LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 03/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.june03.18.htm
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Bible
Quotations
This very night your
life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will
they be
Luke 12/16-21: "Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a
rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, "What should I do,
for I have no place to store my crops?" Then he said, "I will do this: I
will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my
grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods
laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." But God said to him,
"You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the
things you have prepared, whose will they be?"So it is with those who store
up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’"
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on June 02-03/18
Hariri: New government to be formed after Eid al-Fitr/Hussein
Dakroub/The Daily Star/June 02/18
BDS fly Hezbollah flag at Israel-South Africa photo exhibition/By Ilanit
Chernick/Jerusalem/June 02/2018
Israel and Hezbollah may be sleepwalking into war/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab
News/June 02/18
NATO chief: We won't aid Israel if Iran attacks/Associated Press/Ynetnews/June
02/18
Has the countdown for the Iranian regime’s fall begun/Nadim Koteich/Al
Arabiya/June 02/18
Iran and the Gulf: Let’s start with facts and then move forward/Faisal Al-Shammeri/Al
Arabiya/June 02/18
Iraqi voters decide the next government’s identity/Adnan Hussein/Al Arabiya/June
02/18
The politicization of Mo Salah’s injury/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/June
02/18
Is Russia waging war with ‘autonomous patriotic volunteers’ to deny
responsibility/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
British 'Justice': Poppycock/Bruce Bawer/Gatestone Institute/June 02/2018
UK: A New Drive for Islamic Blasphemy Laws/Judith Bergman/Gatestone
Institute/June 02/2018
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
June 02-03/18
Uproar in Lebanon over ‘naturalization’ granting
hundreds citizenship
Background Profiles of Naturalized Individuals Revealed
Presidency Denies Access to Controversial Decree
Naturalization Decree Sparks Controversy
Hariri: New government to be formed after Eid al-Fitr
Lebanon: Naturalization Decree to Face Challenges
Aoun calls for intel on eligibility of names in naturalization decree to be
brought forward
BDS fly Hezbollah flag at Israel-South Africa photo exhibition
Report: Baabda Assures ‘New Govt to Isolate No One’
Abou Faour Criticizes Decree Granting Lebanese Nationality to Foreigners
Gulf Official Says ‘Difficult’ Stage Awaiting Lebanon
MP Jamil Sayyed to Stand Witness Before STL in June
Israel and Hezbollah may be sleepwalking into war
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on June 02-03/18
NATO chief: We won't aid Israel if
Iran attacks
Egypt's Sisi Worn in for Second Term in Office
US-Led Coalition Raids Kill 12 Civilians in Syria's Hasakeh
US Vetoes UN Resolution on Protecting Palestinians
Saudi Arabia Reshuffles Cabinet with Eye on Culture
N. Korea Summit Back On, Trump Says after Meeting Kim Envoy
Palestinian Tries to Hit Israeli Soldiers with Car, Shot Dead
Mattis Accuses China of 'Intimidation and Coercion' in S. China Sea
Assad to go along with Putin’s request to disband militias
Pilots eject safely as Iran military jet crashes in Isfahan
Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli soldiers in West Bank
Juncker Calls for Respect for New Italy Govt
Sanchez Sworn in As New Spanish PM after Ousting Mariano Rajoy
No More Mr Nice Guy: Canada's Trudeau Gets Tough
US Troop Presence in S. Korea Not 'on Table' at Trump-Kim Summit, Says
Mattis
Canada concerned by Syria’s recognition of Georgian breakaway regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
June 02-03/18
Uproar in Lebanon over
‘naturalization’ granting hundreds citizenship
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 2 June 2018/A controversial
decree granting citizenship to 375 foreigners has sent ripples across
Lebanon in the last 48 hours after news emerged that President Michel Aoun
signed the resolution along with Prime Minister designate Saad al-Hariri and
caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq. While government officials kept
silent, civil societies and activists took to social media to vent their
anger and criticism. The decree, which was riddled with accusations of
bribery, grants Lebanese citizenship to affluent applicants including
Syrians, Palestinians, Iraqis and Iranian nationals. While MP Nadim Gemayel
from Kataeb party was the first to announce the list of the names of those
included in the presidential decree of naturalization, there was conflicting
information as to whether the decree had already been signed. In an
interview with Al Arabiya news channel, MP Gemayel confirmed the signing of
the decree according to sources close to the presidential palace. Aoun’s
office has yet to comment on the matter, with sources telling Annahar
newspaper that the decree might have been drafted before the May 6 elections
while the Cabinet was still fully operational. Both Hariri and Mashnouq have
also refrained from commenting up to this point. But the caretaker Justice
minister Salim Jreissati confirmed in a statement Friday the signing of the
decree which sent waves of shocks to a lot of Lebanese citizens especially
Lebanese women married to foreigners who cannot grant citizenship to their
children due to religious considerations and others related to the issue of
settling the Palestinians. These development draws a lot of questions
whether if the law grants the Minister of the Interior, the President of the
Republic with the approval of a majority of ministers, a naturalization
decree.
The question now is about the “category” that has been naturalized,
especially if it is true that they are rumored to be financiers who have
paid about $ 200,000. If that is true the Lebanese are asking on social
media: “Where did all that money go and in whose pocket it ended up?”
Background Profiles of Naturalized Individuals Revealed
Kataeb.org/Saturday 02nd June 2018/Some of the individuals included in the
naturalization decree, that was inked lately by President Michel Aoun and PM
Saad Hariri, appear to be closely tied to the Syrian regime, as reported by
LBCI channel. One of the individuals who have been granted Lebanese
citizenship is Syrian businessman S.F. who had been described by the
Financial Times as a man who "has direct ties to the Assad inner circle.”
The Daily Beast website also depicted him as "a member of Syria’s wealthy
family of international businessmen, which reportedly has close links to the
Assad regime." Several people affiliated to the Aman Group, which is owned
by S.F., notably the company's deputy chairman (Kh.Z.) are reportedly also
among those included in the naturalization decree. Another man (M.M.) is
believed to be the son of a former Syrian minister who is allegedly in
charge of getting Iran's funds through to the Assad regime. One of the
naturalized individuals (Aa.S.) has the same name of a Syrian businessman
who served as the head of Syria's Sea Navigation Chamber. The Customs
Directorate had seized the man's assets based on smuggling charges.
Iranian national (S.A.) also has the same name of a businessman who was
involved in the Unaoil bribery scandal in Iraq. Unaoil was, according to the
thousands of leaked emails, running an extensive network of shady middlemen
who had connections to ministers and oil officials in Iraq, Libya, Iran,
Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Syria, Azerbaijan, Malaysia and Algeria.
Presidency Denies Access to Controversial Decree
Kataeb.org/Saturday 02nd June 2018/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Saturday
announced that the Presidency secretariat had refused to provide him with a
copy of the naturalization decree, adding that he will be addressing the
same request to the Interior Ministry next week.
"The Presidency has refused to give us a copy of the naturalization decree
although it was the authority that issued it," he wrote on Twitter. Gemayel
on Friday requested that the Presidency would provide a copy of the
naturalization decree that was inked by the head of state, stressing that it
is the lawmakers' right to know what was included in said law. In a letter
addressed to the General Directorate of the Lebanese Presidency, Gemayel
noted that his request is congruent with the provisions of the "Right to
Access to Information” law which was passed by the Parliament in 2017.
Naturalization Decree Sparks Controversy
Kataeb.org/Saturday 02nd June 2018/After news emerged that President Michel
Aoun had inked a decree according to which several foreign nationals,
notably Syrians and Palestinians, were granted citizenship, a number of
Lebanese officials have condemned such a move as they deemed it as dubious.
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat announced that he is
preparing an appeal to contest said decree before the Constitutional
Council, demanding the competent authorities to clarify all the
circumstances and motives behind this law. “This decree raises several
questions whether in terms of its timing, content, significance and
objectives,” Jumblat wrote on Twitter. "Some of those who are part of the
ruling authority have been busy drafting a decree that grants citizenship to
rich foreigners so as to get spoils and commissions." For his part,
Caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi voiced the Lebanese Forces’
utter rejection of the naturalization decree, affirming that the party will
be challenging it.MP Antoine Habchi voiced concern over the suspicious
silence and the extreme secrecy that are overshadowing this issue, stressing
that all necessary measures will be taken to foil it.
Former MP Fadi Karam deemed naturalization as a critical matter that cannot
be overlooked, warning of the major demographic problems that it can lead
to. MP Farid Al-Khazen called on the Interior Minister to declare an
official stance concerning the naturalization decree as well as the criteria
that were adopted in it.
Hariri: New government
to be formed after Eid al-Fitr
Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star/Jun. 02, 2018
BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Friday he expected a new
government to be formed after Eid al-Fitr, maintaining his optimism despite
hurdles that might hinder the Cabinet formation process by rival factions’
demands for key ministerial posts. Attempts to form a new government will
pick up pace early next week following Hariri’s return to Beirut from a
visit to Saudi Arabia, a source close to the premier-designate said Friday.
Hariri is set to return this weekend from a few days’ visit to Saudi Arabia
and will deliver a speech during an iftar at the Sea Side Pavilion (formerly
BIEL) Sunday night outlining his position on the Cabinet formation efforts
and other issues, the source told The Daily Star.Eid al-Fitr, marking the
end of the holy Muslim month of fasting, falls either on June 15 or 16,
depending on the sighting of the new moon. Hariri spoke with local news
outlet MTV by telephone from his residence in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Hariri, who has been in Riyadh since Tuesday night, said he was on a
vacation his family, adding he had not and will not meet with any Saudi
officials. Similarly, Hariri said he did not make any contacts with any
Lebanese officials in Beirut during his stay in Riyadh on the Cabinet
formation efforts. “When I return to Beirut, efforts will be resumed at a
quick pace to form the government,” he was quoted as saying.
Commenting on rival parties’ demands for key ministerial posts, Hariri was
quoted as saying that Hezbollah would get three ministers in a 30-member
Cabinet. He did not say if any of the portfolios would deal with public
services, as per demands by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. Asked
about the Lebanese Forces, which was reported to be demanding key
ministerial posts, having boosted its parliamentary representation from
eight to 15 MPs in the elections, Hariri was quoted as saying: “There are no
obstacles in this respect [of LF representation] on my part.” He expressed
hope that the dispute between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement over
the Cabinet posts and other issues would be resolved. Caretaker Information
Minister Melhem Riachi, one of three LF ministers in the outgoing Cabinet,
said the LF was seeking a Cabinet share that corresponded to its
parliamentary size. Asked in an interview with MTV whether the LF was
demanding the Energy and Water Ministry that has been held for years by the
FPM, Riachi said: “No, we did not demand it, but we will not refuse to take
it. We are not talking about [ministerial] posts. But, of course, we want a
[Cabinet] share that conforms to our political weight and parliamentary
size. We will not talk about figures. But why should our share be similar to
that of the Free Patriotic Movement?”
Hariri also appeared to be optimistic that a solution would be found to the
problem of Druze representation in the next government.
His remarks came as former MP Walid Joumblatt, leader of the Progressive
Socialist Party, seemed to be adamant that the PSP’s parliamentary
Democratic Gathering bloc obtain three ministerial posts reserved for the
Druze in a 30-member Cabinet. Joumblatt’s demand was seen as an attempt to
prevent his Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan, from being named minister in the
new government. Hariri’s visit to Saudi Arabia is his second since he
announced his surprise resignation from Riyadh on Nov. 4, plunging Lebanon
into political uncertainty. However, Hariri later rescinded his resignation
following a Cabinet agreement on Dec. 5 on a fresh policy of dissociation
from regional conflicts and noninterference in the internal affairs of Arab
countries. Hariri, who has been prime minister since December 2016 and
served his first term from 2009 to 2011, was designated for the third time
with an overwhelming parliamentary majority on May 24 to form a new
government. While Hariri was away, political rivals began traditional
jockeying in a bid to grab a bigger share of Cabinet posts despite promises
made by the leaders of major parliamentary blocs to help facilitate and
accelerate the formation of a new unity government representing all the
parties. President Michel Aoun Friday expressed his optimism that the new
government would be formed soon. He said that carrying out reforms and
fighting corruption in the public administration would be at the core of the
new government. “The next stage that will follow the formation of a new
government will deal with the economic and social situation facing Lebanon,
with a focus on maintaining stable security and following up on the problem
of displaced Syrians’ return to their country,” Aoun said during a meeting
with EU Ambassador to Lebanon Christina Lassen at Baabda Palace. “Reforms
will be at the core of the next government’s attention, in addition to
completing the implementation of development projects, particularly those
related to ensuring additional electric energy, and implementing water dams
and the transport network,” Aoun said. He vowed not to be lenient with any
corruption case. “All leaders agree on the need to combat corruption. What
is required is to translate these stances into real commitment,” Aoun said.
