English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 17/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.october17.21.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/01-13: “‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 16-17/2021
Geagea Says 'Ain el-Remmaneh People' Foiled Hizbullah's 'Mini May 7'
Bassil Accuses Geagea and LF of 'Bloodshed, Murder' and 'Sniping People from Rooftops'
Families of Port Victims Back Bitar after Spokesman Appears in Surprising Video
Saudi Arabia urges Lebanon leaders to make ‘real, serious change’
Despite tensions, Lebanon committed to resuming talks with IMF
Mikati discusses with Khoury, Abboud and Oweidat the Tayouneh incidents
Hamieh, technical delegation from World Bank meet
Army Commander welcomes Wronecka
Factions who seek to dominate Lebanon will only destroy it/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/October 16/2021
Picking up the pieces/Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/October 16/2021
Une enquête se fait concernant les evenements récents./Jean-Marie Kassab/Octobre 16/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 16-17/2021
British politicians stunned after MP stabbed to death in ‘terror’ attack
Macron marks 60 years since Paris massacre of Algerians
Turkey receives Taliban FM, defends ‘engagement’ with new Afghan rulers
Saudi FM warns of ‘dangerous’ Iran nuclear acceleration
US sends message to Turkey with expanded defence deal with Greece
Despite Iraq election win, Sadr still has to work with pro-Iran groups
IS Claims Shiite Mosque Attack in Afghanistan
Russia tops 1,000 daily virus deaths for first time
Cyprus and Egypt sign deal to pursue electricity hookup
At least 3 killed as 4.8 magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia's tourist island of Bali
Nasa sends Lucy probe on 12-year mission to explore asteroids around Jupiter
Sudan's PM Hamdok presents road map out of crisis
At least 33 killed and 73 wounded after explosion at mosque gates in Kandahar, Afghanistan

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 16-17/2021
Europe at a turning point/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/October 16/2021
The world’s dilemma: Helping Afghans helps the Taliban/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/October 16/2021
Listen up: Podcasts mean business when done right/Sara Hamdan/Arab News/October 16/2021
UNRWA deserves support, not vilification by political pygmies/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/October 16/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 16-17/2021
Geagea Says 'Ain el-Remmaneh People' Foiled Hizbullah's 'Mini May 7'
Naharnet/October 16/2021
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has described Thursday’s deadly clashes in the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh-Shiyyah area an an attempt by Hizbullah to stage a “mini” May 7-like armed campaign against “Christians” with the objective of halting the probe into the Beirut port blast.
Asked whether he takes credit for “foiling a new May 7,” the LF leader said: “No, it wasn’t Samir Geagea who foiled the new May 7 but rather the alive people present in Ain al-Remmaneh.”“It is true that we are present on the ground, seeing as we are present in all regions and we’re not absent from any issue… but the claims about a military structure are totally baseless and the Lebanese Army is the only party that knows the facts as they are,” Geagea added in an interview with the journalist Walid Abboud via Sawt Beirut International.“The claims about a supply route and paramilitary deployment are completely unfounded and the presence there was the natural presence of the young men in their neighborhoods. As for the talk about snipers, the army has arrested snipers, let it say who they are and where they came from,” the LF leader said. Dismissing accusations by Hizbullah and Amal Movement that what happened was “an ambush against a protest,” Geagea stressed that this is also untrue and that it wasn’t the LF who “defended the area” but rather “all of Ain al-Remmaneh’s residents.”“Before any shot was fired, four people from Ain al-Remmaneh had already been wounded, also before anyone from the other side was killed or wounded,” Geagea added, voicing sorrow over the Hizbullah and Amal supporters who were killed and wounded while blaming “their leaderships who dragged them into that position.”The LF leader also decried that the army’s Intelligence Directorate is summoning people from Ain al-Remmaneh for interrogation. “They were sitting in their homes and neighborhood. It is fine, summon them, but you should have summoned those who came to attack them,” he said. Told that al-Manar TV has claimed that “the LF snipers are known by names,” Geagea said: “This is untrue. Let them hand over the alleged names to the Lebanese Army.” Asked whether he and the LF are “prepared for war,” Geagea said: “No, but if someone wants to attack us, we will always do this. However, this is something and having an armed organization is something else. But let no one think that we will die with open eyes; they will be very mistaken.”“This is not a declaration of war, but our dignity is very dear to us and we do not accept to be attacked by anyone, period,” Geagea added.

Bassil Accuses Geagea and LF of 'Bloodshed, Murder' and 'Sniping People from Rooftops'
Naharnet/October 16/2021
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Saturday launched a vehement attack on Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in connection with the deadly Tayyouneh clashes, while criticizing Hizbullah and Amal over the “provocations” of their supporters in Ain el-Remmaneh.
“Whenever he tries to clean himself he later gets dirty with shedding blood, because this is his nature, and the Tayyouneh crime is the biggest proof,” Bassil added, referring to Geagea. “A strong party is not one that carries arms and snipes people from the rooftops of buildings. A strong party is not the one that claims to be protecting its neighborhood by opening fire from among its people. A strong party spares its neighborhood strife, not through submission, but through standing strongly and wisely,” the FPM chief added, in a speech marking the October 13, 1990 anniversary. “The rights of Christians cannot be recovered through blood!” Bassil stressed. “They haven’t learned anything from the policies of treachery, sniping and murder! They kill our people -- be them Christian or Muslim, children or elderly, secular or clergymen, premiers or citizens, civilians or soldiers,” the FPM chief charged. He added that no one has the right to “murder protesters through sniping and backstabbing” even if they make “provocations.” Without naming the LF, Bassil charged that the rival Christian party is still “prepared, trained and carrying on with the killing policy” and is willing to “make a massacre, strife or civil war when it is offered a green light.” “Justice is achieved through the judiciary, not sectarian incitement. Those whose history is black cannot claim to be fond of justice while killing protesting people and trying to stir strife in the country on former frontiers in order to gain popularity,” Bassil added.
Criticizing Hizbullah and Amal, the FPM chief said “no one has the right to impose their opinion on others nor to threaten street action.”“Everyone has the right to have an opinion about the investigator and the (Beirut port blast) probe and everyone has the right to have doubts and suspicions, but this should happen through the judicial, legal and institutional course. But no one has the right to undermine the principle of the separation of powers by trying to impose their opinion on Cabinet contrary to the norms and laws. They must know that someone will stand in their face to say No!” Bassil added. He also criticized the Hizbullah and Amal supporters who “came to Ain al-Remmaneh to chant provocative slogans.”“Would they have accepted for the families of the victims or members of parties to go to Dahiyeh and chant against its people? Insults, the storming of side roads and the smashing of properties are totally unacceptable. This is not peaceful protesting but the killing of people is not legitimate,” Bassil added. “Intimidation is rejected, whether it came from those who attacked without thinking or those who claimed to be defending while practicing premeditated murder,” the FPM chief went on to say.
He added: “We are the guarantee of civil peace and we will prevent strife. We appreciate those who practiced self-restraint to prevent strife, we offer condolences over the victims and we call on security and judicial agencies to conduct a firm probe and a quick trial so that no one takes justice into their own hands.”

Families of Port Victims Back Bitar after Spokesman Appears in Surprising Video
Agence France Presse/October 16/2021
The spokesman for relatives of those killed in last year's Beirut port blast quit on Saturday, following fears he had been intimidated into urging the dismissal of the lead investigator in the case. Hizbullah and allies have accused Judge Tarek Bitar of political bias in his probe into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 210 people. Tensions came to a boil Thursday when seven people were killed in violence following a rally organized by Hizbullah and its ally Amal demanding Bitar's dismissal. The shootout on Beirut’s edge kept many residents trapped indoors for hours, reviving memories of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. In a complete U-turn from his previous support for the investigator, Ibrahim Hoteit, a spokesman for the families of the victims, called in a video circulated Friday night for the judge to step down. Many social media users worried that Hoteit, whose brother was killed in the port explosion, had been threatened. In the video, he is seen glancing off camera as he speaks, in what some charge could be a sign of him speaking under duress. He also uses rhetoric and words typically used by Hizbullah's officials. But Hoteit told AFP he had spoken only for himself and denied having recorded the video under any pressure. "The only pressure I came under were the events of Thursday and the fear of sliding into civil war," he said.
"I therefore decided to step down as spokesman" for the families.
- '180-degree turn' -
Other victims' relatives, who still support Bitar, said in a statement: "This position... does not represent us at all." William Noun, whose firefighter brother died in the blast, told AFP that he remained firm in his support and that Hoteit "was without doubt pressured."Lina Khatib, a senior analyst at the Chatham House think-tank, said the video was "alarming because it is a sudden 180-degree turn from earlier statements... in support of the port probe.""In the video he appears to be under duress," she said, and the wording of the statement was unlike his usual language. "All this suggests that Hoteit issued the video statement because he felt pressured to do so." Top politicians subpoenaed in the blast investigation have launched various legal challenges against Bitar. But the latest court rulings have allowed him to resume the probe, which has been suspended multiple times.Bitar's predecessor, Fadi Sawwan, was removed by a court in February.

Saudi Arabia urges Lebanon leaders to make ‘real, serious change’
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
WASHINGTON--Saudi Arabia called Friday on Lebanon to make long-term changes after a sectarian flare-up, saying the country’s leadership has failed to address structural problems. “Just the events of the last two days show us that Lebanon needs real, serious change,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters on a visit to Washington, a day after Lebanon’s worst sectarian violence in years. Bin Farhan said that Lebanon needed to “address economic but also political structural problems” rather than relying on “short-term fixes.”“The responsibility for that lies squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese leadership,” he said. “They need to make a real choice to lift Lebanon out of the morass it is in now. We have so far not seen that they have made that decision.” Seven people were killed as snipers opened fire on a rally by Hezbollah, the powerful group allied with Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran, and fellow ShiA movement Amal as they protested against a judge investigating last year’s devastating port blast. Hezbollah blamed the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party, and accused the group of seeking a return to the country’s brutal civil war. LF’s leader denied late on Friday his group had planned the street violence in Beirut, and said a meeting held the day before was purely political. Samir Geagea told Voice of Beirut International radio that a meeting held on Wednesday by a political grouping the LF belongs to had discussed action options should Hezbollah succeed in efforts to remove the judge. Geagea said the option agreed upon in that event was to call for a public strike, and nothing else. Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim state, was the site of negotiations that led to the 1989 Taif agreement that ended the war.
In mid August this year, Saudi Arabia said any assistance to Lebanon depends on serious reforms. A report by The Arab Weekly at the time concluded Riyadh will unlikely act to provide financial support to Lebanon, whether in the form of aid, loans or investments. The Saudi apathy towards Lebanon, the report stated, shows the kingdom is unwilling to play a role in resolving the country’s crisis, as was the case on many previous occasions. This factor threatens to exacerbate the situation in Lebanon. In early July, US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea and French Ambassador Anne Griot visited Saudi Arabia. The visit showed the US administration and the French government have concluded they had no other choice but to mediate with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, so that it may agree to come to Lebanon’s help. However, the statements of the two ambassadors upon their return made it clear that Saudi Arabia was not interested in making a comeback in Lebanon in light of Hezbollah’s ongoing control of the country. Lebanon is facing a stifling economic crisis that requires Arab Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia, to provide financial support so as to avoid a collapse of the Lebanese state, which observers say is imminent.

Despite tensions, Lebanon committed to resuming talks with IMF
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
BEIRUT--Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday’s violence was a setback for the country but would be overcome, adding that his cabinet was working to provide the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with necessary financial figures ahead of talks to pull the country out of its economic meltdown. Mikati spoke to Reuters after a deadly shooting rocked the capital Beirut as tensions over a probe into last year’s massive blast in Beirut burst into the worst street violence in more than a decade, leaving six Shias dead. “Lebanon is going through a difficult phase, not an easy one. We are like a patient in front of the emergency room,” Mikati said in an interview. “We have a lot of stages after that to complete recovery,” he said adding that the country’s central bank had no liquidity in foreign currency that it could utilise. Mikati’s cabinet took office last month after more than a year of political deadlock with a focus on reviving IMF talks to pull the country out of a deep financial crisis that has propelled more than three quarters of its population into poverty. But a row simmering for months over the lead investigator into last year’s deadly Beirut port blast threatened to upend it when Shia ministers, allied to the Hezbollah and Amal movements who oppose the judge, demanded his removal. “Everyone who wants to resign should bear the responsibility of his decision,” Mikati said when asked about whether ministers had threatened to resign over the demand. He said it was not the job of politicians to interfere in the judiciary but that the body should correct its own errors.“A judge should firstly protect the law and the constitution,” he said.
“Many, including myself say maybe there is a constitutional error but this the judiciary has to decide and that body can rectify itself not the politicians.” Despite the distraction from the cabinet’s focus on economic recovery, Mikati said the necessary financial data would be provided to the IMF “in the coming days.” Lebanon’s financial system collapsed in 2019 after decades of corruption and waste in the state and the unsustainable way it was financed. Over the past two years, the country’s currency has lost more than 90% of its value and the World Bank has dubbed the economic meltdown as one of the deepest depressions in modern history. IMF talks stalled last year after the previous government drew up a financial recovery plan that mapped out losses of some $90 billion in the financial sector. The figure was endorsed by the IMF but many of Lebanon’s main political players disputed the scale of the losses. When asked whether a new figure for the size of the losses or the distribution was determined, Mikati said he could not reveal data before sharing it with the IMF. Financial advisory firm Lazard drafted the original recovery plan for Lebanon last year and was asked to continue its role after Mikati’s cabinet was formed. Mikati said it was waiting on some figures that would be handed over by the government next week to complete their plan. “I would have hoped for (figures to be handed over) sooner rather than later but … in light of the current circumstances there is a bit of delay that is outside of our power but soon the talks with the IMF will start formally and completely.”

Mikati discusses with Khoury, Abboud and Oweidat the Tayouneh incidents
NNA/October 16/2021
Prime Minister Najib Mikati met today, Saturday, in his office, with the Minister of Justice, Judge Henry Khoury, the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Suhail Abboud, and the Public Prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oueidat. During the meeting, the attendees discussed the file of the security incidents that took place in Tayouneh, stressing the need to "accelerate the investigations to uncover the circumstances of what happened and refer the perpetrators of these events to the competent judiciary." Mikati stressed that "the file of what happened is in the custody of the security services and under the supervision of the competent judiciary," noting that "the government is keen not to interfere in any file related to the judiciary, and that the judiciary must take any measures it deems appropriate."

Hamieh, technical delegation from World Bank meet
NNA/October 16/2021
Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, met this afternoon with a technical delegation from .the World Bank. Hamieh presented the plans and projects that were prepared in earlier stages, which did not follow their path towards implementation.

Army Commander welcomes Wronecka
NNA/October 16/2021
Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, received in his office at the ministry the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ms. Joanna Wronecka, with discussions reportedly focusing on the general situation in Lebanon.

Factions who seek to dominate Lebanon will only destroy it
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/October 16/2021
Nobody brings AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades to a peaceful protest. Make no mistake, Hezbollah’s actions have steered Lebanon into these desperate straits, in its readiness to ignite the nation in flames to block investigation into its culpability for the Beirut port explosion.
I have never seen Lebanese citizens so furious at Hezbollah: The manner in which heavily armed, black-clad fighters are dictating their right to derail the judiciary, boasting of their ability to “ignite the streets” and prevent the Cabinet from meeting, while seeking to intimidate the nation in its entirety. When armed, angry militiamen burst into a tense Christian neighborhood chanting “Shia! Shia!” at a moment of existential national crisis, what exactly were they expecting?
However, it takes two to tango: That is why the sight of masked gunmen was so blood-chilling. It is now obvious to everyone that there are several parties enthusiastically preparing for sectarian conflict, actively stirring the pot in readiness to fling the gates of hell fully open.
It is all very well for leading politicians to call for calm, but unless the principal protagonists fundamentally alter their murderous trajectory, the drivers of conflict are firmly in motion. The army has frequently stepped in to restore order, but if the army starts to disintegrate along sectarian lines, matters will genuinely begin to spiral out of control.
Too many of Lebanon’s current leaders are the same warlords from the 1970-80s era, just as comfortable fighting actual battles as they are managing political conflicts. Furthermore, when so much of society is impoverished and desperate, there will always be a ready pool of individuals who can be purchased as pawns in somebody else’s battle.
These heinous events in Beirut’s Ain Al-Rummaneh neighbourhood, ground zero for the outbreak of the civil war in 1975, elicit traumatic memories. My generation vividly recalls how rapidly events escalated beyond the ability of any party to control them. Many of us spent months migrating from district to district as the inferno spread, before full-scale invasions by Syria, then Israel, forced us into exile.
Some people downplay civil war prospects, and say Beirut isn’t the same place as in 1975. They are unintentionally correct: Beirut is in an infinitely worse condition today than 1975. Then, it was the glittering cultural and economic heart of the Arab world. Now many parts of the city already resemble a disaster zone, following economic collapse, chronic civil turmoil, and the port explosion.
Many intelligent people are already questioning whether it is better to drop the investigation for the sake of civil peace. But if powerful interests can so easily thwart justice, then Lebanon’s rule of law is already irretrievably lost. Hezbollah in 2008 provoked conflict to protect its interests. It has repeatedly triggered civil strife to derail investigations into the murder of Rafik Hariri and other national figures. Hezbollah mocks the judicial system with a message of “If you want them, come and get them!” whenever culprits are identified.
In an angry speech last week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told the families of the dead: “You will never get justice.” He accused the judiciary of playing politics, and astoundingly blamed them for the port explosion: “There is no dispute about the culpability of these judges,” he thundered. Has anyone previously seen the prime suspect stand up in court and accuse the judge of having committed the murder?
Hezbollah is reverting to its previous default mode and denouncing everything as an “American plot.” If only. Where is the international community when Lebanon so desperately needs it? Muscular diplomatic intervention is required by Western and Arab parties to compel all factions to de-escalate, and to send urgent signals to Iran that if it provokes conflict in Lebanon there will be irreversible consequences. Diplomatic statements, with their embarrassingly trite, formulaic language, are no more than pretexts for doing nothing. This is likewise a moment for Lebanon’s vast diaspora to be intimately engaged, via civil society organizations such as Nahwal Watan, which has been working to support progressive and independent faces in upcoming elections.
Nasrallah insists that he wants elections held on time, but efforts by Hezbollah and its Free Patriotic Movementallies to sabotage the political process suggest they know very well that they are destined to perform disastrously if the public are allowed to have a say.
No doubt Nasrallah has been closely following events in Iraq, where pro-Iran Al-Hashd al-Shaabi thugs last week suffered a predictable and richly deserved defeat at the polls – plunging from 48 parliamentary seats to a miserable 14, and learning the hard way that voters don’t like it when you murder them. Since then, Hashd hotheads are issuing hubristic diatribes about overturning the “fabricated results,” a threat that inevitably entails civil conflict if they are stupid enough to follow it through.
With all Iran’s centers of power today under the control of rabid hardliners, Tehran has invested billions in ensuring its domination of Iraq and Lebanon, and has no intention of relaxing its grip now. The ayatollahs would plunge Lebanon and Iraq into conflict in a heartbeat to advance these goals.
The scenario that so many of us have been warning about for the past two years is now upon us: We are on the cusp of annihilation and nothing short of a miracle will prevent all-out slaughter.
If powerful interests can so easily thwart justice, then Lebanon’s rule of law is already irretrievably lost.
It doesn’t matter who instigated these events. All that matters is preventing worst-case scenarios. The problem is that none of the protagonists cares enough about Lebanon to call a halt. This is all about self-interest: Nasrallah seeks to advance Iran’s agenda, while various rival factions chase after the presidency. Lebanon is in its essence a pluralist state. No party can hope to gain power unless it is willing to share power. A decade of renewed war will not change this reality one iota.
Regrettably, none of these warring factions possesses the wisdom and foresight to comprehend that if they continue their current trajectory, the state they seek to monopolize will be no more than a heap of smoking ash.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Picking up the pieces
Dana Hourany/Now Lebanon/October 16/2021
The armed clashes on October 14 left the residents of the affected areas in fear of a new civil war.
Big buses with scores of supporters of the two Lebanese Shiite parties, Amal and Hezbollah, headed towards Beirut’s Palace of Justice on Thursday, October 14. They started to chant “Shia Shia” and “[Lebanese Forces Leader Samir] Gaegea is a Zionist” before they got off the buses and continued until they reached the streets of Tayyouneh, an area close to Beirut’s Palace of Justice, where they were scheduled to demonstrate.
At first, it was a small crowd that threw rocks towards an alley in Ein Al Remmeneh, a Christian neighborhood nearby. It quickly grew in number as more protesters dressed in black joined in. “No one goes outside of the group”. “Everyone stay together,” some shouted. This was the last effort to control the protesters before gunshots were fired, not immediately clear from where. Many on the streets ran to find shelter. Others stayed to fight. More came in later, carrying more guns. The clashes that followed left 7 dead, including two bystanders, and over 30 people wounded. The fighting, involving some rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire, also destroyed buildings, cars and shops in the areas of Tayouneh, Ain el-Remmaneh and Furn al-Chebbak all located on the old civil war lines of division. Hezbollah and Amal Movement accused the Christian Lebanese Forces of having snipers shoot at protesters first. Pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al Akbar printed on Friday with a large cartoon of LF leader Samir Geagea dressed in a fascist uniform. Geagea denied on Friday evening in an interview with Voice of Beirut radio that his party had planned any street violence on Thursday. He also said that, knowing the presence of LF supporters living in the area, the party’s head of security had called on the Lebanese Army to deploy and make sure the Hezbollah-Amal rally was to “pass by simply as a demonstration and not affect civil peace.”The Lebanese Army announced it arrested at least 19 people involved in the clashes, from “both sides”. But for the people whose homes are in the area of the clashes and who were caught in the fire, it is hard to pick up the pieces after Thursday’s shock. Ghada Alaadine, the mother of three, was in her home in Tayyouneh, where the clashes started. Her husband had the day off, her eldest daughter had returned home after her dance class was canceled, and the youngest daughter didn’t go to school as the family feared for her safety.. “At first it seemed like a peaceful protest, no weapons in sight. But after a few gunshots, weapons were immediately present,” Alaadine told NOW. During the civil war in Beirut, Ghada was in Saida, South Lebanon, so she hadn’t experienced the clashes between various sects firsthand. “When the clashes began I felt stuck. I knew the war began and there was no way out. My brain couldn’t see an escape,” she said.
The initial shock
Sarah, 50, mother of two, could foresee the conflict happening when she initially heard about the protests called for by Amal and Hezbollah. She chose to stay home that day. Her son, 14, was at school and her daughter,20, was out at a friend’s house. When the first gunshots were heard, her first thought was about the children. Her daughter, Lana, ran home terrified during the shooting, escaping the bullets by miracle.
“Once my daughter was home, we started packing to head somewhere far,” the mother told NOW. “I really thought this was the beginning of a war.”
She had a panic attack. “The neighbors had to come pick me up and calm me down, I couldn’t move but I also wanted to run.”She collected her valuables and headed towards her friend’s house a few blocks away as she waited for her son to come home. Alaadine could not run anywhere. Instead, her family of five were stuck in one bedroom with no TV so they could not get live updates of what was happening outside their house. “My youngest daughter started to panic and cry, she didn’t understand what was happening. My husband and I were totally lost to what our options were. The whole time I was shaking with fear,” she said.
Panic
Soon after the clashes started, photos began circulating of students stuck at a school in Furn el-Chebbak. The students pictured were young; some hiding underneath their desks, others taking refuge in hallways, desperately gathering around teachers. Sarah managed to get her son back from school and they all found a safer house to stay in. Meanwhile, residents of the areas where the clashes took place started to call out for help to evacuate the area. Alaadine’s building was emptied of most of the residents as many waited for a minute of ceasefire so they could head south with their cars.
The ones who remained hidden in the building’s entrance, where often, members of the press would join them. “At some point, the gunshots started to pour like a thunderstorm,” the frightened mother claimed. “There were also guys from the Amal movement going to the building’s rooftop as an attempt to locate the snipers and more people arrived chanting pro Shiite chants amidst the clashes. Did they expect the chants to protect them?” she said.
The aftermath
Sarah said she relived on Thursday both the Lebanese Civil War and the July 2006 Hezbollah – Israeli war. “I hid in the same place today that I used to hide during these two wars and it feels like nothing has changed and maybe nothing ever will. Our blood is so cheap in this country,” she said.
Hezbollah and Amal organized large funerals for the fighters shot in the October 14 clashes. The funerals drew large crowds in the southern suburbs of Beirut and fighters shot in the air. Alaadine’s family headed to Saida the following day. They returned home in the evening after the funerals ended and there were no more gunshots. “If a war were to happen, all five of us would stay in the same room. If we die we die together and if we live, we live together. That way the kids won’t be orphaned and we won’t suffer the loss of our kids,” she explained.
*Dana Hourany is a multimedia journalist with @NOW_leb. She is on Instagram @danahourany

Une enquête se fait concernant les evenements récents.
Jean-Marie Kassab/Octobre 16/2021
Epargnez vos efforts messieurs les enquêteurs, c'est moi. MOI j'ai tiré sur l'occupant et ses hordes barbares. C'était moi qui les ai arrosés de balles et le ferai une fois de plus s'ils reviennent.
Enquêtez ailleurs. Arrêtez ceux qui par centaines ont porté des armes et arboraient des drapeaux de Amal, et hurlaient Nabih Nabih ainsi que les drapeaux jaunes de la milice Iranienne.
L'enquête est simple: ils ne se cachaient pas. Moi non plus.
Vive la Résistance.
Vive le Liban.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 16-17/2021
British politicians stunned after MP stabbed to death in ‘terror’ attack
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
LEIGH-ON-SEA, United Kingdom---The fatal stabbing of British lawmaker David Amess was a terrorist incident, police said Saturday, as MPs pressed for tougher security in the wake of the second killing of a UK politician while meeting constituents in just over five years.
Police said they arrested a 25-year-old suspect and were investigating “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.The suspected motive of the fatal attack is likely to raise again the issue of police vigilance in dealing with the threat posed by Islamist militants and the issue of radicalisation networks within the UK’s Muslim communities. Police have said the investigation is in the “very early stages”, though multiple UK media outlets, citing sources, reported that the suspect was believed to be a British national with Somali heritage.Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea east of London when he was stabbed to death on Friday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the scene to pay his respects on Saturday, laying floral wreaths outside the church with the leader of the opposition, Labour leader Keir Starmer in a rare show of unity, along with the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle and Home Secretary Priti Patel. Members of the public also came to lay bouquets next to the police tape surrounding the crime scene. Britain’s politicians were stunned by the highly public attack, which recalled the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker ahead of the Brexit referendum. Flags at Parliament were lowered to half-staff amid a profusion of questions about lawmakers’ security. “This is an incident that will send shockwaves across the parliamentary community and the whole country,” House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said. “In the coming days we will need to discuss and examine MPs’ security and any measures to be taken, but for now, our thoughts and prayers are with David’s family, friends and colleagues.”Violence against British politicians is rare, but concerns have grown about the increasingly bitter polarisation of the country’s politics. In 2016, a week before the country’s divisive Brexit referendum, Cox, a Labour Party lawmaker, was fatally stabbed and shot in northern England. Also, several people have been jailed in recent years for threatening lawmakers. British lawmakers are protected by armed police when they are inside Parliament, and security there was tightened after an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group fatally stabbed a police officer at the gates in 2017. But politicians have no such protection in their constituencies. Amess published the times and locations of his open meetings with constituents on his website. Two other British lawmakers have been attacked over the past two decades during their “surgeries,” regular meetings where constituents can present concerns and complaints. Labour legislator Stephen Timms was stabbed in the stomach in 2010 by a student radicalized by online sermons from an al-Qaida-linked preacher. In 2000, Liberal Democrat Nigel Jones and his aide Andrew Pennington were attacked by a man wielding a sword during such a meeting. Pennington was killed and Jones wounded in the attack in Cheltenham, England.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, tweeted that Amess’ killing was a “tragic day for our democracy,” and former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was “shocked and horrified.”In June 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right extremist, prompting demands for action against what lawmakers said was “a rising tide” of public abuse and threats against elected representatives. Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater, who became an MP in the same constituency this year, said Amess’ death had left her “scared and frightened”. “This is the risk we are all taking and so many MPs will be scared by this,” she added. Home Secretary Patel on Friday ordered police across the country to review security arrangements for all 650 MPs. House of Commons Speaker Hoyle promised no “knee-jerk reactions” but told Sky News: “We will take further measures if we need to”.Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP who tried to save a stabbed police officer during a 2017 terror attack near the Houses of Parliament, on Twitter urged “a temporary pause in face to face meetings” until the security review is complete.
Continued threats
MPs and their staff have been attacked before, although it is rare.
But their safety was thrown into sharp focus by Brexit, which stoked deep political divisions and has led to often angry, partisan rhetoric. Cox’s killer repeatedly shouted “Britain first” before shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old MP outside her constituency meeting near Leeds, northern England. A specialist police unit set up to investigate threats against MPs in the aftermath said 678 crimes against lawmakers were reported between 2016 and 2020. Most (582) were for malicious communications, although other crimes included harassment (46), terrorism (nine), threats (seven), and common assault (three). Separate figures indicated a sharp rise in reports since 2018, including three threats to kill. Ex-MP Anna Soubry, who quit the Conservative party because of her opposition to Brexit, has spoken of being sent bullets during an intimidation campaign that also targeted her family.
“I do get frightened,” she said at the time. Amess himself wrote about public harassment and online abuse in his book “Ayes & Ears: A Survivor’s Guide to Westminster”, published last year. “These increasing attacks have rather spoilt the great British tradition of the people openly meeting their elected politicians,” he said. MPs have had to install security cameras and only meet constituents by appointment, he added. MPs’ staff have also spoken of bearing the brunt of abuse. “I would get in and all I would do is go on Facebook and report death threats and delete them,” said Jade Botterill, who worked for senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper from 2013 to 2019.
“I reckon I reported over 1,000 death threats,” she said, adding it caused her sleepless nights and fears she would be attacked. Brexit had been a turning point for staff working in constituency offices while an MP was in parliament were often on the frontline of daily public anger, she added.

Macron marks 60 years since Paris massacre of Algerians
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
PARIS--President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday will become the first French head of state to take part in commemorations of the massacre by Paris police of protesters at a rally 60 years ago against France’s rule in its then-colony Algeria. The events of October 17, 1961 were covered up for decades and the final death toll remains unclear. But many historians believe it could amount to several hundred. The rally was called in the final year of France’s increasingly violent attempt to retain Algeria as a North African colony, and in the middle of a bombing campaign targeting mainland France by pro-independence militants. On Saturday, one day ahead of the formal anniversary, Macron will take part in a memorial ceremony for the victims at a park on the Paris outskirts from 1330 GMT. A major question is whether he issues a formal apology for the actions of the Paris police that day or expresses regret, as the president seeks to carve out a modern relationship with France’s past. The Paris police chief at the time, Maurice Papon, was later found to have collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. The Elysee said the ceremony would take place in the presence of relatives of the victims, civil society activists who have campaigned for recognition of the massacre and veterans for Algeria’s struggle for independence.
Hoping for an apology
Activists are hoping Macron, the first president born in the post-colonial era, will go further than his predecessor Francois Hollande, who acknowledged in 2012 that protesting Algerians had been “killed during a bloody repression.” Campaigners want an apology, reparations for the victims or recognition that the repression constituted a state crime. The 1961 protests were called in response to a strict curfew imposed on Algerians to prevent the underground FLN resistance movement from collecting funds following a spate of deadly attacks on French police officers. Some of the worst violence occurred on the Saint Michel bridge near the Notre-Dame cathedral where witnesses reported seeing police throwing Algerians into the river Seine where an unknown number drowned. “There was a state cover-up, a state lie. There were government statements from the morning of October 18 that sought to incriminate the FLN and the Algerians,” historian Emmanuel Blanchard said. Macron, who is expected to seek re-election next year, may be wary about provoking a backlash from political opponents or the French police in his comments. His far-right electoral opponents, nationalists Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, are outspoken critics of efforts to acknowledge or show repentance for past crimes. Another complication is an ongoing diplomatic row between Paris and Algiers fuelled by comments attributed to Macron describing the country as ruled by a “political-military system” that had “totally re-written” its history. A report commissioned by the president from historian Benjamin Stora earlier this year urged a truth commission over the Algerian war but Macron ruled out issuing any official apology.

Turkey receives Taliban FM, defends ‘engagement’ with new Afghan rulers
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
ANKARA--Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday met a high-level delegation of Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers, officials said, the first such talks since the Taliban takeover of the country in August as US forces pulled out after two decades of war. The meeting in Ankara between Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban-appointed foreign minister, comes after Taliban leaders held a series of talks with the United States, ten European states and European Union representatives in Qatar earlier this week. The hardline Islamist movement seeks to gain international legitimacy, upon returning to power after two decades of war, while Turkey is seen as leveraging its role in Afghanistan to bolster its standing in the West. Muttaqi arrived in Turkey following talks with US and European envoys in Doha during which he warned that Western sanctions on the Taliban threatened to further undermine security in Afghanistan. Cavusoglu supported that message after the closed-door talks in Ankara. “We have told the international community about the importance of engagement with the current Taliban administration. In fact, recognition and engagement are two different things,” Cavusoglu said. “The Afghan economy should not collapse. Therefore, we have said the countries that froze Afghanistan’s accounts abroad should act more flexibly so that salaries can be paid.”The World Bank halted its funding projects in Afghanistan after the Taliban swept back to power in August. Turkey has sought to use its position as the only Muslim-majority member of the NATO defence alliance to secure a greater role in Afghanistan after the US troop withdrawal. But its offer to provide security for Kabul’s airport, the main point of access for humanitarian aid, has been rejected by Taliban leaders and the sides made no apparent progress on the issue during their most high-level talks to date. Cavusoglu said he reaffirmed to Muttaqi that ensuring security at the airport was vital before regular flights could resume. “Today we explained to them once more the expectations on the issue of security, not only ours but the entire international aviation community, for running the airport and especially the start of regular flights,” he said. Cavusoglu added that he urged the Taliban to give girls open access to education and allow women to return to their jobs. “We asked them not to see this as a precondition or a demand, but that this is also the expectation of the other Muslim countries,” he said. Muttaqi issued no immediate comments after the talks. The international community has condemned some Taliban actions since their blitz takeover as the US and NATO troops pulled out and the US-backed Afghan government crumbled. The Taliban have brought back public hangings and other brutal tactics. They have allowed girls to return to primary school but have barred them from going to high school in all but one Afghan province. Women have not been allowed to return to work. The current, Taliban-appointed Afghan government, which the former insurgents say is only interim, is comprised solely of Taliban figures, including several blacklisted by the United Nations.

Saudi FM warns of ‘dangerous’ Iran nuclear acceleration
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
WASHINGTON--Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday that Iran’s acceleration of its nuclear activities is putting the world in “a very dangerous place” amid efforts to bring Tehran back into a 2015 nuclear deal. Speaking at a news conference in Washington a day after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, bin Farhan called for a “quick suspension” of Iranian activities in violation of the agreement under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief. Bin Farhan also urged a “quick resumption” of indirect talks between the United States and Iran. Regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia are arch rivals. “I think we are in a very dangerous place. The fact that we continue to see acceleration of those activities … leads to the devaluation of the JCPOA,” he said, using the initials of the agreement formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who took office in August, has so far refused to resume the indirect talks in Vienna. US President Joe Biden’s administration wants to negotiate a return to compliance with the deal after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, after which Iran resumed building its stockpile of enriched uranium. “We have started a dialogue with Iran,” bin Farhan said, referring to four rounds of talks that the two countries began holding in 2020 that focused primarily on the conflict in Yemen. “These interactions, while cordial, have been exploratory in nature and have not reached a state where we can say that we’ve made substantial progress.”Bin Farhan declined to answer when asked at the news conference to verify reports that Saudi Arabia is considering allowing Iran to reopen a consulate in the city of Jeddah. Saudi Arabia broke relations with Iran in 2016 in a dispute over the Saudi execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. On his trip to Washington, bin Farhan also met with Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran affairs.
“National reconciliation”
At the news conference, bin Farhan also discussed the political crisis in Lebanon, where he said the events of the past two days show the need for “real serious change” from the country’s leaders. Tensions over a probe into last year’s massive blast in Beirut burst into the worst street violence in more than a decade on Thursday. In Afghanistan, bin Farhan said, the Taliban rulers should take the “path of national reconciliation” and bring together all elements of Afghan society, echoing calls by Western leaders for an inclusive government in the country where a U.S.-backed government collapsed in August as American and other foreign forces were withdrawing. Asked about whether the United States is pressing for an acceleration in oil production by OPEC, Russia and others known as OPEC+, bin Farhan sidestepped the question by saying Saudi Arabia is “committed to a balanced energy market, a balanced oil market.” Saudi Arabia is managing the challenges to the global energy market posed by the COVID-19 pandemic “in a way that provides stability and serves the interests of producers and consumers,” bin Farhan added.

US sends message to Turkey with expanded defence deal with Greece
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
WASHINGTON--Greece on Thursday expanded a defence agreement with the United States days after ratifying a separate deal with France in a tacit signal to Turkey following high tensions. The agreement signed in Washington marks a deepening of US relations with a long-standing European ally, despite a growing focus by President Joe Biden’s administration on Asia. Greece and the United States signed a five-year extension of the Mutual Defence Cooperation Agreement, which has been renewed each year since 1990, with an understanding it will remain in force indefinitely afterward unless either country gives a two-year notice. Greece will also allow a greater US troop presence in sites including Alexandroupolis, a port near the Turkish border, as well as the key US hub of Souda Bay in Crete. Signing the agreement with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias did not explicitly mention Turkey but said Athens has peacefully worked to set maritime demarcations with other neighbours, Egypt, Italy and Albania. “In the Eastern Mediterranean,” Dendias said, “Greece is facing a casus belli, a threat with war if it exercises its sovereign rights and, I have to say, Greece is facing daily provocation.”“Greece is committed to resolve disputes with diplomacy and always in accordance with international law,” he said. Blinken called Greece a “strong and reliable ally” and in a later statement said the expanded agreement would “advance security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.”Tensions soared last year when Turkey sent an exploration ship and small navy flotilla to conduct research in waters that Greece considers its own under treaties.
US commitment to Greece
The Greek parliament a week ago ratified a major defence agreement with France, with Athens buying three frigates at a cost of three billion euros ($3.5 billion). Turkey denounced the French deal, saying the goal was the “isolating and alienating of Turkey instead of cooperation.”
In a recent radio interview, Greek junior foreign minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis called Turkey’s reaction “very intense and aggressive,” and said the US expansion in Alexandroupolis sends “a very strong message regarding the protection of the Greek-Turkish border”, also a key gateway for undocumented migrants into the European Union. France secured the deal with Greece over a US bid as it was smarting from the loss of a major submarine contract with Australia, which said it needed US nuclear technology amid rising tension with China. In a new effort to ease European concerns of being sidelined, Blinken announced in a separate meeting Thursday with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that the two sides would establish consultations on the Indo-Pacific. Dendias voiced appreciation for the US commitment to Greece, saying, “We understand that the United States is increasingly preoccupied with challenges in other parts of the world.” He said the agreement with France will “contribute to enhancing the European pillar of NATO” and will promote “fairer burden-sharing between the two sides of the Atlantic.”A senior State Department official said that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government, after choosing French frigates, took “great pains to emphasise that this in no way detracts from the US-Greece relationship.”The official also said that, despite public statements, the situation between Turkey and Greece has “significantly improved.”“The two governments at a political level had decided that they did not want a repeat of what we all lived through in summer of 2020,” he said.

Despite Iraq election win, Sadr still has to work with pro-Iran groups
The Arab Weekly/October 16/2021
BAGHDAD--Firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr may be Iraq’s big election winner but he will still have to haggle with his opponents, linked to armed pro-Iranian groups, to forge a new government. War-scarred Iraq, an oil-rich country plagued by corruption and poverty, last Sunday held its fifth parliamentary elections since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled president Saddam Hussein. Sadr, a Shia preacher who once commanded an anti-US militia, had campaigned as a nationalist and criticised the influence of big neighbour Iran, which has grown strongly since Saddam’s fall.
The political maverick had initially vowed to boycott the polls but then sent his movement into the race, proclaiming in recent months that it will be he who chooses Iraq’s next prime minister. At first glance, his bloc’s election win would seem to reinforce that view. The Sadrists won 70 out of the assembly’s 329 seats, according to preliminary results, boosting their lead from the previous parliament. But analysts say Sadr will now have to come to terms with his adversaries, the pro-Iran Shia parties linked to the Hashed al-Shaabi network of paramilitary forces. The Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, Hashed’s political wing, lost more than half of its 48 deputies, according to preliminary results. “The results give Sadr an upper hand when it comes to politics and his negotiating position, but that is not the only thing that is important here,” said Renad Mansour of the Chatham House think tank.
The Hashed “has lost political power by losing seats, but they still have coercive power and that will be used in the bargaining,” he said of the movement, which according to estimates has over 160,000 men under arms.
Despite the implicit “threat of violence” Mansour does not predict an escalation, but he warned, “That doesn’t mean that each side won’t use threats and sometimes violence … to show that they have that power.”
Sour mood
Iraqi politics have been dominated by factions representing the Shia majority since the fall of Saddam’s Sunni-led regime. They are, however, increasingly split, especially on their attitude toward powerful Shia neighbour Iran, which competes with the United States for strategic influence in Iraq.
The Hashed were formed in 2014 to fight the Sunni-extremist Islamic State (ISIS) group and entered the legislature for the first time in the 2018 vote, after playing a major role in defeating ISIS. Opposition activists accuse Hashed’s armed groups, which are now supposedly integrated into Iraq’s state security forces, of being beholden to Iran and acting as an instrument of oppression against critics. A youth-led anti-government protest movement that broke out two years ago ended after hundreds of activists were killed and the movement has blamed pro-Iranian armed groups for the bloodshed.
Washington, meanwhile, accuses Tehran-backed armed groups of being behind rocket and drone attacks on its military and diplomatic interests. Among many Iraqis, the mood over Iranian interference has soured and Sadr voiced that sentiment after the election.
He attacked “the resistance,” the name pro-Iran armed groups give themselves in the Middle East. “Arms should be in the hands of the state and their use outside of that framework prohibited, even for those who claim to be from the resistance,” he said in a clear reference to Hashed.
Rejecting election results
The Hashed and their allies denounced the election outcome as a “scam.”
“These elections are the worst Iraq has known since 2003,” charged the head of Houqouq, a party close to the Hezbollah Brigades which are under the Hashed umbrella. The faction’s military spokesman accused Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi of being the “sponsor of electoral fraud.”
Amid the heated rhetoric, the political blocs are seen to be starting the process of post-election haggling aimed at forming parliamentary blocs ahead of finding a prime minister. One pro-Iran figure and Hashed partner made surprising gains, former Prime Minister Nuri Maliki, who served from 2006 to 2014 and whose State of Law Alliance can count on more than 30 seats. Fatah is looking at Maliki’s party and smaller groups to create the largest parliamentary bloc and nominate him as prime minister, said Hamdi Malik, of the Washington Institute for Near East Study.
“This is very hard to achieve, but it can form their starting point to enter into negotiations with Sadr to secure a lot of positions in the next government,” Malik said. The most likely outcome, the analyst added, is “a compromise PM with a lot of Sadrist control over him”. Political scientist Ali al-Baidar said that, whatever happens, Hashed won’t be content sitting in opposition. “There is no culture of opposition in Iraqi politics,” he said. “Everyone wants some of the power.”

IS Claims Shiite Mosque Attack in Afghanistan
Agence France Presse/October 16/2021
The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group claimed the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday that killed at least 41 people and wounded scores more. In a statement released on its Telegram channels, the jihadist group said that two suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque while worshippers prayed inside. "The first suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest... in an a mosque hallway, while the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the mosque's center," the statement said. The assault in the southern city -- the Taliban's spiritual heartland -- came just a week after a deadly suicide attack on Shiite worshippers at a mosque in northern Kunduz, which was also claimed by the IS group. The Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August after overthrowing the US-backed government, has its own history of persecuting Shiites. But the new Taliban-led government has vowed to stabilize the country, and in the wake of the Kunduz attack promised to protect the Shiite minority now living under its rule. Shiites are estimated to make up roughly 10 percent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.

Russia tops 1,000 daily virus deaths for first time
AFP/October 16/2021
Russia on Saturday recorded 1,000 deaths over 24 hours for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the country's jab drive at a standstill and few restrictions in place.
An official government tally showed 1,002 deaths and 33,208 new infections, setting a high for both fatalities and cases for the third day in a row. The surge comes with just 32 percent of Russians fully inoculated, according to official statistics published for the first time Saturday.---AFP

Cyprus and Egypt sign deal to pursue electricity hookup
Reuters/October 16/2021
Cyprus and Egypt signed an accord on Saturday to pursue links between the electricity transmission networks of the two countries.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by the energy ministers of Cyprus and Egypt, setting out a framework of cooperation from planning to implementation. "For Cyprus, this electricity interconnection with Egypt, one of our valued strategic allies in the region, has the potential to constitute a cornerstone of our efforts to transition to a green economy," Natasa Pilides, Cyprus's energy minister, said at a signing ceremony with her Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Shaker. "Fortifying our electricity grids and allowing the further integration of renewables in our respective energy mix, enhancing the security of our energy supply and enabling us to become exporters of energy, are but a few of the tangible benefits," Pilides said. Earlier in the week, Greece and Egypt signed a similar agreement, which sets the stage for an undersea cable that will transmit power produced by renewables from North Africa to Europe, the first such infrastructure in the Mediterranean. --- Reuters

At least 3 killed as 4.8 magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia's tourist island of Bali
RT/October 16/2021
At least three people have been killed and seven others injured after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's tourist island of Bali just before dawn on Saturday, the country's search and rescue agency has said.
It was mainly felt in the Karangasem and Bangli districts on the east side of the island, causing people to flee their homes in panic.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the earthquake at 4.8, saying that its epicenter was located 62 kilometers (38.5 miles) northeast of the port town Singaraja at a depth of 10 kilometers. The initial quake was followed by a 4.3 magnitude aftershock.
Two of those killed were buried under a landslide triggered by the quake, and another victim, a three-year-old girl, was hit by falling debris. Those injured mainly suffered fractures and head wounds, the agency said, adding that it was still collecting data on casualties and destruction.
Bali, which is often called the ‘Island of the Gods’, only reopened to international tourists earlier this week after 18 months of curbs aimed at stemming the spread of Covid-19. However, foreign visitors are only expected to start flocking to the island next month as direct international flights haven’t resumed yet. Indonesia is a vast archipelago, located on the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ – an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Ocean –so quakes and eruptions are quite common for the nation of 270 million. The last major earthquake hit the country in January. It had a magnitude of 6.2 and resulted in at least 105 deaths and nearly 6,500 injuries. --

Nasa sends Lucy probe on 12-year mission to explore asteroids around Jupiter
CNN/October 16/2021
Nasa has launched a first-of-its kind asteroid mission this weekend to study two large clusters of space rocks around Jupiter, which scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets. The mission, named Lucy, is set to explore a record-breaking number of asteroids over the next 12 years after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Saturday morning. --- CNN

Sudan's PM Hamdok presents road map out of crisis
Reuters/October 16/2021
Sudan's Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Friday unveiled a road map to end what he described as the country's "worst and most dangerous" political crisis in its two-year transition. Since a coup attempt in late September, Sudan's military and civilian power-sharing partners have been locked in a war of words, with military leaders demanding the reform of the cabinet and ruling coalition. Civilian politicians accused the military of aiming for a power grab.
"The coup attempt opened the door for discord, and for all the hidden disputes and accusations from all sides, and in this way we are throwing the future of our country and people and revolution to the wind," Hamdok said in a speech.
Sudan's military and a coalition of civilian political parties have ruled under a power-sharing agreement since the removal of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Bashir loyalists are accused of executing the failed coup attempt. Hamdok described the current conflict as not between the military and civilians but between those who believe in a transition towards democracy and civilian leadership and those who do not. "I am not neutral or a mediator in this conflict. My clear and firm position is complete alignment to the civilian democratic transition," he said. Nevertheless he said he had spoken to both sides, and presented them with a road map that called for the end of escalation and one-sided decision-making and a return to a functioning government. He emphasized the importance of the formation of a transitional legislature, reform of the military, and the expansion of the base for political participation. Referring to an ongoing blockade of the country's main port in the East of the country by protesting tribesmen, Hamdok described their grievances as legitimate while asking that they re-open the flow of trade. He also said an international donors' conference to benefit the region was being organized. Civilian politicians have accused the military of being behind the blockade, which it denies. Political groups aligned with the military have called for protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday. Groups advocating for civilian rule have called for protests on October 21. ---

At least 33 killed and 73 wounded after explosion at mosque gates in Kandahar, Afghanistan
RT/October 16/2021
An explosion at a Shia mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan during Friday prayers has left at least 33 people dead and 73 injured, according to officials, with victims being transported to hospital in ambulances and cars.
The explosion hit the Bibi Fatima mosque while Shia worshippers were gathering for packed Friday prayers, with an estimated 500 people in attendance. Two bombs were detonated at the security gate, while two other suicide bombers ran into the mosque, setting off explosions among the congregation. The Taliban’s interior minister, Sayed Khosti, confirmed the attack had “martyred and wounded” a number of “compatriots,”stating that special forces arrived on scene shortly after to “determine the nature of the incident.”Smoke could be seen billowing from the area where the mosque is located, in the center of the city, in the aftermath of the blast. Distressing videos showed bodies, covered by blankets, as they were surrounded by worshippers who attempted to help them in the wake of the explosion.
While official have stated that it was a suicide bombing, no group has admitted responsibility yet. It is the second suicide bombing in Afghanistan in recent weeks, with IS-K having taken responsibility for an explosion in Kunduz last week. Kandahar has been under the Taliban’s control since August 13, as the militant group swiftly gained territory across Afghanistan ahead of their ousting of the country’s government.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 16-17/2021
Europe at a turning point
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/October 16/2021
While much on the agenda this week in Brussels for the summit of Europe’s 27 government leaders will be familiar, there is a historic power shift underway that could bring about significant change in 2022.
The summit will probably be the last for outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her close collaborator, French President Emmanuel Macron, faces a spring election that could remove him from power. While the Franco-German alliance has long been the motor of European integration, their cooperation ebbs and flows depending on the office holders in Berlin and Paris. Merkel and Macron have not seen eye to eye on every issue, but over the past half decade they have been a formidable duo plotting the future of the EU.
Key achievements include persuading squabbling fellow members last year to agree to give the bloc, for the first time in its history, debt-raising powers to finance a €750 billion coronavirus recovery plan. They were also crucial to getting the post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal over the line last December.
Despite the striking differences between them, both are extraordinary politicians with an eye on their legacies. Since his remarkable rise to power, Macron has emerged as one the most authoritative defenders of the liberal international order. His victory in 2017 against far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen was so striking as he held the political center ground and defied the march of populism after the Brexit vote and Trump’s election. Macron aside, Merkel has long been the most important political leader in continental Europe, having been in office since 2005. Now into overtime at the end of her fourth term, in length of tenure she sits behind only Otto von Bismarck, who served for almost two decades from 1871–90 during a period when he was a dominant force in European affairs after driving the unification of Germany.
Both Merkel and Macron believe that Europe, a century and a half after Bismarck’s time, is now at another critical period in its history. Despite progress, key challenges remain, including growing backlash to Brussels across the continent, including Poland.
In this context, there still remain a multitude of views on the future of the EU. This week’s summit will be another opportunity to shape that debate. Scenarios range from the EU retreating, after Brexit, to no more than the current economic single market with freedom of movement of goods, capital, services and people. At the other end of the spectrum, is a quite different future in which the 27 member states do much more together, reigniting the European integration favored by Macron if he can win a second term.
While the direction of the EU is still uncertain, what is clear is that the new leaders in Berlin and possibly Paris will have a huge bearing on events.
Probably the most likely scenario is a broad continuation of the status quo. The EU would muddle through from where it is today and seek to deliver on the Bratislava Declaration agreed just weeks after the Brexit referendum, better tackling migration and border security, and beefing up external security and defense. However, further setbacks — which are likely in the next few years — could signal a retreat, with the scale of EU functions rolled back and limited resources focused on a smaller number of policy areas, including the single market. One of the triggers for this could be further tension between Brussels and key Eastern European states, especially Poland and Hungary. Only last week, Poland’s constitutional tribunal ruled that key articles of one of the EU’s primary treaties were incompatible with Polish law, in effect rejecting the principle that EU law has primacy over national legislation in certain areas, and France and Germany perceive Polexit may now be a real risk. But if Macron were to win big next year, and form a strong relationship with Merkel’s successor, the EU could still follow a pathway of deepening cooperation with states sharing more power and resources, and decisions agreed faster and enforced more quickly. A re-elected Macron would, for instance, push hard for the creation of a European Defense Union, which has assumed new importance for him since last month’s of the US-UK-Australia security deal.
While the direction of the EU is still uncertain, what is clear is that the new leaders in Berlin and possibly Paris will have a huge bearing on events. The next few months could therefore have an outsized impact in defining the economic and political character of the bloc not just well into the 2020s, but well beyond.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

The world’s dilemma: Helping Afghans helps the Taliban
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/October 16/2021
The “war on terror” ended with that hasty, unceremonious US withdrawal capped by a troubled evacuation of vulnerable Afghans, and Afghanistan is on the brink of socioeconomic collapse.
The international community is trying to galvanize aid without engaging directly with the Taliban, lifting sanctions, or unfreezing assets. Unfortunately, channeling aid to Afghanistan risks underwriting the Taliban’s legitimacy, which will threaten progress on human rights and the creation of the inclusive government in Kabul that the world wants to see. On the other hand, failure to deliver assistance to millions of Afghans risks a mass exodus of refugees, creating fertile ground for violent extremism and dooming Afghanistan to more decades of instability.
More than 90 percent of Afghan households are food insecure, and aid agencies project that most children under the age of 5 are at risk of acute malnourishment. Additionally, while levels of violence have dramatically decreased since the Taliban seized the capital in mid-August, nearly 4 million Afghans remain internally displaced. Most have little prospect of returning to try to scrape a living among the debris of their destroyed homes and failed crops, against the backdrop of fresh waves of violence as ethnic groups and tribes carve new niches in the shifted balance of power.
The sheer scale of Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs cannot be overstated, especially as the approaching winter will shrink the window for international. Before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, three quarters of Afghan public finances came from foreign donors, a lifeline that has now been cut. The lack of civil sector pay compounds the crises caused by the abrupt collapse of Afghanistan’s defense and security forces, who were major employers and vital sources of income for many rural households.
The US Federal Reserve is unlikely to release about $9.4 billion in Afghan foreign reserves, which it manages. Washington has gone farther, demanding that the International Monetary Fund retract a long-planned release of funds when the Taliban began their takeover of Afghan provinces. Any decision to inject liquidity into Afghanistan would have grave ramifications for US national security, politics in Washington, and geopolitics in Central Asia. Releasing frozen assets and making generous financial assistance available without strict conditions risks giving tacit recognition to the Taliban as a diplomatic “equal.” That would be difficult to reconcile with the sanctions on the Taliban to prevent its recognition as a legitimate, political entity entrusted with governing and representing the interests of Afghans on the international stage.
There is also uncertainty about who has rightful access to those funds — the Taliban-led government in Kabul, or former Vice President Amrullah Saleh’s government in exile. Nonetheless, given the ubiquity of the US dollar in international finance, US sanctions on the Taliban extend in practice to all of Afghanistan, and the Biden administration has not indicated what it plans to do to resolve this issue. As a result, while the international community can and must fully address Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs, the lack of liquidity means economic collapse is inevitable.
Time has now run out for the international community to revise its conditions or for the Taliban to meet them, leaving a dangerous stalemate.
Keen to prevent this in case rising poverty and unemployment imperil their control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have tried to implement changes demanded by the international community. In return, they seek sanctions removal, formal recognition, normalized relations, and unconditional aid. These are non-starters for an international community still waiting for credible progress on human rights, particularly for women and minorities.
The Taliban is also required to establish an inclusive government, cut off ties to terrorist groups, and enable free access for humanitarian operations. They have balked at some of these demands, partly because they are infeasible, but also because they could affect the group’s cohesion or other domestic considerations that take precedence over the concerns of far-off powers. To them, some demands are impossible to meet as they would weaken the group’s control over the government and empower the anti-Taliban opposition. Time has now run out for the international community to revise its conditions or for the Taliban to meet them, leaving a dangerous stalemate.
The Taliban know that Afghanistan’s neighbors, the wider region, and the EU all want to avoid a flood of refugees, given the experiences of the migrant crisis six years ago. Pakistan in particular is dealing with its own domestic woes, not helped by COVID-19, fiscal deficits and the need to abide by the strict IMF demands for the resumption of a $6 billion line of credit.
This is partly why the EU has pledged a revamped humanitarian aid package worth about €1 billion targeting COVID-19 vaccinations, protection of human rights, and direct support for civilians. But aid can be effective only if the global community prevents the collapse of Afghanistan’s payments system, critical to the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Any other solutions are only piecemeal, offering temporary relief while other risks grow, complicating the prospect of enduring stability in Afghanistan.
*Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Institute at the John Hopkins University School of AdvancedInternational Studies. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

Listen up: Podcasts mean business when done right
Sara Hamdan/Arab News/October 16/2021
Podcasts used to be the companion of choice on the daily drive to work or while exercising. But when COVID-19 hit and we had nowhere to go and nothing to do … were people still tuning in? It turns out, podcast listeners escaped reality by tuning to podcasts even more than usual.
A report titled “Podcasts in MENA: State of the Industry” showed that, after an initial dip at the start of the pandemic, 56 percent of survey respondents in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE listened to more podcasts by the end of 2020. “With access to WiFi and an appetite from creators, the MENA region has a big opportunity as one of the fastest developing podcast markets in the world today,” said Simmi Areff, a popular South African podcast host and co-founder of POC (People of Color) Podcasts, which is expanding into the Middle East with new offices in the UAE.
It is a global phenomenon. Brands are taking note. Late last year, Amazon bought podcast company Wondery and Spotify had inked exclusive deals with the likes of Michelle Obama and Joe Rogan. Just last month, YouTube joined the club with its first official podcast highlighting successful creators.
The stats in MENA are along the same lines, with added nuance. Women listen to podcasts five times as much as men, and 56 percent of listeners tune in socially with family, as opposed to solitary listening, according to an insightful report by 4DC Markettiers.
Perhaps most interesting from a business perspective is that podcast listeners have a higher purchasing power. The report shows a 17 percent higher spend on food and beverage, 19 percent more on travel, and 22 percent increased spend on subscriptions when compared to non-podcast listeners.
In a survey by regional company Amayea Media, 92 percent of respondents stated they would listen to a branded podcast. The appetite is there, but is the content being created? We’re starting to see some activity, with Saudi Arabia leading the way.
STC was an early supporter of podcasts via Thmanyah, a leading Saudi podcast platform with 1.6 million monthly listeners. Thmanyah recently launched a fintech series on the history of Saudi financial institutions in partnership with Al-Rajhi Bank. It is a great example of podcast content that aligns with the ethos of a brand.
“In the US, there’s now a frenzy for brands to be associated with podcasts. In MENA, advertisers and brands are starting to realize the importance of audio and taking steps to share authentic stories,” said Zeina Tabbara, a content strategist. “It’s different to a quick Instagram post. Podcasts require longer collaboration with content creators and ask a listener to tune in for an average of 30 minutes for a single episode.”
She says there is a particular need for more Arabic content. In general, the profile of a typical podcast fan is someone digitally savvy who appreciates art and culture, has a high disposable income, and is well educated, according to the Markettiers report. It is an appealing audience profile for the right brand, particularly as 86 percent of those surveyed confirm they like brand-funded content because of high production quality and relevant subject matter.
The report details that podcast advertising revenue will have increased by almost 15 percent to “nearly $1 billion in 2020” (rising from $708 billion in 2019), according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC, and that “it’s clear that the future looks bright for the medium.”
“A lot of audience members in MENA have brand fatigue — it feels like every other post is sponsored on social media,” said Tabbara. “People want more authentic experiences, and podcasts offer that now. And we’ve barely touched the surface.”
• Sara Hamdan is a former Merrill Lynch banker, New York Times journalist, and editor at Google. She writes on startups, women in business, and post-COVID-19 work trends. Twitter: @SaraHamdan

UNRWA deserves support, not vilification by political pygmies
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/October 16/2021
Not many outside Israel have heard of Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the UN and a former interior security minister. His main political attributes converge into his loyalty to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was was not always reciprocated. When Erdan became surplus to requirements for forming a government, Netanyahu appointed him ambassador to both Washington and the UN. It might have been a tribute to how highly Netanyahu thought of him, but more probably how much he wanted him over the ocean and far away, instead of being another disgruntled politician omitted from the Cabinet.
One of the favorite pastimes of Israel’s right-wing politicians is vitriolically attacking the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, whose UN mandate is to provide 5.7 million Palestinian refugees assistance and protection to ensure they reach their full potential in terms of human development. Since its inception, UNRWA has been operating under some of the most challenging conditions and circumstances in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, on what can only be regarded as a shoestring budget, which is approved annually, leaving it, by design, very little opportunity for genuine long-term planning.
Given this situation, Erdan’s most recent accusations against UNRWA don’t deserve any serious attention. However, since they were deliberately put to the UN General Assembly in order to cause maximum damage, it is imperative for his remarks to be exposed for their utter disingenuousness, and for the sinister motivation behind them. On this occasion, Erdan attempted to display a placard quoting an UNRWA teacher’s online post that glorified the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler, in order to discredit the entire organization — one that employs 28,000 people, the vast majority of them Palestinian themselves — because of the actions of one of them. Any glorification, even the slightest of expressions of appreciation of Hitler, is contemptible, and should be condemned in the strongest manner. What Erdan failed to mention was that this teacher and six other UNRWA personnel are under investigation, and have been suspended from their work for the duration of the inquiry, for using language that contains incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination. This sounds to me like good practice, which any organization could adhere to.
As UNRWA’s commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini, said last week, the organization has “a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech, incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.” Over the years there have been cases of regrettable behaviour by UNRWA employees, but the quality of the organization, as of any other, must be judged by how it deals with such situations, instead of subjecting the entire organization to a summary trial. Viewed in this light, Erdan has no leg to stand on. He himself had no misgivings about serving in government under a prime minister being investigated and then indicted on the most severe charges of corruption, or of being appointed by that person to his current position, and he did not agree that Netanyahu should have done the right thing and suspended himself from political office for the duration of the trial.
The issue of the Palestinian refugees, many of whom have been languishing in camps for more than 70 years in some of the most difficult conditions and circumstances, such as the war in Syria or the blockaded and frequently bombed Gaza Strip, is one for grown-up and responsible politicians, not for populists whose main aim is to appeal to Likud party members and their votes when the job of leading that party becomes vacant. Israel’s attitude to UNRWA suffers from a contradiction, or worse, hypocrisy. If the agency were to be dismantled, a disaster for millions of Palestinian refugees would ensue, with dire consequences for the Jewish state, including the fact that it would inherit the responsibility to ensure their wellbeing, at least in the West Bank and Gaza. But the existence of UNRWA is also a constant reminder of Israel’s failures — in creating the refugee tragedy in the first place, and in its active and crucial part in blocking moves towards achieving a fair and just peace with the Palestinians. Israel’s fantasy is that the issue will somehow miraculously evaporate, or be resolved by anyone but itself.
Gilad Erdan attempted to display a placard quoting an UNRWA teacher’s online post that glorified the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler, in order to discredit the entire organization — one that employs 28,000 people, the vast majority of them Palestinian themselves.
UNRWA is an anomaly, but not of its own making. More than anything else, it is compensating for the failure of others. In the meantime, until there is a solution by which the right of Palestinians to self-determination is recognized, and every Palestinian refugee becomes a citizen of a country and is compensated for the loss incurred as a result of wars and expulsions, it is UNRWA that under almost impossible circumstances is guaranteeing the education, and successfully so, of more than half a million students, that provides healthcare, protection, and micro-finance, and builds infrastructure for the Palestinian refugee population scattered across the region. Is there any other body — maybe even Israel? — willing or able to take the mantle from UNRWA on any of these issues, let alone all of them?
The issue of curriculums and textbooks taught in UNRWA’s schools is decided by the host country, not by the agency. In all cases UNRWA meticulously reviews every single page of every book to identify inappropriate language that might amount to any kind of discrimination, in line with UN principles and values. As Lazzarini said in his address to the UN last week, teaching staff are trained to address any deviation from these principles and values and not to pass them on to the students, and not to tolerate passages that praise any form of violence. There are cases of deviation from these guidelines, but when reported they are dealt with according to UN guidelines.
As with any other organisation, UNRWA should be judged by its achievements in relation to the magnitude of the issues it is dealing with, the objectives set for it and the resources made available to achieve these objectives — and not in isolation from the realities under which it must operate. By such criteria, this is one of the more successful UN agencies, one that deserves more support, including a multiyear budget and protection from unwarranted attacks by populist Israeli politicians disguised as diplomats, until peace prevails and there is no longer a need for it.
*Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg