English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 02/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

The Death of Jesus/Good Friday
John 19/28-37: Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 01-02/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/
Thursday of the Holy Mysteries: Sacraments, Humility and Temptation/Elias Bejjani/April 01/2021
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric criticizes Hezbollah in leaked video
Lebanese-Nigerian Billionaire and Two Associates Resolve Federal Probe into Alleged Violations of Campaign Finance Laws
Center House Says Baabda Can Call Hariri if It Agrees to 'Initiative'
Berri Warns Lebanon to Collapse if No Government
Hizbullah Backs Berri's Initiative, Will Talk to Aoun, Bassil
Geagea Urges Action to Stop Syria from Infringing on Territorial Waters
Bassil Hits Back at Geagea over Syria Sea Border Remarks
Four People, including Child, Shot and Killed in California
Guterres Names Polish Diplomat as Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Aoun Meets Iraqi Minister, Lauds 'Oil-for-Medical Services' Deal
Lebanon in 'Education Catastrophe' with Children Out of School
Hezbollah adjusts tactics in dealing with Lebanon’s crisis
The Lebanese people can send strong message to Hezbollah/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/April 01/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 01-02/2021

Iran, world powers to hold nuclear talks on April 2 to discuss US return to deal
EU to sanction Iran militia, police, over protest crackdown
Iran adds advanced machines enriching underground at Natanz: IAEA
US commitment to safety of Middle East partners will 'never' change: Official
Yemen's Houthis say attacked Saudi capital Riyadh with four drones
Iraq PM Seeks to Soothe Security Concern on Saudi Visit
Allies Raise Alarm over Health of Hunger-Striking Navalny
US confirms it considers West Bank as under Israeli ‘occupation’
Visiting Iraqi PM seeks to soothe Saudi security concerns
Washington grants Iraq a waiver to pay for Iranian electricity
Guterres sees role for UN monitors in Libya truce
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 01-02/2021

Iran Still Hiding Key Parts of its Nuclear Programme, US Trying Bribery Again/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 01/2021
Saudi Journalist: Arabs And Jews Should Stop Fighting, Start Cooperating/MEMRI/April 01/2021
What is behind Iran’s foreign policy stalemate? /Dr.Majid Rafizadeh/Jerusalem Post/April/2021
Is Iran operating terrorist cells across Europe?/Rachel O'Donoghue/Jerusalem Post/April/2021
China Challenges the US on Iran/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/April 01/2021
Tunisia’s lack of reforms disappoints international creditors/Francis Ghiles/The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
Iran-China deal a blow for Tehran regime/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 01/2021
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 01-02/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

Thursday of the Holy Mysteries: Sacraments, Humility and Temptation
Elias Bejjani/April 01/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/38445/38445/

On the Thursday that comes before the “Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, Catholics all over the world, including our Maronite Eastern Church celebrates with prayers and intercessions the “Thursday of the Holy Mysteries”, which is also known as the “Washing Thursday “, the “Covenant Thursday”, and the “Great & Holy Thursday”. It is the holy day feast that falls on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with His 12 Apostles as described in the gospel. It is the fifth day of the last Lenten Holy Week, that is followed by the, “Good Friday”, “Saturday Of The Light and “Easter Sunday”.
Christianity in its essence and core is Love, Sacrifice, honesty, transparency, devotion, hard work and Humility. Jesus during the last supper with His 12 Apostles reiterated and stressed all these Godly values and principles. In this holy and message proclaiming context He executed the following acts : He, ordained His Apostles as priests, and asked them to proclaim God’s message. “You have stayed with me all through my trials; 29 and just as my Father has given me the right to rule, so I will give you the same right. 30 You will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22/28 and 29)
He, taught His Apostles and every body else, that evil temptation and betrayal can hit all those who detach and dissociate themselves from God, do not fear Him, lack faith, lose hope and worship earthly treasures. He showed them by example that even a disciple that He personally had picked and choose (Judas, the Iscariot) has fell a prey to Satan’s temptation. “But, look! The one who betrays me is here at the table with me! The Son of Man will die as God has decided, but how terrible for that man who betrays him!” Luke 22/21)
He, washed His Apostles’ feet to teach them by example modesty, devotion and humility. “So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13/12-16).
Modesty was stressed and explained by Jesus after His Apostles were arguing among themselves who is the greatest: “An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them should be thought of as the greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the pagans have power over their people, and the rulers claim the title ‘Friends of the People.’ But this is not the way it is with you; rather, the greatest one among you must be like the youngest, and the leader must be like the servant. Who is greater, the one who sits down to eat or the one who serves? The one who sits down, of course. But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22/24 till 27)
Thursday of the “Holy Mysteries”, is called so because in His Last Supper with the 12 disciples, Jesus Christ established the Eucharist and Priesthood Sacraments when “He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take this, and share it among yourselves, for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God comes.” “He took bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples saying: This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me. And when He Likewise, took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”.
Thursday of the Holy Mysteries (Secrets-Sacraments) is the heart of the last Lenten holy week, in which the Maronite Catholic Church lives with reverence and devotion the Lord’s Last Supper spirit and contemplation through prayers and deeply rooted religious rituals and traditions:
The Patriarch prays over and blesses the chrism (Al-Myroun), as well as the oil of baptism and anointing that are to are distributed on all parishes and churches.
During the mass that is held on this Holy Day, the priest washes the feet of twelve worshipers, mainly children (symbolizing the apostles numbers). Jesus washed His disciples feet and commanded them to love each other and follow his example in serving each other.
Worshipers visit and pray in seven Churches. This ritual denotes to the completion of the Church’s Seven sacraments (Secrets) : Priesthood, Eucharist, Holy Oil, Baptism, Confirmations, anointing and Service.
This tradition also denotes to the seven locations that Virgin Mary’s went to look for Her Son, Jesus, after she learned about His arrest. The detention place, The Council of the Priests, twice the Pilate’s headquarters, twice the Herod Headquarters, till She got to the Calvary.
Some Christian scholars believe that this tradition was originated in Rome where early pilgrims visited the seven pilgrim churches as an act of penance. They are Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, and traditionally Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls. Pope John Paul II replaced St. Sebastian with the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Divine Love for the jubilee year of 2000.
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is accompanied by the ringing of bells, which are then silent until the Easter Vigil. Worshipers used to kneel and pray the rosary in front of the Eucharist (Blessed Sacrament) all Thursday night. The Blessed Sacrament remains exposed all night, while worshipers are encouraged to stay in the church as much as they can praying, meditating upon the Mystery of Salvation, and participating in the “agony of Gethsemane” (Garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives) in Jerusalem where Jesus spent his night in prayer before His crucifixion on Good Friday.
After the homily washing of feet the service concludes with a procession taking the Blessed Eucharist (Sacrament) to the place of reposition. The altar is later stripped bare, as are all other altars in the church except the Altar of Repose.
Thursday of the “Holy Mysteries”, is called so because in His Last Supper with the 12 disciples, Jesus Christ established the Eucharist and Priesthood Sacraments when “He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take this, and share it among yourselves, for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God comes.” “He took bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples saying: This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me. And when He Likewise, took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”.
Jesus ordained His disciples as priests of the New Testament when he said to them during the Last Supper: “But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Before Celebrating the Resurrection Day (Easter) worshipers live the “Paschal Mystery” through the Thursday Of the Sacraments, Good Friday and Saturday Of The Light.
Because He loves us and wants us to dwell in His Eternal Heaven, Jesus Christ for our sake willingly suffered all kinds of torture, pain, humiliation and died on the Cross to pave our way for repentance and salvation.
Let us pray on this Holy Day that we always remember Jesus’ love and sacrifices and live our life in this context of genuine, faith, love, meekness and forgiveness.
N.B: The Above Piece was first published in 2013

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric criticizes Hezbollah in leaked video
Reuters/April 01, 2021
‘I want to tell them ... Do you want to force (Lebanon) to go to war?’
BEIRUT: Those dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts were not acting in its best interests, the country’s top Christian cleric said, in unusually direct comments that appeared to refer to Hezbollah. “I want to tell them ... Do you want to force (Lebanon) to go to war? Are you asking before you go to war? Before you go to Syria? ... You’re not looking out for the interest of your people,” Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said in a video circulated by local media on Thursday. Rai has called for Lebanon to remain neutral, referring to Hezbollah’s role fighting in neighboring Syria to support Damascus and its alliance with Iran in regional conflicts.

Lebanese-Nigerian Billionaire and Two Associates Resolve Federal Probe into Alleged Violations of Campaign Finance Laws
Chagoury DPA Arsan DPA Baaklini DPA LaHood NPA
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/97512/lebanese-nigerian-billionaire-and-two-associates-resolve-federal-probe-into-alleged-violations-of-campaign-finance-laws/

Lebanese-Nigerian Billionaire and Two Associates Resolve Federal Probe into Alleged Violations of Campaign Finance Laws
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/lebanese-nigerian-billionaire-and-two-associates-resolve-federal-probe-alleged

The United States Attorney’s Office
Central District of California
U.S. Attorneys » Central District of California » News
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Lebanese-Nigerian Billionaire and Two Associates Resolve Federal Probe into Alleged Violations of Campaign Finance Laws
Chagoury DPA Arsan DPA Baaklini DPA LaHood NPA
LOS ANGELES – A Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire has resolved and two of his associates have agreed to resolve a federal investigation that they conspired to violate federal election laws by scheming to make illegal campaign contributions to U.S. presidential and congressional candidates, the Department of Justice announced today.
Gilbert Chagoury, 75, who presently resides in Paris, France, paid $1.8 million to resolve allegations that he, with the assistance of others, provided approximately $180,000 to individuals in the United States that was used to make contributions to four different federal political candidates in U.S. elections.
Chagoury, a foreign national prohibited by federal law from contributing to any U.S. elections, admitted he intended these funds to be used to make contributions to these candidates. He further admitted to making illegal conduit contributions – causing campaign contributions to be made in the name of another individual.
According to a deferred prosecution agreement with the government, Chagoury accepted responsibility for his role and conduct that resulted in violations of federal election contribution laws between June 2012 and March 2016 and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation. Chagoury entered into the agreement on October 19, 2019, and he paid the fine in December 2019.
Federal prosecutors entered into the deferred prosecution agreement considering, among other factors, Chagoury’s unique assistance to the U.S. government, his payment of a fine, Chagoury’s acceptance of responsibility for his actions, and his residence outside the United States.
Relatedly, two Chagoury associates – Joseph Arsan, 68, also of Paris, and Toufic Joseph Baaklini, 58, of Washington, D.C. – agreed to resolve allegations that they violated campaign contribution laws by assisting Chagoury in his illegal contributions. Arsan, a physician who worked as an assistant to Chagoury, admitted helping Chagoury reimburse others for contributions to political candidates. In 2014, Arsan – at Chagoury’s direction – wired $30,000 to a third party and indicated on the wire information form that the funds were for a “wedding gift,” when he knew or should have known that the funds were reimbursement for making a political contribution to a campaign fund for a federal elected official.
Arsan’s deferred prosecution agreement, which took effect in November 2020, also resolves a criminal investigation into his alleged tax violations in the years 2012 to 2016 stemming from his failure to report money he held in foreign bank accounts. Arsan agreed to pay $1.7 million in penalties to resolve the tax probe and to cooperate in the government’s investigation.
In his deferred prosecution agreement signed on March 1, 2021, Baaklini admitted to giving $30,000 in cash provided by Chagoury to an individual at a restaurant in Los Angeles who, along with others, later made campaign contributions to the 2016 campaign of a U.S. congressman. Baaklini also agreed to pay a $90,000 fine as part of his agreement and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.
In a separate and unrelated matter, Ray LaHood, 75, who served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013, paid a $40,000 fine to resolve a federal criminal investigation into LaHood’s conduct related to a $50,000 financial transaction between LaHood and Baaklini in June 2012.
LaHood, who at the time was suffering financial difficulties, admitted that in 2012 he accepted a $50,000 personal check from Baaklini – with the word “Loan” written in the check’s memo portion – and understood at the time that the money came from Chagoury. LaHood failed to disclose the $50,000 check on two government ethics forms as required because LaHood did not want to be associated with Chagoury. Later, LaHood also made misleading statements to FBI agents investigating Chagoury about the check and its source. As part of his non-prosecution agreement signed in December 2019, LaHood also agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation and repaid the $50,000 to Baaklini.
This matter was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.
These cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Aron Ketchel, also of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section.
Attachment(s):
Download Chagoury DPA
Download Arsan DPA
Download Baaklini DPA
Download LaHood NPA
Topic(s):
Public Corruption
Component(s):
USAO – California, Central
Contact:
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
United States Attorney’s Office
Central District of California (Los Angeles)
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov

(213) 894-4465
Press Release Number:
21-057

Center House Says Baabda Can Call Hariri if It Agrees to 'Initiative'
Naharnet/April/2021
Official sources at the presidential palace hinted Thursday that Baabda wants the latest initiative to resolve the cabinet crisis to succeed, as they criticized PM-designate Saad Hariri for traveling to the UAE.
“The train of the initiative took off from Baabda but the Center House stop seems to be closed and the person in charge of it has traveled,” the sources told the privately-run Central News Agency. Center House sources meanwhile snapped back, telling the agency that “no one should take PM Hariri’s travel as an excuse.” “He left for hours and his phone is with him. If they agree to the initiative, they can call him to return,” the sources said.
The Center House's response was retweeted by Hussein al-Wajeh, the media adviser of Hariri. According to al-Jadeed TV, Hariri traveled earlier in the day to the UAE on a private visit. Speaker Nabih Berri, with support from Hizbullah and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, has launched an initiative calling for the formation of a 24-minister cabinet based on an 8-8-8 formula. The aforementioned formula does not grant any camp a one-third-plus-one veto power. Hariri has reportedly agreed to the proposal while still insisting on a cabinet of specialists.

Berri Warns Lebanon to Collapse if No Government
Naharnet/April/2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday warned that the country will collapse if the new government is not formed soon. “Yes, unfortunately, Lebanon faces the threat of collapse if the situation remains as it is without a government,” Berri said. “The shore of safety cannot be reached without an executive authority that shoulders its responsibilities as to preventing, God forbid, the collapse of Lebanon,” the Speaker added. He voiced his remarks during a Ain el-Tineh meeting with a visiting Iraqi delegation led by Health and Environment Minister Hassan al-Tamimi.

Hizbullah Backs Berri's Initiative, Will Talk to Aoun, Bassil
Naharnet/April/2021
An initiative launched by Speaker Nabih Berri seems to possess the ability to make a breakthrough in the cabinet formation crisis, media reports published Thursday said, as optimism surged in light of upbeat remarks voiced by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Berri, who discussed his initiative with PM-designate Saad Hariri days ago, will fine-tune his initiative to become compatible with the conditions of each of President Michel Aoun and Hariri, the pro-Hizbullah al-Akhbar newspaper reported. “After Hariri’s line-up was leaked, and in the wake of the attack it faced, especially in terms of allotting several ministers two portfolios each, the PM-designate became unable to cling to an 18-minister government or to defend it, seeing as such a government does not meet the criterion of specialty,” al-Akhbar added. “That’s why the PM-designate seemed, for the first time, open to increasing the number of ministers,” the newspaper said. Hariri is however still insisting that no camp should get a one-third-plus-one share and that the principle of specialty should be respected, al-Akhbar added. Noting that Hizbullah has intervened in a bid to secure the success of Berri’s initiative, the daily said the stance of Aoun and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil about the one-third-plus-one share is yet to be known, with Baabda Palace sources saying that they have not been contacted regarding any new initiative. The sources added that Hariri has not also requested any new meeting with the president. Al-Akhbar added that Hizbullah is, however, expected to “communicate with Aoun and Bassil.”Sources involved in the initiative meanwhile voiced optimism that the government could be formed should the one-third-plus-one hurdle be resolved, after Hariri “gave up the 18-minister government demand.”“The issue of the distribution of portfolios will not be an obstacle,” the sources said. Informed sources meanwhile told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that “an indication suggesting that both sides have agreed to follow this path would be a visit by Berri to the presidential palace.” “This would practically mean that Berri has secured Hariri’s final approval on a 24-minister line-up based on the 8+8+8 formula and that he would personally go to Baabda to finalize the issue with the president,” the sources added.

Geagea Urges Action to Stop Syria from Infringing on Territorial Waters
Naharnet/April/2021
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday urged Lebanese authorities to take urgent action to prevent Lebanon from “losing 750 square kilometers of our northern territorial waters.”“In 2014, the Assad government objected to Lebanon’s oil and gas exploration, and in May 2017, the Lebanese government sent the Assad government a memo demanding communication to unify the vision regarding the border but it received no answer,” Geagea said in a televised address. “Two days ago we were surprised that the Assad government has authorized a Russian firm to explore for oil and gas based on the Syrian demarcation,” Geagea explained. “The existent maps show the Syrian demarcation infringing on the Lebanese demarcation, and our historic stance on the Assad regime has nothing to do with this problem, which must be resolved although we are definitely against the Assad regime,” the LF leader added. Addressing President Michel Aoun, caretaker PM Hassan Diab, the caretaker government and the political forces of the parliamentary majority, Geagea called for “hiring a law firm and sending a warning to the Russian firm to inform it that the Syrian block is infringing on the Lebanese border in an encroachment on our territorial integrity.” He also called on the government to “send a memo to the U.N. secretary general and inform him of what happened and of the maps and demarcation sent by Lebanon to the U.N.” He added that should Syria refuse to resort to a technical committee, there should be “a voluntary arbitration.”“We can also head to the International Court of Justice to present our case, and let (Assad) present his case and the court decide. Should he reject all the steps proposed, Lebanon should take all the possible measures to preserve its border,” Geagea went on to say. He added: “Assad has many friends in Lebanon; let them use this friendship and inform him that he is infringing on 750 square kilometers.”

Bassil Hits Back at Geagea over Syria Sea Border Remarks
Naharnet/April/2021
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday reminded that his calls for demarcating the Lebanese-Syrian sea border had fallen on deaf ears. “From July 2010 until 2017, when I was energy minister and foreign minister, I sent more than 20 official letters to officials in Lebanon and Syria to urge them to resolve the sea border problem between the two countries,” Bassil tweeted. “But no one listened in Beirut and my request was even rejected by the Council of Ministers in 2012,” he added. “This problem needs a solution based on good neighborliness, between officials who are truly responsible in the two countries and not at the hands of amateurs in strategic interests,” Bassil went on to say. In an apparent jab at Geagea, the FPM chief added: “Where were you, new advocates of sovereignty? Asleep? Do you only wake up to achieve cheap gains?”Earlier in the day, Geagea made a televised address to warn that Syria might seize 750 square kilometers of Lebanon’s territorial waters if Lebanese officials do not act.

Four People, including Child, Shot and Killed in California
Naharnet/April/2021
Four people, including a child, were shot and killed Wednesday evening at an office building in Southern California, police said. It is the third such shooting in the United States in weeks, with 18 people killed in two separate gun violence incidents in March. The shooter, whose motivations are so far unknown, sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital, police lieutenant Jennifer Amat said, adding the suspect was in a critical condition. She continued that officers were still working to determine whether the wound was self-inflicted or a result of an exchange of fire with police. Police did not release any more information about the victims, but said that a fifth individual -- a woman -- had been hospitalized and was in a critical condition. "The situation has been stabilized and there is no threat to the public," the Orange Police Department said in a post to their Facebook page. The incident began around 5:30 pm local time on the upper floor of a small office building in the city of Orange. The block houses businesses including a counseling service, an insurance company, a financial consulting firm and a phone repair shop, local media reported. Police and the suspect exchanged fire, according to the Los Angeles Times. One man, who asked not to be identified speaking to local TV channel KTLA5, described the situation as "terrifying". Cody Lev told local media The Orange County Register that they heard three loud pops, followed by silence and then sirens. "I can tell you that we haven't had an incident like this in the city of Orange since 1997," Amat said, referring to a mass shooting event that saw four people shot dead. She added: "It's just such a tragedy for the victims, their families, our community and our police department."California governor Gavin Newsom posted on Twitter: "Horrifying and heartbreaking. Our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight." "I'm deeply saddened by reports of a mass shooting in Orange County, and I'm continuing to keep victims and their loved ones in my thoughts as we continue to learn more," U.S. Representative Katie Porter from California also tweeted. It comes after two other high-profile mass shootings earlier this month, which set off a renewed debate about gun control measures in the United States. On March 22, 10 people were killed in a shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, less than a week after a man shot and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at spas in Atlanta, Georgia.

Guterres Names Polish Diplomat as Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Naharnet/April/2021
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday formally announced the appointment of Joanna Wronecka of Poland as his new Special Coordinator for Lebanon. Wronecka succeeds Ján Kubiš of the Slovak Republic to whom the Secretary-General is "grateful for his commitment and leadership," a U.N. statement said. Wronecka brings over 25 years of experience in diplomacy, international security and Middle East affairs, having served since 2017 as the Permanent Representative of Poland to the United Nations, including during Poland’s membership in the Security Council (2018-2019), and as Under Secretary of State for Arab and African countries, development cooperation and Polish-United Nations relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland (2015-2017). She previously served as Head of the European Union Delegation to Jordan (2011-2015), Ambassador of Poland to Morocco (2005-2010) and Egypt (1999-2003) as well as non-resident Ambassador of Poland to Mauritania (2006-2010) and Sudan (2000-2003). Wronecka further served as the Director of the Secretariat of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (2003-2005), Director of the Africa and Middle East Department (1998-1999) and Deputy Director of the United Nations Department at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1996-1998). She holds a Ph.D. in Arabic philosophy and a master’s degree in Arabic philology from the University of Warsaw and she conducted research on Middle East and Islamic affairs at the Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Economique et Juridique in Cairo and at the Polish Academy of Sciences.She is fluent in Arabic, English, French and Polish.

Aoun Meets Iraqi Minister, Lauds 'Oil-for-Medical Services' Deal
Naharnet/April/2021
President Michel Aoun on Thursday met in Baabda with a visiting Iraqi delegation led by Health and Environment Minister Hassan al-Tamimi. “We appreciate Iraq’s approval of Lebanon’s request to be supplied with raw oil in return for medical services,” Aoun said during the meeting.
“I hope there will be a single market among the nations of the Levant and I will re-propose this initiative,” the president added. The Iraqi minister for his part said that “there is an Iraqi governmental inclination to support Lebanon at all levels, mainly in the health field.” Tamimi had arrived Wednesday in Lebanon aboard a plane carrying medical aid.

Lebanon in 'Education Catastrophe' with Children Out of School
Agence France Presse/April/2021
In crisis-hit Lebanon, the pandemic coupled with an economic downturn means that children left for months without schooling due to coronavirus restrictions may never return to the classroom, a UK-based charity warned. "The social and economic crisis in Lebanon is turning into an education catastrophe, with vulnerable children facing a real risk of never returning to school," Save the Children said in a report published Thursday. The risk is real not only for Lebanese families, more half of whom live in poverty, but also for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian and Syrian refugees who already struggled to access education before Lebanon's multifold crisis made it more difficult, it said. "Poverty is a steep barrier to children's access to an education, as many families cannot afford learning equipment or have to rely on children to provide an income," the charity said. More than 1.2 million children in Lebanon have been out of school since the country's coronavirus outbreak began last year, Save the Children said. Those lucky enough to get any schooling received "an estimated maximum of 11 weeks of education," with even lower numbers for Syrian children, it added. Meanwhile, the country's worst economic downturn since the 1975-1990 civil war has made "remote learning out of reach for more and more children," with families unable to afford electronic devices and a reliable-enough internet connection, the charity said. Save the Children cited the example of an 11-year-old child identified as Adam, who shares a smartphone with his two sisters and has to go next door to access the internet. The country's crisis has shown no signs of slowing down, with the Lebanese pound losing more than 85 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market in a devaluation that has eaten away at people's purchasing power. "A large number of children may never get back into a classroom either because they have missed so much learning already or because their families can't afford to send them to school," said Jennifer Moorehead, the charity's Lebanon director. "We are already witnessing the tragic impact of this situation, with children working in supermarkets or in farms, and girls forced to get married," she added.

Hezbollah adjusts tactics in dealing with Lebanon’s crisis
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
BEIRUT – Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said on Wednesday it was time for politicians to make concessions to agree a new government that must rescue the country from financial crisis. Lebanon’s financial meltdown is posing the most serious threat to stability since the 1975-1990 civil war, but squabbling politicians have been unable to form a government for months. “Everyone must know the country has run out of time,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, said in a televised speech. He said there had been “serious, collective efforts” in recent days to ease a political standoff that has obstructed cabinet talks for months. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, have been at loggerheads since October. “It is time…If someone is still waiting for something, wants something or expects it, we have to put these matters aside and move seriously towards a real, rapid solution,” Nasrallah said. Hariri has said Aoun is trying to dictate cabinet seats in order to gain veto power, while Aoun’s party accuses Hariri of trying to orchestrate a majority for himself and his allies. A new cabinet will have to implement reforms if it is to unlock much needed foreign aid for Lebanon. Nasrallah’s talk about ‘concessions’ indicates Hezbollah is adjusting its tactics, months after Nasrallah himself diminished hopes of soon reaching a consensus to form a new government. Analysts attribute this apparent tactical shift to the militant group’s wariness about the risks of fallouts including new sanctions from the West for obstructing the formation of the cabinet and escalating the political crisis in Lebanon. In October last year, the Hezbollah chief focused on the need for his Shia group to be represented, meaning that Hezbollah rejected the idea of a non-partisan government of experts.
At the time, Nasrallah stressed the importance of Hezbollah’s participation in the next cabinet. “We must be in the government, through partisans or non-partisans,” he said. “We must stay in the government in order to protect resistance. We will join any future government because we care about what remains of the Lebanese economy, politics and other issues,” he added. The Shia group has been accused by France and a number of other Western and Arab countries of obstructing the formation of a new cabinet.

The Lebanese people can send strong message to Hezbollah
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/April 01/2021
Lebanon is in the hands of Hezbollah; there is no doubt about this. But the Iranian proxy is increasingly under pressure as it needs to avoid total chaos in the country. Hezbollah and Iran want a weak, obedient state that will obey them on all military and security matters, cover their illegal actions, and support their social and health activities, but also a tool that can reach out to the international community when needed. In short, they need a weak state, not a collapsed one. The situation is becoming increasingly uncontrollable, with the state institutions — sovereign security and military included — on the brink of chaos. Military personnel are being hit hard by the dropping value of the Lebanese pound and are finding it difficult to do little more than survive. It is hence becoming more and more difficult for Hezbollah to control the country. Despite this increased pressure, Hezbollah, with its ally President Michel Aoun, is blocking the formation of a Lebanese government for several reasons. On a regional level, it prefers to wait and see how the nuclear deal will work out between the US and Iran. It can then decide what actions are needed and what political gains can be added. And on the local level, as a bonus, it gets to humiliate the position of caretaker prime minister and remind everyone who the kingmaker in the country really is.
I do not think that a new government or new elections would change anything, as the fundamentals of the problem would stay the same. However, they might allow for some ways to move forward and bring humanitarian help to the country.
Hezbollah would obviously still be able to manage its operations and access resources, even if the country collapses and the state institutions no longer offer security and predictability. But it would make its work much more difficult and bring the risk of it being targeted more easily. Hezbollah, despite what many people say, would take absolutely no benefit from total chaos.
It is for this reason that Hassan Nasrallah has condemned and warned against protests and the blocking of streets. They make Hezbollah’s activities much more dangerous and difficult. The party still wants the security apparatus of the state to maintain control and keep the streets safe; without it having to take full control or direct action visible to all. It is clearly becoming increasingly difficult for it to maintain this order. There is also rising resentment among members of the military that they are forced to clean up and keep order for someone else’s benefit.
Iran, through Hezbollah, has accomplished its objective of ensuring a completely eroded and weakened state that is unable to voice a complaint or disobey its orders. It has put the Lebanese state into servitude. For example, last year a deadly explosion broke Beirut and Lebanon as a whole and there has still been no accountability or a proper investigation. And then there was the killing of an outspoken Hezbollah critic and activist; everyone knows who the main suspect is, but no one cares. Most importantly, no one has been able to challenge or put in jeopardy Hezbollah’s parallel military and communications infrastructure or stop its illegal actions, such as smuggling. It is a sad tragedy that has lasted for too long and in which all political leaders are actors.
Today, the real risk for Hezbollah and Iran is baby milk powder. As people fight in supermarkets for the bare necessities and as hunger and despair spread, the Lebanese will have nothing to lose and they will disrupt Hezbollah’s actions. Not the politicians, not the Lebanese Armed Forces, but the people.
Hezbollah is a successful logistics organization. It can move and smuggle fighters, arms and goods across geographies and with great speed. Logistics is an important part of its global operations, in terms of the flow of goods and also finance. The disruption of these activities is what worries Hezbollah and Iran about the state potentially falling into chaos. Once again, they have the capacity to weather this potential storm, but with added stress and costs.
So I cannot help but wonder what if the Lebanese, in their millions, were to block the border between Syria and Lebanon and disrupt Hezbollah’s smuggling? What if, even for a day, they were able to stop anything from passing through, especially goods subsidized by the Lebanese state? What if the Lebanese gathered at key border points between Lebanon and Syria and disrupted the $4 billion smuggling trade, whose profits are going into the pockets of Hezbollah with total impunity? What if they could stop the country from being robbed while they are starved of both food and freedom?
What if the Lebanese blocked the state institutions — from the presidency to the ministries — that Hezbollah controls? Even for a single day, this would send a message to Hezbollah that the people are no longer tolerating the situation. It would also be a greater test for the Lebanese Armed Forces to decide on which side they stand. It would also be a greater test for all political actors.
If we follow the flow of subsidized goods smuggled across the border, we end up in Syria. This is another unknown that impacts the future of Lebanon, but also where things could change for Hezbollah. Despite not being able to control its entire territory, the Syrian regime has had better control. The Syrian regime also knows that it will not regain full authority without repositioning Hezbollah as a subordinate rather than an equal and rebalancing relations with Iran. This is also something the US, Russia and Israel would welcome as they look for increased stability in the country and region (for different reasons).
Hezbollah, despite what many people say, would take absolutely no benefit from total chaos. To clarify, it is not a question of breaking the alliance or destroying Hezbollah, but there could be an effort to rebalance the system and make sure Hezbollah stays “in check” in Lebanon. The Syrian regime still has the power to play in Lebanon and has its own agents. The real question is if it is the time to do so. Regardless, Iran has created a perfect global tool in Lebanon and will not let it go easily. Tehran knows the coming period will require a different approach if it wants to keep it. Iran will, therefore, propose a new formula for Lebanon as international dialogue opens. But this is another story.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 01-02/2021

Iran, world powers to hold nuclear talks on April 2 to discuss US return to deal
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/01 April ,2021
Officials from Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and UK will meet virtually on Friday to discuss a possible return of the US to the 2015 nuclear deal, the European Union said in a statement on Thursday. "Participants will discuss the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides," the statement said. The US welcomed the announcement and said it was ready to take "mutual steps" to return to the deal. "We obviously welcome this as a positive step," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. "We are ready to pursue a return to compliance with our JCPOA commitments consistent with Iran also doing the same... We've been looking at options for doing so [a series of initial mutual steps], including with indirect conversations through our European partners," Price added. Washington and Tehran have been locked in an impasse over reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Since taking office in January, President Joe Biden has taken steps, perceived as extending an olive branch to Iran, to revive talks over the nuclear deal which has unraveled since his predecessor Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018. Biden reversed Trump’s determination that all UN sanctions against Iran had been restored and the State Department eased stringent restrictions on the domestic travel of Iranian diplomats in New York. Yet, Tehran adamantly demanded that all Trump-era sanctions on Iran be lifted before taking any real action to return to the deal. The regime repeatedly made threats of upping their nuclear activities, effectively “turning up the heat” on Biden, trying to get as many concessions from Washington as possible before taking any real action.

EU to sanction Iran militia, police, over protest crackdown
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
BRUSSELS/ PARIS – The European Union will target eight Iranian militia and police commanders and three state entities with sanctions next week over a deadly crackdown in November 2019 by Iranian authorities, three diplomats said on Wednesday. The travel bans and asset freezes will be the first time since 2013 the EU has imposed sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses and are set to be put in place some time next week after the Easter holidays in Europe, the diplomats said. The individuals to be targeted include members of Iran’s hard-line Basij militia, who are under the command of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful and heavily-armed security force in the Islamic Republic. Iran has repeatedly rejected accusations by the West of human rights abuses. About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest that started on Nov. 15, 2019, according to a toll provided to Reuters by three Iranian interior ministry officials at the time. The United Nations said the total was at least 304. Iran has called the toll given by sources “fake news”.On March 9, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, presented a report saying Tehran used lethal force during the protests and chided it for failing to conduct a proper investigation or for failing to hold anyone accountable.
“Fake news”
Asked why the bloc had taken so long to process its sanctions response, one EU diplomat involved in the preparations cited the need for strong evidence against those hit with the punitive measures. The bloc has also shied away from angering Iran in the hope of safeguarding a nuclear accord Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. The three diplomats said the sanctions were not linked to efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which the United States pulled out of but now seeks to re-join. That deal made it harder for Iran to amass the fissile material needed for a nuclear bomb — a goal it has long denied — in return for sanctions relief. After days of protests across Iran in November 2019, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an order to crackdown on protesters, Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-protests-specialreport-idUSKBN1YR0QR in December 2019. That order, confirmed by three sources close to the supreme leader’s inner circle and a fourth official, set in motion the bloodiest crackdown on protesters since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. A spokesman for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council described the death toll figure as “fake news,” according to semi-official Tasnim news agency. The United Nations has warned about a deterioration of human rights in Iran. Its March 9 report documented Iran’s high death penalty rate, executions of juveniles, the use torture to coerce confessions and the lawful marriage of girls as young as 10 years old.
 

Iran adds advanced machines enriching underground at Natanz: IAEA
Reuters/April 01, 2021
It was the latest of many steps by Iran raising pressure on US President Joe Biden
The deal imposed limits on Iran's nuclear activities that it started breaching in 2019 in response to a US withdrawal from the accord
VIENNA: Iran has begun enriching uranium with a fourth cascade, or cluster, of advanced IR-2m machines at its underground Natanz plant, a report by the UN atomic watchdog showed, in a further breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. It was the latest of many steps by Iran raising pressure on US President Joe Biden with the two sides in a standoff over who should move first to salvage a deal that was meant to curb Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, if it so intended. The deal imposed limits on Iran's nuclear activities that it started breaching in 2019 in response to a US withdrawal from the accord under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, as well as the reimposition of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic that had been lifted under the agreement. The deal only lets Iran enrich with relatively antiquated first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz, a commercial-scale enrichment facility. Last year Tehran began adding more advanced centrifuges there able to enrich much faster than the IR-1. "On 31 March 2021, the Agency verified at FEP that: Iran had begun feeding natural UF6 into a fourth cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in its confidential report dated Wednesday and obtained by Reuters on Thursday. By UF6, it was referring to uranium hexafluoride, the form in which uranium is fed into centrifuges for enrichment. Iran has informed the IAEA that it plans to use six cascades of IR-2m machines at the FEP to refine uranium up to 5% fissile purity. The report said the remaining two cascades were installed but not yet enriching. Installation of a planned second cascade of IR-4 machines had not yet begun, it added. "In summary, as of 31 March 2021, the Agency verified that Iran was using 5,060 IR-1 centrifuges installed in 30 cascades, 696 IR-2m centrifuges installed in four cascades and 174 IR-4 centrifuges installed in one cascade to enrich natural UF6 up to 5% U-235 at FEP," said the report, sent to IAEA member states.

US commitment to safety of Middle East partners will 'never' change: Official
Joseph Haboush and Nadia Bilbassy-Charters, Al Arabiya English/Published: 01 April ,2021
A senior State Department official Thursday played down suggestions that the US was considering withdrawing and leaving the Middle East region, noting that troops and machinery were redeployed “all the time.” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that President Joe Biden had ordered the Pentagon to begin studying the removal of US forces and equipment from the Gulf region. But US officials were quoted as saying that Washington was looking at ways to boost Saudi Arabia’s defense capabilities as the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen continue their cross-border attacks using bomb-laden drones and ballistic missiles. “The bottom line is that the Houthis need to know that we are standing with the Saudis, and we will continue to support their right to self-defense,” one US official told WSJ. Asked about the US withdrawing from the Gulf, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood said the Defense Department had made no final decisions. “I mean troops, machinery, and equipment redeploy all the time,” Hood told Al Arabiya during an interview from the State Department on Thursday. “And I don’t think any final decisions have been made by the Department of Defense, by the way, on any of this, so I wouldn’t make any predictions on any of them,” he added. Asked how the US would reassure its partners and allies in the Gulf that it was committed to these ties, Hood said Washington’s alliances “are there to stay. They’re not going away. Our commitment to the safety, security and stability of our partners throughout the Middle East is not changing, and it never will,” he said. Nevertheless, Hood admitted that the defense capabilities of its partners in the region were increasing. With that improvement, the US would no longer need to station certain machinery and weapons in the area.
“As our partners become more and more capable and able to take on more tasks by themselves, well, it doesn’t make as much sense for us to have people and expensive capabilities there. So that’s actually a mark of success in many ways,” Hood said.
The US official also reiterated that the countries in the region knew their partner of choice remained in the US.
“And we will continue to work hard every day to make sure that we warrant that trust,” he said. As for Iran, Hood said the US stance was that which Biden announced. If Iran returns to full compliance with the JCPOA, an acronym for the nuclear deal, then the US would lift “certain” sanctions under that agreement. But Hood was quick to note that not all sanctions would be lifted. “Some of our sanctions are related to human rights abuses and coming back into a nuclear deal doesn’t mean that the [Iranian] government has stopped shooting its people in the streets for expressing their views peacefully,” he said. Hood added: “As long as they’re doing that, we’re going to have sanctions on them for sure.”Touching on the recent agreement between Iran and China, Hood said the US welcomed “healthy and normal” ties between countries, including with China. “But that means it has to be on a level playing field according to internationally based rules so that investors know what they’re getting into,” adding that deals shouldn’t be based on corruption or other unpredictable factors. The US official seemed unconcerned with Tehran and Beijing's recent deal because of past agreements China, Russia, and similar authoritarian countries struck with other governments. “If you go back through your archives, I think you can find a number of examples of the Chinese government or the Russian government, or others, signing all sorts of deals and [MOUs] that never come to fruition,” he said.
Therefore, Hood said, the US would reserve judgment on the Iran-China deal until it materializes. The US hopes it can work with China to pressure Iran on its nuclear program. “There’s no reason why we can’t [work together] again because we know that the Chinese government doesn’t want to see nuclear weapons certainly proliferating in the region. And so, I think they share an interest with us in making sure that the Iranian program is entirely peaceful and is verified by the [International Atomic Energy Agency],” he said.

Yemen's Houthis say attacked Saudi capital Riyadh with four drones
Reurtes/April/2021
Also, the Saudi-led military coalition said it destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile on its launchpad in Yemen. A spokesman for Yemen's Houthis said on Thursday the group had attacked important targets in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh using four drones. The Iran-aligned Houthis have rejected a ceasefire proposal made last month by Riyadh because it did not include lifting an air and sea blockade imposed by a Saudi-led military coalition on the territories they control mainly in northern Yemen. Also, the Saudi-led military coalition said it destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile on its launchpad in Yemen, Saudi state TV reported, adding that the weapon was being prepared for launch toward the gas-rich of Yemeni province of Ma'rib.The Iran-aligned Houthis did not immediately confirm the claim.

Iraq PM Seeks to Soothe Security Concern on Saudi Visit
Agence France Presse/April/2021
Iraq will never become a launchpad for attacks on Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi has pledged during a long-awaited visit to the kingdom aimed at forging closer economic and security ties. In January, explosive-laden drones crashed into the main royal palace in Riyadh, with American media citing U.S. officials as saying they were launched from neighboring Iraq. Saudi officials did not publicly disclose any details on the reported attack on the sprawling Al-Yamama complex, the official residence and office of King Salman as well as the main base of the royal court. But the news raised alarm in a country that has frequently come under missile and drone attacks from Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, where Riyadh-backed forces are engaged in a six-year conflict. A relatively unknown militant group in Iraq calling itself the Righteous Promise Brigade claimed responsibility for the strike, but it was considered by security experts to be a front for more entrenched Iran-backed militias. Kadhemi said the group's claim was "not true" and insisted that the attack was not launched from Iraq. "We will not allow any attack on the kingdom," he told reporters after what his aides described as an hours-long meeting with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "There haven't been any attacks" from Iraq. "There have been attempts by some to... disrupt relations" between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, he added, without elaborating. Known to maintain close personal ties with Prince Mohammed, Kadhemi walks a diplomatic tightrope as Baghdad often finds itself caught in the tug of war between Tehran and its rivals Riyadh and Washington. Kadhemi's trip comes after the countries reopened their Arar land border crossing in November for the first time since Riyadh cut off diplomatic ties with Baghdad in 1990, following Iraqi ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.
Boosting trade, investment
Aside from a discussion on border security, the Iraqi premier said he and his delegation of senior ministers sought to further boost trade and economic cooperation with the kingdom during a day-long visit to Riyadh. In a statement published by Saudi state media, the two countries agreed to establish a joint fund with an estimated capital of $3 billion, a "contribution from the kingdom" to boost investment in the Iraqi economy. Saudi Arabia's investments in Iraq are expected to rise to 10 billion riyals ($2.67 billion) from just over 2 billion riyals currently, the state-run SPA news agency said. The countries also agreed to maintain energy cooperation to maintain stability in global oil markets, the joint statement added. Iraq is the second-largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, outranked only by Saudi Arabia. Kadhemi, whose government has sought to fast-track foreign investment including Saudi support for energy and agriculture, is pushing for deeper cooperation with Riyadh. Kadhemi was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip as prime minister last July, but the visit was cancelled at the last minute when King Salman was hospitalized for surgery to remove his gall bladder.
His trip to Tehran, Riyadh's arch-rival, went ahead, with the premier meeting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Allies Raise Alarm over Health of Hunger-Striking Navalny
Agence France Presse/April 01/2021
Supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are raising deep concerns about his decision to launch a hunger strike, saying they fear more damage to his already-fragile health. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent opponent, announced the hunger strike on Wednesday to demand proper medical treatment in prison. The 44-year-old is serving two-and-a-half years on old fraud charges in a penal colony east of Moscow. He was arrested when he returned to Russia in January from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from a near-fatal poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. Navalny says he is suffering in prison from severe back pain and numbness in his legs and has only been given painkillers. His allies said his announcement of a hunger strike is no idle threat and they do not expect he will back down. "Navalny has always taken such a step as a hunger strike extremely seriously," Ruslan Shaveddinov, a spokesman for the opposition figure, told AFP. "We are very concerned about his condition and that's why we are demanding immediate access to doctors."Navalny is still recovering from the poisoning last August, when he began howling in pain and collapsed on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in the city of Omsk. He was treated for several days by local doctors and eventually flown to Berlin in an induced coma.
Recovering from poisoning
Western experts concluded he was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Russian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement. Navalny spent months recovering in Germany, going through physical therapy to re-learn how to walk and even lift a glass of water. True to usual form, Navalny initially made light of his recent ailments, but on Wednesday turned serious. "I have the right to ask for a doctor and receive medicine... Jokes aside but this is already bothering me," he said. The prison service said Navalny is provided with "all the necessary medical assistance in accordance with his current medical condition." Shaveddinov said Navalny would not have taken the decision to go on hunger strike lightly. "After a poisoning, no one knows what kind of reaction a body might have in this situation -- and this is very alarming," he said. Navalny's team declined to provide details as to how the hunger strike will be carried out, but it is an action his allies have experience with. His ally Lyubov Sobol spent 32 days drinking only liquids in the summer of 2019 after she and other opposition politicians were barred from standing in local elections. In 2015, Navalny's right-hand man Leonid Volkov and a group of activists in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk went on hunger strike after they were disqualified from local elections. That action ended after 12 days, when one of the group's members, opposition politician Sergei Boyko, was hospitalized.
Prison force-feeding
Russia's most prominent political hunger striker in recent years was Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker and outspoken critic of Moscow's annexation of his native Crimea in 2014. Arrested and jailed in 2015 on terrorism charges, Sentsov went on hunger strike in 2018 demanding that he and Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia be freed. He ended it after 145 days of subsisting on nutritional supplements -- and glucose drips near the end -- after prison officials announced they would force feed him to ensure his survival. Sentsov, who was eventually released in a 2019 prisoner swap, lost 20 kilogrammes (44 pounds) during the strike. Russian law requires the prison service to force feed prisoners if they will not eat voluntarily. It does not specify how this should be done but rights activists have reported that prisoners are fed a "nutrient mixture" orally, rectally or through a tube. Navalny "is well aware that a hunger strike is a desperate step," an ally, economist Sergei Guriev, said on Twitter. "Since he went on a hunger strike, it means that he believes that he has nothing to lose, that the situation is unbearable."

US confirms it considers West Bank as under Israeli ‘occupation’
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden’s administration said Wednesday that Israel’s control of the West Bank is indeed “occupation,” clarifying its stance after the release of a report that seemed to downplay the term, adopting language used by Donald Trump’s government.
The US State Department’s annual report on human rights “does use the term ‘occupation’ in the context of the current status of the West Bank,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “This has been the longstanding position of previous administrations of both parties over the course of many decades,” he said. But under the staunchly pro-Israel Trump, the annual human rights report renamed the section on “Israel and the Occupied Territories” as “Israel, West Bank and Gaza.”The first of the reports issued under Biden, which was released Tuesday, kept the same formulation but stated that the language was not meant to convey any position. The top State Department official on human rights, Lisa Peterson, said that the report generally uses geographical names and that “Israel, West Bank and Gaza” was easier and clearer for readers. Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, broke past precedent by visiting a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and said he disagreed with the broad international consensus that such construction is illegal, with Trump signalling that Israel should be free to annex Palestinian land. Trump also recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as well as Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 but maintains control over the crowded, Hamas-ruled territory’s airspace and borders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated the United States will not reverse Trump’s decisions on Jerusalem but will also do more to work toward an independent Palestinian state and providing aid to the Palestinians. This February US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel’s foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi that the new US administration unambiguously supports a two-state solution. Blinken “emphasised the Biden administration’s belief that the two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace alongside a viable and democratic Palestinian state,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Visiting Iraqi PM seeks to soothe Saudi security concerns
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
RIYADH--Iraq will never become a launchpad for attacks on Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi pledged Wednesday during a long-awaited visit to the kingdom aimed at forging closer economic and security ties. In January, explosive-laden drones crashed into the main royal palace in Riyadh, with American media citing US officials as saying they were launched from neighbouring Iraq. Saudi officials did not publicly disclose any details on the reported attack on the sprawling Al-Yamama complex, the official residence and office of King Salman bin Abdulaziz as well as the main base of the royal court. But the news raised alarm in a country that has frequently come under missile and drone attacks from Iran-aligned Houthi militias in Yemen, where Riyadh-backed forces are engaged in a six-year conflict.
An attempt to disrupt relations
A relatively unknown militant group in Iraq calling itself the Righteous Promise Brigade claimed responsibility for the strike, but it was considered by security experts to be a front for more entrenched Iran-backed militias. Kadhimi said the group’s claim was “not true” and insisted that the attack was not launched from Iraq. “We will not allow any attack on the kingdom,” he told reporters after what his aides described as an hours-long meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. “There haven’t been any attacks” from Iraq. “There have been attempts by some to… disrupt relations” between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, he added, without elaborating. Known to maintain close personal ties with Prince Mohammed, Kadhimi walks a diplomatic tightrope as Baghdad often finds itself caught in the tug of war between Tehran and its rivals Riyadh and Washington. Kadhimi’s trip comes after the countries reopened their Arar land border crossing in November for the first time since Riyadh cut off diplomatic ties with Baghdad in 1990, following Iraqi ex-president Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
Boosting trade, investment
Aside from a discussion on border security, the Iraqi premier said he and his delegation of senior ministers sought to further boost trade and economic cooperation with the kingdom during a day-long visit to Riyadh. In a statement published by Saudi state media, the two countries agreed to establish a joint fund with an estimated capital of $3 billion, a “contribution from the kingdom” to boost investment in the Iraqi economy. Saudi Arabia’s investments in Iraq are expected to rise to 10 billion riyals ($2.67 billion) from just over 2 billion riyals currently, the state-run SPA news agency said. The countries also agreed to maintain energy cooperation to maintain stability in global oil markets, the joint statement added. Iraq is the second-largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, outranked only by Saudi Arabia. Kadhimi, whose government has sought to fast-track foreign investment including Saudi support for energy and agriculture, is pushing for deeper cooperation with Riyadh. He was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip as prime minister last July, but the visit was cancelled at the last minute when King Salman was hospitalised for surgery to remove his gallbladder. His trip to Tehran, Riyadh’s arch-rival, went ahead, with the premier meeting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Washington grants Iraq a waiver to pay for Iranian electricity
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
WASHINGTON--The United States has renewed a waiver allowing Iraq to pay for electricity imported from Iran, this time giving Baghdad 120 days to reduce its energy dependence on neighbouring Tehran, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.
The waiver was renewed despite American sanctions imposed after former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers and Iran began breaching the deal’s terms. Washington has issued regular waivers to Iraq since it reimposed sanctions, but last year shortened their length to encourage Iraq to reduce its use of Iranian energy. Wednesday’s 120-day extension was the first under President Joe Biden, who has sought to restart diplomacy with Iran over returning to the nuclear deal. “The waiver ensures that Iraq is able to meet its short-term energy needs while it takes steps to reduce its dependence on Iranian energy imports,” the spokesman said. However, such steps are taking time. Three years ago the Baghdad government’s Mass Energy Group Holding was negotiating a deal with GE Power to add up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity to the Besmaya power plant not far from the capital. This will bring the capacity of what is already the country’s largest power station up to 4.5GW, enough to supply four and a half million homes.

Guterres sees role for UN monitors in Libya truce
The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
UNITED NATIONS, New York - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is recommending the UN provides monitors to work alongside Libyans in overseeing the fragile ceasefire that has followed the swearing in of the country’s new Government of National Unity. In a report released Wednesday, Guterres said the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) could provide a “monitoring component” to work alongside a ceasefire monitoring mechanism run by Libyans. Since the overthrow of Muammar Ghadafi’s regime in the NATO-backed 2011 revolt, Libya has been wracked by division and bloodshed.
An array of armed groups arose to fill the vacuum and many coalesced around western governments in Tripoli or around eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army. The two camps, each supported by foreign powers, fought for more than a year before Haftar was forced last year to abandon his attempt to seize Tripoli. In October the two sides signed a truce, setting in motion a UN-led process that saw a new transitional government sworn in two weeks ago, ahead of planned elections this December. Guterres, in the report presented to the Security Council, did not say how many UN observers would be needed for UNSMIL “I call upon the Security Council to give UNSMIL a clear but flexible mandate, supported by additional resources, to enable the United Nations to fully support the deployment of UNSMIL monitors to Libya who would eventually operate in and around Sirte and other areas if required,” Guterres said. “The UNSMIL ceasefire monitoring component would not be integrated under the ceasefire monitoring mechanism. It would instead work in close coordination with the 5+5 Joint Military Commission and the joint subcommittees,” he said. That commission is composed of Libyans. “The role of UNSMIL monitors would be limited to the monitoring of violations of the ceasefire agreement reported by the national monitors and other local sources,” the secretary general said. He added: “The task would imply the participation of UNSMIL monitors in ground monitoring missions in the designated area.”He insisted that the Libyan parties must commit to protecting UN personnel, equipment and facilities. Guterres did not say how many UN staffers might be made available to the Libyan-directed ceasefire monitoring team. Diplomats said it could be as few as five.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 01-02/2021

Iran Still Hiding Key Parts of its Nuclear Programme, US Trying Bribery Again
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 01/2021

كون كوغلين/معهد جيتستون : لا تزال إيران تخفي أجزاء رئيسية من برنامجها النووي ، والولايات المتحدة تحاول الرشوة مرة أخرى
The latest evidence that Iran is continuing to conceal vital elements of its nuclear programme from the outside world suggest that, even if there is a resumption of negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme, the regime has little genuine interest in complying with the terms of any future deal.
In another provocative move, Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has ordered the government to start limiting some inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN-sponsored body responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear activities.
The move by the Iranian parliament comes after the IAEA published a report revealing that last summer inspectors found uranium particles at two Iranian nuclear sites that Iran tried to block access to.
The Biden Administration has also apparently been trying to sidestep legally-required congressional approval to funnel more money to Iran and other dictatorships through a new International Monetary Fund programme, "special drawing rights" (SDRs). Through them, Iran would receive an additional $4.5 billion, usable in other currencies. According to the Wall Street Journal, which referred to the program as "Special Dollars for Dictators", Iran's leadership will most likely use these newfound billions to strengthen domestic repression, to intensify regional adventurism -- Iran's proxy Houthi rebels in Yemen have already targeted a "large Saudi oil field" -- and to escalate their nuclear programme still further.
Fresh evidence is emerging that Iran's regime is up to its old tricks by attempting to conceal key elements of the programme from UN inspectors. Pictured: The Isfahan uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, Iran.
With the Biden administration seemingly keen to recommence negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, fresh evidence is emerging that Iran's regime is up to its old tricks by attempting to conceal key elements of the programme from UN inspectors.
Iran has a long and undistinguished history of seeking to conceal the existence of key elements of its nuclear programme dating back to 2002, when a group of Iranian dissidents first revealed the existence of the Natanz nuclear enrichment site.
Enrichment is a crucial process in producing weapons-grade nuclear material, and the fact that Iran managed to build the massive underground facility about 100 miles to the south of Tehran in secret was the first major evidence that the regime was developing nuclear weapons.
Since then there have been many similar instances of Iran seeking to conceal the existence of key facilities from the outside world, such as the Fordow facility which was constructed during the late 2000s under a mountain to protect it from attack.
Now evidence has emerged that, with the Biden administration indicating that it wants to resume negotiations with Tehran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal negotiated by former US President Barack Obama, Iran has resumed its attempts to conceal vital components from UN inspection teams.
According to recent Western intelligence reports, the equipment Iran is trying to conceal includes machinery, pumps and spare parts for centrifuges, the sophisticated machines used for enriching uranium to weapons grade.
In addition, materials such as carbon fibre, which can be used in the production of advanced centrifuges, are also being stored at secret sites in Iran administered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has overall responsibility for Iran's nuclear programme.
Intelligence officials believe the material, which is supposed to be declared to UN inspectors under the terms of JCPOA, is being stored in 75 shipping containers, which are regularly transported around the country to sites administered by the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI). Satellite intelligence images show that at least some of the containers have been stored at the AEOI's uranium conversion facility at Isfahan.
The latest evidence that Iran is continuing to conceal vital elements of its nuclear programme from the outside world suggest that, even if there is a resumption of negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme, the regime has little genuine interest in complying with the terms of any future deal.
It also lends weight to concerns that Iran has already resumed work on its nuclear weapons programme, which US intelligence officials say was in existence until at least 2003, and that the regime has continued to retain key elements of the programme in storage despite signing the JCPOA in 2015.
In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the UN General Assembly, accused Iran of storing key elements of its nuclear programme at secret locations in Tehran.
One of the biggest criticisms of the 2015 deal is that it did not require Iran to provide an explanation for traces of weapons grade uranium that were discovered at numerous sites during routine inspections by UN officials, as well as providing details of other aspects of the nuclear weapons programme, such as the development of ballistic missiles and detonators for nuclear warheads.
These were some of the reasons that prompted the Trump administration to withdraw from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimpose punitive sanctions against Tehran.
Iran has responded by intensifying its non-compliance with the JCPOA, to the extent that the ayatollahs recently announced that they were increasing their uranium stockpiles while increasing the enrichment process to 20 percent, which far exceeds the 3.67 percent limit stipulated by the accord, and is a small technical step away from producing weapons-grade material.
In another provocative move, Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has ordered the government to start limiting some inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN-sponsored body responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear activities.
The move by the Iranian parliament comes after the IAEA published a report revealing that last summer, inspectors found uranium particles at two Iranian nuclear sites that Iran tried to block access to.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said it will return to the nuclear deal if Iran first returns to compliance with the JCPOA. Iran demands the US lift sanctions first, putting the two sides at a stalemate.
The stand-off between Washington and Tehran is likely to continue for as long as Iran demonstrates that it has no genuine interest in ending its quest for nuclear weapons.
The Biden Administration nevertheless looks about to try the bribery route yet again -- presumably with the same result as before. Recently, South Korea agreed to release $7 billion in "frozen assets" to Iran "following consultations with the United States."
The Biden Administration has also apparently been trying to sidestep legally-required congressional approval to funnel more money to Iran and other dictatorships through a new International Monetary Fund programme, "special drawing rights" (SDRs). Through them, Iran would receive an additional $4.5 billion, usable in other currencies. According to the Wall Street Journal, which referred to the program as "Special Dollars for Dictators", Iran's leadership will most likely use these newfound billions to strengthen domestic repression, to intensify regional adventurism -- Iran's proxy Houthi rebels in Yemen have already targeted a "large Saudi oil field" -- and to escalate their nuclear programme still further.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Saudi Journalist: Arabs And Jews Should Stop Fighting, Start Cooperating
MEMRI/April 01/2021
Against the backdrop of the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, Prof. Safouq Al-Shammari, a Saudi physician, researcher and journalist, published a two-part article in the government daily Al-Watan, in which he called to stop the wars between the Arabs and Jews, strengthen the ties between them and cooperate with them in improving the state of the Middle East. Al-Shammari noted that, despite being a small minority in the world, the Jews have made great scientific achievements and significant contributions to mankind, including to the Arab world. Stressing that, throughout history, there was friendship between Arabs and Jews, and that today the conflict between them is confined to the issue of Palestine, he called to distinguish between Zionism and the state of Israel on the one hand and the Jewish people on the other, and to renew the historic ties between the Arabs and their Jewish cousins - in particular the Jews of the U.S. and Europe. This is especially crucial today, he said, in light of Iran's threat to perpetrate a second holocaust against both the Arabs and the Jews. Al-Shammari added that economic cooperation between the Gulf and the Jews of America - who include many of the world's largest tycoons - could boost the economic revolution that is already taking place in the Gulf, and this, in turn, could benefit the region at large and accelerate the resolution of the Palestinian problem.
It should be noted that Al-Shammari's first article sparked angry reactions from Arabs on social media who spoke against the Jews and urged him to support the Arabs rather than the Jews.
Safouq Al-Shammari (Source: Sabq.org)
The following are excerpts from Al-Shammari's two articles.
Inventions Of Jewish Scientists Have Saved Billions Of Lives
In the first part of his article, Al-Shammari wrote: "Jews constitute 0.2% of the world's population, but 20% of the Nobel Prize winners, [that is,] 100 times their proportion in the population. Some 40% of the Nobel winners in economics are Jews, and 26% of the Nobel winners in physics and medicine. [Many people] are perhaps unaware that [the Jewish] Ernst Chain was a partner of [Alexander] Flemming in discovering the antibiotic properties of penicillin and thereby saving the lives of millions, or that the discoverer of the hepatitis C virus was a Jew. [They may also be unaware] that many inventors of vaccines were Jews, as was the discoverer of blood types, and the list goes on and on. Some assess that Jewish medical scientists saved the lives of 2.8 billion people with their discoveries and inventions. In the field of physics, the [world's] greatest physicist was Albert Einstein. And lest you think that [this list merely proves that] the West panders to the Jews, [let me add that] a quarter of the winners of the Japanese Kyoto Prize - one of the most prestigious prizes in science and literature - have [also] been Jews.
"The conflict between the two cousin peoples, the Jews and the Arabs, is relatively new… The resentment built up over decades of wars between the Arabs and Israel forms a kind of barrier… [but] we must distinguish between the Jews and Israel, and between the Jewish people, who are [our] cousins, and the Zionist political movement. There is a difference between people and political [movements]. There are [surely] Arab political movements that [you, the reader,] disagree with, but this does not mean that [you] disagree with all Arabs. This is also true with regard to the Jews.
"Sadly, this resentment, and the confusion between Jews and Zionists, caused the Jews to emigrate from the Arab countries after [living there] for centuries…and we [thus] lost an important component [of our societies]. Iraq lost its Jews, including the first finance minister of modern Iraq, Sassoon Eskell… who served five terms in this capacity, and is known, among other things, for refusing to grant the Iraqi king 20 dinars for building a fancy residence on the grounds that the parliament had not approved this. Some Arab countries have Jewish ministers and officials even today, such as Serge Berdugo, [a former Moroccan minister of tourism and a leader of the Jewish community there], and André Azoulay, [a royal advisor] in Morocco.
"Know that Arabs and Muslims respected their Jewish cousins throughout history. Abdelkader Ben Ghabrit, founder of the Muslim Institute of the Paris Mosque, saved hundreds of Jews from the Nazis by providing them with [forged] papers certifying them as Muslims. Hundreds of thousands of Jews lived for centuries in the Arab countries [and were treated well there], in contrast to the humiliation they suffered in the Western ghettos in those days…
"Everyone should know that the Jews have a special status [with the Muslims] not just as [fellow] members of the Semitic race, but also due to their religion, for it is known that Muslims eat the kosher food of the Jews, especially in the West. Furthermore, Islam permitted [Muslim men] to wed Jewish women, and marriage is a holy union based on love and respect. For it is inconceivable that [a Muslim] should marry a Jewish woman and hate her or her family…
"It is possible that the Jews became accustomed to facing racism, hostility and discrimination in Europe for centuries… [and] this inhuman treatment caused them to develop many personal talents, so as to survive in these societies that treated them so cruelly. As a result they developed many skills in the spheres of business, goldsmithing and [other] crafts. Their suffering came to a head with the advent of the Nazis, and with the massacres and the Holocaust, in which millions of innocent Jews were killed while the Europeans did nothing… [After the war] the Europeans decided to get rid of them… by sending them to Palestine, although reason and justice dictated that they be compensated and given [a state] in Europe or in part of Germany… The Jews are generally good at making deals, but in this case, I believe that they received too little. One may argue that the Jews strove to come to Palestine already in the Ottoman period… [but] the ones who planted this idea [in their minds] were the Europeans, especially the cunning British… who also planted the Indians in South Africa…
"The Jews suffered abuse, injustice and massacres, [which resulted in] severe emotional crises, and nobody should deny this. Many Jews tried to heal their spirits and excel in their fields, which led to the emergence of the Jewish elite in the U.S. However, some Zionists perpetrated clod-blooded massacres against the Palestinians, such as the Deir Yassin massacre and others. We would like to see the Jewish American model replicated in Israel, but sadly, [the Israeli Jews] were cruel even to their Arab cousins…
"Perhaps it is time to restore the historic ties between the Arabs and their Jewish cousins, especially in the U.S. and Europe…"[1]
It Is Time To Stop The Wars And Improve The Wellbeing Of The Peoples; American Jews Can Be A Bridge Between The Gulf Arabs And World Jewry
In the second part of his article, Al-Shammari wrote: "When I wrote the first part of this article, I expected to get reactions from readers, but I did not anticipate getting so many of them. It is good to debate and exchange opinions, even if there is controversy. Some claimed that I was riding the current wave of normalization with Israel, but that is untrue for several reasons, primarily because I was speaking about the Jews, not about Israel or the Zionists. The big difference between them is that Israel does not represent all the world's Jews. Moreover, let me remind all those who made this claim that, since 2011, I have been writing about prominent Americans and mentioning that some of them happen to be Jews. What I write is my own opinion and nobody is obligated [to agree with me]…
"In my opinion, the Western Jews, and especially the American ones, are a bridge between the Gulf and the rest of the world's Jews, in Israel and outside it. The American Jews can play a decisive and beneficial role in affecting a rapprochement between the two Semitic cousin peoples, namely the Arabs and the Jews. They are also very different [from the Israeli Jews] in their openness and wide horizons, and we can maintain ties with them freely. Many of them belong to the American social elite. For example, even though Jews comprise only some 2% of Americans, there are 30 of them on the list of America's 100 billionaires… Jews also constitute 16% of those accepted to the prestigious Yale University and 10% of those accepted to Harvard! Many of the most famous attorneys, doctors and bankers are Jews, and about a third of the American Nobel Prize winners are Jewish as well…
"The American Jews are not fanatic partisan [Jews]. For example, [although] no American president helped Israel more than Trump has, 60% of American Jews voted for Biden! The Jews of America espouse many different views, running the gamut from left-wing to right-wing… so it would be a mistake to regard them as a monolithic bloc… In general, they can be described as an example of success and as a rational and realistic group of people.
"Israel… managed to derive some benefit from the diversity of minds and cultures [among its citizens] and to combine the skills of the Jews who came there from all over the world. With the benefit of Western assistance, it managed to establish a relatively modern state which, at the same time, was cruel towards the Palestinians, and justified its cruelty by alluding to the injustice of being in the midst of a [hostile] Arab environment.
"No cause is more just than the Palestinian cause, but sadly, it has been led by bad leaders who exploited it in a despicable manner and milked it dry. I believe Israel had an important role in promoting such Palestinian leaders.
"If Israel wants to coexist normally with the Arabs, it must treat them rationally: stop being greedy, put aside cunning and political games in holding negotiations, and give the Palestinian people their reasonable rights. Israel has made many agreements with Arab countries, but the barrier between it and the Arab peoples is still high. If it wants the Israelis and Arabs to live together normally, it must grant the Palestinian people their rights, regardless of their bad leadership. Then the Israelis will become an influential element throughout the region. [Israel] must also understand that integrating in the Arab environment will bring it much greater benefit than stealing [a few more] kilometers of Palestinian land. It must restrain its extremists and recognize the Arabs as [fellow] Semites… If it wants to be seen as part of the region, it must treat the Arabs as cousins… on both the Semitic and the Abrahamic[2] levels, and in both practical and legal terms. This is especially critical today, when there are important issues at hand and a vital need to protect the two branches of the Semitic [race] against the attempts of the deranged Iranian mullahs to perpetrate a new Holocaust [against them] with the help of some Aryan extremists in the West. This is a vital interest of both sides!
"The Arabs must be realistic. For decades, they tried to solve the [Palestinian] issue in ways that bore no fruit. Perhaps it is time to try a new way, as long as the aim is to restore the Palestinian rights. The Jews lived with the Arabs for centuries in a manner that suited both sides, before the wars [between them] began. Our region has many resources and many excellent minds. It's time to focus on the welfare and progress of all the peoples and forget the wars and the problems. Both sides have much to contribute, but [first] we must do justice [with the Palestinians].
"Perhaps it is time [to promote] Arab rapprochement with the Jews, especially with the Jews of the U.S., by establishing joint associations or councils of Gulf [Arabs] and American Jews. They can play a role in advancing the region and restarting the peace process, given that the American Jews have influence in Israel as well, and some of them have double citizenship… The Gulf is currently seeing an industrial, economic and financial revolution, and it is bound to become a global hub, or the new Europe. Imagine the state of the world and the wellbeing and progress [we will experience] when the Gulf - the region with the world's largest sovereign investment funds and with the greatest economic and natural resources - cooperates with the American Jews, who constitute a large portion of America's tycoons, businessmen, bankers and industrialists. Vast, [almost] unimaginable, opportunities will be created, which will have an impact on the region as a whole. Resolving the Palestinian issue will then become much easier, thanks to the influence of both sides [the Gulf and the American Jews] on the Israelis and the Palestinians."[3]
[1] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), November 15, 2020.
[2] A reference to the fact that Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all "Abrahamic" faiths, i.e., monotheistic religions associated with Abraham. It may also be an allusion the peace agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, called the Abraham Accords.
[3] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), November 25, 2020.

What is behind Iran’s foreign policy stalemate?
Dr.Majid Rafizadeh/Jerusalem Post/April/2021
د. مجيد رافيزادا/جيروزاليم بوست: ما هو سبب جمود السياسة الخارجية الإيرانية؟
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/97514/three-english-editorials-shedding-light-on-irans-nuclear-planes-foreign-policy-threats-terrorism-what-is-behind-irans-foreign-policy-stalemate-what-is-behind-irans-foreign-pol/

Iran considers its regional influence as its winning card. Weakening Iran’s influence in the region’s countries will directly impact the outcome of the JCPOA negotiations.
New forms of geopolitics are taking shape in the Middle East, starring Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the Persian Gulf sent similar messages to Iran. Russian officials have indicated they are looking for new partners in the region, as evidenced by developments in Syria. These events will put more pressure on Iran and block more international political avenues for the regime.
Iran is losing some areas that previously provided security or political influence and advantage. The Syrian conference held with Turkey, Qatar and Russia in Iran’s absence demonstrates the regime is probably no longer an active recruiter in this field.
In Syria, where Iran has invested heavily financially and humanly, the result appears to be almost nil. The same scenario is happening in Iraq. Iraq is increasing its political distance from Iran and gravitating closer to the West. The pope’s visit to this country was another clear message in this regard. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi could not be considered a faithful ally of Iran. Iran’s investment in Iraq has reached a record low. The whole relationship is entirely different from six years ago.
Iran is banking on the return of the 2016 nuclear deal to continue to benefit from it. This belief is a hoax though. Every international agreement is the result of the balance of power at that time. The balance of power says March 2021 is not a continuation of February and January 2015. It is more apparent US President Joe Biden’s administration does not support the old JCPOA, acknowledging the changing international and regional situation for both Iran and the US. Even those who negotiated and defended the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action recognize the agreement needs to change, reflecting the new regional and international standings. Wendy Sherman, America’s chief negotiator for the deal, did not defend it at a recent Senate approval meeting.
Changing conditions in Iran
Iran has gone through two uprisings since the JCPOA. President Hassan Rouhani said it was after the 2017 uprising that president Donald Trump dared to abandon the deal. With the recent Balochistan uprising on the border area with Pakistan, the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected non-aligned talks with the United States because it was not a good opportunity. For this reason, the role of Iran in this new balance of power is so minimal that the Iranian regime is currently attacking American bases in Iraq or Afghanistan in an attempt to force the US to negotiate on their terms.
Geopolitical changes in the region
At the regional level, both Israel and the Arab states have become closer. In response to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez, Sherman referred to the Abraham Accords, which has altered relationships and power within the region. This new partnership makes it harder to deal with Iran, as the regime feels backed into a corner. After all, we face a new wave in Congress, which only compounds Iran’s challenges to achieve its version of successful negotiations.
So far in Biden’s tenure, Republican lawmakers in Congress have put forward eight plans to prevent the US government from returning to the JCPOA. The plans are to tighten sanctions against Iran, declare non-support for the deal, and oppose the easing of sanctions; all to try to prevent the US from rejoining the agreement. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty has introduced a bill that oversees any government action to lift sanctions, which garnered the support of 27 other senators.
Another plan is a resolution introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton. The plan opposes any form of easing of sanctions unless all disputes with Iran, including its nuclear, missile and regional programs, are addressed. Thirty-one senators also supported the bill. Two parallel schemes have also been introduced in the House of Representatives, with the Hagerty parallel schemes having 24 supporters and schemes similar to Cotton having 30 supporters.
JCPOA did not achieve its goals
The main criticism of conservative US Republicans and prominent Democrats in Congress in 2015 was that the JCPOA temporarily blocked Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons and that a series of deadlines were coming. These deadlines would lift all restrictions imposed on Iran’s nuclear and missile program within the agreement’s framework.
In 2030, Iran can enrich indefinitely and increase its centrifuges’ number and quality indefinitely, as it is already enriching. This level of capability to enrich uranium will put Europe at risk as well. At the Senate session to approve Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Mitt Romney criticized the JCPOA for temporarily blocking Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but what about in the long run? Sherman was expected to oppose this notion and understanding because she was one of the architects of the JCPOA. This time, she did not respond to Romney and only said, “Yes, the situation has changed.”
The Islamic Republic’s illusory notion
In 2015, it was unclear when Iran would acquire a nuclear weapon over the course of a few months. President Barack Obama was willing for this acquisition to happen. The idea of Obama and secretary of state John Kerry in 2015 was that if they come to terms with Iran, then the regime can be managed, change its foreign policy, and be moderate in the region.
Those beliefs proved to be illusions, and there are no moderates in Iran. Instead, there are executions, arrests and hostages in Iran. There is no moderation in foreign policy. In broad daylight, the regime wanted to blow up an Iranian opposition rally in France in 2018 using its sitting diplomat. That diplomat was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Over the years, Iran has backed down from its involvement in the region, but with the money released, it developed a ballistic missile program and fired a missile with the slogan “Death to Israel” written on it. The US and the world have seen the blood shed by Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East over the past five years.
End of the regime’s strategic capacity
The nuclear deal was the product of the balance of power in 2015. The strategic capacity of the regime has diminished since. A large part of its nuclear facilities has been lost or dismantled. It will not be able to acquire a nuclear weapon any time soon.
Diplomatic imagination
Biden’s administration will give Iran incentives and is interested in diplomacy, but the primary basis of Biden’s work today is coercive diplomacy. The idea that Trump is gone so we can work better with the Americans is a childish perception and a kind of diplomatic imagination.
Biden will not quickly eliminate the levers created by Trump for US foreign policy. Biden indeed announced that he intends to return to the JCPOA, but not the one that Iran negotiated back in 2015. What was Biden’s most important criticism of Trump’s strategy of maximum pressure? We can get tough on Iran through smart diplomacy.
Biden never said Trump was tough. In 2019, Biden outlined his clever ways to crack down on Iran, including pressure plus diplomacy. Trump prepared the ground for pressure. Even now, Biden is increasing the dose of diplomacy. While consulting with his partners, he has never concealed that the JCPOA is the first step. For Biden, the agreement is a facilitator for the disarmament of the Islamic Republic. This aim means a deadlock of the Iranian regime.
Meanwhile, the regime wants to negotiate, but it does not want to abort its missile program and its meddling in the region’s countries. Though the Americans are primarily looking for nuclear consensus, they have repeatedly said they do not want Iran to have a nuclear bomb. Iran has lost its advantage in this area.
However, Iran does not like to link a possible 2021 JCPOA to its ballistic missile program and regional influence. It needs them as bargaining chips, hence its insistence on a return to the 2015 JCPOA. Given the positions that exist on both sides and the positions within Congress, it seems the Iranian regime will find it difficult to push ts agenda.
Sanctions are more than just an economic matter; they are a security issue for Iran’s Islamic Republic. One of the most important goals of Iran’s foreign policy is to try to lift the sanctions. The regime cannot maintain funding for its militias and all its forces inside and outside Iran, thus reducing its regional influence. Any compromise on behalf of the Iranian regime is considered a setback and a sign of giving in.
Iran considers its regional influence as its winning card. Weakening Iran’s influence in the region’s countries will directly impact the outcome of the JCPOA negotiations because the regime has always said that diplomacy without the support of power and bargaining levers is not successful.
If it does not give up regional influence, it must live up to the global consensus against the Islamic Republic and possible UN resolutions against it. The other solution for the regime is to bow to the new 2021 agreement demands. Trying to lift sanctions, keeping a tight grasp on power, and preventing global consequences are pieces of a puzzle the Iranian regime is trying to solve. Is it possible for the regime to get out of these paradoxical situations?
*The writer is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist and president of the International American Council on the Middle East and North Africa.

Is Iran operating terrorist cells across Europe? - opinion
Rachel O'Donoghue/Jerusalem Post/April/2021
راشيل أودونوغ/جيروزاليم بوست: هل تدير إيران خلايا إرهابية في أنحاء أوروبا؟
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/97514/three-english-editorials-shedding-light-on-irans-nuclear-planes-foreign-policy-threats-terrorism-what-is-behind-irans-foreign-policy-stalemate-what-is-behind-irans-foreign-pol/

Just after midday on June 30, 2018, Belgian police surrounded a Mercedes-Benz being driven by a Belgian-Iranian couple through Brussels. The couple had set off on a four-hour journey to Paris that morning and did not know unmarked police vehicles had been tailing them since they left their rented accommodations in Antwerp. When they took a detour through the Belgian capital after hitting traffic on the motorway, police swooped in.
With guns drawn, officers warned Amir Saadouni, 40, and his female accomplice, Nasimeh Naami, 36, to exit the car slowly. Saadouni and Naami were handcuffed and taken into custody. A search of the car uncovered a large suitcase containing a bomb made of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) – an extremely volatile explosive known as the “mother of Satan” because just tiny quantities of it can cause catastrophic damage. In the passenger foot-well was a women’s make-up bag that held a disguised detonator.
According to Belgian prosecutors, Saadouni and Naami had planned to plant the bomb at a political rally in Villepinte, on the outskirts of Paris. The annual event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, had been organized by Iran’s exiled opposition movement, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI). High-profile attendees included Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, ex-speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, as well as dozens of parliamentarians from European Union member states, and five British MPs. The couple evidently hoped to kill hundreds, if not thousands of people, but their primary target was NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi, who delivered the keynote speech that afternoon.
Less than 24 hours after this terrorist attack was foiled, another covert police operation was carried out successfully. This time, it was German police who stopped a car close to the Austrian border and arrested its driver and alleged mastermind of the previous day’s terrorist plot, Vienna-based Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi.
The case of the Iranian bomb-plotters finally drew to a close in February this year when a judge at Antwerp Criminal Court sentenced the trio to prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years on various terrorism charges. A fourth defendant, Mehrdad Arefani, was given a 17-year term after being found guilty of being a co-conspirator. Saadouni, Naami and Arefani were also stripped of their dual Belgian citizenship.
The Iranian bomb plot could be the tip of the iceberg. Iran’s European terrorist network appears to stretch far deeper than an isolated incident. Evidence presented in court indicates Assadi was not simply a rogue agent. Rather, he was operating with the knowledge and authority of his superiors in Tehran. As well as being a third counselor for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, he was also a senior officer within the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He had been, as the French Government contended, instructed by Iranian intelligence to organize at least one terrorist attack in Paris – something Tehran has vehemently denied.
Assadi refused to stand in the dock in court. He claimed he should be immune from such proceedings by virtue of his diplomatic status. However, German police demonstrated his diplomatic immunity did not extend beyond Austria, and they were able to extradite him to Belgium. Evidence presented before the judge shows Assadi did not spend all that much time at his embassy office. Instead, he appears to have been busy travelling across Europe, visiting countries including Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. His visits rarely lasted longer than a day, and neither he nor the Iranian Embassy could produce any documentation that indicated he went to any of these locations in a professional capacity.
ACCORDING TO receipts seized by German police, Assadi used the holiday website booking.com to reserve rooms at budget hotels. Investigators established he had visited 289 locations across 11 European countries. While traveling, he allegedly met scores of unidentified Iranian citizens at busy restaurants, department stores and tourist sites. A notebook found in Assadi’s car when he was arrested shows he logged every one of these meetings and recorded payments to these individuals.
If there was a plausible explanation for his extensive travel, Assadi was not forthcoming with it. What seems more likely is that he had been helping to operate a spy network across Europe – a web of Iranian operatives who could be called upon to launch terrorist attacks against targets on European soil.
In interviews with investigators, Saadouni and Naami admitted they were contacted in 2015 by an Iranian agent calling himself Daniel, who was later revealed to be Assadi. The couple agreed to meet him in Munich in the summer of 2015, and were paid 4,000 euros for expenses. They exchanged a number of emails with Assadi over the next few months before allegedly meeting him again at the MIOS headquarters in Tehran in November 2015.
During that meeting, they are believed to have received instructions to gather information about the headquarters of their eventual target, the NCRI, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Over the course of the next two years, the couple met with Assadi on a number of occasions in various European cities, including Munich, Milan and Vienna. During this time, Assadi also transferred more than 200,000 euros to the duo in numerous smaller transactions.
Belgian, German and Austrian police have not revealed the identity of the individuals Assadi met with as logged in his notebook. The NCRI, which acted as civil plaintiffs in the case, has accused the Iranian MIOS of using operatives, working legally as diplomats in European embassies, to organize a vast network of terrorist sleeper cells across Europe. Assadi was able to use his cover as a diplomat to smuggle the TATP bomb in a diplomatic bag on a commercial flight from Iran to Austria.
Assadi’s conviction – the first of an Iranian official on such charges in Europe since the 1979 Islamic Revolution – raises some serious questions about the EU’s Iran policy. While the Belgian judiciary made it clear in its ruling that the Iranian state was not on trial, it said it accepted Assadi had been operating at the behest of Iran’s intelligence services. For a long time, Iran has been seen as the Middle East’s problem, and its terrorist threat has been confined to that region. The Assadi affair, however, shows the Iranian state may be implicated in the commission of terrorist atrocities in Europe.
The Belgian state security service warned the court the bomb plot was devised by Iranian leadership, and yet the EU has refused to draw Iran into the actions of Assadi and his accomplices. EU spokesman Peter Stano framed the attempted attack as the action of an individual, rather than state-sponsored terrorism. The case shows that the EU needs to be alert to the threat posed by Iran. Its policy of appeasement is simply not working and the bloc now needs to take a robust stance on Iran. The NCRI has suggested downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and reviewing the status of its embassies. Without swift action, Iran will only be emboldened.
**The writer is a freelance journalist who splits her time between London and Tel Aviv. She has contributed to newspapers and media organizations including the BBC, Daily Mail, Daily Star and Daily Mirror.

China Challenges the US on Iran
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/April 01/2021
جوديث بيرجمان/معهد جيتستون: الصين تتحدى الولايات المتحدة بشأن إيران
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According to a leaked draft of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, circulated last year, Iran will receive $400 billion dollars in Chinese investments over the next 25 years in key Iranian economic sectors, including energy, telecommunications, defense, infrastructure, banking, petrochemicals, railways and ports. According to the leaked draft, there will be also an expansion of military assistance, training and intelligence-sharing. Nearly 100 projects are cited in the draft. In return, Iran will commit to providing regular and heavily discounted oil, gas and possibly other natural resources to China.
"Strategically, the BRI is how China is seeking to collapse Western-American dominance in the region peacefully... the BRI is a sophisticated Chinese plan to transfer hegemony from the West and the U.S. to China without war or conflict". — Dr. Mordechai Chaziz, author of China's Middle East Diplomacy: The Belt and Road Strategic Partnership, thediplomat.com, March 10, 2021.
The timing seems hardly a coincidence, but rather an outcome of the Biden administration's appeasing overtures to Iran with its formal offer of restarting nuclear talks. The signing of the agreement itself can be seen as a Chinese-Iranian act of defiance against the US, undercutting sanctions against Iran by supplying the regime with an economic lifeline, while showing China off as an active global power that is able and willing to stand up to the US.
For China, Iran is a welcome counterbalance to US influence in the region, as the only large regional power that is not aligned with the US, in addition to having enormous oil and natural gas resources and providing a large market of more than 80 million citizens for Chinese goods.
"China is pivoting towards more autocratic regimes that represent greater stability for its supply lines than democracies that are, or may become, hostile to Beijing." — Verisk Maplecroft risk consultancy firm, March 17, 2021.
Pictured: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (right) and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the signing of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic 25-year partnership agreement on economic and security cooperation, in Tehran, Iran on March 27, 2021.
On March 27, China and Iran signed a comprehensive strategic 25-year partnership agreement on economic and security cooperation. The agreement was signed in Tehran, where China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi was visiting as part of his tour of the Middle East.
Details of the agreement were not immediately published. The Iranian Foreign Ministry communicated that it was a "roadmap for cooperation" and that no "contracts" were included in it. "Prospects for cooperation, whether economic, political, cultural or strategic, have not been quantified, therefore it does not include numbers on investment or financial and monetary resources," a statement of the Iranian Foreign Ministry reported.
The agreement has been underway for five years, ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Iran in January 2016, when establishing a "comprehensive strategic partnership" was agreed. At that meeting, according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Xi Jinping stressed that China will enhance all-round practical cooperation with Iran within the 'Belt and Road' framework". At the time, the two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding "on jointly advancing construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road" as well as "multiple bilateral cooperation documents covering energy, production capacity, finance, investment, communications, culture, justice, science, technology, news, customs, climate change and human resources". China and Iran also agreed then to "strengthen exchanges between think-tanks, colleges and universities and youths, [and] jointly ensure the successful operation of the Confucius Institutes" to "tell China's story well" and shape the narrative about China in Iran.
According to a leaked draft of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, circulated last year, Iran will receive $400 billion dollars in Chinese investments over the next 25 years in key Iranian economic sectors, including energy, telecommunications, defense, infrastructure, banking, petrochemicals, railways and ports. According to the leaked draft, there will be also an expansion of military assistance, training and intelligence-sharing. Nearly 100 projects are cited in the draft. In return, Iran will commit to providing regular and heavily discounted oil, gas and possibly other natural resources to China. China, as the world's top importer of both oil and gas, is obsessive about energy security for its growing economy.
The agreement reportedly also formalizes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Iran. Iran participates in China's so-called Digital Silk Road, the Silk Road of Innovation and the "Green" Silk Road. The Digital Silk Road represents the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) ambition, among other things, to shape the course of 5G technology in the world, whereas the Silk Road of Innovation is about technology transfers. The "Green" Silk Road is about transitioning to renewable energy sources. "China is the largest foreign investor in the... Middle East region", according to Dr. Mordechai Chaziz, author of China's Middle East Diplomacy: The Belt and Road Strategic Partnership.
"Strategically, the BRI is how China is seeking to collapse Western-American dominance in the region peacefully. The connection between the BRI and the strategic partnerships it creates in the region... allows it to gradually take over the region without creating tensions with the U.S. or the West. In other words, the BRI is a sophisticated Chinese plan to transfer hegemony from the West and the U.S. to China without war or conflict".
The question is why, after five years, the two countries decided to sign the agreement now. Last year, Iran rejected media reports that talks about the recently signed comprehensive agreement were suspended until the outcome of the US presidential election. However, the timing seems hardly a coincidence, but rather an outcome of the Biden administration's appeasing overtures to Iran with its formal offer of restarting nuclear talks. The signing of the agreement itself can be seen as a Chinese-Iranian act of defiance against the US, undercutting sanctions against Iran by supplying the regime with an economic lifeline, while showing China off as an active global power that is able and willing to stand up to the US. The more so, as the signing came just one week after the Chinese foreign minister's unprecedented lecturing of his US counterpart at their March 19 meeting in Alaska.
The signing of the agreement comes at a time when China is already defying US sanctions on Iran in other ways -- such as by reportedly importing record volumes of crude oil. "Iran moved about 17.8 million tonnes (306,000 barrels per day) of crude into China during the past 14 months, with volumes reaching record levels in January and February" Reuters reported. In March, according to some estimates, China has been taking in some 856,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude oil, a 129% surge compared to February.
"If it sells 1 million barrels a day at current prices, Iran has no incentive to negotiate," said Sara Vakhshouri, an expert on Iran's oil industry. "The informal Chinese purchases" one U.S. official said, "have reduced the need [for Tehran] to negotiate on oil sanctions", the Wall Street Journal noted.
As China is Iran's largest trading partner, the agreement, in addition to providing Iran with modern technology, would help its economy to grow. China, among other countries, helped Iran with its nuclear development several decades ago and has been regularly championing a return to the Iran nuclear deal or the JCPOA. For China, Iran is a welcome counterbalance to US influence in the region, as the only large regional power that is not aligned with the US, in addition to having enormous oil and natural gas resources and providing a large market of more than 80 million citizens for Chinese goods. The two countries, despite their marked ideological differences, share an authoritarian, anti-Western outlook, making each attractive to the other. According to a recent report by risk consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft:
"China is pivoting towards more autocratic regimes that represent greater stability for its supply lines than democracies that are, or may become, hostile to Beijing".
China has even helped Iran crack down on dissidents by exporting its digital authoritarianism in the form of surveillance equipment.
How much of a lifeline the Chinese will ultimately be able to give the Iranians -- and the extent to which they will be able to chip away at US leverage over Iran in the process -- now depends on how the US responds to the comprehensive agreement. The Biden administration still seems intent on pursuing a strategy of accommodating Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, "A senior Biden administration official said the U.S. is open to taking a step that would relax sanctions even before meeting Iranian officials".
"We've made clear that withdrawing from the JCPOA was a mistake, that maximum pressure was a failure," the official said. "But this needs to be part of a process in which Iran also takes steps to reverse its nuclear decisions."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Tunisia’s lack of reforms disappoints international creditors
Francis Ghiles/The Arab Weekly/April 01/2021
The economic and financial indicators have been flashing red for so long for those who are at the helm of Tunisia’s government in the Kasbah, the old district in the Tunis Medina where the prime minister’s offices are located. The beautiful 16th century royal palace from where Premier Hichem Mechichi carries out his daunting task offers an ironic reminder of the state of affairs in the North African country these days; an attractive setting but a relatively ineffective and disappointing management of the country’s acute economic crisis.
The prime minister and his aides might not be paying much attention but successive International Monetary Fund adjustment programmes since 2011 have disappointed the country’s leading international economic partners in Washington, Brussels and Paris. Western diplomats who work in Tunis know they cannot hold Tunisian governments to their word. The “balance sheet of successive IMF programmes is disappointing overall” concluded a confidential report on Tunisia for the French Ministry of Finance last summer.
“Disappointing” means, in plain English, that they have failed. “A group of families (which the report estimates at 14) maintain a rentier system which operates through regulation that restricts competition.”
The OECD points to an endless list of “licenses and authorisations” required to invest, obtain bank credits… and “heavy bureaucratic rules.” The decree 218-417 was published three years ago and, with 221 pages, is the longest legal text in the history of the country. Its aim, which has totally and utterly failed, was to improve the business environment. It lists 243 such licenses and authorisations but only six of these have been cancelled within two years of its publication.
“Bureaucratic control, and the power of the civil service to grant licenses, authorisations, credits or a customs’ s waiver constitute as many impediments to the emergence of new actors and new investments” notes the report.
As the World Bank review “Privilege-Resistant Policies in the Middle East and North Africa” noted in 2018, such barriers “privilege a few (often unproductive) incumbents who enjoy a competition edge because of their connections or ability to influence policy-making and delivery.” Capture, collusion, exclusion, discretionary treatment and non-competition in the market place take place in the process of policy formation which is, on the face of it paradoxical, if one considers that 92% of net job creation between 1996 and 2010 was in firms less than five years old and with fewer than five employees. In other words, state capture robs younger entrepreneurs who are the future of the country of opportunities. This explains why skilled young Tunisians are exiting the country in growing numbers.
The public sector has turned into a vampire sucking out the very life of the Tunisian economy. The very nature of the state created by Habib Bourguiba after independence in 1956 needs to be re-examined. It was and remains highly centralised and weighs heavily on all economic activity. The result, as Tunisian economist Hachemi Alaya pointed out in 2016, “is that the strategy of every social group is to make sure they penetrate, influence and, if they can, take the state prisoner.”
The French report concludes that parliament (ARP) has become “the convergence point of all clientelist networks”. It goes on to say that the countrys’ main trade union (UGTT) “has positioned itself as an opposition (force) and does not hesitate to oppose the IMF openly.” The weight of UGTT is proportionate to the numbers of Tunisians who are on the state payroll – 677,000 civil servants and 350,000 employed by state companies most of which are in the red, if not like Tunis Air, bankrupt in all but name. The deal announced, March 31, by the government and the UGTT is a step in the right direction. But the devil is in the detail, as they say.
This deep crisis of the Tunisian state explains why more than two thirds of those between 15 and 24 are unemployed, the increasing importance of the informal economy, where any number of shady deals takes place and which pays no taxes. This assessment of the country is shared by president Kais Saied and the European Union.The French report concludes that “the challenges related to the democratic transition have always won over financial considerations stricto sensu”. In a very unstable region, the priority of international aid donors has been to “consolidate” the democratic transition despite the fact that every attempt to reform the economic system since 2011 has failed.
”Moral hazard has thus become a key issue.” The unstinting support of those countries and institutions which have been lending to Tunisia has thus created a non-virtuous cycle which is undermining rather that giving support to democratic transition.
The new constitution which was adopted in 2014 is a hybrid legal text which, because it does not define clearly the respective powers of parliament, the president of the government and the head of state, has resulted in institutional paralysis.
Acting as according to his vision of himself as the guarantor of institutional legality Kais Saied publicly denounces but does nothing to overcome the institutional impasse which has paralysed the government reshuffle for months. The situation is made worse by the absence of a constitutional court. The selection of the 12 judges who are to sit on the court’s bench has been blocked since 2015 by the legislative branch’s stalling tactics, and in practical terms by Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, which has now suddenly moved to expedite the selection of the court’s judges amid accusations that it needs the court to threaten the president with impeachement.
Saied may lack political experience but his popularity is intact a year and a half after his election by three quarters of those who cast a ballot, notably young Tunisians even if the latter do not all share his conservative social views. Is he preparing the ground for a dissolution of the national assembly? Will he call a referendum to discuss a new constitution? Nobody is certain. Rachid Ghannoushi, the parliamentary speaker and leader of Ennahda easily inserted his party, after 2011, into the web of dubious practices which pass for politics in Tunis. Since the so-called revolution, Ennahda’s voter support has atrophied in every election since 2011 as a result of the calamitous role it played in government, in collaboration with small and essentially inept parties .
“So-called ” because a revolution requires a political project and a well-thought strategy. The protests of 2010-11 demanded more social justice, less corruption from the ruling family and more consideration for the poorer regions which send three-quarters of their phosphates, oil gas, water, durum wheat and internal migrants to the coast and capital in return for a standard of living which is one third of the richer regions. The second largest party in the assembly is Qalb Tunes whose leader, a media baron, Nabil Karoui is in prison on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering. The parliament resembles a noisy souk (market) awash with money rather than ideas and policies which might address the country’s real economic problems. Fish rots from the head downwards goes the old Arab proverb. How right it is.
The president likes to quote the second caliph of Islam, Umar Ibn al-Khattab, also called al-Faruq (he who distinguishes evil from good) who in his lifetime became a paragon of virtue in Sunni tradition. Sticking to an unyielding moral position which insists the Augean stables must be cleaned cannot, of itself, solve the economic and social crisis which confronts Tunisia. But in the absence of any real executive powers and considering what Kais Daly, a respected former head of the state phosphate company, calls the “magical economic thinking” on the part of political leaders, there is little more that Kais Saied can do.
As the guarantor of the security of Tunisia’s borders, the president knows he can count on good cooperation with Algerian security on Tunisia’s western boarder and of that on the USA on the border with Libya. The Tunisian army has had close ties with its US counterpart since independence. Many of its senior officers have been trained in the US which has helped Tunisia modernise its counter-terrorism capacity. Those guarantees can only be put to good use if the political parties are built around coherent ideologies and class or economic interests. They will carry no credibility so long as their internal functioning and financing remain opaque. This truth is valid for all political parties but even more so to those which, like Ennahda and Qalb Tunes, belong to the majority in the parliament and back the government which rules the country.

Iran-China deal a blow for Tehran regime
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 01/2021
The Iranian authorities and the country’s state-owned newspapers have attempted to portray the deal that was signed with China last week as a victory for Tehran.
The 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement was extremely controversial in Iran when it was first proposed. But, once Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei signaled his approval of the deal, President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Javad Zarif went ahead and sealed it.
There are several reasons why Iran made such a deal with China. First of all, the Iranian regime is attempting to undermine US national security interests in the Middle East, pressure Washington into pursuing appeasement policies with Tehran, and push it into rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal. China is also more than happy to counter US influence in the region. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a meeting with regards to Iran-China bilateral cooperation: “China has always attached great importance to this issue and has tried to make this issue a priority in its relations with Iran, despite some issues … China has always opposed the US extravagance and unilateral sanctions and has shown its opposition in the international arena.”
Secondly, the Iranian regime is trying to show to its base and its rivals that it has a powerful ally in China, which is the second-largest economy in the world, and that Tehran is not, and never will be, isolated in the region. It feels this is necessary because the US pressure on Iran, as well as the recently formed alliances in the Middle East to confront the regime, have alarmed Tehran. Defense Minister Amir Hatami last month warned of the rising opposition to Iran in the region. He said: “Regional developments like the change of the Iraqi government, the ‘assassination’ of Qassem Soleimani (the Quds Force commander) and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons project), as well as recent protests in Lebanon and Iraq, and recent incidents in Syria, are taking place to overcome Iran.”
Third, the theocratic establishment is in a very difficult situation financially. The regime was hoping that, when Joe Biden became US president, he would immediately lift the pressure against Tehran, reverse the previous administration’s policy, rejoin the nuclear deal, and lift all sanctions against Iran.
Iran will become dependent on China as a result of this agreement, as it grants Beijing significant rights over the nation’s resources.
The regime is desperate for cash in order to sustain its power and network of militia groups in the region. Tehran’s oil exports have shrunk from nearly 2.5 million barrels per day in April 2018, with a low of 100,000 at one point. Iran is facing one of the worst budget deficits in its four-decade history of being in power, as it is thought to be overspending by about $200 million per week. This deficit will increase inflation and further devalue the currency.
The decrease in Iran’s revenues directly impacts the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliates, the Office of the Supreme Leader, and the regime’s associates, who control considerable parts of the economy and financial systems. Iran’s currency, the rial, has also plunged in value, making it one of the least-valued national currencies in the world and pushing the Iranian authorities to agree to remove four zeros from it. Iran’s newspapers have been warning of potential economic collapse. The state-run Mardom Salari daily last year wrote: “We have an extremely failed and fallen economy. The main reason is the currency shock and the plundering of the economy by semi-private companies and banks. Sanctions have become an excuse for some people to plunder the country. We suffer from both foreign and domestic sanctions and those who profit from this situation.”
Nevertheless, it is important to point out that, not only will the deal with China not save Iran, but it is also a blow to the regime. Iran, which prides itself on its independence from world powers, will become dependent on China as a result of this agreement, as it grants Beijing significant rights over the nation’s resources. Even the Fars News Agency was alarmed, reportedly writing: “Countries must be far-sighted so that, in the future, these agreements do not lead to Iran’s dependence on China because, according to the predictions, this country is moving toward the world power with great speed. The influence of such a country is not allowed in an Islamic country.”
In a nutshell, Iran’s deal with China will not save the regime economically or politically. Instead, it is a blow to Tehran as it will make the country dependent on Beijing.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. He serves on the boards of the Harvard International Review, the Harvard International Relations Council and the US-Middle East Chamber for Commerce and Business. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh