English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 19/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.september19.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels
Mark 08/31-38: "Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. ’He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 18-19/2022
Patriarch Al-Rahi urges election of president enjoying support of all Lebanese
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi presides over “Resistance Martyrs" Mass at "Saydet Ilige" Church, calls for forming a capable government, electing a capable president...
Archbishop Aoudi: The state can only be restored by the will to work, to implement the constitution, to abandon personal interests and by seeing that justice is for all.
A Judge Close to the Aounist Camp Could Be Appointed to Replace Bitar
Hezbollah Locks Missiles on Israeli Offshore Gas Rig
Hezbollah slams amendment in UNIFIL's mandate
Rifi: I call on the judiciary to release every arrested depositor who has demanded his right or advocated this rightful case
MoPH: 174 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
Army: Patrol unit came under fire, about one million Captagon pills were seized
Kanaan says 'budget will not be discussed on September 26th if new figures are not received'
Interior Minister: Lebanese do not want war, no indication of expected security events
Abdallah: For giving priority to deteriorating health, social conditions
Justice Minister denies "Asharq Al-Awsat" report content, urges media not to publish false information
Palestinians in Beirut commemorate Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra-Shatila vs. Damour: The Moral of the Story/Joseph Hitti/September 18/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 18-19/2022
World leaders head to London as security tightens on eve of Queen Elizabeth's funeral
Arab leaders arrive in UK to offer condolences on death of Queen Elizabeth II
Canada's Trudeau says Ukraine mass graves part of Russian war crimes
Zelenskyy promises no 'lull' in taking back Ukrainian towns
Iranian police fire tear gas at rally after woman's funeral
Khamenei appears in public after nearly two weeks
US-backed Syrian forces free women in 3-week raid of IS camp
Turkey strikes Syria regime outpost, kills 3: monitor

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 18-19/2022
Russia Confronts Putin over the Ukraine War as Xi’s China Relents on Aiding HimظRaghida Dergham/The National/September 18/2022
Western Dissonance to Foreign Invasions: Armenia vs Ukraine
Trey Blanton, STEPANAKERT, Artsakh (CINFUSA.org)/September 18/2022
Why the World Economic Forum's Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved/J.B. Shurk/Gatestone Institute./September 18/2022
Biden must work with Congress on Iran nuclear deal/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/September 18/2022
Stall in talks over new Iran nuclear deal favors Israel/Maria Maalouf/Arab News/September 18/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 18-19/2022
Patriarch Al-Rahi urges election of president enjoying support of all Lebanese
Naharnet/September 18/2022
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for the formation of “a capable new government.”He also called for “the election of a president before the end of the (incumbent) president’s term on October 31.” The new president “should enjoy all the characteristics on which the Lebanese agree,” al-Rahi added.He also called for “protecting the judiciary from every politicization, subordination or bargaining.” “Resistance is not limited to arms but rather includes resilience in domestic unity, full loyalty to Lebanon the homeland, enjoying ethics and values, and preserving Lebanon’s message and exemplary nature,” al-Rahi added.

Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi presides over “Resistance Martyrs" Mass at "Saydet Ilige" Church, calls for forming a capable government, electing a capable president...
NNA/September 18/2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, presided this morning over the annual Mass service devoted to the souls of the martyrs of the Lebanese resistance, held at "Our Lady of Ilige" Church in the town of Mayfouk - Al-Qattara - Jbeil district. In his homily, the Patriarch called for the formation of an effective government and for electing a capable president of the republic prior to the end of October, having all the specifications that the Lebanese agree upon.  He also called for protecting the judiciary from all politicization, compromise and any decision that affects its core principles. "Our eyes are pinned on protecting the investigation into the Beirut Port explosion, this major crime in history," he added. Al-Rahi beleived that "resistance is not limited to weapons, but includes steadfastness in internal unity, total loyalty to Lebanon, the homeland, morals and values, and preservation of Lebanon's message and model."
He spoke of "the patriarchs' march throughout history in defending the homeland and its people, remaining courageous and steadfast in the face of difficulties," stressing "the continuation of this march for the establishment of the state of Lebanon on constitutional and charter foundations.""We place these wishes in the custody of our mother, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Ilige, relying on the prayers of our saintly patriarchs and the blood of our heroic martyrs, the martyrs of the Lebanese resistance, for God is omnipotent to answer our prayers and hear the cries of our people," the Patriarch asserted.

Archbishop Aoudi: The state can only be restored by the will to work, to implement the constitution,  to abandon personal interests and by seeing that justice is for all.
LCCC/September 18 / 2022
Bishop Aoudi in his Sunday Homely said, Lebanon deserves to live, and its people do not deserve what they are encountering. Hardly a week passes without hearing the excellence of a Lebanese doctor, the success of a Lebanese association, the creativity of a Lebanese artist or writer, the discovery of a Lebanese researcher, the excellence of an educational institution in medical leadership, or the brilliance of a Lebanese artistic or sports group. The latest creations are the great success achieved by Mayas band. All these achievements are reached by the Lebanese who  lack opportunities in their country. They have shown that rulers can steal everything from them, except their dreams. These are the Lebanese who are paying the price for the mistakes of their rulers, their mismanagement and their lack of sense of responsibility, and who suffer despair, humiliation and bitterness, while they deserve a decent life in a country worthy of them, their ambitions and creativity, and they are the ones who give an honorable image of Lebanon.
He added, the state is restored through the will, the will to work and sacrifice, with respect for and application of the Constitution, not by distorting it, with integrity and good example, by abandoning personal interests, and by applying justice to everyone. Al these acts can be reached if the intentions are genuine and personal interests are absent. Our prayers to the Lord to inspire the people’s representatives, the MPs to work only for the good of the people, to carry out their duties according to their conscience, and toelect a president as soon as possible to bear the responsibility of bringing the country out of the darkness of death into the light of life

A Judge Close to the Aounist Camp Could Be Appointed to Replace Bitar
L'Orient Todayl/September 18, 2022
Justice Minister Henri Khoury has walked the walk. He announced Tuesday, after a meeting with President Michel Aoun, that a judge would be appointed shortly to address the “urgent matters” related to the probe into the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion, especially the fate of detainees in the case.
L’Orient-Le Jour learned from judicial sources that Khoury made his announcement after first proposing that Samaranda Nassar, North Lebanon's first investigative judge, to the Higher Judicial Council as a replacement for acting Judge Tarek Bitar.
Judge Nassar is known to be close to the Aounist camp, as is Khoury himself. The latter’s move comes amid an outcry in legal circles, which condemn the move to appoint an alternate judge. The Higher Judicial Council adopted Khoury’s proposal on Sept. 5, in violation of the law that allows for the appointment of only one judicial investigating judge. For now, Bitar remains at his post. A source close to the Higher Judicial Council told L’Orient-Le Jour that, for this jurisdictional body, a judge appointed in this framework would not be a substitute. That is to say, a newly appointed judge would not replace the permanent judge, but rather would be entrusted with only specific issues. To observers, the decision taken by the Higher Judicial Council was the result of pressure from the Aounist camp. On the same day, a delegation of Aounist MPs went to the Higher Judicial Council’s president, Souheil Abboud, to urge him to speed up the course of justice. The meeting followed a sit-in organized in front of the Beirut Justice Palace by the detainees’ families, including the family of the former director of customs, Badri Daher, who is close to the Free Patriotic Movement. At the same time, Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab, also close to the president, partially blamed the Higher Judicial Council for the investigation freeze.
Divisions within the Higher Judicial Council?
As things stand, the proposal to appoint Judge Nassar would only need the Higher Judicial Council’s approval to be enacted. No such decision has yet been taken, due to a division within the council, according to an informed judicial source. Of the 10 members on the council, only six sit at present to discuss the issue. Court of Cassation Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat recused himself due to his family relationship with MP Ghazi Zeaiter, who has been called for questioning by Bitar. Judicial Inspection Authority head Judge Barkan Saad, who was a member of the Higher Judicial Council, recently retired. The two remaining posts, reserved for presidents of chambers of the Court of Cassation, remain vacant because the retired judges have not yet been replaced. In addition to Oueidat, the Higher Judicial Council members are Souheil Abboud, Afif Hakim, Dany Chebli, Mireille Haddad, Elias Richa, and Habib Mezher. These last four members are reportedly in favor of Nassar’s appointment, while the first two reportedly oppose her. The ruling vote requires only a simple majority, but discussions are underway to require a unanimous vote, according to information obtained by L’Orient-Le Jour. Judge Abboud “insists in particular … on the criteria of neutrality [of a new judge],” a source close to the Higher Judicial Council said. Speaking to L’Orient-Le Jour, a senior judge who declined to be named said that Judge Nassar was approached because “the minister and the camp he represents are confident of her judgment.”
“They know that she would be receptive to their demands,” he said, recalling that “the main objective [of the Aounist camp] is to release the detainees, especially those who are close to them.” Nassar is known to be close to the FPM leader, Gebran Bassil, the judge added. Nassar could not be reached for comment Friday. L’Orient-Le Jour also reached out to Minister Khoury for comment but received no reply. An appointment after more than one rejection According to a source informed of the case, Nassar’s name was suggested among several others. Fadi Onaissi, president of the North Lebanon Court of Appeals, reportedly refused the post, as did Mount Lebanon Investigative Judge Nicolas Mansour, who considers the appointment of an alternate judge to be inappropriate, according to the same source.
This source explained that Judge Mansour’s opposition to the appointment of an alternate judge centers on one important question: how could a new judge process requests for detainees’ release if he has no knowledge of the investigation? But, at the same time, if the designated judge were to consult the file, he would violate the secrecy of the investigation, the source added.
At the same time, according to this source, Mansour believes that Bitar could be prosecuted for obstruction of justice if he refuses to entrust part of the file to the appointed judge. However, Bitar reportedly would not agree to voluntarily hand over his file, as already stated by a senior judge on a previous occasion.
There is hope within lawyers’ circles that the Higher Judicial Council will not proceed in its decision. Nader Gaspard, president of the Beirut Bar Association, urged the judicial body Wednesday to refrain from appointing a new judge.
In a missive sent to the Higher Judicial Council, Gaspard said Bitar’s investigation was frozen due to legal actions that cannot be resolved because the draft law to appoint new members to the Court of Cassation — which has the jurisdiction to rule on such issues — has been blocked.
Gaspard also lamented Khoury’s use of the term “urgent matters,” which he says are not well defined. “Vague language would allow the newly appointed judge to broadly interpret their prerogatives,” Gaspard warned. Youssef Lahoud, a lawyer and member of the prosecution office with the Beirut Bar Association, said he believes the appointment of an alternate judge is likely to be challenged before the Shura Council. “Faced with the illegality of such a decision, we must expect rapid developments,” Lahoud said without giving further details. Another lawyer pointed out that if an alternate judge were to be appointed, their work could be paralyzed by the same judicial means the implicated officials resorted to with Bitar.
Anger among the victims’ families
For their part, the victims’ families intend to fight the appointment of an alternate judge. “We are going to confront anyone who politicizes and hinders the case,” said Mariana Fodoulian, sister of a victim of the blast. While Fodoulian did not specify which actions the families intend to take if a new judge is appointed, she recalled the sit-in organized in front of the justice minister’s home in Hazmieh one day after the Higher Judicial Council’s decision to adopt the latter’s proposal. “We will not let them carry out their political agendas,” she continued, accusing the Aounist camp of seeking the release of Daher before the end of Aoun’s term, which expires on Oct. 31. “They want to choose an alternate rather than allow the existing judge to resume his investigation,” Fodoulian said. “They invoke human rights reasons in reference to rights of detainees. Where were human rights when the ammonium nitrate, which caused this tragedy, entered the port … and exploded?”

Hezbollah Locks Missiles on Israeli Offshore Gas Rig
JNS/Times Of Israel/September 18, 2022
Hezbollah chief says offshore gas a “golden opportunity” for Lebanon, and that he won’t hesitate to attack Israeli interests. Hezbollah’s “eyes and missiles are directed towards” Israel’s Karish offshore gas platform, the terror organization’s chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday, as mediated talks to reach a deal on the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon continue. “Lebanon is facing a golden opportunity” in the form of natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean Sea, Nasrallah continued, the Hezbollah-affiliated, Beirut-based Al Mayadeen satellite news channel reported. He repeated his earlier warning, however, that Israeli gas extraction from the Karish field must not begin until the maritime negotiations reach an agreement. “If confrontation is imposed, it is absolutely inevitable,” said Nasrallah. “I think that the Israelis, the Americans, and others have sufficient data regarding the seriousness of the resistance.” Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, has conducted shuttle diplomacy in recent days, traveling to Beirut to meet with senior Lebanese officials, and relaying Israeli positions regarding the negotiations. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the General Security Agency in the economically depressed country, said last week that an agreement was in reach. “We’re talking about weeks—actually, days—to finish the delineation issue. I’m hopeful that the situation is positive,” he said.

Hezbollah slams amendment in UNIFIL's mandate
Agence France Presse/September 18/2022
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has condemned a recent amendment in the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the border with Israel. The U.N. Security Council on August 31 extended the mandate of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force for a period of a year but with a slight modification in the wording. Nasrallah took issue in a televised speech with a part of the resolution that states the peacekeeping force "is allowed to conduct its operations independently." The UNIFIL force, which was first deployed more than four decades ago, has routinely coordinated its patrols and movements in its area of operations in the south with the Lebanese Army. "This is a trap that the Israelis have set for Lebanon over many years," Nasrallah said, calling the resolution "a violation of Lebanese sovereignty."Nasrallah lambasted the Lebanese government for allowing the resolution through and warned that it could give rise "to great dangers in the area south of the Litani" river. On September 13, UNIFIL reacted to Hezbollah concerns by assuring it was still working closely with the Lebanese Army, a statement Nasrallah welcomed in his Saturday speech.
UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack. It was beefed up in 2006 after Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war, and the 10,500-strong force is tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between the two sides.Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war.

Rifi: I call on the judiciary to release every arrested depositor who has demanded his right or advocated this rightful case
NNA/September 18/2022
MP Ashraf Rifi stressed on "the right of depositors to recover their money after the political authority conspired against them."In an issued statement today, Rifi said: “The depositor who worked endlessly to save money and depostied his end of service pension in the banks to educate his children or to pay for his medical expenses or for days of hardship, is not a criminal...Rather, he is a good citizen who sought and worked to protect himself and his family after the state abandoned him, leaving him without any medical care and social benefits that preserve his dignity.”
He added: "The political authority that stole depositors' money and squandered it on deals, brokerages and fictitious projects is the criminal...The authority that wasted more than 40 billion dollars on electricity deals is the criminal...The authority that squandered millions of dollars on perforated water dams is the criminal...The authority that wasted more than 20 billion dollars in fuel subsidies and goods that were smuggled to Syria is the criminal...”Rifi considered that the depositors have waited for years for the political and judicial authority to find a just solution to their case, but saw nothing but procrastination and indulgence in stealing their money and humiliating them, which forced them to take such actions. He, thus, urged the concerned judicial authority to release every detainee who has demanded his right or advocated this just cause, and called upon all those who seek to restore the state of truth and law to stand by this rightful cause. "Depositors’ money is a sacred trust as well as looted treasury funds, and there is no resurrection of the homeland without returning these trusts to their owners,” Rifi underlined.

MoPH: 174 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
NNA/September 18/2022
In its daily report on COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced Sunday the registration of 174 new Corona virus infections, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,213,902. The report added that two deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Army: Patrol unit came under fire, about one million Captagon pills were seized
NNA/September 18/2022
Lebanese Army Command - Orientation Directorate issued a statement today, indicating that at approximately 10:30 p.m yesterday night, an army patrol unit came under fire as it was tracking down a number of smugglers at Al-Nhair farm in Jurd Maaraboun - Baalbek.
The statement added that the army unit responded to the sources of fire in the same way, whereby the smugglers fled into Syrian territory. The patrol seized about one million Captagon pills that the smugglers had left in the place. The seized items were handed over to the concerned authorities and an investigation was launched, the statement concluded.

Kanaan says 'budget will not be discussed on September 26th if new figures are not received'
NNA/September 18/2022
Head of the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, said that "we are facing a budget that compiles numbers without a vision." Speaking to "Voice of All Lebanon 93.3" Radio Station this morning, Kanaan criticized the governmen's submitted budget, stressing that "the Finance and Budget Committee carried out strict and exceptional scrutiny and refuted the flaws and rejected the absence of vision and the imposition of taxes and fees to remedy the deficit."He indicated that he had raised the issue during the budget session by asking Prime Minister Najib Mikati where he would find the funds for the increases required in the 2022 budget, adding: "Is it reasonable to resort to the customs and tax dollars to take from people through one hand the rights that will be given to them through the other hand?" Kanaan considered that "there is confusion at the level of the government," revealing that the prime minister promised to send new figures according to the proposals he presented in the budget session related to increases and tax dollars. He said: "If we do not receive these proposals, we cannot discuss on September 26, and we refuse to give a blank check to the government to do what it wants."Kanaan called for a crisis cell that includes depositors and banks to discuss people's demands and propose solutions and assistance, warning against worsening conditions if the status quo persists. Regarding the new government, the MP deemed that "forming a new cabinet is a national interest and a necessary and urgent matter, in partnership with the President of the Republic, to avoid a complete vacuum," revealing that "the givings indicate a serious effort to form a government after PM Mikati's return from New York."Kanaan stated that the "Strong Lebanon" bloc will start a workshop next week to reach the available options and vision in various dossiers, including the presidential file.

Interior Minister: Lebanese do not want war, no indication of expected security events
NNA/September 18/2022
Caretaker Minister of Interior, Judge Bassam al-Mawlawi, said in a statement to "Asharq Al-Awsat" Newspaper: "The Ministry of Interior and the security forces continue to carry out their duties in maintaining security and order, despite the difficult circumstances...The Lebanese do not want war, and the security reports that we follow daily do not indicate any expectation of security events."He continued, "The social crises resulting from the well-known financial and economic reality make us anticipate the possibility of chaos, and thus the security services remain present, vigilant and in a state of readiness, and this is their duty.""We count on the patriotism of the security forces and the awareness of their leaders, so these forces remain conscious and present to serve the country and protect society," Mawlawi went on, adding that efforts are exerted with the security and military leaders to secure the requirements and needs of security members, including fuel, medicine and salary adjustments despite the difficult challenges.

Abdallah: For giving priority to deteriorating health, social conditions
NNA/September 18/2022
MP Bilal Abdallah tweeted this morning: “Since the political intractability has reached a high degree of complexity, due to lust for power, greed for seat and delinquency towards quotas, addressing the deterioration of the health, social, educational and service conditions of the citizen must be given the highest priority; otherwise security evasion will dominate the situation in the next stage."

Justice Minister denies "Asharq Al-Awsat" report content, urges media not to publish false information
NNA/September 18/2022
Caretaker Minister of Justice, Judge Henry Khoury, categorically denied in an issued statement today, what was published in "Asharq Al-Awsat" newspaper quoting a judicial source that "the Ministry of Justice contacts the judges and asks them to sign a petition to be submitted to the Central Bank Governor demanding that their salaries be paid at the exchange rate of 8000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar instead of the 1500 Lebanese pounds exchange rate currently approved."Khoury called on all media outlets “not to publish false information about the Ministry of Justice without referring to the Ministry’s media office or to the Minister of Justice personally." "As for accurate judicial sources, they are solely issued by the Minister’s office," the statement underlined.

Palestinians in Beirut commemorate Sabra and Shatila massacre
Associated Press/September 18/2022
Palestinians have commemorated the 40th anniversary of the horrific killings in a refugee camp in Beirut that left hundreds of people dead during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Dozens of citizens from Europe who support the Palestinian cause also took part in the memorial held in Beirut close to where the men, women and children were killed by Israeli-backed Lebanese Christian militiamen. Over three days in September of that year, the Christian militia swept through Shatila camp, and its sister area of Sabra, slaughtering hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children. To this day, the official toll is 328 confirmed killed, 991 missing. One of those attending the memorial was Kamal Maruf, 82, who on Sept. 18, 1982 was ordered down from his apartment early in the morning along with his 19-year-old son, Jamal. They were forced by members of the Lebanese militia to gather in a square with others. "They took lots of people and my son was one of them. I have no idea where they took them," said Maruf. It was the last time he saw his son. "Until this day I don't know if my son was martyred," he said, adding that he would fight for justice for his son as long as he lives. Two days before the rampage started, Bashir Gemayel, the Lebanese Forces militia commander elected president in August 1982, was assassinated in a bomb in Beirut. Hours after the assassination, Israeli forces stormed Beirut's western neighborhoods after Palestinian fighters had left weeks earlier, under an internationally brokered deal. Ariel Sharon was Israel's defense minister at the time of the massacre and in 1983, he was criticized by an inquiry commission that found him indirectly responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees as well as some Lebanese by Lebanese Forces militiamen. Twenty-three survivors of the killings filed a case against Sharon in Belgium in 2001 but a court there said a year later that the case was "inadmissible."In 2002, Lebanese Christian warlord Elie Hobeika who reportedly commanded the force that entered the camp and carried out the killings, was killed in an explosion near his home, southeast of Beirut. "We demonstrate with our presence today and each year that we share the humanity and need of justice," said Italian citizen Salvatore Infantino, 37, who flew to Beirut to take part in the commemoration. Infantino, who currently lives in France, is a member of the "Committee to Not Forget Sabra and Shatila."
"We hope that one day we can have justice for this massacre," he said.

جوزيف حتي: صبرا وشاتيلا في مقابل الدامور: التفاوت الأخلاقي في التركيز على القصة الأولى والتعتيم على الثانية
مقالة باللغة الإنكليزية للناشط اللبناني جوزيف حتي تحكي الظلم والإنتقائية المؤبلسة في التركيز على مجزرة مخيمي صبرا وشاتيلا، وفي نفس الوقت التعتم الكلي على مجزرة بلدة الدامور البشعة والإجرامية التي ارتكبها الجيش السوري، والمنظمات الفلسطينية، وميليشيات ما كان يسمى في حينة الحركة الوطنية
Sabra-Shatila vs. Damour: The Moral of the Story
Joseph Hitti/September 18/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112027/joseph-hitti-sabra-shatila-vs-damour-the-moral-of-the-story-%d8%ac%d9%88%d8%b2%d9%8a%d9%81-%d8%ad%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d8%b5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7-%d9%88%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%8a%d9%84%d8%a7-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%85/
It’s been 40 years since the Sabra-Shatila massacre, and 46 years since the Damour massacre. If you ask anyone in the world today what they remember from the Lebanese War of 1975-1990, they'll say the "Sabra-Shatila" massacres. But ask them about the Damour massacre of 1976, and you'll get a blank stare.
Even today on blogs and platforms, young people who live thousands of miles away from Lebanon and were born after that war, will display the brainwashing about the poor Palestinians and the bad Israelis who allowed the barbaric Lebanese Christian militias to enter the camps and carry out the massacre in September of 1982.
The offensive and insulting aspect of all this, is that the Lebanese in these events are reduced to mere abstract agents of horrible behavior vis-à-vis the real actors - those who are worthy of our feelings of hatred and sympathy - the Israelis of course and the Palestinians of course as well. But the Lebanese, those who actually did the killing, are generally ignored. They are reduced, even as they were the killers, to a burden on the Israeli conscience which is presented to the world as the real moral dilemma in this one massacre of many that took place on Lebanese soil.
The Lebanese are deprived by the media of any human aspect that may explain their horrible conduct. The subtext is that the Lebanese Christian militiamen are incapable of moral conflict, they are (in the subconscious of westerners) incapable of questioning and doubting the moral value of their actions, and so we, westerners, don't even bother. We take it at face value that the Lebanese Christian militiamen cannot be driven by any human motive; they simply are subhuman, and we do not ask the moral question when it comes to them. Just as we would not ask of a tiger who mauls someone at a zoo or a dog that suddenly attacks a baby, and so on.
On the other hand, we present the Palestinian refugees as the ultimate victims of this horrible crime, and here again - because the Palestinians, like the Christian militiamen, are Arabs - we don't even attribute to them any agency as to their fate. They are unwilling victims, and they have no say in their fate as victims, no responsibility, no moral issues behind their status of victims. But it is often left unsaid that the Palestinian refugees were made refugees, not by the Lebanese Christians, but by the European Jewish conquest of Palestine between 1920 and 1947 that evicted hundreds of thousands of Palestinian villagers and townspeople from their homes, demolished their ancestral stone houses and their olive groves, and created the state of Israel over the ashes of Palestine.
And so, the only "serious" moral issue in this entire western construct is: How could Israelis - usually implying morally superior Jews - allow that to happen and watch as the massacre unfolded? Here, the subtext is: Only Jewish Israelis - for a multitude of reasons having to do with western history and guilt, and the macabre relationship between the West and the Jewish people over centuries - are capable of moral judgment, and so they ought to be responsible for allowing the massacres to occur. The Arabs on the other hand are incapable of morality - at least not on the sublime level of morality held by the Jewish people - so neither the killer Lebanese, nor the victim Palestinians, are of interest. They are the guinea pigs in this ethical experiment which only the Jewish Israelis are capable of struggling through and comprehending. In a laboratory, you don't ask the guinea pig for its reflections on being the sacrificial animal, nor do you ask the lab technician for the grand consequences of the experiment. Only the scientist who supervises the whole enterprise is capable of such deep human reflection.
I started writing this with the goal of explaining why the Lebanese people reject the permanent settlement of the Palestinian refugees in their country, or to tell those who forget that the Palestinians caused tremendous pain and harm to their host country of Lebanon over more than two decades. In fact, not one of all those who discuss the Sabra-Shatila massacres of 1982 will ever mention the Damour Massacre that took place in January 1976, in the dead cold of winter, six years before the Sabra-Shatila massacre which was in fact an act of revenge for the Damour Massacre. Revenge seems to be acceptable in today's political arena: Israelis will demolish the home of a Palestinian protester in revenge for his throwing rocks on Israeli soldiers; the US invaded Afghanistan in revenge for the 9-11 attacks. So why are the Lebanese Christians denied the right to avenge the Damour massacre?
In the Damour Massacre, thousands of Yasser Arafat's and the Syrian butcher Hafez Assad's Palestinian fighters converged on the isolated and defenseless Christian town of Damour along the Mediterranean 20 miles south of Beirut, and in an overnight orgy of throat-slitting, raping, cutting open babies in front of their parents, and such other acts of inhumanity visited upon the Lebanese, 1,000 people were killed, and 5,000 were sent fleeing north by boats on a stormy January sea.
Israel in 1976 was not involved in the Damour Massacre, so there was no coverage. Israel's "conscience" was not involved, so there was no moral dilemma. Arab killing Arab is expected and is of no interest because Arabs, again, are incapable of moral thinking. But as soon as Jewish Israelis are involved, even as mere observers - not as killers or victims - and entire encyclopedias and dissertations are written in the most prestigious of academies, movies are made, and pundits discuss it at length in the leading newspapers of the world for decades after the event. Inquiry commissions are formed and judgments are issued. How graceful of the Judeo-Christian West to beat its chest over what lesser humans have committed!
But Damour...remained a ghost town between 1976 and 1990, its old stone houses razed to the ground, its cemeteries desecrated, its citrus and banana groves devastated. By the mid 1990s when the people of Damour began returning, the landscape had changed so much that the town is today unrecognizable. It looks like one of those brand new soulless Jewish settlements built atop a West Bank hill stolen from the same Palestinian refugees who live in the camps of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and yes, Israel itself.
How come is the Israeli so-called moral conscience not called upon to take the Palestinian refugees back to the land it stole from them? Not to Haifa or Jaffa or the villages of Galilee from which they were ethnically cleansed; just to the West Bank where they could be only miles away from the Palestine the European Israelis chased them from.
How come the demographic argument - God forbid the Jewish identity of Israel be disturbed - is so much more important than the morally abhorrent crime of taking one people's land, evicting them from it, and callously asking other countries to give them substitute land? Somehow, the Jewish people can't understand that other people hold their native land just as sacred as the promised land "granted" to the Hebrews by the Big Zombie in the sky some 3,000 years ago.
Lebanon will never forget what was done to Damour, nor will the Lebanese people ever accept any moral responsibility for the Palestinian refugees, responsibility that belongs nowhere else but with Israel. The international community can count on it. The Crusaders came 1,000 years ago to recover a religious real estate they thought was theirs, stayed about 300 years, built colonies, evicted local inhabitants from their villages, and waged endless wars. But in the end, they were defeated and evicted. If the Jewish people ruled Palestine for 300 years some 2,500 years ago, and on this basis claim ownership of the place, isn't it more compelling for the European Christians to claim Palestine if they too ruled it for 300 years, but only 1,000 years ago?
Picture Enclosed: Town sign of Damour after the 1976 massacre carried out by the Syrian Army and its Palestinian allies. A large white X covers the sign and the Arabic word for Fatah (top center) testifies to the authors of the crime, Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian organization. In large black letters appearing to drip with blood is the word “moudammara” meaning “destroyed”. Dammara is the Arabic verb “to destroy”, which sounds close enough to “Damour” for the Palestinian thugs to wax poetic even as they murdered a thousand residents of the Christian town in January 1976.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 18-19/2022
World leaders head to London as security tightens on eve of Queen Elizabeth's funeral
Simon Rushton | Thomas Harding/The National/September 18/2022
Close protection officers are shielding heads of state in one of the world's biggest security operations
World leaders and mourners were arriving in London on Sunday for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as a security net tightened around the capital and tens of thousands of people waited in line to say their own goodbyes. Snipers, facial recognition technology, drones, horses and dogs are all in place to enhance security around both grieving crowds and heads of state. Grieving citizens were on Sunday queuing for hours to see Queen Elizabeth, who will be lying in state until 6.30am on Monday, in her coffin at Westminster Hall, central London. Charles was meeting some of the world leaders, who are in the city for the funeral. About 26,000 people an hour passed through security barriers at the hall on their last steps of a kilometres-long queue to see the queen, who was 96 when she died, lying in state. The area of Westminster around the Houses of Parliament is usually a highly secure ring of steel, well equipped with security cameras and antiterror measures. By Sunday, security had been stepped up even more. Additional officers have been drafted in from across the UK, as well the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Close protection officers are shielding world leaders, and their partners, from the 185 countries with which Britain has full diplomatic ties — the largest close protection event for British police and estimated to be the biggest in the world. Heads of state are expected to meet at a west London location where they will be taken by bus to Westminster Abbey for the funeral service. Britain’s special forces, which are on constant standby for a terrorist attack, are also believed to have bolstered their numbers in the capital and elsewhere in case of any incident. Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the funeral presented an “unprecedented” security challenge. “It’s been decades since this many world leaders were in one place,” he said. "This is unprecedented … in relation to the various things that we’re juggling. “There could be bad people wanting to cause damage to individuals or to some of our world leaders."
King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla returned to Buckingham Palace on Sunday to host world leaders and official overseas guests at a state event
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has paid tribute to his mother, the queen. He said: "Mummy, your love for a son, your compassion, your care, your confidence I will treasure forever."He hailed the late monarch's "knowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment". He said: "I will miss your insights, advice and humour."At 10am on Sunday, an online tracker said the estimated queuing time to see the queen's coffin was 14 hours — far shorter than the peak of more than 25 hours on Saturday — as the line of people tailed back to Southwark Park in Bermondsey, six kilometres from Westminster.
At 4pm people joining the queue had a 10-hour wait ahead of them.
One of the UK's biggest transport operations is also being set up, with Transport for London (TfL) preparing for about one million visitors on Monday. About 250 extra rail services will run — including some overnight trains — and National Highways has suspended planned motorway closures in England. There are fears the transport network will be overwhelmed on Monday afternoon if too many people visiting the capital travel home as soon as the funeral procession leaves Westminster. Meanwhile, at 8pm on Sunday, the country will observe a one-minute silence to remember the queen, with people invited to mark the occasion privately at home, on their doorstep or street, or at community events and vigils. There will also be a service of reflection near Falkirk, Scotland at 7.30pm, where 96 lanterns will be lowered into the pool at the foot of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal, before wreaths are placed on the water.
It will come shortly after the queen consort pays a televised tribute to the celebrated monarch, recalling her “wonderful blue eyes” and saying: “I will always remember her smile.”Camilla will speak of how Queen Elizabeth was a “solitary woman” in a male-dominated world. She will say: “I can't remember anyone except the queen being there.”

Arab leaders arrive in UK to offer condolences on death of Queen Elizabeth II
Arab News/September 18, 2022
DUBAI: Several leaders from the Middle East have been arriving in the United Kingdom over the last few days to pay condolences for Queen Elizabeth II ahead of Monday’s state funeral. Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.
Crown Prince Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah arrived in London on Sunday, with a delegation, on a trip to pay condolences for the queen, state news agency KUNA reported. Egypt's Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli also headed to London on Sunday morning to attend the funeral of the queen on behalf of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to fly to London on Sunday as Israel's representative at the funeral. He will be accompanied by his wife Michal. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa arrived on Saturday in the UK to pay his respects. The Bahrani King will offer his condolences to King Charles III and to the rest of the royal family. King Abdullah departed Jordan on Saturday to attend the funeral that will be held in London before heading to New York to participate in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. The Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq al-Moazam arrived on Friday for a visit that will last "several days", according to the state news agency ONA. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has also announced that he will be representing his country at the state funeral on Sept. 19. Meanwhile, Biden, Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and other world leaders were due to attend a reception with the late queen’s successor, King Charles III. Australia's anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state Saturday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was "a constant reassuring presence".Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, which like Australia now has Charles as its sovereign, said she "served for her entire life, and bore the weight of her duties with impeccable grace".The first members of the public were already camping out in advance to catch a glimpse of Monday’s grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers worldwide.

Canada's Trudeau says Ukraine mass graves part of Russian war crimes
Reuters/September 18/2022
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that mass graves found in Ukraine were evidence of Russia's war crimes and that full accountability for its actions was needed. Trudeau, in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, told reporters that he had met with British Prime Minister Liz Truss and that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was at the top of their agenda. “Obviously the UK and Canada have been two of the strongest countries in standing up in support of Ukraine and pushing back against Russia's illegal actions,” Trudeau said.  Those actions “increasingly, clearly include war crimes, include absolutely unacceptable crimes, whether we think of what we found in Bucha or the discovery of mass graves in the reclaimed territories by Ukraine,” he said. Ukrainian officials said last week that they had found 440 bodies in the woodlands near Izium in northeastern Ukraine, a town recaptured by Ukrainian forces. They said most of the dead were civilians and the causes of death had not been established. The Kremlin has not commented on the discovery of the graves, but Moscow had repeatedly denied deliberately attacking civilians or committing atrocities. “There needs to be a proper investigation and transparency and Vladimir Putin, his supporters and the Russian military need to be held to account for the atrocities they have and are continuing to commit in Ukraine,” Trudeau said. Trudeau, who was due to meet Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday evening, said Canada strongly supported Ukraine and would continue to provide aid. Trudeau said his talks with Truss also touched on trade relations between their countries. They discussed a Canada-UK trade deal that is being negotiated and advancing “well,” Trudeau said, as well as Canada's support for Britain to potentially join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Zelenskyy promises no 'lull' in taking back Ukrainian towns
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/September 18, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised his country there would be no letup in the counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops, as shelling continued Sunday across a wide stretch of Ukraine. Zelenskyy ran through a list of towns that Ukraine has taken back in its lightning push across the northeast. “Maybe now it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we have a certain lull," he said in his nightly video address. "But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next series... Because Ukraine must be free — all of it.”Ukraine’s military command said its forces secured the eastern bank of the Oskil River on Saturday. The river, which flows south from Russia into Ukraine, had been a natural break in the newly emerged front lines since Kyiv's counteroffensive began. As Russian shells hit towns and cities over the weekend, the British defense ministry warned that Moscow is likely to increase attacks on civilian targets as it suffers battlefield defeats. “In the last seven days, Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate military effect,” the ministry said in an online briefing. “As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government.”
Russian fire killed four medics attempting to evacuate a psychiatric hospital in the Kharkiv region on Saturday, said governor Oleh Syniehubov. Two patients were wounded in the attack in Strelecha, he said. Overnight shelling also hit a hospital in Mykolaiv, a significant Black Sea port, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said. And five people had died over the past day in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, one of two Ukrainian regions that Russia recognizes as sovereign states, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The separatist forces that control much of Donetsk said Ukrainian shelling of a prisoner-of-war colony in Olenivka killed one prisoner and injured four. More than 50 POWs were reported killed in a July attack on the Olenivka prison; Russian and Ukrainian authorities blame each other. A Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Russian forces in Donetsk continue to conduct “meaningless operations” on villages as opposed to reinforcing the front line. A top Vatican envoy and his entourage came under fire as they were distributing humanitarian supplies in Ukraine, the Vatican news service said on Sunday. It reported no injuries. The incident took place near the city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, and forced Vatican Almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and others to take cover. “For the first time in my life, I didn’t know where to run. Because it is not enough to run, you have to know where to go,” said the Polish-born cardinal, whose office makes charitable contributions in the pope's name.
Three people were wounded in nighttime shelling of Nikopol, across the river from Europe’s largest nuclear power station, said regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko. The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was captured by Russian forces in March, but is operated by Ukrainian engineers. Its last reactor was switched off a week ago after repeated power failures because shelling put crucial safety systems at risk. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Kharkiv are accusing Russia of torturing civilians in one village that was recently freed. In an online statement, they said they found a basement where Russian forces allegedly tortured prisoners in Kozacha Lopan, near the border with Russia.In images they released, they showed a Russian military TA-57 telephone with additional wires and alligator clips attached to it. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of using the Soviet-era radio telephones as a power source to shock prisoners during interrogation. It was not immediately possible to verify the Ukrainians' claims.

Iranian police fire tear gas at rally after woman's funeral
Associated Press/September 18, 2022
Iranian police have fired tear gas to disperse a protest rally in the country's west following the funeral ceremony for a young woman who died while in police custody in Tehran earlier this week, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The police have said that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained on Tuesday after Iran's so-called "morality police" found fault with her headscarf, or hijab, had died of a heart attack. The police have also released closed circuit footage from the police station, which they say shows the moment Amini collapsed. A relative has said she had no history of heart disease. According to the Fars report, after Amini's funeral in the city of Saqez, about 460 kilometers (280 miles) west of the capital, Tehran, some protesters gathered in front of the governor's building, chanting slogans. The report did not elaborate. After police showed up and fired tear gas, the protesters dispersed. There was no immediate information about any injuries. Videos posted on social media Saturday purported to show protesters in Saqez chanting anti-government slogans but The Associated Press could not authenticate the videos or confirm the location in the footage. Amini's death triggered an outcry against the morality police from celebrities and prominent figures on social media. Iran's judiciary launched an investigation into her death. The headscarf has been compulsory for women in Iran since after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and members of the morality police enforce the strict dress code. The force has been criticized in recent years over its treatment of people, especially young women, and videos uploaded on social media have shown officers forcing women into police vehicles. Since 2017, after dozens of women publicly took off their headscarves in a wave of protests, authorities have adopted tougher measures.
However, the reformist Etemad Melli political party urged Iran's parliament to cancel the law on the mandatory hijab and suggested President Ebrahim Raisi do away with the morality police. The Kasra hospital in Tehran, where police took Amini after she collapsed and slipped into a coma, said she was brought in without vital signs. Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who rarely reacts publicly to events in Iran, expressed sorrow and called Amini's death in custody a "crime."Iranian hard-liners have called for harsh punishment and even lashes of women who disobey the hijab law, arguing that allowing women to show their hair leads to moral decay and the disintegration of families. The judiciary has in recent years urged people to inform on women who do not wear the hijab.

Khamenei appears in public after nearly two weeks
Associated Press/September 18, 2022
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spoken to students in person after being out of the public eye for nearly two weeks. Khamenei, 83, who normally speaks while sitting down, gave a seven-minute speech at the Imam Khomeini Hosseinieh, or congregation hall, in the capital of Tehran while standing. Khamenei called the pilgrimage of some 2 million Iranians to the Iraqi city of Karbala for the Arbaeen religious observance a "miraculous move," his website reported. Arbaeen comes 40 days after Ashura, the anniversary of Imam Hussein's 7th-century death at the hands of Muslim Umayyad forces in the Battle of Karbala during the tumultuous first century of Islam's history.

US-backed Syrian forces free women in 3-week raid of IS camp
Associated Press/September 18, 2022
U.S.-backed Syrian fighters said they have concluded a 24-day sweep at a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing tens of thousands of women and children linked to the Islamic State group. Dozens of extremists were detained and weapons were confiscated in the operation at al-Hol camp, which began on Aug. 25, the U.S.-backed forces said. The U.S.-backed force said two of its fighters were killed in clashes with extremists inside the camp during the operation. IS sleeper cells preparing a new generation of militants -- boys and girls being fed extremist ideology to eventually try and set up a second so-called Islamic State caliphate -- were also uncovered, the statement by the Internal Security Forces said. It added that the operation was assisted by the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as well as members of the U.S.-led coalition. The operation at al-Hol in the northeastern province of Hassakeh also led to the release of two Yazidi girls taken from Iraq as sex slaves years ago and four non-Yazidi women, who had been chained and subjected to torture. "The operation was launched following the increasing crimes of killing and torture committed by ISIS cells against the camp residents," said the statement from the U.S.-backed forces, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. It added that since the beginning of the year, the extremists have killed 44 camp residents and humanitarian workers. The statement also said that 226 people, including 36 women, were detained in al-Hol -- widely seen as a breeding ground for the IS. Some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp. Nearly 20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, wives and widows of IS fighters. In a separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the annex are an additional 2,000 women from 57 other countries - they are considered the most die-hard IS supporters - along with their children, numbering about 8,000. "ISIS has depended mainly on women and children, as real resources related directly to the ISIS leaders, to maintain the ISIS extremist ideology and spread it in the camp," the statement said. The camp was initially used to house the families of IS fighters in late 2018 as U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces recaptured territory in eastern Syria from the militants. In March 2019, they seized the last IS-held villages, ending the "caliphate" that the group had declared over large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The United States and other nations have struggled to repatriate the families, but have had only very limited success.

Turkey strikes Syria regime outpost, kills 3: monitor
AFP/September 18, 2022
BEIRUT: Turkish raids in northern Syria on Sunday struck outposts operated by the Syrian army and Kurdish-led forces, killing three, a Britain-based war monitor said. The raids near the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani targeted positions of the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The three casualties were wearing Syrian army uniform, according to the monitor. Several other fighters were wounded, some in critical condition, according to the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria. The strikes were preceded by cross-border shelling from near Kobani against Turkish forces, according to the monitor. Last month, the Syrian government said it would respond to direct attacks by Turkey against its forces. The warning came after a Turkish raid on a regime outpost near Kobani killed at least three troops in mid-August, according to the official SANA news agency. Turkey has launched a series of cross-border offensives targeting Kurdish forces and the Daesh group since 2016, but such operations have rarely resulted in the killing of Syrian regime fighters. Ankara has stepped up its attacks in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria since a July 19 summit with Iran and Russia failed to green-light a fresh offensive against Kurdish fighters viewed by Ankara as terrorists. Regime forces have deployed in areas controlled by Kurdish fighters near the border with Turkey as part of agreements intended to stem a fresh Turkish operation. Last week, the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria said that “another Turkish ground operation” remains a threat in Syria’s north, amid “continued mobilization and fighting” between Turkish and Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish-led opponents. “Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading,” warned Paolo Pinheiro, the head of the commission.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 18-19/2022
Russia Confronts Putin over the Ukraine War as Xi’s China Relents on Aiding Him
Raghida Dergham/The National/September 18/ 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin finds himself in a very difficult position, following the rout of Russian forces in Ukraine and their declining prestige in Russia itself. It will be difficult for Mr Putin to regain the initiative in Kharkiv province; the cost of retaking it would be prohibitive, even as it has become an indispensable battle to avoid an even bigger, more fateful Russian defeat.
The war cannot continue to be labelled a ‘special military operation’, as Mr Putin has described his invasion of Ukraine. Clearly, it has become a fully fledged ‘war’ in the eyes of the Russian people and military experts, who are calling on their president to recognize this and provide a serious diagnosis of the situation to avoid further strategic blunders and collapse in morale. It is no longer possible to conceal what is happening, which has led to the ‘surprise’ that shocked a majority of Russians and the world, namely, the surprise of dismal Russian military performance in Ukraine.
There are ongoing fears regarding the possibility of the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine – incidentally, there is a nuclear research facility near Kharkiv. No one knows today what is on the mind of Mr Putin in light of his receding prestige, while the public backlash in Russia and demands for accountability mark a major shift. Many in Russia were shocked by Mr Putin’s decision to leave the Kremlin in these delicate circumstances to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand. But the risky foreign trip included a crucial meeting for Mr Putin, Russia, and the war with Ukraine and the West, with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
While the purpose of the meeting is self-evident, the outcome is a more complicated story, reflecting the complexity of Sino-Russian ties at this juncture. Indeed, while the construction of the autocratic Troika of China, Russia, and Iran focused on the Middle East is a priority for these parties, the dynamics within the ruling Chinese Communist Party are currently taking precedence for Mr Jinping who is seeking an unprecedented third term. Moreover, China has grand designs for the ex-Soviet sphere to the chagrin of Mr Putin, while the receding chances for a nuclear deal with Iran is a vexing prospect for Russia. In short, Mr Putin is living through a complicated, difficult phase that may prove fleeting, yet may carry seeds of extreme danger for him and from him.
The consequences of the Russian military rout in Ukraine in recent days will not be an isolated incident in today’s world; the impression it leaves alone will reverberate in many places. Syria is one an example, where Russia has all but lost interest in what it had built over the years because of the Ukrainian priority. This has implications for the role that Moscow thought it could just outsource to Iran and the IRGC. But the security situation in Syria has since been deteriorating, and Iran seems to not be up to the task.
The developments in Ukraine are also casting a shadow on Russia’s leverage over Israel and the latter’s operations against Iran-linked targets in Syria. Not long ago, there was a de facto arrangement between Russia and Israel over Syria. Today, however, Israel is pursuing a new strategy in Syria focused on severing Iranian military supplies to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is celebrating Iran’s accession to the SCO with support from his Russian counterpart. Next week, he will head to New York to take part in the UN General Assembly session. Mr Raisi goes to the UN feeling reassured despite the campaigns against him on account of his alleged role in suppressing the Iranian opposition. To be sure, Iran’s SCO membership will help ease his country’s international pariah status.
However, notwithstanding Iran’s international security and economic ambitions, the SCO membership remains symbolic given the grouping’s limited influence, despite it representing 40 percent of the world’s population and 20 percent of global GDP. Indeed, the SCO is held back by the intense rivalry between its members like China and India, and by their reluctance to invite US sanctions by engaging in risky activities with Iran. As long as the nuclear deal with Iran remains elusive, these countries will therefore not take a chance on Iran.
Sources familiar with the thinking in Iran have reported that the main message the Iranian president will take to New York will say “this is the last chance for the West” to agree to revive the nuclear deal with Iran “or things will turn to the worst”. What is “the worst”? The sources declined to answer, but they recalled that Iran has options, from “stepping up its nuclear program, to military confrontations, [and causing] headaches for the West”.
This does not mean that the regime in Iran is in the best position. The standoff with the IAEA is ultimately not in the interest of the Iranian regime, yet it has backed itself into a corner. Even Josep Borell, the EU foreign policy chief, this week said that the negotiations had hit a dead end, blaming the deadlock on Iran. This could mean that European leaders are now less keen to defend Iran and more willing to criticize it during Mr Raisi’s sojourn in New York.
All sides are aware that there can be no return to negotiations before November, as domestic US opposition increases in tandem with Israeli opposition to a deal. The US envoy for Iran Robert Malley faces a backlash in Congress, some lawmakers even demanding his dismissal and accusing him of appeasing Iran and hiding details of the putative deal from them.
President Joe Biden’s participation at the UN General Assembly session will be notable especially with regard to Ukraine and NATO’s role, albeit not with regard to the Iran deal. The US president will not be interested in Iran’s international isolation but is very keen for Vladimir Putin to be internationally isolated. Russian FM Sergei Lavrov will suffer less of this isolation at the UN, however not just because he is a veteran diplomat but because the UN was his home for many years.
China will as usual be center stage at the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, where it will provide political and diplomatic support for Russia including blocking draft resolutions against it. However, China will not give Russia what Mr Putin wants– namely economic support. China will not risk incurring secondary sanctions which could be imposed on third parties engaging in commercial activities with Russia. The Chinese president’s priorities at this juncture are Chinese, not Russian.
Yet the meeting between Mr Jinping and Mr Putin in Samarkand was important particularly in the context of military collaboration and measures targeting the West, led by the United States. China is not fond of rhetoric in such situations, but wants meticulous, careful preparation. The meeting between the two leaders came at the peak of Mr Putin’s domestic problems, and was seen by Mr Putin as a lifeline despite the fact that Beijing has not been forthcoming with the kind of assistance sought by the Russian president.
China’s position will not change before the twice-a-decade conference of the Communist Party, which convenes this year in November. The conference is expected to break the traditional two-term limit and back Xi Jinping for a third term. This could leave the Chinese leader hostage to the Chinese military establishment, which could push him into more radical and decisive strategic positions.
Time does not favor Mr Putin unless he makes radical moves to overturn the miscalculations of the Russian military, which underestimated the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian resolve for resistance, as well as NATO’s military support for Ukraine. Mr Putin will need to double the size of Russian troops in Ukraine, step up resupplies of his forces, and attack a city inhabited by a million people.
“This is now a war, not a military operation, and we cannot proceed gently”, said a Russian source, noting that the Battle for Kharkiv will be key to Kyiv. He added: “There is no choice but to make a radical change towards a mentality of war, a serious war…we have two weeks before we know whether a Russian counter-attack has a chance to succeed or not”. “We are today on the brink, neither too far neither too close to the abyss”.

Western Dissonance to Foreign Invasions: Armenia vs Ukraine
Trey Blanton, STEPANAKERT, Artsakh (CINFUSA.org)/September 18/2022
Azerbaijan’s two-day “diplomatic bombardment” came to an end Wednesday night after Armenia and the Azeris agreed to a cease-fire.
I refer to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s invasion of his sovereign neighbor as a “diplomatic bombardment” because, in the eyes of Azerbaijan, the use of bullying tactics with a military assault constitutes a valid foreign policy of forcing Armenia to accept peace on Aliyev’s terms — who has time for negotiations, after all?
I have been in the Republic of Artsakh for three months, and hope to stay another two, and three things have become apparent to me in this time concerning the Armenian people’s concerns:
Unprovoked military assaults by Azerbaijan have become “the new normal” since the end of the 2020 war.
Many Armenians fear that Armenian Prime Minister Nicol Pashinyan will offer up the Republic of Artsakh on a silver platter to placate Aliyev.
There is a wide gulf in the way Europe and the United States responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, versus Azerbaijan’s invasion of Armenia.
I, as an American, think the last point bears asking, “Why?”
Both Ukraine and Armenia were absorbed into the former Soviet Union. Corruption and communism are connected enough to be practically synonymous, so it is not surprising that both countries have had to struggle with corruption since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In pushing for and achieving reforms, however, the trajectories of both nations have been widely divergent.
Transparency International’s 2021 report documents corruption in 180 countries. Based on those scores, Armenia is less corrupt that Ukraine.
Out of the 180 countries Armenia comes in 59th place, while Ukraine ranks 123rd, not much better than Russia, itself, which is the 139th most corrupt country.
So there is no special moral reason—no “moral high ground”—to explain why America and Europe are supportive of Ukraine.
What of American involvement with Ukraine?
President Barrack Obama’s administration has been shown to have orchestrated a coup that saw the overthrow of a neutral Ukrainian president, only to be replaced with an anti-Russian president.
Also, then Vice-President Joe Biden had publicly boasted that he threatened to withhold a billion dollars from Ukraine unless the government fired the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden for his role on the board of an energy company.
Turning to Armenia and Azerbaijan, Transparency International says of Armenia, “Armenia is a success story of the CPI in the last five years, improving 14 points since 2017 to a score of 49.”
One reason why Armenia doesn’t rate higher is because its progress has stalled owing to public discontent over Armenia’s capitulation to Azerbaijan, and PM Pashinyan’s sometimes harsh response to protesters.
Azerbaijan, on the other hand, doesn’t suffer from stalled reforms because they still haven’t begun any:
“Azerbaijan has remained in the bottom third of the CPI since 2012, its score oscillating between 25 and 30. In 2017, the Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation revealed how a vast slush fund financed the regime’s reputation laundering by making payments – mostly through Danske Bank – to politicians across Europe, while jailing outspoken opposition and media figures at home.”
Azerbaijan is so prolific at bribing international politicians that a term for it, “Caviar Diplomacy,” was created to describe Azeri efforts.
Azerbaijan’s efforts aren’t limited to “traditional” politicians, like Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, but the oil-rich autocracy has also pumped money into the Vatican.
Some western so-called intellectuals will discount the role of Islam in Azerbaijan’s assault on Christian Armenians because they renovated holy Catholic sites.
The Quran allows for Muslims to use deceptive practices to divide and conquer Christians, as well as others they consider unbelievers.
Corruption, therefore, is a major factor in explaining the international community’s support of Ukraine, while telling both sides of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict to de-escalate.
This attitude is reminiscent of a time when police would show up to a domestic violence call and tell both husband and wife to calm down, even though one was the primary aggressor.
There is a myriad of other reasons involved in why the West won’t support Armenia, but there is one factor that doesn’t get enough attention:
Establishment politicians and their think-tank enablers hate Russia with a fiery passion.
In my last article, I briefly touched on the Hudson Institute’s Senior Fellow, Luke Coffey. I have now been blocked from viewing his accounts but reading through his Tweets reveals his policy preference is to bleed Russia dry in Ukraine and, since Armenia relies on Russia to protect them from Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia must be crushed too.
Supporting Aliyev while condemning Putin shows that think-tanks don’t actually care about whether a regime is authoritarian or not.
America’s post-Soviet policies towards Russia require its own in-depth investigation, which is beyond the capacity of this article to convey.
In the meantime, Christian lives are being lost to another jihad, because the West is too divided to care.
*The above article was written for RaymondIbrahim.com by Trey Blanton, on location in Armenia, discusses an important question: Whereas the U.S. and other Western nations have been immensely responsive to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they have showed zero interest in another, very similar provocation — Azerbaijan’s invasion of Armenia.

Why the World Economic Forum's Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved
J.B. Shurk/Gatestone Institute./September 18/2022
No matter how noble its stated intentions, the "Great Reset" is at its heart a program for driving political power away from individual citizens and toward the controlling interests of a small international class of financial elites.... For citizens to reclaim power, they must not only embrace the basics of free markets once again but also rekindle a fondness for questioning the motivations of political authorities.
It is not just kings, generals, and popes who possess great power. Wherever a person, group, or institution is capable — through enticement, coercion, or brute force — of bending an individual's free will, the structures and instruments of power exist. A local school board, after all, may well have more immediate and intimate influences over a person's family than the United Nations Human Rights Council and its revolving door of despots who tend to promulgate international resolutions shielding their own crimes.
Limited regulation keeps the costs of market transactions low. Respect for private property and fair and impartial application of commercial laws encourage capital investment. Refraining from taxing the fruits of an individual's labor fosters an exponentially more productive labor force. Providing populations with the tools to pursue and obtain knowledge and skills at minimal expense promotes not only an educated workforce but also politically competent citizens.
The small number of multinational corporations that control most television and print news sources around the globe also control the sociological levers capable of manufacturing or shifting public opinion. Power in any form — political, economic, cultural, spiritual... must always be guarded against as a potential foe.
"The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants...." — Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion and Death.
The great mass murderers of the twentieth century attest to this truth. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Mao killed tens of millions, but they did so, they assured the world, not for their own glory but for the benefit of "the people."
It is no secret that money influences politics, no matter how profusely politicians may assert their civic independence from the lobbyists and benefactors filling their campaign war chests.
Tens of thousands of laws, rules, and regulations make it nearly impossible for any entrepreneur to navigate markets without inadvertently committing infractions or becoming a future target of an ever-growing army of regulatory code enforcers. Citizens are taxed on their wages, incomes, purchases, property, investments, improvements, sales, etc., and should they still possess anything of worth upon their ultimate demise, some agent of the State is likely to take one final cut of their bequeathed estates. The same unit of labor is thus taxed repeatedly along the government's conveyor belt of confiscation.
Notably, today's plutocrats have little interest in truly free markets.... The World Economic Forum, for instance, demands governments take urgent action to combat or address climate change, cybersecurity, online misinformation, artificial intelligence, overpopulation, the use of hydrocarbon energy, farm ownership, food supplies, the elimination of private vehicle ownership, and the imposition of citizen control protocols to defend against future pandemics. Regulation of people and markets is now of paramount importance to those with wealth and power.
When the uber-elite successfully influence politicians to enact laws that benefit their personal financial interests -- a corrupt practice known as "regulatory capture" -- they distort the normal dynamics of any free market. When governments mandate more expensive forms of "clean" energy across the market, for instance, wealthy corporations capable of enduring these added costs reap the ancillary benefits of gobbling up the market share abandoned by smaller competitors unable to survive. This is by design.
This fusion between monied interests and government power has created a type of reverse fascism. Instead of some charismatic political leader in the mold of a Benito Mussolini demanding that titans of industry follow his commands for the benefit of the State and in the interests of the people, a new class of plutocrats now steer the direction of national policies and pay the politicians to make sure the people will comply.
When market competition is permitted to grow wealth in perpetuity, however, not only does a growing share of the population increase its wealth, but also political power becomes spread out more diffusely. When the "rising tide" of free markets is allowed to "lift all boats," neither the plutocrat nor communist politburo holds as much sway. For this reason, both communists and plutocrats share a similar goal — minimizing the prosperity of the majority of citizens, while maximizing the political power of a small minority of government officials. Under communism, this type of power arrangement takes the form of an oligarchy, or rule by a small few. Under the World Economic Forum's brand of oligarchy where the West's wealthiest manipulate centrally-controlled governments, the result is demonstrably plutocratic.
When corporate behemoths adeptly forestall their own impending financial deaths through political influence and regulatory capture, however, they cheat the markets at the larger public's expense.
For individual liberty to flourish, competing forces must always counterbalance concentrated power in any form. When economic monopoly is used to create plutocratic control over government policy, then it becomes imperative for society to unleash the full potential of market forces to destroy protracted power and wealth and encourage more widespread prosperity.
Cheap and abundant energy sources reduce the entry costs of building a business. Minimal taxation that seeks neither to confiscate wealth nor to punish successful innovation produces an endless supply of creative talents and energies. Limited regulation keeps the costs of market transactions low. Respect for private property and fair and impartial application of commercial laws encourage capital investment. Refraining from taxing the fruits of an individual's labor fosters an exponentially more productive labor force. Providing populations with the tools to pursue and obtain knowledge and skills at minimal expense promotes not only an educated workforce but also politically competent citizens.
Math, science, history, and philosophy have been watered-down to make room for ideological fluff often meant to divide students against each other. The combined and natural effect of all this government-sponsored malfeasance has been that intergenerational social mobility in the United States, once impressively robust, has absolutely plummeted.
Who benefits when the most basic foundations for creating prosperity are denied to the majority of citizens? Well, those in power benefit because, by rigging the system in their favor and institutionalizing destructive habits, very few people who might challenge their dominion ever rise high enough to do so. The plutocracy wins. The insular and selfish cabal of wealthy elites who populate the World Economic Forum ultimately win. The vast majority of Western citizens, however, lose substantially... over and over again.
It is no secret that money influences politics, no matter how profusely politicians may assert their civic independence from the lobbyists and benefactors filling their campaign war chests. (Image source: iStock)
A previous essay highlighted the serious threats posed by the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" to individual liberty, human innovation, and general prosperity. It is important to expand discussion of these threats by examining the inherent dangers to free nations when so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few.
No matter how noble its stated intentions, the "Great Reset" is at its heart a program for driving political power away from individual citizens and toward the controlling interests of a small international class of financial elites. This shift in society's balance of power has fundamentally changed the relationship between Western citizens and their national governments. For citizens to reclaim power, they must not only embrace the basics of free markets once again but also rekindle a fondness for questioning the motivations of political authorities.
Of all Lord Acton's persuasive defenses of individual liberty as the highest end of human civilization, one observation remains most memorable: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." As well-known as these words are, the universality of their meaning is often ignored. It is not just kings, generals, and popes who possess great power. Wherever a person, group, or institution is capable — through enticement, coercion, or brute force — of bending an individual's free will, the structures and instruments of power exist. A local school board, after all, may well have more immediate and intimate influences over a person's family than the United Nations Human Rights Council and its revolving door of despots who tend to promulgate international resolutions shielding their own crimes. A wealthy landowner who exerts hefty influence over agricultural or cattle markets influences the pocketbook fortunes of more modest farmers, too. The small number of multinational corporations that control most television and print news sources around the globe also control the sociological levers capable of manufacturing or shifting public opinion. Power in any form — political, economic, cultural, spiritual — is an abiding challenge to human liberty, and in this way, must always be guarded against as a potential foe.
It is also true that those with power have little incentive to check what they possess and have every incentive to grow and strengthen the powers already in their grasp. Rare, indeed, is the Cincinnatus or Washington who has gained near total control over a nation state only to relinquish such tremendous authority voluntarily and return with humility to the life of an ordinary farmer. Examples of virtuous self-restraint are historic exceptions to power's innate tendency to become all the more coveted once obtained. So, too, is it uncommon to find those in possession of raw power who ruthlessly or bombastically proclaim their dominance over others. Instead, people and institutions with power prefer to remain somewhat in the shadows, exercising authority in the name of ideas, causes, or populations beyond themselves.
"The welfare of the people," Albert Camus succinctly noted, "...has always been the alibi of tyrants." The great mass murderers of the twentieth century attest to this truth. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao killed tens of millions, but they did so, they assured the world, not for their own glory but for the benefit of "the people." Castro and Guevara executed tens of thousands of political prisoners while absurdly claiming they did so in the name of "freedom."
"Most of the evil in this world," T.S. Eliot is said to have coldly warned, "is done by people with good intentions." So when people or institutions wrap themselves in the garments of "good intentions" and proclaim loudly to be working for "the people's best interests," that is precisely the time when individual liberty is most at risk.
Today in the West we are confronted with an uncomfortable paradox. At the same time as national leaders defend vague notions of "democracy" against "authoritarian" threats beyond their borders, power and influence continue to rapidly amalgamate into the hands of a small few. It is no secret that money influences politics, no matter how profusely politicians may assert their civic independence from the lobbyists and benefactors filling their campaign war chests. With organizations such as the World Economic Forum openly working to direct the legislative programs and executive actions of nation states across the globe, however, wealthy patrons of elite economic societies have become increasingly vocal about their ambitions toward remaking the world according to their own "Great Reset" designsת while flexing their political muscles within the domestic affairs of discreet nation states for ordinary citizens to see.
Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, appeared with David Gergen in 2017 at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and openly boasted of his influence over many national leaders:
"I have to say when I mention names like Mrs. Merkel, even Vladimir Putin and so on, they have all been Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, but what we are really proud of now is the young generation like Prime Minister Trudeau, the President of Argentina and so on. So we penetrate the cabinets. So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of his cabinet or even more are Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum.... It is true in Argentina and it is true in France now...."
When the chairman of an international economic body publicly brags about his leverage over the leaders of sovereign nation states, he can hardly be mistaken as defending the merits of "democracy."
In a somewhat farcical display of the World Economic Forum's control over individual nations, it has become eerily commonplace these last two years to hear the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States all parroting the same "Build Back Better" slogan propagated by Klaus Schwab's economic club. With wealth and political power bonded densely into such haut monde cabals, the insular prerogatives of the WEF have succeeded in dominating government policies throughout the West.
Both in their immediate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and their planned response to the harsh economic repercussions dovetailing from prolonged lockdowns, Western nation states have taken many of their cues directly from the World Economic Forum's policy edicts. Whatever vestige of "democracy" still casts a shadow across North America, Europe, and the South Pacific, it has become unmistakable that plutocracy — rule by a wealthy elite — is fast assuming total control over the West's future.
Notably, today's plutocrats have little interest in truly free markets. Unlike J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and other late-nineteenth-century industrialists and business magnates who made their fortunes in the heyday of economic growth before the massive expansion of the regulatory State, those with great wealth today often champion government intervention in markets. The World Economic Forum, for instance, demands governments take urgent action to combat or address climate change, cybersecurity, online misinformation, artificial intelligence, overpopulation, the use of hydrocarbon energy, farm ownership, food supplies, the elimination of private vehicle ownership, and the imposition of citizen-control protocols to defend against future pandemics. Regulation of people and markets is now of paramount importance to those with wealth and power.
By their nature, regulations (which are indistinguishable from taxes in this effect) make the cost of doing business more expensive and benefit the deep-pocketed monopoly Goliaths at the expense of any upstart Davids threatening their market positions. When the uber-elite successfully influence politicians to enact laws that benefit their personal financial interests -- a corrupt practice known as "regulatory capture" -- they distort the normal dynamics of any free market. When governments mandate more expensive forms of "clean" energy across the market, for instance, wealthy corporations capable of enduring these added costs reap the ancillary benefits of gobbling up the market share abandoned by smaller competitors unable to survive. This is by design.
By utilizing law and regulation as a sword and shield to prevent potential competitors from entering the market while expanding monopoly power, plutocrats use political patronage and fashionable policy goals disguising self-interest to maintain their own wealth and control. Climate change, public health, sustainable food supplies -- the public policy issue is never anything more than an expedient stalking horse for the wealthiest in the West to use cynically in an effort to maintain economic control.
This fusion between monied interests and government power has created a type of reverse fascism. Instead of some charismatic political leader in the mold of a Benito Mussolini demanding that titans of industry follow his commands for the benefit of the State and in the interests of the people, a new class of plutocrats now steer the direction of national policies and pay the politicians to make sure the people will comply.
Notably, today's plutocrats take a nearly identical position as traditional communists in asserting that the "economic pie" is only so big and can therefore only be divvied up among a growing population in smaller and smaller portions but never actually enlarged. When economic wealth is seen as finite, preventing others from acquiring personal prosperity is necessary for maintaining political power's status quo. When market competition is permitted to grow wealth in perpetuity, however, not only does a growing share of the population increase its wealth, but also political power becomes spread out more diffusely.
When the "rising tide" of free markets is allowed to "lift all boats," neither the plutocrat nor communist politburo holds as much sway. For this reason, both communists and plutocrats share a similar goal — minimizing the prosperity of the majority of citizens, while maximizing the political power of a small minority of government officials. Under communism, this type of power arrangement takes the form of an oligarchy, or rule by a small few. Under the World Economic Forum's brand of oligarchyת where the West's wealthiest manipulate centrally-controlled governments, the result is demonstrably plutocratic.
For plutocrats, actual free markets are a threat to their habitual control over political power. When real markets exist, endless human innovation regularly upends the market position of any one firm. Yesterday's industry leader can go bankrupt fast if today's upstart inventor designs a better or cheaper competing product. Creative destruction is at the heart of free market growth. When product innovation is understood as the single greatest variable for generating long-term economic success, it is easy to understand how difficult it is to stay ahead of the market for any length of time. Rare is the company that manages to innovate so effectively year after year that it survives for decades or longer.
This is, of course, why so much capital is sunk into research and development in constant pursuit of the "next big thing." It is also why corporations and private investors diversify their holdings so that they may still benefit financially, even when successful innovation occurs far from their domains. When corporate behemoths adeptly forestall their own impending financial deaths through political influence and regulatory capture, however, they cheat the markets at the larger public's expense. When this alternative, yet corrupt, path to permanent wealth becomes the model for economic "success," creative innovation takes a permanent back seat to raw political clout. "Absolute power," in other words, still "corrupts absolutely."
For individual liberty to flourish, competing forces must always counterbalance concentrated power in any form. When economic monopoly is used to create plutocratic control over government policy, then it becomes imperative for society to unleash the full potential of market forces to destroy protracted power and wealth and encourage more widespread prosperity.
The steps for achieving such a result are no different today than they were when Adam Smith first published The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Cheap and abundant energy sources reduce the entry costs of building a business. Minimal taxation that seeks neither to confiscate wealth nor to punish successful innovation produces an endless supply of creative talents and energies. Limited regulation keeps the costs of market transactions low. Respect for private property and fair and impartial application of commercial laws encourage capital investment. Refraining from taxing the fruits of an individual's labor fosters an exponentially more productive labor force. Providing populations with the tools to pursue and obtain knowledge and skills at minimal expense promotes not only an educated workforce but also politically competent citizens.
It seems no coincidence, then, that every one of these policy prescriptions is today either stymied or subverted. Political interventionism has precipitated a Western energy crisis. When campaigning for the U.S. presidency in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that he would raise taxes even if doing so ultimately decreased total public revenues because pursuing such a policy was only "fair."
Regulatory agencies and taxing authorities claim jurisdiction over every element of industry, production, and product distribution. Tens of thousands of laws, rules, and regulations make it nearly impossible for any entrepreneur to navigate markets without inadvertently committing infractions or becoming a future target of an ever-growing army of regulatory code enforcers. Citizens are taxed on their wages, incomes, purchases, property, investments, improvements, sales, etc., and should they still possess anything of worth upon their ultimate demise, some agent of the State is likely to take one final cut of their bequeathed estates. The same unit of labor is thus taxed repeatedly along the government's conveyor belt of confiscation.
Lastly, in an age of rampant political correctness and "woke" cancel culture, indoctrination and political dogma have supplanted basic education. Math, science, history, and philosophy have been watered-down to make room for ideological fluff often meant to divide students against each other. The combined and natural effect of all this government-sponsored malfeasance has been that intergenerational social mobility in the United States, once impressively robust, has absolutely plummeted.
Who benefits when the most basic foundations for creating prosperity are denied to the majority of citizens? Well, those in power benefit because, by rigging the system in their favor and institutionalizing destructive habits, very few people who might challenge their dominion ever rise high enough to do so. The plutocracy wins. The insular and selfish cabal of wealthy elites who populate the World Economic Forum ultimately win. The vast majority of Western citizens, however, lose substantially... over and over again.
*JB Shurk writes about politics and society.
© 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.

Biden must work with Congress on Iran nuclear deal
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/September 18/2022
When it comes to the Iranian regime, the Biden administration appears to have taken a different path than the US Congress — one that will be inimical to Washington’s national and geopolitical interests in the Middle East.
Bipartisan agreements in US politics are extremely rare these days. But countering the Iranian regime’s destructive behavior, nuclear threat and defiance, as well as Tehran’s military adventurism in the region, is one cause that unites left and right in unprecedented ways.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration seems to be keeping both Congress and America’s allies in the Middle East in the dark concerning what is being negotiated with the Iranian leaders regarding a new nuclear deal.
So, a bipartisan group of 50 members of the House of Representatives — 34 Democrats and 16 Republicans — is currently urging the White House to release the text of the proposed deal. They told President Joe Biden: “We are writing to respectfully request that your administration provide Congress with the full text of any proposal to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, including any side agreements, and consult with Congress prior to reentering that agreement.”
The House members likely want to prevent the Biden administration from making the same mistakes the Obama administration made when it signed the JCPOA in 2015. The Obama White House was all too eager to grant concessions to the Iranian regime in order to seal the deal, while it also turned out that the administration made multiple secret side deals with the Iranian regime.
One of the secret deals consisted of permitting the Iranian regime to have access to US dollars by sidestepping sanctions. “The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran,” said Sen. Rob Portman, who chaired the Senate panel that conducted an investigation into the agreement.
Without the knowledge of Congress, the Obama administration also secretly agreed to lift sanctions on several Iranian banks, including Bank Sepah and Sepah International. Another major concession appeared to be that the deal paved the way for Iran to legally become a full-blown nuclear state. The sunset clauses, which enshrined that commitment, set a firm expiration date for the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, after which the country’s leaders would be free to legitimately have as many nuclear weapons as they liked.
The House members likely want to prevent the Biden administration from making the same mistakes as the Obama administration.
One important concern about the potential new deal, even though the negotiations have faltered recently, relates to the Biden administration’s reported concession to allow non-Americans to do business with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department. It has been leaked that: “Non-US persons doing business with Iranian persons that are not on the (US sanctions list) will not be exposed to sanctions merely as a result of those Iranian persons engaging in separate transactions involving Iranian persons on the (US sanctions list).”
Such a provision would empower the IRGC financially and allow it to carry out more terrorist attacks abroad, while further suppressing the Iranian people. As the letter by the congressmen and congresswomen accurately noted: “The aforementioned reported provision creates a troubling precedent. We are concerned that it could significantly dilute the effectiveness of terrorism-related sanctions on the IRGC, Iran’s paramilitary terror arm and provides the organization with a pathway for sanctions evasion…. The IRGC has directly, or through its proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Ansar Allah (Houthis), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and scores of Shiite militias in Iraq, killed hundreds of Americans, and attacked our bases and our allies in the region.”
The other concern is the flow of billions of dollars into the treasury of the Iranian regime. The House members stated that the Biden administration’s new nuclear deal would provide $1 trillion to the Iranian regime over a decade, making the IRGC and its militia and terror groups wealthier and a much larger threat to the national security of the US and its allies, the American people at home and abroad, and the Iranian people.
The Biden administration also seems to be fully trusting Iran’s ally, Russia, to be the only country that oversees its compliance with the nuclear deal and to be the keeper of Iran’s highly enriched uranium. This is why the bipartisan US lawmakers asked the Biden administration “not to permit Russia to be the recipient of Iran’s enriched uranium nor to have the right to conduct nuclear work with Iran, including a $10 billion contract to expand Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.” They went on to urge Biden not to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to be the guarantor of the deal. “Iran supports the illegal war in Ukraine and has been supplying Russia with drones used to kill Ukrainians,” they wrote.
In a nutshell, it would serve the national interests of the US and its allies if the Biden administration listened to, and worked closely with, Congress to counter the Iranian regime.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Stall in talks over new Iran nuclear deal favors Israel
Maria Maalouf/Arab News/September 18/2022
Negotiations are a constant bargaining process. If they stall, this means that there are factors that must be overcome to reach the desired agreement. Israel is a central factor in the negotiations between the P5+1 world powers and Iran. The halting of the negotiations and the difficulty of persuading Iran to make concessions, especially regarding its insistence on having a high level of uranium enrichment, garners many strategic advantages for Tel Aviv. It can persuade the nations negotiating with Iran that Tehran is not trustworthy. This should be the basis on which the whole world deals with Iran.
In addition, Israel is admonishing many countries in Europe and addressing the political leadership in the US, saying that there are no moderates in Iran who care about preserving a good relationship with the West. Israel aspires to convince the world that, even if any legally binding agreement is reached, Iran will have a different interpretation of it. Tel Aviv hopes that the UN and officials working for the International Atomic Energy Agency can be convinced that it is difficult, if not impossible, to fully monitor Iran’s nuclear program.
Many countries actually agree with Israel that Iran’s regional misbehavior will never change — that it will continue funding and abetting the crimes of the Houthis, Hezbollah and its militias in Iraq, while retaining its position and influence in Syria. Meanwhile, Iran’s support for terrorism enables Israel to keep pressuring the US that Tehran should be kept on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Militarily, Israel will increase its cooperation with the American Department of Defense. Moreover, the delay in reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program allows Israel to collect more information about Iran. It can share this information with the intelligence community in the US. Israel will try to bring evidence that Iran is attempting to procure a nuclear weapon.
The grounds upon which Israel is making its claims against Iran are built on Tehran’s attempts to destabilize the Middle East and spread terrorism all over the globe.
Since there is currently no agreement in sight between Iran and the P5+1, Israel can feel confident. And even if there is ultimately a deal over Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it will not happen imminently and Israel will have adequate time to carefully study its potential consequences.
Tel Aviv aspires to convince the world that, even if any legally binding agreement is reached, Iran will have a different interpretation of it.
No deal with Iran would entail a fair degree of secret diplomacy. For sure, Israel would have a big stake in such espionage work. Most likely, Iran would be forced to make more announcements about the arrest of Iranian citizens working for Israel to sabotage the country from the inside.
Nevertheless, it is not clear how much influence Israel will have over Russia and China to dissuade them from supplying Iran with the technology it needs to help it enhance its nuclear capabilities. Moscow and Beijing may be united with Israel in rejecting any attempt by Iran to have a nuclear weapon for military purposes. However, Russia and China are continuing their cooperation with Iran. This is equal to a life-support system to sustain the Iranian regime. Undoubtedly, many of the technologies Iran has received from Russia and China have both civilian and military applications. But Israel cannot thwart the Iran-China-Russia axis from being a real bond of cooperation among these three countries.
Furthermore, Israel faces two contradictory situations. It tries to project the image of a nation that is not intimidated by Iran. However, many officials have expressed their fear of seeing Iran becoming a civilian and military nuclear power.
In an interview with The New Yorker magazine late last year, the former intelligence director of Mossad and, until recently, the head of the Political-Military Bureau at the Israeli Defense Ministry, Zohar Palti, said: “The problem with Iran’s nuclear program is that, for the time being, there is no diplomatic mechanism to make them stop. Iran is no longer afraid. We don’t want to reach a point where we will have to ask ourselves how Iran was allowed to enrich to 90 percent.”
Israel is expected to fully display its hostility toward Iran. There are at least two postulates that Israel wants to impose on the negotiations with Iran: That Israel’s security is a factor in these talks and that America has to reveal to Israel all the details of any agreement it enters into with Iran.
However, there are limits on what Israel can enforce on other countries when they approach Iran. America will not allow Israel to strike against Iran. This would endanger the American troops deployed in Iraq and Syria.
Israel’s attitude is one of being anxiously careful not to squander any opportunity to reach a consensus with America, France, Germany and the UK over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, Israel knows that these countries still adhere to the view that it is strategically unnecessary to reject holding future rounds of negotiations with Iran to subject its nuclear program to greater international scrutiny.
• Maria Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, publisher and writer. She has a master’s degree in political sociology from the University of Lyon.Twitter: @bilarakib