English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 24/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.august24.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
The Fruitless Fig Tree Parable
Luke 13/06-09: “Then Jesus told this parable: ‘A
man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it
and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have
come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why
should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more
year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year,
well and
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on August 23-24/2022
Sheik Bashir, 40 years after your Martyrdom, you are still in our
conscience and hearts/Elias Bejjani/August 23/2022
President Aoun follows up on government formation, maritime border demarcation
with Baabda visitors
Israel Reinforces Army Presence on Lebanon’s Borders in Anticipation of 'Gas
War'
U.S. state department spokesperson says maritime border resolution 'possible'
Possible exits in case of a presidential vacuum
Northern part of Beirut port silos fully collapses
Large Section of Smoldering Beirut Port Silos Collapses
Mikati asks Hamieh to preserve southern part of Beirut port silos as memorial
400 judges decide to continue open-ended strike
Lebanese navy tries to recover bodies after April sinking
Lebanon telecom price hike threatens aid hotlines
Adwan dubs customs dollar rate as 'random, ill-considered', says 'govt. has no
plan'
Geagea calls for president who resembles Bashir Gemayel
UN Special Coordinator visits Tripoli
Report: Lebanon receives Turkish proposal for gas drilling in southern blocks
Stalingrad Of The Arabs/Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 404/August
23/2023
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on August 23-24/2022
Family struck by grief after it loses 6 in Egypt church fire
Palestinian striker held by Israel in critical condition
Turkey to welcome Abbas after restoring Israel ties
Borrell says Iran asked for 'adjustments' to proposed EU nuclear deal
US Official: Iran Has Dropped Some Main Demands for Nuclear Deal
Iranian Agency Announces Killing of IRGC Commander in Syria
Türkiye Has No Preconditions for Dialogue with Syria, Says FM
‘Fraternal Meeting’ Brings Together Leaders of Five Arab Countries in Egypt
Kadhimi Cuts Short Egypt Visit, Urges Calm after Cleric Sadr Fuels Political
Crisis
Iraq Shiite Cleric's Supporters Demand Assembly Be Dissolved
Karbala Probes Shrine Collapse, Seeks Help of Geologists
Zelenskiy Vows Tough Response to Any Russian Attack on Independence Day
Six Months On, Ukraine Fights War, Faces Painful Aftermath
Over 300 Classified Documents Recovered From Trump’s Florida Home
Russia Accuses Ukraine over Car Bomb Assassination
UN Split over Ban on Taliban Officials' Travel
US Senior Official Visits Taiwan Despite Warnings from China
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on August 23-24/2022
The Agreement with Iran/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/August
23/2022
Who Will Get Rid of Putin? The Answer Is Grim./Oleg Kashin/The New York
Times/August 23/2022
China Is Weaponizing Chinese Worldwide to Support the CCP/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone
Institute/August 23/2022
Thrice Wrong: The Atlantic’s Attack on the Rosary/Raymond Ibrahim/August 23/2022
Iran Garnering Internal Support for a Potential Nuclear Deal/Omer Carmi/The
Washington Institute/August 23/2022
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on August 23-24/2022
Sheik Bashir, 40 years after your Martyrdom,
you are still in our conscience and hearts
Elias Bejjani/August 23/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/58062/elias-bejjani-bashir-gemayel-is-a-dream-that-will-never-die/
History tells us so clearly that patriotic, national, and religious causes
cannot be killed by assassinating their founders, or those who lobby for them.
In fact, the contrary usually happens.
History shows that major worldwide religions spread after the departure of their
founding leaders. Christianity, for example, spread all over the world after the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees crucified Jesus, believing his death
would put an end to his new religion. They were disappointed, and Christianity
became the number one religion in the whole world. Luke 12:4 in the Holy Bible
reads, “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body and can do nothing more.”
On August 23/1982, following in the steps of the Pharisees, Lebanon’s
collaborators joined by some regional tyrants deluded themselves into believing
that assassinating President-elect Sheik Bashir Gemayel, would also kill the
Lebanese cause. They thought killing Bashir would destroy Lebanon’s history and
identity, and sever the Lebanese from their roots.
What happened 2022 years ago, happened again in a way on August 23/1982. History
repeated itself and the contemporary Pharisees were no more lucky than the
Pharisees of the Christ era.
Today the Lebanese cause is known worldwide, and every day more Lebanese
everywhere are committing themselves to it in spite of the hardships and
difficulties.
On the annual anniversary of Bachir’s election as Lebanon’s president on August
23/1982, we renew our vows, and declare again our commitment to Bashir’s cause
and dream, to our national Lebanese identity, to liberation, to basic dignity
and to holy resistance against the occupation.
Bashir’s cause is not dead. It cannot die, will never die as long as one
Lebanese remains committed to Bashir’s patriotic beliefs and loyalty to Lebanon,
to its 7000 years of history and civilization
Bashir’s national dream for Lebanon is not dead, for no criminal can kill dreams
about freedom. Dreams are acts of intellectual imaging and portrayal of
aspirations, objectives and hopes that people endeavour to fulfill in reality.
Bashir’s dream is alive in the hearts and spirits of every patriotic Lebanese
all over the world.
Our deep-rooted Lebanese identity is unique. It was carved by our faithful
ancestors in Lebanon’s mighty mountains, and planted with sweat and blood in its
holy soil throughout seven thousand years of heroism and sacrifices. Generation
after generation, Lebanese have built Lebanon and made it into a fort and oasis
for freedom, and an asylum for the persecuted…. Lebanon may not be a big
country, but it is big in deeds.
For 7000 years Lebanon was successful in surviving with dignity, through
hundreds of invaders, tyrants and conquerors…all were forced to depart defamed
and in humiliation, defamed.
Bashir gave our identity worldwide dimension, and made it a cause and purpose
for each and every Lebanese. Lebanon’s liberation is the aim of every patriotic
Lebanese.
Virtues of dignity and resistance are known characteristics for Lebanon and its
people.
They are deeply rooted in Lebanon’s holy soil, and in the Lebanese minds,
spirits and conscience, as well as in their noble conduct and faith.
Bashir portrayed and personified wisdom, patriotic conduct, courage, national
devotion, leadership traits, and all other distinctive Lebanese virtues. He
carried the liberation torch, never abandoned the Lebanese cause, and became its
martyr. Bashir Gemayel scared those who feared truth, justice and sainthood. He
frightened collaborators, traitors and those who never believed in Lebanon’s
history and identity. He was a nightmare for all Lebanon’s enemies, when he was
alive, and still is years after his assassination.
Sheik Bashir, 40 years after your departure, you are still in our conscience and
hearts. Your dream is still our dream, and we are still fighting for the same
cause. Lebanon is still occupied and the 10452 km2 are not yet liberated. But in
spite of all hardships and difficulties, the torch that you carried is still
held high, and the battle rages. By God’s will, the fight will not cease before
the complete liberation of our Lebanon, the Lebanon that you loved, cherished
and worshipped.
Sheik Bashir, You are alive.
When the Pharisee’s murdered you, only your flesh passed away. And in that
moment your sanctified image was implanted forever into the hearts of your
people. Your heroism was sealed.
Bashir, you speak to the conscience of every Lebanese who believes in Lebanon
and its people. You live on in us, and in our blessed heritage.
Long Live Free Lebanon.
NB: This article was first published in year 2000. This above copy is
republished with slight additions and changes
President Aoun follows up on government formation,
maritime border demarcation with Baabda visitors
NNA/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, followed up today on the
on-going contacts to form the new government and southern maritime borders
demarcation.
MP Yehya:
The President received MP, Mr. Mohamed Yehya, and deliberated with him current
political and governmental developments.
After the meeting, MP Yehya indicated that the government situation and the
on-going contacts in this regard between the President of the Republic and the
designated Premier were discussed, in addition to the necessity of achieving
this matter for the benefit of the country and its people.
“In this context, I stressed the importance of representing the Akkar region in
the upcoming government, and I felt His Excellency’s interest in Akkar and its
people and the need to take care of them and their needs that we discussed
during the meeting” MP Yehya said.
“We hope that the process of forming a government will be easy and take into
account the desire of the people of Akkar to be represented in the line-up” MP
Yehya concluded.
Former MP Rahme:
President Aoun met former MP Emile Rahme and tackled with him current affairs.
After the meeting, Rahme said “My visit today to His Excellency the President
focused on three issues of concern to the Lebanese. The first and most important
issue is the continued decline in the economic situation, the rise in prices,
the lack of control, the fight against monopoly and smuggling, which mainly
affects social conditions and increases the suffering of citizens”.
“The possibility of addressing the continuous deterioration is still possible if
everyone is convinced of the need to adopt measures, even temporary and gradual,
pending the approval of the recovery plan and the rejuvenation of the country
after adopting the necessary reform laws, not only for the sake of the
International Monetary Fund, but also for Lebanon’s need for these laws at this
delicate stage in Lebanon’s history” Rahme continued.
“Talking about the importance of quick treatments led me to the second issue,
which is the formation of the government and the need to achieve this matter as
soon as possible because the country cannot bear to remain without a
full-fledged government, especially in light of the fears that are increasing
day by day regarding the failure of the election of a new president for the
country within the constitutional deadline. I felt His Excellency’s desire to
form a new government in agreement with the Premier-designate and in accordance
with the constitutional rules and national partnership, and the discussion is
open and continuous between His Excellency the President and PM Mikati.
Deliberations will continue during the next few hours, hoping to reach an
understanding, knowing that the country can no longer afford the luxury of
waiting and arguments that are useless because we are not in a normal
circumstance” Rahme added.
Rahme also revealed that the third topic he discussed with President Aoun was
what the contacts led to regarding the demarcation of the southern maritime
borders. “I understood from His Excellency the President that this national
file, par excellence, is on the right path, which will preserve Lebanon’s rights
to its waters and wealth, and that all data indicates that reaching these rights
will not take long and that the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, is continuing
his contacts with the Israeli side, according to what was agreed upon during his
visit, on the 1st of last August” Rahme pointed out. Then, Rahme concluded
indicating that “What is important in this regard is for the Lebanese position
to remain united because it is the basis of Lebanon’s strength and to avoid bids
that negatively affect such a sensitive issue related to national sovereignty
and dignity”.
Ambassador Samaha:
The President met the Lebanese Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, Albert
Samaha, and tackled with him Lebanese-Omani relations and the conditions of the
Lebanese community in the Sultanate.—Presidency Press Office
Israel Reinforces Army Presence on Lebanon’s Borders in
Anticipation of 'Gas War'
Tel Aviv - Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Israel warned of the possibility of a war with Lebanon if Hezbollah carried out
its threats to prevent work on a gas extraction platform in a disputed area in
the Mediterranean. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in an interview
with Radio 103 FM in Tel Aviv on Monday: “I believe that in the future, there
will be two gas platforms. One on our side, one on theirs. And I hope that we do
not have to go through another round of confrontations before then.” He
continued: “I believe that [Hezbollah] is not interested in an agreement to
demarcate the borders between the two sides. However, if [the party] tries to
carry out the threat of [its leader Hassan] Nasrallah that he will not let
Israel extract gas in the event of not reaching an agreement on the demarcation
of the maritime borders, then attacking an Israeli platform may lead to a day of
fighting that could develop into several combat days, and this may lead to war.
There will be a tragedy for the state of Lebanon and its citizens.” Sources in
Tel Aviv had pointed to tangible progress in the ongoing US-brokered
negotiations on the border demarcation. The sources talked about the possibility
of Israel ceding a section inside the sea, in exchange for a Lebanese abandoning
an area closer to the shore.On Sunday evening, Israeli Channel 12 said that
Israeli security officials feared that Nasrallah would seek to provoke Israel
again, “in the hope of obtaining Israeli concessions,” noting that the two sides
were about to sign an agreement. Sources in Beirut, however, denied the news and
said that they were not aware of such mutual concessions. For his part, the
former head of the Military Intelligence Division in the Israeli army, Amos
Yadlin, warned Sunday that Hezbollah was becoming “overconfident in its
provocations… and was at risk of overplaying its hand and sparking a conflict
with Israel, similar to the buildup ahead of the last war between Israel and
Hezbollah in 2006.”On Monday, reinforcements and masses of Israeli forces were
seen on high alert on the northern border with Lebanon. In Beirut, the media
office of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, issued a statement,
saying that he had a lengthy conversation on Monday afternoon with US mediator
Amos Hochstein, over the course of the maritime negotiations.
U.S. state department spokesperson says maritime border
resolution 'possible'
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
U.S. department of state spokesperson Ned Price has said that U.S. mediator Amos
Hochstein is in touch with the parties in Lebanon and Israel and that a
resolution to the maritime border conflict is possible. Price did not announce
when would Hochstein head to Lebanon. "I don’t have any travel for Amos
Hochstein to announce at the time," he said in a press conference. He added that
the U.S. remains "committed to facilitating negotiations between Lebanon and
Israel" and that "progress towards a resolution can only be reached through
negotiation.""We welcome the consultative and open spirit of the parties to
reach a final decision, which has, we believe, the potential to yield greater
stability, security, and prosperity for Lebanon as well as Israel as well as for
the region," Price said. Concerning the agreement
between Lebanon and Egypt and Syria to bring gas from Egypt, Price linked it to
"the maritime issue". "We’re speaking to the delimitation of the maritime
boundary in this regard," he said.
Possible exits in case of a presidential vacuum
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have
found a way out of a possible Presidential vacuum, al-Akhbar newspaper said.
Both claim to have constitutional justifications that would give the caretaker
government the powers of a regular government, in case of a presidential
deadlock. The daily said, in remarks published Tuesday, that some Christian
forces have another proposal. They are calling for keeping President Michel Aoun
in his post until a new Cabinet is formed or a new President is elected. But
sources close to Baabda told al-Akhbar that Aoun has decided not to stay in his
post after the end of his term. The sources added that other possibilities
exist, like designating a new Prime Minister instead of Mikati to form a
government or finding a way that allows Aoun to form a government himself in
case of a presidential vacuum.
Northern part of Beirut port silos fully collapses
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Eight more grain silos at Beirut port toppled Tuesday, succumbing to damage from
a devastating 2020 explosion in the third such collapse in a month, AFP
correspondents reported. No injuries were reported — the area had been long
evacuated — but the collapse was another painful reminder of the horrific August
2020 explosion. A cloud of dust rose over the port after the collapse, which
brought down the last of the northern block of silos that was more heavily
damaged in the blast and where a fire had been burning since July. The country's
caretaker environment minister, Nasser Yassin, told Lebanese TV that the
government will now look into how to ensure the southern block remains standing.
He urged residents near the port to wear masks, and said experts would conduct
air quality tests. Only 12 of the original 48 silos are still standing, all of
them in the southern block. The remaining southern block is more stable and not
at imminent risk of collapse, said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who
has installed sensors on the silos. Durand, who volunteered for the
government-commissioned team of experts, told The Associated Press that the
speed of the tilt rapidly accelerated overnight on Monday, just hours before the
collapse.
“There was a very sharp acceleration, which was expected,” Durand explained.
“When this happens, you know it’s going to go.”The 50 year old, 48 meter (157
feet) tall silos had withstood the force of the explosion of haphazardly stored
ammonium nitrate fertilizer on Aug. 4, 2020, effectively shielding the western
part of Beirut from the blast that killed over 200 people, injured more than
6,000 and badly damaged entire neighborhoods. The fire has been burning in the
silos for more than a month as remaining grain stocks ferment in the summer
heat.
In April, the government ordered the silos' demolition but the operation was put
on hold, partly because of objections from relatives of blast victims who want
them preserved as a memorial. They also contend that the silos may contain
evidence useful for the judicial probe.
In July, a fire broke out in the northern block of the silos due to the
fermenting grains. Firefighters and Lebanese Army soldiers were unable to put it
out and it smoldered for over a month. Officials had warned that the silo could
collapse, but feared risking the lives of firefighters and soldiers who
struggled to get too close to put out the blaze or drop containers of water from
helicopters.
The environment and health ministries in July issued instructions to residents
living near the port to stay indoors in well-ventilated spaces. In late July,
part of the northern block collapsed for the first time. Days later on the
second anniversary of the Beirut Port blast, roughly a fourth of the structure
collapsed. On Sunday, the fire expanded to large sections of the silo. Survivors
of the blast and residents near the port have told The Associated Press that
watching the fire from their homes and offices was like reliving the trauma from
the port blast, which started with a fire in a warehouse near the silos that
contained hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate, improperly stored
there for years. "We hold authorities responsible for what happened with the
silos," said Mariana Fodoulian, who lost her sister in the explosion. "We must
preserve the southern block of silos" as a memorial, Fodoulian said, echoing the
demands of many blast victim relatives. Relatives had
called for a sit-in near the port at 5 p.m. Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh
announced last week that the government had agreed to reserve 25,000 square
meters (270,000 square feet) of the port to build new grain silos. This is
larger than the current complex which occupies a space of 21,000 square meters
(226,000 square feet). Hamieh said funding would come from international donors
as well as the government, which has been bankrupted by a crushing financial
crisis.
Large Section of Smoldering Beirut Port Silos Collapses
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Another significant section of the devastated Beirut Port silos collapsed on
Tuesday morning in a cloud of dust. No injuries were reported — the area had
been long evacuated — but the collapse was another painful reminder of the
horrific August 2020 explosion. The collapse left the silos' southern part
standing next to a pile of charred ruins. The northern block had already been
slowly tipping over since the initial explosion two years ago but rapidly
deteriorated after it caught fire over a month ago due to fermenting grains, The
Associated Press reported. The 50-year-old, 48 meters (157 feet) tall silos had
withstood the force of the explosion on Aug. 4, 2020, effectively shielding the
western part of Beirut from the blast that killed over 200 people, injured more
than 6,000, and badly damaged entire neighborhoods. The country's caretaker
environment minister, Nasser Yassin, told Lebanese TV that the government will
now look into how to ensure the southern block remains standing. He urged
residents near the port to wear masks and said experts would conduct air quality
tests. In April, the Lebanese government decided to demolish the silos but
suspended the decision following protests from families of the blast’s victims
and survivors. They contend that the silos may contain evidence useful for the
judicial probe and that it should stand as a memorial for the 2020 tragedy. In
July, a fire broke out in the northern block of the silos due to the fermenting
grains. Firefighters and Lebanese Army soldiers were unable to put it out and it
smoldered for over a month. Officials had warned that the silo could collapse,
but feared risking the lives of firefighters and soldiers who struggled to get
too close to put out the blaze or drop containers of water from helicopters.
Survivors of the blast and residents near the port have told The Associated
Press that watching the fire from their homes and offices was like reliving the
trauma from the port blast, which started with a fire in a warehouse near the
silos that contained hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate, improperly
stored there for years. The environment and health ministries in late July
issued instructions to residents living near the port to stay indoors in
well-ventilated spaces. Emmanuel Durand, a French civil engineer who volunteered
for the government-commissioned team of experts, last month told the AP that the
fire from the grains had sped up the speed of the tilt of the shredded silo and
caused irreversible damage to its weak concrete foundation. The structure
rapidly deteriorated ever since. In late July, part of the northern block
collapsed for the first time. Days later on the second anniversary of the Beirut
Port blast, roughly a fourth of the structure collapsed. On Sunday, the fire
expanded to large sections of the silo.
Mikati asks Hamieh to preserve southern part of Beirut port
silos as memorial
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati asked Tuesday caretaker Minister of Public
Works & Transport Ali Hamieh to preserve the remaining southern block of the
Beirut port silos as a memorial. Another significant section of the devastated
Beirut Port silos had collapsed on Tuesday morning in a cloud of dust, while the
remaining southern block is more stable and not at imminent risk of collapse,
said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who has installed sensors on the
silos. In April, the government had ordered the silos'
demolition but the operation was put on hold, partly because of objections from
relatives of blast victims who want them preserved as a memorial. They also
contend that the silos may contain evidence useful for the judicial probe. In
late July, part of the northern block collapsed for the first time. Days later
on the second anniversary of the Beirut Port blast, roughly a fourth of the
structure collapsed. "We hold authorities responsible for what happened with the
silos," said Mariana Fodoulian, who lost her sister in the explosion. "We must
preserve the southern block of silos" as a memorial, Fodoulian said, echoing the
demands of many blast victim relatives.
400 judges decide to continue open-ended strike
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Around 400 judges held a general assembly Tuesday at the Court of Cassation and
decided to carry on with an open-ended strike aimed at protesting “the difficult
financial, social and health conditions that Lebanon’s judges are going
through,” the National News Agency said. “Contacts with the officials have not
led to any result,” the agency quoted the judges as saying. The strike has
entered its second week. According to NNA, Higher Judicial Council chief Judge
Suheil Abboud, members of the Higher Judicial Council and judges from the courts
of cassation, appeal, public prosecutions, courts and all judicial departments
attended the meeting.
Lebanese navy tries to recover bodies after April sinking
Associated Press/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
In late April, Hussein Dinnawi, his wife Samar and several dozen other Lebanese,
Palestinians and Syrians set off by boat from northern Lebanon under the cover
of night, entrusting their fate to smugglers on a treacherous sea voyage in
search of better opportunities in Italy. Several hours later, their boat sank
about 5 kilometers from the port of Tripoli, under circumstances disputed to
this day. Survivors say their vessel was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the
military claims the migrants' boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to
get away.
Four months later, Dinnawi returned this week with other survivors to the same
spot where the boat sank, to watch anxiously as the Lebanese navy tried to
launch a tiny submarine to retrieve the wreckage of the boat, some 450 meters
(about 1,470 feet) below the surface. About 30 bodies of the approximately 80
people who were on board are still believed to be trapped inside the sunken
vessel, including Samar's. "They are mostly women and children inside, because
it was really humid that night," Dinnawi told The Associated Press, explaining
that the men volunteered to stand on deck to make room for women and children
below deck. But due to heavy winds and a high tide Monday, the small, 3-person
underwater craft, a Pisces VI submarine, could not be launched. The navy said it
would try later this week. Dinnawi was disappointed but also angry that the
authorities hadn't taken swifter action to retrieve the bodies. "It shouldn't
have to take four months to do this," Dinnawi said after returning to shore.
Tripoli lawmaker Ashraf Rifi facilitated the arrival of the submarine for the
cash-strapped country through the Australian charity AusRelief, its
Lebanese-Australian chairman Tom Zreika and his own brother, Jamal Rifi, who
lives in Sydney. They said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald in
late July that an anonymous donor had given just over $295,000 to lease the
submarine from an India-registered company. The
sinking of the migrants' boat has put the Lebanese government further on the
defensive, at a time when the country is in economic free fall and public trust
in the state and its institutions is rapidly crumbling. Survivors accuse the
navy of deliberately sinking the ship, as it tried to stop the migrants. The
Lebanese military says the migrant boat crashed into the navy vessel while
trying to escape, and has received survivors' testimonies supporting that
version of the account.
Seven bodies were recovered that night, including one of a child, while 48
survivors were pulled from the Mediterranean Sea. Dinnawi said the government
has not compensated the families as it had promised. He has not heard from the
authorities after giving his testimony about the incident. He isn't hopeful for
any justice at this point -- he just wants to bury Samar. "You'll never get
justice or rights from the government here," he said. "Those who died had died.
They're gone."Lebanon, a tiny country of 6 million people, including about 1
million Syrian refugees, has been mired since 2019 in an economic meltdown that
has plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty. The World Bank
describes it as one of the worst economic crises worldwide since the mid-19th
century.
Once a country that received refugees, it has become a launching pad for
dangerous migration by sea to Europe. As the crisis deepened, more Lebanese, as
well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees set off to sea, with security agencies
reporting foiled migration attempts almost weekly.
Dinnawi's wife was a pharmacist, while he ran errands at the same pharmacy.
Before the economic crisis, they both earned enough money to comfortably make
ends meet. But the free fall of the Lebanese pound, which lost over 90% of its
value against the dollar, meant their income was just enough for cover rent and
some of Lebanon's skyrocketing costs. "Sometimes we skipped meals," Dinnawi
said. The crisis worsened even more since Dinnawi's harrowing migration attempt,
with fuel and electricity costs skyrocketing. Lebanon has been without a
full-fledged government since May elections, and has struggled for over two
years to reform its corrupt and wasteful economy and set the path to make the
country viable again. Dinnawi has struggled to find consistent work. When he
went back to the site where he lost his wife and nearly drowned himself, he
allowed for a fleeting moment of day-dreaming. "When I was on the boat and we
reached the point where it sank, I prayed to God that we could just continue to
Italy," he said.
Lebanon telecom price hike threatens aid hotlines
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Telecom price hikes in Lebanon have slashed the number of emergency callers to
aid hotlines, limiting access to relief services at a time of unprecedented
economic crisis, Mercy Corps said Tuesday. Telecom prices saw a fivefold
increase in July, a move Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm said was
necessary to stem the sector's collapse in light of Lebanon's currency collapse.
"In July, Mercy Corps alone received more than 70% fewer calls and requests on
its hotline than in previous months," Mercy Corps said. "This is an especially
major concern for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) case management, where women and
girls may find it increasingly difficult to contact case managers," the
organization added. Lebanon has been battered by
triple-digit inflation and the crash of its currency since the onset of an
economic crisis in 2019 -- widely blamed on the ruling elite's corruption and
mismanagement. More than 80 percent of the population lives in poverty,
according to the United Nations. Since July, the price of services provided by
the country's mobile telecommunications companies have increased by more than
500% and the costs of landline services more than doubled, according to Mercy
Corps. "The increased challenges of reaching out to different institutions'
hotlines will have ramifications for beneficiaries seeking to report abuse,
corruption and fraud, among others," it said. Free emergency hotlines have
reported difficulties operating as Lebanon's economic collapse batters the
country's infrastructure. The Lebanese Red Cross said Monday that their free
hotline had suffered disruptions after the state telecom company experienced
technical difficulties.
Adwan dubs customs dollar rate as 'random, ill-considered', says 'govt. has no
plan'
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Head of the Justice Committee MP Georges Adwan said Tuesday that the government
doesn't have an economic plan but is rather taking random and ill-considered
steps. "The customs dollar is part of a non-existent plan," Adwan said, asking
how and why did the government choose the rate of LBP 20,000 to the U.S. dollar,
while depositors can only withdraw from their dollar savings at a rate of LBP
8,000. "The Lebanese are being robbed and the government and the Central Bank
are participating in stealing the citizens' deposits," he added.
Geagea calls for president who resembles Bashir Gemayel
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday vowed to seek the election of a
Lebanese president who resembles slain president-elect Bashir Gemayel, who was
assassinated in a bomb attack in 1982. “On the 40th anniversary of your
election, our promise to you is to secure the election of a president who
resembles you,” Geagea tweeted. He also posted a video of the parliamentary
session in which Gemayel was elected.
UN Special Coordinator visits Tripoli
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Tuesday visited the
northern city of Tripoli, where she met with local authorities, members of
parliament as well as NGOs working to promote reconciliation, capacity-building
and opportunities for the youth. The visit was part of the Special Coordinator’s
regular trips to different regions of Lebanon to develop a better understanding
of the situation on the ground and the political and socio-economic dynamics as
well as to assess how the United Nations and its partners can best support
Lebanon and its people. “There is enormous human and economic potential in
Tripoli, despite the high levels of poverty and the very difficult livelihood
conditions that have been exacerbated by the country’s recent socio-economic
crisis,” the Special Coordinator said during a tour of the city.
Highlighting the importance of functioning state institutions, delivery on
urgent reforms and people-oriented policies, the Special Coordinator stressed
that “Lebanon’s long-term stability and recovery also depend on supporting and
developing the country’s different regions and addressing their needs. It has
become crucial to implement genuine reforms to address the social and economic
challenges in a sustainable manner.”The Special Coordinator discussed the
situation in Tripoli and the opportunities for progress in meetings with the
relevant stakeholders of Tripoli, including the Governor of North Lebanon,
religious leaders, parliamentarians and members of the civil society. The
Special Coordinator praised the efforts of different local and non-governmental
organizations working on capacity-building, reconciliation and youth
empowerment. “The efforts of active non-governmental organizations complement
the efforts of the state and the donor community in supporting the country’s
sustainable peace and development,” the Special Coordinator said.
The Special Coordinator also reiterated the U.N.'s strong commitment to
supporting Lebanon’s stability, security, recovery efforts and development.
Report: Lebanon receives Turkish proposal for gas drilling
in southern blocks
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Lebanon, which is yet to reach a sea border demarcation deal with Israel, has
received a Turkish proposal for investment and drilling in the southern oil and
gas blocks near Israel’s border, a Lebanese official source said. “The Turkish
proposal involves drilling and investment works in Block 9, which lies on the
maritime border,” the source told Russia’s Sputnik news agency.
البرتو فرنندس/موقع ميمري: ستالينجراد العرب
Stalingrad Of The Arabs
Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 404/August 23/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/111439/alberto-m-fernandez-memri-stalingrad-of-the-arabs-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88-%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%86%d9%86%d8%af%d8%b3-%d9%85%d9%88%d9%82%d8%b9-%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d8%b3%d8%aa/
Forty years ago this summer, the attention of much of the world
was focused on Beirut. Israel sought to finish with Palestinian terrorism from
Lebanon once and for all and fatefully invaded, coming all the way up to the
Lebanese capital. Israel had also hoped to facilitate the installation of a
friendly Lebanese Christian government but their principal partner, charismatic
Lebanese Forces Commander Bashir Gemayel, would be assassinated by Syrian
intelligence shortly after being elected president of Lebanon and before he
actually took office. Despite Israel's clear military superiority, it would
utterly fail in its political goals.
When Israel besieged Beirut in June 1982 – it was actually Muslim majority West
Beirut held by an alliance of Lebanese and Palestinian armed factions since the
beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 that was besieged – it would be one
of PLO leader Yassir Arafat's signature moments.[1] He predicted that Beirut, a
foreign capital in a country that was not his own and which he had helped wreck,
would be "the Hanoi and Stalingrad of the Israeli Army." By the end of August,
Arafat left along with most of his fighters, in a deal brokered by the
international community.[2] PLO headquarters would move to Tunis. When asked
where he was going, he would dramatically answer that he was "going to
Palestine."
That "Stalingrad" phrase of Arafat's has always stuck with me since I read it 40
years ago. It says so much. Here is the Palestinian and Arab Left's then very
fashionable interest in the imagery of Marxist Revolution, it is not Hittin
(against the Crusaders) or Khaybar (against the Jews of Medina) or Al-Qadisiyah
(against the pagan Iranians) to name just a few evocative Islamic and Arab
battles, but North Vietnam against American imperialism and Soviet Russia
against Nazism.
Of course, the city of Stalingrad was destroyed in the famous battle that bears
its name. The symbolism for Beirut was not just about bloody military victory
but a sense of heroic steadfastness and survival in the rubble of a fortress
city despite the odds, an attitude immortalized by the verses of Palestinian
revolutionary poet Ahmed Dahbour: "Oh World, Be Witness to us and to Beirut."[3]
These factions were able to flourish to a certain extent, as parasites on a
host, for years in Lebanon. Not only did the PLO (Arafat's Fatah) have its own
"state within a state" in Lebanon, but so did the other principal Palestinian
factions such as the PFLP and DFLP, funded by regimes like Qaddafi's Libya, have
their own mini-entities with armies, propaganda outlets, and diplomatic offices.
Israel failed to achieve its ambitious goals to remake Lebanon, but the PLO
would mostly move on as part of a process that would in the end allow it to
return to Palestinian territory as part of the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993.
The great return was not in spite of Israel; it was because of Israel.
There are still Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and, of course, Palestinian
fighters in them, but summer 1982 would be the end of one phase and the
beginning of another. After having been defeated by King Hussein in Jordan in
Black September 1970, the PLO had recovered in Beirut and increasingly made it
their own. Initially hesitant to get involved in internal Lebanese issues, such
is the Palestinian narrative, that would change in time. In 1978 Arafat had
reviewed his forces during a four-hour military parade held in Beirut's
municipal sports stadium to celebrate the PLO's 13th anniversary. Beirut became
the "Palestinian Hanoi" because Lebanon was weak and could not prevent it,
according to PLO leader Shafiq Al-Hout. It should have been Damascus but the
Assad regime was not going to give the Palestinians "the decision-making power
of war and peace."[4]
Arafat's departure from Beirut in August 1982 is a convenient segue from the
Palestinian phase of Lebanon's conflicts to what would eventually become its
Syrian/Iranian/Hezbollah phase. The date is more symbolic than anything else,
Arafat attempted to re-establish himself in the Northern Lebanese city of
Tripoli in 1983[5] and in 1984 pro-Syrian Shia militiamen fought against
pro-Arafat PLO fighters in the brutal, so-called "War of the Camps."[6] Unlike
the 1982 siege of Beirut, these sordid sieges would not be romanticized.
The PLO had provided safe haven for Iranian revolutionaries in Lebanon and
trained some of the first Lebanese Shia fighters. One year after Arafat's
departure, it would be a joint operation by Iranian and Syrian intelligence
under the guise of "Islamic Jihad" that would strike at American and French
peacekeepers in Beirut. The key figure in this organization – a cutout for what
would become Hezbollah – and in the bombing of the U.S. Marines and French
paratroopers was young Imad Mughniyeh, the Lebanese Shia who joined Arafat's
Fatah as a teenager and served in Force 17, Arafat's own elite security
force.[7] Mughniyeh had also fought in the defense of West Beirut against the
Israelis in 1982 and was behind the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in
1983, among other notorious attacks.[8]
The "Stalingrad of the Arabs" concept, the idea that anything is worth
sacrificing for the sake of the Palestinian Revolution is a hardy perennial in
Arab and Islamic politics. Not only was King Hussein's Jordan supposed to be
sacrificed to the cause, so was Lebanon. The Paris of the East was to become the
Arab Hanoi, the pulsing heart of a revolution. In the eyes of Gamal Abdel
Nasser, Assad, Qaddafi, and the Palestinians, Beirut was eminently "expendable"
for the great Arab Nationalist cause.
By 2016, with Syria experiencing its own Civil War, Omran Al-Zoubi, Information
Minister in the Assad regime, would describe Syria itself as the "Stalingrad of
the Arabs," supposedly fighting in the rubble against "Nazism, fascism and
against the new Wahhabism of this age."[9] Today, despite several Arab peace
deals with Israel, there are several candidates for the next Arab Stalingrad
against the Israelis, the next sacrificial victim to be offered up as legendary
urban battlefields for the great Revolution.[10] They are to be found in the
so-called "Axis of Resistance": in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and, of course,
in Gaza, all in conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran working through
its proxies.[11] The list of expendable places and people has grown.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Youtube.com/watch?v=kek3I1Jzb6Q, accessed August 23, 2022.
[2] Youtube.com/watch?v=jOZVIUbe3NQ, accessed August 23, 2022.
[3] Youtube.com/watch?v=LwtoQHlbsyo, accessed August 23, 2022.
[4] Youtube.com/watch?v=6phbLet_9Hs, accessed August 23, 2022.
[5] Aljazeera.net/blogs/2019/3/29/%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF-%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3,
March 29, 2019.
[6] Stork, Joe. "The War of the Camps, The War of the Hostages." MERIP Reports,
no. 133 (1985): 3–22.
[7] Washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/who-was-imad-mughniyeh, February 14,
2008.
[8] Jcpa.org/hizbullah-commander-imad-mughniyeh-10-years-since-assassination,
February 13, 2018.
[9] Syriatimes.sy/syria-is-the-stalingrad-of-arabs, May 26, 2016.
[10] Youtube.com/watch?v=G8-3sYle8AE, accessed August 23, 2022.
[11] Youtube.com/watch?v=FEyURTygeds, accessed August 23, 2022.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on August 23-24/2022
Family struck by grief after it loses 6 in Egypt church fire
Associated Press/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
For Mariam Habeib, the grief seems never ending: She lost her older sister, two
nieces and a niece's three young children in an intense fire that engulfed a
church in Egypt's capital during a recent service and killed 41 people.
The Coptic Christian community is one of the world's oldest, and no stranger to
sadness. A minority in Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Christians have faced deadly
attacks by Islamic extremists, restrictions on church building and outbursts of
sectarian-motivated violence in recent decades. The most recent tragedy brought
a flood of sympathy from around the country. "Our solace is that they went to
heaven together as they liked to be together in life," Habeib said of her
relatives, tears streaming down her face. Nineteen of those killed in the Aug.
14 fire were children. The blaze erupted at the Martyr Abu Sefein Coptic
Christian Orthodox Church in the neighborhood of Imbaba, one of Egypt's most
densely populated areas. Sixteen people were also injured, including four police
officers and residents involved in the rescue effort. Health authorities said
the casualties were a result of smoke inhalation and a stampede as people tried
to escape.
According to prosecutors, the fire was ignited by a short-circuit in the
building's generator, a backup source of power, which the church used during
regular outages. The generator, they said, caught fire when the current returned
after a blackout that morning. Habeib lives in Shubra, another densely
populated, working-class district in Cairo. On the morning of the fire, she said
she was on her way to work when she received a phone call from her brother. He
told her that he had heard there was a fire at Abu Sefein and that their oldest
sister, Magda Habeib, and her daughters were there. She soon learned that
victims were being brought to a nearby hospital. By the time she arrived, Mariam
Habeib found herself facing what she had dreaded during the half-hour drive to
the hospital. Her nephew, Mina Atif, had recognized the bodies of his mother,
Magda, two sisters, Irine and Mirna, and Irine's 5-year-old twin daughters,
Barcina and Mariam. They roamed the halls looking for the still-missing
3-year-old boy. Then they saw hospital workers carrying a small body wrapped in
a white sheet. It turned out to be the body of Irine's toddler, Ibram. "All of
them were lying motionless before our eyes," she said. "The kids had been very
lively ones, as if they knew that their end would be soon." Habeib and her
nephew collapsed in disbelief, two among the dozens of weeping grief-stricken
relatives at the hospital's morgue. Although officials ruled out arson, the fire
— one of the deadliest in Egypt in many years — raised a barrage of questions
about the emergency response system, fire safety codes and restrictions on
building houses of worship for one of the Middle East's largest Christian
communities. The Martyr Abu Sefein Church was in a 120 square-meter (1,290
square-foot) space in a four-story converted apartment building that looks like
other residential buildings in the crowded neighborhood constructed largely
without planning or permits. It was recognizable as a church only by a sign
above its front door, and an iron cross on its roof.
Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II said the church, like many others, is too
small for the number of congregants it serves. He blamed government restrictions
on new church construction and urged authorities in Muslim-majority Egypt to
move existing small churches to new locations or allow them to expand to
accommodate growing numbers. The limits on new church construction have led many
congregations to convert residential buildings into places of worship. In 2016,
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's government issued the country's first law
spelling out the rules for building a church. Critics argued the law did nothing
to ease previous restrictions. Just a day before the fire, on Saturday, the
entire family had been together for their weekly family gathering, steps away
from the church. "It was a very beautiful day, as if they were saying goodbye,"
said Michael Ayad, who is married to Nermin, one of Magda's two surviving
children. Also present was the fiancé of Magda's youngest daughter, Mirna, 22, a
university student. The two were meant to have been married this year. Days
later, Mina, Magda's son, was receiving hundreds of mourners at the same home
where his family had been happy days before. Dozens of neighbors and relatives
came to remember the dead, many speaking through tears. A neighbor of 40 years
who identified herself as Um Azza, recalled how Magda Habeib was among the first
to try to settle disputes between neighbors no matter their religion, even
marital problems. "Everyone in the street is in debt to her for her generosity,"
she said, fighting back tears. Magda's husband had died a decade ago, but the
61-year-old continued to live in the same apartment the family had inhabited for
30 years. Her two younger children Mina and Mirna, lived with her. Her two
married daughters, Nermin and Irine, lived in the same neighborhood. Irine's
husband had died last year of a heart attack, leaving her a single mother to
three young children. Irine and her children stayed the night on Saturday, to go
to church with her mother the next morning. "Tante Magda used to say, Irine and
the kids are my purpose for the rest of my life," Ayad recalled, using the
French equivalent of aunt. "They went to Abu Sefein to die together."
Palestinian striker held by Israel in critical condition
Naharnet/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
A Palestinian hunger striker held by Israel is in critical condition and could
die at any moment from a range of maladies, a doctor who has examined him said,
after the country's Supreme Court rejected an appeal to release the man.
Khalil Awadeh, 40, has been on a hunger strike since March to protest his
so-called administrative detention, an Israeli policy of holding Palestinians
for alleged involvement in militant activity. Detainees can be held without
charge or trial for months or years at a time, without seeing the purported
evidence against them. Israel describes the policy as a necessary security
measure, while critics say it is a violation of due process. Awawdeh's family
says he has been on the hunger strike for 170 days, subsisting only on water.
Photos of Awawdeh taken by his lawyer on Friday showed him emaciated and lying
in a hospital bed.
Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, a doctor with Physicians for Human Rights who visited
Awadeh earlier this month, said he was extremely thin and suffering from
malnutrition. She said there are signs of neurological damage, with symptoms
like memory loss, an inability to concentrate, involuntary eye movement and a
near loss in vision. She said there was a risk of heart failure or kidney
failure at any time. "There is no doubt there is a risk for his life," she said.
His lawyer, Ahlam Haddad, appealed last week to the Supreme Court to release him
due to his failing health. But on Sunday, the court rejected the appeal.
In its ruling, the court said it had examined classified security information
about Awawdeh and determined there was "solid and strong justification for the
decision of administrative detention." Haddad said she would file another
request for his release as soon as his condition worsens. "This is the equation,
a difficult equation," she said. Israel's Shin Bet security agency did not
respond to a message seeking comment. The Israeli military arrested Awawdeh last
December, claiming he was an operative for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
militant group — an allegation that his lawyer has dismissed. Awawdeh is one of
several Palestinian prisoners who have gone on prolonged hunger strikes in
recent years to protest their administrative detentions. Many continued to
suffer permanent health problems after their release. Israel says administrative
detentions help keep dangerous militants off the streets and allow the
government to hold suspects without divulging sensitive intelligence or evidence
against the suspects. Critics say it denies prisoners due process and is aimed
at quashing opposition to Israel's 55-year occupation of territories the
Palestinians seek for a future state. Israel is currently holding some 4,400
Palestinian prisoners, including militants who have carried out deadly attacks,
as well as people arrested at protests or for throwing stones. Around 670
Palestinians are currently being held in administrative detention, a number that
has jumped since March as Israel began near-nightly arrest raids in the occupied
West Bank following a series of deadly attacks against Israelis. Awawdeh's
family says he has not eaten food since March, though he took some vitamin
supplements over two weeks in June when he thought his case was being resolved.
Turkey to welcome Abbas after restoring Israel ties
Associated Press/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Turkey said Tuesday that its restoration of full diplomatic relations with
Israel did not mean a shift in Middle Eastern priorities as it prepared to
welcome Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. The Palestinian leader was due to
meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Tuesday on his second visit
to Turkey in a year. The talks come just a week after Turkey and Israel sealed a
rapprochement from a decade of rocky relations by announcing plans to reappoint
ambassadors for the first time in four years. Erdogan has been a fervent
supporter of the Palestinian cause who has branded Israel a "terrorist state".
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu argued on Tuesday that an open
dialogue with Israel will help Ankara better defend Palestinian rights. "The
fact that we normalize our relations does not mean that we will make concessions
on Palestine," Cavusoglu said in a television interview. "Dialogue should
continue even if you do not agree on everything." The veteran Palestinian
leader's visit is widely seen as an attempt by Turkey to show that it stood by
old allies even as it repairs relations with more recent rivals. Turkey has
gradually mended fences across the volatile region as it seeks new deals and
investments to help recover from its most profound economic crisis in more than
two decades. The warming with Israel is being accompanied by plans to restore
direct flights by Israeli airlines between the two countries that could bring in
more tourists to Turkey's resorts. Turkey is also hoping to revive an east
Mediterranean natural gas pipeline project that won tentative backing from the
United States last year. Cavusoglu said Palestinian leaders also "want our
relations with Israel to be normalized". "They also know that thanks to this
dialogue, we will better defend the Palestinian cause," he said.
Borrell says Iran asked for 'adjustments' to
proposed EU nuclear deal
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Iran requested "some adjustments" to a draft agreement on reviving a 2015
nuclear accord with major powers proposed by the European Union, the bloc's
foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday. During an interview with
Spanish public television TVE, Borrell said "most" countries involved in nuclear
talks with Iran agreed with the proposal, but that the United States had not yet
responded. The 2015 agreement between Iran and six
world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States --
gave the Islamic republic sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear
program. The deal was designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon
-- something it has always denied wanting to do. But in 2018, then US president
Donald Trump, a strong critic of the deal, unilaterally pulled out and slapped
heavier sanctions on Iran. Earlier this month, after more than a year of talks
coordinated by Borrell and his team, the EU submitted what it called a "final"
proposed text -- which has not been made public -- to revive the accord. "Iran
responded by saying 'yes but', that is to say they want some adjustments,"
Borrell told TVE, without providing further details. During a press conference
Monday in Santander in northern Spain, he said Iran's response had seemed
"reasonable" to him and it was therefore submitted to the six world powers
involved in the nuclear talks."We are waiting for their response, most of them
agree, but there is still no answer from the United States... we expect to
receive a reply during this week," he added. Iran has accused the United States
of stalling a potential agreement, a charge rejected by Washington. US State
Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that outstanding questions remained
about Iran's requested changes to the EU proposal. "This is why it has taken us
some additional time to review those comments and to determine our response of
our own," he said.
US Official: Iran Has Dropped Some Main Demands for Nuclear
Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Iran has dropped some of its main demands on resurrecting a deal to rein in
Tehran's nuclear program, including its insistence that international inspectors
close some probes of its atomic program, bringing the possibility of an
agreement closer, a senior US official told Reuters on Monday. The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter,
said that although Tehran has been saying Washington has made concessions, Iran
has dropped some of its key demands. "They came back last week and basically
dropped the main hang-ups to a deal," the official said. Earlier, Iran accused
the United States of procrastinating in efforts to revive the nuclear deal, a
charge denied by Washington. US State Department spokesman Ned Price told
reporters in Washington: "The notion that we have delayed this negotiation in
any way is just not true."For his part, the European Union's foreign policy
chief said on Monday he hoped the United States would respond positively as
early as this week to an EU proposal that aims to save a 2015 nuclear deal with
Iran. Josep Borrell said that Iran had given a "reasonable" response to the
proposal, which follows 16 months of fitful, indirect US-Iranian talks with the
EU shuttling between the parties. "There was a proposal from me as coordinator
of the negotiations saying 'this is the equilibrium we reached, I don't think we
can improve it on one side or the other'... and there was a response from Iran
that I considered reasonable," Borrell told a university event in the Spanish
city of Santander. "It was transmitted to the United States which has not yet
responded formally... I hope the response will put an end to the negotiations,"
he added.
Iranian Agency Announces Killing of IRGC Commander in Syria
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
An Iranian agency announced on Monday night the death of a commander of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria. Iran’s state-run media said that General
Abolfazl Alijani was killed as he was serving as a “military advisor” in the
country, adding that he was from the central city of Esfahan. According to
analysis, Iran is taking advantage of Russia’s preoccupation with the military
operation in Ukraine to consolidate its influence in Syria. The Iranian militia
has spread recently, in many scattered strategic locations in the country after
the withdrawal of pro-Russian factions. These moves included redeployment and
repositioning operations for fear of any Israeli targeting operations.
Türkiye Has No Preconditions for Dialogue with Syria,
Says FM
Asharq Al-Awsat//August 23/2022
Türkiye has no preconditions for dialogue with Syria but any talks should focus
on security on their border, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday,
in a further softening of Ankara's stance towards Damascus after a decade of
hostility. Türkiye has backed opposition factions fighting to topple Syria's
President Bashar al-Assad, and cut diplomatic relations with Damascus early in
the 11-year conflict. But the two countries' intelligence chiefs have maintained
contact and recent comments from President Tayyip Erdogan's government suggest a
move towards political engagement, alarming Assad's opponents in the remaining
pocket of opposition-held Syria. Cavusoglu said two weeks ago that the Syrian
opposition and government must be brought together for reconciliation, and
Erdogan said diplomatic relations could never be fully cut. After visiting
Russia, which has strongly backed Assad, Erdogan said President Vladimir Putin
had suggested that Türkiye cooperate with the Syrian government along their
joint border, where Erdogan is planning a further military incursion against
Syrian Kurdish fighters he says pose a security threat. Türkiye, which has
carried out four military operations in northern Syria since 2016, says it is
creating a safe zone where some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it is
currently hosting could return.
‘No conditions for dialogue’
Asked about the prospect for any talks, Cavusoglu said they would need to have
specific goals. "There cannot be a condition for dialogue, but what is the aim
of these contacts? The country needs to be cleared of terrorists... People need
to be able to return," Cavusoglu told broadcaster Haber Global. "No conditions
for dialogue, but what is the aim, the target? It needs to be goal-oriented," he
said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after talks in Moscow
with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, called for talks involving Türkiye
and Syria to avert a military operation. "The main thing is not to allow any new
military action, to negotiate through diplomatic channels on the basis of the
political principles that previously existed in relations between Syria and
Türkiye," Lavrov said. Cavusoglu revealed earlier this month that he briefly
spoke with Mekdad last year on the margins of an international gathering, though
he played down the meeting. Asked last week about potential talks with Damascus,
Erdogan said that diplomacy can never be fully severed. There is a "need to take
further steps with Syria," he said, according to a transcript of his comments to
Turkish media. Around 3,000 people demonstrated on Aug. 12 in the town of Azaz,
which is controlled by Türkiye-backed opposition forces, pledging to continue
their opposition to Assad. Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AK Party,
said a political solution could only be reached when Syria's government changes
course and the opposition believes that a basis for reconciliation has emerged.
"Of course it is out of the question to talk about any political dialogue until
the conditions that led to the severance of the political relationship (between
Türkiye and Syria) are eliminated," Celik said.
‘Fraternal Meeting’ Brings Together Leaders of Five Arab
Countries in Egypt
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Jordan’s King Abdullah II,
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at al-Alamein
International Airport on Monday, in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed
bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said Sisi welcomed the
visit of the distinguished guests in a “special fraternal meeting.”He expressed
the "appreciation of Egypt’s people and leadership for the firm and historical
ties they share with their brothers in the Arab countries," Rady added. The
leaders exchanged views on bolstering various aspects of bilateral ties and
leveraging all areas available to enhance cooperation. On Sunday, Sisi and his
UAE counterpart held a summit in New Alamein to discuss bilateral cooperation as
well as a host of regional and international issues. The two leaders also agreed
during the summit on the importance of bolstering Arab joint efforts to confront
common challenges facing the Arab World. They called for "coordinated efforts to
find long-term solutions to regional crises to bring about security, stability,
and peace for the region and its peoples," Rady concluded.
Kadhimi Cuts Short Egypt Visit, Urges Calm after Cleric
Sadr Fuels Political Crisis
Baghdad/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi cut short a trip to Egypt after
supporters of an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq rallied on Tuesday in
Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, demanding the dissolution of parliament
and early elections. Kadhimi warned that disrupting the work of the judicial
institution exposes the country to dangers, and called for an immediate meeting
of the leaders of the political forces to activate national dialogue and defuse
the crisis. Kadhimi’s media office said in a statement that the PM cut short his
visit to Egypt, and returned to Baghdad following the developments on Tuesday in
Iraq, in order to follow-up on the performance of the security forces in
protecting the institutions of the judiciary and the state. “The right to
demonstrate is guaranteed in accordance with the constitution, with the utmost
need to respect the state institutions to carry out their work in the service of
the people,” the statement quoted Kadhimi as saying. Kadhimi has urged all sides
to remain calm and renewed calls for a national dialogue.On Tuesday, Sadr's
followers began gathering for protests outside the headquarters of the Supreme
Judicial Council and Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad. The followers have sent
threats by phone, the judiciary said in a statement.
Iraq Shiite Cleric's Supporters Demand Assembly Be
Dissolved
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Dozens of supporters of an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq rallied on Tuesday
in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, demanding the dissolution of
parliament and early elections. The demonstration outside the Supreme Judicial
Council and parliament buildings in the Iraqi capital underscored how
intractable Iraq's latest political crisis has become, The Associated Press
said. The followers of the cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr and his political rivals, the
Iran-backed Shiite groups, have been at odds since after last year’s
parliamentary elections. Al-Sadr won the largest share of seats in the October
vote but failed to form a majority government, leading to what has become one of
the worst political crises in Iraq in decades. His supporters in late July
stormed the parliament and have held frequent protests there. Caretaker Prime
Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi last week called a meeting of senior political
leaders and party representatives to find a solution — but al-Sadr’s party did
not attend. The firebrand cleric’s supporters pitched tents outside of the
Supreme Judicial Council and carried banners calling for the authorities to
dissolve parliament, schedule early parliamentary elections, and combat
corruption. They decried what they say is the politicization of the judiciary.
The Supreme Judicial Council and Federal Supreme Court in a statement said they
have suspended court sessions after receiving “threats over the phone” to
pressure them to dissolve parliament. That step would leave Iraq with both a
paralyzed parliament and judiciary, and a caretaker government that can only
perform some of its duties. Al-Sadr last Wednesday gave the judiciary a week to
dissolve parliament, to which it responded saying it has no authority to do so.
His supporters stormed parliament in late July. On Saturday, he called on his
followers to be ready to hold massive protests all over Iraq but then
indefinitely postponed them after Iran-backed groups called for similar rallies
the same day, saying he wants to preserve peace and that “Iraqi blood is
invaluable” to him. Al-Sadr’s Shiite rivals from the Coordination Framework, an
alliance of Iran-backed parties, have said that parliament would have to convene
to dissolve itself.
Karbala Probes Shrine Collapse, Seeks Help of Geologists
Baghdad – Fadhel al-Nashmi/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Nasif al-Khattabi, governor of Iraq’s Karbala region, has officially formed an
investigation committee to probe a landslide that struck the Qattarat al-Imam
Ali shrine on Saturday. The landslide had hit the ceiling of the Qattarat
al-Imam Ali, which then collapsed on top of Shia pilgrims inside. According to
an unfinalized count of victims, seven were killed and seven were injured. The
Iraqi Health Ministry revealed that the victims included women and children.
Governor Khattabi stipulated that members of the investigation committee seek
the assistance of the head of the branch of the Geologists Syndicate in Karbala,
given the nature of the limestone shrine area, which is close to the Razzaza
lake. On Monday, the General Civil Defense Directorate said it was looking for
the last body under the rubble at the shrine. Iraqi rescuers had unearthed seven
bodies that included four women, two men and a child. Eyewitnesses reported that
an eighth body, belonging to a woman pilgrim, was still under the rubble. By
exhuming the body, the number of victims will rise to eight. The General Civil
Defense Directorate had reported earlier that the landslide was likely caused by
an earth mound next to the shrine collapsing due to high humidity. For its part,
Saudi Arabia expressed on Monday its condolences to Iraq. The Saudi Foreign
ministry offered its condolences to the families of those who died and to the
Iraqi people. It also wished the injured a speedy recovery. Local and federal
authorities faced severe criticism and accusations of neglect and lack of care
for people's lives for not following up on religious shrines that are run by
unofficial groups. Some sources talk about the presence of about 3,000 religious
shrines that were built in recent years that are not recognized by the Shiite
Endowment authorities.
Zelenskiy Vows Tough Response to Any Russian Attack on
Independence Day
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
With Ukraine set to mark both its independence from Soviet rule in 1991 and six
months since Russian forces invaded, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed that
any Russian attacks in or around the date would provoke a powerful response.
Zelenskiy, who has led his country's resistance since Russian troops poured over
the border on Feb. 24, also said Ukraine would restore its rule over the Crimea
region - annexed by Russia in 2014 in a precursor to this year's invasion.
Despite his defiance, there was concern among Ukrainian and allied Western
officials that Russia was preparing to attack the capital Kyiv once again. The
United States said it believed Russia would target civilian and government
infrastructure in the next few days. US citizens should leave Ukraine "now" by
their own means if it was safe to do so, the US Embassy said. On the
battlefields, Russian forces carried out artillery and rocket strikes in the
Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, where fighting has taken place near
Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Ukraine's military said. Russia and
Ukraine have blamed each other for strikes on the plant. Meanwhile leaders of
dozens of countries and international organizations were taking part in the
so-called Crimea Platform - most of them by video - in solidarity with Ukraine
on the six-month anniversary of the invasion. "To overcome terror, it is
necessary to gain victory in the fight against Russian aggression," Zelenskiy,
dressed in his customary military gear, told delegates in opening the forum. "It
is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be the resuscitation of world law and
order." Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv later that Ukraine would not
agree to any proposal to freeze current front lines in order to "calm" Moscow,
which now controls about 22% of Ukraine including Crimea. He urged the world not
to show fatigue with the war, saying this would pose a threat to everyone.
Italy's acting Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the summit Rome would continue
to support Ukraine. "We are with you in your fight to resist Russia's invasion,
restore Ukraine's territorial integrity, protect your democracy and
independence," he said. Zelenskiy also said Ukraine needed more weapons from
Western supporters to help turn the tide against Russia. Germany plans to
deliver further arms, including air-defense systems, rocket launchers and
precision munitions, to Ukraine worth over 500 million euros ($500 million) in
2023, a source told Reuters. Zelenskiy had warned at the weekend that Moscow
might try "something particularly ugly" in the run-up to Wednesday's
Independence Day. "They will receive a response, a powerful response," he said
on Tuesday. "I want to say that each day ... this response will grow, it will
get stronger and stronger." Fears of intensified Russian attacks followed the
killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian ultra-nationalist,
in a car bombing near Moscow on Saturday. Moscow blamed the killing on Ukrainian
agents, a charge Kyiv denies. Kyiv has only rarely been hit by Russian missiles
since Ukraine repelled a ground offensive to seize the capital in March. The
mood in Kyiv was calm on Tuesday, with many people still walking the streets,
but signs of increased threat could be felt. Authorities told Ukrainians to work
from home where possible from Tuesday to Thursday, also urging people to take
air raid warnings seriously and seek shelter when sirens sound. The Kyiv city
administration banned large public gatherings until Thursday, fearing that a
crowd of celebrating residents could become a target for a Russian missile
strike.
Stalemate
Russia sent its troops over the border in what it calls a "special military
operation" saying it wanted to demilitarize its neighbor and protect
Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of
waging an unjustified, imperial-style war of aggression. Six months on from the
Russian invasion, which has caused thousands of deaths, forced over a third of
Ukraine's 41 million people from their homes and destroyed whole cities, the
conflict is largely locked in a stalemate. In addition to Crimea, Russian forces
control a large swathe of the south, including along the Black Sea and Sea of
Azov coasts, and chunks of the eastern Donbas region. Peace prospects look
almost non-existent. "We feel good, trusting that victory will be on our side,
only ours, there is no other option," Yevhen, a Ukrainian soldier, said as his
frontline unit fired off several howitzer shells towards Russian positions from
a field in the Donbas. Russian shelling hit Kharkiv in the northeast - Ukraine's
second largest city - around dawn on Tuesday, regional governor Oleh Synehubov
said. A house was hit but no one hurt, he said. In the south, Ukraine's southern
military command said Russian forces pressed attacks along front lines of areas
they occupy, including multiple rocket strikes on the town of Marhanets across
the Dnipro River from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Two
civilians were hurt and several homes, gas and water pipelines were damaged, it
said. It added that Ukrainian rockets and artillery had destroyed an ammunition
depot and command post of a Russian airborne assault regiment in Chernobaevka in
the Russian-occupied Kherson region, southwest of Zaporizhzhia. Artillery and
rocket fire near the nuclear reactor complex, has stirred international calls
for the area to be demilitarized.
Six Months On, Ukraine Fights War, Faces
Painful Aftermath
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Danyk Rak enjoys riding his bike, playing soccer and having quiet moments with
the family’s short-legged dog and two white cats, Pushuna and Lizun. But at age
12, his childhood has been abruptly cut short. His family's home was destroyed
and his mother was seriously wounded as Russian forces bombarded Kyiv’s suburbs
and surrounding towns in a failed effort to seize the capital, The Associated
Press reported. Six months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, and
with no end to the conflict in sight, The Associated Press revisited Danyk as
well as a police officer and an Orthodox priest whose lives have been upended by
war.
“I WANT TO BE AN AIR FORCE PILOT”
Tears come to Danyk’s eyes as his mother, Luda, recalls being pulled from the
rubble, covered in blood, after shrapnel tore through her body and smashed her
right foot. Twenty-two weeks after she was wounded, she’s still waiting to have
her foot amputated and to be fitted with a prosthetic. She keeps the piece of
shrapnel surgeons removed during one of her many operations. Danyk lives with
his mother and grandmother in a house near Chernihiv, a town 140 kilometers
(nearly 90 miles) north of Kyiv, where a piece of tarp covers the broken bedroom
windows. He sells milk from the family's cow that grazes in the nearby fields. A
handwritten sign wrapped in clear plastic on the front gate reads: “Please buy
milk to help my mother who is injured." “My mother needs surgery and that’s why
I have to help her. I have to help my grandmother too because she has heart
problems,” Danyk said. Before schools reopen on Sept. 1, Danyk and his
grandmother have been joining volunteers several days a week clearing the debris
from buildings damaged and destroyed in the Russian bombardment outside
Chernihiv. On the way, he stops at his old house, most of it smashed to the
foundations. “This was my bedroom,” he says, standing next to scorched mattress
springs that protrude from the rubble of bricks and plaster. Polite and soft
spoken, Danyk says his father and stepfather are both fighting in the Ukrainian
army. “My father is a soldier, my uncles are soldiers and my grandfather was a
soldier, too. My stepfather is a soldier and I will be a soldier,” he says with
a look of determination. “I want to be an air force pilot.”
“THIS BRIDGE WAS THE ROAD FROM HELL”
Before the Russian withdrawal from Kyiv and surrounding areas on April 2,
suburbs and towns near the city’s airport were pounded by rockets, artillery
fire and aerial bombardment in an effort to break the Ukrainian defenses. Entire
city blocks of apartments were blackened by the shelling in Irpin, just 20
kilometers (12 miles) northwest of the capital, along a route where police Lt.
Ruslan Huseinov patrolled daily. Some of the most dramatic scenes from the early
stages of the war were of the evacuation from Irpin underneath a destroyed
highway bridge, where thousands escaped the relentless attacks. Huseinov was
there for 16 days, organizing crossings where the elderly were carried along
muddy pathways in wheelbarrows. Reconstruction work has begun on the bridge,
where mangled concrete and iron bars hang over the river. Clothing and shoes
from those who fled can still be seen tangled in the debris. “This bridge was
the road from hell,” says Huseinov, 34, standing next to an overturned white van
still lodged into a slab of smashed concrete. “We got people out of (Irpin)
because conditions were terrible — with bombing and shelling,” he said. “People
were really scared because many lost their children, members of their family,
their brothers and sisters.” Crosses made from construction wood are still
nailed to the railings of the bridge to honor those lost and the effort to save
civilians. “The whole world witnessed our solidarity,” says Huseinov, who grew
up in Germany and says he would never again take the good things in life for
granted. “In my mind, everything has changed: My values in life,” he said. “Now
I understand what we have to lose.”
“BEFORE THE WAR, IT WAS ANOTHER LIFE”
The floor of the Church of Andrew the Apostle has been re-tiled and bullet holes
in the walls plastered over and repainted — but the horror of what happened in
March lies only a few yards away. The largest mass grave in Bucha — a town
outside Kyiv that has become synonymous with the brutality of the Russian attack
— is behind the church. “This grave contained 116 people, including 30 women,
and two children,” said Father Andriy, who has conducted multiple burial
services for civilians found shot dead or killed by shelling, some still only
identified as a number while the effort to name all of Bucha’s victims
continues. Many of the bodies were found before the Russians pulled out of the
Kyiv region, Father Andriy said. “We couldn’t bury people in the cemetery
because it’s on the outskirts of the city. They left people, dead people, lying
in the street. Dead people were found still in their cars. They were trying to
leave but the Russians shelled them,” said Father Andriy, wearing a large cross
around his neck and a dark purple cassock. “That situation lasted two weeks, and
the local authorities began coming up with solutions (to help) relatives and
loved ones. It was bad weather and wild animals were discovering the bodies. So
something had to be done.” He decided to carry out burial services in the
churchyard, many next to where the bodies had been discovered. The experience,
he said, has left people in the town badly shaken. “I think that neither myself
nor anyone who lives in Ukraine, who witnessed the war, can understand why this
happened," he said.“Before the war, it was another life.”“For now we are
surviving on adrenaline,” he said. "But I’m worried that the aftermath will last
decades. It will be hard to get past this and turn the page. Saying the word
‘forgive’ isn’t difficult. But to say it from your heart — for now , that’s not
possible.”
Over 300 Classified Documents Recovered From Trump’s
Florida Home
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
The US government has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings
from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, including material from the
CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI, the New York Times reported on
Monday, citing multiple people briefed on the matter.
An initial batch of more than 150 documents marked as classified was recovered
by the US National Archives in January, the newspaper reported. Aides to Trump
gave the US Justice Department a second set in June, while a third batch was
seized in an FBI raid earlier this month, it said. The Justice Department did
not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for the former
president did not immediately provide comment, according to Reuters. Trump asked
a federal court on Monday to temporarily block the FBI from reviewing the
materials it seized on Aug. 8 from his Mar-a-Lago home until a special master
can be appointed to oversee the review. The search is part of a federal
investigation into whether Trump illegally removed documents when he left office
in January 2021 after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
During its search, the FBI seized 11 sets of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago,
some of which were labeled "top secret" - the highest level of classification
reserved for the most closely held U.S. national security information and which
can only be viewed in special government facilities.
Russia Accuses Ukraine over Car Bomb Assassination
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Russia on Monday accused Ukraine over the assassination of the daughter of a
leading hardliner, as Kyiv said nearly 9,000 of its soldiers had been killed
since Moscow launched its invasion. The FSB security services pointed the finger
at Ukraine for Saturday's shock car bombing in Moscow's outskirts that killed
Daria Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, an
outspoken advocate for the invasion of Ukraine, AFP said. "The crime was
prepared and committed by Ukrainian special services," the FSB said in a
statement carried by Russian news agencies, adding that a bomb had been attached
to the car driven by Dugina. The brazen killing -- and Moscow's rapid accusation
-- marks a potentially destabilizing turn in the six-month-old conflict. Russian
President Vladimir Putin denounced the killing of the journalist and political
commentator as a "vile crime" in a message of condolence to her family. The FSB
said the person responsible was a Ukrainian woman born in 1979 who had rented an
apartment in the same building where Dugina lived. After the car bombing, she
had fled to EU member Estonia, it added. Dugin, 60, is an outspoken Russian
ultranationalist intellectual who enthusiastically backs Russia's invasion of
Ukraine, as did his daughter. Russian media reports suggest Dugina had borrowed
her father's car at the last minute. Over the weekend, Kyiv denied any link to
the bombing.
Ukrainian casualties -
Authorities on Monday meanwhile revealed the extent of the casualties among
Ukrainian troops. General Valeriy Zaluzhny, Ukraine's commander-in-chief, said
the country's children needed particular attention "because their fathers have
gone to the front and are maybe among the nearly 9,000 heroes who have been
killed". Zaluzhny's comments on the Ukrainian death toll, reported by Interfax-Ukraine
news agency, were the first indication of Kyiv's military losses since April. On
Wednesday, Ukraine will mark its independence day -- and six months since
Russian troops invaded. After Ukrainian resistance thwarted an early Russian
push on Kyiv, Moscow's forces have focused on gaining ground in the country's
east. The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in
Spain that the bloc was considering military training for Ukrainian troops. The
shockwaves of the war are being felt around the world with soaring energy prices
and food shortages.
Buying time?
A Ukraine presidential adviser said Russia is trying to coax Ukraine into fresh
talks in order to buy time to regroup for a fresh offensive. For weeks, the
Kremlin has been "trying to convince Ukraine to enter into negotiations",
Mykhaylo Podolyak told AFP. He suggested this was a ploy to "freeze the conflict
while preserving the status quo in the occupied Ukrainian territories."Podolyak
said Kyiv believes Moscow does not really want serious peace talks but "an
operation pause for its army" ahead of a new offensive.
Tense Independence Day
In Spain, Borrell told reporters that EU defense ministers would next week
discuss launching a major training operation for Ukrainian forces in nearby
countries. "It seems reasonable that a war that is lasting and looks set to last
requires an effort not only in terms of supplies of material," Borrell said. All
EU member states would have to agree to step up the training that several are
already providing Ukraine under bilateral agreements. EU defense ministers have
a two-day meeting in Prague from next Monday. With much of Europe preparing for
fuel shortages as Moscow cuts back its deliveries to the West in response to
sanctions, Bulgaria said it was seeking talks with Russia gas giant Gazprom. The
country is almost totally dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies. "We
obviously have to turn to them," said Energy Minister Rosen Hristov. Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned over the weekend that Russia might mark
Ukraine's Independence Day by launching a trial of Ukrainian soldiers captured
during the siege of Mariupol. "This will be the line beyond which no
negotiations are possible," he warned Sunday. Soldiers from Ukraine's Azov
regiment captured by Russian forces after the battle for Mariupol said Monday
they had been beaten in captivity. The soldiers, released as part of a prisoner
exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers who were beaten until their bones
were broken. One ex-prisoner said he had observed cases of "serious torture".
UN Split over Ban on Taliban Officials' Travel
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Members of the United Nations Security Council remained divided Monday over
whether to exempt some of Afghanistan's Taliban officials from a travel ban,
diplomatic sources said. Under a 2011 Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban
leaders are subject to a sanctions regime that includes asset freezes and travel
bans, AFP said. Thirteen of them benefited from an exemption from the travel
ban, renewed regularly, to allow them to meet officials from other countries
abroad. But this exemption ended last Friday, after Ireland objected to its
automatic renewal for another month. In June, the Sanctions Committee in charge
of Afghanistan, comprised of the Security Council's 15 members, had already
removed from the exemptions list two Taliban ministers responsible for
education, in retaliation for the drastic reduction in the rights of women and
girls that was imposed by the hardline regime. Several Western countries would
like to further reduce the list, according to diplomatic sources. They highlight
the failure to respect the commitments to uphold human rights or fight terrorism
that were made by the Taliban when they returned to power a year ago. Early this
month the United States announced the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
in a drone strike on Kabul, calling into question the Taliban's promise not to
harbor militant groups. China and Russia, however, supported a regular extension
of the exemptions list. "These exemptions are still just as necessary," the
Chinese presidency of the Security Council said last week, deeming it
"counterproductive" to link human rights to travel issues for Taliban officials.
Since last week, and again Monday, several compromise proposals that would more
or less shrink the list of officials concerned, or the number of authorized
destinations, have been rejected on both sides, according to diplomatic sources.
Discussions are expected to continue. Pending a possible decision, none of the
Taliban officials on the sanctions list can travel. That was of particular
concern to the Taliban's foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who has visited
Qatar several times in recent months for diplomatic discussions and who was
among the 13 exemptions. In a statement posted Saturday on Twitter, a foreign
ministry spokesman called on the Security Council "not to use sanctions as
pressure tool" and said all sanctions against Taliban officials should be
lifted. If the travel ban is extended, it will create distance instead of
promoting dialogue & engagement, an outcome that must be prevented," the
spokesman said.
US Senior Official Visits Taiwan Despite Warnings from
China
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 August, 2022
Indiana’s Republican governor became the latest US lawmaker to lead a delegation
to Taiwan following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip earlier in August that
sparked condemnation and military threats from China. Gov. Eric Holcomb met with
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday, as part of a four-day visit to
Taiwan and South Korea that is intended to “further strengthen Indiana’s
economic, academic and cultural connections with Taiwan and South Korea,” his
office said in a statement. China responded to Pelosi’s travel to the island by
extending military exercises and firing missiles into the Strait of Taiwan.Tsai
remarked on the unease in the area during her meeting with Holcomb. “In the
midst of this, Taiwan has been confronted by military threats from China, in and
around the Taiwan Strait. At this moment, democratic allies must stand together
and boost cooperation in all areas,” Tsai said. Holcomb, for his part, said the
United States and Taiwan share so many common values, interests and goals. “We
will continue to seek to build strategic partnerships with you,” he added. The
Governor is due to meet representatives of Taiwan's semiconductor companies on
his visit amid an expansion of links between his state and the island, which is
home to the world's largest contact chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Company. Taiwan is considered a crucial global supplier of some of
the most advanced semiconductors used in everything from mobile phones and
laptops to cars and missiles. “Taiwan is willing and able to strengthen
cooperation with democratic partners in building sustainable supply chains for
democracy chips,” Tsai affirmed. “Building on our existing foundation of
collaboration, I look forward to our supporting one another, and advancing hand
in hand, forging closer relations and creating even deeper cooperation,” she
said. Both countries announced on Wednesday objectives for trade negotiations
set for the early autumn. Beijing considers Taiwan a province that must be
“reunified” with the mainland by force if necessary, and has accused the US of
trying to overturn decades of diplomatic policy concerning the island’s status.
Last year some 42 percent of Taiwan's exports went to China and Hong Kong
compared to 15 percent for the United States. Washington diplomatically
recognizes Beijing over Taipei, but it maintains de facto relations with Taiwan
and supports the island's right to decide its future.
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The Agreement with Iran
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 23/2022
Leaks suggest the comprehensive nucleardeal between major states and Iran is
largely like its predecessor and does not give much reason for hope. If there
are any clauses kept undisclosed by the two parties, it won’t be long before an
angry politician or a probing journalist uncovers them, as happened with the
previous agreement. The secrets of that accord came as a shock to many observers
when they were revealed in 2015.
The Americans and Iranians have been at the negotiating table in Vienna for
around eighteen months. Now, Iran’s Supreme Leader has only a few weeks left to
make up his mind. The clock is ticking, and the phantom of Donald Trump and the
GOP is casting its shadows on the Congress midterms next November. If the
Democrats lose the majority in the Congress and the Senate, which is likely, the
conclusion of the agreement could prove difficult, if not impossible. With the
sense of urgency palpable in Vienna, the negotiation marathon halted. But, in
fact, agreements have been reached on most of the main issues; all that’s left
is ironing out the details where the devil lies.
The outcome will likely be a flawed agreement, no matter the arrangements agreed
to that end: be it Iran conceding its demands to de-list the IRGC, South Korea
handing Iran $7 billion, or Europeans releasing all convicted criminals
associated with the regime. In my opinion, these concessions can certainly be
regarded as flaws in the agreement, but they are not as dangerous as the laxity
exhibited in dealing with Iran’s extra-territorial military activities in Iraq,
Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza, Syria, and Afghanistan. It will only add fuel to the fire.
The conclusion of the agreement, the lifting of sanctions, and the silence on
Iran’s military operations outside its territory will lead to heightened
tensions and violence in the region, and the repercussions will stretch as far
as the US and Europe. Conflict in the region will make a comeback, as will
international alignments, while Sino-Russian activities in the region will only
expand further.
A source familiar with the negotiations says the flaws in the agreement are
explained by its urgency, with both parties striving to reach a practical
agreement; one that is unburdened by inapplicable commitments. During the 2013
negotiations, the Obama team found itself in the same bind, striving to reach an
agreement within 20 months. The negotiations were designed to conclude before
the end of Obama’s presidential term, while in Iran, the Supreme Leader enjoyed
the privilege of sitting on the throne forever, with all the time and powers he
could possibly need.
Today, the negotiation team finds itself in the same boat. They defined limited
goals to be achieved in the limited timeframe that the Biden administration has
before the midterm elections. Some voices in the President’s own Democratic
Party have already risen against a potentially weak agreement. In fact, 18
Democrat Congressmen have declared that they will not stand silent if the
agreement does not meet the minimum requirements to combat organizational
terrorism and Iran’s wars in the region. Then came writer Salman Rushdie’s
assassination attempt by a man of Lebanese origin –likely a wolf of the IRGC and
Hezbollah – to corner the US administration, despite Iran denying any connection
to the crime.
What about the hypothesis that Iran does not want the agreement, but rather goes
to the negotiations determined to procrastinate and turn the talks into a long
and painstaking process for the other party?
The deal’s failure will mean prolonging Iran's suffering and blockade, unless a
country like China comes to its rescue and bolsters its economy with long-term
contracts to buy its oil and finance its military institutions. In any case, an
incomplete agreement is just as good as a failed one; both cause an escalation
of the conflict.
A weak agreement has repercussions. Today, China has good relations with all
parties to the conflict in the region for the sake of its economic interests.
Yet its escalating dispute with Washington will make it prioritize its political
calculations over its immediate economic interests.
Although Beijing is a de-facto partner of Tehran, it is likely that China will
get closer to the Gulf Arab states, which may see the deal as a threat to their
security if the Iranians sign the deal and open to the US. But such a turnaround
in international relations is difficult to foresee.
One of the repercussions of the nuclear deal is its impact on the future of
Iran’s regime. The current domestic situation suggests a potential change in
approach or leadership. Trump’s withdrawal from the deal has driven Iranians
into public disagreements, with Iranian conservatives leveling accusations of
"stupidity" and "treason" to former President Rouhani and his foreign minister
Zarif, even though the agreement was concluded with the approval and blessing of
the Supreme Leader.
Who Will Get Rid of Putin? The Answer Is Grim.
Oleg Kashin/The New York Times/August 23/2022
What’s easier to imagine — Vladimir Putin suddenly declaring an end to the war
on Ukraine and withdrawing his troops or a Russia without Mr. Putin that revises
his policies, ends the war and begins to build relations with Ukraine and the
West on a peaceful new foundation?
It’s a hard one to answer. The war in Ukraine is, to a significant degree, the
result of Mr. Putin’s personal obsession, and it’s hardly likely that he will
voluntarily agree to end it. Which leaves the other possibility: Russia without
Mr. Putin, with all hopes for a peaceful Russia tied to a change of power in the
country.
That also seems pretty unlikely. Six months into the war, Mr. Putin’s power does
not appear to be any less solid than it was during peacetime. His approval
ratings are high, and he doesn’t have a single opponent in Russia whose voice
can be heard. Of his two most likely successors — Mikhail Mishustin, the prime
minister, and Aleksei Navalny, the opposition leader — one is bound by loyalty
to the president, and the other is in prison. For either to come to office, Mr.
Putin would have to depart. But short of a sudden change of heart or medical
emergency, he’s not going anywhere. Mr. Putin’s successor may well be Mr. Putin.
It’s a bleak prospect and one many find hard to accept. Why are no members of
the ruling elite, faced with a president driving their country to ruin and
themselves badly affected by the war, pushing for the removal of Mr. Putin?
Where are the brave technocrats or functionaries who will, in the interest of
their class and their country, contrive to oust the president? Such questions,
given regular voice in the West, are more of a lament than a spur to analysis.
But the answer lies close at hand.
For years, critics inside and outside Russia relied on one major theme to
galvanize opposition to Mr. Putin: corruption. For a spell, the approach made
some inroads, especially in the hands of Mr. Navalny, whose well-produced videos
documenting corruption throughout the ruling elite — including Mr. Putin —
appeared to dent the president’s popularity.
But corruption iuring its absolute solidarity. In this condition of complicity,
no one could emerge to challenge the president.
Strictly speaking, s the glue that holds the system together, not the catalyst
to bring it down. Basing his power on the thievery of his subordinates, Mr.
Putin’s goal was hardly to ensure their comfort and well-being. The point, more
likely, was to bind the ruling class within a conspiratorial system of
collective responsibility, ensit is not completely correct to call such a system
corruption. Corruption entails a deviation from the norm, whereas in Mr. Putin’s
Russia the norm is precisely that of officials living on money of dubious
origin. If the law were to be followed literally, then practically every Russian
minister or governor could end up in prison. In practice, though, Mr. Putin
always applied the law selectively. Every time one of his influential
subordinates found himself charged with corruption, the main question on
people’s minds was about the hidden political reason for the arrest.
Such was the case with the former economic minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, who was
accused of taking bribes after clashing with Igor Sechin, the influential chief
executive of the Russian oil giant Rosneft and a friend of Mr. Putin. So, too,
with several governors, including Nikita Belykh, who at one time headed a major
opposition party, and Sergei Furgal, whose victory in an election ran counter to
the Kremlin’s desire and who was duly accused not of corruption but murder.
What is called corruption in Russia would be more correctly called a system of
incitement and blackmail. If you are loyal and if the president is pleased with
you, you have the right to steal — but if you are disloyal, you’ll be thrown in
prison for theft. It’s no surprise that in recent decades only a few individuals
inside Mr. Putin’s system have spoken out publicly against it. Terror is always
more persuasive than anything else.
The war had the potential to upend this calculus. The ruling class, which owes
its acquisition of wealth to its position in power, has come up against a new
reality: Their property in the West has been either seized or subjected to
sanctions — no more yachts, no more villas, nowhere to run. For many officials
and oligarchs close to the government, this means the collapse of all their life
plans, and in principle, it can be presumed that there’s not a single social
group in Russia more dissatisfied with the war than Mr. Putin’s kleptocrats.
But there’s a catch: They traded in their rights as political agents for those
very yachts and villas. The fundamental intrigue in internal Russian politics is
tied up with this fact. Mr. Putin’s military escapade has had a devastating
impact on the lives of the establishment elite, on whom he has always relied.
But the elites, hamstrung by their dependence on power for their wealth and
security, find themselves in no position to say no to Mr. Putin.
That’s not to say their dissatisfaction doesn’t come to light. The finance
minister, Anton Siluanov, spoke publicly about the difficulties of carrying out
his duties under the new conditions. Aleksei Kudrin, the chairman of the body
that audits the state finances and a Kremlin insider, explained at a meeting
with Mr. Putin that the war had led Russia’s economy to a dead end. And even the
head of the state military-industrial monopoly, Sergei Chemezov, wrote an
article about the impossibility of realizing Mr. Putin’s plans. But backed by no
political weight, such views hold no interest — or danger — for Mr. Putin.
It’s true that wars often bring out a new elite among officers and generals, who
could conceivably threaten the president’s rule. Yet this is not happening in
Russia, possibly because Mr. Putin is trying to prevent his generals from
gaining too much fame. The names of those in command of Russian troops in
Ukraine were kept secret until the end of June, and propaganda about the
“heroes” of the war prefers to feature stories about those who have lost their
lives and are no longer able to manifest political ambitions. In any case, Mr.
Putin has surrounded himself with favored security personnel whose loyalty to
him is beyond question.
Given this situation, Russia’s functionaries can do little other than wait. They
could try to conduct some kind of quiet game of their own, including separate
negotiations with the West, but up to now, there has been no evidence of
humanitarian corridors for Russian elites. Even if someone — for example, an
oligarch close to Mr. Putin such as Roman Abramovich — managed to break through
to the West, all that would await him would be confiscated assets and suspicion.
By comparison, even Mr. Putin’s paranoia might be preferable.
If members of the ruling elite aren’t able to topple Mr. Putin, then perhaps the
professional middle classes could? But there, too, the outlook is grim. For
those who step out to criticize the war, the fate of Marina Ovsyannikova, an
editor at the state-controlled Channel 1, is instructive. After staging a
high-profile protest — during a live broadcast of a popular evening news
program, she stood behind the announcer and held a poster that read, “Stop the
war” — she fled the country to avoid arrest, leaving her family behind in
Moscow.
For months she roamed Europe, subjected to numerous accusations that no matter
how impressive her protest might have been, she was still, first and foremost, a
cog in Mr. Putin’s propaganda machine. She returned to Russia, where she’s been
arrested and fined several times, been charged with spreading false information
and had her home raided. Her former colleagues in the media and the professional
class more widely must understand that it makes no sense to emulate her action.
Better to sit out the war quietly in their jobs than to risk ruin and infamy.
At the popular level, things are no better. The initially promising protests
against the war have been completely choked off by the threat of prison time.
Critical public statements, let alone rallies or demonstrations, are now all but
impossible. Wielding repression, the regime is in full control of the domestic
situation.
Instead, the factor seriously threatening Mr. Putin’s strength today is the
Ukrainian Army. Only losses at the front have a realistic chance of bringing
change to the political situation in Russia — as Russian history well attests.
After defeat in the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, Czar Alexander II was
forced to introduce radical reforms. The same thing happened when Russia lost a
war with Japan in 1905, and perestroika in the Soviet Union was driven in large
part by the failure of the war in Afghanistan. If Ukraine manages to inflict
heavy losses on Russian forces, a similar process could unfold.
Yet for all the damage wrought so far, such a turnaround feels a long way off.
For now and the foreseeable future, it’s Mr. Putin — and the fear that without
him, things would be worse — that rules Russia.
China Is Weaponizing Chinese Worldwide to Support the CCP
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/August 23/2022
To make matters worse, the Chinese state has been open about its hostility to
the United States. Among other things, in May 2019 People's Daily, the Party's
self-described "mouthpiece" and therefore most authoritative publication in
China, declared a "people's war" on America.
Many of those "different social systems"—especially the United States—are
squeamish when it comes to singling people out because of their race. Yet
American policymakers cannot ignore the fact that the Communist Party's appeal
to overseas Chinese is overtly race-based.
In February... the Justice Department ended its Trump-era "China Initiative,"
which concentrated law enforcement efforts on Chinese espionage. Yet given Xi
Jinping's call on overseas Chinese to work for the Chinese Communist Party, it
is time to reinstitute that program and devote more resources to it.
Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China?
No. China's Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and
every other society.... The promotion of tianxia [ruling "All under Heaven"]
means, among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as
illegitimate and America as nothing more a tributary society or colony.
Although we ["Chinese-Americans"] technically do not have an obligation to prove
our loyalty to America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is
trying to weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a
subversive force, to help him destroy the country we now call home.
It is time, therefore, for us to begin cleaning our own ranks.... Moreover, it
means not shouting "racism" every time law enforcement arrests someone of
Chinese descent.
We may think it unfair, but we now have to make a choice.
After all, our country—the United States of America—is in peril because a
foreign state—the People's Republic of China—is attacking it and hoping to use
us to take it down.
The Communist Party of China refers to us as "overseas patriotic forces." People
in our communities will want to know to which country we feel patriotic.
China's regime asks, cajoles, threatens, and intimidates ethnic Chinese
populations outside China to commit crimes for "the Motherland." The
overwhelming majority of Americans of Chinese descent—especially those who have
fled China recently— are loyal to America, but some Chinese in America flaunt
their support for Chinese communism.
"Promoting the great unity of the Chinese people is the historic responsibility
of China's patriotic united front work in the new era," said Chinese ruler Xi
Jinping at the end of last month to Communist Party cadres in Beijing. "To do
the job well, we must... truly unite all Chinese people in different parties,
nationalities, classes, groups, and with different beliefs, and those who are
living under different social systems."
"Different social systems" is Party lingo for "other countries."
Xi's words sound benign, but the intent is not. In short, Xi, at the Party's
United Front Work Conference, said he hoped to unite—in other words,
mobilize—ethnic Chinese everywhere to support the CCP, to effectively make every
Chinese individual a CCP agent.
"The Chinese Communist Party just doesn't accept that people who adopt foreign
citizenship are no longer beholden to the motherland as represented by the
Chinese Communist Party," said Charles Burton of the Ottawa-based
Macdonald-Laurier Institute to "CBS Eye on the World" on August 17. "There is no
escape from this ethnic identification based on being descendants of the Yellow
Emperor."
Xi's predecessors also appealed to overseas Chinese, so in one sense there was
nothing new in his words last month. Yet there is nonetheless cause for great
concern. Mao Zedong in fact tried to use ethnic Chinese populations outside
China to overthrow their governments. Xi reveres Mao, has adopted many of Mao's
tactics, and is surely as determined as Mao in using Chinese people to do his
bidding. Xi is serious in seeing all the world's Chinese as a single unified
force.
Many of those "different social systems"—especially the United States—are
squeamish when it comes to singling people out because of their race. Yet
American policymakers cannot ignore the fact that the Communist Party's appeal
to overseas Chinese is overtly race-based.
"We all share the same ancestors, history, and culture, we all are sons and
daughters of the Chinese nation and descendants of the dragon," said Yang Jiechi,
now China's top diplomat, in 2013 to a group of overseas ethnic Chinese children
attending a government-sponsored "roots-tracing" tour event.
The regime sponsors these tours to indoctrinate. Foreign children, in Taishan in
Guangdong province during a tour late last decade, were asked to sing the
1980s-era "Descendants of the Dragon." The appeal to race is unmistakable, as
this portion of the lyrics makes clear: "With brown eyes, black hair, and yellow
skin, we are forever descendants of the dragon."
In fact, China's regime asks, cajoles, threatens, and intimidates dragon
descendants to commit crimes for "the Motherland." As successful American
prosecutions indicate, some ethnic Chinese are especially susceptible to those
appeals.
In February, however, the Justice Department ended its Trump-era "China
Initiative," which concentrated law enforcement efforts on Chinese espionage.
Yet given Xi Jinping's call on overseas Chinese to work for China, it is time to
reinstitute that program and devote more resources to it.
Many have called the initiative "racist," but any new program would be merely
responding to the Communist Party's race-based appeals.
The overwhelming majority of Americans of Chinese descent—especially those who
have fled China recently— are loyal to America, but some Chinese in America
flaunt their support for Chinese communism. The flying of flags of the People's
Republic of China in Chinatowns across the U.S.—especially San Francisco's
before the pandemic—was particularly disturbing and suggestive of disloyalty to
the American republic.
Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China?
No. China's Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and
every other society. The Chinese regime, especially in recent years under
General Secretary Xi, has been pushing the notion that it holds the Mandate of
Heaven to rule tianxia, "All Under Heaven." The promotion of tianxia means,
among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as illegitimate and
America as nothing more than a tributary society or colony.
To make matters worse, the Chinese state has been open about its hostility to
the United States. Among other things, in May 2019 People's Daily, the Party's
self-described "mouthpiece" and therefore most authoritative publication in
China, declared a "people's war" on America.
Let me end on a personal note, as dragon blood proudly flows in my veins. My
dad, who arrived in this country in early 1945, came from a small farming
village in Jiangsu province, across the mighty Yangtze River from Shanghai. My
mother's family traces its roots to Dundee, in Scotland, but I have not
identified with that half of my heritage. I grew up in New Jersey, steeped in
Dad's stories of the Yellow Emperor and of course tales of dragons.
Nonetheless, my story-telling dad never missed an opportunity to vote or tell
his four children how wonderful his adopted country was. He always said "China
is my birthplace but America is my home."
We "Chinese-Americans"—I abhor the term—need to remember where we now live. We
cannot remain oblivious, as we so far have had the luxury of doing.
Although we technically do not have an obligation to prove our loyalty to
America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is trying to
weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a subversive force,
to help him destroy the country we now call home.
It is time, therefore, for us to begin cleaning our own ranks. This means, among
other things, not tolerating displays promoting Chinese communism in our
country. Moreover, it means not shouting "racism" every time law enforcement
arrests someone of Chinese descent. If we do not take the lead in these tasks,
others will naturally do that for us.
We may think it unfair, but we now have to make a choice.
After all, our country—the United States of America—is in peril because a
foreign state—the People's Republic of China—is attacking it and hoping to use
us to take it down.
The Communist Party of China refers to us as "overseas patriotic forces." People
in our communities will want to know to which country we feel patriotic.
*Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone
Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
© 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.
Thrice Wrong: The Atlantic’s
Attack on the Rosary
Raymond Ibrahim/August 23/2022
Citing how radical Muslims often quote the Koran to justify their violence, and
include images of it in militant contexts (such as the Koran between two
rifles), in a bold but much needed move, The Atlantic published an article
examining the connection between Islam’s holy book and the rise of Muslim
extremism.
Of course, nothing of the sort happened. Rather, in “How the Rosary Became an
Extremist Symbol,” Atlantic contributor Daniel Panneton bemoaned how
“radical-traditional Catholics” have turned the rosary into “anything but holy”:
Their [Catholics’] social-media pages are saturated with images of rosaries
draped over firearms, warriors in prayer, Deus Vult (“God wills it”) crusader
memes, and exhortations for men to rise up and become Church Militants.
Panneton gets it wrong—very wrong—for three reasons:
First, he suggests that “true” Catholics must always eschew militancy:
“Catholics,” he writes, “are taught to love and forgive their enemies, that to
do otherwise is a sin.”This is only true on an individual level. On a state
level, law and order—not love and forgiveness—must reign supreme. This is why
St. Paul called on Christians to pray “for kings and those in authority,” so
that, by enforcing the law, they might create an environment whereby Christians
“may lead peaceable and quiet lives” (1 Tim. 2:2). In short, love the sinner,
hate—outlaw and combat—the sin. Similarly, Just War theory, though often seen as
a product of Catholic thinking (particularly Saint Augustine’s), actually traces
back to Christ, who differentiated between the social and personal realms (Matt.
22:21). In the only recorded instance of his being slapped, Jesus did not “turn
the other cheek,” but rather challenged his slapper to explain himself (John
18:22–23). Christ further praised a Roman centurion without calling on him to
“repent” by resigning from one of the most brutal militaries in world history
(Matt. 8: 5–13).
Accordingly, Catholics never had a problem defending the faith against anything
perceived to undermine it. For example, my new book, Defenders of the West: The
Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, highlights the lives of eight
men—seven Catholic—who fused piety and militancy in ways that would make the
“right wing” Christians The Atlantic so fears seem like boy scouts. Many of
these heroes carried the rosary into the bloody fields of battle, and many
sacrificed their lives—though they were kings, lords, and nobles, who had much
to live for—fighting in defense of Christianity.
Panneton also gets it wrong by implying that Evangelicals are “falling in for”
Catholic militancy: No longer stigmatized by evangelical nationalists, Catholic
imagery now blends freely with staple alt-right memes that romanticize ancient
Rome or idealize the traditional patriarchal family…. [Both Catholics and
Evangelicals find] common causes such as hostility toward abortion-rights
advocates.
This is unsurprising. Whatever their theological differences, fighting for and
on behalf of what is right has, unlike what The Atlantic would have its readers
believe, always been a Christian prerogative. Of those who insist that Christian
militancy is a betrayal of authentic Christian teaching, eminent Crusades
historian Jonathan Riley-Smith once wrote: “underlying their opinions is the
belief that the crusading movement was an aberration, a departure from the norm
in Christian history. This is wish-fulfillment, stemming from a desire to
reshape the past of one’s religion into a more acceptable form.”
Riley-Smith went on to write that, until recently, “most Christians—Catholic,
Orthodox, Protestant—had in general no problem with the idea of holy war.”
Little wonder, then, that Catholics and Protestants are becoming natural allies
in their battle to, for example, save the unborn, or shield their children from
degeneracy and depravity.
The third, and probably most insidious, way that Panneton gets it wrong is by
playing theologian and allowing for “Christian militancy,” but only and always
in a “spiritual”—that is, abstract or symbolic—sense. After complaining about
how “armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the
rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something
dangerously literal,” he writes:
The “battle beads” [rosary] culture of spiritual warfare permits
radical-traditional Catholics literally to demonize their political opponents
and regard the use of armed force against them as sanctified. The sacramental
rosary isn’t just a spiritual weapon but one that comes with physical
ammunition.
Yes, Christianity very much promotes spiritual warfare. Missing, however, is
what Christians used to know: that spiritual wickedness, left unchecked,
manifests into physical wickedness—Satan’s ultimate win—and that both must,
therefore, be combatted. During, for example, their long wars against Muslim
invaders, Christian Defenders regularly saw the diabolical in the actions of
their foes, including the Islamic desecration of sacraments, crosses, Christian
statues, and churches—to say nothing of the sexual enslavement of Christian
(“infidel”) women and children. For these men, fighting the jihad was one with
fighting Satan, literally. The real question, therefore, isn’t whether Catholics
and Christians in general are permitted to turn to militancy, but rather, has
the negative spiritual energy currently and openly subverting the United States
finally become so manifest as to warrant physical resistance?
It would seem that the Left fears so, hence why Panneton, The Atlantic, and many
others are doing their best to pretend that “good” Catholics and Christians in
general never, under any circumstance, turn to militancy, but rather remain
Doormats, forever “turning the other cheek,” while wickedness runs rampant,
which is precisely what has been going on over the last few decades.
Put differently, the Atlantic and its author seem less worried that Catholics
might be “losing their way,” and more worried that Catholics and other
Christians are finding their way back to the authentic, defense-oriented
teachings of their faith.
Iran Garnering Internal Support for a Potential Nuclear
Deal
Omer Carmi/The Washington Institute/August 23/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/111442/omer-carmi-the-washington-institute-iran-garnering-internal-support-for-a-potential-nuclear-deal-%d8%b9%d9%88%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%85%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%88/
Although it is still unclear if the Supreme Leader will approve the necessary
compromises, regime officials are maximizing their room for maneuver by
preparing the country either way—assuming the economy doesn’t force their hand.
Since President Ebrahim Raisi took office last year, Iran has been steadily
deprioritizing the importance of returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA), yet its rhetoric on the matter has shifted in several notable
ways over the past week. As negotiators approach another crossroads in the
nuclear talks amid reports of a “final draft” circulated by European officials,
the regime appears to be preparing its cadres and the wider public for accepting
compromise if it becomes politically or economically necessary, whether
imminently or down the road.
Latest Activity Points to Familiar Consensus Building
Iranian officials are seemingly following a playbook established in 1988, when
the regime had to figure a way out of a long, destructive war with Iraq despite
repeatedly declaring that it would fight to the bitter end. Then as now, the
goal was to build internal consensus, based on the belief that even an
authoritarian system like the Islamic Republic needed to invest some degree of
time and resources in justifying its policies domestically. Although the current
nuclear negotiations are not as dramatic as that pivotal moment, many of the
same mechanisms are evident.
For example, during an August 15 press conference, Foreign Minister Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian stated that if the United States showed sufficient flexibility
regarding Iran’s comments on the draft agreement floated by the European Union,
a deal would be reached in a few days. He also responded to domestic criticism
of the draft, explaining that while Majlis representatives were right to point
out its supposed flaws, they needed to remember that negotiations entail taking
the other side’s considerations and demands into account. Later that day,
President Raisi chaired a special Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)
meeting to discuss Iran’s official response to the draft, which was sent a few
hours afterward.
On August 16, members of the Majlis National Security Committee were briefed by
Amir-Abdollahian, SNSC secretary Ali Shamkhani, head nuclear negotiator Ali
Bagheri Kani, and Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami. According to
the SNSC-affiliated media outlet Nour News, Shamkhani told the representatives
that the regime will not retreat from its nuclear redlines. The campaign to
garner parliamentary support continued the following day when the same four
regime officials attended a closed-door Majlis meeting. Although similar
briefings took place earlier this year when a deal was reportedly imminent, the
presence of all four officials on the Majlis floor was unusual. In parallel,
senior officials have been using media outlets to build internal consensus as
well, with Bagheri Kani reportedly briefing prominent journalists about the
terms of the emerging deal.
All of these efforts echo the activity documented in the memoirs of the late
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who helped command the war effort in 1988 while
simultaneously doing everything he could to end it. According to his diary
entries, he sought to convince the rest of the leadership that Iran was in dire
straits and could no longer afford to continue the conflict, partnering with
then-president (and soon-to-be Supreme Leader) Ali Khamenei to intensively brief
the Majlis, the armed forces, and various regime councils and assemblies. They
spread the same message to mid-tier regime officials and the broader public,
instructing imams to propagate the new narrative in Friday prayer sermons,
holding press conferences to explain the logic behind the policy, and
coordinating a media effort to portray the war’s outcome as an Iranian victory.
In the end, and despite the risk of backlash from the regime’s most zealously
hardline supporters, Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini decided to drink the
so-called “poison chalice” by endorsing compromise for the sake of regime
survival, while Rafsanjani and Khamenei managed to deflect domestic opposition
to the decision. Tehran employed the same modus operandi when compromises were
needed during the nuclear negotiations of 2003 and 2015.
What Is the Regime Telling Iranians Today?
Tehran’s latest messaging is focused on three main points. First, it emphasizes
that while a deal is within reach, the ball is now in America’s court, and
Washington needs to make further compromises. On August 15, a Foreign Ministry
spokesman argued that the European draft agreement does not yet meet Iran’s
demands despite the relative progress the parties have made, and the Islamic
Republic News Agency (IRNA) repeatedly asserted that Washington must make the
necessary political decisions. Amir-Abdollahian reiterated this message, noting
that the United States must compromise and provide guarantees that the deal will
last. Hardline newspapers have made similar arguments. An August 17 article in
Javan asserted that Tehran has made it difficult for Washington to say no to the
deal. And Kayhan has repeatedly emphasized that an agreement without real U.S.
sanctions relief and guarantees would once again bring harm to Iran, urging the
government to remember that no deal is better than a bad one. Such messaging may
be the regime’s way of hedging against potential future criticism from domestic
elements who have pushed for a more pragmatic negotiating strategy. Indeed,
former president Hassan Rouhani asserted last month that the JCPOA could have
been revived during his tenure if the Majlis had not approved the December 2020
act requiring the government to reduce its commitments under the agreement.
Second, conservative officials and media outlets are praising the negotiators
(and, by extension, Raisi’s government) in an apparent bid to deflect any future
hardline criticism of the team’s motivation or performance—a stark difference
from the treatment Rouhani’s circle received. On August 12, the imam who
delivered the Friday prayer service in Tehran called the negotiators an
“experienced, revolutionary, and motivated team.” Similarly, President Raisi
noted on August 21 that Iran has received a “significant part of its demands”
through its “honorable approach.” Even Kayhan—which often lashes out at the
nuclear talks—noted on August 15 that negotiators have been careful to insist on
Iran’s principles and interests, adding that the current deal is much stronger
than the one bargained by Rouhani’s government. To be sure, the newspaper also
made clear that the latest draft is still unacceptable. Yet its endorsement of
the negotiating team may have been a signal directed at conservative and
hardline readers, building the case to continue the negotiations even if no deal
is achieved in the coming days.
Third, as in the past, regime officials have been saying that a deal is not a
must for Iran and that the country has a “Plan B,” as Hossein-Abdollahian put it
on August 15. His deputy Mehdi Safari—who covers economic diplomacy at the
Foreign Ministry and previously served as ambassador to Russia and
China—likewise told reformist newspaper Etemad that “sanctions are not
equivalent to death.” On August 18, the front page of regime-owned conservative
newspaper Jam-e Jam touted the argument that Raisi’s active diplomacy has
successfully bypassed sanctions. Three days later, the regime newspaper Iran
praised the government’s “active energy diplomacy.” And earlier today, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman argued that the West needs a deal more than Iran, then
declared that the regime would continue its current foreign policy trajectory if
no agreement is reached. Kayhan doubled down on this argument, claiming that
Iran is in a “superior position” because Washington and Europe are in dire need
of its oil.
As for what exactly “Plan B” might entail in practice, prominent Majlis
representative Esmail Kowsari warned on August 16 that Iran will increase its
uranium enrichment capacity to 190,000 separative work units if need be. (For an
explanation of this and other technical concepts, including Tehran’s potential
breakout time, see The Washington Institute’s Iran Nuclear Explainer and Nuclear
Glossary.)
The Road Ahead
Although Supreme Leader Khamenei has not spoken about the nuclear negotiations
for weeks now, this is presumably just his usual tactic of insulating himself
from blame if controversy ensues—whether from making compromises or eschewing a
quick deal. In all likelihood, every nuclear decision and directive made by the
SNSC is being coordinated and approved by him. And for the time being, it
remains unclear whether he is willing to make further compromises or prefers to
keep foregoing the JCPOA’s benefits in the near term.
By preparing the public for a wide set of alternatives, Tehran’s current
messaging could enable Khamenei to postpone the decision if he so desires. Yet
this strategy might also backfire given the already worn-out state of Iran’s
economy. Recent optimism about the fate of the JCPOA has improved the rial’s
exchange rate versus the dollar, but failure to reach a deal (or, at least,
maintain the talks) could send Iranian markets into yet another downward spiral.
*Omer Carmi is a former visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iran-garnering-internal-support-potential-nuclear-deal