’s decision is therefore a remarkable one. Yet all it does is recognise Hezbollah for exactly what it is: a terrorist organisation riddled throughout with a violent hate-induced creed.
Those who will criticise this decision have a difficult task ahead to win the public argument. For why should the UK not have recognised the absurdity of a distinction that Hezbollah itself denies?
If one branch of Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, then all of it is. Which is a lesson Al Quds Day’s organisers will finally have to accept, given they will no longer be able to wave Hezbollah flags with impunity, no matter which branch they claim to be backing.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on March 05-06/2019
Prince Turki al-Faisal: US pullout from Syria will ‘create a vacuum’ for Iran
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 5 March 2019/In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya English, Prince Turki al-Faisal, Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, said that the US administration’s decision to pullout troops from Syria could increase Iranian presence in the region. When asked about the imminent withdrawal of troops, Prince Turki responded that it could “create a vacuum that would be filled by Iranian troops and the Iranian militias.”He advised the US to reconsider the decision. “It’s a pity because they withdraw from that area and the next day the Iranians will be moving in. So how they can, on one hand, proclaim publicly that they want to want to get Iran out of Syria and, on the other hand, create a vacuum that would be filled by Iranian troops and the Iranian militias,” Prince Turki said as part of a wider interview with Al Arabiya English. Referring to talks regarding Arab governments pushing for Syria to expel Iranian influence, Prince Turki said that governments should not trust the Assad regime to “give up the Iranian connection that he has.”“Assad did not turn to his people in order to improve the livelihood and to meet their aspirations and their longing for a better life. On the contrary, he persecuted them, he killed them, he dislocated them, he threw them out of Syria and he turned to Iran in order to do that,” he told Al Arabiya English. Responding to a question about Russia pressuring the Syrian government to cut ties with Iran as well, the Prince noted that it would be “delusional” to think that Russia could influence the Assad regime since Iranian presence in Syria has increased in the past three years rather than decreased. He added that no Russian official has given any indication of attempts to pressure Assad to reduce Iranian influence.

French extremist Jean-Michel Clain killed in Syria: Wife
AFP, Near Baghouz/Tuesday, 5 March 2019/The wife of French extremist Jean-Michel Clain told AFP Tuesday that her husband was killed last month in Syria after a coalition strike killed his brother Fabien, another notorious extremist. “The drone killed my brother-in-law and then the mortar killed my husband,” Dorothee Maquere said at a screening area after exiting ISIS’ last pocket in Baghouz. Fabien Clain, 41, gained notoriety after voicing an audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 attacks in Paris, when ISIS fighters slaughtered 129 people in coordinated attacks at restaurants and bars around the French capital. He was killed in a coalition drone strike last month in Baghouz, the village in eastern Syria where diehard ISIS fighters are making a bloody last stand. His younger brother Jean-Michel, 38, was wounded in the same February 20 coalition on Baghouz but survived, Maquere said. However, he died in a mortar attack two days later. She was speaking at a screening center run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led force that has spearheaded the military operation against the last dreg of the ISIS “caliphate.” She was among a group of several hundred civilians who exited the tiny besieged enclave, where a dwindling number of extremist fighters were refusing to surrender. Maquere was wearing a full black veil and was surrounded by her five surviving children. She lost three other children in a bombardment. While Fabien was seen as a senior propagandist among the foreign-fighters ranks of ISIS, his younger brother was known as a singer of the “nasheed” chants heard on some of the videos released by the organization.

Syria Force to Resume Evacuations after Piercing Last IS Redoubt
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/US-backed forces prepared Tuesday to pluck more civilians out of the Islamic State group's last Syrian stronghold, after evacuating almost 3,000 people including hundreds of fighters over the past 48 hours. The mass outpouring of people from the dying "caliphate" has sparked a major humanitarian emergency, with the United Nations saying hundreds are expected to arrive at Kurdish-run camps for the displaced on Tuesday alone. The Syrian Democratic Forces and allies from the US-led coalition smashed their way into the last sliver of IS territory in the village of Baghouz at the weekend, unleashing a deluge of airstrikes and artillery attacks on besieged fighters. But the Kurdish-led force slowed down the offensive on Sunday, motivated by concern for civilians still trapped inside the pocket. An SDF spokesman said thousands had been evacuated from the crumbling jihadist bastion since his force dialled down its advance. "We managed to evacuate about 3,000 people from (the) ISIS pocket", Mustefa Bali said on Twitter on Monday night, using another acronym for IS. "A large number of Daesh (IS) jihadists surrendered to our forces among the same group," he added. An SDF official told AFP that "hundreds of IS fighters" were among the thousands that "surrendered" to the Kurdish-led force. The latest evacuees also include relatives of jihadists, as well as civilians who had been held by the group as "human shields", he said. But civilians still remain inside the enclave, he said. "Evacuations of civilians, jihadists and their relatives who want to surrender will likely continue" on Tuesday, he told AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 280 IS fighters were among those that quit the jihadist redoubt since Sunday.
Smoke and gunfire
Diehard jihadists are fiercely defending their riverside hamlet after the SDF and the US-led coalition resumed their offensive on Friday night, following a two-week pause to allow for civilian evacuations. The Kurd-led force pushed into Baghouz on Saturday, breaching the jihadist's parameter. On Monday night, an AFP correspondent near the frontline saw black smoke billowing over the besieged pocket after an airstrike hit jihadist targets. The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said artillery fire and air strikes continued during the night. The thousands that have poured out of Baghouz have posed a huge humanitarian challenge in Kurdish-run camps for the displaced in northeast Syria. Around 15,000 people reached the Al-Hol camp from Baghouz between February 22 and March 1, the UN humanitarian coordination office OCHA said on Monday. The new arrivals have pushed the camp's population to over 56,000, exacerbating already dire conditions at the crammed facility, it said. Hundreds more are expected to arrive on Tuesday, according to OCHA. After months under heavy bombardment and sometimes with very little to eat, families emerging from Baghouz are often in poor physical and psychological health. Around 90 people, mostly children under the age of five, have died en route to the shelter or shortly after arriving, OCHA said.
- Dying days of 'caliphate'
The jihadists are massively outnumbered and the SDF say they expect a victory within days. The Kurdish-led forces launched their broad offensive on remaining IS strongholds in the Euphrates Valley six months ago. The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of IS territorial control in the region and deal a death blow to the "caliphate", which once covered huge swathes of Syria and Iraq. At its peak more than four years ago, the proto-state created by IS was the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people. It minted its own currency, levied taxes, published a wide array of propaganda material and designed its own school curricula. The caliphate effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost most of its major cities in both countries. The fall of Baghouz would carry mostly symbolic value. The chiefs of the US and Russian militaries met in Austria on Monday to discuss the situation in Syria, where a residual US military force will remain following the territorial defeat of the IS group. "The two military leaders discussed the deconfliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria," US military spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said. Syria's war has killed 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Iran daily calls for expulsion of French diplomats
AFP/Tuesday, 5 March 2019/An ultraconservative Iranian newspaper called Tuesday for the expulsion of French diplomats from the country, accusing France of expelling an Iranian diplomat on the basis of a “ludicrous accusation.” The Kayhan daily demanded that the Iranian Foreign Ministry reciprocate “the insolent and vile behavior of France in accusing and expelling our diplomat from its soil.”The newspaper, considered to be the mouthpiece of ultraconservatives in Iran, reported in October that an Iranian diplomat had been expelled by France without saying why. Neither the Iranian nor the French foreign ministries have denied or confirmed the report. On Tuesday the paper reported in a front-page article that the diplomat had been expelled on the basis of the “ludicrous accusation of attempting to attack a meeting of the terrorist cult of hypocrites in Paris.” It was referring to the People’s Mujahedin Organization, an opposition group in exile that aims to overthrow the Islamic Republic in Iran. Kayhan also blamed France for the arrest of another Iranian diplomat by Germany in July 2018 on suspicion of involvement in the alleged plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris the previous month. The diplomat, normally based in Vienna, was extradited to Belgium for prosecution. Kayhan, Iran’s second-oldest daily in circulation, is state-owned and its managing director and editor in chief Hossein Shariatmadari was personally appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1993. Its demand came a day after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in retaliation for the Netherlands’ expulsion of two Iranian Embassy staff in June 2018. According to the Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, the Iranian diplomats had been expelled “due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin.”Kayhan has consistently been opposed to the policy of detente with Western powers pursued by moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. It has ceaselessly attacked the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and cited US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the accord as an example of the futility of dealing with Western powers.

Macron's Plea for Europe Gets Backing outside French Borders
Associated Press/Naharnet/March 05/19/French President Emmanuel Macron's plea in the publications of 28 nations for a stronger European Union has gained support from neighboring Belgium and Finland.
In a tweet Tuesday, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila offered support for Macron's call for "security, sustainable growth and ambitious climate policy."Sipila added that people needed to see "the EU that is capable of making decisions and implementing them." Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said he particularly hoped for "a Europe that protects liberty and democracy," according to the agency Belga. But in France, where Macron's popularity has dipped since his election, there was skepticism. Nadine Morano of the opposition Republicans said that "in this column, the word France appears just once. This is Macronism — France has to disappear into this European federalism."
Algiers Students Say 'No' to Bouteflika Fifth Term
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/Thousands of Algerian students marched on Tuesday in protest at ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's determination to stand for re-election, brushing aside his pledge not to serve a full fifth term.Following mass demonstrations, the veteran leader promised that if he wins the April poll he will organise a "national conference" to set a date for further elections which he would not contest. But his pledge, made in a letter read out late Sunday on state television, has been angrily dismissed as an insult by Algerians weary of his two-decade-old rule. Rallies demanding the 82-year-old resign have rocked Algeria since February 22, with protesters mobilised by calls on social media, in a country where half the population is under 30 and many young people struggle to find jobs. On Tuesday thousands of university students from campuses across Algiers marched in the capital, many carrying their country's flag.
Abderahman, a 21-year-old student, said Bouteflika "wants an extra year" in power. "We don't want him to stay even an extra second. He should leave now," he said. Police deployed across the centre of the capital where protests have been banned since 2001. The TSA news website reported similar protests in Algeria's second and third cities, Oran and Constantine, as well as in other towns and cities.
"Hey Bouteflika, there won't be a fifth term," the students chanted in central Algiers, an AFP reporter said. Onlookers applauded them and motorists honked their horns in a show of support. And in a sign they will not back down from protests calling on the president to resign, the students chanted "bring on the army commandos and the BRI (police rapid response squad)."Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and is rarely seen in public. He formally submitted his candidacy for the April 18 poll just before a midnight deadline on Sunday. It was handed in by his campaign manager Abdelghani Zaalane as the president has been in Switzerland since February 24 for what the presidency has described as "routine medical tests". In Sunday's message he said that his pledge not to serve a full term if re-elected "will ensure I am succeeded in undeniable conditions of serenity, freedom and transparency."He acknowledged the mostly peaceful protests against him. "I listened and heard the cry from the hearts of protesters and in particular the thousands of young people who questioned me about the future of our homeland."
'No means no!'But his words have failed to end the protests against him which first erupted on February 22 and have continued daily, drawing Algerians from all walks of life, including students, lawyers and journalists. Tuesday's rallies came in response to calls on social media for students to gather outside the iconic building housing Algiers' main post office. "No means no! Hasn't he understood the message of the people?" asked Selma, who studies mathematics. "Today we will make it clear for him, and again on Friday," which has been the main day for protests, she said.
A sign held up by protesters read: "No studies, no teaching until the system (regime) falls", as students were reportedly considering going on strike. The sprawling Bab Ezzouar campus of the University of Algiers, just outside the capital, was deserted. "There is a massive strike by students... I've never seen anything like it since the 1980 Berber Spring," a professor told AFP. She was referring to a weeks-long uprising demanding cultural rights for Algeria's Berber community, who long fought for greater recognition for their customs and ancient language overshadowed by Arabic culture.
University professors were meeting Tuesday to decide if they too should go on strike And the bar association of lawyers in the city of Bejaia, 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of Algiers, called on its members to follow in the footsteps of their colleagues in Constantine and go on strike.

Iran FM Resigned Because He Was Not Informed About Assad Visit
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019/Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif submitted his resignation last week after he was not informed of the visit to Tehran by Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad, reported the ISNA news agency Tuesday. It cited foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as the source of the information in its report. “The ministry of foreign affairs did not have information at any level (about the trip) and this lack of information was maintained until the end of the trip,” he was quoted as saying. “One of the reasons for the resignation of Dr. Zarif was this type of lack of coordination with the ministry of foreign affairs. And as it has been announced before, the resignation of the honorable minister was not a private and individual issue and the goal and intent of that was a positive effort to return the ministry of foreign affairs and the diplomatic system of the country to its main place.”
