English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 10/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
The voice of one crying out in the
wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight
Saint Mark 01/01-08: “The beginning of the good
news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the
voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight” ’, John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming
a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole
Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and
were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was
clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate
locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is
coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his
sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on January 09-10/2022
Corona - Health Ministry: 4,780 new Corona cases, 16 deaths
Rahi presides over Sunday Mass in Bkirki
Health Minister concludes his tour in Qana Governmental Hospital: Treatment,
hospitalization a right for every citizen
Education and Culture - Education Minister: Schools will open tomorrow to save
the scholastic year
Jumblatt calls on Cabinet to meet without any prior conditions to get out of
deadly impasse
Miqati 'Determined' to Call for Cabinet Session
Lebanon's Notorious 'Serial Harasser' Held in U.S. for Assaulting Woman
Hundreds in Lebanon Protest Measures Targeting Unvaccinated
EDL Says Protesters behind National Blackout
Geagea Says Upcoming Elections Are 'Battle to Save Lebanon'
Lorsqu’on on passe de la médiocrité au crime/Charles Elias Chartouni/January
09/2022
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
January 09-10/2022
Death toll from attacks in Northwest Nigeria rise to 200
UN report shows evidence of Iran smuggling weapons to Yemen
US Warns Iran of Severe Consequences if Americans Attacked
UN Report Reveals Role of Iran Port in Smuggling Weapons to Yemen
Iran Imposes Sanctions on Americans over Soleimani Killing
Haley Blasts Biden’s Policy on Iranian Sanctions
Congress: Tehran Stonewalled Ukrainian Plane Crash Investigation
Sadr: No Room for Militias in Iraq Anymore
Libya's GNU, LNA Discuss Means to Unify Military
Palestinian Authority Releases Zubaidi's Son after Clashes in Jenin Camp
Gunmen in Iraq Wound 2 Trying to Stop Soleimani Memorial
Kazakhstan Says Situation Stabilized, President Firmly in Charge after Unrest
Over 5,000 Arrested in Kazakhstan since Riots Erupted
Russia Rules Out Any Concession at Ukraine, Security Talks with U.S.
Expelled Egyptian-Palestinian Activist Arrives in Paris
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
January 09-10/2022
Iran’s war machine pursues ballistic and nuclear supremacy/Baria
Alamuddin/Arab News/January 09/2022
Open Letter to President Biden: Nuclear Deal with Iran Will Be a Disaster/Dr.
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 09/2022
This Week in Geneva, Brussels, and Vienna: A Race Between Militarized Diplomacy
and Sanctions/Raghida Dergham/The National/January 09/2022
“Crimes in the Name of Religion”: The Persecution of Christians, November
2021/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./January 09/2022
The Fundamental Dispute in Lebanon: Embroiling us in War/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al
Awsat/January 09/2022
Preliminary Conclusions over the Kazakhstan Crisis/Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/January
09/2022
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on January 09-10/2022
Corona - Health Ministry: 4,780 new Corona cases,
16 deaths
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health
announced on Sunday the registration of 4,780 new infections with the
Coronavirus, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to
774,180.
The report added that 16 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.
Rahi presides over Sunday Mass in Bkirki
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided over Sunday
Mass at "Our Lady’s Church" in the patriarchal edifice in Bkirki. In his sermon,
Patriarch Rahi urged the Lebanese state to restore legitimacy to its free
decision and the unity of its military authority, and to withdraw from the game
of destructive axes and to preserve its institutions through elections. Rahi
demanded the preservation of the identity of the citizen and the homeland, which
begins with the identity of the land, saying: "Oh Lebanese, let us preserve our
land so that what happened to others does not happen to us."
Health Minister concludes his tour in Qana Governmental
Hospital: Treatment, hospitalization a right for every citizen
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Firass Abiad, concluded his Sunday tour of some
government hospitals, where he visited Qana Governmental Hospital this evening
and was received by MPs Ali Khreiss and Inaya Ezzeddine, alongside a number of
dignitaries and health officials in the region, who welcomed the Minister’s
visit and highlighted the major problems faced by citizens with regards to
medicine and hospitalization, particularly with the huge financial differences
in hospitals incurred by citizens. After a tour of the hospital's departments
and sections, Minister Abiad met with a number of retirees of the Internal
Security Forces, who expressed their demands and challenging experiences with a
number of private hospitals. “The goal of the visit is the issue of vaccination,
and the aim is ultimately the health of the citizen,” Abiad said, stressing that
“treatment and hospitalization is the right of every citizen, regardless of his
service.” He continued to explain that the purpose of visiting five government
hospitals today lies in the fact that “the Health Ministry insists on supporting
these hospitals to be able to treat our public patients so that they do not
stand humiliated at the doors of private hospitals," stressing that supporting
these government hospitals is a priority to enable them to receive patients
since they do not place any financial burdens on them.
Education and Culture - Education Minister: Schools will
open tomorrow to save the scholastic year
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Minister of Education, Abbas al-Halabi, chaired an administrative-educational
meeting through the “Zoom” application this afternoon, during which this
weekend’s vaccination marathon against the Coronavirus was evaluated, within the
framework of committing to the date set by the Corona Committee to open schools
tomorrow with the end of the school holiday. The positions expressed by various
private school groups, and a large number of public school principals, were also
presented, which support the resumption of in-person classroom learning.
In this context, Minister al-Halabi stressed, "commitment to the directives of
the Ministerial Committee and the opening of schools tomorrow, in order to save
the school year, while adhering to the highest levels of health protection, and
to allow public school students to continue their programs, after students of
private schools have completed three months of learning." Moreover, the
Education Minister expressed his satisfaction with the response to the
vaccination marathon, which was carried out through partnership between the
Ministries of Education and Health, and their cooperating agencies. In this
context, he thanked the Public Health Minister and the Ministry's team of
volunteer employees, and also praised the efforts of officials in the Ministry
of Education and school principals who worked on the ground throughout the
weekend in keeping pace with the vaccination campaign.
In this connection, al-Halabi indicated that the hotline number 01-772000 in the
operating room will be working round the clock, in cooperation with the Red
Cross, to follow-up on the conditions of schools, ensuring adherence to health
instructions and measures, and communicating with governorates, district
officials and municipalities to maintain the safety of school return. The
Education Minister concluded by affirming that he will seek once again with the
President of the Republic and the Prime Minister to sign incentive decrees as
quickly as possible, or to hold a session of the Council of Ministers to approve
them, especially since these incentives include all public sector employees and
those working in the education field.
Jumblatt calls on Cabinet to meet without any prior
conditions to get out of deadly impasse
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, tweeted today on the stalled
cabinet sessions, saying: "To get out of the vicious circle of disruption, the
best way is for the Council of Ministers to meet without any preconditions and
start the workshop, foremost of which is negotiation with the International
Monetary Fund. This is the basic dialogue and there is no alternative to it."
Miqati 'Determined' to Call for Cabinet Session
Naharnet/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Miqati is “determined” to call for a Cabinet session
dedicated to discussing the 2022 draft state budget, which should be finalized
by the Finance Ministry in the coming days, a media report said on Sunday.
Sources close to Miqati told ad-Diyar newspaper that the premier is “closely
following up on the Finance Ministry’s efforts to finalize the draft state
budget, which has become in its final stages.”“He will meet with Finance
Minister Youssef al-Khalil ahead of the submission of the draft to the
Premiership,” the sources added. “Once this happens, PM Miqati will call for a
Cabinet session aimed at discussing the state budget and his decision is final,
regardless of who will attend or boycott the session,” the sources said. Miqati,
however, “hopes that all parties will attend this important and necessary
session,” the sources went on to say. Miqati’s newly-formed Cabinet has not
convened since October 14 due to a dispute over the work of Beirut port blast
investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, with Hizbullah and the Amal Movement demanding
that the government take action to remove him over alleged bias. Other political
forces, including President Michel Aoun and Miqati, have meanwhile said that
they reject “political interference” in judicial affairs.
Lebanon's Notorious 'Serial Harasser' Held in U.S. for
Assaulting Woman
Naharnet/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Marwan Habib, a 32-year-old Lebanese man who faced dozens of sexual harassment
and assault allegations in Lebanon, has been arrested in the U.S. for breaking
into a woman's Miami Beach hotel room and assaulting her. According to U.S.
media reports, the victim, who was visiting from the U.S. Midwest with a friend,
was able to defend herself. She reported meeting Habib, a trainer, at a clothing
store where the two exchanged numbers and connected on social media. She also
told officers she had planned to meet up with Habib. “The woman told police that
she was sleeping in her hotel room on November 7 when she woke up to Habib in
the room with her,” the reports said. Habib was able to convince the front desk
personnel at the hotel to give him a key to her room, police said. Other women
in the U.S. also reported Habib’s “odd and concerning” behavior in Miami Beach
before, according to the arrest report. In Lebanon, Habib was the subject of
similar accusations by dozens of women and an attorney confronted him publicly
on a television show. U.S. media outlet NBC said Habib is facing a charge of
burglary with assault in Miami-Dade County. He was being held on Friday without
bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Hundreds in Lebanon Protest Measures Targeting
Unvaccinated
Associated Press/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Hundreds of people have rallied in Beirut to protest measures imposed against
the unvaccinated, saying individuals should have the right to decide whether to
be inoculated or not. Vaccination is not compulsory in Lebanon, but in recent
days authorities have cracked down on people who are not inoculated or don't
carry a negative PCR test. The Martyrs Square protest by nearly 300 people came
a day after the daily number of new cornoavirus cases hit a record 7,974. The
protest came days after authorities imposed fresh restrictions -- including the
requirement of a vaccination certificate or negative PCR test for entry into
restaurants, hotels and similar venues. As of Monday, civil servants must either
be vaccinated or take regular PCR tests to be able to go to work. Many civil
servants cannot afford to pay for regular PCR tests, given Lebanon's severe
economic crisis currency crash. "No to the dictatorship of vaccination," read
one banner carried by protesters. Lebanon, with has a population of six million
including a million Syrian refugees, has registered more than 760,000 cases and
9,250 deaths since discovering its first COVID-19 case in February 2020.
EDL Says Protesters behind National Blackout
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Lebanon's state electricity company says that its power plants have stopped
working after protesters stormed a key substation and tampered with the
electrical equipment. The small country is already grappling with
round-the-clock power cuts that last at least 20 hours a day due to a financial
crisis that has hampered key imports, including fuel for power stations.
Demonstrators angered by the blackouts stormed an Electricite du Liban
substation in the Aramoun region north of Beirut on Saturday, EDL said in a
statement. "Protesters disconnected a 150-220 kilovolt power transformer and
opened circuit breakers connecting the Zahrani power plant to the Aramoun
station," it said. "This caused disturbances on the electrical grid... which led
to a total blackout across Lebanese territory as of 17:27 (1527 GMT)." The
disruption will pile more pressure on private generators that are already
struggling to keep up with the near-total absence of state power. Private
generator owners have hiked prices and rationed supply in recent months, with
costs surging after the government gradually lifted fuel subsidies. The average
generator bill for a Lebanese family usually costs more than the monthly minimum
wage of 675,000 Lebanese pounds -- now worth just $22 as the local currency hits
record lows against the dollar on the black market. The international community
has long demanded a complete overhaul of Lebanon's ruinous electricity sector,
which has cost the government more than $40 billion since the end of the
1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon has reached an agreement on bringing Jordanian
electricity and Egyptian gas into the country via war-torn Syria, while
Tehran-backed Hizbullah has separately started hydrocarbon deliveries from Iran.
Geagea Says Upcoming Elections Are 'Battle to Save Lebanon'
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced on Saturday that his party was
fully mobilizing to wage the upcoming "fateful" parliamentary elections.
Addressing a meeting of the party's central council, he described the May polls
as a "battle to save Lebanon" against attempts to change its identity and
history.
It is a battle to end the dire situation and crises the country is enduring that
he blamed on the alliance between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, he
added. A statement after the meeting said Geagea had called for the launch of
the LF's electoral campaign. He expressed optimism that change was possible
through the elections because the people have grown disgruntled with the ruling
class and they have realized that it only cares for its own interests and
consequently led the country towards collapse. He urged the people to assume
their responsibilities in the elections "otherwise we will remain in the hell we
are living in and we may collapse even further for at least the next four
years.""This a fateful battle and we must prepare for it with all our might
because the elections are the main road to helping Lebanon out of the abyss,"
Geagea stressed. Moreover, he doubted that the elections would be obstructed,
vowing that the LF would confront such attempts and adding that the world will
be closely watching the developments.
شارل الياس شرتوني: عندما يتم العبور من الرداءة الى الجريمة
Lorsqu’on on passe de la médiocrité au crime
Charles Elias Chartouni/January 09/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105455/105455/
Le black out total qui renvoie les libanais à l’obscurité totale n’est que la
métonymie de l’état de désastre qui nous enveloppe de part en part, et que
d’aucuns semblent ignorer, en s’installant dans le déni, la banalisation des
enjeux, le volontarisme sans autre forme de procès, ou en s’alignant sur les
luttes frontales des islamismes en état de guerre.Les enjeux systémiques de la
débâcle libanaise, le caractère diffus des crises enchevêtrées, les souffrances
et le désarroi de la population civile sont carrément écartés au profit des
calculs d’intérêt des oligarchies, qui somme toute, se rejoignent sur la
nécessité de protéger les zones d’influence et le brigandage financier,
maintenir les verrouillages, étouffer la lame de fond réformiste, casser la
résistance civile qui les avait menacés au bout de deux ans et demi
d’atermoiements tout à fait incompréhensibles, de louvoiements en tous genres,
et de contournement délibéré des arbitrages internationaux se rapportant aux
questions sécuritaire et stratégique (mise en application des résolutions
internationales 1559, 1680, 1701, 2591… ), aux négociations avec le fonds
monétaire international, à la mise en chantier de l’audit des finances publiques,
et la création du tribunal international qui devrait statuer sur l’explosion du
4 août 2020 au port de Beyrouth.
Loin d’être inexplicables, ces omissions intentionnelles se situent au
croisement d’une politique de sabotage qui vise le procès politique institué par
les politiques réformistes à l’endroit des tenures oligarchiques et leurs
intérêts politico-financiers, et la mise à mort de la souveraineté libanaise
par le Hezbollah et ses amarrages idéologique et stratégique. Il est malheureux
de constater que les élections en vue, loin d’offrir une plateforme résolument
réformiste et souverainiste, semblent reproduire, grosso modo, la géographie
électorale des coalitions oligarchiques de jadis, faire l’impasse sur les
impératifs réformistes, et se dissocier manifestement des mouvances qui les
portent. La seule constatation est celle d’un processus de délitement structurel
qui sape la légitimité nationale du pays, met au rancart ses ancrages normatif
et institutionnel, pulvérise les tissus conjonctifs où s’articulent les notions
de souveraineté, de démocratie et de citoyenneté. Tout a été détruit au bénéfice
des captations oligarchiques, des scénarios emboîtés de coup d’État montés par
les fascismes chiites, ainsi que par les simulations fallacieuses d’un
électoralisme entièrement coupé de ses encadrements normatifs et réglementaires.
L’observation de la scène électorale nous reporte aux intrigues d’une classe
politique rodée à l’impunité et aux intrigues de l’entre-soi cynique, criminel
et meurtrier. Le jeu électoral est entièrement faussé en l’absence des
arbitrages et des encadrements internationaux qui sont, à elles seules, à même
de casser les enfermements oligarchiques et l’état d‘extraversion d’un pays sans
frontières qui se nourrit des conflits d’une région éclatée. Le rappel de
certaines vérités politiques qu’on essaye d’enrayer en faveur d’un électoralisme
de mauvais aloi, qui cherche à maintenir les faux semblants d’un État de droit
alors que l‘État libanais est interdit d’arrêter des marqueurs de territorialité,
et se donner des lettres des créances dans le concert des nations. Les échéances
électorales loin d’être des mécanismes formels que des politiciens retors et
sans scrupules instrumentalisent en vue d’entériner des rapports de force, n’ont
d’autre légitimité que celle que leur confère un État de droit, alors que nous
sommes renvoyés aux réalités d’un pays sans configuration et sans rebords.
* 17 mois à l’explosion terroriste du port de Beyrouth (4 août 2020).
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
January 09-10/2022
Death toll from attacks in Northwest Nigeria
rise to 200
NNA/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Nigerian government spokeswoman announced today, that the death toll from
attacks in the northwestern state of Zamfara this week has risen to at least
200, according to AFP. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs
said: "More than 200 people were buried today as a result of the bandit attack.
We are deeply saddened by the continuing attacks, and we are also concerned
about the displaced people who are fleeing in hundreds from their communities."
UN report shows evidence of Iran smuggling weapons to
Yemen
The Arab Weekly/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
The United Nations found evidence that thousands of weapons recently seized in
the Arabian Sea likely came from a single port in Iran, which shows Tehran is
exporting arms to Yemen and elsewhere, The Wall Street Journal reported
Saturday. Yemen has been wracked by civil war since 2014, pitting Iran-backed
Houthi rebels against the internationally recognised government. The UN imposed
an arms embargo on the Houthis in 2015. The United States, as well as ally Saudi
Arabia -- which leads the military coalition backing the Yemeni government --,
have long accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with weapons, a charge Tehran
denies. Citing a confidential report by a UN Security Council panel of experts
on Yemen, the Wall Street Journal wrote that boats and land transport were used
to smuggle weapons made in Russia, China and Iran into Yemen. The arms included
rocket launchers, machine guns and sniper rifles, which had been seized by the
US Navy in recent months. Boats used to transport the weapons had left from the
southeastern Iranian port of Jask, the UN report found, based on interviews with
the boat crew and data from the onboard navigational instruments, the Journal
said.
The Saudi-led military coalition on Saturday also accused Yemeni rebels and
their Iranian backers of using two Red Sea ports for military purposes. The
Houthis captured the Rwabee ship on Monday, off the key rebel-held Red Sea port
of Hodeida, alleging it contained military materiel.
The seized ship is being detained in the Houthi-held port of Salif, north of
Hodeida -- both of which are crucial entry points for aid supplies to Yemen's
largely rebel-held north, including Sana'a. "Hodeida is the main port of arrival
for Iranian ballistic missiles," coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki told a news
conference. Showing images that he said demonstrated rebel military activity in
the Red Sea, Malki said the vessel's seizure was organised from Hodeida port and
that Salif was used for the "manufacture" of military material. On Tuesday, the
coalition said Yemen's rebel-held ports would be considered "legitimate military
targets" unless the vessel was freed. In recent months, fighting in Yemen has
seen Saudi-led coalition forces carry out air strikes on Houthi military targets
in the capital Sana'a. Riyadh has said its 2015 intervention in Yemen was aimed
at restoring the legitimate government and preventing an Iranian proxy from
taking power on its doorstep. The UN estimates Yemen's war will have directly or
indirectly killed 377,000 people by the end of the year. More than 80 percent of
the population of around 30 million require humanitarian assistance.
US Warns Iran of Severe Consequences if Americans
Attacked
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Iran will face severe consequences if it attacks Americans, the White House said
on Sunday, including any of those sanctioned by Tehran for the 2020 killing of
General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike. White House national security
adviser Jake Sullivan said Iran's sanctions on Saturday came as Tehran's proxy
militias continue to attack American troops in the Middle East. "We will work
with our allies and partners to deter and respond to any attacks carried out by
Iran," Sullivan said in a statement. "Should Iran attack any of our nationals,
including any of the 52 people named yesterday, it will face severe
consequences."Iran on Saturday imposed sanctions on dozens more Americans, many
of them from the US military, over the killing of Soleimani. Iran's Foreign
Ministry said 51 Americans had been targeted for what it called "terrorism" and
human rights violations. The step lets Iranian authorities seize any assets they
hold in Iran, but the apparent absence of such assets means it will likely be
symbolic. It was not clear why Sullivan's statement referred to 52 people when
Tehran said it had sanctioned 51. Iran's sanctions included US General Mark
Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It also included former White
House national security adviser Robert O'Brien. Soleimani, the commander of
Iran's Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in
Iraq in a drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, ordered by then President Donald Trump.
A year ago, Iran imposed sanctions on Trump and several senior US officials.
UN Report Reveals Role of Iran Port in Smuggling
Weapons to Yemen
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
A draft report prepared by a UN Security Council panel of experts on Yemen has
revealed the role of the Iranian port of Jask on the Sea of Oman in smuggling
weapons to Yemen, reported the Wall Street Journal. "Thousands of rocket
launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and other weapons seized in the Arabian
Sea by the US Navy in recent months likely originated from that single port in
Iran, according to a confidential United Nations report that provides some of
the most detailed evidence that Tehran is exporting arms to Yemen and
elsewhere," said the Journal. The draft report said "small wooden boats and
overland transport were used in attempts to smuggle weapons made in Russia,
China and Iran along routes to Yemen that the US military has tried for years to
shut down." The UN panel closely examined two shipments confiscated by the US
Navy in 2021, all of which the report said likely originated in Jask. A small
wooden vessel known as a dhow was intercepted south of Pakistan in the Arabian
Sea by the US Navy in May 2021 after leaving Jask, the report said. The boat
contained 2,556 assault rifles, and 292 general-purpose machine guns and sniper
rifles made in China around 2017, the report said, as well as another 164
machine guns and 194 rocket launchers consistent with those produced in Iran.
The ship also held telescopic sights made in Belarus. In February 2021, a wooden
boat loaded with weapons, manned by a Yemeni crew, was seized by the US as it
was about to transfer its cargo to another small vessel near Somalia, the UN
report said. The vessel carried 3,752 assault rifles that likely came from Iran,
based on their technical characteristics, along with hundreds of other weapons
such as machine guns and rocket launchers, the report said. Iran has openly
supported the Houthi in their conflict in Yemen and abroad, but has long denied
providing the militias with arms. Iran told the UN panel that its weapons
weren’t sold, transferred or exported to Yemen. Deliveries of weapons to the
Houthis is a violation of a UN arms embargo imposed on the militias since 2015.
Once an obscure port that exported fruits and vegetables to Oman, Jask is a
small port town in Iran’s southeast that has grown in strategic significance in
the past decade. In 2008, it started hosting a naval base, and an oil-export
terminal opened there last year. US officials said Jask has been used as a
departure point for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps for some time, but the UN
report provides the first detailed evidence about specific arms shipments tied
to the port. Iran’s smuggling of weapons to the Houthis has loomed over talks in
Vienna to revive the international deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program, with
many countries calling for more limits on Iran’s support for militias, said the
Journal.
Iran Imposes Sanctions on Americans over Soleimani
Killing
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Iran on Saturday imposed sanctions on dozens more Americans, many of them from
the US military, over the 2020 killing of General Qassem Soleimani in a drone
strike. Iran's Foreign Ministry said the 51 Americans had been targeted for what
it called "terrorism" and human rights violations. The step lets Iranian
authorities seize any assets they hold in Iran, but the apparent absence of such
assets means it will likely be symbolic. The ministry said in a statement
carried by local media that the 51 had been targeted for "their role in the
terrorist crime by the United States against the martyred General Qassem
Soleimani and his companions and the promotion of terrorism and violations of
fundamental human rights". Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, the
overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in Iraq in a drone strike
on Jan. 3, 2020, ordered by then President Donald Trump. Those added to Iran's
sanctions list included US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff and former White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Reuters
reported. In a similar move announced a year ago, Iran imposed sanctions on
Trump and several senior US officials over what it called "terrorist and
anti-human rights" acts. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, speaking on the second
anniversary of Soleimani's assassination, said this week Trump must face trial
for the killing or Tehran would take revenge.
Haley Blasts Biden’s Policy on Iranian Sanctions
Washington - Elie Youssef/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Former US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, slammed President Joe Biden for
ignoring congressional calls to reveal the results of sanctions relief against
Iran. In an interview with the Republican newspaper The Washington Times, Haley
accused Biden of concealing the complete picture of US sanctions relief as he
attempts to reengage Iran in nuclear talks. “It is irresponsible and downright
dangerous for President Biden to go against Congress to get back into the Iran
Deal,” she said. “The American people have every right to know if we are
funneling money into the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. We deserve
answers, and Congress must hold Biden accountable.”Biden signed the $762.8
billion budget bill amid his pushback to the reporting requirement while signing
the National Defense Authorization Act into law in late December. Biden refused
to fully comply with new disclosure mandates in this year’s annual defense
authorization bill. It required the director of National Intelligence to provide
to Congress an assessment of the “impacts that the imposition or revocation of
unilateral US economic sanctions” have on Iranian-backed militias and other
entities that pose a threat to Washington interests in the Middle East and
beyond. The president said it would force the administration to reveal “highly
sensitive classified information, including information that could reveal
critical intelligence sources or military operational plans.”Biden told Congress
members that they would get whatever he decided to give them. Republicans urge
the Biden administration to be transparent in its ongoing negotiations with
Iran. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas introduced
a measure seeking transparency in White House negotiations with Iran. Since
taking office, Biden has been attempting to revive nuclear talks modeled after
the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that lifted sanctions
on Iran in exchange for slowing their nuclear program. The lawmakers say the
sanctions relief, which has come back on the table, directly benefits
Iranian-backed militants who directly threaten US interests. Under the reporting
requirement, the White House would be forced to publicly come clean about it
while negotiating sanctions. During her tenure as an ambassador to the UN, Haley
was highly critical of the deal reached by the Obama administration. She said
Iran continued to skirt requirements to curtail its weapons programs despite its
agreements with the US and other nations. In 2017, Haley hosted Congress and UN
officials in Washington to show firsthand evidence of Iranian weapons
violations.
Congress: Tehran Stonewalled Ukrainian Plane Crash
Investigation
Washington, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
US Congresswoman Claudia Tenney confirmed that Iran has stonewalled the
investigation in the 2020 Ukrainian plane crash. “Iran stonewalled the
investigation and has not taken any real steps to deliver justice to the
families impacted. Join me in urging US Envoy to Iran to put this issue on his
agenda,” she said in a tweet. Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was
shot down shortly after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January
8, 2020, killing all 176 people on aboard. Most were Iranians, British, and
Canadians. After days of ambiguity and stalling, Iran admitted that a group from
the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has mistaken the plane for a missile.
Tehran says Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet,
blaming the jet crash on a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense
operator. In a final report in March, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization
(CAO) pointed to the missile strikes and the "alertness" of its troops on the
ground amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States at the time.
Iran's judiciary said a trial had opened in Tehran for 10 minor military members
in connection with the jet's downing. Meanwhile, families of the victims
gathered Saturday at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, from where the Ukrainian
airliner crashed shortly after takeoff, to demand justice. They chanted slogans
against officials in Tehran and described them as corrupt. “Compensation Can
Never Replace Justice,” the families said, insisting that perpetrators be bought
to an impartial court. They held up pictures of their loved ones, laid flowers
and lit candles in their memory, while calling for "Justice! Truth!", videos
shared on social media showed. State television separately published an
interview with the mother of Zahra Hassani Saadi, who died in the crash, in
which she questioned the authorities' handling of the case. "We have several
questions, who will answer us? Why wasn't the flight cancelled? Why was the
cruise missile fired? We don't know and no one explained it to us," she asked.
Sadr: No Room for Militias in Iraq Anymore
Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
On the eve of the new Iraqi parliament holding its inaugural meeting, head of
the Sadrist movement, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr slammed pro-Iran militias, saying
there was no room left for them in the country. In a tweet, he said: "There is
no room for sectarianism or racism. There is only room for a national
majoritarian government in which the Shiite will defend the rights of the
minority Sunnis and Kurds." "The Kurd will defend the rights of the minority
Sunnis and Shiites and the Sunni will defend the rights of the minority Shiites
and Kurds," he stressed. Moreover, he revealed that his movement has reached an
agreement with the Sunni and Kurdish forces to form the largest bloc in
parliament that will allow it to form a new government at the expense of his
rival fellow Shiite forces in the "Coordination Framework.""There is no room
anymore for militias, as everyone will support the army, police and security
forces," Sadr announced."Along with the people, today we declare that we say no
to subjugation," he stated. "Our decision is Iraqi, Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish,
Turkmen, Christian, Feyli, Shabak, Yazidi and Sabian: This is an Iraqi mosaic
that is neither eastern, nor western." On Friday, Sadr had declared that he will
go ahead to form a national majoritarian government that includes
representatives of Sunni Arabs - from the Taqadum party and Azm alliance - and
Kurds, represented by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Masoud Barzani.
Libya's GNU, LNA Discuss Means to Unify Military
Cairo - Khaled Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Libyan National Army (LNA) Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Abdulrazek
al-Nadoori held talks on Saturday with Mohammed al-Haddad, the Government of
National Unity (GNU) chief of staff, on efforts to unify the military. Member of
the 5+5 joint military committee, Khairy al-Tamimi said the meeting, which was
held in Sirte city, was aimed at building trust between the two sides. Efforts
to unify the military institution "are moving in the right direction," he added.
Meanwhile, the High National Election Commission denied reports that it had
declared "force majeure", meaning the cancellation of the upcoming elections. A
statement had been published on the commission's official website, claiming the
polls have been canceled. The commission said the website was hacked and the
statement has since been taken down. The statement had condemned what it said
was the threat of one presidential candidate, who holds dual nationality, to use
force against the commission, which prompted it to declare "force
majeure".Meanwhile, Stephanie Williams, adviser to the UN chief on Libya,
stressed on Friday the need to respect the will of 2.8 million Libyans who had
registered to vote in the elections. The diplomat had held talks with head of
the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri in Tripoli. In a tweet, she said she
highlighted the calendar set by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum roadmap and
"called for urgent and serious efforts to end Libya's already too long
transitional period with free, fair and credible elections." She added that
talks with Mishri also "outlined his vision to work towards national elections
via a referendum on the constitution in a timely manner."
Palestinian Authority Releases Zubaidi's Son after Clashes
in Jenin Camp
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
The Palestinian Authority (PA) released at dawn on Saturday Mohammad al-Zubaidi,
son of prisoner and leading Fatah member Zakaria, just hours after detaining him
along with two other people in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. The arrest
sparked violent clashes in Jenin and the refugee camp, including heavy gunfire
at the headquarters of security forces. Zakaria was the former commander of the
al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement in Jenin. He
made headlines after escaping from Gilboa prison through a tunnel he dug with
five other inmates last September before being re-arrested.
Mohammad was arrested after being attacked by members of the Palestinian police,
sparking outrage in the Jenin camp and an air of rebellion against the PA. This
is not the first time that clashes erupt between gunmen and PA security forces.
The PA has repeatedly tried to launch campaigns to restore the Palestinian
security services' control over the camp and contain the proliferation of
weapons, as it did in other areas. General Political Commissioner and spokesman
for the security services, Talal Dwaikat vowed that the security establishment
will follow up, through an investigation committee, on any illegal behavior by
the security forces. Commenting on the developments in Jenin, Dwaikat said
people who violated the law will be held accountable so that civil peace and the
safety of the citizens is maintained. At the same time, he rejected the
dangerous actions committed by gunmen against the Palestinian security forces,
whom he said sought to avoid causalities among the people. Such acts of violence
only serve the "enemies of our people," he warned. Dwaikat stressed that the
Jenin Governorate, with all its security, organizational and popular components,
is united against Israeli plans to harm the people and the Palestinian national
project. He praised Jenin governor, Akram Rajoub who gave immediate orders to
release Zubaidi in honor of Zakaria and his history of struggle. Israel's
Haaretz newspaper said PA officials in Ramallah worked with field activists in
Jenin to restore calm in the camp.
Gunmen in Iraq Wound 2 Trying to Stop Soleimani Memorial
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Gunmen in Iraq on Saturday shot and wounded two protesters who disrupted an
anniversary commemoration of the death of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, a
security source said. Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force, the foreign
operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was killed on January 3, 2020 in
a US drone strike in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. He was killed along with his
Iraqi lieutenant, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the pro-Iran Popular
Mobilization Forces. According to the security source, speaking on condition of
anonymity, some "150 to 200 demonstrators" stormed the ceremony in the Iraqi
city of Kut, some 160 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. The protesters tried to
"prevent" the commemoration, moving in just before it was due to begin and
tearing down portraits of Soleimani and Muhandis, he said. "Members of an armed
faction opened fire and wounded two demonstrators," the source said, without
giving further details. Sajjad Salem, an independent member of parliament linked
to an anti-government protest movement that began in October 2019, posted a
video on Facebook showing armed men in a square, with gunshots ringing out.
Salem said the video showed shots being fired by members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq
force, a key component of the PMF. The commemoration was suspended and security
forces have deployed heavily though Kut, an AFP reporter said.
Kazakhstan Says Situation Stabilized, President Firmly
in Charge after Unrest
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Kazakhstan authorities said on Sunday they had stabilized the situation across
the country after the deadliest outbreak of violence in 30 years of
independence, and troops from a Russian-led military alliance were guarding
"strategic facilities."Security and intelligence officials briefed President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that they were continuing "clean-up" actions in what he
has called a huge counter-terrorism operation across the oil-producing former
Soviet republic that borders Russia and China. Dozens of people have been
killed, thousands detained and public buildings torched over the past week,
prompting Tokayev to issue shoot-to-kill orders to end unrest he has blamed on
bandits and terrorists. At Tokayev's invitation, the Russia-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) sent troops to restore order, an
intervention that comes at a time of high tension in Russia-US relations ahead
of talks this week on the Ukraine crisis. "A number of strategic facilities have
been transferred under the protection of the united peacekeeping contingent of
the CSTO member states," the presidential office said in a statement detailing
the security briefing chaired by Tokayev. It did not identify the facilities.
Last week, Russia's space agency said security had been strengthened around
Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, used by Russia for space launches. The
protests disrupted production at the Chevron-operated Tengiz oil field. "The
situation has been stabilized in all regions of the country," it said, adding
law enforcement agencies had seized back control of administrative buildings and
vital services were being restored. What began a week ago with demonstrations
against a fuel price rise exploded into a wider protest against Tokayev's
government and the man he replaced as president of the resource-rich former
Soviet republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The violence has dealt a blow to
Kazakhstan's image as a tightly controlled and stable country, which it has used
to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of Western investment in its oil and
minerals industries.
It has opened a rift in the ruling elite, with Tokayev fighting to consolidate
his authority after sacking key officials and removing Nazarbayev from a
powerful role as head of the Security Council. The former intelligence chief and
two-time prime minister Karim Massimov, seen as close to Nazarbayev, has been
arrested on suspicion of treason but authorities have not disclosed any details
of the allegations against him. State television took the unusual step at the
top of its hourly news bulletin of underlining that Tokayev was "the highest
official of the state, the chairman of the Security Council. In this capacity he
takes decisions independently." The administration said 5,800 people had been
arrested in connection with the unrest. State television said two soldiers were
among those killed, and 163 had been wounded. As security operations continued,
it said about 400 people had been arrested in the city of Shymkent near the
border with Uzbekistan.
Cash machines gutted
In Almaty, the biggest city where much of the violence was concentrated, normal
life appeared to be returning on Sunday although with fewer cars than usual.
Security forces have set up checkpoints around the perimeter of the city. In the
center, smashed windows, gutted cash machines and torched buildings bore witness
to the destruction. The main Republic Square where the charred mayor's office is
located remained sealed off to the public. One road leading to it was cordoned
off by police; another was blocked by a burnt-out bus. A Reuters correspondent
saw two military vehicles with mounted machine guns driving towards the square.
Most of the dozens of civilian and police cars torched during the unrest had
been removed by Sunday. The internet remained heavily restricted, with access
only available to the presidential website and a handful of other local news
websites. A spokesman for Magnum, the biggest supermarket chain, said of the 68
stores in Almaty, 15 had been completely looted. Staff at a shopping mall told
Reuters that video cameras showed looters attacking an ATM, changing into stolen
clothes and shoes at the stores and walking out wearing two or three coats.
Yerkin Zhumabekov, a manager at the mall, said: "They arrived in cars with no
number plates at night, they destroyed everything. They took everything they
could, shoes, clothes, cosmetics."
Over 5,000 Arrested in Kazakhstan since Riots Erupted
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
More than 5,000 people have been arrested in Kazakhstan over the riots that have
shaken Central Asia's largest country in the last week, Kazakh authorities were
quoted as saying Sunday. In total, 5,135 people have been detained for
questioning as part of 125 separate investigations into the unrest, according to
the interior ministry quoted by local media. The energy-rich country of around
19 million people has been rocked by a week of riots with dozens killed. Fuel
price rises sparked the unrest a week ago in western provincial areas but they
quickly reached large cities, including the economic hub Almaty, where riots
erupted and police opened fire using live rounds. The interior ministry, quoted
Sunday by local media, said initial estimates put property damage at around 175
million euros ($198 million). More than 100 businesses and banks were attacked
and looted and more than 400 vehicles destroyed, the ministry was quoted as
saying. "Today the situation is stabilized in all regions of the country,"
Interior Minister Erlan Turgumbayev said, adding nonetheless that "the
counter-terror operation is continuing in a bid to re-establish order in the
country." A relative calm appeared to return to Almaty, with police sometimes
firing shots into the air to stop people approaching the city's central square,
an AFP correspondent said Saturday.
Russia Rules Out Any Concession at Ukraine, Security
Talks with U.S.
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Russia ruled out Sunday any concession at talks with the United States on
soaring tensions over Ukraine as Moscow seeks a wide-ranging new security
arrangement with the West but faces strong pressure to pull back troops.
Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies ahead
of his talks in Geneva the Kremlin was also "disappointed" with signals coming
from both Washington and Brussels, where NATO and the European Union are based.
The high-level discussions start a week of diplomacy in which Russia will meet
with NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
with the U.S. trying to assure European allies they will not be sidelined.
Russia since late last year has amassed tens of thousands of troops at the
Ukrainian border and demanded guarantees that NATO will not expand further
eastward. The Kremlin is insisting NATO must never grant membership to ex-Soviet
Ukraine, which is pushing to join. The United States, to be represented by
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, agreed to talks even though it made
plain that many of Moscow's proposals are non-starters. Originally scheduled to
start on Monday, Sherman is now due to have a working dinner with Ryabkov on
Sunday evening, said a State Department spokesperson. "We will not agree to any
concession. That is completely excluded," Ryabkov said. "We are disappointed
with the signals coming in the last few days from Washington but also from
Brussels."Secretary of State Antony Blinken, dismissing Moscow's demands as "gaslighting",
has insisted that talks will yield no progress so long as Russia has a "gun to
Ukraine's head". "We're prepared to respond forcefully to further Russian
aggression. But a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable if Russia
chooses it," Blinken said Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin met his US
counterpart Joe Biden in Geneva in June and agreed on regular "stability" talks
between Sherman and Ryabkov, who will again lead the Russian delegation.
'Massive' retaliation -
In two phone calls to Putin, Biden has warned of severe consequences if Russia
invades Ukraine. Measures under consideration include sanctions on Putin's inner
circle, cancelling Russia's controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany or,
in the most drastic scenario, severing Russia's links to the world's banking
system. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that
Washington would also send more troops to eastern NATO members such as Poland
and the Baltics if Russia invaded. Europeans have showed solidarity, with EU
foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visiting the frontline in Ukraine, although
some nations are expected to hesitate at the strongest measures. "Whatever the
solution, Europe has to be involved," EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen
said. Russia insists it was deceived after the Cold War and understood that NATO
would not expand. Instead, the US-led alliance accepted most of the former
Warsaw Pact nations and the three Baltic nations that were under Soviet
rule.Russia has put intense pressure on neighboring Ukraine since 2014 after a
revolution overthrew a government that had sided with the Kremlin against moving
closer to Europe. Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and backs an insurgency in
eastern Ukraine in which more than 13,000 people have died. At a time when
Russia is also intervening to shore up allies facing popular uprisings in
Belarus and Kazakhstan, Moscow has insisted it wants concrete progress in talks
with Washington. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov warned after the
call with Biden that the United States would make a "colossal mistake" if it
went ahead with sanctions.
'Gigantic bluff'? -
"It is very likely that we will encounter the reticence of our U.S. and NATO
colleagues to really perceive what we need," Ryabkov said Sunday. In spite "of
the threats that are constantly formulated against us... we wil make no
concession," he said, adding it would "amount to acting against the interests of
our seccurity." NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, meeting foreign ministers of the
alliance on Friday, said there remained real risks of a Russian invasion. But
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, described the Russian troop
build-up as a "gigantic bluff" by Putin to seek a negotiated agreement.
"They are trying to see if the Biden administration or Europe will blink," said
Herbst, now at the Atlantic Council think tank. "As long as the Biden
administration remains at least as strong as it is now," he said, "it probably
is enough to keep Putin from striking large into Ukraine, but I don't rule out
something smaller." Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the Geneva
talks were more about preventing the Ukraine crisis from accelerating than
reaching a major deal.
Expelled Egyptian-Palestinian Activist Arrives in Paris
Associated Press/Sunday, 9 January, 2022
Egyptian-Palestinian human rights activist Ramy Shaath arrived in Paris and
reunited with his wife on Saturday, after Egyptian authorities released him from
prison and deported him. An overjoyed Shaath, the son of a prominent Palestinian
politician, walked out of the Charles de Gaulle airport smiling, holding hands
with his wife, Céline Lebrun Shaath, a French national, and waving to a cheering
crowd of supporters. "I am very excited to be here," Shaath said. Speaking in
English, he described the network of overcrowded Egyptian prisons in which he
had spent the last two and a half years as "lacking respect for human dignity."
However, his resolve has not been broken, Shaath said. "I am continuing on my
way. I am insisting on freeing my friends from Egyptian jails," Shaath said. "I
have hope for a better Egypt," Shaath said. "I have hope for an independent and
secure Palestine and I have hope for a better Middle East and a better world we
live in."French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the decision to release the
activist, saying he was "relieved" and thanking those who helped make it happen.
Egyptian authorities deported Shaath after he served 2 1/2 years of pre-trial
detention over allegations of having ties with an outlawed group, his family
said Saturday. He was forced to renounce his Egyptian citizenship to gain his
freedom, they added in a statement. His father is Nabil Shaath, an adviser to
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The family says Ramy was handed over to a
representative of the Palestinian Authority at Cairo international airport,
where he boarded a flight to the Jordanian capital of Amman. He then traveled on
to Paris. An Egyptian government spokesperson did not respond to a request for
comment on Shaath's release or the termination of his Egyptian citizenship. Ramy
Shaath was arrested in July 2019 at his home in Cairo and accused of having
links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government designated as a
terrorist organization in 2013. A dual Palestinian-Egyptian national, he was
added to a case that included a former lawmaker and key secular activists. They
had been arrested about a month before Shaath and accused of collaborating with
wanted Brotherhood members in Turkey to plot violence and riots. Last year, he
was added to the country's terrorist list. Ramy Shaath helped establish Egypt's
branch of the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel, known as BDS. "No
one should have to choose between their freedom and their citizenship. Ramy was
born Egyptian ... . No coerced renunciation of citizenship under duress will
ever change that," the statement read. Egyptian authorities have previously
forced activists with dual nationality to relinquish their Egyptian citizenship
as a condition for their release, a legal maneuver that allows authorities to
deport foreigners accused of crimes. In July 2020, Mohamed Amashah, a dual
Egyptian-American citizen, was forced to renounce his Egyptian nationality to
get released after spending nearly 500 days in pre-trial detention over charges
of "misusing social media" and "aiding a terrorist group."Mohamed Soltan, also
an American citizen and son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, was released from an
Egyptian prison in 2015 after he relinquished his Egyptian citizenship.
The Latest The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on January 09-10/2022
بارعة علم الدين : آلة الحرب الإيرانية تسعى إلى التفوق الباليستي والنووي
Iran’s war machine pursues ballistic and nuclear supremacy
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/January 09/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105479/dr-majid-rafizadeh-open-letter-to-president-biden-nuclear-deal-with-iran-will-be-a-disaster-baria-alamuddin-irans-war-machine-pursues-ballistic-and-nuclear-supremacy-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1/
The head of US military operations in the Middle East, Gen. Frank McKenzie,
recognizes that Iran and its proxies have achieved “overmatch” — the ability to
fire many more missiles than adversaries such as Israel and the US can shoot
down or destroy. “Iran’s missiles have become a more immediate threat than its
nuclear program,” he says. While its citizens starve, Iran has become a leading
global missile producer, with the largest and most diverse arsenal in the Middle
East, including thousands of ballistic missiles with a range of more than
2,000km. A disturbing report in The New Yorker argues that Tehran’s cruise
missiles have fundamentally altered the balance of power in the Gulf region.
A series of Iranian tests in late December included the simultaneous deployment
of missiles and drone attacks against the same target, similar to a previous
Iranian attack on GCC oil infrastructure. Iran is meanwhile seeking to
capitalize on Chinese technology to develop projectiles that can circumvent
missile defense systems. Experts believe North Korea is now importing Iranian
missile technology. “Everybody should know that all American bases and their
vessels in a distance of up to 2,000km are within the range of our missiles,”
bragged Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of Iran’s Aerospace Force. “We have
constantly prepared ourselves for a fully fledged war,” he crowed, as if “fully
fledged war” were an optimum outcome for the region. Meanwhile, the firing of
rockets by Iranian proxies at GCC and Western targets in the region is now a
near-daily phenomenon.
There are substantial increases in military spending — including more than
doubling the allocation for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps —in Iran’s
2022 budget, despite its income estimates being based on the assumption of no
new nuclear deal. A Washington Institute analysis concluded: “The Raisi
government sees no economic urgency to making substantial nuclear concessions.”
Experts warn that Iran is a few short months, or weeks, away from nuclear
breakout capacity, with increasingly advanced centrifuges enriching uranium to
60 percent purity. Former Mossad intelligence director Zohar Palti estimates
that Iran would require just three weeks to produce sufficient fuel for a bomb.
Western officials are even less optimistic about extracting concessions from
Iran on its ballistic missile program than they are about the nuclear program.
Raisi declared: “Regional issues or the missile issue are non-negotiable.”
Iran’s increasing reliance on drones, cyberattacks and unconventional warfare
aspires to give Tehran a decisive military advantage over its neighbors. “Iran
has proved that it is using its ballistic missile program as a means to coerce
or intimidate its neighbors,” noted Biden’s nuclear negotiator, Robert Malley.
If diplomats and leaders in the Arab region and the wider world don’t rapidly
get serious, Iran’s missile, nuclear and paramilitary programs soon won’t be an
abstract matter of statistics and research data, but will be deployed in anger
to rain death and destruction upon the region.
After the January 2020 US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran fired a
barrage of ballistic missiles with thousand-pound warheads at a US base in Iraq
— the largest ballistic missile attack by any nation on American troops. Hours
later, Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet just after it took off
from Tehran airport, killing all 176 people on board. Coinciding with the
anniversary of Soleimani’s death, there was a display in central Tehran last
week of the rockets used by Iran in these retaliatory strikes. However, in the
western city of Shahrekord, a newly erected statue of Soleimani was set on fire
and destroyed by Iraniansclearly unimpressed by their leaders’ squandering the
nation’s wealth on overseas warmaking.
Tehran’s military arsenals are shielded deep underground in massive complexes in
its satellite states and in Iran itself. With these tunnelled “missile cities”
stretching for many kilometers, Iran boasts the largest underground complexes in
the region, housing both nuclear and missile programs. Albu-Kamal on the
Syria-Iraq border is one of these sites. It is a major transit point for the
transfer of missiles and munitions into Lebanon and Syria, and a site where
rockets are upgraded to increase range and accuracy. In early 2021 Biden ordered
the bombing of Albu-Kamal in retaliation for rocket attacks by Hashd militias in
Iraq, but the strikes had negligible impact. “Without being able to crater the
place, you’re not going to stop the flow,” one Biden intelligence official said.
Ironically, Israeli military strikes and sophisticated sabotage operations have
simply made Iran’s proliferation programs more resilient, by necessitating the
construction of massive defenses and the installation of increasingly advanced
equipment. Israeli generals have expressed frustration at the Biden
administration holding up the transfer of military equipment required for
dealing decisively with these capabilities.
In an era when rogue states can menace global security with impunity, we require
nothing short of an international compact regarding the balance and constraint
of military power, and legally enforced respect for sovereignty. For decades
China and Russia colluded to undermine international law, but with Russia
sending thousands of troops into Kazakhstan and menacing Ukraine and other
former Soviet states, suddenly Beijing finds itself encircled. All states
benefit from a universally recognized system whereby no overmighty coalition of
states or rogue entities can threaten the sovereignty of others. Even Vladimir
Putin claims his aggressive actions simply seek to protect Russian territorial
integrity.
When pariah states can build up immense military arsenals to menace their
neighbors without consequences, the international system disintegrates. Whether
with Khomeinist Iran or Nazi Germany, when we appease aggressor states, we
ultimately find ourselves facing a monster 10 times its original size.
Only 15 years ago, the primitive Iran-manufactured rockets that could be
deployed by Hezbollah and Tehran’s other proxies were the stuff of ridicule, but
nobody is laughing now. In the 15 years since Iran was referred to the UN
Security Council for its uranium enrichment activities — and years of
negotiations with global powers,supposedly to halt Tehran’s proliferation
activities — it has developed into a ballistic superpower. Vigorous ballistic
weapons development and testing took place before, during and after Barack
Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal. The failure of global powers to recognize the
long-term security consequences of what was happening under their noses has
brought us to where we are today. This is not scaremongering, but recognizing
reality and deciding how to act. If diplomats and leaders in the Arab region and
the wider world don’t rapidly get serious, Iran’s missile, nuclear and
paramilitary programs soon won’t be an abstract matter of statistics and
research data, but will be deployed in anger to rain death and destruction upon
the region. Do we seriously want to sit back and wait for this to happen?
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
ماجد رفي زاده / معهد جيتستون: رسالة مفتوحة إلى الرئيس بايدن: الصفقة النووية مع
إيران ستكون كارثة
Open Letter to President Biden: Nuclear Deal with Iran Will Be a Disaster
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 09/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105479/dr-majid-rafizadeh-open-letter-to-president-biden-nuclear-deal-with-iran-will-be-a-disaster-baria-alamuddin-irans-war-machine-pursues-ballistic-and-nuclear-supremacy-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1/
No amount of appeasement and no deal is going to change the core pillars of the
Iranian mullahs' revolutionary principles, which include anti-Americanism,
antisemitism, supporting terror groups, and brutally repressing their own
population. The theocratic establishment uses international and regional
agreements, such as its election last April to the UN Commission on the Status
of Women, to advance its revolutionary ideals.
The Biden administration might begin to understand, nearly four decades after
the establishment of the mullahs' regime, that, as Henry Kissinger remarked,
"The exercise of diplomacy without the threat of force is without effect."
No amount of appeasement and no deal is going to change the core pillars of the
Iranian mullahs' revolutionary principles, which include anti-Americanism,
antisemitism, supporting terror groups, and brutally repressing their own
population. Pictured: A ballistic missile on display during a military parade in
Tehran, on April 18, 2019.
The Biden administration's Iran policy appears to be quite simple: keep
negotiating with the ruling mullahs and offering concessions to revive the 2015
nuclear deal and eliminate the Iranian regime's threat.
The nuclear deal reached in 2015, however, had already proved that it did not
eliminate the Iranian regime's threats. After the agreement, access to the
considerable funds freed up by the deal had the reverse effect: it allowed
Tehran to pour ever greater sums into the coffers of groups such as Lebanon's
Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthis. Nations such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and
Bahrain were largely ignored by the Western powers, despite their clear concerns
over the direct threat that enriching these groups presented.
US President Joe Biden previously suggested that Iran, in the aftermath of the
2015 nuclear deal, had ceased being a "bad regional actor", writing:
"... I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy If Iran returns to
strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the
agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations."
This is an easy view for someone thousands of miles away from the Middle East,
but for those living there, dealing with Hezbollah's weapons caches and Syrian
militias wreaking death and devastation, Iran, through its proxy networks, has
become more malign than ever.
Tehran seeks to sow instability in the region because it benefits from chaos in
other countries. It was through instability in Lebanon, for instance, that Iran
was able give birth to Hezbollah. It was in the midst of the conflict in Iraq
that Iran formed powerful militia groups there. It was through the war in Syria
that Iran armed and empowered additional proxies. It is through the crisis in
Yemen that Tehran is able to strengthen its ties with the Houthis. The list goes
on. Where there is instability, the ruling mullahs of Iran expand their
influence.
The nuclear deal did not stop Iran from advancing its nuclear program. During
the deal, in 2018, several reports, later proven to be accurate, warned that
Iran was conducting secret nuclear activities. Israel's then Prime Minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, pointed out in his speech to the UN General Assembly in 2018
that Iran had a "secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of
equipment and material from Iran's secret nuclear weapons program." At the same
time, two non-partisan organizations based in Washington, DC -- the Institute
for Science and International Security (ISIS) and the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies (FDD) -- also released detailed reports about Iran's undeclared
clandestine nuclear facilities.
On top of that, at home, the empowered regime of the mullahs escalated its human
rights violations. Human Rights Watch reported that Iran's judiciary "continued
to execute individuals at a high rate" – including the execution of women and
children.
"Iranian courts, and particularly the revolutionary courts regularly fell short
of providing fair trials and used confessions obtained under torture as evidence
in court. Authorities routinely restrict detainees' access to legal counsel,
particularly during the investigation period.... Scores of human rights
defenders and political activists remain behind bars for their peaceful
activism...authorities in the security apparatus and Iran's judiciary continued
to target journalists, online media activists, and human rights defenders in an
ongoing crackdown, in blatant disregard of international and domestic legal
standards."
It would help if the Biden administration therefore realized that reverting to
the policy of Obama administration, where the US believes that the nuclear deal
is adequate to confront the Iranian regime, actually risks undermining peace and
stability in the Middle East even further, as well as empowering the regime to
suppress its population more unsparingly than ever.
No amount of appeasement and no deal is going to change the core pillars of the
Iranian mullahs' revolutionary principles, which include anti-Americanism,
antisemitism, supporting terror groups, and brutally repressing their own
population. The theocratic establishment uses international and regional
agreements, such as its election last April to the UN Commission on the Status
of Women, to advance its revolutionary ideals.
The Biden administration might begin to understand, nearly four decades after
the establishment of the mullahs' regime, that, as Henry Kissinger remarked,
"The exercise of diplomacy without the threat of force is without effect."
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated
scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and
president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has
authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at
Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
This Week in Geneva, Brussels, and Vienna: A Race Between
Militarized Diplomacy and Sanctions
Raghida Dergham/The National/January 09/2022
Two crucial events that will determine whether or not the Cold War is returning
with burning heat will fall on Monday 10 January, when US and Russian delegates
meet in Geneva; and Wednesday 12 January, when a Russian delegation will meet
with NATO counterparts in Brussels. Another important event creeping either
towards a breakthrough or a confrontation is the next round of the Vienna
negotiations with Iran regarding the fate of the nuclear agreement.
One common feature between Russia and Iran’s diplomatic tactics is the
militarization meant to put the opposing side against the wall. In Moscow, the
military establishment believes militarization of diplomacy is the best way to
improve its negotiating hand especially vis-à-vis the United States, as part of
pre-emptive moves to abort NATO’s expansion, which President Putin sees as an
existential threat. Likewise in Tehran, the theocratic establishment believes
militarization of diplomacy through flexing its nuclear muscles is the way to
force the US to submit to Iran’s conditions, which insist on lifting all the
sanctions on Iran in one swift move and not gradually.
The European states currently negotiating with Tehran are starting to lose their
patience over Iran’s extortion and pressure, and to resist their panicked
surrender to Iran’s militarization of diplomacy. These same states – Germany,
Britain, and France – and others in Europe are more preoccupied at the moment
with the growing crisis with Russia over Ukraine, after President Putin
threatened military measures. Some states, like Germany, believe it necessary to
prevent Russia from resorting to the military option, by imposing sanctions that
would cripple Russia and preclude a military adventure. But these threats and
escalations, whether arising from militarization or sanctions, paint a bleak
picture and threaten to change the features and principles of the entire
diplomatic discourse, with dangerous implications.
The dangerous phase of escalation began when President Putin issued an ultimatum
to NATO, threatening military measures in the context of broad Russian
geopolitical interests and not just in Ukraine. This happened around two weeks
ago, when Putin presented his impossible conditions to NATO through two draft
proposals he sought to impose as the basis for any negotiations: One that
demands the alliance to refrain from expanding further especially in the
direction of Ukraine; and the other to limit Western military cooperation with
former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe.
Putin believes that the West’s policies in Ukraine are hostile. He sees that his
political fate and Russia’s fate depend on his ability to halt the Western
sprint to expand NATO membership to include Ukraine, Georgia, and even Finland.
In addition, Putin is extremely concerned by the crisis in Belarus. Further NATO
expansion for Putin means destroying his dream for a reintegration of former
Soviet republics, and means undermining him, his ideas, and Russia as he sees
it. For this reason, he sees no choice but to escalate.
The military establishment in Russia agrees with Putin. It sees the Russian
interest is best served through the logic of militarization, because it believes
the West does not understand the language of diplomacy. The Russian foreign
ministry has a different opinion and it seams that the Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov believes diplomacy and the 10 January meeting will defuse the
rolling escalation. In his view, President Joe Biden will do everything he can
to contain escalation with Putin, because ultimately, Russia is more valuable to
the US than Ukraine and even NATO in the equations of grand strategy and
relations.
Some in Russia believe that a trap has been laid for Putin, which Putin has fell
into readily, implicating Russia and risking a new Iron Curtain emerging. They
believe that Putin has left himself with no room for manoeuvre, by believing
that unless he stops the West now, it will be impossible for him and Russia to
stop the Western train years later. In Putin’s view, the moment is fateful, and
the best way forward is to create security problems with the biggest foe in the
ring, namely the United States. As for Europe, it is a secondary player.
Of course, the United States is a bigger and stronger player in the military and
strategic equation with Russia. Today’s Russia is not the Soviet Union of
yesteryear. It is weaker militarily and economically, and stands alone compared
to what the USSR represented during the Cold War. However, this does not mean
that the United States is not seriously worried, for geopolitical reasons.
This is not the Cuban missile crisis (1961-1962), yet that crisis may have been
simpler than the Ukraine-NATO crisis of today. Back then, there were two players
terrified of one another. Today, the traditional fear of nuclear escalation has
receded, but intercontinental missiles still play a role and carry a risk of a
new, advanced, and dangerous kind of arms race. This is where the danger of
military decisions dominating politics and diplomacy lies.
The Russian diplomatic positions betting on US diplomacy appears to have a weak
logic, particularly with regard to believing that the Biden administration will
not sacrifice its relations with Russia for the sake of Ukraine or the
Europeans. Indeed, Joe Biden spent a significant chunk of his early days in
office polishing and developing transatlantic ties to turn the page on the
tensions with European partners created by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Moreover, while President Biden may not be a strong leader, the United States
remains a leading power. Therefore, the president will not be able to cave to
Putin’s ultimatum seeking to alter the entire structure of the NATO alliance. To
be sure, the Republicans are ready to pounce and tear the Biden administration
down if it surrenders to Putin’s dictates and compromise US national security,
which they would see as an impeachable offense. Moreover, Congress would not
ratify a treaty like the one Putin may be seeking. Consequently, Putin will
either have to amend or withdraw his proposals.
One major problem is that President Putin wants the written guarantees he had
demanded to come before the end of January, and insists on not keeping the
negotiations that will start this week open-ended. In parallel, Russia and NATO
powers are on a war footing, in preparation for the phase of militarized
diplomacy.
The end of January is also a potential deadline for the leaders in Tehran, who
say they will wait only until then. If the Vienna talks collapse, their hands
will then be free to launch military and subversive actions. But Israel is ready
to respond. Thus, the world will stand on the verge of what one observer termed
a “geopolitical cocktail between Russia and the United States, and Iran and
Israel”.
The world this week will set off the new year on thin ice. Either the diplomats
in Geneve reach a breakthrough and a face-saving formula to avoid a new hot-cold
war, or a dangerous confrontation using new instruments will erupt between
Russia and the West, led by the United States, in a race between militarization
and sanctions. Likewise, Iran will deploy a militarized discourse to address the
West, but it will also be aware of the US, European, and Israeli readiness to
respond. Ultimately, Iran is not Russia. Russia is not the Soviet Union. And a
new cold war will bring a new iron curtain of a different kind down on Russia,
and President Putin may well regret it if this happens at his hands.
ريموند إبراهيم/معهد كايتستون: جرائم بإسم الدين…قائمة بحوادث الإضطهاد الذي تعرض
له المسيحيين في العالم خلال شهر تشرين الثاني/2021
“Crimes in the Name of Religion”: The Persecution of Christians, November 2021
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./January 09/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105475/raymond-ibrahim-gatestone-institutecrimes-in-the-name-of-religion-the-persecution-of-christians-november-2021-%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%85/
“The servants of Allah entered my house in order to remove the clothes which
they were wearing, because they were soaked in blood, and said that they had
killed an infidel, hence Allah will reward them….” — Morning Star News; November
14, 2021; Uganda.
“The United Nations has estimated that since 2011, Boko Haram has killed more
than 15,200 Nigerians and forced 1.7 million others from their homes as it has
sought to turn Nigeria into an Islamic nation ruled by Sharia law.” —
Catholicherald.co.uk, November 5, 2021; Nigeria.
On November 17, the U.S. removed Nigeria from its list of Countries of
Particular Concern, meaning nations that engage in, or tolerate violations of,
religious freedom. Nigeria was the country with the most Christians killed
(3,530) for their faith in 2020….. “If the U.S. CPC list means anything at all –
an open question at this point – Nigeria belongs on it.” — Hammurabi Human
Rights Organization, quoting Christian Solidarity, Nigeria.
“[I]n recent weeks there have been cases in which the terrorists have first been
asking whether the owner [of cattle] is a Christian or a Muslim…. ‘If the owners
were Christians the attackers didn’t consider it necessary to count their
animals, because they said that they didn’t just want to take their animals, but
also to kill the owners….'” — churchinneed.org, November 5, 2021; Nigeria.
“They also tried to force my wife and our four children to convert to Islam, but
when they refused to convert, they shot my wife in the head while our four
children were cut into pieces with a Somali sword… the rebel militants intend to
establish an Islamist state ruled by sharia [Islamic law].” — Morning Star News,
December 1, 2021, for November 20-25, 2021; Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to a separate, November 19 report, in just the first half of 2021, in
Pakistan’s Punjab Province alone, 6,754 women were abducted. Out of those, 1,890
were raped, 3,721 were tortured and 752 children were raped. The same report
notes that “over 1,000 girls belonging to Hindu and Christian communities are
forcefully converted to Islam every year in Pakistan.”
“Mareeb is only 12 years old, and she cannot marry. The perpetrators commit
these crimes in the name of religion.” — Pastor Zahid Augustine, asianews.it;
Pakistan.
Ramy Kamel, a Christian activist arrested two years earlier for reporting on the
persecution of the nation’s indigenous Christian minority, the Copts, remained
under arrest—mostly in solitary confinement, and sometimes under torture—beyond
the maximum amount of time permitted by law. “Furthermore, Ramy Kamel’s case is
not unique. There are many other Egyptian activists, journalists, politicians,
and regular citizens who are suffering under Egypt’s sham of a judicial system.”
— copticsolidarity.org, November 29, 2021; Egypt.
Based on a new law that came into effect on November 1, converting out of Islam
has become illegal in Malaysia’s Kelantan State. Apostates now face prison,
fines, and/or caning. Other sharia-compliant mandates that also came into effect
in November include laws against disrespecting Ramadan, misrepresenting Islam,
getting tattoos or plastic surgery, engaging in sexual intercourse with corpses
and non-humans, and witchcraft. — thestar.com.my, November 2, 2021; Malaysia.
“The United Nations has estimated that since 2011, Boko Haram has killed more
than 15,200 Nigerians and forced 1.7 million others from their homes as it has
sought to turn Nigeria into an Islamic nation ruled by Sharia law,” according to
the Catholic Herald. Pictured: Residents of Maiduguri, Nigeria, inspect a
bullet-ridden car that was hit in an attack by Boko Haram terrorists. The
attackers murdered 16 people, including nine children who were playing in a
field, in February 2021. (Photo by Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout
the month of November 2021:
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Uganda: Muslims murdered a Christian leader for refusing to remove his church
from a Muslim-majority region. Pastor Stephen Lugwire, 58, was working on his
farm with one of his daughters when three men dressed in Islamic attire and
waving long knives shouted at them. One yelled that Pastor Stephen was a “kafir”
(infidel) who had harmed the religion of Allah. Another, coming closer, said,
“We have told you to remove the church which is near our mosque, but you have
not heeded our message. Today you will face the wrath of Allah.” According to
the daughter, “There and then one of the assailants hit my dad with a big stick
on the head, and he fell down.” Before fleeing in terror, she saw another of the
Muslims slashing her father with a knife. She ran and informed her family, who
reported it to the police; Lugwire’s body was later found thoroughly slashed,
with deep cuts to his throat and chest. Police arrested a wealthy Muslim woman,
Shamimu, after it was learned that the murderers were hiding in her home.
Apparently unrepentant, the Muslim woman told police:
“The servants of Allah entered my house in order to remove the clothes which
they were wearing, because they were soaked in blood, and said that they had
killed an infidel, hence Allah will reward them as they were following the
footsteps of their prophet. Furthermore, the pastor didn’t honor Allah by
refusing to demolish the church which was close to the mosque, along with his
activities of winning their members to Christianity.”
In another incident, Muslims finally managed to murder one of their brothers, a
former sheikh who had converted to Christianity. Earlier, on October 19, Mustafa
Obbo’s family had beaten him when he returned to the village to visit his sick
mother. As Obbo had then explained:
“As I arrived home, my dad and uncles ambushed me, tied me up and flogged me
with several long sticks and said they were going to kill me if I did not recant
my Christian faith. But by grace, as they were sending someone for petrol to
burn me up, a Toyota vehicle was approaching the homestead. When they saw the
vehicle entering the compound, they took off each in his direction.”
Two weeks later, on November 2, police recovered the body of Obbo “burned beyond
recognition.” Ismail, one of the brothers who had beaten him on October 19, had
called him feigning repentance and saying he too had embraced Christ and wanted
to meet. It was a trick to lure him to a distant and empty place where Ismail
and another of Mustafa’s brothers, along with several other Muslims, beat and
murdered the Christian. According to one of Obbo’s friends:
“Later [Ismail] Odwori called me and said that Allah has killed my friend, and I
that I should be wise and careful. He was thanking Allah for enabling them to
throw an infidel into an agony of death. Then the phone call ended.”
In another incident, Muslims decapitated Alex Mukasa, a 60-year-old Christian
man, for sharing the Gospel. After learning that Alex was missing, according to
his brother,
“I got information that his motorcycle was abandoned along the Bukoova road, and
that his body was beheaded and dumped in a sugarcane plantation. The assailants
carried away his head.”
Farmers came across the Christian man’s head in a swamp days later. Earlier,
local Muslims had begun to threaten Alex for leading three Muslim men to Christ.
“He was given two weeks to vacate the place before he would meet his death,” his
brother said. As last reported, two Muslim men had been arrested, although
several more are believed to be connected to the murder. According to a Muslim
convert to Christianity:
“He [Alex] was a peaceful man whose murder shook the community members and the
Church of Christ at large. He was a very respectable elder and leader who
frequently offered timely advice and God’s messages to warring parties within
our community. We were shocked to find out that he had been butchered by Muslim
extremists.”
Nigeria: The Islamic jihad against the West African nation’s Christian
population continued unabated. According to one report, 44 Christians were
slaughtered in one region; according to another, 10 Christians were killed and
100 homes torched by militants screaming, “Allahu Akbar”. “I lost my
grandchildren for the sake of Christ,” said one of the survivors, Sibi Gara, in
tears, from her hospital bed.
“This is the sad reality Christians have been forced to live with—total carnage
and genocide against us,” said Samuel Achie, president of the Atyap Community
Development Association in Kaduna state.
“These horrific experiences have virtually become a daily affair with hardly any
intervention from the Nigeria government, as in all these attacks against
Christians there’s been complete absence of security intervention.”
According to Celina John, yet another survivor from one of November’s attacks:
“Life here is miserable for Christians, I must confess. The herdsmen came and
attacked us, and because we are helpless, were unable to defend ourselves. Our
houses have been obliterated completely, and we have been forced to flee to
other areas.”
In one attack, Islamic gunmen stormed the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kaduna
State, murdered one Christian worshipper and abducted more than a hundred
others. According to the November 5 report:
“The kidnappers are demanding a ransom for the release of the Christians. The
family of one victim said the kidnappers told them that they had to pay more
because the gunmen had to go the extra mile for network service before they were
able to contact the families of their victims…. Some attacks on Christians in
the north of the country are carried out by a minority of Fulani herdsmen, an
ethnic group of 20 million Muslims…. The United Nations has estimated that since
2011 Boko Haram has killed more than 15,200 Nigerians, and forced 1.7 million
others from their homes as it has sought to turn Nigeria into an Islamic nation
ruled by Sharia law.”
On November 17, the U.S. removed Nigeria from its list of Countries of
Particular Concern, meaning nations that engage in, or tolerate violations of,
religious freedom. Nigeria was the country with the most Christians killed
(3,530) for their faith in 2020. Discussing this shocking reversal, John Eibner,
president of Christian Solidarity International, said:
“The State Department’s decision to de-list a country where thousands of
Christians are killed every year reveals Washington’s true priorities…. Removing
this largely symbolic sign of concern is a brazen denial of reality and
indicates that the U.S. intends to pursue its interests in western Africa
through an alliance with Nigeria’s security elite, at the expense of Christians
and other victims of widespread sectarian violence, especially in the country’s
predominantly Christian Middle Belt region…. If the U.S. CPC list means anything
at all – an open question at this point – Nigeria belongs on it.”
Burkina Faso: On November 1, Islamic terrorists murdered ten civilians. “Most of
the victims,” an official stated, “were murdered in a cowardly manner, their
throats slit.” According to a separate November 5 report:
“[T]he security situation in northern Burkina Faso drastically deteriorated in
recent months. Armed groups are creating a reign of terror targeting the whole
population, demanding taxes, and pillaging and robbing people in many parts of
the country.”
Many are “the object of severe persecution,” the report adds, “specifically
because they are Christian”:
“[I]n recent weeks there have been cases in which the terrorists have first been
asking whether the owner [of cattle] is a Christian or a Muslim. Witnesses who
have lived through the latest attacks in the Sahel Region in northern Burkina
Faso have told ACN: ‘If the owners were Christians the attackers didn’t consider
it necessary to count their animals, because they said that they didn’t just
want to take their animals, but also to kill the owners.’… [I]n the last week of
October a total of 147 persons—among them eight pregnant women and 19 children
under five—had to flee from two villages… The displaced people… explained that
many of them had been identified as Christians and that the terrorists were
expressly seeking them out to kill them because of their faith.”
One of a group of 17 Christian refugees—nine elderly people, a woman and seven
children—reported that they had fled in the middle of the night “because the
extremists were looking for them”:
“The terrible thing is that when someone gave us refuge, we were denounced as
Christians, and this put the person who had accommodated us in danger. We had to
sleep at a distance from the villages. Not all the Christians in the area have
been able to flee. We are concerned about the fate of our sons and wives who
remain there.”
Democratic Republic of Congo: At least 38 men, women, and children in the
Christian-majority nation were murdered during the course of several attacks in
November by Islamic terrorists of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which,
despite its name, is affiliated with the Islamic State. “Most of the bodies were
tied up and their throats were slit by machetes,” a Red Cross official said.
“For now it’s hard to have the exact number of men and women killed because we
haven’t finished searching for bodies in the bush,” he added. Speaking of an
earlier attack on his village, when the ADF slaughtered about 20 people, a
Christian clergyman shed light on their Islamic motivations:
“They tried to force some of our Christians to convert to Islam. They also tried
to force my wife and our four children to convert to Islam, but when they
refused to convert, they shot my wife in the head while our four children were
cut into pieces with a Somali sword… the rebel militants intend to establish an
Islamist state ruled by sharia [Islamic law].”
Generic Abuse of and Attacks on Christians
Pakistan: Yet another Christian girl, 12-year-old Mareeb Abbas, was abducted by
a Muslim man, Muhammad Daud. According to the report:
“She disappeared on 2 November, in all likelihood taken to Balochistan to be
forced to convert to Islam and marry Daud. So far, police have arrested two
suspects, but the girl remains in the hands of her abductors.”
Her mother, Farzana, a 45-year-old widow and domestic worker “is suffering
greatly from her daughter’s abduction to the point of requiring admission to a
local hospital (see picture 2). Her mental state is critical.” Discussing this
incident, Pastor Zahid Augustine said:
“[The mother] already has many challenges to face in her life. We call upon the
government to consider these abductions and forced marriages as a grave issue
and adopt strict laws to protect minorities… Mareeb is only 12 years old, and
she cannot marry. The perpetrators commit these crimes in the name of religion.
We just want justice.”
Another human rights activist, Ashiknaz Khokhar, said that “The government is
not taking this issue seriously and parliament recently refused to pass the bill
on forced conversion.”
According to a separate, November 19 report, in just the first half of 2021, in
Pakistan’s Punjab Province alone, 6,754 women were abducted. Out of those, 1,890
were raped, 3,721 were tortured and 752 children were raped. The same report
notes that “over 1,000 girls belonging to Hindu and Christian communities are
forcefully converted to Islam every year in Pakistan.”
Separately, an armed Muslim mob opened fire on a group of Christians as they
were watering their land, in an effort by the attackers to seize that land. At
least nine Christians were wounded, three hospitalized in critical condition.
“They wanted to kill us,” said Raja Masih, one of the Christians. “They fired
straight at us, so I got a bullet that almost hit me in the heart.” According to
the report:
“Muslim landowners demanded local Christians to sell their land. Uttering
threats, they told them if they refused, they would face ‘serious consequences.’
This is not new. Local Christians have already resisted selling their land in
the past because ‘they are the history and legacy of our ancestors’ and allow
families to earn a living. The village was originally founded by missionaries
and farmland was donated to the poorest families, who handed it down through the
generations. ‘In any case, the Muslim offers do not reflect the real market
value of the fields,’ Masih told AsiaNews.”
Saleem Iqbal, a human rights activist who visited the hospitalized injured,
said, “It is sad to see how Muslim landowners use their influence to target
Christians.” This is the second attack of its kind in that region; in an nearby
village, “two brothers were killed and several Christians wounded from gunshots
over irrigation,” said Ashiknaz Khokhar. “It is frustrating to see, on the one
hand, Christians fighting for their survival and, on the other, the culprits on
the loose, pre-released on bail without being arrested.”
Egypt: Christian elementary school students were “beaten up by teachers and
fellow students after the headmaster ordered all Christian students to remove
any jewelry bearing a cross [and they refused],” according to a November 21
report. In one incident, a female teacher “attacked a Christian student, then
encouraged other students to do the same, take his cross pendant from him and
destroy the cross.” Violence prompted by the crucifix is not uncommon in Egypt.
Earlier, 17-year-old Ayman, a Christian student, was strangled and beaten to
death by his Muslim teacher and fellow students for refusing to obey the
teacher’s demand that he cover his cross. An off-duty Muslim policeman once
boarded a train and, while shouting “Allahu Akbar,” opened fire on those
passengers who had cross tattoos on their wrists (an ancient practice upheld by
many Copts, who are Egypt’s indigenous Christian minority). One elderly
Christian man was killed and four others seriously wounded. In 2014, Muslim
Brotherhood members mauled and murdered a young Christian woman named Mary after
they saw her cross.
Separately, Ramy Kamel, a Christian activist arrested two years earlier for
reporting on the persecution of Copts, remained under arrest—mostly in solitary
confinement, and sometimes under torture—beyond the maximum amount of time
permitted by law. Kamel was detained in November 2019, and his detention has
been repeatedly renewed, even though under Article 143 of the Egyptian Penal
Code, authorities are not to hold citizens in pre-trial detention for more than
two years—and that is only if the crime in question merits the death penalty or
life imprisonment. As the report states:
“Strictly speaking, if Ramy Kamel were to be accused of a crime that is
punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty, the maximum pretrial
detention period – according to Egyptian law– ended on November 23, 2021. Yet,
the Egyptian judiciary has failed to make any formal accusations against Mr.
Kamel, much less shown any indication of ending his illegal and abusive
detention…. This kind of brutal behavior by Egypt’s authorities is egregious.
Furthermore, Ramy Kamel’s case is not unique. There are many other Egyptian
activists, journalists, politicians, and regular citizens who are suffering
under Egypt’s sham of a judicial system.”
Iraq: On Sunday, November 28, an unknown motorcyclist hurled an explosive at the
home of a Christian man and shopkeeper.
In a statement on the fire-bombing, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the
Baghdad-based Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said, “Fortunately, no
one was killed or wounded, but the act sparked terror in the family and the
Christian community because it brought back memories of past violence.” After
highlighting “the rise in violence against the country’s Christians since the
US-led invasion in 2003,” the patriarch continued by saying that “the country
has become like a jungle” and placed the most recent firebombing “in the context
of the ongoing hemorrhaging of Christians which has been prompted partly by
attacks like this one and other extremist activity”:
“There is the seizure of the property of Christians despite the efforts of some
good people, as well as harassment of Christians in their jobs, and the
exclusion of their employment despite the existence of a law to compensate them
with jobs for Christians who have retired or emigrated…. I hope that everyone
understands the ongoing suffering of Christians.”
This particular attack is believed to have been motivated because the Christian
man sold alcohol in his store — an act banned under Islamic law.
Malaysia: Based on a new law that came into effect on November 1, converting out
of Islam has become illegal in Malaysia’s Kelantan State. Apostates now face
prison, fines, and/or caning. Other sharia-compliant mandates that also came
into effect in November include laws against disrespecting Ramadan,
misrepresenting Islam, getting tattoos or plastic surgery, engaging in sexual
intercourse with corpses and non-humans, and witchcraft. Ahmad Yako, chief
minister of Kelantan, said the new bans will help strengthen Sharia in Kelantan,
which he hopes will serve as a model for other Malaysian states. Responding to
these developments, a women’s rights group, Sisters in Islam, “expressed concern
that these developments violate fundamental principles of democracy because they
suppress critical thought and expression.” According to one report:
“The new enactment comes as the case of Malaysian Pastor Raymond Koh remains
unsolved. Koh has been missing since he was abducted in a well-organized,
military-style operation more than four years ago after being accused of
preaching to Muslims.”
Indonesia: A “group of unidentified Islamic radicals,” according to a November
18 report, attacked the house of a Christian man on the rumor that he was using
his home as a church for other Christians in which to meet and worship. His
home, which was “never used as a place of worship,” was “extensively damaged”
from the jihadist assault. The report adds:
“Christians in Indonesia often turn to house churches, as they face great
difficulties in constructing real churches since there are many government rules
and criteria at play. For instance, interested parties need to submit the
authorization of at least 60 residents to get the process moving forward. Even
if they have the authorization, construction can still be interrupted and
permits can still be revoked by the government, which faces pressure from
Islamic extremists.”
Turkey: On November 2, Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Peoples’
Democratic Party in Turkey’s parliament, submitted a proposal to increase
resources for Christian and Jewish minority schools so that they are on a par
with those allocated to Muslim ones. Paylan stated in parliament:
“I am sure that both the Minister and the AKP deputies who claim that there is
justice and equality, will support our proposal and minority schools will get
their due from the budget in this country.”
The proposal was rejected by both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the Nationalist Movement Party of the
ultra-Islamist so-called Grey Wolves.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again and Sword and Scimitar, is a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the
David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle
East Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by
extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but
rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or
location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any
given month.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18097/persecution-of-christians-november
The Fundamental Dispute in Lebanon: Embroiling us in War
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/January 09/2022
Among the many contradictions Lebanon is brimming with, the political, economic
and cultural, one contradiction is deeper than the others, affecting them more
than they affect it. It is the stance on war: Should we be embroiled in war or
not? And accordingly, which kind of regime and relationship with the outside
world serve that purpose?
The names and parties of those infected with war fever have changed, but the
prologues they build upon have not: Worship of strength and hatred for this weak
country that is not ruled by an army or intelligence apparatus. Correspondingly,
in order for it to become stronger and more like neighboring tyrannical regimes,
it must be embroiled in war. And because dignity can only derive from strength,
it is a country without dignity, and only through war can it acquire dignity.
Moreover, as long as its army is not belligerent, that army must be crushed, and
another armed force that takes the glorious task upon itself should be sought.
If the war results in an occupation of territory, that same force is tasked with
liberating it. This is victory over victory: It guarantees a hundred-year -
maybe thousand-year - war. It renders us a people of postponed martyrs.
Here, there is something reminiscent of the famous phrase about killing girls to
safeguard their chastity.
This militaristic tendency was and is influenced by sources which are
militaristic as well. This has always been the case: They are regimes and
societies known only for their dogmatic strength, the force of their arsenal,
and then the speed at which they collapse and die as they talk about their
victories. What happened to Fascism and the Socialist Block speaks to this
clearly.
The infatuation with war has gradually shifted from being indirect to direct:
Before the Palestinian resistance's emergence, Lebanon ought to have stood with
Gamal Abdel Nasser because, as the myth goes, he was laying the foundations for
Arabs' strength and dignity.
When the Arab summits classified Lebanon as a "supporting country" rather than a
"confronting country," the militants among us objected: But our country
neighbors occupied Palestine, so why should it be a supporting country? Later,
when Nasser was defeated in 1967, the bitterness multiplied: Why was Lebanon not
defeated as well? Why did it not fight and lose so it could become worthy of its
Arabism and dignity?
With the Palestinian resistance, the dream came true. It is the "implication
strategy." With Hezbollah, as a people keen on being implicated, we immersed
ourselves in implication.
There is no doubt that sects' disputes and the unevenness in their attachments
to the Lebanese state are fundamental sources of these sentiments. Palestine was
and still is a pretext. Added to this were the efforts of the military regimes
in the region. They wanted us to become a sponge absorbing their contradictions,
and so they were generous in sending us weapons and sought to close the Lebanese
window to relatively broad freedoms. While it is true that the Lebanese
authorities' shortcomings, factionalism, and sectarian narrow-mindedness
finished the job, the response was rarely reformist and shaped by engagement
with the Lebanese interior. It was rarely purely political.
Militaristic opposition sprung from a poor historical accumulation that speaks
in two contradictory tongues: The country, on the one hand, is artificial and no
need for its existence, as well as being weak and lacking dignity; on the other
hand, it must be reformed, modernized and everything sectarian and backward
about it must be done away with. The "Lebanese National Movement" was the
loudest and last manifestation of this linguistic and conceptual duality that
combines annihilation and reform.
It is also true that those with political projects that did interact with the
situation in Lebanon, and regardless of one's opinion about them, left their
militaristic consciousness behind. Nonetheless, it seems their tongues remained
heavy, and their drive slow: Kamal Jumblatt called for reform with his gun in
the air. And although he was displeased at the split within the Lebanese army
and Fatah's establishment of the "Lebanese Arab Army", he provided the
Palestinian and Lebanese armed factions with political cover. Moussa al-Sadr
also started out as a reformer whose main concern was saving the South from the
war, but he ended up taking up arms well. Rafik Hariri was forced to stand under
the shade of the Syrians' rifles and practice cohabitation with Hezbollah's
arsenal.
The fact that the three leaders had had Lebanese political projects distanced
them from weapons. However, their projects’ weakness weakened their resilience
in the face of those weapons. At the end of the day, Jumblatt and Hariri were
killed by liberating and militaristic people. Sadr was kidnapped by one of their
allies.
We find something similar in the leftist milieu: The Communist Party, because of
its weight and long history, was more apprehensive about embroiling Lebanon in
wars than the small organizations to its left that derived their sole meaning
from their ties to the armed Palestinian factions. Many of those who would
defect from those Lebanese organizations would directly join Fatah. Nothing
justified passing through a Lebanon, then. The Communist Party, weak and
disintegrated, is now in the position that those factions had been in.
Hezbollah is the only exception in modern Lebanese history, and this is what
makes it dangerous: It is a weighty party, and the weightier it gets, the more
militaristic it becomes. That is the case so far!
However, in the end, the problem is that the alternative for the Lebanese model
has not yet been born simply because no alternative had been thought of it
except being embroiled in war: Since the emergence of the Arab Kingdom in
Damascus after the First World War, the formula hasn't changed: Either chaos and
a porous arena or a poisonous alliance like that which linked Hariri with
Hezbollah and the Syrian security apparatus between 1989 and 2005.
This failure to give rise to a stable form of governance in Lebanon would
increase hatred for Lebanese peace and stability. Lebanon defies the arsenal. It
defies us. And because it is that way, it must be decomposed by being put up
against the world and the countries of the region, a good relationship with whom
is needed for the realization of Lebanon's interests: The Palestinian
resistance's war from Lebanon destroyed the armistice agreement. Hezbollah's
militancy today is in defiance of UN Resolution 1701. Lebanon's cozy
relationship with Iran renders its relations with the Arab world bad…
From a peaceful country sympathetic with the Palestinian cause, supporting it
politically, diplomatically and in the media, we turn into Spartans attacking
the Syrian people and others in the name of Palestine. We are also transforming
from a contractual country into a tyrannical one that takes the vast majority of
its people hostage in the slaughterhouse of war - impoverished, hungry and
frightened hostages. As for the only consolation, it is a famous piece of advice
from Epicurus given over 23 centuries ago: Rest assured. Do not fear death.
While we exist, death is not present, and when death is present, we no longer
exist.
Preliminary Conclusions over the Kazakhstan Crisis
Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/January 09/2022
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan after it became
independent in 1991, had remained in his seat until 2019. Kasım Tokayev took
over as caretaker for a few months, until he was elected president with 70
percent of votes.
In effect, Nazarbayev who was under pressure for the ills of the country had
taken a tactical step. In a calculated move, he stepped down, placed a trusted
person in the president’s seat. He himself became the head of National Security
Council and kept the leadership of his party. He placed his family members and
other trusted collaborators in key positions in different state institutions. In
short, Nazarbayev retained his powers and authority but under a different guise.
For years Kazakhstan has been careful about delicate balances in its
international relations. Kazakhstan is the sole Central Asian country with
(7,600 km long) borders with Russia. It is also the Central Asian country with
most ethnic Russians. In 1991, more than half of the population was ethnic
Russian. Now, it is down to around 20 percent in a population of 19 million. In
any case, for these and many other reasons Russia has been the main pillar of
Kazakh foreign policy.
Kazakhstan and China have developed significant relations in particular in the
economic field. Kazakhstan is a transit route for a part of Chinese gas imports
and freight traffic. Trade volume between the two countries for the first 11
months of 2021 stood at around 23 billion dollars. China is the main buyer of
Kazakh natural resources and Chinese investment in Kazakhstan is also very much
worth a mention.
Kazakhstan is an important part of the Turkic world. It is a member of
Organization of Turkic States which began to take a new shape under its new name
which was adopted at the meeting in Istanbul past November.
With vast hydrocarbon and mineral reserves, including gold, uranium, iron ore
and copper, Kazakhstan is one of the blessed countries in the world in terms of
natural resources. Kazakhstan's GDP stands at around 180 billion dollars and per
capita income is around 9,000 dollars.
Statistics are rich but general economic situation is not at ease. Uneven
distribution of wealth and discrepancies, absolute control by a political elite
and oligarchs, as well as widespread corruption, have caused resentment among
ordinary Kazakhs for years. The middle class has almost vanished. Major cities
are decorated with modern, high technology buildings and other monuments but
people who have traveled around the country point out that this is more like
window dressing, the rest of the country is in a poor condition. High inflation
rates have brought in additional problems.
The most recent increase in energy prices was the breaking point which led
people to take to the streets.
The Kazakh leadership responded by measures such as reducing LNG prices,
dismissing the prime minister and ministers, introducing a cap on the price of
fuel. These measures did not suffice. The crisis turned more violent with dozens
of deaths, injuries and torching of public buildings.
President Tokayev put the blame on “extremist forces trained abroad” and “20,000
bandits who attacked Almaty”. He called on the Russian led Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) to assist Kazakhs to counter the terrorist threat.
Tokayev’s reference was Article 4 of the Charter of CSTO. This Organization was
established back in 1992 and its current members are Russia, Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Belarus.
Article 4 is the equivalent of Article 5 of NATO’s founding document, the
Washington Treaty. Both articles are about collective defense in case of an
attack on a member state.
CSTO responded by immediately deploying around 2,500 troops or CSTO peace
keepers as they call them. The majority are Russian troops (high level combat
ready elite units) with small detachments from other member countries.
Previously, in 2012 in the face of ethnic clashes between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks
in southern Kyrgyzstan, the president of the country appealed to CSTO for
troops. It was rejected on the basis that the problem was internal. Then,
Armenia made a request in 2021 when fighting broke over Karabakh. It was turned
down on the basis that the conflict was a border incident and that the
territories of a member state had not come under attack.
Back in Kazakhstan; a few days after it started, the crisis seems to be cooling
down. At least this is what is reported. Here are the conclusions that I would
draw as of today.
- Years of neglect, disappointment, corruption and monopolization of power at
the hands of a few have led to deep resentment and at one point, Kazakhs took to
the streets.
- Once again, the most useful scapegoat also in Kazakhstan has turned out to be
“foreign interference and external factors”. Despite claims to that end, nobody
has come up with the identities of these foreign elements.
- Even though Tokeyev was Nazarbayev’s man, this appears to be no longer the
case. In fact, we can talk of a power struggle between them and their circles.
- Nazarbayev and his relatives and close associates have been relieved of their
duties and some have been arrested. The Nazarbayev era seems to have come to an
end and this time, for real.
- When the CSTO was established, it was regarded as a tool to keep an eye over
the former Soviet Republics and a legal instrument to deploy when needed in the
near abroad. In Kazakhstan, we have seen implementation.
- The current president of CSTO, Armenia, emphasized that the peacekeeping force
would remain in Kazakhstan for a limited period of time with the aim of
stabilizing and normalizing the situation. This remains to be seen.
- The Kazakh leader has deployed Russian troops (and others) to deal with the
Kazakh demonstrators. This has damaged the image of the country. It must also
have caused additional resentment within Kazakh society.
- A surge in anti-Russian sentiment and Kazakh nationalism will not be
surprising. That may have effects on ethnic Russians.
- The US and the EU have expressed concern, appealed for calm, and raised
questions about the legitimacy of CSTO deployment but nothing more, at least not
yet.
- The Organization of Turkic States will convene at the level of foreign
ministers on Tuesday. The expected outcome is not more than a declaration of
support for the legitimate government and a call for calm.
- Russia has now deployed troops in a number of countries, such as Syria,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Tajikistan. All under different circumstances
but, one way or another, upon the invitation of the host. This is Russian policy
on controlling its surroundings and what it considers as its sphere of
influence.
“Stability before democracy” is attributed to Nazarbayev. I don’t think I agree
with that statement. Stability may depend on many elements, but proper
governance and fair economics are essentials. These were missing in Kazakhstan
and to make the necessary corrections in these areas will be a very serious
challenge. The loss of an unknown number of lives and trying to resolve internal
issues with force backed by external force has probably brought in additional
problems.