English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 28/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually.
First Letter to the Corinthians 02/11-16:”For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

Question: "What does the Bible say about thankfulness/gratitude?"
GotQuestions.org/November 27/2020
Answer: Thankfulness is a prominent Bible theme. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Did you catch that? Give thanks in all circumstances. Thankfulness should be a way of life for us, naturally flowing from our hearts and mouths.
Digging into the Scriptures a little more deeply, we understand why we should be thankful and also how to have gratitude in different circumstances.
Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” Here we have two reasons to be thankful: God’s constant goodness and His steadfast love. When we recognize the nature of our depravity and understand that, apart from God, there is only death (John 10:10; Romans 7:5), our natural response is to be grateful for the life He gives.
Psalm 30 gives praise to God for His deliverance. David writes, “I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. . . . You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:1-12). Here David gives thanks to God following an obviously difficult circumstance. This psalm of thanksgiving not only praises God in the moment but remembers God’s past faithfulness. It is a statement of God’s character, which is so wonderful that praise is the only appropriate response.
We also have examples of being thankful in the midst of hard circumstances. Psalm 28, for example, depicts David’s distress. It is a cry to God for mercy, protection, and justice. After David cries out to God, he writes, “Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy, and I will give thanks to him in song” (Psalm 28:6-7). In the midst of hardship, David remembers who God is and, as a result of knowing and trusting God, gives thanks. Job had a similar attitude of praise, even in the face of death: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).
There are examples of believers’ thankfulness in the New Testament as well. Paul was heavily persecuted, yet he wrote, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). The writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28). Peter gives a reason to be thankful for “grief and all kinds of trials,” saying that, through the hardships, our faith “may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
The people of God are thankful people, for they realize how much they have been given. One of the characteristics of the last days is a lack of thanksgiving, according to 2 Timothy 3:2. Wicked people will be “ungrateful.”
We should be thankful because God is worthy of our thanksgiving. It is only right to credit Him for “every good and perfect gift” He gives (James 1:17). When we are thankful, our focus moves off selfish desires and off the pain of current circumstances. Expressing thankfulness helps us remember that God is in control. Thankfulness, then, is not only appropriate; it is actually healthy and beneficial to us. It reminds us of the bigger picture, that we belong to God, and that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Truly, we have an abundant life (John 10:10), and gratefulness is fitting.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 27-28/2020

Conscience and Shame Are God Himself/Elias Bejjani/November 27/2020
Text of a letter that was delivered today to the Honorable Mr. Ján Kubiš, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon from patriotic parties and organizations through a sit-in peaceful stand in front of his house in Baabda..
Aoun Says Parliament Call for Public Sector Audit an 'Achievement for Lebanese'
Aoun Meets Kubis, Talks Dwell on UN Resolution 1701
President Aoun discussed the measures for continued support for basic materials
Presidency of the Republic receives parliament’s decision for forensic auditing
Parliament approves project law to consider Beirut port explosion martyrs similar to army martyrs
Parliament Calls for Subjecting BDL, All State Institutions to Forensic Audit
Lebanon to Reopen Monday, Hassan Asks if There's Been a Lockdown
STL: Seventeen Lebanese students conclude an online study visit to The Hague’s judicial institutions
UfM Foreign Affairs Ministers set priority areas for stronger cooperation, integration in Euro-Mediterranean region
Protesters end their sitin outside Interior Ministry, head towards UNESCO palace: We call for an independent judiciary
Bassil Hails Aoun, MP Jumblat Says Parliament Defeated 'Bravados'
U.N. Says Hundreds of Syrians Fled Bsharri after Unrest
Higher Judicial Council to Seek Prosecution of Interior Minister
Lebanon's Hezbollah: Response to nuclear scientist assassination up to Iran
France to hold virtual donor conference for Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 27-28/2020

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassinated: Ministry of Defense
Who was Mohsin Fakhrizadeh, the assassinated ‘father of Iran’s nuclear bomb’?
Attacks on scientists in Iran in recent years: A list
Iran’s IRGC chief vows to avenge slain nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh, accuses Israel
Iran’s Zarif: Israel had a ‘role’ in nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh’s assassination
Trade between Iran and Turkey has been upended by Trump's sanctions, coronavirus
Iranian diplomat refuses to appear at bomb plot trial in Belgium: Lawyer
Woman with knife attacks Rabbi in Vienna, yells anti-Semitic threat
European Parliament resolution urges sanctions on Turkey
Gulf mediation initiative likely behind Kuwaiti FM’s brief visit to Cairo

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 27-28/2020

How will Iran retaliate for the assassination of its top nuclear scientist?/Bryant Harris/The National/November 28/2020
Egypt: Christian arrested for ‘insulting Islam’ on Facebook/Jihad Watch/November 28/2020
The Taliban are Betraying Trump's Peace Deal/Con Coughlin/ Gatestone Institute/November 27/2020
Will Turkey revise its foreign policy?/Sinem Cengiz/Arab news/November 27/2020
Bright promise of Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed era lies in tatters/Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab news/November 27/2020
Peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a disaster for Iran/Dnyanesh Kamat/Arab news/November 27/2020
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 27-28/2020

Conscience and Shame Are God Himself
الياس بجاني: الضمير والخجل هما الله في داخل الإنسان
Elias Bejjani/November 27/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/78389/elias-bejjani-conscience-and-shame-are-god-himself-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b6%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ae%d8%ac%d9%84-%d9%87%d9%85/
Freedom without moral, ethical and fear of God restrictions is a tool of satanic moral and social chaos.
He who abandons the graces of shame and conscience in his both mind and conduct he practically defies and rejects Our Father Almighty God because these two graces are God Himself
The Sodom and Gomorrah fate must be envisioned for any society where freedom becomes a means for immoral practises and a vehicle of heresies.
“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (01 Corinthians 06/07-11)
He who kills the Godly graces of “SHAME” and conscience in his both mind and conduct he practically defies and rejects Our Father Almighty God because these two graces are God Himself.
Our Father Almighty God who created us on his image and because we are His children and due to the fact that He wants to have us back in His heavenly mentions, He remained with us through these both graces of shame and conscience.
Through these two Godly graces Almighty God warns us when ever we do, say, contemplate or see, any thing that is morally or ethically not acceptable and that breaches the teaching of the holy Bible. God granted these two Holy graces only to us, His children and not to any other creature.
Accordingly, and because our bodies are Gods’ temples, freedom is a blessing and a gift provided that its use remains contained in the context of all that is, moral, ethical, respect of self and others, and most importantly that it does not go against any of the 10 commandments in particular and the biblical teaching in general.Every moral teaching in Christianity aims to lead us to the true freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Both the Gospel and the Church call us to be faithful and not to ever forget or ignore the fact, “The creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay” (Romans 8:21).
Freedom is fulfilled when we live the commandments of the Lord, hear His Word, and are enlighten by the teachings of His apostles and saints.
Accordingly, any call or conduct for or of freedom outside the truth, and apart the full sovereignty of Jesus Christ over our lives, is a surrender to wrongdoing temptations, evil illusions and flaws. Freedom is that “nothing dominates” us so we can remain free from sin.
Definitely, there are limits for human freedom on the moral level. A believer in God and in His Holy Bible MUST not allow any thought, practice or earthly temptation to restrict or deprive him of his freedom which is Godly gift.
All those who wrongly believe that freedom is an open ticket to do or say any thing with no shame or conscience, and without the fear of God or His Day Of Judgment, and at the same time falsely think that their bodies are their, all those wrongdoers are advised and before it is too late to wake up and read thoroughly the below verses from saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians ( 06/From 12-20) that addresses sexual immoralities:
(“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.)
Man was created in the image and likeness of God, and in the form of his freedom. He is a free intellectual creature and God gave him the capabilities and privileges to master on all that is on earth.
Accordingly he has an obligation to safeguard and hold on to this Godly gift that makes him different and distinguishes from all other creatures.
Man is required to continuously appreciate God’s gifts of freedom, sovereignty and wisdom, and to utilize them with fear of God in a bid to reach perfection in his spiritual life, and in his endeavors to improve and tame his creative talents.
Man is called on to be a genuine loving and giving creature, and to free himself from all that is hatred, grudges, selfishness, moral-ethical deviations, thievery, jealousy and most importantly to keep away from sexual immoralities that defile his body which is Gods’ temple.
Freedom in Christianity is achieved and enjoyed through the Holy Spirit grace. It lies in the man’s will and ability to break the shackles of sin, and to fight with faith and prayers all evil Satanic temptations that might make him to stumble.
Freedom is to live the fullness of life, in repentance, humility, transparency, God’s full obedience, purification and love. Man attains and obtains his actual freedom through biblical education and by obeying His Father Almighty God and drawing strength from him.
May people sadly give different definitions for freedom according to their earthly goals, wishes, pleasures and aspirations. They wrongly see that freedom it a human moral value that is devoid of every faith dimension and accordingly they tailor and shape it to facilitate, justify and legitimize their wrongdoings in every life aspect.
In summary, It is a holy and moral duty and obligation to witness for the truth loudly and courageously, and to protect ourselves, our families, our church and our societies from the evil heretic threats, and from all that is social bizarre and religiously goes against the Gospel and the commandments of our Lord Jesus. These numerous heretic and sinful acts are spread and advocated under the tag of freedom through music, singing, paints, movies, plays etc.
May Al Mighty God protect and safeguard Lebanon and its people from all that is sinful, evil, heretic.

