English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 08/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.september08.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar,
or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may
see the light
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
08/16-21/:"‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under
a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that
will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen;
for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even
what they seem to have will be taken away.’ Then his mother and his brothers
came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told,
‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.’ But he
said to them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and
do it.’"
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 07-08/2022
link for the America’s Got Talent-Mayyas' performance is breathtaking
President Aoun chairs meeting devoted to displaced Syrians’ file, broaches
political developments with MP Mrad, meets Education Technology...
Berri broaches overall situation, bilateral relations with Egyptian Ambassador
Mikati chairs agricultural meeting, receives lawmakers
Forbes Middle East reveals Top 100 Arab Family Businesses 2022
Maronite'Bishops urge new government formation, call for timely presidential
elections
Change MPs' deprecate 'illegal' decision to appoint alternate judge in Beirut
port blast case
Army Commander visits Italy, meets Defense Minister
Patriarch Rahi vists Bishop Saadeh at Saydet Zgharta Hospital
Foreign Ministry: Lebanon respects all UN Security Council's resolutions
Human rights groups condemn torture in Lebanese prisons
61 migrants rescued off Malta, unclear if they came from Lebanon
Families protest decision to name alternate investigator in port probe
Foreign Ministry says hasn't requested removal of 1559 from UNIFIL resolution
Report: Hezbollah won't act if Lebanon accepts Israeli answer
UNICEF renews its partnership with the Lebanese Red Cross to reach children with
missed essential routine vaccines
Lebanon: On the Talk Regarding Aounist Vacuum/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/September
07/2022
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 07-08/2022
Albania Cuts Diplomatic Ties with Iran over July Cyberattack
US warns ‘further action’ to follow Iran’s Albania cyberattack
UK Blames Iran for ‘Reckless’ Cyberattack on Albania
UN Atomic Watchdog: Iran Increases Uranium Stockpile Further
3 dead as Israel bombs Aleppo airport for 2nd time in week
For 2nd Time in a Week, Israel Bombs Syrian Airport – Report
Iran report accuses US, and Kurds of enabling Israeli strikes in Syria -
analysis
Did Israel find a new way to win the fight against Iran-aligned groups? -
opinion
Are al Qaeda and Iran really at odds?
Biden rejects branding Russia 'state sponsor of terrorism'
Israeli troops kill Palestinian militant in West Bank clash
Shelling goes on near Ukraine nuclear plant, despite risks
Russia denies US claim it intends to buy ammo from N. Korea
China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin to meet in Uzbekistan next week: Reports
Ukrainian Nuclear Operator suggests UN peacekeepers In Zaporizhzhia
Iraq Top Court Says it Can’t Dissolve Parliament amid Crisis
French Court Upholds Assad Uncle’s Conviction over Ill-Gotten Assets
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on September 07-08/2022
Nuclear deal with Iran off the table for time being, US has indicated to
Israel/Shalom Yerushalmi/Times Of Israel/September 07/ 2022
Deal or No Deal, Israel Must Restore a Credible Military Threat/Jacob Nagel/The
Algemeiner/September 07/ 2022
Hamas Tells Media to Lie: What Should the Media Tell its Readers?/Toby
Dershowitz/The National Interest/September 07/ 2022
The 'Inflation Reduction Act' to Increase Inflation and Impoverish Middle Class
Americans/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute./September 07/2022
Iranian Seizures Raise Questions About Unmanned Maritime Operations/Farzin
Nadimi/The Washington Institute/September 07/2022
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 07-08/2022
Below is the link for
the
America’s Got Talent-Mayyas'
performance is breathtaking
https://twitter.com/i/status/1567339410995429381
President Aoun chairs meeting devoted to displaced
Syrians’ file, broaches political developments with MP Mrad, meets Education
Technology...
NNA/September 07/ 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, chaired a meeting devoted to
discussing the file of the displaced Syrians, especially in terms of following
up on the implementation of the decisions taken in previous meetings held at
Baabda Palace, and the meetings of the ministerial committee that monitors this
file from all its dimensions.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Abdullah
Bou Habib, Minister of Social Affairs Hector El Hajjar, former Minister Salim
Jreissati, Director General of the Presidency of the Republic Dr. Antoine
Choucair, Director General of General Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim and
advisors Rafic Shlala, Raymond Tarabay and Roula Nassar.
After the meeting, Minister Hajjar said:
"To complement the meetings we held previously to discuss the issue of the
displaced, a meeting was held today headed by His Excellency President Michel
Aoun and attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs, the
Director General of General Security, the Director General of the Presidential
Palace, and a number of His Excellency's advisors.
The meeting aimed to follow up on decisions taken in previous meetings by the
Ministerial Committee and during the meetings held in the Presidential Palace
dealing with the issue of the displaced, and it was agreed to submit a letter
this week to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the issue of the
return of the displaced and Lebanon’s official position on it, and to submit a
letter to the UNHCR to determine roles which are under the roof of Lebanese law,
and to set a date for a meeting with it to clarify the book and follow up the
mechanism of its implementation on Lebanese territory, in addition to making a
decision to re-draft a study on the impact of the Syrian displacement on the
economic, financial, social, environmental, health and security levels, knowing
that a study on this subject was developed three years ago.
However, this influence must be re-examined to give us an idea of how to
continue the dialogue with the international community and to clarify the
burdens that Lebanon bears as a result of this displacement and the cost of
these burdens”.
MP Mrad:
The President met the Secretary-General of the Union Party, MP Hassan Mrad, at
the head of a delegation that included the party’s deputy leader, lawyer Ahmed
Al-Mar’i and Mr. Samer Hazemeh, and discussed with them the current conditions
and recent political and governmental developments.
During the meeting, MP Mrad invited President Aoun to attend the party's event
on the 70th anniversary of President Gamal Abdel Nasser's revolution and the
52nd anniversary of his departure. The delegation of the Syndicate of
Educational Technology in Lebanon: President Aoun met a delegation from the
Executive Council of the Syndicate of Educational Technology in Lebanon, in
whose name, Rabie Baalbaki, spoke about the Syndicate’s strategic plan aimed at
achieving digital transformation in the education and innovation sector.
Baalbaki pointed to the importance of this Syndicate in the modern era which was
established about two months ago, and today it has become an urgent need after
the digital transformation that has taken place, especially in the education
sector and the adoption of distance education technology. Baalbaki also
enumerated the goals of this union, pointing out that the main goal of it is
innovation in education and the organization of this profession, in addition to
employing more than 4,000 employees with a new description called an educational
technology expert, concerned with the issue of school technology and the
adoption of rational educational technology to deliver education to everyone and
in different Lebanese regions. Moreover, Baalbaki spoke about the most important
achievements of the members of the union, and its cooperation with many sectors,
especially its cooperation with the Lebanese Army, the College of Command and
Staff and the Center for Strategic Studies of the Army, pointing to the first
prize in Scotland for the best intelligence school with digital education in
2011.
President Aoun
For his part, President Aoun noted the union’s work and objectives and the
importance of the new culture it adopts in education and digital technological
innovation, especially in light of the development and adoption of digital
governance globally, stressing that progress in any country has become
concomitant with technological progress in it, especially in the field of
education. The President reasserted the need to implement the digital
transformation strategy, especially as it is the obligatory entrance to combat
corruption, enhance transparency and develop administration, pointing to his
sponsorship in 2018, the Digital Transformation Conference in Lebanon, which
launched a strategy to modernize the state and move towards digital government.
-- Presidency Press Office
Berri broaches overall situation, bilateral relations with
Egyptian Ambassador
NNA/September 07/ 2022
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Wednesday received at the Second Presidency in
Ain El-Tineh, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr. Yasser Alawi, with whom he
discussed the current general situation and the latest developments, in addition
to the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Mikati chairs agricultural meeting, receives lawmakers
NNA/September 07/ 2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati chaired on Wednesday at meeting at Grand
Serail, devoted to discussing the means to resolve the apple crops ordeal. The
meeting was attended by Caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Sleem, Caretaker
Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan, and Secretary General of the Higher
Relief Committee Major General Mohammad Kheir. In remarks after the talks,
Minister Hajj Hassan announced that a joint committee will be formed and that it
will purchase apple crops directly from farmers and then deliver them to the
army and security forces.
Forbes Middle East reveals Top 100 Arab Family Businesses
2022
NNA/September 07/ 2022
Forbes Middle East has revealed its annual list of the Top 100 Arab Family
Businesses for 2022, honoring the region’s most successful legacy businesses,
many of whom have been handed down through several generations. The ranking
reveals the conglomerates moving into new-age industries and technologies under
the leadership of the second and third generations. Saudi headquartered family
businesses reign with 37 entries, followed by the U.A.E. with 25, and Kuwait
with eight entries. Together, these three countries constitute 75% of the top 20
in the list. All family businesses in the top 10 are diversified companies with
operations in multiple sectors.audi’s Olayan Financing Group (OFC) tops the
ranking for the second consecutive year. In 2021, OFC joined the World Economic
Forum’s coalition for stakeholder capitalism metrics. Egypt’s Mansour Group and
U.A.E.-based Al-Futtaim Group round up the top three. At ninth position, Al
Faisal Holding is the only newcomer to this year’s top 10 businesses, up from
11th place in 2021. In May 2022, it launched a new subsidiary offering
production services, Metaserra, a joint venture with Turkey’s Doludizgin.
Maronite Bishops urge new government formation, call for timely presidential
elections
NNA/September 07/ 2022
The Council of the Maronite Bishops on Wednesday urged the formation of the new
government and called for holding the upcoming presidential elections within
their constitutional deadlines. “The Fathers wonder at the stalling of the
formation of the new government,” said the Bishops in a statement following
their periodic meeting under the chairmanship of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi
in Dimane.“The Fathers warn the parliament members and blocs against considering
a presidential vacancy; they must elect a new president of the republic with the
beginning of the constitutional deadlines,” the statement read.
Change MPs' deprecate 'illegal' decision to appoint alternate judge in Beirut
port blast case
NNA/September 07/ 2022
The "MPs of Change" sternly condemned, in a statement on Wednesday, a fresh
decision to appoint an alternate judge in the Beirut port blast case. "The
so-called Minister of Justice, who has been inactive ever since his appointment
to run justice and judicial affairs, has targeted the justice in the case of the
crime of the era, hand in hand with the Higher Judicial Council, by fabricating
an illegal solution that brims with flagrant and blatant violations," the
statement read. "Appointing a new judge with invented exceptional powers is a
fatal blow to the role of judicial investigator Tarek Bitar," the MPs said,
vowing to resort to all possible means to fight this decision. It is to note
that the MPs who signed the statement are Ibrahim Mneimneh, Elias Jradi, Paula
Yacoubian, Halima Kaakour, Rami Fenj, Cynthia Zarazir, Firas Hamdan, Mark Daou,
Melhem Khalaf, Michel Doueihy, Najat Aoun, Waddah Sadek, and Yassine Yassine.
Army Commander visits Italy, meets Defense Minister
NNA/September 07/ 2022
The Lebanese Army Command announced that Commander General Joseph Aoun has
visited Italy at the invitation of his Italian counterpart, where he met with
the Italian Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, in the presence of Chief of the
Defense Staff Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. General Aoun also met with
Secretary General of Defense Armaments Lt General Luciano Portolano.
Patriarch Rahi vists Bishop Saadeh at Saydet Zgharta Hospital
NNA/September 07/ 2022
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Rahi on Wednesday visited Bishop Boulos
Saadeh at the Saydet Zgharta Governmental Hospital, where he is receiving
treatment.Rahi later visited Zgharta Media Network center and toured its
departments.
Foreign Ministry: Lebanon respects all UN Security
Council's resolutions
NNA/September 07/ 2022
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it did not demand the omission of a
mention to UN Resolutions 1559 and 1680 from the recent resolution under which
the UNIFIL mandate has been renewed. "Lebanon respects and abides by all the UN
Security Council's resolutions, and it has not demanded the deletion of any
reference to the aforementioned resolutions," the Foreign Ministry said in a
statement. Yet the Ministry indicated that the UN resolution renewing the
UNIFIL's mandate did include "wording that does not conform to the framework
agreement Lebanon has signed with the UN."
Human rights groups condemn torture in Lebanese prisons
Associated Press/September 07/ 2022
International human rights groups have condemned acts of torture in Lebanese
prisons following the death of a Syrian refugee in detention and urged
authorities to transfer the investigation into his death from a military to a
civil court. Photos surfaced last week of the battered body of a Syrian who had
been held for questioning. The grisly visual made headlines in Lebanon and was
followed by a video of a coroner assessing the body, which was covered in gashes
and bruises. The body was later identified as that of Bashar Abdel-Saud, 30, a
Syrian refugee who fled the war-torn country in 2014.
"To ensure transparency and impartiality, Abdel-Saud's case must urgently be
referred to a civilian court," Amnesty's Regional Director for the Middle East
and North Africa Heba Morayef said in the statement. "His family deserves
justice and reparations for their tragic loss."
According to Abdel-Saud's lawyer, officers from Lebanon's State Security agency
arrested the Syrian at his home in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut last
week, before calling his family four days later asking them to retrieve his
body.
State Security in a press statement said Abdel-Saud was arrested for the
possession of a fake $50 bill and had confessed during the interrogation that he
was combatant for the Islamic State group. His lawyer denied the charges and
State Security first promised an internal investigation, before the case was
transferred to Lebanon's military court.
Lebanon's military court government commissioner ordered the arrest of five
State Security personnel from the branch that held Abdel-Saud in southern
Lebanon, according to Amnesty. State Security released a second statement on
Monday, requesting media outlets to "not broadcast news related to the matter,
aiming to stir strife and incite tensions especially in these sensitive
circumstances Lebanon is going through." Senior Lebanese officials have not
commented on the recent incident. The only minister under Prime Minister Najib
Mikati's caretaker government to do so was Environment Minister Nasser Yassin,
who in a tweet condemned the incident and called for prosecutors to investigate.
Meanwhile, several of Lebanon's recently elected independent legislators penned
critical statements. "What happened completely contradicts our aspirations for
Lebanon," Ibrahim Mneimneh, a member of the Change bloc, told The Associated
Press. "We need human rights to be a key reference point to all the work we
do."He added that the security agency conducting an internal investigation is a
"conflict of interest." Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and other human rights
groups have echoed similar sentiments. Human rights organizations have
frequently criticized Lebanon for what they say is an incomplete 2017
anti-torture law, and authorities not putting it into practice five years later.
Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Director Lama Fakih said
torture in the crisis-hit country has been a years-long problem. "Lebanon
suffers from a legacy of impunity for torture," Fakih told the AP. "We have not
yet seen steps taken to ensure that robust investigations are undertaken and
that responsible individuals are held accountable." Several cases of alleged
torture in Lebanon have surfaced in recent years, including actor and writer
Ziad Itani, Syrian refugees arrested in camp raids and checkpoints, and
protesters in Beirut, Tripoli, and Sidon during Lebanon's antigovernment
uprisings in late 2019.
61 migrants rescued off Malta, unclear if they came from
Lebanon
Associated Press/September 07/ 2022
A group of 61 migrants picked up by a cargo ship from a crippled vessel in the
central Mediterranean have safely reached Crete hours after a severely ill child
on the freighter died while being airlifted to the Greek island, authorities
said Wednesday.
It was unclear whether these were the same people who had earlier been reported
stranded for days without provisions on a leaking fishing boat near Malta, after
trying to sail from Lebanon to Italy. On Tuesday, a Greek navy helicopter had
airlifted a 4-year-old girl with health problems and her mother off the BBC
Pearl freighter, that had rescued the migrants, but the child was pronounced
dead upon arrival at a hospital on Crete. The coast guard said the remaining 33
men, seven women and 21 children disembarked from the Antigua and
Barbuda-flagged ship early Wednesday at the port of Kali Limenes on southern
Crete. Two were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening health issues, while
the rest were temporarily put up in a sports hall in the town of Moires. The
migrants told authorities they were Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians. It
wasn't immediately clear when they were picked up by the freighter, where they
had set off from and where they had been heading. The coast guard said in a
statement late Tuesday that the BBC Pearl had rescued them inside Malta's search
and rescue area. It said Greece received a request around midday Tuesday from
Maltese authorities, who had been contacted by the cargo ship's captain, to
airlift the mother and child to safety. The ship then altered course towards
Crete to facilitate the airlift, the coast guard statement said. On Tuesday,
activists and relatives of Lebanese and Syrian migrants on a fishing boat taking
on water near Malta said they had lost contact with the vessel overnight. The
roughly 60 Lebanese and Syrian migrants on board had told their relatives and
volunteer groups by satellite phone earlier that they have been without food,
water and baby formula for days. The vessel had left the northern Lebanese city
of Tripoli about 10 days ago for Italy. There has been an increase in migrants
seeking to travel on unsafe boats from troubled Lebanon to Italy, and Greek
authorities have performed several rescues in recent weeks.
Families protest decision to name alternate investigator in
port probe
Associated Press/September 07/2022
The Higher Judicial Council has agreed to a proposal from caretaker Justice
Minister Henri Khoury to name an alternate investigator in the Beirut port blast
case, sparking political and judicial controversy after the move was seen as
illegal and politically motivated. Dozens of relatives of the victims of the
blast protested Wednesday against the decision, calling the move an attempt by
the country's political class to prevent justice into one of the world's largest
non-nuclear explosions. The investigation into the blast, which killed 218
people, injured thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage has been
blocked since December by Lebanon's political powers. That's after three former
Cabinet ministers filed legal challenges against investigative judge Tarek Bitar.
Now, Minister Khoury and the Higher Judicial Council, Lebanon's top judicial
body, have decided to name a second judge to release some port and customs
officials as well as workers who have been detained without charges since the
blast. "What is happening is an attempt to remove the case from Judge Bitar,"
Youssef Diab, a Lebanese journalist who covers legal affairs told The Associated
Press during the protest outside the office of the justice minister. "By naming
a second investigative judge to approve the releases, it means that Judge Bitar
has been ripped of his powers."
Many blame the tragedy on the Lebanese government's longtime corruption, but the
elite's decades-old lock on power has ensured they are untouchable. The Aug. 4,
2020 explosions occurred when hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium
nitrate, a material used in fertilizers, detonated at the port.
It later emerged that the ammonium nitrate had been shipped to Lebanon in 2013
and stored improperly at a port warehouse ever since. Senior political and
security officials knew of its presence but did nothing. Bitar has been the the
subject of harsh criticism by Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah. Nasrallah called Bitar's investigation a "big mistake" and said it
was biased. He asked authorities to remove Bitar. Bitar is the second judge to
take the case. The first judge, Fadi Sawwan, was forced out after complaints of
bias by two Cabinet ministers. If the same happens to Bitar, it could be the
final blow to the investigation. Lebanon's factional political leaders, who have
divvied up power among themselves for decades, closed ranks to thwart any
accountability. Diab, the journalist, said that Bitar should have been allowed
to resume his work to issue the releases himself then continue the
investigation. The 13 MPs of the Change bloc issued a statement calling the move
by the justice minister to name a second judge "a fatal blow to the role of
investigative judge Tarek Bitar." The 13 legislators vowed not to give up and to
use all means available to keep the investigation going. Bitar charged four
former senior government officials with intentional killing and negligence that
led to the deaths of dozens of people. He also charged several top security
officials in the case. "Today this is a small part of this ridiculous scenario
that started two years ago," said Michael Awad whose 3-year-old granddaughter,
Alexandra Naggear, was killed in the blast. "We are with those people who are
innocent inside the prison. But I think also as victims of the families, we are
on the top of the list of justice," Awad said. "They should start with us first
and then they can proceed with that with whatever they want."
Foreign Ministry says hasn't requested removal of 1559 from
UNIFIL resolution
Naharnet/September 07/2022
The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday noted that Lebanon has not requested the
omission of U.N. resolutions 1559 and 1680 from a U.N. resolution that has
extended UNIFIL’s mandate, denying media reports in this regard. “Lebanon
respects all U.N. Security Council resolutions and abides by them, and it is out
of the question for it to request, and it has not requested, the omission of the
mention of the aforementioned resolutions,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry, however, noted that the resolution “contained a text that does not
conform with what was mentioned in the framework agreement signed by Lebanon
with the U.N.,” adding that “Lebanon has objected against the introduction of
this wording.” “Accordingly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants has
requested to meet with the head of the UNIFIL mission to stress the importance
of continuing permanent cooperation and coordination with the Lebanese Army in
order to secure the success of the mission of U.N. forces in Lebanon,” the
Ministry said. The Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Wednesday that President
Michel Aoun’s camp has sought to “rid Hezbollah of the burden of U.N.
resolutions prior to the end of Aoun’s term by pushing the Foreign Ministry to
request the omission of the clause mentioning resolutions 1559 and 1680 in the
resolution that extended UNIFIL’s mandate.” “The Lebanese suggestion also
included a request to remove two phrases mentioned in clauses 15 and 16 in the
extension resolution, which stipulate UNIFIL’s freedom of movement and the
condemnation of any restriction of this freedom in the area south of the Litani
River,” Nidaa al-Watan claimed.
Report: Hezbollah won't act if Lebanon accepts Israeli
answer
Naharnet/September 07/2022
Hezbollah is awaiting the Israeli answer that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will
carry to Lebanon within days, sources informed on the party’s stances said.
“Should the Lebanese government accept the answer and things go in a right
direction that satisfies Lebanon, that will be good,” especially after Israel
postponed production in the Karish field, the sources told Asharq al-Awsat
newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. “But if the Lebanese government
rejects what Hochstein will carry, Hezbollah will have a stance,” which will be
reflected in an action or movement, the sources added, without specifying the
nature of Hezbollah’s response. Media reports meanwhile said that Hochstein and
Israel will suggest that TotalEnergies begin its operations in Lebanon's waters
in return for postponing the border demarcation agreement until after the
Israeli elections.
UNICEF renews its partnership with the Lebanese Red Cross
to reach children with missed essential routine vaccines
NNA/September 07/ 2022
UNICEF and the Lebanese Red Cross renewed their collaboration agreement to
bridge children’s immunity gap by identifying and vaccinating more than 150,000
missed children at community level and delivering comprehensive health and
nutrition services. “Vaccines are the world's safest method to protect children
from life-threatening diseases and our partnership with LRC is to make sure no
child is left without their essential routine vaccination, regardless of where
they are,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “Three
years of devastating crisis in Lebanon have affected the national immunization
coverage. We need immunization to catch-up the missing children or we will
inevitably witness more outbreaks, more sick children and greater pressure on
already strained health systems.”
“As part of its response to the crisis in Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross,
through its extensive network all across Lebanon, is working with UNICEF and the
Ministry of Public Health to provide free vaccination to children,” Said Georges
Kettaneh, Secretary-General of the Lebanese Red Cross.
The UNICEF partnership with LRC aims to reach and vaccinate 150,000 missed
children and adolescents. This partnership will support the ministry of public
health (MoPH) in strengthening the immunization program and ensure that missed
children are linked back to the vaccination programme. The vaccination services
being provided by Lebanese Red Cross will complement the essential routine
vaccines being provided in more than 800 public primary healthcare facilities in
Lebanon reaching all children regardless of their nationality. However, a main
persisting challenge has been the complete and timely vaccination of children.
UNICEF collaborates with MoPH on ensuring the provision of routine immunization
vaccines to all children living in Lebanon. In addition, UNICEF supports in
maintaining strong supply chain and cold chain system, trained health workers,
data systems, community engagement and health awareness. -- UNICEF
Lebanon: On the Talk Regarding Aounist Vacuum
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/September,07/2022
Talk about the tenure of the current Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, coming to
an end is often coupled with the phrase “presidential vacuum.” This description
is inaccurate in two senses:
First, we might be faced with two vacuums, not one, after Aoun’s term ends: a
presidential vacuum and a governmental one. The fact is that, after many failed
attempts, we can say that finding a prime minister whom Aoun could tolerate, and
whom his son-in-law Bassil would approve of, is almost impossible.
Even the prime minister of this shabby government, Najib Mikati, who has a
reputation for being lax and accommodating, is not qualified to undertake this
arduous task. Rather, former Prime Minister Hassan Diab is perhaps the only
Sunni suitable for the job. Indeed, the Aounists’ explicit hostility to the Taif
Agreement and the powers it granted the country’s prime minister, and their
preoccupation with securing Bassil’s future, which now seems bleak and unclear,
render Aoun responsible for both vacuums. He holds the record, in modern
Lebanese history, in this regard.
Second, the prevailing rhetoric about the presidential vacuum leaves two false
impressions: on the one hand, that a vacuum would threaten this position that
Aoun currently fills, and on the other that real power is actually wielded by
institutions and elected politicians that a vacuum now threatens.
Here, we have to get our facts straight. While it is true that a presidential
and governmental vacuum would be another disaster for the Lebanese people, their
institutions, their economy, and their everyday life, it would not have any
impact on the only place that is very full: Hezbollah, its army, its weapons,
and its economy. Here, not with the president or the government, is where real
power, which of course affects the lives of citizens without being affected by
them, lies.
These reservations lead us to conclude that the end of Aoun’s tenure coincides
with two factors, one that his tenure helped give rise to and another that it
contributed to justifying, strengthening, and granting the legitimacy that had
been desired:
The first factor is that there is a desire to empty the premiership of its
meaning and significance, while any effort to grant it effectiveness becomes a
reason for prolonged conflict. The conflict does not necessarily lead to a
solution or settlement, but it certainly does further poison inter-sectarian
ties among the Lebanese.
As for the second, it is that Hezbollah’s arsenal has gained, during Aoun’s
presidency, practical legitimacy conceded to it by the country’s supposed
constitutional legitimacy.
If we were to speak the language of sects and their calculations, which is
unavoidable in Lebanon, we would say that Aounism contributed to unleashing
Shiite maximalism (which it is allied with and seeks support from) and repressed
Sunni minimalism (which it despises). In this sense, Aoun’s tenure established
and expanded disparities among the sects. This, in turn, cannot be separated
from the principle of a “strong (Christian) presidency,” which the Aounists have
elevated to the status of a sacred slogan.
Given the presence of an arsenal, this so-called strength does not mean anything
but power over those without an arsenal.
As for those who do have an arsenal, they are to be gifted and rewarded. How
else - and based on what - could strength be strong, if not through arms?
This approach in itself is a surefire recipe for more communal havoc, and
perhaps civil war the moment its requisites are met. Still, the “achievements”
of Aoun’s tenure remain incomplete without reference to the deadly economic
crisis, the Beirut blast, and the souring of Lebanon’s ties with the Arab and
outside world. All of that came after the Aounists initiated a sizable shift on
the Christian front, the repercussions of which were only contained by their
setback in the last general elections. Since they pushed a segment of the
Christians to the camp of the axis of resistance and the Assad regime, this
community has not had anything to contribute except hatred, racism, and teaming
up with the strong against the weak - not to mention all the silly theatrics,
like the two ministers “shelling” Israel with their stones as it was striking
Syria’s two airports.
Aoun’s time in office succeeded in one thing: it taught us how clichés become
reality. All the elaborate rhetoric about the catastrophic failure that could
describe a certain state of affairs, we have experienced and seen with our own
eyes; we know by now what it means for things to be absolutely abysmal. The fact
is that Aounism, after six wicked years, has been shown to be committed to
zero-sum politics: No achievements. No strength. No prestige. Nothing at all. It
is, of course, a fleeting moment in the political history of Lebanon, but it is
the kind of evil that can destroy everything else.
And who knows, what we are witnessing could be a punishment for a bad past, but
it could also be a prelude to a worse future.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 07-08/2022
Albania Cuts Diplomatic Ties with
Iran over July Cyberattack
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
Albania cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled the country's embassy staff
over a major cyberattack nearly two months ago that was allegedly carried out by
Tehran on Albanian government websites, the prime minister said Wednesday.The
move by Albania, a NATO country, was the first known case of a country cutting
diplomatic relations over a cyberattack.The White House vowed unspecified
retaliation Wednesday against Iran for what it called “a troubling precedent for
cyberspace.”In a statement, the White House said it has had experts on the
ground for weeks helping Albania and had concluded Iran was behind the “reckless
and irresponsible” attack and subsequent hack-and-leak operation. The
government's decision was formally delivered to the Iranian Embassy in Tirana,
the capital, in an official note, Prime Minister Edi Rama said. All embassy
staff, including diplomatic and security personnel, were ordered to leave
Albania within 24 hours.On July 15, a cyberattack temporarily shut down numerous
Albanian government digital services and websites. Rama said an investigation
determined that the cyberattack wasn't carried out by individuals or independent
groups, calling it “state aggression.”
“The deep investigation put at our disposal undeniable evidence that the
cyberattack against our country was orchestrated and sponsored by Iran which had
involved four groups for the attack on Albania,” Rama said in a video statement.
Tirana said it was working with Microsoft and the FBI in an investigation into
the cyberattack. Mandiant, a leading US cybersecurity firm, expressed “moderate
confidence” last month that the attackers were acting in support of Tehran’s
anti-dissident efforts. A group calling itself “HomeLand Justice” claimed credit
for the cyberattack that used ransomware to scramble data. Ransomware is best
known for its use in for-profit criminal extortion, but is being increasingly
wielded for political ends, particularly by Iran. The claim by “HomeLand
Justice” came on a Telegram channel in which documents purported to be Albanian
residence permits of members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq
group — best known as MEK — were posted, along with video of the ransomware
being activated. The channel alleged corruption in the Albanian government and
used hashtags including #Manez.
Albania, a NATO member since 2009, shelters about 3,000 Iranian MEK dissidents
who live at Ashraf 3 camp in Manez, which is 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of
Tirana.
“This activity poses an active threat to public and private organizations in
other NATO member states,” Mandiant said. “As negotiations surrounding the Iran
nuclear deal continue to stall, this activity indicates Iran may feel less
restraint in conducting cyber network attack operations going forward.”
At the time, the Albanian government said the hackers’ methods was identical to
attacks last year in other NATO countries, including Germany, Lithuania, the
Netherlands and Belgium. Rama on Wednesday accused Tehran of recruiting one of
the most notorious international cyberattack groups that was involved in similar
attacks on Israel, Cyprus and other countries. He said Tirana had shared the
data and the investigation results with strategic partners and NATO countries.
The Biden administration said it supported the move by Albania to cut ties with
Tehran. “The United States strongly condemns Iran’s cyberattack,” National
Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “We join in
Prime Minister Rama’s call for Iran to be held accountable for this
unprecedented cyber incident.”“The United States will take further action to
hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a US ally and
set a troubling precedent for cyberspace,” Watson said. Albanian Foreign
Minister Olta Xhacka said Tirana “communicated closely with our partners, at
NATO and the European Union, and also at the bilateral level, and asked for
their support in Albania's decision-making and, no doubt, for the future to
address such kind of threats the best way possible.”“The aggressiveness of the
attack, the level of attack and moreover the fact that it was a fully unprovoked
attack left no space for any other decision,” Xhacka said. Mandiant Vice
President John Hultquist told The Associated Press that the attacks on Albania
and an earlier one on Montenegro show how “critical government systems in NATO
countries are vulnerable and under attack." “The attack on Albania is a reminder
that while the most aggressive Iranian cyber activity is generally focused in
the Middle East region, it is by no means limited to it," Hultquist said. “Iran
will carry out disruptive and destructive cyberattacks as well as complex
information operations globally." In July, MEK had planned to hold the Free Iran
World Summit at the Manez camp with US lawmakers among the invitees. The meeting
was canceled. In two separate instances in 2020 and 2018, Tirana expelled four
Iranian diplomats for “threatening national security.”
US warns ‘further action’ to follow Iran’s Albania
cyberattack
AFP/08 September ,2022
The White House on Wednesday warned of “further action” against Iran as it
condemned what it called an “unprecedented” cyberattack against US ally Albania.
“The United States strongly condemns Iran's cyberattack against our NATO Ally,
Albania,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a
statement, adding that Iran should be “held accountable.” “The United States
will take further action to hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the
security of a US ally and set a troubling precedent for cyberspace.”Albania's
Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Iran of directing a cyberattack against Albanian
institutions on July 15 in a bid to “paralyze public services and hack data and
electronic communications from the government systems.”In retaliation, Albania,
which joined NATO in 2009, has broken diplomatic relations with Iran. The
incident comes as the United States and European powers struggle to salvage an
agreement that would impose strict controls on Iran's controversial nuclear
sector in exchange for lifting some sanctions. Asked whether the United States
would support a joint response from NATO, White House Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre said invoking collective self-defense through the transatlantic
alliance's Article Five requires “multiple processes.” “NATO allies will make
their own sovereign decisions about how to respond to the cyberattacks,
including whether to invoke... Article Five,” she said. “Our role here is to
support Albania's efforts to hold Iran accountable and to work with Albania to
strengthen its cybersecurity.”
UK Blames Iran for ‘Reckless’ Cyberattack on Albania
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
Britain on Wednesday said its National Cyber Security Centre had determined
Iranian state-linked actors were "almost certainly" responsible for a
cyberattack against the Albanian government in July. "Iran's reckless actions
showed a blatant disregard for the Albanian people, severely restricting their
ability to access essential public services," British Foreign Secretary James
Cleverly said in a statement. "The UK is supporting our valuable partner and
NATO ally. We join Albania and other allies in exposing Iran's unacceptable
actions."
UN Atomic Watchdog: Iran Increases Uranium Stockpile Further
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
The UN atomic watchdog said Wednesday it believes Iran has further increased its
stockpile of uranium that is highly enriched to one short, technical step away
from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency also voiced
increasing concerns over Tehran's lack of engagement with a probe that has
become a sticking point in efforts to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world
powers. In its confidential quarterly report, the IAEA told member nations that
it believes Iran has an estimated 55.6 kilograms (122.6 pounds) of uranium
enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, an increase of 12.5 kilograms since May.
That enrichment to 60% purity is one short, technical step away from
weapons-grade levels of 90%. Nonproliferation experts have warned that Iran now
has enough 60%-enriched uranium to reprocess into fuel for at least one nuclear
bomb. The IAEA report, which was seen by The Associated Press, also estimated
that as of Aug. 21, Iran’s stockpile of all enriched uranium was at 3621.3
kilograms — an increase of 365.5 kilograms since the last quarterly report in
May. The Vienna-based IAEA said it was unable to verify the exact size of Iran’s
stockpile of enriched uranium due to limitations that Tehran imposed on UN
inspectors last year and the removal of the agency’s monitoring and surveillance
equipment in June at sites in Iran. While Iran long has maintained its program
is peaceful, officials now openly discuss Tehran’s ability to seek an atomic
bomb if it wanted. The IAEA's assessment comes amid efforts to revive the 2015
nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which eased
sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The United States
unilaterally pulled out of the accord in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump
and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to start backing away from the
deal's terms. Iran last week sent a written response in negotiations over a
final draft of a roadmap for parties to return to the tattered nuclear deal,
though the US cast doubt on Tehran’s offer. Neither side elaborated on the
contents. Were the deal to be renewed, the IAEA report said, the lack of
surveillance and monitoring since IAEA cameras were removed in June would
require “remedial action” to reestablish its knowledge of Iran's activities
during this period. In a separate report, IAEA officials said they are
“increasingly concerned” that Iran has not engaged on the agency's probe into
man-made uranium particles found at three undeclared sites in the country, which
has become a key sticking point in the talks for a renewed deal. Last week,
Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi maintained that the IAEA investigation
into the issue must be halted in order for the 2015 deal to be renewed. The IAEA
has for years sought answers from Iran to its questions about the particles. US
intelligence agencies, Western nations and the IAEA have said Iran ran an
organized nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran long has denied ever seeking
nuclear weapons. Iran was criticized by the IAEA’s board of governors,
representing member states, in June over its failure to answer questions about
the sites to the inspectors’ satisfaction. Because Iran has not further engaged
with the IAEA on the issue or offered “credible” explanations for the presence
of these particles, the latest IAEA report said the agency “is not in a position
to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
3 dead as Israel bombs Aleppo airport for 2nd time in
week
Agence France Presse/September 07/2022
Israeli air strikes have killed at least three people and damaged Aleppo airport
in northern Syria for the second time in a week, a war monitor said Wednesday.
The strikes carried out on Tuesday evening caused damage to the main
runway of Syria's second largest airport, taking it out of service, the state
news agency SANA reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
Britain-based group that monitors the conflict, said among the targets of the
strikes was a warehouse in the airport compound used by Iran-affiliated militia.
"Three people were killed and five were wounded," the group said, adding that a
total of six missiles were fired. The identities and
nationalities of those killed could not be immediately confirmed.
Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out against Iranian and
allied targets in Syria. Iranian forces and Shiite militia groups it controls
have a significant military presence across Syria and have been a key support to
President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Israeli strikes had already caused some
damage to Aleppo airport on August 31. Syria's private Cham Wings airline
announced shortly after Tuesday's strikes that its flights to and from Aleppo
would be re-routed to the capital Damascus, around 300 kilometers (180 miles) to
the south.
For 2nd Time in a Week, Israel Bombs Syrian Airport –
Report
Aryeh Savir/Times Of Israel/September 07/2022
This is the 24th Israeli attack in Syria in 2022, as the Jewish state continues
to disrupt Iran’s military buildup in the war-torn country.
(TPS) The Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed the airport in Aleppo on Tuesday night
for the second time in a week, Syrian media reported. Syria’s official SANA news
agency reported that the Israeli strike targeted the Aleppo international
airport from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea and damaged the airport’s
runway, putting it out of service. Last Wednesday, the IAF targeted Aleppo
International Airport with a number of missiles, causing material damage to the
airport, the first such attack since March 2019. The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights (SOHR) quoted its sources in the country who reported hearing loud
explosions in the vicinity of Al-Malkiyah neighborhood near Aleppo International
Airport, due to the Israeli airstrikes on warehouses of the Iranian-backed
militias, destroying the warehouses. Furthermore, Israeli missiles hit the
runway at Aleppo International Airport and at least two missiles hit the
vicinity of the airport, causing “huge material damage.” According to the SOHR’s
count, this is the 24th Israeli attack in Syria in 2022. Iran routinely attempts
to arm the Lebanon-based Hezbollah with advanced weapons. Israel has exposed and
thwarted multiple attempts by Iran to transfer game-changing weapons to
Hezbollah, including by air shipments from Iran, through Damascus Airport. Over
the years, the IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian
entrenchment in the war-torn country and to prevent Hezbollah from accumulating
advanced weapons. According to the SOHR, the IAF conducted 29 strikes in Syria
throughout 2021. The attacks hit 71 targets and killed 130 people, including 125
combatants from the Syrian military, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Shiite
militias.
Iran report accuses US, and Kurds of enabling Israeli
strikes in Syria - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/September 07/2022
Israel allegedly struck multiple targets in Syria for the second time in a week.
Iranian media reported on airstrikes in Aleppo on Tuesday evening. In an
escalation of rhetoric against Israel and the United States, Iran’s pro-regime
Tasnim News, which is considered close to the IRGC, said that the aircraft flew
over eastern Syria to carry out the attacks.
Iranian media reported on airstrikes in Aleppo on Tuesday evening. In an
escalation of rhetoric against Israel and the United States, Iran’s pro-regime
Tasnim News, which is considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
said that the aircraft flew over eastern Syria to carry out the attacks.
The Tasnim report, which came soon after news of the airstrikes was announced in
Syria, claimed that “based on the received information, in the attack on Aleppo
Airport, the airspace of the east of the Euphrates was used. The airspace of
this area – which is under the control of the Kurds of the SDF – is under the
control of the American coalition, and Zionist fighters must use Jordanian
airspace to enter it.” The importance of this claim is that it points an
accusing finger not only at the US but also at the US-backed Syrian Democratic
Forces. Iran has used proxies in Syria to attack US bases in Syria in the past,
including the US base at Tanf near the Jordanian border and US bases near the
Euphrates. This area of the Euphrates River valley includes many Iranian bases
on the western side of the river.
Why is this area significant to Iran?
Iran uses this area to traffic influence and weapons from Iraq via al-Bukamal to
Deir ez-Zor and the T-4 base. Iran then moves the weapons toward Hama and
Aleppo, and also to Damascus and the area of the Golan Heights or Lebanon. This
is a corridor for Iran. As the Russian war in Ukraine drags on, Iran has set its
sights on increasing its role in some areas of Syria, including northern Syria.
In the last week, there have been two rounds of airstrikes on the Aleppo area.
Over the last month, there have been incidents near Hama as well. The Syrian
regime and Iranian media have blamed Israel for the recent strikes.
Iran also used proxies in Iraq to fly drones to target US bases in mid-August.
The US carried out two rounds of airstrikes in response. However, Iran has
carried out numerous attacks on US facilities in Iraq and Syria over the last
two years. Iran often uses militia and terrorist proxies. In the last year, Iran
has signaled that it is targeting US forces in retaliation for Israeli
airstrikes. Tehran has also increased attacks on northern Iraq, claiming to
target the “Mossad” in June 2022 near Erbil. In March 2022, Iran carried out a
missile attack on Erbil. Reuters reported the attack was linked to Iran’s claims
about an Israeli gas deal. In November 2021, The New York Times reported that an
Iranian proxy attack on Tanf was an Iranian response to Israeli strikes. Some
reports also indicated that Syria asked Iran to stop attacking US forces in
Syria. Ynet reported last October, “The attack on American al-Tanf base in Syria
indicates an uptick in Iran’s Quds Force’s actions in the region, and is perhaps
also intended to pressure Washington, on a potential return to the 2015 nuclear
deal.”Iranian media accusing the US and US-backed forces in eastern Syria of
enabling the attacks on Tuesday could create an excuse for Iran and its proxies
to retaliate. Overall, the messaging is also designed to slam Kurdish forces and
perhaps open the way for Russia and Iran – which work together on some issues –
to back a new Turkish operation in Tal Rifat near Aleppo.
Did Israel find a new way to win the fight against
Iran-aligned groups? - opinion
Ehud Eilam/Jerusalem Post/September 07/2022
The confrontation might have ended the series of draws Israel had in confronting
pro-Iranian groups, yet the outcome does not necessarily mean the IDF developed
a new way to beat them. It is now a month since the confrontation between Israel
and the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) in the Gaza Strip, known in Israel as
Operation Breaking Dawn. There is still tension regarding it. A new
confrontation might occur in the Gaza Strip. There could also be a clash with
Hezbollah, so the IDF must be ready, following the lessons from this recent
round. In the last two decades the IDF had numerous clashes with NSAs (Non-State
Actors) such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the PIJ. The biggest confrontations took
place from July to August 2006, December 2008 to January 2009, and July to
August 2014. Another round, a smaller one, occurred in May 2021. Most of those
fights lasted several weeks, ending in a kind of draw. It was certainly
frustrating for the IDF, considering its quick and impressive victories in the
past, such as in 1967.
Furthermore, in 1967, the IDF defeated enemies that had more troops, weapons
systems, etc. In fighting NSAs, the IDF enjoys overwhelming advantages, like in
firepower, weapon systems, etc. Yet, the outcome was not satisfactory from
Israel’s point of view. In addition, those NSAs are supported by Iran, Israel’s
nemesis. There has been a long conflict between those two states. Israel is
frustrated that it got entangled in one round after another with pro–Iranian
NSAs, with all it has cost Israel, while Iran stays intact. Israel fights
Iran-backed groups, but Iran stays unharmed
In recent years, the IDF has initiated reforms aimed at defeating pro-Iranian
NSAs, quickly and decisively, which could also diminish Iran’s position in the
region. The IDF, following its multi-year plan, Momentum, invested in upgrading
its performance, such as by increasing the coordination between air, ground and
sea units, and assimilating advanced technology. Those improvements were tested
in exercises, but obviously, the ultimate test is in combat. Prior to the
confrontation of August 2022, there was a period of several days when there was
high tension between Israel and the PIJ, so both sides had to be on alert.
Nevertheless, the IDF managed to surprise the PIJ by launching a successful
first strike, which killed one of the PIJ’s top commanders and destroyed some of
its facilities. However, it was quite a limited attack and the IDF did not
follow it with a massive air, ground, air and naval offensive, which would be
required in a fight against Hezbollah. The lack of such an attack since the war
of 2014 raises doubts if Israel is willing to conduct such an attack.
Focusing on air power to avoid Israeli casualties, limit Arab civilian
casualties
IN AUGUST 2022, the IDF, despite all its preparations in recent years, did not
conduct a large-scale ground attack and actually not even a small one. Israel
wanted to avoid casualties among its troops, so Israel relied on air power.
Israel had no casualties and it also took steps to prevent Arab civilian
casualties in the Gaza Strip. Around fifty Palestinians were killed during the
confrontation, half of them were combatants, and the rest were civilians,
including those who were killed by mistake by the PIJ, since some of the rockets
it fired landed inside the Gaza Strip. In a fight against Hamas or Hezbollah,
the collateral damage might be much higher, with all its implications for
Israel. During the confrontation of August 2022, 1,175 rockets and mortars were
fired by the PIJ. The Iron Dome air defense system intercepted around 380
rockets, while others missed their targets. At the same time, the IDF bombed
dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip, in order to reduce the fire toward Israel.
In a fight against Hezbollah, Israel’s air defense would not be able to
intercept many of the incoming rockets and missiles because there would be too
many of them, a serious problem that emphasizes the need to launch a large-scale
offensive, aimed at suppressing fire toward Israel. The PIJ and Israel
restrained themselves to avoid escalation into an all-out war, not only between
each other but with Hamas, as well. Hamas runs the Gaza Strip. The PIJ hoped
Hamas would join the fight in the name of Palestinian solidarity but Hamas was
careful and stayed out of this round in order not to absorb a painful blow from
Israel. Hamas sees the PIJ as an ally but also as a rival. Hamas was pleased to
see both of its foes, Israel and the PIJ, hit each other. In the next round,
those two groups might fight together against Israel. However, Hezbollah, as it
did in previous confrontations, might not join them. Some claimed Israel won the
confrontation of August 2022. It ended in three days, much less than in former
rounds. It was important for Israel, a kind of small victory, a limited one that
somewhat boosted Israel’s deterrence regarding pro-Iranian NSAs. The
confrontation might have ended the series of draws Israel had in confronting
pro-Iranian groups, yet the outcome does not necessarily mean the IDF developed
a new and successful way to defeat NSAs. The IDF fought more or less the same as
it did in previous confrontations. Israel also had to restrain its actions,
among others, in order to reduce collateral damage. Furthermore, Hamas and
certainly Hezbollah are more powerful than the PIJ, which is quite weak and
isolated in the Gaza Strip. The IDF’s biggest test might be in the future.
*The writer has been dealing with and studying Israel’s national security for
more than 25 years. He served in the Israeli military and later worked for the
Defense Ministry as a researcher. He has a PhD and has published eight books,
including his latest, Israeli Strategies in the Middle East: The Case of Iran (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2022).
Are al Qaeda and Iran really at odds?
Jonathan Schanzer/Washington Times/September 07/ 2022
A photo, first posted on an anonymous Twitter account, circulated last week
among terrorism watchers here in Washington. It received scant attention in the
mainstream media. The now authenticated photo, dated 2015, shows three of al
Qaeda’s top leaders smiling casually. Their names: Saif al Adel, Abu Muhammad al
Masri, and Abu al Khayr al Masri. Their location: Tehran. All three men served
in key leadership positions for the world’s most dangerous terrorist
organization. And all three men were apparently circulating freely in Iran.
Al-Adel is now believed to be on the short list of candidates to lead al Qaeda
after the American assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan in early
August. Al-Masri was a senior al Qaeda leader who was gunned down on the streets
of Tehran, presumably by the Israeli Mossad, in November 2020. Al Masri, another
senior al Qaeda leader, was felled in Syria by a U.S. drone strike in 2017.
United Airlines threatens to leave JFK Airport, wants FAA to OK more flight
slots. The photo questions — yet again — the notion that al Qaeda and the
Islamic Republic were at odds. If anything, they appear to cooperate, even if
Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian tensions prevent a full-blown alliance.
American officials (mostly those advocating for a nuclear deal with Iran) have
repeatedly and falsely asserted that the Iranian regime maintained an
antagonistic relationship with al Qaeda, placing members of the world’s most
dangerous terrorist group under house arrest. This assertion has been
regurgitated by prominent beltway analysts such as Nelly Lahoud and Peter
Bergen. Both wrote books recently, parroting lines proffered by U.S.
officialdom, downplaying the ties between Tehran and al Qaeda. Both got it
wrong.
Biden rejects branding Russia 'state sponsor of
terrorism'
Agence France Presse/September 07/2022
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has said it would be counterproductive
to brand Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism," rejecting calls from Ukraine and
lawmakers to take the far-reaching action. Biden, asked by a reporter on Monday
if he would blacklist Russia as a terrorist state, said simply, "no," after
months of non-committal answers from senior officials. Asked whether a decision
had been made, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a terrorism
designation was "not the most effective or strongest path forward" to "hold
Russia accountable."She said the designation would hamper aid delivery to parts
of war-ravaged Ukraine or prevent aid groups and companies from participating in
a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to ship badly needed grain from
Ukraine's blockaded ports. "It would also undercut our
unprecedented multilateral (coalition) that has been so effective to holding
Putin accountable and could also undermine our ability
to support Ukraine" in negotiations, she told reporters. A label of "state
sponsor of terrorism" by the United States, the world's largest economy, has
wide-ranging ramifications, with many businesses and banks unwilling to incur
the risk of legal action by U.S. prosecutors.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to label Russia
formally as a terrorist state following a series of attacks that killed
civilians, notably a strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in June in which at
least 18 people died.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, asked about Biden's decision, said the lack of a
designation now "does not mean that it can never be made.""We are grateful to
the U.S. for everything they continue to do for Ukraine, but on this particular
issue, we will not back down and will continue to insist on our position, as it
will be the right decision indeed," he said.
Stepping up pressure -
At the United Nations, Ukraine's envoy also renewed calls for the designation as
he lamented Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying
Moscow was deliberately trying to raise dangers. "This can be corrected only by
strengthening sanctions -- only by officially recognizing Russia as a terrorist
state at all levels," Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the UN Security Council.
Latvia's parliament in August declared Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism,"
saying it was carrying out "genocide" against Ukrainians, but French President
Emmanuel Macron in June also explicitly ruled out the label.
U.S. lawmakers across party lines including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have
urged Biden to brand Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, seeing it as a way to
step up pressure after months of economic sanctions over Moscow's February 24
invasion of Ukraine. The United States only brands four nations as state
sponsors of terrorism, all U.S. nemeses with much smaller economies than
Russia's -- Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba. Cuba was added controversially
back to the list in the final days of former president Donald Trump's
administration, which took a hardline approach to the communist-ruled island.
The Biden administration on taking office reversed a Trump decision to brand
Yemen's Iranian-backed Huthi rebels as a terrorist group, also out of concern
for hampering aid.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian militant in West Bank clash
Associated Press/September 07/2022
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant during a firefight Wednesday in the
occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The violence erupted
after Israel carried out an arrest raid in a refugee camp near the city of
Tubas.
The Israeli military said it carried out arrest raids across the West Bank as
part of a monthslong crackdown on Palestinian militants. It said its soldiers
came under fire during the arrest of a wanted person in the Faraa refugee camp
in the northern West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 21-year-old Younis Ghassan Tayeh died from
a bullet wound to the chest. The Israeli military said Tayeh was shot while
throwing firebombs at troops. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group
issued a statement claiming Tayeh as one of "our martyrs."Israel has been
conducting near-daily arrest raids in the West Bank for months, which were
prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis earlier this year that
killed 19 people. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed during that time, many
of them militants or people involved in clashes. But some civilians have also
been killed, including one who inadvertently drove through a battle zone. A
veteran Al Jazeera journalist covering the raids also was killed in May. Israel
on Monday said its investigation into the deadly shooting of Al Jazeera
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh found there was a "high probability" an Israeli
soldier had mistakenly killed her during a raid. She had been wearing a helmet
and a vest that clearly marked her as a member of the media. Israel says the
arrest raids are meant to dismantle militant networks that have embedded
themselves. The Palestinians say the operations are aimed at maintaining
Israel's 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent
state. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east
Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians seek
those territories for a future state.
Shelling goes on near Ukraine nuclear plant, despite risks
Associated Press/September 07/2022
Russian renewed its shelling in the area of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
plant, a local official said Wednesday, a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog
agency pressed for the warring sides to carve out a safe zone there to protect
against a possible catastrophe. The city of Nikopol, located on the opposite
bank of the Dnieper River from Europe's largest nuclear power plant, was fired
on with rockets and heavy artillery, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko
said. The reports of nearby shelling, which couldn't
be independently verified, have caused international alarm. The head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned the U.N. Security
Council on Tuesday that "something very, very catastrophic could take place" at
Zaporizhzhia. "There are fires, blackouts and other things at the (plant) that
force us to prepare the local population for the consequences of the nuclear
danger," Reznichenko said. The potential peril led the U.N. atomic watchdog
agency to urge Russia and Ukraine to establish a "nuclear safety and security
protection zone" around the plant. There are fears the fighting could trigger a
catastrophe on the scale of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The plant was built
during the Soviet era and is one of the 10 biggest in the world. Neither Moscow
nor Kiev officials would immediately commit to the idea of a safety zone, saying
more details of the proposal were needed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin defied pressure to halt the war, saying
Wednesday that Moscow will forge ahead with its military offensive in Ukraine
until it achieves its goals. He also mocked Western attempts to stop Russia with
sanctions.
The eastern city of Sloviansk came under Russian fire on Wednesday morning,
damaging a school and another building, according to the head of the city
administration Vadym Lyakh. Firefighters in the city dug deep into the
still-smoldering rubble of an apartment building and removed at least one body
bag.
Chunks of bricks, masonry and concrete lay among the torn branches of nearby
trees, mixed with broken glass and roof tiles. Metal doors, buckled by the force
of the blast, hung off their hinges. The strike came
at around 4 a.m., said local resident Raisa Smelkova, 75, who lives in another
part of the building. She and her husband were unhurt.Smelkova and her husband
lived through the previous war in Ukraine in 2014, when Russia annexed the
Crimea region. But this time, she said, things are much worse.
"What is happening now is not just scary, it's gruesome," she said.
"There is more destruction. Everything is worse. Just everything."Three
civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian
presidential office said. Kharkiv city was hit by rockets twice during the
night. But Ukrainian forces have taken control of an
unspecified number of towns in the Kherson region, according to Nataliya
Humenyuk, a spokesperson for the southern military command. She said details
would come later from the military leadership. The
U.K. defense ministry said there had been heavy fighting on three fronts: in the
north, near Kharkiv; in the east in the Donbas; and in the south in Kherson
Oblast.
Amid a Ukrainian counterattack in the east, "multiple concurrent threats spread
across 500 kilometers (310 miles) will test Russia's ability to coordinate
operational design and reallocate resources across multiple groupings of
forces," the ministry said Wednesday.
The Russian military held large-scale military drills that began last week and
ended Wednesday in the country's east that involved forces from China. It was
seen as another show of increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing amid
tensions with the West over the military action in Ukraine.
Russia denies US claim it intends to buy ammo from N. Korea
Associated Press/September 07/2022
North Korea is apparently moving to sell millions of rockets and artillery
shells — many of them likely from its old stock — to its Cold War ally Russia.
Russia has called a U.S. intelligence report on the purchasing plan
"fake." But U.S. officials say it shows Russia's desperation with the war in
Ukraine and that Moscow could buy additional military hardware from North Korea.
The ammunitions North Korea reportedly intends to sell to Moscow are
likely copies of Soviet-era weapons that can fit Russian launchers. But there
are still questions over the quality of the supplies and how much they could
actually help the Russian military.
WHAT EXACTLY WILL NORTH KOREA SUPPLY TO RUSSIA?
Slapped by international sanctions and export controls, Russia in August bought
Iranian-made drones that U.S. officials said had technical problems. For Russia,
North Korea is likely another good option for its ammunitions supply, because
the North keeps a significant stockpile of shells, many of them copies of
Soviet-era ones. North Korea "may represent the single
biggest source of compatible legacy artillery ammunition outside of Russia,
including domestic production facilities to further supplies," said Joseph
Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said both
North and South Korea -- split along the world's most heavily fortified border
for more than 70 years -- keep tens of millions of artillery shells each. North
Korea will likely sell older shells that it wants to replace with newer ones for
multiple rocket launch systems or sophisticated missiles in its front-line army
bases, he said. But Bruce Bennett, a senior security
expert at the California-based Rand Corporation, said most of the artillery
rounds to be sent to Russia are likely to be ammunition for small arms, such as
AK-47 rifles or machine guns. "It's not millions of artillery shells and rockets
– that's more than the likely consumption. It could be millions of small arms
rounds," Bennett said.
HOW GOOD ARE NORTH KOREAN WEAPONS?
According to an IISS assessment, North Korea has an estimated 20,000 artillery
pieces including multiple rocket launchers in service, a number that Dempsey
described as "significantly more than any other country in the world."
North Korea's state media have called its artillery guns "the first arm
of the People's Army and the most powerful arm in the world" that can reduce
enemy position into "a sea of flames." But its old artillery systems, whose
ammunitions will likely be supplied to Russia, have a reputation for poor
accuracy. During North Korea's artillery bombardment of South Korea's front-line
Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 that killed four people, Bennett said that only 80 of
the 300-400 weapons North Korea should have fired likely hit their target. In
his assessment, Lee said about half of the North Korean shells launched ended up
falling into waters before reaching the island. "That is miserable artillery
performance. The Russians may experience the same thing, which will not make
them very happy," Bennett said. Observers doubt the
usefulness of North Korean ammunition for the Russian campaign in Ukraine, which
they say has depleted the military. There have been photos of barrel-busted
Russian guns on social media. It's unclear how serious Russian shortage of
ammunitions is. In July, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters that
Russia was launching tens of thousands artillery rounds each day and couldn't
keep it up forever. "While substantial stockpiles
likely still exist, they may be increasingly infringing on those reserved for
the contingency of a wider future conflict," Dempsey said.
NO NORTH KOREAN MISSILES EXPECTED
It's unlikely for North Korea to provide Russia with ballistic missiles that it
views as crucial in its military strategies toward Washington and Seoul, said
Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies. And if North
Korea decides to supply missiles to Russia, it would need to send their launch
platforms as well because Russia doesn't have launchers for the North's Scuds
and other missiles. North Korea has developed a highly maneuverable,
nuclear-cable ballistic missile that was likely modeled on Russia's Iskander.
But the two missiles are of different sizes, according to Shin Jongwoo, a
military expert at the Seoul-based Korea Defense and Security Forum,
There would be a number of items that North Korea could provide to
Russia, given that the two countries share weapons systems going back to Soviet
times. But the type of ammunitions North Korea would provide to Russia "are
likely to be old and somewhere close to expiring," said Moon Seong Mook, an
analyst at South Korea's Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
WHAT COULD NORTH KOREA GET IN RETURN?
In return for weapons, North Korea will likely want food, fuel, warplane
components and other materials from Russia. The North finds it difficult to buy
such goods from abroad under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear program,
Shin said. Yang said it's possible that North Korea is
seeking advanced Russian weapons technologies that would boost its efforts to
build more powerful, high-tech missiles targeting the United States and its
allies. "That would certainly be the worst scenario," Yang said. According to
Bennett, North Korea would be willing to be compensated with fuel. For its more
advanced arms, it could seek advanced weapons technologies from Russia, possibly
including those it needs for its expected nuclear test, the first of its kind in
five years, he said. He said it would be difficult for Russia and North Korea to
move the ammunitions over their narrow 15-kilometer (9-mile) long border, where
there's only one, single-track rail bridge across a river. Bennett said China
may help by allowing the use of its railways. Other experts say North Korea and
Russia could use a sea route as well as their cross-border railway.
China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin to meet in Uzbekistan next
week: Reports
AFP/September 07/ 2022
Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet next week during a
regional summit in Uzbekistan, a Russian diplomat said Wednesday, as the Chinese
leader makes his first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic. “In less
than 10 days, our leaders will meet at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
summit” in Samarkand, the Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, told
Russian agencies. -
Ukrainian Nuclear Operator suggests UN peacekeepers In
Zaporizhzhia
AFP/September 07/ 2022
Ukraine's nuclear operator on Wednesday said it would support the deployment of
UN peacekeepers in the Russian-occupied nuclear plant of Zaporizhzhia, a day
after the UN atomic watchdog called for a security zone around the plant. The
Zaporizhzhia power plant-- Europe's largest nuclear facility -- has been
occupied by Russian troops since March and there have been repeated attacks in
its vicinity, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster. Russia and Ukraine have
blamed each other for the repeated shellings. "One of the ways to create a
security zone at the ZNPP could be to set up a peacekeeping contingent there and
withdraw Russian troops," Energoatom chief Petro Kotyn said in remarks broadcast
by Ukrainian TV. The remark comes after the UN atomic watchdog (IAEA) said the
situation at the plant was "untenable" and called for "the immediate
establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone" in a report
published Tuesday. Karine Herviou, the general director of the French Institute
for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, warned Wednesday of a potential
"Fukushima-type scenario". "The main risk would be for the reactors to be cut
from their power supplies" which could cause parts of the reactors to melt,
Herviou said in an interview for French radio. This could then "damage the
reactors' buildings and lead to very important radioactive releases," she said.
Herviou added that, although there had been no strikes on the reactors
themselves, strikes on nearby buildings could also "result in radioactive
elements being released into the environment." The IAEA sent a 14-person team
led by its chief Rafael Grossi to the Zaporizhzhia power plant last week. Two
members of the team are expected to remain there on a permanent basis to monitor
the plant's safety.
Iraq Top Court Says it Can’t Dissolve Parliament amid
Crisis
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
Iraq's top court ruled Wednesday that it does not have the legal right to
dissolve parliament, a much-anticipated decision that raises the stakes in the
country's unprecedented 11-month political crisis.The ruling by the Supreme
Federal Court states the court does not have the authority under Iraq's
constitution to dissolve the legislature, which was a key demand by influential
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's bloc won most votes in parliamentary
elections last October but he has been unable to form a majority government. His
followers stormed the parliament in late July to prevent their rivals from
Iran-backed Shiite groups from forming the government. With ensuing rallies,
clashes with security forces, counter-rallies and a sit-in outside parliament,
the government formation process has stalled. Sadr has now been calling for the
dissolution of parliament and early elections and has been in a power struggle
with his Iran-backed rivals since the vote. The decision by the court — which
had delayed ruling on al-Sadr's demands amid concerns over more unrest —
effectively rejects Sadr's demand and further deepens the stalemate between the
cleric and his rivals. It puts the onus on Iraq's lawmakers, who could
potentially assemble and dissolve the legislature, something Sadr rejects. After
the ruling, Iraqi security forces closed the gates to the heavily fortified
Green Zone in Baghdad — the seat of the government and the center stage for
Iraq's political crisis — anticipating a reaction from Sadr's followers. Last
week, at least 30 people died in clashes over two days between Sadr's loyalists
and security forces, bringing Iraq to the brink of street warfare. The
hostilities came to a halt when Sadr ordered his supporters to withdraw. Sadr's
rivals in the Coordination Framework, an alliance of mostly Iran-backed Shiite
parties, said they were not opposed to early elections but insisted the
parliament meet to vote on a new electoral law and dissolve itself. Sadr opposed
that and called on the judiciary to cancel the legislature. But with neither
willing to concede on mechanisms for early elections and Wednesday's court
ruling, the crisis is doomed to deepen.
French Court Upholds Assad Uncle’s Conviction over
Ill-Gotten Assets
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
France's top administrative court on Wednesday confirmed the conviction of
Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an "ill-gotten
gains" case over wealth estimated at 90 million euros ($89 million). Rifaat al-Assad,
85, is the younger brother of Bashar's father and former Syrian dictator Hafez
al-Assad, and himself held the office of vice president but fled the country in
1984 after a failed coup. He had made a final appeal to France's Court of
Cassation after a lower court last year confirmed his four-year jail sentence
for conspiracy to launder Syrian public funds between 1996 and 2016. In the same
judgement, he was convicted of concealing serious tax fraud and employing
servants off the books, with authorities confiscating a slew of his properties.
Rifaat has not attended hearings due to ill health. His property empire
stretches across Spain, France and Britain.
The case is the second in France under a law passed last year targeting fortunes
fraudulently amassed by foreign leaders. Teodorin Obiang, the eldest son of the
president of Equatorial Guinea, last year had his conviction to a three-year
suspended sentence and 30 million euros in fines confirmed at appeal.
War crimes case
In Syria, Rifaat al-Assad was the head of the elite Defense Brigades, internal
security forces that violently quashed a 1982 uprising in the city of Hama.
Having stayed away for three decades following his failed attempt to seize
power, pro-government media reported that he returned to Syria last autumn. In
1984, he fled first to Switzerland then France, where he received the Legion of
Honor -- the country's top award -- in 1986 for "services rendered". French
investigators opened a probe into his property holdings in 2014 after complaints
from watchdogs Transparency International and Sherpa.
They seized two Paris townhouses, dozens of apartments in chic neighborhoods of
the French capital and office spaces. Since then, around 80 of his former
employees living at an estate outside Paris have been mostly without water and
electricity as no one was paying the bills.
Aid to populations
While Rifaat's age and poor health mean he is unlikely ever to serve jail time
in France, Wednesday's ruling confirms the confiscation of the properties for
good.
That could set up Syria as one of the first countries to potentially benefit
from a scheme to return funds recovered under the ill-gotten gains law. "The
confiscation... is the first necessary condition to be able to plan for
restitution of the ill-gotten gains," Transparency International France chief
Patrick Lefas said in a statement welcoming the court ruling. But he added that
it would be vital to get the resources to ordinary Syrians rather than simply
returning them to the Assad regime -- which Transparency says could be achieved
using another French law passed last year. "Restoring ill-gotten gains requires
guarantees, without which it would be naive to hope to give them back to the
populations of their countries of origin," Lefas said. Rifaat al-Assad also
faces a court case in Spain over far larger suspicions of ill-gotten gains
covering 500 properties, as well as a prosecution in Switzerland for war crimes
dating back to the 1980s.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on September 07-08/2022
Nuclear deal with Iran off the table for time being, US has indicated to
Israel
Shalom Yerushalmi/Times Of Israel/September 07/ 2022
Message conveyed to PM Lapid in recent conversations with Biden and other US
officials; Iranian demands to halt IAEA probes appear to have derailed talks
A new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is off the table and will not
be signed in the foreseeable future, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site
Zman Yisrael has learned. This is the message that was conveyed to Prime
Minister Yair Lapid in his recent conversations with US President Joe Biden and
other administration officials.
This emerging outcome of the nuclear negotiations, which would have major
international implications, is likely to be touted by Lapid in the coming
election campaign, particularly against opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu,
who has repeatedly attacked the premier on the issue.
The potential new nuclear deal was at the center of Israel’s diplomatic and
security consultations over the past year, with a concerned Jerusalem tracking
the negotiations between Iran and representatives of the world powers in Vienna,
as well as the exchange of draft agreements between the sides in recent weeks.
As Lapid became convinced in recent days that a deal was becoming increasingly
unlikely, he reprioritized national security challenges to focus on escalating
violence in the West Bank, the fight against terrorism and the urgent need to
strengthen the Palestinian Authority as it increasingly loses clout.
The nuclear agreement that was being negotiated since Biden entered the White
House in January 2021 focused on removing sanctions on Iran in exchange for
limiting Tehran’s ability to reach the capability to build a nuclear weapon.
The Americans said that under the framework of the new nuclear deal, Iran would
not be able to enrich uranium above 3.67 percent and could not reach a level at
which it would be possible to produce a nuclear weapon. This limitation on
Iran’s nuclear program would continue until 2031 under the proposed deal.
According to American comments given to Walla news reporter Barak Ravid two
weeks ago, Iran would need to give up all uranium enriched to 20% and 60% in its
possession as part of the agreement. Hundreds of kilograms of enriched uranium
would need to be removed from Iran or diluted. The centrifuges to enrich uranium
would be removed and stored on Iranian soil at a warehouse under the supervision
of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Americans also said Iran would not be able to carry out any plutonium
processing, which can be used for weapons purposes, and would redesign the
plutonium reactor at Arak so it cannot produce material for a nuclear bomb.
Additionally, the Americans pledged that if a deal were signed, the
International Atomic Energy Agency would be able to renew its strict monitoring
of nuclear facilities in Iran, after it was significantly curtailed by the
Iranians.
The IAEA monitoring is one of the major points of division that Israel has
become involved in. The Iranians refused to let the IAEA continue its activities
and the Americans insisted after Israeli pressure. Now a deal appears to be off
the agenda.
The potential Iran deal has caused intense concern in Israel. Former prime
minister Naftali Bennett appealed to the US administration last month to refrain
from an accord. “I call on President Biden & the US administration to refrain,
even now at this last minute, from signing the agreement with Iran,” Bennett
tweeted on August 23.
“This agreement will send approximately a quarter of a trillion dollars to the
Iranian terror administration’s pocket and to its regional proxies, and will
enable Iran to develop, install and operate centrifuges, with almost no
restrictions, in a mere two years,” he added.
“Throughout the past year, even when it was very close, we successfully
convinced our White House counterparts not to give in to Iranian demands. I hope
this will remain the case.”
The emerging deal with Iran led to serious friction and arguments between Israel
and the United States, and significant internal tensions in Jerusalem.
Two weeks ago, Mossad chief David Barnea briefed defense reporters and warned of
the dangers of a restored nuclear deal. According to a report in the Yedioth
Ahronoth newspaper, Barnea warned during a meeting with the prime minister that
the deal would allow Iran to obtain significant capabilities.
According to Barnea, hundreds of billions of dollars would flow to Iran after
the removal of sanctions. The money would serve to strengthen terror groups that
encircle Israel, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Furthermore, he said the Iranians would accelerate their vision of a “Shia
crescent” running from their border with Iraq to the Mediterranean,
strengthening the Houthis in Yemen and pro-Iranian militias in the region.
Barnea added that a deal would be a “strategic disaster” and declared it does
not oblige Israel.
The Mossad head, who is currently in the United States for talks on the Iranian
issue, was later reprimanded by Lapid for his direct criticism of the Americans.
Netanyahu, who dealt with Iran extensively during his years as prime minister,
has maintained that the emerging deal was worse than the original signed in 2015
under then-US president Barack Obama.
A week and a half ago, Netanyahu invited himself for a security briefing with
Lapid on the Iranian issue, as is his right by law as opposition leader. After
the meeting, Netanyahu claimed Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz had fallen
asleep at the wheel and that they were responsible for the “Iranian nuclear
failure.” Netanyahu demanded that officials meet with members of Congress,
influential officials and senior media figures in the US in an effort to thwart
the deal.
On Monday, a senior government official said that “Netanyahu taught us exactly
what not to do. In 2015, he went to Congress, spoke with senior government
officials and the media, and we got the nuclear deal shoved in our faces.”
This time, the official said, “We worked quietly. We put in tremendous efforts
and reached the opposite result.”
In a little over two weeks, Lapid will fly to participate in the UN General
Assembly in New York. It is not yet clear whether he will meet with Biden while
there. Biden is expected to be in New York on September 18-20; Lapid and his
entourage will land there on the morning of September 20.
Lapid is due to speak at the General Assembly on Thursday, September 22, and
Iran is expected to be at the center of his comments. Immediately after the
speech, Lapid will quickly fly back to Israel to take part in his son Yoav’s
wedding on Friday afternoon.
Deal or No Deal, Israel Must Restore a Credible Military
Threat
Jacob Nagel/The Algemeiner/September 07/ 2022
The Iranian regime and the US are exchanging drafts of what is being described
again as a “take it or leave it, last chance [nuclear] deal.” Both sides will
not admit publicly to having compromised, amidst a flurry of activity. For now,
it is unclear whether a new agreement is imminent or not.
For the Iranian regime, there are three major unresolved issues, among other
minor ones.
First, what happens if a future US president pulls out of the deal? Regime
negotiators, under the direction of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameinei, demand
legal assurances in the event that a future president exits the deal. They also
demand a predetermined end to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
investigations into Iran’s suspicious activities, well before the appropriate
information has been provided. Finally, the regime demands the removal of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or at least all of its associated
businesses, from Washington’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
There are other issues that linger, but it all boils down to two key questions:
Does Khameinei really want a deal? And how many more concessions will the US
envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, make?
Leading political, military, and intelligence figures in Israel are unanimously
concerned about the deal currently being negotiated. It is widely viewed as
worse than the deal from 2015, which was extremely dangerous. The current deal
on the table would yield huge amounts of cash to the regime, with nuclear
restrictions that would fully “sunset” in a few short years. Israel has not yet
given up on the idea of trying to convince the White House that this deal is a
mistake. Some believe that the current government should make more noise, like
former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu did in 2015.
The current deal, if signed, would provide massive sanctions relief that would
allow the regime to rebuild its economy, as well as upgrade its nuclear and
conventional capabilities, and bolster its support for terrorism. As
constructed, the deal does not account for Iran’s recent illegal nuclear
advances (most of which occurred after President Biden was elected). Nor does it
address the regime’s foiled plots against former Trump administration officials
Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and others.
Israel is now preparing for two scenarios: deal or no deal. There is also a
recognition in Jerusalem that Iranian foot-dragging could result in a decision
on the deal only after the November midterm elections. But no matter what
happens, Iran will remain dangerously close to a nuclear threshold country or
even one that acquires nuclear weapons.
Israel believes that it’s time to restore a credible military threat to the
Iranian regime. Episodes from the past clearly demonstrate that Iran’s behavior
can be shaped by such a threat.
In 2003, after the US invasion of neighboring Iraq, the regime believed it faced
a possible military threat, so it came to the negotiating table, willing to make
concessions. We saw this again in 2011-2012, when President Obama warned that
“all options were on the table.” Unfortunately, the US didn’t wield its leverage
in either scenario.
In January 2020, a year and a half after President Trump withdrew from the 2015
nuclear deal, the US military eliminated IRGC leader Qasem Soleimani in a drone
attack. This action restored the credible military threat for a short period.
The Iranian regime significantly curtailed its new nuclear violations, likely
out of fear of another strike.
This was the status quo for an entire year, until President Biden refused to
wield a military threat. One year later, there is still no credible military
threat, and Iran has engaged in one nuclear violation after another.
Deal or no deal, Israel must seriously consider a new paradigm, like the one
President Reagan introduced in 1983. That was the year Reagan abandoned
“containment” and adopted a plan to roll back Soviet Union expansionism. And it
worked.
This doctrine is described in a book called “Victory,” and it has been
highlighted elsewhere by Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies. The Reagan policy was outlined in National Security Decision
Directive 75, which called for the use of all instruments of American power,
overt and covert, to counter the Soviet Union. It included a significant defense
buildup, an economic warfare strategy, supporting anti-Soviet proxy forces and
dissidents, and a full-throated delegitimization of the Soviet Union’s ideology.
The result was the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Is the Iranian regime as ossified and vulnerable? Perhaps. Despite the massive
sanctions relief in any upcoming deal, Iran’s economy will remain fragile. This
suggests opportunities for Israel, even after a deal is signed.
Unfortunately, Israel will likely need to act alone. Israel is already waging
economic and psychological warfare against Iran. There are kinetic strikes, too.
Indeed, Israel, according to the foreign press, is already hammering assets of
the regime across the Middle East and in Iran, in an asymmetric campaign called
the “War Between Wars.” The Iranian regime has been unable to stop them.
Building on this momentum, Israel must endeavor to find other willing partners
in the region. Regime change need not be the immediate goal. Indeed, it would
suffice if stakeholders in the Middle East weakened the Iranian regime enough to
prevent it from taking provocative actions under a nuclear umbrella yielded too
easily through the deeply-flawed deal that currently hangs in the balance.
*Brigadier General (res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior fellow at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies (FDD), and a visiting professor at the Technion aerospace
faculty. He previously served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national
security advisor and head of the National Security Council (acting). FDD is a
Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national
security and foreign policy.
Hamas Tells Media to Lie: What Should the Media Tell its
Readers?
Toby Dershowitz/The National Interest/September 07/ 2022
Does the media have a responsibility to do an autopsy on its own coverage?
In a stunning exposé, a recent Associated Press article revealed a Hamas
directive to journalists not to report on Gazans killed by Palestinian rockets
that misfired and killed local families rather than their intended Israeli
civilian targets. Reports indicate Palestinian Islamic Jihad killed more
Palestinians in the early August Gaza-Israel conflict than did Israel.
Hamas also requires all visiting reporters to hire a local “sponsor,” a fixer or
stringer, often a Palestinian journalist or translator. Hamas’ media directive
says sponsors will be held responsible for what the journalists produce.
Let this sink in: If Hamas judges sponsors to have failed, they and perhaps
their families will be punished. Punishment is not merely revoking licenses.
Palestinian reporters have been subject to physical violence. Sponsors will make
the consequences clear to reporters they assist. And the reporter will know: If
bad things happen to my sponsor because of the stories I write, that will be on
my conscience.
Rather than calling balls and strikes as they see things in Hamas-controlled
Gaza, the sponsors were warned that they must “defend the Palestinian narrative
and reject the foreigner’s bias to the Israeli narrative.” If you’ve had
confidence in reporting from Gaza, this interference should shake that
confidence.
With the fresh exposé, does the media have a responsibility to do an autopsy on
its own coverage?
In the recent conflict, Hamas, designated by the United States and the European
Union as a terrorist organization, blamed Israel for the deaths of children in
Jabaliya in a strike on Gaza on August 6. After Israel had assessed that the
militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad was poised to imminently attack Israel,
it launched preemptive strikes in self-defense. Only when Israel provided aerial
imagery showing the Jabaliya deaths on that day were caused by a misfired
Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket did some media attempt to reverse course, but
the original headlines around the world blaming Israel had already done the
damage. All civilian deaths in conflict are heartbreaking but the media owes its
readers the truth in each case.
Even when the results may not be in its favor, as may have been the case with
the tragic death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a reporter inadvertently killed during a
clash between militants in Jenin and Israeli Defense Forces, Israel investigated
and presented its findings. That’s what’s expected of democracies to ensure
credibility with its population, with its allies, and with the media.
Has the media been complying with Hamas’ rules of the road for decades but left
reporting of its unspoken agreement with the Iran-funded organization on the
cutting room floor? What do publications owe their readers about recent coverage
of the conflict and about past coverage?
While some sponsors may be intimidated but well-meaning, others have outright
bias. New York Times Gaza-based stringer Fady Hanona had tweeted that “the Jews
are sons of dogs and I am with killing them, and burning them like Hitler did to
them (smiley face).” Hanona’s record had hardly been hidden. The Times’ stringer
had said, “I don’t accept a Jew, Israeli or Zionist, or anyone else who speaks
Hebrew. I’m with killing them wherever they are: children, elderly people, and
soldiers.”
While due recognition for its action, only after an NGO outed violations of the
Times’ standards did the “paper of record” cease its relationship with Hanona.
Others should follow suit.
Sunlight on Hamas’ media rules led to their withdrawal. But the Associated Press
noted that “Hamas has still signaled its expectations, which could have a
chilling effect on critical coverage.” Directives from Hamas are sure to
continue.
During the May 2021 Gaza war, publications used Hamas-provided images of people
outlets had reported were killed in the ten-day conflict, who in fact were not.
Should media outlets now conduct thorough investigations of statements, images,
and statistics from Hamas-run ministries that were used in their coverage?
When a publication suspects plagiarism or other concerns, while uncomfortable,
investigations are conducted. Corrections are made. Action is taken.
AP’s standards state: “When we’re wrong, we must say so as soon as possible.
When we make a correction, we point it out both to subscriber editors … and in
ways that news consumers can see it.” Other publications have similar
guidelines, some requiring an editor’s note or explanation when the entire
substance of an article raises a significant ethical matter.
If outlets used Hamas’ information, should editor’s notes be added that the
article relied on Hamas-supplied information whose accuracy is being reviewed
for accuracy?
What new transparency systems about how news is gathered should be implemented
moving forward?
In one essay reflecting on his time on staff at the Associated Press’ Jerusalem
bureau, Matti Friedman, who in 2014 blew the whistle on Hamas’ media rules and
tacit compliance by the media, notes: “I was informed by the bureau’s senior
editors that our Palestinian reporter in Gaza couldn’t possibly provide critical
coverage of Hamas because doing so would put him in danger.”
He also shared this reflection: “Hamas learned that international coverage from
the territory could be molded to its needs.” Noting that most of the press work
in Gaza is done by locals who would not dare cross Hamas, Friedman said it was
only rarely necessary for the group to threaten a Westerner. “The press could be
trusted to play its role in the Hamas script, instead of reporting that there
was such a script.”
And in his prophetic 2014 piece, Friedman wrote: “Hamas understood that
journalists would not only accept as fact the Hamas-reported civilian death
toll—relayed through the UN or through the Gaza Health Ministry, an office
controlled by Hamas—but would make those numbers the center of coverage. Hamas
understood that reporters … would not report the intimidation.” And then, “the
NGO-UN-media alliance could be depended upon to unleash the organs of the
international community on Israel, and to leave the jihadist group alone.”
News organizations that care about their credibility, not just their clicks,
should with clear eyes, examine their coverage that may have been colored by
Hamas’ intimidation tactics. While too often the media has been hesitant to
reform, we can hope for better, in service of greater transparency and
accountability. Perhaps courageous news outlets will see the value in upholding
their own high standards.
*Toby Dershowitz is senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD), a non-partisan research institute focused on national
security and foreign affairs. Follow her on Twitter @tobydersh.
The 'Inflation Reduction Act' to Increase Inflation and
Impoverish Middle Class Americans
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute./September 07/2022
The IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] is revolutionary in what it purports to do for
the climate. The only impact it will have on inflation is to increase it.
The IRA deliberately sets about impoverishing many Americans by increasing taxes
"on everyone" and increasing tax audits at the same time as prices are
skyrocketing. Imposing steeper taxes at a time of steeper prices may not mean
that much to the rich, but has the effect of a stealth double-tax that crushes
especially middle- and working-class families, who now find themselves forced to
choose between necessities such as food, gasoline or rent. Reports state that
42% of Americans are struggling financially.
The political theory governing this economic sledgehammer seems to be seems to
be that a bigger, centralized government that controls people is "better" -- at
least for the politicians -- than a government that prizes the individual,
individual freedoms and the ability to spend hard-earned money the way he or she
wishes, rather than how government chooses to spend it for him.
The government can then promise everyone goodies to keep them dependent, while
it decides what to dole out, when and to whom: what cars you must buy, what
doctors and healthcare you are allowed to have; what "social justice" and gender
issues your children are to be taught in school; which companies -- possibly of
campaign donors -- should be rewarded with subsidies and handouts, and which,
such as donors to other political parties, should be targeted for audits and
confiscations.
As the cost of energy -- gasoline, heating air-conditioning -- continues to
rise, in addition to financing America's adversaries that produce oil and gas
such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, all purchases for Americans, in an
increasing downward spiral, become increasingly unaffordable. All goods that are
manufactured or transported continue to cost more, forcing Americans to pay even
higher prices for virtually everything. Already squeezed, many Americans will be
forced to start buying less. Restaurants, even fast-food places, for instance,
will become luxury items and attract fewer customers; many small businesses will
be forced to close and their employees will be laid off, creating still less
purchasing power.
If the Biden administration believes that the top earners in the US are not
paying their fair share of taxes, then Congress should change the tax laws.
Between incentivizing the golden goose and killing it are many shades of gray.
[A]s long as China "is building more than half of the world's new coal power
plants," and all of us on the planet are breathing the same air, we are
essentially depriving Americans of low-cost energy independence while enriching,
again, overt adversaries such as Russia and Iran that export oil for as high a
price as they can.
Whoever imagined that doubling the size of the IRS is just what the American
people have been pining for -- spending $80 billion of the American taxpayers'
hard-earned money to target not Russia, China or Iran -- but Americans? And
political opponents?
Moreover, these 87,000 new IRS agents will likely have zero interest in taking
on either well-lawyered corporations or "ultra-wealthy" individuals.... The
easiest target, of course, would be small business owners and middle-class
individuals, for whom hiring a lawyer or accountant to refute a claim would cost
more than just paying the IRS to go away.
The best news of all, however, is that they are armed! The IRS recently took
down a recruiting ad – at the same time as many Americans are advocating for gun
control -- saying that agents must be "willing to carry a firearm" and "use
deadly force, if necessary." Now, that is what you might call persuasive. It
also uncomfortably resembles the start of an armed federal militia to federalize
the police, replace those precincts that were defunded, and begin targeting
Americans -- call it the Papa Doc or Venezuela model -- hardly what the founding
fathers had in mind. That is where they came in -- and the reason for the Second
Amendment.
The government, the Wall Street Journal determined, was embarking on a plan, to
"raise a total of $739 billion in revenue, and spend a total of $433 billion....
to reduce the deficit by about $102 billion over a decade" – in government
terms, a rounding error, with your tax dollars. But not a dollar for more
Homeland Security agents to address the nearly 5 million illegal aliens —
including 900,000 "gotaways" -- rampant human trafficking, escalating child sex
slavery, and massive drug smuggling that resulted, last year alone, in more than
107,000 deaths.
"By forcing up the price of fossil fuels, policy-makers have put the cart before
the horse. Instead, we need to make green energy much cheaper and more
effective. Humanity has relied on innovation to fix other big challenges. We
didn't solve air pollution by forcing everyone to stop driving, but by inventing
the catalytic converter that drastically lowers pollution. We didn't slash
hunger by telling everyone to eat less, but through the Green Revolution that
enabled farmers to produce much more food." – Bjørn Lomborg, author and climate
change expert, Financial Post; June 29, 2022
Other countries are likely to be less passionate about having clean energy and
more passionate about the bottom line. Russia, for instance, has been trying for
years to limit America's oil production to prod the US to transfer its
dependence on oil to, you guessed it again!, Russia. If the US had the
widespread, inexpensive oil production it enjoyed two years ago, Putin would
never have had the resources even to think of invading Ukraine. The US is,
quixotically, funding both sides of this war.
The Student Loan Relief plan is a grotesque reverse transfer of wealth from the
poor to the rich.
The biggest surprise of all in the IRA may have been, unbelievably, a new "Green
Bank", filled with $27 billion of your money for the Environmental Protection
Agency -- which, of course, knows so much about banking. It is supposed to be a
"fund for clean energy projects," but, as the government, cagily warns, "false
claims risks exist." What could possibly go wrong?
The Inflation Reduction Act and Student Loan Relief act and all these giveaways
by the government, are yet more examples of government largess with the money of
its citizens. Once again, politicians are taking taxpayer money and distributing
it to favored causes and businesses and then limiting the choices we can make as
to how we want to live. It is bad policy in a country where freedom is supposed
to reign.
The Inflation Reduction Act is revolutionary in what it purports to do for the
climate. The only impact it will have on inflation is to increase it. (Inage
source: iStock)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wondered aloud how Republicans could vote against
Mother Earth. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin possibly wondered how
Republicans could vote against his so-called "Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)." In
reality, Pelosi was closer to describing the contents of the IRA than was
Manchin.
The IRA is revolutionary in what it purports to do for the climate. The only
impact it will have on inflation is to increase it. The IRA deliberately sets
about impoverishing many Americans by increasing taxes "on everyone" and
increasing tax audits at the same time as prices are skyrocketing. Imposing
steeper taxes at a time of steeper prices may not mean that much to the rich,
but has the effect of a stealth double-tax that crushes especially middle- and
working-class families, who now find themselves forced to choose between
necessities such as food, gasoline or rent. Reports state that 42% of Americans
are struggling financially.
The political theory governing this economic sledgehammer seems to be seems to
be that a bigger, centralized government that controls people is "better" -- at
least for the politicians -- than a government that prizes the individual,
individual freedoms and the ability to spend hard-earned money the way he or she
wishes, rather than how government chooses to spend it for him. This Marxist
view looks at people not as individuals, but as a collective for the government
to organize as it wishes or "thinks best" (for whom? The government or the
people it is organizing?) -- not quite what the framers of our Constitution had
in mind. It is apparently easier for a government to control citizens without
freedoms – economic or otherwise, as in China or North Korea -- than citizens
with free choice, unpredictability and the opportunity to achieve the American
Dream -- who will not as dependent on the government to be a nanny-state for
them. The government can then promise everyone goodies to keep them dependent,
while it decides what to dole out, when and to whom: what cars you must buy,
what doctors and healthcare you are allowed to have; what "social justice" (here
and here) and gender issues your children are to be taught in school; which
companies -- possibly of campaign donors -- should be rewarded with subsidies
and handouts, and which, such as donors to other political parties, should be
targeted for audits and confiscations.
As the cost of energy -- gasoline, heating, air-conditioning -- continues to
rise, in addition to financing America's adversaries that produce oil and gas
such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, all purchases for Americans, in an
increasing downward spiral, become increasingly unaffordable. All goods that are
manufactured or transported continue to cost more, forcing Americans to pay even
higher prices for virtually everything. Already squeezed, many Americans will be
forced to start buying less. Restaurants, even fast-food places, for instance,
will become luxury items and attract fewer customers; many small businesses will
be forced to close and their employees will be laid off, creating still less
purchasing power. Even if the government hands out a few hundred dollars, that
is hardly enough to keep up with an 8.5% inflation rate. If the Biden
administration believes that the top earners in the US are not paying their fair
share of taxes, then Congress should change the tax laws. Between incentivizing
the golden goose and killing it are many shades of gray.
If all that were not punishing enough for the average American, the Internal
Revenue Service will now get $80 billion to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to
conduct more audits and tax-collection. The Biden administration's promise not
to increase the taxes of households making less than $400,000 a year is about as
solid as the Obama administration's promise that "You can keep your doctor [and]
healthcare". The White House has been claiming that the government is going
after only "the ultra-wealthy and corporations." Really?
First, as the adage goes, "Corporations don't pay corporate taxes, people do."
Corporations simply pass on the increased expense by raising the price of their
products or cutting jobs. The result, of course, is that even more people will
be thrown out of work and unable to buy these now "luxury" items.
Second, of course, whoever imagined that doubling the size of the IRS is just
what the American people have been pining for -- spending $80 billion of the
American taxpayers' hard-earned money to target not Russia, China or Iran -- but
Americans? Or political opponents? On the charm scale, it is right up there with
the government labeling parents "domestic terrorists."
Moreover, these 87,000 new IRS agents will likely have zero interest in taking
on either well-lawyered corporations or "ultra-wealthy" individuals.
Incidentally, at what dollar amount does a wealthy person become "ultra"? Any
self-respecting IRS agent would presumably prefer to come away from an IRS chat
with something to show for it. The easiest target, of course, would be small
business owners and middle-class individuals, for whom hiring a lawyer or
accountant to refute a claim would cost more than just paying the IRS to go
away. Just think of the IRS auditing, say, a lawyered-up Amazon corporation,
which, until 2020, paid no taxes: "So, Walter, how'd it go today?" "Uh, zip."
What sort of return on investment for hiring 87,000 new IRS agents is that?
The best news of all, however, is that they are armed! The IRS recently took
down a recruiting ad -- at the same time as many Americans are advocating for
gun control -- saying that agents must be "willing to carry a firearm" and "use
deadly force, if necessary." Now, that is what you might call persuasive. It
also uncomfortably resembles the start of an armed federal militia to federalize
the police, replace those precincts that were defunded, and begin targeting
Americans -- call it the Papa Doc or Venezuela model -- definitely not what the
founding fathers had in mind. That is where they came in, and the reason for the
Second Amendment.
The government, the Wall Street Journal determined, was embarking on a plan, to
"raise a total of $739 billion in revenue, and spend a total of $433 billion....
to reduce the deficit by about $102 billion over a decade" – in government
terms, a rounding error, with your tax dollars. But not a dollar for more
Homeland Security agents to address the nearly 5 million illegal aliens —
including 900,000 "gotaways" -- rampant human trafficking, escalating child sex
slavery, and massive drug smuggling that resulted, last year alone, in more than
107,000 deaths.
Just as ruinous for Americans but a windfall again for Russia, are the new taxes
the IRA slaps on oil and natural gas -- precisely when much of the world, and
Europe in particular, are counting on the US to help them out this winter after
Russian President Vladimir Putin turned off the taps.
If the Inflation Reduction Act has nothing to do with bringing down inflation,
what it does have something to do with is purportedly funding climate change and
green energy. "The package," again according to the Wall Street Journal, "will
spend roughly $369 billion on climate and energy programs, including tax credits
for buying electric and hydrogen vehicles and making energy-efficient home
improvements," most of which are made in -- China. Reality, as author and
climate change expert Bjørn Lomborg keeps insisting, is that when alternatives
to fossil fuels become "much less expensive and more effective," everyone will
choose them without being forced:
"By forcing up the price of fossil fuels, policy-makers have put the cart before
the horse. Instead, we need to make green energy much cheaper and more
effective.
"Humanity has relied on innovation to fix other big challenges. We didn't solve
air pollution by forcing everyone to stop driving, but by inventing the
catalytic converter that drastically lowers pollution. We didn't slash hunger by
telling everyone to eat less, but through the Green Revolution that enabled
farmers to produce much more food."
How comforting, however, to see that families having trouble buying gasoline at
$4.50 a gallon (down from $5!) will now be able to rush out and buy a $60,000
electric vehicle! Not surprisingly, the minute tax credits to buy electric
vehicles was announced, some car companies, while insisting the two events were
not connected -- perish the thought! - raised their prices by $6,000-$8,500,
"roughly matching the $7,500 tax credit introduced under the inflation bill."
If there are cuts in drug prices, ordinarily that would be wonderful – if they
did not also mean government interference in the private business of
pharmaceuticals and the resultant impediment to research and development in
tackling diseases, among others, such as cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
As for Nancy Pelosi's climate change part: as long as China "is building more
than half of the world's new coal power plants," and all of us on the planet are
breathing the same air, we are essentially depriving Americans of low-cost
energy independence while enriching, again, overt adversaries such as Russia and
Iran that export oil for as high a price as they can. Other countries are likely
to be less passionate about having clean energy and more passionate about the
bottom line. Russia, for instance, has been trying for years to limit America's
oil production to prod the US to transfer its dependence on oil to, you guessed
it again!, Russia. If the US had the widespread, inexpensive oil production it
enjoyed two years ago, Putin would never have had the resources even to think of
invading Ukraine. The US is, quixotically, funding both sides of this war.
Last week, the US Congress approved a $10,000-$20,000 Student Loan Relief plan –
with the actual cost to taxpayers estimated at $1 trillion -- with a T -- over
ten years. The cost of that will be unfairly dumped on the shoulders of the 62%
majority of Americans -- often lower-income, blue-collar Uber-drivers, welders,
small shopkeepers -- who never went to college. It is a grotesque reverse
transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
put it:
"It's unfair to force a truck driver to pay a loan for someone who got a PhD in
gender studies. Taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for student loan relief
and Biden's order isn't constitutional. If anything, universities handing out
worthless degrees should be on the hook."
"Constitutional" in his statement means that the president does not have the
power to allocate money; that is the Congress's job.
Moreover, no one will ever repay a student-loan again – why should they? The
giveaway incentivizes people just to hang around and wait for loans to be
forgiven. Anyone who ever struggled or held down two jobs to repay a student
loan must now feel like a chump. Worse, universities -- who are not being called
on to use part of their gargantuan endowments to help cover this lavishness --
will simply be encouraged to raise their fees even further.
The biggest surprise of all in the IRA may have been, unbelievably, a new "Green
Bank", filled with $27 billion of your money for the Environmental Protection
Agency -- which, of course, knows so much about banking. It is supposed to be a
"fund for clean energy projects," but, as the government, cagily warns, "false
claims risks exist." What could possibly go wrong?
The Inflation Reduction Act and Student Loan Relief Act and all these giveaways
by the government, are yet more examples of government largess with the money of
its citizens. Once again, politicians are taking taxpayer money and distributing
it to favored causes and businesses, and then limiting the choices we can make
as to how we want to live. It is bad policy in a country where freedom is
supposed to reign.
*Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump
administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives
representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking
member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the
Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors and a Distinguished Senior fellow
at Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Iranian Seizures Raise Questions About Unmanned Maritime
Operations
Farzin Nadimi/The Washington Institute/September 07/2022
More trouble may await U.S. vessels unless officials work resolutely to protect
them and establish effective guidelines for their safe operation.
Late on the night between August 29 and August 30, the U.S. Navy reportedly
thwarted an attempt by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) to
hijack and tow an unarmed Saildrone Explorer maritime autonomous vehicle (MAV)
belonging to the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59. This episode happened in the central
Persian Gulf, probably not far from Farsi Island, traditionally an IRGCN
hotspot. Three days later, the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy frigate Jamaran,
part of a “counterterrorism” task force in the Red Sea, withheld two similar
U.S. Saildrone Explorers for eighteen hours, a seizure Iran initially denied,
before U.S. warships intervened and negotiated their release. Iran accused the
U.S. Navy of endangering international shipping by conducting unsafe MAV
operations. The released MAVs, meanwhile, were missing their full-aspect cameras
and satellite communication gear, possibly indicating Iranian sailors or others
had stripped them, rendering the drones virtually inoperable.
Whereas U.S. Central Command characterized the Iranian actions as “illegal” and
“unprofessional,” Iran played down the incidents and denied engaging in foul
play, claiming that the earlier American drone needed to be towed because it had
“drifted” into a busy shipping lane and its “navigation links” with operators
had been severed. Iran claimed further that it had only agreed to release the
MAV after briefing U.S. patrol boat personnel “about proper safety measures.”
On September 4, Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the supreme commander of Iran’s
national armed forces (Artesh)—referring to the second encounter—condemned the
U.S. Navy’s “unsafe practice of using unmanned vessels in busy shipping routes”
but also dismissed any Iranian interest in confiscating such vehicles
permanently. The same day, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, who chairs Iran’s Armed
Forces General Staff, warned that Iranian naval vessels had been ordered not to
“tolerate” foreign unmanned surface vehicles in their path. More broadly, Iran
has made clear it would not tolerate the expansion of threatening unmanned
“spying operations” in the region.
The Iranian claim of a “drifting” Saildrone Explorer cut off from its operators
is highly improbable given that Saildrone MAVs are designed for long-endurance
autonomous navigation over the high seas. In 2019, a Saildrone successfully
completed a 22,000-kilometer journey around Antarctica in 196 days amid
extremely rough seas, freezing temperatures, fifty-foot waves, and an iceberg
collision. Moreover, Saildrone Explorers are data-linked to company headquarters
in Alameda, California, and the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain,
but they usually navigate autonomously at slow speeds. Raising further
suspicions in reference to the first hijacking is that the Iranian vessel
involved in the incident—the Shahid Baziar—is not a typical support-and-supply
vessel but rather a spy ship named after an IRGCN military intelligence pioneer,
Kazem Baziar, who was involved in targeting international shipping during the
Tanker War portion of the conflict with Iraq; he was killed on Farsi Island in
1987 following an encounter with U.S. Special Operations helicopters.
Maritime Domain Awareness
The recent incidents show why U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) must
maintain complete domain awareness through Task Force 59 and other resources.
Alongside addressing Iran’s covert moves to achieve its antiaccess/area-denial
objectives, long-endurance, unmanned platforms can help disrupt illicit
activities carried out by the Islamic Republic and others, such as narcotics and
human trafficking. For example, on August 30, naval units from CTF-150—one of
four task forces under the multinational Combined Maritime Forces—interdicted
about three tons of narcotics in a fishing dhow in the Gulf of Oman.
One cause of increased MAV interest for the Middle East involves NAVCENT’s huge
area of responsibility—6.5 million square kilometers, including 8,000 kilometers
of shoreline and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and Suez
Canal—and the shifting of U.S. assets elsewhere. A second is the region’s
extreme heat, which can hover at 115 degrees Fahrenheit, accompanied by high
humidity—making unmanned patrols attractive.
Since 2021, Operation Sentinel, under the International Maritime Security
Construct, and other U.S. regional partners have successfully tested such
unmanned platforms, and the U.S. Navy intends to field as many as one hundred
drone boats in the NAVCENT area of operations by summer 2023 as part of a
“digital ocean” initiative incorporating interconnected sensors, drones, and
satellites. But this surge will undoubtedly increase tense maritime encounters
with Iran, which seeks its own de facto regional maritime dominance.
The wind- and solar-powered Saildrone Explorer has gained wide use in part
because it can navigate autonomously for up to 365 days, without returning to
port for maintenance or refueling, and can surveil its surroundings for
suspicious activities using a 360-degree high-resolution camera, automatic
identification system, and acoustic and other sensors. Real-time processing of
data is performed using artificial intelligence and machine learning
technologies that significantly shorten the detection-to-decision time in
response to a particular threat. According to NAVCENT, all technologies used in
the Saildrone Explorer are commercially sourced and therefore not considered
sensitive.
Legal Gray Area
The above developments highlight the need to establish clear legal frameworks
for safe MAV use. In the past decade, AI-related technologies have advanced
rapidly and enhanced surveillance capabilities, but their scope remains limited
and the extent of necessary human involvement should be clearly articulated.
Interestingly, in the recent cases, the U.S. Navy promptly demanded the
immediate release of the hijacked MAV, characterizing it as a sovereign “U.S.
vessel” (not a “device”) exercising freedom of navigation according to
international law. Whereas MAV operations inherently involve lower stakes
because they lack human cargo, a debate has emerged over whether and when MAVs
should be classified as warships and enjoy the associated legal immunities, even
if this potentially threatens human lives amid a decision to protect them more
forcefully. Such difficult questions call for clear rules of engagement should
one side refuse to cede its prize, cause damage to it, ban MAV operations
outright near its waters, or ban them to exercise authority over maritime
scientific research or military activities in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Iran may see a precedent in the 2016 incident wherein China seized a U.S.
underwater MAV in the Philippines’ EEZ, claiming it was acting to protect the
safety of navigation and crews of passing vessels. In the August 29 incident,
Iran indeed argued that the deployment of MAVs disregarded safe navigation
requirements, thereby justifying the seizure. Iran might further argue that U.S.
and coalition military MAV operations prejudice the peace, good order, or
security of Iran as a Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman coastal state under the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea. They might also block a future MAV on the
pretense that the passage of a sail drone is not “continuous or expeditious”
under the transit or innocent passage regimes, hence a reference to the MAV’s
“navigational failure” in the recent two cases.
Furthermore, owing to the automated nature of unmanned vessels, the “normal
mode” of MAV operation might be interpreted by coastal states as largely
overlapping their military—and potentially hostile—activities. The United States
should reserve the right to take action against Iran’s own growing unmanned and
eventually AI-driven platforms if the Iranian regime keeps insisting on carrying
out its disruptive activities and interdicting Task Force 59’s peacetime MAV
operations.
Conclusion
In the CENTCOM theater, unmanned operations are considered the wave of the
future, especially in light of the reduced U.S. presence in the region. Unmanned
assets can likewise serve as important deterrents, expanding U.S. maritime
awareness and depriving American adversaries of plausible deniability. Given the
likelihood that Iran will attempt more brazen challenges in this area, as recent
incidents show, U.S. leaders must now figure out how to effectively protect
unmanned assets, whether or not they use sensitive equipment. Furthermore, the
United States should settle on an appropriate form of messaging to deter and
respond to attempted disruptions of its MAV operations. Failure to do so will
mean danger for this promising operational concept in particular and U.S.
credibility in general.
*Farzin Nadimi is an associate fellow with The Washington Institute,
specializing in security and defense in Iran and the Gulf region.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iranian-seizures-raise-questions-about-unmanned-maritime-operations