English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 22/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.
Acts of the Apostles 27,1-4.8a.14-15.18-21a.22-26./: "When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius. Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for. Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. Since the ship was caught and could not be turned with its head to the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you." So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island.’"

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-21/2022
Al-Rahi wants new president to confront forces 'acting as if state has no dignity'
Al-Rahi calls for a President of the Republic who draws the borders of the state
Lebanese official says Lebanon, Israel on verge of border deal
Lebanon reaps victory over Iran at Asian U-18 Basketball Championship opening
Health Ministry: 1,009 new Corona cases, 3 deaths
Caretaker Ministers partake in launching of "Eternal Love Forest” organized by "Green Cedar Lebanon" Association in Kfardebian
Mikati's Press Office: Legal measures against those involved in programmed campaign targeting the Prime Minister and his family
Corm says 'Audit Bureau report on waste in Telecom sector requires follow-up'
Abiad holds two meetings with associations, doctors of cancer patients: A strategic change in the drug control path reduces theft...
Hajj Hassan on cutting down forest trees: Leads to a very serious matter

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-21/2022
Iran Drops Demand to Remove IRGC from US Terror List
Leaders of US, UK, France, Germany Discuss Iran Nuclear Deal
Iran’s ‘Butcher of Aleppo’ Oversaw Plots to Kill Israelis in Türkiye
Zelenskiy Warns of ‘Ugly’ Russian Attack to Spread 'Despondency and Fear'
Russians, Ukrainian arrested trying to enter Albanian army plant
Zelensky warns of 'cruel' Russian action around independence day
Daughter of 'Putin's Brain' Ideologist Killed in Car Bomb Attack
Somali Forces End 30-hour Hotel Siege
Clashes Intensify between Türkiye, Syrian Regime in Aleppo
Iraq Keeps Up Search after Bodies Pulled from Collapsed Shrine
ICC Chief Prosecutor Visits Sudan

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-21/2022
Israel in search of identity: A Jewish state or a state of its citizens?/Mordechai Nisan/Jerusalem Post/August 21/2022
Forget Free Speech: Rushdie's Fatwa Is Winning/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/August 21/2022
More Churches Burned and Christians Killed in Egypt — and the Government Is to Blame/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/August 21/2022
Going Back to a Young Man Named Hadi Matar/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2022
A Turkish-Syrian Reconciliation in Sight?/Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2022
What Biden Has — and Hasn’t — Done/Paul Krugman/The New York Times/August 21/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-21/2022
Al-Rahi wants new president to confront forces 'acting as if state has no dignity'
Naharnet/Sunday, 21 August, 2022 
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday demanded the election of a president who would "not only demarcate the state's border with the countries surrounding Lebanon, but also with Lebanese forces acting as if there are no inviolability, borders nor dignity for the state, legitimacy and the army." "When we say that we don't want a provocative president, we don't at all mean that we want a president who would be challenged by everyone," al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. "The president's ability to confront provocations and challenges stems in the first place from his ethics, immunity to temptations, resilience in the face of intimidation, respect for the constitution and turning to the people at the critical junctures," the patriarch added. "His ability is his expertise in the public and national affairs," he went on to say. He added that the new president should not be elected based on "a book of terms for this or that camp," but rather based on "his vision for Lebanon's fate.""That's why we ask all the parties concerned with this presidential juncture to launch a wave of contacts and consultations with the hope that they agree on a candidate who enjoys these characteristics," al-Rahi urged.

Al-Rahi calls for a President of the Republic who draws the borders of the state
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided over Sunday Mass service in Dimane this morning. During his religious sermon, the Patriarch called for a rapid formation of a government with full prerogatives that assumes its responsibilities and elects a President of the Republic within the constitutional deadline. According to him, the Presidency of the Republic is the pillar of the Lebanese entity and the symbol of the unity of Lebanon. “It is our ecclesiastical duty to address the consciences of officials and urge them to form a new government with full powers to bear its constitutional responsibilities each day. We urge them to elect a new president of the republic within the constitutional deadline, without any delay,” al-Rahi asserted. He added: “It is really shameful that, since 1988, delaying the election of the Lebanese president has become a habit...as if to delude the Lebanese that the presidential elections are not absolutely necessary, since the state runs with or without a president. Is it the final stage in the scheme for regime change, the coup against Taif, and the overthrowing of the state?” Al-Rahi continued: “Let everyone remember that the Presidency of the Republic is the foundation for the emergence of the Lebanese entity and the symbol of Lebanon's unity. Without a president, there is no symbol or Lebanese unity. That is why we also demand a president who is at the level of the entity, the people, and the national symbolism, who brings the spirit of renaissance to the people and draws the borders of the state, not only with the countries surrounding Lebanon, but with Lebanese forces that act as if there is no prevention, no borders, and no dignity for the state, legitimacy and the army.”The Patriarch went on to explain that “when we say we do not want a president that poses a challenge, we do not mean at all that we want a president who is challenged by all...The president's ability to face challenges stems mainly from his morals, his immunity to temptations, his steadfastness in the face of intimidation, his resorting to the constitution and to the people at fateful crossroads.”“Therefore, we ask all parties concerned with this presidential election to launch a movement of contacts and consultations in order to agree on a candidate with these qualities,” al-Rahi affirmed.

Lebanese official says Lebanon, Israel on verge of border deal
Naharnet/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Lebanon and Israel are nearing an agreement over the demarcation of their maritime border, an official Lebanese source said. “We are very close to reaching an agreement over the demarcation of the sea border with Israel,” the source told Russia’s Sputnik news agency. “We have been informed that the answer that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will carry from the Israeli side in response to the Lebanese proposal is positive, and he will soon return to Beirut,” the source added. “The month of September will witness the solution for the border demarcation file,” the source went on to say.

Lebanon reaps victory over Iran at Asian U-18 Basketball Championship opening
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Lebanon's Junior Basketball team (under 18 years) began its matches in the Asian Championship, currently held in Iran, by defeating its Iranian counterpart (65-63) in the first group, during an exciting match held on Sunday that was won by the Cedars team in an ideal start for Lebanon in the continental championship.

Health Ministry: 1,009 new Corona cases, 3 deaths
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
In its daily report on COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday the registration of 1,009 new Coronavirus infections, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,204,106.
The report also indicated that 3 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Caretaker Ministers partake in launching of "Eternal Love Forest” organized by "Green Cedar Lebanon" Association in Kfardebian
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
The "Eternal Love Forest - Loop" was inaugurated in Kfardebian on Sunday, at the invitation of the "Green Cedar of Lebanon Association" headed by Pascal Choueiri Saad, with the participation of Caretaker Ministers Walid Nassar, Mohammad Wissam Al-Murtada, Walid Fayyad, Ali Hamieh, Amin Salam, George Boushkian and Johnny Corm, as well as Caretaker Information Minister Ziad Al Makari’s representative, Elissar Naddaf, and Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin’s representative, Saad Elias, alongside Deputies Nada Al-Bustani and Salim Al-Sayegh and a number of prominent figures from the region. A welcome musical reception was performed by a folkloric band to the beat of the famous Lebanese song, "Ahla Bhal Taleh", which represents the slogan of the national campaign by the Ministry of Tourism for the Summer 2022 Season.
In his word during the event, the Tourism Minister indicated that “this is not the first environmental initiative carried out by the Green Cedar Association of Lebanon, and its symbolism lies in the future, meaning that each of us ministers returns to visit the cedar that we have planted, see how it grows, and tell our children and grandchildren about it...This is our continuity and adherence to our roots and land...”With the summer season coming to an end, Nassar assured that the Ministry of Tourism continues to cater to initiatives that reflect Lebanon’s beautiful, cultural and civilized facets. He said: “On Thursday, August 25, under the patronage of His Excellency Minister of Information Ziad Al-Makari, we will launch the ‘recreational and cinematic tourism’ from Beirut, the capital of culture and civilizations. This is a major project that Lebanon will witness, rendering it on the map of "recreational, cultural and cinematic tourism" with the participation of Lebanese capabilities and talents present in all the neighboring Arab countries.”Nassar added: “The other tourism initiative is in sports. During our recent visit as a delegation commissioned by His Excellency the President of the Republic to the State of Qatar, we negotiated with the Prime Minister and those responsible for the World Championship that will be organized in Qatar in order to work on sports tourism, and not just the transmission of football matches...I will give you a number that will surprise you, namely that the number of Lebanese who have bought tickets to attend football matches in Qatar has reached 32,000 Lebanese to-date, other than the Lebanese who hold foreign passports...Tomorrow, I am heading to Cyprus to meet the Cypriot Minister of Tourism, and we seek, within the autumn and sports tourism, to attract more than 5,000 Lebanese to stay in Lebanon for about 16 days, and to secure a charter flight to Qatar.” On another note, Nassar renewed his call, "from the heights of Kesrouan to the Minister of Public Works, whose relentless efforts were witnessed last winter in the harshest conditions in terms of securing the opening of roads and fuel for mechanisms, asking him to accord this touristic region his attention, especially with regards to ski tourism.”
Touching on the new government formation issue, Nassar said: “On behalf of the cabinet ministers and myself, we appeal to His Excellency Prime Minister Mikati and His Excellency the President of the Republic to sit together as we sit here with each other with affinity and respect...so that they can try to form a new government as soon as possible...one that is capable and able to manage the crises before the winter season, and to administer the recovery plan and some constitutional entitlements.” Afterwards, the partaking ministers began planting cedars carrying their names before moving to the "Artists' Forest", where the names of artists and painters participating in the "Draw Me a Cedar" Exhibition were labeled on some cedar trees. A number of cabinet ministers, including Culture Minister Al-Murtada, affirmed that the current government “has transcended all differences and is united, as its ministers share affinity together despite the variances sometimes in politics."

