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

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Bible Quotations For today
Woe to you Pharisees! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed
Saint Luke 11/47-51/:”Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 21-22/2021
MoPH: 539 new coronavirus cases, one death
Amer Fakhoury Foundation Calls On US secretary of state, Mr. Antony Blinken To Support Judge Tarek Bitar
Hezbollah’s Iranian weapons undermine Lebanon, US national security: Joe Biden
Aoun Says PM Consultations to be Held on Time
Berri Seeking to Convince Miqati to Head New Govt.
Franjieh from Diman: I will name Karami or Mikati to head the government
Makhzoumi: I was the first to call for lifting immunities immediately
FPM denies published news about course of meetings between Bassil, Salameh
Syriac Union Party, NLP call for a “Front inciting international community to come to Lebanon’s aid”
Report: Lebanon could turn into ‘Venezuela of the Mediterranean’/Najat Houssari/Arab News/July 21/2021
Syria’s financial crisis tied closely to Lebanon’s/Tala Jarjour/Arab News/July 21/2021
The Downfalling of a Country/Charles Elias Chartouni/July 21/2021
Hariri’s stepping aside sets stage for more chaos in Lebanon/Chloe Cornish/Financial Times/July 21/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/2021
Three shot dead in riots as Iran regime runs out of water
Police Officer Killed in Restive Southwest Iran
AMCD Blasts Biden Administration for Waiving Sanctions on Iran
Nahid Taghavi was arrested at her Tehran apartment in October after years fighting for human rights
Syria shot 7 of 8 Israeli missiles, Russian military says
France Accuses Erdogan of 'Provocation' over Cyprus Comments
Flood-Battered Germany Prepares Billions to Rebuild
Council reminds member states that fighting terrorism is an obligation under UN Charter and says perpetrators must be brought to justice
Egypt has witnessed a recent decline in the number of COVID-19 cases with officials recording less than 70 new infections and under 10 deaths a day
20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard and were presumed to have drowned

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 21-22/2021
EU's Top Court: Employers May Ban Islamic Headscarves/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2021
Problems with world peacekeeping: U.N. does it incompetently, corruptly, and criminally/Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/July 21/2021
Why UK’s ‘freedom day’ gamble could backfire/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/July 21/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 21-22/2021
MoPH: 539 new coronavirus cases, one death
NNA/July 21/2021
539 new coronavirus cases and one more death have been recorded in Lebanon in the last 24 hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday.

Amer Fakhoury Foundation Calls On US secretary of state, Mr. Antony Blinken To Support Judge Tarek Bitar
مؤسسة الشهيد عامر فاخوري تناشد وزارة الخارجية الأميركية تقديم الدعم للمحقق طارق البيطار وحمايته
20 تموز/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100777/%d9%85%d8%a4%d8%b3%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%b1-%d9%81%d8%a7%d8%ae%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b4%d8%af-%d9%88%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%a9-%d8%a7/
USA/20/07/2021
Below Is a Summary of The Letter Text Sent To Mr. Blinken
Today we are writing to update you on the current situation in Lebanon, as we are sure you are aware of some of the recent updates.
As you know the port explosion in Beirut that happened on August 4, 2020, is being investigated by judge Tarek Bitar.
Judge Bitar recently called upon some officials in the government to lift their immunities so he can continue the investigation with them since he has evidence of their direct involvement in the port explosion.
The Lebanese Government is refusing to lift immunity on these criminals involved in the port explosion. Victims were protesting in front of the house of minister Fehmeh to pressure him to lift immunity on General Abbas Ibrahim, one of the officials involved in the explosion of the port. Unfortunately, security officials started beating the victims and the protestors.
We hope the State Department and the USA will stand with the Lebanese people and advocate lifting immunity on officials involved in the explosion of the port.
We sincerely ask the state department to lift Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon that is deeply rooted in every sector of the government.

Hezbollah’s Iranian weapons undermine Lebanon, US national security: Joe Biden
Arab News/July 21/2021
LONDON: The supply of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah undermines Lebanon’s national security and poses a threat to the security of the US, President Joe Biden said Tuesday. The president served notice to Congress to extend the national emergency with respect to Lebanon, in place since 2007, beyond its termination date of Aug. 1, 2021. “Certain ongoing activities, such as Iran’s continuing arms transfers to Hezbollah — which include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems — serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in the region,” Biden’s message to the Federal Register said. The Iranian supply of weapons to Hezbollah continued to “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” he added. “For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13441 with respect to Lebanon.”

Aoun Says PM Consultations to be Held on Time
Naharnet/July 21/2021
President Michel Aoun on Wednesday stressed that the upcoming binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier-designate will be held on time. “To settle any interpretation or hints, the parliamentary consultations will be held on time, and any possible postponement request must be justified,” Aoun said in a tweet. The President had on Monday scheduled the consultations for July 26. Saad Hariri stepped down as PM-designate on Thursday after nine months of futile deliberations, citing deep disagreements with Aoun. Hariri's exit came amid a financial collapse branded by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst since the 19th century. His departure left the country rudderless as Lebanon faces soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, angry protests and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel. Hariri had been nominated premier-designate in October 2020 to replace Mustafa Adib, a relatively unknown diplomat. Adib had been nominated just weeks after the Beirut port explosion, but quit less than a month later over resistance to his proposed line up. Outgoing prime minister Hassan Diab, who resigned in the wake of the August 4 explosion, has stayed on in a caretaker capacity until political leaders can agree on a new premier.

Berri Seeking to Convince Miqati to Head New Govt.
Naharnet/July 21/2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is seeking to convince ex-PM Najib Miqati to lead the new government, media reports said on Wednesday. “Ex-PM Saad Hariri has suggested during a meeting for the ex-PMs to nominate either Najib Miqati or Tammam Salam, but he ran into their refusal after they said that it is impossible to cooperate with President Michel Aoun,” Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted parliamentary sources as saying. “But Berri is betting that, in cooperation with Hariri and the ex-PMs, he might convince Miqati to reconsider his decision,” the sources added. “The parliament speaker is against the formation of a one-sided government that resembles the current resigned government and he might become obliged not to take part in the new government in order not to grant it political cover,” the sources went on to say. The sources also revealed that Berri has communicated with Hizbullah’s leadership and with Hariri and Miqati because “he has no intention to agree to a one-sided government that lacks the ability to address the international community for assistance.”

Franjieh from Diman: I will name Karami or Mikati to head the government
NNA/July 21/2021
Head of the Marada Movement, MP Sleiman Franjieh, regretted Wednesday that "there is no longer a middle class in the country," hoping "to form a government that comforts the people and the international community.”He added that he will assess the form of the anticipated cabinet in order to decide on partaking it, while pledging “support to any government that solves the country's problem.”Franjieh’s words came during his visit to Al-Diman today, where he met with Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, with talks touching on the prevailing situation in the country. “His Beatitude is praying to stop the collapse at least, and our hope is great for the formation of the government, and is also pinned on a prime minister-designate that would comfort the people and the international community. We cannot say that we are optimistic or pessimistic, but we can say that we are praying,” said Franjieh. Responding to a question about who the “National Bloc” would be nominating during the binding parliamentary consultations, Franjieh said: "I will name either Faisal Karami or Najib Mikati to head the government, with whom we have a personal relationship."Over the Beirut Port blast probe, the MP challenged Judge Bitar to reveal what he has to say, stressing that his Movement supports a fair trial and anyone who is found guilty must pay the price.

Makhzoumi: I was the first to call for lifting immunities immediately
NNA/July 21/2021
“One television station has been accustomed to broadcasting false and fabricated news, whereby in one of its reports yesterday dated 20/7/2021 about a petition over moving the trial of ministers and MPs accused in the Beirut Port blast, it claimed that MP Fouad Makhzoumi, who was not present at the session to lift immunities, will vote for referring the case to the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers…while knowing that MP Makhzoumi was the first to call, and still calls, for the immediate lifting of immunities, and has refused, prior to all people and parliamentary blocs, to transfer the dossier from the Judicial Council to the Supreme Council, demanding that justice takes its course in fulfillment of the truth and in avengement of the martyrs’ blood…The false allegations are totally rejected. Stop your lying and misleading!" tweeted MP Fouad Makhzoumi on Wednesday.

