English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 25/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.august25.22.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13/10-17/:”Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 24-25/2022
Sheik Bashir, 40 years after your Martyrdom, you are still in our conscience and hearts/Elias Bejjani/August 23/2022
Report: Govt. formation efforts enter final and decisive week
Aoun may stay in Baabda or form military govt., sources say
Demarcation talks to intensify in remaining days of August
President Aoun follows up on developments with MP Abi Ramia, meets Lebanese Dental Association Tripoli delegation, receives invitation to attend...
Mikati holds new meeting with Aoun in Baabda
Saudi dissident threatens to attack Saudi embassy in Beirut
Fayyad says ministry hasn't received Turkish gas drilling offer
Nasrallah meets with Islamic Jihad leader
Japanese Ambassador attends inauguration ceremony of Japanese Funded Project at Baakleen Medical Center
Riachy: Tampering with the Saudi Embassy is tampering with Lebanon's interests
Lebanese Army receives 150 Humvees donated by US authorities
Saydet el Jabal Gathering holds weekly meeting, calls for respecting constitutional deadlines
Lebanon's Electricity Company Obstructs Work of State Institutions
World Bank ‘Ponzi Finance’ report is damaging both to Lebanon and the bank itself/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/August 24/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 24-25/2022
Israeli F-35 jets fly over Iranian airspace, Saudi media outlet reports/Yoav Zitun, Daniel Salami|/Ynetnews/August 24/2022
Israel's premier urges West to reject Iran nuclear deal
Iran denies any link with groups hit in US Syria strikes
US Military Carries Out Strike in Syria on Iran-Linked Targets
Iran Says it Will Only Accept Inspections Agreed in 2015 Nuclear Deal
Iran Presents Amendments to EU Proposal for Reviving Nuclear Deal
Iran to Launch Drone Drills
US, Iran inch closer to nuclear deal but high hurdles remain
U.S. responds to EU nuclear text for revival of 2015 pact
Biden announces nearly $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine
Ukraine war: Russia is exhausted and could crack by the end of 2022, says ex-US general
Ukraine war: six months that shook the world
Ukraine will fight 'until the end', Zelensky says on Independence Day
Ankara: Palestinian Authority ‘Welcomes’ Türkiye’s Normalization with Israel
France-Algeria: Tense Relations since Independence
Unidentified Drones Roam Libya’s Sky
UK PM Johnson in Kyiv marking Ukraine Independence Day

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 24-25/2022
Iran Prepares to Take Out Israel – Right after Iran Deal Is Signed/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 24/2022
Turkey Accuses Sweden, Finland of 'Supporting Terrorism', Meanwhile Releases Turkish Hizbullah Terrorists from Prison/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/August 24/2022
Israel Warns of Mideast Catastrophe in Last-Ditch Effort to Thwart Iran Nuke Deal/Aryeh Savir/Israel Today/August 24/2022
Putin Wouldn’t Shrink from Starting Chernobyl 2.0 in Ukraine/Andreas Kluth/Asharq Al Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Civil war looms as Iraqis call time on power-grabbing militants/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 22, 2022
Qatar speaks from both sides of its mouth/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Jerusalem Post/August 24/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 24-25/2022
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

Report: Govt. formation efforts enter final and decisive week
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The current week will be the “final” week to settle the cabinet formation file, a senior political leader said.“If the government is not formed this week, it will be totally impossible to form it after that, because the country will enter next week in the 60-day constitutional deadline for the election of a new president, and the country will remain governed by a caretaker cabinet,” the political leader told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. The leader added that a meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Mikati on Wednesday morning would follow overnight talks between Baabda and the Grand Serail through mediators who included a security chief. “Until a late hour overnight, the contacts had not led to a decisive result, due to the two men’s insistence on two conflicting visions that do not allow for reaching a cabinet line-up that would be accepted by the two parties,” highly informed sources told al-Joumhouria. “The president is still insisting on enlarging the cabinet and adding six state ministers to it,” the sources said. Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil is meanwhile clinging to caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam for “unknown reasons and without a clear and accurate justification,” the sources added. Informed sources meanwhile said that Mikati has refused the enlargement proposal, because it “might open the door to changes that may be demanded by other leaders.”Al-Joumhouria added that caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil might be replaced by ex-MP Yassine Jaber and that Hezbollah does not want to replace its two ministers – Ali Hamieh and Mustafa Bayram.

Aoun may stay in Baabda or form military govt., sources say
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
President Michel Aoun may stay in the Baabda Palace following the end of his presidential term in order not to cede his powers to a caretaker cabinet, senior Free Patriotic Movement sources have said. “We will not accept, in any way, the remaining of the caretaker cabinet should we reach presidential vacuum, and we will not accept the scheme of Speaker Nabih Berri and PM-designate Najib Mikati that is based on ambiguous constitutional edicts,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. “The choices are open before us, topped by the choice which neither us nor President Aoun want, which is his staying at the presidential palace, should Mikati fail to form a government before that,” the sources added. They also noted that such a choice might not be more controversial than “the caretaker cabinet’s inheritance of the president’s powers.”“Such an orientation will find support among a lot of Christian forces who reject infringement on the powers of the top Christian position, and Bkirki is certainly among them,” the sources added. Sources close to the FPM meanwhile told al-Akhbar that Aoun has two other options. “The first is revoking Mikati’s designation and inviting parliament to new consultations to pick another premier who can form a government quickly, although this option needs a Sunni partner and may spark a crisis with the Sunni community,” the sources said. “There is also a choice for him to follow the example of (former) president Amin Gemayel, who formed in the last minutes of his term on Sep. 22, 1988 a military government to which he ceded the presidential powers, amid the presence of a resigned government that was led by ex-PM Salim al-Hoss, without that meaning that Aoun is compelled that such a government be a military one,” the sources added.

Demarcation talks to intensify in remaining days of August
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Contacts and negotiations will intensify in the remaining days of August to reach a solution for the sea border demarcation file that would satisfy both the Lebanese and Israeli sides and prevent any possible escalation or full-blown war, official sources concerned with the file said. In remarks to Lebanon’s al-Binaa newspaper published Wednesday, the sources said the latest lengthy phone call between U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein and Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab reflects “serious intentions and a will to seek a solution as soon as possible.”“The U.S. mediator will communicate with Bou Saab next week to continue the negotiations and reach a unified approach in the beginning of next month,” the sources added, noting that “the U.S. mediator has informed Bou Saab that he is in constant contact with the Israeli officials and is discussing with them the Lebanese proposals.”“He will bring the answers soon and he will continue his mediation until an agreement is reached,” the sources went on to say. The sources also stressed that the atmosphere is not negative and that “all analyses and reports published in media outlets, which are endorsing some of what’s being published in the Israeli media, are inaccurate and totally baseless.”“There is no specific deadline for the signing of the demarcation agreement with the Israeli enemy, but the deadline is not open-ended,” the sources added.

President Aoun follows up on developments with MP Abi Ramia, meets Lebanese Dental Association Tripoli delegation, receives invitation to attend...
NNA/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, received the head of the Parliamentary Youth and Sports Committee, MP Simon Abi Ramia, today at Baabda Palace. General affairs and government developments in light of the ongoing contacts in this regard were deliberated. MP Abi Ramia indicated that the meeting also tackled the demands of apple fatmersand the need to facilitate the export of their products to Arab countries in light of the difficulties they face. In addition, Abi Ramia said that President Aoun confirmed his follow-up to this issue and that he gave his instructions to the concerned authorities to work on overcoming the obstacles that prevent the delivery of production from apples to the Arab countries.
Dentists Syndicate:
The President met a delegation from the Dental Syndicate in Lebanon of Tripoli.
The delegation was headed by Dr. Nazim Haffar, and former head of syndicate, Dr. Sabri Idou, Vice-President Dr. Wadih Hosni, Secretary of Public Finance, Dr. Ahmed Khader, Secretary of Retirement Dr. Muhammad Awni Issa, Treasurer of the Retirement Fund, Dr. Bilal Al-Sayah, member of the retirement committee, Dr. Ghassan Makhlouf. Dr. Haffar presented the conditions of the Syndicate and dentists in Tripoli and the North. “While the magnitude of the economic deterioration that Lebanon is currently witnessing has led to monetary and financial chaos in the banking sector, which undoubtedly affected the funds of investors, depositors and union funds, especially the pension fund, whose funds were seized. The unions are suffering in the payment of retirement pensions. We hope that there will be a solution to the union's funds” Dr. Haffar said. “The union is an institution and not a single person. It has made great efforts over tens of years to reach what it has reached. We also hope that in light of this deterioration that has occurred, the union's funds will not be lost. We hope for recovering funds, and from your position as president of the republic, we hope that you will cooperate with us to achieve this issue” Dr. Haffar continued. "One of the most important revenues of the retirement fund for the Dental Syndicates in Beirut and Tripoli is the collection of a customs fee of 2% of the value (F.O.B) on all medicines and medical preparations used by the doctor in his clinic, and brushes, toothpastes and gargling medicines have been increased five years ago. A fee of 2% is collected on this increase, so we put this law in your hands, hoping to help us find a mechanism to obtain this right for the benefit of the Pension Fund and retired doctors” Dr. Haffar added. Moreover, Haffar stated that the Syndicate, in cooperation with the competent references, is working to eliminate the phenomenon of widespread infringements on the profession that exceeded the limits of reason and logic, wishing President Aoun to help stop these abuses that negatively affect the work of doctors and that the presence of impersonators and illegitimate dentists working on Lebanese lands in general and in the north in particular in a way that is outside the laws is considered an infringement on the interests of doctors and negatively affects public health, which leads to Lebanon losing the title (Hospital of the East). “In addition to a significant increase in the number of clinics in a satisfactory manner, their spread is not commensurate with the needs and requirements in the regions, but has turned into a profitable trade, in addition to the decrease in the medical work allowance, which competes greatly with the legal minimum tariff approved by the union” Dr. Haffar concluded.
For his side, President Aoun stressed the legality of the dentists’ demands, especially as they are specified by law, and gave directions to the concerned authorities to work to meet the doctors’ demands, whether in terms of paying the fees or in terms of facing the phenomenon of infringements on the profession and impersonating doctors while they are in an illegal situation, through prosecution of the judicial and security agencies designated.
Delegation from the Maad Town Development Association:
President Aoun received a delegation from the Association for the Development of the Town of Maad. The delegation included the priest of the parish of Saint Charbel Rahawi in Ma'ad, Father Edmond Khashan, the former ambassador, Gabi Issa, Artist, Tony Hanna, Jean-Claude Srour, Tony El Hajj, Youssef Doumit, Dr. George Issa, Sarkis Saqr, Mazen Rizk, Tony Nassar and Mrs. Mila Srour and Mrs. Nina Mansour. The delegation conveyed an invitation to the President to attend the mass presided over by Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi on September 10, on the occasion of the memory of Saint Rafqa, who lived for a time in the town of Maad, at the shrine of Saint Rafqa in Maad Park.
Father Khashan gave a speech in which he said: “The truth of what was said in our homeland Lebanon, that it is more than a homeland, that it is a message, and Lebanon’s message first is faith that enlightens the mind, giving morals and knowledge. It is still an essential part of the message of the beloved homeland, Lebanon, in which, since before Christ, and for more than 2500 years, a temple to the god Strab was built, visited by pilgrims from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and other countries, and in the Louvre Museum there is a rocky witness inscribed with a witness to that. In the Gospel, I renounced idolatry, and believed in Christ as the Savior, and the pagan temple was transformed into a church in the name of St. Charbel the Martyr Rahawi, and it steadfastly adhered to its faith, despite successive persecutions through different eras.
A love hostile to science prompted one of her sons, Anton Issa, to establish a school to educate the girl, when she was languishing in ignorance and under the burden of sinful traditions. How could she not be half the society and bear the other half? He sought the assistance of the nuns of the heart of Mary, and divine providence sent us Sister Rafqa, the company of a nun. Another was like the divine teacher, sowing goodness everywhere and stayed with us for seven years from 1864 to 1871, when she moved to the Lebanese Maronite Order, following the dissolution of her first order, and after a heavenly vision inspired her the new path. In her new monastery, she turned to asceticism and meditation. But she kept carrying in her heart a special sentiment for our town Maad, and with every visitor to her monastery from the town or the neighborhood, she used to say “Say hi to the people of Maad.” The name of St. Rafqa is named after St. George Church, where the heavenly vision took place, so they celebrated its feasts, and the MaadDevelopment Association celebrated an annual mass for St. Rafqa”.
For his part, President Aoun thanked the delegation for its invitation, praising what the Maad Town Association is doing at national and social levels. -- Presidency Press office

Mikati holds new meeting with Aoun in Baabda
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati held a new meeting Wednesday with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace to discuss the formation of a new government. "Discussions will be continued later," Mikati said in a terse statement while leaving the palace. The Presidency for its part said Aoun and Mikati "tackled the various details related to the formation process and will continue consultations at a later time."Al-Jadeed television meanwhile reported that the discussions focused on “the shape of the new government, especially that Aoun is insisting on adding six ministers to the government.”Sources informed on the formation process told the TV network that Mikati will not accept a 30-minister cabinet format. “Discussions might tackle reviving the current government and renewing (parliamentary) confidence in it,” the sources added.

Saudi dissident threatens to attack Saudi embassy in Beirut
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 
In an audio recording circulating on social media, Beirut-based Saudi dissident Ali Hashem has threatened to attack the Saudi embassy in Beirut should Saudi authorities continue to “harass” his family back in the kingdom. “If anyone touches any member of my family, no employee at the Saudi embassy will remain alive. I will carry out an unprecedented act and I will annihilate every person at the embassy and you know my capabilities very well,” Hashem says in the recording. Addressing Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari, Hashem says: “Lebanon is not a Saudi or Gulf emirate so that you demand that I be handed over to Saudi Arabia. The Lebanese constitution allows us to express our opinion freely and offers us protection.”Bukhari hit back via Twitter, saying: “Terrorism is the offspring of extremism. Its roots and seeds begin in the depressed mind.” Bukhari later retweeted some posts that condemned the threats against the Saudi embassy. Hashem had announced in early August that due to his “opposition to the Yemen war” and his defense of “the rights of Shiites in Saudi Arabia,” his children were put under house arrest in the kingdom, “all their services were suspended” and they faced “harassment.”“Through its actions, the Saudi regime thinks that it can deter me from my activities, but I swear to God that today I’m stronger and more determined to seek to topple the regime of the House of Saud,” Hashem added. Lebanese MP Fouad Makhzoumi meanwhile warned that “the circulated reports about a terrorist action against the Saudi embassy require the alertness of security agencies and an immediate action to follow up on the matter and verify the accuracy of the information in order to avoid a human catastrophe.”“The person threatening is known by name and identity and the efforts of all security agencies must be unified to arrest him,” Makhzoumi added.

Fayyad says ministry hasn't received Turkish gas drilling offer
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 
Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad has said that his Ministry has not received “any official or unofficial offer from Turkey for drilling in the border (offshore) blocks.”“Block 9 is tendered to the TotalEnergies company and when I was in Turkey no one raised the issue with me,” Fayyad told al-Mayadeen television. A Lebanese official source had told Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Tuesday that Lebanon, which is yet to reach a sea border demarcation deal with Israel, had received a Turkish proposal for investment and drilling in the southern oil and gas blocks near Israel’s border.“The Turkish proposal involves drilling and investment works in Block 9, which lies on the maritime border,” the source said.

Nasrallah meets with Islamic Jihad leader
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has held a meeting in Lebanon with Ziad al-Nakhalah, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. Nasrallah and Nakhalah “demonstrated the latest events in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and carried out an evaluation of the battle that occurred with the Israeli enemy at all the battlefield, political and media levels,” Hezbollah said in a statement. “They also discussed the various political developments in the region and the expected roles from various parties of the Axis of Resistance during the coming period,” the statement added.

Japanese Ambassador attends inauguration ceremony of Japanese Funded Project at Baakleen Medical Center
NNA/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 
Through the Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Program (GGP), Japan supported the Baakleen Medical Center with a grant of USD 88,318 to equip the Center’s polyclinics with specialized medical equipment. This Center is the only polyclinic that can provide essential healthcare services in Baakleen, Chouf District in Mount Lebanon. This assistance will help more than 9,000 patients per year to receive a wider range of medical and healthcare services, a higher quality of medical consultations, and diagnostic testing at affordable cost. On August 24 2022, Ambassador Takeshi Okubo attended the project completion ceremony at the Baakleen Medical Center, in the presence of the Center’s Manager Mr. Akram Abou Ayash. The ceremony opened with the national anthems of Japan and Lebanon, followed by a tour of the equipped facility, and included congratulatory remarks from Ambassador Okubo and Mr. Abou Ayash. In his speech, Ambassador Okubo said the Japanese Government decided to support this vital project as it falls within the framework of its vision to make comprehensive medical services accessible to all patients, in particular to those most in need of assistance. As for Mr. Abou Ayash, he thanked the Japanese Government for its generous grant, stressing that Japan had supported the center during the previous years with several projects that have significantly enhanced the Center’s healthcare services.

Riachy: Tampering with the Saudi Embassy is tampering with Lebanon's interests
NNA/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022  
MP Melhem Riachy said in a tweet on Wednesday that "tampering with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon is tampering with Lebanon's highest interests and solid friendships, and a blatant attack on it."

Lebanese Army receives 150 Humvees donated by US authorities
NNA/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 
The Lebanese Army Command on Wednesday announced in a statement that the logistic brigade has received 150 Humvees through Beirut Port as a donation from the US authorities. This donation is a part of the US aid programs allocated to the Lebanese Army.

Saydet el Jabal Gathering holds weekly meeting, calls for respecting constitutional deadlines
NNA/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022  
Saydet el Jabal Gathering held its weekly meeting online with the participation of Ahmad Fatfat, Ahmad Ayach, Elie Kosayfi, Elie Kirillos, Elie Hajj, Antoine Andraos, Bahjat Salameh, Pierre Akl, Toufic Caspard, Joseph Karam, Habib Khoury, Housen Abboud, Khalil Toubia, Ralph Germanos, Rouba Kabbara, Rodrigue Naufal, Sami Chamoun, Serge Bou Gharios, Suzie Ziade, Tony Habib, Toubia Atallah, Atallah Wehbe, Fares Soueid, Fairuz Juday, Fathi El Yafi, Majed Karam, Maamoun Malak, Mayad Haidar, Norma Rizk, Nelly Kandil and Nabil Yazbeck, and issued the following statement:
Saydet El Jabal Gathering urgently calls for respecting the constitutional deadlines for the election of a new President of the Republic, and emphasizes the need for electing a President committed, in deeds not words, to the unity of Lebanon, the final homeland for its citizens, Arab in its identity, and to preserving mutual existence, and defining the internal and external boundaries of the State. The Gathering considers that the first priority is to end the Iranian occupation of Lebanon, therefore it calls political powers to meet the National Council for Ending the Iranian Occupation of Lebanon halfway through the adoption of a roadmap leading to the election of a President capable of ending this occupation by committing to the golden trinity: unity of a final homeland for the Lebanese, Arab in its identity, or else the new elected candidate would be entrenching the Iranian presence in Lebanon, regardless of his personal profile or competencies.For this reason, the Gathering calls for focusing the efforts on this fateful issue instead of drowning in many details and daily quarrels and disputes. A final word to the Lebanese people: preserving Lebanon is your responsibility before being the responsibility of politicians, and for this reason you are invited to be aware and to keep up with the events step by step, because you will be the ones who will save Lebanon. Dismantling your homeland goes through pushing you into poverty, starvation, and immigration, while getting out of this historical deadlock requires first resisting against the Iranian occupation and ending it.

Lebanon's Electricity Company Obstructs Work of State Institutions
Beirut - Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Hallway windows leading to the office of Lebanon’s prime minister in the Grand Serail in central Beirut are covered with curtains of another kind. Wood panels, and pieces of reinforced nylon, are what separates the office from the outside world. Moreover, the hard shutters help air conditioning systems maintain indoor air quality and temperatures, especially when Prime Minister Najib Mikati is in his office receiving guests. The government palace, since the deadly August 4 port explosion, has remained the same. Besides shattered glass, some of the Grand Serail’s institutions were put out of service. However, some of the destruction was improved on—such as replacing window glass with hardened nylon. Serail sources speak of a Kuwaiti pledge to repair what was damaged. According to the same sources, the Council for Development and Reconstruction is expected to undertake the task of coordinating and developing studies in preparation for their execution.
Despite hopes and plans for fixing the damage sustained by the government palace, there remains the problem of electricity, which rarely reaches the Serail. Power cuts have forced officials at the Serail to ration services that depend on electricity. They now turn off air conditioners in most of the government palace’s offices. Air conditioning is only turned on in the prime minister’s office, whenever he is present or scheduled for meetings. When Mikati is gone, the officials go back to rationing electricity to a bare minimum. The absence of the prime minister has become more evident recently, with him limiting his appointments to pre-noon hours only, and to four days a week in order to save energy and fuel. As for Parliament, the recent power outage that prevented parliamentary committees from convening on Tuesday and before was not the first of its kind. Most parliamentary sessions recently have suffered from power cuts, including the confidence session for Mikati’s government last year, and the election session for the speaker and his deputy months ago. These power shortages paint a picture of how the public sector and government institutions in Lebanon are slowly collapsing under the brunt of Electricite du Liban’s inability to secure electricity and the institutions’ budgets failing to cover exchange rate differences. The financial crisis that hit the country has affected the working mechanisms of the Lebanese state apparatus.
Banque du Liban and the state as a whole failing to recognize the collapse of the Lebanese pound, and their insisting on adopting the old price of 1,500 pounds to the dollar, renders state agencies unable to adapt to the currency’s realistic price. On Tuesday, the Lebanese pound’s exchange rate crossed the threshold of 34,000 pounds to the dollar. This has left state institutions unable to purchase supplies from abroad according to the official price. Electricite du Liban constantly complains that the Central Bank is not complying with its request to convert what it owns in its accounts from pounds to dollars according to the official exchange rate to purchase equipment, spare parts, and fuel. Consequently, Lebanon must live on fuel from Iraq.
Iraqi fuel only provides three hours of electricity each day, as opposed to the 12 hours daily that Lebanese plants can offer should fuel become more accessible. A source in the Lebanese Parliament told Asharq Al-Awsat that the cause of the crisis was the lack of communication with the Director General of Electricite du Liban. When contacting the chief of Electricite du Liban ahead of parliamentary sessions, to secure the parliament’s electricity, it was discovered that they were in the hospital due to a health crisis. With the fuel needed to run power generators running out, the decision was to postpone the sessions. According to the source, the inability to secure fuel can be traced back to the depletion of credits, which are still based on the exchange rate of 1,500 pounds to the dollar. Additional credits have been requested from the Ministry of Finance, but they have not yet been secured, the source explained.
“Electricite du Liban can provide between 10 and 12 hours of electricity per day, in the event that the necessary fuel is secured, but we are currently limited to what reaches us from Iraqi fuel, which provides three hours of unstable supply,” a source at the Lebanese Energy Ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat.
As for Baabda Palace, its situation is relatively better, as it is characterized by a special treatment, as does the Ministry of Defense. The two institutions make up for what they lack in power supply by operating their own generators and securing fuel from their flexible and independent budget.
But this does not prevent momentary power outages in the President’s office when he receives his foreign guests. When the power goes out the President usually apologizes with a shy smile, offset by a smile of understanding from the guest who knows, like other foreign officials, the extent of the electricity problem in Lebanon. “It is an unfortunate situation that the Parliament is forced to postpone the meeting of its committees due to the power outage and the unavailability of diesel fuel to operate the generator in the Parliament,” tweeted lawmaker Faisal al-Sayegh. Sayegh blamed the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil. Lebanon’s political class often exchanges blame for the electricity problem. Those responsible for Lebanon’s power supply have not been able to resolve the electricity crisis since the end of the civil war in the nineties of the last century, despite the very large sums that were spent on this sector. The failure to fix the public power sector has led to the emergence of a parallel electricity sector that is established on illegal private generators that are treated as a fait accompli. While President Michel Aoun’s rivals hold his son-in-law, Bassil, responsible for the great waste and lack of achievement, the latter accuses the politicians opposing him of obstructing his mission. Bassil had directly and indirectly supervised the sector for more than 15 years. He sometimes blames the sector’s failures on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, former Premier Saad Hariri and the current prime minister, Mikati.