Mikati's Press Office: Legal measures against those involved in programmed campaign targeting the Prime Minister and his family
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
The media office of Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement on Sunday in which it referred to a programmed campaign targeting PM Mikati and his family, through the spreading of rumors and lies regarding the customs dollar issue and the new cabinet formation. The statement indicated that PM Mikati and his family have assigned a law firm to take the necessary legal measures against the instigators and those involved in this campaign.

Corm says 'Audit Bureau report on waste in Telecom sector requires follow-up'
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Caretaker Tele-Communications Minister Johnny Corm said on Sunday that the report of the Court of Auditors on huge financial waste in the sector in the years 2010 to 2020 requires follow-up to achieve results. According to him, the judiciary must pursue the case to the end. "It is not enough for us to issue a report about a waste of six billion dollars, as if these billions will be returned to the Ministry...Unfortunately, that will not happen. But the judiciary must follow the issue to the end. We will support it, knowing that the current Tele-Comm Ministry directors are not the same persons who were in charge during the period mentioned in the report," he said. Additionally, Corm affirmed that his Ministry insists on stopping illegal internet services, pointing to the existence of an organized network robbing the stations. His words came in an exclusive interview with "Al-Ghad Satellite Channel", which broadcasts from Cairo and London, in which he pointed out that the reality has changed a lot today, whereby funds are no longer avaialble in abundance as in the past; however, he indicated that waste still exists due to illegal internet. Corm continued to indicate, in response to a question, that the increase on tariffs will not achieve results in the click of a button, as the sector needs time to recover due to the presence of old dues to suppliers that must be paid. The Minister of Tele-Communications was keen on saluting the workers in the sector despite the huge challenges they are facing, whereby the sector's services have not stopped and the internet and mobile services continue to be secured.

Abiad holds two meetings with associations, doctors of cancer patients: A strategic change in the drug control path reduces theft...
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Firass Abiad, held today two meetings at the Ministry with each of the associations that support cancer patients and doctors specializing in the treatment of cancerous tumors, where he briefed them on the details of the completed path to track and monitor the movement of drug distribution in Lebanon after introducing new mechanized programs.  As a summary, the tracking path includes the creation of a "Unique ID" (a special health number) for Lebanese patients exclusively, in addition to the facial scanning feature to ensure that there is no fraud. This will also entail the registration of the patient in a program called "AMAN", which allows the submission of the health and medical file electronically to the relevant committee in the Ministry of Public Health, which has the right to approve the file to obtain the drug or refuse it. As for patients requiring hospitalization to obtain their treatment, the Ministry will play a regulatory role between drug import companies and hospitals to secure medication directly to the hospital according to an automated mechanism in turn. Abiad announced that "the Ministry has started implementing more than one drug tracking program, and the Unique ID is being given to a number of patients," adding that "training is continuing in a number of hospitals to launch the trial phase next month."He stressed that this measure will help put an end to the frequent interruptions in the market, at a time when the medicine that enters Lebanon covers more than eighty percent of the needs. Abiad considered that "the success of the tracking path with all its programs will achieve a strategic change in the drug market and will limit drug theft and exploitation through the integration of work between the concerned parties, starting from the Health Ministry and the patient to the doctor, hospital and pharmacy." He hoped to "reach the adoption of this path in a comprehensive manner among all insurers."

Hajj Hassan on cutting down forest trees: Leads to a very serious matter
NNA/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, said today on Twitter: “We followed-up on the issue of random tree logging that is taking place in the towns of Western Baalbek-Hermel (Btedi’i, Deir al-Ahmar, al-Qaddam, Nabha and Qarha)...In wake of turning into organized operations through specialized groups, we confirm that this act lays grounds for a very serious matter. Therefore, we call on the security forces and municipalities to support the forest officials in their work, especially that we are on the eve of winter, which raises fear levels that these acts will increase...The Ministry of Agriculture will begin with a set of measures that will combine the efforts of the Ministries of Environment and Interior alongside the military to find a solution to this crime.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-21/2022
Iran Drops Demand to Remove IRGC from US Terror List
Washington - London/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Iran has officially dropped a key red line demand that had been a major sticking point in efforts to revive the nuclear deal, a senior US administration official told CNN. In its response to a draft nuclear deal agreement proposed by the European Union -- which the EU has described as a “final” draft -- Iran did not demand that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be removed from the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the official said. “The current version of the text, and what they are demanding, drops it,” the official said, noting that the US had repeatedly and consistently rejected the demand. “So if we are closer to a deal, that’s why.”The Iranians also dropped demands related to delisting several companies tied to the IRGC, the official said. US President Joe Biden has been “firm and consistent that he will not lift the terrorism designation of IRGC,” the official added. He said that while a deal is now “closer than it was two weeks ago, the outcome remains uncertain as some gaps remain. Biden will only approve a deal that meets our national security interests.” Progress from this point forward could be slow, another senior administration official said. But there does seem to be more momentum now than there has been in the past year. While the United States does feel one major obstacle has been removed, there are still some other sticking points. Those include Tehran’s desire for a guarantee that it will be compensated if a future US president pulls out of the deal, and its demand that a three-year-old probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into its nuclear program be shut down. The Biden administration’s position on those issues has not changed, officials told CNN. Iran still has to explain to the IAEA why undeclared nuclear material—traces of uranium—were found at Iranian sites in 2019, the officials said. And the US has also made clear to Iran that it can’t bind future administrations to the deal, nor promise compensation should a US president ever withdraw, the officials said. Biden has insisted for months that he would not lift the IRGC terrorist designation in order to revive the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Asked in July in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 whether he was still committed to keeping the IRGC on the list, even if it meant killing the deal for good, Biden responded: “Yes.” The policy is one of several foreign policy decisions made by former President Donald Trump that Biden has maintained—the Trump administration designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019 as part of a “maximum pressure campaign” imposed after Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018. The Biden administration has also continued to impose new sanctions on Iran as talks over the nuclear deal have worn on. Politically, meanwhile, Republican opposition to the deal in the US remains strong, even if delisting the IRGC is not part of the deal. That opposition has only grown in recent weeks with the Justice Department rolling out charges against an Iranian who plotted to assassinate former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and the attack on author Salman Rushdie that was praised by Iranian officials. Republicans have also insisted that they will try to block any sanctions relief that Iran might get for returning to the JCPOA. “Their deal dismantles sanctions on the Iranian economy and floods the regime with hundreds of billions of dollars, even while Iran is attempting to hunt down and murder former American officials and dissidents on American soil,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas told CNN. Cruz added that he is “committed to blocking and reversing this catastrophic deal.”
For now, the US has been privately conveying feedback to the Europeans, a senior administration official said. But the US has not yet officially responded to the EU and Iranian drafts, another administration official said. “As we do in the Biden administration, we’re doing our homework,” one of the senior administration officials said. “We're consulting with our experts in the interagency. And when we have a response prepared, we’ll send it back.” The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.

Leaders of US, UK, France, Germany Discuss Iran Nuclear Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
The leaders of the United States, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the White House said on Sunday in a statement largely focused on Ukraine. "In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Iran’s destabilizing regional activities," the White House said in its description of the call among the four. According to Reuters, the White House provided no further details regarding the Middle Eastern portion of the discussion among US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The European Union and United States last week said they were studying Iran's response to what the EU has called its "final" proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief. Failure in the nuclear negotiations could raise the risk of a fresh regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh US sanctions, Tehran to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

Iran’s ‘Butcher of Aleppo’ Oversaw Plots to Kill Israelis in Türkiye
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
A notorious commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), previously expelled from Syria, oversaw operations to kill Israelis, Iran International, a Persian language television station headquartered in London, has learned. General Javad Ghaffari, the IRGC Quds Force commander who had reportedly been expelled from Syria last November for ‘major breach of Syrian sovereignty’, led the IRGC Intelligence Organization's plots to kill Israelis in Türkiye in the past nine months, a former senior IRGC official told Iran International. After returning from Syria, Ghaffari was appointed as the deputy head of IRGC Intelligence Organization for Special Operations, where he orchestrated a series of failed attacks against Israeli citizens, the Iranian source said. In the latest case in June, Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) thwarted a planned attack against Israeli diplomats and tourists in Istanbul. Ghaffari was the third commander of the Iranian forces in Syria since 2011 when Iran began its large-scale intervention in Syria's civil war. He started his career in Syria as one of the commanders at the Iranian forces' headquarters in Damascus and was later appointed as the commander of the forces in Aleppo - where he became known as the 'Butcher of Aleppo'. There, he led Iranian forces as well as their Lebanese Hezbollah proxies and Afghan mercenaries, the Fatemiyoun, until he was allegedly ousted by Assad. Ghaffari was expelled from Syria as he was “accused of ‘major breach of Syrian sovereignty’ after attacking US forces and deploying Iranian weapons to unapproved places.” Ghaffari's expulsion from Syria not only did not result in his retirement, but also won him a senior position at the IRGC Intelligence Organization (SAS). His failures at SAS outraged many IRGC officials, and finally prompted Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to sack the organization's controversial, but powerful, chief Hossein Taeb, who had run SAS for 13 years. However, Ghaffari was not the first or only official responsible for SAS operations overseas. His predecessor Reza Seraj had also been sacked for a failed plot to kill Israelis in Cyprus. Another key figure in the unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Israelis in Türkiye was Rouhollah Bazghandi, the deputy head of the SAS counterintelligence (Unit 1500), the former senior IRGC official told Iran International. By using amateur agents to carry out the attacks against Israeli targets in Istanbul, Bazghandi dealt a heavy blow to the IRGC Intelligence Organization, the source told Iran International.

Zelenskiy Warns of ‘Ugly’ Russian Attack to Spread 'Despondency and Fear'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged vigilance ahead of Wednesday's celebrations of 31 years of Ukraine's independence from Soviet rule, as shells rained down near Europe's biggest nuclear plant and Russian forces struck in the south and east. Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to "spread despondency and fear" ahead of the Aug. 24 events, which also mark six months since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday. "We must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious," Zelenskiy said, Reuters reported. In Russia, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow on Saturday evening, Russian state investigators said on Sunday. They said Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in, and they were considering "all versions" when it came to working out who was responsible. The nightly curfew in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, regularly hit by Russian shelling, will be extended for the entire day on Wednesday, regional Governor Oleh Synehub told residents on the Telegram messaging app.
As the war that has killed thousands and forced millions to flee heads for its half-year mark, Ukrainian military and local officials reported more Russian strikes overnight on targets in the east and south of the country. Ukraine's general staff said on Facebook early on Sunday that over the past 24 hours Russian forces had conducted several attempted assaults in Donbas. The eastern border region controlled in part by pro-Moscow separatists has been a prime target of Russia's campaign in the past months. In the south, Russian forces conducted a successful assault on a village of Blahodatne at the border between Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. The city of Mykolaiv was hit with multiple S-300 missiles early on Sunday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. The area on the Black Sea coast has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the past weeks. To the northeast, the city of Nikopol, which lies across the Dnipro river from Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear plant, was shelled on five different occasions overnight, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. He said 25 artillery shells hit the city, causing a fire at an industrial premises and cutting power to 3,000 residents.
The fighting near the Russian-controlled plant and Saturday's missile strike at the southern Ukrainian town of Voznesensk, not far from the country's second-largest nuclear plant, revived fears of a nuclear accident. The attack on Voznesensk was "another act of Russian nuclear terrorism", state-run Energoatom, which manages Ukraine's four nuclear energy generators, said in a statement. Russia did not immediately respond to the accusation. Reuters could not verify the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of damage to the power plant. As Moscow and Ukraine continue to trade accusations of shelling around the Zaporizhzhia complex, the United Nations has called for a demilitarized zone around the plant and talks continued about a visit of its nuclear agency to the area. Zelenskiy in his speech also referred obliquely to a recent series of explosions in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but analysts have said at least some have been made possible by new equipment used by its forces. "You can literally feel Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary and that Ukraine is coming back," Zelenskiy said.
In the latest incident, Crimea's Russian-appointed governor, who is not recognized by the West, said a drone attack on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet was thwarted on Saturday morning.
"It was downed right over the fleet headquarters. It fell on the roof and burned up. The attack failed," Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram. Razvozhayev said the region's anti-aircraft system had again been in operation and asked residents to stop filming and disseminating pictures of how it was working. Ukrainian media reported explosions in nearby towns, among them the resorts of Yevpatoriya, Olenivka and Zaozyornoye. Further west, five Kalibr missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the Odesa region overnight, according to the regional administration, citing the she southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses while three hit grain storage, but there were no casualties. Odesa and other ports in the region have been at the center of an U.N.-brokered deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports, blocked by the war, to reach world markets again. On Sunday, Turkey's defense ministry reported four more food-laden ships left Ukrainian ports, bringing the total to 31.

Russians, Ukrainian arrested trying to enter Albanian army plant
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Two Albanian soldiers were injured while trying to stop two Russians and a Ukrainian national from entering a military plant, the country's defense ministry said late Saturday evening. One of the suspects allegedly attacked the guards while trying to take photographs of the Gramsh factory in central Albania, which is used for dismantling derelict weapons, the ministry said in a statement. "In an attempt to escape control, one of the Russian nationals, identified by the initials M.Z., 24, used neuroparalyzing spray on the two security guards," the ministry added. Two other suspects -- a Russian citizen identified as S.T., 33, and Ukrainian national F.A., 25 -- were also arrested near the factory. The two injured Albanian soldiers were taken to a Tirana hospital after sustaining eye injuries, statement said. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three individuals were "suspected of espionage. The military police, alongside intelligence and anti-terrorism agencies, rushed to the scene to investigate the incident. Albania has been a NATO member since 2009.

Zelensky warns of 'cruel' Russian action around independence day
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Russia could do something particularly "cruel" during the upcoming week as Ukraine marks 31 years of independence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned. "Russia could try to do something particularly disgusting, particularly cruel," Zelensky said in his nightly address late Saturday. "One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us," and "to sow despondency, fear and conflict" but "we have to be strong enough to resist all provocation" and "make the occupiers pay for their terror," he said. Ukraine's Independence Day on Wednesday, August 24, will also mark six months since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic. There has been speculation that Russia will put Ukrainian fighters captured during the siege of Mariupol on trial to coincide with the independence anniversary. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the governor announced a curfew from the evening of August 23 to the morning of August 25. "We will not allow any provocation by the enemy. Be as vigilant as possible during our independence holiday," Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram. Kharkiv has been under regular Russian bombardment for weeks and on Sunday emergency services said two more civilians were killed in overnight strikes. Four civilians were reported killed by Russian fire in Donetsk, said the region's pro-Kyiv governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Daughter of 'Putin's Brain' Ideologist Killed in Car Bomb Attack
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
The daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologist who is often referred to as “Putin's brain” and who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed when her car exploded on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday. The Investigative Committee branch for the Moscow region said the Saturday night blast was caused by a bomb planted in the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Daria Dugina. The 29-year-old was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept ideology and a vehement supporter of Russia's sending of troops into Ukraine. Dugina expressed similar views and had appeared as a commentator on the nationalist TV channel Tsargrad. “Dasha, like her father, has always been at the forefront of confrontation with the West,” Tsargrad said on Sunday, using the familiar form of her name. Alexander Dugin has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire. He wants that empire to include Ukraine where Russian forces are currently carrying out what Moscow calls a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine. The influence of Dugin, who is on a US sanctions list, over Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a subject for speculation, with some Russia watchers asserting that his sway is significant and others calling it minimal. The Saturday night explosion took place as Dugina was returning from a cultural festival she had attended with her father. Some Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying the vehicle belonged to her father and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another car. No suspects were immediately identified. But Denis Pushilin, president of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic that is a focus of Russia's fighting in Ukraine, blamed it on “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin."

Somali Forces End 30-hour Hotel Siege
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Somali forces have ended a siege at a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, an army officer told Reuters on Sunday, adding that they were still clearing explosives scattered around the building. At least 12 people, mostly civilians, were killed as Somalia's elite armed forces battled al Qaeda-linked militants for 30 hours after they blasted and shot their way into the Hayat Hotel on Friday evening. "We are still investigating the explosions of many plastic bags that have been scattered around the hotel," said Mohamed Ali, a military officer at the scene. The French news agency Agence France Presse earlier reported that all the gunmen had been killed, citing a security commander. "The security forces have ended the siege now and the gunmen are dead, we've had no incoming gunfire from the building in the past hour," the commander told AFP on condition of anonymity. Friday's attack was the first such major incident since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack. Al Shabaab has been fighting to topple the Somali government for more than 10 years. The Hayat is a hotel popular with lawmakers and other government officials.

Clashes Intensify between Türkiye, Syrian Regime in Aleppo
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Clashes have intensified between the Turkish forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along with the Syrian regime in Aleppo following a massacre committed by regime forces in the al-Bab city. The residents of al-Bab went into general strike to mourn the victims who fell during the Friday massacre in residential neighborhoods and a local market. It is believed that the regime's bombing of the city was in response to the Turkish attack against its soldiers in a military base in Ayn al-Arab, following the killing of two Turkish soldiers and the wounding of three others in a bombing of a police station in Sanliurfa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the regime forces' attack killed 17 people, including six children, and wounded 35 others. The Turkish forces and the National Army factions exchanged shelling with the regime forces in the al-Bab countryside. On Saturday, the Turkish forces and their loyal factions bombed nine villages in Aleppo's northern countryside within the areas of SDF deployment. Meanwhile, the deputy head of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Numan Kurtulmus, said Türkiye is not responsible for the situation in Syria.
Kurtulmus said the Syrian people paid a heavy price for the ongoing war. He added in a televised interview that foreign parties should find a quick solution "instead of sending weapons" to Syria. He was referring to US support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). The official urged to increase efforts to "guide the regime to peace and reach a solution that satisfies the Syrian people."Kurtulmus reiterated that Türkiye is not responsible for the Syrian crisis, saying the Assad regime continues to pressure the people, and the Syrian people must be united for their territorial integrity. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country has no ambitions in Syria and does not aim to overthrow the Assad regime but rather to combat terrorism that threatens its borders.

Iraq Keeps Up Search after Bodies Pulled from Collapsed Shrine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
Iraqi rescue workers Sunday were desperately searching for survivors trapped under rubble after a landslide hit a Shiite Muslim shrine, killing at least four people.
"We have found four bodies, including of a woman" at the site near Karbala, central Iraq, civil defense official Abdelrahman Jawdat told AFP. Between six and eight pilgrims had been reported trapped under the debris of the shrine, known as Qattarat al-Imam Ali, civil defense spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker had said earlier. Three children have been rescued following Saturday's disaster, emergency services said, adding that they were in "good condition" and being monitored in a hospital. Rescue teams working through the night were able to provide supplies of oxygen, as well as food and water to some of those trapped through gaps in the rubble, state news agency INA said. Iraqi President Barham Saleh on Twitter called on the "heroic" rescue workers to "mobilize all efforts to save the trapped people". The emergency responders said earlier they were maintaining verbal contact with the victims "to reassure them". "We are working hard, with the utmost precision, to reach" those trapped, said Jawdat, director of the civil defense media department. "Any mistake could lead to further collapses."One man at the scene, Bassem Khazali, said his nephew was among those buried. "I am afraid that all the efforts undertaken will be in vain... We want to know what happened, why it happened," Khazali told AFP.Shaker told AFP that "sand dunes and rocks collapsed onto the shrine building", blaming the saturation of the earth that had been caused by humidity. The landslide on Saturday afternoon hit the shrine located in a natural depression about 25 kilometers west of the Shiite holy city of Karbala. The rocks and sand started sliding because of the "saturation of the earthen embankment adjacent to the shrine", the civil defense told INA. "This led to the collapse of about 30 percent of the area of the building, which measures about 100 square meters (1,000 square feet)."

ICC Chief Prosecutor Visits Sudan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 21 August, 2022
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan has arrived in Sudan, state media reported in the country still wracked by unrest since the 2019 ouster of its leader accused of genocide. "The ICC prosecutor and a court delegation will hold a number of meetings with senior officials and he will be visiting the Darfur region," the state news agency SUNA said late Saturday. Khan's visit will continue until August 25, SUNA said, a year after he visited the country for talks on outstanding arrest warrants over crimes committed during the 2003 Darfur war under ousted president Omar al-Bashir.
His visit this year is the third by an ICC prosecutor to Sudan since Bashir's ouster in April 2019, AFP reported. Khan's predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, held talks in Sudan in May 2021, bringing the strife-hit country's former leaders one step closer to being tried at The Hague for war crimes. Sudan has been reeling from deepening unrest, spiraling economic crisis, and a spike in ethnic clashes, including in Darfur, since a military coup last year led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The October military coup upended a fragile transition put in place following the ouster of Bashir, who was deposed following months of protests. Bashir remains wanted by the ICC over his role in the 2003 Darfur conflict. The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced during the conflict. Since his ouster, Bashir has been held in Khartoum's Kober prison along with several of his former aides who are also wanted by the ICC. He faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In April, senior Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, also known by the nom de guerre Ali Kushayb, faced the ICC in its first trial for war crimes in Darfur.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-21/2022
Israel in search of identity: A Jewish state or a state of its citizens? -opinion
Mordechai Nisan/Jerusalem Post/August 21/2022
The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People (2018) was a political response by the Likud government led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-715139
The Jewish people, an ancient people no less, rooted in a defiant national self-consciousness now confronts winds of post-nationalism, globalism, and multiculturalism.
These post-modern notions have the ideological force to dilute and destroy the ethos of Israel. Vilified and victimized as a racist apartheid state, charged with conducting a regime of occupation and expulsion, Israel sought to escape the opprobrium of global denunciation and isolation.
It chose in the 1980s to parade its democratic, liberal and egalitarian credentials even at the cost of compromising – if not canceling – its native Zionist doctrine.
Israel is approaching a new general election slated for this November 1. Two politically controversial issues top the public conversation: reform of the entire judicial system from top to bottom, and the lack of governance in the face of widespread Arab violence – as in the mixed cities of Lod and Ramle, Jaffa and Acre, during the Israeli-Hamas War in May 2021.
While our focus will be on the deeper question and quandary concerning Israel’s identity – Jewish and/or democratic – this will shed light on the current situation.
In 1985, Israel’s parliament amended The Knesset: Basic Law (clause 7a) to forbid candidates who “negate Israel as a Jewish and democratic state” from competing in general elections. The political trigger for this addition was not a strategic shift in principles, but a tactical legal measure to remove any suspicion regarding the egalitarian spirit animating citizenship for all in Israel.
In a 2002 addition to the law, incitement to racism and support for armed struggle would further disqualify candidates seeking to run for election. When Azmi Bishara, an Arab citizen who rejected Israel’s Jewish character, sought to compete as the head of the Balad Party, the issue reached the Supreme Court.
The justices ignored the strict letter of the law and decided in his favor. Bishara coined the seemingly unobjectionable phrase – “Israel as a state of its citizens” – but thereby denied its fundamental and singular Jewish character. Bishara fled the country in 2007 while suspected of espionage activity – supporting armed struggle – on behalf of Hezbollah.
In 1992, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty prescribed that “the values of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state” are essential features of the national code.
With the elevation of democracy to an equal rung with the Jewish identity, the road was open to stain if not stigmatize Israel’s Jewish character. Later, then-President Reuven Rivlin would recklessly repeat on occasions that Israel is “Jewish and democratic, democratic and Jewish.”A clash of values placed on an equal plane would demand a choice between the two.
The language of human rights and “human dignity” was an amplification of citizen rights. Indeed, the activist and self-defined “enlightened” Supreme Court in Israel granted access for grievance-redress to all persons, citizens or not, even to Palestinian terrorists appealing their case against state authorities, civilian and military. Israel’s democracy was unique in generously extending rights to enemies.
The case of Aadel Ka’adan highlighted the tension between Jewish national rights and individual citizen rights. With a new Jewish community built at Harish, Ka’adan – an Israeli citizen from a nearby Arab village – wanted to move there.
The Jewish residents opposed his request, based on the conventional Middle East norm of “we live together by living apart.” This practice takes account of the need to protect the cultural integrity of Jewish life distinct from traditional Arab codes – blaring music, deafening muezzin calls to prayer and unruly driving habits.
Appealing for judicial succor, the Supreme Court in 1995 accepted Ka’adan’s plea. Nonetheless, the Jewish residents activated the authority of a community acceptance committee for new residents to deny Ka’adan’s candidacy.
People familiar with the case suspected that for Ka’adan, it was not a question of individual rights or improving the quality of life, but a veiled strategy to undermine Jewish settlement policy in the area of Wadi Ara. Ultimately, Arabs did move to Harish in significant numbers.
African infiltrators in the tens of thousands – reaching a figure of 65,000 – crossed illegally from Sinai into Israel in the early years of the century.
Their presence, especially in southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods, became a major social irritant on the streets and in the parks, led to waves of crime and a deterioration in personal Jewish security and a financial burden on the municipal budget of Tel Aviv.
The Netanyahu government’s response was twofold: building a barrier wall on the Negev-Sinai border begun in 2010 and completed in 2013 to prevent the massive invasion; and promoting legislation to incentivize the Africans to leave Israel and return home – Eritrea and Sudan – or emigrate elsewhere. About 25,000 illegals did leave the country.
Appeals to the Supreme Court on behalf of the illegal infiltrators ended with a decision to invalidate government policy. The detention period was reduced in 2016 from 20 months to 12 months; the decision to deduct a part of the illegals’ employment salaries, the sum to be returned if-and-when they leave, was invalidated; expelling the infiltrators was against their human rights.
The court overruled the government and the Knesset, and stood by the illegals against the citizens of Israel. Foreigners flouting Israel’s sovereignty and bullying the Jews made little impression on the justices, whose political agenda overruled that of the elected representatives of the people.
Arab citizenship and peoplehood
While the Jews engaged in virtue signaling, the Arabs pursued their goals with resolve. Arabs are visible and prominent, all doors are open to them: as doctors and pharmacists, sales personnel and garage mechanics, in hi-tech jobs and as trained laborers, university professors and bus drivers, TV reporters and political commentators – and in 2022 as prominent members of a government coalition and not only members of the Knesset legislature.
These developments have altered the texture of Israeli society; it is manifestly a Jewish – Arab configuration. Arab empowerment is visible, a trend with politically significant implications.
Alongside this revolution in society is the ideological and national Palestinian agenda galvanizing Arab intellectual and political elites. Once bent, now Arabs in Israel stand strong and straight.
In 2006, the Committee of the Heads of the Arab Local Councils published “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel” that mapped out Arab grievances and convictions – Israel is the result of a colonial enterprise; the Arabs are the native people and the original owners of the land; the Nakba (Palestinian “catastrophe” with Israel’s founding) – must be acknowledged. Arab parliamentarians like Ahmad Tibi and Ayman Odeh flagrantly gave voice to these views.
The objective is defined – for now – as a shared homeland based on bilingualism and equality for all citizens, with appropriate national symbols of the Arabs and the Jews alike. Dismantling the Jewish state is the logical consequence of this radical program.
A year later in 2007, the Haifa Declaration was released. It repeated some of the key points of the Future Vision, stressing that Arab Israelis are part of the Palestinian people and victims of a historical injustice.
The remedy required was a democratic state that recognized Palestinian self-determination, thereby sounding the death knell of the Jewish state.
No longer are the Arabs limiting their goal to citizen rights, which they fully possess. The clear aspiration is now Palestinian national rights in Israel, as articulated by – among other leading Arab politicians – MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra’am Party (United Arab List).
Pouring scorn on the Jewish state had made transparent the subversive Arab strategy to undo Israel through the language and promotion of democracy, equality and rights. Enemy not compatriot is the accurate frame of reference to look at the Arabs in Israel.
Israel: The Jewish nation-state
The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People (2018) was a political response by the Likud government led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the erosion of Israel’s national Jewish character and legitimacy.
It stated categorically that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people alone, and national self-determination is the exclusive right of the Jews in Israel.
This sent a deliberate message that, while self-defined Palestinian citizens in Israel enjoy individual and communal rights, they will not achieve national Arab rights.
The symbols and appurtenances of the Jewish state will remain the menorah, the “Hatikvah” national anthem, the Hebrew language, the Star of David flag – and the Law of Return recognizing the right of Jews alone to immigrate and become citizens of Israel. Palestinian refugee return is not a right nor an option in this political calculus.
The Israeli political Left and Center opposed the Nation-State law as prejudicial and discriminatory against the non-Jewish populations in Israel. Herzl had remarked in his 1902 novel Altneuland, that there were “Jews who had unlearned the ABC of nationhood.” One hundred and twenty years later, Jewish self-abasement, despite Jewish statehood, still featured in Israel’s search for identity in the post-Zionist circles.
*The writer lectured at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and writes extensively on Israel and the Middle East.

Forget Free Speech: Rushdie's Fatwa Is Winning
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/August 21/2022
"If only more people could follow his example, instead of taking the path of appeasement in the name of cultural sensitivity, the long years of murder and mayhem wrought by the Islamists on the West might come to an end." — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Unherd, August 7, 2022.
[A] terrible and different reality: the fatwa is gaining ground...
Islamic extremists in 2012 published a terrifying "most wanted list", like those of the FBI. Title: "Yes we can. A bullet a day keeps the infidel away.... " What happened to the faces and names on that list? They have been killed, left the public arena to protect themselves, or died under police protection.
We do not even know they exist: our fearful conformist press never tells their amazing stories. They live among us, in Paris, London, Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and all the other European capitals. They live according to a strict security protocol: they have to tell the police in advance what they will do during the day, who they will see and where they will go and, if any place is not considered safe, these victims are forced to change plans.
"Anyone who criticizes Islamism must expect to be violently attacked in this country and without anyone being offended." — Jan Aleksander Karon, journalist, Tichys Einblick, August 20, 2022.
"Give us his head," Islamists shouted outside a British school in Batley. They wanted to murder a teacher whose name we do not even know and who was forced to leave the school after heavy death threats. What was he guilty of? Having shown in class some of the Mohammed cartoons during a lesson on freedom of expression.
All decent people should stand with Salman Rushdie and against his persecutors. Is it now a little bit clearer that radical Islam is today one of the biggest threats to Western culture and that we are not winning, but instead becoming like turkeys celebrating Thanksgiving?
"Salman Rushdie is a champion of free speech, bravely standing up for Western ideals when so many shy away from the fight. If only more people could follow his example, instead of taking the path of appeasement in the name of cultural sensitivity, the long years of murder and mayhem wrought by the Islamists on the West might come to an end." — Ayaan Hirsi Ali (pictured).
"Salman Rushdie is a champion of free speech, bravely standing up for Western ideals when so many shy away from the fight. If only more people could follow his example, instead of taking the path of appeasement in the name of cultural sensitivity, the long years of murder and mayhem wrought by the Islamists on the West might come to an end... I know all too well the threat Islamism poses. After I came out as an apostate, I was forced into a bubble of protection that still surrounds me to this day. I have 24-hour security. I still receive death threats. My friend, the sweet, vulgar, brilliant Theo Van Gogh was murdered simply for making a film with me. His attacker used a knife to stab a letter into Theo's chest: it said that I would be next".
That is how Ayaan Hirsi Ali reacted to the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie in Chautauqua, New York.
Many of the slogans, paraphrases on "free speech" and demonstrations of solidarity to the author of The Satanic Verses hide a terrible and different reality: the fatwa is gaining ground, and more and more people have to live under protection due to criticism of Islam. In the words of the Algerian writer Boualem Sansal writing for L'Express last week:
"[T]o speak only of France, the police will soon no longer be enough, it will be necessary to recruit battalions or form a new body of bodyguards, who know Islam and can recognize under which dress it is presented."
Islamic extremists in 2012 published a terrifying "most wanted list", like those of the FBI. Title: "Yes we can. A bullet a day keeps the infidel away..." What happened to the faces and names on that list? They have been killed, left the public arena to protect themselves, or died under police protection.
The Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks died with his police guards in a terrible car accident. As journalist Douglas Murray explained:
"Lars Vilks was a man and artist of enormous courage. He should never have been in this situation, and if other artists and others across Europe hadn't been so cowardly then he never would have been".
Carsten Juste, who as editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten published the cartoons on Muhammad in 2005, apologized and left journalism. Flemming Rose, the editor of the Jyllands Posten who commissioned the cartoons (the Taliban put a bounty on his head), resigned and published a book with the eloquent title The Tyranny of Silence. "The drama and the tragedy is that the only ones to win are the jihadists," Rose told the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen.
Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist of the most famous of the Danish cartoons, passed away in his "bunker house" where Islamists had tried to assassinate him.
Molly Norris, a Seattle Post cartoonist, became a "ghost". She changed name and disappeared. Nothing is known about her after the FBI put her in the witness protection program.
Geert Wilders is alive only because he is protected by a military unit of the Dutch army generally assigned to ensure the security of the embassy in Afghanistan. Wilders still lives in safe houses and must wear a bulletproof vest during televised debates.
Stéphane Charbonnier, editor-in-chief of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was murdered along with eight of his colleagues.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands and sought asylum in the United States, where she is under around-the-clock protection.
Now there was the attempt to assassinate Salman Rushdie. "The lesson of this story is atrocious: Rushdie is alive, but the camp of the killers has not completely lost, it has even won a little", wrote Etienne Gernelle, the editor of French weekly Le Point. British columnist Kenan Malik told the BBC that if Salman Rushdie's critics "lost the battle", they "won the war".
The Egyptian-German scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad just recalled his meeting with Rushdie:
"'So, you are the Egyptian Salman Rushdie everyone is talking about?', Salman Rushdie said with a smile during our first and only meeting in Berlin three years ago. It was a celebration of the thirty-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and coincided with the 30th anniversary of the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Rushdie. 'Thirty years ago, there was a single Salman Rushdie in the world, today there is at least one Salman Rushdie in every Islamic country not to mention those in the western countries. That should please you', I replied".
We do not even know they exist: our fearful conformist media never tell their amazing stories. They live among us, in Paris, London, Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and all the other European capitals. They live according to a strict security protocol: they have to tell the police in advance what they will do during the day, who they will see and where they will go, and if any place is not considered safe, these captives are forced to change plans. Often, if there is a not a new threat, they change homes, and disappear for a while to be protected by anonymity. They are not "repentants of the Mafia", mobsters turned into witnesses for the state prosecution. No, they are academics, activists, writers, journalists, intellectuals. We are talking about more than a hundred personalities in Europe. Their "fault"? They criticized Islam. Their precautions to protect themselves are never too many. Rushdie had ceased to be protected for many years.
A professor of Iranian origin and a critic of Islam, Afshin Ellian, works at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, where he is protected by bodyguards. On the second floor of the Law Department, where he teaches, Ellian can be reached through a corridor with electronic access and armored glass. The place looks more like a bank vault than a normal law department.
In Denmark, Lars Hedegaard, director of the International Free Press Society, who miraculously survived an attack at his home, is under police protection. An assassin dressed as a postman came to Hedegaard's front door in Copenhagen and shot at his head, missing him only narrowly.
The Turkish writer Lale Gül is under protection for having denounced Koranic schools in the Netherlands.
French journalist Zineb El Rhazoui has more bodyguards than many Macron ministers. "Zineb El Rhazoui must be killed to avenge the Prophet," reads a fatwa.
The new address of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices is secret and it has six armored doors and a safe room that the journalists can enter in case of attack. The entire editorial office of Charlie Hebdo is now protected by 85 police officers. Former Charlie Hebdo director Philippe Val lives in a house with bulletproof windows, police officers and an armored safe room where there is a special telephone line to call for help. Each Charlie Hebdo employee is always accompanied by a car with two policemen. If the need arises, another police motorcycle or armored car should arrive.
Mina Ahadi, who founded the Council of Former Muslims in Germany, does not move without an escort, and like the novelist Fatma Bläser, who was the victim of a forced marriage, is protected by the police.
Turkish-born lawyer Syran Ates, in Berlin, is protected by six police officers. "She receives three thousand threats," her lawyer said.
When Can Dündar, the bravest Turkish journalist, who as the director of the newspaper Cumhuriyet expressed solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, left Turkey for Germany, he would never have imagined that he would need the police protection. The biggest difference is that in Turkey, policemen searched his house looking for items to compromise him, while in Berlin they are guarding his home.
"Critics of Islam must fear for their lives: death threats and attacks," notes the German website Tichys Einblick.
"Anyone who criticizes Islamism must expect to be violently attacked in this country and without anyone being offended," said journalist Jan Aleksander Karon. "In Germany it is increasingly dangerous to criticize Islam".
In Denmark, the editorial office of Jyllands Posten today resembles a military bunker. With a razor wire barrier, bars, metal plates and cameras that surround the newspaper for a kilometer, the office is now protected by the same mechanism as river locks. A door opens, a car enters, the door closes and the one opposite opens. Journalists enter one at a time, typing in a personal code (a measure that did not protect Charlie Hebdo reporters). The Jyllands Posten cartoonists have escaped numerous attacks, including at home. Even after the January 7, 2015 massacre in Paris at the Charlie Hebdo office, which was targeted partly because it had republished the Danish Mohammed cartoons, Jyllands-Posten announced that, out of fear, it would not republish its own cartoons, saying:
"We have lived with the fear of a terrorist attack for nine years, and yes, that is the explanation why we do not reprint the cartoons, whether it be our own or Charlie Hebdo's. We are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation."
Also under protection is the French-Algerian journalist Mohammed Sifaoui. His photograph and name are published on jihadist websites next to the word "apostate". Many people under protection are women, such as Marika Bret, a Charlie Hebdo employee who was "exfiltrated" from home, and the French television presenter originally from Turkey, Claire Koc. Or the journalist Ophélie Meunier, the reporter from Zone Interdite who reported on the Islamization of Roubaix in prime time with the French politician Amine Elbahi, of the Républicains Party, who received threats of beheading.
Threats and intimidation demonstrate the tenacity of the journalistic work done by these courageous people. They demonstrate a commitment to show the Islamization by force and terror of sectors of French society, while the Islamists answer them: Do you disagree with me? Do you criticize me? I will kill you, slit your throat, behead you.
Meanwhile, the states and institutions, which find themselves trying to protect dozens of people, prove to be paper tigers. Terrorism works. Nobody wants to live between two cops or see his name on the internet. Meanwhile, the journalistic class goes looking somewhere less hazardous.
The French state has to protect simple teachers such as Fatiha Agag-Boudjahlat, who reproached some students for not respecting the minute of silence during the homage to Samuel Paty, a high school teacher who was beheaded by an Islamist.
Imams such as Hassen Chalghoumi are included in "Uclat 2", the protection program enjoyed by the ambassadors of the United States and Israel in Paris. Chalghoumi, protagonist of many battles in favor of the French Republic and against Islamic fundamentalists, told BFMTV that he has not slept more than three nights in the same place and that he wears a bulletproof vest during prayer:
"I never talk about it, but I have been wearing it for years. I take care of my life. I have responsibilities towards my family and myself. I continue to fight at a very high price. I cannot be at my mosque every day, it is impossible".
Professor Didier Lemaire recounted his last visit to Trappes for a TV documentary:
"I was only allowed a five-minute filming in front of the police station, surrounded by a dozen officers. The rest of the time I had to stay hidden in the car. One of the policemen told me: 'If they bring out the Kalashnikovs, we have nothing to answer with, so we won't stay long.' The reporter wanted me to say a few words in front of the school, but the police refused for security reasons. I was allowed to pass by without stopping. I was escorted to a hotel, whose entrance was guarded by four police officers, to conduct the interview".
"Give us his head," Islamists shouted outside a British school in Batley. They wanted to murder a teacher whose name we do not even know and who was forced to leave the school after heavy death threats. What was he guilty of? Having shown in class some of the Muhammad cartoons during a lesson on freedom of expression. He now lives in a safe house with his wife and children, out of fear of being killed. The threat is deemed so serious that not even the family's relatives know where they live. "The windows of the house where the teacher lived for more than eight years are covered with white sheets".
All decent people should stand with Salman Rushdie and against his persecutors. Is it now a little bit clearer that radical Islam is today one of the biggest threats to Western culture and that we are not winning, but instead becoming like turkeys celebrating Thanksgiving?
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 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.

