English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 03/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.may03.22.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called that you might inherit a blessing.
First Letter of Peter 03/01-12: “Wives, in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands, so that, even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by accepting the authority of their husbands. Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you. Husbands, in the same way, show consideration for your wives in your life together, paying honour to the woman as the weaker sex, since they too are also heirs of the gracious gift of life so that nothing may hinder your prayers. Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called that you might inherit a blessing. For ‘Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 02-03/2022
President Aoun congratulates the Lebanese on Fitr Feast
Mikati congratulates the Lebanese on Eid Al-Fitr
Grand Mufti motivates Sunni votes in Lebanon during Eid sermon
Derian during Eid Al-Fitr sermon: I warn of the dangers of refraining from participating in the elections
Lebanon’s Ambassador to Algeria expresses his Eid well-wishes
Hajj Hassan: Industrial hemp is a lifeline for Baalbek-Hermel & our economy
Al-Mortada honoring Lebanese Creators:
Boushkian: Eid Al-Fitr unites and brings hope
Bassil from Jezzine: October 17's hatred and anger cancelled the Bisri dam
LF hits back at Bassil over electoral spending, calls him 'thief of republic'
How to avenge the Lebanon boat disaster? Get out and vote/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 02/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 02-03/2022
Mossad operates in Iran, foils IRGC plot to kill Israeli diplomat, US general
Analysis: Iran nuclear deal near death, but West not ready to pull plug
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Claims New Drone Added to its Military Capabilities
Israel FM: Russian remarks are 'unforgivable'
Israel Erupts After Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Claims Hitler Had Jewish Blood
Russia planning to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk later this month: US official
Russia has only made ‘minimal progress’ in the Donbas: Senior US defense official
Zelenskyy: Lavrov a ‘great Hitlerism connoisseur’, will Russia-Israel ties remain?
Russia says not seeking to end Ukraine war by May 9
So what if Zelensky is Jewish, ‘Hitler also had Jewish blood’, says Russia’s foreign minister
Rockets target north Iraq oil refinery, cause 'minor damage'
Turkish President Erdogan expresses satisfaction with Saudi trip
2021 spyware attack targeted prime minister's phone

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 02-03/2022
Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in US should be confronted and defeated/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/May 02/2022
Time for action not words if Iran really wants to be a good neighbor/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 01/2022
Putin "Begins Gas Blackmail of Europe": The US Must Give Ukraine Warplanes to Defeat Russia/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/May 02/2022
Iran Increases Funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Bradley Bowman/Ryan Brobst/Policy Brief/May 02/2022
China’s Agreement with Solomon Islands & Implications for Security in the Pacific/An Interview with Cleo Paskal/CDA Institute/May 02/2022
The Hypocrisy in Condemning Musk's Purchase of Twitter/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/May 02/2022
Why Do Supposed Muslim Victim Groups Find ‘Inspiration’ in the Victimization of Others?/Raymond Ibrahim/May 02/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 02-03/2022
President Aoun congratulates the Lebanese on Fitr Feast
NNA/May 02/2022
President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, congratulated the Lebanese, in general, and the Muslims, in particular, on the occasion of eid al-Fitr. “My sincerest congratulations on the blessed Fitr Feast, with prayers that God Almighty grants those who have good will to converge on the supreme interest of the nation to reach safety," wrote the President via his Twitter account. "Let this Feast be an invitation to all to rise above immediate interests and realize national hopes and ambitions that we all yearn for the advancement and recovery of our homeland," he added. ---- [Presidency Informaiton Office]

Mikati congratulates the Lebanese on Eid Al-Fitr
NNA/May 02/2022
Prime Minister Najib Mikati congratulated the Lebanese on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, via Twitter, saying: "I wish all the Lebanese a happy Eid and days filled with health, wellness, peace of mind and prosperity." He added: "We are all confident that our country will recover as soon as possible with concerted efforts and positive cooperation from everyone, and there is no choice but this approach." Mikati attended the Eid al-Fitr prayer, this morning, at the Muhammad al-Amin Mosque in central Beirut, with the participation of a crowd of clerics, political figures and worshipers.

Grand Mufti motivates Sunni votes in Lebanon during Eid sermon
Najia Houssari/Arab News/May 02/2022
Derian: ‘Participate in elections and do not allow the return of corrupt officials’
Mikati offers hope for Lebanon to rapidly recover through ‘positive cooperation’
BEIRUT: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian has used his Eid Al-Fitr sermon to warn Sunnis against the danger of abstaining from participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Lebanon on May 15.
In an address held at Al-Amin Mosque in the heart of Beirut, he told a crowd that included several Sunni candidates that “abstaining is the magic formula for corrupt people to come to power.”
His warning comes after international observers said that Sunnis abstaining from the vote will allow the “growing influence of Hezbollah and its allies from the Sunni sect, through the winning of the party’s loyalists or its allies.The lower the turnout to the elections, the easier it becomes for Hezbollah to win in the Sunni areas.”
Derian’s remarks came as Eid Al-Fitr was celebrated amid a crippling financial hardship that has plagued the whole country.
President Michel Aoun tweeted his greetings on the Islamic holiday: “May those with good converge toward the supreme interest of the nation to reach safety.”
He added: “Let this feast be an invitation to all to rise above immediate interests and realize national hopes and ambitions for the advancement and recovery of our homeland.”Prime Minister Najib Mikati wished for “Lebanon to recover as fast as possible through everyone’s efforts and positive cooperation, as this is the only choice.”
He added: “The repetition of mistakes is a crime, and the worst crimes are the ones committed against the homeland, under the pretext of defending it.”
Derian, the highest authority in Sunni Islam in the country, spoke on Monday on the grounds that “the enthusiasm of Sunnis in voting is declining” due to “people’s disgust from the ruling class and the poverty it led to,” an official in Dar Al-Fatwa told Arab News. They added: “The ‘Future Movement’ and its loyalists are some of the people abstaining from voting, despite former Prime Minister Saad Hariri not demanding boycotting the elections. However, they related to his decision for the movement to abstain from participating in the elections, on the level of candidacy and endorsement of candidates. They decided to abstain from voting due to their lack of conviction in Hariri’s replacements.”
Hariri’s decision led to most of his parliamentary bloc — with 19 seats — not contesting the elections. Mikati and predecessors Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam, as well as former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, also decided not to run for the elections.
The official said: “Hunger does not distinguish between sects and regions. We are united by our suffering from worsening crises and united by the national will to change our situation and overcome collapse and failure, thus achieving what we aspire to be, a state bearing a message and linked by genuine friendship with the Arab brothers who stood by Lebanon and the Lebanese people in the most difficult circumstances.”
Derian harshly criticized the authorities and described the situation as “very severe and harmful.”He added: “They try to make the abuser a well-doer and the criminal a hero, elevating the useless to the highest levels of praise and honor. They are the ones who transformed Lebanon into a failed state begging for water, electricity and bread.”He added: “None of those useless ones has the courage to admit what their dirty hands committed from corruption and ill-gotten money. They classify themselves as angels and saints in order to return to the crime scene again, and they inflict corruption. Beware of their deceptive and misleading statements.”Derian stressed that “change and choice cannot be achieved from afar, nor by wishing. Those are achieved by massive active participation and speaking the truth on the ballot. Choosing the parliament’s members is the start of the desired reform. In national action, despair is not permitted, as it is surrendering to failure and corruption, suicide and death.”He asked: “Why do some candidates think that people are sheep threatened by force, even if they are hungry or scared? Social and humanitarian crises are only solved by the government and capable and effective state institutions.”

Derian during Eid Al-Fitr sermon: I warn of the dangers of refraining from participating in the elections
NNA - Grand Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, affirmed that "what happened in Tripoli did not happen for the first time, and the state, through its lack of concern for living security, contributed, intentionally or unintentionally, to what happened to the people."Mufti Derian, whose position came during Eid Al-Fitr sermon this morning, indicated that hunger does not distinguish between religion, sects, and regions, saying: “Suffering from the aggravation of crises brings us together, and the national will unites us to change what we are in and get out of the abyss of collapse and failure to what we aspire to be a message state linked to friendship with our Arab brothers.”The Mufti warned of the danger of abstaining from participating in the elections, cautioning against choosing the corrupt. He pointed out that "the Lebanese are able to rebuild their country and restore their dilapidated institutions based on the selection of members of Parliament."

Lebanon’s Ambassador to Algeria expresses his Eid well-wishes
NNA/May 02/2022
Lebanese Ambassador to Algeria, Mohamed Hassan Rifka, and the Algerian Prime Minister Ayman bin Abdel Rahman, participated this morning in the Eid Al-Fitr prayer at the Grand Mosque in the capital, in the presence of the Presidency Diwan Director, Abdulaziz Khalaf, the Advisor to the President of the Republic, Abdel Hafeez Alahem, and various cabinet ministers and representatives of the Arab and Islamic diplomatic corps accredited in Algeria. Expressing his well-wishes on the Fitr Feast, Ambassador Rifka asked the Lord Almighty to bless Lebanon and all the Lebanese and Algerians “with goodness and safety and peace to our country and all nations.”

Hajj Hassan: Industrial hemp is a lifeline for Baalbek-Hermel & our economy
NNA/May 02/2022
Baalbek - Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, received today at his residence in the town of Shaath a delegation of farmers from the Baalbek-Hermel region, calling for "the speedy issuance of implementing decrees for the law on the cultivation of industrial hemp." Hajj Hassan considered that the farmers’ cry today is on behalf of most of the people of the region, “because the land of the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel region is suitable for cultivation of the industrial hemp plant.” He added that the law was approved in Parliament, and the issue of the Regulatory Body has been accelerated by the Cabinet, awaiting the proposed member names. Hajj Hassan hoped that the people in the Bekaa and all the Lebanese regions who are concerned with this file will receive clear prospects on the subject, adding, “In the coming days, this dossier will be activated, and I will convey this cry that calls for accelerating the issue of industrial hemp as much as possible, to His Excellency, President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, and to House Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, so that the voice is louder and transmitted directly.”The Agriculture Minister went on to indicate that, "Indian hemp is a lifeline for this region and for the Lebanese economy, because its revenues are not below one billion dollars, and therefore this matter keeps our people and youth away from cultivating cannabis, which we all consider a scourge, and we fight it as a Lebanese state.”“However, on the other hand, we cannot tell people that marijuana cultivation is prohibited and forbidden without alternatives,” he said. “We hope that the coming days will carry the desired positive outcome in this matter, and we certainly consider that a sensitive and vital file of this importance cannot be ignored and left pending for months,” Hajj Hassan concluded, referring to the “glimmer of hope for improving the productive sectors of agriculture and industry in our region and country."

Al-Mortada honoring Lebanese Creators:
NNA/May 02/2022
Minister of Culture, Judge Mohammad Wissam Al-Mortada, considered that “the role of creators lies in presenting a living example of creativity in which its people compete to rise to the top, to where the highest values reside in the dwellings of arts, beauty and knowledge, which is better and more lasting in the conscience of the homeland than all the struggles of seats and hollow dominions.”He added: "Beirut, despite the wars, earthquakes, deliberation of rulers and occupations, remained linked to the description of the ‘mother of the laws’ only... This place in which we are was built for the sake of thought on an intellectual occasion, and still enjoys its glory and freshness, because any creative piece, be it a word, a painting, a melody, a building, or anything else, resulting from the work of luminous hands and lavish minds, is nothing but a continuous renewal of life.”Al-Mortada’s words came during the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Foundation for the Land of Creators’ revival of the event, “A Nation’s Centenary Celebration”, at the UNESCO Palace. The event was devoted to honoring a group of creators in various fields in the presence of Culture Minister Al-Mortada, the President and Founder of the ‘Land of Creators’, Kamal Bkassini, and a crowd of dignitaries, cultural, literary and media bodies and artistic unions. Al-Mortada considered, in his word, that amidst the widely-spread Lebanese creative talents in all parts of the world, this occasion becomes a “sustainable and much-required initiative, albeit seasonal, to show the true face of Lebanon.”“Perhaps we are in dire need now, in the midst of the crises surrounding us that have negatively affected the image of the homeland among its people and the peoples of the world, to the extent that many citizens are choosing the danger of death by drowning in the waves of the sea, over the slow death that they taste each day because of the dire social conditions. They are suffering, and we have seen a glaring example of that in what Tripoli witnessed last Sunday, of a national and humanitarian catastrophe,” the Minister added regretfully. “Our nation exports its creators to enrich foreign countries, and the image becomes more contradictory and painful if we remember how the practice of governance in our country has been since independence - without generalizing, of course - in a path that contradicts the notions of enlightenment spread by Lebanese intellectuals in the whole East,” he said. Al-Mortada concluded by hoping for a better tomorrow for the country and its people, expressing his well-wishes on the Blessed Eid occasion.

Boushkian: Eid Al-Fitr unites and brings hope
NNA/May 02/2022
In an issued statement marking the Fitr Eid occasion, Industry Minister George Boushkian congratulated the Lebanese in general and Muslims in particular, saying: “It is the feast of blessings that we hope will befall our homeland and our people; a feast of brotherhood, rapprochement, tolerance and forbearance among people. We hope that it will inspire hope and mercy and give our citizens the ability to overcome difficulties and succeed in facing challenges and risks with confidence and strength, and prove our faith and attachment to the one Lebanon, and to Lebanon - the message and coexistence.”

Bassil from Jezzine: October 17's hatred and anger cancelled the Bisri dam
NNA/May 02/2022
Head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, called for "the trial of those who halted the Bisri Dam project because of hatred, hostility and ignorance." He said: "Because of October 17th, the project that was supplying water to the south, the Chouf and Beirut was canceled. As for the World Bank, it should demand the money that was wasted on it." Bassil's words came at an electoral festival in Jezzine, in the presence of MPs Ziad Aswad and Salem Al-Khoury and former MP Amal Abu Zeyd. He added: "On May 15th, it will be the stage of the victory of the Free Patriotic Movement. With solidarity and unity, we will win our situation and the battles that await us." "The series of attacks will not stop, and the enemy has learnt a lesson in the South that it will not forget," MP Bassil went on. "The FPM calls are for building a civil state and the provisions of reform and administrative decentralization, and we hope that the Hezb will stand with us in restoring citizens' rights and looted money," Bassil concluded.

LF hits back at Bassil over electoral spending, calls him 'thief of republic'
Naharnet/May 02/2022
The Lebanese Forces on Monday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the issue of electoral spending, blasting him as the "thief of the republic.""The thief of the republic and the looter of the people who is to blame for at least $40 billion in electricity deficit over the period of 10 years... lacks a lot of ethics, and this is agreed on by the majority of the Lebanese," the LF said in a statement. It also reminded Bassil that he is on "an international sanctions list," in reference to the U.S. sanctions slapped on him over corruption-related allegations. As for Bassil's accusations that the LF has exceeded the allowed limit of electoral spending in its electoral campaign, the LF said: "Discussing electoral ceilings begins after the end of the parliamentary elections, seeing as the electoral expenses are still ongoing, and accordingly the supervisory commission can rule on who exceeded the allowed ceilings and who didn't after receiving all the bills in the wake of the elections." "Anyhow, the most important electoral supervisory commission is the people, who will say their word on May 6, 8 and 15, so be very prepared," the LF added. Bassil has on Sunday filed a complaint against the LF and the Kataeb Party, accusing them of exceeding the allowed limit of electoral spending in a "blatant and extreme manner."Bassil cited the quantity of billboards and unipoles rented by the two parties for their campaigns.

How to avenge the Lebanon boat disaster? Get out and vote
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 02/2022
With each passing day the Lebanese ship sinks deeper under water. The drowning of more than a dozen desperate citizens on an overloaded migrant boat off the coast of Tripoli last week was stark evidence of why elections are necessary to transform this appalling reality, but still there are those who exploit the tragedy to try to halt or sabotage the vote. The pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar declared: “This death boat put an end to the Tripoli election campaigns.” With scarcely concealed glee, the like-minded Addiyar newspaper voiced the expectation that the tragedy would encourage Sunnis to boycott the vote.
Angry mourners tore down the campaign images of Tripoli’s candidates. One furious relative told Al-Jadeed TV: “There will be no elections in Tripoli until our sons are recovered from the sea.”
This anger is rightly directed at the political classes who have navigated Lebanon to such desperate straits. Conversely, the solution is to use the ballot box to elect pro-revolution figures promising radical change. If revenge is to be had, this is the most far-reaching vengeance citizens can wreak upon their tormentors. In this bitter and torrid climate, conspiracy theories are flying thick and fast about the timing of this disaster, and who benefits. It did not help for the Navy to claim that the boat simply sank because it was overloaded, before it emerged that the Navy themselves had rammed it.
However, beware those who are exploiting this disaster to try to drive a wedge between the Army and citizens; the army is one of the few bulwarks Lebanon has, preventing descent into anarchy. Hezbollah sources warn: “There is a black room working to undermine security and stability ahead of the elections.” Well, they would know!
Hezbollah knows that this tsunami of public anger could upset its schemes to purchase the support of candidates in working-class areas such as Tripoli. With a note of desperation, one pro-Hezbollah commentator warned Tripoli’s citizens against “voting for those who made you poor and hungry, migrate, and get killed on land and at sea.”We laugh bitterly when politicians call for a death-boat investigation, because we know how that would go: Blocked at every turn, or weaponized to attack political rivals. So yes, let’s have an investigation. But let’s first bring other investigations to a conclusion and secure the necessary arrests — including the 2020 Beirut port explosion probe, in relation to which even President Michel Aoun is now implicitly condemning Hezbollah for “invoking immunities, privileges and legal loopholes which paralyze the judiciary’s capabilities.”
My birthplace, the gorgeous city of Tripoli has time and again been dealt an unfair hand. The place that spawned Lebanon’s billionaires is mired in poverty. During the civil war it was one region where religious sects weren’t senselessly slaughtering each other. Now it is the focus of efforts to set citizen against citizen — including Hassan Nasrallah’s poisonous sectarian splutterings, which portray all Tripoli’s Sunnis as brainwashed Daesh recruits. Meanwhile local people describe a constant flow of small boats departing Tripoli’s coast, seeking some kind of future anywhere but Lebanon.
With the deadline for expat voting just hours away, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou-Habib is accused of deliberately complicating voting regulations for Lebanese overseas. In one case, several members of the same family were forced to drive to polling centers hours away from each other. I’m sure it is a total coincidence that the consul-general in Australia, where several of the worst examples have emerged, is affiliated with Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, which has done everything in its power to sabotage elections on behalf of its Hezbollah allies.
Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri is also doing everything possible to disrupt the vote. When “Together for Change” pro-opposition elements tried holding an event, Berri’s thugs blocked roads and attacked them with rocks. Those who gained entry were beaten and accused of being traitors, serving the agenda of Israel and foreign embassies.
Those of you who believe elections can’t change anything should ask yourselves what Nasrallah, Berry and Gebran Bassil are so scared of!
This anger is rightly directed at the political classes who have navigated Lebanon to such desperate straits
Tehran has also been trying to bribe the electorate with empty promises about “considering” providing Lebanon with electricity; this from a country that itself suffers regular electricity blackouts, and has even sought to mitigate them by blocking power supplies to Iraq.
Nasrallah, meanwhile, is provoking Israel with threats that Hezbollah and Lebanon are ready to respond “quickly and directly” to military invasion. Seriously? Lebanon can’t even manufacture passports fast enough for the flood of people seeking to emigrate, and the passport office closed down because it ran out of materials. The final two operational power plants in Lebanon shut down last week while awaiting the arrival of diesel fuel from Iraq. The country was already surviving on a paltry few hours of electricity per day. With the heat of summer, such shortages will put lives at risk, and make it impossible to keep hospitals, schools, factories and essential institutions open.
Such is the misery of everyday life that getting into a tiny inflatable boat to risk drowning in the Mediterranean is somehow an appealing option. Tripoli’s citizens are entitled to ask why they should participate in an electoral system that has always failed them, when they can barely keep their families from starvation. But this is precisely why they must participate — by voting for revolutionary candidates who pledge to burn this corrupt sectarian system to the ground, and forcing them to keep that promise.
I beg all of those preparing to flee Lebanon, stay to cast your votes against the kleptocrats and war criminals. If we all use our votes with the wisdom and sophistication that we Lebanese are famous for, then real change is within our grasp.
It shouldn’t be long-suffering citizens who risk their lives in inflatable death traps. Instead, let’s cast Messrs. Nasrallah, Bassil, Berri, Aoun and the rest of the contemptible old guard out to sea in their own overloaded vessel, leaving the rest of us free to rebuild this shattered nation in peace.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 02-03/2022
Mossad operates in Iran, foils IRGC plot to kill Israeli diplomat, US general
Jerusalem Post/May 02/2022
Iran's Quds Force reportedly also planned to assassinate a senior American military general in Germany and a journalist in France.
The Mossad – operating in Iran – apprehended and interrogated an Iranian national who was leading a plot to kill an Israeli diplomat and a US general, sources have confirmed. An audio recording released on Saturday showed a photo of Mansour Rasouli admitting he had been ordered to establish a cell to assassinate a worker at the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul, a US general stationed in Germany and a journalist in France. Rasouli was arrested and questioned in Iran, a rarity as the Mossad regularly operates in conjunction with foreign intelligence services to thwart attacks but almost always from outside the Islamic Republic.Officials said the planned attack shows the threat the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps poses is not isolated to Israel and needs to be confronted accordingly. News of the thwarted plot was first reported by London-based Iran International on Saturday. The Quds Force, the IRGC branch responsible for overseas operations, planned to carry out the assassinations via drug cartels, with the Islamic Republic reportedly willing to pay over $1 million for the targets. The planned hits were organized by a member of Quds Force’s Unit 840 stationed in Europe, who was paid $150,000 to “prepare for the assassinations” by using his connections to various European drug lords. Unit 840 is a relatively secretive operational unit that organizes terrorist infrastructure outside Iran against Western targets and opposition groups, according to the IDF. Defense officials said the failed assassinations join a long list of similar plots, including recent ones in Kenya and Colombia. Turkish, British and American reports over the last few years have accused Iran of using major international crime organizations to help advance its goals abroad, which include carrying out terrorist plots. According to reports, Iranian intelligence has employed the Zindashti cartel, headed by heroin kingpin Naji Sharifi Zindashti, to assassinate or abduct Iranian dissidents living in Turkey since 2015. In 2020, Turkish police said 13 people connected to Zindashti were arrested on charges of collaboration with Iran’s intelligence operations.
In February, Turkish media reported that Turkish and Israeli intelligence forces foiled an Iranian assassination attempt on the life of Israeli businessman Yair Geller. In October 2021, it was reported that Israeli businessmen, including Teddy Sagi, were the targets of Iranian terror in Cyprus.

Analysis: Iran nuclear deal near death, but West not ready to pull plug
Reuters/02 May ,2022
Western officials have largely lost hope the Iran nuclear deal can be resurrected, sources familiar with the matter said, forcing them to weigh how to limit Iran’s atomic program even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has divided the big powers. While they have not completely given up on the pact, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, there is a growing belief it may be beyond salvation. “They are not yanking the IV out of the patient’s arm ... but I sense little expectation that there is a positive way forward,” said one source, who like others quoted spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. Four Western diplomats echoed the sentiment that the deal - which Iran struck with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in 2015 but which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 - is withering away. The pact appeared on the brink of revival in early March when the European Union, which coordinates the talks, invited ministers to Vienna to seal the deal. But talks were thrown into disarray over last-minute Russian demands and whether Washington might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. The IRGC controls elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a global terrorist campaign. Tehran’s demand to remove it from the list is opposed by many US lawmakers, who see it as a terrorist entity despite Iranian denials.
The Russian demands appear to have been finessed but the IRGC designation has not, with the impending Nov. 8 US mid-term elections making it hard for US President Joe Biden to buck domestic opposition to remove it.
Nobody wants to say ‘enough is enough’
Biden’s aides have made clear they have no plans to drop the IRGC from the list but have not ruled it out, saying if Tehran wants Washington to take a such step beyond strict revival of the deal, named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) then Iran must address US concerns outside the deal. “If they’re not prepared to drop extraneous demands, continue to insist on lifting the FTO, and refuse to address our concerns that go beyond the JCPOA then, yes, we’re going to reach an impasse that is probably not going to be surmountable,” said a senior US official. “Is it dead? We don’t know yet and frankly we don’t think Iran knows either,” the official said. So far, Iran seems unwilling to budge on the FTO removal. “That is our redline and we will not cave on that,” said an Iranian security official. Neither side wants to admit nearly a year of indirect talks may have failed, several sources said, with Washington hoping Iran might drop its IRGC demand and Iran convinced it can revive the deal whenever it wants. As a result, events may drift, with the world focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting oil price spike allowing Iran to earn more from its illicit oil exports that evade US sanctions. “I don’t think anybody wants to say enough is enough,” said a Western diplomat. “Does this go on indefinitely with neither side conceding that it’s over? ... Probably.” This could allow Iran to keep expanding its nuclear program, which it accelerated after Trump abandoned the deal. Washington believes Iran is within weeks of obtaining fissile material for ne nuclear weapon if it chose.Iran has long rejected seeking nuclear weapons.
No real ‘Plan B’
Despite talk of a US “Plan B” to address Iran’s nuclear program if the deal cannot be revived, there are few good options. Short of US or Israeli military action to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, the main lever big powers have is to cut Iran’s oil exports.
While Washington won the tacit support of Moscow and Beijing to curb Iranian exports via US sanctions in the years before the 2015 deal, there is no such consensus among the big powers. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite US and European warnings show Moscow’s assent cannot be taken for granted. China is the chief buyer of illicit Iranian oil and the sources said getting it to cut back will be tough when oil supplies are tight and Beijing gets discounted pricing from Tehran. Asked previously about its purchase of Iranian oil in violation of US sanctions, China’s foreign ministry has declined to go into details but has reiterated Beijing’s opposition to US extraterritorial sanctions and urged the United States to remove its unilateral sanctions. Iranian oil exports rose in the first quarter to an average of 870,000 barrels per day, according to Kpler, which tracks oil flows, up from 668,000 bpd in the fourth quarter. The United States would, in effect, have to manage one effort to cut Russia’s oil exports and another to slash Iran’s. “Can you galvanize two sanctions coalitions at once? That’s tricky,” said another source, saying Iran is now selling about half the volume of oil that it could sell if US sanctions were removed but, because of the price rise, pocketing the same revenue. “(Why should Tehran) make a painful concession when they’re basically already getting that oil benefit?” he said. Read more: Top Democrat warns Biden administration against lifting IRGC terror designation

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Claims New Drone Added to its Military Capabilities
Joe Truzman/FDD Long War Journal/May 02/2022
On the occassion of International Quds Day, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) published footage of a previously unknown drone called Jenin.”PIJ spokesperson, Abu Hamza, stated the drone was added to the group’s military capabilities to reinforce the Gaza Strip.“Today we reveal the Jenin drone, which operates in the air force, which our mujahideen continue to reinforce inside the besieged Gaza Strip,” Hamza noted. The PIJ publication shows observation video from the ground and from a drone hovering over what appears to be three Israel Defense Forces (IDF) vehicles parked adjacent to the Gaza security fence on Aug. 7, 2019. After a few moments, the drone releases an explosive projectile over one of the vehicles but misses by several feet. The second half of the footage shows a room that appears to contain several types of drones operated by PIJ. The video concludes with a brief clip of the “Jenin” operating over what is presumed to be the Gaza Strip. While the footage is important in the context of understanding PIJ’s military capabilities, especially in the field of drones, the publication appears to be exaggerated and edited in a manner to deceive the viewer. Despite the group saying it was unveiling a new drone, its publication begins with operational activity of a different drone, purportedly from three years ago. This is easily discernable since the drone hovers over its target thus suggesting the drone is similar to the DJI S1000 and not the “Jenin” showed later in the publication.Additionally, the actual footage of the “Jenin” fails to show any significant operational activity despite the clip’s description of it being on “one of its jihadist missions.”As previously noted, understanding PIJ’s military capabilities is important. However, the video lacks detail and evidence. Perhaps the lack of information was done intentionally to keep its capabilities a secret from the IDF. Other than the previously unseen video of an unsuccessful attack against an IDF military vehicle, and the clip of other possible drones in its arsenal, PIJ was able to demonstrate their new drone “Jenin” can fly, but failed to prove anything more significant in its touted publication.
*Joe Truzman is a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.

Israel FM: Russian remarks are 'unforgivable'
Associated Press/May 02/2022
Israel has summoned the Russian ambassador over comments made by the Russian foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism. In an interview with an Italian news channel, Sergey Lavrov explained that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish. “Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean anything,” he said, according to an Italian translation. In a statement Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called the remarks “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.”“The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust,” Lapid said. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism.”Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem called the remarks “absurd, delusional, dangerous and deserving of condemnation.”The stern reaction stands in contrast to Israel’s position on the war in Ukraine, where it has tried to maintain a semblance of neutrality. It relies on Russia for security coordination in Syria and has been measured in its criticism of Russia’s invasion. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has also tried mediating between the two countries, though the efforts appear to have stalled.

Israel Erupts After Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Claims Hitler Had Jewish Blood
Barbie Latza Nadeau/The Daily Beast/Mon, May 2, 2022
ROME—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sparked outrage in Israel after telling the Italian television news program Zona Bianca that even Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”Lavrov, largely unchecked by host Giuseppe Brindisi, went on to blame Western media for “misinterpreting” the facts of his boss Vladimir Putin’s deadly “special operation” in Ukraine. He repeated the lies that Russian forces had only hit military targets and that the Bucha massacre was a staged event. When asked how Ukraine could be “de-nazified” when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, Lavrov replied: “So what if Zelensky is Jewish. The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood and in fact, some of the worst antisemites are Jews.”The comment drew scorn from Dani Dayan, head of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, who called Lavrov’s comments “false, delusional, and dangerous, and worthy of all condemnation.” Conspiracy theorists have long pushed the lie that Hitler was in fact Jewish, but scholars have debunked the notion. Israeli Foreign Ministry Yair Lapid summoned the Russian ambassador to Israel over the comments. “It is an unforgivable, scandalous statement, a terrible historical mistake, and we expect an apology,” Lapid told YNet news website, according to Reuters. Lavrov was also asked whether he thought Putin would use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, to which he said Russia was working to reach a peace accord. “We have proposed to our American colleagues to repeat what Gorbachev and Reagan said in 1987 and accept a declaration confirming that a nuclear war would have no winners.” He also denied that Putin will use the May 9 Russian celebration to declare a total war, saying that “the pace depends on the need to minimize the risks for the civilian population and for the Russian military. Our military does not plan actions based on a date.” Lavrov maintained the Russian theory that the war is actually Zelensky’s fault. “Zelensky can bring peace if he stops giving criminal orders to his Nazi battalions and forces them to stop hostilities,” Lavrov said. “We don’t want him to surrender... our aim is not regime change in Ukraine.”

Russia planning to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk later this month: US official
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/02 May ,2022
A senior US diplomat said Monday that Russia was planning to annex two Ukrainian regions, adding that Moscow may also carry out other disruptive operations in the southeast of Ukraine. “According to the most recent reports, we believe that Russia will try to annex the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ to Russia,” US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said. Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Carpenter also revealed Washington’s belief that Russia was planning to abduct local officials in the southeast of Ukraine and force locals to use the Russian ruble. Carpenter also said Russia was planning to issue a “sham referenda” sometime in mid-May. “The international community, including the OSCE, where I work as ambassador, has been very clear that such sham referenda… will not be considered legitimate nor will any attempts to annex additional Ukrainian territory.” The US diplomat also said the US had “highly credible” reason to believe that Russia was also looking at annexing Ukraine’s Kherson.

Russia has only made ‘minimal progress’ in the Donbas: Senior US defense official
“Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/02 May ,2022
The Russians have made only “minimal” gains in the Donbas over the last several days, a senior US defense official said Monday. “I would just tell you that we continue to see minimal, at best progress, by the Russians in the Donbas,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added that Russian forces were still suffering from poor command and control, low morale and “less than ideal logistics.”“Quite frankly, there’s a casualty aversion that we continue to see by the Russians, not just in the air, but on the ground,” the official told reporters. Russia has launched more than 2,100 missiles at Ukrainian targets since it first invaded Ukraine over 2 months ago, according to the Pentagon official. In recent months, Washington has been providing millions of dollars in military aid and training to the Ukrainians. And military assistance continues to flow into the region before eventually being transferred to Ukraine. Over the last 24 hours, the US sent 14 planeloads of aid and several more will arrive in the next 24 hours. Around 200 Ukrainian troops have just finished training on the Howitzer artillery systems provided by the US, the official said. Another 20 Ukrainians completed a weeklong course on the Phoenix Ghost drones, which the US customized for Ukraine. “A small proportion of the 121 [Phoenix Ghost drones] are already in the Ukraine, and we've got them going through some training on how to use it,” the US official said.

Zelenskyy: Lavrov a ‘great Hitlerism connoisseur’, will Russia-Israel ties remain?
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/02 May ,2022
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a “great connoisseur of Hitlerism” after the latter’s comments alleging that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had “Jewish origins”. He also questioned whether Israel and Russia’s relations would remain as usual. “Yesterday, for example, Russia's foreign minister openly and without hesitation said that the biggest anti-Semites were allegedly among the Jews themselves. And that Hitler allegedly had Jewish blood. How could this be possibly said on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazism? These words mean that Russia's top diplomat puts the blame on the Jewish people for Nazi crimes. I have no words,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. He added: “Such an anti-Semitic attack by their minister means that Russian authorities have forgotten all the lessons of World War II, or maybe they never learnt those lessons. So the question is whether the Israeli ambassador stays in Moscow knowing their new position, whether the relations with Russia remain as usual. Because all of this is not accidental. The words of the Russian Foreign Minister, a ‘great connoisseur of Hitlerism’ are not random. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 claiming it aimed to “denazify” the country alongside its other goals. On Sunday, Lavrov said in an interview with Italian TV Media Set: “So when they say ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish.”His comments enraged Israel which condemned his statement as “unforgivable” and summoned the Russian ambassador in protest. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that while Israel makes “every effort” to maintain good ties with Russia, “there’s a limit and this limit has been crossed this time.”He added: “The government of Russia needs to apologize to us and to the Jewish people.”

Russia says not seeking to end Ukraine war by May 9
Agence France Presse/Mon, May 2, 2022
Russia is not looking to end its war in Ukraine by Victory Day on May 9, its foreign minister said, as the country looks set to mark the key anniversary under the cloud of a deadly conflict. Speaking with Italian outlet Mediaset, Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow would not rush to wrap up its so-called "special military operation" in time for the anniversary, which celebrates Nazi Germany's surrender to allied forces -- including the then Soviet Union -- in 1945. "Our military will not artificially adjust their actions to any date, including Victory Day," Lavrov said in the interview released Sunday.
"The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends, first of all, on the need to minimise any risks for the civilian population and Russian military personnel," he added. Russia typically marks Victory Day in grand style, with a large military parade in central Moscow and a speech by President Vladimir Putin hailing the country's leading role in the defeat of fascism in Europe.  But this year's celebrations will come against the backdrop of Moscow’s bloody military campaign in Ukraine, which Putin has justified with claims the ex-Soviet country requires "denazification" and other allusions to World War II.
"We will solemnly celebrate May 9, as we always do. Remember those who fell for the liberation of Russia and other republics of the former USSR, for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi plague," Lavrov said. Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions displaced by Russia's invasion, which began on February 24. Moscow has said that over a thousand of its soldiers have been killed in the operation. Ukraine claims Russia's losses are much higher.

So what if Zelensky is Jewish, ‘Hitler also had Jewish blood’, says Russia’s foreign minister
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent/Mon, May 2, 2022
Justifying Vladimir Putin’s call to “denazify” Ukraine, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov argued that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewish ancestry did not matter. “So what if Zelensky is Jewish? The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood,” Mr Lavrov said in an interview with an Italian television on Sunday. “Some of the worst antisemites are Jews.”Mr Lavrov was referring to an unproven theory that German dictator Adolf Hitler had possible Jewish and African ancestors. Mr Putin declared war on Ukraine on 24 February, describing it as a “special military operation” to disarm the eastern European country and remove leaders who he described as neo-Nazis. Although Ukraine has a dark history of antisemitism, with the ultra-nationalist militia Azov battalion even fighting alongside the Ukrainian army in the three-month-long war, Nato and its allies see Moscow’s “denazification” bid as a pretext for an invasion. The Russian minister said Mr Zelensky could promote peace between the two countries if he stopped giving “criminal” instructions to his “Nazi soldiers”, according to The Times of Israel. There are publications “confirming that Americans and especially Canadians played a leading role in preparing ultra-radical, openly neo-Nazi subdivisions for Ukraine”, Mr Lavrov alleged. Israel called Mr Lavrov’s comments "unforgivable" and "delusional", saying he was suggesting Jews were to blame for their own genocide. Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid calling the statement "scandalous and a horrible historical error". "The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism," Mr Lapid said. The criticism towards Moscow comes at a time when Israel has sought to take a neutral position in the war. Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, said Mr Lavrov was "propagating the inversion of the Holocaust by turning the victims into criminals on the basis of promoting a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent," it said in a statement.
"Equally serious is calling the Ukrainians in general, and President Zelensky in particular, Nazis. This, among other things, is a complete distortion of the history and an affront to the victims of Nazism," the memorial added. Since the declaration of war, Ukrainian leaders have often called the Russian president a new-age Hitler for his unprovoked aggression, especially after his troops bombarded areas of Jewish importance, including the Babyn Yar mass murder site and Uman – a sacred site to Hasidic Orthodox Jews. “This is just pure Nazi behaviour. I can’t even qualify this in any different manner,” Mr Zelensky told the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organisation of Jewish groups, over a Zoom call on 7 March 2022. Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of the battered, war-torn country, added that Mr Putin’s actions remind Ukrainians of “the pattern of Adolf Hitler”.
Mr Zelensky has often used his own history to say that Ukraine is not the hate-filled nation that Mr Putin paints it to be. Mr Zelensky’s grandfather had reportedly fought in the Soviet Army against the Nazis, while other family members died in the Holocaust.
The Russian foreign minister claimed that the upcoming anniversary of Russia’s liberation at the end of World War II will have no impact on Moscow’s war in Ukraine. “Our soldiers won't base their actions on a specific date. We'll commemorate our victory in a solemn manner but the timing and speed of what is happening in Ukraine will hinge on the need to minimise risks for civilians and Russian soldiers,” he added. The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

Rockets target north Iraq oil refinery, cause 'minor damage'
Agence France Presse/Mon, May 2, 2022
Six rockets landed overnight in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said, with "minor damage" reported at a key oil refinery, according to a separate security source. "Six rockets fell near the Zab river in the Khabat district," Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said in a statement, without specifying the target of the attack. The attack caused no casualties or damage, the statement said. But two sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that two rockets hit part of the Kawergosk refinery northwest of the Kurdish capital Arbil, causing "minor material damage."A fire broke out at the site but was "quickly contained," one of the sources said. The rocket attack was not immediately claimed. The Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said the rockets were fired from the town of Bartella in neighbouring Nineveh province. Nineveh falls under the administration of the federal government in Baghdad. Its capital Mosul was once the stronghold of the Islamic State jihadist group before it was retaken by pro-government forces in 2017. In early April, three rockets landed at Kawergosk, with no casualties or material damage reported. The April rocket fire came less than a month after Iran's Revolutionary Guards -- the Islamic republic's ideological army -- claimed ballistic missile fire on Arbil that it said targeted an Israeli "strategic center."Kurdish authorities have insisted the Jewish state has no sites in or near Arbil.

Turkish President Erdogan expresses satisfaction with Saudi trip
Al Arabiya English/02 May ,2022
Turkish President Recep Erdogan expressed his satisfaction with a visit to Saudi Arabia aimed at bolstering economic ties between the two countries, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Sunday. Erdogan said that he had discussed with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a series of steps that can be taken to advance relations. He reportedly highlighted the “great economic potential between Turkey and Saudi Arabia,” and expressed support for the Saudi bid to host Expo 2030. The visit on Thursday was the first time the two leaders had met in years. Ties between the two countries had become strained after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Erdogan met with King Salman in an official ceremony in the al-Salam palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Thursday, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters before departing for Jeddah, Erdogan said Thursday’s visit was “the manifestation of our common will” to improve ties and strengthen political, military, and cultural relations. He added it would be mutually beneficial to boost cooperation in areas including health, energy, food security, defense industry, and finance. “With common efforts, I believe we will carry our ties even beyond where they were in the past,” he said. Erdogan cited the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as a fitting time for the visit, saying it was the month of “replenishing and strengthening brotherly ties.”With Reuters

2021 spyware attack targeted prime minister's phone
ABC NEWS/Mon, May 2, 2022
The cellphones of Spain's prime minister and defense minister were infected last year with Pegasus spyware, which is available only to countries' government agencies, authorities announced Monday. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s mobile phone was breached twice in May 2021, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles’ device was targeted once the following month, Cabinet Minister Félix Bolaños said. The breaches, which resulted in a significant amount of data being obtained, were not authorized by a Spanish judge, which is a legal requirement for national covert operations, Bolaños said at a hastily convened news conference in Madrid. “We have no doubt that this is an illicit, unauthorized intervention,” Bolaños said. “It comes from outside state organisms and it didn’t have judicial authorization.”The Socialist-led government was during those months under intense scrutiny over its handling of a major foreign policy spat with Morocco and gripped by a tense domestic dispute over the release of jailed separatists from Spain's restive Catalonia region. Bolaños refused to speculate who might have been behind the Pegasus breach, nor what might have prompted it. The National Court opened an investigation into the breach, and a parliamentary committee on intelligence affairs was set to look into it. In May 2021, more than 8,000 migrants forced their way into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco by scaling a border fence or swimming around it. Spain deployed troops and armored vehicles there to stop more migrants getting into its territory. That crisis came as Rabat and Madrid were at odds over Spain agreeing to provide COVID-19 care to a prominent Sahrawi leader fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, a territory once under Spanish control that Morocco annexed in the 1970s.
Moroccan authorities denied they encouraged mass migration into Ceuta, which came as Spain struggled to cope with tens of thousands of migrants arriving from Africa. Before Monday's announcement, the government was already under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people connected to the separatist movement in the northeastern Catalonia region were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020. The Catalan dispute, with separatists wanting to break away from Spain and activists staging occasionally violent street protests, has dogged Spanish governments for decades. The spyware revelations — by Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity group of experts affiliated with the University of Toronto — involve at least 65 people, including elected officials, lawyers and activists linked to Catalonia.
They were targeted with the software of two Israeli companies, Candiru and NSO Group, the developer of Pegasus. The spyware silently infiltrates phones or other devices to harvest data and potentially spy on their owners. The regional Catalan government has accused Spain’s National Intelligence Center, or CNI, of spying on separatists, and declared that relations with national authorities were “on hold” until full explanations are offered and those responsible are punished. The conservative Popular Party, or PP, was in office in 2017, when Catalan separatists declared independence following an unauthorized referendum, although no further action was taken to execute the declaration. The PP remained in power until mid-2018, when they were ousted by Sánchez in a parliamentary vote. The spying case is disrupting Spanish politics. ERC, the main political party in Catalonia and a crucial ally of the current government, has called for the resignation of Robles, the defense minister. But the spying scandal has left them exposed to the pressure of more radical separatists, who are calling on ending the support for Sánchez's left-to-center coalition in the national parliament. The central government has attempted to address their concerns with pledges of full transparency, announcements of plans for an internal probe by the country’s intelligence agency, and a separate investigation by Spain's ombudsman. A special parliamentary commission on state secrets has also been established and the head of CNI is expected to be questioned by lawmakers later this week, although discussions around state security issues are not meant to be publicized.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 02-03/2022
داليا العكيدي/ يجب مواجهة وهزيمة نفوذ الإخوان المسلمين في الولايات المتحدة
Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in US should be confronted and defeated
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/May 02/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/108407/dalia-al-aqidi-muslim-brotherhoods-influence-in-us-should-be-confronted-and-defeated-%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d9%83%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a-%d9%8a%d8%ac%d8%a8-%d9%85/
After its miserable failure in the Middle East and the beginning of the end in Turkey as Ankara seeks to mend its ties with Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has begun to cut its losses and turn to the West, taking advantage of its freedom of religion and human rights laws.
In the US, several active Islamist organizations would be willing to welcome Brotherhood members with open arms. Most of these entities promote Islamism, an authoritarian concept that seeks to impose controversial laws in Western democracies. Such doctrines are widely rejected by America’s vast majority, including Muslims. However, that has not stopped US politicians from participating in events organized by Islamist organizations.
The Muslim American Society, like several other such groups, knows how the political game should be played in the Western world. Slogans of combating racism, anti-discrimination and religious freedom get them closer to liberal politicians, officials, decision-makers and progressive voters.
At a recent Ramadan event in Minnesota, two of the keynote speakers were well-known Islamists. One was the imam of Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center, Abdirahman Kariye, a son of refugees who came to the US from Somalia and who studied under senior Islamist scholars from Egypt and Somalia. “Dar Al-Farooq mosque has been a conduit for terrorism recruitment, with at least six congregants leaving or attempting to join (Daesh) and Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia,” said Benjamin Baird, deputy director of the Middle East Forum’s Islamism in Politics project.
The other controversial speaker was Asad Zaman, who is executive director and imam of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. In March, when a bill was presented by two Democratic members of the Minnesota House of Representatives to form a new “task force on the consequences of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism,” it proposed including anti-Semitic Islamist organizations as members, with Zaman one of the nominees. “Zaman is not shy about his views on Jews and Islamism. His Facebook account is replete with anti-Semitism, apologism for Hamas, and support for convicted war criminals,” wrote Sam Westrop, director of Islamist Watch. In one of his Facebook posts, the future member of the proposed task force on the consequences of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism linked to a neo-Nazi Holocaust denial website, which promotes viciously anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Several political Islam organizations have close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a dangerous group that is designated as a terrorist organization in several countries in the Middle East, including Egypt, where it was founded by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928. The Muslim American Society of Minnesota’s Muslim Brotherhood pedigree is simply undeniable, and here is why and how.
In 2004, the Chicago Tribune newspaper proved that the American chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood operated under the name of the Muslim American Society, which was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members. The incorporation papers showed that the director of the society until 1994 was a prominent leader of the US Muslim Brotherhood named Ahmed Elkadi, an Egyptian-born surgeon who moved to America in 1967.
But why is it alarming? In “Message of the Teachings,” Al-Banna flatly states that violence is an acceptable means for spreading Islamic ideology: “Always intend to… desire martyrdom. Prepare for it as much as you can.” In 2005, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of the Foundation of Defense of Democracies revealed that the Muslim American Society’s adjunct members must read Sayyid Qutb’s “Milestones,” which refutes claims that so-called jihad encompasses only defensive warfare. He added that the society’s curriculum advocates the promotion of Islam through violence.
Although the society portrays itself as an independent American organization with no affiliation to the Brotherhood, a statement on its website describes the terrorist group as a “grassroots Islamic movement for reform and revival.” The statement stresses that most of Al-Banna’s writings could be categorized as “foundational thought (e.g., balanced understanding of Islam, societal reform, peaceful change, etc.).” The Muslim American Society sought to distance itself from part of what he wrote, claiming that it does not apply to Muslims in America. However, the Islamist organization claimed that it would continue to include Al-Banna’s “applicable” writings in its “curricula, which aid our efforts to move people to strive for God-consciousness, liberty, justice and contribute to a virtuous and just American society.”
American politicians do not comprehend that the targets of Islamist activism are secular Muslims who stand against the bigotry and threats of political Islamism. For years, this community has been canceled, fought and accused of being Islamophobic and anti-Arab by Islamist groups and their politicians.
There is no ready solution to the dilemma of political Islamism in the US as long as we are afraid to call things by their correct names.
In a conversation with my friend, Sarah Idan, a former Miss Universe Iraq and the founder of Humanity Forward, an interfaith nongovernmental organization, she reiterated that groups like the Muslim American Society do not represent her as a moderate Muslim. The Iraqi-American activist expressed concerns about the organization’s affiliation with radical groups.
“Islamists’ interest in funding and endorsing anti-Semitic lawmakers like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib demonstrates their goal (political Islam), the same issue that caused us to flee to the West. If Americans understood the history and complications of the Middle East, they would have been as alert and concerned as we are, witnessing these groups adopting the same strategy they used to destroy our homelands and communities,” Idan stressed. None of these organizations or Islamist lawmakers represent thousands of American Muslims like myself and Idan. However, there is no ready solution to the dilemma of political Islamism in the US as long as we are afraid to call things by their correct names. Led by the Muslim Brotherhood, these organizations bully anyone who stands against the Islamist ideology and manipulate our system and government using the magical term “Islamophobia.” We ought to remember that they are proud of being anti-Semitic and anti-American and that they sympathize with radical groups, and act accordingly.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi

د. ماجد رفي زاده: حان وقت العمل وليس الأقوال إذا كانت إيران تريد حقًا أن تكون جارة جيدة
Time for action not words if Iran really wants to be a good neighbor
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 01/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/108427/dr-majid-rafizadehtime-for-action-not-words-if-iran-really-wants-to-be-a-good-neighbor-%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%87-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%88%d9%82/
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been claiming that one of his administration’s priorities is to improve ties with Tehran’s neighbors, including the Gulf states. But such statements are only collections of words unless they are followed by tangible actions.
Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, who is a high-ranking military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a former chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has also suggested that Tehran’s foreign policy has entered a new period that is anchored in improving relationships with other countries in the region. In addition, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh last week said: “Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two important countries in the region and the Muslim world, can enter a new chapter of interaction and cooperation to achieve regional peace, stability and development by adopting constructive and dialogue-based approaches.”
But, as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan pointed out last year, the Kingdom will judge the Raisi administration by “the reality on the ground.”
Unfortunately, former Iranian presidents, including the so-called moderate Hassan Rouhani, also made similar promises to improve ties with the Gulf states. But ties between the Iranian regime and the Gulf states deteriorated under Rouhani’s administration thanks to Tehran’s military adventurism and destructive policies in the region.
Furthermore, Raisi’s administration has not yet made any changes to Iran’s regional policies in spite of his claims that the country wants to improve ties with other nations in the region.
When it comes to Yemen, the IRGC is still a key supporter and sponsor of the Houthis and it has been stepping up its weapons supply to the group. The sophisticated drones and missiles that the Houthis use to target Saudi Arabia and the UAE most likely come from Iran, which has recognized the terror group as the official government of Yemen. The Iranian government continues to smuggle illicit weapons and technology into Yemen and these weapons are being deployed for offensive purposes by the Houthis.
In Syria, the Raisi administration is still using the Arab nation as a proxy battleground to score victories against Israel and to expand the Iranian regime’s military stranglehold in the Levant. By exploiting the instability in Syria, Iran’s IRGC and Quds Force now enjoy a military presence close to the Israeli border. The IRGC has also established permanent military bases in Syria and has significant control over some of the country’s airports.
Meanwhile, the IRGC under the Raisi administration continues to exploit Iraq as a proxy battleground in order to achieve its revolutionary ideals and hegemonic ambitions. Tehran’s Iraqi militias are also exploiting religion, using sectarianism as a tool to gain power and further Iran’s parochial, religious and political ambitions. The Iranian regime’s militias are also known for ratcheting up the conflict by engaging in various crimes against civilians.
Raisi has not yet made any changes to Iran’s regional policies in spite of his claims that the country wants to improve ties.
And when it comes to the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, Raisi has not shown any signs that his government is going to halt or slow the advancement of its nuclear activities, which have been a source of grave concern for other countries in the region. While Iran’s nuclear breakout time (the amount of time required to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon) was estimated to be about a year under the Rouhani administration, it has shortened to just a few weeks since Raisi took office last year.
If the president genuinely wants to improve relations with Iran’s neighbors, he needs to address their concerns and this requires a major shift in Iran’s foreign policy. It is important to point out that improved relationships between Iran and its neighbors could have a significant impact on the region’s geopolitical, economic and security landscapes. If the Iranian government prioritized its relationships with Arab nations based on mutual respect and economic and geopolitical interests, rather than ideological ones, and if the theocratic establishment stopped supporting, arming and financing Shiite militia groups and proxies across the region, it would bring significant benefits to Tehran as well as the region.
In a nutshell, the Iranian regime must move beyond words by fundamentally shifting its regional policies if it truly wants to improve its relations with the Gulf states and other neighboring countries.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Putin "Begins Gas Blackmail of Europe": The US Must Give Ukraine Warplanes to Defeat Russia
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/May 02/2022
Now, following Russia's dramatic decision this week to cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, the West and its allies must give serious consideration to upgrading the level of military support they provide to Ukraine.
The real reason, though, [that Russia cut gas supplies] is that Russia is trying to blackmail Poland and Bulgaria, which have become high profile supporters of the Ukrainian war effort, to end their support for Kyiv.
"Russia is also proving that energy resources are a weapon. That is why the EU needs to be united and impose an embargo on energy resources, depriving the Russians of their energy weapons." — Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, The Guardian, April 26, 2022.
It is also an excellent time for the European Union finally to green-light the EastMed gas pipeline, in the works for years, but also scuppered by the Biden administration in capitulation to Turkey. The EastMed, however, remains an ideal solution to diversify the supply of gas to Europe and only awaits the European Union's approval.
The best way for the West to respond, therefore, is not to concede to the Russian demands to scale down its support for Kyiv.
It is to do the opposite, and provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs not just to defend itself against Russian aggression, but to go on the offensive and win the war.
Putin is desperate and needs to understand that if he goes for the nuclear option, Russia will cease to exist.
With the conflict now entering its third month, and Mr Putin showing no inclination to stop his barbaric assault on the people of Ukraine, it is clear this policy of appeasement has failed.
Consequently, the West should now concentrate its efforts on providing Ukraine's forces with the military equipment they require not only to defend their country from Russian aggression, but to defeat the Russians and liberate their country from Mr Putin's tyranny.
As a top priority, the Biden administration must therefore reverse its decision to block the transfer of 70 MiG fighters to Ukraine. Supplying Ukraine with extra warplanes, together with tanks and other military hardware, is essential if Kyiv is to have any chance of inflicting a serious defeat against Russia.
Such a change in policy is certainly in the West's long-term interests. If the Ukrainian forces can achieve victory over their Russian invaders, it will act as a strong deterrent to Mr Putin not to launch any more unprovoked attacks on European soil, as well as to other potential aggressors waiting in the wings.
Putin is desperate and needs to understand that if he goes for the nuclear option, Russia will cease to exist. Following Russia's dramatic decision last week to cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, the West and its allies must give serious consideration to upgrading the level of military support they provide to Ukraine. Pictured: The compressor gas station, in Wloclawek, Poland, of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, which carries gas from Russia's Yamal Peninsula field, supplying 40% of Europe's gas.
The best way for the West to respond to Russia's blatant attempt to blackmail Europe into dropping its support for Ukraine is to provide the Ukrainian forces with the military hardware they need to win the war.
To date, most of the military support provided by Nato countries has consisted mainly of defensive weapons, such as anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles.
The only serious attempt to provide Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry came from Poland in the early stages of the conflict, when Warsaw proposed providing Kyiv with 70 Soviet-era Mig-29 Russian warplanes which were still in service in Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
The deal was said to be so well-advanced that Ukrainian pilots had even travelled to Poland to wrap up the deal and bring the planes back over the border.
But the proposal was ultimately scuppered by the Biden administration which, fearing the delivery could broaden the conflict into a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato, withdrew its support. "We do not support the transfer of the fighters to the Ukrainian air force at this time," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in early March, effectively killing the deal.
The Pentagon's dismissal of the deal came after US secretary of State Antony Blinken had earlier stated during an interview on CBS "Face the Nation" that Poland had a "green light" to send the warplanes.
If the contradictory messages from the Pentagon and the State Department have illustrated the deep confusion at the heart of the Biden administration about how to respond to the Ukraine crisis, it has done little to help the Ukrainian military in its desperate battle against Moscow's superior firepower.
The reason, of course, that Biden is reluctant to approve the sale of military hardware to Kyiv is that his administration has been bullied into submission by Putin's threats concerning Russia's powerful nuclear arsenal. In reality, the Russian leader's constant reference to his nuclear weapons is nothing more than a bluff, a sign of his own weakness now that it is clear his Ukraine invasion plan has become an unmitigated disaster. Furthermore, the Biden administration needs to learn that it cannot back down every time a rogue nation, whether it is Russia or Iran, uses the nuclear issue to threaten the West.
Consequently, Washington should ignore Putin's empty threats and, following Russia's dramatic decision last week to cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, should give serious consideration to upgrading the level of military support it provides to Ukraine.
Russia says it cut gas supplies to the two east European states because they refused to agree to the Kremlin's demand that payments are made in roubles, the Russian national currency.
The real reason, though, is that Russia is trying to blackmail Poland and Bulgaria, which have become high profile supporters of the Ukrainian war effort, to end their support for Kyiv.
The Russian action has inevitably raised fears that Moscow will seek to use energy blackmail against the rest of Europe if it continues to provide backing to Ukraine. As Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in response to the action taken against Poland and Bulgaria, Russia was "beginning the gas blackmail of Europe".
"Russia is trying to shatter the unity of our allies. Russia is also proving that energy resources are a weapon. That is why the EU needs to be united and impose an embargo on energy resources, depriving the Russians of their energy weapons."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also denounced Russia for using gas "as an instrument of blackmail".
"This is unjustified and unacceptable," she said in a statement following the decision to cut supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. "And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier."
It is also an excellent time for the European Union finally to green-light the EastMed gas pipeline, in the works for years, but also scuppered by the Biden administration in capitulation to Turkey. The EastMed, however, remains an ideal solution to diversify the supply of gas to Europe and only awaits the European Union's approval.
Russia's action certainly represents a significant escalation in its confrontation with the West over Ukraine. The best way for the West to respond, therefore, is not to concede to the Russian demands to scale down its support for Kyiv.
It is to do the opposite, and provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs not just to defend itself against Russian aggression, but to go on the offensive and win the war. Putin is desperate and needs to understand that if he goes for the nuclear option, Russia will cease to exist.
Time and again, since the conflict began in February, Western leaders from US President Joe Biden to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have shied away from providing military hardware to Ukraine for fear of provoking a broader conflict with Moscow.
With the conflict now entering its third month, and Mr Putin showing no inclination to stop his barbaric assault on the people of Ukraine, it is clear this policy of appeasement has failed.
Consequently, the West should now concentrate its efforts on providing Ukraine's forces with the military equipment they require not only to defend their country from Russian aggression, but to defeat the Russians and liberate their country from Mr Putin's tyranny.
As a top priority, the Biden administration must therefore reverse its decision to block the transfer of 70 MiG fighters to Ukraine. Supplying Ukraine with extra warplanes, together with tanks and other military hardware, is essential if Kyiv is to have any chance of inflicting a serious defeat against Russia.
There certainly appears to be mounting support in Europe to provide Ukraine with such weapons, with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss last week calling for Kyiv to be given warplanes and other heavy armour.
Such a change in policy is certainly in the West's long-term interests. If the Ukrainian forces can achieve victory over their Russian invaders, it will act as a strong deterrent to Mr Putin not to launch any more unprovoked attacks on European soil, as well as to other potential aggressors waiting in the wings.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Shillman Journalism 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.

Iran Increases Funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Bradley Bowman/Ryan Brobst/Policy Brief/May 02/2022
Iran significantly increased its funding in 2021 for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s primary tool for exporting Islamist extremism and supporting terrorist groups, according to a new report released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This budget increase strongly suggests that the regime would use any financial windfall associated with a new nuclear agreement to boost support for its regional proxies and paramilitary forces.
“In 2021 Iran’s military budget increased for the first time in four years, to $24.6 billion,” SIPRI stated. “Funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continued to grow in 2021—by 14 per cent compared with 2020—and accounted for 34 per cent of Iran’s total military spending.”
While precisely measuring Iran’s military spending is difficult given its opaque funding mechanisms and the IRGC’s entwinement with the private sector, Tehran has long used the IRGC and its Quds Force to support terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and a bevy of other militias in Iraq and Syria. These organizations constitute vital tools in Iran’s hegemonic campaign for regional supremacy, which aims to attack, undermine, and control other governments in the Middle East at the expense of U.S. interests and those of its allies.
Iran-backed terrorist organizations have killed hundreds of Americans, from the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983 to the war in Iraq that began in 2003. A 2019 U.S. Army study concluded that the IRGC in 2005-2006 developed weapons specifically designed to kill Americans. The IRGC then smuggled those weapons into Iraq, where it trained militias how to employ them. The Pentagon estimates that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq killed at least 603 American troops. That fact is why over 1,000 veterans and family members of those killed or wounded by Iran-backed organizations wrote to President Biden in January urging him not to release frozen Iranian funds until Tehran compensates the families of the victims.Despite the IRGC’s track record and continued misbehavior, the Biden administration has been considering removing the group from the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). Such a step would reduce the ability of U.S. victims of Iranian terrorism to sue the IRGC and providers of material support to the IRGC, reduce options for criminal prosecutions and penalties, and signal to others that a terrorist group can receive sanctions relief without having to cease its support for terrorism. Perhaps that is why 900 Gold Star family members and wounded veterans wrote another letter earlier this month asking Biden not to delist the IRGC.The 14 percent increase in the IRGC’s budget makes clear that Tehran is as determined as ever to fund the group and support terrorism. If past is prologue, one should expect more IRGC-backed terrorism targeting Americans, Israelis, Arab partners, and others if Tehran receives tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
*Bradley Bowman is senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Ryan Brobst is a research analyst. For more analysis from the authors and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Bradley on Twitter @Brad_L_Bowman. Follow FDD on Twitter at @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

China’s Agreement with Solomon Islands & Implications for Security in the Pacific
An Interview with Cleo Paskal/CDA Institute/May 02/2022
Could you provide a brief overview of the domestic political situation in Solomon Islands?
To understand the situation, we need to look at three distinct strands: domestic Solomon Islands, China, and Australia. The complexities of domestic politics in Solomons goes back quite some time. That intersects with what China wants to do in the region, and what Australia has been doing in the region. Understanding how those three trajectories have developed separately, then braided together, is key to understanding how we got here.
In terms of domestic politics, Solomons is somewhat of a colonial construct, consisting of hundreds of islands, and many cultures, and languages. Inequities built into the structure of the country created tensions, resulting in a civil war that peaked in the late 1990s. The main belligerents were from the province of Malaita—the most populous province – and the island of Guadalcanal, which is home to the capital, Honiara.
The civil war ended in 2000 when all parties involved – including the central government, which at the time was headed by the same man who is Prime Minister at the moment, Manasseh Sogavare – agreed to the Townsville Peace Agreement. A key component of that agreement, Part IV, was the devolution of power.
Economics and politics had been too centralized in Honiara, and the provinces felt that there wasn’t enough equitable distribution of development. Devolution of power would mean that the provinces would have much more control over their own issues – a dynamic familiar to Canadians.
After the end of the civil war, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)—led by an Australian peacekeeping force—was deployed in Solomons for over a decade. The cost of peacekeeping was quite high for Australia, in blood and treasure. But it never implemented Part IV of the agreement. So, the issue of inequitable distribution among the provinces, and the accompanying resentment, was never resolved.
It was easier for RAMSI to deal with a somewhat compliant, centralized government in the capital that Canberra could use to administer and negotiate with the individual provinces. It was also convenient for the Australians to deal with people who told them what they wanted to hear, rather than what they needed to hear to establish real security. The result was an inadvertent creation of a centralized state that had vassal-like qualities.
When the government of the newly elected Prime Minister Sogavare switched Solomons’ diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019—without any real debate allowed in the country—it was apparent the now-centralized, softened system could easily be controlled through elite capture. The way RAMSI was deployed, and the fact that the underlying devolution issues were never dealt with, created a near-turnkey dynamic, whereby a softened state relatively quickly moved from one country to another. China then employed full-on political warfare—leveraging money, information warfare, and intel—and increasingly centralized and vassalized Solomon Islands to the point where it could garner a security agreement.
This mess took decades to create, three parties to action, and it isn’t what the majority of the people of Solomon Islands want. Many did not want the pivot to China and almost all don’t want the security agreement with China. PM Sogavare doesn’t represent the democratic will of the people of Solomon Islands, who want Part IV of the Townsville Peace Agreement, devolution of power, and strategic independence—which would align them more naturally with the West, from a position of strength, not vassalhood.
An initial draft of the China-Solomon Islands security agreement was leaked online last month. What were your key takeaways from this document?
The switch to China and the new security agreement have been immensely unpopular domestically. Sogavare is a corrupt, pro-PRC, anti-democratic, increasingly authoritarian individual, who now has the backing of the Chinese state.
The new security agreement looks like it’s from the 19th-century. A key element of the 19th-century colonial agreements was that the people of the colonial power had their own policing, and effectively, their own judiciary. A draft of the security agreement says that the Chinese, if allowed by the Solomon Islands government, will have the right to protect ‘Chinese people and interests’. This is problematic because the CCP considers any ethnic Chinese person with links back to China to be overseas Chinese.
Also, some in Solomons are on record as not wanting to have CCP-linked ‘interests’ operating in their areas. For example, the people and government of the province of Malaita don’t want any new licenses in their province going to CCP-linked businesses—partly because, as the provincial government wrote in the Auki Communique, China is systemically atheist, while Malaita respects freedom of religion, and are in fact, devout Christians. It’s authoritarian atheism versus freedom of religion and national choice.
Many provincial leaders, Chiefs, and church groups are against the security agreement because they view it as targeting them and their independence. They see this as PM Sogavare getting an army to suppress internal dissent, that will work to protect the Chinese and himself, as their proxy.
The women’s groups, in particular, have been outspoken against the security agreement because they are scared – they previously successfully defended against PRC encroachment on their rights, making them targets. Solomon Islands is quite a matrilineal country, and the women have a lot of influence. The reason why a Chinese-government linked company failed in its attempt to lease the strategically located Tulagi Island after the original switch in 2019, was because the women pushed back and said no.
Despite enormous internal dissent in Solomons against the PM, Australian partners seem to be appeasing Sogavare. Two Australian spy chiefs visited and didn’t meet with the Leader of the Opposition, the church groups, the Chiefs, or the women’s groups—they only met with Sogavare and his coterie. This reinforces his prestige.
Interestingly, the recent American delegation’s visit, led by the National Security Council head for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell, met with the Leader of the Opposition and church leaders, reportedly against the advice of the Australians. It was an important move and marked the U.S. as keen to engage with the whole of Solomons society, not just the government of the day.
Those who want to see the situation change, for the sake of Solomon Islands, and regional security, have very eager people on the ground in Solomon Islands, for whom this is a critical issue and will fight if given the chance – as we saw with the women of Tulagi. The weapons they need to fight are democracy, transparency, accountability, rule of law, and all of the things that we say that we believe in. Australia has not been facilitating that for them for whatever reasons, but the recent U.S. visit shows other approaches are now being tried.
Are there concerns that bilateral security agreements, such as the one between China and Solomon Islands, creates greater opportunity for the use of lawfare tactics? How can Solomon Islands promote their resilience? Is there room for liberal democratic nations to contribute?
This is the frontline of the clash between systems. Prime Minister Sogavare is seeking justifications so he can postpone the scheduled 2023 federal election. Now that Solomon Islands is embedded with China, it is adopting the characteristics of that state.
A standard component of the PRC political warfare game plan in target countries is to identify and exacerbate existing internal divisions as well as create more internal divisions through mass-customized manipulation, including via social media. These social divisions can then escalate into violence, which can be used to justify an authoritarian response. These crackdowns make countries less popular with liberal democracies, which in effect, pushes them closer to China.
This is happening in Solomons. If Solomon Islands had a free and fair election, Sogavare would be gone, the security agreement would be abrogated, and there’s a good chance they would go back to Taiwan. If Solomons were to switch back to Taiwan though, it would be a huge loss of face for Xi domestically. The security agreement was a bold move by China. If the electorate responded by voting out Sogavare, that sets a bad precedent for someone who is trying to spread authoritarianism around the world. At the same time, if Sogavare were ousted from power, he could be prosecuted on corruption charges. The stakes are high for both leaders, which makes it all the more likely that they would try to instigate violence or create a false flag security situation, for example in Malaita, that ‘justifies’ a crackdown.
I can’t emphasize enough just how high the stakes are here. We shouldn’t be competing on Chinese terms. It shouldn’t be: ‘you’ve got a security agreement? We’ll give you a security agreement; you’re bribing people? We’ll bribe people! You’re threatening to invade? We’ll threaten to invade!’ We should compete by offering to support what is unique to liberal democracies – democracy, transparency, accountability, rule of law, and let the people of Solomons use those tools to liberate their own country.
Solomon Islanders who are on the ground, who are fighting the fight for their own country— their message is being suppressed by existing structures. The Australians were warned months in advance that a security agreement was coming down the pipeline and that message never got out. We need to give space to the people of Solomon Islands to come up with solutions—for example, they want Part IV of the Townsville Peace Agreement. They understand the situation better than anybody. They were colonized before, and they don’t want to be colonized again.
The rapacious way in which the Chinese have conducted business in Solomon Islands has been extremely socially disruptive – people have been removed from their land.
Solomon Islanders have been trying to be heard – and those attempts have been thwarted and distorted. Demonstrators wanted to meet with PM Sogavare when parliament reopened in November to express grievances, including how the Chinese were conducting business. During these peaceful demonstrations, the police used tear gas, which lead to panic and chaos. What we are hearing now is the demonstrators were redirected toward Chinatown. Some demonstrators became opportunistic, and Chinatown was looted and burned. That was widely reported. What is less known is that within a day, the community was cleaning up Chinatown, the mothers were making their sons return things that had been looted – they were getting it back under control themselves.
Meanwhile, there was talk of a vote of no confidence (which is how Sogavare lost power twice before), some police advised Sogavare to resign and MPs supporting Sogavare questioned their political future. There was an opening for change. But, at Sogavare’s request, Australia deployed a peacekeeping operation to ‘secure’ Solomon Islands, which Sogavare used to demonstrate to MPs that he had the support of Australia, as well as China. As a result, there was a failed no-confidence vote and Sogavare stayed in office.
Then, Sogavare invited in Chinese ‘police advisors’, which Australia couldn’t do anything about as they had already deployed themselves, signifying that the situation was serious enough to necessitate deploying troops and police. How could they object now that China was doing the same? Canberra got played.
Considering the geographic proximity of Solomon Islands to Australia, New Zealand, and Guam, does this raise any concerns for Five Eyes (FVEY) members? What should Canada be thinking about in terms of addressing China’s expansion into the Pacific?
To understand the geostrategic value of Solomon Islands, we have to understand WWII-era Japanese Imperial strategy in the region.
China’s military is growing and modernizing at a rate the world has never seen during peacetime. The most important, and most visibly large component of that, is the People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). To deploy its navy freely, China needs to break out of the first island chain –the string of island countries running roughly in parallel to the Chinese coast, from Japan, through Taiwan, then Philippines to Malaysia, and on down.
China’s building of military bases on seized and artificial islands in the South China Sea allows it to project power forward, towards the chain. Beyond the first island chain, China has been engaging in political warfare to try and embed itself in other islands, so it can squeeze Taiwan from both sides. If there is a kinetic event over Taiwan, Beijing wants to ensure that resupply can’t come from the east and that it can deploy to the east as well.
Around the same time that Solomons switched from Taiwan, the Pacific island country of Kiribati also switched from Taiwan to China. There has been discussion about China redeveloping an old WWII U.S military airstrip on Canton Island in Kiribati for ‘tourism’ – it just happens to be, in Pacific Ocean terms, relatively close to Hawaii.
This kind of political warfare is happening across the Pacific Islands – Solomon Islands is the tip of the iceberg. China uses a similar strategy across the region—identifying divisions, buying up politicians, and setting things in motion. One set of tools it uses is its Three Warfare strategy – psychological warfare, media warfare, and lawfare. That includes buying up the media and promoting the narrative that ‘China’s rise is inevitable, you’re better off rising with our boat, rather than trying to cut yourself off and sink on your own’.
One area of focus has been the roughly west to east arc of island nations off the northern coast of Australia – Papua New Guinea, Solomons, Vanuatu, even France’s New Caledonia – if you can control this island chain, you can interdict Australia and New Zealand. You can cut them off. That was the Japanese playbook during WWII. In that context, Bougainville and Papua New Guinea are areas of concern that need to be watched very carefully. If Beijing gains control, that arc would create an island chain restricting Australia’s actions – it would replicate the first island chain blocking China but, in this case, it would be Australia blocked in. Some in Australia are fond of talking about the Pacific Islands as Australia’s backyard, but if the Pacific Islands can’t escape Beijing’s orbit, Australia will be in China’s backyard.
FVEY has been relying on Australia and New Zealand to provide accurate information and assessments on the islands—we wouldn’t be in this situation if that had happened. The Leader of the Opposition of Solomon Islands has been warning Australia since August that a security agreement with China was being negotiated. Nothing happened. The result of that doubt about Canberra and Wellington truly understanding what is going on in the region is that the UK, for example, has reopened three high commissions in Pacific Islands. If London thought things were going well with Australia and New Zealand on this front, it wouldn’t be investing in and opening up missions in Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu. The Japanese, who are among the best-informed missions and most respected in the region, are opening a new embassy in Kiribati and a new consulate in New Caledonia. The failure of Australia and New Zealand in creating an environment where the Pacific Islands are prosperous and secure from the metric of their own people, has created an opening for China, and concern among allies.
Countries like Japan and India, who see this apparent mismanagement as a huge security risk to a free and open Indo-Pacific, will want to be less reliant on Australia; or bypass it, which would be a real shame, especially considering the costs Australia has incurred for standing up to China in other areas. However, it surely was not a good sign that Australian spy chiefs went to Solomons and did not speak to the Leader of the Opposition, the church groups, or women’s groups. It is not reassuring from a FVEY perspective, and, notably, the U.S. delegation made sure to do so during their short visit.
Could you speak to whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has influenced the security environment within the Indo-Pacific?
Both Ukraine and Afghanistan have been bad for the U.S. The American withdrawal from Afghanistan created an enormous security problem for India—a key QUAD member. They left behind $80 billion worth of weapons to Islamic extremists who have their targets set on India.
One complaint you hear in the region is that India, Japan, and South Korea are still being charged normal rates for U.S weapons that are now being given to Ukraine for free. The U.S has said China is the biggest threat – these countries are on the frontline against China and want weapons to fight them. They know China is coming.
At the same time, Western sanctions are driving up fuel and food prices. Sri Lanka, where you’ve got food riots, is already in debt to China, and China is in a position to ask them for strategically important concessions. India is trying to offer Sri Lanka alternatives, but it is also being economically squeezed.
The focus on Ukraine is legitimate. There is no question that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is horrible. However, it’s creating cascading effects across the Indo-Pacific which are reinforcing a perception that the West is not consistently responsible in its use of great power, and even its allies can be negatively affected by this. It is not that the U.S is not smart, but it is important to understand that this is how it is being perceived. When you are talking about Ukraine to an Indian, they have Afghanistan, China, Sri Lanka – they have all of these other concerns to consider as well.
To pivot to Canada, as both a G7 country and FVEY member, Canada is this almost invisible, yet large player in the rules-based international order. We have been living under the American security umbrella for a very long time. We are protected by three oceans, and we have one land border, with our main security provider. It has been easy for us to drop our guard because other people have been guarding us.
That doesn’t mean that we’re not vulnerable, especially because this is the phase of Chinese warfare that is mostly political, not kinetic. Their goal is to ‘win without fighting.’ The character in Chinese that means ‘win’ in that phrase does not mean it as we would understand it in English, but rather, to force the other side to submit. The CCP model is to create a permanent state of submission of others. It doesn’t mean winning a kinetic battle against Canada—it’s Canada supporting Chinese policies at the UN, buckling on trade deals, giving access to energy markets, that sort of thing. Just because our kinetic perimeter has been guarded by others, doesn’t mean we are protected from political warfare. If we’re going to be more useful to ourselves and our allies, we need to have a greater awareness of the political warfare being waged by China, Russia, and others against Canada. We are, in some cases, losing this battle.
We could be working on transparency, accountability, and democracy issues with Solomon Islands if we wanted, but we are not. Whether we realise it or not, we are already immersed in a battle of political warfare, and we need to bolster, not just our perimeters, but the core of what it means to be Canadian. Otherwise, we will suffer the same fate as the Solomon Islands.

The Hypocrisy in Condemning Musk's Purchase of Twitter
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/May 02/2022
Imagine if George Soros had bought Twitter? [Former Secretary of Labor Robert] Reich would be jumping up and down with joy, as would Musk's other critics. I don't recall the outcry when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, the most influential newspaper in our nation's capital. To the contrary, Bezos was applauded for bringing a more liberal perspective to that newspaper.
The real reason, of course, is the fear by the hard left of losing their control over social media.... Indeed the greatest fear expressed by these pretextual defenders of free speech is that -- God forbid -- Donald Trump would be allowed back on Twitter so that the public might be able to read and evaluate his tweets. I don't like a great many of Trump's views.... Yet I don't want some anonymous platonic guardians deciding whether or not I can read tweets of Trump or others with whom I may disagree.
What Robert Reich and his ilk are really afraid of is actual freedom of speech.... But Democracy and free speech require that all views be available in the marketplace of ideas. The answer to bad speech is not censorship by social media, but rather open platforms that permit responses. Donald Trump should be answered, not suppressed.
Elon Musk is a private citizen who is not bound by the First Amendment.... He can apply to Twitter what Chief Justice Rehnquist once said about our Constitution: "Under the First Amendment there is no such thing as a false idea."
This would not mean no censorship at all: even the First Amendment allows censorship of narrow categories of expression, such as, direct incitement to violence, child pornography and malicious defamation. But that is not what the hard left fears. What people like Reich and Jackson are afraid of are ideas they don't like, information that differs from their narrative, and hate speech, as defined by them alone?
I welcome Musk's purchase of Twitter and fervently hope that he runs it in the spirit of our great experiment in liberty, namely the First Amendment.
The hard left is going absolutely crazy over Elon Musk's decision to buy Twitter, because this threatens the left-wing bias of the current social media. But Democracy and free speech require that all views be available in the marketplace of ideas. Pictured: Elon Musk and his son on December 13, 2021 in New York City.
The hard left is going absolutely crazy over Elon Musk's decision to buy Twitter. One of their arguments, made loudly by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, is that no one person should own and control such an important media platform. But that argument, repeated by others, is totally phony and hypocritical. Imagine if George Soros had bought Twitter? Reich would be jumping up and down with joy, as would Musk's other critics. I don't recall the outcry when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, the most influential newspaper in our nation's capital. To the contrary, Bezos was applauded for bringing a more liberal perspective to that newspaper.
Many of the most important media in the country have long been owned and controlled by individuals or close-knit families. So don't believe what Reich and others say about why they are opposed to Musk's purchase.
The real reason, of course, is the fear by the hard left of losing their control over social media. Recent polls suggest that the vast majority of social media employees are Democrats who lean left. Hard left zealots applauded when these media denied the American public their free speech rights to hear the views of people with whom the hard left disagrees. Indeed the greatest fear expressed by these pretextual defenders of free speech is that -- God forbid -- Donald Trump would be allowed back on Twitter so that the public might be able to read and evaluate his tweets. I don't like a great many of Trump's views. I wish he hadn't made his speech on January 6th, and I believe the 2020 election was won fair and square by Joe Biden. Yet I don't want some anonymous platonic guardians deciding whether or not I can read tweets of Trump or others with whom I may disagree.
What Robert Reich and his ilk are really afraid of is actual freedom of speech. For understandable reasons, they fear the kind of populism that has spread throughout the world, because it tends to lean right. But Democracy and free speech require that all views be available in the marketplace of ideas. The answer to bad speech is not censorship by social media, but rather open platforms that permit responses. Donald Trump should be answered, not suppressed. But that will not satisfy the hard left. As Derrick Jackson, president of the NAACP, candidly put it:
"Mr. Musk: free speech is wonderful, hate speech is unacceptable. Disinformation, misinformation and hate speech have NO PLACE on Twitter."
He, along with others, have urged Twitter to keep denying their followers their right to read Trump's tweets:
"Mr. Musk: Do not allow 45 to return to the platform. Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, misinformation or disinformation. Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance.
"Mr. Musk: Lives are at risk, and so is American democracy."
Elon Musk is a private citizen who is not bound by the First Amendment. He can censor if he chooses to, but he can also refuse to censor. He can apply to Twitter what Chief Justice Rehnquist once said about our Constitution: "Under the First Amendment there is no such thing as a false idea." Twitter should accept this as its guiding principle and not reject ideas on the ground that they are "false." This would not mean no censorship at all: even the First Amendment allows censorship of narrow categories of expression, such as, direct incitement to violence, child pornography and malicious defamation. But that is not what the hard left fears. What people like Reich and Jackson are afraid of are ideas they don't like, information that differs from their narrative, and hate speech, as defined by them alone?
The result has been a strong bias in favor of the hard left and against the hard right by many social media. While I often agree with that leftward orientation as a matter of my personal political preferences, I demand the right to read opposing views. As Bertrand Russell once put it: "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
The decision by Musk to buy Twitter threatens the left-wing bias of the current social media. I welcome Musk's purchase of Twitter and fervently hope that he runs it in the spirit of our great experiment in liberty, namely the First Amendment.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of The Case for Color-Blind Equality in an Age of Identity Politics. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow," on Rumble.
© 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 .

Why Do Supposed Muslim Victim Groups Find ‘Inspiration’ in the Victimization of Others?
Raymond Ibrahim/May 02/2022 
Speaking on the first day of Ramadan, April 1, 2022, Mahmoud al-Habbash, the Supreme Sharia Judge of the Palestinian Authority, extolled the jihads waged by the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, during Ramadan:
How was this month [of Ramadan] in the life of Prophet [Muhammad]? … Did the Prophet spend Ramadan in calmness, serenity, laziness, and sleepiness? Far be it from him… The Prophet entered the great Battle of Badr [624] during Ramadan… Also in the month of Ramadan, in the 8th year of the Hijra [629-630], the Prophet and the Muslims conquered Mecca…. Ramadan is … a month of Jihad, conquest, and victory.
This is hardly the first time leading Palestinians invoke the early history of jihad in connection to Ramadan. During last year’s Ramadan, on April 16, 2021, Al Jazeera published an article by ‘Adnan Abu ‘Amar, “head of the Political Science Department at the University of the Ummah in Gaza,” explaining how Palestinians find “inspiration” in various jihads throughout Islamic history, “prominent among them the raid of Badr, the conquest of Mecca, the conquest of al-Andalus [Spain], and the battle of the pavement of martyrs [the Battle of Tours].”
Those who understand the true nature and motivation of these battles and conquests must wonder: Why are Palestinians, who present themselves as victims of land-grabbing Israeli oppressors, praising and finding inspiration in the land-grabbing oppressors of history? After all, in all of these military engagements, the Muslims were the aggressors: they invaded non-Muslim territory, butchered and enslaved its inhabitants, and appropriated their lands—and for no other reason than that they were “infidels,” non-Muslims.
The battle of Badr was occasioned by Muhammad’s raids on non-Muslim caravans; the conquest of Mecca was simply that, the conquest of a non-Muslim city; the conquest of al-Andalus is a reference to the years 711-716, when Muslims invaded and slaughtered countless thousands of Christians in Spain and torched their churches; and the battle of Tours is, of course, where the Muslim invasions into Western Europe were finally halted in 732.
That Palestinian elements are constantly praising the unjustified conquests of others is hardly uncommon. On May 29, Hizb al-Tahrir—the “Liberation Party”—often holds large, outdoor events near al-Aqsa mosque to commemorate the anniversary of the Islamic conquest of Constantinople (May 29, 1453). After all the takbirs (chants of “Allahu Akbar”) had subsided at one of these events, Palestinian cleric Nidhal Siam said:
Oh Muslims, the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople brings tidings of things to come. It brings tidings that Rome will be conquered in the near future, Allah willing…. [Moreover,] Islam will throw its neighbors to the ground, and its reach will span across the east and the west of this Earth. This is Allah’s promise, and Allah does not renege on his promises.
The Palestinian cleric and assembled throng then repeatedly chanted, “By means of the Caliphate and the consolidation of power, Muhammad the Conqueror vanquished Constantinople!” and “Your conquest, oh Rome, is a matter of certainty!”
Again, the question must be emphasized: why are the Palestinians—who, when speaking to the international community, present themselves as an oppressed people whose land is unjustly occupied—finding inspiration in and seeking to emulate those who oppress and steal the lands of others?
If anything, shouldn’t the Palestinians be sympathizing with, say, the Christians of Spain, whose land was occupied, and they themselves brutalized by the occupiers, namely, the Muslim invaders from North Africa?
Similarly, if, as they claim, the Palestinians are an oppressed people whose land was stolen, shouldn’t they sympathize with the Christians of Constantinople, rather than Muhammad the Conqueror, an unsavory pedophile who invaded and conquered the ancient Christian city, while subjecting its indigenous inhabitants to all sorts of unspeakable atrocities?
As for Rome, what does it have to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict that it, too, deserves to be conquered? Absolutely nothing—except that, since the conquest of Constantinople, Islam has seen Rome as the symbolic head of the Christian world, and therefore in urgent need of subjugating; or, to quote the Islamic State, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah… [We will cast] fear into the hearts of the cross-worshipers.”
Perhaps most telling is Palestinian cleric Siam’s claim (delivered to thundering applause) “that Islam will throw its neighbors to the ground, and that its reach will span across the east and the west of this Earth.” In other words, no non-Muslim is safe from the sword of jihad—including those who live countless leagues away from and have nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Surely all this must seem surreal when placed in context? How can Palestinians present themselves as a conquered and oppressed people whose land was stolen—while, in the very same breath, praising former and hoping for future conquests, replete with oppression and land grabbing from other peoples, only because they were/are non-Muslim?
And that is the grand lesson: when all is said and done, Islamic notions of “justice” are based on a simple dichotomy: whenever Muslims conquer, slaughter, subjugate, and steal land—that is just; whenever they have to live under “infidel” authority, that is unjust. Hence the virulent hatred for Israel.
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2022/05/02/why-do-supposed-muslim-victim-groups-find-inspiration-in-the-victimization-of-others/