Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 25-26/2023
Tragic training flight: Lebanon pays tribute to pilots lost in helicopter crash
LBCI/August 25, 2023
With the Lebanese flag, the martyr Captain Pilot Joseph Hanna returned to his village of Debel, where its people came out to welcome him with ululations, and the scattering of rose petals. Amid the sad tunes, the coffin was carried into the church, to be buried on Friday afternoon. Likewise, Choueifat bid farewell to First Lieutenant Pilot Richard Saab. In the final farewell, his comrades-in-arms carried him on their shoulders. Both Hanna and Saab lost their lives during a training flight when the military helicopter belonging to the Air Force crashed in the Hammana area, resulting in the deaths of the two service members and injuring another.It has been learned that the helicopter went down in the nearby Chbaniyeh forest. Preliminary information indicates that the military chopper's crash was due to poor visibility and fog.

Paris warns of sanctions, Doha to back Le Drian's mission
Naharnet/August 25, 2023
The latest French proposal for dialogue among the Lebanese parties is still unchanged, but Paris does not mind receiving objections and suggestions to discuss them and clarify them, especially if some parties are dismayed or have concerns, a French diplomatic source said.
“The previous package, which stood for a president in return for a premier, is no longer on the table, because it did not lead to a result,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday. The source also warned that French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian’s mission is considered “the latest available chance to rescue Lebanon from the current situation,” cautioning that “should the mission fail, all options will be on the table, including U.S. and European sanctions.”Arab diplomatic sources meanwhile revealed to the newspaper that a Qatari mediator had “arrived in Beirut or is on the way to it” to discuss “some details related to Le Drian’s mission.” “The Qatari envoy’s mission comes after Le Drian called on his partners in the five-nation gathering to aid him in his mission in light of the (negative) Lebanese responses to his letter to MPs,” the sources added.

Jumblat: We must sit with Nasrallah for Lebanon's future
Naharnet/August 25, 2023
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has lamented that “no one today wants a settlement” in the country. “But it is the thing we need the most. A settlement for the sake of the country and not for the sake of any party in this or that camp,” Jumblat added, in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published Friday. “I don’t understand the justifications of some Christian parties who are rejecting dialogue. There is no alternative to sitting around a dialogue table. We sit and talk and see what happens afterwards,” Jumblat added. “It is true that Hezbollah has nominated Suleiman Franjieh and is clinging to him, but it is possible to reach a middle-ground solution with it if we sit and talk, instead of prior rejection which amplifies the crisis instead of resolving it,” the Druze leader went on to say. He added that it is possible to negotiate with Hezbollah over “another candidate.”“We must sit with (Hezbollah chief) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, not only for electing a president but also for the sake of Lebanon’s future,” Jumblat urged.

Mansouri says won't print liras to cover state deficit
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri on Friday announced that the bank will not print Lebanese currency to cover for the state's deficit, stressing that financial regularity cannot be achieved without “passing the reforms.”
“I urge all political forces to keep the monetary authority out of political bickering, seeing as the current stalemate would negatively affect the economy and contribute to the isolation of Lebanon internationally,” Mansouri added at a press conference. “We reaffirm that the Central Bank is ready to implement the reform laws in successive sessions, if needed,” he went on to say. Mansouri also warned that “every day we waste without passing the reforms increases the risk of collapse.”Mansouri's comments came nearly a month after he took over the leadership at the Central Bank after the term of his predecessor, Riad Salameh, ended on July 31. Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Since the financial meltdown began in October 2019, the country’s political class -- blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement -- has been resisting economic and financial reforms requested by the international community. Since taking office, Mansouri has been urging the government to pass some reforms, cautioning that the Central Bank cannot continue to spend money to fund the government’s budget deficit. Mansouri added that the 2023 budget that was approved by the government last week had a 24% deficit while the central bank had asked for a deficit-free budget. He said that the state should pursue tax collection, reopen state institutions and put more control on what flows through its border for taxation, in an apparent reference to smuggling. Mansouri added that Lebanon's economy has become cash-based since the crisis began, warning that this could have repercussions on the country in the future. Two weeks ago, a forensic audit into Lebanon’s Central Bank by a New York-based company revealed yearslong misconduct by the bank’s former governor, Salameh, and $111 million in “illegitimate commissions.”Alvarez & Marsal said the Central Bank’s “refusal to provide direct access to its systems and to allow work to be conducted” on its premises had “significantly delayed and slowed” the audit. Mansouri said Friday the Central Bank will cooperate with Alvarez & Marsal and hand over all documents needed to the international company as well as Lebanon judicial authorities. In late 2019, Lebanon’s dollar shortages created a panic and run on the banks as they imposed strict withdrawal limits for depositors who kept their savings there. Under what some financial experts and the World Bank described as a Ponzi scheme, Lebanon’s Central Bank enticed commercial banks to lend dollars at high interest rates to stay flush with cash. The banks then attracted customers to deposit their savings in their accounts with even higher interest rates. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value, in the last four years, pushing more of the country’s 6 million people -- including 1 million Syrian refugees -- into poverty. Salameh, 73, ended his 30-year career as governor under a cloud of investigation and blame for his country’s economic meltdown. He left his post as a wanted man in Europe and was accused by many in Lebanon of being responsible for the country’s financial downfall since late 2019.

Mansouri and Morgan Stanley's Managing Director Discuss Banking Relationship Enhancement
LBCI/August 25, 2023
Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Wassim Mansouri, held a working meeting with the Managing Director of Morgan Stanley responsible for bonds and fixed-income securities in emerging markets. The meeting discussed ways to activate and enhance the banking relationship between the Central Bank of Lebanon and Morgan Stanley. Mansouri provided instructions to invigorate banking operations within this context, and an agreement was reached to maintain ongoing communication.

Lebanon’s acting central bank chief pleads for reform as crisis continues
Adam Lucente/al-monitor/August 25, 2023
The new head of Lebanon’s central bank made a desperate plea for reform on Friday as the country slips further into economic crisis. Wassim Mansouri became interim governor of Banque du Liban late last month after longtime Governor Riad Salameh’s term ended. Mansouri said the Lebanese state may collapse in the absence of reform. “Every day we waste without drafting laws, losses increase as well as the possibility of a state collapse,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Mansouri also criticized the budget passed by the government last week in his remarks, saying it has a 24% deficit and that the central bank asked for a deficit-free budget. Mansouri said the central bank does not intend to cover the government’s deficit by lending Lebanese pounds nor US dollars, according to the official National News Agency. “Printing more Lebanese pounds to counterbalance deficit is not a strategy that will be adopted,” he said. Why it matters: Mansouri took the helm at the central bank at a difficult time. Lebanon has been mired in an economic crisis since 2019. Since then, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value while public debt, inflation and poverty have all skyrocketed. Most Lebanese are unable to access their savings due to widespread financial mismanagement and strict capital controls. Salameh, who led the bank for 30 years, is under investigation in Lebanon, the United States, France and Switzerland for embezzlement and his policies have been widely linked to the current crisis. In 2016, he introduced a “financial engineering” scheme in response to a liquidity crunch brought on by declining remittances from Lebanese abroad. The scheme incentivized private banks to deposit foreign currency from remittances at the central bank with high interest. The central bank then used the deposits for government spending. The scheme “enriched and inflated the assets of an already oversized and dominant banking sector in Lebanon on the back of the accrued state’s sovereign debt,” political risk analyst Rany Ballout wrote for The National Interest in May, adding that Salameh also “arguably prioritized safeguarding the attractiveness of local banks at the expense of the domestic economy.”The World Bank compared Salameh’s financial engineering to a Ponzi scheme in a damning report last August. Salameh has consistently denied the misconduct and embezzlement charges against him. Mansouri has been calling for reform since becoming head of the bank. The United States, France and the International Monetary Fund have also said they want Lebanon to enact governance and anti-corruption reforms before receiving more aid. The IMF and Lebanon reached a conditional agreement on a $3 billion bailout last year, but the funds have yet to be released due to the lack of reform. Salameh is facing increased pressure after leaving the bank. Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Salameh, accusing him of using his position to enrich himself. Know more: The US accounting firm Alvarez & Marsal finished its audit of the Lebanese central bank earlier this month. The audit, demanded by donor states, covers the years 2015 to 2020. The accounting firm found that “illegitimate commissions" of $111 million were paid from an account at the central bank and also noted poor governance and risk management at Banque du Liban, Reuters reported.

Media professionals unite for freedom: Rejecting intolerance, homophobia, and incitement
LBCI/August 25, 2023
In light of recent organized and systematic campaigns against public freedoms, journalists, media professionals, and media institutions have united for freedom of expression to emphasize the following:
Firstly, they reject any discourse of homophobia, discrimination, or incitement against sexual minorities. Such discourse is being promoted by extremist groups and some sectarian political, religious, and security figures.
They considered these actions as discriminatory, intimidating, and exclusionary rhetoric to be in violation of the principles of coexistence, as it threatens individuals based on their personal identities. It strips any authority adopting it of its legitimacy by the Constitution's preamble.
"Secondly, we perceive that this inciting campaign targets not only a specific segment of society but also our entire community as well as the human values and rights upon which the idea of Lebanon was founded – a sanctuary for the persecuted and a cradle of freedoms."
The statement added: "What further concerns us in this context is the coupling of this discourse with a clear threat to freedom of belief by subjecting personal freedoms to religious beliefs. Additionally, it is associated with defaming and demonizing anyone who calls for the respect of LGBTQ+ rights or the decriminalization of their existence. This constitutes an unacceptable restriction on the freedom of discussion and expression in public matters."According to the signatories, this is epitomized by the proposed law by the Minister of Culture, Mohammad Mortada, criminalizing explicit and implicit promotion of homosexuality and potentially punishing same-sex conduct with up to 3 years in prison, deeming any engagement with homosexuality as promotional. It's as if there are those seeking to demonize various freedoms under the guise of combating homosexuality, which will inevitably affect all public freedoms sooner or later. Thirdly, "we urge all our colleagues in media institutions to reject alignment with this discourse and maintain a respectful language that refrains from using derogatory terms or those that undermine human dignity. This especially includes the phrase "sexual deviance," given that the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in 1990." They added: "We also encourage them to take full responsibility in confronting this oppressive authoritative discourse rooted in hatred and intolerance and to use a discourse that restores the values of tolerance, mutual respect, and human rights."
Fourthly, they said: "We are confident that these campaigns will not divert our attention from the battle against the corruption of the ruling authority or from pursuing those responsible for the system of impunity, whether in financial crimes or the crime of the August 4 explosion and subsequent daily crimes against the Lebanese people and the inhabitants of this country."Affirming that incitement campaigns targeting "us as media professionals who support human rights causes will neither frighten nor deter us from holding onto our positions. The era of taboos has passed, along with the era of reliance and intimidation."
Lastly, "we will not stand neutrally in the battle for freedoms," expressed the statement.
The list of signatories includes:
- Alternative Press Syndicate
- Television and Radio: Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International, MTV, Al Jadeed, Voice of Lebanon.
- Newspapers: Annahar, Nidaa Al-Watan, L'Orient-Le Jour, Al Modon.
- Websites: Legal Agenda, Daraj, Raseef22, Al Sifr, Naqd, Lebanon And The World, Sharika wa Laken, Khateera, Polyblog.

Rights activists condemn attack on Beirut drag show venue
Agence France Presse/August 25, 2023
Rights activists have condemned a hardline Christian group's assault on a bar hosting a drag show in a Beirut nightlife district as the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. On Wednesday evening, more than a dozen people from the "Soldiers of God" group converged on the drag show venue in the capital's Mar Mikhail district, witnesses told AFP, requesting anonymity due to security concerns. While Lebanon is generally considered more tolerant of sexual diversity than other Arab countries, the law allows courts to punish "unnatural" sexual relations with up to one year in prison. Staff closed the doors to protect dozens of patrons inside, while members of the group assaulted people physically and verbally and damaged property outside, the witnesses said. "They were saying: 'We are the Soldiers of God... you are going to burn in hell," one witness recalled. In footage of the attack circulating on social media, a man can be heard yelling at the bar's patrons: "This is only the beginning. We've warned you 100 times." Last year, the "Soldiers of God" live-streamed a video of its members tearing apart a Beirut billboard featuring blooming flowers in the colors of a rainbow flag. Lebanon has recently seen a growing anti-LGBTQ campaign, spearheaded by the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah. The escalation comes at a time when LGBTQ activists had been pushing to decriminalize same-sex relations. George Wardini, a member of LGBTQ rights group Proud Lebanon, said the attack showed "how hate speech can easily translate into organized violence.""Incitement and intimidation launched by Hezbollah has crossed political and religious lines," Wardini told AFP. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called for a boycott of rainbow products and said last month that gay people, "even if they do it once... are to be killed." Rasha Younes from Human Rights Watch said that "the attack signals a dangerous turn." It is the "materialization of the ongoing anti-LGBT rhetoric we have documented," she told AFP. While Lebanon has never been a safe haven for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, the community has long been visible and outspoken, defying arbitrary crackdowns on its bars, nightclubs and community centers. The small country shares power among more than a dozen religious communities, including Shiite and Sunni Muslims as well as various Christian denominations.

Lebanon loses 70-109 to Latvia in World Cup opening game
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
Latvia turned its first FIBA World Cup game into an easy 109-70 win over Lebanon on Friday despite a late-game surge by the Lebanese team. Rolands Smits had 17 points for Latvia, which had a 10-point lead midway through the first quarter and kept pulling away. Oklahoma City Thunder’s Davis Bertans, the only current NBA player for either team, scored 10 points off the bench. Sergio El Darwich scored 19 points for Lebanon, while former NBA player Omari Spellman scored 18 points. Latvia was 18 of 35 from 3-point range, while Lebanon was just 7 of 24 from distance. Latvia plays France on Sunday, while Lebanon faces Canada.

4 Arab Israelis arrested for 'obtaining arms from Hezbollah'
Naharnet/August 25, 2023
Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, has said that four Arab Israeli citizens have been arrested in a joint operation with the police and the Israeli army over the possession of a large amount of "high quality" Iranian-made weapons including two explosive devices. One of the men had been in contact with an operative of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, the agency said. The suspects who were arrested in July were identified as Jalal Khursa, 28, Ahmed Issa, 30, and Muhammed Issa, 39, from Kafr Qasim, and Nuh Assam, 30, from Lod. They were indicted on Thursday on weapons offenses. The security officials said the weapons were meant to be used to kill a rival gang leader as part of ongoing battles between crime gangs in Arab towns but were obtained using the smuggling routes of “terror organizations.”The investigation revealed that Iran was arming criminal gangs with military-grade explosive devices, the agency added. In a raid on a home in Lod, other Israelis who were intending to use one of the explosive devices were detained. The security services said their investigation revealed that a Hezbollah operative enlisted Israelis to establish and operate a smuggling route for weapons and to disseminate them to criminal gangs, among others. A Shin Bet official said that “once again the efforts of Iran and its proxy the Hezbollah group attempted to use Israelis in their acts of aggression against Israel.”
"This also shows how fine the line is between criminal activity and terrorism," he added.

Lebanon's interim central bank chief vows not to lend money to government, calls for economic reform
BEIRUT (AP)/August 25, 2023
Lebanon’s interim central bank governor called on the country’s ruling class Friday to quickly implement economic and financial reforms warning that the central bank won't offer loans to the state and does not plan on printing money to cover the huge budget deficit to avoid worsening inflation. Wassim Mansouri’s comments came nearly a month after he took over the leadership at the central bank after the term of his predecessor, Riad Salameh, ended on July 31. Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Since the financial meltdown began in October 2019, the country’s political class — blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement — has been resisting economic and financial reforms requested by the international community. Since taking office, Mansouri has been urging the government to pass some reforms, cautioning that the central bank cannot continue to spend money to fund the government’s budget deficit. “Every day we waste without drafting laws, losses increase as well as the possibility of a state collapse,” he said Friday. Mansouri added that the 2023 budget that was approved by the government last week had a 24% deficit while the central bank had asked for a deficit-free budget. “The central bank will for sure not cover the deficit by lending the government neither in U.S. dollars nor in Lebanese pounds,” Mansouri said. “Lebanese pounds will not be printed to cover the deficit because you know what this will lead to.”He added that the state should pursue tax collection, reopen state institutions and put more control on what flows through its border for taxation, in an apparent reference to smuggling. Mansouri said Lebanon's economy has become cash-based since the crisis began, warning that this could have repercussions on the country in the future. Two weeks ago, a forensic audit into Lebanon’s central bank by a New York-based company revealed yearslong misconduct by the bank’s former governor, Salameh, and $111 million in “illegitimate commissions.” Alvarez & Marsal said the central bank’s “refusal to provide direct access to its systems and to allow work to be conducted” on its premises had “significantly delayed and slowed” the audit. Mansouri said Friday the central bank will cooperate with Alvarez & Marsal and hand over all documents needed to the international company as well as Lebanon judicial authorities. In late 2019, Lebanon’s dollar shortages created a panic and run on the banks as they imposed strict withdrawal limits for depositors who kept their savings there. Under what some financial experts and the World Bank described as a Ponzi scheme, Lebanon’s central bank enticed commercial banks to lend dollars at high interest rates to stay flush with cash. The banks then attracted customers to deposit their savings in their accounts with even higher interest rates. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value, in the last four years, pushing more of the country’s 6 million people — including 1 million Syrian refugees — into poverty. Salameh, 73, ended his 30-year career as governor under a cloud of investigation and blame for his country’s economic meltdown. He left his post as a wanted man in Europe and was accused by many in Lebanon of being responsible for the country’s financial downfall since late 2019.

Geagea welcomes family of martyr Elias Hasrouni in Meerab
NNA/August 25/2023
“Lebanese Forces” party leader, Samir Geagea, on Friday welcomed the family of martyr Elias Hasrouni at the party’s headquarters in Meerab. Geagea told the family that he and all members of the Lebanese Forces will in no way agree to underplay the investigation into Elias Hasrouni’s assassination.” “The Lebanese Forces will take on the role of personal prosecution against anyone found to be instigating, facilitating or being involved in this crime,” Geagea added.

Foreign Ministry: Bou Habib began his meetings at the UN, stressing that stability in South is based on good relationship between UNIFIL, authorities...
NNA/August 25/2023
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants announced in an issued statement today, that "Minister Abdallah Bou Habib began yesterday morning his meetings at the United Nations in New York, on a visit aimed at easing tensions and maintaining security and stability in southern Lebanon, prior to the upcoming session of the Security Council at the end of this month to renew UNIFIL’s mandate for one additional year.”
The statement indicated that Minister Bou Habib and the accompanying delegation began their visit by meeting with the Permanent Representative of the United States of America, then with the Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom, Japan and France, in addition to a meeting with the ambassadors of Arab countries to the United Nations.
Bou Habib also held a lengthy meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Affairs in the Middle East Department.
The Foreign Ministry statement pointed out that "Bou Habib focused in his meetings on the fact that stability in southern Lebanon is based on the good relationship between UNIFIL and the authorities and people in Lebanon on the one hand, and through revealing the land borders on the other hand."
The statement continued to emphasize that the renewal of UNIFIL's mandate for an additional year, as usual, falls under Chapter VI of the Charter of the United Nations, since the request for renewal comes from the Lebanese government each year, highlighting Lebanon's keenness on UNIFIL's freedom of movement in coordination with the Lebanese army in a way that preserves the Lebanese sovereignty, ensures the success of the international peacekeepers’ mission and preserves the safety of its elements.
It also affirmed that revealing the land borders contributes to putting an end to the ongoing tensions at the borders, noting that Lebanon demanded during the tripartite meetings in al-Naqoura, under the auspices of the United Nations, to complete the talks on addressing the controversial and reservation points related to the Blue Line; however, the Israeli side did not respond. "Therefore, Minister Bou Habib asked the members of the Security Council in his meetings to work to complete the talks on this matter," the statement added.

Bassil wins Free Patriotic Movement Chief election by acclamation
NNA/August 25/2023
The President of the Supervisory Committee for the elections of the Presidency of the Free Patriotic Movement and secretary-general Jihad Salameh issued the following statement:
At 9:00 PM on Friday, August 25, 2023, the Nomination Acceptance Committee convened and reviewed the nomination submitted by the candidate, MP Gebran Bassil, for the position of President of the party, Mrs. Martine Najem Kteily for the position of Vice President for Political Affairs, and Mr. Ghassan Khoury for the position of Vice President for Management Affairs. After reviewing all the attached documents in accordance with the issued instructions and confirming their eligibility, the nominations were accepted. Consequently, at 9:15 PM, the Supervisory Committee for the elections of the party's presidency convened. The attendees were informed about the sole nomination request submitted on August 25, 2023, as well as the decision of the Nomination Acceptance Committee. Accordingly, the committee announces the victory of the sole nominated list by acclamation for a term extending from September 15, 2023, until September 15, 2027. The winning list is composed of:
• Gebran Bassil: President
• Martine Najem Kteily: Vice President for Political Affairs
• Ghassan Khoury: Vice President for Management Affairs

Publisher of "As-Safir" newspaper, Talal Salman, passes away
NNA/August 25/2023
Lebanese journalist and publisher of "As-Safir" newspaper, Talal Salman, passed away today, crowning a successful lifetime career in media and journalism. A prominent and well-read journalist, the late Talal Salman published on March 26, 1974, the newspaper “As-Safir” in Beirut, which served its readers as an independent political daily - that bore the slogan “Lebanon’s newspaper in the Arab world and the Arab world newspaper in Lebanon….” For decades, it had been a media reference in Arab and Lebanese affairs and an influence to public opinion. Salman, who hailed from the Lebanese town of Shmastar, devoted his lifetime to the world of press and described his steps along the path to journalism as he described the state of the Lebanese press and the development of its path to become “the modern Arab press.” The late was a member of the Lebanese Press Syndicate Council from 1976 until 2015, and was also famous for his dialogues with the majority of Arab presidents, leaders and officials. On May 7, 2010, he was awarded by the Faculty of Mass Communication at the Lebanese University an honorary doctorate degree, in recognition of his unique role in journalism, media, and journalistic literature. On January 4, 2017, Talal Salman voluntarily chose to close down “As-Safir” newspaper, and then embarked on his “On the Road” writings on the website named after him: Talalsalman (https://talalsalman.com), which provided a platform for a large number of friends of “As-Safir” and Talal Salman to appear from Lebanon and the Arab world.

Revitalizing governance: Lebanese youth enrich public sector through UNDP collaboration
LBCI/August 25/2023
Every time we see the Lebanese youth, experts in their fields, shining both within Lebanon and abroad, we wish that these young people would contribute their energies to the public sector and governmental administrations, of which many often have little knowledge. Today, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 4 explosion, and the deterioration of the economic situation, the state of these administrations has worsened. Due to the shortage of human resources, Lebanese youth were called upon to assist the state. Sixty young men and women volunteered to aid the state and enhance their expertise in their respective fields of study. Coming from different regions and universities, they spent two months in several Directorates of the Ministry of Finance, undertaking various tasks. This opportunity, from which these young people benefitted, was also beneficial for the Ministry of Finance.  More than 32,521 transactions were entered, including accumulations of built property taxes that had not been collected since 2018. In the public accounting field, accounts from the past three years were closed. The Ministry of Finance, which collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to achieve sustainable development projects and engage youth in state sectors, will continue to pursue new projects that contribute to increased productivity and the development of mechanization. These projects will serve as examples of the available resources in the country that can be invested in for advancement.

Lebanon prime minister cleared after Monaco corruption probe
Investigation into Najib Mikati and his family members closed because of insufficient evidence
Raya Jalabi/Financial Times/August 25/2023
Monaco has ended its investigation into Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and family members over allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering and cleared them of wrongdoing. Najib Mikati, a billionaire and one of Lebanon’s richest men, was informed by Monaco’s deputy attorney-general Morgan Raymond that the probe into him, his brother Taha Mikati and son Maher that was opened three years ago had been closed because of insufficient evidence, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times. “This development confirms that the spurious allegations and accompanying speculation were unfounded,” Mikati’s office said in a statement to the Financial Times. Raymond confirmed the details of the letter to the FT. Scrutiny at home and abroad of Lebanon’s ruling elite over allegations of corruption has burgeoned since the start of the country’s devastating financial collapse in 2019.
Many blame the political establishment for leading the country down the path to ruin. Lebanon routinely figures at the bottom of Transparency International’s corruption index — it is currently 150th out of 180 countries ranked. 
Much of that scrutiny has focused on former central bank chief Riad Salameh, who governed the Banque du Liban for 30 years before retiring last month. Authorities in at least nine countries are investigating Salameh over allegations of financial crimes. He denies all allegations of wrongdoing. Sources close to the European investigations against Salameh have told the FT that ties between Mikati and Salameh had been investigated in several countries, including Monaco and Liechtenstein. Monaco had requested mutual legal assistance from Lebanon in January last year for help probing allegations of money laundering, according to a letter seen by the FT. Sources close to the investigation said the case was linked to a subsidised loan scheme. A Lebanese judge opened an investigation into the scheme in 2019, after media reports emerged that suggested public figures and politicians had fraudulently benefited from central-bank subsidised loans. Mikati, several relatives and Lebanon’s Bank Audi were probed before the case was dismissed last year. An investigating judge in Liechtenstein had previously probed money transfers between companies owned by Salameh and Taha Mikati, according to a 2022 letter seen by the FT that was sent by Liechtenstein to Lebanese authorities.  The transfers, worth about $14mn, were related to a 2016 agreement between M1 group, a Lebanese holding company founded by Najib and Taha Mikati, and SI 2 SA, a Swiss company owned by Salameh and under investigation over money laundering allegations. Mikati’s office denied any agreement ever existed.  Mikati’s statement said Liechtenstein authorities had confirmed that “there are no pending investigations against the Mikati family” there. A source close to Mikati said the family did not believe they had ever been under investigation in Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein’s judiciary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  “With a Lebanese case also recently dropped, there are no ongoing investigations, queries, or indictments against any of the Mikati family in any jurisdiction,” the statement from Mikati’s office said. The statement added that the investigations “were triggered by false and politically motivated smears”.

Lebanese Journalist Tony Abi Najem: Christians In Lebanon Are Born With A Gun In Their Hands; If There Is No Political Solution – They Will Call For A War Against Hizbullah
MEMRI/August 25/2023
Source: MTV (Lebanon)
Lebanese journalist Tony Abi Najem, the editor-in-chief of imlebanon.org, said on an August 11, 2023 show on MTV (Lebanon) that Christians in Lebanon are born with a gun in their hands, that Christians in Lebanon should start working together and generate a "political momentum," and that if a political solution does not work out, they will call on the people to go to war against Hizbullah.
Tony Abi Najem: "Some 'heroes' in Hizbullah threaten us:) 'have not you seen what happened to the Christians in Syria and Iraq?' With all due respect, Christians in Lebanon are born with a gun in their hands. The Christians in Lebanon have been fighters since the days of John Maron and to this day. The Christians in Lebanon are not like the Christians in Syria, Iraq, the Holy Land, or Egypt. The Christians in Lebanon are born with a gun in their hands. This is their land and they will not leave it.
"Today, we have two choices.
"Either we all start working together again, and generate a political momentum, which will recreate unity against the Hizbullah enterprise, or we will be forced, in light of Hizbullah's arrogance, [to call on] each village and each household to take up arms against Hizbullah.
"If a political solution is a no-go, we will call on everybody to help arming the people. There is no third option. We want to try..."
Interviewer: "This will frighten people. Taking up arms means going to war."
Tony Abi Najem: "If people think that we are going to give up, they are wrong."
Interviewer: "With a gun here and a pistol there, you can fight Hizbullah and their missiles?"
*Tony Abi Najem: "The [Armenian-Christian] Tashnak party in Bourj Hammoud are stronger than the Marines, not just than Hizbullah."

Who are the ‘Soldiers of God’ targeting Beirut's queer community?
William Christou/The New Arab/August 25/2023
The Christian extremist militia, "Soldiers of God," gained attention on Wednesday after around 20 of its members attacked an LGBTQI+ friendly bar in Beirut, injuring several of the bar’s occupants. The paramilitary group is estimated to number around 150 and is notable for its far-right-wing views. Members are mostly bearded, tattooed men whose social media profiles are dotted with Christian iconography and symbols. The group's logo is a picture of the wings of an angel and a shield decorated with a red cross, all sitting above a bible.
The militia has consistently gone after Lebanon's LGBTQ+ community, accusing it of "promoting homosexuality" and endangering family values in Lebanon.
"They are a fringe Christian group …. they are basically hooligans. Their mission in life is basically to go against LGBTQI+ people," Lea Z, an LGBTQI+ activist, told The New Arab.
Achrafieh's morality police
The first appearance of the Soldiers of God, or Junoud al-Rub, in Arabic, was as a neighbourhood watch group in Achrafieh, Beirut more than a year ago.
The group claimed to conduct patrols to ensure security in the area, especially in the wake of Lebanon's 2019 economic meltdown.
The patrols were reminiscent of the practice of militias self-organising during Lebanon's civil war, where the country's sectarian divisions were enforced by armed groups.
Soldiers of God quickly began employing violence against those who it said threatened Lebanese traditional values.
In June 2022, the group defaced a billboard in Achrafieh, which was decorated with flowers and an LGBTQI+ rainbow flag. Members then accused the LGBT community of promoting "satanism" and of kidnapping children.
Members of the group made similar claims during the attack on Wednesday, 23 August, screaming that the LGBTQI+ friendly bar was a "satanic" place and that "homosexuals were forbidden on this earth."
"Their crusade in life is to 'clean' Achrafieh and this area from any sort of [homosexuality]. And they have weapons, they are armed," Lea Z explained.
The group's insistence that the LGBTQI+ community is connected with a sinister pedophilic conspiracy echoes far-right groups' rhetoric in other countries, such as the US.
The group is also at the forefront of Lebanon's anti-vaxxer movement and is virulently anti-refugee, claiming to protect its community from Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
The far-right ideology espoused by Soldiers of God and other religious extremists in Lebanon should be seen as "connected with the glowing global right-wing threat, similar to what is happening in Europe and US," Ghassan Makarem, an independent activist, told TNA.
"It's part of a rising global right-wing campaign against LGBT people that you see everywhere. But here you have a certain kind of lawlessness that allows people like Junoud al-Rub to exist, attack people, and act like thugs without people questioning them," Makarem said.
Activists have questioned who funds the paramilitary group and how the group is allowed to operate in Achrafieh, where Christian parties generally control the area.
Members of Achrafieh's Christian parties, such as Nadim Gemayel from the Lebanese Kataeb party, were quick to distance themselves from the group after Wednesday's attack.
"The assault that took place yesterday in Mar Mikhayel is rejected and condemned ... Our society must remain a free and open society that respects individual freedoms," Gemayel said on Thursday.
Emboldened by the state
In recent months, Lebanese state officials and religious figures have led a rising wave of hate speech against LGBTQI+ individuals.
Hassan Nasrallah, head of pro-Iran group Hezbollah, said that LGBTQI+ people were a "danger to society" and called for them to be killed in speeches at the end of July.
The Lebanese Minister of Culture responded to Wednesday's attack by questioning why security services did not prevent the bar from "promoting homosexuality" rather than calling for the attackers to be held accountable.
He accompanied his statement with a biblical painting of Archangel Michael striking down a demon.
Tarek Zeidan, the head of LGBTQI+ rights organisation Helem, said that it is this sort of rhetoric that has "emboldened" groups like Junoud al-Rub.
He explained that groups see statements from political entities as a sign that there "will be no repercussions from the law" if they target the LGBTQI+ community.
"We hold the recent increase of rhetoric and inflammatory attacks against the LGBTQ community by several different political entities to be one of the chief reasons that people feel emboldened to do this," Zeidan said.
According to a statement put out by Amnesty International, while Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) stopped the militia from entering the bar on Wednesday, they did not stop the attack or arrest any of the assailants.
TNA reached out to the ISF for a comment on how they would be responding to Wednesday's attack and if they had arrested any members of the Soldiers of God militia but did not receive a response.
"Ideally, the Lebanese state should be arresting every single person who created this extremely worrying public attack. That's what happens usually when there's an unprovoked attack on unarmed people by armed people," Zeidan explained.
He added that if religious fanatics like Soldiers of God are allowed to carry out attacks with impunity, it could threaten the very religious and social pluralism that Lebanon treasures.
"If they think it’s just going to stop with LGBTQ people, they're wrong. It might just be the LGBTQ community now, but this is really an attack on freedom of expression and diversity in this country," Zeidan said.
https://www.newarab.com/news/who-are-soldiers-god-targeting-beiruts-lgbt-scene

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 25-26/2023
Far-right Israeli security minister lashes out at supermodel Bella Hadid over her criticism of him
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/August 25, 2023
Israel’s far-right national security minister lashed out at supermodel Bella Hadid on Friday for criticizing his recent fiery televised remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In an interview earlier this week with Israel’s Channel 12 following two deadly Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the occupied territory, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir argued that his right to freedom of movement as a Jewish settler outweighs the same right for Palestinians. “My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria, is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs,” Ben-Gvir said on TV Wednesday, using the biblical name for the West Bank. "The right to life comes before freedom of movement.”Addressing Mohammad Magadli, a well-known Israeli-Arab television host who was in the studio, Ben-Gvir added: “Sorry, Mohammad. But that’s the reality.” His statement drew widespread criticism as commentators seized on it as proof of allegations that Israel was turning into an apartheid system that seeks to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The catchphrase “Sorry, Mohammad” became meme fodder for social media as critics posted it alongside videos of Israeli violence against Palestinians. Hadid, a world-famous supermodel and social media influencer whose father is Palestinian, shared an excerpt from Ben-Gvir’s interview with her 59.5 million followers on Instagram on Thursday, writing: “In no place, no time, especially in 2023 should one life be more valuable than another’s. Especially simply because of their ethnicity, culture or pure hatred.” She also posted a video from leading Israeli rights group B'Tselem showing Israeli soldiers in the southern West Bank city of Hebron telling a resident that Palestinians are not permitted to walk on a certain street because it is reserved for Jews. “Does this remind anyone of anything?” she wrote. Ben-Gvir responded angrily on Friday to Hadid's post. “I invite you to Kiryat Arba, to see how we live here, how every day, Jews who have done nothing wrong to anyone in their lives are murdered here,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Ben-Gvir lives in the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron, the largest Palestinian city. Earlier this week, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli car near Hebron, killing an Israeli woman and seriously wounding the driver. That attack came just days after a Palestinian shooting attack killed an Israeli father and son in the northern Palestinian town of Hawara. Ben-Gvir acknowledged the backlash but doubled down on his original statement. “So yes, the right of me and my fellow Jews to travel and return home safely on the roads of Judea and Samaria outweighs the right of terrorists who throw stones at us and kill us," he wrote. Ben-Gvir has been convicted in the past of inciting racism and of supporting a terrorist organization. He was known as an admirer of rabbi Meir Kahane, who was banned from Parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990. Kach wanted to strip Arab Israelis of their citizenship, segregate Israeli public spaces, and ban marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Before joining politics, Ben-Gvir hung a portrait in his living room of a Jewish man who fatally shot 29 Palestinians in the West Bank in 1994. A once-marginal far-right activist, Ben-Gvir now wields significant power as the national security minister overseeing the Israeli police force in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Saudi Arabia mulls Chinese bid to build nuclear plant
Jack Dutton/al-monitor/August 25, 2023
Saudi Arabia is considering a Chinese bid to build it a nuclear power plant, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The news will add pressure on the Biden administration to allow the kingdom to develop nuclear power. The paper reported that state-owned China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) has bid to build the facility in the kingdom’s eastern province near the border with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to Saudi officials who were not named. Deals for nuclear reactors are long-term and lucrative, meaning they are deeply political. Riyadh has previously looked to partner with the United States to establish a civilian nuclear program as part of a possible normalization of ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel. US and Israeli officials are concerned it may pave the way for Riyadh to start creating nuclear weapons. US officials have said previously that they would only share nuclear power technology if the agreement prevents Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing plutonium made in reactors, because either activity could result in the development of nuclear weapons. Israel’s energy minister has also voiced opposition to Saudi starting a civilian nuclear program.
China does not have these non-proliferation obligations and Riyadh has been deepening ties with Beijing over the last year. China brokered a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, two long-time foes, in March. China is also the largest buyer of Saudi Arabian crude oil, of which the kingdom is the world's biggest producer. However, Riyadh is the largest buyer in the world of US weapons and the two countries are longtime allies. Saudi Arabia would want security guarantees from Washington if it were to agree to the normalization of relations with Israel. The Saudi officials told the Wall Street Journal that the negotiations with China would pressure the United States to compromise on its non-proliferation conditions. They added that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is prepared to agree to the Chinese deal if the US talks end up failing. China’s Foreign Ministry did not confirm the report, but a ministry spokesperson told a press conference, "China will continue to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation with Saudi Arabia in various fields, including civil nuclear energy, while strictly abiding by international non-proliferation obligations." Al-Monitor has contacted CNNC for comment as well as the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

Can US-Iran prisoner deal build trust for broader talks?
Elizabeth Hagedorn/al-monitor/August 25, 2023
WASHINGTON — This time last year, the United States and Iran were swapping feedback over what was deemed a “final text” to resurrect the nuclear deal. Today, there is purposefully no such text.
With 2024 on the horizon, analysts say the Biden administration is aiming to keep the lid on Iran’s nuclear program through an unwritten understanding, rather than try to negotiate a new deal that would involve granting significant sanctions relief to Tehran during an election year. “It’s engagement with the dialogue being the goal, not the deal,” said Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's Iran Project director. “But the proximity of US elections makes this diplomatic engagement not very productive.”The administration is already taking heat from Republicans over the deal it struck to bring home five American detainees from Iran. Under the arrangement, Washington would facilitate Tehran gaining access to some $6 billion in its frozen energy revenues, which it could use for humanitarian purchases under tight supervision. US officials have defended the arrangement as one in which Washington would have significant oversight. Critics of the deal counter by saying financial assets are fungible. The Biden administration has long maintained that its efforts to free the prisoners were separate from diplomacy aimed at salvaging the original nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). But analysts say the detainee deal, if successful, could enhance the prospects for cooperation on Iran's nuclear program, which the Iranians have steadily expanded since former President Donald Trump quit the JCPOA in 2018. “It's really in both sides’ interests to try to use the time that they've managed to buy to discuss the elements of a successor agreement so they can quickly finalize and implement it if President Biden is reelected,” said Vaez. News of the planned prisoner release follows indirect talks between US and Iranian officials in Oman this May. In the months since, both sides appear to have taken mutual steps to lower tensions.
“While the details remain an official secret, it seems clear that Iran and the United States have been engaged in intense diplomacy to reach ‘understandings,’" said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former State Department nonproliferation official now at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “If all of this pans out, it will prove to have been a consequential display of diplomatic prowess." A day after Iran transferred four of the detained Americans to house arrest, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran has slowed the pace at which it is accumulating near-weapons-level uranium and diluted part of its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium. In other possible signs of de-escalation, there is a lull in attacks on US forces by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, and the United States has reportedly pushed Iran to halt its sales of armed drones to Russia. Meanwhile, the Pentagon hasn't moved ahead with a proposal to place US Marines on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the once steady drumbeat of Iran-related sanctions from the Treasury and State departments ground to a halt in early June. “You begin to have a series of events move in a direction that the administration can later call de-escalation,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “But this regime has every incentive to pocket their goodwill and escalate.”The administration has repeatedly said there is no nuclear "agreement" on the table, a choice of words some critics view as an effort to avoid a vote in Congress, where there is little appetite for striking a deal with a country that’s providing Russia with lethal drones and violently suppressing street protests. Iranians are gearing up to mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death next month, which could unleash another brutal protest crackdown just days before Iran and the United States’ key negotiators descend on New York for the UN General Assembly.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy meets with Turkish FM as Black Sea pressure rises
Ezgi Akin/al-monitor/August 25, 2023
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Friday as Ankara tries to find a compromise between Ukraine and Russia to revive a key Black Sea deal for grain exports.Zelenskyy said he and Fidan discussed various issues during their meeting, including Kyiv’s perspective on a potential peace with Russia and Ukrainian efforts to convene a peace summit. “I received Foreign Minister of Turkiye Hakan Fidan to discuss a range of important issues. Preparations for the Global Peace Summit and the Peace Formula. Russia's threats to the Black Sea grain corridor,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Twitter. “I thank Turkiye for its consistent and lasting support for Ukraine.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry didn't provide any details on the meeting, but released images of Zelenskyy and Fidan’s meeting in Kyiv, where Fidan also met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Following the meeting, Shmyhal said they had discussed the reconstruction of Ukraine as well as trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, thanking Turkey for its help in ensuring global food stability. Fidan’s visit to Kyiv comes amid escalation in the Black Sea. Russian attacks in the region have been increasing since Moscow’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Initiative that allowed Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs to reach world markets through Turkey’s Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Russia refused to extend the deal after it expired on July 17, arguing that the mechanism failed to facilitate the exportation of Russian products. Turkey and the United Nations brokered the deal last year to see the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine — which is known as the world’s bread basket — after the Russian invasion of the country halted them. Moscow’s withdrawal from the deal led global grain prices to shoot up, prompting international warnings of a potential food crisis.
Zelenskyy subsequently announced that his country intends to continue to export foodstuffs via an alternative corridor, ramping up tensions. Russia has increased its attacks on Ukrainian ports and storage facilities in the region, imposing a de facto blockade. Several Russian ships including an oil tanker have also come under fire amid the escalation. Defying Russian threats last week, a cargo ship safely sailed from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa to reach Romanian waters. The ship, the first civilian vessel to leave Ukrainian waters in the Black Sea, passed through Turkey's Bosporus Strait through Bulgarian and Turkish seas, avoiding international waters.Kyiv’s challenge to the Russian blockade coincided with reports that Washington was in talks with Kyiv and Ankara to set up an alternative corridor in the Black Sea for Ukrainian shipments. Turkey publicly distanced itself from the talks, however. A Turkish Defense Ministry official stressed last week that Turkey wasn’t playing part in these efforts, saying that Ankara’s priority was still the revival of the Ukraine-Russia grain deal.
“Other countries are working on alternative routes. We are also following these developments closely,” the official told journalists. Fidan is also expected to visit Russia following his trip to Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week.
On Friday the Russian side also confirmed the upcoming meeting, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency reported, citing a Russian Foreign Ministry official, but did not provide a timeline for the visit. Also on Friday, the Kremlin announced that Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet in the upcoming weeks. The escalation in the Black Sea has also challenged Ankara-Moscow ties over the past weeks. On Aug. 13, Russian forces raided a Ukraine-bound cargo ship that is owned by a Turkish national some 50 kilometers (31 miles) off Turkey’s coast. Russian authorities, who described the raid as an inspection, released footage of the incident last week showing its Turkish crew with their hands on their knees. In a statement downplaying the raid, the Turkish presidency’s press office said Moscow was warned over the raid, but stressed that it took place in international waters.
NATO member Turkey, which pursues a self-proclaimed "active neutrality" policy in the war, sealed off its straits to Russian warships and it is continuing to sell military supplies to Ukraine, but refuses to join Western sanctions against Russia.
Turkey hosted two rounds of peace talks between the warring countries last year. A meeting between the top Russian and Ukrainian diplomats in March 2022 marked the first high-level contact between Kyiv and Moscow after the Russian Feb. 24 invasion.

