English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 26/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.september26.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10/16-25/:”‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 25-26/2022
In Lebanon, boat tragedy kills 94 but others plan to migrate
Patriarch Al Rahi: Any attempt to disrupt the presidential elections aims to exclude the Maronite role from power
Archbishop Aoudi: Calls for a decisive decision to elect a president around whom everyone will rally and bring Lebanon out of the nightmare
Lebanon's Banks to Reopen on Monday
Association of Banks suspends strike, banks to resume business tomorrow
Cooperation Agreement between Byblos District, Region Provence-Alpes Cote d'Azur
Agriculture Minister from Amman: We are at the end of the crisis & will soon emerge strong as always
Mawlawi: Dar Al-Fatwa was and will remain a unified edifice in the approach to national affairs
Khair announces return of 5 Lebanese, 8 Palestinians alive after a boat carrying migrants sank off Syria
Public Works Minister: Public money is a right of the state that cannot be compromised
Claude Hajjar: Open Letter to Michel Murr, Chairman and CEO of MTV
Claude Hajjar: Lettre Ouverte à Michel Murr, Chairman et CEO de la MTV

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 25-26/2022
Iran protesters return to streets, defying deadly crackdown
Hundreds Rally in Paris, European Cities to Denounce Iran Regime
Iran summons UK and Norway ambassadors amid violent unrest
Iran's Main Reformist Party Urges End to Mandatory Dress Code
US warns of catastrophic consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Borrell says Iran protest crackdown ‘unjustifiable, unacceptable’
Amid unrest, Iranian Guard attacks militant group in Iraq
Iraq’s Kadhimi Warns Against Formation of Govt. that Excludes Sadr
Aboul Gheit: East Jerusalem is an Occupied Territory by Int’l Law
Palestinian fighter killed by Israeli troops in West Bank
UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed meets with Germany’s Scholz in Abu Dhabi

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 25-26/2022
Mahsa Amini’s death in Iranian police custody has lit a spark in a nation seething with anger and discontent/Nadia Al Faour/Arab News/25 September/2022
Someone should remind Biden of Iran’s tyranny/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/25 September/2022
A Nuclear Pandora’s Box in the Standoff Between Russia and the West/Raghida Dergham/September 25, 2022
How Civilizations Will Be Decided/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/September 25, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 25-26/2022
In Lebanon, boat tragedy kills 94 but others plan to migrate
Associated Press/September 25/2022
Thousands of Palestinians held prayers on a small soccer field in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Saturday, to mourn one of the scores of migrants who died after their boat sank off Syria's coast this week, even as others vowed to undertake the same perilous voyage. Abdul-Al Abdul-Al, 24, kissed his father goodbye Tuesday before boarding a crowded boat leaving from a nearby town seeking a better life in Europe. It was his 14th attempt to flee the crisis-hit Mediterranean country, this time ending with the return of his dead body. He was to be buried in the camp where he was born, his father, Omar, told The Associated Press during the funeral procession. The death toll rose Saturday evening to 94 after several bodies were found on the coast by the town of Banyas, according to Syrian state TV. Earlier in the day, the head of al-Basel Hospital in Syria's coastal city of Tartus said that the death toll has reached 89, adding that of the 20 others who were receiving treatment at the medical center, six were discharged. The Lebanese Army announced Saturday that troops have detained the man who allegedly organized the deadly trip. The incident was the deadliest so far as a surging number of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians have been trying to flee Lebanon by sea to Europe in search of jobs and stability. In Lebanon, tens of thousands have lost their jobs while the the national currency has dropped more than 90% in value, eradicating the purchasing power of thousands of families and pulling three-quarters of the population into poverty. Alongside 1 million Syrian refugees, the small country of Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Many live in the dozen refugee camps that are scattered around the country. Palestinians suffer wide discrimination in Lebanon where they are deprived from doing specific jobs or own property and since the end of the 1975-90 civil war many have migrated.After noon prayers were held at Nahr el-Bared, hundreds of people gathered in a yard used to play football where Abdul-Al's coffin was placed in the middle. Prayers were held before the body was carried to a nearby cemetery where thousands of people had gathered to witness the young man being laid to rest. Omar Abdul-Al said that his son had tried to leave Lebanon before but did not succeed as sometimes the migrant boats he took had technical problems or faced high seas. Sometimes he had to swim back to shore, the man said. "We don't want to live here anymore. We want to leave," said Omar Abdul-Al, adding that he encouraged his late son to leave and now he is encouraging his four other sons to leave Lebanon. He added that his sons are all well educated but they cannot find jobs.
"We are passing through a severe crisis. There is no medication or bread or anything," the father said. He added that many other Palestinians were planning to go on the boat but it did not fit more people. Another relative of Abdul-Al screamed that "there is a disaster in Nahr el-Bared" saying that there are about 30 people missing from the camp who were on the boat. He said people are selling their homes and cars in order to go. Several others have been buried since Friday.There were conflicting reports on how many people were on board the boat when it sank, with some saying at least 120. Details about the ship, such as its size and capacity, were also not clear. In the aftermath of the disaster, the Lebanese Army said troops stormed Friday the homes of several suspected smugglers, detaining eight people involved in trafficking people abroad.
Residents in northern Lebanon say that people pay about $6,000 for an adult and $3,000 for a child to reach Europe. At the morgue, Omar Abdel-Al said he found his son's body "intact" though it was difficult to identify many of the dozens of other corpses kept there. "Anyone that comes with a boat, people are ready to go," he said.

Patriarch Al Rahi: Any attempt to disrupt the presidential elections aims to exclude the Maronite role from power
NNA/September 25/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112233/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%b9%d8%b8%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9-13/
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Rahi, warned on Sunday during Sunday Mass service against any attempt to disrupt the presidential elections because it excludes Christians from power. He said: "To block the presidential elections aims to overthrow the republic and exclude the Christian and Maronite role, in particular, from power,"  The Patriarch renewed the insistence on the need to form a new government that transcends the equation of political division between March 8 and 14, which represents the popular situation that arose with the October 17 uprising, and with the parliamentary diversity that resulted from the parliamentary uprising and the May 15 elections. "These circumstances require a national, sovereign, inclusive and representative government that guarantee the country's unity, economic advancement and carry out the required reforms," he stressed.

Archbishop Aoudi: Calls for a decisive decision to elect a president around whom everyone will rally and bring Lebanon out of the nightmare
LCCC/September 25/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112233/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%b9%d8%b8%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9-13/
Archbishop Elias Aoudi, in his sermon today stated that  "failure in our country only leads to more failure. Successful people have left the country, looking for opportunities to escape corruption and collapse, and invest their talents in places that respect their abilities. What we have achieved in Lebanon is because no one learns from failure or from those who have failed. And the evidence  is that no one is trying to address the fault points and the foci of failure: the failure to address the electricity crisis that is intractable to the Lebanese alone, the failure to address financial and economic problems, the deterioration of living conditions, the problems of roads and traffic safety, the slow implementation of the necessary reforms, the fight against waste and corruption, and the development of a financial plan that guarantees the return of citizens’ money . All these difficulties are taking place, in addition to the most important problem, which is the forming a government that takes charge of removing the country from what is in it, and electing a president for the republic within the deadline specified in the constitution. Aoudi applauded them, and hoped well for them and added that, these officials, if they are really responsible, should cry out with the apostle Peter: Lord, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. They should cast their care on the Lord, who enlightens their ways and turns evil away from the people through them, if they follow the commandments . Delays, hesitation, and failure to take the necessary decisions in a timely manner only reap the sufferings of the people. We need courage in order to overcome the ego and find a radical solution, and a decision to elect a president around whom everyone will rally to get Lebanon out of the nightmare, and work to preserve its sovereignty, independence and stability, invoking the constitution and applying the laws, even at the expense of their interests and pride. He concluded: "Our call today is to cast our nets wherever the Lord inspires us. We must silence our passions and interests, as Peter did, and follow the Lord's commandments, and then our fruits will be abundant."

Lebanon's Banks to Reopen on Monday
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Lebanon's banks will reopen on Monday, with each taking their own measures, the country's banking association said in a statement on Sunday. The country's banks have shut for about five days following a spree of bank hold-ups by frustrated depositors seeking access to their frozen savings. On September 16, several banks were held up in Lebanon, where commercial banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since an economic crisis took hold three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for basics. Lebanon's banks association announced a three-day closure over security concerns and urged the government to pass laws to deal with the crisis. The closure was extended later on. Authorities have been slow to pass reforms that would grant access to $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund, and on Friday failed to pass a 2022 budget. Without a capital controls law, banks have imposed unilateral limits on what most depositors can retrieve each week in US dollars or the Lebanese lira, which has lost more than 95% of its value since 2019.

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Calls for Election of ‘Ethical’ President
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Derian called on Saturday for the election of a president who is “ethical and responsible.”The president must be “wise, have a sense of national responsibility, integrity and ability to bring together all Lebanese,” he told a delegation of Sunnis MPs at Dar al-Fatwa in Beirut. President Michel Aoun’s term ends on October 31. Derian warned that Lebanon was moving rapidly towards becoming a “non-state” and Arabs and world are “ignoring it because of its poor political management on all levels.”He called on the MPs to help in ushering in change by “reclaiming the presidency of the republic and restoring respect to it and its role on the internal and external scenes.”Furthermore, he highlighted the “extreme” importance of the position of president in Lebanon in specific because the “Christian president is a symbol of coexistence on which the system is founded.”“The Arab recognize this position because he is the only Christian president in the Arab world,” remarked Derian. The meeting at Dar al-Fatwa tackled the upcoming presidential elections. The MPs and Derian held closed-door talks for nearly two hours. In a statement after the meeting, the lawmakers pledged to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, unity and freedoms. They vowed to preserve its relations with other countries, especially the Arab world where it belongs. They pledged to elect a president within the constitutional deadline and reiterated their commitment to the Taif Accord that outlines Lebanon’s Arab identity and on which its national unity and harmony between religions is based.

Association of Banks suspends strike, banks to resume business tomorrow
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
The Association of Banks in Lebanon announced in a statement today that following its meeting on the necessity of ensuring the continuity of customer service, taking into account the current difficult security conditions and the need to preserve the safety of bank customers and employees alike, in the absence of adequate protection by the state, it has decided that banks will resume their business starting tomorrow, Monday, 9/26/2022, through channels determined by each bank for the operations of commercial, educational, hospital and other institutions. Transactions through ATMs for all clients will also continue, allowing them to make their regular deposits and withdrawals, the statement added. The Association will also facilitate securing public sector salaries after transferring them to various banks from the Banque du Liban. It also reassured bank clients that any urgent requests can be addressed to the banks' administrations or hotline customer service lines for immediate attention.

Cooperation Agreement between Byblos District, Region Provence-Alpes Cote d'Azur
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
At the invitation of the Chairman of the Lebanese-French Parliamentary Friendship Committee, MP Simon Abi Ramia, a cooperation agreement declaration was signed today between the Byblos District, represented by Union of Municipalities head, Fadi Martinos, and the French Region Provence-Alpes Cote d’Azur, represented by the President of the Region, Renaud Muselier, during a ceremony held at the Byblos Sur Mer Hotel on Sunday. MPs Abi Ramia and Ziad al-Hawat, as well as the Director General of the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation Jean Gibran, the Mayor of Jbeil, Natalie El-Khoury, and a number of mayors, association heads and members of the French delegation attended the event. In his delivered word on the occasion, Abi Ramia welcomed the French delegation members and the attendees, stressing the importance of this agreement. "It is a great pleasure and honor for me to find myself among you as a citizen and representative of the Byblos region, and to talk about an achievement that brings hope for the future...The result of the talks with the Union of Municipalities of the Byblos region and the joint signing by the two regions of the declaration of intent that brings us together today is first of all part of the similarity between the PACA and Byblos regions on several levels, most importantly the geographical configuration and the special proximity between the sea and high mountains that is suitable for various winter and summer sports...,” he stated.
Abi Ramia also pointed to further points of similarity between both regions, “particularly in their belonging to the Mediterranean and to its history, which carries a civilization and a common destiny; in addition to the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity, which leads to dialogue and coexistence away from conflicts and wars.” “It is part of the ‘Partnership for the Future’ perspective that ensures innovative and productive collaborations that generate projects and jobs aligned with respecting the environment and sustainable development, halting youth migration and preventing demographic change in the population pyramid,” Abi Ramia underscored.
In turn, Muselier expressed his joy for being in Lebanon and in the ancient city of Jbeil, saying: "Our visit is one of brotherhood and solidarity to emphasize the strong relations between our two countries and peoples that are more rooted throughout history, and that the region of southern France, Provence, the Alps and the Cote d'Azur, is doing everything in its power to help Lebanon and contribute to its development and the advancement of its economic life.”He added, "We cannot remain idle before the suffering of the Lebanese people and the economic crisis they are enduring, so we are here today for more cooperation within the basic sectors of a decent living."Muselier called on Lebanese politicians to "play their role to save their country and elect a new president for the republic within the constitutional deadlines,” and to “form a government capable of facing challenges and salvaging the country," noting that "the international community is unable to help Lebanon if its people, especially those responsible for it, do not do their part and respect the constitutional deadlines." ".
He pointed to "the importance of signing this agreement today, which will be followed by other agreements," praising "the role of MP Abi Ramia in consolidating relations between the two countries and their peoples."Following the signing of the agreement between Martinos and Muselier, souvenirs were exchanged and then the attendees accepted Abi Ramia's invitation to a luncheon banquet hosted in honor of the delegation members and attending guests.
The delegation, accompanied by MP Abi Ramia, also toured the city of Byblos where they were briefed on its various archaeological and tourist attractions.

Agriculture Minister from Amman: We are at the end of the crisis & will soon emerge strong as always
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, affirmed today that food security is the utmost goal of all efforts, since the crisis extent is much greater than anticipated. Speaking at the quadripartite meeting of agriculture ministers from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Jordan held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Hajj Hassan said that food security is threatened by more than one crisis, which requires the existence of paths favoring sustainability and the scientific vision of the interrelations between these countries. “This prompted us to meet again after the Beirut and Baghdad summits, to confirm that the outcomes of the Beirut summit constitute the first course for building a four-way partnership that we aspire to expand to include all Arab countries,” he indicated. “Climate change has its weight in what has been and will be agreed upon between us, in addition to the flow of agricultural products and how to invest in the agricultural sector as a priority to advance national economies,” he went on, emphasizing the need for a united Arab partnership of efforts to address this matter and raise the level of food security as a collective goal. “We count a lot on this meeting in creating a unitary vision that takes into account the partnership between the public and private sectors,” the Agriculture Minister maintained. Referring to the Lebanon’s prevailing dire conditions, Hajj Hassan affirmed that the Lebanese are at the end of the crisis and will come out of it strong as always. “We are going through a difficult stage, but we are at the end of the road and we will come out soon as strong as we do every time,” he assured, thanking Arab brethrens for their continuous support and assistance to Lebanon.

Mawlawi: Dar Al-Fatwa was and will remain a unified edifice in the approach to national affairs
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
"A national meeting, the aim of which is unity and its basis is to adhere to Taif and strengthen the relationship between Lebanon and its Arab brothers," said caretaker minister of Interior via his Twitter account this evening. "We support it, and affirm that Dar Al-Fatwa was and will remain an unifying edifice in the approach to national affairs," Mawlawi went on. "The invitation of the Saudi ambassador is only evidence of the importance of the meeting and an affirmation of the Kingdom's keenness on Lebanon and its people and its support for legitimacy," he added.

Khair announces return of 5 Lebanese, 8 Palestinians alive after a boat carrying migrants sank off Syria
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Secretary-General of the Higher Relief Commission, Major General Mohammad Khair, revealed that after communicating with Al-Basel Hospital in Tartous, 5 Lebanese and 8 Palestinians alive will soon be returned to northern Lebanon, from the boat that sank off the Syrian island of Arwad.

Public Works Minister: Public money is a right of the state that cannot be compromised
NNA/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, reiterated, in an issued statement today, that “public money is a right of the state and cannot be compromised.”Accordingly, and as mentioned in the general budget, Hamieh said that in the wake of any occupant of marine property’s failure to settle the required dues as per the law, the concerned department will permanently seal the marine site in question with red wax.

رسالة باللغتين الفرنسية والإنكليزية من الناشطة السياسية كلود حجار إلى مدير ادارة تلفزيون المر تطالبه فيها بتبني قضية سالي حافظ والعمل على جمع التبرعات لمعالجة شقيقتها المحتاجة للعلاج خارج لبنان
Claude Hajjar: Open Letter to Michel Murr, Chairman and CEO of MTV
Claude Hajjar: Lettre Ouverte à Michel Murr, Chairman et CEO de la MTV/
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112239/claude-hajjar-lettre-ouverte-a-michel-murr-chairman-et-ceo-de-la-mtv-%d8%b1%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%aa%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%86%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a9/

Claude Hajjar: Lettre Ouverte à Michel Murr, Chairman et CEO de la MTV,
 September, 26/2022
Tous ceux qui ont La chaîne de télé Française TF1 ont dû voir ce soir, le reportage fait sur Sally Hafez et de son héroïsme pour avoir braqué la banque qui luí a confisqué son argent et avec un pistolet en PLASTIQUE. Elle l’a faite pour une juste cause, pour pouvoir soigner sa sœur atteinte de cancer cérébral et qui meurt à petit feu….
Aucune loi contre toutes ces banques qui ont volé le travail de toute une vie de milliers d’autres!!
Tout ce que nous avons trouvé à dire c’est « Wowwww bravoooo » ou « Bravoooo quel courage »,… pendant que l´état la recherche et qu’elle se trouve cachée, Dieu seul sait où, quelque part dans la nature.
Mais nom de Dieu, réagissons pour une fois correctement!!!!
Je demande à Michel Murr, Chairman & CEO de la MTV, de créer pour la famille Hafez, une journée TÉLÉTHON pour leur récolter de l’argent afin qu’elle puisse quitter à l’étranger et soigner leur sœur!!
Je demande à la Diaspora Libanaise de faire un don à cette famille pour qu’elle puisse continuer son calvaire!!!
Nous sommes des millions de Libanais à l’étranger!!!
Je demande la mobilisation des Oncologues Libanais habitants aux États Unis ou ailleurs, comme les Dr. ou Professeurs Pierre Khoury, Philip Salem, … et celle des grands hommes d’affaires comme Ziad Abdelnour, Yves Choueifaty, Carlos Slim,… pour cette cause humanitaire et juste.
Merci.
Claude Hajjar
Video of the Incident/https://youtu.be/4mvcBuBcdus

Claude Hajjar: Open Letter to Michel Murr, Chairman and CEO of MTV
 September, 26/2022
All those who have The French TV channel TF1 must have seen this evening, the report made on Sally Hafez and her heroism for having robbed the bank which confiscated her money and with a PLASTIC gun. She did it for a just cause, to be able to treat her sister who is suffering from brain cancer and who is slowly dying….
No law against all those banks that stole the life's work of thousands of others!!
All we could find to say was “Wowwww bravoooo” or “Bravoooo what courage”,… while the state searches for her and she lies hidden, God only knows where, somewhere in the wild.
But name of God, let's react correctly for once!!!!
I ask Michel Murr, Chairman & CEO of MTV, to create for the Hafez family, a TELETHON day to raise money for them so that they can go abroad and treat their sister!!
I ask the Lebanese Diaspora to make a donation to this family so that they can continue their ordeal!!!
We are millions of Lebanese abroad!!!
I ask for the mobilization of Lebanese Oncologists living in the United States or elsewhere, such as Dr. or Professors Pierre Khoury, Philip Salem, ... and that of great businessmen such as Ziad Abdelnour, Yves Choueifaty, Carlos Slim, ... for this humanitarian cause and fair.
Thanks.
Claude Hajjar

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 25-26/2022
Iran protesters return to streets, defying deadly crackdown
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Protests flared again in Iran Saturday over the death of a woman in morality police custody, despite a crackdown by security forces in which at least 41 people have died, according to official figures.  The main reformist party inside Iran called for the repeal of the mandatory Islamic dress code that Mahsa Amini had been accused of breaching as the protests over her death entered their ninth night. Web monitor NetBlocks reported that Skype was now restricted in Iran, as part of a crackdown on communications that has already targeted the last accessible international platforms Instagram, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Hundreds of angry demonstrators have been arrested, along with reformist activists and journalists. Twenty-two-year-old Amini was pronounced dead after spending three days in a coma following her arrest by the morality police. State television said the death toll had risen to 41. It aired footage of "rioters" on the streets in north and west Tehran as well as "some provinces", and said they had set fire to public and private property. Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights put the death toll at 54, excluding security personnel. It said that in many cases authorities had made the return of bodies to families contingent on them agreeing to secret burials. The group said most of the deaths had come in the Caspian Sea provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran. Waves of arrests have been reported, with the Gilan police chief announcing "the arrest of 739 rioters, including 60 women" in that province alone. Protests broke out again on Saturday night in the Gilan provincial capital Rasht as well as in various parts of Tehran, according to videos posted on social media. Anti-riot police deployed in northern Tehran in large numbers after night-fall, witnesses told AFP. One viral video, purportedly from Saturday evening, showed a woman defiantly swinging her headscarf above her head as she walked in the middle of a Tehran street. Security forces have also arrested reformist activists and journalists, with Sherif Mansour of US-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reporting 17 had been detained since the protests began. They include Niloufar Hamedi of the reformist newspaper Shargh, who reported on Amini's death.
Militia bases attacked
Elsewhere, the Norway-based Kurdish rights group Hengaw said protesters "took control" of parts of the town of Oshnaviyeh, in West Azerbaijan province. Iran's judiciary said "rioters attacked three Basij bases" in Oshnaviyeh, referring to the state-sanctioned Islamic militia. But it denied the security forces had lost control of the town. Ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi vowed to deal "decisively" with those behind the violence in a phone call Saturday with the family of a Basij militiaman killed in the northeastern city of Mashhad. His comment came after Amnesty International warned of "the risk of further bloodshed amid a deliberately imposed internet blackout."The London-based human rights group said evidence it gathered from 20 cities pointed to "a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully firing live ammunition at protesters."Amini died on September 16 following her arrest by Iran's morality police, a unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Activists said she suffered a blow to the head in custody but this has not been confirmed by the Iranian authorities, who have opened an investigation. The main reformist group inside Iran, the Union of Islamic Iran People's Party, called for the repeal of the mandatory dress code and the winding down of the morality police. The party, which is led by former aides of reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami who oversaw a thaw with the West between 1997 and 2005, also called on the government to "authorize peaceful demonstrations" and release those detained in recent days.
'No beating'
Thousands took part in government-backed counter-rallies in defense of the dress code on Friday. Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi insisted Amini had not been beaten. He said Iran was still investigating the cause of her death, adding: "We must wait for the final opinion of the medical examiner, which takes time". Amnesty dismissed the Iranian probe and called on the world to take "meaningful action" against the bloody crackdown. "UN member states must go beyond toothless statements, hear the cries for justice from victims and human rights defenders in Iran and urgently set up an independent UN investigative mechanism," said Heba Morayef, its director for the Middle East and North Africa. Iran has imposed tough restrictions on the use of the internet in a bid to hamper protesters gathering and stop the flow of images of the backlash from reaching the outside world. The United States announced Friday it was easing export restrictions on Iran to help expand internet services for its people.

Hundreds Rally in Paris, European Cities to Denounce Iran Regime
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Hundreds of expatriate Iranians rallied in Paris and other European cities on Saturday to denounce Iran's crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by morality police. The protesters gathered in the central Place du Chatelet in the French capital and chanted slogans against supreme leader Ali Khamenei and also urged French President Emmanuel Macron to halt negotiations with Iran, AFP said. "Khamenei get out of Iran!", "Macron enough silence!" and "Death to the Iranian republic" were among the slogans shouted by the demonstrators in French and Persian, an AFP reporter said.
The protesters also sung in Persian the Italian protest song "Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful)" which has become popular with supporters of the movement. They also repeated the viral Persian chants used by protesters inside Iran such as "zan, zendegi, azadi!" (woman, life, freedom!) and also its Kurdish equivalent "jin, jiyan, azadi!" as Amini, also known as Jhina Amini, was Kurdish. In other protests, Iranian women in Athens cut their hair in a gesture of solidarity with Amini, brandishing placards reading "say her name!".Demonstrators on Sergels Torg in the center of the Swedish capital Stockholm also cut their hair while another group outside the Swedish parliament held up pictures of those killed.Iran says that 35 people have died in the protests that erupted after the death of Amini but activists say that the number is now over 50 and likely even higher. Demonstrators in Paris expressed fury that Macron had met and shaken hands with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week as Paris seeks to keep the 2015 deal on Tehran's nuclear program alive. "How can you shake the hands of someone who has committed a crime against humanity?" read a placard brandished by the protesters referring to Raisi's alleged involvement in the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners in Iran. "The anger has caught fire and the flames will be impossible to extinguish," said Mahtab Ghorbani, an exiled poet and writer who lives in France. "Those who do not speak up will be held responsible and we demand that France stops the negotiations (on the nuclear issue) and closes the Iranian embassy in Paris," she said. The protesters are planning to hold a second demonstration on Sunday where they intend to march on the Iranian embassy in Paris.

Iran summons UK and Norway ambassadors amid violent unrest
Associated Press/September 25, 2022
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday it summoned Britain's ambassador to protest what it described as a hostile atmosphere created by London-based Farsi language media outlets. The move comes amid violent unrest in Iran triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported the ministry also summoned Norway’s ambassador to Iran and strongly protested recent remarks by the president of the Norwegian parliament, Masud Gharahkhani. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody after being detained by Iranian morality police launched unrest across Iran’s provinces and the capital of Tehran. Protests over Amini’s death have spread across at least 46 cities, towns and villages in Iran. State TV has suggested that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the protests began Sept. 17. An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 13 dead, with more than 1,200 demonstrators arrested. Running clashes between demonstrators and security forces have continued to erupt. A member of the Basij, a volunteer force with Iran's Guards, was killed by protesters last night in Tehran, semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday. Another Basij member, who was in a coma since Thursday after street clashes, died in Urmia, West Azerbaijan province on Sunday, IRNA reported. The Iranian Foreign Ministry's website said it summoned Simon Shercliff, the U.K.'s ambassador to Iran, on Saturday and protested the hosting of critical Farsi-language media outlets. The ministry alleges the news outlets have provoked disturbances and the spread of riots in Iran at the top of their programs. Iran said it considers the news agencies' reporting to be interference in Iran's internal affairs and acts against its sovereignty.
The crisis in Iran began as a public outpouring of anger over the the death of Amini, who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing her Islamic headscarf too loosely. The police said she died of a heart attack and was not mistreated, but her family has cast doubt on that account.
Amini’s death has sparked sharp condemnation from Western countries and the United Nations.Pro-government rallies were also held on Sunday in several cities across Iran. Thousands attended a rally in the capital's Enghelab, or Revolution Square, waving Iranian flags. Some officials, including cabinet spokesman, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, attended to the rally in Tehran.

Iran's Main Reformist Party Urges End to Mandatory Dress Code
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Iran's main reformist party called Saturday for an end to the mandatory dress code for women in force since 1983, after eight straight nights of protests. The Union of Islamic Iran People's Party also called for the winding down of the morality police charged with enforcing the code following the death in their custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on September 16. The party, which is led by former aides of reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami who oversaw a thaw with the West between 1997 and 2005, called on the authorities to "prepare the legal elements necessary for the repeal of the law on mandatory hijab". The party, which remains legal but is firmly outside the corridors of power, said Iran should announce an "official end to the activities of the morality police" and "authorize peaceful demonstrations." It said an "impartial commission" should be set up to investigate the circumstances of Amini's death and called for the "immediate release of people recently detained". At least 35 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the protests that erupted after Amini's death, according to official figures. Hundreds more have been arrested, including reformist journalists and activists as well as demonstrators. Under the law adopted in 1983, four years after Iran's revolution, all women, regardless of faith or nationality, must conceal their hair with a headscarf in public and wear loose-fitting trousers under their coats. The code has been widely skirted for decades, particularly in the major cities, but there have been periodic crackdowns.

US warns of catastrophic consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Reuters/Arab News/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
KYIV, Ukraine: The US warned on Sunday of “catastrophic consequences” if Moscow were to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, after Russia’s foreign minister said regions holding widely-criticized referendums would get full protection if annexed by Moscow. Votes in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force, were staged for a third day on Sunday. The Russian parliament could move to formalize the annexation within days. By incorporating the areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray efforts to retake them as attacks on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday the United States would respond to any Russian use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine and that it had spelled out to Moscow the “catastrophic consequences” it would face.
“If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” television program. The latest US warning followed a thinly veiled nuclear threat made on Wednesday by President Vladimir Putin, who said Russia would use any weapons to defend its territory. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the point more directly at a news conference on Saturday after a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York in which he repeated Moscow’s false claims to justify the invasion that the elected government in Kyiv was illegitimately installed and filled with neo-Nazis. Asked if Russia would have grounds for using nuclear weapons to defend annexed regions, Lavrov said Russian territory, including territory “further enshrined” in Russia’s constitution in the future, “is under the full protection of the state.”
’Bogus threats’
Ukraine and its allies have dismissed the referendums as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war and a mobilization drive by Moscow after recent battlefield losses. British Prime Minister Liz Truss said Britain and its allies should not heed threats from Putin, who had made what she called a strategic mistake as he had not anticipated the strength of reaction from the West. “We should not be listening to his saber-rattling and his bogus threats. Instead, what we need to do is continue to put sanctions on Russia and continue to support the Ukrainians,” Truss told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Russian news agencies quoted unidentified sources as saying the Russian parliament could debate bills to incorporate the new territories as soon as Thursday. State-run RIA Novosti said Putin could address parliament on Friday.
Russia says the referendums, hastily organized after Ukraine recaptured territory in a counter-offensive this month, enable people in those regions to express their view.
The territory controlled by Russian forces in the four regions represents about 15 percent of Ukraine, an area roughly the size of Portugal. It would add to Crimea, an area nearly the size of Belgium that Russia claims to have annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian forces still control some territory in each of the regions, including around 40 percent of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia’s provincial capital. Heavy fighting continued along the entire front, especially in northern Donetsk and in Kherson.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who insists that Ukraine will regain all its territory, said on Sunday there had been “positive results” for Kyiv in some of the clashes. “This is the Donetsk region, this is our Kharkiv region. This is the Kherson region, and also the Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement on Facebook that Russia had launched four missile and seven air strikes and 24 instances of shelling on targets in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, hitting dozens of towns, including in and around the Donetsk and Kherson regions. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.
Protests in Russia over drafts
Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia’s first military mobilization since World War II. The move triggered protests across Russia and sent many men of military age fleeing. Two of Russia’s most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about the mobilization, ordering regional officials to swiftly solve “excesses” stoking public anger. More than 2,000 people have been detained across Russia for protesting against the draft, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info. In Russia, where criticism of the conflict is banned, the demonstrations are among the first signs of discontent since the war began. In the Muslim-majority southern Russian region of Dagestan, police clashed with protesters, with at least 100 people detained. Zelensky acknowledged the protests in his video address. “Keep on fighting so that your children will not be sent to their deaths — all those that can be drafted by this criminal Russian mobilization,” he said. “Because if you come to take away the lives of our children — and I am saying this as a father — we will not let you get away alive.”

Borrell says Iran protest crackdown ‘unjustifiable, unacceptable’
AFP/September 25, 2022
BRUSSELS: The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday that Iran’s crackdown on protests is “unjustifiable” and “unacceptable,” as Tehran vowed no leniency against the unrest gripping the country. A wave of protests has rocked Iran since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police. At least 41 people have died, mostly protesters but including members of the Islamic republic’s security forces, according to an official toll, although human rights groups say the real figure is higher. In a statement on behalf of the EU, Borrell said: “For the European Union and its member states, the widespread and disproportionate use of force against nonviolent protesters is unjustifiable and unacceptable.” Moves “to severely restrict Internet access by the relevant Iranian authorities and to block instant messaging platforms is a further cause for concern, as it blatantly violates freedom of expression,” he added. Amini was arrested on September 13, accused of having breached rules that mandate tightly fitted hijab head coverings as well as ripped jeans and brightly colored clothes. Iran’s judiciary chief on Sunday “emphasised the need for decisive action without leniency.”

Amid unrest, Iranian Guard attacks militant group in Iraq
Updated 25 September 2022
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday attacked a Kurdish militant group’s base located in the north of neighboring Iraq, state media said, a week after widespread anti-government protests began over a young woman’s death in police custody.
IRNA said the Guard’s ground forces fired artillery from positions within Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, attacking what it described as a “terrorist group” based across the border in Iraq. The report did not elaborate. IRNA also said some members of a separatist group, so-called “Komleh” in Iran, were arrested by intelligence forces, without giving details. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s military, quoted the Guard’s statement as saying the operation will continue in order to ensure border security. Tasnim added that the attack targeted the bases of Kurdish separatist groups in the north of Iraq and took place at 16:00 local time, and caused serious damage to them. The Guard’s attacks were in response to the support of the separatist group for the recent unrest in the country, as well as their attempt to import weapons into Iran, the report said.
The death of a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being detained by Iranian morality police, has launched unrest across Iran’s provinces and capital of Tehran. Amini’s family hails from Iran’s Kurdish region. State TV suggested Saturday that 41 protesters and policemen have been killed since the protests erupted last Saturday. He said official statistics would be released by the Interior Ministry. According to a tally by The Associated Press, there have been at least 11 deaths from both sides since protests began after Amini’s funeral.

Iraq’s Kadhimi Warns Against Formation of Govt. that Excludes Sadr
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi warned on Saturday against the formation of a government that excludes Sadrist movement leader, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. In an interview to Al-Monitor, the PM warned that such a government will face “major challenges.” “Everyone now understands that any government that does not involve Sadr will face huge challenges,” he added. Iraq’s political class faces a “crisis of trust” with the public, he said. Excluding Sadr, for example, could lead to a repeat of October 2019, or worse. “Iran has friends in Iraq, and it is able to influence them and push them toward dialogue rather than using the weapons that they currently possess,” Kadhimi told Al-Monitor. “We need a good relationship and we currently do have a good relationship with Iran.”Meanwhile, Sadr’s rivals in the Shiite pro-Iran Coordination Framework have shown flexibility over the possibility of reaching an understanding with the cleric to end Iraq’s political deadlock. Head of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and one of the Framework’s most hardline members Kais Khazali said on Friday that the grouping is “open” to solutions that may end the impasse. He remarked, however, that “there can be no turning back the clock and returning the resigned Sadrist MPs to parliament.”Early parliamentary elections is the only way for them to return to the legislature, he added in televised remarks. Furthermore, Khazali said the Framework was prepared to abandon the nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister if it will pave way to ending the stalemate. “Whatever the Sadrist movement wants, it will find that the Framework is ready to discuss it. The Framework is open to the Sadrist movement and receptive to it to end the political crisis,” he stressed. Head of the Center for Political Thinking in Iraq, Dr. Ihssan Shmary told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The Framework is displaying flexibility based on Sadr’s recent statement that called for peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and shunning division.”It seems that there is a change in his position, which may have led to a change in Khazali’s, he added. However, a closer look will show that both officials are really not being flexible. Sadr is approaching the crisis from a religious angle, not a political one. He does not want to return to political life, explained Shmary. Rather, he just set a roadmap and is waiting to see how others respond, he went on to say. On Khazali’s remarks, Shmary said the Framework is not united in position. Khazali may be ready to abandon Sudani’s nomination, but his partner, former PM Nouri al-Maliki is not. Moreover, Khazali laid out conditions to Sadr, who is unlikely to accept them because he doesn’t allow conditions to be imposed on him, said Shmary.

Aboul Gheit: East Jerusalem is an Occupied Territory by Int’l Law
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit emphasized on Saturday that by international law and the United Nations and Security Council resolutions, East Jerusalem is an “occupied land” and should not be treated otherwise. On his Twitter page, Aboul Gheit said “those who brandish respect for international laws must not have double standards.” Aboul Gheit had on Thursday met with the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. “Aboul Gheit had listened to the explanation given by the President of Kosovo regarding her country’s efforts to obtain additional international recognition,” Jamal Rushdie, spokesman for the League’s Secretary-General said. Aboul Gheit stressed that the 2021 decision of Kosovo’s previous administration to open its embassy in Jerusalem is a clear violation of international law.
“The position taken by Kosovo’s former administration to open an embassy in Jerusalem in 2021, although it was a sovereign state decision, we consider it a blatant violation of international law, which considers Jerusalem a city under occupation and does not recognize it as the capital of Israel,” said Aboul Gheit. Rushdie also stated that Aboul Gheit had conveyed to Kosovo’s President the “need to reconsider this decision, which we believe fails to serve the goal of achieving comprehensive peace in the region, nor does it reflect the deep relations between a number of Arab countries with the people of Kosovo.”

Palestinian fighter killed by Israeli troops in West Bank
Agence France Presse/Sunday, 25 September, 2022
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian sources said, with Israel's army saying soldiers fired on "armed suspects" during a routine patrol.
The army said that "hits were identified" after soldiers fired towards "armed suspects driving in a vehicle and a motorcycle" near Nablus in the northern West Bank, an area that has seen near daily violence in recent months. The Palestinian health ministry named the man killed as Saed al-Koni. A loose coalition of fighters called "The Lions Den" that has recently emerged in Nablus claimed Koni as one of their members. Among the members of this group was teenager Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, who has become a folk hero on social media since his killing by Israeli forces in August. Pendants of al-Nabulsi are on sale in the markets of Nablus Old City.
Koni's death was the second in the Nablus area in the past two days. On Saturday, a Palestinian driver was killed by Israeli troops after what the army called an "attempted ramming attack", but which Palestinians said was a traffic accident. The army said soldiers and police opened fire on a vehicle after the driver "attempted to run them over" during a patrol outside Nablus. The Palestinian foreign ministry described Muhammad Ali Hussein Awad, 36, as a "defenseless Palestinian" who was not "posing any danger.""The Israeli police deliberately shot Awad, with the aim of killing him, after his vehicle collided with a police vehicle in a traffic accident," the ministry said. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day War of 1967. There have been persistent car-rammings and other attacks by Palestinians on Israeli military vehicles and checkpoints in the territory in recent years. Israeli forces have faced criticism over their frequent use of lethal force in response to perceived threats. Israel is on high alert ahead of the Jewish high holiday season which begins on Sunday evening with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Since March, Israel has launched hundreds of raids in the northern West Bank, including Nablus and nearby Jenin, in pursuit of individuals it accuses of involvement in deadly attacks targeting Israelis. The raids have sparked clashes that have killed dozens of Palestinians, including fighters.

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed meets with Germany’s Scholz in Abu Dhabi
Agencies/Arab News/September 25/2022
DUBAI: The UAE agreed Sunday an “energy security” deal with Germany to supply liquefied natural gas and diesel during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Abu Dhabi on the second leg of his two-day tour to the Gulf. UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with Scholz where both leaders witnessed the signing of the Energy Security and Industry Accelerator (ESIA) Agreement “that will accelerate projects of joint interest” between both countries in energy security, decarbonization and climate action, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported. In a tweet, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said, “Today, I was pleased to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz to explore further opportunities for cooperation in areas including energy security, emissions reduction and climate action.”He added, “The UAE enjoys a close friendship and strategic partnership with the Federal Republic of Germany.”Scholz said, “I welcome the signing of the joint declaration of intent on the “Energy Security and Industry Accelerator – ESIA”. Through ESIA, we enable the swift implementation of strategic lighthouse projects on the focus areas of renewable energies, hydrogen, LNG and climate action.”Scholz arrived in the UAE Saturday night after concluding a visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was welcomed by the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, and several officials at the Presidential Terminal of the Abu Dhabi International Airport, WAM reported. Accompanied by a large delegation that includes representatives of several economic sectors, Scholz is scheduled to visit Qatar before going back to Berlin on Sunday

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 25-26/2022
Mahsa Amini’s death in Iranian police custody has lit a spark in a nation seething with anger and discontent
Nadia Al Faour/Arab News/25 September/2022
DUBAI: Protests have spread to almost all of Iran’s 31 provinces and urban cities since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police. On Sept. 13, Amini was arrested by a morality police (Gasht-e Ershad) patrol in a Tehran metro station, allegedly for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. She was hospitalized after the arrest, fell into a coma and died three days later. Iranian authorities maintain that she died of a heart attack. Her family says thart she had no pre-existing heart conditions. Her death has sparked outrage in a country seething with anger over a long list of grievances and a wide range of socio-economic concerns. Iranian women, fed up with the morality police’s heavy-handed approach, have been posting videos of themselves online cutting locks of their hair in support of Amini. Protesters who have taken to the streets have been chanting “Death to the moral police” and “Women, life, freedom.”In acts of defiance, female demonstrators can be seen taking off their headscarves, burning them and dancing in the streets. State police have been cracking down on the protesters by attacking them with tear gas while volunteers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been beating them. At least 41 people have died so far.
“The Internet in Tehran has been cut off. I have not been able to reach family members, but every now and then they are able to get a message through,” an Iranian man who fled to the US during the days of the Islamic Revolution, told Arab News. Mehdi, who did not want to give his full name, added: “We are hopeful that the government will offer concessions this time. It has been the biggest demonstration since the revolution. We take pride in what is happening in Iran.” Writing in The Washington Post, Karim Sajdadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described the protests against the killing of Amin as “led by the nation’s granddaughters against the grandfathers who have ruled their country for over four decades.”Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Sharia laws in the country require women to wear headscarves and loose garb in public. Those who do not abide by the code are fined or jailed. Iranian authorities’ campaign to make women dress modestly and against the wearing of mandatory clothing “incorrectly” began soon after the revolution, which ended an era of unfettered sartorial freedom for women under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. During the shah’s rule, his wife Farah, who often wore Western clothing, was held up as a model of a modern woman.
The image of protesters destroying portraits of Iranian leaders in the northern city of Sari is just one of many emerging from Iran over the past week in a symbol of anti-regime sentiment. (AFP)  By 1981, women were not allowed to show their arms in public. In 1983, Iran’s parliament decided that women who did not cover their hair in public could be punished with 74 lashes. In recent times, it added the punishment of up to 60 days in prison. Restrictions kept evolving, and the extent of enforcement of the female dress code has varied since 1979, depending on which president was in office. The Gasht-e Ershad was formed to enforce dress codes after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ultraconservative mayor of Tehran, became president in 2005. The restrictions were eased a little under the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, who was considered a relative moderate. After Rouhani accused the morality police of being aggressive, the head of the force declared in 2017 women violating the modesty code would no longer be arrested. However, the rule of President Ebrahim Raisi appears to have emboldened the morality police once again. In August, Raisi signed a decree for stricter enforcement of rules that require women to wear hijabs at all times in public. In his speech at the UN General Assembly last week, Raisi tried to deflect blame for the protests in Iran by pointing to Canada’s treatment of indigenous people and accused the West of applying double standards when it comes to human rights. When I look at how the women are standing up to the vicious regime that never shied away from genocide, it gives me goosebumps.
Mehdi, who fled to the US during the Islamic Revolution
Raisi’s government, meanwhile, is seeking some form of guarantee whereby the lifting of severe sanctions and resumed business activities by Western firms cannot be disrupted if a future US president rescinds the 2015 nuclear deal. Iranian officials also dispute the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency about illicit nuclear material found at three sites and want the IAEA’s investigation to close. Protests in Iran are not new. In 2009, the Green Movement held protests over election results believed to be fraudulent. In 2019, there were demonstrations over the spike in fuel prices and deteriorating standard of living conditions and basic needs. This year’s protests are different in that they are feminist in nature. Firuzeh Mahmoudi, executive director of United for Iran, a human rights NGO, said it is unprecedented for the country to see women taking off their hijabs en masse, burning police cars and tearing down pictures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the country’s supreme leader). It is also unprecedented to see men chant “We’ll support our sisters and women, life, liberty.” “Through social media, mobile apps, blogs and websites, Iranian women are actively participating in public discourse and exercising their civil rights,” Mahmoudi said. “Luckily for the growing women’s rights movements, the patriarchal and misogynistic government has not yet figured out how to completely censor and control the Internet.” Protests against the death of Mahsa Amini have erupted across Iran, and among the diaspora living around the world. (AFP)
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian political activist who has been living in exile in America since 2009, said that she has been receiving many messages from women in Iran. They have been sharing with her their frustrations, videos of the protests, and their goodbyes to their parents, which they believe might be for the last time. Saying that she can feel their anger through their messages, Alinejad said the hijab is a way for the government to control women and therefore society, adding that “their hair and their identity have been taken hostage.” Scores of Iranian male celebrities have also voiced their support of the protests and women. Toomaj Salehi, a dissident rapper who was arrested earlier this year because of his lyrics on regime change and social and political issues, posted a video of himself walking through the streets saying: “My tears don’t dry, it’s blood, it’s anger. The end is near, history repeats itself. Be afraid of us, pull back, know that you are done.”
For its part, the movie industry released a statement on Saturday calling on the military to drop their weapons and “return to the arms of the nation.” A number of famous actresses have taken off their hijab in support of the movement and the protests. Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, Iran’s culture minister, said that actresses who voiced their support online and removed their hijabs can no longer pursue their careers. In a tweet on Saturday, Sajdadpour said: “To understand Iran’s protests it’s striking to juxtapose images of the young, modern women killed in Iran over the last week (Mahsa Amini, Ghazale Chelavi, Hanane Kia, Mahsa Mogoi) with the images of the country’s ruling elite, virtually all deeply traditional, geriatric men.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi holds up a photo of Quds Force Commander General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. attack, during his remarks at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AFP)
Iranian authorities have shut down mobile Internet connections, disrupting WhatsApp and Instagram services. On Iranian state media, ISNA, Issa Zarepour, minister of communications, justified the act for “national security” and said it was not clear how long the blocks on social media platforms and WhatsApp would continue, as it was being implemented for “security purposes and discussions related to recent events.”However, Mahsa Alimardani, an academic at the Oxford Internet Institute who studies Iran’s Internet shutdowns and controls, said the authorities are targeting these platforms because they are “lifelines for information and communication that’s keeping the protests alive.”On Twitter, the hashtag #MahsaAmini in Farsi has exceeded well over 30 million posts. “Everyone in Iran knows that the authorities will crack down very hard on the protesters and kill them,” Mehdi, the US-based Iranian, told Arab News. “It’s almost target practice for them. When I look at how the women there are standing up to the ruthless and vicious regime that never shied away from genocide to maintain their power, it gives me goose bumps. It takes a certain courage to do what they are doing.”Looking forward to the future with hope, he said: “The flame has been ignited and we are not the kind of people who back out.”

Someone should remind Biden of Iran’s tyranny
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/25 September/2022
The heads of state and government from most of the UN’s 193 member states gathered last week at the organization’s famous New York City building to attend the 77th UN General Assembly. One of the attendees, whose presence was questionable and was objected to, was the ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran. Ironically, he was sanctioned by Washington in 2019 over his complicity in numerous human rights violations. His crimes included a reported involvement in the mass execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in 1988. His arrival in New York raised several inquiries and concerns, including questions about who gave the green light to allow Raisi to attend the important UNGA event at such a critical time. Who approved granting him an entry visa and allowed him to roam the streets of a country that he wants to destroy and whose citizens he wants to kill?
On his flight to New York, Raisi told reporters that he was going to the US to convey the message of the Iranian people to the whole world. “I remembered the martyrs; we must convey their voice by implementing the order. This opportunity is not our opportunity. I said at Mehrabad Airport that martyr (Qassem) Soleimani made this opportunity. The Iranian people are the ones who created this force,” he said of his attendance at the UNGA.
The US administration needs someone to remind it that hundreds of thousands of Iranians have been killed, imprisoned, tortured or executed by the regime headed by our criminal guest. According to the June intelligence report of the National Counterterrorism Center, the Iranian leadership was relentlessly looking for ways to avenge the killing of the brutal murderer Soleimani in January 2020, when former President Donald Trump approved a drone strike while the Quds Force commander was on a trip to Iraq. Under Raisi’s watch, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plotted to kill former US National Security Adviser John Bolton. Iran has also publicly expressed a willingness to conduct lethal operations on US soil since Raisi became president. Other reported targets include former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US Central Command commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie.
“Iran would probably view the killing or prosecution of a US official it considers equivalent in rank and stature to Soleimani or responsible for his death as successful retaliatory actions,” the intelligence report read.
Raisi should never have been permitted to stand and stain American soil with the blood of his innocent victims. Adding insult to injury, Raisi’s vulgarity reached the point of raising a photo of the brutal terrorist Soleimani under the dome of the UN building.
In case he does not recall, someone should notify President Joe Biden that Soleimani had killed hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of civilians by instructing his militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Soleimani also planned to assassinate foreign diplomats and US citizens on American soil.
Raisi, who is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s favorite, and former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, along with many others, should never have been permitted to stand and stain American soil with the blood of their innocent victims. And they should never be allowed to use US social media platforms to threaten the American people or spew their hatred and radical ideology. The US Department of State, headed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has managed to insult all the families of the soldiers who were killed in Iraq by Iranian proxy militias, drones or missiles. It also insulted the 1.5 million Iranian Americans who have fled the tyranny of the regime. And, finally, it has insulted every woman in Iran and around the globe who is protesting right now against the oppression of the tyrants of Tehran. A 22-year-old woman just got murdered by the very same people who were invited to the land of the free.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own

A Nuclear Pandora’s Box in the Standoff Between Russia and the West
Raghida Dergham/September 25, 2022
The war in Ukraine has this week entered a decisive phase, with Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering referenda in Donbas to annex Russian-controlled breakaway regions in Ukraine, referenda whose outcome will change the rules of the war. At the same time, Mr Putin has seriously invoked his nuclear options and declared a partial mobilization of up to 300,000 conscripts, indicating the expansion of the war in the coming weeks. It is now clear to anyone who had thought there was hope Mr Putin would take steps to negotiate or back down that the Russian leader is convinced he can – and is determined to – prevail in Ukraine and will not entertain even the idea of defeat. Such an outcome will no doubt require a ruthlessness and ‘deliberate mistakes’ that will destroy Ukrainian infrastructure and take no stock of the humanitarian cost or of others’ values in warfare. The Russian leader is not afraid of inviting a European and US military intervention and has put NATO on edge by talking about victory at any cost, including a nuclear cost.
On the other hand, it is clear that US and European leaders have made their decision in the equation of victory-or-defeat and will not allow Russia to seize Ukraine no matter the cost. This means that what appeared impossible a month or two ago, is now in the realm of plausibility, meaning US and European troops directly intervening in the war, in the event of Russia deploying tactical nukes – which are not strictly ‘tactical’ or ‘small radius’ weapons. So who will win and who will lose in Ukraine?
First, let’s address the big picture, the US strategy which many believe was to implicate Mr Putin to destroy the Russian ruling system if not Russia itself, for calculations related to the US grand strategy vis-à-vis China’s rise. Yet, it must be said that no matter the planners’ genius, it requires the target to fall into the trap.
Indeed, Mr Putin did not resist this trap then doubled down. He thought his infamous ultimatums and escalations would force the West to back down and comply with his demands, and therefore, enable a Russian victory. So far, Mr Putin has lost his bets, and continues to follow the path charted for him by the Western powers towards an ambush that could destroy Russia.
Some in Russia whisper comparisons between the Afghan war that destroyed the Soviet Union and the Ukraine war that is destroying Russia. The Russian president can no longer second guess his war in Ukraine, because backing down now means the collapse of his entire regime as well as Mr Putin himself. Yet the paradox is that continuing this war also risks total collapse if Russia loses. For this reason, defeat is not a word in the dictionary of Mr Putin and his military, especially after the war exposed the latter’s weakness and undermined its prestige.
A NATO victory in the war would mean dismantling Russia, its system, and the model Mr Putin built Russia on. It means the end of Putin’s Russia and Russia as we know it.
From the US point of view, defeating Russia helps American strategy against China. US National Security Council strategists believe that destroying the Russian regime by defeating Russia would cause China to lose a strategic partner practically and psychologically. It also means, according to an informed expert, that China would lose its Russian ‘buffer zone’, forcing it to the front line in the strategic standoff with the United States.
Of course, some challenge this thinking and the logic of destroying Russia for the sake of the US strategic equation with China. Some also underscore the risks of NATO’s strategy if the Ukraine war escalates to the nuclear threshold and culminates with a Russian victory, as Mr Putin believes.
Firstly, reaching the nuclear threshold, whether through tactical nukes or nuclear-capable Iskander missiles, could open the proverbial Pandora’s Box.
Second, Russia could deliberately expand the scope of its victory or defeat: If Russia prevails, it will not stop at its current boundaries with NATO and will seek to reshuffle the geopolitical deck in Europe by acting against Poland the Baltic states. If Russia is defeated, on the other hand, Mr Putin will make ‘deliberate mistakes’ such as attacking NATO airbases in Poland near Ukraine, according to sources close to the thinking of the Kremlin. Mr Putin will not allow even the notion of defeat to pass in all scenarios.
The coming two weeks are crucial. The Russian president will not allow Ukraine to be shared by two sides. Nor will the Ukrainian president, who is confident NATO will guarantee him the military edge in the war with Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky will not back down, and he sees Mr Putin’s failure to remove him from power as the start of his victory in Ukraine. Moreover, modern warfare is different, and is not limited to the battlefield: It’s also a technological war, and Mr Zelensky is fighting against Russia’s invasion with NATO’s advanced technology.
NATO may be forced to intervene directly in the war, for example to protect Ukraine’s nuclear reactors, if requested by Mr Zelensky. Ukraine is home to 14 reactors in addition to Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia. In that scenario, the war would become a European war.
The United States, also to help protect the nuclear reactors, may be willing to supply long-rage missiles to Ukraine with a range of up to 400 km, putting Crimea and even Moscow in range. In that case, according to a Russian expert, Russia could deploy nuclear weapons.
In truth, the Russian president is paving the way to say that using nuclear weapons is legitimate to defend Russia against aggression, following the referenda in Donbas that will conclude on 27 September with a predetermined outcome: The annexation of those regions to Russia. Subsequently, from 29-30 September, after the Russian Duma endorses the results, any assault on those ‘Russian regions’ would become an assault on Russia, giving the Kremlin the ‘right’ to respond by all means necessary, included nuclear ones.
Put differently, according to an expert on breakaway regions, “the buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine will disappear, and the war will enter a new threshold that includes the activation of Russian strategic nuclear instruments based on national laws to defend Russian territories using all available means”.
Russian military victory, if it were to transpire, would require full destruction along the lines of the so-called Baghdad scenario, in reference to the US shock and awe tactics to win war. Moving to those tactics is very possible following the referenda and the partial mobilization. For this reason, the next two weeks are very dangerous.
On 7 October, Vladimir Putin will celebrate his 70th birthday. The Russian people are semi-comatose when it comes to the reality of the war. The partial mobilization may wake them up a little to realize the seriousness of the confrontation between Russia and NATO. The Russian president’s birthday traditionally carries new developments, surprises, and insistence on achievements. The fear is that these achievements may be…nuclear.

How Civilizations Will Be Decided
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/September 25, 2022
Fewer babies will be born in all of Europe than in Nigeria alone.
More than half the increase of the global population projected by 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries, mostly in Africa, according to The Economist: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Tanzania. Nigeria will have more inhabitants than Europe and the United States.
This crisis is not a projection, it is happening right now. By 2050, 60% of Italians will have no brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles or aunts. The Italian family, with the father who pours the wine and the mother who serves the pasta to a table of grandparents, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, will be gone, as extinct as dinosaurs.
Yemen, on the other hand, a failed country in the middle of a terrible civil war, will show a population increase that is double Italy's.
"In 1887 there was only one Muslim registered in Melilla, he was originally from Casablanca and worked as a servant; today Muslims exceed 40 percent of the population and are approaching the majority", reported the newspaper El Pais.... Ceuta and Melilla are what most of Europe's cities will look like in 20-30 years. Melilla is now the first Spanish city that has surpassed a 50% Muslim population due to immigration, family reunification and a high birth rate.
The Western world has provided more wealth and convenience to more citizens than any other civilization in history. We are practically inundated with resources, but we are running out of people, the only truly indispensable resource.
"Islam to become Russia's predominant religion by 2050?" — Pravda, July 21, 2008.
In addition, Islam will have overtaken Christianity as the largest religion in the world. The Islamic population of the European Union, depending on the migratory flows, could reach 75 million within a generation -- like an entire Muslim Germany or, if one prefers, like Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Sweden combined. Does that sound better?
"They have not managed to change us. It is we who will change them. Look at the development of the population in Europe, where the number of Muslims increases like mosquitoes. Each Western woman in the E.U. produces, on average, 1.4 children. Each Muslim woman in these same countries produces 3.5 children. By 2050, 30% of the European population will be Muslim... Our way of thinking in Islam stands in opposition to the Western way of thinking. Today it is our way of thinking that comes in and shows itself stronger than theirs...." — "Mullah Krekar", Norwegian imam, Dagbladet, March 13, 2006.
The population of Birmingham will soon be half Muslim.... [The Birmingham Mail reveals that] the number of Muslim children in the city has surpassed the number of Christian children. "In addition to Birmingham, Islam is now the dominant religion among children in Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Slough and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets." — Quote from business-live.co.uk, September 21, 2014.
Do we fantasize that immigration at this rate will be able to integrate happily into host societies and that the migrants will become like us? Do we hope that before long, Europeans will return to having more children? What if we are wrong and these projections become reality? Are we resigned to the disappearance of our civilization?
"Great demographics, great power", Nicholas Eberstadt, the American political economist summed up in Foreign Affairs. Crumbling demographics, crumbling powers ...
More than half the increase of the global population projected by 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries, mostly in Africa, according to The Economist: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Tanzania. Nigeria will have more inhabitants than Europe and the United States. Pictured: Spanish soldiers and Guardia Civil members patrol the border fence of the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, on May 18, 2021, while hundreds of African migrants seeking to breech the border stand on the other side, in Morocco. (Photo by Antonio Sempere/AFP via Getty Images)
Fewer babies will be born in all of Europe than in Nigeria alone.
In Europe, "at the rate at which things are going, the population will have halved before 2070, with the continent at risk of losing 400 million inhabitants by 2100," noted James Pomeroy, an economist at China's HSBC bank.
The growth of the world population has already reached its lowest rate since 1950 and Europe's population will continue to contract until the end of the century, noted the Financial Times, citing the United Nations World Population Prospects report.
A collateral question is: where?
In the next four minutes 1,000 children will be born: 172 in India, 103 in China, 57 in Nigeria, 47 in Pakistan -- but in all of Europe, only 52.
India, next year, is expected to overtake China as the world's most populous country. India will also be 20% Muslim as well as the world's largest Islamic community. How will this demographic trend impact the fragile coexistence between Muslims and Hindus?
In 2021, Europe's population shrank by 1.4 million, the largest decline on any continent since 1950, when these rates were first recorded. Two-thirds of the world's people live in a country where the fertility rate is below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. China's population is projected to decline by 6 million per year in the mid-2040s and by 12 million per year by the end of the 2050s, the largest slump ever recorded in a country's history. China's population will halve over the next 45 years and it will become a very old country: its GDP will contract as never before and society will have to manage an aging population it never before encountered.
Japan's unprecedented aging is having a frightening impact on its military. Since 1994, the number of young people between 18 and 26 -- the age for recruitment -- has been dwindling. Between 1994 and 2015, there was a fall off of 11 million, or 40%. "Japan no longer has people to wage war," wrote Forbes. For the first time, the Japanese bought more diapers for adults than for babies. The same holds true for South Korea. "The decline in births in South Korea has become a challenge to national security," the Wall Street Journal reported in 2019.
"[F]ewer young people are around for military service. That is why Seoul officials said that South Korea's army will shrink to half a million, from the current total of 600,000 by 2022."
"Taiwan has long lived with the terrifying prospect of an invasion of China, but one of the biggest threats to its security lies from within: the lowest birth rates in the world", noted the Telegraph. Taiwan today claims the lowest birth rate in the world; by 2050 it will have just 20 million inhabitants, their the average age rising to 57, from 39 today. Taiwan might be so irrelevant that perhaps China will not even have to invade it.
The same downturn is expected in Italy, where the population will reportedly halve in 50 years. This year in Italy, 121,000 fewer students will enter school than last year, and 2,300 classes will disappear. Last year, there were 100,000 fewer students and 196 schools were closed. The previous year, 177 schools were shuttered, and 124 the year before that. Every year Italy loses 1-2% of its pupils. From 7.4 million students (latest available data: 2021), the number will supposedly drop by 2034 to 6 million in "waves" of 110-120,000 fewer students each year. During the last eight years, according to data published by the ministry, 1,301 schools have shut, representing 13.3% of the 9,769 schools that are still active.
This crisis is not a projection, it is happening right now. By 2050, 60% of Italians will have no brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles or aunts. The Italian family, with the father who pours the wine and the mother who serves the pasta to a table of grandparents, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, will be gone, as extinct as dinosaurs.
Yemen, on the other hand, a failed country in the middle of a terrible civil war, will show a population increase that is double Italy's.
In the north-central African Sahel region, the population is expected to reach 330 million, seven times its population of 2000. Egypt will reach 190 million. Algeria will go from the current 42 to 72 million (most of whom will likely head for Europe). Morocco will grow from 36 million to 43 million.
So, the "old Europe" will find itself facing a North Africa of 318 million inhabitants, not counting those residing beneath the immense sub-Saharan plateau. In France today, 29.6% of the population aged 0 - 4 is of non-European origin, compared to 17.1% percent aged 18-24. Non-Europeans are also 18.8% percent in those aged 40 -44; 7.6% aged 60-64, and 3.1% for those over 80, according to the national statistics institute, Insee. The institute also recently examined the last three generations in France: 16.2% of all children between the ages of 0- 4 are children or grandchildren of North African origin; 7.3% are from the rest of Africa, and 4% are from Asia.
George Soros' Open Society Foundation, which provides financial support for immigration to Western countries, disclosed as early as 2011 that in Marseille, the second-largest city in France, "between 30 and 40 percent of the population is Muslim". It is not difficult to assume that by now, the symbolic threshold of 50% has already been exceeded, even if there are not yet official reports. The monthly Causeur bluntly states: "Well over 50 per cent of the Marseille population is North African and black African".
Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish exclaves on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, form the only land border between the European Union and Africa. In Ceuta, two parallel fences, six meters high and topped with razor wire, run for eight kilometers along the border with Morocco. In Melilla, similar fences run 12 kilometers along the border. Nets, cameras, noise and motion sensors, spotlights and surveillance posts help to monitor it. Every year, tens of thousands of migrants, hundreds at a time, try to cross the barriers of Ceuta and Melilla. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais:
"In 1887 there was only one Muslim registered in Melilla, he was originally from Casablanca and worked as a servant; today Muslims exceed 40 percent of the population and are approaching the majority".
"We are a first observatory of what is happening in other cities of Europe", said Jesús Vivas, president of the Ceuta Assembly. A local newspaper reported:
"Only in Ceuta, between April 1960 and today, 49 per cent of the population is Muslim, even if the real figure is significantly higher. Miracle? No, the incompetence and stupidity of the stormy nationalization process started between 1985 and 1990".
Ceuta and Melilla are what most of Europe's cities will look like in 20-30 years. Melilla is now the first Spanish city that has surpassed a 50% Muslim population due to immigration, family reunification and a high birth rate.
This expansion was foreseen by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former UN secretary general, an Egyptian Copt who, on May 22, 2007, outlined his view of the future of Europe:
"The unprecedented collapse of the population of Europe and its accelerated aging contrast with the still very rapid population increase in the southern and eastern Mediterranean. This will result in very acute imbalances!.... Immigration without precaution risks imploding Western societies at the cost of very serious problems (culture shock, neo-colonial structures, unemployment, etc.)"
Pakistan will become a young cauldron of 403 million people, almost the same as the population of the entire European Union (448 million); and its youth will go to the "stans" that will have been created around Europe. Afghanistan, one of the largest geopolitical black holes after the US withdrawal last summer, will double its population to 64 million.
What will Poland build to keep out the mass of people who will press on the external borders of the EU? Eastern Europe will collapse in a terrifying picture. Romania will lose 22% of its population, followed by Moldova (20%), Lithuania (17%), Croatia (16%) and Hungary (16%). Le Monde cries that today Central and Eastern Europe are "confronted with the anguish of disappearance". The UN's figures are impressive:
"Bulgaria, which went from 9 million inhabitants in the 1990s to 6.8 million in 2022, could have only 5.2 million in 2050. Serbia had 8 million inhabitants in collapse [sic] of the iron curtain. It currently has 7.2 million and could drop to 5.8 million in thirty years. Over the same period, the population of Lithuania could plummet from 3.8 million to 2.2 million, that of Latvia from 2.7 million to 1.4 million."
Germany as we know it is, according to Die Zeit, disappearing: "22 million people, or more than a quarter of the population, are from another country or have parents born outside Germany". Germany is poised to become a "country of legal immigration" after it has long been a de facto one -- but with major political and legislative breakthroughs, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Christian Doleschal of the CSU denounced the open immigration plan of the German government: "This will destroy Europe in the long term", he warned.
The celebrated German writer Uwe Tellkamp also criticized his country's immigration policy. "While respecting other cultures, I would still like to preserve mine. I do not want to be like Frankfurt," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, referring to the German city where the majority of the population is no longer native German. In Frankfurt, the first German city where Germans became a minority, 15% of the population is of Turkish origin.
The Western world has provided more wealth and convenience to more citizens than any other civilization in history. We are practically inundated with resources, but we are running out of people, the only truly indispensable resource.
Russia is the most obvious example: it is the largest country on earth, it is full of natural resources, yet it is dying: its population is declining disastrously. Vladimir Putin will no longer be Russia's president when his country will have lost approximately 15 million inhabitants, and a third to a half of those remaining will be Muslims.
"Is Russia afraid of disappearing?" was the question asked in the weekly Le Point by Bruno Tertrais, the scholar author of the book Le choc démographique and vice-president of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "Behind the conflict over Ukraine loom Russian demographic anxieties about the increase in Muslim immigration".
Kamil Galeev, a researcher at the Washington DC-based Wilson Center, recently posted a map of Russia:
"Let's talk about Russian demographics. As you can see, vast spaces in Siberia and European Russia are depopulating. There are two factors behind it. First, low fertility. The only places with natural growth are the Muslim areas..."
The official Russian news outlet, Pravda, posed the same question: "Islam to become Russia's predominant religion by 2050?"
Janis Garisons, Latvia's defense secretary, just offered Politico among potential scenarios after Putin's eventual fall, "an internal war... the disintegration and fragmentation of Russia, with pockets controlled by militias and warlords."
In that eventuality, Islam will have a unique opportunity to fulfill its dream of a caliphate by creating an unbroken chain of Muslim entities from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the North Caucasus and the Volga. In the worst-case scenario, the situation could get out of control. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, weapons of mass destruction began to spread around the world, posing a threat to human existence itself. Nobody knows what will happen if Russian missiles and high-tech weapons fall into the hands of the "caliphs" or "emirs" of the new Islamic Russian states.
By 2050, more than half the increase of the global population projected will be concentrated in just eight countries, mostly in Africa, according to The Economist: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Tanzania. Nigeria will have more inhabitants than Europe and the United States.
In addition, Islam will have overtaken Christianity as the largest religion in the world. The Islamic population of the European Union, depending on the migratory flows, could reach 75 million within a generation -- like an entire Muslim Germany or, if one prefers, like Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Sweden combined. Does that sound better?
"They have not managed to change us. It is we who will change them," Norwegian imam "Mullah Krekar" told the newspaper Dagbladet.
"Look at the development of the population in Europe, where the number of Muslims increases like mosquitoes. Each Western woman in the E.U. produces, on average, 1.4 children. Each Muslim woman in these same countries produces 3.5 children. By 2050, 30% of the European population will be Muslim... Our way of thinking in Islam stands in opposition to the Western way of thinking. Today it is our way of thinking that comes in and shows itself stronger than theirs...."
Already today, Islam is the leading religion in Brussels.
Algerian author Boualem Sansal recently said on French radio:
"France has made deals with Islamists: in France there were once 10 mosques, today there are 3,000 and Arabia and Qatar finance the Islamization of suburbs. The French government has been overwhelmed".
"Islam is a growing social force in Britain's second city," headlined The Economist, referring to England's second-largest city after London, Birmingham, where the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. A small portrait of a conquered city:
"In the city's 200 mosques, Muslims come not only to pray, but also to buy books, receive instructions, marry, divorce and bury their dead. Every year hundreds of people approach its 'sharia council', which administers family law."
When Birmingham's annual Eid Festival began in 2012, it was attended by 20,000 worshipers. In 2014 there were 40,000. In 2015, 70,000. In 2016, 90,000. In 2017, 100,000. In 2018, 140,000. Then Covid stopped all large gatherings. Now they are resuming.
The population of Birmingham will soon be half Muslim. "Muslims in Birmingham in 2018 amounted to 27 per cent of the population," noted the Birmingham Mail . "The number of Muslims increased from 21 percent in 2011". Business Live revealed that the number of Muslim children in the city has surpassed the number of Christian children:
"In addition to Birmingham, Islam is now the dominant religion among children in Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Slough and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets."
The recent clashes between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester have now moved to other British cities, including Birmingham, where a Hindu temple was attacked with the cry of "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest"). Sectarian and religious hatred "can spread all over England". The clashes between Muslims and Hindus at the birth of India and at the partition with Pakistan have now reached the multicultural enclaves of Europe.
According to Hungarian journalist Károly Lorán in the newspaper Magyar Hirlap:
"[T]he United Nations estimates that world population will reach a peak of 11 billion people in 2100, three billion more than today. The increase will come from the sub-Saharan region. The Asian population will change little. The population of North America will grow by 120 million and that of the European Union will decrease by 60 million, due to Poland, Germany, Italy and Spain. If we fail to change the birthrate of 1.5 that characterizes the European Union and the current immigration of 1 million people per year remains, by the end of the century the share of the Muslim population will reach 40 percent on average. Some Western European countries will already have a Muslim majority. If we want to replace the declining population with immigrants, we will need 1.5 million immigrants a year and, by the end of the century, 60 per cent of the population of the European Union will be Muslim".
Do we fantasize that immigration at this rate will be able to integrate happily into host societies and that the migrants will become like us? Do we hope that before long, Europeans will return to having more children? What if we are wrong and these projections become reality? Are we resigned to the disappearance of our civilization?
In 1996, Samuel Huntington wrote in The Clash of Civilizations:
"The balance of power between the various civilizations is changing: the influence of the West is decreasing; Asian civilizations increase their economic, military and political strength; the Islamic world is experiencing a demographic explosion with destabilizing consequences for Muslim countries and their neighbors; non-Western civilizations in general reaffirm the value of their own cultures"
"What do you leave behind?", asked Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. It's the demographics, stupid.
"Great demographics, great power", Nicholas Eberstadt, the American political economist summed up in Foreign Affairs. Crumbling demographics, crumbling powers....
Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
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