More Churches Burned and Christians Killed in Egypt — and the Government Is to Blame
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/August 21/2022
Yet another Coptic Christian church has been set aflame; and yet more Christians have been killed in Egypt.
On Sunday, August 14, 2022, the Church of Abu Seifein—named after Saint Mercurius of Caesarea, revered by the Copts—caught fire as it was packed with over two hundred worshippers celebrating morning mass. At least 41 Christians—18 of whom were children—were either burned alive, killed by asphyxiation, or during the subsequent stampede. Along with the officiating priest, 5-year-old triplets, their mother, grandmother, and an aunt were among those killed.
What caused this church fire?
Considering that radical Muslims have torched or bombed hundreds of Coptic churches over the decades in Egypt—and often when churches are packed—it is, of course, difficult to resist that explanation.
There are other telling factors: the city of Imbaba, the site of this latest church burning, has witnessed the burning of other Coptic churches at the hands of Muslims. Most significantly, in 2011, some 3,000 Muslim rioters set three Imbaba churches aflame to jihadist cries of “Allahu Akbar.” Twelve Christians were killed in those riots.
Moreover, the date of this church burning, August 14, is essentially the anniversary of when Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers attacked and torched 62 Coptic churches on August 15 and 16, in 2013, after then president Muhammad Morsi was ousted. One may argue that August 14 is not August 15 or 16, but August 14 is the closest date to those dates that also, because it fell on a Sunday, would have had the most Christians in the church, making it the ideal day to “commemorate” the Brotherhood-led events of 2013.
At any rate, the “official” story is that the recent fire was caused by “faulty electric wiring.” As many observers have noted, however, this explanation is suspect if for no other reason than that it was offered up literally minutes after the fire broke out; and, as is well known, it takes a serious, prolonged investigation before such a determination can be made—not minutes.
Be that as it may; even if faulty electric wiring is the true culprit of last Sunday’s fire, the government of Egypt is still largely to blame. Since Ottoman times—indeed, since the Arab-Islamic conquest—severe restrictions, based on sharia stipulations, have made it next to impossible for Christians not only to build but to repair churches. Although a 2016 law was heralded as repealing these draconian stipulations, practically speaking, and as many Copts have noted, little has changed. Till this day, most Coptic churches in Egypt are shoddily built, cramped, and poorly wired.
As even the New York Times reported: “The Copts have long complained about being the victims of discrimination on the basis of their religion. One aspect of that discrimination are government restrictions on the construction, renovation and repair of churches in the largely Muslim country. These restrictions have left many of the buildings in disrepair and made them fire hazards.”
The recently torched Church of Abu Seifein, for example, was not a true church but rather “a four-story residential building in a narrow alley in the Imbaba neighborhood” where two apartments on the top floors were gradually transformed into a church. Little wonder that its Christian worshippers were unable to “escape through narrow doors, ill-equipped to facilitate emergency exit to the alleyways of the Giza neighborhood outside.”
Furthermore, as one report states, “Eyewitnesses said firetrucks and ambulances arrived to the site over one hour after signaling the fire, even though they’re stationed in [a] nearby street,” thus leading to more lost lives that might have been saved.
Indeed, as if to underscore Egypt’s disregard for the basic rights of its Coptic citizens and their places of worship, less than three days after the burning of the Church of Abu Seifein on August 14, yet another Coptic church, Anba Bishoy in Minya, was just set aflame, on August 17, 2022. And, as if to preempt the automatic reason given by state authorities to media for dissemination—“faulty wiring”—Bishop Fam of Minya was quick to say that “There was no working electricity inside the church of Anba Bishoy at the time of the fire; air conditioners were turned off.” Not ones to have their creative imagination forestalled, investigating authorities offered—a mere day later—an even more absurd cause: “church candles in the hands of children were the cause.”
[Note: since the publication of this article on Aug. 17, three more Coptic churches have caught fire in Egypt, though in every case the fires were reportedly small and quickly contained.]
In a recent program dedicated to discussing the recent tragedy at the Church of Abu Seifen, the prolific Egyptian writer and researcher, Magdi Khalil, made some important observations. Of the 3,000 or so churches in Egypt, hundreds, he said, have been torched over the past 50 years. Meanwhile, and although there are at least half a million mosques and prayer halls in Egypt, none have ever burned.
These numbers further highlight the extreme discrimination against churches in Egypt: considering that Christians amount for, at the very least, ten percent of Egypt’s total population, they should have at least 50,000 (ten percent of half a million)—not just 3,000—churches. Little wonder they are always cramped with hundreds of Christians, making them fire hazards.
Khalil also said that over the past 50 years, three—and only three—reasons have ever accounted for the large number of burned churches in Egypt: 1) radical Muslims (mobs or terrorists); 2) “natural causes” (faulty wires, etc.) most of which are byproducts of the aforementioned draconian restrictions on churches; 3) Egypt’s own state security agencies, which for their own reasons burn churches.
After pointing out that those who target Christians in Egypt rarely if ever suffer any consequences, Khalil bemoaned how, “Incitement against the Copts is daily in Egypt! Accusing the Copts of being infidels [kuffar] is daily in Egypt! Mockery of Christianity and the sacred things of Christianity and the accusation that the Bible is distorted [moharraf] is daily in Egypt!”
In closing, another Coptic church has burned in Egypt, and more Christians have been killed. And whichever way one looks at it—whether because Muslims who are “radicalized” in government funded mosques are responsible, whether the ever-scheming State Security is responsible, or whether faulty wiring is responsible—in the end, Egyptian leadership and governance is responsible.

Going Back to a Young Man Named Hadi Matar
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2022
Hadi Matar, the young man of Lebanese descent who said that he had read only two pages of The Satanic Verses, stabbed Salman Rushdie ten times. Luckily, Matar didn’t read the entire novel (546 pages); otherwise, he would have stabbed him 2,730 times. That is what we conclude from a simple arithmetic exercise. Nonetheless, the matter, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with reading. For this reason, those demanding that Rushdie’s haters read the novel or “open a dialogue” with his book instead of calling for his murder are missing the point (how does one have a “dialogue” with a novelist about his novel?).
Whether or not one has read his work, one should, according to a certain doctrinal environment, cut off Salman Rushdie’s head. That is because the Indian British novelist, who is now receiving treatment, proposes that we engage with a creative work of literature founded on imagination- to think, as free individuals, about things that those who preceded us had not contemplated and to assess this work as such. The challenge is made more difficult by another that is more prone to imploding and exploding: the link between the Rushdie affair and living in pluralistic democratic societies that one rarely finds in our Arab and Muslim countries. Hadi Matar, who was given this freedom where he lives in the United States, found it terrifying because it implies responsibility, and freedom can only come with responsibility.
The German psychologist and social scientist Erich Fromm addressed this phenomenon in his famous book Escape from Freedom: when an individual is free, he becomes more anxious and feels less secure because he must now take the decisions and stances that the family, political authority, or religious authority no longer takes for him. This is a burden that many cannot tolerate, and they escape this intolerable freedom and responsibility by adopting the ideas that others had already thought and put forward. They thus symbolically return to a time before they matured and attained their freedom, when others would think for them. Rather, they could return to the time before they were born, that is, to when they were mere fetuses. That is because only fetuses in their mothers’ wombs live in complete comfort and reassurance. They do not think or work and are not obliged to compromise with anyone else; indeed, they exert no effort, even to obtain their nutrition. Here, in the womb, the fetus finds absolute security and has nothing to worry about.
Hadi Matar found his symbolic womb in submitting himself to the ready-made “responses” of Ayatollah Khomeini, which did not bother to engage with anything novel, be it fictional literature or living in pluralistic modern society. Khomeini’s simple, predictable response, which Matar adopted, is as follows: Salman Rushdie insulted our religion, so kill him, and whoever kills him will be rewarded in this life and the next as well.
The solution is simple then, and it is made simpler by the fact that Matar did not think of the American other whom he lives next to, nor did he think of his way of life, sensibilities, and laws. The German-American political scientist Hannah Arendt warned us, in her extremely popular report on the trial of the Nazi Adolf Eichman in Israel, of the danger of not thinking, especially not thinking of and with the other. Eichman, in her book with the subtitle the Banality of Evil, was not aware of the nature of what he was doing because of his inability to think from others’ perspectives. This lack, which explains his having committed his crimes, does away with any capacity to distinguish right from wrong. For Arendt, this is precisely what the banality of evil means.
If we were to couple Fromm’s theory together with that of Arendt, we would conclude the following: the most important consequence of going back to before we were born is that we are alone; we have no partners in the world, and nothing obliges us to account for others’ considerations or pay any mind to what they want.
A third chapter that does not seem to be of little significance remains: When Hadi visits Lebanon and sees Hezbollah’s unfettered strength that nothing can contain, he becomes certain of the Khomeinist response: it provides us with the capacity and strength to need neither independent thought nor to think of the other, and it also frees us from the burdens of freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.
In all these ways, getting rid of Salman Rushdie hits other targets, foremost among which is getting rid of the problem or burden of freedom and the responsibility and weight of living with others who differ. Unfortunately for them, Rushdie is likely to live, and the questions posed by this affair will likely stay alive as well.

A Turkish-Syrian Reconciliation in Sight?
Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/2022
On his way back from Sochi on August 6, President Tayyib Erdoğan revealed that intelligence organizations of Türkiye and Syria were meeting. His Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu stated at a press conference on 11 August, that Türkiye supports a political reconciliation between the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime. The Minister went on to say that about a year ago, when he was in Belgrade to attend an international conference, he had a quick chat in the corridors with the Syrian Foreign Minister (Faisal Miktad) who was also there to participate in the same conference. Journalists, commentators and opposition politicians in Türkiye immediately engaged in debates as to what really happened and the pros and cons of making it up with the Assad regime. Yesterday, on his way back from his visit to Ukraine, President Erdoğan made another groundbreaking statement. Without making a direct reference to reconciliation with Assad, he said Türkiye is ready to move forward in relation with the Assad regime. Referring to what his unofficial coalition partner Devlet Bahçeli said, he made it clear that he is ready to carry the contacts with Syria to a next level, meaning the political level. It was striking to hear Erdoğan say that it was the US which “fed terror in Syria, provided terror organizations with thousands of trucks of weapons and equipment and received terrorists in the White House”. He also included other Allies and EU countries as terror supporters, by referring to them as “coalition forces”.On the other hand, Erdoğan praised Russia as a partner in combatting terrorism. “In every step that we take in Syria, our security forces, intelligence agencies, and Defense Ministry are in contact,” he said.
At this point, the role of Russia, and Türkiye-Russia relations need to be recalled. Russia is the key country in Syria. It was Russia’s support in the political field, in particular in the UNSC, and its direct military intervention in 2015 which changed the course of the war in Syria in Assad’s favor.
Assad knows very well that without Russia, his chances of survival are slim. This and the fact that Russia has well established itself in Syria with all its bases and military hardware, no solution without it seems feasible.
Türkiye and Russia have a complicated relationship with sharp differences and also mutual benefits. The “kind of special relationship” between Türkiye and Russia which has been there for the last few years, has become even more so after the war in Ukraine. It seems that the two countries should strongly prefer to do things in Syria without confronting each other. Why did President Erdoğan decide to adopt a sharply different Syria policy at this point of time?
To begin with, elections are less than a year away. Erdoğan is facing a number of problems in Türkiye, including a serious economic situation and a grey picture on his chances of being re-elected. He wants to free himself of as many problems as he can.
The most important foreign policy issue with domestic implications is the crisis in Syria and security and 3.7 million Syrians in Türkiye are at the forefront.
Clearly, no matter how it evolves and whether there will be a happy ending or not, we are into a new era in Türkiye-Syria relations.
The road forward is a difficult and rocky one. A quick look at some of the major problems;
-There are too many outside actors including Russia, Türkiye, the US, Iran, Israel, and Arab countries. In most cases, they have different agendas, conflicting interests, and priorities.
-Iran in particular is problematic with its ambitions and ideological/strategic policies.
-There are dozens of armed groups, tens of thousands of militia, and weapons in Syria. There are also jihadist groups as well as Shiite militia from Lebanon (Hezbollah), Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This, by itself, is an element that could de-rail any peace effort in many ways.
-There is YPG (Kurds as mostly used) controlling around 35 percent of Syrian territory which holds most of Syria’s oil fields and agricultural land. In terms of the future administrative political system in Syria, they insist on nothing less than what they have now.
-Most of the population in northern Syria, in other parts of the country and those who have fled Syria have been fighting the regime for years. They have lost loved ones and their properties. They have been targeted with chemical weapons and tortured in regime prisons. These people do not see Assad as a partner in peace but as a war criminal who should be prosecuted.
The fury of the people who went on to the streets in northern Syria to protest the statements of the Turkish Foreign Minister was a testament to the sensitivities.
-On Assad’s part, fear of losing his absolute grip on power is a detriment. Back in 2011, Assad was encouraged to carry out some reforms and include people from the opposition in the political system but he did not go this way because of this fear. 11 years onward and his approach has not changed. Among many other examples of this approach are “non-achievements” in the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. Independent observers who are well informed and participate in the meetings of the Committee have made it clear that the regime side is there not to engage in a meaningful and result-oriented negotiation, but merely to appease their Russian sponsors and not appear as the side not coming to the table. In short, the Assad regime still fears that any arrangement for any sort of power-sharing would eventually lead to losing power altogether.
With all these difficulties lying there in the open, if there is a base for a political solution in Syria, I believe that there is. This base is made up of a set of diplomatic initiatives throughout the past 11 years.
These diplomatic initiatives started with the Geneva meeting in June 2012, moved on to the “Vienna Statements” of 2015, and evolved into UNSC resolution 2254. Then, there is the Astana Process and its products.
All the related actors, including Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime, have signed up for these diplomatic initiatives at one stage or other, in one way or another.
UNHCR Resolution 2254, even though it was adopted 7 years ago, contains the main parameters and principles as well as a road map for a political solution. These are;
-Preserving territorial integrity of Syria.
-Establishing a viable political system, inclusive and acceptable to opposition, regime supporters, and neutrals alike.
-Combatting terrorists.
-Disbanding armed militia from all sides.
-Enabling the return of Syrian refugees.
-Improving the humanitarian situation.
-Engaging in economic recovery and reconstruction.
Specifically, the main elements of this road map are;
-Establishing credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance (transition period).
-Drafting a new constitution.
-Holding free and fair elections, with all Syrians, including those outside of Syria, eligible to participate.
The crisis in Syria is very costly in so many ways. I hesitate to say all, but a clear majority of the actors are well aware of the need to bring the crisis to an end. In order to progress, what is needed is political will on the part of the opposing Syrian parties and meaningful support from the international community. A positive movement in Turkish-Syrian relations will be an important aspect of this.

What Biden Has — and Hasn’t — Done
Paul Krugman/The New York Times/August 21/2022
There’s something strange in the D.C. air these days. It smells a bit like … competence. Seriously, it has been amazing to watch the media narrative on the Biden administration change. Just a few weeks ago President Biden was portrayed as hapless, on the edge of presiding over a failed presidency. Then came the Inflation Reduction Act, a big employment report and some good news on inflation, and suddenly we’re hearing a lot about his accomplishments.
But I still don’t think the media narrative gets it quite right. Biden has indeed accomplished a lot — in some ways more than he’s getting credit for, even now. On the other hand, America is a huge nation with a huge economy, and his policies don’t look as impressive when you compare them with the scale of the nation’s problems.
Furthermore, at this point Biden is arguably benefiting from the soft bigotry of low expectations. His policy achievements are big by modern standards, but they wouldn’t have seemed astounding in an earlier era — the era before the radicalization of the Republican Party made it almost impossible to pursue real solutions to real problems.
As I see it, he came into office with three main domestic policy goals: investing in America’s fraying infrastructure, taking serious action against climate change and expanding the social safety net, especially for families with children. He got most of two and a bit of the third.
Last year’s infrastructure bill gets remarkably little media attention; only about a quarter of voters even know that it passed. But we should remember that Barack Obama wanted to invest in infrastructure but couldn’t; Donald Trump promised to do it but didn’t (and “It’s infrastructure week!” became a running joke); then Biden got it done.
By contrast, the Inflation Reduction Act, which is mainly a climate law, has received a lot of attention, and deservedly so. America is finally taking action against the biggest existential threat of our times. Energy experts believe that it will have large direct effects in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
These are significant achievements, and a big contrast with the last administration, whose only major domestic policy change was a tax cut that had almost no visible positive effects.
But when I see news reports describe these laws as “massive” or huge, I wonder whether the writers have done the math. The infrastructure law will add roughly $500 billion in spending over the next decade. The Inflation Reduction Act will increase spending by roughly an additional half trillion. A law to promote US semiconductor production will add around $50 billion more. Overall, then, we’re talking about a bit more than $1 trillion in public investment over 10 years.
To put this in perspective, the Congressional Budget Office expects cumulative gross domestic product to be more than $300 trillion over the next decade. So the Biden agenda will amount to around one-third of one percent of G.D.P. Massive it isn’t.
True, some of what Biden has done may have effects much bigger than the dollar sums might suggest. There are reasons to hope that the climate law will have a sort of catalytic effect in promoting a transition to clean energy. And some economists believe that boosting the budget of the resource-starved Internal Revenue Service will greatly reduce tax evasion and hence increase revenue.
And can we say a word about foreign policy? Biden got immense flak over the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, although the critics offered few suggestions about what he should have done differently. But the narrative on foreign affairs has changed, too; I’m no expert, but it looks to me as if the Biden administration has done a remarkable job assembling and holding together a coalition to help Ukraine resist Russian aggression.
OK, I can already hear people yelling in response to any citation of Biden’s achievements, what about inflation? Indeed, the Biden administration failed to appreciate the risks of an inflation surge. However, so did many others, including the Federal Reserve (and yours truly). And it does seem worth pointing out that other countries, notably Britain, are also suffering from high inflation, even though they didn’t follow anything like Biden-style policies. In fact, Britain’s inflation problem looks worse than ours, on multiple dimensions.
And both the public and financial markets expect inflation to be brought under control. So it doesn’t look as if this admittedly big misstep will do enduring damage.
Again, I don’t want to sound Trumpian and claim that Biden is doing an awesome job, a perfect job, the best job anyone has ever seen. What he has done — and was doing even before the media narrative turned — is deal, reasonably effectively, with the real problems America is facing.
The thing is, what we’re getting from Biden should be routine in a wealthy, sophisticated nation; indeed, it was routine before the G.O.P. took its hard right turn. At this point, however, competent, reality-based government comes as a shock.