English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 22/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10/38-42/:”Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-22/2021
Health Ministry: 1,386 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
“I will continue to work and will not abandon my duties & responsibilities,” pledges Aoun, says government will be formed in cooperation with the PM-designate
Diab: 8,000 LBP price of fuel, one month's salary in two installments for public sector employees, 24,000 LBP transportation allowance
"Messages have arrived, and they are clear," tweets Jumblatt
UNICEF: Lebanon in danger of losing critical access to water
3 radio stations and TV channel suspend broadcasting amid Lebanon fuel crisis/Najia Houssari/Arab News/August 21/2021
Millions of Lebanese face water shortages as crisis deepens
Lebanon to raise fuel prices in bid to ease crippling shortages
Russia Says Syria Downed 22 Israeli Missiles Fired from Lebanon Airspace
'Hell on Earth': Lebanon Unlivable as Crisis Deepens
ISG Stresses 'Utmost Urgency' for Forming New Govt. in Lebanon
Lebanon at risk of sanctions; war between Iran and Israel feared/George Eid CM Correspondent/Cyprus Mail/August 21/2021
Nasrallah gloats over US defeat while turning Lebanon into Afghanistan/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 21/2021
Angels in hell/Ronnie Chatah/Now Lebanon/August 21/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/2021
Three members of pro-Iran group killed by Daesh in Iraq
Taliban Co-Founder in Kabul for Talks on Setting Up Govt.
Desperation Deepens as Afghan Evacuations Falter
Taliban mock Western evacuation efforts as Kabul airport chaos worsens
Afghan refugee flow raises concerns in Arab Gulf countries
Thousands rally in London decrying Taliban takeover
Saied assails Islamists, says undaunted by assassination attempts
ISIS attacks base near Baghdad, three militiamen killed
Morocco looks with ‘optimism’ at future relations with Spain

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-22/2021
Iran Mullahs Closer Than Ever to Obtaining Nuclear Weapons/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./August 21, 2021
America: How can smart people be so dumb?/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/August 21/2021
Kamala Harris travels east in search of a role/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/August 21/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-22/2021
Health Ministry: 1,386 new Corona cases, 4 deaths
NNA/August 21/2021
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Saturday the registration of 1,386 new Coronavirus infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 590,983.
The Ministry’s report added that 4 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

“I will continue to work and will not abandon my duties & responsibilities,” pledges Aoun, says government will be formed in cooperation with the PM-designate
NNA/August 21/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, announced that it was decided to subsidize fuels through bearing part of the cost by the treasury, and to give public sector employees urgent assistance, pending a review of salaries, according to the norms, within a comprehensive recovery plan, stressing that he will continue to work until solutions are reached, and will not be affected by media campaigns. “I will continue to work and will not abandon my duties & responsibilities,” vowed Aoun. As the apparatuses of the state in which decisions are supposed to be taken seem to have been disrupted, the President indicated that he took the initiative to solve pressing crises and urgent problems. He said: “I will be honest with you so that you know that there is an obstruction to every notion, suggestion or initiative, as if what is required is further deterioration of conditions, suffering and torment for the citizens, and their long standing in queues of humiliation." Aoun stressed that "the government will be formed in cooperation with the Prime Minister-designate, provided that it is able to carry out reforms in the first place and gains the confidence of the parliamentary blocs."
The positions of the President of the Republic came in a speech he addressed to the Lebanese this evening through various media outlets, following the meeting he chaired this afternoon at Baabda Palace devoted to tackling the fuel crisis prevailing in the country.

Diab: 8,000 LBP price of fuel, one month's salary in two installments for public sector employees, 24,000 LBP transportation allowance
Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab issued the following statement today: “To remedy the repercussions of the Central Bank’s decision to lift fuel subsidies, which will have very huge effects on people’s lives and add burdens that the Lebanese cannot bear, we have resorted today to a settlement that will relatively ease these burdens.” He added: “The settlement includes the adoption of eight thousand Lebanese pounds for the pricing of fuel, as well as paying for the maintenance of electricity plants and services, with the state bearing the difference in loss in Lebanese pounds. This settlement is temporary, but is necessary before the start of the scholastic year and pending the initiation of the financing card that we are working to implement in early October.”“Simultaneously, we took a decision to pay a month’s salary in two installments to all employees in the public sector, whatever their job positions, in addition to raising the value of the transportation allowance for employees to 24 thousand Lebanese pounds for each working day. We will also be studying the possibility of later including workers in public institutions and municipalities in said salary grant,” Diab continued to explain.“We have agreed that the security forces, through the joint operations room, will be responsible for following-up on the quantities of fuel from the moment they arrive in Lebanon until they are sold to citizens,” he added, hoping that this measure “will prevent storage, monopoly and smuggling, and end the suffering of citizens in obtaining their needs of gasoline, diesel and gas without standing in queues.”

"Messages have arrived, and they are clear," tweets Jumblatt
NNA/August 21/2021
Progressive Socialist Party Chief, MP Walid Jumblatt, tweeted today on the recent developments, saying: "The messages have arrived and they are clear. Egyptian gas via Syria; Iranian oil via sea or through Iran, pardon me, through Syria or Russia, I don't know…But what is the price to be paid? Whatever it is, things require realism, and practicality entails a government that has a minimum level of credibility. The fate of the peoples will be decided by the oil pipelines.”

UNICEF: Lebanon in danger of losing critical access to water
NNA/August 21/2021
NEW YORK, 21 August 2021 - “Unless urgent action is taken, more than four million people across Lebanon – predominantly vulnerable children and families – face the prospect of critical water shortages or being completely cut off from safe water supply in the coming days. “Last month, UNICEF warned that more than 71 per cent of the population of Lebanon could run out of water this summer. Since then, this perilous situation has continued, with critical services including water and sanitation, power networks and healthcare under huge strain. Vital facilities such as hospitals and health centres have been without access to safe water due to electricity shortages, putting lives at risk. “If four million people are forced to resort to unsafe and costly sources of water, public health and hygiene will be compromised, and Lebanon could see an increase in waterborne diseases, in addition to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“UNICEF is calling for the urgent restoration of the power supply - the only solution to keep water services running. “The needs are massive, and the urgent formation of a new government with clear commitments to reform, is critical to tackle the current crisis through determined and systematic action to protect children’s lives and ensure access to water and all basic services. “Our teams in Lebanon are working tirelessly, in incredibly difficult circumstances, to provide life-saving services and continue to support the response to COVID-19 including with vaccine deployment and further expanding of programmes.” ---- [UNICEF New York – Press Release]

3 radio stations and TV channel suspend broadcasting amid Lebanon fuel crisis
Najia Houssari/Arab News/August 21/2021
BEIRUT: Three radio stations and a TV channel in Lebanon have been forced to temporarily suspend broadcasting due to the country’s fuel crisis, with a government minister saying she had requested support for media outlets but to no avail.
Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad said: “Even Radio Liban, which speaks on behalf of the state, stops broadcasting whenever the electricity is cut off from the transmission centers spread across all Lebanese territories, and the government-owned Télé Liban (TL) will gradually stop broadcasting. The TL administration said that broadcast is being suspended between midnight and seven in the morning in order to save on fuel.” She added that she had “sent letters to the minister of energy and the army commander, requesting support for official and private media institutions, but neither responded.” Radio Sawt El-Shaab, which is not affiliated with any political party, announced on Friday evening that it would temporarily suspend its programs due to the fuel crisis and because its guests could not reach its headquarters in Beirut.
Radio Al-Sharq and Future TV, both of which are affiliated with the Future Movement political party, also suspended broadcasting.
Radio Al-Sharq’s director, Kamal Richa, told Arab News: “The radio station, which was established in 1994, has never stopped broadcasting. But we had to turn off our generators due to the shortage of diesel, and the broadcasting stopped a few days ago.”Both outlets are owned by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. They faced a severe financial crisis years ago that led to a large number of employees being laid off and TV content being limited to shows from the archive, while 22 employees remain at the radio station. Richa added: “The radio administration secured on Saturday a quantity of diesel and informed us that we can resume broadcasting on Sunday, starting at seven in the morning. However, we might have to stop broadcasting again, as nothing is guaranteed in Lebanon.”On Tuesday, Lebanese Army Command announced that “a three-day crackdown” carried out by units in various regions had resulted in the seizure of 4,392,725 liters of gasoline and 221,140 liters of diesel that had been stored for smuggling or for sale, either on the black market or at high prices after fuel subsidies were lifted. “The owners of these quantities were obliged to either sell them at the subsidized price or they would be seized and given to hospitals, bakeries, and private generators that have stopped working or are about to stop,” it said. The Audio-Visual Media Workers Syndicate appealed to Abdel Samad “to seek with those concerned to find a special mechanism that allows workers to obtain gasoline, to facilitate the task of media professionals.”
HIGHLIGHT
Lebanese Army Command announced that ‘a three-day crackdown’ carried out by units in various regions had resulted in the seizure of 4,392,725 liters of gasoline and 221,140 liters of diesel that had been stored for smuggling or for sale.
The minister said: “I seek to give priority to the media after the health sector, as we did in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. But the crisis is too severe this time.” Information International, a research firm in Beirut, said the lack of fuel and resorting to the black market or queuing for hours at stations had led to “a significant increase” in the cost of transport. “It now costs 25 to 50 percent of the value of the worker’s monthly salary, depending on the distance between their residence and their workplace.”A week ago, the percentage of employees and even military personnel who were able to make it to work decreased because of the fuel shortage. Darkness prevails in residential neighborhoods because of severe electricity rationing. A source in the Ministry of Finance told Arab News: “Attempts are being made to maintain some subsidies, despite the parliament’s refusal to allow the Central Bank to use the mandatory reserve to subsidize fuel. “There is a tendency to determine the pricing of fuel based on the rate of LBP8,000 to the dollar, instead of LBP3,900. This means (a 20-liter canister of) gasoline would cost approximately LBP150,000, provided that the Lebanese state bears the price difference between this price and the one based on the Central Bank’s Sayrafa platform rate of LBP16,000 to the dollar, i.e. an additional LBP8,000. “This requires exceptional approval and a decree signed by the Ministry of Finance, the prime minister and the president. The cost of subsidies shall be covered by an advance to the Ministry of Finance, allocated in the 2022 budget. If this solution is achieved — despite the difficulties — quantities of fuel could be introduced by mid-next week, although it incurs more debts to the state.”

Millions of Lebanese face water shortages as crisis deepens
The Arab Weekly/August 21/2021
More than 4 million people in Lebanon could face a critical shortage of water or be cut off completely in the coming days, UNICEF warned, due to a severe fuel crisis. Lebanon, with a population of 6 million, is at a low point in a two-year financial meltdown, with a lack of fuel oil and gasoline meaning extensive blackouts and long lines at the few gas stations still operating. “Vital facilities such as hospitals and health centres have been without access to safe water due to electricity shortages, putting lives at risk,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
“If four million people are forced to resort to unsafe and costly sources of water, public health and hygiene will be compromised, and Lebanon could see an increase in waterborne diseases, in addition to the surge in COVID-19 cases,” she said, urging the formation of a new government to tackle the crisis.
Quest for life essentials
Lebanon’s crisis is dragging people to unlikely places in their desperate quest for life’s essentials, be it water, fresh air, electricity, a working fridge or petrol for their cars. Power cuts lasting more than 22 hours a day have become the new norm in a bankrupt country running out of literally everything, from fuel and gas to medicine and bread. Lebanon’s inhabitants are also low on patience and courage, months into a seemingly bottomless economic free fall turning the country into a shell of its former self. In a Beirut barbershop, Ahmad has given up on waiting for the light to come back on. The 20-year-old trimmed a client’s beard using his cellphone torch in the simmering summer heat. “We work in very degrading conditions,” he said, sweat staining his T-shirt. Others have opted to move their barber chairs onto the pavement to get direct daylight. Lebanon’s economic collapse has stripped the national currency of most of its value and left four out of five inhabitants below the poverty line. The slow-motion collapse of the state switched to fast-forward this month after central bank governor Riad Salameh announced an end to subsidised fuel imports. Widespread panic ensued, with distributors scaling down fuel supply and motorists flocking to pumps ahead of price hikes. At night, endless lines of empty cars whose drivers went home for some sleep but wanted to keep their spot in the petrol station queue clog up the lightless streets of Beirut. Most traffic lights switched off months ago, soon followed by street lamps and shop signs, creating an eerie dystopian feel. In the morning, when drivers return to their double-parked cars to resume the wait for petrol, the mood is a mix of explosive anger and muted desperation. “My car has been parked in a queue outside the filling station for two days but I still have no petrol,” taxi driver Abu Karim said from a Beirut station. “Is there anything more degrading and humiliating than this?” he asked, other empty vehicles lined for kilometres (miles) behind him. The country’s leaders — widely accused corruption and negligence — live in a sperate bubble, Abu Karim said.
“They lack nothing, not electricity, nor fuel and live totally disconnected from this reality.”
Unliveable conditions
In recent weeks, employees have stayed at home or slept at work for lack of transport options.Many cafes, restaurants and stores have been forced shut by electricity and fuel shortages. Those that remain open are frequented mostly by people looking to charge their devices, or catch a few hours of rest. A popular bakery chain that operates eight outlets across the country has closed three of its branches and slashed operating hours so that it can stay afloat. Having to turn to the black market to source fuel needed to keep refrigerators running overnight, operating costs have skyrocketed. “We are forced to buy diesel on the black market at 500,000 Lebanese pounds ($333 at the official rate) for every 20 litres (around 4 gallons) to run our generator,” floor manager Elie Zwein said. He said this is more than five times what he used to pay last month. In a small low-key bar only a few miles away, Ahmad el-Malla also had to make adjustments. He uses a UPS battery system to power a coffee machine and small fridges storing alcohol bottles and bags of ice. But his set-up doesn’t allow him to turn on lights or even a small fan to keep his customers cool in the sweltering heat.
Malla said his clients would rather drink in the dark then remain trapped at home without power or air-conditioning. “I have no choice, I cannot close,” Malla said. “If I don’t work, I will starve.”

Lebanon to raise fuel prices in bid to ease crippling shortages
Reuters/August 21/2021
BEIRUT: Lebanese fuel prices are expected to double after the state decided on Saturday to change the exchange rate used to price petroleum products in a bid to ease crippling shortages that have brought Lebanon to a standstill.
Amounting to a partial reduction in fuel subsidies, the rise will mean more hardship in a country where poverty levels have soared during a two-year-long financial meltdown that has wiped more than 90 percent off the value of the Lebanese pound. The decision was made at an emergency meeting attended by the president, central bank governor and other officials over a fuel crisis that has left Lebanon in chaos, paralysing basic services and sparking daily melees as people scramble for fuel. Though prices will rise, the decision did not fully lift the exchange rate for pricing fuel to the exchange rate at which the central bank will finance its import — a gap which the state will continue to finance, for now. A statement said the central bank will open an account to for that purpose up to a maximum of $225 million until the end of September — funds the government will have to pay back in the 2022 budget. The account was to cover an “urgent and exception subsidy” for gasoline, fuel oil and cooking gas, the bank said. The fuel subsidy would only continue until the end of September, a ministerial source said. President Michel Aoun confirmed the treasury would bear the cost of the continued subsidy. The fuel crisis worsened this month when the central bank said it could no longer finance fuel imports at heavily subsidised exchange rates and would switch to market rates. The government objected, refusing to change official selling prices, creating a standoff that left importers in limbo and caused supplies to dry up across the country. Saturday’s decision marked a compromise as official selling prices will now be based on an exchange rate of 8,000 pounds to the dollar, up from 3,900, but still well below an unofficial parallel market rate closer to 20,000 pounds. Roads have been clogged across Lebanon as motorists have queued for the little gasoline left. Prices have soared on the black market. Some confrontations over gasoline have turned deadly. The fuel oil that powers much of Lebanon has also nearly run out, leading to lengthy blackouts. Reflecting concern about the impact of the price rise, the government decided to pay emergency social assistance to people on the public payroll equal to one month’s pay or pension. While the government will adjust its fuel import exchange rate to 8,000 pounds to the dollar, the central bank use a rate determined by its Sayrafa platform which stood at 16,500 pounds on Friday. Central bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters the difference between the two rates would be a loss to be carried by the government. Critics blame the subsidy system for encouraging smuggling to Syria. This will continue all the while fuel is sold in Lebanon below market price, said Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank. “It is not going to solve the problem,” he said.

Russia Says Syria Downed 22 Israeli Missiles Fired from Lebanon Airspace
Associated Press/August 21/2021
Syria's air defense forces have shot down 22 missiles launched by Israeli warplanes during an airstrike against targets in Syria, the Russian military said. Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, head of the Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria, said six Israeli fighter jets targeted facilities in the provinces of Damascus and Homs from Lebanon's airspace late Thursday. Kulit said Syrian air defense units downed 22 of the 24 missiles launched by the Israeli warplanes with Russia-supplied air defense systems Pantsyr-S and Buk-M2. There was no immediate reaction from Israel, which rarely comments on its military operations in Syria. Kulit's statement followed a report by the Syrian state news agency SANA that Syrian air defense units responded to an Israeli airstrike targeting the Damascus countryside and the central province of Homs. There were also no immediate reports of any casualties. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria in the course of the country's civil war, targeting what it says are suspected arms shipments believed to be bound for Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbullah, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces. It rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since 2015, helping President Bashar Assad's government reclaim control over most of the country after a devastating civil war. Moscow also has helped modernize Syria's military arsenals and train its personnel.