Vladimir Putin’s humiliation is far from over
Svitlana Morenets/The Telegraph/August 25, 2023
Even in Russia, Vladimir Putin looked feeble when he cut a desperate deal back in June with the mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin to stop his astonishing march on Moscow. The Wagner Group had taken the Kremlin, and the world, by surprise: surely such an act could not go unpunished? Yet such was the precariousness of the Russian president’s position that he extended a hand to the man who had humiliated him. The apparent death, therefore, of Prigozhin, the man dubbed “Putin’s chef”, has led many to argue this is a fundamental reassertion of the Kremlin authority: that the Russian president is back at “full strength”. Perhaps the brutal nature of the supposed assassination – a plane shot out of the sky, or blown up from within – has contributed to this narrative. Other potential centres of authority will see what happens if they betray him. There is no possibility of dissent; no alternative sources of power. Putin is back in charge – or so the argument goes. But what if the opposite is true? That far from solidifying Putin’s authority, the Russian president may be, if anything, more vulnerable now than he was before? It is surely not a ridiculous idea. Among ordinary soldiers, there was huge sympathy for Prigozhin’s coup attempt, especially among those who believed that Putin was being too soft on Ukraine. He was the soldiers’ champion, speaking out against the regime’s strategic failures and holding back of equipment. Furious Wagner supporters, meanwhile, are already saying they will avenge their slain leader: he was the only one in the Russian command in their eyes capable of battlefield success in Ukraine, such as the seizure of the town of Bakhmut – albeit after nine-months of horrific violence. Putin may not even be able to purge Wagner entirely: if he did, where would that leave his Africa strategy?
What about the elite – fearful, yes, but hardly likely to be genuinely more loyal now than they were before they saw the images of Prigozhin’s plane in flames? While many of them rolled their eyes at Wagner’s leader – considering him a maverick and an air-head – plenty shared his anger at the way this war has been conducted. They will surely be evaluating the risks of staying in Putin’s orbit: if this is how he treats his former allies, who among us is safe? The unsuccessful war in Ukraine has already thinned their wallets; now their lives may be at stake. Will they wait their turn or try to outrun the Russian president? The prospects of a change of power in Russia, which some months ago seemed absolutely impossible, have been permanently raised due to Putin’s suicidal and destructive policy against his own people.
Ultimately, the context of Prigozhin’s supposed death is not a regime in the throes of victory or success, but a failing power that is failing more each day. Russian military losses have already reached 300,000; its economy is in crisis. Until last year’s invasion, Russia could dictate the shape of the European energy market and blackmail the world’s most powerful states. Now Putin has turned the country into a pariah, spending billions of unstable rubles on rockets to fire them at cities in Ukraine. For the man in the street, these truths are becoming increasingly inconvenient; for the ardent nationalist, they are a humiliation.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has lasted 18 months, and the war as a whole for almost 10 years following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Putin cannot achieve the victory on the battlefield he promised, but given Kyiv has no appetite for negotiation, neither can he secure a face-saving peace. The demise of Prigozhin has also shown what Putin’s word is worth: this is a man to whom he offered clemency, yet within two months of their agreement he is apparently dead. Yesterday evening, Putin sent his condolences to Prigozhin’s family, remarking that he was a person who had “made serious mistakes in life”. The same could obviously be said of the Russian president. Nobody can predict what his fate will be, but it is unlikely to be a quiet retirement on the Black Sea coast. And if he does fall, he will seek to drag the whole of Russia down with him.
**Svitlana Morenets is a Ukrainian journalist and staff writer for The Spectator

Russia says Ukraine fired missile towards Moscow, hit Crimea with drones
MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters)
Russia said on Friday that Ukraine had fired a missile towards Moscow and attacked the Crimean Peninsula with 42 drones, one of the biggest known coordinated Ukrainian air attacks to date on Russian-held territory. Russia's defence ministry said it had shot down a modified S-200 missile over the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region. The city of Kaluga is less than 200 km from Moscow. "The missile was detected and destroyed by air defences over the territory of the Kaluga region," the defence ministry said. There were no casualties, Kaluga governor, Vladislav Shapsha, said. The ministry also said Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, was attacked. Nine drones were destroyed by air defence forces while 33 were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed over Crimea without reaching their targets, it said. Ukraine says Crimea part of its internationally recognised territory. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on the Telegram messaging app that a number of drones was destroyed over the Khersones promontory, on Sevastopol's outskirts. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the attacks, which Russia blamed on Ukraine. Russian airports suspended flights for a few hours. The attack were the latest in a surge of similar attacks since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia's military infrastructure helps Kyiv's counteroffensive.

The sanctions against Russia aren't working, says the foreign minister of Germany
Huileng Tan/Business Insider/August 25, 2023
The EU launched 11 rounds of sanctions against Russia to force Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. But Russia's wartime economy is booming on the back of state spending, confounding economists. Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, is disappointed by the ineffectiveness of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. She recently acknowledged that sanctions against Russia haven't achieved their desired impact. "Economic sanctions should have an economic impact. But that is not the case," Baerbock told German journalist Stephen Lamby in an interview for his book "Emergency: Governing in Times of War" which was released on Thursday, according to AFP. "We have learned that with rational decisions, rational measures, agreed between civilized governments, it is not possible to end this war," she added in the interview on July 10. The European Union launched 11 rounds of sanctions against Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to pressure the Kremlin into ending the war. The US, too, has imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia. However, Russia's wartime economy seems to be booming as the Kremlin has boosted the production of military equipment and raised pensions, salaries, and other benefits for people who are not well-off, among other subsidies. Swiss bank UBS' Global Wealth Report 2023 also showed Russians got richer last year, while the US and Europe lost trillions of dollars in private wealth. The resilience in Russia's economy has baffled economists who predicted catastrophic outcomes following the unprecedented sanctions — although some have warned the state spending that is boosting the bubble isn't sustainable in the long run. "The logic of democracy does not work in autocracies," Baerbock told Lamby in the interview. Germany's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Russia may 'suddenly break' under pressure from Ukraine's counteroffensive, former US general Petraeus says
Mia Jankowicz/Business Insider/August 25, 2023
Even the US military would struggle to face the extensive defenses Russia has mounted, he said. Nonetheless, with enough pressure the Russian line can "suddenly break," he wrote. As Ukraine struggles to make substantial gains in its counteroffensive, General David Petraeus says that Russia's front line may yet falter under pressure. The former top general and CIA director brought his experience in Iraq to the picture as he laid out why he believes Ukraine can still push through Russia's formidable defenses. "I'm guardedly optimistic, with qualifications," he told CNN. Ukraine can potentially "crack the line in a couple of places," he said, adding that the fate of the battle will then depend on the Russian reaction. In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, written jointly with the military scholar Frederick Kagan, he urged patience with Ukraine's effort, saying that it was only in its early stages. The push might be 10 weeks old — with only modest gains so far — but it's likely to continue at least four months, they wrote. "Defenders can hold for a long time and then suddenly break, allowing an attacker to make rapid gains before the defense solidifies further to the rear," they wrote.
"The Ukrainians aim to generate exactly this effect — and there is reason to think they can."Holding them back is a formidable network of minefields, trenches and anti-tank "dragon's teeth" that stretch the 600-mile length of the front line. Faced with this, even the US would struggle, Petraeus told CNN.
"The truth is, we could not have done this," he said. The only times the US has faced similar situations was in Iraq, he said. But then the US had huge advantages in its air force — boasting total air superiority — and its vast numbers of personnel, heavy armor, and breaching devices. Ukraine "has adapted very impressively" to the situation, he told CNN. To describe its tactic, he and Kagan cited Admiral Tony Radakin, the head of the British military, who called it "starve, stretch and strike.""Ukraine is applying pressure on their opponent until something breaks, at which point they will commit their reserves and strike," Petraeus and Kagan wrote. According to multiple reports, Ukraine had to switch tactics earlier in the push after losing multiple heavy armored vehicles. Now, it appears they are turning to artillery to pummel Russian forces before heading through on foot. "When the conditions are right, they're picking their way through these minefields now," Petraeus told CNN. "They can't mount combined arms through these, and they're starting to achieve small but significant advances in at least two areas." Those areas, in the Zaporizhzhia region, include Robotyne where Ukraine's elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade has recently been deployed. Ukrainian forces have also retaken some ground in the outskirts of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which Ukraine ceded to Russia in May after a grinding, bloody defense. The assessment comes against a backdrop of growing worries in the media and among lawmakers who have questioned US military aid to Ukraine. In mid-August The Washington Post cited anonymous members of the intelligence community casting doubt on Ukraine's effort, predicting it will not achieve its goal of retaking the crucial city of Melitopol. Insider was unable to independently verify that. Security expert Patrick Bury told Insider that he shared the same outlook, however, saying that the chances of a "knockout blow" are decreasing as time passes.

Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan chides Joly for 'unacceptable' comments to Armenians
OTTAWA/The Canadian Press/ August 25, 2023
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry argues Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is undermining peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by referring to the area with the name used by Armenian secessionists. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it is mostly populated by Armenians, and neighbouring Armenia has fought for control of the region for decades. Tensions rose in the area last fall when the region's main access road was blocked, leading to shortages of food and medicine that groups such as Human Rights Watch blame on Azerbaijan. Canada is planning to send two officials to support a European monitoring mission that is aiming to prevent another war in the region. This week, during a speech to Montreal's Armenian community, Joly referred to the area as Artsakh, a term used by ethnic Armenians who want the area to secede from Azerbaijan.
In a Wednesday statement, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry argues Joly is making "one-sided statements" that are "unacceptable" and threaten the country's territorial integrity.

UK police are investigating the deaths of 88 people linked to Canadian self-harm websites
LONDON (AP)/August 25, 2023
British police said Friday they are investigating the deaths of 88 people in the U.K. who bought products from Canada-based websites allegedly offering lethal substances to people at risk of self harm. The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest in Canada earlier this year of Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counseling and aiding suicide. Canadian police say Law, from the Toronto area, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested. Police said Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries. Authorities in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand also have launched investigations. Britain’s National Crime Agency said it has identified 232 people in the U.K. who bought products from the websites in the two years until April, 88 of whom had died. The agency said it was investigating whether any crimes had been committed in the U.K., but that “at this early stage there are no confirmed links between the items purchased from the websites and cause of death in any of these cases.” “Our deepest sympathies are with the loved ones of those who have died. They are being supported by specially trained officers from police forces,” said National Crime Agency Deputy Director Craig Turner.
*EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling Talk Suicide Canada (1-833-456-4566) or, for residents of Quebec, 1 866 APPELLE (1-866-277-3553). The U.S. suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. In the U.K., the Samaritans can be reached at 116 123 or www.samaritans.org.

Calls for Resignation Grow as Estonian Prime Minister's Husband's Company Operates in
AFP/August 25, 2023
Opposition and major media outlets in Estonia demanded on Friday the resignation of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas after it was revealed that a partially owned company of her husband is still active in Russia despite Western sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. Western parties, notably the United States and the European Union, imposed strict sanctions on Russia following its military attack on its neighbor at the beginning of 2022. Public channel "ERR" disclosed on Wednesday that the partially owned transport company "Star Logistics," owned by Kallas' husband, Arvo Hallik, continued to deliver shipments to Russia after the start of the invasion. The company responded by stating that it has a business relationship with the Estonian company "Metabrint," which is currently closing its factory in Russia, affirming that the shipments being transported to Russia are designated for this process.
For her part, Kallas confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that her husband's company provides its services to the Estonian company "by the imposed laws and sanctions."

US intelligence says intentional explosion caused Prigozhin plane crash
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane crash presumed to have killed a mercenary leader who was eulogized Thursday by Vladimir Putin, even as suspicions grew that the Russian president was the architect of the assassination. One of the U.S. and Western officials who described the initial assessment said it determined that Yevgeny Prigozhin was "very likely" targeted and that the explosion falls in line with Putin's "long history of trying to silence his critics."
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, did not offer any details about what caused the explosion, which was widely believed to be vengeance for the mutiny in June that posed the biggest challenge to the Russian leader's 23-year rule. Several of Prigozhin's lieutenants were also presumed dead.
Pentagon spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder said press reports that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane were inaccurate. He declined to say whether the U.S. suspected a bomb or believed the crash was an assassination.
Details of the intelligence assessment surfaced as Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be aboard the jet and referred to "serious mistakes" by Prigozhin. The jet carrying the founder of the Wagner military company and six other passengers crashed Wednesday soon after taking off from Moscow with a crew of three, according to Russia's civil aviation authority. Rescuers found 10 bodies, and Russian media cited anonymous sources in Wagner who said Prigozhin was dead. But there has been no official confirmation. President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said he believed Putin was behind the crash, though he acknowledged that he did not have information verifying his belief. "I don't know for a fact what happened, but I'm not surprised," Biden said. "There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind."
The passenger manifest also included Prigozhin's second-in-command, who baptized the group with his nom de guerre, as well as Wagner's logistics chief, a fighter wounded by U.S. airstrikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard.
It was not clear why several high-ranking members of Wagner, including top leaders who are normally exceedingly careful about their security, were on the same flight. The purpose of their joint trip to St. Petersburg was unknown.
At Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, lights were turned on in the shape of a large cross, and Prigozhin supporters built a makeshift memorial, piling red and white flowers outside the building Thursday, along with company flags and candles.
In this first comments on the crash, Putin said the passengers had "made a significant contribution" to the fighting in Ukraine.
"We remember this, we know, and we will not forget," he said in a televised interview with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine's partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin.
Putin recalled that he had known Prigozhin since the early 1990s and described him as "a man of difficult fate" who had "made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results he needed — both for himself and, when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months. He was a talented man, a talented businessman."
Russian state media have not covered the crash extensively, instead focusing on Putin's remarks to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg via video link and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Several Russian social media channels reported that the bodies were burned or disfigured beyond recognition and would need to be identified by DNA. The reports were picked up by independent Russian media, but The Associated Press was not able to independently confirm them. Prigozhin supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed.
Sergei Mironov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said on his Telegram channel that Prigozhin had "messed with too many people in Russia, Ukraine and the West."
"It now seems that at some point, his number of enemies reached a critical point," Mironov wrote.Russian authorities have said the cause of the crash is under investigation.
Anastasia Bukharova, 27, said she was walking with her children Wednesday when she saw the jet, "and then — boom! — it exploded in the sky." She said she was scared it would hit houses in her village of Kuzhenkino and ran with the children. But the plane ended up crashing into a field.
"Something sort of was torn from it in the air," she added. Numerous opponents and critics of Putin have been killed or gravely sickened in apparent assassination attempts, and U.S. and other Western officials long expected the Russian leader to go after Prigozhin, despite promising to drop charges in a deal that ended the June 23-24 mutiny. "It is no coincidence that the whole world immediately looks at the Kremlin when a disgraced ex-confidant of Putin suddenly falls from the sky, two months after he attempted an uprising," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, while acknowledging that the facts were still unclear. "We know this pattern … in Putin's Russia — deaths and dubious suicides, falls from windows that all ultimately remain unexplained," she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also pointed the finger: "We have nothing to do with this. Everyone understands who does." Soon after the plane went down, people on social media and news outlets began to report that it was a Wagner plane. Minutes after Russian state news agencies confirmed the crash, they cited the civil aviation authority as saying Prigozhin's name was on the mainfest. Prigozhin was long outspoken and critical of how Russian generals were waging the war in Ukraine, where his mercenaries were some of the fiercest fighters for the Kremlin. For a long time, Putin appeared content to allow such infighting — and Prigozhin seemed to have unusual latitude to speak his mind. But Prigozhin's brief revolt raised the ante. His mercenaries swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot. They then drove to within about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of Moscow and downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen Russian pilots.
Putin first denounced the rebellion as "treason" and a "stab in the back." He vowed to punish its perpetrators, and the world waited for his next move, particularly since Prigozhin had publicly questioned the Russian leader's justifications for the war in Ukraine.
Instead Putin made a deal that saw an end to the mutiny in exchange for an amnesty for Prigozhin and his mercenaries and permission for them to move to Belarus.
Now many are suggesting the punishment has finally come. The Institute for the Study of War argued that Russian authorities likely moved against Prigozhin and his top associates as "the final step to eliminate Wagner as an independent organization."Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin turned political consultant, said by carrying out the mutiny and remaining free, Prigozhin "shoved Putin's face into the dirt front of the whole world."Failing to punish Prigozhin would have offered an "open invitation for all potential rebels and troublemakers," so Putin had to act, Gallyamov said.
Videos shared by the pro-Wagner Telegram channel Grey Zone showed a plane dropping like a stone from a large cloud of smoke, twisting wildly as it fell, one of its wings apparently missing. A free fall like that typically occurs when an aircraft sustains severe damage. A frame-by-frame AP analysis of two videos was consistent with some sort of midflight explosion.

Dutch Court confirms immunity of former Israeli officers over deadly 2014 Gaza airstrike
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ruling that a Palestinian man cannot sue Israel's former defense minister and another former senior military officer over their roles in a deadly 2014 Gaza airstrike. The Highest Dutch court confirmed findings by judges in two lower courts that Benny Gantz and former Air Force Commander Amir Eshel are protected from civil proceedings in the Netherlands because they have "functional immunity." The long-running case was brought by Ismail Ziada, who lost six members of his family in the airstrike that lawyers for the two Israelis argued was part of an Israeli military operation during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Ziada wanted the Dutch court to order Gantz and Eshel to pay damages. His legal team argued that the men didn't have immunity because their actions amounted to war crimes. Israel's Justice Ministry told a lower Dutch court that an internal Israeli military investigation determined the airstrike had killed four militants hiding in the house. It said the attack was permissible under international law. Gaza's Hamas rulers themselves have said that two militants were in the building. Gantz —who was military chief of staff at the time of the airstrike in Gaza — and Eshel had immunity because they were carrying out Israeli government policies, Dutch courts in The Hague ruled. The Supreme Court agreed in a short written ruling issued Friday. Gantz is now head of the centrist opposition party National Unity in the Israeli Knesset. Eshel, a former director general of the defense ministry, was named this month as a senior fellow at the hawkish Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Representatives of Ziada said they were studying the ruling and did not have immediate comment.

Trump arrested in election case, mug shot released
Agence France Presse/August 25, 2023
Former U.S. president Donald Trump was arrested at a Georgia jail Thursday on racketeering and conspiracy charges and released on a $200,000 bond after having a historic mug shot taken. Trump, who is accused of colluding with 18 other defendants to overturn the 2020 election result in the southern state, spent less than 30 minutes inside Atlanta's Fulton County Jail before leaving in a motorcade for the airport.
Like the other defendants in the case who have surrendered so far, the 77-year-old Trump had his mug shot taken during the booking process -- a first for any serving or former U.S. president. In the photograph released by the sheriff's office, he scowled at the camera while dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie. Speaking to reporters after his arrest, Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said it was a "very sad day for America." "What has taken place here is a travesty of justice," he said. "I did nothing wrong." Trump posted the mug shot on his own Truth Social platform with the caption "Election Interference" and a link to his campaign website.
A short while later, he also posted it on X -- formerly Twitter, which was Trump's favorite bullhorn until he was banned from it after the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters. New owner Elon Musk reinstated Trump on X in November of last year, but Trump stayed away and posted instead on Truth Social. This was Trump's first post since 2021 on what had been Twitter. Trump was given the inmate number "PO1135809" by the Fulton County Jail, which listed his height as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry."The billionaire has been criminally indicted four times since April, setting the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as he tries to juggle multiple court appearances and another White House campaign. Trump was able to dodge having a mugshot taken during his previous arrests this year: in New York on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. His arrest came one day after Trump spurned a televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination -- all of whom lag well behind him in the polls. He still stole the spotlight, though, with all but two of the candidates saying they would support him as the party's nominee even if he were a convicted felon.
Court dates in election race
A tight security perimeter was set up for Trump's booking at the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable conditions.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed the sweeping racketeering case, had set a deadline of noon on Friday for Trump and the other 18 defendants to surrender.
Trump and 11 others have turned themselves in so far. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered on Thursday and was released on $100,000 bond.
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal lawyer when he was in the White House and vigorously pushed the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election, was booked and released on Wednesday. John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who is accused of drawing up a scheme to submit a false slate of Trump electors to Congress from Georgia instead of the legitimate Biden ones, has also been booked and released.A few dozen supporters of the former Republican president gathered outside the jail, including Sharon Anderson who spent the night in her car.
"I think this is a political persecution and now that's turned into a political prosecution," Anderson told AFP. Trump is the first U.S. president in history to face criminal charges.
His various trials, if they take place next year, may coincide with the Republican presidential primary season, which begins in January, and the campaign for the November 2024 White House election. Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the last election with a lie-fueled campaign that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.Trump's attorneys have countered with a suggested start date well after the election -- April 2026. Willis, the Georgia district attorney, initially proposed that the racketeering case begin in March next year, the same month Trump is scheduled to go on trial in New York on charges of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
On Thursday, after one of the defendants asked for a speedy trial, she proposed that it begin for all 19 in October of this year, a move met with an immediate objection from Trump's lawyers. The Florida case, in which Trump is accused of taking secret government documents as he left the White House and refusing to return them, is scheduled to begin in May.

