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

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.november03.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 22/15-22/:”The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 02-03/2022
Berri refrains from holding dialogue over new president
At Algeria summit, Mikati urges Arabs not to abandon Lebanon
Leaders meet in Algeria for final day of Arab League summit
Lebanon says it has US ‘guarantees’ on Israel border deal if Netanyahu wins
Mikati says US guarantees will protect border deal if Netanyahu wins elections
Why did Berri cancel his national dialogue initiative?
Saudi FM urges election of 'unifying' Lebanese president
Schoolgirl dies in public school ceiling collapse
Two depositors storm Credit Libanais bank in Hazmieh
Bassil says not presidential candidate and not close to Hezbollah ideologically
Lebanon raises electricity tariff, lifting hopes of increased power supply

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2022
Arab Summit Hails OPEC+ Efforts in Securing Stability of Global Markets
Israel's Netanyahu appears to edge toward victory after vote
Who is Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu, Israel's likely returning prime minister?
Saudis tell US that Iran may attack the kingdom
Warnings of Imminent Iranian Attacks on Regional Countries
Iranian Protests Defy Repression
Videos Showing Iranian Crackdown on Protesters Go Viral as Anger Grows
US wants Iran ousted from UN women’s body
Zelenskiy Seeks Stronger Defense of Ukraine Grains Export Corridor
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Brazil's Bolsonaro tells Supreme Court election 'is over'
Türkiye Says Russia Agrees to Rejoin Wartime Grain Deal
Saudis in US targeted as kingdom cracks down on dissent
Nobel winners call attention to Egypt political prisoners
Morocco king invites Algeria president for 'dialogue'
Egypt calls for pledge fulfillments at climate conference
UAE and US sign partnership to spur $100bn clean energy projects

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2022
UN Sides with China Despite Its Own Report Condemning Xinjiang Abuses/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2022
Iran… The Turban and the Soldiers/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November, 02/ 2022
American Muslims: More ‘Islamophobic’ than Everyone Else/Raymond Ibrahim/November, 02/ 2022
How Long-standing Iranian Disinformation Tactics Target Protests/Allan Hassaniyan/The Washington Institute/November 02/2022
Midterms set to have major impact on US foreign policy/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/November 02/2022
Women may be the catalyst for Iran’s big change/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 02/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 02-03/2022
Berri refrains from holding dialogue over new president
NNA/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s press office on Wednesday issued the following statement: "After gathering opinions about a call for dialogue between parliamentary blocs to reach consensus over a new president, Speaker Berri has decided to apologize for not moving forward with this option as a result of objection and reservation, especially by the Lebanese Forces and The Free Patriotic Movement blocs.

At Algeria summit, Mikati urges Arabs not to abandon Lebanon
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Caretaker PM Najib Mikati on Wednesday urged the Arab nations to “rescue” Lebanon and not to “abandon it.”“The Lebanon you know has changed. Yes, it has changed. The glowing beacon has been extinguished, the port that used to be considered the Orient’s gateway has exploded, and the airport that is considered a convergence platform is having its lights turned off due to fuel shortages,” Mikati said, in a speech before the 31st Arab Summit in Algeria. “We are in a country that is suffering economically, socially and environmentally, and we are combating epidemics with the least of capabilities,” the PM added. Apparently referring to Syrian and Palestinian refugees, Mikati warned that Lebanon “can no longer continue to host an Arab population that is now equivalent to half the Lebanese population.”Hoping the Lebanese political parties will “agree on the election of a new president who would unify the Lebanese,” the PM said Lebanon “is still counting on the assistance of all Arab brothers.”“Let the Arab hands come together to rescue my country Lebanon, which prides itself in Arabism and loves its brothers,” Mikati added. He also stressed “full commitment” to the 1989 Taif Accord, emphasizing that he “will not tolerate any attempt to undermine it.”

Leaders meet in Algeria for final day of Arab League summit
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Arab leaders convened on Wednesday in Algeria for the second day of the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference, seeking common ground on several divisive issues in the region. The meeting comes against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and soaring cost of living across the Middle East and Africa. The kings, emirs, presidents and prime ministers are discussing thorny issues such as the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and four Arab countries as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies appears to be heading to an election victory. The summit's discussions are also focused on the food and energy crises aggravated by Russia's war in Ukraine that has had devastating consequences for Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia, among other Arab countries, struggling to import enough wheat and fuel to satisfy their populations.
Deepening the crisis is the worst drought in several decades that has ravaged swaths of Somalia, one of the Arab League's newer members, bringing some areas of the country to the brink of famine. Russia's reinforcement of its blockade on Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Sunday threatens to further escalate the crisis, with many Arab countries near solely dependent on Ukrainian and Russian wheat exports and fertilizers. The event provides an opportunity for Algeria — Africa's largest country by territory — to showcase its leadership in the Arab world. Algeria is a major oil and gas producer and is perceived by European nations as a key supplier amid the global energy crisis that stems from Russia's war in Ukraine. Algeria, along with other Arab countries, remains fiercely opposed to the series of normalization agreements the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed with Israel over the past three years have divided the region into two camps. Sudan has also agreed to establish ties with Israel. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune vowed in his opening speech Tuesday to put forth considerable efforts at the summit to try to reaffirm support for the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel as the Arab and international communities' attention shifts to other conflicts and crises. "Our main and first cause, the mother of all causes, the Palestinian issue, will be at the heart of our concerns and our main priority," Tebboune said. He blasted Israel for its "continued occupation" of Palestinian territories and "expanding its illegal settlements."
Last month, Algeria hosted talks in a bid to end the Palestinian political divide and reconcile the Fatah party, whose Palestinian Authority rules parts of the occupied West Bank, and the militant Hamas group, which has control of the Gaza Strip. The Arab summit comes at the time of heightened tensions in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has conducted nightly arrest raids in searches for Palestinian militants. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent months, including armed gunmen, stone-throwing teenagers and people uninvolved in violence. The 22-member Arab League last held its summit in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. A final declaration from the gathering in Algeria's capital, Algiers, is expected later on Wednesday.

Lebanon says it has US ‘guarantees’ on Israel border deal if Netanyahu wins
AFP/November 02, 2022
BEIRUT: Lebanon has secured “American guarantees” that its maritime border deal with Israel cannot be easily scrapped should Benjamin Netanyahu return to the Israeli premiership, Beirut’s chief negotiator said Wednesday. Israel and Lebanon struck a US-brokered sea border agreement last month that opens up lucrative offshore gas fields for the neighbors that remain technically at war. Hawkish former Israeli premier Netanyahu, who on Wednesday appeared on the cusp of returning to power, has staunchly opposed the deal, dismissing it as an “illegal ploy” and warning he would not be bound by its terms.
“We obtained sufficient American guarantees that this deal cannot easily be canceled,” said Lebanon’s negotiator Elias Bou Saab, who is also deputy parliament speaker. If Netanyahu wants to withdraw from the deal, then “he will withdraw from an agreement with the US,” Bou Saab told AFP, noting that Israel and Lebanon had signed separate deals with the United States. He said Washington had warned that “the withdrawal of any party would have great consequences on both countries.” “When Netanyahu says that he wants to withdraw, this means that he will be facing the international community,” Bou Saab added. Netanyahu, who has called the deal a “capitulation agreement,” has not commented on it since Tuesday’s Israeli elections. Initial results showed his alliance with the extreme right taking a narrow lead. US President Joe Biden had hailed the “historic” deal, which comes as Western powers clamour to open up new energy production and reduce vulnerability to supply cuts from Russia.

Mikati says US guarantees will protect border deal if Netanyahu wins elections
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday that U.S. guarantees would protect a maritime border deal with Israel even if Israel's ex-PM Benjamin Netanyahu wins a majority in elections. Veteran politician Netanyahu appeared on the cusp of returning to power Wednesday, with initial election results showing his alliance with the extreme right taking a narrow lead. "We are close to a big victory," he told supporters of his right-wing Likud party at a rally early Wednesday. Netanyahu had said he would “neutralize” the deal with Lebanon the same way he did the Oslo Accords. “I will behave as I did with the Oslo Accords,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio.

Why did Berri cancel his national dialogue initiative?
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri cancelled Wednesday his invitation for a national dialogue so that political parties can agree on a new president. Berri's media office said that the speaker decided to cancel his initiative following "objections" from the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement.
"Many obstacles are blocking Berri's dialogue," said a lawmaker from the Amal-led Development and Liberation bloc.The MP told al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Wednesday, before Berri's announcement, that "political tension has intensified lately between Berri and former President Michel Aoun" and that "some responses to the dialogue initiative were surprisingly negative." Parliament will convene on Thursday to discuss a letter sent by Aoun after the latter signed a decree "accepting the resignation" of the caretaker cabinet. FPM chief Jebran Bassil accused Berri of not taking Aoun's letter seriously, otherwise he would have called Parliament to convene on Monday instead of Thursday. He also accused him of obstructing the government formation. “It is clear that Berri doesn't want a government,” Bassil said in a live interview on al-Jadeed TV. "There is a foreign decision to prevent the formation of a government and it is domestically supported by Berri," he added. Bassil then rejected Berri's dialogue. "I can't go to someone who is insulting me," the FPM chief said. He then went on to say that Berri's framework agreement has no value. "Berri is the head of a legislative authority that does not have the right to make agreements," Bassil said, speaking of the maritime border demarcation deal with Israel.

Saudi FM urges election of 'unifying' Lebanese president
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan urged Wednesday for the election of a new Lebanese president who is able to unify the country. Bin Farhan stressed, in a speech in the Arab summit in Algeria, his country's keenness on the sovereignty of the Lebanese state. The minister also announced that Saudi Arabia will host the next Arab Summit. Arab leaders convened on Wednesday in Algeria for the second day of the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference, seeking common ground on several divisive issues in the region. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had asked the Arab countries not to abandon Lebanon, as he underlined his country's commitment to the Arab League's resolutions. "We won't tolerate any attempt to undermine the Taif Accord," Mikati said. The Arab meeting comes against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and soaring cost of living across the Middle East and Africa.

Schoolgirl dies in public school ceiling collapse
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022 
A 16 years old schoolgirl died Wednesday after the ceiling of her classroom collapsed at a public school in Tripoli. Another schoolgirl was severely injured and other students were wounded. Protestors blocked the road in Jabal Mehsen accusing the authorities of neglect.

Two depositors storm Credit Libanais bank in Hazmieh
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Two depositors, one of them armed with a gun and a gasoline bottle and the other wheelchair-bound, on Wednesday stormed Credit Libanais bank in Hazmieh, demanding their trapped U.S. dollar savings. The wheelchair-bound depositor, Ibrahim Baydoun, later told al-Jadeed TV that the bank had agreed to give them both a sum of $55,000. The armed depositor, Ali al-Saheli, is an Internal Security Forces retiree who had stormed BLC bank in Chtaura on October 4, demanding to take a $24,502 deposit. Saheli was arrested by security forces that day after a bank employee managed to seize the weapon from him. "Count the money, before one of you dies," Saheli said in an Oct. 4 video that he recorded with one hand while waving a gun in the other. A depositors association said Saheli had repeatedly asked the bank to transfer $4,300 to his son who is studying in Ukraine, after he was expelled from his university and residence for being unable to pay tuition and rent. Saheli had also undergone medical checkups to determine if he could sell a kidney in order to secure the needed money, the association added.

