Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 23-24/2023
On this day of August 23/1982, Bachir Gemayel was elected President.
Elias Bejjani/August 23/1982
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121512/121512/
On the annual anniversary of Bachir’s election as Lebanon’s president on August 23/1982, we renew our vows, and declare again our commitment to Bashir’s cause and dream, to our national Lebanese identity, to liberation, to basic dignity and to holy resistance against all kinds of occupations.
Bashir’s cause is not dead. It cannot die, and will never die as long as one Lebanese remains committed to Bashir’s patriotic beliefs and loyalty to Lebanon, to its 7000 years of history and civilization.
Bachir was “the young president who brought the light of hope to Lebanon”, as described by President Ronald Reagan. This patriotic president, known for his strategic planning and stances that crossed all red lines, led the Lebanese people to dare to dream again. His leadership drove them to yearn for a free country that was worth fighting for. A day where Bachir’s love for his nation was contagious, and his patriotism was infectious more than ever.
Bashir’s national dream for Lebanon is not dead, for no criminal can kill Freedom dreams. Dreams are acts of intellectual imaging and portrayal of aspirations, objectives and hopes that people Endeavour to fulfill in reality. Bashir’s dream is alive in the hearts and spirits of every patriotic Lebanese all over the world.
Our deep-rooted Lebanese identity is unique. It was carved by our faithful ancestors in Lebanon’s mighty mountains, and planted with sweat and blood in its holy soil throughout seven thousand years of heroism and sacrifices. Generation after generation, Lebanese have built Lebanon and made it into a fort and oasis for freedom, and an asylum for the persecuted…. Lebanon may not be a big country, but it is big in deeds.
For 7000 years Lebanon was successful in surviving with dignity, through hundreds of invaders, tyrants and conquerors…all were forced to depart defamed and in humiliation, defamed. Bashir gave our identity worldwide dimension, and made it a cause and purpose for each and every Lebanese. Lebanon’s liberation is the aim of every patriotic Lebanese.
Bachir, when the Pharisee’s murdered you, only your flesh passed away. And in that moment your sanctified image was implanted forever into the hearts of your people. Your heroism was sealed. Bashir, you speak to the conscience of every Lebanese who believes in Lebanon and its people. You live on in us, and in our blessed heritage.
Long Live Free Lebanon.

Our prayers goes for the Rest In Peace of the souls of the two martyrs, Joseph Hanna and Richard Saab, who were martyred in the crash of the military helicopter in Hammana.
Christ is truly risen.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121559/%d9%86%d8%b1%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%a7-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%ad%d8%a9-%d9%86%d9%81%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%ac/

August 23/Annual Remembrance Day for Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh
Saint Of The Day Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121546/121546/
Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Ninevah, lived during the sixth century. He and his brother entered the monastery of Mar Matthew near Ninevah and received the monastic tonsure. His learning, virtue, and ascetic manner of life attracted the notice of the brethren, and they proposed that he head the monastery. Saint Issac did not want this burden, preferring a life of silence, so he left the monastery to live alone in the desert. His brother urged him more than once to return to the monastery, but he would not agree. However, when the fame of Saint Isaac’s holy life had spread, he was made Bishop of Ninevah. Seeing the crude manners and disobedience of the inhabitants of the city, the saint felt that it was beyond his ability to guide them, and moreover, he yearned for solitude. Once, two Christians came to him, asking him to settle a dispute. One man acknowledged that he owed money to the other, but asked for a short extension. The lender threatened to bring his debtor to court to force him to pay. Saint Isaac, citing the Gospel, asked him to be merciful and give the debtor more time to pay. The man said, “Leave your Gospel out of this!” Saint Isaac replied, “If you will not submit to Lord’s commandments in the Gospel, then what remains for me to do here?” After only five months as bishop, Saint Isaac resigned his office and went into the mountains to live with the hermits. Later, he went to the monastery of Rabban Shabur, where he lived until his death, attaining a high degree of spiritual perfection. From the early eighth century until the beginning of the eighteenth century, nothing was known about Saint Isaac of Syria in Europe except for his name and works. Only in 1719 was a biography of the saint published at Rome, compiled by an anonymous Arab author. In 1896, more information on Saint Isaac came to light. The learned French soteriologist Abbot Chabot published some eighth century works on Syrian history by Iezudena, bishop of Barsa, where the account of Saint Isaac the Syrian was found.

Lebanese Army says helicopter crash kills two personnel
Agence France Presse/August 23/2023
Two Lebanese Army personnel were killed when a helicopter crashed during a training flight in the Hammana area on Wednesday, the army said in a statement. "An air force helicopter crashed in the Hammana area during a training flight, killing two personnel and injuring one other," it said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and the statement did not say what type of helicopter was involved. Lebanon's economy has been in free fall since late 2019. The economic crisis -- which the World Bank says is one of the planet's worst in modern times -- has plunged more than 80 percent of the population into poverty. It has also taken a toll on public institutions including the military. After the meltdown began, the army cut back on basics such as meat in soldiers' meals and in 2021 it even introduced helicopter joyrides for tourists in a bid to boost its coffers.

Army says 700 Syrians caught trying to enter Lebanon in a week
Agence France Presse/August 23/2023
The Lebanese Army turned away around 700 Syrians attempting to cross into Lebanon illegally over the past week, the military said in a statement on Wednesday. The attempted influx coincides with days of rare protest in Syria's southern city of Sweida, as dire living conditions stoke discontent in regime-held areas. Millions of Syrians have already fled abroad since Syria's war began in 2011 following the government's repression of pro-democracy protests. Lebanon's army "prevented, over several days this past week, about 700 Syrians from crossing the Lebanese-Syrian border," the Lebanese armed forces statement said. A security official told AFP that deteriorating economic conditions in Syria had pushed more people to flee their homeland, with many hoping to reach Europe. The official couldn't give data to illustrate the increase, and it was not clear where along the border the migrants were blocked. Syrians are fleeing "because of the economic situation, because the Syrian pound has further collapsed," he said, on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the press. Syria's 12-year conflict has ravaged the country's infrastructure and industry, the Syrian pound has lost most of its value against the dollar, and most of the population has been pushed into poverty. "Some hope to find work here in Lebanon, but many are hoping to flee to Europe," the source added. The protests by hundreds in Syria erupted after the government lifted fuel subsidies last week, dealing a blow to people already struggling with the war's heavy economic toll. On August 12, Lebanon's army said it arrested 134 migrants, most of them Syrians, near the northern border with Syria after foiling their attempt to take a boat to Europe. The same day, the armed forces said they had arrested 150 Syrians who had crossed into Lebanon illegally in the same province of Akkar. Lebanon's own economic collapse has turned it into a launchpad for migrants. Lebanese are joining Syrian and Palestinian refugees clamoring to leave by taking dangerous sea routes. 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. Migrants departing from Lebanon head for Europe, with one of the main destinations Cyprus, only 175 kilometres away. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and forced around half the country's pre-war population from their homes.

Report: Hezbollah and FPM agree on Franjieh, Bassil wants partisan gains
Naharnet/August 23/2023
The discussions between Hezbollah and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil are “serious” and have reached “many common denominators,” informed sources said. “The issue of the president is in its final stages, which means that an agreement has been reached on (Suleiman) Franjieh’s nomination,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. “The discussions are now focused on Bassil’s conditions, which are not exclusively public and in the interest of the Lebanese and Christians like the FPM chief is announcing,” the sources added. Quoting opposition sources, the daily added that the “price” that Bassil will gain “will not be limited to administrative decentralization and the sovereign fund.”“There are discussions over a full package that contains partisan demands for the FPM chief, seeing as under Franjieh’s tenure he will be a partner in posts such as the army commander and the central bank governor,” the sources added.

Bkirki dissatisfied with French policy towards Lebanon
Naharnet/August 23/2023
The Maronite church’s dismay over the French policy towards Lebanon was clearly reflected in the sermon of Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday, when he criticized the questions addressed by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon’s MPs.
In remarks to ad-Diyar newspaper, Bkirki sources confirmed the dismay. “France has always stood by Lebanon and its role was effective, but today the situation is different and its proposals are not acceptable to some Lebanese parties,” the sources added. “We want to keep the relation good and firm with the French, but we hope they will help resolve the presidential crisis in a consensual way,” the sources went on to say.

Al-Rahi on presidential crisis: Only solution is voting not dialogue or consensus
Naharnet/August 23/2023
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized Wednesday Lebanon's leaders who are calling for dialogue instead of electing a president. "They are hiding behind dialogue and consensus, while there is only one constitutional solution," al-Rahi said, stressing that the solution is to elect a president in parliament. Al-Rahi considered that a president should be elected through voting not consensus, according to the constitution, dubbing the presidential impasse "a farce" and calling the MPs to put an end to it. Crisis-hit Lebanon has already been without a head of state for more than eight months, after 12 attempts to elect a president failed amid major political disputes. The international community has urged politicians to elect a presidential candidate who can help the country enact reforms required to unlock billions of dollars in loans from abroad, and France has called for a dialogue in September. While Hezbollah and Amal have also called for dialogue, opposition MPs say any dialogue with Hezbollah is "futile" and consider that a president should be elected through voting not consensus or dialogue.

Mawlawi tells Hasrouni's family he has 'information' about his murder
Naharnet/August 23/2023
The family of Elias Hasrouni, an ex-Lebanese Forces official who was abducted and killed in the southern town of Ain Ebel, on Wednesday met with caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi. “The minister has information that is being followed up in the case and today we were reassured that things are on the right track to achieve justice,” the family said after the meeting. Mawlawi had announced on August 14 that there were no “partisan motives” behind the murder. CCTV footage shows two SUVs encircling Hasrouni’s vehicle and individuals getting out of them and entering the man’s vehicle before the three cars drive away. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that Hasrouni was the victim of an “elaborate ambush” set up by “six to nine individuals.” He later openly accused Hezbollah of being involved in the crime. Some of Ain Ebel’s residents have also accused Hezbollah of the murder.

Hand grenade explodes near UNRWA school in Ain el-Helweh
Naharnet/August 23/2023
An explosion was heard at dawn inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in the southern city of Sidon, the state-run National News Agency said.
The explosion resulted from “a hand grenade that was hurled near a school belonging to the UNRWA agency in the camp’s al-Fawqani street,” NNA said, adding that the incident caused no casualties. UNRWA had reported Saturday that another school compound was taken over by armed groups in the camp. “This brings the total number of schools taken over by armed groups in the camp to eight, risking the start of the school year in time for 5,900 children,” UNRWA warned. “We are getting credible reports of severe damage to the school buildings and looting of children’s education material and equipment from the schools,” it said. “UNRWA reiterates its urgent call on all armed groups to immediately vacate its premises in the Ain el-Helweh camp including schools and other service offices. Their presence is a grave violation of the neutrality and safety of U.N. installations and is a serious threat to the education for thousands of Palestine refugee children living in the camp,” UNRWA added. The camp has recently witnessed days of deadly armed clashes between the secular Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist groups.

Bassil slams Mikati-Berri helicopter photo, renews call for decentralization
Naharnet/August 23/2023
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has accused caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri, without naming them, of obstructing gas exploration for years. Transocean Barents drilling rig, which had arrived in Block 9 offshore Lebanon earlier this month, will start Thursday searching for gas. Mikati and Berri were photographed Tuesday smiling in a helicopter that transported them from Beirut's international airport to the drilling rig in Block 9. "We are entrusted with Lebanon's oil and gas and we will not leave them in the hands of those who have obstructed their exploration for years and who are rushing today to take a picture in a helicopter," Bassil charged.
"Let us build a power plant, a gas facility, a water dam, then take pictures if you want, but let us work," Bassil said. Former president Michel Aoun who was attending the same FPM dinner during which Bassil gave his speech on Tuesday, said that his son-in-law was the first to launch the gas exploration project and that it was the first article that Aoun included in the first cabinet session that was held during his term as president.
Four years into Lebanon's economic crisis, politicians are betting that a fledgling natural gas industry will revive the economy without reforms requiring major sacrifices from them.
While Bassil and Aoun claimed that they have launched the project, Berri said Tuesday that he had worked for this day for many years by reaching a framework agreement that launched U.S.-mediated negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime border demarcation.
Under the U.S.-mediated deal signed in October, the disputed waters would be divided along a line straddling the “Qana” natural gas field in the Mediterranean. Gas production would be based on the Lebanese side, but Israel would be compensated for gas extracted from its side of the line under a separately signed deal between TotalEnergies and Israel.
While Lebanon's leaders are trying to take credit for the country's natural reserves, the lira, which had been pegged at 1,500 to the dollar for a quarter century, now goes for around 90,000 on the black market, state electricity is nearly non-existent, public schools and hospitals can barely afford to keep their lights on, and the lira incomes of public sector workers and pensions of retirees, who together make up a large sector of the population, have become nearly worthless. "Today we are working on a broad decentralization law and a trust fund law that would improve regional and national development," Bassil said.
"Keserwan, Jbeil, Akkar, the Bekaa and the South would no longer have to wait for funding from the state and would secure their own revenues and find solutions for waste, roads and renewable energy."

Ghosn's rise, fall and dramatic escape is subject of new Apple TV+ series
Associated Press/August 23/2023
Carlos Ghosn, the former rock star businessman who fell from grace and fled authorities smuggled in a music instrument box, is getting what his dramatic story deserves — a multi-part documentary series. "Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn" is the juicy real tale of how the auto executive went from attending red carpets as the head of both Nissan and Renault to fleeing to Lebanon with the help of a former U.S. Green Beret.
"The Carlos Ghosn story is unbelievable in the sense that it's a Shakespearean tragedy in which we have an archetypal tragic hero who everybody wants to root for but knows the train crash is coming," said Sean McLain, a consulting producer on the Apple TV+ series and Wall Street Journal reporter. The four-part series, which starts Friday, takes a wider lens to Ghosn's story, tracing the childhood and rise of the auto executive which Time magazine once put ahead of Bill Gates among the 15 most influential global business executives. Voices included are Louis Schweitzer, former CEO of Renault; Andy Palmer, former COO of Nissan; Arnaud Montebourg, former French minister of economy; Takashi Yamashita, former Japanese minister of justice; and Hiroto Saikawa, former Nissan CEO.
Most crucially, director James Jones went to Lebanon and sat down with Ghosn and his wife, Carole, on camera. Jones got the job before he'd secured access to the couple but knew he had to have them participate. "You need to hear from the people in the room. You can't just have pundits commentating on what happened or kind of rehashing the story second-hand," Jones says. "For me, getting Carlos and Carole Ghosn to talk frankly was a huge thing and I think that the series would have been a struggle to make without that."
Many viewers may tune in because of the brazen way Ghosn left Japan in 2019 after being accused of financial improprieties. He turned to Mike Taylor, a former Green Beret, who hid the executive in a large music instrument box — with breathing holes drilled in — and got him out on a private jet. "My initial reaction was like, 'Is there enough for four parts?' I know he's an interesting guy who is a brilliant businessman, and the escape is thrilling," said Jones. "But then when I spent the time reading up about it, it did feel rich and the kind of thing that's quite satisfying to really get your teeth into."
The Brazilian-born Ghosn took refuge in Lebanon, his ancestral homeland, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. He denied the financial improprieties charges and said Japan's justice system was unfair. "I did not escape justice. I fled injustice," he said at the time.
The series also investigates Japan's legal system, which critics say amounts to "hostage justice," allowing suspects to be questioned for days without a lawyer present while they are kept in solitary confinement in a small, spartan cell. The conviction rate of over 99% has raised questions over forced confessions.
The case against Ghosn centers on elaborate calculations to compensate him after retirement for a pay cut he took beginning in 2009, when disclosure of big executive pay became a legal requirement in Japan.
Ghosn argues the case against him was concocted in a power struggle within Nissan's boardroom and the series does show a conspiracy by Nissan officials to get rid of Ghosn because they feared a merger with Renault.
"He was wronged and yet these allegations look very bad," said Jones. "And by hiding out in Lebanon, he's not helping the appearance of innocence."
Ghosn may have escaped but not everyone who helped him did the same. Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison, while his son, Peter, was sentenced to one year and eight months for his part. They claim in the series that Ghosn never paid them for their work helping him escape. Jones sees the Ghosn saga as a cautionary tale of a leader who lost his bearings. The executive may have believed that because he'd saved Nissan and Renault that he deserved extra compensation. "He thought he had saved these companies from extinction and made them successful and made them in his own image and therefore was kind of entitled to play by his own rules to some extent," he said.
McLain, whose book with fellow Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Kostov "Boundless" informed the series, said Ghosn's fall illustrates the need for checks and balances in the C-suite. "He was going to retire a very wealthy man, but because he wanted more, what he's going to be known for from now on is spiriting himself away from Japan by hiding in a box."

Labneh crisis exposed: Inside the investigation of the dairy production factories in Lebanon
LBCI/August 23/2023
In a recent investigation by LBCI, a peculiar issue has been uncovered within the dairy and cheese market in the northern region of Zgharta. Certain local stores have been selling unbranded white packages of labneh and cheese products without any nutritional information. Despite their low prices, consumers have been assured that these are locally produced goods. However, the reality seems far from these claims. Conducting an in-depth inquiry, LBCI collected samples from various dairies and conducted laboratory tests, revealing alarming results. The labneh samples contained animal fat, vegetable oil, starch, and bacteria. Likewise, the cheese products were discovered to have another strain of harmful bacteria. Promptly, the obtained information was handed over to the Economy Ministry for examination. The Ministry conducted its tests on the products and released the following findings:
- One dairy factory was found to produce labneh contaminated with harmful bacteria.
- Another dairy was identified to have cheese contaminated with a different bacterial strain. Though chemically safe, their cheese contained vegetable oil and starch.
-A third dairy factory successfully passed the tests.
However, the Ministry's results didn't align with LBCI's findings concerning vegetable oil and starch in the labneh. It was revealed that the manufacturer had been producing a mixture of cheese and dietary supplements using oil and starch, as confirmed by the owner.
The Ministry's analysis was based on samples of the actual labneh products, not the dietary supplements posing as locally-produced labneh on the market, which were sold at a lower price in unmarked plastic containers.
As action was taken on the report, the Ministry and State Security ordered the closure of the first dairy factory responsible for the contaminated labneh with red wax and the second dairy section producing the tainted cheese. The third dairy was spared as it exhibited no violations. The two factories were now sealed close with red wax. Following a tour of local supermarkets from which our colleague Edmond Sassine bought Labneh to conduct our research, the product appeared abundantly removed from the market.
Thus, the Director-General of the Economy Ministry, Mohammad Abou Haidar, is now poised to issue a decree for the complete withdrawal of these products from the market and their prohibition until the factory situation is rectified.
Nevertheless, the Economy Ministry is urged to extend the removal of the labneh products beyond the closed factories, which lack clear ingredient labeling to prevent further deception. While this investigation focused on a small sample in the northern region, it should serve as a reminder that vigilant consumers, as well as local institutions and municipalities with established health departments, should collaborate with the Ministry to protect citizens from such fraudulent practices.Ultimately, consumers are encouraged to be cautious, verify the components of products, and not be swayed solely by low prices, which might lead them to purchase non-compliant goods.

Economic challenges and security concerns: Is Lebanon a safe haven for the wanted?
LBCI/August 23/2023
Recent articles published in both Arab and international media have raised questions about whether Lebanon has become a safe haven for individuals sought by the justice system. A series of articles, from a piece in the Western magazine Foreign Policy on August 2 to the Middle East newspaper's edition on August 23, have depicted Lebanon as a sanctuary for individuals evading justice. Lebanon's characterization as a refuge for those wanted by the law has gained traction due to Lebanese authorities leveraging existing regulations in numerous countries worldwide. In Lebanon, these laws prohibit the extradition of any individual holding Lebanese citizenship, requiring their trial to be conducted within the Lebanese judiciary. This approach famously brought Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon in 2019, prompting an Interpol notice against him. The same applies to former Banque du Liban (BDL) Governor Riad Salameh, who is wanted for questioning by several European countries following an Interpol warrant against him. These articles have highlighted that Lebanon, due to its economic and financial challenges, is gradually becoming a sanctuary for non-Lebanese individuals and non-Lebanese nationals. Paradoxically, Lebanese security authorities intermittently attempt to improve their image by only arresting non-Lebanese individuals wanted internationally. According to the Kuwaiti online newspaper "Al-Anbaa," the most recent case involves Bartolomeo Giovanni Prozanniti, an Italian cocaine trafficker, who lived in Lebanon for ten months before his arrest and extradition to Italy on August 3. Lebanon is also becoming a safe haven for individuals subject to international sanctions. Many Lebanese individuals subjected to foreign sanctions reside within the country, primarily politicians. However, these sanctions appear to have a limited impact on their daily lives due to Lebanon's cash-based economy and extensive reliance on cash transactions. This cash-based economy, which has become a safe haven for those seeking to evade sanctions, currently constitutes nearly half of Lebanon's economic output. The financial landscape enables those listed under sanctions to live comfortably, with the Washington Institute considering it a pivotal facilitator for drug and Captagon trade, money laundering for Hezbollah-affiliated networks, Iran, and cross-border syndicates. The Institute recommends expanding sanctions to cover money transfer companies tied to the BDL and currency exchange companies linked to Hezbollah, especially OMT, BoB Finance, and Whish Money, along with their owners, in accordance with international anti-money laundering regulations. As Lebanon grapples with economic and financial collapse, a prolonged presidential vacuum, and burgeoning security concerns, it transforms into what some describe as a refuge for the wanted – a conduit for money laundering and drug trafficking. Here lies the real battle ahead.

Forensic audit report implications: Justice Minister's approach to report revelations
LBCI/August 23/2023
On August 16, Justice Minister Henry Khoury presented news related to the forensic audit report, urging the General Prosecutor of the Cassation Court to refer the implicated individuals mentioned in the report to the competent criminal judiciary.
Responding swiftly, the Prosecutor General did not delay, taking five days to review the legal aspects and then making the decision to refer the cases to three entities: the Financial Prosecutor's Office, the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Beirut, and the Special Investigation Commission at the Banque du Liban (BDL). Each entity will conduct the necessary investigations within its jurisdiction. This decision by General Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has stirred controversy within some judicial sources, with interpretations ranging from fragmented investigation to deliberate attenuation. However, well-placed sources within the General Prosecutor's Office dismiss these interpretations, describing them as baseless. According to these sources, Oueidat has distributed the cases to relevant judicial bodies responsible for the forensic audit, such as the Appellate Prosecutor's Office handling the investigation into Riad Salameh's case and the Financial Prosecutor's Office overseeing cases related to mismanagement in the electricity sector and corruption in public administrations. These sources affirm that the acting BDL Governor, Wassim Mansour, has committed to full cooperation with the Prosecutor General and that any party invoking banking secrecy is no longer tenable after the enactment of the banking secrecy law. However, despite these developments, some consider that Oueidat may have made a strategic mistake by relinquishing the investigation into the forensic audit report, which initially began under his office about Salameh, subsequently distributing it to other public prosecutors. The initial ripple in the case came with the request from Beirut's Appellate Prosecutor General, Ziad Abou Haidar, to retreat from the case, indicating that the investigation into the forensic audit report would be handled by Judge Raja Hamoush, who was primarily investigating another case related to Salameh. Who will dare to conclude the investigation that, according to judicial sources, will reveal those who manipulated the BDL's budget and profited at the expense of the state and depositors' funds?

Shifting priorities: Debates over gender and identity take center stage in Lebanon
LBCI/August 23/2023
The global discourse surrounding gender identity, gender fluidity, and sexual orientation, particularly regarding their incorporation into educational curricula for children, has sparked extensive discussions worldwide. However, the attention in Lebanon that could have been directed toward shaping the fate of the upcoming academic year – a critical decision affecting the future of 300,000 students in the public sector – has been diverted. The focus has shifted to withdrawing a booklet by Lebanese Education Minister Abbas Halabi from summer school activities. The booklet featured the game "Snakes and Ladders" but was withdrawn due to its rainbow color scheme. Nonetheless, did you know that a natural rainbow consists of seven colors formed by sunlight and rain, whereas the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag are six, not seven? The "Snakes and Ladders" game, pulled by the minister's deputy for education, contained seven colors, akin to the natural rainbow that has appeared for millions of years. This game bears no relevance to the ongoing discourse about gender identity. Instead of discussing critical reforms such as banking restructuring, financial discipline, or enacting laws to combat child marriage and rape, Lebanon is deliberating bills aimed at criminalizing homosexuality and prohibiting its promotion. Rather than addressing food security and carcinogenic substances in our food, the discussion has shifted to banning bakeries from offering rainbow-colored cakes under the premise that the rainbow is not a natural occurrence.
Instead of prioritizing rural development, the talk is now centered on the decor of a festival in Faqra simply because it featured the seven-color rainbow. Some in Lebanon attempt to replicate Western debates incongruent with our reality. They divert our attention from the fact that we reside in a stateless state.
Who in Lebanon is genuinely discussing integrating gender identity into educational curricula? So far, no one. As autumn approaches, a pertinent question emerges: Will our lawmakers and ministers react fiercely when nature paints its rainbow across the sky during the first rainfall, attempting to stop the rain or dawn? Or will their reaction be fierce when the streets flood due to corruption and neglect?

Four Years into Crisis, Lebanon’s Leaders Hope Tourism Boom Will Help Bypass Reforms in IMF Bailout
AP/23 August 2023
Four years into its historic economic meltdown, Lebanon’s political elites, masters at survival, are pushing for a recovery that would sidestep tough reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund.
Economic experts and former officials involved in designing Lebanon’s original IMF-approved recovery plan in 2020 say the political leadership and associates in the banking sector are deliberately implementing a “shadow plan” to torpedo the deal and place the burden of bailing out the financial system on ordinary Lebanese who are already impoverished by the crisis. Carrying out the IMF reforms, which include audits of Lebanon’s long secretive central bank and other banks, would not just force the elites to bear much of the cost of repairing the financial meltdown. It would also threaten the networks of corruption, patronage and waste that allowed them to milk the system for years, experts say. “I would have never thought that these people, despite the size of the catastrophe, would still act with so much cold blood and irresponsibility,” said Alain Bifani, a former Finance Ministry director general and an architect of the recovery plan, speaking to The Associated Press about the elite’s refusal to implement it. A growing number of politicians are now betting that a rebounding tourism sector, remittances from Lebanese abroad, and a fledgling natural gas industry will revive the economy without reforms requiring major sacrifices from them. The financial meltdown has widely been blamed on the political leadership that has held power for decades — as well as top banking officials and former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.
Salameh, who ran the bank for 30 years until July, is under investigation on money laundering and embezzlement allegations and was slapped with sanctions two weeks ago by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
For years before the crisis hit, the central bank operated what the World Bank says amounted to a Ponzi scheme to keep the economy afloat. It enticed commercial banks to lend it dollars at high interest rates to stay flush with cash. The banks then attracted customers to deposit dollar savings with even higher interest rates, turning a profit.
In late 2019, the scheme collapsed when the pipeline of dollars slowed, sparking a panic and a run on the banks. The banks locked down dollar accounts, allowing depositors to withdraw only in local currency at a fraction of the market rate. The life savings of many effectively melted away.
Lebanon’s inflation hit triple-digits. Its currency, the lira, which had been pegged at 1,500 to the dollar for a quarter century, now goes for around 90,000 on the black market. Sucked dry of funds, state electricity is now nearly non-existent. Public schools and hospitals can barely afford to keep their lights on. Officials beg for humanitarian aid similar to that for a nation in war. “Before the crisis, they were extracting air from the lungs of society,” said Sami Zoughaib, an economist at Beirut-based think tank The Policy Initiative. “Now that society is dead, they are preying on the carcass.”
The lira incomes of public sector workers and pensions of retirees, who together make up a large sector of the population, have become nearly worthless. For survival, Lebanese scrounge for dollars, most often sent by relatives abroad. Most businesses now require payment in dollars — everything from grocery stores and pharmacies to private hospitals and private electricity generators. Jeanette Fares, 62 and unemployed, relies on money from her brothers, who are themselves struggling. She rarely drives her 1995-model car anymore because gas is expensive.
“It’s all lies. I can’t even fix my faucet,” she said, calling the country’s rulers “mafias."
An IMF bailout was once seen as Lebanon’s only hope.
After nearly two years of talks, Lebanon reached a tentative deal with the IMF in April 2022 for a $3 billion rescue package. But finalizing it is contingent on major financial restructuring and reforms to combat corruption and waste. The IMF plan would place much of the burden of backfilling the financial system’s losses on commercial bank shareholders, who include many prominent Lebanese political families and private sector associates. After extensive audits, many banks would have to sell assets or merge with others. Small depositors, meanwhile, would be able to recover most of their money. A finalized deal with the IMF would open the door for the rescue package and billions of dollars of international investments and loans badly needed to rebuild productive sectors. Without the deal and its associated reforms, Lebanon won’t get the investment and will be left “dependent on the handouts from the international community,” the IMF head of mission in Lebanon Ernesto Rigo warned in June. Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam told the AP in a recent interview that a growing number of officials in government believe Lebanon can do without an IMF plan, or can better its negotiation position, “with a little bit of housekeeping” in the financial system. Salam and other officials are banking on remittances from the diaspora that now make up almost 40% of the economy, while welcoming record numbers of tourists this summer. Tourists shell out hard cash in private beach clubs along the Mediterranean by day before flocking to nightclubs until sunrise. Meanwhile, commercial banks — spared from restructuring — are instead cleaning up their losses on the backs of small depositors, who are forced to withdraw their trapped dollars as lira at a rate of 15,000, a sixth of their current market value.
Lebanon started negotiating with the IMF in May 2020, but Bifani called the discussions a joke given the divisions on the Lebanese side.
Ruling parties, commercial banks and the central bank played down the crisis, claiming the estimates of financial losses, a gargantuan $70 billion, were inflated. Reformist ministers and advisers promoting the initial IMF-backed recovery plan say they faced resistance and animosity. One former senior government official said they and other officials had received threats for advocating tough reforms. The official spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. Then-central bank chief Salameh, who was on the negotiating team, often ignored requests to send crucial information about the financial situation and dwindling foreign reserves, Bifani said. Salameh also did not cooperate with a forensic audit into the central bank’s questionable financial transactions. The banks, meanwhile, proposed a plan placing the majority of the financial burden on the government, calling for a sale of state assets — or in other words, a government bailout. Talks froze within weeks, prompting Bifani and finance minister adviser Henri Chaoul to resign in late June 2020. “I will not stand witness to this detrimental inaction,” Chaoul said in his resignation statement. The government has put talks on the back burner. The negotiating portfolio is held by Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami, a reformist economist who spent almost two decades working at the IMF, but he has virtually no political support. Parliament’s budget and finance committee has ignored reform legislation, several parliamentarians told the AP. Instead, they said, it mostly focuses on setting up a sovereign wealth fund for hoped-for oil and gas revenues, though exploration in an offshore gas field has not started. Outside the buzzing nightlife spots and fancy hotels, much of Lebanon’s impoverished population is losing hope. “They live in their palaces,” Fares said of the country’s ruling elite, “and don’t notice the poor people who can barely afford to eat.”

Mikati, Berri Assist in Launch of Oil Exploration in Lebanese Waters
Ashara Al Awsat/August 2023
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri assisted on Tuesday in the launch of the logistics work for the oil and gas exploration in Lebanon’s territorial waters, describing the day as a bright page in the country’s history.
Berri and Mikati toured the drilling platform, accompanied by Energy Minister Walid Fayad, Transport Minister Ali Hamie, a delegation from TotalEnergies company and the President of the Petroleum Sector Administration Authority, Wissam Zahabi.
The delegation flew from Beirut’s airport to the drilling platform in a TotalEnergies helicopter. They toured aboard the drilling rig to oversee the logistical aspects of oil and gas exploration in Block 9. “In this darkness comes a day of joy for which I have worked long years until the framework agreement was concluded,” said Berri from the airport. He hoped that Lebanon's offshore wealth will start generating revenues within a few months and will mark the beginning of overcoming the economic crisis Lebanon and its people are enduring. Berri also hoped the Lebanese will reach an agreement over the election of a president. For his part, Mikati said he is hopeful that the coming days will bring promising signs to help Lebanon deal with its crises. “We hope that everybody will cooperate in the upcoming stage to revive our country and end the deterioration that we are witnessing on all levels,” he said. “It is a day for the nation and a bright page in history,” he added. TotalEnergies, Eni and QatarEnergy announced on Tuesday the launch of their exploration activities in Block 9. “Following the peaceful definition of the maritime border, TotalEnergies, along with its partners Eni and QatarEnergy, committed to drill an exploration well in Block 9 as soon as possible in 2023,” said Romain de La Martinière, General Manager of TotalEnergies EP Lebanon. “We are pleased to announce that the drilling operations will start in a few days, thanks to the commitment of our teams, the support of the Lebanese authorities and of our partners. This exploration will allow us to assess the materiality of hydrocarbon resources and production potential in the area,” he added. TotalEnergies and Eni each hold a 35% stake, while QatarEnergy owns the remaining 30%. In October 2022, Lebanon and Israel reached a historic agreement to end a long-running maritime border dispute in the gas-rich Mediterranean Sea, following months of negotiations guided by the United States. Beirut divided its exclusive economic zone at sea into 10 blocks, and Block 9 was part of an area disputed with Israel.

Press Release/LIC Conducts Important Meetings at the United Nations
Washington, DC - August 23, 2023
A delegation from the Lebanese Information Center (LIC), led by Dr. Joseph Gebeily, participated in a series of high-level meetings at the United Nations throughout the first half of August. These engagements were conducted in anticipation of the forthcoming UN Security Council discussions concerning the situation in Lebanon and the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate. Accompanying Dr. Gebeily was Mr. Augustus “Gus” Sleiman, the head of the LIC Office for UN Relations. This visit was part of LIC’s regular interaction with the multinational organization, aiming to bolster collaboration and enhance comprehension of the Lebanese situation. The LIC delegation held productive meetings at the Office of the Secretary-General and with member states of the UN Security Council. Notable interactions included discussions with the Middle East Division of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, as well as missions representing the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Holy See. In addition, Mr. Sleiman engaged in fruitful dialogues with the missions of Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.Throughout these engagements, the LIC presented a comprehensive overview of Lebanon's political and security landscape. The delegation stressed the utmost importance of the Speaker of the Parliament initiating an electoral session, marked by successive rounds of voting until a president is elected, and the significance of Members of Parliament being present and actively participating in the voting process for their preferred candidate. On the security front, particular attention was paid to the need for rigorous monitoring of the security situation in southern Lebanon, following recurrent distressing incidents of violence against UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL). The delegation also addressed instances of politically motivated assassinations, including the tragic killing of Elias Hasrouni in early August 2023, reminiscent of the 2021 assassination of activist Lokman Slim. The delegation further discussed incidents near the Israeli border and recent clashes within the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.
With the UN Security Council scheduled to deliberate and vote on the renewal of the UNIFIL mission later this month, the LIC delegation extended acknowledgment and commendation for UNIFIL's resolute efforts amidst persistent challenges. Strong condemnation was voiced against attacks targeting the UN force, including the tragic loss of a 23-year-old Irish peacekeeper. The delegation reiterated the profound importance of diligently adhering to international resolutions, most notably UN Resolution 1701. This resolution underscores the necessity of disbanding militias, safeguarding borders, and halting the illicit inflow of weaponry from Iran and Syria. The LIC delegation stressed the imperative nature of disarming Palestinian factions within Lebanon, aligned with national decisions and agreements reached with the Palestinian Authority. Emphasis was placed on prioritizing the stabilization of security conditions in the southern region and curbing the influence of unauthorized armed groups in accordance with Resolution 1701. Additionally, the delegation firmly called for an immediate cessation of Israeli violations, encompassing overflights and border provocations.
UN officials conveyed their profound concerns regarding the prevailing political and security challenges. While the international community stands prepared to aid Lebanon in addressing its ongoing issues, the onus lies on Lebanese authorities to fulfill their responsibilities with respect to international resolutions. The UN Security Council reiterated its steadfast commitment to ensuring unrestricted movement and access for UNIFIL, in alignment with the initial agreements, while placing unwavering trust in the pivotal role of the Lebanese Armed Forces.
***The Lebanese Information Center in the U.S. is the largest grassroots organization of Americans of Lebanese descent, committed to building a free, sovereign, and democratic Lebanon for the good of the Lebanese people and in the interest of the United States of America.

Stone Age for Stone Age
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al Awsat/22 August 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121535/121535/
Hassan Nasrallah heralded a new modus vivendi between Hezbollah and Israel: “Stone Age for Stone Age.” This is nothing but another testament to how far detached from reality this man is, and how weak his senses of history and power dynamics are.
With his formula, Nasrallah takes us back to the rhetoric of the Cold War, and the theory of a balance of terror created by the mutually assured nuclear destruction that would ensue in the event of a nuclear conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The analogy is certainly tempting, but it's not accurate.
However, this formula shares the flaw of the Cold War’s balance of terror formula. Both then and today, those behind the theory have overlooked the vast gap between the rivals’ nonmilitary power. The Soviet Union did not collapse due to an issue with its nuclear readiness towards the end, but because of domestic social and moral cracks, as well as the failures of its economic system. Along these lines, Nasrallah’s formula seemingly overlooks the fact that the balance of nonmilitary power tilts in Israel’s favor. Israel has a GDP of $522 billion, while Lebanon's GDP hardly exceeds $21 billion, and it is coupled with astronomical inflation rates (above 185 percent), the collapse of its currency, and the disruption of entire sectors. Indeed, the World Bank has called Lebanon’s current crisis the worst that the country has seen in 150 years! And while Israel ranks 16th among the 132 countries included on the Global Innovation Index, and first among the countries of North Africa and West Asia, Lebanon seems unable to secure electricity to its international airport! The strangest difference might be the gap in the countries’ political fortunes. Lebanon has regressed into a kind of international isolation after decades of performing brilliantly in regional and international forums; meanwhile Israel seems to have built more robust global ties than Lebanon itself. As for the cultural gap - and culture has always been a hallmark distinguishing Lebanon - it has made any comparison of them as competitors untenable. The unequivocal superiority of Israeli productions, for example, is evident from the performance of Israeli shows like “Fauda” and “Tehran”, to name a few, on streaming services like Netflix and Apple.
This sums up the multifaceted imbalances of power between the two countries. They are playing on separate fields, affirming the derangement of seeing their relationship as balanced and their sources of strength as symmetric.
Even if we were to focus exclusively on the military balance, we would find that presenting the two sides as equal belligerents would be simplistic. Indeed, to do so is to ignore the reality of Israel’s superiority in the field of military technology. Just a few days ago, Israel announced that the United States had authorized a "historic" $3.5 billion arms deal that will see Israel sell Germany "Arrow-3" hypersonic air defense systems, in what is the largest military deal that Israel has concluded in its history.
History is laden with examples of small players defeating stronger and fiercer opponents. However, these victories are often attained in wars of liberation or resistance against occupation, a radically different context to that of the current dynamics between Lebanon and Israel. The defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan at the hands of fierce local resistance in the 1980s, and the monumental challenges that the Israeli army previously faced in Lebanon and is currently facing in Palestine, clearly demonstrate that resisting occupation, regardless of the gulf between the two sides, can yield results.
However, Lebanon and Israel have a markedly different relationship today. We find ourselves faced with something more like a game of traditional military confrontation between two states rather than a game of liberation and occupation. Indeed, Israel is not currently occupying Lebanon; there is only a dispute over a few border enclaves. In this particular context, one of a semi-traditional confrontation, examples of a smaller player defeating a larger and more developed opponent are few and far between.
Nasrallah's formula is also deeply shameful. Minimizing the gravity of taking entire societies back to the Stone Age reflects a lack of any moral fiber. It mirrors the ideas tested by the dark utopias that raised ideology above humanity. This strategy not only tolerates the prospect of mass destruction, but embraces it as a legitimate form of deterrence without flinching at the catastrophic societal consequences or the lives that would be lost.
Worse still, Nasrallah's formula ignores what diplomacy can achieve. The deal to settle the maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon, which allowed for gas exploration to begin in waters of South Lebanon, is a testament to diplomacy’s capacity for ensuring the interests of both Lebanon and Israel.
This is a sustainable approach that can be broadened. The predictable response is that this was only achieved because of Hezbollah's arms. Great then! This ought to become the function of this arsenal, it ought to be invested in enhancing Lebanon's negotiating position and to restore Lebanese sovereignty over the Shebaa Farms, if they are shown to be Lebanese, and to resolve other border disputes. It could perhaps be used to revive the armistice agreement as well, or perhaps to become part of the ongoing comprehensive peace process. The arsenal ought to be a tool that strengthens Lebanon's position among its Arab partners. Seeing things from a realpolitik lens, Hezbollah's arsenal can improve Lebanon's negotiating position and serve the interests of the Lebanese. However, it immediately becomes apparent this is impossible once we recall what kind of ideology that drives Hezbollah, as an entity driven by its ideological fervor that leaves it determined to destroy Israel and avenge its grudge against its Arab neighbors, even if the price is the destruction of the entire country. Nasrallah's formula "Stone Age for Stone Age" is not only wrong and flawed, but it affirms that the idea of channeling the capabilities of Hezbollah into diplomatic efforts is nothing but a political fantasy that serves to perpetuate its hegemony over the Lebanese by force of arms.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 23-24/2023
Cyprus Dismantles Human Smuggling Ring Bringing Syrian Migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Türkiye
AFP/ 23 August 2023
Cyprus said Wednesday it dismantled a criminal human smuggling ring responsible for bringing boatloads of Syrian migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Türkiye. The eastern Mediterranean island nation has seen almost daily migrant boat arrivals in recent days. Cypriot police said three months of investigative work resulted in the arrest of five suspects following a raid by a combined force of 40 officers on several homes in the island’s southeast. A Cyprus court ordered the detention of the suspects, all Syrian nationals, for eight days until police wrap up their investigation. The suspects face charges of belonging to a criminal migrant smuggling organization. Police spokesman Christos Andreou told The Associated Press that seven more Syrians were being sought in connection with the ring, including the ringleader who is believed to have fled abroad along with another ring member. Andreou said the police raid also found 44 Syrian migrants living in those homes, all of whom are asylum seekers or have been accorded international protection status. The migrants will be questioned and released, if they’re not found to belong to the same ring, according to Andreou. It wasn't immediately clear if the detained suspects had legal representation. Andreou said they could apply for legal aid and have a public defender appointed at any time, but he was unaware if that had happened Wednesday. The arrests come as Cypriot authorities rescued 142 Syrian migrants aboard four separate boats over four consecutive days this week. Cyprus’ Interior Ministry had noted an increase in seaborne arrivals of Syrian migrants in recent months, although asylum applications have dropped significantly as a result of government actions to deter such arrivals, especially from sub-Saharan Africa. According to official figures, asylum applications in June and July reached a combined 1,285 this year – less than a third than the same period last year. A newly formed group composed of members from the Asylum Service, Migration Department and Labor Ministry has been tasked with revising policy regarding Syrian nationals living in Cyprus who are found to be implicated in migrant smuggling rings “in order to deter further inflows,” a government statement said. To discourage more migrant arrivals, the Cypriot government decided to exclude migrants who arrived after Jan. 1 from eligibility for relocation to another EU country. “The Cyprus Republic, within its international obligations, will continue to undertake and strengthen measures aimed at managing as well as deterring migration inflows,” the government statement added. Police said other people smuggling rings may continue to operate in Cyprus.

Protesters in southern Syria raid ruling Baath party offices
Associated Press/23 August 2023
Angry protesters raided the local offices of the ruling Baath party in a southern Syrian province Wednesday, as protests intensified against the country's government during a severe economic and financial crisis battering the war-torn country. Opposition activists said protesters also partially blocked a highway that links the Druze-majority Sweida province to the capital Damascus in anti-government rallies that broke out Tuesday night. The demonstrations were sparked by worsening living conditions and inflation that surged after President Bashar Assad's decision last week to double public sector wages and pensions. Protests have so far not spread to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast, the capital Damascus and the largest cities, including Aleppo and Homs. However, they have also taken place in the nearby Daraa province that borders Jordan. The region's economy has deteriorated and crime has risen since government forces reclaimed it in 2018. The Syrian government has not responded to the protests. The country's economy has been struggling after years of conflict, corruption and mismanagement, and Western-led sanctions over accusations of government involvement in war crimes and the illicit narcotics trade. The United Nations estimates that about 90% of the population lives in poverty. Sweida province is home to the country's Druze minority, and has mostly isolated itself from Syria's conflict, now in its 13th year. "These are the largest protests that have taken place in Sweida," Rayan Maarouf, Editor-in-Chief of local activist media collective Suwayda24, told The Associated Press. "At one point most people were neutral or unsure, but now they don't believe their lives can improve without political change." The Syrian pound's value against the dollar declined to a new all-time low, down from 7,000 at the beginning of 2023 to 15,000 pounds to the greenback. At the start of the conflict in 2011, the dollar was trading at 47 pounds. Elsewhere, Russian airstrikes overnight in an opposition-held enclave in northwestern Syria killed two displaced people and wounded five others, residents and local civil defense first responders said. The strikes targeted a disused water station where the displaced people lived. Syrian state media reported Wednesday that a rocket attack from the enclave wounded one civilian in the town of Qardaha, Assad's hometown. The northwestern enclave is Syria's last rebel stronghold, mainly under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaida-linked group, while northern Aleppo province is under the control of Turkish-backed rebel groups. More than 90% of the population there live in poverty and rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

Putin Says BRICS Works for ‘Global Majority’
Asharq Al Awsat/23 August 2023
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private jet which crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors, the Russian authorities said. There was no confirmation that Prigozhin was physically on board and Reuters could not immediately confirm that he was on the aircraft, which crashed north of Moscow. "An investigation has been launched into an Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the passenger list, the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin is among them," Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation agency, was cited as saying by the state TASS news agency. Russia's emergency situations ministry said in a statement that a private Embraer Legacy aircraft travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg had crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region. It said that 10 people had been on board, including three crew members. According to preliminary information, everyone on board had been killed, it said. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a mutiny against Russia's top army brass on June 23-24 which President Vladimir Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. The mutiny was ended by negotiations and an apparent Kremlin deal which saw Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighboring Belarus. But he had appeared to move freely inside Russia after the deal nonetheless. Prigozhin, who had sought to topple Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, on Monday posted a video address which he suggested was shot in Africa.

Russia and Iran Deepen Military Cooperation
FDD/August 23/2023
Latest Developments
Iran’s regular army commander and his Russian counterpart met in Moscow on August 21. Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heydari, commander of the Ground Forces of Iran’s Artesh, met with Gen. Oleg Salyukov. After laying wreaths at Russia’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the two generals held talks at the Russian Ground Forces headquarters. There, they “discussed issues of military cooperation and interaction aimed at implementing projects” designed to bolster the “combat readiness” of their respective militaries, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. According to the Embassy of Iran in Russia, their discussions focused especially on combat training.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the two parties “reached agreements on further enhancing cooperation between the land forces in various fields.” It added that the Iranian side would visit Russian Ground Forces military education institutions as well as Russian defense-industrial enterprises. The day prior, Iranian state media said Heydari had visited Iran’s booth at Russia’s Army-2023 international defense expo.
Expert Analysis
“This announcement indicates Russia and Iran intend to build on their burgeoning military-technical partnership by expanding their military-to-military ties. While the details remain uncertain, the trendline is clear: Moscow and Tehran’s defense partnership is growing increasingly broad and deep.” — John Hardie, Deputy Director of FDD’s Russia Program
“The Venn diagram between Russia and Iran continues to grow. In addition to rare meetings between senior Russian defense officials and their counterparts in Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and Artesh on the sidelines of the MCIS conference, sanctioned Iranian defense companies participated in Moscow’s Army-2023 military exposition. For the first time ever, Tehran’s booth at the expo displayed a ballistic missile — perhaps foreshadowing potential missile transfers to supplement Russia’s Iranian-supplied drones.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow
Deepening Defense Ties Between Russia and Iran
Russia and Iran have increased their military cooperation since 2015, when Moscow intervened in Syria to save their common ally Bashar al-Assad. In addition to coordinating in Syria, the two countries have held regular military-to-military exchanges and combined exercises. In 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, Russia and Iran conducted naval drills in the Gulf of Oman. (China joined all but one.) In 2020, Iran participated in the naval portion of Russia’s annual strategic command-staff exercise, which that year focused on the Caucasus.
The two countries have doubled down on their defense partnership following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Tehran providing drones to Moscow while seeking advanced military equipment in return. Meanwhile, they are sharing intelligence and harassing American forces in Syria as part of a joint effort to drive the United States from the country.
Whereas Russian-Iranian combined exercises to date have focused on naval cooperation, Monday’s agreements may signal that Moscow and Tehran will broaden their scope. For example, Iranian ground troops could join Russia’s next strategic exercise focused on the Caucasus. In addition, Moscow could invite Iranian Ground Forces officers to study at Russian military academies.

Russia Names New Air Force Chief After Mutiny-Related Disappearance of ‘General Armageddon’
AFP/23 August 2023
Russia has appointed a new acting head of its aerospace forces to replace Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon", who vanished from view after a Wagner mercenary mutiny against the top brass, the RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday.
During the June 23-24 revolt, Surovikin, who once commanded Russia's overall war effort in Ukraine, appeared in a video, looking strained and without insignia, urging Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to abandon his march on Moscow. Since the mutiny, which was ended by negotiations and a deal, some Russian and foreign news outlets have said that Surovikin, who was often publicly praised by Prigozhin in the run-up to the revolt, was being investigated for possible complicity in it and being held under house arrest. His reported removal suggests the authorities found fault with his behavior, but the details of his alleged wrongdoing remain unknown. Russian news outlet RBC and Rybar, a Telegram channel close to the Ministry of Defense, on Tuesday reported that Surovikin had been removed from his position as the head of Russia's air force. On Wednesday, RIA cited an unnamed source as saying: "Ex-chief of the Russian Air and Space Forces Sergei Surovikin has now been relieved of his post, while Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov, head of the Main Staff of the Air Force, is temporarily acting as commander-in-chief of the Air Force." Reuters could not independently verify the report and there was no official confirmation. Surovikin earned the nickname "General Armageddon" during Russia's military intervention in Syria for the brutal tactics he employed there. He was placed in charge of Russian military operations in Ukraine last October, but in January that role was handed to General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, and Surovikin was made a deputy to Gerasimov. Afzalov was previously deputy to Surovikin and has been chief of staff of the Aerospace Forces for at least four years, according to British military intelligence. cDuring Surovikin's absence from public view, Afzalov was shown on televis

Private jet crash in Russia kills 10. Wagner chief Prigozhin was on passenger list
MOSCOW (AP)/August 23, 2023
A private jet crashed in Russia on Wednesday, killing all 10 people aboard, emergency officials said. Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list, but it wasn't immediately clear if he was on board. Prigozhin’s fate has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June. The Kremlin said the founder of the Wagner private military company, which fought alongside Russia’s regular army in Ukraine, would be exiled to Belarus. But the mercenary chief has since reportedly popped up in Russia, leading to further questions about his future. A plane carrying three pilots and seven passengers that was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg went down more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, according to officials cited by Russia’s state news agency Tass. It was not clear if Prigozhin was among those on board, though Russia’s civilian aviation regulator, Rosaviatsia, said he was on the manifest. Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials, that eight bodies were found at the site of the crash. Flight tracking data reviewed by The Associated Press showed a private jet registered to Wagner that Prigozhin had used previously took off from Moscow on Wednesday evening and its transponder signal disappeared minutes later. The signal was lost in a rural region with no nearby airfields where the jet could have landed safely. In an image posted by a pro-Wagner social media account showing burning wreckage, a partial tail number matching a private jet belonging to the company could be seen. The color and placement of the number on the engine of the crashed plane matches prior photos of the Wagner jet examined by The AP. This week, Prigozhin posted his first recruitment video since the mutiny, saying that Wagner is conducting reconnaissance and search activities, and “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.” Also this week, Russian media reported, citing anonymous sources, that a top Russian general linked to Prigozhin — Gen. Sergei Surovikin — was dismissed from his position of the commander of Russia's air force. Surovikin, who at one point led Russia's operation in Ukraine, hasn't been seen in public since the mutiny, when he recorded a video address urging Prigozhin's forces to pull back. As the news about the crash was breaking, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at an event commemorating the Battle of Kursk, hailing the heroes of Russia's “the special military operation” in Ukraine.

Iran Sentences 8 to Prison Over Paramilitary’s Death During Last Year’s Nationwide Protests
Reuters/23 August 2023.
Iran sentenced seven men and a woman to prison after their convictions over allegedly aiding two men who were earlier executed for killing a paramilitary volunteer during the nationwide protests last year that followed Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, state media reported Wednesday. The sentences come just ahead of the one-year anniversary of Amini's Sept. 16 death, as authorities have been rounding up activists and others in an apparent attempt to tamp down on any dissent ahead of it. The report by the judiciary's Mizan news agency offered the first official confirmation of the sentences apparently handed down earlier by a Revolutionary Court in the city of Karaj, where the November slaying happened. The report said the country's Supreme Court upheld the sentences handed down following an appeal by the lawyers for those convicted. The defendants were found guilty of committing "warfare" and of "corruption on Earth," a term often used to describe attempts to undermine the Iranian government, Mizan said. Iran's Revolutionary Court conducts closed-door hearings and has long been criticized by activists and other nations for their harsh sentences against opposition figures and those with Western ties. The tribunals don’t allow those on trial to pick their own lawyers or see the evidence against them. Among those sentenced, Dr. Hamid Qarahasnalu received a 15-year sentence, while his wife Farzaneh received a five-year sentence, Mizan said. The two must serve that time in a prison far from their homes, as must the others sentenced in the case. It's not clear exactly what the doctor and his wife did. However, during the protests, doctors who treated those taking part in the demonstrations faced harassment and arrest. Their sentencing comes as part of the case that saw two men identified as Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini executed in January. The men had been convicted of killing a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force, in the city of Karaj, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Tehran, on Nov. 3. The Basij were deployed in major cities during the demonstrations, attacking and detaining protesters who in many cases fought back. More than 500 people were killed and 22,000 others arrested in the security crackdown that followed the demonstrations. The protests began in mid-September when 22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code requiring women to wear the hijab, or headscarf. The protests marked one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 revolution. Women continue to flout wearing the hijab, though authorities have lately increased their enforcement of the law by targeting businesses and other locations. In recent weeks, authorities have detained at least 22 activists, the majority of them women, in an attempt to squash any renewed demonstrations, the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said in a statement. "Iranian authorities are rounding up activists around the country, especially women, to deliver a message of fear to the populace ahead of the one-year anniversary of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protest movement: Stand up again, and we’ll crush you," said Hadi Ghaemi, the center's executive director. "This surge in repression, after the state’s killing of hundreds of protesters over the last year, demands a global response that goes beyond amplifying the voices of these courageous women."

BRICS Nations Agree on Expansion, South Africa Foreign Minister Says
Reuters/23 August 2023
Leaders of the BRICS bloc of leading developing nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have agreed mechanisms for considering new members, South Africa's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Agreement on expansion paves the way for dozens of interested candidate nations to make their case for joining the grouping, which has pledged to become a champion of the developing "Global South". Enlarging BRICS has topped the agenda at a summit taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa's commercial capital. While all BRICS members had publicly expressed support for growing the bloc, there had been divisions among the leaders over how much and how quickly. "We have agreed on the matter of expansion," Naledi Pandor said on Ubuntu Radio, a station run by South Africa's foreign ministry. "We have a document that we've adopted which sets out guidelines and principles, processes for considering countries that wish to become members of BRICS...That's very positive." Pandor said the bloc's leaders would make a more detailed announcement on expansion before the summit concludes on Thursday. More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials, and 22 - Iran, Venezuela and Algeria among them - have formally asked to be admitted.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 23-24/2023
Justice Requires Fair Procedures
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/August 23, 2023
"Justice, justice you shall pursue," the Bible commands (Deuteronomy 16:20); and that, in doing justice, one must not "recognize faces."
The late US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter once observed that the history of liberty is largely a history of procedural fairness. Our constitution embodies that history by reading "the due process of law."
Lately, however, many so-called progressives have been willing to ignore procedural safeguards and due process in their campaign to get former President Donald Trump — to misuse the law in an effort to prevent the leading Republican candidate from running against the incumbent candidate for president. In doing so, they are violating the second principle of justice: "Do not recognize faces." That commandment is the basis for the blindfolded statute of justice.
Some progressives who would ignore procedural safeguards to get Trump acknowledge that this is because they regard him as especially dangerous and therefore undeserving of due process. Special injustice for an unjust man!
Injustice, once practiced against an unjust person, will serve as precedent for deploying it against just persons.
Another weapon is scheduling. They are trying to get convictions in friendly locations before the 2024 elections, and willing to risk reversal on appeal, which would occur only after the election. Accordingly, they are seeking very early trial dates.... No decent defense lawyer would agree to try a case with so little time to prepare. Yet a group of prominent "get Trump" Republican lawyers has filed a brief supporting that unconstitutional rush to injustice.
These and other "get Trump" lawyers should read the Judeo-Christian commands to do procedural as well as substantive justice, and not to recognize faces. If they follow those wise commands, they will stop trying to "get Trump" or potentially any of us. Instead, they will pursue justice without regard to the face, name or party of the person being investigated and prosecuted.
Whatever one thinks of former President Donald Trump, everyone who cares about liberty for all must oppose the weaponization of laws and procedures that are aimed at him, lest the weapons be turned on us.(Image source: iStock)
"Justice, justice you shall pursue," the Bible commands (Deuteronomy 16:20); and that, in doing justice, one must not "recognize faces."
Commentators ask why the good book repeats the word justice, since every word is thought to have significance. The most relevant is that there are two kinds of justice: substantive and procedural.
The former relates to making the punishment fit the crime; the latter requires that correct procedures be employed to determine whether a crime has been committed.
The late US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter once observed that the history of liberty is largely a history of procedural fairness. Our constitution embodies that history by reading "the due process of law."
Lately, however, many so-called progressives have been willing to ignore procedural safeguards and due process in their campaign to get former President Donald Trump — to misuse the law in an effort to prevent the leading Republican candidate from running against the incumbent candidate for president. In doing so, they are violating the second principle of justice: "Do not recognize faces." That commandment is the basis for the blindfolded statute of justice.
Some progressives who would ignore procedural safeguards to get Trump acknowledge that this is because they regard him as especially dangerous and therefore undeserving of due process. Special injustice for an unjust man!
But in our system of law, which is based on precedent, there is no such thing as special injustice. Injustice, once practiced against an unjust person, will serve as precedent for deploying it against just persons. As H.L. Menken once observed:
"The trouble about fighting for human freedom is that you have to spend so much of your life defending sons of bitches; for oppressive laws are always aimed at them originally, and oppression must be stopped in the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."
So, whatever one thinks of Trump, everyone who cares about liberty for all must oppose the weaponization of laws and procedures that are aimed at him, lest the weapons be turned on us.
Among the weapons being improperly aimed at Trump is the RICO indictment in Georgia, which includes several of his lawyers as co-defendants. This ploy has two unfair consequences, if not intentions: to discourage lawyers from defending him; to prevent him from calling his lawyers as defense witnesses; and to open up confidential conversations between Trump and his lawyers. The cases against the lawyers are generally weak, but that does not matter to prosecutors who are out to get Trump and are using his lawyers as means toward that end.
Another weapon is scheduling. They are trying to get convictions in friendly locations before the 2024 elections, and willing to risk reversal on appeal, which would occur only after the election. Accordingly, they are seeking very early trial dates. The prosecutor in Washington, DC has asked for January 2, 2024 — less than five months after the indictment. No case of this complexity and significance has even been tried so quickly. No decent defense lawyer would agree to try a case with so little time to prepare. Yet a group of prominent "get Trump" Republican lawyers has filed a brief supporting that unconstitutional rush to injustice.
These and other "get Trump" lawyers should read the Judeo-Christian commands to do procedural as well as substantive justice, and not to recognize faces. If they follow those wise commands, they will stop trying to "get Trump" or potentially any of us. Instead, they will pursue justice without regard to the face, name or party of the person being investigated and prosecuted.
**Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The BRICS Club of Emerging Nations Debates Letting Others In
David Pierson, Lynsey Chutel, Jack Nicas, Alex Travelli and Paul Sonne/The New York Times/August 23/2023
The group of nations known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — represents 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the world’s economy. Now it is considering expanding, in a push to be seen as a credible counterweight to Western-led forums like the G7 group of advanced nations.
But the challenge for the club is that it is as divergent as it is large, and hindered by sometimes conflicting interests and internal rivalries. It comprises the world’s largest authoritarian state (China) and its largest democracy (India), economies big and small, and relations with the United States that run the gamut, from friend to foe.
China, under Xi Jinping, wants to expand BRICS, seeing in it a platform to challenge American power. Russia is keen to demonstrate that Moscow has loyal allies despite its isolation from the West over the war in Ukraine. India, locked in a territorial dispute with China, is wary of Beijing’s dominance in the club.
Brazil and South Africa, the other swing states of the developing world, want good relations with China and Russia, but not to be overly aligned with either, for fear of alienating the United States.
As leaders of the five nations met starting Tuesday at an annual summit, this time in Johannesburg, how they navigate those differences might determine whether the group becomes a geopolitical coalition or remains largely focused on financial issues such as reducing the dominance of the dollar in the global economy.
The task of finding common ground is only getting harder as the great power competition between Beijing and Washington intensifies, placing pressure on other nations to choose sides. And as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on, the conflict is roiling food and energy prices for many of the poorer countries that BRICS members claim to represent.
“China under Xi is looking to use BRICS for its own purposes, particularly in extending its influence in the Global South,” said Steve Tsang, the director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “India is highly unlikely to go along with it as the Chinese proposal will turn BRICS into something else — one which will serve primarily Chinese interests.”
Dozens of countries have expressed interest in joining the club. They include countries that fall squarely in the Chinese camp, like Iran and Belarus, and nonaligned states such as Egypt and Kazakhstan.
The question of expansion will be leading the agenda of the three-day summit, attended in person by President Xi of China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is taking part remotely. Mr. Putin, who is wanted by an international court that has accused him of war crimes, had earlier planned on attending in person. He decided against it, sparing South Africa the dilemma of whether to arrest him.
China, which as the biggest economy in the group holds significant clout, will want to use the club to show that Beijing has its own circle of influence, after President Biden held a summit strengthening alliances last week with Japan and South Korea, nations in China’s backyard.
Beijing favors a rapid expansion of BRICS, which would also allow China to argue it has widespread support from the developing world.
“The Global South is not happy about the G7 trying to represent them, so they’re voting with their feet to join BRICS,” said Henry Huiyao Wang, president of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing.
India has signaled that it prefers a more cautious approach that would limit Beijing’s ability to use the BRICS club to confront the West. It will want to avoid diluting its own role in favor of countries that might pick China over India in any tussle for influence.
India’s divergence with China reflects wider tensions and distrust between the two countries that were inflamed by a deadly border clash in 2020 and by India’s participation in a security grouping with the United States, Japan and Australia called the Quad.
India has emphasized that it is open to enlarging BRICS in principle, but wants to develop standards for deciding on new members, and to ensure that any changes are based on consensus.
Brazil has a similar position on the acceptance of new members.
“If they comply with the rules that we are establishing, we will accept their entry,” President Lula of Brazil told reporters this month.
Some of the requirements likely to be discussed include a minimum population or gross domestic product, as well as a willingness to work with the bloc’s New Development Bank, said one Brazilian government official helping plan for the talks who is not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Brazil wants the group to remain a club of large, emerging economies rather than a geopolitical alliance that could be perceived as an anti-Western bloc, said a second Brazilian official helping to plan for the talks.
Mr. Lula said he supported at least three countries joining BRICS: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina. He also suggested that Indonesia, which is widely seen as a natural fit given its size and location, would be a welcome addition.
From Russia’s perspective, the summit will provide an opportunity to court the developing world again, after Mr. Putin hosted African leaders in St. Petersburg this summer.
But the foreign minister of Russia, Sergei V. Lavrov, who traveled to South Africa in Mr. Putin’s place, will likely face questions about why Russia pulled out of a United Nations-brokered deal with Ukraine that allowed the export of grain through the Black Sea. Food prices jumped after the collapse of the agreement.
BRICS members have struggled to show consensus on Russia’s war in Ukraine: China has leaned toward the Kremlin, while India has relied on a strategy of nonalignment. Brazil has offered rhetoric but little action.
South Africa, the group’s smallest member in terms of population and economy, has faced international and domestic criticism for its close ties to Moscow.
South Africa made a show of its neutrality when its president, Mr. Ramaphosa, led a peace mission of African leaders to meet with Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine last month. Still, those talks are yet to yield tangible results.
South Africa bowed to Western pressure when it asked Mr. Putin to attend the summit virtually because of his arrest warrant. But the country is still trying to assert itself, defying what it sees as arm-twisting from the West to isolate Russia.

The problem with Republican isolationism/Abandoning Ukraine is no way to make America great again
Clifford D. May/Washington Times/August 23/2023
A growing number of Republicans now think the U.S. should abandon Ukraine and – by extension – give Russian dictator Vladimir Putin a great and historic victory.
A CNN/SSRS poll released earlier this month quantified the trend: 71 percent of GOP voters don’t want Congress to authorize additional funding for Ukraine. Fifty-nine percent think the U.S. has done enough to help Ukrainians defend their independence, their homeland, and their families.
By contrast, 62 percent of Democrats support new funding for Ukraine, and 61 percent say the U.S. should do more to prevent Mr. Putin from winning the barbaric war he launched in February of 2022.
How is it that Democrats are embracing the Reagan Doctrine – assisting a nation fighting for its freedom for reasons both strategic and moral – while more and more Republicans (MAGA Republicans?) are rejecting it?
Perhaps you think I’m living in the past because the Soviet Union lies on the ash heap of history and international Communism threatens us no more. Let’s examine those propositions.
Mr. Putin has said that the collapse of his native Soviet Union was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century.” Which suggests he’d like to resurrect it in some form.
Days before his invasion of Ukraine, he and Xi Jinping, head of China’s ruling Communist Party, forged a partnership “without limits.”
Mr. Putin may not quote Karl Marx on the labor theory of value, but he does admire Joseph Stalin, the brutal Soviet Communist dictator. Just last week, a 26-foot-tall Stalin statue was erected in Russia’s Pskov region which borders Estonia, a former Soviet possession, now a NATO member.
So, while Mr. Putin may not be a Communist, he is a fellow traveler. He’s also a sworn enemy of the United States. His other great friend is Ali Khamenei, dictator of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who for decades has vowed “Death to America!”
The two men are cooperating to expand the Kremlin’s supply of drones and other weapons useful for killing Ukrainian men, women, and children. Simultaneously, Tehran is seeking to purchase Su-35 fighter jets, helicopters, and other military equipment from Russia.
These Russian, Iranian, and Chinese dictators believe their power is rising while that of the U.S. and its allies is declining.
A few data points in support of their view: In 2020, Beijing deprived the people of Hong Kong of their freedoms in violation of clear treaty obligations. The American-led “international community” shrugged. In 2021, the U.S. fled from the Taliban (and al Qaeda) in Afghanistan. Mr. Putin perhaps thought: “If a bunch of ragtag terrorists can make Americans run, why am I hesitating?”
Less than a year later, he invaded Ukraine. He expected a skirmish, akin to his invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, and his invasion and seizure of two slices of Georgia in 2008 – violations of international law that brought no serious consequences.
Ukrainians fought harder and better than expected. President Biden – credit where it’s due – rallied NATO members to provide Ukrainians with weapons and ammunition. But he never explained clearly and persuasively what was at stake. And, wary of “provoking” Mr. Putin, the delivery of materiel has been slow and unsteady.
Mr. Biden’s advisors probably hoped Mr. Putin would seek an “off-ramp” – negotiations leading to a frozen conflict. He hasn’t.
Instead, Mr. Putin has been waiting for Americans to do what most Republicans appear eager to do now: Grow tired. Give up. Move on.
If Americans do that, at least it will be the end of the story, right? No, not right.
Should Mr. Putin prevail in Ukraine, expect him to utilize Ukrainian resources – natural and human – to continue to expand his neo-Soviet empire. Belarus is already a vassal state. What sovereignty Georgia and Armenia have left will likely be erased. Kazakhstan may be on the menu.
Mr. Putin restored Russian clout to the Middle East by helping, along with Tehran, to prop up Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s mass-murdering dictator. President Obama made that easy for him.
But the big prize for Mr. Putin would be to crack NATO. How costly do you think it would be – in blood and treasure – to turn back a Russian blitzkrieg into Lithuania? How long before 59 percent of GOP voters say we’ve “done enough” to support NATO?
That would be an especially good time for Mr. Xi to take Taiwan. He’ll figure, not without justification, that Americans are unlikely to do more for Taiwan than they did for Ukraine.
Following that, expect Japan, South Korea, and other nations of the Indo-Pacific to acquiesce to Beijing’s hegemony.
There’s more. Russian and Chinese influence has been growing in Latin America and even more in Africa where both countries have been implementing neo-imperialist policies.
In the Middle East, Beijing has facilitated a détente between Iran’s rulers and the Saudis who, until recently, were among America’s most important strategic partners.
And last month, a combined Russian and Chinese naval force carried out a naval patrol near Alaska. One year ago next month, a similar flotilla – including a cruiser-destroyer that can launch more than 100 guided missiles – approached Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Testing the waters?
A question for my friends who identify as MAGA Republicans: Do you not see that making America “harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend” – Bernard Lewis’ apt phrase – is no way to make America great again?
“Peace through strength” is the policy to which you should want the U.S. to return. That implies building and maintaining sufficient American military might to deter America’s enemies. It also implies supporting America’s friends who are fighting America’s enemies so that “America First” does not end up as “American Alone.” More than 71 percent of Republicans should understand that.
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. Follow him on Twitter @CliffordDMay. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Dignity As A Military Concept
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspape/August 23/2023
Many adjectives could be used in describing the current moment in history of the Arab Levant, but we can add another: it is a struggle between two conceptions of "dignity".
In the Axis of Resistance's rhetoric, Gaza is the crown jewel of dignity, not only that of the Palestinians, but also Arab and Muslim dignity. Why? Because Gaza fires missiles and has missiles fired at it; it stands firm, engages the enemy, and defies - in a word, because it is fighting.
As we are well aware, however, youths protested in the streets of Gaza last month, chanting to demand their "right to a decent life." The eruption of protests and the Hamas security agencies' clampdown were preceded by incidents indicating a deterioration of security and that some in the Strip are dying of poverty and a lack of services, including electricity.
In turn, the Hamas government and its crowd did not forget to condemn the movement demanding improved living conditions and services, and to attribute it to the role of social media sites, which exist to further a malicious conspiracy, of course.
As for Syria, it is claimed that national and Arab dignity won the day, defeating a conspiracy that is simultaneously both "Takfiri" and imperialist. But a different opinion was voiced by the people of the southern governorates of As-Suwayda and Daraa. From denouncing the deterioration of living conditions, the rising costs of the fuel and subsidized commodities, and corruption, the protest escalated into a political movement raising matters of governance. We thus saw enraged protesters set a state building on fire and tear up pictures of Syria's rulers and the flag of the regime. Some cried out calling for an end to centralization and the adoption of decentralization.
It is more than a little indicative that, in one of their slogans, the protesters juxtaposed the “food” that they were demanding with the “poetry” (which they do not want or believe) showering them with glory and victory. Since the Jahliya of Amr Ibn Kulthum, poetry about dignity has been associated with war and how “The mighty fall to their knees before any boy of ours who has reached weaning age.”
As for Lebanon, it is the biggest stage on which this clash between the two conceptions of dignity is playing out: on the one hand, we have (poetic) emphasis on its abundance because of the resistance, its missiles, resilience, and the humiliation of Israel. On the other hand, we have complaints (in prose, i.e. rational) of an astonishing scarcity of dignity amid poverty, migration, destitution, and our failure to pay our national debt and secure cancer patients’ medication...
In our region, this poetic school of thought on dignity may have been founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the man behind the slogan “Raise your head up, brother.” Bear in mind, as he encouraged heads being held high, Egypt was begging the United States for wheat and making preparations for the crushing defeat that the military, which represents dignity and is charged with safeguarding it, would suffer in 1967. That is why the late Egyptian political researcher Anwar Abdel-Malik was not mistaken when he called Nasserist Egypt a "military society." In several Arab countries, many streets where conflicts (often civil wars) were fought are named in their honor and given names like “Dignity Street” and “Dignity Road”.
Dignity, here, always refers to the dignity of a community, never that of an individual. This may seem strange to English speakers, where in contrast to the Arabic word for it, "Karameh," "dignity" is principally associated with an individual. More than this, our thinking on what constitutes an affront to a community's dignity, be it a tribe or a nation, takes after from the patriarchal lexicon of tribalism - for example, they create dichotomy between “honor” and “shame”, “rape,” and similar terms.
And because this concept is a military concept before being anything else, it not only removes the female half of society from the dignity's orbit, but removes civilian men as well. Indeed, dignity can only be found where there is war; since women and civilians are noncombatants, they are not visible, just like the economy, security, health, and education... It is, in the end, the dignity of a narrow cohort of society who claim that their killing and fighting is done on behalf of the nation and for its dignity, before painting mendacious and poetic portraits of these victories.
In contrast to this notion of dignity, which is simultaneously belligerent, poetic, and communal, the other notion is concerned with the rights and freedoms of individuals. It believes that dignity comes from better health, better education, and greater prosperity. There is nothing dignified about people lacking the ability to choose freely because of deficiencies like those plaguing them today, just as there is nothing dignified about individuals being afforded no value, tortured, mistreated, called traitors, accused of infidelity, and defamed; nor is it dignified for a minor to be married off to a man of her father's choosing or for this husband to beat her.
This dignity is probably better than military dignity even at fighting and defending itself, if necessity demands it. This opinion is reinforced by the Israeli air force's daily strolls on Syria's skies. As they bombard the country and wreak havoc, their pilots watch the ceremonies celebrating the victory of dignity from above, and as their victims die, they die of laughter.
Many adjectives could be used in describing the current moment in history of the Arab Levant, but we can add another: it is a struggle between two conceptions of "dignity".
In the Axis of Resistance's rhetoric, Gaza is the crown jewel of dignity, not only that of the Palestinians, but also Arab and Muslim dignity. Why? Because Gaza fires missiles and has missiles fired at it; it stands firm, engages the enemy, and defies - in a word, because it is fighting.
As we are well aware, however, youths protested in the streets of Gaza last month, chanting to demand their "right to a decent life." The eruption of protests and the Hamas security agencies' clampdown were preceded by incidents indicating a deterioration of security and that some in the Strip are dying of poverty and a lack of services, including electricity.
In turn, the Hamas government and its crowd did not forget to condemn the movement demanding improved living conditions and services, and to attribute it to the role of social media sites, which exist to further a malicious conspiracy, of course.
As for Syria, it is claimed that national and Arab dignity won the day, defeating a conspiracy that is simultaneously both "Takfiri" and imperialist. But a different opinion was voiced by the people of the southern governorates of As-Suwayda and Daraa. From denouncing the deterioration of living conditions, the rising costs of the fuel and subsidized commodities, and corruption, the protest escalated into a political movement raising matters of governance. We thus saw enraged protesters set a state building on fire and tear up pictures of Syria's rulers and the flag of the regime. Some cried out calling for an end to centralization and the adoption of decentralization.
It is more than a little indicative that, in one of their slogans, the protesters juxtaposed the “food” that they were demanding with the “poetry” (which they do not want or believe) showering them with glory and victory. Since the Jahliya of Amr Ibn Kulthum, poetry about dignity has been associated with war and how “The mighty fall to their knees before any boy of ours who has reached weaning age.”
As for Lebanon, it is the biggest stage on which this clash between the two conceptions of dignity is playing out: on the one hand, we have (poetic) emphasis on its abundance because of the resistance, its missiles, resilience, and the humiliation of Israel. On the other hand, we have complaints (in prose, i.e. rational) of an astonishing scarcity of dignity amid poverty, migration, destitution, and our failure to pay our national debt and secure cancer patients’ medication...
In our region, this poetic school of thought on dignity may have been founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the man behind the slogan “Raise your head up, brother.” Bear in mind, as he encouraged heads being held high, Egypt was begging the United States for wheat and making preparations for the crushing defeat that the military, which represents dignity and is charged with safeguarding it, would suffer in 1967. That is why the late Egyptian political researcher Anwar Abdel-Malik was not mistaken when he called Nasserist Egypt a "military society." In several Arab countries, many streets where conflicts (often civil wars) were fought are named in their honor and given names like “Dignity Street” and “Dignity Road”.
Dignity, here, always refers to the dignity of a community, never that of an individual. This may seem strange to English speakers, where in contrast to the Arabic word for it, "Karameh," "dignity" is principally associated with an individual. More than this, our thinking on what constitutes an affront to a community's dignity, be it a tribe or a nation, takes after from the patriarchal lexicon of tribalism - for example, they create dichotomy between “honor” and “shame”, “rape,” and similar terms.
And because this concept is a military concept before being anything else, it not only removes the female half of society from the dignity's orbit, but removes civilian men as well. Indeed, dignity can only be found where there is war; since women and civilians are noncombatants, they are not visible, just like the economy, security, health, and education... It is, in the end, the dignity of a narrow cohort of society who claim that their killing and fighting is done on behalf of the nation and for its dignity, before painting mendacious and poetic portraits of these victories.
In contrast to this notion of dignity, which is simultaneously belligerent, poetic, and communal, the other notion is concerned with the rights and freedoms of individuals. It believes that dignity comes from better health, better education, and greater prosperity. There is nothing dignified about people lacking the ability to choose freely because of deficiencies like those plaguing them today, just as there is nothing dignified about individuals being afforded no value, tortured, mistreated, called traitors, accused of infidelity, and defamed; nor is it dignified for a minor to be married off to a man of her father's choosing or for this husband to beat her.
This dignity is probably better than military dignity even at fighting and defending itself, if necessity demands it. This opinion is reinforced by the Israeli air force's daily strolls on Syria's skies. As they bombard the country and wreak havoc, their pilots watch the ceremonies celebrating the victory of dignity from above, and as their victims die, they die of laughter.

Sanctions: A Game or a Loophole?
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspape/August 23/2023
The debate about the efficacy of sanctions rages on. Were sanctions effective, for example, against Saddam Hussein’s regime in the past? Have the sanctions currently imposed on North Korea had the desired effect; what about Iran? Has the Caesar Act worked in Syria? Have the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine?
However, another question is more pertinent. Are sanctions a tool used to further political interests, distract the public, or improve parties’ performance in elections? One development that clearly suggests they are is the hostage deal between Washington and Tehran.Immediately after it was announced, the US-Iranian deal, through which the US released $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets in exchange for Tehran freeing five US hostages of Iranian descent, sparked a heated debate in the United States, with many asking questions about the motives and timing.
The detractors’ first line of attack is that electoral motives drove the US administration to make this deal. Some believe that the deal is part of a broader agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program, with suggestions that the US will return to the accord after the presidential elections. The US administration justified the hostage deal with claims that this is a humanitarian matter and that the deal stipulates that the released funds are conditional, preventing Iran from spending it on arming militias or groups affiliated with it in the region. The money can only be used domestically, and can only be used to purchase legal goods.
Is that true? A senior financial expert explained the answer to me. “In economics, there is a concept called ‘fungibility,’ which refers to financial interchangeability. The released funds are indeed used to purchase non-sanctioned goods, but funds the Iranians had previously been allocated for those goods are channeled toward illegitimate activities.”
He added: “Setting terms on the allocation does not work. It’s like a shell game: Let’s assume that Iran had allocated $100 million to buy medicine. After receiving the $6 billion, it will buy this medicine with the money released by the US; then, it will spend the $100 million it had allocated for the purchase of medicine to finance and arm militias. In colloquial terms, it is a sleight of hand, as the released funds allow Iran to redirect money it already had.”Moving on to discuss Russia and the sanctions imposed on it, the expert explained: “The same logic applies to the oil market. It doesn’t matter much who produced or consumed it. What matters is there is a supply of oil and demand for it.”
To elucidate his point, he added that “If an oil-producing country is boycotted, it can sell its surplus to countries that do not boycott it. The market balances overall supply and overall demand; this is what happened with the sanctions on Russian oil.”
This example is straightforward. When Russian oil is boycotted by certain countries, others that disregard the boycott buy oil from Moscow and then sell it to the countries that had claimed they would not buy oil from the Russians. This is not a riddle. It is a fact. Thus, the question becomes: Is it conceivable that experts, politicians, and economists in the countries concerned, including the United States, are unaware of this? Of course, they are aware.
So, the question then becomes: Have sanctions become a game of achieving narrow political goals? I believe so.