“I will not be lenient from now on in any [corruption] file presented to me
or to supervisory agencies.”For her part, Lassen renewed the EU’s support
for Lebanon in various fields, expressing hope that the new government would
be formed soon.
Lebanon: Naturalization Decree to Face Challenges
Beirut - Nazeer Rida/Asharq Al Awsat/Saturday, 2 June, 2018/A controversial
naturalization decree signed by Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun opened a
wide door for criticism by political forces that announced that they would
challenge it as soon as it is published in the Official Gazette. Sources
close to Aoun saw the campaigns as “politically targeted”, noting that all
former presidents have signed similar decrees for individuals, without
posing any risk to the Lebanese entity. concerned officials have until now
kept silence over the details of the naturalization decree, available
information on the number of those naturalized varied, ranging from 258 to
400 with different nationalities including Palestinians and Syrians, in
addition to other Arab and foreign nationalities. On Friday, MP Nadim
Gemayel published information on 52 persons included in the decree, some of
whom were Palestinians. He also revealed that another decree to naturalize
Syrian and Palestinian families was under preparation. “This is a
preparation for a settlement project, which is unacceptable,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP)
announced they would challenge the decree before the Constitutional Council,
immediately after it is published in the Official Gazette. Member of the
Powerful Republic bloc MP Wehbeh Qatisha, described the naturalization of
some 400 people at the beginning of Aoun’s term as “dangerous and
intolerable.” He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the LF would challenge it
“because it is illegal and unconstitutional.”The Democratic Gathering bloc,
headed by MP Taymour Jumblatt, also announced that it was preparing to
challenge the decree. The bloc questioned “the criteria adopted for the
granting of Lebanese nationality to the persons listed in the decree and the
basis of the decision-making.”
In response, a parliamentary source said that the anti-decree campaign had
political targets. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the source said: “Those,
who target the president behind the decree… are facing the demands for a
safe return of the Syrians to their country and they are trying to harm the
image of the president.”Former President Michel Sleiman signed a decree to
naturalize more than 600 people. “Most presidents have signed naturalization
decrees for small groups or individuals, a right that the law grants to the
president,” well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Aoun calls for intel on eligibility of names in
naturalization decree to be brought forward
The Daily Star/Jun. 02, 2018/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Saturday
requested that anyone with evidence of the ineligibility of members of a
list of people to be granted Lebanese citizenship bring the information to
General Security. Local media reported that Aoun met with General Security
head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim Saturday to discuss the controversial decree
that would naturalize 375 people. The act was signed within the past month
by President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and caretaker
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, but news of its passage only surfaced
this week. While not a violation of the Constitution, the manner of the
decree’s passage and its timing have raised hackles across the country.
Naturalization has been a controversial topic since the outbreak of the
1975-90 Civil War, mainly due to its implication on the country’s sectarian
balance. Of the 375 names on the latest decree, 260 were Christian and 115
were Muslim. It has also been reported that some of those on the list paid
large sums of money to be included. Parliamentary sources told The Daily
Star that the announcement comes ahead of the likely removal of a number of
names. “During the meeting between Aoun and Ibrahim, it was agreed to revise
the [decree] and to present the citizenship only to those who deserve it,”
one parliamentary source said. The sources added that the announcement may
even pave the way to rescinding the decree, as some of those slated for
naturalization had not been vetted by General Security. Issues like this are
traditionally agreed upon between politicians if, and only if, there is a
balance between sects. But a political source previously told The Daily Star
that this naturalization decree would be followed by other similar decrees
during Aoun’s tenure. While it is not uncommon for outgoing presidents to
sign naturalization decrees, Aoun diverged by doing so halfway through his
second year.
BDS fly Hezbollah flag
at Israel-South Africa photo exhibition
By Ilanit Chernick/Jerusalem/June 02/2018
Opening event major success despite anti-Israel protesters' attempts to
disrupt.
JOHANNNESBURG - Protesters and supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) movement made several attempts to disrupt the opening of the
#YallaYebo photography exhibition in South Africa on Thursday night.
Several scuffles broke out as the BDS supporters waved Hezbollah flags
covered in red paint and compared Jews to Nazis, while hurling abuse in an
attempt to provoke violence.
The Jerusalem Post witnessed first-hand as several protesters called Jews
Nazis for attending the event.
“You [South African Jews] have done this to yourselves,” he said pointing at
several guests waiting to get into the venue. “You can’t look at yourself in
the mirror… because you know you’ve turned into a f****** Nazi.”
Another protester chanted that Israel was carrying out “the final solution.”
One guest told the Post that flying the Hezbollah flag at a Jewish event, “a
terrorist organization that wants Jews dead, is as bad as flying the
apartheid South African flag in front of me. “If it was me, I wouldn’t be
standing here calmly like you are, I’d be getting in their faces and
demanding to know what they think they’re doing,” he added. Another visitor
said, “Perhaps they feared that the pictures contradicted their lies, and
rather showcased both countries in their diversity and beauty.” The entire
event is an initiative of the Israeli Embassy and the South African Friends
of Israel, who embarked on a joint project with the aim of exploring South
Africa and Israel’s diversities and similarities. Despite attempts by the
two-dozen protesters to disrupt, threaten and intimidate guests, over a
hundred art enthusiasts, together with dignitaries, community leaders and
media attended.
Israeli Ambassador Lior Keinan and Deputy Ambassador Ayellet Black addressed
the audience, focusing on the importance of creating a cultural space where
people can experience a different side of both countries, enabling a neutral
platform for dialogue and engagement. The event was the culmination of an
artist exchange program which took place in October 2017. The concept of the
exhibition is to showcase the beauty, diversity and similarities of South
Africa and Israel, through the artist’s eyes and experiences. Two Israeli
instagrammers came to South Africa to photo-document the country’s richly
diverse cultures and impressive landscapes, and, in turn, two South African
instagrammers went to Israel, mirroring this project. The South African
instagrammers, student-Oscar nominated director Miklas Manneke, and famous
photographer Alexi Portokallis - whom the Post spent time with while
photographing Israel in November - expressed their pride and excitement
about their exhibition, and that such a dream had become a reality. They
showed the Post some of their favorite shots, which included women at the
Western Wall and the diverse culture of Machaneh Yehuda market.
The photographs captured the essence and complexities of both Israel and
South Africa.
During the event, protesters blocked the entrance and security was forced to
stop guests from entering or leaving the art gallery out of concern that the
protesters would try to storm the venue. As the Post attempted to leave
through a back entrance escorted by security, several protesters came to the
gate brandishing signs and shouted in an abusive and aggressive manner in an
attempt to force the group back inside out of fear. The protesters were
unsuccessful. In a statement, South African Friends of Israel co-chairman
Ben Swartz said that “the event went ahead despite a frantic, last minute
attempt to disrupt it by about two dozen anti-Israel protestors, who
typically resorted to noisy abuse, intimidation and aggression.”“Flags
representing the radical Islamist Hezbollah movement were brandished and
curses and insults hurled at patrons wishing to access the venue, including
Nazi and racist threats,” he said. “Despite this being an illegal picket,
and being politely asked to leave the venue by police and mall security, the
mob became confrontational, evidently bent on provoking a violent
confrontation.”Swartz added that “most people, including a number of
journalists, were baffled and disgusted at the way a neutral and cultural
space such as an art gallery was being targeted, and people made to feel
uncomfortable and unsafe by these hooligans.”Swartz encouraged all those who
were prevented from entering the venue or couldn’t make it to visit the
exhibition and not be discouraged by gross acts of intimidation.
“On the contrary, show your support to the artists for their incredible
vision and talent,” he said.
Report: Baabda Assures ‘New Govt to Isolate No One’
Naharnet/June 02/18/Lebanon’s new government to be formed by PM-designate
Saad Hariri will not “isolate” any political party, amid assurances that any
obstacle threatening the formation process will be “overcome,” al-Joumhouria
daily reported on Saturday. Sources of President Michel Aoun said: “The new
government will not isolate anyone,” noting that the “Lebanese Forces are
not targeted at all,” and that their concerns have been addressed during a
meeting between the President and LF chief Samir Geagea. They said “Aoun and
Hariri are keen on addressing everyone’s concern, and when it comes to the
formation all obstacles will be thwarted.”Hariri is now tasked with forming
a coalition cabinet -- typically a drawn-out process involving horse-trading
among Lebanon's competing political forces.
Abou Faour Criticizes Decree Granting Lebanese
Nationality to Foreigners
Naharnet/June 02/18/Democratic Gathering bloc MP Wael Abou Faour criticized
on Saturday a decree reportedly signed by President Michel Aoun granting
Lebanese citizenship to foreigners and Syrian businessmen. “Anyone who sells
citizenship can not be entrusted to run a nation,” Abou Faour said in a
statement. The controversial decree reportedly gives citizenship to some 300
people mostly including names of Syrian, Palestinian, Western and Gulf
businessmen, as well as a number of stateless applicants. “What will be left
of national claims when the Lebanese nationality has been put out for sale
by non-eligible financiers,” he said. He criticised the contradiction
between the decree and a Lebanese law that bans Lebanese women married to
foreigners from passing their nationality to their children. “Who will
protect the rights of deserving sons of fathers and Lebanese mothers who
suffer before Lebanon’s courts and departments to prove their right to
nationality?” said the MP in his statement. The controversial decree is
expected to provoke criticism, especially since it will be issued by a
caretaker government. Reports raised the possibility that the decree could
be challenged in front of the Constitutional Council.
Gulf Official Says ‘Difficult’ Stage Awaiting Lebanon
Naharnet/June 02/18/A Gulf official said in remarks he made to the pan-Arab
al-Hayat daily on Saturday that the results of the parliamentary elections
in Lebanon represented a “significant decline in favor of Hizbullah,” and
that the party has “strengthened” its presence in the country’s state
institutions.
He said the Gulf should deal with Lebanon with the same “non-sectarian”
logic of dealing with Iraq, “we deal with all sects similarly and not on a
sectarian basis. Not all Shiites are pro-Iranian,” he said. Pointing to what
he noted as “positive signs” represented in the elections results achieved
by the Lebanese Forces, “LF results are encouraging because it indicates a
Christian rejection of the large alliance between the mass of President
Michel Aoun and Hizbullah. This is what should be built on,” he said. “Gulf
states must continue to follow the situation and communicate with Lebanon in
order to make some influence. It should be made on a non-sectarian basis
with all groups that see the significance of the state, and don’t see
Lebanon an Iranian platform. Lebanon must be independent,” he added. The
official who declined to be named, added: “It was a mistake for (Prime
Minister-designate Saad) Hariri to assume this position in such
circumstances, although it was marketed that there were no options ahead but
Hariri,” he concluded. Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement lost a third of its
seats on May 6, when Lebanon held its first legislative election in nine
years and voters reinforced Hizbullah’s parliamentary weight.
MP Jamil Sayyed to Stand Witness Before STL in June
Naharnet/June 02/18/MP Jamil al-Sayyed is set to stand as witness before the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the assassination case of ex-PM Rafik Hariri
and companions, Naharnet sources said on Friday. According to the sources,
former General Security head Sayyed will stand before the tribunal on June
5, 6 and 7. Hariri was assassinated in a massive car explosion on February
14, 2005 in Beirut which killed 21 others, and injured 226 more. Al-Sayyed
was one of four generals ordered jailed by the STL in connection with the
assassination of Hariri, father of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. The
four generals were eventually released due to lack of evidence. Al-Sayyed
has accused so-called “false witnesses” of framing him and the other three
generals. Sayyed, elected lawmaker in Lebanon’s May 6 elections, has
demanded that the justice ministerial portfolio be allocated to his
pro-Damascus March 8 political camp.
Israel and Hezbollah
may be sleepwalking into war
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/June 02/18
In the unrelenting pace of events that involves Israel and its neighbors,
one can be forgiven for losing focus on where the next menacing crisis may
emerge. Much attention has been diverted, with great justification I hasten
to say, to events on Israel’s border with Gaza, to the opening in Jerusalem
of the relocated US embassy, to the decision by President Trump to opt out
of the Iran nuclear deal, and to Israeli airstrikes in Syria. This is a busy
enough agenda to occupy decision makers, and the public, around the clock.
However, tensions between Lebanon, or more accurately Hezbollah, and Israel
have somehow fallen off the radar, even though a devastating war between the
two is not beyond the realm of possibility and would have horrendous
consequences for both. In the internal logic of blunt threats between Israel
and Hezbollah, the worse the rhetoric of war becomes, the more obvious it is
that neither side is interested in renewing hostilities, because they are
deeply worried about the consequences. Nevertheless, it remains a real
possibility that they may talk themselves into war, or that one would be
triggered by events elsewhere, especially in Syria where there is growing
military friction between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah’s main ideological
inspiration, political guide, paymaster and weapons supplier.
In the triangle of Israel–Lebanon–Syria relations, it is Iran that connects
the dots, trying to advance its interests by destabilising the region,
expanding into weakened areas and imposing its own agenda. For years Israeli
decision makers have perceived Iran and its proxy militia in Lebanon as an
existential threat, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his
political allies are happy to exploit Iran as a convenient diversion from
other complex issues that they are either unable or unwilling to address.
For Israel, Iran is the arch pantomime villain in the Middle East theater,
and Hezbollah is its frontline arm.
The full impact of the surprise success of Hezbollah and its allies in last
month’s Lebanese parliamentary elections has yet to be felt. Will political
responsibility encourage relative moderation? Or will we see exactly the
opposite, with the election outcome seen by its leadership as a mandate for
a more militant approach, including the movement’s deep involvement on the
side of the Assad regime in Syria, and an escalation of its actions aimed at
provoking Israel?
Logic dictates that there is enough bitter experience and tragic memories on
both sides of the border to avert another military conflict. But there is no
guarantee that rational decision-making will prevail. One of the worst
perceptual and operational fiascos in Israel’s military history was the
invasion of Lebanon in 1982, with the tacit objective of regime change in
Beirut. The president designated by Israel, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated
by the Syrian intelligence service within days of coming to power and being
forced to sign a peace agreement with his southern neighbor. And instead of
peace, Israel left a trail of destruction, including thousands of civilians
and hundreds of its own soldiers dead, and a new enemy, Hezbollah. It took
it 18 years to leave the country with its tail between its legs. Nearly a
quarter of a century later the experience of another war between Hezbollah
and Israel produced no conclusive result, and was based on another
unsubstantiated Israeli assumption that hurting Lebanon as a whole in a
conflict with Hezbollah would lead to pressure on the latter to yield to
Israeli will. This plan was also a failure, and the 2006 war ended in
another stalemate, although Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general,
has been in hiding ever since.
For Israel, Iran is the arch pantomime villain in the Middle East theater,
and Hezbollah is its frontline arm. It is not only the belligerent
statements from Nasrallah that are a major cause for concern; more
importantly, it is the capabilities accumulated by the organization over a
more than a decade, since the last major round of hostilities with Israel.
Close work with Russian and Iranian commanders has improved the
organization’s fighting capabilities. Its military force has more than
doubled to 45,000 since the last time it met Israel on the battlefield. Its
troops have suffered severe losses during the years of involvement in the
Syrian conflict, but they have also gained operational experience in a
complex and intense military environment. Moreover, Hezbollah now possesses
about 120,000 rockets and missiles, 10 times more than in 2006, with a range
that covers the entire state of Israel, not to mention hundreds of drones
that can carry explosives and SA-22 anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel has invested immense efforts, with limited success, in attempting to
prevent the transfer of advanced weapons and ammunition from Iran to
Lebanon, via Syria. Its growing nervousness about Hezbollah’s increasing
military capability is evident from the ever-increasing frequency of attacks
on Iranian installations and arms convoys heading to Lebanon. If the
presence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and other military personnel in Syria
is a longer-term threat to Israel, a war with Hezbollah is perceived as a
more immediate danger which, should it materialize, could end with the worst
civilian casualties in Israel’s history. Consequently, both senior
government officials and generals in Israel are claiming in no uncertain
terms that if such a scenario were to become reality, Israel would literally
destroy Lebanon; or, as others put it, turn it into a country of refugees.
There is no appetite for this on either side, but their demagogues and deeds
might lead to it regardless.
*Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s
University London, where he is head of the International Relations and
Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program
at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written
and electronic
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on June 02-03/18
NATO chief: We won't
aid Israel if Iran attacks
Associated Press/Ynetnews/June 02/18
Jens Stoltenberg tells Der Spiegel that while Israel is a partner, it is not
a member and therefore NATO's 'security guarantee' doesn't apply to it.
NATO's secretary-general said Saturday the alliance wouldn't come to
Israel's defense in case of attack by arch enemy Iran.
Jens Stoltenberg told the magazine Der Spiegel that Israel is a partner, but
not a member and that NATO's "security guarantee" doesn't apply to Israel.
Stoltenberg noted NATO isn't involved in Mideast peace efforts or in
conflicts in the region.
Stoltenberg's comments in the wake of recent clashes between Israel and Iran
in the Golan Heights, and amid Israeli efforts to remove the Iranians and
their Shiite allies, including Hezbollah, from the Israel-Syria border area.
Israel and Russia have reportedly reached an agreement that would see the
withdrawal of Iranian and Hezbollah forces from the Golan, while troops
loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad will take over the area.
According to a report in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the
Iranian and Hezbollah forces will initially pull back its forces to within
20 kilometers of the border, and later to a range of 60 to 70 kilometers,
with Russia underlining the fact that this was a gradual process.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly wanted Israel to allow Assad's
army to move southwards to the Jordanian border and secure all of the Syrian
Golan Heights.
In return, the Russian president is willing to promise Israel that Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iran-affiliated militias will not be present
in the territories Assad's army takes.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor,
reported on Thursday that Iranian troops and members of Lebanon's
Iran-backed Hezbollah group are getting ready to withdraw from southern
Syria.
A Syria-based official with the Iran-led axis of resistance denied the
report.
Assad himself has rebuffed claims of an Iranian military presence in his
country, while accusing Israel of launching attacks on his territory and of
propagating “lies” about its massive aerial offensive launched earlier in
May.
The embattled Syrian president told Russia Today that Iran's presence in his
country was limited to officers who were assisting the Syrian army.
Apparently referring to the May 10 attack by Israel, Assad said "we had tens
of Syrian martyrs and wounded soldiers, not a single Iranian" casualty.
Egypt's Sisi
Worn in for Second Term in Office
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
was sworn in on Saturday for a second four-year term in office during a
special parliament session broadcast live on state television. Sisi took the
oath in a packed house and in front of members of his government, after
winning 97 percent of valid votes in the March presidential election.
US-Led Coalition Raids Kill 12 Civilians in Syria's
Hasakeh
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/At least 12 civilians -- members of
the same family -- have been killed in US-led coalition raids on the Islamic
State group in northeastern Syria, a monitor said Saturday. "The air strikes
and artillery fire (Friday night) by the international coalition on the
village of Hidaj, held by IS in the southern sector of Hasakeh province,
killed at least 12 people," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said. The civilians -- including two women and their children --
belonged to the same family, it added. The deaths bring to "20 the number of
civilians killed by the coalition in 24 hours east of the Euphrates River",
said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources across Syria for
its reports. On Thursday, eight other civilians were killed in coalition
strikes in Deir Ezzor province, south of Hasakeh. IS jihadists have lost
most of the self-proclaimed "caliphate" they once controlled in large parts
of Syria and neighbouring Iraq since 2014. Today, the jihadists hold less
than three percent of Syria, according to the Observatory said. In Deir
Ezzor, the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces -- supported by the
US-led coalition -- are trying to dislodge jihadists from the east bank of
the Euphrates. The coalition said Friday its airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
had "unintentionally" killed 892 civilians since its bombing campaign began
nearly four years ago. More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's
war since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government
protests. It has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world
powers and foreign jihadists.
US Vetoes UN Resolution on Protecting Palestinians
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/The United States vetoed Friday an
Arab-backed UN draft resolution calling for measures to protect the
Palestinians but failed to win any backing for its own text condemning Hamas
for the violence in Gaza. The two failed votes at the Security Council came
a few hours after a young Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli
soldiers near the Gaza border fence. At least 123 Palestinians have been
killed by Israeli fire since the protests began at the end of March. No
Israelis have been killed. US Ambassador Nikki Haley declared that "it is
now completely clear that the UN is hopelessly biased against Israel,"
saying council members were "willing to blame Israel, but unwilling to blame
Hamas." Ten countries, including China, France and Russia voted in favor of
the draft put forward by Kuwait on behalf of Arab countries. Four countries
-- Britain, Ethiopia, the Netherlands and Poland -- abstained. Kuwait's
Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said the US veto "will increase the sense of
despair among the Palestinians," fuel further violence and "feed the
sentiments of hatred and extremism." The Kuwait-drafted text had called for
"measures to guarantee the safety and protection" of Palestinian civilians
in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and requested a UN report on proposals
for an "international protection mechanism."Haley told the council the
measure was "wildly inaccurate in its characterization of recent events in
Gaza" by condemning Israel for the violence and failing to mention Hamas,
which rules Gaza. "The terrorist group Hamas bears primary responsibility
for the awful living conditions in Gaza," she told the council ahead of the
vote.
No support for US draft
During a second vote, the United States failed to win support for its own
rival measure calling on Palestinian militants to halt their protests in
Gaza and condemning Hamas. Eleven countries abstained, while Russia and two
others opposed it. A draft resolution requires nine votes to be adopted in
the 15-member council and no veto from the five permanent members --
Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The outcome deepened
the deadlock at the top UN body over how to respond to the flareup of
violence in Gaza that a UN envoy has warned is close to the brink of war.
"This session was another missed opportunity for this council," French
Ambassador Francois Delattre said, deploring an "increasingly deafening
silence" from the United Nations on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. A
barrage of rocket and mortars into Israel from Gaza on Tuesday was followed
by Israeli strikes on 65 militant sites in the Gaza Strip in the worst
flareup since the 2014 war. Israel has fought three wars in Gaza against
Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization. After the
failed votes, Arab diplomats said they were considering turning to the UN
General Assembly to win adoption for the US-vetoed resolution. It was the
second time that Haley has resorted to US veto power to block a UN measure
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In December, Haley vetoed a draft
resolution that rejected President Donald Trump's decision to move the US
embassy to Jerusalem after all 14 other council members supported it.
Saudi Arabia Reshuffles Cabinet with Eye on Culture
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/Saudi Arabia announced another
cabinet reshuffle Saturday with a heavy focus on culture and religion, as
the kingdom undergoes a major image overhaul. This is the second significant
government change since the appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son
of the king, as heir to the region's most powerful throne. The crown prince
serves as deputy prime minister under his father, King Salman. State news
agency SPA announced King Salman had replaced the country's labour and
Islamic affairs ministers -- and named a prince linked to the purchase of a
Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus as culture minister. Saudi Arabia for
decades has combined its culture and information ministries. The decree
announced the culture ministry was now a separate entity under Prince Badr
bin Abdullah, the man named by the New York Times as the mystery buyer of Da
Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" for a record-breaking $450 million at auction last
year. The Wall Street Journal later reported that he was acting on behalf of
Prince Mohammed. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has said the religious painting was
"acquired" by the Emirati authorities and would be put on display there.
Non-Muslim worship is banned in Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom has hosted
high-ranking Christian clerics in recent months, notably from Lebanon and
France. In April, the Vatican signed a memorandum for a meeting with Saudi
officials every three years. Ahmed bin Suleiman al-Rajhi, an engineer and
private sector businessman, was on Saturday named labour and social
development minister. Sheikh Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh was named
the new Islamic affairs minister. Prince Mohammed, who has steadily
consolidated his grip on power since sidelining his cousin as crown prince
last June, has spearheaded a string of policy changes in ultraconservative
Saudi Arabia, including reinstating cinemas and allowing women to drive.
Often referred to by his initials, MBS, the prince pledged a "moderate,
open" Saudi Arabia in a televised keynote speech in October, telling
international investors his country wanted "to live a normal life." Saudi
Arabia has been dominated by a harsh strain of conservative Islam since the
1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque of Mecca by around 400 extremists, a
reaction against what they saw as Saudi society's plunge into immorality
with entertainment, including cinema and television, and women taking jobs.
A bloody military assault dislodged them two weeks later, leaving scores
dead on both sides. Their influence, however, has remained. Over the past
year, Prince Mohammed has steered a modernisation campaign that aims to sell
the country to foreign audiences and investors, with hundreds of billions of
dollars pledged to projects that will boost tourism and entertainment. On
Friday, the crown prince earned a warning from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, the jihadist group's Yemen-based branch, over his "sinful
projects", which AQAP said included a WWE wrestling event hosted by the
kingdom in April. Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, will welcome millions
of Muslim faithful on their annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest
city, come August. The kingdom on Saturday announced it had set up a royal
commission for Mecca, to be chaired by Prince Mohammed. No further details
were made available. The cabinet reshuffle comes as many activists remain
behind bars, after at least 11 of them were detained last month. They have
been identified by rights groups as mostly veteran women campaigners for the
right to drive -- and to end Saudi's male guardianship system, under which
women must still secure the approval of their fathers, brothers or husbands
to travel or study. At least four activists have been released, according to
Amnesty International. The fate of the others remains unclear. Prince
Mohammed is also seen as the driving force behind the detention of 200
royals and businessmen at the Ritz Carlton in November in what the
government said was a crackdown on corruption. Most have since been
released, after reaching settlements with the state.
N. Korea Summit Back On, Trump Says after Meeting Kim
Envoy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/US President Donald Trump said
Friday he will meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un as originally scheduled on
June 12 for a historic summit after extraordinary Oval Office talks with a
top envoy from Pyongyang. After more than an hour of discussion with Kim
Yong Chol, Trump told reporters that denuclearization -- and a formal end to
the decades-old Korean war -- would be on the table in Singapore. But the US
president warned that he did not expect to immediately sign a deal to bring
a halt to the reclusive regime's nuclear program. "I never said it goes in
one meeting. I think it's going to be a process, but the relationships are
building and that's very positive," he said, after waving farewell to the
North Korean leader's right-hand man.
Ending the war
The Korean War has been largely frozen since an armistice ended hostilities,
but not the underlying conflict, in 1953. Since then, there have been
occasional clashes on the divided peninsula. "We talked about ending the
war," Trump said. "Historically it's very important, but we'll see. We did
discuss that, the ending of the Korean War. Can you believe we're talking
about the ending of the Korean War?" Washington is determined that Kim
should agree to what US officials call the "complete, verifiable and
irreversible" end of North Korea's nuclear weapons and intercontinental
missile programs. Kim says he is committed to "denuclearization" in some
form, but he is expected to demand security guarantees in return. Most
expert observers are skeptical that even an unprecedented summit between the
two leaders can lead to a rapid breakthrough, and Trump admitted it would be
a long and difficult process. "We're not going to go in and sign something
on June 12. We never were. I told him today, 'Take your time'," he said,
adding nevertheless that he expects "a really positive result in the end."
Kim Yong Chol, the most senior North Korean to visit the United States in 18
years, spent almost 90 minutes in the Oval Office. Afterwards, Trump and US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walked the North's small delegation to their
cars, smiling and shaking hands in front of the media before the motorcade
pulled away.
Security guarantees
North Korean officials said Kim Yong Chol was expected to return to
Pyongyang shortly. Meanwhile, discussions between US and North Korean
officials continue in Singapore and in the Demilitarized Zone between North
and South Korea. On Thursday, Kim Jong Un told Russia's Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov that his commitment to denuclearization remains "unchanged and
consistent and fixed," but experts warn he will seek concessions from
Washington. In addition to an end to the war, he is likely to want
international recognition as well as guarantees against any strike by the US
forces stationed in South Korea. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, however,
said Saturday that the presence of American troops in South Korea is not "on
the table" at the Trump-Kim summit. Pyongyang has insisted that it needs
nuclear weapons to defend against a US invasion, and has offered to
negotiate over them in exchange for such guarantees in the past. For the
North, denuclearization has long been code for the withdrawal of US troops
from the peninsula and the end of its nuclear umbrella over the South --
something unthinkable in Washington.
But it remains to be seen if either side has changed its position in the
whirlwind diplomacy of the last few weeks. As expected, Kim Yong Chol handed
Trump a letter from Kim that may clear up some of the questions. The US
leader said the missive was "very nice" -- but then admitted he had not yet
read it. An aide later confirmed he did after the talks. It came only a week
after Trump threatened to consign the entire process to history, abruptly
cancelling the summit in a sharply worded letter, only to revive
preparations shortly afterwards. Trump said that, after Friday's talks, the
parties are "totally over that and now we're going to deal and we're going
to really start a process."
Since the short-lived boycott threat, diplomats from both countries have
conducted an intense flurry of talks, culminating this week when Pompeo sat
down in New York with Kim's envoy.
'Their decision'
Pompeo said on Thursday that, after what have now been two meetings with Kim
Jong Un and three with Kim Yong Chol, he believes the North is at least
ready to consider addressing US demands for denuclearization. "I believe
they are contemplating a path forward. They can make a strategic shift. One
that their country has not been prepared to make before. This will obviously
be their decision," he said. There has also been a recent rapprochement on
the Korean peninsula, with the two Koreas holding high-level talks Friday at
the border truce village of Panmunjom. The meeting followed two landmark
summits between the leaders of North and South Korea in the last five weeks.
Seoul welcomed Trump's meeting with Kim Yong Chol at the White House. "The
delivery of a letter from Chairman Kim Jong Un to President Trump has
apparently broadened and consolidated the road to the North Korea-US
summit," said Kim Eui-gyeom, spokesman for South Korea's presidential Blue
House. "We will calmly, and with expectation, watch the historic meeting in
Singapore."Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meanwhile said his country "is
determined to make utmost efforts so that it will be a historic summit,"
according to the Kyodo news agency.
Palestinian Tries to Hit Israeli Soldiers with Car,
Shot Dead
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/A Palestinian man who tried on
Saturday to hit Israeli soldiers with his car in the southern occupied West
Bank city Hebron was shot dead, the army said. "A terrorist attempted to run
over IDF troops located at the site with his vehicle. In response, the
troops fired towards the terrorist, killing him. No IDF troops were
injured," an army statement said. A military spokesman told AFP the alleged
attacker was a Palestinian. On Friday a 21-year-old Palestinian woman was
shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border fence, where clashes were
taking place. Razan al-Najjar was a volunteer with the Gaza health ministry,
wearing the white uniform of a medic when she was shot in the chest.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, another 40 Palestinians were
wounded by Israeli gun fire in Friday's clashes. The Israeli army said on
Saturday that cases such as Najjar's, "in which civilians are allegedly
killed by IDF fire, are thoroughly examined by the relevant levels of
command and are checked by the General Staff Fact Finding Assessment
Mechanism".
Mattis Accuses China of 'Intimidation and Coercion' in
S. China Sea
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/China's military build-up in the
South China Sea and its deployment of high-end weapons systems in the
disputed waterway is designed to intimidate and coerce neighbours, US
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday. Speaking at a high-profile
security summit in Singapore less than two weeks before President Donald
Trump is due to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Pentagon chief
also said the US military continues to support diplomats pushing for the
"complete, verifiable and irreversible" denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula.
Mattis said Beijing had deployed a range of military hardware including
anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles and electronic jammers across
the South China Sea, where it has built islets and other maritime features
into hardened military facilities. Beijing has also landed heavy bombers on
Woody Island in the Paracel Islands. "Despite China's claims to the
contrary, the placement of these weapon systems is tied directly to military
use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion," Mattis told the
Shangri-La Dialogue. He also blasted Chinese President Xi Jinping for
reneging on a 2015 promise made at the White House that Beijing would not
militarise the island features in the South China Sea. Mattis' address in
Singapore was the second time he had attended the summit since becoming
Pentagon chief. He returned to a theme that he and other senior US officials
have hammered home since Trump took office -- that America is here to stay
in the Asia-Pacific region and that allies should stick with Washington
instead of aligning with Beijing.
Tariffs on close allies
But the message of inclusivity, cooperation and working with allies might be
a tougher sell for Mattis, who is generally popular on the international
scene, after his boss this week imposed metals tariffs on some of America's
closest allies in the name of "national security".
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin asked Mattis whether he thought it was
unproductive for Trump to pick fights with allies on trade. "Certainly we
have had some unusual approaches, I'll be candid with you," Mattis replied.
"But I'm reminded that so long as nations continue dialogue, so long as they
continue to listen to one another and to pay respect to one another, nothing
is over based on one decision."Lynn Kuok, a senior research fellow at the
University of Cambridge, said the US approach was a "risky gamble". "The
United States seems to think that it can antagonise partners in certain
areas, whilst expecting cooperation in others," she told AFP. In a dig at
China, which the Pentagon has accused of using "predatory" economics to
exploit neighbours, Mattis said the US supports the peaceful resolution of
disputes, "free, fair and reciprocal trade and investment" and adherence to
international rules and norms. Despite frequent warnings from Washington
about China's rising might and the pitfalls of its "Belt and Road" global
infrastructure initiative, Beijing has faced few consequences for its South
China Sea build-up and sweeping territorial claims. One modest exception
came last week when the Pentagon disinvited China from biennial maritime
exercises in the Pacific. Mattis characterised this action as an "initial
response". But "there are much larger consequences in the future when
nations lose the rapport of their neighbours", he warned. "They believe that
piling mountainous debts on their neighbours and somehow removing the
freedom of political action is the way to engage them. Eventually these
things do not pay off."Delegates hoping for clarity on Trump's intentions
for a scheduled June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim did not get much
from Mattis, though he said the issue of the permanent deployment of about
28,5000 US troops in South Korea will not be "on the table". Mattis has
tried to avoid weighing in on the summit, deferring questions to the State
Department and Trump's national security team. "On the Korean peninsula, we
hold the line with our allies, supporting our diplomats who lead this
effort," Mattis said. "Our objective remains the complete, verifiable, and
irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula."
Assad to go along with Putin’s request to disband
militias
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 2 June 2018/Preparations are
under way for the issuance of a decree by the Syrian regime were eventually
it will disband all pro-regime militias after a Russian request by President
Putin during their last meeting in Sochi. The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights described this development as unprecedented and will be applied over
all Syrian territories. The source pointed out that Putin’s request not only
included the disbanding of pro-regime militias, but included an annex to the
disbanding of the Iranian-backed militias financed by Tehran, and which
triggered anger among these militias. The source said that Bashar al-Assad
regime will resort to two options: either to demobilize the militias loyal
to him or to officially annex them to the regime military. The Russian
request came after a series of violations committed by the militias in the
past few months, which led to the looting of thousands of houses and robbing
civilians of their belongings both at checkpoints and in the towns recently
controlled by the regime. Walid Muallem defends Iranian presence in Syria.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem defended on Saturday
the Iranian presence in Syria, describing it as legal. In a press conference
held in the capital Damascus, al-Muallem said that the American troops
should withdraw from al-Tanaf base on the Syrian-Jordanian border. He added
that Syria “has not been in any negotiations related to the southern front”,
defending the Iranian presence in Syria and describing it as “legal” as it
came at the request of the Syrian government “unlike the illegal presence of
the Turkish and American troops in Syria.”Al-Muallem said that the Syrian
regime has communicated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is
backed by the United States, but negotiations have not started as yet.
Pilots eject safely as Iran military jet crashes in
Isfahan
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 2 June 2018/An Iranian military
jet crashed on Saturday in the central Isfahan province, but the two pilots
ejected safely before it came down in a desert area. The semi-official Fars
news agency reported that the F 7 fighter jet crashed in Hassan Abad desert
in the province of Isfahan. “The fighter jet ran into technical problems
after departing the Shahid Babaei Air Base in Isfahan on a training flight
and crashed mid-way near Hasanabad village” the air force said in a
statement published by Fars. Emergency teams arrived at the crash site, Fars
said, and the pilot and co-pilot of the F 7 jet were taken to a hospital.
-With Reuters
Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli soldiers in West
Bank
AFP, Jerusalem/Saturday, 2 June 2018/A Palestinian man who tried on Saturday
to hit Israeli soldiers with his car in the southern occupied West Bank city
of Hebron was shot dead, the Israeli army said.
“A terrorist attempted to run over IDF troops located at the site with his
vehicle. In response, the troops fired towards the terrorist, killing him.
No IDF troops were injured” an army statement said.
A military spokesman told AFP the alleged attacker was a Palestinian. On
Friday a 21-year-old Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers
near the Gaza border fence, where clashes were taking place. Razan al-Najjar
was a volunteer with the Gaza health ministry, wearing the white uniform of
a medic when she was shot in the chest. According to the health ministry in
Gaza, another 40 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gun fire in Friday’s
clashes. The Israeli army said on Saturday that cases such as Najjar’s, “in
which civilians are allegedly killed by IDF fire, are thoroughly examined by
the relevant levels of command and are checked by the General Staff Fact
Finding Assessment Mechanism.”
Juncker Calls for Respect for New Italy Govt
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker called Saturday for the new eurosceptic Italian
government to be treated with respect, having told Italians to work harder
and stop blaming the EU for the country's problems. "We should show respect
towards Italy," Juncker said in an interview with the German press group
Funke Mediengruppe. Italy's new anti-establishment government took power on
Friday promising an end to EU-inspired austerity and a harder line on
relations with Brussels, especially on immigration and the role of the euro
single currency. Juncker caused a stir on Thursday when he had said:
"Italians have to take care of the poor regions of Italy. That means more
work, less corruption, (more) seriousness." Italy should not "play this
game" of holding the EU responsible, he added. Asked about Italy's massive
debt mountain and the new government's plan to increase public spending,
Juncker said in the interview that he was "not at all in favour of giving
lessons to Rome"."That was what happened too much with (thrice bailed-out),
Greece, especially by the German-speaking countries (of the EU)," he said.
Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel has been a strict enforcer of EU
fiscal rules, insisting member states restore their public finances to
balance, including the use of stinging cuts to government spending if
necessary. Juncker said that Greece had suffered as a result of this
approach, with "the dignity of the Greek people trodden under foot" when
left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took office in 2015. "That must not
happen again in the present case with Italy," he said, stressing: "I
absolutely do not want to get involved in questions of domestic Italian
politics."
"Italians have a clear understanding of what is good for their country. They
will sort it out."
Sanchez Sworn in As New Spanish PM after Ousting
Mariano Rajoy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/Spain's Socialist chief Pedro
Sanchez was sworn in as prime minister on Saturday, a day after ousting
Mariano Rajoy in a historic no-confidence vote sparked by fury over
corruption woes afflicting the conservative leader's party. Sanchez, a
46-year-old economist with no government experience who has made a
spectacular comeback to the frontline of politics, took the oath of office
before King Felipe VI in the Zarzuela Palace near Madrid. "I promise to
faithfully fulfil the duties of the post of prime minister with conscience
and honour, with loyalty to the king, and to guard and have guarded the
constitution as a fundamental state rule," he said in the presence also of
Rajoy, without a Bible or crucifix -- the first to do so. The Socialist
leader must still name his cabinet and it is only when their names are
published in an official government journal in the coming days that he will
fully assume his functions.
Comeback kid
His ousting of EU-friendly Rajoy, a 63-year-old veteran politician who had
been in power since 2011, comes at a time of political instability in Europe
as Italy brings in a new eurosceptic anti-establishment government. But even
if he will head up a minority government with support of a hodgepodge of
disparate parties like far-left Podemos and Catalan separatists, Sanchez has
promised his "main priority" will be to respect Madrid's deficit reduction
commitments to the European Union.He has also vowed to implement the 2018
budget designed by Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) government. His
arrival at the prime minister's office represents an astounding comeback for
the man who led the Socialists to two crushing general elections defeats in
2015 and 2016, and was forced out by the party apparatus. That was
short-lived, though, as party activists re-elected him as party head in
primaries in May 2017, but even then the Socialists were often sidelined as
Podemos, centre-right Ciudadanos and Rajoy's PP took centre stage in
politics. That all changed on May 25 when the Socialists filed a
no-confidence motion against Rajoy, a day after a court found former PP
officials guilty of receiving bribes in exchange for awarding public
contracts in a vast graft scheme between 1999 and 2005.Other opposition
parties lined up against Rajoy, who was abandoned by his allies too. An
absolute majority of 180 lawmakers voted for the motion on Friday to loud
applause and shouts of "Yes we can"."It's been an honour -- there is none
bigger -- to have been Spain's prime minister," Rajoy told parliament
minutes before.
Tough road ahead
In his first comments after winning the no-confidence motion, Sanchez, a
former basketball player, vowed to tackle "all the challenges which the
country faces with humility". But he will struggle to govern as his
Socialists have just 84 seats in the 350-seat parliament. All of his allies
in the no-confidence motion stressed their vote against Rajoy was not a
blank cheque for Sanchez. "Our 'Yes' to Sanchez is a 'No' to Rajoy," is how
Joan Tarda of Catalan pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de
Catalunya (ERC) put it in parliament. Sanchez will only be able to implement
policy initiatives "that allow him to obtain an easy majority" in
parliament, said Fernando Vallespin, political scientist at the Autonomous
University of Madrid. PP lawmaker Rafael Hernando said Sanchez would be
entering the prime minister's office "through the back door" after failing
to win any general elections. Sanchez has already tied his hands by
promising to respect Rajoy's 2018 budget, which includes generous
concessions to the northern Basque region. He has also said he wants to
"build bridges" with Catalonia's new separatist government, headed by Quim
Torra, which will take office on Saturday. The parties that supported
Sanchez will make demands he will not meet, predicted Pedro Fernandez, a
68-year-old pensioner, outside of parliament. "When he does not do what they
want, they will remind him that they brought him to power. And in five or
six months we will either have fresh elections or they will oust him," he
added.
No More Mr Nice Guy: Canada's Trudeau Gets Tough
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, who has a reputation for playing it safe on burning political
issues, showed a new level of grit in the face of two crises, and it may
help him win re-election in 2019. On Thursday, Trudeau hit back at punishing
US tariffs on steel and aluminum with Can$16.6 billion (US$12.8 billion) in
duties on US goods, and accused American President Donald Trump of lacking
"common sense." His actions and words were in stark contrast to the charm
offensive he launched after Trump's inauguration in 2016.
The amateur pugilist traded in his "sunny ways" for fighting words. He also
launched the largest trade action that Canada has taken in eight decades.
Canadians, industry and even opposition parties applauded the prime
minister's unusually pointed rebuke of Trump and retaliatory tariffs.
"Trudeau uttered some of the harshest words a prime minister has directed at
an American administration in decades," said Toronto Star columnist Chantal
Hebert, calling this a "watershed moment in the Donald Trump-era Canada/US
relationship." "It is not every day that a Canadian head of government
pointedly notes that he is dealing with a US administration that is short on
common sense" or "that a prime minister uses a news conference to dig in his
heels in a trade negotiation," she noted. Two days earlier the prime
minister stuck his neck out to save an oil pipeline project, likely
alienating environmentalists but picking up broader support with his defense
of the energy sector. University of Ottawa professor Patrick Leblond said in
an interview with AFP that Trudeau's newfound swagger "will help the
Liberals in the next election.""I think people understand that this (trade
row) is not the Liberals' fault in any way," he said. "I think the Canadian
government did as much as they could to avert this outcome, they've tried
engagement and continue to do so. It's Donald Trump's failure to understand
the implications for the US and world economy of his isolationist policies."
Punching back
If the Canadian economy tanks as a result of a trade row, however, that may
change. "We know that the incumbent party suffers (at the ballot box) when
the economy is bad," Leblond said. Since 2016, Canada and the United States
have sparred over softwood lumber and aircrafts, while also endeavoring to
negotiate, along with Mexico, a revamp of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). Washington had granted Canada and Mexico an exemption on
the metals tariffs to give the parties time to successfully renegotiate the
1994 continental trade pact. But those talks are now bogged down. On
Thursday, the US announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on
aluminum from Canada and others, from Friday. Canada responded with duties
of 25 percent on US steel and aluminum, and 10 percent on consumer goods
such as ketchup, orange juice, sailboats and washing machines, which will
take effect July 1. "The government of Canada is confident that shared
values, geography and common interests will ultimately overcome
protectionism," Trudeau told a news conference on Thursday. "We have to
believe that at some point common sense will prevail, but we see no sign of
that in this action today by the US administration." He said Ottawa would
try to convince Washington to repeal the tariffs, but the Trump
administration has so far stood firm. In a Twitter message, the American
president lashed out at Canada for treating US farmers "very poorly for a
very long period of time." "If President Trump thinks this move will give
him leverage in the NAFTA negotiations, I think Canada's response shows he's
wrong," Leblond opined. "Canada has negotiated in good faith, but at some
point if you punch us in the face, we'll punch back," he said. In the end,
"this fight is not going to be resolved through diplomacy or at the G7 next
week; it's going to be political developments in the United States," he
added, noting that Canadian tariffs on US consumer goods aimed to sway
voters in key districts in the upcoming US mid-term elections.
US Troop Presence in S. Korea Not 'on Table' at
Trump-Kim Summit, Says Mattis
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 02/18/The issue of US troops stationed in
South Korea will not be "on the table" at a summit between President Donald
Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said
Saturday. "That issue is not on the table here in Singapore on the 12th (of
June), nor should it be," he said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security
summit in Singapore, referring to the scheduled date of the Trump-Kim
meeting. There are currently some 28,500 US forces based in the South.
Trump said Friday he will meet Kim for the historic summit as originally
scheduled after extraordinary Oval Office talks with a top envoy from
Pyongyang. Trump told reporters that denuclearisation -- and a formal end to
the decades-old Korean war -- would be on the table in Singapore. However,
Mattis stressed that "any discussion about the number of US troops in the
Republic of Korea is subject to... the Republic of Korea's invitation to
have them there, and the discussions between the United States and the
Republic of Korea, separate and distinct from the negotiations that are
going on with DPRK (North Korea). "That issue will not come up in the
discussion with DPRK." But he added: "Obviously if the diplomats can do
their work, if we can reduce the threat, if we can restore confidence
building measures with something verifiable, then of course these kinds of
issues can come up subsequently between (South Korea and the US)." South
Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo also told the Singapore summit that
the presence of "US forces in Korea is a separate issue from North Korea's
nuclear issue". Last month, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in dismissed
claims that US troops stationed in the country -- based on Seoul's alliance
with Washington -- would have to leave if a peace treaty was signed with the
North.
Canada concerned by
Syria’s recognition of Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia
June 02, 2018 - Ottawa, Canada - Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada today issued the following statement regarding Syria’s
recognition of Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia:
“Canada strongly condemns the Syrian regime’s recognition of the
Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. Russia’s
occupation of these regions is a clear violation of international law that
infringes on Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Syria’s
actions challenge the rules-based international order and compromise the
chances of achieving a peaceful resolution of this conflict.
“Canada unreservedly supports Georgia’s sovereignty, independence and
territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
“Canada calls on Russia to abide by its obligations under the Ceasefire
Agreement of August 12, 2008, and the Agreement on Implementing Measures of
September 8, 2008. All states must respect their international obligations
under the UN Charter.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on June 02-03/18
Has the
countdown for the Iranian regime’s fall begun?
Nadim Koteich/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
The courage in facing Iran and countering its policies is no longer just
measured by the decisions taken outside it. Some states decided to directly
confront national security challenges posed by Iran’s policies in the region
and elsewhere — namely Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, the United States,
European Union and Great Britain. In Yemen, there are popular and tribal
elites, parties and blocs that support the legitimate power and confront
Iran and its project. In Iraq, Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr re-established the
country’s political identity in a manner that opposes Iran’s project that
aims to dominate over Mesopotamia. Lebanon might be the weakest link in the
confrontation as it’s where Iran has its most deep-rooted wing via
Hezbollah’s militias, yet Beirut is resisting even if in its own way. All
this is important but what is even more important is the domestic
confrontation of the Iranian project or the direct consequences of this
confrontation on the Iranians’ life, welfare and security. There is now
growing internal discord between the rhetoric of the revolution and its dire
outcomes.
Student outwits Supreme Leader!
Using very simple words, Iranian student Sahar Mehrabi delivered a detailed
indictment of the revolutionary regime while addressing the supreme leader
face-to-face in an unprecedented manner at a seminar held by the “leader’s
office” during the month of Ramadan. Mehrabi went beyond the classic flaws
related to unemployment, economic decline and civil liberties in their
broader sense. With intelligence and tact and under the headline of
deepening democracy, she raised the issue of political tutelage of the
supreme leader and his problematic position vis-à-vis the Iranian regime, in
terms of the fact that institutions which fall under his jurisdiction are
not held accountable — like the Revolutionary Guards, the judiciary and some
media outlets that have mastered the game of defamation and accusing others
of treason. Mehrabi’s speech caught Khamenei off-guard. Khamenei later
tweeted that he “understood the feelings of the young lady who said the
situation is very bad, but I completely disagree with her.” The speech and
the tweet are oceans apart revealing a profound trust deficit and disconnect
that is worsening between the leader of the revolution and the people. The
distance that separates both parties is expanding like a black hole
swallowing all the revolutionary rhetoric, future promises and whatever is
left of the Iranians’ trust in the revolution, its future and their future
in its shadow. While Mehrabi was making her speech in the presence of the
supreme leader, Iranian truck drivers were continuing with their ongoing
strike, which did not receive any media coverage except through social media
networks. The truck drivers have been protesting the rise in their expenses
due to spike in fuel prices, the hike in insurance policy costs, soaring
price of spare parts and increase in road taxes. This is the latest
manifestation of the deterioration in the country’s general economy. Iran’s
national currency has been suffering continuous losses in its value that
reached around 60% and no monetary solution appears in sight. The withdrawal
of the US from the nuclear deal is also impacting heavily on Iran’s overall
economic situation due to the departure of the shipping giant Maersk. Other
companies are also preparing to withdraw, most notably the French company
Total.
Mudslinging by top leaders
The flight of foreign capital from Iran has become a major topic of
discussion in the parliament. According to MP Mohammad-Reza Pour-Ebrahimi,
head of the parliament’s economic affairs committee, the flight of capital
has been estimated at around $30 billion in the last months of the Iranian
year which ended on March 20. There is no doubt that the underlying factors
behind the economic decline are quite complex and are related to political
and environmental issues, sanctions and reasons related to the reality of
the global economy. However, average Iranian citizens, whose suffering is
increasing, do not possess the ability to have a more complex understanding
of the situation. They would blame what they see, mainly the enormous cost
of Iran’s political and military project outside the country, along with the
fierce political infighting among different branches of the regime. It is
not a minor matter that former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is accusing
Khamenei of stealing more than $100 billion in public money and for the
Revolutionary Guard leaders to accuse President Hassan Rouhani of being an
agent or for Rouhani to respond by addressing the Guards’ mafia-like
economic role. In democracies, such allegations are finalized by conducting
serious investigations and by resorting to institutions, accountability and
change but in the rigid system of the Iranian revolution, it is the regime’s
reputation, prestige and ability to win people’s trust that are affected.
The Iranian citizen is Sahar Mehrabi and her outcry. The Iranian citizen is
the cyber activists who hacked the screens in Mashhad’s airport a few days
ago and displayed slogans supporting workers on strike and criticized Iran’s
wasted resources in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. Mashhad is the city which
witnessed the most violent and largest protests in the end of last year
since the Green Movement in 2009 was suppressed. Something is unraveling
within Iran and is no longer hidden — it is the belief in tomorrow and in
the regime’s ability to continue. On May 7, Financial Times correspondent
Najmeh Bozorgmehr began her report from Tehran with the question: “Has the
countdown to the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Iran begun?”
Sahar Mehrabi will not wait long to make sure of the answer.
Iran and the Gulf: Let’s start with facts and then move
forward
Faisal Al-Shammeri/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
Contrary to commonly held perceptions, the US withdrawal from Iran nuclear
deal has been well received in many capitals. The perspective of the Middle
East — particularly the sentiments and interests of Arabian Gulf region,
which is situated close to the Khomeinist regime — should always be taken
into serious consideration. The signatories of the deal with Iran live at a
great distance from the region, whereas we are in the neighborhood. For
decades, the most immediate security threat to the stability of The Middle
East has emanated from Tehran.
Region united against Iranian nukes
There is an absolute consensus in the region that under no circumstances
should the clerical regime possess or acquire material required for the
production of nuclear weapons. Not one country in the Middle East is
indifferent to the prospect of the clerical regime building a nuclear
arsenal.
One simply has to look at Iran’s current behavior, even if one were to
overlook the nearly four decades of its activities since the establishment
of the Khomeinist regime, to see that it would only serve to permanently
embolden, if not intensify the policy of redesigning The Middle East into a
Khomeinist fiefdom. The stance of the clerical regime and its pursuit of a
radical agenda are more destabilizing now to the global order than at any
other point since 1979. Two subjects that fall outside the purview of
nuclear weapons, but have equal strategic importance are rights of
navigation and ballistic missile proliferation.
Maritime threat
The rights of navigation are now threatened in two of the most vital
arteries of the global economy, Bab Al Mandeb and Hormuz. These threats
emanate from Tehran. It is not simply nations of The GCC who use these
channels, but the entire world’s commercial fleets. In Yemen, US-led
coalition ships have been targeted that are fighting Iranian proxies and
terrorists. Bab Al Mandeb links the Mediterranean and The Red Sea to The
Arabian Ocean/Bay of Bengal/Malacca Straits transit which then stretches to
Indonesia, Australia, Asia and The Western Pacific. Hormuz provides a
parallel starting point on the same waterway. The most populated regions,
fastest growing economies, and the fastest growing middle class lie on these
routes. The policy objectives of the Khomeinist regime do not benefit the
peoples who depend on the free and unimpeded trade passing through Bab Al
Mandeb and Hormuz.
There can be no nuanced defense of the Iranian crime of supplying missiles
to a proxy asset other than the sole intention of it being used against
another country.
Capping Iran’s missiles
Ballistic missile proliferation is another major concern, wherein Tehran has
flagrantly and with apparent relish, spectacularly demonstrated that it sits
with North Korea as the most profligate provider of ballistic missiles.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was never targeted by ballistic missiles from
Yemen prior to Iranian involvement in the country. It is known that missiles
used by Houthis (is probably a North Korean variant developed in Iran) were
smuggled as disassembled parts into Yemen, where operatives of the IRGC then
reassembled and fired them into The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There can be no
nuanced defense against the crime of supplying missiles to a proxy asset
other than the sole intention of it being used against another country. It
is perhaps here where Khomeinism is most in display. What interests does
Iran have in Yemen? Does it want to turn Yemen into another Lebanon on The
Arabian Peninsula? Why is it taking actions that delay the destruction of Al
Qaeda? What arrangements the clerical regime has with Al Qaeda throughout
the Hadramuth, where it is able to set up a network for smuggling ballistic
missiles through a stretch leading to the north? Why does the clerical
regime knowingly engage in behavior that endangers the lives of civilians
throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in spite of the fact that Riyadh has
never done the same to Tehran?
What Iran needs to do
Moving forward, there is only one path ahead. Should Tehran continue with
its current behavior in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq and be a rogue
proliferator of ballistic missiles, while pursuing nuclear weapons, then
only a Soviet Union-Cold War style policy of containment is acceptable.
Any trade or commercial activities by multinational corporations with the
clerical regime will only allow it to continue to function in its present
manner. For those from outside the Middle East who insist on providing
billions of dollars through trade to the clerical regime, only strengthen
the IRGC, Quds Force and terrorist operations. They are literally
subsidizing the missiles that target Riyadh, the death squads in Iraq, the
butcher in Damascus, and the violation of freedom of the Lebanese people.
The days of casual indifference are over and those who continue to pursue
them will not last unless there is an immediate suspension of all nuclear
related activities verified by inspection teams, a complete cessation of all
ballistic missile proliferation, the removal of all sectarian and proxy
assets from Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the severing of all ties to
terrorist groups.
These measures are not aimed at the people of Iran but directed at the
clerical regime that rules in an iron-fisted manner over their right to live
as free people. For the people and countries of the region, the status quo
is no longer tolerable.
Iraqi voters decide the next government’s identity
Adnan Hussein/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
For one hundred dollars or less, Iraqi academic Dr. Mohammed Ali Zinni — a
graduate from Colorado State University — bought a seat in Iraq's new
parliament which term begins on the first of July. As the oldest Member of
Parliament, Zinni will preside over the inaugural session. Parliamentary
seat for sale!Don’t be surprised by the word “bought,” as seats in the Iraqi
parliament have become similar to the “shares” on the stock exchange, and
they are traded every four years. There is also “the stock exchange” for the
seats in the provincial councils and for other higher positions, such as the
post of an undersecretary, the head of an institution or a body or a
director general etc. Each seat comes with a figurative price tag and can
amount to even millions of dollars, as has been disclosed by a judicial
investigation as well as by many others who deal in these “markets.” Being a
member in the parliament or a provincial council or being the head of an
institution or body in Iraq is like possessing Aladdin’s lamp or magic ring,
as wealth can flow to an MP just like it flows on the minister or his deputy
or any director general who intends to exploit his influence and position
for personal gain. Using sectarian, national and party quotas in the
distribution of Iraqi state posts is no longer acceptable, nor viable .
Apart from the salary, allowances and other privileges – which are a source
of income unmatched in Iraq and many others countries – the MP also receives
more money through bribes he takes from companies and businessmen whose work
he facilitates at the minister or the relevant director. A current MP has
already clarified this in more than one live television interview. He said
that “all” his colleagues at the parliament had received “commissions” in
exchange of services they offered. In fact, he did not exclude himself and
publicly admitted that at one point in time he had received $1 million for
mediating on a certain case. Not a single MP objected or complained about
these remarks, and the parliament did not even take any disciplinary or
punitive measures against him although he confessed to receiving a bribe.
Likewise, neither the Public Prosecutor’s Office nor the Commission of
Integrity probed him.
Sign of hope
The $100 which Dr. Zinni bought his parliamentary seat with was used to
print small and colorful pamphlets to promote himself as a candidate in the
elections. These were distributed on his acquaintances and he posted a photo
of them on his Facebook page. The pamphlet is small and very simple. On top,
it included the name of the electoral list which Zinni was nominated for,
the Civil Democratic Alliance, the number of the list and his sequence in
it. It also features a picture of him next to the map of Iraq covered by the
Iraqi flag. It also mentioned his academics degrees (Ph.D. in Petroleum
Economics, a Master’s in the same specialty along with a Bachelor degree in
Electrical Engineering and another in Law). The pamphlet also had the
slogan: "The Iraqi people are now in desperate need of patriots with
integrity and competence to stop the march of banditry and destruction in
order to rebuild the country and look after people.”With this small modest
amount of money, Zinni won 7,351 electoral votes in the capital Baghdad thus
winning him a parliamentary seat although he is not really well known in
Iraq because he has been living abroad for a very long time. Others spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars on television ads and billboards that took
over the city of Baghdad, its streets, yards and buildings. Some of those
who spent a fortune lost in the elections while others won. The latter, who
spent huge sums of money and won, will of course do their best to gain what
they had spent. An MP’s salary and all allocations throughout the period of
four years do not amount to $1 million. This means that their eyes will be
on other illegal sources of income, which have been exposed in
investigations and in the confessions of aforementioned MP. Iraqi electors
voted for many people like Dr. Zinni who didn’t spend a lot of money on
their electoral campaigns and refrained from giving their voices for
candidates who spent a lot of money so they failed them. An example of
voting regardless of sectarian and religious identity is Christian candidate
Ammar Francis Boutros who won a parliamentary seat representing the Shiite
province of Wasit (Al-Kut) southeast of Baghdad, where the number of
Christian families can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Boutros was
nominated with the Sairoon list and won more than 5,300 votes. Dr. Zinni,
Boutros and others have won because of their reputation as honest and
competent figures. Those who lost despite the large amounts of money spent
on their electoral campaigns have lost also because of their reputation as
sectarian or corrupt or unqualified figures who failed in performing their
parliamentary duties or because of all the of the above.
Maturing electorate
Most of the current MPs whose terms are about to end had contested in the
last elections, but voters only trusted 97 out of a total of 329. Among
those who lost are prominent figures like the parliament speaker, his first
deputy, heads of electoral blocs, ministers and MPs who were very vocal with
their sectarian rhetoric. Electing people like Dr. Zinni, Boutros and others
like them, sends a message by the Iraqi people to the political class that
has been controlling their fate since 2003 and which stipulates that
sectarian, national and partisan quotas in distributing state posts is no
longer acceptable and no longer viable.
Supposedly, the government that is being discussed by the main political
forces who won the elections will reflect this non-sectarian approach which
was embodied by the results of the elections. The Iraqis now want a
government of national honest competencies and it does not matter if it has
a majority of Sunnis or Shiites or Muslim or Christian or Yezidi or Mandeans
or Arab or Kurdish or Turkmen. Otherwise, it is very likely that Iraq will
witness political and social unrest that is nothing like the protest
movement that carried on from mid-2015 until the eve of the last elections.
The politicization of Mo Salah’s injury
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
The way Egyptians as well as many Arabs reacted to the injury of Mo Salah,
Liverpool's star striker, during the Champions League final with Real Madrid
on Sunday reveals an aspect of our flawed thinking and understanding. The
story is well-known. This final game represented a dream for the talented Mo
Salah just like it was the dream of both Real Madrid’s and Liverpool’s
players especially those who hail from third world countries. However, Mo
Salah was painfully injured by Real Madrid’s violent defender Sergio Ramos
and he left the game in agony, Millions of people in Egypt and other
countries were angry as a result.So far, it’s reasonable and within the
expected but afterwards the story transformed into a political debate and
random statements were made. The agenda of the Brotherhood, Qatar, Turkey
and “a bunch of revolutionaries” became active in an attempt to ride the
wave of the Egyptian and Arab “spontaneous” popular sympathy with the
talented Salah or Abu Salah. They said there was a conspiracy to neutralize
Salah and that Ramos is behind it and maybe other western and Arab countries
are behind it and I don’t know what!
Religious debate
Things did not end here but this incident at the final match also became a
religious debate! Bigoted and long-time controversial Kuwaiti activist
Mubarak al-Bathali wrote on Twitter that Salah’s injury was God’s punishment
because he broke his fast to play the game with his club Liverpool. In
another tweet, he wrote: “May Allah guide you Mohamed Salah. Perhaps [the
injury] is good for you.” Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Center responded to the
“instigator” Bathali saying a hardship may be a sign of God’s love to the
worshipper and of the worshipper’s closeness to God. It added that Bathali
must worry about himself and leave people alone, or in other words “let us
be!”Dr. Mohamed Abdelati, the head of the Islamic Studies Department of the
Faculty of Education in Al-Azhar University, said Salah broke his fast
during the final game with Real Madrid according to a legitimate permit
granted to him by God Almighty.
The jurisprudential reasoning as to why Salah was permitted to break his
fast during Ramadan, and whether it’s due to travelling or due to performing
a difficult job, does not matter. What matters is that this incident and all
its details revealed to us how our “receptors” – and I am not referring to
the Egyptians in particular – are flawed and programed to politicize
everything and tackle everything from a religious angle no matter how
distant they are from politics and religion.
The Mo Salah incident is such a revealing example.
Is Russia waging war with ‘autonomous patriotic
volunteers’ to deny responsibility?
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/June 02/18
One of the nightmare scenarios of the Syrian Civil War has been the prospect
of direct military clashes between Russian and American forces. Now we know
that this has happened at least once, with as many as 200 Russian citizens
killed by American airstrikes. The good news: WW3 has not started as a
consequence. The bad news: we can expect such clashes to become more common
in the future, with the possibility that things between the two countries
may yet escalate out of control. On 7 February this year, about 500 hundred
pro-Assad forces attacked a US-held position near the oil fields of Deir
ez-Zor, defended by 30 elite American soldiers later backed up by another 16
from another nearby position. The result of the clash was what one might
expect: no US casualties, but 2-300 of the attackers dead, mostly from US
air support. The twist: the majority of the attackers, as well as the
majority of their casualties, were Russian citizens. The US and Russia
maintain active channels of communication in Syria in order to prevent just
this kind of scenario. But according to the Russian military command in the
region at the time, the attack had nothing to do with them, and they could
not order the Russians to stop their assault on the American position. That
Russian citizens are involved in testing American positions and capacity in
Syria without the knowledge or involvement of the Russian government at some
level is hard to believe.
Russia has figured that using military strength to pursue its strategic
interests while denying responsibility is a winning strategy
Circumstantial evidence
But we must concede that the evidence is only circumstantial: the Russians
in question are members of a private military operator known as the Wagner
group whose leader, Dmitry Utkin, last served in a special forces brigade of
the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU.
And the mercenaries themselves are trained at the Russian Defence Ministry’s
bases. And they purportedly receive military awards from the Kremlin, on
occasion. Regardless, this brings us to an interesting point in the
geopolitical arena: the two most-powerful nuclear states in the world can
kill each other’s citizens in direct warfare without nuclear consequences –
at least so far. And this is likely to alter quite a few strategic
calculations for all global and regional powers. For one, Russia has figured
that using military strength to pursue its strategic interests while denying
responsibility is a winning strategy. It has worked well enough in Crimea
and eastern Ukraine, why not extend that to Syria. Or, indeed, to Libya,
Sudan or the Central African Republic.
Acting in self-defense
For another, if Russia denies ownership of these troops and their actions,
it would seem that they also cannot complain if mishaps were to befall these
troops. At the Deir ez-Zor debacle, the Americans acted purely in
self-defence. But now that the taboo is broken, there is no obvious reason
why American, Western, Iranian or any other regional power could not
proactively target and kill Russian “shadow military” troops and operations,
when they become a nuisance. If Wagner group troops move around Libya, we
must assume that the Kremlin would not mind if a French jet would drop a
bomb or two on them. What is more, if Russia can have “autonomous patriotic
volunteers” waving weapons around all over the world, why would other
countries not expect to find that they too have a considerable pool of
patriotically minded, violent and well armed people around? And surely the
Kremlin would not falsely accuse Washington, Paris or London if some of
these “rogue groups” were to actively engage official Russian military
personnel. In a sense, these developments are to be welcome. We are now at a
point in human history where the big nuclear players can do their conflicts
and their wars without the risk of nuclear escalation. In an odd way, this
is a sign of geopolitical maturity. The downside, however, is that this
model of conflict risks proliferating all over the Middle East and the
Sahel, and further destabilise the region, exacerbating already tragic
levels of human suffering, and accelerating global migration trends. Though
a positive development from the point of view of nuclear risk, in the end it
is still the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who will pay the price. As
always.
British 'Justice':
Poppycock
Bruce Bawer/Gatestone Institute/June 02/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12428/british-justice-poppycock
Instead of arresting rapists, the police, in at least a couple of cases,
actually arrested people who had done nothing other than to try to rescue
their children from the clutches of rapists.
So much concern – legitimately so – about the sacred right of the rapists to
a fair trial, including the presumption of innocence and an opportunity to
retain the lawyers of their choice – but so much readiness to excuse the
denial of the same right to Robinson.
These decades of cover-ups by British officials are themselves unspeakable
crimes. How many of those who knew, but who did nothing, have faced anything
remotely resembling justice? Apparently none.
As any viewer of British TV news knows, a "trained professional journalist"
in Britain observes all kinds of rules of professional conduct: he calls
Muslims "Asians," he describes any critic of Islam, or anyone who attends a
rally protesting the unjust incarceration of a critic of Islam, as a member
of the "far right," and he identifies far-left smear machines as
"anti-racist groups."
The coverage here during the last few days of the Tommy Robinson affair in
Britain appears to be having at least a small impact in certain circles in
Merrie Olde England. Dispatches have come in from some of the tonier
addresses in the UK explaining, in that marvelous tone of condescension
which no one from beyond the shores of England can ever quite pull off, that
those of us who sympathize with Robinson have got it all wrong; that we
simply do not grasp the exquisite nuances of British jurisprudence,
specifically the kingdom's laws about the coverage of trials – for if we did
understand, we would recognize that Robinson's summary arrest and
imprisonment did not represent an outrageous denial of his freedom of
speech, his right to due process, and his right to an attorney of his own
choosing, but were, in fact, thoroughly appropriate actions intended to
ensure the integrity of the trial he was covering. Those of us outside the
UK who think that British freedom has been compromised and that the British
system of law has been cynically exploited for ignoble purposes are,
apparently, entirely mistaken; on the contrary, we are instructed, Britain's
police are continuing to conduct themselves in a responsible matter,
Britain's courts are still models of probity, and Britain's real journalists
(not clumsy, activist amateurs like Robinson) persist in carrying out their
role with extraordinary professionalism and propriety, obeying to the letter
the eminently sensible rules that govern reportage about court cases in the
land of Magna Carta.
"It is true," acknowledged one correspondent, "that in previous years the UK
police wrongly hesitated to prosecute Muslim grooming gangs. And it was a
shocking scandal, which the Daily Mail did much to expose and excoriate. But
that has changed."
Hesitated? Changed? Talk about English understatement. For decades – not
years – police, social workers, local politicians, and journalists all over
Britain knew that thousands of non-Muslim girls throughout the country were
being repeatedly raped by Muslim gangs. The perpetrators were not arrested –
partly because police and others in authority were apparently terrified of
being called racists.
British police. While U.K. authorities go out of their way to avoid
arresting Muslim criminals, they are quick to take into custody Britons,
such as Tommy Robinson, who criticize Islam. Photo: Wikipedia.
In addition, they might have feared a massive explosion of Muslim outrage.
Also, in a country where class still plays a crucial role, most of the
victims were from working-class families, and may thus have been seen by at
least some officials who cherish Islamic cultural enrichment as the spawn of
lowbrows.
Instead of arresting rapists, the police -- in at least a couple of cases --
have actually arrested people who did nothing other than to try to rescue
their children from the clutches of rapists.
To be sure, the Daily Mail finally began to break the news about all this,
thereby forcing the hands of police departments and courts. But to suggest
that the policies that made these atrocities possible have changed – or that
anywhere near all of the Muslim rapists are now facing trial or already
behind bars – is an absurd and grotesque lie.
These decades of cover-ups by British officials are themselves unspeakable
crimes. Yet how many of those who knew, but who did nothing, have faced
anything remotely resembling justice? Apparently none. Clearly, all too many
Britons who should be furious not only at the grooming gangs, who have
committed monstrous acts on a scale that staggers the imagination, but also
at the civil servants who looked away, are instead in high dudgeon over
Tommy Robinson, one of the few people who have dared publicly to call the
brutal, violent abuse of children by its proper name and to react to it in a
manner proportional to its villainy. One Englishman explained that all those
upstanding police and courthouse personnel in his country have "thoroughly
investigated" the grooming-gang cases, and their efforts have involved
"great resources of police time and great expense." By reporting live on
Facebook from outside the courthouse, he stated, Robinson risked destroying
all their hard work by broadcasting information of which, by law, jurors in
this trial, and potential jurors in other rape-gang trials, should be kept
unaware.
Poppycock. Robinson did not do anything outside this courthouse that other
reporters do not do on a regular basis. The information he supplied,
including the names and ages of the defendants, came straight off the BBC
website. The critic who expressed such tender concern about "police time"
actually argued that Robinson, by reading off all those Muslim names, might
have formed unfortunate "preconceptions" in the minds of potential jurors
that would make it impossible for them to give future Muslim defendants a
fair trial. Is he suggesting that in order for any of these thugs to get
tried fairly, the entire British public should be kept in the dark about the
reality of Muslim grooming gangs? "Robinson was not just on the street, he
was sending a running commentary to the internet," complained one
correspondent. "If any other journalist was found doing that, he or she may
also have been sent to prison under a gag order until the trial ends."Does
anyone truly believe that some well-known BBC or Sky News talking head would
ever have been plucked up from outside the courthouse in Leeds, shoved into
a paddywagon, dragged before a judge, and tossed unceremoniously into the
clink without so much as being allowed to phone a lawyer? So much concern –
legitimately so – about the sacred right of the rapists to a fair trial,
including the presumption of innocence and an opportunity to retain the
lawyers of their choice – but so much readiness to excuse the denial of the
same right to Robinson! "A trained professional journalist," we hear, does
not report information about a trial live from outside a courthouse "but
sends a report to the newspaper, whose editors and/or lawyers can then check
it before it is published." More poppycock. Granted, as any viewer of
British TV news knows, a "trained professional journalist" in Britain
observes all kinds of rules of professional conduct: he calls Muslims
"Asians," he describes any critic of Islam, or anyone who attends a rally
protesting the unjust incarceration of a critic of Islam, as a member of the
"far right," and he identifies far-left smear machines as "anti-racist
groups."
Some British correspondents also expressed concern that reckless rhetoric
about the Robinson case might end up causing "an insurrection" in Britain,
which "would lead to immense casualties." News flash: there have already
been immense casualties. Question for these critics: Are those child rape
victims unreal to you? What about the countless UK victims of female genital
mutilation, "honor" killings, and other "honor"-related punishments, not to
mention various less-than-neighborly activities by Muslim gangs? Yes, there
have been casualties, and if Britain keeps on in the direction it is
currently going, the number of casualties will only rise. "Demography is
destiny," as the saying has it.
One note dismissed the statement by Robert Spencer, quoted by yours truly,
that "the darkness of Sharia-compliant totalitarianism" is descending upon
Britain. "Someone who utters such a sentence," we are told, "immediately
loses the respect of most Britons that I know. In the UK, such lurid
rhetoric is seen as characteristic of nutters."
Interesting to bring up the concepts of luridness and respect. Should one
still respect the people who covered up child rapes for decades? If there is
"lurid rhetoric," well, perhaps lurid events call for lurid rhetoric –
especially for events which the powers that be have swept under the rug for
years. As for the reference to Roert Spencer, a brave and learned scholar,
as a "nutter": well, if head-in-the-sand aplomb amounts to sanity, then
count me as a nutter.
One British observer complained that those of us who have criticized
Robinson's treatment in recent days are guilty of "ignorantly malign[ing]
the authorities." What is this species of Briton who appears to be more
exercised by frank criticism of public officials than by mass child gang
rapes? I have also been told that "an experienced English lawyer...would
have advised" against publishing some passages of my recent articles.
Mercifully, not everyone is subject to Britain's increasingly frightening
laws.
Another note from the UK flatly denied that freedom in Britain today is on
the decline: "Let's be clear, there has been no clampdown on free speech by
the British judiciary, government or press in the Tommy Robinson affair." On
the contrary, as demonstrated by any number of articles over the last
several years, the UK has imposed an increasingly stringent clampdown on
free speech about Islam by anyone.
"Reading some of your contributions," charged one communiqué, "you would
think the UK has become an Islamist state." No, not yet. It is on its way,
though, thanks to complacent people who are more worried about "scare
stories," as one man put it, than about the real-life scary actions that
these "scare stories" recount. "It's all becoming too hysterical and
extreme," the missive charges, and accuses us of "whip[ping] up hatred." Ah
yes, let us not rattle the teacups while the barbarians are raping our
children. Let us not report honestly on a rape crisis – which often the
rapists themselves say is rooted in the teachings of Islam -- lest it turn
some readers against the religion.
Yet another letter-writer, while offering a number of similar criticisms,
calls Tommy Robinson "a genuine racist." Of course, calling people racists
is weapon #1 in any serious campaign to shut down criticism, including of
Islam. All of us who have been writing critically about Islam for any length
of time are accustomed to being called racists. One gets used to it. But
apart from being a shabby card to play -- there are, after all, real racists
in the world -- by all appearances, Tommy Robinson is not one of them. He
has often pointed out that he grew up in a racially mixed community and that
his lifelong friends include Africans, Caribbean blacks, and blokes with
Muslim and Hindu backgrounds. His best friend is black. Race simply seems
not to have been an issue for him. He left the English Defence League
because of its racism.
If there is any bigotry here, it would seem to be on the part of those who
view Robinson – whose courage, love of country, and sense of civic
responsibility they are incapable of recognizing – as a boorish
rabble-rouser who should leave the business of governance to those who
possess the requisite breeding, education, manners, and wisdom.
The bottom line here is simple. The claims by these high-toned
correspondents to the contrary, Britain is in serious trouble. While foreign
truth-tellers are banned from entering the country, jihad preachers are
still welcome. While authorities still go out of their way to avoid
arresting, prosecuting, or jailing a Muslim criminal, they are quick to take
into custody, or at least pay an intimidating visit to, any ordinary
Britisher who dares to criticize the Religion of Peace. If people took the
trouble to write letters of complaint in response to articles that are
sympathetic to Tommy Robinson, it may be because they recognize that the
news about the erosion of British freedom is finally getting out – not just
to a relatively small circle of people in the U.S. and elsewhere, but to
millions -- and they do not like it at all.
**Bruce Bawer is the author of the new novel The Alhambra (Swamp Fox
Editions). His book While Europe Slept (2006) was a New York Times
bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. His other books
include A Place at the Table (1993), Stealing Jesus (1997), Surrender
(2009), and The Victims' Revolution (2012). A native New Yorker, he has
lived in Europe since 1998.
© 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.
UK: A New Drive for Islamic Blasphemy Laws?
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/June 02/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12270/uk-blasphemy-laws
It is reasonable to assume that the planned report and the ensuing work on
finding a definition of "Islamophobia" is meant effectively to destroy the
little that remains of free speech in the UK.
The Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group has as its top priority "tackling the
far right and counter jihadists". It seems a peculiar government priority to
"tackle" people who are opposed to jihad; one would assume that the British
government is also against jihad.
According to British government logic, then, after Muslims stabbed and
beheaded British Army soldier Lee Rigby in broad daylight in London, Muslim
institutions needed protection -- not British ones.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims[1] has formally
begun work on the establishment of a "working definition of Islamophobia
that can be widely accepted by Muslims, political parties and the
government".
The AAPG on British Muslims, according to its website, was established in
July 2017. It is chaired by MPs Anna Soubry and Wes Streeting and is meant
to build on the work of a former AAPG: the AAPG on Islamophobia. The latter
came into existence as the result of a meeting at the House of Commons in
March 2010, hosted by, among others, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) --
the largest Muslim organization in the UK, which claims to be representative
of British Muslims -- which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood[2]. The
purpose of the meeting was "to discuss the growing spate of attacks in all
its forms against British Muslims". The meeting, which was attended, among
others, by parliamentarians, police and public servants called for the
establishment of an APPG on Islamophobia. By November 2010, the AAPG on
Islamophobia had been formed, and was described by its chairman, the
Conservative Kris Hopkins, as a "momentous occasion" the purpose of which
was to "propose considered, evidence based policies to tackle Islamophobia
wherever it exists". However, the newly established AAPG quickly ran into
trouble. It turned out that the Muslim organization appointed as its
secretariat was the Muslim extremist organization iENGAGE, which has since
changed its name to MEND.[3]
Meanwhile, the work against "Islamophobia" instead continued in other
forums. In 2012, Minister of State for Faith and Communities, Baroness Warsi
-- who was the co-chair of the AAPG on Islamophobia and is now the treasurer
of the AAPG on British Muslims -- helped form a government working group
against Islamophobia, named the "Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group".
The Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group is made up of "representatives from the
Muslim community, independent experts, academics, and government
departments" including, among others, the Attorney General's Office, the
Crown Prosecution Service, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the National Police Chiefs' Council.
The Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group has as its top priority "tackling the
far right and counter jihadists". It seems a peculiar government priority to
"tackle" people who are opposed to jihad; one would assume that the British
government is also against jihad.
One member of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, Akeela Ahmed, who
represents the organization "Hope not Hate" has said:
"One successful initiative of the [Anti-Muslim Hatred Working] group was
petitioning the Home Office for funding to protect mosques from attacks
around the UK. There had been a sharp spike in incidents as the result of
Lee Rigby's murder in 2013 by Islamist extremists. The Home Office agreed to
allocate £2 million over three years for the protection of faith
institutions".
According to British government logic, after Muslims stabbed and beheaded
British Army soldier Lee Rigby in broad daylight in London, Muslim
institutions needed protection -- not British ones.
Other priorities of the "Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group" are "public
transport awareness campaign to encourage reporting of anti-Muslim hatred
incidents [one such campaign took place in October 2017], anti-Muslim
bullying in schools, [and] Muslim literacy in the media".
Prime Minister Theresa May last year described "Islamophobia" as
"extremism", and compared it to Islamic terrorism:
"...terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms; and our determination
to tackle them must be the same whoever is responsible... there has been far
too much tolerance of extremism in our country over many years – and that
means extremism of any kind, including Islamophobia."
Despite the government's focused activity on fighting "Islamophobia", the
AAPG for British Muslims remained dissatisfied. In October 2017, Baroness
Warsi declared that "it is high time to have a definition of Islamophobia,
and that to fundamentally challenge the hate that underpins hate crime, we
need to define what that hate is". Warsi therefore invited the British
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government,
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, "to meet with a cross-section of community
organisations and individuals, led by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on
British Muslims, to work towards a definition".
Lord Bourne responded that he would be happy to meet with the group but that
he did not accept the need for a definitive definition of Islamophobia.
According to Bourne, the government "does not currently endorse a particular
definition of Islamophobia. Previous attempts by others to define this term
have not succeeded in attracting consensus or widespread acceptance".
"It [Islamophobia] is clearly recognised, and we have very effective
monitoring of race-hate crimes... considerable work is done by Tell MAMA and
the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group in these areas. We do that while
understanding and being able to recognise Islamophobia, but perhaps not
being able to define it precisely."
The APPG on British Muslims was not discouraged by the minister's response.
In April 2018, it released a "call for evidence" -- a call for input to the
upcoming report on defining "Islamophobia"-- that Baroness Warsi sent
directly to a number of organizations, including Muslim Brotherhood linked
Muslim Council of Britain and the extremist MEND.
At the end of the "call for evidence," the AAPG's letter briefly mentioned
free speech as a question that is "possibly outside the scope of this
report".
It is reasonable to assume that the planned report and the ensuing work on
finding a definition of "Islamophobia" is meant effectively to destroy the
little that remains of free speech in the UK, where the authorities already
vigorously pursue and prosecute claims of "Islamophobia".
The Palace of Westminster in London, meeting place of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom. (Image source: Mike Gimelfarb/Wikimedia Commons)
*Judith Bergman is a columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
[1] APPGs are informal, cross-party groups composed of Members of both the
House of Commons and the House of Lords. They have no official status within
Parliament.
[2] A 2015 UK government report found that the Muslim Brotherhood "played an
important role in establishing and then running the Muslim Council of
Britain".
[3] MEND is also known as an extremist Muslim organization.
© 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.
The Recession Is Long Gone. Where Are the Babies?
Christine Emba/Asharq Al Awsat/June 02/18
We may be running a bit low on babies.
Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that US
fertility had fallen to a record low — for the second straight year. The
fertility rate declined to 60.2 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age,
down 3 percent from 2016. The number of births in the United States fell 2
percent to 3.85 million, the lowest in 30 years. In fact, the only group for
whom birthrates have risen this year is women over 40.
This slump began, somewhat predictably, during the Great Recession.
Birthrates tend to drop during periods of economic distress as people put
off having babies, but potential parents usually get back to business once
the economy rebounds. What’s worrying now is that the recession has more
than ended but the baby numbers haven’t picked back up.
It’s hard to know how to gauge a change like this. Alarms about a coming
“baby bust” have been sounding for years, while reasonable demographers have
cautioned that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions — even though the decline
has continued, more or less unabated, for nearly a decade.
Still, even though it may not quite be time to panic, we might want to start
thinking about what exactly is going on.
What is holding up the stork? The theories range from the personal to the
political. One dourly amusing possibility blames screens: Researchers such
as University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox have hypothesized that
those of baby-making age are having “too much Netflix, not enough chill.”
Young adults may be displacing in-person activities — including forming
relationships and getting married— with time on computers, phones and
tablets. They are posting incessantly on social media, and gaming, or
Tinder-swiping through all possible matches to find an always-elusive
perfect match.
It’s too early for hard evidence on this theory to have emerged, but it does
make a certain amount of sense. One wonders whether the lately media-famous
“incels,” for instance, would be as “involuntarily” celibate if they spent
less time complaining online and more time out in the real world.
Another possible explanation is a new set of scruples around financial
stability and pace of life. Yes, the economy has improved. But the recession
and its aftermath have changed the outlook of the most fertile generation in
meaningful ways.
Much has been made of millennials not buying houses and not setting up their
401(k)s, but many of them are postponing other parts of their lives, too,
including childbirth and family formation. It’s an understandable choice,
considering the distinct lack of parental benefits and profamily policies in
most US workplaces. But while postponing children may leave more time to
secure a career, there’s less time afterward for securing a family. An
uptick of interest in advanced maternal-age fertility treatments and
late-in-life motherhood blogs suggests that this may not be the outcome that
all would prefer.
One final reason for our latest fertility low may be a newly rekindled
political stinginess. The United States’ fertility levels have been below
replacement level — the level at which a given generation can exactly
replace itself, usually 2,100 births per 1,000 women — since 1971. So why
hasn’t America’s population been falling? Because for years, immigrants have
been propping up our ranks.
Some would prefer this were not the case. “We can’t restore our civilization
with someone else’s babies,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) opined last year, to a
deservedly outraged response. In fact, that’s exactly what we have been
doing for years, to our country’s great social and economic benefit. Today,
however, our political conversation and harsh immigration policies clearly
are making relocating to the United State a less attractive proposition. We
may want to reconsider our rhetoric before it’s too late — just in case
you’re reading, President Trump.
But say we decide not to. The above arguments all assume that falling or
plateauing fertility is a bad thing. What if it’s not?
Well . . . it is. The overpopulation doomsday scenarios have long since
failed to pan out. Meanwhile, countries that are further along each of these
causal trajectories (think Japan, which has the world’s lowest birthrate and
has lost 1 million people over the past five years) are facing grim
consequences. Not just the economic impact of higher numbers of retirees and
fewer young workers but also a distinct sense of social decline — a lack of
meaning, an increase in loneliness and a disinterest in the future.
We’re not there yet. But as it turns out — surprise! — having children is
generally a good thing. If we’re starting to turn away from it, we should
start trying to figure out why.