English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 16/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
The Death of Jesus/Good Friday
Holy Saturday: The Guard at the Tomb
Mathews 27/62-66/The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 15-16/2022
Rahi presides over ‘Prostration to the Cross’ Mass in Bkirki: Following Lebanon’s current circumstances, a new birth.
Holy Spirit University holds "Prostration to the Cross" Mass
Health Ministry: 146 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
Franjieh, Marada delegation meet with Lavrov, Bogdanov
MP Jumblatt: Our battle is a battle of sovereignty and reform,
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says it has requested “Kinde
Abi Rached: Do not elect the destroyers of Lebanon
Egyptian Gas Supply to Lebanon Awaits US Guarantees, World Bank Funding
Report: Saudi, French ambassadors discuss Lebanon's presidential vote
Salameh says ready to meet with Swiss prosecutors
Lebanon ready to work with Cyprus on potential offshore gas
Lebanon’s Christians seek simple Easter respite in ancient Qadisha Valley/Jamie Prentis/The National/Apr 15, 2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 15-16/2022
Israel Strikes Government Positions near Damascus
Russia Pledges More Strikes on Kyiv after Missile Attack, Says Took Mariupol Plant
Zelenskyy echoes concern Russia may use nuclear arms
Turkey Pushes for Normalizing Ties with Egypt after Nine Years of Tension
Regime, Opposition Raise Combat Readiness in N. Syria amid Russia's Preoccupation in Ukraine
Abbas Threatens to Take 'Strategic Decisions' in Wake of Israeli Aggression
Over 100 Palestinians hurt in Jerusalem clashes as religious festivals overlap
Analysis: West’s failure to hold Syria’s Assad accountable motivated Russia’s Putin

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 15-16/2022
Turkey: Kurdish Children Killed, No Consequences/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/April 15/ 2022
The Good Things of Good Friday/Michael P. Foley/New Liturgical Movement/April 15/ 2022
Erdogan’s secret prisons in Syria/Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/April 15/2022
Biden and Putin Are in Business Together, Thanks to the Iran Deal/Lee Smith/The Tablet/April 15, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 15-16/2022
Rahi presides over ‘Prostration to the Cross’ Mass in Bkirki: Following Lebanon’s current circumstances, a new birth
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided Friday over the “Prostration to the Cross” Mass at the “Chapel of Resurrection" in Bkirki, in the presence of a crowd of Archbishops, senior religious clerics, prominent officials and believers. Al-Rahi considered in his homily that Lebanon shall know “a new birth following the circumstances we are currently living.”He wished all Lebanese a blessed resurrection, noting that “with Christ, everything did not end on Friday, but ended on Sunday… Therefore, we can say as a token of our resurrection at home and in the world, Christ has risen, truly risen!”

Holy Spirit University holds "Prostration to the Cross" Mass
Papal Ambassador: Changing the mentality to move away from selfishness logic is the responsibility of those who hold official positions in church & society
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Marking Good Friday by Christians following the Western calendar, the Holy Spirit University in Kaslik held this morning the “Prostration to the Cross” Mass, which was presided over by the General President of the Maronite Order, Abbot Neematallah al-Hashem, and attended by the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun. Also present was Papal Ambassador to Lebanon, Monsignor Joseph Spiteri, who delivered a word stressing the need to alter the mentality to get out of the logic of selfishness, saying that "this is our responsibility, especially with regard to those who hold official positions in the church and society."It is to note that President Aoun had arrived at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik at half past ten in the morning, where he was received by Abbot al-Hashem, the University President, Father Talal al-Hashem, and the General Secretary of the Monastery, Father Michel Abou Taqa, who accompanied the President to the hall of Pope John Paul II, where a floral wreath was placed on the body of the crucified. Following the Mass, President Aoun, Abbot al-Hashem, the Papal Nuncio, the University President and its Board of Administrators moved to a side hall, where a luncheon was held on the occasion.

Health Ministry: 146 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
In its daily report over COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Friday the registration of 146 new Corona virus infections, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,095,406. The report added that 2 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Franjieh, Marada delegation meet with Lavrov, Bogdanov
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Head of the "Marada" Movement, Sleiman Franjieh, visited Friday the Russian capital, Moscow, accompanied by a Movement delegation including former Minister Rony Araiji, former MP Karim al-Rassi and Mr. Antoine Merheb, where they held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who expressed "Moscow's keenness to help Lebanon in overcoming the problems that have hindered its development in recent years.”According to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov said: "We frankly want to help our Lebanese friends in solving the problems that have distracted you in recent years in one way or another from the beneficial purposes, the development of your state and the strengthening of its security." He continued, "We believe that it is important basically to preserve the principles on which the contemporary state in Lebanon depends, and which we always call for strengthening especially during our work within the UN Security Council." "Moscow follows these approaches in its regular contacts with representatives of the entire political spectrum in Lebanon," Lavrov asserted. Referring to the “Marada” Movement’s significant role in the development of the contemporary Lebanese state, the Russian Foreign Minister said his country is interested in listening to the Movement’s assessments and giving its feedback, an interest that springs from Russia’s desire to help friendly Lebanon. It is to note that Franjieh and his accompanying delegation had earlier met at the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry with the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Middle East and African Countries, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and Head of the Lebanon and Syria Department Andrei Panov, where they underlined the importance of relations and ties between Lebanon and Russia. The meeting also included an exchange of views on current issues.

MP Jumblatt: Our battle is a battle of sovereignty and reform,
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
"Our battle today is not only the battle of Al-Mukhtara or the Chouf or our presence in this beautiful region, but our battle is that of the entire country…It is the battle of Lebanon of reconciliation, Lebanon of coexistence, Lebanon of diversity, and it is a battle of the environment and education; the battle of reform and sovereignty; the battle of a people and a homeland or what is left of the homeland and its institutions,” said Democratic Gathering Bloc Head, MP Taymour Jumblatt, on Friday. Touring the villages of the middle Chouf, which he started from Baakline, accompanied by MP Marwan Hamadeh and senior PSP officials, Jumblatt asserted that the battle today is different from the previous ones, citing the March 14th period as an example during which international community support was extended. “The Arab countries had taken a decision to move away a little due to the policies of Iran and Hezbollah, and we thank God for their return to Lebanon and their investment in it, hopefully resulting in a kind of balance,” he added. “Our role as a party is to listen to you more, and trust the people more, and our role is to work more on the ground in order to support steadfastness…Our role as deputies is to endeavor within the Parliament Council, and together with you to defend what remains of Lebanon," Jumblatt concluded, addressing the citizens and supporters he met during his tour.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says it has requested “Kinde
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
The Ministry of Public Health issued a statement today indicating that “Minister Firass Abiad has addressed a letter to Economy and Trade Minister Amin Salam, requesting that the Ferrero Company’s manufactured “Kinder” chocolate products be withdrawn from the Lebanese market in wake of alerts from the international network of authorities concerned with food safety (INFOSAN), affiliated to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), reporting that the company's products were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.
“In order to preserve public health, the Minister of Health sent a letter to the Economy Ministry, which has the authority, to withdraw food products from the Lebanese market as quickly as possible, provided that a subsequent letter is sent as soon as the complete lists of numbers of contaminated mixtures are received,” the statement said.In this connection, an issued statement by the Italian company, Ferrero, which is classified as one of the giant companies in the food industry, has acknowledged the existence of “internal loopholes”, indicating that it has “suspended the work of its factory that produces ‘Kinder’ chocolate in Arlon, Belgium, after its products were suspected of causing salmonella infections.”As a result, “Kinder” chocolate products were withdrawn from the markets of the United States and many European and Arab countries.

Abi Rached: Do not elect the destroyers of Lebanon
NNA/Friday, 15 April, 2022
“T.E.R.R.E. Liban” Association and Lebanon Eco Movement Head, Paul Abi Rached, criticized today the recent words by MP Gebran Bassil about Lebanon’s underground water, wondering how the MP can say that our underground water is polluted with sewage at a time when the energy and water ministers from his political team failed to do anything to protect it. “You criticize the artesian wells, whose number exceeds 50,000 and most of them are unlicensed…What did you do at the Ministry of Energy and Water to regulate the use of underground water?" he asked Bassil.
“You have failed to preserve Lebanon's real wealth, and unfortunately you are constructing dams that leak water, or collect sewage water," Abi Rached said, in response to MP Bassil. He added: "Which is better? To collect drinking water with dams coated with carcinogenic asphalt, at the cost of millions of dollars, because our land is leaking water and not suitable for dams, or should we rely on the wisdom of the Creator, and take advantage of our free underground water and prevent its pollution by sustainable management with the help of clean and wise ministers?”Abi Rached stressed that “our underground water is renewable and overflowing with rivers that reach Turkey, Jordan and Palestine.” He concluded by calling on the Lebanese “not to elect the destroyers of Lebanon’s nature, instead to hold them accountable!”