President Hassan Rouhani rejected Zarif’s resignation last Wednesday, bolstering a moderate ally who has long been targeted by hardliners in factional struggles over the 2015 nuclear deal with the West. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the branch of the elite Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside Iran’s borders, was present at a meeting last week between Assad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran. Soleimani said last week that Zarif was the main person in charge of foreign policy and he was supported by Khamenei.

Khamenei Insists on Mistrusting Europe, Zarif Slams Obstruction of His Ministry
London- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019/The website of Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khamenei revealed the details of a meeting between the latter and government ministers in July, during which he advised the government not to rely on the European package to protect Tehran from US sanctions.
The uncovering of information about the meeting, which was held few weeks before the US sanctions on Iran took effect, fell within indirect pressure by Khomeini on the government, which is currently negotiating with France Tehran’s regional role. Khamenei’s move follows criticism by Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, for the second time in 10 days to parties seeking an agreement on Iran’s regional role, similar to the nuclear deal. According to an article by Reuters, Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website that the Europeans would naturally say they are protecting Iranian interests with their package but the Iranian government “should not make this a main issue”. He said the nuclear deal did not resolve “any of the economic problems” of Iran. He predicted that a mechanism proposed by the EU to shield business with Iran against the US sanctions would also be no solution for Iran’s economic hardship. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said his ministry was being prevented from carrying out its tasks. Last week, Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani rejected the resignation of Zarif, but the minister’s move revealed deep differences in Tehran over Iran’s foreign policy. Zarif had resigned in protest at his lack of knowledge of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's arrival in Tehran. He said the resignation came within the framework of maintaining the legal status of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Quoted by IRNA news agency on Monday, Zarif criticized attempts to marginalize the role of his ministry, saying: “The Foreign Ministry does not accept to be sidelined in foreign relations.”

Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Operation to Chase ISIS Militants
Baghdad- Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/March 05/19/Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced Monday the launching of the largest security operation in Anbar province. “The First Infantry Division of Anbar Operations Command has embarked on a large-scale military operation in South Sikar and Dabaa village to impose security, pursue wanted persons, search whether there were abductees, destroy arms and ammunition stores, and check information on families there," a statement by the Cell said. “As part of the plan to hunt down and track terrorists, an operation carried out by the seventh Infantry Division in the west and east Wadi Hauran was launched and resulted in the destruction of six tunnels and three hideouts and the detonation of 299 explosive devices,” the statement added. A security source has earlier issued a warning saying that the desert area in Anbar province has become a military zone, warning citizens from going there. The warning was made through leaflets distributed among locals by army soldiers, who warned citizens as well as shepherds from entering the area and asked them to leave towards al-Rutba- al-Nakhib village, 160 kilometers away.
The army also warned local residents of risking their lives if they didn't heed orders, given the ongoing military operations in the desert areas. In this context, Head of the security committee in Anbar province council Naim al-Kaoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that the main reason behind issuing this warning, which coincided with the launching of a military operation, is that ISIS has exploited grazing and haunting in these areas and abducted dozens of citizens. “Abductions by ISIS in the recent period were all under the pretext of hunting and grazing,” Kaoud said, adding that they have brought families to these areas to herd sheep. Therefore, it was difficult for the military to deal with them because they couldn’t distinguish between residents, nomads, and ISIS militants. He explained that warning citizens of sheepherders and hunters in the desert would help the military effort to differentiate between citizens and militants.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 05-06/2019
Revolutionary Guards’ Soleimani flexes political muscle
تقرير من رويترز ويديعوت أحرونوت: القائد في الحرس الثوري الإيراني قاسم سليماني يستعرض عضلاته السياسية
Ynetnews/Reuters/March 05/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72771/revolutionary-guards-soleimani-flexes-political-muscle-%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%b2-%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%aa-%d8%a3%d8%ad/
The general’s success in operations beyond Iran’s borders, in particular in shoring up Assad’s rule in Syria, have made him instrumental in the steady spreading of Iranian influence in the Middle East
Qassem Soleimani’s role in a political crisis in Iran highlights the influence of the leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, who has acquired celebrity status at home after being largely invisible for years.
The resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week was quickly rejected by President Hassan Rouhani, but a week on, tension over Zarif’s absence from meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad that Soleimani attended is still evident.
Soleimani’s Quds Force, tasked with carrying out operations beyond Iran’s borders, shored up support for Assad when he looked close to defeat in the civil war raging since 2011 and also helped militiamen defeat Islamic State in Iraq.
Its successes have made Soleimani instrumental to the steady spreading of Iranian influence in the Middle East, which Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia have struggled to keep in check.
Khamenei made Soleimani head of the Quds Force in 1998, a position in which he kept a low profile for years while he strengthened Iran’s ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad’s government, and Shiite militia groups in Iraq.
Qassem Soleimani in Aleppo, SyriaQassem Soleimani in Aleppo, Syria
In the past few years, he has acquired a more public persona, with fighters and commanders in Iraq and Syria posting images on social media of him on the battlefield, his beard and hair always impeccably trimmed.
“Soleimani is an operational leader. He’s not a man working in an office. He goes to the front to inspect the troops and see the fighting,” said an Iraqi former senior official who asked not to be identified discussing security issues.
An Iraqi militia released a music video in 2014 praising Soleimani’s efforts in fighting Islamic State, and state media have run multiple accounts of his role in military victories.
“His chain of command is only the Supreme Leader. He needs money, gets money. Needs munitions, gets munitions. Needs materiel, gets materiel,” the Iraqi former official said.
After Zarif tendered his resignation, Soleimani issued a rare statement. There had been a “bureaucratic” mistake rather than any intention to exclude Zarif, it said, describing the minister as the main person in charge of foreign policy and backed by Khamenei.
But on Tuesday, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported that the foreign ministry had not been informed throughout Assad’s trip, citing ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, saying Zarif’s aim with his resignation was to restore Iran’s diplomatic system to its rightful place.
The row is an unusually public display of tension between the Guards, who play a key role in politics in the Islamic Republic, and moderate government officials who favor reconciliation with the West 40 years after Iran’s 1979 revolution ousted the US-backed Shah.
A regional official with knowledge of Iranian affairs said the foreign ministry and the Quds Force had conflicts of opinion over Syria. The release on Monday of a closed-door speech last year by Khamenei highlighted another ongoing split—over Iran’s agreement with world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.The speech voiced doubt about the government’s overtures to Europe to try to shore up the deal after US President Donald Trump pulled out.A major-general, Soleimani is also in charge of intelligence gathering and covert military operations carried out by the Quds Force and last summer he publicly challenged Trump.
“I’m telling you Mr. Trump the gambler, I’m telling you, know that we are close to you in that place you don’t think we are,” said Soleimani, wagging an admonishing finger.”You will start the war but we will end it,” he said, with a checkered keffiya draped across the shoulders of his olive uniform.
Softly-spoken, Soleimani came from humble beginnings, born into an agricultural family in the town of Rabor in southeast Iran on March 11, 1957.
At 13, he travelled to the town of Kerman and got a construction job to help his father pay back loans, according to a first person account from Soleimani posted by Defa Press, a site focused on the history of Iran’s eight year war with Iraq.
When the revolution to oust the Shah began in 1978, Soleimani was working for the municipal water department in Kerman and organised demonstrations against the monarch.
He volunteered for the Revolutionary Guards and, after war with Iraq broke out in 1980, quickly rose through the ranks and went on to battle drug smugglers on the border with Afghanistan.
“Soleimani is a great listener. He does not impose himself. But he always gets what he wants,” said another Iraqi official, adding that he can be intimidating.
At the height of the civil war between Sunni and Shiite militants in Iraq in 2007, the US military accused the Quds Force of supplying improvised explosive devices to Shiite militants which led to the death of many American soldiers.
Soleimani played such a pivotal role in Iraq’s security through various militia groups that General David Petraeus, the overall head of US forces in Iraq, sent messages to him through Iraqi officials, according to diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks.
After a referendum on independence in the Kurdish north in 2017, Soleimani issued a warning to Kurdish leaders which led to a withdrawal of fighters from contested areas and allowed central government forces to reassert their control.
Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
He was arguably even more influential in Syria. His visit to Moscow in the summer of 2015 was the first step in planning for a Russian military intervention that reshaped the Syrian war and forged a new Iranian-Russian alliance in support of Assad.
His activities have made him a repeated target of the US Treasury: Soleimani has been sanctioned by the United States for the Quds Force’s support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other armed groups, for his role in Syria’s crackdown against protesters and his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.Soleimani’s success in advancing Iran’s agenda has also put him in the crosshairs of regional foes Saudi Arabia and Israel. Top Saudi intelligence officials looked into the possibility of assassinating Soleimani in 2017, according to a report in the New York Times late last year. A Saudi government spokesman declined to comment, the Times reported, but Israeli military officials have publicly discussed the possibility of targeting him.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5473962,00.html

Hamas secretly co-opted to Egyptian-Israel war on ISIS in Sinai finds pretext for extorting cash
DEBKA file/March 05/19
Unbeknownst to Israel, Cairo enlisted Hamas to the IDF-assisted Egyptian war on ISIS in Sinai, then turned Hamas’ demand for more cash to Jerusalem.
Hamas has switched on its latest upsurge of terror from the Gaza Strip for extortion. The Palestinian terrorists discovered last year that, by turning up the heat, Israel’s Prime Minister (and defense minister) and former Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkot would pay up, rather than embark on a major military offensive, especially when those payments were disbursed by Qatar. This discovery led ultimately in March 2019 to a new wave of attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli civilian locations, with balloon clusters flown over the border by primitive gliders and armed with explosives linked to timers.
In between these two events, DEBKA file’s military sources report, Cairo caught Israel unawares. Egypt’s General Intelligence service chief Gen. Abbas Kamel last month secretly negotiated a deal for Hamas to make its intelligence agencies and military wing Ezz-e-din al-Qassam available for fighting the Islamic State in Sinai alongside the Egyptian army in areas adjoining the Gaza Strip.
This was not the first time that a government and army had enlisted one terrorist organization to fight another – there were many precedents in the Syrian war – but never before has a Palestinian organization of Hamas’ ilk been used to fight the Islamic State.
In its quiet exchanges with US, Israeli and Saudi officials, Cairo presents the deal with Hamas as a worthwhile political process for “laundering” the Palestinian terrorists and making them kosher for heading an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip.
But by acting without Israel’s consent, Egypt has turned the IDF into an unwilling partner in an unholy triad of forces fighting ISIS in northern Sinai, consisting of Egypt, Hamas and Israel. Israel was not consulted on this “pact.”
Our military and counter-terrorism sources stress that, however carefully Egypt may try to compartmentalize the intelligence received from the IDF on the situation in northern Sinai, some is bound to leak to its new partner, Israel’s enemy, Hamas.
The Egyptian “pact” came to light when Hamas lodged fresh complaints with Cairo about Israel’s alleged violations of the “truce” deal Egypt negotiated between them last year. Unaware of Cairo’s new setup with Hamas, Israel replied that there were no grounds for its complaint. After all, Israel had made good on its promise to triple electrical power to Gaza, from 3-4 hours a day to twelve; and 11,000 trucks laden with Israeli supplies for the population crossed into the territory each month – at the rate of 366 a day. Furthermore, $15m of Qatari funds were delivered monthly on time.
The answer coming back from Cairo was that Hamas wanted Israel to lay out more cash as compensation for the cutbacks ordered by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (who has incidentally gone to Baghdad) in the funds due to the Gaza Strip!
To back its demand, Hamas turned to its usual leverage: terrorism. By night, Palestinian mobs pelt Israeli troops along the Gaza border with dozens of explosive devices and hand grenades, and by day, balloons explode over Israeli locales.
Hamas leaders are exploiting Israel’s election campaign to raise the ante. They assume that since Defense Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is bent on winning another term as prime minister, he will pay up to keep them quiet.

Ex-Pakistani leader, Pervez Musharraf calls for diplomatic relations with Israel
Ynetnews/The Media Line/March 05/19
Pervez Musharraf, who in 2005 established contacts via Turkey, told journalist in Dubai that there is no harm in establishing relations with Israel, ‘it will help Pakistan counter India.’
ISLAMABAD -- Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf believes it’s time for Pakistan to consider establishing ties with Israel.