Sarkozy to go on trial over Libya financing for 2007 campaign
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
French investigative magistrates on Friday ordered former president Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 others to go on trial on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The national financial prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, announced that the decade-long investigation has been formally closed. The trial will run from January to April 2025, the statement said. The case is the biggest and most shocking of multiple corruption investigations involving Sarkozy. He has been convicted in two others. He denies wrongdoing in all cases. In the Libya case, he is charged with illegal campaign financing, embezzling, passive corruption and related counts. Sarkozy has been under investigation in the Libya case since 2013. Investigators examined claims that Gadhafi's government secretly gave Sarkozy 50 million euros for his winning 2007 campaign. The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time and would violate French rules against foreign campaign financing. The investigation gained traction when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told news site Mediapart in 2016 that he had delivered suitcases from Libya containing 5 million euros ($6.2 million) in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff. Takieddine later reversed course and Sarkozy sought to have the investigation closed. After becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gadhafi to France with high honors later that year. Sarkozy then put France at the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes that helped rebel fighters topple Gadhafi's government in 2011. In an unrelated case, Sarkozy was sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid. He is free while the case is pending appeal. He also was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling in another case and sentenced to a year of house arrest in an appeals trial in May this year. He took the case to France's highest court, which suspended the sentence.

Danish government proposes ban on burning Quran, other religious texts
Associated Press/August 25, 2023
The Danish government on Friday said it will propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate any holy book in Denmark, where a recent string of public desecrations of the Quran by a handful of anti-Islam activists has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries. Denmark has been viewed as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries, the government said. The proposal by the center-right government is to extend Denmark's existing ban on burning foreign flags by also "prohibiting improper treatment of objects of significant religious significance to a religious community," Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said. "The bill will make it punishable, for example, to burn the Quran or the Bible in public. It will only aim at actions in a public place or with the intention of spreading in a wider circle," Hummelgaard said, adding that it would be punishable by fines or up to two years in prison. Hummelgaard told a news conference that the recent protests were "senseless taunts that have no other purpose than to create discord and hatred."Denmark's government repeatedly has distanced itself from the desecrations, but has insisted that freedom of expression is one of the most important values in Danish society. It said that would not be affected by the proposed law. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said "it was an important political signal that the Denmark wants to send out to the world." Last month, he said the government would seek to legally prevent burnings of the Quran or other religious scriptures, saying it "only serves the purpose of creating division in a world that actually needs unity." He added that there must "be room for religious criticism" and that there were no plans to reintroducing a blasphemy clause that was repealed in 2017. It was not clear when the proposal would be presented to the 179-seat Folketing. The three parties in the governing coalition control 88 seats and are also supported by the four lawmakers representing the semi-independent Danish territories of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands.

Uzbekistan's President Appoints Daughter as Advisor in Newly Created Position
LBCI/August 25, 2023
Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has appointed his daughter as an advisor, as announced by the presidency on Friday, in a newly established role in the Central Asian country. Despite recent reforms, political positions remain limited in the tightly controlled state. The media office reported the "appointment of Saide Mirziyoyeva as an advisor to the President of Uzbekistan by presidential decree."This appointment follows changes in the presidential administration that occurred after Mirziyoyev's re-election in July, where he secured 87% of the vote in an election criticized by international observers.
Saide Mirziyoyeva, born in 1984, is proficient in English and Russian. She has previously held the position of media officer within the presidency, which has been under her father's leadership since 2016.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 25-26/2023
Iran is threatening American lives on U.S. soil. We must take bolder steps to protect them |
Jeb Bush and Mark D. Wallace/Miami Herald/August 25, 2023
 https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121594/jeb-bush-mark-d-wallace-miami-heraldiran-is-threatening-american-lives-on-u-s-soil-we-must-take-bolder-steps-to-protect-them-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b4-%d9%88%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%83/
Iran is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American military personnel and civilians. Recently, Tehran has grown bolder, threatening Americans on U.S. soil in operations tantamount to acts of war.
The lackluster response from Washington is putting lives at risk, signaling that plotting to kidnap or kill Americans is a low-risk, high-reward proposition. The United States urgently needs to enhance deterrence and create a protective structure for U.S. citizens targeted by nation-states if a conflict is to be averted.
During the past few years, operatives affiliated with the Iranian security services have been aggressively targeting for potential assassination former government officials, including two former U.S. national security advisors, a former secretary of state, a former secretary of defense and others. These episodes could involve murder-for-hire schemes, where the Iranian system contracts out its brazen attacks to gangs, drug cartels, and other dangerous organizations in the West to mask its involvement.
Such was the case for Masih Alinejad — a New Yorker and one of the world’s leading critics of the Islamic Republic. To silence her, agents from Tehran hired private investigators who unwittingly surveilled her residence in Brooklyn. Unbeknownst to them, they were working for Iranian intelligence.
The conspirators also researched services offering military-style speedboats for a maritime rendition of Alinejad from New York City to Venezuela. The following year, a man with a loaded assault rifle was arrested outside her home. Further investigation implicated an Eastern European criminal syndicate based in Iran. Just last month, the Czech Republic announced its decision to extradite one of those who was indicted in Alinejad’s case to the United States.
Even more concerning is the lack of specialized governmental infrastructure to guard U.S. citizens under threat from foreign powers for exercising their freedom of speech. Despite U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan promising last year that, “The United States of America will protect and defend its citizens,” not all Americans are being protected and defended. A few years ago, the FBI alerted Iranian-American author Roya Hakakian that Tehran wanted to harm her. But as Hakakian noted, “without more specific intelligence, they could not offer any protection.” As she later recounted, “To make our home terrorist-proof . . . would cost nearly as much as the house itself.”
When called upon, law enforcement’s response to Iranian threats has been heroic, but the policy response has been weak and unimaginative. When a plot against Americans is foiled, the United States is content to file an indictment, mostly against individuals who will never set foot in the country; issue a strongly worded press statement from a senior U.S. official warning of consequences; and announce piecemeal sanctions on culprits who have no U.S. assets.
This happened in June when the United States levied sanctions on officers from the Iranian armed forces involved in these schemes, necessary but not sufficient. The result is a more dangerous America for anyone on the Islamic Republic’s radar.
The United States used to be bolder; it deterred our enemies. President Bill Clinton launched a cruise-missile strike against Iraqi intelligence headquarters after the United States foiled an assassination attempt targeting former President George H.W. Bush in Kuwait in 1993.
Americans should not be left alone to face serious and sophisticated state actors, or bear the cost of protection on their own. We must have a bipartisan strategy of deterrence. Iran should feel real consequences from the continued planning of such attacks. Merely foiling them — as important as it is to do so — is not a strategy.
Bipartisan legislation has been recently introduced in the U.S. Senate that would require the secretary of State and federal departments to report to Congress on their strategy to address transnational repression; direct training for U.S. personnel; and establish a dedicated tip line. These would be good first steps, but the bill would still leave Americans to fend for themselves against enemy states.
The Biden administration and Congress must authorize and fund federal departments through executive order and legislation to enable a wider net of protection for all Americans. The FBI is an investigative agency at its core, and there is a gap in authorities, which results in a lack of a capability to protect all U.S. citizens regardless of whether they are former U.S. officials. Currently, there is no such agency tasked with that mission, and Americans should not have to enlist in a witness-protection program for safety. This would accomplish the Islamic Republic’s goal of muzzling them and undermine our constitutional rights of freedom of the press and speech.
Additionally, Washington should criminalize transnational repression itself. Although discrete acts that make up the threat are subject to criminal penalties, there is no specific federal crime for transnational repression.
Only one country is systematically targeting Americans in this manner — Iran. Washington needs to get tough on pariah states like the Islamic Republic. It is the best way to avert a war. Time is running out to save lives.
*Jeb Bush was the 43rd governor of Florida. He is an advisory board member of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).
*Mark D. Wallace is the CEO of UANI and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform.
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article278522569.html

China's Influence Activity in the US Is Unprecedented
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute/August 25, 2023
While the Biden administration worries about political correctness, the Chinese Communist Party is successfully using every means at its disposal to weaken the US in all fields.
"[A] significant portion of America's intellectual and political elites share the responsibility for perpetrating key CCP propaganda agendas, including misleading the American public to minimize the degree to which the PRC is still a country ruled by a Marxist-Leninist communist party. The manipulation of language is a prime example of this endeavor." — Miles Maochun Yu, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, hoover.org, May 5, 2021
The FBI has named China as "a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States" and said that confronting this threat is "FBI's top counterintelligence priority." However, instead of focusing all available resources on countering this "grave threat" from the CCP on all fronts, the Biden administration has been busy institutionalizing woke ideology in the federal bureaucracy -- including in the military....
The Biden administration, under an executive order issued in February 2023, now requires all federal agencies to present annual "equity action plans" in order to "advance an ambitious, whole-of-government approach to racial equity and support for underserved communities." Since Biden became president, the military alone has spent close to 6 million hours on diversity, climate change and "extremism."
The other focal point for the Biden administration has been mitigating "climate change" - all while China, during 2022, has been approving the construction of two new coal plants per week. The US under Biden is arguably not even close to countering the threat that China poses or perhaps even properly understanding it. The Biden administration has unfortunately shown itself to be unable to stop, or even limit, China's continued rise. On the contrary, the connections of Biden's son, Hunter Biden, to China could mean that the US president is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.
Meanwhile, at a recent press conference, when asked whether the administration is concerned that Hunter Biden's ties to China "pose a national security issue," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan replied, "I don't have any comment on that."
While the Biden administration worries about political correctness, the Chinese Communist Party is successfully using every means at its disposal to weaken the US in all fields. Pictured: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing on June 19, 2023. (Photo by Leah Millis/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
"The system is blinking red right now," an unnamed senior FBI official was quoted as saying in a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International studies (CSIS). "We have not seen this level of Chinese intelligence and influence activity in and around the U.S. homeland ever."
China is using all means short of war "to expand the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and weaken the United States and its partners," the report continued.
"This campaign involves sophisticated Chinese espionage activities, offensive cyber operations, disinformation on social media platforms, economic coercion, and influence operations targeting companies, universities, and other organizations."
This unprecedented level of Chinese intelligence and influence activity is happening under President Joe Biden, who in February 2022 shut down the Justice Department program known as the China Initiative, which had been focused on countering Chinese espionage. The alleged reason for the shutdown was that it "unfairly painted Chinese Americans and U.S. residents of Chinese origin as disloyal."
Biden's closing the China Initiative played, of course, right into the CCP's hands. Again, according to the report:
"China is conducting an increasingly active and aggressive campaign to penetrate a wide range of U.S. academic institutions, companies, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)."
While the Biden administration worries about political correctness, the Chinese Communist Party is successfully using every means at its disposal to weaken the US in all fields.
Here are just a few examples:
For more than two and a half decades, China has been stealing US intellectual property, trade secrets and technology, causing the US a cumulative loss that has been estimated at around at least $600 billion. As a consequence, China now leads in 37 out of 44 crucial technologies in the technology race with the US. Since 2014, China has hacked and stolen the data of about 80% of Americans, according to Bill Evanina, former Director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center. China has sought to infiltrate leading US institutions, including the Federal Reserve, to "supplant the U.S. as the global economic leader and end the U.S. dollar's status as the world's primary reserve currency," a 2022 Senate report revealed.
China is waging a disinformation and propaganda campaign in the US that has influenced Americans, especially its elites. According to Miles Maochun Yu, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, "a significant portion of America's intellectual and political elites share the responsibility for perpetrating key CCP propaganda agendas, including misleading the American public to minimize the degree to which the PRC is still a country ruled by a Marxist-Leninist communist party. The manipulation of language is a prime example of this endeavor. Few people in the United States refer to the Chinese supreme leader by his real title, and the only one that matters: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who is without an exception a die-hard communist ideologue in command of a ruthless Leninist Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Instead, most Americans have almost universally, and falsely, rebranded him as 'president' of China, a much more democratic-sounding but meaningless honorific." The FBI has named China as "a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States" and said that confronting this threat is "the FBI's top counterintelligence priority." However, instead of focusing all available resources on countering this "grave threat" from the CCP on all fronts, the Biden administration has been busy institutionalizing woke ideology in the federal bureaucracy -- including in the military and institutions such as NASA.
The Biden administration, under an executive order issued in February 2023, now requires all federal agencies to present annual "equity action plans" in order to "advance an ambitious, whole-of-government approach to racial equity and support for underserved communities." Since Biden became president, the military alone has spent close to 6 million hours on diversity, climate change and "extremism."
The other focal point for the Biden administration has been mitigating "climate change" -- all while China, during 2022, has been approving the construction of two new coal plants per week. The US under Biden is arguably not even close to countering the threat that China poses or perhaps even properly understanding it. According to the CSIS:
"[A] close analysis of Chinese activity indicates that Beijing has conducted a broad political warfare campaign against the United States and its partners across the globe. To conduct these actions, Beijing invests substantial resources in understanding the United States, including in translating documents and exploring the contours of U.S. culture and politics. The China International Communications Group, which is owned and operated by the CCP's Central Propaganda Department, distributes the CCP line on numerous issues to overseas audiences, directs research on foreign media, and conducts language training programs. The English-language training market in China was approximately $75 billion in China in 2022... In contrast, the market size for all language instruction in the United States was only $1.5 billion in 2022. Even though China has a much larger population than the United States, Beijing still spends roughly 14 times more per capita on English language training than the United States does on all language training. More broadly, the U.S. government and private sector have failed to invest in the language skills and expertise to effectively compete with China. "U.S. leaders during the Cold War would have been horrified at this discrepancy. The U.S. government invested significant resources in conducting information campaigns and translating Soviet documents into English..."
The Biden administration has unfortunately shown itself to be unable to stop, or even limit, China's continued rise. On the contrary, the connections of Biden's son, Hunter Biden, to China could mean that the US president is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. Meanwhile, at a recent press conference, when asked whether the administration is concerned that Hunter Biden's ties to China "pose a national security issue," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan replied, "I don't have any comment on that."
**Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
© 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.

A Tale of Two Parties
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/August 25, 2023
Among his opening words of Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, he captures the enormous decisions, challenges, and choices that face people, institutions, and nations:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
Those choices can lead either to chaos or triumph.
While much has been said about the recent Republican presidential debate, our nation's most important focus would probably be better spent on the policies of the representatives currently running the United States of America. Many of these politicians and officials have created a tale of two profoundly different parties -- in their policies, values and their vision for the country. What once was a party that might leave a voter disagreeing with certain issues, at least one could respect its core principles.
No more.
What once was the party of FDR, Truman, and Kennedy appears to be in the throes of being torn apart by those whose agenda seeks to make government -- not the voters -- ever more rich, more centralized, and more intrusive in our daily lives. They have increased the national debt, which now tops out at more than $32 trillion -- more than the 2022 GDP of only $25 trillion. With interest on the debt of more than $1 trillion annually, it is capable of crushing America as no foreign nation ever could.
Long gone from the US pantheon of leaders are the great statesmen above. They have been replaced by politicians who have been accused of racist antisemitism (here , here and here), of being "compromised" by China ( here and here), and even of endangering "national security." The mental decline of America's current leaders (here and here) is painfully on view every day to world leaders in Communist China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, who have made no secret of their wish replace America, which they seem to view as the only obstacle between them and global supremacy.
Nor is the current administration even remotely attracting "the best and brightest" of a generation that once rallied to JFK. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has presided over a fiscal policy that is being slammed. Then there are, according to reports, allegations of "perceived corruption" at the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, and IRS with a budget of $80 billion in new funding to hire 87,000 new agents -- with 4,600 guns and five million rounds of ammunition (!) -- and a Department of Transportation that has allowed the FAA to become so understaffed that there is now an epidemic of near-misses being reported by airline pilots.
The tale of two political parties will have much to answer for as historians far in the future study its legacy. They will be deeply puzzled as to how a once wise and seasoned leadership, that included giants such as Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, allowed its party to become hijacked. Now, sadly, it is a party that embraces policies that invite aggression (here, here and here), such open contempt for Americans that it refers to parents who attend school board meetings as "domestic terrorists" and Catholics who prefer a mass in Latin as "domestic extremists."
Sadly, Dickens might well observe that this tale of two parties has left our country with no happy ending -- it really did become a "winter of despair."
*Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

King Louis IX: An Archetype for American Christians
Raymond Ibrahim/August 25/2023
Today, August 25, is “Saint Louis” day. The following article—originally sent to me as an email but subsequently expanded by a reader, Joachim Osther—helps underscore its significance.
“The life of the admirable King…was one of almost uninterrupted misfortune,” is how one chronicler described the life of the munificent warrior, Louis IX.
This King of France (1214-1270), who led two campaigns to liberate indigenous Christians in the Middle East as well as the Holy City of Jerusalem, is regarded by historians as a failed Crusader. One would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise since Louis did not achieve his own stated military objectives. However, in reading Raymond Ibrahim’s account of King Louis in his insightful Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, one gets the sense that this man, this warrior monk archetype, should be closely examined by Christians in the present-day.
Incidentally, along with Louis, Ibrahim chronicles the lives of seven other Athleta Christi (Champions of Christ), describing the constancy of diverse misfortunes for most and astounding victories for all. What emerges is a collective portrait of a Christian archetype characterized by the amalgam of deep faith and fierce valor. At first, this archetype may seem foreign to our modern perceptions of “what a Christian should be.” After all, these men engaged in very violent warfare.
Yet as these accounts are read, a faint and familiar resonance materializes from that dormant precinct of our Christian ethos which recognizes that occasions of great evil may justly necessitate a martial response. Stated differently—Christian intrepidness should not be an oxymoron.
Indeed, there is much to learn and apply from Ibrahim’s Defenders even if we cannot lay claim to the composite attributes found in these men of God—their collective strength of character, physical attributes, military skills, together with their deep faith.
For starters, in reading about these men of faith, an inescapable transmission of Christian solidarity is unavoidable. A historical awakening of sorts to the reality of an Ottoman Empire that could have stretched deep into the heart of Europe were it not for martial men of faith. This realization produces a subtle yet pervasive sense of Christian unity, one that transcends Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic associationism.
While all eight men often embodied supernal virtues, there is a wrinkle to the King of France who cut a slightly discrepant phenotype. While the word ‘Crusader’ conjures up images in our minds of broad-shouldered knights with biceps like oak trees, King Louis strikes a different visage. He is described as a handsome man yet corporeally bound in an Ichabod Crane-like frame—tall, skinny, with a “frail constitution…prone to sickness.” Hardly the Chris Hemsworth caricature inevitably associated with the other Defenders in the book, for example, El Cid, Richard the Lionhearted, and Skanderbeg.
Deep-seated within this lanky and frequently infirm man was an indefatigable faith expressed both in unrelenting ferocity and valor on the battlefield and in the bewildering depth of his forbearance and humility—the very embodiment of the warrior monk. In his essay, The Necessity of Chivalry, CS Lewis recognized the rarity of seeing these mutually exclusive ideals coming together in one person. “The medieval ideal brought together two things which have no natural tendency to gravitate towards one another,” wrote Lewis, “the man who combines both characters…is a work not of nature but of art.”
Returning from his first failed Crusade, Louis set about to reign in a manner consistent with his Lord. On a daily basis this King of France would ensure that the poor were fed (regularly by his own hands) and he was known to spurn the royal table to eat whatever was left over from his benefaction. Louis spent much of his means on helping the impoverished, financing churches, cathedrals, and monasteries, and finding work for women who were so desperate for food that they had sold themselves into prostitution.
In the context of his failed first Crusade and subsequent imprisonment in Egypt, one would hardly blame the man for slipping into the comfortable shadows of royal life. Instead, this pious warrior did just the opposite, and the residue of his grace marked the interregnum of his two Crusades. It is worth considering that in devoting his life so ardently to his Savior, Louis’ life itself bore many Christ-like resemblances:
Louis was the king who stepped out of his throne room and into the kingdom to enter the dregs, help liberate God’s children, and bring glory to His Name.
As the prize prisoner in a repugnant Islamic prison, he was the frequent target of truculent paroxysms and threats made at the curved edge of the scimitar, yet Louis stood undaunted and resolute while affixed in the chains of his captor (an eyewitness observed that Louis was “the soul of constancy” in faith and optimism).
King Louis washed the feet of the poor and provided for the “least of these.”
He was the edifier and encourager of his followers, even at his death (his recorded dying words: “Grant us, we ask, for the sake of Your love, that we may despise worldly success and fear none of its misfortunes”).
Would Louis’ Christ-like attributes and journey have been the same if his Crusading campaigns were successful? Providence leaves us only with conjecture. As such, we must assume the facts as they appear, namely that the faith that blossomed in his upbringing together with his intrinsic virtuous character traits seemed to have been melded by the furnace of war, forged at the anvil of defeat, and shaped by the hammer of imprisonment. That is to say, it seems he became the “admirable King” by way of “almost uninterrupted misfortune.”
In the present day, American Christians are witnessing the growth of a Jacobin-like secularist leviathan, one that is increasingly superintendent over education, the corporate world, and many institutions of the Federal government. Predictably, the secularists are becoming progressively more comfortable with (and seemingly enjoying) the use of overt modalities of persecution as an a priori means of persuasion and conformity.
As we turn to face this anti-Christian sentiment, we would do well to remember the resolute King of France—especially the strength, sharpness, and purity of his faith which emerged through a training ground of travails. In Louis we find an archetype that is slightly more relatable, a warrior that admonishes our fickle Western Christian sensibilities, and a man whose character is adorned in the vestiture of grace and service—the fullest expression of the Athleta Christi.
If we do not look to the likes of Louis as exemplar, then the prescient CS Lewis might just be right about the future:
It may or may not be possible to produce by the thousand men who combine the two sides of Lancelot’s character. But if it is not possible, then all talk of any lasting happiness or dignity in human society is pure moonshine.
*Joachim Osther is a multi-disciplinarian – a freelance writer focusing on the intersection of culture and Christianity. Osther holds a master’s degree in theological studies while working as a strategist, advisor, and published author in the life sciences.