Egyptian Gas Supply to Lebanon Awaits US Guarantees, World Bank Funding
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad held talks with Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek al-Mulla in Cairo on Thursday.
Fayyad said that concluding the deal to import gas from Egypt through Syria requires US guarantees to exempt Lebanon from the Caesar Act sanctions, and requires the necessary World Bank financing. Importing gas from Egypt “is currently in the hands of the World Bank to secure the necessary funding,” as well as in the hands of the United States of America “so that the repercussions of the Caesar Act do not have a negative impact on the project of transporting gas to Lebanon through Syria," Fayyad said. Both sides reviewed the terms of the contract for the agreement to supply Egyptian gas to Lebanon. They agreed on most of these terms, and the necessary procedures are currently being completed to start exporting gas to Lebanon, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum said in a statement. Talks also tackled the coordination with Jordan and Syria, through which the gas will be piped to reach Lebanon. Mulla affirmed Egypt’s commitment and support to Lebanon in line with the strong brotherly ties, referring to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s pledge to support the Lebanese people. “The gas supply agreement represents an Egyptian contribution to addressing the energy problem in Lebanon,” Mulla said, underlining the importance of completing the remaining procedures to start the supply process. Fayyad, for his part, expressed Lebanon’s appreciation to Sisi and Egypt for supporting the Lebanese people and understanding Lebanon's requirements in light of the current critical economic situation. Lebanon suffers a severe crisis in electricity supplies, which it seeks to resolve through a US-backed plan to use Egyptian gas by pumping it through Jordan and Syria to operate a power station in northern Lebanon. But the agreement has not been signed yet.

Report: Saudi, French ambassadors discuss Lebanon's presidential vote
Naharnet/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Saudi Arabia and France are exploring the available options in order “not to repeat the experience of President Michel Aoun in the Baabda Palace,” a media report said on Friday. “Riyadh seems to be interested in looking for a candidate who can be promoted and eventually endorsed by the Western countries, especially Paris and Washington, in order to engage in this juncture with a unified stance,” ad-Diyar newspaper quoted Western diplomatic sources as saying. This would allow Riyadh, Paris and Washington to “have a single candidate in the face of the candidate that is supposed to be endorsed by Hizbullah and Iran,” the sources added. Ad-Diyar also noted that Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari has discussed the presidential file with French Ambassador Anne Grillo on the sidelines of the meeting that he held with her to tackle the mechanism of Saudi-French humanitarian support for Lebanon. As Grillo told Bukhari that the new president should be “neutral and unbiased, especially in his foreign ties,” the French ambassador sensed that Saudi Arabia does not want “a repetition of President Aoun’s experience,” the daily quoted visitors of the French embassy as saying. “This meeting between Grillo and Bukhari will soon be followed by a meeting between Bukhari and U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea,” ad-Diyar added, noting that “the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is still cautious in approaching this file with Arab and Western partners because it is still awaiting the crystallization of the May 15 electoral scene.”“The French are not showing fierce opposition to the possibility of the election of Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh as president and they believe that he currently has no competitors among the ranks of his own camp, seeing as it will be very difficult for Hizbullah to promote Jebran Bassil for the presidency to the latter’s several crises with the various political parties,” ad-Diyar said.

Salameh says ready to meet with Swiss prosecutors
Naharnet/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh has said that he is willing to meet with Swiss prosecutors over a money-laundering investigation. "I have already informed the Swiss justice that I am ready to go," he told Swiss television SRF. "Because they asked the question in February 2020 whether they can (interview) me in Lebanon or in Switzerland. I said I am ready to go to Switzerland... I am waiting for them to call for me," Salameh added. Asked about properties he owns in Switzerland, Salameh said he used investment advisers and bank loans to buy property, adding: "I don't see where is the crime in that." Lebanon opened a local probe into Salameh's wealth last year, after the Swiss top prosecutor's office requested assistance in an investigation into more than $300 million which he allegedly embezzled out of the central bank with the help of his brother. Salameh also faces lawsuits in other European countries, including France and Britain. Lebanon's top banker of three decades is blamed for policies that contributed to the country's financial collapse, a charge he has repeatedly denied.

Lebanon ready to work with Cyprus on potential offshore gas
AP/April 15, 2022
NICOSIA, Cyprus: Lebanon is ready to work with Cyprus to exploit potential gas deposits in waters between the two east Mediterranean countries, Lebanon’s top diplomat said Friday, even though a deal on offshore rights hasn’t been formally finalized. Cyprus and Lebanon signed an agreement delineating their respective offshore exclusive economic zones in 2007, but the Lebanese parliament has yet to ratify it amid the country’s ongoing maritime border dispute with Israel. Nevertheless, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia that “with Cyprus there’s no problem, once we found gas we’re ready to go, put it together.” “We talked about it and I can assure you that Lebanon is ready to do it,” Bou Habib said. The Lebanese top diplomat’s remarks come as Europe is seeking new energy sources to wean itself off Russian gas in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Cyprus has issued exploration drilling licenses to ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Petroleum, a consortium made up of French energy company Total and Italy’s Eni, as well as Chevron and partner Shell, to most of its 13 segments in its exclusive economic zone off its southern coast. To the north, Cyprus faces an intense challenge from Turkey which claims much of the island’s EEZ as its own and has sent warship-escorted survey ships into the area — earning condemnation from the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member. Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is only recognized by Turkey. Lebanon’s Bou Habib said a US written mediation proposal submitted earlier this year that aimed at resolving the Lebanese-Israeli dispute, while much better than previous attempts, is “not enough yet.”He said both Lebanon’s government and its lawmakers are “all in agreement” on what they seek from a deal with Israel. “Therefore the response to the Americans hopefully would be soon and it would be one response,” Bou Habib said. Any discoveries within Lebanon’s own economic zone would be a long-term boon for the crisis-hit country’s beleaguered economy. Lebanon’s economic crisis has been described by the World Bank as one of the world’s worst since the 1850s. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs since October 2019 and the Lebanese pound lost more than 90 percent of its value.

يسعي مسيحيو لبنان إلى فترة راحة بسيطة في عيد الفصح في وادي قاديشا التاريخي
Lebanon’s Christians seek simple Easter respite in ancient Qadisha Valley
Centuries-old monastery Deir Qannoubine has long been a refuge for Maronite Christian communities
Jamie Prentis/The National/Apr 15, 2022
يسعي مسيحيو لبنان إلى فترة راحة بسيطة في عيد الفصح في وادي قاديشا التاريخي
كان دير قنوبين الذي يعود تاريخه إلى قرون طويلة ملاذاً للجماعات المسيحية المارونية
جيمي برنتيس/ذا ناشيونال / 15 أبريل 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107949/lebanons-christians-seek-simple-easter-respite-in-ancient-qadisha-valleyjamie-prentis-%d9%8a%d8%b3%d8%b9%d9%8a-%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%88-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a5%d9%84/
Nestled deep in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley, for centuries the Deir Qannoubine monastery has been a refuge for Christian communities fleeing persecution. Accessed by a narrow, unpaved road carved into the Qadisha — or holy in Aramaic — Valley in north Lebanon, the monastery has sat on top of a steep cliff since the 4th century. It is one of a number of similar sites scattered across the tree-lined valley, described as one of the most important and earliest Christian monastic settlements in the world, with snow-topped peaks still visible in the background. And while a handful of nuns live there all year round, Father Hani Tawk, a Maronite priest, leads celebrations and ceremonies at Deir Qannoubine on important religious occasions — including Easter.
“It’s our roots here. Our Jerusalem, our Rome,” said the father of four. “It’s like a shelter, to keep safe our faith and our freedom against all the armies [and] occupation of our land. Arab, Mameluke, Ottoman,” he said from the valley, which for many perhaps now serves best as a refuge from frenetic city life and the litany of problems currently affecting Lebanon. Wadia Elshaya, a nun at the monastery, loves life in the valley. “It’s almost ascetic, especially in the winter, when there’s no one else here.”
Normally Father Hani is based in Beirut, where he operates a food kitchen for those in need in Karantina, a largely industrial area that was severely hit by the port explosion that struck the capital in 2020. But he regularly retreats to the monastery and Qadisha Valley. “It’s my history, it’s my roots. Also, it’s my future. Why? Here, it’s like a place to recharge — like a battery. I come here to recharge, to make a spiritual retreat … we need sometimes to come back, to pray, to feel and smell the spirit of God.”
According to Father Hani, 23 patriarchs of the Maronite church lived and died at the monastery over a 400-year period — 15 of them are buried in a tomb in the adjoining Saint Marina the Monk church. The seat of incumbent Cardinal of Bechara Boutros Rai is now in Bkerke, near the coastal town of Jounieh, but his red-roofed summer residence is visible from Deir Qannoubine on the other side of the valley in Dimane.
Father Hani Tawk celebrates Mass at the Deir Qannoubine monastery on Maundy Thursday. Photo: Finbar Anderson / The National
Father Hani arrived at the monastery on Wednesday, readying himself for a long weekend to celebrate Easter. Save for the occasional birdsong and the river that runs towards Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli, it is the ringing of the bells that breaks the silence as the sun dips below the hills that wall the valley on Thursday evening. Maundy Thursday is the day of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus is believed to have had with his disciples, and is marked by the ritual of the Washing of the Feet, as a sign of humility.
About 40 or so worshippers line the 10 rows of benches in the small church for the ceremony. Father Hani, previously wearing a jumper, is now cloaked in white robes as he leads with his sermon, followed by prayers. Part way through the evening, he kneels down and moves across the aisle to wash the feet of 12 people — representing the 12 disciples. Although relatively small, the monastery has a deceptive amount of space. Small entrances reveal extra rooms for prayer, built into the hillside, while below are a number of bedrooms for those wanting to stay.
Stooping under faintly lit doorways and narrow paths through the monastery, Father Hani points to a number of what were once secret escape routes, if the monastery came under attack, leading into the mountains. They are no longer hidden. “Now we have a country, we are safe now. We don’t need again need this hide and escape. Thank God, after 1920 we have a big Lebanon and a state. We have many, many problems [in Lebanon] but we have a country, we have our citizens.” And while not everything is exactly the same as it was centuries ago — the occasional smartphone is whipped out to record the foot washing and a new mosquito net covers the centuries-old former main entrance door — there is an effort to draw from the “feeling” and history that has taken place at the monastery. “I feel God provides this type of life, firstly to help prayer. So that we can pray for our world, our nation, and for anyone in need. Because if there’s no prayer, there’s nothing,” said Wadia Eshaya, the nun who resides at the monastery. “I love this life of prayer, this type of life. Here, people have a lovely message, it’s very beneficial. Some people, when they come here, they feel such a peace, the peace of God that you don’t find anywhere else.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 15-16/2022
Israel Strikes Government Positions near Damascus
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Israel late Thursday carried out air strikes on government positions near the capital Damascus, the state news agency SANA said, without reporting any casualties. "An Israeli air raid targeted certain positions near Damascus," it said, adding that many explosions were heard in the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israelis attacked military positions south west of the capital, AFP reported. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes inside the country, targeting government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah. While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged mounting hundreds since 2011.The conflict in Syria has claimed around 500,000 lives, ravaged infrastructure and displaced millions.

Russia Pledges More Strikes on Kyiv after Missile Attack, Says Took Mariupol Plant
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Russia's defense ministry said on Friday it had struck a military target on the edge of Kyiv overnight with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets. The ministry said its forces had also taken full control of the Ilyich Steel Plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks. Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday which appeared to be among the most significant there since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles in the south and east. The explosions were reported to have been heard after the Russian defense ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged. Ukraine claimed the Moskva's damage was the result of one of its missile strikes. Russia's defense ministry spoke only of a fire breaking out and of exploding ammunition. The defense ministry said in its statement that its overnight missile strikes on Kyiv had struck the 'Vizar' factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital which it said made and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles. It pledged more strikes on Kyiv.
"The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime," the ministry said in a statement. It said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter which it said had attacked the village of Klimovo in Bryansk region on April 14 and had also shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi-27 jet. A group of up to 30 Polish mercenaries had also been destroyed, it said. Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24. Ukraine has put up fierce resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia.

Zelenskyy echoes concern Russia may use nuclear arms
Reuters/15 April ,2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia could use nuclear weapons out of desperation as its invasion falters, echoing comments by CIA director William Burns. Asked about the threat, Zelenskyy said “all of the world” should be worried that Russia “began to speak about... nuclear weapons or some chemical weapons.”“They could do it, I mean they can,” he told CNN. “For them, life of the people is nothing... let’s not be afraid -- be ready.”Burns said Thursday that Russia’s battlefield setbacks raised the risk that President Vladimir Putin could deploy a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon.
The Kremlin said it had placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the assault began February 24, but the United States says it has not seen any sign of unusual nuclear movements. Russian military doctrine includes the “escalate to de-escalate,” principle of launching a small nuclear weapon to regain the initiative in war. US President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned about avoiding a third world war, about avoiding a threshold in which nuclear conflict becomes possible,” said Burns.

Turkey Pushes for Normalizing Ties with Egypt after Nine Years of Tension
Ankara – Saeed Abdulrazzak/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Turkey has decided to appoint an ambassador to Egypt after nine years of mutual withdrawal of ambassadors and downgrading the diplomatic representation to the rank of chargé d’affaires between the two countries. The move follows Egyptian authorities confirming that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry would soon be visiting Istanbul to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Cavusoglu said that Turkey may appoint an ambassador to Egypt as part of the normalization of relations with Cairo. The normalization of ties between Turkey and Egypt is vital for the Eastern Mediterranean, the top Turkish diplomat said Thursday in a televised interview. Cavusoglu also said that a reciprocal reappointment of ambassadors is possible, and the will exists on both sides to normalize ties. The Turkish minister revealed that Shoukry would visit Istanbul this month. “I will meet the Egyptian Foreign Minister at an iftar in Istanbul, during the current Ramadan, if there is no emergency,” said Cavusoglu in a Tuesday speech during a meeting of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party. Despite saying that the meeting would take place soon, Cavusoglu did not specify an exact date for Shoukry’s visit.
Egypt’s relations with Turkey have been strained – with no shared ambassadors – since the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s late Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was backed by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The rift between the two countries then continued to widen, most notably when Turkey voiced its opposition to the 30 June Revolution of 2013 and its condemnation of Egypt’s judicial sentences against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt designated a terrorist organization in 2013. Egypt has also slammed Turkey for harboring members and leading figures of the Muslim Brotherhood and allowing them to voice their anti-Egyptian government rhetoric on Turkish TV channels. In May and September 2021, Egypt and Turkey held two rounds of exploratory talks at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Cairo and Ankara to discuss restoring relations between them.

Regime, Opposition Raise Combat Readiness in N. Syria amid Russia's Preoccupation in Ukraine
Idlib – Firas Karam/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
Syrian armed opposition factions are stepping up military training on various types of weapons and combat with the aim of raising their level of offensive and defensive combat readiness, opposition military sources revealed. Opposition fighters are training at bootcamps in the Idlib region and the countryside of Aleppo in northwest Syria. Syrian regime forces have also staged similar military exercises in camps close to the contact lines in Idlib’s countryside. Regime fighters also trained on carrying out airdrops. “As Russians boost their training of regime forces near contact lines, opposition factions correspondingly step up their training of existing and newly drafted fighters,” Col. Mustafa Bakour, a defected regime officer and leader of the “Jaysh al-Izza” faction told Asharq Al-Awsat. Bakour revealed that the Russians were training regime soldiers on disembarking from helicopters. He said that such exercises suggest that they are preparing for a new military offensive. “The current situation of cautious calm that has prevailed for two years on the frontlines and the cessation of military operations may at any moment turn into military confrontations between the opposition factions and the regime forces, which may lead to a change in the map of the areas of control,” he explained. “All factions have repeatedly asserted their readiness to repel any aggression against the liberated areas in northern Syria by the Assad regime, Russians and Iranians,” he added. Syrian activists reported on military changes in the positioning and deployment of regime forces and Iranian militias in several Syrian regions. The highlight of these changes is the alteration of regime positions near contact lines with the opposition factions. It is believed that the regime’s position change comes in anticipation of the decline of the Russian role in Syria due to its preoccupation with the Ukrainian war.

Abbas Threatens to Take 'Strategic Decisions' in Wake of Israeli Aggression
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 15 April, 2022
The Palestinian leadership threatened to take strategic decisions during a meeting on Sunday aimed at addressing Israeli aggression in the West Bank. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called for the meeting. The presidency warned it would implement the decisions taken by the Central Council in February, which included suspending recognition of Israel. Hussein al-Sheikh, member of the Fatah Central Committee and Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, denounced Israel’s escalation against Palestinians, stressing that the ongoing “massacre cannot be tolerated.”
He slammed the Israeli government’s instructions to its army to kill Palestinians without restraint, holding it fully responsible for the repercussions of its aggression, which is taking place under international cover. He appealed to all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to sit together and unite to face the aggressive Israeli measures. Sheikh did not clarify what strategic decisions the leadership would take at Sunday’s meeting. However, the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, hinted at the implementation of the Central Council decisions. “United Nations resolutions alone are no longer sufficient, and the occupation is pushing things to a dead end,” he stressed. In February, the Palestinian Central Council decided to suspend recognition of Israel until Tel Aviv recognizes a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 border. It also decided to end all commitments to agreements reached with Israel and halt all forms of security coordination with it. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat, however, that the decisions will not be adopted on Sunday. Rather, Abbas may warn that the ongoing aggression will eventually lead to their gradual implementation.

Over 100 Palestinians hurt in Jerusalem clashes as religious festivals overlap
Agence France Presse/April 15, 2022
More than 100 people were wounded Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in fresh violence as Jewish and Christian festivals overlap with Ramadan.
Israeli police said that before dawn "dozens of masked men" marched into Al-Aqsa chanting and setting off fireworks before crowds hurled stones towards the Western Wall -- considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.
A Palestinian Red Crescent official said 117 people were rushed to hospitals and "dozens of other injuries" were treated at the scene. Israeli police said three officers were hurt. The latest clashes come after three tense weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Jewish festival of Passover and Christian Easter overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Al-Aqsa is Islam's third-holiest site. Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount, referencing two temples said to have stood there in antiquity.
Witnesses said Palestinian protesters threw stones at Israeli security forces, who fired rubber-coated bullets and sound grenades towards some of them.
An AFP photographer said more than 100 Palestinians were seen hurling projectiles towards the Israeli security forces.
'Violent riot'
Last year during the Muslim month of fasting, clashes that flared in Jerusalem, including between Israeli forces and Palestinians visiting Al-Aqsa, led to 11 days of devastating conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers Hamas. The mosque compound is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, falling within Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Israeli police said that on Friday, dozens of masked men "marched into Al-Aqsa mosque at 04:00... chanting inciting messages and setting off fireworks" and collecting "stones, wooden planks and large objects, which were then used in a violent riot."
"Despite these actions, police forces waited until the prayer was over," a statement said. "Crowds then began to hurl rocks in the direction of the Western Wall... and as the violence surged, police were forced to enter the grounds surrounding the Mosque," it said, adding police "did not enter the mosque."
The violence subsided later in the morning, AFP correspondents said. "We have no interest in the Temple Mount becoming a center of violence, which will harm both the Muslim worshippers there and the Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall," Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said on Twitter.
Before Ramadan began this month, Israel and Jordan stepped up talks in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year's violence. Jordan serves as custodian of the mosque compound, while Israel controls access.
Spiraling violence
Israel has poured additional forces into the West Bank and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks in the Jewish state that have mostly killed civilians in the past three weeks. A total of 14 people have been killed in the attacks since March 22, including a shooting spree in Bnei Brak, an Orthodox Jewish city in greater Tel Aviv, carried out by a Palestinian attacker from Jenin. Twenty-one Palestinians have been killed in that time, including assailants who targeted Israelis, according to an AFP tally. On Thursday Israel announced it would block crossings from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel from Friday afternoon through Saturday, the first two nights of the week-long Passover festival, and potentially keep the crossings closed for the rest of the holiday. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has given Israeli forces a free hand to "defeat terror" in the territory which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, warning that there would "not be limits" for the campaign. Some of the attacks in Israel were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel linked to or inspired by the Islamic State group, others by Palestinians, and cheered by militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Three Palestinians died Thursday as Israeli forces launched fresh raids into the West Bank flashpoint district of Jenin, a week after the Bnei Brak attack.

Analysis: West’s failure to hold Syria’s Assad accountable motivated Russia’s Putin
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/15 April ,2022
The international community’s failure to stop mass killings and tyranny in Syria paved the way for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to proceed with his invasion of parts of Ukraine in 2014 and then again this year.
This issue was thrust back into the limelight last week when Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the UN Security Council.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Last week also marked five years since Syria’s air force dropped a Russian bomb with Sarin gas on Khan Sheikhoun, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians.
“The chain of mass killings from Syria to Somalia, from Afghanistan to Yemen and Libya should have been stopped a long time ago to be honest,” Zelenskyy said during a powerful speech to Security Council members, urging them not to allow Russia to continue to go unpunished for its war crimes.
“If tyranny had ever received such a response to the war it had unleashed that it would have ceased to exist and a fair peace would have been guaranteed after it, the world would have changed for sure,” Zelenskyy said.
Former US officials and analysts concur.
“This was our best shot to send Putin a strong deterrence message. Alas, the Obama administration was not interested in getting more involved in Syria,” said Randa Slim, a program director at the Middle East Institute. “Obama felt Putin would be stuck in a quagmire in Syria, which was good news for the US.”
Former US President Barack Obama notoriously warned the Assad regime in 2012 that if it used chemical weapons, it would cross a “red line” and be met with a response.
Chemical weapons were widely used, and the Obama administration failed to act.
“Some in the Obama [administration] thought the Russians [could] present a challenge to Iran’s game in Syria. Others were hoping that the Russian intervention [would] decelerate the momentum of ISIS military advances,” Slim told Al Arabiya English.
A similar warning was made by Obama when it came to Ukraine in 2014 as Russia annexed Crimea.
Former US Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn said Russia was “overestimated” as a military superpower twice in less than 50 years.
“In overestimating Russian power, we failed to secure vital interests & let unnecessary disasters unfold in Syria & elsewhere. Time to learn,” Joel Rayburn tweeted.
But Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Syria was not a failure in standing up to the Russians.
“It was something worse. It was a deliberate two-step between Obama and Putin, in the service of Obama’s realignment strategy with Iran,” Badran said. “And it was paid for not only in Syria, but also, simultaneously, in Ukraine. And very specifically, at the expense of NATO.”
Since late last year, the US had warned that Russia was preparing for a military invasion of Ukraine while Moscow repeatedly denied what has now been proven as credible.
The Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Putin’s monthslong isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic are believed to have factored into the Russian president’s decision to greenlight the invasion.
Jomana Qaddour, head of the Syria Portfolio at the Atlantic Council, said Putin made an “advanced audit” of US and European will and interest before proceeding in Ukraine.
“Time and time again in Syria, Putin saw the US willing to concede space for Russian presence and objectives, rather than respond in return and create more of a ‘deconfliction mechanism’ whereby some mutual interests might have been served, but Russian interests did not reign supreme,” Qaddour told Al Arabiya English. Pointing to the “countless demons” in Syria, including Iranian and Russian-backed militias, ISIS, and the Assad regime, Qaddour said: “With results such as this, I’m not sure Putin would have expected significant Western pushback in Ukraine.”
For his part, Brian Katulis, the VP of policy at the Middle East Institute, said: “As you watch Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine unfold - don’t forget: This moment was brought to you in part by those who said they were “proud” America did not engage more deeply in Syria. And those who called for “restraint” or shrugged their shoulders.”

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 15-16/2022
Turkey: Kurdish Children Killed, No Consequences
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/April 15, 2022
In the indictment concerning the latest killing, the police officer said that the child "hit his vehicle".
"These reports are defective. It is a massive problem that these reports list many faults of the defendant but conclude that he is guiltless or is just secondarily at fault. It is also a huge problem that these reports are prepared not by independent persons or institutions, but rather by the police or other state institutions. Evidence was blacked out, and not collected properly. And a crime scene investigation has not been thoroughly conducted. The conclusions of these reports do not reflect reality." — Ömer Sansarkan, human rights lawyer who joined Tektekin's trials on behalf of the Diyarbakir Bar Association's Children's Rights Center, to Gatestone, April 5, 2022.
According to a 2012 report by the Diyarbakır branch of the IHD, 569 Kurdish children were killed between 1988 and 2013 by state violence such as police or military fire, gas bombs, mines, or explosions of abandoned or derelict ordnance. Because of the "political tendencies of the government", "the actions of the public officials in line with these tendencies" and "a lack of independence of the judiciary", "human rights violations resulting from arbitrary practices by public officials are considered legitimate and the perpetrators are protected with impunity." — The Working Group on Children Affected by War and Conflict of the Children's Rights Center of Diyarbakir Bar Association, March 2, 2022. These crimes also constitute discrimination, as they occur mostly in the majority-Kurdish region of Turkey, the report added.
"None of the perpetrators has received a fair punishment." — Ömer Sansarkan, to Gatestone, April 5, 2022.
The killing and wounding of Kurds caused by Turkish security forces in armored vehicles appear to be a systematic problem in the majority-Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Those police officers or soldiers who hit the Kurds with these vehicles seem to always get away with their crimes. Pictured: An armored vehicle manned by Turkish Army soldiers drives though the majority-Kurdish city of Sanliurfa as women and children pass by, on October 17, 2019. On September 11, 2019, a five-year-old Kurdish child, Efe Tektekin, was killed crossing the street when a Turkish police officer hit him with his armored vehicle in Diyarbakir. The officer, after facing trial for "causing death by negligence," was acquitted following the final hearing of the court case on March 29. If Tektekin had run out into the road too fast for the policeman to stop, then there would have been a proper investigation and all evidence would have been used. But the lawyers have said that the legal system protects police officers. Moreover, there have been many other similar cases of killings by armored vehicles: in none of them is the driver ever punished. These armored vehicles, are only deployed, discriminatorily, in Kurdish-majority communities. They endanger public safety and should not even be driving in the streets.
Human rights lawyers say that impunity for state authorities or public officials who commit crimes against Kurds are systematic in Turkey.
After Tektekin's death, the police officer who hit him was never arrested. He has continued, on duty as a police officer, driving his armored vehicle ever since. During the final court hearing, the Tektekin family lawyer, Sedat Çınar, noted the obstacles they faced during the investigation and trial:
"Right after the incident, the armored vehicle was taken away from the scene immediately. Photographs of the vehicle were not taken, necessary determinations were not made regarding the accident, and cameras from the workplaces around were not collected and examined. Witnesses stated that the vehicle's camera was working [at the time of the incident], and it could see the images around, but in a reply letter [sent by authorities] it was reported that the vehicle's camera was defective. It is clear in the defendant's statements that he had gone out of his regular route [right before the incident]. It is against reason and science to find a 5-year-old child at fault in the incident."
Çınar added that "when the scope of the current court file is evaluated as a whole, the defendant's action should be assessed within the framework of conscious negligence or possible intent and the defendant be punished accordingly."
In the indictment concerning the latest killing, the police officer said that the child "hit his vehicle". The report prepared by authorities stated that the dead child was found to be "the main culprit" while the police officer was determined to be "the secondary culprit". When the lawyers opposed the report, a second report claimed that Efe's father, Ahmet Tektekin, was "primarily at fault" on the grounds that he "did not take care of his child during the accident and endangered his safety." The report also found the police officer "secondarily at fault", saying:
"The evidence at hand is that the driver managed the vehicle in a way that could be dangerous for the life, health and property of the people around without reducing his speed according to the environmental conditions. This accident should have been predictable and preventable had the driver paid the necessary attention and care."A third report by authorities found the dead child to be primarily at fault while calling the police officer "secondarily at fault."Human rights lawyer Ömer Sansarkan, who joined Tektekin's trials on behalf of the Diyarbakir Bar Association's Children's Rights Center, told Gatestone: "The first report was prepared by the police. The second report was by the Diyarbakir branch of the forensic medicine institute (ATK). And the last one was prepared by the Istanbul Traffic Specialization Office of the ATK. "These reports are defective. It is a massive problem that these reports list many faults of the defendant but conclude that he is guiltless or is just secondarily at fault. It is also a huge problem that these reports are prepared not by independent persons or institutions, but rather by the police or other state institutions. Evidence was blacked out, and not collected properly. And a crime scene investigation has not been thoroughly conducted. The conclusions of these reports do not reflect reality."
During the first court hearing in February 2020, the family's attorney Çınar said that it was only the police force who collected the evidence regarding the offending officer. "The driver's license of the accused is not presented in the court file and there is a lot of other [evidence] that is missing. In our region [Kurdish-majority southeast], human lives are not valued [by police and other state authorities]... There are cameras, there are witnesses. If the police want to, they can find them and put them in the file. But the witnesses chosen for this court are two people who have committed criminal offenses. While there are many other witnesses, only the testimonies of these two people were taken. The boy's father said that he watched the event from the vehicle's camera. We want the camera records to be requested from the police."
All of the requests of the family's lawyers were not met.
The killing and wounding of Kurds caused by security forces in armored vehicles appear to be a systematic problem in the majority-Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Those police officers or soldiers who hit the Kurds with these vehicles seem to always get away with their crimes.
In the last 14 years, 90 Kurdish civilians were injured in 77 armored vehicle crashes. At least 43 people, 20 of whom were children, were killed as a result of being hit by armored vehicles, according to a local branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) in the city of Batman.
A January 2022 report by the IHD noted that armored vehicle crashes have become commonplace in the cities and towns of Turkey's majority-Kurdish region.
"As the Human Rights Association, we want armored vehicles to be removed from living areas [neighborhoods], and legal deterrent measures to be taken against the careless use of vehicles by law enforcement officers that endanger the right to life of citizens. We demand effective judicial and administrative investigations against law enforcement officers whose actions have caused death and injury, and an end to the protection of armored vehicles."
According to a 2012 report by the Diyarbakır branch of the IHD, 569 Kurdish children were killed between 1988 and 2013 by state violence such as police or military fire, gas bombs, mines, or explosions of abandoned or derelict ordnance. A 12-year-old Kurdish child named Ceylan Önkol, for instance, was killed by a mortar shell on September 28, 2009 while grazing cattle in Diyarbakır.
Other reported killings of Kurdish children include:
Umut Furkan Akçil, age 7, was killed on October 10, 2010 in the city of Sirnak. He was escaping from pepper gas thrown by the police during demonstrations but was then hit by a passing vehicle.
On October 6, 2010, Ahmet İmre, age 12, was killed and another child of the same age was seriously wounded as a result of the explosion of a metal object that they had found in the rural area in Şırnak. The area where the children were playing was near a military zone.
On September 17, 2010, 15-year-old Enver Turan was shot by a sergeant who had exited his vehicle during protests in Hakkari. The child died in hospital.
On July 22, 2010, 16-year-old Canan Saldık, on the way to a picnic in a village near the city of Van, was killed by a bullet that hit her in the head. The gunfire allegedly came from a nearby military barracks.
On June 24, 2010, Birem Basan, age 14, was hit and killed by a police armored vehicle in Şırnak.
On May 25, 2010, in the city of Van, an explosion occurred while some children were playing about one meter outside the military barracks shooting range. Oğuzcan Akyürek, age 13, was killed and four children were wounded. It was alleged that a soldier from the barracks had thrown explosives at children.
On April 23, 2010, 14-year-old Izzettin Boz, who was grazing animals in a village in Mardin, was killed when an object he found exploded. The munition reportedly belonged to the Turkish military.
On April 2, 2010, 14-year-old Mehmet Nuri was shot dead by Turkish soldiers in a village near the city of Van.
The Working Group on Children Affected by War and Conflict of the Children's Rights Center of Diyarbakir Bar Association issued a report on March 2 entitled "Armored Vehicle, Mines and Combat-War Waste Induced Child Rights Violations".
The report analyzed the years 2011 to 2021. It noted that 22 Kurdish children were killed and 27 children were wounded as a result of being hit by an armored vehicle driven by police officers or shot by fire from armored vehicles.
From 2011 to 2021, mines, conflict, or unexploded ordnances in eastern Turkey killed 45 Kurdish children and wounded 135 children.
The perpetrators, however, are "protected," the report noted:
"The concept of impunity means that no investigation or prosecution is opened in accordance with legislation or practice, that investigation and prosecution processes are not carried out properly, and/or that the judgment rendered as a result of these processes is incompatible with justice or it is not executed. In short, it means that the perpetrators of human rights violations are immune from punishment."
Because of the "political tendencies of the government", "the actions of the public officials in line with these tendencies" and "a lack of independence of the judiciary", "human rights violations resulting from arbitrary practices by public officials are considered legitimate and the perpetrators are protected with impunity."
These crimes also constitute discrimination, as they occur mostly in the majority-Kurdish region of Turkey, the report added:
"These rights violations that also violate the prohibition of discrimination are not seen throughout Turkey, but they are specific to a region of the country. Children's rights violations arising from mines, conflict-war wastes, and armored vehicles systematically take place in the provinces of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Regions especially where [military] conflicts are intense. This situation should be considered within the scope of violations of the prohibition of discrimination defined in national and international legal texts."
The arbitrary rights violations by state authorities including law enforcement officers in Turkey have led to the deaths and injuries of dozens of Kurdish children. But as Sansarkan concluded, "None of the perpetrators has received a fair punishment."
Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Good Things of Good Friday
Michael P. Foley/New Liturgical Movement/Friday, April 15, 2022
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/04/the-good-things-of-good-friday.html#.YlmbYdPMJD8
Anonymous, Central Panel of the Knappenaltar, Hallstatt, Austria, 1450
Without doubt the most dolorous day of the Church’s annually recurring sanctification of time is Good Friday, the day on which she commemorates in a special manner the Passion and Death of Our Lord, the day that is the culmination of forty days of fasting and penance, and the only day of the year in the Latin rites of the Church on which her altars are deprived of the Holy Sacrifice.
But as Christian disciples who are sorrowful but always rejoicing (see 2 Cor. 6, 10), Good Friday is not an occasion of defeat but of love's triumph. Today, let us look at five good effects of this solemn, somber day.
1. Music
The liturgical observance of Good Friday has inspired not only a number of beautiful musical compositions but also a number of musical genres. The celebration of Tenebrae, the combination of Matins and Lauds during the pre-dawn mornings of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, led to a body of music called Lamentations. The Matins of Tenebrae include several passages from the Book of Lamentations in the Old Testament. Jeremiah’s wrenching dirge over the destruction of Jerusalem was traditionally chanted, but beginning in the fifteenth century it became the inspiration for non-liturgical polyphonic settings by several famous composers. These Lamentations are recognized today as among the finest examples of Renaissance and Elizabethan music.
The Three Hours’ Devotion, or “Seven Last Words of Christ,” is a Good Friday service begun by Father Alphonso Messia, S.J., in 1732. From its place of origin in Lima, Peru, it quickly spread to all other countries in Central and South America and from there to Italy, England, and America, where both Catholics and Protestants enthusiastically embraced the devotion. The service, which alternates between homilies on the seven last statements of the crucified Christ and various hymns and prayers, has also inspired the composition of memorable music, including “The Seven Last Words of Christ” by Franz Josef Haydn (1787), “Les Sept Paroles de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ sur la Croix” by Charles Gounod (1855), and “Les sept paroles du Christ” by Theodore Dubois (1867).
Lastly, the Gospel readings of the traditional Roman rite backhandedly led to the creation of Passion Music. In the Roman calendar, all four Gospel narratives of the Lord’s Passion are read at a time during Holy Week: the Passion according to St. Matthew on Palm Sunday, the Passion according to St. Mark on the following Tuesday, the Passion according to St. Luke on Spy Wednesday, and the Passion according to St. John on Good Friday. During a High Mass, these narratives would be chanted by three clerics: a tenor taking the role of the narrator, a high tenor taking the role of the mob and various individuals, and a bass voice taking the role of Christ.
The music for these parts is an outstanding example of the power and beauty of Gregorian chant; understandably, then, it left a deep impression on the Western imagination even after the Protestant Reformation in large part did away with the liturgical setting of Holy Week. Nature abhorring a vacuum, Protestant composers soon began writing passion oratorios to replace the music of solemn liturgy, the most famous of which are J. S. Bach’s “Saint John Passion” and “Saint Matthew Passion.”[1]
2. Food
Good Friday is principally known as a day of fasting. In contemporary Church discipline, it is only one of the two mandatory days of fasting left on the calendar (Ash Wednesday being the other). In former times, it was the occasion of far more rigorous fasting. The Irish and other Catholics kept what was known as the Black Fast, in which nothing was consumed, except perhaps for a little water or plain tea, until sundown. And in the second century the early Church is said to have kept a forty-hour fast that began at the hour when Christ died on the Cross (3 p.m. Friday) and ended on the hour that He rose from the dead (7 a.m. Sunday).[2]
But despite its link to fasting, Good Friday is also associated with several foods. In Greece it is customary to have a dish with vinegar added to it, in honor of the gall our Lord drank on the Cross.[3] In some parts of Germany, one would only eat dumplings and stewed fruit.[4] In other areas of central Europe, vegetable soup and bread would be eaten at noon, and cheese with bread in the evening. At both meals people would eat standing and in silence.[5]
The widespread custom in Catholic countries of marking every new loaf of bread with the sign of the cross took on a special meaning on Good Friday. In Austria, for instance, Karfreitaglaib, bread with a cross imprinted on it, was eaten on this day.
But the most famous Good Friday bread is the hot cross bun. According to legend Father Rocliff, the priest in charge of distributing bread to the poor at St. Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire, decided on Good Friday in 1361 to decorate buns with a cross in honor of Our Lord’s Passion. The custom spread throughout the country and endured well into the nineteenth century, where it was sold on the streets of England, as the nursery rhyme tells us, for “one a penny, two a penny.” Today, hot cross buns are available during all of Lent.
Several pious superstations also grew around the hot cross bun, such as the belief that it would never grow moldy and that two antagonists would be reconciled if they shared one. Good Friday hot cross buns were kept throughout the year for its curative properties; if someone “fell ill, a little of the bun was grated into water and given to the sick person to aid his recovery.” Some folks believed that eating them on Good Friday would protect your home from fire, while others wore them “as charms against disease, lightning, and shipwreck”![7]
3. Customs
Besides the lore surrounding hot cross buns, Good Friday became a magnet for an assortment of non-liturgical customs and folk beliefs. In Mexico and other lands, piñatas in the likeness of Judas Iscariot would be beaten to a pulp.[8] In Europe, people refrained from all forms of merriment: no joking and laughing, no noisy tasks, no theatrical performances (except for Passion plays), no dancing and, as we shall see, no hunting. Even children “abstain[ed] from their usual games.”[9]
In the Middle Ages it was common for the population to wear black during all of Holy Week as a sign of mourning and especially on Good Friday, and it was Church law until 1642 to refrain from all servile labor during the Triduum. Schools, businesses, law courts, and government offices would all close during Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. In Catholic countries it was common for pardons to be granted to prisoners during Holy Week, and often charges would be dismissed in court in honor of our Lord’s Sacrifice.[10]
The list of what could and could not be done was often inspired by the events of the Passion. It was auspicious to plant and to garden on Good Friday because “Christ blessed and sanctified the soil by His burial,”[11] but woe to the man who swung a hammer or drove a nail on the day that these objects became instruments of Our Lord’s torture. Doing laundry was also verboten, as Christ’s clothes were stained with blood during His Passion. According to one superstition, any woman who did the washing on Good Friday would find the clothes spotted with blood and bad luck would follow her all the year. It was, however, good luck to die on Good Friday, since one’s soul would, like the Good Thief’s, be given speedy access to Heaven.
Georges Seurat, "The Gardener," 1882-1883
Among the non-superstitious customs, one of the most impressive can be found in the Eastern rites of the Christian Syrians and Chaldeans. Their customary greeting, Schlama or “Peace be with you,” is not used on Good Friday and Holy Saturday because it is the signature salutation of Christ after His resurrection (see Lk. 24,36; Jn. 20,21; 20,26) and is redolent of Judas’ perfidious greeting. Instead, they say “the Light of God be with your departed ones.”[12]
And, of course, the Western and Eastern rites of the Church developed beautiful liturgical and para-liturgical traditions for this unique anniversary. In the traditional Roman rite, the liturgical ministers vest in black as they would for a Requiem Mass. The service consists of the Mass of the Catechumens, where several readings, including the Passion according to St. John, are proclaimed; the Oratio Fidelium or “Prayer of the Faithful,” in which the Church solemnly prays for the world in a series of moving petitions; the Adoration of the Cross, when the priest unveils a crucifix in three stages and the people venerate the Cross with a kiss; and finally, the Mass of the Presanctified, a communion rite involving Hosts consecrated from a previous day.
Before the nineteenth century, the Good Friday service was supplemented throughout Europe by great processions through the streets that featured images of the suffering Christ and dolorous Blessed Virgin Mary borne on decorated platforms. This custom is still maintained today in the Latin countries of both the New and Old Worlds. Other popular or once-popular devotions include the Forty Hours’ Devotion, the Three Hours’ Devotion (see above), and the Stations of the Cross, the latter often dramatized (in Hispanic communities) outdoors.
Good Friday procession of the epitaphios in Greece
The most striking feature of the Good Friday service in the Byzantine Rite, on the other hand, is the “burial service” of Our Lord, where the faithful mourn the death of their Savior in a kind of funeral procession. A large and usually ornate shroud called an epitaphios bears Christ’s image and is carried around the perimeter of the church before it is placed in a Sepulchre. In addition to the Procession of the Holy Shroud, twelve Gospels are chanted, and a number of litanies are prayed, and a watch is kept at the Sepulchre.
4. Holy Deaths
The Catholic hagiographical tradition also cherishes the memory of several saints whose birthday into eternal bliss occurred on the anniversary of Our Lord’s death. Often, their feast days are transferred to another date; still, the day on which they died is a significant part of their life’s story.
Saints Azades, Tharba, and thousands of other Persian martyrs were cut down in a brutal persecution that began at twelve noon on Good Friday in A.D. 341 and ended on Low Sunday of the same year. Azades was a eunuch favored by the king; when he was martyred, the aggrieved tyrant limited the persecution to bishops, priests, monks, and nuns. Tharba, on the other hand, was a beautiful consecrated virgin who preferred being sawn in half to the lascivious advances of her judges. Their feast day is April 22.[13]
Matthias Stom, "Saint Ambrose," 1633-1639
Saint Ambrose of Milan (d. 397) is one of the great Latin doctors of the Church and the bishop who facilitated the conversion of Saint Augustine of Hippo. Ambrose prayed during his final hours on Good Friday with his arms outstretched in imitation of his crucified Master and passed away shortly after receiving the Viaticum. His feast day is kept on December 7, the anniversary of his episcopal ordination.
Saint Proterius was a Patriarch of Alexandria who was stabbed to death in 557 by Eutychian schismatics in a baptistery where he had taken sanctuary. After killing him, the schismatics “dragged his dead body through the whole city, cut it in pieces, burnt it and scattered the ashes in the air.” His feast day is February 28.[14]
Saint Walter of Pontoise was an Abbot of St. Martin’s near Pontoise, France. He so feared becoming vainglorious from ruling a monastery that he frequently ran away from it. Eventually the Pope had to order him to remain in his abbey. Saint Walter was beaten and imprisoned by his fellow Benedictines for his opposition to simony within the order, but he bore his persecution with patience and even joy. He passed away on April 8, 1099, and his feast day remains on that day.[15]
Saint Francis of Paola, founder of the Minim Friars, sensed at the age of ninety-one that his death was approaching. Gathering his disciples and giving them his final instructions, he died on Good Friday in 1507 while listening to the reading of the Passion according to St. John. His feast is kept on April 2, the day that he passed away. Fifty-five years later, when his tomb was desecrated by the Huguenots, the saint’s body was discovered to be incorrupt. Nevertheless, the Huguenots dragged it out and burned it.[16]
Saint Margaret Clitherow, also known as the “Pearl of York,” is one of the forty great English recusant martyrs canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Arrested for giving Catholic priests safe harbor, she refused to plead on the grounds that her young children could then be tortured and forced to testify. Consequently, Margaret received the standard punishment for those who refused to plead: she was stripped and crushed to death by an immense weight. The two sergeants who were put in charge of her execution could not bring themselves to do it and hired four beggars instead. After her execution, even the ruthless Queen Elizabeth I wrote to the citizens of York to express her horror at St. Margaret’s death, who as a woman should not have received capital punishment. Her feast day is August 30.
Saint John Baptist de la Salle is the founder of the Christian Brothers and the patron saint of teachers; because of the vast educational reforms he instituted, he is also considered the father of modern pedagogy. To meet the dire educational and social needs of his day, this holy priest proposed the radical idea of popular free schools. Among his reforms was a focus on reading and the teaching of elementary-school children in the vernacular rather than Latin. During Holy Week of 1719, Saint Jean Baptiste sensed that his life was coming to an end. On Holy Thursday he blessed the brothers who had gathered at his bedside, and on Good Friday “he breathed his soul into the hand of his Creator.”[17] His feast is celebrated on May 15.
After decades of teaching small children and caring for the sick and elderly, the Servant of God Maria Luisa Godeau Leal founded the Augustinians of Our Lady of Help and took the religious name Maria of the Eucharist and of the Holy Spirit. Maria, who hailed from Mexico City, died on Good Friday, March 31, 1956. Her cause is currently being put forth for canonization.
Lastly, mention should be made of St. Veronica Giuliani who, although she did not pass away on Good Friday, led a life that was punctuated by this holy day. Veronica was a Poor Clare Abbess, mystic, and stigmatist. When only eighteen months old, she uttered her first words in response to a shopkeeper who was doling out a false measure of oil: “Do justice, God sees you.”[18] She had the privilege of receiving divine communications from the age of three, and loved the poor so much that she often gave them the clothes off her back. When she was four, “her dying mother entrusted each of her five children to a sacred wound of Christ”: Veronica was assigned the wound in Christ’s side.[19]
After becoming a nun of the Poor Clares, she desired to become united with Christ in His sufferings. Eventually, she was favored with the stigmata in the form of the Crown of Thorns, which left wounds that were painful and permanent. And on Good Friday in 1697, she received the impression of the wounds on Christ’s hands, feet, and side. After her death an autopsy was performed and it was discovered that on her heart were recognizable symbols of Christ’s Passion. Her body, which was laid to rest in her monastery at Citta del Castello, remained incorrupt until it was destroyed by a flood from the Tiber River.
5. Conversions
Good Friday is also auspicious for the living as well as for the dying. A number of sinners became saints, or at least embarked on the path to sanctification, because of this liturgical anniversary. Two of these saints had a conversion experience while hunting. Both Saint Eustace (a Roman martyr) and Saint Hubert (a medieval confessor Bishop of Germany) are said to have been irreverently using the day on which Our Lord’s blood was shed for us in an attempt to shed an animal’s blood for sport when they came upon a stag with a glowing cross between its large antlers. In Hubert’s case, the stunned hunter fell to his knees and heard a voice say to him, “Hubert, unless thou turnest to the Lord and leadest a holy life, thou shalt quickly go down to hell.” Hubert heeded the warning, eventually becoming the wise and holy bishop of Maastricht. And the image of a stag with a cross between its antlers eventually appeared on the label of the strong German liqueur named Jägermeister, or “master of the hunt.”
Robert Leighton, "Saint Hubert," 1911
But perhaps the most powerful conversion story involving Good Friday is the life of Saint John Gualbert (d. 1073). Saint John was an Italian nobleman whose only brother was murdered by a man that was supposed to have been his brother’s friend. Swearing revenge, John chanced to come upon him face to face in a narrow passageway on Good Friday. When he drew his sword to slay the murderer, the man dismounted his horse, knelt down, and “besought him by the passion of Jesus Christ, who suffered on that day, to spare his life.” The memory of Christ, who prayed for his murderers on the cross, greatly affected Saint John, and lifting his brother’s killer from the ground, said to him: “I can refuse nothing that is asked of me for the sake of Jesus Christ. I not only give you your life, but also my friendship for ever. Pray for me that God may pardon me my sin.”[21]
Anonymous, "St. John Gualbert," 14th century
John then went to a nearby monastery to pray, and as he knelt before the crucifix begging forgiveness for his sins, Christ on the cross bowed his head three times, signaling (as Saint John interpreted it) that He was pleased with his repentance. John immediately asked the Abbot to be admitted as a monk. Although the Abbot was apprehensive of John’s father, who was shocked by his son’s decision, John eventually became an exemplary monk and the founder of his own religious community at Vallis Umbrosa in Italy.
Conclusion
Scholars remain uncertain about the precise origins of the English name “Good Friday.” Is it like the Dutch term Goede Vrijdag that means the same thing, or is it, as others have speculated, a corruption of “God’s Friday”? Either way, we can see how God’s Friday of merciful self-giving, and the Church’s annual remembrance of it, have created an abundance of good things both little and great.
This article, which first appeared in the Winter/Spring 2013 issue of The Latin Mass magazine, has been since updated. Many thanks to the editors of TLM for allowing its publication here.
Notes
[1] Francis X. Weiser, S.J., Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1958), 191, 203–204.
[2] Weiser, Handbook, 201.
[3] Evelyn Vitz, A Continual Feast (Ignatius Press, 1985),190.
[4] Katherine Burton and Helmut Ripperger, Feast Day Cookbook (Catholic Authors Press, 2005), 53.
[5] Weiser, Handbook, 205.
[6] Burton, Feast Day Cookbook, 52.
[7] Weiser, Handbook, 206.
[8] See Wendy Devlin, “History of the Piñata,” Mexico Connect, http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/wdevlin/wdpinatahistory.html; Olga Rosino, Belinda Mendoza, and Christine Castro, “Piñatas!” http://www.epcc.edu/ftp/Homes/monicaw/borderlands/10_pi%C3%B1atas.htm.
[9] Weiser, Handbook, 205.
[10] Weiser, Handbook, 187.
[11] Weiser, Handbook, 205.
[12] Weiser, Handbook, 205.
[13] Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints, 1866 edition, accessible at bartleby.com.
[14] Butler, Lives.
[15] Butler, Lives.
[16] Lawrence Hess, “St. Francis of Paula,” Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06231a.htm.
[17] Matthias Graham, “St. John Baptist de La Salle,” Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08444a.htm.
[18] Lawrence Hess, “St. Veronica Giuliani,” Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15363a.htm.
[19] Joan Carroll Cruz, The Incorruptibles (TAN Books 1977), 252.
[20] “Nov. 3,” Faith & Family (Winter 2002), 42.
[21] Butler, Lives.

Erdogan’s secret prisons in Syria
Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/April 15/2022
BEHIND THE LINES: With no charges brought against her, and no legal process, Nadia was imprisoned in a series of unofficial jails across northwest
Nadia Hassan Suleiman remembers well the day she was arrested. It was in the city of Afrin, northwest Syria, in June 2018. Her husband, Ahmed Rashid, had disappeared two months earlier. She had received a voice message from him. The men who pulled up in a car beside her said they were detailed to bring her to visit her husband. Instead, Nadia, a Syrian citizen hailing from Afrin, was taken into custody. A two-year nightmare had begun.
With no charges brought against her, and no legal process, Nadia was imprisoned in a series of unofficial jails across northwest Syria. For four months she was held in a facility she believes is maintained by Turkish Military Intelligence, and interrogated by Turkish-speaking officers.
Then, as part of a group of 11 other women, similarly held without charge, she was transferred to a jail of the Sunni Islamist, Turkish-supported Hamzat Division. In the frequent interrogation sessions to which she was subjected, Nadia was accused of association with the Assad regime and the Kurdish PKK.
20 years since the Seder bombing attack: Waving to the Angel of Death
Throughout her captivity, Nadia was repeatedly tortured, and on several occasions raped. As she describes it in her recorded testimony: “Each of the female detainees underwent various forms of torture and rape. The torture was daily, individually or collectively, and we were repeatedly raped. They gave us narcotic pills, and sometimes they poured cold water on all of us in the harsh winter cold. Even young children were not exempt from the torture.”
NADIA HASSAN Suleiman’s story is only one of many. Evidence is emerging of systematic and grave violations of human rights carried out by Turkish-supported Islamist militias in northwest Syria.
Testimony of survivors reveals a pattern of illegal incarcerations with no judicial process or oversight, grave abuses of detainees, including sexual abuse, rape, torture and instances of murder.
A dossier received by this author, and currently also in the hands of the US State Department, contains extensive testimony and detailed evidence. The dossier was compiled by Syrian activists unaffiliated with any political body. Independent Syrian experts who have examined the evidence find it to be credible.
According to two human rights bodies, the Violations Documentation Center and the Zaytouna Project, 8,590 people have been held in this system of off-the-grid prisons since 2018. Of these, 1,500 have disappeared entirely, leaving no record.
To understand what’s going on, a little background is necessary. In January 2018, in the ironically named Operation Olive Branch, the Turkish armed forces destroyed the Kurdish-controlled Afrin canton, in northwest Syria.
In close cooperation with Sunni Islamist militias allied with Ankara, Turkey took control of the area. Around 300,000 residents, mainly Kurdish and Yazidi, fled to other parts of Syria.
Since then, the self-styled “Syrian Interim Government,” which is based in Turkey and supported by Ankara, has been the ostensible governing authority in this area. Day-to-day control is in the hands of the Islamist militias who make up the so-called “Syrian National Army.”
The real power supporting and training these militias and maintaining ultimate control in the area is Turkey. The unofficial prison system in which Nadia Suleiman was incarcerated is the product of this arrangement.
The names and locations of the places of incarceration making up this network of undeclared houses of confinement are known, and can be verified. The network extends from Idlib and Afrin in the west, through Azaz, Marea and al-Rai, to Jarabulus and al-Bab in the east.
The facilities forming part of this archipelago include: the prison of the security office of the SNA’s Hamzah Division, in Afrin; the Mazraa Prison, in Afrin’s Maarata District, in the hands of the Hamza Division’s Al-Ghab Brigade; the prison camp at Kafr Jannah, controlled by the Jabha al-Shamiya (Levant Front); the prison of the Levant Front’s security office, at the Souq al-Hal area in Afrin; al-Barad prison, under the control of the “Tanzim al-Ustaz” (more on this organization below); al-Masara Prison in the al-Ra’I area, controlled by the Turkmen Sultan Murad Division – from which no detainee has ever been released – and the prison of the security office of al-Mutasim Division in the Marea area.
In these places, Syrian citizens like Nadia Hassan Suleiman are incarcerated for long periods without any legal oversight. Conditions, as described to the author by former detainees, are primitive in the extreme. Prisoners are kept in filth-encrusted cells, with no access to natural light.
Torture by means of electric shocks, systematic starvation and beatings are meted out to all. Sexual abuse of both male and female detainees is routine. Photographic evidence of these conditions, taken at great risk by detainees, has been seen by the author.
SO WHO is responsible for this system? What is the overall structure of command? According to the testimony of “Yusuf,” a recent defector from the militias, a central coordinating body for the various security structures which maintain these facilities does exist. It is known as the “Tanzim al-Ustaz,” (Organization of the teacher/professor), or more formally as the “Mukhabarat al-Sari” (Secret Intelligence).
This structure is responsible for the overall coordination, supervision and management of the network of secret prisons described above. It is the supreme authority for the various security and intelligence teams maintained by the factions.
The individual who stands at the pinnacle of this structure, the “professor” of the organization’s title, is Kamal Ghazwan Kamal, also known as Abu al-Hassan, an Iraqi by birth, with a Turkish wife. A former senior security official of ISIS in Mosul, Kamal was arrested by the Turkish authorities in 2017.
He then assisted in the apprehending and arrest of ISIS members and formed relationships with senior figures in the Turkish-linked Syrian opposition. As a result of this collaboration, he emerged as a trusted figure with apparently relevant skills.
No official investigation into any of these allegations is currently underway. The Islamist militias in control on the ground in this area make the normal conduct of journalistic or other inquiry impossible.
But northwest Syria is not an abandoned territory. Rather, it is under the de facto control of Turkey, a NATO member state in good standing. There is a solid body of evidence to suggest that terrible crimes, like the ones inflicted on Nadia Hassan Suleiman, are being committed on a systematic and ongoing basis in Turkish-controlled northwest Syria. Pressure needs to be applied, and soon, to enable the investigation of these multiple allegations.

لي سميث: بايدن وبوتين شركاء تجاريين وهذا مرده إلى الإتفاق النووي الإيراني حيث لبوتين دور كبير في توقيعه واسترضاء الملالي
Biden and Putin Are in Business Together, Thanks to the Iran Deal
The administration’s willing dependence on the Kremlin for its Iran policy sealed Ukraine’s fate
Lee Smith/The Tablet/April 15, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107946/lee-smith-the-tablet-biden-and-putin-are-in-business-together-thanks-to-the-iran-deal%d9%84%d9%8a-%d8%b3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%ab-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%86-%d9%88%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b4/
With President Joe Biden’s poll numbers at all-time lows and the midterm elections just around the corner, it should hardly come as any surprise that the Democratic Party will go back to its playbook and once again make Russian President Vladimir Putin the centerpiece of campaign season. But in order to blame Putin for Biden’s sinking presidency, the party and its media retinue are going to have to bury the fact that Biden and Putin are a team, tied together by the Iran deal.
In 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign devised a plan to smear her rival and deflect attention away from her self-sabotaging use of a private email server—they got the press and FBI to say that Donald Trump had been compromised by Putin. In 2020, the media and former U.S. spy chiefs protected Biden’s campaign by loudly and falsely claiming that damning evidence of his family’s ties to corrupt foreign enterprises and officials found on Hunter Biden’s laptop was “disinformation” leaked by Putin’s spy services. Both attempts to blame Putin for the Democratic Party’s own messes were false.
And now the White House claims that the historic levels of inflation and surging food and energy prices that have turned voters against Biden are Putin’s fault. Never mind the insane amounts of money the U.S. government has been printing since the outbreak of COVID, or Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone pipeline on day one of his term and tell domestic energy producers to go jump off a bridge. These are Putin’s price hikes!
Up until now, the Democrats have been able to dine with Vladimir Putin and have their political cake, too. They blame Russia’s brutal despot for their domestic political screw-ups and then pay him off for doing their dirty work in the Middle East. Given that Putin couldn’t care less what lies Democrats tell on CNN, or how he is depicted by writers for The Atlantic, this arrangement has worked out just fine for all concerned—as long as campaign season bluster doesn’t affect a mutually profitable business relationship.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, the collision of Biden’s ghastly poll numbers with a real-life shooting war in Ukraine makes the enemy-by-day, proxy-by-night routine more difficult to sustain. What Biden’s protectors and validators in Washington can no longer conceal is that Biden is dependent on Putin to secure his chief foreign policy goal: reentering the Iran nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew. And once the deal is struck, Putin and his oligarchs stand to profit handsomely. As Sen. Ted Cruz put it, Biden intends to subsidize Putin’s war with a cash windfall worth at least $10 billion that will offset any sanctions Biden has imposed for invading Ukraine.
Typically, statesmen rationalize working with despots to achieve a greater good, even as these choices rankle the conscience of thoughtful men and women. Sure, Stalin is evil, but he is throwing millions of men against a greater evil, Hitler. We can work with him; we have to work with him. So surely Biden must think that Putin can help America achieve some vital geopolitical goal that somewhere down the line will foster greater things? Or else why work with a man who makes a habit of bombing schools and hospitals and other civilian facilities in Chechnya, in Syria, and now in Ukraine?
No, in this case American policymakers are countenancing havoc to beget chaos. By guaranteeing Iran’s ability to destabilize the Persian Gulf region and jolt energy markets by legalizing its nuclear weapons program, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a direct threat to American prosperity and domestic peace, not to mention to the entire Middle East. But because the Iran deal was Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative, the Biden team has made restoring it their top foreign policy priority.
Yet faced with the Biden administration’s overeager desire to reenter Obama’s Iran deal as soon as possible, the Iranians played hard to get. Their pride was wounded. And with a buyer firmly on the hook, the price could only go up. The obscurantist regime decided to teach the Americans a lesson by refusing to negotiate directly with the Biden team, even though it is staffed by Obama aides with whom it first struck the JCPOA in July 2015. The person chosen to mediate between America and Iran was Vladimir Putin.
It was not the first time the Obama-Biden team had tasked Moscow with managing Iran policy on its behalf. As the Syrian war broke out in March 2011, U.S. allies beseeched the White House to stop Bashar Assad’s bloody campaign against his own people. But since Assad was an Iranian client as well as a Russian one, Obama knew that if he stepped in against Assad, there would be no Iran deal. So he brushed off petitioners and told them to go talk to Putin instead. Obama then repeatedly used the Russians as a veto by proxy to defeat anti-Assad resolutions at the United Nations. When the Russians shot down a Turkish air force jet on the Syrian border, the White House backed Moscow’s account of the incident and left its NATO ally twisting in the wind.
Perhaps most famously, Russia protected Obama’s nuclear deal when it offered to rid Assad of his chemical weapons arsenal—an offer that kept Obama from having to enforce the redline against the use of chemical weapons. Because keeping Assad in power was an Iranian strategic necessity, the equation circa mid-2014 was clear to everyone involved: no Russia, no Iran deal. When Putin bit off Crimea and chunks of Donbas, Obama barely blinked an eye.
When Putin again escalated the number of Russian ground forces in Syria shortly after the JCPOA was struck, Obama administration officials celebrated Putin as America’s new partner in the fight against terror—that is, the war to defend Iranian interests in the eastern Mediterranean. If Iran couldn’t protect its “equities” in Syria on its own, then Russia could protect them, with American help.
It was only natural that the same people who relied on Russia to protect the Iran deal the first time around knew they could count on Putin once again when it came time for the United States to reenter the JCPOA. In December 2021, Putin and Biden aides met in Vienna to coordinate their negotiating postures over the Iran deal. Biden and Putin then discussed their arrangements together directly in a video summit. “Russia is an important partner in these talks,” a State Department spokesperson told the press in January. “We engage very constructively with Russia … on a mutual return to the JCPOA.”
The same month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his gratitude to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the “opportunity to discuss Iran.” The negotiations “have reached a decisive moment,” said Blinken, and “we hope that Russia will use the influence that it has and relationship that it has with Iran to impress upon Iran that sense of urgency.” It’s important to recall that at the very same time the Biden team was imploring Russia to help get Iran to accept their offer, Putin was already massing his troops on Ukraine’s borders.
In the context of America’s use of Putin to negotiate and guarantee Obama’s “legacy” foreign policy initiative, it’s not hard to see the logic behind Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine when he did: The Russian leader knew that he had America over a barrel. The timing of Putin’s decision had less to do with Xi Jinping’s reported personal request to hold off until the Beijing Olympics were over than it does with Joe Biden’s urgency to get back into the Iran deal. Even if Ukrainian sovereignty truly mattered to the American side, the White House’s diplomatic self-debasement made its priorities clear—the Americans would swallow anything to get back into the Iran deal.
In January, Biden effectively signed off on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—and the subsequent instability in the energy market—by signaling that a “minor incursion” into Ukraine would be overlooked by the White House.
Sure, Biden talked tough about imposing sanctions on Russia and called out Putin for his fiendish actions, but the Russians knew that his words were as hollow as Obama’s meaningless sanctions over Crimea. And the Russians gleefully rubbed Biden’s nose in it. Lavrov boasted publicly that the United States had provided written guarantees that sanctions imposed over Ukraine would have no effect on Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran. In other words, the cash influx that the JCPOA promised Putin would be unaffected by whatever happened in Ukraine. No matter how many Ukrainians Putin murdered, Biden was going to make the man he called a war criminal even richer. Half a million dead Syrians could testify that America would keep its word.
When the Iran deal is formalized, Iran will be a Russian nuclear client. Russia’s state-controlled Rosatom energy firm and at least four of its major subsidiaries will receive sanctions waivers to finish nuclear projects in Iran worth more than $10 billion. Iran will also be buying weapons from Moscow worth billions of dollars more. By relieving sanctions on Iranian banks, the restored JCPOA provides Putin with financial channels invulnerable to U.S. financial measures.
So if Putin isn’t going to suffer from the sanctions Biden imposed over Ukraine, who will? American voters, of course—and also Ukrainians, who Putin will keep killing with the weapons he acquires with his Iranian nuclear windfall.
*Lee Smith is the author of The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President (2020).
#Iran nuclear deal
#Joe Biden
#Vladimir Putin
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/biden-and-putin-in-business-together-thanks-to-iran-deal?fbclid=IwAR273yMhb1H-gLWjaRHRmr-9F3989o2-JZAPc3Hcp4Hw9S0DghH0erTSXx4