English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 16/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Peter, you will deny me Three times before the cock crows today
Luke 22/28-34:” You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ‘Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 15-16/2022
We will continue to be the voice for a free Lebanon/Guila Fakhoury/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Aoun, Miqati cast their votes in parliamentary elections
Hizbullah weapons at the heart of Lebanon's elections
Lebanon holds first parliament election since financial collapse, Beirut port blast
Voter turnout 37.52% across Lebanon at 6:30 pm
Miqati lauds 'victorious achievement' in elections as polls close
FPM, LF clash in Chekka as Hizbullah distances itself from Bekaa incidents
Shiite candidate Wassef al-Harakeh assaulted by Amal, Hizbullah supporters
LF says Bekaa clashes caused by Hizbullah 'excess of power'
Hizbullah's Qassem: We will accept the results no matter what they may be
Two LF supporters injured in clash with Shiite Duo in Kfarhouna
Aoun's daughter 'deceived' by FPM approach: who did she vote for?
In blast-hit Beirut, voters want new faces
Man gets arrested after insulting President Aoun at polling station
Grillo urging Lebanese to vote: 'your participation matters'
Mired in collapse, Lebanese vote for new parliament
Geagea urges for 'immediate return' of LF delegates expelled from Baalbek-Hermel towns
Osama Saad slams ‘sectarian duo’ as Saniora says entrusted with 'Hariri legacy'
Two soldiers wounded in armed attack in Akkar town
Crisis-hit Lebanon goes to polls but few expect major change
Hezbollah’s Oil Priorities After the Lebanese Legislative Election/Raghida Dergham/The National/May 15/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 15-16/2022
G7 Urge Tehran to Bring Successful Conclusion To Nuclear Talks
Filmmaker: Officials Arrest Iran Movie Industry Workers
World Leaders Pay Respects in UAE after Death of Sheikh Khalifa
Putin was ‘calm, cool’ when Finland informed him of application for NATO membership
Britain Says Russia Has Lost a Third of its Forces in Ukraine
Ukrainian Band Kalush Orchestra Wins Eurovision amid War
Biden Renews Support for Jordan’s Long-Running Role as Custodian of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque
Palestinian Gunman Dies Days after Clash with Israeli Troops
Suicide Bomber Kills 6, Gunmen Kill 2 Sikhs in NW Pakistan
Palestinian Gunman Dies Days after Clash with Israeli Troops
OPEC Authorizes Iraq to Increase Output to 4.5 Mln Bpd
New York suspect in racist shooting was detained for mental health check last year

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 15-16/2022
DANGER: The WHO's Death Trap for the US...Act Fast: They Vote Next Week/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/May 15/2022
“Loyalty to Allah” Prompted a Muslim Man to Murder a Coptic Christian/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/May 15/2022
There Are Two Endgames in Ukraine. Both Carry Big Risks./Ross Douthat/Asharq Al-Awsat/May, 15/2022
Good News for Syrians from Brussels/Charles Lister/Asharq Al-Awsat/May, 15/2022
Why is Iran taking more hostages?/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 15, 2022
Biden’s Ministry of Truth paints America’s new face/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/May 15, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on on May 15-16/2022
We will continue to be the voice for a free Lebanon.
Guila Fakhoury/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Lebanese people were beaten and harassed by Hezbollah and their allies while practicing their right to vote. Although Lebanon will not change as long as it is controlled by Hezbollah and Iran, we hope that the new government understands that sovereignty and change will not take place without disarming Hezbollah. We will continue to be the voice for a free Lebanon.

Aoun, Miqati cast their votes in parliamentary elections
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
President Michel Aoun cast Sunday his vote in Haret Hreik, urging all Lebanese to vote as he said that "the citizen cannot be impartial in the important issue of choosing the political system."Earlier, Prime Minister Najib Miqati had wished for a better tomorrow as he voted in his hometown Tripoli. Interior Minister Mawlawi also voted in Tripoli. "I urge all the citizens of Tripoli to vote for the best, boycotting is useless," he said. Mawlawi later said, as he inspected the polling stations in Keserwan, that some administrative problems are being addressed. "We are following up on all the polling stations," he added, assuring that "the security measures are very good."

Hizbullah weapons at the heart of Lebanon's elections
Associated Press/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
It was a sea of yellow as thousands of men, women and children waving Hizbullah flags and wearing the group's trademark yellow caps rallied on a giant plot of land in the ancient eastern city of Baalbek in support of the heavily armed militant group. One after another, many attendees vowed to vote for the Shiite Muslim Hizbullah and its allies, rejecting any attempt to disarm the powerful group. Despite a devastating economic collapse and multiple other crises gripping Lebanon — the culmination of decades of corruption and mismanagement — the deeply divisive issue of Hizbullah's weapons has been at the center of the vote for a new 128-member parliament. Disarming the group has dominated political campaigns among almost all of the group's opponents. Those include Western-backed mainstream political groups and independents who played a role in nationwide protests since the start of the economic meltdown in October 2019."This is the biggest misinformation campaign. Why? Because they are implementing America's policy against the resistance weapons," senior Hizbullah official Hussein Haj Hassan told The Associated Press on Friday ahead of the rally in Baalbek. Hizbullah was the only group officially allowed to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war because it was fighting Israeli forces occupying parts of south Lebanon. In 2000, Israel withdrew from Lebanon but Hizbullah and others in the small Mediterranean nation insisted its weapons were necessary to defend it against Israel, which has one of the strongest armies in the region.
Hizbullah has since fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw and after the start of the conflict in neighboring Syria the Iran-backed group sent thousands of fighters to fight alongside President Bashar Assad's forces helping him tip the balance of power in his favor.
Hizbullah's rivals say its weapons and its backing of regional forces such as Assad's and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have harmed Lebanon's relations with oil-rich Persian Gulf nations. Those nations have categorized the Lebanese group as a terrorist organization and withheld crucial financial support for the country. Haj Hassan, a legislator since 1996 and a Cabinet minister three times, said claims that Hizbullah is responsible for Lebanon's collapse were "a big lie.""They forgot the political system, economic system, corruption, the war in Syria and its effects on Lebanon and they forgot the American sanctions," he said at his home near Baalbek.
The bespectacled 62-year-old lost two brothers who fought for Hizbullah during Lebanon's civil war and a nephew in Syria. Hizbullah maintains its weapons are to defend Lebanon and not for internal use. But the group used them against rivals in May 2008 in the worst fighting at the time in many years. The Hizbullah offensive came after the government of then-Hizbullah opponent Fouad Saniora decided to dismantle the group's military telecommunications network. "No Lebanese group should have the right to be armed while other Lebanese are not," said Samy Gemayel, head of the right-wing Kataeb party, in comments to the local LBC station Friday night. The vote this year is the first after the economic collapse, described by the World Bank as one of the worst the world has witnessed in more than 150 years. It is also the first since the August 2020 blast at Beirut's port that killed more than 200, injured thousands and caused largescale damage in the capital. Three former Cabinet ministers allied with Hizbullah were charged in the port blast investigation but have refused to show up for questioning by the investigative judge. Hizbullah's leader has blasted the judge and called for his replacement, and the investigation has been suspended for months following legal challenges by politicians.Parliamentary elections are held once every four years and the last vote in 2018 gave a majority of seats to Hizbullah and its allies with 71 legislators.
As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese have been more openly critical of Hizbullah. They blame the group — along with the ruling class — for the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel.
Some expect its main Christian ally, the Free Patriotic Movement founded by President Michel Aoun, to lose seats. Others have expressed disappointment at Hizbullah's unshakable alliance with Nabih Berri, Lebanon's longtime parliament speaker seen by many as the godfather of Lebanon's corrupt sectarian-based and elite-dominated political system.
Still, a win by Hizbullah is not in doubt. The group has a solid base and masterfully maneuvers its alliances and the electoral system. Intimidation ensures no Shiite threat emerges: Three Shiite candidates allied with the Saudi-backed Lebanese Forces group withdrew from the race in the Baalbek region within days.
In a Shiite village in southern Lebanon, residents were attacked last month as they headed to attend a rally for candidates running against Hizbullah. Weapons were fired in the air to disrupt a gathering by a Shiite cleric running against the Hizbullah-led alliance in Baalbek.
Hizbullah was blamed for intimidating the Shiite candidates, a claim Haj Hassan denied. "They don't want opposition within the (Shiite) sect. This is clear," said Hilal Khashan, political science professor at the American University of Beirut. Khashan added that Hizbullah and its Shiite ally the Amal group of Berri are trying to maintain control of the 27 seats allocated for the sect. Little change is expected from the election as mainstream political parties and politicians remain strong while opposition candidates are fractured. Still, Western-backed mainstream parties are hoping to strip the parliamentary majority from Hizbullah, while many independents are hoping to break through traditional party lists and candidates.
The vote comes after a powerful Sunni leader, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, suspended his work in politics. Some have warned this may help Hizbullah's Sunni allies to win more seats. "I consider the ballot box as a line of defense for us," said nurse Hoda Falah during the rally in Baalbek. Falah said Hizbullah's weapons have defended eastern Lebanon from attacks by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked militants over the years. Top Hizbullah official Nabil Kaouk said in a speech last month that the elections will show that his group enjoys the most support in the small nation. He claimed that money flowing from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the U.S. to their "tools" in Lebanon will not change results."May 15 will prove that the American project to target the resistance is sterile and they will only harvest disappointments," Kaouk said.

Lebanon holds first parliament election since financial collapse, Beirut port blast
Reuters/May 15/2022
BEIRUT: Lebanese voted on Sunday in the first parliamentary election since the country’s economic collapse, with many saying they hoped to deal a blow to ruling politicians they blame for the crisis even if the odds of major change appear slim.
The election, the first since 2018, is seen as a test of whether the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies can preserve their parliamentary majority amid soaring poverty and anger at parties in power.
Since Lebanon last voted, the country has been rocked by an economic meltdown that the World Bank has blamed on the ruling class, and by a massive explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020.
But while analysts believe public anger could help reform-minded candidates win some seats, expectations are low for a big shift in the balance of power, with Lebanon’s sectarian political system skewed in favor of established parties.
“Lebanon deserves better,” said Nabil Chaya, 57, voting with his father in Beirut.
“It’s not my right it’s my duty — and I think it makes a difference. There’s been an awakening by the people. Too little too late? Maybe, but people feel change is necessary.”
Fadi Ramadan, a 35-year-old voting for the first time, said he wanted to give a “slap to the political system” by picking an independent.
“If the political system wins, but only just, I consider that I would have won,” said Ramadan, casting his vote in Beirut.
In southern Lebanon, a political stronghold for the Shiite Hezbollah movement, Rana Gharib said she had lost her money in Lebanon’s financial collapse, but was still voting for the group.
“We vote for an ideology, not for money,” said Gharib, a woman in her thirties who was casting her vote in the village of Yater, crediting Hezbollah for driving Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Polls are due to close at 7:00 p.m. (1600 GMT), with unofficial results expected overnight.
The economic meltdown has marked Lebanon’s most destabilizing crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, sinking the currency by more than 90 percent, plunging about three-quarters of the population into poverty, and freezing savers out of their bank deposits.
The last vote in 2018 saw Hezbollah and its allies — including President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a Christian party — win 71 out of parliament’s 128 seats.
Those results pulled Lebanon deeper into the orbit of Shiite Muslim-led Iran.
Hezbollah has said it expects few changes from the make-up of the current parliament, though its opponents — including the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces, another Christian group — say they hope to scoop up seats from the FPM.
Adding a note of uncertainty, a boycott by Sunni leader Saad Al-Hariri has left a vacuum that both Hezbollah allies and opponents are seeking to fill.
As the vote neared, watchdogs warned that candidates would purchase votes through food packages and fuel vouchers issued to families hit hard by the financial collapse.
Nationals over the age of 21 vote in their ancestral towns and villages, sometimes far from home.
The incoming parliament is expected to vote on long-delayed reforms required by the International Monetary Fund to unlock financial support to ease the crisis.
It is also due to elect a president to replace Aoun, whose term ends on Oct. 31.
Whatever the outcome, analysts say Lebanon could face a period of paralysis as factions barter over portfolios in a new power-sharing cabinet, a process that can take months.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a tycoon serving his third stint as premier, could be named to form the new government, sources from four factions have told Reuters.
Mikati said last week he was ready to return as premier if he was certain of a quick cabinet formation.

Voter turnout 37.52% across Lebanon at 6:30 pm
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Voter turnout in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections reached 37.52% across the country at 6:30 pm Sunday, the Interior Ministry said, with Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi describing it as a low turnout.
Polls officially closed at 7:00 pm but voters present inside the premises of some polling centers will be allowed to vote beyond that hour.
Below are the voter turnout percentages of every electoral district until 6:30 pm:
- Beirut I: 27.24%
- Beirut II: 31.15%
- Zahle: 28%
- Western Bekaa/Rashaya: 30.12%
- Baalbek/Hermel: 45.50%
- Jezzine/Sidon: 36.70%
- Tyre/Zahrani: 37.47%
- South III: 38.08%
- Akkar: 30.97%
- Tripoli/Minieh/Dinniyeh: 25.85%
- Koura/Batroun/Bsharri/Zgharta: 33.70%
- Jbeil/Keserwah: 50.11%
- Metn: 40.74%
- Baabda: 41.15%
- Chouf/Aley: 41.29%

Miqati lauds 'victorious achievement' in elections as polls close
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Prime Minister Najib Miqati described Sunday the elections as "an achievement to be proud of.""It is a victory for the Lebanese state," Miqati said as polls closed. Miqati added that the vote was marred by a low number of flaws that the team was able to solve.He expressed his satisfaction as he thanked all the employees who worked to achieve the elections with success, adding that "this is the Lebanon that we want.""We wish that the elections will produce a new cooperative Parliament that will pull Lebanon out of its crisis," Miqati concluded.

FPM, LF clash in Chekka as Hizbullah distances itself from Bekaa incidents
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Several elections-related clashes erupted Sunday afternoon in various areas of Lebanon. In the northern town of Chekka, a fistfight erupted between supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces as FPM chief Jebran Bassil’s convoy was passing in the town. According to MTV, batons and knives were used in the clash and three people were hospitalized as a result. In Zahle, a clash erupted between supporters of the LF and others who back Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, following several clashes in the Bekaa throughout the day in the Bekaa region. Hizbullah meanwhile issued a statement distancing itself from the violence. “What happened in Kneisseh was a clash between LF delegates and young men from the Zoaiter family and Hizbullah and its electoral campaign had nothing to do with it,” the statement said. “As for what happened in Zahle’s al-Maalaqa and Hawsh al-Omara, LF members assaulted delegates and voters from the Hope and Loyalty list in a bid to prevent them from entering polling stations, prompting them to defend themselves. “As for Beit Shama, Bednayel and Qsarnaba, the LF’s delegates withdrew from some polling stations due to a dispute with delegates from other lists, and a Hizbullah official returned them to the stations and provided them with the requirements that guarantee their freedom,” Hizbullah added.
Elsewhere, the army contained a clash that escalated into gunfire in Tripoli’s al-Tal.

Shiite candidate Wassef al-Harakeh assaulted by Amal, Hizbullah supporters
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Supporters of Amal and Hizbullah assaulted Sunday the Shiite candidate Wassef al-Harakeh at a polling station in Bourj al-Barajneh while calling him "Zionist". "How are you gonna represent a district where your are rejected," a man was heard saying in a video, addressing al Harakeh. The Army intervened to stop the attackers, while the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) condemned the assault. Wassef al-Harakeh, 51, is a Lebanese lawyer, political activist and a candidate for the Shiite seat in the third Mount Lebanon district for the Baabda - The Change list (Baabda al-Taghyeer).

LF says Bekaa clashes caused by Hizbullah 'excess of power'
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
The Lebanese Forces slammed Sunday a statement by Hizbullah in which it distanced itself from several elections-related clashes in the Bekaa region. "Their statement is denying proven facts that were captured on TVs and that people witnessed," the LF statement said. The statement went on to deny that LF members had assaulted delegates and voters from the Hope and Loyalty list in a bid to prevent them from entering polling stations. The LF claimed that a member of Hizbullah tried to enter the polling station with his arm and he reacted as the security forces prohibited him from entering the station. "The reason of the dispute is the excess of power that Hizbullah is practicing in all the districts where the party prevails," the statement said. The statement considered that the elections presented "a white image" in most Lebanese districts and a dark image in the districts dominated by Hizbullah. LF chief Samir Geagea had said earlier today that delegates of the LF-backed list had been expelled from the towns of Riha and Knaissein in the Baalbek-Hermel region. The Bekaa region had witnessed several elections-related attacks and shootings in recent weeks that were targeted against LF-allied candidates. Many candidates had also announced their withdrawal from the LF-backed list.

Hizbullah's Qassem: We will accept the results no matter what they may be
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Sunday that his party will accept the results no matter what they may be. Qassem added, after voting in Bashoura in Beirut, that Hizbullah will extend its hands to everyone for the sake of Lebanon's rise. "I urge everyone to vote, so that their choice will be present," Qassem went on to say.

Two LF supporters injured in clash with Shiite Duo in Kfarhouna
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Two Lebanese Forces supporters have been wounded in a dispute between the Shiite Duo and the LF in the town of Kfarhouna in the Jezzine District. The Red cross arrived in the town to treat the wounded, as the army intervened immediately to stop the clash. Meanwhile in Zahle, delegates from Hizbullah and young men from Zahle also clashed in front of the Elias Hrawi Governmental Hospital. Several people were injured during the clash. A Shiite candidate has also been attacked in Jbeil, media reports said. Attackers sabotaged the candidate's car, as he was heading to cast his vote.

Aoun's daughter 'deceived' by FPM approach: who did she vote for?
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
President Michel Aoun's daughter Claudine Aoun Roukoz, did not give her preferential vote to her brother-in-law Jebran Bassil on Sunday. Aoun said, in a tweet, that she gave her preferential vote to an independent candidate on the Free Patriotic Movement list. "My vote today represents my voice," Aoun said. "The voice of a Lebanese woman who believes in the values of General Michel Aoun, but at the same time it is the voice of a Aounist woman who has been deceived by the approach of the Free Patriotic Movement," she added. Aoun accused some traditional political parties of lack of morality, populism, and of being "destructive" to the other instead of presenting a constructive approach that carries a clear program in their electoral campaigns. "Their hateful approach reminded me of their war crimes, which is not reassuring," Aoun said. She wished luck for the independent candidates on different lists, citing her husband Chamel Roukoz and other independent candidates like Mark Daou, Omar Harfoush, Najat Saliba, Jean Franjieh and others.

In blast-hit Beirut, voters want new faces
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
After voting in Lebanon's elections Sunday, Beirut blast survivor Nessrin hoped the ink on her finger would be a toe in the door of parliament for new candidates fighting corruption. The capital's Karantina district where she cast her ballot was one of the worst hit by the August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people, wounded thousands and devastated swathes of the city. "My heart is consumed by all this destruction, all this blood and my children's future," the 40-year-old said as she exited the polling site, next door to a fire station adorned with pictures of the 10 firefighters killed in the blast. "If the elections can achieve even five percent change, it'll be a first step."Some 3.9 million Lebanese were eligible to vote in the first legislative elections since multiple crises have dragged the small country to the brink of becoming a failed state. The portside blast, considered the largest non-nuclear explosion in modern history, was widely blamed on negligence and corruption by the ruling political elite. Nobody has yet been held accountable, nor have any leaders faced court for the financial mismanagement that led the state to default two years ago and plunged four out of five Lebanese into poverty. Opposition candidates are running who emerged from a large anti-establishment protest movement in 2019. But few voters expect them to deliver major change to a system that has been dominated by traditional sectarian parties for decades."This political class is corrupt," said Nessrin, who was voting for only the second time in her life. "It's such a shame that people are voting them back in."
Now or never? -
Prime Minister Najib Miqati is the country's richest man, President Michel Aoun is the world's third oldest head of state, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has held his job since 1992. Hizbullah, which gets its funding and weapons from Iran, dominates parliament and has consistently obstructed an independent investigation into the blast. "I came out to vote today for young and independent candidates because I reject everything to do with traditional and sectarian parties," said Aran Donarian, 23, whose family home was damaged by the port explosion. "Voting will not change anything today but it will in the long term," he said, adding that he was "excited" nonetheless to be casting his ballot for the first time. The flat of another voter, 38-year-old artist Shadi, in the nearby Gemmayzeh district, was destroyed and his parents wounded when the blast ripped through Beirut. On Sunday he chose to dip his middle finger in the bottle of electoral ink in a sign of defiance. "These elections are first and foremost a means of rooting out this political class and getting back our Lebanon," he said. Independent candidates have struggled to unite but are hoping to score better than the single seat achieved in the 2018 polls. Observers have warned that an electoral system rigged in favor of the country's political barons, widespread vote-buying and other corrupt practices would rule out any seismic change. The campaign has revealed widespread fatigue in an electorate numbed by the hardships of an unprecedented economic crisis. In the shadow of Beirut port's explosion-gutted grain silos however, many young Lebanese were keen to exercise what they feel is one of the few rights they have left. "It's now or never," said Lea Ghorayeb, a young architect. "Voting is all we have -- if we don't vote today, we'll relive this ordeal for another four years."

Man gets arrested after insulting President Aoun at polling station
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
A Young man was arrested Sunday in Haret Hreik after he addressed insults to President Michel Aoun. Charbel Tahoumi was seen in a video dragged by Army members as they arrested him. Aoun had arrived at the polling station to cast his vote in the parliamentary elections.

Grillo urging Lebanese to vote: 'your participation matters'
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo urged Sunday the Lebanese to vote for those who will defend their rights & aspirations in Parliament."My Lebanese friends, on this election day that is important for the future of your country, you have the opportunity to vote for those who will represent you in Parliament, and they will have to defend your rights and aspirations to build the Lebanon you want," Grillo said. "Your participation matters," she added.

Mired in collapse, Lebanese vote for new parliament
Associated Press/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Lebanese voted for a new parliament Sunday against the backdrop of an economic meltdown that is transforming the country and low expectations that the election would significantly alter the political landscape.A new crop of candidates from the 2019 protest movement are running against the country's entrenched ruling class that is blamed for the collapse, hoping to unseat them. But they are divided and lack the money, experience and other advantages held by traditional political rulers.People began casting their ballots shortly after the polls opened at 7am under the watchful eye of security forces that have  fanned out across the country. Sunday's vote is the first since Lebanon's implosion started in October 2019, triggering widespread anti-government protests. It is also the first election since the massive August 2020 explosion at Beirut's port that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed parts of Lebanon's capital. The blast, widely blamed on negligence, was set off by hundreds of tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate that ignited in a port warehouse after a fire broke out at the facility. Sunday's voting is seen as a last chance to reverse course and punish the current crop of politicians, most of whom derive their power from Lebanon's sectarian political system and spoils taken at the end of its 15-year civil war in 1990. But expectations for real change were low amid skepticism and widespread resignation that the vote was sure to bring back the same powerful political parties.
"I did what I can do and I know the situation will not change 180 degrees," said Rabah Abbas, 74, after casting his ballot in Beirut. He fears the vote is only symbolic and that Lebanon will be stuck again in post-election political bickering over the formation of a new government and electing a new president in October. "We will hit a wall again. Lebanon is a hopeless case," he said, echoing common sentiment. Polls close at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) and official results were expected Monday. The extent of Lebanon's collapse was on full display Sunday. In the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's most impoverished city, several polling stations were without electricity and voters had to climb several flights of stairs to cast their ballots. Voters were seen using the light from their mobile phones to check names and lists before casting their ballot. Mirvat Dimashkieh, 55, a housewife, said she is voting for change and for the "new faces" running, adding that longtime politicians should step aside.
"They should give a chance to others. Enough theft," she said.
Mainstream political parties and politicians remained strong going into the vote, while opposition figures and civil society activists hoping to unseat them are fractured. Lebanese parties have long relied on a system that encourages voters to cast ballots in return for favors and individual benefits.
Money flowed, with political parties offering cash bribes, sandwiches, transportation and other favors to voters. Since the meltdown began, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, the Lebanese pound has shed most more than 90% of its value and many have left the country seeking opportunities abroad. Three quarters of the country's 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, now live in poverty. The World Bank has described Lebanon's collapse as one of the world's worst in the past 150 years. Some 718 candidates on 103 lists are running for seats in the 128-member parliament. The vote is held once every four years. In 2018, voters gave the powerful Hizbullah and its allies the majority with 71 seats.Lebanon has more than 3.5 million eligible voters, many of whom will cast their ballots in its 15 electoral districts. Western-backed mainstream parties are hoping to strip the parliamentary majority from Hizbullah, while many independents are hoping to break through traditional party lists and candidates. Reflecting the tensions, fistfights broke out between Hizbullah supporters and those of the Lebanese Forces party, which has been among the most vocal critics of the Iran-armed group.
The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) said its delegates were forced to withdraw from two polling stations following threats by Hizbullah supporters and their allies of the Amal Reflecting the tensions, fistfights broke out between Hezbollah supporters and those of the Saudi-backed Christian Lebanese Forces party, which has been among the most vocal critics of the Iran-armed group. The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections said its delegates were forced to withdraw from two polling stations following threats by Hezbollah supporters and their allies of the Amal Movement. The vote this year comes as the main Sunni political leader, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, suspended his work in politics and called for a Sunni boycott. Some have warned this may help Hizbullah's Sunni allies to win more seats.
In a sign of how political allegiances often take precedent in Lebanon, Qassim Shtouni, 71, drove all the way from his village in southern Lebanon to Beirut to vote. He said he chose an alliance consisting of several mainstream groups including Hizbullah, President Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Sitting on a plastic chair outside a polling station, Shtouni said the main reason he voted for a Hizbullah-led alliance is "because my vote will be against normalization with Israel." He noted recent agreements between Israel and Gulf Arab countries. "The elections in Lebanon today are not local elections. They are international elections," he said, referring to the political battle between Iran-backed groups and pro-West factions. After the election results are out, the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati will become a caretaker Cabinet until the president calls for consultations with the new parliament members, who will choose the next premier. The new parliament will also elect a new head of state after President Michel Aoun's six-year term expires at the end of October. Lebanon's parliament and Cabinet seats are equally divided between Muslims and Christians under the constitution that was drafted shortly before the civil war ended.

Geagea urges for 'immediate return' of LF delegates expelled from Baalbek-Hermel towns
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
The delegates of the Lebanese Forces-backed list have been expelled Sunday from the towns of Riha and Knaissein in the Baalbek-Hermel region, LF chief Samir Geagead said in a tweet. The tweet was addressed to Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.
Geagea urged them to "immediately" return the LF delegates to the polling stations of Riha and Knaissei. He also asked Miqati and Mawlawi to arrest those who have assaulted the delegates. Earlier this week, the LF had filed complaints against Hizbullah, accusing the rival party of practicing “psychological and sectarian incitement and hostile mobilization” in the Baalbek-Hermel electoral district. The region had witnessed several elections-related attacks and shootings in recent weeks that were targeted against LF-allied candidates. Many candidates had also announced their withdrawal from the LF-backed list.

Osama Saad slams ‘sectarian duo’ as Saniora says entrusted with 'Hariri legacy'
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
MP Osama Saad on Sunday launched an unprecedented verbal attack on Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, his former allies in the southern city of Sidon. “The ‘sectarian duo’ has issued a fatwa aimed at defeating me in Sidon and electoral money is being paid,” Saad said as he voted in Sidon. Saad had distanced himself from the two Shiite parties in the wake of the October 17 uprising which he strongly supported. Ex-PM Fouad Saniora also cast his vote in Sidon. “I consider myself one of those entrusted with the legacy of Martyr Rafik Hariri and what I'm doing will eventually contribute to restoring respect for this legacy,” Saniora said while voting. He is backing an electoral list in Beirut’s second district and several candidates across Lebanon despite a decision by ex-PM Saad Hariri to boycott the polls and withdraw from political life. Voter turnout was meanwhile high on Sunday morning in Beirut's second district according to TV networks.

Two soldiers wounded in armed attack in Akkar town
Naharnet/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Two soldiers were injured Sunday in an armed attack in the Akkar area of Dahr Nassar, in an incident whose motives remain unknown until the moment. “A patrol from the Intelligence Directorate arrested the citizen Y. M. for opening fire from an assault weapon at the military post in the Dahr Nassar area and wounding two soldiers,” an army statement said. “The post’s guards responded in kind, which resulted in the wounding of the shooter, while the used assault weapon and its ammunition were seized,” the statement added, noting that a probe got underway under the supervision of the competent judicial authorities.

Crisis-hit Lebanon goes to polls but few expect major change
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Lebanon held its first election Sunday since a painful economic crisis dragged it to the brink of becoming a failed state, a major test for new opposition groups bent on ousting the ruling elite. But few observers expected a seismic shift, with all levers of political power firmly in the hands of traditional sectarian parties and an electoral system seen as rigged in their favor. Lebanon shares power among its religious communities, and politics is often treated as a family business. By convention, the president is a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker a Shiite. "We tried this current political class before, and now is the time to bring in new faces," said 28-year-old Beirut voter Nayla after casting her ballot. A new generation of independent candidates hopes to kindle the kind of change that a 2019 protest movement failed to deliver, and looked likely to do better than the single assembly seat they clinched last time. But most of parliament's 128 seats are expected to remain in the grip of the entrenched groups blamed for the country's woes -- chiefly the economic downturn that is the worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Turnout in the election was low, with only about 25 percent of registered voters casting their ballots by 3:00 pm, according to the interior ministry. "It seems almost impossible to imagine Lebanon voting for more of the same," said Sam Heller, an analyst with the Century Foundation. "And yet that appears to be the likeliest outcome."
- Years of crisis -
Lebanon's crisis has been so severe that more than 80 percent of the population is now considered poor by the United Nations, with the most desperate increasingly attempting perilous boat crossings to flee to Europe. The Lebanese pound has lost 95 percent of its value, people's savings are blocked in banks, the minimum wage won't buy a tank of petrol and mains electricity comes on only two hours a day. Deepening the country's woes, much of the capital was devastated by the deadly August 2020 explosion of volatile chemicals that had been left for years in a portside warehouse, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded. Top political barons have stalled an investigation into the disaster, and legal proceedings against the Central Bank governor over alleged financial crimes are equally floundering. Lebanon, once described as the Switzerland of the Middle East, ranked second-to-last behind Afghanistan in the latest World Happiness Index released in March. The army deployed across the country Sunday to secure the election, which Lebanon's international donors have stressed is a prerequisite for financial aid crucial to rescue it from bankruptcy.
After an underwhelming campaign stifled by the all-consuming economic turmoil, voting was only disrupted by minor incidents in some polling stations.
'Getting back our Lebanon' -
Despite government assurances that polling stations would have power on election day, local media reported blackouts in some centres. Videos shared online showed people sporting their candidate's colours and shepherding voters into polling booths, continuing a decades-old trend of vote buying.
At one candidate's rally in the northern city of Tripoli, some well-wishers disappointed by the lack of cash handouts made off with the plastic chairs. The outgoing parliament was dominated by the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah and its two main allies, the Shiite Amal party of speaker Nabih Berri, who has held the job since 1992, and President Michel Aoun's Christian Free Patriotic Movement. One of the most notable changes in the electoral landscape is the absence of former prime minister Saad Hariri, which leaves parts of the Sunni vote up for grabs by new players. For many voters, the election was a chance to vent their anger at the entire ruling elite. "These elections are first and foremost a means of rooting out this political class and getting back our Lebanon," said Shadi, a 38-year-old whose flat was destroyed in the port explosion.Like many others who posted pictures on social media Sunday, he chose to dip his middle figure in the bottle of electoral blue ink after casting his ballot.

Hezbollah’s Oil Priorities After the Lebanese Legislative Election
Raghida Dergham/The National/May 15/2022
Recent remarks by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah regarding the Lebanese legislative election carried several dangerous messages. Not only did he caricaturize the democratic process and citizens’ right to select the path and identity of their country including a demand for the state to monopolize arms, but also pledged Hezbollah would block the extraction of Lebanon’s oil and gas unless it proceeds on its own terms, declaring this a priority for the ‘resistance’.
This post-electoral ‘central priority’, as described by Hezbollah-leaning newspaper Al-Akhbar, is part of a “new approach to negotiating with the IMF and donor countries”. Nasrallah’s message is that “the resistance stands ready to protect any decision by Lebanon to bring in international companies to carry out [oil and gas] exploration”, which Nasrallah described as a bold decision, issuing warnings not just to Israel but also international companies intending to operate in the region.
In other words, Hezbollah’s weapons are primed for being used either to cut a deal with Israel to share and oil and gas resources, or for being used against Israel if Hezbollah – and its ally Amal in the ‘Shia Duo’ – decides the terms of the deal are not to its liking.
This one of the key issues that will emerge following the elections, which requires persistent popular pressure for accountability beyond the ballot boxes. Hezbollah’s project is to expand the powers of its mini-state to take control of all levers of the Lebanese Republic. It seeks to leverage its weapons and the ‘resistance’ discourse as instruments in the Iranian-Israeli equation, which will be steered by the course of US-Iranian negotiations either in the direction of war or peace.
Hezbollah’s priorities are not Lebanese, but Iranian. Nasrallah’s threats against those who want to disarm his group was only a prelude to what he intends to do with these weapons to seize national resources represented in Lebanon’s hydrocarbon potential.
Nasrallah’s talk of partnership and non-exclusion is just rhetoric, as long as he talks to the Lebanese in the logic of weapons and resistance, instead of the logic of the state’s sovereign right to negotiate to secure Lebanon’s rights with international entities and corporations – on condition of holding the state accountable to avoid the usual corruption. Only then can Nasrallah convince us he is ready for a national partnership, and that he has stopped mortgaging Lebanon to the decisions and priorities of the IRGC in Tehran.
Tehran will not compromise its Hezbollah card, no matter how many accords it strikes with Washington if efforts to revive the JCPOA and strike a grand bargain with Biden succeed. Hezbollah has gifted Lebanon to Iran as an arena for confronting Israel in future proxy wars, and as a platform to send Iranian messages to Israel, the US, and Europe when needed. Hezbollah is a priceless card for the IRGC, not only given Lebanon’s strategic importance and position on the border with Israel, but also because Hezbollah has become a sharp blade ready to execute the IRGC’s orders in the Arab countries.
The Biden administration and the European governments are responsible for whatever outcome their talks with Tehran will have in terms of Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon and beyond. Indeed, they are practically negotiating with the IRGC, notwithstanding all other pretences. The Biden administration fully understands that the IRGC will not abandon its regional ambitions, and that Hezbollah is the region’s leading militia armed with an arsenal of rocketry. If Washington fulfils Tehran’s conditions for a nuclear deal, the Biden administration and the European governments would be endorsing Hezbollah’s domination of the Lebanese Republic, turning all of Lebanon into an annex of the ‘resistance’, irrespective of empty statements about elections and the democratic process.
The Lebanese who have felt enthusiasm for the elections on Sunday to express their dissatisfaction with the ruling corrupt establishment and the dominance of Hezbollah, must not consider that change will begin and end in the ballot boxes.
Change is a difficult process that requires perseverance. The post-election period will require a serious strategy to counter the schemes to efface Lebanon’s sovereignty and continue the deliberate impoverishment of the people with the aim of subjugating them. Voting is a starting point towards accountability but is the beginning not the end of the road. And the road is long and winding, because the greedy and corrupt ruling establishment is not going to concede its privileges.
The Gulf Arab states which are seeking better relations with Iran, are naturally focusing in their covert and overt talks on security issues in their homelands and the Gulf. At the same time, these states hold the Lebanese themselves responsible for Hezbollah’s seizure of power and its actions that undermine the security of their countries.
True, the Lebanese are responsible for telling Hezbollah its policies are not their choice, as long as its priorities are decided in Iran and as long as it tries to impose a non-Arab identity on the Lebanese. But the Gulf countries engaging Iran in talks are also responsible for not raising the issue of Hezbollah. Through this omission, they are repeating the sin of the Biden administration and the European powers, agreeing to exclude Iran’s regional behavior from the nuclear talks, fearing for the fate of negotiations.
The so-called international community, moreover, which claims to be keen on preserving Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty, must not satisfy themselves with merely observing on the Lebanese ruling politicians’ human rights violations, by impoverishing the people and destroying the national economy, while overconfident of being above accountability.
Indeed, it suffices not in the least that the UN envoy on extreme poverty Olivier De Schutter published a report accusing the Lebanese government and Central Bank of violating human rights by destroying the economy. The report must go to the UN Human Rights Council to take further action. The international community, from the UN to the World Bank and the IMF, know well who in Lebanon will block the preliminary $3 billion aid package conditioned on 8 key reforms. They know well who is preventing reforms and who is resisting the IMF’s conditions. They also know who disrupted the investigation into the crime against humanity and the Lebanese at the Beirut Port, which exploded on 4 August 2020 in the faces of the civilian population, and know of the Lebanese officials’ cover-up of this crime.
Equally important, in light of the marked enthusiasm among Lebanese voters to express their anger against the authorities and Hezbollah’s performance and disregard for the people, the homeland, and sovereignty, a radical review of the methods of protest must be undertaken beyond casting votes. There is a need to activate local, regional, and international options through a calculated strategy to accumulate legal, economic, and political gains. This should be part of a clear mechanism and time frame. Only this way can change be engineered, through a systematic approach rather than a transient emotional outburst.
What is needed is persistence, determination, and insistence on accountability, with a clear presentation of the Lebanese tragedy and human rights violations at international tribunals and forums. No matter the outcome of the election, its meanings will remain fragmented unless a necessary scrutiny is applied to the schemes to replace national sovereignty with ‘resistance’ and its weapons. Indeed, these will seek to subjugate the entire Lebanese people, and turn their national resources into bargaining chips with international energy companies, Israel, and for the sake of Iranian-Israeli equations.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 15-16/2022
G7 Urge Tehran to Bring Successful Conclusion To Nuclear Talks
Wangles (Germany) - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
The G7 group of nations urged on Saturday Iran to benefit from the current opportunity and facilitate the nuclear talks, which have been veering between success and failure for months now. “It is high time for Iran to seize the opportunity and bring negotiations which started in Vienna more than eleven months ago to a successful conclusion,” said the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and the High Representative of the European Union following a meeting in the German city of Wangles. Their statement came after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Friday he had "reopened" negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal based on the outcome of the talks that took place the day before between the EU's coordinator for Iranian nuclear negotiations, Enrique Mora, and Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri. “We are committed to ensuring that Iran will never develop a nuclear weapon and we reaffirm our support for a restoration and full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA),” the G7 ministers said. They also stressed that a diplomatic solution remains the best way to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, supporting the continued efforts to achieve the full restoration of the JCPoA. “We urge Iran to refrain from further escalations of its nuclear activities. Escalations carried out over the last 18 months are very serious developments and a matter of deep concern,” the G7 statement said. The ministers then expressed strong support for the crucial verification and monitoring mandate of the IAEA. They also reasserted their serious concerns about Iran’s destabilizing activities in and around the Middle East. “This includes activities related to ballistic and cruise missiles, including transfer of missile and missile technology, and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles and conventional arms to state and non-state actors,” the G7 ministers said. Following Borrell’s announcement that he had "reopened" negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said Friday that the US and the EU have missed the opportunity to benefit from Tehran's proven goodwill in the Vienna talks on the revival of the JCPOA. In a post on his Twitter account, Shamkhani said the Vienna talks have reached a stage where the knot can only be untied through the adherence of the violator party to Iran's logical and principled approaches. In the past few days, the US had repeatedly announced that talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal are now in the Iranian playground. Negotiations that began a year ago in Vienna between Tehran and major powers to re-launch the 2015 agreement have been on hold since March.

Filmmaker: Officials Arrest Iran Movie Industry Workers
Asharq Al-Awsat/ Sunday, 15 May, 2022
An award-wining Iranian filmmaker said authorities raided the offices and homes of several filmmakers and other industry professionals and arrested some of them. Mohammad Rasoulof said in a statement signed by dozens of movie industry professionals on his Instagram account late Saturday that security forces made some arrests and confiscated film production equipment during raids conducted in recent days. The statement condemned the actions and called them "illegal."In a separate Instagram post, Rasoulof identified two of the detained filmmakers as Firouzeh Khosravani and Mina Keshavarz. Rasoulof was not targeted in the recent raids. Iranian media and authorities have not commented on the raids and no additional details were immediately available. Authorities in Iran occasionally arrest activists in cultural fields over alleged security violations. Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film "There Is No Evil." It tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under tyranny. Shortly after receiving the award he was sentenced to a year in prison for three films he made that authorities found to be "propaganda against the system." His lawyer appealed the sentence. He was also banned from making films and traveling abroad. Iran’s conservative authorities, many with religious sensibilities, control all the levers of power in Iran. They have long viewed many cultural activities as part of a "soft war" by the West against Iran. They say Westernization is attempting to tarnish the country’s Islamic beliefs.

World Leaders Pay Respects in UAE after Death of Sheikh Khalifa
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
World leaders began descending on the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to offer condolences on the death of President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was succeeded by his half-brother Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Sheikh Mohammed, now ruler of Abu Dhabi emirate, steered the Gulf state, an OPEC oil producer and regional business hub, for years before being elected the UAE's third president by a federal supreme council on Saturday. French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds lucrative business and military ties with the UAE, arrived in Abu Dhabi and in a Twitter post paid tribute to Sheikh Khalifa's "values of peace, openness and dialogue".Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq also traveled to the UAE to offer his condolences. The president of Israel, with which the UAE forged ties two years ago in a major realignment of the Middle East, drawing Palestinian ire, was also due on Sunday as was the Palestinian president and Britain's prime minister. US President Joe Biden will be represented by Vice President Kamila Harris, due to visit on Monday. Several Arab leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, came on Saturday to pay respects. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had telephoned Sheikh Mohammed to congratulate him on his election. The Kingdom has sent a delegation to the UAE. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, brother to the Emir of Qatar, was also in Abu Dhabi to offer his condolences. Other dignitaries who flew in to the UAE included Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah, Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Iraqi Prime Minister Muatfa al-Kadhimi, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Prime Minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani, Sudan's Sovereign Council Chairman Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Algeria's Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane, the Syrian President's Representative, Mansour Azzam, Tunisia's President Kais Saied, and Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

Putin was ‘calm, cool’ when Finland informed him of application for NATO membership
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/15 May ,2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin was “calm and cool” when informed of Finland’s decision to apply for NATO membership, the Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told CNN on Sunday. “Actually, the surprise was that he took it so calmly. But in security policy, especially talking with Russia, you have to keep in mind that what he said doesn't mean that you shouldn't be all the time quite well aware,” Niinisto told CNN in an interview. He added: “But so far, it seems that there's no immediate problems coming.”The Finnish President said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine showed that Moscow was ready to attack an independent neighboring country. However, while Niinisto doesn’t believe that Russia could attack Finland now or in the future, he said that the “divided political landscape of Europe and the world does not leave much room for the non-aligned.”Finland, which remained militarily non-aligned for 75 years, shares a 1,300 kilometer border with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly warned of consequences if Helsinki joins NATO. The Kremlin said on Saturday that Putin saw Finland’s NATO membership as a “mistake.”Finland and Sweden are expected to obtain NATO membership as Russia’s war on Ukraine changed the strategy of the typically neutral countries, prompting them to seek security by joining the Western military alliance.

Britain Says Russia Has Lost a Third of its Forces in Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Russia has probably lost around a third of the ground forces it deployed to Ukraine and its offensive in the Donbas region "has lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule", British military intelligence said on Sunday. "Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition," the British defense ministry said on Twitter. "Russia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February."It said Russia was unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine's military has forced Russia's commanders to abandon an advance on the capital Kyiv, before making rapid gains in the northeast and driving them away from the second biggest city of Kharkiv. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has been under way near the Russian-held town of Izium, though Ukraine's military reported on Sunday that Russian forces were advancing elsewhere in the Donbas region, the main theater of war over the past month.

Ukrainian Band Kalush Orchestra Wins Eurovision amid War
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest, a clear show of popular support for the group's war-ravaged nation that went beyond music. The band and its song “Stefania” beat 24 other performers early Sunday in the grand final of the competition. The public vote from home, via text message or the Eurovision app, proved decisive, lifting them above British Tik Tok star Sam Ryder, who led after the national juries in 40 countries cast their votes, The Associated Press said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the victory, Ukraine's third since its 2003 Eurovision debut. He said “we will do our best” to host next year's contest in the devastated port city of Mariupol, which is almost completely occupied by Russian forces.In describing the city, Zelenskyy e underlined “Ukrainian Mariupol,” adding: “free, peaceful, rebuilt!”"I am sure our victorious chord in the battle with the enemy is not far off,'' Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram messaging app. Kalush Orchestra's front man, Oleh Psiuk, took advantage of the enormous global audience, last year numbering more than 180 million, to make impassioned plea to free fighters still trapped beneath a sprawling steel plant in Mariupol following their performance. “Help Azovstal, right now,″ Psiuk implored from beneath a bright bucket hat that has become the band’s trademark among fans. He later told a news conference that people can help by “spreading information, talking out this, reaching out to governments to help.”
The 439 fan votes is the highest number of televote points ever received in a Eurovision contest, now in its 66th year. Psiuk thanked the Ukrainian diaspora and “and everyone around the world who voted for Ukraine. ... The victory is very important to Ukraine. Especially this year.”
“Stefania” was penned by Psiuk as a tribute to his mother, but since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion it has become an anthem to the motherland, with lyrics that pledge: “I’ll always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed."Kalush Orchestra itself is a cultural project that includes folklore experts and mixes traditional folk melodies and contemporary hip hop in a purposeful defense of Ukrainian culture. That has become an even more salient point as Russia through its invasion has sought falsely to assert that Ukraine's culture is not unique. “We are here to show that Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian music are alive, and they have their own and very special signature,'' Psuik told journalists.
The plea to free the remaining Ukrainian fighters trapped beneath the Azovstal plant by Russians served as a somber reminder that the hugely popular and at times flamboyant Eurovision song contest was being played out against the backdrop of a war on Europe’s eastern flank.
The Azov battalion, which is among the plant's last 1,000 defenders, sent their thanks from the warren of tunnels beneath the plant, posting on Telegram: “Thank you to Kalush Orchestra for your support! Glory to Ukraine!”The city itself has been the site of some of the worst destruction of the 2 1/2-month war, as Russia seeks to secure a land bridge between separatist-controlled Donbas and Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. The six-member, all-male band received special permission to leave the country to represent Ukraine and Ukrainian culture at the music contest. One of the original members stayed to fight, and the others will be back in Ukraine in two days, when their temporary exit permit expires.
Before traveling to Italy, Psiuk was running a volunteer organization he set up early in the war that uses social media to help find transportation and shelter for people in need. “It is hard to say what I am going to do, because this is the first time I win Eurovision,'' Psuik said. ”Like every Ukrainian, I am ready to fight and go until the end."While the support for Ukraine in the song contest was ultimately overwhelming, the contest remained wide open until the final popular votes were tallied. And war or not, fans from Spain, Britain and elsewhere entering the PalaOlimpico venue from throughout Europe were rooting for their own country to win. Still, Ukrainian music fan Iryna Lasiy said she felt global support for her country in the war and “not only for the music.”Russia was excluded this year after its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, a move organizers said was meant to keep politics out of the contest that promotes diversity and friendship among nations. Back in Ukraine, in the battered northeastern city of Kharkiv, Kalush Orchestra’s participation in Eurovision is seen as giving the nation another platform to garner international support. “The whole country is rising, everyone in the world supports us. This is extremely nice,″ said Julia Vashenko, a 29-year-old teacher. “I believe that wherever there is Ukraine now and there is an opportunity to talk about the war, we need to talk,″ said Alexandra Konovalova, a 23-year-old make-up artist in Kharkiv. “Any competitions are important now, because of them more people learn about what is happening now.”Ukrainians in Italy also were using the Eurovision event as a backdrop to a flashmob this week to appeal for help for Mariupol. About 30 Ukrainians gathered in a bar in Milan to watch the broadcast, many wearing a bright bucket hat like the one Psiuk sports, in support of the band.
“We are so happy he called on helping to save the people in Mariupol,'' said lawyer Zoia Stankovska during the show. “Oh, this victory brings so much hope."
The winner takes home a glass microphone trophy and a potential career boost — although Kalush Orchestra's first concern is peace. The event was hosted by Italy after local rock band Maneskin won last year in Rotterdam. The victory shot the Rome-based band to international fame, opening for the Rolling Stones and appearing on Saturday Night Live and numerous magazine covers in their typically genderless costume code. Twenty bands were chosen in two semifinals this week, and were competing along with the Big Five of Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Spain, which have permanent berths due to their financial support of the contest. Ukrainian commentator Timur Miroshnichenko, who does the live voiceover for Ukraine’s broadcast of Eurovision, was participating from a basement in an undisclosed location, rather than from his usual TV studio. “On the fifth or fourth day of the war, they shot our TV tower in Kyiv,” he said. To keep broadcasting, “we had to move underground somewhere in Ukraine.”Showing Eurovision in Ukraine was important, online and on TV, he said. “This year, I think it’s more symbolic than ever,” Miroshnichenko said. Ukraine was able to participate in the music contest “thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the resistance of our people,” he said.

Biden Renews Support for Jordan’s Long-Running Role as Custodian of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque
Washington - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
US President Joe Biden renewed on Friday his country’s support for Jordan's crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy sites, particularly Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. Biden met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington on Friday amid tensions in the Palestinian Territories where clashes erupted in recent weeks at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The situation worsened this week with the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a dual Palestinian-American national, when she was covering Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank area of Jenin. King Abdullah's visit to Washington is his second since Biden came to office. He was accompanied by his wife, Queen Rania, and his eldest son, Crown Prince Hussein. In a statement following the meeting, the White House said Biden reaffirmed the close and enduring nature of the friendship between the United States and Jordan.
“Biden cited the need to preserve the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif and he also recognized the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem,” the White House statement said. It added that both leaders consulted on recent events in the region and discussed urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric and reduce tensions in Israel and the West Bank. The leaders then discussed the political and economic benefits of further regional integration in infrastructure, energy, water, and climate projects, with Jordan a critical hub for such cooperation and investment. “Jordan is a critical ally and force for stability in the Middle East,” Biden stressed. Before his meeting with Biden, King Abdullah II met with a number of officials from the US administration and several congressmen. On Thursday, he sat down with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, where the King warned against the continuous cycle of violence in the Palestinian Territories, especially in light of unilateral Israeli measures, stressing that the repercussions would be damaging to regional security and stability. For his part, Austin expressed his country’s concern over the latest escalation and violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, commending the King’s "critical role" in de-escalating tensions, and noting that the US looks to work with Jordan towards security, stability and just peace for the Palestinians and the Israelis. Biden is expected to visit the region late next month, where he will meet in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. The Biden administration had announced its support for a “sovereign and democratic” Palestinian state. Biden had previously announced plans to reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem. Former President Donald Trump closed the Jerusalem consulate and placed its staff within the US Embassy to Israel that was moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in 2018.

Palestinian Gunman Dies Days after Clash with Israeli Troops
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
A Palestinian gunman who is the brother of a prominent Palestinian militant died Sunday after being critically wounded in clashes with Israeli forces, according to the Israeli hospital where he was being treated. Daoud Zubeidi was wounded in clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. Zubeidi is the brother of Zakaria Zubeidi, a jailed Palestinian militant who briefly became one of Israel’s most wanted fugitives after tunneling out of a high-security prison last year. He was eventually caught and returned to prison. Police said a 47-year-old member of a special Israeli commando unit was killed in those clashes. Daoud Zubeidi was taken to Israel's Rambam hospital where he was sedated and on a respirator and where his death was pronounced Sunday. Israel has been carrying out raids in Jenin and other parts of the West Bank for weeks following a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that have killed nearly 20 people. More than 30 Palestinians have been killed, most of them involved in attacks or clashes with the military. An unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed and rights groups say Israel often uses excessive force. It was during the raids in Jenin on Wednesday that well-known Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed after being shot in the head. The Palestinians, including fellow journalists who were with her, say she was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military says there was an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen at the time, and it's unclear who fired the fatal bullet. Abu Akleh was laid to rest Friday in Jerusalem in a mass funeral in which Israeli police pushed and beat mourners and pallbearers. Israeli police said they would conduct an investigation into the incident. Abu Akleh's death and the shocking scenes from her funeral drew condemnations from around the globe and calls for an investigation into her killing. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has said there was a "considerable chance" that Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian gunmen, said Sunday he stood behind the soldiers operating in Jenin. "The state of Israel does not place any limits on the struggle against terrorism," he told a meeting of his Cabinet. "We will continue in all the necessary actions to grant security to Israeli citizens."

Suicide Bomber Kills 6, Gunmen Kill 2 Sikhs in NW Pakistan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
A suicide bombing near a security forces vehicle killed three soldiers and three children in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, while gunmen shot dead two minority Sikhs in Peshawar, officials said Sunday. A military statement said the suicide bomber triggered his explosives-laden vest near a vehicle on security patrol in a village near the town of Mir Ali in the tribal district of North Waziristan, The Associated Press said. The attack killed two soldiers in the vehicle on the spot and wounded another. Three children playing alongside the road were critically wounded. All of the wounded were rushed to a hospital in a helicopter but none survived, the statement said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The military said security forces and intelligence officials were combing the area searching for the bomber's handlers. The region has served as a safe haven for local and foreign militants for years. The military carried out a massive operation after militants attacked an army-run school in Peshawar in 2014 that left over 150 dead, mostly school children. Also on Sunday, police officer Ejaz Khan said gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire on two members of the minority Sikh community in a bazaar in the Peshawar suburb of Sarband. Khan said Ranjit Singh, 38, and Kanwal Jeet Singh were shot multiple times as they were setting up their spices shop in the Batta Tal bazaar Sunday. The attackers fled the scene. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police were investigating but Khan said it appeared the two Sikhs were targeted because of their ethnicity. Sikhs are a tiny minority in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and have been targeted by militants in the past. Meanwhile, Pakistani health authorities documented the third case of polio of the year in the country in the city of Miran Shah in North Waziristan. Dr. Mohammad Shahzad, the coordinator and spokesperson for the country's anti-polio program, said the deadly virus was detected in a 1-year-old boy. Last year, just one case was reported in the country.

Palestinian Gunman Dies Days after Clash with Israeli Troops
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
A Palestinian gunman who is the brother of a prominent Palestinian militant died Sunday after being critically wounded in clashes with Israeli forces, according to the Israeli hospital where he was being treated. Daoud Zubeidi was wounded in clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. Zubeidi is the brother of Zakaria Zubeidi, a jailed Palestinian militant who briefly became one of Israel’s most wanted fugitives after tunneling out of a high-security prison last year. He was eventually caught and returned to prison. Police said a 47-year-old member of a special Israeli commando unit was killed in those clashes. Daoud Zubeidi was taken to Israel's Rambam hospital where he was sedated and on a respirator and where his death was pronounced Sunday. Israel has been carrying out raids in Jenin and other parts of the West Bank for weeks following a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that have killed nearly 20 people. More than 30 Palestinians have been killed, most of them involved in attacks or clashes with the military. An unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed and rights groups say Israel often uses excessive force.
It was during the raids in Jenin on Wednesday that well-known Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed after being shot in the head. The Palestinians, including fellow journalists who were with her, say she was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military says there was an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen at the time, and it's unclear who fired the fatal bullet. Abu Akleh was laid to rest Friday in Jerusalem in a mass funeral in which Israeli police pushed and beat mourners and pallbearers. Israeli police said they would conduct an investigation into the incident. Abu Akleh's death and the shocking scenes from her funeral drew condemnations from around the globe and calls for an investigation into her killing. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has said there was a "considerable chance" that Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian gunmen, said Sunday he stood behind the soldiers operating in Jenin. "The state of Israel does not place any limits on the struggle against terrorism," he told a meeting of his Cabinet. "We will continue in all the necessary actions to grant security to Israeli citizens."

OPEC Authorizes Iraq to Increase Output to 4.5 Mln Bpd
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 15 May, 2022
Iraq’s representative at OPEC said the organization had agreed to the country increasing its output to 4.5 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) starting from June, the state news agency (INA) reported on Saturday. There will be further increases of 50,000 bpd in output in each of the months July, August and September, INA added, citing Muhammad Saadoun’s statements. Iraq pumped 4.43 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April, 16,000 bpd above its OPEC+ quota for that month, according to data from state-owned marketer SOMO seen by Reuters on May 11.
Iraq’s March production was impacted by field outages in the south, pushing its output 222,000 bpd below the production ceiling for that month. Like several other OPEC members, Iraq has struggled to pump more oil at a time of already tight global supply and soaring prices.Almost half the global shortfall in planned oil supply by OPEC and its allies – a grouping known as OPEC+ – is down to Nigeria and Angola, due to several factors including the exit by Western oil majors from African projects. OPEC+ produced 1.45 million barrels per day (bpd) below its production targets in March, as Russian output began to decline following sanctions imposed by the West, a report from the producer alliance seen by Reuters showed. Russia produced about 300,000 bpd below its target in March at 10.018 million bpd, based on secondary sources, the report showed. OPEC+ compliance with the production cuts rose to 157 percent in March, from 132 percent in February, the data showed, the highest since the group introduced record production cuts of about 10 million bpd in May 2020 to counter the impact of the pandemic on demand. OPEC+ agreed last month to another modest monthly oil output boost of 432,000 bpd for May, resisting pressure by major consumers to pump more. As the group unwinds production cuts, several producers, namely West African countries struggling with under-investment and an exodus of international energy companies, are failing to keep up. At its meeting last month, OPEC+ also ditched the Paris-based IEA as one of its secondary sources, replacing it with consultancies Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy. Oil prices rose about 4 percent on Friday as US gasoline prices jumped to a record high, China looked ready to ease pandemic restrictions and investors worried supplies will tighten if the European Union bans Russian oil. Brent futures rose $4.10, or 3.8 percent, to settle at $111.55 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $4.36, or 4.1 percent, to settle at $110.49. US gasoline futures soared to an all-time high after stockpiles fell last week for a sixth straight week. That boosted the gasoline crack spread - a measure of refining profit margins - to its highest since it hit a record in April 2020 when WTI finished in negative territory. Oil prices have been volatile, supported by worries a possible EU ban on Russian oil could tighten supplies but pressured by fears that a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic could cut global demand. This week, Moscow slapped sanctions on several European energy companies.In China, authorities pledged to support the economy and city officials said Shanghai would start to ease coronavirus traffic restrictions and open shops this month.

New York suspect in racist shooting was detained for mental health check last year
Reuters/15 May ,2022
A white teenager who fatally shot 10 people in a racist attack at a New York grocery store in a Black neighborhood had been taken into custody and given a mental health evaluation a year ago, but was released after roughly a day, authorities said on Sunday.
The suspect, Payton Gendron, 18, surrendered to police on Saturday at the Buffalo, New York, grocery store after what authorities called an act of “racially motivated violent extremism.” He apparently publicized a racist manifesto on the internet.
“The evidence that we have uncovered so far makes no mistake this is an absolute racist hate crime that will be prosecuted as a hate crime,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters on Sunday. Eleven people struck by gunfire were Black and two were white, officials said. The racial breakdown of the dead was not made clear. Gramaglia told reporters that Gendron had been taken into custody and given a mental evaluation over a day and a half last June but was released. While he did not provide additional details, New York State police said in a statement on Sunday that they had been called to a high school in Gendron's hometown of Conklin, New York, near the Pennsylvania border, on June 8, 2021, in response to a 17-year-old student making a threatening statement. Without identifying Gendron, police said the student was taken into custody and given a mental health evaluation at a hospital. He was not charged criminally.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told ABC News on Sunday that an investigation would focus on what could have been done to stop Gendron, since he had advertised his views online and had been on authorities' radar. “I want to know what people knew and when they knew it,” she said.
The Buffalo shooting follows other racially motivated mass murders in recent years, including a Pittsburgh synagogue attack that left 11 dead in October 2018, and the Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021 in which a white man killed eight people, targeting Asians. Authorities said Gendron drove to Buffalo from his home several hours away to launch the attack, which he broadcast in real time on social media platform Twitch, a live video service owned by Amazon.com. He then opened fire at the Tops grocery store using a gun that he legally purchased but had illegally modified a high-capacity magazine, Hochul said. On Sunday, several dozen community members held an emotional vigil for the victims outside the store, where Sharon Doyle, a 55-year-old security guard with Erie County Public Library, led a chant of “Black Lives Matter, my life matters.”“We all go in this Tops. I was scared to even go to Walmart last night,” Doyle said. “I have to go to work tomorrow and I’m terrified.”Nearby, at the True Bethel Baptist Church, a reverend led a mournful service for a large crowd of worshipers, including some family of the victims and some who had been at the store at the time of the shooting. One was Charles Everhart Sr., 65, whose grandson Zaire Goodman, 20, worked at the store. Goodman was shot in the neck but survived. “He was pushing the carts back to the store and he was one of the first to get hit,” Everhart said.
Racist manifesto
A 180-page manifesto circulating online on Saturday, believed to have been authored by Gendron, outlined “The Great Replacement Theory” - a racist conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced by minorities in the US and other countries.Another document circulating online that appeared to have been written by Gendron sketched out a to-do list for the attack, including cleaning the gun and testing the livestream. A spokesperson for the Erie County district attorney's office declined to comment on the documents. Hochul told reporters she was dismayed that the suspect managed to live-stream his attack on social media, which she blamed for hosting a “feeding frenzy” of violent extremist ideology. “These outlets must be more vigilant in monitoring social media content,” she said.Social media and streaming platforms like Twitch, which said it removed the stream after less than two minutes, have grappled with controlling violent and extremist content for years. “The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content,” a Twitch spokesperson said. Gendron was arraigned hours after the shooting in state court on first-degree murder charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole, said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn. Gendron entered a plea of not guilty and is scheduled to return to court on May 19. He was on suicide watch and isolated from other incarcerated individuals on Sunday, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said. Stephen Belongia, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's Buffalo field office, said the attack would be investigated both as a hate crime and as an act of “racially motivated violent extremism” under federal law. US President Joe Biden decried the shooting as “abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation” in a statement on Saturday.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 15-16/2022
DANGER: The WHO's Death Trap for the US...Act Fast: They Vote Next Week
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/May 15/2022
This is a plan that Congress and the public need to fight vigorously.
The Biden administration, it appears, unless stopped immediately, is tee-ing up America to make it easy for the Chinese Communist Party to defeat it, and other nations, through biological warfare.
"On May 22-28, 2022, ultimate control over America's healthcare system, and hence its national sovereignty, will be delivered for a vote to the World Health Organization's governing legislative body, the World Health Assembly (WHA)." — Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, America Out Loud, May 4, 2022.
"This threat is contained in new amendments to WHO's International Health Regulations, proposed by the Biden administration, that are scheduled as 'Provisional agenda item 16.2' at the upcoming conference on May 22-28, 2022." — Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, America Out Loud, May 4, 2022.
"These amendments will empower WHO's Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation. The Director-General will be able to declare these health crises based merely on his personal opinion or consideration that there is a potential or possible threat to other nations." — Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, America Out Loud, May 4, 2022.
"The targeted nation is also required to send WHO any relevant genetic sequence data." — Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, America Out Loud, May 4, 2022.
"Under the new regulations, WHO will not be required to consult with the identified nation beforehand to "verify" the event before taking action." — Dr. Peter Breggin and Ginger Ross Breggin, America Out Loud, May 4, 2022.
Unfortunately, this "next pandemic" is neither far off nor a hypothetical "conspiracy theory." According to multiple credible reports from the U.S. Department of State, to the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, China has been preparing for bio-warfare using pathogens for more than six years.
A WHO with expanded authority is a terrifying concept. Can you envision providing an international organization with the power to dictate how the U.S. should respond to a future pandemic? Perhaps by forcing the U.S. to turn over supplies and equipment to China because of its larger population? How about an international organization that would have the power to mandate whether we should be required to be vaccinated with a particular vaccine, say China's inferior SINOVAC vaccine? Or imagine a WHO that has the power to impose what mandates or lockdowns a country would be required to impose, say like China's current lockdown of Shanghai? Unfortunately, the WHO already has proven itself to be a willing organ of China's Communist leaders. Providing it with international, legal binding authority over global pandemic response must never be allowed to happen.
A World Health Organization with expanded authority is a terrifying concept. Can you envision providing an international organization with the power to dictate how the U.S. should respond to a future pandemic? The WHO already has proven itself to be a willing organ of China's Communist leaders. Providing it with international, legal binding authority over global pandemic response must never be allowed to happen. Pictured: WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pays a visit to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on January 28, 2020.
The Biden administration, it appears, unless stopped immediately, is tee-ing up America to make it easy for the Chinese Communist Party to defeat it, and other nations, through biological warfare.
The World Health Organization (WHO), the organization that has unhesitatingly been doing China's bidding during the COVID pandemic, is reportedly now planning to orchestrate a massive new power grab to internationally control the response to any future global pandemic. The plan is apparently to make the health of Americans dependent on the whims of China -- which is both actively seeking to displace the US as the world's leading superpower and has for years been working on new means of bio-warfare.
It is a plan that is being voted on next week: Congress and the American public need to fight vigorously -- and FAST.
On May 4, a meticulous report, Biden Handing Over U.S. Sovereignty to WHO by Peter Breggin MD and Ginger Ross Breggin, raised an alarm. On May 2-28, 2022, the Biden Administration has proposed amendments to the WHO that "will empower WHO's Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation."
The danger is that China, according to reports, has actively been working on gene-splicing and globally collecting DNA with an eye to developing new lethal viruses that could be used for bio-warfare. They would be able target people who are genetically not Chinese, while bypassing people who genetically are Chinese. China expert Gordon Chang recently warned:
For at least a half‑decade, maybe a little bit longer, Chinese military researchers have been openly writing about a new type of biological warfare. This was, for instance, in the 2017 edition of "The Science of Military Strategy," the authoritative publication of China's National Defense University.
"They talk about a new type of biological warfare of "specific ethnic genetic attacks." In other words, pathogens that will leave the Chinese immune but sicken and kill everybody else, which means that the next disease from China can be a civilization killer....
A lot of military analysts talk about how the first seconds of a war with China are going to be fought in outer space. They are going to blind our satellites, take them down, do all sorts of stuff. Those statements are wrong.
The first day of war against the United States occurs about six months earlier, when they release pathogens in the United States. Then we are going to have that day in space. The war starts here, with a pathogen ‑‑ a virus, a microbe, a bug of some kind. That is where it begins.
The Biden administration's amendment will make the US legally obligated by international treaty to follow whatever the WHO decides. According to the Breggins:
On May 22-28, 2022, ultimate control over America's healthcare system, and hence its national sovereignty, will be delivered for a vote to the World Health Organization's governing legislative body, the World Health Assembly (WHA).
This threat is contained in new amendments to WHO's International Health Regulations, proposed by the Biden administration, that are scheduled as "Provisional agenda item 16.2" at the upcoming conference on May 22-28, 2022.
These amendments will empower WHO's Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation. The Director-General will be able to declare these health crises based merely on his personal opinion or consideration that there is a potential or possible threat to other nations.
If passed, the Biden Administration's proposed amendments will, by their very existence and their intention, drastically compromise the independence and the sovereignty of the United States. The same threat looms over all the U.N.'s 193 member nations, all of whom belong WHO and represent 99.44% of the world population....
These regulations are a "binding instrument of international law entered into force on 15 June 2007." U.N. members states can be required by law to obey or acquiesce to them....
The targeted nation is also required to send WHO any relevant genetic sequence data.
Worse:
The contents of the proposed amendments were not made public until April 12, 2022, leaving little time to protest before the scheduled vote.
The amendments would give WHO the right to take important steps to collaborate with other nations and other organizations worldwide to deal with any nation's alleged health crisis, even against its stated wishes. The power to declare health emergencies is a potential tool to shame, intimidate, and dominate nations. It can be used to justify ostracism and economic or financial actions against the targeted nation by other nations aligned with WHO or who wish to harm and control the accused nation.
In addition:
The sweeping new powers will be invested in the Director-General of WHO to act on his own. The Director-General is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, commonly known as Tedros. Tedros, the first non-physician director-general of WHO, is an extremely controversial Marxist activist and politician from Ethiopia installed by the Chinese Communist Party.
And:
Under the new regulations, WHO will not be required to consult with the identified nation beforehand to "verify" the event before taking action.
In 2020, the Trump administration initiated pulling the U.S. out of the WHO because of its wretched track record during the COVID pandemic. It was slow to identify the threat of COVID, and differential to the wishes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its messaging about COVID despite questions from Taiwan about the human-to-human transmissibility of the virus, which the CCP was falsely denying and the WHO simply ignored. The WHO was also unable to convince the CCP for the need for greater transparency, or even allow an open discussion about the origins of the virus. Early on, the WHO embraced the CCP narrative that the virus had developed naturally, and attacked any mention that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
Memories of how the global community responded to the pandemic are still fresh in everyone's mind. Many members of the diplomatic corps in the Netherlands, at the time, acknowledged the poor record of the WHO but believed that pulling out of the WHO during the pandemic would be a mistake. They also believed an after-action review of the WHO would have to wait until the pandemic was under control; then there could be accountability and reform for this failed organization.
Boy, were they wrong. As the pandemic is now waning, instead of an accountability review, the WHO and member states are envisioning a massive expansion of its role as an international organization to control the planet during the next pandemic.
Unfortunately, this "next pandemic" is neither far off nor a hypothetical "conspiracy theory." According to multiple credible reports from the U.S. Department of State, to the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, China has been preparing for bio-warfare using pathogens for more than six years.
The United Nations has been furthering this scheme. According to the Breggins:
On January 26, 2022, the same U. S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva sent a one-page memo to WHO confirming that the amendments had been sent. It also contained a brief report by the same Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs HHS. Most importantly, the memo listed all the nations backing the U.S. amendments. The size and power of the group guarantee that the amendments will be passed if unopposed by significant outside pressure.
Here are the 20 nations, plus the European Union, listed by the U.S. as supporting the amendments:
Albania, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Japan, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Member States of the European Union (EU).
The European Union, a globalist organization, has been among the biggest backers of increasing WHO"s global power.
China has, for years, been "collecting the DNA of foreigners while prohibiting Chinese DNA to foreign researchers," according to Chang. He added that the country's behavior of collecting the DNA of foreigners while prohibiting Chinese DNA to foreign researchers supports this theory.
"We've got to be extremely concerned because that is not consistent with a country that wants to cooperate with the rest of the world. That is consistent with a country developing biological weapons," he cautioned.
"People have said biological weapons don't work. Well, we do know they work because we had the coronavirus, which may or may not have been a biological weapon," Chang clarified, "but we do know that it crippled the United States and that's what Beijing is really looking for.
Unfortunately, the evidence is overwhelming. On May 7, 2021, journalist Sharri Markson disclosed in The Australian that:
Chinese military scientists discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining their ideas in a document that predicted a third world war would be fought with biological weapons.
The document, written by People's Liberation Army scientists and senior Chinese public health officials in 2015, was obtained by the US State Department as it conducted an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, The Weekend Australian has confirmed.
The Australian added: "Robert Potter, a digital forensics specialist who has worked for the US, Australian and Canadian governments, and has previously analysed leaked Chinese government documents, verified the ­authenticity of the document,"
Despite its obvious failures and kowtowing to the Chinese Communist Party, there are nevertheless those -- one can only imagine why -- who apparently see a WHO ruled by China as capable of assuming this global role.
These countries have sought to expand the authorities of the WHO to include legally binding requirements on all nations, a financial structure that will stabilize its position, and the ability to establish tools, norms, and protocols internationally for the next pandemic. This is how the WHO, and some member states, see the future of the WHO -- an untransparent, unaccountable international organization able to establish by edict how the world and nations must respond to future health crises.
Countries regrettably embracing this call include the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, as well as the head of the European Union. Although it does not seem logical, these countries -- apart from the UK which by now should know better -- have historically put unfounded faith in the success and primacy of international organizations. The refrain often offered in diplomatic circles when discussing failed international organizations is "better together." Better to be talking in the confines of failed or failing international organizations than to fight for reform, which might require pulling out of them to create the type of pressure that would force change. Many countries promised to join the U.S. in fighting to reform the WHO once the pandemic ended. They are now fighting to expand its authority -- with no reform.
A WHO with expanded authority is a terrifying concept. Can you envision providing an international organization with the power to dictate how the U.S. should responds to a future pandemic? Perhaps by forcing the U.S. to turn over supplies and equipment to China because of its larger population? Especially at a time when reports are that China is working on a virus that is even more lethal? How about an international organization that would have the power to mandate whether we should be required to be vaccinated with a particular vaccine, say China's inferior SINOVAC vaccine? Or imagine a WHO that has the power to impose what mandates or lockdowns a country would be required to impose, say like China's current lockdown of Shanghai? Unfortunately, the WHO already has proven itself to be a willing organ of China's Communist leaders. Providing it with international, legal binding authority over global pandemic response must never be allowed to happen. No country should ever give away its potential right to survival to any other country. We are seeing now how this cavalier abdication of sovereign, national responsibility is playing out with the world's betrayal of Ukraine, which gave up its nuclear arsenal in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 in exchange for fake promises -- from countries including Russia -- that its borders and sovereignty would be protected and secure.
The WHO, unaccountable for its performance, is not the kind of authority we as Americans should want to see in an untransparent, unaccountable organization, especially one that appears beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. Even now, in just one year, 2021, the CCP has murdered at least 64,000 Americans by the fentanyl poison it sends into the US through America's open border with Mexico. What better way to cripple a country, especially the U.S, than to arrange for it to be unable to defend itself?
This November, American citizens will be able to hold our elected officials accountable for their performances during the COVID pandemic. Voters in all states will be able to hold their elected officials accountable.
Imagine the lack of accountability if elected officials could simply respond by saying, "those were the requirements of the WHO; we had to follow them."
We already hear state and local officials identifying federal officials and the CDC as being responsible for the decisions they made. We should want to clearly understand who is responsible and accountable. And it should not be -- ever -- an international organization of anonymous, faceless bureaucrats over whom we have no control.
The WHO is opportunistically using the COVID pandemic to try to expand its reach and authority. The closing remarks of WHO's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the December meeting of the World Health Assembly, were: "We are one humanity. We have one planet. We have one health. And we have one WHO. Your WHO."
Congress and the Biden Administration should not succumb to this latest siren song for globalism -- or any other, frankly. America works best when it leads within the international community, not when it cedes national authority to untransparent, unaccountable organizations, particularly those which have shown that they have China's -- not America's -- best interests at heart.
*Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors.
© 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.

“Loyalty to Allah” Prompted a Muslim Man to Murder a Coptic Christian
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/May 15/2022
The Muslim murderer of a Coptic man in Egypt said he was moved to the act, not because he personally knew the Christian, but because he was inflamed with zeal, especially after reading the Koran, and because he is “loyal to Allah.”
In late April—a few days after another Muslim man slaughtered a Coptic Christian priest—three masked men pulled up in their vehicle near the workshop of Rani Ra’fat, a 28-year-old engineer, in the town of al-Daba in Egypt’s north-western coastal Marsa Matrouh area (near Libyan borders). Once the Copt appeared, a hail of fire was opened on him; he died on the spot; 22 bullets were found in his body. His killers then fled the scene.
On May 13, a man claiming to be the murderer, made a brief video, in which he beams a great smile and congratulates himself for his deed. He identified himself as Faisal Abdul Nasser, said that he did not know his victim, but that he had heard that the Christian man, a “polytheist,” was “involved” with a Muslim woman, which is forbidden in Islam.
Translated excerpts from the video follow:
I am the one who killed that Christian of al-Daba, and—by Allah, by Allah, by Allah—I am delighted that I killed him! I killed him on behalf of Muhammad’s umma [i.e., the Muslim world], because he is a polytheist who associates another [Christ] with Allah, and his own Bible confirms this…. No Christian polytheist, who doesn’t believe in our lord, Muhammad, can just come and profane our women! He is a polytheist and my heart was inflamed. I had read the Koran and my heart was inflamed with fire, so I killed him. He is not permitted to touch someone [a woman] who believes in Muhammad the messenger of Allah… I neither knew him [personally] nor the women he was reportedly involved with. However, when I read the Koran, my heart was set afire. I am zealous over and sacrifice for Islam. I have no problem surrendering myself [to the police]. This is a state issue: It is not permissible for a Christian who associates others with Allah to be involved with a Muslim woman…No one incited me to do this, only my heart—because I am loyal to Allah.
While Islam permits Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women, the reverse—a non-Muslim man marrying a Muslim woman—is forbidden. Because Islamic culture is ultra-patriarchal, the logic behind this dichotomy holds that, since the man has authority over the woman, it matters little if the woman is not a Muslim; after all, their relationship only confirms that “infidels” are subservient to Muslims. On the other hand, if the man is not a Muslim, but the woman is, then that marriage would lead to an “infidel” having authority over a Muslim—which is totally unacceptable.
Commenting on the recent video release by the murderer, Coptic lawyer Romani Michel, said:
Unfortunately, the legacies, the hatred, the extremist thoughts, and the unenlightened mentality is not limited to the town of al-Daba alone, but has spread and penetrated all around us, including in some governmental departments and security agencies. This was evident when the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorists governed [Egypt under former president Muhammad Morsi]. Then, we saw even police grow their beards and call for the implementation of hudud [draconian sharia] laws. After President al-Sisi came, some of them disappeared, while others shaved their beards. But the thinking remains as rotten as ever; and so we suffer, and will continue to suffer.”
Validating these dismal observations is the fact that it has been two days since Faisal Abdul Nasser offered this public confession, and police—who have supposedly been “investigating” this case for over three weeks—have yet to apprehend him.

There Are Two Endgames in Ukraine. Both Carry Big Risks.
Ross Douthat/Asharq Al-Awsat/May, 15/2022
Last week brought a little clarity to the fog of the Ukraine war: The significant date of May 9, the celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Hitler’s Germany, came and went with no change of Russian strategy.
When Vladimir Putin came out to inspect the military parades and intercontinental ballistic missiles, there was neither a declaration of pseudovictory nor an announcement of escalation that would have put all Russia on a war footing and begun mass conscriptions for the front. More of the same, then, seems to be the Russian plan — meaning a continuation of the grinding war in Ukraine’s south and east, with the goal of regime change essentially abandoned in favor of the goal of holding territory that might eventually be integrated into the Russian Federation.
From the American perspective, this looks like strategic vindication. Despite some reckless braggadocio about our role in taking down Russian targets, we have steadily escalated our support for Ukraine — including the $40 billion package that will probably clear the Senate next week — without provoking reckless escalation from Russia in response. The risk that a proxy war would encourage Moscow to climb the ladder toward a larger conflict has been manifest in the constant saber-rattling on Russian state TV — but not, thus far, in the actual choices of the Kremlin. Putin obviously doesn’t like our armaments flowing into Ukraine, but he appears willing to fight the war on these terms rather than gambling at more existential stakes.
Our success, however, yields new strategic dilemmas. Two scenarios loom for the next six months of war. In the first, Russia and Ukraine trade territory in small increments, and the war gradually cools into a “frozen conflict” in a style familiar from other wars in Russia’s near abroad.
Under those circumstances, any lasting peace deal would probably require conceding Russian control over some conquered territory, in Crimea and the Donbas, if not the land bridge now mostly held by Russian forces in between. This would hand Moscow a clear reward for its aggression, notwithstanding everything else that Russia has lost in the course of its invasion. And depending on how much territory was ceded, it would leave Ukraine mutilated and weakened, notwithstanding its military success.
So such a deal might seem unacceptable in Kyiv, Washington or both. But then the alternative — a permanent stalemate that’s always poised for a return to low-grade war — would also leave Ukraine mutilated and weakened, reliant on streams of Western money and military equipment, and less able to confidently rebuild.
And already, the pro-Ukraine united front in the United States is fracturing a little over the sheer scale of what we’re sending. So it’s not clear that either the Biden administration or the Zelensky government would be wise to invest in a long-term strategy for a frozen conflict that requires sustained bipartisan support — and perhaps soon enough the backing of a Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis administration.
There is another scenario, however, in which this dilemma diminishes because the stalemate breaks in Ukraine’s favor. This is the future that the Ukrainian military claims is within reach — where with sufficient military aid and hardware they are able to turn their modest counteroffensives into major ones and push the Russians back not just to prewar lines but potentially out of Ukrainian territory entirely.
Clearly, this is the future America should want — except for the extremely important caveat that it’s also the future where Russian nuclear escalation suddenly becomes much more likely than it is right now.
We know that Russian military doctrine envisions using tactical nuclear weapons defensively, to turn the tide in a losing war. We should assume that Putin and his circle regard total defeat in Ukraine as a regime-threatening scenario. Combine those realities with a world where the Russians are suddenly being routed, their territorial gains evaporating, and you have the most nuclear-shadowed military situation since our naval blockade of Cuba in 1962.
I’ve been turning over these dilemmas since I moderated a recent panel at the Catholic University of America with three right-of-center foreign policy thinkers — Elbridge Colby, Rebeccah Heinrichs and Jakub Grygiel. On the wisdom of our support for Ukraine up till now, the panel was basically united. On the question of the war’s endgame and the nuclear peril, however, you could see our challenges distilled — with Grygiel emphasizing the importance of Ukraine’s recovering territory in the east and along the Black Sea coastline in order to be plausibly self-sufficient in the future, but then the more hawkish Heinrichs and the more cautious Colby sparring over what our posture should be in the event that rapid Ukrainian advances are met with a Russian tactical nuclear strike.
That question isn’t the one immediately before us; it will only become an issue if Ukraine begins to make substantial gains. But since we are arming the Ukrainians on a scale that seems intended to make a counteroffensive possible, I sincerely hope a version of the Colby-Heinrichs back-and-forth is happening at the highest reaches of our government — before an issue that matters now on academic panels becomes the most important question in the world.

Good News for Syrians from Brussels
Charles Lister/Asharq Al-Awsat/May, 15/2022
Despite international attention being squarely focused on the war in Ukraine, more than 75 countries gathered in Brussels on May 10 and collectively pledged $6.7 billion to the Syria humanitarian aid effort. Such a sizeable sum far outmatched expectations and underlined the extent to which the international community remains cognizant of the acute level of need across Syria.
In fact, the humanitarian crisis in Syria has never been as bad as it is today, with at least 14.6 million Syrians (over 70 percent of the in-country population) in need of external assistance to meet their basic needs.
With Syria’s economic crisis continuing apace and inflation still crippling the Syrian Pound (valued around SYP 4,000 to a single US dollar), the outlook for Syria and Syrians in 2022 was already dire. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine precipitated a worst-case scenario in many respects, particularly with regard to food security. As global food prices have soared, the World Food Program has been forced to cut the size of food baskets provided to Syria, from 1,300 calories to 1,170, this month. Syria’s domestic wheat production is expected to be lower than ever in 2022, due largely to drought, but supplementary supplies from Russia (to the regime) and Ukraine (to the World Food Program) are both now off the table.
With some experts predicting possible famine conditions later in 2022, it is encouraging to see that the Biden administration has placed food security at the top of its agenda during its time as chair of the United Nations Security Council this month. Moreover, the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield is also investing heavily in the contentious issue of cross-border aid access into northern Syria – an issue up for a vote at the Security Council in July. Diplomatic sources believe Russia is highly likely to veto that resolution mandating cross-border access – a move that would spark an immediate and unprecedented humanitarian tragedy for the four million people currently wholly reliant on UN aid supplies in Syria’s northwest.
Behind the scenes, efforts are being made to broaden the multilateral discussion on cross-border aid in Syria, in an effort to deter Moscow’s veto. The war in Ukraine and the resulting collapse in relations between Russia and the West has almost certainly removed any prospect for constructive and fruitful bilateral diplomacy between the US and Russia – which previously prevented a Russian veto in July 2021. Whatever channels and mechanisms are mobilized in the coming weeks, it remains absolutely vital that a resolution is found to sustain aid supplies to the millions in need across northern Syria.
Any such arrangement will require the full engagement of Turkey, whose government perceives the stability of northwestern Syria as an existential national security issue. It is possible also that Turkey may manage to negotiate its own quid pro quo with Russia, to secure continued UN aid supplies, but Ankara’s shuttering of the Bosphorus to Russian military vessels and airspace to Russian military aircraft has complicated things significantly. It has been within that environment that US-Turkey relations appear to have embarked on a path towards slow recovery – with the Biden administration having just asked Congress to bless a major weapons sale to Turkey, widely assumed to be a first step towards the sale of advanced F-16 fighter jets.
With a year until Turkey’s general election, President Erdogan’s recent announcement of plans to re-house one million Syrian refugees inside northern Syria risks complicating much of this recent trend of increased cooperation and multilateralism. As polls have demonstrated for years on end, there is little to no discernible interest amongst Syrian refugees to return to Syria, given fears for personal security, as well as the acute economic challenges in all regions of the country. While Erdogan’s pronouncement is clearly driven by domestic politics – domestic resentment at Syria’s refugee community in Turkey is rife – it is also reflective of Turkey’s long-standing security strategy across northern Syria: to establish a so-called “safe zone.”
Ultimately though, it risks violating the fundamental human rights of the millions of Syrians currently residing in Turkey, and in simple terms, it is also impractical. If Turkey’s biggest fear is destabilizing northwestern Syria, then forcing hundreds of thousands of refugees into an already combustible, poverty-stricken region home to millions of displaced people is virtually guaranteed to realize those fears. In recent years, an enormous effort has been made by non-governmental organizations (particularly Turkish and Qatari ones) to construct entire ‘villages’ and ‘towns’ of housing units to provide more secure conditions for displaced peoples in Idlib and northern Aleppo. These initiatives are a vital step to improving the prospects for millions of people who, every winter, have risked freezing to death in tents. Yet it is some of these developments that appear now to be the intended destination for Syrian refugees in Turkey, per Erdogan’s plan. That makes no sense and must be prevented.
There is no doubt that the strains placed on Syria’s neighbors by Syrian refugee flows have been intense and unsustainable – as comments from Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey are all now making clear. But there can be no ignoring the fact that refugees do not wish to return. Forcing them to do so would be a crime of international proportions, so the only solution is a major international initiative to better support refugee host communities and to pivot aid to displaced Syrians in-country towards strategic assistance aimed at enhancing housing and means for self-sufficiency. With the results from Brussels clear and present on everyone’s mind, now is the time to begin that discussion – it would be better late than never.

Why is Iran taking more hostages?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 15, 2022
The Iranian regime’s hostage-taking is alarming, and the international community must act immediately. Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence recently detained two Europeans. The Iranian authorities claimed that they arrested the two Europeans because they were planning to cause “chaos, social disorder and instability.” Iran’s judiciary spokesperson, Zabihollah Khodaian, also stated that a Swedish-Iranian national, Ahmadreza Djalali, had received a death sentence and would be executed by May 21, 2022. He was previously arrested on a charge of spying for the Iranian government’s main rival in the region, Israel.
The Iranian regime is known to bring vague charges against detainees, including “national security crimes,” “moharebeh” (enmity against God), “ifsad fil arz” (sowing corruption) and “baghi” (armed rebellion). As Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, told the UN General Assembly: “There are extensive, vague and arbitrary grounds in Iran for imposing the death sentence, which quickly can turn this punishment into a political tool ... In addition, the structural flaws of the justice system are so deep and at odds with the notion of rule of law that one can barely speak of a justice system. The entrenched flaws in law and in the administration of the death penalty in Iran mean that most, if not all, executions are an arbitrary deprivation of life.”There are several reasons why the Iranian regime is increasing its hostage-taking at this critical time. First of all, the regime most likely wants to gain more leverage, more concessions, and to obtain the upper hand in the nuclear talks between Tehran and P5+1 (the UK, France, the US, China and Russia, plus Germany).
The nuclear talks, held in Vienna, have been dragging on for nearly a year; the regime is desperate to revive the nuclear deal and have economic sanctions lifted. It is facing a huge budget deficit, the unemployment rate and inflation are high, and Tehran is finding it extremely difficult to fund its network of militia and terror groups across the Middle East. From the regime’s perspective, detaining Europeans nationals could put pressure on the EU and the US to accept Tehran’s demands and seal the nuclear deal as soon as possible. It is worth noting that the detention of the two Europeans came immediately before the EU envoy and coordinator of the nuclear talks, Enrique Mora, met Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, in Tehran.
One of the important demands by Iranian leaders has been to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and its elite branch, the Quds Force, from the terrorist list.
The second reason behind the hostage-taking is most likely linked to the trial of the Iranian diplomat Hamid Nouri. He is the first Iranian diplomat of the regime to be tried in a foreign country.
The Swedish authorities arrested Nouri in November 2019, and he is believed to have been involved in a 1988 massacre. In July, after 21 months of investigation, prosecutors at Stockholm District Court issued an indictment against him. His trial began the following month and a verdict is expected this year. Over the course of the investigations and trial, members and supporters of the opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, who were reportedly witnesses to Nouri’s alleged crimes, gave evidence to the Swedish authorities, including providing significant documentation. Most of the 35 plaintiffs in Nouri’s case were supporters of the opposition. Many claim to have witnessed him in the so-called “death corridor” at Gohardasht Prison, where prisoners were lined up to be taken to the execution hall.
It is incumbent on the international community to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its increasing pattern of hostage-taking. The Iranian regime has been humiliated and enraged by the trial of one of its diplomats; that is why Iran’s Foreign Ministry recently summoned the Swedish envoy to protest what he calls “the baseless and fabricated accusations that the Swedish prosecutor made against Iran during Nouri’s court case.”It is important to point out that this kind of hostage-taking by the Iranian regime is not something new, but it is systematic and a core pillar of its rogue foreign policy. It is used to strengthen the Iranian regime’s hold on power and ensure the survival of the clerical establishment. More fundamentally, the regime holds foreign hostages as pawns to extract economic concessions and obtain geopolitical and financial gains. It also uses hostages to swap prisoners. The Iranian regime has learned that holding foreigners hostage can bring in revenue and increase its political leverage against the West. In conclusion, it is incumbent on the international community to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its increasing pattern of hostage-taking.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Biden’s Ministry of Truth paints America’s new face
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/May 15, 2022
Day by day, the American left and right disparity is widening. The division between the American people, politicians and voters alike has increased as US President Joe Biden’s electoral promise to unify his country evaporates.
For the past few years, Democrats have continued to accuse Republican politicians, including former President Donald Trump, and their supporters of spreading lies and misinformation.
Americans remember the story of Hunter Biden’s discovered laptop and how the US mainstream media accused Russia of conspiring against then presidential candidate Joe Biden. Prior to the 2020 presidential elections, the New York Post uncovered the smoking gun emails from Hunter’s laptop that showed business communications with Ukrainian executives. Twitter blocked the report and disabled users from posting the link to the article, considering it a violation of its policy. In 2022, the emails turned out to be authentic, and an official investigation was launched. In its effort to block any adverse reports that point the finger at the Democratic Party, the Biden administration decided to control the narrative by determining what, in its opinion, is reliable.
Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of a new department with the name “The Disinformation Governance Board.” The department’s job is to control what Americans should and should not be told based on its own judgment.
According to a statement published on the department’s website, the Department of Homeland Security defined disinformation as false information deliberately spread to deceive or mislead the public. “When it comes to DHS’s work, the department is focused on disinformation that threatens the security of the American people, including disinformation spread by foreign states such as Russia, China, and Iran, or other adversaries such as transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling organizations. Such malicious actors often spread disinformation to exploit vulnerable individuals and the American public, including during national emergencies,” the statement read. Last week, Republican members of Congress criticized US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his decision, calling for the board to be disbanded.
Conservatives have the right to stand against creating this board for several reasons. Biden disinformation czar, Nina Jankowicz, is well known for her strong opinions against conservatism and the Republican Party. Former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, questioned the motives behind appointing Jankowicz to lead a vital committee that ought to be substantive, thoughtful and above reproach.
“What the heck were they thinking? This is a woman who attacked the Hunter Biden laptop story by saying it was a Trump campaign diversion and promoted those kinds of attacks on the Hunter Biden laptop for months and months and months,” Rove told Fox News. He added that the new appointee believes that the First Amendment to the US Constitution marginalizes communities of color. In a tweet, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority, over policing the border, describing Jankowicz as a leftist radical.
Throughout history, the only global leaders who felt the need to control the way people thought by choosing what information they were allowed to receive were tyrants and dictators such as Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein. How could anyone blame the Republicans for opposing such an entity? Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida called it alarming that Joe Biden wants to lead America down the same path as dictatorships such as China, Cuba and Nicaragua.
While oppressed nations are fighting to be liberated from autocracy, the far-left has managed to take a significant step toward the downfall of the leader of the free world.
A government department created to identify “disinformation” regarding vital issues — including elections, foreign policies and illegal migration — to serve the progressives’ agenda, sounds like Adolf Hitler’s Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Its main job will be censoring and blocking any information that reveals the true colors of the ruling party.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion column, with the headline “Biden Establishes a Ministry of Truth,” Roger Koppl and Abigail Devereaux compared the board to the KGB. “We must all fall in line because of the many grave threats — domestic as well as foreign — out there. Incorrect political opinions become a national security threat,” the article read.
While oppressed nations are fighting to be liberated from autocracy, the far-left has managed to take a significant step toward the downfall of the leader of the free world.
Apparently, Biden’s White House idea was inspired by George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, “1984,” in which a Ministry of Truth decides what is true or false, doctoring the news to suit the ruling political party’s ideology. Like in a Hollywood horror film, Biden ends the plot by turning into the big brother who will be watching over every single American.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified; every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” — From George Orwell’s “1984,” published on June 8, 1949.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi