English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 21/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.june21.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will
guide you into all the truth
John 16/12-15: “‘I still have many things to say
to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will
guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak
whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.He
will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All
that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is
mine and declare it to you.”The word of God continued to spread; the number of
the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests
became obedient to the faith
Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on June 20-21/2022
President Aoun meets new IMF resident representative: Lebanon is
committed to carrying out required reforms
President Aoun awards Artist Georgette Gebara high medal in recognition of her
artistic history
Mikati discusses means to bolster ties with Prime Minister of Antigua and
Barbuda, meets French Ambassador and Caretaker Justice...
Mikati meets IMF Lebanon representative
Berri meets Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister, IMF Lebanon representative
Corona - MoPH: 360 new coronavirus infections, one death
Lebanon threatens to expel Syrian refugees
Report: Mikati's nomination for PM post facing serious competition
Report: LF may nominate Mikati, discussing portfolios with him
Raad: PM-designate, 'while not a saint', must recognize 'resistance national
role'
How many MPs will name Mikati as new PM?
Lebanese parliament and UN Lebanon sign compact to boost collaboration
Reformist MPs might name Salam in binding consultations
Launch of Lebanon Crisis Response Plan: Govt., UN, partners appeal for $3.2
billion
Lebanon committed to reform in exchange for a viable program
How did Russia-Ukraine war trigger a food crisis in Lebanon, developing
countries
Lebanon Latest in Mideast to Detect 1st Case of Monkeypox
Lebanese mountaineer embarks on journey to become first Arab woman to climb K2
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on
June 20-21/2022
Bennett Warning Iran: Our New Rule Is ‘Whoever Sends Attacks Will Pay the
Price’
Iran: Engineer's Death at Military Site Attributed to 'Industrial Sabotage'
Iran Blames US for Stalled Nuclear Talks
Protests against Worsening Living Conditions Hit Iran Nationwide
Russia's Blockade of Ukrainian Grain Exports is a War Crime, Says Borrell
Russia to 'Intensify' Fighting, Zelensky Warns as EU Decision Looms
Israeli Interior Minister to Visit Morocco to Discuss Bilateral Cooperation
Israel says regional alliance has thwarted Iranian attacks
Israel’s parliament to dissolve, Foreign Minister Lapid to become prime minister
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Egypt on official visit
Photo of ex-Israeli FM with former Saudi intelligence chief generates headlines
ahead of Biden trip
Syrian Military: Attack on Bus Kills 13, Most of them Troops
Macron Allies Seek to Find Majority after France Poll Blow
Ex-Australian Foreign Minister Urges Assange's Freedom
Turkish assassination of Syrian Kurdish leader leader in Iraq sends a warning
message to Iran
Titles For The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on June 20-21/2022
Russia's Escalating Influence in Africa/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/June
20/2022
A Permanent Shortage of Everything Globalists were wrong. The world isn't
flat./Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/June 20/2022
China and Russia Are More Inseparable Than Ever/Minxin Pei/Bloomberg/June
20/2022
What Hope is There for a Nuclear Deal?/Dr. Nassif Hitti/Asharq Al Awsat/June
20/2022
Zakaria Botros: 87 and Still Boldly Challenging Islam/Raymond Ibrahim/June
20/2022
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on June 20-21/2022
President Aoun meets new IMF resident
representative: Lebanon is committed to carrying out required reforms
NNA/Monday, 20 June, 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, received the newly appointed
resident representative of the International Monetary Fund in Beirut, Mr.
Federico Lima, on the occasion of assuming his duties in Beirut.
President Aoun wished Lima success in his new responsibilities, appreciating the
existing cooperation between Lebanon and the IMF to address the economic
situation. President Aoun also assured Lima that “Lebanon is committed to
carrying out the required reforms”, asserting the need for the IMF’s program
within the limits of its applicability in Lebanon. For his part, Mr. Lima
expressed happiness to be in Lebanon as a resident representative of the
International Monetary Fund, wishing for the speedy adoption of the necessary
reform steps, including capital control, banking secrecy, and other measures
related to restructuring the banking sector. -- Presidency Press Office
President Aoun awards Artist Georgette Gebara high
medal in recognition of her artistic history
NNA/Monday, 20 June, 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, awarded the able artist, Mrs.
Georgette Gebara, the “Lebanese Silver Medal of Merit” in a ceremony held at the
Presidential Palace. The ceremony was attended by a number of Gebara’s family
members, friends, and heads of the artistic and representational sectors.
Protocol and Public Relations Director General at the Presidency of the
Republic, Dr. Nabil Shedid, read a speech on behalf of President Aoun, in which
he referred to the artistic values of Mrs. Gebara, who called on the President
of the Republic to honor her.
Speech:
“Every field has its pioneers, and we in Lebanon have a pioneer in the world of
ballet, choreography, and theatre, named Georgette Gebara. She is woman of
elegant soul, passionate about art, and creative in the highest forms of bodily
expression. She carries in her blood and genes, a mixture of different
civilizations, which was reflected in the richness of her art, and in the dance
schools she founded in Lebanon. Her name has never left the hearts of the
Lebanese people. She brought joy to their souls, with her gentle personality,
and her fine art. She devoted herself, time, and efforts to raising the art of
contemporary dance to the level it deserves. She was the best Ambassador for
Lebanon’s civilization, openness and sophistication wherever she settled in the
world. She’s a symbol of our beautiful time. She has been present with strength
and respect in the artistic scene in Lebanon for 60 years. This is proof that
she deserves every loving honor”.
Respected Mrs. Gebara,
In appreciation of your artistic and cultural gifts, His Excellency, President
of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, decided to award you the “Lebanese Silver
Medal of Merit”. The President wishes you continued health and a long life,
thanking you for all the joy, art, and beauty you have provided to Lebanon, who
are at the core of our nation’s civilization and its message to the world”.
Afterwards, President Aoun handed Mrs. Gebarathe medal, congratulating her and,
expressing his appreciation for her artistic history, and for her bright and
elegant presence in the memory of the Lebanese and the history of her
contemporary artistic homeland. For her side, Mrs. Gebara thanked President Aoun
for his honoring gesture, and expressed her appreciation for him and for his
embrace of artistic and cultural issues in Lebanon. -- Presidency Press Office
Mikati discusses means to bolster ties with Prime
Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, meets French Ambassador and Caretaker
Justice...
NNA/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday received at the Grand Serail, the Prime
Minister of the State of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Alfonso Brown, and an
accompanying delegation. The meeting also took place in presence of the
Secretary-General of Council of Ministers Judge Mahmoud Makiya and Advisors
Boutros Asaker and Ziad Mikati. Discussions during the meeting reportedly
touched on the bilateral relations between the two countries in the fields of
tourism, trade exchange, health and education. On the other hand, Premier Mikati
met with French Ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, with whom he discussed the
most recent developments in Lebanon and the region. Separately, Mikati met with
Caretaker Minister of Justice, Judge Henry Khoury, who briefed him on the
outcome of the annual meeting of the Commission de Venise, which he attended
recently in Italy. Caretaker Minister Khoury also indicated that the Ministry of
Justice has not yet received the documents related to the recent judgment issued
by the International Tribunal for Lebanon in the case of the assassination of
the late martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Mikati meets IMF Lebanon representative
NNA/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Monday with the International
Monetary Fund's permanent representative in Lebanon Frederico Lima, in the
presence of Deputy PM Saade Chami.
Berri meets Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister,
IMF Lebanon representative
NNA - House Speaker Nabih Berri met on Monday at his Ain-el-Tineh residence with
the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, over the current
situation and the bilateral relations between the two countries. Berri later met
with the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi, with
whom he signed a partnership agreement between the Lebanese parliament and the
UN Country Team in Lebanon. Berri also received the International Monetary
Fund's permanent representative in Lebanon Frederico Lima. He has separately
received a cable form his Bulgarian counterpart Nikola Minchev, who
congratulated him on his election for a new speakership term.
Corona - MoPH: 360 new coronavirus infections, one
death
NNA/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Lebanon has recorded 360 new coronavirus cases and one death in the last 24
hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Monday.
Lebanon threatens to expel Syrian refugees
Agence France Presse/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday said Lebanon was ready to expel
Syrian refugees living in the country if the international community does not
work to repatriate them. Lebanon, grappling with its worst ever economic crisis,
has the world's highest proportion of refugees in its population, with the
government estimating that Syrians account for almost a quarter of its more than
six million residents."Eleven years after the start of the Syrian crisis,
Lebanon no longer has the capacity to bear this burden, especially under the
current circumstances," Mikati said. "I call on the international community to
work with Lebanon to secure the return of Syrian refugees to their country, or
else Lebanon will... work to get Syrians out through legal means and the firm
application of Lebanese law."Mikati's remarks were made during a ceremony
launching the 2022-2023 Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, which is backed by the
United Nations. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, Najat Rochdi, was
in attendance. Mikati's statement follows similar remarks made in May by social
affairs minister Hector Hajjar, who said that Lebanon could no longer afford to
host such a large refugee population. On Monday, Lebanon appealed for $3.2
billion to address the ongoing impact of the Syria crisis, according to a UN
statement. Some $9 billion have been provided in assistance through the Lebanon
Crisis Response Plan since 2015, the UN says. But a dire economic crisis that
has plunged many Lebanese into poverty is exacerbating public resentment over
the continued presence of Syrian refugees in the country. Some political figures
and pundits have recently posited that, thanks to cash handouts by aid agencies,
Syrian refugees have been receiving more assistance than the poorest Lebanese.
Nine out of 10 Syrians in Lebanon are living in poverty, while poverty levels
for Lebanese have also risen to cover more than 80 percent of the population.
Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have
warned against forced repatriation to Syria, where they have documented cases of
detainment, torture and disappearance committed by the Syrian authorities
against returnees.
Report: Mikati's nomination for PM post facing
serious competition
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
The developments of the past few days have put the re-nomination of caretaker PM
Najib Mikati for the premier post in “serious risk,” MTV reported on Monday,
adding that the various opposition factions are holding contacts behind the
scenes in order to agree on a single candidate. “The Progressive Socialist Party
has agreed with the Lebanese Forces not to nominate Mikati and to agree on a
common alternative candidate. The Kataeb Party has also expressed readiness to
agree on a candidate for the opposition with its various formations,” MTV said.
“As for the opposition MPs, such as Neemat Frem, Michel Mouawad, Michel Daher,
Fouad Mazkhzoumi, Ashraf Rifi and others, they will not nominate Miqati and they
are at the heart of the ongoing contacts to agree on an alternative candidate,”
the TV network added.The so-called “change MPs” are meanwhile “discussing the PM
candidate with openness, contrary to the previous parliamentary junctures, and
they may agree with the rest of the opposition forces on a single candidate,
knowing that the candidate who has the highest chances is Nawwaf Salam,” MTV
went on to say, noting that MPs Najat Saliba and Mark Daou have already endorsed
his nomination in a statement. “The opposition’s agreement on a single candidate
would grant him more than 60 votes in the consultations, the thing that would
embarrass Hezbollah, which will push him to try and change (Free Patriotic
Movement chief Jebran) Bassil’s stance” on Mikati’s nomination, the TV network
added. “This would put Mikati’s nomination in danger and it would also strip it
of its conformity to the National Pact, because the vast majority of Christian
MPs would not vote for him and he would also not win any Druze vote,” MTV said.
It also noted that an opposition candidate would also not enjoy conformity to
the National Pact, seeing as he would also lack any Shiite support. MTV added
that “as a conclusion, there will be no government in the foreseeable future and
Mikati is inclined to hold sessions for his (caretaker) cabinet.”
Report: LF may nominate Mikati, discussing
portfolios with him
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
The Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces are discussing "how to
make a settlement with a premier who would confront Free Patriotic Movement
chief Jebran Bassil," al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday. "That's why PSP
and LF representatives yesterday discussed the name of the candidate who would
best represent their plan, and they found (in principle) no one better than
Mikati to delegate him for this role," the daily added. Quoting informed
sources, the newspaper said the PSP is "leaning towards Mikati," while the LF is
still looking into "the political and governmental price that it will win in
return for the nomination.""Sideline discussions have kicked off between Mikati
and the LF, with the backing of the PSP, over what portfolios Mikati can offer,
especially that the LF considers that it has a right get half of the Christian
ministerial share," al-Akhbar added. Maarab has meanwhile set a Tuesday date for
taking its decision in light of receiving a "decisive answer" from Mikati, the
daily said. The sources added that LF leader Samir Geagea "has become convinced
that Mikati is the only serious candidate in the (political) arena, amid a
French green light, no American objection and Saudi indifference."
Raad: PM-designate, 'while not a saint', must
recognize 'resistance national role'
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Hizbollah MP Mohammed Raad said Monday that the new PM will surely not be a
saint but he must be pragmatic and he must "understand the importance of the
resistance.""Hizbollah has no illusion that the new PM will be a saint or an
angel," Raad said, adding that the new PM "must be open to realistic solutions
and at the same time must know the importance of the resistance in protecting
the country and its crucial national role for Lebanon and the Lebanese." Raad
went on to say that the current phase requires hard and daring, yet fair
decisions, precision and foresight.
How many MPs will name Mikati as new PM?
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Between 59 to 61 MPs will name caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the
binding parliamentary consultations that will be held on Thursday in Baabda,
sources said. The sources told al-Joumhouriah newspaper, in remarks published
Monday, that the number of the MPs who will name Mikati might increase,
exceeding the parliamentary majority. The latest government, led by Mikati, has
only been in place since September 2021 after a 13-month vacuum. It was billed a
mostly technocratic government tasked with guiding Lebanon to recovery, but each
minister was endorsed by one of Lebanon's perennial heavyweights.
Lebanese parliament and UN Lebanon sign compact to
boost collaboration
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
in Lebanon Najat Rochdi signed Monday a partnership compact between the
Parliament and the U.N. Country Team in Lebanon (UNCT) to boost bilateral
cooperation in key areas and achieve sustainable development, a joint statement
said. This compact aims at “institutionalizing the existing bilateral
partnership existing between the two parties and at expanding the scope of
cooperation to ensure a coordinated, coherent, and integrated approach to
supporting the Lebanese Parliament in achieving necessary reform priorities,
with the technical support of the U.N. in Lebanon,” the statement added. Berri
and Rochdi both welcomed “the progress made in strengthening the existing
cooperation between the UNCT and the Lebanese Parliament and stressed the
importance of fostering and institutionalizing this partnership as well as
scaling up joint efforts in instituting reforms,” the statement said.
Reformist MPs might name Salam in binding
consultations
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
MP Rami Fanj said Monday that the reformist MPs might name Former President of
the United Nations Security Council Nawaf Salam as a Prime Minister, while MP
Ibrahim Mnaimneh said that Salam's name is not definitive and that the MPs are
still discussing the matter. Earlier on Monday, the "progress" party named
Salam, as the party's MPs Najat Saliba and Mark Daou continue their meetings
with the other reformists in an attempt to agree on a common name. The reformist
MPs are also discussing the matter with other blocs and independent MPs. "The
parliamentary elections have resulted in multiple minorities, these minorities
can agree on a name,” MP Ghassan Skaff said, adding that "discussions are
underway to establish new blocs that can ally together at important junctures."
MP Melhem Khalaf for his part said that the reformist MPs are discussing the
possibility of meeting with President Michel Aoun together as a strong bloc. He
confirmed that the MPs are meeting to try to choose a name. He added that the
MPs have set certain standards to choose the person they will name as PM. The
MPs will announce the name of the person they choose to be Lebanon's new Prime
Minister in a press conference today, according to Fanj.
Launch of Lebanon Crisis Response Plan: Govt., UN,
partners appeal for $3.2 billion
Naharnet/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, together with the Minister for Social Affairs
Hector Hajjar and the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Najat Rochdi,
officially launched on Monday the 2022-2023 Lebanon Crisis Response Plan at the
Grand Serail. "Eleven years into the Syria crisis, the Government of Lebanon and
its national and international partners today appealed for $3.2 billion to
address the ongoing impact of the Syria crisis through delivery of critical
assistance to people in need and support to Lebanon’s public infrastructure,
services and local economy, amid deepening vulnerabilities," the United Nations
Information Centre in Beirut said in a statement. "The Lebanon Crisis Response
Plan brings together more than 126 partners to assist 3.2 million people in need
living in Lebanon. It aims to provide support to 1.5 million Lebanese, 1.5
million displaced Syrians, and more than 209,000 Palestinian refugees," the
statement explained. UNIC added that the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2022 is a
multi-stakeholder response co-led by the Government and the U.N. and contributed
to by a wide range of entities including local and international NGOs. "The
response plan takes an integrated approach to addressing the needs of both
Syrian displaced, Palestine refugees from Syria and the Lebanese host
communities through a combination of humanitarian and stabilization
interventions, including a focus on the maintenance of service provision through
public institutions at the local level."
UNIC went on to say that $9 billion assistance provided through the Lebanon
Crisis Response Plan since 2015 has shown tangible results for the host
population and displaced persons. It added that in 2021, nearly 2.3 million
subsidized health consultations were provided through Primary Healthcare
Centers, including over one million consultations to vulnerable Lebanese and
over one million to displaced Syrians. "More than $375 million was injected into
Lebanon’s economy through cash-based interventions supporting vulnerable Syrian,
Lebanese and Palestinian families. In response to the growing food needs, a
total of 2.1 million individuals across these populations were provided with
cash-based and in-kind food assistance, an increase of 45% compared to 2020.
Within this number, 572,000 people received food parcels, including over 350,000
Lebanese. Amid growing mental health needs, more than 26,300 Syrian, Lebanese
and Palestinian children and 10,000 caregivers benefited from focused
psychosocial support activities. To seek to preserve economic and social
stability, more than 119 municipalities were supported to strengthen basic
service provision and reduce resource pressure through community support
projects in high-risk communities, including rehabilitation of infrastructure
for livelihoods, education and agricultural land," the statement said.
“Lebanon has been hosting displaced Syrians now for more than 11 years. As
resources are further stretched by the economic crisis, increased support to the
displaced and for the Lebanese host communities remain a top priority for the
Government of Lebanon and its partners. It remains essential for a fair
distribution of support without any discrimination to people affected by the
crisis, including Lebanese villages and towns hosting the displaced, in order to
alleviate the burdens placed upon them. We urge you to stand by Lebanon, its
people and government, and by the displaced to respond to their urgent needs,
and work together to overcome obstacles to their safe return to their homeland”,
said Minister for Social Affairs Hector Hajjar.“With the continuing impact of
the Syria crisis and the current economic crisis in Lebanon pushing everyone to
the brink, partners’ joint efforts to support refugees and the host community
through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan remain essential. Nine out of ten
Syrians in Lebanon are living in poverty, while poverty levels have also risen
substantially for Lebanese, migrants and Palestinians. These circumstances are
driving negative coping mechanisms, as families are forced to send their
children to work instead of school, skip meals or incur debt. It is important
that municipalities are supported to keep basic services running amid massive
capacity gaps”, said Najat Rochdi, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator.
UNIC added that in 2022, people across Lebanon are falling deeper into poverty
due to currency depreciation, high inflation, rising prices and loss of income.
"Gaps in supply chains including fuel, wheat and electricity continue to impact
the operational environment for LCRP partners, while they simultaneously face an
increase in pressure from local authorities and communities to provide
assistance amid escalating needs.""The Lebanese government has pledged to scale
up the number of Lebanese families benefiting from regular cash-based assistance
under the government-led National Poverty Targeting Program, which donors fund
under the LCRP, from 36,000 families to 75,000 families over the next two
months," UNIC said. "Moreover, the government has endorsed the National Social
Protection Strategy which aims to provide a sustainable solution and thus
enhance comprehensive and inclusive social protection for the most vulnerable
groups in Lebanon. Outside of the LCRP, the government has committed to
implementing the Emergency Social Safety Net program, financed by the World Bank
through a loan, which has provided monthly cash assistance to approximately
60,000 of the poorest Lebanese families in US dollars for a period of one year.
It is intended for this program to reach 150,000 families."The LCRP complements
a range of other internationally supported humanitarian and development
initiatives in Lebanon. The Emergency Response Plan (ERP), launched in August
2021, aims to address the needs of the most vulnerable among the Lebanese,
migrants, and Palestine refugees in Lebanon affected by the multiple crises. A
revised appeal for the ERP was issued last week calling for $546 million to meet
needs until the end of 2022. The Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Plan
launched in 2020 continues to channel further funding to Lebanon, following the
Beirut port explosions. The United Nations and the Government of Lebanon also
recently signed the U.N. Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework which
aims to move towards a triple nexus approach, "putting ultimately an end to
humanitarian needs, strengthening the capacity of Lebanese institutions to
deliver on their duties and ultimately promoting sustainable development to
build the foundations for a prosperous and inclusive Lebanese society, where no
one is left behind."
Lebanon committed to reform in exchange for a viable
program
Najat Houssari/Arab News/June 20, 2022
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun stressed on Monday that Lebanon is
“committed to carrying out the required reforms,” but said the country “needs
the IMF’s program within the limits of its applicability in Lebanon.”
Aoun’s stance coincided with a warning by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati
for “the international community to cooperate with Lebanon to secure the return
of Syrian refugees to their country, or else Lebanon will work to get Syrians
out through legal means and the firm application of Lebanese law.”
Aoun met with the newly appointed representative of the International Monetary
Fund in Beirut, Federico Lima, who called for a speedy adoption of reforms,
including capital controls, banking secrecy and other measures related to
restructuring the financial sector. In April, Lebanon and the IMF signed a
staff-level agreement, a mutual declaration of intent between the IMF mission
and the Lebanese negotiating delegation. However, before the signing, Lebanon
needs to meet all the conditions set by the IMF.Lebanon is politically divided
over the adoption of the required reforms, particularly the economic recovery
plan, the establishment of the independence of the judiciary and the development
of a credible plan for the electricity sector, keeping the sector away from
brokerage and quotas, distribution and service projects.
The country has failed to implement the IMF’s terms for the past two years,
since the start of talks. Conditions include, for example, the consolidation of
the Banque du Liban’s exchange rates, the development of a clear strategy for
restructuring public debt in the medium and long term, the development of an
agreed strategy for restructuring the banking sector, and an audit of the bank’s
budgets, which determine its financial position and its remaining liquidity in
foreign currencies, so as to develop transparency.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs on Monday launched an appeal on behalf
of the government “to obtain $3.2 billion to address the continuing effects of
the Syrian crisis by providing vital assistance to people in need, and
supporting the infrastructure of public institutions, services and the local
economy in Lebanon.”Mikati warned during the launch of the Lebanon Crisis
Response Plan that “Lebanon has been hosting displaced Syrians now for more than
11 years. As resources are further stretched by the economic crisis, increased
support to the displaced and for the Lebanese host communities remains a top
priority for the government of Lebanon and its partners. We urge you to stand by
Lebanon, its people and government, and by the displaced to respond to their
urgent needs, and work together to overcome obstacles to their safe return to
their homeland,” Mikati told the international community, adding: “Our current
situation is radically different from what it was before, because we are now
going through one of the most severe economic, financial, social and political
crises in the world. “As a result, about 85 percent of Lebanese now live below
the poverty line. About one-third of Lebanon’s population is now displaced and
suffering from poverty, which means that 11 years after the start of the Syrian
crisis, Lebanon no longer has the capacity to bear all this burden, especially
under the current circumstances. “Lebanon is now counting on you to help us
maintain security, economic and social stability,” he added.
“The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan brings together more than 126 partners to
assist 3.2 million people in need living in Lebanon. It aims to provide support
to 1.5 million Lebanese, 1.5 million displaced Syrians, and more than 209,000
Palestinian refugees,” the Ministry of Social Affairs said, adding that “$9
billion assistance provided through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan since 2015
has shown tangible results for the host population and displaced persons.”
It added people across Lebanon were falling deeper into poverty due to currency
depreciation, high inflation, rising prices and loss of income. Gaps in supply
chains including fuel, wheat and electricity continue to impact the operational
environment for LCRP partners, while they simultaneously face an increase in
pressure from local authorities and communities to provide assistance amidst
escalating needs.
Najat Rochdi, humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, said that “nine out of ten
Syrians in Lebanon are living in poverty.”
She pointed out that poverty levels have also risen substantially for Lebanese,
migrants and Palestinians. These circumstances are driving families to send
children to work instead of enrolling them in schools, skip meals and incur
debt.
Canada’s Ambassador to Lebanon Chantal Chastenay, speaking on behalf of donor
countries, said: “About $4.1 billion was pledged to Syrian refugees at the
Brussels conference.”She reaffirmed the commitment to a political solution to
the Syrian crisis, focusing on the recovery process inside Syria and promising
to support host countries, as well as supporting Lebanon to address the
long-term displacement through development and funding.
How did Russia-Ukraine war trigger a food crisis in
Lebanon, developing countries
Associated Press/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Weeks of negotiations on safe corridors to get grain out of Ukraine's Black Sea
ports have made little progress, with urgency rising as the summer harvest
season arrives. Countries like Lebanon, Somalia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan are
heavily reliant on wheat, corn and sunflower oil from Ukraine and Russia.
In Lebanon, bakeries that used to have many types of flat bread now only sell
basic white pita bread to conserve flour. Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling
agricultural infrastructure, burning fields, stealing grain and trying to sell
it to Syria after Lebanon and Egypt refused to buy it. Satellite images taken in
late May by Maxar Technologies show Russian-flagged ships in a port in Crimea
being loaded with grain and then days later docked in Syria with their hatches
open. Russia says exports can resume once Ukraine removes mines in the Black Sea
and arriving ships can be checked for weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov promised that Moscow would not "abuse" its naval advantage and would
"take all necessary steps to ensure that the ships can leave there
freely."Ukrainian and Western officials doubt the pledge. Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week that it may be possible to create
secure corridors without the need to clear sea mines because the location of the
explosive devices are known. But other questions would still remain, such as
whether insurers would provide coverage for ships. Dmytrasevych told the EU
agriculture ministers this week that the only solution is defeating Russia and
unblocking ports: "No other temporary measures, such as humanitarian corridors,
will address the issue."
WHO’S HARDEST HIT?
"The burden is being shouldered by the very poor," Glauber said. "That's a
humanitarian crisis, no question.''Beside the threat of hunger, spiraling food
prices risk political instability in such countries. They were one of the causes
of the Arab Spring, and there are worries of a repeat. The governments of
developing countries must either let food prices rise or subsidize costs,
Glauber said. A moderately prosperous country like Egypt, the world's top wheat
importer, can afford to absorb higher food costs, he said. "For poor countries
like Yemen or countries in the Horn of Africa — they're really going to need
humanitarian aid," he said.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Food prices were rising before the invasion, stemming from factors including bad
weather and poor harvests cutting supplies, while global demand rebounded
strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic. Glauber cited poor wheat harvests last year
in the United States and Canada and a drought that hurt soybean yields in
Brazil. Also exacerbated by climate change, the Horn of Africa is facing one of
its worst droughts in four decades, while a record-shattering heat wave in India
in March reduced wheat yields. That, along with soaring costs for fuel and
fertilizer, has prevented other big grain-producing countries from filling in
the gaps.
WHAT'S BEING DONE?
For weeks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been trying to secure an
agreement to unblock Russian exports of grain and fertilizer and allow Ukraine
to ship commodities from the key port of Odesa. But progress has been slow.
A vast amount of grain is stuck in Ukrainian silos or on farms in the meantime.
And there's more coming — Ukraine's harvest of winter wheat is getting underway
soon, putting more stress on storage facilities even as some fields are likely
to go unharvested and because of the fighting. Serhiy Hrebtsov can't sell the
mountain of grain at his farm in the Donbas region because transport links have
been cut off. Scarce buyers mean prices are so low that farming is
unsustainable.
"There are some options to sell, but it is like just throwing it away," he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden says he's working with European partners on a plan to
build temporary silos on Ukraine's borders, including with Poland, a solution
that would also address the different rail gauges between Ukraine and Europe.The
idea is that grain can be transferred into the silos, and then "into cars in
Europe and get it out to the ocean and get it across the world. But it's taking
time," he said in a speech Tuesday. Dmytrasevych said Ukraine's grain storage
capacity has been reduced by 15 million to 60 million tons after Russian troops
destroyed silos or occupied sites in the south and east.
WHAT'S COSTING MORE?
World production of wheat, rice and other grains is expected to reach 2.78
billion tons in 2022, down 16 million tons from the previous year — the first
decline in four years, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said. Wheat
prices are up 45% in the first three months of the year compared with the
previous year, according to the FAO's wheat price index. Vegetable oil has
jumped 41%, while sugar, meat, milk and fish prices also have risen by double
digits. The increases are fueling faster inflation worldwide, making groceries
more expensive and raising costs for restaurant owners, who have been forced to
increase prices. Some countries are reacting by trying to protect domestic
supplies. India has restricted sugar and wheat exports, while Malaysia halted
exports of live chickens, alarming Singapore, which gets a third of its poultry
from its neighbor. The International Food Policy Research Institute says if food
shortages grow more acute as the war drags on, that could lead to more export
restrictions that further push up prices. Another threat is scarce and costly
fertilizer, meaning fields could be less productive as farmers skimp, said Steve
Mathews of Gro Intelligence, an agriculture data and analytics company. There
are especially big shortfalls of two of the main chemicals in fertilizer, of
which Russia is a big supplier. "If we continue to have the shortage of
potassium and phosphate that we have right now, we will see falling yields,"
Mathews said. "No question about it in the coming years."
Lebanon Latest in Mideast to Detect 1st Case of Monkeypox
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Lebanon's Health Ministry said Monday authorities have detected the country's
first case of monkeypox in a person who returned from abroad and is now
isolating at home. The ministry said the person is stable and that authorities
are tracking the person's contacts. According to The Associated Press, it did
not provide further details. Lebanon is the latest in the Middle East to join
countries with reported monkeypox cases; Israel and the United Arab Emirates
identified their first cases of the illness in May. The announcement came as
Lebanon prepares for a busy summer season with hundreds of thousands of
expatriates and tourists expected to visit. The virus originates in primates and
other wild animals and causes fever, body aches, chills and fatigue in most
patients. People with severe cases can develop a rash and lesions on the face,
hands and other parts of the body.
The smallpox-related disease, which first causes flu-like symptoms before
progressing to a rash on the face and body, is commonly found in parts of
central and west Africa. But this year, 1,880 infections have been reported in
more than 30 countries where monkeypox isn’t typically found. Some 85% of the
cases were in Europe. No deaths have been reported. The World Health
Organization has said people with monkeypox could be infectious for up to four
weeks and advised them to isolate until they have completely recovered.
Lebanese mountaineer embarks on journey to become first
Arab woman to climb K2
Saima Shabbier/Arab News/June 20, 2022
SPECIALLebanese mountaineer embarks on journey to become first Arab woman to
climb K2
Nelly Attar, born and raised in Saudi Arabia, reached the summit of Mount
Everest in 2019
She is using her experiences to help shape emerging sports landscape in Saudi
Arabia
ISLAMABAD: Nelly Attar, a Lebanese mountaineer born and raised in Saudi Arabia,
on Monday began a 50-day journey to become the first Arab women to reach K2, the
world’s second highest mountain, saying she wanted to use her climbs as a
vehicle to inspire women across the Middle East.
In 2017 Attar left her career as a mental health professional to focus on sports
and expeditions. She is the founder of Move Studio, Saudi Arabia’s first dance
studio. In 2020, the Muslim Women Network named her “One of the Top Influential
Women in Sports,” while Sports 360 in 2019 called her the “Female Fitness
Influencer of the Year Across the GCC.”Attar successfully climbed Mount Everest
in 2019 and had scaled 15 other peaks around the world before setting her sights
on K2.
At 8,611 meters (28,251 foot), K2, known as the Savage Mountain, is widely
considered the most dangerous climb in the world due to its difficult terrain
and treacherous weather. Fewer than 20 women globally have summited K2 and for
about every five people who have reached the top of the mountain, one has died
in the attempt. In 2014, three Nepali women led the first all-female team to
climb what most mountaineers consider a much tougher challenge than Everest.
“I am embarking on the most challenging journey to climb K-2 on June 20,”
Attar told Arab News in an interview in Islamabad last week. “I feel like
there’s so much unknown, there’s so much to this journey that we will be
embarking on, so I’m very excited.”Attar said that she had been thinking about
climbing K2 for the past three years but her father’s death last year had
sparked the urge to put her dream into action on the first anniversary of his
death.
“It was a very difficult time for me and I was just thinking how can I find the
purpose of this year that would give a bit of drive and excitement, so I started
work on the idea of K2,” she said. After all, the love for hiking and climbing,
too, was a gift from her father who she used to accompany on treks from an early
age. “This was something I feel like was part of my
childhood and my first climb was with my father when I was 17, when he took me
to Mount Kenya,” Attar said. “I liked the sport of mountaineering because you
take so many risks and with those risks, you feel so alive and everything in
life is amplified.”The climber trained for K2 in Nepal at Ama Dablam, a 6,000
meter peak that many mountaineers say resembles K2. “I
went to Ama Dablam in early December last year and after coming back was ready
for mission K2,” Attar said, adding that she felt ready for the mountain’s tough
weather, altitude and terrain.
“I am not afraid, no matter what happens . . . I have big faith that Allah is
always with us and never leaves us and has the best plans for us,” the climber
said, urging other Arab and Pakistani women to pursue their dreams.
“They can do it, regardless of the challenges that they’re faced with,
regardless of the limitations, they can do it,” she said. “Nothing, and no one
should stop you. If you have a vision, if you have a dream, go and achieve that
dream . . . Don’t use your circumstances as an excuse, use them as your reason
to go forward.”Attar is now focused on using her experience and knowledge to
help shape the emerging sports landscape in Saudi Arabia.
Beyond Move Studio, she has worked on numerous public sector initiatives
to get people active across the Kingdom, including partnering with Saudi Tourism
initiatives and collaborating with global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok,
Nestle and Apple to carry out community initiatives and activities across the
GCC region. “It is amazing to see that there are so
many opportunities for women,” Attar said, describing the sports landscape in
the Kingdom. “They are not only encouraged now to take part in sports and
businesses (in Saudi Arabia) but they are heavily supported.”
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports
And News published
on June 20-21/2022
Bennett Warning Iran: Our New Rule Is ‘Whoever Sends
Attacks Will Pay the Price’
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Sunday Iran from any attempts
to attack Israelis in overseas locations, stressing that “whoever sends” such
attacks will pay the price. “We are currently witnessing Iranian attempts to
attack Israelis in various overseas locations. The security services of the
State of Israel are working to thwart attempted attacks before they are
launched,” Bennett said during a cabinet session. He added: “We will continue to
strike those who send the terrorists and those who send them. Our new rule is:
Whoever sends – pays.”The PM mentioned that his government has warned Israeli
citizens to avoid flying to Turkey – especially Istanbul – at this time if it is
not necessary. “The danger is still great. I call on the citizens of Israel to
show personal responsibility and safeguard their security,” he stressed.
Bennett’s warnings came while security officers told Hebrew media outlets that
the Israeli intelligence received reports saying that Hussein Tayeb, head of the
Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization in Iran, has been identified as
leading the effort to target Israelis in Turkey. Defense Minister Benny Gantz
threatened Saturday to act “forcefully” in response to any potential attack on
Israelis in Turkey. Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked in a phone
call his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for Ankara’s efforts in
thwarting attempts to assassinate Israelis in Turkey. On Sunday, Amos Harel
wrote in an opinion published by Haaretz that “behind the scenes, Israeli and
Turkish intelligence agencies have been devoting immense efforts in recent weeks
to prevent a terror attack against Israeli citizens in Istanbul.” He said these
attempts, which have already chalked up some successes, are particularly
difficult this time because Iran’s Revolutionary Guards apparently have no
specific target. According to briefings by Israeli defense officials over the
last weekend, there is an impression that the Iranians are so desperate for some
achievement that any target is now legitimate in their view. Thus, Harel wrote,
“the protective umbrella cannot focus only on diplomats, or even on businessmen,
but must include almost every Israeli now in Turkey." Meanwhile, former Military
Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin said that after Iran failed to target
Israeli scientists or officers, Tehran lowered the ceiling of its goals, by
deciding to kill or kidnap any Israeli or Jewish person.
Iran: Engineer's Death at Military Site Attributed to
'Industrial Sabotage'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
The death of an Iranian Defense Ministry engineer in May 2021 was the result of
"industrial sabotage" at a military site in Parchin near the capital Tehran, an
Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted on Monday as saying. In his
comments to the semi-official Entekhab news agency, the commander, Hassani
Ahangar, did not say who was believed to be behind the sabotage. "The martyr
from the Ministry of Defense was himself not the target but was affected by an
act of industrial sabotage. We must prevent such threats with artificial
intelligence methods," Ahangar was quoted by the agency as saying. "Engineer
Ehsan Ghadbeigi was martyred and one of his colleagues was injured in an
accident that took place in one of the Ministry of Defense’s research units at
the Parchin area on May 25 (2021)," Entekhab added, according to Reuters.
Parchin is a sensitive military site housing several industrial and research
units, where Western security services believe Iran carried out tests related to
nuclear bomb detonations more than a decade ago.
Iran Blames US for Stalled Nuclear Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Iran said on Monday that Tehran is ready to reach a "good deal" with world
powers, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised news
conference, blaming the US for stalling talks to revive their 2015 nuclear pact.
"Even today, we are ready to return to Vienna to reach a good deal if Washington
fulfils its commitments," Khatibzadeh said. The nuclear pact seemed near revival
in March but talks were thrown into disarray partly over whether the United
States might remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls
elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a global
terrorist campaign, from its Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. In 2018
then-US President Donald Trump reneged on the deal, under which Iran restrained
its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, prompting Iran
to begin violating its core nuclear limits about a year later. Last week, the
United States said it awaits a constructive response from Iran on reinstating
the agreement without "extraneous" issues, a possible reference to Iran's demand
its Guards be dropped from a US terrorism list.
Protests against Worsening Living Conditions Hit Iran
Nationwide
London – Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Faced with soaring inflation, Iranians renewed protests and gatherings
denouncing deteriorating living conditions at a time when the government of
President Ebrahim Raisi insists on pushing onwards with plans to stop
subsidizing basic commodities. Retirees and pensioners of the Social Security
Organization took to the streets again on Saturday. Protesters in the city of
Kermanshah demonstrated against reduced access to food while business owners in
the Ahwaz city called on “incompetent” officials to resign. According to video
footage shared on social media, many chanted anti-government slogans on the
first anniversary of Raisi’s victory in the presidential elections, which had
witnessed the lowest turnout since the 1979 revolution. Most slogans raised by
demonstrators questioned Raisi’s ability in running the government and predicted
that his administration would end within days. The chants also denounced the
failure of officials to fulfill promises and accused the government and
parliament alike of ignoring worsening conditions of the people. The new wave of
protests is hitting Iran amid fading hopes for a nuclear agreement coming to
fruition in Vienna, where negotiations faltered at the beginning of March. For
months now, professionals from different sectors have been demanding raising
wages and adjusting pensions to account for ongoing inflation. Security forces
arrested several teachers and workers, according to the private unions
organizing the protests. The authorities released a number of them on bail. For
years, Iranians have been suffering from a severe economic and living crisis.
This is mainly due to the isolation of the Iranian economy, which is based on
selling oil away from global markets. Middle class protests erupted at the end
of December 2017, after the government of former President Hassan Rouhani raised
the price of the dollar in local markets to compensate for the budget deficit.
About half of Iran's population of about 82 million lives below the poverty
line. Moreover, unofficial estimates put the unemployment rate well above the
official rate of 11%.
Russia's Blockade of Ukrainian Grain Exports is a War
Crime, Says Borrell
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Russia's blockade of the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain is a war
crime, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. "We call on Russia
to deblockade the (Ukrainian) ports...It is inconceivable, one cannot imagine
that millions of tons of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of
the world people are suffering hunger," he told reporters. "This is a real war
crime, so I cannot imagine that this will last much longer," he said on arriving
to a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Reuters
reported. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the
Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports amid weeks of inconclusive negotiations on
safe corridors so millions of tons of siloed grain can be shipped out before the
approaching new harvest season. Ukraine is one of the top wheat suppliers
globally, but its grain shipments have stalled and more than 20 million tons
have been trapped in silos since Russia's invaded the country and blocked its
ports. Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis and blames Western
sanctions for the shortage that has led to a jump in global food prices and
warnings by the United Nations of hunger in poorer countries that rely heavily
on imported grain. The EU supports efforts by the United Nations to broker a
deal to resume Ukraine's sea exports in return for facilitating Russian food and
fertilizer exports, but that would need Moscow's green light.
Russia to 'Intensify' Fighting, Zelensky Warns as EU
Decision Looms
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was likely to
intensify its "hostile activity" this week, as Kyiv awaits a historic decision
from the European Union on its membership application. Nearly three months after
Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Zelensky said there had been
"few such fateful decisions for Ukraine" as the one it expects from the EU this
week, AFP said. "Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of
Europe," he said in his evening address Sunday. "Obviously, we expect Russia to
intensify hostile activity this week ... We are preparing. We are ready," he
continued. Moscow's forces have been pummeling eastern Ukraine for weeks as they
try to seize the Donbas region, after being repelled from other parts of the
country following their February invasion. On Friday, Brussels backed Kyiv's bid
for EU candidate status after the heads of the bloc's biggest members -- France,
Germany and Italy -- paid a visit to the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine could join
the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week, when member
state leaders meet at a Brussels summit. NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg meanwhile
warned that the war could grind on "for years" and urged Western countries to be
ready to offer long-term military, political and economic aid. "We must not
weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high -- not only in
terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food prices,"
Stoltenberg told German daily newspaper Bild.Ukraine has repeatedly urged
Western countries to step up their deliveries of arms, despite warnings from
nuclear-armed Russia that it could trigger a wider conflict.
Residents rally
Zelensky made a rare trip outside Kyiv Saturday to the hold-out Black Sea city
of Mykolaiv, where he visited troops nearby and in the neighboring Odessa region
for the first time since the invasion. "We will not give away the south to
anyone, we will return everything that's ours and the sea will be Ukrainian and
safe," he said in a video posted on Telegram as he made his way back to Kyiv.
Russia's defense ministry said Sunday it launched missile strikes during the
past 24 hours, with one attack on a top-level Ukrainian military meeting near
the city of Dnipro killing "more than 50 generals and officers". It said it also
targeted a building housing Western-provided weapons in Mykolaiv, destroying
Ukrainian artillery and armored vehicles. There was no independent verification
of the claims. Mykolaiv is a key target for Russia as it lies on the route to
the strategic port of Odessa. With Russia maintaining a blockade of Odessa that
has trapped grain supplies and threatens a global food crisis, residents have
turned their attention to rallying the home front effort. "Every day, including
the weekend, I come to make camouflage netting for the army," said Natalia
Pinchenkova, 49, standing by a large Union flag, a show of thanks to Britain for
its support for Ukraine.
'So many killed'
The Ukraine war is fueling not only a global food crisis but an energy crisis
too.
Hit by punishing sanctions, Moscow has turned up the pressure on European
economies by sharply reducing gas supplies, which has, in turn, sent energy
prices soaring. Germany on Sunday announced emergency measures including
increased use of coal to ensure it meets its energy needs after a drop in the
supply of Russian gas. Austria announced it will reopen a mothballed coal power
station to combat shortages, and Italian company Eni joined a huge Qatari
project to expand production from the world's biggest natural gas field. The
worst of the fighting is in the industrial Donbas region, with battles raging in
villages outside the city of Severodonetsk, under unrelenting Russian fire for
weeks. Ukraine's armed forces said Sunday they had pushed back Russian attacks
on villages near Severodonetsk. Lysychansk, which sits across a river from
Severodonetsk, is also under heavy bombardment. Some residents have taken
shelter in basements in dire conditions, with limited supplies of food and
water. Natalia Khalaimova, 54, urged Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to
the war. "Every war in any country ends -- but the sooner, the better," she told
AFP. "So many civilians are killed. Most of them were not involved in the war at
all."
Israeli Interior Minister to Visit Morocco to Discuss
Bilateral Cooperation
Rabat - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Israel’s Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked is scheduled to visit Morocco on
Monday.
“It is expected that she will meet the Minister of Interior, the Foreign
Minister, and some high-ranking Moroccan officials, and she will discuss
cooperation between the two countries in areas of common interests,” Israel’s
Envoy to Rabat David Govrin announced. Shaked is planning to facilitate
bilateral cooperation with Rabat on bringing foreign workers from Morocco to
Israel to work in construction and nursing. “We are happy to receive Mrs. Ayelet
Shaked,” Govrin said on Twitter. Born in 1976 in Tel Aviv, Shaked is a Jewish of
Iraqi origin. She has been a member of the Knesset since 2013 and has served as
the ministry of justice in 2015.
Israel says regional alliance has thwarted Iranian
attacks
AP/June 20, 2022
JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister on Monday said that Israel is helping build
a US-led regional air-defense alliance against Iran, and that the partnership
has already thwarted attempted Iranian attacks. Defense Minister Benny Gantz
said he expected the upcoming visit by President Joe Biden to the region to
further strengthen this alliance. In testimony to
parliament’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gantz gave few
details about the “Middle East Air Defense Alliance,” including what other
countries are part of it. He called it the “first element” of a shared vision
“in the face of Iran’s attempts to attack the region’s countries using rockets,
cruise missiles and UAVs” — unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. “This program
is already operative and has already enabled the successful interception of
Iranian attempts to attack Israel and other countries,” he said. Biden’s visit,
which includes stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia in mid-July, “will support this
process,” he added. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy. Two years
ago, it established full diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain, two Gulf Arab countries that also feel threatened by Iran.
Israel’s parliament to dissolve, Foreign Minister Lapid
to become prime minister
Reuters/June 20, 2022
The government of right-wing, liberal and Muslim Arab parties was fragile from
the start
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair
Lapid have agreed to dissolve parliament, triggering a new election, and Lapid
will in the meantime take over as prime minister, an official said, confirming
local media reports.
A vote will be held in parliament next week, after which Lapid will take over
the premiership, the official said. Lapid and Bennett were expected to issue
statements at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Lapid and Bennett in June 2021 had formed an
unlikely coalition after two years of political stalemate, ending the record
reign of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The government of right-wing,
liberal and Muslim Arab parties was fragile from the start. With a razor-thin
parliamentary majority and divided on major policy issues such as the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and state and religion issues, the eight-faction
alliance began to fracture when a handful of members abandoned the coalition.
The government’s parliamentary majority was soon lost.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Egypt
on official visit
Arab News/June 20, 2022
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in Egypt on an
official visit, Al-Ekhbariya reported on Monday. Prince Mohammed was welcomed on
arrival in Cairo by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Based on the directives of
King Salman, the crown prince will visit Jordan and Turkey after his visit to
the African country. He will meet with the leaders of these countries to discuss
bilateral relations and ways to enhance them in various fields. Relations
between Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been strong, with special significance for
the Arab world. The two nations have historically regarded one another as
important allies to the region, a policy that goes back to May 7, 1936, when
Egypt officially recognized the Saudi state. The two nations have grown stronger
and established close diplomatic ties over the years, overcoming obstacles and
differences even during turbulent periods. The Saudi ambassador to Egypt Osama
bin Ahmed Nugali, wrote in Arab News: “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit
to Cairo on Monday to meet President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is an extension of an
uninterrupted path of strategic cooperation and consultation.”“The crown
prince’s visit cements and celebrates the bonds that have grown only stronger
throughout the years,” the envoy added.
Photo of ex-Israeli FM with former Saudi intelligence
chief generates headlines ahead of Biden trip
Arab News/June 20, 2022
DUBAI: A photo of Saudi Prince Turki Faisal Al-Saud and former Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni generated headlines ahead of an expected visit by US
President Joe Biden to the Middle East.Livni posted a photo on Sunday of herself
standing next to Prince Turki, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, during
a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. She also wished
President Biden luck ahead of his visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The former Israeli top official’s Twitter post generated comments from
both ends of the spectrum, with one optimiscally commenting: “We all pray for
better future and bright tomorrow between both of us. Amen.”
Prince Turki is known to be a direct critic of Israel. He recently
appeared on Arab News’s Frankly Speaking show and called for sanctions on
Israel. The picture of both officials at the Baku
conference generated headlines on Israeli newspapers such as The Times of Israel
and Jerusalem Post.
Syrian Military: Attack on Bus Kills 13, Most of them
Troops
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
An attack on a civilian bus in northern Syria on Monday killed 13 people,
including 11 soldiers, and wounded three troops, Syrian state media reported,
quoting an unnamed military official. According to the state news agency, SANA,
the attack occurred in the province of Raqqa, which was once controlled by the
extremist ISIS group. The report did not say whether the bus was ambushed and
attacked with machinegun fire, or whether it was hit by a missile or a roadside
bomb, said The Associated Press. There was no immediate claim of responsibility
but the attack had all the hallmarks of ISIS militants who have carried out
similar attacks over the past months, leaving dozens dead or wounded. The
unnamed military official said the bus was en route to the central province of
Homs when the “terrorist attack" occurred early in the morning, killing 11
soldiers and two civilians, and wounding three troops. The militants proclaimed
a so-called “caliphate” in a third of both Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the city
of Raqqa was their de-facto capital. They were defeated in 2019 but ISIS sleeper
cells still carry out deadly attacks. Syrian authorities regularly blame such
attacks on the ISIS group. The militants' sleeper cells have been active in
eastern, northern and central Syria.
Macron Allies Seek to Find Majority after France Poll Blow
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Allies of French President Emmanuel Macron started working Monday to cobble
together a working parliamentary majority to salvage his second term, after his
alliance crumbled in the election against surges from the left and far-right.
Macron's Ensemble (Together) coalition emerged as the largest party in
parliamentary elections but was dozens of seats short of keeping the
parliamentary majority it had enjoyed for the last five years, AFP said. It will
now begin work to try and find a majority by forming deals with other parties on
the right, stirring up turmoil unprecedented in French politics in recent years.
Macron, 44, now also risks being distracted by domestic problems as he seeks to
play a prominent role in putting an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and as a
key statesman in the EU. The election saw a new left-wing alliance make gains to
become the main opposition, while the far-right under Marine Le Pen posted its
best legislative performance in its history. "This situation constitutes a risk
for our country, given the challenges that we have to confront," Prime Minister
Elisabeth Borne said in a televised statement Sunday, vowing: "We will work from
tomorrow to build a working majority." The outcome severely tarnished Macron's
April presidential election victory when he defeated the far-right to be the
first French president to win a second term in over two decades. "It's a turning
point for his image of invincibility," said Bruno Cautres, a researcher at the
Centre for Political Research of Sciences Po.
The options available to Macron, who has yet to publicly comment on the result,
range from seeking to form a new coalition alliance, passing legislation based
on ad hoc agreements to even calling new elections. Le Monde daily headlined on
its website "Macron faces the risk of political paralysis", while the right-wing
Le Figaro daily said the results raised the spectre of a "stillborn new
mandate". Left-leaning Liberation's Monday edition said the results represented
the "fall" of Macron's way of governing. 'Failure for Macron' The new left-wing
coalition NUPES under 70-year-old hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon won
135 seats, according to an AFP count based on the results published by the
ministry. The coalition, formed in May after the left splintered for April's
presidential elections, brings together Socialists, the hard left, Communists
and greens.
Melenchon called Sunday's results "above all an electoral failure" for Macron.
"The rout of the presidential party is total and there will be no majority" in
parliament, he told cheering supporters in Paris. A prominent MP from
Melenchon's party, Alexis Corbiere, said the result meant Macron's plan to raise
the French retirement age to 65 had been "sunk". Far-right leader Marine Le
Pen's National Rally party made huge gains and will send 89 MPs to the new
parliament, making it the biggest rightwing force in parliament ahead of the
traditional right The Republicans (LR). Le Pen hailed the historic result for
her party, saying it would send "by far" its highest number of MPs to the next
National Assembly. Macron had hoped to stamp his second term with an ambitious
program of tax cuts, welfare reform and raising the retirement age. All that is
now in question. "This will complicate the reforms... It will be much more
difficult to govern," said Dominique Rousseau, professor of law at Paris
Pantheon-Sorbonne University.
'Imagination needed'
There could now potentially be weeks of political deadlock as the president
seeks to reach out to new parties. The most likely option would be an alliance
with the Republicans, the traditional party of the French right, which has 61
MPs. LR president Christian Jacob however made clear there would be no easy
partnership, saying his party intended to "stay in opposition". But other voices
from the right appeared more open -- former right-wing minister Jean-Francois
Cope said a "government pact is vital between Macron and LR to fight against the
rise of extremes".Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire denied that France would be
ungovernable but admitted "a lot of imagination would be needed" from the ruling
party in an "unprecedented situation". Three ministers felled In another blow to
Macron, key ministers standing for election are set to lose their jobs under a
convention that they should resign if they fail to win seats. Health Minister
Brigitte Bourguignon, Maritime Minister Justine Benin and Environment Minister
Amelie de Montchalin -- a pillar of Macron's administration over the last years
-- all lost and will now exit the government. Two other close Macron allies,
parliament speaker Richard Ferrand and former interior minister Christophe
Castaner, both acknowledged defeat in the fight for their seats. In a rare spot
of good news for the president, Europe Minister Clement Beaune and Public
Service Minister Stanislas Guerini -- both young pillars of his party -- won
tight battles for their seats. On the left, Rachel Keke, a former cleaning lady
who campaigned for better working conditions at her hotel, was also elected,
defeating Macron's former sports minister Roxana Maracineanu. Turnout was low,
with the abstention rate recorded at 53.77 percent, according to the interior
ministry, higher than the first round but not beating the record worst turnout
of 2017.
Ex-Australian Foreign Minister Urges Assange's Freedom
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 June, 2022
Former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr called Monday for his country to
demand the United States drop its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange. Britain last week approved the Australian's extradition to the United
States, where he could face life in prison over publishing secret military
files, said AFP. Assange's lawyers have vowed to appeal. The long-running legal
saga began in 2010 after WikiLeaks published more than 500,000 classified US
documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange has been held on
remand at a top-security jail in southeast London since 2019 for jumping bail in
a previous case accusing him of sexual assault in Sweden. That case was dropped
but he was not released on grounds he was a flight risk in the US extradition
case. In an op-ed for the Sydney Morning Herald, Carr argued that Assange's
prosecution stood in sharp contrast to the US pardoning former military
intelligence officer Chelsea Manning, who had leaked the secret files to
WikiLeaks. Carr said this was newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's
"most potent argument" to advocate for Assange's release.
"If Albanese asks, my guess is America will agree," Carr wrote. "Our new prime
minister can say: 'We're not fans of the guy either, Mr President, but it's gone
on long enough. We're good allies. Let this one drop'." While campaigning for
May elections that swept his Labor Party to power, Albanese said that "enough is
enough" and that he does not "see what purpose is served by the ongoing pursuit
of Mr Assange". Carr was serving as foreign minister when Assange, who was
facing sexual assault allegations, sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in
London. For much of the past decade, Australia's previous conservative
government did not publicly advocate for Assange's release. On Monday, Stella
Assange, the WikiLeaks' founder's wife, told ABC radio that the Australian
government had spoken about the prosecution with its US counterparts. "My
understanding is that the Australian government is raising it and that is
extremely welcome news," she said.
Turkish assassination of Syrian Kurdish leader leader in
Iraq sends a warning message to Iran
The Arab Weekly/June 20/2022
Ankara is telling Iran and the Kurdish authorities in Sulaymaniyah, that Ankara
will not hesitate to target any Kurdish leader being given freedom of movement
by Iran and its allies.
Analysts consider the assassination by Turkish intelligence operatives of
Hussein Shibli, nicknamed Farat Drake, the co-chairman of the council of the
Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in Iraq's
Sulaymaniyah, as a blow to both the Democratic Union Party and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan. Moreover, it was also seen as a demonstration of the extent
of Turkish infiltration into a zone long considered part of Iran's areas of
influence. Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday that the Turkish
intelligence service managed to "neutralise the Syrian terrorist Hussein Shibli,
the co-chair of the so-called Central Executive Council of the Syrian Autonomous
Administration of the terrorist PKK organisation, in the city of Sulaymaniyah in
northern Iraq." It said that Turkish security sources believed Shibli was
“assigned a mission in Iraq by the leadership of the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK).” The sources added that Shibli was close to Farhad Abdi Shaheen, one of
the leaders of the YPG/PKK in Syria. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF) described Shibli as a “martyr” who had played a major role as “a
political leader in building and achieving organisational, intellectual and
social construction projects” in Syria. The Syrian Kurdish Autonomous
Administration said Shibli was targeted while in a civilian car on visit for
medical treatment in the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah, by a Turkish drone.
Independent observers questioned Iraqi Kurdistan’s Autonomous Administration’s
claim that Shibli was killed by a Turkish drone strike. They suggested instead
that the assassination was carried out by a locally-operated suicide drone or by
the detonation of an explosive device under his car. They say talk of the
participation of a Turkish drone in the killing aimed only to dispel any
suspicion of possible cooperation between Turkey and Kurdish leaders.
The same observers pointed out that the targeting of the Kurdish leader in
Sulaymaniyah indicated the existence of ties between him and Iran. Their view is
that a well-known Syrian Kurdish figure of this level could not move around in
Sulaymaniyah without some Kurdish/Iranian cover, especially since the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the ruling party in Sulaymaniyah, is known for its
close ties to Iran and to the PKK. PUK is in fact said to host a number of PKK
leaders, whether in secret or in public, with the blessing of Iran. The
assassination sends a message about Ankara’s intentions in Syria and Iraq. It
comes at a time when Turkey is preparing to invade areas in the north of Syria
controlled by the Kurds, and is trying to expand its area of influence. Analysts
see Ankara as consolidating the hold of its armed Islamist groups , trying to
separate the geographical swathes of land controlled by the Kurds east and west
of the Euphrates and besiege Kurdish troops in the east of the Euphrates in
advance of its incursion. The Turkish message carries warnings to both Iran and
the Kurdish authorities in Sulaymaniyah, that Ankara will not hesitate to target
any Kurdish leader being given freedom of movement by Iran and its allies in
areas where it they wield strong influence and that it will launch strikes at
the time and place of its choosing. A Turkish drone strike on Friday killed four
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and injured one in Iraq's province of
Sulaymaniyah, said Friday AFP quoting Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism
service said.
The five people were driving their vehicle in the town of Kalar at around 6 am
GMT when the drone strike hit them, the counter-terrorism service said in a
statement. Following the attack Turkey's defence ministry said it had
neutralised "six PKK terrorists" in the area where its military operation is
taking place.
There has been a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against Kurdish
militants of the PKK and the Syrian YPG militia, which are both regarded as
terrorist groups by Ankara. Turkey regularly carries out air strikes into
northern Iraq and has sent offensive commandos to support its operations.
On Wednesday, two people were killed, including a child and were seven injured
in Turkish air strikes against the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a militia
affiliated with the PKK. The attack occurred two days after a similar Turkish
bombing targeted a "PKK centre where senior leaders of the party were meeting"
and is located in Sinjar in northern Iraq. The PKK, which Ankara and its Western
allies classify as a "terrorist organisation", has been waging an insurgency
against the Turkish state since 1984 and is based in remote mountainous areas in
Iraq. In mid-April, Turkey, which has established military bases in northern
Iraq for 25 years, announced a new operation against Kurdish fighters based in
Iraq.
The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on June 20-21/2022
Russia's Escalating Influence in Africa
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/June 20/2022
"Russia relies on a series of asymmetric (and often extralegal) measures for
influence—mercenaries, arms-for-resource deals, opaque contracts, election
interference, and disinformation." — Joseph Siegle, Director of Research at the
Brookings Institution's Africa Center for Strategic Studies, February 2, 2022.
Although trade between Russia and African countries has reportedly doubled since
2015, to about $20 billion a year, China is still Africa's largest trade
partner, with trade between China and the continent at $254 billion in 2021. But
Russia's ultimate aims in Africa are the same as China's: To gain influence by
making African countries dependent on its services. While in the case of China,
investments and infrastructure are offered in exchange for strategic access to
vital natural resources and political leverage, in the case of Russia, it is
weapons and Russian state-sponsored mercenaries, known as private military
companies (PMCs) in return for the same.
"In its African strategy, the Kremlin is motivated foremost by a desire to
thwart U.S. policy objectives, almost irrespective of their substance..
Considering Africa 'one of Russia's foreign policy priorities,' Russian
President Vladimir Putin also seeks to create African dependencies on Moscow's
military assets .... targeting countries that have fragile governments but are
often rich in important raw materials, such as oil, gold, diamonds, uranium, and
manganese... They also offer to these governments the ability to conduct
counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations unconstrained by human rights
responsibilities... In turn, Russia seeks payment in concessions for natural
resources, substantial commercial contracts, or access to strategic locations,
such as airbases or ports." — Federica Saini Fasanotti, the Brookings
Institution, February 8, 2022.
The largest and most famous of Russia's PMCs is the Wagner Group, a paramilitary
organization linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
Although ostensibly appearing as a private business, "its management and
operations are deeply intertwined with the Russian military and intelligence
community" according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and
should be seen, therefore, as "a proxy organization of the Russian state rather
than a private company selling services on the open market."
"Russia's Wagner Group has withdrawn about 1,300 of its mercenaries from Libya
to Russia through Syria to participate in the Russian military operation in
Ukraine, according to military and strategic expert Colonel Adel Abdel Kafi." —
Middle East Monitor, March 26, 2022.
"Our competitors clearly see Africa's rich potential. Russia and China both seek
to convert soft and hard power investments into political influence, strategic
access, and military advantage." — General Stephen Townsend, Commander of United
States Africa Command, Senate Armed Services Committee on March 15, 2022
Russia has been significantly deepening its influence on the African continent
in recent years, especially when it comes to arms sales -- between 2015 and 2017
Russia entered into 19 cooperation agreements with African countries, largely
about Russian weapons sales -- and providing mercenaries. This year's Russian
invasion of Ukraine -- and the sanctions that it has engendered -- is likely to
incentivize Russia to seek even more engagement on the African continent.
Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin (front, center) is surrounded by
African heads of state at the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum in
Sochi, Russia on October 24, 2019.
When the United Nations General Assembly voted on March 2, 2022 on a resolution
to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, 17 African countries abstained,
eight countries did not vote at all and one country (Eritrea) voted against the
resolution. When Russia was suspended from the UN Human Rights Council on April
7, African countries were even less willing to counter Russia: Nine African
countries voted against suspending Russia, while 24 countries abstained.
African voting patterns in the UN are just one indication of Russia's growing
influence in Africa. While Russia's engagement on the continent is not nearly
comparable in volume to that of China, Russia has nevertheless been
significantly deepening its influence on the African continent in recent years,
especially when it comes to arms sales -- between 2015 and 2017 Russia entered
into 19 cooperation agreements with African countries, largely about Russian
weapons sales -- and providing mercenaries.
According to Joseph Siegle, Director of Research at the Brookings Institution's
Africa Center for Strategic Studies:
"Unlike most major external partners, Russia is not investing significantly in
conventional statecraft in Africa—e.g., economic investment, trade, and security
assistance. Rather, Russia relies on a series of asymmetric (and often
extralegal) measures for influence—mercenaries, arms-for-resource deals, opaque
contracts, election interference, and disinformation"
According to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, Russia was the largest arms supplier to African countries from
2017-2021, accounting for 44% of arms imports, followed by the US with 17% and
China with 10%. The first Russia-Africa summit took place in Sochi in 2019, with
leaders from more than 40 African countries in attendance. The second
Russia-Africa summit is scheduled to take place this fall.
Although trade between Russia and African countries has reportedly doubled since
2015, to about $20 billion a year, China is still Africa's largest trade
partner, with trade between China and the continent at $254 billion in 2021. But
Russia's ultimate aims in Africa are the same as China's: To gain influence by
making African countries dependent on its services. While in the case of China,
investments and infrastructure are offered in exchange for strategic access to
vital natural resources and political leverage, in the case of Russia, it is
weapons and Russian state-sponsored mercenaries, known as private military
companies (PMCs) in return for the same.
"In its African strategy, the Kremlin is motivated foremost by a desire to
thwart U.S. policy objectives, almost irrespective of their substance,"
according to Federica Saini Fasanotti of the Brookings Institution.
"Considering Africa 'one of Russia's foreign policy priorities,' Russian
President Vladimir Putin also seeks to create African dependencies on Moscow's
military assets and access African resources, targeting countries that have
fragile governments but are often rich in important raw materials, such as oil,
gold, diamonds, uranium, and manganese...They also offer to these governments
the ability to conduct counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations
unconstrained by human rights responsibilities... In turn, Russia seeks payment
in concessions for natural resources, substantial commercial contracts, or
access to strategic locations, such as airbases or ports."
Russian mercenaries (PMCs) have been engaged in multiple African countries from
Sudan to Mozambique, where they have left a trail of human rights abuses. The
largest and most famous of Russia's PMCs is the Wagner Group, a paramilitary
organization linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
Although ostensibly appearing as a private business, "its management and
operations are deeply intertwined with the Russian military and intelligence
community," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
and should be seen, therefore, as "a proxy organization of the Russian state
rather than a private company selling services on the open market."
According to a CSIS report from September 2020:
"Russia's strategy is straightforward: to undermine U.S. power and increase
Moscow's influence using low-profile, deniable forces like PMCs that can do
everything from providing foreign leaders with security to training, advising,
and assisting partner security forces,
"Moscow's use of PMCs has exploded in recent years, reflecting lessons learned
from earlier deployments, a growing expansionist mindset, and a desire for
economic, geopolitical, and military gains... PMCs now fill various roles to
undermine U.S. influence and support Russia's expanding geopolitical, military,
and economic interests."
The Wagner Group is estimated to have operated in around 30 countries worldwide,
from Syria to Venezuela. It is, however, not the only Russian private military
company operating abroad to enhance Russian interests. There are several others,
such as the E.N.O.T. Corporation in Syria and the Feraks Group in Iraq.
Most recently, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March
15, General Stephen Townsend, Commander of United States Africa Command,
referred to Russia's PMCs, especially the Wagner Group, as "a malign influence."
"They don't follow anybody's rules. They do what they want. They buttress
dictators...they do gross violations of human rights. I think it's bad for
Africa's security and prosperity in the future. They're present in Libya...to a
lesser extent in Sudan. They essentially run the Central African Republic. And
they're now in Mali, and a gathering strength and Mali, over thousand Wagner
operators there now."
The Wagner group has been accused of a litany of human rights abuses and war
crimes. In the Central African Republic, for instance, where Russia sent the
Wagner Group to support the government in its fight against various
anti-government rebels, the Wagner Group has been accused of raping and robbing
unarmed civilians. The UN documented more than 500 incidents of extrajudicial
killings, torture, and sexual violence in 2020 alone.
Although the UN initially invited Russia to help resolve the intractable
conflict, according to The New York Times:
"It quickly became clear that the Russian trainers were in fact armed
mercenaries, and the operation... evolved into a thinly veiled effort to build
influence and strike business deals for the Kremlin in Africa, including
lucrative diamond deals, to the benefit of businessmen including a close
confidant of President Vladimir V. Putin."
In Mali, the Wagner mercenaries have been accused of executing 500 civilian men,
reportedly the worst single atrocity in the country in decades. "One trader said
he was drinking tea with his two brothers while waiting for the market to start
when he heard shooting," one eyewitness said according to Reuters.
"Seven Russians approached, gesturing for us to get up. There were no Malian
soldiers with them. They searched us and the house, then took us east of the
village, near the river, where we found another 100 men. Another group of
Russians pointed at my brothers and another man. I thought they were going for
interrogation. They took them several metres away and executed them, point
blank."
In Libya, estimates of the number of Wagner mercenaries deployed until recently
ranged from 2,200 to 7,000. According to a March 2022 report by Middle East
Monitor:
"Russia's Wagner Group has withdrawn about 1,300 of its mercenaries from Libya
to Russia through Syria to participate in the Russian military operation in
Ukraine, according to military and strategic expert Colonel Adel Abdel Kafi."
In 2020, the US military accused them Russian mercenaries in Libya of
indiscriminately planting landmines and booby traps in the country, which have
killed civilians. One type of booby trap device found was a 120-mm mortar shell
connected to a teddy bear, which would detonate when the bear was touched or
moved.
The Wagner Group was initially deployed in Ukraine during Russia's invasion and
subsequent annexation of Crimea in 2014.
This year's Russian invasion of Ukraine -- and the sanctions that it has
engendered -- is likely to incentivize Russia to seek even more engagement on
the African continent in the coming years -- as also for China. It should serve
as a reminder to the current and future US administrations that as Russia and
China increase their engagement, the US cannot afford to look the other way.
"America cannot ignore Africa. Africa's challenges, opportunities, and security
interests are inseparable from our own..." General Townsend said at the March
hearing.
"Our competitors clearly see Africa's rich potential. Russia and China both seek
to convert soft and hard power investments into political influence, strategic
access, and military advantage."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished
Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
A Permanent Shortage of Everything Globalists were wrong.
The world isn't flat.
Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/June 20/2022
The world isn't flat, it's all too round.... That's why Islam is once again at
war with Europe, Russia is invading Ukraine, China is relaunching its empire,
and the 'flatland' is experiencing a dimensional shift.
Globalization advocates had just recreated Marxist central planning with a
somewhat more flexible global model in which massive corporations bridged global
barriers to create the most efficient possible means of moving goods and
services around the planet. Borders would come down and cultural exchanges would
make us all one ushering in the great union of humanity.
Market consolidation due to government regulations has left a handful of
companies sitting atop the market. When one of them, like Abbott for baby
formula, has a hiccup, the results are catastrophic; others like Procter &
Gamble, which controls about half the menstrual products market, don't have to
worry about losing market share to competition. Similar consolidation in food,
paper products and supermarkets have replaced a dynamic economy with cartels.
Behind all the brands on the product shelves is a creaky Soviet system in which
a handful of massive enterprises interconnected with the state lazily crank out
low-quality products from vast supply chains that they no longer control and
feel little competitive pressure to perform better. The only thing that is still
American about the supermarket experience is the advertising.
Interdependence hasn't even led to the world government that globalists wanted,
but global chaos in which impotent western powers try to talk the rest of the
world out of fighting to avoid being swamped by refugees, high energy bills and
empty shelves in supermarkets.
After selling off American economic sovereignty, globalists proved unable to
maintain global stability. Lacking the will to actually stand up to China, Iran
or Russia, all they can do is hold more international conferences and build up a
useless multinational bureaucracy.
Say what you will about the League of Nations, but it only had 700 employees in
Geneva. The UN's 44,000 employees are just the tip of the iceberg in the huge
ranks of multinational organizations who all claim to be upholding the
international order while running up the tab.
Market consolidation due to government regulations has left a handful of
companies sitting atop the US market. When one of them, like Abbott for baby
formula, has a hiccup, the results are catastrophic. Similar consolidation in
food, paper products and supermarkets have replaced a dynamic economy with
cartels. Pictured: A shopper looks at the bare shelves of the baby formula
section of a supermarket in Chelsea, Massachusetts on May 20, 2022. (Photo by
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
First it was baby formula, now there's a tampon shortage. Tampon prices are up
10% due to the rising price of oil affecting the cost of plastic and higher
cotton prices due to mask manufacturing and the war in Ukraine. A whole lot of
fertilizer comes out of Ukraine and Russia. So does neon, which is used to make
semiconductor chips. The chip shortage is shutting down car plants.
This is the thoroughly interconnected world celebrated in prose by journalists
like Thomas Friedman, who marveled at how Big Data and globalization brought
everything together.
"No two countries that both have a McDonald's have ever fought a war against
each other," Friedman once claimed. In his greatest paean to globalization, The
World Is Flat, he argued that, "No two countries that are both part of a major
global supply chain, like Dell's, will ever fight a war against each other as
long as they are both part of the same global supply chain."
McDonald's in Russia has closed and the ones in Ukraine might be blown up any
time. Russia restricted its neon exports while Ukraine's neon exports have
fallen sharply. Dell's CEO Michael Dell has warned that the global chip shortage
could last for years.
So much for the Golden Arches and Dell theory of globalist conflict prevention.
The world isn't flat, it's all too round. Much like history isn't an ascending
trend line to the right side, it's also a circle. That's why Islam is once again
at war with Europe, Russia is invading Ukraine, China is relaunching its empire,
and the 'flatland' is experiencing a dimensional shift.
Globalization advocates had just recreated Marxist central planning with a
somewhat more flexible global model in which massive corporations bridged global
barriers to create the most efficient possible means of moving goods and
services around the planet. Borders would come down and cultural exchanges would
make us all one, ushering in the great union of humanity.
What an interdependent world really means is Algerian Jihadists shooting up
Paris, gang members from El Salvador beheading Americans within sight of
Washington D.C., tampon and car shortages caused by a war in Ukraine, and more
radicalism and extremism than ever.
Trying to "flatten" the world just makes it pop up again.
The technocratic new world order of megacorporations consolidating markets and
then doling out products with just-in-time inventory systems now flows through a
broken supply chain. Rising inflation and international disruptions makes it all
but impossible for even the big companies to plan ahead, and so they produce
less and shrug at the shortages.
We're in a wartime economy because our system has become too vast and too
inflexible to adjust to chaos. Biden keeps trotting out the Defense Production
Act for everything until, given time, the entire economy has been Sovietized.
The more that the government tries to impose stability on the chaos, the less
responsive and productive the dominant players become.
Market consolidation due to government regulations has left a handful of
companies sitting atop the market. When one of them, like Abbott for baby
formula, has a hiccup, the results are catastrophic; others like Procter &
Gamble, which controls about half the menstrual products market, don't have to
worry about losing market share to competition. Similar consolidation in food,
paper products and supermarkets have replaced a dynamic economy with cartels.
Behind all the brands on the product shelves is a creaky Soviet system in which
a handful of massive enterprises interconnected with the state lazily crank out
low-quality products from vast supply chains that they no longer control and
feel little competitive pressure to perform better. The only thing that is still
American about the supermarket experience is the advertising.
The problems with the system were less noticeable when its predictive mechanisms
worked and its foreign suppliers were eager for American dollars. Under stress,
the failure points are all too obvious, and what is less obvious is that the
system has no intention of repairing any of them.
It doesn't need to.
An out-of-touch elite responds to problems with meaningless reassurances, glib
jokes and wokeness. Like Soviet propaganda, the only thing corporate statements
communicate is the vast distance between the lives of those running the system
and those caught inside its gears.
But despite their complicity, the massive monopolistic enterprises didn't make
this world.
Biden and the Democrats have been eager to blame companies for "profiteering"
from the inflation created by federal spending. Few companies prefer the current
crisis to 2019. Hardly anyone except bottom-feeders enjoys not being unable to
rationally plan for the future. Major corporations and their investors care more
about a growth plan than quarterly profits.
The Democrats were the biggest champions of globalization. Their regulations led
to record market consolidation and domestic job cuts. Corporations were
pressured to export dirty Republican jobs to China and keep the 'clean' Democrat
office jobs at home. The devastation wreaked havoc on the working class and the
middle class, and rebuilt our entire economy to be dependent on China and a
worldwide supply chain only globalists could believe was bulletproof.
OPEC's impact on fuel prices under Carter became the model for the entire
economy. A war anywhere impacts Americans. Dozens of countries have the power to
wreck our economy, intentionally or even unintentionally. Even the environmental
promises of energy independence have become a farce in which our government
pleads with China for more solar panels.
Interdependence hasn't even led to the world government that globalists wanted,
but global chaos in which impotent western powers try to talk the rest of the
world out of fighting to avoid being swamped by refugees, high energy bills and
empty shelves in supermarkets.
After selling off American economic sovereignty, globalists proved unable to
maintain global stability. Lacking the will to actually stand up to China, Iran
or Russia, all they can do is hold more international conferences and build up a
useless multinational bureaucracy.
Say what you will about the League of Nations, but it only had 700 employees in
Geneva. The UN's 44,000 employees are just the tip of the iceberg in the huge
ranks of multinational organizations who all claim to be upholding the
international order while running up the tab.
Globalization globalizes the ineptitude of the global order. Its grand plans,
like those of the Soviet Union, are never a match for the chaos of human nature
and its ambitions. Politicians, philanthropists and philosophers had labored to
replace American dynamism with a clockwork machine. The old Babbage clockworks
became servers upholding a cloud that proved to be very handy for instant
communications, but ran up against the same 'flattening' limitations.
America was never meant to be flat. It was a land discovered by those who
understood that the world was round. Flattening America has depressed its
economy and its spirit. A flat world with no room for American exceptionalism is
instead becoming a playground for Chinese and Russian exceptionalism. And
America's economy is becoming one big permanent shortage.
*Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an
investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic
terrorism.
*The article above was reprinted with the kind permission of the David Horowitz
Freedom Center.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
China and Russia Are More Inseparable Than Ever
Minxin Pei/Bloomberg/June 20/2022
Last week’s call between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping was timed to coincide
with the latter’s birthday — but also to send a message. By reaffirming
Beijing’s support for Moscow even as the Russian military is laying waste to a
wide swath of Ukraine, the Russian and Chinese presidents were signaling to the
West that their nations’ newly forged strategic alignment will endure.
This near-alliance between two autocratic behemoths presents the West with its
greatest geopolitical challenge since the end of the Cold War. Finding some way
to break it apart — as US President Richard Nixon managed with his outreach to
Mao Zedong 50 years ago — would seem an obvious priority. Unfortunately, the
conditions for such a stratagem don’t exist today as they did then.
A decade before Nixon’s shocking visit to Beijing, a clash of personalities and
ideological visions between Mao and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had already
laid the groundwork for the dissolution of their alliance. Abroad, Khrushchev
sought peaceful coexistence with the West while Mao advocated confrontation.
Domestically, Khrushchev initiated the process of de-Stalinization. Mao saw him
as a weak-kneed revisionist who was betraying true communist ideals.
By contrast, Putin and Xi, who have met each other 38 times since 2013, are
reportedly close friends. They share similar nationalist values and a profound
antipathy toward the West. Each seeks to establish a sphere of influence in his
nation’s geopolitical neighborhood and sees the US as the primary obstacle to
his vision of national greatness.
In terms of national interest, Russia and China are more closely aligned today
than any time since the end of the Cold War. Their relationship began as a
marriage of convenience; each country saw tactical benefits from good ties even
though they lacked deep strategic trust. In recent years, however, as their
relations with the US-led West have turned increasingly hostile, the pairing has
evolved into a marriage of necessity. Only close strategic alignment can reduce
their mutual vulnerability.
There are, of course, several scenarios under which the new Beijing-Moscow axis
might yet crumble. Most obviously, a regime change in Russia would demolish the
ideological and strategic foundations of the Sino-Russian alignment. This could
happen if Putin falls from power and democracy returns to Russia. But Western
leaders would be unwise to bet on such an outcome.
Relations could also sour if Putin, like Mao in the early 1960s, were to grow
disenchanted with China because Xi, like Khrushchev, chose to play the long game
and preserve China’s economic ties with the West rather than provide unlimited
support to Russia. Yet even then, Russia would have nowhere to turn as long as
it remained isolated by the United States and Europe. Something from China is
still better than nothing from the West.
In theory, another US-China rapprochement — a Nixon-to-China redux — could pull
Beijing away from Moscow. But this, too, is a pipe dream. The US has made it
abundantly clear that it sees China as its greatest long-term threat. For his
part, Xi isn’t likely to grasp any olive branch from US President Joe Biden,
which would inevitably look like a tactical ploy.
The only plausible strategy is also the least palatable — and probably
impossible — politically. The US and Europe could focus on winning over Russia,
the weaker party in the axis. Xi has long worried about the West tempting Putin
away with major concessions. In their virtual meeting last December, Xi openly
praised Putin for rejecting “attempts to sow discord between Russia and China,”
inadvertently revealing his fears about Western efforts to accommodate the
Russian leader.
A decisive military defeat of Russia that resulted in Putin’s fall would
obviously make the task easier. But such a scenario is virtually unthinkable:
Nuclear powers can always resort to the ultimate weapon of mass destruction when
faced with a catastrophic defeat.
Alternatively, the West could seek a quick end to the war on terms that favor
Putin. The Russian leader would in theory then have more space to maneuver and
limit his dependence on China. Whether Western governments have enough political
space themselves, not to mention will, to engineer such an outcome, though,
looks increasingly unlikely.
What Hope is There for a Nuclear Deal?
Dr. Nassif Hitti/Asharq Al Awsat/June 20/2022
The current state of the nuclear deal negotiations (Also known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action) between Iran and the P5+1 could best be described
as an “uneasy stalemate.”
The attempts to build bridges following the US withdrawal from the agreement
during Trump’s term (May 2018), after he had accused it of not respecting its
commitments, have not succeeded.
Both the attempts at mediation made by the European Union and the three European
states that are part of the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) and the efforts
of the International Atomic Energy Agency have hit a brick wall. Both the
Western signatories and Iran are accusing the other side of violating the terms
of the agreement: The Western signatories accuse Iran of not respecting the
ceiling on the level of uranium enrichment stipulated by the agreement.
The IAEA has repeatedly asked Iran to explain the traces of uranium found on
sites where its presence had not been declared, while Iran insists on refusing
to comply with what it sees as new conditions added by the United States and its
allies with their insistence on keeping the IRGC on the terror list. The attempt
at finding a compromise on this point of contention, whereby the IRGC would be
removed from the list while the Quds Force would remain on it, failed.
All the observers watching the developments agree that Iran has far exceeded the
level of uranium enrichment stipulated by the agreement and that it is close-
though the estimates for how long it would take range from weeks and months to a
couple of years- to reaching what is known as the “nuclear threshold-” that is,
possessing the capacity to build nuclear warheads (without necessarily doing
so).
This compelled Israel to escalate, with its Prime Minister announcing that the
country would follow the ‘Octopus Doctrine’ in facing the Iranian regime.
Instead of merely hitting its “tentacles,” this doctrine calls for hitting the
“the octopus in the head,” and its implications can be seen in the increase in
targeted operations within Iran.
We should recall that this Israeli policy is part of what was historically known
as the Ben Gurion Doctrine, which is based on Israel being the only country in
the region with the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Israel believes that
a nuclear arms race in the region would not be in its interest by virtue of
geography, as well as the element of the various capabilities this implies. A
Middle East with no weapons of mass destruction thus remains more than necessary
for the region.
The nuclear deal negotiations’ stalemate has exacerbated political tensions in
the region, with proxy confrontations escalating across the Middle East.
Everyone wants a nuclear deal because the alternative is entering uncharted
territory. The dispute is over the amendments and guarantees demanded by both
signatories and non-signatories. The dispute is also over how to link the
reactivation of the deal with the establishment of regional and international
settlements for hot button issues- which feed and feed off of the failure to
revive the agreement- that would become part of the deal or create safeguards
for it. Settlements tied to regional and national security are particularly
relevant in this regard.
We need agreements on a shared framework for organizing and regulating relations
between countries founded on respect for their sovereignty and commitment to
non-interference in their domestic affairs, whatever the pretexts. We are
witnessing a race between the rise of shared frameworks regulating the behavior
of the various actors in the region and the flames spreading throughout the
region.
Zakaria Botros: 87 and Still Boldly Challenging Islam
Raymond Ibrahim/June 20/2022
What a world of difference there is between anti-Islamic polemics emanating from
the secular West and those emanating from the religiously charged Arab world
itself. This is the thought I have whenever I watch Arabic language programs and
debates, which tend to have an unrestrained and animated quality.
Fr. Zakaria Botros, first introduced to non-Arabic speakers in my 2008 article
titled “Islam’s Public Enemy #1,” is an especially appropriate case study.
Originally a Coptic Christian priest from Egypt turned polemicist and
evangelist, since around 2000, he has become a major thorn in Islam’s side, as
evidenced by the many calls for his assassination.
Zakaria appears on a satellite channel, al-Fady TV, where he regularly takes
Islam to task, primarily by asking tough questions concerning many of its most
authoritative texts (e.g., Koran, hadith, sira, tafsirs, etc.) and teachings.
And I don’t mean the tough questions that we’re familiar with—for example, if
Islam is a religion of peace, why is the Koran inundated with violence and
intolerance? No, he has dug into even the most arcane of Islam’s books (almost
all of which have not been translated out of Arabic) and unearthed some
immensely problematic revelations.
A recent episode, for example, revolved around a bizarre hadith recorded in
several respected Islamic texts, including the hadith collections of Ibn Hanbal,
a founder of one of Islam’s four Sunni madhhabs. In it, Muhammad takes a
companion, Abdullah bin Mas‘ud, out into the desert night. The prophet then
draws a circle in the sand and tells ibn Mas‘ud not to leave it. Muhammad then
goes off a little distance, at which point his companion and narrator of the
hadith, says he saw two tall, naked men appear and go to Muhammad, whereupon
“they began to ride [يركبون, which can also be translated as mount] the
Messenger of Allah.” Meanwhile, and all through the night, these strange men
would also try to access Mas‘ud, who records being “terrified,” though they were
prevented from crossing the circle made by Muhammad. Then, with the rising of
the sun, they quickly absconded, whereupon Mas‘ud saw Muhammad approaching him,
“slowly and in pain from being ridden.” The unflattering implications were then
elaborated by Fr. Zakaria.
Another episode revolved around the recent slaughter of a fellow Coptic
Christian priest in Egypt, Fr. Arsenious Wadid. In it, Fr. Zakaria sought to
expose the “true terrorist” behind this crime. It wasn’t the actual Muslim
murderer, he said, nor even Muhammad himself, but rather, “the Lord of Muhammad,
that is, Satan!” Thereafter, he examined Koran verse after Koran verse—dealing
with deceiving, killing, plundering, and sexually enslaving women—as proof of a
diabolical rather than heavenly inspiration. As is his wont, he complemented his
presentation by quoting Christian scriptures; for example, he quoted John 8:44
as foretelling of Allah and those he would deceive:
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for
there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is
a liar and the father of lies.
Although this quick summation of episodes risks presenting them as consisting of
vindictive and undocumented slanders against Islam and its prophet, in reality,
during the bulk of his hour-long episodes, including the aforementioned two, Fr.
Zakaria offers copious documentation: he relies almost exclusively on
well-respected and authoritative Muslim sources, from al-turath al-Islami (the
Islamic heritage); he methodically provides complete references to all the texts
he uses, shows images of the text itself, including page number; and, finally,
he challenges any and all experts in Islam to call in and correct him if he’s
wrong.
Such is the dilemma Muslims face: because his shows, which now number in the
thousands, are entirely in Arabic and, for some two decades, have been aired via
satellite and on the Internet, millions of Muslims have been exposed to his
relentless onslaught against their religion and their prophet—even as the
guardians of their faith, the ulema, offer little in response but ad hominem
dismissals and calls for his death for insulting Muhammad. (As discussed here,
one prominent sheikh, while being pressed by a talk show host to offer an answer
to one of Fr. Zakaria’s many accusations against Islam, responded by yelling at
the host and storming off set on live television.)
The latest strategy for dealing with Fr. Zakaria appears to be for Muslims
collectively to pretend he doesn’t exist. Anyone who ever raises his name during
a televised show is immediately attacked for daring to name such a “despicable”
personage. Even so, the quiet, ongoing efficacy of his mission is discernible,
as evidenced by the frequent callers who tell him they were once Muslims who
wished only to see his head on a platter, but that, through the years, they’ve
come to embrace Christianity.
Which leads to perhaps the most effective aspect of Fr. Zakaria’s ministry to
Muslims: he speaks their language in more ways than one. Unlike most Western
critics, he doesn’t critique Islam from a secular point of view, by arguing, for
example, that Islam is not conducive to “human rights,” or “gender equality,”
concepts which have zero resonance with Muslims and can never supplant their
more fundamental yearnings.
Nor does he behave as many Western Christians, never once criticizing Islam, but
rather hoping to build “ecumenical” bridges with Muslims concerning “shared
commonalities,” an approach well typified by Pope Francis and his ilk. As for
those very few Western Christian critics who do approach Islam boldly, they
unfortunately lack the language skills to have any impact on or even be
recognized by the Muslim world—not least because they cannot access the many
untranslated Arabic texts of Islam’s long heritage, where so many of its lesser
known but equally potent weaknesses lay.
And so, Fr. Zakaria appears to maintain his original mantle, that of a Christian
evangelist boldly declaring the Gospel truth in order to save as many Muslim
souls from, as he puts it, “the clutches of Satan/Allah.” To that end, he has
produced as many if not more episodes that have nothing to do with Islam and
everything to do with bringing Muslims to Christ.
A final ingredient behind his efficacy is, ironically, what no doubt turns off
many in the West: he approaches his topic the same way Muslims do—with passion,
unrestrained and unfiltered, holding no punches, with not a little sarcasm if
not outright ridicule. In his recent episode asserting that Allah is Satan, for
example, he sincerely and passionately yelled at his viewers: “When will you
wake up to the truth?! Stop being fools!….Islam is a cancer in your bodies that
must be removed before it’s too late!” That Fr. Zakaria is currently
87-years-old and still going strong only adds to the effect.
It is due to all of these factors—that Fr. Zakaria speaks their language
(literally and figuratively); that he has an expert knowledge of and regularly
exposes Islam’s most esoteric Arabic texts and teachings; that the guardians of
Islam are unable to respond to him, aside from name calling and death threats;
that he doesn’t articulate his arguments through a secular but rather religious
paradigm, offering Muslims a real alternative to Islam (Christianity, as opposed
to default Western paradigms of humanism or materialism)—it is due to all of
this that Zakaria Botros is having a profound, if unknown to the West, impact on
the Muslim world.
Nor, I should add, is he alone. While this article has focused on Fr. Zakaria
Botros, not least because he’s one of the first to pioneer this method of
reaching out to Muslims—thanks first to the satellite and then to the
Internet—he is today one of many. In recent years, many others, including Muslim
converts to Christianity—Brother Rachid being most prominent among them—have
taken a similar approach on their television programs: presenting, questioning,
and criticizing strange and problematic aspects of Islam—all of which are based
on Islam’s own texts.
Such, then, is one of the most effective approaches to Islam—one that is
naturally being missed by the West, in part because of the language barrier, but
more so because the West, much like the Muslim world, rejects such an
“abrasive,” “disrespectful,” and, ultimately, “overly Christian” approach to
Islam.