FPM denies published news about course of meetings between Bassil, Salameh
NNA/July 21/2021
The Free Patriotic Movement’s central media committee denied, in an issued statement today, "the alleged news published by ‘Akhbar Al-Youm’ about the course of meetings held between the Movement’s Chief, MP Gibran Bassil, and the Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh,” while urging the concerned media outlet and those in charge to exercise accuracy and professionalism.

Syriac Union Party, NLP call for a “Front inciting international community to come to Lebanon’s aid”
NNA/July 21/2021
Head of the Syriac Union Party, Ibrahim Mrad, met today with National Liberal Party Chief (NLP), Camille Dory Chamoun, with talks touching on the country’s general prevailing situation and "the historical relations between the two parties, as well as their joint struggle that has been ongoing since the mandate of late President Camille Chamoun till the present day for a sovereign, free and independent Lebanon". The conferees underlined in a statement, the "need to seriously consider creating a Lebanese sovereign opposition front [...] in order to urge the international community to help Lebanon and to support its people in these fateful moments". Speaking on emerging, Chamoun said: "Today, we have great hopes for a wider coordination with our comrades of the Syriac Union Party, with whom we have fought a long struggle since the times of the war until today ". “We, as opposition parties, must strive to face the threats especially as Lebanon’s existence is endangered,” he said. For his part, Mrad welcomed the visit of the NLP Chief, stressing that “today, we are fighting together for the liberation of Lebanon from the Iranian occupation represented by Hezbollah and all the corrupt junta which brought Lebanon and its people to collapse at all levels.” He regretted that "the Lebanese people have been transformed from being an educated, generous, and creative people to queuing-up to get gasoline and food for their children.”“Our hand is extended to the NLP, as well as to all the parties and sovereign groups fighting for the liberty of Lebanon, in order to free it from this occupation and to exert pressure on the international community to play its role, so that our country returns to being the ‘Switzerland’ and the ‘beacon” of East as in the days of the great, particularly during the reign of the King President Camille Chamoun,” Mrad concluded.

Report: Lebanon could turn into ‘Venezuela of the Mediterranean’
Najat Houssari/Arab News/July 21/2021
BEIRUT: The cost of food in Lebanon has skyrocketed 700 percent over the past two years, and more importantly, the increase has picked up pace in recent weeks, according to a Crisis Observatory report released on Wednesday. The Crisis Observatory is an interdisciplinary research program launched by the American University of Beirut (AUB) to track the repercussions of the economic crisis in Lebanon. The report reflected the current state of the country as malls and shops, usually bustling with Eid Al-Adha celebrations, were empty and stagnant this week as much of Lebanon’s middle class can no longer afford to go shopping due to the dramatic increase in prices. All of this is amid the country’s inability to form a government as Lebanon is teetering on the edge of social and economic collapse. While the AUB Crisis Observatory report revealed staggering financial shortcomings, it also concluded that Lebanon could turn into the “Venezuela of the Mediterranean” and it predicted a majority of the Lebanese people would struggle to secure their minimum needs without the help of relief institutions.
The report said the exponential and weekly increase of basic food prices is an indicator that the country is “slipping into hyperinflation.”The price of a basic food basket increased by more than 50 percent in less than a month, Crisis Observatory at the American University of Beirut said. (AFP)
The price of a basic food basket increased by more than 50 percent in less than a month, it said, while clothing has become somewhat of a luxury. Families complained about their inability to buy new clothes for their children on Eid Al-Adha because, as one mother put it, the pants she used to buy at 30,000 pounds are now sold for 400,000 pounds.
The American University of Beirut Crisis Observatory report concluded that Lebanon could turn into the ‘Venezuela of the Mediterranean’ and it predicted a majority of the Lebanese people would struggle to secure their minimum needs without the help of relief institutions.
“We were expecting to see more customers on Eid Al-Adha, but people’s purchasing power has plummeted,” Therese, owner of a bar in Beirut, said. “Lebanese expatriates who came to summer in Lebanon have helped revive the tourism a little bit, but we are afraid of what will happen once they leave.”
The report, accessed by Arab News, said the price of basic food items “have dramatically increased in the first half of July,” according to the price lists of Lebanon’s economy ministry and the price courses conducted regularly by the observatory’s researchers.
According to the observatory, “the prices for basic food items, including vegetables, grains, dairy products, beef, eggs, and oil, have soared by more than 700 percent since July 2019, before the financial and economic collapse.”
The price of local bread, which is supposed to be subsidized with a wheat and flour import at the official exchange rate, has increased by 233 percent since May 2020, the report said. Based on food prices in the first half of July, a family of five was spending more than 3.5 million pounds on food per month. That figure does not take into account the additional costs for water, electricity or cooking gas.
“According to these prices, a family’s budget just for food is around five times the minimum wage, which stands at 675,000 pounds,” the report said. “That was once worth almost $450, but today barely fetches $30 on the black market.”
The observatory linked the inflation of food prices to the devaluation of the Lebanese pound against the US dollar, where the Lebanese currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value in the past two years. According to the report, the inflation “is expected to continue with the projected additional decline in the Lebanese pound’s value in the coming months.” The fate of Lebanon remains unknown amid the collapse of state institutions. The country’s politicians have failed to form a government, almost a year after the resignation of Hassan Diab’s government in the aftermath of the catastrophic Beirut blast on Aug. 4, 2020, which killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000. Nine months after he was designated as prime minister, Saad Hariri announced his inability to form a government on July 15 and stepped down. He failed to reach an agreement with Lebanon President Michel Aoun over a second lineup that Hariri had presented to him. The parliamentary consultations, aimed at designating a new Sunni figure to form a government, are set to take place on Monday. All of this despite a Sunni resentment against the Lebanese president and his political party’s way of dealing with the prime minister’s constitutional powers.
Imams and khatibs heavily criticized Lebanese politicians in their Eid khutbahs. Some of them even mentioned Aoun by name in an attempt to hold all politicians responsible for the poverty, shortages, and struggles that Lebanon has been grappling with for months.

Syria’s financial crisis tied closely to Lebanon’s
Tala Jarjour/Arab News/July 21/2021
Rightly, although for all the wrong reasons, Lebanon has been a frequent fixture in global news bulletins at least since the major explosion that devastated its capital, Beirut, almost a year ago. Most pressing has been an economic crisis that is unprecedented in the history of the modern state. A major failing of the country’s banking sector, which experts have described as a Ponzi scheme, and the resultant lack of foreign currencies have precipitated the much-discussed economic crisis and its many repercussions. One consequence, however, is rarely discussed: The fact that Lebanon’s neighbor, Syria, which continues to reel from the effects of war, its loss of revenue-generating territory and the drain on its human capital, is also reeling from devastating and seemingly unending economic shocks.
One of the most direct effects of the collapse of the Lebanese banking sector is the loss of private Syrian capital. Since Lebanon implemented its 1956 Law of Bank Secrecy (which was only lifted by parliament temporarily for one year in December 2020), many Arabs — Syrians included — have used Lebanese banks to save, move and invest capital. This was the case even during the Lebanese war years, and especially during the last decade or so of war in Syria.
As the internal unrest in Syria intensified in the first half of the 2010s, and as the growing conflict seemed to become more and more drawn out, Lebanon was the quickest route for people to take cash out of the stagnating Syrian economy. While the Syrian government worked to actively curtail this trend, Lebanon’s banks became, in some cases, the only repository for private Syrian cash, especially after the increasing imposition of sanctions on the country and restrictions on the global financial dealings of its citizens.
In a rather surprising gesture, Syrian President Bashar Assad made reference to these funds in his fourth inauguration speech, which he delivered on Saturday. Assad said estimates for the amount of cash Syrian citizens are unable to recover from Lebanon’s banks range between $40 billion and $60 billion. While making it clear that this includes huge sums that were illegally siphoned off across the border, the implication is to claim ownership of parts of any potential Lebanese economic bailout, as well as the huge losses in it.
For Syrians, having just a fraction of the cash they invested in Lebanon is not an easy bullet to bite. Regardless of the exact sum, and of how problematic Saturday’s occasion was to many Syrians inside as well as outside the country, the point Assad made hit upon a fact. For Syrians, especially those whose entire savings were deposited across the border, having just a fraction of their cash after all withdrawal transactions is not an easy bullet to bite, especially after decades of hard work and responsible fiscal decisions. However, for most Syrians today, some cash is better than none.
Entire swaths of the Syrian population are surviving on rationed food packages, mostly sent by international donors. This is not unlike the situation of Syrians who have fled the country, including to refugee camps in Lebanon. They too are undergoing increasing difficulties in finding their daily bread. When I read about local corner shop closures in Beirut or see reports on middle-class families of two full-time professional parents struggling to make ends meet, I wonder if Syrian families who have been confined to the refugee camps without permission to work have bread on a daily basis. I know some in Syria do not.
After enduring waves of austerity measures over the past decade, compounded by the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Syrians are now facing even bleaker uncertainties than those of their Lebanese neighbors. Early this month, a 50 percent salary increase was announced by the government. The next morning, the price of bread increased by 100 percent. Overnight, the cost of a standard batch of bread went up from 50 Syrian pounds to 100. Against the US dollar, the value of the Syrian pound, or lira, continues its steep decline. One dollar this week equaled 3,150 Syrian lira on the black market and 2,500 at Central Bank tills. Compared with pre-war exchange rates of between 50 and 52 Syrian lira to the dollar, this shows that the numeric increase in salaries is an effective decline in purchasing power.
For better or worse, Syria’s financial well-being has been closely tied to that of Lebanon. Lebanon, after all, shares with Syria the vast majority of its land border, which is permeable not only to the flow of goods, people and many other things both legally and illegally, it is also permeable to crises and shortages, as well as to the effects of sanctions and corruption, officially and unofficially.
As the Syrian president entered and exited the marble-floored hall of the People’s Palace, accompanied by music from the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, I wondered how many of those musicians playing near the colored marble fountain, or indeed of those attending the exclusive invitation-only event, had all the meals they and their children needed last week.
Mutual dependency between Lebanon and Syria, and the inevitability of crises spilling across their shared border, make me wish that more expatriates might visit this summer. That is the only chance for many people to have their daily bread, probably for months to come.
* Tala Jarjour is author of “Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo.” She is visiting research fellow at King’s College London and associate fellow at Yale College.

