English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 27/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
The parable of the sower: But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’”.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13/18-23/:”‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’”.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 26-27/2021
Ministry of Health: 527 new infections, 6 deaths
Aoun Says No Return to Civil War, Warns against Political Interference in Port Probe
Patriarch Rahi from Baabda Palace: There is a constitutional and legal solution to the current crisis approved by the President of the Republic, Speaker Berri and Prime Minister Mikati
Berri meets Rahi in Ain El-Tineh
Rahi after meeting Mikati: There is a door to solution
Al-Rahi Meets 3 Presidents, Proposes Solution for Bitar Standoff
Geagea's Lawyers Claim Summoning is ‘Illegal,’ File Memo to Judge Akiki
Bukhari Condemns 'Scheme of Strife,' Supports Lebanon in 'Struggle for Freedom'
Miqati: We’re Looking Forward to Resumption of Cabinet Sessions
Sami Gemayel Slams Geagea Summoning as 'Bargaining' Attempt
Jumblat Says All Tayyouneh Shooters Should be Arrested
Hariri Says ‘Absurd’ Geagea Summoning Leads to Further Divisions
Wronecka: UN will remain by Lebanon’s side in translating fight against corruption into tangible action
Derian welcomes Diab: PM cannot appear before any court other than the Supreme Council for the trial of presidents and ministers
Israel Opens Border to Lebanese Agricultural Workers as 'Gesture of Goodwill'
Lebanese media minister George Kordahi stirs controversy yet again by defending Houthis
Saudi Arabia issues calming statement as Lebanese tensions rise over port explosion case
The Judge Leading Beirut Blast Probe: Discreet and Defiant
Global energy crisis overhanging/Sally Abou AlJoud/Now Lebanon/October 26/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 26-27/2021
US envoy: Iran nuclear deal effort is at ‘critical phase’
Possible Cyberattack Hits Gas Stations across Iran
Iraq’s pro-Iran factions wave threat of de facto ‘coup’ after losing elections
Iraq blames Iran for drastic decline in river flow
Sudanese Stand Ground against Coup as Condemnation Pours In
Three Sudanese Ambassadors Defect after Coup
Israel Holds Largest-Ever Air Force Drill with UAE Visit
Israel Envoy to Brief U.S. over Ban on Palestinian Groups
U.N. says Israel move outlawing Palestinian groups unjustified
Egypt's President Says he Won't Extend State of Emergency
Turkey's Erdogan Lifts Threat to Expel Western Ambassadors

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 26-27/2021
Parents Teaching or Government Indoctrination - You Choose/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/October 26/2021
Is it the fate of Sudan to be plagued by coups?/Hakim Marzouki/The Arab Weekly/October 26/2021
Sudan coup conjures ghosts of bloody past/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/October 26/2021
A new vision for global cooperation/Danilo Turk and Maria Fernanda Espinosa/Arab News/October 26/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 26-27/2021
Ministry of Health: 527 new infections, 6 deaths
NNA/October 26, 2021   
The Ministry of Public Health announced 527 new coronavirus infection cases, which raises the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 638,581.6 deaths have been recorded over the past 24 hours.

Aoun Says No Return to Civil War, Warns against Political Interference in Port Probe
Naharnet/October 26, 2021  
President Michel Aoun affirmed Tuesday that the repercussions of the latest security incidents are “folded,” and that “there is no going back to a civil war in Lebanon, despite the recurring disruptions.”
He stressed on the importance of setting up a mega centers to facilitate the voting process in the upcoming parliamentary polls “amid an economic crisis that might prevent many people from reaching their voting areas, leading to a very low turnout.”Regarding the Beirut port blast, Aoun emphasized on the judiciaries’ independence and said politicians should not interfere in the investigations’ course.

Patriarch Rahi from Baabda Palace: There is a constitutional and legal solution to the current crisis approved by the President of the Republic, Speaker Berri and Prime Minister Mikati
NNA/October 26, 2021 
Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al- Rai asserted, after his visit to President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, this afternoon at Baabda Palace, that “There is a convincing constitutional and legal solution to the current crisis that he presented it to the President, who in turn approved it.Patriarch Al-Rahi stressed the need to implement this solution as soon as possible, “So the government would return to convene, saying that matters should not be resolved in the street, and we have seen what happens when it is in the street”.
Statement of Patriarch Rahi: “I am happy with my visit to the President of the Republic after a day of visiting Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and said in both places that there are convincing constitutional and legal solutions. His Excellency the President approves this solution and it remains for His Excellency the matter of moving forward. I told you I am not authorized to mention the solution, but I am internally happy that there are solutions, and I believe that they will be implemented, and then we can gradually get out of the tragedy, whether it is the government’s disruption as a result of recent painful events or other problems experienced by people at all social economic, financial, educational and cultural levels. I want to say that my visit is not a judicial visit, but rather a visit to those directly concerned with political action, to confirm that politics should precede events, not follow them. Political action is by anticipating events and finding a way to address them before they escalate. Things are not resolved in the street. We saw what happens when it reached the street. Things are resolved politically and then we dispense with the street and conflicts. It is not desirable to take to the street when there is any problem, then the people will face the army and the security forces, as if the army, the judiciary and the people are enemies. I say to the political officials, that matters should not be left like this. Politics is the art of anticipating events and solving them before they escalate, and I hope that politicians will work according to this perspective, because with the contrary you see what is happening in the chaos of the street and the emerge of weapons, which are present. We cannot continue our life in Lebanon in this way”.
Questions & Answers:
Question: What was President Aoun's position on the issue of stopping Judge Tariq Bitar's and the summoning Dr. Samir Geagea for investigation?
Answer: “I spoke to him about the solution that was agreed upon with Speaker Berri and Premier Mikati based on the constitution, and President Aoun welcomed this solution as a constitutional solution.
I am not authorized to disclose it now, and we have to wait for the officials to implement it. What I want to say is that I am happy to discover that there is a solution, not in the street, nor with weapons, nor by imposing force , opinion, or by bullying. The solution is political and constitutional”.
Question: What is the solution to the disrupted cabinet sessions?
Answer: “If the solution we reached is implemented, all matters will be resolved. I hope it will be implement it as soon as possible”.
Question: Will we witness the implementation soon?
Answer: “This should happen as soon as possible, and I hope that it will be tomorrow, because it is a constitutional solution”.
Question: Supporters of the Lebanese Forces have a movement tomorrow in Maarab. Is there an attempt to contain this issue?
Answer: It should happen. I have been absent from Bkerke since the morning, and when I return I will make the necessary calls”.
Question: Will the government meet after implementing the solution?
Answer: “Yes, it will meet in light of the implementation of the solution, and all the rest will be resolved.
Question: What about the escalation and confrontations that took place in the last session of the Council of Ministers?
Answer: “It has become something in the past”. -- Presidency Press Office

Berri meets Rahi in Ain El-Tineh
NNA/October 26, 2021   
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi said in the wake of his meeting with House Speaker, Nabih Berri, that his visit to Ain El-Tineh was essential amid the difficult circumstances facing the country. The Prelate said that he discussed with his host the various developments, the judiciary issue and the disruption of the Council of Ministers’ sessions, which in his words, exacerbates the socio-economic crises. He said that they did not discuss the Tayouneh incident; yet, they stressed the freedom and independence of the judiciary. Rahi said he had no information about the summoning of the Lebanese Forces Party leader Samir Geagea, nor any details of the case, for which reason he could not give judgment. However, Rahi deplored such a summons.

Rahi after meeting Mikati: There is a door to solution
NNA/October 26, 2021  
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi underlined that there is a door to solutions, in remarks made following his meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whom he visited at the Grand Serail on Tuesday. "I am glad that we are not in a closed room. There is indeed a door to a solution," said the prelate. He called for ending the disruption of the governmental work, urging the council of ministers to convene. In response to a question about the Tayouneh events, Rahi highlighted the necessity to protect the judiciary, the law, and the Constitution to reach solutions.

Al-Rahi Meets 3 Presidents, Proposes Solution for Bitar Standoff
Naharnet/October 26, 2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday held meetings with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Miqati, during which he proposed a “solution” to resolve the political standoff over Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigations into the Beirut port blast.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Aoun, al-Rahi said “there is a convincing constitutional and legal solution for the current crisis,” noting that Aoun, Berri and Miqati have agreed to the proposal. “This solution needs to be implemented as soon as possible, after which the Cabinet would resume its meetings,” the patriarch added. “Things must not be resolved on the streets and we saw what happens when things reach the streets,” al-Rahi said. MTV meanwhile reported that al-Rahi’s “solution” is the same one that had been recently proposed by Berri.
The solution calls for parliament to refer ex-PM Hassan Diab and the former three ministers to the Higher Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers and for Bitar to continue his investigations without questioning such politicians. Earlier in the day, al-Rahi said “Speaker Berri has important ideas for solutions and I accept them and will work on them.”“We demand that the judiciary be free, independent and not subject to partisan or sectarian pressures,” he added. Asked about Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s summoning to appear before the army's Intelligence Directorate, al-Rahi condemned the move. “We do not know what information the judiciary has to request this summoning, but can we summon the head of a party if the supporters or members of a certain party commit killings or anything else?” he added. Noting that there is a “roadmap” to reach solutions, al-Rahi stressed that “there will be no bargaining between the Tayyouneh incident and the port explosion.”Ain el-Tineh sources meanwhile told MTV that Berri “has ideas for a complete solution involving politics, the judiciary and security” and that al-Rahi’s ideas were “identical.”
“The meeting was more than good and very frank,” the sources added.

Geagea's Lawyers Claim Summoning is ‘Illegal,’ File Memo to Judge Akiki
Naharnet/October 26, 2021
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's lawyers filed on Tuesday a memo to State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki, arguing that Geagea’s summoning is “illegal.”Some of the detainees’ lawyers also submitted a request to recuse Akiki but the latter refused to register the request, which is considered a violation of legal norms, media reports said. The lawyers then requested the judge’s recusal before the Court of Appeals, which will look into the request in the coming days.Geagea was on Monday summoned to testify as a “witness” in the case of the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh deadly incidents. He was notified through an Intelligence Directorate agent who posted a notice on a wall at his headquarters in Maarab.Geagea said he will not testify in the case if Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is not also summoned.

Bukhari Condemns 'Scheme of Strife,' Supports Lebanon in 'Struggle for Freedom'
Naharnet/October 26, 2021 
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan hosted Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari at Dar al-Fatwa to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region. During the meeting, Bukhari expressed Saudi Arabia’s keenness on the security and stability of Lebanon and its institutions and on Islamic-Christian coexistence, condemning civil strife. “There is no legitimacy for the scheme and rhetoric of strife,” Bukhari said, “nor for a project that disregards the Arabic identity of Lebanon.”The Saudi Ambassador also expressed his “sympathy and love” for the Lebanese who are “struggling for the freedom, sovereignty and Arabism of their country.”For his part, Mufti Daryan pointed out that the relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia “were and will remain stable and solid.” “KSA did not abandon Lebanon and its people,” he said, “despite the unfair stances against the kingdom by some Lebanese parties who only represent themselves.”

Miqati: We’re Looking Forward to Resumption of Cabinet Sessions
Naharnet /October 26, 2021 
Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday announced that he is “looking forward to the resumption of Cabinet sessions as soon as possible.”He added that Cabinet should carry on with “the necessary decisions to activate the work of commissions and committees and accomplish what is required from the government according to what it announced in its ministerial statement.”The premier also said that his government will oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections “with all due integrity,” describing the electoral juncture as an occasion to “renew political life and rotate power.”

Sami Gemayel Slams Geagea Summoning as 'Bargaining' Attempt
Naharnet/October 26, 2021 
Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel on Tuesday lashed out at the Military Court over the summoning of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, reminding that his party had repeatedly called for dissolving it. Kataeb had “submitted a proposal for amending the military judiciary’s law and limiting its jurisdiction to servicemen, due to the selectivity that the military judiciary uses with civilians,” Gemayel added. “The military judiciary has mostly been the repressive arm of police states that the Lebanese have resisted and triumphed over every time,” the Kataeb leader added. “After what Hizbullah’s secretary-general said and the direct threat that his assistant Wafiq Safa addressed to Judge (Tarek) Bitar, and after the pictures and videos that the Lebanese saw, it will be difficult to convince any objective observer that what is happening anew through the military judiciary, including the summoning of LF leader Samir Geagea, is not actually a mere attempt to create a bargaining card to bury the probe into the Beirut port case,” Gemayel went on to say.

Jumblat Says All Tayyouneh Shooters Should be Arrested
Naharnet/October 26, 2021  
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat tweeted Tuesday that all shooters in the Tayyouneh incident should be arrested without discrimination, for a transparent and just investigation away from selectivity. He claimed that this should be done "in order to give some hope to the citizen who is not involved in the conflict of local axes."“It is better to stop this fruitless and destructive political debate,” he said.

Hariri Says ‘Absurd’ Geagea Summoning Leads to Further Divisions
Naharnet/October 26, 2021   
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri tweeted Tuesday that summoning Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to appear before the Intelligence Directorate is “absurd.”“It leads to further divisions in the country and to using state administrations to serve revenge policies,” he said.
Hariri stressed on the importance of abiding with the requirements of national interest and on preserving civil peace, adding that he has deliberately chosen to be “absent” from the repercussions of the Tayyouneh incident, because he “refuses to engage in an absurd conflict.”“We refuse to line up on the frontlines of civil war and its sectarian divisions, and to return to the language of security sniping and seizing political opportunities,” he said. Geagea was on Monday summoned to testify as a “witness” in the case of the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh deadly incidents. He was notified through an Intelligence Directorate agent who posted a notice on a wall at his headquarters in Maarab. Geagea said he will not testify in the case if Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is not also summoned.

Wronecka: UN will remain by Lebanon’s side in translating fight against corruption into tangible action
NNA/October 26, 2021
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, said, in a tweet on Tuesday, "I was pleased to take part in the conference 'Towards Reform and Recovery: Implementing the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.' Committing to address corruption means choosing the path of reform and the way out of the crisis."She added: "It is, above all, prioritizing what the Lebanese people expect. The UN will remain by Lebanon’s side in translating the fight against corruption into tangible action."

Derian welcomes Diab: PM cannot appear before any court other than the Supreme Council for the trial of presidents and ministers
NNA/October 26, 2021 
Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdellatif Derian, received at Dar Al-Fatwa former PM Hassan Diab with whom he discussed the latest developments on the Lebanese scene. The media office of Dar Al-Fatwa confirmed in a statement that "the position of Mufti Derian regarding the investigations into the port of Beirut explosion remains unchanged: Either lifting the immunities off all officials without exception or adopting the constitutional and legal mechanisms in force in the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers."The statement added: "Mufti Derian expressed his keenness to achieve justice, and to take into account that PM Hassan Diab can only be subject to the Supreme Council for the trial of presidents and ministers, according to what the Lebanese Constitution stipulates. We cannot be satisfied with anything else, unless the parliament approves otherwise."

Israel Opens Border to Lebanese Agricultural Workers as 'Gesture of Goodwill'
Agence France Presse/October 26/2021
Israel has said it is opening its border to agricultural workers from neighboring Lebanon, with which it is technically at war, to pick olives. "In light of the economic situation in Lebanon, and as a gesture of goodwill to the Lebanese people, the IDF opened the border to agricultural workers from Mays al-Jabal, Aitaroun and Blida," an Israeli army statement read. "The IDF allowed the workers to cross the Blue Line, to a certain extent, allowing them to harvest olive trees in Israeli territory," the statement added, referring to the 2000 U.N.-drawn demarcation line. An Israeli army spokesman told AFP several groups had been allowed across since October 10. The statement said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) overseeing a buffer zone between the two states had "reported the gesture" to the Lebanese side. Tensions had been escalating afresh between the two sides since August, when Israel carried out its first air strikes on Lebanese territory in seven years and Hizbullah claimed a direct rocket attack on Israeli soil for the first time since 2019. In 2006, the most recent large-scale confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah left some 1,200 Lebanese dead, mainly civilians, as well as 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
That month-long engagement ended in a U.N.-backed ceasefire. Lebanon and Israel last year began historic U.N.-brokered talks on setting their maritime border, even though the discussions are currently stymied. Lebanon has for the past two years been mired in economic, political and social crisis and its residents are subject to draconian banking restrictions preventing easy access to money. Meanwhile the local currency has plummeted some 90 percent against the dollar on the black market. Around 80 percent of the population are struggling to escape poverty amid ballooning inflation and shortages of fuel, medicine and electricity.

Lebanese media minister George Kordahi stirs controversy yet again by defending Houthis
Arab News/October 26/2021
DUBAI: Once again, Lebanon’s information minister has triggered social media frenzy when a video of him wishing for a ‘temporary military coup’ to emanate and restructure the country’s political life, surfaced on Tuesday. “I wish that a military coup happens in Lebanon, yet a temporary military coup that comes to organize and reorganize the political life in Lebanon,” the current Lebanese information minister George Kordahi was heard telling a TV host in the short video. An independent online media platform, Megaphone posted on Twitter the two and a half minute video that has so far been viewed by nearly 6000 users. According to Lebanese news portal, Annahar online, the video was part of an interview conducted by a media platform called Barlamanasha3b [People’s Parliament] and the interview was carried out on August 5.
At the time, Kordahi had not yet been named as information minister in Prime Minister Najib Mekati’s cabinet that was formed during September. When the host opposed him by saying ‘there is nothing called temporary military coup’, Kordahi maintained saying: “Yes there is a temporary military coup for at least five years [in my opinion] then they reappoint the political regime.”When the TV host of Barlamanasha3b asked him about his position on what is happening in Yemen, Kordahi said ‘they’ [referring to Houthis] are defending themselves’. He questioned in a exclamatory tone, ‘Them! Are they assaulting anyone?’.
“In my opinion, this Yemeni war is absurd and should stop,” he said. Meanwhile a cohost asked him about the nonstop drone attacks carried out by Houthis against Saudi civilians and properties, he replied saying: “Yes but you could also see them as people … and see the damages that are being inflicted upon them while being bombarded at their homes, properties, villages, squares, funerals and weddings by warplanes … it is about time this war comes to an end.”Kordahi reiterated his opinion that ‘it is an absurd war’. The Lebanese minister said: “We cannot compare between the efforts of Hezbollah in liberation and liberating Lebanese lands and the efforts of Houthis who are defending themselves against foreign aggression.”According to the video, the cohost asked Kordahi if he considers the Saudis and Emiratis a ‘foreign aggression’.
“What?” he replied hesitantly as he moved his head forward before the cohost rephrased his question asking ‘do you consider Saudis and Emiratis as foreign aggression against Yemen?’“Aggression, for sure there is aggression. Not because it is Saudi or Emirati but yes there has been an aggression for the past five or six years or for how long!” said Kordahi before the female host corrected him saying its ‘eight years’.
“Eight years [of aggression] continuously against those people! Enough! What couldn’t be achieved within two or three years, you won’t achieve it within eight years. So this has become an absurd war that’s my opinion,” he concluded. Citing a Saudi source, MTV news posted on its twitter handle that the source said they were facing a severe diplomatic crisis because of Kordahi's offensive statements on Arab countries ‘regardless of the timing of the interview, but it indicated his intentions’. Beirut-based Washington Post correspondent Sarah Dadouch tweeted that the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon just retweeted several stories citing Saudi sources saying, “We are in front of a sharp diplomatic crisis because of the comments of Media Minister George Kordahi” Meanwhile, Emirati twitter user Hassan Sajwani tweeted “Lebanese Prime Minister: George Qardahi's words do not represent the government's official position on the Yemeni issue. - Al Arabiya TV” A former television presenter, Kordahi has stirred controversy in the past given his questionable opinions on matters ranging from Syrian President Bashar Assad to his views on harassment in the workplace.
A well-known and highly popular among a large segment of the Lebanese population, the 71-year-old media figure rose to fame when he hosted the pan-Arab version of “Who Wants to be Millionaire?” for several years. Arab News published earlier that his controversial political opinions might not have mattered then, but they sure do matter now that he is a member of Lebanon’s cabinet.

Saudi Arabia issues calming statement as Lebanese tensions rise over port explosion case
Najia Houssari/Arab News/October 26/2021
BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari told Lebanese religious figures on Tuesday that the Kingdom “cares for Lebanon’s security, stability, institutions and co-existence between Christians and Muslims.”The Saudi embassy’s media office said: “There is no legitimacy for the discourse of strife, nor for one that goes against Lebanon’s Arab identity.”This was the first Saudi statement since the bloody clashes in Tayouneh on Oct. 14. At least seven people were killed in the violence in Beirut amid a protest organized by Hezbollah and its allies against the lead judge probing last year’s blast at the city’s port. The protestors, gathered by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, demanded the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar from the investigation. According to the embassy’s statement, Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian “expressed his appreciation for the Kingdom, led by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for never abandoning Lebanon and its people, despite the unfair stances against the Kingdom by some Lebanese parties that only represent themselves.”
Sheikh Derian added that “the Saudi-Lebanese relations have always been and will remain solid regardless of any offensive speeches because our relations are above these speeches and Saudi Arabia will always see Lebanon as an Arab brotherly country.”
The statement comes after the Intelligence Directorate summoned the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, to the Defense Ministry on Wednesday as part of the investigation into the bloodshed in Tayouneh.
The summoning was the motivation for Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi’s spontaneous visits on Tuesday to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun.
Al-Rahi denounced “the summoning of Geagea only by the Intelligence Directorate to testify.”
Charles Jabbour from the Lebanese Forces party told Arab News that “Geagea will not appear at the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.
“They should start with summoning Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah. All parties should give testimonies, beginning with the party that called for the demonstration. Only when a judge dares to summon Nasrallah, will we be able to talk about a state and a judiciary in Lebanon.”
The move to summon Geagea was condemned by several political figures. Former Premier Saad Hariri refused “to engage in an absurd conflict and the frontlines of a civil war and sectarian divisions.”
He added: “Announcing that Dr. Geagea was informed to appear before the Intelligence Directorate via a plastered notification is absurd and leads the country into further division along with using state machinery for revenge politics.”
Former Premier Fouad Siniora also denounced “the bias of the judicial authorities in the military court over the deplorable Tayouneh events and the continuing violations of the constitutions by those who were entrusted with the task of preserving and protecting it.”
Siniora rejected “the practices seeking to use the judiciary for reprisals against political opponents, and not for its main mission: To seek the truth and achieve justice.”
Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized the “selectivity instead of a transparent and just investigation for a comprehensive justice.”
He said: “All those who fired shots in the Tayouneh events should be arrested, without discrimination, and this destructive and futile political dispute must be ended.”
Samy Gemayel, head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, announced his rejection to “all the means Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have resorted to in hampering the investigation into the Beirut port blast.”
Hezbollah accused Geagea of firing the first shot on Oct. 14 at the demonstrators who penetrated the anti-Hezbollah and Christian-majority Ain Remaneh area.
Former Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who is also a defendant in the Beirut port explosion investigation, visited Sheikh Derian on Tuesday, reiterating his demand “to either lift immunity from everyone without exception, or adopt the legal and constitutional mechanisms in force in the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.”So far, all the politicians who have been accused of being involved in the Beirut port blast have declined to appear before Judge Bitar.
Amal Movement and Hezbollah ministers have refused to attend Cabinet sessions unless Judge Bitar is removed and the investigations into Tayouneh are halted, causing a governmental paralysis at a time when Lebanon is in desperate need of reforms to unblock the international aid that would lessen its dire economic situation.
Prime Minister Mikati hoped on Tuesday that “Cabinet meetings will resume as soon as possible to make the decisions required to activate the work of commissions and committees and do what is needed from the government.”
Mikati added that he hoped his government would supervise “the parliamentary elections with full integrity, to enable these elections to renew the political life in Lebanon.”
The joint parliamentary committees held a session on Tuesday and voted to keep the electoral law as it was, thus rejecting Aoun’s proposal to make amendments. Aoun had objected to holding the elections on March 27 and to the proposals to change the expatriate voting formula by canceling the six seats allocated for Lebanese voters who live abroad.

The Judge Leading Beirut Blast Probe: Discreet and Defiant
Associated Press/October 26/2021
For eight months, he has quietly investigated one of the world's worst non-nuclear explosions with only four assistants — and a lot of powerful detractors trying to block him. In that time, Judge Tarek Bitar has become a household name in Lebanon and a staple on every news bulletin.
For many Lebanese, Bitar's investigation of last year's massive Beirut port explosion is their only hope for truth and accountability in a country that craves both. Billboards in Beirut showing a fist holding a gavel read: "Only Tarek can take our revenge," a play on Arabic words using the judge's last name. But to the country's entrenched political class, the enigmatic 47-year-old has turned into a nightmare. Politicians have united as they rarely do to remove him from his post, apparently deeming him a threat much greater than the country's collapsing economy, the state's empty coffers and burgeoning unemployment, poverty and public anger. Bitar has not shied away from summoning a dozen senior former and current government officials, some of them on charges of criminal negligence and homicide with probable intent. He issued arrest warrants for two former ministers when they refused to appear before him.
More than 215 people died in the Aug. 4, 2020 port explosion, caused by the detonation of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse for years, apparently with the knowledge of senior politicians and security officials who did nothing about it. The explosion also injured 6,000 people and destroyed parts of the city.
More than a year after the government launched a judicial investigation, nearly everything else remains unknown - from who ordered the shipment to why officials ignored repeated warnings of the danger. But the low-profile Bitar — there are only a few public pictures of him — has earned the trust of many Lebanese, including relatives of the victims. "We have big faith, up to 90%, that Judge Bitar will lead us to justice," said George Bezdjian, whose daughter Jessica, a nurse, was killed in the explosion. Bezdjian and others who have met Bitar describe a soft-spoken, calm and courageous man who has stayed clear of political affiliations or nepotism and displayed professionalism and doggedness. On a recent day there was no electricity in the judge's office. In the humid room, Bitar and two assistants shared one computer monitor, a legal expert familiar with the case said.
"It is quite shocking when you walk into his office and there is one computer screen and two people helping him ... as he is trying to solve the biggest crime in Lebanon's modern history," the legal expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity to divulge details from the private meeting. The second judge to lead the case, Bitar was appointed in February. His work has been challenged every step of the way. At first, suspected officials took cover behind parliamentary or professional immunity, declining to appear before him. They accused him of singling out some officials and not others, in an apparent attempt to stoke sectarian grudges in a country divided along sectarian lines. Then they sued him and tried to discredit him, saying he showed bias and was allied with foreign powers.
Earlier this month, the call to remove him finally came — from Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, arguably the country's most powerful man. An anti-Bitar protest by supporters of Hizbullah and the allied Shiite group Amal, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, escalated into the worst violence the capital has seen in years. Seven people were killed and accusations followed that Bitar was a threat to social peace. "The investigative judge Bitar has become a real problem in Lebanon," Hizbullah deputy leader Naim Kassim said Saturday. "Because of him we nearly had a major strife," he said, in the clearest attempt yet to tie Bitar to civil unrest.
Hatem Madi, a veteran judge and prosecutor, said he never before witnessed such a standoff between the political class and the judiciary. The new government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati is already in a deadlock over how to respond to calls for removal of Bitar. Meanwhile, Bitar has not backed down, reissuing his summonses to senior officials. He now moves around with guards. The judge has been open to visitors and questions about the legal process, but he is careful not to divulge his next moves, the legal expert said. Born in 1974 to a secular Catholic family from northern Lebanon, Bitar studied law at the Lebanese University in Beirut and later trained at a judicial academy to graduate as a judge. He was appointed a public attorney in northern Lebanon in 2012, a post he retained until 2017, when he was appointed head of the Beirut Criminal Court. There, he issued several sentences in cases that shook Lebanon, such as the shooting at close range of a young man following a traffic accident. He also fined private hospital doctors a hefty sum for a case of malpractice that cost a young girl her four limbs. Bitar was first approached by the former justice minister to take the post soon after the port explosion. Realizing the size of the challenge, Bitar told people he met that he asked for a bigger team of assistants for the probe. He also requested that the immunity of lawmakers be lifted so he could question them. No one replied to his requests, which would have required legal amendments, the legal expert said.
The same minister approached Bitar again in February after his predecessor was removed by a court order following legal challenges from politicians. He agreed after realizing he was the only candidate. Relatives of victims of the port blast described Bitar as deeply sympathetic to their quest for justice. One man said the judge told him he approached the case as if his own daughter had been killed. Bezdjian said Bitar told the families that he feels a responsibility because of those killed, wounded and displaced and because "half of my capital was destroyed."

Global energy crisis overhanging
Sally Abou AlJoud/Now Lebanon/October 26/2021
Global energy crunch is looming over crisis-wracked Lebanon already staggering from its own energy shortfalls. A crippling energy crisis exacerbated by a plummeting national currency and a defective power grid. Sky-high year-on-year inflation rates. A shrinking economy without respite. A dearth of sustainable solutions. And a global energy crisis with the potential to intensify Lebanon’s compounded crises looming on the horizon. The world is gripped by an energy crunch, rooted in the pains to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The easing of coronavirus-related travel restrictions and the reopening of economies spurred the demand for energy which exceeded supply, resulting in soaring natural gas and oil prices manifested in higher utility bills, threats to power supply and sticker shock products around the world.
Tormented by its own energy crunch characterized by paralyzing fuel shortages and round-the-clock power cuts, Lebanon endured endless queues at gas stations this summer, astronomical fuel prices and utility bills, and an interannual consumer price inflation rate that rose to 144.1 percent last month.
Swelled-up costs of natural gas rose more than 250 percent in Europe and 175 percent in Asia, propelling oil prices to close above $80 a barrel for the first time since 2014.
The impact of rising energy prices will seep into Lebanon, experts say, as the country’s economy is highly contingent on imports and fossil fuel supply security.
“Rising prices of energy products will translate to higher inflation [rates] and being an importing country, Lebanon will be importing further inflation from abroad,” said Danielle Hatem, a financial advisor who untangles the complicated business world and Lebanon’s acute crises on her Instagram page.
The country might experience a shortage in food production, factories can be expected to shut down, and foodstuffs costs will soar even higher, not only due to the currency crash but also as a consequence of the global rising energy prices, Hatem added.
Since the inception of the financial crisis in 2019, Lebanon has been massively reliant on the central bank’s fuel subsidy system, which drained its foreign reserves and incentivized fuel-hoarding and smuggling to war-torn Syria.
As of the beginning of summer, government funds allotted for fuel diminished, and petroleum prices gradually skyrocketed reaching a 12-fold increase through last week.
Fuel prices paid by the Lebanese are now squarely tied to the international market and the global energy crisis is only going to fan the flames.
“Prices of fuel and gas are going to increase and this happens at times when there’s a kind of elimination of subsidies without any safety nets to citizens,” independent energy policy consultant Jessica Obeid said. “This is going to have high economic implications.”
Short-term solutions
In a bid to ease Lebanon’s chronic power cuts, averaging around 20 hours or more depending on the municipality, several energy deals have been arranged with countries in the region.
Iraq is currently providing Lebanon with one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil over the course of a year in exchange for medical services. The intricate swap deal has the potential to deliver four hours of power per day. In a U.S.-backed framework financed by the World Bank in a loan form, Egypt will supply the crisis-hit country with natural gas via the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP) that passes through Jordan and Syria. This energy plan, still under negotiation and restricted by U.S. sanctions on the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, calls for either an exemption from Washington or navigation of the sanctions where Syria is not directly paid for the service it’s providing.
In the meantime, while Hatem predicts these deals will provide Lebanon with around half a day‘s worth of electricity, she regards the arrangements as short-term solutions since the government is not considering improving the power grid’s infrastructure. “That’s where the real investment should be, everything else is band-aids, especially the Iraqi deal — it would temporarily increase the power supply.”
Lebanon will transition to natural gas supplied through AGP to power Deir Ammar plant in northern Lebanon, which generates 465 megawatts of power, Obeid told NOW.  “We don’t know how much we are going to pay for the gas from Egypt — the government hasn’t been transparent about the gas deal,” Obeid said. “It should communicate to the public the details of this agreement, especially the price which will include transit fees.”While this might be due to the fact that natural gas prices aren’t steady in the wake of the global energy crunch, Obeid said there are fears of running power plants on an inefficient and pollutant gas instead of the primary type on grounds of natural gas price hikes. “We don’t know how much we are going to pay for the gas from Egypt — the government hasn’t been transparent about the gas deal,” Jessica Obeid, energy policy consultant
Experts believe both deals are merely interim arrangements and the implementation of stringent reforms to the power sector is urgent.
According to energy governance expert and advisory board member of The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI), Diana Kaissy, the government ought to push for several measures to set the power sector on the right path, some of which are: revamping the electricity grid, transitioning to natural gas — a cleaner form of energy — adjusting and controlling tariffs and appointing a new independent board of directors at the state-owned electricity company which should have been done in 2002 upon rectifying law 462 that regulates the electricity sector. Two weeks ago, firefighters doused flames that broke out at the Zahrani oil installation, near one of Lebanon’s main power stations, preventing it from spreading to nearby fuel tanks and triggering an explosion. Energy Minister Walid Fayad said the fire erupted as a result of an “error” while transferring gasoline from one tank to another, according to the National News Agency. This development accentuates the antiquated and vulnerable infrastructure of Lebanon’s electricity sector.
“Certain leaks are taking place because of lack of maintenance,” Kaissy added. This came after the two main power grids, Zahrani and Deir Ammar, shut down two days prior on account of running out of fuel. Furthermore, the energy ministry’s role includes monitoring the quality of commodities, namely the red-based gasoline, which people have been doubting whether the premium 98-octane unleaded is adulterated or not, Kaissy said. Transitioning to renewable energy As the world heads towards a global energy crisis, the push for renewable energy given its myriad merits overshadows, but developing countries like Lebanon might not have the advantage of an energy transition in the near future. “It’s too early for us to speak about an energy transition simply because we don’t have electricity to start with — you speak about [renewable energy] when you have something to transition from,” Kaissy told NOW. “This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be taking cleaner forms of energy into account.”
“When we generate electricity through solar, wind, or water, it’s going to be transmitted to houses through the electricity grid which is not functioning in Lebanon,” Kaissy added. In the sunlit Mediterranean country, solar energy contributes to only 0.26 percent of the state-generated electricity, with hydropower being the most established renewable energy resource in Lebanon representing around 4.5 percent. “When we generate electricity through solar, wind, or water, it’s going to be transmitted to houses through the electricity grid which is not functioning in Lebanon,” Diana Kaissy, energy governance expert, LOGI
Investing in renewable energy would help the country reduce currency outflow as Lebanon’s reliance on diesel and fuel is what depleted Lebanon’s foreign reserves, Danielle Hatem said. A set target to generate 30 percent of Lebanon’s electricity from renewable energy by 2030 is attainable, Obeid believes, since the process would bank on international support.  “It is easier to get investments for renewable energy rather than petroleum, oil and gas,” she said. “There are so many different donors and financial institutes that Lebanon can tap into but it needs political will and strong institutions.”
It would take the country around three years to remedy its power sector through improved governance and solid regulations, said Obeid. “But we are not seeing this yet.”Sally Abou AlJoud is a multimedia journalist with @NOW_Leb. She is on Twitter @JoudSally.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 26-27/2021
US envoy: Iran nuclear deal effort is at ‘critical phase’
Reuters/October 27, 2021
WASHINGTON: Efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are at a “critical phase” and Tehran’s reasons for avoiding talks are wearing thin, a US official has said while raising the possibility of further diplomacy even if the deal cannot be resuscitated. US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told reporters Washington was increasingly worried Tehran would keep delaying a return to talks, but said it had other tools to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and would use them if need be. “We’re in a critical phase of the efforts to see whether we can revive the JCPOA,” Malley said, referring to the deal formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “We’ve had a hiatus of many months and the official reasons given by Iran for why we’re in this hiatus are wearing very thin.”While saying that the window for both the US and Iran to resume compliance with the agreement would eventually close, Malley said the US would still be willing to engage in diplomacy with Iran even as it weighed other options to prevent Tehran from getting the bomb. He also hinted at the economic benefits that might flow from Iran’s return to the agreement, under which Tehran took steps to limit its nuclear program in return for relief from US, EU and UN economic sanctions. While saying the window for returning to the JCPOA will not be open forever because eventually Iran’s nuclear advances will have overtaken it, Malley said Washington would continue to look for diplomatic arrangements with Tehran. “You can’t revive a dead corpse,” he said, stressing that the US had not reached that point yet. “We will continue to pursue diplomacy, even as we pursue other steps if we face a world in which we need to do that.” Malley refused to describe those other steps. Since talks in Vienna on reviving the deal adjourned in June, Washington has increasingly spoken of pursuing other options, a phrase that hints at the possibility, however remote, of military action. The envoy, who spent last week consulting US partners in the Gulf and in Europe, emphasized that all sides had “a strong preference for diplomacy, for an effort to revive the JCPOA and, were that to happen, to find ways to engage Iran economically.”

Possible Cyberattack Hits Gas Stations across Iran
Associated Press/October 26, 2021
Gas stations across Iran on Tuesday suffered through a widespread outage of a government system managing fuel subsidies, stopping sales in an incident that one semiofficial news agency briefly referred to as a cyberattack. An Iranian state television account online shared images of long lines of cars waiting to fill up in Tehran. An Associated Press journalist also saw lines of cars at a Tehran gas station, with the pumps off and the station closed. State TV did not explain what the issue was, but said Oil Ministry officials were holding an "emergency meeting" to solve the technical problem. The semiofficial ISNA news agency, which called the incident a cyberattack, said it saw those trying to buy fuel with a government-issued card through the machines instead receive a message reading "cyberattack 64411." Most Iranians rely on those subsidies to fuel their vehicles, particularly amid the country's economic problems.
While ISNA didn't acknowledge the number's significance, that number is associated to a hotline run through the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that handles questions about Islamic law. ISNA later removed its reports.Farsi-language satellite channels abroad published videos apparently shot by drivers in Isfahan, a major Iranian city, showing electronic billboards there reading: "Khamenei! Where is our gas?" Another said: "Free gas in Jamaran gas station," a reference to the home of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the outage. However, the use of the number "64411" mirrored an attack in July targeting Iran's railroad system that also saw the number displayed. Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point later attributed the train attack to a group of hackers that called themselves Indra, after the Hindu god of war. Indra previously targeted firms in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has held onto power through Iran's intervention in his country's grinding war. Iran has faced a series of cyberattacks, including one that leaked video of abuses its notorious Evin prison in August. The country disconnected much of its government infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus — widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation — disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the country's nuclear sites in the late 2000s.

Iraq’s pro-Iran factions wave threat of de facto ‘coup’ after losing elections
The Arab Weekly/October 26/2021
BAGDHAD--Iraqi political analysts take seriously the threats made by pro-Iranian factions loyal to the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation forces- PMF) to escalate their moves against the expected election results. These Shia factions are mulling alternatives aimed at overwhelming the authorities on the ground, if the new count of votes does not allow them to win the largest bloc in parliamentand thus control a big share of the upcoming government. Sources in Baghdad that the leaders of the pro-Iran factions, presumed to be the biggest losers in the October 10 elections, are preparing to launch several escalatory moves, starting with provoking “popular protests,” that could evolve into a de facto coup on the ground with the PMF using their 180,000 armed members along with their thousands of affiliated troops that were integrated into the various branches of the armed forces.
The sources say the moves will not take the shape of a traditional armed coup but rather block the political process through an uninterrupted display of force, in a similar fashion to the tactics used by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Hashed is seen as possessing sufficient military power to render the Iraqi state totally unable to use its authority. The PMF’s ultimate aim is to force a change of the results by force. Politically, the “Shia coordination” outfit bringing together forces loyal to Iran, led by the leader of the Dawa Party, Nuri al-Maliki, is trying to obtain the largest possible number of parliamentary seats to constitute the “largest bloc” and thus form the government.
But in its attempt, it will have to reckon with the Sadrist movement, which believes it has already won the “largest bloc” in parliament and has earned the right to begin consultations on the formation of the cabinet. Sadrist movement Officials say that “stealing” this right from them will have “dire consequences”, and that any government not formed by Muqtada al-Sadr will fall just as the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi fell in December 2019. Another possibility is that the government formed under the Sadrist umbrella be expanded in a way to guarantee the disgruntled Shia factions their share of ministries in the cabinet. The PMF considers this to be the minimum acceptable option. The Electoral Commission is still conducting a recount of about 300 electoral stations, but this is not expected to prevent the defeat suffered by the Hashed al-Shaabi and its associated parties.
The losing bloc of Shia parties is wary that a government in which it does not have a significant share may mean opening cases of corruption and assassinations against it, and may even push for the dissolution of the PMF militias as an independent military force, and impose their integration into the Iraqi army units, especially that the leader of the Sadrist movement had threatened to do so in the past.
The Electoral Commission points out that the results have been already endorsed by international observers and recognised by the UN Security Council as being free and fair. The UN Security Council has issued a statement highlighting the transparency of the electoral process and expressing its regret over the threats made by the losing forces against the UN mission in Iraq. The European Union issued a similar position that included support for the election results and a denunciation of “anti-democratic” challenges to ,the election outcome. However, these positions have not prevented the losing factions from mobilising their supporters on the outskirts of the Green Zone and threatening to storm the area. Armed groups affiliated with the Hashed are deploying in several regions of the country, in a show of force, where they cut off the main streets, set fires and brandished weapons. The leaders of the “coordination” outfit who met at Maliki’s home issued a statement calling on President Barham Salih, to intervene – as a “guardian of the constitution” – so as to “save the country” from “dangerous repercussions” if the election results are confirmed. But analysts say Salih is neither able nor willing to intervene. Short of a presidential intervention, the protesting Shia factions view their coup option as a “realistic solution” that prevents Sadr from monopolising power at their expense, and prevents popular protests from coming out again to demand the overthrow of the regime.

Iraq blames Iran for drastic decline in river flow
AFP/October 27, 2021
DARBANDIKHAN, Iraq: Iraqi officials warned Tuesday of a drastic drop in the flow of water in a river from Iran due to low rainfall and dam-building in the neighboring Islamic republic. The Sirwan river begins in Iran, flowing to Darbandikhan Dam in northeastern Iraq before going through the rural province of Diyala and joining the Tigris. “There has been an unprecedented decline,” said Rahman Khani, the dam’s director. “The water level has fallen by 7.5 meters in one year.” The drop was attributed to low precipitation and “the building of more dams in Iran which retain water,” he told AFP.
Khani said the dam had this year received 900 million cubic meters of water — a fraction of the annual average of 4.7 billion cubic meters. The decline had led to a 30 percent fall in electricity production from the dam, he added, warning against the impact on agriculture in Diyala province. Iraq — which relies on Iran for much of its electricity — has suffered extreme water shortages in many areas in recent years. This is owing in large part to upstream dam-building in Iran and Turkey, but also to factors relating to climate change and droughts, which have affected the wider region.
The situation has prompted Iraq’s Water Resources Minister, Mahdi Al-Hamdani, to call on his government to file a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. A foreign ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the matter. Aoun Thiab, a senior adviser at the water ministry, said Iran was “violating international law by diverting a river flow” based on the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention on the use of water that crosses international borders. Thiab acknowledged however that seeking justice would be “a political decision and not a technical one.
“The waters of the Sirwan river have been completely cut off,” he told AFP. Iran has also its own decline in water levels due to drought, said a report from the country’s space agency cited by Mehr news agency. On Tuesday, an official said Tehran was facing its worst drought in 50 years as he reported a 97 percent drop in monthly rainfall compared with last year. The Iranian capital has had 0.4 millimeters of rain since Sept. 23, compared with 14.3 mm over the same period in 2020, said Mohammad Shahriari, deputy director of the company that supplies the region. “Groundwater and surface water are at a critical state and there has not been a similar drought for the past 50 years,” he was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency. In July, deadly protests broke out in the drought-hit southwestern province of Khuzestan after people took to the streets to vent their anger over water shortages.

Sudanese Stand Ground against Coup as Condemnation Pours In
Agence France Presse/October 26, 2021
Angry Sudanese stood their ground Tuesday in street protests against a coup, as international condemnation of the military's takeover poured in ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting. "No to military rule", "The revolution will go on" and "Returning to the past is not an option", they chanted, a day after the armed forces seized power and reportedly shot dead at least four people. On Monday soldiers detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, his ministers and civilian members of Sudan's ruling council, who have been heading a transition to full civilian rule following the 2019 overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. The subsequent declaration of a state of emergency and dissolution of the government provoked an immediate international backlash with the United States, a key backer of Sudan's transition, strongly condemning the military's actions and suspending millions of dollars in aid.
The U.N. demanded Hamdok's "immediate release", while diplomats in New York told AFP the Security Council was expected to meet to discuss the crisis on Tuesday. Announcing the state of emergency, Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army had taken the actions it had "to rectify the revolution's course". Meanwhile, Sudan's ambassadors to Belgium, France and Switzerland announced their defection on Tuesday. They condemned the coup and declared their diplomatic missions as "embassies of the Sudanese people and their revolution", according to the information ministry. Despite the previous day's deadly violence, protesters remained on the streets of Khartoum overnight and into Tuesday. Shops around the capital were shuttered following calls for a campaign of civil disobedience. "We will only leave when the civilian government is restored," said 32-year-old demonstrator Hisham al-Amin.
'Betrayal'
Clashes erupted in Khartoum after Burhan's speech on Monday. Internet services were cut across the country and roads into Khartoum were shut, before soldiers stormed the state broadcaster in the capital's twin city of Omdurman. Demonstrators blocked streets with burning tires and bricks, and marched waving the Sudanese flag and chanting anti-coup slogans. The information ministry said soldiers "fired live bullets on protesters... outside the army headquarters". At least four demonstrators were killed and about 80 wounded, said the independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern over the reported use of live ammunition against protesters. State Department spokesman Ned Price said U.S. officials had been unable to contact the detained prime minister. The United States has suspended $700 million in aid. A troika of countries previously involved in mediating Sudanese conflicts -- the U.S., UK and Norway -- said "the actions of the military represent a betrayal of the revolution, the transition, and the legitimate requests of the Sudanese people for peace, justice and economic development".UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the detention of the civilian leaders was "unlawful" and condemned "the ongoing military coup d'etat".The European Union, African Union and Arab League also expressed concern.
'Existential moment'
Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, is in jail in Khartoum following a corruption conviction. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide over the civil war in Darfur. A 2019 power-sharing deal after his fall saw Sudan ruled by a Sovereign Council of civilian and military representatives tasked with overseeing a transition to a full civilian government. Jonas Horner from the International Crisis Group think tank called the coup an "existential moment for both sides". "This kind of intervention... really puts autocracy back on the menu," he said. In recent weeks, the cracks in the leadership had grown wide. Hamdok had previously described splits in the transitional government as the "worst and most dangerous crisis" facing the transition. In recent days, two factions of the movement that spearheaded demonstrations against Bashir have protested on opposite sides of the debate -- one group calling for military rule, the other for a full handover of power. Tensions have long simmered within the movement, known as Forces for Freedom and Change, but divisions ratcheted up after what the government said was a failed coup on September 21 this year. One FFC leader warned of a "creeping coup" at the weekend during a news conference in Khartoum that was attacked by a mob. The mainstream FFC appealed on Monday for a nationwide campaign of "civil disobedience."

Three Sudanese Ambassadors Defect after Coup
Agence France Presse/October 26, 2021
Three Sudanese ambassadors in Europe announced their defection Tuesday, condemning the military coup in their country and declaring their embassies as belonging to the "Sudanese people," the information ministry said. "We completely align ourselves with the heroic opposition (to the coup) followed by the entire world," the envoys to France, Belgium and Switzerland said, declaring their missions as "embassies of the Sudanese people and their revolution."

Israel Holds Largest-Ever Air Force Drill with UAE Visit
Agence France Presse/October 26, 2021
Israel is holding its largest-ever air force exercise this week, joined by several Western countries and India, with the United Arab Emirates' air force chief set to inspect the drills. Amir Lazar, chief of Israeli air force operations, told reporters the drills "don't focus on Iran", but army officials have said the Islamic republic remains Israel's top strategic threat and at the center of much of its military planning. Israel has held the "Blue Flag" exercises every two years since 2013 in the Negev desert.
Some preliminary exercises began last week.
Other nations taking part this year include France, the United States and Germany, as well as Britain, whose aircraft flew over Israeli territory for the first time since the Jewish state's creation in 1948. With more than 70 fighter jets -- including Mirage 2000s, Rafales and F-16s -- and about 1,500 personnel participating, the drills are the largest-ever held in Israel, Lazar told reporters at the southern Ovda airbase. Ibrahim Nasser Mohammed Al Alawi, commander of the United Arab Emirates air force, landed in Israel on Monday, the Israeli army said in a statement. While UAE aircraft are not flying in the drills, Lazar said the visit from the country's air force chief was "very significant". Agreements that saw Israel normalize ties last year with several Arab countries, including the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, "opened a variety of opportunities", Lazar said Sunday. Israel "was looking forward to hosting the Emirates air force" in the future, he added. Shared concern over common foe Iran was widely seen as a factor that spurred the UAE towards Israel. Lazar said the "Blue Flag" exercises in part aimed to synchronise different types of aircraft, piloted by various countries to counter armed drones and other threats. In addition to Iran's nuclear programme, Israel has sought to sound the alarm over a fleet of drones it claims Tehran is dispatching to its proxies across the Middle East, including in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. Iran is focused "on building an army of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)", Lazar said. It was possible that "some day" the nations participating in the drill would be "working together" to counter the Iranian threat, he added. Iran and Israel have exchanged sharp rhetoric recently, against the backdrop of efforts to renew talks to revive a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Israel Envoy to Brief U.S. over Ban on Palestinian Groups
Associated Press/October 26, 2021
Israel is sending an envoy to Washington amid a deepening rift with the Biden administration over six outlawed Palestinian rights groups, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday. Israel last week designated the prominent Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations, sparking international criticism and repeated assertions by Israel's top strategic partner, the United States, that there had been no advance warning of the move. Israel's move marked a major escalation of its decades-long crackdown on political activism in the occupied territories. The U.S. State Department has said it would seek more information on the decision. Joshua Zarka, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, told Israeli Army Radio the envoy would "give them all the details and to present them all the intelligence" during his visit in the coming days. Zarka said he personally updated U.S. officials on Israel's intention to outlaw the groups last week, and said he believed Washington wanted a more thorough explanation of the decision. The rights groups decision is emerging as a test of the relationship between the Biden administration and Israel's new government, which was formed in June by eight politically disparate parties. The coalition ended the 12-year rule of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's hardline government enjoyed broad support from the Trump administration, which moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, largely allowed settlement building to continue unfettered, cut funding to the Palestinians and presented a vision for the Mideast that sided with Israel's positions. The Biden administration has mostly restored traditional foreign policy toward Israel and the Palestinians. But with the U.S. focused on other pressing domestic and foreign issues, the conflict was expected to take a backseat. The fractious coalition government has also sought to minimize the Palestinian issue, agreeing not to make major moves that might threaten its stability. But in recent weeks, it has ramped up focus on the conflict, offering a number of goodwill gestures to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and also pushing forward on building thousands of new homes for Jewish settlers.
Most dramatic was the decision on the civil society groups, which has rattled the coalition and returned focus to the conflict and Israel's decades-long occupation of territories the Palestinians seek for a future state. Israel has for years alleged the groups' links to a Palestinian militant group but even under Netanyahu's hardline government, stopped short of labelling them terrorist groups. The declaration appeared to pave the way for Israel to raid their offices, seize assets, arrest staff and criminalize any public expressions of support for the groups. Most of the targeted organizations document alleged human rights violations by Israel as well as the Palestinian Authority, both of which routinely detain Palestinian activists.The designated groups are Al-Haq, a human rights group founded in 1979, as well as the Addameer rights group, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

U.N. says Israel move outlawing Palestinian groups unjustified
Agence France Presse/October 26, 2021
Israel's designation of six leading Palestinian civil society groups as outlawed "terrorist organizations" is an unjustified attack, the U.N. human rights chief said Tuesday. The Jewish state said its move last week was due to their alleged financing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It accused the six of working covertly with the leftist militant group, which pioneered plane hijackings in the 1970s to highlight the Palestinian cause and is blacklisted by several Western governments. Michelle Bachelet said the decision was an attack on human rights defenders, on freedoms of association, opinion and expression and on the right to public participation. She called for the move to be immediately revoked. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said anti-terrorism legislation should not be applied to legitimate human rights and humanitarian aid activities. "The organizations... face far-reaching consequences as a result of this arbitrary decision, as do the people who fund them and work with them," said Bachelet. "The crucial work they perform for thousands of Palestinians risks being halted or severely restricted," she added. She said the decision would have "a chilling effect" on human rights defenders. "Claiming rights before a U.N. or other international body is not an act of terrorism, advocating for the rights of women in the occupied Palestinian territory is not terrorism, and providing legal aid to detained Palestinians is not terrorism," Bachelet said. She added that no evidence has been presented to support the allegations against the six groups, nor had any public process been conducted to establish the accusations.

Egypt's President Says he Won't Extend State of Emergency
Associated Press/October 26, 2021
Egypt's president has said he will not extend the state of emergency that had been imposed across the country for more than four years. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi announced his decision in a Facebook post. He said the move came because "Egypt has become an oasis of security and stability in the region."
Egypt imposed a state of emergency in April 2017, following deadly church bombings and attacks on Coptic Christians that have killed more than 100 people and wounded scores. The government extended the order every three months after that. The state of emergency allows for arrests without warrants, the swift prosecution of suspects and the establishment of special courts.The emergency measure technically ended over the weekend.

Turkey's Erdogan Lifts Threat to Expel Western Ambassadors
Associated Press/October 26, 2021
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped back from a threat to expel the ambassadors of 10 Western nations over their support for a jailed activist, defusing a potential diplomatic crisis. "We believe that these ambassadors, who have fulfilled their commitment to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention, will now be more careful in their statements," he said in televised remarks following a three-hour Cabinet meeting in Ankara. The envoys, including those of the U.S., Germany and France, last week called for the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala, who has been in a Turkish prison for four years awaiting trial on charges many view as unfounded. The ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand also joined the appeal.
As Monday's Cabinet meeting was underway, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara tweeted that it "maintains compliance" with Article 41, which outlines diplomats' duties to respect the laws of the host state and not to interfere in internal affairs. Other missions posted the same message.
State-run Anadolu news agency interpreted this as a "step back." Citing presidency sources, it reported that the development was "received positively" by Erdogan."Those who have shaped our country as they wished in the past panicked when Turkey made its own stand," Erdogan asserted after the meeting. He portrayed the "outrageous" initial statement as a direct attack on Turkey's judiciary and sovereignty. "Our intention is never to create a crisis, but to protect the dignity of our country," the president said. "Anyone who doesn't respect the independence of our country and the sensitivities of our nation, no matter what his title is, cannot be accommodated in this country."
In Washington, which had been seeking clarification of Erdogan's threat, State Department spokesman Ned Price declined to comment on what, if anything, Turkey had clarified, but noted the shift in position and said U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield remains in the country.
"We will continue to promote the rule of law and respect for human rights globally," Price said. "The Biden administration seeks cooperation with Turkey on common priorities and, as with any NATO ally, we will continue to engage in dialogue to address any disagreements. We believe the best way forward is through cooperation on issues of mutual interest and we know that we have many issues of mutual interest with Turkey." Erdogan announced on Saturday that he had ordered the envoys to be declared persona non grata, paving the way for them to be expelled from Turkey. The crisis threatened fresh turmoil in Ankara's troubled relations with NATO allies and EU members. The Turkish lira plummeted after Erdogan's weekend statement, hitting an all-time low of 9.85 against the dollar on Monday morning. The president's Monday comments marked the end of a tense two days, with no official statement on possible action against the diplomats since Saturday. "The whole situation is a serious matter but we understand that the concerned countries have not yet been notified about any action," European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said earlier Monday.
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin, before Erdogan's later remarks, that "we take note of the statements of the Turkish President with concern and also with incomprehension." "So far there has not been a formal announcement from the Turkish side," Steffen Seibert said, adding that "we are in close talks with our partners who are affected by a similar threat."
A group of about 40 pro-government protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on Monday demanding the removal of the 10 envoys. Members of the Youth Union of Turkey carried banners including a mock-up of an airline boarding pass. Kavala, 64, was acquitted in February last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt. He faces a life sentence if convicted. The European Court of Human Rights called for his release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and was not supported by evidence of an offense. The Council of Europe says it will start infringement proceedings against Turkey at the end of November if Kavala is not freed. Although Kavala's continued incarceration has been widely criticized abroad, Turkey maintains he is being held according to the rulings of its independent judiciary. Kavala's wife, Ayse Bugra, described his imprisonment as inexplicable. "There's no way this situation can be explained either logically or legally," she said in comments published on Halk TV's website on Monday. Bugra, a professor of political economy, said the president's comments on Saturday, in which he compared her husband's imprisonment to the treatment of "bandits, murderers and terrorists" in other countries, contradicted the principle of judicial independence. As a member of the Council of Europe Turkey is bound by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Bugra said she regarded the ambassadors' statement as an effort to curtail possible action against Turkey. "The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers said it would impose sanctions if Osman is not released at the end of November," she said. "This is something serious. I interpret the envoys' initiative as a well-intentioned attempt to prevent things from becoming this way."

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 26-27/2021
Parents Teaching or Government Indoctrination - You Choose
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/October 26, 2021
Every expert who came in indicated that the most important thing in a child's learning was the presence of a caring adult in that child's life. We learned that schools most connected to their community were most likely to be successful. And that schools that focused on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic achieved the best results.
Hillary Clinton once famously said it takes a village to raise a child. It is hard to disagree with that statement on its face until you realize the village Clinton had in mind is the government and not the parents and families who make it up.
While the media may portray this as a battle about COVID mandates, American history, or the teaching of sexuality, those are just the scrimmages that we are witnessing. The real battle is for who the teacher will be in our children's lives — parents and loving local individuals who know our children's names, or faceless government bureaucrats hell-bent on indoctrinating our children with their particular worldview.
McAuliffe, Garland, and the NSBA would have you believe that parents are domestic terrorists, but it is time for them to realize how their way of thinking poses a real threat to American rights. Put me in the category of those that believe parents are the ones who should be raising our kids.
The discontent at school board meetings across America is hard to miss. It is showing up in the news and social media feeds that people are watching and reading in their homes. Many people, however, are missing the major driver of this discontent -- the major transformation that the White House, National School Boards Association (NSBA) and others are trying to impose on our government schools.
The recent debate statements by Terry McAuliffe, the Democrats' Virginia gubernatorial candidate, and actions by Attorney General Merrick Garland following a letter from the NSBA clearly signal they believe that government schools are a tool to be used to indoctrinate children. They also believe the force of the federal government should be used to back them up.
They no longer to believe that a child's primary instructor in life is their parents or a close loved and that local control of schools is a central tenet of the American way of life. Instead, they believe it is the responsibility of the federal government to impose a certain way of thinking and what curriculum children are taught.
I take McAuliffe at his word that he really does not believe parents should have a role in developing or reviewing the curriculum that their children are taught in their local public schools. I take the NSBA at its word that it views parents who question local government school curriculum on sexuality, critical race theory, COVID mandates, and other items should be investigated as domestic terrorists. And I believe Garland really does think it is the role of the FBI to protect government schools from concerned parents.
When someone tells you what they are planning, or better yet shows you, you should take them seriously. And these individuals should be taken seriously. They are the same people who want to control local education from Washington, and kick parents out of the process, that say they want open borders, cradle-to-grave social programs for everyone, higher taxes, and a . Far from meaningless campaign rhetoric, the left is doing everything and more that they promised in the run-up to the 2020 election. And now they are targeting our children.
I spent 18 years on the House Education and Labor Committee. Every expert who came in indicated that the most important thing in a child's learning was the presence of a caring adult in that child's life. We learned that schools most connected to their community were most likely to be successful. And that schools that focused on the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic achieved the best results.
Republicans and Democrats have been dismantling that paradigm for the last 50 years. In that time, local schools have shifted from safe zones where parents could assume that values taught at home would be reflected at their local government school. Instead, government schools are being forged into the latest tool used to indoctrinate our children with Marxist ideology. To them, parents are no longer an integral part of the learning process, parents have apparently become an impediment.
Hillary Clinton once famously said it takes a village to raise a child. It is hard to disagree with that statement on its face until you realize the village Clinton had in mind is the government and not the parents and families who make it up. It is little wonder that McAuliffe, who is a key figure in the Clinton machine, sees things the same way when it comes to parents and education. They evidently believe it must protect our children from what it perceives as backward ideas such as clinging to "guns or religion" as then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said.
While the media may portray this as a battle about COVID mandates, American history, or the teaching of sexuality, those are just the scrimmages that we are witnessing. The real battle is for who the teacher will be in our children's lives — parents and loving local individuals who know our children's names, or faceless government bureaucrats hell-bent on indoctrinating our children with their particular worldview. This is an attack and disruption of the nuclear family as prescribed by Black Lives Matter.
It is far past time to stop the controlling influence on education coming from Washington. McAuliffe, Garland, and the NSBA would have you believe that parents are domestic terrorists, but it is time for them to realize how their way of thinking poses a real threat to American rights. Put me in the category of those that believe parents are the ones who should be raising our kids.
*Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors.
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Is it the fate of Sudan to be plagued by coups?
Hakim Marzouki/The Arab Weekly/October 26/2021
The army’s takeover in Sudan was expected in a country where military coups are considered to be part of the political culture, despite the assurances provided by the constitutional document following the uprising that toppled the regime of Omar al-Bashir.
Since its independence from the British occupation in 1956, Sudan has witnessed many military coups, most notably that carried out by former President Omar al-Bashir in 1989 against the government of the democratic parties headed by Sadiq al-Mahdi, which paved the way for Bashir to rule the country for 30 years. Will Sudan return to square one and is it the fate of this country, which is exhausted by hardship and internal conflicts, to be at the mercy of the whims of military as they rotate in power? What is the secret for this army’s thirst for power and its desire to be at the helm of government, when it would have behooved it better to protect the borders of the country and oversee its military institution from within its barracks and not from the offices of the presidential palace?
The issue is not just confined to Sudan but has extended to many African and Arab countries, in addition to those in South America, that is, in countries that suffered from poverty and tribal, sectarian and ethnic divisions. What happened in these countries were often coups by one group, sect or tribe against another. Ethnic sensitivities were intertwined with party politics and ideologies, as was the case in Syria, Iraq and Libya, in the sixties and seventies of the last century.
There are also cases of external interference, as is the case in Yemen and Lebanon, where Iranian ambitions have been expressed in putschist formulas that differed only in the colour of the military uniform.
Every military coup has a political incubator. The Sudanese military, in the opinion of many analysts, was never the actual ruler of the country. Military leaders were pushed to seize the presidency to serve the agenda of political or religious currents and even Sufi sects.
General Ibrahim Abboud, for example, who was the first to hatch a coup in 1958, with a group of officers, against a coalition government including the Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, was a representative of the Khatmiyya sect, which is one of the most widely popular Sufi orders in Sudan. Colonel Jaafar al-Numeiri was, at the beginning, just a representative of the left-wing communist nationalist movement that dominated politics in his country during the seventies and eighties of the last century. Omar al-Bashir was a servant of the Brotherhood movement, which emerged as the strongest political force in Sudan after the end of the eighties.
Sudan does not differ in terms of its economic and political conditions from other Arab countries that seek stability without ever clinching it, or that aspire to democracy without reaching it. But Sudan’s military has a history of political experience that qualifies it more than others to seize radio and television stations to announce a coup. It has already in its record more than seven “successful” and “failed” coup attempts, the best coups being obviously those that failed. Sudan is the second Arab country after Syria in the sheer number of coups, although some believe that the first coup in the region took place in Iraq on October 20, 1936 and was carried out by Lieutenant-General Bakr Sidqi, chief of staff of the Iraqi army at the time, during the reign of King Ghazi bin Faisal. The late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad was able to put an end to the record-breaking series of coups, through his 1979 coup in 1970, which transferred power to the Alawite sect under the banner of the Corrective Movement, in a mix of Baathist ideology and sectarian background that came with the politically savvy Alawite officer.
Only a few republican regimes, such as Tunisia, have escaped the calamity of military interference in politics. Tunisia’s eastern neighbour, Algeria, has been under the corrupt rule of generals since the “blessed’ coup movement, which was led by Houari Boumediene against Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965. The idea that coups are linked to external powers is plausible but is not always true. The practice of politics in the Arab world has too often come on the back of tanks.

Sudan coup conjures ghosts of bloody past
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/October 26, 2021
It was a marriage of inconvenience to begin with, and the only surprise is that it lasted as long as it did. On Monday, the people of Sudan woke to find that the military had seized power, arresting Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and members of his Cabinet, as well as a civilian member of the Sovereign Council, the governing body headed by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Hours of confusion followed, as thousands of Khartoum residents took to the streets to denounce what can only be seen as a military coup and a stark violation of the 2019 constitutional charter agreed by the Transitional Military Council and the Forces for Freedom and Change.
The FFC is an alliance of political movements and parties, along with a coalition of rebel forces. It was formed following the December 2018 protests that culminated in the toppling of then-President Omar Bashir.
The constitutional charter called for a power-sharing transitional period of three years until elections are held and civilian rule is established. Under the charter, a civilian transitional government was established in 2019, led by Hamdok. An empowerment removal committee was also created to dismantle the Bashir regime and restructure its security services and institutions.
The power-sharing formula was supported by the West, primarily the US, along with the African Union and the Arab League, among others. But after six decades of mainly military rule, with rare exceptions, there was always the risk that the military, including the powerful Rapid Support Force militia, would find ways to derail the democratic transition and end the shaky partnership.
And that is exactly what happened on Monday. After hours of chaos in Khartoum, with the military cutting off the internet and telephone services and barricading bridges and key intersections, Al-Burhan appeared on national television to underline the new reality.
Without saying so, the military council’s actions amounted to a full-fledged coup. It declared a national emergency, dissolved the Sovereign Council, Council of Ministers and empowerment removal committee, and suspended articles in the constitutional charter related to the power-sharing agreement and the role of the civilian faction. Al-Burhan also fired governors and ministry undersecretaries, while committing to the democratic transition and setting up a constitutional court.
The coup and seizure of key civilian figures were condemned by the EU and US, which threatened to cut off aid, while the Arab League, UN and African Union expressed concern. Al-Burhan, who vowed to set up an inclusive government of qualified ministers, also committed to honoring the Sudanese peace agreement, which ended the war with South Sudan, as well as the conflicts in Darfur and East Sudan, and to respecting the grievances of the people of East Sudan.
Two events directly accelerated the military’s decision to stage the coup. The first was civil unrest among the tribal leaders of East Sudan, who cut off the main highway to Khartoum and shut down the strategically important Port Sudan, the main oil export outlet, adding to the economic turmoil across the country.
In recent months, the government warned that it was running out of wheat, essential medicines and fuel. East Sudan tribal leaders called for the dismissal of the transitional government over its alleged failure to end the marginalization of the region, one of the richest provinces in minerals, but also one of the poorest.
The second event was the marking of the October 1964 revolution last Thursday, when thousands of Sudanese took to the streets demanding civilian rule. The military saw growing rifts inside the FFC, as factions began jockeying for control and power. Politicians blamed the military for failing to honor its side of the bargain in securing the country, while the military pointed to the government’s failure to deal with inflation and unemployment.
Since its independence in 1956, Sudan’s complex tribal, racial, ideological and religious fissures have fueled a number of military coups and civil wars.
In any event, the next chapter in the turbulent history of this country is uncertain, with civil war and even attempts by East Sudan to secede among the many possibilities. This is bad news for neighboring countries, including Egypt, which needs a stable Sudan as it puts pressure on Ethiopia to reach a settlement over the filling of that country’s controversial Nile Dam reservoir.
Since its independence in 1956, Sudan’s complex tribal, racial, ideological and religious fissures have fueled a number of military coups and civil wars. In 1985, following labor protests against the autocratic rule of Jaafar Nimeiry, military leader Gen. Suwar Al-Dahab staged a coup, promising to hand over power to a civilian government one year after elections were held. Al-Dahab honored his promise, but that was an exception, and the question now is can the junta be trusted to do the same in July 2023?
*Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. Twitter: @plato010

A new vision for global cooperation
Danilo Turk and Maria Fernanda Espinosa/Arab News/October 26/2021
The world faces a range of serious threats, including exclusionary nationalism, great-power competition and growing inequality, that are preventing the international community from working together to solve other complex challenges, such as the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and the accelerating pace of climate change. But global crises require global solutions and, with his highly anticipated report, “Our Common Agenda,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has outlined a new vision for multilateral cooperation.
Written in response to the commitments endorsed during last year’s 75th UN General Assembly, the report is a clarion call for better and more inclusive global governance; the kind needed to build a greener, more equitable and more secure future. Unusual for a UN report in terms of length, substance and scope, it offers a set of promising ideas for a bold yet pragmatic strategy for transformation.
Guterres’ recommendations place a premium on accelerating the implementation of existing international agreements, beginning with the 2015 Paris climate agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Beyond these important initiatives to protect our global common interests, establishing a new forum for managing them has become a moral and practical imperative.
Guterres breaks new ground here by calling for the all-but-defunct UN Trusteeship Council to be repurposed to oversee the governance of the ocean, atmosphere and outer space. This revitalized body would also be responsible for improving the delivery of public goods and responding to global threats.
Moreover, Guterres has endorsed nonprofit organization Club de Madrid’s proposal for a World Social Summit in 2025 to examine the causes of rising poverty, take stock of the developments that have contributed to income disparity, and encourage the policies needed to ensure a more equitable society. The discussions at the summit should build momentum for the full implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and ensure that post-COVID-19 economic development is broad-based and green.
A new global social contract to address poverty, growing inequality and the worsening climate crisis will require the involvement of civil society, and Guterres is right to emphasize its role in achieving greater international solidarity. He also notes the need to support the growing contribution of citizens to collective action within and across borders. It is encouraging that his report proposes dedicated civil society focal points within all UN entities.
By mobilizing diverse actors worldwide, the international community can ensure that the mandate to collectively shape ‘the future we want’ becomes a reality.
But more is needed. Two recent civil society initiatives — We The Peoples’ Call for Inclusive Global Governance, and Together First — proposed the appointment of a senior-level UN civil society envoy reporting directly to Guterres. Such a position would ensure harmonization, high-level reporting and even greater system-wide access for civil society organizations in UN decision-making and programming.
Realizing Guterres’ ambitious agenda for more inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism requires an orchestrated strategy. The goal must be to rebuild and enhance citizens’ confidence in their common institutions so that the global system can act more effectively on the major issues confronting the international community. Guterres’ initiative to convene a Summit of the Future at the start of the 78th General Assembly, in September 2023, is a good start toward upgrading the global governance architecture.
As part of the preparations for the summit, we support the secretary-general’s call for a high-level advisory board led by former heads of state or government. The goal of this body would be to identify the global public goods most in need of governance improvements. The advisory board would also bring a balanced political perspective to the preparations.
At the same time, consultations leading up to the summit could help refine Guterres’ proposals on an Agenda for Peace, a Global Digital Compact, a Declaration on Future Generations, and a new Emergency Platform for convening key actors worldwide to respond to complex crises.
Each of these — as well as the related, far-reaching global governance innovation proposals that we have been supporting — merit serious consideration by UN member states and, together, form the basis for an ambitious, two-year multi-stakeholder undertaking, culminating in the 2023 summit.
We urge world leaders to pay attention to the secretary-general’s vision for the future and the related recommendation of 50 former government ministers and senior UN officials for “a dedicated intergovernmental process” to “strengthen and reform the legal and institutional machinery of the UN system.”
By mobilizing diverse actors worldwide, including policymakers, activists, academics and businesspeople, the international community can ensure that the mandate to collectively shape “the future we want,” adopted during last year’s General Assembly, becomes a reality.
• Danilo Turk, the former president of Slovenia, is president of Club de Madrid, an organization of more than 100 former democratically elected presidents and prime ministers.
• Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former president of the UN General Assembly, is co-chair of the Coalition for the UN We Need steering committee.
Copyright: Project Syndicate