LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 18/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
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Iran’s democratic resistance: Closer to realizing regime
change?
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass/Al Arabiya/July 17/18
Iranian affairs was a significant priority during the NATO Summit given the
divergent American and European attitudes regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran
and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
In recent days, the US administration has seen fit to emphasize the global
security threat posed by the Islamic Republic. That emphasis is all the more
realistic in the wake of reports that European authorities thwarted an Iranian
plot to plant a bomb at the June 30 gathering of Iranian expatriates and
international supporters near the Paris headquarters of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI). This foiled plot highlights the extent to which the
existing regime recognizes Iran’s democratic Resistance movement as a threat to
its hold on power and underscores Tehran’s ongoing commitment to terrorism.
It is, sadly, a reality that that movement continues to be largely ignored and
marginalized by Western Governments – not least the UK in order to placate the
regime in Tehran. This is despite the reality that in recent years the Free Iran
gathering has tended to attract approximately 100,000 supporters from around the
world
Protests ignored by the West
The June 30 gathering titled “Free Iran 2018” called attention to the massive
popular protests that have been ongoing throughout Iranian society since
January, and especially since the start of the Iranian calendar year in March,
when NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi issued a call-to-action urging all
pro-democracy activists to turn the year ahead into “a year full of uprisings”
against the regime. But inspite of the regime’s repressive response including
8,000 arrests, 50 demonstrators being shot dead, protests have continued
unabated across the country with the same uncompromising slogans, like “death to
the dictator” and “our enemy is right here [in Iran], they lie and say it is the
US”. In light of the fact that the Iranian regime was prepared to resort to
terrorism on European soil as part of its effort to stamp out the organized
resistance movement, it is, sadly, a reality that that movement continues to be
largely ignored and marginalized by Western Governments – not least the UK in
order to placate the regime in Tehran. This is despite the reality that in
recent years the Free Iran gathering has tended to attract approximately 100,000
supporters from around the world.
This year, hundreds of prominent political dignitaries from Europe, the US, and
much of the world joined the Iranian expatriates in Paris to support the
democratic aspiration of the Iranian people. It should also be noted that these
delegations tend to be distinctly non-partisan, which bodes well for their
ability to bring the recent successes of the Iranian Resistance movement to a
much larger audience of policymakers within their home countries.
This is arguably more important today than ever before, not least of all because
of the possibility of the NCRI and its constituents assisting the Iranian people
in bringing about comprehensive change to their nation. The nature of that
prospective change was outlined once again in this year’s gathering, and it
remains on permanent display in the form of Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point democratic
platform for the future of Iran. That plan envisions all of the essential
features of modern, Western-style democracy, calling for pluralist governance,
free and fair elections, and explicit safeguards on the rights of women and
minorities.
International pressure
The platform is exemplary for the Middle East and thus is due serious attention
by the democracies in the West. Yet, it has been ignored for decades by European
governments in the mistaken belief that there is no viable indigenous
alternative to Iran’s revolutionary Islamist government. That fallacy is
rebutted by the regime’s constant efforts to exert diplomatic pressure on the
French Government to stop the annual Free Iran gathering in Paris and on other
Western governments to not allow members of parliament to attend the event. It
is even more conclusively rebutted by the fact that Tehran put its fragile
relationships with Europe at risk by planning to bomb the June 30 gathering.
European leaders’ inability to recognize the Iranian alternative has resulted in
years of misplaced policies and a certain level of willingness to overlook
Iran’s history of terrorism and human rights abuses. It has also caused the
international community to lift pressure from the Islamic Republic at a time
when greater levels of assertiveness might have impeded the regime’s repressive
capabilities and emboldened the popular uprising for regime change.
The recent increases in activism and public expressions of dissent by the
Iranian people has prompted Washington under the new US administration to
increase pressure on the regime in Tehran. Now, the time is ripe to encourage
Western and Gulf partners to contribute to that pressure, on the understanding
that it is vital for their national security as well as being in the interests
of the Iranian people. The ongoing protests in Iran make it clear that the
people of Iran recognize that the regime is ultimately responsible for the
penalties imposed upon them. More than that, Western leaders must understand
that both economic and diplomatic pressure will further inspire Iran’s
democratic activist community and organized Resistance movement to continue with
their protests, which have stretched the regime’s repressive institutions to
their breaking point and have brought the nation in sight of liberation from the
theocratic dictatorship.
Any Western leader who turns away from this opportunity to finally bring modern,
secular democracy to Iran, and by extension to the Middle East, will be on the
wrong side of history.
Besieging Iran’s Mahan Air
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 17/18
To confirm the seriousness of the blockading of Iran, a Malaysian travel and
tourism agency was sanctioned because it is an agent for the Iranian Mahan Air.
The US Treasury Department thus sanctioned the agency placing it on the list of
companies that are internationally prohibited to do business with, and it
publicized this sanction to intimidate others who interact with it. What about
Mahan Air itself? It has been categorized as a suspicious company for years and
blacklisted 10 years ago. After the beginning of American-Iranian negotiations
on Iran’s nuclear program, pressure on the company decreased and it even managed
to keep one of the airplanes that Britain had asked to be returned when it was
revealed that the company had bought it using fake invoices to hide the identity
of the buyer. Now that sanctions have been re-instated, the siege has been
activated and American security and financial authorities reiterated their
warning to companies and governments across the world regarding dealing with
Mahan Air. Like other private companies in Iran, Mahan Air is just an arm of the
Revolutionary Guards who have been using it for more than 20 years to transport
fighters, weapons and carry out secret activities. To avoid being pursued and to
camouflage its activity, it was established as a private airliner
A tool for the Revolutionary Guards
Like other private companies in Iran, Mahan Air is just an arm of the
Revolutionary Guards who have been using it for more than 20 years to transport
fighters, weapons and carry out secret activities. To avoid being pursued and to
camouflage its activity, it was established as a private airliner owned by a
charity organization. With time, it turned out to be an apparatus of the
Revolutionary Guards, which became a massive power that controls multiple
services and that’s become a state within the state.
The Revolutionary Guards owns oil refineries, banks and factories. Its expansion
inside Iran worried other institutions and powers that compete with it within
the state. Mahan is only one of its institutions that has played a dirty role in
shipping weapons and transporting thousands of fighters from around the region
to fight in Syria. Like any other “civilian airliner,” it’s not allowed to
transfer weapons or armed men as this violates the agreements signed with other
parties like Airbus which has jets that operate within the company’s fleet that
has over 40 planes.
Sanctioning the Malaysian travel agency may seem like a small step, but it
actually serves as a warning to everyone who works in the aviation sector that
they will be sanctioned if they supply the Iranian company with services. This
includes selling them spare parts or transporting passengers, even if this is in
areas like Malaysia that are far from the Middle East.
In my opinion, activating the economic and financial boycott against Iran is
what will expedite the regime’s end unless it understands its situation and
backs down and announces its approval of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 12
conditions. Pompeo explained his country’s policy on May 12 when he said: “Iran
will be forced to make a choice: Either fight to keep its economy off life
support at home or squander precious wealth on fights abroad. It will not have
the resources to do both.”
The most important two weapons in the boycott are preventing the regime from
using the dollar currency in its business dealings, thus making it difficult for
Iran to sell its oil or buy what it needs from foreign countries, and pursuing
those who buy Iranian oil in the global market and pressuring them not to buy it
anymore. This is in addition to refusing to grant them insurances, suspending
tanker companies and preventing oil traders from using the dollar currency.
have heard Iranian friends complain that the situation has become worse than the
previous boycott phase as they cannot transfer even a few thousand dollars to
their accounts in Iran as a result of this complete prohibition. We are
witnessing a bloodless war on Iran and it’s more harmful and dangerous on the
regime that’s become incapable of even providing drinking water to its people in
several areas across the country.
The victories of the little Croatian man
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 17/18
“Best player of the tournament” is not the last of the titles of the little
shepherd. Croatia whose team has not been beaten in any match that Luka Modric
scored in is waiting for him with open arms and, perhaps, a jail sentence of
five years!
Modric, whose features resemble those of a man who just landed from the
mountain, with his sunken eyes and silent lips, controls the rhythm of the game
and the field with the calmness of a man who’s accustomed to victory even after
90 minutes are over. He has the patience of a ploughman and the forbearance of a
shepherd who knows the way back home no matter how long the road is. The man
who’s won everything possible, the skinny man who advanced before his national
team to take the best player award in the most important tournament in the
world, went up to the stage in cold blood, bent legs and a short stature that
boasted the bruises that brought his team this far. The world today sees Modric
embracing the best player award but the world’s rules do not understand the
details of difficult beginnings and do not know about the early beginning of the
shepherd in the cold Croatian mountains
A team of massacre survivors
Croatia, which made it to the World Cup through the small European window as it
was the last to qualify, has now risen to be the last to leave. Croatia, whose
team is made up of massacre survivors, was only defeated by the team of handsome
immigrants: France. The stories of the French immigrants are well-known thanks
to Zidane and others who arrived from faraway French colonies or through
dilapidated sailing boats. However, the Croatian team is the team of those who
survived a massacre. Modric deserves to be the team’s captain, not because he
used to play for Real Madrid and Tottenham. The man who played with the Bosnian
team once said: “Someone who can play in the Bosnian league can play anywhere.”
And it wasn’t his sad features that remind us of the war massacres in his
country during the 1990s.
It is because he is a skinny man who met several coaches’ rejections rejection
with continuous training and determination that is not the kind to rejoice with
simply winning second place after France. What he’s achieved in his short life –
he was born on September 9, 1985 – gives him the right to always dream of the
best.
Modric grazed sheep in his small town. You can find a video of that if you just
type in an online search ‘Modric’s childhood’. The video is part of a
documentary by a director who is obsessed with wolves. Fate took him to Modric’s
hometown to document for us Modric’s walk that has not changed.
Modric was dressed in a heavy coat given the cold weather and he was chasing his
small sheep and protecting them from the wolves, similar to the wolves who are
now greedy for his talent. “You must give a little to keep the rest,” that is
what shepherds teach their sons about the laws of the wilderness.
Fraud accusations
Meanwhile, Zagreb’s former Dinamo Director Zdravko Mamic is charged with fraud
and corruption. Modric is a victim in the eyes of his fans and is accused of
possible perjury by the judiciary. Croatia’s golden boy, Modric, is accused of
signing a long-term agreement with the man whom he described as a “cash machine”
before he backed down on his testimony. Middlemen were necessary for him to
reach Tottenham and move to the strongest league. His life became better and he
went to play with Real Madrid. The world today sees him embracing the best
player award but the world’s rules do not understand the details of difficult
beginnings and do not know about the early beginning of the shepherd in the cold
Croatian mountains.
He learnt how to weave attacks from his loving mother, the textile worker. You
cannot make it to the finish line before you put effort in weaving the details,
which are insignificant if the whole weaved map isn’t complete. His father was a
skillful military mechanic who fixed the Croatian army’s vehicles, and Modric
may have inherited this great physical strength, which is not visible to the
eyes, from him. Everyone knows that when he moved to Real Madrid, he achieved
all the possible titles. However, only one man believed in him, and saw the
beauty of football between the feet of this short young boy. It was Tomislav
Basic, head of the youth academy at NK Zadar. He adopted Modric’s talent until
Dinamo Zagreb, the most famous team in Croatia, signed a deal with the little
man in 2001.
Modric would later meet Mamic in Zagreb, the head of the club who supported him
well in exchange of signing a deal to get a percentage of any contract he later
signs. Modric wasn’t the only one to attain all this, but the amounts of money
which will be paid to him later will be the largest, perhaps among all Croatian
footballers from his generation. In 2015, Modric confessed that he transferred
several millions of dollars to his former boss, but in 2017 he retracted this
testimony and said he does not know anything about it. He was then ridiculed as
a result in Croatia.
Modric the legend
But let’s go back to football. Modric said: “Nothing changes if we play well. We
will always be a dangerous team.” This is his conviction in the field. Those who
watched the matches of the Croatian team, which was never beaten in the World
Cup, will realize that this team is a group of ordinary, but very serious men!
Croatia has not only won second in the World Cup but it stole the limelight with
the discipline of its ordinary players and the fighting spirits of men who want
to overcome a difficult past, beginning with a harsh childhood in the socialist
Croatia and up until the Russians’ resentment of the sentence “Glory to
Croatia.”The reality of these players who were defeated by the elegance of the
sons of France’s back alley’s did not make Modric forget his childhood as a
refugee who once escaped war. On World Refugee Day, Football Against Racism in
Europe (FARE) invited a group of celebrities who were refugees when they were
younger to form one team and celebrate World Refugee Day. The small grazer was
the first to arrive in loyalty to his grandfather Luka whom he carries his name,
and who was killed with six others before the family fled their home which the
victors later burnt so the grazer does not return to the mountains. Will little
Luka be a national hero in Croatia or will he be the second most hated man there
after the World Cup has ended? I do not know, for wolves do not only exist on
the tops of mountains, laughing at the little shepherd’s victories.
Helsinki Summit aftermath: Domestic discord for Trump or
end of Cold War?
C. Uday Bhaskar/Al Arabiya/July 17/18
The much awaited summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and his
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held in Helsinki on Monday (July 16) has led
to a predictable result - surprise and unpredictability - which is in keeping
with the Trump track record over the last year. The Helsinki deliberations that
are in the public domain (there is one part that is ‘secret’ and totally
one-on-one between the two presidents) have caused dismay, consternation and
uncertainty among US allies and partners about the orientation of the world’s
most powerful nation in relation to its external interlocutors. The dismay is
within the USA. The most significant Trump policy statement was the assertion
that Russia is not an adversary but a competitor – and on occasion a foe. The
conjecture that follows is that for this White House incumbent at least,
Helsinki 2018 may well mark the formal end of the Cold War, whose seeds were
sown in Yalta in February 1945. An improvement in US-Russia relations is a
desirable global objective for the two nations have the largest WMD (weapons of
mass destruction) arsenals and discord between them can have corrosive security
implications globally - as for instance in relation to Afghanistan, Syria, Iran
and North Korea. However, this may be a premature reduction of the strategic
outcome of Helsinki, for President Trump will have to deal with the mounting
domestic discord and anger that his Helsinki remarks have triggered within the
USA.
