English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 08/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.october08.21.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 04/24-32: “and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. 4:26 “Be angry, and don’t sin.”* Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil. 4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 07-08/2021
Family of US-Lebanese citizen, Amer Fakhoury sues Iran over his jailing and death/Joyce Karam/The National/October 07/2021
Iran FM in Beirut: We’re Ready to Reconstruct Beirut Port, Build Two Power Plants
Iranian FM in Beirut Discusses 'Positive' Iran-Saudi Talks
Lebanese Govt. to Communicate with Syria for First Time since 2011
IMF accused of leaving important data out of Lebanon economy report
Gas Station Queues Return amid Pricing Confusion
Facing Hezbollah Resistance, Judge in Beirut Blast Keeps Going
Lebanon’s dark days: In Beirut, blackouts and economic collapse test families’ endurance
Lebanese PM says he signs bill lifting immunity in Beirut blast case -Sky News Arabia
Lebanon, Israel poised to return to negotiating table, with no preconditions
Fighting corruption needs political reform/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/October 07/2021
Lebanon’s Army doesn’t deserve aid unless it is reformed/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Arab Weekly/October07/2021
New Hampshire Amer Fakhoury's family sues Iran, seeks justice for late father’s monthslong imprisonment in Lebanon/Ben Evansky/Fox News/October 04/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 07-08/2021
Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel Prize for literature
Iran must return to Vienna, nuclear talks ‘can’t be dragged out’: US State Department
Iran-Skorea Row Worsens Over Oil Billions Frozen by U.S. Sanctions
Australia Welcoming back French Ambassador after Sub Spat
Greek Lawmakers to Vote on Defense Pact with France
Canada/Statement on 80th anniversary of Babyn Yar massacre
Biden, China's Xi Expected to Meet Virtually by Year's End
Strong Earthquake in Southwest Pakistan Kills at Least 20
Saudi Court Upholds 20-Year Term for Critic, Draws U.S. Rebuke
Tens of Thousands in Gaza Line Up for Israeli Work Permits
Qatar's Top Diplomat in Abu Dhabi as Relations with UAE Ease
UK High Court Finds That Dubai Ruler Hacked Ex-Wife's Phone
Russia to Invite Taliban to International Talks in Moscow Oct. 20

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 07-08/2021
Europe’s Affinity with Iran and America’s Declining Commitment to Justice/Raghida Dergham/The National/October 07/2021
Peace remains elusive 40 years on from Sadat’s assassination/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/October 07/2021
Communist China's Aggression in the South China Sea/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/October 07/2021
An Iraqi Perspective on Israel/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner//October07/2021
Avoiding Assad strengthening power from feeding Lebanon’s energy crisis via Syria/Hanin Ghaddar/Al Arabiya/07 October ,2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 07-08/2021
جويس كرم/ذي ناشيونال: عائلة عامر فاخوري تقاضي إيران على خلفية اعتقاله في لبنان وموته
Family of US-Lebanese citizen, Amer Fakhoury sues Iran over his jailing and death
Joyce Karam/The National/October 07/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/103064/joyce-karam-the-national-family-of-us-lebanese-citizen-sues-iran-over-his-jailing-and-death%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%b3-%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%85-%d8%b0%d9%8a-%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b4%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%84/
Amer Fakhoury's wife and daughters say inhumane detention ordered by Iran-backed Hezbollah caused his terminal cancer
Relatives of a US citizen who was imprisoned for seven months in Lebanon then died of cancer within months of his release are suing Iran over what they allege was his unjust detention and inhumane treatment that triggered his terminal disease.
Amer Fakhoury was imprisoned by Lebanese security forces from September 2019-March 2020, but his wife and children are arguing in US federal court in Washington that Iran and its Lebanese militant proxy Hezbollah are responsible because they "intentionally ordered, directed and caused the psychological and physical torture [and] abuse" of Fakhoury, who died aged 57 in August 2020.
"Iranian support has been foundational to Hezbollah since its emergence in the 1980s," the 28-page lawsuit notes, referencing a recent State Department memo.
The lawsuit says Fakhoury developed cancer while being held under inhumane conditions in Lebanon, linking his cancer to the Epstein-Barr virus he caught while in detention.
“Our father was completely healthy before. He went to Lebanon at 225 pounds (102 kilograms) and came back 150 pounds (68kg). He obtained the Epstein Barr Virus at the Lebanese General Security prisons and because it went untreated for months under terrible conditions, it developed into lymphoma cancer which later took his life,” Zoya Fakhoury, one of his four daughters, told The National.
Asked why the lawsuit targets Iranian and not Lebanese authorities, she said: “because Iran controls Lebanon through Hezbollah.”
“We experienced first hand the corruption in the judicial system and how much Hezbollah influences every sector of the government," said Ms Fakhoury, co-founder of the Amer Fakhoury Foundation.
She anticipates additional measures under Congressional laws that will target Lebanese officials implicated in the detention.
Though he was never formally charged, Lebanese military officials had accused Fakhoury of working for the South Lebanon Army, a now-disbanded Israeli-backed Christian militia, two decades ago and alleged he tortured prisoners at the notorious Khiam military jail run.
Like thousands of SLA members, Fakhoury fled Lebanon when Israel withdrew in May 2000.
He entered Israel and shortly after migrated to the United States, where he opened a Lebanese restaurant in Dover, New Hampshire.
Fakhoury's decision to visit Lebanon after 19 years of self-exile followed assurances from the Lebanese presidency and the Lebanese army that he would be unharmed, the family said.
The family said that following the September 12, 2019 arrest, Lebanese President Michel Aoun told them it had been a Hezbollah decision.
They said Mr Aoun had told them that Wafic Safa, the head of Hezbollah's internal security agency, wanted him in prison.
Fakhoury was subsequently "brutally tortured by officials, employees and agents of Hezbollah,” the lawsuit reads.
“The extreme physical abuse inflicted upon Amer Fakhoury during his imprisonment and torture by Hezbollah greatly injured his health and destroyed his immune system, resulting in the terminal disease from which he subsequently died."
Fakhoury's family denies he was ever involved in acts of torture while working at the Khiam prison camp.
“His position at the Khiam facility was purely logistical. His duties included clerical and quartermaster work, supplying food and essentials to the equipment to the soldiers and prisoners stationed there,” the lawsuit read.
In similar lawsuits, US courts have ruled in favour of plaintiffs by ordering Iran to pay billions of dollars in damages.
But Iran never acknowledged or appeared at these cases. In the case of the Robert Levinson disappearance, Iran was ordered to pay more than $1.4 billion to the family.
"It should not surprise that the case of an American citizen held hostage by a designated Foreign Terrorist Group -- which is in turn supported by a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism -- should end up in federal court," said Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhard Programme on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Hezbollah was designated as foreign terrorist organisation by the US in 1997, and Iran was named as state sponsor of terror by the US government in 1994.
Contacted by The National, the Lebanese General Security, Iran’s mission to the United Nations were not immediately available for comment.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2021/10/06/family-of-us-lebanese-citizen-sues-iran-over-his-jailing-and-death/

Iran FM in Beirut: We’re Ready to Reconstruct Beirut Port, Build Two Power Plants
Naharnet/October 07/2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday that Iran is ready to rebuild Beirut port and that Iranian firms can build two power plants in Lebanon within 18 months. He stated in a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib that “Iranian specialized companies are willing to build two power plants with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts in Beirut and the South within 18 months.”He added that his country is “fully ready to rebuild Beirut port if the Lebanese side asks for that.”Abdollahian voiced his remarks after meeting with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati, on his first visit to Lebanon since taking his post after Iran’s presidential elections this summer.

Iranian FM in Beirut Discusses 'Positive' Iran-Saudi Talks
Naharnet/October 07/2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived overnight in Lebanon on an official visit to meet with Lebanese leaders. He was welcomed at the airport by a delegation from Amal movement and Hizbullah, along with the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, the Director of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a delegation of religious scholars. Lawmaker Ayyoub Hmayyed representing Speaker Nabih Berri praised the Iranian “pivotal role in Lebanon’s victory in the July war against Israel and in the liberation (of Lebanon from the Israeli occupation.)”Abdollahian from his side congratulated Lebanon for the new government and declared Iran’s “firm position” to support Lebanon. Earlier in the day, the Iranian official held talks with President Michel Aoun, where he expressed the Islamic Republic's support for Lebanon. He also met with Speaker Berri, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and with his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib. Abdollahian will also have talks with representatives of Palestinian factions and forces at the Iranian embassy in Beirut. Abdollahian said he discussed with officials in Beirut the "positive" effects of ongoing talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and blamed foreign troops based in the Middle East for regional instability. He also said nuclear talks to revive Tehran's now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers, stalled since June, will resume soon. "We have positively evaluated the continuation of Iranian-Saudi negotiations," Amir-Abdollahian told reporters after meeting Berri, referring to multiple rounds of discussions in Baghdad since the first direct talks between regional foes Riyadh and Tehran took place in early April. The latest round was held late last month, according to Iraqi officials, marking the first such meeting between the two sides since a new president was sworn in in Tehran. Those at the meeting discussed "pending issues between the two countries according to a previously agreed on a roadmap, including diplomatic representation between the two countries," according to one Iraqi official. An improvement of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is likely to have positive effects in Lebanon, a small nation that has often served as a proxy battlefield for tensions between the two regional powers. Lebanon is deeply divided between a coalition backed by the West and Gulf Arab countries, and another group supported by Iran and led by Hizbullah. In an apparent reference to U.S. forces deployed in the region, Abdollahian said: "We consider the presence of foreign forces in the region as the main factor for instability and all problems." Some Lebanese opposed to Iran's influence in Lebanon held a small protest against the foreign minister's visit in Beirut on Wednesday, carrying banners that read "Iran out."
Last month, dozens of trucks carrying Iranian diesel began arriving in Lebanon, part of a series of deliveries organized by Hizbullah to help ease crippling shortages in the cash-strapped country. Lebanese authorities said they were not involved in the shipment, which violates U.S. sanctions placed on Tehran. The third Iranian tanker carrying diesel arrived in the Syrian port of Baniyas this week and the fuel will be shipped to Lebanon by tanker trucks.

Lebanese Govt. to Communicate with Syria for First Time since 2011
Naharnet/October 07/2021
The Lebanese government has officially tasked one of its members to communicate with Damascus, in the first such move since the eruption of the Syrian revolt in 2011. Visits by ministers in the previous governments had taken place in personal capacity or following an oral approval from the prime minister. The decision was taken at Cabinet’s first session at the Grand Serail on Wednesday. “Industry Minister George Boujikian and Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan demonstrated the difficulties that the agricultural and industrial exports are facing, especially as to the high transport cost,” al-Akhbar newspaper said on Thursday. “When (Prime Minister Najib) Miqati asked Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamiyeh about the reasons, the latter explained to him the crisis of high fees on Lebanese trucks that transit via Syria to Arab countries,” the daily added. The premier then asked Hamiyeh to communicate with the Syrian side to find solutions, stressing that “there is no problem in communicating with anyone if it does not harm the country’s interests.”Hamiyeh, however, insisted that the issue should take place based on an “official authorization” from the government, prompting Miqati to tell him that the government officially authorizes him to “communicate with his Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian and Turkish counterparts,” al-Akhbar added.

IMF accused of leaving important data out of Lebanon economy report
The National/October 07/2021
A financial meltdown has unfolded with the Lebanese pound losing more than 90 per cent of its value against the dollar
The International Monetary Fund has omitted vital information from a 2016 report that sounded the alarm about the state of Lebanon’s financial system, Swiss publication Le Temps reported on Thursday. The final version of the report, which was published in 2017, was cut short by 14 pages at the request of the country’s central bank to omit data that highlighted risks to Lebanon's financial stability, the newspaper said. Less than three years later, a financial meltdown unfolded with the Lebanese pound losing more than 90 per cent of its value against the dollar, while half the population are now living below the poverty line.
The continuing crisis, during which most Lebanese have been denied access to their savings as banks imposed strict limits on local and foreign currency withdrawals, has been described by the World Bank as one of the most severe globally since the 1850s. IMF officials highlighted the risks to the banking sector during their 2016 meeting with Banque Du Liban officials, including governor Riad Salameh, Le Temps said. The central bank told the Swiss publication that discussions with the IMF included other government officials. "Reports were discussed, accepted or refused by the government and not by BDL or its governor only,” Le Temps quoted the central bank as saying. "No one can alter or change a report issued by the IMF except the fund itself."Lebanon’s financial losses have been estimated at more than $80 billion by Lazard, a financial services company that was contracted by the government of former prime minister Hassan Diab to draft a recovery plan.
The figures were disputed by Lebanese politicians, high-street lenders and the central bank, derailing the government’s talks with the IMF.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who assumed office last month after a year of political deadlock that accentuated the crisis, said his government would reassess the scale of the country’s losses with Lazard and pursue a deal with the IMF. Mr Mikati, however, said it was unlikely an agreement could be reached before year-end. The IMF and the international community have insisted that Lebanon must introduce reforms before financial assistance is unlocked including a capital control law, a state budget and a resolution to reform the banking sector.

Gas Station Queues Return amid Pricing Confusion
Naharnet/October 07/2021
Long queues returned to Lebanon’s gas stations on Thursday amid a delay in the issuance of the weekly prices schedule by the Ministry of Energy. The delay has been blamed on a rise in the price of oil globally and on a surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market in Lebanon.
George al-Brax, member of the syndicate of gas station owners, said communication with the Ministry of Energy is ongoing and that “there is a promise that the schedule of fuel prices will be issued tomorrow morning.”“Stations that have gasoline stocks are selling the substance according to the current schedule, but the (distribution) companies have not delivered fuel to some stations,” Brax added. “Some stations are closed because they do not have stocks,” he went on to say. Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Thursday that “the Ministry of Energy will not issue the schedule of fuel prices today” and that “it will begin an inspection campaign to review the stocks that are stored at stations.”“Measures will be taken against violators and might reach the extent of shutting down their stations,” the daily added. Energy Minister Walid Fayyad, who was abroad on Tuesday and Wednesday, slammed the behavior of some gas station owners as “blackmail and a violation of the laws.”“They should have continued to deliver this substance as long as new prices have not been issued, especially that most stations have stocks that had been purchased at the current prices,” Fayyad added.

Facing Hezbollah Resistance, Judge in Beirut Blast Keeps Going
Dale Gavlak/VOA/October 07/2021
The investigation into last year’s massive explosion in Beirut has been slow due to what observers say is interference by the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar has survived two removal attempts. The latest was Monday when a court dismissed complaints against Bitar, but Hezbollah continues to oppose him and the probe he is conducting. Observers say a real national front is needed to confront obstacles posed by Hezbollah, while getting Lebanon on track to start needed economic and political reforms. Bitar has faced pushback from powerful Lebanese factions trying to stop his investigation into the August 4, 2020, Beirut port blast, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history. Reports said a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate - commonly used to make fertilizer or bombs - was left unsafely stored there for years. Three former ministers of interior, finance and transport, are defendants in the case and allied to Hezbollah, the country’s powerbroker. They tried to get Bitar removed from the probe as he has sought to question them. Hezbollah’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, accused Bitar of being “politicized,” despite having a position that is considered neutral. Hezbollah security officer Wafiq Safa warned the judge that if the group did not like his legal work, he would be removed. He would be the second judge dismissed. Political analyst Dania Koleilat Khatib with the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut told VOA why she believes Hezbollah is threatening Bitar with removal. “Hezbollah always tries to intimidate because probably he is going to unveil something that they don’t want him to unveil. That’s why they are trying to block him," she said. "Did they store the nitrate? Did they not store it? The fact that they told him to stop and sent him this message shows that they really feel threatened by the investigation.”Another former interior minister, Ahmed Fatfat, told the Saudi Arab News daily that Hezbollah’s actions suggest it is afraid of the developments taking place. “Hezbollah accuses all those who disagree with it of treason, while it admits that it receives its orders and money from Iran,” Fatfat said. He said that unless a real national front is established to confront the party, the country will fall under Iranian occupation. Many Lebanese, especially families of the more than 200 blast victims, are furious that no senior official has been held accountable for the tragedy more than a year on. The position of Bitar is important," said Analyst Dania Koleilat Khatib. "The Lebanese people are so demoralized. When I saw the parents of people who died 4th of August, someone speaking in their name, he said though ‘we don’t believe in the government, the judiciary has showed us that despite everything, justice can still emerge’ and this is very important. This is where the international community, the EU, the US should support someone like Bitar; should make sure that he will not be subject to political pressure and should send this very strong message not only to Hezbollah, to anyone that if anyone touches him, they will be subject to very strong punishment. The probe has been the subject of international criticism. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused Lebanese authorities of brazen obstruction of justice and of callous disregard for victims' families as the probe drags on.

Lebanon’s dark days: In Beirut, blackouts and economic collapse test families’ endurance
The Global and Mail//October 07/2021
Forced to choose between generator power, food, medicine and education, Lebanese families are struggling through a worsening crisis
Helene Gergi opens the door to her pitch-black home, lit only by a candle and a tiny flashlight that barely catch the outline of her dress, white hair and glasses. “I’m not afraid as long as I’m living in my own home,” she said, appearing small and frail as she sat in a white plastic chair.
Ms. Gergi has lived in this apartment in Mar Elias, a friendly neighbourhood in central Beirut, for her entire life. She spends her day looking out the window, cleaning her home and cooking whenever there is a brief return of public electricity, usually lasting anywhere from two to four hours, depending on the day. At night, in the dark, she prays and sleeps.
Lebanon’s economy is in a meltdown, which has led to shortages of medicine and fuel – and power cuts.
Ms. Gergi used to play music and dance in the window. She doesn’t dance any more, but she doesn’t complain either. “God wants me to be strong,” she said. She can’t afford a private generator but receives some money from a charitable organization and from relatives, which she mostly spends on food. She is not alone in dealing with the challenges of life in Lebanon, exacerbated by a worsening economic crisis that’s been free-falling since 2019. Described as one of the world’s worst financial crises in modern history by the World Bank, the country’s currency has lost 90 per cent of its value in less than two years. Lebanon’s downfall has left its cash-strapped central bank warning that it could no longer continue to subsidize fuel purchases, which have drained its foreign reserves. Last month, the new government – in power since Sept. 10 – raised the price of fuel a couple of times, as part of a gradual lifting of subsidies. Electricity cuts across the country now last between 20 and 22 hours a day. The situation is so dire that Lebanon’s state power company, Electricite du Liban, warned of a total blackout as its fuel reserves dwindle.
Meanwhile, the cost of private generators is climbing and Lebanese who rely on them worry that expense might soon be out of reach.

Lebanese PM says he signs bill lifting immunity in Beirut blast case -Sky News Arabia
Cairo (Reuters) /October 07/2021
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a Sky News Arabia interview on Wednesday he had signed a bill that lifts immunity on "everyone" who might have borne responsibility for the Beirut port blast, saying they must be held accountable. The disastrous Aug. 4, 2020 explosion left more than 200 people dead and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital. Mikati added in the interview that Lebanon's constitution stipulated that senior government officials must be tried in front of a special tribunal.
The investigation into the explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, has made little headway amid a smear campaign against investigation Judge Tarek Bitar and pushback from powerful Lebanese factions.
He said the government will extend help to the families of the blast's victims, adding that a plan has been formulated to reconstruct the port, a vital lifeline to the country's economy. Many in Lebanon, particularly families of the victims of the blast, are furious that no senior official has been held accountable more than a year later. Bitar's efforts to question former and serving state officials - including the prime minister at the time of the blast, ex-ministers and senior security officials on suspicion of negligence - have been repeatedly denied.
(Reporting by Lilian WagdyEditing by Mark Heinrich)

Lebanon, Israel poised to return to negotiating table, with no preconditions
Lebanon’s amendment of disputed area from 860 sq km to 2,290 sq km was rejected by Israel
Sami Moubayed/Gulf News/October 07/2021
Damascus: One month after Lebanon got its new cabinet, Israel announced its readiness to return to the negotiating table over potentially gas-rich disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean. When and if concluded, those negotiations can carry economic relief for the Lebanese state, currently suffering from one of the worse financial crisis in modern world history. Producing and exporting gas would bring plenty of money into the empty coffers of the Lebanese state, which once relied heavily on revenue from tourism and banking, two sectors that have now collapsed. The maritime talks began under UN auspices last autumn, but they were suspended five months ago due to impossible conditions set forth by Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a protégé of Hezbollah and close ally of President Michel Aoun. US special envoy Amos Hochstein is expected in both Beirut and Tel Aviv by the end of this month to jump-start the negotiations, although Israel has made it clear that it will not abide by dictates set forth by Lebanon. Impossible conditions. Five months ago, the talks stalled over two major issues. One was Israel’s granting the American firm Halliburton a drilling contract in the disputed area, which Lebanon claims is illegal so long as the disputed water area has not been formally delineated.
Surprising amendment
Second, and more important, was Lebanon’s surprising amendment of the disputed area, pushing the line from 860 square kilometres to 2,290 square kilometres. Israel flatly rejected the additional 1,430 square kilometres, claiming that it had no legal basis. “Pushing the lines … it’s not the way to have a negotiation,” said Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, adding: “They cannot dictate the lines.”Prime Minister Najib Mikati may renew the negotiations, said Yeghia Tashjian, an Associate Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Speaking to Gulf News, he cited a new, positive atmosphere in the region, mirrored by Iranian-Saudi negotiations over Yemen, international nuclear talks with Iran, and the Arab Gas Pipeline that will bring Egyptian gas to Lebanon, hoping that this would prevent it from falling into Iran’s arms.
“My only concern is that Lebanon’s fragmented political landscape may torpedo the process of negotiations, and eventually, Israel would continue exploring and later extracting oil and gas from the disputed area.” What brought down the talks last May can still apply to any future negotiations, he added, saying: “Its questionable whether the new government would fully vote for amending the disputed territory and what the president’s position will be?
Aoun’s gambit
The newly claimed territory was the originally brainchild of President Aoun, however, who first raised the matter with the specific purpose of creating a political hurdle that only he could solve. He referred the matter to the cabinet of ministers, asking Prime Minister Diab and the Ministers of Defence and Public Works to ratify it into a decree that would be sent to the United Nations as the basis for any future negotiations. Defence Minister Zeina Akar called on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to complain, given that he had been handling the border dispute for an entire decade, on the basis of 860 square kilometres, not 2,290. Such an amendment would not only infuriate American mediators, he claimed, but it would also run the high risk of debunking the talks altogether, given that Israel would never accept the newly claimed territory.
The 860 sq km has been a long-standing demand of Lebanese officialdom, after all, documented in writing through all correspondences and maps sent to the United Nations. Changing it in such an abrupt manner would look both unprofessional and very amateurish, said those close to Berri.
When Public Works Minister Michel Najjar asked for a grace period to study the proposed amendments, he was criticised by Hezbollah-backed media, which described the newly claimed waters as a “natural right” for Lebanon. Diab and his two ministers eventually signed off Decree 6433, sending it back to the Presidential Palace for final approval, as required by the Lebanese Constitution. Aoun then surprised them all by refusing to sign, claiming that the decree required approval of all ministers, and not just the Ministers of Defence and Public Works. When receiving US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale in Beirut last April, he promised to address the problem, saying that his country would return to the negotiating table “with no preconditions”.
Many believe that the entire ordeal was a PR stunt by the president who wanted to give himself a direct role in the negotiations, coming across as a problem-solver with the United States. He pushed the line to achieve multiple objectives, one of which was pleasing his Hezbollah allies, who were never too happy about the negotiations. Secondly, it was to make himself useful to the Americans, who had been keeping the Lebanese president at arms-length, due to his affiliation with Hezbollah. Last November, his son-in-law and political heir, Gibran Bassil, was sanctioned by the Trump Administration due to ties with Hezbollah, putting a damper on Aoun’s ambition of making him president when his own term ends in October 2022. Refusing to sign off the decree made him stand out as moderate and pragmatic, scoring points with the Trump White House.
Hezbollah-Aoun dispute
Standing at a distance from all that is happening on the border dispute is Hezbollah, which built its entire legacy on rejecting any face-to-face talks with Israel that would imply de facto recognition. When signing off the talks last October, they conditioned that the negotiating team is composed of technicians and military officers only, making sure that no civilians are included so as not to give the talks a political face.That brought them into confrontation with Basil, who has been trying to expand the Lebanese delegation to include officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and staffers from the Presidential Office. Both requests have been firmly rejected by Hezbollah, and so was Basil’s suggestion that former foreign ministers are invited to the talks (which would make him eligible to attend). He also infuriated Hezbollah by suggesting that Lebanon might be open to sharing waters with Israel. Basil’s bargaining led to a stiffer position from Hezbollah, which now refuses to bless the talks but nevertheless says that it will not work at obstructing them. That explains why they signed off Aoun’s additional territory, hoping that this would suffice at drowning the talks, without them having to intervene directly to bring them down.

Fighting corruption needs political reform
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/October 07/2021
Nothing can be done without political reform in Lebanon; fighting corruption is mandatory and it needs a reformed justice system with proper anti-graft institutions, but credible policies that can only come from a renewed political system. Scores of demonstrators clashed with riot police on Wednesday at a bank in central Beirut, as they thought the head of the Association of Lebanese Banks was inside. Lebanese depositors, many who have their life savings blocked in Lebanese banks since the 2019 financial crash, have been protesting often. Parents of Lebanese students abroad, who are unable to send allowances to their children also protest often.  Their demonstrations rarely make it to the international news. Maybe because the story hasn’t changed for the past two years.
But protests like this will keep happening. Especially when depositors are denied access to their own money while several Lebanese high-ranking officials show up in the Pandora leaks. Not that anyone in the country was surprised to hear of Lebanese political figures implicated in international scandals involving off-shore companies and slush funds.
But other than press releases denying any wrongdoing, nothing really happened. None of the implicated officials ran to the closet to hide in shame. Because, of course, they don’t expect any real investigation to take place.
Concrete corruption cases are still taboo in Lebanon, and the few investigations that actually took place have been kept under wraps or are politically tainted. The magistrate is often politically affiliated, and probes die in drawers. Follow ups are rare, and when they do occur, they are met with closed doors.
But these investigations need to happen.  Lebanon will need judicial reform, and the government will have to create institutions that can properly prosecute corruption, especially high-profile corruption cases. Without a real anti-corruption drive, there will be no progress in Lebanon. And without political reform there can be no real accountability, let alone economic recovery. All international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, will push for all these reforms in the long-run.
A temporary humanitarian free pass
Lebanon may finally have a government and everyone may have sighed with relief to see the sinking ship getting a captain. The UN stepped in to help by allocating $10 million to help ease the fuel crisis, providing fuel to hospitals and essential institutions.
The World Food Program said it would support 800,000 Lebanese by the end of the year in addition to its assistance to the Syrian refugees in the country. Over EUR 100 million of the EUR 150 million will come from the European Union.
USAID has awarded a $29 million contract to design a system that delivers reliable energy across all regions of Lebanon. But other states cannot replace the Lebanese state. And they shouldn’t. Lebanon was given a free pass until the government makes the first steps in one direction or another, with all of the country’s international donors hoping that they would be able to push towards a functional system that relies on accountability.
These donations are not signs that things are going to go back to where they were before 2019.
No country that had to negotiate its recovery from such a deep crisis has ever been able to return to some semblance of stability without building a justice system that prosecutes corruption in a credible fashion.
Selling Lebanon’s story for cash
Over three decades after the end of the Lebanese civil war, development aid and loans handed out over the years to the government in Beirut have been swallowed by a black hole. Billions of dollars in development aid vanished into thin air without any real audit, leaving the country beyond bankrupt. This requires accountability.  It’s a big deal: $14 billion that has virtually vanished into thin air.
No country that had to negotiate its recovery from such a deep crisis has ever been able to return to some semblance of stability without building a justice system that prosecutes corruption in a credible fashion.
For about 30 years, Lebanon’s politicians told various donor states – according to their political affiliation and line of thought to different donor states – that money was needed to build and rebuild.
Over the years, Lebanese politicians have become skilled at telling Lebanon’s story of sectarian strife, Israeli invasions, civil war, more strife, more divisions. The misfortunes were real. The war was real. The geopolitical chaos was real.
But, like in an organized crime network that forces children into begging, the aid network became a lucrative business that never benefited the country, never really helped in building infrastructure or alleviating poverty.
But where did that $14 million vanish? That is for a new anti-corruption system to discover.
Responsibility of donor countries
For years, development aid workers have complained in private, over a glass of wine at a conference cocktail party, that any accountability for grants given to organizations in Lebanon was virtually impossible.
The clientelism pyramids would not budge, evidence was buried, paperwork could not be traced.
But donors just let it go.
Changing Lebanon’s status quo was far more trouble than keeping it in place. It was less of a headache for various donors to allow the weak state to barely survive, mostly by donating bits and pieces to the army and, sometimes, the internal security forces and the few institutions that were seen as vital..
Donors prioritized political short-term stability over long-term earthquakes that would have shaken the system, creating stronger state institutions. Lebanon was left with laws dating from the times of the Ottoman empire, with a Parliament that met on occasion, with governments that recycled the same old figures affiliated to the sectarian factions.
Meanwhile, donations from regional powers went to political factions and politicians directly, feeding patron-client pyramids, keeping the masses dependent on scraps of aid coming from politicians who had already taken the lion’s share.
While all stakeholders were aware of what was taking place, nobody at the international level did anything about it. It took an economic crash and widespread street protests for the international community to stop funding a corrupt system.
Political reform comes before anti-corruption
Economic recovery and anti-corruption drives don’t only need international pressure, but also domestic changes. There is no easy and fast way out of it. No quick fix.
It takes years of work and institution-building processes to even begin to deal with corruption, particularly in states where it’s become endemic, like in Lebanon.
But politics is always the driver. Economic recovery, and a credible fight against corruption and accountability do not happen without political will, and that will only come from political reform.
Donors prioritized political short-term stability over long-term earthquakes that would have shaken the system, creating stronger state institutions. Lebanon was left with laws dating from the times of the Ottoman empire, with a Parliament that met on occasion, with governments that recycled the same old figures affiliated to the sectarian factions.
That means creating new political parties representing parts of society that want to exit the patron-client arrangement, or renewal of already existing political forces that are willing to give up the old ways and stop protecting corrupt leaders.
Lebanese society, of which three quarters is now living in poverty, requires new political leadership and new functioning institutions to deal with the corrupt ruling class. The crises will not vanish just by infusing humanitarian aid into the same flawed state construction. Attempting to deal with poverty by circumventing the flawed state construction completely, such as some donor states have been doing recently for fear the money would vanish once again, is also not the way.
The way is to maintain the pressure, both from the international and domestic levels, and create a political climate that allows for accountability.
When that happens, old parties will have to reform and give up the skeletons in their closets, or else they will disappear. Maybe not in 2022, but slowly, bit by bit. In 2028, then in 2032, in 2036…
But for this to happen, the international community needs to give up supporting stability over reform and support the drivers of change in society, rather than continuing to negotiate with the representatives of the same old system.
Ana Maria Luca is the managing editor of @NOW_leb. She tweets @AnaMariaLuca79.

Lebanon’s Army doesn’t deserve aid unless it is reformed
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Arab Weekly/October07/2021
For the US to pretend that the Lebanese army is worth bankrolling, but not the rest of the Lebanese bureaucracy, is intellectual laziness.
Lebanon is a country teetering on implosion, threatening the world with a flood of terrorism, narcotics and refugees. Besides everything else that ails the country, and there is plenty, it must now plead for donations for its army. You have to ask yourself, what kind of state asks for donations to pay its soldiers and keep them fed?
Fearing disaster, foreign countries have of course ponied up. In early September, the army received ten tonnes of food aid from Jordan. But the largest benefactor is the United States and where it leads, others follow. Washington has spent close to $400 million so far this year to preserve whatever is left of the Lebanese state. Besides providing food to those living in poverty and arranging for gas supplies to produce enough electricity to keep vital facilities, such as hospitals, working, America has been bankrolling the army.
But, counter-intuitively, the US should stand down and others should follow. The Lebanese army does not deserve to be preserved if it is not radically reformed. America’s dollars to Lebanon don’t help solve the problem; they aggravate it.
The Lebanese army is not the only military organization in the country. After the 2006 war between the Iran-controlled Hezbollah and Israel, the UN passed Security Council Resolution 1701 to enlarge an existing peacekeeping force, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to 10,000 soldiers from 2,000. The force’s mandate was expanded to include inspection of suspected Hezbollah arms caches south of the Litani river in southern Lebanon.
The 43-year-old “interim” UN force costs $500 million a year, of which America contributes $145 million.
Despite its expanded size and increased cost, UNIFIL has proven to be as useless as it has always been. Its convoys of troops that try to bust provocative Hezbollah military positions are always intercepted by “locals” (read: Hezbollah operatives) who block roads with burning tires and hurl rocks at the troops. Since 2006, Hezbollah has dictated which roads UNIFIL can use and which ones it cannot.
The failure of UNIFIL is one of the excuses the Lebanese state uses to recuse itself from trying to control the foreign proxy militia on its soil. Lebanese officials argue that Hezbollah is an international problem and if the UN and its international peacekeeping force cannot deal with it, then why expect a much weaker Lebanese state and its even weaker army to succeed?
Lebanon now has three armed forces, its army, UNIFIL and the most powerful of them all, Hezbollah. Lebanese sovereignty is in the hands of a militia that takes its order from Tehran, regardless of the interest or the will of the Lebanese and their elected government.
Lebanon’s military arrangement, where Hezbollah calls the shots while the two other powers stand idly by, questions the wisdom of Washington throwing the Lebanese army a lifeline. A case of course can be made for the urgent need of a minimum supply of electricity for the health sector, but there is no such urgency for an army that can neither assert state sovereignty nor has the tools or ability to help fight surging crime, including the prospering narcotics industry. (The normal crime-fighting institution to be found in any state, the police, are even less reliable as a bulwark against illegality.)
Armies usually reflect the state and society they serve. Competent and strong states produce professional armed forces; disintegrating and weak governments command armies in their image: corrupt and useless institutions.
While the Lebanese army has often presented itself as the only decent, non-corrupt and “patriotic” state body, it has been in fact as corrupt as the rest of the state. Promotions are not based on merit but effected through political intervention. Senior officers are offered salaries and perks that are not commensurate with their skills or available state resources.
And while the Lebanese army has always presented itself as standing above the country’s sectarian and political fray, it has in reality been a political player for a long time. The Lebanese army chooses its battles in ways that keep high the chances of its commander being eventually elected president. The last three Lebanese presidents, Emile Lahoud, Michel Suleiman and the present incumbent Michel Aoun, all served as army commanders.
For the US to pretend that the Lebanese army is worth bankrolling, but not the rest of the Lebanese bureaucracy, is intellectual laziness. Whoever is drafting such US foreign policy is just checking boxes to show their superiors and the world, that America is trying to help prevent Lebanon’s implosion. America’s dollars are in effect feeding the same beast, corruption and Hezbollah, that has destroyed Lebanon.
Unless there is substantial reform that includes the Lebanese army, and that also downscales UNIFIL, the $1 billion that America plans to spend on Lebanon every year will only contribute to keeping Lebanon stable enough so that Hezbollah and Iran can tighten their grip on the country and cause mischief in the region. If Washington and other foreign capitals want to avert disaster in Lebanon, they should heed this Lebanese maxim: “If the problem does not get bigger, it will never get smaller.”
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @hahussain. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

تقرير من فوكس نيوز: عائلة الشهيد عامر فاخوري تقاضي إيران ومسؤولين وتطالب بالعدالة على خلفية اعتقال علمر في لبنان اعتباطياً والتسبب بوفاته
New Hampshire Amer Fakhoury's family sues Iran, seeks justice for late father’s monthslong imprisonment in Lebanon
Ben Evansky/Fox News/October 04/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/103058/%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%88%d9%83%d8%b3-%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%b2-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%aa%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84/
Amer Fakhoury died after cancer went untreated, family says
https://www.foxnews.com/world/new-hampshire-family-sues-iran-tehran-lebanon-prison
The family of Amer Fakhoury, an American and former hostage imprisoned on the orders of Hezbollah in Lebanon, wants the Iranian regime to pay for his suffering in detention just months before his death last year.
During his imprisonment in Beirut, Fakhoury, of New Hampshire, was tortured and held in poor conditions without proper medical treatment. His family said he developed cancer which went untreated until his dramatic rescue and return to the U.S. He died from a cancer linked to the Epstein-Barr virus in June 2020, and relatives said they want justice and to send a clear message to the Iranians.
Hezbollah is one of several terrorist groups financed, supported, and directed by the clerical regime in Tehran.
In an email to Fox News, relatives said they were suing Iran "for the illegal detention and the death of the late U.S. hostage Amer Fakhoury. When Amer was kidnapped, he was told by the Lebanese prosecutor that Hezbollah wants him in prison, and they cannot do anything about it."
The statement continued, "Lebanon is currently under Iranian occupation. Hezbollah, a terrorist group funded by Iran, controls every sector of the Lebanese government. Our father’s death was a direct result of the torture and the maltreatment he received in the Lebanese General Security by members of Hezbollah."
Amer Fakhoury, of New Hampshire, died months after he was imprisoned by Iran-funded Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Amer Fakhoury, of New Hampshire, died months after he was imprisoned by Iran-funded Hezbollah in Lebanon. (Amer Fakhoury Foundation)
It concluded, "The first lawsuit we decided to do is against Iran since Iran is the head of operation in Lebanon, however more lawsuits will soon be filed against every Lebanese official and Lebanese security officer that had any involvement in the torture and death of the U.S. citizen Amer Fakhoury. We will not rest until the people responsible for Amer Fakhoury’s death are held accountable."
Fakhoury’s detention in 2019 led to the threat of sanctions from both sides of the political aisle in the U.S. The charge was led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who was joined by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. While the sanctions were never approved, Fakhoury's relatives said they thought the threat of them played an important role in their father’s eventual return to the United States. However, the family has continued to push for sanctions against Lebanese officials involved in their father’s detention.
Fakhoury, a father of four, was held without charges for nearly six months after a Hezbollah-backed newspaper accused him of torturing Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Fakhoury, who fought with the South Lebanon Army during Israel’s occupation of the country, was never previously accused of the charge, and had taken advantage of a Lebanese invite to ex-pats to return to his home country after not seeing family for two decades. The largely Christian force disbanded after Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, and Fakhoury sought refuge first in Israel and finally in America, where he received citizenship, opened a successful restaurant and became an active member of the Republican Party.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., has been one of many recently filed against Tehran. Indeed, just last year, a district court judge in Washington ruled that Iran had to pay $879 million to American survivors and families of a terror attack in 1996, in which Saudi Hezbollah, another Tehran terror proxy, bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which housed US forces. 19 U.S. airmen were killed and scores of others injured following the massive blast.
Questions sent to the Iranian U.N. Mission spokesperson in New York for comment were ignored.
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Steven Emerson, an expert on terrorism and head of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a research organization, told Fox News the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) provided the rules and qualifications for which countries could be sued, overriding traditional diplomatic immunity. "One of the main conditions named in the FSIA and subsequent amendments that enables nations to be sued is for terrorism, which specifies the denial of immunity, if that nation has been involved in sponsoring, directing or assisting in any other way an act of terrorism or violence against American citizens or its assets."
Emerson, who has served as an expert witness in terror cases involving Iran and Sudan, went on, "Iran has probably been sued—and lost—the greatest number of times in U.S. courts by victims of terrorism, ranging from Americans who were killed by the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah terrorist groups to Americans killed by the Iranian-sponsored Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups to Americans tortured by Iran."
He estimated that courts have ruled in favor of plaintiffs suing Iran in terrorism lawsuits to the tune of upwards of $10 billion, but he noted one big problem.
"Iran has never shown up, defaulted on all cases and refuses to pay one dime. And, efforts to seize Iranian assets in the U.S. by the plaintiffs have faltered because of court rulings against such seizures and strangely enough, by consistent prohibitions by successive presidential administrations—even prohibiting those who are owed billions of dollars by Iran having been guilty of committing an untold number of terrorist atrocities from collecting the billions of dollars of Iranian assets seized by the U.S. government."
Robert Tolchin, the lawyer for the family who has represented terrorist victims in similar cases, told Fox News the case has a good chance of succeeding. "It's no secret that Iran sponsors Hezbollah and that really, Hezbollah is just a branch of Iranian foreign policy. So, I think the case has a very strong likelihood that we will prevail and then get a substantial judgment against Iran."
Iran experts such as Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), said lawsuits like the Fakhourys’ could make an impact. "Lawfare is but one vector that ought to be further explored against Lebanese Hezbollah and its patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only do the perpetrators of crimes against humanity need to be named and shamed, but strategic litigation can be used to help impose non-kinetic costs on terrorists to punish them for past actions, impede their present room for maneuver, and deter them from taking such actions in the future."
He said cases like this send a serious message to Tehran. "The Biden administration should be encouraging these sorts of cases. It makes zero sense to be working overtime to claw back a fast-expiring and fatally flawed nuclear deal while ignoring events like this that happen far too often in the heartland of the Middle East. If anything, support for these sorts of claims can bolster the much-needed impression of resolve that the Biden administration needs to convey to Tehran if it is serious about engaging in negotiations. This sort of litigation is the strategically sound and morally right thing to do."
The Fakhourys recently commemorated their father’s passing and have set up a foundation in his name. The foundation has offered advice and financial help to families of Americans detained as hostages in foreign countries.
*Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
*Ben Evansky reports for Fox News on the United Nations and international affairs. He can be followed @BenEvansky

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 07-08/2021
Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel Prize for literature
CNN/October 07/2021
The Nobel Prize for literature has been awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents. "Gurnah was born in Tanzania in 1948 but moved to England at a young age. He has written 10 novels, many of which focus on the refugee experience. His 1994 novel "Paradise," which told the story of a boy growing up in Tanzania in the early 20th century, won the Booker Prize and marked his breakthrough as a novelist.

Iran must return to Vienna, nuclear talks ‘can’t be dragged out’: US State Department
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/07 October ,2021
Iran must return to Vienna to resume negotiations on the nuclear deal because “it can’t be dragged out,” the US State Department said Thursday. After several rounds of indirect talks, mediated by European countries, Russia and China, Tehran pulled out of the discussions due to ongoing presidential elections.
They have chosen not to return to the talks since a new government was formed; however, senior Iranian officials have said that they were ready to return to Vienna “soon.”“It is important for the parties to come back together … and resume where we left off. We continue to believe the diplomatic path is open,” Ned Price said during a briefing from the State Department. “We also think an imminent return to Vienna is necessary because this is not a process that can go on indefinitely. It can’t be dragged out,” he added. Asked what the holdup was, Price said the Iranians. “We have made very clear that we are willing to return to Vienna as soon as we have a partner to negotiate with, indirectly,” he said, referring to Iran’s refusal to hold face-to-face talks.

Iran-Skorea Row Worsens Over Oil Billions Frozen by U.S. Sanctions
Agence France Presse/October 07/2021
A row between Iran and South Korea is intensifying, with Tehran threatening legal action unless Seoul releases more than $7 billion in funds for oil shipments frozen because of US sanctions. The Islamic republic was South Korea's third-largest Middle Eastern trade partner before the US unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and re-imposed crippling sanctions. Iran had been a key oil supplier to resource-poor South Korea and in turn imported industrial equipment, household appliances and vehicle spare parts from Seoul. "We have $7.8 billion of our money blocked in South Korean banks," said Iranian lawmaker Alireza Salimi, who is involved with the case. South Korea took delivery of the Iranian oil "but did not pay for it", he told AFP. "It is not a reliable trading partner and it should pay interest on the money it is improperly holding," he charged. A foreign ministry official in Seoul told AFP that "it is difficult to confirm" the exact amount of money involved. South Korea stopped purchasing Iranian oil after former US president Donald Trump exited the nuclear deal in 2018, re-imposing the harsh sanctions and threatening to punish anyone buying crude from Iran.
That year, Iran-South Korea trade fell by half compared to 2017, when it had stood at $12 billion, according to Iran's embassy in Seoul. The volume of trade tumbled to just $111 million by mid-July 2020, according to embassy figures. In January, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a South Korean-flagged tanker, the Hankuk Chemi, and held it and its captain for three months, ostensibly over alleged environmental violations. The seizure was widely seen in South Korea as an attempt to force Seoul's hand over the frozen funds, though Tehran repeatedly denied there was any connection.
'Unacceptable'
Last week, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that his country would sue South Korea if it continued to refuse to honor its debt. "US pressure (on Seoul) is a fact but we cannot continue... to turn a blind eye to this question," he said. If Seoul fails to unblock the funds, the government would allow Iran's central bank to take legal action against two South Korean lenders holding the money, he said. Amir-Abdollahian said he spoke with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong about the issue at the end of last month. "I told him it was unacceptable for our people to wait for three years" for the funds, he said. Iranian media have quoted the South Korean minister as saying that he would do his best to resolve the problem, but Tehran remains unconvinced. The foreign ministry official in Seoul rejected the idea of a South Korean "debt", instead describing the amount as a "frozen fund".
The money "cannot be delivered to Iran due to US sanctions, which prevents financial transactions with Tehran", the official told AFP. "We have been transferring the cost of crude oil imports to a Korean won account under the name of the Iranian central bank. And when a South Korean company exports to Iran, it receives payments from that account in Korean won," the official added. South Korea also had been "in close consultation with related parties and banks" to pay Iran's arrears of around $16 million to the United Nations, using the frozen fund, the official said, and the remittance process has been completed.
Made in Iran  Lawmaker Salimi said the US had given South Korea approval to supply Iran with merchandise in lieu of returning the funds. But the South Korean foreign ministry official said that "for now, only humanitarian transactions, such as medicines, are possible with frozen funds". Late last month, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi banned the import of household appliances from South Korea, on instruction from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the imports could harm local production. But South Korean appliances are still in high demand, despite the ban. The head of Iran's appliances sector union said Iran's home appliance market is worth $6 billion per year, 40 percent of which is contraband goods smuggled in from abroad. Maryam, a bride-to-be shopping in Tehran's Amin-Hozour street, a hub for household appliances, said she preferred to buy foreign products because "the quality is better and the prices are not so different from what is produced locally". But Amine Feizi, a machine operator, said he had bought a fridge, a washing machine and a television set, all made in the Islamic republic. "I prefer products made in Iran because foreign ones are more expensive and because I want to support national production," Feizi said. "In the years since our country has been under sanctions, the quality of Iranian-made products has improved."

Australia Welcoming back French Ambassador after Sub Spat
Associated Press/October 07/2021
Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed France's decision to return its ambassador to Australia and said Thursday the bilateral relationship was bigger than the canceled submarine contract. Morrison dismissed suggestions that Australia needed to rebuild its relationship with France after canceling a 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) contract last month, an act French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described as a "stab in the back." "We already have cooperation. See, the Australia-France relationship is bigger than a contract," Morrison said. "France's presence and significance and influence in the Indo-Pacific isn't about a contract. It's about the fact they have an actual presence here, in the Indo-Pacific, that they have a long-standing commitment and work with Australia across a whole range of different issues," he added. France recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra after Australia dropped the contract with majority French state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Under an alliance that includes Britain, Australia will instead acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines built with U.S. technology.
France quickly returned its ambassador to the United States, a NATO partner. Le Drian told a parliamentary committee that Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault would return to Canberra to help "redefine the terms" of the bilateral relationship and defend French interests in winding up the contract.
It is not yet clear how much the termination of the contract signed in 2016 will cost Australia. It had already spent AU$2.4 billion ($1.8 billion) on the project, Morrison said last month. He did not elaborate on the costs when asked on Thursday. "We have a very good understanding of how we're going to proceed with that matter. We'll be working within the contract as it's set out," Morrison said. France and its European Union partners have reacted with hostility toward Australia over its shock decision to ditch the French deal. Morrison said French President Emmanuel Macron wouldn't take his calls.
"I look forward to our first meeting again, our first phone call again," Morrison said. "I acknowledge it's a difficult period, of course it is. There was no way that we could have taken this decision without it ... causing deep disappointment and hurt to France."When leaving Australia, an angry Thebault described the canceled contract as an "incredible, clumsy, inadequate, un-Australian situation." "This has been a huge mistake, a very, very bad handling of the partnership," Thebault said. This week, Trade Minister Dan Tehan has been snubbed by French officials while in Paris. Negotiations on a free trade deal between Australia and the EU that were to take place this month have been postponed until November. Bernd Lange, a German lawmaker and chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, said questions have been raised about whether Australia can be trusted. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud saw the ambassador's return as a positive sign. "We're understanding the disappointment they have, but at some juncture we're going to have to move forward, and we believe that an EU free trade agreement would be a good juncture," Littleproud said.

Greek Lawmakers to Vote on Defense Pact with France
Associated Press/October 07/2021
Greece's lawmakers are set to vote Thursday on a broad five-year defense pact signed last week with France which includes a clause of mutual assistance in case of attack by a third party. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signed the deal with French President Emmanuel Macron during a Sept. 28 visit to Paris, during which Greece also announced it would be buying three French frigates for the Greek navy. The purchase and defense deal come at a time of generally increased tension between Greece and its fellow NATO member and neighbor Turkey over energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
Thursday's parliamentary debate and vote are for the defense pact only, not the purchase of the warships. The deal is expected to be ratified as the governing conservatives have a comfortable majority in parliament. Regional rivals Greece and Turkey have been at loggerheads for decades over a series of disputes, including the delineation of the continental shelf, territorial rights in the Aegean Sea, aviation and maritime boundaries and the demarcation of Exclusive Economic Zones — areas where each country has exclusive rights to the exploitation of resources — in the Mediterranean. Greece's government announced last year it would be overhauling its military, including the hiring of personnel and a major military procurement program that has already seen the country buying 18 French Rafale fighter jets.The defense deal with France includes a mutual assistance clause, which states that the two sides will come to each other's aid "with all appropriate means at their disposal, and if necessary with the use of armed force, if they jointly ascertain that an armed attack is taking place against the territory of one of the two."The deal also includes a provision for Greek participation in French-led military operations such as those it has conducted in the Sahel region of Africa. Mitsotakis said last week that the mutual assistance clause "essentially says that if any of the countries is attacked, if its territory is challenged, its sovereignty is challenged, then there is an obligation by the other party to assist it."Speaking at an Athens Democracy Forum conference, Mitsotakis had said that "this is a strategic partnership which in my mind goes above and beyond the mutual assistance clauses that are currently included in the European treaties." The idea of collective defense is a principal tenet of NATO, of which both Greece and France are members, as is Turkey. Article 5 of the alliance's treaty stipulates that an attack on one member nation is considered an attack on all. "Does Article 5 apply in the case of an attack by a NATO member? I'm not sure NATO has ever been very clear on that issue," Mitsotakis had said when asked during the conference why Greece needed an extra alliance agreement. "My obligation is to defend my country and to form the necessary alliances over and above the security arrangements that we already have."

Canada/Statement on 80th anniversary of Babyn Yar massacre
October 6, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:
“This year marks 80 years since the Babyn Yar massacre when, 33,771 Jews of Kiev, Ukraine were brutally murdered in two days in 1941 by a Nazi killing squad. This was one of the largest single mass killings of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
During a commemorative event at the site of the Babyn Yar massacre today, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Special Envoy to the European Union and Europe and Ambassador to Germany, stood alongside world leaders to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to combatting antisemitism and all forms of hate.
We honour the memory of those who have perished, as well as the survivors, whose stories serve as a solemn reminder of the dangers of indifference and inaction in the face of hatred. Babyn Yar is also a reminder of our individual and collective responsibilities to remember, to bear witness, to prevent and act against antisemitism and mass atrocity. “Today, antisemitism is still very much alive. While its new and resurgent forms have changed the way that we fight against this warped ideology, Canada remains unwavering in its commitment to challenge antisemitism at home and abroad and to build more just and inclusive societies. “The Government of Canada is committed to reinforcing and strengthening Canada’s efforts to advance Holocaust education, remembrance and research, and to combat antisemitism as key elements of the promotion and protection of human rights at home and abroad.
“The Government of Canada stands in solidarity with more than 390,000 members of the Jewish community in Canada and millions more across the globe, to echo these sentiments. Hate will not win.”

Biden, China's Xi Expected to Meet Virtually by Year's End
Associated Press/October 07/2021
With tensions rising between the global powers, President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual meeting before year's end, according to the White House. The agreement in principle for the talks was disclosed after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met for six hours in Zurich. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the two sides are still working through what the virtual meeting "would look like." The presidential meeting was proposed after Biden, who spent a substantial amount of time with Xi when the two were vice presidents, mentioned during their call last month that he would like to be able to see Xi again, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the talks between Sullivan and Yang and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Xi has not left China during the coronavirus pandemic and is not expected to attend in person the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Rome and a U.N. climate conference in Scotland.
A White House statement on the Swiss meeting said Sullivan stressed to Yang the need to maintain open lines of communication, while raising concerns about China's recent military provocations against Taiwan, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and Beijing's efforts to squelch pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong. Sullivan made clear that while the United States would "continue to invest in our own national strength," it sought better engagement at a senior level "to ensure responsible competition," the statement said. U.S. officials have expressed frustration that interactions with high-level Chinese counterparts, including Yang, in the early stages of Biden's presidency have been less than constructive. But the talks Wednesday were described as respectful, constructive and perhaps the most in-depth between the sides since Biden took office in January, according to the administration official. China's official Xinhua News Agency echoed that description, saying the two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views. It quoted Yang as saying that "China attaches importance to the positive remarks on China-U.S. relations made recently by U.S. President Joe Biden, and China has noticed that the U.S. side said it ... is not seeking a new Cold War."Yang added, however, that China opposes defining the relationship as "competitive" and urged the U.S. to stop using Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and other issues to interfere in what China calls its internal affairs.The White House said the meeting was intended to serve as a follow-up to last month's call between Biden and Xi in which Biden stressed the need to set clear parameters in their competition. Still, the U.S.-China relationship has been under strain, exacerbated recently by the Chinese military's flying dozens of sorties near the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reiterated concerns that Beijing was undermining regional peace and stability with its "provocative" action. China sent a record 56 fighter planes toward Taiwan on Monday alone. "We strongly urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion directed at Taiwan," said Blinken, who was in Paris for talks with French officials.
At the start of Biden's presidency, he pledged to press Beijing on its human rights record. His administration has affirmed the U.S. position, first made late in the Trump administration, that China's repression of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in its northwest Xinjiang region was "genocide."
In March, the United States, in coordination with the European Union, United Kingdom and Canada, imposed sanctions on top communist party officials for their roles in detaining and abusing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. At June's Group of Seven summit in England, Biden successfully pressed fellow leaders to include specific language criticizing China's use of forced labor and other human rights abuses in the leaders' joint statement. Human rights advocates and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have raised concerns that the administration might be easing pressure on human rights as it looks for cooperation from Beijing on the global effort on climate change and in thwarting North Korea's nuclear program. The White House said last week it did not have a position on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which was passed by the U.S. Senate in July. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and sponsor of the legislation, wrote in the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that "the Biden administration is choosing to ignore the Chinese Communist Party's egregious human rights abuses to strike a deal on climate." Psaki pushed back against the criticism. She asserted that Biden, unlike President Donald Trump, "has spoken out against human rights abuses, has raised his concerns about human rights abuses directly with President Xi and we have done that at every level." The U.S. signaled this week that, for the time being, it plans to stick with tariffs levied against China during the Trump administration.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in a speech in Washington this week, said she would begin engaging her Chinese counterparts to discuss Beijing's failure to meet commitments made in the first phase of a U.S.-China trade agreement signed in January 2020. Biden has criticized Beijing for "coercive" trade practices, including its use of forced labor, that has led to an unfair playing field. "We will use the full range of tools we have and develop new tools as needed to defend American economic interests from harmful policies and practices," Tai said.

Strong Earthquake in Southwest Pakistan Kills at Least 20
Associated Press/October 07/2021
A powerful earthquake collapsed at least one coal mine and many flimsy mud houses in southwest Pakistan early Thursday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 200, an official said. The death toll was expected to rise even further as crews searched in the remote mountainous area, said Suhail Anwar Shaheen, the local deputy commissioner. At least four of the dead were killed when the coal mine in which they were working collapsed, said Shaheen, citing coal miners in the area. As many as 100 homes also collapsed, burying sleeping residents inside. The epicenter of the 5.9 magnitude quake was about 14 kilometers (8 miles) north-northeast of Harnai in Baluchistan province, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The initial measurement of the quake's strength was 5.7 magnitude. It struck about 20 kilometers (12 miles) below the Earth's surface; shallower quakes tend to cause more damage.
The area, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Quetta, the provincial capital, is dotted with coal mines, which has Shaheen worried the death toll could rise. It struck in the early morning while scores of miners were already at work, he said. Most of the population in the area live in sunbaked mud houses, many of which collapsed. Rescue efforts were underway, but Shaheen said it would take hours just to reach many of the hardest-hit areas. Local TV channels showed residents wrapped in blankets sitting on the side of the road waiting for the aftershocks to subside and help to arrive.
The area is remote and already the autumn nighttime temperatures are chilly.

Saudi Court Upholds 20-Year Term for Critic, Draws U.S. Rebuke
Associated Press/October 07/2021
A court in Saudi Arabia upheld a 20-year prison term imposed on a Saudi aid worker who had criticized the government on Twitter, drawing a rare public rebuke from the U.S. in another sign of tension between the Biden administration and the kingdom.
The ruling, confirmed late Wednesday, also upheld a 20-year travel ban on Abdulrahman al-Sadhan after his release.
The case against him may have roots in an elaborate ploy that began in Silicon Valley and sparked a federal case against two Twitter employees accused of spying for Saudi Arabia. The men allegedly accessed the user data of over 6,000 Twitter accounts, including nearly three dozen usernames the kingdom had wanted disclosed. Al-Sadhan's family has said his identity appears to have been among those leaked to Saudi authorities as the person behind an anonymous Arabic Twitter account that had amassed a large following and was critical of the government. His case is the latest example of the continued crackdown against those who criticize the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It also shows the lengths to which the authorities have gone to silence them. Still, al-Sadhan's case stands out because of the severity of the sentence and its possible links with an FBI investigation and federal case in California against the two men accused of spying on behalf of the kingdom while working at Twitter with an alleged third accomplice. The Saudi appellate judges handed down their ruling Tuesday. They upheld al-Sadhan's original 20-year sentence, followed by an equally long travel ban, meaning the 37-year-old would not be truly free until he is in his seventies. Saudi authorities have not commented on the legal proceedings, including the most recent ruling. The court did not make the decision public.Al-Sadhan's sister Areej, a dual Saudi-U.S. citizen living in California, confirmed the ruling to The Associated Press on Wednesday. She says her younger brother was not an activist, but was keenly aware of the economic challenges young Saudi men and women face because of his profession as an aid worker. She says her brother disappeared in March 2018 after plain-clothed security forces entered the office of the Red Crescent in Riyadh, where he was working. The family did not hear from him for nearly two years, until February 2020. During that period, word reached al-Sadhan's family that he was being held in a secret location and subjected to abuse: beatings, electrocution, sleep deprivation, verbal and sexual assault.
Al-Sadhan was sentenced originally in April of this year by Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism court. The U.S. State Department, which does not often comment on individual cases of Saudi human rights activists, said in a statement Wednesday that it was disappointed the original sentence was upheld, saying that "the peaceful exercise of universal rights should never be a punishable offense.""We have closely monitored his case and are concerned by allegations that Mr. al-Sadhan was subjected to mistreatment, that he has been unable to communicate with family members, and that his fair trial guarantees were not respected," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. Price said the U.S. would continue to "elevate the role of human rights in our relations with Saudi Arabia." He also said the U.S. would continue to "encourage legal reforms that advance respect for human rights of all individuals." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, said in a Twitter post that she was "saddened the brutal sentencing" had been upheld, "especially given allegations of torture in detention." "Saudi Arabia's assault on the freedom of expression & pattern of human rights abuses must be condemned by all freedom-loving people," Pelosi said. Relations between the kingdom and the Biden administration have been rocky, despite early efforts by Saudi Arabia to release some prominent activists from prison and restore ties with Qatar ahead of President Joe Biden's swearing-in. Even so, one of Biden's first orders as president was ending U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. He also ordered the declassification of a U.S. intelligence report that implicated the Saudi crown prince in the killing of writer and critic Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Last month, the U.S. pulled missile defenses from the kingdom even as it continues to face scattered drone and missile attacks from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Also this week, activists said dual U.S.-Saudi national Salah al-Haidar, a resident of Virginia, was sentenced to time served and banned from leaving the kingdom for two years. His mother is prominent women's rights activist Aziza al-Yousef, one of several who were arrested in a sweep in 2018 and have alleged they were abused and assaulted while detained. Activists close to the family told the AP he was convicted on charges such as showing sympathy for critics of the government who have been branded as terrorists, for joining a group on the messaging service Telegram that allegedly aimed to shatter national unity, communicating with Saudi dissidents who aim to destabilize the nation and using social media to promote ideologies that threaten national unity. He has denied the charges, insisting any efforts were in relation to attempts to free his mother when she was detained.

Tens of Thousands in Gaza Line Up for Israeli Work Permits
Associated Press/October 07/2021
Tens of thousands of Palestinians lined up outside chambers of commerce across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hoping to get permits to work inside Israel after rumors circulated that more would be issued to residents of the Hamas-ruled territory. Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinian residents have lived under a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, and jobs are scarce. Israel says the closures are needed to contain the militant group, while critics view it as a form of collective punishment. An Israeli security official said authorities decided to allow in 7,000 merchants in September but were only able to issue 4,500 permits. They are now taking applications for the remaining 2,500, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Sharif Al-Faqawi, one of the workers lining up for a permit, said he shares a single room with his wife and eight children. "We hope the crossings will be open so we can work and feed our children," he said. "When I go north (into Israel), at least I will be able to feed them and build a future for them."Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since 2008, the most recent in May. Hamas has demanded the easing of the blockade as part of an informal cease-fire that Egypt is trying to broker. Israel has lifted some restrictions since the end of the 11-day May war while warning that any broader easing depends on continued calm.Hamas recently organized a workshop to discuss the management of natural resources in what is now Israel once the militant group "liberates" historical Palestine. Critics saw the event as evidence of Hamas' disconnection from the daily hardships endured by Palestinians in Gaza, where employment hovers around 50%. Half of Gaza's population lives in poverty, travel outside the territory is heavily restricted, tap water is undrinkable and residents experience daily power outages that can last several hours. Nearly 40,000 houses were damaged or destroyed in the most recent war, according to the Ministry of Public Works. Tens of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank also work in Israel, mainly in construction and agriculture. Wages are much higher in Israel, in part because of Israel's 54-year military occupation of the territory. Israel stopped issuing work permits to Gazans after the Hamas takeover. A few thousand senior businessmen retained their entry permits to Israel, and in recent years, Israel has quietly expanded that program to allow Palestinians from Gaza to work in construction, agriculture and manufacturing.

Qatar's Top Diplomat in Abu Dhabi as Relations with UAE Ease
Associated Press/October 07/2021
Qatar's foreign minister arrived in Abu Dhabi and met Wednesday with its crown prince, the clearest sign so far that relations between the two Gulf Arab states are easing following a lengthy embargo that strained ties and echoed across the region. The United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at al-Bahr Palace in Abu Dhabi. The brief report said only that the two "discussed the strong ties between their countries and ways to enhance them to serve the interests of their nations."Relations between the two, however, have been anything but strong since mid-2017, when the UAE was part of a four-nation boycott of Qatar to try and force the small gas-rich nation to stop its support of Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, which Abu Dhabi views as a direct threat to its ruling system. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain were also part of that boycott effort aimed at pressuring Qatar, including demands it curb ties with Iran. Ultimately, after 3 1/2 years, Saudi Arabia led the effort to end to the Gulf-wide spat just before President Joe Biden was sworn in. The embargo of Qatar, which included blocking Qatari flights from their national airspace and shuttering its only land border, largely failed to achieve its aim of forcing the tiny nation to change course. The diplomatic standoff deeply divided regional U.S. allies, frayed social ties across the Arabian Peninsula and drew searing media attacks, lobbying efforts in Western capitals, allegations of hacking and political mud-slinging. While the full restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has progressed, relations between the UAE and Qatar still remain shaken, given how sharp the divisions were. The visit by Qatar's foreign minister to the UAE is seen as a significant step toward easing the strained relationship. The visit comes a little more than a month after Abu Dhabi sent national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Qatar for the first such high-level visit by an Emirati official since ties were severed. Prior to that trip, Sheikh Tahnoun had traveled to Turkey — a key backer of Qatar — as part of a wider recalibration by the UAE of its foreign policy following the unsuccessful attempt at isolating Qatar.

UK High Court Finds That Dubai Ruler Hacked Ex-Wife's Phone
Associated Press/October 07/2021
The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, hacked the phones of his ex-wife Princess Haya and her attorneys during the legal battle over custody of their two children, Britain's High Court found Wednesday. Sheikh Mohammed, who is also vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, gave his "express or implied authority" to hack the phones of the princess and her attorneys using Pegasus spyware produced by NSO Group of Israel, the court said. The software is licensed exclusively to nation states for use by their security services. NSO has been at the center of allegations that governments are abusing electronic surveillance technology to spy on political opponents, human rights activists and journalists. The hacking of Princess Haya's phone came to light partly through the work of William Marczak, a fellow at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog at the University of Toronto. In addition, NSO adviser Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, contacted one of the princess' lawyers to inform her that the company suspected its software had been "misused" to hack into her phone.
The case highlights the danger posed by unregulated companies selling surveillance technology to "some of the world's most repressive governments," Marzcak told The Associated Press. "If that situation is not addressed by governments, by tech companies and by other institutions, we could live in a world where this sort of thing gets targeted not just at the dissidents and the journalists and the ex-wives of the world, but perhaps ordinary folks might be targeted or could be vulnerable to this sort of surveillance," he said. "I think it's important to address this now before it becomes an even bigger problem."
Wednesday's decision is the latest episode in the long-running custody battle between Sheikh Mohammed, 72, and his estranged wife. Princess Haya, 47, fled to Britain with her children in April 2019, saying she had become terrified of her husband's threats and intimidation. The ruling is important because Judge Andrew McFarlane has insisted throughout the case that Sheikh Mohammed needed to build trust with the court that he wouldn't take unilateral action to remove the children from their mother's care.
"The findings made in this judgment prove that he has behaved in a manner which will do the opposite of building trust," McFarlane said in the ruling. "The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power, to a significant extent."The judge previously ruled that Sheikh Mohammed conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his estranged wife and ordered the abduction of two of his daughters. Sheikh Mohammed's lawyers chose not to offer evidence to counter the hacking allegations, arguing that the princess hadn't proved either that the phones had been hacked or that the UAE or Dubai ordered any hacking that may have occurred. The court was also told that Sheikh Mohammed could neither confirm nor deny whether the UAE had a contract with NSO for use of Pegasus software. But his lawyers did suggest that another country, such as Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Jordan may have been responsible for the hacking in an attempt to embarrass Sheikh Mohammed. "At no stage has the father offered any sign of concern for the mother, who is caring for their children, on the basis that her phones have been hacked and her security infiltrated," McFarlane said. "Instead he has marshalled a formidable forensic team to challenge the findings sought by the mother and to fight the case against her on every point."
Sheikh Mohammed said after the ruling that he continued to deny the allegations, which concern "supposed operations of State security." "As a head of government involved in private family proceedings, it was not appropriate for me to provide evidence on such sensitive matters either personally or via my advisers in a foreign court," Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement. Neither the government of the UAE nor Dubai participated in the proceedings, so the court's decision was based on incomplete information, the sheikh said. He also said that the decision was unfair because it was based on evidence that wasn't disclosed to him. Pegasus infiltrates phones to vacuum up personal and location data and surreptitiously control the smartphone's microphones and cameras. The program is designed to bypass detection and mask its activity. NSO's methods have grown so sophisticated that researchers say it can now infect targeted devices without any user interaction, the so-called "zero-click" option. The company doesn't disclose its clients and says it sells its technology to Israeli-approved governments to help them target terrorists and break up pedophile rings and sex- and drug-trafficking rings.But some of the targets of such surveillance take a different view. An investigation by a global media consortium based on leaked targeting data suggested that NSO's software was being used to spy on journalists, human rights activists and political dissidents.

Russia to Invite Taliban to International Talks in Moscow Oct. 20
Agence France Presse/October 07/2021
Russia will invite the Taliban to international talks on Afghanistan scheduled for October 20 in Moscow, the Kremlin's envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Thursday. In response to a question from Russian journalists on whether representatives of the hardline group would be invited to negotiations involving China, Iran, Pakistan and India, Kabulov said: "Yes".

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 07-08/2021
Europe’s Affinity with Iran and America’s Declining Commitment to Justice.
Raghida Dergham/The National/October 07/2021
The tone of the speeches delivered by world leaders at the UN General Assembly session this week and on its side lines in the inter-ministerial meetings suggest preparations are being made for the revival of the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries – the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany. On the nuclear issue and the lifting of the sanctions on Iran, the obstacles seem to be in the process of being cleared amid reports the Vienna talks could resume in two weeks. On the issue of Iran’s ballistic missile program, some formulas are being discussed to address it, partially or in a compartmentalized way, where an agreement is being sought on long-range missiles while allowing Iran to maintain short and medium range missiles crucial to its regional projects. It is in these regional projects that European and US concessions could be made to Iran and its allies. Accordingly, the countries of the region are starting to adapt and reposition themselves. For example, Syria and its president Bashar al-Assad are among the biggest beneficiaries, not only through Russian efforts but also thanks to American, European, and Arab contributions that are led by Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and even the Gulf states. Israel itself is adapting but is also developing a Plan B in secret talks with the United States. Israel is present in the American planning and therefore on the negotiating table. It has also been guaranteed huge military and economic compensation packages from Washington, as well as political and security guarantees from Russia and China, Iran’s top allies. Only Turkey appears to be singing a different tune, for reasons related to Russian insistence on a Turkish exit from Syria.
Iraqi President Barham Salih’s remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York succinctly explained what is happening here. He said that the United States and Russia are speaking of collaboration in Syria. He said: “A lot of conversations have taken place between our Gulf neighbors and the Iranians and the Turks, and a lot of conversations between the Saudis and the Iranians have taken place. And it’s quite a paradox in some ways, for them to meet in Iraq in an open secret”. He said that the international community “must have the courage to admit that the present policy has totally, utterly failed”, including plans to topple Bashar al-Assad, adding: “The government is still there and you have thousands and thousands of militants well-armed, al-Qaeda, ISIS, you name it, all kind of manifestations and variants of this virus operating in the urban center of the Middle East. This is not the few, handful of men in the remote caves of Afghanistan”.
Barham’s messages are not just addressed to the Americans, but also to the leaders of the Gulf and the Middle East. He said clearly: “I’m…calling for the region to try and embrace this dynamic in Syria… We in Iraq are opening up to the Syrian government and trying to open channels and encourage help and relief to the Syrian people…we want to focus on dealing with the extremist issue in some of these areas of Syria which pose a direct security threat to Iraq and to the neighborhood”.
No doubt, the Russians will be very pleased with these positions. Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to rehabilitate Syria under Assad and mobilize political and financial support for reconstruction and fighting extremism there, especially in the time of declining American interest in leading the war on terror in Syria. Russia is neither willing nor able to foot the bill for Syria on its own, even though Syria is an absolute priority for the Russian position in the Middle East and broader foreign policy.
The intense military discussions that took place this week between Russian and American military officials reflect a shared interest that include Russian involvement in fighting terror in Afghanistan and Syria. Indeed, by withdrawing from Afghanistan and moving to cut down the number of its forces in Iraq and Syria, the United States has signalled that Syria is not its concern. Washington will help but will not lead. And it is not an innocent decision to wash its hands clean of Syria’s burden like this and leave it to Russia, China, and their associates.
Putin wants to cleanse Syria as soon as possible of extremist elements he believes are sponsored by Turkey and is thus throwing his weight behind the project to ‘liberate’ Syria from terrorism and occupation. In his view, there is no choice but to support a major offensive in Idlib undertaken by Syrian forces on the ground with Russian air cover. This is where Turkey enters the equation, as it is seen by Russia and Syria as both a backer of extremists and an occupation force in northern Syria.
The summit planned next Wednesday between Putin and Turkish President Erdogan in Sochi will likely be confrontational. Moscow has hinted to Ankara that Turkish forces must withdraw from Syria or face consequences. The Russian message is that the zero hour is drawing near, and that Russia will not be able to stop Syrian forces for long from launching an operation to retake Idlib. The decision to do so was made by Putin and Assad in their last meeting, a decision that will make the Putin-Erdogan meeting very difficult. Furthermore, Erdogan’s speech at the UN invoked Crimea in a way that will have riled up Putin and made him evermore determined to confront Turkey.
The speech by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz meanwhile, has raised hopes for serious Saudi Iranian dialogue, especially with the new president in Tehran and the coming era of the resurrection of the nuclear deal. King Salman expressed a desire for reconciliation, but on conditions that amount to a roadmap for Saudi Iranian relations, while reserving the right to question Iran’s intentions and policies from Yemen to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, where Iran has planted militias and engaged in subterfuge on Arab soil.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi lectured America at the UN, while professing full innocence of all nuclear, missile, and expansionist crimes and misdemeanours. He questioned the intentions of the Biden administration, setting a tough line but only half-seriously, given that Iran is preparing to return to the Vienna talks and rowing back from its conditions for the full lifting of sanctions first. Iran’s leaders know that their interests require lifting economic sanctions as a priority and are heeding the advice of Russian and Chinese negotiators while capitalizing on the European eagerness to change the nature of relations with Tehran.
Indeed, the Europeans, led by the Germans, Italians, and French, have told the Iranians they want a new approach to their relationship based on ‘peaceful coexistence’, as one source close to these accords said. In other words, Europe wants a relationship of ‘affinity’ based on mutual economic interests and European tolerance of Iran’s regional policies, in return for Iran refraining from extreme measures that would embarrass Europe, for example by supporting terrorism or acting in a way that causes refugee waves bound for Europe. In return for all of this, Iran will get European backing for lifting what is left of the sanctions on Iran, and political rehabilitation for Iran in Europe and the world.
The Europeans want to play a key role on Iranian issues. In their view, this can shape regional equations. In their minds, the equation would be something like this: Placing boundaries on Iran’s behavior without intervening in the heart of Iran’s expansionist policies – which seems not to concern them. In other words, they want to coexist with the Islamic Republic as it is.
In Lebanon, a country too small in European grand calculations, the interpretation of this trend is that Europe shall not interfere with Hezbollah’s full domination of the Lebanese state and sovereignty. In Syria, Europe is endorsing the rehabilitation of Assad and is working with the United States in this direction. How would this be reflected in Lebanon, and could it lead to the return of Syrian domination directly or through Hezbollah? This seems to be far from European priorities. What matters for the Europeans is to somehow rein in the collapse of Lebanon, without conditioning reforms on its political class. In fact, France and Europe’s policies have led to the consolidation of the Lebanese political class, despite its corruption, assault on accountability, and disregard for people’s aspirations to rid themselves of their surreal cartel.
The European and American reaction to the attack on the Lebanese judge investigating the Beirut Port blast are shamelessly non-existent. They have effectively endorsed impunity for what is a crime against humanity, and the political, sectarian, and partisan attacks on a man who is doing his duty to reveal those responsible for the killing of Beirut, the city, not just the port.
Judge Tarek Bitar, who is supposed to enjoy cooperation from the state, is facing instead a full-frontal assault by parliament and its speaker; attacks by party leaders; and clear threats from Hezbollah. The Sunni Dar al-Fatwa is being used as a disgraceful platform for politicians to lash out at Judge Bitar, and the security forces are colluding to obstruct his mission, so far refusing to serve arrest warrants issued by him. The constitution is being manipulated to challenge his authority under the guise of ‘legitimate doubt’, in an attempt to get him to stand down and thwart the investigation.
Yet this dangerous farce is met with near total silence by US and European officials, who have claimed to support an independent judiciary in Lebanon, failing to protect the judge from threats, harassment, and possibly even assassination if he refuses to resign.
In his speech at the UN, President Joe Biden put diplomacy above confrontation. Yet despite his electoral promises to protect human rights and justice everywhere, he now stands idly by Hezbollah’s audacious threats against the judge investigating a crime against humanity, and by the assault of Lebanon’s ministers and lawmakers against justice. These promises are evaporating now over the simmering heart of the nuclear deal with Iran, perhaps out of fear the deal will be thwarted by moves to end impunity.

Peace remains elusive 40 years on from Sadat’s assassination
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/October 07/2021
Anwar Sadat surprised the world and even some of his closest advisers on Nov. 19, 1977, when he made a historic trip to Jerusalem. He was the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel with an offer of peace. It was a courageous and spectacular move that led to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty at Camp David one year later, but would ultimately cost him his life. He was assassinated four years later, on Oct. 6, 1981, by a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad during a military parade commemorating Egypt’s crossing of the Suez Canal at the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
There are several threads to the story, two of which are relevant. One is that Sadat had diverged from the policies of his predecessor, President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and had embarked on a major realignment, which he called “Infitah,” or “opening up the country,” away from the alliance with the Soviet Union and more toward the US and the West. This brought him into collision with the Nasserists, who saw him as betraying the legacy of Nasser and of pan-Arabism in favor of a more isolationist Egyptian nationalism.
The second thread in the story is Sadat’s rapprochement with the Muslim Brotherhood — he released their members from prisons, allowed the exiles to return, and gave them some limited freedoms to have publications and carry out political activities. This may have been part of a vision to liberalize and have a multi-party system in the country, but he also used the Brotherhood as a counterbalance to the Nasserists, who were his real opponents. The result was that they also managed to infiltrate various institutions of government, including the army, which is how the assassins were able to be part of that parade.
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad was at the more extreme end of the spectrum of Islamist movements and aimed at overthrowing the system and taking over the state, turning Egypt into an Islamic emirate much like what now exists in Iran or Afghanistan. The leader of the group and its chief strategist at the time of the assassination was Aboud Al-Zumar, while his deputy, who later succeeded him as emir of the movement, was none other than Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who spent the rest of the 1980s with Osama bin Laden, having joined the mujahedin in Afghanistan to fight the Russians with the help of the US, and who later helped found Al-Qaeda, leading to the 9/11 attacks in New York.
Forty years after Sadat’s assassination, Al-Zawahiri is still part of the scene. He took over the leadership of Al-Qaeda after Bin Laden was killed in 2011. The region is still torn between two camps: One is working toward peace, with the Abraham Accords with Israel being part of that, and the other being the “resistance axis,” with an agenda of perpetual war.
The assassination of Sadat was aimed at killing the peace; and it was conducted by extremists from within Egypt. Historically, there are many precedents of peacemakers suffering a similar fate at the hands of enemies within.
In 17th-century France, Henry IV, also known as “Good King Henry,” was stabbed to death by a Catholic fanatic for being too moderate and for issuing the Edict of Nantes, which granted large measures of religious liberty to his Protestant subjects.
Mahatma Gandhi was also assassinated, in January 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist, for being too accommodating to the Muslims of India during the partition of the country.
In Israel itself, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead on Nov. 4, 1995, by an Israeli ultranationalist who was radically opposed to the Oslo Accords. This was a huge blow, from which the peace camp in Israel has never recovered.
If killing the peacemakers kills the peace, killing the warmongers has the opposite effect. By definition, war is driven by a culture that glorifies death. The killing of Qassem Soleimani, for example, consolidated the war camp and gave it a boost by turning him into a martyr. What better gift to those who want war than to give them war?
If killing the peacemakers kills the peace, killing the warmongers has the opposite effect.
History is yet to judge whether President Ashraf Ghani is a hero or a traitor for leaving Afghanistan without a fight. Opinions among Afghans are divided on the subject. He described it as the most difficult decision of his life and tweeted that he had no choice but to leave to avoid violence. He was chastised by many, including US President Joe Biden and many in the US military, who seemed disappointed that the country did not sink into a bloody civil war after America’s withdrawal.
If Ghani’s choice was between personal humiliation by appearing to flee on the one hand and condemning the country to at least another decade of bloody civil war on the other, then he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for avoiding the latter. Maybe the lesson from that and from the Sadat assassination is that violence and peace are incompatible, and that war can only lead to more war.
*Nadim Shehadi is executive director of the LAU Headquarters and Academic Center in New York and an associate fellow of Chatham House in London. Twitter: @Confusezeus

Communist China's Aggression in the South China Sea
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/October 07/2021
In March, a huge Chinese fishing fleet descended on Whitsun Reef, which lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. The Philippine government called on China to cease "militarizing the area". Almost eight months later, however, more than 150 Chinese vessels reportedly remain in Philippine waters.
China's illegal takeover of Hong Kong and Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan, where the US even failed to save all US citizens -- China could be planning to use force to capture Taiwan much sooner than that -- the opportunity looks inviting. The question is: if China attacks Taiwan, whether the US will defend the island -- or even put in place serious deterrents. It will not help anyone except the Chinese Communist Party if consequences for invading Taiwan consist of nothing more damaging than "strong letter to follow."
China considers almost all of the South China Sea... part of Chinese territory. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague firmly rejected China's sovereignty claim in 2016 but five years after that ruling, China continues to reject the court's authority.
"The term 'sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China' is not defined in the law and is purposely vague. Enacting ambiguous and imprecise laws allows China to alter its position on the applicability of the law based on the circumstances at the time." -- Captain Raul Pedrozo, Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, "International Law Studies", Vol. 97, 2021.
"China is once again testing the international community to gauge how it will react to the enactment of yet another maritime law that exceeds the permissible jurisdictional limits of international law, as reflected in UNCLOS [The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.] China will undoubtedly use the new law to engage in grey zone operations below the threshold of armed conflict to intimidate its neighbors and further erode the rule of law at sea in the Indo-Pacific region." -- Captain Raul Pedrozo, Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, "International Law Studies", Vol. 97, 2021.
The revised maritime law came into effect just seven months after China's new coastguard law went into force on February 1. The Chinese coast guard law gives China's coast guard authority to use lethal force on foreign ships operating in Chinese waters, including disputed areas such as the South China Sea. In January, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against the Chinese coast guard law saying that it is a "verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law".
In March, a huge Chinese fishing fleet descended on Whitsun Reef, which lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. The Philippine government called on China to cease "militarizing the area". Almost eight months later, however, more than 150 Chinese vessels reportedly remain in Philippine waters. Pictured: Whitsun Reef, as seen from space. (Image Source: United States Geological Survey/NASA/Wikimedia Commons)
Tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea, as China, or, rightly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ramps up its military activities in the region. Within only the first four days of October, China conducted a record-breaking 150 incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) -- after China's People Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had already, in September, set another monthly record with 117 incursions, some with nuclear-capable bombers, fighter jets and reconnaissance planes. The incursions were reportedly the highest monthly number on record since Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense began reporting Chinese aerial incursions 13 months ago. In addition, in August, the first-ever incursion of Chinese military helicopters into Taiwan's ADIZ took place, with experts suggesting that the PLA was probing Taiwanese defense capabilities by using different aircraft.
Also in August and September, China conducted assault drills near Taiwan with war ships, early-warning aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft and bombers. "The joint fire assault and other drills staged by the Eastern Theater Command troops are a necessary action to further safeguard China's sovereignty under the current security situation in the Taiwan Straits," Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command said, "and also a solemn response to the interference of foreign forces and the provocation of 'Taiwan independence' secessionists." Shi stated that military exercises would be "conducted regularly" based on the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the "need to maintain sovereign security". China has conducted 20 naval island-control exercises in the first half of 2021, compared to 13 in all of 2020.
This activity -- in addition to diplomatic and economic pressure -- is evidently meant to exhaust Taiwan, force it to capitulate to China and relinquish its independence without China firing a shot. "China is pursuing an all-of-party approach that seeks to coerce, corrupt and co-opt the international community," former commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Philip Davidson, recently warned, "in a way in which they may be able to achieve their geopolitical edge... to force Taiwan to capitulate because of extreme, diplomatic, economic, pressure and strain". Failing that coercion, Davidson estimates:
"the changes in the [People's Liberation Army]'s capabilities, with their missile and cyber forces, and their ability to train, advance their joint interoperability and their combat support logistics, all those trend lines indicate to me that within the next six years they will have the capability and the capacity to forcibly reunify with Taiwan, should they choose force to do it."
With China assessing America's lack of resolve to protect its allies -- China's illegal takeover of Hong Kong and Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan, where the US even failed to save all US citizens -- China could be planning to use force to capture Taiwan much sooner than that -- while the opportunity looks inviting. The question is: if China attacks Taiwan, whether the US will defend the island -- or even put in place serious deterrents. It will not help anyone except the Chinese Communist Party if the consequences for invading Taiwan consist of nothing more damaging than "strong letter to follow."
Taiwan's Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng announced on October 6 that China already has the ability to invade his country. "By 2025, China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration."
Elsewhere in the South China Sea, also in September, the PLA air force conducted troop transports with a number of large Y-20 transport aircraft to three airstrips in the Spratly archipelago, where China has built and militarized artificial islands on top of the reefs, according to Chinese state media. Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) mouthpiece, wrote that the aircraft "conducted amphibious landing drills under complex conditions, showing the PLA's capabilities in safeguarding peace and stability in the region." It was the first time that the PLA confirmed that it had used aircraft of this type to transport personnel to the islands. Vietnam, which also claims sovereignty over the disputed Spratly archipelago, protested China's transport mission to the islands and called it a violation of Vietnam's sovereignty.
"Surely, this announced feat is aimed at demonstrating the PLA's force projection capability over vast maritime distances across the South China Sea," said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
"And definitely it's aimed also to demonstrate that the airstrips constructed on the artificial islands are capable of supporting flight operations by large aircraft. If Y-20 can be supported, so will the H-6 bomber."
China considers almost all of the South China Sea, an area covering roughly 3.5 million square kilometers, and its estimated 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil, in addition to maritime resources such as fish, part of Chinese territory. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague firmly rejected China's sovereignty claim in 2016 but five years after that ruling, China continues to reject the court's authority. China's claim to sovereignty over the South China Sea and its willingness and ability to pursue it has long been creating friction with countries in the area, who stake their own claims to parts of the sea, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
China also regularly uses its large civilian fishing fleet to further its goals in the South China Sea. In March, a huge Chinese fishing fleet descended on Whitsun Reef, which lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. The Philippine government called on China to cease "militarizing the area". Almost eight months later, however, more than 150 Chinese vessels reportedly remain in Philippine waters. On September 29, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he wanted diplomatic protests "filed on China's radio challenges against Philippine maritime patrols, unlawful restriction of Filipino fishermen from Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), and the continued presence of Chinese ships in the vicinity of Iroquois Reef..."
In addition, China's newly revised Maritime Traffic Safety Law (MTSL), which entered into force on September 1, requires certain foreign vessels sailing into Chinese "territorial waters" to notify Beijing in advance. Foreign vessels such as foreign submarines, nuclear-powered ships, ships carrying radioactive, toxic or hazardous materials and any other vessels that "may endanger the maritime traffic safety" of China are required to provide information including their ships' names and numbers, recent locations, satellite telephone numbers and dangerous goods. "Article 2 of the MTSL expands application of the law from 'coastal waters' to 'sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.'"
"The term 'sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China' is not defined in the law and is purposely vague", wrote Captain Raul Pedrozo, Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College.
"Enacting ambiguous and imprecise laws allows China to alter its position on the applicability of the law based on the circumstances at the time. Nonetheless, given China's excessive maritime claims and prior enforcement activities, the MTSL is likely intended to apply to all waters and seabed areas (1) encompassed by the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, (2) extending to the Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea, and (3) beyond Ieodo (Socotra Rock) in the Yellow Sea...China is once again testing the international community to gauge how it will react to the enactment of yet another maritime law that exceeds the permissible jurisdictional limits of international law, as reflected in UNCLOS [The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.] China will undoubtedly use the new law to engage in grey zone operations below the threshold of armed conflict to intimidate its neighbors and further erode the rule of law at sea in the Indo-Pacific region."
Vice Admiral Michael McAllister, commander of the US Coast in the Pacific said the revised law was "very concerning", and seemed "to run directly counter to international agreements and norms", while building "foundations for instability and potential conflicts" if enforced.
"This looks like part of China's strategy of casting legal nets over areas that it claims ... to 'normalize' these claims," said Robert Ward, senior fellow for Japanese security studies at The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "Enforcement will be difficult, but this may matter less for Beijing than the slow accumulation of what it sees as a legal underpinning". The Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has already said that his country will ignore the revised maritime law. "Our stand on that is we do not honour those laws by the Chinese within the West Philippine Sea because we consider that we have the sovereign right within this waters. So we will not recognise this law of the Chinese," Lorenzana said during an event marking the Philippines' Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States.
The revised maritime law came into effect just seven months after China's new coastguard law went into force on February 1. The Chinese coast guard law gives China's coast guard authority to use lethal force on foreign ships operating in Chinese waters, including disputed areas such as the South China Sea. In January, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against the Chinese coast guard law saying that it is a "verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law".
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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An Iraqi Perspective on Israel
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner//October07/2021
Growing up in Iraq, my curriculum in Baghdad’s elementary school included a “nationalism class” and required that we read a text by the Governor of Baghdad and Saddam Hussein’s maternal uncle, Khairallah Tulfah. It said that three things should not have been created: “Persians, Jews and flies.”
Most Iraqis are Shiites, who traditionally view Palestine as a Sunni issue. Because of animosity toward the Sunnis, Shiites rarely sympathize with the “Palestinian cause.” In fact, the holiest Islamic spots in Jerusalem, Masgid Omar and the Dome of the Rock, were both constructed by people that Sunnis revere and Shiites hate.
But last month, in the predominantly Kurdish city of Erbil in the north, 312 Iraqis — both Shiite and Sunni — participated in a conference that called for peace with Israel. Some drove to Erbil from the province of Babel, approximately 250 miles to the south.
One of the most prominent voices, Sunni tribal chief Wissam Al-Hardan, wrote that the conference “issued a public demand for Iraq to enter into relations with Israel and its people through Abraham Accords.”
Al-Hardan described participants as “an assembly of Sunnis and Shiites, featuring members of the (Sunni) Sons of Iraq Awakening movement,” in addition to “intellectuals, tribal elders, and youth activists of the 2019-21 protest movement.”
The Head of Research at the Education Ministry, Sahar al-Taii, said “we can live under repression or die with courage,” adding that “we will push for peace with Israel until the leaders act.”
As al-Taii predicted, it did not take long before repression came knocking. Based on bogus charges, a Baghdad court issued arrest warrants for both Hardan and Taii, and added one for a former legislator, Mithal Al-Alusi, who had called for peace with Israel in the past and had even visited the Jewish state. For doing so, Alusi’s two sons were killed by a bomb.
Even though Alusi was in Germany for medical treatment, his name was shoved into the mix, not to truly go after him, but to remind Iraqis of the fate that awaits those who call for normalization with Israel.
Facing government harassment and threats from pro-Iran militias, most participants in the Erbil conference recanted. Al-Hardan was seen in a video claiming that he was duped and did not know what he was doing, even though his speech and op-ed were clear. Under duress, Hardan reversed himself, an act reminiscent of the days when Iraqis used to recant on TV, during the days of Saddam Hussein, and still lost their lives.
In a statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi described the “concept of normalization” with Israel as “unconstitutional, illegal and politically unacceptable in the Iraqi state.”
Notwithstanding that the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government exports oil to Israel, Kadhimi’s statement showed how most Iraqis have yet to understand how a modern state works. That a prime minister thinks that any constitution deals with a policy of normalization with Israel, is a problem. It is also a problem that Kadhimi equates politically unacceptable with illegal. Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussain has long been gone, but tyranny has remained.
Iraqi tyranny is driven by many factors. Like many Arabs, most Iraqis have yet to understand what liberty and freedom mean. That many Arabs, including Iraqis, get offended over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and think that they can censor such works, is proof that these Arabs have a long way to go to fully grasp what freedom of expression means.
Another driver of tyranny in Iraq is the Iranian regime, which sows discord in Iraq, and uses the “Palestine cause” as a battle cry to rally the Muslim world behind it. Iraq, too, is supposed to endorse Iranian slogans, such as “O Jerusalem, we are coming.”
During his campaign, President Joe Biden promised to support and expand the Abraham Accords.
Iraq is a predominantly Arab country, where popular opinion is ripe for peace and normalization with Israel. Non-Arabs, such as most Kurds, who make up one quarter of the population, have been friends with Israel for decades. If given a chance without fear of repression, anti-Iran Shiites and many Sunnis can join the Kurds. The real number of Iraqis who call for peace with Israel will then be significant.
But until Iraqis can enjoy freedom of expression, many of them — even the most liberal — will run for the exits every time the word Israel is mentioned. Iraqis want peace with Israel, but are not willing to sacrifice their lives for it.
President Biden should push for such peace between Iraq and Israel, while keeping in mind that whatever opposition Iraqis might express would be mostly under duress, and often at gunpoint, with Iranian operatives and their Iraqi militias threatening to pull the trigger any minute.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @hahussain. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

Avoiding Assad strengthening power from feeding Lebanon’s energy crisis via Syria
Hanin Ghaddar/Al Arabiya/07 October ,2021
This week saw Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad call Jordan’s King Abdullah II for the first time since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. The conversation discussed “relations between the brotherly countries and ways to enhance cooperation between them,” according to the Jordanian royal court. The conversation took place only four days after Jordan fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria, in an attempt to boost the country’s economy. The new diplomatic move is taking place in a bigger context, where Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt reached agreement for Egyptian natural gas to be sent to energy-starved Lebanon via Syria using an old but damaged pipeline, and for Jordanian electricity to be exported to Lebanon through the Syrian grid. This initiative was confirmed in September by US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, signaling a US greenlight for Jordan to reestablish relations with the Assad regime.
One of the ideas to work around sanctions is to have the World Bank funding the maintenance of the pipelines and the electrical grid in Syria, which needs serious repair.
In response to questions about whether the United States encourages or supports a rapprochement between Syria and Jordan, a State Department spokesperson said last week that Washington had no plans to 'normalize or upgrade' diplomatic relations with Assad. However, the spokesperson added that Washington also wanted to ensure that any US sanctions will not impede humanitarian activity.
Although this is a purely humanitarian aid initiative for the US, some Arab leaders think that the US will turn a blind eye if other countries in the region reestablish diplomatic ties with Damascus.
Some believe that bringing Assad back into the Arab fold will allow him to distance himself from Iran, They also believe that Hezbollah’s efforts to bring Iranian fuel into Lebanon will be contained.
Evidence suggests this is wishful thinking. For example, in 2009, a Saudi-Syria rapprochement to end feud over Lebanon, following the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was attempted. This witnessed appointment of ambassadors and exchange of visits by the two leaders of the countries. But the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, damaged the relations and diplomatic relations ended.
Assad will not distance himself from Iran. He is too deeply embedded to have a choice.
Clearly, Lebanon needs power generation very quickly and the best long-term solution is including Syria in the supply route, but there is no doubt that Assad and Iran will use this opportunity as leverage to gain unwarranted diplomatic kudos.
Assad’s main goal is to rejoin the Arab League, a symbolic victory, with the view to suddenly become a team player. Utter nonsense.
It is not farfetched to see an increased involvement of the Syrian regime in Lebanon’s fragile political scene, which is preparing for parliamentary elections.
Although the Lebanon electricity infrastructure project is essential for the survival of the country’s population, it is also vital that Assad remains the pariah he is. Curtailing any Iranian attempts to boost its international standing must also happen.
Lebanon will now need to work closely with Syria and the other stakeholders to get the project up and running successfully.
There is no alternative for a sustainable electricity supply for the country.
If engaging Assad is an absolute must, several issues must be addressed to tackle the forming of a necessary relationship between Syria and Lebanon, and indirectly any benefits to Iran.
The new collaboration between Beirut and Damascus must be restricted to electricity infrastructure, and sanctions on Syria must continue to ensure any influence Assad attempts to push on Lebanon out with the power project is contained.
It’s also essential that Assad follow a road-map with clear concrete milestones to reach.
The World Bank and Western and Arab states have pledged billions of dollars to help Lebanon, with proper electricity infrastructure acknowledged as a key requirement, but all stakeholders maintain that reforms must be included in the package.
Everyone knows about the deep divisions in Lebanon accompanied by the corrupting influence of Iran, and the potentially soon to be Syria.
A regulator needs to be appointed, the grid modernized, with electricity prices - that haven’t changed since the 1990s - raised. Without reforms, the Electricite du Liban (EdL) will continue to suffer annual losses of up to $2 billion - around one third of Lebanon’s budget deficit.
The Lebanese government will not implement reforms without pressure. This should be exerted on political leaders through amplified sanctions.
Helping to boost Assad’s diplomatic ties to its neighbors and beyond must be avoided. The international community’s focus should remain focused on reforms and accountability. It’s the only long-term sustainable solution for Lebanon.