English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 31/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Luke 18/09-14:" Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income." But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’"

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 30-31/2022
Official Close to Hezbollah Assassinated in Damascus Countryside
Lebanon, Israel maritime border talks progress to divvying up gas
Sub ends Tripoli mission after finding sunken migrant boat
MPs agree to protect both depositors and banks as Bassil decries capital control 'failure'
Protests ahead of parliament's joint capital control session
Mikati optimistic on govt. formation, says president election more important
Bassil: Aoun might withdraw premiership designation from Mikati
Bou Saab to contact Hochstein as ambiguity engulfs demarcation file
Bukhari meets Mawlawi, urges Lebanon to hand over Saudi dissident
Archbishop Audi meets Greek Ambassador, tackles general situation with Patriarch John X
Mikati says relationship with President Aoun good, affirms determination to form government as soon as possible
Raad calls for reviving incumbent government

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 30-31/2022
Vatican seeks to clarify Pope's stance on Ukraine
Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dead at 91
Former US ambassador to Russia says he doesn't see Putin recovering from his mistakes in the Ukraine war
Top Russian General Filmed Lying to Putin’s Face in Awkward Briefing
Iraq's Sadr Calls off Protests after Worst Baghdad Violence in Years
Sadr loyalists leave streets at his request after deadly armed clashes
Israel sentences World Vision ex-Gaza chief to 12 years for aiding Hamas
UN rights chief slams Israel over blocked staff visas
Japan, Israel step up defense ties amid regional tensions
Israelis and Palestinians wounded in West Bank shootings
Ex-Mossad head: We operated against nuclear program in 'heart of Iran'
Israel Calls to Support IAEA in its Investigations with Iran
Iran Calls IAEA's Demands 'Excessive'
US Navy Says Iran Seized, Later Let Go of American Sea Drone
Iran Sentences 2 Swedes to Prison Terms over Drugs
Iran Closes Border to Iraq, Flights Stop amid Violent Unrest
Russia Has Faced ‘Failures’ with Iranian-Made Drones, Says US Official

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 30-31/2022
Giulio Meotti/Gatstone Institute:Europe’s Twilight: Christianity Declines, Islam Rises/Giulio Meotti/Gatstone Institute/August 28, 20222
Normalization with the Syrian Regime Didn’t Yield any Results/Jonathan Hargreaves/Jonathan Hargreaves is the UK Special Representative for Syria./Asharq Al Awsat/August 30/2022
China Threatens to Destroy Elon Musk's Starlink/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/August 30/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 30-31/2022
Official Close to Hezbollah Assassinated in Damascus Countryside
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Unknown individuals assassinated the commander of the Baath Brigades, a close figure to the Lebanese Hezbollah party, in the countryside of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday. The official was assassinated in recent Israeli shelling in the Damascus countryside, said the Observatory.


Lebanon, Israel maritime border talks progress to divvying up gas
Lahva Harkov/Jerusalem Post/August 30/2022
Israel and Lebanon have not settled on a final maritime border line yet, but their positions are thought to be close enough to start working out an arrangement to either divide gas fields. The focus of US-negotiated talks to finalize an agreement between Israel and Lebanon has shifted to compensation and gas quantities on each side of the maritime border. Israel and Lebanon have not settled on a final maritime border yet, but their positions are thought to be close enough to start working out an arrangement to either divide gas fields that may end up crossing that line or for financial compensation.
The amount of gas in the area of the Mediterranean Sea that is under dispute is unknown. Israel has rough estimates, but it is looking for more precise figures. US Special Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein is expected to travel to France in the coming weeks to meet with the leadership of Total Energies, which owns the gas exploration rights in Lebanon’s territorial waters. Another indication that the talks are thought to be in their final weeks and are on a positive trajectory is that Jerusalem has moved the portfolio for the Lebanon talks from the Energy Ministry to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Israel and Lebanon will establish their own gas rigs five kilometers from each other on opposite sides of the border, Channel 12 reported earlier this week. The rigs will create a “balance of terror” situation to deter Hezbollah from threatening the Israeli rig, as the terrorist group has threatened to do.
In addition, part of the Lebanese natural-gas field will cross into Israeli territory, and Jerusalem will be compensated for it, Channel 12 reported. Hochstein has shuttled between Beirut and Jerusalem to negotiate a maritime border agreement and met with Prime Minister Yair Lapid last month.
Israel and Lebanon's maritime border dispute: The story thus far. The dispute between Lebanon and Israel is over the status of an 860-sq.km. triangle in the Mediterranean Sea, amounting to about 2% of Israel’s economic waters. Jerusalem originally agreed to split the area 58:42 in favor of Lebanon.
The US has been mediating between the sides since 2020, but talks broke down in 2021 after four rounds when Beirut sharply increased its demands to almost triple the disputed area to 2,300 sq.km., abutting Israel’s Karish gas reservoir.
The lack of a resolution has made it difficult for Lebanon to tap into its natural gas resources at a time of severe government and economic instability. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly threatened Israel in recent months over its development of the Karish reservoir across from the northern shores, claiming that it is in Lebanon’s economic waters even though the gas field is not in the disputed area.

Sub ends Tripoli mission after finding sunken migrant boat
Associated Press/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
An underwater craft has ended its search mission off Lebanon after locating a boat carrying migrants that sank earlier this year in the Mediterranean Sea, but bigger equipment is needed to pull it out, a legislator said.
The comments by legislator Ashraf Rifi came days after the submarine found the remains of at least 10 migrants who drowned when their boat sank in April off northern Lebanon with about 30 people on board. The boat had carried dozens of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians trying to migrate by sea to Italy. It went down more than five kilometers (three miles) from the port of Tripoli, following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy. Ten bodies were recovered that night, including one of a child, while 48 survivors were pulled from the Mediterranean. According to navy estimates, 30 people were believed to have gone down with the boat. "The first part of the mission has been completed when the boat was located," Rifi said in comments carried by the state-run National News Agency. He added that to pull out the boat, bigger and more powerful equipment is needed and the government should continue the mission. A week ago, the small, three-person underwater craft — a Pisces VI submarine — began searching for the remains. The wreck was located on Wednesday, at a depth of some 450 meters (about 1,470 feet). The circumstances of the vessel's sinking are disputed. Survivors say their boat was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the military claims the migrants' boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to get away. The April sinking was the greatest migrant tragedy for Lebanon in recent years and put the government further on the defensive at a time when the country is in economic free fall and public trust in the state and its institutions is rapidly crumbling. Lebanon has a population of 6 million, including 1 million Syrian refugees, and has been in the grip of a severe economic meltdown since late 2019. Once a country that received refugees, Lebanon has become a launching pad for dangerous migration by sea to Europe.

MPs agree to protect both depositors and banks as Bassil decries capital control 'failure'
Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
The Joint Parliamentary Committees on Tuesday agreed on finding a capital control solution that would both preserve the rights of depositors and the “existence” of banks, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said.
TV networks meanwhile said that the Committees will ask the government to send the economic recovery plan in order to discuss it along with the capital control law. “Today’s session was fruitful and there are serious efforts to reach a result. The ball today is in the government’s court,” Bou Saab added. He also lamented that “there are banks that are still transferring money to abroad in a selective manner.” Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil for his part decried that “once again after three years,” parliament has “failed to legalize capital control.”“It seems that clinging to selectivity in the transfer of the funds of some privileged depositors and maintaining the financial hemorrhage are still stronger than us,” Bassil said. “There is no political will for reform nor a majority for it in parliament,” Bassil added.

Protests ahead of parliament's joint capital control session

Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Activists and depositors gathered Tuesday in front of the Parliament to protest a capital control law ahead of a joint parliamentary session that will discuss it. The so-called Change MPs refused in a press conference the capital control law. Other MPs said it was unacceptable as well, as they considered it to be unfair to the depositors. The Parliamentary committees of Finance and Budget, Administration and Justice, National Economy, and Trade and Industry convened Tuesday to discuss the law. The adoption of a capital control law is one of the reforms requested by the International Monetary Fund to financially help crisis-hit Lebanon. Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel said the government doesn't have a comprehensive plan for economic recovery. "This is the main problem," he added, as he complained that Cabinet is sending draft laws to the Parliament "one by one."Since October 2019, banks have been imposing informal capital controls, barring depositors from reaching into their dollar accounts, as well as stopping transfers, amid a severe financial crisis. Earlier this month, an armed depositor had taken up to 10 people hostage in a Federal Bank branch at gunpoint in Hamra while demanding funds from his locked savings account for his father’s medical bills.

Mikati optimistic on govt. formation, says president election more important
Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has expressed optimism over the cabinet formation file, saying he is working for this goal, as he stressed that “what’s more important is the election of a president.”Mikati added, in an interview with the al-Intichar news portal, that his relation with President Michel Aoun is “good.” Denying accusations that he does not want to form a new government, the PM-designate noted that he would not have submitted an immediate line-up to Aoun had he not wanted to see the new government formed. “Contrary to what some have claimed, this line-up is not sacred and it can be amended in agreement with the president,” Mikati said. As for Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s threat that his camp will not accept that Mikati’s caretaker government rule the country in the event of a presidential vacuum, the PM-designate said: “Our priority is to work on rescuing the country and forming a government. As for debate and tirades, they have their fans, and let them say what they want, seeing as the facts are clear and the constitution in clear.”Asked about the supportive statement issued by Dar al-Fatwa, Mikati said he knew of it after its issuance while lauding its content.
“Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan exerted efforts to issue a calm and objective statement, whereas a large number of members wanted it to be strong-worded and more direct in responding to the Presidency,” the PM-designate added. As for the sea border demarcation file, Mikati said the issue will be finalized despite the lengthy deliberations.

Bassil: Aoun might withdraw premiership designation from Mikati
Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has anew accused Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati of obstructing the government formation. In a press interview published on Tuesday, Bassil said that Mikati wants to give the caretaker government presidential powers. "He intentionally submitted a line-up that he knows the President will refuse," Bassil added, as he threatened of starting a major confrontation to prevent giving the caretaker cabinet the powers of the president. Bassil suggested three options to avoid that. One of them is that President Michel Aoun would stay in his post, if a new government is not formed, which Bassil said he does not support. The other two options are withdrawing the designation from Mikati or considering forming "another" government. Bassil also blamed the Shiite Duo for naming Mikati and said that the FPM is discussing with Hezbollah the presidential elections and that no names have been proposed yet. He added that the FPM is ready to agree on a president and support him in order to prevent the vacuum, but that it will not accept a "confrontational" candidate that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea had called for and that "this will never happen." "The next President must be representative or supported by parties who enjoy popular representation," Bassil said. "But we will not accept a president who will be imposed on us." He added that he does not support electing al-Marada chief Suleiman Franjieh, although he has nothing personal against him. Bassil went on to say that France is suggesting candidates, refusing international intervention, whether from France, the U.S. or Iran.

