English LCCC Newsbulletin For Le

English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 24/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.december24.21.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 12/44-47/:’Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 23-24/2021
Merry Christmas, May Almighty God Bless You/Elias Bejjani/December 24/2021
President Aoun discusses general affairs with Minister Salam, former Minister Kordahi, honors Poet Talal Haidar
U.N. Chief Urges Lebanese Leaders to 'Work Together'
Berri discusses situation with Mawlawi
Berri Calls for ‘Immunizing’ Lebanon with Justice
U.S. Denies Turkey-Held Man is Lebanon-Based U.S. Diplomat
Foreign Ministry affirms Lebanon’s continued commitment to UN Resolution 1701
Beirut Blast Probe Suspended for 4th Time
Lebanon’s top Christian party signals possible end of Hezbollah alliance
Lebanon Imposes New COVID Restrictions
World Bank Pledges $37 Mn to Help Lebanon Teachers
Beirut residents sue Hezbollah leader over deadly clashes
Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles - ALMA/Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
Is Israel Facing Up To Reality On Hamas and Hezbollah?/Tony Badran/The Tablet/December 23/2021
Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles - ALMA/Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
5 initiatives that made 2021 bearable/Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/December 23/2021
Interview With: Hezbollah Is An Elephant in The Room, and Must Transform into Political Party Like Others in Lebanon/Ali Barada/ Asharq Al-Awsat/December, 23/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 23-24/2021
A Message from the Archdiocese of Toronto
Canadian Imam Younus Kathrada: Congratulating People on Christmas Is Like Congratulating Murderers And Pedophiles; It Is A Major Sin
Iran FM: European Stance not Constructive at Nuclear Talks
Lift sanctions to dispel concerns over Iran nuclear program, Tehran tells West
US Navy Seizes Illicit Weapons Heading from Iran to the Houthis
Iran Says to Mount New Anti-missile System to Protect Its Tanks
Iran Nuclear Talks to Resume on Dec. 27
Iran FM: European Stance not Constructive at Nuclear Talks
Iran Accepts Tea in Payment for Sri Lankan Oil Debt
Syria’s War Killed Over 3,700 in 2021
US Officials Deny Man Held in Turkey for Fake Passport Is Diplomat
Russia Is Not Readying Military Invasion of Ukraine, Says Russian Envoy
3 Dead, Dozens Missing in Greece Migrant Boat Sinking
Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Suspected of Driving Car Into West Bank Checkpoint
Study: AstraZeneca Vaccine Booster Works Against Omicron
Ontario records 5,790 COVID-19 cases, smashing through record
Canadian air force commander relieved of duties in Kuwait after claims of inappropriate comments
Iran admits to increasingly relying on kamikaze drones
USA, Supreme Court schedules January 7 oral arguments in challenges to Biden vaccine mandates
Washington committed to two-state solution, US envoy tells Abbas
Why Libya Failed to Hold Presidential Elections on Time
Biden Says a Trump Candidacy Would Motivate Second Term Run
In daring move, Sisi says subsidy cards will cover no more than two people

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 23-24/2021
Palestinians slam Mansour Abbas for 'recognizing' Israel as a Jewish state/Khaled Abu Toameh/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
Bureaucrats Advise Policy, They Should Not Make It/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/December 23/2021
China in Latin America - Part 1/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute./December 23/2021
Putin Can’t Be Allowed to Re-Divide Europe/Eric S. Edelman/David J. Kramer/Ian Kelly/The Bulwark./December 23/2021
The Coming Middle East Narco Wars/Matthew Zweig/| Newsweek/December 23/2021
New pragmatism in the region reflects on Iran issue/Ellen Laipson/The Arab Weekly/December 23/2021
The roots of the problem in Libya/Habib Lassoued/The Arab Weekly/December 23/2021
Iranian regime’s zero-sum approach to nuclear talks/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 23, 2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 23-24/2021
Merry Christmas, May Almighty God Bless You
Elias Bejjani/December 24/2021
Luke 2/11/Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2/14 “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Dear family members, beloved ones, friends and supporters, May God Bless you all and shower upon you, your families, friends, and beloved ones all graces of joy, health, love, forgiveness, meekness and hope.
Let us all pray that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy as we journey towards the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
From my heart and soul I wish you all a Merry Christmas that is filled with abundance of peace, self awareness, self respect, open mind and tranquility with yourselves and with others.
I call on you all to pray for the salvation of our beloved country, Lebanon and ask almighty God to lead and bless the steps and peace endeavors of our righteous politicians and leaders.
Pray that Jesus Christ, God of love, justice and mercy shall on the Christmas eve come to dwell in your hearts, minds, souls and conscience.
Be prepared and ready for welcoming this distinguishable humble holy guest. Cleanse yourselves from all sins, mistakes and ungodly conducts.
Invite him with a prayer, tell him openly what are your needs, difficulties, hardships, what is bothering you, and what did you do wrong.
Kneel on your knees with reverence, raise your hand, repent and ask for forgiveness.
Wait for his arrival with open hands and a pure soul. Be sure he will respond to your invitation and come to be with you if you are honest in calling on him.
On the Christmas Day I ask you all to genuinely pray and pray for those of us who are hurt, lonely, deserted by their beloved ones, feel betrayed, are enduring silently pain, anguish, and are deprived from their right in happiness, warmth and joy on this holy and adorned day.
Definitely Jesus will come to comfort those ousted brothers and sisters of ours. He will enforce and ignite their faith, and strengthen their hope in a better tomorrow.
Let us all the time be fully aware that we are human and that as the bible tells we are all vulnerable and not made of stones, but of flesh that came from ash and into ash it will end.
Ecclesiastes 7/20: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn’t sin"
Let us continuously remind our selves that when our day comes. that could be at any moment, we shall not be able to take any thing with us for the Day of judgment except our work and acts, be righteous or evil.
Let us love all others as God loves us, especially those that hate and hurt us. Let us remember that whoever believes in Jesus should not perish, but have eternal life (John 314)
Mean while let us understand what an actual love means: John 15/12-13) “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
God bless you all
Elias Bejjani

President Aoun discusses general affairs with Minister Salam, former Minister Kordahi, honors Poet Talal Haidar
NNA/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Thursday met Economy and Trade Minister, Amin Salam, who congratulated him on the glorious holidays, and briefed him on the ministry's work and the supervisory activities carried out, especially with regard to the high prices and everything related to economic affairs. Minister Salam also briefed the President on the visit he made to Geneva and the United States of America, and the positive atmosphere he felt from the international community, on which the Lebanese depend on in order to achieve results, which they hope will begin to appear in the first quarter of the new year. In addition, Minister Salam pointed out that there is a positive movement regarding the issue of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund in the first stage, and preparations for discussing the second stage related to the recovery and growth plan, which the IMF will start discussing at the beginning of the year. On the other hand, Salam indicated that the issue of the financing card was discussed in light of the commitment of the Minister of Social Affairs to work with it at the beginning of next February, with a retroactive effect for two months, noting that field supervision has already begun.
Former Minister Kordahi:
The President received former Minister George Kordahi, who congratulated him on Christmas and New Year, and reviewed the general situation, in light of developments in the regional and international developments.
Honoring the Poet Haider:
President Aoun honored the poet Talal Haidar in Baabda Palace, in appreciation of his cultural contributions that raised Lebanon's name high.
The honoring ceremony was held in the presence of the poet Haider’s family: his wife, Mrs. Doria Hajj Suleiman, his son Dr. Ali and his son Rayan, head of the Lebanese Order of Physicians, Dr. Sharaf Abu Sharaf, his brother, the lawyer Joseph Abu Sharaf, Dr. Haris Suleiman Haider, and Messrs: Ali Ajaj Aqeel, Fadi Qassem Suleiman, Osama Ali Qassem .
The Director General of Protocol and Public Relations at the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Nabil Chedid, gave a speech at the beginning of the honoring ceremony, in which he said:
"Dear guests,
Poets in the world are few...because they are existence. This revelation attributed to Socrates is still true today, after thousands of years. We can only remember him in the presence of Talal Haider.
He is the one emerging from the titles of Baalbek, how many times it is studded with rhymes from it and for it. He is the disruptor between thought and faith, his sin, as was said about him, is poetry, and poetry alone is the freedom of the mind and the extent of the heart.
He is the one who chose astonishment, our spoken language chose him, the secret of a life fraught with beautiful poems that settled in the human depth, until the charming voice of Mrs. Fairuz and the voice of the great Wadih al-Safi, launched it to Marcel Khalifa, Magda El Roumi, Jahidah Wehbe, Omaima El Khalil and others.
So he organized the "Knights of the Moon" for the Caracalla Troupe, and other plays.
Dear attendees,
In the glory of poetry, Talal Haidar organized the privacy of joy. In what was written and transmitted by Italian and Spanish translations, Lebanon creates language and form, and every poem creates its own language with it.
Today, while Lebanon is searching in the midst of crises that afflict and shake it, Talal Haider can only be honored... because honoring him is one of Lebanon's honor for presence.
O you who are celebrated,
In appreciation of your gifts in fragrant poetry, rebellious between Sufism, dream and reality, for the sake of Lebanon and for him, His Excellency, President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, decided to award you the Lebanese Order of Merit with the Silver Palm”.
President Aoun awarded the medal to the poet Haidar, who presented him with a copy of his book, then gave a speech It began in the vernacular:
“No matter how severe the storms are, and the time passes, my homeland will stay steadfast.”
"In the prime of life, when you were an officer in Baalbek for five years, you lived in her heart before you lived in the heart of all of Lebanon. The medal that you kindly bestowed on me is a medal on the chest of Baalbek, which made me contribute to the transfer of Lebanese culture to Italian, Spanish and French, on the way to Chinese and English” Haidar said.
“Mr. President, Lebanon has been, and will remain, under your auspices, a meeting place of civilizations and a window open to the world, even if the haters hate it. You, Mr. President, despite all the crises you face, patience, wisdom and sacrifice, do not have time to encourage culture and the arts, because Lebanon was and will remain, as His Holiness Pope John Paul II said, the homeland of the message that emits light to the world” Haidar added.
“Baalbek thanks you, Mr. President, as a father who embraces his Lebanese children. Long live Lebanon”.
President Aoun responded with a speech in which he praised the great poet and his gifts, and said: “Whenever we award a medal to someone like you, we feel that it is our duty to honor great men who transferred Lebanese civilization to the countries of the world, who deserve the respect of everyone for the effort they made to raise the name of Lebanon high, and this medal is a small appreciation for your contributions in your productive life for the homeland, poetry and culture”.
Then a souvenir photo was taken. -- Presidency Press Office

U.N. Chief Urges Lebanese Leaders to 'Work Together'
Associated Press/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Lebanon’s political leaders to “work together to implement reforms,” in tweets that follow his official visit to Lebanon. work together to implement reforms. “It has been an honour to visit Lebanon once again - but it grieves me to see the people of this beautiful country suffering so much. Political leaders must work together to implement reforms that respond to the demands of the people & give hope for a better future,” Guterres said. In another tweet, the U.N. chief said young people and civil society “must have every opportunity to play their full part as Lebanon strives to overcome its many challenges.”“The people of Lebanon must be fully engaged in choosing how the country moves forward,” he added. He also lamented that “women have a long history of leading peacebuilding initiatives in Lebanon, but continue to be vastly underrepresented in political life.”“As I've told political leaders during my visit to the country, their voices must be heard & their proposals seriously considered,” he urged.

Berri discusses situation with Mawlawi
NNA/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Thursday received at the Second Presidency in Ain El-Tineh, the Minister of Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, with whom he discussed the current general situation, especially the security one.

Berri Calls for ‘Immunizing’ Lebanon with Justice
Naharnet/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri extended Christmas greetings Thursday to the Lebanese, stressing that “we should get inspired from Christmas’ values.”“To deserve Christmas and to live it, we should get rid of selfishness and grudges,” Berri said. “This is how we prepare for the birth of a Lebanon that is fortified with justice, not overrun by hatred,” he added.He concluded by expressing his support for Palestine, “the land of Christmas.”

U.S. Denies Turkey-Held Man is Lebanon-Based U.S. Diplomat
Associated Press/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
U.S. officials denied Thursday that an American citizen arrested in Turkey for allegedly providing a fake passport to a Syrian man is a U.S. diplomat. Turkish officials said Wednesday they detained a U.S. diplomat at Istanbul Airport on Nov. 11. Authorities in Turkey publicly identified the man only by his initials D.J.K., and said he worked for the U.S. Consulate in Lebanon. He was later formally arrested on suspicion of selling a forged passport for $10,000. According to a Turkish police statement, the Syrian man was detained for questioning after he attempted to travel to Germany on a false passport, which was in D.J.K.'s name. On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it was aware a U.S. citizen had been detained in Turkey but denied the person was a government diplomat. The State Department said the detained individual was being provided with the "appropriate consular services." Police in Istanbul said security camera footage showed D.J.K. exchanging clothes with the Syrian man at Istanbul Airport and giving him a passport. Police also seized an envelope containing $10,000 from the diplomat, according to the police statement. The American was jailed while the Syrian was released pending possible proceedings for falsifying documents, Anadolu said.

Foreign Ministry affirms Lebanon’s continued commitment to UN Resolution 1701
NNA/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants on Thursday announced that Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Abdullah Bou Habib, had been in contact to discuss the recent incident with the Finnish contingent operating within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The Ministry regretted the incident, noting in a statement that it is awaiting investigations into this incident, emphasizing that it does not accept any form of aggression against the UNIFIL forces, and stressing “the safety and security of UNIFIL's personnel and vehicles.”
As the Ministry regretted "the scenes circulated on social media channels", it reiterated its concern for "the safety of UNIFIL, especially the Finnish contingent, being one of the forces that have continued to serve in southern Lebanon since the establishment of UNIFIL and which continues to play an important role in maintaining the security and stability of southern Lebanon." In this regard, the Ministry noted, "Lebanon values the role of UNIFIL in general, and the Finnish contingent in particular, and its people appreciate the role played by this contingent within the international forces.”
The statement also affirmed the bilateral relationship between Lebanon and Finland and Lebanon’s appreciation of Finland's efforts to renew the mandate of UNIFIL at the UN Security Council, recalling its role in securing UNIFIL's support for the Lebanese Army within the framework of Resolution 2591 (2021). The Ministry renewed Lebanon's continued commitment to the relevant international resolutions, especially UN Resolution 1701.

Beirut Blast Probe Suspended for 4th Time
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
The Lebanese judge leading investigations into last year's Beirut port blast was forced to stop work Thursday over a lawsuit filed by ex-ministers he had summoned for interrogation, an official said. The suspension is the fourth since Tarek Bitar was chosen to lead investigations in February. It comes two weeks since Bitar was cleared to resume work, after a series of court challenges raised by political leaders derailed his efforts. On Thursday, Bitar was informed of a lawsuit submitted by lawmakers Ghazi Zoaiter and Ali Hasan Khalil -- both members of the Shiite Amal movement -- which forced him to pause the probe until a ruling is issued, a court official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The total number of lawsuits against Bitar now stands at 18, the official said, most of which were filed by officials he is seeking to interrogate on suspicion of criminal negligence. Rights groups and relatives of blast victims have repeatedly condemned what they have described as blatant political interference in the investigation. They say it aims to preserve a culture of political impunity in a country where even assassinations and bombings can go unpunished. The August 4, 2020 explosion was caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that was stored haphazardly at Beirut port for years. Top political and security officials knew of the dangers posed by the shipment but failed to take action. Hezbollah is leading demands to remove Bitar. Its ministers have said they will boycott cabinet sessions until an official decision is taken to replace him. As a result, the government, which was formed in September to address an unprecedented economic crisis, has failed to meet since October, despite mounting woes.

Lebanon’s top Christian party signals possible end of Hezbollah alliance
Reuters/23 December ,2021
Lebanon’s top Christian party has indicated it is considering ending a political alliance with Iran-backed Hezbollah, threatening a fragile union that has shaped Lebanese politics for nearly 16 years. Gebran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement party said earlier this week there would be “political consequences” for action taken against his party by Lebanon’s two main Shia parties Hezbollah and Amal. Prominent figures close to the party have also said the 2006 Mar Mikhael Agreement between FPM and Hezbollah is at an end. “Mikhael is dead,” FPM pundit Charbel Khalil tweeted on Tuesday.
The party’s support was critical in bringing President Michel Aoun, the FPM’s founder, to power in 2016, and the FPM has provided critical Christian political cover for Hezbollah’s armed presence under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. Hezbollah has not publicly commented.
Pro-Hezbollah Sheikh Sadiq Al-Nabulsi said on Wednesday that Hezbollah had “a very high tolerance for pain and criticism” but Bassil was at risk of losing its support. “Today the FPM has no real ally other than Hezbollah, so why are you letting go of your last ally?” he said. Bassil’s party has faced growing political pressure to distance itself from Hezbollah since the country’s 2019 financial meltdown. Traditional allies in the Gulf have been unwilling to provide Lebanon with aid, as they have in the past, because of what they have said is Hezbollah’s grip on the country and its support for Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Hezbollah is classified by the United States and major western nations as a terrorist group. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has taken a hardline stance against the judge investigating the August 2020 Beirut blast, causing a row that has left Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government unable to meet since Oct. 12 even as poverty and hunger worsen. But Hezbollah remains Bassil’s strongest ally. And with presidential and parliamentary elections due next year, some analysts say the FPM could be posturing. “The FPM is stuck between a rock and a hard place today. They certainly realize that the Christian street no longer condones any form of acquiescence to Hezbollah’s demands,” said Karim Emile Bitar, director of the Institute of political science at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University. “But they simply cannot afford to completely let go of this alliance because it would ruin Bassil’s presidential ambitions and would certainly prevent them from getting a significant parliamentary bloc.”

Lebanon Imposes New COVID Restrictions
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Lebanon's tourism ministry ordered restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and entertainment venues to require visitors to present either a certificate of COVID vaccination or a negative PCR test before entering, it said in a statement on Thursday. The ministry said it is requiring such establishments to enforce the new rules until Jan. 9. The health ministry said Thursday that it registered in the past 24 hours 1922 COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths.

World Bank Pledges $37 Mn to Help Lebanon Teachers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
The World Bank on Thursday said it agreed with its partners to repurpose $37 million in funds to help Lebanon's public school teachers survive a crushing economic crisis. The World Bank and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office would divert the money from the Lebanon Syrian Crisis Trust Fund, which aims to assist Lebanese communities accommodating Syrian refugees, the bank said in a statement. It would be used to "provide financial incentives to public school teachers suffering from the severe economic and financial crisis in Lebanon to ensure they can purchase fuel to travel to work," the statement added. The "exceptional" financing, which is valid only for the 2021-2022 academic year, came at the request of Lebanon's government, AFP quoted the bank as saying. Lebanon, home to more than one million refugees from war-torn Syria, is grappling with an economic crisis that the World Bank has branded as one of the worst the world has seen in modern times. More than 80 percent of the population lives in poverty and the local currency, the pound, has lost 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market. Public school teachers who were already underpaid before the onset of the economic crisis two years ago have since been pushed deeper into poverty. Their salaries in pounds are a fraction of what they used to be due to the currency's rapid devaluation. Many cannot afford to purchase fuel to go to work after the government gradually lifted subsidies causing the price of hydrocarbons to more than quadruple within a few months. To fill a medium-sized vehicle's tank, Lebanese motorists would now have to pay more than the monthly minimum wage of 675,000 pounds ($25).

Beirut residents sue Hezbollah leader over deadly clashes
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 23, 2021
BEIRUT: Beirut residents who suffered damages after deadly Hezbollah clashes have filed a criminal case on Thursday against the Iran-backed group’s leader. Lawyers filed the complaint before the Appeal Public Prosecution office in Mount Lebanon against Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and “everyone who appears in the investigation.”This legal intervention follows Hezbollah also taking a hardline stance against the judge investigating the August 2020 Beirut blast, causing a row that has left Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet unable to meet since Oct. 12, even as crises mount and poverty and hunger worsen. The lawyers filed the complaint on behalf of the residents of the Ain El-Remmaneh area. The residents were affected by the Tayyouneh incidents on Oct. 14 as a result of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement’s supporters entering the area and attacking properties.
Violent clashes broke out as Hezbollah and its Amal movement staged protests, calling for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the blast probe. The Oct. 14 protest turned Beirut into a war zone, with live-fire exchanges between rival parties leaving seven dead.
Thursday’s criminal complaint coincides with a rift between the Free Patriotic Movement and virtually its sole ally in power, Hezbollah.
The rift follows the Constitutional Council’s decision to turn down the appeal presented by the FPM over the changes to the electoral law added by the parliament. Lebanese President Michel Aoun and his political team, represented by the FPM, believe that these changes are not in their interest.
FPM leader Gebran Bassil — in coordination with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — showed his displeasure with Hezbollah during a press conference on Tuesday where he held the group responsible for what happened.
FPM supporters also took to social media platforms to share their anger and displeasure with the group. This rift between the two allies is the first of its kind since the Mar Mikhael agreement of February 2006.
Despite the differences between the FPM and Hezbollah for more than 15 years, their relationship was never deeply shaken.
The FPM “is facing an electoral crisis,” said political observers.
They voiced doubts about the possibility of the FPM winning 12 deputies at the next elections, noting that it has the largest bloc in the parliament. They added: “Even analyses indicate that Bassil’s parliamentary seat is under threat, as there are 27,000 votes in the third electoral district where he will run and most will vote against him.”It is uncertain whether Hezbollah and the FPM will meet soon in light of Bassil’s fierce criticism. Bassil, among 10 FPM deputies, requested to schedule a parliamentary accountability session for the government. The Cabinet has been paralyzed since mid-October as a result of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement deciding that their ministers would boycott sessions until two demands are met.They are demanding Judge Bitar’s removal from the port explosion probe and for the arrest of everyone involved in the shooting of their supporters Ain El-Remmaneh during the Tayouneh incident.
Judge Naji Eid, head of the First Chamber of the Civil Court of Cassation, accepted on Thursday the response request submitted by the representatives of former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter against Bitar, in regard to the port explosion probe.
Bitar was informed about this response, which is the seventh proposal for his dismissal from the investigation.
In relation to Hezbollah not responding to Bassil’s criticism, the party responded to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s positions less than 12 hours after he left Lebanon, emphasizing the need to implement the Security Council resolution 1701, which was written with the intent of ending the 2006 war. Meanwhile, a number of young men in Shaqra, in the Beqaa Valley south of the Litani river, intercepted a UN Interim Force patrol, breaking car windows and attacking the troops, under the pretext of them entering the town without the Lebanese army and filming neighborhoods.
Hezbollah often conducts similar violent protests under the pretense that its members are acting as concerned citizens.The Lebanese army arrived on the scene and protected the international soldiers and their vehicles. UNIFIL put the Lebanese authorities in charge of this “dangerous incident,” asking them to investigate and bring the offenders to justice. A statement from Candice Ardel, the deputy director of UNIFIL Media Office, referred to the emphasis of Guterres — when he visited the blue line in the south of Lebanon — on the need for UNIFIL’s operations to have full access — without any obstacles — to all the areas in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701. At the conclusion of his visit to Lebanon, Guterres emphasized during a press conference on Wednesday that “the Lebanese leaders do not have the right to punish the people by continuing to disagree.” He also stressed “the need for Hezbollah to become a political party like the rest of the political powers in the country.”

Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles - ALMA
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
Hezbollah had 200 Iranian-made UAVs in 2013 and has since significantly increased its fleet.
Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, many of them advanced UAVs from Iran and others manufactured independently by the Lebanese terrorist group, a new report by the ALMA Research Center has found.
Hezbollah has been using UAVs since the 1990s and has used its drones in Syria as well as against Israel. Even before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the group launched drones into Israel; and during the war, Hezbollah launched several armed drones into the country.
The report by ALMA listed several attempts by Hezbollah to fly its drones into Israel, including in October 2012 when a UAV launched over the Mediterranean Sea reached the Negev before it was intercepted by Israel Air Force jets.
The group was said to have 200 Iranian-made UAVs in 2013; and with help from the Islamic Republic, it has since significantly increased its fleet, which is set to be used for kamikaze attacks on strategic national assets in Israel as well as reconnaissance against IDF troops and bases.
According to the report, Hezbollah “most likely” has advanced UAV models such as the Mohajer, Shahed, and Samed (KAS-04), Karrar and Saegheh types. It also possesses dozens of smaller civilian drones made by China that are used to photograph as well as to carry and drop bombs.
Iran has been building its “UAV Army” since 1984, and the fleet not only has a significant range of over 2,000 kilometers but it has “very advanced development and operational capabilities,” the report said.
“Iran realized that it could not provide a military response throughout the Middle East in general and against Israel in particular, facing an air force operating warplanes. Therefore, it sought to develop two alternatives in recent decades: the first, a precision surface-to-surface missile system, and the second, a ‘UAV Army.’”Though Iran has thousands of drones, the report highlighted nine types of UAVs and 48 models, including those that are operational and others that are still in trial phases. The report also discussed UAV models used by Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
In September 2021, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Iran’s drone fleet “is one of the most significant tools developed by Iran.”
It’s “an array of deadly, precision weapons that, like a ballistic missile or a plane, can cross thousands of miles. The Iranians produce and export these aircraft to their proxies, in coordination with and led by the IRGC Air Force and Quds Force.”
According to Gantz, Iran is training militias from Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria to operate and manufacture Iranian UAVs at Kashan Base north of the city of Isfahan, “the cornerstone of Iranian aerial terrorism in the region.”
In addition to Kashan, the report noted more than 20 production, storage and launch sites used by Iran to launch drones from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The report included Konarak Civil Airport, located east of the city of Chabahar in southern Iran, Bandar Abbas Airport, Choghadak Airfield, Gonabad Airfield, Hamedan Air Base, Jakigur Airport, Jask Airport, Kushke Airport, Marjan Airstrip, Minab Airstrip and Seman Airport.
As well as its dozens of bases in the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force uses a base near the Iraqi city of Karabala alongside Iraqi Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, the IRGC and other Shi’ite militias are also active in Syria, using several air bases to launch UAV attacks.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has a launch site near the town of Aiiyat in the Beqaa Valley, as well as another runway several hundred meters long north of the town of Aiiyat on the outskirts of Baalbek.
“One of the key tools is UAVs and precision weapons, which can reach strategic targets within thousands of kilometers, and thus this capability is already endangering Sunni countries, international troops in the Middle East and also countries in Europe and Africa,” the defense minister said in September.
“Iran has created ‘emissary terrorism’ under the auspices of organized terror armies that help it achieve its economic, political and military goals. Iran is trying to transfer its knowledge that will enable Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza to produce advanced UAVs,” he added.
Tehran also attempted to send explosives to Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank from Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles, Gantz said.
The attempt to smuggle explosives, attached to a Shahed m141 UAV, occurred in February 2018; and while the IDF had originally said the drone was on its way to carry out a sabotage attack, “its destination was, to our understanding, terrorists in the West Bank.
“Iran is not only using unmanned aerial vehicles to attack but also to transfer weapons to its proxies,” he warned.
The Islamic Republic has designed UAVs capable of operating in a swarm, 10 or more drones. Unveiled in April, Iran developed a drone with a combat warhead weighing between 5 kg. and 15 kg. with an operational range of 400 km.
A drone and missile swarm by Iran was first used in September 2019 against Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil processing facility in Abqaiq, some 1,000 kilometers from where the drones were launched. The attack disrupted the kingdom’s ability to produce oil for months and alerted the international community to the threat posed by Iran’s drone arsenal. Iran has since carried out several more drone attacks, including the deadly attack on the MT Mercer Street that killed the British captain and Romanian security guard.

طوني بدران: هل تواجه إسرائيل حقيقة واقع حماس وحزب الله؟
Is Israel Facing Up To Reality On Hamas and Hezbollah?
Tony Badran/The Tablet/December 23/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105000/tony-badran-the-tablet-%d8%b7%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%87%d9%84-%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%ac%d9%87-%d8%a5%d8%b3%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%ad%d9%82%d9%8a%d9%82%d8%a9/
On Dec. 10, a large explosion rocked the Palestinian camp Burj al-Shemali outside the southern Lebanon city of Tyre. The site of the explosion was a center belonging to the Palestinian terror group Hamas that includes a mosque and a health clinic. Residents told local media that a fire from the blast spread to the mosque, where it triggered the explosion of weapons stored inside.
On the surface, the explosion served as a reminder of Hamas’ habitual use of civilian structures for military purposes and of the group’s military activity in Lebanon. But, more important, the incident highlighted that Israel may finally be breaking with its shortsighted public posture that Hezbollah bears no responsibility for Hamas’ activity. Shortly before the explosion at Burj al-Shemali, there were long overdue signs of Israel developing a new willingness to acknowledge reality and hold Hezbollah responsible for attacks carried out in the country the group controls.
In 2018, Israel publicized an assessment of Hamas building training camps and weapons facilities in Lebanon with assistance from Hezbollah, but its posture toward Hezbollah in Lebanon mostly impeded its willingness to take any overt action to deter the buildup. Then the issue resurfaced this past May, during the brief war between Israel and Hamas. While the fighting was focused in Gaza and southern Israel, on three separate occasions that month, an unidentified group, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the time maintained was a Palestinian faction, fired rockets at Israel from southern Lebanon. Most of them landed in the Mediterranean or failed to make it into Israeli territory. The IDF responded with artillery shelling, and that was the end of it. No second front opened up in the north, and Hezbollah didn’t join the fray.
After the May war ended, there were two more such rocket attacks, in late July and in early August. The last one saw a slight escalation in Israel’s response as the IDF used airstrikes in addition to artillery fire, but struck nothing of value. In turn, Hezbollah decided it needed to respond in order to preserve what it calls the deterrence equation, which says such Israeli strikes inside Lebanese territory cannot be left unanswered. Its response was therefore formulaic: a barrage of 20 rockets deliberately fired into open terrain in the Golan Heights. Once again, Israel and Hezbollah had performed their dance, and it ended there. There were no other rocket attacks by this so-called Palestinian faction.
While the attack-counterattack sequence was a predictable feature of the status quo, the Israeli response over the past six months was significant for how absurd it was. The messaging that came out of Israel about the power dynamics in Lebanon and what the proper Israeli course of action should be, presumably informed in part by the IDF, pushed two main points. First, that Hamas’ activities, although assisted and supervised by Iran, actually presented a challenge for Hezbollah. That is, Hamas supposedly was looking to operationalize a second front against Israel irrespective of or even against Hezbollah’s preference, which could in turn embroil Hezbollah in a conflict it didn’t necessarily want. Second, that Israel’s response to any provocation from Hamas in the north should be in Gaza, not necessarily in Lebanon, so as not to play into Hamas’ hand.
What this messaging was about, really, was Israel’s posture toward Hezbollah. Israeli officials understood that it was Iran and Hezbollah who allowed Hamas (assuming it was Hamas or even a “Palestinian faction”) to fire those rockets during the last Gaza war, and that by doing so they were engaged in a probing exercise designed to test Israel’s response. Iran and Hezbollah wanted to see if they could extend the rules of engagement that Israel has agreed to in Lebanon—Israel avoids striking in Lebanon, Hezbollah does not activate the Lebanese front—to Hamas (or an “anonymous” party). This would establish a precedent in which Hamas—or, for that matter, any unnamed faction—could harass Israel from Lebanese territory under Hezbollah’s protective umbrella. Israel would be dissuaded from retaliating with serious strikes inside Lebanon by the risk of setting off a broader war with Hezbollah. The gambit was to influence Israel’s operational calculus in Gaza and the West Bank, and even in Jerusalem, as Hezbollah stated explicitly during the May war. More generally, it would allow Iran and Hezbollah to heat things up with Israel, from Lebanon, cost-free.
The IDF’s response to the attacks between May and August on the one hand signaled Israel’s refusal to accept an alteration to the existing rules. On the other hand, it communicated that Israel was not interested in changing them itself. Against that backdrop, all the presumably IDF-informed commentary reinforced this posture: Israel sees Hamas’ operations in Lebanon as independent from — or even intended to embroil — Hezbollah. By endorsing the fiction that Hamas is an independent actor in Lebanon capable of going rogue, Israeli officials justify not countering aggression from Hezbollah. The nominal benefit of that tactic is that it avoids allowing minor incidents to escalate into a larger war—but at the cost of allowing Iran and Hezbollah to manipulate Israel’s self-deterrence and push the envelope.
There are signs, finally, that Israel has potentially reevaluated this approach and is bringing its public messaging closer in line with reality. A week before the Dec. 10 explosion at the Burj al-Shemali camp, an unsourced report in Israel’s Yediot Ahronot laid out the latest, presumably official assessment of Hamas activities and plans in Lebanon and their relation to Hezbollah and Iran. The report retained some of the standard silliness, but significantly, it held Hezbollah responsible for Hamas’ activity. The report stated plainly that Hezbollah oversaw the establishment of whatever capability Hamas is said to be building in Lebanon and added, correctly, that the Shiite group had a veto over any movement by Hamas it did not approve of. It then went on to say that any Hamas attacks from Lebanon will require “a strong Israeli response in Lebanon,” even as it reiterated that neither Hezbollah nor Israel were interested in a major conflict.
Is this a meaningful shift? And, if so, why now? While subtle, this modification is in accord with another message Israel has conveyed: Should Hezbollah press ahead with local production of precision-guided missiles, the IDF would jettison the existing rules and target the assembly facilities in Lebanon. As for timing, it’s not entirely clear why this is happening now except that perhaps Israeli officials recognize that they are running out of time.
After a decade of misreading the United States’ intentions on Iran, the Israelis are now watching in horror as the same Obama administration crew is leading them, once again, toward the endgame of a nuclear Iran. Forced to reckon with the fact that it will be up to Israel to deal with that threat, the Israeli government is now openly talking about plans for a strike on Iran’s nuclear program.
*Tony Badran is Tablet magazine’s Levant analyst and a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets @AcrossTheBay. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, non-partisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles - ALMA
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
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Hezbollah had 200 Iranian-made UAVs in 2013 and has since significantly increased its fleet.
Hezbollah has some 2,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, many of them advanced UAVs from Iran and others manufactured independently by the Lebanese terrorist group, a new report by the ALMA Research Center has found.
Hezbollah has been using UAVs since the 1990s and has used its drones in Syria as well as against Israel. Even before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the group launched drones into Israel; and during the war, Hezbollah launched several armed drones into the country.
The report by ALMA listed several attempts by Hezbollah to fly its drones into Israel, including in October 2012 when a UAV launched over the Mediterranean Sea reached the Negev before it was intercepted by Israel Air Force jets.
The group was said to have 200 Iranian-made UAVs in 2013; and with help from the Islamic Republic, it has since significantly increased its fleet, which is set to be used for kamikaze attacks on strategic national assets in Israel as well as reconnaissance against IDF troops and bases.
According to the report, Hezbollah “most likely” has advanced UAV models such as the Mohajer, Shahed, and Samed (KAS-04), Karrar and Saegheh types. It also possesses dozens of smaller civilian drones made by China that are used to photograph as well as to carry and drop bombs.
Iran has been building its “UAV Army” since 1984, and the fleet not only has a significant range of over 2,000 kilometers but it has “very advanced development and operational capabilities,” the report said.
“Iran realized that it could not provide a military response throughout the Middle East in general and against Israel in particular, facing an air force operating warplanes. Therefore, it sought to develop two alternatives in recent decades: the first, a precision surface-to-surface missile system, and the second, a ‘UAV Army.’”Though Iran has thousands of drones, the report highlighted nine types of UAVs and 48 models, including those that are operational and others that are still in trial phases. The report also discussed UAV models used by Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
In September 2021, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Iran’s drone fleet “is one of the most significant tools developed by Iran.”
It’s “an array of deadly, precision weapons that, like a ballistic missile or a plane, can cross thousands of miles. The Iranians produce and export these aircraft to their proxies, in coordination with and led by the IRGC Air Force and Quds Force.”
According to Gantz, Iran is training militias from Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria to operate and manufacture Iranian UAVs at Kashan Base north of the city of Isfahan, “the cornerstone of Iranian aerial terrorism in the region.”
In addition to Kashan, the report noted more than 20 production, storage and launch sites used by Iran to launch drones from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The report included Konarak Civil Airport, located east of the city of Chabahar in southern Iran, Bandar Abbas Airport, Choghadak Airfield, Gonabad Airfield, Hamedan Air Base, Jakigur Airport, Jask Airport, Kushke Airport, Marjan Airstrip, Minab Airstrip and Seman Airport.
As well as its dozens of bases in the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force uses a base near the Iraqi city of Karabala alongside Iraqi Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, the IRGC and other Shi’ite militias are also active in Syria, using several air bases to launch UAV attacks.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has a launch site near the town of Aiiyat in the Beqaa Valley, as well as another runway several hundred meters long north of the town of Aiiyat on the outskirts of Baalbek.
“One of the key tools is UAVs and precision weapons, which can reach strategic targets within thousands of kilometers, and thus this capability is already endangering Sunni countries, international troops in the Middle East and also countries in Europe and Africa,” the defense minister said in September.
“Iran has created ‘emissary terrorism’ under the auspices of organized terror armies that help it achieve its economic, political and military goals. Iran is trying to transfer its knowledge that will enable Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza to produce advanced UAVs,” he added.
Tehran also attempted to send explosives to Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank from Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles, Gantz said.
The attempt to smuggle explosives, attached to a Shahed m141 UAV, occurred in February 2018; and while the IDF had originally said the drone was on its way to carry out a sabotage attack, “its destination was, to our understanding, terrorists in the West Bank.
“Iran is not only using unmanned aerial vehicles to attack but also to transfer weapons to its proxies,” he warned.
The Islamic Republic has designed UAVs capable of operating in a swarm, 10 or more drones. Unveiled in April, Iran developed a drone with a combat warhead weighing between 5 kg. and 15 kg. with an operational range of 400 km.
A drone and missile swarm by Iran was first used in September 2019 against Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil processing facility in Abqaiq, some 1,000 kilometers from where the drones were launched. The attack disrupted the kingdom’s ability to produce oil for months and alerted the international community to the threat posed by Iran’s drone arsenal. Iran has since carried out several more drone attacks, including the deadly attack on the MT Mercer Street that killed the British captain and Romanian security guard.

5 initiatives that made 2021 bearable
Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/December 23/2021
NOW’s roundup of 5 humanitarian contributors who helped the Lebanese navigate a challenging year. While everything seemed to be going wrong for Lebanon in 2021, from the declining local currency that hit its lowest rate to the dollar at 28,000 pounds to $1 last week, people found some relief in the individuals and initiatives that worked to alleviate the various forms of suffering.
Basecamp
Basecamp came to life after the August 4 Beirut Port explosion. It is a mostly volunteer-based initiative that unites Embrace (Lebanon’s national mental health hotline), housing project Baytna Baytak, Minteshreen, and citizens’ organization “Muwatin Lebnene”. During the post-explosion phase, the initiative was mainly focused on providing medical supplies and services, cleaning, and home renovations. They also provided food to those in need. The group’s headquarters is in Mar Mikhael’s bus station. They provided food boxes sent by volunteers and provided ready-to-eat meals to other NGOS, such as the Red Cross and Caritas. Basecamp also participated in a period awareness campaign to support women’s empowerment and challenge the taboo of menstrual cycles. They even distributed a large number of pads, as the cost of this essential product has increased drastically. By working with Embrace, the group also highlighted the importance of mental health and provided the necessary services. The Basecamp team recycling used furniture for people in need. Photo: Courtesy of @emiliemadiphotography.
When a fuel tank exploded in Akkar, north Lebanon on August 15, killing around 33 people and injuring more than 80 others, the Basecamp team headed out to provide medical care through medicines donated by the diaspora and the support of local medical professionals.
The group has been a key player in filling the role of caretakers in light of the country’s financial collapse that left many families impoverished. .
The group helped people from all ages and regions of Lebanon. From elders who needed special care, physiotherapy, and food, to children who needed milk, school supplies, and toys. In their most recent initiative, Basecamp helped gather 70 heaters, 140 blankets and 140 solar lamps for families in need.
The group has been active since August 4 2020 and are not planning to stop anytime soon. “We came back from death. Beirut literally fell on our heads and we were all there when it happened. When you survive that, you can survive anything and you won’t stop until the job is done.” Roy Tohme, lawyer and member of Basecamp told NOW.
Thawramap
Run by anonymous admins and followed by over 50 thousand people on Instagram, the account “Thawramap” became a reference point for those who want to name and shame politicians, and expose their lavish lifestyles.
The account began as a map that coordinated the locations of the protests during the October 17 revolution. But after the covid 19 lockdowns and the dwindling street movements, the account turned into a 24-hour functioning radar that monitors politicians through activists scattered all over the world.
“This account is also run by 4 million+ Lebanese (inside Lebanon) and 14 million+ (outside Lebanon), meaning that they are the soul and essence and source of what we do. They represent the page as much as our team of admins,” one admin told NOW. The account receives information from insiders from all walks of life, from regular citizens who happened to be in the same location as a politician, to political and legal insiders that help expose the corruption and abuse. The page has been running since January 2020 and according to activists and lawyers, every security agency in Lebanon, as well as most politicians, want the heads of the account admins.
It was initially the people’s choice for the account to become a political watchdog after a survey was conducted on their Instagram account.
Last summer, while the crisis was worsening and Lebanon’s population were waiting in line to fill up petrol, certain politicians were celebrating their children’s marriages in lavish weddings and the account made sure to expose the excess. .
The page did not see their activity as harassment, but as a way of directly confronting, even communicating, with members of the ruling class.
They also remain unfazed despite all the security risks. “Are the risks we could face comparable to the risks people faced in their own homes on August 4th?”
Lebanese expats
As pharmacy shelves started to run out of medicines and black market options were beyond the budget of many, Lebanese expats stepped in to help.
Peggy Bedoyian and her friends, who live in Los Angeles, founded Califorleb in 2019, an Instagram page meant to help raise funds and send food boxes to those in need. But in the summer of 2021, their direct messages flooded with medicine requests from Lebanon. Many importers struggled to bring medicine into the country, so diaspora networks, such as Califorleb, teamed up with each other and organized their efforts through social media.
Expats returning to Lebanon would fill up their bags with baby formula, sanitary pads and all forms of medicines. The Califorleb team also worked with networks in Turkey and France, whenever medicines couldn’t be purchased in the United States due to restrictions.
Bedoyian explained that they used to secure funds through parties and social gatherings, but the mood within the diaspora had turned gloomy in the last couple of years. The team then organized different types of fundraisers such as Yoga and marathon events.
Expats also played an important role when cancer medicines became harder to find and more requests started to pour in asking for help in acquiring them.
Califorleb’s latest initiative was to distribute rechargeable heaters and lamps to the elderly and families in need as the cold season sets in.
Despite the expensive costs and the relentless requests, expats from all continents helped the Lebanese through personal initiatives such as filling up suitcases or raising funds for those in need. Local NGOs in collaboration with the Lebanese diaspora took on the role of the state by providing people with a few free medical services and more access to medication.
A street artist named Brady
It’s hard to miss the wall of huge portraits in Martyrs’ square that represent the 200 victims who died in the August 4 explosion. It is also hard to miss the Lebanese sad emigrants murals on Hamra Street. They are both Brady Black’s deeds. The 43-year-old American artist, born and raised in Texas, moved to Lebanon in 2015 with his wife Amber to open a school for abused and abandoned children. In 2016, Black discovered a new form of art after he heard about Lebanon’s urban sketchers, a group of artists who draw images while at the scene. He began live-sketching during the October 17 uprising in 2019 and posted them on social media so that the audience could use them freely. His Instagram account grew to almost 5000 followers.
In October 2020, Black was involved in what he called “mischief” – producing art pieces in public areas while undercover. He also created art pieces of homeless people that he would frequently encounter on the streets of Hamra to highlight the ones who were often ignored. One of his projects was the “Beirut is screaming” series where he drew Lebanese people screaming to express their frustration over the current situation. Black has also been part of various art projects that aimed to raise awareness to societal issues and individuals that were overlooked by the majority. His latest was in collaboration with Syrian artists that produced a mural of stories by women who suffered war trauma in Syria. Black also sketches various day-to-day issues that the Lebanese go through from waiting in long lines for Petrol in the summer or expressing their frustration with the current economic crisis.
Homeless children were not mere bystanders when the artist is out and about. They either participated in the drawing or painting process or they were the models he used to make large portraits to remain seen by everyone.
“I went to hang out with some local kids and drew H* on the wall near her one-room home. She helped remind me that Good and Beauty never left. Hopefully, I helped her too. Now today I have to draw her brothers bc they were all crying that they didn’t get a spot on the wall” Black posted on his Instagram account.
FoodBlessed
Maya Terro, 35, co-founded FoodBlessed in 2012, a hunger-relief and food rescue organization that works to solve the hunger and food waste issues in the country. The organization distributes food to struggling families, homeless individuals, refugees, and local nonprofits that work with people in vulnerable communities. The NGO started as a project for a workshop on social responsibility organized by CSR Al Ahli, a corporation that aims at providing support to 40 young entrepreneurs every year. Terro’s project won first place but it wasn’t before 2014 when she decided to quit her job and dedicate her time fully to FoodBlessed.
The NGO relies on donations, however, due to the pandemic and bank restrictions on withdrawing funds, the organization had to rely less on monetary funds and more on volunteerism.
FoodBlessed "hunger heroes" volunteers working to fill the gap that the crisis created by helping all those in need. Photo: Courtesy of Maya Terro.
“At the beginning, everyone thought that something like FoodBlessed would never last. They even told me that I can’t run an NGO with no staff,” Terro told NOW. The organization operates six days a week, where interested volunteers (or hunger heroes, as they like to call themselves) meet at the community kitchen to prepare up to 900 meals. The brain drain that hit the country due to the current crisis cost FoodBlessed a large number of its volunteers. But Terro remains optimistic as she believes that now the responsibility is greater on those who stayed to fill the gap.
With the soaring poverty and unemployment rates, more people are in need of hunger-relief aid. FoodBlessed was able to serve 2,000,000 meals, package 45,000 food assistance packages, recover and donate over 2,000,000 tons of food waste, and involve more than 3800 community members, since its launch.
This year, they were able to settle in a three-story building which facilitated their operations. But the work took its toll on Terro’s mental and physical health. She had lost weight and suffered from depression and anxiety.
“Many times I wake up feeling overwhelmed with thoughts running in my mind and anxiety would often cripple so I’d start my day with a twisted stomach and a troubled mind. Especially with everything that has happened in Lebanon and is still happening since two years ago. But then I pull myself together and remind myself that if I don’t get out of bed, many people will have to suffer as a consequence,” Terro said.
*Dana Hourany is a multimedia journalist with @NOW_leb. She is on Instagram @danahourany.

Interview With: Hezbollah Is An Elephant in The Room, and Must Transform into Political Party Like Others in Lebanon
Beirut – Ali Barada/ Asharq Al-Awsat/December, 23/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105007/interview-with-hezbollah-is-an-elephant-in-the-room-and-must-transform-into-political-party-like-others-in-lebanon-%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%84%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%b1%d9%82/
Guterres Says He Received Guarantees from Aoun, Mikati and Berri that Elections Will Be 'Free and Fair'
The current situation in Lebanon "breaks my heart,” said Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, during his state visit to the battered county. Guterres called upon the Lebanese political leaders to come together to carry out "fundamental reforms" over any other interests, adding that“ the foreign interference” in the internal life of this country must end.
Guterres suggested that Lebanon “needs a new social contract” that allows rebuilding the middle class that was eliminated, revealing that he had obtained clear pledges from the three presidents, Michel Aoun, Nabih Berri and Najib Mikati, to conduct a“ free and fair” legislative elections in early May next year. He reiterated the demand for Hezbollah to be transformed into a purely political party, like any other political force in the country. Guterres expressed his "grave concern" regarding the “no war, no peace” situation in Syria, noting that the mediation of Geir Pedersen, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, is the "only game in town.”
Here is the text of the conversation:
- There are a lot of things happening in this country. Your personal feeling about what is going on?
Lebanon is a country that I love. Lebanon represents an old civilization. Many people say that Lisbon the capital of Portugal was founded by the Phoenicians. Lebanon has shown, when I was High Commissioner for Refugees, an enormous generosity in receiving over one million Syrian refugees, sharing with them its resources already in a rather difficult situation. Lebanon represents the possibility of a society combining different ethnic groups and different religious groups and built a democracy with it. So I have for Lebanon very strong feelings and a huge admiration for the Lebanese people. So to see Lebanon in the present situation, it breaks my heart and to see the Lebanese people in this situation breaks my heart.
I think we need two essential transformations. One is that I think Lebanon needs deep reforms. Lebanon needs its political leaders to be able to come together and to be able to understand at the present moment Lebanon and the people of Lebanon come before anything else. They must accept that Lebanon must be a country without corruption, that Lebanon must be a country with full accountability and that Lebanon must be a country with reforms that are essential for its economy and its society to prosper and at the same time. We need an international community in which no country is trying to interfere in the internal life of Lebanon and at the same time that is able to mobilize the resources and the support that a serious program of reforms will require.
- You urged the Lebanese leaders to come together and implement reforms. In practical terms, what steps do they need to take?
It is clear that elections must be held and must be free and fair. I have to say that today I got a very clear guarantee from the President [Michel Aoun], from the Prime Minister [Najib Mikati] and from the Speaker of Parliament [Nabih Berri] that elections will take place at the beginning of May before the constitutional date. Second, we need to have the possibility of a government that is able to conduct the reforms that are essential, reforms from the point of view of the financial structure of the country, from the point of view of the economic structure of the country, from the point of view of the creation of a true social protection system, a safety net that doesn’t exist in the Lebanese society.
Lebanon was prosperous but was never inclusive. And a government that is able to engage with civil society and establish with civil society a partnership to guarantee that corruption is eliminated and to guarantee that there is effective participation of all communities in the future of the country.
- Are you talking here about a new political and social pact for Lebanon?
It is clear for me that Lebanon needs a new social contract. When I came as High Commissioner for Refugees and discussed the problem of the Syrian children in school, I looked at the statistics and saw that there were many more Lebanese children in school than the Syrians that we needed to have in school. So I was convinced that it would be relatively easy to solve the problem until the then minister of education told me that the majority - more than 60 percent - of Lebanese children were in private schools and that Syrian refugee children outnumbered the Lebanese in public schools.
So Lebanon never had a true safety net, never had a true welfare state. It was a prosperous society but a society in which many became very rich and others had no protection. The moment the crisis erupted in the absence of an effective social protection system, what we have seen was disaggregation of the middle class. So we need to reconstruct Lebanon in a sustainable and inclusive way.
Politicians lack credibility
- You are trending on the social media with posts saying that Guterres is coming here to give credibility to the political class that has failed to lead this country and pushed this country to the brink. Is that what you are doing?
No. I am here to talk with those that are in power, I am here to talk with the civil society, I am here to talk with the youth, I am here to talk with people. I have been to Tripoli to talk with people who carry out various activities in the city. It would be impossible to solve the problems of the country if I do not engage with those who are responsible for the country at the present moment. The engagement is always fundamental even when we want to change.
- Hezbollah is present in every and each report you have been issuing since you became Secretary-General. On this trip so far, I haven’t heard any word from you about the party that so many people, in Lebanon, the Arab world and beyond, believe is the real problem in Lebanon. Why?
I think there are many problems in Lebanon. I think that it is important that Hezbollah becomes a political party that plays the political party rules as any other political party in Lebanon. The only way to make it happen is by strengthening the Lebanese institutions. When you have an elephant in the room, the best thing you can do is to enlarge the room for the elephant not to be a problem.
- And among other things to pay money from the UN or through the UN to the Lebanese army?
We are supporting the Lebanese army with our resources that are meager. We massive support from the international community to the Lebanese army.
- Lebanon’s relations in the Arab world are at risk now because of what we witnessed recently, including the severing of diplomatic relations by Saudi Arabia and other countries. All this appears to favor forming good relations with Iran. What would you tell the Lebanese? Do they have to sever their relations with the Arab world and build a better relationship with Iran?
No, on the contrary, I think Lebanon must make an effort to improve relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council. I had a lunch before coming to Lebanon with the Ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council. I know [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron was in Saudi Arabia. I think it is absolutely essential that Lebanon reestablishes relations with the Gulf countries. And I appeal to the countries of the Gulf - I know Kuwait has been very active in promoting this connection – I appeal to the countries of the Gulf to be part of the recovery of Lebanon. For that, let’s be frank, we live today in a world where everybody is talking to everybody. Even Saudi Arabia is now talking to Iran in Iraq.
- Is that a good thing?
I think that the absence of dialogue is many times a reason why difficult relations transform themselves into wars.
- The refugees issue has been all over the place since your visit and there is this step-by-step approach that Pedersen is trying to promote regarding Syria, including the help of the return of refugees. What are your thoughts and plans about these issues?
I am very worried about Syria because I think Syria lives in a situation of "no war, no peace". You have independently many militias, foreign armies that are in Syria. The situation seems to be blocked and I believe that the only game in town, the only serious effort that is being made in order to overcome the present standoff is the efforts by Geir Pedersen to restart a serious dialogue between the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition because the Syrians need to understand finally that the only way to get rid of all the foreign influences in Syria is to be able to come together between them.
- What is the first step?
The first step is the constitutional committee and after that, there is something important, the guarantee that there will be free and fair elections and the guarantee that there will be a political process that respects the values that are essential in modern society.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 23-24/2021
A Message from the Archdiocese of Toronto
December 23, 2021
Dear friends,
We pray that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy as we journey towards the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
As many Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto discern their plans over the next several days, we offer the following information to help you make an informed decision regarding Christmas services:
The Archdiocese of Toronto’s 225 churches remain open for prayer and sacramental celebrations. We continue to operate at significantly reduced capacity (in most parishes approximately 30%) with physical distancing required between non-family members. We recognize this is a fluid situation and continue to monitor conditions and remain in regular contact with government and health officials.
Please check with your local parish regarding their Christmas schedule. Many have scheduled additional Masses and many will require advance reservations. The Archdiocese of Toronto website provides links to parish websites along with appropriate contact information.
All churches continue to follow WorshipSafe protocols to ensure a safe environment for those joining us this Christmas season. This includes distanced seating, use of masks inside the church (limited medical exemptions apply) and slightly modified services to make every effort to minimize the risk of transmission of Covid-19. These measures have served us all well over the past two years.
If you are feeling unwell or experiencing Covid-19 symptoms, please do not come to Mass. As we have seen throughout the country (and globally) in recent days, the Omicron variant is particularly contagious. If you are symptomatic, seek out a rapid-antigen test, a PCR test or consult with your physician – and, most importantly, for the safety of others, please stay home.
Many parishes continue to offer livestream services, including St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica. Christmas services are also available online through Salt & Light Catholic Media Foundation and the National Catholic Broadcasting Council.
In these days of uncertainty, we find hope and peace in the birth of Jesus, our Savior. Wherever you may be celebrating Christmas this year, we pray that you and your loved ones will experience good health, the love of family and friends and the comfort of a loving God who has blessed us in abundance now and always.

Canadian Imam Younus Kathrada: Congratulating People on Christmas Is Like Congratulating Murderers And Pedophiles; It Is A Major Sin
MEMRI/December 23, 2021
Canada | Special Dispatch No. 9695
https://www.memri.org/reports/canadian-imam-younus-kathrada-congratulating-people-christmas-congratulating-murderers-and
In a Friday, December 17, 2021 sermon at Muslim Youth Victoria, Canadian Sheikh Younus Kathrada discussed congratulating non-Muslims on their festivals during the Christmas season. Sheikh Kathrada said to his audience that since they would not congratulate fornicators, murderers, or pedophiles, they must also not congratulate people who are insulting Allah by celebrating Christmas. Sheikh Kathrada then prayed for Allah to humiliate the infidels, to annihilate the atheists, to destroy the enemies of Islam, and to support those who wage jihad. Sheikh Kathrada's sermon was uploaded to Muslim Youth Victoria's YouTube channel on December 19, 2021.
For more about Sheikh Younus Kathrada, including similar remarks about Christmas, see MEMRI TV Clips Nos. 9050, 8878, 8409, 8289, 8003, 7896, 7534, 7098, 6950, and 6906.
To view the clip of Imam Younus Kathrada on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"Would You Congratulate A Fornicator? Would You Congratulate A Murderer? Obviously Not!"
Sheikh Younus Kathrada: "Yes, it's Christmas season, so many people ask: 'Why should I not congratulate the people on this occasion?'
"There is no such thing as an innocent congratulation. No! Would you congratulate a fornicator? Would you congratulate a murderer? Obviously not! Would you congratulate a pedophile? Obviously not! So how then can you congratulate people for insulting Allah?
"Where is your love for your Creator, when you approve of people insulting Allah?
"Oh Allah, Give Strength To Islam And The Muslims, Humiliate The Infidels And The Polytheists, Destroy The Enemies Of [Our] Religion, Annihilate The Heretics And The Atheists"
"It is a major sin, and it is disbelief.
"Oh Allah, give strength to Islam and the Muslims, humiliate the infidels and the polytheists, destroy the enemies of [our] religion, annihilate the heretics and the atheists. Oh Allah, support those who wage Jihad for Your sake everywhere."

Lift sanctions to dispel concerns over Iran nuclear program, Tehran tells West
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/23 December ,2021
Iran’s top diplomat said on Thursday that if Western powers want their concerns over the progress of Iran’s nuclear program to be dispelled, they must lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran.“When [Western powers] say that they are concerned about the progress of Iran’s nuclear program, we say out loud that if you want your concerns to be dispelled, all JCPOA-related sanctions must be lifted,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahain said, using the acronym for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Talks between the remaining signatories to the 2015 deal – Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain –resumed in Vienna in November after a five-month pause. Amir-Abdollahian slammed France, Germany and the UK, saying they did not always play a constructive role in the negotiations and that they did not “show any new initiative in the negotiations.”
“In general, we did not see the position of some European countries, specifically France, as constructive. We hope that the French side will play a constructive role,” he said. Amir-Abdollahian thanked Russia and China for their roles in the talks. Iran is participating in the talks “in good faith and with seriousness,” he said, adding that Iran will not allow the other parties to “give one concession and get ten in return.”The talks in Vienna will resume next Monday, officials said on Thursday. The US is participating indirectly in the talks that aim to bring Iran back into compliance with the pact and facilitate a US return to the agreement.Under the deal, Iran limited its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Washington withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, reimposing sweeping sanctions on Tehran. US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley said Tuesday that there are only “some weeks left” before there will no longer be a nuclear deal to revive. “If they (Iran) continue at their current pace, we have some weeks left but not much more than that, at which point, I think, the conclusion will be that there’s no deal to be revived,” Malley said.

US Navy Seizes Illicit Weapons Heading from Iran to the Houthis
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
The US Navy said it seized a large cache of assault rifles and ammunition being smuggled by a fishing ship from Iran likely bound for Yemen's Houthis. US Navy patrol ships discovered the weapons aboard what the Navy described as a stateless fishing vessel in an operation that began on Monday in the northern reaches of the Arabian Sea off Oman and Pakistan. Sailors boarded the vessel and found 1,400 Kalashnikov-style rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition, as well five Yemeni crew members. Western nations and UN experts repeatedly have accused Iran of smuggling illicit weapons and technology into Yemen over the years, fueling the civil war and enabling the Houthis to fire missiles and drones into neighboring Saudi Arabia. In an unusually pointed move, the statement late Wednesday from the Navy blamed Iran for sending the weapons, saying the boat was sailing along a route “historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully to the Houthis in Yemen.”“The direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates UN Security Council Resolutions and US sanctions,” The Associated Press quoted the statement as saying. US Navy patrol ships transferred the confiscated weapons to the guided-missile destroyer USS O’Kane before sinking the fishing vessel because of the “hazard” it posed to commercial shipping. It said the Yemeni crew would be repatriated. American seizures of arms bound for Yemen’s war, typically Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, began in 2016 and have continued intermittently. Yemen is awash with small arms that have been smuggled into poorly controlled ports over years of conflict. The Navy’s 5th fleet said it has confiscated some 8,700 illicit weapons so far this year across the 2.5 million-square-mile area it patrols, including the strategically important Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

Iran Says to Mount New Anti-missile System to Protect Its Tanks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Iran announced plans to install anti-missile system on the turrets of T-72M tanks to protect them from attack, the Fars news agency reported on Wednesday. "The system has been tested and will be installed on the tank turrets. It will be able to deflect all types of missiles by jamming their systems," Fars said, on the third day of land and sea military manoeuvres in three of Iran's southern provinces. The agency also reported Iran's Revolutionary Guards land forces chief, General Mohammad Pakpour, as saying the tanks' main gun has a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) range and precision night-time capabilities.
The report came during Iranian military exercises, and after the United States said it was preparing "alternatives" in case negotiations to revive a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program collapse in Vienna. According to AFP, Iran's military fired several missiles from land and sea as part of the five-day exercise earlier on Tuesday. The drills are taking place in three Gulf coastal provinces, including in Bushehr, not far from the country's only nuclear power plant. The T-72 tank was first produced in the former Soviet Union 50 years ago.

Iran Nuclear Talks to Resume on Dec. 27
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Talks to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Monday, two parties to the talks said. "Usually it isn’t popular to engage in serious business b/w the Catholic Christmas and the New Year," Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's top envoy to the talks, tweeted on Thursday. "In this particular case this is an indication that all negotiators don’t want to waste time and aim at speediest restoration of #JCPOA," he added, using the acronym for the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The European Union's foreign service said the meeting would be attended by representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran. "Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides," the External Action Service's statement said. The original deal, struck in 2015, offered Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. The agreement unraveled after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Iran. Since then, Iran has resumed its nuclear program, enriching uranium and operating centrifuges beyond the limits set under the deal. Israel has been critical of the attempts to reach a new deal with Iran, saying the international community is giving in to “nuclear blackmail.” It says any new agreement must make improvements over the original deal, and that the talks must be accompanied by a “credible” threat by the US to use military force against Iran if necessary.

Iran FM: European Stance not Constructive at Nuclear Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
European negotiators in talks to salvage Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers presented no "new practical initiatives" and were not constructive in the last round that paused on Dec. 17, the Iranian foreign minister said on Thursday. The negotiations will resume on Dec. 27, Russia and the European Union's foreign service said earlier on Thursday, a day after the US national security adviser warned the troubled talks with Iran could be exhausted within weeks. “We do not see the position of some European countries as constructive, specifically that of France,” Iranian state media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as saying. “When they say they are concerned about the progress of Iran's nuclear program, we say out loud: ‘If you want to have your concerns addressed, then all sanctions must be lifted.’”The nuclear accord began unravelling in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew Washington out and reimposed stringent economic sanctions against Tehran, which responded by resuming and then accelerating its enrichment of uranium, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. The talks have made scant progress since they resumed earlier this month after a five-month hiatus following the election of hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Announcing the planned resumption of the talks next week, top Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted: "In this particular case this is an indication that all negotiators don’t want to waste time and aim at speediest restoration of (the deal)." "Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the (deal) and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides," an EU foreign service statement said. Tehran has sought changes to an outline of a deal that had taken shape in six previous rounds of talks, leaving them largely deadlocked while Western powers warned that time was running out to rein in Iran's fast-advancing nuclear activities. Senior British, French and German diplomats offered a pessimistic assessment of efforts to revive the deal under which Iran had limited its disputed nuclear program in return for relief from US, European Union and UN economic sanctions. According to Reuters, Amirabdollahian said Iran had “managed to get (our) views orally approved by all parties in the draft that will be discussed next week.” He did not elaborate.

Iran Accepts Tea in Payment for Sri Lankan Oil Debt
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Iran has agreed to accept Ceylon tea in payment for a Sri Lankan oil debt valued at $251 million, Iranian media reported Thursday. "In recent negotiations, we reached a written deal to reimburse Iran's debt and interest on it in the form of a monthly shipment of tea produced in Sri Lanka," the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization said. Alireza Peyman-Pak was quoted as saying that "a deal was reached on Tuesday, according to which Sri Lanka will export tea to Iran every month to settle a $251 million debt for Iranian oil supplied to Sri Lanka nine years ago". In 2016, Ceylon tea made up nearly half of Iranian consumption, but the proportion has declined in recent years, AFP reported. The barter deal will allow sanctions-hit Iran to avoid having to use up scarce hard currency to pay for imports of the widely consumed staple, Peyman-Pak said. "Iran and Sri Lanka have great potential to develop mutual trade," he said, adding that Iran's non-oil exports to the country are valued at less than $100 million a year. Sri Lankan Plantation Industries Minister Ramesh Pathirana said the deal "will not violate any UN or US sanctions since tea has been categorized as a food item under humanitarian grounds", according to the Economynext website. He added that Iranian banks that have been blacklisted under US sanctions will not be involved in the transaction.

Syria’s War Killed Over 3,700 in 2021
Beirut, London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
The Syrian war killed 3,746 people in 2021, a monitor said Wednesday, significantly fewer than in 2020, which had already seen the decade-old war's lowest death toll. According to figures compiled by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 1,505 of them were civilians and among those 360 were children. Land mines and explosive objects constitute an issue in the war, as the Landmine Monitor said in November that Syria had overtaken Afghanistan as the country with the highest number of recorded casualties from landmines and other explosive remnants of the war. The 2021 death toll shows a significant decrease compared to the year before, during which the Observatory recorded the deaths of more than 6,800 people. The Syrian conflict in 2019 killed more than 10,000 people, while the year 2014 recorded the death of 70,000 people, the highest annual toll of the war. According to SOHR figures, 600 members of the regime forces and more than 300 fighters from groups loyal to them have died this year. The Observatory also recorded the deaths of about 600 ISIS terrorists and other extremist factions, compared to 158 from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and about 370 fighters of the opposition and Islamic factions. The total death toll decreased during 2020 and 2021 due to the decline in the intensity of battles in several areas, especially in the Idlib governorate. Although a ceasefire was announced in March 2020 in the region, it has been subjected to numerous violations. Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and driven more than half of the population to flee within or outside Syria. Meanwhile, a man succumbed to his injuries in al-Qamishly hospitals due to Turkish bombardment on Zarkan town in the northwestern countryside of al-Hasakah, bringing the death toll to four civilians, including a girl and a woman. Furthermore, SOHR documented the death of three Turkish-backed “National Army” members after bombardment by SDF on their position near Turkish posts in “Peace Spring” areas in the Hasakah countryside.

US Officials Deny Man Held in Turkey for Fake Passport Is Diplomat
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
US officials denied Thursday that an American citizen arrested in Turkey for allegedly providing a fake passport to a Syrian man is a US diplomat. Turkish officials said Wednesday they detained a US diplomat at Istanbul Airport on Nov. 11. Authorities in Turkey publicly identified the man only by his initials D.J.K., and said he worked for the US Consulate in Lebanon. He was later formally arrested on suspicion of selling a forged passport for $10,000. According to a Turkish police statement, the Syrian man was detained for questioning after he attempted to travel to Germany on a false passport, which was in D.J.K.’s name. On Thursday, the US State Department said it was aware a US citizen had been detained in Turkey but denied the person was a government diplomat, The Associated Press reported. The State Department said the detained individual was being provided with the “appropriate consular services.”Police in Istanbul said security camera footage showed D.J.K. exchanging clothes with the Syrian man at Istanbul Airport and giving him a passport. Police also seized an envelope containing $10,000 from the diplomat, according to the police statement. The American was jailed while the Syrian was released pending possible proceedings for falsifying documents, Anadolu said.

Russia Is Not Readying Military Invasion of Ukraine, Says Russian Envoy
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Russia is not preparing a military invasion of Ukraine, its ambassador to the European Union was quoted as saying on Thursday, after Moscow unnerved the West with a massive troop build-up on its territory close to the Ukrainian border. Vladimir Chizhov told German newspaper Die Welt in an interview that Russia wanted to support Russian-speaking people and compatriots living in other countries, but he added that Moscow never said it wanted to use military means for this. "Russia is not planning an attack against any country. I can assure you that no Russian troops are currently preparing for an invasion of Ukraine," Chizhov was quoted as saying, Reuters reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had no room to retreat in a standoff with the United States over Ukraine and would be forced into a tough response unless the West dropped its "aggressive line". Putin addressed his remarks to military officials as Russia pressed for an urgent U.S. and NATO reply to proposals it made last week for a binding set of security guarantees from the West.

3 Dead, Dozens Missing in Greece Migrant Boat Sinking
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
The bodies of three people were recovered Wednesday near the Greek island of Folegandros, the coastguard said, with dozens more feared missing after a boat carrying migrants sank. The coastguard said it had rescued 12 people in a dinghy, including children. The bodies of three men have been found so far, with a large search operation ongoing. The boat carrying the migrants -- which according to state TV ERT was likely sailing from Turkey to Italy -- experienced engine failure and sank, the coastguard said. Of the 12 survivors, only two wore life jackets, AFP quoted it as saying. There was also confusion about the exact number of people on the boat that sank.Some survivors placed the number at 32, while others said as many as 50 were on board, a coastguard official told AFP. Four coastguard vessels, three helicopters, a military transport plane, eight nearby ships and three private vessels were taking part in the search and rescue operation, the coastguard said. The operation began late Tuesday, after the coastguard received information that a vessel carrying migrants had run into trouble and had started taking on water south of the island. Those rescued -- seven Iraqis, three Syrians and two Egyptians -- were all transferred to the hospital on the island of Santorini. Nearly one million people, mainly Syrian refugees, arrived in the EU in 2015 after crossing to Greek islands close to Turkey. Scores of refugees and migrants have drowned in the Aegean Sea trying to make the perilous crossing. About 8,500 asylum seekers have arrived in Greece this year, most of them through its northeastern land border with Turkey, according to data by the United Nations' refugee agency.

Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Suspected of Driving Car Into West Bank Checkpoint
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in a car they were pursuing in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian paramedics said. The Israeli military said troops shot a Palestinian who had fired at them from a vehicle. The driver "accelerated his car towards a manned military post" next to Mevo Dotan in the occupied West Bank, the military said, AFP reported. Soldiers opened fire and the car crashed into an Israeli army vehicle, setting both on fire. No soldiers were injured, a military statement said. The attack happened near the site of an ambush last Thursday in which Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli motorist as he left a yeshiva in the former settlement outpost of Homesh. There have been several Palestinian attacks on Israelis in recent weeks. Palestinians also complain of attacks by settlers, whose residence in the West Bank the international community considers illegal. Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Mideast peace envoy, last week said he was "alarmed" by the recent escalation of violence on both sides, saying the situation had become "volatile". In Gaza, the Islamist militant group Hamas praised the latest incident but did not take responsibility.

Study: AstraZeneca Vaccine Booster Works Against Omicron
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
A three-dose course of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the rapidly-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant, the pharmaceutical company said on Thursday, citing data from an Oxford University lab.
Findings from the study, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, match those from rivals Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna which have also found a third dose of their shots works against Omicron, Reuters reported.
The study on AstraZeneca's vaccine, Vaxzevria, showed that after a three-dose course of the vaccine, neutralizing levels against Omicron were broadly similar to those against the virus's Delta variant after two doses.
The London-listed company said researchers at Oxford University who carried out the study were independent from those who worked on the vaccine with AstraZeneca. "As we better understand Omicron, we believe we will find that T-cell response provides durable protection against severe disease and hospitalizations," Mene Pangalos, the head of AstraZeneca's biopharmaceuticals R&D said, referring to a critical component of the immune system that respond to fight infection. Antibody levels against Omicron after the booster shot were higher than antibodies in people who had been infected with and recovered naturally from COVID-19, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker added.
Although the early data is positive for the company, AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it was working with its partner Oxford University to produce a vaccine tailored for Omicron, joining similar efforts from other vaccine-makers.
The Oxford study analyzed blood samples from those infected with COVID-19, those vaccinated with two doses and a booster, and those previously infected with other variants of concern. It included samples from 41 people given three doses of Vaxzevria. Scientists and governments are scrambling to bolster defenses against Omicron with shots and therapies, as the variant threatens to become dominant globally and has prompted renewed curbs ahead of the holidays to contain infections. Britain earlier this month backed the use of boosters after it found that a third dose significantly restored protection against mild disease caused by Omicron, in part reversing an otherwise steep drop in vaccine effectiveness.

Ontario records 5,790 COVID-19 cases, smashing through record
The Canadian Press/December 23, 2021
TORONTO — Ontario is reporting 5,790 new cases of COVID-19 today, blowing past the pandemic's previous single-day high of 4,812 set back in April. The province is also recording nine new deaths linked to the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 440 people are in hospital with COVID-19, including 136 who are fully vaccinated. She says 169 are in intensive care, 32 of whom are fully vaccinated. Provincial data shows 86.7 per cent of Ontarians five and older have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 81.2 per cent have two. Elliott says 253,000 doses were administered over the previous 24 hours.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2021.

Canadian air force commander relieved of duties in Kuwait after claims of inappropriate comments
CBC/December 23, 2021
Canada's military relieved an air force commander of his post in Kuwait on Dec. 7 amid an investigation into claims he made inappropriate comments, CBC News has learned.
The Department of National Defence confirms that Lt.-Col. Philip Marcus was sent back to Canada on Dec. 7, "when concerns over some inappropriate comments that demonstrated a concerning misalignment with our institution's efforts to evolve our culture were raised" to leadership.
"These allegations resulted in a loss in confidence in the member's ability to effectively lead and conduct the duties associated with his appointment as a commanding officer, and he was immediately relieved," DND spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier said in a statement.
DND described the alleged comments as inappropriate. Sources who spoke to CBC News but who were not authorized to speak publicly said Marcus was heard making comments about lower-ranking women in the Canadian Armed Forces.
The allegations against Marcus were reported while he was the commanding officer of the air task force for Operation Impact in the Middle East. He started that role in November, according to a post on a military Twitter account.
The training mission is aimed at building military capabilities in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to help a global coalition defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Marcus, among the mission's highest-ranking officers based at the headquarters in Kuwait, was responsible for aircraft, flight crew and other support personnel. As a commander, he could have been involved in responding to sexual misconduct complaints if others reported issues to his chain of command, the Defence Department confirmed.
The department said concerns were raised to leadership of Joint Task Force Impact and Canadian Joint Operations. Military members involved in the operation in the Middle East were briefed on Marcus's departure to ensure they were supported and understood the work underway to change the culture, the department said.
Marcus is now working as a staff officer at the Royal Canadian Aerospace Warfare Centre at CFB Trenton.
"We are in a period of culture change and are determined to ensure the CAF is a workplace in which all members — whether in Canada or deployed on operations around the world — are safe, empowered and inspired to bring their very best to the table in service of Canada and Canadians each and every day," Le Bouthillier wrote.
This past year, 11 other senior Canadian military leaders, current and former — from some of the most powerful and prestigious posts in the defence establishment — have been sidelined, investigated or forced into retirement in connection with a sexual misconduct crisis.
Defence Minister Anita Anand and the military's chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, have committed to addressing the crisis. Experts say the issue is unlike any other being faced by military elsewhere in the world because so many senior leaders are swept up in the crisis at the same time.
Government and military officials offered a historic apology earlier this month to those who have suffered from military sexual assault, harassment and misconduct. It was meant to be a step toward formally acknowledging the harm caused to thousands of members over decades.
Close to 19,000 serving and retired military members and civilian defence workers have submitted settlement claims as part of a class-action lawsuit against the federal government over sexual misconduct. About 60 per cent of the survivors are women and 40 per cent men.
Marcus did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.
The Defence Department said it would not comment further on the details of the allegations because the case is currently under investigation.

Iran admits to increasingly relying on kamikaze drones
Seth J.Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
Tehran has been using cruise missiles, helicopters, aircraft, anti-tank missiles and drones in coordination to showcase its latest abilities.
Iran’s Fars News said on December 23 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is relying more on “aggressive” tactics and “suicide drones.” This has been clear in recent years as Iranian drones proliferate around the region and increasingly give the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups a more powerful offensive weapon. The comments were made on the sidelines of the “Great Prophet 17” drill that Iran launched this week. Tehran has been using cruise missiles, helicopters, aircraft, anti-tank missiles and drones in coordination to showcase its latest abilities. IRGC head Maj.-Gen. Hussein Salami mentioned that the ground forces are a guarantor of the country's territorial integrity and national security, saying that: “It was done through a combination of the main elements of the IRGC's ground combat power, including strong defensive positions, the use of offensive drones, jumping mines and armored firepower.”He also noted the development of new systems and tactics. "The new points in this exercise include the effective use of offensive suicide drones and the identification that they are new components of our ground offensive power, the effective use of offensive power by helicopters and the firing of missiles and rockets at [various] distances," he said. Iran’s IRGC praised the upgraded command structures of the country's military forces. It appears this is a hint of more IRGC-led operations to come. This year the Guard Corps pioneered new attacks on commercial shipping, including using drones against a moving tanker. They also used drones to attack US forces in Iraq and Syria. Washington is drawing down what it says are its last combat troops in Iraq.Iran wants to pressure the US to leave Syria as well. It wants to threaten shipping in the Gulf of Oman and put an option on the table to strike at Israel from Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria at the same time. The drone will be Iran’s weapon of choice in these coming conflicts. That is clear from Iran’s own media reports as well as a recent report at Alma research center that said Hezbollah has an expanded drone arm of some 2,000 UAVs. What is clear is that this increases the range and abilities of Iran and its proxies. They can now attack Israel from Iraq, as was done in May when an Iranian drone flew from Iraq over Syria into Israeli airspace. In January, a report at Newsweek said that Iran had sent a new type of drone to Yemen with a range of some 2,000 kilometers.

USA, Supreme Court schedules January 7 oral arguments in challenges to Biden vaccine mandates
CNN/December 23/2021
The Supreme Court said Wednesday it is scheduling oral arguments for January 7 in the cases challenging the Biden administration's Covid-19 vaccine requirements for large employers and certain health care workers.
The arguments were scheduled after Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh were asked to intervene in lower court disputes over the mandates. Kavanaugh had been asked by challengers to the employer mandate to reverse an appeals court ruling that said the administration could enforce its vaccine-or-testing rules for large companies.

Washington committed to two-state solution, US envoy tells Abbas
Khaled Abu Toameh/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
A PA official described Wednesday’s meeting as “positive and constructive,” but did not provide further details.
The Biden administration has affirmed its commitment to the two-state solution and the importance of joint action by all parties to move forward to achieve peace and stability in the region. The commitment was relayed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting in Ramallah on Wednesday, according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA. The meeting was the third of its kind between Abbas and senior Biden administration officials in the past 10 days. A PA official described Wednesday’s meeting as “positive and constructive,” but did not provide further details. The official said that the PA was continuing to work towards strengthening its ties with the US administration. Abbas briefed the US official on “the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the need to end the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine,” the agency said. Abbas also stressed the need for Israel to stop settlement activities and “assaults and terrorism of settlers,” according to the agency. Abbas emphasized the importance of respecting the status quo at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Temple Mount) and halting the “expulsion of Palestinian residents from the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, as well as the deduction of tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians,” the PA agency said. During the meeting, Abbas complained that Israel’s “unilateral practices undermined the two-state solution” and stressed the importance of implementing the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel “in order to start a real political process in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions,” the agency added. It said that Abbas also pointed out the importance of continuing to work towards strengthening bilateral relations with the US and overcoming the obstacles that stand in the way of these relations.On December 13, Abbas met in Ramallah with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland. On Tuesday, Abbas also met with Acting Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Yael Lempert.

Why Libya Failed to Hold Presidential Elections on Time
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 23 December, 2021
Libyans were meant to elect a president Friday hoping to help end years of turmoil, but the poll was delayed amid intense rivalries, UN failures and legal issues, experts say. Analyst Jalel Harchaoui of the Global Initiative think tank pointed to "mistakes on the part of the UN and an attitude of extremely bad faith on the part of Libyan actors". The ballot should have marked a fresh start for the oil-rich North African nation, AFP reported. But officials on Wednesday said holding the December 24 vote as scheduled was impossible, with the electoral commission suggesting a month's delay.
"Preparations for the election had been taking place in a highly volatile climate characterized by disputes over electoral laws and the eligibility of candidates," Amnesty International said in a report. "Armed groups and militias repeatedly repressed dissenting voices, restricted civil society and attacked election officials," Amnesty's Diana Eltahawy said. The delay is a major challenge to the United Nations-sponsored peace process. "From the outset, holding elections in Libya was going to be a dangerous gamble," said Claudia Gazzini, from the International Crisis Group.
"But the immediate trigger for this halt in the electoral process was a controversy over the leading electoral candidates". The electoral process began to come off the rails when Haftar-ally Aguila Saleh, speaker of the eastern-based House of Representatives, signed off on an electoral law in September without putting it to a vote. Saleh "is responsible for the electoral laws, which are a real disaster", Global Initiative's Harchaoui said, adding that the problematic legislation was "absolutely crucial to explaining the failure of the elections". Despite criticism, UN Libya envoy Jan Kubis offered support for the law.
After that, "the UN lost room to maneuver", Harchaoui said. Wolfram Lacher, a Libya specialist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, criticized Kubis's "clueless backing" of Saleh's electoral law. Analysts said that despite alarm bells, many in the international community clung onto the scheduled election date. "Elections, however, are not the silver bullet that can deliver political stability," warned Hamish Kinnear, from risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft. "As yet, there is no presidential candidate who stands much of a chance at taking power without being opposed by at least one well-armed faction."For Lacher, the crisis was effectively inevitable ever since Saleh backed the electoral law. "There were many scenarios how it could fail, and no shortage of insistent warnings," he said. "It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion."

Biden Says a Trump Candidacy Would Motivate Second Term Run
Agence France Presse/December 23/2021
Though he isn't even a year into his first term, U.S. President Joe Biden says one factor could help convince him to run again in 2024: a rematch against 2020 rival Donald Trump. "That would increase the prospect of running," Biden told ABC News on Wednesday.
When asked about whether he would stand for re-election, the 79-year-old Democrat responded that he would. "But look," he said. "I'm a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I'm in the health I'm in now, if I'm in good health, then in fact I would run again."
And if that means facing off once more against 75-year-old former president Trump, who launched a no-holds-barred campaign against Biden last year? "You're trying to tempt me now," Biden said with a smile."Sure, why would I not run against Donald Trump if he were the nominee?"
Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat to Biden was due to voter fraud and that the election was "stolen" from him. It was under that bogus premise that Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 as Congress was certifying Biden's presidential win.
Though Biden's second-in-command Kamala Harris was once considered his potential political successor, there are questions about her political future as rumors have swirled through Washington that the president and vice president's relationship is not strong.
Harris, 57, seems to be struggling to find her place in the White House, where she has been charged with tackling particularly sensitive missions, such as minority voting rights and migration issues. Meanwhile Trump has repeatedly hinted at another possible White House campaign, but has yet to announce his plans.

In daring move, Sisi says subsidy cards will cover no more than two people
The Arab Weekly/December 23/2021
The Egyptian president's decision is aimed at curtailing public spending and reining in population growth.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that new subsidy cards for basic goods will cover no more than two people, warning newly-weds they should no longer expect the state to feed their children. With his move, the Egyptian president abandoned time-honoured taboos that had inhibited former presidents who did not dare touch the ration card nor make fundamental changes to the system underlying it. Egypt experts considered the move as one of Sisi's most daring and far-reaching decisions. Sisi's comments come after he shocked Egyptians in August by saying it was time to increase the price of bread. He was revisiting the issue for the first time since 1977 when then-president Anwar Sadat reversed a price rise in the face of riots. Economists said for years that Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer and Arab world's most populous country, must rein in subsidies to modernise its economy. The country's sprawling subsidy programme covers items such as bread, rice and sugar to more than 60 million Egyptians. Some 30% of the population falls beneath the government's poverty line.
Subsidy cards are issued by the ministry of supply and beneficiaries have previously been able to routinely add individuals if their family grew, for example, due to the birth of a child. In 2017, the government capped individuals added to the card to four.
“There is no way we will be issuing cards to people who are getting married. If you are getting married and you expect the state to give you a ration card, how can this be? You cannot afford (living costs),” Sisi said at the inauguration of development projects in Upper Egypt.
“This culture has formed in people's minds and it is only in our country that people expect to buy things for less than their value, and to get services for less than their value, and to have children and (expect) someone else to feed them he added.
Sisi said the decision would not affect the holders of cards issued in the past, but that any new card would only cover two individuals. Followers linked the sudden decision by Sisi to the fluctuations in the world prices of commodities. Egypt imports a large part of its basic staples, especially wheat, which costs the state treasury huge sums. Cairo analysts said the step is “smart and will have positive long-term effects in Egypt.”The new step indicates a desire to avoid practices that have so far adversely affected the country's economy, while not completely depriving poor families of support but keeping it within certain limits. Egypt experts say Sisi has successfully used his "shock approach" to ensure the public's acceptance of economic reforms with minimal political costs. This has encouraged him to continue the process with incremental steps.
Some within the public seemed unwilling to accept Sisi’s decision to alter the government support system by reducing the number of beneficiaries of subsidy cards and depriving newly-weds of subsidised goods that they depend on to face tough living difficulties.
The Egyptian government deals with the subsidy issue with a lot of wariness. Not a year passes without the authorities raising the prices of some subsidised goods while assessing the public's reactions. It has been relatively reassured by lack of resistance to the moves, interpreting it as a form of tacit approval. Some however believe the Egyptian street could be reaching an advanced stage of pent-up anger. Observers believe Sisi's move also aims to push the population to limit births considering the relentless demographic explosion that devours a large part of the state's development funds.
Sisi and his government have made repeated interventions promoting family planning. They launched a “Two is Enough” campaign aiming to challenge the tradition of large families in rural Egypt. The country's 100 millionth person was recorded in February 2020. By lifting support for newly-married couples, it hopes to force a limitation on the number of children, which would save the government huge sums which it can spend on development and public service projects that affect the lives of all segments of society.
Political expert Jihad Odeh ruled out the possibility that Sisi's decision would spark angry reactions that could reach the point of street protests. He says Egyptians are not interested in new episodes of turbulence and political instability, but the move could affect the authorities standing in the eyes of the public and force the government to consider alternative social programmes that ease the pressure on the population. Jihad Odeh further told The Arab Weekly: “Keeping subsidies to the minimum is a belated step, but it must be implemented with caution in light of the general cost of living and the difficulties that the common man in the street faces in the quest for a decent living."

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 23-24/2021
Palestinians slam Mansour Abbas for 'recognizing' Israel as a Jewish state
Khaled Abu Toameh/Jerusalem Post/December 23/2021
Palestinians from across the political spectrum have strongly condemned Ra’am (United Arab List) leader and MK Mansour Abbas for recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
On Tuesday, Abbas was quoted as saying, “The State of Israel was born as a Jewish state, and it will remain one.” He made the statement at a conference of the Hebrew economic newspaper Globes.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has repeatedly stated his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, on Wednesday expressed outrage over the statements of the Arab MK.
“These irresponsible statements are consistent with the calls of extremists in Israel to displace the Palestinians and harm the status of the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque and the history of the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement released by the PA president’s office.
The statement added that Mansour Abbas represents only himself when he talks about accepting Israel as a Jewish state. “He does not represent the Palestinian people at home and everywhere in the world,” the statement read, adding that such remarks “contradict religion, history and Palestinian heritage.”
Accusing Mansour Abbas of being part of a “current that promotes the Zionist colonial project,” the PA statement continued, “It is unfortunate that instead of siding with the rights of his people and condemning the settlements, killings and displacement committed by the occupation and the plans of Israeli extremists to empty Palestinian lands, we see him repeating the lies of the Zionist movement.”
The PLO Executive Committee, which consists of representatives of several Palestinian factions, expressed “strong condemnation” for the statements of Mansour Abbas, saying they do not reflect the views of the Palestinians.
The committee accused the Arab MK of supporting Israeli “racist” laws and aligning himself with the “right-wing, racist and extremist policy” of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.
Additionally, the committee accused Mansour Abbas of “repudiating the history of our people and their struggle and sacrifices.”
The ruling Fatah faction, which is headed by Mahmoud Abbas, described the Arab MK’s statements as “cheap alignment with the Zionist narrative, which falsely monopolizes the history of Palestine.”
The faction accused Mansour Abbas of “crossing all redlines” and “turning his back on his people and their national cause by throwing himself into the arms of Zionism.”
Fatah added, “Mansour Abbas represents only himself, and his fate and the fate of those like him will be in the dustbin of history.”
Fatah dissidents also expressed outrage over the statements and accused Mansour Abbas of being a “Zionist Arab.”
Ali Abu Sarhan, an official with the Democratic Reform Movement in Fatah headed by exiled Fatah operative Mohammad Dahlan, accused the Arab MK of “sacrificing” the rights of the Palestinian people to serve the “Zionist enterprise.” Hamas, for its part, said that the statements of Mansour Abbas concerning the Jewish state “represent a flagrant bias in favor of the Zionist narrative, and a clear violation of the position of the Palestinian national consensus.”
The Iran-backed terrorist group ruling the Gaza Strip said the statements were “a clear endorsement” of the Jewish Nation-State Law that was approved by the Knesset in 2018.
The controversial law, which has been denounced by many Arab-Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, states, “The right to exercise national self-determination” in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people.”
Hamas said that despite Mansour Abbas’s statements regarding the Jewish identity of Israel, the Palestinians will “remain steadfast on their historical land and refuse to give up an inch of it.”

Bureaucrats Advise Policy, They Should Not Make It
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/December 23/2021
In a final parting shot, Dr. Francis Collins attacked those who want to examine the lab leak theory, dismissing it a "distraction." This "distraction," however, was the result of people like Collins and Fauci totally dismissing and ridiculing the not-very-far-fetched idea that a deadly, global coronavirus pandemic could have been caused by a lab doing research on coronaviruses.
Former CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper "certainly knew the [Russia hoax] dossier was utter bull but publicly treated it as credible...." -- dramatically undermining both a president and the United States.
The very real threat to democracy is unelected bureaucrats deciding that the policy they make is better than the policy we the people have chosen.
In a final parting shot, Dr. Francis Collins (pictured) attacked those who want to examine the lab leak theory, dismissing it a "distraction." This "distraction," however, was the result of people like Collins and Fauci totally dismissing and ridiculing the not-very-far-fetched idea that a deadly, global coronavirus pandemic could have been caused by a lab doing research on coronaviruses.
December 19, 2021, was Dr. Francis Collins last day as Director of the National Institutes of Health. After more than 25 years in public service, it is customary to thank people for their service, so thank you, Dr. Collins. In his final interview as director with Bret Baier on Fox News Sunday, it was clear that it was time for him to go. If he could have taken Dr. Anthony Fauci with him, that would have been even better for America.
As Baier explained, following the science would lead one to practice observation, description, experimentation, and explanation. In the follow-up question, Collins was asked about the Great Barrington Declaration, in which leading epidemiologists raised concerns about the mental health consequences of the lockdowns. Rather than addressing the issue of mental health concerns raised in the declaration, he dodged it completely and accused the authors of being fringe scientists floating a crazy idea about herd immunity.
Fauci too evaded questions about U.S. government funding of gain of function research on the coronavirus in conjunction with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci immediately accused Senator Rand Paul of lying and being wrong about the funding and the origins of Covid-19. Fauci simply could have answered whether the U.S. funded gain of function research with the Wuhan lab or not. If not to support gain of function, he could have elaborated on what U.S. taxpayer dollars were being used for at Wuhan. But instead of answering, he chose to attack.
In a final parting shot, Collins attacked those who want to examine the lab leak theory, dismissing it a "distraction." This "distraction," however, was the result of people like Collins and Fauci totally dismissing and ridiculing the not-very-far-fetched idea that a deadly, global coronavirus pandemic could have been caused by a lab doing research on coronaviruses. Fauci and Collins then teamed up with other scientists to further discredit the very idea.
Collins still refuses to admit the origins of the Covid pandemic. While he believes it most likely developed naturally, he has partially acknowledged that it is possible that it came from a lab leak. So why, as a scientist, was he so certain at the beginning of the pandemic instead of pushing for further inquiry?
There are lots of additional questions for which Collins should have sought the answer. What were U.S. taxpayer dollars used for at the Wuhan lab? How involved were U.S. experts in the work at Wuhan? Were Americans aware of the involvement of the Chinese military at Wuhan? How many Chinese scientists work, or have recently worked, on U.S. government funded research projects here in America?
But regarding Collins and Fauci, their roles were always to advise government policymakers -- as part of the teams assembled by Presidents Trump and Biden. Policymakers are those elected by the American people, not unelected bureaucrats.
Collins and Fauci often seemed to believe that they were the beginning and the end of policy considerations. Just like refusing to answer questions about the mental health impact of lockdowns or on gain of function research, they move to stating their beliefs as gospel and the final determination. "[I]f you're attacking me, you're really attacking science. I mean, everybody knows that," Fauci declared with modest grandiosity.
Do they know what our intelligence units may have discovered? Do they really have a clear understanding of what China's global economic, political, or military objectives may be? No, they do not because these are not part of their portfolios, yet there they are pontificating about issues where they only have a partial picture.
Collins and Fauci exhibit a problem seen very often in the senior levels of government and the bureaucracy: their egos get in the way of doing their jobs. Former CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper "certainly knew the [Russia hoax] dossier was utter bull but publicly treated it as credible...." -- dramatically undermining both a president and the United States.
The very real threat to democracy is unelected bureaucrats deciding that the policy they make is better than the policy we the people have chosen. If they want to make policy, they should put their name on the ballot and try to get elected.
*Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors.
© 2021 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.

China in Latin America - Part 1
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute./December 23/2021
China's involvement in Latin America clearly seems to be translating into control, and not just of national resources.
"In the past four years, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama have each switched their recognition from Taiwan to China", TIME Magazine wrote in February. "Gaining these kinds of alliances in Latin America offers Beijing invaluable votes at the U.N. and backing for Chinese appointees to multinational institutions. It also empowers China to embed standard-setting technology companies like Huawei, ZTE, Dahua and Hikvision – all sanctioned by the U.S. – in regional infrastructure, allowing Beijing to dictate the rules of commerce for a generation."
Ecuador's debt to China is equal to 38.7% of its GDP.
"The U.S. is losing Latin America to China without putting up a fight... And China is waiting, saying, 'We're here. We're giving you money.' They want control of course, but they don't say that." — Axios, September 23, 2021.
"It is not necessary to show malevolent PRC intentions with respect to its activities in Latin America and the Caribbean to conclude that the current and long-term implications of that engagement are grave for prosperity, democracy, and liberties in the region, as well as the security and strategic position of the United States," — Professor R. Evan Ellis, Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, May 20, 2021.
In 2000, China's trade with Latin America amounted to $12 billion. By 2019, the number had grown to a staggering $330 billion. China's involvement in Latin America clearly seems to be translating into control, and not just of national resources. (Image source: iStock)
The astounding growth is suggestive of how China's influence in Latin America has deepened over the past two decades.
China's involvement in Latin America clearly seems to be translating into control, and not just of national resources. "In the past four years, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama have each switched their recognition from Taiwan to China", TIME Magazine wrote in February.
"Gaining these kinds of alliances in Latin America offers Beijing invaluable votes at the U.N. and backing for Chinese appointees to multinational institutions. It also empowers China to embed standard-setting technology companies like Huawei, ZTE, Dahua and Hikvision – all sanctioned by the U.S. – in regional infrastructure, allowing Beijing to dictate the rules of commerce for a generation."
"LAC [Latin America and the Caribbean] China trade is expected to more than double by 2035, to more than $700 billion..." wrote Pepe Zhang, Associate Director at the Atlantic Council's Latin America Center and Tatiana Lacerda Prazeres, former Foreign Trade Secretary of Brazil.
"China will approach—and could even surpass—the US as LAC's top trading partner. In 2000, Chinese participation accounted for less than 2% of LAC's total trade. In 2035, it could reach 25%... Brazil, Chile, and Peru could have more than 40% of their exports destined for China."
Chinese companies have also been investing greatly in Latin America, including as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. The list of recent Chinese projects across Latin America is long and illustrative of the influence – and the leverage that ensues from that influence – that China wields there. The following is a small selection of current projects:
In August, Brazil entered an agreement with China for the construction of Brazil's longest cable sea bridge linking the city of Salvador to the island of Itaparica, at a cost of USD $1.2 billion. The Chinese state-owned companies behind the bridge will control it for 30 years after its completion. China, through the state-owned enterprise of China Merchants Ports, also owns and operates Brazil's important second largest container terminal, the port of Paranaguá, one of the largest terminals in Latin America. China is currently building a $500 million new port in São Luis, the capital of the Brazilian northeastern state of Maran
Brazil has also turned out to be a large market for China's Digital Silk Road, with Huawei having become the country's largest network equipment supplier as early as in 2014. In Campinas, São Paulo, Huawei runs an R&D and training center that instructs more than 2,000 people each year. Additionally, in 2018, China Unicom and Huawei Marine Networks completed a 9,600-kilometer undersea telecommunications fiber-optic cable across the Atlantic, connecting Brazil to Portugal through Cape Verde.
In Argentina, China appears set to start building a new nuclear power plant near Buenos Aires next year at a cost of USD $8 billion, in addition to two hydroelectric dams that China is already building in southern Argentina. In December 2020, agreements worth $4.7 billion were signed for Chinese rail companies -- including the China Railway Construction Corporation, which has links to the People's Liberation Army -- to upgrade Argentina's rail system, and build almost 2,000 kilometers of tracks.
China is Argentina's largest trading partner. In 2020, 75% of Argentina's beef exports went to China, the world's largest consumer of beef. "The Chinese-Argentine relationship... is one of the most deeply rooted in the region," according to Evan Ellis, Latin America Research Professor with the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.
"During the prior governments of former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, PRC-based [People's Republic of China] companies established themselves with local partners across a broad array of economic sectors: from petroleum, mining, and agriculture to transportation and logistics, telecommunications, banking and finance, and even the aerospace and defense industries."
China's People's Liberation Army runs a space research station in Argentina's Neuquén province. According to Reuters, the space station "operates with little oversight by the Argentine authorities". Ellis writes:
"While the telescope facility does not have an overtly military purpose, the head of the U.S. Southern Command has mentioned it as an item of concern, as it is conceivably capable of intercepting signals from American or other overflying satellites, or supporting other Chinese strategic missions."
In Peru, the Chinese state owned enterprise COSCO, the world's third-largest container carrier and the fifth-largest port terminal operator, signed an agreement in May to build a new $600 million port close to the capital, Lima.
China is Peru's most important trading partner and, as the world's second largest producer of copper, Peru supplies China with 27% of it. Last year, 64.2% of Peru's copper exports and 23.8% of its zinc exports, in terms of value, went to China, and Chinese mining companies play a key role in Peru's mining industry.
Chile joined China's Belt and Road initiative in 2018, and China is Chile's largest trading partner and the number one market for its fruit and wine exports.
In July, China's state-owned State Grid International Development Limited (SGID) acquired one of Chile's largest electricity distributors, the Compania General de Electricidad S.A., and now owns two of the largest electricity distributors in Chile. The investment was reportedly SGID's second-largest overseas investment since the establishment of its international business.
In Colombia, work on Bogota's first metro line began in August. It is being built by China Harbor Engineering Company Limited. China is also building in Colombia a suburban tram line, a new highway in the south, and has sold Colombia an entire fleet of Chinese-made electric buses.
The United States is still Colombia's main trading partner, and Colombia has not joined the Belt and Road Initiative, but in the longer term, China's growing involvement in the country may well change that equation.
In Ecuador, China controls the country's two main copper mines and large parts of the oil industry. China has also built several hydropower dams -- some of which are turning out to be faulty. Ecuador's debt to China is equal to 38.7% of its GDP. "The U.S. is losing Latin America to China without putting up a fight," Ecuador's ambassador to Washington told Axios in September. "And China is waiting, saying, 'We're here. We're giving you money.' They want control of course, but they don't say that."
Professor Ellis said in testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in May:
"It is not necessary to show malevolent PRC intentions with respect to its activities in Latin America and the Caribbean to conclude that the current and long-term implications of that engagement are grave for prosperity, democracy, and liberties in the region, as well as the security and strategic position of the United States...
"China's pursuits in Latin America and the Caribbean are remarkably consistent with what it seeks globally: secure sources of commodities and foodstuffs, reliable access to markets for its goods and services (particularly in strategic, high value-added sectors), strategic technologies and related capabilities".
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Putin Can’t Be Allowed to Re-Divide Europe
Eric S. Edelman/David J. Kramer/Ian Kelly/The Bulwark./December 23/2021
Moscow’s latest treaty proposals are just another attempt to usurp the sovereignty of its neighbors.
There once was a dream of a Europe whole, free, and at peace. On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued draft treaties for both the United States and NATO to consider that, if adopted, would tear that dream to shreds. While the drafts might generously be interpreted as opening gambits in a negotiation, the Biden administration and America’s NATO allies should quickly and firmly reject Vladimir Putin’s efforts to revive the Cold War by redrawing the lines of Europe.
Among other demands, the Russian proposals include promises by NATO that the alliance will admit no new members and will even abstain from military cooperation with states bordering Russia. Notably, they contain no promises on the Russian side not to cooperate militarily with states bordering NATO members. In effect, the Russian government has claimed a sphere of exclusive influence in Europe, not unlike that which it maintained by force and violence from 1945 to 1989. But the Iron Curtain’s division of Europe was emphatically rejected, not only by the United States and the peoples of Europe, but by the USSR and its successor states themselves.
Thirty years ago this month, the fifteen republics of the USSR became independent states. They had watched as, two years before, the countries of the Warsaw Pact sloughed off communism and declared themselves free from the domination of the Soviet Union. There was more than just independence in the air then. There was also a growing consensus that liberal democracy and free markets represented a better future. Soviet citizens unfavorably compared the USSR’s decades of economic stagnation and political repression with the West’s growing prosperity and freedoms. People were tired as well of the zero-sum, confrontational approach of the Cold War.
The idea of Europe as a zone of shared security and prosperity was reflected in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, signed in 1990 by the USSR and the countries of Europe and North America. It proclaimed the end of “the era of confrontation and division of Europe.” The signatories pledged to commit to “democracy based on human rights and fundamental freedoms,” and “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State,” emphasizing as well “the freedom of States to choose their own security arrangements.”
The Charter of Paris was signed by the USSR, and in 1999, an updated document was signed in Istanbul by the U.S., Canada, 51 European and post-Soviet states, and the European Union. The Charter for European Security “reaffirm(ed) the inherent right of each and every participating State to be free to choose or change its security arrangements, including treaties of alliance.” Like the Charter of Paris, it also reiterated that no state “can consider any part of the (European) area as its sphere of influence.” The 1999 agreement also called for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgian and Moldovan territory—a commitment that Moscow has failed to fulfill.
Now largely forgotten, the two Charters marked the rejection not only of the Cold War’s division into two zones, but also of irredentism—the idea that a country could claim any territory formerly belonging to it, one of the motivating factors of the Second World War.
After the experiences of two World Wars and one Cold War, the Charters embodied ideas both Europeans and Americans found worth defending. President George H.W. Bush summed it up as “Europe whole, free, and at peace.” The first president of independent Russia, Boris Yeltsin, recognized the linkage between shared prosperity and shared security, and in 1990 wrote a letter to the NATO Secretary General stating that joining NATO “was a long-term political goal” for Russia. His successor, Vladimir Putin, has said he discussed the possibility of joining NATO in his first meeting with President Clinton in 2000.
Putin became Russian acting president in 1999, but by 2007, he was painting NATO not as a community of shared security, but as a vehicle to threaten Russia. In that year, Putin delivered a scorching speech in Munich that excoriated the U.S. and its allies. He effectively delinked Russia from the Western zone of shared security, condemning NATO (though not by name) as a “vulgar instrument designed to promote the foreign policy interests of one or a group of countries.” In the same speech, however, he emphasized that Russia wanted to remain a part of the Western economic system, and that it would join the World Trade Organization and welcome further Western investment.
Not long after Putin’s speech, his government began its first attempts to re-divide Europe. When NATO proclaimed support for Ukraine and Georgia’s eventual membership at a summit in April 2008, Moscow insisted on legal guarantees that NATO would not enlarge any further. The former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—whose independence the United States had recognized throughout the Cold War—had already joined NATO in 2004. In June 2008, the Kremlin proposed talks on a draft treaty that would allow Russia to veto any new members of the alliance. The U.S. and its allies ignored the proposal, which would have severely limited other countries’ sovereignty in direct contravention of the Charters of the 1990s. Two months later, Russia invaded Georgia and to this day occupies twenty percent of that country’s territory.
Russia wanted to benefit from the economic integration of the post-Cold War world while rejecting the security order that made economic integration possible. The proper American and allied response to Russia’s aggression should have been to impose costs. But no significant penalties were imposed for the use of force against Georgia’s territorial integrity. The lesson to the Kremlin was that it could assert domination over what it called its “sphere of privileged interests” without paying a price.
When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, far from pursuing penalties against Russia after its invasion, his administration signaled that pursuing productive relations with Moscow (the “Reset”) was more important than defending the principles of the Paris and Istanbul Charters. Several U.S. administrations have longed to leave European security to Europe and “pivot to Asia”—to face the Chinese challenge—as if the U.S. can’t confront threats on both fronts. Putin constantly reminds us that we have no choice but to address both challenges simultaneously.
The Russian leader has exploited U.S. and European leaders’ distraction, while the Western alliance has taken the idea of “Europe whole, free, and at peace” for granted. Putin has presented his own narrative of the security situation in Europe. For Russia, NATO enlargement is a result not of the decision of sovereign nations to join, but of Washington’s aggression, pushing the alliance up against Russia’s borders. Moscow claims that the “U.S has placed bases around Russia” to threaten Russia, not to respond to the requests of European countries for U.S. assistance—requests made urgent by Russia’s series of invasions, interventions, assassinations, and attempted coups throughout Europe. With little consistent defense of NATO’s real intentions, and no reinforcement of the principles that ended the Cold War, some Western analysts have bought into Russia’s claim of NATO’s malign goals and its assertion of a right to intervene in Eastern Europe.
As in 2008, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s draft treaties—one with NATO and the other with the U.S. alone—are again asking the West for no further NATO enlargement. Perhaps counting on Washington’s reputation for having a short memory, the agreement uses language from the treaty first proposed in 2008. But the demand that NATO end military cooperation with the countries along Russia’s borders goes further than the 2008 request. Ironically, even while it shreds the last remnants of the Istanbul Charter, both of Moscow’s proposals include provisions that the would-be signatories “reaffirm… their commitment to the purposes and principles of the 1999 Charter for European Security.”
It’s time for the U.S. and its allies to counter Russia’s false narrative on security and reassert the principles that ended the Cold War and the era of great-power domination. We should tell the Kremlin that the time is right not for a renegotiation of another tired text, but for a recommitment to the security principles enshrined in the Charters of Paris and Istanbul. That includes the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia, Moldova, and more recently Ukraine.
Facing massed troops both within and without its recognized borders, Ukraine is the latest country paying the price for the West’s failure to defend the post-Cold War principles and impose financial costs for the 2008 invasion of Georgia. We should get it right this time. The Biden administration and NATO should reject any negotiations that involve taking away the right of states to choose their own security arrangements. They should issue a clear warning that painful economic sanctions will be the response to any additional violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, in addition to helping Ukraine defend itself against further Russian aggression. Should Russia use force to seize more territory in Ukraine, we should show Moscow that those who destroy the international security order will not enjoy the fruits of the economic order.
*Eric S. Edelman serves as chair of FDD’s Turkey Program and as an advisor to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. He also serves as a counselor at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Ian Kelly is the ambassador (ret.) in residence at Northwestern University. Previously, he was U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and ambassador to Georgia. David J. Kramer is director of European & Eurasian Studies at Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs and served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in the George W. Bush administration.

The Coming Middle East Narco Wars
Matthew Zweig/Newsweek/December 23/202
In April, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states temporarily banned the import of agricultural products from Lebanon. This was not a response to political events or to an overt military or political provocation by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group that effectively runs Lebanon. Rather, the ban came in response to the discovery of a massive shipment of the amphetamine Captagon, concealed in Lebanese produce that arrived in a Saudi port.
Captagon is a brand name for a dangerous, addictive amphetamine-type drug that includes fenethylline hydrochloride. Captagon is not new to the Middle East; it has been around since the early 1960s and is a popular party drug for some. However, the scale of Captagon production and trafficking in and around Syria is new and concerning.
A recent New York Times investigative report detailed how industrial-scale Captagon production and trafficking is quickly becoming financially indispensable both to Hezbollah and to the Iranian-backed regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Branching into the amphetamine market likely also provides new sources of income for other Iranian proxy groups active in global narcotics trade.
A financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon, combined with the long-term effects of U.S. and European sanctions, cut off significant sources of revenue for the Assad regime. In need of cash, the regime turned to Captagon, which it ships out of both Syrian and Lebanese ports, fueling a war effort that has killed over 500,000 Syrians and displaced millions more. This turn to the drug trade signals a new phase in the Syrian conflict: the emergence of Syria as a narco-state.
A wave of major Captagon seizures across the globe originating in and around Syria suggests a multibillion-dollar global trade.  In July 2020, Italian authorities seized 84 million Captagon tablets worth a total of €1 billion, believed to have originated in the Assad regime-controlled Port of Latakia. It was the world’s biggest seizure of amphetamines to date, according to the Italian government.
Authorities in Romania, Malaysia, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere have made additional seizures, all believed to be linked to the Assad regime.
The Captagon drug trade not only facilitates Assad’s atrocities against the Syrian people, but could also create further instability through the widespread proliferation of amphetamine usage in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
Conflict, destruction and territorial fragmentation are key factors allowing armed groups and narco-entrepreneurs to profit from the drug trade. Large-scale narcotics production and trafficking by rogue regimes or in ungoverned or under-governed spaces often sows further regional instability, leading to higher criminality and public health problems in consumer and producer countries. This pattern is now taking hold in Libya, where there is a burgeoning Captagon trade with reported Syrian links.
Furthermore, narcotics markets are not static. Today’s Captagon amphetamine markets could easily transform into far more potent methamphetamine markets, which happened in Afghanistan.
The political wars of today’s Middle East risk becoming the lethal narco-wars of tomorrow.
Stemming the tide of Captagon production and trafficking inside Syria requires stepped-up coordination and enforcement to improve drug interdiction in transit countries and foreign markets. To address these threats before they metastasize and become unmanageable, the United States should develop an international effort to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the narcotics production and trafficking networks associated with the Assad regime.
Any such effort must start with a coordinated interagency process to integrate diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement efforts to identify and prosecute or sanction individuals and companies involved with Assad regime-linked Captagon production and trafficking networks. The United States should also support law enforcement and sanctions-related investigations in partner countries receiving or transiting large quantities of Captagon or Captagon precursors.
Recognizing the problem, Congress has issued multiple calls for the development of an interagency strategy to target the Assad regime’s trafficking networks and work closely with allies and affected governments.
Syria’s growing drug trade is unlikely to shrink, let alone disappear, until the civil conflict itself ends. Only through international pressure, a coordinated interagency and international effort to target narco-trafficking and a political solution to the conflict in Syria will key drug-trafficking networks become a liability, rather than a source of badly needed revenue.
*Matthew Zweig is a senior fellow at FDD. From July 2019 to December 2020, Matthew served as the senior sanctions advisor in the Office of the Special Representative for Syria Engagement. From 2001 to 2018, he served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

New pragmatism in the region reflects on Iran issue
Ellen Laipson/The Arab Weekly/December 23/2021
The agreement, which restricted many of Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities, has been slowly undermined by the US withdrawal and Iran’s creeping violations of its provisions. Seven rounds of talks in Vienna under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency have not been able to overcome the disagreements among the parties.
It is important to remember that the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was never a stand-alone treaty to prevent Iran from all atomic activity. It was an effort led by France, the UK, Germany and the other permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, China and Russia), to bring Iran back into compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Iran never withdrew from that treaty and said that it sought to abide by its provisions, which allow peaceful use of nuclear technology and verifiable evidence that such activity is not being directed to a weapons program.
The 2015 agreement put Iran in the penalty box, requiring the government to stop or scale back specific activities on various timelines. The deal envisioned the gradual phase-out of the agreement when Iran returned to the stage of a normal NPT signatory state.
The diplomatic process was to provide Iran with financial relief from many of the crippling sanctions imposed on it by the international community and in particular by the US. But Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and the reciprocal defiance from Tehran in ramping up uranium enrichment beyond levels set by the deal, complicated efforts by the Biden administration to return to the agreement.
A State Department official summed up the state of play at the conclusion of the latest round of talks in Vienna last week: “It was better than it might have been, it was worse than it should have been.” This Dickensian formulation underscored the frustration of the US side that Iran chose to end the talks, despite some modest progress on IAEA access to sites and on the text for future negotiations.
It is hard to escape the impression that the talks are at a serious stalemate. Iran seeks assurances that all US-imposed sanctions after 2018 should be lifted first. The US, however, insists on Iran committing to full compliance with the agreement before putting the sanctions relief process into motion.
One criticism of the JCPOA process in the past was the lack of a formal role for the regional powers most directly affected by Iran’s destabilising activities, namely Israel and Gulf Arab states. Even before the normalisation of relations between Israel and several Arab countries toward the end of the Trump administration, America’s Gulf allies separately pressed Washington to pursue tough policies toward Iran. The intensity with which they conveyed those views to Capitol Hill was a formidable factor in policy deliberations and US diplomacy.
But given the impasse between Washington and Tehran, coupled with a growing disappointment in America’s leadership in friendly capitals in the Middle East, those powers are shifting their own positions. A series of reports coming out of Israel suggests that key national security figures now say that their campaign to erode US support for the JCPOA may not have been a wise move.
Some of these security experts now realise that JCPOA, with its limitations, was still a constraint on Iran’s activities. And there is no military solution: Israel’s intelligence apparatus has slowed down Iran’s nuclear programme through clandestine operations against infrastructure and assassinations of scientists, but these controversial moves have not led to any durable reduction in the threat.
Israelis may have also realised that their close ties to Trump were based on a false premise. They interpreted Trump’s tough talk on Iran as a pledge to use force if necessary to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. In fact, Trump’s rhetoric of shared solidarity on the Iranian threat was to encourage the regional states to manage the problem, since he was deeply opposed to new military adventures. And now Israel’s security establishment is being more open about the daunting challenges of using military force without US participation. In Washington last week, Israeli officials pressed hard for assurances that the US has not ruled out force to deal with Iran.
On the Arab side, there is a new-found interest in diplomacy with Iran, aided by Iraq’s key role as a bridge. One should not expect any outbreaks of trust across the Gulf waters, but a recognition that the Gulf Arab states can do more to prevent conflict is a welcome development. It may be based more on a realisation that the US either cannot or will not make the Iran problem go away.
Whether or not the Vienna process succeeds, there is a new tone of pragmatism among Iran’s neighbours that won’t solve the nuclear issue but could improve the security environment in the area.
*Ellen Laipson is president emeritus and a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Centre, a non-partisan think-tank in Washington. This article was previously published by World Politics Review.

The roots of the problem in Libya
Habib Lassoued/The Arab Weekly/December 23/2021
The international community has proven its impotence in the face of the Libyan crisis. A few days ago, voices were still being raised, emphasising the need to hold the presidential election on its scheduled date, even though all indications pointed to the impossibility of the task, for security, technical and mostly political reasons. There are players who still refuse to recognise each other and consider themselves exclusive owners of power and authority.
Libya needs a consensual president who is respected by all factions, from the west, east and south and from tribesmen, urban populations and minorities, someone who is acceptable to various parties and to influential regional and international powers.
But such a figure does not exist, or if he or she does, is far from the forefront of the country’s politics. Friday was supposed to be the date of the first presidential election in Libyan history. Talking about a president in a country that does not have a presidential palace could be intriguing. No less is electing a president without a constitutional basis that defines his powers, a development which could push the country towards the unknown. Whoever became president could in fact declare himself a full-fledged dictator.
When the state of Libya was founded in 1951, it was one of the poorest countries in the world, with no oil, gas, minerals, nor financial wealth. The population did not exceed one million, most of them in the Tripoli region. Therefore, it was easy to agree on a federal entity under the supervision of the United Nations.
When he came to power on September 1, 1969, Gadhafi deliberately diverted the Libyans’ attention to foreign issues, whether Arab, African or others. He produced generic slogans such as those about freedom, people's power or direct democracy, or resistance to imperialism, in an attempt to deflect the focus of public opinion from domestic politics. Then came the events of 2011, which divided Libyans, between the supporters of September (Gadhafi regime advocates) and February (the revolutionaries). Then, since the spring of 2014, a second split occurred between the "supporters of February" and the supporters of "Operation Dignity" led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar out of Benghazi against the extremist groups and militias.
Although the "Dignity Movement" was established from within the "February system", it attracted thousands of former regime soldiers, including officers, non-commissioned officers, political and social activists, human rights defenders and media professionals. It was behind a 2015 general amnesty which freed former regime figures including Seif al-Islam Gadhafi who was released from detention in Zintan in June 2017.
There are several key factors at play in Libyans. The most prominent is the lack of adherence to the concept of the state by a significant proportion of the population. Belonging to the tribe still seems stronger than belonging to the homeland. The idea of political organisations is of little interest to most Libyans. Parties were banned from 1952 and this continued until the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime.
The issue of political parties was formally resolved only during the past few months when politicians needed to run for legislative elections on party lists. But the House of Representatives decided instead through the law issued last September, that electoral lists should be based on individuals and not on parties, hence reflecting a tendency shared by the parliament speaker and MPs to disregard political organisations in the country. Indeed unlike the party-based first election in 2012 for the General National Congress, in the 2014 vote which brought the HoR into existence, party lists were banned.
The international community succeeded in helping to establish the Libyan state 70 years ago, because it was a poor entity with little potential and there were no national or religious ideologies competing against each other. There was little strife among Libyans and politicians were not obviously linked to foreign interests. They were not aligned with regional and international axes, and they did not manage huge investments from across borders. The picture is different today. There is huge wealth underground and in banks. There are proxy conflicts and there are mafias and gangs competing for control of the coffers of the state. There are those who consider themselves entitled to be governing the country before anyone else, whether based on the logic of numbers, demographic density or the force of arms. Therefore the crisis will continue until its roots are overcome either by being cut or at least cleansed.

Iranian regime’s zero-sum approach to nuclear talks
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 23, 2021
After almost a year of negotiations, talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, have yielded no positive results. What is Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s strategy regarding Tehran’s nuclear program?
As time passes, a return to the nuclear agreement becomes less likely. Regarding the latest round of negotiations, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged that “getting that program back into a box through a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA has proven more difficult through the course of this year than we would have liked.”
There are two possible prongs to the Iranian regime’s nuclear strategy. First, the Islamic Republic is clearly dragging out the talks in order to gain significant concessions, particularly from the Biden administration, and to achieve all its demands. Before returning to the nuclear deal and complying with the JCPOA, Iran’s leaders want all sanctions imposed during the previous US administration to be lifted.
The White House should not yield to Tehran’s demands because some of the sanctions imposed by the former US administration were linked to the regime’s terror activities and human rights violations. For example, in 2020, the US sanctioned several Iranian officials and entities over human rights violations, including the judge who was reportedly involved in the execution of the Iranian champion wrestler Navid Afkari.
Furthermore, sanctions leveled on the cyber unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also a step toward establishing a larger program that would penalize agents of the regime for their concerted attempts to hack other governments' systems and organizations.
Many of the previous sanctions empower the Iranian people to further pursue their demands for justice, rule of law, democracy, and to bring those who have committed human rights violations to trial.
The Iranian regime’s nuclear policy appears to be based on a zero-sum game in which the Iranian leaders get all their demands, or the international community will have to live with a nuclear Iran.
Second, the Iranian regime could be dragging out the negotiations in order to buy time and become a nuclear state. After all, Tehran continues to advance its nuclear program by accelerating its enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade material.
This escalation has been causing concerns among some European leaders. The Institute for Science and International Security released a study on Nov. 19, 2021, that analyzed and outlined the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran’s nuclear activities. “Iran has enough enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) in the form of near 20 and 60 percent enriched uranium to produce enough weapon-grade uranium, taken here as 25 kg, for a single nuclear weapon in as little as three weeks. It could do so without using any of its stock of uranium enriched up to 5 percent as feedstock. The growth of Iran’s stocks of near 20 and 60 percent enriched uranium has dangerously reduced breakout timelines,” the institute said.
In addition, the day after reaching an agreement to extend the monitoring mechanism of the IAEA by reinstalling surveillance cameras, the Iranian regime announced on Dec. 15 that it would not allow the agency to see images from the devices. “In other words, the agency will not have any access to the information before sanctions are lifted,” the Iranian regime’s state news agency IRNA said, quoting Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
While Iranian leaders claim that the country’s nuclear program is designed for civilian purposes, such as developing fuel for research reactors, the production of enriched uranium metal is a crucial step toward acquiring nuclear weapons. Even a joint statement issued by the UK, France and Germany acknowledged the fact that the Iranian regime “has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.” It is worth noting that the Iranian regime’s nuclear file has been filled with clandestine nuclear sites and activities — another indication that the Islamic Republic is likely intending to become a nuclear state.
The danger is that the Iranian regime is advancing its nuclear program at a rapid pace, spinning centrifuges and enriching uranium at a high level, while the international community has no access to monitor its nuclear activities or check how close it is to developing nuclear weapons.
In summary, the Iranian regime’s nuclear policy appears to be based on a zero-sum game in which the Iranian leaders get all their demands, or the international community will have to live with a nuclear Iran.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.