He was speaking at a press conference on February 22 in Dubai, where he has been living in self-exile to avoid what he believes are politically motivated court cases back home. “There is no harm to establish a relationship with Israel,” Musharraf said, adding that “it will help Pakistan counter India” by accessing an “elite club” of “influential” nations.
His remarks came as tensions between Pakistan and India spiked over the contested Kashmir region.
Musharraf led Pakistan from 1999 to 2008. He was a strong critic of Israel until 2005, when he established contacts with the help of Turkey. Since then, he has been a staunch supporter of ties between the two countries.
“As expected, the Israeli leadership responded to my offer within 24 hours,” he stated, adding he believed that Israel would still welcome such ties.
The former president claims to enjoy support from Pakistan’s military establishment and cabinet members in the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
There was no official Pakistani reaction to Musharraf’s comment, although Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told The Media Line that the Palestinian issue would first need to be solved.
“Pakistan has had a pro-Palestine stance for long time. We cannot even think of establishing contact with Israel until Palestine is internationally recognized as an independent state,” he said.
Anti-Israel sentiment is currently at an all-time high in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country of 220 million people.
Musharraf’s initial efforts to establish ties with Israel led to a 2005 meeting in Turkey between the two countries’ foreign ministers. The meeting was facilitated by Jack Rosen, a U.S. businessman and today president of the American Jewish Congress.
Musharraf addressed a gathering of the World Jewish Congress in September of that year. “Pakistan has no direct conflict with Israel,” he said at the time. “Also, Pakistan is not a threat to Israel’s security. Israel represents no threat to Pakistan’s national security. But I have sympathy for the Palestinian people and their legitimate desire for a state,” Musharraf said.
In his speech, which was hailed by many back in Pakistan, he praised Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, calling it a “courageous decision.”
Nevertheless, his suggestion that Pakistan be open to diplomatic relations with Israel sparked fierce reactions from individual Pakistani political figures, even within his own government. They included Ijaz ul-Haq, his minister for religious affairs and minorities.
“We can’t even think of establishing relations with Israel. No, not at all,” Haq, currently president of the Pakistan Muslim League, told The Media Line.
As president of Pakistan and head of its army, Haq’s father, Zia ul-Haq, allowed the nation’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI)
to establish links with Israel’s Mossad in the early 1980s.
According to WikiLeaks, the ISI secretly provided intelligence to the Mossad indicating that Israeli civilians might be targeted in a terrorist attack in India in 2008. Several Israeli citizens were indeed killed in November of that year during a massive series of attacks in Mumbai, one of them targeting the city’s Chabad House.
A source in Islamabad said that then-ISI chief Lt.-Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha personally established direct contact with the Mossad to pass on the information.
*Written by Kaswar Klasra and peprinted with permission from The Media Line

Exoticizing ‘jihadi brides’ ignores that women can be terrorists too
Ghada AlMuhanna/Al Arabiya/March 05/19
Over the last few weeks, with ISIS losing more ground in Iraq and Syria, many captured members, who were sent to camps controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are facing the reality of their choices. News agencies from throughout the world rushed to interview foreign fighters, who are asking their governments to take them back, and sensationalized the issue by referring to the women amongst them as “jihadi brides”. This characterization is not only false (like men, women are perfectly capable of being terrorists) but it can obstruct counter-terrorism and post-conflict development efforts.
Calling female militants “jihadi brides” downplays the role of women in terrorism. Warfare has always been deemed a part of a man’s world, but history has documented the participation of women in organized violence. The earliest such case was an operation leading to the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881 by Sophia Perovskaya, who was part of the nihilist revolutionary organization, Narodnaya Volya. Other examples include the Black Widows of Chechnya, who used their members as suicide bombers, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), where women were actively involved in front line combat.
The importance of women and the roles they play within terror groups is an established fact within the security community. Their activities can range from performing suicide attacks to spreading extremist ideology and recruiting new members, depending on the group’s background and their access to manpower. When it comes to news about terror groups, the media generally tends to focus on men’s political motivations for joining these groups, whereas it focuses on women’s personal backgrounds and how they have been tricked and fooled by recruiters into thinking the group they were joining would offer them a haven.
The media’s use of terms such as “wives” and “brides” indicates weakness and subordination among these women. And unbeknownst to them, these specific terms actually aid terror groups. The gender stereotypes and clichés that are perpetuated influence strategic decisions by terror groups and the behavior of female terrorists. For example, it is more likely for women to transport weapons than men, as they are less likely to be searched or suspected of being terrorists. This is especially true in areas where gender inequality is prominent. In addition, the media’s obsession with reporting on “jihadi brides” garners the attention of terror group sympathizers, romanticizing the idea of violent jihad.
However, this is not to say that all women involved in terror groups are terrorists. Some women, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, for example, were used as suicide bombers against their will. And that is the main problem with radicalization – individual motivations to join a terror group can differ vastly. Personal relationships and social networks can factor into the decision, alongside personal beliefs, and to distinguish those who have radicalized ideologies from those who are mere victims of radicalized individuals requires a certain level of expertise. Therefore, it is dangerous to assume that all women are victims and that all women are terrorists.
The solution? We need more women to be involved in security and the peacekeeping process. There is also a need to conduct research into female terrorists and their behaviors.[1] Women’s participation in terrorist activities is growing ideologically, logistically and regionally throughout the world. Unfortunately, there is not much research on the reasons why, and even less exploration by policymakers and international counter-terrorism actors in relation to terrorism and countering strategies.
There have been attempts to rectify this. In 2000, for the first time, the United Nations Security Council recognized the nexus between women, peace and security, with its adoption of Resolution 1325, and for the next decade, the Security Council proved its increasing interest in highlighting the subject of women in armed conflict, and the impact of war on them, by passing seven other resolutions. In each of these resolutions, the Security Council urged Member States to further incorporate and involve women in their peacekeeping process and legislation, as well as in post-conflict reconstruction.
More importantly, we need the media to be cautious while reporting on terrorist groups. If psychologists have been able to determine that something as simple as a headline can affect existing knowledge that is activated in one's mind, then journalists calling female terrorists “jihadi brides” will most likely activate the image of a weak and helpless woman – an image that will not help in developing precise and effective strategies to counter terrorism — as it barely reflects the actual, more complex reality we’re in.
**Ghada AlMuhanna is a non-resident researcher with the Gulf Research Center and is based in Berlin, Germany. She specializes in conflict and security with a focus on the Middle East. She tweets @GAbalkhail.

Yes, the Internet Can Make Us Happier
Tyler Cowen/Bloomberg/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019
Most critiques of online activity and social media are neither rigorous nor helpful — by which I mean, they do not adequately explain why spending so much time online might be problematic and, if it is, what to do about it. Allow me to offer a tentative hypothesis and solution.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who is also a Nobel laureate in economics, has written and co-written a number of papers on happiness in which he distinguishes between enjoying the moment and having an overall sense of satisfaction with one’s life. As it turns out, these two variables often diverge quite dramatically.
For instance, you might enjoy getting rip-roaring drunk one night with your friends. But looking back on that experience may not help you feel you lived a better and richer life; you might wish you had spent the time working for charity instead. Alternatively, raising children may be highly rewarding in the long run, but moment-by-moment it probably increases stress and maybe even subtracts from any feelings of immediate happiness. (Haven’t you heard the joke, “The best thing about having kids is having a night away from the kids”?)
Humans have been making trade-offs between these different kinds of rewards for generations. Of course, we don’t always get it right.
What’s new is this: Online life and social media have radically shifted the relative costs across rewards. It is now far easier to pursue immediate happiness, compared to the available options in, say, 1986. Emails, TikTok videos, the latest witty (or outraged) tweets, whatever your favorite online avocation may be — all are just a keystroke, click or swipe away. And as economists would predict, people are indeed seeking and finding far more momentary pleasures.
Consider the time I spend on Twitter. I can take a peek and have some fun pretty much anytime I want, and for free. Yet never do I think that I will someday look back and reminisce about all that time I spent scrolling through tweets.
In contrast, I look back fondly on my time in high school, and how my friends used to ride bikes to each other’s homes to hang out and listen to record albums. I’m no longer sure how much fun it was at the time, or even if that matters — the glorious memories are in place. The same is true for the good travel experiences I have had, even (especially?) if at the time they were quite stressful or simply involved a lot of tedious legwork.
My tentative conclusion from all this: Online life is inducing us to invest less in our memories and long-term sense of satisfaction. It is pretty obvious from human behavior that, right now, the internet is doing more to boost short-term pleasures.
The more negative take would be that online life is obscuring our understanding of our own lives. I do not go that far. After all, humans make analogous choices about balancing short- and long-term happiness when they have one child rather than four, or when they sit on an exercise bike rather than get on a plane to Paris. Those aren’t the wrong decisions for everybody.
I would also point out that it is possible to use the internet to make fond memories or improve our long-term sense of satisfaction. It may help us find the right romantic partner (cue to those four children) or plan that memorable vacation.
Too often I hear critics describe online behavior in terms of “addiction.” Yet addiction has a fairly well-defined set of medical and clinical meanings, and they do not always transfer readily to the technology context. I don’t, for instance, observe many people trying to throw away their smartphones, the way many people try to quit alcohol or cigarettes. At the same time, many people who want to quit parts of the Internet, such as blogging or Twitter, seem to be able to do so without going through withdrawal.
All this said, it’s hard to argue that the internet hasn’t made things worse for human beings who are already inclined to seek too much immediate reward. The internet feeds this tendency. It’s probably also true that people with richer long-term memories provide external benefits to society as a whole, for example by passing down wisdom or inspiration.
There is so much talk about regulating or controlling the internet. Dare I suggest an alternative approach? Use public policy to help shift the balance of ease back toward life satisfaction and the formation of longer-term memories. Make it cheaper and easier to have and raise children. Use the education system to support more study trips abroad. Think about how to ease the pursuit of long-term life satisfaction.
There are plenty of human imperfections behind our online choices. As we respond, why not accentuate the positive — and keep the freedom to choose?

How the US Can Escape the Graveyard of Empires
James Stavridis/Bloomberg/Tuesday, 5 March, 2019
The problems in Afghanistan often feel intractable, like a knot of countless ropes bound together. Every time a strand is pulled, another part of the knot tightens up. Currently, the Taliban refuse to have talks with the Afghan government, which they label a puppet regime; the Kabul government insists that any power-sharing agreement allow limited numbers of Western troops to remain; the Pakistanis, who have long sheltered Taliban leaders, are unwilling to fully encourage a peace settlement; the US and its NATO partners are sick of war and want out; the Russians play a complex double game, sometimes encouraging the Taliban and other times working with the government; and India and China covet the rare-earth metals and other minerals under the dry soil -- perhaps $2 trillion worth.
But there are also some distinct signs of progress, due largely to Zalmay Khalilzad, who last year took over as the US special representative to the reconciliation process. I know Zal well, and as the saying goes, if he didn’t exist we’d have to invent him. He was born in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, received a PhD from the University of Chicago, and has served as a US ambassador three times (to the United Nations, Afghanistan and Iraq). Khalilzad is a highly creative thinker and diplomat.
He has moved the situation to a serious level of dialog, through a variety of techniques including a shifting cast of characters at the talks, keeping the Taliban and the Afghan government from having to sit directly with each other, moving the location to the Qatar, Pakistan and other “neutral” sites, engaging Russia and Pakistan effectively, and keeping strategic communications flowing.
Partly, these gains stem from war fatigue on both sides. When I was supreme allied commander overseeing 150,000 US and coalition troops in the field, we made good progress pushing the Taliban out of all urban areas, educating the youth (including young girls for the first time since the Taliban rule), helping the dismal economy start to grow, and extending life expectancy. With now about 14,000 US troops (and 7,000 additional from coalition members), we have reduced our military footprint more than 80 percent with a commensurate drop in casualties.
On the Taliban side, a new generation of leaders seems increasingly tired of the conflict as well. They have indicated a willingness to talk about allowing a power-sharing arrangement, permitting women to hold on to some of their hard-won rights, and perhaps creating a system of local self-government that would allow some flexibility in their previously rigid adherence to Sharia law. Perhaps most important, the Pakistanis seem willing to consider an Afghan government not dominated solely by their Taliban clients.
The Taliban have also made recent gains on the ground, and Afghan Security Force casualties have risen to unacceptable levels. President Ashraf Ghani understands that reaching a deal is urgent.
All this is a sea change, giving a better than even chance to land this diplomatically with a settlement that allows Taliban participation in fair elections. Getting there will require all sides to back off some of their hardline positions. A two-pronged approach can help US engineer that outcome: let the Afghan government know that patience is running out, and keep the military pressure on the Taliban.
The US experience in Vietnam is instructive: while the vast majority of troops left in 1972, the South Vietnamese held on for three more years because the US continued to finance their military. Saigon fell finally in 1975 when the Congress slashed the funding. Letting the Taliban know that the US learned from that experience and plans to keep money flowing to the Afghan military and to maintain a relatively small counterterrorism force to face al-Qaeda and the ISIS, would keep the pressure on them as well.
Afghanistan has long been called the “Graveyard of Empires.” That sobriquet usually refers to the British Raj of the 19th century and the failed Soviet experience in the 20th century. But the first European to conquer that troublesome land and hold power – at least for a time – did it more than two millenniums earlier: Alexander the Great. In his marvelous novel about that ultimately failed conquest, “The Afghan Campaign,” Steven Pressfield provides a vivid portrait of the young king, his military victories and eventual political defeat.
Before his march to Asia, the legend goes, Alexander was confronted with an intricately tied, seemingly impossible tangle of rope in the city of Gordius in modern-day Turkey. It was said that whoever could untie the knot would one day conquer all of Asia. The impetuous young king tried his hand and unraveling it, was instantly frustrated, and then simply took out his sword and cut the bonds. He did go on to conquer Egypt and much of Asia, including Afghanistan.
Let’s hope Zal Khalilzad is just the diplomat to cut today’s Gordian knot. The key will be persuading both sides to accept a compromise that is far from perfect for either, but allows Afghanistan to move forward.

A Project to Transform France
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/March 05/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13826/france-project-transform
"It is up to us to give a political meaning to the ["yellow vest"] revolt. The goal is not simply to challenge an increase in taxes, but the political system that induces it..." — Elias d'Imzalene, French Islamist preacher, November 23, 2018.
"Macron hates the yellow vests and wants them to vanish. He wants to win European elections and needs the Muslim vote. He knows perfectly well who the anti-Semites are today, but will not attack them. He needs them. He attacks [only] those who are dangerous to him. "— Éric Zemmour, French author, February 19, 2019.
Other people noted that holding a demonstration that excluded the right-wing National Rally party was a move aimed at diverting attention from the real anti-Semitic danger. They also suggested that political parties which support the murderers of Jews were precisely those which deny that radical Islam is a danger.
After sixteen Saturday demonstrations by the "yellow vests," who began in November by protesting French President Emmanuel Macron's increase in fuel prices, the controversy seems to have taken a darker turn. Pictured: "Yellow vest" protestors near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, on March 2, 2019.
After sixteen Saturday demonstrations by the "yellow vests," who began in November by protesting French President Emmanuel Macron's increase in fuel prices, the controversy seems to have taken a darker turn.
That seems to have come to light on February 13, when a small group of demonstrators started hurling insults at a French Jewish philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut -- who was born in and lives in Paris -- after they spotted him on a sidewalk. One man, shouted, "Shut up, dirty Zionist sh*t," "Go home to Tel Aviv," "France is ours," "God will punish you." A cameraman filmed the incident, then shared the video on social networks. A scandal ensued. The "yellow vests" movement as a whole was immediately accused by the French government of anti-Semitism and "fascism".
Finkielkraut claimed that he had not been attacked as a Jew, but as a supporter of the State of Israel. He then added that the man who had insulted him did not speak like a "yellow vest" and that the words "God will punish you" is an expression from "Islamic rhetoric". Police who watched the video identified the man as a radicalized Muslim, and the next day arrested him.
In the days leading up to that incident, several anti-Semitic acts had taken place in and near Paris. The German word "juden" [Jews] was painted on the front of a Jewish bakery; swastikas were drawn with a black marker on portraits of former Jewish minister Simone Veil; trees that had been planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jew who had been kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 2006, were destroyed. Investigations have begun but nothing so far has shown any relationship between the "yellow vests" movement and any of these anti-Semitic acts. The French government nevertheless continues accusing the "yellow vests" of being at least partly to blame.
When the French government, for instance, published statistics about anti-Semitic acts committed in 2018, and noted a 74% increase from the year before, the government spokesman linked this increase to the "disorders" that have been taking place in France, implicitly meaning to the "yellow vests".
Meanwhile, in a demonstration against anti-Semitism organized for February 19 by the Socialist Party and The Republic on the Move (the party created by Macron), fourteen parties agreed to participate. Marine Le Pen's National Rally, however, was excluded. The organizers said that as the National Rally belongs to the "extreme right", it cannot participate in a protest against the "fascist peril". Slogans included: "It's enough", "No to hate" and "Anti-Semitism is not France". Former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande took part. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe spoke of a "united France". A Muslim singer, Abd al Malik, was invited to sing the French anthem.
President Macron, during the event, was the Holocaust Memorial in Paris. The next day, he attended the annual dinner of the CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions) and gave a speech against "racist hatred". To make sure that his audience understood that he was talking about the "yellow vests", he used an expression he had used on December 31: "hate crowds".
The "yellow vests" movement continues to be described by members of the government as guilty of being anti-Semitic and "fascist" despite the minor detail that nothing proves any culpability in recent anti-Semitic acts. The "yellow vests" movement began only in November and therefore cannot be held responsible for the increase in the number of anti-Semitic acts for the whole of 2018. Small groups of anti-Semites who did try to infiltrate the demonstrations of "yellow vests" were quickly expelled. The "yellow vests" movement is fundamentally a movement against taxes that many French people consider arbitrary; it has nothing to do with either anti-Semitism or "fascism".
Anti-Semitism in France has been gaining momentum. In the last 15 years, eleven Jews were murdered in France by anti-Semitic killers, often in horrific ways. In a growing number of neighborhoods, everyday life for French Jews has become unlivable. Many who have the means have left France. Many who have not left have moved to more secure areas of the country. In the last two decades, 20% of French Jews (100,000 people) have emigrated, and tens of thousands have abandoned unsafe places, such as Seine-Saint-Denis, have relocated inside France.
Some journalists observed that a decision to mobilize people against a "fascist peril" -- and to unite almost all political parties while excluding the National Rally -- seemed like a political trick, unfair and biased. They emphasized that most of the anti-Semitic attacks and all the murders of Jews in France came not from members of the National Rally or "fascists", but from extremist Muslims.
Also on February 19, tens of thousands of people across France demonstrated against anti-Semitism. Those protests would certainly seem praiseworthy -- if they had no hidden agenda. Many commentators, however, seem to think that this was what was taking place.
Some community leaders stressed that the demonstration against anti-Semitism was a political operation aimed at demonizing the "yellow vests" to arouse fear of a non-existent peril in order to help Macron's Republic on the Move party win the European elections in May.
Other people noted that holding a demonstration which excluded the right-wing National Rally party was a move aimed at diverting attention from the real anti-Semitic danger. They also suggested that political parties which support the murderers of Jews were precisely those which deny that radical Islam is a danger. Television commentators pointed out that the government had largely ignored the "anti-Zionist" dimension of the insults addressed to Finkielkraut. They also noted that the presence among the demonstrators of parties, such as the French Communist Party, and Europe Ecology -- which support terrorists who murder Jews -- was a shock.
Gilles William Goldnadel, Honorary President of the France-Israel Association, published an article in Le Figaro stating:
"Making the yellow vests take the blame is an act cowardice [to avoid mentioning] Islamism.... Asking people to march against anti-Semitism while cynically rejecting political parties in the name of a fantasy anti-fascism, but accepting to be at the side of parties that support killers [of Jews] is outrageous... It is Islamism that kills Jews in France. We must not forget it. Since 1945, every drop of Jewish blood that has flowed in France was shed by Islamism".
MP Meyer Habib said that, "hypocrisy reaches new heights when parties that praise terrorist killers claim to fight against anti-Semitism." He enumerated in Parliament the list of Jews murdered in France and gave the names of their murderers, to show that all of them were radicalized Muslims. He added that the mobilization should be a mobilization against "radical Islam", not against "fascists".
In a television interview, the author Éric Zemmour defined the behavior of Macron and the government as a "masquerade of pyromaniac firefighters":
"They claim to fight against anti-Semitism by attacking imaginary fascists, and they do it in alliance with leftists who support anti-Semitic murderers, but they do nothing against the Islamization of France, which is the main source today of anti-Semitism in France...
"Macron and the government are accelerating the rise of Islamism by each year hosting in France hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants who come from countries where anti-Semitism is omnipresent, and continuing to repeat blindly that Islam is a religion of peace. They actively contribute to the rise of anti-Semitism by barely denouncing Muslim anti-Semitism."
Zemmour added: "Macron hates the yellow vests and wants them to vanish. He wants to win European elections and he needs the Muslim vote. He knows perfectly well who the anti-Semites are today, but will not attack them. He needs them. He attacks [only] those who are dangerous to him. "
He concluded that he thinks "Macron and the government could achieve their goals in the immediate future" -- meaning to defeat the yellow vests and win elections, but that the future of France looks bleak:
"Macron thinks the situation is under control. He is wrong. While he invokes fascism to smash the yellow vests and to win elections, an alliance is taking shape between the extreme left -- which seeks to recruit young suburban Muslims to fight against capitalism -- and Islamists, who are seeking allies to Islamize France. Macron thinks he is using Muslims; it is the artisans of Islamization who are using him."
Zemmour also referred to the man who had insulted Finkielkraut and had shouted "France is ours":
"Islamists have plans. They do not even hide saying it, but no one pays attention when they say it. A project of Islamic conquest is at work in France. This is what should worry the Jews." The journalist Ivan Rioufol, also using the word "masquerade," spoke of a fight led by the government against "almost non-existent fascists", and of the "use of the fight against anti-Semitism" to crush "an almost non-existent anti-Semitism" while sparing "the anti-Semitism that attacks and kills".
In a recent interview, Finkielkraut said, "If someone says: France belongs to us, that means: [to him,] France is destined to become Islamic soil."
In a text published on November 23, 2018 on one of the main French Muslim websites, islametinfo.fr, the French Islamist preacher Elias d'Imzalene wrote:
"It is up to us to give a political meaning to the revolt. The goal is not simply to challenge an increase in taxes, but the political system that induces it... Who is more legitimate than the political Muslim -- assuming his function of awakening the masses and refusing oppression -- to be the vanguard of the revolt?"
A documentary film, Under a False Identity, by the journalist Zvi Yehezkeli, showed in detail how some Islamist organizations are preparing to be the "vanguard of the revolt" and using all the opportunities available to take control of France. One of the people he interviewed, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in France, said that the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining ground, and can count on the help of the French government, which subsidizes its activities. The man waves documents at the camera to prove what he says. The print is visible. The film was never broadcast in France.
Back to Macron's speech at the CRIF dinner: He spoke briefly of "an anti-Semitism based on radical Islamism", but immediately -- and incorrectly: as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "Islam is Islam." -- defined "radical Islamism" as a "deformed religion" and not true Islam. He said just as briefly that "anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism", but that he would not call for a vote on a law to condemn anti-Zionism.
He immediately added that he intends to fight against "other hatreds: hatred against Muslims, racism in all its forms, anti-LGBT racism". He said that he will ban associations that "feed hatred". He then named three associations he intends to ban as soon as possible: a very small neo-fascist group, Social Bastion, and two extremely tiny Nazi groups, Blood & Honor Hexagon and Combat 18. He did not name any leftist, anti-fascist or Islamic group, even though they are evidently responsible for much of the violence committed at the end of the demonstrations of "yellow vests" and are easily identifiable: many have websites or street addresses.
Macron stated that "the foreign policy of France is known", but he failed to elaborate. He could not very well remind a Jewish audience that France is one of the main supporters of the Palestinian Authority, or that he had "regretted" Israel's decision to freeze the funds used by the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to reward murderers of Jews and their families, or that he had worked for months with Germany and the United Kingdom to create a trade mechanism intended to help Iran's of the mullahs, who often repeat that they intend to wipe Israel off the map.
On February 20, the fifteenth demonstration of the "yellow vests" took place in Paris without major incident. The police used a few explosive grenades but no one was hurt. There were no anti-Semitic attacks. A fully veiled woman, wearing a yellow vest on which anti-Jewish slogans were written, was asked by demonstrators to leave. She was in the company of some bearded men also wearing yellow vests. They all quietly left.
The next day, in the center of Paris, another demonstration was held. Pro-Palestinian advocates assembled to demand the release of "Palestinian political prisoners". They waved pictures of people who had been convicted of murdering Jews and were now in Israeli prisons, and signs on which were written, "Israel murders Palestinian children", "Destroy Israeli apartheid" and "Death to Israel". Macron and the French government do not seem to find the organizers of that demonstration problematic.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27 books on France and Europe.
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