LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 09/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition
Letter to the Colossians 02/08-15: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it."

Question: "How much power does Satan possess?"
Answer: Satan was an angel created by God who turned against God’s authority (Isaiah 14:13) and became the head of a kingdom of evil spirits called demons, his “angels” (Matthew 25:41). His power both in the heavenly realm and on earth is great and should not be underestimated. However, while Satan and his forces are formidable enemies, Jesus Christ crushed Satan’s power, fulfilling the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. The cross of Christ won the victory (John 12:31). “The prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:11), and Jesus will one day destroy Satan’s power completely and purify creation (2 Peter 3:10).
Satan’s power in the heavenly realm / spirit world:
Satan’s power has repute in the spiritual realm (Jude 1:9), where he has limited access to the presence of God (Job 1:6). The book of Job provides insight into the relationship between God and Satan. In Job 1:6-12, Satan stands before God and reports that he has been “walking up and down” on the earth (v. 7). God asks Satan if he has considered godly Job, and Satan immediately accuses Job of insincerity—he only loves God for the blessings God gives. “Stretch out your hand,” Satan says, “and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face” (v. 11). God grants Satan permission to affect Job’s possessions and family, but not his person, and Satan leaves. In Job 2, Satan comes again into God's presence and is, this time, permitted to affect Job's personal health. (The rest of the book is from Job’s perspective, providing an example of how to deal with suffering.)
This is an important passage because it shows Satan’s place in the spiritual realm. He is able to accuse God’s people in His very presence, and Jude 1:9 shows that even Michael the archangel needs the Lord’s help in overcoming him. However, Satan is obviously restrained from enacting his full fury; he is still a created being under God, and his power is limited.
Satan’s power on the earth:
Job 1 also reveals that Satan does enact evil and cause direct harm on the earth. The most well-known and important of his actions on earth occurred in the garden of Eden. Genesis 3 tells of Satan’s temptation of Eve, the “mother of all the living” (v. 20), and her subsequent first sin. It was this act, and that of Eve’s husband Adam, that brought sin into the world, and it is the reason all humankind must be redeemed from sin in order to be with God.
One day, Jesus met a woman who had been “crippled by a spirit for eighteen years” (Luke 13:11). Jesus attributes the infirmity to Satan, who had kept her “bound” (verse 16). Satan’s power was real, but it was easily overcome by our Lord: “He put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God” (v. 13). Jesus’ miracle was a clear demonstration of His authority over Satan.
Since his instigation of evil on earth, Satan has been named as the “prince,” “god,” or “ruler” of this world (John 14:30; cf. John 12:31; 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Ephesians 2:2; Colossians 1:13). He is the enemy of God and truth (Matthew 13:24-30; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12), and he does everything he can to tempt individuals (Genesis 3; Luke 22:31; 1 Timothy 3:7) and larger groups of people (1 Thessalonians 3:5; Revelation 2:10). He “leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9). Satan accomplishes this by various means, including appealing to man’s pride (1 Timothy 3:6; 1 Corinthians 4:6), interfering with the transmission of truth (Matthew 13:18-22, 38-39), and placing false believers within the church (1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; Revelation 2:9; 3:9). In John 8:44, Jesus says that Satan “is a liar and the father of it.”
God still grants Satan some authority in this world, which means that his power is not yet completely broken—except in one area: his power of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 says that Jesus came as a man to die in order to “destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil,” a power Satan had held “from the beginning” (John 8:44). The salvation Jesus provides has released us from Satan’s stranglehold. Death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Satan’s power – the conclusion:
The Bible says that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), and we must “be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Yet Christians have a great hope, for Jesus Christ (John 16:33) and our faith in Him (1 John 5:4) have overcome Satan’s evil. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Recommended Resource: God's Devil: The Incredible Story of How Satan's Rebellion Serves God's Purposes by Erwin Lutzer

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 08-09/18
The political prisoner, Syria and Beethoven/DW/June 08/18
Iran ups pressure on other countries to keep nuclear deal alive/Al-Monitor Staff June 08/18
Will Iran Agree to Be Kept Away From the Golan Border in Syria/Michael Young/Carnegie Middle East Cnter/June 08/18
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: May 2018/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/June 08, 2018
Putin and Lessons from Lenin and Gromyko/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/June 08/18
Can Qatar Withstand The Second Year Of Crisis/Seth Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/June 08/18
Balancing hard and soft power: Turkey’s approach to Syria/Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/June 08/18
Debunking the misconceptions surrounding the Gulf crisis/Dr. Manuel Almeida/Arab News/June 08/18
Italy: Back from the brink, for a while/Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
The madness of telecommunications revolution/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
Mohammed bin Zayed in Moscow/Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
Putin and Lessons from Lenin and Gromyko/Amir Taheri/Al Arabiya/June 08/18

Titles For The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on June 08-09/18
Nasrallah: Even the whole world cannot evict Hezbollah from Syria
LF, PSP, Kataeb Urge Aoun to Annul Controversial Citizenship Decree
Officials Say 'Only 4' Citizenship Candidates May Have Unclean Records
Scores Naturalized in Lebanon where Women Still Lack Rights
Bassil Freezes UNHCR Residency Permits over Refugee Spat
Bassil to 'Take Measure' against UNHCR for 'Scaring' Displaced Syrians
Lebanese Army Chief: Lebanon’s Security ‘Better than Ever’
Lebanon Freezes UNHCR Residency Applications
Khoury suggests committee to study heritage sites' conservation
Monopoly on ministries contradicts Constitution: Arslan
Another Scandal Rattles Lebanon's Real Estate Sector
Nadim Gemayel Warns of Attempt to Alter Lebanon's Political and Economic Identity

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 08-09/18

Iran ups pressure on other countries to keep nuclear deal alive
Iran granted visas and facilitated travel for Al-Qaeda: Deputy head of Iran Judiciary
Washington, London Vow to Curb Iranian Nuclear Arms Ambitions
Turkish PM: Troops 30 km inside Iraq, could move on Kurdish stronghold
US General: Operations against ISIS in Afghanistan to Intensify
Use of Armed Drones Increasing Under Trump
Saudi Crown Prince in Russia Next Week
Iran Defiant as It Holds Day of Anti-Israel Protests
Germany issues arrest warrant for top Assad officer
IS Retakes Parts of Eastern Syria Town in Major Attack
Austria to Expel Up to 60 'Turkish-Funded' Imams, Shut 7 Mosques
U.S. Allies Ready Trump Showdown as Trade Splits G7
Sadr Strengthens Legislative Bloc ahead of Iraq Poll Recount
U.N. Warns Assault on Yemen Port Would Have 'Catastrophic' Impact
U.N. Security Council Sanctions Six Human Traffickers Operating in Libya
Three Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in fresh Gaza border clashes
Fire Kites from Gaza a Burning Issue for Israel

Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on June 08-09/18

Nasrallah: Even the whole world cannot evict Hezbollah from Syria
Reuters, Beirut Friday, 8 June 2018
Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters via a screen during a rally near the border with Israel on
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah will remain in Syria as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants it there, the group’s leader said on Friday, defying renewed US and Israeli pressure to force Tehran and its allies to quit the country. “I will tell you that if the whole world comes together to force us to leave Syria, they will not be able to evict us,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that only the Syrian leadership could ask them to leave. Israel has repeatedly struck Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria, saying they must leave the country, with which it shares a border. Washington has also demanded that Iran and forces it back quit. Alongside Russia, Iran-backed forces in Syria have helped Assad drive rebels from the country's biggest cities and reclaim swathes of the eastern deserts from ISIS. Hezbollah fighters put Lebanese and Hezbollah flags at Juroud Arsal, Syria-Lebanon border, on July 25, 2017.
Russia’s call
Russia has recently called for all non-Syrian forces to leave southern Syria, a statement seen as partly aimed at Iran, as well as at US forces in a base near the Iraqi border. Senior Syrian officials have said they want to recapture the rebel-held areas in the southwest near the border with Israel. Israeli strikes in Syria are partly aimed at keeping Hezbollah and other Iran-backed forces from its border. This week, a Russian troop deployment near the border with Lebanon caused friction with Iran-backed forces there including Hezbollah, a rare case of Assads' allies acting out of sync with each other, though it was soon resolved. In his speech Nasrallah mocked the idea that US, Israeli or Gulf pressure was forcing a wedge between Russia and Iran on Syria.

LF, PSP, Kataeb Urge Aoun to Annul Controversial Citizenship Decree
Naharnet/June 08/18/The Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Kataeb Party on Friday issued a joint statement urging President Michel Aoun to invalidate a controversial decree granting Lebanese citizenship to dozens of Arabs and foreigners. “After the authorities heeded our request on publishing the citizenship decree, and after the Interior Ministry confirmed that preliminary investigations have unveiled the presence of security and judicial suspicions over several names included in the citizenship decree, the Kataeb Party, the LF and the PSP call on the President to annul this decree,” the statement said. The three parties added that Aoun should issue “another decree that would only include very particular cases for very specific humanitarian reasons that comply with the Lebanese Constitution's stipulations.”The Interior Ministry published the highly controversial decree on Thursday, after politicians and ordinary citizens alike fumed over the secrecy that shrouded the move. The list published on the ministry's website comprised more than 400 names of various nationalities, including a quarter of Syrians and just over a quarter of Palestinians. Its most notable include one of Iraq's two vice-presidents, Iyad Allawi, who is also British and whose mother was Lebanese, as well as his wife and three children. From Syria, those on the list include the three sons of Syrian steel and flour mogul Farouq Joud, powerful industrialist Khaldun al-Zoabi and Mazen Mortada, the son of a former Syrian minister. The decree's critics have slammed the secrecy that surrounded the move and said it adds insult to injury for thousands unable to acquire nationality because they were born to Lebanese mothers and foreign fathers. Although it was issued on May 11, according to the Interior Ministry's statement, news of the decree's existence only emerged last week when dozens of names allegedly included in the edict were leaked to the media. The president's office confirmed the decree's existence, but said it had submitted the names to the General Security agency to verify they all have "the right" to become Lebanese. That agency, in turn, established a hotline and encouraged citizens to call in any relevant information about named individuals. Lebanese media has reported the list may include businessmen known to be close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Officials Say 'Only 4' Citizenship Candidates May Have Unclean Records
Naharnet/June 08/18/Only four citizenship candidates mentioned in the controversial presidential decree may have criminal records, Lebanese officials have said. “There are suspicions over only four names among them individuals wanted on Interpol warrants,” ministerial sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Friday. “The Interior Ministry was aware of their situation and it submitted documented reports about them to the Presidency and the Premiership, demanding that their names be omitted from the decree,” the sources added. “The decree is still legal but it has been suspended and any official Lebanese documents have not been issued for any of those included in the decree, although some of them have submitted additional papers to finalize their files,” the sources went on to say, reassuring that “no documents will be issued before scrutinizing the names mentioned in the decree.” Kataeb Party sources meanwhile described the issue as a “scandal,” confirming to al-Liwaa that the party will file an appeal with the Constitutional Council against the decree. The sources also said that Kataeb will coordinate with the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party in this regard. The Interior Ministry published the highly controversial decree on Thursday, after politicians and ordinary citizens alike fumed over the secrecy that shrouded the move. It noted that its preliminary investigations revealed that “there are security and judicial suspicions over a number of names” that were included in the decree.
“The accuracy of this information is being crosschecked through an additional investigation that is being conducted by the General Directorate of General Security,” the ministry added, noting that the rest of the names are also being scrutinized. The list published on the ministry's website comprised more than 400 names of various nationalities, including a quarter of Syrians and just over a quarter of Palestinians. Its most notable include one of Iraq's two vice-presidents, Iyad Allawi, who is also British and whose mother was Lebanese, as well as his wife and three children. From Syria, those on the list include the three sons of Syrian steel and flour mogul Farouq Joud, powerful industrialist Khaldun al-Zoabi and Mazen Mortada, the son of a former Syrian minister. The decree's critics have slammed the secrecy that surrounded the move and said it adds insult to injury for thousands unable to acquire nationality because they were born to Lebanese mothers and foreign fathers. Political discourse in Lebanon is deeply divided over the war in neighboring Syria, with allegations of corruption on all sides. The contested decree has brought all of that to the fore. Although it was issued on May 11, according to the Interior Ministry's statement, news of its existence only emerged last week when dozens of names allegedly included in the edict were leaked to the media. It prompted a wave of public outrage, with Lebanese officials scrambling to defend themselves or defect blame. The president's office confirmed the decree's existence, but said it had submitted the names to the General Security agency to verify they all have "the right" to become Lebanese. That agency, in turn, established a hotline and encouraged citizens to call in any relevant information about named individuals. Lebanese media has reported the list may include businessmen known to be close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Scores Naturalized in Lebanon where Women Still Lack Rights
Associated Press/Naharnet/June 08/18/A Lebanese presidential decree to naturalize hundreds of foreigners, including Iraqi Vice President Iyad Allawi and other regional elites, has ignited a row over who deserves citizenship in the small country, where one in four people is a refugee and women married to foreigners cannot pass on their citizenship to their children. News of the decree, which was signed in secret in mid-May but leaked to the public two weeks later, has fueled the perception that citizenship, like so many other liberties in this country, is a privilege reserved for the wealthy. Meanwhile, Lebanese women married to foreigners don't have the right to pass on their nationality to their children. And more than a million Syrian and Palestinian refugees toil away in vital but back-breaking labor, without any legal protections against abuse, wage theft, arbitrary arrest and deportation. "This decree should rattle our conscience," said May Elian, a Lebanese woman married to a foreigner and an activist with the campaign "My Nationality is My Right and My Family's Right."But Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has defended the decree, saying it is the president's constitutional right to grant citizenship to whomever he pleases. Customarily Lebanon's presidents have waited until the end of their terms to issue a naturalization decree. In this case, President Michel Aoun signed an order less than two years into his six-year term, and without disclosing it to the public, raising suspicions of malfeasance in the corruption-ridden country. Hariri and caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, who co-signed the decree, challenged opponents to make their claims in court that some of the recipients were less than deserving. "People who have evidence should present it," said Mashnouq. As opposition to the decree gained steam, the General Security agency took the unusual step of calling on citizens to call or email with any information they had about the people set to be naturalized. Some politicians have alleged that the beneficiaries include businessmen linked to the Syrian regime, though this was not immediately clear from the published list. MP Wael Abu Faour, a harsh critic of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, said "it is not acceptable that Lebanese citizenship becomes a commodity sold to killers and their assistants." Such claims come at a delicate time when Lebanese politicians are still sharply divided over relations with Assad's government as it has become clear he has emerged victorious after seven years of civil war. Meanwhile, the leading parties are pressuring refugees to return to Syria, while the United Nations and international donors say the war-torn country is still not ready. President Aoun's party, the Free Patriotic Movement, made repatriation a ballot box issue in elections on May 6, insinuating the overwhelmingly Muslim Syrian refugees were a threat to Lebanon's sectarian balance. Many struggling Syrians are quietly bitter that Lebanon is welcoming elites while turning its back on the laborers and menial workers who work long hours for little pay in Lebanon's grossly unequal economy. "The big people get citizenship, and the little guys, nobody looks after them," said Mohammed Naasan, a 40-year-old Syrian hairdresser in Beirut. The decree has also galled campaigners who have pushed hard to have Lebanon reform its discriminatory personal status laws, which grant men wide-ranging rights over women, including the right to pass on their nationality to their children, while mothers cannot. "Lebanese women work, they pay taxes — is there anything the Lebanese woman does not do? Why this injustice against her?" said Elian, whose husband is Egyptian.
Elian says she sometimes gets asked with derision if she met her husband at a gas station, reflecting the stereotype that Egyptians staff the stations in Lebanon. Her husband is a top U.N. regional official coordinating the humanitarian response for Syria. Lebanon's political class since the 1950s has historically refrained from naturalizing foreigners and refugees en masse on the grounds that it would upset Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance. The exception was a sweeping decree in 1994 that granted citizenship to more than 100,000 residents, which is still talked about today. But Lebanon is struggling to jump-start its sputtering economy and the country is sorely in need of capital to finance its voracious appetite for credit. Lebanon has one of the highest debt ratios in the world, standing at 150 percent of the gross domestic product. Hariri said those named in the decree include business leaders who have invested in Lebanon. "What are we trying to tell the world? We brought some people who deserve the citizenship and then we tell them no?" he said. Among those named in the decree are the children of Syria's former Minister of Higher Education, Hani Murtada, who has considerable business interests in Syria, and Jordan's May Talal Abu Ghazaleh, daughter of the one of the most prominent businessmen in the Arab world who started out in life as a Palestinian refugee after Israel was created in 1948 and eventually became a global personality. There were 407 individuals named on the list, including Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis and Europeans and Americans apparently of Arab origin.

