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

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.september23.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10/28-31/:”Peter began to say to Jesus, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 22-23/2022
President Aoun addresses Lebanese-Iraqi relations with former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi, receives Arab Lawyers Union delegation, former MP Mikhael...
Mikati’s speech at UN General Assembly: Maritime demarcation, refugee plight, and economic meltdown
Mikati tells UN General Assembly of 'tangible progress' in sea border talks
Mikati Urges Int’l Community to ‘Facilitate’ Lebanon Presidential Election
Mikati holds series of meetings in New York with heads of Arab and foreign delegations, meets Qatar’s Foreign Minister
US, KSA, France urge president who can 'unite the Lebanese'
H.E. Mr. Mohammad Najib Azmi Mikati, President of the Council of Ministers Statement Summary
Report: Hochstein to send draft to Lebanon within a week
IMF criticizes Lebanese government over slow reforms
Lebanese banks decide to stay shuttered over security fears
Anger in Bab al-Tabbaneh after Italy-bound migrant boat goes missing
Visions of creativity in Middle East youth art scene
Boat Carrying Migrants from Lebanon Sinks Off Syria, 15 Dead
Lebanon: Continued Closure of Banks Impedes Financial Transactions
US House of Representatives Urges EU to Designate 'Hezbollah' in its Entirety as Terrorist
Hezbollah has turned Lebanon into a narco-state/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/September 22, 2022
Historical Bloc' to Face the Existential Threats Facing the Entity/Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al Awsat/September 22/2022
Loyalty to the Resistance’ Bloc meets in regular session: We support formation of government with full constitutional specifications

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 22-23/2022
New US Strategy to Limit Captagon Production in Syria
At Least 9 Killed as Iran Protests Spread Over Mahsa Amini’s Death
US places sanctions on Iran’s morality police for abuse of women
'At least 31' civilians killed as Iran protests spread over woman's death
WhatsApp Says Working to Keep Iranians Connected
UN Raises Funds to Salvage the Safer Tanker
Russia Wants a Decisive Battle in the Donbas
Kremlin proxies in Ukraine double down ahead of annexation votes
Biden Vows Solidarity with Iran Women as Protests Spread
CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour walks away from interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after request to wear headscarf
Iran, US Clash at UN on Nuclear Deal, Human Rights Issues
Iraq: 90% of Narcotics Come from Iran
Turkish Lira Hits Record Low
Israel’s Population Reaches 9.5 Mln
Hamas threatens violence over contested Jerusalem holy site
Washington Punishes Iranian Cyber Actors While Preparing to Enrich Regime
Saudi Arabia plans to send female astronaut to space in 2023

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 22-23/2022
Despite Biden’s assurances, Middle East militaries are buying their own weapons to take on Iran at sea and in the air/Insider/September 22/2022
How the US Squandered Its Strategic Minerals/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/September 22/2022
Muhammad Selfishly Bans Child Adoption and the West Follows Suit/Raymond Ibrahim/September 22/2022
The Gender Apartheid State of Iran/Mariam Memarsadeghi/The Tablet/September 22/2022
Russia Wants a Decisive Battle in the Donbas/Hussam Itani/Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 22-23/2022
President Aoun addresses Lebanese-Iraqi relations with former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi, receives Arab Lawyers Union delegation, former MP Mikhael...
NNA/September 22/2022 
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met former Iraqi Prime Minister and head of the “National Coalition”, Dr. Iyad Allawi, today at the Presidential Palace.
Current regional developments, the current situation in Iraq and on-going endeavors to find appropriate solutions were deliberated in the meeting.
President Aoun and former PM Allawi also discussed the Lebanese-Iraqi bilateral relations and ways to enhance them at all levels, in addition to the need to organize economic cooperation between the two countries for the benefit of the two brotherly peoples.
Statement:
After the meeting, Premier Allawi made the following statement:
“I was honored to meet His Excellency the Lebanese President.
The meeting tackled some common concerns between us. I suggested that an Iraqi-Lebanese economic committee be formed to address the economic problems. Of course, there is a reciprocal effect between politics and the economy.
President Aoun's response to the proposal was positive, and we will work in this direction. I will adopt this matter in Iraq, given the great similarity between the political situations in Lebanon and Iraq”.
Questions & Answers:
Question: Is there a near solution for the situation in Iraq?
Answer: “To this day, there is no solution, because of the commitment and unclear positions. But there is a candidate in the House of Representatives for prime minister in Iraq, Muhammad Al-Soudani, who is a capable and important brother, but I do not know if the Sadrist movement will support him. I suggested to all parties that an expanded national dialogue be held without a winner and a loser, and that a government be formed that would hold early elections, with integrity and transparency, and in accordance with new laws”.
Question: How would you describe the Lebanese-Iraqi cooperation, especially after your country provided Lebanon with oil?
Answer: “We all worked on the issue of oil, in addition to the issue of the Lebanese apple. I am one of those who worked on this file and adopted it, and I contacted the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, and the Minister of Oil, who played an important role in this aspect. I hope that this file will constitute the cornerstone for the formation of a joint and permanent economic committee between Iraq and Lebanon, because there is a similarity between the two situations in the two countries in addition to the ties of love that unite them”.
Secretary General of the Arab Lawyers Union:
The President met the Secretary-General of the Arab Lawyers Union, Mr. Mekkawi Benaissa, at the head of a delegation, on the occasion of the convening of the first session of this year for the Arab Lawyers Union under the title “For Arab solidarity with Lebanon in its crisis and confronting the ambitions and aggression of the Zionist enemy”.
The delegation included the head of the Egyptian Bar Association and the president of the Arab Lawyers Union, Mr. Abdel Halim Allam, the two Bar Associations in Tripoli, Marie Therese El Kawwal, and Beirut, Mr. Nader Kaspar, and representatives of the bar associations in Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Palestine, Morocco, Libya and Jordan.
Benaissa and Allam emphasized solidarity with the Lebanese people and standing by them to get out of their current crisis.
Then, Al-Kawwal indicated that the first session of the Federation for this year was held in the hospitality of Tripoli, “The city in which the Lebanese crises are manifested in their darkest forms”.
Al-Kawwal thanked President Aoun for receiving the delegation, considering it “A reason to hope that all crises will vanish”.
In addition, Al-Kawwal pointed out that the meeting sought to affirm the supremacy of truth and call for Arab solidarity, considering that, on the other hand, the supremacy of truth cannot be achieved while the courts are closed.
“As lawyers defending justice at the level of individuals and states, we declare our full support for the firm positions you are taking in defense of Lebanon’s right to its gas wealth, during indirect negotiations with an enemy who wants to steal the good things that God has entrusted to our sea” Al-Kawwal added.
President Aoun:
For his side, the President thanked the attendees for their solidarity initiative with Lebanon, which is going through the most difficult circumstances it has known in its contemporary history.
President Aoun considered that the convening of the first general session of the Arab Lawyers Union on Lebanese soil is an act of faith in it and in what it constitutes as a forum for its Arab brothers and for human civilizations in their diversity.
Moreover, President Aoun enumerated the crises that Lebanon faced in recent years, which led to the outbreak of a severe economic and financial crisis, and called on the Arab countries to stand by the Lebanese people and support them, so that they can cross the current tunnel.
Statement:
After the meeting, Professor Benaissa said:
“We came at this critical moment in Lebanon, to gather on its land, the meeting point of Arab and human civilizations, at the invitation of our brothers, the two heads of the Bar in Tripoli and Beirut, to announce to the whole world that we stand in solidarity with Lebanon in the financial crisis it is going through.
At the same time, let us cooperate with the two unions in the person of Mr. Kaspar and Mrs. Al-Kawwal in the scheme they prepared in order to remove injustice and suffering from the country, expressing the hope that this crisis will be circumstantial, and that Lebanon will emerge from it with the cooperation of all”.Then Mr. Allam said:
“We came in light of the current crisis and severe economic conditions, with a generous invitation from the two unions to study it and contribute to solving it. We provide full support and express our active participation in resolving all legal and constitutional files related to the judicial issue that lead to a way out of the crisis. I call on all Arab leaders and rulers to support Lebanon to reach a solution to all its problems”, expressing the support and backing of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people to get out of their depression.
After that, Captain Kaspar welcomed the delegation back to Lebanon, stressing that its people were helpless, “And that is why we asked you, as the Syndicate of Right, Public Freedoms and Human Rights, to help Lebanon with your governments, considering that your voice is heard in your countries due to the importance of your representation”.
Kaspar also noted the response shown by the Heads of Barr associations and the Secretary-General and president of the union.
Finally, Kawwal concluded praised the meeting of the Arab heads of Barr in Lebanon, stressing that the two unions carried the delegation a message requesting Arab support for Lebanon.
Al-Kawwal said: “The motto of the union is truth and Arabism, and they are complementary, so if the truth is sick in a country, all other Arab countries are in pain, so the meeting formed an Arab stand with Lebanon that came at its right time”.
Former Minister Al-Daher:
Then President Aoun received former Minister and MP Mikhael Daher and tackled with himcurrent political and economic developments.
Monsignor Kiwan and Father Abu Kassem:
President Aoun met Monsignor Maroun Kiwan and Father Abdo Abu Kasm.
Monsignor Kiwan and Father Abou Kasmconveyed to President Aoun the funeral of the former Maronite Archbishop of Sidon and Deir al-Qamar, Archbishop Tanios Khoury.
The funeral prayer for his comfort will be held at 2:00 pm tomorrow, Friday, at St Elias Cathedral in Sidon. Afterwards, his body will be taken to his hometown of Saghbine in the western Bekaa, where he will be buried. -- Presidency Press office

Mikati’s speech at UN General Assembly: Maritime demarcation, refugee plight, and economic meltdown
NNA/September 22/2022 
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, delivered Lebanon’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, addressing the maritime border dispute with Israel, Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and the country’s economic crisis.
In his address, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude for all the efforts being exerted to help alleviate the consequences of Lebanon’s stifling economic crisis. He also thanked the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for their sacrifices and efforts in order to maintain stability in southern Lebanon, in close coordination with the Lebanese armed forces.
Turning to the demarcation of its maritime borders, Mikati cited the mediation of the United States, under the auspices of the United Nations, affirming Lebanon’s absolute commitment to its sovereignty, rights and wealth in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Calling for a long-overdue negotiated solution, Mikati stated, “Lebanon is well aware of the importance of the promising energy market in the eastern Mediterranean, for the prosperity of all countries in the region.”
He further welcomed efforts to reach an international understanding to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction in implementation of General Assembly resolution 73/546.
“Lebanon has been facing the worst socioeconomic crisis in its history, driving most of its population below the poverty line and causing a brain drain of its best young people,” Mikati said.
Citing the collapse of the exchange rate of the national currency to its lowest historical level, and the closures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mikati further referred to the tragedy of the Port of Beirut explosion — as the country remains in pursuit of the truth of that matter. “Lebanon has also been dealing with an unprecedented political crisis, a minefield requiring efforts to appropriately emerge from the situation. However, the Government has achieved many goals, including notably holding parliamentary elections on time — but the road ahead for Lebanon remains long and arduous,” Mikati explained.
Beirut has signed a preliminary agreement with the IMF and will advance all necessary legislative and administrative reforms to overcome the present plight.
Citing its Arab affiliations and the Taif Accords, which ended the bloody civil war that afflicted the country, the Prime Minister stressed that a capable and prosperous Lebanon is urgently needed for peace and security in the region and the world.
“Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has adopted an open border policy to address the humanitarian considerations by hosting a massive number of displaced people. However, after 10 years, the displacement crisis has overwhelmed Lebanon’s capacity to bear the burden,” Mikati said, emphasizing that the Lebanese Constitution and the consensus of all Lebanese people prevent the integration or settlement on its lands — and that the only realistic and sustainable solution is to achieve a safe and dignified return for Syrians to their country, in the context of a road map with the cooperation of all parties.
Mikati further stressed that it is time for the injustice done against the Palestinian people to end, with a sovereign and independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, and implementation of all international resolutions in that regard, including the return of refugees.
He went on to emphasize the centrality of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in mitigating Palestinian suffering, expressing deep concern over the accumulated deficit in its budget, jeopardizing delivery of services.
“Despite current difficulties, the Government aims for Lebanon to be a forum for convergence rather than division — a space for dialogue and not competition, a spiritual custodian that brings together all religions for truth and justice,” Mikati added, further calling for the international community not to involve Lebanon in conflicts and crises in the region.

Mikati tells UN General Assembly of 'tangible progress' in sea border talks
Naharnet/September 22/2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Thursday stressed to the U.N. General Assembly “the commitment of Lebanon to the implementation of all the stipulations of Resolution 1701 and all international legitimacy resolutions.”Turning to the issue of sea border demarcation with Israel, Mikati hailed the U.S. mediation in the file and emphasized Lebanon’s “ultimate adherence to its sovereignty, rights and resources in its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone.”“We reiterate to you our honest desire to reach the long-awaited negotiated solution and I’m pleased to inform you that we have achieved tangible progress which we hope will reach its aspired conclusions soon,” Mikati added. Separately, the premier pleaded to “brotherly and friendly countries” to “stand by Lebanon, specifically in its current crisis, and to assist it to exit it and address its dangerous repercussions on the Lebanese people and the state’s structure and hierarchy.”“We are looking forward to the re-convention of the conference of Lebanon’s friends which France has always hosted in cooperation with Lebanon’s friends and brothers,” Mikati went on to say.

Mikati Urges Int’l Community to ‘Facilitate’ Lebanon Presidential Election
New York – Ali Barada/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that US mediation efforts for Lebanon and Israel to demarcate maritime borders has “not yet reached” an agreement, denying reports of a Lebanese-Israeli agreement on this controversial file. Mikati also urged the international community to help “facilitate” the election of a successor to President Michel Aoun, whose term ends on October 31. According to Mikati, Lebanon, with all its suffering, cannot bear the brunt of another crisis. Mikati spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of the 77th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Speaking about US mediation over the demarcation of the maritime borders between Israel and Lebanon and the leaks about reaching an agreement, Mikati said: “The issue is not very clear.”Mikati linked the matter to Aoun, who had appointed ex-minister Elias Bou Saab to head the demarcation file and deal with the US mediator, Amos Hochstein. “I haven't heard anything yet. I hope this news is true and leads to positive steps towards ending the matter,” said Mikati about rumors on Lebanon and Israel having reached a settlement to demarcate maritime borders. Mikati revealed that he had met with Hochstein, who “informed” him of some steps which he “considered positive, but not final yet.” Moreover, Mikati, in his meetings with officials in New York, stressed the need for the international community to make all the necessary contacts to facilitate the election of a president for Lebanon. He added that although electing a president will not end the crises sweeping Lebanon but would reduce the negativity surrounding the Mediterranean nation’s situation. Moreover, Mikati acknowledged that the political situation in Lebanon is “ambiguous.”

Mikati holds series of meetings in New York with heads of Arab and foreign delegations, meets Qatar’s Foreign Minister
NNA/September 22/2022 
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Thursday held a series of meetings with heads of Arab and foreign delegations, on the sidelines of his participation in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 77) in New York.Caretaker Premier Mikati received Qatar's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, this morning at his place of stay in New York. During the meeting, they discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries.

US, KSA, France urge president who can 'unite the Lebanese'
Naharnet/September 22/2022
Representatives from the United States, France, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have met to discuss Lebanon on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. “Our three countries expressed their continuing support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and stability. As Lebanon’s Parliament prepares to elect a new President, we stress the importance of timely elections in compliance with the constitution. It is critical to elect a President who can unite the Lebanese people and work with regional and international actors to overcome the current crisis,” ministers from the three countries said in a joint statement.
“We call for the formation of a government capable of implementing the structural and economic reforms urgently needed to address Lebanon’s political and economic crises, specifically those reforms needed to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund,” they added.
“We are willing to work jointly with Lebanon to support the implementation of these fundamental reform measures, which are critical to the country’s future prosperity, stability, and security. We acknowledge the critical role the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces – as the legitimate defenders of Lebanon’s sovereignty and internal stability – continue to play in protecting the Lebanese people in a time of unprecedented crisis,” the three countries added. They also affirmed the need for the Lebanese government to “implement the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions 1559, 1680, 1701, 2650, and other relevant international resolutions, including those issued by the Arab League, and commit to the Taif Agreement which enables the preservation of national unity and civil peace in Lebanon.”

H.E. Mr. Mohammad Najib Azmi Mikati, President of the Council of Ministers Statement Summary
General Assembly of the United Nations
21 September 2022
Statement Summary:
MOHAMMAD NAJIB AZMI MIKATI, President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon, expressed thanks for all efforts in helping to country to alleviate the consequences of its stifling economic crisis, as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for their sacrifices and efforts in order to maintain stability in southern Lebanon, in close coordination with the Lebanese armed forces. Turning to the demarcation of its maritime borders, he cited the mediation of the United States, under the auspices of the United Nations, affirming Lebanon’s absolute commitment to its sovereignty, rights and wealth in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. Calling for a long-overdue negotiated solution, he stated Lebanon is well aware of the importance of the promising energy market in the eastern Mediterranean, for the prosperity of all countries in the region. He further welcomed efforts to reach an international understanding to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction in implementation of General Assembly resolution 73/546.
Lebanon has been facing the worst socioeconomic crisis in its history, driving most of its population below the poverty line and causing a brain drain of its best young people. Citing the collapse of the exchange rate of the national currency to its lowest historical level, and the closures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he further referred to the tragedy of the Port of Beirut explosion — as the country remains in pursuit of the truth of that matter. Lebanon has also been dealing with an unprecedented political crisis, a minefield requiring efforts to appropriately emerge from the situation. However, the Government has achieved many goals, including notably holding parliamentary elections on time — but the road ahead for Lebanon remains long and arduous. Beirut has signed a preliminary agreement with the IMF and will advance all necessary legislative and administrative reforms to overcome the present plight.
Citing its Arab affiliations and the Taif Accords, which ended the bloody civil war that afflicted the country, he stressed that a capable and prosperous Lebanon is urgently needed for peace and security in the region and the world. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has adopted an open border policy to address the humanitarian considerations by hosting a massive number of displaced people. However, after 10 years, he stressed that the displacement crisis has overwhelmed Lebanon’s capacity to bear the burden. He emphasized that the Lebanese Constitution and the consensus of all Lebanese people prevent the integration or settlement on its lands — and that the only realistic and sustainable solution is to achieve a safe and dignified return for Syrians to their country, in the context of a road map with the cooperation of all parties.
He further stressed that it is time for the injustice done against the Palestinian people to end, with a sovereign and independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, and implementation of all international resolutions in that regard, including the return of refugees. Emphasizing the centrality of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in mitigating Palestinian suffering, he expressed deep concern over the accumulated deficit in its budget, jeopardizing delivery of services.
Despite current difficulties, his Government aims for Lebanon to be a forum for convergence rather than division — a space for dialogue and not competition, a spiritual custodian that brings together all religions for truth and justice. He further called for the international community not to involve Lebanon in conflicts and crises in the region.

Report: Hochstein to send draft to Lebanon within a week
Naharnet/September 22/2022
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is working on an amended draft for the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel and is supposed to finalize it within a week, al-Manar TV said. The mediator had “postponed sending the draft after Lebanon rejected its old format,” the TV network added, quoting informed sources.“Lebanon will get Line 23, the entire Qana field and commitment from France and the TotalEnergies firm to begin exploration in the Lebanese zone after the agreement’s signing,” the sources added.

IMF criticizes Lebanese government over slow reforms
Naharnet/September 22/2022
The International Monetary Fund has said the Lebanese government's slowness to implement desperately-needed reforms was exacerbating the country's economic meltdown, even as officials met to discuss an urgent and long-delayed bailout. The IMF statement followed a three-day visit to Beirut of the fund's representatives to discuss with Lebanese officials the implementation of reforms drawn up under a staff-level agreement between the two sides in April. "Despite the urgency for action to address Lebanon's deep economic and social crisis, progress in implementing the reforms agreed under the April SLA remains very slow," the IMF said. The Lebanese government has implemented few of the IMF's demands from the agreement, which lists five "key pillars" that should be implemented, before finalizing a bailout program. These include restructuring Lebanon's ailing financial sector, implementing fiscal reforms, the restructuring of external public debt, and putting in place strong anti-corruption and anti-money laundering measures. The Lebanese economy has been in a free fall since late 2019 in an economic meltdown described by the World Bank as one of the worst the world has witnessed since the 1850s. The crisis is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the political class that has been running the small nation since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. "The Lebanese economy remains severely depressed against continued deadlock over much needed economic reforms and high uncertainty," said the head of the IMF team Ernesto Ramirez Rigo. The IMF said Lebanon's GDP has contracted by over 40% since 2018, inflation remains in the triple digits, foreign reserves are dwindling, and the parallel exchange rate hit new lows this week reaching over 38,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
"Amidst collapsing revenues and drastically suppressed spending, public sector institutions are failing, and basic services to the population have been drastically cut," Ramirez Rigo said. "Unemployment and poverty are at historically high rates." The visit came a week after angry depositors stormed at least seven bank branches to get their trapped savings after local lenders imposed informal capital controls since the economic crisis began. The IMF statement said the large losses in the banking sector need "to be recognized and addressed upfront, while respecting the hierarchy of claims. Small depositors must be fully protected." On Wednesday, the Association of Banks in Lebanon, said bank branches will not be opened as planned on Thursday but will remain closed "because of the dangers that employees and customers could be subjected to." It said the banks will remain closed until they get assurances from the state and security agencies.Earlier Wednesday, judicial authorities ordered the release on bail of two men who took part in a bank heist last week. The two men were ordered banned from leaving the country for six months. On Tuesday, Lebanon's caretaker Economic Minister Amin Salam said Lebanon hopes to adopt key reforms demanded by the IMF for a long-delayed but urgently needed bailout before the end of October if there is "political will". Salam added that the adoption of the reforms would provide Lebanon some $4 billion and unlock billions more from international governments and institutions. Lebanon's central bank governor estimated that the country needs at least $12 billion in order to jumpstart its economy.

Lebanese banks decide to stay shuttered over security fears
A/P/September 22/2022
Lebanon's banks will remain closed indefinitely after rejecting a proposed government security plan, a senior official with the country's commercial banks association said on Thursday, amid a wave of protests and heists targeting its failing financial system.
The Association of Banks in Lebanon initially announced a three-day strike, after at least seven bank branches were stormed last week, where assailants demanded they withdraw their trapped savings. Among them is Sali Hafez, who broke into a Beirut bank branch with a fake pistol and retrieved some $13,000 in her savings to cover her sister's cancer treatment. Lebanon's cash-strapped banks had last closed for a prolonged period back in October 2019 for two weeks, during mass anti-government protests triggered by the economic meltdown. Since 2019, the banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of currency, tying up the savings of millions of people. Since then, the tiny country's economy has continued to spiral. The Lebanese pound has lost about 90% of its value against the dollar, while three-quarters of the population has plunged into poverty. "One of our demands is that we are provided with security to guarantee that we can keep the banks safe," Fadi Khalaf, the Secretary-General of the Association of Banks in Lebanon told The Associated Press. "When you have people come in with weapons and throw gasoline everywhere, do we have to wait until someone dies before we do something about it?" While banks across the country are shuttered, people have since rushed to shops to wire their money abroad instead. The country's largest money wiring company even brought in private security armed with assault rifles.
Khalaf said the banks were not content with a security plan that caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi's team presented to them on Tuesday. "He said they don't have enough personnel and that the banks should provide its own security," he said. "But what can private security do if he has to deal with someone carrying a gun?"
The Union of Bank Employee Syndicates in a statement on Thursday echoed similar sentiments, refusing to return to work until they believe it is safe for them to do so. Khalaf said the banks are currently discussing measures they can take on their own, but said they had not set a deadline. The bank heists were mostly celebrated among the Lebanese public, who have accused the authorities of rampant corruption and mismanagement. Millions of Lebanese are struggling to cope with skyrocketing food prices and rampant power cuts and many now sympathize with people choosing to take matters into their own hands.
Depositors' protest groups have vowed to continue supporting people's attempts at forcefully retrieving their savings.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities for over two years have been scrambling to put in place financial reforms and restructure its economy to reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. Among the reforms is a capital controls law that would formally restrict and regulate the flow of money in and out of the banks.
The IMF on Wednesday after meeting with officials criticized Lebanon for its sluggish progress, but caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam told the AP that the country aims to adopt some of these reforms next month. Until then, the country's fiscal woes will continue to fester, said financial analyst Ghassan Chammas. The banks closing will not only further curtail people's access to their funds, but will also slow down already dwindling economic activity, including imports and exports.
"They need clearly to set exceptions in the draft capital controls law for people who need to cover health expenses, transfer funds abroad, or any other humanitarian exception," Chammas told the AP. "You cannot isolate the country from the outside world."

Anger in Bab al-Tabbaneh after Italy-bound migrant boat goes missing
Naharnet/September 22/2022
A state of anger was on Thursday engulfing the impoverished neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli, after a boat carrying 55 illegal migrants went missing while en route to Italy, al-Jadeed TV reported. “The residents are urging Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to intervene to unveil their fate,” al-Jadeed added. MP Ashraf Rifi meanwhile reiterated his plea to Italian and Maltese authorities to help rescue the migrant boat, warning that there might be a “new tragedy” at sea if they don’t act.

Visions of creativity in Middle East youth art scene
Agence France Presse/September 22/2022
From a Lebanese student decrying government failures through art to a Palestinian teacher seeking escape in music, young people across the Middle East are creatively giving voice to complex situations.In a series exploring youth aspirations in the volatile region -- where more than half of the population is under 30 -- AFP speaks to artists in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip, Israel and Iraq about the hardships, uncertainties and challenges they face.
- 'Just living an achievement' –
In her simple studio on the outskirts of Damascus, artist Dana Salameh has built a refuge to escape the difficulties of Syria's 11-year conflict and its severe economic troubles. "Maybe I'm fleeing or escaping," says Salameh, 23. But "even just living here is an achievement."Despite the daily pressures and the lack of support for the arts, Salameh alternates between making her own work and teaching youngsters to paint, holding tight to a wealth of creative positivity. "When I graduated, I thought I would travel. But then I felt that there are so many beautiful things I'd like to do here," she says. "I should show everyone that artists can achieve their dreams in this place."
- 'Giving back' –
Street artist Dalal Mitwally is at the forefront of a burgeoning art scene in Amman -- one that is changing the face of Jordan's capital. "I have a responsibility," says Mitwally, covered in paint after a day creating murals with children in a working-class Amman community. The 24-year-old uses bland walls as a canvas to brighten nderprivileged areas, forge common bonds and highlight social issues. "I should give back to where I came from... And if it didn't give me enough, I should secure those things for those who come after me."
- 'Escape' -
Palestinian Jawaher al-Aqraa sings at a small music school in Gaza City as others accompany her on guitar, violin or oud. "We are a conservative society" where a woman singing or playing music in public is considered "shameful", says the singer and English teacher, 25. The Gaza Strip, an impoverished territory ruled by Islamist group Hamas and blockaded by Israel, has seen four wars since 2008. Music is an "escape route", Aqraa says. Israel and neighbouring Egypt severely restrict Gazans' travel. "I do not want to blame the situation in Gaza as a reason for failure... I can use the difficulties to strengthen myself."
- 'Shekel to shekel' -
Israeli artist Shavit Vital sits at a cafe in downtown Jerusalem, using a tablet to craft her designs. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is something that very much defines Israel", says the 22-year-old, who served in the army during the 11-day war against Gaza militants last year. She says she is studying to become a tattoo artist, but her "family is religious and doesn't accept this". As the cost of living and income inequality rise, she expresses uncertainty about the future.
"I am not looking to become rich or anything like that, but in five years, I do not want to live shekel to shekel and barely make ends meet."
- 'We still have hope' –
Iraqi Qamar al-Ani, 21, plucks away at her traditional stringed santoor, seemingly a world away from Baghdad's seething political tensions that led to deadly clashes late last month. "We're always living in a state of fear of what will happen in the future," the musician says. Conflict-weary Iraq is blighted by corruption, ailing infrastructure and crumbling public services, and now faces water shortages as drought ravages swathes of the country. Despite Iraq's oil wealth, many people are mired in poverty, and some 35 percent of youth are unemployed, according to the United Nations. Ani says she tries to "avoid pessimism". "I feel we are better off now than 10 years ago... We still have hope."
- 'Unleash the anger' –
Lebanese fine arts student Ali Merhi is finishing his degree as his country endures its worst-ever economic crisis, with unemployment around 30 percent, the local currency in free fall, and faltering electricity and water supplies. "You unleash the anger within you into the painting," he says.

Boat Carrying Migrants from Lebanon Sinks Off Syria, 15 Dead
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
A boat carrying migrants from Lebanon capsized off Syria's coast Thursday afternoon leaving at least 15 people dead, Syrian state media reported. Syria's state television quoted the head of Syrian Ports Authority Brig. Gen. Samer Kobrosli as saying that 15 bodies were recovered and eight others were rescued and taken for treatment at a hospital in the coastal city of Tartus. He added authorities are still searching for survivors near the Syrian Mediterranean island of Arwad. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard and where exactly they were heading. State media gave no further details but quoted some of the survivors as saying that they sailed from the Lebanese coastal town of Minyeh several days ago apparently aiming to reach Europe. It said the boat was carrying people of different nationalities. Thousands of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians have left Lebanon on boats over the past months seeking better opportunities in Europe.

Lebanon: Continued Closure of Banks Impedes Financial Transactions
Beirut - Nazeer Rida//Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022
Charbel, a 34-year-old employee at an e-design company, fears that Lebanese banks will keep closed till early next month.
“We are eagerly awaiting our salary. Any continuation of the strike will not be in our favor,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that his family heavily depends on his salary that is being transferred from abroad.
Charbel shares his concerns with the tens of thousands of Lebanese who withdraw their salaries, at the beginning of each month, from ATMs. For them, banks shutting down early this week did not necessarily affect their lives for the remainder of September. However, if continued, the banks going on strike for long could spell disaster in terms of denying them access to their livelihoods. “Salary transfers will not reach our accounts,” warned Charbel. “How will we therefore live and spend on our families?” he questioned. Lebanese banks have started a strike since last Monday against the background of Lebanese depositors storming their branches to demand the release of their savings that were frozen three years ago. While some depositors who staged raids succeeded in forcing banks to give back a portion of their frozen savings, others failed. Lebanese authorities arrested some of the angry depositors. Nevertheless, this was not enough to convince the Association of Lebanese Banks that bank employees were safe.It is noteworthy that banks in Lebanon are facing pressure from their employees who demand protection measures for their safety. George al-Hajj, head of the bank employees’ union in Lebanon stated on Wednesday that the employees will not return to work if the bare minimum of security is not provided. Despite the shutdown, ATMs are still operating normally. Those who have a bank account can withdraw their money transfers from ATMs, given that banks are “filling the machines daily with paper money in order not to disrupt the lives of citizens during the procedural closure period,” banking sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

US House of Representatives Urges EU to Designate 'Hezbollah' in its Entirety as Terrorist
Washington - Rana Abtar/Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022
The US House of Representatives approved a resolution "urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization."The draft proposed by Democratic and Republican representatives aims to pressure the EU to follow the US and include Hezbollah's political wing in its terrorist lists. The bill's sponsor, Representative Ted Deutch, said: "Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran. It's time for the EU to join the US, Germany, Argentina, the Arab League, and others in saying […] that it is one, a unified terrorist organization." Deutch said that the approval of the House of Representatives of this resolution sends an "important message to our European allies: more can and must be done to counter the Iranian proxy (Hezbollah), which begins with calling them what they are: a terrorist organization in its entirety that is committed to the destruction of our ally Israel and continues to undermine the values and interests of both US and Europe." The Rep. reiterated there is no difference between Hezbollah's branches, and the military wing cannot be separated from the political wing. The Democratic representative called on the European Union to stop allowing Hezbollah's political wing to operate freely in some EU countries and join the United States in targeting the terrorist group and its global criminal networks. For her part, Congresswoman Kathy Manning praised the bill, noting that Hezbollah is a "terrorist group responsible for thousands of civilian deaths, not just in the Middle East but around the globe."The MPs urged the European Union to impose sanctions on all wings of the party and share intelligence information with the United States to end the party's influence in the region.
The bill in details
The proposed draft resolution aims to obstruct Hezbollah's fundraising efforts to finance its terrorist activities worldwide and seeks to reduce the support it enjoys aiming to weaken it. It recalled the sanctions imposed by the Department of the Treasury in July 2019 on two Hezbollah-backed lawmakers, Amin Sherri and Mohammad Hasan Raad, noting that the party uses its operatives in parliament to advance its violent activities. It referred to Hezbollah's support to the Assad regime in Syria and the training it provides to thousands of militants in Iraq and Yemen, further destabilizing the region. It also mentioned that Hezbollah activities continue to "plague Lebanon with profound economic and political instability and violence," indicating that in August 2020, at least 220 people died and thousands more were injured when a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut's port.
The Department of the Treasury and Department of State estimate that Iran provides as much as $700 million annually to Hezbollah through financial and logistical support, weapons, and training. The bill stated that Europol's June 2020 European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report outlined that Hezbollah is "suspected of trafficking diamonds and drugs and of money laundering via the trade in second-hand cars."

Hezbollah has turned Lebanon into a narco-state
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/September 22, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112172/khaled-abou-zahr-arab-newshezbollah-has-turned-lebanon-into-a-narco-state-%d8%ae%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af-%d8%a3%d8%a8%d9%88-%d8%b8%d9%87%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a8-%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%b2-%d8%ad%d8%b2/
When does a country become designated as a narco-state? Have Lebanon and Syria already reached that stage? The simple definition of such a state is that drugs are openly traded with the approval or even protection of the government. So, the answer is simple: The growing Captagon trade has made these two countries narco-states.
There have been numerous reports describing the links between elements of the Syrian Army and the protection given by Hezbollah to drug smugglers. This trade primarily targets the Gulf countries, but it is extending to Europe as well. Last week, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior announced the seizure of 1 million Captagon pills hidden inside plastic boxes of grapes. The previous successful seizure in Kuwait was in June, when 5 million pills were found. Other major hauls have also been revealed in the past few months, including Turkey seizing 12.3 million pills in August and Saudi Arabia’s 15 million in July, while Jordan expects the trade to more than double.
This level of production and capacity to smuggle are not the making of criminal organizations. This is obviously done, as a US think tank has reported, with the support of elements of the Syrian Army and Hezbollah, who oversee the production and the smuggling by organized crime groups. There is, on the other hand, no clear international policy to counter these activities, which will have disastrous consequences not only in the target countries of this illegal trade, but also within the communities of origin: Lebanon and Syria.
Unfortunately, this is not something new. There is an old story that tells of Lebanon’s role in the trade of hashish in the 1950s and 1960s. The story states that, in the early 1960s, Lebanon engaged with a renowned consultancy firm to give it some indications on how to solve some budget deficit and structural finance issues. As this firm went through the income the country generated, a line for a large amount was unexplained. The consultant asked about this income and what it represented, but a sort of malaise grew within the government institution. More importantly, no one was willing to give an answer.
However, the consultant was persistent and finally the person in charge bluntly explained that these were amounts paid to the government for the passage and smuggling of hashish. It was at this point that the consultant, probably calculating the importance of the amount and the chances of Lebanon generating similar revenues for the coffers of the country from other sources, gave his advice: Do not reform, just keep everything as it is.
What starts as a bribe for the free passage of drugs likely ends with the smugglers becoming more powerful than the state.
Many old-timer journalists and public figures have stood by the fact that the story is true. Regardless — and even if it is only an urban myth — in a society like Lebanon, where jokes and stories bluntly describe our ills, this says something. However, similar to other narco-states, what starts as a bribe for the free passage of drugs likely ends with the smugglers becoming more powerful than the state and owning it. It is enough to ruin a country.
Today, numerous reports have stated that the groups controlling this illegal trade have close links with Hezbollah. Over the last decade, Hezbollah has been accused of international drug trafficking and some of its members arrested for their involvement in it. It has been able to run smuggling and money laundering operations from every continent, from Africa to the Americas. This has been described as one of the funding sources for the Iranian-backed militia. And so, with the Lebanese state under its thumb, it has transformed the country into a narco-terrorist state.
How long will Europe stay silent over the development of a full-blown narco-terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean? The security risks of the smuggling routes and the corruption that comes with this trade could have irreversible consequences for the entire Middle East and Europe. With the military focus of Hezbollah, these routes could also be used to smuggle weapons. Clearly, the illegal routes used to ship these drugs are a security breach for the entire Middle East and Europe. When one knows how the Syrian regime operates and its capacity to infiltrate extremist groups, this could be a recipe for disaster.
This is why it is important for European countries and the EU to take action and fast. It is high time to take strong measures and put pressure on these narco-terrorist regimes to stop such activities. Hezbollah should be designated not only as a terrorist organization but also as an organized crime group. The separation between political and military organization created by Western pundits also needs to stop. This is a criminal terrorist organization holding an entire country hostage and now it is exporting this horror in the form of Captagon pills. It will destroy Europe’s youth the same way it destroyed Lebanon.
Lebanon is in a dire financial situation and this trade is empowering Hezbollah even more. Corruption is only the symptom of the real disease: The occupation. This Captagon trade controlled by the Syrian military and Hezbollah is symbolic of the political transition in the country in recent decades. This is why the Lebanese need to make the hard choices and correct the wrongs of the real or imaginary consultant who in the 1960s advised the country to accept its fate.
• Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Historical Bloc' to Face the Existential Threats Facing the Entity
Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al Awsat/September 22/2022
All of a sudden, everyone was inspired to bring down the wall that had been obstructing the formation of a government, accepting the proposal that Mikati had submitted around three months ago. All that remains is minor adjustments that will not affect shares or the figures that the various factions have instituted on. Aoun walked back on his defiant stance, and no one else objected to it. Nasrallah gave the signal: “We are very hopeful… to avoid any kind of chaos,” as though catastrophic collapse and the society’s implosion were mere details.
Once the government formation is announced next week, Aoun will have no pretext to remain in the Baabda Palace after his term ends. Its formation also means that we can assume no president will be elected before the constitutional deadline. According to the deputy elected to represent the revolution, Mark Dao, the meetings that the ‘Change Bloc’ held with their colleagues in parliament as part of their “presidential initiative” affirmed that “no faction sees the election of a president within the deadline as a priority.” By allowing the government to take shape, Hezbollah announced the of Aoun’s term and that the priority is to form one before there is a presidential vacuum- a malleable government subordinated by Hezbollah.
What we know for sure is that Aoun will leave office 39 days after a presidential term that will go down in history as the term of collapses. The Lira has collapsed, some Lebanese communities became among those choosing to board “death boats,” and 90 percent of the Lebanese people slipped beneath the poverty line. Lebanon also lost what makes it special, from education and healthcare to its cultural-civilizational capacity to engage with the values of the modern age and embrace freedom! More dangerous still, the president covered for a foreign plot to change the face of Lebanon, its place and role in the world, and its relationships!
Over the past six years, which ends on October 31, Aoun did nothing but echo decisions taken outside of constitutional institutions. He merely stood at the forefront to pin medals on his associates and followers, issue naturalization decrees that had been bought and paid for, or refuse to put his signature on laws and decrees that “create sectarian imbalance,” from appointing forest guards to top judges. Aoun obstructed laws under sectarian, factional pretexts whenever his personal interests were not ensured! The cover he provided for the assault on the state, however, was constant, and Hezbollah thereby went about hijacking the state and taking its decisions alone!
Lebanese politics has become little more than conjuring up creative solutions for covering up subordination to foreign powers. Here, the matter goes beyond Aoun’s term. They found solutions that allowed them to seize the state’s assets and steal private wealth. The banking industry fell once banks were no longer a safe place to deposit money; attempts at legalizing financial crimes followed, and as the legislature was in the hands of obnoxious thieves, it turned a blind eye. The judiciary ignored its responsibility to ensure justice, with the law used against those who made individual attempts to take what they are owed!
During Aoun’s term, deep crises in managing public affairs emerged- problems were left unresolved until they exploded, and there was a relentless push to hollow institutions out. In this context, the keenness of the president’s team to avoid sharing power became apparent, as it did not miss a chance to demonstrate its hunger to dominate the country’s finances and politics. Hezbollah knew how to exploit the Aounists’ keenness on maintaining control over the state administration, deludedly thinking that this would grant them a sustainable political future. This tendency was strengthened after the Mar Mikhael Agreement sought to undermine the Taif Agreement; it is no secret that both are strongly opposed to it. Hezbollah is certainly aware that it cannot impose a subordinate as president; it is betting on the others’ failure to elect one. Because Hezbollah knows that it cannot ensure the quorum (86 deputies), it walked back on the attempt, but it won’t give up on its plot to uproot the country!
Nasrallah called for “agreeing on a figure without vetoes” concerning the next president. He knows just how strong the opposition to an “agreement” with the party is among those who see it as a cover for the project being pushed by Hezbollah that poses an existential threat to Lebanon as a political entity. This opposition knows that, given the current balance of power, no “settlement” reached in this manner can set the country on the right course, as the Mullahs in Tehran will have a strong say through their party! Looking at the current configuration of the parliament, it is clear that neither a president that “challenges” Hezbollah or defends sovereignty can be elected, nor can anyone associated with the Axis of Resistance.
Over the past two decades, especially with the post-2005 sectarian settlements and the normalization of rule by fatwa, Hezbollah infiltrated the state and succeeded in imposing policies that marginalized state institutions and undermined the state’s authority, exposing the crisis of governance facing the country. Those behind the crisis saw it as an opportunity; Lebanon is now for the taking! It seems that the shock of the election results has not put a dent in this plan. Proposals that had been put forward in the past resurfaced, with Nasrallah declaring that “building a just and capable state requires national dialogue and an agreement on fundamentals that translates into laws passed by parliament, and perhaps, if there is unanimity around them, some constitutional amendments!”
This means that Hezbollah is suggesting a “constituent assembly” aimed at fundamentally changing the country’s political system and flipping the balance without any regard for the will of the people or the results of the May 15 elections. This raises the question: Who will take part in this “constituent assembly”? Are there, as the Author Rafic Khoury put it, any parties to this sectarian-quota-based spoil-sharing regime that are not “responsible for the crisis and unable to elect a president or form a government? Can they establish a new regime?”
Because it shifted the debate from what kind of president Hezbollah would like to what kind of president the country needs, the presidential initiative of the deputies elected to represent the revolution transformed the rhetoric on this matter. Nonetheless, I am not getting carried away, these deputies cannot change how parliament operates, and a “settlement” reached under the current balance of power would not be in the interests of the people seeking change. There is no use waiting for a “change of conscience” that compels these power-hungry tyrants to take responsibility for the collapse, as well as for covering up the hijacking of the state and protecting those who have had arrest warrants issued against them over the port blast. The initiative should thus end with transparent communication with citizens- an effort by the revolution deputies, complemented by contributions from the weighty October forces, that seeks to give the people back their role in shaping politics, thereby opening the door to the arrival of an independent president who relies on a “historical bloc!”
The existential threats to Lebanon are not new. Indeed, they have proliferated and exacerbated, but this is not simply the way things are fated to be. The threats are increasing because they have not been confronted.
And after the October revolution paved the way to peacefully confronting the elites, reaffirming this approach in the last elections, there is no excuse for not building a “historical bloc” that cuts across regions and sects that combines the ideas of youth and female elites with communities’ particularities. Let us remember that every revolution that stops halfway falls. Rest assured, the October forces will surprise the tyrants and whoever takes cover behind illegitimate arms!

Loyalty to the Resistance’ Bloc meets in regular session: We support formation of government with full constitutional specifications
NNA/September 22/2022
Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, on Thursday held its regular meeting at its headquarters in Haret Hreik, headed by MP Mohammad Raad, and attended by Bloc members.
The bloc issued a statement in the wake of the meeting indicating that, “The state budget, the presidential election, the formation of the government, and the demarcation negotiations, in addition to a number of pressing issues, constitute the current concerns of the Lebanese, and require a realistic and responsible approach that will ward off harm to the country and achieve some of the hoped-for national interests."The statement said, “The bloc, with a sense of national responsibility, continues to follow up on the requirements for the completion of the presidential elections, leading to the election of a new president of the republic within the constitutional norms.. It hopes that Lebanon will enjoy stability and that its conditions will be addressed in light of all-embracing national orientations that reject external interference in the options of the Lebanese and aim to build a capable and just state of law and institutions.”The statement added that “the Bloc supports the sincere efforts aimed at forming a government with full constitutional specifications as soon as possible, to address the challenges of the next stage and meet the political, security, economic and social requirements of the country and citizens.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 22-23/2022
New US Strategy to Limit Captagon Production in Syria
Washington - Rana Abtar/Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022
The US House of Representatives passed Tuesday a bill to counter drug production and trafficking and dismantle networks linked to the Assad regime in Syria. The bipartisan bill said that the Captagon trade linked to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is a transnational security threat, noting that the United States should develop and implement an interagency strategy to deny, degrade, and dismantle Assad-linked narcotics production and trafficking networks. The bill was presented by Representative French Hill and Representative Brendan Boyle. Hill said that in addition to committing "war crimes against its own people, the Assad regime in Syria is now becoming a Narco-State."Hill pointed out that the "current epicenter" of the drug trade is in territory controlled by the Assad regime, warning that "Captagon has already reached Europe, and it is only a matter of time until it reaches our shores.""If we do not work with our like-minded partners to first hinder the narcotics trade and replace it with a working system of institutions that serve the Syrian people, then Assad will add the title "Drug Kingpin" to his recognized global status as a leading mass murderer," said Hill. The bill calls on the White House to submit the report and strategy required to Congress for review within a period not exceeding 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. It also notes that the administration must provide diplomatic and intelligence support to law enforcement investigations and build counter-narcotics capacity to partner countries through assistance and training to law enforcement services in countries other than Syria that are receiving or transiting large quantities of Captagon. Lawmakers urged the administration to employ the sanctions regime, including the Caesar sanctions, to target individuals and entities directly or indirectly associated with the narcotics infrastructure of the Assad regime. The strategy includes "mobilizing a public communications campaign to increase awareness of the extent of the connection of the Assad regime to the illicit narcotics trade."The text calls for a complete description of the countries receiving or transiting large shipments of Captagon and an assessment of the counter-narcotics capacity of such countries to interdict or disrupt the smuggling of Captagon, including an evaluation of current United States assistance and training programs to build such power in such countries.
Previous Pressure
Congress increased its pressure on the administration of President Joe Biden to address the Captagon issue. Top Republican representatives of the Foreign Relations Committees called on the White House to submit a detailed report to Congress on the Syrian president's role in Captagon trafficking.
US Senator Jim Risch and Representative Michael McCaul sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Assad regime's role in drug trafficking, warning that Jordan is increasingly threatened by the flow of Captagon across its borders, has had several dangerous skirmishes with drug traffickers on its border with Syria. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also under assault from flows of Syrian Captagon, has been forced to increase security resources for interdiction efforts," the letter read. In July, a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers called the US administration to review if Syria met the criteria of a "major illicit drug producing country" or "major drug-transit country" under the Foreign Assistance Act. In a letter addressed to Blinken, Rep. Hill, Sen. Roger Marshall, and Rep. Brendan Boyle warned that in addition to its gross human rights violations and regularly committing war crimes against his people, the Assad regime in Syria has now become a narco-state. "The production and trade of the drug, Captagon, is not only a critical financial lifeline to Assad, but it cripples local populations, serves to undermine families and local communities, and finances Iran-backed groups in the region."The lawmakers called on the US government to do all it could to disrupt the industrial level of drug production in Syria. "This includes getting my bill for an interagency strategy signed into law and the Department of State determining that Syria is a major drug manufacturing and transit country," read the letter, warning that "if we do not act, then we risk permitting the narco-state of Assad to become a permanent fixture in the region."

At Least 9 Killed as Iran Protests Spread Over Mahsa Amini’s Death
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
Clashes between Iranian security forces and protesters angry over the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody have killed at least nine people since the violence erupted over the weekend, according to a tally Thursday by The Associated Press. idespread outages of Instagram and WhatsApp, which protesters use to share information about the government’s rolling crackdown on dissent, continued on Thursday. Authorities also appeared to disrupt internet access to the outside world, a tactic that rights activists say the government often employs in times of unrest. he demonstrations in Iran began as an emotional outpouring over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman held by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating its strictly enforced dress code. er death has sparked sharp condemnation from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. The police said she died of a heart attack and was not mistreated, but her family has cast doubt on that account. he protests have grown in the last four days into an open challenge to the government, with women removing their state-mandated headscarves in the streets and Iranians setting trash bins ablaze. Death to the dictator!” has been a common cry in the protests. Demonstrations have also rocked university campuses in Tehran and far flung western cities such as Kermanshah. In Amini’s home province in the northwest, Kurdistan, the provincial police chief said four protesters were killed by live fire. In Kermanshah, the prosecutor said two protesters were killed by opposition groups, insisting that the bullets were not fired by Iran’s security forces.

US places sanctions on Iran’s morality police for abuse of women
Reuters/September 22, 2022
WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday put sanctions on Iran’s morality police, accusing it of abuse and violence against Iranian women and holding it responsible for the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody last week.
The US Treasury accused the morality police of violating the rights of peaceful protesters and said it had put sanctions on seven senior Iranian military and security officials, including the chief of the Iranian army’s ground forces. “Mahsa Amini was a courageous woman whose death in Morality Police custody was yet another act of brutality by the Iranian regime’s security forces against its own people,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “We condemn this unconscionable act in the strongest terms and call on the Iranian government to end its violence against women and its ongoing violent crackdown on free expression and assembly,” she added. Protesters in Tehran and other Iranian cities torched police stations and vehicles earlier on Thursday as public outrage over Amini’s death showed no signs of easing, with reports of security forces coming under attack. The seven officials placed under sanctions included the head of Iran’s morality police, Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi; the commander of the Iranian army’s ground forces, Kiyumars Heidari; and Esmail Khatib, Iran’s minister of intelligence, the Treasury said. As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of those designated that fall under US jurisdiction is blocked and must be reported to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Treasury said.

'At least 31' civilians killed as Iran protests spread over woman's death
Agence France Presse/September 22/2022
At least 31 civilians have been killed in an Iranian security forces crackdown on protests that erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality police, an Oslo-based NGO said Thursday. "The people of Iran have come to the streets to achieve their fundamental rights and human dignity... and the government is responding to their peaceful protest with bullets," Iran Human Rights (IHR) director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement, publishing a toll after six days of protests. IHR said it had confirmed protests taking place in over 30 cities and other urban centers, raising alarm over "mass arrests" of protesters and civil society activists. Protests first erupted over the weekend in the northern province of Kurdistan, from where Amini originated, but have now spread across the country. IHR said its toll included the deaths of 11 people killed Wednesday night in the town of Amol in the northern Mazandaran province on the Caspian Sea, and six killed in Babol in the same province. Meanwhile, the major northeastern city of Tabriz saw its first death in the protests, IHR said. "Condemnation and expression of concern by the international community are no longer enough," Amiry-Moghaddam said. Earlier, Kurdish rights group Hengaw said 15 people had been killed in Kurdistan province and other Kurdish-populated areas of the north of Iran, including eight on Wednesday night.

WhatsApp Says Working to Keep Iranians Connected
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
Meta Platforms Inc's WhatsApp said on Thursday that it was working to keep users in Iran connected after the country restricted access to the app and social media platform Instagram. WhatsApp "will do anything" within its technical capacity to keep the service accessible and that it was not blocking Iranian phone numbers, the messaging service said in a tweet. Iran on Wednesday restricted access to Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last remaining social networks in the country, amid protests over the death of a woman in police custody, according to residents and internet watchdog NetBlocks. Last week's death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police in Tehran for "unsuitable attire", has prompted Iranians to take to the streets of Tehran and other parts of the country. Many Iranians, particularly the young, have come to see her death as part of Iran’s heavy-handed policing of dissent and the morality police’s increasingly violent treatment of young women. Protesters in Tehran and other Iranian cities torched police stations and vehicles earlier on Thursday as public outrage over the death showed no signs of abating, with reports of security forces coming under attack. Iran has faced global condemnation over Amini's death, with the UN human rights office calling for an investigation.

UN Raises Funds to Salvage the Safer Tanker
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
The United Nations said Wednesday it has raised the $75 million necessary to salvage the Safer, a stricken tanker off Yemen, in an emergency operation aimed at averting a disastrous Red Sea oil spill -- and a potential $20 billion cleanup. UN officials last month warned that the 45-year-old FSO Safer, abandoned off the port of Hodeidah, was a ticking environmental time bomb requiring immediate action. "We are able to announce we have now pledges and commitment sufficient to start the FSO Safer salvage operation," said David Gressly, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen and leader of the global body's efforts on the Safer. "It's a very key milestone," he said, adding that donor pledges have now topped $77 million. The first phase of the salvage operation would stabilize the FSO Safer and transfer the oil to another vessel. A second phase involving long-term storage of the cargo is estimated to cost another $38 million. "We believe that we could meet that in a timely fashion," Gressly said of the cost. The ship contains 1.1 million barrels of oil. The United Nations has said a spill could destroy ecosystems, shut down the fishing industry and close the Hodeidah port for six months. The result would potentially be the fifth largest oil spill from a tanker in history, with the clean-up costs alone reaching $20 billion.

Russia Wants a Decisive Battle in the Donbas
Hussam Itani/Asharq Al Awsat/September 22/2022
With the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service, the world is back on track with its dilemmas. The war in Ukraine is becoming more complex, and peace is far from being reached, as new obstacles arise every day. Referendums called for by the pro-Kremlin administrations in the four regions occupied by Russian forces in Ukraine, showed that the retreat in Kharkiv was not enough to turn the course of the war, as many observers expected. In fact, the notion that has spread since the early days of the fighting in February that Russia cannot afford a total failure in Ukraine, at all costs, has been proven correct. It is a sinister and catastrophic reality. The regime in Russia does not accept compromises. This produced a group of loyalists, who echo the positions of the regime and elevate its status. The stances expressed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent Samarkand summit left no doubt that the two Asian giants do not want to slide into a rupture with the West. Putin must look for ways to peace, Modi said, in what amounts to a diplomatic slap. The Indian and Chinese lull came a few weeks after the forces of the two countries participated in the massive maneuvers conducted by the Russian army in the Pacific region.
However, maneuvering is one thing, and adopting Moscow’s vision of conflict under the pretext of preserving strategic and national interests is another matter, even if both Beijing and New Delhi reap undeniable benefits from preferential discounts on the oil they buy from Russia.
Another bad omen is represented by the Ukrainian forces’ advancement towards the Donbas regions, which are occupied by Russia and its allies since 2014. Besides its great economic importance, the Donbas embraces a proportion of people who see Russia as their motherland.
The scenario of the Kharkiv battle is unlikely to be repeated in the Donbas, which will witness a referendum on joining the Russian Federation. The region will demand to become part of the Russian state— along with Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk. This would make any Ukrainian attack on these regions an attack on the territory of the Russian Federation. The “special military operation” will then end, to open the way for war and the general mobilization. The Russian leadership believes that this will resolve the shortage of human resources, which was seen in Kharkiv, where the inability to compensate for human losses prompted the Kremlin to resort to the Wagner to recruit mercenaries, prisoners and others. In contrast to the momentum gained by the Ukrainians in the battles of early September, and the insistence of President Volodymyr Zelensky to continue the fight until the “de-occupation” of all Ukrainian lands, including the Crimea and the Donbas, the proposed referendums seem only a recipe for a major field escalation, as Moscow returned to hint at the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Talk shows on Russian state television voice explicit nuclear threats against Ukraine and its allies, emphasizing that Russia has two options: “either victory or nuclear war.”Western warnings about the massive world reactions to Russia resorting to unconventional weapons seem to produce opposite results with Moscow, which sees such messages as an insult to its global standing. The lines between deception and political maneuvering, and the possibility of deploying weapons of mass destruction on the Ukrainian arena, are not clear yet. The prevailing ambiguity is similar to the weeks and months that preceded the outbreak of the war, as Russia was massing its forces and at the same time denying its intention to attack Ukraine.
f support from followers. While speaking about the incident on air, Amanpour described the situation as “very unsettling.” “I have never been asked by any Iranian President, and I have interviewed every single one of them since 1995, either inside or outside Iran — never been asked to wear a headscarf.”

Kremlin proxies in Ukraine double down ahead of annexation votes
Agence France Presse/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
Kremlin-installed officials in Ukrainian regions controlled by Moscow's forces vowed on Thursday to press ahead with polls this week on annexation by Russia, after world leaders condemned the votes and said the results would be void. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was expected to defend what Ukraine's allies are calling an unlawful land grab, during a U.N. Security Council meeting called by France over rights abuses in Ukraine. Four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine -- Donetsk and Lugansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south -- announced that they would hold the votes over five days, beginning on Friday. Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed head of Kherson, which fell early into the Russian invasion, said the referendum would go ahead in his region regardless of the criticism. "The date has been set. We have the green light. Voting begins tomorrow and nothing can prevent this," he told Russian state-run media."People have been waiting and they're demanding that this vote is held soon," he added. Western leaders convening in New York this week unanimously condemned the ballots.  Speaking at the United Nations, U.S. President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "shamelessly" violating the U.N. Charter with a war aimed at "extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state."
- Door-to-door voting -
The integration of the war-scarred regions into Russia would represent a major escalation of the conflict, as Moscow could then try to say it was defending its own territory from Ukrainian forces. After the votes were announced by his proxy officials in Ukraine, Putin announced that Russia would call up some 300,000 reservists to bolster the war effort and cautioned that Moscow would use "all means" to protect its territory. Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement on social media that those means included "strategic nuclear weapons". He predicted the voting regions "will integrate into Russia."
For most observers, the results of the concurrent votes are already a foregone conclusion and were rushed because Ukrainian forces were making sweeping gains in a counter-offensive to recapture the east. The referendums are reminiscent of a similar ballot in 2014 that saw the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine annexed by Russia. Western capitals said the vote was fraudulent and hit Moscow with sanctions in response. Election officials in the Donetsk region, which has been partially controlled since 2014 by Moscow-backed separatists, said that voting would take place door-to-door for the first days. But it would only be possible in polling stations on the final day, Tuesday. Putin's move this week to call up reservists for Ukraine sparked small protests across Russia, resulting in more than 1,300 people being detained.
- 'This senseless war' -
Flights out of Russia to neighboring countries, mainly former Soviet republics that allow Russians visa-free entry, are nearly entirely booked and prices have skyrocketed, pointing to an exodus of Russian wanting to avoid going to war. Looking lost and exhausted in the arrivals hall of the airport in the capital of Armenia, 44-year-old Sergei said he had fled Russia to escape being called up. "The situation in Russia would make anyone want to leave," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. Dmitry, 45, said he flew to Armenia from one of Russia's eastern regions with one small bag, leaving behind his wife and two children and with "no clue what I'll be doing here". "I don't want to go to war. I don't want to die in this senseless war," he told AFP journalists. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday denied that Russians eligible to fight were flooding airports and lining up at the country's borders. "A great deal of false information has emerged about this," he said. The Russian defense ministry confirmed on Wednesday it had secured the release of 55 of its servicemen, in the largest prisoner swap between Kyiv and Moscow since the start of the conflict. In exchange, Ukraine recovered 215 imprisoned citizens, including servicemen who held out against Russian forces besieging the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol. As part of the deal, Ukraine also handed over to Russia Viktor Medvedchuk, seen as President Vladimir Putin's top ally in Kyiv.
Medvedchuk, one of Ukraine's richest people, has been accused by Kyiv of high treason.

Biden Vows Solidarity with Iran Women as Protests Spread
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
US President Joe Biden vowed solidarity with Iranian women Wednesday as eight people were reported killed in growing protests over the death of a young woman arrested by morality police. Addressing the United Nations shortly after a defiant speech by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Biden saluted the protesters while renewing his support for reviving a nuclear accord with Tehran, AFP said. "Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights," Biden told the General Assembly.Public anger has flared in the Iranian republic since authorities on Friday announced the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been held for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an "improper" way. Activists said the woman, whose Kurdish first name is Jhina, had suffered a fatal blow to the head, a claim denied by officials, who have announced an investigation. Some women demonstrators have defiantly taken off their hijabs and burned them in bonfires or symbolically cut their hair before cheering crowds, video footage spread on social media has shown. "No to the headscarf, no to the turban, yes to freedom and equality!" protesters in Tehran were heard chanting in a rally that has been echoed by solidarity protests abroad. As protests filled cities, especially in northern Iran, for a fifth straight night Wednesday, internet services were severely disrupted around the country, limiting the ability to share over social media.
In southern Iran, video footage purportedly from Wednesday showed demonstrators setting fire to a gigantic picture on the side of a building of general Qassem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guards commander killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq. Iranian state media reported that street rallies had spread to 15 cities, with police using tear gas and making arrests to disperse crowds of up to 1,000 people. Demonstrators hurled stones at security forces, set fire to police vehicles and garbage bins and chanted anti-government slogans, the official IRNA news agency said. "Death to the dictator" and "Woman, life, freedom," protesters could be heard shouting in video footage that spread beyond Iran, despite online restrictions reported by internet access monitor Netblocks. Amnesty International said it has recorded the deaths of eight people -- six men, one woman and a child -- with four of them shot by security forces at close range with metal pellets.The London-based rights group denounced the UN for giving a platform to Raisi, saying it showed "the repeated failure" of the international community to ensure accountability. Activist Azam Jangravi, who fled Iran after being arrested for removing her hijab during protests in 2018, echoed this criticism. "Why does the UN normalize Iran's misogyny?" asked Jangravi, who settled in Canada and took part in solidarity protests in Toronto. "Why should a country that is as misogynistic as the Taliban have a seat at the UN?"
- 'Double standards' -
In his UN address, Raisi pointed to the deaths of Indigenous women in Canada as well as Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories and the ISIS group's "savagery" against women from religious minority groups. "So long as we have this double standard, where attention is solely focused on one side and not all equally, we will not have true justice and fairness," Raisi said. He also pushed back on Western terms to revive a 2015 nuclear accord, insisting that Iran "is not seeking to build or obtain nuclear weapons and such weapons have no place in our doctrine."British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that "the Iranian leadership should notice that the people are unhappy with the direction that they have taken.""They could abandon their nuclear weapons aspirations. They could stop the repression of voices within their own country. They could stop their destabilizing activities," he told AFP at the United Nations.
"A different path is possible. That is the path that we want Iran to take and that is the path that will see them with a stronger economy, a more happy society and a more active part in the international community."
French President Emmanuel Macron said he asked Raisi in a meeting Tuesday to show "respect for women's rights."
- 'Significant shock' -
The protests are among the most serious in Iran since November 2019 unrest over fuel price rises. The wave of unrest over Amini's death "is a very significant shock, it is a societal crisis," said Iran expert David Rigoulet-Roze of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs. Demonstrations first erupted Friday in Amini's home province of Kurdistan, where governor Ismail Zarei Koosha said Tuesday three people had been killed in "a plot by the enemy." Kurdistan police commander Ali Azadi on Wednesday announced the death of another person, according to Tasnim news agency. Two more protesters "were killed during the riots" in Kermanshah province, the region's prosecutor Shahram Karami was quoted as saying by Fars news agency, blaming "counter-revolutionary agents."

CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour walks away from interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after request to wear headscarf
Elianna Lev/Yahoo News/September 22/ 2022
CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour is receiving heaps of praise online after cancelling an interview with Iran’s president, who demanded she wear a headscarf. In a thread on Twitter, Amanpour explained that in the midst of protests sweeping Iran, following the death of a woman arrested by the country’s “morality police,” she had plans to interview President Ebrahim Raisi, who is in New York for a UN general assembly. When an aide informed Amanpour that the president wanted her to wear a headscarf for the interview, she declined. “We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves,” she wrote. “I pointed out that no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran.”The aide informed her that wearing a headscarf was a “matter of respect,” and alluded to the situation in Iran — where people are protesting the death of a woman who was detained for breaking hijab laws. Amanpour says she walked away from the interview. Online, the veteran journalist received a flood o

Iran, US Clash at UN on Nuclear Deal, Human Rights Issues
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
The US and Iran clashed on security and human rights on Wednesday, with Iran's president demanding US guarantees to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the US president vowing Tehran would never get an atomic bomb.
Raisi said Tehran wanted former US President Donald Trump to face trial for the 2020 killing of Iran's top Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone attack in Iraq, holding up a picture of the general. There is a great and serious will to resolve all issues to revive the (2015 nuclear) deal," Raisi told the UN General Assembly. "We only wish one thing: observance of commitments."Speaking later, US President Joe Biden reiterated his willingness to revive the nuclear pact under which Iran had agreed to restrain its atomic program in return for relief from economic sanctions. In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal and unilaterally reimposed sanctions that have hobbled Iran's economy. A year later, Tehran reacted by gradually violating the deal's nuclear limits and reviving international fears that Iran may be seeking to obtain an atomic weapon. aisi also sought to deflect criticism of last week's death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police in Tehran for "unsuitable attire". Amini's death has unleashed anger in the streets since Friday over issues including freedoms in Tehran and an economy reeling from sanctions. t least seven people have been killed in protests with some demanding "regime change". iden expressed a willingness to return to the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and made clear US sympathies lay with the protesters in Iran. While the United States is prepared for a mutual return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action if Iran steps up to its obligations, the United States is clear: We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon," he said, repeating a long-held US position. "We stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights," Biden added.

Iraq: 90% of Narcotics Come from Iran
Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
The Iraqi government’s efforts to raise awareness on the dangers of narcotics and to curb drug trafficking are yet to yield effective solutions, as the country has been suffering from a wide spread of drug abuse and trafficking, since the ousting of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. Well-informed officials said that almost 90 percent of narcotic substances (crystal, Captagon pills, and hashish) enter Iraq through its eastern border with Iran, given weak security measures and the exploitation of organized smuggling gangs of marshlands and unofficial crossings. relatively small percentage of smuggling comes through the desert province of Anbar (in the West), bordering Syria. Gangs use various methods and means to smuggle drugs, including drones. In May, the Iraqi authorities shot down a glider transporting drugs across the border with Iran in the southern province of Basra. According to the officials, the high rate of abuse is concentrated among young people and teenagers (15-35 years old), in Baghdad and the central and southern governorates of the country. A former member of the Independent Human Rights Commission, Fadel Al-Ghrawi, warned of the spread of drugs in the country, and called on the authorities to establish specialized centers to treat addiction. “The high rates of drug abuse in recent years have become a threat to the lives of young people,” he said, calling on the government to “issue a special amnesty to release all drug addicts and admit them to drug rehabilitation clinics.” pecialists in judicial affairs and drug trafficking have been calling for years to amend the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law No. 20 of 2017 to tighten penalties and focus their implementation on traffickers, not drug users. sked about the main reasons for the spread of drugs in Iraq, Ghrawi pointed to “economic factors, unemployment, trauma, psychological crises, weak religious motives, lack of family, societal and educational control, and the misuse of communications.”“We call on the government to expedite the establishment of addiction rehabilitation clinics, and to introduce a legislative amendment to consider drug users as patients who need care instead of imprisoning them along with drug dealers,” he stated.

Turkish Lira Hits Record Low
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 22 September, 2022
Türkiye’s currency fell to a record low against the dollar before a central bank meeting on interest rates Thursday. The lira traded at a low of 18.38 against the dollar, past the previous record low of 18.36 in December, before recovering to about 18.36. Türkiye has been following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox belief that high interest rates cause high inflation while much of the world is increasing their policy rates to combat inflation. The Turkish central bank last month lowered its benchmark rate by 100 points to 13%. Official statistics released earlier in September showed annual inflation at 80.21%, The Associated Press reported. Last year, the currency kept hitting record lows as the central bank lowered interest rates from 19%. When it finally hit 18.36 against the dollar, Erdogan announced extraordinary measures that he claimed would safeguard the lira. The government encouraged people to swap their dollars for the lira and place them in a deposit account that would give the interest rate plus any lira depreciation against the dollar. Though the lira rebounded after that announcement to a high of 11.09, it steadily declined this year.

Israel’s Population Reaches 9.5 Mln
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022
Ahead of the Jewish New Year, Israel’s population stands at 9.593 million residents, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said in data released on Tuesday. Up to 45 percent of the population are secular, 35 percent are religious, and 19 percent are traditional. In 1948, when Israel was established, the population of Israel numbered 806,000 people, among them 154,000 Arabs (19 percent) who are known as “48 Palestinians”. The Bureau observed around 355,000 Arabs who don’t hold the Israeli nationality but they are Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem (333,000), and Syrians in the occupied Golan (25,000). Based on the data, 73.9 percent live in main cities while the rest in settlements. The population increased by 187,000 (2 percent) last year. The past year also saw the arrival of around 60,000 new immigrants to Israel. Around 74 percent of Israelis live in cities, 15 percent live in villages of local councils, 10 percent in regional councils, and five percent in “unacknowledged” regions. The Bureau revealed that 67 percent are satisfied with their economic condition, while 12 percent complained of poverty. Up to 65 percent of Israelis live in houses owned by them, knowing that the prices of houses hiked by 13 percent in the past year. The rest live in leased apartments and pay around $1,200 per month. Israelis are identified as 45 percent secular, 19 percent traditional, 14 percent traditional-religious, 11 percent religious and 10.5 percent Haredi. Throughout the past year, 185,000 babies were born in Israel. Meanwhile, marriages reached 40,000 and divorces 15,000. Average life expectancy for Israeli men is 80.5 years compared to 84.6 years for women.

Hamas threatens violence over contested Jerusalem holy site
Associated Press/September 22/2022
The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday threatened hostile actions against Israel over what it called "violations against Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque" ahead of the upcoming Jewish High Holidays. Hamas's threats came just ahead of Sunday's Jewish new year, and a day after a group of Jewish religious extremists visited a contested holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims and blew the shofar — a ram's horn that's trumpeted in the run-up to and during the Jewish High Holidays. The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, begins at sundown on Sunday, and in the succeeding weeks thousands of Israelis are expected to visit Jerusalem. Omer Barlev, Israel's minister in charge of police, told Kan public radio on Wednesday that Israeli authorities would not limit Jewish visits to the contested Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Visitations and prayers by hard-line Jewish radicals at the site have triggered previous rounds of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. For Jews, the site is the holiest on earth, the location of two ancient Temples. For Muslims, it is the home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the third holiest place after Mecca and Medina. The shrine is the emotional epicenter of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Officially, under a loose set of rules known as the "status quo," Jews are allowed to visit, but not pray at the site, which is managed by a Jordanian-run trust. But in recent years, the number of Jewish visitors to the site has steadily grown, and some hold Jewish prayer at the site under police protection. Addressing reporters in the city of Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar decried what he called a "blatant attack on the religious and Islamic status of the city and the mosque," saying Israel bore full responsibility for "the possibility of dragging the entire region into an open religious war."He said the militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, would "defend the rights and sanctities of our people by all possible means."Israel and Hamas have fought four wars in the Gaza Strip since the Islamist militant group seized power in 2007.
The most recent battle, in May 2021, began when Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem as Israeli nationalists planned to march through Jerusalem's historic Old City, which is home to holy sites to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it in a move unrecognized by most of the international community. The Palestinians seek it as capital of a future independent state.

Washington Punishes Iranian Cyber Actors While Preparing to Enrich Regime
Annie Fixler, Richard Goldberg, Michael Sugden/FDD- Policy Brief/September 22/2022
The U.S. Treasury Department issued two sets of sanctions against Iran in mid-September for its malicious cyber operations. While the sanctions and other corresponding U.S. government actions raise awareness of the Iranian cyber threat, their impact will be undermined by the sanctions relief the Biden administration is reportedly prepared to give Tehran as part of a nuclear deal.
First, on September 9, Treasury sanctioned Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and Minister of Intelligence Esmaeil Khatib, blaming MOIS for a July attack on NATO ally Albania. The White House called the attack — which disrupted government services and destroyed data — an “unprecedented cyber incident,” and pledged to “hold Iran accountable for actions that threaten the security of a U.S. ally.”
Days later, Treasury imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and two companies for ransomware, data exfiltration, and other attacks against U.S. and global targets. A corresponding Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment elaborated that the hackers were responsible for “hundreds” of attacks against small businesses, nonprofit organizations, religious institutions, healthcare centers, and utility providers. The victims included electric utilities in Mississippi and Indiana and a domestic violence shelter in Pennsylvania.
While DOJ said that the hackers were not acting on orders of the Iranian government, both the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Treasury affirmed they are affiliates of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In parallel to the sanctions, CISA issued a cyber advisory providing technical details about the attacks, which network defenders can use to determine if their companies might also have been victimized and to prevent future attacks. The advisory co-authors included the DOJ, Treasury, the National Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Command, signifying the high-degree of confidence in the reported information. Cybersecurity agencies from Canada, Britain, and Australia co-signed the advisory, demonstrating the breadth of allied concern.
Sanctions, indictments, and technical advisories are valuable: They provide useful, actionable information to network defenders. They disrupt active cyber campaigns. And they demonstrate America’s ability to definitively attribute cyberattacks to their perpetrators — a prerequisite for holding malicious actors accountable. Public attribution also undermines the plausible deniability of those who ordered the attack, limiting the appeal of offensive cyber operations.
Yet the coordinated steps by Treasury, DOJ, and CISA and their domestic and international partners fall short of the White House promise to “hold Iran accountable.” The new sanctions on MOIS amount to a slap on the wrist: The ministry has been subject to U.S. sanctions since February 2012 for supporting terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda, and for facilitating human rights abuses in Iran and Syria. Designation under another sanctions program will not materially affect the ability of MOIS to engage in global operations.
Furthermore, while the State Department offers up to $10 million for information about IRGC-affiliated hackers as part of its Rewards for Justice program, the Biden administration is reportedly offering Tehran a nuclear deal with sanctions relief worth $275 billion in the first year and $1 trillion by 2030. And that means increased budgets for the MOIS and IRGC, far outweighing the effects of sanctions.
*Annie Fixler is the deputy director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor. They both contribute to FDD’s Iran Program and Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). Michael Sugden is a CCTI intern.

Saudi Arabia plans to send female astronaut to space in 2023
Associated Press/September 22/2022
Saudi Arabia said Thursday it will launch a training program with the goal of sending its own astronauts, including a woman, into space next year. The kingdom is actively promoting science and technology as part of its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to overhaul its economy and reduce its dependency on oil. The plan, championed by Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also calls for greater integration of women into the workforce of the conservative Muslim country. Saudi Arabia lifted a long-standing ban on women driving in 2018. "The Saudi Astronaut Program, which is an integral part of the Kingdom's ambitious Vision 2030, will send Saudi astronauts into space to help better serve humanity," the Saudi Space Commission said in a statement. "One of the astronauts will be a Saudi woman, whose mission to space will represent a historical first for the Kingdom."
The first Arab or Muslim to travel to space was Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Salman, a half-brother of the crown prince and an air force pilot who was part of the seven-member crew of NASA's Discovery mission in 1985. He later served as head of the Saudi Space Commission from 2018 until last year, when he was appointed an adviser to King Salman. The neighboring United Arab Emirates has the Arab world's leading space program, having launched a probe into Mars' orbit in February 2021. The UAE plans to launch its first lunar rover in November. If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan, which is providing the lander, would join the ranks of only the U.S., Russia and China as nations that have put a spacecraft on the lunar surface.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 22-23/2022
Despite Biden’s assurances, Middle East militaries are buying their own weapons to take on Iran at sea and in the air
دول الشرق الأوسط تدعّم جيوشها بكافة الأسلحة لمواجهة تهديدات إيران رغم تطمينات بايدن
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112141/despite-bidens-assurances-middle-east-militaries-are-buying-their-own-weapons-to-take-on-iran-at-sea-and-in-the-air/
Insider/September 22/2022

How the US Squandered Its Strategic Minerals
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/September 22/2022
While China has been relentlessly pursuing self-reliance when it comes to raw materials -- especially strategic ones such as titanium, tungsten and cobalt, which are used in the defense industry -- the US for the past several decades has been selling off huge chunks of the strategic minerals stockpile to the extent that the National Defense Stockpile is reportedly reaching insolvency.
By comparison, China, as of 2020, was the world's third-largest exporter of titanium, while the US was the number one destination for the Chinese titanium exports.
It is China's growing influence in Africa, especially through its Belt and Road Initiative, the global infrastructure and economic development project that the Chinese Communist Party launched in 2013, that has helped China achieve such near monopolies when it comes to precious resources and raw materials.
The rare earths dependency on China stems in part from the fact that extracting rare earth minerals is an extremely polluting process that China has been willing to undertake, while most other countries have not, including the US, which ironically prides itself on having extremely strict environmental regulations in place.
The US, according to Reuters, has only one rare earths mine and no capability to process rare earth minerals. If China were to stop exporting them to the US, the country would fast run out of the basic building blocks required to produce the military hardware that the US needs, not to mention all the other items where rare earth minerals are needed.
At present, 40 out of Africa's 54 countries participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative.
"Beijing has increased its control of African commodities through strategic direct investment in oil fields, mines, and production facilities, as well as through resource-backed loans that call for in-kind payments of commodities. This control threatens the ability of U.S. companies to access key supplies." — U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2020 Report to Congress.
While China has been relentlessly pursuing self-reliance when it comes to raw materials -- especially strategic ones that are used in the defense industry -- the US for decades has been selling off huge chunks of its strategic minerals stockpile. Pictured: A front-loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals, to be loaded on ships at a port in Lianyungang, China, on September 5, 2010.
"The PRC's [Communist China's] long-term goal," the Pentagon wrote in 2020, "is to create an entirely self-reliant defense-industrial sector—fused with a strong civilian industrial and technology sector—that can meet the PLA's needs for modern military capabilities."
While China has been relentlessly pursuing self-reliance when it comes to raw materials -- especially strategic ones such as titanium, tungsten and cobalt, which are used in the defense industry -- the US for the past several decades has been selling off huge chunks of the strategic minerals stockpile to the extent that the National Defense Stockpile is reportedly reaching insolvency.
The National Defense Stockpile was established during World War II to ensure that the US military had critical materials necessary for its national defense, including titanium, tungsten, aluminum, and cobalt, especially in the event of a supply chain disruption. The stockpile is managed by the Defense Logistics Agency. According to Defense News:
"The stockpile was valued at nearly $42 billion in today's dollars at its peak during the beginning of the Cold War in 1952. That value has plummeted to $888 million as of last year following decades of congressionally authorized sell-offs to private sector customers. Lawmakers anticipate the stockpile will become insolvent by FY25."
In a bipartisan letter signed by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass) and seven other members of Congress, it was pointed out how the US abandoned all caution, mindlessly selling off critical and strategic minerals:
"In the past three decades after the Cold War, Congress has authorized the sell-off of the majority of the NDS's stockpiled materials. This has lowered the total value of the stockpiled inventory from $9.6 billion in 1989 ($21.9 billion adjusted for inflation) to $888 million in 2021. These Congressionally mandated sell-offs included: 30000 short tons of titanium, a material used for building military airframes... 76 million pounds of tungsten ores and concentrates, over 2 million pounds of tantalum...62881 short tons of aluminum, 26 million pounds of cobalt, 125138 long tons of rubber, and other stockpiled materials... And numerous other sell-offs whose receipts were deposited into the general treasury fund. The NDS is no longer capable of covering the Department of Defense's needs for the vast majority of identified materials in the event of a supply chain disruption. Furthermore, the Department of Defense has found that the NDS Transaction Fund is approaching fiscal insolvency by FY25."
"It was just ignorance on our part that we allowed that to happen," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. said. "I don't see any other reason for it."
By comparison, China, as of 2020, was the world's third-largest exporter of titanium, while the US was the number one destination for the Chinese titanium exports. Similarly, China exports a large quantity of tungsten to the United States. When it comes to cobalt, in 2021 the Democratic Republic of Congo accounted for 70% of the world's total output of cobalt, but with Chinese investors controlling a similar proportion of the cobalt production, according to The Wall Street Journal. It is China's growing influence in Africa, especially through its Belt and Road Initiative, the global infrastructure and economic development project that the Chinese Communist Party launched in 2013, that has helped China achieve such near monopolies when it comes to precious resources and raw materials.
According to the Department of Defense, $125 million was invested into the National Defense Stockpile in 2022 and the Biden administration has proposed to spend an additional $253 million in 2023 with the goal, according to an unnamed DoD spokesperson, eventually to invest $1 billion in the stockpile. Whether that will solve the dependency issues is questionable: even after those investments, the stockpile reportedly will still be less than one-tenth its former size.
Having sold off so much of the US strategic critical mineral reserves, the US now depends on China for rare earth minerals, which are crucial for everything in the US military from F-35 fighter jets, missiles, and tanks to mobile phones and radio communication.
The rare earths dependency on China stems in part from the fact that extracting rare earth minerals is an extremely polluting process that China has been willing to undertake, while most other countries have not, including the US, which ironically prides itself on having strict environmental regulations in place. While ongoing research seeking to make the process less polluting could change that, such a change will not occur overnight. The US, according to Reuters, has only one rare earths mine and no capability to process rare earth minerals. If China were to stop exporting them to the US, the country would fast run out of the basic building blocks required to produce the military hardware that the US needs, not to mention all the other items where rare earth minerals are needed.
In February, Reuters reported that the Pentagon was planning to boost the stockpile of rare earth minerals, in addition to cobalt and lithium. The twist is that it can only do so by buying, at least in part, from China, which currently sits on 90% of the rare earth minerals supply.
Boosting the strategic mineral reserves is long overdue, but the question is whether the initiatives mentioned above will be enough at this point. China has been following a strategy of investing in strategic raw materials for decades and it seeks to dominate in the countries, especially in Africa, where those raw materials can be found. At present, 40 out of Africa's 54 countries participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative.
"China is dependent on Africa for imports of fossil fuels and commodities," the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in its 2020 annual report to Congress.
"Beijing has increased its control of African commodities through strategic direct investment in oil fields, mines, and production facilities, as well as through resource-backed loans that call for in-kind payments of commodities. This control threatens the ability of U.S. companies to access key supplies."
Seen in the light of China's evident ambition to control critical global resources -- and the strides is has made to do so, as evidenced by the US-China Economic and Security Commission -- the problem that the US faces will hardly be resolved simply by increasing the budget of the National Defense Stockpile.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Muhammad Selfishly Bans Child Adoption and the West Follows Suit
Raymond Ibrahim/September 22/2022
A recent development, based on a little known technicality of sharia, yet again underscores how Islamic law is in many ways the antithesis of natural law.
A ‘Gift From God’ — Seized By the State
Four years ago, a newborn baby boy was found abandoned inside a Coptic Christian church in Egypt. The priest entrusted the foundling to a pious couple from his congregation, who for nearly 30 years had prayed for a child. Everything went well for the next four years. The boy, who was given the distinctly Coptic name of Shenouda, became the pride and joy of his adoptive parents. Seeing him as a “gift from God,” they spared no care or expense on his upbringing.
Then the Egyptian state learned about this otherwise happy outcome. Because Egyptian law bans adoption, the 4-year-old child was seized from his loving parents’ arms—even as he cried “mamma, papa!”—and sent to an orphanage.
According to the Egyptian government, because the religious affiliation of Shenouda’s biological parents is unknown, he must be considered and treated as a Muslim. Such “logic” traces back to Islamic jurisprudence, which holds that every human being is born as a Muslim and only “loses” his/her Islam when taught false things or religions (in this case, Christianity).
At the orphanage, the four-year-old child was forcibly “returned” to Islam: he was issued a birth certificate—marked “Muslim” under religion—and given a suitable Muslim name, Yusuf.
For more on this hapless child’s fate, see this article.
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2022/09/06/the-tragic-story-of-baby-shenouda/
Why?
Here we address the all-important question: why is adoption illegal in Egypt and other Muslim nations in the first place?
As with all Islamic practices—particularly the more bizarre ones, such as adult breastfeeding, camel urine drinking, and necrophilia—sharia’s ban on adoption, which was originally an acceptable practice among the pre-Islamic Arabs, revolves around Muhammad.
According to Islam’s most authoritative scriptures, the prophet once dropped in for a visit at the tent of his own adopted son, Zayd bin al-Haritha. There, Muhammad’s eyes fell upon Zayd’s unveiled wife, Zaynab. Instantly enamored by the sight of his scantily clad daughter-in-law, it soon became clear to Zayd that his adoptive father desired his wife. So he humbly offered to divorce her; but Muhammad, knowing the scandal it might cause if he added his own son’s wife to his already burgeoning harem, refused.
Before long, Muhammad received another “revelation”—meaning a Koran verse—whereby Allah ordered him to marry Zaynab. The Muslim deity further chastised Muhammad. Of all people, surely he, a prophet, should concern himself only with Allah’s will, not the opinions of his followers. Finally, to guard Muhammad from the stigma of marrying and copulating with what was considered his daughter, Allah abolished the traditional notion of adoption, thereby allowing men to have the ex-wives of their one-time but no longer adopted sons. (See Koran 33:4 and 33:36-42)
It was, incidentally, this “revelation” that caused Muhammad’s child-bride, Aisha, to once quip: “I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires” (Sahih Bukhari 6:60:311).
Alleging that God is the Cause of Evil
Nor was she alone in seeing the obvious. Of all the impieties attributed to Muhammad in Islamic scriptures—and these are not a few—nothing so underscored his imposture among non-Muslims as much as this Zayd/Zaynab affair. Virtually every Christian polemic against Islam from the seventh century on cites it. For instance, over 1,300 years ago, in his exchange with Caliph Omar II in 718, Eastern Roman Emperor Leo III cited it in the context of how Muhammad always imputed his carnal behavior to God. Wrote Leo:
Nor do I wish to pass over in silence the abominable authorization given you [Muslims] by your legislator [Muhammad] to have with your wives a commerce that he has compared, I am ashamed to say, to the tilling of fields [e.g., Koran 2:223]. As a consequence of this license, a goodly number of you have contracted the habit of multiplying their commerce [sex] with women, as if it were a question of tilling fields. Nor can I forget the chastity of your Prophet and the manner full of artifice whereby he succeeded in seducing the woman Zaynab. Of all these abominations the worst is that of accusing God of being the originator of all these filthy acts, which fact has doubtless been the cause of the introduction among your compatriots of this disgusting law [treating women as “tilling fields”]. Is there indeed a worse blasphemy than that of alleging that God is the cause of all this evil? (Sword and Scimitar, p. 63; emphasis added).
But if Western leaders once called out and condemned inhumane laws that were promulgated to suit Muhammad’s caprice, today they are enforcing them—including Islam’s ban on adoption. As one report from 2018 found, “Canadian officials have been restricting adoptions from various Muslim countries on an ad hoc basis for at least a decade—saying those countries don’t allow adoption and citing Shariah law.”
The West Appeases Sharia
Here, then, is a reminder of just how far Western civilization has abandoned its rational and humanistic roots in order to appease irrational and inhumane practices. Thanks to entrenched relativism and “multiculturalism,” Judeo-Christian ethics are now deemed no better than—maybe not even as good as—sharia.
Put differently, whereas the Zaynab episode and its fruits—including an irrational ban on traditional adoption—once epitomized all that was wrong with Islam in Western eyes, today it is on its way to epitomizing all that is wrong with the West itself.
As for the child, Shenouda, who was stripped from loving, adoptive parents, converted to Islam, and sent to an Egyptian orphanage—where abuse and neglect are rife—expect zero effort from those who are forever clamoring about, and trying to shame the West into doing more for, “human rights.”

The Gender Apartheid State of Iran
Mariam Memarsadeghi/The Tablet/September 22/2022
Why does Joe Biden seek to align America with a violent ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ regime that beats women to death for exposing their hair?
Mahsa (Jeena) Amini died in a coma on Sept. 16 after repeated blows to her head by Islamist regime thugs enforcing mandatory Islamist hijab. She could have been any 22-year-old Iranian girl, killed because strands of her hair were showing from beneath her headscarf. We know her story only because her brave Kurdish family refused to cower, despite being surrounded by regime agents and threatened to be silent. Mahsa’s family has been bravely telling reporters their girl was healthy, that the regime’s fabricated video purportedly showing her collapsing from a heart condition is a lie. Her father, as well as girls who were arrested with her, testify that they saw bruises on her head, a fact confirmed by a leaked photograph of the bruised, unconscious girl in a hospital bed.
Officials from the hospital where Mahsa died have also spoken out, another courageous act, telling reporters Mahsa had 10 or 11 blows to her head, likely from it being bashed into a wall. The other women and girls who were arrested with Mahsa for violating the hijab have stated that Mahsa’s beatings began in the police van where they were all held.
Most striking is testimony via Twitter and submitted to regime officials from Hasan Shirazi, a first lieutenant in the “morality” police station to which Mahsa was brought. Mahsa was holding her head and screaming loudly when she was taken out of the police van, says Shirazi. A female guard told her she would be released soon, but Mahsa would not stop screaming.
Hearing her screams, a senior officer, Colonel Seyyed Abbas Hosseini, reportedly became very angry and approached the women. According to Shirazi’s testimony, Hosseini told Mahsa to shut up and punched her so hard that she fell to the ground, unconscious. Everyone at the station was apparently silent as Colonel Hosseini then began to kick Mahsa and ask that she be taken to basement level 2, the “darkest unit” of the detention center. The women guards could not lift Mahsa and one cried out in panic that her ear was bleeding. It took 20 minutes for an ambulance to come take Mahsa to the hospital.
Since the imposition of Sharia law in the 1979 revolution, there have been countless girls and women like Mahsa. Today the reality of this nightmare is being disseminated across the world because Iranians are rising up against the totalitarian evil of the regime and speaking out about the lashings, torture, rape, and killings. The actress Banafsheh Taherian is a striking example, showing her solidarity with Mahsa’s family by going public about receiving 60 lashes from regime police when she was 19-years-old. Her Twitter thread about this trauma is excruciating to read, in part because every Iranian has a loved one who has been on the receiving end of these blows and the verbal abuse and humiliation that accompanies them. These are very rare public admissions. Iranians have in large part stayed silent, particularly about torture and sexual abuse in prisons.
This week, all of Iran is aflame in protests sparked by the knowledge of Mahsa’s gruesome murder. Her eyes were hauntingly innocent, her smile gentle and kind in a land of horrors. The protests span the entire nation, all major cities and smaller towns. Online, too, the mobilization is as never before, a unity in discourse with film stars, athletes, and other celebrities breaking their silence and joining the people in their public revulsion against the barbaric cruelty and violence with which the regime treats the people of Iran in the name of Allah. On the streets, girls and women are burning their headscarves, dancing—acts punishable by lengthy prison sentences and even execution—as men young and old honor them, chanting for equality and promising vengeance for the killing of their sister Mahsa. These are scenes Iranians have seen in their dreams, a revolution of love for their true selves and hate for the armor-clad forces of darkness they surround and capture. It is the power of political action as Hannah Arendt described it, tethered to life by fear but also by transformative hope.
That Iranians are willing to brave the Islamic Republic’s repressive apparatus yet again is remarkable considering the massacre of over 1,500 protesters in 2019, the torture of many thousands more, and the execution of others including the champion wrestler from Shiraz, Navid Afkari, who was and is beloved for his honesty and passion for his people.
Yet this is a regime utterly committed to its brutality. Its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, protected by U.S. authorities and greeted at the United Nations with smiles and handshakes by French President Emmanuel Macron just as Iranians protest for their freedom—is among the most experienced killers of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s inner circle, personally culpable for the execution of thousands in a prison massacre in 1988. Raisi is a hardline ideologue who is barely intelligible, with no university education. Even now, Raisi is proud of his role as one of four members of a death committee, sending political prisoners to be hanged after “trials” lasting a few minutes. He has called his massacre “divine punishment” and a “proud achievement” for the revolutionary regime. For him, mass killing is an act of God. Days ago, he denied the Holocaust in a 60 Minutes interview. Why does the United States insist on embracing this killer, and the regime he fronts, as the Iranian people risk their lives in the streets protesting for freedom?
When President Barack Obama promoted the original Iran deal, his pitch was that the normalization of ties with the Islamic Republic would improve the welfare and freedoms of ordinary Iranians. The exact opposite happened. Even with injections of billions in cash into the regime’s coffers, the people grew poorer and the state more repressive. The so-called “moderate” former President Hassan Rouhani presided over the killing of over 1,500 protesters. That President Joe Biden wants to obtain a watered-down version of that deal with Raisi in Rouhani’s office, and with the supreme leader still in power, shows the moral vacuity of a foreign policy that aligns itself with the most repressive tyrants on the planet, even as they murder women, gay people, political liberals, journalists, and anyone else who dares to assert the most basic claims to their own humanity.
Biden has been willing to stick Americans with extortionate gas prices in order to fight for Ukraine and trash our alliance with India by sticking up for “human rights” in the subcontinent. But when it comes to Iran, the president of the United States and leading officials in his administration have been eager to abandon young Iranians, women especially, who have been fighting courageously for freedom since 2009. The greatest asset America has for a peaceful Middle East is the Iranian people, and yet the Obama-Biden playbook is predicated on their permanent oppression under the heel of a brutal regime of America-hating, Holocaust-denying, theocratic misogynists who beat women to death for exposing their hair.
There is no telling whether this time the Iranian people will finally win. What is certain is that the Handmaid’s Tale regime that hates women and hates America is still being courted by the Biden administration, which is a failure not just of our morality but of our national interest. When you look at the photographs of beautiful young Mahsa Amini tortured to death, and when you watch videos of the same thugs who killed her attempting to beat her young compatriots for protesting for her life, remember that these are the thugs the United States is attempting to equip with more power, more cash, and more prestige, at the expense of people who desperately want to be free of their tyranny.
*Mariam Memarsadeghi is Founder and Director of the Cyrus Forum, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a leading advocate for a democratic Iran.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/gender-apartheid-state-iran-mahsa-amini-joe-biden

Russia Wants a Decisive Battle in the Donbas
Hussam Itani/Asharq Al-Awsat/September, 22/2022
With the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service, the world is back on track with its dilemmas. The war in Ukraine is becoming more complex, and peace is far from being reached, as new obstacles arise every day. Referendums called for by the pro-Kremlin administrations in the four regions occupied by Russian forces in Ukraine, showed that the retreat in Kharkiv was not enough to turn the course of the war, as many observers expected. In fact, the notion that has spread since the early days of the fighting in February that Russia cannot afford a total failure in Ukraine, at all costs, has been proven correct. It is a sinister and catastrophic reality.The regime in Russia does not accept compromises. This produced a group of loyalists, who echo the positions of the regime and elevate its status. The stances expressed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent Samarkand summit left no doubt that the two Asian giants do not want to slide into a rupture with the West.
Putin must look for ways to peace, Modi said, in what amounts to a diplomatic slap. The Indian and Chinese lull came a few weeks after the forces of the two countries participated in the massive maneuvers conducted by the Russian army in the Pacific region.
However, maneuvering is one thing, and adopting Moscow’s vision of conflict under the pretext of preserving strategic and national interests is another matter, even if both Beijing and New Delhi reap undeniable benefits from preferential discounts on the oil they buy from Russia. Another bad omen is represented by the Ukrainian forces’ advancement towards the Donbas regions, which are occupied by Russia and its allies since 2014. Besides its great economic importance, the Donbas embraces a proportion of people who see Russia as their motherland.The scenario of the Kharkiv battle is unlikely to be repeated in the Donbas, which will witness a referendum on joining the Russian Federation. The region will demand to become part of the Russian state— along with Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk. This would make any Ukrainian attack on these regions an attack on the territory of the Russian Federation. The “special military operation” will then end, to open the way for war and the general mobilization. The Russian leadership believes that this will resolve the shortage of human resources, which was seen in Kharkiv, where the inability to compensate for human losses prompted the Kremlin to resort to the Wagner to recruit mercenaries, prisoners and others. In contrast to the momentum gained by the Ukrainians in the battles of early September, and the insistence of President Volodymyr Zelensky to continue the fight until the “de-occupation” of all Ukrainian lands, including the Crimea and the Donbas, the proposed referendums seem only a recipe for a major field escalation, as Moscow returned to hint at the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Talk shows on Russian state television voice explicit nuclear threats against Ukraine and its allies, emphasizing that Russia has two options: “either victory or nuclear war.”Western warnings about the massive world reactions to Russia resorting to unconventional weapons seem to produce opposite results with Moscow, which sees such messages as an insult to its global standing.
The lines between deception and political maneuvering, and the possibility of deploying weapons of mass destruction on the Ukrainian arena, are not clear yet. The prevailing ambiguity is similar to the weeks and months that preceded the outbreak of the war, as Russia was massing its forces and at the same time denying its intention to attack Ukraine.