English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 23/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.
Acts of the Apostles 18/1-11/:”After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together by trade they were tentmakers. Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshipper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.’ He stayed there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 22-23/2020

Pope Francis urges Catholic businessmen to develop a new economic order
Mass in France in memory of Lebanon's fallen martyrs on Independence Day
Aoun receives cable from Chinese President on 77th Independence anniversary
Pompeo Says U.S. 'Remains Committed' to Supporting Lebanese People
Al-Rahi Slams Clash over Ministerial Shares, Portfolios, Veto Power
Lebanon’s President Calls for Freeing Cabinet Formation from Infighting
Aoun’s tough stance threatens to further complicate govt formation
No Terror Detainees among Those who Fled Baabda Prison
Najem Says Judiciary May Compel BDL to Submit Documents
FPM MP Says U.S. was About to Hit Hariri with Sanctions
Lebanese Journalist Naufal Daou: All Corruption in Lebanon Stems from Iranian Occupation, Which Is manifest in Hizbullah’s Weapons
Lebanese Politician Walid Jumblatt On Beirut Port Explosion: Lebanese Authorities Knew About The Ammonium Nitrate Stockpile; It Had Been Used In The Syrian Regime's Barrel Bombs
In Lebanon, Army Courts Target Anti-Government Protesters
77 years later, Lebanon faces a grim reality/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab NewsNovember 22, 2020
Will Hariri be able to break the stalemate in Lebanon?/Sami Moubayed/Gulf News/November 22/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 22-23/2020

G20 Commits to Fair Distribution of Coronavirus Vaccines
Riyadh Summit Mobilizes G20 for Post-Pandemic World
U.S. Expects to Begin Covid Vaccinations in Early December
U.S. Sends Long-Range Bomber over Mideast in Show of Force
Iran Vows to Crush Any Israeli Attempt to Hit its ‘Advisory’ Role in Syria
Iran has a new warship packed with drones and missiles
Pompeo Touts Iran Policy in Gulf ahead of Biden Presidency
Pompeo: Iran Central Threat in Middle East, Pressure Will Continue
Iran’s Ghaani in Baghdad to Maintain Truce between Iraqi Factions, Washington
Assad Names Mekdad New FM, Jaafari Deputy FM
US, Global Coalition Vow to Support Local Authorities in Syria's Deir Ezzor
Turkey Says Ready to Deploy Troops to Azerbaijan
Turkey Sends New Military Reinforcements to Idlib
6 Arab Countries Take Part in Joint Military Drill in Egypt
Explosives placed by terrorists near Jerusalem over weekend
IDF strikes Hamas infrastructure in retaliation for rocket fire
Egyptian Officials Reject US Criticism over Recent Arrests of Activists
Nightmare Over but Iraqi Christians Still Dream of Leaving

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 22-23/2020

Remdesivir’s Failure Is a Warning for Covid-19 Vaccines/Timothy L. O'Brien/Bloomberg/November 22/2020
Are the American Media Legitimizing Terror Attacks in France?/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/November 22, 2020
Arab countries must be included in future Iran talks/Raghida Dergham/The National/November 22/2020
The balance of power between Iran and Israel/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 22, 2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 22-23/2020

Pope Francis urges Catholic businessmen to develop a new economic order
NNA/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Pope Francis urged young Catholic businessmen to "develop a new, fairer economic model that can save the world and help the poor and the marginalized."Speaking via a video message broadcast during a virtual meeting of young business leaders, the Pope encouraged them to bring about major changes in international economic relations. "You notice the urgent need for a different economic discourse," he said in his speech, which was translated into English. Pope Francis considered that "the current global order is certainly not sustainable from many perspectives and is harmful to the planet Earth, which is seriously maltreated and robbed, so are the underprivileged and marginalized who are alive in our conscience."

Mass in France in memory of Lebanon's fallen martyrs on Independence Day
NNA/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Lebanese Ambassador to France, Rami Adwan, participated this morning in a Mass service presided over by Maronite Archbishop in France and Europe, Maroun Nasser al-Jamil, which was held at the Saint Rafqa Chapel in the Archdiocese of the suburbs of Paris. The Mass was devoted to the memory of the martyrs of Lebanon marking the seventy-seventh anniversary of independence, where the attendance was limited to a small delegation from the Lebanese Embassy and church priests due to the quarantine imposed in France. It was also transmitted live via the Archdiocese website, where more than 2,000 people were able to follow.

Aoun receives cable from Chinese President on 77th Independence anniversary
NNA/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
President of the Republic Michel Aoun, on Sunday, received a cable from his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who congratulated him on the 77th anniversary of Lebanon's independence. "Since the beginning of this year, China has exchanged support with Lebanon in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Chinese side has done its utmost to help Lebanon face the Beirut port explosion, which reflects the deep and traditional friendship between the two countries," Jinping said in his cable. "I am keen on the Chinese-Lebanese relations and ready to work with your Excellency to deepen the cooperative relations between China and Lebanon for the benefit of the two countries and two peoples," he added. Finally, the Chinese President reiterated that China will always be ready to continue to assist Lebanon as much as possible in facing the challenges, in order to restore stability and reassurance the soonest possible.

Pompeo Says U.S. 'Remains Committed' to Supporting Lebanese People
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday pledged that the United States will continue to support the Lebanese people.
“Best wishes to the people of Lebanon on the republic’s 77th anniversary of independence,” he said in a tweet.“The United States stands by the people of Lebanon and remains committed to supporting them as they face unprecedented challenges,” Pompeo added.

Al-Rahi Slams Clash over Ministerial Shares, Portfolios, Veto Power
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for the formation of “an extraordinary salvation government that can revive the country and gain domestic, Arab and international confidence.”“All Lebanese have grown tired of waiting for a new government that relieves the country,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. He noted that “everyone knows that the formation process has been obstructed by the return to the chorus of shares, portfolios, the one-third veto power, the boosting of one camp and the marginalization of another.”The patriarch warned that “this approach has strengthened corruption and the theft and waste of public funds while plunging the state into collapse and bankruptcy.”

Lebanon’s President Calls for Freeing Cabinet Formation from Infighting
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on Saturday for “freeing” the government formation process from political infighting, saying unified criteria should be used by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. In a televised speech to mark Independence Day, Aoun said state-building requires an “effective and efficient government.”“Regional and international developments will have implications on Lebanon. It’s not up to one person or any government to unilaterally decide the policies that should be adopted in the new status quo,” he stressed. Aoun called for a national dialogue to discuss the regional changes and the developments taking place in the world. He said such talks would help put differences aside to come up with a unified stance that stops Lebanon from becoming a victim to regional agreements. He said that a forensic audit of the central bank was vital to combat corruption and that he would put it back on track following the withdrawal of the consultancy hired to do the audit. Aoun said "interest-driven roadblocks" had derailed the audit, which is a key condition for foreign donors to help Lebanon out of its deep financial crisis. "Our reality today is not promising," Aoun said, adding that Lebanon was a prisoner of corruption, political scheming and external dictations. "If we want statehood, then we must fight corruption ... and this begins by imposing the forensic financial audit," he stated, adding he would not "back off" on the issue. The caretaker finance minister announced on Friday that the restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal had pulled out of the audit because the central bank had not provided all the information required to carry out the task, citing bank secrecy.

Aoun’s tough stance threatens to further complicate govt formation
Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun has implicitly accused Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri of deviating from unified criteria in the formation of a new government, in a development that threatens to further complicate an already stalled Cabinet formation process.
Aoun’s accusation reflected an escalation by him and his son-in-law, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil, of their positions on the Cabinet formation process by insisting on naming most of the nine Christian ministers in Hariri’s proposed 18-member government of nonpartisan specialists to deliver urgent reforms deemed essential to unlocking promised international aid to the crises-ridden country.
The toughening of Aoun’s stance comes as Lebanon is facing multiple crises, including an economic meltdown and a crashing Lebanese pound that has lost more than 80 percent of its value since last year, putting half of the Lebanese population below the poverty line.
In addition to an alarming spike in coronavirus infections that prompted authorities to impose a two-week nationwide lockdown, Lebanon is also grappling with the grave consequences of the Aug. 4 deadly explosion that devastated Beirut Port, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands, left 300,000 people homeless and caused losses worth billions of dollars.
“Statehood, in its most basic components, needs an active and efficient government. Hasn’t the time come yet, under all the current pressing circumstances, to liberate the process of the formation of the government-to-be from polarizations and from hiding behind rescue initiatives to deviate from the unified rules and criteria that must be respected and implemented on everyone in order to straighten the formation and functioning of the executive branch?” Aoun said in a televised speech Saturday night on the eve of the 77th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence from France.
Aoun stressed that the next government would face the immediate task of enacting structural reforms, rebuilding Beirut and implementing the financial rescue plan. “Especially that this government has ahead of it missions that are labeled as immediate, urgent and rescue-oriented, most notably launching the workshop of pressing structural reforms, rebuilding Beirut and healing its wounds, developing the financial recovery plan and embodying it in laws and implementing decrees,” he said. There was no immediate comment from Hariri, who has imposed a shroud of secrecy and silence on the Cabinet formation process since he was designated to form a new government on Oct. 22. But a Future Movement MP Sunday denied that Hariri had departed from the unified criteria spelled out in the French initiative designed to steer Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.
“When Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he wants to form a government under the conditions set by the international community and the French initiative to help Lebanon, this means a government made up of nonpartisan, honest and efficient specialists. Hariri has said he will not deviate an inch from the French initiative which is the only opportunity for Lebanon,” MP Mohammad Hajjar told The Daily Star.
“When Hariri says this, this means the criteria are clear and defined: a government of nonpartisan and efficient specialists. Anyone who does not want this kind of government and wants to return to the old approaches [in the Cabinet formation] that had brought the country to the current situation, must bear responsibility for what the country will be like if, God forbid, a new government is not formed,” Hajjar said. Asked if Aoun’s remarks marked an escalation of his position on the Cabinet formation, he said: “The remarks are inaccurate and do not reflect the reality of the situation.”
Hariri, according to Future officials, is insisting on naming all ministers in agreement with the president.
In addition to rival parties’ struggle for public-services-related ministries, the problem of Christian representation is posing a major bone of contention between Aoun and Hariri. Aoun and Bassil have also demanded that the rotation of the sectarian leadership of the four “sovereign ministries” be applied to all the parties. This was an indirect jab at Hariri who earlier said he agreed to assigning the Finance Ministry to the Shiite sect only for one time – a key demand of the two main Shiite groups, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah. In his speech, Aoun vowed not to back off from the battle against endemic corruption in the public administration, largely blamed for the economic crisis. He also pledged to revive a forensic audit of the Central Bank’s accounts, seen vital to combating corruption. Aoun lamented that this year has been packed with all sorts of crises and hardships that have reflected adversely on the lives of all the Lebanese, whether on their livelihoods, their lifetime savings or the future of their children. “Yes, our reality today is not promising ... Today, our country is a prisoner of a system of political, financial and administrative corruption, covered by all kinds of legalized confessional, sectarian and social shields, to the extent that corruption has become a culture and a philosophy, having its own preachers, justifiers and defenders,” Aoun said.He said "interest-driven roadblocks" had derailed the forensic audit of the Central Bank, which is a key condition for foreign donors to help Lebanon out of its financial woes.
“If we want statehood, it is inevitable to fight corruption because no powerful and active state can stand tall in light of corruption, and this begins by imposing the forensic financial audit,” Aoun said.
Caretaker finance Minister Ghazi Wazni announced Friday that the restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal had pulled out of the audit because the Central Bank had not provided all the information and documents required to carry out the task, citing a banking secrecy law.
“I will not pull out or part with my battle against the endemic corruption in our institutions,” Aoun said. “I will not back off in the issue of forensic financial audit, no matter what the obstacles may be, and I will take the necessary measures to re-launch its financial track.”

No Terror Detainees among Those who Fled Baabda Prison
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
There are no terror detainees among the dozens of prisoners who have escaped from the Baabda prison, an informed security source said.
“Most of the escapees are Lebanese but they also include Syrians and Iraqis,” the source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.
“The escapees were detainees, which means that they have not been put on trial yet,” the source added, noting that “some of them are charged with dangerous crimes and others with misdemeanors, but none of them is charged with terror-related offenses.”
The Internal Security Forces meanwhile announced that 25 of the 69 escapees have been arrested while five others died when a taxi they stole crashed into a tree. “Security forces are exerting intensive and relentless efforts to re-incarcerate all the escapees,” the ISF added.
Municipal authorities called on residents to be on alert as the ISF released pictures of the escapees. Prosecutor Ghada Aoun has ordered an immediate investigation in the breakout. Speaking to AFP, she said she did not rule out the possibility of "collusion between the detainees and security guards tasked with protecting their cells." Judge Fadi Akiki, a government representative at the military court, held a meeting with security officials after inspecting the detention facility and site of the car crash.
Relatives of the inmates gathered outside the detention center, located in Baabda's Justice Palace, where some were awaiting trial. Some asked about the fate of their relatives, while others handed their sons back into custody, according to an AFP photographer. They include Joumana Berjawi, whose 22-year-old son escaped after being held for six months on charges of attempted murder -- a charge she denies. "My son was among the escapees, but I brought him back and handed him over to the state," Berjawi told AFP.
The jailbreak comes as detainees across Lebanon have called on parliament to approve a draft general amnesty law, that would see thousands of them freed from coronavirus-hit prisons. Lebanon has recorded over 113,000 Covid-19 cases including 884 deaths since the outbreak began in February.
The country is currently under lockdown until the end of the month to stem an uptick in infections.

Najem Says Judiciary May Compel BDL to Submit Documents
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
There is a possibility to seek the judiciary’s intervention in order to oblige the central bank to submit the documents requested for a forensic audit into its accounts, caretaker Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najem has said. “It is necessary not to back down from the forensic audit,” Najem said in a TV interview. “Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is taking bank secrecy and Article 151 as an excuse” not to submit the documents and “this is an incorrect stance,” the minister added. “There is a possibility to go to the judiciary to compel Banque du Liban to submit the requested information,” Najem went on to say. “We won’t accept for an institution to be stronger than the state,” she added. Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni had announced Friday that a New-York-based company contracted by the Lebanese government to conduct the forensic audit had decided to pull out of the deal because it was not able to acquire requested information and documents. The announcement by Alvarez & Marsal deals a major blow to those hoping for accountability in a country mired in corruption and a crippling economic and financial crisis. A forensic audit has been a key demand by the International Monetary Fund and international donors who have said that they will not give money to Lebanon before major reforms are implemented to fight corruption and widespread waste in state institutions. Wazni added that the Lebanese government had recently asked the company to stay for another three months in order for the state to provide it with all the information and documents needed. "I was surprised when I received their statement," Wazni said, adding that Alvarez & Marsal agreed last week to give the Lebanese state three more months. "I find it odd. They should not have accepted the extension last week," he said. Wazni added that work has been underway to amend the banking secrecy law in order to facilitate the work of the New York-based company. He said legislators have started preparing draft laws and that the government was also working to amend the banking secrecy laws for Alvarez & Marsal.
The banking secrecy laws, once a mainstay of Lebanon's banking system, had attracted clients from around the Arab world who prized the anonymity its banks offered.

FPM MP Says U.S. was About to Hit Hariri with Sanctions
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
The United States was about to impose sanctions Friday on PM-designate Saad Hariri before postponing its decision, a Free Patriotic Movement lawmaker said on Sunday. “Sanctions were about to be imposed on Hariri Friday in connection with the government formation issue because Washington does not want Hizbullah” in the new government, Strong Lebanon bloc MP Georges Atallah told LBCI TV. “The Americans give several deadlines but they eventually impose sanctions if these deadlines don’t work,” Atallah added.
Noting that there are “domestic and foreign obstacles” hindering the formation of the new government, the MP said the FPM wants a full rotation of ministerial portfolios.

Lebanese Journalist Naufal Daou: All Corruption in Lebanon Stems from Iranian Occupation, Which Is manifest in Hizbullah’s Weapons
MEMRI/November 22/2020/Source: Al-Arabiya Network (Dubai/Saudi Arabia)
Lebanese journalist and activist Naufal Daou said in a November 16, 2020 interview on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) that Lebanon is under an Iranian occupation that is similar to Germany’s occupation of France in World War II. He elaborated that Hizbullah serves Iran much like Marshal Pétain served the Germans in Vichy France. Daou also said that the corruption and lack of political life and democracy in Lebanon all stem from the Iranian occupation. He argued and that the only way to save Lebanon is to remove the Iranian occupation, which is manifest in Hizbullah’s weapons. For more about Naufal Daou, see MEMRITV clips No. 7405 and No. 6116.

Lebanese Politician Walid Jumblatt On Beirut Port Explosion: Lebanese Authorities Knew About The Ammonium Nitrate Stockpile; It Had Been Used In The Syrian Regime's Barrel Bombs
MEMRI.November 22/2020/Source: Russia Today TV (Russia)
Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said in a November 9, 2020 interview on Russia Today that the investigation into the Beirut port explosion can lead nowhere because the authorities had been aware of the ammonium nitrate stockpile in the port. He said that this ammonium nitrate had been brought to Beirut by the Syrian government and had been used by the Al-Assad regime in the barrel bombs that were dropped in the battle of Homs. In addition, he expressed the view that it is not possible for the Syrian refugees to return to Syria because the Al-Assad regime deliberately banished them. Jumblatt added that Al-Assad is pleased that he got rid of "surplus population," especially Sunnis. Interviewer: "To the best of your knowledge, where does the investigation into the Beirut port explosion – or bombing – stand?" Walid Jumblatt: "It has not and will not lead to any result. It is impossible, because all the governments since 2014, which were in charge of Beirut port, the customs, and so on, have known about the ammonium nitrate stockpile that exploded in the Beirut port. Two days ago, I clearly stated that this ammonium nitrate had been brought to Beirut by the Syrian regime, I believe, when the war was still raging in Syria. The Beirut port was the most convenient location to bring these materials, which were used – as you know – in the barrel bombs, that were brought from Beirut to Syria during the decisive battle at Homs, which caused the separation between Latakia and Damascus.
"I don't believe anything. The ship came, and it sank in Beirut. It came from Georgia, I think. The captain disappeared or died. This is all a conspiracy theory. What's important is that the ship arrived [in Beirut] during the Syrian Civil War, while the national opposition had the upper hand in Homs. The ship was brought to Beirut in order to equip the Syrian helicopters with barrel bombs. These materials were used in the barrels to destroy the Syrian villages and cities. This is my political view, and I leave the analysis to the experts. We have plenty of them, thank God."
Interviewer: "In your opinion, what will be the fate of the Syrian refugees? People are talking about the need for them to return to their country, and about them being a big part of the economic crisis, and about the tragic conditions in which they live. How do you view the issue of the Syrian refugees?"
Jumblatt: "How will they go back, after Assad has destroyed entire villages and cities, in order to expel them to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and the West? Tell me how they would return. Does Assad even want them to return? After all, he has said that Syria has restored its natural balance, which means that the population surplus

In Lebanon, Army Courts Target Anti-Government Protesters
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Khaldoun Jaber was taking part in an anti-government protest near the presidential palace outside Beirut last November when several Lebanese intelligence officers in plainclothes approached and forcibly took him away. The demonstration was part of a wave of protests sweeping Lebanon against corruption and misrule by a group of politicians who have monopolized power since the country´s civil war ended three decades ago. Jaber didn´t know it then, but Lebanese security forces targeted him because of his social media posts criticizing President Michel Aoun. What followed were 48 harrowing hours of detention during which security officers interrogated him and subjected him to physical abuse, before letting him go. "I was beaten, harmed psychologically and morally," Jaber said. "Three of my teeth were broken and I lost 70% of my hearing in my left ear."
"I am still traumatized," he added. A year after mass protests roiled Lebanon, dozens of protesters are being tried before military courts, proceedings that human rights lawyers say grossly violate due process and fail to investigate allegations of torture and abuse. Defendants tried before the military tribunal say the system is used to intimidate protesters and prop up Lebanon´s sectarian rulers.
Around 90 civilians have been referred to the military justice system so far, according to Legal Agenda, a human rights group based in Beirut. "We expect many more people to be prosecuted," said Ghida Frangieh, a lawyer with the group.
The trials underscore the growing perils of activism in Lebanon, where a string of court cases and judicial investigations against journalists, as well as smear campaigns and intimidation to silence critics, has eroded the country's reputation for free speech and tolerance in a largely autocratic Arab world.
Frangieh said that security forces arrested around 1,200 people from the beginning of the anti-government uprising in October 2019 through the end of June. Lebanese authorities have prosecuted around 200 of them, including those referred to the military judiciary, the monitoring group has found.
Two months after his arrest, Jaber received an official notice saying military prosecutors were charging him with assaulting security forces at the Baabda Palace when the plainclothes agents detained him.
"I was shocked when I was called to the military tribunal," Jaber said.
The trial did not take place until Oct. 7, when the military court declared Jaber innocent of assaulting security officers, which is a military crime under Lebanese law, but said it lacked jurisdiction over a second charge, that of insulting the president. Like Jaber, many detained protesters only find out a month or more after their release that authorities have referred them to military courts. Many of these cases were scheduled for hearings this November and December, Frangieh said, before a two-week nationwide lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic temporarily closed the courts.
Jaber´s case is an example of how military prosecutors try to claim jurisdiction over civilian cases by usually filing more than one charge, including one that is a military crime, said Frangieh, who represents protesters before the military tribunal and is also part of the Lawyers´ Committee for Defense of Protesters.
"There was no evidence," Frangieh said about Jaber's charge of assaulting security officers. "He was kidnapped during a protest, but he was actually targeted because of his social media posts that criticized the president."
The military prosecutor´s office closed, without investigation, a torture complaint that Jaber had submitted, she added.
According to Legal Agenda, the military courts usually issue summary decisions on the same day of the trial, without issuing an explanation.
"There´s really a lot of doubt about the fairness and arbitrariness of the decisions issued by the court," she said, adding that when defendants are sentenced, the legal basis of the conviction is not immediately shared with their lawyers. Military prosecutors often neglect to read the full case files prepared from military intelligence reports, or abruptly drop or change charges during trials, according to Frangieh and another lawyer with the committee representing protesters, Ayman Raad. "Military courts have no business trying civilians," said Aya Majzoub, a researcher with Human Rights Watch. The international rights group has called on Lebanon's parliament to end the troubling practice by passing a law to entirely remove civilians from the military court's jurisdiction. Georges Abou Fadel was summoned for a military trial on Oct. 30, after he was detained during a protest a year ago in the town of Beit Mery, east of Beirut. During his trial, the military prosecutor asked the judge for time to read the case report, then asked to change the charge against Abou Fadel from assaulting security forces to the lesser charge of nonviolently resisting arrest.
The court found him innocent but Abou Fadel said he wasn´t relieved, knowing there´ll be more trials "for my friends, for the people protesting, for anyone who is trying to call for his rights."Lawyers, rights activists, and defendants describe the military tribunals' prosecution of protesters and other civilians as another node in the web of Lebanon's sectarian system that protects the power of its top politicians rather than the rights of citizens. "This is one of the tools used by the sectarian parties," said Abou Fadel - keeping their people loyal through fear of the military courts. Many of the judges at the military tribunal are appointed by the defense ministry, which undermines the tribunal´s judicial independence, according to rights activists. The head of the military tribunal is customarily Shiite, while the chief military prosecutor is Maronite Christian.
Reforming the Lebanese judicial system is "one of the most important demands" of the anti-government protesters, Raad said, including ending military trials for civilians. Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm did not respond to a request for comment. Lebanese officials typically do not address the question of why civilian cases are being tried in the military court system. Security forces have denied beating and torturing protesters and activists in detention. On Nov. 13, Jad Al Rayess was fined 200,000 Lebanese Pounds ($132) by a military court, 11 months after security forces detained him at a protest on Beirut´s Ring Road. The court has not yet released a statement with the charge for which he was convicted. The 32-year-old said that he plans to emigrate from Lebanon. "We are not going to get any progress without blood, and that´s nothing I want to be involved in," he said.

77 years later, Lebanon faces a grim reality
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab NewsNovember 22, 2020
Nov. 22 was Lebanon’s 77th Independence Day. While the country is supposed to have been celebrating its birth, Lebanon is facing a grim reality: Like many failed states it is held hostage by a corrupt elite. Alvarez & Marsal, the firm mandated with conducting a forensic audit of the Central Bank of Lebanese, pulled out of the deal due to the reluctance of Lebanese officials to provide necessary information. Its withdrawal puts the last nail in the coffin of aid for Lebanon by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or any other organization.
Though the Lebanese president rushed to say that he would revive the audit to fight “corruption,” any sane observer knows that any audit and any reform is not possible with the current political configuration.
The political class, currently in survival mode, was faced with two choices. The first was the audit to expose corrupt politicians; the other path was to let the country sink. They chose the second option, under the lame excuse that the audit breached banking secrecy laws.
While foreign analysts naively divide Lebanese politicians into “good guys” and “bad guys,” in reality they are all one and the same, bound by a power-sharing agreement. This is why, though Saad Hariri is supposedly in the opposite camp to Hezbollah, the Shi’ite group has tacitly supported his candidacy by saying it would facilitate his government’s formation without directly nominating him. They know he will cover their back. Their ally, the Amal Movement, explicitly nominated Hariri for the job. The political elite is still hanging on to power as they know that there is no way out for them. The only guarantee for their survival is to remain in power. The corruption and embezzlement they have committed over 30 years will come back to haunt them if they ever leave.
The country needs a transitional government from outside the traditional political elite that will conduct reforms, restore stolen public funds, and prepare for new parliamentary elections.
On this, France and the US have diverging policies. The French want a quick fix in which the same political structure is reproduced with cosmetic reforms. The Americans, on the other hand, have had enough of the useless elite that has done nothing but blackmail the international community. They want them gone. The problem is that the elite has no scruples, and will take the entire country with it should they fall. They see poverty spreading, people struggling, the state institutions losing their ability to provide the minimum level of services to the average citizen, but they don’t care.
Saad Hariri has the designation in his pocket and is showing no rush to form a government of specialists, which he promised the Lebanese people. He is guaranteed his slice of the pie and he is just waiting for some regional dynamics to flip the cards in his favor.
The Lebanese political elite knows it is in a checkmate position. However, it wants to delay its departure as long as it can. They are threatening the Lebanese, as well as the international community, with chaos, but neither seems convinced. Despite the fatigue, the Lebanese people still reject them. Lebanon is deadlocked as the elites remain unmoved by popular discontent.
The proper way to effect change is for civil society to get organized and prepare itself for the upcoming elections in two years. But Lebanon is nearing a total social and economic collapse. It cannot wait for another two years. The World Bank is disbursing a small amount of money for the severely affected people. This is like putting a Band-Aid on a wound that requires major surgery.
The nongovernmental organizations are also active in helping the Lebanese people, but again, those small initiatives cannot replace major reforms that the country needs in order to stand on its feet again, and there is no guarantee that they will be able to sustain the country for another two years. Hence, the country needs a transitional government from outside the traditional political elite that will conduct reforms, restore stolen public funds, and prepare for new parliamentary elections.
The million-dollar question is: How can this transition be achieved? The solution comes when the politicians realize that they have nowhere left to turn. In this respect, international pressure is essential. US sanctions have already hit three politicians and more are to come. But though vital, that pressure alone is insufficient. Pressure on the street is necessary to make change happen.
Amid all this, the most difficult obstacle remains Hezbollah. It is backed by Iran and by the Assad regime; it is the most organized group, and is sufficiently armed to start a civil war. Unless the regional dynamics change, it will be close to impossible to outmaneuver Hezbollah. Hence, the crux of the matter boils down to the type of pressure that should be imposed on it and its patrons, and the deal that should come with it to compel the group to allow such a transition.

* Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese NGO focused on Track II. She is also an affiliate scholar with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

Will Hariri be able to break the stalemate in Lebanon?
Sami Moubayed/Gulf News/November 22/2020
The US sanctions that were announced this month against Gibran Basil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) may have come as a blessing-in-disguise for Prime Minister-designate Saad Al Hariri, who has been struggling to form a government since mid-October. Many opine that it enables Hariri to free himself from any obligation towards Basil, who has been insisting on Cabinet Office for himself, given that he is head of the largest bloc in Parliament, with a total of 23 seats. Basil has been eager to restore some of his injured pride, after being forced out of office by the October Revolt of 2019. Back then, young Lebanese had taken out their anger against Basil, accusing him of nepotism.
His insistence on a comeback is often accompanied by reference to a 2016 agreement between Hariri and his father-in-law, President Michel Aoun, which brought the latter to the presidency in exchange for making Hariri prime minister. Members of the Hariri team argue, however, that the 2016 understanding applied to Aoun only and not to his son-in-law. Now with the US sanctions, Hariri has enough reason to apologise politely to Basil, claiming that making him minister would not be feasible.
But in addition to the Basil dilemma, which seems to have been solved, there are other sources of friction between Hariri and the FPM, explaining why the cabinet talks are going nowhere. Aoun is making claims to the interior ministry, which has traditionally bee held by a Sunni member of Hariri’s Future Movement. Rotation of government office and doing away with preset quotas is a main pillar of the French initiative, after all, announced by President Emmanuel Macron during his back-to-back visits to Lebanon in August and September.
Hariri is saying that he is willing to give the post to a Christian member of his own Future Movement but not to the FPM, who already control defence and foreign affairs. Hariri’s team has hinted that he would be willing to relinquish the portfolio of interior in exchange for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Aoun refuses to cede. There is also disagreement over the portfolio of energy, which is also being claimed by both Hariri and Aoun. They had originally agreed to name a compromise candidate to the post, but the president has backed out on that understanding, insisting on his exclusive rights to the Ministry of Energy, which plays an increasingly important role in light of the UN-sponsored maritime talks, aimed at diluting differences over Lebanon’s natural resources. The Ministry of Energy has been held by the Aounists since 2009.
Christian representation
Aoun is also saying that he is entitled to naming all Christian ministers, putting forth names that are either affiliated with his son-in-law or who are nominated directly by him. The Aounists are also making claim to all seats previously occupied by their Christian rivals in the Lebanese Forces (LF), being administrative development, social affairs, labour, and the deputy premiership. During Hariri’s third cabinet, the Aounists and their Christian affiliates had held ten out of thirty portfolios, while the LF controlled no more than four.
The LF has pulled all of its MPs from parliament after the Beirut port explosion of 4 August, making Hariri and Aoun under no obligation to bring them on-board the new government, since they are technically no longer a powerful bloc in Parliament. They have also parted ways with Hariri, who is a former ally and friend of their leader Samir Gagegea. The LF also accuse Hariri of breaking Lebanon’s promise to France, by applying the preset quota for political parties and sects, which runs contrary to the Macron initiative.
Hariri is very wary of bring Hezbollah-affiliated Christian figures on-board his new government, however, especially after sanctions were slapped on Gibran Basil earlier this month. What if he names a minister who is sanctioned by the Trump Administration anywhere between now and 20 January 2021? These are questions to which the prime minister-designate does not have answers, also explaining the lack of progress on cabinet formation.
To date, the only parties that have been fully accommodated by Saad Al Hariri are Hezbollah and Amal, who combined control 29 seats in Parliament. In exchange for supporting his comeback, they had put forth a series of conditions, like refusing to increase taxes or lift state subsidise, getting to name all Shiite ministers and keeping the Ministry of Finance in the hands of Amal, while giving Hezbollah the ministry of health. That is if a small cabinet is formed of 18 ministers but if it is expanded to 20-24, then each Shiite party will get to name two ministers.
Hezbollah has tried, with little luck, to obtain the portfolio of public works which will be charged with rebuilding the port of Beirut — and the entire city — when and if reconstruction begins. Hariri has apologised, saying that if they are accommodated on that request, then this might trigger an angry response from the Americans, possibly sanctioning the entire ministry. Hezbollah and Amal seem to have accepted that argument. With the country at an interesting crossroad, it remains to be seen what the next step of Hariri will be?
*Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and former Carnegie scholar. He is also author of Under the Black Flag: At the frontier of the New Jihad.
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 22-23/2020

G20 Commits to Fair Distribution of Coronavirus Vaccines
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
G20 leaders said Sunday they will "spare no effort" to ensure the fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide, and support poor countries whose economies have been ravaged by the crisis. After a virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia they said in a closing statement: "We have mobilized resources to address the immediate financing needs in global health to support the research, development, manufacturing and distribution of safe and effective Covid-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines."

Riyadh Summit Mobilizes G20 for Post-Pandemic World
Riyadh – Mohammed al-Hamidi, Abdulhadi Habtor and Mohammed al-Ayedh/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Saudi Arabia stressed on Saturday the need for joint cooperation to confront the novel coronavirus and prepare for the post-pandemic world.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz underscored the need to exert international efforts to overcome the crisis, urging G20 leaders to work towards affordable and equitable access to vaccines and other tools to combat the pandemic.
King Salman inaugurated the virtual G20 Leaders Summit on Saturday. It is the first time the world’s premier economic event is being held in the Arab world. In his opening remarks, he described 2020 as an “extraordinary year,” urging the leaders of the G20 major economies to address the vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and rise to the challenge together. “This has been an extraordinary year. The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented shock that affected the entire world within a short period of time, causing global economic and social losses,” he said.
“We will do our best to overcome this crisis through international cooperation,” he vowed. “We all pledged at the onset of the crisis, over 21 billion dollars to support the global efforts to combat this pandemic. We also took extraordinary measures to support our economies by injecting over 11 trillion dollars to support individuals and businesses,” he told the world leaders. “We also extended our social safety nets to protect those prone to losing their jobs or source of income. To this end, we have provided emergency support to the developing countries, including the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative to low-income countries,” the King added. He called for addressing the vulnerabilities exposed by the coronavirus crisis “while working to protect lives and livelihoods.” Other world leaders speaking at the opening of the summit underscored the need for solidarity and unity during these challenging times.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for searching for a joint approach to build global economic and business ties. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson underscored London’s commitment to fairly distribute any vaccine it produces to the world. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country will assume the 2021 G20 Presidency, urged unity and solidarity amid the global challenges. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said cooperation is the only way to overcome the pandemic and its repercussions. Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stressed the need for collective international efforts and cooperation to overcome the crisis in the fastest way possible and with the least losses. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the pandemic has added more responsibilities on the G20 and increased its importance.

U.S. Expects to Begin Covid Vaccinations in Early December
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
The United States hopes to begin a sweeping program of Covid vaccinations in early December, the head of the government coronavirus vaccine effort said Sunday. "Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours of approval" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Moncef Slaoui told CNN. "So I expect maybe on Day Two of the approval, on the 11th or the 12th of December." FDA vaccine advisors reportedly will meet December 8 to 10 to discuss approving vaccines which Pfizer and Moderna say are at least 95 percent effective.

U.S. Sends Long-Range Bomber over Mideast in Show of Force
Naharnet/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
The U.S. has sent a long-range bomber on a short notice into the Middle East in a show of force that aims to “reassure U.S. partners and allies.” “U.S. Air Force B-52H ‘Stratofortress’ aircrews assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, N.D. (North Dakota), conducted a short-notice, long-range mission into the Middle East on Nov. 21 to deter aggression and reassure U.S. partners and allies,” a U.S. Central Command statement said. “The non-stop mission demonstrates the U.S. military’s ability to deploy combat airpower anywhere in the world on short notice and integrate into CENTCOM operations to help preserve regional stability and security,” the statement added. “The ability to quickly move forces into, out of and around the theater to seize, retain and exploit the initiative is key to deterring potential aggression. These missions help bomber aircrews gain familiarity with the region’s airspace and command and control functions and allow them to integrate with the theater’s U.S. and partner air assets, increasing the combined force’s overall readiness,” said Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, 9th Air Force (Air Forces Central) commander. During the mission, the bomber aircrews integrated with air operations centers and other AFCENT assets such as F-15E “Strike Eagles,” F-16 “Fighting Falcons,” KC-10 “Extenders” and KC-135 “Stratotankers,” the statement added. “CENTCOM is committed to preserving and protecting the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce throughout the region. The United States does not seek conflict, but continues to be postured and committed to respond to any contingency around the world,” the statement said. The last U.S. long-range bomber presence in the Middle East was in early 2020.
 

Iran Vows to Crush Any Israeli Attempt to Hit its ‘Advisory’ Role in Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Iran on Sunday vowed to defeat any Israeli attempt to harm its role in Syria, saying the era of "hit and run" attacks by Israel there was over, days after Israel carried out air strikes on Syrian army and Iranian paramilitary targets in the country. Israel, which views Tehran as its biggest security threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets and those of allied militia in Syria, where Tehran has backed president Bashar Assad and his forces against opposition factions and militants since 2012. On Wednesday, an Israeli military spokesman said eight targets were attacked, including an Iranian headquarters at Damascus international airport and a "secret military site" that served as a "hosting facility for senior Iranian delegations when they come to Syria to operate". Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khateebzadeh told a virtual weekly news conference: "The Zionist regime (Israel) is well aware that the era of hit and run is over and therefore they are very cautious."Iran denies having military forces in Syria and says it has sent commandos to the country as military advisers. Tehran says it will provide military advisers to Syria for as long as necessary. "Iran's presence in Syria is advisory and naturally if anyone disrupts this advisory presence, our response will be a crushing one," Khatibzadeh said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said at least 10 people, including five Iranians from the Quds Force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran’s own borders, were killed during the attack. "I do not confirm the martyrdom of Iranian forces in Syria," "Khatibzadeh said.

Iran has a new warship packed with drones and missiles
The Jerusalem Post/November 22/2020
Iran unveiled a new ship over the weekend called the Shahid Roudaki. It is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was given a spotlight at Bandar Abbas port near the strategic Straits of Hormuz on Thursday. The ship is so interesting to Iran watchers that the United States Naval Institute ran a story about it. On its surface this is just a transport ship, but Iran has crowded its deck with all sorts of weapons to show off what it can do. According to aerial photos and description the ship has been packed with multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) that are mounted on fast boats. There is also an advanced 3rd Khordad air defense system and helicopters, as well as drones and anti-ship missiles. It’s a floating armory, or a floating “bazarr” as one report noted. The Bell 412 helicopter appears to be one of those old American helicopters that Iran has because it once had a bell helicopter Textron factory under the Shah. The 3rd Khordad system is more recent. It was used to down a $200 million American Global Hawk drone in June 2019. The six Ababil drones, noted in the photo, are part of Iran’s expanding drone arsenal. Iran used drones and cruise missiles to attack Saudi Arabia in September 2019. Iran has also sent drones to Syria and used them to threaten Israel and provided them to Hezbollah. According to H.I Sutton, who wrote the USNI news piece, the ship has four Qader anti-ship missiles, the Iranian version of the Chinese C-802. The ship is 492 feet long and 72 feet wide. It also has a 23 mm anti-aircraft guns. “It seems unlikely that these systems would be arrayed like this in normal operations. The small boats may be a common feature, but the other systems appear only representative of her potential capability and role,” Sutton writes. The assessment is that this ship is capable of long range missions and support.
Iran has a relatively weak navy. It relies on the IRGC fast boats to harass US ships. The US warned the fast boats to stop harassing American ships in the spring and US President Donald Trump threatened to sink the Iranian ships. Iran has been training recently against a mock US aircraft carrier, a giant model it keeps sinking and strafing to show off. But Iran’s navy is no match for the American Fifth Fleet.
The US Navy’s Nimitz Carrier Strike Group recently left the Persian Gulf to train with Japan, India and Australia for a drill called Malabar. The US is increasingly working with India on regional security. India is also a close partner of Israel and the UAE. US carriers can be at sea for a very long time. The Abraham Lincoln was at sea for 295 days, during which it also went to the US 5th Fleet base in Bahrain. US ships such as the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and USNS Wally Schirra and USS Winston Churchill are in the area as well.  Even though the US Navy has immense firepower, the new Iranian ship is still an asymmetric threat. Sutton writes in a separate post at Covert Shores “in fact while the IRGC-N has been limited to local operations in the Persian Gulf, the IRGC as a whole is active further afield. They have interests in Syria for example. So she may turn up in the Mediterranean to support IRGC efforts ashore. Or provide intelligence to proxy forces in conflicts which Iran is technically not involved in.” This might involve supporting the Houthis in Yemen, for instance. Other experts, such as Jeremy Binnie of Janes Defense Weekly, noted that the new Iranian ship is likely a ship built in Italy in 1992 once called Galaxy F. He pointed out online that it carries a 2031 Radar unit that is used to “support long-range anti-ship missiles.” Could this be a forward base for the IRGC, or part of an expeditionary unit? It was provided to the IRGC likely to harass Iran’s foes. That could be Gulf states or Israel or the US. Iran has provided the Houthis with drones and ballistic missiles to attack Riyadh in recent years. The US Navy helped intercept three of these shipments over the years. The US also maintains what is called by those in the know, the “petting zoo” in Washington where captured Iranian missiles and drones provided to the Houthis are shown to experts. Furthermore, Iran has been building new drones. It has showcased drones armed with missiles in September and it has shown off a new train capable of carrying ballistic missiles on November 5. An arms embargo on Iran ended last month and Iran says it may soon be exporting weapons. Also Iran recently began working with North Korea again on missile development, US reports indicated in October. Iran has also shown off a new Pars satellite it wants to launch. Tal Inbar, an expert on aerospace technology, has tweeted images noting Iran’s Sejil missile put on a launcher and also reports about the deputy head of Iran’s Space Research Center Jafar Salehi announcing plans for a new launch of a 100kg satellite. The satellite may be for telecommunications. Iran launched its first military satellite in April. Video of the ship was put online on November 19. Clearly Iran is sending yet another message to the region that it has the indigenous technology to build numerous weapons. Reports that this was an “aircraft carrier” style of ship were a bit exaggerated, but this new Iranian ship certainly gives the country more options at sea. Iran has done joint training with Russia and Iran at sea, a message to the West and Gulf that it has allies in far away places. Israel struck Iranian IRGC Quds Force sites in Syria on November 18. Israel said it was sending a message to Iran and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran against entrenching in Syria. Iran is now entrenching at sea it seems.

Pompeo Touts Iran Policy in Gulf ahead of Biden Presidency
Associated Press/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended his tour of Gulf Arab states and the Trump administration's continued efforts to squeeze Iran, even as a new U.S. administration led by Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House in January. Although Pompeo has not taken questions from U.S.-based reporters traveling with him over the past 10 days, he sat down with the Saudi-owned broadcaster Al-Arabiya in Dubai for brief televised remarks Sunday. "Our policies don't change. Our duty doesn't change. My responsibilities don't change," he said. "I still have an obligation -- every hour, every minute -- to defend the American people and to keep them foremost in our efforts, and we'll do that. We'll do that to the very last minute." In what was likely his final tour of the Gulf as secretary of state, he touted the Trump administration's Mideast strategy that focused on Iran as "the central threat inside the region" and for a maximum pressure campaign that hampered Iran's ability to support militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. "It'll be our policy until our time is complete," he said, stopping short of saying when he'd cease work as the top U.S. diplomat.
President Donald Trump has refused to concede to Biden, despite the Trump campaign's futile efforts to block the certification of votes in various states. The Trump administration is attempting to ramp up pressure on Iran before Biden takes office as president. Biden has said he wants to return to rapprochement with Iran. Analysts say Biden is expected to be more willing to engage the Iranians in order to avoid major escalation, although he's likely to press Tehran on its missile program and not just its nuclear program.
Trump is viewed favorably by Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for pulling the U.S out of a nuclear accord with Iran and reimposing sweeping sanctions that have drained Iran of vital oil revenue.
Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia late Sunday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before heading back to Washington. His tour also included stops in France, Turkey and Israel, including an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and a museum that honors Christian Zionists.
Trump was recently talked back from moving ahead with a military strike on Iran's main nuclear site by advisors who included Pompeo, according to a New York Times report. When asked about this, a State Department official traveling with Pompeo told reporters that "all options are on the table" and that the Trump administration "will continue to pursue its policies until it's not in office anymore." Pompeo started his Gulf tour in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi early Saturday, meeting the emirate's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, who's seen as the day-to-day ruler and the powerful figure behind the country's major policy decisions. The State Department said they discussed the progress of the UAE's decision to normalize ties with Israel -- a move that was followed by Bahrain and Sudan. They also discussed "security cooperation and countering Iran's malign influence in t
Pompeo "also underscored the importance of Gulf unity." The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt have largely balked at U.S. efforts to reconcile with Qatar, which they accuse of sponsoring terrorism and backing violent Islamist groups across the region. The quartet cut ties with Qatar in mid-2017 and have demanded the gas-rich Arab state shutter its flagship Al-Jazeera news network among other demands, which Qatar has rejected outright, along with the accusations. Pompeo departed Abu Dhabi for Qatar on Saturday, although there are no direct commercial flights due to the stalemate. He had lunch with the ruler, Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and met with Qatar's foreign minister. The State Department said Pompeo discussed regional issues, and "the importance of a united Gulf to stand against the Iranian regime's destabilizing activity, and the risk to the region presented by China." Qatar, however, has warm ties with Iran. The two countries also share a massive underwater gas field in the Gulf. While in Qatar, Pompeo additionally met with representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban, where the warring sides are holding talks about the future of the country. Despite a sharp rise in violence this year, Washington plans to withdraw an estimated 2,500 troops before the middle of January, leaving about 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan.
 

Pompeo: Iran Central Threat in Middle East, Pressure Will Continue
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday underlined the Trump administration's continued efforts to squeeze Iran, even as a new US administration led by Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House in January. Although Pompeo has not taken questions from US-based reporters traveling with him over the past 10 days to France, Israel, Turkey and Gulf states, he sat down with Al Arabiya in Dubai for brief televised remarks Sunday. “Our policies don’t change. Our duty doesn’t change. My responsibilities don’t change,” he said. “I still have an obligation — every hour, every minute — to defend the American people and to keep them foremost in our efforts, and we’ll do that. We’ll do that to the very last minute.”In what was likely his final tour of the Gulf as secretary of state, he touted the Trump administration's Middle East strategy that focused on Iran as “the central threat inside the region” and for a maximum pressure campaign that hampered Iran's ability to support militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. “It'll be our policy until our time is complete,” he said, stopping short of saying when he'd cease work as the top US diplomat. President Donald Trump has refused to concede to Biden, despite the Trump campaign’s futile efforts to block the certification of votes in various states. The Trump administration is attempting to ramp up pressure on Iran before Biden takes office as president. Biden has said he wants to return to rapprochement with Iran. Analysts say Biden is expected to be more willing to engage the Iranians in order to avoid major escalation, although he’s likely to press Tehran on its missile program and not just its nuclear program. Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear accord with Iran, reimposing sweeping sanctions that have drained Iran of vital oil revenue. Trump was recently talked back from moving ahead with a military strike on Iran’s main nuclear site by advisors who included Pompeo, according to a New York Times report. When asked about this, a State Department official traveling with Pompeo told reporters that “all options are on the table” and that the Trump administration “will continue to pursue its policies until it’s not in office anymore." Pompeo started his Gulf tour in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi early Saturday, meeting the emirate’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The State Department said they discussed the progress of the UAE’s decision to normalize ties with Israel — a move that was followed by Bahrain and Sudan. They also discussed “security cooperation and countering Iran’s malign influence in the region, as well as that of China,” the US statement said.
Pompeo later traveled to Qatar.

Iran’s Ghaani in Baghdad to Maintain Truce between Iraqi Factions, Washington
Baghdad – Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
The head of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Esmail Ghaani, had arrived in Baghdad last Tuesday and has been meeting with a number of senior Iraqi officials dealing directly with the issue of armed factions, a well-informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat. Ghaani and Iraqi officials discussed the truce that was announced by the militants prior to the US presidential election, the source added. Iraqi militias backed by Iran have agreed to temporarily halt attacks targeting the American presence in Iraq, on the condition that US-led coalition troops withdraw from the country in line with a parliamentary resolution. Last week, however, several missiles were fired at different areas in Baghdad’s Green Zone, targeting the US embassy. The attacks killed an Iraqi child and wounded others. Major armed factions close to Iran in Iraq denied responsibility for launching such missiles and condemned the attacks. Kataib Hezbollah, a prominent paramilitary in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), described the assaults as “amateur.” While Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais Khazali denied responsibility for the attack, he confirmed that the truce with the Americans was over. Although Ghaani’s visit to Iraq is reportedly focusing on reaching understandings with armed factions to maintain the truce despite recent violations, the Iranian commander met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustapha al-Kadhimi and conveyed Tehran’s support for his government. Discourse on the truce remains inconsistent, even among Shiite political blocs that are considered close to the Iran-aligned factions. Some say that the truce was purely an Iraqi initiative taken by the factions, while others believe that it emanated from Iranian pressure. Tehran allegedly was trying to avoid giving the Trump administration an opportunity to target Iran under the pretext of attacks led by the factions.Some even linked the ceasefire to a meeting joining Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN envoy to Iraq, and Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, the deputy head of the PMF. Fatah Alliance politician Ghadanfar al-Batikh, in recent statements, debunked rumors of a new truce being shored up by Iranian mediation. Even though he said that there will be no renewal of the truce, al-Batikh asserted that all parties are trying to de-esclate tensions in the country.

Assad Names Mekdad New FM, Jaafari Deputy FM
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday appointed Faisal Mekdad as Syria's new foreign minister, replacing Walid Muallem who died last week, the presidency announced in a statement. Mekdad will be replaced as deputy foreign minister by Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, the statement said.

US, Global Coalition Vow to Support Local Authorities in Syria's Deir Ezzor
Hasakeh - Kamal Sheikho/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
US State Department and military leaders of the global coalition vowed to support local authorities in Deir Ezzor during a meeting with leaders of the Deir Ezzor Military and Civil councils. The meeting, held in Omar oil field base, discussed the latest field developments, ways to combat terrorism and security operations against ISIS cells. It also addressed the possibility of expanding military operations to eliminate sleeper cells that target military and civilian leaders and officials of the Civil Administration in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria. The spokeswoman of the Military Council, Lilwa Abdullah, said they discussed the assassination attempts of local figures and leaders from the region. Abdullah indicated that the US and coalition officials vowed to continue providing logistical and military support, as well as ways to support the infrastructure of the region. On Saturday, a military convoy of the global coalition forces entered the Syrian territories via al-Walid border crossing. The convoy consisted of 35 trucks carrying logistical and military support to the coalition bases in the southern countryside of Hasakeh. Meanwhile, a security leader of the internal security forces of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed by unknown gunmen in the town of Dhiban, east of Deir Ezzor. Military sources accused ISIS sleeper cells of carrying out the operation. Last Thursday, five SDF members were killed by an explosive device that detonated as their military vehicles approached during a patrol to inspect the oil fields.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the number of those who were killed or assassinated in SDF areas has risen to 600 since the forces took control of the cities and towns of Deir Ezzor, bordering Iraq. On Friday, the global coalition and SDF carried out a wide-scale security operation in Deir Ezzor, raiding a number of towns in the northern and eastern countryside. The forces captured 20 people, all of whom were displaced from areas controlled by the Syrian regime. They also arrested a prominent SDF military official, Abu Fahd Khasham, along with two of his brothers.

Turkey Says Ready to Deploy Troops to Azerbaijan
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Turkey has announced that it will send troops to monitor the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh following the Russian-mediated agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia. On November 9, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that the armed forces will be sent to the region of Azerbaijan in the shortest period of time. During his tour to a military industry facility, Akar noted that the decision to send Turkish soldiers to Azerbaijan has been approved by the parliament, which give the green light for a one-year deployment. “Our preparations are completed …Turkish soldiers will start their duty in Azerbaijan as soon as possible.” Akar denounced Western accusations to the Azerbaijani army of burning and destroying parts of the region, saying the military was liberating its lands from a 30-year occupation. He stated that the whole world witnessed as the Armenian army deliberately bombed populated areas in Azerbaijan. Recent reports revealed that Turkey has transferred dozens of Arab and Turkmen families from areas under its control in northeastern Syria to Karabakh. The families will settle in the areas after the withdrawal of the Armenian forces. The representative of self-administration in northern and eastern Syria, Sivan Xaburi, said he received confirmed information that the Turkish government was transferring Syrian families to change the demographic composition of the region. He added that the administration contacted the Kurds, and confirmed that a number of Syrian families had arrived in the region via Turkey. Xaburi also accused Turkey of changing the demography of Afrin in Syria, which now has less than seven percent of its indigenous population.
Meanwhile, French Trade Minister Franck Riester warned that the European Council will consider imposing restrictions on Turkey during its next meeting following its "unacceptable" behavior in Nagorno-Karabakh. Riester told "France Inter" radio that the upcoming meeting will discuss increasing the pressure on Turkey. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Armenia on Saturday at the head of a high-ranking delegation. During a press briefing, Lavrov confirmed that the delegation's meetings focused on ensuring the “accurate and full implementation” of the statement issued by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both Russia and Armenia stressed that attempts to discredit this statement are unacceptable, said Lavrov. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Russian peacekeeping troops provided safe corridors to all refugees who wish to return to their areas. “As of today, almost 7,000 citizens have returned, this work continues, and I am sure that everyone who would like to return to Nagorno-Karabakh will be able to do so.” Shoigu held a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vagharshak Harutyunyan in Yerevan to discuss the main priorities of the peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Harutyunyan highly appreciated the actions of the Russian peacekeepers to restore peace in the region. "The ceasefire is being observed. Frankly, for this conflict, which has such a history and such a geography, forces were deployed so quickly and so effectively.”

Turkey Sends New Military Reinforcements to Idlib
Ankara - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Turkey continued to dispatch military reinforcements to Syria's Idlib amid heavy regime strikes on Jabal Al-Zawiya. A war monitor said that Turkey sent a military column via Kafr Losin crossing, north of Idlib, consisting of more than 20 vehicles on Friday.
The forces carried logistical equipment and concrete blocks that headed towards military posts. Also on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has monitored the entry of another three military columns of Turkish forces, including 60 new vehicles. According to SOHR, the number of military vehicles that entered Syrian territory since the start of the new ceasefire has reached 7,500, in addition to thousands of Turkish soldiers. Since February, the number of military vehicles that arrived in the de-escalation zone rose to more than 10,755 Turkish trucks. This includes tanks, personnel carriers, armored vehicles and mobile bulletproof guard booths and military radars. Meanwhile, Turkish forces targeted Kurdish-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo. Turkish rockets hit the surrounding areas of Menagh military airbase, but no casualties have been reported, according to SOHR.
Also, activists said that Turkish forces stationed at the base in Azaz countryside shelled Kurdish positions in the village of Maranaz. The Turkish bombardment coincided with infiltration attempts and clashes between Turkish-backed factions and Kurdish forces on the frontlines of Maranaz, Belyouniya and Ain Daqneh, north of Aleppo.

6 Arab Countries Take Part in Joint Military Drill in Egypt
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
A military drill involving six Arab countries kicked off in Egypt on Sunday. The “Sword of the Arabs” (Seif al-Arab) exercise was launched in the Northern Military Region. It includes forces from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan and hosts Egypt. The exercise is part of efforts to develop relations and strengthen military cooperation between Egypt and Arab countries, read a statement by the Egyptian armed forces. The drill will conclude on November 26.

Explosives placed by terrorists near Jerusalem over weekend
The Jerusalem Post/November 22/2020
"The two successful operations over the weekend testify to the determination of the officers, who will continue to do everything in their power to arrest the terrorists and bring them to justice."Terrorists placed explosives by the Qalandiya Crossing north of Jerusalem and by Rachel's Tomb on Friday night, according to the Border Police. Two suspects arrived at the crossing, placed two explosives next to the crossing and ran away from the scene. One of the explosives detonated next to a car passing through the crossing, without causing damage or injuries.
Border Police in the area conducted searches and succeeded in finding and arresting the suspects, two minors, in a nearby store. While leaving the area, the police were confronted by dozens of Palestinians who threw stones at them. The police forces used riot dispersal methods; the incident ended without any injuries. Additionally, a lookout saw a suspect place an explosive near the Rachel's Tomb complex and run away from the scene. Border Police crossed the safety barrier and succeeded in finding and arresting the suspect, an 18-year-old from Bethlehem. The explosive did not detonate.
"Border Police are working in the Jerusalem Envelope area to strengthen deterrence and thwart terrorism, while increasing the deployment of forces in sensitive places where there have been recent attempts to harm civilians and security forces," it said in a press release. "The two successful operations over the weekend testify to the determination of the officers, who will continue to do everything in their power to arrest the terrorists and bring them to justice."

IDF strikes Hamas infrastructure in retaliation for rocket fire
The Jerusalem Post/November 22/2020
Military investigating why Iron Dome wasn't activated; surprise drill in the south begins
The IDF struck Hamas military infrastructure on Sunday morning in response to rocket fire launched toward Ashkelon, the second time in two weeks. The strikes, carried out by Israel Air Force jets and attack helicopters, targeted Hamas military sites including “two rocket manufacturing sites, underground infrastructure and a training facility for the Hamas terror group’s naval force,” the IDF said. The army said it holds Hamas responsible for the rocket fire and it “will bear the consequences” for the rocket fire. Israel takes “all terror activity against Israel very seriously and is prepared and willing to act as resolutely as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and its sovereignty.” Late on Saturday, a rocket was fired toward Ashkelon, sending thousands into shelters. No group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. During a video conference with the heads of the Gaza border communities along with Finance Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Arye Deri, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would continue to support the residents of the area. Netanyahu noted that despite the continued rocket fire, people continue to move to the area. “People want to come... I think that says it all,” he said. “Our aggressive security policy – as expressed only yesterday, in response to any harm directed at us – along with strengthening civil resilience in the region, are the real answer to terror organizations. They come to uproot, we come to stay.”Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that Hamas was walking a thin line, and should rocket fire continue there are many military options. “The IDF carried out a large and powerful retaliation tonight,” he said. “There will be no coronavirus discounts in this matter. We live with a very wide range of operational plans to protect the people of the South and if these violations of sovereignty continue, Hamas and the people of Gaza will meet these plans soon and I strongly advise them not to do so.” Shortly after the rocket fire, an IDF tank fired a shell toward a Hamas outpost without permission. The incident is being investigated by the military. The military is also investigating why the Iron Dome missile defense system, which damaged a factory in the industrial part of the city, did not intercept the rocket as well as the rockets fired toward central Israel last week. Last Sunday two rockets were fired around 2 a.m., activating incoming rocket sirens in Ashdod and in communities in the Shfela region of the center of the country, including Kibbutz Palmahim, some 60km. from the Gaza Strip, sending thousands to shelters. The rocket fire came as a thunderstorm battered the area, and the IDF said it believes the Hamas rockets were fired after a lightning bolt hit an electrical panel that was connected to an underground launcher in a field near the neighborhood of Shejaia. The incident was similar to another in 2018 when a home in Beersheba was hit by a projectile and was significantly damaged. Also on Sunday, the IDF began a surprise command exercise to improve the capabilities and readiness of the Southern Command for combat scenarios in the Gaza Strip. The military said the drill, which includes both regular and reserve troops, was planned in advance and will finish by Wednesday. As part of the exercise, the military said there would be a high amount of movement of security forces, vehicles and aircraft in the Gaza border area. During the exercise, the division’s readiness for a multi-dimensional defense in the face of a variety of scenarios will be examined. This is the fifth such inspection by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, which has been held every few months to ensure the armed forces’ preparedness. Due to having been in contact with a known coronavirus patient, the quarantined chief of staff will observe the drill remotely. Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir will be on the ground in his place.

Egyptian Officials Reject US Criticism over Recent Arrests of Activists
Cairo/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 22 November, 2020
Egyptian officials rejected what they described as interference in the country’s internal affairs, following US statements criticizing the arrest of staff members working at a local human rights organization. Members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) were arrested after diplomats, mainly European, visited the group’s headquarters to discuss human rights conditions in Egypt. EIPR issued a statement announcing the arrest of its executive director, Gasser Abdel Razek, saying he is the third member to be detained in less than a week. “Gasser Abdel Razek was detained by security forces from his home in Maadi and taken to an unknown location,” EIPR tweeted, without giving further details. Egypt has not officially commented on the statements issued by a US spokesperson and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) over the issue. However, the foreign ministry rejected an official French statement, saying Paris is “interfering in the country’s domestic affairs.” The ministry noted that France’s statement seeks to influence investigations carried out by the Egyptian General Prosecution, describing EIPR as "an entity operating illegally in the field of civil work."
Earlier, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing “deep concern” over the arrest of EIPR's staff, saying the organization “promotes human rights" in Egypt. A top adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, also expressed his concern over the arrest of EIPR’s executive director this week. “Meeting with foreign diplomats is not a crime. Nor is peacefully advocating for human rights,” Blinken asserted in a tweet. Similarly, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor said it was concerned over the detentions, stressing that the US “believes that all people should be free to express their beliefs and advocate peacefully.”For its part, OHCHR issued a statement saying it is "a very worrying development that underscores the extreme vulnerability of civil society activists.”Meanwhile, Former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP Muhammad al-Orabi said that Western countries usually “misunderstand such issues." Orabi told Asharq al-Awsat that the Foreign Ministry’s response to its French counterpart was completely appropriate. US democratic administrations often place human rights cases among their priorities, but relations between the two states have gone through similar issues, and in the end, they remain steadfast, according to Orabi. Professor of political science at the American University of Cairo Noha Bakr said that the new US administration is expected to make such stances regarding human rights issues. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, she stressed that Egypt has its sovereignty, and when Biden enters the White House, Cairo will discuss those issues and explain them diplomatically. "Washington is aware of Egypt’s important role in the region," Bakr noted.

Nightmare Over but Iraqi Christians Still Dream of Leaving
Agence France Presse/November 22/2020
The bells of St. Joseph's Chaldean Cathedral echo across Baghdad, signaling the start of Mass for the dwindling congregation that has stayed in the scarred Iraqi capital against all odds. "This is a safe space," says Mariam, a 17-year-old Chaldean Catholic among the few dozen attending the service.
Elderly women pray solemnly, their hair covered in delicate black veils. Red ropes block off every other row to enforce social distancing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but there aren't enough worshippers to fill the church in any case. A few hundred thousand Christians are left in Iraq, where a US-led invasion in 2003 paved the way for bloody sectarian warfare that devastated the country's historic and diverse Christian communities. Like Mariam, the 53-year-old deacon of St. Joseph's Cathedral preferred to identify himself only by his first name, Nael. "My father, mother and siblings emigrated after 2003. I'm the only one left in Iraq, and I stayed because I was hoping the situation would get better," he said. But after 35 years serving at St. Joseph's and watching the parish shrink year by year, Nael has little hope. "It used to be full even on regular weekdays," he recalled. "But there's been a drop in numbers and ongoing emigration in the last three or four years, especially from this parish," he lamented.
Blast walls, rusted locks
As hardliners fought each other starting in 2006, Iraq's ancient Christian communities -- Assyrian, Armenian, Chaldean, Protestant and more -- were directly targeted. One of the most horrific attacks was in 2010, when gunmen took hostage and eventually killed dozens of Christians at the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. Then in 2014, the Islamic State group swept across Nineveh province, the heartland of Iraq's minorities. Christians -- but also the esoteric Yazidis, Shiite Turkmen and other communities -- streamed out of their homes as the jihadists closed in, or were forced to convert under their rule. There are no reliable statistics on the number of Christians who fled Iraq during these consecutive waves of bloodshed. According to William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, Christians left in Iraq number up to 400,000, down from 1.5 million in 2003.
Their absence is stark. Churches across Baghdad have shuttered, including the Holy Trinity Church in the Baladiyat district, closed to regular services for four years. At the Armenian Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a terracotta structure in the Karrada area, a rusted lock has barred entry since 2007. The churches that have remained open are surrounded by a labyrinth of concrete blast walls and security forces. The southern Baghdad district of Dora was once home to a thriving community of 150,000 Christians, including doctors, businessmen and cafe owners, Warda said.Now, "there are only 1,000 left," he told AFP.
'I have no home in Iraq'
Iraq declared IS defeated three years ago, but "threats, kidnappings, extortion and deaths still persist," said Yonadam Kanna, a leading Christian politician. While Iraq's constitution ostensibly affords the same level of protection to all communities, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said de facto prejudice was locking Christians out of society. "There's no direct pressure on Christians today, but there's day-to-day discrimination. If you're Christian, there's no place for you in state institutions," the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church said. "It's caused by corruption and it leads to emigration."That has eroded the feeling of belonging, some told AFP. "There's a sense among Christians that the country is becoming more conservative, and that Christians -- or even secular Muslims -- can no longer live in it," Warda said. Ninos, a beautician looking to emigrate, agreed. "Sometimes, I can see myself here. But most of the time, I find I have no home in Iraq," the 25-year-old said. "The situation isn't compatible with my work, the way I think or how I aspire to develop myself." For others, it is a matter of livelihoods. Iraq has been hit hard by the twin shocks of an oil price collapse and the novel coronavirus pandemic, leading to the worst fiscal crisis the country has seen in decades. That has pushed Mariam to consider greener pastures outside her beloved homeland. "Honestly, everybody wants to stay in their own country," she told AFP. "I dream of traveling, but I dream at the same time that my country could provide me everything that others have, so I could stay here."
 

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 22-23/2020

Remdesivir’s Failure Is a Warning for Covid-19 Vaccines
Timothy L. O'Brien/Bloomberg/November 22/2020
Less than a month ago, the Food and Drug Administration said hospitals could use remdesivir, a drug manufactured by Gilead Sciences Inc., to treat patients with Covid-19. Remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, was said to shorten recovery times and reduce the need for ventilators to facilitate breathing. Yesterday, the World Health Organization hit the brakes: It recommended that doctors avoid using the drug altogether.
“There is currently no evidence that remdesivir improves survival and other outcomes in these patients,” the WHO noted, citing detailed studies it sponsored. “The evidence suggested no important effect on mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, time to clinical improvement, and other patient-important outcomes.”A group of experts gathered by the WHO concurred, reporting their findings in a well-regarded medical journal. Remdesivir offers “small and uncertain benefits” outweighed by the “possibility of important harms,” they wrote. Gilead pushed back, saying it stands by remdesivir and citing other studies supporting its efficacy. Speed is prized in the race to beat back Covid-19 — as it should be. The world is also fortunate to have innovative and dedicated public and private researchers able to produce coronavirus vaccine candidates in record time. But the WHO’s thumbs-down on remdesivir is also a reminder that hasty drug development and approval is risky. It highlights why the FDA has to do more than merely rubber-stamp Covid-19 treatments in the face of heavy White House pressure to move quickly.
As my colleague Max Nisen recently observed, it’s perplexing that the FDA gave formal approval to remdesivir as a Covid-19 treatment in October. The drug was already available to hospitals and patients under a federal emergency use authorization granted in May. Since then, data supporting its benefits had become murky, and an FDA sign-off was unlikely to significantly expand its use. As I noted in an earlier column, remdesivir is also expensive — perhaps not as costly as other blockbuster drugs the pharmaceutical industry sells, but still expensive.
Two writers for Science magazine, Jon Cohen and Kai Kupferschmidt, offered some answers to these mysteries in a deeply reported piece published late last month. They found that the FDA and the European Union both had approved the use of remdesivir despite some glaring procedural gaps. The FDA didn’t consult the outside experts it keeps on tap to analyze approvals for complex antiviral drugs. The EU approved remdesivir’s pricing just a week before lackluster results from a major WHO trial of the drug were published — and then seemed clueless about the new data. (Gilead was aware; it had donated drug to the trial and knew the results were poor.)
The Science writers pointed out that the FDA’s inaction around remdesivir “stands in sharp contrast to its handling of potential Covid-19 vaccines.” For remdesivir, the agency failed to convene an advisory to study the drug. Several prominent medical researchers voiced skepticism about remdesivir in the Science article, including Martin Landry of Oxford University, who said the drug was useless for treating the sickest patients. In any case, most people with Covid-19 recover without medical treatment.
“The argument that the earlier you use it the better is great until you realize what the implications of that are: You won’t save many lives, and you’ll have to treat a lot of patients,” Landry told Science. “It’s very inconvenient, and it’ll cost you a fortune.”
Perhaps it was inevitable that Gilead would receive special treatment. In May, when remdesivir was given its EUA, the company’s chief executive officer, Daniel O’Day, was welcomed into the Oval Office for a photo op with President Donald Trump and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. Trump, who was treated with remdesivir after contracting Covid-19 himself, has described it as one of a handful of drugs he received that were like “miracles coming down from God.”
Hospitals have been less enthusiastic and have been sharply cutting back their use of remdesivir due to its expense and its value for only the most seriously ill patients — which makes the FDA’s enthusiasm for the drug and its manufacturer all the more curious. The FDA approved remdesivir based on three trials, the most weighty of which was conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Both the NIH and the FDA are housed under the Department of Health and Human Services.
Perhaps it was just fine that the FDA relied on what was essentially an in-house trial to approve remdesivir and that Hahn has been unusually amenable to Trump’s demands for approving sketchy Covid-19 treatments. And perhaps it’s fine that Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and Big Pharma lobbyist who is a Trump loyalist, runs HHS and supervises Hahn.
In case any of this isn’t fine, we should bear it in mind as HHS and the FDA continue to play pivotal roles overseeing the approval, rollout and regulation of more crucial drugs: the Covid-19 vaccines that Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have put on the table.
 

Are the American Media Legitimizing Terror Attacks in France?
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/November 22, 2020
"In certain districts and on the internet, groups... are teaching hatred of the republic to our children, calling on them to disregard its laws. That is what I called 'separatism' .... If you do not believe me, read the social media postings of hatred... that resulted in Paty's death. Visit the districts where small girls aged three or four are wearing a full veil, separated from boys, and, from a very young age, separated from the rest of society, raised in hatred of France's values". — French President Emmanuel Macron, Financial Times, November 1, 2020.
"I am for the respect of cultures, civilizations, but I am not going to change my law because it is shocking elsewhere". — Emmanuel Macron.
According to a US journalist, Thomas Chatterton Williams, "'knife attack' as a description of beheading is so euphemistic that it is in fact a form of violence against language itself".
It seems that the Anglophone media live in a world deaf to reality and based on imaginary victimization; they see racism where there is none, and they do not even know what to name it when it appears in the French streets to behead a teacher.
It is apparently, however, out of the fear of being called a "racist" -- not even of being murdered like Samuel Paty -- that they choose self-censorship. Not to appear as cowards, they call it "respect".... Are the American media, one wonders, expecting any reciprocity?
It is no coincidence that, in the name of "diversity", the American media in the last year have hunted and bullied journalists such as James Bennett and Bari Weiss, who resigned from the New York Times.
France's President Emmanuel Macron recently said in an interview: "Alignment with American multiculturalism is a form of defeatist thought... Our model is universalist and not multiculturalist... You should not care if someone is black, yellow or white; first, they are citizens...
The Financial Times has never understood France grappling with extremist Muslim terrorism and the country's battle for freedom of expression. After the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015, Tony Barber wrote in the Financial Times that the massacred journalists and cartoonists had been "stupid". The article was then edited.
It recently happened again. The British newspaper removed an article on French President Emmanuel Macron's anti-Islamist policies. The article, "Macron's war on Islamic separatism only divides France further", by Mehreen Khan, appeared in the online version of the newspaper and was then also removed. The piece argued that after two beheadings in Yvelines and Nice, Macron would need six million Muslims in the country to eradicate violent extremism, but that instead, he chose to feed "moral panic". Clearly, the article postulated, if there are Islamist attacks in France, it must be because its president has been looking for them.
Macron himself thought of attempting to educate the Financial Times.
"Who could imagine that the statements made publicly by the head of a G7 member state could be distorted by this news organisation?" Macron wrote.
"The piece misquoted me, substituting 'Islamic separatism' — a term that I have never used — for 'Islamist separatism', which is a reality in my country. It accused me of stigmatising French Muslims for electoral purposes and of fostering a climate of fear and suspicion towards them".
Macron went on to accuse the Anglophone media of not understanding what is going on in the French suburbs.
"Since 2015 it has become clear, and I said this even before I became president, that there are breeding grounds for terrorists in France. In certain districts and on the internet, groups linked to radical Islam are teaching hatred of the republic to our children, calling on them to disregard its laws. That is what I called 'separatism' in one of my speeches. If you do not believe me, read the social media postings of hatred shared in the name of a distorted Islam that resulted in Paty's death. Visit the districts where small girls aged three or four are wearing a full veil, separated from boys, and, from a very young age, separated from the rest of society, raised in hatred of France's values".
It is the first time that a French president has attacked the Anglophone media in this way -- and Macron had every reason to do so. In fact, what he wrote was the article that the columnists of the Financial Times should have the courage to write and their editors to publish; this brand of religious extremism has also claimed many victims on the streets of London.
In another interview published online by Le Grand Continent, Macron attacked "the manipulation of history" of those who want to lock him up "in the camp of those who would not respect the differences". "I am for the respect of cultures, civilizations, but I am not going to change my law because it is shocking elsewhere", he said.
This is also a major difference between France and the American mainstream outlets, of which some apparently would even like to change the date of foundation of the United States. The New York Times's "1619 Project" could serve as Exhibit A for this new "manipulation of history".
Macron plans to fight "Islamist separatism". We do not know if the French president's project will be successful; it is legitimate to have doubts about its real effectiveness in stopping the disintegration of French society operated by the extremist communitarianism that feeds terrorism. We are not, all the same, allowed to accuse France of racism and "Islamophobia", as the Anglophone media is obsessively doing. It seems that the entire American media has decided to blame the victim of terrorism.
According to Le Monde, Macron, in a recent cabinet meeting, said: "Alignment with American multiculturalism is a form of defeatist thought... Our model is universalist and not multiculturalist... You should not care if someone is black, yellow or white; first, they are citizens...." Multiculturalism in France seems to keep ending in "no-go zones".
Macron, after that, arranged an interview with The New York Times to criticise the Anglophone media:
"So when I see, in that context, several newspapers which I believe are from countries that share our values – journalists who write in a country that is the heir to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution – when I see them legitimising this violence, and saying that the heart of the problem is that France is racist and Islamophobic, then I say the founding principles have been lost".
On Friday, October 16, an extremist Muslim beheaded a teacher, Samuel Paty, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. The New York Times headlined its article on the attack: "French Police shoot and Kill Man after a fatal Knife Attack on the Street". It seems that the Anglophone media live in a world deaf to reality and based on imaginary victimization; they see racism where there is none, and they do not even know what to name it when it appears in the French streets to behead a teacher.
Associated Press immediately succumbed to an avalanche of criticism. The news agency again cancelled a tweet, one accusing France of "inciting" hatred against Muslims after the wave of Islamic terror attacks the country just suffered.
"This is not only disgraceful but dangerous," the journalist Agnès Poirier replied. "The Associated Press is inciting hatred against France and its people." She too charged the American media with "malicious distortion of facts, ignorance and bad faith".
In 2015, Associated Press had been quick to censor the Islamic cartoons of Charlie Hebdo. The reason? "Deliberately provocative". They evidently have no idea what free speech is and appear uninterested in defending it.
Politico joined in, removing an op-ed, "The dangerous French religion of secularism", by the French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar. Politico then set about publishing a letter by Gabriel Attal, a French government spokesperson, who accused Khosrokhavar of "an unthinkable reversal of roles between the attackers and the attacked".
When the Charlie Hebdo massacre occurred in 2015, the Anglophone media effectively competed to black out and censor the cartoons about Mohammed. The big American networks (CBS, NBC, MSNBC, ABC and CNN) refused to show the cartoons. Facebook blocked the French site of Le Point to prevent access to the offending drawings. Sky News interrupted a live broadcast to avoid airing them. That was when the cowardice of the American media really began to show: during the 2006 Danish cartoon crisis. The only newspapers to rebel against self-censorship were The Weekly Standard, Free Inquiry and The Western Standard, media outlets with an extremely limited circulation.
With a small paper, Seattle Weekly, a reporter, Molly Norris, in solidarity with the endangered creators of the television cartoon "South Park," drew a caricature of the prophet of Islam. She then had to disappear after death threats. The last newspaper article that talked about her stated:
"You may have noticed that the Molly Norris strip is not included in this week's issue. That's because there is no more Molly... on the advice of FBI security specialists, she will be moving and changing her name...".
You would have to search a lot to find a single voice defending Norris in all the mainstream American media.
The New York Times -- ostensibly out of "respect" towards the Muslim faith -- censored the Mohammed caricatures of Charlie Hebdo, but defended the work of Chris Ofili's "The Holy Virgin Mary," in which the mother of Jesus is covered with feces and images of genitalia. The American media, it seems, show "respect" only toward Islam. Are the American media, one wonders, expecting any reciprocity?
A French scholar of Islamic extremism, Gilles Kepel, recently noted that the atmosphere now in France reminds him of the time of the Iranian fatwa in 1989 to murder the author Salman Rushdie for his fictional novel The Satanic Verses. Already then, the Anglophone media and publishing houses were blaming the victim, not the ayatollahs. Among Rushdie's colleagues, Roald Dahl, a bestselling author of children's books, said he was a "dangerous opportunist", while the king of the literary spy stories, John Le Carré, called Rushdie "arrogant", "self-righteous" and a "colonialist".
The Jewel of Medina, a novel by the American writer Sherry Jones about the life of the third wife of Muhammad, was purchased and then scrapped by the US publisher Random House. Yale University Press published a book, The Cartoons That Shook the World, by Jytte Klausen – but without the cartoons. "The capitulation of Yale University Press to threats that hadn't even been made yet was the latest and perhaps the worst episode in the steady surrender to religious extremism -- particularly Muslim religious extremism -- that is spreading across our culture", the late Christopher Hitchens wrote.
How, as well, can one forget the shameful list of "anti-Islamic extremists", published by the Southern Poverty Law Center? Among them were Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament and the most famous dissident from Islamic world, and Maajid Nawaz, a British Muslim who has fought radicalism -- and, successfully, the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau recently criticized Charlie Hebdo and declared that free speech "has limits". Trudeau, to put it bluntly, is not Charlie. He is a communitarian affirming the rights of groups, not a liberal affirming the rights of the individual.
The American media know perfectly well what is going on in France. They see a teacher beheaded for showing Islamic drawings and discussing freedom of expression; journalists under guard for criticizing extremist Islam; massacres in churches; secession in neighborhoods with a high numbers of immigrants, and the challenge that political Islam has launched to European culture and democracy. It is apparently, however, out of the fear of being called a "racist" -- not even of being murdered, like Samuel Paty -- that they choose self-censorship. Not to appear as cowards, they call it "respect".
Unfortunately, Anglophone culture has been devoured, piece by piece, by the "diversity industry". If the villain is, by definition, white, Western culture, then Muslims supposedly must be victims of colonialism -- old and new. It is no coincidence that, in the name of "diversity", the American media in the last year have bullied journalists such as James Bennett and Bari Weiss, who resigned from the New York Times.
In the jihadist war against the West, the Anglophone press, now famous for "cancel culture", has deserted the ranks. It is a shame. This war on the West was already in progress nearly twenty years ago, when two planes appeared over the skies of Manhattan.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Arab countries must be included in future Iran talks
Raghida Dergham/The National/November 22/2020
The Iranian regime may be feeling cautiously optimistic about a possible shift in relations with America after Joe Biden succeeds Donald Trump as US president in January. This feeling may well be stemming from backchannel talks apparently going on between the leadership in Tehran and members of the Biden team. Tehran’s hope of seeing a more sympathetic government in Washington, however, could be short-lived if the Trump administration slaps more sanctions on the regime between now and inauguration day. The regime will also watch to see if Mr Trump decides to punish China and Russia with the same economic weapon, should they try to secure arms deals with Iran during this period. Mr Biden’s Democrats, moreover, are currently locked in a fierce electoral battle with Mr Trump’s Republicans over two Senate seats – both in the state of Georgia – that will decide which party has a majority in the upper house of the US Congress. The outcomes would, in turn, have an impact on Mr Biden’s foreign policy going forward. With a majority, however razor-thin it may be, the Republican Party will be able to obstruct Mr Biden’s appointments both in the Department of State and the Department of Defence. This will have a detrimental effect on, say, the new administration’s ability to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for re-entering negotiations with its leadership to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. This could also have broader implications on US-Iran relations over the next four years
The supposed rush on the part of the Biden team to seek to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Mr Trump withdrew the US from in 2018, is likely to have unwelcome ripple effects across the Middle East. For it will embolden Tehran to increase its destablising activities in the region, especially in countries where its influence is strong, such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Also, in light of political repression inside Iran, it will not be easy for the incoming administration to reconcile its enthusiasm to thaw the ice with Iran, with its stated claim that human rights will be at the heart of Mr Biden’s foreign policy.
Furthermore, negotiations on the JCPOA and on Iran’s ballistic missile programme will be difficult and complicated. The most dangerous thing the Biden team can do, therefore, is conclude secret deals with the regime and turn a blind eye to its expansionist agenda. In other words it could repeat the same mistake committed by the Obama administration, of which Mr Biden was an integral part, when it bent over backwards to secure the JCPOA five years ago.
Hardline supporters of the JCPOA in the US refuse to take the threat that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the Iranian armed forces’ powerful militia arm – poses to the region. Reining in the regime’s nuclear programme is of greater priority to these supporters than its regional adventurism and support for militia groups such as Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This sort of thinking overlooks and, in turn, undermines the sovereignty and human rights of the Arab world and its people.
Speaking of Arab countries, one mistake that the international community is likely to repeat is the exclusion of Arab representation in upcoming talks between the five permanent members of the all-powerful United Nations Security Council and Germany on the one side and Iran on the other. It was wrong not to allow major Arab states in a dialogue with Iran when similar talks took place in 2015, because, after all, Iran’s activities affect their national security. To this end, these states must move immediately to craft a pre-emptive strategy comprised of two essential objectives: to have a seat at the table in future negotiations and to include Iran’s regional role in any talks. This week, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on the need to broaden the scope of the talks with Iran to include its expansionist activities and ballistic missile programme. Additionally, as the current president of the European Union, Germany should endorse this position. While Europe's role is not decisive, the Biden administration will need its support over the Iran question. This presents an opportunity for Britain, France and Germany to make up for the damage they caused to the Arab countries five years ago, when they acceded to Iran’s demand to exclude its regional policies from the nuclear negotiations.
Indeed, there is no better time than now to double down on Iran’s funding and support of proxies across the Middle East. As Mina Al-Oraibi, The National’s editor-in-chief, told me at the 24th e-policy circle of the Beirut Institute Summit in Abu Dhabi, Tehran is in a considerably weaker position today than the last few years – particularly after the killing of IRGC commander Qassem Suleimani by an American drone in Baghdad this year. “Iran would not have been able to survive through these sanctions without its ability to milk Iraq at every single level,” Ms Al-Oraibi pointed out.
“Iranians are weaker at this point and the repercussions of the killing of Qassem Suleimani are still felt. The militias inside of Iraq, and to a certain extent also Hezbollah, are weaker today than they were a year ago or four years ago,” she added. “So actually putting more pressure on those proxies and putting pressure outside of Iran on those elements that are backed by Iran are probably the ways that Americans will go to show that, ‘we're not just going to talk about the nuclear element, we are going to care about what the Iranians are doing inside these various countries’.”
If and when Washington and Tehran do resume negotiations, there will no doubt be room to manoeuvre for both sides. Tehran may pledge to curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, which might be enough for the Biden administration to ignore its expansionist projects and human rights violations. Or maybe the Biden administration will surprise everyone and put the sovereignty of Iran’s neighbours and human rights front and centre of the talks. We shall see.
While it is too soon to determine what path the Biden team will eventually follow, I am not overly optimistic – and certainly not as optimistic as the Iranian regime may be feeling now. What I do expect will happen is a high-stakes clash between the outgoing and incoming administrations, with the question of Tehran’s immediate future at the centre of it.
*Raghida Dergham is the founder and executive chairwoman of the Beirut Institute and a columnist for The National

The balance of power between Iran and Israel
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 22, 2020
When it comes to confronting the Iranian regime, without a doubt Israel has been fortunate in the past four years. The Trump administration’s Iranian policy has been in alignment with Israel’s objectives.
The maximum pressure policy served Israel’s interests as it significantly weakened the theocratic establishment of Iran on several fronts. From the outset, the Israeli leaders were opposed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, and lobbied against it, partly due to the fact that it provided the ruling clerics of Iran with extra revenue. The main beneficiaries of the nuclear agreement were not the ordinary Iranian people, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Quds Force, the Office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the regime’s loyalists and proxies and militia groups across the Middle East. Israel believed that the nuclear deal would empower and embolden its rivals, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Syrian regime.
In addition, the nuclear deal paved the way for lifting sanctions against Tehran. As sanctions against Iran were lifted during the Obama administration, it quickly became clear that those actions gave Iran global legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. This newfound legitimacy and the lifting of sanctions generated billions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s military institutions — the IRGC and Iran’s militia and terror groups. As Israel suspected, Tehran used that influx of revenues to expand its influence throughout the region, including in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. And the expansion campaign proved to be immensely successful.
The balance of power was in Iran’s favor until the current administration assumed office. One of the first things that the Trump administration did was to pull the US out of the nuclear deal. This was a huge blow to the Iranian regime and a major victory for Israel. A year into the pressure, the state-controlled Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that Iran had halted its credit line to the Syrian government. Some of Iran’s authorities publicly announced that they also did not have money to pay their mercenaries abroad.
In an interview with the state-run Ofogh Television Network, for instance, Parviz Fattah, the current head of the Foundation for the Underprivileged (Mostazafan Foundation) stated: “I was at the IRGC Cooperative Foundation. Haj Qassem (Soleimani, commander of the IRGC Quds Force who was killed by a US drone strike) came and told me he did not have money to pay the salaries of the Fatemiyoun (Afghan mercenaries). He said that they were our Afghan brothers, and he asked for help from people like us.”
Israel is concerned that the balance of power is going to shift in favor of Iran when the Biden administration takes over.
Furthermore, Tehran’s diminishing resources also caused Iranian leaders to cut funds to the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Hamas was forced to introduce “austerity plans” while Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, also called on his group’s fundraising arm “to provide the opportunity for jihad with money and also to help with this ongoing battle.”
Israel scored another victory as Iran’s domestic economic situation became so dire that the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admitted that the regime was encountering the worst economic crisis since its establishment in 1979. The political deputy of the province of Bushehr, Gov. Majid Khorshidi, told a gathering on July 14 that they should not ignore US sanctions. “We used to see this approach (of ignoring US sanctions) from the previous (Ahmadinejad) administration and unfortunately it still continues,” he said. “But I have to say that sanctions have broken the economy’s back.”
Iran’s currency, the rial, has been in free fall for the past three years as well. As of Nov. 19, 2020, a US dollar is worth approximately 250,000 rials. Before the current US administration imposed a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran, a US dollar equaled nearly 30,000 rials. During the past year, Iran’s oil exports also have sunk to a record low. The country’s budget relies heavily on selling oil.
The balance of power shifted to such an extent in favor of Israel that it was empowered to directly inflict several blows on the Iranian regime during the past few years. This week, for example, the Israeli air force conducted airstrikes against eight targets and storage facilities reportedly controlled by the Iranian Quds forces and the Syrian regime forces stationed in Syria.
In 2019, Israel launched cruise missiles toward Iranian and Syrian military positions near the Syrian capital, Damascus. In August and November 2019, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria, and they carried out a series of airstrikes in northern Baghdad a few months ago. According to reports, several Iranians were killed and wounded in these airstrikes. The Iranian regime, which is known for immediate retaliation, remained silent due to its weakened position. The only response which came out of Tehran was heightened rhetoric.
But now, Israel is concerned that the balance of power is going to shift in favor of Iran when the Biden administration takes over.
In summary, while Israel has been fortunate during the Trump administration when it comes to confronting and weakening the Iranian regime, the balance of power between Israel and Iran may indeed shift in favor of Iran in the next US administration.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh