English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 30/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
Letter to the Romans 08/28-39:”We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”.’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 29-30/2021
Question: "What does the Bible mean when it says, ‘Do not judge’?"/What’s new on GotQuestions.org/Friday, 29 October, 2021
KSA Expels Lebanese Ambassador, Halts Imports, GCC to Reportedly Follow Suit
Bahrain asks Lebanese ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours
Lebanon: Kordahi’s Gulf Criticism Continue To Stir Angry Reactions
Aoun Asks Russia via Ambassador for Port Blast Satellite Images
Report: 55-Year-Old Man Triggered Ain al-Remmaneh Clashes
Cabinet Sessions Paused until 'Storm Passes'
Bitar Postpones Zoaiter Interrogation, Won't Question Mashnouq
Reports: Mutual ‘Blame Shifting’ among Parties, All ‘Secretly’ Wanting Polls Postponed
Final Agreement on Jordan-Lebanon Electricity Transit via Syria, World Bank to Finance Plan
Defense Minister Slim Visits UNIFIL
Al-Mustaqbal 'Fed Up' with Hizbullah 'Endangering Peace, Antagonizing Gulf'
Jamil al-Sayyed Denies U.S. Accusation of Money Smuggling
Lebanon: President Asks Russia for Satellite Images from Day of Port Blast
Lebanon needs to return to the Arab fold
On the Dimensions of Hezbollah’s Arrogance!/Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 29/2021
The dark road to judicial independence/Mariam Kesserwan/Now Lebanon/October 29/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 29-30/2021
US President Biden: Pope told him he should ‘keep receiving communion’
Biden vs Macron: First meeting since Submarine Dispute
US slaps sanctions on Iran's drone program, will continue to hold Tehran accountable
Burhan Says Will Appoint New Premier within Week
Biden Says Civilian-Led Government ‘Must Be Restored’ in Sudan
Libya: Attack on Ministry of Sports, Attempt to Assassinate Military Commander
Tunisian Government Faces First Labor Strike
EU Says Reaching an Agreement on GERD is Inevitable
Houthi Attacks Kill, Injure 300 Civilians in Southern Marib
Israel to Cut Power in West Bank, Provide Gaza with Clean Energy
Ankara Ties Attacking SDF to US, Russia Fulfilling Promises
U.S. to Deepen Relation with Taiwan in Face of China Tensions
In the Middle of a Crisis, Facebook Inc. Renames Itself Meta
Tunisian Lawmaker Faces Sexual Harassment Hearing

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 29-30/2021
If Only, On Saturday, The Sudanese Generals Fall/Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/October 29/2021
Iraq After Two Octobers!/Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 29/2021
Sudan coup: Generals and Islamists prevail in the Arab world/Joanthan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/October 29/2021
Greek-U.S.-French Pact Is a Deterrent to Turkish Aggression/Burak Bekdil/ Gatestone Institute/October 29/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 29-30/2021
Question: "What does the Bible mean when it says, ‘Do not judge’?"
What’s new on GotQuestions.org/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Answer: Jesus’ command not to judge others could be the most widely quoted of His sayings, even though it is almost invariably quoted in complete disregard of its context. Here is Jesus’ statement: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Many people use this verse in an attempt to silence their critics, interpreting Jesus’ meaning as “You don’t have the right to tell me I’m wrong.” Taken in isolation, Jesus’ command “Do not judge” does indeed seem to preclude all negative assessments. However, there is much more to the passage than those three words.
The Bible’s command that we not judge others does not mean we cannot show discernment. Immediately after Jesus says, “Do not judge,” He says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” (Matthew 7:6). A little later in the same sermon, He says, “Watch out for false prophets. . . . By their fruit you will recognize them” (verses 15–16). How are we to discern who are the “dogs” and “pigs” and “false prophets” unless we have the ability to make a judgment call on doctrines and deeds? Jesus is giving us permission to tell right from wrong.
Also, the Bible’s command that we not judge others does not mean all actions are equally moral or that truth is relative. The Bible clearly teaches that truth is objective, eternal, and inseparable from God’s character. Anything that contradicts the truth is a lie—but, of course, to call something a “lie” is to pass judgment. To call adultery or murder a sin is likewise to pass judgment—but it’s also to agree with God. When Jesus said not to judge others, He did not mean that no one can identify sin for what it is, based on God’s definition of sin.
And the Bible’s command that we not judge others does not mean there should be no mechanism for dealing with sin. The Bible has a whole book entitled Judges. The judges in the Old Testament were raised up by God Himself (Judges 2:18). The modern judicial system, including its judges, is a necessary part of society. In saying, “Do not judge,” Jesus was not saying, “Anything goes.”Elsewhere, Jesus gives a direct command to judge: “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24). Here we have a clue as to the right type of judgment versus the wrong type. Taking this verse and some others, we can put together a description of the sinful type of judgment: Superficial judgment is wrong. Passing judgment on someone based solely on appearances is sinful (John 7:24). It is foolish to jump to conclusions before investigating the facts (Proverbs 18:13). Simon the Pharisee passed judgment on a woman based on her appearance and reputation, but he could not see that the woman had been forgiven; Simon thus drew Jesus’ rebuke for his unrighteous judgment (Luke 7:36–50).
Hypocritical judgment is wrong. Jesus’ command not to judge others in Matthew 7:1 is preceded by comparisons to hypocrites (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16) and followed by a warning against hypocrisy (Matthew 7:3–5). When we point out the sin of others while we ourselves commit the same sin, we condemn ourselves (Romans 2:1). Harsh, unforgiving judgment is wrong. We are “always to be gentle toward everyone” (Titus 3:2). It is the merciful who will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7), and, as Jesus warned, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Self-righteous judgment is wrong. We are called to humility, and “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6). The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector was confident in his own righteousness and from that proud position judged the publican; however, God sees the heart and refused to forgive the Pharisee’s sin (Luke 18:9–14). Untrue judgment is wrong. The Bible clearly forbids bearing false witness (Proverbs 19:5). “Slander no one” (Titus 3:2).
Christians are often accused of “judging” or intolerance when they speak out against sin. But opposing sin is not wrong. Holding aloft the standard of righteousness naturally defines unrighteousness and draws the slings and arrows of those who choose sin over godliness. John the Baptist incurred the ire of Herodias when he spoke out against her adultery with Herod (Mark 6:18–19). She eventually silenced John, but she could not silence the truth (Isaiah 40:8).
Believers are warned against judging others unfairly or unrighteously, but Jesus commends “right judgment” (John 7:24, ESV). We are to be discerning (Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). We are to preach the whole counsel of God, including the Bible’s teaching on sin (Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 4:2). We are to gently confront erring brothers or sisters in Christ (Galatians 6:1). We are to practice church discipline (Matthew 18:15–17). We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

KSA Expels Lebanese Ambassador, Halts Imports, GCC to Reportedly Follow Suit
Associated Press/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Saudi Arabia on Friday ordered the Lebanese ambassador to the kingdom to leave the country within 48 hours and stopped all imports from Lebanon, a response to comments by a Lebanese minister who described the war in Yemen as a Saudi "aggression."
Saudi state media added that the kingdom's ambassador to Beirut was also asked to head back home. The Saudi statement also noted that "Lebanon has not taken measures requested by the kingdom to halt the exportation of drugs from Lebanon through the Lebanese exports to the kingdom, especially amid the control of terrorist Hizbullah of all border posts.""No penalties have been taken against those involved in those crimes that are targeted against the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to the noncooperation in handing over the fugitives to the kingdom, in contravention of the Riyadh judicial cooperation treaty," the statement added. The statement meanwhile reassured that "the kingdom is keen on the Lebanese citizens who are residing in the kingdom," noting that "they are considered part of the fabric and unity that gather the Saudi people and its Arab brothers who live in the kingdom."
A source close to the Gulf Cooperation Council meanwhile told Lebanon's MTV that "all of Lebanon's ambassadors will be expelled from the GCC member states in the next few hours."
"There is an inclination to impose comprehensive political and economic sanctions on Lebanon in the next few days," a Gulf source told the TV network. A Saudi source meanwhile told MTV that "the sharp diplomatic crisis will lead to Lebanon's isolation in the Arab world," warning that "we're still in the beginning" of the measures. The developments come days after a video circulated on social media in which Lebanon's Information Minister George Kordahi described the war in Yemen as an aggression by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Kordahi made the comments on a TV program before he was chosen for the post in September. Kordahi is close to the Marada Movement, a close ally of Iran-backed Hizbullah. Saudi Arabia lists Hizbullah as a terrorist organization. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have been tense in recent months over what the kingdom says Hizbullah's control of the small country.

Bahrain asks Lebanese ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/30 October ,2021
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it has asked the Lebanese ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain to leave the Kingdom within the next 48 hours, against the background of a series of unacceptable and offensive statements and stances issued by Lebanese officials recently. The ministry clarified that this decision does not affect the Lebanese brothers residing in the Kingdom.

Lebanon: Kordahi’s Gulf Criticism Continue To Stir Angry Reactions
Beirut – Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The wave of angry reactions continue against Lebanon’s Minister of Information George Kordahi over statements in which he criticized Arab states and the Arab military coalition for supporting legitimacy in Yemen. Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Derian said in a statement on Thursday that verbal attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf Cooperation Council states “are totally rejected, no matter how high-ranking the person behind those attacks is.”“Lebanon and Dar al-Fatwa are keen on their relations with the Arab Gulf states. We condemn, denounce, and deplore any offense to these countries with whom we want the best possible relations,” he added. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi reiterated his keenness on “the best relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.”For his part, MP Nehmeh Tohme called for the formation of a senior delegation to Saudi Arabia, expressing his regret for the recent “unfair campaigns against the Kingdom.”He also urged the government to take the appropriate measures to “preserve the glorious history and the relationship between the two countries.”“Saudi Arabia stood by Lebanon in the darkest and most difficult circumstances, fortified our economy, and embraced the largest Lebanese community that enjoys brotherly treatment,” Tohme underlined. Former President Michel Sleiman emphasized “the necessity of restoring Lebanon’s official relations with friendly Arab countries, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” which he said was confronting terrorism. During his meeting with Major General Ashraf Rifi on Thursday, Sleiman said that the government’s duty was to ensure the higher interests of Lebanon. It begins with improving Lebanon’s foreign relations and distancing the country from regional conflicts.

Aoun Asks Russia via Ambassador for Port Blast Satellite Images
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
President Michel Aoun met with Russia’s ambassador Friday and officially asked him to tell his country that Lebanon wants satellite images taken on the day of the Beirut port blast. Lebanon had asked for satellite images from several nations. “I don't understand how the satellite images can help,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week in response to a reporter’s question. “Yes, we have them, and I will make inquiries,” he said. “If they are of any use, of course we will provide them," he added.

Report: 55-Year-Old Man Triggered Ain al-Remmaneh Clashes
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
An altercation between a 55-year-old man and a group of Hizbullah and Amal Movement protesters was the trigger that started the deadly Ain al-Remmaneh-Tayyouneh clashes on October 14, a media report said Friday, citing a video and a witness’ testimony included in the probe of the army’s Intelligence Directorate.The leaks, published by the al-Akhbar newspaper, identify the man as Gilbert Marasidian. The man told interrogators that he had resigned from the Lebanese Forces 30 years ago. “The latter appears heading alone and angrily toward the protesters who were passing on the main road on their way to the Justice Palace. Insults and a verbal clash ensue, before a large number of protesters enter into the street where they beat him up severely and knock him down,” al-Akhbar reported, citing the probe’s video.“That was followed by acts of rioting and vandalism before the situation escalated into a direct clash with LF groups deployed at the Frères intersection under the supervision of Maarab security officer Simon Mousallem, who according to the probe’s records had moved to Ain al-Remmaneh along with dozens of people on the night that preceded the massacre,” the daily added, noting that Mousallem “inspected the area along with (the LF’s) military official in Ain al-Remmaneh, Elias Nakhle.” A witness identified as Pierre R. whose house overlooks the site where the clashes first erupted meanwhile told interrogators that he first heard protesters chanting slogans supportive of Speaker Nabih Berri and slamming LF leader Samir Geagea as a “Zionist.”“When the demo reached the intersection leading from the Sami al-Solh Street to my house, I saw a person who is around 50 years old, whom I know to be a resident of the neighborhood, approaching the demo. He seemed dismayed and annoyed by the slogans he was hearing,” the witness says.“Minutes later, a group from the demo stopped and started exchanging insults with that person and the matter escalated into a fistfight. Protesters from the demo later entered from Sami al-Solh al-Street into the street leading to Ain al-Remmaneh and I started seeing them smashing cars and burning a motorcycle. Protesters and individuals from the side of Ain al-Remmaneh then started hurling stones at each other before army troops intervened to separate between the two sides,” the witness adds.Noting that he did not see anyone carrying a gun or a rifle, the witness notes that his balcony was hit by two gunshots and that the first “came from Badaro’s side near the Mersaco company building.” Marasidian for his part tells interrogators that some protesters suddenly stopped and exchanged insults with a number of “LF supporters and Ain al-Remmaneh residents some of whom were carrying sticks.”
“The insults were against the LF leader before turning sectarian, after which some protesters entered into the street and started beating up the young men coming from inside Ain al-Remmaneh,” Marasidian adds, noting that he was assaulted and that some protesters were carrying handguns on their bodies.
“The group gathered near the Our Lady of Lourdes monument started shouting partisan and sectarian slogans in response to the protesters’ chants, which provoked the protesters who entered into the street and started their attacks,” Marasidian went on to say.

Cabinet Sessions Paused until 'Storm Passes'
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Cabinet sessions will not resume any time soon until the political "storm" passes, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday. Ministerial sources told al-Joumhouria that “we can achieve so many things, if we had a shared vision and a unified national stand.”“But we lack a vision for building a state,” the sources added. Counting on domestic financing is “very risky,” the sources went on to say. “We need foreign currency but we are facing problems with foreign financing.”

Bitar Postpones Zoaiter Interrogation, Won't Question Mashnouq
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Friday postponed ex-minister Ghazi Zoaiter’s interrogation session to November 9, after his lawyer appeared before the judge and filed preliminary defenses, the National News Agency. The lawyer argued that it is not up to the Judicial Council to prosecute Zoaiter “seeing as the jurisdiction belongs to the Higher Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.”Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile said that the preliminary defenses will be referred to the public prosecution to give its opinion after which Bitar would take a final decision by accepting or rejecting the recommendation. The TV network added that Bitar did not hold a session to interrogate ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Friday after he was notified Thursday afternoon of Mashnouq’s lawsuit against the state.

Reports: Mutual ‘Blame Shifting’ among Parties, All ‘Secretly’ Wanting Polls Postponed
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The majority of the political blocs “secretly prefer postponing the parliamentary elections,” sources said, but have no “courage” to say it.
Political circles told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that “there is fear for the fate of the parliamentary elections,” since every party is “shifting the blame on the other,” in order to delay the polls. The sources revealed that Parliament members from different blocs, behind closed doors, are not keen on holding the elections on time. “Political and security development may occur with the elections date nearing,” the sources added, and can be used “as a pretext to adjourn the polls,” unless parties are “compelled to hold the elections for internal and external considerations.”

Final Agreement on Jordan-Lebanon Electricity Transit via Syria, World Bank to Finance Plan
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The energy ministers of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria have arranged a final agreement to supply Lebanon with Jordanian electricity via Syria. Energy Minister Walid Fayyad announced that “the U.S. has given green light” -- despite western sanctions targeting the Syrian regime -- and that “the World Bank will finance the transit.”Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala al-Zawati and Syrian Electricity Minister Ghassan al-Zamel confirmed that the infrastructure will be "ready by the end of the year."Repairs are being done to get Syria's war-ravaged infrastructure up to the task of moving the energy.

Defense Minister Slim Visits UNIFIL
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
UNIFIL's Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, on Friday welcomed Lebanon's new Minister of National Defense, Maurice Slim, to the peacekeeping mission's headquarters in Naqoura, South Lebanon. In his remarks, Major General Del Col announced a donation of 500 kilograms of medicines to the Lebanese Army, in accordance with support requested for the army in operative paragraph 11 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2591. “The current economic situation has created hardship, and the LAF (Lebanese Army) has not been spared,” said Major General Del Col. “That’s why the Council, with Resolution 2591, requested UNIFIL to take ‘temporary and special measures’ to support the LAF with essential items like medicine, fuel, food, and logistics. We are pleased to support the LAF, just as the LAF supports us, standing side by side, in our work here in south Lebanon.” “Today, I’m very glad to announce that the LAF will have access to vital medical supplies from UNIFIL and essential medications,” he said. “These medications have been identified as the most needed, and we are grateful that they will be used to provide medical care for LAF soldiers, as well as their families.”UNIFIL’s top official expressed his appreciation for the "strong partnership" UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) share. “I have reiterated to the Minister that the Lebanese Armed Forces are UNIFIL’s strategic partners,” he said. “The key word there is ‘partnership.’ We work closely with them each and every day and night, conducting our joint activities, to accomplish our mandate and work to secure peace and stability here in South Lebanon.” The UNIFIL chief underscored the importance of finding other areas together where UNIFIL can provide support to the LAF.
“A strong LAF means we can continue our work and even intensify our efforts to maintain stability along the Blue Line and throughout our area of operations,” he said. “A strong LAF means we can create the space needed towards political and diplomatic solutions, and one day, inshallah, a permanent ceasefire.”
The Minister later received a briefing on the mission’s activities and a helicopter tour of the Blue Line.

Al-Mustaqbal 'Fed Up' with Hizbullah 'Endangering Peace, Antagonizing Gulf'
Naharnet/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Al-Mustaqbal Movement said Friday in a statement that their “moderate approach” does not mean they accept that Hizbullah endanger co-existence and launch “provoking and hateful campaigns” against the Arab Gulf states “to please Iran.”“We’ve had enough with Hizbullah’s arbitrary policies in politics, security, economy and foreign affairs,” the statement said. Concerning the Tayyouneh clashes, al-Mustaqbal condemned the “illegal use of weapons” and “force” in internal conflicts and rejected “all forms of violence.”Hizbullah had issued a statement on Thursday in support of the minister of information, George Kordahi, for his stand against the Yemen war. Hizbullah’s statement rejected all calls to sack Kordahi, considering them “a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

Jamil al-Sayyed Denies U.S. Accusation of Money Smuggling
Associated Press/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Former security chief and current member of parliament, Jamil al-Sayyed, denied accusations on Friday that he smuggled tens of millions of dollars out of his crisis-hit country. He challenged his accusers to reveal the name of a government official whom they said helped him transfer the funds. Al-Sayyed, ally of Hizbullah, was sanctioned Thursday along with two Lebanese businessmen by the U.S. Treasury Department. The U.S. agency said al-Sayyed sought to skirt informal capital controls imposed by local banks since November 2019, and was aided by a senior government official in transferring over $120 million to overseas investments, presumably to enrich himself and his associates. The statement did not name the government official.
The Treasury Department also said al-Sayyed had contributed to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon, citing his urging of security forces to kill protesters who gathered outside his home. Speaking during a news conference in Beirut, al-Sayyed denied all the charges, adding that he is ready to go to the United States to be questioned there and defend himself. "I challenge them to grant me a (U.S.) visa to go. I will go tomorrow and will face them," al-Sayyed said, adding that if the funds were discovered in "any corner of the world ... they can keep me in jail there." "Who is the senior government official? Since you said he is a senior government official, release his name so that we know who he is. Why didn't you accuse him?" al-Sayyed asked. He also challenged the Treasury Department to say where the money was transferred and invested. Al-Sayyed said that in June 2020, a group of protesters gathered outside his apartment building, causing a mess and trying to break in. The legislator said his pregnant daughter was at home during the incident, and he told the guards "to open fire" if anyone breaks into the apartment. He added that in any country in the world, a person has the right to defend himself if someone tried to break into his home. Al-Sayyed was among four pro-Syrian generals jailed without charge for nearly four years over the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Al-Sayyed and the three other generals were freed in 2009 for lack of evidence. The legislator said he visited France this year while he was preparing to file a lawsuit at the United Nations to demand "compensation and apology" over the time he spent in jail. Al-Sayyed said that he wanted to prove that at the time when he was in detention, then U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman was putting pressure on U.N. officials to keep him in jail.

Lebanon: President Asks Russia for Satellite Images from Day of Port Blast
Asharq Al-Awsat//Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has asked Russian ambassador Alexander Rudakov for satellite images from Aug. 4, 2020, when a huge explosion rocked Beirut's port, according to a Lebanese presidency tweet on Friday. The blast killed more than 215 people, injured thousands and destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital.

Lebanon needs to return to the Arab fold
Gulf News/October 29/2021
Hezbollah relishes fact that gulf between Lebanon and other Arab countries is growing
Lebanese PM Najib Mikati, and other Lebanese leaders before him, have often spoken about how they are eager for the best possible relations with other Arab states, especially with Gulf states that have stood by Lebanon throughout its unending crises. But facts of the ground tell another story.
Politician after politician, on numerous occasions, has made unacceptable and unwarranted comments about GCC countries, and their national and regional policies. The latest to surface were comments made by George Kurdahi, before he took office as information minister, about the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen to uphold the legitimacy of the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE summoned Lebanese envoys to protest the comments, and the GCC as an entity strongly criticised Kurdahi’s outburst. The UAE said the comments “reflect Lebanon’s growing distance from its Arab brotherly countries”. Kuwait also lashed out at the unacceptable comments, summoning the Lebanese charges d’affaires to register its protest.
The Lebanese ruling elite must realise that the world can see through their machinations. The government continues with a deceitful policy of pretending to adopt a certain neutrality in its relations with Arab states while one of the pillars of the government and the entity that underpins Lebanon’s security apparatus — Hezbollah — openly engages in acts that are harmful to Lebanon’s relations with Arab countries.
Such an attitude from Lebanese leaders will only have one outcome: It will increase the already big distance between Lebanon and other Arab states.
The heavily armed group Hezbollah — which has been described as a state within a state, and even as a state within a non-state — praised Kurdahi. This is hardly surprising as the group is the entity most responsible for the turmoil Lebanon finds itself in, and is the main vehicle of Iranian expansionism in Arab states. It relishes the fact that the gulf between Lebanon and other Arab countries is growing at an alarming rate, as this ties into the interests of its foreign patron.
Hezbollah has led Lebanon into ruinous wars with Israel and deployed fighters to Syria. Its military actions have had grave consequences for Lebanon diplomatically and economically. Besides, the hapless Lebanese government has been totally unable to deal with the group’s stranglehold on policymaking in the country.
Lebanon, with its history, culture, and unbelievably talented people, is a jewel in the Arab crown. Its destiny lies in the Arab fold. Its leaders must desist from any moves that endanger this destiny.

On the Dimensions of Hezbollah’s Arrogance!
Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 29/2021
Hezbollah’s approach to dealing with the investigation into the explosion that struck the port and the capital, most recently manifested in the events of “Black Thursday” seen on the 14th and its implications, has been marked by extreme arbitrariness and arrogance. Claims are always presented as conclusive facts rather than analysis, and the accusations that follow are launched on that basis.
Their narrative on the war crime perpetrated against Lebanon is based on the assumption that they know the secrets of the investigation and the direction it is taking. Speaking from the position of a constitutional expert or a judicial authority, the party hurls accusations at the investigator after defaming him. Worse still, with its incitement and accusations, the party seems reassured that its “revolutionary justice” is convincing and that the people are merely waiting to hear their conclusions, not evidence and proof.
Immediately after judicial suspicions of the “August four regime’s” implication in the port blast crime arose, with lead investigator Fadi Sawan informing parliament of “suspicions” that around 20 political figures who occupied positions of authority since 2014, including prime ministers, finance ministers, public works ministers, and justice ministers, bore responsibility, a campaign questioning his professionalism and eligibility was launched. He was accused of behaving suspiciously and ignoring the constitution because he considered the immunity of the blood spilled that day to trump political immunity. The clique of immunities under Hezbollah’s protection then got rid of him, with the assumption that his replacement would learn his lesson and would not go beyond the red lines that had been drawn.
When the facts became clear to Judge Bitar, and it became apparent that politicians had received a written notice warning them of the threat posed to the capital Beirut but did nothing about it, and that it was evident that high ranking officials in the military and security apparatuses had known about the lethal materials stored in the middle of the capital and also did nothing, he charged them all with “possible intent” to murder, and criminal negligence.
His decisions shook the country as it had never been shaken before, and its implications continue to compound to this day because he showed the political class led by Hezbollah that it could not control the judiciary or force it to deviate from the course of justice. In response, they attacked him with every weapon in their arsenal, insulting him and accusing the investigator who has come to embody what the state’s prestige and legitimacy should be like of treason. They were up in arms because they felt that the impunity protected by immunities and special courts established only to protect those implicated in major crimes had been under threat. In truth, ordinary citizens were left astonished because it had been the first time that the judiciary accused the officials who had convinced the people that they were above the law.
Hezbollah was at the forefront of the campaign against truth and justice, and it hurled all kinds of accusations at the lead investigator. It accused him of “politicking” and “discretion,” eventually openly threatening to “remove him.” When Bitar insisted on continuing with his approach and started issuing arrest warrants, Hassan Nassrallah declared that: “time is up. Decide on a course of action because continuing on this path will not help Lebanon or its stability.”
He demanded that the Supreme Judicial Council “resolve” the matter or that the government fulfill its responsibility and remove him, or else! The truth is that the argument that Hezbollah is so driven, despite not having been accused up to this moment, by its “loyalty” to the political clique is untenable. What happened on October 12, when the minister Judge Mohammad Mortada left the council of ministers imploding speaks to this. He voiced the “Shiite duo’s” dictates: contain the judicial investigation and “remove” Bitar or the government will be paralyzed, and “you will see that which you have never seen before on the streets!” President Aoun and Prime Minister Mikati looked pathetic indeed!
In Tayouneh, the threats were translated into action. However, does replicating the civil war mean that Hezbollah is pushing for a new one after accusing the Lebanese Forces of preparing for it? In all likelihood, that is not on the cards, as it controls the country and calls the shots. The 100 thousand man militia that the party threatened us with is not there to ensure the Lebanese’ safety but to perpetuate the cold war that has allowed Hezbollah’s statelet to overwhelm the state.
All the escalation, arrogant behavior, and disregard for others that have been shown and have been on display speak to this, as do the accusations that have been levied, most recently seen in the military court’s decision to summon Samir Geagea and “hear what he has to say” about the Tayouneh clashes, a decision meant to intermediate that does not change the facts documented in photos and videos that leave no room for interpretation or for the manipulation of the narrative on what happened that day. Why revive the split on March 8/ March 14 lines, whereby the Lebanese Forces is shown support it had not expected, though it would later become apparent that this support had been empty?
Hezbollah wanted to realize three objectives. The first is lead investigator Bitar’s dismissal and the investigation’s conclusion. The second is to blame rising sectarian tensions for derailing the electoral process, and the third is getting rid of the burdens put on its shoulders by the “October 17” revolution.
Early on, Nasrallah demanded that the judiciary satisfy itself with the preliminary security investigation’s results and resolve the issue of compensation… The pressure exerted to prevent indictments from being issued began to grow. In this regard, the decision could shed light on dark, obscure developments, like the murder of Colonel Joseph Skaff, the first official to issue warnings about the death shipment in 2014, whose report was ignored!
Another is customs officer Munir Abu Rjaili’s assassination before his meeting with the previous judge, Fadi Sawan, and a third is the killing of the photographer Joe Bejani, whose camera is said to have captured, by chance, of a convoy of destroyed four-wheel-drive cars that had been at the port. Assuming these claims are true, whose convoy is it? Given all of that, Sheikh Naim Qassem’s anger is understandable, and we can see why he said that “broad civil strife could have erupted in Tayouneh” because of Bitar and went on to declare that: “It would be better for him to leave so the situation stabilizes!”
Targeting Bitar is understandable because allowing his experience to crystallize, one that embodies the judiciary rising above intimidation could have positive implications for the future of the judiciary as a whole. His approach has illustrated what the future relationship between the judiciary and the political class should look like and paved the way for ending decades of crimes going unpunished. His approach has empowered the forces of change that sprung from the October protests seeking to retrieve the state and enforce the constitution and the laws that are supposed to apply to all. Thus, the violence seen in Tayouneh aimed to topple him, and create the kind of atmosphere that could jeopardize the electoral process.In a previous reading of this state of affairs, I mentioned that 19 of the deputies who granted Hezbollah their majority won by very thin margins, and things have changed after “October 17.” The party losing ten seats would be sufficient to leave Hezbollah unable to impose what he wants and capable only of disrupting the course of things. The so-called Popular Mobilization Forces’ electoral blow in Iraq surely parallels the changed mood among the Lebanese electorate “post-October.”What will the outcome be if the diaspora’s right to vote is respected, given the well-known indicators that they will punish the political class? For these reasons, Hezbollah will not give up on its majority, even if it is illegitimate. The party knows, and opinion polls demonstrate, that a majority is not in the bag and Iranian hegemony is not our unavoidable fate! Thus, the country is changing as organized grassroots groups crystalize. The clique of corruption and the party leading it should not be reassured by those groups’ fleeting decline… And so, the suffering will exacerbate because they are still betting on imposing subordination!

The dark road to judicial independence
Mariam Kesserwan/Now Lebanon/October 29/2021
The mysterious death of October 17 activist Faysal Sfeir, deemed a suicide by investigators who wrapped up the probe in a few hours, raises questions over other deaths and also points to the lack of independence of the judiciary, well beyond the Beirut blast probe, Mariam Kesserwan writes.
Faysal Sfeir. Photo: Courtesy of Mariam Kesserwan. Faysal Sfeir spoke during a rally in front of the Palace of Justice in Beirut. “All our current disasters, poverty, and thefts are a result of the absence of accountability,” he said. “Accordingly, we simply demand to pass a law on the independence of the judiciary. We also demand the amendment of articles 70 and 72 of the Constitution that would allow us to overthrow big heads rather than a junior employee, a concierge, or a welder. We will continue this fight until our last breath and we will win this battle the way we won previous battles.”
It was one of his last speeches. Faysal was found dead, shot in the head, on September 10. He had just celebrated his birthday. He had turned 34. Faysal is gone. It has been more than 45 days. We weren’t the best of friends, we had our differences. But still, he was part of the thawra movement and he was devoted to its principles. I met him during the earliest days of the revolution. We were not always in agreement, but we had seen each other again and again at the protests. We spoke numerous times on the phone to try to find common grounds on which the various opposition groups that were emerging could cooperate. Faysal was smart, although I found his way of talking to absolutely everyone without thinking of the dangers too risky. He believed in reaching out to closed communities of sectarian party supporters and believed in transparent negotiations recorded for the audience. He believed in pressuring the other side. I felt that he did not care enough about his personal safety, but he was able to make an impact, and his negotiations did at times bring about change. The last time we spoke was 3 weeks before his death. It was the day after the Akkar explosion, when demonstrations broke out at MP Tarek Merhabi’s residence in Beirut, and some of the protesters broke into his house. Our friends were arrested, but none of the instigators were. We decided to meet the week after. But the fuel crisis became unbearable and we did not end up meeting.
Faysal Sfeir was the school director of Le Lycée Social, an educational institution founded by his parents, the Jeunesse Global Ruby director, and the founder and leader of the Ouah (Arabic for “Watch out”) Group of activists during the October 17 uprising. He fought for free education. He was planning to open an orphanage. His death was a shock to all of us who stood with him in Martyrs Square during the October 17 uprising. He was the fighter, our winner, our strategic mind.
On September 10, a government was finally formed after a 13-month stalemate in Lebanon. It was also World Suicide Prevention day. Faysal’s death was deemed a suicide.
It happened so quickly. In just a few hours after his death, before any clear professional investigation had taken place, word was out that he had killed himself. Faisal was added to the list of suicides which have been increasing in number amidst the economic crisis and deplorable living conditions.
The justice system that Faysal was pushing to reform could only look at his death for a few hours and deem it a suicide, muting any questions about his passing. The probe ended the next day, before his body was even buried.
Many questions remain unanswered
Someone like Faysal would never commit suicide. It just didn’t make sense to any of his friends. According to them, he was a man with a vision, a determined person. He was talking about the future, he developed political and civil society strategies. His fight had just begun.
His social media accounts were full of posts where he talked about fighting against corruption and for an independent justice system. He spoke about how we should never give up, and was always encouraging us to believe in ourselves. A screenshot of one of his Facebook posts, published on August 11, went viral: “I win or I learn”. Teachers and students of the Lycee Social denounced the verdict of the investigators. They shared their personal stories on Facebook of how he used to empower them to overcome weaknesses or difficulties, making them believe in their capabilities, and helping them discover their strengths. His fellows in the group he created and led were feeling orphaned. The day they found out of his death they gathered in their usual meeting point in Martyrs Square, at the heart of the revolution’s stage, and sang the anthem Faysal had chosen. “Yes, we will not die, but we will uproot death from our land,” the song says.  There is no way Faysal was even considering committing suicide. There are many unsolved mysteries surrounding his death. A strange post on his social media was published 2 hours before he died. “I called God but no one loved me”. It was liked by organized foreign bots (mainly Indian accounts) and was boosted by many laughing interactions, before it was noticed the same day at around midnight, and then it shifted to other, more suitable interactions.
Who are they? And why would someone want to boost that particular post, countering numerous voices that doubted his suicide? Faysal’s house keys went missing a few days before his death. He had always been cautious about his personal things. Also, he was shot at about 5 am, which is when the generator cuts off the electricity in his neighborhood. What made his death seem even more suspicious was the total absence of the tragedy from media headlines. Neither local TV channels, nor alternative media outlets reported on his death until a few gave in to pressure by activist campaigns that denounced their silence. Some outlets reported it 10 days later. Some confirmed the suicide narrative, despite it being disputed by many activists and friends. Even social media pages belonging to alternative political parties born from the womb of the revolution ignored the calls and failed to offer their condolences for days.
A mental health NGO organized an event two days after Faysal’s death, on September 12, 2021, to raise awareness about suicide: participants were asked to write messages on balloons. One of the activists who had heard about Faysal’s death attended the event. In a symbolic act of defiance, he wrote on one of the balloons: “Faysal didn’t commit suicide, Faysal was assassinated”.
The silence
Many activists and emerging opposition groups didn’t agree with Faysal’s policy of negotiating with the establishment. But alignment on such issues is, until now, absent anyway on many levels among opposition groups. No matter how different our opinions or perspectives are, not questioning fake government investigations in the absence of an independent judiciary is betrayal, remaining silent over an activist’s death is another betrayal, and delaying the announcement is a dodging of responsibility and a reflection of total neglect. Over time, some of those who were behind campaigns against negotiating with the current regime turned out to not only negotiate under the table, but had even long been tied to establishment parties or politicians. On the other hand, Faysal achieved real wins: passing the law that imposes taxes on marine property infringements and legislation protecting the right to education. I wonder what will happen to these wins now that he’s gone.
Faysal’s case is not singular
Abed Abbas, a Shiite activist that had been revolting against the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, had been threatened many times. A similar scenario of suicide was fabricated when his body was found tossed on the roadside in Costa Brava, South of Beirut, on September 4, 2020, two days after he had gone missing. He had been shot. Faysal died almost a week after Abed’s one-year memorial. Karim Saleh, another Shiite activist, was also found shot dead in his house, 17 days before Faysal’s death.  No matter how different our opinions or perspectives are, not questioning fake government investigations in the absence of an independent judiciary is betrayal, remaining silent over an activist’s death is another betrayal, and delaying the announcement is a dodging of responsibility and a reflection of total neglect.  Following virtually non-existent investigations, all three were reported as suicides by respective police departments.  It is difficult to point fingers, however. Noone knows who might have killed Faysal and why, just as no one knows who killed Abed and Karim.  Faysal’s mother was Shiite and his father Christian. He was practicing the Christian faith, but grew up with both communities. Through conversation and communication, Faysal was able to change the minds of many supporters of the Shiite duo, and brought them to the streets on October 17. Politicians didn’t like him. The marine property infringement law affected many Lebanese tycoons, including high ranking politicians. He pushed for new laws in the education field, he was the leader of Ouah bloc, he was constantly championing free education and defending student rights. He also had enemies among the opposition groups. Though there has been no credible investigation into the circumstances of his death, there are many people out there who are eager to know the truth, regardless of their motivation. Whether they want to use the truth politically to point fingers at the guilty party or family and friends who lost a leader, a model and a change-maker, they have the right to know. If it was suicide, perhaps he had been blackmailed or threatened. We doubt that he would have done it out of his own will.  If it wasn’t by his own hand, we will never know who gave the order, who sent the killer. The evidence was tampered with, the crime scene altered, the presented evidence handled carelessly.
In the absence of an honest, professional and clean investigation and an independent judiciary, we will never know what really happened to Faysal Sfeir.
*Mariam Kesserwan is a Lebanese civic activist who was part of the 2015 You Stink movement. During the October 17, 2019 protests she founded the @LebanonUprising page on Instagram, a well-known outlet that exposes corruption and violations.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 29-30/2021
US President Biden: Pope told him he should ‘keep receiving communion’
The Associated Press/29 October ,2021
President Joe Biden said Pope Francis told him he should continue to receive Communion, as the world’s two most prominent Roman Catholics ran overtime in highly personal discussions on climate change, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic that also touched on the loss of president’s adult son and jokes about aging well. Biden’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has put him at odds with many US bishops, some of whom have suggested he should be denied Communion. Biden said abortion did not come up in the meeting at the Vatican. “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion,” Biden said. Video released by the Vatican showed several warm, relaxed moments between Francis and Biden as they repeatedly shook hands and smiled. Francis often sports a dour look, especially in official photos, but he seemed in good spirits Friday. The private meeting lasted about 75 minutes, according to the Vatican, more than double the normal length of an audience with the pontiff. The pair sat across from one another at a desk in the papal library, accompanied by a translator. They then proceeded to an exchange of gifts and a broader meeting including the first lady and top officials.The lengthy session put Biden more than an hour behind schedule.

Biden vs Macron: First meeting since Submarine Dispute
Associated Press/Friday, 29 October, 2021
One of President Joe Biden's toughest meetings at the G-20 summit may be with the leader of America's oldest ally: France. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will huddle Friday in Rome while Paris is still seething over a secret U.S.-British submarine deal with Australia, which left France in the lurch and rattled Europe's faith in American loyalty. The two men have talked twice since then and their first face-to-face meeting since the scandal broke in September marks the latest American effort to try to smooth things over. Macron is expecting Biden to make a new "commitment" to supporting French anti-terrorist operations in the Sahel region of Africa, according to a top French official. France has been seeking greater intelligence and military cooperation from the U.S. in the Sahel. Biden and Macron are set to discuss new ways to cooperate in the Indo-Pacific, a move meant to soothe French tempers over being excised from the U.S.-U.K.-Australia partnership that accompanied the submarine deal. Other topics on the agenda include China, Afghanistan, and Iran, particularly in light of the latter nation agreeing to return to the nuclear negotiating table next month.
The U.S.-led submarine contract supplanted a prior French deal to supply Australia with its own submarines. The U.S. argued that the move, which will arm the Pacific ally with higher-quality nuclear-powered boats, will better enable Australia to contain Chinese encroachment in the region.
But the French, who lost out on more than $60 billion from the deal, have argued that the Biden administration at the highest levels misled them about the talks with Australia and even levied criticism that Biden was adopting the tactics of his bombastic predecessor, Donald Trump. France is especially angry over being kept in the dark about a major geopolitical shift, and having its interests in the Indo-Pacific — where France has territories with 2 million people and 7,000 troops — ignored. The row challenged Biden's carefully honed image of working to stabilize and strengthen the trans-Atlantic alliance after Trump's presidency, as France for the first time in some 250 years of diplomatic relations pulled its ambassador to the U.S. in protest.
U.S. officials, from Biden on down, have worked for weeks to try to soothe tensions, though not so much for Biden to visit France himself to try to reset relations with Paris. Instead, he's dispatched Vice President Kamala Harris for a visit in early November. In a concession by the White House, the Biden-Macron meeting in Rome is being organized and hosted by France, which Macron's office called "politically important." Meanwhile, first lady Jill Biden was to host Brigitte Macron for a "bilateral engagement' Friday afternoon. White House officials said Biden has not formally apologized to the French leader, instead, according to press secretary Jen Psaki, "He acknowledged that there could have been greater consultation" ahead of the deal announcement. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the two leaders would "literally cover the waterfront of issues facing the U.S.-France alliance," including counterterrorism in the Middle East, China and trade and economic issues. "We feel very good about the intensive engagement that we've had with France over the course of the past few weeks," he added. He said he expected Biden and Macron to issue a joint statement outlining areas of mutual cooperation, including the Indo-Pacific and economic and technological cooperation. While the U.S. focuses on Asia, Macron is seeking to bolster Europe's own defense capabilities, such as via more military equipment and military operations abroad. France is also determined to put "muscle" into Europe's geopolitical strategy toward an increasingly assertive China, France's ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, told The Associated Press earlier this month. France wants Western allies to "divide up roles" instead of competing against each other, and for the Americans to be "allies as loyal and as available for their European partners as always," according to the top French official.

 US slaps sanctions on Iran's drone program, will continue to hold Tehran accountable
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/29 October ,2021
The US slapped new sanctions on Iran and its drone program on Friday, warning that Tehran’s irresponsible acts would continue to be punished. “Today, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated members of a network of companies and individuals that have provided critical support to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its expeditionary unit, the IRGC Qods Force (IRGC-QF),” a statement from the Treasury Department read. The commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force UAV Command, Saeed Aghajani, was also designated. Aghajani oversaw the July 29, 2021 attack on Mercer Street tanker off the coast of Oman and was behind the UAV attack against a Saudi Arabian oil refinery in 2019, the Treasury said. Drones from Iran’s UAV program were used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Palestinian Hamas, Kataeb Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, the Treasury Department said. The drones were also making their way to Ethiopia, “where the escalating crisis threatens to destabilize the broader region.”“Lethal UAVs have been used in attacks on international shipping and on US forces,” the Treasury Department statement read. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said Iran and its proxy militants used UAVs to attack US forces and Washington’s partners. “Treasury will continue to hold Iran accountable for its irresponsible and violent acts,” Adeyemo said.The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee welcomed the sanctions, saying that more needed to be done to counter Iran’s malign regional influence.

Burhan Says Will Appoint New Premier within Week
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Sudan’s top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the military he heads will appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside it within a week. In an interview with Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency published Friday, Burhan said the new premier will form a cabinet that will share leadership of the country with the armed forces. “We have a patriotic duty to lead the people and help them in the transition period until elections are held," Burhan said in the interview, The Associated Press reported. On Monday, Burhan dissolved the transitional government and detained Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok, many government officials and political leaders in a coup condemned by the US and the West. The military allowed Hamdok to return home under guard the following day after international pressure. The generals have not yet produced a list of candidates for the premiership, Burhan said. The military takeover came after weeks of mounting tensions between military and civilian leaders over the course and pace of Sudan’s transition to democracy. It threatened to derail that process, which has progressed in fits and starts since the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.
Burhan has said military forces were compelled to take over because of quarrels between political parties that he claimed could lead to civil war. However, the coup also comes just weeks before Burhan would have had to hand over the leadership of the Sovereign Council, the ultimate decision-maker in Sudan, to a civilian, in a step that would reduce the military’s hold on the country. The coup has elicited a storm of street protests demanding the restoration of a civilian government. At least nine people have been killed by security forces' gunfire, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Committee and activists. At least 170 others were wounded, according to the UN Pro-democracy activist groups have called for ‘million-person’ marches on Saturday to bring the coup to a halt. Burhan said earlier this week that he had installed himself as head of a military council that will rule Sudan until elections in July 2023.

Biden Says Civilian-Led Government ‘Must Be Restored’ in Sudan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
US President Joe Biden on Thursday said that the civilian-led transitional government must be restored in Sudan, affirming that "the United States will continue to stand with the people of Sudan and their non-violent struggle."In an official statement on the international response to events in Sudan, Biden leaders and organizations from around the world have come together to condemn the military takeover in Sudan and violence against peaceful demonstrators. "Today, the UN Security Council added its voice to this international chorus. Together, our message to Sudan’s military authorities is overwhelming and clear: the Sudanese people must be allowed to protest peacefully and the civilian-led transitional government must be restored," the statement read. Biden also called for the immediate release all those detained, demanding the restoration of institutions associated with the transitional government. "I believe all parties in Sudan can reclaim a shared vision for completing Sudan’s transition to democracy. The United States is committed to helping the Sudanese people achieve this goal. We believe strongly in Sudan’s economic potential and the promise of its future—if the military and those who oppose change do not hold it back," he noted.Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters on Thursday who took to the streets for the fourth day in a row to protest against the latest measures taken by Sudanese General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who led a military takeover in the country.

Libya: Attack on Ministry of Sports, Attempt to Assassinate Military Commander
Cairo - Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Libya’s transitional authority remained silent about the military developments that took place in the past hours in the capital, which saw the storming of the headquarters of the Ministry of Sports, an attack on the house of a military commander, and another assassination attempt.
The Ministry of Sports condemned the attack launched by what it described as “outlaw forces” on its headquarters on Wednesday, in a Tripoli neighborhood, near the residence of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba. In a statement, the ministry said that an armed group “stormed the headquarters of the Ministry of Sports in Tripoli during daylight, intimidated the workers, and tampered with the offices and equipment.”It also called on the Ministry of Interior to open an investigation into the incident, and bring the perpetrators to justice. No party has claimed responsibility for the incident, but local sources accused Al-Nawasi militia, led by Mustafa Kaddour, of storming the ministry’s headquarters, and expelling all employees after the meeting of Minister Abdul Shafi Hussain Al-Juwaifi with Hussein Al-Qatrani, the deputy of Dabaiba in Benghazi. Meanwhile, the family of Muammar al-Dhawi, commander of the 55th Brigade, denied the reports of his death, saying on Thursday that he was injured after surviving an assassination attempt in the Ghout Alshaal area of Tripoli. In turn, Major General Abdel Basset Marwan, commander of the Tripoli Military District, demanded the transitional authority in the capital to investigate the storming of his house by armed men in military uniforms on Wednesday. The Tripoli Military District published a footage from a surveillance camera, which showed an attempt by unknown persons in military uniform to arrest Marwan, after storming his house in the Zenata area. It also broadcast another video that it said was of the attack on Marwan’s house by what it called “outlaws” from the 444th Brigade. Spokesmen for the Presidential Council and the government declined to comment on the recent developments.

Tunisian Government Faces First Labor Strike
Tunis - Mongi Saidani/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Workers of 174 private sector establishments in the governorate of Sfax held a strike on Thursday – the first since President Kais Saied adopted exceptional measures on Sept. 22. In parallel, a sit-in was organized outside the headquarters of the General Labor Union to demand a raise in wages. Commenting in this regard, Union leaders in Sfax underlined the need for an increase in wages, in light of the decline in the purchasing power in the country. They added that the Labor Union “is not afraid of statements,” in reference to a warning issued by the Businessmen Union, in which it expressed its surprise at the decision of the general strike, and considered that such actions “do not take into account the general situation of the country.” According to observers, the partial strike, which did not include public sector employees, “is an early warning to the present authority on the importance of the Union role in the scheduled national dialogue… and also an attempt to pressure the Presidency of the Republic, which excluded national parties and organizations from this dialogue.”Noureddine Taboubi, head of the Labor Union, had held the first official meeting with Prime Minister Najla Boden, after she was assigned by Saied to form the new government.In a media statement, he said that the prime minister “relies on the Union within the framework of national solidarity in order to save the country from the difficult situation on the social and economic levels.”Taboubi added that political differences must be overcome, while attention should be focused on addressing pressing economic and social issues. In this regard, he stressed the need to follow up on the implementation of the agreements concluded between the Union and the government through continuous communication between the two sides.

EU Says Reaching an Agreement on GERD is Inevitable
Cairo - Mohammed Abdo Hassanein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The European Union has called on Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to return to the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (GERD) negotiations.
Head of the EU delegation to Egypt Ambassador Christian Berger stressed the need to reach an agreement between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. He said it is essential, necessary and inevitable for the interest of the Nile Basin countries. The EU has always “supported consultations and negotiations in this regard,” he said in remarks during a conference held on Thursday at the closing session of the 4th Cairo Water Week (CWW).Berger said the newly appointed EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, Dr. Annette Weber, will visit Cairo next week.
The dispute was sparked in 2011 when Addis Ababa began constructing the mega dam on the Blue Nile. Egypt and 10 other downstream countries share the Nile basin, yet more than 85 percent of its share comes from the Blue Nile tributary in Ethiopia. Around 80 percent of the construction works have been completed so far, and Addis Ababa completed the second phase of filling the dam in August, which is a cause of concern to Egypt and Sudan that fear the dam's impact on their water shares. Cairo and Khartoum demand that the three countries reach a legally binding agreement to fill and operate the dam. For nearly a decade, the African Union-sponsored talks between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum over the operation and filling of the mega-dam have faltered. In mid-September, the UN Security Council called on the three countries to resume negotiations under the auspices of the AU, stressing the need to reach a “binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD” within a reasonable timetable.

Houthi Attacks Kill, Injure 300 Civilians in Southern Marib
Aden – Ali Rabih/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Official Yemeni sources reported that Iran-backed Houthi militias have killed and wounded 300 civilians in southern Marib, an oil-rich Yemeni governorate Houthis are desperately trying to control through violence. While the Houthi crimes against civilians were condemned by the government and human rights authorities, field sources stated that the group had intensified the bombing of areas north of Marib’s Juba district after having captured the neighboring Jabal Murad district. Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on Twitter that the Houthi “militia continues to systematically and deliberately bombard villages and homes... in order to inflict casualties among civilians, forcing hundreds of families and displaced to flee.”The UN human rights office in Marib reported that the continuous escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia on the villages and homes of citizens in the Juba district has killed and injured 300 civilians and displaced more than 10,000 families. It added in a statement that the Houthi militia targeted a location in the Juba district with more than 20 mortar and Katyusha shells, which caused the death and injury of dozens of civilians, the destruction of their property, and the displacement of more than 500 families.More so, the office condemned international silence in the face of Houthi crimes against citizens in Marib and all Yemeni governorates. The UN office called on the international community and world organizations to assume their moral responsibilities towards Yemenis who are dying of siege and starvation, mass executions and repressive practices, and the continuous bombing of villages and neighborhoods. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometers west of Marib. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Marib city had between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants before the war but its population ballooned to hundreds of thousands as Yemenis fled frontline cities for its relative stability.
But with about 139 refugee camps in the province, according to the government, hosting around 2.2 million people, many displaced civilians have become caught in the line of fire once again. Tens of thousands have been displaced in the province this year, including nearly 10,000 in September alone, said the UN’s migration agency, the International Organization for Migration.

Israel to Cut Power in West Bank, Provide Gaza with Clean Energy
Tel Aviv/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The Israel Electric Corporation has threatened to begin cutting power to Palestinian areas of the West Bank next week over unpaid bills. The Palestinian Authority has been notified by Israeli authorities of pending blackouts if the mounting debt is not paid. Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO) Chief Hisham al-Omari accused Israeli authorities of deliberately timing the announcement for political purposes. “Israel deliberately creates crises, especially as we enter the winter season, in order to serve its goals,” Omari stressed in a statement. He said the company is in contact with the Palestinian government to discuss appropriate solutions to overcome the electricity crisis. Meanwhile, a new project was launched in Tel Aviv to supply clean electricity to large areas in the eastern Gaza Strip. Israel claimed that it is “a single policy aimed at encouraging moderation and promoting calm while ensuring that the power supply is not free of charge.” Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar has allocated a budget to fund planning to install solar panels and produce clean, low-cost electricity from nature. This project would provide electricity to the Israeli towns surrounding the enclave, as well as the Palestinian towns in the east of the Strip. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Head of the Eshkol Regional council Gadi Yarkoni submitted the initiative as a proposal that was approved by Elharrar. Yarkoni was concerned the Israeli army would prevent launching the project as the panels will be installed on the border with Gaza and would be destroyed in the first clash. However, the army supported its implementation. Commander of the Southern Command Major General Eliezer Toledano said the project serves both sides’ interests and helps maintain calm, in line with the army’s policy of providing great facilities to the Palestinians to maintain security.

Ankara Ties Attacking SDF to US, Russia Fulfilling Promises
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Turkey has linked a potential military operation targeting the People’s Defense Units (YPG) in Syria to the US and Russia fulfilling their promises on pushing the Kurdish group’s elements 30 kilometers away from Turkey’s southern borders. It is noteworthy that the YPG makes up the largest US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) component. Neither Russia nor the US kept their promises on withdrawing the YPG from agreed areas, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday. “The YPG/PKK’s attacks have increased. In this situation, we have to do what is necessary on our own,” he said during a televised interview with CNN Turk. “They did not keep their promises so far. On the contrary, the US continued to support them (YPG).”The US and Russia were supposed to push the YPG elements 30 kilometers to the south from the areas in control of Washington and Moscow, Turkey’s top diplomat said. He said that Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed these issues at their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, while it is also expected to be on the agenda of the Turkish president’s meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of COP26. Two Turkish police officers were killed and two others wounded as a result of the YPG attack in Azaz, northern Syria this month. The YPG attacked an armored vehicle with a guided missile in the Operation Euphrates Shield area. The attack was launched from the Tal Rifaat region. On talks with Russia and the US on Syria, Cavusoglu said: “We came up with the idea of ​​holding a meeting with the US and countries that share our same ideas about Syria, or a meeting of the International Syria Support Group. We’re working on that.”Cavusoglu added that there is a need for such a meeting, and he sent a message to both Russia and Iran, the main supporters of the Syrian regime, and said, “You have seen that a military solution is not possible, explain that to the Syrian regime.”Turkey’s top diplomat stressed that his country would do what is necessary to repel YPG attacks from northern Syria. He pointed out that the recent terrorist attack in Damascus and the regime’s attacks in Idlib had a negative impact on the latest round of constitutional talks in Geneva.

U.S. to Deepen Relation with Taiwan in Face of China Tensions
Associated Press/Friday, 29 October, 2021
The U.S. wants to deepen its relationship with Taiwan, the self-ruled island that has become a major point of conflict in the strained U.S.-China relationship, and will work to counter Beijing's "malign" influence, a U.S. official said Friday.
In her first public news conference, Sandra Oudkirk, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy, reiterated official lines that the U.S. remains deeply committed to Taiwan and is actively working on new areas of cooperation such as in cybersecurity and supply chains.
"The value of our partnership and our support for Taiwan is rock solid," Oudkirk said. "We are committed to deepening our ties with Taiwan."The U.S. support for Taiwan comes as tensions between China and the island are now at the highest in decades, with Beijing stepping up its military harassment by flying fighter jets toward Taiwan. China has not ruled out force to reunify with Taiwan, which split from the mainland during the civil war in 1949. The U.S. switched diplomatic recognition of China from the ruling Nationalist Party government in Taipei to the Communist Party in Beijing in 1979, but has continued to maintain a strong unofficial relationship with the self-ruled island. Oudkirk declined to comment on any security initiatives or give any details about the presence of U.S. troops on the island, after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed Thursday that U.S. boots were indeed on the ground, though less than what people would think. "We are going to continue to advance global and regional goals of the Biden administration, including countering malign PRC influence, recovering from the devastating impacts of the pandemic and addressing the threat of climate change," Oudkirk said.
Washington has supported Taiwan with arms sales to boost the island's ability to defend itself, and also routinely navigates the waters around the island in what it calls freedom of operation movements.
Oudkirk, who became director over the summer, also reaffirmed that the U.S. will support Taiwan in its role on the international stage, without giving details.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on other members of the United Nations to supporting Taipei's independent participation in international organizations related to transportation, health, climate change, culture and education. Taiwan, for example, is not a member of the World Health Organization.A major new focus of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship is on supply chains amid a global crunch on computer chips known as semi-conductors. Taiwan is home to TSMC or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc., which is the biggest contract manufacturer of processor chips in the world. Those chips are used in everything from smartphones, medical equipment, to gaming computers. In recent weeks, local media reported that Taiwanese companies are concerned about a request for information from the U.S. Department of Commerce to chipmakers on potentially sensitive information such as their inventory, production and their top customers. TSMC, for example, serves clients in China as well as across the world. "I have stressed that the Department of Commerce's recent request for information is just that, it is a request," Oudkirk said in response to those concerns, saying it is voluntary.

In the Middle of a Crisis, Facebook Inc. Renames Itself Meta
Associated Press/Friday, 29 October, 2021
Like many companies in trouble before it, Facebook is changing its name and logo. Facebook Inc. is now called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday is its commitment to developing the new surround-yourself technology known as the " metaverse." But the social network itself will still be called Facebook.
Also unchanged, at least for now, are its chief executive and senior leadership, its corporate structure and the crisis that has enveloped the company. Skeptics immediately accused the company of trying to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, the trove of leaked documents that have plunged it into the biggest crisis since it was founded in Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room 17 years ago. The documents portray Facebook as putting profits ahead of ridding its platform of hate, political strife and misinformation around the world.
The move reminded marketing consultant Laura Ries of when energy company BP rebranded itself to "Beyond Petroleum" to escape criticism that the oil giant harmed the environment.
"Facebook is the world's social media platform, and they are being accused of creating something that is harmful to people and society," she said. "They can't walk away from the social network with a new corporate name and talk of a future metaverse."
Facebook the app is not changing its name. Nor are Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The company's corporate structure also won't change. But on Dec. 1, its stock will start trading under a new ticker symbol, MVRS.
The metaverse is sort of the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg has described it as a "virtual environment" you can go inside of, instead of just looking at on a screen. People can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media, according to Victoria Petrock, an analyst who follows emerging technologies. Zuckerberg's foray into virtual reality has drawn some comparisons to fellow tech billionaires' outer space adventures and jokes that perhaps it's understandable he would want to escape his current reality amid calls for his resignation and increasing scrutiny of the company. On Monday, Zuckerberg announced a new segment for Facebook that will begin reporting its financial results separately from the company's Family of Apps segment starting in the final quarter of this year. The entity, Reality Labs, will reduce Facebook's overall operating profit by about $10 billion this year, the company said.
Other tech companies such as Microsoft, chipmaker Nvidia and Fortnite maker Epic Games have all been outlining their own visions of how the metaverse will work.
Zuckerberg said that he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade and that he hopes the new technology will creates millions of jobs for creators. The announcement comes amid heightened legislative and regulatory scrutiny of Facebook in many parts of the world because of the Facebook Papers. A corporate rebranding isn't likely to solve the myriad problems revealed by the internal documents or quiet the alarms that critics have been raising for years about the harm the company's products are causing to society. Zuckerberg, for his part, has largely dismissed the furor triggered by the Facebook Papers as unfair. In an interesting twist, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, bought a Canadian scientific literature analysis company called Meta in 2017. By Thursday afternoon, though, its website Meta.org announced that it will "sunset" at the end of March. The Meta.com domain, meanwhile, redirected to the former Facebook's rebranded corporate site.
At headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the iconic thumbs up sign that has long been outside was repainted to a blue, pretzel-shape logo resembling an infinity symbol. Some of Facebook's biggest critics seemed unimpressed by the name change. The Real Facebook Oversight Board, a watchdog group focused on the company, announced that it will keep its name.
"Changing their name doesn't change reality: Facebook is destroying our democracy and is the world's leading peddler of disinformation and hate," the group said in a statement. "Their meaningless name change should not distract from the investigation, regulation and real, independent oversight needed to hold Facebook accountable."In explaining the rebrand, Zuckerberg said the name Facebook no longer encompasses everything the company does. In addition to the social network, that now includes Instagram, Messenger, its Quest VR headset, its Horizon VR platform and more.
"Today we are seen as a social media company," Zuckerberg said. "But in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people."

Tunisian Lawmaker Faces Sexual Harassment Hearing
Associated Press/October 29/2021
A landmark case that helped galvanize Tunisia's #MeToo movement reached court this week, involving a legislator charged with sexual harassment and public indecency. Feminist activists held a small protest outside the courthouse, shouting chants and waving placards that read "My body is not a public space." The activists sported T-shirts and badges bearing the hashtag of their movement #EnaZeda, #MeToo in Tunisian dialect. In 2019, a schoolgirl posted photos on social media of parliament member Zouhair Makhlouf, of the Qalb Tounes party, allegedly performing a sexual act in his car outside her high school.
Makhlouf's case was one of the flashpoints in 2019 that prompted thousands of Tunisians to to share their personal experiences of sexual assault and harassment online. The #EnaZeda Facebook page currently has over 90,000 likes, and is updated daily.
But no high-profile figures have faced prosecution for alleged sexual wrongdoing — until now. Makhlouf avoided prosecution at the time due to his parliamentary immunity. In July, President Kais Saied froze the Tunisian parliament and lifted political immunity for MPs, as well as taking on sweeping executive and legislative powers. With his immunity revoked, Makhlouf was summoned to face his first hearing on Thursday at the courthouse in Nabeul, south of the capital Tunis. Makhlouf, who denies all charges, did not appear at the hearing. In an interview with The Associated Press at a local hospital, Makhlouf said that his mother had been taken ill and he could not attend because he was the only one in the family with a car who could take her to the clinic. Activist Sara Medini told The Associated Press that feminist group Aswat Nissa had come to protest "in solidarity" with the victim, as well as to denounce the length of time it took for Makhlouf's legal proceedings to begin. Aswat Nissa originally administrated and monitored the #EnaZeda social media groups. "Now it's already more than two years and no decision was taken, there has been no step forward," she said. "It is time to say no to impunity." Aswat Nissa's executive director Sarra Ben Said noted that Makhlouf "had substantial power in the region where he's being put on trial. We wanted to tell women that whatever powers your aggressor uses against you or has on you, you can always seek justice and retribution."
Makhlouf insists he is innocent of sexual harassment and says that while the photo is real, it was a misunderstanding. "All that is happening is the worst accusation of my life. I was imprisoned under the (former President Zine El Abidine) Ben Ali dictatorship three times, but this is the worst injustice I've suffered, it's stupid and absurd," he says. Makhlouf said it could be challenging for a judge to withstand what he called immense public and political pressure against him. Asked about #EnaZeda, he said "it's good to have an energetic civil society. But they've done damage, they don't listen to both sides."
His accuser's lawyer, Naima Chabbouh, said that it was time for justice to decide on this "protracted case." The hearing is set to resume Nov. 11. The complainant's close friend, Aya Aajmi, a 20-year-old law student, was sending photos of the demonstration outside to her while she sat in the courtroom. "At the beginning of all this she was just exhausted. But today she feels very strong and she's happy that people are with her," said Aajmi. "She's going to give a lot of energy and courage to other girls to not keep silent. I think we can change things in the country if we continue with acts like this."
In 2017, the Tunisian parliament passed a law outlawing all forms of violence against women and girls, in theory making it easier to prosecute domestic abuse and impose penalties on sexual harassment in public spaces. According to a 2017 report by the Tunisian Center for Research, Studies, Documentation, and Information on Women, which operates under the country's Ministry of Women and Families, in 97% of sexual harassment cases the victim does not file an official complaint.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 29-30/2021
If Only, On Saturday, The Sudanese Generals Fall
Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/October 29/2021
Would that it were so easy – that less than a week after it was launched, the military takeover in Sudan would be reversed. On Saturday, October 30, Sudanese will come in their hundreds of thousands to protest against the naked power grab by Sudan's generals, led by Abdul Fatah Al-Burhan, which saw them overthrow the country's civilian government on October 25.
Popular rejection of the long-feared coup against the civilian government of Abdullah Hamdok began immediately, with demonstrations and civil disobedience. Resistance (and killing of civilians) continues.[1] Almost all of Sudan's political parties have condemned the military takeover, as have Western countries, the UN, the EU, and the African Union. Activists have been active online, and in the streets, with several killed the first day and dozens wounded. Hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance from the United States and other countries have been frozen, while the World Bank has paused its support programs. An American statement issued after a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Blinken and the Saudi Foreign Minister said that both ministers condemned the military takeover (the Saudi Ambassador in Khartoum subsequently met with General Al-Burhan).[2]
Other voices were more circumspect. Russia clearly welcomed the takeover, while China used vague open-ended language. Similarly vague language came from neighboring Egypt, seen as close to the generals, and from key Gulf states.
The "Million Man" march on October 30 represents the biggest challenge yet to the rule of the generals. It is only the latest chapter of a struggle going on since April 2019, when, after months of popular demonstrations and of bloody repression by the 30-year Islamist regime of Omar Al-Bashir, the generals acted to remove their old master. Although the people supplied the blood in opposition to the regime, the generals expected to rule. Indeed, one of the military's "red lines" at that time was that shari'a law should remain in Sudan.[3] Popular and international pressure after a massacre of demonstrators carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) unit led to the uneasy power-sharing agreement, beginning in August 2019, that brought the well-respected Hamdok as prime minister, while Al-Burhan became de facto head of state. Lurking in the shadows was Al-Burhan's shrewd and power-hungry deputy General Muhammad Hamdan Daglo (also known as "Hemeti"), a one-time camel trader turned Janjaweed and then RSF commander.
October 30 is unlikely to remove the regime, but also unlikely to break the back of popular resistance to the military regime. Every option that can be tried and that will be tried going forward has already been tried before, by the demonstrators and by the repressors. Both Al-Bashir and his military successors have used outright repression – slaughtering demonstrators, turning off the Internet, using fake pro-military mobs[4] as counter-demonstrators, making false promises of reform. All have been tried and none have succeeded in quieting discontent. They will be tried again, and efforts will be made to blunt the impact of a mass civilian uprising.
Demonstrators, students, young people, and professional organizations have demonstrated remarkable zeal, bravery, and steadfastness in confronting the ruling regime, and have done so with a commitment to peaceful disobedience. They will not stop.[5] But the people are unarmed; the military has almost all the firepower. It is one thing to bravely continue demonstrating despite the odds, to keep the pressure on and practice opposition to the regime in a myriad of practical ways. But it is hard to see the regime falling so easily unless there is a split within the ranks of those with the guns themselves. This sounds very much like a kind of stalemate, possibly even a bloody one, which would still seem to favor those holding physical power in Sudan – the military.
But a few factors do give us hope for change. If the generals do remain in power, they will have to rule. Having dismissed the civilian government, and having promised a new team of technocrats, the generals need to come up with at least semi-credible civilian puppets. This is not easy to do, given the – relatively good and mostly technocratic – cabinet that has already been dismissed and the rejection of Al-Burhan's actions by political parties and civil society. Al-Burhan has openly invited Hamdok to return under new conditions (more military control), but also has said that he has a list of other candidates.
Among these candidates may be Kamal Idris, a former head of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Idris ran in the flawed 2010 presidential elections, receiving 0.76% of the vote. Interestingly enough, the runner-up to Al-Bashir in that vote was the SPLM-North's Yassir Arman, who received 21.7% of the vote in 2010 and was serving as an advisor to Hamdok, and was arrested by the military on the day of the coup. One supposes that the generals can scrounge up bodies paid in dollars by the military's patrons or allowed to steal from the state to staff the government. But it won't be a very capable one that will be able to confront the country's myriad challenges amidst international skepticism. So, the generals' civilian "cover" promises to be painfully thin.
A second change factor is the Sudanese rebel factions, most of whom have signed peace deals with the government. The only former rebel arrested so far has been Arman. And Al-Burhan, in his post-coup address, specifically committed himself to the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, and called on the two remaining rebel holdouts to join the peace process (both of those holdouts, the SPLM-N of Abdul Aziz Hilu and the SLM of Abdul Wahid Al-Nur, have now rejected the coup).
But how long will a very tentative peace, tied to a complicated peace accord, hold out in Sudan, with a likely incompetent civilian government serving as puppets to the military junta? War breaking out in Sudan will put even more stress on an already ramshackle regime. On the other hand, two other former rebels, SLM's Minni Minnawi (appointed Governor of Darfur earlier this year) and JEM's Gebreil Ibrahim (appointed Minister of Finance earlier this year), had in recent weeks welcomed military intervention against a government of which they were formally a part. Both also welcomed a greater role for Islamists in Sudan.[6]
The third volatile factor is ideological. Based on Al-Burhan's speech, the plan is to rule in the name of the popular revolution that overthrew Al-Bashir, on the basis of the Constitutional Document (parts of which the military suspended), and eventually to hand over power to an elected civilian government in a couple of years (all of this seems very tentative). It is unlikely that the military will actually remain committed to a process which could, eventually, see its near impunity end and economic power clipped. If it does not, will it seek to rebrand itself as a sort of nationalist military regime along the lines of Egypt's Al-Sisi? Or will generals who were vetted for loyalty by the likes of Omar Al-Bashir revert to type and use political Islam, as former dictators Al-Bashir and Nimeiry did, as a source of regime legitimacy? This would make the regimes surreptitiously supporting the coup more than a bit nervous.
The final wild card factor is the military itself. Does Al-Burhan speak for the entire military establishment firmly united behind him? He certainly must keep the military content. Is he the "moderate" among radicals, or merely one of several cynical competitors for supreme rule among the uniformed ranks? Is he Hemeti's partner, Hemeti's puppet, or Hemeti's rival? All three descriptions could be accurate based on changing circumstances. The 2019 removal of President Al-Bashir was heavily influenced by Sudanese intelligence chief Salah Ghosh, who was then swiftly pushed aside by other former regime leaders. Out of that military-political ferment emerged the current Al-Burhan/Hemeti duopoly, which has constantly chafed at the mere possibility of greater civilian oversight. Both men have benefited greatly from their arrangement since 2019.
Hemeti, Minnawi, and Ibrahim (all from Darfur, all of them rivals and, in the years of the Darfur conflict, sometime allies or adversaries) have been maintaining a low profile since the Al-Burhan coup. None of the three has tweeted once since it took place (as of this writing). Were they fully backing Al-Burhan, or did he literally jump the gun ahead of them before they could act on their own? Some might see this as hinting at division among the ruling military elite, with a more "nationalist" Al-Burhan faction facing a more Islamist faction. But the struggle is likely more about personal ambition than politics. In this scenario, they are waiting to see if this particular general hangs on to power and serves as a suitable figurehead, or if he can be replaced by another. But one also recalls General Al-Bashir's coup in 1989, which included the initial arrest of Islamists like Hassan Al-Turabi, only for it to be revealed later that Al-Turabi had been part of the plot all along.
The likeliest outcome is that nothing will end on Saturday – that it will only be the latest skirmish in the long struggle of the Sudanese people, repeatedly picking themselves up after being knocked down, to secure their freedom and human dignity.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Twitter.com/SudanzUprising/status/1453783567906004999, October 28, 2021.
[2] Sudantribune.com/article222591, October 28, 2021.
[3] Smallarmssurvey.org/resource/sudan-uprising-popular-struggles-elite-compromises-and-revolution-betrayed, June 2020.
[4] Bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-58938964, October 16, 2021.
[5] Alaraby.co.uk, October 28, 2021.
[6] Skynewsarabia.com, October 21, 2021.

Iraq After Two Octobers!
Mustafa Fahs/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 29/2021
The near conclusive results of the Iraqi elections affirmed that a new political course is crystalizing and will impose itself on domestic and foreign actors…This course and its twists and turns began taking form on the first of October 2019, which is tied to the sacrifices of the Iraqi youths who launched the “October uprising” and dealt the regime of deal-making and spoil-sharing a heavy blow. They left the 2003 regime cornered and forced it to make concessions, though to a limited degree, and give up some of its tools in the regime.
It could be said that the October uprising succeeded, to some extent, in canceling the political exclusivity of the prime ministerial position, though it remained besieged by the pressures of the political class and its institutional and noninstitutional tools. Nonetheless, the current government, despite this pressure, contributed, to some degree, to the demonstration of the social and political changes affirmed by the election results. As for electoral October, the October elections or the “second October,” it outlined the new, different Iraq that took its shape through the ballot box, making it impossible to disregard its outcomes or manipulate them. As for the attempts to deny those results or contest their legitimacy, they are nothing but a waste of time aimed at saving face before eventually recognizing the bitter results and admitting defeat. That acceptance could help the defeated parties reassess their last 18 years in charge and the failures that led to this result.
So, the Iraqi political class, in both its winners and defeated, is faced with the challenges posed by the Octobirists, and these challenges will impose themselves on the political process as a whole. Foreign actors should understand the reactions and sensitivities of Iraqi individuals and those reactions’ collective manifestations. They should recognize that attempts to force compromises through or impede them could succeed temporarily, but they will not last because what began on the tenth is only the beginning of a white insurgency. However, the first insurgency, which began two years ago, was red, and it deprived them of their legitimacy, while the second took away the legality of their authority.
Believing that the lack of legality and legitimacy can be overcome, that they can turn back the clock, would be akin to political suicide. Going back to the 2018 settlement is impossible because the winners and losers are clear, and doing so could potentially give rise to a new wave of more violent protests. As for the viability of getting sectarian or communitarian political houses back in order, that would also have significant ramifications, as it would bring political divisions on sectarian or ethnic lines back to the fore and leave alliances sorted regionally at the central state’s expense.
It can thus be said that what has come to be known as the “Coordination Framework” will not manage to pump new blood into the Shiite political house or deal with other political houses built on similar foundations. The Framework’s fate and the course will be determined by the degree to which it can cooperate with the winner of the elections, who has hinted at a national alliance that looks past ethnic and sectarian considerations. That would inevitably undermine the Coordination Framework’s influence on the political process, which is also linked to the fact that foreign actors prefer the maintenance and perpetuation of stability despite the setbacks they have faced because of the two Octobers. So far, it seems that safeguarding stability is a domestic and foreign priority, and that will reflect on who is appointed to lead the country and how the government is formed. On the one hand, that means the Shiite political house retrieving its hold on the premiership is near impossible. On the other hand, it means a solid majority will form the government, and it could thus be said that the October settlement will persist, with the electoral results taken into account, either with the same face or a new one that maintains what has been established at the popular and constitutional levels. However, this time, there is more room to maneuver and fewer constraints imposed by partisan concessions, as any party, winners or losers, deciding to cling to their privileges would leave everyone losing.
As for the most prominent new development, it is the independents and Octobersits’ election to parliament despite the impulsive decision to boycott. State institutions are no longer reserved exclusively for traditional parties and political movements, and that will have a substantial impact on how the state is managed and will leave the parties, in all their sizes, to the forthcoming settlement under the scrutiny of an opposition that has become able to obstruct institutionally and through mobilizations on the streets. And so, the Iraq that has emerged after the two Octobers is not the same as that which preceded them. The first did away the political regime’s legitimacy, and the second opened the door to legitimacy being earned through reforming or toppling that regime.

Sudan coup: Generals and Islamists prevail in the Arab world
Joanthan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/October 29/2021
A coup has taken place in Sudan. In a series of moves on Monday morning straight from the well-thumbed handbook of Arab military takeovers, Sudanese military forces stormed the country’s state broadcaster.
At an unspecified hour, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and a number of his ministers were taken into custody by the military. The coup’s leader and apparent instigator, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, then delivered a televised address in which he announced that an “independent and fair representative government” would hold power until elections, to be held in 2023.
The 14-member Sovereignty Council, which had acted as the collective head of state since the ousting of President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir in August 2019, has been dissolved by the military.
The council consisted of both military and civilian members, chaired by al-Burhan himself. The deputy chair was General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the army’s Rapid Support Forces. The two had been scheduled, however, to hand over leadership of the council to civilian leaders in January 2022. The handover was stipulated by the draft constitutional declaration of 2019, which followed the toppling of al-Bashir. This week’s coup nullifies this procedure, ushering in the full domination of government by the armed forces.
As of now, demonstrations have taken place against the coup in a number of cities, including the capital, Khartoum. Several people have been killed. Hamdok has been released from custody. The coup has been condemned by a number of Western countries, including the US and the UK, and a US State Department spokesperson announced the freezing of $700 million in economic support to the country.
US-based Lebanese journalist Hussein Abdul Hussein noted in an article written in response to the coup and published on Tuesday: “Change has come to predominantly Arab countries in different shapes and forms… The result in all these countries, however, has been the same: either civil war or the reestablishment of autocracy.”
It is indeed the case that efforts at establishing stable and representative rule in majority Arabic-speaking countries have proven universally unsuccessful. Hussein points to the “absence” of the “popular culture that can sustain the building and maintaining of a modern state.”
The forces in the Arab world committed to the establishment of representative government remain weak and defeated.
Indeed, in every Arab state, these feeble groupings find themselves pushed aside by the two powerful elements that are the only true competitors for power in the Arab world at the present time: the forces of political Islam, and those of the old, autocratic Arab order, as represented by the military, and the monarchies. This general rule is also visible in Sudan.
In my book The Transforming Fire, I wrote in 2011 that “for the moment, it is this order or the Islamists – there is no third way.” The statement was written on the eve of the Arab Spring. Nothing that has taken place in the subsequent decade makes its revision necessary. The coup in Sudan this week further confirms that the present options for governance in the Arab world are the generals and kings – or the Islamists.
In Sudan, the Omar al-Bashir regime came to power in 1989 in alliance with the Islamist, Muslim Brotherhood-influenced National Islamic Front of Hassan Turabi. The two parted company a decade later, but al-Bashir maintained the pro-Islamist orientation of his regime.
Al-Bashir domiciled Osama Bin-Laden in the 1990s. He also aligned closely with Iran, allowing Sudan to be used as a conduit for arms transfers to both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Islamists controlled the military, intelligence services and other key ministries under Bashir.
His fall in 2019 came after an abortive attempt to realign Sudan’s regional stance in alliance with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Proving nevertheless unwilling to root out Islamist power in the government, or to back the UAE and Saudi Arabia in their dispute with Qatar, al-Bashir was isolated, abandoned, and then toppled.
After a short hiatus of mixed military and civilian rule, and hopes for representative governance, forces loyal to al-Bashir attempted a putsch in September 2021, and were crushed. The pendulum has now swung back to open control by the military.
The pattern is observable across the Arab world. In Egypt, the Islamists toppled a military regime in 2011, before being themselves replaced by a new military regime in 2013.
In Tunisia, the military regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in late 2010, and Ben Ali was replaced by an elected Islamist government. A period of relative stability followed, which was then followed by less stability, and then the use of the army by President Kais Saed to close parliament in July, following violent demonstrations against the government. As of now, Saed rules by decree, with the backing of the military.
In Libya, the Western toppling of military dictator Muammar Gaddafi led to the emergence of a Sunni Islamist-dominated government in Tripoli. This government is now opposed by a military uprising led by the Ancien Regime general Khalifa Haftar. As of now, this has led to the fragmentation of the country, with Haftar ruling a large enclave in the east of the country, from Tobruk.
In Syria, a Sunni Islamist uprising has been largely crushed by the Assad regime, with the help of Russia and Iran. An enclave controlled by Sunni Islamists backed by Turkey holds on in the northwest.
In Yemen, the country has divided into rival enclaves following the deposing of a military dictator, controlled by Iran-backed Shia Islamists and the Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In Lebanon, an Iran-supported Shia Islamist force rules, from within the husk of formal representative government.
In Iraq, a similar effort by Iran-supported forces is challenged because of the power of local Shia Islamist forces resisting the encroaching dominance of Tehran.
And so on. This pattern is currently without exception in the Arab world: Islamists, or generals/monarchs, or war between them. It has just been reaffirmed in Sudan, with the generals currently in ascendance.
In parentheses, it should be noted that two partial exceptions, which exactly prove the rule, are the Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria and northern Iraq. In both these areas, a sort of authoritarian semi-democracy prevails. They prove the rule because these are examples of non-Arab regional governance.
What implications do the Sudan coup and the broader pattern of which it is a part have for Israel?
Re the former, Burhan met with then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2020. Burhan is close to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with whom he enjoys a longstanding friendship. His powerful deputy, General Mohamed Dagalo, meanwhile, enjoys the patronage of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The coup thus represents that regional element to which Israel is closest. There is no reason to suppose negative effects for Jerusalem: “Normalization” was proceeding slowly in Sudan in any case, but the coup will not knock it off course.
Regarding the broader regional context: in the apparent absence of any capacity in the Arab world for the development and consolidation of genuine representative institutions and civil society, the prevalence of authoritarian rule over Islamist insurgency and chaos is clearly preferable.
So Burhan’s coup follows the identifiable regional trend. It might be advisable for the British, American and other Western governments currently condemning the coup to acquaint themselves with this reality. Hoping for this, however, would arguably be a display of a type of utopian optimism more usually found among the advocates of democracy in the Arab world.

Greek-U.S.-French Pact Is a Deterrent to Turkish Aggression
Burak Bekdil/ Gatestone Institute/October 29/2021
The strategic part of the deal states that France will rush to Greece's aid militarily in the event of a third country attacking Greece. The clause adds that "even if the attacker is part of the NATO alliance."
The accord rang alarm bells in Ankara. Turkey condemned the deal, along with "Greece's maximalist claims" and said the accord is a threat to regional peace and stability. Ankara did not say, however, why Turkey is never a threat to regional peace and stability when it buys frigates, submarines and other naval platforms.
One should ask the Turks why they are upset about a military deal between two NATO allies. What is the difference between Greece buying frigates from France, and Turkey, for decades, buying frigates and submarines from Germany?
At the beginning of October, Greece and France signed a strategic military accord, which states that France will come to Greece's aid militarily (and vice versa) in the event of an attack by a third country -- even if the attacker is part of the NATO alliance. That is naming Turkey without naming it. Pictured: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L), shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron at the signing ceremony for the military accord, in Paris on September 28, 2021. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)
The emerging military pact within NATO that brings together the allies Greece, United States and France is bad news for Turkey -- that is, if its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan intends to fuel tensions in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas as part of his campaign strategy before presidential elections in 2023.
In recent months, Greek diplomacy has made a number of smart moves on the difficult chess board called the Aegean. These moves, coupled with Turkey's increasingly pressing problems at home and on foreign fronts, will restrict Erdoğan's aggression to "aggressive rhetoric" only, and rule out "aggressive action."
At the beginning of October, Greece and France signed a strategic military accord by which Greece will buy from France three state-of-the-art Belharra-class frigates and three Gowind-class corvettes. Delivery of the vessels, more advanced than any other in the Greek Navy, is scheduled to begin in 2024. That is the multi-billion-euro acquisition part. The strategic part of the deal states that France will come to Greece's aid militarily (and vice versa) in the event of an attack by a third country -- even if the attacker is part of the NATO alliance. That is naming Turkey without naming it. The Greek parliament ratified the accord on October 7.
The accord rang alarm bells in Ankara. Turkey condemned the deal, along with "Greece's maximalist claims" and said the accord is a threat to regional peace and stability. Ankara did not say, however, why Turkey is never a threat to regional peace and stability when it buys frigates, submarines and other naval platforms. On the contrary, the official Turkish justification for its acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missiles was that "every sovereign nation should have the liberty to buy every weapon system of its choice."
One should ask the Turks why they are upset about a military deal between two NATO allies. What is the difference between Greece buying frigates from France, and Turkey, for decades, buying frigates and submarines from Germany?
On October 16, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, visiting Washington, signed the renewal of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) between Greece and the U.S. and met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the third round of the U.S.-Greece strategic dialogue. The new accord expands on the one signed in Athens two years ago by then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and will give the U.S. increased access to two bases in central Greece and one at Alexandroupolis near the Greek-Turkish border.
In addition to these, the U.S. also operates a permanent naval base in Souda, on Crete, a key U.S. and NATO force-projection capability in the region. In the next round of MDCA negotiations, Greek officials may convince the so far reluctant U.S. military establishment to set up bases on some of the Greek islands bordering Turkey.
The renewal of the Greek-U.S. MDCA came 17 months after one of the largest exercises by U.S. forces in Europe took place in Thrace, near the border between Turkey and Greece. The new MDCA potentially will elevate U.S.-Greek military cooperation to an unprecedented level.
But did Washington not consider a strong Turkish reaction?
"I will not be drawn into conspiracy theories of the 'the Americans were afraid of Turkey's reaction' kind," said Greece's Foreign Minister Dendias. "If the reaction of Turkey was so important, they would not have chosen Alexandroupolis for a military base, only a few kilometers away from the Evros (Greek-Turkish) border, or have a naval base at Souda in Crete, an island in the very heart of the Eastern Mediterranean."
There is proof to back up Dendias' explanation. U.S. forces are preparing for what is described as the largest-ever military landing exercise in Greece, which is scheduled for November at Alexandroupolis -- the same location that is "a few kilometers away" from the Turkish border. The U.S. military move seems to have two objectives: It builds an anti-Russian presence in the Balkans and also aims to send a message that the U.S. would protect Greece against Turkish aggression.
A large number of helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), tanks and artillery pieces are expected to reach the Greek port in the weeks to come as part of an extensive military shipment that is of unprecedented scale, according to Greek media. The shipment will be part of a NATO solidarity drill that will take place in Romania, Bulgaria, the Balkans and central Europe to increase military leverage in the Balkans.
Moreover, on October 25, Dendias co-signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with his British counterpart, Liz Truss, in London. The agreement covers a wide range of sectors including defense and foreign policy.
The Western defense shield for Greece is emerging at a time when Turkey's domestic and foreign problems are deepening. The Turkish lira, since the end of March, has depreciated by a third against the U.S. dollar. Inflation and interest rates are soaring close to 20%. There are 10 million jobless people in the country. Of those who earn a salary, nearly half are getting the minimum wage of $294 a month.
Militarily speaking, the Turkish Air Force has never been this weak in firepower. Thrown out of the F-35 fighter jet program, Ankara is vacillating between the older-generation F-16s and a Russian fighter jet option. Both are big unknowns.
The military balance in the Aegean is shifting to Greece's favor. Yes, Erdoğan will always "bark" during his election campaign. But with the new balance shaping geo-strategy, he will no longer be able to bite.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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