'Hell on Earth': Lebanon Unlivable as Crisis Deepens
Agence France Presse/August 21/2021
It wasn't a late-night craving that brought Ayla to a Beirut cafe but the air-conditioning that let her children, slouched in a sofa next to her, get some proper rest. Lebanon's energy crisis is dragging people to unlikely places in their desperate quest for life's essentials, be it fresh air, electricity, a working fridge or petrol for their cars. "For two days, we have not had a single minute of power at home. The children can no longer sleep," said Ayla, a woman in her 30s. "Here, my kids can at least gain a few hours of rest in an air-conditioned space," she told AFP, her 8-year-old daughter curled up on the sofa, while her 5-year-old son slept on her lap. Power cuts lasting more than 22 hours a day have become the new norm in a bankrupt country running out of literally everything, from fuel and gas to medicine and bread. Lebanon's inhabitants are also low on patience and courage, months into a seemingly bottomless economic free fall turning the country into a shell of its former self. "What we are going through is mind-blowing. We have nothing left, we are deprived of everything, even sleep," Ayla said. "This is hell on earth." In a Beirut barbershop, Ahmad has given up on waiting for the light to come back on. The 20-year-old trimmed a client's beard using his cellphone torch in the simmering summer heat. "We work in very degrading conditions," he told AFP, sweat staining his T-shirt. Others have opted to move their barber chairs onto the pavement to get direct daylight.
'Humiliating'
Lebanon's economic collapse has stripped the national currency of most of its value and left four out of five inhabitants below the poverty line. The slow-motion collapse of the state switched to fast-forward this month after central bank governor Riad Salameh announced an end to subsidised fuel imports. Widespread panic ensued, with distributors scaling down fuel supply and motorists flocking to pumps ahead of price hikes. At night, endless lines of empty cars whose drivers went home for some sleep but wanted to keep their spot in the petrol station queue clog up the lightless streets of Beirut. Most traffic lights switched off months ago, soon followed by street lamps and shop signs, creating an eerie dystopian feel. In the morning, when drivers return to their double-parked cars to resume the wait for petrol, the mood is a mix of explosive anger and muted desperation. "My car has been parked in a queue outside the filling station for two days but I still have no petrol," taxi driver Abu Karim told AFP from a Beirut station. "Is there anything more degrading and humiliating than this?" he asked, other empty vehicles lined for kilometers (miles) behind him. The country's leaders -- widely accused corruption and negligence -- live in a sperate bubble, Abu Karim said.
"They lack nothing, not electricity, nor fuel and live totally disconnected from this reality."
- 'I will starve' -
In recent weeks, employees have stayed at home or slept at work for lack of transport options. Many cafes, restaurants and stores have been forced shut by electricity and fuel shortages. Those that remain open are frequented mostly by people looking to charge their devices, or catch a few hours of rest. A popular bakery chain that operates eight outlets across the country has closed three of its branches and slashed operating hours so that it can stay afloat. Having to turn to the black market to source fuel needed to keep refrigerators running overnight, operating costs have skyrocketed. "We are forced to buy diesel on the black market at 500,000 Lebanese pounds ($333 at the official rate) for every 20 liters (around 4 gallons) to run our generator," floor manager Elie Zwein told AFP. He said this is more than five times what he used to pay last month. In a small low-key bar only a few miles away, Ahmad el-Malla also had to make adjustments. He uses a UPS battery system to power a coffee machine and small fridges storing alcohol bottles and bags of ice. But his set-up doesn't allow him to turn on lights or even a small fan to keep his customers cool in the sweltering heat.
Malla said his clients would rather drink in the dark then remain trapped at home without power or air-conditioning. "I have no choice, I cannot close," Malla told AFP. "If I don't work, I will starve."

ISG Stresses 'Utmost Urgency' for Forming New Govt. in Lebanon
Naharnet/August 21/2021
The international Support Group for Lebanon has expressed its "deep regrets" over the loss of life and injuries resulting from the explosion of a fuel tanker in the Akkar province on August 15. "This tragic incident occurred in the context of acute fuel shortages now affecting Lebanon, with severe repercussions for essential services, including electricity provision, public health, public water supply, as well as businesses and livelihoods," the ISG said in a statement. It added that this "fast-accelerating crisis" underscores "the utmost urgency of forming a government capable of taking the situation in hand, meeting the immediate needs of the people of Lebanon, initiating the needed reforms, and paving the way for international support." "The ISG calls on all parties to work towards this end without any further delay," it said. The ISG also vowed that it will continue to "stand by Lebanon and its people."
The International Support Group has brought together the United Nations and the governments of China, France, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with the European Union and the Arab League. It was launched in September 2013 by the U.N. Secretary-General with former President Michel Suleiman to help mobilize support and assistance for Lebanon’s stability, sovereignty and state institutions.

Lebanon at risk of sanctions; war between Iran and Israel feared
George Eid CM Correspondent/Cyprus Mail/August 21/2021
Lebanon is now at the centre of a confrontation between Israel and Iran over fuel deliveries. US sanctions could also follow a delivery of fuel from Iran – Lebanon could face the same fate as Venezuela.
Hours after the leader of Hezbollah an Iran backed militia group announced that fuel organised for Lebanon will set sail on Thursday from Iran warning its US and Israeli foes against any move to intercept the ship. An Israeli Security sources told Reuters “We will not allow the Iranian ship to enter Lebanon”.
The Hezbollah Leader had said that the fuel cargo will not be the last and more will follow, pointing out that the fuel is destined to help Lebanon deal with its shortages. There has so far been no comment from US government sources on whether sanctions might be imposed if the oil is delivered.
The Lebanese presidency on the other hand announced on Thursday that the US ambassador to Lebanon had informed President Michel Aoun through a phone call that the United states has decided to assist Lebanon with electricity provision as the country struggles with crippling fuel shortages.
The plan as explained by the presidency would provide Egyptian natural gas to Jordan for generation into additional electricity that can be transmitted to Lebanon via Syria, as well as facilitate the transfer of natural gas to Lebanon.
Negotiations are in process with the World Bank to finance the cost of the gas, the presidency statement explained.
Walid Malouf an Ex U.S diplomat under the George W. Bush administration, when he served as the alternate representative of the US to the general assemble of the UN in 2003, told CM that Hezbollah’s move “could trigger a military clash especially that Israel is monitoring the situation closely”.
Hezbollah’s action comes at a time where Iran and Israel have been engaged in a covert war since February this year in which vessels linked to each nation have come under attack in open waters around the Gulf area.
Maalouf explains that “Hezbollah leader is provoking the US and Israel and daring them to act in his speech and this is a direct escalation”
The former US diplomat casts doubts on the whole process “Iran is under embargo and its internal economic situation is disastrous. I do not think they have the means to supply any country with large amounts of fuel. Nasrallah is talking over his head”.
“I believe the ship might carry weapons for Hezbollah under the cover of being an oil tanker, in which case they will be definitely attacked, and when this happens Nasrallah’s would accuse the US and Israel of blocking the aid to the Lebanese people” Maalouf explains.
“I believe the Israeli are watching closely any movement and in case this shipment approaches I am sure that they will attack. The move of Hassan Nasrallah is dangerous for Lebanon and Iran as well. And I strongly believe it is an internal Lebanese political maneuver no more and no less” He adds.
“The United states so far has sanctioned Hezbollah’s illegal activities to prevent money laundering. It did not sanction the Lebanese state. It continues its support to the Lebanese Army and has pledged to help Lebanon after the Beirut Port blast. It is too early to predict what could happen. I think it is wise to wait and see what the Iranian tanker is all about” he concludes. Senior Economic Analyst Jessy Trad Kastoun confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that “Lebanon is at very high risk of facing US sanctions if the Iranian tanker delivers the fuel to Beirut. Taking in the cargo means that the Lebanese government has accepted embargoed Iran oil. Things will take a dramatic turn. We have seen it happen in Venezuela”.
“Any person or entity that deals, receives or gets involved with this cargo will be subjected to US sanctions. Companies and individuals will be sanctioned by the US” she explains. “Sanctions include, a ban on travel to US, freezing all assets in the US, and any sanctioned person will not be able to access the global banking system. In addition to the fact that even European countries would not grant a visa to a sanctioned person. A sanctioned company will face insolvency because it will lose access to the banking system” Trad explains.
Should a country accept embargoed cargo, other countries and companies would refuse to export products to it or take part in any tender that the government launches. This could happen to Lebanon and countries might refuse to export wheat to the country. This risks creating a famine,” she concludes.
Meanwhile, media reports in Lebanon have speculated that the Iranian tanker might unload in Syria where the fuel oil will be refined and transported to Lebanon.

بارعة علم الدين/عرب نيوز: نصرالله يشمت بهزيمة الولايات المتحدة بينما يحول لبنان إلى أفغانستان
Nasrallah gloats over US defeat while turning Lebanon into Afghanistan
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 21/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/101571/baria-alamuddin-arab-news-nasrallah-gloats-over-us-defeat-while-turning-lebanon-into-afghanistan-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a8/
What alternative reality is Hassan Nasrallah living in? Lebanon is going up in flames, yet the Hezbollah leader ignites new fires every time he opens his mouth.
Nasrallah drapes himself in the robes of national savior for bringing ships full of Iranian diesel to Lebanese shores. He invites citizens to shed tears of gratitude on behalf of our Persian benefactors. But Iran isn’t giving this oil away, and since nobody else wants to buy internationally sanctioned Iranian oil, who is doing a favor for whom?
In normal nations people don’t feel moved to celebrate the arrival of diesel tankers, as if Lebanon were a starved and flea-ridden desert island that hadn’t seen fresh water for six months. Such unilateral stunts merely undermine Lebanon’s parliament and institutions, which are supposed to be the sovereign parties deciding such matters. US Ambassador Dorothy Shea has meanwhile — belatedly — been laboring over a proposal to supply Lebanon with electricity via Jordan, using Egyptian natural gas and World Bank funding. Nasrallah is understandably furious at the prospect of a project that may actually improve Lebanese lives, particularly after his decades of efforts to exclude Arab states from the Lebanese arena. He angrily accused the ambassador of “complicity against the Lebanese people,” even as his ally, President Michel Aoun, thanked her for her efforts. Frustratingly for Hezbollah, Lebanon can import Egyptian fuel or Jordanian electricity without violating international sanctions and becoming a Taliban-style pariah state.
Nasrallah blusters incoherently about an operations room in the US Embassy masterminding Lebanon’s economic chaos and fuel shortages. We should pay attention here, since Nasrallah knows better than anybody where fuel shortages are being managed from, with his own officials overseeing the smuggling of scarce Lebanese fuel across the border into Syria. Please tell us why Lebanon is so desperately short of fuel in the first place, Mr. Nasrallah. Doesn’t Nasrallah realise that, far from fearing foreign meddling, many citizens actually wish foreign powers would come in and run Lebanon’s economy in place of its criminal and tragi-comically incompetent politicians? Remember those Lebanese petitioning Emmanuel Macron to march in and take over before it was too late? Even if it turned out that Mossad agents were hidden away in this “operations room” exerting all their powers to sabotage the Lebanese economy, it would still be impossible for them to wreak more damage than Messrs Aoun, Nasrallah and Berri. Nasrallah denounces citizens as traitors for even talking to foreign embassies, but by that criterion he is Lebanon’s supreme traitor. Nasrallah doesn’t just talk to foreigners, he is in the pay of a foreign nation, acting according to the destructive agenda of that nation, and boasting about doing so. How would he suggest we punish traitors?
Nasrallah boasts that he will import Iranian products in “broad daylight.” Hooray! What fearlessness! That tapping sound you can hear is US Treasury officials drafting new financial penalties against Lebanese institutions likely to be violating international sanctions by importing Iranian oil.
Nasrallah offers the US’s “humiliating and historic defeat” in Afghanistan as evidence of what reliance on Washington achieves — even as he does everything in his power to turn Lebanon into Afghanistan.
Nasrallah menacingly warns that these tankers bearing Iranian oil should be considered sacrosanct Lebanese territory. How exactly does he imagine Hezbollah could retaliate if the US or Israel did choose to sink his precious boats? And why is Nasrallah so much more concerned about the wellbeing of these ships than Lebanon itself? This is the man who let nearly 3,000 tons of explosives in Hezbollah-controlled warehouses blow up half of Lebanon’s capital. Israel, meanwhile, bombs Hezbollah arms depots and bases in Syria and Israeli surveillance planes circle over Beirut while Nasrallah cowers impotently in his underground bunker, using the entire Lebanese nation like a human shield.
The more Iranian entities become enmeshed in Lebanon’s economy, and the more “Hizb Al-Shaitan” (the party of the Devil) embroils Lebanon in narcotics, arms proliferation, terrorism and organized crime, the more Lebanon will find itself cut off from the international system — which is exactly what Tehran is seeking to achieve. Each step Lebanon takes into Iran’s poisonous embrace is another step away from Lebanon’s Arab identity and its cosmopolitan and inclusive culture.
Nasrallah offers the US’s “humiliating and historic defeat” in Afghanistan as evidence of what reliance on Washington achieves — even as he does everything in his power to turn Lebanon into Afghanistan. He spouts endlessly about not allowing Lebanon to be humiliated, when he is our national humiliation personified. He shamelessly blames the Lebanese state for people’s woes, and he’s absolutely correct that the kleptocratic Lebanese state has failed us a million times over — but he is the Lebanese state. These failures, thefts and calamities are his own, the puppet master whose own strings are being pulled from abroad. Hezbollah offers no magic cures for healing Lebanon, because Hezbollah itself is the disease.
What is the purpose of your Islamic resistance, “Sayyid” Nasrallah? Citizens these days just laugh at your ridiculous bluster that Israel will shortly collapse and the Muslim world will soon reach Jerusalem. The only thing likely to reach Jerusalem is Lebanon’s petrol queue.
Lebanon has always enjoyed one of the most open climates for public debate and democratic participation. These values must be our liberation: In upcoming elections who except those on the payroll would vote for Hezbollah and their corrupt cronies?
“Hizb Al-Shaitan” seeks to exacerbate sectarian divides to the point where we want to throttle each other, but the problem isn’t that Christians, Sunnis, Shiite and Druze can’t live together — rather, figures like Gebran Bassil and Nasrallah have exploited their sectarian power bases at the expense of national unity.
Conversely, Nasrallah, Bassil, Aoun and all Lebanon’s other factional warlords could be a supreme force for national unity — if the whole nation came together and voted these criminals out of power once and for all.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Angels in hell
Ronnie Chatah/Now Lebanon/August 21/2021
In Beirut, you will find angels mourning. But they will never accept to be ruled by demons, even in hell,
In Beirut, on dreadful anniversaries like August 4, you will find angels mourning. But they will never accept to be ruled by demons, even in hell.
Unbearable. The anniversary, itself, the worst of reminders. Time that never heals: 6:08, burned into our national psyche. One year that passed without respite.
The backdrop, a once proud and triumphant city, with a skyline damaged faster than the civil war’s most notorious could conjure. Mid-century architectural gems and Bernard Khoury’s eccentricities defined instead, by broken windows and shattered glass. Covered by banners of defiance and rage, facades in disrepair draped over by markers of death. And on stage, a determined population. The port’s remains are in full view, partially sunken ships jutting alongside a makeshift cemetery of wreckage and unusable crates. The open view is disrupted by the monstrosity of wrecked wheat silos, smashed by an ammonium nitrate blast while saving the city from further destruction. I walk from Mar Mikhael around 3pm, the mid-summer’s scorching sun heating the pavement and guaranteeing all items of my clothing are drenched in sweat. Dozens commemorating August 4 are behind me and in front, heading in the same direction, reaching hundreds gathered by the ruined remains of Électricité du Liban.
With two water bottles in hand I cross the highway and head towards the Meghterbeen statue, joining thousands gathered for speeches by the port blast victims’ families. From a distance, the scene feels all too familiar, an experience from multiple rallies since 2005. Flags in hand, families and demonstrators across generations standing together. Except this marker is emotionally demanding, noticeably somber and defined by murder.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union, the first of the victims’ relatives and friends to arrive, march west towards Charles Helou. Their heads are held high, and their pride is on full display. There heroes who risked their lives, annually to battle forest fires without adequate equipment were criminally called on a year ago to contain warehouse #12’s fire without warning of any ammonium nitrate storage. They had been sent to their death. Sahar Fares’ photo is the first among ten who paid the ultimate price to try and keep us safe.
Paul and Tracy Naggear arrive from Achrafieh, holding a silhouette of their late daughter, Alexandra. Making their way to the stage alongside thousands of us applauding their heroism. I walk by Paul for a few seconds, in full admiration of turning the worst of any parent’s pain into the most noble of goals. Refusing to turn their backs on Lebanon, their daughter’s spirit shines not just through them but all of us since her loss. “Their end is coming,” he shares with me.
Hussein El Achi approaches with passion, his new parental duties running in parallel to his youthful persuasion. A multi-tasking of the sort I can hardly imagine. Our bittersweet exchange includes his firm belief in local and parliamentary elections changing reality on the ground. A political leader in the making, and a pioneer from Minteshreen born out of October 17 without fear and a determination to only look ahead. His conviction, his honesty and decency a certainty.
A city, and a country, that deserves to live rather than die. And a nation that keeps trying, in face of the most brutal form of political crimes.
Tom Young’s infectious smile is visible across the highway’s divider. His skin is more sensitive than my own, and his embrace is more heartfelt than anyone I know. His art delivers a reflection of what we all live in yet so few of us can express. The paintings of our majestic landscape and heritage, our history and collective memory. His emotions are shared when his work portrays the thuggery and intimidation that seeks to end October 17’s spirit. His love for a neighborhood he considers his own – Gemmayze – was in colorful majesty on canvas years before. Today, all but dreary, tormented and in despair.
Monika Borgmann stands beneath a tent’s shade, her skin turning pink like my own natural hue. Her eyes meet mine with a familiarity that shines from emotional wounds. A friendship that feels decades old although we first met on February 4th. And we meet again, six months to the date following her husband’s assassination, a permanent marker of a city’s lost agency punished by collective impunity. Her adamant pursuit to expose Lokman Slim’s killers is an inspiration on its own, reminding all of us of the need for an international investigation into all political crimes. From the port blast to the ambush that took Lokman’s life. Monika is pursuing her own path towards justice. Like Paul and Tracy Naggear’s.
And my own.
I think of him whenever I roam these loving and burning streets. And I cannot speak to him because of the same geopolitical curse that destroys us. He spent his entire political career trying to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty. A foundation we lost, to hold rotten leadership to account and dislodge us from regional wars none of us voted for. Our borders, our telecoms, our airport and our port under state authority without external subjugation or sub-state tutelage, rather than enhancing a neighboring regime’s survivability and a regional power’s influence.
My father was assassinated nearly eight years ago and his memory has faded like those murdered before him. But these multiple crimes make up different chapters of the same story.
A city, and a country, that deserves to live rather than die. And a nation that keeps trying to survive. Speeches end at 6:05 pm. I stand by several friends wearing backpacks with gas masks ready for evening battles ahead. Standing shoulder to shoulder as it reaches 6:08 pm. Just under a minute of a wondrous silence that engulfs tens of thousands. That standstill, a tentative moment of national embrace, interrupted by celebratory applause, followed by chants of dreams against our nightmare. Minutes later, the crowd splinters into those heading home in different directions across Beirut and those ready for a new round of protest in Martyrs Square. And by sunset, familiarity on the streets of the flicker that still defines October 17. Youth-led determination against a militia-led regime. Too many of our bravest and innocent have been killed. Political violence, stretching from the civil war through today, turning our country into perpetual tragedy. And in Beirut, on dreadful anniversaries like August 4, you will find angels mourning. But they will never accept to be ruled by demons, even in hell.
Ronnie Chatah hosts The Beirut Banyan podcast, a series of storytelling episodes and long-form conversations that reflect on all that is modern Lebanese history. He also leads the WalkBeirut tour, a four-hour narration of Beirut’s rich and troubled past. He is on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @thebeirutbanyan.
*The opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOW.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/2021
Three members of pro-Iran group killed by Daesh in Iraq
AFP/August 22, 2021
BAGHDAD: Three fighters from a pro-Iranian militia were killed in Iraq when Daesh attacked their base near Baghdad, a paramilitary and a security source said. The men belonged to the Noujaba Movement, a part of the Hashd Al-Shaabi coalition of Shiite militias that mostly back Iran. Both sources said they were killed in an attack by Daesh on their base in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, with seven more fighters wounded. Formed in 2014 to back the Iraqi army in its fight against Daesh militants, the Hashd at the time controlled large swathes of the country but have since been integrated into the armed forces.
FASTFACT
Formed in 2014 to back the Iraqi army in its fight against Daesh militants, the Hashd at the time controlled large swathes of the country but have since been integrated into the armed forces. In recent months, the anti-American movement has hailed attacks on US interests in Iraq, without claiming responsibility. Both the US and Israel fear some Hashd units are under Iranian orders rather than the Iraqi chain of command. Some Daesh cells have remained active even after Iraq declared the jihadist group defeated in 2017, especially in the Tarmiya region and the deserts of northern Iraq. They have attacked Iraqi security forces as well as the Hashd and other Shiites. Last month, Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 30 people at a market in the densely populated Sadr City area of Baghdad.

Taliban Co-Founder in Kabul for Talks on Setting Up Govt.
Agence France Presse/August 21/2021
The Taliban's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government. "He will be in Kabul to meet jihadi leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up," a senior Taliban official told AFP. Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was kept in custody until pressure from the United States saw him freed in 2018 and relocated to Qatar. He was appointed head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, where he oversaw the signing of the foreign forces' withdrawal agreement with the Americans. Baradar arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday from Qatar, choosing to touch down in the country's second biggest city Kandahar -- the Taliban's spiritual birthplace. Within hours of his return the group announced its rule would be "different" this time.

Desperation Deepens as Afghan Evacuations Falter
Agence France Presse/August 21/2021
Desperation deepened around Kabul's airport on Saturday with evacuation operations in chaos and U.S. President Joe Biden warning he could not predict the outcome of one of the "most difficult airlifts in history." Six days after the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan, the flow of people trying to flee their feared hardline Islamist rule continued to overwhelm the international community. Traffic, people and checkpoints choked roads to the airport, while families hoping for a miracle escape crowded between the barbed-wire surrounds of an unofficial no-man's land separating the Taliban from U.S.-troops and remnants of an Afghan special forces brigade helping them. Video of a U.S. soldier lifting a baby over a wall at Kabul's airport offered the latest tragic imagery of the utter despair, following horror footage of people hanging onto the outside of departing planes. "Please, please, please help me... where should I go, what should I do," one man, who said he worked for the US embassy in the mid-2000s, wrote on a WhatsApp group set up for people to share information on how to get out. "I have tried to get there (to the airport) for some days, but I cannot reach. Please save me." Thousands of U.S. soldiers are at the airport trying to shepherd foreigners and Afghans onto flights, but President Joe Biden admitted the troops' presence offered no guarantees of safe passage. "This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history," Biden said in a televised address. "I cannot promise what the final outcome will be."
Evacuation deadline
U.S. military helicopters were deployed to rescue more than 150 Americans unable to reach the airport on Friday morning, an official in Washington said. It was the first report of US forces going beyond the airport to help people seeking evacuation. A German civilian was also shot and wounded on his way to the airport, a government spokeswoman in Berlin said on Friday. Biden had set a deadline of August 31 to completely withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, but he flagged this could be extended to continue the airlifts. "We're going to make that judgment as we go," he said. About 13,000 people have left on American military aircraft, the White House said. Thousands of others have fled on other foreign military flights.
U.S. diminished
The crisis has cast another shadow over the United States' status as a global superpower and its ability to help allies around the world. The Taliban swept into the capital last week, ending two decades of war, after Biden pulled nearly all US troops out of the country. Biden and other US allies admitted they were surprised at how quickly the Taliban were able to rout government forces, who mostly surrendered. The Taliban have promised a "positively different" form of rule from their 1996-2001 stint in power, which was infamous for an ultra-fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia law. Women were excluded from public life, girls banned from school and people stoned to death for adultery. They have also vowed not to seek revenge against their opponents, promising a general amnesty for anyone who worked with the US-backed government. But an intelligence document for the United Nations said militants were going door-to-door hunting down former government officials and those who worked with U.S. and NATO forces. According to the confidential document by the U.N.'s threat assessment consultants seen by AFP, militants were also screening people on the way to Kabul airport. The German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that the Taliban had shot dead the relative of one of its journalists while searching for the editor.
Collective pride
At the first Friday prayers since the Taliban's return to power, imams and guest speakers celebrated the defeat of the United States. At one mosque in Kabul, gunmen flanked a scholar as he delivered a fiery speech in which he recounted how Afghans had beaten the British Empire, the Soviet Union and now the United States on the battlefield. "Afghans have once again shown collective pride," he said. At another mosque, the imam referenced the tragic scenes at the airport, describing those trying to flee as not having strong enough religious convictions. "Those with weak faith are running after or hanging from American planes," he said. "They should stay and build their country."

Taliban mock Western evacuation efforts as Kabul airport chaos worsens
Agencies/August 21, 2021
KABUL: The Taliban mocked Western attempts to organize evacuation flights out of Afghanistan on Saturday amid the worst scenes of chaos at Kabul airport since the militants took control a week ago. The Taliban said the chaos was not their responsibility. “The West could have had a better plan to evacuate,” a spokesman said. Security risks could not be ruled out but the group was “aiming to improve the situation and provide a smooth exit” for people trying to leave, the spokesman said. Earlier, the US and Germany advised their citizens in Afghanistan not to travel to the airport as thousands of civilians crushed up against wire fences and concrete blast walls outside the terminal building in a desperate attempt to reach rescue aircraft. The advisory came after Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar arrived in Kabul for talks with other leaders to hammer out a new Afghan government after the Taliban’s lightning advance across the country. Images circulated on social media this week of Afghans rushing toward a US C-17 transport plane and clinging to its side. A separate video showed what appeared to be two people falling from a military plane as it flew out of Kabul. Since then, crowds have grown at the airport where armed Taliban have urged those without travel documents to go home. At least 12 people have been killed in and around the single runway airfield since Sunday, NATO and Taliban officials said. “Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so,” the US Embassy advisory said. Switzerland postponed a charter flight from Kabul because of the chaos. “The security situation around Kabul airport has worsened significantly in the last hours. A large number of people in front of the airport and sometimes violent confrontations are hindering access,” the Swiss Foreign Ministry said after canceling a charter flight from Kabul. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was “mathematically impossible” for the US and its allies to evacuate the tens of thousands of Afghan personnel and families by Aug. 31, when US forces are due to quit Afghanistan and hand control of the airport to the Taliban.

Afghan refugee flow raises concerns in Arab Gulf countries
The Arab Weekly/August 21/2021
DUBAI--Scenes of panic in Kabul’s airport have been uncomfortable to watch for many people in the Arab Gulf states, with governments now concerned about the possible implications of the renewed instability in Afghanistan and the flow of refugees. The desperate scenes of people clinging to aircraft taking off from the airport have only deepened anxiety in the Arab Gulf region over a potential refugee crisis, observers say. The US and its NATO allies are scrambling to evacuate thousands of Afghans who fear they’ll be punished by the Taliban for having worked with Western forces. But other Afghans are unlikely to get the same welcome. Governments in Arab Gulf countries, in fact, fear the Taliban takeover could result in massive refugee flows, a humanitarian crisis and a potential renewal of civil war, which poses a serious threat for the security of the wider region. Bahrain on Saturday said it is “allowing flights to make use of Bahrain’s transit facilities” amid the evacuations of Afghanistan. The kingdom, in the Arabian Gulf off Saudi Arabia, made the announcement in a statement released early Saturday. The announcement comes as the United States faced issues Friday with its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar filling up with those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country. The kingdom also said it is hoping that “all parties will commit to stabilising the internal situation and to protecting the lives of civilians and the rule of law.” For its part, the United Arab Emirates has agreed to host 5,000 Afghan nationals to be evacuated from their country on their way to third countries, the UAE’s embassy in the United States said on Twitter on Friday. The evacuees will travel to the UAE from Kabul on US aircraft in the coming days, it said. The UAE government announced on Wednesday it was hosting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his family “on humanitarian grounds” after they fled Kabul.
The UAE and regional ally Saudi Arabia have limited their response to the Taliban takeover of Kabul to saying they would respect the choice of Afghans and urging the Taliban to foster security and stability after a 20-year insurgency against US-backed rule. Experts say, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, among the few who recognised the Taliban’s radical 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan, will likely take a pragmatic approach to its return to power despite fears it could embolden militant Islam abroad. Concerns about the flow of Afghan migrants are shared by other countries in the region as well as Europe, where attitudes toward migrants have hardened following the 2015 crisis. Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015 fuelled the rise of far-right parties like the Alternative for Germany, the biggest opposition party in parliament ahead of the federal election next month. Even in Turkey, migrants from Syria and Afghanistan, once treated like Muslim brethren, are increasingly viewed with suspicion as the country grapples with economic problems including rising inflation and unemployment.
Acknowledging the public’s “unease” about migration, Turkish President Rcep Tayyip Erdogan noted how his government has reinforced the eastern border with Iran with military, gendarmerie, police and the new wall, which has been under construction since 2017. UNHCR estimates that 90% of the 2.6 million Afghan refugees outside of the country live in neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Both countries also host large numbers of Afghans who left in search of better economic opportunities. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Taliban takeover will result in a new refugee crisis. “I would warn against a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. Afghans are “scared, bewildered but also hopeful that a long, long war will be over and maybe now they can avoid the crossfire.”He said much depends on the Taliban allowing development and humanitarian work in the country and on donor nations continuing to fund those efforts. “If you would have a collapse of public services and if there would be a major food crisis, there will be for sure a mass movement of people,” Egeland said.

Thousands rally in London decrying Taliban takeover
AFP/August 21, 2021
LONDON: Thousands rallied in central London on Saturday to protest the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and show solidarity with Afghans opposed to the new regime in Kabul. Several thousand people descended on the center of the British capital from lunchtime, massing in Hyde Park and marching down Whitehall past Downing Street, the residence and office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The UK leader has faced stinging criticism this week over his government’s handling of the crisis in Afghanistan, as Britain, the United States and other Western allies struggle to evacuate their citizens and others from Kabul.Protesters at the London event marched behind a banner reading “Talib has not changed,” while others held signs bearing slogans like “stop killing Afghans” and “stop the oppression of Afghan women.”Many attendees also waved the black, red and green national flag of Afghanistan and chanted slogans opposing the Taliban takeover. The Taliban has insisted it will treat women fairly and not seek retribution against Afghans who cooperated with Western forces during their two-decade involvement in the country, as thousands try to flee from Kabul amid chaotic scenes. Many Afghans and others, including those demonstrating in London, are highly skeptical about their reassurances amid reports that militants have already begun violent reprisals against people on so-called blacklists.

Saied assails Islamists, says undaunted by assassination attempts
The Arab Weekly/August 21/2021
TUNIS--During a speech at the Carthage palace, Tunisian president Kais Saied slammed the proponents of political Islam and said he was undaunted by adversity, including assassination attempts. In a rare direct swipe at the proponents of political Islam, he said: “They say that their reference is Islam, where is Islam in this? What is their connection to Islam and the purposes of Islam?”, he asked. Saied accused Islamists of “assailing the reputation of women and men” and of “considering lies as a political tool.”Ennahda leader and speaker of parliament Rached Ghannouchi has wavered between calling on supporters to take to the streets and accepting Saied’s moves as a fait accompli considering the broad public support they have received since July 25 when the Tunisian president invoked Article 80 of the constitution to claim emergency powers allowing him to suspend parliament and dismiss the prime minister. Speaking in the same context, Saied talked about attempts to assassinate him: “I know what they are planning, and I tell them I do not fear anyone but God, despite their desperate attempts, as they are thinking of assassination, killing and blood.” He warned unnamed opponents: “We have missiles on their launch pads to strike them in their inner depths and they should be careful about what they are doing.”He was figuratively talking about possible legal measures he could take against plotters lurking in the shadows and “traitors” calling on foreign powers to intervene in the country’s political affairs. The Tunisian leader said he will not swerve from “the path of the truth” as his goal is “to preserve the state”.
Sidelining parties, unions
In recent days, Saied rejected pressures to announce a roadmap as was suggested by political parties and the powerful trade unions. He emphasised instead his determination to stay the course of “fulfilling the demands of the people” and fighting corruption. Tunisian President Kais Saied is seen as breaking with the political tradition that has prevailed in the country since the fall of the regime of late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, and which consisted in associating political parties and national organisations, such as the trade unions and the business federation, in efforts aimed at resolving political crises. On Thursday, Kais Saied announced the imminent formation of the Tunisian government, hence answering calls by domestic and foreign actors who stressed the need to expedite the formation of the government. He said that the makeup of the new government will be announced in the next few days.He also rejected criticism that delay in announcing his choice for prime minister (who would be entrusted with forming a cabinet), is hindering work of the state. “The state continues, and its public services are continuing,” he stressed. The Tunisian president rejected the calls for a roadmap, proposed among others by the Tunisian General Labour Union, which has wielded enormous political clout since the fall of the regime of former President Ben Ali. “The roadmap is one of the concepts that have come to us from abroad (…) and the only roadmap that I follow, and I will follow with firmness and determination, is the map drawn up by the Tunisian people,” Saied said offering no details about his exact plans. Saied added that, “there is a working government (now) and a working state, and there is no going back, and the people will recover their full rights.”Political analyst Hichem Hajji told The Arab Weekly that Saied has chosen a different track in managing state affairs than other Tunisian leaders did during the period from 2011 to 2021 as he is limiting the role of parties and organisations. Through this approach, he aims to avoid “dispersion of power” which he cannot afford in this period since parliament activity is suspended and has to curtail serious upheaval.Hajji continued, “Therefore, the government team – from ministers to the prime minister – will be closer to the orientations of President Saied, who has now become the project owner and is alone at the forefront of events.”

ISIS attacks base near Baghdad, three militiamen killed
The Arab Weekly/August 21/2021
BAGHDAD - Three fighters from a pro-Iranian militia were killed in Iraq Friday when the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group attacked their base near Baghdad, a paramilitary and a security source said. The killed fighters belonged to the Noujaba Movement, a faction of the “Al Hashed al-Shaabi” (Popular Mobilisation Forces-PMF) coalition of Iran-backed Shia militias. Both sources said they were killed in an attack by ISIS on their base in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, with seven more fighters wounded. Formed in 2014 to back the Iraqi army in its fight against ISIS jihadists, the Hashed at the time controlled large swathes of the country but have since nominally integrated into the armed forces. It is seen as more beholden to Tehran than to Iraqi authorities. In recent months the PMF has hailed attacks on American interests in Iraq, without claiming responsibility. Some ISIS jihadist cells have remained active even after Iraq declared the extremist group defeated in 2017, especially in the Tarmiya region and the deserts of northern Iraq. They have attacked Iraqi security forces as well as the Hashed and other Shiites, who form the majority of Iraq’s Muslims but are seen by ISIS as “apostates”.Last month, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 30 people at a market in the densely-populated Sadr City area of Baghdad.

Morocco looks with ‘optimism’ at future relations with Spain
The Arab Weekly/August 21/2021
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI expressed his “optimism” Friday that his country could establish a new relationship with Spain based on “trust” and “mutual respect” after the crisis both countries faced in recent months. Madrid sparked a major diplomatic row with the kingdom last April after it admitted on its territory Polisario chief Brahim Ghali for medical treatment. Ghali, who entered Spain under a false identity, later returned to Algeria. “It is a fact that these relations have recently come up against an unprecedented crisis, which shook mutual trust and raised many questions as to their future,” said the Moroccan king during a speech to the nation on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People. “However, we have worked with the Spanish side in a composed, clear and responsible way,” he added while revealing that he has personally and directly followed the progress of the dialogue and discussions between the two countries.” He added that he looks forward “with a feeling of optimism” to continuing to work with the Spanish government and with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, “to usher in a new, unprecedented phase in the relations between the two countries, on the basis of trust, transparency, mutual respect and the fulfilment of obligations.”“In addition to the traditional immutable values on which these relations are based, we are keen, today, to strengthen them, bearing in mind the need for a common understanding of the two nations’ interests,” he said.
Talking broadly about the tenets of his country’s foreign policy, he said “Morocco does not accept that its best interests be trampled on. At the same time, my country is keen to have strong, constructive and balanced relations, especially with our neighbours.”
King Mohammed VI, however, deplored “the carefully planned attacks mounted recently against Morocco by some countries and organisations known for their hostility towards our country.” He explained that, “Morocco is a target because it is a country steeped in history – it has existed for more than twelve centuries, not to mention the nation’s longstanding Amazigh history – and it is governed by a citizen-based monarchy which has existed for more than four centuries, and which is rooted in a solid bond between the throne and the people.”“Morocco is also a target because of the security and stability it enjoys; these are invaluable assets, especially in light of the upheavals characterizing today’s world.” He added that, “The enemies of the Kingdom’s territorial integrity build their positions on ready-made, yet obsolete, premises. They simply do not want Morocco to remain free, strong and influential.”The king considered that a few countries, especially among Morocco’s traditional European partners, “fear for their economic interests, markets and spheres of influence in the Maghreb region.”“Some of their leaders fail to understand that the problem does not lie in the systems of Maghreb countries, but in their own. These are systems which continue to feed on the past and cannot stay abreast of new developments.” “They do not want to recognise that the rules of the game have changed – that our countries are able to manage their own affairs and use their energies and resources for the benefit of their peoples,” said Mohammed VI.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on August 21-22/2021
د. ماجد رفي زاده/معهد جيتستون: ملالي إيران أقرب من أي وقت مضى للحصول على الأسلحة النووية
Iran Mullahs Closer Than Ever to Obtaining Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./August 21, 2021
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The Biden administration… has made no efforts to pressure the Iranian regime into answering the International Atomic Energy Agency’s questions about three undeclared clandestine nuclear sites found in Iran.
“For objectivity’s sake, I should say that the Iranian government has reiterated its will to engage and to cooperate and to provide answers, but they haven’t done that so far. So I hope this may change, but as we speak, we haven’t had any concrete progress.” — General Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency, Seattle Times, June 7, 2021.
It seems — worryingly, especially after failures of both intelligence and planning in the Afghanistan debacle — that the Biden administration is again standing idly by while the mullahs of Iran comfortably keep enriching uranium to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.
We have seen what they do to their own people and the region when they do not have one. Just look at what has been called “the world’s greatest sponsor of state terrorism” has done when they have no nuclear weapons — both domestically to their own people, and internationally to Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and even Venezuela and larger South America… What then can the Free World expect that Iran will do after they have nuclear weapons?
The Iranian regime appears just a few months away from obtaining nuclear weapons, all while the Biden administration is completely silent and has not articulated any clear policy for preventing this dangerous and predatory regime from becoming a nuclear state like North Korea. Pictured: The heavy water production facility at Arak, south of Tehran.
The Iranian regime appears just a few months away from obtaining nuclear weapons, all while the Biden administration is completely silent and has not articulated any clear policy for preventing this dangerous and predatory regime from becoming a nuclear state like North Korea.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz told ambassadors from countries on the United Nations Security Council during a briefing at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on August 4, 2021:
“Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon… Now is the time for deeds – words are not enough. It is time for diplomatic, economic and even military deeds, otherwise the attacks will continue.”
The Biden administration has been insisting on reviving the disastrous Obama nuclear deal and the theocratic establishment of Iran has evidently seen this as a perfect opportunity to buy time and inch closer to acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Biden administration first showed its desperation by making it clear to the Iranian leaders that the US wanted to return to the nuclear deal and was willing to lift all sanctions re-imposed by the Trump administration.
As nuclear talks began, the Iranian regime began advancing its nuclear program at a faster pace as the negotiations went on. The Biden administration not only remained silent in the face of Iran’s violations, it also started offering even more concessions to the mullahs. The Biden administration, for instance, announced not only that it was willing to lift nuclear-related sanctions, but also that it was considering lifting non-nuclear related sanctions.
Iran first began increasing uranium enrichment to 20% in January 2021. On January 9, the Iranian parliament passed a law requiring the government to expel the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear inspectors. In April, the regime raised its uranium enrichment level to 60%, edging closer to weapons-grade levels. While his government was holding indirect nuclear talks with the Biden administration, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, bragged:
“The young and God-believing Iranian scientists managed to achieve a 60% enriched uranium product. I congratulate the brave nation of Islamic Iran on this success. The Iranian nation’s willpower is miraculous and can defuse any conspiracy.”
On July 6, while the Geneva nuclear talks were ongoing, the regime began producing enriched uranium metal. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog group, warned:
“Today, Iran informed the Agency that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20 percent U-235 would be shipped to the R&D laboratory at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Esfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20 percent U-235, before using it to manufacture the fuel.”
A joint statement issued by the UK, France and Germany agreed that the Iranian regime “has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.”
The Biden administration, in addition, has made no efforts to pressure the Iranian regime into answering the International Atomic Energy Agency’s questions about three undeclared clandestine nuclear sites found in Iran. IAEA Director General General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated:
“Iran must decide to cooperate in a clearer manner with the agency to give the necessary clarifications. The fact that we found traces (of uranium) is very important. That means there is the possibility of nuclear activities and material that are not under international supervision and about which we know not the origin or the intent. That worries me.”
Grossi also warned:
“The lack of progress in clarifying the agency’s questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. For objectivity’s sake, I should say that the Iranian government has reiterated its will to engage and to cooperate and to provide answers, but they haven’t done that so far. So I hope this may change, but as we speak, we haven’t had any concrete progress.”
It seems — worryingly, especially after failures of both intelligence and planning in the Afghanistan debacle — that the Biden administration is again standing idly by while the mullahs of Iran comfortably keep enriching uranium to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.
We have seen what the ruling mullahs do to their own people and the region even before they have nuclear weapons. Just take a look at what the country called “the world’s greatest sponsor of state terrorism” has already done both domestically to their own people, and internationally to Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and even Venezuela and larger South America — not to mention a recent deadly attack on a commercial oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. What then is the Free World expecting the mullahs to do after they have nuclear weapons?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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نديم شحادة/عرب نيوز: عن أميركا: كيف يمكن للناس الأذكياء أن يكونون أغبياء
America: How can smart people be so dumb?
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/August 21/2021
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We are again in a bipolar world — not that of the Cold War, but a psychological one. At one pole are the triumphalism, ecstasy and jubilation of America’s enemies; at the other are denial, disbelief, humiliation, anxiety and fear as its friends and allies lament another sign of the end of Pax Americana.
Although I swore allegiance to Queen Elizabeth when I became a citizen of the UK, I never felt other than Lebanese in my 38 years in cosmopolitan London. The culture shock when I moved to the US made me feel British for the first time. What was missing was explained to me (in a Manchester accent) by the receptionist at a Washington think tank: Americans had lost the ability to use simple common sense. In fact, they haven’t, they are just prevented from using it. I have been puzzled by this question and have tried to understand it in the past five years. The answer may be deeply cultural, and the explanation may lie in America’s uniquely bureaucratic society.
Lawrence of Arabia was parachuted into the desert with a simple mission — to organize an Arab revolt. He had to rely on his wits, common sense, and a little knowledge of the region acquired on archeological trips to Syria and Lebanon. He succeeded, with a little bit of luck and judgment, making connections and forging alliances. It is time to rewatch that movie.
Had he been a present day American, T.E. Lawrence would have been sent in with precise instructions and a rule book of several thousand pages which he would have had to blindly follow at every step. When he met Anthony Quinn outside Aqaba, he would have handed him several forms: Disclaimer, non-disclosure, security clearance questionnaire and all sorts of vetting documents. Then they would have had to sign a contract, possibly with a tendering process with other tribes, and have it validated at every step with proper receipts and tax forms for Awda Abu Tayi’s share of the booty.
T.E. Lawrence was congratulated for his success. Had he failed, he would have been “Lawrence who?” His American counterpart would face a rigorous evaluation of the process. Every step would have been recorded, measured, validated and approved by an army of administrators who would also interpret the rules and plan the next steps. The original goal of the mission is irrelevant and could be totally forgotten; even success would be punished if rules were broken, since success is in following the rules.
The anthropologist David Graeber described the American system as “Total Bureaucratization,” and far more German than it is Anglo Saxon. Brits either conquer countries or trade with them, Americans try to administer them. Their bureaucracy is the same in the public and private sectors, and was imposed on all the international institutions they created after the Second World War, such as the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and the UN. It is a hydra-like monster; every time you cut one head it grows many others, and any attempts at reducing it create even more layers.
The US lawyer and writer Philip K. Howard traces the demise of American common sense back to 1970, when J. Skelly Wright, a federal appeals judge, described the idea of administrators having freedom to use their judgment in making decisions as the “soft underbelly of the American legal system,” and called for “an interlocking network of rules” to prevent co-option of the system by those it was trying to regulate. The result was that while forest rangers in the 1960s could carry the list of rules in their shirt pockets (“They did just fine armed with a pamphlet of rules and their own common sense,” according to Al Gore), they now had to consult several volumes of fine print and needed a dozen administrators to help navigate them.
The industrialist and financier William Hopper offers another interpretation of the same problem. It came when the traditional American company chief executive, who had risen through the ranks from the shop floor, was replaced by an MBA graduate installed at the top. The former could make a decision in full knowledge of the capability of every person at every stage of the process, with whom he was probably on first name terms. The latter would hire an army of lawyers and other MBAs to set up a gargantuan monstrosity of rules, making sure no one ever used their common sense or judgment to the best of their abilities and experience.
A former German army officer told me that in NATO exercises with the Americans, the US soldiers were by far the most competent, best equipped and well trained — but without instructions they were totally lost, and disabling their commander would paralyze the whole team.
In America, even the commander in chief has to rely on an $80 billion-a-year intelligence service. In July 2016, in the lovely little town of Rockport, Massachusetts, I met Ladislav Bittman, aka Larry Martin, a former head of the Czechoslovakian disinformation department before he defected to the US in 1969. He explained to me how the American intelligence service had been rendered totally useless by bureaucracy, with restrictions on subject matter and interlocutors. A system of security clearances contributed to ensuring that the least competent people reached the highest posts.
American bureaucracy is a hydra-like monster; every time you cut one head it grows many others, and any attempts at reducing it create even more layers.
Someone, probably with an MBA, created a grid or a matrix with everyone’s counterparts and the precise questions they were allowed to raise. The result was that no one had sight of the larger picture.
Twenty years of counterterrorism work, costing billions, relied on a totally bureaucratized intelligence service that was barred from using common sense. My colleague, Prof. Jeffrey Karam, explained to me how “humint,” or human intelligence, was replaced with data-driven research and algorithms, often with results that any taxi driver on the ground could tell you were false.
How often have we heard commanders saying that in Syria they were “focused” on fighting Daesh? “Focused” translates into being oblivious to anything else that is happening, and ignorance of the larger picture or the strategic implications. The “laser focus” on withdrawal from Afghanistan has been executed in the same mode. That focus has now been reduced to the evacuation of people from an airport.
This phenomenon of focusing on the task at hand epitomizes the problem in Iraq after 2003, in Syria after the 2011 uprising, and in Afghanistan for the past 20 years.
There are two messages from Afghanistan for all who collaborate with Americans and to all their allies and friends, according to the Kuwaiti academic and intellectual Dr. Abdullah Alshayji, whose country was liberated by the US after it was invaded by Saddam Hussein in 1991: Don’t count on the US any more, and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
I am still puzzled by how the US is outsmarted by its opponents; how a city such as Washington, with the highest ratio in the world of PhDs per square meter, with all the think tanks, government institutions, lobbyists, media and policy institutes all “focused” on formulating policy, can collectively produce such dismal results that are so much less than the sum of its parts — how the image from the film “The Quiet American” has been replaced by that of the Dumb American.
*Nadim Shehadi is executive director of the LAU Headquarters and Academic Center in New York and an associate fellow of Chatham House in London.

Kamala Harris travels east in search of a role
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/August 21/2021
US Vice-President Kamala Harris starts a tour of Asia on Sunday in a bid to recapture the Biden team’s foreign policy momentum after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The White House has been rocked by the fall of Ashraf Ghani’s administration, with comparisons made with the trauma of the US experience in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, especially the chaotic 1975 US evacuations from a CIA roof in Saigon in 1975 as the Viet Cong took the city. Harris therefore faces a potentially difficult tour in the coming days, with the second leg of her itinerary being in Vietnam after first visiting Singapore.
The pressure on Harris on this trip, however, is not only because of the US setback in Afghanistan and the intense international criticism that has followed. In addition, she is perceived to have made an uneven start as vice president with wobbly domestic poll ratings as her unfavorable numbers continue to outweigh positives. This worries some Democrats who see her as potentially the party’s nominee in 2024 if Joe Biden decides not to seek re-election when he will be in his early eighties. And it is in this troubled context that Harris will therefore seek to use the tour, in which key issues will include regional security, the pandemic, China and climate change, to raise her profile as she seeks to become an effective international interlocutor. In seeking to carve out a strong role for herself as vice-president, Harris is following a pattern in the past quarter of a century whereby several of the recent incumbents of her job — Biden, Dick Cheney, and Al Gore — all enjoyed sizeable influence in not just foreign policy but in domestic affairs too. Indeed, Cheney, who was a predominant voice in many of George W. Bush’s international decisions, including the US-led invasion of Iraq, is widely viewed as the most powerful holder of the office.
Biden and Gore also played a major role in US foreign and domestic policy. Biden was, for instance, a key player in encouraging Barack Obama to secure the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. A good example of Gore’s influence in Bill Clinton’s administration was the driving force role he played in the international negotiations that led to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to help tackle climate change.
Only Mike Pence in this period was an exception to this pattern. He had a troubled relationship with Donald Trump and his influence in the White House ebbed and flowed, significantly, reflecting the up-down relationship between the two men.
Given that the ancestral home of the maternal relatives of Harris is India, one international area in which she will try to make a big contribution is Asia policy. And it is therefore likely that she will make several further visits to the region in the coming years, including India itself, with the Biden team continuing to make countering China the centerpiece of its foreign policy.
Part of the reason why Harris could be such a key figure in this administration’s international affairs is that Biden was, last November, the oldest person ever to win the presidency. This elevates the possibility that, especially if he wins a second term in 2024, Harris may be required to assume office upon the incumbent’s unanticipated death or incapacity. History underlines the crucial role that vice presidents stepping up to the presidency have played and it is perhaps Harry Truman who best exemplifies this. Truman was vice president from just January to April 1945 before assuming the presidency after Franklin Roosevelt died. Even if Biden sees out that next four, or even eight years if he is re-elected, Harris could assume a growing array of foreign policy responsibilities, and may even succeed him in office through the ballot box.
Within weeks of assuming office, Truman made several huge decisions, including the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That year he also attended the landmark Potsdam conference with the Soviet Union and the UK to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany.
Even if Biden sees out that next four, or even eight years if he is re-elected, Harris could assume a growing array of foreign policy responsibilities, and may even succeed him in office through the ballot box. This is because the vice-presidency has become perhaps the single best transitional office to the Oval Office in recent decades.  Since 1960, four sitting vice-presidents (Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968; Walter Mondale in 1984; and Gore in 2000) won their party’s presidential nomination but then lost the general election. Moreover, three sitting or former office holders have been elected president (Nixon in 1968, George H.W. Bush in 1988, and Biden in 2020). Harris hopes that she will be able to add to this list in 2024, 2028 or possibly even in the 2030s, a fact that will not be lost on her hosts in Singapore and Vietnam. Given the likelihood of her making such a presidential run, her international influence is only likely to therefore grow given the non-trivial possibility that she may well occupy the Oval Office herself in coming years.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.