World Bank ‘Ponzi Finance’ report is damaging both to Lebanon and the bank itself
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/August 24/2022
The publication this month of a World Bank report on Lebanon, which presents a damning account of financial and fiscal policy in the country over the past 30 years, raised many eyebrows.
Anyone reading it would come to the conclusion that the Lebanese brought the current crisis upon themselves through misguided and irresponsible financial maneuvers. In a state that is struggling to regain the trust of its own population, as well as that of the international community, the report, if taken seriously, represents a significant setback.
The content of the report — titled Lebanon Public Finance Review: Ponzi Finance? — is quite rigorous and precise. The overall message and ideological bias are debatable and could be harmful to the country. The language, authorship and conclusions are damaging to the World Bank itself, raising huge questions about the process of producing such a report and, most importantly, about the World Bank’s own role over the past 30 years in supporting such damaging policies and participating in their formulation. The bank was a partner to successive Lebanese governments and financed most of the projects mentioned in the report. Barely three years before the current crisis began, the fall 2016 edition of the World Bank’s Lebanon Economic Monitor was full of praise for what it described as the proactive policies of Banque du Liban, the country’s central bank.
Indeed, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation provided loans and grants, as well as technical support, for the programs and measures the report said deliberately led to catastrophic results. If the report is correct and there was a “Ponzi scheme” and a “deliberate depression,” then the World Bank was an active partner in both and bears a significant share of responsibility for the outcomes.
What appears even more puzzling about the report is the activist tone and populist language, which are a radical departure from the normal dry, robotic jargon of Washington bureaucracy. Since when does a World Bank report start with a “message to the Lebanese people,” informing them that the loss of their savings was the result of deliberate measures implemented by the establishment with the intent of impoverishing them.
The title, “Ponzi Finance,” is itself quite sensationalist and irresponsible, if not patronizing
Indeed, the authors seem pleased with their slogan “deliberate depression” and repeat it several times in the preface, with italics for emphasis. The title, “Ponzi Finance,” is itself quite sensationalist and irresponsible, if not patronizing.
The analytical conclusions and policy recommendations contained in the report contradict each other. If the bank thinks this is right, they cannot at the same time have the structured program they implemented in the country.
The populist language and tone become far less of a puzzle, however, when we consider the team that was entrusted with authorship of the report; instead, it is the judgment behind the World Bank’s choice of such a team that is perplexing.
The report was developed in collaboration with Charbel Nahas, who is described as a professor of political economy and public policy at the American University of Beirut. He was assisted by a team of three researchers who are members of his political party, Citizens in a State. Two of them stood with him as candidates for the party in the 2018 elections. They collaborated with the Lebanese Citizenship Foundation, headed by Alain Bifani, and had the support of a large number of World Bank staff both in Lebanon and in Washington.
Both Nahas and Bifani have been active in, and important pillars of, the very system they now criticize. They were both candidates for the Beirut municipal elections in 1998 under the banner of the Free Patriotic Movement of Gen. Michel Aoun, the current president of the republic. They were both advisors to Gen. Emile Lahoud when he was president, and close to Gen. Jamil Al-Sayyid when he was head of the General Security Directorate.
Nahas held cabinet posts twice on behalf of the FPM, in two consecutive governments: He was telecommunications minister between November 2009 and June 2011, and labor minister from June 2011 until February 2012.
In a televised statement he reminded President Aoun, with whom he had fallen out, how in 2011 Aoun held meetings with Bifani, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, Gibran Bassil, who is now leader of the FPM, and Riad Salame, head of the central bank, and had agreed to “blow up” the system.
Bifani, meanwhile, was director general of the Ministry of Finance for 20 years until he resigned in 2019. He was also a member of the board of the central bank and headed the government’s Debt Management Unit when it was established in 2008. He signed on for all budgets and debt operations and was the highest-ranking official with the perspective of both the ministry of finance and the central bank, and had full knowledge of fiscal and monetary operations. There is no way he can pass as a neutral observer.
Imagine the scandal if the World Bank adopted a political party in any country other than Lebanon and provided it with the resources and backing, as well as its endorsement and the credibility of its institutional support, to produce its own political manifesto. If the World Bank is to apply the principle of even-handedness, it would have to do this in other countries in the region, such as Turkey, Syria, Iraq or Yemen. The criteria for choosing which parties to support would be interesting.
In fact, it would be quite a coup if radical Western politicians such as Bernie Sanders in the US or Jeremy Corbyn in the UK managed to get the World Bank to throw its weight behind their political careers. Like Nahas, they are both charismatic figures and have a significant following among millennials.
Nahas went one step further; he publicly asked Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, to hand over power to him and his party and sponsor him as temporary leader of the country so that he could fix it. Nasrallah did not fall for this and nor did the electorate in 2018 — but apparently the World Bank did.
• Nadim Shehadi is a Lebanese economist. Twitter: @Confusezeus
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/August 24/2022

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 24-25/2022
Israeli F-35 jets fly over Iranian airspace, Saudi media outlet reports
Yoav Zitun, Daniel Salami|/Ynetnews/August 24/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/111459/israeli-f-35-jets-fly-over-iranian-airspace-saudi-media-outlet-reports-%d8%b7%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d8%b3%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%86%d9%88%d8%b9/
UK based Elaph reports jets evade detection by Iranian and Russian radar systems, claims Israel and U.S. militaries simulate attacks on Iranian military targets in covert exercise; Tehran says U.S. sends response to Iranian draft
Israeli and American F-35 jets flew over Iranian airspace a number of times in recent months, avoiding detection by Iranian and Russian radars, a Saudi Arabian news site reported on Wednesday.
The UK based media outlet Elaph said that the American and Israelis held covert military exercises to simulate an attack of Iranian military and other sites, from the air and sea. The drills also included forces seizing an Iranian warship.
The report which had not been confirmed by any other media source, came as the nuclear talks with Iran were in their final stages.
Iranian Foreign Ministry officials said they had received the U.S. response to their latest draft, although they did not elaborate.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the pending agreement with Iran was "a bad deal," which would provide funds for Iranian terror activity and further destabilize the Middle East.

Israel's premier urges West to reject Iran nuclear deal
Associated Press/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Israel's prime minister called on President Joe Biden and Western powers to call off an emerging nuclear deal with Iran, saying that negotiators are letting Tehran manipulate the talks and that an agreement would reward Israel's enemies.
Yair Lapid called the emerging agreement a "bad deal" and suggested that Biden has failed to honor red lines he had previously promised to set. "The countries of the West draw a red line, the Iranians ignore it, and the red line moves," Lapid told reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem. An emerging deal, Lapid said, "does not meet the standards set by President Biden himself: preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state."Biden has been eager to revive the 2015 deal, which offered sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. The original deal unraveled after then-President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, with strong encouragement from Israel. It remains unclear whether the United States and Iran will be able to reach a new agreement. But the Biden administration is expected to weigh in on Iran's latest offer in the coming days. With an agreement appearing close, Israel has stepped up its efforts to block it. Lapid warned that Iran would divert billions of dollars in unfrozen funds to hostile militant groups, such as Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, that threaten Israel. He stopped short of blaming any one power for the apparent progress of the talks, but he opened his statement Wednesday by suggesting that the U.S. and other negotiating powers are caving in to last-minute Iranian demands.
"The Iranians are making demands again. The negotiators are ready to make concessions, again," Lapid said. Lapid is serving as Israel's caretaker prime minister until elections on Nov. 1, when he will face off against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other rivals. While the two men have deep differences, they hold virtually identical positions when it comes to Iran. In 2015, Netanyahu, now opposition leader, delivered a speech to Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to derail what would become President Barack Obama's signature foreign policy achievement.
Israel has long said it would not allow its regional archrival Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, and that it was not bound by the agreements between world powers and Iran. It also has called for diplomacy to be accompanied by a "credible" threat to take military action against Iran if needed. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. On Tuesday, Lapid's predecessor and governing partner, Naftali Bennett, said the country was "not committed to any of the restrictions stemming from the agreement and will utilize all available tools to prevent the Iranian nuclear program from advancing." Bennett now holds the post of "alternate prime minister." Israel's national security adviser Eyal Hulata is in Washington this week for talks with Biden administration officials, and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz will head to the U.S. on Thursday for meetings with the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Iran denies any link with groups hit in US Syria strikes
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday denied any link with groups targeted by U.S. air strikes in Syria, contradicting a claim by Washington. A ministry statement strongly condemned the "terrorist act" by the United States, saying it represents a "violation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria."

US Military Carries Out Strike in Syria on Iran-Linked Targets
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The US military said early Wednesday it carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria that targeted areas used by militias backed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. There was no immediate acknowledgment by Syria's state-run media of the strikes hitting Deir Ezzor. Iran as well did not acknowledge the attack. Opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist collective Deir Ezzor 24 said the airstrikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatimiyoun group made up of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan. The war monitor reported that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed in the airstrikes. The US military's Central Command said the strikes “took proportionate, deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties.” It did not identify the targets, nor offer any casualty figures from the strikes, which the military said came at the orders of President Joe Biden. “Today’s strikes were necessary to protect and defend US personnel," Central Command spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said in a statement. The colonel added the attack was in response to an Aug. 15 attack targeting US forces. That attack saw drones allegedly launched by Iranian-backed militias target the al-Tanf Garrison used by American forces. US Central Command described the assault as causing “zero casualties and no damage” at the time. Deir Ezzor is a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields. Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces control the area and have often been the target of Israeli war planes in previous strikes. US forces entered Syria in 2015, backing allied forces in their fight against the ISIS group.

Iran Says it Will Only Accept Inspections Agreed in 2015 Nuclear Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Iran will not allow inspections beyond what is in a 2015 nuclear deal, the country's nuclear chief said on Wednesday, as the United States prepares to respond to a proposal to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. "We are committed to inspections in the framework of the nuclear deal that are linked to nuclear restrictions which we have accepted in the past... Not one word more, not one word less," said Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, according to a video carried by state media. A senior US official told Reuters on Monday that Iran has dropped some of its main demands on resurrecting the 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. Washington aims to respond soon to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that former President Donald Trump abandoned and current President Joe Biden has sought to revive. Iran has insisted the nuclear pact can only be salvaged if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) drops its claims about Tehran's nuclear work. Washington and other Western powers view Tehran's demand as outside the scope of reviving the deal. In June, the UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors overwhelmingly passed a resolution, drafted by the United States, France, Britain and Germany, which criticized Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites. On Wednesday, Eslami repeated Iran's assertion that claims of unexplained uranium traces were perpetrated by exiled Iranian dissidents and Iran's arch-enemy Israel, the official news agency IRNA reported. In response to the resolution, Iran expanded further its underground uranium enrichment by installing cascades of more efficient advanced centrifuges and also by removing essentially all the IAEA's monitoring equipment installed under the 2015 deal.

Iran Presents Amendments to EU Proposal for Reviving Nuclear Deal
London, Washington, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is pressing the US to respond to the proposal to complete the Vienna talks on Iran's nuclear deal. Borell also said that he had received “amendments” from Iran despite its approval of the proposed draft. Meanwhile, senior US officials confirmed that Iran had waived some of the basic conditions for reviving the 2015 agreement. Both the EU and Iran are awaiting a response from the Biden administration regarding the Iranian package of amendments to the final draft proposal, which came after intermittent and indirect talks between Washington and Tehran over 16 months. Despite the EU wanting to bring talks to fruition, a US official told Reuters that gaps remain between the US and Iran and that “it could take a little longer” to come to a final agreement, if one is possible. “We’re studying Iran’s response now and we'll get back to them soon,” the official said. Earlier, State Department spokesman Ned Price said there was no guarantee a deal can be struck, saying “the outcome of these ongoing discussions still remains uncertain as gaps do remain.” This came at a time when Borrell sought to pressure the Biden administration to respond to the EU proposal. Most countries involved in nuclear talks with Iran agree with the EU proposal that aims to save the deal, he said on Tuesday. “Most of them agree, but I still don't have the answer from the United States, who I understand have to discuss it, and we expect during this week to receive an answer,” Borrell said in an interview with Spain's national broadcaster TVE.He had said on Monday he considered Tehran's answer “reasonable.”Iran had criticized the EU and Washington for they delayed response to its proposal. “The Americans are procrastinating, and there is inaction on the European side... America and Europe need to reach an agreement more than Iran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani had said in a Monday presser. Price denied that the US had any role in obstructing negotiations in any way.

Iran to Launch Drone Drills
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Iran's armed forces will on Wednesday launch large scale drone drills across the country involving 150 unmanned aerial vehicles to show off its “power”, state media reported Tuesday. “The accuracy and power of weapons... the capabilities of guidance and control systems and the combat capabilities of drones are among the things that will be tested and evaluated in this exercise,” deputy coordinator of the armed forces Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the state broadcaster. “This is the first time that a joint drone exercise is conducted at the level of the four forces of the republic of Iran's army and the country's joint air defense base,” he added. No details were given as to how long the exercises would last. Iran started developing drones in the 1980s during its eight-year war with Iraq. “This is only a part of the drone power of... Iran's army, which is carrying out operations in various reconnaissance, surveillance and combat missions,” Sayyari added. The drills will take place “from the warm waters of the Gulf and the Sea of Oman in the south, to the eastern, western, northern and central parts of the country,” he said. Iran's army unveiled its first division of ships and submarines capable of carrying armed drones in July when US President Joe Biden was touring the Middle East. In May, state television broadcast footage of an air base for drones under the Zagros mountain range in the west of the country.Iran’s drone program has sparked international concern over its supplying of the aircraft to its regional proxy militias, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and armed factions in Iraq and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The US and Israel, arch-enemies of Iran, have previously accused Tehran of using drones and missiles to attack US forces and Israel-linked ships in the Gulf.
Washington said in July that Iran plans to deliver “hundreds of drones” to Russia to aid its war on Ukraine, an accusation Tehran dismissed as “baseless”.

US, Iran inch closer to nuclear deal but high hurdles remain
Associated Press/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The Biden administration is expected to weigh in this week on Iran's latest offer to resume its compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, but neither side is offering a definitive path to revive the agreement, which has been on life-support since former President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018.
U.S. officials say they expect to respond to Iran's comments on a European draft proposal as early as Wednesday, after which there is expected to be another exchange of technical details followed by a meeting of the joint commission that oversees the deal. The new developments, including stepped-up public messaging campaigns by both Tehran and Washington, suggest that an agreement could be near. Despite the forward movement, numerous hurdles remain. And key sticking points could still unravel efforts to bring back the 2015 deal under which Iran received billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program intended to prevent it from developing an atomic weapon. Even U.S. supporters of an agreement are no longer referring to the "longer and stronger" deal that they had initially set out to win when indirect negotiations with Iran began last spring. And, on the Iranian side, demands for greater U.S. sanctions relief than the administration appears willing or able to promise could undercut the push to revive the agreement.
In Washington, the Biden administration faces considerable political opposition to returning to the 2015 deal from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress who remain unconvinced that it is in U.S. national security interests. "I intend to systematically fight the implementation of this catastrophic deal, and will work with my colleagues to ensure that it is blocked and eventually reversed in January 2025," said Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The recent indictment of an Iranian for plotting to murder Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton and the attack by an apparent Iran sympathizer on the author Salman Rushdie have further contributed to doubts that Iran can be trusted. The latest draft does not include Tehran's demand that the U.S. lift the terrorism designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Iran has stepped back from a demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency close its investigation into unexplained traces of uranium at three undeclared sites, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing efforts to resurrect the deal. But, rescinding the terrorism designation imposed by Trump was never a realistic demand. Not only does it fall outside the scope of the nuclear deal, it was made virtually impossible since the Bolton plot indictment, ongoing Iranian threats to other former U.S. officials, and the Rushdie attack. And, while Iran may have agreed to a mechanism to eventually return to the deal without the IAEA investigation being closed up front, it has said that its actual compliance with an agreement remains contingent on getting a clean bill of health from the agency.
The senior administration official said a "deal is closer than it was two weeks ago," but cautioned that the outcome remains uncertain "as some gaps remain." And, Iranian officials on Tuesday bristled at the suggestion that they've stepped back from their demands to re-enter the deal.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian adviser to the indirect talks in Vienna, took to Twitter on Tuesday to assert that removing the IRGC from the State Department's foreign terrorism list was never a precondition and insisted that "no deal will be implemented before the IAEA Board of Directors PERMANENTLY closes the false accusations file." Meanwhile, America's top ally in the Middle East, Israel, has become increasingly alarmed at the apparent movement toward a deal. Israel's alternate prime minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday called on the Biden administration to resist forging ahead with a deal with the Iranians.
"I call on President Biden and the American administration to refrain, even now at this last minute, from signing the agreement with Iran," Bennett said in a statement. He noted that Israel is not party to the 2015 agreement signed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security — the U.S., the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China as well as Germany — but that Israel would be directly affected and reserved all rights to its self-defense. "One way or another, the State of Israel is not a party to the agreement," Bennett said. "Israel is not committed to any of the restrictions stemming from the agreement and will utilize all available tools to prevent the Iranian nuclear program from advancing."At the direction of current Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Israel's national security adviser Eyal Hulata is in Washington this week for talks with Biden administration officials, including a Tuesday meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said Sullivan underscored Biden's steadfast "commitment to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon" during his conversation with Hulata. The White House insists that the terms under discussion include the key underpinnings of the 2015 deal. The U.S. would lift hundreds of sanctions the Trump administration re-imposed when it withdrew from the deal in 2018. And Iran would roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the original nuclear deal, including caps on enrichment, how much material it can stockpile and the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich.
However, it remains unclear what exactly would happen to Iran's current stockpile of highly enriched uranium and what it would be required to do with the advanced centrifuges it has been spinning. The White House has said both would be "removed" but has not offered details.
As of the last public count, Iran has a stockpile of some 3,800 kilograms (8,370 pounds) of enriched uranium. Under the deal, Tehran could enrich uranium to 3.67% purity, while maintaining a stockpile of uranium of 300 kilograms (660 pounds) under constant scrutiny of surveillance cameras and international inspectors. In terms of sanctions relief, Iran has been demanding that the administration pledge that a future president not be allowed to re-impose the lifted penalties as Trump did and promise that Congress will repeal statutory sanctions legislation passed initially to force Iran back to the negotiating table. The administration is in no position to guarantee either. "Reports that we have accepted or are considering new concessions to Iran as part of reentering the 2015 nuclear deal are categorically false," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.

U.S. responds to EU nuclear text for revival of 2015 pact
Reuters/Agencies,Ynet|/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The Biden administration responds to Iran's latest draft including 'additional views and considerations'; Tehran expected to respond to U.S. within days; Israeli officials condemn emerging deal warning it poses danger to entire region. Iran said on Wednesday it had received a response from the United States to the EU's "final" text for revival of Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. "This evening Iran received the U.S. response through the European Union. The careful review of the response has started in Tehran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said. "Iran will share its view with the EU, as the coordinator of the nuclear talks, upon completion of Tehran's review," the foreign ministry in Tehran said. After 16 months of fitful, indirect American-Iranian talks, with EU officials shuttling between the sides, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on August 8th it had laid down a final offer and expected a response within a "very, very few weeks". Iran last week responded to the EU's text with "additional views and considerations" while calling on the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed that Washington had responded to Tehran's comments on the EU text. "Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the EU today," Price said. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal in 2018, saying it was too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh sanctions on the Islamic Republic, prompting Tehran to start violating the deal's nuclear curbs a year later. A revival of the pact appeared close in March before 11 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Vienna broke down over differences such as Iran's demand that the United States provide guarantees that no future president would exit the agreement as Trump did. U.S. President Joe Biden cannot provide such ironclad assurances because the deal is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the agreement a "bad deal" and suggested that Biden had failed to honor red lines he had previously promised to set. He called on President Joe Biden and Western powers to call off an pending nuclear deal with Iran, saying that negotiators are letting Tehran manipulate the talks and that an agreement would reward Israel's enemies.

Biden announces nearly $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden announced nearly $3 billion in military aid to Kyiv on Wednesday as Ukraine marked its independence day six months after Russia invaded the country. "I am proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date: approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment to be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative," Biden said in a statement. "This will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term."The funds can be used for immediate war costs, including acquisitions of supplies and arms, and are separate from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), under which Biden has been able to order transfers of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine's forces from existing U.S. military stockpiles. On Friday, the Pentagon announced the latest package under the PDA: $775 million worth of various missiles, artillery, and anti-armor weapons and ammunition, as well as a fleet of armed mine-removal vehicles. Biden also hailed Ukraine's resistance against Russia's invasion, which was launched on February 24. "Six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians' pride in themselves, in their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence," he said. "Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people."

Ukraine war: Russia is exhausted and could crack by the end of 2022, says ex-US general
Andy Wells/Yahoo/August 24/ 2022
Russian troops in Ukraine are “exhausted” and may “crack” before the year is out, according to a retired US army general.
Ben Hodges, who served in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, disagreed with predictions that the conflict could extend into drawn-out war of attrition.
Speaking on the day Ukrainians are marking 31 years of their country’s independence from the former Soviet Union, Hodges told Times Radio: “I disagree that this is going to drag on and that the Ukrainians really don't have a chance to push the Russians out.
“I think actually the Russians are exhausted, Their logistics system is exhausted.
“There's nothing they can do except continue launching artillery against civilian targets. Even that has dropped off significantly in the last few weeks.”
Hodges, 64, added that if Ukraine succeeds in keeping Russian troops at bay then “there is a very real possibility that the Russians will crack”.
His comments were backed up by defence secretary Ben Wallace, who said this morning that he believes Russia is in a “very fragile position”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Wallace said: “I spoke to my intelligence chiefs this morning before coming on, you know, Russia’s advance can be measured in metres per week, not miles. “It is grinding in small parts of the country in an attempt to advance – completely opposite of the three-days special operation that it touted at the beginning of this, six months ago.
“We pretty much accept, well, we do accept, the sort of observations of Russian losses to be – if you combine deaths, injuries, desertions – over 80,000 of their armed forces. That’s 80,000 in six months compared to 15,000 they lost in a decade in Afghanistan. “I think we are in a position where Russia is in a very fragile position.”On whether Ukraine is realistically in a position to retake the territory that Russia still holds, Wallace added: “I think Ukraine is getting itself into that position. “First and foremost, Ukraine already has had throughout this the moral component, as we call it in defence, and if you look at the morale of the Ukrainian forces, it is, you know, it is leagues ahead of the Russian morale, you know, which is poorly-trained troops, etc.”Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has told world leaders that Putin must not be allowed to repeat the annexation of Crimea in other parts of Ukraine. The prime minister said allies should continue to support Ukraine until Russian forces withdrew from the “entirety” of its territory.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 and Johnson warned that Putin would seek to repeat the process in other parts of Ukraine following the invasion by Moscow’s forces six months ago. In a remote address to the international Crimea Platform conference hosted by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Johnson said the peninsula had been turned into an “armed camp” by Russia since 2014 and was used as one of the launch pads for the invasion in February.
Ukraine’s independence day has led to concerns that Russia may step up military action, with the United States issuing a security alert about the prospect of strikes against Ukraine’s “civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days”. Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting.

Ukraine war: six months that shook the world
Wed, August 24, 2022 at 1:00 a.m. Aug 24 (Reuters) - Six months ago, Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine on a "special military operation" - a mass invasion on a scale unseen in Europe since World War Two. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled and cities have been reduced to rubble by Russia's relentless bombardment. Here are some milestones from the conflict:
A CHILLING SPEECH
Moscow repeatedly denied it would invade Ukraine and once it did, said it sought to "disarm" Kyiv, purge it of "nationalists" and halt the expansion of NATO, not seize territory. But Ukrainians say an address by Russian President Vladimir Putin three days before the Feb. 24 invasion left no doubt he aimed to conquer their country and wipe out their 1,000-year national identity. "Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space," Putin said. "Since time immemorial, the people living in the southwest of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians and Orthodox Christians."
AN EARLY DEFEAT
Within hours of the invasion, Russia landed commandos at Antonov airfield, a cargo base just north of Kyiv, to secure an air bridge for a lightning assault on the capital. Within a day, Ukrainians had wiped out the elite Russian paratroops and destroyed the landing strip. While Russia's armoured columns would eventually reach the northern outskirts of Kyiv, the failure to secure a working air field on day one helped wreck Moscow's plan to swiftly seize the capital.
'I'M HERE'
As Russian bombs fell on Kyiv and its residents huddled in metro stations for shelter or crammed train stations to flee, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made clear he would go nowhere. "Good morning Ukrainians," the former sitcom actor said, with the hint of a smile, in a mobile phone selfie video taken in the early light of the war's third morning. Behind him was a landmark building in central Kyiv. "Ya tut." I'm here. Zelenskiy went on to rally his country in nightly addresses, his combat fatigues, sparse stubble and casual but firm speaking style becoming symbols of Ukraine's resistance. Since then, he has used video links to invoke Martin Luther King to the U.S. Congress and the Berlin Wall to the Bundestag. He has been beamed into the streets of Prague, the Grammy awards and the Glastonbury music festival, where he told cheering fans to "prove that freedom always wins".
CARRYING A STRANGER'S CHILDREN
As Russia pounded Ukrainian cities, millions took flight in what the United Nations said was the fastest-growing refugee crisis in generations. More than 6.6 million refugees have been recorded across Europe, most in neighbouring countries, which opened their arms. Kyiv banned men of fighting age from leaving.
"Their father simply handed over the two kids to me, and trusted me, giving me their passports to bring them over," Natalya Ableyeva, 58, said on the border with Hungary two days after the invasion, the arms of the young boy she had known for just a few hours around her neck. On the Hungarian side of the border, the children were later reunited with their mother, who wept as she hugged them tightly.
GLIMPSES OF HELL
Mariupol, a once-prosperous southern port, was destroyed by Russian forces over three months of what the Red Cross called "hell". Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians died, with food, water and medical supplies cut and continuous bombing trapping many in basements. The United Nations says the toll is unknown.On March 9, Russia bombed a Mariupol maternity hospital, killing three people, including a child. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called it a war crime. Moscow said the building was disused and occupied by fighters. A week later, a theatre where Ukraine said families were sheltering in the basement was destroyed. The word "children" could be seen in satellite photos painted on the ground outside. Kyiv says Russia bombed it deliberately to break the city's will and that hundreds of bodies are still believed buried; Russia said, without giving any evidence, that the incident was staged.
BODIES IN STREETS
By the end of March, Russia's assault on Kyiv had failed. Its armoured columns, vulnerable to mobile units of Ukrainian defenders with anti-tank missiles and drones, had become bogged down and sustained heavy losses. Moscow announced its withdrawal from northern Ukraine as a "goodwill gesture". But as its troops pulled out, they left evidence of their occupation in ruined towns and villages where bodies lay in the streets.Scores of victims were found in the once prosperous suburb of Bucha, some with hands tied. Russia denied blame and claimed, with no evidence, that the killings were staged.
'RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO FUCK YOURSELF'
In the first hours of the invasion, Russian officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards on the barren but strategic Black Sea outcrop Snake Island, ordering them to surrender or die. One of them radioed back "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."The phrase became a national slogan, depicted on Ukrainian billboards, T-shirts, and eventually a postage stamp showing a Ukrainian guard standing on the outcrop, giving the flagship the finger. The day the stamp was released, April 14, two Ukrainian missiles struck the Moskva, the biggest warship sunk in combat for 40 years. Officially, Russia says one sailor was killed in an accident. Western experts say they believe around half of the crew of about 450 perished at sea. On June 30, Russia abandoned Snake Island after taking heavy losses trying to defend it. It called its withdrawal another "goodwill gesture".
AZOVSTAL
The siege of Mariupol wore on, largely beyond the world's gaze. Reuters reporters who reached the city from the Russian-held side found an eery, silent wasteland, where bewildered civilians emerged from cellars beneath the ruins to bury their dead in grass by the roadside. The last Ukrainian troops were holed up in Azovstal, one of Europe's largest steel plants, where underground tunnels served as bunkers. On May 16, Ukraine's general staff told them to surrender to save their lives. Reuters journalists saw them emerging, carrying their wounded on stretchers to buses that took them to a prison camp run by pro-Russian separatists. Moscow pledged to treat the Azovstal prisoners according to the Geneva conventions but rebuffed Ukrainian calls for a prisoner swap. On July 29, dozens of the Azovstal defenders were killed in the custody of pro-Russian separatists in a fiery blast that engulfed a prison. Kyiv called it a war crime carried out on Moscow's orders. Moscow said the prison had been struck by a Ukrainian missile, without explaining why no pro-Russian guards had been hurt. Russia's embassy in London said the surviving Azov prisoners should be executed by hanging, adding: "They deserve a humiliating death."
THE BATTLE OF THE DONBAS
Having failed to take Kyiv, Russia changed its war aims to focus on securing the Donbas, an eastern region formed of two provinces already partly held by its separatist proxies. That unleashed the most devastating ground battles of the war.
In mid-May, an entire battalion of Russian troops was wiped out trying to cross the Siverskiy Donets River. Satellite photos showed dozens of destroyed armoured vehicles scattered across either bank. The Russians pressed on, using their artillery firepower advantage to hem in Ukrainian forces on three sides. Throughout June, both sides claimed to have killed thousands of enemy soldiers. After capturing the ruins of the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, Putin declared a victory in the area on July 4 but battles grind on.
'HIMARS O'CLOCK'
The war is now focused mainly on the south, where Kyiv has vowed to recapture the biggest swath of territory seized in the invasion that Russia still holds. Russia has rushed in more troops. Since early July, Ukraine has deployed advanced rockets supplied by the West - the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, HIMARS. It can now target bridges, railways, command posts and ammunition dumps deep inside Russian-held territory and hopes this will shift the course of the war in its favour. Ukraine's supporters on the internet post daily pictures of explosions in Russian-held territory with the catch-phrase "HIMARS O'Clock". Russia says its operation is going to plan. (Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Ukraine will fight 'until the end', Zelensky says on Independence Day
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday vowed in an Independence Day address that his country would fight Russia's invasion "until the end" and would not be making "any concession or compromise". "We don't care what army you have, we only care about our land. We will fight for it until the end," Zelensky said in a video address on Wednesday, which also marks six months since the invasion began. "We have been holding strong for six months. It's tough but we have clenched our fists and we are fighting for our destiny," he said. "Every new day is a reason not to give up. After such a long journey we do not have the right not to go on to the end," he said. Referring to Russia, he added: "We will not try to find an understanding with terrorists. "For us Ukraine is the whole of Ukraine. All 25 regions, without any concession or compromise."

Ankara: Palestinian Authority ‘Welcomes’ Türkiye’s Normalization with Israel
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
Türkiye announced that the Palestinian Authority welcomed the establishment of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv, and that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements strongly desired that as well, as the country would better defend the Palestinian cause. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu commented on the talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara, which started on Tuesday, stressing that the Palestinian Authority welcomed the establishment of relations between his country and Israel. Cavusoglu added that the Hamas and Fatah movements strongly desired Türkiye to normalize its ties with Israel, as it would better defend them on issues related to the Palestinian cause. Last week, Israel and Türkiye announced the complete normalization of relations between them, and the return of the ambassadors of the two countries, following a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Erdogan. In a short statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas rejected Cavusoglu’s claims on the movement’s “acceptance” to normalizing relations between the two countries. “We stress our rejection of all forms of normalization, which contradict our national principles and the interests of our people and the peoples of the Arab and Islamic region,” the movement said. The Islamic Jihad also strongly condemned Türkiye’s normalization of relations with Israel. The movement’s spokesman, Tariq Salmi, said that exchanging ambassadors with the occupation entity and normalizing relations… will encourage the occupation to commit more aggression.”

France-Algeria: Tense Relations since Independence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
France has made several attempts over the years to heal the wounds with former colony Algeria, but it refuses to "apologize or repent" for the 132 years of often brutal rule that ended in 1962. With President Emmanuel Macron set to arrive in Algeria to meet his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, here is a snapshot of notable events between the two countries over the past half century, AFP said.
Soul-searching -
It took France nearly 40 years to officially acknowledge that "the events in North Africa" constituted a war. French historians say half a million civilians and combatants died -- 400,000 of them Algerian -- while the Algerian authorities insist 1.5 million were killed. Valery Giscard d'Estaing was the first French president to visit independent Algeria in April 1975, and his successor Francois Mitterrand said, during a visit in November 1981, "France and Algeria are capable of getting over the trauma of the past". Nicolas Sarkozy admitted during his 2007-2012 presidency that the "colonial system was profoundly unjust". President Francois Hollande called it "brutal" and in 2016 became the first French president to commemorate the end of the war, sparking virulent criticism from his right-wing opponents. Macron, during his 2017 election campaign, also infuriated the right by calling the colonization of Algeria "a crime against humanity". The first French president born after the war, Macron said it was time France "looked our past in the face". During his first official visit to Algeria after his election, he said he came as a "friend" and was "ready" to see his country hand back the skulls of Algerian resistance fighters killed in the 1850s, currently held in Paris.
'Symbolic gestures'
In 2018, Macron acknowledged that Maurice Audin, a mathematician and communist who supported Algeria's struggle for self-rule, had "died under torture stemming from the system instigated while Algeria was part of France", and asked Audin's widow for forgiveness. In January 2021, historian Benjamin Stora recommended in a report on the colonial legacy the creation of a "memory and truth commission". Macron said he would make "symbolic gestures" to attempt to reconcile the two countries but ruled out a formal state apology. In March of that year, he acknowledged that Algerian lawyer Ali Boumendjel was tortured to death by the French army in 1957, which French authorities had long denied. And in September, he appealed for forgiveness for the "Harkis", Algerians who fought for the French during the independence war, many of whom were later executed or tortured in Algeria.
New strains
Last October, Algeria recalled its ambassador to Paris for three months after Macron accused Algeria's "political-military system" of rewriting history and fomenting "hatred towards France" in remarks to descendants of independence fighters. Two weeks later he described as "an inexcusable crime" the 1961 massacre of scores of Algerian protesters in Paris by French police. In December, France announced it would open classified police files from the Algerian war 15 years ahead of schedule. On January 26, 2022, Macron also admitted that the shooting of unarmed civilians by French soldiers in Algiers in 1962 was an "unforgivable" act, while also acknowledging a second massacre in Oran the same year. On February 8, he became the first French president to pay tribute to nine people who lost their lives in the Charonne metro station in Paris 60 years ago at a peaceful anti-war demonstration that was violently repressed by the police. Macron's visit to Algeria, set for August 25-27, has been billed as a bid to improve the strained ties between Paris and Algiers.

Unidentified Drones Roam Libya’s Sky
Cairo - Khaled Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, announced that they have shut down an unknown drone flying over Benina airbase in Benghazi. Major General Ahmed Al-Mismari, the official spokesman for the army, told Asharq Al-Awsat in exclusive statements that the drone was completely burnt, adding that the forces could not specify its identity, type, or the target it was tracking. “No party has claimed responsibility for the drone and the mission assigned to it, and we dealt with it on the basis of an enemy target; therefore, it was destroyed,” Mismari said, adding that the debris of the plane was collected and a commission was assigned to investigate the circumstances of the incident, which is the first of its kind. Italian news agency Nova quoted Libyan sources as saying that the drone was likely to be American, while local media claimed that US Ambassador Richard Norland canceled a scheduled visit to Benghazi, after the National Army shot down the drone, which was on a reconnaissance mission. Neither the US Embassy in Tripoli nor the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) have commented on the claims. The Director of the National Army Moral Guidance Department, Major General Khaled al-Mahjoub, said that air defenses targeted and downed an unidentified drone near the Benina base in Benghazi. “The Air Defense Forces in Benghazi managed to destroy an unidentified drone armed with two missiles after it penetrated the airspace. It was discovered southwest of the Benina area at 16:53 and it was dealt with by missile units and destroyed at 17:05,” he said on Facebook, without providing other details about the incident. Amid the divisions in the Libyan military establishment since the overthrow of the regime of late President Muammar Gaddafi 11 years ago, the skies of Libya have turned into an open space for unidentified drones monitored by intelligence services. According to local and international reports, the uncontrolled conditions allowed the use of drones for various purposes, including combing the desert to find ISIS hideouts, monitoring the fragile military and security conditions in the country, or conducting military operations.

UK PM Johnson in Kyiv marking Ukraine Independence Day
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in Kyiv on Wednesday, hailing the "strong will of Ukrainians to resist" Russia's invasion, as the nation celebrates its Independence Day and marks the milestone of six months of war. "There's a strong will of Ukrainians to resist. And that is what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin failed to understand," Johnson told reporters during a surprise visit. "You defend your right to live in peace, in freedom, and that's why Ukraine will win."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 24-25/2022
Iran Prepares to Take Out Israel – Right after Iran Deal Is Signed
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 24/2022
The mullahs appear convinced that once the Biden administration capitulates completely to their demands for reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, they will be able to step up their already significant efforts to eliminate Israel and export their Islamic Revolution to Arab and Islamic countries. Iran already occupies four Arab countries: Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Iran's mullahs appear to be so confident that the Biden administration has turned its back on its Arab allies in the Middle East that they are issuing direct threats not only against Israel, but also against any Arab country that dares to cooperate with the Israelis.
Meanwhile, the mullahs are busy trying to open a new battlefront against Israel, this time in the West Bank. The mullahs appear to be so emboldened by the Biden administration's weakness that they are now openly talking about using the West Bank as a launching pad to attack Israel and kill Jews. Under pressure from the Iranian regime, Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives held a meeting in the Gaza Strip earlier this week to discuss ways of stepping up the "resistance" against Israel.
In an attempt to appease their masters in Tehran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement after the meeting in which they pledged to step up the "armed struggle" against Israel "until the liberation [of all of Palestine]," a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. Iran's mullahs appear convinced that once the Biden administration capitulates completely to their demands for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, they will be able to step up their already significant efforts to eliminate Israel and export their Islamic Revolution to Arab and Islamic countries. Iran already occupies four Arab countries: Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. As the Biden administration seems to be moving closer to reaching a new nuclear deal with Iran, the mullahs in Tehran are encouraging their Lebanese and Palestinian terrorist proxies to prepare for waging war on Israel.
The mullahs appear convinced that once the Biden administration capitulates completely to their demands for reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, they will be able to step up their already significant efforts to eliminate Israel and export their Islamic Revolution to Arab and Islamic countries. Iran already occupies four Arab countries: Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
The mullahs are not oblivious to the growing voices in the Arab world that complain about the weakness of the US and how the Biden administration's policy of appeasement towards Iran is undermining the Americans' credibility and jeopardizing the security and stability of Arab and Islamic countries.
Iran's mullahs appear to be so confident that the Biden administration has turned its back on its Arab allies in the Middle East that they are issuing direct threats not only against Israel, but also against any Arab country that dares to cooperate with the Israelis.
The latest threat came from the commander of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, who warned that cooperation with Israel "threatens security and stability in the Gulf region."
Tangsiri's warning was directed to America's Arab allies, especially the Gulf states, some of which have been conducting security cooperation with Israel.
The timing of his threat was anything but coincidental. It came amid reports that the Biden administration is moving forward towards striking a new deal with Tehran's mullahs.
The mullahs, in short, are sending a message to America's allies in the Arab world that if they believe they can trust the Biden administration to protect them against Iran's expansionist plans or safeguard their security and stability, they are sorely mistaken.
Addressing America's Arab allies, Tangsiri warned them not to allow US or any other foreign countries to use their countries as bases for military and security operations. Any country that ignores the warning, Tangsiri said, "will pay the price for its unfriendly and provocative behavior." The IRGC, he cautioned, is ready "to carry out any mission to preserve the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its heroic people."Meanwhile, the mullahs are busy trying to open a new battlefront against Israel, this time in the West Bank.
Iran already has its own proxies in the Gaza Strip: Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In Lebanon, the mullahs have the Hezbollah terrorist militia, which has created a state-within-a-state there and is also continuing to issue threats to attack Israel.
The three terrorist groups -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah -- for the past three decades have been launching terror attacks against Israel from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The mullahs appear to be so emboldened by the Biden administration's weakness that they are now openly talking about using the West Bank as a launching pad to attack Israel and kill Jews.
The commander of the IRGC, Major General Hossein Salami, revealed that Iran was working with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to extend their terrorist attacks from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The goal: To wage a war of attrition against Israel. The two groups already have a strong military presence in the West Bank, especially in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, which are governed by the Palestinian Authority. "Gaza is not the only field of resistance and struggle, but this struggle has also moved to the West Bank," Salami said, hinting that the mullahs were providing weapons to the Palestinians in the West Bank. "Just as Gaza was armed [by Iran], the West Bank can be armed in the same way, and this process will happen. Obtaining weapons has become much easier than before. There is no safe place at any time for Israel and its citizens." He boasted that a "large number of Zionists" have been killed in terrorist attacks by Palestinian terrorists in the past few months and stressed "the necessity of continuing the jihad [holy war]" against Israel. The Palestinians, Salami added, "are now able to target any point in the Zionist entity, and this means that there is no safe place for the Zionists to protect them from Palestinian fire. The Palestinians have realized who their true friends are [Iran]."
He said that Hezbollah was also ready to join the fight against Israel: "Hezbollah, which gained important experiences during the Syrian [civil] war, can lead a ground war and achieve victory... The Zionists know that the land is liberated by ground forces." As part of the mullahs' plan to initiate another wave of terror against Israel, Salami said that he recently met in Tehran with Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah and discussed with him "the disintegration and erosion of the capabilities of the Zionists. "Under pressure from the Iranian regime, Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives held a meeting in the Gaza Strip earlier this week to discuss ways of stepping up the "resistance" against Israel. The meeting came amid reports of tensions between the two terrorist groups in the aftermath of Hamas's failure to join the recent three-day fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad and Iran are said to be disappointed with the Hamas terrorists for not coming to the rescue of their brothers in Islamic Jihad during the fighting with Israel. Hamas did not join the fighting apparently for fear of being hit hard by Israel. Hamas seems to be worried that it could lose control of the Gaza Strip if it engages in another war with Israel, especially in light of the heavy casualties the group and many residents of the Gaza Strip sustained during previous rounds of attacks on Israel. In an attempt to appease their masters in Tehran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement after the meeting in which they pledged to step up the "armed struggle" against Israel "until the liberation [of all of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea]," a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. The threats by the IRGC against Israel and America's Arab allies should be sufficient to stop the Biden administration from surrendering to the mullahs' demand to remove the group from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. These threats, in addition, should serve as a reminder to the Biden administration of Iran's bloody schemes against Israel and Arab countries. Anyone who thinks that the mullahs will abandon their plans after the signing of a new nuclear deal is deceiving him or herself. The opposite is true: appeasement will only further fortify the mullahs and their proxies, and place into further peril the lives of both Arabs and Jews. © 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.

Turkey Accuses Sweden, Finland of 'Supporting Terrorism', Meanwhile Releases Turkish Hizbullah Terrorists from Prison
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/August 24/2022
Since 2016, Turkey has carried out four major military campaigns in Syria, two of them — the 2018 "Operation Olive Branch" and the 2019 "Operation Peace Spring" — being against Kurdish-controlled areas. The military invasions have forcibly changed the demographic balance of the regions, driving out Kurds, Yazidis and Christians from their lands. For more than two months, Erdoğan has been saying that a new military offensive is imminent. If he does invade Syria, the group that will benefit is ISIS. Meanwhile, as Turkey's government accuses Sweden and Finland of "supporting terrorists," convicted Hizbullah terrorists have been released from Turkish prisons. Erdoğan releases the terrorists from prison and in return Hizbullah supporters vote for him. The Erdoğan regime enables Hizbullah just as it enables ISIS and other Islamist groups in Syria.
Turkish Hizbullah is a terrorist organization established in 1978. It has engaged in murder and torture, particularly targeting secular Kurds in southeastern Turkey in the 1990s... Hizbullah's leaders were heavily influenced by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and reportedly received training in Iran. Turkish Hizbullah's main effort is to establish an independent Islamic state under strict sharia law in southeastern Turkey.
According to a 2000 report in the Turkish Daily News, "... the Hizbullah terrorists recently apprehended by the police admitted in their testimonies that they have received military training and all required support in Iran and detailed the names and the descriptions of the Iranian guards who acted on behalf of the Iranian government." "I did all these actions for Allah, for Islam. If I go out right now, I'll do it again without blinking an eye. In fact, I have done other actions that were not stated in the indictment and that the prosecutor could not solve. Our war is for salat [the five daily Islamic prayers]." — Kemal Gülşen, one of the released terrorists, sozcu.com.tr, May 16, 2022. "I took part in every level of Hizbullah. Allah has given us the task to make Islam dominant on earth. I don't regret anything. We have become a bomb ready to explode..." — Cemal Tutar, the head of the military wing of Turkish Hizbullah, who killed 109 people by pulling the trigger himself, and among those released, sozcu.com.tr, May 16, 2022. The "terrorist organization" Erdoğan targets is the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) that fought against ISIS in Syria and that is a US ally. Even as Turkey's government accuses Sweden and Finland of "supporting terrorists," and objects to the countries' NATO membership applications, convicted Hizbullah terrorists have been released from Turkish prisons. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan releases the terrorists from prison and in return Hizbullah supporters vote for him. The Erdoğan regime enables Hizbullah just as it enables ISIS and other Islamist groups in Syria. Pictured: Erdoğan addresses the media at the NATO summit in Madrid, on June 30, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has once again objected to the demands for NATO membership of Sweden and Finland, saying that Turkey "will not take a positive stance" unless the two countries respect their promises regarding the "fight against terrorism."
"We maintain a firm position on Finland and Sweden. NATO membership of these two countries will not be approved until the promises made to our country are fulfilled," Erdoğan said on August 8, according to the Bianet News Agency.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June; it was a decision spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Turkish government, however, has objected to the membership requests. Turkey has accused the two countries of "tolerating and providing shelter to terrorists."
The "terrorists" the Turkish government is referring to are the anti-ISIS, secular Kurdish forces in Syria, as well as the actual or supposed supporters of Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric who was for decades Erdoğan's ally but whom Turkey now claims organized a 2016 coup attempt. The Turkish government now calls the Gülen community, its own former ally, the "Fetullahist Terrorist Organization" (FETÖ).
A trilateral agreement signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not "provide support" for any of these groups. Erdoğan also alluded at a cross-border military incursion against the Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
"We will continue our fight against terrorism. Our decision to establish a 30-kilometer secure line along our southern border is permanent," Erdoğan said. "I hope we will soon complete this security zone by clearing the last areas where the terrorist organization is still in Syria." The "terrorist organization" Erdoğan targets is the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) that fought against ISIS in Syria and that is a US ally. Since 2016, Turkey has carried out four major military campaigns in Syria, two of them — the 2018 "Operation Olive Branch" and the 2019 "Operation Peace Spring" — being against Kurdish-controlled areas. The military invasions have forcibly changed the demographic balance of the regions, driving out Kurds, Yazidis and Christians from their lands. For more than two months, Erdoğan has been saying that a new military offensive is imminent. If he does invade Syria, the group that will benefit is ISIS.
Meanwhile, as Turkey's government accuses Sweden and Finland of "supporting terrorists," convicted Hizbullah terrorists have been released from Turkish prisons. Erdoğan releases the terrorists from prison and in return Hizbullah supporters vote for him. The Erdoğan regime enables Hizbullah just as it enables ISIS and other Islamist groups in Syria.
Since April, the Turkish newspaper Sozcu has been reporting on Hizbullah terrorists who had been imprisoned but then released from prison by Turkish courts.
Turkish Hizbullah is a terrorist organization established in 1978. It has engaged in murder and torture, particularly targeting secular Kurds in southeastern Turkey in the 1990s. Many of Hizbullah's members in Turkey are Kurdish Islamists. Erdoğan is not targeting those Kurds. He like, ISIS, would like an Islamic state; ethnicity is not a factor, just as it is not a factor for anyone who converts to Islam. The Erdoğan regime is targeting secular Kurds who oppose its tyranny and request equal national rights. Hizbullah's leaders were heavily influenced by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and reportedly received training in Iran. Turkish Hizbullah's main effort is to establish an independent Islamic state under strict sharia law in southeastern Turkey.
According to a 2000 report in the Turkish Daily News:
"... the Hizbullah terrorists recently apprehended by the police admitted in their testimonies that they have received military training and all required support in Iran and detailed the names and the descriptions of the Iranian guards who acted on behalf of the Iranian government."
On April 16, Sozcu reported that Hizbullah terrorists Cihan Yıldız and Mehmet Ali Geçer were released from prison before local elections in 2019. They had been given aggravated life sentences for the murder of nine people, including a Kurdish member of parliament, Mehmet Sincar.
On May 6, Sozcu once again reported that 19 more Hizbullah terrorists were released in 2019. They had been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the murder of 91 people in 129 attacks on behalf of Hizbullah.
On May 16, Sozcu reported that "not a single prisoner remains in jail in the main Hizbullah case!" "Eighteen Hizbullah terrorists had been convicted for the murder of 165 citizens and the wounding of 85 and sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. But some were released in 2011 after Article 102 of the CMK [Code of Criminal Procedure], which restricts long detention periods, came into effect. The rest of Hizbullah convicts were released before the local elections of March 1, 2019."Cemal Tutar, the head of the military wing of Turkish Hizbullah, who killed 109 people by pulling the trigger himself, was among those released. "I took part in every level of Hizbullah," he said in his last defense at court. "Allah has given us the task to make Islam dominant on earth. I don't regret anything. We have become a bomb ready to explode in prison. Our patience has run out. We can turn the [prison] into a bloodbath." Kemal Gülşen, one of the released terrorists, told the court: "I did all these actions for Allah, for Islam. If I go out right now, I'll do it again without blinking an eye. In fact, I have done other actions that were not stated in the indictment and that the prosecutor could not solve. Our war is for salat [the five daily Islamic prayers]. I do not expect justice from you. The decision of this court is political." Mahmut Demir, who was released after four dead bodies were found under his house, said in the courtroom:
"I took it as my duty to pledge allegiance to Hizbullah. I joined the organization with great love. I took an oath of allegiance to the community for the dominance of the Qur'an in the whole world. Death is martyrdom for us. We pray five times a day for martyrdom to be granted to us. With Allah's help, Hizbullah will be victorious. Hizbullah is a school of love." Deutsche Welle reported in 2019 that more than a hundred Turkish Hizbullah convicts sentenced to life in prison had already been released. In January, 2011, for instance, Hizbullah's top executives Edip Gümüş, Cemal Tutar and Hacı Inan, were freed. Gümüş escaped to Iran and assumed the leadership of Turkish Hizbullah worldwide.
A legal Islamist party, Hüda-Par, with ties with Turkish Hizbullah, has been in strategic cooperation with Turkey's AKP government since the November 1, 2015 elections, according to Dr Mehmet Kurt, author of the book Hizbullah in Turkey: Religion, Violence and Belonging.
According to Kurt, the Hizbullah base, who openly supported the government after the July 15, 2016 attempted coup, took to the streets in the southeastern provinces during protests that the government named the "democracy rallies" [after the coup attempt], Hüda-Par, Kurt reported, and encouraged its supporters to vote for the AKP, thereby turning Hizbullah "into a strategic partner of the government through Hüda-Par in the 2010s." Hizbullah-linked media outlets, Kurt noted, gave conditional support to the AKP's constitutional amendment referendum in 2017: "Those conditions included the release of Hizbullah members from prisons." The Turkish government -- not exactly known for its support of freedom, human rights or individuals and organizations that advocate equal rights for minorities in the region -- is a political ally of the Hizbullah terrorist organization. The Turkish regime should be asked why it is accusing Sweden and Finland of "supporting terrorism" when it, itself, supports it.
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Israel Warns of Mideast Catastrophe in Last-Ditch Effort to Thwart Iran Nuke Deal
Aryeh Savir/Israel Today/August 24/2022
“Thousands will die from Iranian terrorism enabled by this deal. Millions may die if Iran gets a nuclear bomb.”
(TPS) US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met on Tuesday in Washington with Israeli National Security Advisor Dr. Eyal Hulata to “consult on a broad range of global issues and issues of mutual concern,” and chiefly the emerging nuclear deal with Iran that the Biden administration appears to be ready to adopt. Sullivan underscored President Joe Biden’s “steadfast commitment to preserve and strengthen Israel’s capability to deter its enemies and to defend itself by itself against any threat or combination of threats, including from Iran and Iranian-backed proxies; and our commitment to ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” a readout of the meeting published by the White House stated. Hulata was initially slated to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken but met with Sullivan instead. Defense Minister Benny Gantz will take off on Thursday for an official visit to the US and will meet with Sullivan on Friday, apparently a last-ditch effort to influence the Iran deal. A nuclear deal with Iran “is closer now than it was two weeks ago,” US State Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday, “but the outcome of these ongoing discussions still remains uncertain as gaps do remain.”
The Biden administration is expected to respond to the final text of the deal in the coming day, and is expected to accept Iran’s terms for entering a new nuclear deal. However, Israeli officials say that the nuclear agreement that is taking shape is a bad one, and Israel does not see itself committed to it and will continue to work for its security and curbing Iran’s nuclear efforts.
Gantz told Kan 11 news on Monday that the nuclear agreement “is a bad agreement that allows Iran to strengthen its military strength and support the countries of the region – we are against it and are preparing for actions from our side.” Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called on Biden and the American administration to “refrain, even now at this last minute, from signing the agreement with Iran. This agreement will send approximately a quarter of a trillion dollars to the Iranian terror administration’s pocket and to its regional proxies, and will enable Iran to develop, install and operate centrifuges, with almost no restrictions, in a mere two years.”“One way or another, the State of Israel is not a party to the agreement. Israel is not committed to any of the restrictions stemming from the agreement and will utilize all available tools to prevent the Iranian nuclear program from advancing,” he said.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned Tuesday that Biden “intends to give a nuclear arsenal to Iran. The details of this deal are only now emerging, but we already know they will be catastrophic to the national security of America.”“This deal will quickly flood the regime with hundreds of billions of dollars, and soon afterwards the deal will be worth trillions. It will dismantle sanctions on the Iranian economy, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and provides the IRGC with the resources it needs to export its terrorism globally,” Cruz added.
The new agreement will “excuse Iran from that previous cheating, while enabling it to continue into the future. It repeats the inexplicable folly of the previous nuclear deal by legalizing the regime’s nuclear program, which had previously been prohibited by multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. It will eventually be used to develop nuclear weapons that will inflict destruction on America and our allies. When the Ayatollah chants ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ he means it.”
“Thousands of people will die because of the Iranian terrorism enabled by this deal. Tens of millions may die because of the nuclear arsenal it will provide to the Ayatollah,” the senator cautioned, vowing to “systematically fight the implementation of this catastrophic deal, and work with my colleagues to ensure that it is blocked and eventually reversed in January 2025.”
https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/israel-warns-of-mideast-catastrophe-in-last-ditch-effort-to-thwart-iran-nuke-deal/?utm_source=acfs&utm_medium=email&utm_term=all&utm_campaign=newsletter-en-2022-08-24

Putin Wouldn’t Shrink from Starting Chernobyl 2.0 in Ukraine
Andreas Kluth/Asharq Al Awsat/Wednesday, 24 August, 2022
The history of warfare has no precedent for what is happening right now in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Never before has a nuclear power plant been on the front line of a major war, and indeed a main object of the warring parties’ strategies.
How Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world handle this moment of peril is becoming a test of how war will be waged in our time — and whether it can ever be limited.
There are reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that the Kremlin would allow international monitors to visit the nuclear plant in question to guarantee its safety. If Putin means that, it would be encouraging. But he habitually lies about his intentions, as he did before his invasion of Ukraine half a year ago.
The plant, called ZNPP, is the largest in Europe. Before Putin’s attack, it supplied about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity. The Russians took it in March and have held it since. But the employees — originally about 11,000, many of whom have fled — are still Ukrainian. These engineers are now hostages. They’re keeping the reactors safe and running, but at gunpoint.
Tactically, the Russians are using ZNPP as a shield. They’re sheltering troops, weapons and ammo near the reactors and the stored nuclear waste on the assumption that the Ukrainians won’t dare to obliterate them with artillery, lest the explosions cause a radioactive leak or even a meltdown.
By firing from the plant at the Ukrainian troops across the Dnipro River, the Russians are also tying down the defender’s army and thereby slowing the Ukrainian counterattack to retake the country’s south.
Strategically, the Russians are planning to disconnect ZNPP from the Ukrainian electricity grid and link it to their own. In effect, they’re hoping to steal a large part of Ukraine’s power supply. This involves destroying — detonating, basically — the transmission lines at the plant, which is unbelievably dangerous.
The Ukrainians have the opposite objectives. They want to liberate their compatriots inside the plant. They want to keep its electricity flowing to Ukraine rather than to enemy-occupied regions. And they want to clear the plant of Russian occupiers so they can move on to retake the rest of southern Ukraine.
Above all, though, the Ukrainians want to prevent a nuclear catastrophe reminiscent of that at Chernobyl in 1986, just up the Dnipro. And they share this objective with the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as countries in the West, East, South, North and middle — that is, with all of humanity. Presumably, that even includes people in the Kremlin.
The nature of the peril is what makes this situation unprecedented. A radioactive cloud in Zaporizhzhia would waft wherever the winds carry it. It could show up in western Europe, the Middle East, in Belarus, Russia, or somewhere else.
Because such a disaster would be impossible to contain geographically, it would also be hard to limit militarily, strategically and geopolitically. It would spread panic far and wide, and could draw other countries into the conflict.
To prevent these horror scenarios, Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, has repeatedly pleaded for a timeout in Zaporizhzhia to let the agency send a team of monitors to assure ZNPP’s safety. After a conference call with Macron over the weekend, the leaders of the US, UK and Germany also called on Putin to allow such an inspection.
One problem is that even though the situation is new, human nature is timeless. The first casualty in war is always the truth, as the old maxim has it. We know that things are exploding around ZNPP. But we can’t confirm who’s doing the shooting.
The Russians naturally blame the Ukrainians for the shelling. That seems implausible. Yes, the Ukrainians would, if they could, liberate the plant with special forces. But they’d hardly destroy a big source of their own electricity at the risk of releasing radioactivity in their own country — in effect, mass suicide.
The Ukrainians in turn say that the Russians are deliberately provoking an escalation, and even preparing to stage “false flag operations.” Given the track record of Putin, a KGB man who spent most of his career manipulating reality with disinformation and lies, I find this more plausible.
This points to another timeless problem made acute by this crisis. It’s the eternal tension described by Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian veteran of the Napoleonic wars who became a philosopher on war. Even when generals want to keep conflict limited, war itself seems to want to become absolute.
The Ukrainians obviously don’t want to cede ZNPP to the Russians, for that would be a major setback in their existential struggle to preserve their nation. Putin, however, can’t afford to retreat from the plant, which would make a Russian victory in Ukraine — however he defines it nowadays — elusive. And defeat would probably spell his demise.
Since his senseless attack in February, Putin’s personal incentives do not align with those of Russians or people anywhere, least of all Ukrainians. He cares only about whether and how he goes down, not about how many others he’ll pull down with him. That’s why, if things go badly for him, Putin may yet decide to escalate, by using chemical or even nuclear weapons.
In the standoff at Zaporizhzhia, Putin — no matter what he tells Macron — might willingly incur the risk of nuclear meltdown in a country he wants to subjugate. The whole world, from Paris to Ankara and Beijing, must now steer him away from the brink. Success is not assured.

Civil war looms as Iraqis call time on power-grabbing militants
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 22, 2022
These are days of reckoning in Baghdad. Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and a growing swath of Iraqis are finally taking a stand against the Coordination Framework — a flimsy political front for Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, the vast Iran-backed paramilitary coalition with the blood of tens of thousands of Iraqis on its hands.
This Hashd movement has no claim to popular acceptance by Iraqis. It brutally levered its way to the preeminent position it wields today through lies, cheating, violence, threats and a refusal to compromise in pursuit of its partisan and anti-Iraqi aims.
Al-Sadr warns that the provocative actions of his opponents risk triggering civil war. It is difficult to disagree with this conclusion when the Coordination Framework has deluged Baghdad with counter-demonstrations by paramilitary thugs. Al-Sadr called off his planned “million-man protest” last week after reports that the Framework had colluded with tribesmen to flood Baghdad with armed hoodlums tasked with attacking protesters.
Al-Sadr boycotted the dialogue called by Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi, pointing out that the secretive format of these meetings perpetuated the worst aspects of the current sectarian system — in which a group of unrepresentative men carve up the administration among themselves in preparation for looting the country and thwarting the aspirations of the Iraqi people. “I will not sit with corrupt people, and those who want to kill me,” he not unreasonably declared.
One of his close allies told Kadhimi: “The revolution does not need anything from you, except to step down.” He added that the dialogue process should be televised “so that the people can be aware of the plots, intrigues and leaks occurring behind the scenes.” However, Al-Sadr’s call for a UN-brokered public dialogue will certainly be rejected by the other parties. The corrupt demands they intend to make are certainly not for public consumption.
Coordination Framework hard-liners such as Nouri Al-Maliki and Qais Al-Khazali, two truly evil figures who have already wreaked tremendous damage upon Iraq, meanwhile appear hellbent on further provocation and escalation.
Al-Maliki is the godfather of these current intractable divisions, the Frankenstein-like figure who welded the Hashd colossus together in the first place from a rag-tag bunch of criminal militia factions. By adding the Hashd to the government payroll in 2014, he perversely rendered the Iraqi state responsible for spending billions of dollars bankrolling entities laboring to destroy Iraqi statehood.
Pro-Iran elements at each stage of the game blocked all progress toward forming a representative government, in order to impose themselves on the electorate. The paramilitary factions behind the Framework use military muscle to wield power throughout Iraq’s provinces, with gangster-like networks that dominate the economy and brutally displace all those who constitute a threat.
Compromising with the Coordination Framework would mean ceding Iraq’s government to thieves and murderers, halting any pretence of democracy and dragging Iraq irretrievably within Iran’s embrace. Hashd factions reject early elections because they benefited immeasurably from the Sadrist resignations from parliament. All that awaits them in a new vote is utter defeat.
As well as uncompromisingly enforcing his demands for early elections, Al-Sadr and other nationalist figures must ensure that new elections don’t merely replicate another cycle of the hell that Iraqi politics has long been straitjacketed into.
Compromising with the Coordination Framework would mean ceding Iraq’s government to thieves and murderers, halting any pretence of democracy and dragging Iraq irretrievably within Iran’s embrace.
Al-Sadr has been accused of using his supporters to stage a coup d’état, and he is indeed seeking to revolutionize the governing system. If he desires national-level legitimacy he must go further in reaching out beyond his own support base to the vast numbers of non-Shiite Iraqis who nominally support his vision for radical change. After facing accusations that he betrayed the protest movement in 2019, Al-Sadr must demonstrate that he can be trusted with their support, as well as motivating them to participate in future elections. Al-Sadr’s career is littered with U-turns and false starts; let’s hope that this time he sticks to his principles.
Elections laws must be reformed away from the sectarian system that enshrines corruption and divisions. Secretive and manipulative electoral lists that obscure who Iraqis are actually voting for should be abolished.
Broad-based anti-sectarian coalitions must reach across political divides, ending the fragmentation and partisanship that treats the Iraqi state as a cake to be carved up. With about 85 percent of government funding coming from oil income, revenues of each ministry have habitually been drained dry by kleptocratic factions with zero concept of public service.
Last week’s visit to Riyadh by Ammar Al-Hakim, head of the Wisdom Movement, was a welcome initiative for drawing moderate Shiite politicians away from the pro-Iran extremists who build coalitions only by terrorising or bribing other factions into doing their bidding. A greater role for Arab states can only be a positive thing in empowering nationalist progressives and counterbalancing Iran’s malign influence.
Iraq’s crisis is reminiscent of Lebanon, where pro-Iran factions who lost the last elections have sought to impose their political choices, threatening to plunge the country into violence if their demands aren’t met. The common denominator in both cases is Tehran’s determination to impose its proxies on populations who for the most part reject foreign domination and the loss of their sovereignty.
With negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program at a critical juncture, Tehran is likely to play hardball in an attempt to maximise its international position. Any breakthrough in these talks would shower Iran with billions of dollars of unfrozen funds with which to further reinforce its overseas allies.
The two Shiite factions currently facing off in Baghdad, with long histories of enmities and divisions, can both easily mobilise tens of thousands of armed fighters in support of their cause, meaning that the current spat could be dialled up to horrific levels. Iraq’s complex melting pot of ethnicities, tribes and faiths makes the potential for conflict particularly perilous.
Iraqis who desire to salvage their nation as a sovereign state must act decisively before Iraq as we know it disintegrates in its entirety, and its massive oil wealth is squandered on self-destruction.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Qatar speaks from both sides of its mouth
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Jerusalem Post/August 24/2022
If Washington wants to prevent further conflict in Gaza, it should let Doha know the game is up.
United States President Joe Biden thanked the emir of Qatar this month for his role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza. Since then, the emir and his court have been basking in the glow of international approval, depicting their country as a global influencer and peacemaker. Yet, at the same time, Doha’s incitement, through the state-owned Al Jazeera network and other channels, worsens the already explosive situation in Gaza.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, Majed al-Ansari, the spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, tied himself into knots while seeking to explain the contradictions of Doha’s foreign policy. First, he took credit for the ceasefire, saying that Qatar communicated with all parties involved, including “Palestinian factions in Gaza.” He paused, then added, “and with the Israeli side, also.” Ansari was clearly reluctant to admit any interaction with the Jewish state, likely because Al Jazeera and other Qatari organs spend so much time condemning those Arabs who prefer normal relations with Israel to perennial hostility.
To protect himself, Ansari quickly pivoted to Al Jazeera’s preferred talking points about Gaza and the flare-up this past weekend, when PIJ fired 800 rockets indiscriminately into Israeli territory. Ansari repeatedly referred to the conflict as an example of Israeli aggression and said that Qatar denounced Israel twice, the first time for bombing Gaza, and the second time for invading al-Aqsa, a deliberate mischaracterization of Jewish worshipers passing through the Temple Mount.
One way for Doha to iron out the contradictions in its foreign policy is to broadcast different messages to Arabic speakers and English speakers. Accordingly, when Al Jazeera English played clips of Ansari’s interview, it left out his denunciations of Israel, while letting him boast of Qatar’s role as peacemaker.
Al Jazeera Arabic also did its best to pin the blame on Israel for the death of five Gazan children, even though the available evidence was more consistent with PIJ rocket fire as the cause. The network reported that five children were martyred in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalya refugee camp but there was no source documenting the airstrike. Meanwhile, the IDF said it never targeted Jabalya and released footage apparently showing a PIJ rocket that veered off course, landing in Jabalya. The IDF released its footage a day before the Al Jazeera broadcast, yet the network ignored it.
Blood libel and martyrdom
At other times, the network simply veers into blood-libel territory. One tweet asked, “What are the roots of the genocidal Zionist doctrine?” It linked to an article on that subject that quotes violent passages from the Bible and claims the Zionist movement applies them directly to Palestinians. The article was not an exception but is rather a recurring theme in many of the articles that Al Jazeera writers post on its website.
Al Jazeera’s leading reporters also praise martyrdom, while suggesting that Palestinian militants fight for liberty, not on behalf of extreme, antisemitic interpretations of Islam. Majed Abdul-Hadi is a veteran correspondent, who won acclaim for reporting from the frontline of the US war in Afghanistan, in 2002. In a four-minute package on the clash in Gaza, he said that Sunday’s ceasefire “will not end the conflict, at least not in the minds of those [Palestinians] whose will and yearning for freedom is stronger than that of the steel” of the Israeli missiles. Abdul-Hadi added, “There are a lot of those Palestinians. They give birth, and are martyred, and give birth [again].”
The star reporter then took a swipe at Arab states, especially the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, that prefer peace and normalization with Israel to endless war: “Ara brothers of the Palestinians have abandoned them and created brotherhood bonds with their enemy [Israel] and all they offer [Palestinians] is to mediate a truce or deescalate the situation to preserve regional stability.”
Against this backdrop, it is not hard to see why Ansari, the foreign ministry spokesperson, might be hesitant to admit that Doha helped broker a truce with Israel. It is also clear why Al Jazeera English conceals so much of the network’s Arabic content from its viewers.
Qatar simply speaks from both sides of its mouth and expects global accolades for its troubled thinking and troublemaking behavior. If Washington wants to prevent further conflict in Gaza, it should let Doha know the game is up.
*The writer is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute, focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow Hussain on Twitter @hahussain.