English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 14/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15/09-16/:”As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 13-14/2022
Hezbollah Is a mere Iranian occupation army that occupies Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/June 13/2022
There will be no salvation, cure, or resurrection for Lebanon, as long as Hezbollah poisons and ravages the Lebanese minds, and drags them by force to pre-stone times/Elias Bejjani/14 June/2022
UN mission demands security guarantees from Lebanon after troops ‘threatened’
Israel Threatens Massive Strikes against Lebanon
Aoun rejects Israel's threats, says Lebanon keen on negotiations
Hochstein arrives in Beirut, holds 'positive' talks with Bou Saab
Israel warns of 'overwhelming force' in next war with Hizbullah
EU seeks Israeli gas as Lebanon protests extraction in disputed field
Gen. Aoun: Army stands behind political authority in border file
Geagea, PSP agree on 'unified approach' for govt. formation
Beirut Public Prosecutor recuses himself from Salameh's lawsuit
Bassil warns against Line 29, says won't name Miqati as PM
Macron consoles Tamara who lost her father in helicopter crash, her mother in Beirut blast
EU Delegation, Expertise France inaugurate LAF HQ in Srebbine
Egypt Affirms 'Full Support' for Lebanon to Overcome 'Difficult Circumstances'
Maritime dispute with Lebanon threatens Israeli natural gas drilling
Tyre first Lebanese town to adopt Christianity
Hezbollah’s Ventures are not Lebanese National Security/Charles Elias Chartouni/June 13/2022
Iran’s nuclear program and Hezbollah’s meddling concerns the Gulf/Seth J. Frantzman?jerusalem Post/June 13/2022
As Lebanon’s electricity crisis deepens, water becomes scarcer

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 13-14/2022
SIPRI: World Headed for New Era of Nuclear Rearmament
Israeli PM Warns: Iran is Close to Nuclear Weapons Unless Stopped by the West
2 Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Die amid Tensions
IAEA Urges Iran to Resume Stalled Nuclear Talks 'Now'
Israel calls on nationals to leave Turkey over Iranian terror threat
Israeli Officials Consider Damascus Airport Bombing a Warning to Assad
Sadr MPs Resign from Iraq Parliament
Amnesty Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Kharkiv, Killing Hundreds
Ukrainian, Russian Forces Fight for 'Every Meter' in Severodonetsk
Macron: European Defense Industry Cooperation Must be Enhanced
Macron's Majority in Doubt after First-round of Parliament Vote
UK Sets Up EU Battle with N.Ireland Changes

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 13-14/2022
Biden Needs to Unleash His Inner Biden/Matthew Yglesias/Bloomberg/June 13/2022
We’ll Need Sanctions and Stamina to Defeat Putin/Clara Ferreira Marques/Bloomberg/June 13/2022
The Door Between Russia and America Is Slamming Shut/Anastasia Edel/The New York Times/June 13/2022
Nuclear Strategy: The War on Expertise/Peter Vincent Pry/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 13-14/2022
Hezbollah Is a mere Iranian occupation army that occupies Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/June 13/2022
Satan's party is the enemy of Lebanon, and an Iranian-sectarian - criminal - oppressive armed and stone age tool of occupation. Its leaders including Nasrallah, are in reality mere slaves and mercenary puppets, that are recruited and trained to serve the mullahs expansionism-sectarianism schemes. This terrorist Iranian armed militia it not Lebanese by any means, and does not represent the Lebanese in any thing..

There will be no salvation, cure, or resurrection for Lebanon, as long as Hezbollah poisons and ravages the Lebanese minds, and drags them by force to pre-stone times.
Elias Bejjani/14 June/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/109361/elias-bejjani-there-will-be-no-salvation-cure-or-resurrection-for-lebanon-as-long-as-hezbollah-poisons-and-ravages-the-lebanese-minds-and-drags-them-by-force-to-pre-stone-times/
The Lebanese Minister of Culture warns Israel: We will leave, crawling towards you
Twitter/June 13/2022
Caretaker Culture Minister Muhammad Wissam Al-Mortada tweeted this morning in response to Israeli threats, saying: “Kochavi threatened massive and devastating bombing if the war with Lebanon broke out. If you do it, and you are answerable and unable to do so, then yes “we will leave”, but to the south, i.e., crawling towards you, and it will not be a short visit.
This above childish tweet is a blatant example of stupidity, ignorance and grandiose delusions. It shows with no shed of doubt, the dire dangers of such an evil mentality, that is based and motivated by illusions, delusions and hallucinations. Such an approach portrays total detachment and alienation from both, reality and capabilities.
Such devastating, and cancerous mentality, life style, and education, are adopted, promoted and imposed on occupied Lebanon and the Lebanese, by the terrorist Hezbollah, and its Iranian Mullahs.
Therefore, there is no resurrection for Lebanon from the yoke of the Iranian occupation, and no cure from the poisons and cancers of Hezbollah, before its entire eradication from all Lebanon, arresting and putting its Trojan leaders on trial, and the implementation of all UN Resolutions related to Lebanon, foremost of which are the 1559, 1701, and 1680, after declaring Lebanon a failed and rogue country, and handing over its governance responsibilities to the United Nations, pursuant to the International Article VII. in bid to rehabilitate the Lebanese to govern themselves.
Meanwhile those who are more dangerous than Hezbollah and from the expansionist, colonial and ideological schemes of its Iranian masters, are the cowardly and traitorous, Lebanese politicians, and in particular the dictators, Iscariots and Trojans, who control, own and run all Lebanese political parties.

UN mission demands security guarantees from Lebanon after troops ‘threatened’
AFP/12 June 2022
https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-mission-demands-security-guarantees-from-lebanon-after-troops-threatened/
UNIFIL says a detachment was confronted by armed men in civilian clothes while on routine patrol in southern Lebanon, with group trying to take the soldiers’ weapons
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United Nation’s mission in Lebanon called Sunday for the country’s military to guarantee the security of its peacekeepers, alleging personnel were “threatened” by armed men the day before.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has long been deployed in the country’s south — a stronghold of the powerful Shiite terror group Hezbollah — to maintain a barrier with Israel, as the two countries technically remain at war.
A routine UNIFIL patrol was confronted on Saturday by “a group of men in civilian clothes” near the Arab al-Louaize district in southern Lebanon, force spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement.
The men “threatened the soldiers and tried to take their weapons,” he said.
“Attacks, threats, and acts of intimidation against UNIFIL peacekeepers… are a matter of serious concern, and we call on the Lebanese armed forces to guarantee the safety, security and freedom of movement” of the UN force, he said in a statement.
UNIFIL was beefed up after a devastating month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah was the only faction allowed to keep its arms after the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and tensions between its supporters and UN peacekeepers are far from rare, although usually quickly contained. UNIFIL is largely made up of contingents from European countries and has around 10,000 peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Israel Threatens Massive Strikes against Lebanon
Tel Aviv - Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi has warned that overwhelming force would be used in Lebanon during the next potential war. Kochavi's threat was made on the eve of the arrival of US mediator Amos Holstein to Beirut, who is trying to revive the indirect negotiations on the maritime borders with Israel following the recent tensions. Kochavi said the army is dealing with six battlefronts facing diverse threats, but the most dangerous of all is a nuclear threat. Israel pinpointed thousands of targets in Lebanon in the event of a war, including Hezbollah headquarters and rocket-propelled grenades and rocket launchers. "We will deal massive strikes in the war, but we will warn the residents and allow them to leave the areas. [...] I advise you to leave those areas because the attack force will be unimaginable – like nothing you have witnessed before," Kochavi said. Meanwhile, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called on the Lebanese military to protect it and guarantee its security after civilians threatened its soldiers. UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said attacks, threats, and acts of intimidation against UNIFIL peacekeepers are a matter of grave concern, urging the Lebanese army to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of movement of UNIFIL forces. Tenenti announced that on Saturday, a group of men in civilian clothes arrested UNIFIL peacekeepers while they were on a routine patrol in the vicinity of Arab Louwaize village in southern Lebanon, adding that "civilians threatened peacekeepers and tried to disarm them." He explained that under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, UNIFIL has complete freedom of movement and the right to patrol within its area of operations. The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council strongly condemned the recent deprivation of freedom of movement, said Tenenti, noting that the total freedom of movement of UNIFIL and the security and safety of its personnel is an integral part of the effective implementation of its tasks under Resolution 1701. "Our primary concern is maintaining stability in southern Lebanon in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces and with the support of the residents of southern Lebanon," Tenenti stressed. "We, in UNIFIL, appreciate our long and fruitful relations with the local community," he said, noting that "every day, peacekeepers carry out hundreds of patrols and operations aimed at maintaining stability in southern Lebanon and providing assistance to local communities."

Aoun rejects Israel's threats, says Lebanon keen on negotiations
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022
President Michel Aoun on Monday said that Lebanon rejects Israel’s latest threats while stressing that the country is keen on the resumption of talks over sea border demarcation. “We reject the threats of the Israeli enemy, which is acting in violation of international laws and resolutions,” Aoun said, in a meeting in Baabda with reformist MPs Melhem Khalaf, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Rami Fanj, Mark Daou, Waddah al-Sadek, Yassine Yassine and Najat Aoun. “Lebanon is keen on the return of indirect negotiations with Israel, which stopped after the enemy refused to consider Line 29 a negotiations line,” the President added. Noting that Lebanon had rejected “the Israeli line, or Line 1, and the Hoff Line,” Aoun emphasized that the country “will not renounce its right to utilize its oil and gas resources.”“The President is leading the negotiations, and after an agreement is reached, Cabinet will have to approve it and refer it to parliament according to norms, which has not yet happened as to Line 29,” Aoun went on to say. Explaining why drilling has stopped in Lebanon’s offshore block 4, the President said the drilling company “offered unconvincing justifications,” noting that “it faced international pressures that forced it to stop drilling.”Responding to a question from the delegation, Aoun pointed out that there is no link between border demarcation and the issue of importing gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan, nor with the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.”Speaking in the name of the delegation, MP Khalaf urged Aoun to “endorse Line 29 and not to hesitate to press on with amending Decree 6433/2011 and informing international authorities of it.”Aoun also held talks Monday with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka, who expressed U.N.'s readiness to "contribute to anything that can reactivate the indirect negotiations,” while lauding “President Aoun’s wisdom and role in this critical period,” the Presidency said. “Lebanon will inform (U.S. mediator Amos) Hochstein of the unified Lebanese stance regarding the suggested proposals for resuming indirect negotiations, which would preserve Lebanon’s rights,” Aoun told Wronecka.The President also hoped that a PM-designate will be named as soon as possible in light of “the junctures that are awaiting the new government.”He also stressed to Wronecka that “the post-parliamentary elections democratic course will continue with the (binding) parliamentary consultations (to name a new PM) and the formation of a new government.”

Hochstein arrives in Beirut, holds 'positive' talks with Bou Saab
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022
U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein arrived Monday afternoon in Beirut for talks with top Lebanese officials over the sea border standoff with Israel. Following his arrival, Hochstein held talks with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab at the latter's residence in Rabieh. He was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea. Noting that he told Hochstein that the Lebanese stance over the sea border demarcation file is "unified," Bou Saab added that the meeting was "positive" and that the U.S. mediator "expressed desire to help."Bou Saab later threw a dinner banquet in honor of Hochstein, Shea and the accompanying delegation. Hochstein also met on Monday with caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.Speaking to al-Manar TV, Ibrahim said his meeting with the U.S. envoy was "good." He added that he told Hochstein that President Michel Aoun will inform him in their meeting on Tuesday of "Lebanon's unified stance over the maritime border demarcation file." In addition to his meeting with Aoun, Hochstein will meet Tuesday with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Miqati. Aoun and Miqati had urged Hochstein to visit Beirut to mediate over the border dispute after Israel moved a gas production vessel into an offshore field, a part of which is claimed by Lebanon. Lebanon cried foul after the ship operated by London-listed Energean Plc arrived in the Karish gas field on Sunday.Lebanon and Israel had resumed negotiations over their maritime border in 2020 but the process was stalled by Lebanon’s claim that the map used by the United Nations in the talks needed modifying. Lebanon initially demanded 860 square kilometers of territory in the disputed maritime area but then asked for an additional 1,430 square kilometers, including part of Karish.

Israel warns of 'overwhelming force' in next war with Hizbullah
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
Israeli Army Chief Aviv Kochavi has warned that overwhelming force would be used in Lebanon in the next potential war with Hizbullah. "The attack force will be unimaginable, like nothing you have witnessed before," he said, advising local Lebanese residents to leave "from the beginning of tensions and before the first shot is fired."He added that Israel would target rocket launchers inside homes and buildings. "The Army has pinpointed thousands of targets in Lebanon in the event of a war, including Hizbullah headquarters, as well as rocket-propelled grenades and rocket launchers," Kochavi said. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had threatened Thursday to strike a gas rig Israel is setting up in the Mediterranean Sea in a disputed maritime area.