The Downfalling of a Country
Charles Elias Chartouni/July 21/2021
شارل الياس شرتوني/انهيار لبنان
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100775/charles-elias-chartouni-the-downfalling-of-a-country-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d9%84%d8%a8/
The perpetuating ministerial crisis is no oddity in our country, since it reflects an enduring pattern of institutional voids replicated throughout the last six decades. The lack of consensus over sovereignty matters has become a permanent feature which hobbles the functioning of institutions, and makes them pliable to the interests of domestic and foreign political brokers and the sway of regional politics, and opens up the way to oligarchic entrenchments. The latest political stalemate which succeeded the August 4th 2020 terrorist attack has yielded 11 months of political obstructionism, obtrusive malevolence and bitter animosities, and total disregard for the cumulative financial and socio-economic problems and their destructive consequences. Far from being accidental the unreeling events display the final episodes of a long decaying process which has run its course over the last six decades, and displayed the infirmities of a defrauded political entity. What we are witnessing at this juncture is the reiteration of institutional crises actuated throughout the 1958,1975,1990 and 2005 conflictual episodes and their incidence on the very functioning of political institutions, relegated to instrumentalization and redundancy by subservive power politics.
Lebanese institutions were progressively downgraded and made ancillaries to the destructive sway of regional power politics, lost their regulatory role to the adjudications of domestic and regional power contenders, and paved the way to oligarchic logrolling and the debilitation of democratic institutions and political culture. The asymmetries between the eviscerated political institutions and the dynamics of Realpolitik attest to the systemic breakdowns of a political system and a dysfunctional Nation-State, Lebanon has muted into a political wasteland where political institutions and their underlying normative consensuses have dissipated, and the country is left adrift to the destructive impact of power relationships.
The harshness of the latest conflictual episode leaves us with corrosive uncertainties concerning the future of a political entity experiencing over and over its delegitimization, the deliberate sabotaging of its institutions, and the plundering of its resources by domestic actors pursuing their personal interests and sectarian strategies in coalition with coopted regional political and economic actors. The Shiite and Sunnite power elites and their enlisted coalition partners among Christian political actors, have willingly destroyed the institutional game to give way to their rise to power, cater to their oligarchic and sectarian interests which have systematically mapped the public domain, and proceeded into the de facto unraveling of the Nation-State and democratic institutions, and put at stake the future of civil concord, in a country made fragile by premeditated subversion politics operating on the interfaces of a tattering and threadbare sovereignty. The adumbrated sociological outlines help us define the coordinates and span of the ongoing crisis.
-The conjunction of the financial crisis, oligarchic entrenchments and the extraterritoriality of Shiite power politics have precluded the legal and democratic arbitration process from taking place, and the different political and financial actors found it expedient to pursue the weakening of State institutions and transform them into appendages to serve power games, financial interests, and long term strategic objectives. The all encompassing oligarchic canopy is interested in perpetuating the crisis, disrupting legal processes at various ends, forestalling international arbitrations and maintaining the de facto control over political levers.
The ineptitude and subservience of the nominal Diab government have prevented negotiations with the IMF from taking full course, forensic audit and recourse to Lebanese and international Justice from taking place, and the reform of the banking sector in relationship with the economy and the public sector (through merger and acquistions, recapitalization, reformation of the Central Bank, reviewing the cash and credit regulations, retrieval of depositors money, Dollarization or/and stabilization of the Lebanese currency, redemption of depositors accounts, streamlining and downsizing an overbloated clientelistic sector and redundant public administration, reviewing public spending policies and rescaling priorities, cutting down on corruption, public mismanagement, clientelism, oligarchic prebends and the overall patrimonialization of State institutions, redefining the boundaries of the private and public sectors based on the evaluation of State assets, nomothetic idiosyncrasies and governance regimes, and setting of ethical and legal standards, i.e. conflict of interests, shaming politics and public trials,… ).
The professional failures of the Diab cabinet, owed to its moral and political subservience, inexperienced incumbents, and pliability to oligarchic mentors, was relayed by the Hariri interlude and his inability to form a cabinet, mainly due to his murky positioning, lack of a road map, idle juggling, oligarchic interests, checkmating of Shiite power politics and overall immaturity, seem to accommodate the kaiser game of the ruling coalition. I wonder whether Shiite power politics are intent on accommodation and whether it’s in their interest to facilitate the formation of a cabinet assigned with the resolution of dire financial and socio-economic problems, the jump-starting of the economic engines, and the overall normalization of life in Lebanon.
-The proto-nuclear explosion of last August 4th 2020, the string of political assassinations and their immediate political antecedents, the hovering terror which poisons the daily lives of Lebanese have an unmistakable address, Hezbollah and its associates. The symptomatic nature of the terrorist attack is quite indicative of Hezbollah’s strategy, diligent subversive action and determination to change the political, urban, socio-economic, demographic and geopolitical dynamics. This Shiite fascist coalition is hell bent on destroying Lebanon, as it has overtly stated through its ideological mouthpieces (preachers in the Husayniyat), political statements, and the doxa disseminated throughout its communal environment, the faked real estate litigations in the Bekaa, Kesrouan and Jbeil, the politics of “divide and rule”attempted within the Christian, Sunnite and Druze communities.
The delegitimization discourse of the Lebanese National entity is part of a broader Iranian destabilization strategy aimed at reshuffling the strategic landscape in Lebanon and the Near East, where Hezbollah plays the role of the coordinator of Shiite political subversion, and aims at transforming Lebanon into its operational platform. The political obstructionism displayed throughout the last two years, and the manifold foreclosures set all long the Lebanese political spectrum are mounted to serve its sabotaging strategy. Michel Aoun’s puppet presidency and his political movement, Hassan Diab’s burlesque coalition, and a broad array of political hacks and journalists (Nasser Qandil, We’am Wahhab, Abdel Rahim Mrad, Faysal Karameh, Talal Arslan, Emile Rahme, Jean Aziz, Salem Zahran, Scarlett Haddad, Karim Pakradouni….) are hired to advocate and conceal the subtexts of a subversion strategy.
The chances of a “mission cabinet” advocated by President Macron turned out to be a self fulfilling prophesy and is unlikely to materialize, unless Lebanese political dynamics succeed breaking the Hezbollah-oligarchic shackles, civil society and independent political actors meet under the UN Chapter Seven umbrella to form a transition cabinet to address the vital issues of a dying country, and set the course for a new national agreement to mend the rifts of a deeply fractured polity, revamp its political institutions, enforce international resolutions (1559, 1680, 1701), and close the gap between norms and facts. Otherwise, the road to hell is already paved and Lebanon is well set to join the growing stretches of Arab wastelands.

Hariri’s stepping aside sets stage for more chaos in Lebanon
Chloe Cornish/Financial Times/July 21/2021
Political parties focus on next year’s elections as senior officials at home and abroad acknowledge depth of crisis
In the hours before veteran Lebanese politician Sa’ad Hariri visited President Michel Aoun last week, hopes were raised that after 10 months of fruitless negotiations the struggling country would finally get a new government.
But at their meeting last Thursday, the two men were unable to reach a deal and Hariri quit as prime minister-designate. Almost one year after the previous government resigned in the wake of a devastating blast at Beirut port, the country — deep in a financial and economic crisis — is back to square one.
Other countries, led by France, have urged Beirut to choose a new prime minister. EU officials have even suggested using sanctions to push Lebanese leaders to put aside their differences and take action. But senior officials at home and abroad acknowledge the depth of the crisis.
There is a total inability of the Lebanese leaders to find a solution to the crisis that they have created,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister.
The international community has made the formation of a government a prerequisite for providing support to prop up the nation, whose collapse has been caused by decades of mismanagement and corruption that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
But despite the urgent need for an administration that can push through reforms and negotiate a bailout with the IMF, analysts have said a government is unlikely to be formed before parliamentary elections next year.
Even with the international pressure, including two visits by French president Emmanuel Macron over the past year and the threat of sanctions, “the next deadline everyone seems focusing on is the parliamentary election”, said Sami Nader, the Beirut-based director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs.
“Any kind of workable government will need [at least] three to four months to get formed,” warned Nader. “On the Lebanese clock, this is the best-case scenario.”
Rafic Chlala, a spokesperson for Aoun, said new parliamentary consultations to name a fresh premier-designate would not begin officially until late this week, after the Eid al-Adha religious holiday.
Chlala said he did not expect another long formation process.
But “you can see that everybody [including Hariri] is operating around the elections”, said an adviser, who asked for their political affiliation not be mentioned. It’s “very possible” that there will be no government before next May, the adviser said. They added: “No Sunni in Lebanon would dare at this point” accept the premier-designate role, a position reserved for a Sunni Muslim under the national pact on the distribution of key offices.
Hariri, who has been prime minister three times, is the Sunni community’s most influential leader thanks to his father Rafiq, Lebanon’s celebrated post-civil war premier. Rafiq was murdered on Valentine’s Day 2005 in a plot orchestrated by members of Hizbollah, the Iran-backed and Syria-allied paramilitary movement, an international tribunal found.
Not only does 2022 herald a general election, but Aoun’s six-year term will also expire — setting the stage for further political chaos. In this context, politicians are wary of putting themselves forward, only to be punished by voters next year for their failures, analysts said.
The last elections in 2018 tipped the scales against Hariri, with gains for Hizbollah and its allies. A mass protest movement, which erupted in October 2019, revealed widespread disillusionment with established political parties, making next year’s election outcome hard to predict.
It is also unclear whether an election will deliver a conclusive outcome. There could still be fraught negotiations over cabinet positions.
Hariri and Aoun have blamed each other for the failure to finalise a government. Hariri has said Aoun was blocking his constitutional right to pick his own ministers, while Aoun argued that Hariri was being inflexible.
For a country in the grip of hyperinflation with state institutions such as the army warning that they are on the verge of collapse, the danger is that it cannot wait long. Donors are now loath to hand funds to a political elite accused by protesters of widespread corruption, preferring to focus assistance on critical institutions such as the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Paris has scheduled another aid conference for August 4 — the anniversary of the explosion that killed over 200 people. Envoys from Paris, Washington and Riyadh held talks about Lebanon this month, signalling a united front.
Saroj Kumar Jha, the World Bank’s director for the Mashreq region that covers Lebanon, said the international community was showing “good solidarity with the Lebanese people, [as] they want to be able to help”. He added that the focus was on providing life-saving aid.
The World Bank is concentrating on a $246m project to help 200,000 “extremely poor households” in Lebanon with cash, the kind of social safety net that the government, which defaulted on its debt last year, does not have the resources to launch itself. But this programme has already been delayed by four months, Kumar Jha said.
Lebanese lawmakers have disagreed with the bank about the approach for monitoring how the cash is disbursed and how families are selected.
Kumar Jha said he was “hopeful” that a credible government could be formed soon to clean up Lebanon’s banks and secure basic provisions such as electricity. But he added: “[T]hey cannot afford to lose a day.”
Can Syria be the counterweight to Iran's influence over Lebanon?
Michael Young/The National/July 21/2021
The end of Michel Aoun’s term as Lebanon's President will have a major bearing on Syrian-Iranian ties.
The government formation process in Lebanon has hit a dead end, with the decision of prime minister-designate Saad Hariri to step down. A broader question asked by Mr Hariri and his entourage is why Hezbollah failed to put any pressure on President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil to be more flexible over accepting Mr Hariri’s draft lists of ministers.
Mr Hariri’s view is that Hezbollah in public said it wanted a government, and even mediated to reach an agreement, but did little to force Mr Aoun and Mr Bassil to accept a consensual outcome. Mr Aoun’s approval was necessary since any decree formalising a new government requires the signature of both the president and the prime minister-designate. One reason may be that Hezbollah is not especially keen to halt Lebanon’s financial and economic slide. The Iran-backed group feels that as the situation in the country gets worse, it will be better able to exploit it to expand Iran's influence. That may well be true. But there appears to be another factor at play, and it may be a surprising one given the circumstances prevailing today.
As the Syrian regime has managed to consolidate itself in recent months – with the re-election (if it can be called that) of President Bashar Al Assad – Syria, backed by Russia, has sought to re-establish a presence in Lebanon. While Iran remains the dominant outside actor in Lebanon, the attempt by Syria and its allies to establish a presence cannot be ignored and will have an impact on the future of Lebanon.
There is a growing belief that Arab countries may see Syrian influence in Lebanon as a counterweight to Iran’s. That is not to say that Syria and Iran will enter into a confrontation, nor can Damascus realistically weaken Iran and Hezbollah. But if the Syrians can revitalise their Lebanese networks, if they can have a greater say over Lebanese affairs, this could narrow Iran’s margin of manoeuvre there, so in its decision-making, Iran would have to factor in Syrian stakes, and by extension Arab ones.
More importantly, such a process may well be backed by Russia, which hardly reassures Iran and its local proxies. There have been unconfirmed reports that the Russians have sought to reconcile some of their local Lebanese contacts with the Assad regime. Moscow’s rationale is that if Damascus can expand its power in Lebanon, Syria would be stabilised and Russia’s sway there would also grow.
In the past year, Hezbollah has seen much outside intervention in Lebanese affairs. The French tried to push an initiative to reform the economy last year, in the aftermath of the horrific explosion in Beirut port. France, together with the US, has also sought to support the Lebanese army and ensure that Lebanon’s vulnerabilities do not open the door to full Iranian hegemony. And Egypt and Qatar have also been involved in local politics or in providing aid.
For Hezbollah, anything that diminishes Iran’s dominant hold on Lebanon is unacceptable. So the party likely regards Syria as a potential rival, one with the advantage of having its own sympathisers on the ground. That may explain why Hezbollah was so reluctant to pressure Mr Aoun and Mr Bassil on a new cabinet. Next year, a key event will have a major bearing on Syrian-Iranian ties: Mr Aoun’s term will end. The president’s primary objective is to ensure that he will be succeeded by his son-in-law. While Mr Bassil’s chances of being elected are slim, Hezbollah does not seem willing to give up on him, and this may well be explained by the dynamics with Syria. The reason for this is that Mr Bassil’s main opponent for the presidency is Suleiman Franjieh, a politician personally close to the Al Assad family. While Mr Franjieh and Hezbollah are also allies, his presidency would go a long way towards reviving Syrian power, turning the country into a shared Syrian-Iranian interest.
Hezbollah’s only way to prevent this may be to bring Mr Bassil to office. This will not be easy, nor is it likely to succeed given that a majority in parliament, which elects the president, opposes him. Moreover, it will be difficult for Hezbollah to intimidate Syria’s allies to elect Mr Bassil if Damascus insists on Mr Franjieh. The presidential election in 2022 may well be one between an Iranian asset, Mr Bassil, and a Syrian one, Mr Franjieh. Iran and Syria are highly unlikely to allow their ties to deteriorate though – and whatever happens Mr Assad will continue to help Iran in its confrontation with Israel. However, Iran and Syria have different priorities and Mr Assad is in desperate need of Arab funding for reconstruction, so he needs to show that regional support for him is worth it.
*Michael Young is a Lebanon columnist for The National

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/2021
Three shot dead in riots as Iran regime runs out of water
Arab News/July 22/ 2021
JEDDAH: At least three people have been shot dead, one of them a police officer, in a week of rioting and protests over water shortages in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan. The police officer was killed in the port city of Mahshahr during what county governor Fereydoun Bandari described as “riots.”In Izeh, local governor Hassan Nobovati said a “young person” was shot dead by “rioters” and 14 police officers were injured. Authorities in the town of Shadegan said a protester had been shot dead by “opportunists and rioters.”“The people of Khuzestan are staging nightly protests, protests that have been festering for years,” the reformist newspaper Arman-e Melli said. Videos posted online have shown protests in Ahvaz, Hamidiyeh, Izeh, Mahshahr, Shadegan and Susangerd, with security forces violently dispersing protesters. The videos show hundreds of people marching, chanting anti-regime slogans, while surrounded by riot police. In some, there is the sound of gunfire. The reformist Etemad newspaper said the hashtag “I am thirsty” in Arabic was trending on social media to draw attention to Khuzestan’s plight. Khuzestan is home to a large Sunni Arab minority, which has frequently complained of marginalisation.
In 2019, the province was a hotspot of anti-government protests that also shook other areas of Iran. “There were signs of protests and unrest in the province a long time ago, but the officials, like always, waited until the last minute to address them,” Etemad said. The regime in Tehran sent a delegation of deputy ministers to Khuzestan last week address the water shortage. On Wednesday, state TV showed a long line of water trucks it said were from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a day after army trucks did the same. Over the years, blistering summer heatwaves and seasonal sandstorms have dried up Khuzestan’s once fertile plains. Scientists say climate change amplifies droughts. President Hassan Rouhani said this month that Iran was going through an “unprecedented” drought, with average rainfall down 52 percent compared to the previous year. This month, rolling blackouts began in the Tehran and several other large cities, in part over what authorities describe as a severe drought and surging demand for power. Rainfall has decreased by almost 50 percent in the past year, leaving hydroelectric power generation dams with dwindling water supplies. Water worries in the past have sent angry demonstrators on to the streets in Iran. “As nearly 5 million Iranians in Khuzestan are lacking access to clean drinking water, Iran is failing to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to water, which is inextricably linked to the right to the highest attainable standard of health,” the group Human Rights Activists in Iran said.

Police Officer Killed in Restive Southwest Iran
Agence France Presse/July 21/2021
"Rioters" shot dead a police officer in southwestern Iran, state media reported Wednesday, following nearly a week of protests against water shortages in the drought-hit region. The officer was killed in the port city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province, the official IRNA news agency said. "During Tuesday night riots in Taleqani (a neighborhood of Mahshahr) officers... were shot at from a rooftop," it quoted acting county governor Fereydoun Bandari as saying. "One officer was martyred and another injured in the leg."
Bandari did not specifically link the shooting to the past week's protests over water shortages. Iran's Etemad newspaper said internet access was disrupted in the provincial capital, Ahvaz, and completely cut in the town of Shadegan, where state media reported on Saturday that a protester had been shot dead. Khuzestan is Iran's main oil-producing region and one of its wealthiest, but has been hit by a persistent drought that has led to protests over water in several towns and cities since last week. Over the past few days, Farsi-language media based abroad have broadcast videos that they said showed protests in Ahvaz, Izeh, Susangerd, Shadegan and Hamidiyeh as well as Mahshahr.
They said security forces had forcibly dispersed protesters but domestic media have played down the reports. The videos shared on social media could not be independently verified. Khuzestan governor Qasem Soleimani-Dashtaki on Tuesday denied reports of further deaths among protesters. "We have strongly emphasized that the security forces do not violently confront the people, let alone open fire," the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. "If some are armed and are doing something (other than peacefully demonstrating), then the law tells us a different thing. But the people are dear to us," he said. Khuzestan is home to a large Sunni Arab minority, which has frequently complained of marginalization in mainly Shiite Iran. In 2019, the province was a hotspot of anti-government protests that also shook other areas of Iran. Over the years, blistering summer heatwaves and seasonal sandstorms blowing in from Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iraq have dried up Khuzestan's once fertile plains. Scientists say climate change amplifies droughts, and their intensity and frequency in turn threaten food security.

AMCD Blasts Biden Administration for Waiving Sanctions on Iran
(MENAFN - EIN Presswire)/July 21/2021
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, July 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com / -- On the evening of July 13, the State Department issued a waiver to allow Iran access to funds previously frozen by the Trump administration, specifically funds held in banks in Japan and South Korea. The waiver, signed by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, states: "Allowing these funds to be used to repay exporters in these jurisdictions will make those entities whole with respect to the goods and services they exported to Iran, address a recurring irritant in important bilateral relationships, and decrease Iran's foreign reserves."
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy strongly opposes this move.
“The Biden administration's reasoning defies credulity,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb.“There is something incredibly naïve and dangerous about this unjustified bail out, as though they are being willfully blind to the fanatical reality of the Islamic Republic.”
“The Biden Administration is giving the regime everything it wants on the front end – even before negotiations begin in earnest,” added AMCD co-chair John Hajjar.“And to do it on the same day it was announced that the regime attempted to kidnap dissident Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad from her home in Brooklyn is extremely unwise as it shows weakness."
“The Biden administration is playing a very dangerous game,” offered AMCD co-chair and Iranian American, Hossein Khorram.“A strong position was handed to them by the Trump administration and they seem determined to squander it. In fact, President Biden has brought appeasing the tyrannical Islamic regime to dangerously high levels by rewarding it with sanctions relief for causing death and destruction. The administration claims to support human rights, but turned a blind eye as the Islamic regime tortured thousands of Iranians demanding their civil rights. The Islamic regime supplied weapons and training to terror groups which resulted in the death of over 1000 U.S. Servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. It instructed its proxy, Hamas, to fire over 4000 rockets into Israel. It caused the death of 400,000 Syrians and generated nearly 6 million Syrian refugees by supporting the criminal Assad regime. It has caused over 233,000 deaths in war and famine in Yemen. It has caused billions in damage to its neighbors such as its drone attacks on the Saudi refinery and finally, this week an Islamic regime's senior Revolutionary Guard commander urged Iraqi Shi'ite militias to step up attacks on U.S. targets.”
Khorram went on to say,“Appeasing such a bad reginal actor in the hope of causing a change in its nuclear weapons pursuit is not just naïve, but foolish. President Biden should not invest in the stability of the Islamic regime, but support the Iranian people demanding an end to these atrocities. If the regime succeeds in its quest for a nuclear bomb and regional hegemony, future historians will not look kindly on Secretary Blinken and the Biden Administration.”
Rebecca Bynum
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy
+1 615-775-6801

Nahid Taghavi was arrested at her Tehran apartment in October after years fighting for human rights
Arab News/July 22/ 2021
BERLIN: The daughter of a German-Iranian woman held in Iran said Wednesday that her mother has contracted Covid-19 in prison and her life is in “imminent danger.”Nahid Taghavi was arrested at her Tehran apartment in October after years fighting for human rights in Iran, in particular for women’s rights and freedom of expression, according to the human rights group IGFM. According to Taghavi’s daughter, Mariam Claren, the 66-year-old architect is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where she is awaiting sentencing on a “security charge.”
“At the beginning of this month, a Covid-19 outbreak started in the women’s wing” of the prison and “authorities have not implemented the required hygiene measures,” Claren said in a statement. Taghavi has tested positive for the virus and her condition is “very bad,” Claren said. “She is suffering from a fever, chills and severe pain in her limbs,” she said, noting that her mother suffers from pre-existing conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes. “For someone at her age with pre-existing health conditions and now testing positive for Covid-19, her life is in imminent danger,” she said, calling for her mother’s immediate release. Germany’s foreign ministry said in October that it was aware of the arrest of a German-Iranian woman in Iran, but did not name the detained citizen. Iran is rushing to contain a new record surge in Covid cases, with government offices, banks and many businesses shut in the capital Tehran on Tuesday. Already hit by the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East, the Islamic republic has been gripped by what authorities warned would be a “fifth wave” driven by the aggressive Delta variant.

Syria shot 7 of 8 Israeli missiles, Russian military says
AP/July 22, 2021
MOSCOW: Syria’s air defense forces shot down seven out of eight missiles launched by Israeli warplanes during a raid that targeted the Syrian province of Aleppo, the Russian military said. Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, the head of the Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that four Israeli F-16 fighter jets targeted facilities southeast of Aleppo in Monday’s strike. Kulit said seven of eight missiles launched by the Israeli fighter jets were downed by Syrian air defense units that used Russia-supplied air defense systems Pantsyr-S and Buk-M2. One missile damaged the building of a scientific research center in Safira, he said. A Syrian military official previously said in remarks carried by the state news agency SANA that Israel carried out an aerial attack in the Aleppo province late on Monday. He said that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the attack that occurred just before midnight.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has activists on the ground in Syria, said the Israeli airstrikes targeted weapons depots that belong to Iranian-backed militia operating in Aleppo’s Safira region. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has activists on the ground in Syria, said the Israeli strikes targeted weapons depots that belong to Iranian-backed militia operating in Aleppo’s Safira region. The group said the strikes were followed by loud explosions. The weapons depots were located inside Syrian military posts, the group said.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Israel fears Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Hezbollah.
Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since 2015, helping President Bashar Assad’s regime 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.

France Accuses Erdogan of 'Provocation' over Cyprus Comments
Agence France Presse/July 21/2021
France on Wednesday accused Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a provocation after he pressed for a two-state solution for Cyprus during a visit to the Turkish-occupied north of the Mediterranean island. "France deeply regrets this unilateral move which was not coordinated and constitutes a provocation," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "It undermines the restoration of the confidence necessary for the urgent resumption of negotiations for a just and lasting settlement of the Cyprus question." On his visit Tuesday, Erdogan backed a two-state solution in Cyprus between the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government in the south and the Turkish-occupied north, in a marked divergence from international efforts to reunify the island based on a bicommunal federation. He also threw his weight behind plans to partially reopen a coastal resort that was emptied of its original Greek Cypriot residents. France, which is currently chairing the U.N. Security Council, will raise the issue at discussions there on Thursday, the ministry said. "France reaffirms its attachment to the framework endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, based on a bizonal and bicommunal federation, offering the two communities full guarantees of their political equality," it said. The island is divided between the Greek Cypriot-run Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara.
Turkish troops seized Cyprus's northern third in 1974 in response to an aborted coup in Nicosia aimed at attaching the country to Greece.

Flood-Battered Germany Prepares Billions to Rebuild
Agence France Presse/July 21/2021
Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet will huddle Wednesday to approve a massive relief package for rebuilding German regions destroyed in historic flooding and better protect them in future. A week into the region's worst flooding disaster in living memory, which has killed at least 170 in Germany, and 201 in total in Europe, the right-left "grand coalition" government will unblock aid for demolished homes, businesses and vital infrastructure. Merkel vowed on a visit to the badly hit medieval town of Bad Muenstereifel on Tuesday that Berlin would come through to help in the short and long term. "This was flooding that surpassed our imagination when you see the destruction it wrought," Merkel told reporters after touring what the Bild daily called the "apocalyptic" wreckage of the 17,000-strong community in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state.
She said ministers would clear the way for emergency assistance for citizens who had suffered losses and do everything in their power "so that the money is with people fast"."I hope it will be a matter of days," she said, noting that she had met local victims "left with nothing but the clothes on their backs".
The initial amount is reportedly expected to be around 400 million euros ($470 million).
'Months if not years' -
The stopgap aid will be supplemented by a longer-term reconstruction fund financed by the federal government and "solidarity contributions" from all 16 of Germany's regional states, she said. Merkel was joined on the visit by NRW premier Armin Laschet, head of her Christian Democratic Union and the frontrunner in the race to succeed her as chancellor after a general election on September 26. Laschet called for the rescue funds to reach victims "unbureaucratically and as fast as possible", pledging to double Berlin's assistance with a cash injection from his own state budget. He warned it could take "months if not years to rebuild". A total of 121 people are now confirmed to have died in the flooding in Rhineland-Palatinate state, with at least 48 victims in NRW and one in Bavaria. At least 31 people also died in Belgium, and later torrential rain caused havoc in southern Germany and several other neighboring countries. "We are still looking for missing people as we clear roads and pump out cellars," the vice president of Germany's THW civil protection agency, Sabine Lackner, told media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. "However by now it is unfortunately very likely that we will only be able to recover victims, not rescue them." German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats, said that Europe's top economy would pass a "billions-strong rebuilding program" in addition to the direct aid to victims "so that things will quickly start looking up"."We'll manage it together," he told the daily Rheinische Post. "What's crucial for me is that there are consequences from what's happened," he said, including plans to improve to Germany's disaster prevention systems as well as climate protection measures.
- Climate warning -
Annalena Baerbock, the Greens' flag bearer for the election, called for a more coordinated approach to warning citizens while stressing the country must prepare better for extreme weather events due to global warming. "Germany has been fortunate for decades in suffering relatively few natural catastrophes," she told Der Spiegel magazine. "But that's meant that the disaster protection measures haven't been sufficiently developed, although experts have been warning for years about climate-driven extreme weather events."Merkel, who is retiring this year after 16 years in power, on Tuesday defended Germany's preparations for deadly disasters, saying even experts had been taken by surprise by the sheer brutal force and speed of last week's rains, which left many stricken towns looking like war zones. "Now we've got to look at what worked and what didn't work, without forgetting that this was flooding as we haven't seen in a long, long time," she said.

Council reminds member states that fighting terrorism is an obligation under UN Charter and says perpetrators must be brought to justice
Arab News/July 22/ 2021
NEW YORK: The members of the UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms the cowardly terrorist attack” on a busy market in Baghdad on Monday.
The blast, the deadliest in the Iraqi capital over the past six months, took place in Al-Wuhailat market as families prepared for Eid Al-Adha. It left more than 30 people dead and dozens injured. According to multiple reports, Daesh claimed responsibility for the suicide attack as women and children were among the dead and wounded. Offering their “deepest sympathy and condolences” to the victims’ families and the Iraqi government, council members underscored the need to hold “perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.” They urged all UN member states to cooperate with the Iraqi authorities during their investigation as it is in line with their obligations under international law and security council resolutions. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the 15-member body reiterated that any acts of terrorismare “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”Emphasizing that terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, council members reminded nations that combating terrorism is an obligation under the UN Charter, international law, international human rights law, international refugee law, and international humanitarian law.The council reiterated its support for the “independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, democratic process and prosperity of Iraq.” It vowed to continue the fight against terrorism, including against Daesh.

Egypt has witnessed a recent decline in the number of COVID-19 cases with officials recording less than 70 new infections and under 10 deaths a day
Arab News/July 22/ 2021
CAIRO: Egyptians have been ignoring government warnings about the dangers of spreading the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with many joining large street gatherings to celebrate Eid El-Adha. Thousands of people, many dressed in their newly bought Eid clothes, also headed for beaches and public parks as the religious holiday period got underway. The Egyptian Ministry of Health highlighted the need for citizens to adhere to COVID-19 preventive measures urging anyone experiencing virus symptoms to go to their nearest hospital immediately. Egypt has witnessed a recent decline in the number of COVID-19 cases with officials recording less than 70 new infections and under 10 deaths a day. At Giza Zoo, balloon seller Moataz Fayez bemoaned the country’s economic situation for a decline in his sales. One of his customers, Ahmed El-Shahawi, 30, who was visiting the zoo with his four-year-old daughter, told Arab News: “We decided to celebrate Eid in the zoo to allow the children to play in an open-air space and see the animals. “But the zoo is incredibly crowded, and people are not social distancing, despite the many posters informing them of its necessity,” he said.
Photojournalist Hadeer Mahmoud said that Eid El-Adha was an opportunity for families, and especially children, to have some fun, adding that public parks were ideal for those who could not afford to go to beaches or sports clubs. Mahmoud works during Eid taking photographs, especially of animal sacrifices. To commemorate the feast, millions of Egyptians performed Eid morning prayers in mosques, before attending ceremonies for the slaughter of sheep, cows, and sometimes camels. The meat from one-third of a sacrificed animal is traditionally given to the poor. Sayed Abdel Ghafour, a taxi driver from Cairo, said: “I have saved money for the past six months to buy a sheep to sacrifice.” However, the 40-year-old noted that high prices this year meant he could not afford to buy a cow or large sheep. “The purpose of the sacrifice is purely religious, regardless of the size of the sacrifice, but the sacrifice must be healthy and clean, and this is what really matters,” he added. However, in Minya governorate, southern Egypt, Eid celebrations turned to tragedy when a student drowned in the Nile River.

20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard and were presumed to have drowned
Arab News/July 22/ 2021
CAIRO: Libya’s coast guard intercepted Wednesday four boats in the Mediterranean Sea carrying migrants trying to reach Europe, a UN official said.
According to the migrants, 20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard earlier in the day and were presumed to have drowned.
The circumstances under which the migrants went overboard were unclear, said Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration. The vessel was overcrowded as many of the rubber dinghies and dilapidated boats smuggling the migrants typically are. It was the latest disaster in the Mediterranean involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Since Tuesday, a total of seven vessels smuggling hundreds of migrants were intercepted off Libya’s coast, Msehli also said. Around 500 migrants, including nine children and 43 women, were returned to shore and taken to the Mabani detention center in Tripoli, she said. Many of the migrants were exhausted and suffered from dehydration, she added. There has been a spike in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya in recent months. Amnesty International has said that in the first six months of this year, more than 7,000 people intercepted at sea were forcibly returned to detention camps in Libya. “The situation in the central Mediterranean is a humanitarian crisis,” Msehli said. “We are in July, and already have exceeded the number of interceptions for the entire year of 2020.” An IOM report earlier this month said the number of migrants and refugees who died while attempting to reach Europe on dangerous sea crossings more than doubled so far this year, compared to the first six months of 2020. The report said at least 1,146 people perished between January and June, with the Central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy being the deadliest, claiming 741 lives. The deadliest shipwreck so far this year took place on April 22 off Libya, when 130 people drowned despite the ship sending multiple distress calls.
Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Rights groups and officials at UN agencies that work with migrants and refugees have for years now cited survivor testimony about systematic abuse in the detention camps in Libya, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture. The abuse often accompanies efforts to extort money from families before migrants are allowed to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats. Earlier in July, Libyan maritime authorities acknowledged that one of their coast guard vessel had fired warning shots at a migrant boat it was chasing in the Mediterranean, in an apparent effort to stop it from crossing to Europe and endangering the lives of the migrants onboard.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on July 21-22/2021
EU's Top Court: Employers May Ban Islamic Headscarves
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/July 21, 2021
The judgment is consistent with previous determinations by the Luxembourg-based court, informally known as the European Court of Justice (ECJ), that bans on religious symbols at the workplace are not inherently discriminatory — provided they apply equally to all religions.
The significance of the ECJ's decision on the headscarf — arguably the most visible symbol of political Islam in Europe — cannot be overstated: by striking a balance between religious liberty and entrepreneurial freedom, the court has effectively blocked a back-door effort to enshrine Sharia law in European labor law.
Islamic head coverings have been a recurring issue in Germany, where the Muslim population has surpassed six million to become approximately 7.2% of the overall population of 83 million.
Germany's headscarf debate — which is actively being fueled by groups promoting Islamism and Salafism — is directly linked to ongoing disputes about mass migration and the integration of immigrants into German society.
"The headscarf is not neutral. Religious freedom is important, yes. It is important to preserve it, yes. But this basic right also has its limits where a basic social order is violated, and a higher legal interest is affected." — Ahmad Mansour, a Germany-based Israeli-Arab expert on Islam.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU's highest court, has ruled that private sector employers within the 27-member bloc are legally entitled to prohibit their employees from wearing Islamic headscarves at the workplace.
The decision states that corporate bans on religious or political symbols are legitimate if employers wish to "present a neutral image towards customers" or to "prevent social disputes."
The judgment is consistent with previous determinations by the Luxembourg-based court, informally known as the European Court of Justice (ECJ), that bans on religious symbols at the workplace are not inherently discriminatory — provided they apply equally to all religions.
The significance of the ECJ's decision on the headscarf — arguably the most visible symbol of political Islam in Europe — cannot be overstated: by striking a balance between religious liberty and entrepreneurial freedom, the court has effectively blocked a back-door effort to enshrine Sharia law in European labor law.
Unsurprisingly, the ruling has been met with outrage by those — including the Turkish government — committed to establishing a special status for Islam in Europe. They have condemned it as "fascist," "racist," and "Islamophobic."
The ECJ's ruling, issued on July 15, is based on two legal cases from Germany. In the first, a Muslim employee of Hamburg-based WABE, which runs a large number of child daycare centers in Germany, was warned several times that she was not allowed to wear a hijab at the workplace. WABE, which has more than 600 employees who care for approximately 3,500 children, is non-partisan and non-denominational and prohibits staff from wearing any religious symbols, including Islamic headscarves, Christian crosses, and Jewish skullcaps. An internal regulation states:
"Employees shall not make any political, philosophical or religious statements to parents, children and third parties in the workplace. Employees shall not wear any signs of their political, philosophical, or religious beliefs that are visible to parents, children and third parties in the workplace. Employees shall not give expression to any related customs to parents, children and third parties in the workplace."
After the woman, a Muslim convert, was suspended from her job, she sued to force WABE to remove from her personnel file the warnings about her wearing the Islamic headscarf. The Hamburg Labor Court (Arbeitsgericht Hamburg) asked the ECJ to interpret EU law.
In the second case, a Muslim woman in Bavaria sued MH Müller Handel, which operates a drugstore chain, after she was prohibited from wearing a headscarf while working as a sales assistant and cashier. An internal directive prohibits MH Müller employees from using conspicuous political, philosophical or religious symbols in its stores. The directive is aimed at maintaining neutrality to prevent conflicts between employees that have arisen in the past and were apparently based on different religions and cultures represented there.
The woman said that the company had violated her religious freedom and sued for damages; MH Müller countered that it was entitled to entrepreneurial freedom. After the woman won her case in a local court, MH Müller appealed to the Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht), which asked the ECJ for a preliminary ruling based on EU law.
In its decision, the ECJ, referencing the EU's so-called Employment Equality Directive, which aims to combat workplace discrimination, explained:
"1. Article 1 and Article 2(2)(a) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation must be interpreted as meaning that an internal rule of an undertaking, prohibiting workers from wearing any visible sign of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace, does not constitute, with regard to workers who observe certain clothing rules based on religious precepts, direct discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, for the purpose of that directive, provided that that rule is applied in a general and undifferentiated way.
"2. Article 2(2)(b) of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as meaning that a difference of treatment indirectly based on religion or belief, arising from an internal rule of an undertaking prohibiting workers from wearing any visible sign of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace, may be justified by the employer's desire to pursue a policy of political, philosophical and religious neutrality with regard to its customers or users, provided, first, that that policy meets a genuine need on the part of that employer, which it is for that employer to demonstrate, taking into consideration, inter alia, the legitimate wishes of those customers or users and the adverse consequences that that employer would suffer in the absence of that policy, given the nature of its activities and the context in which they are carried out; secondly, that that difference of treatment is appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that the employer's policy of neutrality is properly applied, which entails that that policy is pursued in a consistent and systematic manner; and, thirdly, that the prohibition in question is limited to what is strictly necessary having regard to the actual scale and severity of the adverse consequences that the employer is seeking to avoid by adopting that prohibition.
"3. Article 2(2)(b)(i) of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as meaning that indirect discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief resulting from an internal rule of an undertaking prohibiting, at the workplace, the wearing of visible signs of political, philosophical or religious beliefs with the aim of ensuring a policy of neutrality within that undertaking can be justified only if that prohibition covers all visible forms of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs. A prohibition which is limited to the wearing of conspicuous, large-sized signs of political, philosophical or religious beliefs is liable to constitute direct discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, which cannot in any event be justified on the basis of that provision.
"4. Article 2(2)(b) of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as meaning that national provisions protecting the freedom of religion may be taken into account as more favorable provisions, within the meaning of Article 8(1) of that directive, in examining the appropriateness of a difference of treatment indirectly based on religion or belief.
The ECJ's ruling is consistent with a landmark decision announced in March 2017, when the court sided with a Belgian company that terminated a Muslim employee who refused to stop wearing a headscarf at the workplace. The company said the headscarf violated its position of neutrality. The ECJ ruling stated:
"Article 2(2)(a) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation must be interpreted as meaning that the prohibition on wearing an Islamic headscarf, which arises from an internal rule of a private undertaking prohibiting the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign in the workplace, does not constitute direct discrimination based on religion or belief within the meaning of that directive."
Reactions
Islamic head coverings have been a recurring issue in Germany, where the Muslim population has surpassed six million to become approximately 7.2% of the overall population of 83 million, according to calculations by Gatestone Institute.
Germany's headscarf debate — which is actively being fueled by groups promoting Islamism and Salafism — is directly linked to ongoing disputes about mass migration and the integration of immigrants into German society.
Fahrettin Altun, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused the ECJ of embracing Europe's fascist past:
"It is unbelievable that fascism just spread to the courts. This wrong decision is an attempt to grant legitimacy to racism. Instead of denouncing its dark past, Europe now seeks to embrace it. We condemn this ruling, which infringes on human dignity."
In a subsequent statement, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally condemned the ECJ's ruling; it claimed it was an "open violation of the right of religion" and "constitutes a further example of the efforts to institutionalize and legalize hate and intolerance against Muslims in Europe."
Burhan Kesici, Chairman of the Islamic Council of Germany, said: "The ruling by the European Court of Justice regarding the headscarf ban clearly shows that Muslim issues are not taken seriously in Europe."
By contrast, Birgül Akpinar, a German-Turkish member of the ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU), tweeted:
"Good decision! Now we only need German judges who have the courage to follow the #ECJ judgment - and NO, that would be neither #exclusion, #discrimination nor #racism, but common sense!"
Christine Anderson, a Member of the European Parliament for Germany's conservative party, Alternative for Germany, wrote that the ECJ's ruling would strengthen the rights of employers:
"The decision of the European Court of Justice is absolutely to be welcomed.... Minority morality must not prevail over our own civilizational achievements, such as the principle of private autonomy. Every employer should have the right to say no to the headscarf. It is important that, despite a climate of increasing politicization and moralization, certain principles of law are not abolished."
Ahmad Mansour, a Germany-based Israeli-Arab expert on Islam, expressed support for the ruling:
"The headscarf is not neutral. Religious freedom is important, yes. It is important to preserve it, yes. But this basic right also has its limits where a basic social order is violated, and a higher legal interest is affected."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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Problems with world peacekeeping: U.N. does it incompetently, corruptly, and criminally
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/July 21/2021
Cubans have been out in the streets, protesting decades of oppression and poverty. They’ve been beaten and arrested for – as the New York Times phrased it – “Shouting ‘Freedom’ and other anti-government slogans.”That’s not wrong if you understand that the protestors are not generally “anti-government.” Their opposition is specifically directed toward the socialist dictatorship that denies them basic human rights. In theory, that should galvanize the United Nations Human Rights Council. In practice, as UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer has pointed out, the 47-nation UNHRC “has failed to take a single action: no resolution, no urgent session, no commission of inquiry.”Might the U.N. have more pressing concerns elsewhere? A short sail east from Cuba will take you to Haiti, whose president was assassinated on July 7, and which today has hardly any government which, it turns out, is conducive less to freedom than to anarchy.
Surely, the U.N. could play a useful role by deploying peacekeepers. Allow me to provide some not-so-well-known context that will make clear why that may be incorrect. Haiti’s history is at once heroic and tragic. The only state ever established by a slave revolt, the second independent republic of the Americas, sovereign since 1804, Haiti has failed to achieve political stability and is today mired in abject poverty. Early in the current century, tropical storms and hurricanes battered Haiti. That was followed, in 2010, by a devastating earthquake that left more than 200,000 dead and more than a million homeless

Why UK’s ‘freedom day’ gamble could backfire
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/July 21/2021
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior ministers, including the treasury chief, have been forced to self-isolate after Sajid Javid, the health secretary, tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Monday, July 19, 2021, was drummed up by the UK authorities as “freedom day,” but the government’s celebrations ended before they even began. For the public, especially those who believe their rights were curtailed during the long months of lockdown, at least the reopening of nightclubs brought some joy.
The lifting of pandemic restrictions in the UK should have been a day of celebration for all, but mixed messaging from the government, a rise in infection rates across the country, and scientists’ warnings of a renewed wave of COVID-19 have dealt a blow to a nation and people looking forward to the return of some sense of normality and the arrival of a long-awaited summer.
Government directives ending social distancing, the compulsory wearing of face masks, and a ban on households mixing indoors drew criticism from opposition MPs, London’s mayor and the scientific community.
Scientists accused Johnson of taking a gamble in pushing ahead with the removal of all restrictions. According to Prof. Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, “Britain is not out of the woods yet.” Amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 hospital admissions, Whitty warned of “quite scary numbers” if the trend continues.
Britain can be seen as better than many nations in combating the pandemic due to its vaccine rollout, but it appears the government has again shifted its strategy toward achieving “herd immunity” — its much-criticized initial approach to the crisis in February and March 2020. How else can one interpret the government’s decision to lift restrictions at the same time as infections surged to levels unseen since February and March this year?
In the lead-up to "freedom day," Britain recorded more than 30,000 cases per day. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that infections and deaths are climbing after a period of decline, spurred apparently by the more contagious delta variant. According to the WHO, there were 3 million more infections and more than 55,000 deaths last week around the world.
In the UK, people were determined to celebrate 'freedom day' as if it were the end of a major war.
Again, at the 11th hour, muted UK government announcements reverted to calls for caution instead of the jubilation seen in recent weeks. Johnson said that “we cannot simply return instantly to life as it was before COVID-19.” Thank goodness for that.
It is easy for the PM to change both his mind and messaging, but who will persuade the skeptical public minority that they owe it to others to keep wearing face masks and to isolate themselves when necessary if the law no longer sanctions that?
Opposition politicians and some doctors have continued to urge the government to maintain the mask mandate, while business and trade unions worry that the shift to optional is a recipe for chaos. This is why Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, announced that masks should continue to be worn on the capital’s public transport system. Similarly, the National Health Service, or NHS, will insist on face coverings in hospitals.
Most people in the UK have responded positively to government guidance, even when it seemed vague and confusing. So the government must take its moral responsibility seriously, weighing up the risks and listening to scientific opinion before offering practical protective steps based on the level of threat to the healthcare system and the economy.
Replacing legally enforced COVID-19 restrictions with common sense alone is a gamble that could lead to more lockdowns in the autumn, experts warn, especially since the world is seeing a surge of infections fueled by the highly transmissible delta and beta variants. However, the fact that global cases are spiking again appears to be of little interest to the UK government.
Countries such as Australia, the US and Israel have been forced to rethink their restrictions, adopting new strategies in response to a rise in cases. The UK must do the same before it is too late, even if the Johnson government risks accusations of performing a U-turn — at least this would be in the name of public health and the safety of the nation.
In the UK, people were determined to celebrate "freedom day" as if it were the end of a major war. Some even called it VC Day — victory over the coronavirus, in keeping with the Second World War VE Day (Victory in Europe).
But in the case of the pandemic, sadly, the war is far from over. The virus has claimed more than 150,000 lives in the UK so far, and the toll continues to climb despite the vaccine. Current daily infections are above 50,000, and scientists are predicting the figure could double within weeks.
• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.