Bassil Freezes UNHCR Residency Permits over Refugee Spat
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday ordered a freeze on the renewal of residency permits for the staff of the United Nations refugee agency, saying it is not encouraging Syrian refugees to return home.
Bassil said in a statement from his office that UNHCR is scaring Syrian refugees in Lebanon from returning by asking them about compulsory military service, security conditions and whether they have a place to live. "Bassil asked for the study of other progressive measures... in the case that the UNHCR is determined to pursue the same policy," the statement said. The statement said the measure by the ministry came after direct warnings by the ministry to UNHCR representative in Lebanon Mireille Girard who was summoned twice recently. UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said the agency has so far not been formally informed about the decision and refused to comment until officially authorized. Bassil's statement came amid reports that some 3,000 Syrians are getting ready to head back home later this month. The minister late Thursday warned that Lebanon would start taking measures against the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees over allegations the agency was preventing Syrian refugees from returning home. "We sent a mission that verified that the UNHCR is intimidating the displaced who wish to return voluntarily," he tweeted. A UNHCR spokesperson responded by denying that the agency's staff were discouraging refugees from considering a return. "We do not discourage or oppose returns taking place based on an individual decision," William Spindler told reporters. "But in our view, conditions in Syria are not yet conducive for an assisted return, although the situation is changing and we are following closely," he said. Lebanon has seen its water, electricity and waste removal infrastructure strained by the influx of Syrian refugees. But international non-governmental organizations also say their presence has helped stimulate the economy. In April, the UNHCR suggested that the government-organized return of 500 refugees was premature, explaining that it was not involved due to the prevailing humanitarian and security situation in Syria. The world body's position infuriated Bassil, who warned Lebanon could "re-evaluate" the U.N. agency's work. Lebanon is expected to soon have a new government after last month's parliamentary elections. Syrian refugees are a recurring topic in Lebanon's political debate, but Bassil has taken a hard line and been the only leading politician directly attacking the U.N. Syria's regime has retaken more than half of the country since Russia intervened in 2015 on its behalf. The war has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the violent repression of anti-government protests.

Bassil to 'Take Measure' against UNHCR for 'Scaring' Displaced Syrians
Naharnet/June 08/18/Caretaker Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday lashed out at UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency, accusing it of “scaring” displaced Syrians of returning to their war-battered country. “We have hosted the biggest number of displaced people, the neighbor and brotherly Syrian people, and out of our love we tell them that the time to return has come, seeing as the appropriate circumstances have been secured,” Bassil said at the FPM's annual iftar banquet. He noted that the only thing preventing refugees from returning home is the “international will.” “We declare our determination to break the international will that wants to prevent displaced Syrians from returning home,” Bassil vowed. Moreover, he revealed that “a delegation was dispatched today to verify that UNHCR has scared Syrians willing to return voluntarily.” “We have documented the information and there are witnesses,” Bassil disclosed. He added: “UNHCR is confronting the Lebanese policy that is based on rejecting naturalization and the integration of displaced Syrians into Lebanon, and despite our warnings, the process continued. That's why I announced that, as of tomorrow, I will take the first measure against the agency.”

Lebanese Army Chief: Lebanon’s Security ‘Better than Ever’
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018/Lebanon’s Army commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, has said that the country’s security is “better than ever.”Aoun’s comments came on Thursday during a visit to the 3rd Infantry Brigade and 3rd Land Frontier Regiment in the West Bekaa, where he was briefed on the security measures taken by the units. Aoun lauded their “efforts and sacrifices” mainly during last month’s parliamentary elections, but called for intensified security measures “to protect citizens and for more preparedness to confront any violators.” He said Lebanon’s security is “better than ever,” due to the Army’s “accuracy and professionalism” in carrying out its missions across Lebanon.

Lebanon Freezes UNHCR Residency Applications
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018 /Lebanese Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has called on concerned authorities for blocking the residency applications for the United Nations refugee agency’s staff over a spat on displaced Syrians. "Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Jebran Bassil issued instructions... to stop the requests for residency presented to the ministry and inside it for the UNHCR in Lebanon until further notice," a statement said. The refugees “were scared to return because of questions being asked by the UNHCR ... (and told) that they would be obliged to join the military, (citing) the security situation,” it read. The agency threatened “cutting off aid to them and (said) that their return was not under international support.” The UNHCR rejected on Thursday accusations that it was exerting pressure on refugees not to voluntarily go back home.“When refugees express their intention to return, the agency should verify that they have an idea about the place they are heading to, or whether they need any documents which we can provide,” UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled told Asharq Al-Awsat. Last April, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry called for a re-evaluation of UNHCR’s work after the agency questioned the voluntary return of around 500 Syrian refugees, who left Lebanon.

Khoury suggests committee to study heritage sites' conservation
The Daily Star/June. 08, 2018/BEIRUT: Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury Friday expressed his concern for the preservation of heritage buildings in a meeting with President Michel Aoun, calling for the formation of a new committee tasked with protecting the sites. During the meeting held in Baabda Palace, Khoury said a pending draft law that would protect heritage sites is currently idle in Parliament. The caretaker minister proposed forming a joint committee with representatives from the Public Works and Culture ministries, in addition to the Beirut governor and the municipal council, to study initiatives to preserve historic facades in the country. Recently, the demolition of an uninhabited yellow 1930s French Mandate-era apartment block was halted by the Culture Ministry, after a video of the demolition’s commencement sparked outrage on social media. Khoury additionally briefed Aoun on ongoing discussions regarding the open-ended formation of a new government, a presidential statement said. Aoun separately met with caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi to discuss the Lebanese Forces’ stance on the new government. Riachi also briefed Aoun on the ministry’s recent work, including the agreement reached with Sama Group - the sole provider of BeIN Sports in Lebanon - to air the World Cup live on state-run Tele Liban. The two discussed the technical and administrative procedures necessary for the broadcast.

Monopoly on ministries contradicts Constitution: Arslan
The Daily Star/June 08/18/BEIRUT: Caretaker Minister for the Displaced Talal Arslan said Friday that the holding of a monopoly on any ministerial portfolio contradicts the Constitution, adding that any “extortion” in the process of allocating ministerial positions would delay government formation.
Arslan, who is also an MP and leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party, said that the criteria President Michel Aoun has stipulated for the new government should be respected by all political parties. "But if some wanted to continue with extortion, government formation will take longer," he told reporters after meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace. Last month, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri was assigned with forming a new government. Among the major obstacles facing Hariri are the ongoing struggle between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces to represent the country’s Christian constituents, as well as the problem of Druze representation, amid insistence by former MP Walid Joumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, that the PSP’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc should receive the three ministerial posts reserved for the Druze in the upcoming Cabinet. Joumblatt’s demand was seen as an attempt to prevent his Druze rival, Arslan, from being named a minister in the new government. Arslan has insisted that his Lebanese Democratic Party be represented by one minister. "In my opinion, there are no ministerial portfolios that are reserved for [certain] sects, nor are there some [ministerial portfolios] that are designated as sovereign or not. What is preserved through custom is related to the three [key] leaders, the deputy speaker and deputy prime minister," Arslan said. "Any monopoly contradicts the Constitution and the [concept of] consensus democracy that Lebanon was based on."

The political prisoner, Syria and Beethoven
DW/June 08/18
http://www.dw.com/en/the-political-prisoner-syria-and-beethoven/a-38132838?maca=en-Facebook-sharing
A Lebanese former political prisoner wants people to hear the story of his extraordinary ordeal in two of Syria's most notorious prisons. Now he is reaching new audiences - with a little help from an old German composer.
"The truth, I dared speak it, and these chains are my reward" - the poignant lyrics of Ludwig van Beethoven's opera Fidelio echo off the walls of a church in Bonn, Germany.
The city's Beethoven Academy organizes events connecting the German composer's music with modern-day political issues. The theme of tonight's event, which also commemorates 190 years since Beethoven's death on March 26 1827, is "political incarceration."
A diverse program of music and discussion sees several Beethoven pieces interspersed with protest songs from Turkey, Iran, Syria and Germany. The event is dedicated to Denis Yücel, a German-Turkish journalist currently imprisoned in Turkey.
The protagonist in Beethoven's only opera is a political prisoner. He is kept in a dungeon in dire conditions, and is only rescued after his wife masquerades as a male prison warden and gains the trust of the jail's superintendant. In the "Prisoners' Chorus," an inmate sings: "Hope whispers softly in my ears! We shall be free, we shall find peace."
A collector's card, showing an illustration of Beethoven's "Fidelio"
Gabriele Stein, the head of Amnesty International in Germany, picks up on this theme. She emphasizes how vital it is that the many political detainees languishing in prisons around the globe not give up hope, quoting Beethoven himself: "Hopenourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been my neighbor all my life, else what would have become of me!"
Thirteen years without music
Another guest speaker is Ali Abou Dehn, a former Lebanese political prisoner in Syria. "I am here to tell my pain," he says. "If the world closes its eyes, we don't know where to go."
Abou Dehn hopes that music, which he calls "the language of the world," will help people understand his story. He was taken into captivity on December 28, 1987 and it would be 13 years before he would hear music again.
"We didn't have even a pen, or paper, or a book," he says. "In Tadmor, there is no life at all."
Tadmor prison in Palmyra, central Syria, was once described by Syrian poet Faraj Bayrakdar as a "kingdom of death and madness." It was notorious for cruel treatment, torture and summary executions.
Soon after civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975, Syrian forces then under the control of Hafez al-Assad entered the country. Over a period of 30 years, hundreds of Lebanese opponents to the Syrian occupation, like Abou Dehn, were taken to Syria and imprisoned, often without trial. Many did not make it out alive.
Lebanese protesters take to the streets in 2005 to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops
Abou Dehn would spend five years in Tadmor, and another eight in Saydnaya - a prison near Damascus, where, according to an Amnesty International report released earlier this year, up to 13,000 inmates were executed between 2011 and 2015.
In a particularly touching moment during the concert, Syrian-Palestinian pianist and refugee Aeham Ahmad turns and bows to Abou Dahn while taking his applause. There is a special connection between the two of them: Ahmad's brother is still incarcerated in Saydnaya.
Ahmad, who in 2015 won the inaugural International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Inclusion and Combating Poverty, says: "I don't understand the situation, but let's play music - maybe we can open the world up between us."
Reenacting Tadmor
Last year, Abou Dehn and 21 other former Tadmor detainees appeared in a film directed by German-Lebanese directors Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim.
They recreated a Tadmor dormitory in an abandoned school near Beirut, complete with a hole in the roof for constant observation by the guards, and acted out their roles as political prisoners.
"After I saw the film, it took one or two days to go back to my life again," Abou Dehn remembers. "Because we felt the torture, we felt the real ordeal - we lived it."
In an interview with DW, Abou Dehn describes how dozens of inmates would be packed alongside each other to sleep, "squeezed like fish in a tin." Their eyelashes were shaved off, and as they grew back it felt "like needles in your eyes."
A meal consisting of one boiled egg would be shared between five people. When an inmate fell sick, the others would give him their share. "In prison we lost a lot, but we learned something," Abou Dehn says. "We learned equality, we learned to love each other."
No going back
In 2015, Tadmor prison was blown up by Islamic State (IS) during its systematic destruction of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. Human rights groups warned that vital evidence of the brutal treatment of prisoners under Bashar al-Assad's regime might have been damaged in the process. For Abou Dehn, it was a more personal loss.
"The first day I heard that IS destroyed Tadmor, believe me that I cried. They destroyed my memories," he says. "They destroyed the wall where I was leaning, telling him stories, asking how are my children, how's my wife. The wall kept my secrets."
As head of the Former Lebanese Political Detainees in Syria organization, Abou Dehn is fighting for the release of the several hundred Lebanese still thought to be in Syrian jails. He is telling his story - through film, writing and now music - in order to compel people to take action.
"My heart is screaming," he says. "If you keep the memories inside, it means nothing. But when I tell you my story, I put some of this heavy weight on your shoulders - I plant it in your mind."