An up and down relationship
In the media interaction, the US President appeared to repose more trust in his
Russian counterpart than in his own intelligence chief over the allegation that
Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US election. The investigation by the US
special prosecutor has been dubbed a political witch hunt by Mr. Trump and he
was embarrassingly boastful about his election victory over Hilary Clinton. The
Trump penchant to disparage his political opponents in a foreign land was on
full display and he blamed the ‘stupidity’ of his predecessors for the souring
of the US-Russia bilateral relations.
Trump’s policy is often filtered through his tweets and in this case, his late
night Helsinki tweet read: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse
thanks to many years of US foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch
Hunt!” The Russian Foreign Ministry response was swift: “We agree.”
The Helsinki visit was preceded by the Trump tour through Europe where he
attended the NATO summit and later met with UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The
Trump wrecking-ball was in full throttle and in one visit to Europe, the US
President was able to shake the foundations of NATO; humiliate the closest US
ally and ‘cousin’ – the UK, and cozy up to the strongman in Moscow.
An improvement in US-Russia relations is a desirable global objective for the
two nations have the largest WMD (weapons of mass destruction) arsenals and
discord between them can have corrosive security implications globally - as for
instance in relation to Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and North Korea.
While President Putin has described his talks at Helsinki as “very successful
and useful” – the discerning US citizen will want to know at what cost has this
rapprochement been effected? What has the US dealmaker mortgaged?
Domestic opinion in the US is scathing and the more critical comments including
that from former CIA chief John Brennan have described the Trump Helsinki
performance as ‘treasonous and shameful.’
Mixed thoughts
In a thoughtful assessment of the Helsinki summit, Dov Zakheim, a former Bush
cabinet member and a respected columnist noted: “It may be premature to assert
that Donald Trump, America’s wrecker-in-chief, is determined to undermine the
Western alliance. Yet his behavior throughout his European visit points in that
direction. Should he succeed, he will have accomplished what Putin and his
Soviet predecessors could only have hoped for in the wildest of their dreams.”
But will the US be able to sustain this Trump policy petulance, where he
castigates his allies (Merkel and May) and is almost unctuous to authoritarian
leaders (Putin and Xi) among other personal aberrations?
While the security framework is still intact – NATO has not been diluted in the
manner that the TPP was – the trade and economic domain will worry corporate USA
and adversely impact the US way of life. The US is the world’s largest
single-nation economy and its top six export destinations for 2017 were: Canada,
Mexico, China, Japan, UK and Germany. The Trump policy whether over trade
tariffs, defense spending or immigration has successfully roiled the bilateral
with all these nations – and there are others in the wings. Whether the US and
its electorate will subscribe to this ‘America alone’ strategy is moot. There is
greater likelihood that the major powers will soon get into a huddle to review
their options in a ‘world order minus the USA.’The US mid-term elections in
November will provide an indication of how the world’s oldest democracy will
tilt – with the Pied Piper wielding the wrecking-ball? Or will the American
voter hew back to a more familiar policy orientation where the commitment to the
liberal, democratic, rule-based order is substantively renewed. For President
Putin, Helsinki is the icing on the World Cup cake that Moscow has deservedly
earned.
Iraqis angry at vicious cycle of failure
Diana Moukalled/Arab News/July 17/18
Demonstrations and protests in Iraq have escalated in recent days due to the
state of frustration over a lack of electricity, water and jobs. Iraqis have
vented their outrage by setting fire to political and partisan headquarters and
government buildings, raising fears about the fragile political future of the
country. The government responded by cutting off internet services from most of
the country in a bid to control public anger and prevent it from escalating,
adding to the confusion.
The protests come at a critical time for the Iraqi government, which has been
paralyzed by the elections that were held more than two months ago and which
were marred by irregularities that have yet to be resolved. Iraq is currently
recounting votes after claims of fraud.
The demonstrations were sparked by a power outage in the hot summer months,
particularly in southern Iraq, where the population has been forced to suffer
the high temperatures without fans or air conditioning. Conditions have worsened
this year due to a severe drought that has led to water scarcity, as well as
Iran’s decision to cut off the electricity it exports to Iraq due to a dispute
over the payment of debts.
Iraqis have been angry since the country’s leaders, under US and Iranian
sponsorship, decided to transform a major state into a playground for regional
conflicts.
The recent demonstrations appear to be more widespread and have taken on a
political and angry character against Iran, which has been evident in the
slogans heard in different regions. But it should not be forgotten that the
explosion of the Iraqi scene is not outside the context of current events.
Opposition to the accumulation of political and economic failure and the giant
machine of corruption had to be expressed.
Iraqis are really angry. They have been angry since the country’s leaders, under
US and Iranian sponsorship, decided to transform a major state into a playground
for regional conflicts. They have been angry since the writing of the
constitution, at the rigging of elections, the theft of oil money, the failure
to solve the electricity shortage, the inability to improve the struggling
economy, and the spilling of the blood of unemployed youths on the battlefields
of absurd conflicts.
Iraqis are exhausted from the war on Daesh, and fatal political mistakes have
been repeated. Some people simply jumped into conspiracy theories to talk about
Iran’s choice of the hottest month of July to disconnect electricity supply from
Basra, where the protests started. At the same time, Turkey started to fill the
Ilisu dam, threatening the city’s last source of pure freshwater. Moreover, it
is the time chosen by the Iraqi government to give the green light to oil
companies to seize farms containing oil wells. Crucially, the Iraqi government
has failed to provide electricity and basic services after wasting tens of
billions of dollars on corrupt and unproductive projects — schemes that could
have produced enough energy for most of the Middle East — and that alone is
enough to stir anger.
For Iraq — despite its fertile territory, two major rivers and the sea of oil
that it sleeps on — to witness a “revolution of the hungry” would not be
surprising news, even if we do not hear about it today. It might become a
reality tomorrow, in light of the continuing inability of its impotent state
mechanisms to break the vicious cycle of failure.
**Diana Moukalled is a veteran journalist with extensive experience in both
traditional and new media. Twitter: @dianamoukalled
Helsinki summit heralds the dawn of a new world order
Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/July 17/18
The press conference following the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin summit in
Helsinki was easily the most unusual one any US president has given since World
War II. After a tour of Europe, where Trump met NATO leaders in Brussels,
British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Queen in the UK, and then Russian
President Putin in Helsinki, we can safely say that the Western world and its
alliances will never be the same again.
Trump had lambasted NATO leaders for not paying their promised 2 percent of GDP
on defense. He had a point there. He went on to pillory German Chancellor Angela
Merkel for importing gas from nearby Russia rather than US liquefied natural
gas, which did not make sense as the US does not yet have the export capacity
needed to satisfy the huge Western European demand. While in Brussels, he also
gave an ill-fated interview to The Sun newspaper, heavily criticizing May’s
Brexit plans. He stopped short of endorsing former Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson as better suited to the office of PM than May. As if all of this was not
cringeworthy enough, it was topped off by the press conference he gave together
with Putin after a two-hour, one-on-one meeting (with interpreters) and a
working lunch meeting together with their delegations.
The run-up to the meeting was somewhat amusing and proved that “boys will be
boys.” The one-upmanship was nothing short of cute: Putin arrived late in
Helsinki, but Trump would have none of that and waited until Putin had arrived
at the Presidential Palace (the meeting venue) before he set off, ensuring that
the Russian president had to wait too. Putin also brought his new car along: A
Russian-made presidential limousine, which is a smidgeon bigger than “The Beast”
(the nickname for the limousine of US commanders-in-chief). This is where the
amusing part of this summit ended.
In his defense, Trump did get a few things right. It is always better to engage
with adversaries than to refuse to talk. In that sense, it was right for the US
president to engage with a nation that has been at the center of much
controversy and animosity. Trump is also right when he points out that the US
and Russia are the two dominant nuclear powers and that their arsenals dwarf
those of any other nuclear power.
After Trump's controversial tour of Europe, we can safely say that the Western
world and its alliances will never be the same again.
Russia is a significant country and too many Western leaders have belittled its
importance. Despite only ranking 12th in the world in terms of GDP, Russia is a
nation with a centuries-old tradition and sphere of influence, which long
precedes the Soviet Union. The country also has a landmass that stretches over
11 time zones and boasts the world’s largest natural gas reserves and the
eighth-largest reserves of oil.
That is where the sympathy with Putin ends. It would have been important to
discuss START (the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which is due to expire in
2021. Russia was also accused by the US of violating the INF (Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces) Treaty when Putin announced his “unstoppable missiles” during a
big national address earlier this year. There were other issues to discuss,
including Syria, Ukraine and Crimea. There were the 12 indictments handed down
by the Mueller investigation to Russian operatives for meddling in the 2016 US
presidential election.
Given where Russia currently stands in the hierarchy of nations, it was already
going to be a huge win for Putin to score a meeting with the US president. Trump
could have easily left it at that and pressed a lot harder on the above
mentioned issues, especially disarmament, Syria and election meddling.
Instead, Trump gave the shop away, emphasizing he believed Putin’s statements
that Russia did not meddle in the US election. In other words, the US president
believed the head of a rival nation over and above his own intelligence
apparatus. Trump stood there and listened to Putin musing about supporting US
investigations by sending his own investigators to jointly establish what
happened. It would be interesting to know how Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
National Security Adviser John Bolton felt at that point — they are known for
their hawkish positions as far as Russia is concerned.
Putin’s elaborations on Syria were outright heartbreaking. He assured that
Russia and the US should work together to end human suffering, ignoring that it
was Russia that propped up Bashar Assad’s regime and supported its violations of
human rights. Of the four safe zones that were agreed on last year, two have
been obliterated, one is currently shelled and starved, and the fourth is
probably awaiting a similar fate — all of this with the tacit approval, if not
support, of Russia.
On disarmament, Putin was far more specific than Trump when he cited what could
be done under the various agreements.
Putin was quite blatant when he asserted there were many methods of potential
economic cooperation, saying that more than 500 US business leaders had attended
the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum earlier this summer. It was as
though the Russian president had never heard about the Western sanctions. The
reason for the sanctions — Ukraine and Crimea — were not mentioned at all.
After lambasting his allies and even putting the EU on top of a list of foes,
Trump gave in to Putin. The latter is a former KGB agent and a skilled operator.
He is also a patriot with a steely determination to score all the points he can
in favor of Russia: That is his job. One could also argue that it is Trump’s job
to secure all the advantages for the US he can on behalf of his allies. He
seemed uninterested in that. He has a personal preference for autocrats over
multilateral agreements and old established Western alliances. If the US
president is not careful, he risks serving his allies on a silver plate to
Russia and, as far as trade is concerned, to China. A word of warning to all
those who believe in democracy, a liberal world order, free trade, multilateral
alliances and agreements: Fasten your seat belts, the ride is about to get very
bumpy.
Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert.
Twitter: @MeyerResources
Palestinians' Latest "Apartheid Fatwa"
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/July 17/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12716/palestinians-apartheid-fatwa
The mufti's position parallels that of a US Supreme Court judge. If the mufti
issues a legal opinion or religious decree, his people and leaders are expected
to abide by it.
With the new fatwa, Abbas can go to President Trump and other world leaders and
tell them, "I would truly like to make peace with the Jews; however, I am
prevented from doing so by this fatwa, which bans Muslims from doing real estate
transactions with Jews. Sorry!"
One can only imagine the response of the international community had the Chief
Rabbi of Israel issued a decree banning Jews from doing business with Muslims.
But in the instance of the Palestinian mufti and his superiors in Ramallah,
everything seems to be fine -- once again, the international community turns a
blind eye to the Palestinian leaders' apartheid and their terrorizing of their
own people.
If anyone wanted further proof that no Palestinian leader would ever be able to
recognize Israel's right to exist, it was provided recently in the form of yet
another religious decree, or fatwa, issued by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. It is a fatwa that basically tells Muslims: "We will
kill you, punish you in many ways, if we catch you selling land or homes to
Jews."The fatwa makes it clear that no Muslim is entitled to sell his or her
land -- or transfer ownership over it -- to "enemies," a reference to Jews. The
implications are extremely serious. Anyone who violates this religious opinion
or decree will face various forms of punishment, ranging from being boycotted to
the death sentence.The fatwa, which was published by the mufti on July 10, has
attracted no attention from the international media or those parties that keep
telling us how keen they are about achieving peace between Palestinians and
Israel. Human rights organizations around the world do not seem to be bothered
at all by such threats against Muslims.
According to the fatwa, it is considered a "betrayal of Allah, His Messenger and
Islam" to sell land to the "enemies" or accept compensation for it. The Muslims,
it states, are obligated to boycott anyone who violates the ruling, refrain from
marrying the "sinners" or doing any business with them. Taking matters to their
most extreme, Muslims are prohibited from attending the funeral of -- or even
burying in a Muslim cemetery -- anyone who dares to sell land or a house to a
Jew.
In his statement, the mufti reminded all Palestinians that the Supreme Fatwa
Council in east Jerusalem had already issued a similar decree back in 1996.
It does not come as a surprise that Muslim leaders forbid their followers from
doing any business, including real estate transactions, with Jews. Palestinians
themselves have long been aware of this ban, which dates back to the beginning
of the last century.
In the past few decades, scores of Palestinians suspected of being involved in
real estate transactions with Jews have been abducted, tortured and brutally
murdered. Many of the murders took place shortly after the establishment of the
Palestinian Authority (PA) and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
According to Israeli sources, some of the victims were kidnapped and murdered on
instructions from the PA security forces (which are funded and trained by
Americans and Europeans).
Arguably, then, there is nothing new about an Islamic religious leader issuing
what can be described as a death sentence against Palestinian land-dealers and
land-brokers. Nonetheless, it is important to remind all those who seem to have
forgotten about such fatwas and why they cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric.
First, let us consider who is behind the latest fatwa: the mufti of the
Palestinian Authority in east Jerusalem. That figure is an official
representative of the PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas. So it is safe to
assume that the Mufti receives his salary, directly and indirectly, from the
financial aid provided to the Palestinians by the international community, first
and foremost the US and EU. Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas (right) meets with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein,
in Ramallah on April 5, 2010.
Second, the mufti serves as the highest religious authority for the Palestinian
leadership in Ramallah and has the final say on most religious and non-religious
issues. In other words, the mufti's position parallels that of a US Supreme
Court judge. If the mufti issues a legal opinion or religious decree, his people
and leaders are expected to abide by it. Third, the Palestinian mufti often
issues his fatwas after consulting with Islamic religious leaders throughout the
Arab and Islamic countries. This means that his rulings regularly represent the
consensus among leading Islamic figures in the Arab and Islamic world. Here it
is worth noting that no senior Islamic religious leader has challenged or
questioned the fatwa prohibiting Muslims from doing business with Jews. In other
words, the same fatwa applies not only to Palestinian Muslims, but to Muslims
worldwide.
Fourth, the fatwa shows that the Palestinian Authority is no different from its
rivals in Hamas when it comes to recognizing Israel's right to exist. If, as the
fatwa rules, it is forbidden for a Muslim to give up or transfer the ownership
of "any part of Jerusalem or Palestine to the enemies," then it is echoing the
official position of Hamas.
Hamas has one redeeming feature: it is honest about its murderous ideology.
Hamas's long-standing position has been that all the land of Palestine, from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, is Muslim-owned land. As such, according
to Hamas, no Muslim is entitled to give up one inch of this Muslim-owned land to
non-Muslims. For Hamas, the land of Palestine is Waqf (Islamic trust) land,
whose ownership cannot be transferred to a non-Muslim. This, by the way, is the
same phrase the Palestinian Authority used in the mufti's July 10 fatwa, where
he says that the land of Palestine and Jerusalem belongs to the Islamic trust.
We see, therefore, that there is no difference between the opinions of the
Palestinian Authority and Hamas when it comes to accepting the presence or
sovereignty of non-Jews over what they perceive as Muslim-owned land.
Fifth, the mufti's ruling contradicts Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas's public stance claiming to support a two-state solution and recognizing
Israel's right to exist. Is it possible that Abbas has not heard of his mufti's
fatwa banning Muslims from transferring the ownership of Muslim land to Jews? Or
is Abbas playing dumb and pretending that the rulings of his mufti and the
Supreme Fatwa Council in east Jerusalem are non-binding? More likely, however,
Abbas is playing his usual double game, having his mufti send one message to
Muslims while he, the Palestinian president, continues to send a totally
different message to Westerners. Abbas's message to the West: "We are ready for
compromise and concessions."
Sixth, this fatwa, whether Abbas takes it seriously or not, serves as a warning
to all Palestinians of the punishment that awaits them if they sell a piece of
land or a house to a Jew. For some Palestinians, by the way, the shame of being
ostracized and disowned by their own people and clan is worse than the death
penalty. There have been a number of cases in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and
the Gaza Strip where people were denied burial in Muslim cemeteries because they
were accused of selling land to Jews or having other dealings with them. This is
something that is considered extremely humiliating not only for the individual,
but for his entire clan. Seventh, Abbas and Palestinian leaders can always use
this fatwa to justify their refusal to make any concessions in return for peace
with Israel. They can tell world leaders that according to Islam, it is
forbidden for them to allow non-Muslims control over any part of the Holy Land.
This is why the latest fatwa serves the interests of Abbas and his associates,
allowing them to appear as if their hands are tied for religious reasons.
Eighth, it is also important to note that the fatwa was issued against a
backdrop of reports suggesting that the US administration is about to publish a
new plan for peace in the Middle East. The Palestinians fear that the plan,
which is known as the "deal of the century," would require them to make
territorial concessions to Israel, including recognizing Israel's right to
exist. So, the fatwa is Abbas's pre-emptive strike against President Donald
Trump's plan. Abbas has already condemned the yet-to-be-announced peace plan as
a US-Israeli "conspiracy" to eliminate Palestinian rights. With the new fatwa,
Abbas can go to President Trump and other world leaders and tell them, "I would
truly like to make peace with the Jews; however, I am prevented from doing so by
this fatwa, which bans Muslims from doing real estate transactions with Jews.
Sorry!"
The Palestinian fatwa is yet another declaration of war (jihad) on the presence
of Jews in the Middle East. It is also a declaration of war on any Muslim who
dares to think about peace with Israel. Moreover, the fatwa proves that the
Palestinians are openly practicing apartheid, prohibiting the sale of property
and homes to Jews. Moreover, this is happening at a time when Muslims in Israel
are accustomed to purchasing homes from Jews and moving to Jewish neighborhoods
and towns. The mufti's stance represents the true apartheid in this region. One
can only imagine the response of the international community had the Chief Rabbi
of Israel issued a decree banning Jews from doing business with Muslims. But in
the instance of the Palestinian mufti and his superiors in Ramallah, everything
seems to be fine -- once again, the international community turns a blind eye to
the Palestinian leaders' apartheid and their terrorizing of their own people.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Is Russia "Buying" the West?
Peter Huessy/Gatestone Institute/July 17/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12715/russia-czech-republic
It is wrong to view Russia's political warfare as merely a kind of "competition"
that lacks the seriousness of an actual military confrontation. As the Center
for Strategic and Budget Assessments (CSBA) report -- detailing Russia's
political warfare -- indicates, politics is war by other means.
Since then, however, the Czech Republic seems to be moving in the opposite
direction, with an openly pro-Russian leader, President Milos Zeman. As one
colleague of mine put it: "Could the land of the Velvet Revolution be slowly
falling under the spell of Putin's propaganda?"
Jakub Janda, director of the European Values Think-Tank in Prague, worries that
one measure of the success of Russian propaganda is that four out of ten Czechs
blame the U.S. for the Ukrainian crisis, although there are Russian troops
occupying part of the territory of Ukraine. And only 20% of Czechs believe that
Russian-organized troops are not operating in Ukraine, a view held by President
Zeman.
That countries with such promise as the Czech Republic are possibly sacrificing
all that they gained after the end of the Cold War for the Russian government is
a sad commentary on the condition of European societies. The good news is that
there are brave elements within these societies who seek to push back and
reclaim their freedom and sovereignty. Their efforts deserve not only our
praise, but our full support.
With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the official dissolution of the Soviet
Union in December 1991, NATO assumed that the newly freed countries of Eastern
and Central Europe (commonly referred to as the ECE) would join with Western
Europe and become both free and prosperous. It was not an entirely reasonable
assumption, however: the Russians did not want to accept the end of the Soviet
empire; nor were they ready to jettison decades of deep suspicion about the aims
of the West, particularly the United States and NATO.
Although the Russians sought economic influence throughout Eastern Europe after
the end of the Cold War, they were nevertheless supportive of Russian President
Mikhail Gorbachev's full acceptance of the reunification of Germany and
independence for the former members of the Soviet bloc.
Today, Russian "interference" in Eastern and Central Europe -- is often
described as the invasion of eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, with
little, if any, attention paid to Russian military incursions and cyber-attacks
against both Moldova and Georgia. Bad as these attacks are, since further
Russian military incursions have not occurred in other areas of Europe, a number
of Russia "experts" in the West, such as The Nation's Stephen F. Cohen, have
been arguing that the threat from Moscow is not all that serious. According to
such assessments, Russia's aggression has served to intimidate its neighbors,
but not much more than that.
This notion, however, is not accurate. While Russia's military "adventures"
certainly have succeeded in intimidating its neighbors, its behavior is part of
a more extensive campaign of "active measures" against Eastern and Central
Europe. These "active measures" are well-documented in a study released at the
end of May by the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments (CSBA), detailing
Russia's political warfare – involving systematic subversion and bullying --
which some emerging democracies in are ill-equipped to handle.
It is wrong to view Russia's political warfare as merely a kind of "competition"
that lacks the seriousness of an actual military confrontation. War may indeed
be what Carl von Clausewitz called "politics by other means." But, as the CSBA
report indicates, politics is war by other means.
Forty years ago, the Reagan administration surveyed the landscape, rejected
"détente" with the Soviets, and campaigned to end a very aggressive, offensive
element in Soviet behavior, termed by the intelligence community at the time as
"active measures." Today, it is almost with relief that analysts point to
Russia's "failure" to invade all of Ukraine as somehow evidence of overall
Russian restraint in Eastern and Central Europe and as a reason for the United
States and its NATO allies not be too concerned.
At a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
in Washington, D.C. in June, author Seth Jones said that the Reagan
administration correctly sought to "diagnose the problem" of Soviet active
measures, a key part of which was Moscow's support for the nuclear-freeze
movements in the United States and Europe. The Soviets in particular were trying
to stop U.S. deployment in England, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands of
Pershing II and GLCM or ground-launched cruise missiles, all intermediate-range
ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads, as a counter to the massive
Soviet deployment of SS-20 missiles in Europe and Asia. This Soviet missile
deployment was bad enough, but its political disinformation campaign was
critical to its overall campaign against the West. Understanding the danger of
this campaign, the Reagan administration thankfully waged "counter-information
warfare," a key part of its successful strategy to stop the Soviet measures, and
in so doing help precipitate the eventual collapse of the U.S.S.R.
Given Moscow's behavior today, why is the U.S. not engaging in a similar
counter-information campaign? After all, it is not as if Washington has been
unaware of what Russia is up to. Early in the term of the previous
administration, a group of central and eastern European leaders wrote an open
letter to President Barack Obama warning that "Russia was using overt and covert
economic means, as well as disinformation, to change the transatlantic
orientation of NATO members."
In early 2018, the Bulgarian think tank, the Center for the Study of Democracy,
examined Russian economic pressure and influence on five Balkan states --
Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Serbia -- over a 10-year period. The
question studied was whether Russia was changing the geostrategic politics of
these countries. The conclusion was that Russian "investment" in energy and
media companies had an important impact, as did Russian involvement in real
estate and infrastructure projects.
Such Russian "active measures" – noted CSIS panelists, using the Reagan model as
an example of what should be done today -- are poorly understood and rarely
countered by Western governments. Take, for example, the Czech Republic.
After the Cold War, the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI), established in
2002, symbolized the blossoming of free thought in the former Warsaw Pact
countries. Guided by a Reaganesque worldview of "peace through strength" and
"free enterprise," it has done important work on Russian "dezinformatsiya"
(disinformation), and highlighting the Russian economic and financial warfare
being waged against vulnerable post-communist states.
This threat and how best to deal with it was brought home when the ambassadors
to the United States from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania spoke at an energy
seminar in 2014, and declared their total support for bringing U.S. natural gas
supplies to their countries as a means of transforming Russia "from an energy
bully into an energy supplicant." They expressed hope that the U.S. would end
its 1975 ban on the export of natural gas, so that their countries could have an
alternative to the Russian monopoly on their energy supply – a coercive factor
in the Baltics' relationship with Moscow. They got their wish in December 2015,
when Congress voted to lift the 40-year-old export ban.
Since then, however, the Czech Republic seems to be moving in the opposite
direction, with an openly pro-Russian leader, President Milos Zeman. As one
colleague of mine put it: "Could the land of the Velvet Revolution be slowly
falling under the spell of Putin's propaganda?"
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with Czech Republic President
Milos Zeman in Sochi, Russia, on November 21, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
Particularly worrisome is the distribution of Russian disinformation through the
outlet Parlamentni Listy (Parliamentary Letters). This site is routinely used by
the Czech arms company CSG for the dissemination of pro-Russian information.
Incidentally, CSG is President Zeman's largest political donor. It is also an
important supplier of weapons to the Czech military. Meanwhile, it has
reportedly been buying up defunct arms manufacturers in the former Yugoslavia,
and selling unused, often inferior, weaponry.
In a recent column in the Washington Post, foreign policy analyst Anne Applebaum
wrote:
"Nowadays, when the Kremlin makes a covert effort to exert political influence
and undermine democracy, it has far more tools available — big companies, rich
oligarchs, both of which need to keep in with the government. Instead of the
brotherhood of mankind and the unity of the proletariat, modern Russia can
appeal to a much simpler instinct: greed."
RWR Advisory Group LLC, headed by Roger W. Robinson – Chairman of the Prague
Security Studies Institute -- possesses detailed data on all Chinese and Russian
transactions worldwide collected on a daily basis.His firm differentiates those
transactions that are strategic and security-related in nature versus those that
are more benign and commercial. Robinson told this author that there are offers
of $10 billion by each of China's CGN and Russia's Rosatom to build two (and
possibly three) new nuclear reactors for the Czech Republic at its Temelin and
Dukovany NPP power complexes. In the case of CGN, the company was indicted in
the U.S. in 2016 for "stealing Westinghouse technology."
In 2015, the Czech government claimed that such Russian behavior severely
destabilized the European security architecture and showed a lack of respect for
international law and for the "territorial integrity and sovereignty" of the
Czech Republic. Jakub Janda, director of the European Values Think-Tank in
Prague, mentioned to this author that a past Czech assessment had been,
"Declining security and stability in Europe's flank regions and immediate
neighborhood could pose a direct threat to NATO."
He also explained the results of his think tank's Kremlin Watch Reports, and how
his organization and others had become leaders in countering Russian
disinformation and coercive economic efforts. For example, he noted, while
membership in NATO has strong popular support in the Czech Republic, the
building of a NATO alliance infrastructure in the country is rejected by more
than half the population. He worries that one measure of the success of Russian
propaganda is that four out of ten Czechs blame the U.S. for the Ukrainian
crisis, although there are Russian troops occupying part of the territory of
Ukraine. And only 20% of Czechs believe that Russian organized troops are not
operating in Ukraine, a view held by President Zeman.
During his first public speech after recently becoming the head of the British
Army, General Mark Carleton-Smith said, "Russia today is not a status quo power,
it's in revisionist mode and its intent is now matched by a growing arsenal of
long-range precision capabilities."
One analyst, Jakub Janda, said that making tough speeches on the Russian threat
is relatively easy. But coming up with a "full-government approach" similar to
that which the Baltic states undertook -- understandable in light of their
geographical proximity, historical experience and significant Russian minorities
within their societies -- takes a much greater effort. This effort entailed
taking harsh measures, such as restricting Russian pseudo-media, targeted
investment and other means of misinformation and influence.
According to the CSBA study, the West needs to adopt such a strategy – one that
goes beyond America's current National Defense Strategy, which consistently
talks about "strategic competition" in relation to Moscow and Beijing. CSBA
analyst Tom Mahnken emphasized, "[T]he fact that Russia and China are waging
coherent political warfare strategies is a clear contrast with the United States
and the West, where attempts to understand Russian and Chinese political warfare
is still a work in progress and efforts to counter it nascent at best."
Even more disturbing, as Shoshana and Stephen Bryen recently wrote, is that the
West is allowing Russia access to influence:
"...Germany, in particular but not only, stays warm in the winter with Russian
natural gas meeting about 40% of its requirements.
"This is an old story. The Reagan administration objected to Russian-European
plans to build the natural gas Yamal Pipeline from Siberia to Germany from which
gas would be distributed to much of Western Europe. The American position was
that, In the middle of the Cold War, having the USSR control a majority of the
supply of natural gas to Germany's industrial heartland would make it difficult
for Germany to resist Russian political and military demands. But the Europeans
wanted to sell Russia the machinery for the pipeline, making money as they
mortgaged their energy future to Moscow.
"After a bitter fight, the Yamal pipeline was partially blocked and only one
strand of two was built. Post-Soviet, the Russians were able, with European
support, to build the second strand. In the early 2000's Europe bought into yet
another Russian-originated pipeline -- an undersea project called Nord Stream --
again providing manufacturing jobs and pipeline work for Europe as well as gas.
"Early in 2018, Bloomberg reported, "Russia, which shipped some $38 billion of
gas to its most lucrative markets in Europe last year, has diminished thoughts
that other suppliers could ensure supplies in Europe anytime soon." Nord Stream,
and its successor Nord Stream 2, will give Russia the same influence its
predecessor, the USSR, would have had."
In other words, decades after the arduous and successful effort by the West and
its allies around the world to bring down the Soviet Union, Moscow continues to
rear its head. That countries with such promise as the Czech Republic are
possibly sacrificing all that they gained after the end of the Cold War for the
Russian government is a sad commentary on the condition of European societies.
The good news is that there are brave elements within these societies who seek
to push back and reclaim their freedom and sovereignty. Their efforts deserve
not only our praise, but our full support.
**Dr. Peter Huessy is President of GeoStrategic Analysis, a defense consulting
firm he founded in 1981, as well as Director of Strategic Deterrent Studies at
the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Opinion/Helsinki Fiasco Proves That Netanyahu’s
Adulation for Trump Is a Miscalculated Risk for Israel
كامي شالف في الهآررتس: خيبات قمة هلنسكي تؤكد أن تزلف نتنياهو لترامب يشكل حسابات
ومخاطرة خاطئة بالنسبة لإسرائيل
Chemi Shalev/Haaretz/July 17/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66111/chemi-shalev-haaretz-helsinki-fiasco-proves-that-netanyahus-adulation-for-trump-is-a-miscalculated-risk-for-israel-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%85%d9%8a-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84/
A U.S. president who shames his country in public won’t hesitate to stick a
knife in the back of its ally in the Middle East.
A few minutes after the end of the press conference with Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement of unqualified
support. He praised Trump for his “deep commitment” to Israel’s security and
added, as he usually does, that “the friendship between Israel and the United
States has never been stronger.” He put in a good word for Putin as well, even
before hearing that the Russian president was “a fan,” as Trump told Fox News.
The reports and analyses in Israel were ecstatic: The summit’s outcome showcased
Netanyahu’s strong statesmanship and unrivaled diplomatic skills.
From reading the headlines, one might have concluded that we are living in a
normal world and that the Helsinki meeting was just another point on the
continuum of summits between the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. Since
Trump’s election, however, the world is far from normal and the United States is
going off the rails: The Helsinki summit will be remembered as one of the most
disturbing and grotesque events in modern American history. Most of the world,
including many Trump supporters in the U.S., watched aghast as the U.S.
president trashed his country and defended its enemy. Netanyahu’s quick support
portrayed Israel as living on another planet. As Israel’s famous poetess Rachel
wrote, “I only know to tell of myself/ my world is as narrow as an ant’s.”
Never mind that the link between Netanyahu and Trump isn’t just a matter of
simple expediency, but a deep-rooted emotional and ideological bond. Trump’s
election released the last pent-up remainders of Netanyahu’s nationalism,
authoritarianism, populism and self-victimization. It accelerated the depletion
of his sense of shame, from the odious laws Netanyahu pushes in the Knesset to
his war on the police and law authorities to his shameful courtship of arguably
anti-Semitic leaders in Hungary and Poland. Small wonder that Trump often uses
Netanyahu as an advocate and human shield, deploying him to remove doubts among
wavering U.S. supporters.
There’s no denying, of course, that Netanyahu is responsible for Israel’s
security, not world peace. And it’s understandable that he would play up his
close ties to Trump, his frequent dialogue with Putin and the advantages that
Israel accrues from both. But there’s a limit to everything and sometimes enough
is enough: The plaudits for Trump immediately after his dismal showing in
Helsinki are perceived as assistance for a disgraced friend. They depict Israel
as a country oblivious to the world and blind to troubles just beyond its nose.
It casts Israel as a central cog in the deviant Putin-Trump axis, the true
nature of which has yet to be revealed.
The obvious precedent, of course, is Richard Nixon, who provided vital
assistance to Israel during the Yom Kippur War and was rewarded with the undying
admiration of its leaders, despite the Watergate scandal swirling around him.
But unlike 1973, Israel isn’t waging an all-out war with empty arsenals. And
Nixon, with all due disrespect, wasn’t viewed as a compulsive breaker of U.S.
alliances and as an epitome of arrogance, ignorance and personal corruption.
Netanyahu could have maintained close ties to Trump and safeguarded Israel’s
vital interests while maintaining a safe distance nonetheless. Instead, the
prime minister goes out of his way to kowtow to the U.S. president.
His total identification with Trump is a moral stain on Israel in and of itself.
It tarnishes Israel’s good name among the large swaths of the U.S. and world
public opinion that abhors the American president. When the time comes and
Americans will be rid of their president - at the ballot box, in the courts or
through impeachment proceedings - they will hold his enablers to account as
well. First and foremost, Israel’s infatuation with Trump is a miscalculated
risk: An American president who is willing to sell out his own country in
public, as Trump did in Helsinki, won’t think twice about sticking a knife in
the backs of his groupie Netanyahu, and of America’s “greatest ally” in the
Middle East.
Explained/Did Trump Just Absolve Putin's Deadly Record
in Syria?
هل قام ترامب بتبرئة سجل بوتين القاتل في سوريا؟
Haaretz and The Associated Press/July 17/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/66113/trump-putin-is-a-great-believer-in-israel-he-is-a-fan-of-bibi-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7/
Putin said Russia and the U.S. reached common ground on Syria at Monday’s talks
but gave few details.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it’s ready to boost cooperation with the U.S.
military in Syria, following talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it’s ready for “practical
implementation” of agreements reached by Trump and Putin.
It said Russia’s military leadership is ready to augment contacts with U.S.
counterparts on “cooperation in Syria” and extending the START arms control
treaty, but gave no details.
Putin said Russia and the U.S. reached common ground on Syria at Monday’s talks
but gave few details. Critics of the Trump's embrace of Putin in Helsinki accuse
Trump of absolving Putin of Russia's role in the disastrous Syrian conflict.
Since the beginning of the war, it is estimated that over half a million people
have been killed in Syria, and over 13 million refugees, including 6.6 million
internally displaced persons, 5 million in neighbouring Arab and African
countries, and around 1 million in Europe. 8.1 thousand people are still thought
to be living in besieged locations.
Russia's role
The U.S. and Russia have backed opposite sides of Syria’s war, but U.S. and
Russian officials are working toward an eventual deal on the balance of regional
power in post-war Syria.
Russian military intervention in Syria officially began on the 30th of September
2015, after Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad wrote to Vladimir Putin asking for
help in securing the country back.
Russia and Syria are not only long time friends in terms of arms trade, which
goes back to the time of the Soviet Union, but Russia also has vested interests
in keeping Assad in power, and the Islamists at bay. Russia’s only naval base
outside of the former Soviet Union is located on the Mediterranean Sea in the
Syrian city of Tartus.
Russia began striking Syria on September 30th, 2015 around Homs and Hama. The
airstrikes have caused tremendous amounts of civilian deaths – the British
non-profit organization and watchdog, Airwars, has drawn the average from
various reports and found that around 6,196 civilians have been killed by
Russian airstrikes since the beginning of its involvement in 2015 in until
January 2018. The Kremlin, however, continues to deny that any civilians have
been killed by Russian airstrikes.
While Russia officially claims to only engage in airstrikes, there is evidence
that they have also deployed troops on the ground, albeit as privately
contracted soldiers through third parties based outside of Russia. However, it
seems to be that these privately contracted soldiers receive all the same
benefits as regular Russian army soldiers.
Russia’s unwavering support for Assad’s regime has also manifested at the UN
where they have vetoed every resolution at the Security Council that expresses
its concern for the Syrian Republic, and in particular condemning the use of
chemical weapons by Syrian government forces against its own people.
Only after intense negotiations at the UN did the Russians allow for aid convoys
to access the Eastern Ghouta region, which government forces bombarded for a
month from February to March 2018. The total number of dead was estimated at
1,700 people. They later allowed for around 994 people to leave Eastern Ghouta
by bus to rebel-held Idlib.
Lastly, Russia’s involvement in Syria has allowed them to showcase and test
their new weapons arsenal, much of which they would like to sell - and at that,
to Middle Eastern countries. Russia has reportedly tested over 200 different
types of military equipment in Syria, including tanks and aircraft. In 2017,
Putin boasted that Russia’s arms sales in 2016 topped $5 billion.
Trump: Putin Is a Great Believer in Israel, He Is a Fan of Bibi
ترامب: بوتين من المؤمنين الكبار بإسرائيل وهو من المعجبين بنيتانياهو
Haaretz/Jul 17/18
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The U.S. president says Russian counterpart 'helps Israel and will continue to
help Israel. This is good for all of us' and claims Putin is a 'great believer
in Israel, a fan of Bibi'
U.S. President Donald Trump said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin
"reached a very good conclusion regarding Israel" during the pair's meeting in
Helsinki on Monday.
The American president, who gave an interview to Fox News' Sean Hannity, said
that he was under the impression that Putin was "a great believer in Israel, he
is a fan of Bibi."
Trump also said that Putin "helps him [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] a lot
and will continue to help a lot, which is good for all us." The two men
mentioned Israel during the press conference and expressed their readiness to
continue their support for the peace agreement between Israel and Syria signed
in 1974. "It will help us calm the situation on the Golan Heights," Putin
said.Trump added that "We have worked with Israel for decades - there has never
been a country closer to us, and Putin is also very close to Israel, we have
both talked to Benjamin Netanyahu, and both countries want to help Israel defend
itself."
Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated the two presidents on their words.
In the interview with Fox following the summit, Trump also said that Special
Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016
presidential election has "driven a wedge between us and Russia."
Trump claimed that Putin told him: "It's really a shame, because we could do so
much good" on the FBI investigation.
At a joint press conference following their meeting, Trump said he had no reason
to believe that Russia intervened in the elections. Putin denied Russian
interference at the press conference, and in an interview he gave to Fox News'
Chris Wallace, he called the allegations "utterly ridiculous." Putin also denied
claims that he or his government had "incriminating material" about Trump and
his family.
At the press conference, the Russian president also referred to the indictment
of 12 Russian intelligence operatives accused of cyberattacks on Democratic
organizations during the elections. Putin made a proposal in which Mueller would
work with Russian officials to investigate cybercrimes against American
political organizations. Trump told Hannity that he was "fascinated" by Putin's
proposal but said he dismissed it because he thought Mueller and his team
"probably won't want to go."
North Korea's nuclear weapons program also came up in Trump's interview. The
president noted that Putin is interested in helping on the matter, but added:
"There's no rush, it has been going on for many years."
Trump said that the United States and Russia account for "90 percent" of the
world's nuclear weapons "and we've had a phony, witch hunt deal drive us apart."
Trump accused several senior US intelligence officials of his persecution.
In the interview, Trump said that his meeting with Putin was "very long, a good
meeting." Trump added that before the meeting, he thought that the U.S. has a
problem with Russia, but now the relations between the two countries are good.