Bassil says not presidential candidate and not close to Hezbollah ideologically
Naharnet/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022 
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Tuesday that he does not intend to run for the country’s presidency.
“Today I'm not a presidential candidate, seeing as I'm smarter than doing this, and I'm in favor of reaching consensus over a president,” Bassil said in a live interview on al-Jadeed TV. “Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has never pressured me, he only presents ideas,” Bassil said, in response to a question about his recent meeting with Hezbollah’s leader. Describing the October 17 protests as a “coup,” Bassil critized Army chief General Joseph Aoun for “standing idly by.”Responding to U.S. and alleged French corruption accusations, Bassil revealed that he had told French President Emmanuel Macron that he would quit politics if Paris presented evidence proving that he was corrupt. “I'm the son of the Christian environment and I cannot say that I'm ideologically close to Hezbollah,” Bassil said, when asked whether he is closer to Hezbollah or to slain president-elect Bashir Gemayel. As for the sea border demarcation deal with Israel, Bassil said the file highlighted “Hezbollah's rationality.” “Had it not been for Hezbollah, the sea border deal would not have happened,” he said. “I was convinced that there would be no war,” Bassil added. Lashing out at PM-designate Najib Mikati, the FPM chief said the PM-designate “started fabricating obstacles because he didn't want to form a government.”“They might create a security reason to push the cabinet to convene,” Bassil pointed out. He also revealed that the Shiite duo have agreed with Mikati that the cabinet would not convene. Bassil also charged that several meetings were held between Mikati and foreign forces for the sake of not forming a government. “Today, on the first day of vacuum, Mikati made contacts to close Riad Salameh's file,” Bassil claimed. “It is clear that Mikati and Berri don't want a government and I had warned Hezbollah that they were giving Mikati two cards -- the card of the caretaker cabinet and the card of designation,” Bassil said. He added: “In the face of the precedent of the presence of two vacuums, the dependence must be on parliament, firstly through the election of a president and secondly through productivity.”

Lebanon raises electricity tariff, lifting hopes of increased power supply
Nada Homsi/The National/November 02/2022
Lebanon's state power company increased the price it charges for electricity for first time since the 1990s on Tuesday, a move officials hope will pave the way for an eventual increase in power supply and help to stabilise the country's electricity sector — if a corresponding fuel supply is ensured.
The Lebanese people have had to cope with rolling power cuts since the 1990s and damaging losses caused by corruption and mismanagement in the sector, contributing tens of billions of dollars to the country's public debt. Although the increase in electricity rates was approved in August, according to a spokesman for state electricity provider Electricity Du Liban (EDL), the new tariff did not take effect until Tuesday. The tariff rise “is in line with our implementation of the national emergency plan which is part of our new electricity sector policy,” caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad told The National. “It is designed to achieve cost recovery.”The increase is expected to bring some stability to Lebanon's electricity sector, allowing for the import of fuel to power its plants.
Fuel supply in doubt
But the mark-up in EDL’s prices will only amount to more power for Lebanese households if fuel supply is ensured. The price of the first 100 kilowatt hours (kWh) consumed will be $0.10 cents per kWh, while every kWh after that will cost $0.27 cents, based on the central bank’s Sayrafa rate, which is about 30,000 to the dollar. Although Dr Fayad is hopeful the plan will result in increased state electricity supply, he said that financing would still depend on achieving guarantees from Lebanon’s central bank. Its reserves are dwindling, meaning the state can no longer afford to import enough fuel to keep EDL’s power plants operational. But Prime Minister Najib Mikati is reported to have told Dr Fayad the central bank would be willing to guarantee the financing for fuel imports and receive payment through the revenue generated by the electricity tariff. “He shared with us that he has secured the financing with the Bank Du Liban and that it will work out,” Dr Fayad said. The central bank’s financing of fuel, if it comes through, would provide Lebanon with about eight hours of electricity a day. In turn, EDL would cover the cost through the increase in tariffs. State provision of electricity has become a phantom phenomenon since Lebanon’s economic crisis began in 2019. The financial collapse has left the state's electricity sector in a shambles, while many residents depend on expensive private generator subscriptions. But such subscriptions are increasingly difficult for many to afford following the end of petrol subsidies and as fuel prices rise. In theory, if financing for fuel imports is secured, the tariff rise will allow for more fuel and therefore more state electricity, which would help reduce residents’ dependence on the private generators. Energy analysts doubt the tariffs will contribute to a significantly increased electricity supply. “Instead of implementing serious reforms, the government is penalising the paying consumers in the hope of getting some funds into EDL,” said independent energy policy consultant Jessica Obeid. “The issues of the power sector are neither technical nor financial at the core, but are corruption, mismanagement and weak governance.” And if financing is not secured, residents will pay higher prices for what little state electricity they receive, while also paying costly generator subscriptions. But Mr Fayyad said the decision was taken following a delay in a US and World Bank-facilitated initiative to revive the Arab gas pipeline, by paying Egypt for fuel through a World Bank loan and then funnelling it to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria. The plan was expected to provide Lebanon with up to six hours of electricity each day, but internal delays appear to have stalled that plan. Among the reasons for the delay was the imposition by the World Bank of a number of conditions, one of which, according to Dr Fayad, was raising electricity tariffs. Tuesday's increase constitutes a step towards unlocking financing from the World Bank to import gas through Egypt’s pipeline. “I'm crossing my fingers,” said Dr Fayad.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 02-03/2022
Arab Summit Hails OPEC+ Efforts in Securing Stability of Global Markets
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 02 November, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113122/%d8%a5%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%a6%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a8%d9%8a/
Arab leaders on Wednesday concluded the 31st Arab League summit. The first Arab League gathering in three years took place against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and the soaring cost of living across the region.
The gatherers stressed the centrality of the Palestinian cause and the absolute right of the Palestinian people to freedom and the establishment of a sovereign state according to the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital.
They underscored their commitment to the 2002 Arab peace initiative that would lead to fair and comprehensive peace and end the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights and Lebanese Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills.
They called an end to the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, condemning Israel’s use of force against Palestinians and all of its barbaric acts, such as assassinations and arbitrary arrests. They demanded the release of all prisoners, especially minors, women and the elderly.
The gatherers backed Palestinian efforts to obtain full membership at the United Nations, calling on countries that do not recognize the state of Palestine to do so.
They welcomed the reconciliation meeting that was held by rival Palestinian factions in Algeria ahead of the Arab summit.
The summit’s discussions also focused on the food and energy crises aggravated by Russia's war in Ukraine. The conflict has had devastating consequences for Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia, among other Arab countries struggling to import enough wheat and fuel to satisfy their populations.
The leaders acknowledged the dire consequences of the war for their nations and one after another called for a “collective Arab action” to face common challenges. Those include food and energy shortages and the effects of climate change on their societies.
Arab scene
The gatherers rejected all forms of foreign meddling in the internal affairs of Arab countries, saying Arab problems must be resolved through Arab solutions. They suggested strengthening the role of the Arab League to that end and working on strengthening Arab-Arab ties.
On Libya, they expressed support to efforts aimed at resolving its crisis through Libyan means and in a manner that preserves the sovereignty of the country and meets the aspirations of the people. They called for holding elections as soon as possible in order to achieve permanent political stability
On Yemen, the gatherers hailed the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council and backed efforts aimed at reaching a political solution to the country’s crisis. They rejected all forms of meddling in its internal affairs and demanded that the nationwide truce be imposed once again, saying it was a fundamental step in achieving a comprehensive political settlement that secures Yemen’s sovereignty, stability and safety.
On Iraq, the leaders welcomed the formation of a new government and its efforts in achieving stability and economic development. They praised Iraq’s successes in defeating terrorist groups, recognizing the sacrifices its people in defending the sovereignty and security of their nation.
On Lebanon, the gatherers hoped it would carry out desired reform and that its parliament would succeed in electing a new president.
They stressed the need to keep the Middle East region free of nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction. They called on all parties to join and respect the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The leaders underscored the need to establish sound and balanced relations between the Arab world and international community based on mutual respect, trust and fruitful cooperation.
International scene
The gatherers noted that the rising tensions in the international arena highlight now, more than ever, the imbalances in global governance. They stressed the need to address all countries equality and end the marginalization of developing countries.
Arab countries must be part of the process of forming the new global order in wake of the coronavirus pandemic and war in Ukraine.
The leaders hailed the balanced approach adopted by OPEC+ to secure the stability of the global energy markets and ensure the sustainability of investments in this vital sector. The economic approach protects the interests of consumer and export countries alike.
They expressed their support for Egypt’s hosting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
They voiced support to Qatar that is preparing to host the football World Cup starting November 20, condemning all spiteful campaigns that are aimed at tarnishing the Gulf country’s image ahead of the landmark global event.
They also backed Riyadh’s bid to host Expo 2030.

Israel's Netanyahu appears to edge toward victory after vote
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory Wednesday, with 80% of the ballots from the parliamentary elections counted and showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the country's parliament. Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, Israel was potentially headed to its most right-wing government, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The initial results pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israel's supporters in the United States. The early results also showed that Netanyahu had overcome his detractors, who claimed he was not fit to rule while on trial for corruption and have refused to sit with him in government. Netanyahu's partners have promised to help him evade a conviction. "We are on the verge of a very big victory," Netanyahu, 73, told supporters at a gathering in Jerusalem early Wednesday. "I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions." Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes and by Wednesday morning, nearly 80% of the ballots had been counted. The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Netanyahu was headed back to the premiership with a firm majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament. With Netanyahu and his allies projected to win more than the 61-seat majority needed to form a government, the country's protracted political crisis may be headed toward a conclusion, but the country remains as divided as ever.
Tuesday's election was Israel's fifth in less than four years, with all of them focused largely on Netanyahu's fitness to govern. On trial for a slew of corruption charges, Netanyahu, who denied wrongdoing, is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.
Even if Netanyahu and his allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed. Netanyahu was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive years – and 15 years altogether – before he was ousted last year by a diverse coalition led by the centrist Yair Lapid, the current caretaker prime minister. But the coalition that Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was decimated by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power. Those parties were poised to capture about 50 seats, according to initial results. Lapid, addressing supporters early Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided. "Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final," he said. The night's strongest showing was by far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism, which emerged as the third-largest party. At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration. At the celebration, Ben-Gvir's supporters chanted "Death to terrorists." Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990.
Kahane's agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship and expelling large numbers of Palestinians. But while Kahane was seen as a pariah, Ben-Gvir is one of Israel's most popular politicians, thanks to his frequent media appearances, cheerful demeanor, knack for deflecting criticism and calls for a harder line against Palestinians at a time of heavy fighting in the occupied West Bank. Young ultra-Orthodox men are among his strongest supporters. Ben-Gvir lives in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and is a strong proponent of settlement construction. He has described Arab colleagues in parliament as "terrorists," called for deporting those who are "disloyal" and recently brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem as he called on police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers. "We want to make a total separation between those who are loyal to the state of Israel — and we don't have any problem with them — and those who undermine our dear country," he said. Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, said the rise of Israel's far right was "a natural result of the growing manifestations of extremism and racism in Israeli society." It appeared as though two of the three parties representing the country's 20% Palestinian minority earned enough votes for a spot in parliament, as polls had predicted. But it was unclear whether Meretz, a dovish party that opposes Israel's occupation of the West Bank and a member of the current coalition, would make it into parliament.
If the Netanyahu alliance ends up controlling a majority, Ben-Gvir and his party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, are sure to drive a hard bargain. Ben-Gvir has said he will demand the Cabinet post overseeing Israel's police force. The pair have also said they will seek legal reforms aimed at weakening the independence of the judiciary and giving parliament power to override court decisions they don't like. That could clear the way for the dismissal of criminal charges against Netanyahu. Smotrich and other members of the party have also made repeated anti-LGBTQ comments. Such positions could put a future Netanyahu government on a collision course with the Biden administration, which supports a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It could also alienate Israeli allies in the U.S., particularly the predominantly liberal Jewish American community.
In Israel, voters vote for parties, not individual politicians. No party has ever won a majority on its own, and coalition-building is necessary to govern.

Who is Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu, Israel's likely returning prime minister?
The National/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Mr Netanyahu is the country's longest-serving prime minister and a former commando.
Israel's probable new prime minister is not unfamiliar with the position. Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to make a comeback on Wednesday just over a year after he left office following a 12-year stint. Now, Mr Netanyahu, 72, who is also known as Bibi, is set to win Israel's fifth national elections in four years.
The victory for Mr Netanyahu's Likud party also comes as he is facing criminal proceedings over a corruption in a case that has been dragging on for years. He has pleaded not guilty to bribery, breach of trust and fraud. Still, as Israel's longest-serving prime minister, he has had proponents who credit him with bringing economic prosperity to the country and critics who accuse him of stifling hopes for peace with the Palestinians. “I think his legacy will be his success in making sure that any ray of hope to achieve peace based on two states along the 1967 border is blocked,” Palestinian official Saeb Erekat once said.
Who is Benjamin Netanyahu?
Mr Netanyahu was born in 1949 and is the son of a Jewish historian. Although Tel Aviv is his birthplace, he was raised in Jerusalem and then the US before returning to Israel in the pivotal year of 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, as a conscript in the Israeli army. He later served in a commando unit.
During his time in the military, Mr Netanyahu was injured and discharged six years into his service with the rank of captain before returning to the US to complete his education. He graduated from MIT with a degree in architecture and then earned a master's degree in management. Mr Netanyahu then made a career shift from the private sphere to the public eye when he was elected for one term in 1996, capitalising on opposing the Oslo accords. He was defeated in the polls three years later. From there, he became finance minister in the early 2000s, cutting taxes and limiting privileges for Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Mr Netanyahu was then re-elected as prime minister in 2009, and served for a decade. An outspoken and bi-lingual official, Mr Netanyahu has made bold statements against Iran and is thought of as a right-wing supporter of armed action, perhaps due to his background as a military veteran.

Saudis tell US that Iran may attack the kingdom
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials said. The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia come as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones — as well as technical support — to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine. "We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis," the National Security Council said in a statement. "We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region." Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Iran's mission to the United Nations. One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack "soon or within 48 hours." No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said U.S. military officials "are concerned about the threat situation in the region.""We're in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front," Ryder said. "But what we've said before, and I'll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere."
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said America was "concerned about the threat picture," without elaborating.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday. Iran has alleged without providing evidence that Saudi Arabia and other rivals are fomenting the dissent on its streets by ordinary Iranians. Of particular ire is protest coverage by Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national. The U.S. and Saudis blamed Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom's production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack, but the same triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying drones used in that attack are now being deployed by Russian forces in their war on Ukraine. The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes in the war, which have killed scores of civilians. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran's morality police. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.
At least 288 people have been killed and 14,160 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop. Iran already launched a series of attacks targeting Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq amid the protests, killing at least 16 people, including an American citizen. U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November. The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its  coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles. "We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have," Kirby said. Even as the U.S. and others raise concerns about possible Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.
The U.S. special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August. Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration "makes no apology" for "trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon." The deal had provided Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich.

Warnings of Imminent Iranian Attacks on Regional Countries
Washington, Tehran – Rana Abtar and Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
The United States is concerned about threats from Iran against Saudi Arabia and will not hesitate to respond if necessary, a White House spokesperson said on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia had shared intelligence with the US, warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the Kingdom. The US, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East are on an elevated alert level without providing further details, it added. Saudi officials said Iran is poised to carry out attacks on the Kingdom and Erbil, Iraq, to distract attention from domestic protests that have swept the country since September."We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis," said a National Security Council spokesperson. "We will not hesitate to act in defense of our interests and partners in the region."
Head of Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee MP Vahid Jalalzadeh had said if Saudi Arabia did not stop supporting the protests, it would "face countermeasures" from Tehran. Jalalzadeh revealed that Tehran had sent messages to Riyadh "through friendly countries," adding that Saudi Arabia “should stop supporting the rioters”. Iran's Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guard accused on Friday Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK, and Israel of supporting the protests.
Meanwhile, the US and Albania will hold an informal UN Security Council gathering on Wednesday, according to a note outlining the event to highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls in Iran. The US mission said Wednesday's meeting aims to "highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran." "It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses." Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to speak before the meeting. Tehran urged countries not to attend the Washington-organized meeting.
In a letter to the UN members, Iran's UN ambassador and permanent representative Amir Saeed Iravani said the US has no true and genuine concern about the human rights situation in Iran or elsewhere. He described the protests as an internal issue, saying it would be "counterproductive to the promotion of human rights" if the UN Security Council discussed the issue. "The United States lacks the political, moral, and legal qualifications to hold such a meeting, distorting the basic principles of human rights," Iravani wrote. He questioned the US commitment to defending Iranian women and "strongly urged" UN member states to disassociate themselves from and "explicitly object to such reckless and dangerous practices through which the US attempts to create such a dangerous precedent and politicize human rights issues to achieve its political agenda."Meanwhile, supporters of the Iranian regime held a sit-in outside the German embassy in Tehran to denounce Berlin's alleged role in fueling the protests. Germany had recently issued a strongly-worded statement criticizing the suppression of protesters in Iran. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the attack on a protest rally in front of the Iranian embassy in Berlin and again sharply criticized the Iranian government. Speaking from the Uzbek capital, Baerbock said it is wrong to believe that protesters can be intimidated in Germany, adding that the rule of law will be applied. She explained that any threat to freedom of expression would not be tolerated. Unknown assailants attacked a bus carrying a mobile home near the Iranian embassy, which is used as a protest headquarters. According to the police, four bus passengers fought with two masked men, injuring three. It is believed that the suspects fled by car after the attack.

Iranian Protests Defy Repression
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
As Iranian demonstrations continued in several cities on Wednesday, an official close to the Iranian leader said that the results of an opinion poll showed that 65 percent of Iranian respondents supported the protest movement. Anti-regime rallies have swept the country since the death of the Iranian-Kurdish Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police seven weeks ago, after she was arrested for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women. The protests, which constitute one of the most difficult challenges facing Iran’s clerical leaders in decades, are gaining momentum, angering the country’s authorities. Those have tried to accuse Iran’s enemies abroad and their agents of fueling the protest movement, a narrative that few Iranians believe. Authorities warned demonstrators last week that it was time to leave the streets, but the protests, which continued in residential areas, main streets and universities across the country, showed no signs of waning. Anger among university students escalated after decisions to temporarily deprive a number of students from attending classes, and expel them from university campuses. The students also denounced the campaign of arrests and the “kidnapping” of a number of professors by plainclothes officers. The university strikes come as Iran is preparing to celebrate Student’s Day next Saturday, the anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy by students supporting the first Iranian leader (Khomeini) in 1979, and taking 53 diplomats hostage for 444 days. The state-run Mehr news agency reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would address the annual event, which mobilizes government agencies every year. Meanwhile, Mostafa Rostami, head of the Iranian Supreme Leader’s representative body in universities, said the results of a new opinion poll showed that 55 percent of Iranians supported the protests. Rostami added that 10 percent supported the “riots”, which means that 65 percent were in favor of the protest movement. The official did not refer to the party that conducted the opinion poll, but tried to downplay the role of freedoms in the protests.
He said the survey showed that 60 percent of the protest supporters attribute their reasons to economic and living issues, pointing out that 20 percent consider administrative corruption to be among the main causes of the demonstrations.
Rostami said that 59 percent of respondents demanded improving living conditions, 6 percent the lifting of the ban on the Internet, and “only 3.5 percent demand freedom for women to wear the veil.”He stressed that the economic situation in the country has “not been not appropriate” during the past ten years.
“We must admit that there are problems in the infrastructure,” he remarked. “People risk their lives to go to the streets, but the hope that they are able to defeat the regime is much bigger than their fears,” Omid Memarian, senior Iran analyst at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told Reuters.

Videos Showing Iranian Crackdown on Protesters Go Viral as Anger Grows
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Videos on social media showing Iranian security forces severely beating protesters have gone viral as anger grows at a widening crackdown with arrests of prominent figures from rappers to economists and lawyers aimed at ending seven weeks of unrest. Protests ignited by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 after her arrest for inappropriate attire have shaken Iran's clerical establishment with people from all layers of society demanding wholesale political change. The nationwide demonstrations which have called for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are posing one of the boldest challenges since the 1979 revolution. Iranian leaders have blamed the crisis on the United States and other Western powers, a narrative few Iranians believe. Khamenei said on Wednesday that US officials who support protests are "shameless", state media reported.
"Those who think the US is an untouchable power are wrong," Khamenei said. "It is completely vulnerable as seen with current events."Defying a harsh warning by the chief of the widely feared elite Revolutionary Guards, Iranians have risked their lives and arrest by remaining in the street despite a bloody crackdown. One video dated Oct. 22 that went viral on social media showed a dozen riot police beating a man at night on a street in southern Tehran. One of the officers on a motorbike ran him over then another shot him at close range. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the footage.
"This shocking video sent from Tehran today is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds," Amnesty International said on Twitter about the Oct. 22 video. "Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat & shoot protesters. @UN_HRC must urgently investigate these crimes." Other videos of the beating of protesters, which Reuters has been unable to verify, have also spread online. Iran's police issued a communique on Tuesday saying that a special order was issued to examine the details of a video showing police officers beating a citizen, without giving any detail on the video in question. "The police does not approve of harsh and unconventional treatment, the offending police officers will certainly be dealt with according to the law," the statement read, according to Tasnim news agency. The activist HRANA news agency said around 300 people had been killed in the unrest, including 46 minors. Iran said at least 36 members of the security forces were also killed. Some 14,160 people have been arrested, including about 300 students, in protests in 133 cities and towns, and 129 universities, it said. The crisis has hit Iran's currency. The US dollar was selling for as much as 342,600 rials on the unofficial market on Wednesday, losing nearly 7% of its value since the protests started, according to Bonbast.com. On Monday night, security forces went to the house of prominent economist Davoud Souri and arrested him. The officers took his laptop and mobile phone with them, and after his arrest, they informed his family that he was at Evin prison, according to a social media post that Reuters could not verify. Iranian media published on Wednesday a video of the arrest of famous Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, showing him blindfolded and saying he did not mean what he had said in previous comments critical of the authorities. He was detained following his release of several rap clips in support of the protests.

US wants Iran ousted from UN women’s body
Reuters/November 02, 2022
UNITED NATIONS: The United States will try to remove Iran from the 45-member UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) over the government’s denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on protests, US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday.
Iran has just started a four-year term on the commission, which meets annually every March and aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. “The United States believes that no nation that systematically abuses the rights of women and girls should play a role in any international or United Nations body charged with protecting these very same rights,” Harris said in a statement. Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. The unrest has turned into a popular revolt by Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution. Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest. “Iran has demonstrated through its denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission,” Harris said.
The United States and Albania will hold an informal UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, putting a spotlight on protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody. The meeting aims to look for ways to promote credible, independent investigations into Iranian human rights abuses. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to brief. Iran has accused the United States and it allies of abusing their UN platform “to further their political agenda” and urged countries not to attend the meeting.
“The US has no true and genuine concern about the human rights situation in Iran or elsewhere,” Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani wrote in the letter to UN member states. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US bid to oust it from the CSW. Members of the CSW are elected by the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which promotes international cooperation on economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related issues. Russia and the United States are both ECOSOC members.

Zelenskiy Seeks Stronger Defense of Ukraine Grains Export Corridor
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
The world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt Ukraine's grain export corridor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as more ships were loading despite Moscow suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal. One of the global consequences of Russia's war on its neighbor has been food shortages and a cost of living crisis in many countries, and a deal brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye on July 22 had provided safe passage for vessels carrying grain and other fertilizer exports. Russia suspended its involvement in accord over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee safety for civilian ships because of an attack on its Black Sea fleet. In a late Tuesday night video address, Zelenskiy said ships were still moving out of Ukrainian ports with cargoes thanks to the work of Turkey and the United Nations. "But a reliable and long-term defense is needed for the grain corridor," Zelenskiy said. "Russia must clearly be made aware that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps to disrupt our food exports," Zelenskiy said. "At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people." The grains deal aimed to help avert famine in poorer countries by injecting more wheat, sunflower oil and fertilizer into world markets and to ease a dramatic rise in prices. It targeted the pre-war level of 5 million metric tons exported from Ukraine each month. The UN coordinator for grain and fertilizer exports under the accord said on Twitter on Tuesday that he expects loaded ships to leave Ukrainian ports on Thursday. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter that eight vessels were expected to pass through the corridor on Thursday. Having spoken to his Russian counterpart twice in as many days, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar hoped the deal would continue, adding that he expected a response from Russia "today and tomorrow".
Power cuts
Russia fired missiles at Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv in what President Vladimir Putin called retaliation for an attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet over the weekend. Ukraine said it shot most of those missiles down, but some had hit power stations, knocking out electricity and water supplies. Nine regions were experiencing power cuts. "We will do everything we can to provide power and heat for the coming winter," Zelenskiy said. "But we must understand that Russia will do everything it can to destroy normal life."Authorities in Kyiv were preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The United States denounced the attacks, saying about 100 missiles had been fired on Monday and Tuesday targeting water and energy supplies. "With temperatures dropping, these Russian attacks aimed at exacerbating human suffering are particularly heinous," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a daily briefing. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Kyiv came under further attack overnight, authorities said.
Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Ukrainian soldiers shot down 12 out of 13 Iranian drones.
"We are now actively conducting a dialogue regarding the supply of modern air defense systems, we are working on this every day," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kherson evacuations
Russia told civilians on Tuesday to leave an area along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Ukrainian province of Kherson, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory. Russia had previously ordered civilians out of a pocket it controls on the west bank of the river, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing for weeks with the aim of capturing the city of Kherson, the first city that Russian forces took control over after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday they were extending that order to a 15-km (9-mile) buffer zone along the east bank too. Ukraine says the evacuations include forced deportations from occupied territory, a war crime. The mouth of the Dnipro has become one of the most consequential frontlines in the war. Seven towns on the east bank would be evacuated, comprising the main populated settlements along that stretch of the river, Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson province, said in a video message. Russian-installed authorities in the Kherson region also said an obligatory evacuation of Kakhovka district, close to the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric station, was to begin on Nov. 6. Moscow has accused Kyiv of planning to use a so-called "dirty bomb" to spread radiation, or to blow up a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. Kyiv says accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine. In the city of Bakhmut, a target of Russia's armed forces in their slow advance through the eastern Donetsk region, some residents were refusing to leave as fighting intensified. "Only the strongest stayed," said Lyubov Kovalenko, a 65-year-old retiree. "Let’s put it this way, the poor ones. Everyone is wearing whatever clothing we have left." Rodion Miroshnik, "ambassador" of the neighboring Russian-occupied region of Luhansk, said Russian troops and their allies had repelled Ukrainian attacks on the towns of Kreminna and Bilohorivka. Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operations to demilitarize and "denazify" its neighbor. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for invasion.

Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Diplomatic efforts salvaged a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets, with Russia saying Wednesday it would stick to the deal after Ukraine pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine formally committed to use the established safe shipping corridor between southern Ukraine and Turkey "exclusively in accordance with the stipulations" of the agreement. "The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement," the ministry said, adding that medition by the United Nations and Turkey secured Russia's continued cooperation. Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack, which some Ukrainian officials blamed on Russian soldiers mishandling their own weapons. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Turkey's defense minister that the deal for a humanitarian grain corridor would "continue in the same way as before" as of noon Wednesday.
Erdogan said the renewed deal would prioritize shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, in line with Russia's concerns that most of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.
U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the total cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower or lower-middle income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments. Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia halting its support for the agreement, which aimed to ensure safe passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But the United Nations had said vessels would not move Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia's eight month-old war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are key global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries where many are already struggling with hunger. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal was brokered in July surged global food prices and helped throw tens of millions into poverty, along with soaring energy costs. The grain agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. Losing Ukrainian shipments would have meant poorer countries paying more to import grain in a tight global market as places like Argentina and the United States deal with dry weather, analysts say. After the announcement of Russia rejoining the deal, wheat futures prices erased the increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.
At least a third of the grain shipped in the last three months was going to the Middle East and North Africa, and while a lot of corn was going to Europe, "that's the traditional buyer for Ukraine corn. It's not like that was so unusual," Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, said. He added that more wheat was going to sub-Saharan Africa and Asian markets that have become increasingly important buyers of Ukrainian grain.
In Ukraine on Wednesday, thousands of homes in the Kyiv region and elsewhere remained without power, officials said Wednesday, as Russian drone and artillery strikes continued to target Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kukeba said 16,000 homes were without electricity and drones attacked energy facilities in the Cherkasy region south of the capital, prompting power outages. Although power and water were restored to the city of Kyiv, Kuleba didn't rule out electricity shortages lasting "weeks" if Russian forces continue to hit energy facilities there. In a Telegram post, he accused Russian forces of trying to prompt a serious humanitarian crisis.
Power outages were also reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka following "a large-scale drone attack," Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.
The two cities are located across the Dniper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility. Russia and Ukraine have for months traded blame for shelling at and around the plant that U.N.'s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency.
Continued Russian shelling across nine regions in southern and eastern Ukraine resulted in the deaths of at least four civilians and the wounding of 17 others between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The shelling also pounded cities and villages retaken by Ukraine last month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wounding seven people. Russian fire damaged a hospital, apartment buildings in the Donetsk region city of Toretsk. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Wednesday Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to fight for control of the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, both key targets of a Russian offensive in the region. In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region relocated civilians some 90 kilometers (56 miles) further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of a major Ukrainian counterattack to recapture the provincial capital of the same name. Russian forces dug trenches to prepare for the expected ground assault. The Kherson region's Kremlin-appointed officials on Tuesday expanded an evacuation area to people living within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the Dnieper River. They said 70,000 residents from the expanded evacuation zone would be relocated this week, doubling the number moved earlier.

Brazil's Bolsonaro tells Supreme Court election 'is over'
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's administration signaled a willingness to hand over power, two days after a nail-biting election loss to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and amid speculation the far-right incumbent might fight the result.
Bolsonaro reportedly told members of Brazil's Supreme Court Tuesday that his election battle against da Silva has come to an end. Earlier, in a brief speech at the presidential palace, he said: "I have always played within the four lines of the constitution," although he stopped short of conceding. After a private meeting with Bolsonaro, Supreme Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin said the conservative leader had said: "It is over. So, let's look ahead." The justice made the comment in a video broadcast on local media. Two other justices questioned by journalists declined to comment on the tenor of the hour-long meeting. Brazil's economy minister Paulo Guedes was also present, but didn't comment. In a subsequent statement, the top court said the justices told Bolsonaro during the "cordial and respectful meeting" that it is important he recognize the election's results, as well as the Brazilian people's right to freedom of movement. The country has seen widespread gridlock as pro-Bolsonaro protesters block highways. Earlier, in his first public comments since results came in, Bolsonaro didn't concede, but immediately afterward his chief of staff told reporters the conservative leader had authorized him to begin the process of handing over power. Bolsonaro, who before the election had repeatedly questioned the reliability of the country's electoral system, had little room for potentially rejecting the results. U.S. President Joe Biden and other international leaders have publicly recognized da Silva's victory, as have some of Bolsonaro's closest allies. And Cabinet members, governors-elect and evangelical leaders who have been strident supporters of Bolsonaro are now offering overtures to the incoming leftist government.
Bolsonaro lost Sunday's race by a thin margin, garnering 49.1% of the vote to da Silva's 50.9%, according to the nation's electoral authority. It was the tightest presidential race since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985, and marks the first time Bolsonaro has lost an election in his 34-year political career.
Flanked by more than a dozen ministers and allies as he delivered a two-minute speech at the presidential residence, the fiery leader did not mention the election results. Instead, he defended his tenure and said he supports ongoing protests by truckers who have erected nationwide roadblocks, as long as they don't become violent. "Current popular movements are the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice regarding how the electoral process occurred," he said. The president's statement amounted to a "two-fold move," said Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst. "He didn't recognize his defeat, and sustains the suspense," Traumann said. "But as he wants to continue to dominate, to be the leader, he maintains the possibility of peaceful demonstrations."Much like former U.S. President Donald Trump, whom Bolsonaro openly admires, he has claimed that electronic voting machines are prone to fraud. He hasn't provided any proof, even when ordered to do so by the electoral court. Many of his supporters also said they believed the election had been fraudulent and some called for military intervention and for Congress and the Supreme Court to be disbanded.
Earlier Tuesday, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the federal highway police to immediately clear the roads. A majority of the court's justices backed the decision, which accuses the highway police of "omission and inertia." By 8:30 p.m. local time, highway police said that they had removed 419 blockades, but nearly 200 were still in place. Earlier in Sao Paulo — Brazil's most populous state and largest economy — traffic jams around the international airport led to dozens of flight cancellations, with videos on social media showing travelers rolling their suitcases along the highway in the dark trying to catch their flights. The highways had been cleared by Tuesday morning, but airport officials said access remained difficult as traffic was still backed up in and out of the airport. There, Dalmir Almeida, a 38-year-old protester, said that after completing three days of strikes, he and others will drive their trucks to the military barracks to ask for their support. "The army will be in our favor," he said. At another road block in Sao Paulo state, protesters set tires on fire. Several demonstrators were wrapped in the Brazilian flag, which has been co-opted by the nation's conservative movement for demonstrations. Huge lines of cars could be seen snaking along the highway. Sao Paulo Gov. Rodrigo Garcia said the time for negotiations was over, and he was not ruling out the use of force. In Minas Gerais, a key battleground state in the election, a video on social media showed a protester telling a reporter from the O Tempo news outlet that the election was "fraudulent" and warned of future protests. "We want Bolsonaro in 2023 and for the years to come," he said. In Itaborai, a region in Rio de Janeiro state, an Associated Press reporter saw truck drivers kneeling in front of police officers and refusing to evacuate. Users on social media, including in multiple Telegram and WhatsApp chat groups, shared demands that the military take the streets, or that Congress and the Supreme Court be disbanded and the president remain in office. The Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday permits regular state police forces to reinforce federal highway police. The same was done in 2018, when an 11-day trucker strike brought Brazil to a halt. Bolsonaro commands wide support from the police forces' rank and file, however, and it wasn't clear how effective their involvement would be. The 2018 stoppage caused food prices to spike and left supermarket shelves without products as gas stations ran out of fuel. It caused billions in losses and revealed the vast power that truckers possess. Bolsonaro, a lawmaker at the time and months away from winning that year's presidential election, was an outspoken supporter of the truckers, who are now among his constituents.

Türkiye Says Russia Agrees to Rejoin Wartime Grain Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
Russia’s defense minister has told his Turkish counterpart that Moscow has agreed to return to a Turkish and UN brokered deal that allowed the shipment of millions of tons Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Türkiye’s president announced. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called Türkiye’s Hulusi Akar and informed him that the grain corridor agreement would “continue in the same way as before” as of Wednesday. Erdogan said Wednesday that the deal would prioritize shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, in line with Russia’s concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations. Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet. The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that ship traffic from ports in southern Ukraine was halted, calling the movement “unacceptable.”Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal that ensures safe wartime passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But the United Nations had said vessels would not move Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments. The United Nations and Türkiye brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Saudis in US targeted as kingdom cracks down on dissent
Associated Press/Wednesday, 2 November, 2022
A graduate student at Boston's Northeastern University, Prince Abdullah bin Faisal al Saud seldom mentioned he was a member of Saudi Arabia's sprawling royal family, friends say. He avoided talking about Saudi politics, focusing on his studies, career plans and love of soccer.
But after a fellow prince — a cousin — was imprisoned back home, Prince Abdullah discussed it with relatives in calls made from the U.S., according to Saudi officials, who somehow were listening. On a trip back to Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdullah was imprisoned because of those calls. An initial 20-year sentence was hiked to 30 years in August. Prince Abdullah's case, detailed in Saudi court documents obtained by The Associated Press, hasn't been previously reported. But it's not isolated. Over the last five years, Saudi surveillance, intimidation and pursuit of Saudis on U.S. soil have intensified as the kingdom steps up repression under its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the FBI, rights groups and two years of interviews with Saudis living abroad. Some of those Saudis said FBI agents advised them not to go home. The Saudi Embassy in Washington, responding to an inquiry by the AP, said, "The notion that the Saudi government — or any of its institutions — harasses its own citizens abroad is preposterous."
But in the same month that Prince Abdullah's sentence was lengthened, Saudi Arabia gave a 72-year-old Saudi-American, Saad al Madi, a virtual life sentence for tweets he had posted from his home in Florida. Al Madi was unexpectedly accused and imprisoned on a visit home to the kingdom. In sentencing al Madi, the kingdom split from a longstanding Saudi practice of sparing citizens of the U.S., its longtime military protector, from the worst of punishments. Also in August, it gave a 34-year prison sentence to a 34-year-old Saudi student in Britain, Salma al Shehab, when she, too, visited the kingdom after tweeting about it. All three sentences were imposed weeks after President Joe Biden set aside his past condemnation of Saudi Arabia's human rights record to travel to the kingdom, despite criticism from lawmakers, rights groups and Saudi exiles. It was a moment when the U.S. urgently needed the kingdom to keep up oil production. But Biden has ended up with no more oil — the Saudis and OPEC have cut production — or any improvement in human rights. Saudi rights advocates say the imprisonments validate their pre-trip warnings: Biden's attempts to soothe the crown prince have only emboldened him.
Several authoritarian governments illicitly monitor and strike out against their citizens in the United States, often in violation of U.S. sovereignty, in what's called transnational repression. Many of the cases the U.S. prosecutes involve rivals, particularly China. But Saudi Arabia's actions under Prince Mohammed stand out for their high-tech intensity, orchestration and, often, ferocity, and for coming from a strategic partner.
Freedom House, a research and advocacy group, says Saudi Arabia has targeted critics in 14 countries, including targeting coordinated and run from the United States. The aim is to spy on Saudis and intimidate them, or compel them to return to the kingdom, the group says. "It's disturbing, it's terrifying, and it's a major violation of protected speech," Freedom House's Nate Schenkkan said of the recent imprisonments of Western-based Saudis. In its statement rejecting claims it targets critics abroad, the Saudi Embassy said: "On the contrary, our diplomatic missions abroad provide a broad array of services, including medical and legal assistance, to any citizen that requests assistance when traveling outside the kingdom." The statement did not address the imprisonment of the Boston-based prince. The State Department said it was looking into Prince Abdullah's case. In an email, it called transnational repression in general "an issue of significant human rights and national security concern" and said it would keep pursuing accountability. It did not directly address any questions about Saudi actions.
The FBI declined to comment.
Prince Abdullah, 31, comes from one of the branches of the royal family most targeted by detentions as perceived critics or rivals since Prince Mohammed consolidated power under his aged father, King Salman. A photo from Prince Abdullah's Northeastern undergraduate ceremony shows him in cap and gown, clean-shaven, chin lifted and beaming.Friends say Saudi officials took Prince Abdullah into custody after he returned in 2020, on a government-provided ticket, to study remotely during the pandemic. Saudi courts sentenced him to 20 years in prison and a subsequent 20-year travel ban. A Saudi court in August lengthened the term by 10 years. As with others it imprisoned, including writers, journalists and advocates, Saudi Arabia accused Prince Abdullah of acting to destabilize the kingdom, disturb social unity and support the kingdom's opponents. The kingdom uses terrorism and cybercrime laws — applied in cases involving phone or computer communication — to issue unusually tough sentences. Saudi court documents allege Prince Abdullah used a Signal app on his mobile phone in Boston to speak to his mother and other relatives about the cousin imprisoned by Prince Mohammed, and had used a public phone in Boston to speak to a lawyer about the case. They say Prince Abdullah acknowledged sending about 9,000 euros ($9,000) to pay bills at his cousin's apartment in Paris.
It is not known how Saudi Arabia monitored private phone conversations that originated in the U.S. But in recent years, it has honed spy tactics old and new. Rights groups believe a citizen's snitching app developed by the Saudi government, and still available on Google Play, may have been used to report the tweets of al Madi and al Shehab. Investigations by the Citizen Lab research group, media organizations and Amnesty International alleged Saudi Arabia uses military-grade Israeli spyware. Amnesty said the spyware was installed on the phone of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee before Saudi officials killed him in 2018. Saudi documents and anecdotal accounts from Saudi exiles depict years of Saudi government employees and student informants tracking perceived subversion by students in the U.S. For Saudi exiles, "it's a repression machine," said Khalid al Jabri, whose once highly placed family has been targeted by the crown prince. That includes siblings imprisoned by Prince Mohammed, and what the family charges was a Saudi assassination squad sent, unsuccessfully, to kill his father in Canada in 2018.
"They just want you to look over your shoulder. And that's what I do," said Danah al Mayouf, creator of a YouTube channel critical of Saudi officials.
At least since 2017, the FBI said in a bulletin this year, Saudi government-supported "Saudi agents and U.S.-based Saudi nationals, have monitored, harassed and threatened critics of the Saudi regime in the United States through both digital and in person means."Federal authorities under Biden have taken some steps regarding transnational repression. That includes stepped-up monitoring and a warning delivered to embassies in Washington. Federal prosecutors recently brought two of the first cases over Saudi spying and harassment of its nationals in the United States. A San Francisco federal jury in August convicted a former Twitter employee who prosecutors said was accessing private data of Twitter users, including critics of the Saudi government. A federal court in New York is wrapping up a case against a Saudi government-paid Saudi citizen living in Mississippi. Ibrahim al Hussayen sent Saudi dissidents in the U.S. messages via social media, including "MBS will wipe you of the face of the earth" and "Do you think you are safe," according to federal authorities.
Al Hussayen's lawyers notified the court last week he intends to plead guilty to lying to FBI agents. In an unusual move, the lawyers asked authorities to waive further investigation. Numerous Saudis in the U.S. in interviews describe meeting with FBI agents over fears or suspicions of being stalked. Four Saudis said the FBI informally advised them against going to Saudi Arabia or entering the Saudi Embassy. Two said FBI agents advised them they were on a Saudi list for retaliation. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Saudi dissidents and advocates say the U.S. isn't doing enough to assure either exiles or Prince Mohammed that Washington will act when Saudi Arabia targets critics in the United States. They describe a life in the United States punctuated with suspicion-raising interactions with Saudi officials, strangers and acquaintances, abuse online, and fears of speaking openly on unencrypted apps. Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul destroyed the long understood ground rules between Saudi rulers and ruled. "It's targeting more people and, yeah, it's — nothing happens," said Bethany al Haidari, a researcher with the Washington-based Freedom Initiative for Middle East political prisoners.
"You know, if you can get away with murder, what else?" al Haidari asked.

Nobel winners call attention to Egypt political prisoners
Associated Press/November 02/2022
A group of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature urged world leaders on Wednesday to raise human rights issues as they visit Egypt for the COP27 climate change conference. In a letter sent to various heads of state, the group of 15 Nobel Laureates asked the visiting diplomats and politicians to "devote part of your agenda to the many thousands of political prisoners held in Egypt's prisons." In particular, they asked for the case of prominent imprisoned activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah to be raised, as he escalates his hunger strike on the conference's first day. Abdel-Fattah's family said he started a full hunger strike on Tuesday and plans to start denying himself water as of Nov. 6, the first day of the international climate conference. His family has expressed fears that without water he will die before the conference concludes Nov. 18. Abdel-Fattah, an outspoken dissident and a U.K. citizen, rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. The 40-year-old activist spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypt's return to autocratic rule. As an international spotlight focuses on Egypt ahead of the climate summit in the Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Abdel-Fattah's family has been lobbying for his release. His sister, Sanaa Seif, has been staging a sit-in at the headquarters of Britain's Foreign Ministry to push the U.K. to take action in his case. The government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, a U.S. ally with deep economic ties to European countries, has been relentlessly silencing dissenters and clamping down on independent organizations for years with arrests and restrictions. Many of the top activists involved in the 2011 uprising have fled the country or are now in prison, most under a draconian law passed in 2013 that effectively banned all street protests. Human Rights Watch estimates there are more than 60,000 political prisoners behind bars. The letter was signed by Nobel Prize for Literature winners Svetlana Alexievich, J. M. Coetzee, Annie Ernaux, Louise Glück, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Kazuo Ishiguro, Elfriede Jelinek, Mario Vargas Llosa, Patrick Modiano, Herta Müller, Orhan Pamuk, Roger Penrose, George Smith, Wole Soyinka and Olga Tokarczuk.
The organizers said the letter has been sent to the secretary-general of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, King Charles III, President of France Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz in addition to other international leaders. An Egyptian government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter's distribution. Abdel-Fattah is also a writer. The letter campaign was organized by two publishers who have distributed his writings, Fitzcarraldo Editions and Seven Stories Press. His most recent collection of essays, some of them written from inside a prison cell, is entitled "You Have Not Yet Been Defeated," was published in April and addresses issues of global injustice as societies evolve. The letter quotes one of his writings on the issue of climate change.
"The crisis is not one of awareness, but of surrender to the inevitability of inequality. If the only thing that unites us is the threat, then everyone will move to defend their interests. But if we collect around a hope in a better future, a future where we put an end to all forms of inequality, this global awareness will be transformed into positive energy," the letter reads.

Morocco king invites Algeria president for 'dialogue'
Agence France Presse/November 02/2022
Morocco's King Mohammed VI has invited Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for "dialogue" in Rabat, the kingdom's foreign minister has told AFP, after months of tension between the North African rivals. The invitation comes as Algeria hosts the first Arab League summit in three years, in the absence of several key figures including the Moroccan monarch. Algeria cut ties with Morocco in August last year, alleging "hostile acts" following a string of diplomatic incidents and the collapse of a 30-year ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara, a key point of tension between the neighboring powers.
Tebboune had invited King Mohammed to the two-day summit which opened in Algiers on Tuesday, and the king had made public his intention to attend. However, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told AFP that Algeria had sent "no confirmation via the appropriate channels" when Moroccan diplomats in Algiers asked how the monarch would be hosted. Bourita's Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamra told a Saudi TV channel on Monday that the king's absence was a "lost opportunity". Tebboune had said he would meet the king on his arrival in the Algerian capital, but Bourita said: "That kind of meeting can't be improvised in an airport waiting room. "His majesty has given instructions to extend an open invitation to President Tebboune, because the dialogue was not able to take place in Algiers," Bourita said. Mohammed VI has repeatedly called for reconciliation with Algeria and in a July speech voiced his desire for a return to "normal ties between brotherly peoples". Morocco in late 2020 re-established ties with Israel and established security cooperation with the Jewish state, acts seen by Algeria as a threat to its interests. That added to decades of mistrust fuelled by Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony seen by Morocco as an integral part of its territory, but where Algeria has long backed the pro-independence Polisario Front.

Egypt calls for pledge fulfillments at climate conference
AP/November 02, 2022
CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign minister Wednesday urged world leaders and negotiators to deliver on previously made pledges to battle climate change ahead of this month’s UN summit.
Sameh Shoukry, the president of the COP27 climate change conference to be held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 6-18, said participants should aim to take “meaningful and tangible steps” to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.
The Paris Agreement aims to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Last year’s summit in Glasgow produced a compromise deal aimed at keeping that key global warming target alive.
“We aim to restore the ‘grand bargain’ at the center of the Paris Agreement and our collective multilateral climate process,” Shoukry said in a four-page letter to world leaders and delegates taking part in the COP27.
“This year the picture is less encouraging,” he said, warning of backsliding on the delivery of finance pledges to developing countries to increase their efforts to address climate change.
Shoukry said the summit comes amid uphill challenges including the failure of the G-20 meeting of industrial and emerging-market nations earlier this year to produce an agreement on environment. He also pointed to a lack of “concrete agreements” to allow financial support to address the impacts of climate change during the fall meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The annual conference convenes 197 nations for deliberations on how to address climate change. The COP27 comes as the world faces an energy crisis and a war in Europe that have rattled the global economy.
In recent years, many developing nations and activists have increased long-standing calls to establish a fund to compensate poor countries for devastation brought about by climate change, disproportionately caused by rich countries because of past emissions.
The call was rejected during last year’s summit. Many supporters of the idea, often called “loss and damage,” hope to make progress on it this month. Their arguments could get a boost by the symbolic significance of this conference being held in Egypt, a developing nation in North Africa.
The Egyptian minister said “significant progress” was achieved over the past year, including a $40 billion resilience fund created by the IMF, and the Green Climate Fund which provides some $2.5 billion a year to support developing countries addressing impacts of climate change.
“This progress proves that when there is political will, a sense of urgency and a functional structure, we can collectively make strides in our joint effort to combat climate change,” he said.
He called for countries to launch “implementation frameworks” stemming from the negotiating process of the UN climate change convention. “COP27 creates a unique opportunity for the world to come together, mend multilateralism, rebuild trust and unite at the highest political levels to address climate change,” he said. The conference, dubbed “Africa COP,” centers around financial aid to poor countries struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. It is expected to draw more than 45,000 delegates, including President Joe Biden, and over 100 head of states and governments.

UAE and US sign partnership to spur $100bn clean energy projects
The Arab Weekly/November 02/2022
The partnership would “assemble and stimulate” private and public sector funding and support for clean energy innovation, carbon and methane management, advanced reactors including small modular reactors, along with industrial and transport decarbonisation. The United Arab Emirates and the United States have signed a partnership to spur $100 billion of investments in clean energy projects and add 100 gigawatts of clean energy globally by 2035, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday. “Together, we will spur large-scale investment in new energy technologies, in our own countries, around the world and in emerging economies,” US energy envoy Amos Hochstein said in a statement carried on WAM. This said that the partnership would “assemble and stimulate” private and public sector funding and support for clean energy innovation, carbon and methane management, advanced reactors including small modular reactors, along with industrial and transport decarbonisation. Under the initiative OPEC member UAE and the United States would provide technical, project management and funding assistance for commercially and environmentally sustainable energy projects in other countries. “The energy transition needs a realistic, practical and economically viable plan to deliver climate progress together with energy security and inclusive economic growth,” Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change, said in the statement. The initiative will also focus on investing in responsible and resilient supply chains, promoting investment in green mining as well as production of minerals and materials vital to the energy transition.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/2022
UN Sides with China Despite Its Own Report Condemning Xinjiang Abuses
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/November 02/2022
The recent United Nations Human Rights Council vote -- rejecting the West's proposal to debate China's possible "crimes against humanity" in its treatment of its Muslim minority in Xinjiang -- covered up Beijing's gruesome treatment of its Uyghur Population. This vote, saving face for the Chinese Communist Party at its recently concluded 20th National Congress, shields the Chinese regime's true nature and indicates its increasing influence in international affairs.
Most significant for the United States were the abstentions cast by several of the largest Latin American members of the UNHRC, which were part of a pattern reflecting the waning of US diplomatic clout in the Western Hemisphere. The tally also underscores China's rising influence in the region, which campaigned hard opposing the resolution. Only Honduras and Paraguay voted with the West.
In response to increased international criticism, Chen Quanguo, the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Xinjiang, claimed that the re-education centers had closed because the students had graduated. Although satellite imagery indicates that Chen was technically correct in saying that some "re-education centers" have been closed, subsequent reporting by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute determined that the overall number of detention facilities and prisons has markedly increased and that the security gulag system in Xinjiang has not been phased out.
The [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights] report painted a darker picture of what actually goes on inside Xinjiang's VETCs. Interviews of dozens of former VETC inmates reveal that the camps are lined with external and internal fencing, and armed guards stationed on watchtowers with orders to shoot to kill anyone attempting to escape. Former prisoners relate that there are no home visits, and prisoners receive no knowledge of the length of their enforced detention.
The CCP abolished the right to family privacy, by forcibly quartering ethnic Han Communist agents inside the homes of Xinjiang's Muslim citizens. The regime calls this invasive policy "Becoming Family." These "visitors," often quartered in Muslim homes for a month at a time, report on family religious practices or signs of political dissidence.
China's Communist regime still insists that its overall policy in Xinjiang is designed to improve security, lift indigenous peoples out of poverty and improve their quality of life by encouraging lifestyle changes such as family planning practices, learning new skills, and moving into urban environments.
President Xi justifies CCP policies in Xinjiang by the necessity to combat the "Three Evils" of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. Subduing Xinjiang also facilitates Communist China's broad economic plans to increase its influence in Central Asia while using the region as a thoroughfare to implement Xi's Belt and Road Initiative projects in Africa, the Near East and Europe.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights released in August a comprehensive, meticulously detailed report on Communist China's violations of the rights of its Muslim Uyghur citizens in Xinjiang. The report accuses China of "crimes against humanity." Pictured: The outer wall of an internment camp for Xinjiang Muslims on the outskirts of Hotan, in China's Xinjiang region. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
The recent United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) vote -- rejecting the West's proposal to debate China's possible "crimes against humanity" in its treatment of its Muslim minority in Xinjiang -- covered up Beijing's gruesome treatment of its Uyghur Population. This vote, saving face for the Chinese Communist Party at its recently concluded 20th National Congress, shields the Chinese regime's true nature and indicates its increasing influence in international affairs.
The 19 to 17 vote with 11 abstentions was a stinging defeat for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who had released on August 31 a damning report on China's inhuman treatment of Xinjiang's Uyghurs.
The failure to publicly expose via debate Communist China's horrific abuses in Xinjiang also is testament to the betrayal of their Islamic Uyghur brethren by Muslim-majority members of the UN Human Rights Council. These Islamic countries -- Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia and Sudan -- voted against efforts to debate the resolution. Turkey, in solidarity with its ethnic Turkic kinfolk, the Uyghurs, voted "Yes," to consider the matter for debate.
Most significant for the United States were the abstentions cast by several of the largest Latin American members of the UNHRC, which were part of a pattern reflecting the waning of US diplomatic clout in the Western Hemisphere. The tally also underscores China's rising influence in the region, which campaigned hard opposing the resolution. Only Honduras and Paraguay voted with the West. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico voted to abstain. Predictably, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia voted "No."
The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) released in August a comprehensive, meticulously detailed report on Communist China's violations of the rights of its Muslim Uyghur citizens in Xinjiang. The OHCHR report accuses China of "crimes against humanity."
The report laid out chronologically evidence collection activities and is based upon a diversity of source materials. These collection methods included: commercially available satellite photography, open source information (OSI), and official texts from People's Republic of China (PRC) documents. Independently sourced material also includes reports by non-governmental organizations, think tanks, media outlets and the testimony of victims.
The OHCHR report noted, in late 2017, after complaints from "various civil society groups" about missing Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), that it commissioned the UN's "Rights Council of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances" to investigate the allegations. The collective bundle of human rights violations of Xinjiang's minorities reinforce existing arbitrary stipulations of China's Criminal Procedure Law. For instance, even before any arrest or subsequent release from official custody, a citizen can be banned from local transport, sequestered at his or her place of residence, have his passport confiscated, be prohibited from visiting particular places or people, and required periodically to report to a specific police site.
Several leaked official Chinese documents over the last few years have corroborated the OHCHR's specific accusations of human rights violations by Chinese Communist Party officials in Xinjiang. Implementation of the CCP's oppressive policies toward Xinjiang's Turkic minorities are principally executed by the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice and Supreme People's Court personnel.
China's "Ta Fa" (Strike Hard Campaign), established in May 2014, continues to serve as the Chinese leadership's endorsement of the ongoing gruesome policies against Xinjiang's Turkic minorities. The Strike Hard Campaign was authorized by Xinjiang's former CCP Provincial Party Secretary, Zhang Chunxian, but put into high gear by his successor Chen Quanguo, who had earned his hardline reputation by crushing dissent in Tibet. Following Chen's widespread and systematic suppression of Xinjiang's Turkic minorities, Chen himself was replaced by Ma Xingrui. Ma pledged to continue Xi Jinping's policy of maintaining "stability" in Xinjiang.
UN investigators focused on China's Vocational and Educational Training Camps (VETCs) situated throughout Xinjiang, including Hotan, Aksu and Urumchi Prefectures. Chinese authorities claim that these centers are teaching Xinjiang's ethnic minorities new skills, enabling them to better participate in China's "modernization plans" for Xinjiang.
The OHCHR report painted a darker picture of what actually goes on inside Xinjiang's VETCs. Interviews of dozens of former VETC inmates reveal that the camps are lined with external and internal fencing, and armed guards stationed on watchtowers with orders to shoot to kill anyone attempting to escape. Former prisoners relate that there are no home visits, and prisoners receive no knowledge of the length of their enforced detention. A Council of Foreign Relations report estimates that the VETC "re-education centers" have forcibly detained between 800,000 and two million ethnic Turks, mostly Uyghurs, since 2017. In response to increased international criticism, Chen Quanguo, the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Xinjiang, claimed that the re-education centers had closed because the students had graduated. Although satellite imagery indicates that Chen was technically correct in saying that some "re-education centers" have been closed, subsequent reporting by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute determined that the overall number of detention facilities and prisons has markedly increased and that the security gulag system in Xinjiang has not been phased out.
Reports of brutal practices inside the VETCs are widespread. They include rape, beatings with batons and electric shock treatments. There is also humiliation by forced nakedness, various forms of sexual abuse and prolonged periods of forced wakefulness. Inmates are often strapped to what is called a "Tiger Chair" as these tortures are meted out. Specific types of brutality meted out to female Uyghurs are indicative of the regime's overall objective of genocide of Xinjiang's Muslims. The guards who dish out these tortures act with impunity, which suggests that even repeated mass rape is formal policy. Many female detainees have endured forced abortions, mandatory sterilization and IUDs implanted against their will. These practices demonstrate that a principal CCP goal is to reduce the Muslim population in Xinjiang. Official regime statistics already show that the Han Chinese population is nearly equal to the ethnic Turkic groups in Xinjiang, with Uyghurs at 11.5 million and Han at 10.9 million.
China's Communist regime is pursuing another key goal in Xinjiang, that of "cultural genocide." UN investigators have catalogued the CCP's anti-Muslim tactics, which support the charge of "cultural genocide." The OHCHR report condemns the regime's policies of banning public displays of religiosity like praying and celebrating Muslim religious holy daysץ The UN offers proof by satellite imagery of widespread destruction of mosques. The report charges that people are arrested for donning clothing indicative of religious affiliation, such as women wearing a hijab. Muslim men are often detained for too long a beard, carrying Islamic scripture or obviously fasting during Ramadan. Even Muslim names, especially for boys, such as Hajj and Jihad, are banned. Under the regime's totalitarian state security measures, people who suddenly stop smoking or drinking are detained, and Han Chinese teachers pressure students not to speak Uyghur, Kazakh or Kirgiz. Elementary school children are instructed in Mandarin Chinese.
Another facet of the horrific treatment of Xinjiang's Turkic minorities by Xi Jinping's totalitarian Communist dictatorship is mandatory "ideological re-education." Detainees are forced to participate in standard Communist behavioral reform practices such as self-criticism and singing Communist revolutionary "red songs." Perhaps the most sinister program of the regime is its policies to destroy the integrity of the Uyghur family. The CCP abolished the right to family privacy, by forcibly quartering ethnic Han Communist agents inside the homes of Xinjiang's Muslim citizens. The regime calls this invasive policy "Becoming Family." These "visitors," often quartered in Muslim homes for a month at a time, report on family religious practices or signs of political dissidence.
China's Communist regime still insists that its overall policy in Xinjiang is designed to improve security, lift indigenous peoples out of poverty and improve their quality of life by encouraging lifestyle changes such as family planning practices, learning new skills, and moving into urban environments.
Beijing is willing to endure universal condemnation of its coercive programs in Xinjiang because these draconian policies are designed to counter the Communist Party's fear of losing control of territories in China's northwest. Every Chinese government from the Han Dynasty down the present Communist regime has been faced with the dilemma of whether China should expend resources and implement the cruel policies of "preventive repression" necessary to maintain its territorial integrity.
There is an aspect of the CCP's Xinjiang policy that exposes China's total abandonment of international decorum. Uyghurs, even after escaping Xinjiang, often discover that they are still not beyond the tentacles of the Chinese authorities. China has effectively employed its global influence on some countries to forcibly extradite Turkic emigrants back to China. Since 2014, the UN estimates that at least 1,300 Uyghurs have been detained, extradited or rendered (covertly transferred) back to China's clutches from foreign countries, including, incredibly Muslim countries Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
President Xi justifies CCP policies in Xinjiang by the necessity to combat the "Three Evils" of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. Subduing Xinjiang also facilitates Communist China's broad economic plans to increase its influence in Central Asia while using the region as a thoroughfare to implement Xi's Belt and Road Initiative projects in Africa, the Near East and Europe.
*Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
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Iran… The Turban and the Soldiers
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/November, 02/ 2022
The protests currently underway in Iran tell us that the legitimacy of the regime is weakening or withering away. We are not looking at a familiar scenario. Just as we used to say that the conditions of the countries that witnessed what has falsely been called the Arab Spring are not similar, the potential changes to the Iranian model do not resemble others.
Change, if it were to take place in Iran, would not resemble anything we had seen before, even in Iran itself. Indeed, no one expects the Supreme Leader to get on a plane and leave the country as the Shah had done. This regime is more complicated, and that is its weakness today.
True, the Iranian regime wears a turban. However, this turban hides the army uniform beneath it. The regime has already been militarized, and the turban has become nothing more than a political facade. The turban of the Supreme Leader may well be the last real facade.
Khamenei’s departure is expected to be the turning point that sees the turban replaced by soldiers. Soldiers are expected to rise to the fore after Khamenei’s departure, with the next Supreme Leader expected to be nothing more than their facade. He will not control them as Khamenei had, though he also found himself obliged to cooperate with them in order to grow his influence.
As the Khomeinist ruling class, Khomeini's generation and the one that followed it, faded into the background, the soldiers were rising up the ladder. They established a strong presence in all institutions, building a solid base in every facet of the regime, especially the departments running the economy.
The soldiers are expected to impose their dominance as soon as Khamenei departs. In the event that the protests continue, the soldiers could impose their control more swiftly, given reports about Khamenei’s declining health, either through a soft or clear coup.
Whoever contemplates the Iranian scene will find that the Mullah regime has become frail. It has used up all of its domestic opportunities and tricks, and its foreign expansion exceeds its capacity. Given how the United States struggled to wage two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) simultaneously, what could be said of the tribulation of the Iranian regime, which has expanded in four countries and is now getting involved in Ukraine?
Moreover, the Russians had to reduce their military footprint in Syria because of its war with Ukraine, so we can only imagine how Iran- whose economy is in dire straits, is being rocked by protests and sanctions and is isolated from the rest of the world- will manage. Logic leads us to the obvious conclusion that it cannot continue to expand or maintain the gains it has made abroad. Add the changes expected in US foreign policy, especially if the Democrats lose control of both Chambers of Congress. The Republicans’ arrival can only spell more pressure on the Mullahs. And so, the IRGC and the other soldiers in Iran have room to maneuver politically, both domestically and abroad. This wiggle room could grant them two decades if they decide to run the country. They are taking this path, but conditions could force them to accelerate the process.
Thus, the threats of the IRGC Commander last Saturday, warning protesters that it would be their last day in the streets, is a turning point. It is not a turning point for the people and their movement but in terms of how explicit the military’s role is to the Iranian people as the influence of the turbans declines and the protests persist. Furthermore, the soldiers’ prestige is on the line as the turbans lose theirs in the eyes of the Iranians on the streets. This suggests that the soldiers have indeed entered the fore. Will they wait for the Supreme Leader’s departure or impose their control now? I think the region and everyone should prepare for every possibility.

American Muslims: More ‘Islamophobic’ than Everyone Else
Raymond Ibrahim/November, 02/ 2022 
For long, the powers that be have insisted that Islamophobia—defined as “unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam”—is the root of all problems between Muslims and non-Muslims in the West. Speaking last May, Joe Biden lamented that “so many Muslims [are] being targeted with violence. No one, no one should [be] discriminated against or be oppressed for their religious beliefs…. Muslims make our nation stronger every single day, even as they still face real challenges and threats in our society, including targeted violence and Islamophobia that exists.”
The accusation is that, based on a number of negative stereotypes concerning Muslims—for example, that they are violent, hostile, and uncivilized—Americans have come to dislike and fear Muslims; and this, in turn, makes Muslims resentful and eventually lash out.
A new poll, however, has completely overturned this position (not, of course, that the powers that be will acknowledge it). As it happens, Muslims—they who know Islam more than anyone else—are more Islamophobic than non-Muslims in America; they are more, not less, prone to believing that fellow Muslims are violent, hostile, and uncivilized.
The poll was conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), a Muslim think tank headquartered in Dearborn. Its findings were so inescapable that ISPU—whose entire existence revolves around presenting Muslims as victims of Islamophobia in America—had to conclude that, “over time, Islamophobia has declined among other groups but has increased among Muslims.”
Consider the following excerpts from the report (while taking certain words and phrases employed by the Muslim think tank—such as “tropes” and “false notions”—with a grain of salt):
Muslims, themselves, are by far the most Islamophobic group when it comes to the false notion that Muslims are more prone to violence than others. One-quarter of American Muslims (24%) somewhat or strongly agree with this trope, which is at least about two times more likely than other groups. In comparison, 9% of Jews, 8% of Catholics, 11% of Protestants, 12% of white Evangelicals, 13% of the nonaffiliated, and 9% of the general public agree with the idea that Muslims are more prone to violence than others…. Roughly one-quarter of Arab Muslims (23%) agree that Muslims are more prone to violence than others…. American Muslims (19%) are more likely to agree with this idea [that “most Muslims living in the US are hostile to the US”] than are Jews (4%), Protestants (10%), the nonaffiliated (7%), and the general public (8%).…
[Then there is] the erroneous idea that most Muslims living in the United States are less civilized than other groups. Again, we find that Muslims exhibit higher levels of endorsement of this trope with American Muslims nearly three times more likely than white Evangelicals to do so. Nearly one in five Muslims (19%) agree with this trope, compared with 5% of Jews, 6% of Catholics, 5% of Protestants, 7% of white Evangelicals, 5% of the nonaffiliated, and 5% of the general public. The 19% of Muslims who agree with this idea includes 11% who ‘strongly agree’ compared with 1-2% of all other groups surveyed.
These findings are eye opening to say the least. Remember, the entire premise of Islamophobia is that, in their ignorance of “true Islam,” xenophobic Americans are prone to stereotyping Muslims as violent, hostile, and uncivilized. Yet, behold the truth: no one segment of the American population sees Muslims as violent, hostile, and uncivilized as much as those who are best acquainted with everything to do with being Muslim—that is, Muslims themselves.
Perhaps it is fitting to close by returning to Biden, and his claims that Muslims are perpetual victims of Islamophobia and violence: When, on August 5, 2022, a fourth Muslim man was killed in Albuquerque, Biden rushed to exploit these murders in furtherance of his narrative, tweeting: “These hateful attacks have no place in America,” thus implying American “Islamophobia” was the driver of these murders.
Then reality hit: the murderer was himself a Muslim—and thus one more reminder why Muslims are so Islamophobic, rightly fearing fellow Muslims.
We are always being admonished to listen to Muslims. When it comes to evaluating which aspects of Islam are “tropes” and which are not, perhaps we should start.

How Long-standing Iranian Disinformation Tactics Target Protests
Allan Hassaniyan/The Washington Institute/November 02/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113120/%d8%a3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%ad%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%b4%d9%86%d8%b7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d8%b8%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5/
After decades of global and domestic disinformation campaigns, the Iranian regime has only doubled down on media manipulation in response to recent protests.
This week, Tehran released its accusations against the two journalists-- Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi—who are being detained in Evin prison. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and intelligence wing of the IRGC issued a joint release accusing the two journalists of allowing the CIA to organize their reporting and “laying the groundwork for the intensification of external pressures.” The accusations themselves are absurd, but help to highlight the narratives Tehran consistently turns to in order to delegitimize and downplay dissent within the country.
The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) frequently represents itself as a major target and victim of political conspiracy and anti-Iran disinformation campaigns. However, these repeated claims and the contexts in which they are made serve to prove that Iran itself is a hub for fake news and disinformation, especially those targeting other states and its own society. Since its establishment in 1979, the IRI has consistently subjected its own people to media manipulation, and Iranian state media—including the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) service, which essentially has a media monopoly—has functioned as a weapon of mass suppression of information.
Right now, both state media outlets in Iran and Persian diaspora platforms around the globe have been falsely representing the current mass protests in peripheral regions such as Kurdistan, Khuzestan, and Baluchistan as “separatist” in nature. This narrative has allowed the regime to discredit and divide the protestors and to justify its use of extreme violence in suppressing them.
As has been the case in the past, spreading such fake news about internal protests—and labeling them as “separatist activities”—represents an attempt by the regime to destroy any manifestations of nascent unity or solidarity among protestors and the Iranian public at large. Specifically in the central regions and provinces of Iran—populated mainly by the Persian Iranians—the regime hopes to sway public opinion with the argument that Iran’s territorial integrity is endangered.
In the absence of freedom of the press, critical assessments of the information distributed by state media are a difficult task. According to the 2022 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, Iran is among the world’s ten worst countries for press freedom and “one of the most repressive ones for journalists.” However, their most recent coverage of these mass protests against repression have made more obvious just how prevalent and insidious these narratives are.
A History of Disinformation
Iran’s disinformation strategy is as old as the regime itself. As an ideological apparatus of the regime, state media institutions like the IRIB have served to produce and impose the authority and values of the regime on the Iranian people. Decades of this propaganda has naturally raised the Iranian public’s antipathy toward the state’s all-encompassing strategy, with some Iranians viewing it as a “national shame.”
In the age of digital and social media, the creation of thousands of fake websites and fake Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts is another tool with which the IRI has spread fake news and disinformation internationally—a tool which IRI officials openly admit and discuss using. For example, Ruhollah Momen Nasab—the former head of the Digital Media Centre within the IRI’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, an outspoken opponent of free internet access and a staunch supporter of the restrictive “Law for the Protection of Cyberspace Users”—has proudly referred to Iran’s disinformation network as an element of psychological warfare. IRI officials have even boasted of the development of “cyber battalions” to manipulate the global narratives on Twitter and other platforms.
Regarding its domestic opponents, the IRI has conducted a similar campaign of psychological warfare. The IRIB, for example, takes advantage of a vast network of security, intelligence, military, and judicial organizations” to facilitate the “silencing, shaming, demonizing, vilifying, intimidating, punishing, and even torturing” of internal opponents, according to a report from the International Federation for Human Rights.
Indeed, the IRIB closely collaborates with the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, broadcasting the likely coerced confessions of at least 355 people. While targets of the IRI’s disinformation are diverse, the main goal is to control public opinion—pitting groups against each other and tarnishing the reputations of activists and protesters.
The regime’s hate and disinformation campaigns especially villainize minority communities, including Iran’s Arabs, Azeris, Baha’i, Baluchis, Kurds, and Turkmens. In a recent example, four suspected members or sympathizers of Komala—a leftist Kurdish political party—were labelled in the media as Israel-affiliated terrorists in August despite little evidencel.
Over time, the regime’s targeting strategy has institutionalized chronic racism in the public and a phobia towards the democratic demands of non-Persian, non-Shia religious and ethnic groups. This phobia for non-Persian groups runs so deep, even anti-regime media outlets in the Persian diaspora tend to employ it, too, targeting Kurdish commentators and activists, for example, with unfounded questions about separatist agendas and outside influencers. Unfortunately, such disinformation campaigns and racist rhetoric have only worsened during the recent wave of protests across Iran.
Disinformation and Today’s Protests
By the second week of protests, it became clear that the regime was employing disinformation strategies online to try to manipulate the uprising into an armed revolt, a shift which would justify further violence by the IRI and cement regime support. Across social media, fake accounts and state-run outlets disseminated fake news and videos apparently showing Kurdish armed groups—namely the Peshmerga—among protesters. Other videos explicitly showed Iranian security forces dressed as Peshmerga and harassing the locals in Kurdish cities. And despite the regime’s decades-long campaign to destroy traces of Kurdish resistance and militarize the Kurdistan province, the regime has now actually attempted to force the real Kurdish Peshmerga from their remote bases in Iraqi Kurdistan to urban areas in order to join the protests, giving the impression that protestors have turned to violence and that the regime must respond with full, brutal force.
While disinformation runs rampant, accurate reporting of the protests and the regime’s violent crackdown has been hard to come by, especially with the IRI widely disrupting internet access across the country only one week in and due to its systemic targeting of independent journalists reporting on the protests. These massive internet blackouts have prevented protestors from voicing their dissent, coordinating their activities, or sharing their experiences at the hands of the IRGC and other regime forces.
Although the death of Jina “Mahsa” Amini on September 16 initially sparked a sense of solidarity among the Iranian people against the regime, the IRI has only ramped up its disinformation and fake news strategies in response, directly challenging the public’s solidarity. If the regime continues to successfully label the uprisings as a separatist revolt, preying on the already-fragile tensions between Persian and non-Persian communities while suppressing any real information in public discourse, the unprecedented unity observed during this wave of protests will be put to the ultimate test. In the days and weeks ahead, the Iranian people must prove that their unity is enduring, not temporary.
*Allan Hassaniyan is a lecturer in Middle East Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), at the University of Exeter. Key areas of study for Hassaniyan include the history of the Ottoman Empire, state and society in the Middle East, Iran since the 16th Century, history and politics in Kurdistan, and Iraq.

Midterms set to have major impact on US foreign policy
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/November 02/2022
Alaskans cast early ballots in the upcoming midterm elections,
As the day of the US midterm elections approaches, the American people are getting ready to cast their votes to decide who will win all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 out of 50 governors. The midterms are a real test for the president in the middle of his term and are effectively a referendum on his policies.  The two political parties are seeking to increase their representation in both houses of Congress. The Republicans want to regain control of the Senate and take back the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Democrats are looking to maintain their control of the House of Representatives and get absolute sovereignty over the Senate — the parties are currently tied 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris having the tiebreaking vote — so they can pass all the bills and programs of President Joe Biden and support his controversial local policies.
A victory for the Republicans in the Senate is almost inevitable since Biden is not an electoral asset for the Democrats due to his low approval rating.
Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political scientist, told CNN that the Democrats are facing a big problem since things have not gotten better in most people’s eyes, regardless of what they have done in terms of passing legislation and what good this might do in the future. “If inflation had come down from where it has been, they would be in better shape. But you can’t convince people that things are going better when their own experience tells them that it’s not,” he said.
It would not be unusual if the Democrats did not maintain their position on Nov. 8. It is historically known that, in midterms, voters routinely vote against the incumbent president’s party. Therefore, it is unlikely the Democrats will keep the Senate and will even perhaps lose the House.
When we look at the current global geopolitical landscape and the struggling international economy, this election will likely expand its impact beyond US borders. If the Republicans take over the Senate, Biden will face significant obstacles in getting approval for his nominees for senior foreign policy positions.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Kyiv has received billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid from the US, which might change under the right’s leadership. However, it would still be effortless for Biden to bypass Congress to tighten the sanctions on Moscow.
A Republican-controlled Congress would push for stricter anti-China measures and would put forward more aggressive proposals. With Republicans leading the way, Congress would most likely agree to sell F-16 jets to Turkey, question and limit the US aid to Ukraine, and take a different approach in dealing with the Middle East. A GOP-held Congress would also bid to stop the administration’s efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, and push for a strong stance against the regime in Tehran over its inhuman actions against civilian protesters.
A Republican-held Congress would push for a strong stance against the regime in Tehran.
US-Saudi bilateral relations have worsened during Biden’s first two years in office, but the Republican Party understands the vital role the Kingdom plays in the region, especially in light of the Iranian aggression. Therefore, it is expected that Republican leaders would try to mend these ties and strengthen the cooperation between the two governments. The Abraham Accords were the Republicans’ pride and joy under Donald Trump and there would be no doubt that the GOP would continue to push the Biden administration to widen these to include other Middle Eastern countries. However, calling for new countries to normalize their relations with Israel would happen only if or when a Republican president moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Having said that, American voters in 2022 have no interest in foreign policy when families are struggling to make ends meet and protect their loved ones from the increasing violence in major US cities.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi

محمد شبارو/عرب نيوز: قد يكون دور النساء في إيران هو المحفز الفاعل على التغيير
Women may be the catalyst for Iran’s big change
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 02/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113125/113125/
Women in Iran are continuing their anti-hijab protests despite the increasingly violent tactics deployed to suffocate them wherever protests spring up, whether in the streets, marketplaces, schools or universities. The latest threat by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to crush the demonstrators, who are chanting “women, life, freedom” and calling for the overthrow of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, come through show trials for more than 1,000 detainees. The IRGC’s promise of long prison sentences and even the death penalty is testimony that the defiant women of Iran have further squeezed a clerical regime that is running out of options to contain the protests.
More than 250 Iranians have been killed and thousands arrested during nearly 50 days of unprecedented protests by women who are fed up with being treated as second-class citizens. They have been standing up to say enough is enough since the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for violating the hijab rule by the so-called morality police.
Many believe that Iranian women’s continued dissent has been a long time in the making and reflects a shift from the previous politically or economically induced revolts that have tested the clerical regime of Tehran over the past two decades. Many Iranian women have long tolerated but not embraced the hijab as part of their religious, ideological or patriotic Persian identity, but now, after 44 years of being forced to wear the garment, they are saying in the open what they have always believed.
Since its inception, Iran’s regime has been restricting women’s freedom of expression, bodily autonomy, personal movement and professional opportunities, instituting legal gender discrimination against them. Women in Iran make up more than half of university graduates but form only 14 percent of its labor market.
In the last few years, the morality police has doubled down on its efforts to tighten women’s compliance with wearing the hijab, which had apparently been slipping, especially as enforcement of the dress code is a red line for the clerical regime. Government figures from 2014 showed that the branch of the police tasked with upholding Islamic moral standards warned, fined or arrested 3.6 million women for “inappropriate dress” matters.
The current conundrum facing the regime reflects, for the first time, its diminishing options on how to suffocate the protests without appearing to be using excessive force against women, which is testing its legitimacy to the extreme in the eyes of its citizens and the international community.
On the other hand, containment of the protests requires tools that the regime abandoned many years ago in its effort to tighten its grip on power, which resulted in zero tolerance for dissenting opposition voices. Over the years, even those sons and daughters of the regime who leaned toward reforms — in whatever limited space they had available — have been canceled out in favor of the unchecked power of the IRGC and its puritan approach to enforcing Iran’s extremist clerical doctrines.
The excuses deployed by the regime to paint the protesters as a foreign-induced movement have not been gaining much traction among an increasingly cynical Iranian population. If anything, the latest unprecedented report published jointly by the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security provided further evidence of the regime’s desperation, as it repeated the mantra that the daily protests against the regime are a conspiracy by Iran’s enemies, manufactured by the US, the UK, Israel and others.
The 27,000-word report was filled with unverifiable claims, such as that “the CIA, in cooperation with allied intelligence services and reactionary proxies, launched a nationwide conspiracy in Iran before the start of those riots, with the aim of committing crimes against Iran and its territorial integrity.” The report even singled out two local female journalists who were among the first to break the story of Amini’s arrest and accused them, without providing any evidence, of being foreign spies.
The people of this oil-rich country have been starved by years of sanctions, inflicted mainly by the revolutionary regime’s political choices. But over the last decade they have expressed their impatience with Tehran’s priority of exporting its revolution by meddling in neighboring countries’ internal affairs, from Syria to Yemen and Iraq to Lebanon and Palestine. This is seen by many Iranians as the key reason for the continued deterioration of living standards in their country.
After 44 years of being forced to wear the hijab, they are now saying in the open what they have always believed.
It has long been believed that revolutions often consume their children. However, maybe in the case of Iran, it is the grandchildren who will devour the revolution. In our modern, borderless world, it is difficult to keep a young and curious generation closed in for long. It is only natural that, as citizens’ political, economic and social dividends diminish, the younger generation aspires for change.
Retreat has never been part of the Iranian revolution’s rulebook and it will not take the decision to curb the morality police’s behavior. This leaves the regime to do what it knows how to do best, and that is to raise the level of threat, intimidation and violence. This can only be a recipe for further alienation that could translate into a greater disconnect between the rulers and the ruled. For years, Iran has been waiting for its big change and it is the women who could now be the catalyst.
*Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist, media consultant and trainer with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.