EU seeks Israeli gas as Lebanon protests extraction in disputed field
Agence France Presse/Monday, 13 June, 2022
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi were headed to Israel Monday as the EU seeks to wean itself off Russian fossil fuel imports. Von der Leyen and Draghi are due to hold energy talks in Israel, which has turned from a natural gas importer into an exporter in recent years because of major offshore finds. Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar and other officials have said their country could help meet EU demand if it can deliver gas from its offshore reserves estimated at nearly 1,000 billion cubic meters, but getting Israeli gas to Europe is fraught with challenges and would require major and long-term infrastructure investments. Further complicating Israel's offshore gas production is a long-running maritime border dispute with Lebanon. The neighbors technically remain at war but have agreed to U.S.-mediated talks aimed at delineating the border to allow both countries to boost exploration. Talks broke down last year but Israel has urged Lebanon to re-engage. Tensions flared this month following a Lebanese claim that Israeli production was taking place in contested waters. Israel countered that the area was located clearly south of the disputed zone. The U.S. envoy mediating the maritime border talks, Amos Hochstein, is due in Lebanon on Monday. Von der Leyen will meet Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, with talks expected to focus "in particular on energy cooperation," a commission statement said. Mario Draghi, on his first Middle East trip since taking office last year, will also discuss energy and food security during his two-day trip, Italian media reported. Both leaders will on Tuesday meet Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shttayeh in the occupied West Bank. The EU this month formally adopted a ban on most Russian oil imports, its toughest sanctions yet over the war on Ukraine. Von der Leyen has suggested the bloc end its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, including gas, by 2027. Draghi and other EU leaders have warned European customers may need protection as energy costs continue to rise.
Export options -
With no pipeline linking Israel's offshore fields to Europe, one option for now is piping natural gas to Egypt, where it could be liquified for export by ship to Europe.
Another scenario that has been floated is building a pipeline to Turkey. Israel's ties with Ankara have thawed after more than a decade of diplomatic rupture and experts have said Turkey's desire for joint energy projects has partly triggered its outreach to Israel.
That pipeline project would take $1.5 billion and two to three years to complete, according to Israel's former energy minister Yuval Steizitz, now an opposition lawmaker. Option three is known as the EastMed project, a proposal for a seafloor pipeline linking Israel with Cyprus and Greece. Experts have however raised concerns about the cost and viability of the project, while Israel has said it would like to see Italy sign on.

Gen. Aoun: Army stands behind political authority in border file
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022
The Lebanese Army “stands behind the political authority in any decision it may take in the sea border demarcation file” and is not concerned with any other comments or analyses, Army Commander General Joseph Aoun said on Monday. “We do not interfere in political affairs at all,” Gen. Aoun said, during a visit to the Fouad Shehab Command and Staff College. “The army has openly announced its stance following the end of its technical mission, and it stands behind the political authority in any decision it may take in the sea border demarcation file,” he added.“We’re not concerned with any comments, analyses or stances, be them political or journalistic, and the official stance exclusively comes from the Army Command,” Aoun went on to say. “Any other opinion does not reflect the army’s stance,” he emphasized. Quoting highly-informed sources, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Monday that Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil will try to “incite against Army Commander General Joseph Aoun” in the meetings that U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein will hold in Beirut on Monday and Tuesday. “The surge in the escalation by the Presidency, the FPM and Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab against the head and members of the technical military team that had been in charge of indirect negotiations in Naqoura, on the eve of the U.S. mediator’s visit, is not separate from the attempt to turn the Americans against the Army Command, by describing it as the intransigent party that is clinging to the coordinates of Line 29, while considering Bassil as the party capable of securing the success of the sea border demarcation talks with Israel under the requirements of the U.S. mediation,” the sources added. The sources also said that “hitting out against the army commander will likely be one of the dishes of the dinner banquet that Bou Saab will throw in Hochstein’s honor in order to pave his way to the Baabda Palace on Tuesday morning.”

Geagea, PSP agree on 'unified approach' for govt. formation
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
The Lebanese Forces has agreed with the Progressive Socialist Party on a “unified approach” regarding the formation of the new government, LF leader Samir Geagea said on Monday. “The opposition must unify its efforts in order to stop the ruling camp’s plans,” Geagea added, following talks in Maarab with MPs Akram Shehayyeb and Wael Abu Faour of the PSP. “The delay in the formation of the government is not due to (U.S. mediator Amos) Hochstein’s visit nor due to the formation of the (parliamentary) committees; the reason is that some are trying to seize control of the government to benefit from appointments prior to the presidential term’s expiry,” Geagea charged. “They are trying to consolidate their positions,” he added. He also stressed that “there is only one door for salvation ahead of us, which coordination among the opposition.”“We will leave the naming of a PM candidate to the Strong Republic bloc’s last meeting” before the parliamentary consultations, Geagea went on to say.

Beirut Public Prosecutor recuses himself from Salameh's lawsuit
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
Beirut Public Prosecutor Ziad Abu Haidar recused himself Monday from looking into Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh's lawsuit, media reports said.Lebanon had opened a probe into Salameh's wealth last year, after the office of Switzerland's top prosecutor requested assistance in an investigation into more than $300 million which he allegedly embezzled out of the central bank with the help of his brother. On Thursday, Oueidat "concluded preliminary investigations into the central bank governor," a court official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. "He transferred the case to the public prosecutor's office in Beirut and asked the court to charge Salameh, his brother and Salameh's secretary," the official added.

Bassil warns against Line 29, says won't name Miqati as PM
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has warned against adopting Line 29 as it may result in "a political, media and perhaps military confrontation."Bassil said that President Michel Aoun and Caretaker Prime minister Najib Miqati have agreed on an approach before negotiating with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein who is due in Lebanon on Monday. He added that there is no unified Lebanese stance regarding Hochstein's proposal and that Israel, the U.S. and "those in Lebanon who support Israel" are trying to stop Lebanon from starting extracting its offshore gas.On another note, Bassil said he won't name Miqati for the PM post as he re-accused him of protecting Central bank Governor Riad Salameh. "On a personal level, I love and respect him," he added. He named a number of MPs who, according to him, could be appointed to the post, lik Abdel Rahman Al Bizri, Fouad Makhzoumi, Nabil Badr and Rami Fanj. Bassil also mentioned Former President of the U.N. Security Council Nawaf Salam whom he said he does not support politically. As for the upcoming Cabinet, the FPM chief said he doesn't want to be a minister and that being one in the last government was "a huge political mistake." He also denied having "ever" discussed becoming president with Aoun."I only become a candidate for Presidency if I announce it," he said.

Macron consoles Tamara who lost her father in helicopter crash, her mother in Beirut blast
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his condolences to Tamara Tayah, the daughter of Tarek Tayah, one of the two Lebanese victims of a helicopter that crashed in northern Italy, days ago. Tamara had met with Macron in Lebanon after she had lost her jeweler designer mother in the massive Beirut port explosion. She gifted him a Lebanon-shaped pin made by her late mother when he visited Beirut in the aftermath of the explosion. “I listened to many testimonies, but Tamara's was the one that affected me the most," Macron said. He added that he feels her pain and that his heart is with her. "The reason why I am motivated for Lebanon is Tamara and the hope she holds, the hope of the Lebanese youth," Macron said.

EU Delegation, Expertise France inaugurate LAF HQ in Srebbine
Naharnet/Monday, 13 June, 2022 
The Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and Expertise France have announced the inauguration of the Headquarters of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Model Regiment in the Bint Jbeil town of Srebbine. This project, funded by the European Union for a total amount of 6 million euros, aims to “improve the stability and security of Lebanon by strengthening the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to deploy in the south of the country,” the EU Delegation said in a statement. Expertise France, the French public agency for international technical assistance, was selected to implement the project between October 2019 and June 2022. In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701 and as a result of UNSCR 2373, Lebanon committed itself in 2017 to increase the presence of the State in the South, and to gradually take over responsibilities from United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). To this end, Lebanon established a new infantry unit, the ‘Model Regiment’ to be deployed in the UNIFIL area of operations, in order for Lebanon to increase its joint patrolling of the area with the UNIFIL. The Model Regiment Headquarters includes all functions and services needed by the Lebanese Armed Forces in terms of command, operations, accommodation and logistics on around 6000 built square meters. Up to 310 personnel can be housed in this fully equipped infrastructure. The inauguration ceremony was held in Srebbine, on June 13, 2022, in the presence of LAF Chief of Staff Major General Amin El Erem, representing General Joseph Aoun, Commander in Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces, in addition to Major General Aroldo Lázaro, Force commander of the UNIFIL, Ralph Tarraf, Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, H. Anne Grillo, French Ambassador to Lebanon, and Rima Le Coguic, Deputy CEO in charge of operations of Expertise France.
In his opening speech, Ambassador Tarraf indicated that “this project reflects the commitment of the European Union to help build and reinforce the capabilities of Lebanese state institutions, including the LAF, and highlights its pledge at the Rome II Conference on Lebanon to assist the country in the implementation of UNSCR 1701.”Grillo added that “restoring the LAF’s operational readiness, especially in the strategic area of the South, is paramount. France is devoted to supporting the LAF in their capability building process, especially in these difficult times, which create challenges we are fully aware of.”Le Coguic expressed her great satisfaction towards the positive results of this first cooperation between Expertise France and the Lebanese Armed Forces, in spite of the difficult implementation conditions resulting from the pandemic and the economic crisis. Moreover, Major General Aroldo Lázaro highlighted that “this is a day to appreciate all that has been achieved but not to rest on our laurels” and that he “looks forward to returning to meet the men and women who serve here in making this impressive facility a vibrant model it is intended to be.”Speaking on behalf of LAF Commander General Joseph Aoun, Major General Amin El Erem pointed out that this achievement is a crucial step towards the deployment of the Model Regiment in the South Litani Sector. He recalled “the commitment of the Army and its crucial role and efforts, despite the harshness of the current situation, in maintaining security in Lebanon in the best interest of the country and the Lebanese population.”Major General El Erem also relayed General Joseph Aoun’s “gratitude and appreciation towards all international partners, and in particular France and the European Union, who place their trust in the Lebanese Army to help advance the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701 with the steady support of the UNIFIL.”

Egypt Affirms 'Full Support' for Lebanon to Overcome 'Difficult Circumstances'
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Egypt renewed its “full support” for Lebanon to overcome its “difficult conditions”, pointing to the importance of reviving production rather than relying solely on foreign aid. Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity Nivine El-Kabbag concluded a three-day visit to Beirut on Sunday, within the work program of the delegation of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers. The delegation includes Head of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers, Minister of Social Development of Jordan, Ayman Al-Mufleh, Minister of Social Solidarity in Egypt, Nivine El-Kabbag, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector in the League of Arab States Ambassador Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Khaled Al-Hanafi, and Head of the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers in the League of Arab States, Plenipotentiary Minister Tariq Al-Nabulsi. A statement by the Egyptian ministry of Solidarity said that Kabbag met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and underlined “Egypt’s full support for Lebanon in light of the circumstances it is going through, in implementation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s directives.”She also presented Egypt’s experiences in a number of aspects of social support. Kabbag also met with President Michel Aoun and emphasized the full readiness to support Lebanese civil society in cooperation with the Executive Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, through Egyptian civil society associations and institutions. She noted that meetings with Lebanese officials were aimed at reviewing the best means to provide social protection and extend safety nets, as well as reviving the production cycle to strengthen the country’s economy. The minister stressed that Lebanon has a lot of wealth that it can invest, expressing her confidence in the country’s ability to regain its prosperity and development in the near future.

Maritime dispute with Lebanon threatens Israeli natural gas drilling
Danny Zaken/Al-Monitor/June 13/2022
Israel hopes that a solution can be found to the maritime border dispute with Lebanon so Energean can start drilling in the Karish field in the third quarter of 2022.
After five weeks of traveling at sea, the natural gas platform Karish FPSO arrived June 5 at its designated location, off the shores of Israel. Shortly after its arrival, operation teams began connecting the rig to the gas wells and piping networks. The floating platform should serve for production, storage and offloading of drilled natural gas. Energean said the new rig will start operating by September. The new rig was commissioned by the Greek Energean firm, which holds gas production licenses for Israeli Karish and Tanin reservoirs.
Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said after the arrival of the rig, "This marks a major step forward in delivering first gas from Karish. … We look forward to continuing our progress through Karish first gas, the commercialization of the newly defined Olympus Area and contributing to energy security and competition of supply for the region."
Israeli authorities hailed the arrival of the rig, which advances efforts of drilling and exporting Israeli natural gas. In fact, already on May 30, Energy Minister Karine Elharrar tweeted, "We’re embarking on the fourth Israeli natural gas exploration. Israel engages in efforts to assist Europe which now finds itself in a severe energy crisis, while preserving and protecting its [Israel’s] local economy. … We have a real opportunity to export Israeli gas."The arrival of the platform to the Karish gas field, the northernmost gas reservoir in Israel’s territorial waters, rekindled an old debate between Israel and Lebanon over the two countries’ maritime boundary. Or more precisely, about the right to explore maritime zones for economic profits. Israeli authorities claim that the specific location of the platform is not in the disputed area, but this does not hinder diplomatic tensions from simmering.
The remarkable success of Israel’s natural gas development program, and the relatively low costs of energy as a result, brought considerable revenues to Israel and the companies involved in gas production. This has not escaped regional players. Still, because of the maritime boundary dispute, major international corporations are reluctant to get involved on the Lebanese side. That being said, Jerusalem estimates that the growing demand for natural gas in Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine on the one hand, Lebanon’s dire economic crisis on the other, could push Beirut into resuming talks to resolve the dispute.
As a reminder, Israel marks its maritime border with Lebanon with a line stretching out of the last coast land border point at a simple 90-degree angle. Lebanon prefers to map the border as a direct continuation of the land border. The disputed area constitutes a triangular-shaped region of about 850 square kilometers (328 square miles).
Unprecedented negotiations between the two countries began in October 2020. But then, the Lebanese submitted a new boundary line, much farther south than the original line they had submitted to the United Nations. The new Lebanese line reaches into Israel’s economic waters, including the northerly part of the Karish reservoir, though it does not include the area of the platform or drilling, the rights to which are held by Energean. The October 2020 talks got off to a bumpy start. Then, at the start of 2021, US President Joe Biden’s adviser, Amos Hochstein, was appointed to mediate talks. Hochstein had served as a consultant to American energy companies before being appointed to his position in the Biden administration. He offered the two parties a creative solution, and met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati several times to discuss it.
These talks ground to a halt in May 2021. The arrival of Energean's drilling platform to the Karish reservoir raised the issue yet again. A diplomatic source in Lebanon told Al-Monitor that in a roundabout way, this provided Aoun and Mikati with an opportunity to renew the negotiations. In order to do this, however, they would need to appear determined when dealing with Israel. This could explain the harsh statements they released about the situation. Mikati said that Israel was “encroaching on Lebanon’s maritime wealth, and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area,” calling this “extremely dangerous.” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened to strike the rig.
Israel did not wait for these threats. A joint statement by Elharrar, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid read, “The State of Israel prioritizes the protection of its strategic assets, and is prepared to defend them and the security of its infrastructure, all in accordance with its rights. At the same time, we call on the State of Lebanon to accelerate negotiations on the maritime border. Locating gas-based energy sources can greatly assist Lebanon’s economy and its citizens, and it is in the interest of the State of Lebanon to advance the dialogue on this matter. We hope that this will occur."
Rigas told Al-Monitor that the joint statement by the three ministers says it all. “This [the diplomatic dispute] is not an issue for Energean. It is a matter for the governments. We have full confidence in the government of Israel and trust that it will defend its strategic assets and national security. Anyone who invests here is fully aware that their investment will be protected by the Israeli government. I myself will fly out to the Karish platform and spend the night there. I feel very safe about it,” he said. For Energean and for Israel, stakes are huge. On May 9, Energean revealed that it made another gas discovery in Israeli waters, within the Athena exploration well, which is the fifth successful exploration of Energean in Israeli waters abd located some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Karish. Israel's natural gas revenues hit a record of $380 million in 2021. Hochstein will be arriving in Beirut this week for talks with Aoun and Mikati about ways to resolve the dispute. According to American and Israeli sources involved in the matter, Hochstein made his arrival incumbent on Lebanon retreating from the most extreme position it adopted in its negotiations with Israel (known as Line 29). Discussions will center on the original line that Lebanon originally submitted to the UN, known as Line 23, and the line that Israel submitted, known as Line 1. “Without this commitment from Lebanon, Hochstein would not be arriving in Beirut,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. According to the Lebanese source, the more aggressive statements by Aoun and Mikati upon the arrival of the Energean platform to the Karish reservoir were intended to signal a tough stance, after giving up on the more extreme position in the negotiations. Israel says that it is willing and ready to reach a solution, including even the fair division of gas reservoirs lying on the border with Lebanon. The general assumption in Israel is that Aoun and Mikati’s readiness to advance a solution could result in a renewal of negotiations, particularly if Hochstein offers a proposal that is especially appealing.

Tyre first Lebanese town to adopt Christianity
https://todayscatholic.org/tyre-first-lebanese-town-to-adopt-christianity/
Todays Catholic/February 23/2011
Where is the city of Tyre where St. Paul prayed on the beach?
St. Paul was in Patara, an important city in southern ancient Asia Minor (modern Turkey) on his way to Jerusalem. At Patara he found a ship bound for Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). He boarded the ship and it stopped at Tyre, an important city of Phoenicia, where the ship had to unload cargo. Paul stayed with the Christian disciples in Tyre for a week. The Tyrians did not want Paul to go to Jerusalem, but Paul went anyway. Everybody came out of the city to see Paul’s departure. They knelt down on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea and prayed, said goodbye and Paul boarded the ship.
Tyre is mentioned in the Old Testament. Hiram, the king of Tyre, allied himself with Solomon, the king of Jerusalem in Israel. In Phoenicia were the famous cedars of Lebanon, good for building ships and temples.
S. Jenkins says later on Tyre became one of the first Lebanese towns to adopt Christianity and was the seat of an archbishopric with 14 bishoprics under its control. By the 4th century, a basilica was built on the site of the former Temple of Melkart. In the 12th century, the Catholic Crusaders captured the city of Tyre and the surrounding fertile land. Tyre remained in Crusader hands for 167 years.
A. Jousiffe mentions some of the sites of Tyre. There is the ancient marketplace, a colonnaded road, marble Roman pavement, a rectangular arena with five rows of terraced seating cut into limestone, and an extensive Roman bathhouse. Nearby are the ruins of the Crusader Cathedral. Foundations and granite columns are all that remain. The king of Jerusalem was once crowned within the walls of this cathedral. The remains of the German king Frederick Barbarossa are reputed to be buried here. Further away is a Roman cemetery with decorated marble and stone tombs. In this area is a huge triumphal arch, an aqueduct, the largest and best-preserved Roman stadium in the world, seating 20,000 spectators. It was used for chariot races. In the Christian quarter of the city there are six churches reflecting Lebanon’s multitude of Christian denominations.
*L. Keen says the Tyre cathedral was built by a bishop called Paulinus. This Christian church was laid out in the same pattern as the temples to Astarte and Baal. In the cathedral was supposed to have been a large marble stone on which Jesus sat during his visit to Tyre when He cured the daughter of the Phoenician woman. The body of the theologian-martyr Origen, who died in 253, is said to be buried behind the altar in the cathedral.

Hezbollah’s Ventures are not Lebanese National Security
Charles Elias Chartouni/June 13/2022
The latest statements of Hassan Nasrallah and the response elicited on the Isreali side are tragic reminders of what Lebanon has been going through, since the PLO-Lebanese Leftist Alliance and Hezbollah it’s heir erected regimes of institutionalized extraterritoriality throughout the national territory, under spurious ideological fallacies used as pretexts to challenge Lebanon’s sovereignty, consociational national narrative and systemic equilibriums. Ever since Lebanon has become part of the mutating conflict dynamics which have taken place in the Middle East, and our ability to contain these overlapping sources of instability have dramatically dwindled, and the state of endemic instability became a major trait of our political landscape. As an extraterritorial actor Hezbollah’s discretionary political and strategic demeanor has eroded the very notion of National Sovereignty, consensual decision making and ordered priorities of National Security.
Lebanese geopolitics have become variables on the shifting tectonics of the Arab Cold War era (1958-2011), clashing power politics, regional and Islamic civil wars revolving around Iran’s expansionism and its Sunnite containment politics and Islamist terrorism. The hijacking of Lebanese institutions, systemic political obstructionism, and delinquent security jockeying have proven ultimately destructive, be it at the domestic level ( May 7th, 2008, string of political assassinations, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2021, political hooliganism 2019-2022, maverick terrorism since 1982, and organized criminality…), or at the regional and international levels while engaging the cascading civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the intelocking imbroglios of the Palestinian political landscapes and Israeli frontlines, and the rising thresholds of the New Cold War. The strategic overstretch and its dramatic fallouts were direly experienced in the 2006 war, and are likely to repeat nowadays at a more devastating scale, if the Iranian engineered incoming war takes place in South Lebanon.
The idle and childish rhetoric of M. Khalaf, H. Kaakour, F. Abou Hamadan and their empty gesticulating on the Southern border, should rather be spent on formalizing the extant accords around line 23, the extraction and Sovereign Fund protocols and the pursuit of the technical and diplomatic surveying of the mining platforms subsumed under the virtual line 29. Otherwise, the threats of the Israeli chief of staff, Aluf Kochavi are not hollow ranting and the 2006 war consequences and their trail of antecedents between (1965-1982) are quite instructive about the outcomes of ramshackle statehood and battered sovereignty. The costs clearly outlined in the Israeli statement are no less than the systematic destruction of Lebanon’s basic infrastructures and Hezbollah’s networks and military substructures, and their ecological embedding and cortège of humanitarian losses and tragedies. The new parliamentarians are demagogues who are playing smart aligning Hezbollah’s rhetoric, post factual distortion of realities and ideological humbug. We cannot afford anymore the cost of political apprenticeship to cater to Iranian power politics and domination strategy of Hezbollah. The red herring fallacies of the past have proven mortal 65 years after Lebanon’s sovereignty was trampled and its civil concord savaged indiscriminately.

Iran’s nuclear program and Hezbollah’s meddling concerns the Gulf - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman?jerusalem Post/June 13/2022
Three articles from UAE-based publications expressed concerns over the Iran nuclear program, the Karish energy dispute and Syria.
Several articles that appeared in media based in the UAE may reflect growing concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program and Iranian proxies meddling in areas such as the Eastern Mediterranean.
Two articles published as commentary at Al-Ain media highlight the nuclear program and the Karish energy field dispute, while a third highlights Iran’s possible gains in Syria if Russia draws down forces.
The articles come at a time of increased tensions between Israel and Iran in the region and after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled to the Emirates last Thursday.
“It is necessary to stand firmly in the face of Iran’s non-peaceful nuclear activities,” said the first article, titled “Iran’s nuclear bomb, just around the corner.”
The article details how the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors recently slammed Iran’s nuclear program. It notes the threat of Iranian enrichment of uranium, adding that none of these activities have a credible civil justification in the Islamic Republic.
The article also warns about a rush to an Iranian deal that could benefit Iran’s evasive tactics, rather than give the international community what is best for the world.
“Political analysts pay tribute to the repeated positions of the Arab Gulf states, which call for the need to limit Iran’s nuclear and ballistic capabilities, and to ban the terrorist activities of the so-called ‘Revolutionary Guard’ outside Iran, while emphasizing work on the common interest of the peoples of the region in a secure and sustainable living [situation],” the article said.
“In the face of the danger of the spread of nuclear weapons in our region, we pose a fateful question to the Iranian leadership, which for more than a century has held its people hostage to sanctions and embargoes due to escalatory nuclear policies,” it said.
The question seems to be whether Iran will pursue wise policies, rather than its current course.
“We affirm here the correctness of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the rest of the Arab Gulf states with regard to the Iranian nuclear threat – not only to the Gulf states, but to the countries of the region and the world as a whole,” the article said. “Everyone must stop Iran by all means from destabilizing the region, which is not free from the conflicts.”
Will Lebanon and Israel deal?
ANOTHER ARTICLE looked at the possibility for a deal between Israel and Lebanon regarding maritime boundaries. Hezbollah has threatened to prevent Israel from exploring for gas or oil in areas that Beirut disputes with Jerusalem, the article said.
One area in the news recently is the Karish offshore energy field.
“Perhaps what makes the situation more dangerous is the fact that the Karish field case has jumped to the fore with the intensification of the intelligence war between Iran and Israel,” the article said.
The article links Hezbollah rhetoric to recent growing tensions between Tehran and Jerusalem. These include Bennett’s claim that Israel is confronting Iran more in the region and Iran’s concerns that members of the IRGC have allegedly been assassinated.
“In the face of these potential risks of sparking a confrontation between Israel and Lebanon, there is a keenness on the Lebanese and Israeli sides to give an opportunity to the American and international efforts in order to succeed in the American mediation to demarcate the maritime borders between the two countries,” the article said.
“By striking a deal, the two sides avoided a potential confrontation… Perhaps such a deal brings strategic benefits to Lebanon, which is living in the worst conditions, not in terms of bringing it huge financial resources that might save it from its worsening crises, but rather avoiding for it a confrontation” whose “exorbitant and destructive costs... it is unable to bear,” it said.
Indeed, a deal could open the door for exploration off the coast of Lebanon for energy sources.
MEANWHILE, “No one could have guessed that Iran would gain the most from the Ukraine crisis, which is forcing Russians to retreat from Syria today,” Abdulrahman al-Rashed wrote at Asharq al-Awsat.
The article, which was republished in Al-Arabiya in the Gulf, argued that Russia’s role in Syria was welcomed in the region to some extent. This is because it mollified “regional powers worried about the spread of Iranian militias in Syria.”
Now, some reports have said Russia may be forced to shift forces to fight in Ukraine, leaving areas in Syria open to more Iranian influence. Iran already has influence in Syria near Albukamal and up the valley to Deir Ezzor, as well as at T-4 base and in Damascus and the Golan Heights. Russian forces are in Latakia and some other places.
“Today, this theoretical foreign balance in Syria is about to be tipped in favor of Tehran,” Rashed wrote. “In the last few weeks, reports said Russian forces were leaving Syria bound for their homeland, or maybe Ukraine, where Russia is waging its very own war. Further Russian retreats will likely follow, paving the way for Iran to wield complete influence over Syria.”
“Today, this theoretical foreign balance in Syria is about to be tipped in favor of Tehran.”
Abdulrahman al-Rashed
“I find it very unlikely that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps will leave Syria once the fighting stops completely, he wrote. “However, the withdrawal of Russia coupled with the continued military presence of Iran could rekindle the flames of conflict inside and around Syria, as the objectives of Iran’s presence in Damascus go far beyond protecting the Syrian regime.”
Rashed is concerned that Iran’s role in Syria will increase its role in Iraq. He cites that extremists have used the valley from Deir Ezzor down the Euphrates to Al-Qaim to invade Iraq after 2003 and that Iran uses this corridor now.
“Iran is advancing in slow but steady steps, from Basrah to Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, to control Iraq and its decisions,” Rashed wrote. “From Syria, the IRGC also controls neighboring Lebanon, which it has turned into a center of operations for its regional activities in Yemen and Palestine. With the Russians gone, Iran faces little resistance now, only having to fend off Israel, which may consider Iran’s presence in Syria a strategic threat to its security but is not willing to be dragged into a war there.”
With the US maintaining only a small presence in eastern Syria and with Turkey weighing its choices, Iran and its militias – including “Iraqi and Afghan groups, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and Syrian pro-Iran militias – are left alone to expand their presence and influence,” he wrote.
TAKEN TOGETHER, the three articles point to potential concern in the Gulf regarding Iran’s activities and the role of its proxies. With one article singling out Hezbollah’s threats, a second one expressing concern about the nuclear program and a third republished in the Gulf expressing concern about Iran’s role in Syria, the theme is clear: Iran is on the cusp of a new destabilization campaign.
Bennett has had tough words for Iran in recent days. He also met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Thursday in a previously unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi. This came after the IAEA announcement.
Then came allegations in Syria regarding an airstrike on Damascus International Airport. This all paints a picture of a region on edge regarding Iran’s threats.

As Lebanon’s electricity crisis deepens, water becomes scarcer
Rodayna Raydan/Al-Monitor/June 13/2022
Despite its natural water resources, Lebanon has reached a crisis point, with many residents unable to afford clean water.
Lebanon’s worsening water crisis is placing households and businesses under stress. The country is known for abundant water resources but without implementation of strategies to conserve and protect them, it remains one of the most water-threatened nations on earth. Clean water in Lebanon is simply no longer affordable and households are trying to use as little as possible. Amid water shortages in most of the country, residents are paying a large portion of their income to private companies to fill the tanks on their roofs. “If I didn’t pay for water from private companies, my taps would run dry,” Beirut resident Nada Kanso told Al-Monitor. Environmental groups blame the government’s policies for Lebanon’s water crisis, saying the lack of adequate water infrastructure and mismanagement have brought the situation to a critical point.
“The situation has become unbearable as residents are having to pay over a million Lebanese pounds weekly to fill up their water tanks, while the minimum wage is 675,000 Lebanese pounds,” said Yousef Shwai, a private water distributor in one village in Beqaa. One million Lebanese pounds are equivalent to $35 at the black market rate.
Last summer UNICEF warned, “Unless urgent action is taken, more than four million people across Lebanon — predominantly vulnerable children and families — face the prospect of critical water shortages or being completely cut off from safe water supply in the coming days.”
The cash-strapped government has not invested in keeping water supplies safe and secured, according to a report from The World Bank. Environmental consultant and engineer Tamara Ghanem told Al-Monitor, “Lebanon’s tap water is extremely toxic, to the extent that you can’t even drink it.”
The Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation, a service organization that provides water for about half of Lebanon, recently announced the start of severe water rationing. Al-Monitor spoke to a source within the corporation who wished to remain unnamed. He said, “The emerging water crisis is expected to escalate if no adequate solutions are found, especially for the electricity [shortage], which is one of the main interruptions to the supply of water.”
According to the source, the devaluation of the Lebanese pound also prevents the water supply networks from being maintained as the water service organizations can no longer afford the imported parts that are essential for maintenance.
Lebanon has snow-filled mountains that feed 15 rivers and over two thousand streams. Environmental experts say that clean water becomes polluted once it reaches the rivers, where untreated sewage is dumped.
The Litani River, Lebanon’s longest river, is an essential source of water for irrigation and hydroelectric energy. It's also an example of the country’s mismanaged institutions and deeply rooted corruption that according to Ghanem has turned 100% of the Litani’s water toxic. Untreated sewage has been pouring into the river for years and still no plans have been implemented to address sewage systems across Lebanon.
Lebanese environmental engineer Michel Frem told Al-Monitor, “Although climate change has started affecting the availability and intensity of water resources, Lebanon, in general, is not a water-scarce country. The long years of mismanagement and corruption have made it so.” He explained, “Our management for this resource is poor because we are not building enough infrastructure such as service storage facilities like dams, lakes or [efforts to] artificially recharge groundwater.”
Dwindling water resources are also affecting the agricultural sector, which relies heavily on groundwater for irrigation in the summer, making vegetables and fruits more expensive and in short supply. The local agriculture sector should be able to produce all year long in Lebanon’s climate, but the expenses of water and materials make that easier said than done.
Lebanon-based agriculture engineer Nijad Saed Eddine told Al-Monitor, “Operating a farm in Lebanon has become a challenge for financial and practical reasons, for instance securing reliable and sustainable access to water or purchasing imported raw materials like fertilizers that have become extremely expensive.” He said that keeping costs down means reducing dependency on imports and even water pumping. Farmers are therefore leaning toward planting crops that require less water.
“Farmers are planting pine trees, fig trees, sumac and aromatic plants like thyme, lavender and rosemary when possible, as these crops have lower cultivation costs. For instance, they require less watering,” he said. “This, however, is not the preferred solution for the agriculture sector, as we need a sustainable strategy to be implemented for farmers who grow vegetables with high water consumption such as lettuce, cucumber and tomato,” Saed Eddine added. Many farmers are installing solar panels to supply their farms with the electricity needed for pumping water instead of using generators that depend on unsubsidized fuel at skyrocketing prices. “Not enough drinking water makes its way to our homes because of the crumbling infrastructure and lack of planning," Frem told Al-Monitor. Regional geopolitics also hinder Lebanon’s water resources. Transboundary rivers are off limits because pumping from them could create tensions with neighboring countries. Frem told Al-Monitor, “Sometimes projects may be rejected based on international and political agreements.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 13-14/2022
SIPRI: World Headed for New Era of Nuclear Rearmament
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/109349/asharq-al-awsat-sipri-world-headed-for-new-era-of-nuclear-rearmament-%d8%b1%d8%a4%d9%88%d8%b3-%d8%ad%d8%b1%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%86%d9%88%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%ab%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%82%d9%84%d9%82/
The number of nuclear weapons in the world is set to rise in the coming decade after 35 years of decline as global tensions flare amid Russia's war in Ukraine, researchers said Monday. The nine nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, the United States and Russia -- had 12,705 nuclear warheads in early 2022, or 375 fewer than in early 2021, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The number has come down from a high of more than 70,000 in 1986, as the US and Russia have gradually reduced their massive arsenals built up during the Cold War, AFP said. But this era of disarmament appears to be coming to an end and the risk of a nuclear escalation is now at its highest point in the post-Cold War period, SIPRI researchers said. "Soon, we're going to get to the point where, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, the global number of nuclear weapons in the world could start increasing for the first time", Matt Korda, one of the co-authors of the report, told AFP. "That is really kind of dangerous territory." After a "marginal" decrease seen last year, "nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the coming decade", SIPRI said. During the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has on several occasions made reference to the use of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile several countries, including China and Britain, are either officially or unofficially modernizing or ramping up their arsenals, the research institute said.
"It's going to be very difficult to make progress on disarmament over the coming years because of this war, and because of how Putin is talking about his nuclear weapons", Korda said. These worrying statements are pushing "a lot of other nuclear armed states to think about their own nuclear strategies", he added.
- 'Nuclear war can't be won' -
Despite the entry into force in early 2021 of the UN nuclear weapon ban treaty and a five-year extension of the US-Russian "New START" treaty, the situation has been deteriorating for some time, according to SIPRI. Iran's nuclear program and the development of increasingly advanced hypersonic missiles have, among other things, raised concern. The drop in the overall number of weapons is due to the US and Russia "dismantling retired warheads", SIPRI noted, while the number of operational weapons remains "relatively stable". Moscow and Washington alone account for 90 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal. Russia remains the biggest nuclear power, with 5,977 warheads in early 2022, down by 280 from a year ago, either deployed, in stock or waiting to be dismantled, according to the institute. More than 1,600 of its warheads are believed to be immediately operational, SIPRI said. The United States meanwhile has 5,428 warheads, 120 fewer than last year, but it has more deployed than Russia, at 1,750. In terms of overall numbers, China comes third with 350, followed by France with 290, Britain with 225, Pakistan with 165, India with 160 and Israel with 90.
Israel is the only one of the nine that does not officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons.
As for North Korea, SIPRI said for the first time that Kim Jong-Un's Communist regime now has 20 nuclear warheads. Pyongyang is believed to have enough material to produce around 50. In early 2022, the five nuclear-armed permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- issued a statement that "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought".Nonetheless, SIPRI noted, all five "continue to expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals and appear to be increasing the salience of nuclear weapons in their military strategies." "China is in the middle of a substantial expansion of its nuclear weapon arsenal, which satellite images indicate includes the construction of over 300 new missile silos", it said. According to the Pentagon, Beijing could have 700 warheads by 2027. Britain last year said it would increase the ceiling on its total warhead stockpile, and would no longer publicly disclose figures for the country’s operational nuclear weapons.

Israeli PM Warns: Iran is Close to Nuclear Weapons Unless Stopped by the West
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/109354/%d8%a8%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%aa%d9%84%d9%83-%d9%82%d9%86%d8%a8%d9%84%d8%a9-%d9%86%d9%88%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%8b-%d9%85/
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has warned that Tehran was drawing "dangerously close" to producing nuclear weapons unless the West stands up to the regime. During an interview with The Telegraph on Saturday, Bennett urged Britain to maintain pressure on Tehran's leaders, saying, "Iran is enriching uranium at an unprecedented rate and moving dangerously close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons." Bennett's statement comes amid reports that Tehran has begun enriching uranium at levels exceeding 60 percent, which is enough to make a bomb, but Tehran denies seeking to build nuclear weapons. The Telegraph reported that Israel asked Britain to consider a "tripwire" mechanism to deter Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, stressing that this mechanism would be separate from any possible future deal between Tehran and the West. "Without pressure from the West, the Islamic regime in Iran could get their hands on a nuclear bomb very soon. The world must take a firm stance and tell the Islamic regime in Iran: no nukes, no sanctions. Iran's nuclear program won't stop until it's stopped," he said. Earlier, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, criticized Iran over its nuclear program last Wednesday, hours after Tehran announced that it had turned off some of the IAEA's cameras monitoring its nuclear sites. Last Thursday, Iran announced it had started pumping gas into advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said the decision was in line with international regulations. Eslami did not specify where the centrifuges in question were located. But his announcement came on the same day the IAEA reported that Tehran had informed it of its plan to install two new cascades of advanced centrifuges at the underground Natanz nuclear facility, allowing it to enrich uranium rapidly. Iran reached an agreement in 2015 that limits its nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions, but former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018. After the US withdrawal, Tehran reneged on some of its commitments to the agreement starting in 2019, and several European countries expressed growing concern about how far Iran has gone in resuming its nuclear activities. Iran began establishing large stockpiles of enriched uranium, some of which are enriched above the levels needed for nuclear power generation. US President Joe Biden announced his desire to abide by the 2018 agreement, and talks resumed in April 2021 to revive it, lift sanctions, and get Iran to return to the limits it agreed to on its nuclear activities. However, negotiations have stalled in recent months, and the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell warned last weekend that the possibility of returning to the accord was "shrinking."

2 Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Die amid Tensions
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Two members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division died in Iran in separate incidents over the weekend, Iranian media reported on Monday. The deaths of the two men come as tensions remain high over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers, and its uranium enrichment program that is now closest it has ever been to weapons-grade levels. While authorities offered no suggestion of foul play in the men's deaths, Israel has been accused of killing other high-ranking Guard members amid the growing crisis, The Associated Press said. The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies, believed to be close to the Guard, identified one of the dead as Ali Kamani and said he died in Iran's central city of Khomein. Tasnim said that Kamani died in a “car accident,” without elaborating. The news agencies did not give a rank for Kamani. However, a photo published by Tasnim showed the man wearing the epaulets of a second lieutenant in the Guard's aerospace program, which runs Iran's ballistic missile program as well as some of the country's air defenses. Fars alone reported on the death of the second man, whom it identified as Mohammad Abdous. The agency published a picture of Abdous in civilian clothes at the Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, Iran. Fars said that Abdous died “on a mission” while working in Iran's Semnan province. Rural Semnan province, east of Tehran, is home to the Imam Khomeini Spaceport, which has been used in satellite launches. The report of the two men's deaths come about a week and half after the reported death of Guard Col. Ali Esmailzadeh, a member of its expeditionary Quds Force, under unclear circumstances. In May, two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Iranian officials have blamed “global arrogance” — code for the United States and Israel — for Khodaei’s killing. The 50-year-old Khodaei remains a shadowy figure and Iran has yet to offer biographic detail beyond saying that he also was a member of the elite Quds Force. The Guard has described him as “defender of the shrine” — a reference to Iranians who support militias fighting the extremist ISIS group in Syria and Iraq. Thousands attended his funeral in Tehran and hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi visited his family. The manner of the slaying evoked previous targeted attacks by Israel in Iran. In November 2020, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran.

IAEA Urges Iran to Resume Stalled Nuclear Talks 'Now'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
The International Atomic Energy Agency on Sunday urged Iran to resume talks "now" to avoid a crisis that could make it "extremely more difficult" to salvage the 2015 nuclear accord. Iran this week disconnected some cameras allowing international inspectors to monitor its nuclear activities in response to a Western resolution passed June 8 in which the UN agency denounced Tehran's lack of cooperation. Twenty-seven surveillance cameras "have been removed," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in an interview broadcast Sunday by CNN, calling it a "very serious move." "Recent history tells us that it is never a good thing to start saying to international inspectors, go home... things get much more problematic," he added. The 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities. But in 2018, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the pact and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments. Talks to revive the deal have stalled since March. In the CNN interview, Grossi said he was telling his Iranian counterparts, "We have to sit down now, we have to redress the situation, we have to continue working together. "The only way for Iran to get the confidence, the trust they so badly need in order to move their economy forward... is to allow the inspectors of the IAEA to be present," AFP quoted him as saying. Without the surveillance cameras, Grossi said, his agency will soon be unable to declare whether the Iranian nuclear program is "peaceful" -- as Tehran has repeatedly insisted -- or whether Iran is developing an atomic bomb. Even if the Iranians reconnect the cameras in a few months, Grossi said, whatever work they do in the meantime will remain secret, possibly rendering useless any agreement. Therefore, he said, the recent Iranian action makes "the way back to an agreement extremely more difficult." While Trump pulled the United States out of what he said was a badly flawed accord, his successor Joe Biden has said he is ready to again embrace the deal so long as Iran also respects its own commitments. But negotiators have met with repeated frustration, and the possibility of failure appears closer than ever. In a call Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on diplomats to rescue the agreement, according to a Sunday statement.

Israel calls on nationals to leave Turkey over Iranian terror threat
Rina Bassist/Al-Monitor/June 13/2022
After the uncovering of an Iranian plot to target Israelis in Turkey, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called on Israeli nationals to leave the country immediately. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid issued an unusual warning today, urging Israeli tourists in Istanbul to come home without delay.
He tweeted, “Following developments in Turkey in recent weeks and after a series of Iranian terror attack attempts against Israeli tourists in Istanbul, we call on Israelis: Do not fly to Istanbul. And unless travel in really essential, don’t travel to Turkey. If you are already in Istanbul, return to Israel as soon as possible. The Israeli security agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the prime minister's office have all participated in recent weeks in a tremendous effort that saved the lives of Israelis. Some of them have returned to Israel and wander among us without knowing that their lives had been saved.” Lapid added, “If you have planned a flight to Istanbul, cancel. No vacation is worth your life and the lives of your loved ones.” Lapid thanked the Turkish authorities “for their efforts to protect the lives of Israeli citizens," saying, "Tourism to Turkey is important to both countries, but they too understand that there are risks that must not be taken. We hope and believe that this warning will not be long term. We are at the middle of the vacation period. We will make every possible effort to reestablish calm so that Israelis can go back to Turkey and enjoy all that it has to offer.”In parallel to Lapid's message, Israel's National Security Council updated its travel warning on Turkey, grading it now at the highest level, and recommending Israelis to avoid unnecessary traveling to all Turkish territories.
Jerusalem is keen to continue the process of rapprochement launched by Ankara some two years ago. President Isaac Herzog visited Turkey in March and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Israel in May. Both countries' foreign ministries are engaged in diplomatic dialogue and bilateral trade between them is increasing rapidly. But even at the cost of hurting the Turkish tourism industry, Israel cannot ignore intelligence suggesting that Iranian agents are operating in Turkey and targeting Israeli tourists. One of the major expressions of renewed rapprochement between the two countries is the return of Israeli tourists to Turkey. For several years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli tourists flocked to Istanbul, Antalya and other Turkish locations. This trend dwindled after 2010, when bilateral relations soured, but in the past two years, Israeli tourism to Turkey has been picking up. Last November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intervened personally to facilitate the release of two Israeli tourists detained after taking photos of the president’s palace while visiting the Camlica Tower. Erdogan’s intervention was perceived by Jerusalem as token of his commitment to rehabilitating bilateral ties.
Over the years of bilateral tensions, Israel has kept asking Turkey to close the offices of Hamas in Istanbul and prevent Hamas agents from residing in the country. Last April, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Hamas members based in Turkey and traveling abroad were not allowed to reenter the country. Jerusalem took the measure as a positive sign from Ankara. It seems that Israeli and Turkish security agencies are now cooperating efficiently. On May 30, Israel’s Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a warning against travel to Turkey, citing Iranian threats both against Israeli tourists and against Israelis living in the country and Israeli businesspeople working in Turkey. Reports on June 12 said that last month, Israeli and Turkish security agencies uncovered an Iranian plot to kidnap Israeli tourists in Turkey. An Israeli source said the ring was uncovered following an Israeli tip-off to Turkish authorities, who immediately took action to dismantle the cell. Israel believes there are still Iranian agents operating in Turkey with the goal of kidnapping or shooting Israelis.

Israeli Officials Consider Damascus Airport Bombing a Warning to Assad
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Israeli officials leaked to the Hebrew media that the recent attack on Damascus International Airport was primarily to warn Bashar al-Assad's regime that submitting to the Iranian regime and its goals will cost a heavier price than getting rid of it. The officials told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper Sunday that Israel decided to increase its strikes against the Syrian regime and its forces. Tel Aviv believes Assad is involved in a double act where the regime says it is not interested in maintaining its alliance with Iran and wants to be freed from its restrictions, and at the same time, allows the transfer of weapons and equipment to the Lebanese Hezbollah and allows Iranian militias to expand their presence towards the border with Israel. The officials noted that Assad fears the loss resulting from turning his back on Iran and must realize that the price for continuing this approach will be harsher than getting rid of Iran. They considered the bombing of the old Damascus airport to be the beginning of the end. They believe this airport is used to receive top officials of the Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iranian intelligence. The Syrian Ministry of Transport suspended flights to and from Damascus International Airport "until further notice" on Friday after Israeli air strikes damaged the airstrip and a terminal. A Syrian military official quoted by the state news agency SANA said Syrian air defenses intercepted the Israeli missiles, downing most of them, but the early morning attack wounded one civilian and caused some material damage. Cham Wings Airline, a private Syrian carrier, said it was rerouting all its flights to Aleppo International Airport. The transport ministry said the airport had stopped all flights, and a later statement said Israeli air strikes damaged the runway and one of the terminals. "As a result of this damage, all arriving and departing flights at the airport have been suspended until further notice," the ministry said. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced that the Mossad, in cooperation with Turkish intelligence, thwarted an Iranian attack on Israeli targets inside Turkish territory last month. The state TV channel Kan 11 quoted sources at the security services in Tel Aviv as saying that Israeli security officials briefed their counterparts in Ankara on the alleged Iranian attack plan, and they immediately thwarted it. Kan 12 confirmed the news, adding that the Turkish intelligence services revealed a network of Iranian agents who planned to strike Israeli targets in retaliation for the assassination of IRGC's Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodaei last month. Israel claims that its security services have been monitoring Iranian attempts to launch attacks against Israeli targets abroad for more than two years. However, the Israeli National Security Council issued a public travel warning to Israeli citizens for Turkey after reports of "concrete and immediate" Iranian threats to target Israeli tourists, not just diplomats and businessmen. Israel's Kan 12 reported that Israeli security officials called and directly warned more than 100 Israeli citizens in Turkey and asked them to return. The Channel claimed that Iran identified Israeli citizens in Turkey and included them on its target lists, noting that about 40,000 Israelis are currently in Turkey.

Sadr MPs Resign from Iraq Parliament
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has asked lawmakers from his parliamentary bloc to submit their resignations to the parliament speaker, he said in a statement on Sunday. Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi has accepted the resignations. In a written statement, Sadr said the step "is a sacrifice for the nation and people to save them from an unknown fate" given the political impasse that has plagued the country for months. "We have previously made sacrifices for the liberation, sovereignty, security, prosperity and stability of Iraq," he stated. He expressed his gratitude to the lawmakers for their work during their short time in office since the October parliamentary elections. The Sadrist lawmakers last week had collectively signed their resignations and submitted them to Sadr. The cleric had recently declared that the political impasse in the country is "deliberate", underscoring his demand to form a national majority government. Iraq was plunged in crisis after Sadr emerged as victor in the elections. His Shiite rivals in the pro-Iran Coordination Framework have challenged the results and dismissed the polls as a sham. Sadr has since formed a coalition with Sunni and Kurdish MPs to form a comfortable majority bloc in parliament. As the Framework demonstrated it was unwilling to help form the government, Sadr announced he would grant them three months to form one and yet, no progress was made.

Amnesty Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Kharkiv, Killing Hundreds
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks on Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, had killed hundreds of civilians.
"The repeated bombardments of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, and as such constitute war crimes," the rights group said in a report on Ukraine's second biggest city. "This is true both for the strikes carried out using cluster (munitions) as well as those conducted using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery shells," it said. "The continued use of such inaccurate explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, in the knowledge that they are repeatedly causing large numbers of civilian casualties, may even amount to directing attacks against the civilian population."Amnesty said it had uncovered proof in Kharkiv of the repeated use by Russian forces of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and scatterable land mines, all of which are banned under international conventions, AFP said. Cluster bombs release dozens of bomblets or grenades in mid-air, scattering them indiscriminately over hundreds of square meters (yards). Scatterable land mines combine "the worst possible attributes of cluster munitions and antipersonnel land mines", Amnesty said. Unguided artillery shells have a margin of error of over 100 meters. The report, entitled "Anyone Can Die At Any Time", details how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas of Kharkiv on the first day of the invasion on February 24. The "relentless" shelling continued for two months, wreaking "wholesale destruction" on the city of 1.5 million. "People have been killed in their homes and in the streets, in playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queueing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and medicine," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser. "The repeated use of widely banned cluster munitions is shocking, and a further indication of utter disregard for civilian lives. "The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable."Kharkiv's Military Administration told Amnesty 606 civilians had been killed and 1,248 wounded in the region since the conflict began. Russia and Ukraine are not parties to the international conventions banning cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines. But, Amnesty stressed, "international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons that are indiscriminate by nature. "Launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in death or injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects, constitutes war crimes." One of the witnesses Amnesty spoke to had survived cancer, only to lose both her legs in a Russian cluster bomb attack. Olena Sorokina, 57, was outside her building when flying shrapnel hit her. She lost one leg instantly and the other had to be amputated later. A neighbor with her was killed on the spot. The latter's daughter said the shrapnel tore through the building. "Even if mum had been inside her home she would have been hit. She stood no chance in the face of such bombing," she said. Amnesty investigated 41 Russian strikes that killed at least 62 people and wounded at least 196. It spoke to 160 people in Kharkiv over two weeks in April and May, including survivors, victims' relatives, witnesses and doctors. Ukraine says it has launched more than 12,000 war crimes probes since the war began.

Ukrainian, Russian Forces Fight for 'Every Meter' in Severodonetsk
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
Ukrainian and Russian forces were fighting for "literally every meter" in Severodonetsk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as fighting intensified in an eastern region where the country's top commander said the land "is covered in blood". Severodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the Lugansk region still under Ukrainian control, AFP said. Russia's massed artillery in that region gave it a tenfold advantage, said Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military. But, "despite everything, we continue to hold positions", he said. "Every meter of Ukrainian land there is covered in blood -- but not only ours, but also the occupier's." In his nightly video address, Zelensky said the latest fighting in Severodonetsk was "very fierce", adding that Russia was deploying undertrained troops and using its young men as "cannon fodder". By attacking Severodonetsk's last remaining bridges, the Russians were aiming to cut the key industrial city off completely from the rest of the country, said regional governor Sergiy Gaiday. "Most likely (in the next two days), they will throw all the reserves to capture the city," Gaiday said.
He also accused Russia of shelling the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where hundreds of civilians have reportedly taken refuge. But Leonid Pasechnik, leader of Lugansk's pro-Russian separatists, pointed the finger at the Ukrainian battalions, saying they were the ones shelling Severodonetsk from the plant. He told reporters that pro-Russian forces were not pressing aggressively "because it is a chemical industry facility", warning of the risk of "an environmental catastrophe".
'War crimes'
Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying that attacks on the northeastern city of Kharkiv -- many using banned cluster bombs -- had killed hundreds of civilians. "The repeated bombardments of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, and as such constitute war crimes," the rights group said in a report on Ukraine's second biggest city. Away from the battlefield, World Trade Organization members gathered in Geneva Sunday, and at the top of the agenda was the issue of tackling global food security threatened by Russia's invasion of wheat-producing Ukraine. Tensions ran high during a closed-door session, where several delegates took the floor to condemn Russia's war, including Kyiv's envoy who was met with a standing ovation, WTO spokesman Dan Pruzin told journalists. Then, just before Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov spoke, around three dozen delegates "walked out", the spokesman said. That came a day after the head of the European Commission promised Ukraine would receive a clear signal within a week on its bid to join the European Union. EU leaders are expected to approve the bid at an upcoming summit, although with strict conditions attached. In Brussels, demonstrators brandishing blue and yellow Ukrainian flags circled European Commission headquarters Sunday in a show of support.
Chortkiv strike
The war has prompted Finland and Sweden to give up decades of military non-alignment and seek to join the NATO alliance. But Turkey is blocking their bids and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday the issue may not be resolved by an alliance summit later this month. The United States and Europe have sent weapons and cash to help Ukraine blunt Russia's advance, alongside punishing Moscow with unprecedented economic sanctions. Russian forces said Sunday they had struck a site in the town of Chortkiv in western Ukraine storing US- and EU-supplied weapons. Russia's defense ministry said the strike destroyed a "large depot of anti-tank missile systems, portable air defense systems and shells provided to the Kyiv regime by the US and European countries". The strike -- a rare attack by Russia in the relatively calm west of Ukraine -- left 22 people injured, regional governor Volodymyr Trush said. He added that four missiles fired Saturday evening from the Black Sea had partially destroyed a military installation in the town, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) from the border with Romania. Concerns eased Sunday over Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. Captured months ago by Russian forces but still operated by Ukrainians, the station had ceased transmitting vital safeguards data two weeks ago. But plant officials working with the International Atomic Energy Agency have succeeded in restoring transmission, the IAEA said. Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN agency, said it still wanted to send inspectors to the plant "as soon as possible".
Sentences defended -
Alongside the physical fighting, the war is being played out through the courts. Pro-Moscow separatist authorities in the Donetsk region this week sentenced to death two Britons and a Moroccan for fighting with the Ukrainian army. The sentences sparked outrage in Western countries, but separatist Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin said Sunday he would not alter them. "They came to Ukraine to kill civilians for money," he told reporters, calling the punishment "perfectly fair". The families of Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner say they have been living in Ukraine since 2018. Ukrainian courts have handed three Russian soldiers long prison sentences at war crimes trials.

Macron: European Defense Industry Cooperation Must be Enhanced
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that cooperation in the European Union's defense industry needed to be enhanced, including by the introduction of measures to favor EU companies on strategic issues. "We need to...have a stronger industrial and technological base for European defense one that is much stronger and much more ambitious. And I will be intractable on this subject," Macron told a defense industry event in Paris. In his speech, Macron stressed the changed geopolitical situation caused by Russia's actions in Ukraine, reiterating his call for boosting Europe's autonomy when it comes to its defense capacities, Reuters reported. "The time has come to put in place...a European preference, to build, when necessary and possible, rational mechanisms for the acquisition of common capabilities", Macron said.
Public tender rules among EU states for defense industry contracts should also be simplified to allow more transnational cooperation.

Macron's Majority in Doubt after First-round of Parliament Vote
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance was in danger of falling short of a majority after the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday saw a surge in support for a new left-wing coalition. Macron's "Ensemble" (Together) alliance ran neck-and-neck with the left-wing NUPES grouping in Sunday's first round, with the former netting 25.75 percent of the popular vote compared to the latter's 25.66 percent, reported AFP. Extrapolating from these figures, four polling firms projected that Ensemble would win 225-295 seats in the decisive second round of voting next Sunday, possibly short of a majority of 289 but comfortably the biggest group. "We have a week ahead of us to mobilize," Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne told reporters. "One week to convince, one week to obtain a powerful and clear majority."Ensemble was "the only political grouping capable of getting a majority", she said. NUPES, a newly unified alliance of leftists, Socialists, Greens and Communists, was projected to win 150-220 seats, a major breakthrough that would make them the biggest opposition force in the National Assembly. "It's a very serious warning that has been sent to Emmanuel Macron," political scientist Brice Teinturier told France 2 television, noting how support for the president's party had fallen since the last election in 2017. "A majority is far from certain," he added. If Macron's coalition does fall short, it is expected to be forced into messy bill-by-bill deals with right-wing parties in parliament, or he will have to try to poach opposition or independent MPs to his side. Under France's constitution, the president has exclusive control over foreign and defense policy, but needs a majority in parliament to pass domestic legislation.
- 'First test' -
Sunday's vote followed presidential elections in April in which Macron secured a second term, beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen with pledges to cut taxes, reform welfare and raise the retirement age. Putting behind their divisions, the French left has united behind Jean-Luc Melenchon, a hard-left veteran with a radically different program, including lowering the retirement age, hiking the minimum wage by 15 percent and creating wealth taxes. "The NUPES has passed the first test it faced in magnificent fashion," Melenchon told reporters in a statement afterwards, calling on supporters to "pour out" next Sunday. He called for the support in particular from the working classes and young people, adding that Macron's allies were "beaten and defeated". Turnout hit a record low, with 52.49 percent of registered voters opting to stay home, and abstentionism particularly high in working-class areas. Le Pen looked certain to be re-elected as an MP representing a former mining town of northern France, Henin-Beaumont, with her National Rally party appearing on course to increase their representation. After winning 18.68 percent of the popular vote on Sunday, it was on track to secure 5-45 seats in the new parliament next weekend, compared with eight currently. More than 15 MPs would give the far-right a formal group in parliament, meaning it would have more time to speak and put issues on the agenda as well as extra resources. Defeated far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour was eliminated on Sunday after standing in a constituency around Saint-Tropez in southern France.
- No honeymoon -
While Macron and his European Union allies were relieved by Macron's victory against Le Pen in April, the last weeks have offered no honeymoon for the 44-year-old head of state. Energy and food prices are soaring, while disorder and the tear-gassing of English fans at the Champions League final in Paris on May 28 have led to recriminations. His new Disabilities Minister Damien Abad has also faced two rape accusations -- which he has vehemently denied -- while new Prime Minister Borne has yet to make an impact. Macron is set to make a public appearance at an arms fair in Paris on Monday morning, kicking off what promises to be an intense week of campaigning from all sides. He and allies have sought to portray Melenchon as an old-style tax-and-spend leftist whose anti-EU and anti-NATO policies pose a danger to the country. Melenchon accuses Macron of planning to undermine France's cherished public services and is promising strong environmental policies and "harmony with nature".Jerome Jaffre, a political scientist, said many voters appeared to be motivated by a desire to deprive Macron of an absolute majority. "It means that they're hoping to force him to work more with others, share power and really change his method (of governing) which he promised during his presidential campaign," he told the LCI channel.

UK Sets Up EU Battle with N.Ireland Changes
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 13 June, 2022 - 08:30
The UK government will Monday introduce legislation to unilaterally rip up post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland, despite the potential for a trade war with the EU. London says it still prefers a negotiated outcome with the European Union to reform the "Northern Ireland Protocol", whose provisions have become anathema to pro-UK unionists in the divided territory. But absent a deal through dialogue, the bill would take effect to override Britain's EU withdrawal treaty -- although the government insists it is not breaking international law, AFP said. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said Sunday that the protocol was disrupting trade and had crippled the territory's power-sharing government, due to unionist objections. "So it's right that we repair that," he said, adding that the need to protect a 1998 peace agreement in Northern Ireland had "primacy" over the protocol. Lewis rejected threats from some in the EU that unilateral changes could trigger the suspension of the withdrawal treaty's wider trade agreement, leading to sanctions and tariffs against Britain. The UK can ill-afford a trade war, at a time when its people are grappling with the worst inflationary crisis in a generation. "I think that kind of language is really unhelpful," the minister said on Times Radio, pointing to the need for Britain and the EU to work together against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, on the EU side, patience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's tactics is wearing thin, according to Ireland's government. Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein on Sunday accused Johnson of sacrificing stability in Northern Ireland for his own survival, after he narrowly won a Conservative confidence vote last week. "It's dishonourable stuff, by any measure extraordinary stuff," Sinn Fein's all-Ireland president Mary Lou McDonald said on Sky. "Brandon Lewis is talking through his hat, and not for the first time," she added, accusing the government of "undermining, attacking and damaging the (1998) Good Friday Agreement".
- Green channel, red line -
In a historic first, Sinn Fein emerged as the biggest party in Northern Ireland elections last month. But the Democratic Unionist Party argues that the protocol is jeopardising Northern Ireland's status in the UK and is boycotting the local government, leaving it in limbo under the 1998 deal. The protocol requires checks on goods arriving from England, Scotland and Wales, to prevent them from entering the EU's single market via the Republic of Ireland. The UK bill is expected to scrap most of the checks, creating a "green channel" for British traders to send goods to Northern Ireland without making any customs declaration to the EU. The EU would have access to more real-time UK data on the flow of goods, and only businesses intending to trade into the single market via Ireland would be required to make declarations. The EU would need to trust the UK to monitor the flow, and Britain has vowed "robust penalties" for any companies seeking to abuse the new system. Since the confidence vote, Johnson has reportedly been under pressure from pro-Brexit Tory hardliners to toughen the bill and remove oversight of the protocol by the European Court of Justice. Lewis said there was "no logic" to having only one side's judges involved in a bilateral trade arrangement, but ECJ invigilation is a red line for the EU, to protect its single market. Britain's opposition Labour party said the government was in no position to claim its handling of the Brexit dispute was lawful. "This government seems to be developing a record for lawbreaking," Labour's shadow finance minister Rachel Reeves said, after Johnson was fined over one of many Downing Street lockdown parties. "We helped bring in the Good Friday Agreement, we are deeply, passionately committed to it," she added.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 13-14/2022
Biden Needs to Unleash His Inner Biden
Matthew Yglesias/Bloomberg/June 13/2022
Every modern presidency eventually hits bumps in the road, at which point the call will come from someone somewhere to “let the president be himself.”
Many of my friends are familiar with the “Let Bartlet be Bartlet” episode of “The West Wing,” but the modern version of the cliché dates to the 1980s. Ronald Reagan presided over an administration that was essentially a coalition: conservative movement activists inherited from Barry Goldwater, and members of the conservative governing establishment inherited from Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Whenever faced with frustrating signs of moderation or pragmatism — or just bad publicity — the call would go forth: “Let Reagan be Reagan.”
Today, it’s Joe Biden whose poll numbers are dismal. And as if on cue, Politico published a story last week quoting the usual suspects — “members of Biden’s inner circle,” including his wife and sister — complaining that the White House staff “has managed Biden with kid gloves, not putting him on the road more or allowing him to flash more of his genuine, relatable, albeit gaffe-prone self.” It even has a source directly calling on the staff to “let Biden be Biden.”
And in this case, it’s a pretty good idea.
It’s easy to forget now, but — despite the candidate’s status as the former vice president in a popular and successful Democratic administration — Biden’s 2020 operation had a lot of the atmosphere of a longshot campaign. In terms of fundraising, he lagged behind Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg to the very end (in the early running, Beto O’Rourke and Kamala Harris were ahead of him too). He didn’t have much of the party’s “top” staff talent behind him, and he wasn’t well-liked or broadly supported by the constellation of para-party nonprofit groups that make up the progressive movement.
It’s not as if people didn’t know who Biden was. It’s that they didn’t want him to lead the party. By the standards of younger, college-educated liberals, he was too moderate.
Biden reminisced about working with segregationists, scolded low-income parents over their child-rearing practices, and called Harris a “kid.” From a policy standpoint, he was the lead author of a then-much-reviled 1994 crime bill and he wouldn’t endorse faddish ideas such as banning fracking, decriminalizing illegal entry into the US or passing Medicare for All. Biden was seen as a cringeworthy figure, an all-around yesterday’s man out of step with a country and party demanding bold progressive change.
Except it turned out that it was the young staffers and the upscale donor class who were out of touch. Most Democrats are on the older side, don’t have college degrees, and are pretty moderate. It’s a lesson that became more and more clear as Biden accumulated primary victories (and one underlined by Eric Adams’s victory in New York last year and Chesa Boudin’s recall in San Francisco last week).
You might think that, after he won the nomination in 2020, Biden could finally be … Biden. But he still needed to court Democratic Party elites.
Selecting the more liberal Harris as vice president helped Biden win over donors who were unenthused about his campaign. He fired his original campaign manager and brought on Jen O’Malley Dillon, the No. 2 official on Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and former architect of the O’Rourke presidential campaign. And he formed a unity task force with Sanders to get progressive activists excited, becoming the first Democrat in living memory to reposition himself to the left after winning the nomination.
Since Biden has been in the White House, the same pattern has emerged. A thin layer of mostly older longtime Biden associates sits atop a set of hundreds of mid- and low-level staffers who mostly would have preferred Harris or Warren in the Oval Office.
These staffers — whether deliberately or subconsciously — are biased against letting Biden speak extemporaneously. Fear of gaffes and concern about Covid are part of it. But they also know that Biden’s personal political instincts are considerably less progressive than their own, and the more he is on the record in public on various topics, the harder it will be for them to win internal policy arguments.
A mismatch between the politics of the president and those of his staff is nothing new. But the dynamics can change with issues and over the course of an administration. The “establishment” wing of the Reagan administration provided valuable moderate ballast that helped the president claw back from the huge budget deficits created early in his administration. Trump-era establishmentarians probably saved the country from several disasters but also talked him out of some more moderate instincts on gun control in the wake of a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
A “Let Biden Be Biden” approach would almost certainly involve some gaffes; this is Joe Biden after all. And the fear that those gaffes would be interpreted in the worst possible light, given his age, is not unreasonable.
Biden unleashed is also likely to reveal that the president actually is out of step — with some of the values of the contemporary progressive movement. Many of Biden’s younger aides doubtless see that as a problem. In reality, it is one of his political strengths. And as the national agenda turns to issues such as new initiatives to fight inflation and crime rather than new investments in preschool and childcare, Biden would be well-served by a return to form.
After all, if the members of the White House staff who currently manage Biden’s public image had a better grasp of public opinion than their boss, he wouldn’t be president. Sometimes the cliché is true: They should let Biden be Biden.

We’ll Need Sanctions and Stamina to Defeat Putin
Clara Ferreira Marques/Bloomberg/June 13/2022
Economic sanctions have a bad reputation as a weapon that promises plenty — “something more tremendous than war,” as US President Woodrow Wilson put it in 1919 — but delivers comparatively little. Unprecedented measures aimed at isolating Russia have not stopped the fighting in Ukraine, or forced President Vladimir Putin out. The ruble has recovered and the cost of squeezing Moscow is rising. But that doesn’t mean sanctions aren’t working, much less that a solution that protects Ukraine’s interests and global security is possible without continued, and increasing, pressure.
It’s certainly the case that economic sanctions have a patchy record when it comes to altering behavior. Even the best-known efforts, like South Africa during apartheid, were not clear-cut successes. Cuba’s regime is still in place, as is Venezuela’s, and even more targeted sanctions, say against Myanmar’s junta, haven’t had the intended bite. Worse, the campaign to curb Saddam Hussein in Iraq showed just how difficult it is to punish dictators who are willing to let their population starve for the cause. This time, there’s also the fact that the target is one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon and grain exporters, meaning restrictions result in painfully higher prices for consumers elsewhere. But as we grind through the fourth month of this conflict, it’s vital to recall that the aim of the sanctions effort was to erode Putin’s ability to wage his war of conquest in Ukraine — and that is happening. Capital controls are supporting the ruble, but even high energy prices won’t stop economic contraction in the near term and, crucially, stagnation thereafter. The central bank is run by capable technocrats but now has to plan for “structural transformation,” a euphemism that ultimately describes the embrace of autarky and isolation, in a country running short of everything from buttons and bleaching chemicals for paper to spare parts for passenger jets.
Success — by which we should mean a solution that protects Ukraine’s sovereignty and interests — will require more. More efforts to build resilience among allied governments and populations, combined with realism on timing and cost, because freedom is not free and all of this takes time. The EU’s oil embargo, for example, does not even kick in for months, and because of inventories, not all trade restrictions are yet hitting home. It will also mean more efforts to tighten enforcement, close loopholes and edge towards further energy restrictions, even tariffs to cut off the Kremlin’s revenues faster. And it means more weapons and more diplomacy — because sanctions don’t work alone.
The alternative is to pause and simply allow the current position to simmer. That’s tempting, given the impact of measures taken to date is only beginning to become clear and costlier fuel hurts. But time is on Russia’s side. It allows the economy to adjust and softens the blow from punitive measures. It will encourage Moscow to prolong the fighting, when there’s an opportunity to demonstrate resolve instead. Most damning, it would suggest Putin is right to think that whatever their high-minded ideals, Europe, the US and their allies, buckle under the pressure of electoral cycles. Others will learn from that.
Maria Shagina, who researches economic sanctions and strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin, argues that a pause allows both the deterrent effect and the shock value of sanctions to fade, raising the risk that allies bring to the table neither enough weapons to Ukraine, nor enough economic pain for Russia. That increases the chance that fatigue will set in and weakens Kyiv’s negotiating position.
Russia’s economic fortress has helped it weather sanctions better than it might have otherwise and, though not all defenses worked, policy makers have contained the worst. A stronger ruble, thanks to capital controls and mandatory conversion of export revenue, is keeping price increases in check. And, of course, Moscow is still raking in cash from energy exports. The Kremlin is making the best of this propaganda win. But look closer, and Russia is hurting. Inflation is slowing not only because of central bank actions, but because demand is paltry and confidence weak. Low unemployment, which Putin has highlighted, reflects the weight of state enterprises and a willingness to cut hours and wages before jobs, rather than a thriving economy.
Then there’s the drop in imports, rippling through a system that remains highly dependent on overseas components. Putin will no doubt keep putting the war machine first, but it’s clear that while Russia can prop up the currency and prevent bank runs, it can’t as easily shield itself from trade sanctions by finding alternative markets. A central bank study published in April found two-thirds of surveyed companies had experienced import problems, and sanctions have gummed up everything from cars to agriculture — compounded by the voluntary exodus of private companies. With supply disrupted, car sales fell more than 80% in May. Even tank manufacturing giant Uralvagonzavod has reportedly halted production, while the military is scrambling to deal with chip shortages as sales from major producers are suspended. Meanwhile China, Russia’s no-limits partner, is in fact setting clear limits on how far it will go. Russia’s economy may not be crashing, but it’s firmly in reverse. Dictators have higher pain thresholds than democratic leaders, that’s clear. All the more reason to keep up pressure, making it harder for Russia to reshape and regroup, instead of allowing the regime time it can use.
Two further steps are vital. One, is to do more to prepare allied governments and their voters for a conflict that will not be resolved swiftly. Any hurried compromise will benefit neither Ukraine’s security interests, nor those of most of the rest of the world. It will not be easy to convince Europeans or Americans to accept some discomfort — but fiscal support and clear aims can help. Then it is time to introduce some level of conditionality into existing and future measures — to explicitly demonstrate that Moscow does not have to be locked into confrontation. As IISS’s Shagina put it, this is the way to maximize the potential of sanctions and of Western leverage.
Yes, there are risks. Russia is a nuclear power that does not want to be backed into a corner, and its economy will, eventually, adapt to a reduced reality. There could be countersanctions, and unintended consequences. But a lack of resolve is more dangerous still. This war can only end at the negotiating table — and there, lasting peace will depend both on strengthening Ukraine’s hand and on weakening Russia’s.

The Door Between Russia and America Is Slamming Shut
Anastasia Edel/The New York Times/June 13/2022
The war in Ukraine is a never-ending catastrophe. Russian forces, concentrated in the east, continue to inflict terrible damage on Ukrainian soldiers and civilians alike. Countless lives have been lost and upended. Once again, the world must confront the possibility of nuclear war and grapple with a compounding refugee and cost of living crisis. This isn’t the “end of history” that we hoped for. Less violently, another transformation is taking place: After three decades of exchange, interaction and engagement, the door between Russia and America is slamming shut. Practically every day another American company — including the most symbolic of them all, McDonald’s, whose golden arches heralded a new era 30 years ago — pulls out of Russia. Diplomats have been expelled, concerts canceled, products withdrawn, personal visits called off. In the shuttered consulates, nobody is issuing visas, and even if they were, American airspace is now closed to Russian aircraft. The only substantive interaction left seems to be the issuing of sanctions and counter-sanctions.
For a Russian American like me, whose life has been forged in the interstices between the two cultures, it’s a bewildering, sorrowful turn of events. Measures to curtail the Kremlin’s capacity of aggression are, to be clear, politically and morally necessary. But the collateral damage is a severing of ties that is bound to revive harmful stereotypes and close down the space for cross-cultural pollination. More profoundly, the current parting of ways marks the definitive end of a period when Russia’s integration with the West, however vexed, appeared possible — and the antagonism between ideological superpowers was a thing of the past. That’s certainly how it felt on a warm March day in 1989 in Krasnodar, the provincial southern town near the Black Sea where I grew up. My school was hosting a group of seniors from a high school in New Hampshire: I was about to turn 17, and until that day America existed in my mind only as an abstract concept. It was the villain of a New Year’s holiday show, the object of Nikita Khrushchev’s quest “To catch up and overtake America” and home to the “Star Wars” program — just one, we were told, of the imperialists’ many designs to take down the Soviet Union.
Only those boys and girls in jeans and sweatshirts who appeared in our schoolyard didn’t look like imperialists, or appear to be threatening at all. They looked like better-dressed versions of us: shy, well-meaning and fascinated. Just a few hours ago, during our military training class, we had been assembling Kalashnikov guns to be used on enemy agents. And here they were, standing in front of us. We stared at each other. Then someone smiled, someone said hello. In a matter of minutes, the wariness between us was gone. “I’m reading ‘Crime and Punishment’ for spring break,’” a tall guy with a silver earring told me. “Raskolnikov is cool!”
Over the next five days of mutual discovery, we learned that the Americans were also afraid of nuclear war, only in their version, it would be waged by us. That when transcribed, the lyrics of “Ice Ice Baby” didn’t make much sense. That “pot” had a meaning other than a kitchen item, as explained by the Raskolnikov fan. And that when a boy tells a girl that she’s “special,” that’s, well, special. Together we roamed the streets, snapping photos next to Lenin statues — or rather, as the Americans put it, we “hung out.” Before a tearful goodbye, we traded addresses and promised to be friends for life.
I’ve kept a green notebook filled with the names of American towns, along with a love letter, a dried carnation and a stack of black and white photographs, tokens of the magic of 1989: the Berlin Wall dismantled, the Iron Curtain coming down, the scary “us” and “them” disappearing into the finally free air. Chanting “Goodbye America, where I have never been,” a popular anthem, we were bidding farewell to America the enemy, America the myth — and anticipating the discovery of the real thing. Words like “borders” and “ideology” were no longer relevant. America and Russia seemed to be united by a common yearning for peace.
The years that followed generated immense good will between our nations. As a Russian in America, I met countless people who built it: a Californian doctor who helped set up children’s heart surgery centers across post-Soviet Russia; a Bay Area filmmaker who organized the first Jewish film festival in Moscow; a Seattle captain who set up joint maritime ventures with fishermen in Russia’s far east. Russian college graduates, meanwhile, flocked to America, giving their brains and talents to everything from Hollywood films to DNA sequencing. There were a lot of marriages. A popular Russian all-female band captured the spirit in the 1990s when they implored, to electric balalaika chords, a hypothetical “American Boy” to come and whisk them away.
That happened to be my route. Having married into a family of former dissidents sheltered by America, I too was a testament to the flow of people and ideas. Money flowed also. My first paid job in America back in 1998, for example, was translating for the second annual US-Russian Investment Symposium, hosted by Harvard University and featuring an all-star lineup of international bankers vying for the attention of the Russian guests, among them the tycoon Boris Berezovsky and the mayor of Moscow at the time, Yuri Luzhkov.
Yet somewhere along the way, the good will slowed. After expressing enthusiasm for Russia’s first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin, America’s leaders found his K.G.B.-fashioned successor, Vladimir Putin, less to their taste. Mr. Putin made it clear that he didn’t care. “American hegemon,” a phrase from my Soviet childhood, began popping up in Russia’s pro-Kremlin media. In the West, Russians were no longer viewed as liberated hostages of a totalitarian regime, reformed villains from James Bond movies or emissaries of the great culture of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but rather as all-cash buyers of luxurious properties in Manhattan and Miami. The enchantment between the countries and their citizens dimmed, yet shared interests and social bonds held.
The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a turning point. True, Mr. Putin had previously given vent to his aggression in Georgia and, devastatingly, in Chechnya, but it was his claiming of Ukrainian territory that gave the West its wake-up call. The sanctions that followed hit the Russian economy hard. They also supplied the Kremlin with ample means to stoke anti-American sentiment. Blaming America for the country’s troubles was a familiar, almost nostalgic narrative for Russians, more than half of whom were born in the Soviet Union. The simple tune — “NATO expansion,” “Western aggression,” “enemy at the gate”— played on repeat, keying Russians to believe that America aimed for their motherland’s destruction. The propaganda worked: By 2018, America was once more regarded as Russia’s No. 1 enemy, with Ukraine, its “puppet,” coming second.
In America, things weren’t nearly as bad. But Donald Trump’s arrival on the global political stage complicated the already strained Russian-American relationship. Mr. Trump cozied up to the openly authoritarian Mr. Putin, strengthening anti-Russian sentiment that had been rising since the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and rarely distinguished between Mr. Putin and the country he ruled. Economic and cultural ties began to wilt as it got harder to secure visas and funding. Still, student exchanges happened, films were screened and family visits paid, if at longer intervals.
The Russian missiles that struck Ukrainian cities on Feb. 24 extinguished that flickering light. America now provides billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to be used against Russia, while Russia’s stated aim is to put an end to America’s “unfettered” global domination. The two countries, once allies in the war against Nazi Germany, are effectively fighting a proxy war. As I watch videos of Russian parents egging on their children to destroy iPhones or read about threats against a venerable Seattle bakery known for its Russian-style baked goods, I’m gripped, above all, by sadness. Our post-totalitarian dream of a peaceful, friendly future is over.
Apart from wreaking physical horror, Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine is erasing countless intangibles, among them the collective good will of the West toward Russia. In my children’s future, I see no cultural miracles akin to the one that I experienced back in 1989. This is a loss for both countries, and Russia’s will be greater if Mr. Putin continues doubling down on carnage and isolation. That future isn’t set in stone. After all, the perestroika years, when the Soviet Union embarked on wholesale reforms in the name of openness, showed that Russia is capable of change.
For now, though, each explosion in Ukraine also strikes at what was good in the relationship between America and Russia. In Mr. Putin’s land, “Goodbye America,” once a tongue-in-cheek song suffused with hope, has become a darkly self-fulfilling prophecy.

بيتر فينسينت برِّي/معهد جاتستون: الاستراتيجية النووية: الحرب على الخبرة
Nuclear Strategy: The War on Expertise
Peter Vincent Pry/Gatestone Institute/June 13/2022
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18611/nuclear-strategy-expertise
Prager and Kaptanoglu apparently think the "U.S. defense establishment" is less qualified than "Those who promote arms control and disarmament," like themselves.
So the philosophy of "a little child shall lead them" is prescribed for the field of nuclear strategy, just as the views of Greta Thunberg are supposed to silence the many scientists who doubt that "climate change" is an existential threat. We live in a time when the "Wokists" are at war with any expertise that contradicts their agenda, a time of unthinking egalitarianism when all opinions are supposed to matter equally (providing they are "Woke") — and the West may die from it.
College physicists, political scientists, physicians, pediatricians, and their impassioned students who comprise much of the anti-nuclear movement typically have little or no expertise in nuclear weapons and strategy. Yet Prager and Kaptanoglu would substitute their uninformed opinions for those of national security experts who have spent professional lifetimes studying nuclear weapons, theories of nuclear conflict, nuclear exchange modeling analysis, and other disciplines related to nuclear war.
Academics and anti-nuclear activists have only themselves to blame if they are largely ignored by the national security community, because they so often falsely accuse the national security community of bad faith, conspiracies, corruption, and irrationality for disagreeing with them.
Anti-nuclear activists, if they want to be taken seriously, have an obligation to educate themselves on the facts, and to stop exaggerating and stop lying. Examples of five whoppers, and not necessarily the worst ones, that often appear in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
The greatest existential threat is nuclear war. An example of one way to reduce the threat of nuclear war: The US should stop Iran from achieving nuclear breakout before it is too late. The US has the capability; the administration might ask the Pentagon to draw up a plan. President Joe Biden's poll numbers would turn around overnight. The world does not need Iran, the country that Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to as the "largest state sponsor of state terrorism," possessing nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, thanks to Biden, anti-nuclear activists already have an outsized and unwarranted influence on national security policy that threatens to undermine the credibility of U.S. nuclear deterrence, and ironically make nuclear war even more likely.
Anti-nuclear activists, if they want to be taken seriously, have an obligation to educate themselves on the facts, and to stop exaggerating and stop lying. Activists with degrees in physics, political science or pediatrics -- often misrepresented by the press and by themselves as genuine experts on nuclear weapons and warfare -- get far more ink than real experts, and have entire journals, like the misnamed "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" (most contributors are not "atomic scientists") dedicated to their anti-nuclear views.
The book Guide To Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Great Power Competition, edited by Adam Lowther, belongs on the shelves of every policymaker and citizen who wants to be well informed about U.S. nuclear strategy and deterrence; rising nuclear threats from Russia and China; and what the U.S. must do to survive. The book includes chapters from 22 national security experts, many of whom served in senior Defense Department positions, and made significant contributions to deterring a nuclear World War III and ultimate victory in the Cold War.
Lowther himself serves in the Army Management Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, which teaches military officers how to think strategically.
But perhaps what most highly commends Lowther's book is the angst and hysterical criticisms it has elicited from anti-nuclear activists. A recent "great debate" over the book captures in microcosm profound differences between real experts on nuclear weapons, strategy, and national security policy versus anti-nuclear activists who have no expertise — but are an important part of the Democrat political base, and highly influential in the Biden Administration.
Critics Stewart Prager, who teaches astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, and Alan Kaptanoglu, a physicist at the University of Washington, denounced Lowther's book in an article titled "Rebuttal: Current nuclear weapons policy not safe or sane," published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Prager and Kaptanoglu ask: "Who is qualified to participate in the debate over U.S. nuclear weapons policy?" As evidenced in the dismissive title of their article, Prager and Kaptanoglu apparently think the "U.S. defense establishment" is less qualified than "Those who promote arms control and disarmament," like themselves.
So the philosophy of "a little child shall lead them" is prescribed for the field of nuclear strategy, just as the views of Greta Thunberg are supposed to silence the many scientists who doubt that "climate change" is an existential threat. We live in a time when the "Wokists" are at war with any expertise that contradicts their agenda, a time of unthinking egalitarianism when all opinions are supposed to matter equally (providing they are "Woke") — and the West may die from it.
College physicists, political scientists, physicians, pediatricians, and their impassioned students who comprise much of the anti-nuclear movement typically have little or no expertise in nuclear weapons and strategy. Yet Prager and Kaptanoglu would substitute their uninformed opinions for those of national security experts who have spent professional lifetimes studying nuclear weapons, theories of nuclear conflict, nuclear exchange modeling analysis, and other disciplines related to nuclear war.
They accuse Lowther of wanting to establish a "priesthood" of nuclear specialists that excludes the opinions of anti-nuclear activists — when it is anti-nuclear activism that is a fanatical quasi-religious movement that dismisses 75 years of the Defense Department's successful nuclear deterrence policy as: "not safe or sane."
Anti-nuclear activists are entitled to their opinions, enjoy free speech under the First Amendment, and their views are, if anything, over-represented relative to the opinions of the general population in newspapers, journals, and books. Anti-nuclear lobbies — including Ploughshares, Union of Concerned Scientists, Federation of American Scientists, Global Zero, Carnegie Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative and many others — significantly outnumber organizations such as the Heritage Foundation or the Center for Security Policy, who support nuclear "peace through strength." Activists with degrees in physics, political science or pediatrics -- often misrepresented by the press and by themselves as genuine experts on nuclear weapons and warfare -- get far more ink than real experts, and have entire journals, like the misnamed "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" (most contributors are not "atomic scientists") dedicated to their anti-nuclear views.
Expertise in nuclear weapons and strategy really does matter, however, just as much or even more than expertise in brain surgery matters, and real experts are under no obligation to listen to the erroneous opinions of non-experts, any more than a brain surgeon is obligated to heed technical advice on brain surgery from his mailman.
Academics and anti-nuclear activists have only themselves to blame if they are largely ignored by the national security community, because they so often falsely accuse the national security community of bad faith, conspiracies, corruption, and irrationality for disagreeing with them.
Anti-nuclear activists, if they want to be taken seriously, have an obligation to educate themselves on the facts, and to stop exaggerating and stop lying. Examples of five whoppers, and not necessarily the worst ones, that often appear in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
Allegedly, U.S. arms racing is making Russia and China build-up their nuclear arsenals. In fact, U.S. arms control initiatives have reduced the number of U.S. nuclear weapons by 90%, leaving the U.S. with nuclear weapons and delivery systems over 30 years old, while Russia, China, and North Korea are building mostly modern nuclear weapons and delivery systems—often in violation of arms control treaties.
Allegedly, the U.S. has 6,000 nuclear weapons ready for war. This misrepresents the total U.S. nuclear stockpile as the number of weapons that would be employed in a nuclear war. In fact, most of these are in storage, mostly cannibalized for spare parts, and would take months to mobilize, if they could be used at all. Under New START the U.S. is allowed only 1,550 operational strategic nuclear weapons (counting rules allow more than one weapon on strategic bombers, so the actual number of U.S. operational strategic nuclear weapons is about 2,000). Of these, because mobilization of bombers takes three days and SSBNs on patrol would probably require hours to respond, only U.S. ICBMs with their 400 warheads are constantly ready, 24/7, for a nuclear exchange, not 6,000 warheads.
Allegedly, radioactive fallout from a nuclear war would be a death sentence for the whole world. In fact, as long as the warhead is fused to burst at altitude, so the fireball does not touch the ground, which is likely for optimum burst height, there would be little or no nuclear fallout.
Allegedly, thermal effects and fires from a nuclear war would cause a "nuclear winter" dooming the whole world. The "nuclear winter" myth is based on erroneous computer models rigged to produce a "nuclear winter" outcome, that goes away by tweaking a few variables, and is contradicted by hundreds of atmospheric nuclear tests and historical (and recent) volcanic eruptions that have never produced a "nuclear winter."
Allegedly, nuclear war is unrecoverable. Nagasaki and Hiroshima are larger and more populous today than they were before the atomic bombings of 1945.
Anti-nuclear activists will not stop exaggerating and lying because they are not open to facts and reason, are like a religious cult willing to say anything to advance their ideological agenda, like the "priesthood" that declares "climate change" is the greatest existential threat.
The greatest existential threat is nuclear war. An example of one way to reduce the threat of nuclear war: The US should stop Iran from achieving nuclear breakout before it is too late. The US has the capability; the administration might ask the Pentagon to draw up a plan. President Joe Biden's poll numbers would turn around overnight. The world does not need Iran, the country that Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to as the "largest state sponsor of state terrorism," possessing nuclear weapons. [See author's report: "Iran: EMP Threat"] Unfortunately, thanks to Biden, anti-nuclear activists already have an outsized and unwarranted influence on national security policy that threatens to undermine the credibility of U.S. nuclear deterrence, and ironically make nuclear war even more likely.
*Dr. Peter Vincent Pry is Executive Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, served as Director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, Chief of Staff of the Congressional EMP Commission, and on the staffs of the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission, House Armed Services Committee, and the CIA. He is author of the books Will America Be Protected?, Blackout Warfare, and The Power And The Light.
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