Bou Saab to contact Hochstein as ambiguity engulfs demarcation file
Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Lebanese officials concerned with the sea border demarcation file have said that Israeli media is trying to spread conflicting reports about the issue, despite what Israel’s Channel 12 reported over the past hours about an “emerging agreement.” “The remaining obstacles, whether there’s one or many obstacles, will have the same result, which is the failure of the agreement,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. The sources added that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein “has not communicated with any Lebanese official since he left Lebanon following his latest visit to Beirut,” revealing that Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab “intends to contact Hochstein over the next two days to inquire about the latest developments.”“There are no indications or information that confirm that he would visit Lebanon soon,” the sources went on to say. Citing information coming from the United States, the sources said Hochstein is “carrying out meetings in Washington in order to finalize the agreement.”The sources, however, added that “the remarks about an imminent agreement carry exaggerations, seeing as we are still before three scenarios: finalizing the agreement, postponing the work in Karish, or an Israeli adventure through completing the drilling and exploration works which would lead to a military confrontation.”“The chances of the three scenarios are equal,” the sources said, adding that “the U.S. mediator might meet with a new Israeli delegation in the coming days to continue the discussions.”And as prominent sources said that “Lebanon has been informed of the Israeli enemy’s agreement to give up Line 23 and the Qana field,” al-Akhbar noted that “the discussions in Israel are still revolving around Israel’s sovereignty over the field, and accordingly Lebanon would have to request a permission every time for the entry of exploration ships or to carry out any works, something that is rejected by Lebanon.”

Bukhari meets Mawlawi, urges Lebanon to hand over Saudi dissident
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Saudi Arabia has seized over 700 million narcotic pills that entered its territory via Lebanon in the past eight years, its ambassador to Beirut said Tuesday. The kingdom suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April last year, accusing it of inaction after seizing millions of captagon amphetamine pills smuggled in fruit shipments. Captagon, an amphetamine that is wreaking havoc in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, is produced mainly in Syria, as well as in Lebanon, and smuggled to the main consumer markets in the Gulf. "The total number of seizures... that originated from or passed through Lebanon exceeded 700 million narcotic pills and hundreds of kilograms of hashish... since 2015," Saudi ambassador Walid Bukhari told reporters. Bukhari, who was speaking after meeting caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi, said his country had seen improvements in counter-drug smuggling operations in Lebanon. Trade in captagon in the Middle East grew exponentially in 2021 to top $5 billion, posing an increasing health and security risk to the region, a report by the New Lines Institute said in April. Last week, authorities in Lebanon said they would investigate an audio recording shared online threatening to attack the Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut. Beirut's ties to Riyadh -- formerly a major investor in cash-strapped Lebanon -- have taken a blow in past years as Hezbollah's influence has grown. The interior ministry had said Ali bin Hashem bin Salman Al-Haji, a Saudi national wanted by Riyadh for "terrorist crimes", was the likely author of the recording. Bukhari called on Lebanese authorities to hand over the suspect Tuesday. "We have submitted an official diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard," he said.

Archbishop Audi meets Greek Ambassador, tackles general situation with Patriarch John X
NNA/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut and its Suburbs, Archbishop Elias Audi, on Wednesday welcomed at the Archdiocese, Greek Ambassador to Lebanon, Catherine Fountoulaki. On emerging, Ambassador Fountoulaki said: "I had a very constructive discussion with H.E. Metropolitan Audi, as always, regarding the developments in the country at all levels. I expressed our deep appreciation for the work that the Metropolitan and the archdiocese of Beirut are undertaking in the country to alleviate all the difficulties that the people are facing and also I expressed our support in this difficult and challenging time."On the other hand, Archbishop Audi met with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, John X. Discussions reportedly touched on the current general situation, as well as matters related to the Orthodox Church.

Mikati says relationship with President Aoun good, affirms determination to form government as soon as possible
NNA/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Prime Minister-designate, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday confirmed in a chat with “Al-Intishar” that "the relationship with President of the Republic General Michel Aoun is good," stressing his "determination to form a new government as soon as possible." While Premier Mikati expressed optimism about the formation of the government and his readiness to achieve this goal, he stressed that "the most important thing is the election of a president of the republic." On the statement issued by the Supreme Islamic Legal Council, Premier Mikati said that he viewed it after it was issued valuing its content. Regarding the Iranian fuel offered as a gift to Lebanon, Mikati said that this contribution is welcomed, pointing out that "there is a technical committee studying its specifications," adding, "If it matches, we will accept the gift."On the issue of maritime borders’ demarcation, Mikati said that "this shall take place.”On the other hand, Mikati did not comment on what the Free Patriotic Movement Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, said in a press interview today, saying only: "Our priority is to work to s

Raad calls for reviving incumbent government
Naharnet/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
MP Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, has warned that “a country without a government cannot have stability,” cautioning that “the laxity we’re witnessing in the cabinet formation method has no place at the moment.”“We don’t care who comes, who goes and who returns. Revive this government so it becomes a government with full powers,” Raad added. “We must realize the seriousness of the moment that we are about to face. We must close ranks and preserve our unity,” the lawmaker urged.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 30-31/2022
Vatican seeks to clarify Pope's stance on Ukraine
AFP/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
The Vatican sought on Tuesday to clarify the pope's position on Ukraine, after the pontiff's comment on the death of a Russian ultranationalist's daughter ruffled feathers in Kyiv. "The Holy Father's words on this dramatic issue are to be read as a voice raised in defence of human life and the values associated with it, and not as political positions," the Vatican said in a statement. It stressed that the war in Ukraine had been "initiated by the Russian Federation" and that Pope Francis had been "clear and unequivocal in condemning it as morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious". Speaking on Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, the pope had said of the conflict: "So many innocents... are paying for madness."He cited as one example Daria Dugina -- the daughter of a Russian ultranationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin's -- who was killed when a bomb exploded under her car. Ukraine's ambassador to the Holy See, Andriy Yurash, responded that the pope should not have put "aggressor and victim" in the same category and the Vatican's envoy to Kyiv was summoned to the foreign ministry to explain. Pope Francis, who has repeatedly condemned the conflict, has, on several occasions, been criticised in some quarters for not painting the war in black and white terms, and for leaving the door open to discussions with Moscow. "Someone may say to me at this point: but you are pro Putin! No, I am not," the pope stressed in an interview published in June by Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica.
"I am simply against reducing complexity to... good guys and bad guys, without reasoning about roots and interests, which are very complex." In July, the head of the Roman Catholic Church repeated his wish to visit Ukraine. The 85-year-old pontiff is due to attend a congress of religious leaders in Kazakhstan in mid-September.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dead at 91
Jum Heinzy//AP/August 30, 2022
Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. The last Soviet leader was 91.
Gorbachev died after a long illness, according to a statement issued by the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. No other details were given.
Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.
“Hard to think of a single person who altered the course of history more in a positive direction" than Gorbachev, said Michael McFaul, a political analyst and former U.S. ambassador in Moscow, on Twitter. “Gorbachev was an idealist who believed in the power of ideas and individuals. We should learn from his legacy.”Gorbachev's decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.
A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in the nuclear country.
“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.
Many of the changes, including the Soviet breakup, bore no resemblance to the transformation that Gorbachev had envisioned when he became Soviet leader in March 1985.
By the end of his rule, he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.
“I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” Gorbachev told the AP in a 1992 interview shortly after he left office.
“I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.
Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.
Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.
His run for president in 1996 was a national joke, and he polled less than 1% of the vote.
In 1997, he resorted to making a TV ad for Pizza Hut to earn money for his charitable foundation.
“In the ad, he should take a pizza, divide it into 15 slices like he divided up our country, and then show how to put it back together again,” quipped Anatoly Lukyanov, a one-time Gorbachev supporter.
Gorbachev never set out to dismantle the Soviet system. What he wanted to do was improve it.
Soon after taking power, Gorbachev began a campaign to end his country’s economic and political stagnation, using “glasnost,” or openness, to help achieve his goal of “perestroika,” or restructuring.
In his memoirs, he said he had long been frustrated that in a country with immense natural resources, tens of millions were living in poverty.
“Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” Gorbachev wrote. “Doomed to serve ideology and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost.”
Once he began, one move led to another: He freed political prisoners, allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, gave his countrymen freedom to travel, halted religious oppression, reduced nuclear arsenals, established closer ties with the West and did not resist the fall of Communist regimes in Eastern European satellite states.
But the forces he unleashed quickly escaped his control.
Long-suppressed ethnic tensions flared, sparking wars and unrest in trouble spots such as the southern Caucasus region. Strikes and labor unrest followed price increases and shortages of consumer goods.
In one of the low points of his tenure, Gorbachev sanctioned a crackdown on the restive Baltic republics in early 1991.
The violence turned many intellectuals and reformers against him. Competitive elections also produced a new crop of populist politicians who challenged Gorbachev’s policies and authority.
Chief among them was his former protege and eventual nemesis, Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia’s first president.
“The process of renovating this country and bringing about fundamental changes in the international community proved to be much more complex than originally anticipated,” Gorbachev told the nation as he stepped down.
“However, let us acknowledge what has been achieved so far. Society has acquired freedom; it has been freed politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not fully come to grips with in part because we still have not learned how to use our freedom.”
There was little in Gorbachev’s childhood to hint at the pivotal role he would play on the world stage. On many levels, he had a typical Soviet upbringing in a typical Russian village. But it was a childhood blessed with unusual strokes of good fortune.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in the village of Privolnoye in southern Russia. Both of his grandfathers were peasants, collective farm chairmen and members of the Communist Party, as was his father.
Despite stellar party credentials, Gorbachev’s family did not emerge unscathed from the terror unleashed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: Both grandfathers were arrested and imprisoned for allegedly anti-Soviet activities.
But, rare in that period, both were eventually freed. In 1941, when Gorbachev was 10, his father went off to war, along with most of the other men from Privolnoye.
Meanwhile, the Nazis pushed across the western steppes in their blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union; they occupied Privolnoye for five months.
When the war was over, young Gorbachev was one of the few village boys whose father returned. By age 15, Gorbachev was helping his father drive a combine harvester after school and during the region’s blistering, dusty summers.
His performance earned him the order of the Red Banner of Labor, an unusual distinction for a 17-year-old. That prize and the party background of his parents helped him land admission in 1950 to the country’s top university, Moscow State.
There, he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. The award and his family’s credentials also helped him overcome the disgrace of his grandfathers’ arrests, which were overlooked in light of his exemplary Communist conduct.
In his memoirs, Gorbachev described himself as something of a maverick as he advanced through the party ranks, sometimes bursting out with criticism of the Soviet system and its leaders.
His early career coincided with the “thaw” begun by Nikita Khrushchev. As a young communist propaganda official, he was tasked with explaining the 20th Party Congress that revealed Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression of millions to local party activists. He said he was met first by “deathly silence,” then disbelief.
“They said: ‘We don’t believe it. It can’t be. You want to blame everything on Stalin now that he’s dead,’” he told the AP in a 2006 interview.
He was a true if unorthodox believer in socialism. He was elected to the powerful party Central Committee in 1971, took over Soviet agricultural policy in 1978 and became a full Politburo member in 1980.
Along the way, he was able to travel to the West, to Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Those trips had a profound effect on his thinking, shaking his belief in the superiority of Soviet-style socialism.
“The question haunted me: Why was the standard of living in our country lower than in other developed countries?” he recalled in his memoirs. “It seemed that our aged leaders were not especially worried about our undeniably lower living standards, our unsatisfactory way of life, and our falling behind in the field of advanced technologies.”
But Gorbachev had to wait his turn. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, and was succeeded by two other geriatric leaders: Yuri Andropov, Gorbachev’s mentor, and Konstantin Chernenko.
It wasn’t until March 1985, when Chernenko died, that the party finally chose a younger man to lead the country: Gorbachev. He was 54 years old.
His tenure was filled with rocky periods, including a poorly conceived anti-alcohol campaign, the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
But starting in November 1985, Gorbachev began a series of attention-grabbing summit meetings with world leaders, especially U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, which led to unprecedented, deep reductions in the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals.
After years of watching a parade of stodgy leaders in the Kremlin, Western leaders practically swooned over the charming, vigorous Gorbachev and his stylish, brainy wife.
But perceptions were very different at home. It was the first time since the death of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that the wife of a Soviet leader had played such a public role, and many Russians found Raisa Gorbachev showy and arrogant.
Although the rest of the world benefited from the changes Gorbachev wrought, the rickety Soviet economy collapsed in the process, bringing with it tremendous economic hardship for the country’s 290 million people.
In the final days of the Soviet Union, the economic decline accelerated into a steep skid. Hyper-inflation robbed most older people of their life’s savings. Factories shut down. Bread lines formed.
And popular hatred for Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, grew. But the couple won sympathy in summer 1999 when it was revealed that Raisa Gorbachev was dying of leukemia.
During her final days, Gorbachev spoke daily with television reporters, and the lofty-sounding, wooden politician of old was suddenly seen as an emotional family man surrendering to deep grief.
Gorbachev worked on the Gorbachev Foundation, which he created to address global priorities in the post-Cold War period, and with the Green Cross foundation, which was formed in 1993 to help cultivate “a more harmonious relationship between humans and the environment.”
In 2000, Gorbachev took the helm of the small United Social Democratic Party in hopes it could fill the vacuum left by the Communist Party, which he said had failed to reform into a modern leftist party after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He resigned from the chairmanship in 2004.
He continued to comment on Russian politics as a senior statesman — even if many of his countrymen were no longer interested in what he had to say.
“The crisis in our country will continue for some time, possibly leading to even greater upheaval,” Gorbachev wrote in a memoir in 1996. “But Russia has irrevocably chosen the path of freedom, and no one can make it turn back to totalitarianism.”
Gorbachev veered between criticism and mild praise for Putin, who has been assailed for backtracking on the democratic achievements of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras.
While he said Putin did much to restore stability and prestige to Russia after the tumultuous decade following the Soviet collapse, Gorbachev protested growing limitations on media freedom, and in 2006 bought one of Russia’s last investigative newspapers, Novaya Gazeta.
Gorbachev also spoke out against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. A day after the Feb. 24 attack, he issued a statement calling for “an early cessation of hostilities and immediate start of peace negotiations."
“There is nothing more precious in the world than human lives. Negotiations and dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and recognition of interests are the only possible way to resolve the most acute contradictions and problems,” he said.
Gorbachev ventured into other new areas in his 70s, winning awards and kudos around the world. He won a Grammy in 2004 along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Italian actress Sophia Loren for their recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and the United Nations named him a Champion of the Earth in 2006 for his environmental advocacy.
Gorbachev is survived by a daughter, Irina, and two granddaughters.
The official news agency Tass reported that he will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife.
**Vladimir Isachenkov and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed.

