English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 05/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.may05.22.htm
News Bulletin Achieves
Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Bible Quotations For today
Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among
yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I
will raise that person up on the last day.”I am the bread that came down from
heaven
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John
06/40-44: “This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and
believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last
day.’Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread
that came down from heaven.’They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down
from heaven”?’Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves.No one can
come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person
up on the last day.”Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to
beings that by nature are not gods’’
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 04-05/2022
Everything is for sale ahead of crucial Lebanese election/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab
News/May 04/2022
Expats prepare to vote, marking the start of Lebanon elections
Aoun wades into debate over 'electoral money'
Mufti Qabalan Orders Vote for Hezbollah, Amal in Lebanon Elections
Speaker Berri continues to receive Eid well-wishes
Berri meets with Adnan Traboulsi, General Head of Nabatieh Sisters
Corona - Health Ministry: 86 new Corona cases, one death
State Security: Arrest of a gang of six armed Syrians in the Bekaa Valley
Families of Beirut Port Explosion Victims: Government must approve judicial
formations immediately, otherwise our response will...
Interior Minister: Parliamentary elections are 100% occurring, all preparations
have been completed
Siniora: Mufti Derian, Dar Al-Fatwa’s stance on heavy participation in elections
is “good”
Unidentified persons impersonate Lebanon’s Ambassador in Germany, his media
office issues clarification statement
Hot summer tourist season bodes well for a massive return of expatriates,” says
Nassar
Bahaa Hariri meets US Congress Representatives in Washington
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 04-05/2022
Iranian-Swedish Tensions Rise over Trial of 1988 Mass Executions Jailer
Iran: Outstanding Issues at Vienna Talks Not Limited to Revolutionary Guards
Kremlin Dismisses Speculation Putin to Declare War on Ukraine on May 9
War in Ukraine: Latest developments
Ukraine Welcomes EU’s Proposed Oil Embargo
EU chief proposes gradual Russian oil import ban
Russia Pounds Ukraine, Targeting Supply of Western Arms
Belarus launches 'surprise' military maneuvers
Armenian Authorities Block Roads, Warn Anti-govt Protesters
Erdogan: Turkish Plan to Encourage Voluntary Return of One Mln Syrian Refugees
Bashagha Urges Britain's Help to Remove Russia's Wagner Mercenaries from Libya
Shabaab says it killed scores of Burundian troops in Somalia
Titles For The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 04-05/2022
Iran’s rulers demanding too much even for Biden/Clifford D. May/The
Washington/May 04/2022
Team Biden must stop Russia’s Iran deal/Andrea Stricker/Inside Sources/May
04/2022
State Department Report Glosses Over Assad’s Narco-Trafficking Wealth/David
Adesnik/Policy Brief/May 04/ 2022
Israel Needs a Statesman – Now/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May 04/2022
Turkey: NATO's Pro-Putin Ally/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/May 04/2022
Boris Johnson Has Partied His Way to a Midterm Thrashing/Therese
Raphael/Bloomberg/May 04/2022
Iran likely to be left behind if ‘new world order’ emerges/Maria Maalouf/Arab
News/May 04/2022
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 04-05/2022
Everything is for sale ahead of
crucial Lebanese election
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/May 04/2022
Poverty-stricken Lebanese have welcomed the festivities of Easter and the end of
Ramadan with empty pockets, empty fridges and empty promises from politicians.
They now hope that the same political elite that have supervised the bankruptcy
of their country will not be returned at the May 15 general election. However,
the opposition voices look too splintered to have any serious success that could
challenge the clout of the traditional political elite. I am therefore minded to
think that Lebanon’s starving constituents would easily sell their votes for
crumbs and reelect the same corrupt politicians, whom I expect to have an even
bigger majority in the next parliament.Lebanon these days is living a
schizophrenic existence. On the one hand, it is life as normal for the top 10 to
20 percent of society, whose financial means have not been dented by the
country’s economic collapse, its default on foreign debt or the decision of the
state to apply capital control. On the other, one cannot fail to notice the
beggars that line many intersections and the streets of city centers as the
country prepares for a general election that could change the face of the
Lebanese Republic for good.
Independent candidates and opposition forces that emerged after the Oct. 17,
2019, uprising and those who have called for accountability after the Beirut
port explosion are busy preparing to dislodge the so-called corrupt political
class that has sucked dry the country’s national assets, wealth, economic
potential and even people’s life savings.
Begging is not strange in any country suffering economic hardship, but in recent
years the number of those in desperate need in Lebanon has multiplied. Among
them are the visibly desperate Syrian refugees that have resorted, along with
many Lebanese, to begging. Some have even fallen victim to organized begging
gangs. But what is more dangerous is the invisible poverty that has struck the
majority of Lebanese families, making the lucky among them even more dependent
on remittances from relatives working in the Gulf countries and beyond, while
others are increasingly dependent on the charitable programs of political
parties that offer handouts, but always at a price of course.
Those in need have even resorted to creative ways of earning a few crumbs. In
Beirut, I was approached a few times by people who politely introduced
themselves before asking for any cash that could help them pay their rent, buy
their medicine or whatever contribution in pennies that might help them. The
organs of the state have long since ceased catering for these people’s basic
needs, amid the total paralysis of the Hezbollah-controlled government. These
same individuals were previously members of a buoyant Lebanese middle or lower
middle class, but they lost their safety net due to the worsening economic
situation.
Despite all of the above, Lebanese streets from north to south are littered with
election campaign banners promoting more than 300 competing lists of candidates,
each promising salvation, change and to rid the country of its mafia-like
corrupt political elite that has dominated the country’s affairs since the end
of the civil war in 1990. The members of this elite are seen as responsible for
the failure of the state due to the mismanagement that orchestrated the
siphoning of billions of dollars from the state’s coffers, leaving the country’s
infrastructure beyond repair and its people on the brink — to the point that the
World Bank has described the scale of the Lebanese economic collapse as one of
the worst three economic crises witnessed globally in the last 150 years.
On the face of it, the campaigning by more than 1,200 candidates is a healthy
sign, but those tasked with overseeing the vote fear for the fairness of the
process amid the increased levels of poverty, meaning the election looks
increasingly unlikely to dent the status quo. The poverty factor is also likely
to work in favor of those parties that have long preyed on a clientelist
relationship with a polarized electorate on religious, sectarian and tribal
grounds.Vote buying is not strange to Lebanon. Amid a failed economy, a
depreciated Lebanese lira and a needy and impoverished population, the
likelihood of vote buying is on the mind of the authorities.
Retired judge Nadim Abdel-Malek, the 80-year-old head of Lebanon’s election
commission, admitted recently that violations are likely, with ballots liable to
be sold, meaning the candidates with greater means will be at a huge advantage.
Food distribution was noticeable during the month of Ramadan, with some
political parties and groups attempting to ensure dissent remains at zero by
providing food, fuel and other basic needs in return for votes. Abdel-Malek
said: “This is undoubtedly going to play a role. There are a lot of people who
are going to sell their vote. These factors are going to hit the integrity and
transparency of the elections.”
Those tasked with overseeing the vote fear for the fairness of the process amid
the increased levels of poverty. The Lebanese people have never, despite decades
of instability, faced as tough a predicament as they do today. Many of the
so-called opposition to the current discredited ruling elite are pledging to
usher in a new era of governance in Lebanon, but the problem remains that this
month’s elections will be fought according to the 2018 electoral law that is in
favor of the ruling alliances dominated by Hezbollah. The lack of any credible
Sunni bloc that is able to fill the vacuum left by the exit from the political
arena of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his Future Movement is likely to
result in a parliament controlled by forces loyal to Iran and Syria, the
so-called axis of resistance. One can only hope that the parliament of 2022, 100
years after the creation of the Lebanese Republic, will not oversee the official
end of a nation state based on the perhaps imperfect tenets of tolerance,
freedom of speech and neutrality in favor of permanent chaos and the official
downgrading of the country into a failed state.
*Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist, media consultant and trainer
with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current
affairs and diplomacy.
Expats prepare to vote, marking the start of
Lebanon elections
Arab News/May 04/ 2022
BEIRUT: Lebanese expats voting on Friday will inaugurate the first phase of this
month’s parliamentary elections. Expats will vote in 59 countries, but just 10
nations will commence the first phase of voting on Friday. The expats in these
countries, which include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Syria and Iraq, have a
Friday weekend. The second phase of voting takes place on May 8 in countries
that have a Sunday weekend. The elections in Lebanon will take place on May 15
with candidates competing in 15 districts in all of the governorates and
districts to select new representatives for 128 parliamentary seats. The term of
the current parliament, elected four years ago, will end on May 21. The code of
conduct for candidates and media outlets comes into force 24 hours before the
vote. All means of invitation, intimidation and sectarian polarization have been
used by the ruling parties to ensure their continuation in parliament, defeating
tireless attempts by the opposition to turn the tables. Regions with Christian
influence top the list of candidates, with 269 registered in Mount Lebanon and
292 in the north. The south, a region with a Shiite majority, has the lowest
rate of candidacy, with just 105 standing, while Beirut registered 174 and the
Bekaa region 203. Nadim Abdelmalak, president of Lebanon’s supervisory
commission for elections, criticized “the chaotic opinion polls that claim the
victory of one candidate and the failure of another, despite the warnings sent
by the commission to those concerned. The election requires every opinion poll
prepared for the announcement to be provided to the commission.” Abdelmalak
criticized “the magnitude of hate speech and treason, given that the electoral
law requires that such rhetoric be mitigated, steering away from abasement,
revilement, incitement to sectarian conflict and sometimes terrorism, perhaps
used to reinforce sectarianism.”The Lebanese Association for Democratic
Elections said that money has been spent to buy loyalties to secure victory, in
addition to providing aid, promises and electoral bribes. The association added
that violence, pressure tactics, influence, public resources, racist and
sectarian rhetoric, libel and defamation had all been used by some candidates
seeking an electoral advantage.
Intimidation began in the Sarafand region of southern Lebanon to prevent
opponents of Shiite groups Hezbollah and the Amal Movement from announcing their
candidacy. Intimidation was also exercised in the northern Bekaa region by the
same duo against other Shiite candidates, including Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari.
Gunshots and rockets were fired in an electoral meeting he held.Candidate Hassan
Raad was beaten at a religious gathering in Baalbek. The Amal Movement and
Hezbollah have previously pushed some families to disown female candidates
participating in competing lists. As a result, three Shiite candidates — Ramez
Amhaz, Hayman Mchayek and Rifaat Al-Masri — withdrew from the election.
Intimidation also took place in the northern region of Jbeil. An unidentified
drone was seen hovering over the district of candidate Faris Saeed, who opposes
Hezbollah and the Iranian influences in Lebanese politics. A car was also
spotted around his house in Qartaba allegedly monitoring his activities. The
inciteful atmosphere reached the highest level when Sheikh Nazir Jishi called
for the election of Hezbollah’s candidates and attacked the Lebanese Forces
Party, using derogatory terms against women in predominantly Christian tourist
areas, to the extent that he was renounced by Hezbollah and the Supreme Islamic
Shiite Council. The visits of Gebran Bassil, president of the Free Patriotic
Movement, to some regions have been met with popular denunciations against the
backdrop of Bassil’s alliance with Hezbollah. During his visit to the northern
Lebanese region of Akkar, Bassil’s convoy was blocked, and images and signs of
the party were burned, escalating into a violent clash. Sunni voters are divided
into two categories. The first, with the majority being loyal supporters of Saad
Hariri’s Future Movement, will abstain from voting, whereas the second group
says there is a chance for change, noting that the Sunni scene controls more
than half of the electoral districts in Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah, chief of
Hezbollah, described the vote as “the most important political battle in
Lebanon.” In March, he stressed that “it’s important for all Hezbollah’s MPs to
win and that we should work toward obtaining the majority.”
Aoun wades into debate over 'electoral money'
Naharnet/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
President Michel Aoun has stepped into the ongoing debate in the country over
electoral spending, days after a war of words erupted over the issue between the
Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces. "With the rise in the levels of
electoral money, I remember what I wrote in 1998: 'Avoid voting for candidates
for what's in their pockets, because that belongs to them. Choose them for
what's in their hearts and minds, because this belongs to you,'" Aoun tweeted.
"Work on electing the honorable candidates who enjoy the will to work, seeing as
honor protects them from humiliations and the will to work gives them the
ability to implement and achieve,'" Aoun added, repeating his 1998 advice. FPM
chief Jebran Bassil had 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. The LF hit back at
Bassil, calling him "the thief of the republic." "Discussing electoral ceilings
begins after the end of 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," the LF added.
Mufti Qabalan Orders Vote for Hezbollah, Amal in Lebanon
Elections
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Jaafarite Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan issued on Tuesday what could be
interpreted as a "religious order" by calling on Shiite followers to vote for
the Shiite duo of the Hezbollah party and Amal movement in the May 15
parliamentary elections in Lebanon.
He said the elections were a form of "major worship and religious duty", barring
a boycott of the polls or the submission of a blank vote. He described the
elections as "fateful" and "one of the greatest obligations before God." "The
elections are a decisive national, religious and moral duty," Qabalan said
during a sermon on the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy fasting
month of Ramadan. "Hesitation is haram [religiously forbidden], abandoning the
electoral battle is forbidden, submitting a blank vote is forbidden, because the
country and state are a blessing from God lest you squander them. Whoever
abandons the electoral battle is abandoning one of the greatest duties before
God ," he warned. Moreover, he framed the elections as an American-regional plot
aimed at "eliminating" and "Zionizing" Lebanon. "Neutrality is therefore a great
crime," he added. The elections will "liberate" political decision-making and
"save the country from treacherous tutelage", alleged Qabalan. "The issue is not
about who can reap a homogeneous parliamentary majority, but rather about
national priorities and goals. Everything else is marginal," he remarked.
Addressing all Lebanese, regardless of their sect, he declared: "We want to live
together away from the mentality of a victor and a vanquished and away from
psychological barriers and abhorrent republics." "The sectarian political
experience has torn us apart and divided us. It has transformed our one national
family into statelets of fear, spite and boycott that is exploited by the ruling
elite and their family deals and barbaric cartels," he lamented. By voting for
the Shiite duo, he said, the people would be voting in favor of "burying a
sectarian system in favor of a national one."
Speaker Berri continues to receive Eid well-wishes
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
House Speaker Nabih Berri continued, Wednesday, to receive congratulatory calls
and greetings on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, namely from Vice Speaker, MP Elie
Ferzli; Marada Movement Chief, former Minister Sleiman Franjieh; Army Commander
General Joseph Aoun; Army Intelligence Director, Brigadier General Tony Kahwaji,
and various current and former cabinet ministers and MPs. The Speaker also
received a stream of well-wishing calls from spiritual, security, military,
judicial, economic, expatriate and municipal leaders and dignitaries.
Berri meets with Adnan Traboulsi, General Head of Nabatieh Sisters
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, met today with a delegation from the Islamic
Philanthropic Association, headed by MP Adnan Traboulsi, who visited him at his
Mseileh home in the South. Talks centered on the latest political developments
and relevant hour issues.
The Speaker also discussed educational matters with the General Head of the
Nabatieh Sisters, Sister Mary Touma, and later met with the Imam of the Lebanese
community residing in Senegal, Sheikh Abdel Moneim El Zein. In the afternoon,
the House Speaker received a delegation from the Arab “Numeirat” clan in al-Arab
village in Sidon’s Zahrani district, with whom he tackled relevant issues of
concern.
Corona - Health Ministry: 86 new Corona cases, one death
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health
announced on Wednesday the registration of 86 new Corona virus infections, which
raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,097,204.
The report added that one death was recorded during the past 24 hours.
State Security: Arrest of a gang of six armed Syrians in
the Bekaa Valley
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Lebanese Public Security’s General Directorate issued a statement today, in
which it indicated that "on Sunday morning, May 1, 2022, a patrol unit from the
Bekaa Regional Directorate - Zahle Office, managed to arrest a gang consisting
of six armed Syrians of initials (M.D.), (K.G.), (M.N.), (A.S.), (A.B.) and (A.N),
as they were riding in two Mercedes and BMW vehicles and were stopped by the
patrol which seized two action bombs and disguise face masks that were in their
possession, and several other materials used for theft. Following interrogation,
they confessed that they had carried out many thefts and robberies in different
areas of the Bekaa and Baalbek.Furthermore and after briefing the concerned
judiciary and informing it of the course of the investigation, arrest warrants
were issued against the afore-mentioned six Syrians, who are currently at the
Zahle Judicial Unit.
Families of Beirut Port Explosion Victims: Government must
approve judicial formations immediately, otherwise our response will...
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
The Association of the Families of Victims of the Beirut Port Explosion
organized a march this afternoon, which set out from Mar Mikhael towards the
“Statue of the Expatriate” at the entrance to the Port of Beirut, under the
slogan, “Crimes continue - May 4, the march of victims in the face of
criminals,” in which the families of the martyrs and victims of the port
explosion and the fire brigade participated, with the national anthem playing in
the background as they marched, carrying banners calling for investigation and
the punishment of criminals. In a word on behalf of
the families of the fallen martyrs, Marianne Vodolian said: "Four and a half
months have passed, i.e. about 132 days, while the investigating judge is still
kept away from pursuing his investigations into the largest crime against
humanity that Beirut has witnessed,” citing the failure to decide on the
judicial formations as a factor that has further contributed to obstructing the
investigations’ process, following the repeated attempts to bring arbitrary
lawsuits against the judge. “The Lebanese government
must take a quick decision to approve the judicial formations immediately and
put them to a vote on the cabinet table, otherwise our response, the families of
the victims, will be very harsh,” Vodolian said in her statement on behalf of
the families. Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections on May 15, she
questioned how “a defendant can brazenly have the right to run for elections,
covered by those who have defended and protected criminals?”She pledged that the
victims’ families will not cease their demand for justice for their fallen
victims, adding, “We are still more determined than ever to reach the truth and
uphold the rights of our victims and we will not be intimidated by their
threats.”Addressing the Lebanese citizens, Vodolian said: “What is required of
the Lebanese people today is to take the crime of the era into consideration, to
know that pain and calamity are common to all, and to know well who to vote
for...!”Finally, she reiterated the families’ call not to tamper with what
remains of the silos at Beirut’s port, “for they must stay a witness to the
crime for future generations to see and know well that whoever blew us up is the
one who is obstructing the investigation."
Interior Minister: Parliamentary elections are 100%
occurring, all preparations have been completed
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, confirmed, in an
exclusive interview with “Al-Hurra” TV Channel, hours before the start of the
Lebanese expatriates’ voting process within the 2022 parliamentary elections,
that “the elections are definitely occurring and all preparations have been
completed in full,” adding that “the security forces are fully prepared and will
not be reluctant to play their role.”He added: “The amount that was allocated in
the election budget was secured as a grant to the members and officers
participating in the electoral process, and the problem of electricity on all
Lebanese territories was addressed, whether in registration committees or in
polling stations.”Referring to what the Election Supervisory Board Head Nadim
Abdel-Malik’s mentioned about paying bribes, Mawlawi considered this as
“dangerous and must be documented.”He added: “He must inform me as well as the
Public Prosecution, which will act immediately...In fact, I have not personally
received from any candidate a documented bribery complaint, nor did I receive
any complaint from the supervisory authority.”Referring to the complaint by MP
Gebran Bassil to the Election Supervisory Board against the "Lebanese Forces"
and the "Kataeb" parties regarding exceeding the financial ceilings for
electoral spending in media and advertising, Mawlawi said: "The Supervisory
Board did not inform me of anything."The Interior Minister continued to state
that "the Election Supervisory Board began its work on January 15, 2022, and
today we are in the month of May, and it did not appear to me that the
Supervisory Board has taken any deterrent measure against any media outlet...I
call on it to play its full role with decisions and measures, not only through
the media, and if the issue calls for the intervention of the judiciary, then we
shall render it with the judiciary, or with the Public Prosecution if the issue
is related to bribery, or the Publications Court if it is related to media and
advertising....”“The Election Supervisory Board knows its role and must play it
to the end, and we provide it with all the logistics, support and backing for
everything it needs,” Mawlawi underlined.
Siniora: Mufti Derian, Dar Al-Fatwa’s stance on heavy
participation in elections is “good”
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
In an interview with “Al-Hadath – Al-Arabiya” Channel on Wednesday, former Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora considered that "the position of Grand Mufti Abdul Latif
Derian and Dar Al-Fatwa is good with regards to the call to partake in the May
15 elections."“There is no doubt that the call by some for the Lebanese not to
participate in the electoral day comes as a misinterpreted and inaccurate
reading of what former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said,” Siniora explained in
response to a question, stressing that all claims that PM Hariri has asked the
Lebanese and Muslims not to participate in the elections as voters are
baseless.He asserted that all Lebanese voters, especially the Sunnite community,
are called upon to massively practice their voting rights, as confirmed by Dar
Al-Fatwa and His Eminence the Mufti, “because failing to partake in the
elections leads to facilitating the process of forging the will of the Lebanese
and the will of Muslims.”At the regional level, Siniora stressed Lebanon’s Arab
identity and belonging and its keenness on its close relations with Arab
countries, and on not being a tool to be used by regional powers to obtain gains
in the negotiations they are conducting with the major countries. “This is not
in the interest of the Lebanese and neither in the interest of young men and
women, whom we now expect to show a significant turnout in the elections, and
not to listen to those who try to distort their will or divert their attention
from seeing the main problem that Lebanon suffers from, which is the problem of
the hijacked state of Lebanon,” he said. Siniora asserted that Lebanese young
men and women are called upon “to clearly define the correct vision and view of
Lebanon and its future,” and that their “performance and effort are incumbent on
encouraging all Lebanese to participate in these elections.”
Unidentified persons impersonate Lebanon’s Ambassador in
Germany, his media office issues clarification statement
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
In an issued statement by the media office of Lebanon’s Ambassador in Germany,
Dr. Mustafa Adib, it indicated that “a number of unknown persons are
impersonating Ambassador Adib, his advisor or acting in the capacity of an
official in his office, whereby they are contacting a number of philanthropists
asking for medical aid or medicine coverage for a number of patients in large
financial sums, in an illegal and unethical attempt to get money.”The statement
affirmed that such calls are “fraud and deceptive” by individuals who are in no
way connected with Ambassador Adib nor does he know their identity. The
statement assured that Ambassador Adib will file a personal complaint before the
judiciary against anyone who is proven to be involved in this shameful and
fraudulent act.
Hot summer tourist season bodes well for a massive return
of expatriates,” says Nassar
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Tourism Minister Walid Nassar indicated that "a hot tourist summer season awaits
us this year following the Corona pandemic, according to reservations and flight
lines that herald a massive return of expatriates."
Speaking to “Radio Ehden” this morning, Nassar said: “The Ministry of Tourism
cooperated with the various committees of Lebanon’s international festivals to
arrange for festivities in central Beirut that would restore life to this region
after the August 4th blast.”He stressed that the priority of his ministry today
lies within the administrative decentralization plan to open tourism offices in
different parts of Lebanon. He disclosed herein that he has deliberated with MP
Tony Franjieh and various prominent dignitaries and officials from the
Zgharta-Ehden region over opening the Ehden tourism office this summer. Nassar
considered that the tourist situation is not as hazy as it is being portrayed to
be, especially that 2010 tourists entered Lebanon in the past month.
In this connection, and in his capacity as head of the higher committee tasked
with preparations for the Pope's visit to Lebanon, Minister Nassar called on all
citizens from Zgharta and the North, including schools and university students,
to volunteer to help in this “historic and important visit in both content and
timing."
Bahaa Hariri meets US Congress Representatives in Washington
NNA/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Bahaa Rafik Hariri met today in Washington with US Congressman, James E.
Claiborne, and other representatives in Congress.
According to his media office, "he raised a number of issues, such as the
difficulties of expatriates voting in the parliamentary elections and ensuring
the re-negotiation of the 'Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' so that it does
not come at the expense of Lebanon, as well as encouraging the United States to
reconsider its dealings with corrupt Lebanese officials in government."During
his meetings with the US officials, Hariri thanked the United States for its
"economic and security assistance to Lebanon."
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on May 04-05/2022
Iranian-Swedish Tensions Rise over
Trial of 1988 Mass Executions Jailer
London – Stockholm – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Swedish-Iranian national Ahmad Reza Jalali is to be executed on May 21 at the
latest, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency said on Wednesday, citing sources.
Jalali, a disaster medicine doctor and researcher, was arrested in 2016 on an
academic visit to Iran and sentenced to death on charges of espionage for
Israel's Mossad. The report comes as Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian prosecution
official arrested by Swedish authorities in 2019, faces a life sentence in
Sweden on charges of international war crimes and human rights abuses. Nouri is
accused of playing a leading role in the killing of political prisoners executed
on government orders at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, in 1988. Swedish
prosecutors and plaintiffs have requested life imprisonment for Nouri for his
role in the prison purges. In the 89th session of Nouri’s trial, plaintiffs’
lawyers said Nouri played “an active role” in the execution of thousands of
political prisoners in Iranian prisons and requested the court hand out the
maximum sentence of life imprisonment for him. On Sunday evening, Tehran
summoned Sweden's ambassador over what it considered “baseless and false
allegations” made against Nouri. Iran's Secretary of High Council for Human
Rights Kazem Gharibabadi described Sweden’s trial of Nouri as “unlawful and
unfair.”Gharibabadi said Nouri's trial is a sham that violates the principles of
justice and human rights. Gharibabadi pointed out that “Nouri has been arrested
based on false accusations and his detention is regarded as forced disappearance
since his family was kept unaware of the arrest.”There was no comment from the
Swedish government on the Iranian statements. In 2019, Nouri was arrested upon
his arrival in Sweden over alleged human rights abuses. Swedish prosecutors have
invoked the principle of “universal jurisdiction” for serious crimes to bring
the case against Nouri to trial. Last week, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, in a message on Twitter, advised its country’s citizens against
non-essential travel to Iran “due to the security situation.”
Iran: Outstanding Issues at Vienna Talks Not Limited
to Revolutionary Guards
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
A news platform associated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)
reported that unresolved issues at the Vienna talks aiming to revive the 2015
nuclear deal are not exclusive to clearing sanctions facing Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards. Nour News, a website affiliated to the secretary of the SNSC, blamed the
Biden administration for “ignoring” the solution for remaining obstacles
inhibiting a deal in Vienna. The Wall Street Journal on Sunday quoted two
sources as saying that the European coordinator for the Vienna talks, Enrique
Mora, is awaiting an Iranian invitation to visit Tehran. Mora, according to the
New York-based daily, would attempt breaking the impasse by getting Iranian
officials to sign a final text of a deal that does not include removing the
Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations. Nour News
questioned the US report, saying that “independent sources did not confirm this
information.”Moreover, the Iranian news platform said that the published report
was “an attempt to show that the arrogant US position, which insists on Iran
retreating from its initial position to reach an agreement, will not
change.”“Iran has repeatedly declared that parties must seek a strong, just and
sustainable agreement, in order to reduce the West's concerns about Iran's
peaceful nuclear program, and create the appropriate conditions for Iran to
benefit from the economic interests of the agreement,” reported Nour News. “On
this basis, red lines were drawn,” it added, stressing that the Iranian nuclear
team's dealings with the other parties in negotiations are taking place within
these boundaries. The agency also commented on another report that talked about
the dwindling hopes among the West to revive the agreement.“Increasing
complications in international developments centered around the Ukrainian
crisis, should make the US realize that continuing this path will make it
difficult to reach an agreement,” it explained.
Kremlin Dismisses Speculation Putin to Declare War
on Ukraine on May 9
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed speculation that President Vladimir Putin
planned to declare war against Ukraine and declare a national mobilisation on
May 9 when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union's victory in World War Two.
Commenting on speculation that Putin will declare war against Ukraine on May 9,
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "There is no chance of that. It's
nonsense."Putin is set to deliver a speech on May 9 and oversee a military
parade on Moscow's Red Square. Peskov also said Russia has been looking into
various options as it braces for an oil embargo by the European Union. The
European Union's chief executive on Wednesday proposed a phased oil embargo on
Russia, sanctions on its top bank and a ban on Russian broadcasters from
European airwaves in its toughest measures yet to punish Moscow over Ukraine.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin said no agreement had been reached on a
possible meeting between Putin and Pope Francis for talks about Ukraine. Pope
Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he had asked for a
meeting in Moscow with Putin to try to stop the war in Ukraine but had not
received a reply.
War in Ukraine: Latest developments
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
- A deadly day -
In one of a series of assaults in Ukraine's east, 21 civilians are killed and
another 28 wounded in the Donetsk region, local authorities say. Ten of the 21
dead are killed in the shelling of the Avdiivka coke plant, according to
regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, who calls the daily death toll the highest
since a Russian strike on a train station in Kramatorsk about a month ago.
- Evacuees reach Zaporizhzhia -
More than 150 people are extracted in evacuation operations in the long-besieged
port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksky says in a daily
address.
"Today, 156 people arrived in (the Ukrainian-held city) Zaporizhzhia. Women and
children. They have been in shelters for more than two months," Zelensky says.
- EU preparing more sanctions -
European officials are preparing a new package of sanctions against Russia, but
some EU states are jockeying to opt out of an oil embargo. The package, which
needs unanimous approval, would phase in a ban on Russian oil imports over six
to eight months, but Hungary and Slovakia -- both highly reliant on Moscow's
supplies, will be allowed to take a few months longer, EU officials have told
AFP.
- Biden sees battle for democracy -
U.S. President Joe Biden tells workers at an Alabama munitions factory they
should be "proud" of their work producing Javelin missiles, the bane of Russian
tanks fighting in Ukraine. He goes on to describe the war as part of a wider
contest between democracies and autocracies worldwide that includes China.
- Attack on Azovstal -
Russian forces launch a "powerful assault" on the Azovstal plant, Ukraine's army
says. The Kremlin says its forces, along with pro-Moscow Ukrainian separatists,
are using artillery and planes to target the site.
- Putin demands end to Ukraine arms deliveries -
Russian President Vladimir Putin tells French counterpart Emmanuel Macron the
West must stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and accuses Kyiv of not taking talks
to end the conflict seriously, the Kremlin says. Accusing Ukrainian forces of
committing war crimes, Putin tells Macron "the West could help stop these
atrocities by putting relevant pressure on the Kyiv authorities, as well as
halting the supply of weapons to Ukraine."
- Johnson salutes Ukraine, promises fresh aid -
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces another $376 million in UK
military aid for Ukraine and hails the country's resistance to Russia as its
"finest hour."
In a video link address to the Ukrainian parliament, the first by a foreign
leader since Russia invaded on February 24, Johnson says the Ukrainians were
fighting "with the energy and courage of lions."
- Pope seeks Putin talks -
Pope Francis says he has requested a meeting with Putin in Moscow but has heard
nothing back. The pontiff tells Italy's Corriere Della Sera newspaper he made
the request in March but "I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have
this meeting at this time." "I'm not going to Kyiv for now ... I have to go to
Moscow first, I have to meet Putin first," he says.
- Israel slams Lavrov Hitler comments -
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid slams his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov
for alleging Adolf Hitler may have "had Jewish blood" in a bid to discredit
Kyiv.
Lavrov's comments -- which invoke a conspiracy theory exploiting a gap in the
dictator's ancestry -- see Israel summon Moscow's ambassador for
"clarifications" and condemn the "unforgivable and outrageous statement."
Moscow in turn accuses Israel of supporting "the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv."
- Top Russian general visits Ukraine -
Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, visited the Donbas front in the Ukraine
war last week, a Pentagon official says, but reports that he was injured in a
Ukrainian attack could not be confirmed.
- Russian clubs banned from Champions League -
Russian clubs are banned by UEFA from participating in the Champions League and
all other European competitions next season, European football's governing body
announces.
Ukraine Welcomes EU’s Proposed Oil Embargo
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
In a video message posted on Twitter, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba
welcomed the European Union’s decision to propose an embargo on Russian oil. He
added that Ukraine isn’t happy it will be delayed for several months, but "it’s
better than nothing."Kuleba stressed it should be clear now "that times for
half-sanctions or half-measures when it comes to sanctions is gone." He said the
EU can no longer support Ukraine on one hand by imposing sanctions, while
continuing to pay Russia for oil and gas and support their "war machine."He also
said if any country continues to oppose the embargo on Russian oil, it will be a
reason to say the country is complicit in the crimes committed by Russia in
Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed that EU
member nations phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined
products by the end of the year as part of a sixth package of sanctions against
Russia. The proposals need unanimous approval from EU countries and are likely
to be the subject of fierce debate. Hungary and Slovakia have already said they
won’t take part in any oil sanctions. They could be granted an exemption. In a
video on social media, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary’s
energy supply "would be completely destroyed" by an EU embargo of Russian oil,
which he said would make it "impossible for Hungary to obtain the oil necessary
for the functioning of the Hungarian economy."He said Hungary would only support
the sixth round of sanctions if oil imports were exempted.
EU chief proposes gradual Russian oil import ban
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said the EU would impose a gradual
Russian oil ban, as Brussels unveiled new sanctions to punish Russia for
invading Ukraine. "We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly
fashion," the EU chief told a session of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg."This is why we will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six
months and refined products by the end of the year," she added.
In a document seen by AFP, von der Leyen's proposal asked that Hungary
and Slovakia, both hugely dependent on Russian oil, be given more time to meet
the ban.
Ambassadors from the 27 European Union countries will meet on Wednesday to
assess her plan, and it will need unanimous approval before going into effect.
Von der Leyen also said the EU would ask that the member states agree to
deny Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, access to SWIFT, the global banking
communications system. By hitting Sberbank and two other banks, "we hit banks
that are systemically critical to the Russian financial system and Putin's
ability to wage destruction," she said. The draft of
her proposal also said the EU was seeking to add the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to the latest list of sanctioned individuals
in the package. The new list includes 58 people, including many Russian military
personnel, but also the wife, daughter and son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov. Von der Leyen said the list would add
high-ranking military officers and other individuals "who committed war crimes
in Bucha and who are responsible for the inhuman siege of the city of
Mariupol.""This sends another important signal to all perpetrators of the
Kremlin’s war: We know who you are, and you will be held accountable," von der
Leyen said.
Russia Pounds Ukraine, Targeting Supply of Western
Arms
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Russian forces pounded targets across Ukraine, taking aim at supply lines for
foreign weapons in the west and intensifying an offensive in the east, as the
European Union moved Wednesday to further punish Moscow for the war with a
proposed ban on oil imports. The Russian military said Wednesday it used sea-
and air-launched precision guided missiles to destroy electric power facilities
at five railway stations across Ukraine, while artillery and aircraft also
struck troop strongholds and fuel and ammunition depots. The defense minister
said a steel mill in Mariupol - the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in that
city - was sealed off, a day after Russian troops began storming it. Ukrainian
authorities, meanwhile, said attacks in the eastern Donbas region left 21
civilians dead. The flurry of attacks over the past day comes as Russia prepares
to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat over Nazi
Germany. This year the world is watching for signs of whether Russian President
Vladimir Putin will use the occasion to declare a limited victory - or expand
what he calls a "special military operation" to a wider war. While the Russian
attacks were across a wide swath of the country, some were concentrated in and
around Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that been gateway for
NATO-supplied weapons. Explosions were heard late Tuesday in the city, which has
seen only sporadic attacks during the war and has become a haven for civilians
fleeing the fighting elsewhere. The mayor said the strikes damaged three power
substations, knocking out electricity in parts of the city and disrupting the
water supply. Two people were wounded. The strikes on the train stations were
meant to disrupt the delivery of Western weapons, Russian Defense Ministry
spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said, while the minister warned any such
deliveries are legitimate targets. Sergei Shoigu told top military brass
Wednesday that the West was "stuffing Ukraine with weapons."Western weaponry
pouring into Ukraine helped to blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems
certain to play a central role in the potentially decisive battle for Ukraine’s
Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces
since 2014. Moscow shifted its focus to the industrial region after failing to
take Kyiv in the early weeks of the war. The governor of the eastern Donetsk
region, which lies in the Donbas, said Russian attacks left 21 dead on Tuesday,
the highest number of known fatalities since April 8, when a missile attack on
the railway station in Kramatorsk killed at least 59 people. Russia has deployed
a significant number of troops in the region and appears to be trying to advance
in the northern Donbas, as they try to cut Ukrainian forces off, according to an
assessment from the British Defense Ministry. However, Moscow’s push has been
slow as Ukrainian fighters dig in and use long-range weapons to target the
Russians. The US believes Ukrainians in recent days pushed Russian forces about
40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Kharkiv, a northeastern city that lies outside
the Donbas but is key to the offensive there. In another effort to consolidate
their control in the east, Russian forces began storming the bombed-out steel
mill in Mariupol on Tuesday, the city’s last pocket of resistance. The renewed
push to take the mill came after scores of civilians were evacuated from the
plant's underground tunnels after enduring weeks of shelling.
Shoigu said Wednesday that the fighters at the Azovstal steel mill have been
"securely blocked" inside, while Russian forces continue to demand their
surrender. The mill's defenders have repeatedly refused to lay down their arms.
In addition to supplying weapons to Ukraine, Europe and the United States have
sought to punish Moscow with sanctions. The EU's top official called on the
27-nation bloc on Wednesday to ban Russian oil imports. "We will make sure that
we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our
partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimizes the impact on global
markets," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European
Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The proposals need to be unanimously approved
to take effect and are likely to be the subject of fierce debate. Hungary and
Slovakia have already said they won't take part in any oil sanctions, but von
der Leyen didn’t elaborate on whether they would receive an exemption, which
appears likely. Von der Leyen also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest
bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international
banking payment system.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said authorities on Wednesday
plan to continue efforts to evacuate civilians from the city of Mariupol and
nearby areas if the security situation allows it. Thanks to the evacuation
effort over the weekend, 101 people - including women, the elderly, and 17
children, the youngest 6 months old - emerged from the bunkers under the
Azovstal steelworks to "see the daylight after two months," said Osnat Lubrani,
the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine. One evacuee said she went to sleep
at the plant every night afraid she wouldn’t wake up. "You can’t imagine how
scary it is when you sit in the bomb shelter, in a damp and wet basement, and it
is bouncing and shaking," 54-year-old Elina Tsybulchenko said upon arriving in
the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometers)
northwest of Mariupol. It is unclear how many Ukrainian fighters are still
inside, but the Russians put the number at about 2,000 in recent weeks, and 500
were reported to be wounded. A few hundred civilians also remained there,
Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister, said. In his nightly video address,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that by storming the steel mill,
Russian forces violated agreements for safe evacuations. He said the prior
evacuations are "not a victory yet, but it’s already a result. I believe there’s
still a chance to save other people."Mariupol - and the plant in particular -
has come to symbolize the human misery inflicted by the war. The Russians’
two-month siege of the strategic port has trapped civilians with little or no
food, water, medicine or heat, as Moscow’s forces pounded the city into
rubble.The city's fall would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, allow Russia to
establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine
in 2014, and free up troops for fighting elsewhere in the Donbas. Also
Wednesday, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said a crash in the western Rivne region
killed 26 people and injured 12 more. The crash involved a bus, a van and a fuel
truck, the report said. The bus was headed to Poland, which has been a key
destination for Ukrainian refugees.
Belarus launches 'surprise' military maneuvers
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Belarus, a Moscow ally that shares a border with Ukraine, launched "surprise"
military maneuvers on Wednesday, to test the reactive capacity of its army, its
defense ministry said. Belarus military units were testing their capacity to "go
on the alert, move to predetermined zones and undertake combat training," the
ministry said in a statement. "The aim is to evaluate the readiness and ability
of troops to react rapidly to a possible crisis," it continued, describing the
maneuvers as a "surprise" exercise. It published
photos of columns of vehicles, including tanks, moving along roads. The exercise
will be closely watched by Kyiv, which has repeatedly accused Belarus of
planning to send troops into Ukraine to help Russia's military operation against
its pro-Western neighbor. Belarus has been ruled with an iron fist by strongman
Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for nearly 30
years. The country serves as an air and logistics base for Moscow. Nevertheless,
not all Belarusians are in favor of participation, however indirect, in the
current conflict and there have been acts of sabotage in recent months and
several suspects have been arrested. In 2020, Belarus was rocked by protests
over the allegedly fraudulent re-election of Lukashenko, who ordered a ferocious
crackdown on the dissent.
Armenian Authorities Block Roads, Warn Anti-govt
Protesters
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Authorities blocked streets in Armenia's capital Wednesday and warned
anti-government protesters against trying to seize the country’s parliament
building as they demonstrated to demand the prime minister's resignation. Police
used cement mixers and trucks to close off roads and bridges leading to the
center of Yerevan as demonstrators chanted, "Armenia without Nikol," referring
to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The protesters, meanwhile, used cars to block
the area around pedestrian underground passageways at major intersections. They
marched in at least 10 directions. "We can speak with the authorities about only
one thing - their immediate departure," Ishkhan Saghatelyan, vice president of
the country's parliament, the National Assembly of Armenia. He also is chair of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation's Supreme Council. Police arrested some of
the protesters, and security officials warned them against trying to storm the
parliament building. Pashinyan was scheduled to speak to parliament on
Wednesday. Anti-government demonstrations have taken place almost daily since
April 17. The prime minister became a renewed target of rancor after he spoke in
parliament about the need to sign a peace agreement with neighboring Azerbaijan.
The two countries have clashed for decades over the separatist region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under Armenian
control since early 1990s. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed
control over some of the region before signing a Russia-brokered truce with
Armenia.
Erdogan: Turkish Plan to Encourage Voluntary Return
of One Mln Syrian Refugees
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazzek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Amid heated debate between the Turkish government and the opposition over the
issue of Syrian refugees, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Tuesday
inaugurated a housing complex for displaced persons in Northern Syria’s Idlib.
The opening of the complex came in the context of Turkey’s announcement of
preparations to have a million Syrians residing in the country to voluntarily
return to Syria with the support of Turkish and international civil
organizations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that the
comprehensive project allows the voluntary return of one million Syrians.
The initiative will be implemented with the support of Turkish and international
civil organizations in 13 regions, including Azaz, Jarablus, Al Bab, Tal Abyad
and Ras Al Ayn. To be realized in cooperation with the local councils in those
regions, the Turkish project includes the construction of various facilities
such as schools and hospitals.In a video address, Erdogan said around 500,000
Syrians have returned to “safe zones” on the Turkey-Syria border since 2016. The
Turkish president pointed out that the new project includes making the planned
residential communities self-sufficient in terms of economic infrastructure,
from agriculture to industry. “All infrastructure projects, from housing to
hospitals, everything regarding daily life will be in this project,” said
Erdogan. So far, 57,306 homes have been completed in northern Syria as part of
the campaign to build 77,000 homes with the support of civil organizations.
The initiative is being coordinated by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency
Management Authority. Erdogan explained that these residential communities are
designed so that they are suitable places for living and do not lack any
facilities, such as mosques, schools, health centers, bakeries, and gardens.
Around 50,000 families have been accommodated to date. “No one abandons their
home without reason and throws themselves into an unknown future,” said Erdogan,
noting that Turkey considers extending a helping hand to refugees a humanitarian
responsibility.
Bashagha Urges Britain's Help to Remove Russia's
Wagner Mercenaries from Libya
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 4 May, 2022
Libya's east-based parliament appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha called on
Tuesday British leaders to help remove the mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group
from his country. In an article published by The Times newspaper, Bashagha
declared his desire for a strategic partnership with Britain at the business,
security and intelligence levels. “Today my country is facing one of its
toughest battles yet; as Ukrainian troops battle Russia with British missiles,
we in Libya are fighting the same fight,” the PM-designate wrote. “As a Libyan,
I know what it is like to see foreign forces enter your country illegally,” he
stressed. Bashagha explained that since 2014, thousands of mercenaries from
Wagner, a private military group, have been in Libya, leaving a trail of
destruction behind. Addressing his “British friends” at the government of Boris
Johnson, the Libyan official said his government is ready to work with Britain
if the latter needs a partner in Africa to resist Russia. He said his country
needs the assistance of British businessmen in rebuilding Libya and providing
services to the people, stressing that the Libyans do not want to see another
decade of civil war, nor do they want to see the Wagner mercenaries looting
their cities and villages. Moreover, Bashagha expressed Libya’s willingness to
take part in efforts to help the world wean itself off Russian oil. He said that
Libyan oil and gas can help make up for the global oil shortage, and help bring
down fuel prices in Britain.
Shabaab says it killed scores of Burundian troops in
Somalia
FDD's Long War Journal/May 04/2022
Unofficial video propagated by Shabaab showing civilians pillaging from the
overran AU base.
Earlier today, Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, launched a suicide
assault against an African Union (AU) military base in the area of Ceel Baraf in
the Middle Shabelle region. The Forward Operating Base (FOB) was manned by AU
Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) forces from Burundi.
Exact casualty figures have varied. Local witnesses have stated that three
civilians were killed in the crossfire. Meanwhile, Shabaab initially stated its
men killed at least 59 Burundian troops before raising this total to 173.
FDD’s Long War Journal cannot independently confirm any casualty figures given
by Shabaab or local press. Somali officials reported Burundian troops repulsed
the attack, though Voice of America, citing other Somali officials, stated that
Shabaab indeed overran the military base. According to local reports and
later confirmed by Shabaab, the jihadist group began the assault with a large
suicide car bomb (or vehicle borne improvised explosive device, VBIED) before
gunmen then entered the fray. This is a common tactic utilized by Shabaab both
against military and civilian targets. The base, which sits just outside
of Ceel Baraf approximately 130 km north of Mogadishu, was being prepared to be
handed over to the Somali National Army (SNA). After the brutal firefight,
Shabaab apparently managed to wrest control over the compound from the Burundian
troops. Unofficial videos propagated by Shabaab appear to show the base
completely abandoned, with civilians pillaging supplies as well as fuel from
abandoned armored vehicles. In a brief statement released by its Shahada
News Agency, Shabaab claims to have killed at least 173 AU troops in the assault
while capturing an unspecified number of the survivors as prisoners. This number
cannot be independently verified. However, photos released by the group show at
least 12 dead Burundian soldiers inside the base. Given the scale of the
assault, as well as the subsequent complete abandonment of the compound, the
losses to Burundian forces were likely substantial. Additional statements
released by Shabaab imply that many Burundian troops fled the base, as Shabaab’s
leadership has given permission for local residents to track down fleeing
troops. Currently, neither the African Union nor the Burundian government have
commented on the assault. Following similar large-scale incidents in the past,
the AU has taken several days to officially comment on the assaults as it
collects information. If the large number of Burundian troops is confirmed, this
assault will have been the largest against African Union troops since the 2016
raid at El-Adde in Somalia’s southern Gedo region. That suicide assault left
between 141 and 200 Kenyan troops dead. Kenya has rejected these numbers,
however. Similarly in Jan. 2017, Kenya lost an additional 68 troops in another
large suicide assault conducted by Shabaab against one of Kenya’s bases in
southern Somalia. And in Aug. 2018, at least 46 Ugandan troops were killed by
Shabaab in a suicide assault involving two car bombs on an AU base in Lower
Shabelle.Despite some setbacks in recent years, Shabaab continues to be one of
al Qaeda’s most effective branches. It maintains significant control over much
of southern Somalia and retains the ability to strike in Mogadishu, Kenya, where
it also controls territory, and against heavily fortified bases in both Somalia
and Kenya. Though its fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the past decade, it
has weathered numerous offensives from an array of local, regional, and
international actors, including the United States.Are you a dedicated reader of
FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the
years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a
one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible
donation here.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on May 04-05/2022
Iran’s rulers demanding too much even for Biden
Clifford D. May/The Washington/May 04/2022
For months, the smart money has been betting that a nuclear deal between
President Biden and Iran’s rulers was a sure thing.
Mr. Biden had promised that any new agreement that would be “longer and
stronger” than the deal President Obama concluded in 2015 and from which
President Trump withdrew in 2018. But Iran’s rulers refused to go along.
They demanded concession after concession, knowing that Mr. Biden’s envoys would
claim they’d prevented the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapons
capability — even if that claim was in stark contrast with reality.
If Iran’s rulers kept their end of the bargain — unlikely if history is any
guide — the doors of the nuclear weapons club would still open to them soon
enough. The deal would be an echo of the Agreed Framework of 1994 which
then-President Clinton proudly proclaimed would prevent North Korea from
becoming nuclear-armed.
Now for the good news: Tehran’s most recent demand has brought the negotiations
to a screeching halt.
The clerical regime is insisting the U.S. lift its designation of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Mr. Biden has not
capitulated.
Perhaps that’s because he knows that more than 600 Americans have been killed by
weapons that, according to a U.S. Army study, were developed under IRGC auspices
specifically to kill Americans, smuggled into Iraq, and given to Shiite militias
whom the IRGC trained in their use.
He certainly knows that the IRGC is responsible for attacks against U.S. forces
in Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon and that it supports Hezbollah, Hamas,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis.
Most of those pushing for a weaker and shorter version of President Barack
Obama’s deal don’t dispute that the IRGC is a terrorist organization. But they
argue that the designation is merely “symbolic” and therefore unimportant. This
should surprise the State Department which maintains an FTO list of over 70
terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Obama
administration added 25 organizations to the list.
Last week, a delegation of Gold Star families, relatives of American military
personnel killed or wounded by Iranian weapons, came to Washington to urge Mr.
Biden not to remove the FTO designation.
The visit follows up on a letter sent recently to Mr. Biden by over 900 wounded
veterans and Gold Star family members opposing the lifting of the IRGC’s
terrorist designation.
A letter sent earlier this year by more than a thousand vets and family members
urged Mr. Biden not to release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds. That
money should be used to compensate parents and spouses of those killed or
wounded by the Islamic Republic and its agents. If transferred to Tehran’s
rulers, the money will instead underwrite more terrorism and aggression.
As this controversy plays out, the IRGC is not laying low. On Saturday, the
Israeli Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying: “In recent months,
attempts made by the Iranian regime to assassinate a U.S. General in Germany, a
journalist in France and an Israeli diplomat in Turkey were foiled … These
terror attacks were ordered, approved and funded by the senior leadership of the
Iranian regime and were intended to be executed by the IRGC.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has acknowledged that Tehran poses
“an ongoing threat against American officials present and past.”
During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing earlier in the week, Sen.
Ted Cruz asked Mr. Blinken: “Is it true that American negotiators made specific
requests for a commitment that the IRGC will stop trying to murder former
American officials and is it true that they said no?”
He added: “If they are actively refusing, saying, ‘No, we’re going to keep
trying to murder your former secretary of state,’ the idea that our negotiators
are sitting in Vienna saying, ‘Okay, that’s great, so how many more billions can
we give you?’ – that doesn’t make any sense.”
Unmentioned was the fact that Iran’s theocrats, in addition to targeting former
and current U.S. government officials, have threatened several Iran experts at
think tanks, including the one where I hang my hat.
Those with longer memories will recall that, in 2011, the FBI foiled a plot to
bomb Cafe Milano, a posh Georgetown restaurant, while Adel al-Jubeir, then the
Saudi ambassador to the U.S., was taking his supper. Diners at tables near him
would have been collateral damage.
That plot, along with many others, is believed to have been orchestrated by Maj.
Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force whose specialty is
running terrorist and paramilitary operations around the world. President Obama
vowed serious consequences but never delivered them.
In January 2020, however, Soleimani was the target of an airstrike in Baghdad
ordered by President Donald Trump, who explained in a tweet that the general had
“killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time
and was plotting to kill many more.” Iran’s rulers pledged “severe revenge.”
Subsequent attacks on Americans in Iraq and elsewhere appear not to have
satisfied that desire.
Several Democrats have now joined Republicans in opposing the lifting of the FTO
designation. Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, told Fox News on Sunday: “I want the administration to understand
that no deal is better than a bad deal.”
What happens next? The logic by which Iran’s rulers make their decisions is
difficult to fathom.
As for Mr. Biden, he could go wobbly. But it’s also possible he’ll decide to
consider other means to prevent the Islamic Republic from becoming a
nuclear-armed terrorist sponsor. If so, Israel and its Arab allies (now there’s
a phrase I never expected to write) will be pleased to offer suggestions.
• Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.
Team Biden must stop Russia’s Iran deal
Andrea Stricker/Inside Sources/May 04/2022 |
The Biden administration — which repeatedly asserts that it has adopted tough
policies on Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine — plans to allow Moscow to
receive a major economic windfall under a revived Iran nuclear deal.
The new accord reportedly contains terms that would grant Vladimir Putin’s
regime more than $10 billion to aid the development of Iran’s nuclear projects,
even as Putin’s army kills and maims innocent Ukrainians. President Biden must
reverse course and block Russia from gaining financially under a renewed nuclear
accord. Team Biden is attempting to resurrect the nuclear deal with Iran,
formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that President Barack
Obama concluded in 2015 and that President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. That
agreement will expire within the next decade and will allow Iran to enrich
uranium to weapons-grade levels, thereby reducing the regime’s breakout time —
that is, the amount of time it takes to develop enough fissile material for one
nuclear weapon — to near zero.
Under the 2015 accord, the Obama administration permitted Russia the lead in
carrying out several plan of action nuclear projects in Iran related to Tehran’s
“civil” nuclear program. Russia’s state-run nuclear agency, Rosatom, and its
subsidiaries seek to resume such work in Iran, including a $10 billion project
to complete two new units of Tehran’s nuclear power plant at Bushehr. Moscow
could also recoup a $500 million debt for past work on the plant.
Four Rosatom entities — Rusatom Energy International, Atomstroyexport, TVEL Fuel
Co., and Techsnabexport — stand to gain from supplying fuel to Bushehr and
another small Iranian research reactor, removing used reactor fuel, overseeing
operations, and carrying out new construction. TVEL Fuel Co. may also resume
work at Iran’s underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, originally built
by Tehran to make weapons-grade fuel for nuclear bombs.
Washington may also acquiesce to Russia’s Novosibersk Chemical Concentrates
Plant — another Rosatom subsidiary — as well as TVEL Fuel Co. purchasing
Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpile in exchange for a third-party nation’s
natural uranium. Allowing Iran to import natural uranium ensures that Tehran can
resume enrichment to higher levels and violate the nuclear accord at a time of
its choosing.
In May 2019, as part of its maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the Trump
administration announced it had ended special “waivers” from U.S. sanctions that
permitted Russia’s Iran-related projects to move forward. Washington prohibited
both the Russian Bushehr expansion project and the purchase of natural uranium.
The Trump administration stated that any expansion of Bushehr beyond an existing
unit and any transfers of enriched uranium out of Iran in exchange for natural
uranium would be “exposed to sanctions.”
When Tehran quickly resumed — and then expanded — uranium enrichment at the
Fordow plant in November 2019, the Trump administration also swiftly terminated
the waiver for Russia’s work at Fordow. The Trump administration ended another
sanctions waiver for Iran’s small reactor in May 2020, citing Iran’s continuing
“nuclear brinkmanship” and Tehran’s “expanding proliferation activities.”
When the Trump administration announced that Russian entities would face
sanctions for continued Iran nuclear work, those entities reportedly halted
their efforts. Yet in February, as part of its Iran deal diplomacy, the Biden
administration unilaterally restored the sanctions waivers.
Last month, Russia abruptly forced a pause in the Iran nuclear talks, underway
for more than a year, and demanded that the Biden administration provide Moscow
with “written guarantees” that it won’t sanction Russian nuclear projects in
Iran — projects that come with an anticipated price tag reaching into the
billions. Around March 15, the State Department reportedly provided the Kremlin
with such guarantees. A week later, a State Department representative
acknowledged that the Biden administration would “be willing to entertain”
exempting Moscow’s work in Iran from U.S. sanctions over Ukraine.
Given the situation in Ukraine, Team Biden must change this policy. The Kremlin
must not financially benefit from a restored Iran deal while Washington and its
allies are attempting to pressure Moscow to halt its unprovoked invasion.
A wiser policy is for Washington to restore a campaign of economic pressure on
Iran and persuade the regime to halt its growing nuclear provocations. Yet if
the Biden administration insists on pursuing the plan of action and helping
Tehran refine its nuclear capabilities, there is no technical reason that Russia
must be the party to perform such work. America and Europe should be making
every effort to close Russia’s revenue streams. President Biden ought to
recognize that this means not providing avenues via Iran to fund Putin’s war
machine.
*Andrea Stricker is a research fellow on nonproliferation issues at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow her on Twitter @StrickerNonpro.
FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on
national security and foreign policy.
State Department Report Glosses Over Assad’s Narco-Trafficking
Wealth
David Adesnik/Policy Brief/May 04/ 2022
In a congressionally mandated report issued last week, the State Department made
a single passing reference to drug trafficking as a source of wealth for the
family of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The report’s errors and omissions
reflect the Biden administration’s lack of interest in the robust enforcement of
sanctions on the Assad regime, especially those authorized by the bipartisan
Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has sanctioned only two sets of
Syrian regime targets, none of them economically significant. In contrast, the
previous administration issued new sets of designations each month for seven
consecutive months after the law went into effect in June 2020. Congress made
the application of Caesar Act sanctions mandatory, so the slow pace of
designations suggests the Biden administration is refusing to shoulder its legal
responsibilities.
To spur the Biden administration’s enforcement of the Caesar Act and related
sanctions, Congress included a provision in the National Defense Authorization
Act (NDAA) for the current fiscal year that requires the secretary of state to
submit a public report “on the estimated net worth and known sources of income
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family members.” The provision
specified that the report should address income “from corrupt or illicit
activities.”
Yet rather than using this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the enforcement of
sanctions against the Assad regime and its financiers, the Biden administration
downplayed the problem by issuing a report that barely covers the information
available in the public domain. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the
report’s cursory treatment of narcotics production and trafficking networks in
Syria and Lebanon, whose growth has been explosive.
News media have reported widely on the direct involvement of senior Assad regime
figures in the trafficking of captagon, an amphetamine, especially after Italian
authorities confiscated 84 million pills in a single bust in July 2020. A New
York Times investigation found that “much of the production and distribution is
overseen by the Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an elite unit
commanded by Maher al-Assad, the president’s younger brother.”
In 2020, global captagon seizures had an estimated retail (or “street”) value of
nearly $3.5 billion. The estimated figure for 2021 is over $5.7 billion, or
several times greater than the value of Syria’s legitimate exports. With Syria’s
domestic economy in ruins, narco-trafficking is likely the most important source
of income for the regime.Despite the wealth of information available on this
subject, the State Department’s report addressed it in just a single sentence:
“The Fourth Armored Division is widely reported to be involved in Syrian drug
smuggling operations, including smuggling of the amphetamine captagon as well as
other illicit substances.” Nor does the report refer to the critical role that
Lebanese Hezbollah plays in the Assad regime’s drug enterprise. Representatives
French Hill (R-AR) and Brendan Boyle (D-MA) have introduced a bill that would
require the administration to provide Congress with “a written strategy to
disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking” linked to the Assad
regime. The House included a similar requirement in its version of the NDAA last
year, but the Senate removed it for unclear reasons.
If the White House wants to show it recognizes the gravity of the situation, it
should pledge to produce a strategy of its own this year rather than waiting for
Congress to work through the annual authorization cycle. Violence from the
captagon trade is now spilling over Syria’s southern border into Jordan, a key
U.S. ally, as well as enriching Hezbollah. The drug does not just bankroll the
Damascus regime’s atrocities; it is a transnational security threat the Biden
administration cannot afford to ignore.
*David Adesnik is research director and a senior fellow at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on
Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from David and CEFP,
please subscribe HERE. Follow David on Twitter @adesnik. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD
and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute
focusing on national security and foreign policy.
Israel Needs a Statesman – Now
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May 04/2022
The years before 2021 had brought relative calm and improvements. The United
States had cut much of its funding for the Palestinian Authority, which had been
used for terrorism. As a result, terrorism had substantially decreased. When the
US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and drastically sanctioned Iran, the
mullahs and their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had less money to finance
and arm Hamas. ISIS was crushed. A rapprochement began between Israel and the
Arab world and led to the Abraham Accords, signed between the United States,
Israel, and five Muslim countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco,
Kosovo and Sudan. For the first time in decades in the Middle East, "peace,
security and prosperity" held sway.
The election of US President Joe Biden, however, quickly revealed that better
lives for people in the region, including the Palestinians, were about to end.
The Biden administration immediately returned to the policies of the Obama
years. It restored the funding that Palestinian leaders use for terrorism,
without first stipulating that the terrorism had to stop. The Biden
administration resumed nuclear negotiations with Iran -- through an intermediary
from, of all places Russia. (Iran did not allow the US officials in the room.)
The US government itself had named Iran "the world's worst state sponsor of
terrorism;" now the Biden administration was again enabling the ruling mullahs
-- who call for "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" -- soon to have an
unlimited number of nuclear weapons, the intercontinental ballistic missiles to
deliver them, and billions of dollars for terrorism and resuming their efforts
to take over the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, America's interlocutor,
Russia, has been working with Iran on how it can evade US sanctions for invading
Ukraine so that both countries may further enrich themselves by Iran selling
Russia's oil.
When "settlement expansion" is made to sound as grave a transgression as murder,
terrorism will resume.
Since June 2021, for the first time in 12 years, Israel seems to have a weak
prime minister, Naftali Bennett. He has evidently promised to work in "quiet
coordination" with the Biden administration and never criticizes the
administration's anti-Israel policies.
The leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas see that an anti-Israel
administration is in place in Washington and draw their own conclusions.
Sunni Arab leaders are currently "trying to decide whether to grovel to Iran, or
stand with Israel... Israel has but one option – to become the strong tribe of
the Middle East". — Caroline Glick, Israel Hayom, March 25, 2022.
Israel needs its strong tribe status. Israel needs a statesman. Now.
Since June 2021, for the first time in 12 years, Israel seems to have a weak
prime minister, Naftali Bennett. Israel needs its strong tribe status. Israel
needs a statesman. Now. Pictured: Bennett (right) and his foreign minister, Yair
Lapid, on June 13, 2021.
Beersheba, Israel. March 22. Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan rams his car into a rabbi
riding a bicycle, killing him, then drives to a gas station and stabs a woman to
death there, and then drives to a shopping mall and stabs two more people to
death. After fleeing the mall, he crashed his car into another vehicle and was
finally shot and killed by armed civilians as he charged at one of them with a
knife.
On March 27, Ayman and Ibrahim Ighbarieh open fire at people standing at a bus
stop in Hadera, kill two Border Police officers and wound ten more people before
they, too, are shot and killed by off-duty police officers who were eating
nearby.
March 29, in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Diaa Hamarsheh, murders five
people in a shooting spree before being shot dead by policemen, one of whom
Hamarsheh had mortally wounded.
April 7, Raed Hazem opens fire at people in a central Tel Aviv pub, killing
three and wounding a dozen. He is killed a few hours later in an exchange of
fire with police.
Fourteen Israelis were murdered; two dozen wounded, some seriously. It was the
worst wave of terror attacks Israel has seen in a while.
Three of the five terrorists had previously been arrested for serious crimes,
tried, imprisoned, then released. Abu al-Kiyan, a teacher who encouraged
children to join the Islamic State, was convicted in 2016 for membership in a
terror group and sentenced to four years in prison, but released after only
three years. There he had taken part in a "rehabilitation program for 'ISIS
prisoners'".
Ibrahim Ighbarieh, arrested by Turkish authorities for attempting to join the
Islamic State, was handed back to Israel, where he was tried, convicted, served
a prison sentence of 18 months and released. Hamarsheh, imprisoned in 2015 for
dealing in illegal firearms and affiliating with a terrorist group, had spent
six months in prison.
The Israeli judiciary gives light sentences to people who appear ready to commit
murder and other terrorist acts. In Israel, constantly threatened by terrorism,
terrorists and would-be terrorists are imprisoned only briefly before being
released back out on the street.
The terrorists who murdered in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv came from territories
exclusively controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and were in Israel
clandestinely. There are many breaches in Israel's security fence; the Israeli
government knew about them but did not fix them. The terrorists in Beersheba and
Hadera, however, were Arabs from within Israel -- and constitute a threat that
may be gaining ground.
There are nearly two million Arabs in Israel, full-fledged citizens who make up
about 20% of the population of 9.5 million. Many serve in the military, police
and civil service. Israeli Arabs sit as members of parliament, serve as mayors
and judges (including on the Supreme Court), and work "in the foreign service,
with a handful serving as ambassadors since 1995." Israel's Arab citizens have
the same rights as its Jewish citizens but are not required to serve in the
military, although many volunteer to join. These Arab citizens are descendants
of families who did not flee in 1948 during a war that was begun -- but then
lost -- by five Arab countries, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, that
invaded and tried to kill the new country.
When, after the war, the Arabs who had fled wanted to return, Israel refused,
explaining that they had been less than loyal. These are now known as
Palestinians. They live in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank (of the Jordan
River; formerly occupied by Jordan), the Gaza Strip (formerly occupied by
Egypt), and in other countries around the world. While the Jews welcomed their
co-religionists to Israel as full citizens, the many Arab states did not do the
same for their brethren. Instead, Arab states left the newly-stateless
Palestinians in refugee camps, often squalid, presumably in the hope that one
day they would resume the war they lost, but this time win it.
Propaganda from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that advocates jihad and
martyrdom indoctrinates the Arabs who live in the Gaza Strip (ruled by Hamas)
and the Palestinian Authority-run West Bank (ruled by Fatah).
In an atmosphere of a daily diet to hate Israel and the Jews, some Arabs become
murderers. Although all of the Arabs born in Israel have Israeli citizenship,
many today, out of communal solidarity, define themselves as Palestinians and
believe it is their duty as Muslims to wage jihad against Jews and Israel.
In Israeli Arab towns, or in mixed cities where the population is partly Arab
and partly Jewish, there is evidently significant traffic in arms that are
stolen or smuggled into Israel. Even though the Israeli police regularly carry
out operations to seize them, trafficking continues. Arms not seized by the
police are sometimes used to commit ordinary crimes -- or can be used for
terrorist attacks.
The uprising of Israeli Arabs that shook Israel last spring, as Hamas launched
missile attacks on Israel, indicated that a worrying situation was taking shape.
Synagogues were ransacked and burned; nearly 400 Jewish homes were looted. Arabs
blocked road to stop cars and attack drivers that were Jewish. Jews were
lynched, killed or wounded, in the streets just because they were Jews. Rioters
destroyed Israeli flags and raised Palestinian ones. Israeli intelligence
established that during the uprising, Hamas operatives had been coordinating
with Israeli Arabs.
Israeli security experts said that a problem existed and answers were needed.
The "problem" is all the more serious because the situation in the region has
also been deteriorating; the Middle East policies of the United States since
January 2021 have been exacerbating the "problem".
The years before 2021 had brought relative calm and improvements. The United
States had cut much of its funding for the Palestinian Authority, which had been
used for terrorism. As a result, terrorism had substantially decreased. When the
US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and drastically sanctioned Iran, the
mullahs and their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had less money to finance
and arm Hamas. ISIS was crushed. A rapprochement began between Israel and the
Arab world and led to the Abraham Accords, signed between the United States,
Israel, and five Muslim countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco,
Kosovo and Sudan. For the first time in decades in the Middle East, "peace,
security and prosperity" held sway.
The election of US President Joe Biden, however, quickly revealed that better
lives for people in the region, including the Palestinians, were about to end.
The Biden administration immediately returned to the policies of the Obama
years. It restored the funding that Palestinian leaders use for terrorism,
without first stipulating that the terrorism had to stop. The Biden
administration resumed nuclear negotiations with Iran -- through an intermediary
from, of all places Russia. (Iran did not allow the US officials in the room.)
The US government itself had named Iran "the world's worst state sponsor of
terrorism;" now the Biden administration was again enabling the ruling mullahs
-- who call for "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" -- soon to have an
unlimited number of nuclear weapons, the intercontinental ballistic missiles to
deliver them, and billions of dollars for terrorism and resuming their efforts
to take over the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, America's interlocutor,
Russia, has been working with Iran on how it can evade US sanctions for invading
Ukraine so that both countries may further enrich themselves by Iran selling
Russia's oil.
Since June 2021, for the first time in 12 years, Israel seems to have a weak
prime minister, Naftali Bennett. He has evidently promised to work in "quiet
coordination" with the Biden administration and never criticizes the
administration's anti-Israel policies.
The leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas see that an anti-Israel
administration is in place in Washington and draw their own conclusions.
The nuclear deal that the Biden administration has been trying to sign with Iran
is even more disastrous for Israel than the original 2015 deal, yet Bennett
remains silent. He hinted a few months ago that he no longer considers the Iran
deal to have been a "historic mistake." Recently, he added, "We are not
automatic naysayers. We're taking a practical approach". The deal, however,
deeply worries the leaders of the Sunni Arab world, who are as threatened by
Iran as Israel; Bennett's attitude can only increase their concerns.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited Israel to explain the
administration's Middle East policies. He was supposed to go to Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Crown Prince
Mohamed bin Zayed declined to receive him.
Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid wanted to find a way to remedy the
refusals. He invited the leaders of four Arab countries (UAE, Bahrain, Egypt,
Morocco) to a summit at Sde Boker, in Israel, to meet with Blinken. There was
almost no mention during the summit of Iran. Lapid simply stated briefly that
"the shared capabilities we are building intimidates and deters our common
enemies, first and foremost Iran and its proxies". Blinken used the opportunity
to insist on a make-believe "two-state solution", downplay the Abraham Accords
and criticize Israel.
Although the summit took place just a few days after the Beersheba attack and
coincided with the Hadera attack, Blinken did not denounce terrorism. He said
instead that the Abraham Accords "are not a substitute for progress between
Palestinians and Israelis," and added that peace involves working "to prevent
actions on all sides that could raise tensions, including settlement expansion,
settler violence, incitement to violence".
When "settlement expansion" is made to sound as grave a transgression as murder,
terrorism will resume. Lapid said nothing. The Arab leaders also said nothing;
they could hardly have been reassured.
On December 29, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz hosted Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his home, and offered the PA a $32.2
million loan against future tax revenues that Israel collects on Ramallah's
behalf, as well as to "legalize the status of 9,500 undocumented Palestinians
and foreigners living in the West Bank and Gaza." Gantz reported that the
meeting had gone well and added, "I will continue to meet with him and other
elements... with whom discourse helps our stability, security and interests".
Two days later, Abbas delivered a speech accusing Israel of "racial
discrimination", "organized terrorism" and "ethnic cleansing". Gantz said he was
disappointed, but ready to meet Abbas again.
"[F]or the past 70 years," wrote the journalist Caroline Glick, "the nations of
the Middle East have viewed the US as the most powerful tribe in the region",
but that this is no longer applies. The Biden administration's concessions to
Iran are perceived by Arab leaders as treason, and the behavior of the Israeli
government has led them to doubt Israel's strength. Sunni Arab leaders, Glick
wrote, are currently "trying to decide whether to grovel to Iran, or stand with
Israel". She concluded that today, "Israel has but one option – to become the
strong tribe of the Middle East".
The Israeli government will have to curb the Israeli Arab terrorist threat and,
internationally, take a stand on the Biden administration's policies on
terrorism and the immense danger coming from Iran.
Israel needs its strong tribe status. Israel needs a statesman. Now.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27
books on France and Europe.
© 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.
Turkey: NATO's Pro-Putin Ally
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/May 04/2022
Western leaders shrugged it off when, in 2016, Erdoğan said in plain language
that Turkey did not need to join the European Union "at all costs" and could
instead become part of a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and Central
Asian nations.
Erdoğan's popularity, since he came to power in 2002, has worked as a
self-poisoning instrument in the Turkish society, increasingly fuelling
anti-Western sentiment, particularly anti-Americanism.
The... poll also indicated that 48% of the Turkish public think that the U.S.
and NATO are responsible for the situation in Ukraine. Turks also think that
Russia is their country's third most important partner.
Nearly six out of 10 Turks (58.3%), according to the GMFUS poll, see the U.S. as
the country's biggest threat, while 31% said Russia and 29% said Israel. The
percentage of Turks who say the U.S. should help solve global problems stands at
just 6%.
While sending smiley messages of reconciliation to the West and the West's
partners in the Middle East, including Israel, Erdoğan keeps fuelling
anti-Western sentiments in Turkey.
When they are not reading pro-Erdoğan newspapers, Turks are watching pro-Erdoğan
television channels featuring commentators who blame the war on Washington and
NATO's eastward expansion.
Turkey... dismissed the idea of send its S-400 missiles to Ukraine to help Kyiv
resist Russian troops.
"The Russians are buying houses and other properties in Turkey, taking advantage
of the law that allows foreigners to become Turkish citizens if they invest at
least $250,000. Many Russians are able to circumvent Western sanctions by
transferring their money from Russian to Turkish banks and converting their
rubles to Turkish liras or other currencies. All NATO member countries, with the
exception of Turkey, have imposed strict sanctions on Russia..." — Wall Street
Journal, April 13, 2022.
"Turkey's central bank took in about $3 billion in just two days in mid-March...
That money was likely largely composed of deposits from Russians." — Wall Street
Journal, April 13, 2022
This is how NATO ally Turkey is "fighting" the Western battle against Russian
aggression. In return, the Biden administration seems to be rewarding Erdoğan.
The Biden administration, evidently, at the behest of Turkey, has tried to kill
the EastMed gas pipeline project, which could supply gas from Cyprus and Israel,
via Greece, to Europe.
Worse, the US State Department, in a March 17 letter to Congress, said that a
potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be "in line with U.S.
national security interests" and would also "serve NATO's long-term unity."
Greece, which recently has experienced countless illegal Turkish overflights,
not to mention the last few years, must be thrilled.
Turkey needs to start acting like an ally; not a deceitful, pro-Putin ally.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's popularity, since he came to power in
2002, has worked as a self-poisoning instrument in the Turkish society,
increasingly fuelling anti-Western sentiment, particularly anti-Americanism.
Turkey needs to start acting like an ally; not a deceitful, pro-Putin ally.
Pictured: Erdoğan meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on
March 10, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
Turkey's "balancing act" during the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the result of
the country's Islamist leader's two-decade long indoctrination of a generation
of Turks to make them "pious." President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may or may not
have raised pious generations, as he declared was his political mission, but he
has definitely raised an anti-Western generation. That anti-Western sentiment
once again makes Turkey the odd-man-out in NATO.
Western leaders shrugged it off when, in 2016, Erdoğan said in plain language
that Turkey did not need to join the European Union "at all costs" and could
instead become part of a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and Central
Asian nations. Earlier, in 2013, Turkey had signed up as a "dialogue partner"
saying it shared "the same destiny" as members of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan) -- which was formed in 2001 as a regional security bloc.
The same Western leaders looked silly when they were "shocked" at a 2019 Turkish
decision to buy the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system. They
simply missed that Turkey had long been only a part-time NATO ally.
Erdoğan's popularity, since he came to power in 2002, has worked as a
self-poisoning instrument in the Turkish society, increasingly fuelling
anti-Western sentiment, particularly anti-Americanism. The Turkish public's
views of the Russian invasion of Ukraine today is an inevitable consequence. A
poll by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. (GMFUS) found that nearly 84% of
Turks want their country either to mediate or stay neutral -- 10 times more than
those who want Turkey to back only Ukraine. Put in other words, 84% of Turks do
not support Ukraine in the conflict.
Turkish pollster MetroPoll found in March that fewer than half (49.3%) of those
surveyed think Turkey should be a member of the EU, down from 80% in the early
2000s. The same poll also indicated that 48% of the Turkish public think that
the U.S. and NATO are responsible for the situation in Ukraine. Turks also think
that Russia is their country's third most important partner.
Nearly six out of 10 Turks (58.3%), according to the GMFUS poll, see the U.S. as
the country's biggest threat, while 31% said Russia and 29% said Israel. The
percentage of Turks who say the U.S. should help solve global problems stands at
just 6%.
While sending smiley messages of reconciliation to the West and the West's
partners in the Middle East, including Israel, Erdoğan keeps fuelling
anti-Western sentiments in Turkey. Speaking at the inauguration of a madrassa
(Islamic seat of learning) on April 15, Erdoğan spoke of "these days when the
Western culture and life-style has invaded the whole world."
Echoing his boss' ideological obsession, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said
in a March 14 interview that the Ukraine war shows that the "UN, NATO, and
global institutions are going bankrupt" and "the EU is no longer meaningful as a
community." Soylu claimed that the Kremlin merely reacted against U.S. efforts
to contain Russia "at a time when the vulnerability of the U.S. and the EU
reached a peak under the pandemic." The war, in Soylu's thinking, symbolizes the
end of globalization as nation-states rise to power.
When they are not reading pro-Erdoğan newspapers, Turks are watching pro-Erdoğan
television channels featuring commentators who blame the war on Washington and
NATO's eastward expansion. One well-known admiral saluted the Russian invasion
of Ukraine as "a step to end the imperialist Atlanticist age", and another
claimed that Moscow was tricked into the conflict so that it can be weakened for
years to come. Others said that Moscow was not massacring people and was in fact
opening an opportunity for peace by not seizing Kyiv.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, some of the confused Turkish
action reflecting the country's confused directions included:
On February 25, Turkey abstained from voting on suspending Russia's membership
in most bodies of the Council of Europe in response to the military operation in
Ukraine. "During the vote in Strasbourg, Turkey decided to abstain," Foreign
Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said. "We don't want to break off the dialogue with
Russia."
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, former CIA official Paul Kolbe
suggested that "Turkey should send Ukraine the Russian-made S-400 missile
defense systems." Turkey, however, dismissed the idea of send its S-400 missiles
to Ukraine to help Kyiv resist Russian troops.
Although Turkey has blocked some Russian ships from their Black Sea blockade of
Ukraine, according to retired U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, "This is an illegal
blockade in every dimension -- no declared war, no self-defense involved,
illegitimate and flagrant violation of international law. Designed to starve the
population and break the economy. Yet another example of Russian criminal
behavior." No one, of course, has held Russia accountable. Turkey has, in fact,
blocked all naval vessels, including NATO's ships, which must make Russia happy
-- but not supplies.
As Western governments targeted Roman Abramovich and several other Russian
oligarchs with sanctions to isolate Putin and his allies, a second superyacht
linked to the Russian billionaire docked in a Turkish resort. A source in Ankara
told Reuters that Abramovich and other wealthy Russians were looking to invest
in Turkey, given the sanctions imposed elsewhere. "He wants to do some work and
may buy some assets," the source said, adding that the oligarch already had some
assets in Turkey. Another source in Ankara said Turkey was not currently
considering joining sanctions action and expected wealthy Russians to purchase
assets and make investments.
Çavuşoğlu said on March 26 that "Russian oligarchs are welcome in Turkey." The
message was taken. On April 16, the Clio, a superyacht owned by Russian tycoon
Oleg Deripaska, arrived at Turkey's port of Göcek. Deripaska, the founder of the
Russian aluminum giant Rusal, was sanctioned by the US, the EU and Britain.
Erdoğan's government announced the creation of an airline, Southwind, with the
aim of bringing Russian tourists to resorts and attractions in Turkey. This is
part of a Turkish-Russian understanding that Russia keeps using Turkish airspace
as free as if it had never invaded Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal reported in a headline that "Superyachts, Seaside
Apartments and Suitcases Full of Cash: Russians Pour Money Into Turkey." The
article said that tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Turkey with
suitcases full of money, yachts, private jets and other assets:
"The Russians are buying houses and other properties in Turkey, taking advantage
of the law that allows foreigners to become Turkish citizens if they invest at
least $250,000. Many Russians are able to circumvent Western sanctions by
transferring their money from Russian to Turkish banks and converting their
rubles to Turkish liras or other currencies. All NATO member countries, with the
exception of Turkey, have imposed strict sanctions on Russia, preventing its
citizens from wiring their money out of the country, blocking Russian Airlines
from flying to western countries, and confiscating the oligarchs' superyachts
and private jets. Refusing to impose sanctions on Russia, Turkey is trying to
revive its bankrupt economy by generating desperately-needed funds... Turkey's
central bank took in about $3 billion in just two days in mid-March... That
money was likely largely composed of deposits from Russians."
This is how NATO ally Turkey is "fighting" the Western battle against Russian
aggression. In return, the Biden administration seems to be rewarding Erdoğan.
The Biden administration, evidently, at the behest of Turkey, has tried to kill
the EastMed gas pipeline project, which could supply gas from Cyprus and Israel,
via Greece, to Europe.
According to Gatestone Senior Fellow Soeren Kern:
"The EastMed pipeline has been in the works for more than a decade. The
Israel-Greece-Cyprus project — joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia,
Romania and Serbia — has long been seen as a way to diversify natural gas
supplies to Europe."
Worse, the US State Department, in a March 17 letter to Congress, said that a
potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be "in line with U.S.
national security interests" and would also "serve NATO's long-term unity."
Greece, which recently has experienced countless illegal Turkish overflights,
not to mention the last few years, must be thrilled.
Turkey needs to start acting like an ally; not a deceitful, pro-Putin ally.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the
country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is
taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 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.
Boris Johnson Has Partied His Way to a Midterm Thrashing
Therese Raphael/Bloomberg/May 04/2022
Britain’s Tories have been in power for a long time and incumbents generally get
a midterm beating. So, of course, Boris Johnson is expecting a slapdown in local
government elections on Thursday.
There are plenty of reasons for voters to deliver one. Historically, there is a
pretty strong correlation between confidence in the economy and governing
popularity. With inflation at a 30-year high and Britons feeling squeezed on all
fronts, polls show the economy is the biggest concern voters have right now,
well ahead of even health-care.
At least inflationary pressures are common to many other countries — and proving
a drag on Joe Biden’s own knife’s edge midterm prospects. But Johnson and his
Conservatives are carrying some added baggage. In what other legislature do you
have dozens of lawmakers — 56, according to a Sunday Times report, which is 8%
of the elected leaders making rules for the country — being investigated for
sexual misconduct, including several cabinet ministers? Not all are Tory MPs,
but there is plenty to give Tory voters pause. For voters who can keep up, this
looks like heaps more evidence of an entitlement culture that is resented even
more in leaner times.
Last month, Tory MP Imran Ahman Kahn was convicted of sexually assaulting a
15-year-old boy in 2008. Last week, Tory MP Neil Parish admitted to watching
porn on his mobile phone in the House of Commons in a “moment of madness,” but
only after two female MPs complained. Both men have resigned, leaving two
by-elections ahead. A dozen female Conservative MPs and plenty of Westminster
journalists have, meanwhile, shared tales of everything from misogynistic
attitudes to harassment within the party and parliament more broadly. Not even
Donald Trump’s mores-defying White House quite compares.
That makes for a pretty awkward election backdrop. Johnson’s government, and
parliamentary leaders such as Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, are trying to find the
appropriate response. It shouldn’t be rocket science. Having a proper
human-resources department in parliament – instead of MPs employing staff
directly and party “whips” acting as both enforcers of discipline and trying to
play a pastoral role – would help. A 2019 independent inquiry suggested as much.
But change in parliament comes at a glacial pace. While half of Labour MPs are
female, only a quarter of Conservatives are.
How all these factors will play out in Thursday’s vote will be difficult to
untangle, however. More than 6,000 councilors in 200 local authorities will be
selected in England, Wales and Scotland, but while all the councils in Scotland
and Wales (where the last local election was held in 2017) are up for grabs,
only 144 of England’s 333 councils have elections and in many of them only a
third of the seats are being contested.
Such midterm votes tend to track the popularity of the major parties but there
are also local factors, from garbage collection and school places to the
popularity of individual candidates (or in the case of Northern Ireland,
divisions over governance and the direction of the union with Great Britain),
that matter. The Liberal Democrats generally do better in local elections than
in national elections and Greens would also be expected to do better. But it’s
difficult to extrapolate from their showing.
In London, Labour already controls 21 of the 32 councils, and the Tories are
only defending seven councils. That doesn’t mean the Tories won’t suffer, either
from absolute losses or by losing key councils. As polling expert John Curtice
told Bloomberg radio last week, a Tory loss in London’s Wandsworth Council –
which has been held by the Tories since 1978 and pursued a Thatcherite agenda of
low taxes and gentrification – would be a major symbolic defeat.
While the invasion of Ukraine, and Johnson’s close support for Ukrainian
President Volodymir Zelenskiy, has helped blunt some criticism, the long-term
impact of the partygate scandal is to undermine trust in government; an erosion
that’s difficult to reverse. And there will be more to come. The full report
into the breaking of lockdown rules by government officials is likely to be
withering about the culture of exceptionalism.
How voters will respond to the latest sleaze revelations and allegations of
misogyny is harder to gauge. While partygate is ultimately about trust and
fairness, the latest reports, disclosures and convictions speak to expectations
of public officials and to some extent reflect wide societal issues, which
became more evident in the aftermath of the gruesome 2021 murder of Londoner
Sarah Everard by a police officer. The party that has been in power since 2010
bears some responsibility for that culture, even if such problems long predate
it.
The Tories have set expectations for this vote so low that anything short of a
total wipeout will be spun as a victory of sorts. Losses will be accepted as a
slice of humble pie and a raft of new measures announced. Until either the
Tories see a viable substitute for Johnson, or voters view Labour as an
acceptable government in waiting, danger isn’t imminent. But with inflation at a
high and parliamentary standards sinking to a new low, the pressure will just
keep building.
Iran likely to be left behind if ‘new world order’ emerges
Maria Maalouf/Arab News/May 04/2022
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei last week announced that “the world is on
the threshold of a new world order” and that Tehran would have a strong role in
creating it. This was the message the most senior cleric in Iran delivered to
students enrolled in Iranian universities. In the past, Khamenei has addressed
his remarks about the future of global politics to Iran’s Assembly of Experts.
This time, the audience was different.
According to Khamenei, there are many students who attend universities in
America who loathe the imperialist instincts of the US. He admonished his
audience to start getting in touch with these students to acquaint them with
Iran and to let them know about its true character and attributes away from what
he considered the bias of the Western media. He put emphasis on what he
considered to be the fact that Iran will be one of the leading countries in this
“new world order.” He was predicting that this rearrangement of international
politics would replace American influence. This is due to the fact that both
capitalism and Western influence are eroding and, consequently, the decline of
the US is inevitable.
This political prediction was made while Iran and the US are negotiating to
reach an agreement over the former’s nuclear program. The supreme leader also
said that America is becoming weaker day after day. And he established a nexus
between the rise of a new global order and the war in Ukraine. Again, he advised
the Iranian people to be ready for the emergence of this new world order. He
characterized it as moving toward multipolarity and away from the bipolar or
monopolar arrangements that have long dominated global politics.
However, Khamenei did not give details about the processes through which these
radical changes will take place. He did not specify the role Iran will play in
such a huge transformation of international politics. He did not list the losers
and winners of the decline of America.
The loss of America’s military power from the region does not necessarily
translate into an enhancement of Iran’s nuclear power. The US will retain a big
military prowess compared to Iran, which cannot afford to spend too much money
on its military. This comes at the expense of the welfare of the long-suffering
Iranian people. Any system of interstate relations depends on the big military
power that manages it. But Iran will not be able to overtake America’s military
power since the US is a formidable military nation. Incidentally, Khamenei did
not explain how the war between Russia and Ukraine will change the foundations
of international politics.
Perhaps Iran will try to engage with other countries in the world, especially
after the lifting of sanctions against it. But it could be rebuffed in its
attempt to increase the level of contacts it has with the outside world. Most
countries know that the Iranian state is a sponsor of terrorism. They are also
fully cognizant of the fact that Iran suppresses its people and that it is not a
democracy. Tehran cannot hide its terrible human rights record from the rest of
the world. If Iran is a case of a failed political regime, how can its foreign
policy be a catalyst for wholesale changes in relations among nations?
The loss of America’s military power from the region does not necessarily
translate into an enhancement of Iran’s nuclear power.
The world knows that Iran’s foreign policy has a peculiar goal, which is
regional dominance and the disruption of the coherent social and political
fabrics of many societies. One more time: How can it be a leader in
international circles when its diplomacy is based on the harming of other
states’ national interests?
Most likely, Iran will find it sufficient to be a member of diplomatic
gatherings such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which it is
currently an observer state. However, if China and Russia were to reject Iran’s
full membership bid, it would be a slap in the face for Tehran’s leaders. It
would send the message that, despite Iran talking about its pioneering role in
changing the direction of international relations, even the two nations that
support it most will not allow it to become a full member of an important
regional association of states. Iran cannot effect change in international
politics on the basis of an anti-American coalition of nations.Khamenei’s
statement made a prediction about the future of global politics. However, Iran
has nothing good or positive to contribute to an improved system of relations
between nations.
*Maria Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, publisher and writer. She
has a master’s degree in political sociology from the University of Lyon.
Twitter: @bilarakib