English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 23/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.october23.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
The Talents Parable/As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/14-30/:”‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.”His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 22-23.2022
Aoun agrees with Assad on demarcating Lebanon-Syria sea border
President Aoun awards Deputy Speaker Bou Saab 'National Cedar Medal' in appreciation of his national contributions
President Aoun was briefed on the arrangements for the demarcation of the maritime borders and Hochstein’s visit
Stay or go: Palestinians in Lebanon plunged into poverty
Lebanon among nations affected by delay of Ukrainian grain exports
Lebanon, Syria discuss sea border after Beirut's Israel deal
Lebanon agreement will be signed in the coming week -report
Dao says "demarcation of maritime borders with Assad regime must be accompanied by land demarcation"
Al-Makary to “Sada For Press” Website delegation: Franjieh is open & consensual par excellence
MoPH: 83 new Corona cases, one death
Turkish Ambassador visits Jumblatt following Chouf tour including Al-Irfan & Farah Social Foundations
Lebanese dance group Mayyas wow audience in Dubai
Israeli opposition indulges in gaslighting over maritime agreement with Lebanon/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/October 22, 2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 22-23.2022
reports Israeli airstrikes on suburbs of Damascus
East Iran city, scene of bloody crackdown, sees new protests
Iran Protests Enter Sixth Week
White House in Talks with Musk to Set Up Starlink in Iran
Iran protests trigger solidarity rallies in US, Europe
Protest Against Iranian Regime Draws Thousands in Berlin
Zelensky: Russia fired 36 missiles in a "heavy attack" on Ukraine
New Russian strikes target energy facilities in western Ukraine
'Not a civilian evacuation': Collaborators and Russians leaving Kherson, resident says
Pro-Russian authorities call on all civilians to leave Ukraine's Kherson "immediately"
Pro-Russian authorities tell Kherson residents to leave ‘immediately,’ 36 rockets launched in ‘massive attack’
Macron calls out US for double standards on gas prices to EU
Meloni sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister
Yemeni rebel drones target Greek ship in government-run port

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 22-23.2022
Russia’s Counterpart To NATO Is On The Brink Of Collapse/Jamestown.org/OilPrice.com/October 22, 2022
Russia, Iran’s Mullahs Deepen Ties to Crush Ukraine: Why Is Biden Administration Silent?/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 22/2022
If Musk Owning Twitter Is a Security Risk, What About Tesla?/Liam Denning/Bloomberg/October, 22/2022
What Iranians Want From Washington/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/October, 22/2022
Protests in Iran are part of a proud tradition of fighting for empowerment of women/Dr. Diana Galeeva/Arab News/October 22, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 22-23.2022
Aoun agrees with Assad on demarcating Lebanon-Syria sea border
Naharnet/October 22/2022
President Michel Aoun called his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad two days ago and discussed with him the bilateral ties between the two countries and the issue of demarcating the maritime border between Lebanon and Syria, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Saturday.
Aoun and Assad “agreed on forming official delegations from the ministries and official administrations in the two countries to hold meetings in Beirut and Damascus in order to quickly reach an agreement, especially that the points of contention are not of the unworkable type, although they require technical and legal discussions,” the daily said. The two leaders also stressed that the Lebanese-Syrian border demarcation discussions “would take place without any mediator and that what the two sides agree on would be documented as a treaty between two countries, which would not at all resemble what happened with Israel, neither in terms of the presence of a U.S. mediator, nor in terms of needing U.N. or international guarantees or indirect negotiations,” al-Akhbar added. “The relevant authorities in the two countries have started preparing the papers related to coordinates and the lines of the exclusive economic zones of the two sides,” the newspaper said.

President Aoun awards Deputy Speaker Bou Saab 'National Cedar Medal' in appreciation of his national contributions
President Aoun was briefed on the arrangements for the demarcation of the maritime borders and Hochstein’s visit
NNA/October 22/2022 
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab. The President awarded Deputy Speaker Bou Saab the National Order of the Cedar at the rank of Senior Officer, in appreciation of his patriotic contributions and the effective role he played in the course of the recent negotiations to demarcate southern maritime borders. President Aoun was briefed by Deputy Speaker Bou Saab on the latest developments related to the arrangements taken for the official demarcation of the border, and the upcoming visit in the middle of next week of the American mediator Amos Hochstein, during which the President of the Republic will deliver the letter officially signed by the United States of America in preparation for the Naqoura meeting, which concludes this stage of the negotiations that have already been made. President Aoun had announced Lebanon's unified position on it. At the end of the meeting, Deputy Speaker Bou Saab thanked the President for his initiative, stressing his constant commitment to work for the interest of Lebanon and the good of its people.
--- Presidency Information Office

Stay or go: Palestinians in Lebanon plunged into poverty
Naharnet/October 22/2022
Nasser Tabarani, a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon, has tried twice to migrate by sea to a better life in Europe but was detained by troops both times and brought back to shore. He'd do it all over again, he said, since life has become unlivable for most Palestinians in crisis-hit Lebanon. The 60-year-old father of seven said he borrowed a total of $7,000 to try and leave Lebanon and now has debts he can't pay back. "My children are still young. Their future is gone," Tabarani said from behind his vegetable stand in one of the crowded alleys of Beirut's Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp. "My family and most families have been destroyed. We cannot live in Lebanon anymore."Lebanon's unprecedented economic meltdown has not only devastated the Lebanese but has also hard-hit Palestinian refugees who have lived in this tiny Mideast country for generations, since the formation of Israel in 1948 -- as well as those who had fled similar camps in Syria, escaping the civil war that erupted there in 2011. The Palestinians have been plunged deep into poverty, many struggling to eke out the barest existence on less than $2 a day, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on Friday. Others risk their lives in search of a better future abroad, attempting dangerous crossings of the Mediterranean Sea. UNRWA said poverty has reached 93% among about 210,000 Palestinians in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps and in overcrowded living conditions outside the camps. According to UNRWA, 180,000 are Palestinians who have lived in Lebanon for decades and their families, while about 30,000 arrived from Syria since the war broke out next door. There are tens of thousands of others who have not been registered by UNRWA but are believed to be living in Lebanon. The agency appealed for $13 million in aid so it can provide much-needed assistance -- money that would go directly to Palestinian families and also cash that would enable UNRWA to continue running primary health care services and keep agency-run schools open to the end of the year."The refugees have hit rock bottom in Lebanon," said Hoda Samra, UNRWA's public information officer in Lebanon. She described the situation as a catastrophe.
"People are on the brink of despair and they have nothing to lose anymore," Samra added. Last month, a boat carrying scores of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian migrants sank off Syria's coast, killing more than 100, including 25 Palestinians. The numbers of Palestinians trying to leave Lebanon have increased since October 2019, after the eruption of the economic crisis, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement. Since then, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value while tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, sharply increasing the numbers of unemployed. Crime rate has also been on the rise -- with some people forced to steal in order to buy food. Palestinian refugees have long faced discrimination in Lebanon where they are banned from 39 professions, including in the areas of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law, according to UNRWA. Samra said though UNRWA does not have the exact figures for Palestinians trying to leave Lebanon by sea, the numbers have been rising. "This in itself, again, illustrates the level of hopelessness and despair," she told The Associated Press. "No one, no one, would accept to throw himself and his family in the sea if they had other options."UNRWA said the average cost of the food basket has increased six-fold in the last year in Lebanon, one of the highest increases in the world. Medicines are increasingly unavailable on the market and families are unable to afford them since government subsidies have been lifted over the past year.
"We were getting by but now we are underground," said Tabarani, the vegetable vendor, comparing his life to before the meltdown. Before the crisis, he made about $35 a day and now he makes just a small fraction of that. These days, his family can only afford two meals a day instead of three. They haven't had red meat in months. Despite the deepening crisis, Lebanon's political class -- which has ruled since the end of the 1975-90 civil war -- has resisted reforms demanded by the international community that could help secure billions of dollars in loans and investments. "The time to act is now," UNRWA's statement said. "We must ... help pull people back from the brink."

Lebanon among nations affected by delay of Ukrainian grain exports
Associated Press/October 22/2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "deliberately delaying" the export of grain from Ukrainian ports bound for countries in Africa and Asia. "Today more than 150 ships are in a queue to fulfil contractual obligations for the supply of our agricultural products," Zelensky said in a video address. "This is an artificial queue. It arose only because Russia is deliberately delaying the passage of ships."He did not specify what was causing the queues but said Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia were among the countries affected by these delays. He said "due to the Russian slowdown," Ukraine has under-exported "about three million tons of food.""Russia is doing everything to ensure that at least hundreds of thousands of these people become forced migrants, who will seek asylum... or die of hunger," he added.
In late July, Turkey and the United Nations brokered a landmark deal with Moscow and Kyiv that designated three Black Sea ports for Ukraine to send much-needed grain supplies through a Russian blockade. But Russia has criticized the deal, complaining its own exports had suffered and claiming without evidence that most deliveries were arriving to Europe, not in poor countries where grain was needed most.

Lebanon, Syria discuss sea border after Beirut's Israel deal
Reuters/October 22/2022
Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday discussed delineating their countries' shared maritime border, a Lebanese official said. A dispute over their shared sea boundary emerged last year after Syria granted a licence to a Russian energy company to begin maritime exploration in an area Lebanon claimed. Several gas discoveries have been made in the eastern Mediterranean. Aoun earlier said demarcating the border would be next after Lebanon agreed its southern maritime boundary with longtime foe Israel following years of indirect U.S.-mediated talks.
Aoun told Assad that Lebanon was keen "to begin negotiations with Syria to delineate its northern maritime boundary," the Lebanese official told Reuters after Saturday's talks. Syria's Sham FM radio reported that details of the delineation had yet to be discussed and that Assad proposed holding direct talks via the countries’ foreign ministries. The two leaders discussed delineation last year. Aoun's term as president of Lebanon, which is the midst of a deep political and economic crisis, ends on Oct. 31. Three parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a successor.
Assad secured another seven-year term last year in an election derided by Syria's opposition and the West as a farce. The vote was held after the government regained control of much of the territory lost to opponents in a conflict that erupted in 2011.

Lebanon agreement will be signed in the coming week -report
Roman Meitav/Jerusalem Post/October 22/2022
Beirut has not yet decided who will be its representative to sign the agreement, and according to "Al-Akhbar," Lebanese President Michel Aoun will make a final decision next Tuesday. The signing of the maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon is expected to take place during the coming week, Lebanese newspaper 'Al-Akhbar' reported on Saturday. Beirut is awaiting the arrival of the American mediator Amos Hochstein on Tuesday or Wednesday, when the general assumption is that the exact date for the signing will be either next Wednesday or Thursday. According to the report, the signing ceremony will take place in the Lebanese town of Nakoura on the border with Israel. The report also states that the signing will take place in separate rooms, with the Lebanese delegation in one room, and the Israeli delegation in another. The parties will be joined by representatives of the United Nations and the US government, represented by the mediator for the talks Amos Hochstein. Lebanon is expected to wait for the Israeli signature beforehand, and only after the mediator approves the signing of the agreement, he will transfer it to the Lebanese room where their representatives are expected to sign the document. Beirut has not yet decided who will be its representative to sign the agreement, and according to "Al-Akhbar," Lebanese President Michel Aoun will make a final decision next Tuesday. In Israel, the process of approving the agreement is expected to end this Wednesday. At the cabinet meeting that was convened a week and a half ago, the government approved not to vote on the agreement in the Knesset - but only to submit it for consideration by the members of the Knesset.
Lebanon discusses maritime borders
During the developments in the agreement with Israel, President Michel Aoun discussed the drawing of the maritime border between Lebanon and Syria with Syrian President Bashar Assad in recent days, according to Lebanese reports. The two agreed that Beirut and Damascus will assemble official delegations from the relevant ministries and bodies, and will hold meetings to reach an agreement soon. In addition, Lebanon also received an official letter from the Cypriot Foreign Ministry, which called on the Lebanese to discuss the maritime border between the countries in light of the expected agreement with Israel, according to Ynet.

Dao says "demarcation of maritime borders with Assad regime must be accompanied by land demarcation"
NNAs/October 22/2022
MP Mark Dao said today on Twitter: "Aoun called Assad to demarcate the maritime borders. What about the land borders and Shebaa Farms? The demarcation of the maritime borders with the Assad regime must be accompanied by resolving the issue of the land borders in Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shuba Hills...This only requires the deposit of official maps from the Syrian side with the United Nations, and should not be an excuse for normalization with the regime in a way that deviates Lebanon from international positions or contradicts the preamble of the constitution in terms of Lebanon's commitment to the United Nations charters and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Al-Makary to “Sada For Press” Website delegation: Franjieh is open & consensual par excellence
NNAs/October 22/2022
Caretaker Minister of Information, Ziad Al-Makary, received in his office at the ministry, a delegation from the management of the "Sada For Press" website. Talks during the meeting touched on the issue of the presidential elections and the formation of the government, where Al-Makary stressed "the need to finalize these two entitlements as soon as possible, for the country cannot bear a new phase of political escalation following the president's term completion at the end of this month."In this connection, he pointed out that "the Head of the Marada Movement, Sleiman Franjieh, has not announced his candidacy yet, for fear that this announcement will cause more friction, especially since Franjieh is open to everyone and is consensual par excellence, while at the same time having a clear national line and rejecting any blackmail or bargaining for the presidential seat.”Al-Makary expressed his hope that "the efforts will bring the positions closer and yield a government capable of taking charge of matters so that those concerned will succeed in bringing the presidential elections to a point of understanding, electing a president of the republic, and then forming a new government that keeps pace with the beginning of the new mandate." Regarding the media, he stressed the need to resolve many issues in order to achieve some stability in this sector, especially at the level of electronic media.

MoPH: 83 new Corona cases, one death
NNAs/October 22/2022
In its daily report on COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced today the registration of “83 new Corona virus infections in the last 7 days, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,218,082,” adding that “one death case was recorded during the past 24 hours.”

Turkish Ambassador visits Jumblatt following Chouf tour including Al-Irfan & Farah Social Foundations
NNAs/October 22/2022
Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, met Saturday at Al-Mukhtara Palace, in the presence of "Democratic Gathering" bloc head, MP Taymur Jumblatt, the Ambassador of Turkey to Lebanon, Ali Barish Ulusoy, accompanied by the Second Secretary Yitan Ozdan and the Coordinator of the TIKA office in Lebanon Orhan Aydin and his assistant. The visit was a chance to discuss ways of promoting the joint relations between the two countries and prospects for cooperation. Jumblatt held a luncheon in honor of the Turkish diplomat and his accompanying delegation, which was attended by MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Bilal Abdallah and senior PSP officials. The Turkish ambassador had earlier toured the Chouf region to have a closer look at a number of projects sponsored by the embassy, including “Al-Farah Social Foundation” and “Al-Irfan Foundation” which he praised for their "humanitarian role”, assuring that "Turkey stands by the Lebanese people in this difficult stage because the joint relations between both countries are historical brotherly relations."

Lebanese dance group Mayyas wow audience in Dubai
Arab News/October 22, 2022
DUBAI: Lebanese dance group Mayyas, who won the 17th season of “America’s Got Talent,” wowed fans with their breathtaking performance at Dubai’s The Pointe on Friday. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle The crew, who performed for the first time regionally outside of Lebanon, presented two dances to the packed crowd. For the first show, the all-female troupe stepped out on stage wearing Arabian-inspired dancewear with beaded burqas that they wore for their first show in “America’s Got Talent,” when Colombian actress and judge Sofia Vergara gave them the Golden Buzzer. For the second show, which took place at the east stage, the group wore hot-red dresses with leather belts and danced to Bollywood beats as the audience cheered them. The crew presented two dances to the packed crowd. (Arab News: Abdallah Hasan Rammal) After the show, Nadim Cherfan, the founder and choreographer of Mayyas, told his fans on stage: “Thank you so much, we love you Dubai. We hope you enjoyed the performance and we really hope to see you soon.” Last month, Mayyas took home the $1 million grand prize after winning “America’s Got Talent.”Mayyas’s show was part of the Recognizing Emerging Local Musicians (Relm) Fest, a music festival — in partnership with Anghami and TikTok — that is taking place until Oct. 23 at The Pointe. The all-female troupe stepped out on stage wearing Arabian-inspired dancewear with beaded burqas. (Arab News: Abdallah Hasan Rammal) The festival features other artists including Lebanese indie-pop band Adonis, Jordanian rock group Jadal, Egyptian rock band Massar Egbari, Palestinian singer Noel Kharman, French-Lebanese music sensation Lea Makhoul, and Iraqi-Belgian performer Sandra Sahi.

تحليل سياسي للكاتب يوسي ميكلبيرغ من عرب نيوز يلقي الأضواء على سبل استعمال المعارضة الإسرائيلية في حملتها الإنتخابية  أضرار الإتفاقية البحرية مع لبنان وعلى اتهاماتها الحكومة بالرضوخ لإيران ولتهديدات حزبها الإرهابي في لبنان
Israeli opposition indulges in gaslighting over maritime agreement with Lebanon
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/October 22, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112902/112902/
Israeli politics is adversarial at the best of times. However, in the weeks leading up to a general election it becomes contaminated with extreme partisanship and bigotry, where collecting a few more votes takes precedence over civilized and constructive debate — not to mention sound judgment.
The decision by Israel’s current government, led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, to agree a deal with the Lebanese government over their maritime border dispute, with the help of US mediation, has been heralded in many quarters in Israel, Lebanon and the international community as a notable success for brinkmanship negotiations and statesmanship.
However, the Israeli opposition, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is accusing the government of anything from incompetence to selling out the country’s interests very cheaply.
These two diametrically opposed narratives of the Israeli-Lebanese maritime agreement owe more to the nature of political discourse in Israel than the reality of the situation. But it begs the question of whether criticizing the deal with little evidence to support such criticism is going to make any difference to the result of the election on Nov. 1.
The answer, most probably, is no, due to the extreme rigidity of the Israeli electorate’s voting patterns, especially so close to polling day. Most voters will have already made up their minds and the maritime dispute with Lebanon is hardly a big vote-winner or loser.
However, a considered examination of the deal should reward the parties that form the current coalition government for having the courage and wisdom to sign it. Even this will sway only a small number of voters but since the person who will form the next coalition government, and those who might be part of it, will be decided by the finest of margins, every single vote counts.
Lapid and his defense minister, Benny Gantz, have asserted, with much justification, that the deal with Lebanon strengthens Israel’s security, will inject billions into the Israeli economy, and helps ensure the stability of the country’s northern border.
It would be naive to assume that in the volatile political and social environment in Lebanon, and to a large extent in Israel as well, in which things change quickly that any deal can be an ultimate guarantee of avoiding future friction and conflict.
Yet, the strength of this agreement is that it serves everyone’s interests in both the short and long terms and is guaranteed by a major international power. For Israel, a deal that bolsters the central government in Lebanon over Hezbollah by ensuring a stream of revenue to its struggling economy, not to mention the same benefit to Israeli coffers, should be a welcome development.
It also demonstrates that there is a room for cooperation even in a context that is conflictual. And despite general skepticism about the value of guarantees by the US, Washington is now invested in this agreement it has brokered.
But none of these arguments stand any chance of convincing the Israeli opposition, especially Netanyahu, who in his pursuit of power will not give his political rivals any credit, even where credit is obviously due.
Ironically, Netanyahu is someone who throughout his many years of premiership proved to be a rather mediocre negotiator. He was once described by Yitzhak Shamir, his predecessor as leader of Israel’s right-wing Likud party and prime minister, as “shallow, vain, self-destructive and prone to pressure.”
There is plenty of evidence to support Shamir’s claim, and Netanyahu’s response to the maritime agreement, which is certainly not without risks, is a combination of his usual incitements against political rivals, a pack of misrepresentations about what the agreement consists of and, above all, warmongering.
To claim, as he did, that “this is not a historic deal, this is a historic surrender,” and “a liquidation sale by Lapid” smacks of his desperation to win the election. His threat to cancel the deal should he return to the prime minister’s office is irresponsible and should make the Israeli electorate question his fitness for office.In the winter of his political life, and facing possible conviction for corruption and the prospect of years behind bars, he is suffering from a complete lapse of judgment. Legitimate reservations about a deal that is less than perfect have become a campaign of hysteria.
As one might expect from an international agreement, this one required Israel to make a number of concessions that the domestic opposition has pounced on. This is the privilege of being in opposition, in this case an opposition that is irresponsible and led by someone who has a “special relationship” with the truth.
Ultimately, this maritime agreement, which was carefully crafted but with a sense of urgency as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah were mounting and the global energy markets are precarious, did not meet all Israel’s demands but it will be judged by the success of its implementation and its ability to avert future confrontation between these two sworn enemies.
As always, Iran is the joker in Netanyahu’s pack of warmongering cards. He argued that Lapid and Gantz have not only handed Hezbollah “our territorial waters, our sovereign territory, our gas” but also that “in the end they succumbed to another Hezbollah demand to allow Iran to drill gas off the coast of Israel,” bringing Iran closer to Israel’s northern border. It all sounds ominous but there is not a shred of evidence for this in the agreement.
Furthermore, Netanyahu rejected Lapid’s invitation to a security briefing about the maritime border deal, dismissing it as “futile,” mainly because instead of having a grown-up conversation between two senior politicians, he would rather score some cheap political points on the eve of yet another election.
This gaslighting by Israel’s right-wing opposition over the agreement smacks of populist nationalism and a cynical manipulation of the electorate’s security fears, particularly when Iran and Hezbollah are involved.
Netanyahu and his allies know that in the absence of fully normalized relations with Lebanon this is a positive development which they would not dare to change should they return to power. Moreover, should the unstable conditions in which both countries operate lead to future disagreement, Israel can rely on its military might if necessary. But for now the benefits of the deal by far outweigh the risks for both sides and, hopefully, will help defuse future tensions rather than exacerbate them.
*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

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 22-23.2022
Syria reports Israeli airstrikes on suburbs of Damascus
Associated Press/October 22/2022
Israel carried out an airstrike on the Syrian capital of Damascus and its southern suburbs late Friday, in the first such attack in more than a month, state media reported. There were no casualties in the strikes. The Syrian military said later that several Israeli missiles were fired toward some military positions near Damascus. It said Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles, adding that there was only material losses. Residents in the capital earlier said they heard at least three explosions. Syrian state TV said Syrian air defenses responded to "an Israeli aggression in the airspace of Damascus and southern areas."
The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the attacks were close to the Damascus International Airport south of the capital. Friday's strikes were the first since Sept. 17, when an Israeli attack on the Damascus International Airport and nearby military posts south of the Syrian capital killed five soldiers. That attack came days after an Israeli strike shit the main airport in the northern city of Aleppo. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces. The Israeli strikes comes amid a wider shadow war between the country and Iran. The attacks on the airports in Damascus and Aleppo are over fears it was being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.

East Iran city, scene of bloody crackdown, sees new protests
Associated Press/October 22/2022
A city in Iran that was the scene of a bloody crackdown last month awoke to new destruction on Saturday, state TV showed, after tensions erupted the day before. In Zahedan, a southeastern city with an ethnic Baluch population, protests after Friday prayers left the city battered. Shops gaped open to the street, their windows smashed. Sidewalks were littered with broken glass. ATMs were damaged. Cleaning crews came out, sweeping debris from vandalized stores. The outburst of protests in Zahedan came as demonstrations across Iran continue over the the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police. Although the protests first focused on the country's mandatory hijab, they have transformed into the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections. Security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas, leaving over 200 people dead, according to rights groups. Violence first broke out in the restive city of Zahedan on Sept. 30 — a day that activists describe as the deadliest since the nationwide protests began. Outrage spread after allegations that a Baluch teenager had been raped by a police officer, fueling deep tensions in the underdeveloped region home to minority Sunni Muslims in the Shiite theocracy. Rights groups say dozens of people were killed in what residents refer to as "Bloody Friday," as security forces opened fire on the crowds. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights puts the death toll at more than 90. Iranian authorities have described the Zahedan violence as involving unnamed separatists, without providing details or evidence. With anger simmering over the deadly crackdown, unrest in the city flared again on Friday, according to video footage that purportedly showed crowds gathering after noon prayers in Zahedan chanting "I will kill the one who killed my brother!" The scale of the clashes remained unclear, but Iranian state TV aired footage of the aftermath, blaming 150 "rioters" for the trail of destruction. The state-run IRNA news agency said protesters shouted slogans, hurled stones at motorists and damaged banks and other private property. Authorities said they arrested 57 demonstrators, among the estimated thousands who have landed in jail over the protests. The provincial police commander, Ahmad Taheri, said security forces were searching for more culprits.

Iran Protests Enter Sixth Week
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 22 October, 2022
Nationwide anti-regime protests in Iran have entered their sixth week, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei becoming the primary target of public outrage sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Iranian officials have shown division in their approach to the riots as some have called for strict measures against protesters while others have urged action to restore societal calm. Meanwhile, human rights organizations have voiced their growing fears about Iranian activists facing the threat of torture and even death behind bars. Shared video footage of late-night protests showed demonstrators taking to the streets in major cities such as Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Rasht, in addition to some Kurdish cities in northwestern Iran, such as Mahabad. ‘1500 Tasvir,’ an opposition Twitter account, posted videos of protests sweeping Isfahan in central Iran. In another video, protesters were seen setting fires in the streets of Mahabad late Thursday. Demonstrators in different cities also hanged effigies of Khamenei, raised anti-establishment slogans, and sprayed graffiti depicting the victims of the security crackdown on the protests. Reports from Iran also indicate that despite widespread arrests among striking workers in the oil and gas industry and young protesters on streets, the uprising in Iran shows no sign of abating. On Thursday, the Union of Truck Drivers announced that in support of the protests they began a strike Friday and will stop transportation activities. The Organizing Council of Oil Contract Workers in Iran says that more than 250 contractors have been arrested so far during labor strikes in recent days. Last Tuesday, workers of Iran’s largest sugar company in Ahwaz joined the strikes. The latest wave of dissent was sparked by the death of Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly. Authorities have met demonstrators with lethal force on city streets throughout the country.

White House in Talks with Musk to Set Up Starlink in Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 22/2022
The White House is in talks with billionaire Elon Musk about setting up SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink in Iran, CNN reported on Friday, citing officials familiar with the matter. The satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the regime's restrictions on accessing the internet and certain social media platforms. The country has been engulfed by protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. The US Treasury Department last month said that some satellite internet equipment can be exported to Iran, suggesting that the company may not need a license to provide satellite broadband service in the country. Musk had then said he would activate Starlink in response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's tweet that the United States took action "to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information" to Iranians.
SpaceX and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Musk said on Tuesday Starlink has not received any funding from the US Department of Defense for its services in Ukraine, adding the company was losing about $20 million a month due to unpaid service and costs on security measures for cyberwar defense. SpaceX is aiming to grow Starlink, as it races against rival satellite communications companies such as OneWeb and Amazon.com Inc's yet to launch Project Kuiper.

Iran protests trigger solidarity rallies in US, Europe
WASHINGTON (AP)/October 22, 2022
Chanting crowds marched in the streets of Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles on Saturday in a show of international support for demonstrators facing a violent government crackdown in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of that country's morality police.
On the U.S. National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages — donning green, white and red, the colors of the Iran flag — chanted. “Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this,” some shouted, ahead of the group's march to the White House. “Say her name! Mahsa!”The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organizers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington D.C. area, with some travelling down from Toronto to join the crowd. In Los Angeles, home to the biggest population of Iranians outside of Iran, a throng of protesters formed a slow-moving procession along blocks of a closed downtown street. They chanted for the fall of Iran's government and waved hundreds of Iranian flags that turned the horizon into a undulating wave of red, white and green.
“We want freedom,” they thundered in unison.
Shooka Scharm, an attorney who was born in the U.S. after her parents fled the Iranian revolution, was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” in English and Farsi. In Iran “women are like a second-class citizen and they are sick of it,” Scharm said.
She said women can be arrested for wearing the wrong makeup color, historically important women are omitted from book and they have few rights in matters such as divorce and child custody. Iranian women “are standing up to unbelievable odds for basic human rights.”The Biden administration has said it condemns the brutality and repression against the citizens of Iran and that it will look for ways to impose more sanctions against the Iranian government if the violence continues. In Tehran, more antigovernment protests took place Saturday at several universities. The nationwide movement in Iran first focused on the country’s mandatory hijab covering for women following Amiri's death on Sept. 16. The Iranian protests have since transformed into the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections. Iran's security forces have dispersed gatherings in that country with live ammunition and tear gas, killing over 200 people, including teenage girls, according to rights groups. In Berlin, nearly 40,000 people gathered turned out to show solidarity for the women and activists leading the movement for the past few weeks in Iran. The protests in Germany's capital, organized by the Woman(asterisk) Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten park and continued as a march through central Berlin. Some demonstrators there said they had come from elsewhere in Germany and other European countries to show their support. “It is so important for us to be here, to be the voice of the people of Iran, who are killed on the streets,” said Shakib Lolo, who is from Iran but lives in the Netherlands. “And this is not a protest anymore, this is a revolution, in Iran. And the people of the world have to see it.” Several weeks of Saturday solidarity rallies in the U.S. capital have drawn growing crowds.

Protest Against Iranian Regime Draws Thousands in Berlin
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 22 October, 2022
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Germany's capital Saturday to show solidarity with antigovernment protesters in Iran, where a movement sparked by the death of a woman in the custody of morality police has evolved into a challenge to Tehran. Berlin police estimated that 37,000 people had joined the German demonstration by late afternoon, the Associated Press reported. Participants held up Iranian flags and signs criticizing Iran's leaders, many with the tagline “Women, Life, Freedom” in both English and German. The demonstration, organized by the Woman(asterisk) Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten park and continued as a march through central Berlin. Some demonstrators said they had come from elsewhere in Germany and other European countries to show their support. “It is so important for us to be here, to be the voice of the people of Iran, who are killed on the streets," said Shakib Lolo, who is from Iran but lives in the Netherlands. "And this is not a protest anymore, this is a revolution, in Iran. And the people of the world have to see it.”Other issues were the focus of demonstrations in Berlin as well, including one calling for social solidarity in the wake of a potential energy crisis and another advocating a speed limit on German highways. In Tehran, more antigovernment protests took place Saturday at several universities. The nationwide movement in Iran first focused on the country's mandatory hijab following the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police. Security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas, leaving over 200 people dead, according to rights groups. The government in Tehran also has been in the spotlight in European capitals due to allegations that Iran has supplied explosive drones that Russian troops are using in Ukraine.

Zelensky: Russia fired 36 missiles in a "heavy attack" on Ukraine
NNA/October 22/2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia today launched 36 missiles in a "heavy attack" on Ukraine, and more than a million homes are without electricity, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

New Russian strikes target energy facilities in western Ukraine
NNA/October 22/2022
New Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure in western Ukraine today, operator Ukr-Energo said, while officials spoke of power outages in several regions of the country.

'Not a civilian evacuation': Collaborators and Russians leaving Kherson, resident says
Sky News/October 22, 2022
Fear is a powerful thing and it is motivating many to leave the Ukrainian city of Kherson. With Ukrainian troops closing in on the city, thousands have left using ferries to cross the great Dnipro River. Kherson was the first major city to fall to Vladimir Putin's military after the invasion began in February and its recapture would represent a major prize for the Ukrainians. In footage filmed for Sky News, we see people in Kherson boarding boats from the city's piers, their bags and suitcases hauled speedily behind them. However, who exactly are these evacuees? Russian officials say they are trying to remove all civilians, warning of Ukrainian shelling and "terrorist attacks". But in a detailed interview, one resident of Kherson told Sky News that the evacuation is not designed for them. "This is not a civilian evacuation. The collaborators are running away and those who came to help the occupiers," said Vlad, a local writer, activist and organiser, whose full name we are not using. "In truth [those fleeing] number no more than a few thousand people a day. "And who are those people they are taking out? "Mostly it's families of Russian officers, families of Russian officials and collaborators who helped to organise the referendum. Among them are teachers and doctors, municipal workers and kindergarten staff. "Those who have taken Russian passports." 'Young Russian troops arriving'Russian kindergarten workers were shipped in, our interviewee says, to help administer a discredited referendum that preceded Russia's annexation of the region of Kherson. There are new arrivals in the city, however, in the form of young and inexperienced Russian troops."I think because of the [Russian] mobilisation, we can see new soldiers entering Kherson in fresh uniforms. They are clean, without any dirt, and very young. A lot of them are like me, in glasses, we can see they are students - but not professional soldiers." Will the Russians try to defend the western side of the Dnipro River, of which Kherson city is a part? This is question is the source of much speculation.
'Everything stolen'
Russia's military chief, General Sergei Surovikin, seemed to raise the prospect of a withdrawal when he told an interviewer that the situation in Kherson has been "difficult". Our interviewee simply is not sure. "I don't think anybody knows, even the Russian soldiers," he said. However, the large-scale looting of this city is not something that is open to question. Sky News has seen pictures of ransacked shops and businesses with signs placed on the front. "Empty," they read. "Everything's stolen." Our interviewee says that everything has been lifted, large and small. "In the last few days, we've seen them take fire trucks, ambulances, equipment from the cancer clinic and the regional hospital, anything of high value. They take it quickly, load it in the cars and take it to Crimea. It's the robbery of a city."He admitted that many are worried about a major upstream dam, located in the city of Nova Kakhovka. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused the other of plotting to destroy it. Our interviewee told us the destruction of the dam is unlikely to help the Russians. "The water will go to the south where Russian troops are located. It could happen but it means they'll be flooding themselves… But they have those moods, preferring to flood their own people than surrender."The next few days and weeks will be difficult, says Vlad. For now, the city's liberation will not be won easily. "It's terrifying, terrifying."

Pro-Russian authorities call on all civilians to leave Ukraine's Kherson "immediately"
NNA/October 22/2022
The pro-Russian authorities in the Moscow-annexed region of Kherson today called on all civilians to leave the regional capital "immediately" in view of the advance of Kyiv's forces, AFP reported.
The administration of the region loyal to the Russian occupation said on Telegram: "All civilian residents of Kherson must leave the city immediately," noting "a tense situation on the front and an increased risk of intense shelling," while the evacuations began to the left bank of the Dnieper River at the Kherson border since last Wednesday.

Pro-Russian authorities tell Kherson residents to leave ‘immediately,’ 36 rockets launched in ‘massive attack’
AFP/October 22, 2022
KHERSON: Pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city “immediately” in the face of Kyiv’s advancing counter-offensive. It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched 36 rockets overnight in a “massive attack” on Ukraine, following reported strikes on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country. Kyiv’s forces have been advancing along the west bank of the Dnieper river, toward the Kherson region’s eponymous main city. The first major city to fall to Moscow’s troops, retaking it would be a key prize in Ukraine’s counter-offensive. In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region — which Moscow claims to have annexed in September — in efforts described as “deportations” by Kyiv.
“Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper river,” the region’s pro-Russian authorities said on social media.
A Moscow-installed official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday that around 25,000 people had made the crossing. At a train station in the town of Dzhankoy in the north of Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Kherson residents were boarding a train for southern Russia, an AFP reporter saw Friday. “We are leaving Kherson because heavy shelling started there, we are afraid for our lives,” said Valentina Yelkina, a pensioner traveling with her daughter. Another Kherson resident, 70-year-old Yelena Bekesheva, said she was going to Moscow. “We didn’t immediately make the decision (to leave) but then we were invited by our friends and relatives,” she told AFP. Meanwhile more than a million households in Ukraine were left without electricity following Russian strikes on energy facilities across the country, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Saturday.
Fresh Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s west, the national operator said earlier, with officials in several regions of the war-scarred country reporting power outages. Russians “carried out another missile attack on energy facilities of the main networks of Ukraine’s western regions,” Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said on social media. Power outages were reported among others in the northwestern Volyn region, parts of the southwestern Odessa region and the city of Khmelnitskyi in western Ukraine with local authorities reiterating calls to reduce energy use. “Saturday in Ukraine starts with a barrage of Russian missiles aimed at critical civilian infrastructure,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, urging Kyiv’s allies to hasten the delivery of air defense systems. According to Ukraine’s air force, Moscow’s troops on Saturday fired 17 cruise missiles by aircraft from southern Russia and at least 16 Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s authorities have called on residents to reduce power consumption amid the attacks with some parts of Ukraine reducing their electricity use by up to 20 percent, according to Ukrenergo. “We see savings in different regions and on different days the level of voluntary consumption reduction ranges from five to 20 percent on average,” Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said in written comments to AFP. He added that while these were “significant volumes” for Ukraine’s energy system, they were not enough for regions where the infrastructure “suffered the most damage” and Ukrenergo must resort to “forced restrictions.” Meanwhile in the Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, at least two civilians were killed in strikes on Saturday, according to the local governor. “There are two dead among civilians” following shelling on “civilian infrastructure” in the town of Shebekino governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that nearly 15,000 people were left without electricity. Russia said in mid-October there has been a “considerable increase” of Ukrainian fire into its territory with attacks largely concentrating on Belgorod region and neighboring Bryansk and Kursk.

Macron calls out US for double standards on gas prices to EU
NNA/October 22/2022
During a press conference following the EU summit in Brussels, French President Emanual Macron called out US "double standards" for selling gas to Europe at prices 3 to 4 times higher than it is sold in the US domestic markets.
"American gas is 3-4 times cheaper on the domestic market than the price at which they offer it to Europeans. These are double standards," Macron stated, adding that "it concerns sincerity in transatlantic trade" and that this issue should be addressed.
"I intend to raise this issue during my visit to the United States in December," the French President said.
Macron's statement comes following a statement made today by the French Foreign Minister Catherina Colonna during her visit to Washington, where she called for maintaining communication channels with Russia, which indicates that France might be seeking a more balanced political position in the global arena.
"We absolutely think it is crucial to keep a channel of communication with those making the decisions in Russia, including President Putin," the French Foreign Minister said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Earlier this month, Germany announced that as winter approaches, it may have to temporarily curtail its electricity exports, including to France. Hendrik Neumann, chief technical officer of Germany's main grid operator Amprion, said this could be Germany's "last resort".
Significantly, the head grid operator explained that the energy crisis Germany and the rest of the EU are facing is not entirely resulting from the war in Ukraine but rather comes as "overlapping issues" become more prominent. The war and the anti-Russian sanctions have definitely had a partial impact on the energy sectors in the EU, however, the most important factor in the crisis is the lack of nuclear power plants. --- Al Mayadeen

Meloni sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister
NNA/October 22/2022
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the 'Brothers of Italy' party, was sworn in as prime minister by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, becoming the first woman to hold this position in Italian history, according to "Reuters" agency.

Yemeni rebel drones target Greek ship in government-run port
Associated Press/October 22/2022
Yemen's Iran-backed rebels said they targeted a cargo ship Friday off an oil terminal in the war-wrecked Arab country's south to prevent pro-government forces from using it for oil exports. A Greek company owning the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker said it sustained no damage in the attack by explosive-laden drones. The attack apparently targeting the Nissos Kea marks the first announced military action since a truce between the country's warring sides expired earlier this month. It also again signals potential danger for commercial ships that pass by or stop in Yemen. The attack happened in Ash Shihr, Yemen, near the city of Mukalla, some 585 kilometers (360 miles) east of the rebel-held capital of Sanaa in territory held by pro-government forces for years. The Nissos Kea's owner, Athens-based Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp., said there were "two drone-driven explosions in close proximity" as it tried to load at the port. Ash Shihr's port has a crude oil pipeline at it that has a capacity of 300,000 barrels a day. "Neither explosion impacted the vessel. All crew is safe and unharmed," the company said. "There was no damage to the vessel and no pollution."Satellite data analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Nissos Kea far off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden in international water and sailing away toward Oman on Saturday. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors Mideast sea traffic, acknowledged "an incident" off Ash Shihr on Friday, but only said the ship and its crew were safe. The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet said it was aware of the attack, but declined to comment further. The Houthis called the attack a "warning strike." The government denounced the attack and said "all options are open in dealing with this terrorist action," and warned it could negatively affect any further peace talks. It also said Friday's strike was the third in recent days by Houthi drones on shipping in their territory, after another ship was targeted on Tuesday and Wednesday night in the port of Radoum, in the central part of Yemen's coast on the Gulf of Aden. International authorities have not previously acknowledged those strikes. War has raged since 2014 in Yemen between the Houthi rebels and pro-government forces, backed by a coalition of Sunni Gulf Arab states. The Iran-backed Houthis swept down from the mountains in 2014, occupied northern Yemen and the country's capital and forced the internationally recognized government to flee into exile to Saudi Arabia. Since then, more than 150,000 people have been killed in the violence and 3 million have been displaced. Two-thirds of the population receives food assistance. The initial, two-month truce agreed to on April 2 by the government and the Houthis was extended twice, until Oct. 2. Since then, both the United States and the United Nations have blamed the Houthis for a breakdown in efforts to extend the cease-fire yet again. One of the main obstacles to a truce is the use of Yemen's resources. The Houthis maintain that oil produced in Yemen should not be allowed to be exported by the cash-strapped government side.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 22-23.2022
Russia’s Counterpart To NATO Is On The Brink Of Collapse
Jamestown.org/OilPrice.com/October 22, 2022
The Collective Security Treaty Organization, better known by its initials, CSTO—or by Moscow’s aspiration that it should be an equal counterpart to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—is now on the brink of collapse, yet another case of the collateral damage Russia has suffered in the post-Soviet space from President Vladimir Putin’s disastrous war against Ukraine. When the CSTO was created in 1992, Russia and five other post-Soviet states were members; a year later, it had grown to nine. But in the intervening years, it contracted to six. Now it is becoming more clear that, by next year, the CSTO, which Moscow had placed so much hope in, will most likely be reduced to only three: Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan. Moreover, after Tajikistani President Emomali Rahmon’s attack on Putin at the Tashkent summit of regional leaders earlier this month, it is entirely possible that this much-ballyhooed military alliance will be left with only two members (Centralasia.media, October 14). Indeed, the signs of the collapse of this Russian project are now so obvious that one Moscow security analyst, Georgy Filin, argues that “the CSTO is repeating the fate of the Warsaw Pact” (Versia.ru, October 17). Three developments support that conclusion, and the Kremlin has gone out of its way to dispute one element in particular. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, for example, has quite implausibly denied that any problems persist among the CSTO members, even though, of the current six, only two, Russia itself and Belarus, support Putin’s war against Ukraine (TASS, October 10). In this respect, the first development was when Kazakhstan suspended its cooperation with the grouping after controversy between Astana and Moscow broke out following the only CSTO military action ever: its intervention in Kazakhstan in January 2022 when protesters challenged the Kazakhstani government. Second, Armenia has done the same given the CSTO’s unwillingness to intervene on Yerevan’s side in its conflict with Azerbaijan. Armenian politicians have even go so far as to demand that Armenia leave the Moscow-led grouping altogether. Third and perhaps most important, and from Moscow’s perspective unexpected and worrisome, Kyrgyzstan at the last moment and without warning cancelled the CSTO military exercise scheduled to be held on its territory in early October (Interfax, October 9).
Related: Consequences Or Cooperation: How Will The U.S. Deal With OPEC?
Bishkek, to be sure, had an entirely understandable reason for taking this action: it remains locked in a border conflict with Dushanbe and could hardly welcome Tajikistani troops on its territory even if they were part of a CSTO exercise. But Moscow views what the Kyrgyzstani government did, not in the context of increasing conflicts between the CSTO countries, but rather as the result of Western efforts to peel away Russia’s neighbors. These efforts include decoupling Russia from its allies by means of military exercises, such as the Regional Cooperation-22 command staff exercise involving the United States, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, which took place at the same time as the CSTO’s Indestructible Brotherhood-2022 were meant to be held in Kyrgyzstani territory (Ia-center.ru, October 11). The much-reduced CSTO exercise was then hastily renamed—speaking on an “indestructible brotherhood” was too much even for Moscow in this case—and relocated to Tajikistan (Ia-centr.ru, October 17).
When the CSTO was established, many in Moscow and some in the West viewed it as a potential counterweight to NATO. But it has never been that. Moscow celebrated it but never invested enough money in it to allow for more than brief exercises each year. Moreover, while NATO is not without its divisions, including serious ones such as the conflict between Greece and Turkey, from the beginning, the CSTO has been the site of violent clashes and even wars between its members in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Moreover, despite its promise to be a regional peacekeeper, the organization has not responded to requests from members to fulfill that role. Except for the case of Kazakhstan, in which the CSTO merely provided cover for what was largely a Russian operation, the organization has been unwilling to provide help, not only to Armenia but also to Kyrgyzstan, which has requested assistance on three occasions in 1999, 2010, and 2021, only to be flat-out turned down in each case.
Aynur Kurmanov, a pro-Moscow Kazakhstani politician and analyst, would like to see the CSTO revived and even expanded. But both his description of the current situation and his calls for changes that many consider impossible make his discussion of the situation anything but optimistic from the Kremlin’s point of view (Politnavigator.net, October 10) On the one hand, Kurmanov says that “many CSTO members constantly violate their obligations as members of the alliance but at the same time constantly demand that Russia maintain peace and stability—without giving it anything in return except for formal assurances of friendship.” And on the other, he argues, the only way out of the current situation toward a future in which the CSTO can counter what he calls “the aggressive plans of NATO” is for members to agree not to attack one another, not to cooperate at all with NATO and agree only to work with Moscow, Beijing and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This is something none of the current members, except for Belarus and Russia itself, are ever likely to agree to or even live by.
It is thus difficult not to accept the conclusions offered by two independent Russian analysts, Anatoly Nesmiyan, who blogs under the screen name “El Murid,” and Filin, who was cited earlier. Nesmiyan says that the situation Moscow finds itself in now with the CSTO in Central Asia and the South Caucasus “very much recalls [a similar situation] before the demise of the USSR,” with Russia pulling out and others moving in, however unwelcome that may be for the Kremlin (Bbc.com/Russian, October 10). And Filin, even more pessimistically, suggests that, today, as the CSTO situation demonstrates, “Russia does not have too many friends, even fewer partners and almost no remaining allies” (Versia.ru, October 17).

ماجد رفي زاده/معهد جيتستون: روسيا وملالي إيران يعمقون العلاقات بينهما من أجل سحق أوكرانيا، فلماذا إدارة بايدن هي صامتة؟
Russia, Iran’s Mullahs Deepen Ties to Crush Ukraine: Why Is Biden Administration Silent?
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 22/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112899/majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-instituterussia-irans-mullahs-deepen-ties-to-crush-ukraine-why-is-biden-administration-silent%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%87-%d9%85/
In August 2015, Obama spelled out what his deal would accomplish. It is worth a look at it with the benefit of hindsight….
What is striking is that just about everything turned out to be exactly the opposite.
A report by Iran’s state-controlled Afkar News bears the title, “American Soil Is Now Within the Range of Iranian Bombs.”
“By sending a military satellite into space, Iran now has shown that it can target all American territory,” the report boasts about the damage that the Iranian regime could inflict on the US, “the Iranian parliament had previously warned [the US] that an electromagnetic nuclear attack on the United States would likely kill 90 percent of Americans.”
Russia is now deploying Iranian missiles, Iranian drones and personnel to attack Ukraine, and, incredibly, negotiating for America’s interests (supposedly) during the new Iranian nuclear talks in Vienna while the Americans are not allowed in the room.
This raises the question: Is the Biden administration so deeply in the thrall of Russia that Biden is actually “in Putin’s pocket”?
“Right now, the talks on revival of JCPOA are not on the US agenda,” US negotiator Robert Malley told CNN on October 17. The operative words, of course, are “Right now.” The Biden administration could be waiting until Congress is in recess for its Christmas break and unable to stop the deal.
Do not repeat these mistakes again. The Biden administration’s feckless leadership keeps empowering the world’s most despotic, destabilizing regimes: Iran’s mullahs, Russia, the Chinese Communist Party North Korea, Turkey, Venezuela…. Drop the nuclear deal. Not “right now.” Forever.
Russia is now deploying Iranian missiles, Iranian drones and personnel to attack Ukraine, and, incredibly, negotiating for America’s interests (supposedly) during the new Iranian nuclear talks in Vienna while the Americans are not allowed in the room. This raises the question: Is the Biden administration so deeply in the thrall of Russia that Biden is actually “in Putin’s pocket”? Pictured: An Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia’s armed forces that was shot down near Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Image source: Ukrainian Armed Forces).
The Biden administration appears to be willing to turn a blind eye to crimes committed by the Iranian regime and its staunch ally, Russia, presumably not to jeopardize the revival of former President Barack Obama’s disastrous 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal would enable the ruling regime of Iran – against whom their own people are heroically rebelling – to soon have an unlimited nuclear weapons capability, unlimited missiles with which to deliver the weapons and empower the regime and its terrorist militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with a trillion dollars to wreak more mayhem in the Middle East.
Currently, Iran’s toxic regime, whose main outspoken objective is to “export the Revolution,” effectively controls, through its terrorist proxies, four other Middle East countries — Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq — and appears to be trying to take over Saudi Arabia, as well as much of South America. It continuously threatens to obliterate Israel. The Biden administration nevertheless appears committed to rewarding this unneighborly behavior with unlimited nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and a trillion dollars — probably during Congress’s Christmas recess, when no one will be around to block the deal.
The original deal was sold by Obama in July 2015 as an attempt to give Iran the chance to “change” its hostile policies and behavior:
“But it is possible to change. The path of violence and rigid ideology, a foreign policy based on threats to attack your neighbors or eradicate Israel — that’s a dead end. A different path, one of tolerance and peaceful resolution of conflict, leads to more integration into the global economy, more engagement with the international community, and the ability of the Iranian people to prosper and thrive.”
A few weeks later, in August 2015, Obama spelled out what his deal would accomplish. It is worth a look at it with the benefit of hindsight:
“After two years of negotiations, we have achieved a detailed arrangement that permanently prohibits Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. It cuts off all of Iran’s pathways to a bomb. It contains the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program….
“Under this deal, Iran cannot acquire the plutonium needed for a bomb. The core of its heavy-water reactor at Arak will be pulled out, filled with concrete, and replaced with one that will not produce plutonium for a weapon. The spent fuel from that reactor will be shipped out of the country, and Iran will not build any new heavy-water reactors for at least 15 years.
“Iran will also not be able to acquire the enriched uranium that could be used for a bomb. As soon as this deal is implemented, Iran will remove two-thirds of its centrifuges. For the next decade, Iran will not enrich uranium with its more advanced centrifuges. Iran will not enrich uranium at the previously undisclosed Fordow facility, which is buried deep underground, for at least 15 years. Iran will get rid of 98 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium, which is currently enough for up to 10 nuclear bombs, for the next 15 years. Even after those 15 years have passed, Iran will never have the right to use a peaceful program as cover to pursue a weapon.
“And, in fact, this deal shuts off the type of covert path Iran pursued in the past. There will be 24/7 monitoring of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. For decades, inspectors will have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain — from the uranium mines and mills where they get raw materials, to the centrifuge production facilities where they make machines to enrich it.
“Well, here’s the truth: Inspectors will be allowed daily access to Iran’s key nuclear sites. If there is a reason for inspecting a suspicious, undeclared site anywhere in Iran, inspectors will get that access, even if Iran objects…. The bottom line is, if Iran cheats, we can catch them — and we will.
“Second, there are those who argue that the deal isn’t strong enough because some of the limitations on Iran’s civilian nuclear program expire in 15 years. Let me repeat: The prohibition on Iran having a nuclear weapon is permanent. The ban on weapons-related research is permanent. Inspections are permanent.
“And that’s why our best analysts expect the bulk of this revenue to go into spending that improves the economy and benefits the lives of the Iranian people.
What is striking is that just about everything turned out to be exactly the opposite.
Russia is now deploying Iranian missiles, Iranian drones and personnel to attack Ukraine, and, incredibly, negotiating for America’s interests (supposedly) during the new Iranian nuclear talks in Vienna while the Americans are not allowed in the room.
This raises the question: Is the Biden administration so deeply in the thrall of Russia that Biden is actually “in Putin’s pocket”?
“Right now, the talks on revival of JCPOA are not on the US agenda,” US negotiator Robert Malley told CNN on October 17. The operative words, of course, are “Right now.” The Biden administration could be waiting until Congress is in recess for its Christmas break and unable to stop the deal.
When the Iranian regime first began supplying Russia with drones, the mullahs witnessed no repercussions, or even a firm stance, from the Biden administration. Consequently, the Iranians reportedly have now started dispatching military personnel to occupied territory in Ukraine to help the Russians swallow up Ukraine. According to the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine:
“The Russians took Iranian instructors to the territory of the temporarily occupied Kherson Region and Crimea to launch Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. According to the underground, the Iranians are based in the settlements of Zalizniy Port, Hladivtsi (Kherson region), and Dzhankoy (Crimea). They teach the Russians how to use kamikaze drones, and directly monitor the launch of drones on Ukrainian civilian targets, including strikes on Mykolaiv and Odesa. The instructors are based on the premises that the Russians seized during the occupation…. Iran helps the aggressor not only with equipment but also with people…. We will remind you that the Russians place their military equipment and personnel on the territory of schools and hospitals, using children and patients as human shields.”
This is the first time Iranian weapons have been actively deployed on European soil. The Iranian regime will most likely not be satisfied with helping Russia take over just one country.
A report by Iran’s state-controlled Afkar News bears the title, “American Soil Is Now Within the Range of Iranian Bombs.”
“By sending a military satellite into space, Iran now has shown that it can target all American territory,” the report boasts about the damage that the Iranian regime could inflict on the US, “the Iranian parliament had previously warned [the US] that an electromagnetic nuclear attack on the United States would likely kill 90 percent of Americans.”
The report also threatens the EU, which is also in favor of reviving the nuclear deal:
“The same type of ballistic missile technology used to launch the satellite could carry nuclear, chemical or even biological weapons to wipe Israel off the map, hit US bases and allies in the region and US facilities, and target NATO even in the far west of Europe.”
No one seems to be mentioning that it was the Obama-Biden nuclear deal which played a critical role in allowing the ruling mullahs to freely export and import weapons. One concession that the Obama-Biden administration gave to the ruling mullahs of Iran was setting a date when Iran’s arms embargo would be lifted. The Obama administration agreed to add a provision to the nuclear deal allowing the arms embargo to be lifted.
The arms embargo on Iranian regime encompasses a wide range of weapons, including heavy artillery, combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems (including target drones and reconnaissance drones), cruise missiles, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, attack helicopters, some missiles and missile launchers, and warships.
It is mind-boggling that the Obama-Biden administration decided to include such an extremely dangerous provision in the nuclear deal. Both Democrats and Republicans were, in fact, stunned by the move. “It blows my mind that the administration would agree to lift the arms and missile bans,” then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, pointed out.
The Trump administration and the then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who attempted to prevent the UN from voting in favor of removing the arms embargo, highlighted:
“Iran will be free to become a rogue weapons dealer, supplying arms to fuel conflicts from Venezuela, to Syria, to the far reaches of Afghanistan.”
On June 30, 2020, Pompeo urged the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran. The Security Council, however — particularly China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom — were reluctant to do so.
Thanks to the 2015 nuclear deal, the UN arms embargo on the Iranian regime, the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, was lifted in October 2020, effectively allowing the mullahs legally and freely to export and import advanced weapons.
Do not repeat these mistakes again. The Biden administration’s feckless leadership keeps empowering the world’s most despotic, destabilizing regimes: Iran’s mullahs, Russia, the Chinese Communist Party North Korea, Turkey, Venezuela…. Drop the nuclear deal. Not “right now.” Forever.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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If Musk Owning Twitter Is a Security Risk, What About Tesla?
Liam Denning/Bloomberg/October, 22/2022
Might Elon Musk be saved from the madness of his deal for Twitter Inc. by paranoia? Bloomberg News had a bombshell scoop Thursday night reporting that Biden administration officials, viewing Musk as a little too Russophilic, are weighing security reviews for his various ventures. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, could be an obvious target, as could that social media platform he is about to buy. But what about the big kahuna, Tesla Inc.?
It seems far-fetched that this could actually derail the Twitter deal and it’s unclear which agency would even have the authority to conduct such a review, although the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, is cited as an oblique vector. On the other hand, Twitter’s stock is down 5% Friday morning. And these are paranoid times in the US. So if the Feds did squish the deal on national security grounds, it could raise the stakes for Musk’s car company.
Because, as Musk never tires of explaining, Tesla isn’t just a car company. By his telling, it is an energy, technology and artificial intelligence powerhouse all rolled into one. That is the logic-adjacent justification for Tesla’s $650 billion market cap. Besides batteries, over-the-air software updates and the expanding suite of driver-assistance technologies, dubbed Autopilot and Full Self Driving, Tesla touts the development of a humanoid robot called Optimus. Indeed, should Tesla ever actually crack autonomous driving, its cars would essentially be a specialized type of robot.
Autonomous vehicles and AI go hand in hand and have long been of interest to strategic planners around the world. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, began work on unmanned ground vehicles in the 1980s. Apart from wheels with a mind of their own, AI touches an expanding range of applications, both military and civilian; everything from vacuum cleaners to drones. As vehicles become more connected and more intelligent, they not only become a source of national competitive strength but also a target for potentially hazardous hacking and mass surveillance. Remember how China banned Teslas from military installations last year?
If that all sounds a bit paranoid, welcome to the US, where paranoia is a resilient political virus: never dead, sometimes dormant, occasionally virulent. An agency like CFIUS, originally empowered to reject deals in the 1980s when Japan had Washington hyperventilating, is the very embodiment of paranoia. Two recent landmark pieces of legislation, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, are predicated to varying degrees on countering China. Plus, of course, there’s that proxy war with the old adversary, Russia.
It still seems a stretch to think that Musk’s apparent gamesmanship around Ukraine’s access to the Starlink satellite-internet service and his palling around with Kremlin officials on Twitter — however morally repugnant — would lead to his deal being blocked. Again, it is unclear to me who would even conduct these reviews. But the question, as so often, is why does Musk court such needless risk in the first place? His previous tussles with the Securities and Exchange Commission and various state and federal traffic safety agencies have been entirely self-generated.
Of all the arms of government to tweak, the national security complex is probably the riskiest. While the never-ending game of eight-dimensional chess that plays out on Twitter throws up the possibility that Musk is hoping the cavalry will ride to his rescue on Twitter, cavalries tend to ride roughshod over much else. Regardless of whether that happens here, Musk’s prominence and fortune are bound up in the promise of him developing and owning technologies that will define 21st century life — and geopolitical rivalry. He is a person of interest to security hawks by default. His Twitter habit, be it financial or just the expression of his incontinent thumbs, provides them with gratuitous openings.

What Iranians Want From Washington
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/October, 22/2022
A Persian proverb says: “The stew was so over-salty that even the Khan frowned.” This means that a situation has become so bad that even the “chief”, a prisoner in a cobweb created by a flattering entourage, realizes how bad things have become.
The proverb came to mind the other day when former US Presid
ent Barack Obama admitted that he had been wrong in trying to prop up the Khomeinist clique by refusing to even verbally support the 2009 Iranian uprising.
At the time some of us argued that Obama was wrong and that his policy of “bringing the Islamic Republic into the fold” would never work. This did not mean that we shared the narrative that the US is powerful enough to reshape the world let alone a remote country paralyzed by schizophrenia.
We knew that no power alone could change another nation’s destiny without the at least tacit consent and support of that nation or a good part of it.
To be sure the US won both world wars which it joined after three and two years respectively. By the time the GIs arrived millions of French and British soldiers had died or been wounded while the Russians also did their bit, quite a big bit, especially in World War II.
The US helped save the southern part of the Korean Peninsula from tyrannical rule by the Kim gang. But there, too, by accepting incredible sacrifices, Koreans themselves made victory possible.
The US also did help overthrow the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. But the liberators who fought their way into Kabul were Afghan Northern Alliance fighters.
In 2003, Iraq provided the US with another victory. There, too, Iraqis were their own co-liberators because, apart from two mini-battles, their army of 600,000 men refused to fight for Saddam Hussein.
We also know of the cliché about the US winning the Cold War.
There, too, we see other forces fighting the Bolshevik tyranny from day one despite mass executions, purges, gulags, and exile. In the final episodes, we saw Muscovites, led by one Boris Yeltsin jumping on a tank, defeat the Bolshevik coup attempt led by Gennady Yanayev to save a moribund empire.
The Baltic nations, Poles, East Germans, Czechs and Slovaks, Romanians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Kazakhs, and all other captive nations of the evil empire also did their bit.
Yet we also know that Henry Kissinger, peddler of detente, helped prolong the evil empire’s life by providing it with easy credit and undeserved prestige.
All this is not to belittle the historic role of the United States as the only major power in history to be almost always on the right side in an international struggle. With such figures as George III, the Kaiser, Hitler, the Japanese shoguns, the Soviet “red tsars”, Kim Il-sung, Ayatollah Khomeini, Mullah Omar, and Saddam Hussein, to name but a few of the “baddies” who darkened the skies of their time, it would be difficult not to choose the United States.
In the case of Iran, Obama and his entourage invented a false choice between “doing another Iraq”, which meant a full-scale invasion that a majority of Americans wouldn’t support, or putting a moribund regime on life-support in the hope it might stop mumbling “Death to America!”
Many Iranians say Obama “betrayed Iran”.
I don’t agree. You can Only a friend can betray and Obama was never a friend of Iran. In the name of “anti-Imperialism”, he was an admirer of Khomeinists and their leftist cohorts.
Did Obama betray America?
That is also hard to answer because I am not persuaded that Obama was ever a true friend of America. Reading his various books it is hard not to notice a ressentiment that goes beyond a mere chip on the shoulder. I may be wrong but I think he tried to prolong the Khomeinist regime’s life precisely because he shared its anti-American posture. It may have been for the same reason that Noam Chomsky, the guru of the superficial left, supported the Islamic Republic as a “people-based system.” The latest uprising in Iran has shown how “people-based” that regime is, forcing even Chomsky to change with the wind.
Shaken by the uprising in Iran, even “Special Envoy” Robert Malley, a long-time apologist for mullahs, is trying to trim his sails.
The wind has also forced change on another advocate of “engaging the Islamic Republic”: Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Praised by former Islamic Foreign Minister Muhammad-Javad Zarif as “America’s leading strategic thinker”, Haas turned the CRF into a platform for propaganda for Tehran. There, Zarif was greeted as a rock star.
Today, Haas is calling for withdrawal from the 20-year-long talks with the mullahs, implicitly acknowledging the Iranian uprising as a game-changer. The irony in all this is that Iranians are, probably, the most pro-American nation in the world. They see the US as a beacon of freedom, modernity, technological prowess, and endless opportunities for self-betterment. They also admire it for having defied Iran’s two bitterest imperial enemies, England and Russia.
Even Khomeinist ruling cliques prefer the US to their new Russian and Chinese allies. According to an Islamic Majlis (ersatz parliament) report in 2019, some 3000 children of regime apparatchiki were studying in the US while over 1500 senior officials held the US “green cards” (a kind of permanent residence permit). A study by a Swiss-Iranian researcher shows that over 400 former Islamic Republic and Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) officials are employed in US universities, media, and think tanks.
Paradoxically, the mullahs, especially “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei, have put the US at the center of Iranian life, thus giving American policy towards Iran importance far beyond it deserves.
Last September Khamenei spelled out his four principles for what he called “The New Islamic Civilization based on the Spirit of Ashura” that he hopes to build for mankind as a whole.
The first of these was “Fighting America” followed by “Islamic unity”, “Strict morality” and “Economic self-reliance”.
Iranians don’t ask the US for any material or military help in their struggle to build a different Iran. All they ask is for the US to be true to its professed principle of never siding with oppressors.
Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry once told his chum Zarif that the US was sincere in wanting to save the Islamic leadership from drowning. Kerry didn’t know another Persian proverb: "Those destined to be hanged, won’t die by drowning."

Protests in Iran are part of a proud tradition of fighting for empowerment of women
Dr. Diana Galeeva/Arab News/October 22, 2022
The ongoing protests in Iran, which have been described by some as a “2022 Iranian revolution,” are led by women.
They are already being viewed as the latest addition to the list of famous demonstration by women throughout history around the globe. The 1949 protest, for example, when female cleaners in the UK, unhappy with low wages, marched from Temple Gardens in London to Inn Fields in Lincoln carrying signs that read “Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Women cleaners are next to starvation.”
Or the march in South Africa on Aug. 9, 1956 when a group of women protested a new Apartheid-era domestic travel law designed to segregate the population with slogans such as “You strike a woman, you strike a rock.”
The protest slogan in Iran today is “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi,” or “Woman, Life, Liberty.” It emerged following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sep. 16 while in the custody of the Iranian morality police, after she was detained for failing to follow strict rules for wearing the hijab head covering.
The protests have been met with state violence, with police beating protesters, including women, with batons and spraying them with tear gas. Meanwhile, women are removing and burning their hijabs, a potent act that a recent report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace headlined “Hijab in Iran: From religious to political symbol.”
Western and Iranian historians who have studied the political and social developments in Iran during the past 150 years argue that the records often overlook the role of Iranian women in the political process. Though often obscured, their influence has often been crucial.
The bravery of young women such as Fatemeh Amini and Mehrnoush Ebrahimi has proved instrumental to the history of Iran, as those deemed supposedly powerless have shown the willingness to sacrifice their lives for a cause. These two women were political prisoners and victims of the Shah’s regime during the 1970s. It is believed that the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its rallying cry for freedom was inspired by women like them who dared to oppose the Shah in an unprecedented show of resistance.
On March 8, 1979, International Women’s Day, shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a decree making the wearing of the veil mandatory for girls and women ages nine and over, a new wave of protests broke out. Thousands of women took to the streets, just weeks after the revolution that had toppled the Shah, chanting “We didn’t have a revolution to go backwards.”
In response to transformative legal and social regulations imposed in 1981 in Iran affecting women — including gender segregation in the workplace, on beaches, at schools and sporting events, followed by new laws governing divorce, inheritance, child custody, retribution and citizenship — feminist activists organized many campaigns in the years that followed.
The active role that women have played in the political and social life of Iran over many years is clear. The current protests have captured the attention of the world. UN Women issued a powerful statement about women’s rights in Iran, expressing full support for their right to protest against injustice without facing violence in return, their freedom to exercise control over their own bodies, including choice of dress, and other basic human rights in line with the UN Charter.
Canada hosted a virtual meeting of the world’s female foreign ministers on Thursday to discuss the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on the protests and the state of women’s and human rights in the country.
Many celebrities and other prominent public figures have voiced their support for women in Iran, with many taking to social media and some cutting their hair in solidarity. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, appearance at an event in Los Angeles this week wearing a shirt with the slogan ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ in Farsi.
Celebrities in the US have long been actively involved in efforts to empower women and give the issue greater visibility. It seems to have an effect; one recent high-profile example of this was the 2017 Women’s March, in which more than 5 million people took part across the country, according to some estimates. Worldwide participation was estimated at about 7 million.
The ongoing protests in Iran further illustrate the important role of women in the social and political spheres. Despite the uncertainty over what the outcome will be — whether in terms of regime change or modifications to the current government’s approach — the bravery of women such as Mahsa Amini, Sepideh Rashno and Nika Shakarami will always be associated with the Iranian protests of 2022.
Change requires time but the actions of the women who are protesting will continue to resonate and might ultimately provoke or sustain transformation and reform. Women’s voices, which are sometimes their only form of power, can carry further and louder than many governments would wish.
Brave women might empower themselves — but by speaking out, they empower others.
Dr. Diana Galeeva was an academic visitor to St. Antony’s College, Oxford University (2019–2022). She is the author of two books: “Qatar: The Practice of Rented Power” (Routledge, 2022) and “Russia and the GCC: The Case of Tatarstan’s Paradiplomacy” (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2023). She is also a co-editor of the collection “Post-Brexit Europe and UK: Policy Challenges Towards Iran and the GCC States” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). Twitter: @diana_galeeva