Another Scandal Rattles Lebanon's Real Estate Sector
Kataeb.org/Friday 08th June 2018/Weeks after the Sayfco Holding embezzlement scandal made the headlines, another crisis is shaking the real estate sector amid growing reports about the fake promises and the unhonored contracts of Badawi Group. Many sad stories are being told by young men and women who gave all they have to purchase apartments from said real estate company. Unfortunately, the dreams, plans and money of those people just faded away as they found Badawi Group's projects stalling. The company failed to turn the megabucks it has been earning, whether as down payments or monthly installments, into tangible projects, thus leaving scores of clients in a total financial distress. Badawi Group issued a statement stressing unwavering commitment to the pledges it had made to customers, noting that it has always been known for its credibility as all its previous projects had been accomplished without any delay or procrastination. The company, however, blamed the "deteriorating economic situation" in Lebanon for the delay in completion or execution of its new projects, adding that the real estate sector is being very badly impacted. The statement assured that all of the company's projects will be re-launched "very soon" according to plans and the timetable agreed upon with customers. Badawi Group – Construction & Development is a family-owned business that was founded in 1969 by George Badawi. The company specializes in land development, excavation and site construction for residential, commercial and industrial projects. The company inaugurated offices in Montreal, Canada in December 2011.

Nadim Gemayel Warns of Attempt to Alter Lebanon's Political and Economic Identity
Kataeb.org/Friday 08th June 2018/Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel on Friday said that the party was right about the need to make the naturalization decree public, adding that this matter would have gone unnoticed hadn't it been for the repeated calls to disclose the names included in the decree.
“The decree is dangerous in form and consequences,” he said in an interview on New TV. Gemayel blasted the flagrant confusion that overshadowed this issue, adding that it was illogical that officials shrugged off responsibility for this matter and laid the blame on each other.
The lawmaker questioned the insistence of some of those included in the decree on obtaining the Lebanese citizenship, noting that the majority of them are Syrian nationals who cannot open bank accounts in the U.S. dollar currency due to international sanctions.
“By granting citizenship to those people, Lebanon is circumventing sanctions as it would give them the opportunity to dispose of their dollar accounts. This would affect our banking sector,” Gemayel warned. “If I were the President, I would’ve revoked and abrograted this decree before it would be challenged." “The Syrian-Iranian axis has returned to hold its grip on Lebanon's state institutions. There is an attempt to alter Lebanon's political and economic identity through investments linked to the Syrian regime,” Gemayel warned. "This decree is dangerous because we are turning the Lebanese economy and the banking sector as a hostage to the Syrian regime and its proxies’ funds.”Gemayel stressed that the Kataeb party will mull the possibility of challenging this decree should no action take place to scrap it, adding that the number of Palestinians listed in it is very risky.
"This is the beginning of a wider naturalization. What would stop them from naturalizing more Palestinians in the upcoming four years?” Gemayel pointed out.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 08-09/18

Iran ups pressure on other countries to keep nuclear deal alive
Al-Monitor Staff June 08/18
ARTICLE SUMMARY
Iran’s foreign minister penned a letter to his counterparts around the world to call for a united stance against US unilateralism.
Hudaverdi Arif Yaman/Pool via ReutersIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Foreign Ministers Council in Istanbul, Turkey, May 18, 2018. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to the foreign ministers of the countries who signed on to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to update them on the status of attempts to keep the deal alive despite the US withdrawal. In the letter, Zarif called the US exit from the deal between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany “impulsive, unlawful and provocative.” Zarif wrote that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s threats to punish countries that continue to deal with Iran violated US commitments to the JCPOA, "failed to comply with the unanimously adopted" UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and "breached the Charter of the United Nations and showed their contempt for international law.” The letter said the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, has repeatedly confirmed that Iran has lived up to its obligations of the nuclear accord. Zarif wrote, “If the JCPOA is to survive, the remaining JCPOA participants need to ensure that Iran is unconditionally compensated.”The letter, which Zarif published as screenshots on his personal Twitter page June 7, is dated May 23. The tweet was accompanied by the text, “My letter to fellow foreign ministers on steps to take to address US unlawful withdrawal from JCPOA.” However, the letter did not offer specific steps other than insistence on continued sanctions relief. While Zarif has been active on the diplomatic front to keep the nuclear deal alive, Ali Akbar Salehi — the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran — spoke to Iranian television from the Natanz nuclear facility on Iran’s decision to push forward on enrichment following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
Salehi said that at Iran’s current capacities, “We cannot produce centrifuges at our desired levels because we have limitations under the nuclear deal and the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] asked that for now we operate under the nuclear deal.” Regarding the call for 190,000 SWU (separative work units), which is what Khamenei first called for in 2014, Salehi said, “If we connect the sixth-generation centrifuges with 60,000 machines, we can reach 180,000 SWU within 10 months." He said Iran could reach 190,000 with more advanced centrifuges.
Salehi also addressed the cost of Iran’s nuclear program. He said that in the last 30 years, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization has spent $6.5 billion and that $1.5 billion has been on the Bushehr nuclear plant. He said Bushehr value is $5 billion, far more than Iran has spent on the plant.
He discussed sabotage and in particular the Stuxnet virus that infected Iran’s centrifuges. While there were reports that one-fifth of Iran’s centrifuges were destroyed by Stuxnet, Salehi said the Iran had been prepared for such an attack and said the countries that released the virus were not successful. He added, “Even if they destroy our installations, they cannot do anything to our knowledge, which is in our minds.” Regarding efforts to keep the nuclear deal alive, Salehi said, “The problems with the deal are not technical but the lack of the other side fulfilling their banking and economic commitments.” He said that Europe is in a “political predicament” between maintaining its political independence while having Iran as an energy source while resisting American pressure to withdraw from economic ties with Iran.

Iran granted visas and facilitated travel for Al-Qaeda: Deputy head of Iran Judiciary
Arab News/June 08/18/LONDON: Iranian TV interview details dealings between Iran and Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11 attacks on the US and reveals Iran agreed not to stamp passports of Al-Qaeda members in transit so they would still be able to enter Saudi Arabia
Mohammed-Javad Larijani, the international affairs assistant in the Iranian judiciary, has revealed his country helped members of Al-Qaeda to pass through its territory. The interview, which aired on Iranian state TV channel on May 30, has been heavily circulated by anti-regime activists on social media. In the interview, which was translated by Al-Arabiya, Larijani detailed the Iranian regime’s relations with Al-Qaeda and how Iranian intelligence supervised the passage and relocation of Al-Qaeda members in Iran. “The lengthy report of the 9/11 commission, which was headed by figures such as Lee Hamilton and others ... queries Iran’s role in the issue ... a group of reports stated that Al-Qaeda members who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and other countries such as Afghanistan or others, and who entered Iranian territories by land or by air, asked the Iranian authorities not to stamp their passports (and told them) that if the Saudi government knows they’ve come to Iran, it will prosecute them.”The Iranian official said:  “Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However their movements were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” he added.  “The Americans took this as evidence of Iran’s cooperation with Al-Qaeda and viewed the passage of an airplane through Iran’s airspace, which had one of the pilots who carried out the attacks and a Hezbollah military leader sitting (next to) him on board, as evidence of direct cooperation with Al-Qaeda through the Lebanese Hezbollah,” he said. Earlier this year, a US judge found the Iranian government guilty of aiding Al-Qaeda, ruling that Iran must pay $6 billion to families of the victims of 9/11 attacks. Larijani’s statement is further testimony to link branches of Iran’s government to Al-Qaeda. Documents ceased from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hideout in Abbottabad in Pakistan when he was killed in 2011 revealed further details about Al-Qaeda group ties with Iran. Alarabiya said that a letter sent to bin Laden, and examined by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy in America, confirmed that Iran was willing to provide everything the terror group needed, including money and arms, in exchange for attacking US and Saudi Arabian interests in the Gulf. Information published by the New York court, after investigating the 9/11 attacks, also concluded that Iran’s embassies in London and Berlin, also helped to facilitate travel for Al-Qaeda members. The 113 letters in bin Laden’s handwriting, which were disclosed by the CIA in 2016, included bin Laden’s directions on how to deal with Iran. In one letter he is reported to have described Iran as a key player for the Al-Qaeda movement as he tried to dissuade people from targeting Iranian interests.

Washington, London Vow to Curb Iranian Nuclear Arms Ambitions
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018/US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he reviewed reports of Iranian plans to increase uranium enrichment capacity, stressing that Washington would not allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons, and Tehran's moves to reinstate uranium enrichment provoked resentment among Europeans trying to salvage the JCPOA and protect their companies from US sanctions. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the nuclear program of Iran reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015 between Iran, the P5+1, and the European Union. However, US President Donald Trump pulled out from the deal on May 8, citing Iranian aggressive behavior and shortcoming of inspection access. "We’re watching reports that Iran plans to increase its enrichment capacity," Pompeo wrote in a Twitter post on Wednesday. "We won’t allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran is aware of our resolve."In turn, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on the sidelines of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United Kingdom believes alongside France and Germany that Iran's nuclear agreement is the best way to ensure future security in the region. “The UK, alongside France and Germany, firmly believes that the Iran nuclear deal is the best way to ensure a safe, secure future for the region,” Johnson said. “We are committed to making sure Iran continues to abide by its obligations under the deal and are in full agreement with Israel that we must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” he added. Meanwhile, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported that President Hassan Rouhani is heading to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit to promote cooperation, but the nuclear deal is expected to headline his agenda. Tehran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Reza Najafi announced Iranian intentions to reactivate the state’s nuclear program in the event of canceling the international agreement signed 2015. Najafi also gave the European parties to the nuclear deal several weeks to salvage the accord. Iran’s declaration that it could increase its uranium enrichment capacity if the deal falls apart risks sailing close to the "red line," France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday. The Europeans are trying to keep the deal.

Turkish PM: Troops 30 km inside Iraq, could move on Kurdish stronghold
Reuters/June 08, 2018/Yildrim accused the PKK of carrying out "provocations and traps", and long-distance attacks, and said Turkey would "of course go further" if such actions continued. Turkey already carries out regular cross-border air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq. KARS, Turkey: Turkish forces are stationed 30 km inside northern Iraq and could advance further to target Kurdish PKK militants in their Qandil Mountains stronghold, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday. Stepping up Turkish warnings about expanding its military presence in Kurdish-controlled areas of Iraq, Yildirim told Reuters that Ankara would not hesitate to escalate an offensive against militants across its southern border. The prospect of a major military operation comes less than three months after Turkish forces drove Kurdish fighters from the Syrian border region of Afrin. Turkey says that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in north Iraq are next in its sights, despite protests from the central government in Baghdad. "Our forces have now been positioned some 30 km into northern Iraq, working to prevent infiltrations and terror activities there," Yildirim said in an interview on his plane as he campaigned for June 24 elections in eastern Turkey. Accusing the PKK of carrying out "provocations and traps", and long-distance attacks, he said Turkey would "of course go further" if such actions continued. "We will show no hesitation here until these elements are neutralised," he said. "Every option (on Qandil) is on the table," he added. Turkey already carries out regular cross-border air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq. On Friday, the military said warplanes had struck shelters and weapons stations in Qandil and other areas. On Thursday night, President Tayyip Erdogan said if Iraq did not clear the region of PKK militants, Turkey would strike Qandil and the Sinjar area further west where it says the PKK is also concentrated.

US General: Operations against ISIS in Afghanistan to Intensify
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018/The top US general in Afghanistan, John Nicholson, said on Friday that Washington intends to step up military operations against ISIS in the country’s east during a temporary ceasefire between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced the first unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of Ramadan. But that excludes other militant groups such as ISIS. The group has developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, on the porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become some of the country’s most dangerous militants since they appeared around the start of 2015."(Operations against ISIS) will continue, in fact will be even intensified during this period of ceasefire as we focus on ISIS," Nicholson told reporters. He said the ceasefire could free resources for operations against ISIS, but some would remain to monitor the Taliban and for force protection. Afghan commandos, supported by US Special forces and American and Afghan air power, have been carrying out an operation against the militants in Nangarhar. Meanwhile, Afghan security forces killed 10 Taliban militants as the ceasefire took effect, an official said on Friday. The 10 included five Pakistanis killed in the clash in Nangarhar, the official said, adding, "We finished the operation and will now follow the ceasefire plan."Four people were killed and five wounded by unidentified gunmen in a separate attack on a lawmaker's Nangarhar home on Friday. The lawmaker was not at home at the time. The ceasefire followed a meeting of Islamic clerics this week that declared a fatwa, or ruling, against suicide bombings, one of which, claimed by ISIS, killed 14 people at the entrance to the clerics' peace tent in Kabul. The clerics also recommended a ceasefire with the Taliban.

Use of Armed Drones Increasing Under Trump
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018/America's use of armed drones is increasing under President Donald Trump, according to a study released Thursday. The report by the nonpartisan Stimson Center think tank looks back at Trump's drone actions during his first year in office, when he moved quickly to loosen some of the constraints put in place by his predecessor Barack Obama, AFP reported. "President Trump reportedly authorized at least 80 strikes in his first year in office in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and is on pace to surpass the strike tempo of both of his predecessors, which perhaps signals a greater willingness to use lethal force," the Stimson study states. Meanwhile, during his term, Obama authorized up to 550 strikes. Trump has given battlefield commanders greater leeway to authorize drone strikes without first seeking approval from the White House or Washington security officials. The Pentagon says this gives commanders better ability to make real-time decisions. The study also notes that the CIA reportedly wants to expand its power to conduct covert drone strikes in war zones such as Afghanistan, where such actions are usually led by the military. "Should such a policy proposal be adopted, it would mark a shift in CIA activities in Afghanistan and represent an expansion of the agency's authority to conduct covert strikes in counterterrorism operations, thereby decreasing levels of transparency," the report states.

Saudi Crown Prince in Russia Next Week
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 June, 2018/Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Russia next week, Interfax cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday.

Iran Defiant as It Holds Day of Anti-Israel Protests
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/Iran held its annual day of protest against Israel on Friday, determined to show defiance at a time of mounting pressure from the United States and its regional allies. "The U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel want to put Iran in a corner, but they don't know that with this action they are threatening their own security," said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, addressing a crowd in Tehran. Thousands took to the streets in the capital and other cities for Qods (Jerusalem) Day, held every year since the early days of Iran's Islamic revolution to show support for the Palestinians.This year's event saw the usual burning of flags and chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", as well as a huge Donald Trump figure being hanged from a crane.
But it comes at a time when Iran is under increasing economic pressure after the U.S. pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and prepares to reimpose crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic -- a move that has been cheer-led by Israel. "The supreme leader told us we should come in large numbers to show the world that the actions of the U.S. and Israel will not have any effect on our people," said Hassan Dorabi, a 30-year-old teacher. The mood, as ever, was a mix of political rage and family fun, with children singing songs on stages and throwing darts at portraits of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. Many were adamant that Iran is merely supporting the Palestinian people, and is not planning a military attack as Israel fears. "We have never in our history started a war against any country and we are not going to in the future," said Hassan Ruholamini, a 33-year-old artist. Afateh Salehi, a 58-year-old army employee, said Iranians "want all people to live in peace together." "We don't want any country to attack another. We are not animals. We could live with Israel but today they want to destroy the countries around them piece by piece," he said.

Germany issues arrest warrant for top Assad officer
Reuters, Berlin Friday, 8 June 2018/German prosecutors have issued an international arrest warrant for the head of the Syrian Airforce Intelligence on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing German security officials.
Jamil Hassan is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s senior lieutenants. Der Spiegel said prosecutors accuse Hassan of overseeing some of the most horrific crimes committed by Syrian intelligence agencies, including torture, rape and murder of “at least hundreds of people between 2011 and 2013.”A spokeswoman for the GBA Federal Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the Spiegel report. But a Syrian human rights lawyer based in Germany who works with the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) said the authorities had informed ECCHR of the arrest warrant. Anwar al-Bunni helped the ECCHR file criminal complaints against Hassan and his forces on behalf of Syrians in Germany.
Victory for justice
“This is a victory for justice. It is a victory for the German justice system,” said Anwar al-Bunni. “This is also a victory for Syrians, whose faith in justice will be restored. We can only hope that the next arrest warrant is for al-Assad.”The warrant would be the first issued anywhere for senior members of Assad’s military and intelligence lieutenants since the rebellion against his rule erupted in spring of 2011. Der Spiegel said other charges against Hassan include “summary executions of political detainees.”Germany, Norway and Sweden are the only three European countries with universal jurisdiction over war crimes, meaning they can prosecute and try crimes committed abroad. Efforts to prosecute members of the Assad government have repeatedly failed because Syria is not a signatory of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. Russia and China have also vetoed attempts to give the ICC a mandate to set up a special tribunal for Syria.

IS Retakes Parts of Eastern Syria Town in Major Attack
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/The Islamic State group used at least 10 suicide bombers on Friday in a massive attack on Albu Kamal, in which they retook parts of the eastern Syrian town, a monitor said. At least 25 government and allied fighters were killed in the offensive, one of the jihadists' largest this year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "It's the biggest attack on Albu Kamal since they lost it" in November 2017, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory. "IS now controls several parts of the city. Fighting is ongoing in the center," he added. Albu Kamal lies on the border with Iraq in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, about 440 kilometers (270 miles) east of the capital Damascus. The area was the heart of the once sprawling, self-styled "caliphate" IS proclaimed in 2014 and its recapture by pro-government forces last year was the final nail in the proto-state's coffin.

Austria to Expel Up to 60 'Turkish-Funded' Imams, Shut 7 Mosques
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/Austria said Friday it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on "political Islam", triggering fury in Ankara. "The circle of people possibly affected by these measures - the pool that we're talking about - comprises around 60 imams," said Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the junior partner in Austria's coalition government. In total 150 people risked losing their right to residence, he said at a press conference in Vienna. Ankara quickly denounced the move. "Austria's decision to close down seven mosques and deport imams with a lame excuse is a reflection of the anti-Islam, racist and discriminatory populist wave in this country", presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter. Seven mosques will also be shut after an investigation by the religious affairs authority into images which emerged in April of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli. "Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalization have no place in our country," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the ruling center-right People's Party said.
In several cases the process of expelling imams connected to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organization was underway, Kickl said. The interior minister added that the government suspects them of contravening a ban on foreign funding of religious office holders. ATIB is a branch of Turkey's religious affairs agency Diyanet. The photos of children, published by the Falter weekly, showed the young boys in camouflage uniforms marching, saluting, waving Turkish flags and then playing dead. Their "corpses" were then lined up and draped in the flags. The mosque in question was run by ATIB. ATIB itself condemned the photos at the time, calling the "highly regrettable" event and said that "called off before it had even ended."Turkey's relations with Austria have long been strained, with Kurz calling on the European Union to break off negotiations on Ankara joining the bloc. Last week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Kurz, saying: "This immoral chancellor has a problem with us". "He's throwing his weight around and making a scene," Erdogan went on. Both Kurz, of the center-right People's Party (OeVP) and the FPOe made immigration and integration major themes in their election campaigns last year. In Friday's press conference Kurz was keen to emphasize that the action was being taken under legislation to regulate Islamic associations that he himself brought in as a minister in the previous government.

U.S. Allies Ready Trump Showdown as Trade Splits G7
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/America's closest allies braced for a showdown with President Donald Trump at the G7 summit Friday, as anger at being slapped with trade tariffs by their most powerful member threatened to split the club. Four days before Trump's ice-breaking summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the U.S. president can expect a far chillier reception when he hops across the border to Canada for a meeting of the world's richest industrialized nations. Much of his fellow members' anger stems from Trump's recent imposition of tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, but relations had already been soured by the U.S. pullout from an international climate accord and a deal designed to contain Iran's nuclear program. While the Trump administration has characterized their rift as a family quarrel, his fellow leaders appear to be itching for a fight with a U.S. president -- the G7's traditional patriarch -- during the two-day summit in the Canadian countryside. Trump himself is expected to be the last leader to arrive at the Group of Seven to arrive in French-speaking Quebec, trailing his counterparts from Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Japan as well as the host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And the White House confirmed that he would be the first to leave, flying out at 10:30am (1430 GMT) on Saturday. Barely 500 days into his presidency, Trump has developed a knack for alienating his fellow leaders while pursuing his "America First" foreign policy, a pushback against a global trade system which he sees as working against U.S. interests. Even Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron -- who have both previously shown a willingness to swallow their differences with Trump -- have voiced their willingness to cut the U.S. adrift if they cannot reach some kind of consensus at the summit.
Laughable' policy
"The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron said in a tweet on Thursday amid warnings that the summit may end without a joint statement from all G7 members. "Because these six countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force," added Macron after he had his one-to-one with Trudeau earlier in the day. Trudeau told reporters that the U.S. justification for the tariffs on steel and aluminum on national security grounds was "laughable", triggering a riposte from Trump on Twitter. "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he wrote on Thursday night. "The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow."
European huddle
Macron is to huddle with Britain's Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ahead of their talks with Trump, as Europe seeks to forge a common approach. Merkel has said that it may be "more honest" for the G7 to avoid coming up with a joint statement at the end if it means compromising its principles. The bilateral meetings will precede a series of roundtable discussions before they all tuck into a dinner of lobster, asparagus and maple leaves nestled on a French brioche at the end of the first day of talks. The summit is being held in a luxury resort in the French-speaking province of Quebec, more than two hours' drive away from the provincial capital which is where journalists and demonstrators have been largely restricted to. Previous G7 summits have seen large-scaled anti-globalization protests. But even though he has made his criticism of globalization a major part of his appeal to voters, Trump was the main target of a protest by around 400 demonstrators on Thursday night who set fire to U.S. and other G7 flags.

Sadr Strengthens Legislative Bloc ahead of Iraq Poll Recount
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/Nationalist Moqtada Sadr, whose bloc won the largest share of seats in Iraq's May legislative elections, has strengthened his parliamentary position by forming an alliance with two other lists. The former militia leader reached a coalition agreement on Thursday with Shiite Ammar al-Hakim's Al-Hikma list and the secular outgoing vice-president Iyad Allawi, whose list was comprised largely of Sunnis. Sadr's move comes after parliament voted on Wednesday for a manual recount, canceled expatriates' votes and sacked the electoral commission, amid mounting allegations of fraud surrounding the May 12 poll. His strengthened bloc gives Sadr around 100 seats, but not enough to generate a majority in the 329 seat parliament. Iraq's political system is designed to ensure that no one person or party can dominate, leading to extended post-election horse trading between multiple factions -- a process that hasn't been interrupted by the order for a recount. Sadr's enhanced bloc is calling for economic reform and decentralization. It also says it opposes "politicizing administrative and military institutions."Iran-backed parliamentary rivals could nullify Sadr, who has called for his country to be more independent from both Iran and the U.S. When initial results were announced, influential Iranian General Ghassem Soleimani came to Baghdad in a bid to rally rival Shiite factions against Sadr. Soleimani met outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose list secured 42 seats, former anti-jihadist fighters from the paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi units (47 seats) and former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki (26 seats). If these groups form an alliance, they would take 115 seats -- enough to form a government, according to Iraq's Constitution. Meanwhile "logistical preparations" for the manual recount have begun at the electoral commission's headquarters, Iraq's Superior Council of Magistracy said. The electoral commission has been dismissed and some members may face fraud charges, authorities have warned. The commission says it will take legal action to challenge the decision to dismiss it.

U.N. Warns Assault on Yemen Port Would Have 'Catastrophic' Impact
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/Any military assault to capture a key rebel-held port in Yemen would have a "catastrophic humanitarian impact" in the country already reeling from a brutal conflict, the United Nations warned Friday. Fears have grown as government forces backed up by a Saudi-led coalition have battled closer to Hodeida, the main gateway for aid into Yemen that is controlled by Iran-aligned Huthi rebels. "A military attack or siege on Hodeida will impact hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians," Lise Grande, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said in a statement that estimated up to 600,000 people live in and around the port. "Humanitarian organizations have rushed to develop a contingency plan. In a prolonged worst case, we fear that as many as 250,000 people may lose everything — even their lives." The statement warned that the likely "catastrophic humanitarian impact" would be worsened due to Hodeida's key role as the point of entry for some 70 percent of Yemen's imports. "Cutting off imports through Hodeida for any length of time will put Yemen’s population at extreme, unjustifiable risk," Grande said. Yemeni government forces have advanced to within nine kilometers (six miles) of Hodeida, the Saudi-led military coalition said Monday. The push for the strategic Red Sea port has killed more than 100 soldiers and insurgents, according to medics and military sources close the government. The rebels, who have so far refused to withdraw from the port, claim 418 loyalist fighters have been killed. The U.N.'s top envoy for Yemen pushed for all sides to de-escalate the fighting around Hodeida during a visit this week as he sought to broker negotiations. The Huthis captured Hodeida and Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014, with Saudi Arabia and its allies intervening on behalf of the government the following year. The conflict in Yemen has left nearly 10,000 people dead in what was already the Arab world's poorest country. The U.N. already considers the situation in the country to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis. More than 22 million people are now in serious need of aid, with 8.4 million on the brink of starvation, the world body has said.

U.N. Security Council Sanctions Six Human Traffickers Operating in Libya
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 08/18/The United Nations Security Council overnight slapped sanctions on six leaders of human trafficking networks operating in Libya, a first for the world body, diplomats said. The process moved ahead when Russia "lifted its hold placed on the Dutch proposal" to include the six people on the sanctions blacklist, a diplomat said, adding that the sanctions take effect immediately. "Last fall, images of migrants being sold as slaves in Libya shocked our conscience, and the Security Council vowed to take action," said the U.S. envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley. "Today's sanctions send a strong message that the international community is united in seeking accountability for perpetrators of human trafficking and smuggling. There is no place in our world for such abuses of human rights and human dignity." The sanctions -- a global travel ban and an assets freeze -- target two Eritrean nationals described as top operators in transnational smuggling networks and four Libyans including the head of a regional coast guard unit. When the Security Council first mulled sanctions, Russia asked for additional information "to better understand the value of the said proposal, how efficient it might be if approved," according to a letter obtained by AFP. Russia called for a meeting to examine the evidence on the involvement of the six individuals and noted that the criminal networks "stretch to many European countries and the United States." The sanctions blacklist was presented May 1 and Russia put a hold on the request a week later. Among the six now sanctioned is Ermias Ghermay of Eritrea, described as a leader of a network responsible for "trafficking and smuggling tens of thousands of migrants" from the Horn of Africa to the coast of Libya and onwards to Europe and the United States, according to the original sanctions request obtained by AFP. The other five are Fitiwi Abdelrazak of Eritrea, Libyan militia leader Ahmad Oumar al-Dabbashi, Libyan Musab Abu-Qarin, described as a "central actor" in migrant smuggling in the coastal area of Sabratha, Libyan Mohammed Kachlaf, head of the Shuhada al Nasr brigade in Zawiya, western Libya and finally, Abd al Rahman al-Milad, who heads the Libyan coast guard in Zawiya. At the end of 2017, U.S. network CNN aired footage of Africans sold as slaves in Libya, sparking outrage from political leaders and street protests in African and European capitals.

Three Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in fresh Gaza border clashes
Agencies, Gaza Friday, 8 June 2018/Three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, were killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border on Friday, as thousands again took part in anti-Israel protests. The Palestinian health ministry had announced a fourth man had been killed but swiftly clarified that his heart had been restarted. Earlier reports said Israeli troops fired tear gas and live bullets at Palestinians taking part in weekly protests at the Gaza Strip border with Israel on Friday, injuring at least 386 people, medics said. The army said it was taking action to disperse some 10,000 Palestinians, some of whom threw rocks at the troops and burned tyres, and prevent any breach of the fortified frontier fence. Israeli forces have killed at last 120 Palestinians in protests along the border since a campaign was launched on March 30 to demand the right to return to ancestral lands lost to Israel in the 1948 war of its creation, hospital officials say. Israel says the dead included gunmen who used civilians as cover for gun and grenade attacks or infiltration attempts. Organizers linked Friday’s protests to annual “Jerusalem Day” events in Iran, which like Gaza’s dominant. “There is no such state called Israel that could have a capital called Jerusalem,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said, adding that the protests, which also demand an end to a grinding Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza, would continue. Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, described Gaza protesters on Twitter as “hateful morons” and “Hamas Jugend”, the latter a play on “Hitler Youth” in German.
Months of confrontation
There have been no Israeli casualties from the more than two months of confrontations along the Gaza border. But Israel says it has lost swathes of farmland and forests on its side of the border to blazes set by coal- or fuel-laden Palestinian kites. Among those wounded on Friday was an Agence France Press photographer and a 23-year-old man who was on life support after a tear gas canister penetrated his face, medical officials said. “We are not asking for the moon,” said Amer Abu Khalaf, a 20-year-old business administration student who took part in the protest, saying it aimed to “break the siege and have the world recognize our right to return”.Israel has long refused to admit Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war or their millions of descendants, saying that would spell demographic suicide and that they should stay in a future Palestinian state. Statehood talks have been frozen since 2014. The death toll from Israel’s lethal measures against the Gaza protests have drawn international censure, though the United States has placed the blame on Hamas.

Fire Kites from Gaza a Burning Issue for Israel
Israeli farmer Avner Yona holds up a wooden-framed sheet of plastic almost as large as he is, fitted with a now blackened tail ribbon that shows the kite-maker's malicious intent. The kite that drifted onto land he manages in the kibbutz, or collective farm, of Nahal Oz was launched from the Palestinian Gaza Strip just a kilometer (less than a mile) away over the heavily-guarded border. "They hang clothes soaked in petrol here and set them on fire," the 54-year-old says, pointing to an attachment on the kite. This time the fire did not spread and the damage is limited to a few scorched brambles. But for more than a month hundreds of such kites have been launched across the border, setting fire to hundreds of hectares (acres) of farmland and protected scrub. Like the stones and Molotov cocktails thrown in previous years, the kites have become a potent symbol of a wave of Palestinian protests that broke out on March 30 against Israel's crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza.
Safer way to protest
At least 125 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire since then, the majority as they approached the border fence where troops have orders to use lethal force to prevent any infiltration attempts. The kites offer a safer way for Gazans to protest, inflicting economic losses on Israel while remaining far enough from the border to avoid being shot. They also maintain the image of mainly peaceful protests, during which organizers have largely succeeded in preventing any Palestinian gunfire despite Israeli allegations of manipulation by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas. The kite found by Yona may have been launched from outside the nearby Al-Bureij refugee camp. There, a dozen young men sit on a large sandbank facing Israel fitting kites and balloons with makeshift incendiary devices. "If you give kites enough rope, they can go for 20 or 30 kilometers (12 to 20 miles)," says Abu Moussa, 25. "As soon as it arrives over the forest we cut it." "We aim to set fire to their farms," adds Abu Majd, 28. "In this way we hurt them."Israeli farmers are suffering significant losses from the low-cost tactic.
Compensation claim
Yona points to the charred wheat at his feet. "Five shekels (a little over a euro) for the material, five minutes to make and look at the result," he says. Pointing to a still green field in the distance, he says he remains hopeful of saving the chickpea harvest due in mid-July and the sunflowers that should ripen by late August. The damage to the kibbutz’s crops amounts to around two million shekels (500,000 euros), he estimates. The wheat had to be harvested early even though much of it was not yet ready. But Yona insists that the battle against the fires will not deter the kibbutz's residents, who have endured three wars across the Gaza border since 2008. "It's our land, we'll work it to the last metre (yard), we will not be defeated," he said. The Palestinians, too, believe the land is theirs and the protesters are calling for the right of return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the creation of Israel in 1948. A firefighter from the Jewish National Fund holds a fire kite which was launched across the Gaza border by Palestinian protesters setting fire to scrubland in nearby Kibbutz Beeri on June 5, 2018 el says any such return would mean the end of it as a Jewish state.Yona collects the kites that land in his fields for use as evidence in what he hopes will be an eventual compensation claim by the Israeli government. The government has estimated the damage at 5 million shekels (1.2 million euros) so far and has promised compensation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the state make the Palestinian Authority pay for the damage, though it has no control in Hamas-run Gaza.
Low-tech challenge for army
The kite has become a "terrorist" weapon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said during a visit to the border area on Tuesday, calling for targeted assassinations of those responsible. The Israeli army launches drones to damage or cut down the kites, but a country that prides itself on the effectiveness of its "Iron Dome" anti-rocket system has yet to find an effective response to this low-tech tactic. According to the Israeli defense ministry, of the more than 600 kites launched from Gaza so far, around 400 kites have been intercepted. There are "other means we may use in the future," says army spokesman Jonathan Conricus, without elaborating. Back near the border, about 15 staff of the Jewish National Fund, which manages much of Israel's land, are on the alert, scrutinizing the area's tinder-dry valleys. The wind is strong, the air is hot and dry. Four fires are reported almost simultaneously. The emergency crews rush to the sites, plowing the area around them to create firebreaks with help from the Israeli army. It is not just farmland that is being torched.Every day, dozens of fires devour protected scrubland and forest "causing enormous damage to animals -- birds in their nests, turtles, reptiles,” said the JNF's Daniel Ben David. "Two months ago, I found the kites funny. Today it's totally different, he said."

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 08-09/18
Will Iran Agree to Be Kept Away From the Golan Border in Syria?
Michael Young/Carnegie Middle East Cnter/June 08/18
Elliott Abrams | Senior fellow for Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations, former deputy assistant to the president and deputy National Security Advisor
Iran’s ability to sit on the Golan border depends largely on Russia, which provides air cover and a certain degree of deterrence against Israel. If, as it now appears, the Russians do not want Iran to threaten Israel from the Golan, Iran will find it very difficult to remain there.
Two things seem clear. First, Israel is quite determined to prevent Iran from recreating in southern Syria what it has done in southern Lebanon with Hezbollah. Second, Russia has no desire to see Iran threaten Israel or fully control Syria. Russia is better off with bases in Syria and a weak Assad regime in Damascus that is dependent on Russia, not on Iran. And in the longer run Russia—unlike Iran—could even accept a negotiated settlement that produces a new regime in Damascus, so long as Russian interests are protected. So Iran may not “agree” to be kept away from that border, but power politics and the military balance suggest that it will indeed be kept away.
Camelia Entekhabifard | Author, columnist, and political commentator
At protests in Iran—whether carried out by those denouncing economic hardships or the division of Kazerun County in southwest Iran, or by Sufis claiming the right to visit their masters—the chants are the same: “Abandon Syria! Think of us!” The reference is to the Iranian regime’s spending on Syria to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The funds to do so are coming out of Iranian pockets.
Recently, Israel pounded Iranian military bases in Syria claiming Tehran is building up a presence there that aims to target Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leave Syria or else Assad’s regime may be toppled. To save Assad, to calm angry Iranians who are upset about the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, and to reduce the cost of the Iranian presence in Syria and regional tensions, the IRGC is ready to pull out of the Golan. For Tehran, the priority is to deal with protesters at home, who want nothing short of regime change.
Suggesting this sentiment of easing domestic tensions and decreasing Iran’s footprint in the Golan, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on June 2 to Iran’s Sharq newspaper: “There are no Iranian militants—not even on an advisory level—present in southern Syria.”
Ali Hashem | BBC Iran affairs correspondent
One of Iran's main objectives in Syria, besides preserving Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s position, was securing an advanced outpost against Israel. This involved laying the foundation for the deployment of allies and weaponry near the Golan Heights. Giving this up would represent a major setback for Iran. However, Tehran is known to be pragmatic when it comes to dealing with threats, particularly if the consequences would greatly harm its influence in Syria.
Therefore, if the recent Russian-Israeli deal to keep Iran and its allies away from the Golan is implemented, and gives the Syrian army the upper hand in the area, it is probable that Tehran and its allies are going to try apply an equation similar to the one they did in Lebanon following the 2006 war and passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. This would involve maintaining a quiet presence, while working on consolidating their capabilities until the next round of confrontation. However, that won’t be easy in Syria, where Israel, the United States, and even Russia aren’t going to turn a blind eye to such attempts.
Sanam Vakil | Professorial lecturer in the Middle East Studies Department at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy, and associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs
For the time being Iran has no choice but to accept the Israeli-Russian agreement to block movement of its militias near the Golan border. In light of the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran and forthcoming U.S. sanctions, Tehran is under immense political pressure to keep international, particularly European, momentum on its side. Any military escalation in the region could turn the tide of support against Iran at a time when it needs economic and political lifelines.
However, this does not change Tehran’s long-term calculation regarding the value of its strategic investment in Syria. Tehran is cognizant that Russian, Israeli, American, and Syrian interests are working against it. While in the short run Tehran will respect the new rules of engagement, it will continue to play the long game and further entrench itself within the remnants of a weak Syrian state.

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: May 2018
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/June 08, 2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12480/islam-multiculturalism-britain-may
Quilliam, a London-based counter-extremism group, in a new report — "FGM Legislation in Britain: A National Scandal" — noted that Britain has failed to bring a single perpetrator of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to justice, even though the practice has been outlawed there since 1985.
The Daily Mail reported that Amazon, the online retailer, was selling terrorist recruitment material and bomb-making manuals.
Baroness Cox and other members of the House of Lords called on the British government to "respond urgently" to a 2015 review on Sharia courts by drafting a law to protect vulnerable Muslim women. The review found that Muslim women are being systematically oppressed, abused and discriminated against by Sharia law courts, which treat women as second-class citizens.
May 1. Rana Irfan Aslam, a 51-year-old shopkeeper from Dundee, was sentenced to one year in prison for grooming a 12-year-old girl for sex during an 18-month period 20 years ago. The judge said it was the maximum possible sentence for the crime as Aslam did not engage in sexual intercourse with the girl. The court heard that Aslam gave the girl gifts of money, perfume and alcohol before sexually abusing her at various locations in Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross and Fife between August 1998 and August 2000. In a blog post, Natasha Phillips, an expert on family law, explained that nuances in sentencing guidelines for non-recent abuse are resulting in unduly lenient sentences: "There are very real concerns about the way offenders of non-recent abuse continue to be sentenced and which bolster the view that unmerited leniency has managed to find its way into the system."
May 1. Lewis Ludlow, a 26-year-old convert to Islam from Rochester, was charged with planning "a large scale multiple casualty vehicle-borne attack" on tourist hotspots in London. He was also charged with trying to join the Islamic State, in the Philippines.
May 1. Karen Sunderland, a Tory candidate for Town Council in Lewisham, London, was suspended after comparing Islam to Nazism on social media. Her offending tweet read: "Love your optimism. The thing is, religion undermines the hard fought for values and tolerances of progressed countries...suppresses free speech and is auto immune from criticism. This is toxic and where the hostility comes from. Religion is totalitarian. Islam has become the new Nazism."
May 2. Jamie Janson, a 42-year-old British aristocrat who travelled to Syria to fight against the Islamic State, was arrested when he arrived back in Britain on a bus from France. Janson volunteered with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and fought against the Islamic State in Syria. Pro-Kurdish campaigners were angered by the arrest, which came after two other Britons were charged for fighting with the YPG. Mark Campbell, of the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign, accused the British government of weakening the fight against ISIS and other jihadi groups: "Theresa May should spend more time opposing Turkey's aggression against the best fighters against ISIS, the Kurds, and less time attempting to criminalize UK anti-ISIS volunteers on behalf of the Turkish regime."
May 2. Mohammed Zahir Khan, a 40-year-old shopkeeper from Sunderland, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for encouraging terrorism, disseminating a terror publication and stirring up religious hatred. Newcastle Crown Court heard how Khan, who is originally from Birmingham, shared messages on social media in which he said Shia Muslims should be burnt alive. He also posted on Facebook a statement about martyrs and an image of the Islamic State's flag.
May 2. The Women's Wellbeing Clinic at Cardiff Royal Infirmary became the first clinic in Wales to provide medical and psychological help to victims of female genital mutilation (FGM). An estimated 2,000 women and girls in Wales are living with FGM. According to the BBC, one case of FGM was discovered on average every three days by maternity staff in Wales in 2016.
May 4. The Independent Press Standards Organization, the independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in Britain, ordered the Daily Star, a tabloid newspaper, to publish a correction for an article that wrongly claimed that a "hijab row" would force all McDonald's restaurants in the London borough of Islington to close. The Muslim Council of Britain, a Muslim umbrella group, complained that the article's headline was misleading.
May 6. Melanie Phillips, a conservative columnist, ignited a firestorm of criticism after she said on BBC TV's Sunday Politics that there is no equivalence between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia:
"Anti-Semitism is not just a form of racism, it is a unique derangement that is based entirely on lies and demonization. The same cannot be said of what is considered Islamophobia. The term Islamophobia itself is used to cover-up legitimate criticism of Muslims or the Islamic community."
May 9. The International Glaucoma Association (IGA) warned Muslim glaucoma patients not to stop taking eye drop medication during Ramadan because stopping drops even for a short period of time can cause permanent loss of vision. Some Muslims have stopped using their eye drops during Ramadan, believing that using them will break their fast. IGA Development Manager Subhash Suthar said:
"We want to reassure the Muslim community that drops can be taken before dawn and after sunset (known as Suhoor and Iftar), when food and drink can be consumed. We also suggest that patients close the tear duct when taking eye drops (known as punctual occlusion) as this means that fluid stays in the eye and does not drain into the throat and so cannot be tasted."
May 9. The Sentencing Council, an independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines for courts to use when passing a sentence, published changes for public order offenses, which include stirring up hatred against people on the grounds of race, religion or sexual orientation. If approved, judges would be able to increase punishments for offenders who are "in a position of trust, authority or influence and abuse their position to stir up hatred." The Independent reported that having a high number of followers on social media, such as Twitter or Facebook, could be among the factors considered when making sentencing decisions. The Telegraph noted that the changes would give courts more power when sentencing Islamic hate preachers. The changes, however, could also be used to silence outspoken critics of Islam.
May 9. The Sunday Telegraph paid "substantial damages" to Mohammed Kozbar, the general secretary of Finsbury Park mosque, after it falsely portrayed him as a supporter of violent lslamist extremism, according to the Guardian. Finsbury Park mosque was once run by the radical preacher Abu Hamza before it was shut down in 2003. Kozbar said he has since worked to rebuild the mosque's reputation and sued the Telegraph in order to take a stand against "Islamophobic media coverage." The Telegraph removed the article from its website, published a ruling accepting that the article was defamatory, and paid damages of around £30,000 (€34,000; $40,000) to settle the case.
May 10. The trial began of Safaa Boular, an 18-year-old would-be jihadi from London, who is accused of plotting a gun and grenade attack at the British Museum after her attempts to become a jihadi bride were thwarted. Jurors at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, heard how Boular decided to become a "martyr" after her Islamic State fighter fiancé was killed in Syria. Boular pled not guilty to two counts of preparing acts of terrorism. Her older sister, Rizlaine Boular, 22, her mother Mina Dich, 44, and their family friend Khawla Barghouthi, 21, have already pled guilty to terrorism charges, in what has been called Britain's first all-female jihadist plot. They will be sentenced later this year.
May 10. The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), a specialized agency of the Home Office, reported 1,196 cases of potential or actual forced marriages in Britain in 2017. The victims in around 80% of cases were female; 256 of the victims were male. Where the age was known, 15.6% of cases involved victims below 16 years of age, and 29.7% involved under-18 year olds. The largest proportion of cases (17.9%) involved victims between the ages of 18 and 21. In 2017, children residing in Britain were sent to 65 different countries to undergo forced marriages. The top four countries with the highest number of cases in 2017 were: Pakistan, 439 cases (36.7%); Bangladesh, 129 cases (10.8%); Somalia, 91 cases (7.6%); and India, 82 cases (6.9%). In 2017, 120 (10%) of the cases had no overseas element, with the potential or actual forced marriage taking place entirely within the UK.
May 10. Yousef Abdul Latif Jameel, a businessman and philanthropist, donated £850,000 (€911,000; $1,075,000) to support scholarships at Cardiff University's Centre for the Study of Islam. The center, part of the University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, was established in 2005 for research and teaching about Islam and Muslims in Britain.
May 21. Quilliam, a London-based counter-extremism group, in a new report — "FGM Legislation in Britain: A National Scandal" — noted that Britain has failed to bring a single perpetrator of FGM to justice, even though the practice has been outlawed there since in 1985. "The fact that we've been collecting detailed FGM data for some years now and still haven't seen a single case brought to justice is a shame and utter disservice to the thousands of young girls and women who have undergone this horrific practice," the report said.
A new report notes that Britain has failed to bring a single perpetrator of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to justice, even though the practice has been outlawed there since 1985. Pictured: Part of an anti-FGM poster produced in the UK by the Metropolitan Police, in conjunction with community organizations.
May 22. Religious advisers at the Masjid Ramadan mosque in Dalston, east London, said that bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, is halal (permissible according to Islamic law) for donations if it is "transacted in a lawful manner." The mosque, also known as Shacklewell Lane Mosque, will accept donations in two different cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Zayd al Khair, a religious adviser at the mosque, said: "Any money or currency is neither halal, permissible, nor haram, impermissible. Guidance is about the value which it represents. If money is transacted in a lawful manner then it is halal. We do not always know the source of cash donations, but we take these in good faith too."
May 22. Farooq Rashid, 43, of Bradford, was sentenced to two years in prison for possessing and sharing jihad-related material online. "Terrorist groups such as Daesh [ISIS] rely heavily on their propaganda being shared online to encourage support, radicalize, and provoke individuals to carry out attacks abroad and in the UK," said Martin Snowden, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing in North East England.
May 23. A mother who forced her daughter to marry a relative almost twice her age was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. It was the first time a forced marriage case was successfully prosecuted in an English court. Forced marriage has been a punishable offense in Britain since 2014. Birmingham Crown Court heard how the woman duped the then 17-year-old into travelling to Pakistan to wed the man, who was 16 years her senior. Years before the ceremony, the girl was entered into a "marriage contract" with the man and became pregnant aged 13.
May 23. The Daily Mail reported that Amazon, the online retailer, was selling terrorist recruitment material and bomb-making manuals: "Many of the books, which have radicalized thousands of international terrorists, are available for next-day delivery. Some can be downloaded instantly as Kindle editions anywhere in the world. The inflammatory titles are sold by third parties using Amazon's platform, allowing them global reach and lending them an aura of legitimacy." Labour MP John Mann said: "This is Amazon giving assistance to terrorists and putting lives at risk. We've just had the anniversary of the Manchester bombing. They need to be held to account. Amazon is allowing terror material to circulate. Free speech arguments don't apply when it comes to terrorists trying to recruit. There must be a full police investigation into Amazon."
May 24. Baroness Cox and other members of the House of Lords called on the British government to "respond urgently" to a 2015 review on Sharia courts by drafting a law to protect vulnerable Muslim women. Lord Elton said that the problem of Sharia councils "seems to me bigger and more urgent than Her Majesty's Government are giving it credit for." Baroness Flather accused Whitehall of not taking the issue seriously. Baroness Cox asked whether the government "will make it a priority to respond urgently with appropriate legislation." In April 2015, Baroness Cox authored a 40-page report — "A Parallel World: Confronting the Abuse of Many Muslim Women in Britain Today" — which documented how Muslim women across Britain are being systematically oppressed, abused and discriminated against by Sharia law courts, which treat women as second-class citizens. The report warned against the spiraling proliferation of Islamic tribunals in the United Kingdom.
May 25. Tommy Robinson, a 35-year-old anti-Islam activist, was arrested and jailed for contempt of court after livestreaming footage of participants in a criminal trial outside Leeds Crown Court. The trial involved members of a Muslim pedophile gang charged with sexually exploiting young girls. Outrage ensued after Judge Geoffrey Marson ordered a media blackout on Robinson's arrest and incarceration.
May 29. A Pew Research Study found that 73% of Britons identify as being Christian, but only 18% attend church. In the UK, 45% of church-attending Christians say Islam is fundamentally incompatible with British values and culture, as do roughly the same share of non-practicing Christians (47%). Among religiously unaffiliated adults, 30% say Islam is fundamentally incompatible with their country's values. The poll found that 69% of those who identify as Christian were in favor of reducing the levels of immigration, compared to 32% of non-affiliated adults.
May 29. A couple was convicted of forced marriage for luring their 19-year-old daughter to Bangladesh in an attempt to force her to marry her first cousin — so that he could obtain a British visa. Leeds Crown Court heard how the girl's parents had told her they were going on a six-week holiday to Bangladesh to visit relatives. Just days after arriving, however, she was told by her father that he had found a husband for her. The victim, who was not named for legal reasons, told the court: "He said, 'I have planned this for years, the guy is really suitable, I've given him money for university, and he's a really attractive guy for round here.' He was trying to get me to say yes, but at no point did I say yes. I thought it was disgusting because it was my first cousin and stood my ground." She was rescued by British authorities before the marriage took place. The judge told the two defendants that they should expect an "immediate imprisonment" when they are sentenced on June 18.
May 29. The trial began of Anthony Small, a 36-year-old former boxing champion who converted to Islam in 2007, for terrorism offenses. Prosecutor Karen Robinson told the Old Bailey that Small "implored Muslims to take violent action against the West." On his YouTube channel, Small described himself as "a former professional champion boxer who now works to take mankind out of the oppression of democracy and liberating themselves with Islam/Sharia." In the video, he spoke out against McDonald's and Coca Cola and other symbols of Western culture. He said the choice was to "either accept the flame-grilled burger or we are going to flame grill you from the sky."
May 30. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) called on the Conservative Party to conduct an inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia within the party. At least five Tory candidates have been suspended in recent weeks for making so-called Islamophobic comments. On April 17, for example, Alexander van Terheyden, a council candidate in Hackney, was suspended after, on social media, he called Islam, a "violent political ideology" comparable to fascism and communism. In response to allegations of Islamophobia, Van Terheyden said: "I've stated Islam is a violent political ideology. Note the word 'political' and not religious. Note I do not refer to Muslims, I refer to the political ideology. My views have always been public. If you mean the fact that I'm happy to voice my discontent for communism, fascism, Islam and other extreme political ideologies there is no secret to this." In December 2015, a government report found that the MCB is "secretly linked" to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group committed to a "civilizational jihad" aimed at undermining liberal democracies in the West.
May 31. Khurram Javed, 35, of Rotherham was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. The trial was part of the National Crime Agency's Operation Stovewood, which is investigating child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
May 31. Husnain Rashid, 32, of Lancashire, pled guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to three terrorism offenses, including one in which he called for an attack against Prince George, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and third in line to the throne. Rashid will be sentenced on June 28 for the offenses spanning from October 2016 to April 2018.
May 31. Mohammed Aslam Rabani, a 61-year-old twice-married former imam at a mosque in Nottingham, was sentenced to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage boy in the mosque's attic. Rabani repeatedly assaulted the boy between June 1990 and June 1993, when the victim was 12 years old. The victim, who is now married and a father, said: "He was a father figure to me and everyone. Not even my own family would believe what he was doing to me. I was scared, because beatings at home and at the mosque were commonplace in our community. Children just did as they were told and adults were always right. As a result, I didn't speak out. Additionally, I thought it was normal, because I also believed that Rabani should be trusted. I assumed that because he was the imam, that whatever he did was right and that he was closest to God."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

Putin and Lessons from Lenin and Gromyko
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/June 08/18
“Consolidation”. In Moscow these days this is the word that most flavors discussions in political circles. The ideas is that, tanks to President Vladimir Putin’s bold and risk-taking strategy Russia has made a number of major gains on the international scene and must now act to consolidate those gains and reduce the diplomatic, economic and political price it has had to pay for them.
The analysis is inspired by Lenin’s famous “Two-steps-forward- one-step back” dictum that saw the founder of the now defunct Soviet Union abandon vast territories under the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in order to consolidate the then fragile Bolshevik hold on power in Russia itself. Later, Lenin used the same dictum to justify his New Economic Policy (NEP), a step back to confuse the growing opposition from the hated “bourgeoisie”.
Putin may appear an unlikely student of Leninism, having obtained his initial political education in the shadier world of the KGB under Yuri Andropov. Nevertheless, the man now cast as the unchallenged master of Russia’s destiny has always shown a talent for adopting a low profile when needed.
He did that as Boris Yeltsin’s right-hand-man to the point that many regarded him as little more than a bag-carrier for the bombastic president while, all along, he was learning the ropes and preparing to ascend to the top of the greasy pole that is power in Russia.
Putin has learned another lesson from the Soviet era, this time from Andrei Gromyko who dominated Russian foreign policy for almost half a century. Gromyko believed that the so-called Westphalian system, in place at least until the Second World War, had been replaced by a duopoly in which only the USSR and the United States counted as powers that could truly affect things.
It is no surprise that Moscow these days is full of rumors and speculation regarding an impending bid by Putin to revive at least in part and in a new form, the Gromykan “duopoly” by reaching out to the Trump administration in Washington.
Talk of a Trump-Putin summit this year intensified last week with news of a trip to Washington by Jon Huntsman, the US Ambassador to Moscow and a noted believer in rapprochement with Russia, to prepare the ground for the encounter.
Trump and Putin met twice in 2017, in Hamburg during the G-20 summit and in Vietnam when attending the Asia-Pacific leaders’ gathering. According to Russian sources, although no major issue was formally discussed, the two men “felt rather good” in each other’s presence.
Since then Putin has made a number of moves to please Trump and placate opponents of rapprochement with Russia in Washington.
Putin scaled down the suggested response to the US decision to close Russian consulates and trade offices and expel a large number of Moscow’s diplomats.
In Syria, Putin canceled the promised delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft systems that could have made Israelis and American strikes against Iranian and Bashar al-Assad bases more risky.
More importantly, perhaps, Putin played host to Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman who came to inform Russia of Israel’s intention to force Iranian forces and their Lebanese, Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries away from areas touching on the Golan Heights and the Israeli frontier. Pressure by Putin seems to have been effective as Tehran stopped sending new “volunteers for martyrdom” to Syria almost eight weeks ago. In fact, recruitment of new Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries seems to have been halted altogether.
Tehran is clearly angry at what state-owned media call “the Russian betrayal.”
“In December, February, April and May Israel attacked the positions of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria without the slightest barrier or difficulty,” an editorial in the official agency IRNA said on May 30. “In those attacks many of our men became martyrs and many more were wounded. However, Moscow decided to ignore the aggression and kept total silence.”
The editorial, clearly dictated by the leadership, also reveals that Iran had proposed to enter into a formal alliance with Russia to counter Western influence, but had met with reluctance from Moscow. Tehran wanted a “regional coalition” which would also include Iraq and Lebanon, the two countries that Iran believes it controls their governments. Moscow was not interested.
Clearly, Putin subscribes to Gromyko’s duopolistic view according to which small players like the Islamic Republic, even if accompanied by real or imagined satellites like Lebanon and Iraq, are not worth a prayer when a deal with the US may be possible.
To make it clear that he intended to reduce Tehran’s role in Syria, Putin also excluded Iran from his “consultation” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad. More importantly, Putin has made it clear that he wants Iran to prepare for withdrawing all its forces, including the non-Iranian mercenaries, from Syria. Putin sent his special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev to Tehran to tell the ruling mullahs that Russia wanted both Iran and the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah out as part of a bigger plan to have all foreign forces, except Russians, out of Syria.
A day later, the Russian oil giant Lukoil announced it was putting on hold a contract to develop new Iranian oil and gas fields.
Putin knows that without reaching out to the US he may not be able to consolidate his gains in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and Georgia while he could become stuck in the Syrian quagmire with no prospect of getting out anytime soon.
There is also the fact that weak oil prices and sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union are beginning to affect living standards across the country. At the same time the oligarchs are making less money and find it more difficult to obtain Western visas and secure opportunities for putting their money in Western banks. Russia’s isolation was best illustrated during the big annual military parade in May when of all the foreign dignitaries invited by Putin only one turned up: the President of Moldova.

Can Qatar Withstand The Second Year Of Crisis?
Seth Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/June 08/18
https://www.meforum.org/articles/2018/can-qatar-withstand-the-second-year-of-crisis
Qatar is defiant one year after its neighbors cut relations. It has tried to compensate for the loss of business and connections with its former Gulf allies by reaching out to Turkey and Iran.
It has also spent huge sums on lobbying in Washington to curry favor with the US administration. But if it had gotten what it wanted, the sanctions from Saudi Arabia and its allies would have ended long ago. Instead, Qatar has had to shift from its previous policy of supporting groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, to concerning itself with problems at home. This has generally been welcomed by Israel.
On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia – followed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt – cut ties with Qatar. In the first 48 hours, rumors abounded that the unprecedented decision could be the prelude to a coup in Qatar or military action. In 2011, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council allies carried out joint operations to stymie protests in Bahrain and to confront Houthi rebels in Yemen. They had also pressured Qatar over earlier reporting by its Al Jazeera.
Absent military action or an internal decision to remove Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Gulf states had to rely on pressure. They sent a list of 13 demands in late June 2017. Qatar didn’t blink. Instead, Doha reached out to then-US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, according to people familiar with the crisis. Riyadh’s actions had taken the Pentagon and State Department by surprise. The US maintains a large base at Al Udeid in Qatar. Tillerson rushed to the region to try to patch things up. He was still trying when Trump fired him in March 2018.
According to Ghanem Nuseibeh, a London-based risk consultant with Cornerstone Global Associates, Qatar has suffered significantly as a result of the sanctions. “Its economy has had major hits. Politically, its global reputation has suffered as Qatar’s name has become associated with terrorism on a wide global level.” He says the crisis will continue and that Qatar’s alliance with Turkey and Iran will put it at odds with the global community and its neighbors.
“The economic pressure the sanctions have put on Qatar have undoubtedly dented its ability to influence things globally, despite significant spending on lobbying in the West. Al Jazeera, for example, is facing severe financial constraints,” he says.
THAT QATAR takes the crisis seriously is clear from Al Jazeera’s reporting on June 5. The network is funded by the government and toes the monarchy’s line. On June 5, its homepage splashed a quote from the foreign minister claiming, “Saudi threat violates international law.” An accompanying article claimed the emirate “has demonstrated an impressive ability to turn the crises into an opportunity in terms of improving food security, social cohesion and economic sustainability.” Al Jazeera’s news coverage has shifted during the crisis. Reporting on Doha’s allies has shifted. Turkey is described as “widely considered as the beacon of democracy and pluralism in the Muslim world.”
For its part, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya has ignored the one-year anniversary in its reporting. This could indicate that Riyadh feel confident in its eventual victory over Doha, or that it hopes to ignore the continuing crisis.
One of the bizarre outcomes of the Qatar crisis has been the way it affected relations between the Gulf, the US Jewish community and Israel. In the fall of 2017, Doha began major outreach to pro-Israel Jewish Americans. Several of them went to Doha, including the Zionist Organization of America’s Mort Klein and Alan Dershowitz. Qatar focused on the pro-Israel community. Its logic in doing so was unclear. Doha had been accused by its adversaries, including Riyadh, of support for terrorism, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Qatar may have thought that pro-Israel Jewish Americans were close to Trump and this would help them get an “in.”
But they already had connections to Trump through Tillerson and others. In January 2018, the foreign minister and defense minister of the emirate went to Washington and signed agreements as well as meeting Mattis and Tillerson as part of a US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue event.
Qatar also spent heavily in Washington on lobbying. This included advertising campaigns and millions on fees for consultants. According to public filings under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, one the people it approached earliest was former US attorney-general John Ashcroft.
Doha’s diplomatic and lobbying efforts appear to have staved off the crisis from growing. But it has affected the emirate’s ability to play the role it did prior to 2017. In the years of the Arab Spring, the former emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, used the country’s wealth to support revolutions such as the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
“The Qatari support for Islamists throughout the Middle East as a strategy to establish itself as a regional power broker now looks increasingly threadbare,” wrote the BBC in 2013 when Morsi was pushed from power by the military. While Doha sunk $10 billion in Egypt, according to the BBC, it also sent hundreds of millions to Gaza to build infrastructure. For Israel, this was a Janus-faced approach. Qatar hosted Hamas leaders, but propping up Gaza’s economy probably meant less of a chance for a crisis on Israel’s border. Qatar said the money was going to the people, not Hamas, and Israel played a key role in monitoring the transfers.
Now, a year into the crisis, the result has been positive for Jerusalem. Qatar has reached out to pro-Israel voices. That also means it wants to please those voices by pretending to change its ways. That means cold water for Hamas. It also means that Israel, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi increasingly share concerns over the Iranian threat in the Gulf and elsewhere. If anything, the Qatar crisis has showed the stark differences between the choices of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to publicly condemn extremism, while Qatar and its friends continue to work with flirt, quietly or openly, with groups like Hamas.
**Seth Frantzman is a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum

Balancing hard and soft power: Turkey’s approach to Syria
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/June 08/18
According to Joseph Nye, the political scientist who coined the term “soft power” in the early 1990s — meaning a persuasive, noncoercive approach to international relations — there are various ways of using it, not only by the state but also in other ways, including educational and cultural.
What we see regarding Turkey’s current policy on Syria is a new strategy that relies on policies at a university level. In this context, experts at Turkish universities have rolled up their sleeves to join the rebuilding efforts in parts of Syria under the control of the Turkish military and its Syrian allies. Gaziantep University, located in the Turkish city of the same name on the Syrian border, will establish a department in Jarablus, while Harran University, in Sanliurfa, will set up a faculty in Al-Bab.
Jarablus and Al-Bab are among the towns liberated from terrorist groups during Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched by Ankara in 2016 and completed within two months. Through this operation, Turkey cleared an area of 4,000 square kilometers of terrorists. The second phase of the operation, called Olive Branch, took place in Afrin, another city in northern Syria, to remove the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization and a threat to its national security.
Turkey pursues a security policy that intends to secure the inside of the country by securing the outside. Both of the operations provided Turkey with “hard power” elements that increased Ankara’s capability to engage in regional and international military maneuvers.
One of Turkey’s main goals in Syria has been the elimination of PKK from northern Syria.
Turkey’s military involvement in Syria has also paved the way for a deepening of Ankara’s role there and an increase in its sphere of influence in the country. It is now attempting to consolidate this influence through soft power means, by creating strong connections and reliable governments near its border. In other words, Turkey’s soft power draws its strength from its influence on the ground, coupled with its political, cultural and educational capabilities.
The universities, which will provide education in Turkish, Arabic and English, are a part of Turkey’s soft-power efforts in the war-torn country that aim to inspire hope among the youth. A decision to set up a college in Al-Bab affiliated with Turkish universities was announced on June 5 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey, the country’s official journal that publishes new legislation and other announcements, though it is not yet clear when it will open.
Turkey’s Higher Education Council organized an exam in the liberated towns of northern Syria last month, and about 800 students took the test for admission to Turkish universities.
Meanwhile, it was also announced in the Official Gazette on June 5 that the Turkish Parliament had approved the launch of a vocational high school in Jarablus, affiliated with Gaziantep University.
Soon after the liberation of Jarablus, Al-Bab and other towns, Turkey became involved in several projects, including the restoration of schools, the training of police, the building of hospitals and infrastructure, and the opening of post offices. Those who fled the cities when they was under the control of Daesh were able to return and resume their normal daily lives.
Turkey’s main goals in Syria have been the preservation of the country’s territorial integrity; the elimination of PKK from northern Syria; the creation of a workable local system of governance in liberated areas; the reconstruction of infrastructure; and the promotion of an influential policy on Syria at regional and international levels.
Turkish officials have also underlined the significance of using soft power to enhance Turkey’s standing in Syria and the region. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in early May said that Turkey has been trying its best to use soft power through state-run agencies such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, one of its tools for employing such an approach.
As Nye said, there is no difference between hard power and soft power in terms of their aims. But although the objectives are the same, the means are very different. Aware of this fact, Turkey has therefore been applying a combination of soft and hard power to expand its role in Syria and widen its sphere of influence.
There are several scholarly debates about which of hard or soft power is the more effective tool in foreign policy. In my opinion, sustainable power, to protect the gains achieved through hard and soft power, is the most significant tool. Sustainable power in Syria is what Turkey has to seek now.
One day the war in Syria will end and what those involved in the crisis have built during the conflict will be returned to them. Or in other words, what they have sown is what they shall reap.
• Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey’s relations with the Middle East.

Debunking the misconceptions surrounding the Gulf crisis
Dr. Manuel Almeida/Arab News/June 08/18
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s dispute with Qatar seems to have enough fuel to continue for the foreseeable future. The Qatari authorities recently responded to the commercial boycott imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt by blocking commercial imports from all four countries. And a few days ago Doha made its clearest statement yet in opposition to any strong measures designed to counter Iran’s regional policies.
Since tensions boiled over a year ago, various misconceptions about the nature of the crisis have circulated widely in mainstream and social media. Many of them do not stand up even to the most basic scrutiny, yet they have contributed to the misinformation that has characterized coverage and analysis of this issue. Let us consider a few of the most common claims.
“This is a year-old problem.” In fact, the boycott of Qatar by the four Arab countries is only the latest development in a more serious chapter of a dispute that has been developing on and off for years. Longstanding efforts to resolve the matter discretely through conventional diplomatic channels led to the signing in 2013 of the Riyadh Accord between Qatar and its GCC neighbors. This addressed the very same concerns the four Arab countries continue to raise against Qatar. The deal eventually collapsed and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE withdrew their ambassadors in response to what they viewed as Qatari non-compliance. The issue was temporarily settled the following year with the signature of a supplementary agreement.
“It is essentially a family feud.” While the old ties of kinship between ruling families in the Gulf might add a sentimental element, and possibly contribute to a lack of pragmatism, the matters at hand extend much further and are at the heart of the key political issues affecting the Middle East today. As with much of the analysis of the region, the view that grudges related to kinship are the main cause is loaded with preconceived notions about the region’s peoples and politics.
A Qatari withdrawal from the GCC certainly would, at first, weaken but by no means necessarily kill the GCC.
“It is a peripheral issue.” The case can easily be made that reaching negotiated solutions to the wars in Syria or Yemen, devising a regional security mechanism that would bring all major powers to the table on a regular basis, and finding common ground for strategies of sustainable development should be top priorities for GCC governments. However, issues such as what is and is not considered an extremist group, the principle of non-interference in the affairs of fellow GCC members, and the need to maintain enough distance from the most radical elements of Iran’s regional policy remain a source of disagreement between Qatar and other GCC members. The absence of a common GCC view on these elementary, yet critical, issues makes it virtually impossible to cooperate on many of the region’s wider problems.
“Doha will cruise through this crisis.” Since the commercial boycott was imposed, Doha has stepped up its diplomatic outreach and made use of its seemingly infinite checkbook to withstand the boycott. In Istanbul, Moscow and Tehran, this crisis is seen as an opportunity to obtain commercial, financial and geostrategic advantages, at a higher price for Doha than would otherwise be the case. Qatar is the world’s wealthiest country per capita and has plenty of leeway to make painful adjustments, but the present situation is painful for all sides and consumes plenty of focus and resources. In particular, Qatar loses plenty of strategic leverage, and there is no great substitute for normal relations with fellow GCC members. In addition, the effect on local businesses, trade flows, cross-country investments and supply chains should not be underestimated. For example, Qatar’s only terrestrial border has become nonoperational.
“It is an attempt to curb tiny Qatar’s independence in foreign policy.” It all depends on what exactly is meant by Qatar’s independence, but there is no need to look further than Oman or Kuwait for examples of independent foreign policies within the GCC that have not elicited the same kind of response from neighboring countries as Qatar’s. Fearing larger neighbors, especially Iraq, Kuwaiti leaders tread carefully so as not to antagonize Tehran, while on key regional matters they remain aligned with fellow members of the GCC. Likewise, Sultan Qaboos of Oman has long maintained an equidistant policy toward Saudi Arabia and Iran. For the countries that denounce Qatar’s regional policies, the issue is the specific nature of Qatari foreign policy — which has been described even by a former diplomat insider as ad hoc and reckless — rather than its independent character.
“The end of the GCC is imminent.” A Qatari withdrawal from the organization certainly would, at first, weaken but by no means necessarily kill the GCC. It could even lead to much needed reforms within the organization. Disagreements on fundamental issues have been the rule rather than the exception since the GCC was created in 1981, during a time of great upheaval in the Gulf against the backdrop of the Iranian revolution and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. More importantly, foreign mediation in this crisis will probably be fruitless, and any long-lasting solution needs to be backed by a wider institutional framework to ensure constant and structured dialogue about specific issues. The GCC is the only obvious option and therefore the organization remains as necessary as ever.
• Dr. Manuel Almeida is a political analyst and consultant focusing on the Middle East. He is the former editor of the English online edition of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper and holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Twitter: @_ManuelAlmeida

Italy: Back from the brink, for a while?
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
Once again the European Union and the future of the Eurozone seemed to be in a bit of suspense following the latest Italian elections and the problem of putting together a coalition government.
In the end, Italy stepped back from square one in rejecting the Northern League/Five Star Movement selection of the fiercely Euro-skeptic Paolo Savona to the key position of Finance Minister, which Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella may have intended to avert a fundamental crisis between Rome, Frankfurt, and Brussels. But in the process Mattarella threw the country into a new crisis until the last minute agreement on a new government, and in a bizarre unintended twist , may have played right into the hands of the fiery Northern League leader, Matteo Salvini. Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte presented his list of ministers to President Sergio Mattarella for the second time in a week. Ministers were drawn from both the anti-establishment Five Star (M5S) and right-wing League. Attempts to form a technocratic government had failed earlier. While Mr Mattarella had rejected Mr Conte’s original choice for finance minister a different candidate was agreed after meeting President Mattarella, Mr Conte confirmed that the new candidate for the key finance post would be economics professor Giovanni Tria. Analysts say he is critical of the European Union but not an advocate of leaving the euro, making him more acceptable to President Mattarella. The deal will bring at least temporary calm to a political crisis that has embroiled Italy for weeks. The tumult raised questions – in Brussels and among investors around the world – about whether the rise in Italian populism and the collapse of traditional parties posed a threat to Italy’s long-term future in the Eurozone. With the appointment of a new coalition government in Italy, markets need not fear a new round of elections as a dreaded proxy “referendum on the Euro” as neither party will include that in their platforms by any stretch of the imagination – despite market chatter about mini-BOTs, alternative currency regimes, and other nonsense. A prolonged budget fight with Brussels on top of tighter funding rates already will most certainly further strain the Italian economy and banking sector that had just started to recover
The many un-knowns
But there are still many unknowns about how the new administration – an uneasy alliance between two former political opponents, both jockeying for power – will govern Italy. Salvini, who rose in recent years on the back of incendiary and racist statements about migrants and Roma, will take on the role of interior minister as Salvini has campaigned on the promise of mass deportations of migrants and said a new government would build detention centres around Italy. He is also a fierce critic of Brussels and has called for closer ties to Russia which is going to cause alarm with those European countries at loggerheads with Russia on various issues. Meanwhile, Di Maio, will take on a powerful new post that will combine labour and industry portfolios in a move that could mark big changes to labour and environmental policies, given the M5S’s stated opposition to big industry. This continuing Italian political uncertainty is going to cost Italy in the financial markets. A prolonged budget fight with Brussels on top of tighter funding rates already will most certainly further strain the Italian economy and banking sector that had just started to recover.
EU officials are concerned that the Italian banking sector, already under severe strain, has if anything deepened what is a potentially dangerous sovereign and bank balance sheet loop, against EU policy objectives since the debt crisis, and indeed against the positive trend in other countries away from that reliance across the Eurozone.
That downwards pressure is almost certain now to be accelerated through the ratings agencies, where Italian banks do not have much room for manoeuvre. Italy’s current sovereign ratings are a couple of notches above junk and Moody’s and Fitch have indicated these will be under review.
European Central Bank (ECB) rules require an exception for ECB liquidity to Eurozone banks if the highest of four ratings agencies (the other two being S+P and DBRS) was to fall below investment grade.
The Greek example
The Italians have only to look at what happened to Greece as a future scenario. That is what happened to Greek banks that subsequently had to be funded by the Greek National Bank’s ELA lines, until they were recapitalized and had recovered their credit ratings.
And that is what could lie in store for Italian banks were this crisis to continue and take a toll on the real economy, as well as on the banks’ immediate funding costs, and ability to further dispose of non-performing loans.
Very rough estimates are that such a program could require a loan or credit line of as high as 80 or 100 billion Euros – Spain borrowed 30 billion and ended up with some room to spare – and the European Stability Mechanism has some 400 or so billion Euros in its coffers.
A sovereign run on the funding markets would be a different ball game altogether. Some analysts believe that the political turn of events in Italy will prove the death knell to any hopes at this point for a Macron/Merkel push for any deeper Eurozone integration, even on the most modest, almost micro levels.
First, the EU has been pushing for sovereign bond concentration limits for European banks, intended to make banks more resilient by reducing the sovereign-bank debt loop risk. While Spain, for example, in practice has taken steps to address those risks, all signs are that Italy, the biggest offender by far, will now go even deeper in the other direction.
The new government is expected to take a far more antagonistic stance against Brussels than the previous government, headed by the centre-left Democratic party.
But the alliance between the M5S and the League will have only a relatively narrow majority in the Italian senate, easing concerns among investors and officials in Brussels over the new government’s decision-making.
While both parties are populist in nature, and have railed against Brussels and Italian “elites”, they have long been natural opponents in politics. It will be no surprise to hear of yet another Italian election taking place in the not too distant future.

The madness of telecommunications revolution
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
Making calls via the internet at the beginning of the internet era required an office and a desktop. One would make the call and then wait while hearing the ringing tone that resembled the ringtone of the fax which people no longer use. Then this developed with the invention of laptops. Making calls via the internet no longer required sitting on a desk or going to an internet café – these cafes have almost gone extinct now! With a laptop, all you need is a power plug, a router and the latter’s password.
All this did not quench the voracity; thus came the era of tablets. Smartphones currently dominate as all it takes nowadays is to have a smartphone. All cellular phones have now become smart!
What else? There are attempts to monopolize the rest of your senses as how could they be left out offline, dear?
Your eyes? Don’t worry. There are Google glasses and other similar smart glasses which are used to receive tweets, notifications and messages. As to how you will use your eyes for the ordinary task they’re designed for which is sight, we have not thought about that yet but we will, don’t worry as we are the heroes of the digital. This scenario is what sci-fi has always discussed – a helpless man being driven by artificial intelligence! Or to phrase this in a less terrifying way, a helpless man being hacked by an intelligence apparatus
Is there something else?
Yes. There is your skin itself which can be transformed into smart skin. Oh tell me about this which used to be a mere fantasy! A long time ago now, a company has given its employees the chance to be electronic employees. Eight employees there have agreed to plant electronic chips in their hand that allow them to enter the company’s headquarters and access the computers there without having to use their traditional ID cards. According to reports, one hand gesture is enough to open doors, turn on the lights and communicate with computers and smartphones. These digital chips also emit radio waves that store all data to replace the passport and identity, bank and insurance cards. Okay. Can this chip be hacked since it’s connected to the internet? Imagine that! A human is being “hacked” through his skin and his nerve system is being controlled by someone else! It’s terrifying! This scenario is what sci-fi has always discussed – a helpless man being driven by artificial intelligence! Or to phrase this in a less terrifying way, a helpless man being hacked by an intelligence apparatus or a gang, there is no difference. What is to be done?

Mohammed bin Zayed in Moscow
Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s visit to Moscow where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was significant. They signed agreements that reflect the special strategic relations between the UAE and Russia and Sheikh Mohammed was given a warm welcome.
International relations are complex matters that rely on strategic interests. Even though there are differences on some matters between the two sides, the timing of this visit made it significant as we are currently witnessing an era of huge historical changes in the balance of power in the region and the world. US President Donald Trump’s strategy is the opposite of his predecessor Barack Obama in terms of dealing with Iran, its destructive roles in the region, sponsor of terrorism and spread of chaos in Arab countries, along with its ballistic missile projects.
Besides, Russia’s goals in Syria are not the same as Iran’s. These differences have started to surface now. The world is now aware that the powerful coalition headed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE is carving a new balance of power in the region through a professional approach to deal with all the sensitive issues to achieve the best outcomes and accomplish goals that serve countries, protect their interests and shape the future.
Iran’s hostile project
The Iranian project is one of the most hostile in the region. Every effort to undermine this project is great success in the right direction. Russia has started to express its differences with the Iranian project in Syria in a less diplomatic way. This is an important development that wouldn’t have been possible without major changes in regional and international balances towards the region and its causes. Russia's agreement with OPEC, Saudi Arabia and the UAE has advanced the stabilization of oil prices, especially since oil prices have been unfair for the past few years. In the end, dealings driven by interests ultimately win.
Russia is also interested in cooperation to combat terrorism and extremism. It is seeking partners who have the right vision and heightened perception in this field. The UAE is an enlightened model from which one can begin and build. It is in this sense that during the visit, President Putin stated that: “Cooperating with the UAE in the field of combating terrorism and solving important issues is of the outmost importance, and it is very crucial to work with the UAE, exchange information on the situation in the region and collaborate in the fight against global terrorism especially at this time.”
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said: “The UAE is eager to confer with Russia on regional and international issues and crises, and looks forward for an active and constructive Russian role in attaining stability and peace in the Middle East in light of the critical turn the region is passing through and (at a time) when it is suffering from complex and unprecedented challenges and threats.”
UAE-Russia Agreement
Seeking to build strategic relations with Russia, developing trade and economic relations, combating extremism and terrorism and consulting with each other on complex problems facing the region are some of the main features of this visit.
This means working within the UAE's political and economic priorities and reflects its leading role in the region and the great impact it has in many fields. The partnership deal Russia and the UAE signed tackles many vital aspects — commercial, economic, cultural, human and scientific fields in technology, energy, security, politics, etc. This means a serious orientation to build stronger and firmer relations that serve the interests of both countries and the desire of the two leaderships.
Finally, the Syrian issue and the Yemeni file were at the visit’s public negotiating table to look for practical solutions that express the nature of the ongoing changes in the region and in the two countries.

Putin and Lessons from Lenin and Gromyko
Amir Taheri/Al Arabiya/June 08/18
“Consolidation”. In Moscow these days this is the word that most flavors discussions in political circles. The ideas is that, tanks to President Vladimir Putin’s bold and risk-taking strategy Russia has made a number of major gains on the international scene and must now act to consolidate those gains and reduce the diplomatic, economic and political price it has had to pay for them. The analysis is inspired by Lenin’s famous “Two-steps-forward- one-step back” dictum that saw the founder of the now defunct Soviet Union abandon vast territories under the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in order to consolidate the then fragile Bolshevik hold on power in Russia itself. Later, Lenin used the same dictum to justify his New Economic Policy (NEP), a step back to confuse the growing opposition from the hated “bourgeoisie”. Putin may appear an unlikely student of Leninism, having obtained his initial political education in the shadier world of the KGB under Yuri Andropov. Nevertheless, the man now cast as the unchallenged master of Russia’s destiny has always shown a talent for adopting a low profile when needed.
He did that as Boris Yeltsin’s right-hand-man to the point that many regarded him as little more than a bag-carrier for the bombastic president while, all along, he was learning the ropes and preparing to ascend to the top of the greasy pole that is power in Russia.
Putin has learned another lesson from the Soviet era, this time from Andrei Gromyko who dominated Russian foreign policy for almost half a century. Gromyko believed that the so-called Westphalian system, in place at least until the Second World War, had been replaced by a duopoly in which only the USSR and the United States counted as powers that could truly affect things.
It is no surprise that Moscow these days is full of rumors and speculation regarding an impending bid by Putin to revive at least in part and in a new form, the Gromykan “duopoly” by reaching out to the Trump administration in Washington.
It is no surprise that Moscow these days is full of speculation regarding an impending bid by Putin to revive at least in part and in a new form, the Gromykan “duopoly” by reaching out to Trump administration
Trump-Putin summit
Talk of a Trump-Putin summit this year intensified last week with news of a trip to Washington by Jon Huntsman, the US Ambassador to Moscow and a noted believer in rapprochement with Russia, to prepare the ground for the encounter.
Trump and Putin met twice in 2017, in Hamburg during the G-20 summit and in Vietnam when attending the Asia-Pacific leaders’ gathering. According to Russian sources, although no major issue was formally discussed, the two men “felt rather good” in each other’s presence.
Since then Putin has made a number of moves to please Trump and placate opponents of rapprochement with Russia in Washington. Putin scaled down the suggested response to the US decision to close Russian consulates and trade offices and expel a large number of Moscow’s diplomats. In Syria, Putin canceled the promised delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft systems that could have made Israelis and American strikes against Iranian and Bashar al-Assad bases more risky.
More importantly, perhaps, Putin played host to Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman who came to inform Russia of Israel’s intention to force Iranian forces and their Lebanese, Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries away from areas touching on the Golan Heights and the Israeli frontier.
Pressure by Putin seems to have been effective as Tehran stopped sending new “volunteers for martyrdom” to Syria almost eight weeks ago. In fact, recruitment of new Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries seems to have been halted altogether. Tehran is clearly angry at what state-owned media call “the Russian betrayal.”“In December, February, April and May Israel attacked the positions of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria without the slightest barrier or difficulty,” an editorial in the official agency IRNA said on May 30. “In those attacks many of our men became martyrs and many more were wounded. However, Moscow decided to ignore the aggression and kept total silence.”The editorial, clearly dictated by the leadership, also reveals that Iran had proposed to enter into a formal alliance with Russia to counter Western influence, but had met with reluctance from Moscow. Tehran wanted a “regional coalition” which would also include Iraq and Lebanon, the two countries that Iran believes it controls their governments. Moscow was not interested.
Gromyko’s duopolistic view
Clearly, Putin subscribes to Gromyko’s duopolistic view according to which small players like the Islamic Republic, even if accompanied by real or imagined satellites like Lebanon and Iraq, are not worth a prayer when a deal with the US may be possible.
To make it clear that he intended to reduce Tehran’s role in Syria, Putin also excluded Iran from his “consultation” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad. More importantly, Putin has made it clear that he wants Iran to prepare for withdrawing all its forces, including the non-Iranian mercenaries, from Syria. Putin sent his special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev to Tehran to tell the ruling mullahs that Russia wanted both Iran and the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah out as part of a bigger plan to have all foreign forces, except Russians, out of Syria. A day later, the Russian oil giant Lukoil announced it was putting on hold a contract to develop new Iranian oil and gas fields. Putin knows that without reaching out to the US he may not be able to consolidate his gains in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and Georgia while he could become stuck in the Syrian quagmire with no prospect of getting out anytime soon.
There is also the fact that weak oil prices and sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union are beginning to affect living standards across the country. At the same time the oligarchs are making less money and find it more difficult to obtain Western visas and secure opportunities for putting their money in Western banks. Russia’s isolation was best illustrated during the big annual military parade in May when of all the foreign dignitaries invited by Putin only one turned up: the President of Moldova.