English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 29/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 06/60-71/:”When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.’He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 28-29/2023
Franjieh's chances: Good signs from France, KSA, despite 'local tension'
Iranian-Saudi dialogue has positive effects on the region, Lebanon: Abdollahian
Iran affirms support for Lebanon during Foreign Minister's visit
Iran FM visit not expected to lead to presidential breakthrough
Abdollahian 'dismayed' by embassy meeting boycott, says Iran has no candidate
Nasrallah meets Abdollahian
Abdollahian: Iran has not and will not interfere in Lebanese presidential election
Iran affirms support for Lebanon during Foreign Minister's visit
Iranian-Saudi dialogue has positive effects on the region, Lebanon: Abdollahian
In Lebanon, Iran FM visits Israel border, extolls Hezbollah
Iran Supports Any Agreement Between Lebanese Parties to Elect New President
Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon Expels Hardan
EU team questions Salameh's aide for second day
Producing millions of bottles yearly, Lebanese wine becomes Lebanon's ambassador around the world
Fueling corruption: How gas stations profit by manipulating exchange rates
Amnesty International urges Lebanon to halt forced deportation of Syrian refugees
Opposition, Change MPs appeal against municipalities' term extension law
Bou Saab holds 'necessary and important' meeting with Raad
Berri meets Special Envoy of Chinese Government on Middle East Issue, broaches situation with Egyptian Ambassador, discusses security situation with...
Aoun, Bassil visit Jezzine on Sunday
Syrians in Lebanon Fear Deportation

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 28-29/2023
Heavy battles in Sudan despite latest truce
Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum
US Sanctions Russia, Iran Entities for Detaining Americans
Russia's Putin signs decree introducing life sentences for treason
Russia's economy is facing a record worker shortage amid losses in Ukraine and mass exodus
After a year of heavy losses, Ukraine's military is juggling a 'very uneven' force as it prepares for major fighting, expert says
Russia says US-South Korea nuclear deal could destabilise region
Putin will be arrested if he visits, says South African opposition leader
Russia paves way for deportations from annexed Ukrainian regions
Iranian president to visit Syria next week - senior source
Russia's Iranian-made drones are powered by German technology stolen 17 years ago, experts say
UN experts defend Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation
Israeli forces say militant held in raid in West Bank city of Jenin
Palestinians: Israeli forces shoot, kill teen in West Bank
OIC Displeased with Europe’s Congratulatory Message Marking Israel’s ‘Independence'
Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold peace settlement talks soon - TASS
Syrian Pound Sets New Low, Gov. Unable to Find Solution
China is pushing ahead with a planned military base in the UAE in a clear snub to the US, leaked papers say
Tarek Fatah, Rest in Peace
Pope Francis arrives in Hungary for three-day visit

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 28-29/2023
Question: “What is a Christian worldview?”/GotQuestions.org?/April 28/2023
Christians: The Victims That Must Never Be Named/Raymond Ibrahim/April 28/2023
How the West Is Helping Train China's Military/Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute./April 28, 2023
Iran and Its Culture War/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 28/2023
If the Sudanese Had the Means to Escape/Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 28/2023
Now is not the time for the world to abandon Khartoum/Hervé de Charette/Arab News/April 28/2023
Local solutions should come first in Syria/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/April 28/2023
 

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 28-29/2023
Franjieh's chances: Good signs from France, KSA, despite 'local tension'
Naharnet/Fri, April 28, 2023 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said he is not expecting the worst, and that his words were misinterpreted when he said he only sees negativity. "I am neither pessimistic nor optimistic," Berri told al-Liwaa, in remarks published Friday. He added that the foreign indications are positive concerning the election of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh. "But the domestic ambiance is tensed and not promising," Berri said. "And this is why we are counting on the foreign drive," he went on to say. He accused "those who have refused dialogue" and who are "threatening of not securing quorum" for the presidential vote of driving the country to where it is now. The Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces had refused Berri's call for a "national dialogue" and the LF, Kataeb, and Tajaddod blocs said they wouldn't attend a session that would elect the Shiite Duo's candidate. The Speaker said he is waiting for practical and tangible steps that would put the positive atmosphere into practice, adding that he still has hope that the FPM would accept Franjieh, and that he and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have no disagreements.

Iranian-Saudi dialogue has positive effects on the region, Lebanon: Abdollahian
LBCI/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated on Friday, at the end of his visit to Lebanon, that it is natural for the dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia to have positive effects on the region and Lebanon.
He also stressed that the influential Lebanese political forces have the ability and necessary competence to complete the political process and choose a president for the republic.

Iran affirms support for Lebanon during Foreign Minister's visit
LBCI/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian's second visit to Lebanon in three months has caught the attention of many. During this trip, Abdollahian met with a group of Lebanese MPs at the Iranian Embassy to hear their opinions and comments. However, his main meeting was, of course, with the leader of Hezbollah. In this context, sources told LBCI that Abdollahian's meeting with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah touched upon three key points. First, Abdollahian tackled with Nasrallah the Saudi-Iranian agreement, particularly regarding Iran's repositioning in Syria and how this will impact Lebanon positively, according to the Iranian side. Second, they discussed the upcoming quadrilateral agreement involving Iran, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, and its implications for Syria's relationship with its surroundings, particularly Turkey, and Iran's stance on the matter. Lastly, the discussion turned to the Lebanese presidential election and the need to elect a president as soon as possible. The Iranian minister reiterated his country's position that the presidential vacuum harms everyone, but this time, the Iranian side emphasized the need to choose the appropriate timing for the election to activate and strengthen the process. According to the Iranian Foreign Minister, it should be next month. During his first visit after the Saudi-Iranian agreement, the Iranian Foreign Minister tried to say that Iran had become a competitor and even a fundamental partner in the Lebanese arena, just like Saudi Arabia, the United States, France, and others. However, the goal is not to interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs but to affirm that Iran stands by Lebanon and is ready to assist in any matter.

Iran FM visit not expected to lead to presidential breakthrough
Naharnet/Fri, April 28, 2023 
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to Lebanon is not expected to lead to “any positive development that might persuade Hezbollah to give up (Suleiman) Franjieh’s nomination” in the next two months, political sources informed on the visit said. Following their recent reconciliation agreement, Iran and Saudi Arabia will seek to “end the Yemeni war, lay out the basic foundations for resolving the Iraqi file and restore the Arab-Syrian relations,” the sources told the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party. “Lebanon’s turn will come in the last phase of the agreement,” the sources added.

Abdollahian 'dismayed' by embassy meeting boycott, says Iran has no candidate
Naharnet/Fri, April 28, 2023 
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian was dismayed Thursday by the Lebanese opposition’s boycott of a meeting that he called for at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, media reports said.
The embassy had invited all parliamentary blocs to the meeting except for the Lebanese Forces, MP Michel Mouawad and nine members of the Change bloc. Iran blames the LF for the abduction of four Iranian diplomats at a checkpoint in Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion of the country. Mouawad was meanwhile excluded from the invitations seeing as he is a presidential candidate, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported. As for the Change bloc, the embassy had only invited the MPs Melhem Khalaf, Yassine Yassine and Elias Jradi. The three of them did not show up. “The embassy excluded their colleagues whom Hezbollah labels as hawks who are opposed to Iran’s policies and role in Lebanon,” the daily said. The Kataeb Party, the National Liberal Party and a number of independent MPs had declared their boycott of the meeting. Only 16 out of 25 invited MPs meanwhile attended the meeting, the vast majority of them from the Hezbollah-led camp. MP Bilal Abdallah of the Democratic Gathering was among those who attended the meeting. According to Asharq al-Awsat, Abdallah called for “benefitting from the positive atmosphere created by the Saudi-Iranian agreement in order to elect a president.” He also refused “using Lebanon in the regional conflicts or turning it into a platform for harming any country, especially the Gulf countries.”“It’s about time for a defense strategy to be devised,” Abdallah said during the meeting, calling on Abdollahian to “mediate with Syria to repatriate the refugees, because their presence in Lebanon has become costly at the financial and security levels.”Abdollahian for his part talked about the Iranian-Saudi agreement and its impact on regional stability, stressing that his country “wants Lebanon to reach the safety shore” and lamenting that the Ceasar Act is preventing it from offering aid.As for the presidential file, the sources told the daily that the Iranian FM “did not at all mention the name of (Marada Movement chief Suleiman) Franjieh.”He instead emphasized that his country “does not have a candidate” and that it would support “what the Lebanese would agree on,” the sources added.

Nasrallah meets Abdollahian
Naharnet/Fri, April 28, 2023
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to discuss the latest developments in the region. The talks stressed on the Iranian-Saudi agreement and its repercussions on the region, as well as the latest developments in Lebanon and Palestine, the National News Agency said. Abdollahian had arrived Wednesday in Lebanon and met Thursday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and representative of several parliamentary blocs.

Abdollahian: Iran has not and will not interfere in Lebanese presidential election
LBCI/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, has revealed that an official invitation has been extended to the Saudi foreign minister to visit Tehran. Regarding Lebanon, he emphasized that Iran has not and will not interfere in the Lebanese people's election of their president, and when they agree on any person, Tehran will extend all its support. He also stated that the Lebanese political forces have the necessary competence to choose a president for the republic. "We support the election of a new president as well as the harmony and consensus among the Lebanese, and we encourage the completion of the political process through the recommendations that we give fraternally to our friends in Lebanon. What we heard and saw during our meetings suggests optimism," he said during a press conference. He added that the official meetings he held with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri, and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, focused on the prospects of bilateral relations between the two countries and political developments regionally and internationally. “Iran is keen on consensus and convergence between political forces to elect a president for the republic,” he stressed. In response to a question, he said that “it is natural that dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia has positive effects on the region and Lebanon.”“We believe that influential Lebanese political forces have the ability and necessary competence to complete the political process and choose a president for the republic." "In the past months, I heard a question from high-level officials in Lebanon asking when Iranian-Saudi relations will return to their course to solve some issues in Lebanon. Yesterday, I said that the Iranian-Saudi agreement has been reached, but Lebanon has not yet elected a president for the republic," the Iranian envoy added. Regarding the electricity dossier, Abdollahian pointed out that "the negotiations we are conducting regarding bilateral cooperation between Iran and Lebanon in the fields of gas, oil, and electricity are inclined to development.”“The main problem facing Iranian-Lebanese cooperation in the electricity sector is US pressures and the fear of those concerned about sanctions," he stressed. "US sanctions are a failed policy, and under these unjust sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran exports a lot of electricity, especially to Iraq," he concluded by saying.

Iran affirms support for Lebanon during Foreign Minister's visit
LBCI/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian's second visit to Lebanon in three months has caught the attention of many. During this trip, Abdollahian met with a group of Lebanese MPs at the Iranian Embassy to hear their opinions and comments. However, his main meeting was, of course, with the leader of Hezbollah. In this context, sources told LBCI that Abdollahian's meeting with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah touched upon three key points. First, Abdollahian tackled with Nasrallah the Saudi-Iranian agreement, particularly regarding Iran's repositioning in Syria and how this will impact Lebanon positively, according to the Iranian side. Second, they discussed the upcoming quadrilateral agreement involving Iran, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, and its implications for Syria's relationship with its surroundings, particularly Turkey, and Iran's stance on the matter. Lastly, the discussion turned to the Lebanese presidential election and the need to elect a president as soon as possible. The Iranian minister reiterated his country's position that the presidential vacuum harms everyone, but this time, the Iranian side emphasized the need to choose the appropriate timing for the election to activate and strengthen the process. According to the Iranian Foreign Minister, it should be next month. During his first visit after the Saudi-Iranian agreement, the Iranian Foreign Minister tried to say that Iran had become a competitor and even a fundamental partner in the Lebanese arena, just like Saudi Arabia, the United States, France, and others. However, the goal is not to interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs but to affirm that Iran stands by Lebanon and is ready to assist in any matter.

Iranian-Saudi dialogue has positive effects on the region, Lebanon: Abdollahian
LBCI/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated on Friday, at the end of his visit to Lebanon, that it is natural for the dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia to have positive effects on the region and Lebanon. He also stressed that the influential Lebanese political forces have the ability and necessary competence to complete the political process and choose a president for the republic.

In Lebanon, Iran FM visits Israel border, extolls Hezbollah
BEIRUT (AP)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iran’s top diplomat visited Lebanon’s border with Israel on Friday where he expressed support for the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in its struggle against their common enemy: Israel. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian began his visit to Lebanon since Wednesday, meeting top officials and expressing Tehran’s readiness to help build power stations in an effort to try to end the Mediterranean country’s prevailing electricity crisis. Lebanon is in the throes of the worst economic crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the small nation’s ruling class. The crisis erupted in October 2019 and has plunged three quarters of Lebanon’s 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, into poverty. Amirabdollahian visit to the border village of Maroun al-Ras came three weeks after Israel launched rare strikes into southern Lebanon, hours after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said at the time that it targeted installations of the Palestinian militant Hamas group in southern Lebanon. Iran is a main Hezbollah backer and has supplied the militant group over the past decades with weapons and funds. “We are here today ... to declare again with a loud voice that we support the resistance in Lebanon against the Zionist entity,” Amirabdollahian told a gathering that included several Hezbollah legislators. The Iranian diplomat's visit to Lebanon is the first since Iran and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement in China last month to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions. In neighboring Syria, a pro-government newspaper reported that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi will begin a two-day visit to Damascus next Wednesday, the first by an Iranian president to the Syrian capital since 2010. Iran has also been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad since the uprising that turned into war began in Syria in March 2011, killing nearly half a million people. Tehran has sent Iran-backed fighters from around the Middle East to fight alongside Assad’s forces, helping tip the balance of power in his favor. The pro-government Al-Watan said Raisi would meet with Assad to boost “strategic cooperation” between the two allies. Several agreements and memorandums of understanding would also be signed during the visit. Some oil-rich Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have been slowly reconciling with Assad after supporting opposition fighters for years.

Iran Supports Any Agreement Between Lebanese Parties to Elect New President
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday that his country supports any agreement between Lebanese parties to elect a new president. He made his remarks during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Beirut where he is on an official visit until Friday. Abdollahian also met with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Discussions tackled the current situation in Lebanon and the region, bilateral Lebanese-Iranian relations, and the recent agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties.
Sources familiar with Abdollahian’s meetings told Asharq Al-Awsat that the FM did not propose a specific initiative related to Lebanon’s presidential impasse. The sources stressed that Iran’s position on the elections has not changed and continues to align with those of its allies in Lebanon.
They denied reports that his visit aims to urge his allies to back down from supporting the candidacy of head of the Marada Movement Suleiman Franjieh.
The sources said the FM’s meetings largely focused on the Saudi-Iranian agreement and its impact on the region and Lebanon, in addition to Iran’s readiness to support Lebanon in the electricity and energy sector.
After his meeting with Bou Habib, Abdollahian said: “Iran encourages all Lebanese parties to hold the presidential elections as soon as possible.”
He added that Tehran backs supports any agreement between local parties to elect a new president and called on other countries to respect Lebanon’s choice without interfering in its internal affairs. For his part, Bou Habib said his guest briefed him on the details of the Saudi-Iranian agreement and hoped the deal will relect positively on Lebanon. “I am optimistic; every agreement between neighboring countries is good for Lebanon,” he said.

Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon Expels Hardan
Asaad Hardan (Central News Agency)/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Head of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in Lebanon, Rabih Banat, issued a decision on Thursday expelling his predecessor, former MP Asaad Hardan, from the party. In 2021, disputes broke out between SSNP rival branches over the legitimacy of the party’s internal elections, which at the time led to the victory of Banat. Hardan rejected the results, and the party became divided between the known “Hardan wing” and the “Banat wing.”While the SSNP had previously dismissed Hardan, the party announced Thursday an irreversible decision to expel him. It also stripped Hardan of the status of Secretariat. This came after supporters of the two rival SSNP branches engaged in armed clashes over the weekend in the areas of Beit Shabab and Beit Mery. Reports said the clashes erupted after Hardan's supporters stormed into the party’s offices affiliated with Banat in Beit Shabab (Northern Metn). The army intervened and worked to calm the situation. On Saturday, the SSNP said that “a party office under renovation has been the subject of two ransacking and invasion attempts by armed groups affiliated with a personality whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent and the money of the State Treasury.”The “Hardan wing” responded to the Banat wing statement, describing it as “a childish justification for criminal acts punishable by law.” It also said that the decision has absolutely no value and is linked to the 2007 US economic sanctions imposed on Hardan. In return, the Banat wing said it took the decision to expel Hardan from the party after the former MP rebelled against the SSNP and repeatedly committed constitutional and administrative violations.

EU team questions Salameh's aide for second day
Associated Press/Friday, 28 April, 2023
A European judicial team pressed on with its corruption probe of Lebanon's embattled Central Bank governor on Friday, questioning for a second day one of his aides, Marianne Hoayek, and summoning his brother for another hearing next week. The delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg is on its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in an ongoing investigation of Gov. Riad Salameh and associates over several financial crimes and the laundering of some $330 million. Salameh's associate, Marianne Hoayek, was questioned for several hours on Friday and Thursday. The European team also summoned Raja Salameh, the governor's brother, for questioning next Wednesday after he did not show up at a session earlier this week, citing illness. Next week, the team will question Lebanon's caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, who was a close associated for Salameh for years. The three European governments in March 2022 froze more than $130 million in assets linked to the investigation. Last month, the European delegation questioned Riad Salameh about the Central Bank's assets and investments outside Lebanon, a Paris apartment owned by Salameh, and Forry Associates Ltd, a brokerage firm owned by his brother. Raja Salameh is to appear before French prosecutors in mid-May. Separately, France has questioned the chairman of Lebanon's AM Bank, Marwan Kheireddine, on several charges, including money laundering. Reports in Lebanon say the governor and his associates had used commercial banks to siphon off public money. The 72-year-old governor has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, insisting that his wealth comes from his previous job as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and through investments. Riad Salameh is also being investigated by Lebanese authorities. In late February, Beirut's public prosecutor, Raja Hamoush, charged Salameh, his brother and Hoayek with corruption, including embezzling public funds, forgery, illicit enrichment, money-laundering and violation of tax laws.
Salameh — who has held his post for almost 30 years — was once hailed as the guardian of Lebanon's financial stability. However, since Lebanon's economic crisis erupted in 2019, many have criticized the governor, saying he precipitated the meltdown. The crisis has plunged three-quarters of the Mediterranean country's population of 6 million into poverty.

Producing millions of bottles yearly, Lebanese wine becomes Lebanon's ambassador around the world
LBCI/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Lebanon produces more than 14 million bottles of wine annually. Because of its high quality and specifications, Lebanese wine is destined to be Lebanon's ambassador to the world. More than 9 million bottles of our annual production are exported abroad to more than 40 countries, including European countries, America, Brazil, and Australia, and soon it will enter the Chinese market.  And not only outside, but the wine market inside is also witnessing a commercial tourism revival through wine tourism in all seasons. However, this sector, although promising in terms of its high production and export rates abroad, suffers from many challenges, including the prevention of fraud, the issuance of specifications, and the absence of legislation on geographical designations. To this end, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the National Institute of Vine and Wine and the Lebanese Standards Institution. This step took place within the activities of the Horeca exhibition, the largest forum specialized in the field of hospitality, food, and beverages in Lebanon, during which special spaces were allocated for Lebanese wine producers, in which they displayed their finest products.

Fueling corruption: How gas stations profit by manipulating exchange rates
LBCI/Friday, 28 April, 2023
If a gas station calculated 20 dollars based on an exchange rate of 95,000 Lebanese lira rather than 97,500, the station is therefore making an extra profit of 44,000 Lebanese lira more than the government's price. The Ministry of Energy determines the price of 20 liters in Lebanese lira and sets the exchange rate. Therefore, gas stations are required to abide by this price to price the tank in dollars. However, it is clear that some gas stations are not complying with the price. Sources from gas station owners confirm that manipulation of the exchange rate is often done by employees. At the end of the day, the station owner collects the revenues from employers according to the liters meter on the machine and the exchange rate set by the application. The Ministry of Energy has confirmed that this practice is illegal and encouraged any citizen who observes pricing violations to file a complaint with the Ministry of Economy through the Consumer Protection Lebanon application or the hotline at 1739. In any case, it is best to avoid all of this hassle and any manipulation of the exchange rate by sticking to paying in Lebanese liras.

Amnesty International urges Lebanon to halt forced deportation of Syrian refugees
LBCI/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Amnesty International has called on Lebanese authorities to immediately stop forcibly deporting Syrian refugees back to Syria, citing the danger of torture and persecution at the hands of the Syrian government upon their return. The organization, founded 62 years ago in the UK, considers Lebanon's actions towards displaced Syrians inhumane. However, the organization overlooked the fact that Denmark, an important European country, announced about a month ago that the governorates of Damascus, Rif Damascus, Latakia, and Tartous are safe areas for Syrians to return to. The Danish Ministry of Immigration clarified to LBCI that these areas are safe according to the Danish Immigration Authority's classification, implying that they do not forcibly return Syrian refugees. However, Copenhagen has stated that it has refused to extend residence and asylum permits for around 160 Syrians since 2019 as part of its policy of non-normalization. Thus, under the announcement of safe areas, Denmark automatically says that every Syrian refugee from one of these areas must return, meaning their residence permit will not be renewed. What Europeans find acceptable for Denmark does not apply to Lebanon, and Denmark is allowed to return thousands of refugees, and it is not inhumane. As for Lebanon, the displaced make up half of its population, and it is prohibited from returning any refugees.

Opposition, Change MPs appeal against municipalities' term extension law
Naharnet/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Kataeb, Tajaddod, and Change MPs filed Friday an appeal before the Constitutional Council against the recent law that extended the municipalities' term, a day after a delegation from the Lebanese Forces bloc appealed against the law. Earlier this month, Parliament voted to extend the terms of local officials, paving the way to postpone municipal elections for up to a year for a second time. Lebanon’s municipal elections were originally slated for May last year but were postponed for a year because they coincided with parliamentary elections, which brought in a dozen reformist lawmakers running on anti-establishment platforms. Opposition and reformist groups would likely continue this momentum and win additional seats if local elections were held, as living conditions across the country continue to deteriorate. They have called for municipal elections to take place as planned in May, and most have boycotted parliament’s session.

Bou Saab holds 'necessary and important' meeting with Raad
Naharnet/Friday, 28 April, 2023 
Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab on Friday held a meeting with MP Mohammed Raad -- the head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc. “The meeting was necessary and important and aimed to evaluate the stage that we are going through and to seek to find exits and common denominators among the parliamentary blocs,” Bou Saab said after the talks. “The discussion’s main topic was communication,” he added. “I sensed full openness toward any effort that can take place with any of the parties,” Bou Saab went on to say.

Berri meets Special Envoy of Chinese Government on Middle East Issue, broaches situation with Egyptian Ambassador, discusses security situation with...
NNA/Friday, 28 April, 2023 
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Friday received at the Second Presidency in Ain Al-Tineh, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr. Yasser Alawi, with whom he discussed the general situation, the latest political developments and the bilateral relations between Lebanon and Egypt.
Speaker Berri also welcomed in Ain Al-Tineh the Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue, Zhai Jun, who visited him with an accompanying delegation, in the presence of Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon, Qian Minjian. Discussions reportedly touched on the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, and the bilateral relations between the Lebanese Republic and the People's Republic of China. Berri then met with Caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, with whom he discussed the security situation in the country.
On emerging, Minister Mawlawi said that he dwelt with the Speaker on an array of matters, especially those related to the security and safety of the country and the Lebanese, as well as the implementation of the law.

Aoun, Bassil visit Jezzine on Sunday
NNA/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Former President General Michel Aoun and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, will pay a visit to Jezzine district on Sunday, April 30, 2023. The visit will include:
. Participation in the mass at Saint Maroun Church in Jezzine at 10:30 am. . A public rally at the "Khalil and Linda Slim Sports and Cultural Complex" in Jezzine at 12:00 noon.

Syrians in Lebanon Fear Deportation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Samer and his family thought they had found safety in Lebanon after fleeing Syria's war nearly a decade ago, but amid growing anti-refugee sentiment, Beirut handed his brother to the Syrian army.
Syrians poured into Lebanon after civil war broke out in 2011, with Damascus's brutal suppression of peaceful protests. With the regime now back in control of most of the country, calls have intensified in crisis-hit Lebanon for Syrians to go home, said AFP. Samer said Lebanon's army intelligence raided his brother's apartment in a Beirut suburb last week, detaining him, his wife and children and deporting them to Syria. Like others AFP spoke to, Samer preferred to use an alias, citing security concerns. Syrian authorities released the wife and children but arrested his brother, who together with Samer had taken part in anti-government protests more than a decade ago.
He has not heard from him since.
"Our biggest fear is for him to disappear (in regime prisons), never to be heard from again," said Samer, 26.
"We fear we will meet the same fate: deported to Syria, where we could be arrested or disappeared."
Authorities say Lebanon currently hosts around two million Syrians, while more than 800,000 are registered with the United Nations -- the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
Lebanon has long pushed for Syrians to return home, and has made several repatriation efforts for Syrians that authorities describe as voluntary.
In recent weeks the army has intensified a crackdown on undocumented Syrians, with some 450 arrested and at least 66 deported, a humanitarian source told AFP.
'Want a solution'
Lebanon has seen anti-Syrian sentiment soar recently as some officials seek to blame refugees for the country's woes.
Lebanon has been in the throes of a devastating economic crisis since 2019 that has plunged most of the population into poverty. The local currency has tanked, while the World Bank has blamed authorities for misusing and misspending people's deposits.
Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar recently claimed there were "dangerous demographic changes" under way, warning: "We will become refugees in our own country."
Some municipalities over the years have imposed restrictions on Syrians' movement, while recent social media posts have painted refugees as criminals hungry for United Nations aid.
"They say we receive UN aid in dollars, but it is not true," Samer said, adding he and his family had experienced years of poverty and intimidation.
"We are tired and we want a solution. We don't need money or anything from Lebanon."
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) told AFP it can only disburse assistance to roughly 43 percent of refugees, paid out in local currency.
"The maximum a vulnerable family of five or more members receives for both cash and food assistance is 8,000,000 Lebanese pounds per month," UNHCR said -- roughly $80.
The agency said authorities had been cracking down on Syrian communities, with at least 13 raids in April alone.
Some of those arrested or expelled were refugees registered with UNHCR, it said, while another humanitarian source said in some cases minors had been separated from their parents.
'I'd rather die' Amnesty International this week urged Lebanon to "immediately stop deportations", describing them as forced and saying refugees risked "torture or persecution" upon return.
The clampdown has left impoverished Syrians distraught, with many now too scared to go out.
Abu Salim, 32, told AFP he had been sleeping at a warehouse where he works with 20 other people "because we're afraid of getting arrested".
He said he had spent six years in Syrian jails and his worst fear was deportation.
"If I go back to prison, I will never get out," he said.
Ammar, an army deserter, told AFP he had been holed up at home, his eyes glued to the anti-Syrian vitriol spewed on social media.
"Why all this hate? What did we do to deserve this? We only fled to escape death," the 31-year-old said.
In Lebanon since 2014, he said he feared not only for his own life but for his wife and two-month-old child.
"I live in fear that the army will break into my house and deport me," he said, adding that soon he will have to venture out "to work and buy baby milk".
Desperate Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians have been attempting to leave Lebanon for Europe on rickety boats, with some migration bids ending in tragedy. The government has accused Syrians of entering Lebanon just to take the perilous sea journeys. Ammar said he would take a boat if he had to.
"In Syria there is no longer any hope," Ammar said. "I'd rather die at sea than return."

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 28-29/2023
Heavy battles in Sudan despite latest truce
Associated Press/Friday, 28 April, 2023
Fighting raged in Sudan on Friday, despite rival forces agreeing to extend a truce aimed to stem nearly two weeks of warfare that has killed hundreds and caused widespread destruction. In the capital Khartoum, where foreign nations are scrambling to organize mass evacuations of their citizens, Turkey's defense ministry said a military transport aircraft came under fire. Witnesses reported mass looting as gunmen fired rockets in bitter urban battles in the western Darfur region. There have been multiple truce efforts since fighting broke out on April 15 between Sudan's army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy and fellow coup leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. All have failed. On Thursday, the two sides agreed to extend a repeatedly broken ceasefire for three more days. The United States, Saudi Arabia as well as the African Union, the United Nations and others welcomed the rival generals' "readiness to engage in dialogue" in a bid to create a "more durable cessation of hostilities and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access". Since a power struggle between Burhan and Daglo erupted into violence, fighter jets have pounded RSF positions with air strikes in densely packed districts of Khartoum, as fighters on the ground exchanged volleys of artillery and heavy machine gun fire. In some parts of the city of some five million people, trenches have been dug as gunmen battle each other street by street. At least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 wounded in the fighting, according to health ministry figures, although the real death toll is likely much higher.
'Foolish war'
Fighting has also spread across Sudan, especially in Darfur, where witnesses reported intense conflict. The Darfur Bar Association, a civil society group, said fighters were "launching rockets at houses" in El Geneina, state capital of West Darfur, as well reporting firing from "rifles, machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons". Fighting has spread "nearly all over the city" and fighters have "looted camps for the displaced and the university hospital" as well as setting fire to "markets, public buildings, aid warehouses and banks", the Bar Association added. It urged Burhan and Daglo to "immediately stop this foolish war that is being waged on the backs of civilians across Sudan". The doctors' union said "dozens" have been killed or wounded in El Geneina, where the UN has said it has reports of the "distribution of weapons among local communities". In El Fasher, state capital of North Darfur, medics are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded people. "The situation is very, very difficult here," said Mohamed Gibreel, project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in El Fasher, adding that the hospital there had received 410 wounded patients. "There is no water, there is also no electricity," Gibreel said in a video posted by MSF on Friday, which showed patients on the corridor of the crowded hospital. "It has impacted all life-saving services."
Mass exodus
The World Food Program has said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people -- one-third of the population -- need aid to stave off famine. At least five aid workers have been killed and swathes of aid operations suspended -- putting the lives of 50,000 acutely malnourished children "at real risk", the UN has warned. Darfur is still reeling from the devastating war that raged in the 2000s when then hardline president Omar al-Bashir crushed ethnic-minority rebels by creating the Janjaweed militia to carry out atrocities, a force that later formed the basis of Daglo's RSF. That conflict left at least 300,000 people killed and close to 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures, and saw Bashir charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court. Burhan and Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- seized power in a 2021 coup that derailed Sudan's transition to democracy, established after Bashir was ousted following mass protests in 2019. But the two generals later fell out, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army. Residents of Khartoum have meanwhile been shuttered at home, running dangerously low on food, cash and fuel needed to get out, with only intermittent power and internet. Tens of thousands have already fled to neighboring countries including Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan. The U.N. warns the fighting could result in up to 270,000 people fleeing.

Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum
London – Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
The Iranian security services continue to arrest activists who participated in a conference last weekend, which discussed the chances of a referendum for a peaceful political transition to a secular regime. Activists reported on Twitter that the security services arrested civil and political activist Abdollah Momeni in his home days after he participated in the "How to Save Iran" conference. Momeni's arrest came after another conference participant held over the Clubhouse application, Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, was apprehended. Shirazi was an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest. The authorities arrested veteran journalist Keyvan Samimi, 74, who was announced among the conference participants. Samimi appeared in a video recording, calling for forming a National Salvation Front. Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the state-affiliated Jam-e Jam website saying that Shirazi was arrested as part of the judicial campaign against anti-revolutionary elements. The authorities accused Mousavi's advisors of instigating the statement which called for ending Iran. The website referred to a text published in early February, in which Mousavi called for "radical changes in Iran" by organizing a referendum on the constitution. He described the paradoxical structure and unsustainable basic system as the major crisis in the country. Jam-e Jam indicated that the three men participated in a virtual conference calling to overthrow the regime and draft a new constitution, reported by the AFP. Mizan agency quoted an informed security official that Mousavi is under the control of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization. The security official said that Mousavi's latest statement was a "direct copy" of the rhetoric of the Organization. He accused Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a Paris-based political activist who runs the Kalima website and Mousavi's adviser, of being directly involved. Arjomand was one of the founders of the "How to Save Iran" conference, which included a group of reformist activists calling for a peaceful and gradual transition to a secular regime. Dozens of political and civil society activists at home and abroad participated in the conference, which discussed transitioning from religious rule to a secular democratic political system. Mousavi was Iran's prime minister between 1981 and 1989 and ran for the presidential elections in 2009. Along with former Shura Council President Mahdi Karroubi, Mousavi protested the re-election of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denouncing widespread fraud.
The former premier was not the only one who issued a controversial statement after the anniversary of the 1979 revolution last February.
Former President Mohammad Khatami tried to distance himself from this discourse, noting that reform was possible and urging a return to the constitution. Earlier this week, Khatami reiterated his opposition to demands to overthrow the political system. The former president, Hassan Rouhani, was also among the advocates of a referendum on "diplomacy," "domestic politics," and "the economy." The top Sunni cleric in Iran, Abdolhamid Ismailzahi, repeatedly called for a referendum to choose the governing method that enjoys the support of the majority of the people. The Imam of Zahedan's Friday prayer stressed that the referendum is the way out of the current problems in the country. On April 18, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected opposition to calls for a referendum on state policy, saying the various issues of the country cannot be put to a referendum because each referendum preoccupies the entire country for six months. In statements published on his official website, Khamenei added, "Where in the world do they hold referendums for all issues?" During the Eid sermon, Khamenei called for focusing on resolving issues and refraining from "marginal issues," warning that the enemies want to divide the nation. Khamenei accused the enemies of aiming for conflict between Iranians because of different beliefs and sects, asserting the need to maintain unity to overcome challenges. "The enemy is against the unity of the Iranian people," he said, adding that the different sects and beliefs can coexist and work together in the country.

US Sanctions Russia, Iran Entities for Detaining Americans
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
The Biden administration on Thursday sanctioned Russia's Federal Security Service and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization, accusing them of wrongfully detaining Americans. It's the first rollout of new sanctions authorizations established last year by President Joe Biden for use against those holding Americans unjustly captive. Still, the sanctions are largely symbolic, since both organizations already are under sweeping sanctions for an array of malevolent behavior — from election interference and Russia's invasion of Ukraine to support for terrorist activity.
Biden said the safe return of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad has been a priority since the first day of his presidency. “Today, and every day, our message to Russia, Iran, and the world is holding hostage or wrongfully detaining Americans is unacceptable. Release them immediately,” he said in a written statement. Senior administration officials declined to specify which detentions specifically underpinned the sanctions, saying they were a response to a pattern of actions by the two countries in unjustly holding Americans both currently and in the past. A US Treasury news release stated that Iranian authorities frequently hold and interrogate detainees in Evin Prison in Tehran and have a “direct role in the repression of protests and arrest of dissidents, including dual nationals.” Senior administration officials noted that Thursday's actions were in the works well before the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia, whose imprisonment was swiftly deemed unjust by the US government. He joins American Paul Whelan with that designation in Russia. In addition to targeting the two organizations, the administration is also adding additional sanctions on four IRGC leaders it alleges are involved in hostage taking efforts. Brian E. Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the US is “committed to bringing home wrongfully detained US nationals and acting against foreign threats to the safety of US nationals abroad.”The senior administration officials said that relief from the sanctions could be used as an inducement in negotiations to try to secure the release of the Americans held overseas. Biden last year issued an executive order relying on a section of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act — named after a retired FBI agent who vanished in Iran 15 years ago and is now presumed dead — that authorizes the president to impose sanctions, including visa revocations, on people believed to be involved in the wrongful detention of Americans. The announcement comes before the annual dinner of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation next week, an event expected to include as guests multiple former hostages and detainees as well as advocates for that population. In addition, there is a candlelight vigil planned for next week and a news conference scheduled outside the White House to raise the plight of those detained.

Russia's Putin signs decree introducing life sentences for treason
(Reuters)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a decree formally increasing the maximum sentence for treason to life in jail, part of a drive to suppress dissent since the start of the war in Ukraine. The decree was posted on the Kremlin website. Lawmakers had already voted to boost the longest sentences for treason to life, up from 20 years. Legislators also approved raising the maximum sentence for carrying out "a terrorist act" - defined as a deed which endangered lives and was aimed at destabilizing Russia - to 20 years, from 15 years at present. Those found guilty of sabotage could also go to jail for 20 years, up from 15, while people convicted of "international terrorism" could be sentenced to life, up from 12 years. The decree did not explain what "international terrorism" is. Putin signed the new decree at a time when rights groups say authorities are stepping up efforts to quieten the few voices of opposition that remain. Russia says such laws are required to protect the country from infiltration by Ukraine and Western intelligence agencies.

Russia's economy is facing a record worker shortage amid losses in Ukraine and mass exodus
Filip De Mott/Business Insider/April 27, 2023
Russia's economy is facing a record workforce shortage, according to a central bank survey. Employers reported the lowest level of worker availability since data collection started in 1998. This comes amid the Ukraine war, rise of the gray economy, and an exodus of Russians. The Russian economy is struggling through a record worker shortage as the war in Ukraine adds pressure on the labor force. According a Russian central bank survey, worker availability has fallen to a reading of -18, the lowest since data collection initially began in 1998, Kommersant reported. The most impacted sectors are manufacturing, water supply, mining, storage and transportation. Meanwhile, car sales, wholesale and services saw the least impact. Several factors may be contributing to the situation. Russia's population has been shrinking for years, and its so-called gray economy has expanded to surpass other major industries. But Russia's war on Ukraine has delivered a major shock to the workforce. The military mobilized 300,000 troops last year and plans to mobilize hundreds of thousands more this year. And about 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded while fighting in Ukraine, with some estimates putting losses at 500 troops a day.
Meanwhile, nearly a million Russians may have left the country for various reasons, whether to escape the military mobilization or flee Western sanctions that have caused economic distress within the nation, according to the Washington Post. But the 14,000 employers surveyed by the Russian central bank were optimistic about an eventual turnaround, anticipating that seasonal trends will attract workers back in the next few months. News of a shrinking workforce comes alongside other dim views on Russia's prospects. Russia's economy is becoming increasingly primitive as its war in Ukraine drags on, and the repercussions could push it down the same path the Soviet Union endured three decades ago, according to the Russian economist and University of Chicago professor Konstantin Sonin. And an adviser to Finland's central bank said Russia is experiencing "reverse industrialization" as Western sanctions and its continued war on Ukraine weigh on long-term economic growth.

After a year of heavy losses, Ukraine's military is juggling a 'very uneven' force as it prepares for major fighting, expert says
Constantine Atlamazoglou/Business Insider/April 28, 2023
Ukraine's military is gearing up for offensives against Russian forces in spring and summer.
Ukraine has taken heavy casualties, but its military has grown due to recruitment and mobilization.
As a result, Ukraine now fields a force with a mix of experienced soldiers and new recruits.
Following Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in the Donbas in 2014, the US and other NATO militaries began training the Ukrainian military to prepare it for a large-scale conflict.
That conflict kicked off on February 24, 2022, when tens of thousands of Russian troops lunged for Kyiv and other major cities. Ukraine thwarted their initial attack within a few days, but the fighting has dragged on for more than a year.
As the war has gone on, rising casualties among Ukraine's Western-trained troops and the mobilization of reservists who were trained under Soviet military doctrines have created a force with differing levels of experience and differing understandings of how units in the field should operate.
A wartime military
When Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine's military had about 196,000 active personnel and 900,000 in reserve, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies' 2022 Military Balance report.
Ukraine declared a general mobilization shortly after the invasion, and its military has swelled since then. According to the 2023 Military Balance report, Ukraine now has an active-duty force of 688,000 with 400,000 in reserve and 250,000 in its police and paramilitary forces.
Ongoing combat and call-ups mean troop numbers are hard to determine. Ukraine has not released official casualty numbers, but recently leaked US intelligence documents put them at 15,500 to 17,500 killed and 109,000 to 113,500 wounded.
Ukraine's military "has now expanded significantly, but it's also taken significant losses over the course of the past year," Michael Kofman, director of the Russian Studies Program at the CNA research organization, said on a mid-March episode of the War on the Rocks podcast.
Kofman, who spoke shortly after visiting Ukraine and the conflict's frontline, said that talking to soldiers at different levels gave him the impression that "many of the best people have been lost."
"You often lose your best people in war first," Kofman said. "Many of the folks who are trained by NATO between 2014 and 2022 have been lost too. A lot of junior leaders have either been lost or have been rotated up and promoted. So there's a lot of churn."
"What I see in that military is that it's just very uneven," Kofman added. "It's very uneven because there are folks that have come from civilian life and some have had a bunch of training and some had very little."
The Western approach
Beginning in 2015, the US Army, forces from other NATO members, and partner militaries worked under the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine to train over 23,000 Ukrainian soldiers for a large-scale conflict against Russia.
Their aim was to forge "a new kind of NATO-compatible professional fighting force in Ukraine," a US official said in 2021. The training they provided accompanied other efforts by Kyiv to reverse two decades of post-Cold War decay that weakened the Ukrainian military.
Western allies worked closely with Ukrainian forces to identify areas where they needed the most training. Ukrainian troops in company- and battalion-level units participated in numerous exercises in Europe and received training in Western arms, small-unit tactics, and doctrine.
Developing Ukraine's noncommissioned officers — enlisted troops who have experience but haven't been commissioned as officers — received particular focus.
Western training created "a competent non-commissioned officer corps that could feed initiative and make tactical decisions based on commander's intent," similar the role of NCOs in NATO militaries, Lt. Col. Todd Hopkins, deputy commander of the Florida National Guard's 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which participated in the effort, said last year. Western doctrine gives junior leaders significant freedom to implement decisions that come from the top and encourages them to take the initiative. This approach is especially effective when troops are familiar with the battlefield, as were many Ukrainians who had been fighting Russians and Russian-backed forces in the Donbas since 2014. Ukrainian military leaders have highlighted this flexibility as a major factor in their effectiveness against Russian forces who, much like the Soviet military, rely on senior leaders for direction and instructions in combat.
As important as that flexibility is, the "churn" caused by combat losses and rounds of mobilization mean it is not uniform across the force Ukraine is now fielding. Differences in the training these troops have received are also creating friction.
Two armies in one
Yet, as casualties among Ukraine's NATO-trained troops increase and as Kyiv calls up more of its older reservists who were trained according to Soviet standards, parts of the Ukrainian military are coming to resemble that of Russia, according to Kofman.
Some of these older troops have "come back to senior positions across different staff levels, and they are of a different culture," one that is more like "what the Ukrainian military may have been in the past," Kofman said on the podcast.
This has created two forces within the Ukrainian military, he added, one of them flexible and able to make decisions across the command level and the other more rigid. The result is a kind of a military culture clash that may impact how Ukrainian units perform in offensives Kyiv is expected to launch in the spring and summer. This is "fundamentally a difference of culture between a military that does mission command and things like that by default," Kofman explained, referring to Ukraine's Western-trained troops, "and then also a Soviet army that's well embedded in this military and has its foot in the past."
"This is a continuous struggle in the Ukrainian military," Kofman said.
*Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European security. He holds a master's degree in security studies and European affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. You can contact him on LinkedIn.

Russia says US-South Korea nuclear deal could destabilise region
MOSCOW (Reuters)/April 28, 2023
Russia's foreign ministry on Friday criticised a nuclear agreement between the United States and South Korea, saying it would destabilise the region and the wider world, and warned of a potential arms race as a result. The United States on Wednesday pledged to give South Korea more insight into its nuclear planning, while Seoul promised not to seek nuclear weapons itself in an agreement both sides said was aimed against North Korea. Russia has repeatedly railed against what it sees as the United States' growing military presence across Asia. "This development is clearly destabilising in nature and will have serious negative consequences for regional security, impacting on global stability," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Moscow said the United States and NATO's drive for "decisive military superiority" would "bring nothing but escalating tensions" and could "provoke an arms race". Washington has accused Moscow of nuclear sabre-rattling over various statements from Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, since the start of the Ukraine war that Russia would be prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend its "territorial integrity". At a joint news conference with U.S. President Joe Biden this week, South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol said the agreement was aimed at strengthening South Korea's defences in the face of North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program.

Putin will be arrested if he visits, says South African opposition leader
Ben Farmer/The Telegraph/April 28, 2023
Vladimir Putin has been threatened with arrest in South Africa ahead of a controversial visit expected later this year. The opposition premier of South Africa’s Western Cape said if the Russian president enters the province, he will be arrested. Alan Winde attacked the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for apparently pushing ahead with plans to welcome Putin, despite the International Criminal Court ordering his arrest. Leaders of Russia, China and other Brics nations are scheduled to attend a summit in South Africa later this year. Mr Winde said pressing ahead with inviting the Russian leader would be “unacceptable and deplorable”. He said: “Putin has consistently and violently eroded the freedoms of the Ukrainian people and those in his own country who dare take a principled stand against his brutal actions.”
'Police ready at the airport for arrest'
The ICC warrant obliges South Africa to arrest Putin if he visits the country, but the ANC has a long-standing friendship with Moscow. The party has also defied an ICC warrant in the past, refusing to arrest former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2015. Mr Winde said locally-funded police in the province, which includes Cape Town, would act if the government did not order national police to act. ANC supporters mocked Mr Winde, of the Democratic Alliance party, for over-reaching his powers. Mr Winde said he would have police ready at the airport and would liaise with Interpol and the ICC if necessary, to make the arrest. Putin’s allies have previously said any attempt to arrest the Russian leader would be considered an act of war. The Kremlin says the ICC arrest warrant for Putin’s alleged role in the deportation of hundreds of Ukrainian children is a partisan decision. Yet Putin’s potential presence at the summit has created an intense diplomatic quandary for South Africa’s president. Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this week appeared to say the country would leave the ICC, only for the ANC to then roll back his comments. He has also sent a delegation to Washington this week amid concerns the US may eject South Africa from a trade deal because of its tilt towards Moscow and Beijing. Diplomatic sources have suggested envoys are looking for a fudge, such as Putin attending by video link.

Russia paves way for deportations from annexed Ukrainian regions
MOSCOW (Reuters)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that gives people living in parts of Ukraine under Moscow's control a path to Russian citizenship, but means those who decline or who do not legalise their status could be deported. The decree, which was reported by Russian news agencies on Friday, covers four Ukrainian regions that Russia has unilaterally claimed as its own and partially controls: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv says it will retake all four areas and has accused Moscow of trying to browbeat its citizens into accepting Russian citizenship. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar this week accused Russia of trying to change what she called "the ethnic make-up" of occupied territory by bringing in settlers from remote parts of Russia while deporting people suspected of being pro-Ukrainian. The decree sets out ways that Ukrainian citizens or those holding passports issued by Russia-backed breakaway republics, and who live in the four regions, can start the process of becoming Russian citizens or legalise their status with the Russian authorities. But it also says that anyone who does not take such action by July 1, 2024, will be regarded as a foreign citizen, something that will leave them at risk of being deported from territory that Moscow considers part of Russia. The decree also allows the deportation of people from the four regions who are deemed a threat to national security or take part in unauthorised meetings. Specifically, the decree singles out for potential deportation people who favour "the violent change" of Russia's constitutional order or who finance or plan terrorist attacks.

Iranian president to visit Syria next week - senior source
BEIRUT (Reuters)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Damascus next week, a senior regional source close to the Syrian government told Reuters on Friday. The visit will be the first by an Iranian president to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since war broke out in Syria in 2011. With military help and economic support from both Iran and Russia, Assad was able to turn the tide of the conflict and regain control of most of his country. The senior regional source told Reuters that a warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as a thaw in Arab states' isolation of Syria, had paved the way for the visit. The Syrian daily al-Watan, which is close to the government, reported that Raisi's visit would last two days and would be capped by a string of agreements, particularly on economic cooperation. Iran has previously provided lines of credit to Damascus and imports phosphate from Syrian mines. This month, regional sources revealed that Iran had secretly brought weapons and other military equipment to Syria by disguising the transfers as part of the relief effort following the devastating February earthquakes in Syria and Turkey.

Russia's Iranian-made drones are powered by German technology stolen 17 years ago, experts say
Sinéad Baker/Business Insider/April 28, 2023
The engine for drones that Russia is using in Ukraine is based on stolen technology, experts said.
Conflict Armament Research said the German technology was stolen by Iran in 2006.
Russia has used the Iranian-made drones to destroy buildings and kill civilians in Ukraine.
Drones manufactured by Iran and used by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine have at their core German technology that was stolen by Iran 17 years ago, according to weapons experts. UK-based group Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which tracks weapon supplies around the world, said in a report this month that Iran's Shahed-136 drones use engines based on technology stolen from Germany in 2006. Russia has used the drones to strike targets across Ukraine, including in the capital, Kyiv, as well as power infrastructure and apartment buildings. Civilians have been killed in the process. CAR said that it had examined engines of drones recovered in Ukraine, and found markings belonging to Iranian company Mado. It said that this proves for the first time that Mado is "indeed the producer of engines" found in Shahed-136 drones used against Ukraine. The group then connected the Mado engines to German technology stolen in 2006. It said that the company's MD-500 engine is "probably a copy" of a German engine that was stolen in 2006, the Limbach L-550. It also said that commentators believe that other Mado models looked like they are copies of European technology. CAR said that the serial numbers on parts of the drone engines found in Ukraine were erased, or new serial numbers applied — something that would help to hide their origin. "These modifications have prevented investigators from identifying the acquisition networks facilitating the international supply of key components into Iran," it said. CAR's findings were first reported by CNN. Russia has been using Iran-made drones in Ukraine for months. Iran initially denied any involvement, and then admitted that its drones were being used by Russia — but only ones that it sent before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Western governments have disputed this claim, with the US saying that Iran has also sent drone operators to Russia to train its forces. Russia turned to Iran for arms after its own ability to manufacture weapons became limited. Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in November that Iran had given Russia hundreds of drones and Russia was relying on Iran for weapons for Ukraine because it had become so internationally isolated. The US and EU have sanctioned Iranian companies and individuals in response to the drone supply. Yousaf Aboutalebi, Mado's CEO, has been under US sanctions since before the invasion of Ukraine began, and was added to the UK's sanctions list in December 2022.

UN experts defend Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation
GENEVA (AP)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Experts working with the United Nations on Friday denounced reports of human rights violations including abduction, deportation and enforced disappearances against ethnic minorities in Russian-occupied Crimea, calling on Moscow to do more to protect the rights of Tatars and others there.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as part of a regular, rotating review of U.N. member states, took a look at Russia — and areas that it controls — along with five other countries this month. The impact of Moscow's war in Ukraine on rights and racial hatred drew particular scrutiny.
In its review of Russia, the committee of independent experts focused on just one particular aspect of the war — the impact on racial discrimination — which has seen a litany of other rights abuses and violations, including murder, summary execution, rape, arbitrary detention and much more, according to U.N. and other rights monitors. The committee cited reports of “destruction of and damage to Crimean Tatar cultural heritage, including tombstones, monuments and shrines,” and cited a lack of information about efforts to protect such sites from vandalism. It pointed to reports of barriers on the use and study of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages, and called for the reinstatement of the Mejlis, a representative body of Crimean Tatars that was disbanded in 2016. The experts cited the “refusal” of Russian envoys to provide information, and suggested that Crimea, under international law, remains part of Ukraine despite Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014. The panel cited reports of “numerous and serious human rights violations against members of ethnic minority groups and indigenous peoples in Crimea, in particular abductions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and the forcible transfer or deportation of inhabitants from these territories to the Russian Federation.”The committee aims to help countries uphold their commitments under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Moscow — then the capital of the Soviet Union — ratified more than five decades ago. After skipping a U.N.-backed Human Rights Committee review last year, Russia deployed a delegation of nearly 20 people to attend and field questions in the review, a first by Russian envoys to a U.N. rights review in Geneva since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Israeli forces say militant held in raid in West Bank city of Jenin
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters)/Fri, April 28, 2023
The Israeli military said it arrested a suspected militant and confiscated weapons on Friday in a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin that led to clashes with Palestinian fighters. Israeli forces said they shot at suspects who hurled explosive devices at them. Palestine TV said the soldiers wounded two people, including a 14-year-old boy. It said the forces blocked the movement of ambulances and conducted arrests before withdrawing. Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed a convoy of armoured military vehicles approaching the area before a cloud of white smoke rose from an apartment building as shots rang out. "Before afternoon prayers, the (Israeli) military and special forces positioned themselves around the refugee camp but thank God the fighters were on high alert and they managed to prevent the forces from raiding the camp," Ata Abu Rmeileh, head of the Jenin branch of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, told Reuters. He added that the residents of Jenin were expecting more raids in days ahead. Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged this year, with frequent military raids and violence by Israeli settlers amid a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 90 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed since January. Israel captured the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. It has since built large settlements there while U.S.-sponsored statehood talks have stalled.

Palestinians: Israeli forces shoot, kill teen in West Bank
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Israeli forces shot and killed a teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The shooting came during confrontations between Israeli forces and stone-throwing Palestinians in a village near the town of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian media reports. The ministry identified the teenager as Mustafa Sabah, 16, adding he was shot in the chest. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Footage posted on social media shows people carrying the teen after he was shot and shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic. The Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged to heights unseen in years. Earlier Friday, the army raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank and arrested several Palestinians suspected of involvement in attacks against Israelis, the military said. Palestinian media reported that two youths were wounded in ensuing clashes with the military there. So far in 2023, more than 97 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to a tally by The Associated Press, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups. During that time, 19 people were killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek those lands for a future independent state.

OIC Displeased with Europe’s Congratulatory Message Marking Israel’s ‘Independence'
Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Thursday that the statements of the European Union President, Ursula von der Leyen, in which she congratulated Israel on its seventy-fifth “independence,” were disappointing and not in line with human rights and international law.
The Jeddah-based organization expressed strong displeasure at the statement of the EU President, saying it contained disappointing political and historical references that are at variance with the Union’s positions based on human rights, international law, and UN resolutions. The OIC asserted that these statements ignore historical, political, and legal facts dating back thousands of years and coincide with the commemoration of the Nakbah (catastrophe) for the territory and people of Palestine. The statement noted that it “continues to be a dark spot on humanity’s memory and conscience and a denigration of the values of freedom and justice, following the declaration establishing Israel, the colonial occupation force, and the ensuing policies of racial cleansing, forced expulsion, oppression, confiscation of Palestinians’ properties and the deprivation of their legitimate rights.”The organization called on the EU to honor its “political, legal, and humanitarian responsibilities towards ending the Israeli colonial occupation and correcting the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people."It also urged supporting Palestinians' legitimate rights, including the right to return, and realizing the establishment of their independent state on the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Furthermore, the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem reported that dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday from the Mughrabi Gate under police protection. The Department said that the settlers forced their way into the Mosque as groups, carried out provocative tours in its courtyards, listened to presentations about the structure of the compound, and performed Talmudic rituals in its eastern region. Wafa News Agency reported that the occupation police intensified their deployment inside Al-Aqsa and at its gates to secure the settlers’ incursions and checked the ID cards of people arriving at the Mosque.

Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold peace settlement talks soon - TASS
(Reuters)/Fri, April 28, 2023
Armenia and Azerbaijan will hold talks in the near future on a peace deal to try to settle their long-running differences, Russia's TASS news agency quoted the secretary of Armenia's Security Council as saying.
The official, Armen Grigoryan, did not say when, where and at what level the talks would happen. TASS also reported that Armenia's defence minister had discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the focus of two wars in the past three decades, with the new commander of Russian peacekeepers in the region. The mountainous enclave is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but populated by about 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Azeris identifying themselves as environmental protesters have since Dec. 12 partially blocked the Lachin corridor, the only highway and supply route that runs across Azeri territory which connects Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan went further last Sunday by setting up a checkpoint on the road, which Armenia called a major breach of a 2020 ceasefire deal. Baku said the move was necessary to stop the route being used to transfer fighters and weapons. Despite years of attempted mediation between them, the two countries have yet to reach a peace agreement that would settle outstanding issues such as the demarcation of borders and return of prisoners. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has visited Azerbaijan and Armenia in the past two days, urging both sides to undertake confidence-building moves and resume talks on a settlement.

Syrian Pound Sets New Low, Gov. Unable to Find Solution
Damascus - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 28 April, 2023
The Syrian pound recorded a new decline in the black market in regime-controlled areas, exceeding 8,000 against the US dollar, despite the increase in foreign remittances received during the holy fasting month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. Economists explained that the decline continued with the ongoing economic crisis and the regime’s inability to control the exchange rate despite all measures taken. According to unofficial phone applications that monitor the black market, the exchange rate recorded SYP7,900 for purchase and 8,000 for sale to the US dollar. The market witnessed relative stability during Ramadan month and Eid al-Fitr, maintaining a rate ranging between SYP7,400 and SYP7,600 per dollar. Parallel-market exchange dealers told Asharq Al-Awsat there is a big demand for dollars in large quantities, explaining that the prices shown on applications were inaccurate, and no one sells for less than SYP8,300. The Central Bank of Syria issues two different price bulletins daily; the Remittance and Exchange Bulletin and Banks’ Bulletin. Asharq Al-Awsat spoke with several economists, some of whom pointed out that the exchange rate dropped during this season, unlike previous holidays, when the exchange rate was improving due to increased remittances from refugees and expatriates. One expert, who preferred not to be named, believed the new decline in the currency rate was due to the government’s inability to control the exchange market despite all the measures it has taken.
He also noted that the authorities needed more dollars to finance imports after the decline in foreign money reserves from around $20 billion to zero during the war years. The regime is now importing everything, such as fuel, wheat, basic foodstuffs, and industrial materials, said the expert, adding that the government desperately needs dollars. Remittances of refugees and expatriates are the only declared source of dollars entering regime-controlled regions. Many workers in exchange and money transfer companies operating in the regime-controlled areas confirmed that the daily transfers rate from abroad increased by 30 percent during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. The director of the government’s Real Estate Bank, Ali Kanaan, said that remittances increased after the Central Bank increased the exchange rate approaching the black market price.
According to local media, Kanaan explained that foreign remittances are a resource for foreign exchange in the local economy, mainly that Syria’s economy suffers from a shortage in foreign exchange liquidity sources due to the Caesar’s Act and economic sanctions.
He noted that remittances amount to $10 million daily, which would allow funding for basic imports. He said that despite all its measures, the regime failed to control the exchange market and seize the majority of incoming transfers to its regions.
Another expert pointed out that, in spite of the difference between the Central Bank’s rate and the parallel market, people receiving remittances prefer to exchange them on the black market. He said the employee’s monthly salary does not exceed SYP150,000 pounds. Merchants also resort to the black market for their transactions, which increases the demand for the dollar, prompting a drop in the exchange rate. The researcher described the situation as “very difficult,” expecting the exchange rate to reach SYP10,000 within months. Asharq Al-Awsat noticed that supermarket owners were hedging the recent deterioration in the exchange rate by increasing the prices, some of them close to SYP10,000. 90 percent of Syrian citizens are below the poverty line due to the new wave in high prices, repeated whenever the exchange rate drops, further exacerbating their living conditions.

China is pushing ahead with a planned military base in the UAE in a clear snub to the US, leaked papers say
Tom Porter/Business Insider/April 28, 2023
Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday, July 22, 2019.Andy Wong-Pool/Getty Images
China has resumed the construction of a military base in the UAE, leaker papers show. Plans for a Chinese base had earlier been halted amid US concerns. China is riling the US by forming ties with its traditional allies in the region. China resumed construction of a military base in the United Arab Emirates, a move likely to alarm US officials and increase concerns that another US ally in the Middle East is drawing closer to China. According to leaked US intelligence documents obtained by The Washington Post, construction has resumed at a Chinese military base just outside Abu Dhabi. Plans for a base were halted in 2021 after the US voiced its objections. But The Post's documents indicate that the plans now appear to be going ahead. According to the report, US intelligence is monitoring Chinese activity at the base and at other locations in the oil-rich UAE amid concerns that it is drawing closer to Beijing. The presence of Chinese officials at several sensitive military sites have alarmed US intelligence, the report says. The base is part an ambitious plan to create a global network of military facilities in ports across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa, by 2030, according to The Post's documents. China in recent months has made an audacious power play in the Middle East, organising a diplomatic thaw between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Beijing has exposed the limitations of US influence in a region where it's long been the dominant international power. Saudi Arabia, another traditional US ally in the region, has also riled the White House by drawing closer to China, holding a summit last year to announce cooperation with Beijing across a broad range of security and economic issues. At the same time, China has sought to position itself as a peace broker in Ukraine, while also offering diplomatic and economic support to Russia in its invasion of its neighbor.

Tarek Fatah, Rest in Peace
American Mideast Coalition for Democracy/AMCD/April 28/2023
We at AMCD were saddened by the news of the passing of Tarek Fatah. The 73-year-old Pakistani-Canadian columnist passed away on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer. “Fatah was a brave intellectual who was also very kind and good-hearted,” began AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar. “He wanted peace and sympathetic understanding between religions and nationalities. He was a very fine journalist who will be greatly missed.”“His was a reasonable voice which sought to find a middle ground in a sharply divided polemics on the issue of Islam in the modern world,” said AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “He wanted to bring the emotional temperature down so that the many problems plaguing the Islamic world could be calmly and rationally discussed.” “Tarek Fatah was a generous soul who was comfortable straddling worlds,” added Hossein Khorram, AMCD co-chair. “He made important contributions toward the goal of mutual understanding between the Hindu, Muslim and Christian worlds. At the same time, he was a cosmopolitan who didn’t really fit within any of them, but rather stood at a slight distance and thereby gained a wide perspective on each. We will miss his good humor and profound insights.”

Pope Francis arrives in Hungary for three-day visit
NNA/Friday, 28 April, 2023  
Pope Francis arrived in Hungary on Friday at the start of a three-day trip where the war in Ukraine, migration and Europe’s Christian roots are expected to top the agenda in his public addresses and talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The visit is his first trip since he was admitted to hospital for bronchitis in March. Francis will preside on Sunday at an open-air Mass in front of parliament, overlooking the Danube River in Budapest. Francis is keeping a promise of an official visit, after a stop of only seven hours to close a Church congress in Budapest in 2021 on his way to Slovakia left many feeling slighted. He has acknowledged the visit’s content will be affected by current events, even if the main purpose is meeting Hungarian Catholics. Francis is due to meet Orban on Friday. “Looking forward to the visit of @pontifex,” Orban said on Twitter on Thursday evening. “In troubled times like ours, it is essential to remember what keeps us together, and faith is the foundation upon which we can build a stable future.” Orban has said Hungary and the Vatican are the only two European states that can be described as “pro-peace” regarding Ukraine. Both Orban 59, and the pope, 86, have called for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war and Francis has urged Ukraine to be open to dialogue with “aggressor” Russia, something Ukraine has so far ruled out. Hungary, which supports a sovereign Ukraine but still has strong economic ties to Russia, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine. While the pope has often called for a general ban on arms trafficking and reduction in weapons manufacturing, he has also said sending arms to Ukraine is morally acceptable if they are used only for self-defense. For Hungarians waiting for a chance to see Francis, some saw the visit as a moment of hope. “I believe that with so much sorrow in the world that a positive message from the Pope would do us good,” Annamaria Duzmath said while passing Budapest’s St Stephen’s Basilica on Friday.--Reuters

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 28-29/2023
Question: “What is a Christian worldview?”
GotQuestions.org?/April 28/2023
Answer: A “worldview” refers to a comprehensive conception of the world from a specific standpoint. A “Christian worldview,” then, is a comprehensive conception of the world from a Christian standpoint. An individual’s worldview is his “big picture,” a harmony of all his beliefs about the world. It is his way of understanding reality. One’s worldview is the basis for making daily decisions and is therefore extremely important.
An apple sitting on a table is seen by several people. A botanist looking at the apple classifies it. An artist sees a still-life and draws it. A grocer sees an asset and inventories it. A child sees lunch and eats it. How we look at any situation is influenced by how we look at the world at large. Every worldview, Christian and non-Christian, deals with at least these three questions:
1) Where did we come from? (and why are we here?)
2) What is wrong with the world?
3) How can we fix it?
A prevalent worldview today is naturalism, which answers the three questions like this: 1) We are the product of random acts of nature with no real purpose. 2) We do not respect nature as we should. 3) We can save the world through ecology and conservation. A naturalistic worldview generates many related philosophies such as moral relativism, existentialism, pragmatism, and utopianism.
A Christian worldview, on the other hand, answers the three questions biblically: 1) We are God’s creation, designed to govern the world and fellowship with Him (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:15). 2) We sinned against God and subjected the whole world to a curse (Genesis 3). 3) God Himself has redeemed the world through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ (Genesis 3:15; Luke 19:10), and will one day restore creation to its former perfect state (Isaiah 65:17-25). A Christian worldview leads us to believe in moral absolutes, miracles, human dignity, and the possibility of redemption.
It is important to remember that a worldview is comprehensive. It affects every area of life, from money to morality, from politics to art. True Christianity is more than a set of ideas to use at church. Christianity as taught in the Bible is itself a worldview. The Bible never distinguishes between a “religious” and a “secular” life; the Christian life is the only life there is. Jesus proclaimed Himself “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and, in doing so, became our worldview.
For Further Study: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview by William Lane Craig & J.P. Moreland
More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free!

Christians: The Victims That Must Never Be Named
Raymond Ibrahim/April 28/2023
Despite the predominance of identity politics—where the skin and/or non-Western religious identity of any victim is constantly highlighted—the identity of that one group most persecuted around the world—Christians—is always dissembled over whenever they are slaughtered (which is daily, globally speaking).
Consider the establishment’s reaction following the March 27, 2023 killings in Nashville, where a woman claiming to be a man (aka “transgender”) stormed her former Christian school and murdered three 9-year-old children and three staffers.
Although she left a manifesto spelling out her motive, American authorities—including the FBI, ATF, National Police, and US Attorney General Merrick Garland—concluded that the murderer’s motive is “unclear.” At the same time, and apparently bowing to pressure from lgbt-etc. groups, they have refused to release her manifesto to the public.
Of course, for those whose common sense is still intact, the motive is as clear as day; no manifesto required. As (the now “canceled”) Tucker Carlson put it:
[The] victims were murdered because they were Christians. It’s that simple. Transgenderists hate Christians above all not because Christians are a physical threat—the third graders [killed] were not a physical threat—but because Christians refuse to join every other liar in our society and proclaim that transgenderists are gods with the power to change nature itself. Christians are not allowed to say that, they have their own God. And for that refusal, that unwillingness to bow down and worship a false idol, in this case of transgenderism, they were murdered.
Such obvious connections were, naturally, missed by the commander-in-chief, Joe Biden. When asked if he thought the slain victims of the Nashville shooting were targeted due to their Christian identity, Biden replied “I have no idea.” This is the same man who, with zero evidence, suggested that the killer of Muslims in Arizona must be a white supremacist. (It was later revealed that the killer was a Muslim.)
For those aware of how the establishment covers—or rather covers up—the Muslim persecution of Christians, the response to and “coverage” of the Nashville murders should be very familiar.
For starters, the establishment is trying to downplay the identity of both the (“trans”) murderer and her (Christian) victims. This is always the case when Muslims slaughter Christians. Over the last two decades, I have read countless media reports of “terrorist” attacks that kills dozens of “people” only to find at the very end of the report, or by reading between-the-lines, that those slain were Christians, and those targeting them, the hitherto generic “terrorists,” were Muslims.
On those rare occasions that the terror-strike on Christians is spectacularly large enough to demand a response from the establishment, identity is again dissembled. When Muslims bombed three churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, 2019, killing some 300 Christians, Democratic leaders, including Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, could not even bring themselves to identify the slain victims as “Christians.” Instead, they condemned a “terror” attack on “Easter worshippers.”
The “unclear motive” currently being used for the Nashville murders is also a mainstay whenever the Christian identity of Islam’s victims surfaces.
In the Congo, for example, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which, despite its name—or perhaps in keeping with it—is closely allied to the Islamic State, has for years been terrorizing that overwhelmingly Christian-majority nation in an effort to create a caliphate. Although the ADF has slaughtered countless Christians in the name of jihad, while recently reporting on one of its more lethal attacks on Christians, Reuters declared: “There was no indication as to the motive.”
Another tactic that the establishment resorts to whenever forced to acknowledge the identity of slain Christians is to somehow reverse the roles and present the victims as oppressors and the murderers as victims
As Tucker said in the same segment: “Transgenderists and their allies spent today attacking Christians, just days after a transgenderist murdered Christian children.”
Indeed, many in the media implied that Christians “had it coming.” One published statement claimed that the trans murderer’s life was made difficult by anti-trans legislation promulgated by Christians, and, therefore, “anti-trans hate has consequences.” Similarly, immediately after reporting on the Nashville murders and the trans identity of the murderer, ABC News’ Terry Moran stressed that “earlier this month Tennessee passed a bill banning transgender care for minors” — again, implying a “cause and effect” relationship. According to this “logic,” because Tennessee Christians banned the sexual mutilation of children, a trans person only naturally sought vengeance.
Even some of the media headlines seemed intentionally misleading, including (no surprise) Reuters: “Former Christian school student kills 3 children, 3 staff in Nashville shooting.” Anyone just reading the headline—as most people increasingly do—may well conclude that a Christian targeted students in a secular school. Such misleading headlines and worse are, of course, par for the course whenever Christians are targeted by Muslims. Thus the New York Times’ headline for a 2011 Islamic terror attack on an Egyptian church that left 21 Christians dead was “Clashes Grow as Egyptians Remain Angry after an Attack”—as if frustrated and harried Christians (referred to by the generic “Egyptians”) lashing out against their persecutors was the big news, not the unwarranted butchery they just experienced.
Similarly, NPR once ran a report on “sectarian violence” in Egypt, accompanied by a large photo of what appeared to be a “fanatical” Christian mob waving a crucifix—not what prompted that particular display of Christian solidarity: the nonstop persecution of Copts in Egypt.
Or consider a 2012 BBC report on a church attack in Nigeria that left three Christians, including an infant, dead. It objectively states the bare-bone facts before jumping to the really big news: “the bombing sparked a riot by Christian youths, with reports that at least two Muslims were killed in the violence. The two men were dragged off their bikes after being stopped at a roadblock set up by the rioters, police said. A row of Muslim-owned shops was also burned…”
The report goes on and on, with an entire section about “very angry” Christians till one confuses victims with persecutors, forgetting what the Christians are “very angry” about in the first place: nonstop terror attacks on their churches and the slaughter or enslavement of their women and children.
Incidentally, since that 2012 church attack, literally thousands of more churches have been attacked, torched, or bombed by Muslims in genocidal Nigeria, where one Christian is killed every two hours. But the establishment continues to point to anything and everything for a “motive”—most recently, climate change. There’s a global war on Christians. As recent events in Nashville make clear, it is well ensconced in America. And the enemies of Christians—whether Muslims or trans, whether the establishment or media—are legion.

How the West Is Helping Train China's Military
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute./April 28, 2023
China is reportedly recruiting former air force pilots from the West to understand better how Western military aircraft and pilots operate. Up to 30 former UK military pilots are believed to have traveled to China since 2019 to work as instructors in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
"It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities. Money is a strong motivator." — Unnamed Western official, BBC, October 28, 2022.
"It was very specific that it had to be frontline military aviators in current flying practice.... why send military pilots rather than teachers?" — Sky News, October 28, 2022.
Perhaps most incredibly, the US Army, as late as November 2020, conducted the Disaster Management Exchange (online, due to coronavirus) with China's PLA.... Unbelievably, the November 2020 remote exercise took place just one month after President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser, Robert O'Brien, had pronounced China to be the threat of the century....
China is reportedly recruiting former air force pilots from the West to understand better how Western military aircraft and pilots operate. Pictured: Sailors and fighter jets on the deck of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning in the sea near Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province on April 23, 2019. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images)
China is reportedly recruiting former air force pilots from the West to understand better how Western military aircraft and pilots operate. Up to 30 former UK military pilots are believed to have traveled to China since 2019 to work as instructors in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
"They are a very attractive body of people to then pass on that knowledge. It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities," an unnamed Western official said. "Money," he added, "is a strong motivator."
Britain's Ministry of Defence stated that while the pilots have not actually breached any current law in the UK by working for the PLA, they are warning other former pilots against taking up work for the Chinese military.
"It certainly doesn't match my understanding of service of our nation -- even in retirement -- to then go and work with a foreign power, especially one that challenges the UK interest so keenly," Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey said, stressing that the UK "must change the law."
"We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK armed forces pilots to train People's Liberation Army personnel in the People's Republic of China," a spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defence announced.
Other Western pilots have also been targeted by China. In France, one pilot told Le Figaro: "I almost tried it. This is not a common opportunity to have a fighter in your hands, and here I am offered the handle of a J-11 [J-11BH carrier-based variant, or the newer J-15]." He was offered a three-year, 20,000 euro per month contract. "I almost let myself be tempted," he said. "I eventually turned down the offer as I did not want to get into trouble. And also for ethical reasons, as China is not on our side."
Despite the outburst of concern in the UK and elsewhere over China's attempts to recruit Western pilots, a number of Western countries, including the UK, Canada, and the United States, until recently used to engage actively with the Chinese People's Liberation Army, thereby contributing to the development of Chinese military capabilities.
According to Sky News, at least three Chinese military personnel undertook basic officer training at the Royal Air Force College in the UK, the latest as recently as 2019.
In addition, a number of more senior military officers from China studied at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in the UK, which caters to more senior military personnel from both the army, navy and air force.
Earlier, in 2016 the Ministry of Defense in the UK sent up to four RAF pilots to take part in the "Aviation English Course" in Beijing which, according to unnamed sources cited by Sky News, "consisted of helping the People's Liberation Army Air Force learn how to run overseas military deployments."
"It was very specific that it had to be frontline military aviators in current flying practice, so I am sure more than English language got talked about," the source said, adding that the title of the course, "Aviation English," was "a misnomer -- why send military pilots rather than teachers?"
Furthermore, the British Ministry of Defence only raised the alarm on the issue this fall, raising questions as to why it had taken them so long.
"The first duty of any government is to protect our nation's security," Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey said in a statement.
"The Tories have been too slow to emerge from their 'golden era' with China and repeatedly blasé about security threats. This official deployment could have compromised details of UK military operations, technology and training to a foreign power, posing a significant threat to our national security. Ministers must answer serious questions about why they backed this activity and what risks it poses. The public also want reassurance on the actions taken to halt it."
In Canada, the military invited representatives from the People's Liberation Army to observe its winter military exercises as recently as in 2018.
"We do not train with the PLA," a spokesperson for Canada's Department of National Defence said in 2020.
"However, based on an agreement signed in 2013, there has been the occasional, reciprocal granting of observer-status for non-sensitive activities, including winter survival exercises."
As late as 2019, however, Canada's Department of Global Affairs was fearful that the Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance, after being urged by the United States, had cancelled winter military exercises with the PLA and later all military interactions.
"Should Canada make any significant reductions in its military engagement with China, China will likely read this as a retaliatory move," said a February 2019 Department of Global Affairs memo to Ian Shugart, then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"We understand that [this cancellation] was driven principally by concerns voiced by the U.S. that the training could result in unintended and undesired knowledge transfer to the PLA. Unilateral decisions to postpone and/or cancel previously agreed DND/CAF co-operation with the PLA risk being interpreted by China or others in an unintended (and unhelpful) way. [This] could also damage Canada's long-term defence and security relationship with China."
The winter exercises were supposed to have been observed by six to eight military officers from the People's Liberation Army. In addition, according to the Globe and Mail:
"[A] calendar of coming engagements for 2019 between the Canadian military and China's PLA listed up to 12 events, including PLA soldiers attending the Canadian Security Studies Program at Canadian Forces College in Toronto and a United Nations peacekeeping course at the Canadian-army affiliated Peace Support Training Centre in Kingston. It also included the delegation of athletes for the Military World Games in Wuhan and delegates to attend a PLA National Defence University International Symposium in China. Canada sent 114 athletes, 57 coaches and support staff to the Military World Games."
Perhaps most incredibly, the US Army, as late as November 2020, conducted the Disaster Management Exchange (online, due to coronavirus) with China's PLA. The event has been an ongoing bilateral annual training exercise between China and the US since 2005. In November 2019, the US Army Pacific hosted members of the PLA for the two weeks that the exercise lasted at Kilauea Military Camp and Kilauea Military Reservation in Hawaii. Unbelievably, the November 2020 remote exercise took place just one month after President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser, Robert O'Brien, had pronounced China to be the threat of the century.
"The CCP is seeking dominance in all domains and sectors...(and) plans to monopolize every industry that matters to the 21st century," O'Brien said in October 2020.
"Most recently the PRC used cyber-enabled espionage to target companies developing Covid vaccines and treatments in Europe, the UK and the United States all the while touting the need for international cooperation."
Perhaps the US Army's approach to the PLA might partly be explained through the fact that as late as 2013, Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski, then U.S. Army Pacific commander, suggested that the US could conduct bilateral exercises such as the Disaster Management Exchange with China, as China's army no longer posed any danger to the US. "I believe that the Army is extremely well suited to conduct continuous engagement with the Chinese because our army-to-army forces are literally, at this point, not a threat to each other," Wiercinski said.
"Our engagements with disaster management exercises, military medicine, engineering projects -- these are all peacekeeping operations. These are excellent opportunities for us to get into mil-to-mil discussions. I can only hope those will continue in the future."
*Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
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Iran and Its Culture War
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 28/2023
It was supposed to be a routine remake of scores of reportages offered by the official TV each year. The formula used is simple: A concert hall filled with a handpicked audience of carefully screened audience chanting “God is Great, Hail to Supreme Leader!” Then the “Supreme Leader” enters, accompanied by his military and clerical entourage, to sit on high chair on an elevated platform facing the audience below from a distance of 10 meters. As the cameras roll, the “Supreme Leader” repeats his shop-worn monologue about humbling the American “Great Satan” and wiping the “Zionist entity” from the face of the earth. He invites the young audience to prepare for martyrdom as a short-cut to a place in heaven in the next world. At the end of the ceremony everyone shouts “Hail to the Chief” while the “Supreme Leader” exits the stage wearing a triumphal smile.
Last week, however, the segment in the 34-year old soap opera didn’t go according to the script. To start with the audience, consisting of young recruits for the Baseej (Mobilization) unit, a key element in security, seemed hesitant to stand up as the chief arrived and, even worse, seemed parsimonious about shouting his adulation.
Even then, worse was to come.
When the “Supreme Leader” developed an argument against consulting the people via a referendum, some in the young audience started to cackle and boo. Visibly taken by surprise, the chief mumbled “we shouldn’t bang our heads against each other”. Then, as the booing continued albeit in a muffled form, he announced that the session was over and hastily headed for the exit. The amazing scene, broadcast live, was later removed from official websites but not without marking a new phase in a clash between a new generation of Iranians and the gerontocracy headed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Over 50 million of Iran’s population of 87 million had not been born when the mullahs seized power in 1979. A further 10 million were children or adolescents who feel alien in a world imagined by ageing mullahs that seem to belong to another age if not another planet.
The amazing extension of the cyberspace to Iran has had two crucial effects.
It has ended the government’s monopoly on sources of information and it has opened a window to the outside world which seems to live in another time-zone. Both those facts operate against a system that, struck by ideological atrophy, has failed to develop any mechanism for reform.
Today, the official TV is watched by less than 20 percent of Iranians while foreign-based satellite TV stations, beaming from Britain the United States, have secured audiences in virtually every corner of the country. Despite repeated efforts to shut the Internet, foreign based Persian-language TV stations claim audiences topping the million mark even for question-and-answer shows with Iranians spending a fortune on phone bills to express their grievances on live TV.
But that is not all. Thanks to access to cyberspace, some Iranian influencers have secured huge audiences. Young girls with Twitter or Instagram accounts reach more people than does the “Supreme Leader” through his hugely costly official media.
Popular musicians attract much larger audiences than official reciters of the holy text or preachers paid by the government. A simple song by the young pop-star Sherwin Hajipour has morphed into an alternative national hymn, edging away the 44-year anthem composed in praise of Imam Khomeini. The popular poet-composer Shahin Najafi’s latest single “Shah” is reported to have sold more than a million copies in a few weeks.
The new image of Iran emerging in cyberspace finds echoes in real life. In the latest Iranian New Year holidays, in March, ancient Iranian sites such as Persepolis, capital of the Achaemenid Empire and Pasargadae where Cyrus the Great is buried, topped the list of most visited places in the country. According to official figures from the Ministry of Guidance and Tourism the mausoleums of poets, such as Sa’adi and Hafez, attracted more visitors than the Mausoleum of the 8th Imam in Mashhad.
Another new fad is for young Iranians to wear the latest world-style clothes and accoutrement and take selfies for posting on social media. The idea is to show that many young Iranians, if not a majority, reject the one-size “Islamist” lifestyle that the regime has tried to impose for more than four decades. “We live in the 21st century,” a young girl from a small coastal town said in a recent live TV phone-in program. “All we ask is to let us decide for ourselves what we wear and how we live without harming anyone.”
International media have portrayed the current tension in Iranian society as a popular movement against the officially-imposed head-covering known as “hijab”. A closer look, however, shows that much more is at stake. With every day that passes the number of women discarding the “hijab” grows while the mullahs wonder what to do. Since the protests started almost six months ago, at least 600 people have been killed by security forces and a further 22,000 arrested according to official figures. What is going on is a cultural war between one world-view, propagated by Khomeinist ideologues, and another, defended by champions of what is called Iranism. For Khomeinists, Iran is just a part of a global entity with a mission to spread the “true message” to every corner of the world. Dr. Hassan Abbbasi, a leading theorist of Khomeinism and known as “Kissinger of Islam”, says Iran’s manifest destiny is to turn the White House in Washington into a Hussaynieh, ending American global hegemony. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi talks of “burning Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.”
To young Iranists, Iran is a reality that transcends the Islamic part of its complex identity. Iran is the whole, while Islam in its Khomeinist version only a part. A series of opinion polls over the past three decades show that the American “Great Satan” is more popular in Iran than in France and Germany.
Suddenly all things Iranian are keenly appreciated. Classic literally texts are re-edited, reaching readerships seldom seen before. Traditional architecture, music, art and even cuisine are reasserting their presence as elements of the resurgent Iranian identity.
The current duel between Khomeinist mullahs and a new generation of Iranians reminds one of the Kulturkampf (Culture War) that Germany experienced in the 19th century when “re-becoming ourselves” meant upholding the German identity, while the Catholic Church preached communion through Christianity.
That war was won by Germanists. We shall see if Iranists win this one in Iran.

If the Sudanese Had the Means to Escape
Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 28/2023
As I watch the scenes in Sudan, of foreigners trying to leave Khartoum any which way they can, I think of the millions of Sudanese left behind. Not lucky enough to have a foreign passport that would allow them to escape this hell, they are stuck in the crossfires of the war of “brothers,” who are using the missiles, fighter jets, and weapons that they had purchased with the Sudanese peoples’ money to kill them.
Worse still, reports indicate that the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces will resume and intensify after the end of the truce reached to allow for the evacuation of foreign nationals. The world would have turned its attention elsewhere by then. This state of affairs gives us the impression that both warring factions are more willing to show other nationals mercy and respond to the wishes of their governments than to show mercy to their own people.
In fact, there is every indication that the war of the two generals will not end before one of them defeats the other, meaning that the Sudanese can expect a lot more blood to flow before this senseless war ends.
Governments are doing the impossible to evacuate their citizens as swiftly as possible. These states feel responsible for their people’s safety, even if they reside or work in a distant country whose airports and facilities are not easy to access, which is certainly the case for countries embroiled in civil strife, like Sudan. In Britain, many have criticized the government of Rishi Sunak for prioritizing the evacuation of the staff of the British embassy in Khartoum and for being late to evacuate British citizens.
This is how the governments of the world fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens. Meanwhile, we find the governments of our region disregarding the interests of their people, igniting wars, and destroying their countries to further their selfish interests. Of course, these interests do not intersect with those of the country or its people at any point.
We have a bizarre state of affairs on our hands. The calls for ending the war in Sudan are being made abroad, instead of domestic leaders pushing for a resolution themselves.
We thus saw the UN Secretary General and Western officials call on Burhan and Hamedti to have mercy on their people and end this war. Indeed, no one can see any justification for what seems to be a struggle waged purely over power and control over the country’s wealth. Moreover, this war is waged even as the country suffers from a crushing economic crisis, which should be the concern of Sudanese officials.
Even more bizarrely, South Sudan has become a mediator in the conflict and is among the countries working to end the conflict. In fact, it is preparing to host negotiations for a framework to end the war between the two sides in its capital Juba. This comes after the war between the North and South, which was not fought a long time ago, cost the country dearly in terms of human and material losses and split what used to be the largest country in Africa in 2011. Oh the irony… oh how times change!
Sudan is, of course, only the latest calamity brought about by the selfishness of our region’s rulers and their mismanagement of their people’s affairs. As had been the case elsewhere, the reckless and irresponsible actions of Sudanese domestic elites come amid calls for restraint from abroad.
How many times have we heard foreign officials call on the rulers of Lebanon, for example, to have mercy on their people? Pleas like “help us help you” have fallen on deaf ears despite the economic collapse that has left Lebanon with the highest inflation rate in the world and over two-thirds of its people living in poverty. My drive to make comparisons impels me to borrow the phrase “War of Elimination.” This is the name that was given to the battles fought in the early nineties between the Lebanese army led by General Michel Aoun and the Lebanese Forces, which was led by its current chief, Samir Geagea. “Elimination,” the slogan of that war, is apparently also the objective of the war in Sudan, where both warring generals are trying to subjugate or eliminate the other! All of their battles are being fought in areas populated by tens of millions of civilians. Be it in Khartoum or other regions of Sudan that have witnessed skirmishes, the population has been taken "hostage.” Like the citizens of other countries in the region that have become "hostages" of their governments, the Sudanese have no means to escape. Their only hope for a way out is a visa or a job opportunity anywhere they can lead a decent life. There, they would not dream of returning to the country in which they had grown up. For millions of refugees, a foreign passport has become a dream, in pursuit of which they traverse borders and hop onto “death boats” taking them to safer countries. They are ready to put their lives on the line to escape their home countries, where life can only be wretched. How many would venture to remain in their devastated countries under the rule of such elites if airports elsewhere were open to those who want to leave?

Now is not the time for the world to abandon Khartoum
Hervé de Charette/Arab News/April 28/2023
After the war that ruined Yemen and is still ruining it today, after the conflict that has ravaged Ethiopia in recent years, a new humanitarian tragedy is looming in Sudan. These three almost neighboring countries, though very different from each other, have in common that they are deeply divided for historical, ethnic or religious reasons — sometimes all three.
Sudan, which became independent in 1956 after lengthy Egyptian-British rule, has experienced numerous crises: a long and cruel dictatorship under the tyranny of Omar Bashir after a military coup in 1989, an endless civil war in Darfur, the secession of the southern provinces, before the regime collapsed in 2019 under pressure from the army. Since April 15 the country has once again fallen into chaos because rival generals are fighting for power, spreading panic and hardship among the population.
However, the news that first came out of Khartoum, the capital, was the general closure of embassies and the accelerated flight of foreign nationals. The international media were all over it. The images that were broadcast were of lines of vehicles rushing out of the capital toward Egypt. States with the means to do so have organized, with the assistance of the UN, the evacuation of their nationals, negotiating with the military forces on the ground for facilities and security guarantees. This is what the US, UK and Italy, among others, have done. As for France, it has chartered air assets to organise flights to Djibouti to evacuate its diplomats and nationals, about 400 people. All this is understandable and perfectly legitimate, but one can imagine what the unfortunate Sudanese people, abandoned in the midst of a catastrophe, may think. The flight of these ambassadors is lacking a little grace.
The fact is that this conflict is a matter between the regular army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. After the fall of Bashir and the failure of attempts to establish a government that included both civilian and military figures, the two generals joined forces in 2021 to remove civilian notables and take power together, with Hemedti becoming the number two in the regime led by Burhan. So this is an intra-military affair, but as always it is the civilian population who will pay a high price.
This is an intra-military affair, but as always it is the civilian population who will pay a high price.
This obviously could not last. Hemedti broke the agreement and started hostilities. The confrontation will therefore be violent and will be seen through to the end. We should expect the worst. Already, the damage is considerable and the victims number in the thousands.
Sudan is a poor country where almost a third of the 45 million inhabitants suffer from hunger. It needs international humanitarian aid, not a civil war between armies, Sudanese against Sudanese, which is likely to be cruel and devastating. The flight of foreign residents shows what the international community expects.
It is feared that the conflict will become international. In 2021, Egypt and Russia supported the generals’ putsch, while the West condemned it. This time the situation is different. It seems that Russia is behind the Hemedti rebellion. There are even whispers that the Wagner militia, already present in Darfur, could intervene in Khartoum in support of Hemedti. On the contrary, the West should join Egypt in supporting the head of the army, Gen. Burhan, who has a certain legitimacy. What is likely to be decisive is the attitude of the Gulf states, which have some influence in Sudan and could contribute to an armistice.
So this is not the time to leave Khartoum. Neither the US, nor Europe, nor the Arab countries, nor of course the African Union, have any interest in allowing a new devastating war to take hold in the Horn of Africa, one that is likely to turn out as badly as the two previous ones in Yemen and Ethiopia. It is therefore urgent to do everything possible to prevent it from becoming entrenched in this unfortunate country.
*Hervé de Charette is a former French Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Housing, mayor of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil and member of parliament for Maine-et-Loire.

Local solutions should come first in Syria
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/April 28/2023
Since Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit to Damascus last week, the discourse in the international community has centered on whether or not to talk to Bashar Assad. Actually, what the international community should do is move from a normative discourse to a more practical one. It should talk to whoever makes a difference on the ground.
The UN-backed meetings in Geneva are not representative of the people, nor can they make a difference on the ground. Assad, despite the claim he has control over 70 percent of the country, in reality has no real control over any part of the country. His army is nothing but a collection of gangs and fragments ruled by Assad-affiliated warlords that take the name “shabiha.” The only two legions that have a cohesive command and control structure are the 4th Armored Division of Maher Assad, which is under Iranian control, and the Tiger Forces commanded by Suhail Al-Hassan that take orders directly from the Russian base of Hmeimim.
So, even if Assad agreed to anything, would he be able to enforce it? Not really. On the other hand, the opposition that meets in Geneva, how much are they in touch with the people on the ground? Again, if they agree to anything, could they enforce it on the ground? Is the armed opposition accountable to them? Not really, the armed opposition is as fragmented as the Syrian army and is only accountable to its foreign backers.
This is only regarding the domestic actors. If we talk about the regional and global players, the situation gets even more complicated. Can we have an agreement whereby the US, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Iran are all on the same page regarding Syria? Very unlikely.
There is no one solution for the entirety of Syria simply because the landscape is not the same in the different parts of the country. The landscape in the northeast is different from Idlib, which is also different from the southwest and the areas bordering Lebanon. The actors are also different. Jordan is very active in the southwest because it is next to its borders, whereas it has no presence in Idlib.
There is no one solution for the entirety of Syria simply because the landscape is not the same in the different parts of the country
In this respect, the international community should set clear, achievable goals and realize that Syria cannot be fixed and become a modern, democratic state as a result of a deal signed in Geneva. The goals should be to stabilize the security situation, ensure the safe return of refugees and jumpstart the local economy so that people can sustain themselves. Once those basic goals are achieved, then the international community can have the luxury of talking about political systems and democracy.
To achieve those three basic goals, a deal needs to be brokered with actors on the ground. In fact, in this approach, at least four deals need to be brokered, each one with different actors.
In the southwestern Deraa region, the international actors are Israel, Jordan and Russia. Israel and Jordan need to have their borders secured. Russia is the one that brokered a deal between opposition groups and the regime in July 2018. The main group, Quwaa Shabab Al-Sunna, which was rebranded as the 8th Brigade, is still very much in charge of the security of the area, of course under Russian tutelage. Hence, the Russian-brokered deal should allow refugees to negotiate an agreement regarding their safe return. In parallel, a plan should be laid out to allow for local development with the involvement of the community.
Regarding the areas around Lebanon, a deal should be clinched with the Iranians and Hezbollah to allow refugees to return. Hezbollah would want to cover its back and make sure no hostile force is at its doorstep.
As for the northeast, the Americans have a moral obligation toward their Kurdish allies, who were instrumental in pushing back against Daesh and still today guard the prisons housing extremists. However, the Americans need to apply pressure to their Kurdish partners to make sure they share power with their Arab neighbors and offer security guarantees to Turkey.
As for Idlib, the main power in control here is Turkey. Idlib also has a high concentration of internally displaced people. When the Russians came to save Assad in 2015, the armed opposition groups had the choice of either reconciling with the regime or taking the green buses to Idlib. The Russian plan was to concentrate the opposition in one place, separate it from the regime and make a truce between them. It could then broker a deal between Assad and the opposition that would stabilize the country and allow Moscow to reap the benefits of its intervention. However, events did not go as expected and Assad kept playing the Russians off against the Iranians in an attempt to remain relevant.
Since then, Idlib has gathered all of the opposition to Assad. Today, they are under Turkish influence. This is why Idlib should be the last area to be handled. Once the other areas of the country are stabilized, then it can be tackled and an orderly return of internally displaced people from Idlib to all the different areas of Syria can be planned.
Given the chaotic situation the country is currently experiencing, the fragmented security situation and the lack of any legitimate representatives of the Syrian people, it is very unrealistic, even pedantic, for the international community to ask the Syrians to agree among themselves and find a settlement that will end the war and transition Syria into a democracy. So, the international community should move from the frame of mind of a comprehensive solution to a series of localized solutions. Once local solutions are found, the Syrian people themselves can find a solution for the entire country.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is president of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.