Below is the text of a letter that was delivered today to the Honorable Mr. Ján Kubiš, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon from patriotic parties and organizations through a sit-in peaceful stand in front of his house in Baabda..
To the Honourable Mr. Ján Kubiš
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon.
Beirut, Lebanon/Beirut 27 November 2020
Excellency,
Allow us, as groups of revolutionaries aiming for Lebanese sovereignty from all regions and sects, to thank the United Nations, through all its institutions, for the great support and assistance it has provided to Lebanon after the horrific blast of the Beirut port on August 4, 2020.
We are here today to shed light on the main reason for the collapse of Lebanon’s political, financial, economic and, most recently, healthcare and educational systems which is Iranian hegemony over the state, through the Hezbollah militia. Hezbollah has entrenched a quid pro quo, in collusion with most of the political class, to legitimize its weapons in return for covering up corruption. This arrangement allowed Hezbollah to seize the judiciary and public institutions and control the state ports to facilitate its multiple activities from smuggling and money laundering, to drug trafficking and exporting terrorism; in striking opposition to the laws and principles of the constitution.
Hezbollah’s terrorist activities, illegal weapons and control over political decision-making have led to Lebanon’s isolation from our regional and international surroundings. Hezbollah’s ideology threatens to alter Lebanon’s cultural identity, its free democratic and economic systems, and its humanitarian message of openness to others.
Those gathered here, and on behalf of all revolutionaries calling for Lebanese sovereignty, declare their rejection of Iranian occupation and the existence of a state within the state. We demand the necessary removal of illegal arms and the restriction of peace and war decisions solely to the Lebanese Government. We call upon the United Nations to shoulder its legal and humanitarian responsibilities in protecting the rights of states and peoples through:
First: Implementing the international resolutions it issued which the ruling Lebanese authority refused to implement, especially resolutions: 1559-1680-1701 which stipulate the disarmament of militias and the extension of state sovereignty over all its territories. Only then will Lebanon regain its national sovereignty and independence in order to implement the Constitution and the National Accord Document (Al Ta’ef). Second: Supporting us within the international community to adopt political neutrality from regional and international conflicts, pending ratification of the neutrality principle into Lebanon’s constitution and signing a United Nations neutrality agreement, in accordance with Chapter Six. Lebanon’s neutrality will restore its stability, prosperity, and cultural role as a distinct model for coexistence especially since the United Nations voted to consider “Lebanon the Mission” as an International Center for Dialogue of Civilizations and Religions on September 17, 2019. Third: Establishing a United Nations International Commission Against Impunity and Corruption particularly since Lebanon signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption on April 22, 2009.
This commission is a necessity to prosecute the corrupt political establishment and restore looted public funds. We urge your Excellency to raise our demands to the Secretary-General for Lebanon to regain its sovereignty and independence, so it can act again as a bridge for dialogue and positive pluralism in the face of an environment of obscurantism and fundamentalism.
Please accept our respect and gratitude.

Aoun Says Parliament Call for Public Sector Audit an 'Achievement for Lebanese'
Naharnet/November 27/2020
President Michel Aoun on Friday took credit for a parliament decision calling for a financial audit of all state institutions, describing the move as an achievement. “Parliament’s compliance with our desire to carry out a forensic financial audit of the state’s institutions and administrations is an achievement for the Lebanese who want to know who wasted their funds and encroached on their incomes,” Aoun said in a tweet. “It is also a bright nod to the international community that has shown solidarity with us in our battle against corruption and waste,” the president added. In a letter to parliament, Aoun had urged lawmakers to “cooperate with the executive authority to enable the state to conduct a forensic audit of Banque du Liban’s accounts.”“This audit, with all its international standards, should apply to all of the state’s administrations to achieve the needed reform and implement the aid programs which Lebanon needs in its current and suffocating situation,” the president added. He warned that failure to carry out the forensic audit might turn Lebanon into a “rogue or failed state” in the eyes of the international community.

Aoun Meets Kubis, Talks Dwell on UN Resolution 1701
Naharnet/November 27/2020
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis met with President Michel Aoun and briefed the president on the deliberations of the Security Council meeting on Resolution 1701, the Presidency office said in a tweet on Friday. The Security Council conducts regular briefings as a follow-up of the situation in South Lebanon, and the work of UNIFIL international forces. The meeting was attended by former Minister, Salim Jreisatti, Presidency Director-General Antoine Choucair, and Adviser Osama Khashab. The 1701 Resolution was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War with Israel. It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council on 11 August 2006. The Lebanese cabinet unanimously approved the resolution on 12 August 2006. In October, Lebanon and Israel began unprecedented talks to settle a maritime border dispute and clear the way for oil and gas exploration.
 

President Aoun discussed the measures for continued support for basic materials
NNA/November 27/2020
The President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, and discussed with him the support of basic and necessary materials and the measures leading to the continuation of this support in the current circumstances.--Presidency Press Office

Presidency of the Republic receives parliament’s decision for forensic auditing
NNA/November 27/2020
The Presidency of the Republic received this evening the decision issued by Parliament this afternoon, in response to the message of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, regarding forensic auditing.
The following is the text of the decision signed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri: In response to the message of His Excellency the President of the Republic regarding forensic audit, and after discussing the message’s content, the parliament took the following decision: The accounts of Banque du Liban, ministries, independent interests, councils, funds, and public institutions in parallel are subject to forensic auditing without any hindrance or pretexts of invoking banking secrecy.
Beirut 11/27/2020
Speaker of the Parliament
Nabih Berri.—Presidency Press office

Parliament approves project law to consider Beirut port explosion martyrs similar to army martyrs
NNA/November 27/2020
The House of Parliament on Friday approved the project law, proposed by the Parliamentary "Development and Liberation" Bloc, which stipulates that the martyrs of the Beirut Port explosion are considered similar to the Lebanese Army martyrs. The project law also stipulates that those injured from the Beirut Port explosion benefit from the National Social Security Fund's services for life.

Parliament Calls for Subjecting BDL, All State Institutions to Forensic Audit
Agence France Presse/November 27/2020
Parliament on Friday approved a recommendation calling for subjecting the central bank and all state institutions to a forensic audit without regard to bank secrecy, in response to a letter from President Michel Aoun. “All the accounts of Banque du Liban, ministries, independent authorities, councils, financial institutions, funds and municipalities should be subjected to an audit without any obstacle and without using banking secrecy or other issues as an excuse,” parliament’s recommendation said. Speaker Nabih Berri had earlier described the parliamentary session as "fateful." It will decide "the course of the country," he said. "The President's letter has come at the right time and to the right place. Today we have sensed unanimity from all blocs that the audit should be comprehensive and complete," Berri added. "Let us seize the chance and prove to all Lebanese and to the entire world that we are really serious in approaching this file," he went on to say. "Accordingly, there is no need for some remarks which some speeches are mentioning about the past or the responses to remarks said outside parliament a week or two weeks ago," Berri added, in response to some MPs' remarks during the session.
The Speaker had earlier refused to allow caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni to respond to remarks voiced by al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Samir al-Jisr. "This debate session is dedicated to MPs and ministers are not entitled to speak," Berri said. Speaking after the session, MP Ali Hassan Khalil of Berri's bloc said the recommendation "highlights our insistence on auditing all of the state's accounts.""The decision has entered into force and it must be fulfilled in order to pinpoint responsibilities. It creates a new approach for cooperating with the state and no one should enjoy a cover," he added.
MP Hadi Abu al-Hosn had earlier announced that the Democratic Gathering bloc supports an audit of the accounts of BDL and all state institutions but without any "selectivity" or "political vendettas."
"We have the right to ask: what is this sudden awakening after we already collapsed... What is this belated awakening after four years of turning a blind eye and covering for violations? It is our right to ask, at a time we have not seen this chivalry when it comes to controlling the waste of public funds in the electricity, customs and telecommunication files," the MP added. Parliament's decision comes a week after a New York-based consultancy firm, Alvarez & Marsal, terminated its contract to audit the central bank over missing data. The International Monetary Fund and France are among creditors demanding an audit of Lebanon's central bank as part of urgent reforms to unlock financial support, as the country faces a grinding economic crisis. But the central bank has claimed that provisions including Lebanon's Banking Secrecy Law prevent it from releasing some of the necessary information, a charge the justice ministry and legal experts have disputed. Alvarez & Marsal scrapped its agreement with the government last week, saying the central bank had failed to hand over the required information. The move sparked widespread criticism of Lebanon's authorities.The country, which defaulted on its debt this year, is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades and is still reeling from a devastating explosion at the port that gutted entire neighborhoods of Beirut on August 4. Both are widely blamed on government corruption and incompetence. Lebanon is in desperate need of donor funds and talks with the IMF have been on hold since July pending reforms. But economist and anti-government activist Jad Chaaban called parliament's latest decision "a tactic to win time." "You didn't need the lifting of bank secrecy or anything to conduct the" audit, he said. "The problem is again, how do you allow thieves to audit thieves?" he added, referring to authorities.The forensic audit of the Banque du Liban (BDL) is one of the main points of the government's economic rescue plan, approved at the end of April. Several officials, including the finance minister, have said the government is expected to replace Alvarez & Marsal with another consultancy firm soon.

Lebanon to Reopen Monday, Hassan Asks if There's Been a Lockdown
Naharnet/November 27/2020
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan lamented Friday that an ongoing lockdown that has been running for 12 days has failed to bring down the rate of coronavirus infections in Lebanon, as caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme announced that the country will reopen on Monday.
“The rate of positive tests is still the same at 15%. We were hoping to slash it to 12% or 10%,” said Hassan after a meeting for the country’s anti-coronavirus ministerial committee. “Has there been really a general lockdown?” Hassan wondered, noting that “what has been achieved as to upping the level of readiness is adding 60 beds at public hospitals and 34 beds at private hospitals.”“This number is below the needed level and below the aspirations of the Ministry of Public Health,” he decried. As for the reopening plan, Hassan said the ministerial committee will meet on Sunday to “devise a plan that caters to the Lebanese public and the level of our mutual understanding.”“I don’t know until when we will keep betting on people’s commitment and society’s awareness,” he added. “We have not achieved the lockdown we were hoping for and a plan for a gradual reopening that would be evaluated weekly should be devised, while adding some deterring points in order to curb the spread of coronavirus,” Hassan went on to say. Answering a reporter’s question, the minister said the Interior Ministry has performed an “extraordinary effort” while urging greater cooperation from “the other security agencies and municipalities.”
The caretaker economy minister meanwhile announced that the country will be reopened but called on citizens to “abide by the precautionary measures.”
 

STL: Seventeen Lebanese students conclude an online study visit to The Hague’s judicial institutions
NNA/November 27/2020
A group of seventeen Lebanese students who obtained the highest grades in the 2019-2020 session of the Inter-University Programme on International Criminal Law and Procedure (IUP-ICLP) concluded an online study visit to The Hague’s judicial institutions this week. The IUP-ICLP was set up by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in 2011 in cooperation with the T.M.C Asser Institute in The Hague and 11 Lebanese universities. The online visit included briefings by representatives of the STL’s four organs – Vice President Ralph Riachi, Prosecutor Norman Farrell, Head of the Defence Office Dorothée Le Fraper du Hellen and Chief of Judicial Services Evelyn Anoya – as well as a courtroom tour of the STL. Head of Outreach and Legacy Olga Kavran gave a presentation on the Trial Chamber Judgment in the Ayyash et al. case. The students also met with representatives from the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, and the T.M.C Asser Institute. One of the students said, “Although I would have preferred visiting The Hague to get acquainted with the international courts first-hand and to wander around their rooms, my participation in the online visit was nonetheless significant. It afforded me a valuable opportunity to meet with experts and specialists at the international criminal tribunals, and to brush up on valuable information about the courts’ jurisdiction and working methods. We thank the programme organisers and their ongoing efforts in light of the difficulties we are experiencing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” A record number of two hundred and eighty-seven (287) Lebanese students successfully completed the eighth edition of the IUP-ICLP despite the pandemic-related restrictions. They thus joined the ranks of nearly 1,200 students who have completed this unique programme since its launch in 2011. The IUP-ICLP is the first specialized course in International Criminal Law offered at any Lebanese university. This visit concludes the eighth edition of the IUP-ICLP.--STL

UfM Foreign Affairs Ministers set priority areas for stronger cooperation, integration in Euro-Mediterranean region
NNA/November 27/2020
The 5th Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Forum was held today virtually under the title ‘25years: Building a Stronger Mediterranean’. Consolidated as the annual gathering of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the UfM Member States, the Regional Forum provided the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the Barcelona Process and reiterate their engagement in Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and cooperation, as well as to highlight where the UfM needs to redouble its efforts in order to meet current and future challenges.
Ministers agreed to particularly direct efforts in the coming year towards further integrating economies through the promotion of trade and investment, encouraging climate action and sustainable models for growth, and supporting digital transformation whilst maintaining the UfM’s longstanding focus on both women’s empowerment and employment, especially amongst young people.
Coinciding with the anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration of 1995, which laid the foundations for the creation of the UfM, the creation of the ‘International Day of the Mediterranean’ was also announced by all UfM Member States and will be observed on 28 November every year. The celebration’s aim is to help foster a common Mediterranean identity and raise awareness of the efforts undertaken across the region by stakeholders on a daily basis to enhance cooperation and integration in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The cultural dimension will also be an important component as it will provide an occasion to hold events, exhibitions and festivals across the region with a view to strengthening ties between the two shores, promoting intercultural exchange and dialogue, and embracing the diversity of the region.
The Regional Forum was chaired by the UfM Co-Presidency, assumed by Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, and Ayman Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan, and hosted by Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain and Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General.
Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General, stated: “This anniversary comes at a time of great disruption for the region, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts. COVID-19 is a stark reminder of the need for tangible cooperation across borders, sectors and peoples. However, we should not forget the hard-earned progress of the last 25 years, nor give up on regaining the momentum that has thus far marked our collective endeavours. Thanks to the human capital and immense potential of the region, our story must continue as one of hope as we build the future we all want to see.”The Regional Forum was preceded by the EU-Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting to discuss how best to move forward together when renewing their partnership as set out under the European Neighbourhood Policy. A virtual Civil Society Forum was also held to discuss the future of civil society cooperation in the region as well as showcase 25 successful programmes from relevant actors that are working on the ground to promote Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on a daily basis. The conference featured keynote speeches by the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, and the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ouided Bouchamaoui. The conference gathered more than 1500 participants from across the region, showcasing projects such as Plastic busters, which is tackling the root causes of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea; MedNC, which is addressing the need to assist young people in their socio-professional integration when they are not already in education or employment; and MedCoast4BG project, a project that analyses and promotes the co-evolution of human activities and natural systems in coastal areas devoted to tourism.
The Barcelona Process was launched in 1995 with the aim of strengthening relations between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean countries. This expression of good faith and the recognition that closer ties were in everyone’s interest would later lead to the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean. During these 25 years, hundreds of initiatives have served as examples of this commitment in action. From large-scale international projects to local initiatives, a consolidated network of cooperation has gradually developed and directly impacted the lives of millions of citizens. Since 2008, the UfM has introduced a more structured and pragmatic framework of cooperation that works to tackle the root causes of the crises we face today.—UfM

Protesters end their sitin outside Interior Ministry, head towards UNESCO palace: We call for an independent judiciary
NNA/November 27/2020
Civil society activists have ended their sit-in outside the Interior Ministry in Hamra, to protest against the assault on lawyer Ephram Halabi by agents of the Internal Security Forces, NNA correspondent reported. A protester read out a statement in which he strongly condemned the attack on a citizen in the area of Corniche al-Mazraa, deeming what has happened was unacceptable by all standards, regardless of his profession or age. "We will no longer remain silent in wake of any similar attack," he proclaimed, calling for an independent judiciary. Protesters then ended their sit in outside the Interior Ministry, heading towards the UNESCO Palace, where parliament is current;ly holding a plenary session on the forensic audit.

Bassil Hails Aoun, MP Jumblat Says Parliament Defeated 'Bravados'
Naharnet/November 27/2020
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said Friday that the Lebanese people have “triumphed” thanks to President Michel Aoun, after parliament approved a decision calling for a forensic audit of the accounts of the central bank and all state institutions. “The auditing firm should immediately return to its task and should receive what it has requested and the government should seek a forensic audit of all state administrations, institutions and funds,” Bassil tweeted. “The Lebanese people triumphed today thanks to their president and achieved a step forward towards recovering a part of their rights,” he added.
The head of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Taymour Jumblat meanwhile tweeted that parliament has “defeated some parties’ bravados and deceitful slogans,” in an apparent jab at Aoun and Bassil. “Let their be a financial audit of all public spending and of all institutions and administrations and let the results be referred to an independent judiciary whose appointments are not stalled, so that we get to know who is keen on the rights of the Lebanese,” Jumblat added. In a letter to parliament, Aoun had urged lawmakers to “cooperate with the executive authority to enable the state to conduct a forensic audit of Banque du Liban’s accounts.”“This audit, with all its international standards, should apply to all of the state’s administrations to achieve the needed reform and implement the aid programs which Lebanon needs in its current and suffocating situation,” the president added. He warned that failure to carry out the forensic audit might turn Lebanon into a “rogue or failed state” in the eyes of the international community.

U.N. Says Hundreds of Syrians Fled Bsharri after Unrest
Naharnet/November 27/2020
At least 270 Syrian families have left a north Lebanon town, as hostility towards them mounted over a murder allegedly committed by a Syrian national, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees condemned "collective reprisals against Syrians in the town," of Bsharri, saying many of the families fled in fear without taking their belongings. "Collective punishment... for a whole community for an incident involving one individual is unacceptable," a UNHCR spokesperson said in a statement. Many of those who fled the Christian-majority town said they were chased out by Bsharri residents after a Syrian on Monday was accused of shooting dead a Lebanese resident, sparking widespread tension and hostility. Lebanon's official National News Agency reported forced evictions of Syrians in the wake of the murder, but Bsharri's mayor denied that the Syrians had left out of fear. An AFP correspondent in Tripoli saw dozens of Syrian families gathering outside a UNHCR building in the northern city. A group of young men in Bsharri "assaulted us, threatened us and started a fire" in the house, Umm Khaled, a 31-year-old Syrian mother of five told AFP.
"We picked up our children and ran away to Tripoli," located more than 40 kilometers east, she said. Yassin Hassan, a 30-year-old Syrian who had lived in Bsharri for years, said he was beaten by a group of men. "We ran away... without taking anything from our homes," he told AFP.
Tripoli is among the most welcoming destinations in Lebanon for refugees. Lebanon, which is grappling with an economic crisis, says it hosts some 1.5 million Syrians, including around one million registered as refugees with the United Nations. UNHCR said it received "a large number of refugees from Bsharri" in its Tripoli reception center. They were encouraged to find alternative housing but those with nowhere to stay were moved to shelters, a spokesperson told AFP. The reasons behind the murder that fueled anti-Syrian sentiments in Bsharri remain shrouded in mystery. The Syrian suspect in question has handed himself over to authorities, the army said. A judicial source said investigations were still underway. The mayor of Bsharri says the town is home to nearly a thousand Syrians. Authorities have called on refugees to return to Syria even though rights groups warn that the war-torn country is not yet safe.

Higher Judicial Council to Seek Prosecution of Interior Minister
Naharnet/November 27/2020
The Higher Judicial Council announced Friday that it will ask the state prosecutor to “take the appropriate legal measure against the interior minister” over his latest remarks about the judiciary. In a statement issued after an extraordinary meeting, the Council said it has taken its decision in agreement with the heads of the Shura Council and the Audit Bureau.
In a statement issued overnight Thursday, the Council had described caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi’s remarks as “totally unacceptable, intolerable and incorrect.”In a live interview on MTV, Fahmi had claimed that “95% of judges are corrupt.”

Lebanon's Hezbollah: Response to nuclear scientist assassination up to Iran
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/November 28/2020
The deputy leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, said on Friday, the response to the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was in Iran's hands.
"We condemn this heinous attack and see that the response to this crime is in the hands of those concerned in Iran... It is a matter of honor and dignity, and we are not bothered by assassinations," Qassem said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al Manar TV.
Fakhrizadeh, one of Iran’s most prominent nuclear scientists was assassinated on Friday in an attack on his car outside Tehran, the defense ministry said earlier on Friday. He was "seriously wounded" when assailants targeted his car before being engaged in a gunfight with his security team, the ministry added. He later succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital.
Qassem added that Fakhrizadeh was murdered by "those sponsored by America and Israel" and the assassination was "part of a war on Iran and the region."
Iran accuses Israel
Iranian officials vowed to avenge the slain scientist and pointed the finger of blame at Israel. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has claimed there were "serious indications of (an) Israeli role" in the assassination.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami said: “Severe revenge and punishment for the perpetrators of this crime is on the agenda,” according to Iranian media.
Israel “designed and directed” Fakhrizadeh’s killing, Salami alleged. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was not commenting on the attack on the Iranian nuclear scientist.
Who is Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?
Fakhrizadeh, once described by Netanyahu as the father of Iran's nuclear weapons program, had been travelling in a car near Absard city in Tehran province's eastern Damavand county.
He has long been described by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile foes of Iran’s clerical rulers as a leader of a covert atomic bomb program halted in 2003. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponize nuclear energy.
He had the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear program and whether it was aimed at developing a nuclear bomb. Fakhrizadeh was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities. An IAEA report the following year also referred to him briefly.
Iranian media rarely mention him. In 2007, the semi-official Mehr News Agency described him as a scientist working for the Defense Ministry and a former head of the Physics Research Centre, a body also mentioned in the IAEA’s report. Some Iranian websites said he was a university professor.
But Western analysts acknowledged that little is publicly known about Fakhrizadeh, described by Albright’s think tank as a nuclear engineer who has overseen a number of projects related to weaponization research and development. The IAEA had said in 2002-2003, Fakhrizadeh was the executive officer of the so-called AMAD Plan, which according to its information conducted studies related to uranium, high explosives and the revamping of a missile cone to accommodate a nuclear warhead.
“If Iran ever chose to weaponize (enrichment), Fakhrizadeh would be known as the father of the Iranian bomb,” a Western diplomat who is critical of Iran’s nuclear program had told Reuters. - With Agencies