Former US ambassador to Russia says he doesn't see Putin recovering from his mistakes in the Ukraine war
Cheryl Teh/ Business Insider/August 30/ 2022
Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, said Putin has "failed" in his Ukraine objectives. Six months into the war, Putin has faced too many failures to come back from them, he said. McFaul also referenced how Putin now lacks the troops required to achieve any substantial goals. Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, said Russian leader Vladimir Putin has encountered too many failures in the Ukraine war and is unlikely to be able to recover from them. During an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, McFaul posited that Putin had "failed" in all his "strategic objectives" set for Moscow's invasion. "Remember, six months ago, he said he was going to unite Ukrainians and Russians because Ukrainians are just Russians with accents. He failed at that," McFaul said. "He failed at denazification. He failed at demilitarization. He failed to take the capital of Kyiv. And now he's just fighting in Donetsk and in Kherson." McFaul also referenced how Putin had ordered the Russian military to find 137,000 new troops last week, saying that this was likely an effort by the Russian leader to break a "stalemate" situation in contested Ukrainian regions.
"So, on the strategic level, I think he's failed in this war. I don't see him recovering," McFaul said. He said that Putin might now be shifting his focus to the Donbas region as a "new objective" in the conflict, but added that the Russian leader would need far more troops to get that done. McFaul said that such a pivot would also require a "draft across the board," which Putin might not undertake for fear of making Russians "unhappy." McFaul added that the Russians might think that "time is on their side" and that the tide may turn in their favor the longer the war drags on — since the Ukrainians may eventually run out of resources. McFaul is not the first military and foreign policy expert to weigh in on how Putin's war in Ukraine has stalled. A former NATO commander, James Stravridis, said this month that he believes Putin knows he's made a "grave mistake" invading Ukraine. Meanwhile, Putin has bragged that Russian weapons are "years" and "decades" ahead of their rivals' arms, even as his army has been forced to use outdated Soviet-era armor in Ukraine. On the other side, Ukrainian troops have been armed with HIMARS long-range weapons systems sent by the US, which have proven highly effective in the conflict.

Top Russian General Filmed Lying to Putin’s Face in Awkward Briefing
Shannon Vavra/TASS Agency Twitter/Tue, August 30, 2022
The Director of Russia’s National Guard has begun a campaign to reassure Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukrainians are supportive of Russia seizing territory in Ukraine when the reality couldn’t be further off.
“I would like to emphasize that we can feel that the population of the liberated areas is supporting us. They realize that we are defending their right to a peaceful life and their children’s happiness,” the director, Viktor Zolotov, told Putin, according to the Kremlin. In a video of the exchange, Putin looks visibly troubled and concerned, gripping the table, while Zolotov shares his thoughts. Zolotov’s efforts to feed Putin a narrative that Ukrainians want Russia to be capturing territory in Ukraine come just as two U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that the Biden administration has concerns that Russia may be preparing to run sham referenda in seized territories in Ukraine, in order to make it appear like Ukraine supports Russia’s invasion. Russia also ran a sham referendum, which the United States and other allies have repeatedly declared is invalid, in Crimea following Russia’s takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.
“National Guard troops are accomplishing a wide range of objectives to maintain law, order, and security, and to resume peaceful life in the liberated territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions,” Zolotov continued.
Biden Wants to Block Another Crimea-Style Land Grab by Russia. The reality on the ground, however, is different: Ukrainian forces are conducting a counteroffensive in the south of Ukraine in an attempt to regain land that Russia took over early in the war. Zolotov’s claims, for which he provides no evidence, also coincide with a series of embarrassing stumbles for Russia in the war in Ukraine, and just as Russia faces off with the new Ukrainian threat in the south. As of Monday, Ukrainian forces have been increasing their artillery fire across southern Ukraine, according to a British intelligence assessment shared Tuesday. And Ukrainian forces have begun working to wage a counteroffensive against Kherson, one of the cities Russia seized early in the war. So far, Ukrainian authorities have said they have destroyed 159 Russians and 60 pieces of equipment. It’s not clear how much progress Ukraine has made, the British intelligence assessment said. But the Ukrainians are having an impact. “Ukrainian long-range precision strikes continue to disrupt Russian resupply,” the intelligence briefing said.

Iraq's Sadr Calls off Protests after Worst Baghdad Violence in Years
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Iraq's powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to end their protests in central Baghdad on Tuesday, easing a confrontation which led to the deadliest violence in the Iraqi capital in years. Apologizing to Iraqis after 22 people were killed in clashes between an armed group loyal to him and rival Shiite factions backed by Iran, Sadr condemned the fighting and gave his own followers one hour to disperse. "This is not a revolution because it has lost its peaceful character," Sadr said in a televised address. "The spilling of Iraqi blood is forbidden."
As the deadline passed at around 2 p.m. (1100 GMT), Sadr's followers could be seen beginning to leave the area in the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad where government offices are located and where they had occupied parliament for weeks. Monday's clashes between rival factions of Iraq's Shiite majority follow 10 months of political deadlock since Iraq's October parliamentary election, which have raised fears of escalating unrest. Sadr emerged as the main winner in the election but failed in his efforts to form a government with Sunni and Kurdish parties, excluding the Iran-backed Shiite groups.
This week's violence erupted after Sadr said he was withdrawing from all political activity - a decision he said was prompted by the failure of other Shi'ite leaders and parties to reform a corrupt and decaying governing system. An Iraqi government official, speaking on condition of anonymity shortly before Sadr's address, said authorities could not impose control on the rival armed groups. "The government is powerless to stop this, because the military is divided into (Iran) loyalists and Sadrists as well," the official said. Sadr's actions follow a pattern of confrontation and de-escalation he has deployed since he rose to prominence after the US-led invasion in 2003, said Hamdi Malik, a specialist on Iraqi Shiite militias at the Washington Institute. He said the cleric has recently tried to avoid violence in order to bolster his credentials as a leader of the country's oppressed masses, but has in practice had to threaten violent disorder to get what he wants. Caught between political or religious ambition and his role as head of a militia, "Sadr has always put himself and his followers in a situation where violence and bloodshed seems inevitable, but then he always turns round and rejects the violence," Malik said.
Oil exports flowing
Earlier on Tuesday militants fired rockets at the Green Zone and gunmen cruised in pickup trucks carrying machine guns and brandishing grenade launchers, while most residents observed a curfew which was lifted after Sadr's statement. The United States described the unrest as disturbing and called for dialogue to ease Iraq's political problems. Neighboring Iran briefly closed the border and halted flights to Iraq. It later reopened the border. Emirates airline and flydubai cancelled flights to and from Baghdad on Tuesday and Wednesday, but sources said oil exports from OPEC's second-largest producer were unaffected by the turmoil. Sadr has positioned himself as a nationalist who opposes all foreign interference, whether from the United States and the West or from Iran. He commands a thousands-strong militia and has millions of loyal supporters across the country. His opponents, longtime allies of Tehran, control dozens of paramilitary groups heavily armed and trained by Iranian forces. "There are uncontrolled militias, yes, but that does not mean the Sadrist Movement should also be uncontrolled," Sadr said in his address calling off the protests.