France to hold virtual donor conference for Lebanon
The Arab Weekly/November 28/2020
PARIS--France will host a video conference with international partners on December 2 to discuss humanitarian aid for financially-strapped Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Thursday.
The meeting, organised in conjunction with the United Nations, will aim to have the highest-level representation possible to solicit aid for Lebanon’s debt-crushed economy.The French president and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will co-preside over the video conference, which will also include Lebanese nongovernmental groups and other organisations seeking to help, according to Macron’s office. Macron has vowed to push ahead with efforts to prevent Lebanon from collapsing after a massive explosion in Beirut’s port in August destroyed large areas of the city and compounded the country’s political and financial crisis. The French pledge comes as thousands of Lebanese are struggling to repair homes damaged in the blast and protesting over the absence of a government initiative to rebuild what has been destroyed. Despite rising public anger in Lebanon, a French initiative to stabilise Lebanon and enable the release of billions of dollars of international aid to fix the economy has yet to bear fruit. Three sources familiar with the situation said that given the worsening economic situation and the COVID-19 pandemic, France had decided to press ahead with the humanitarian conference. Conference details are still to be ironed out early next week, but it aims to attract as many senior government officials as possible. Earlier in the day, restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) confirmed it had withdrawn from a forensic audit of Lebanon’s central bank as it had not received the information required to carry out the task.
The decision, first announced by Lebanon’s caretaker finance minister on November 20, was a blow to the country as the audit is a key demand of foreign donors to help it exit a financial meltdown, its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. No Western appetite to help Lebanon “There isn’t huge appetite to help Lebanon from the international community, but relief should go directly to the people,” said one person aware of the conference. Earlier in November, Western powers seeking to rescue Lebanon’s teetering economy gave the country’s leaders an ultimatum: There will be no bailout unless they quickly form a credible government to overhaul a bankrupt state. In talks in Beirut, Patrick Durel, an adviser to Macron on the Middle East and North Africa, made clear that while Paris remains committed, “we will not bail them out unless there are reforms," according to two sources who were present. “Those times have changed," he said. US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, speaking to an online conference of the CSIS think-tank in Washington in mid- November, said the United States “gets that Lebanon matters” and that “avoiding state failure…has to be first and foremost.”But she added,“We can’t really want it more than they do.”Shea said there would be no bailout without reforms.
“We got smart,” she said, adding there would be “a step-by-step approach and no free lunch.” US sanctions complicate the process. Some sources say efforts have been complicated by recent US sanctions against Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun who heads the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Lebanon’s largest Christian party. Bassil was sanctioned on corruption charges and ties with the Iran-backed Shia paramilitary group Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful party and a strike-force for Tehran across the region, which Washington deems a terrorist organisation. He denies the corruption charges. The main sticking point, official sources say, is Aoun and Bassil’s insistence on nominating Christian ministers in an 18-member government. A source close to talks on government formation said some involved identified Bassil as the main obstacle to a cabinet being formed. Bassil denies the accusations, saying that since others were able to nominate ministers, his party was entitled to the same. A source familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said that Durel asked the group to try to persuade Bassil, a close ally, to soften his stand, but that Hezbollah was reluctant to exert further pressure on him as it could weaken him further. Several sources said the current standoff was suicidal for the country, which is running through its foreign reserves fast. They are estimated at just $17.9 billion. Because of the sanctions, which Shea acknowledged were part of outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, Tehran and its allies are opting to wait until Trump leaves office.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 27-28/2020

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassinated: Ministry of Defense
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/27 November ,2020
Prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated east of the capital Tehran on Friday, Iran’s defense ministry confirmed in a statement. Fakhrizadeh died in hospital due to injuries sustained during a shoot-out between his bodyguards and “armed terrorists” Friday afternoon, the statement said. The statement described Fakhrizadeh as the head of the defense ministry’s “Research and Innovation Organization.”The defense ministry did not accuse any parties of involvement. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, as well as other Iranian outlets including the official IRIB news agency earlier reported the assassination, adding that he was reportedly killed in the city of Absard, 43 miles east of the Iranian capital. Fakhrizadeh has long been described by Western, Israeli andIranian exile foes of Iran's clerical rulers as a leader of a covert atomic bomb programme halted in 2003. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponise nuclear energy.
With Reuters

Who was Mohsin Fakhrizadeh, the assassinated ‘father of Iran’s nuclear bomb’?
Reuters27 November/2020
Prominent Iranian military scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in an attack outside Tehran on Friday, was widely seen by Western intelligence as the mastermind of clandestine Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies Fakhrizadeh was involved in any such undertaking and that it ever tried to weaponize uranium enrichment for nuclear energy. But he is widely thought to have headed what the UN atomic watchdog and US intelligence services believe was a coordinated nuclear arms program that was halted in 2003. What is known about him? Western officials and experts believe Fakhrizadeh played a pivotal role in past Iranian work to devise the means to assemble a nuclear warhead behind the facade of a declared civilian uranium enrichment program. Iran denies ever having sought to develop a nuclear weapon. He lived in the shadows under high security and was never made available to UN nuclear investigators. Fakhrizadeh rarely - if ever - surfaced in public and few outside Iran know with any certainty what he looked like, let alone had met him. He has the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency's 2015 "final assessment" of open questions about Iran's nuclear program and whether it was aimed at developing a bomb. The UN non-proliferation watchdog's report said he oversaw activities "in support of a possible military dimension to (Iran's) nuclear program" within the so-called AMAD Plan.
A 2011 IAEA report described him as the AMAD Plan's "Executive Officer", a central figure in suspected Iranian work to develop technology and skills needed for atomic bombs, and suggested he may still have a role in such activity. Israel has also described the AMAD Plan as Iran's covert nuclear weapons program, and says it seized a large chunk of an Iranian nuclear "archive" detailing its work. In an April 2018 televised presentation about the archive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Fakhrizadeh as a leading figure in what he described as secret nuclear weapons work conducted under the guise of a civilian program. Citing the archive as evidence, Netanyahu said Israeli agents had retrieved the large amount of document from a site in Tehran. At the time, Iran said the documents were fake. "Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh," Netanyahu said, describing Fakhrizadeh as the head of AMAD. Netanyahu said that after AMAD was shut down Fakhrizadeh continued working at an agency within Iran's Defense Ministry on "special projects". In 2018 Israeli broadcaster Kan carried an interview with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in which he hinted Fakhrizadeh could be a target. "I know Fakhrizadeh well. He doesn't know how well I know him. If I met him in the streets most likely I would recognize him," he said.
"He does not have immunity, he did not have immunity, and I don't think he will have immunity."
What does Iran say?
Iran's Defense Ministry on Friday identified Fakhrizadeh as Head of Research and Innovation Organization at the ministry. He was also believed to be a senior officer in the elite Revolutionary Guards. The IAEA long wanted to query Fakhrizadeh as part of a protracted investigation into whether Iran carried out illicit nuclear weapons research. Iran acknowledged Fakhrizadeh’s existence several years ago but said he was an army officer not involved in the nuclear program, according to a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter. The assassinations of four Iranian scientists associated with the nuclear program between 2010 and 2012 may have stiffened Tehran’s resolve not to give the IAEA access to Fakhrizadeh - for fear this could lead to information about him and his whereabouts leaking. Iran accused its arch-adversaries the United States and Israel of being behind the killings. Fakhrizadeh was also believed to have been involved in Iran's ballistic missile development, and an Iranian source told Reuters he was considered as the father of that program. He was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.
What is known about his background?
In May 2011, the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a report with what it said was a photograph of Fakhrizadeh, with dark hair and beard stubble. It was not possible to independently verify the picture.
The NCRI said in the report that Fakhrizadeh was born in 1958 in the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom, was a deputy defense minister and a Revolutionary Guards brigadier-general, held a nuclear engineering doctorate and taught at Iran’s University of Imam Hussein.
A high-ranking Iranian source described Fakhrizadeh to Reuters in 2014 as “an asset and an expert” dedicated to Iran’s technological progress and enjoying the full support of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The source added that Fakhrizadeh had three passports and travelled a lot, including in Asia, to obtain “the latest information” from abroad, but would not elaborate. Western security sources say Iran was long adept in obtaining nuclear materials and know-how from the international black market.

Attacks on scientists in Iran in recent years: A list
Reuters/November 27/2020
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on Friday, is the latest Iranian nuclear scientist to be attacked since 2012.
Fakhrizadeh died of injuries in hospital after assassins fired on his car, Iran's armed forces said in a statement carried by state media. He had been described by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile opponents of Iran's clerical rulers as a leader of a covert atomic bomb program halted in 2003.
Iran has long denied seeking to weaponize nuclear energy.
Here are some details of other attacks on Iranian scientists in recent years:
Massoud Ali-Mohammadi
Nuclear scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed by a remote-controlled bomb in Tehran on Jan. 12, 2010. Some opposition websites said he had backed moderate candidate Mirhossein Mousavi in the disputed 2009 election that secured a second presidential term for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian officials described the physics professor as a nuclear scientist but a spokesman said he did not work for the Atomic Energy Organization. He lectured at Tehran University.
Western sources said the professor worked closely with Fakhrizadeh and Fereydoun Abbassi-Davani, who were both subject to U.N. sanctions because of their work on suspected nuclear weapons development.
A list of Ali-Mohammadi’s publications on Tehran University’s website suggested his specialism was theoretical particle physics, not nuclear energy, a Western physics professor said.
Majid Shahriyari
Shahriyari was killed and his wife was wounded in a car bomb blast in Tehran on Nov. 29, 2010, in what Iranian officials called an Israeli or US-sponsored attack on its atomic program.
Iran’s atomic energy agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Shahriyari had a role in one of its biggest nuclear projects, but did not elaborate, the official news agency IRNA reported. He was a lecturer at Shahid Beheshti University.
Fereydoun Abbassi-Davani
Abbasi-Davani and his wife were hurt in a car bomb blast on the same day as Shahriyari was killed.
Abbasi-Davani, who was head of physics at Imam Hossein University, had been personally subject to UN sanctions because of what Western officials said was his involvement in suspected nuclear weapons research. The intelligence minister at the time, Heydar Moslehi, later said: “This terrorist act was carried out by intelligence services such as the CIA, Mossad and the MI6. A group that wanted to carry out a terrorist act but did not succeed, was also arrested. They confessed that they were trained by these intelligence services.”
Abbasi-Davani was appointed vice-president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization in February 2011, Fars news agency reported, but was removed in August 2013, the state news agency IRNA reported.
Darioush Rezai
Rezai, 35, was shot dead by gunmen in eastern Tehran on July 23, 2011. The university lecturer had a PhD in physics. Deputy Interior Minister Safarali Baratlou said he was not linked to Iran's nuclear program after early reports in some media said he was.
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan
Ahmadi-Roshan, a 32-year-old chemical engineering graduate, was killed by a bomb placed on his car by a motorcyclist in Tehran in January 2012. Another passenger died in hospital and a pedestrian was also injured. The attack was similar to that in November 2010.
Iran said the victim was a nuclear scientist who supervised a department at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility. Iran blamed Israel and the United States for the attack.

Iran’s IRGC chief vows to avenge slain nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh, accuses Israel
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Published: 27 November ,2020
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami vowed on Friday to avenge the assassination of prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. “Severe revenge and punishment for the perpetrators of this crime is on the agenda,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Salami as saying. Israel “designed and directed” Fakhrizadeh’s killing, Salami alleged. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was not commenting on the attack on the Iranian nuclear scientist. Fakhrizadeh, one of Iran’s most prominent nuclear scientists, succumbed to his injuries and died in a hospital, the defense ministry confirmed. He had been in charge of the ministry’s so-called “Research and Innovation Organization.” He had long been described by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile foes of Iran’s clerical rulers as a leader of a covert atomic bomb program halted in 2003. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponize nuclear energy. Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces Mohammad Bagheri also vowed that Iran would avenge the murder of Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also claimed on Friday there were “serious indications of (an) Israeli role” in the assassination of Fakhrizadeh. - With Reuters

Iran’s Zarif: Israel had a ‘role’ in nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh’s assassination
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/Published: 27 November ,2020
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has claimed on Friday there were "serious indications of (an) Israeli role" in the assassination of a nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role— shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators," Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Iran calls on (the) international community — and especially EU — to end their shameful double standards and condemn this act of state terror,” he added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was not commenting on the attack on the Iranian nuclear scientist, an official from Netanyahu’s office said on Friday. Fakhrizadeh, one of Iran’s most prominent nuclear scientists was assassinated on Friday in an attack on his car outside Tehran, the defense ministry said earlier on Friday. He was "seriously wounded" when assailants targeted his car before being engaged in a gunfight with his security team, the ministry added. He later succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital. Fakhrizadeh, once described by Netanyahu as the father of Iran's nuclear weapons program, had been travelling in a car near Absard city in Tehran province's eastern Damavand county. He has long been described by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile foes of Iran’s clerical rulers as a leader of a covert atomic bomb program halted in 2003. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponize nuclear energy. He had the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear program and whether it was aimed at developing a nuclear bomb. Fakhrizadeh was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities. An IAEA report the following year also referred to him briefly. Iranian media rarely mention him. In 2007, the semi-official Mehr News Agency described him as a scientist working for the Defense Ministry and a former head of the Physics Research Centre, a body also mentioned in the IAEA’s report. Some Iranian websites said he was a university professor. But Western analysts acknowledged that little is publicly known about Fakhrizadeh, described by Albright’s think tank as a nuclear engineer who has overseen a number of projects related to weaponization research and development. The IAEA had said in 2002-2003, Fakhrizadeh was the executive officer of the so-called AMAD Plan, which according to its information conducted studies related to uranium, high explosives and the revamping of a missile cone to accommodate a nuclear warhead. “If Iran ever chose to weaponize (enrichment), Fakhrizadeh would be known as the father of the Iranian bomb,” a Western diplomat who is critical of Iran’s nuclear program had told Reuters. - With Agencies

Trade between Iran and Turkey has been upended by Trump's sanctions, coronavirus
Bloomberg/27 November ,2020
US President Donald Trump’s sanctions and the coronavirus have dramatically shifted a commercial relationship between Turkey and Iran that was underpinned by visa-free travel and centuries of trade and cultural ties. The land crossing between the two countries has long been vital for Iran’s efforts to access foreign goods, particularly under sanctions that cut its economy off from much of the world. For decades, Turkey bought Iranian oil and gas, and Iran sent tourists and imported Turkish goods. Visit our dedicated coronavirus site here for all the latest updates. Then in 2018, Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal, which was drafted to give economic relief to Iran in exchange for curbs on its enrichment program. By the following year, Turkey said it had stopped buying crude from Iran, its largest supplier. Gas imports also plunged as Turkey took advantage of lower costs while seeking to reduce dependence on Iran and Russia. Now, bilateral trade between the two neighbors has dwindled while the amount of Iranian capital tied up in Turkey has soared. Since the collapse of the nuclear deal and the huge drop in Iran’s oil exports -- the country’s single largest source of foreign currency -- thousands of Iranians have transferred their assets into Turkish property. For the first time this year, after the coronavirus outbreak, Iranians overtook Iraqis as the top foreign buyers of homes in Turkey, holding the spot for eight consecutive months. Iran-to-Turkey gas flows are down year-on-year after an explosion blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party took the pipeline offline for about three months. But even in August, the latest month for which data is available, flows were about 30% below the five-year average, according to Turkish energy regulator EPDK. Turkey’s push for alternative supplies including a new LNG terminal, pipelines with Russia and Azerbaijan and its gas find in the Black Sea, could squeeze Iran’s exports in upcoming contract renewal talks. Iran usually runs a wide trade surplus with Turkey, but since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, volumes have shrunk and Iran is on track to post a deficit this year for the first time since 2016, according to data from the Turkish Ministry of Trade. Total trade declined 38% from 2016 to 2019.

Iranian diplomat refuses to appear at bomb plot trial in Belgium: Lawyer
Agencies/27 November ,2020
An Iranian diplomat on trial in Belgium for allegedly plotting to bomb an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris has refused to appear in the dock, his lawyer said on Friday. Assadollah Assadi, formerly based at the Iranian embassy in Austria, is claiming “diplomatic immunity” his lawyer Dimitri de Beco told reporters outside the court in Antwerp, adding that he would be representing his client. “My client asked me to represent him today, he let me know he has the fullest respect for these judges but as he considers that he should benefit from immunity, they are not allowed to judge him,” his lawyer Dimitri de Beco told Reuters. He and three other Iranians went on trial in Antwerp, Belgium on Friday for planning to bomb a 2018 meeting in France of an exiled opposition group, the first time an EU country has put an Iranian official on trial for terrorism. Belgian prosecutors charged Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi and the three others with planning an attack on a rally of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The rally's keynote address was given by US President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Assadi was the third counsellor at Iran's embassy in Vienna. French officials have said he was in charge of intelligence in southern Europe and was acting on orders from Tehran. Tehran has repeatedly dismissed the charges, calling the attack allegations a “false flag” stunt by the NCRI, which it considers a terrorist group. Assadi has not commented on the charges. His lawyer has said Assadi would explain himself at his trial. Assadi warned authorities in March of possible retaliation by unidentified groups if he is found guilty, according to a police document obtained by Reuters.
Authorities say the attack was thwarted by a coordinated operation between French, German and Belgian security services. Assadi was arrested while on holiday in Germany and handed over to Belgium, where two of his suspected accomplices had been arrested with half a kilo of the explosive TATP and a detonator. According to documents reviewed by Reuters, Belgian authorities believe Assadi brought the explosives from Tehran to Vienna on a commercial flight. “The attack plan was conceived in the name of Iran and under its leadership. It was not a personal initiative by Assadi,” Jaak Raes, head of the Belgium’s state security service (VSSE), said in a letter to the prosecutor dated Feb. 2, 2020. France said Iran's intelligence ministry was behind the plot and expelled an Iranian diplomat. The EU froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and officials. European countries have blamed Iran for other suspected plots against dissidents, including two killings in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017 and a foiled assassination in Denmark. Iran has denied involvement, saying the accusations were intended to damage EU-Iran relations.

Woman with knife attacks Rabbi in Vienna, yells anti-Semitic threat
The Associated Press/27 November ,2020
A rabbi was attacked at knifepoint in Vienna by a woman who ripped the Jewish skullcap from his head and yelled an anti-Semitic threat before fleeing, police in the Austrian capital said Friday. The incident occurred Thursday afternoon when the woman, described as about 50 years old and wearing a gray coat, suddenly approached the rabbi and pulled the knife from her handbag. She kicked the rabbi in the leg, knocked his hat from his head, then tore off his kippah and yelled an anti-Semitic insult before fleeing, police said. Vienna’s main Jewish organization told Austrian broadcaster ORF the woman had screamed “slaughter all Jews.” Police searched the area but were unable to find the woman. Austria’s top security official, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, condemned the crime as an “attack on Jewish life in Vienna” and the case has been taken over by the agency that investigates acts of extremism and terrorism.
“In addition to the increased protection of synagogues that has already been ordered, all measures are being taken to quickly clear up this apparently anti-Semitic attack,” Nehammer said. “There is no tolerance for anti-Semitism, no matter whether it’s politically or religiously motivated.”
Police said the rabbi told first responders he had suffered no physical injuries.
 

European Parliament resolution urges sanctions on Turkey
Arab News/November 27/2020
ANKARA: The European Parliament has called for sanctions on Turkey following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s controversial visit to Northern Cyprus on Nov. 15. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), agreeing on a resolution in support of Cyprus, urged EU leaders to “take action and impose tough sanctions in response to Turkey’s illegal actions.” The parliament’s non-binding resolution on Nov. 26 emphasized that Turkey’s gas exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean were illegal. EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels between Dec. 10-11.
MEPs also found that Turkey’s decision to partially reopen the fenced-off suburb of Varosha, in the city of Famagusta, weakened prospects of a far-reaching solution to the decades-long Cypriot conflict. The Turkish army fenced off Varosha in 1974 after its military intervention, while Greek Cypriots who fled from the resort town could not return to their homes. “MEPs call on Turkey to transfer Varosha to its lawful inhabitants under the temporary administration of the UN (in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984) and to refrain from any actions that alter the demographic balance on the island through a policy of illegal settlement,” the resolution said. Ankara’s move has been criticized by the US, Greece as well as Greek Cypriots. The resolution was denounced by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, which criticized the European Parliament for “being prejudiced and disconnected from the realities” on Cyprus.
During the EU summit some sanctions, on sectors such as shipping, energy and banking, are expected to be adopted, depending on Germany’s mediation efforts as the current holder of the EU’s six-month presidency. Laura Batalla Adam, a political analyst and the secretary general of the EU-Turkey Forum, said that even if EU leaders were divided, the possibility of sanctions remained on the table. “The decision to reopen Varosha just adds to an already extremely tense situation between Turkey and the EU,” she told Arab News. “The next days are going to be decisive as to what kind of sanctions could be imposed, depending on Ankara’s moves in the Eastern Mediterranean.” According to Batalla Adam, a moratorium on drilling activities until the two sides can enter into negotiations to settle their dispute would be a way to ease tensions and start working on a more positive agenda. Turkey will continue its seismic studies near Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean until Nov. 29 with its Oruc Reis research vessel. Ankara pulled the vessel back in September to allow more room for diplomacy and negotiations with Greece, but sent it back to the disputed area, provoking a harsh reaction from EU members Cyprus, Greece, Germany and France.

Gulf mediation initiative likely behind Kuwaiti FM’s brief visit to Cairo
The Arab Weekly/November 28/2020
CAIRO -- Several interpretations are fielded by analysts in Cairo to explain the purpose of Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah’s recent short visit to Cairo.
Some believe the visit is likely related to the recent fraying of bilateral relations over the situation of Egyptian workers in Kuwait. But many are instead convinced that the Kuwaiti official brought with him an initiative to calm things down between Qatar and the Arab quartet, which has been boycotting the small Gulf country since June 2017 over accusations it supports extremists and maintains close relations with Tehran. They see Kuwait now as tempted to renew its mediation in the continuing row, taking advantage of the political climate created by Joe Biden’s victory in US presidential election.
From time to time, Kuwait hints at its commitment to working for reconciliation between Qatar and the four boycotting Arab countries — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain — as a necessary element for the stability of the region, despite the fact that mediation efforts by Kuwait’s former ruler failed due to continued manoeuvres by Qatar as it has refused to take any steps to build trust with its neighbours.
Egyptian sources do not rule out the possibility that the Kuwaiti leadership could have presented the outline of a new initiative for reconciliation with Qatar, and that it might have sought to feel Egypt's pulse on this issue during its foreign minister’s visit to Cairo, which lasted only a few hours.
These sources say that Cairo’s annoyance over some regional developments may push it to respond favourably to the prospect of ​​reconciliation this time, especially if Kuwait presents a political proposal that includes clear flexibility in Doha’s stance and meets a significant part of the boycotting quartet’s demands.
A member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Rakha Ahmad Hasan, said that Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah’s visit goes beyond the traditional boundaries of the workers’crisis, and that it “may have aimed at consulting with the Egyptian side on a number of regional files, on top of which is Kuwait’s desire to resume its mediation between the boycotting countries and Qatar.”
Hasan told The Arab Weekly, Hasan that Kuwait could be starting steps for a dialogue between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to hear all opinions from the member states with the aim of reaching compromises to ease the current differences.
Media sources said that US President Donald Trump wants to close this file, just like many other files, before leaving the White House, in order to deny his successor, Joe Bide, the political credit of resolving them.
Hasan pointed out that after more than three years of boycott, it is possible to think of a reconciliation in which Doha would abandon its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other militant groups. In addition, the relative decline in terrorist action in the region may provide the groundwork for a new phase.
Noha Bakr, a member of the advisory body at the Egyptian Centre for Thought and Strategic Studies in Cairo, emphasised that Cairo supports any attempt to resolve the Arab boycott crisis, provided that Qatar is committed to providing evidence of its serious efforts towards reconciliation.
Bakr indicated to The Arab Weekly that Cairo supports all parties proving their good intentions in the reconciliation process without equivocation, and hopes that they interact positively with Kuwait’s desire, with Washington backing it, in order to make progress in the Qatar crisis file and work to quickly end the status quo before strong political winds sweep the region. At present, both Egypt and Kuwait believe there is a need for more calm in light of volatile regional developments that risk ushering in surprises that the two countries may not be able to withstand. Egypt is currently awaiting the outcome of recent developments in relations between Saudi Arabia and both Israel and Turkey, and Kuwait fears the repercussions of a possible American strike on Iran.
The two countries also converge in their cooperation in the war on terrorism and in the objective of declawing the Muslim Brotherhood. Cairo is anticipating that the group will turn into a pressure tool in the hands of the new US administration headed by Biden, and Kuwait wants to restrict the expansion of the Brotherhood’s political influence at home, at a time when Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah is trying to rearrange Kuwait’s internal priorities. Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Sabah’s visit to Cairo came about two weeks after a similar visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Kuwait. Both countries are attempting to calm things down after the storm raised by the crisis of the Egyptian workers in Kuwait. In the context of these efforts, an official invitation to visit Egypt was extended to the Kuwaiti emir.
Officials in the two countries did not specify the date and objectives of the emir’s forthcoming visit, but the Kuwaiti leader welcomed it while receiving the Egyptian foreign minister. Clouds over the two countries’ relations was caused by complex problems Egyptian workers in Kuwait have been facing, as Cairo feared the deportation of thousands of them to make room for the employment of Kuwaiti nationals. The crisis kicked off a popular storm of criticism on social media in which activists from both sides used vicious and derogatory words. Each party succeeded in cooling down the workers’crisis temporarily in order to devote itself to an understanding about what is more important, because the cost of the row could be exorbitant in the current climate, and Egypt and Kuwait felt that it was wise to effect a rapprochement, because there are different frameworks that unite them and require coordination at this stage.
 

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 27-28/2020

How will Iran retaliate for the assassination of its top nuclear scientist?
Bryant Harris/The National/November 28/2020
Iran has an array of military and diplomatic options that it could pursue in response to the Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassination
The chief-of-staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Maj Gen Mohammed Bagheri, vowed “severe revenge” on whoever was behind the assassination of the country's top nuclear scientist, a killing that Tehran has already attributed to Israel. However, it remains an open question as to what an Iranian retaliation over the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh would look like – and when it could occur. “The consensus is that this is may be not quite in the category – but close to the category – of the killing of Qasem Suleimani, insofar as Iran is probably going to feel compelled to retaliate in some way,” Kenneth Katzman, an Iran specialist at the Congressional Research Service in the United States, told The National.
“Fakhrizadeh had a big enough reputation as the architect of the nuclear weapons research component of Iran’s nuclear programme, and certainly as a revered figure in Tehran, so there’s definitely a core support in the regime to do some sort of retaliation, which may not come immediately. It could be delayed.”
The response could be reminiscent of Iran’s proxy attacks against US forces in Iraq in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s January strike on Gen Qassem Suleimani, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. Or Tehran could instead opt to play diplomatic hardball with the incoming Joe Biden administration. The New York Times reported that at least one US intelligence official says Israel was responsible for Mr Fakhrizadeh’s assassination on Friday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously singled out Mr Fakhrizadeh by name in a 2018 presentation on Iran’s nuclear programme. But Mr Katzman noted that Iran is unlikely to draw a clear distinction between US and Israeli culpability in the attack.
“Obviously Iran is going to blame the United States and its allies in some way or another,” said Mr Katzman. “There’s obviously potential for retaliation in all the places Iran is involved in right now.” Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton strongly denied any American involvement in the 2012 assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist, which Tehran had blamed on the United States and Israel. Neither President Trump’s White House nor the State Department would comment on the record on Mr Fakhrizadeh’s killing.
“There’s potential for Iran to strike out against more Iranian dissidents in Europe or even potentially Western targets in Europe,” said Mr Katzman. “There’s potential for Iran to activate its various proxies to ratchet up their activities in the Gulf, obviously. It’s the same universe that we discussed when Suleimani was killed. It’s a very broad universe.”After the Suleimani strike, Iran opted to use its proxy militias in Iraq to attack US forces, resulting in traumatic brain injuries for 110 American troops. “For Suleimani, there was a very moderate retaliation,” Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow and non-proliferation specialist at the Brookings Institution, told The National.
Mr Einhorn also noted that Iran has not yet publicly attributed any blame for the sabotage of its Natanz nuclear facility in August and that Tehran has not shown any overt signs of retaliation. Mr Trump reportedly asked the Pentagon to draw up plans to strike Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility earlier this month, but ultimately opted against such a move after his senior advisers dissuaded him, according to The New York Times. An Iranian technecian at the International Atomic Energy Agency inspecting the site of the uranium conversion plan of Isfahan, central Iran, 03 February 2007. EPA
Earlier this week, the United States also dispatched nuclear-capable B-52H bombers to the Middle East, where they flew through Israeli airspace.
“Hardliners in Iran may see this as an opportunity to reinforce their opposition to engaging with the United States and resurrecting the JCPOA,” said Mr Einhorn, using the formal acronym for the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Biden has vowed to re-enter, should Tehran return to compliance with the accord.
“On the other hand, there’ll be those in Iran who want to preserve the option to re-engage with the United States and not want to complicate Biden’s efforts to return to compliance. They might want to resist a harsh retaliation so as not to make it more difficult for Biden to go forward with his apparent intention to return to compliance with the JCPOA.”
But Iran could also retaliate at the negotiating table, complicating efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which remains on life support following Mr Trump’s 2018 withdrawal. “If the United States decides to rejoin the nuclear deal, there would almost certainly have to be negotiations over the additional sanctions imposed and Iranian nuclear facilities built since 2016,” said Mr Katzman. “Iran might raise its demands. They might say, 'Well, we have to get something back for Fakhrizadeh being killed.' I don’t know what they might demand for it, but potentially additional sanctions relief beyond what was promised could be on the table for them to ask for.”
It is also unclear what immediate impact – if any – Mr Fakrhizadeh’s assassination will have on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“It’s been quite a while since they had an active developmental programme, which in many respects ended in 2003, although it is believed that it continued afterwards,” said Mr Einhorn. “And it is widely believed that the Iranians wanted to preserve this cadre of people – nuclear scientists and engineers who would be in a position to resurrect the programme if the supreme leader gave them the greenlight.”“We know that the Iranians went to great lengths to preserve documentation about their programme. It’s not just documentation. They would want to keep the personnel together and my guess is they kept these people together, some veterans of the old programme and some new recruits.”
 

Egypt: Christian arrested for ‘insulting Islam’ on Facebook
Jihad Watch/November 28/2020
A glimpse into the future of the West. This is where the Left’s “hate speech” rhetoric is tending. We are very close to this now, far closer than most people realize, as critics of jihad terror and Sharia oppression of women and others are now routinely excoriated, vilified, demonized, deplatformed, and shunned by all decent people. What is the next step? This. Remember: Biden has pledged to combat “hate speech,” which is any speech that those in power dislike, and a member of his transition team wants to outlaw desecration of the Qur’an. So we are far closer to this than most people think.
An update on this story. “Christians, Others in Egypt Arrested for ‘Insulting Islam,’” Morning Star News, November 23, 2020:

CAIRO, Egypt (Morning Star News) – A young Christian teacher in northeastern Egypt is facing charges of insulting Islam after he posted comments on Facebook, according to local reports.
Youssef Hany of Ismailia, a city on the Suez Canal 78 miles northeast of Cairo, posted the comments earlier this month in reply to a Muslim who had expressed her opposition to criticisms of Islam by the president of France and other French citizens.
Hany was reportedly arrested on Nov. 11, as was a Muslim woman identified only by her Facebook name, Sandosa, for comments on social media allegedly defaming Islam. The next day they were reportedly charged under Article 98(f) of Egypt’s penal code, which outlaws insulting a “heavenly religion,” namely Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Hany and the Muslim woman could face up to five years in prison and a fine of 500 to 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$30 to US$60) under a law that calls for a minimum of six months of prison. They were released on bail on Nov. 14, one of the attorneys volunteering to represent them told news outlet Al-Monitor.The attorney, Makarios Lahzy, told Al-Monitor that the charges they are facing are unconstitutional. Egypt’s “blasphemy” law against insulting religion has come under fire for violating the country’s constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and religious freedom. Used almost exclusively against criticisms of Islam, the law is rarely invoked against frequent, public anti-Christian comments.
The law has also been criticized for arbitrary use. Lahzy, director of the Minority and Religious Groups department of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, said the law “does not clearly and expressly define contempt of or defamation [of religion] and leaves the notion loose and unreliable.”
After Hany’s comments appeared in a heated exchange on Facebook, other social media users circulated the comments, creating a swirl of opposition leading to a Twitter hashtag calling for him to be tried and sentenced with the maximum punishment as an example to others who might criticize Islam, according to online news outlet Al Wafd News.
Advocacy group Copts-United pointed out a social media post calling for Hany and others to be killed.
“He must be killed,” reads a screenshot of the post. “Someone volunteer, people, we will not continue to debate with a few absent-minded minorities…We will squash them…”
While Hany was arrested for allegedly insulting Islam, those who subsequently insulted Christianity and called for Hany to be killed were not detained, Copts-United noted. The group reported that writer Ernest William commented on the arrest of Hany on his Facebook page, asking if Egypt’s blasphemy law applied only to comments critical of Islam. “Did the authorities not see the comments transcending the contempt for Christianity to contempt for Christians and the outright call to kill not only Mr. Hany, but the Copts as a minority, as one of them claimed?” William wrote.
After Hany’s post circulated online, an attorney filed a complaint against him and his Facebook page at the district attorney’s office, which also received complaints from other lawyers, leading authorities to investigate and arrest him, according to online new outlet Al Masry Alyoum….

The Taliban are Betraying Trump's Peace Deal
Con Coughlin/ Gatestone Institute/November 27/2020
While Mr Trump has fulfilled his side of the bargain by overseeing a significant reduction in America's military presence from 9,000 to 4,500 troops since the deal was signed, the Taliban has been less forthcoming in terms of honouring its side of the deal.
The upsurge in Taliban violence certainly raises significant questions about whether Afghanistan's security forces will be able to defend the country once American forces have been withdrawn, with US forces due to be reduced to 2,500 by early next year.
There are also concerns that, if the Taliban succeeds in seizing control of large swathes of the country, they could allow Islamist terror groups like Al-Qaeda to return and use the country as a base from which to launch attacks against the West -- the initial cause of America's military intervention following the September 11 attacks.
The fear now is that, if Mr Trump and his senior advisors are no longer in a position to conclude the peace deal he negotiated earlier in the year, then the Taliban will simply take matters into their own hands and seize control of the country by force.
The rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan prompted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make a surprise visit this month to Doha, Qatar, where he had talks with representatives from the Taliban and the Afghan government in an attempt to get peace negotiations back on track. Pictured: Pompeo meets with Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha, on November 21, 2020.
The latest spate of terror attacks carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan suggests that the terrorist organisation remains determined to seize control of the country through violence rather than by negotiating a peace agreement with the democratically-elected Afghan government.
Under the terms of the historic agreement that the Trump administration signed with the Taliban in February, Taliban leaders undertook to negotiate a lasting peace deal with President Ashraf Ghani's administration in Kabul.
The aim of the deal, so far as US President Donald Trump was concerned, was to end America's long and costly involvement in the Afghan conflict which, most recently, dates back to the September 11, 2001 attacks, and has claimed the lives of more than 2,300 US military personnel and cost the American taxpayer nearly $1 trillion.
As part of the agreement, the US undertook to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan on the understanding that the Taliban would cut all ties with international terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS), and engage in a sincere dialogue with the Afghan government to formulate a lasting peace agreement.
While Mr Trump has fulfilled his side of the bargain by overseeing a significant reduction in America's military presence from 9,000 to 4,500 troops since the deal was signed, the Taliban has been less forthcoming in terms of honouring its side of the deal.
Initial efforts to establish a dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government -- which was excluded from the initial negotiations between the US and the Taliban -- stalled over the Taliban's insistence that the Afghan authorities first release 5,000 of its supporters from prison.
It was not until September, therefore, when the prisoner release had finally been completed, that the talks began in earnest. In the meantime the Taliban maintained its campaign of terror against the Afghan people, including an attack on a hospital maternity ward in Kabul in May that left at least 24 people dead, including newborn infants and many mothers.
Nor does there appear to have been any let-up in Taliban-inspired violence since the talks finally got underway in Doha, Qatar.
After the UN reported last month that there has been no reduction in civilian casualties since the start of peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, security officials are now reporting an upsurge in Taliban violence, especially in the south of the country, the organisation's long-standing stronghold.
In recent weeks the Taliban has intensified its campaign against Kandahar, while an assault on Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, was only beaten back with the help of US air strikes.
The rapid expansion in the Taliban's ability to commit violent acts throughout the entire country is demonstrated by recent analyses that it has succeeded in carrying out attacks and bombings in 24 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, leaving scores dead.
The upsurge in Taliban violence certainly raises significant questions about whether Afghanistan's security forces will be able to defend the country once American forces have been withdrawn, with US forces due to be reduced to 2,500 by early next year.
There are also concerns that, if the Taliban succeeds in seizing control of large swathes of the country, they could allow Islamist terror groups like Al-Qaeda to return and use the country as a base from which to launch attacks against the West -- the initial cause of America's military intervention following the September 11 attacks.
The rapidly deteriorating security situation prompted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make a surprise visit earlier this month to Doha, the Qatari capital, where he had talks with representatives from the Taliban and the Afghan government in an attempt to get the peace negotiations back on track.
As if to underline the seriousness of the situation, Mr Pompeo arrived in Kabul just hours after a deadly rocket attack on the city, an act the Afghan government blamed on the Taliban, and which claimed the lives of eight people and wounded more than two dozen.
Mr Pompeo's visit, during which he met with the Taliban's chief negotiator, Mullah Baradar, was aimed at breaking the deadlock in the negotiations between the two sides, amid claims that one of the main obstacles to concluding a deal is a dispute between the Taliban and the Afghan government over the future role of Islam in Afghan politics.
The fear now is that, if Mr Trump and his senior advisors are no longer in a position to conclude the peace deal he negotiated earlier in the year, then the Taliban will simply take matters into their own hands and seize control of the country by force.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Will Turkey revise its foreign policy?
Sinem Cengiz/Arab news/November 27/2020
The Turkish political agenda is currently dominated by the reforms that will shortly be announced by the government with the aim of improving the country’s investment climate. As usual, the polarized Turkish society is divided between those who are hopeful of these reforms passing and those who do not buy into the proposal. Although the government has not made it clear exactly what these reforms will be, it has asserted that the economy, the judiciary and foreign policy will be the areas that will be influenced by them.
Regarding the scope of the foreign policy reforms, there has not been much clarification, except on relations with the EU. Turkey’s presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin last week assured that the new reforms would have a positive impact on foreign policy. “It will make our workflow faster both at home and abroad. This will have many positive effects on economy, politics, society, and foreign policy,” Kalin told news channel NTV on Saturday. He also referred to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement on Nov. 13 of a period of reforms, saying that the new steps would raise the standards for democratic rights and the freedom of the people.
There have been calls for Turkey to revise its foreign policy, in particular with regards to the US and the EU, in order to avoid the risks that could be posed to its economy. Therefore, it was not surprising to see the Turkish leader saying that Ankara seeks stronger cooperation with allies such as Washington and is actively trying to resolve the regional and global issues. But he said Turkey also cannot ignore countries like Russia and Iran, with whom it has deep-rooted ties. “We seek to improve our cooperation with almost all regional pacts in the world,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkey works toward solutions based on territorial integrity and political unity everywhere it is involved, from Syria to Libya.
However, the strongest lines came when Erdogan mentioned Turkey’s relations with the EU. “Turkey’s future lies in Europe and not anywhere else,” he said. “We expect the EU to keep its promises, not to discriminate, or at least not to be an instrument to the overt hostilities toward our country. We see ourselves in Europe, not anywhere else, and we look to build our future with Europe.” Kalin subsequently went to Brussels to test the waters there. Needless to say, the scope and framework of the Turkey-EU relationship in the new era was his main agenda topic.
The timing of the announcement was significant, as EU members are currently seriously considering imposing sanctions on Turkey ahead of their meeting on Dec. 10. It is not clear whether Erdogan’s statement on the EU was meant to recalibrate Ankara’s entire foreign policy orientation toward Europe or just to “agree to disagree” on some issues for now while he fixes matters at home. If we take the former assumption, then the eastern Mediterranean issue and problematic relations with France and Greece will be the first areas for a reliable Turkish-EU discussion on a potential new era. It seems Turkey won’t take a step back on these topics if the EU fails to fulfill its promises toward Ankara regarding the customs union, visa liberalization, and renewing the deal on Syrian refugees.
There is mutual skepticism in both Ankara and Brussels. The latter is particularly skeptical about the former’s sincerity in reforming and starting a new foreign policy era. The coming days will, therefore, be highly significant for Turkey if it is to show that its new era of reform is more than mere words. If Ankara is able to recalibrate its foreign policy, the ball will be in the EU’s court and it will need to fulfill its obligations.
Ankara seeks stronger cooperation with allies such as Washington and is actively trying to resolve the regional and global issues.
While hopes were high of a new Turkish-EU era, a German frigate, led by a Greek commander, this week reportedly unlawfully stopped and searched a Turkish-flagged vessel in the Mediterranean without receiving permission from the Turkish authorities. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement late Tuesday that Turkey will take the necessary steps in every field against the EU’s Operation Irini over the illegal search. Turkey’s National Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss what its response would be.
This incident was the last thing needed at this time. But, at the same time, it once again proved that, without negotiations between Turkey and Greece, no progress will be possible in Turkish-EU ties. Eventually, the new reform era will be taken hostage by the Turkish-Greek tensions. In addition to the bilateral dimension of Turkey’s relations with the EU, the incoming American administration and its expected policies should be another reason for Turkey and some EU member states to find common ground.
*Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey's relations with the Middle East. Twitter: @SinemCngz
 

Bright promise of Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed era lies in tatters
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Arab news/November 27/2020
Like Henry Kissinger, I came to Washington with an academic background, attempting to make the professional leap from merely analyzing foreign policy to participating in making it. And, like the venerable secretary of state, I came to the conclusion that, while an intellectual life has given me a huge advantage in successfully helping to craft policy, it also has its limitations.
While an understanding of world historical forces is absolutely necessary, of equal importance is the human, practical comprehension of specific leaders — their likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears — if one is to get anywhere.
My practical Washington education has led me to embrace the deeply unfashionable “great man” theory of history, which says that specific people determine outcomes, as well as the larger world historical forces I had mastered in acquiring my doctorate. As such, every once in a while, a leader comes along who inspires actual hope that, through their unique biography, they can transcend the formidable obstacles in their path, leaving their country and world a changed and fundamentally better place through their mighty efforts. Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abraham Lincoln were such men. For a brief but glorious moment, it seemed that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed might be destined to join the pantheon.
But, as ever, Shakespeare knew what he was talking about when he wisely noted: “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” Over these past weeks, as Ethiopia has slid closer and closer to the abyss, something more was dying than merely the hopes for a renaissance in Africa’s second-most populous country. It is the beguiling dream that one man could transcend the formidable historical difficulties strewn around him and remake East Africa for the better.
It is easy to see why Ahmed, 44, inspires such fervor. Young, learned (he earned a Ph.D. in conflict studies) and a former intelligence officer in the government, Ahmed came to power in April 2018 following a period of great turbulence. Mass protests forced the long-ruling junta — dominated by minority ethnic Tigrayans — to cede power to Ahmed, who, while he was part of the ruling party, comes from mixed Oromo and Amhara stock. The Oromo are the largest tribal grouping in the country, comprising 35 percent of Ethiopians, while the Amhara are the second largest at 27 percent, with the heretofore militarily dominant Tigrayans comprising only 6 percent.
In handing power over to him, the junta was acknowledging the practical reality that — as a state comprising a mosaic of tribes as the basic political unit — to survive into the future as a unitary state, the government in Ethiopia had to expand its political legitimacy to a far broader segment of the population. The fear of the unraveling of the country based on this basic tribal division has been the snake in the garden haunting Ethiopia’s rulers over the past generation.
So the Ahmed experiment began. Quickly sidelining the formerly dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), he dramatically removed all TPLF ministers from his Cabinet. Stung, the TPLF withdrew to its regional stronghold in northern Tigray province. With the old junta ousted, Ahmed emptied the jails of political prisoners, allowed far more freedom of the press, promised national elections, allowed the formation of opposition parties, and promised to liberalize the Ethiopian economy. He even found time to formally end the country’s 1998-2000 war with neighboring Eritrea, fully 20 years after the conflict raged. For all this, Ahmed was rightly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2019.
But Ahmed, and the expectations he had generated, were about to plummet back to earth. Increasingly suspicious that the formerly dominant TPLF was lurking to strike back at him, Ahmed postponed the all-important promised national election, set for August 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse.
The fear of the unraveling of the country based on tribal division has been the snake in the garden haunting Ethiopia’s rulers.
In defiance of the prime minister and the government’s orders, the Tigrayans went ahead with their own regional electoral contest, which the TPLF predictably won.
Fearing — ironically as had the TPLF — that the country was near to splitting apart along tribal lines, Ahmed fatefully decided to nip what he saw as the brewing Tigrayan rebellion in the bud. On Nov. 4, accusing the TPLF of attacking two federal army camps in the Tigray region and of seeking to destabilize the national government, he dramatically acted, launching a military offensive against the TPLF in its stronghold. With the federal army just 60 km from Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, Ahmed is presently preparing a full tank-led assault on the city of half-a-million people.
While Ahmed is likely to emerge victorious in the short run, something profoundly important has died. The brewing civil war has already killed hundreds and made for tens of thousands of refugees. More importantly, the bright promise of the Ahmed era — that one great man could remake his region — lies in tatters as he grows ever more autocratic and ever more martial. Again, we must return to Shakespeare, as the problem with relying on people is that they can very often let you down. Or, as the bard put it in “Julius Caesar:” “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.”
*Dr. John C. Hulsman is the president and managing partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a prominent global political risk consulting firm. He is also senior columnist for City AM, the newspaper of the City of London. He can be contacted via chartwellspeakers.com.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

Peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a disaster for Iran
Dnyanesh Kamat/Arab news/November 27/2020
The latest conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has been a disaster for Iran. The terms of the cease-fire agreed on by Armenia and Azerbaijan represent a grave threat to Tehran’s long-term strategic interests.
The effects of this are likely to affect the perception of the regime among the Iranian people, and alter its policies on Azerbaijan and Syria.
Azerbaijan now has control over the entirety of its border with Iran along the Aras river. While this is cause for celebration in Baku, it is viewed with alarm in Tehran because an extension of Azerbaijan’s border gives Israel access to more territory from which it can keep tabs on Iran.
Despite denials from Baku, it is no secret that Israel and Azerbaijan enjoy substantive cooperation in intelligence, energy and military matters.
Azerbaijan is one of the largest buyers of Israeli weaponry. Its use of Israeli “kamikaze” drones during the war played an important role in tilting the battlefield to its advantage — although Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones have been credited as the true game-changer in the conflict.
In addition, Azerbaijan and Israel maintain deep intelligence ties. Were Tel Aviv to launch airstrikes against Iranian nuclear installations, Azerbaijan would likely play a vital role, either as a refueling stop or launchpad.
The other consequence of the war is the proposed creation of a transit corridor through Armenian territory, connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave. It is likely that this corridor, which will be patrolled by Russian troops, will run parallel to Armenia’s border with Iran. This has already raised concerns in Tehran, as it could effectively cut off Iranian access to Armenia, and from there to Europe via Georgia. For a country already reeling from international sanctions, it is of great importance to Iran that it maintains access to friendly neighbors.
Such is the panic that has set in, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was compelled to explicitly issue an assurance that access to Armenia will not be threatened. It is noteworthy that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will soon travel to Moscow and Baku to discuss the issue in more detail.
However, it is even more important to take note of a capital city he will not be visiting: Ankara. Turkey is another important winner in the conflict. Not only will its troops maintain a presence in Azerbaijan, it also will have direct access to the Caspian Sea through the proposed Nakhchivan-Azerbaijan corridor. Ankara can now directly project influence in Central Asia, which has been one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most cherished ambitions.
Tehran will have taken note of Russia’s reluctance to offer full-throated support to its ally, Armenia. The takeaway from Moscow’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is that it is happy to sacrifice an ally if it becomes too bothersome. Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, came to power through the sort of “color revolution” detested by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pashinyan further annoyed him by jailing Robert Kocharyan, Armenia’s former president and erstwhile Putin ally.
In this conflict, then, Moscow stuck to the letter, rather than the spirit, of its alliance with Yerevan, stating that its security commitments only extend to Armenian territory. The Russians allowed Azerbaijan to reclaim all its lost territories, while Armenia retained rump areas around Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital.
Moscow will maintain its influence in the region by providing a peacekeeping force in Karabakh and along the proposed Nakhchivan-Azerbaijan corridor. It also will be happy to see the back of Pashinyan, whose political career seems to be over. Russia also appears to be guided by its broader goal of ensuring that Turkey remains out of the orbit of the West.
Astute policymakers in Tehran will likely draw the right conclusions from this, particularly in terms of what it might augur for Iran’s ally in Syria, Bashar Assad. Having seen the eagerness with which Russia and Turkey were willing to hash out a deal between themselves, Tehran is likely to push the Assad regime in the direction of concluding the Syrian civil war.
The main effect the outcome of the conflict will have on domestic politics within Iran is likely to be psychological. It is yet another blow to Tehran’s self-image as a regional hegemon.
The main effect the outcome of the conflict will have on domestic politics within Iran is likely to be psychological. It is yet another blow to Tehran’s self-image as a regional hegemon. Indeed the fact that the regime was a bystander to the conflict, unable to influence its outcome, will revive memories of the two Russo-Persian Wars of the 19th century, which resulted in Persia having to cede control over the entire South Caucasus.
It reveals to the Iranian people that Tehran no longer has the economic might, the technological sophistication or an alluring political model to influence a region that was under Persian influence for hundreds of years — one is tempted to say thousands, since the time of the Achaemenid empire.
Taken together, all of this represents yet another slight to the legitimacy of the regime that has ruled Iran since 1979.
*Dnyanesh Kamat is a political analyst specializing in the Middle East and South Asia. He also advises governments on policies and strategic initiatives to foster growth in the creative industries, such as media, entertainment and culture. Copyright: Syndication Bureau