Sadr loyalists leave streets at his request after deadly armed clashes
Associated Press/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
An influential Iraqi cleric called on his supporters to withdraw Tuesday from the capital's government quarter, where they have traded heavy fire with a rival pro-Iran coalition in a serious escalation of a monthslong political crisis gripping the nation. In a televised speech, Muqtada al-Sadr gave his supporters an hour to leave — and minutes later some could be seen abandoning their positions on live television. Iraq's military immediately announced an end to curfews across the country, further raising hopes that there might be an end to the street violence.
The unrest began Monday, when al-Sadr announced he would resign from politics and his supporters stormed the Green Zone, once the stronghold of the U.S. military that's now home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies. At least 30 people have been killed, officials said.
"This is not a revolution," al-Sadr said in a televised address, which followed pleas for restraint and peace from several Iraqi officials and the United Nations.
Iraq's government has been deadlocked since al-Sadr's party won the largest share of seats in October parliamentary elections but not enough to secure a majority government — unleashing months of infighting between different Shiite factions. Al-Sadr refused to negotiate with his Iran-backed Shiite rivals, and his withdrawal Monday catapulted Iraq into political uncertainty.
Iran closed its borders to Iraq on Tuesday — a sign of Tehran's concern that the chaos could spread, though even before al-Sadr's order, streets beyond the capital's government quarter largely remained calm. The country's vital oil continued to flow, with global benchmark Brent crude trading slightly down.
Earlier Tuesday, supporters of al-Sadr could be seen on live television firing both machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades into the heavily-fortified area through a section of pulled-down concrete walls. Security forces armed with machine guns inside the zone sporadically returned fire.
Some bystanders filmed the gunfight with their mobile phones, though most hid behind still-standing segments of wall, wincing when rounds cracked nearby. As al-Sadr's forces fired, a line of armored tanks stood on the other side of the barriers that surround the Green Zone, though they did not use their heavy guns. At least one wounded man from al-Sadr's forces was taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible in the background. Heavy black smoke at one point rose over the area, visible from kilometers (miles) away.
At least 30 people have been killed and over 400 wounded, two Iraqi medical officials said. The toll included both al-Sadr loyalists killed in protests the day before and clashes overnight. Those figures are expected to rise, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to journalists.
Members of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim population were oppressed when Saddam Hussein ruled the country for decades. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam, a Sunni, reversed the political order. Just under two-thirds of Iraq is Shiite, with a third Sunni.
Now, the Shiites are fighting among themselves after the Americans largely withdrew from the nation, with Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi-nationalist Shiites jockeying for power, influence and state resources.
It's an explosive rivalry in a country where many remain way of the Iranian government's influence even though trade and ties remain strong between its peoples. Iraq and Iran fought a bloody war in the 1980s that saw a million people killed. Al-Sadr's nationalist rhetoric and reform agenda resonates powerfully with his supporters, who largely hail from Iraq's poorest sectors of society and were historically shut out of the political system under Saddam.
Al-Sadr's announcement that he is leaving politics has implicitly given his supporters the freedom to act as they see fit. Iranian state television cited unrest and a military-imposed curfew in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians avoid any travel to the neighboring country. The decision came as millions were preparing to visit Iraq for an annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites, and Tehran encouraged any Iranian pilgrims already in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities.
Kuwait, meanwhile, called on its citizens to leave Iraq. The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans. The tiny Gulf Arab sheikhdom of Kuwait shares a 254-kilometer-long border with Iraq.
The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday. "There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city," Hoekstra wrote.
Dubai's long-haul carrier Emirates stopped flights to Baghdad on Tuesday over the ongoing unrest. The carrier said that it was "monitoring the situation closely." It did not say when flights would resume.
On Monday, protesters loyal to al-Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.

Israel sentences World Vision ex-Gaza chief to 12 years for aiding Hamas
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced the former Gaza head of a major US-based aid agency to 12 years in prison for funneling millions of dollars to Islamist group Hamas. The Beersheba district court in southern Israel issued a sentence of "12 years prison time, less the detention" already served for World Vision's Mohammed al-Halabi, who has been jailed throughout the past six years of court proceedings. The sentencing comes after the court issued a ruling in June that Halabi was guilty of siphoning off millions of dollars and tons of steel to Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave. Halabi, who was arrested in June 2016 and indicted in August that year, has consistently denied any irregularities. His lawyer reiterated his claim to innocence following Tuesday's sentencing. "He says that he's innocent, he did nothing and there is no evidence," Maher Hanna said. "In the contrary, he proved in the court above any reasonable doubt that he made sure that no money will be (given) directly to Hamas." Hanna said they would appeal the verdict to the supreme court. Halabi had been convicted of membership in a terrorist group -- Hamas -- and of financing terrorist activities, of having "transmitted information to the enemy" as well as the possession of a weapon. Much of the evidence against Halabi was kept secret, with Israel citing "security concerns", prompting his legal team to question the verdict's legitimacy. Following Halabi's arrest, the Australian government, a major donor to World Vision, announced it was freezing funding to projects in the Gaza Strip. A subsequent Australian government probe found no evidence of embezzlement. World Vision is a U.S.-based Christian charity with almost 40,000 employees globally. It claims to be one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world, with a particular focus on children.

UN rights chief slams Israel over blocked staff visas
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Outgoing U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet blasted Israel on Tuesday for failing to issue or renew visas for her staff to monitor the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said it raised questions as to what Israel was "trying to hide" and vowed that her office would continue to report on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. "In 2020, the 15 international staff of my office in Palestine -- which has been operating in the country for 26 years -- had no choice but to leave," Bachelet said in a statement. "Subsequent requests for visas and visa renewals have gone unanswered for two years. During this time, I have tried to find a solution to this situation, but Israel continues to refuse to engage." She said that as a member state, Israel had to cooperate with the U.N. in good faith and allow its officials to carry out their duties. "Israel's failure to process visa applications that are necessary for my staff's access is inconsistent with these standards," Bachelet said. The former Chilean president -- who leaves office on Wednesday after four years as the U.N. rights chief -- said Israel's treatment of her staff was part of a "wider and worrying trend to block human rights access" to the Palestinian territories. "This raises the question of what exactly the Israeli authorities are trying to hide," she said. Her statement said that in 2021, Israeli forces killed 320 Palestinians -- "a 10-fold increase on the number killed in 2020" -- and injured 17,042 people, six times the 2020 figure. The U.N. recorded the highest number of incidents of settler violence since recording began in 2017, and arrests of Palestinians doubled last year. "So far in 2022, Israeli forces have killed at least 111 more Palestinians," said the statement. Despite the visa situation for international staff, Bachelet's office said it was still monitoring compliance with human rights obligations and providing technical assistance. "We publicly report on violations by Israel, but also on violations by the State of Palestine, by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian armed groups," said Bachelet. "We will continue to deliver on our mandate. And we will continue to demand access to the occupied Palestinian territory for our staff, in line with Israel's obligations as a U.N. member state." Bachelet's successor has yet to be appointed by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Japan, Israel step up defense ties amid regional tensions
Associated Press/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
The defense ministers of Japan and Israel shared concerns on Tuesday about growing global tensions from Asia to the Middle East and signed an agreement to step up cooperation in military equipment and technology. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he welcomes stronger military ties with Israel as a way to achieve a "free and open Indo-Pacific" vision advocated by Japan and the United States to counter China's growing assertiveness in the region. Hamada said peace and stability in the Middle East would also help Japan's peace and prosperity. Both regions have key sea transportation lanes. Japan and Israel, which are both strong U.S. allies, are marking the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year. Visiting Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz told a joint news conference after meeting with Hamada that strengthened defense cooperation "will elevate the 70 years of excellent ties between our countries to the strategic level." Their cooperation in broader areas from defense technology to information sharing and military-to-military activities "will strengthen the defense capability of each country as well as our joint contribution to peace and stability in our regions and all over the world," he added. Japan, which faces security challenges from China and North Korea and from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has been expanding its military cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States, to other friendly nations in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. It is particularly concerned about Beijing's assertive military actions in the East and South China Seas and growing tensions around Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.

Israelis and Palestinians wounded in West Bank shootings
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Palestinians opened fire at Israeli Jews who snuck into an occupied West Bank city to visit a shrine, wounding two of them, the Israeli army and medical sources said Tuesday. The incident in Nablus was followed by an unrelated Israeli military raid nearby in which four Palestinians were shot. The army said the earlier shooting happened when "a number of civilians entered Nablus". The Israelis were headed to Joseph's Tomb, believed to be the last resting place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, a flashpoint for violence in the West Bank, and revered as a holy site. The Israeli army secures monthly pilgrimages to the tomb, but prohibits civilians entering on their own. "While they were there, they were shot and wounded," the army said, adding that soldiers "entered the city to rescue them." The vehicle of the Israelis was torched by Palestinians, an AFP reporter said, with the situation in the city remaining tense hours after the event. Two men were wounded and were being treated in hospitals in central Israel, a spokeswoman for the Rabin medical center and a spokesman for Sheba hospital told AFP. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967, when it seized the territory from Jordan. In an incident which the military said was unrelated to the shrine shooting, clashes erupted east of Nablus on Tuesday morning as Israeli security forces raided a house. "Soldiers used means including shoulder-fired missiles at the building where the two wanted men were barricaded," the military said in a statement. Heavy gunfire rang out around homes in the village of Rujib, an AFP correspondent said. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated four people for gunshot wounds.The Israeli army said it seized weapons and detained two people in the raid who were suspected of carrying out a shooting in the West Bank.

Ex-Mossad head: We operated against nuclear program in 'heart of Iran'
Zavika Klein/Jerusalem Post/August 30/2022
"The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world and we proved it," said former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen.
BASEL – The Mossad carried out a significant number of operations against Iran’s nuclear program, including some deep inside Iranian territory, former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a World Zionist Organization event in Basel, Switzerland, on Monday. "The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives."'
"The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives."Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen
Mossad's fight against Iran's lies
“The Iranian regime is lying to the whole world and we proved it when we brought thousands of documents from the Iranian archives, documents that proved that the Iranians lied to the IAEA,” he said, using the acronym for International Atomic Energy Agency.
“I can guarantee that Israel will do everything necessary to delay and prevent the Iranians from building atomic bombs that would threaten the State of Israel,” Cohen continued. "This [Iranian] administration calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off of the map."
"This [Iranian] administration calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off of the map."Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen
Iran's support for terrorism
Cohen also addressed Iran’s state support of terrorism, which he described as another threat facing Israel besides Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
“The regime in Iran is the global financier of terrorism in the world,” said Cohen. “This [Iranian] administration calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and wiping it off of the map. “Iran is trying to besiege Israel from the south in Gaza and from the North in Syria and Lebanon,” he said. “[Iran] trains and finances terrorist organizations. The administration allows terrorist organizations to send thousands of missiles towards Israel.”The administration allows terrorist organizations to send thousands of missiles towards Israel."
An agent of peace
Regarding the Abraham Accords, Cohen said, “The work of the Mossad is not only intelligence gathering but also the promotion of peace. We saw these results in the signing of the Abraham Accords. I pray that more nations from our region will join the peace trend.”Cohen spoke at a conference initiated in honor of the 125th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress in Basel. More than 1,400 Jewish leaders, entrepreneurs and philanthropists from around the world are participating in the conference focusing on Theodor Herzl’s socioeconomic vision and in formulating a response to the challenges of the Jewish people in the coming decades.

Israel Calls to Support IAEA in its Investigations with Iran
Tel Aviv - Nazir Magally/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Israel objected to Tehran's request to end open probes by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calling on major countries to support the "independence" of the watchdog investigating Iran's nuclear program.
Political sources in Tel Aviv said there were several faults and defects in the draft to revive the nuclear agreement presented by the EU to Iran, including that this agreement will not enter into force until after four stages to establish confidence between Iran and the United States. They believe that during the four stages spanning over 165 days, Tehran will have the freedom to act as if there is almost no agreement and will start receiving its frozen assets after their gradual release.
Sources close to Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he was sending the head of Mossad, David Barnea, to put forward friendly proposals for Israeli-US cooperation. Lapid stressed that the visit did not aim to provoke the US administration, as former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to do. He confirmed that Barnea's visit came at the request of the Senate Intelligence Committee and not on his initiative. Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis during his official visit to Basel on Monday.
Herzog called upon the Swiss and all other governments to oppose the Iranian nuclear program in no "uncertain terms." "Iran has sworn itself to Israel's destruction and is working tirelessly to destabilize our region and the entire world," he said, adding that Iran's behavior cannot be met with silence and its activities cannot go unpunished. "Such a state must not be allowed to possess nuclear capabilities. Iran must be denied such capabilities by all means necessary,” he added. Herzog referred to the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, who said there would be no way back to a nuclear deal if the IAEA probe continues.
"The Iranian president's statement today is perfectly clear. It says, 'We don't respect the independence of the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate open cases,' which are major cases involving enriched uranium located by IAEA inspectors”, Herzog said. The Israeli president urged Switzerland to do everything to ensure the IAEA's independence and deny Iran nuclear weapons.
Haaretz quoted a reliable source close to the Israeli government on Monday, reviewing the most critical points in the European draft agreement. According to the understandings in the European Union's draft proposal presented last month, the treaty will be completed only after four rounds designed to establish trust between the parties. The first stage, dubbed "day zero," is the day the agreement is signed. Before signing, the sides should finalize a deal to release prisoners from Iran in exchange for money trapped in various international bank accounts and an initial easing of the sanctions.
At the same time, Iran will be required to freeze all its violations of the agreement until now but will be able to retain the inventory of uranium it has accumulated thus far. During the second stage, the deal will be placed on the congressional table for a maximum of five days from the date of signing. For 30 days from that moment, members of Congress will be able to peruse and study the treaty, and throughout this period, there will be no possibility of easing the legislation's sanctions. The third phase will enter into force 60 days after Congress approves, during which a representative of the US State Department will inform the UN Security Council and the IAEA about the decision to return to the agreement. After an additional 60 days, the fourth and final stage would see the US formally return to the deal.
The US and Iran will issue a joint declaration of their commitment to the process, and Washington will lift additional sanctions on other companies. Israel believes this formula contains many loopholes that must be addressed before signing it but refuses to talk about them publicly to maintain the level of friendly dialogue between the partners. According to a government source, Lapid is unsatisfied with dialogue with the United States but has sent his envoys to France, Britain, and Germany. However, the source revealed that Israel would request to slow the lifting of sanctions from the first to the fourth stage. On Monday, Lapid met with Netanyahu to deliver a security briefing on the nuclear deal. Lapid's military secretary, Avi Gil, attended the meeting. The meeting focused on the Iran deal and "the diplomatic and defense activities that Israel is leading to influence the issue," along with other unspecified national security issues. Netanyahu spoke to the press after the briefing, saying he was "more worried after the meeting than before." Meanwhile, former Mossad head Yossi Cohen said at a World Zionist Organization event in Switzerland that Mossad carried out many operations against Iran's nuclear program, including some deep inside Iranian territory. "Without going into too many details, I can tell you the Mossad had many successes in the fight against Iran's nuclear program," Cohen said. Referring to the Mossad operation in January 2018, he noted the operation to snatch the Iranian nuclear files, which he said showed "clear evidence" that Tehran lied about the military dimensions of its atomic program. Cohen said Israel "will continue to do whatever needs to be done" to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms if a deal is signed. "We can never allow a regime that calls for our destruction to get its finger on the nuclear trigger," he said.

Iran Calls IAEA's Demands 'Excessive'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Iran will not accept the UN nuclear watchdog's "excessive" demands, the spokesperson of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was cited as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday. After months of indirect talks, Tehran and Washington are struggling to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. A key sticking point is Tehran's insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) closed its probes into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the nuclear pact is revived. "We consider the IAEA's demands excessive, because their implementation is impossible due to sanctions," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying. "If they lift sanctions ... then Iran will reciprocate."
It was not clear whether Kamalvandi referred to the IAEA's probes.

US Navy Says Iran Seized, Later Let Go of American Sea Drone
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized an American sea drone Tuesday in the Arabian Gulf and tried to tow it away, only releasing the unmanned vessel when a US Navy warship and helicopter approached, officials said. The incident marks the first time the Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet's new drone task force has been targeted by Iran. While the interception ended without incident, tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran as negotiations over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers hang in the balance. The Guard's Shahid Baziar warship attached a line to the Saildrone Explorer in the central part of the Gulf in international waters late Monday night, said Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman. The vessel then began towing the Saildrone Explorer, which carries cameras, radars and sensors for remotely monitoring the sea, Hawkins said. The USS Thunderbolt, a Navy coastal patrol boat, as well as an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter, moved to shadow the Guard's ship. The Navy called the Shahid Baziar by radio to identify the drone as American, Hawkins said. “Our response was one that as such made clear that this was US government property and was operating in international waters and that we had every intention to take action if necessary,” the commander told The Associated Press. Hawkins said the incident ended peacefully after some four hours as the Iranians unhooked the tow line to the drone and left the area as the American forces were nearby. US Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who leads the military’s Central Command, praised the Thunderbolt’s crew for its response. “This incident once again demonstrates Iran’s continued destabilizing, illegal and unprofessional activity in the Middle East,” he said in a statement. Iran's paramilitary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, did not acknowledge the incident. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 5th Fleet launched its unmanned Task Force 59 last year. The 5th Fleet's area of responsibility includes the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes. It also stretches as far as the Red Sea reaches near the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt linking the Mideast to the Mediterranean, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait off Yemen. It also represents a region that has seen a series of at-sea attacks in recent years. Off Yemen, bomb-laden drone boats and mines set adrift by Yemen’s Houthi militias have damaged vessels amid that country’s yearslong war. Near the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces. Others have been attacked in incidents the Navy blames on Iran. Those attacks followed about a year after then-President Donald Trump's 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran's nuclear deal, which saw sanctions on Tehran lifted in exchange for its drastically limiting its enrichment of uranium. Iran now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels as officials openly suggest Tehran could build a nuclear bomb if it chose. Iran has maintained its program is peaceful, though Western nations and international inspectors say Tehran has a military nuclear program up until 2003.

Iran Sentences 2 Swedes to Prison Terms over Drugs
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Iran sentenced two Swedish citizens to multiyear prison terms on charges of drug smuggling, the judiciary announced on Tuesday, the latest in a string of cases heightening tensions between the Iranian Republic and the Nordic nation.
Iran's hardline judiciary handed down a five-year sentence and fine of roughly $34,000 to Swedish national Simon Kasper Brown for allegedly trafficking 9.7 kilograms (about 22 pounds) of the banned pain medication Tramadol. Security forces scooped up Brown from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport and confiscated his stash of the mild narcotic pills, said Masoud Setayeshi, the judiciary spokesman. Tehran also sentenced Swedish citizen Stephen Kevin Gilbert to eight years in prison and ordered he pay a $500 fine. Gilbert was arrested at the airport in January 2020 for allegedly smuggling 9.8 kilograms of opium-based drugs into the country, the judiciary said. Brown and Gilbert are the latest Swedes to land in Iranian prison as relations between the two countries deteriorate. Earlier this year, Iran jailed two Swedish visitors in separate incidents on widely criticized espionage charges. Another Swedish citizen, a respected 50-year-old doctor who Iran accuses of spying for Israel, faces the death penalty, The Associated Press said. The cases come amid a landmark quest in Sweden to hold accountable a former Iranian official accused of committing atrocities has kindled outrage back in Tehran. A court in Stockholm sentenced Hamid Nouri to life imprisonment over his alleged war crimes, prompting Iran to recall its ambassador. Iran has imprisoned at least a dozen dual nationals in recent years as Tehran negotiates for money and influence with the West. Most of them are held on disputed spying charges. Iran’s law also stipulates harsh punishment for drug crimes. Those charged with drug possession, dealing or trafficking offenses make up some 73% of executions in the country.

Iran Closes Border to Iraq, Flights Stop amid Violent Unrest
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Iran closed its land borders to Iraq as flights to the country halted Tuesday amid violence in Baghdad following influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's announcement he would resign from politics. The death toll rose to 22 Iraqis on Tuesday after the unrest erupted the previous day, according to two medical officials. Iraq's military said four rockets were launched into the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government where armed clashes raged overnight between a militia royal to Sadr and Iraqi security forces. Sadr's sudden resignation has catapulted Iraq into violence and chaos with no clear path out. The cleric derives power from his ability to mobilize and control his large grassroots following, but with his stated exit from politics, he has implicitly given them the freedom to act as they see fit. To avenge the killing of unarmed loyalists, Sadr's militia Saraya Salam clashed with Iraqi security forces in the Green Zone using an array of weapons, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, two security officials said. The militia also took over some headquarters belonging to rival Iran-backed militia groups in the southern provinces overnight. Iranian state television cited “unrests” and “curfew” in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians avoid any travel to Iraq while urging Iran's Shiite pilgrims in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities. Iraq’s government has been deadlocked since Sadr’s party won the largest share of seats in October parliamentary elections but not enough to secure a majority government. His refusal to negotiate with his Iran-backed Shiite rivals in the Coordination Framework and subsequent exit from the talks has catapulted the country into political uncertainty and volatility amid intensifying intra-Shiite wrangling. To further his political interests, Sadr has wrapped his rhetoric with a nationalist and reform agenda that resonates powerfully among his broad grassroots base of supporters. They are calling for the dissolution of parliament and early elections without the participation of Iran-backed Shiite groups, which they see as responsible for the status quo.
The Netherlands has evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday. “There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city,” Hoekstra wrote. Protesters loyal to Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries. Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew, and the caretaker premier suspended Cabinet sessions in response to the violence. Medical officials said dozens of protesters were wounded by gunfire and tear gas and physical altercations with riot police.

Russia Has Faced ‘Failures’ with Iranian-Made Drones, Says US Official
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 30 August, 2022
Russia has faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired from Tehran this month for use in its war with Ukraine, according to Biden administration officials. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the US intelligence assessment, did not detail the “numerous failures.” They added that the US assesses that the delivery of Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles over several days this month is likely part of a Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian UAVs. The Associated Press reported last week that Russia had recently obtained hundreds of Iranian drones capable of being used in its war against Ukraine despite US warnings to Tehran not to ship them. The Washington Post first reported that Russia has faced technical problems with the Iranian drones. Russian operators continue to receive training in Iran on how to use these systems, which can conduct air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare and targeting, on the battlefield in Ukraine, the officials said.The Biden administration last month released satellite imagery indicating that Russian officials visited Kashan Airfield on June 8 and July 5 to view the Iranian drones. At the time, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan asserted that the administration has “information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs.”Facing economic sanctions and limits on its supply chains due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is turning to Iran as a key partner and supplier of weapons. Russian aircraft was loaded with the UAV equipment at an airfield in Iran over several days this month before the weaponry was flown to Russia, the officials said. White House national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters earlier Monday that the administration had “no update” on whether the drones had been delivered. He added that the US has “seen nothing that that gives us a sense of comfort” and that “the procurement, and delivery is still looming, is still in the offing.”Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein-Amir Abdollahian, said last month that Tehran had “various types of collaboration with Russia, including in the defense sector.”“But we won’t help either of the sides involved in this war because we believe that it (the war) needs to be stopped,” he said. The administration officials confirmed details of Iran supplying Russia with drones at a moment when the White House is also trying to prod Tehran to resume its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. The administration last week completed its review of Iran’s comments on a European proposal to restart the agreement that was brokered during President Barack Obama's administration and scrapped by in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump in 2018.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 30-31/2022
Giulio Meotti/Gatstone Institute:Europe’s Twilight: Christianity Declines, Islam Rises/دراسة لجوليو ميوتي من معهد جيتستون: المسيحية في أوروبا في تراجع فيما الإسلام في صعود
August 28, 20222
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/111522/giulio-meotti-gatstone-instituteeuropes-twilight-christianity-declines-islam-rises-%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d9%84%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88-%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%86/
by Giulio Meotti/Gatstone Institute/
August 28, 2022

Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics [in France] are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.
In an essay on L'Incorrect Frédéric Saint Clair, political scientist and analyst, explains that "the milestone of 10,000 mosques, at the current rate, will be reached around 2100". Will we have 10,000 full mosques and 10,000 practically empty churches?
"[A] mosque is erected every fortnight in France, while a Christian building is being destroyed at the same rate." — Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage in Paris; Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2021.
"During my first trips to the Middle East, in the early 1980s, I did not see veiled women and gradually the veil spread everywhere. It is the sign of the re-Islamization of Muslim societies and, in this sense, it takes on a political and geopolitical dimension. It is part of a conquest strategy. France is in a state of self-dhimmitude.... a legal and political status applicable to non-Muslim citizens in a state governed by Islam according to a prescription of the Koran (9:29). [Dhimmis] do not enjoy equal citizenship with the 'true believers,' who are Muslims." — Annie Laurent, essayist and scholar author of several books on Islam, Boulevard Voltaire, May 19, 2022.
"...France, due to a colonial complex and a sense of guilt, anticipates a legal and political situation that is not (yet) imposed on it but which could be a day in which Islam it will be a majority and therefore able to govern our country.... [T]he situation is really worrying. Before it becomes dramatic, it is urgent to put an end to the concessions we are multiplying to Islamism by hiding behind our values. Because by doing so we erase our own civilization". — Annie Laurent, Boulevard Voltaire, May 19, 2022.
Christianity in Germany "seems stable, but in reality it is on the verge of collapse. Pastors and bishops, but also many actively involved lay people, see landscapes in bloom where in reality there is nothing but the desert ". — Markus Günther, essayist, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 29, 2014.
"Muslims, the winners of demographic change," headlined Die Welt. "US researchers predict that for the first time in history there will be more Muslims than Christians. Societies change. Even Germany's".
In Trier, Germany, where Karl Marx was born, the diocese announced an unprecedented cut in the number of parishes which, in the next few years, will be reduced from 900 to 35.
L'Echo, the main Belgian economic newspaper, says: "Brussels was at the forefront of secularization before confronting an active Muslim minority. The first religion in Brussels today is Islam".... Belgian anthropologist Olivier Servais confirmed a Muslim presence in Brussels at 33.5 percent, predicting a majority in 2030.
"A civilization is everything that gathers around a religion," said André Malraux. And when one religion declines, another takes its place. Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics in France are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50. Pictured: Fire consumes Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on April 15, 2019.
French writer André Malraux said it: "A civilization is everything that gathers around a religion". And when one religion declines, another takes its place.
Sarcelles, Saint-Denis, Mulhouse, Nantes, Chambéry, Strasbourg, La Rochelle... The impressive images of stadiums full of Muslim faithful, who arrived from all over France for the feast of Eid Al Kabir, seventy days after the end of Ramadan. In Saint-Denis, the city where the kings of France rest; in Nantes, the city of the Dukes of Brittany; in Strasbourg, the city of the cathedral and seat of the European Parliament, in Mulhouse, in the heart of Alsace.
"In forty years, France has become the Western European nation where the population of Muslim origin is the most important," wrote Vatican Radio. "It is not difficult to hypothesize that we are now close to Islam overtaking Catholicism." What if the overtaking has already taken place?
"France is no longer a Catholic country", writes Frederic Lenoir, editor of the magazine Le Monde des Religions. Le Figaro wondered if Islam can already be considered "the first religion in France." We are in the country where up to 5,000 churches are at risk of demolition by 2030, Le Figaro noted last month. Five thousand churches are at risk of disappearing within eight years, in a country lacking the political, religious and cultural will to keep alive a millennial heritage that represents France's deepest soul. Perhaps the imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris understood what was evolving when he suggested using abandoned churches as mosques.
German writer Martin Mosebach observed that the "the loss of religion destabilizes a country". When a society no longer knows how to give itself a reason to exist, others find one and the void left by Christianity is soon filled. Even an atheist like Richard Dawkins acknowledged that "the sound of the [church] bells is better than the song of the [mosque] muezzin".
Islam is taking over Europe's post-Christian ruins. It is estimated that today in France, for each practicing Muslim, there are three practicing Catholics. But if you dig deeper into this analysis, that relationship is about to be reversed. Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.
Hakim El Karoui, President Emmanuel Macron's advisor on Islam and a researcher at the Montaigne Institute, states that Islam is now the most practiced religion in France. "There are more practicing Muslims, between 2.5 and 3 million, than practicing Catholics, 1.65 million".
The same applies to the construction of new religious sites. Today, in France, there are 2,400 mosques, compared to 1,500 in 2003: "This is the most visible sign of the rapid growth of Islam in France," notes the weekly Valeurs Actuelles.
In an essay on L'Incorrect Frédéric Saint Clair, political scientist and analyst, explains that "the milestone of 10,000 mosques, at the current rate, will be reached around 2100". Will we have 10,000 full mosques and 10,000 practically empty churches?
Not only has the Catholic Church built merely 20 new churches in France in the past decade, according to research conducted by La Croix. Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage in Paris, the most important organization that monitors the state of places of worship in the country, revealed:
"Although Catholic monuments are still ahead, one mosque is erected every 15 days in France, while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace... It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account."
Annie Laurent, essayist and scholar author of several books on Islam, and whom Pope Benedict XVI wanted as an expert for the synod on the Middle East, recently said in an interview published in Boulevard Voltaire:
"Despite the repeated assurances of firmness of the state towards Islamism and its rejection of every separatism, the opposite is happening: the advance of Muslim culture in different forms. A progress that seems to find no more limits and obstacles. There is the cowardice of public authorities who give in to electoral calculations or clients, and also the complacency of a part of our elites whose militancy is steeped in progressive ideology...
"During my first trips to the Middle East, in the early 1980s, I did not see veiled women and gradually the veil spread everywhere. It is the sign of the re-Islamization of Muslim societies and, in this sense, it takes on a political and geopolitical dimension. It is part of a conquest strategy...
"France is in a state of self-dhimmitude. What is dhimmitude? It is a legal and political status applicable to non-Muslim citizens in a state governed by Islam according to a prescription of the Koran (9:29). [Dhimmis] do not enjoy equal citizenship with the 'true believers,' who are Muslims. The dhimmi can maintain his religious identity but must undergo a series of discriminatory measures that can affect all aspects of life, public, social and private. Not all Muslim states apply all of these provisions today, but they are in force in some countries. However that may be, the principle remains as it is based on a 'divine' order.
"Muslims translate 'dhimmitude' with protection, which tends to reassure us, but the most appropriate translation is 'protection-submission': in exchange for the freedoms of worship or other freedoms more or less granted to them, they may be subject to special provisions, including Sharia, with the aim of making them aware of their inferiority.
"If I speak of self-dhimmitude, it is to express the idea that France, due to a colonial complex and a sense of guilt, anticipates a legal and political situation that is not (yet) imposed on it but which could be a day in which Islam it will be a majority and therefore able to govern our country. It should also be noted that Islam lives off the weakness of the societies in which it settles".
How far will we go? "I don't know, but the situation is really worrying," concludes Laurent.
"Before it becomes dramatic, it is urgent to put an end to the concessions we are multiplying to Islamism by hiding behind our values. Because by doing so we erase our own civilization".
Just two months ago, we had seen the same scenes for the end of Ramadan. Six thousand of the faithful celebrated at the Delaune Stadium in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. "Allahu Akbar" resounded from the loudspeakers placed in the four corners of the stadium. The same scenes could be seen in dozens of other stadiums throughout France, and in small and medium-sized cities: in Garges; in Montpellier (10,000 of the faithful in prayer); in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, 5,000 gathered in prayer at the stadium. The celebration also took place in Gennevilliers.
You can see the same advance of de-Christianization and the growth of Islam, with different intensities, everywhere in Europe.
In a dramatic article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, essayist Markus Günther explains that Christianity in Germany "seems stable, but in reality it is on the verge of collapse. Pastors and bishops, but also many actively involved lay people, see landscapes in bloom where in reality there is nothing but the desert".
"We are turning our backs on our culture" writes Volkert Resing in the latest issue of the magazine Cicero, speaking of the end of Christianity in Germany.
"In 2021, an average of 390 children were baptized every day in Germany. Ten years ago there were 800 baptisms a day. Last year, 359,338 people left the Catholic Church and 280,000 people left the Protestant Church. In both cases it is a new record. Last year 21.6 million people belonged to the Catholic Church and 19.7 million were Protestants. The number of Christians in Germany who are members of one of the two largest churches fell below the 50 percent mark for the first time. The fall of the Christian West? And who cares".
"For the first time in centuries," according to the German magazine Stern, "most of the people in Germany are no longer in the two great churches. A projection assumes that in 2060 only 30 percent will be Catholic or Protestant". For that date, all Christian denominations will have lost half of their current members. And if in 1950 one in two Catholics participated in Sunday services, notes the largest German weekly Die Zeit, today only one in ten people who say they are Christians participate in religious services.
"The importance of Islam in Germany will increase and that of Christianity will decrease, explains Detlef Pollack, professor of sociology of religion at Münster University and the country's foremost expert on religious trends, in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
"In 2022, for the first time, less than half of the Germans will belong to one of the great churches. There is a liquefaction. Muslim communities in Germany are undoubtedly vital compared to most Christian communities. By contrast Islam is a highly dynamic religion that aims at visibility".
For some time now, German public schools have been offering classes on Islam.
A Dresdner Bank study in 2007 predicted that "half of the churches in the country will close" and another that half of all Christians in the country will disappear. Within thirty years, according to the Pew Forum, there will be 17 million Muslims in Germany, compared to 22 million Christians between Catholics and Protestants, many of whom are only nominal (already today one-third of all Catholics are thinking of leaving the church) . The Muslim faithful settled in Germany will equal the total number of Catholics and Protestants.
This is a trend across the West. "Muslims, the winners of demographic change," headlined Die Welt. "US researchers predict that for the first time in history there will be more Muslims than Christians. Societies change. Even Germany's".
Between 1996 and 2016, Germany lost more than 3,000 parishes, down from 13,329 to 10,280. In Trier, Germany, where Karl Marx was born, the diocese announced an unprecedented cut in the number of parishes which, in the next few years, will be reduced from 900 to 35. Compared to their Christian counterparts, Islamic places of worship are growing; in the last 40 years, they went from non-existent to between 2,600 and 2,700. We realize how our world has changed only at the end of an epochal transformation.
Practically every day in the German press there are articles like this in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
"Generations of believers got married in the Kreuzkirche in the Lamboy area of ​​Hanau, they had their children baptized and there they mourned the dead. But the days when the rows of chairs were occupied even during the classic Sunday functions are long gone. The upcoming sale is a bitter new experience for Hanau. The culprit is the continuing decline in membership. This is due to demographic change and the numerous Muslim residents no longer provide a basis for a Christian community".
538 abandoned churches and 49 newly built: this is the sad balance of Catholic churches in Germany in the last 20 years.
In Bonn, 270 churches will be abandoned, some of which can already be purchased on the diocesan online service.
"The Ruhr diocese wants to keep only 84 churches and 160 will have to be used for a new purpose... Mainz and Hildesheim want to halve their churches. Aachen has started a process of reducing buildings by 30 percent. The archdiocese of Berlin has also decided to reduce the number of churches by a quarter".
From the diocese of Münster this month:
"87 churches have been deconsecrated. In various locations, churches are used as retirement and nursing homes for the elderly. Two churches in Marl alone are used as urn burial places. Apartments are being built in the St. Mariä Himmelfahrt church in Greven. Similar projects already exist, for instance, in Dülmen, Gescher and Herten-Bertlich. The former church of Sant'Elisabetta now serves as a sports hall".
In the entire archdiocese of Munich, the hometown of former Pope Benedict XVI, there are today just 37 seminarians in the various stages of formation compared to about 1.7 million Catholics. By comparison, the American diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska currently has 49 seminarians for about 100,000 Catholics.
You can see the same disintegration happening in Spain. "Spain is the third country with the greatest abandonment of Christianity in Europe," reported Spain's major newspaper, El Pais. Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, ​​has sent to all parishes a message announcing the suppression of 160 parishes in Barcelona, so that each can make its own contribution before the plan is implemented. A headline in El Mundo reads: "Barcelona closes parishes due to the loss of faithful... The archbishopric will leave only 48 of the 208".
In 2015, there were 1,334 mosques in Spain -- 21% of the total number of all places of worship in the country. During a six months period in 2018, 46 new mosques were built, bringing the number to 1,632 mosques for that year. Mosque numbers are growing at a rate of 20 percent each year. In 2004, there were 139 mosques in Catalonia and in 2020 there were 284, or 104% more, according to the Catalonia Department of Justice.
In Andalusia the number of mosques in one decade increased from 27 to 201; in Valencia, from 15 to 201 and in Madrid, from 40 to 116. Demography is the engine of cultural change. "By 2030," according to El Pais, "the Muslim population in Spain will increase by 82 percent".
The same situation exists in Austria. According to Die Welt:
"In Austria, the Catholic faith is in decline, Islam is on the rise. There will be far fewer Catholics in the future, while the number of Muslims and non-denominational people will increase significantly, experts predict. In 2046, one in five Austrians will profess Islam. In Vienna, Islam will be the strongest religion: in 30 years, one in three Viennese will be Muslim. The percentage of Catholics will be only 42 percent in the country, dropping to 22 percent in Vienna". In 1971, Catholics represented 78.6% of the population of Vienna; in 2001, just over half; in 2011, 41.3% and in thirty years Catholics will be only one third of the total."
If the churches are empty, 3,000 people gather for Friday prayers in Floridsdorf, the first mosque in Vienna. The mosque was officially erected in 1979 in the presence of the then President Rudolf Kirchschläger, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Cardinal Franz König. Today the muezzin can call to prayer three times a day.
Christianity is no longer the first religion; Islam has taken its place. This shift should be grounds for discussion, not to say of concern -- certainly not of cheerful indifference.
L'Echo, the main Belgian economic newspaper, says: "Brussels was at the forefront of secularization before confronting an active Muslim minority. The first religion in Brussels today is Islam".
The monthly Causeur reminds us that Le Vif-L'Express (the main French-language newspaper) published a provocative front page entitled "Muslim Brussels in 2030". Belgian anthropologist Olivier Servais confirmed a Muslim presence in Brussels at 33.5 percent, predicting a majority in 2030.
In Saint-Chamond, a French town of 35,000, the town hall recently ordered the disposal of the main church of the city, Notre-Dame, built in the 19th century. Closed for worship since 2004, deprived of the crosses that proudly towered over its spiers, this church, in view of its transformation into a cultural project, has just been condemned to deconsecration. Meanwhile, last week, near what remains of Notre-Dame, the muezzin called over the loudspeakers for the Muslim faithful to come to prayers.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Normalization with the Syrian Regime Didn’t Yield any Results
Jonathan Hargreaves/Jonathan Hargreaves is the UK Special Representative for Syria./Asharq Al Awsat/August 30/2022
Today in Geneva representatives of Syria’s international friends will meet to show our support for the Geneva-based political process facilitated by the UN in implementing UNSCR 2254. We will once again urge the regime to work in good faith towards a genuine, inclusive political settlement. This doesn’t require a new location for talks, or a new ‘conference’. It requires the regime, backed by its Russian and Iranian paymasters, to put the Syrian people’s future first and take part in genuine talks with the ever-ready Syrian Opposition.
Despite the foot-dragging of the regime and its backers, Syrian political groups keep going with the difficult task of trying to engage the regime in a meaningful and peaceful political process.
And many other ordinary Syrians, despite the regime’s rapacious disregard for them, are doing amazing things, hanging on to the hope of building a better future. Millions find ways of making a living, increasingly with the support of international ‘early recovery’ initiatives. Civil society groups quietly carry on working with communities, sustaining the building blocks of strong Syrian society, despite its government. Many brave Syrians continue to trace and document Assad’s crimes and the tens of thousands of people ‘disappeared’ by his regime. Teachers and health workers continue to serve their people, with the barest of resources. The people delivering aid in Syria, in what remains one of the world’s biggest international aid operations, are themselves courageous and compassionate Syrians. Syrian women, in one of the worst countries in the world to be a woman, increasingly bear the responsibility for keeping the economy going; they are standing up and making their voices heard.
If the regime wanted to demonstrate its willingness to work with and for these courageous, industrious Syrians, there are multiple ways it could show it.
It could follow through on the promises in its own Amnesty and release a large number of prisoners, allowing monitoring by respected independent organizations of those who are charged, detained, and wanted.
It could guarantee, and allow neutral observers to see, that displaced people returning to their homes, whether from within Syria or further afield, would be protected and secure from violence and retribution.
And it could get a grip on its own cronies colluding with foreign-backed groups to corrupt the economy and threaten the security of the region through organized crime. But it has done none of these things.
Instead, those closest to Assad collude with Hezbollah and IRGC-backed armed groups to produce and export industrial quantities of Captagon, generating huge illicit profits at the expense of vulnerable young people in Syria and the region. According to Caroline Rose writing here in January 1, these networks target a number of Arab and Gulf countries, as they are the main destination for Captagon smuggling [and lead to] high rates of consumption and addiction to this drug along countries of land transit of this trade.
Releases under the Amnesty, few in number anyway, have stopped. Detentions are taking place as usual, including of people who thought they would now be safe. Syrian refugees who return face grave human rights abuses and persecution at the hands of the Syrian government and affiliated militias. They have suffered arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill-treatment, involuntary or enforced disappearances, and summary executions. Land and property have been stolen making a sustainable return impossible. Syria is not a safe country for refugees to return to.
The Syrian regime’s actions show no sign that it wants to govern for and with all Syrian people. Attempts by various countries to dialogue with the regime do not seem to have yielded them any visible, sustainable benefits. The regime and its backers remain a menace to Syrians and the wider region.
And even if the Syrian regime itself has chosen to demolish the rule of law in its own country, Syria’s international friends will continue to pursue justice for atrocious crimes committed in the past eleven years. The regime’s benefactor, Russia, has in Ukraine once again showed its disdain for international norms and human rights. It used Syria as a training ground – smashing Kherson and Kharkiv just as it did Aleppo. We cannot turn a blind eye to those atrocities and the Syrians and Russians who perpetrated them. To do so would embolden them and their inhumane actions.
Syria’s international friends have a role to play in protecting Syrians and giving the best possible chance to the incredible initiatives Syrian people are pursuing. That is what we will be aiming to do by meeting in Geneva today. But it is only Syrians themselves, through sincere good faith and positive political conversations, who can lead the country out of its nightmare and into a better future, with its head held high in the international community.

Europe Can’t Go Into Winter Thinking All Is Lost
Maria Tadeo/Bloomberg/August 30/2022
Europe is getting back to business after its summer break — but this year feels like jumping into a cold shower. Just listen to Emmanuel Macron. The French President told his ministers during their first formal gathering last week that a new paradigm is on the horizon — it’s the end of abundance in a care-free world. That’s a sobering statement coming out of the country of opulence itself. French history is shaped by splendor; its national ethos pursues grandiosity in the values it represents and the role of puissance d’équilibre — a power of mediation — it seeks to play on the international scene. Luxury is also a veritable moneymaker for the French economy — the industry feeds on insatiable consumer demand.
All of this contrasts with Macron’s statements, which critics have called crude, pessimistic, even defeatist. Yet, although the message wasn’t the most palatable, it was an important one. The truth is, Macron’s words are merely catching up to the reality of what Europe faces. Russia is wreaking havoc on the energy market, inflation is rampant and governments are actively seeking demand destruction to avoid rationing. The opposite of abundance is scarcity. The flip-side to opulence is sobriety. Why sugarcoat things?
The French president has a habit of shaking public opinion with shock statements. He once described NATO as brain dead and suggested he would gladly emmerder (“piss off”) non-vaccinated people if that helped push up the vaccination rate in France. His tone and language are often divisive. The political left has already accused Macron of being out of touch — a recurring criticism — if he thinks the French working class lives in opulence, especially as the cost-of-living crisis bites into modest salaries. Marine le Pen, his political nemesis, said the crisis scenario he laid out isn’t just the result of the war, but also of his policies. Some of Macron’s ministers rushed to clarify his comments hours later, suggesting the president isn’t defeatist but lucid. It was an exercise in damage control, but the tone had been set. Much of the ensuing TV commentary was spent debating what sacrifices will be demanded of the public. In that sense, Macron’s language contrasts with that of Joe Biden’s administration, which is reluctant to fuel recession talk, and even of the UK’s Liz Truss, frontrunner for Tory party leader, who refuses to believe a recession is inevitable despite the fact that the Bank of England predicts one. And the UK arguably faces a much bleaker picture than France.
In 1979, former US President Jimmy Carter pronounced what some described as the pinnacle of pessimism in politics. Against a background of inflation and pain at the gas pump, he argued that America was going through a “crisis of confidence” — in the future and the nation — that threatened the very social fabric of the country. As Europe struggles with the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Carter’s speech rings relevant today. Much will be decided by the bloc’s resolve to stay united, have confidence and determination.
I’ve long argued that many Europeans are still in denial about how a severe winter could hobble the economy. For households and businesses, it could force draconian choices: Buy fuel or buy good, stay open or close shop. Still, a reality check doesn’t mean fatalism.
For Macron, who already went through a traumatic period of social unrest with the yellow vest protests in 2018, fatalism risks undermining his own government. The French have capped energy prices, absorbing much of the pain through the state-owned utility Électricité de France, which reported a loss of 5 billion euros ($5 billion) in the first six months of the year, and cushioning the blow for consumers. Despite the malaise, France currently has one of the lowest inflation rates in the euro area. In that sense, Macron is buying social peace, just like he did with his “whatever the cost” stimulus during the pandemic lockdowns. The government shouldn’t sound like it’s throwing in the towel now.
Defeatism also risks undermining public support for Ukraine. Russia wants to see Europe reach its breaking point and ease sanctions. Despite the obvious stress in the energy market, where both gas and forward electricity prices are pushing fresh highs almost weekly, the EU so far has signaled it won’t reverse course. Even Macron himself recently suggested there was no room for compromising with Vladimir Putin under the current circumstances. Ultimately, he argued, this is battle of values too.
That’s encouraging, but maintaining morale will get harder as the days get colder, especially if we’re told everything is doomed from the get-go. For Ukrainians, who are paying a heavy price in blood and destruction, that is a disservice.
Macron also talked about a series of crises, going from the war to climate-related events to supply-chain issues. These are important issues but such blending can confuse public opinion and dilute Putin’s responsibility for the current situation — had he not invaded Ukraine, we wouldn’t be talking about an energy crisis of this magnitude. Europe is entering uncharted waters this winter. We must stay lucid about the risks, but let’s not go into the storm assuming all is lost already.

China Threatens to Destroy Elon Musk's Starlink
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/August 30/2022
Chinese military researchers are threatening that Musk's Starlink satellites must be destroyed. The problem, however, does not appear so much to be the fear of collision, but rather that China believes that Starlink could be used for military purposes and thereby threaten what China calls its national security.
"[A] combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation's operating system." — Five senior scientists in China's defense industry, led by Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, under the People Liberation Army's (PLA's) Strategic Support Force, by Stephen Chen, South China Morning Post, May 25,2022
Soft kill methods target software and operating systems of the satellites, whereas hard kill methods physically destroy the satellites....
Unsurprisingly, China has eagerly copied Elon Musk's SpaceX to achieve its own space ambitions: China's Long March 2C rocket, for instance, which China launched in the summer of 2019, had parts that were "virtually identical" to those that are used to steer the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
China's threats against Musk's Starlink is more proof that the country is not ready to let anyone stand in the way of its "fierce space game", as China puts it.
In addition... China is forging ahead with a number of projects that will significantly accelerate the country's space capabilities.
China has reportedly sped up its program to launch a solar power plant in space. The purpose of the plant is to transmit electricity to earth by converting solar energy to microwaves or laser and directing the energy to Earth, according to the South China Morning Post... It is probable that China got the idea from the US; NASA reportedly proposed a similar plan more than two decades ago but never went on to develop it.
China's explicit goal is to become the world's leading space power by 2045. It is important to keep in mind that China's space program – even what might look like harmless, civil aspects of space exploration – is heavily militarized.
Chinese military researchers recently called for the destruction of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites, an extraordinary threat for a state to make against a private foreign enterprise. Pictured: A long exposure photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off on May 6, 2022 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying Starlink satellites.
Chinese military researchers recently called for the destruction of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites, an extraordinary threat for a state to make against a private foreign enterprise.
In December 2021, China filed a complaint with the United Nations, claiming that two of Musk's Starlink satellites had nearly collided with the Tianhe module of its Tiangong Space Station -- in April and October of 2021-- and that Chinese astronauts had been forced to maneuver the module of the station to avoid the collision. Starlink is part of Elon Musk's SpaceX and the satellites are part of a plan to make internet coverage from the satellites available worldwide, with the goal of launching nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
Space is becoming crowded and risks of collision -- whether with satellites or space debris -- are not new. Tellingly, China was among the first to help create much of that debris: In January 2007, China tested its first successful anti-satellite missile (ASAT), destroying one of its own inactive weather satellites and creating one of the world's largest space debris incidents. That space debris is still floating around in space, causing collision risks every day.
The United States rejected China's claims that the Starlink satellites had endangered China's space station. The US stated that if there had been a "significant probability of collision" with China's space station, the U.S. would have given notice to China ahead of time. "Because the activities did not meet the threshold of established emergency collision criteria, emergency notifications were not warranted in either case."
China is now taking things a step further: Chinese military researchers are threatening that Musk's Starlink satellites must be destroyed. The problem, however, does not appear so much to be the fear of collision, but rather that China believes that Starlink could be used for military purposes and thereby threaten what China calls its national security.
Five senior scientists in China's defense industry, led by Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications -- which is under the People Liberation Army's (PLA's) Strategic Support Force – recently wrote that "a combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation's operating system."
Soft kill methods target software and operating systems of the satellites, whereas hard kill methods physically destroy the satellites, such as using an ASAT weapon.
According to the scientists, China should "vigorously develop countermeasures" against Starlink, as such capabilities are necessary for China "to maintain and obtain space advantages in the fierce space game."
Unsurprisingly, China has eagerly copied Elon Musk's SpaceX to achieve its own space ambitions: China's Long March 2C rocket, for instance, which China launched in the summer of 2019, had parts that were "virtually identical" to those that are used to steer the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
China is not the only state actor to show an interest in interfering with Musk's Starlink satellites. Russia too has sought to jam Starlink's internet service in Ukraine and failed. "Starlink has resisted Russian cyberwar jamming & hacking attempts so far, but they're ramping up their efforts," Musk tweeted in May.
Starlink is a problem for Russia because Musk's satellites have enabled Ukraine to stay connected to the internet – and the rest of the world – amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempts to cut the country off.
Musk began to send Starlink terminals to Ukraine in late February at the request of Ukrainian government officials, as a backup for when Russia would predictably try to cut off internet access. According to one US general, the use of Starlink in Ukraine ruined Putin's attempts to isolate the country.
"The strategic impact is, it totally destroyed Putin's information campaign," said Brig. Gen. Steve Butow, director of the space portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit. "He never, to this day, has been able to silence Zelenskyy."
"We've got more than 11,000 Starlink stations and they help us in our everyday fight on all the fronts," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister, told Politico. "We're ready, even if there is no light, no fixed internet, through generators using Starlink, to renew any connection in Ukraine."
China's threats against Musk's Starlink is more proof that the country is not ready to let anyone stand in the way of its "fierce space game", as China put it. General David Thompson, the U.S. Space Force's first vice chief of space operations, possibly trying to downplay the Chinese's Communist Party's threat to the West, described it as merely a "shadow war."
In this "space war", China – and Russia to a slightly lesser degree -- is conducting attacks against U.S. satellites with lasers, radio frequency jammers, and cyber-attacks every day. While the attacks are "reversible" for now, which means that the damage to the attacked satellites is not permanent, they demonstrate China's malign intentions.
"The threats are really growing and expanding every single day. And it's really an evolution of activity that's been happening for a long time," Thompson said in November 2021. "We're really at a point now where there's a whole host of ways that our space systems can be threatened."
In addition to its "fierce space game", China is forging ahead with a number of projects that will significantly accelerate the country's space capabilities.
China has reportedly sped up its program to launch a solar power plant in space. The purpose of the plant is to transmit electricity to earth by converting solar energy to microwaves or lasers and directing the energy to Earth, according to the South China Morning Post. The first launch of the project is scheduled for 2028 and will be the world's first such project in space. It is probable that China got the idea from the US; NASA reportedly proposed a similar plan more than two decades ago but never went on to develop it.
China recently launched its third crewed mission to the Tiangong Space Station's Tianhe module, where three astronauts will work on completing the space station before returning to Earth in December. China only launched the first module of the Tiangong Space Station in April 2021, but expects to have the space station fully crewed and operational by the end of the year, when the space station will have an additional two science lab modules and a robotic cargo ship. The space station will also help China to deploy and operate its new space telescope, Xuntian, meant "to rival NASA's aging Hubble Space Telescope, with a field of view 300 times larger and a similar resolution. It will make observations in ultraviolet and visible light, running investigations related to dark matter and dark energy, cosmology, galactic evolution, and the detection of nearby objects." Xuntian is scheduled to launch in 2024.
China's explicit goal is to become the world's leading space power by 2045. It is important to keep in mind that China's space program – even what might look like harmless, civil aspects of space exploration – is heavily militarized. The organization in charge of China's manned space program, for instance, is the China Manned Space Engineering Office, which is under China's Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department. Similarly, the People's Liberation Army runs China's space launch sites, control centers and many of China's satellites.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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