English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 01/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2023/english.february01.23.htm
News Bulletin Achieves
Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Click On The Below Link To Join
Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group so you get the LCCC Daily A/E Bulletins every
day
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام
لكروب Eliasbejjaninews
whatsapp group وذلك لإستلام
نشراتي العربية والإنكليزية اليومية بانتظام
Bible Quotations For today
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones
are tyrants over them
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
20/20-28/:”Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and
kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. And he said to her, ‘What do you
want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at
your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You
do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about
to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’He said to them, ‘You will indeed
drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to
grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’When the
ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to
him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever
wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be
first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’””
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on January 31- February 01/2023
An Update on the Fakhoury Family's Hostage Accountability Efforts/The
Global Liberty Alliance Podcast with Jason Poblete •
Report: Abboud still refusing that Higher Judicial Council convene
Lázaro urges parties to de-escalate, move forward on Blue Line
Mikati to call for cabinet session by early next week
Report: Shiite Duo not taking Jumblat's presidential initiative seriously
MP Jumblat meets al Rahi over presidency: Army chief in the lead
Army chief reportedly advises Bitar to 'stay home'
Hezbollah reportedly dismayed at Bassil's presidential approach
Berri tackles overall situation with Ain El-Tineh visitors, meets “National
Moderation” Bloc delegation, Iranian Ambassador, former Minister...
Sami Gemayel meets GLC Head, President Pharmacists’ Syndicate Head
Taymour Jumblatt tackles developments with Egyptian Ambassador
National Defense Parliamentary Committee convenes under chairmanship of MP Samad
Sami Gemayel discusses latest developments with former Iraqi FM
'National Moderation' delegation visits Army Commander
Cash is king in Lebanon as banks atrophy
The big picture in Lebanon/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/January 31/2023
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on January 31- February 01/2023
Will Damascus Undermine Tehran’s Mediterranean Dream?...Iran wants to
keep the Syrian government at its mercy.
US Envoy: Iran Is Very Close to Producing Nuclear Weapon
Iran, Russia Link Banking System Amid Western Sanctions
Baku: Closure of Tehran Embassy Doesn't Mean Severing of Diplomatic Ties
Blinken takes support for two-state solution to disillusioned Palestinians
Blinken meets Palestinian leaders in bid to restore calm
Biden, King Abdullah to meet at White House on Thursday
Number of Armed Israeli Settlers in West Bank Stands at About 100,000
Palestinian PM Says Israeli Govt Trying to Deflect Attention from its Deep
Crisis
The 'tear-gassed' Palestinians trying to stop Israeli settlers occupying their
land
Britain Says It’s Not Practical to Send Ukraine Fighter Jets
Russia Claims Control of Blahodatne North of Ukraine’s Bakhmut
NATO, Japan Pledge to Strengthen Ties in Face of ‘Historic’ Security Threat
Ukraine to receive 120-140 tanks in 'first wave' of deliveries - minister
Ukraine says it prevented Russia cutting off eastern supply line
Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve
on front lines
Armenia asks Russia's Putin to act to end Karabakh's isolation
Azerbaijan asks World Court to order Armenia to help demining effort
Turkish Opposition Unveils Electoral Plan, Seeks to Restore Parliamentary System
France faces huge disruption as pension protests kick off
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on January 31- February 01/2023
Contemporary Saudi Arabia in Pompeo’s Memoirs/Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq
Al-Awsat/January, 31/2023
Violent History Echoes in the Killing of Tyre Nichols/Emily Yellin/The New York
Times/January 31/ 2023
Russian-Iranian Axis: Biden Administration Missing in Action?/Judith Bergman/Gatestone
Institute/January 31, 2023
Only America Can Resolve the Cyprus Question/Sinan Ciddi/The National
Interest/January 31, 2023
Time For Palestinian Leaders to End “Pay-to-Slay” Terror Bounties/Enia Krivine/Townhall/January
31, 2023
The EU Can, and Should, Designate the IRGC as a Terrorist Group/Matthew Levitt/The
Washington Institute/January 31/2023
The Iranian Monarchists Do Not Represent The 'Multinational Iran'/Himdad
Mustafa/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 452/January 31/2023
on January 31- February 01/2023
بالصوت/بودكست من كلوبل ليبرتي الينس: جديد جهود
عائلة الضحية عامر فاخوري لمحاسبة حكام لبنان وحزب الله والنظام الإيراني المسؤولين
عن خطف واعتقال والتسبب بوفاة عامر فاخوري/اضغط هنا للإستماع
An Update on the Fakhoury Family's Hostage Accountability Efforts
The Global Liberty Alliance Podcast with Jason Poblete •
https://anchor.fm/global-liberty-alliance/episodes/An-Update-on-the-Fakhoury-Familys-Hostage-Accountability-Efforts-e1u7i5q/a-a4q4c49
An Update on the Fakhoury Family'…
In a November 15, 2022, podcast with the Fakhoury Foundation, the Fakhoury
family from New Hampshire shared how they set out over two years ago to find out
what happened to Amer Fakhoury, who died as a result of injuries that he
sustained while in the custody of Lebanon's corrupt security services or
Lebanon's equivalent of our CIA and FBI wrapped up in one. Be sure to listen to
that show! In this episode, two of Amer's daughters, Guila and Zoya, provide an
update and discuss current events with GLA's Jason Poblete beyond the story and
how events in Lebanon may be impacting their accountability efforts.
Further Reading
House Foreign Affairs Committee Charman Mike McCaul (R-Tex.) Demands Answers
From USAID on Alarming Failure to Address $110K Grant to Terrorist-Linked
Nonprofit (Jan. 27, 2023). Amid standoff in Beirut blast probe, US national
released, The Washington Post (Jan. 26, 2023). Amid Historic Crisis, Has a New
Hope Emerged in Lebanon?, US Institute for Peace (Jun. 23, 2022).
Go Deeper
Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God (Amazon). Beirut
Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America
(Amazon).
Report: Abboud still refusing that Higher
Judicial Council convene
Naharnet/January 31, 2023
The Higher Judicial Council is facing a “real test” and its chief, Judge Suheil
Abboud, is “still refusing that a session be held to discuss the latest
developments, with the aim of protecting (Beirut port blast investigator Judge
Tarek) Bitar,” judicial sources say. “During deliberations yesterday with the
members of the council, Abboud tried to put Bitar in the same position with
(State Prosecutor Ghassan) Oueidat, arguing that both have erred and that
Oueidat cannot attend the session,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in
remarks published Tuesday. The daily added that there is “a major rift among the
council’s members that is taking a sectarian nature, with the Christian members
becoming more hesitant to attend, especially after the spiritual cover provided
by Bkirki for Bitar.”The newspaper also said that the interrogation sessions
scheduled by Bitar for those charged in the case have not been postponed, with
the sources voicing concern that Bitar might “take advantage of the return of
the European judicial delegations to go to the Justice Palace, which would push
things to escalation again.”Bitar took Lebanon by surprise on January 23 when he
resumed his investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects
including high-level security officials and Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan
Oueidat. The judge also scheduled interrogation sessions for ex-PM Hassan Diab
and former ministers who had been previously charged. Bitar said he based his
decision on a legal review that he himself conducted. A top security official
meanwhile said that the Lebanese judiciary had come under U.S. pressure to free
detainees in the case, including dual Lebanese-U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf. The
week before reopening the case, Bitar had met with two French judges for hours
about his investigation. The delegation suggested Bitar should resume work,
arguing that holding suspects in detention without trial was a human rights
violation. Bitar's surprise move sparked a judicial battle with Oueidat, who
retaliated by charging the judge with "usurping power" and insubordination and
slapping him with a travel ban. A defiant Bitar meanwhile stressed that he would
not step down, adding that Oueidat "has no authority" to intervene in the case.
Lázaro urges parties to de-escalate, move forward on Blue
Line
Nahant/January 31, 2023
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro chaired a
regular Tripartite meeting at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura on Tuesday.
“Through 2023 we must prioritize maintaining the cessation of hostilities,” he
said. “In all our actions we should seek to de-escalate and reduce tensions
along the Blue Line.”Noting that there has not been a serious escalation or
breach in the cessation of hostilities since November, the UNIFIL head
nonetheless noted increased tension along the Blue Line. Discussions during the
meeting also focused on the situation along the Blue Line, air and ground
violations, and other issues within the scope of UNIFIL’s mandate under U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) and subsequent resolutions. “As before,
UNIFIL stands ready to facilitate the Blue Line talks and we look forward to the
parties’ consent to proceed,” Major-General Lázaro added. During the meeting,
Lázaro acknowledged the messages of condolence and outrage from authorities in
both Lebanon and Israel following the 14 December attack in al-Aqbiyeh that left
one peacekeeper dead and three injured, one seriously. “UNIFIL, the Lebanese,
and Irish authorities have launched independent investigations to determine the
facts,” he noted. “I appreciate the support of Lebanese authorities in the
conduct of the UNIFIL investigation. The real test will be ensuring that the
perpetrators of this criminal act are held accountable.”Since the end of the
2006 war in south Lebanon, regular Tripartite meetings have been held under
UNIFIL’s auspices as an “essential conflict-management and confidence-building
mechanism.” Tuesday’s was the 159th such meeting. Through its liaison and
coordination mechanisms, UNIFIL remains the only forum through which Lebanese
and Israeli armies officially meet, albeit indirectly.
Mikati to call for cabinet session by early next week
Naharnet/January 31, 2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that he will call for a
cabinet session over the educational file, this week or early next week. "The
education minister will deliver proposals regarding the educational file and the
public sector teachers strike," Mikati said, adding that he will call for
cabinet to convene by early next week at the latest. The session will discuss
many other "urgent files", Mikati said. "We will continue to work with peace of
mind, as our priority is the interest of the people and the regularity of the
work of the institutions," the caretaker PM went on to say.
Report: Shiite Duo not taking Jumblat's presidential
initiative seriously
Naharnet/January 31, 2023
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat will meet with Speaker Nabih
Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday, after Jumblat postponed a previously scheduled
meeting for health reasons, al-Jadeed said. The media outlet added that Amal and
Hezbollah will not take Jumblat's presidential initiative seriously, according
to sources close to the Shiite Duo. Previous reports had said that Jumblat and
the Shiite Duo are leading “strenuous attempts to break the presidential
deadlock” and that Jumblat is “seeking to limit the nominations to two
presidential candidates who can be promoted as settlement candidates". "It is
not possible to compare MP and presidential candidate Michel Mouawad to Marada
chief Suleiman Franjieh," al-Jadeed quoted the sources as saying.
MP Jumblat meets al Rahi over presidency: Army chief in the
lead
Naharnet January 31, 2023
Democratic Gathering Bloc chief MP Taymour Jumblat met Tuesday with Maronite
Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki. He was accompanied by a delegation from the
bloc. MP Raji Saad said after the meeting that there is no agreement on a
specific presidential candidate, adding that the name of the army chief is in
the lead, as it has emerged as the strongest candidate during the meetings
between the blocs. Saad said that al-Rahi did not express his opinion regarding
the candidates but has confirmed that he has repeatedly heard the name of Gen.
Joseph Aoun, during his meetings.
The lawmaker also said that the bloc and Bkerki agreed today on the
implementation of the Taif agreement and on the need for administrative
decentralization.
Army chief reportedly advises Bitar to 'stay home'
Naharnet/January 31, 2023
Army Commander General Joseph Aoun has advised Beirut port blast investigator
Judge Tarek Bitar to “stay home and not go to the Justice Palace – neither in
Beirut nor in Jdeideh -- out of concern that he might get arrested by the State
Security agency under the excuse of bringing him to interrogation before the
state prosecutor,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. “The French have
also talked to Bitar on this issue and stressed to him that France is his second
country, that his family can travel whenever it wants and that everything such
as residence, education and other issues will be provided to them,” the daily
added. It also reported that Bitar “communicated yesterday with some colleagues
and with senior officials to verify the matter and whether there are fears for
his life or for the lives of his family members.” Bitar took Lebanon by surprise
on January 23 when he resumed his investigation after a 13-month hiatus,
charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and
Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat. The judge also scheduled interrogation
sessions for ex-PM Hassan Diab and former ministers who had been previously
charged. Bitar said he based his decision on a legal review that he himself
conducted. A top security official meanwhile said that the Lebanese judiciary
had come under U.S. pressure to free detainees in the case, including dual
Lebanese-U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf. The week before reopening the case, Bitar had
met with two French judges for hours about his investigation. The delegation
suggested Bitar should resume work, arguing that holding suspects in detention
without trial was a human rights violation. Bitar's surprise move sparked a
judicial battle with Oueidat, who retaliated by charging the judge with
"usurping power" and insubordination and slapping him with a travel ban. A
defiant Bitar meanwhile stressed that he would not step down, adding that
Oueidat "has no authority" to intervene in the case.
Hezbollah reportedly dismayed at Bassil's presidential
approach
Naharnet/January 31, 2023
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil's announcement that he might
nominate himself for presidency had "a very negative resonance" for Hezbollah,
informed sources said. The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks
published Tuesday, that Hezbollah circles were dismayed at Bassil's words. They
added that Hezbollah has sensed that Bassil is completely severing contacts
between the two parties, regarding the presidential file. Bassil had announced
on Sunday that he might nominate himself for the presidency should the other
parties reject two FPM proposals for consensus. “Should the first and second
endeavors fail and our stances be considered as resulting from weakness rather
than keenness, I will seriously think of running for president regardless of
loss or win, so that we at least preserve the principle of legitimate
representation,” Bassil said.
Berri tackles overall situation with Ain El-Tineh
visitors, meets “National Moderation” Bloc delegation, Iranian Ambassador,
former Minister...
NNA/January 31, 2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday welcomed at the Second Presidency in Ain
El-Tineh, a delegation of the "National Moderation" bloc, which included MPs:
Walid Baarini, Sajih Attieh, Ahmed al-Khair, Mohammed Sleiman and Ahmed Rustom.
Discussions reportedly touched on the current general situation and the latest
political developments, especially the presidential elections’ issue, in
addition to an array of demands and developmental affairs. Speaker Berri also
received in Ain El-Tineh, Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mujtaba Amani, where
they discussed developments, general conditions and the bilateral relations
between the two countries. This afternoon, Berri met with former Vice Prime
Minister and former Defense Minister, Zeina Akar. On the other hand, Berri
cabled Speaker of the Senate of Pakistan, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, offering
condolences over the victims of the terrorist bombing that targeted worshipers
in a mosque in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Sami Gemayel meets GLC Head, President Pharmacists’
Syndicate Head
NNA/January 31, 2023
"Kataeb" party leader, MP Sami Gemayel, on Tuesday met General Labor
Confederation Head, Dr. Bechara Al-Asmar, and Pharmacists' Syndicate Head, Joe
Salloum, who briefed him on the details of the general strike called forth by
the union on February 8 all throughout Lebanon. For his part, Salloum called for
an immediate election of a new Lebanese president, warning that otherwise the
lengthily awaited president will be elected by “the street”. Al-Asmar said that
the strike that is planned to take place in February was of a comprehensive
nature, taking into account the country’s general security situation.
Taymour Jumblatt tackles developments with Egyptian
Ambassador
NNA/January 31, 2023
"Democratic Gathering" leader, MP Taymour Jumblatt, on Tuesday welcomed at his
Clemenceau residence Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Yasser Alawi, in the
presence of MP Wael Abu Faour and Jumblatt's advisor, Houssam Harb. The meeting
reportedly touched on the latest general and political developments.
National Defense Parliamentary Committee convenes under
chairmanship of MP Samad
NNA/January 31, 2023
The House Committee of National Defense, Interior and Municipalities, on Tuesday
convened under the chairmanship of MP Jihad Samad, and in the presence of
Caretaker Minister of National Defense, Maurice Sleem. In the wake of the
meeting, MP Samad announced the committee’s recommendations, in which the
committee saluted the army command, “which at this stage bears an exceptional
responsibility for preserving security, civil peace and the unity of the
country.”The Committee also appealed to everyone to overcome any disagreement or
divergence of views regarding the interpretation and application of military
laws and regulations, calling on everyone to seek common spaces that unite
rather than set apart in this exceptional phase of the nation's history. The
committee also urged all political, partisan and media parties to rise above
political or personal calculations and to neutralize the military establishment
from any conflict, disagreement or competition.
Sami Gemayel discusses latest developments with former
Iraqi FM
NNA/January 31, 2023
Kataeb Party Leader, MP Sami Gemayel, on Tuesday met with Iraq's former foreign
minister Mohamed Al Hakim, accompanied by the First Secretary at the Iraqi
Embassy. Talks reportedly touched on the latest developments in Lebanon and the
broader region, in addition to the bilateral relations between the two
countries.
'National Moderation' delegation visits Army Commander
NNA/January 31, 2023
A delegation of the "National Moderation" parliamentary bloc on Tuesday visited
Army Commander General Joseph Aoun at his Yarze office. They later met with the
Intelligence Chief General Toni Qahwaji. In a statement issued following the
meetings, the MPs renewed their full support for the military institution. "The
Lebanese army remains the security pin for the Lebanese," they said, rejecting
attempts to drag the military into political conflicts.
Cash is king in Lebanon as banks atrophy
Maya Gebeily/CHTAURA, Lebanon (Reuters)/January 31, 2023
The money exchange shop in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley was buzzing with business.
Cellphones pinged endlessly and employees shouted out various rates as customers
flocked in carrying plastic bags of the crashing local currency to buy U.S.
dollars. "Welcome to the Wall Street of Lebanon," grinned the storefront's
owner, a machine gun leaning on a rack behind him in case of a robbery. Cash is
now king in Lebanon, where a three-year economic meltdown has led the country's
once-lauded financial sector to atrophy. Zombie banks have frozen depositors out
of tens of billions of dollars in their accounts, halting basic services and
even prompting some customers to hold up tellers at gunpoint to access their
money. People and businesses now operate almost exclusively in cash. The local
currency in circulation ballooned 12-fold between Sept. 2019 and Nov. 2022,
according to banking documents seen by Reuters.
Most restaurants and coffeeshops have hung apologetic signs stating that credit
cards are not accepted but that dollars are, at the fluctuating parallel market
rate.
COLLAPSING POUND
Lebanese use mobile apps to check on the collapsing pound, which has lost some
97% of its value since 2019. Fleets of mobile money exchangers zip to offices or
homes to carry out transactions. Highways are dotted with billboards advertising
money-counting machines. With credit cards redundant, people document big
transactions by taking pictures of the dollar bills used, fanning them out to
show the serial numbers. Even the largely paralysed Lebanese state is moving
towards the cash economy: the finance ministry has considered requiring traders
to pay newly-increased customs tariffs partly in cash. With more bank notes in
circulation, crime has risen. Elie Anatian, CEO of security firm Salvado, said
yearly sales of safes had grown steadily, with a 15% increase in 2022. Other
businesses are faltering. Omar Chehimi imports smaller shipments for his home
appliance shop with cash he has on-hand, since banks stopped granting letters of
credit for large ones. "Even the companies we source from - Samsung, LG - are
only dealing with us in cash," he said, examining a crumpled $20 bill a customer
had used to buy an electric heater.
WESTERN CONCERNS
Any recovery hinges on government action to address some $72 billion of losses
in the financial system and revive the banking sector. But politicians and
bankers with vested interests have resisted reforms sought by the International
Monetary Fund to fix the situation and access international aid. Paul Abi Nasr,
CEO of a textile company, said the cash economy made it "practically impossible"
to enforce taxes "because everything can simply stay outside of the banks". "The
government's ability to be financially sound down the line hinges on this," he
said, adding that the cash economy also risked Lebanon being listed as a country
falling short in the struggle against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Western governments, which oppose the role of the heavily armed, Iran-backed
Hezbollah group, share those concerns. A Western diplomat said foreign
governments were worried illicit transactions would rise as cash was harder to
track. The U.S. Treasury last week sanctioned Lebanese money exchanger Hassan
Moukalled and his business for alleged financial ties to Hezbollah, saying he
helped "transfer cash" on its behalf and recruited money exchangers loyal to the
group. Moukalled denied the charges. Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at
Lebanon's Byblos Bank, said the pound's continuing decline meant the cash
economy was now also dollarised, "with dollars accounting for approximately
70-80% of operations". "The transformation to a cash economy means the collapse
of the economy," said Mohammad Chamseddine, an economic expert at Lebanese
research group Information International.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Issam Abdallah; Editing by Tom Perry and Gareth
Jones)
The big picture in Lebanon
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/January 31/2023
Lebanon is not alone in being deliberately dismantled in order to be transformed
into an Iranian colony, similar to the present status of Syria and Iraq. The
world is watching the last chapter of the complete collapse of Lebanon as we
know it. What will Lebanon look like if it is allowed to rise again someday?
There is no answer to this question at the present time. But a lot will depend
on what the whole region will resemble. The region is going through labour,
especially in two major countries, Iraq and Syria, which are under five forms of
occupation. In Lebanon, in recent days, the judiciary has exploded from within.
This has happened in a country that is completely incapable of electing a
president and where there is hardly a government in place. Prime Minister Najib
Mikati has to go through all sorts of acrobatics every time he wants to convene
a cabinet session. If we put aside the economy, the collapse of the banking
system and the theft of depositors’ money, former president Michel Aoun and his
son-in-law did everything that was required of them to push the largest number
of Lebanese brains, especially from the Christian community, out of the country.
The fate of Lebanon has been at stake since the Iranian occupation dismantled it
piece by piece in order to deal a fatal blow to the judiciary and prevent the
disclosure of the truth about the Beirut port bombing of August 4, 2020. It was
not permissible to know the reasons that led to the port blast, one of the
largest non-nuclear explosions known to the world.
Investigating judge Tariq Al-Bitar was mired in a game he was lured into playing
after a thirteen-month freeze of his mission. Instead of publishing immediately
the 540-page indictment report, in which he could have explained what he has
learned about the Beirut port bombing, he went on to issue useless summons.
Part of the Lebanese political class took advantage of judge Bitar’s behaviour
to push the country further into a endless maze instead of focusing on the
circumstances surrounding the port bombing and the seven years during which
hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in Ward No. 12 at the port.
It would have been enough to know who brought the nitrates to the port of Beirut
and who protected their storage all along, to determine who was behind the
explosion, or rather who was behind letting it happen. Unfortunately, the
investigating judge preferred to turn in circles instead of going directly to
the crux of the matter, that is, to determine who brought the nitrates to be
used during the Syrian war and in making the barrel bombs that the Damascus
regime used to drop on its people.
Looking at the big picture one realises there is nothing left of Lebanon except
its military. Even there, nobody knows whether the army will remain standing or
not, despite the West’s awareness of the importance of carefully supporting this
institution.
To continue drawing the big picture, it may be useful to look at Lebanon within
a broader framework, that is, in its regional setting. Lebanon is not alone in
being deliberately dismantled so as to be transformed into an Iranian colony,
similar to the present status of Syria and Iraq.
The difference between the three countries is that Iraq possesses large oil
revenues that generate about ten billion dollars a month. Despite that, the
value of the Iraqi currency is falling as a result of systematic looting by the
“Islamic Republic.”
In Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, despite the special circumstances of each country,
the battle appears to be one of organised looting in each. This simply means
that Lebanon, which has become a hopeless case, is not only going through an
economic crisis, but is enduring a fundamental political crisis which raises the
issue of the country’s very existence and puts it in jeopardy. In this one
battle, which brings together Syria and Iraq, it seems crucial not to become
lost in details and seek instead sufficient clarity by asking one single
question: who is pillaging the three countries and who is behind the growing
poverty and misery in each one of them? By answering this question, one could be
better equipped to understand why the investigation into the Beirut port blast
was never allowed to take off.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on January 31- February 01/2023
Will Damascus Undermine Tehran’s Mediterranean
Dream?...Iran wants to keep the Syrian government at its mercy.
Alboukamal (Syria) - Asharq Al-Awsat/January 31/2023
Relations between Syria and Iran appear to have weakened amid reports that
Tehran has been stalling in helping out its ally out of its unprecedented
months-long fuel crisis. The “strategic” relations between Damascus and Tehran
appear to have also taken a hit through the launch of normalization talks
between Syria and Türkiye from which Iran has been excluded. Moreover, reports
have said that the Syrian government has been shifting towards the Arab fold to
help it end its crisis and isolation, a sign that it is moving farther away from
Iran.Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that Damascus is currently working on
consolidating its control over sections of the Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Beirut
route. The route is controlled by pro-Iran militias, but the regime’s attempts
to seize control of some parts of the road are signs that it is undermining
Tehran’s efforts to expand to the Mediterranean - a dream it has always longed
for. The route begins in Tehran, passes through the Iraqi capital Baghdad,
stretches to more Iraqi territories, such as Ramadi and al-Qaim, before entering
Syria in Alboukamal city and moving northwest towards al-Mayadeen city and then
Deir Ezzor. There, it branches out into two roads, one that heads further
northwest towards Aleppo and then Latakia city that overlooks the Mediterranean.
The second road moves to the southwest towards the eastern Badia (desert),
reaches Palmyra where it again branches out into two. The first road leads to
the central Homs city, while the second leads to the al-Qalamoun region in the
eastern Damascus countryside before stretching to the Syrian capital itself. In
the capital, the route connects to international highways that lead to Lebanon
and southern Syria.
‘Iran’s highway’
Iranian forces and its militias in Syria claimed control of the route when the
al-Qaim-Alboukamal border crossing between Iraq and Syria reopened over three
years ago. The crossing is strategically important for Iran because it provides
it with a land link to Hezbollah, its militia in Lebanon. It is also an
important trade route that links it to Damascus, the Syrian coast and northern
Lebanon. So important is the route to Iran that it has been called “the
resistance axis highway” and “Iran’s highway to the Mediterranean.”. Asharq Al-Awsat
has learned, however, that regime security agencies in Deir Ezzor and its
countryside, Alboukamal and al-Mayadeen – where Iranian forces and militias are
heavily deployed – have received orders to stop granting Iranians permits to own
land and properties in these regions. They have been also ordered to reclaim
government buildings that are being used as headquarters by the Iranian forces
and militias. Moreover, they have been ordered to closely inspect purchases by
Iranian officials and militias of civilian property.
These orders have also been carried out in the Homs province and its
countryside. Syria and Iran had established their “strategic” relationship in
1979. It started to show strain in December in wake of the latest fuel crisis to
hit regions held by the Syrian government. Throughout the eleven-year conflict
in Syria, Iran has provided Damascus with thousands of fighters, weapons and
ammunition to use against the opposition. It also offered it with credit lines
to buy food and oil derivatives and ships loaded with fuel to address any
shortage.
However, Iran failed to send any oil to its ally with the eruption of the latest
crippling shortage that has paralyzed government-held regions and caused prices
to skyrocket. Tehran’s failure to come to Damascus’ aid has raised suspicions
that relations have become strained. The postponement of a visit to Damascus by
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in late December has done little to ease these
suspicions. Asharq Al-Awsat had previously reported that Syrian authorities were
surprised that Raisi was preparing to visit Damascus. They learned of the plan
when Tehran made demands and draft agreements that cover Iran’s desire to
entrench itself militarily in the region and grant it access to the
Mediterranean. It also demanded sovereign financial concessions related to
Syrian oil, gas and phosphates fields and projects and telecommunications. It
also demanded that Iranians receive equal privileges as Syrian citizens in
Syria.
Exploitation
A source following the development of Syrian-Iranian relations described as
“exploitation” the demands that Iran has made of Syria. “They can’t be described
as anything less than that,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Iran’s behavior is
comparable to that of western countries that Damascus views as its enemy. The
similarities were definitely not lost on Damascus,” he remarked. Furthermore, he
said Iran did not help Syria throughout the conflict for the sake of helping it,
“rather it was seeking a foothold in the Arab world through Iraq and Syria. It
also wants to reach the Mediterranean, which is why it seized control of the
Tehran-Beirut route that stretches through Syria.”The source noted that more and
more signs are emerging that Arab countries were seeking to normalize ties with
Damascus to attract it back to the Arab fold. Damascus seems receptive to the
idea, but how will Iran react?
Iran has made sizeable investments in Syria, stressed the source. Will it stand
idly by and watch developments unfold? Will it allow Damascus to move ahead in
its new direction?
Marginalization
Even though Iran is one of the three guarantors of the Astana process on Syria,
it has notably been absent from the normalization talks between Ankara and
Damascus that have been sponsored by Moscow. Russia and Türkiye are the two
other guarantors.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had paid a visit to Damascus
on January 14 and later headed to Ankara on January 17. Abdollahian’s senior
advisor on special political affairs Ali Asghar Khaji had stated during the
visits that Iran was “annoyed” that it was excluded from normalization talks
between Ankara and Damascus. “Syrian issues cannot be easily resolved without
Iran,” he stressed. He also said that Abdollahian had spoken to Syrian
authorities about the issue, stressing that the Astana process must continue.
US Envoy: Iran Is Very Close to Producing Nuclear Weapon
Washington - Ali Barada/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
US envoy to Iran Robert Malley confirmed that Tehran is "very, very close" to
obtaining sufficient quantities of enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.
However, he refused to declare the end of diplomacy in the efforts of President
Joe Biden's administration to return to the nuclear agreement, warning that the
military option is the "last resort" although it is "very difficult and very
dangerous."In an interview with the BBC's HARDtalk program, Malley said that
"diplomacy never ends" when it comes to Iran, even if accompanied by "sanctions,
pressure, countering what they are doing in the region, and also mobilizing the
international community" and in conjunction with "the indirect negotiations with
Iran." Malley has been a key figure in US-Middle East policymaking under three
Democrat administrations for Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now
Biden.
He recalled that US officials have announced publicly they would continue the
indirect talks but "will not hesitate to take other steps to stop Iran's
aggressive behavior or to curb its nuclear program."
He added that the issue "is not an either-or; it is not diplomacy or the rest.
Everything goes hand in hand." The US official avoided saying whether Iran now
poses a greater threat to US national security than it was when Biden assumed
the presidency nearly two years ago, but he admitted that "we already inherited
a very dangerous situation because of the reckless decision by the prior
administration to withdraw from the deal that was working." Malley acknowledged
that "Iran's nuclear program has advanced. No doubt about it. No question."
The US, its European allies, and others are "far more united today than they
were" under former US President Donald Trump and are united more than ever, and
this "puts us in a much stronger position to confront Iran.""Things have gotten
worse. Iran has developed its nuclear program in ways that are very dangerous,
but we are more united, and we have a stronger position from which to counter
Iran."When asked if he confirmed a previous statement by Biden in which he said
the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "is
dead," Malley replied: "I wasn't hired to write obituaries." However, he
revealed that Iran had "turned down multiple opportunities to end this crisis
and to get back into the deal. [...] They are the ones who turned their backs on
it." Moreover, the envoy distinguished between Iranians being "very, very close"
to having enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb and close enough to obtaining
a bomb, which he described as a different question. He declared that Iran has
not resumed its "weaponization program and efforts to acquire a weapon," adding
that if they did, "the circumstances would change.""We are not comfortable with
them being as close as they are today, and that's why we're both pursuing a
diplomatic path," said Malley, recalling that, "President Biden said that if
that option fails, all other options will be on the table," including the
military option which he described as "far from our preference" and a "last
resort."He stressed that the military option is not the US' "first option"
because it is "a very difficult option. It's a very dangerous option," adding
that Biden would only do it if necessary. sked about Israel, Malley said Tel
Aviv has its interests and perception of Iran, adding: "We did not always agree
on the tactics. I think we agree on the objective, which is to make sure that
Iran can't acquire a nuclear weapon."Malley denied that the current US-Israeli
military maneuvers aim to prepare for a military plan for an attack against
Iran. Rather, they are designed to project Washington's support to Israel and
ensure that the "US and Israel together can work to defend their common
interests," [...] regardless of what is happening in Ukraine and what is
happening in the Russian theater, in the European theater," he explained. The
envoy renewed US support for human rights and basic freedoms in Iran, asserting
that it continues to counter Tehran's support for Russia in the war against
Ukraine and its threats against American citizens. Furthermore, Malley stressed
that Washington was not seeking regime change in Iran, clarifying that "our task
is to stand up for the Iranian people."
Iran, Russia Link Banking System Amid Western Sanctions
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
A senior Iranian official said Monday that Iran and Russia have connected their
interbank communication and transfer systems to help boost trade and financial
transactions as both Tehran and Moscow are chafing under Western sanctions.
Since the 2018 reimposition of US sanctions on Iran after Washington ditched
Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Tehran has been disconnected from
the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging service, which is a key
international banking access point. The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF), a
global dirty money watchdog, had again placed Iran on its black list in February
2020, after it failed to comply with international anti-terrorism financing
norms. Similar limitations have been slapped on some Russian banks since
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year. "Iranian banks no longer need to use
SWIFT ... with Russian banks, which can be for the opening of Letters of Credit
and transfers or warranties," deputy Governor of Iran's Central Bank, Mohsen
Karimi, told the semi-official Fars news agency. While Russia's central bank
declined to comment on the deal signed on Sunday, Karimi said "about 700 Russian
banks and 106 non-Russian banks from 13 different countries will be connected to
this system." He did not disclose the names of the foreign banks. Iran's Central
Bank chief Mohammad Farzin welcomed the move. "The financial channel between
Iran and the world is being repaired," he tweeted. Since the start of the
Ukraine war, Tehran and Moscow have acted to forge close bilateral ties as they
attempt to build new economic and diplomatic partnerships elsewhere. With
deepening economic misery, largely because of US sanctions over Tehran's
disputed nuclear work, many Iranians are feeling the pain of galloping inflation
and rising joblessness. Inflation has soared to over 50%, the highest level in
decades. Youth unemployment remains high with more than 50% of Iranians being
pushed below the poverty line, according to reports by Iran's Statistics Centre.
Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said on Monday that the
establishment faced "a tangible welfare and livelihood problem" that could not
be cured without economic growth. "In today's world, a country's status is
largely related to its economic power ... We need economic growth to maintain
our regional and global position," Khamenei said in a televised speech.
Baku: Closure of Tehran Embassy Doesn't Mean Severing of
Diplomatic Ties
Baku - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
Azerbaijan announced that the closure of its embassy in Tehran is "temporary"
and "doesn't mean that diplomatic ties had been severed", days after a gunman
stormed the mission, killing one guard and wounding two others. "The operation
of Azerbaijan's embassy in Iran has been temporarily suspended following the
evacuation of its staff and their family members from Iran," Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ayxan Hacizada told Agence France-Presse. "That doesn't mean
that diplomatic ties had been severed," he said, adding that Baku's consulate
general in the Iranian city of Tabriz was "up and running". In Iran, authorities
said Tehran's police arrested the attacker, who was an Iranian man married to an
Azerbaijani woman. They said the gunman appeared to have had a personal, not a
political, motive. Late on Sunday, Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf
Khalafov said Azerbaijan considers those claims as "ridiculous." "We can no
longer entrust the security of our embassy staff to Iran" after authorities
failed to heed repeated warnings about possible threats, Khalafov told reporters
in Baku late Sunday, according to Bloomberg. In a phone call on Saturday with
his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said
he hoped "this violent act of terror would be thoroughly investigated". Iranian
officials were behind the terrorist act against the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran,
Chairman of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations
Mubariz Gurbanli told reporters at the funeral ceremony of Senior Lieutenant
Orkhan Asqarov, who died while securing the embassy. He stressed that
masterminds and perpetrators of this crime should be punished. There have been
tensions between the two countries as Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel,
which angers Tehran.
Blinken takes support for two-state solution to
disillusioned Palestinians
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters)/Tue, January 31, 2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the West Bank on Tuesday on a
tour where he is appealing for a halt to violence and reaffirming Washington's
backing for a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and
the Palestinians. Blinken is urging calm on both sides after last week's killing
by a Palestinian gunman of seven people outside a synagogue in the worst such
attack in the Jerusalem area for years. He was set to repeat the message at a
meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Last week, Abbas'
Palestinian Authority (PA) suspended its security cooperation agreement with
Israel after the largest raid in years, when Israeli forces penetrated deep into
a refugee camp in the northern city of Jenin, setting off a gunfight in which 10
Palestinians died. PA leaders are angry after months of raids by Israeli forces
in the occupied West Bank. In January alone, 35 Palestinians have been killed in
clashes with Israeli troops, in the bloodiest month since 2015, while officials
say attacks on Palestinian property by Israeli settlers have also increased.
Blinken is also expected to highlight U.S. assistance to the Palestinian
economy, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid. Before meeting Abbas,
Blinken visited Deir Dibwan, a town near Ramallah that is home to many
Palestinian Americans, and met civil society leaders and businesspeople.
TWO-STATE SOLUTION HOPES FADE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, back in power at the head of one of
the most right-wing governments in Israel's history, has reinforced troops in
the West Bank and promised measures to strengthen settlements there, but so far
held off from more extreme steps. On Tuesday, Blinken met Israeli Defence
Minister Yoav Gallant and discussed cooperation to stop Iran developing a
nuclear weapon as well the situation in the West Bank. Hopes of achieving a
two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state based largely in the
West Bank alongside Israel, have all but disappeared since the last round of
U.S.-sponsored talks stalled in 2014. The Biden administration has said it would
reestablish a consulate for Palestinians shuttered by former President Donald
Trump, but has yet to say when or where it will be opened.
Blinken meets Palestinian leaders
in bid to restore calm
Agence France Presse/Tue, January 31, 2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to meet Palestinian leaders
Tuesday for his final stop on a Middle East tour aimed at curbing the worst
outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years. After a meeting with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Blinken urged both sides to take
"urgent steps" to calm tensions and said Washington would work to "restore a
sense of security" craved by "Israelis and Palestinians alike".Israel is reeling
from an attack Friday that killed seven civilians outside a synagogue in annexed
east Jerusalem, a day after the deadliest army raid in years in the occupied
West Bank claimed 10 Palestinian lives.After landing in Israel on Monday,
Blinken also criticized Palestinians who celebrated the funeral attack, saying:
"We condemn all those who celebrate... acts of terrorism, that take innocent
lives."He also appeared to chastise Israelis blamed for dozens of incidents of
reprisal violence following Friday's shooting in an east Jerusalem settler
neighborhood. "Retaliatory acts of violence against civilians are never
justified," he said. Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the
lives of 35 Palestinian adults and children -- including attackers, militants
and civilians. Over the same period six Israeli civilians, including a child,
and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed. All were shot dead in the attack
Friday outside the synagogue.
'Dangerous developments' -
Blinken is scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who
last week announced that his Palestinian Authority was cutting security
coordination with Israel after the deadly West Bank raid. Blinken is expected to
urge the PA to continue working with Israel to stem militant attacks. Blinken,
whose long-planned visit has taken on a new urgency amid the spiraling violence,
will also meet with Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh. The fatal east
Jerusalem shooting was preceded by the Israeli forces' deadliest operation in
the West Bank in years, killing 10 people Thursday in the densely populated
Jenin refugee camp. Israel said its forces targeted Islamic Jihad operatives.
The military later hit sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to rocket
fire from the Palestinian enclave. The Islamist group
said Blinken's visit "emphasizes the absolute support and partnership with the
(Israeli) occupation". Netanyahu's cabinet has moved to punish "the families of
terrorists that support terrorism" with home demolitions and other measures.
His government is also planning to rescind the rights to social security
benefits of attackers' relatives, and steps to make it easier for Israeli
citizens to obtain permits to carry firearms.
'Death spiral'
Blinken had made an initial stop in Egypt, where he met President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi, commending "Egypt's important role in promoting stability in the
region." The diplomats and intelligence services of Egypt -- a major recipient
of US military aid -- are regularly called upon to intercede between Israelis
and Palestinians. Blinken's Israel visit is part of
the Biden administration's efforts to engage quickly with Netanyahu, who had
tense relations with the previous Democratic president Barack Obama. He also
reiterated US support for a Palestinian state, a prospect few expect to advance
under the new Israeli government. Netanyahu, a veteran leader, returned to power
late last year at the helm of the most right-wing government in Israeli history.
During Netanyahu's previous tenure, Israel established ties with the United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, under deals brokered by former president Donald
Trump.
Netanyahu said Monday that expanding those deals and "working to close, finally,
the file of the Arab-Israeli conflict, I think would also help us achieve a
workable solution with our Palestinian neighbors".
Biden, King Abdullah to meet at
White House on Thursday
Arab News/January 31, 2023
King Abdullah is in Washington and met with US House of Representatives Speaker
Kevin McCarthy at the Capitol on Tuesday
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will receive and hold talks with Jordan’s
King Abdullah at the White House on Thursday, the Jordanian embassy in
Washington said on Tuesday. The king is in Washington and met with US House of
Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Capitol earlier on Tuesday. “Talks
will cover means to bolster the strategic partnership and ties of friendship
between Jordan and the US through expanding cooperation across various sectors,”
Jordan’s royal court said. Discussions will also include regional and
international developments, especially those connected to the Palestinian cause
and the US role in this regard, and the consequences of the Ukraine crisis.
Number of Armed Israeli Settlers in West Bank Stands at
About 100,000
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
Israeli anti-violence associations have raised the alarm on the consequences of
government plans for easing restrictions on settlers’ gun ownership and said
that such a move will lead to more grief and hostility for generations to come.
“A previous government led by Benjamin Netanyahu took decisions to facilitate
granting arms licenses in 2018, and the result was an increase in violence and
murder, especially within families and against women,” said Rela Mazali, the
co-founder and project coordinator of Gun Free Kitchen Tables (GFKT). GFKT is an
NGO that operates for stricter gun control and small arms disarmament. “Data
from homeland security for the year 2021 indicates that 12 people committed
suicide with a licensed weapon,” said Mazali, adding that in the same year, 14
women were shot dead, including three Jewish women. According to a recent report
published by Haaretz, 86 of the 100 towns in which the percentage of those
already licensed is high are settlements in the West Bank. In settlements like
Adora, Kiryat Netafim and Neghot, a third of the residents carry weapons. Data
collected by the National Security Ministry, headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, showed
that the percentage of licensed weapon holders is meager in Arab towns, where
unlicensed weapons are rife and sold on the black market at exorbitant prices.
Moreover, it turns out that settlements established by the Israeli government in
the West Bank are also characterized by a high rate of gun owners. In Ariel, a
settlement established in Nablus, the percentage of licensed weapon holders
reached 9.2%. In Maale Adumim, a settlement established in southern Jerusalem,
6% of residents are licensed weapon holders. Meanwhile, in bigger cities, like
Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, the rates are much lower standing at 1.8% at
most. About 148,000 Israeli settlers and citizens currently hold a weapon
license. This number does not include security personnel, soldiers, police and
guards.
Palestinian PM Says Israeli Govt Trying to Deflect
Attention from its Deep Crisis
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the Israeli government is
living in a deep crisis and trying to deflect attention through killing,
repression, collective punishment, home demolitions, and allowing terrorist
settlers to commit more crimes against the Palestinians. Shtayyeh was speaking
at a weekly cabinet session following the Israeli government’s decisions to
demolish the homes of Palestinians who carry out attacks, revoke residency and
privileges from their families, and make it easier for Israeli citizens to
obtain permits to carry firearms. The PM said the Israeli government was fully
and directly responsible for the escalation in the occupied territories due to
its aggression, violations, and daily crimes against the Palestinian people in
the Jenin refugee camp, occupied East Jerusalem, and various villages. Shtayyeh
called on the international community to condemn these crimes and denounce a
recent statement by Israeli ministers who encouraged the Israeli public to take
up arms to commit crimes against the defenseless Palestinian people. He
indicated that the Israeli escalation aims to destroy the Palestinian Authority,
vowing that it will not surrender to the Israeli attack. The PA will do
everything possible to protect its national achievements, complete the
liberation from Israel and ensure the establishment of a sovereign and viable
state with Jerusalem as its capital, as recognized by over 140 countries.
Israeli settlers have increased their attacks in the West Bank against
Palestinians, their vehicles, homes, lands and crops.
The phrases: "Death to the Arabs" and "O Jews, wake up" have been painted on the
walls of Palestinian villages. Many homes and vehicles belonging to Palestinians
have been set on fire in the past two days. The "price tag" groups affiliated
with Jewish extremists have constantly attacked Palestinians, committing crimes
against them, including burning homes, properties, and places of worship.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the international
community to place extremist settler organizations on terror lists. It warned of
the consequences of settlers committing “major crimes or massacres” against
Palestinian citizens and demanded that the international community and the US
take “a firm and practical stance” to stop the Israeli escalation and settler
attacks. The Ministry stressed that it has mobilized the broadest international
pressure against the Israeli government to stop its “insane” escalation, demand
international protection for the Palestinian people, and deal with extremist
settler organizations as terrorists. The Ministry condemned the “escalating
terrorism of armed settler militias against citizens, their lands, homes,
properties, and sanctities”. It said the settlers carried out over 120 attacks
in a single night in the southern Nablus region. The statement also noted the
provocative Israeli marches in the Old City of Jerusalem and continuous
incursions into the holy al-Aqsa Mosque. Moreover, the Ministry strongly
condemned the settler attack on the headquarters of the Armenian Patriarchate in
Jerusalem and the removal of its flag. It warned that the protection provided to
the settlers and their gangs, and the support of the Israeli government to the
settlements, “encourages Jewish terrorists to commit more violations and
crimes”.
The 'tear-gassed' Palestinians
trying to stop Israeli settlers occupying their land
Sky News/Mon, January 30, 2023
It's night-time, and the lights of our 4x4 guide the way up a mountain road in
the West Bank. We're above the village of Battir, south of Jerusalem, on rocky
land that has been farmed by generations of the same Palestinian families over
decades. They didn't create this road. It was bulldozed one evening by an
Israeli settler living nearby. In the weeks that followed, he moved sheep on to
the land, built a pen for them, and then dug a hole out the side of the hill.
We're with Hasan, one of the villagers who has fought to reclaim this land
through Israeli courts. "He (the settler) was just over there, and he started
expanding all over this hilltop. "He brought some kind of big containers on
wheels and he created like a big camp, with electricity generators and so on,
and bringing all the facilities of water tanks and stuff like that."
Every evening, men from Battir come up here to keep watch on a rota. Within
minutes of us arriving, a spotter saw the car lights and raised the alarm. Hasan
said: "His (the settler's) claim was a grazing permit to come just to graze his
sheep in the area. Then he starts saying this is the promised land of Israel and
this is the land of the state of Israel, and I have the right to be here. "But
he never showed any evidence of land ownership or a contract that he got through
any legal body." Hasan and his fellow villagers have been threatened and on one
occasion had tear gas fired at them by Israeli security when they tried to stand
their ground. "There were over a hundred settlers coming all together. We were
really worried that it will become like a violent reaction. The third time he
came in March or in February 2022, it was the most dangerous one when he came
with some support of soldiers with him.
"They start shooting tear gas on us to prevent us from even getting closer from
the hilltop over there. So we learn that this is getting violent. We are not
looking to lose somebody from our village or our brothers or our cousins."It is
a story you hear regularly in the West Bank. Israeli settlement expansion is
illegal under international law and opposed by the US, UK, EU and the UN. It is
the source of extreme anger for many Palestinians.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has flown in at a "pivotal moment" as the
security situation here grows ever more volatile by the day. He met Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday and will sit down with
Palestinian leaders in Ramallah on Tuesday. Although the US still talks of a
two-state solution, as do other international governments, it is a non-starter
right now. Mr Netanyahu is facing international pressure to calm the tensions,
whilst at the same time beholden to extreme right-wing voices in his new
cabinet. In response to recent terror attacks in Jerusalem, the government has
said it wants to arm more Israeli civilians and there has already been talk of
introducing the death penalty. The future for Hasan, and other Palestinians, is
concerning. Hasan said: "Unfortunately, this is a very dangerous situation. We
are really worried about all the support that the settlers are gaining through
the new government. "We are really worried they will come and they will attack
us with their weapons, and we will not be allowed to be here anymore."What do
you want? I ask him. "I want to live in peace. I want to live in freedom. I want
freedom because freedom will get us peace and justice. Without the freedom, we
will never get peace and justice in this country. "And there should be a
solution if they want to have a one-state, two-state, 10-state solution, I don't
mind, I just want a free state that we could live in as Palestinians."
Britain Says It’s Not Practical to Send Ukraine Fighter
Jets
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
Britain does not believe it is practical to send its fighter jets to Ukraine, a
spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday, after Kyiv
indicated it would push for such Western planes. "The UK's ... fighter jets are
extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly. Given that, we
believe it is not practical to send those jets into Ukraine," the spokesperson
told reporters. "We will continue to discuss with our allies about what we think
what is the right approach."
Russia Claims Control of Blahodatne North of Ukraine’s
Bakhmut
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had taken control of Blahodatne, a
village just north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where some of the heaviest
fighting of the war has taken place in recent weeks. Blahodatne, about 5 km (3
miles) north of Bakhmut, was captured with the help of aerial support, Moscow's
defense ministry said. Reuters was not able to independently verify Russia's
battlefield account. The Wagner Group, designated by the United States as a
transnational criminal organization, had already said on Saturday its units had
taken control of Blahodatne, but Kyiv said that it had repelled an attack on the
village. Russia claims to have taken control of several locations around Bakhmut,
where its troops and private Wagner mercenaries have been locked for months in a
battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces.
NATO, Japan Pledge to Strengthen Ties in Face of ‘Historic’
Security Threat
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January, 2023
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Japanese premier Fumio Kishida pledged on
Tuesday to strengthen ties, saying Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its growing
military cooperation with China had created the most tense security environment
since World War Two.
The comments came in a statement issued during Stoltenberg's trip to Japan
following a visit to South Korea on which he urged Seoul to increase military
support to Ukraine and gave similar warnings about rising tension with China.
"The world is at a historical inflection point in the most severe and complex
security environment since the end of World War II," the two leaders said in the
statement. It also raised concerns about Russia's nuclear threats, joint
military drills between Russia and China near Japan, and North Korea's
development of nuclear weapons. Stoltenberg told reporters a Russian victory in
Ukraine would embolden China at a time when it is building up its military,
"bullying its neighbors and threatening Taiwan". He added, "This war is not just
a European crisis, but the challenge to the world order." "Beijing is watching
closely, and learning lessons that may influence its future decisions. What is
happening in Europe today could happen in East Asia tomorrow."While the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization groups 30 countries in Europe and North America,
Stoltenberg has said its members are affected by global threats. Kishida and
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol became the first leaders from their
countries to attend a NATO summit last year, joining as observers. China has
previously criticized NATO's efforts to expand its alliances in Asia. Russia,
which calls its invasion of Ukraine a "special operation", has repeatedly cast
NATO's expansion as a threat to its security. Late last year, Japan unveiled
sweeping plans to beef up its defense capabilities, changes once unthinkable for
a pacifist country that will make it the third-biggest military spender after
the United States and China. Bolstering its cooperation with NATO in areas from
maritime security and arms control to cyberspace and disinformation will further
help to respond to the changing strategic environment, the statement added. The
meeting comes as Japan prepares to host the annual Group of Seven (G7) summit in
May, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to be a major topic of
discussion. Kishida is considering visiting Kyiv in February to reinforce his
support for Ukraine in the conflict, domestic media have said.
Ukraine to receive 120-140 tanks
in 'first wave' of deliveries - minister
KYIV (Reuters)/January 31, 2023
Ukraine will receive 120 to 140 Western tanks in a "first wave" of deliveries
from a coalition of 12 countries, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on
Tuesday. Kyiv secured pledges from the West this month to supply main battle
tanks to help fend off Russia's full-scale invasion, with Moscow mounting huge
efforts to make incremental advances in eastern Ukraine. "The tank coalition now
has 12 members. I can note that in the first wave of contributions, the
Ukrainian armed forces will receive between 120 and 140 Western-model tanks,"
Kuleba said during an online briefing. He said those tanks would include the
German Leopard 2, the British Challenger 2 and the U.S. M1 Abrams, and that
Ukraine was also "really counting" on supplies of French Leclerc tanks being
agreed. Kuleba gave no timeline for any of the deliveries. Time will also be
needed for training with the tanks. Kuleba said Kyiv was working behind the
scenes to win over more countries to supply tanks at what officials say is a
critical time in the war. "... We continue to work on both expanding the
membership of the tank coalition and increasing the contributions of those
already pledged," he said. Kyiv plans to launch a major counteroffensive to
recapture swathes of territory taken by Russia in the south and east of the
country. The United States has told Kyiv to hold off on those plans until
Western military assistance has arrived in Ukraine. Ukraine is also concerned
that Russia could launch its own major offensive in the coming weeks or months.
Ukraine says it prevented Russia cutting off eastern supply
line
KYIV (Reuters)/January 31, 2023
Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces had repelled Russian attacks on a road near
the eastern town of Bakhmut, preventing Moscow gaining control of an important
Ukrainian supply line. Russian troops have been unable to cut off the road
leading from the town Chasiv Yar to Bakhmut, military spokesperson Serhiy
Cherevaty said in televised comments. "Russian troops could not cut off the road
which is used for supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian army in
Bakhmut is supplied with everything necessary," he said. He said Bakhmut
remained one of the main focuses of Russian attacks, including artillery strikes
and infantry assaults. Earlier on Tuesday, Russia said its forces had taken
control of Blahodatne, a small village just north of Bakhmut. Reuters was not
able to independently verify battlefield accounts by either side. Ukrainian
troops, the Russian military and Russian private military contractor Wagner
Group have been locked for months in a fierce battle of attrition in the Bakhmut
area. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said
needed more weapons to repel Moscow's forces because Russia had stepped up
attacks. He wrote on Twitter that "systematic shelling of frontline cities,
accumulation of ordnance, redeployment of troops, additional forced mobilization
surely do not indicate RF’s (Russia's) readiness for peace." "These are direct
signs of significant escalation. Therefore, weapons, weapons & more weapons for
Ukraine," he wrote. Since winning Western pledges last week to provide main
battle tanks, Kyiv has requested more weapons including fighter jets.
Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are
changing as thousands serve on front lines
Ruslan Lytvyn/Shutterstock/The Conversation/January 31, 2023
Thousands of women have voluntarily joined Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014,
when Russia’s occupation of Crimea and territories in eastern Ukraine began.
Over the past nine years, the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military
has more than doubled, with another wave of women joining after Russia’s
full-scale invasion in February 2022. Women have served in Ukraine’s armed
forces since the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union in
1991, but were mainly in supporting roles until the beginning of the war in
2014. They started serving in combat roles in 2016 and all military roles were
opened to women in 2022. However, many women in non-combat roles, such as
medics, are exposed to the same dangers and hardships as their male and female
colleagues who fire the weapons. According to Ukraine’s deputy minister of
defence, Hanna Maliar, by the summer of 2022 more than 50,000 women were
employed by the armed forces in some capacity, with approximately 38,000 serving
in uniform. Women are now with units on the front lines. Women in the armed
forces are being taken as prisoners-of-war by the Russians. Ukrainian medic
Yulia Paevska was imprisoned for three months . “The treatment was very hard,
very rough … The women and I were all exhausted,” she told Associated Press.
Patriarchal attitudes are changing
Ukraine is a country with strong patriarchal traditions, especially in the
defence sector. But Ukraine’s women soldiers are increasingly being accepted by
Ukrainian society and the country’s political leadership during this war. One
indication of the recognition of women’s presence in the military and society’s
rating of their contributions was when National Defenders’ Day was renamed in
2021 as the Day of Men and Women Defenders of Ukraine. And there are other
indications. Images of servicewomen are now regularly used by the ministry of
defence in its social media posts. Ukraine’s women soldiers are also often in
the news, talking about their military experiences. There are also approximately
8,000 women officers as of October 2022, and one of Ukraine’s deputy defence
ministers is a woman. But the presence of women in the Ukrainian armed forces
has not been without controversy. Some analysts warn against assuming that the
photographs and videos in the news and on social media showing women on the
front lines means that they enjoy equality with the men they serve beside.
Boots that don’t fit
Ukraine’s women soldiers still have to overcome scepticism from commanders and
fellow soldiers about their commitment and abilities, obstacles to promotion and
career development, as well as difficulties with practical – and vitally
important – matters such as getting uniforms, body armour and boots that fit.
Women are also more exposed to sexual violence. Many Ukrainian female combatants
mention in interviews with journalists that they must avoid captivity by any
means and that they are ready to die rather than being captured by the Russians.
A major research project, Invisible Battalion, began in 2015 and has shed light
on the conditions of military service for Ukrainian women. Led by a group of
Ukrainian sociologists (including Anna Kvit, one of the authors of this
article), it identified legal barriers to women’s employment in the defence and
security sector, as well as obstacles to their access to military education and
training. These regulations had prevented women in the military from occupying a
range of technical and leadership positions. Not only have many of these formal
obstacles now been removed, but gender advisers and audits have been introduced
to encourage a military culture that is more welcoming for women. In families
where both parents are serving in the armed forces, parental leave is no longer
the exclusive preserve of mothers. Social attitudes towards women soldiers have
also improved a great deal over the past few years. For example, the percentage
of Ukrainians who agreed that women in the military should be granted equal
opportunities with men increased dramatically from 53% in 2018 to 80% in 2022.
Looking ahead to post-war Ukrainian society, it is hard to predict whether these
more positive public attitudes towards women soldiers will translate into
greater acceptance of women in the relatively new role of war veteran. A
follow-up study conducted for the Invisible Battalion project in 2017 revealed
that women veterans struggled to have their status recognised by both government
officials and civilians. This meant difficulties in accessing public services
for veterans and in making the transition back to civilian life.
Will attitudes roll back?
In the aftermath of war there is often social pressure on women to resume more
traditional gender roles, namely to focus on motherhood and family. This is
precisely what happened to Soviet women who fought in the second world war: they
were the first to be demobilised and were even instructed not to talk about what
they did in the war in case they might embarrass their husbands. However, just
as public attitudes towards women in in the military are changing quickly in
Ukraine, so too are the country’s laws and government policies. Ukraine’s
commitment towards addressing women’s needs and rights is reflected in the
government’s strategic documents for the next decade. For example, in 2022
Ukraine adopted the national strategy on equality of women and men, covering the
period up to 2030. In 2020 it introduced Ukraine’s second national action plan
including measures to improve conditions for women’s military service and
support women veterans. The plan makes a commitment to provide “servicewomen
with uniforms, equipment, and body armour that would fit their anthropometric
measures”, and to provide women veterans and their family members with free
legal advice. The common experience of war brings an understanding of the scale
and nature of the contributions that Ukraine’s women are making to protect and
defend their country. This shared understanding, reinforced by everyday
encounters with women veterans who are friends, neighbours and family, might
mean these women’s experiences will be valued in the years to come.
*This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons
license. Read the original article.
Armenia asks Russia's Putin to act to end Karabakh's
isolation
(Reuters)/January 31, 2023
Armenia on Tuesday asked President Vladimir Putin to take a tougher line on
Nagorno-Karabakh and for Russian peacekeepers to end what it calls Azerbaijan's
blockade of the Lachin corridor which leads to the enclave. Armenia said Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan had spoken to Putin about the resulting humanitarian
crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and had "highlighted" the importance of Russia taking
the necessary steps to overcome it. "In this context, reference was made to the
activities of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh," the
Armenian government said in a statement.
Azeri civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists have been
facing off since Dec. 12 with Russian peacekeepers on the Lachin corridor, the
only road across Azerbaijan that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku denies
blockading the road, saying that some convoys and aid is allowed through. The
Kremlin said Armenia had asked for the call. "The current situation around
Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of consistent
implementation of the entire complex of trilateral agreements of the leaders of
Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan," it said. Armenia has made a series of
increasingly blunt public demands of Russia over the blockade in recent weeks.
Pashinyan last month said Russian peacekeepers were failing to perform their
duties.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but its
120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians and it broke away from
Baku in a first war in the early 1990s.
In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a second
war that ended in a Russian-brokered ceasefire upheld by Russian peacekeepers.
Azerbaijan asks World Court to order Armenia to help
demining effort
THE HAGUE (Reuters)/January 31, 2023
Azerbaijan on Tuesday called on judges at the World Court to order Armenia to
help demine areas it previously controlled and stop planting explosive devices
which prevent Azeri nationals from returning to their former homes. Azerbaijan
asked the court, as part of an ongoing larger case, to issue an emergency ruling
to order Armenia to give information about the location of the devices to allow
for safe demining and stop putting in new mines. "Azerbaijanis are continuing to
suffer serious injuries and die because Armenia refuses to share the information
that could save them," Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister Elnur Mammadov told
the court. In previous hearings, Armenia has dismissed Azerbaijan's claims about
landmines as manufactured defensive moves, and said it had already shared
demining maps and was ready to share more. On Monday Armenia asked the
International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, in a
competing case to order Azerbaijan to lift a blockade of the Lachin corridor in
the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Lachin corridor is the only route
through which Armenia can provide food, fuel and medicine supplies to
Nagorno-Karabakh, a region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but
home to around 120,000 ethnic Armenians. The corridor has been blocked since
Dec. 12, when protesters claiming to be environmental activists stopped traffic
by setting up tents. Azerbaijan denies any blockade, saying the activists are
staging a legitimate protest against illegal mining activity. In October 2020,
Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had
controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before
Russia brokered a ceasefire. In the following year Armenia and Azerbaijan filed
competing cases at the World Court. Each claimed the other country had violated
a United Nations anti-discrimination treaty, to which both states are
signatories.
Turkish Opposition Unveils Electoral Plan, Seeks to Restore
Parliamentary System
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 31 January,
2023
The leaders of a coalition of six Turkish opposition parties, known as the Table
of Six, announced on Monday their program for presidential and parliamentary
elections scheduled for May 14. Their plan includes restoring the parliamentary
system of government and reducing presidential powers. In a 244-page document,
the coalition introduced 2,300 common goals regarding opposition work in the
fields of law, justice and judiciary; public administration; fighting corruption
and promoting transparency; economy, finance and employment; science, research,
development and innovation; entrepreneurship and digital transformation. The
goals also covered sectoral policies, education and training, social policies
and foreign, defense, security, and immigration policies. Moreover, the document
promoted the transition to a strengthened parliamentary system for an effective
and participatory legislative authority, and the abolition of the right of veto
currently granted to the president under the presidential system. According to
the opposition, the president should only be given the right to return laws to
parliament in the event of their objection to some articles instead of being
allowed to veto legislation. Additionally, a new
president must be elected every seven years. Elected presidents must also cut
ties with their political parties after taking office. They are required to
retire from politics after their term ends. The MoU also called for the
abolition of the system of pretrial detention and strict scrutiny in exceptional
cases. It promoted freedom of thought, opinion and expression, and the
completion of the settlement of grievances arising from emergency decrees. The
Table of Six is composed of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Good Party,
Felicity Party, Democrat Party, Democracy and Progress Party, and Future Party.
France faces huge disruption as
pension protests kick off
Agence France Presse/January, 31/2023
France woke up to a day of paralysis Tuesday with transport blockages, mass
strikes and demonstrations hitting the country for the second time in a month to
protest a planned reform to raise the retirement age. Around a million people
were expected to take to the streets nationwide, a police source told AFP,
rallying against plans to boost the age of retirement from 62 to 64. Some 11,000
police were mobilized across the country, with 4,000 deployed in Paris where
several hundred extremist troublemakers were expected, according to the interior
ministry. On January 19, some 1.1 million took to the streets in rallies against
the proposed shake-up -- the largest protests since the last major round of
pension reform in 2010. Millions had to find
alternative means of transport Tuesday, work from home or take time off to look
after their school-age children, with workers in transport and education sectors
among those staging walkouts. "This is about more than pensions, it is about
what kind of society we want," 59-year-old university professor Martine Beugnet
told AFP, saying she would take part in Tuesday's protest.
Most Paris metro and suburban rail services were severely restricted, the
capital's transport operator RATP said. Intercity travel was also disrupted,
with just one in three high-speed trains likely to run, railway company SNCF
predicted.
'Get another train'
In the southwestern city of Bordeaux, Cheikh Sadibou Tamamate, 36, arrived at
the train station in the small hours of Tuesday, hoping to catch a morning train
to Paris after the one he was booked on around 5:00 am (0400 GMT) never left.
"Unfortunately it was cancelled," he said. Sitting on a bench with an open
laptop Guillaume Chaux, 32, said he discovered his train had been cancelled as
he arrived at the station, but he still hoped to make it to London Tuesday. "I'm
looking at travel apps to see if I can get another train. Nobody has told me
anything," he said. Air travel is to be less badly affected, with national
carrier Air France saying it would cancel one in 10 short and medium-haul
services, but long-distance flights would be unaffected. Only minor disruptions
were expected on international train services including the Eurostar. Around
half of all nursery and primary school teachers would be striking, the main
teachers' union Snuipp-FSU said. France's oil industry was mostly paralyzed,
with the hardleft CGT union at energy giant TotalEnergies reporting between 75
and 100 percent of workers on strike.
'Non-negotiable'
Sixty-one percent of French people support the protest movement, a poll by the
OpinionWay survey group showed on Monday -- a rise of three percentage points
from January 12. The most controversial part of the overhaul is hiking the
minimum retirement age. But the changes are also to increase the number of years
people have to make contributions before they can receive a full pension.
President Emmanuel Macron put pensions reform at the heart of his re-election
campaign last year. The 45-year-old centrist on Monday said the changes were
"essential when we compare ourselves to the rest of Europe". France has the
lowest qualifying age for a state pension among major European economies. The
government has said the changes are necessary to guarantee the future financing
of the pension system, which is forecast to tip into deficit in the next few
years. But opponents point out that the system is not
in trouble, quoting the head of the independent Pensions Advisory Council as
saying: "Pension spending is not out of control, it's relatively contained."The
government has signalled there could be wiggle room on some of the suggested
measures, but Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said raising the age of
retirement was "non-negotiable". Parliament committees started examining the
bill on Monday. The left-wing opposition has submitted more than 7,000
amendments to the draft legislation in a bid to slow its path through
parliament. Macron's centrist allies, short of an
absolute majority, will need votes from conservatives to push through the new
legislation.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on January 31- February 01/2023
Contemporary Saudi Arabia in Pompeo’s Memoirs
Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/January, 31/2023
I read most of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recently published
memoirs “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.” The book is full
of insights into a sensitive period during which the media unfortunately pushed
a leftist agenda, falsifying facts, misleading the people, and inciting them.
Nothing in the book caught my eye quite like his assertion that the Trump
administration dealt with the world as it was, not as we wished it had been.
Indeed, what distinguished the Trump administration more than anything else,
especially with regard to the political and diplomatic issues that Pompeo took
the lead on, is that it tried to understand how peoples and their states are
different and how they complement each other. Without giving out orders or
intervening, it respected the approach each state took to managing its own
affairs and sought to maintain its sovereignty.
In my mind, this shows that the administration had a strong grasp of how modern
international relations work - that the administration understood that interests
come first.
Pompeo discussed a broad array of topics tied to global security, military
issues, intelligence, the media, legal questions and many others. The most
prominent subject he shares his insights into, in my view, is the relationship
between Saudi Arabia and the US. The significance of this deeply rooted
historical relationship for the region and the global economy can only be
appreciated by those who have a profound understanding of politics. And it was
no surprise to see him clear up many matters that had been obscure without
taking sides or showing any kind of bias.
Pompeo did not hide his admiration for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and how
he has managed the country and plans to address future challenges. In fact, he
stressed that Crown Prince Mohammed is a reformist who would prove to be “one of
the most important leaders of his time,” adding that he is “leading the greatest
cultural reform in the Kingdom’s history.”
He also praised Crown Prince Mohammed, by saying that despite his youth - he had
been 31 years of age when he became crown prince – he proved that he was an
intelligent actor through his actions in what was a ruthless and complicated
political environment.
Pompeo does not make these statements as a spectator impressed with what he sees
or a citizen who can feel the direct impact that changes have had on his life.
Rather, he praises Crown Prince Mohammed based on his experiences as a foreign
official working for a great power who has worked with the Crown Prince on
resolving several issues and crises under an array of different conditions. He
saw first-hand and documented the pioneering and proactive approach that Crown
Prince Mohammed took to dealing with challenges.
The most difficult of the challenges facing the modern Saudi project is that
traditional politicians and those with limited imagination cannot comprehend the
speed at which the project is moving forward or the ideas behind it. Pompeo, on
the other hand, quickly understood what was happening and saw the leader of a
social revolution, economic boom, and political and cultural leap in the Crown
Prince.
Mohammed bin Salman is the driving force behind (Vision 2030), a plan that
involves major economic and social reforms in a country that has been dominated
by the production of oil and hardline Islamic values. Some have said that
Mohammed bin Salman has been very slow to implement his reforms. But no over
leader has ever moved so quickly, said Pompeo. “And I venture that no other
leader could have.”
Nonetheless, despite the importance of everything Pompeo has said and the fact
he documented in his memoirs, nothing he mentioned is news to us - we who are
very well aware of what we are doing. However, its significance lies in the fact
that the book, as time goes by, will turn into a reference for the objective new
outlets and serious researchers who will write about the Kingdom in the future
and look for the secret to the success it achieved despite all the failed
attempts to stand in its way.
Violent History Echoes in the Killing of Tyre Nichols
Emily Yellin/The New York Times/January 31/ 2023
On April 3, 1968, shortly before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would
deliver what turned out to be his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,”
at a Memphis church packed with striking sanitation workers, the Rev. James M.
Lawson Jr., a local minister and national strategist of nonviolent direct
action, stepped up to the church’s pulpit. A colleague and friend of Dr. King,
Mr. Lawson spoke passionately to the crowd about a teenager named Larry Payne. A
few days before, a Memphis police officer had shot and killed Mr. Payne in a
doorway outside the housing project where he lived, unbeknown to his mother, who
was at home in their apartment less than a hundred yards away.
This month, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Memphis father, became the latest Black
man to join a horrific line of abuse that connects that moment 55 years ago to
right now. Five Memphis police officers have been charged with the aggravated
kidnapping and second-degree murder of Mr. Nichols, an avid skateboarder and
photographer who worked the second shift at FedEx. The officers beat him
mercilessly. He was heard on videos from the scene saying, “I’m just trying to
get home.” And he called out for his mother (as George Floyd did in 2020),
unbeknown to her at the time, even though she was at their house less than a
hundred yards away.
Mr. Lawson told the crowd that night in 1968 how people defending the police
killing were saying, “They were only doing their job.” But, Mr. Lawson
countered, “if their job requires that they stick a shotgun in the midsection of
a 17-year-old boy who has his hands over his head and is saying, ‘Don’t shoot,’
then we need —” Mr. Lawson couldn’t finish his sentence, because those words
(which would echo decades later as demonstrators chanted, “Hands up, don’t
shoot,” in Ferguson, Mo.) stirred people in attendance to thunderous hollers,
shouts and clapping. A few beats later, he raised his voice, declaring it was
“high time that we rid Memphis and this nation” of police brutality. “We want to
see it end,” he said, “once and for all.”
The next day, Dr. King was assassinated. And in 2023 “once and for all” still
has not come true.
Many cities in the United States could trace similar repetitive patterns of
policing that torments and kills people who aren’t considered white, all the way
back to the origin of law enforcement in this country. It is a history rooted in
slave patrols and militias designed to protect white people’s lives and
livelihoods from rebellion among enslaved Black people. But in Memphis the grief
and oppressiveness resulting from those systemic patterns run especially deep —
lingering and reverberating, like the rap, soul, blues and rock ’n’ roll music
this city has given the world.
Three years after Mr. Payne’s 1968 killing, several Memphis law enforcement
officers were charged in connection with the murder of Elton Hayes, a Black
17-year-old who was beaten to death in a ditch after a high-speed chase. (Twenty
years later, the police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles had similarities
to that case.) Mr. Hayes’s killing in 1971 ignited five days of uprisings in
Memphis. The officers were acquitted.
In 1974 a Memphis police officer pursued a Black 15-year-old accused of stealing
a wallet containing $10 and shot him in the back of the head, killing him as he
was running away. The case went to the US Supreme Court and set a standard
limiting the justifications for police shootings of fleeing suspects. The young
victim in the Memphis case was named Edward Garner. (Forty years later, a police
officer using a banned chokehold killed a Black man named Eric Garner on a
Staten Island sidewalk.)
The toxic line reaches much farther back, to 1866, when mobs led by white
Memphis police officers, angry at the Black Union soldiers who were freely
roaming the city after the end of the Civil War, systematically killed 46 Black
people in the streets. For three days, the mobs rampaged, raping Black women and
looting and burning Black people’s homes, schools and churches in the same part
of the city where Mr. Payne and Dr. King were killed 102 years later. No charges
were ever brought against any of the policemen, even though a 400-page
congressional report on the horrors of the attacks swayed many in Congress and
was said to influence the passage of the 14th Amendment.
Twenty-six years later, in 1892, the police, along with armed civilians, invaded
a prosperous nearby neighborhood. They rounded up and arrested dozens of Black
men without sound reasons. A few days later, a group of white men easily entered
the jail and kidnapped three of the most successful business leaders among the
arrested men and murdered them in a field near the Mississippi River. One was a
particularly close friend of the Memphis schoolteacher and journalist Ida B.
Wells. Their deaths sparked her international anti-lynching campaign.
This past week, as the city braced for the release of police videos of Mr.
Nichols being assaulted, a Memphis pastor, the Rev. Earle Fisher, called out
local and national leaders on social media. He is a respected longtime critic of
deadly overpolicing in Memphis, particularly since a police officer killed
19-year-old Darrius Stewart in 2015 during a traffic stop. Mr. Fisher posted, “I
feel a way about how some of the same people who have resisted or tried to
reduce our calls for reform FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS; the ones who have
literally manufactured and maintained these brutal conditions, are now posturing
themselves as champions at the vanguard of structural and systemic change.”
Mr. Nichols might not have known every detail of the cruel heritage that was
ensnaring him as he tried to calm the mob of policemen beating him, tried to
escape and shouted, “Mom, Mom, Mom.” But that doesn’t mean he didn’t know in his
bones or in his DNA or from the Memphis soil beneath him that he could end up
joining those who preceded him in the lineage of terror running through our
nation’s history.
Mr. Nichols’s stepfather told a reporter how wrenching it was to see on video
when officers who had just taken turns kicking his son and beating him with
batons acted so nonchalantly afterward, as if they had done the same thing many
times before. Isn’t that similar to how our nation has responded for centuries
when it comes to police violence against Black people? Isn’t it high time,
again, to stop treating police brutality as just another issue to address with
half measures? Or will this be yet one more moment when the vicious, racist
(blue) line twisting through our nation continues to be as American as apple
pie, baseball and Elvis?
Russian-Iranian Axis: Biden Administration Missing in
Action?
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 31, 2023
Iran is now selling surface-to-surface missiles to Russia for use in its war on
Ukraine -- on the cusp of a reported "major Ukrainian offensive" -- in addition
to the drones it has already been delivering, two senior Iranian officials and
two Iranian diplomats told Reuters.
"In exchange, Russia is offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and
technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged
defense partnership.... This is a full-scale defense partnership that is
harmful... to the international community." — John Kirby, White House National
Security Spokesperson, December 9, 2022.
When asked how Iran's sale of drones and missiles impacts the Biden
administration's stance on the Iran nuclear deal... John Kirby deflected the
question.
At a time when Iranians are desperately risking their lives to free themselves
of a vicious theocratic dictatorship, it would be equally impressive if the
Biden Administration would stand firmly behind the protestors in their fight for
liberty and human rights, values America has always professed to support.
President Ronald Reagan did it with great success to aid the collapse of the
Soviet Empire.
Speaking a rally in California in October, President Joe Biden said, "we stand
with the citizens, the brave women of Iran." Such words are cost-free: They will
not do much to help the Iranian protesters fighting for freedom and human
rights.
Even former President Barack Obama, who ignored Iran's "Green Movement"
protesters in 2009, admitted in October that his lack of support then for the
Iranian dissidents was a mistake.
Statements of solidarity, however strong, will not produce serious results. What
is needed from the US is to help the people of Iran concretely – to prevent Iran
from acquiring nuclear weapons to dominate the Middle East, South America,
Europe -- and the United States.
Iran is now planning to station warships in the Panama Canal – which China is
aggressively trying to control. The U.S. has not even had an ambassador in
Panama since 2018.
All one has to do is look at how terrified the Biden administration has been of
"provoking" Russian President Vladimir Putin into using nuclear weapons. What
actually provokes dictators? That America exists.
Iran is now selling surface-to-surface missiles to Russia for use in its war on
Ukraine, in addition to the drones it has already been delivering, two senior
Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters. Pictured: Firefighters
in Kyiv, Ukraine try to put out a fire in a four-story residential building, in
which three people were killed when it was hit by a "kamikaze drone" (many of
which are supplied to Russian forces by Iran), on October 17, 2022. (Photo by
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Iran is now selling surface-to-surface missiles to Russia for use in its war on
Ukraine -- on the cusp of a reported "major Ukrainian offensive" -- in addition
to the drones it has already been delivering, two senior Iranian officials and
two Iranian diplomats told Reuters.
According to anonymous US and allied officials quoted by the Washington Post,
Iran has secretly agreed to send "what some officials described as the first
Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles intended for use against Ukrainian
cities and troop positions."
Russia is reportedly buying Iranian-made missiles capable of hitting targets at
distances of 300 and 700 kilometers, respectively.
"The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles
with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,"
one of the Iranian diplomats told Reuters.
The news of the missile deal came after it became publicly known in August that
Russia had been buying Iranian drones, including the Mohajer-6 and the Shahed-series
drones. The first batch, according to the Washington Post, was picked up by
Russian cargo flights in late August, with Iranians reported to be training
Russian soldiers in using them for Russia's war on Ukraine.
The Shahed-136s kamikaze drones, are designed to explode upon impact with their
targets. According to the Washington Post, they are capable of delivering
explosive payloads at distances of up to 1,500 miles.
John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesperson, confirmed in
December, that Iranian military support for Russia has become indispensable to
Russia's war effort in Ukraine and directly enabling it to kill Ukrainians; that
Iran is considering selling ballistic missiles to the country and that the two
regimes are developing a military partnership that is mutually beneficial. Kirby
said in a December 9 briefing:
"Iran is providing Russia with drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine...
In exchange, Russia is offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and
technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged
defense partnership.... This partnership poses a threat, not just to Ukraine,
but to Iran's neighbors in the region..."
"Iran has become Russia's top military backer. Since August, Iran has
transferred several hundred drones, UAVs, to Russia. Russia has been using these
UAVs to attack Ukraine's critical infrastructure, and as I said earlier, to kill
innocent Ukrainian people...
"We expect Iranian support for the Russian military to only grow in coming
months. We even believe that Iran is considering the sale of hundreds of
ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia... We've also seen reports that Moscow
and Tehran are considering the establishment of a joint production line for
lethal drones in Russia. We urge Iran to reverse course, not to take the
steps...
"Russia is seeking to collaborate with Iran on areas like weapons development
and training. As part of this collaboration, we are concerned that Russia
intends to provide Iran with advanced military components. Moscow may be
providing Tehran with equipment such as helicopters and air defense systems. As
of this spring, Iranian pilots have reportedly been training in Russia to learn
how to fly the Su-35. This indicates that Iran may begin receiving aircraft
within the next year. These fighter planes would significantly strengthen Iran's
air force relative to its regional neighbors.
"This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful, as I said to Ukraine,
to Iran's neighbors, and quite frankly to the international community."
Russia's use of Iranian military equipment against Ukraine not only strengthens
Russia in Ukraine, but it gives Iran what the Ukrainian Defense Ministry called
"test runs' of its drones, to update their systems for future use against the US
and its allies, such as Israel.
Kirby spoke on October 20 about the US response to Iran's drone sales to Russia:
"We have imposed new sanctions, including on an air transportation service
provider for its involvement in the shipment of Iranian UAVs to Russia... We've
also sanctioned... companies and even one individual that was involved in the
research, development, production, and procurement of Iranian UAVs and
components... including specifically the Shahed family of drones that we know
are being used... in Ukraine."
When asked how Iran's sale of drones and missiles impacts the Biden
administration's stance on the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Kirby deflected the question:
"Our focus right now, quite frankly... is not on the JCPOA. We are way far apart
with the Iranians in terms of a return to the deal, so we're just simply not
focused on that right now. They had demands that were well in excess of what the
JCPOA was supposed to cover. And again, so we're just — we are not focused on
the diplomacy at this point."
At a time when Iranians are desperately risking their lives to free themselves
of a vicious theocratic dictatorship, it would be equally impressive if the
Biden Administration would stand firmly behind the protestors in their fight for
liberty and human rights, values America has always professed to support.
President Ronald Reagan did it with great success to aid the collapse of the
Soviet Empire.
Iranian security forces have killed at least 500 people since the protests there
began in mid-September, including 69 children, according to the U.S.-based Human
Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). According to HRANA, Iranian authorities
have recently arrested more than 18,400 people in connection with the protests.
In addition, at least 100 protesters are currently at risk of facing "execution,
death penalty charges or sentences," according to the Oslo-based Iran Human
Rights NGO. "This is a minimum as most families are under pressure to stay
quiet, the real number is believed to be much higher."
Speaking a rally in California in October, President Joe Biden said, "we stand
with the citizens, the brave women of Iran."
Such words are cost-free: They will not do much to help the Iranian protesters
fighting for freedom and human rights.
Even former President Barack Obama, who ignored Iran's "Green Movement"
protesters in 2009, admitted in October that his lack of support then for the
Iranian dissidents was a mistake.
"When I think back to 2009, 2010, you guys will recall there was a big debate
inside the White House about whether I should publicly affirm what was going on
with the Green Movement, because a lot of the activists were being accused of
being tools of the West and there was some thought that we were somehow gonna be
undermining their street cred in Iran if I supported what they were doing. And
in retrospect, I think that was a mistake."
"Every time we see a flash, a glimmer of hope, of people longing for freedom, I
think we have to point it out. We have to shine a spotlight on it. We have to
express some solidarity about it."
Statements of solidarity, however strong, will not produce serious results. What
is needed from the US is to help the people of Iran concretely – to prevent Iran
from acquiring nuclear weapons to dominate the Middle East, South America,
Europe -- and the United States.
Iran is now planning to station warships in the Panama Canal – which China is
aggressively trying to control. The U.S. has not even had an ambassador in
Panama since 2018.
All one has to do is look at how terrified the Biden administration has been of
"provoking" Russian President Vladimir Putin into using nuclear weapons.
What actually provokes dictators? That America exists.
There are a number of ways the Biden administration can "take steps," suggest
Eric Adelman Counselor at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and
senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Ray Takeyh,
senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations:
"First, the United States should formally declare that it will end negotiations
with Iran on a putative return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action... The
United States should also make clear that it will not negotiate with an Iranian
government that is repressing the Iranian people and destabilizing its
neighbors. Such declarations would rob the regime of its ability to generate
hope among the population that sanctions might be lifted under its rule.
"Publicly closing the door on negotiations would also free up the Biden
administration to fully enforce sanctions already on the books. The United
States should target Iranian officials guilty of the most egregious human rights
violations, bolstering hope among Iran's people for government accountability.
This should be accompanied by full-throated and ongoing U.S. government
statements supporting the protesters and drawing attention to the worst
instances of repression."
Adelman and Takeyh also argue that the US should increase protesters' ability to
communicate by "sending Starlink terminals," which would enable Iran's
anti-regime protest movement to "get around the regime's censorship and blocks
on social media. Apparently, thanks to Elon Musk, Iran now has "around 100."
"Other software apps, such as Ushahidi, have been used to monitor elections in
sub-Saharan Africa by allowing voters to share images of polling places. Such
applications could be repurposed to allow Iranians to share images of acts of
protest in different parts of the country, enabling coordination among different
groups of protesters and, by forcing the government to overstretch its security
forces, making it harder for the regime to quash dissent. The United States
should also use popular social media channels, such as Telegram, to provide
dissidents with accurate information about what is going on throughout the
country, including protests, human rights abuses, and executions. The expansion
and creative use of such channels of communication could help new protest
leaders emerge and drown out regime propaganda.
"In addition, the United States should ramp up broadcasting by the Voice of
America's Persian Service and Radio Farda and fund private television
broadcasting by Iranian expats, which could provide additional fuel for the fire
raging in the streets of Iranian cities. Currently, the United States is
projected to spend less than $30 million in the 2023 fiscal year on broadcasting
in Iran."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished
Senior Fellow at 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.
Only America Can Resolve the Cyprus Question
Sinan Ciddi/The National Interest/January 31, 2023
Without a viable solution to the Cyprus dispute, Western security will remain in
a perpetual state of fragility.
In 2013, a political counselor at the Turkish embassy in Washington asked me out
to lunch to discuss my plans and vision for the Institute of Turkish Studies,
which I was then executive director of. After ordering a meal at Zorba’s, a
Greek restaurant in Dupont Circle, we sat outside on a sunny day and began
talking in Turkish. A few minutes later, our server brought over our dishes and
asked where in Turkey we were from. After telling her, she said she was Cypriot
and extolled a short tale of her childhood memories on the now-divided island
with her Greek and Turkish Cypriot friends. After she left, we continued our
discussion, only to see her come back one more time to offer us a complimentary
dessert that was backed with her hope that one day, the island would be
reunited. Today, I cannot envision a Turkish diplomat asking me out to lunch—and
even if they did, it would not likely be at a Greek restaurant. Turkey’s stance
in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2019 has increased tensions to the point that
armed conflict is possible. That being said, a negotiated settlement in Cyprus
may be the key to regional peace and stability. It’s a problem that the United
States has the clout to resolve.
Put simply, the resolution of the Cyprus question, the last divided island in
Europe, will be vital for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and could also
yield a long list of benefits that surpass the geographical interests of
regional actors. To be clear, attempting to resolve the Cyprus question is no
simple task: entire military, diplomatic and political careers have begun and
ended in Cyprus since the 1974 Turkish invasion divided the island and
embittered relations between Turkey and actors in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Resolving it would require considerable diplomatic investment by the United
States, comparable to the role it played in resolving the Northern Ireland
conflict and the Balkan wars. That being said, the United States is already
aware of the value of Cyprus, albeit to a very limited degree. For instance, by
recently lifting an arms embargo that had been imposed on the island since the
late 1980s, the United States freed the Republic of Cyprus (the internationally
recognized government on the southern part of the island) to facilitate the
shipment of its existing stockpiles of Soviet-era weaponry to Ukraine.
The Biden administration needs to go further and unlock the full potential that
a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus question can offer. Failing to resolve the
Cyprus question continues to bring the region and the rest of the world closer
to war. This has never been more important than in the new epoch of great power
competition we have entered. Indeed, without a viable solution to the Cyprus
question that is acceptable to the involved parties, Western security will
remain in a perpetual state of fragility.
A negotiated settlement over Cyprus came close to success in 2004 under the
auspices of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Dubbed the “Annan
Plan,” the settlement would have reunified the island by integrating the
Turkish-occupied northern part of the former British-Ottoman colony into a
single unified country made up of two constituent states. The negotiations were
long and painful, with each side having to make hard concessions. Turkey, for
its part, would have agreed to remove the bulk of its military presence from the
island, which hovers around 30,000 troops. Ankara also agreed to relinquish
territories it seized during the invasion. The Greek Cypriots would have had to
come to terms with sharing power with their Turkish counterparts in governing
the island. Moreover, had the deal succeeded, Turkish would have become an
official European Union (EU) language, advancing Turkey’s efforts to become a
full member of the EU.
Even though the details were agreed upon by all sides, the deal ultimately
collapsed due to a “no” vote by Greek Cypriots in a public referendum. The
referendum failed for one simple reason: the Republic of Cyprus was going to be
allowed to enter the EU regardless of whether a settlement was reached with the
Turks. In other words, the leadership had little incentive to let the plan
succeed. Following the plan’s demise, the ensuing years have resulted in all
sides reverting to blaming one another for the lack of a new settlement.
Furthermore, the Republic of Cyprus’ entry into the EU as a divided island has
worsened relations between Ankara and Brussels. At this point, neither Turkey,
Greece, nor the two sides in Cyprus are close to a settlement. Turkey insists on
the unrealistic position of a two-state solution, while Cyprus and Greece feel
relatively vindicated in doing the bare minimum to return to the negotiating
table.
One could shrug their shoulders and say this is just a European problem, or even
merely the problem of the disputing sides. They would be wrong.
While the Republic of Cyprus is a member of the EU, it is not a member of NATO.
And while Turkey is a member of NATO, it is not a member of the EU. Both Cyprus
and Turkey prevent the other from joining the entity of which they are a member
because of their political differences over the future status of Cyprus.
Collaboration to secure a common European and transatlantic security framework
that is part and parcel of both NATO and the EU is arguably the most important
strategic security consideration since the end of the Cold War. Russia’s ability
to invade Ukraine without batting an eye is arguably linked to the lack of
comprehensive security architecture uniting NATO and the EU. If one doubts this,
one only needs to consider Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade
Ukraine knowing full well that the EU would not pose a military obstacle to his
ambitions. While Putin may have (thus far) miscalculated Europe’s economic
resolve to punish Russia, this has not impacted his determination to press on
with his “special military operation.” Future attempts to prevent Russian
irredentist actions lie in developing an integrated and reimagined Western
security architecture that brings NATO and the EU together. The only way to
accomplish this is to resolve the Cyprus question, which will finally allow
Cyprus to join NATO and Turkey to once again re-engage in its EU membership bid
or at least be included in any emerging European security framework.
Related to this is Europe’s now urgent need to end its dependence on Russian
natural gas. Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Europe has
witnessed a dramatic cut in its gas supplies from Russia. An alternative and
viable source of natural gas to serve Europe’s demand lies within the exclusive
economic zone (EEZ) of Cyprus. Through cooperation with the countries that now
comprise the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), the extraction of gas sources
to Europe via Greece stands a good chance of being commercially viable. However,
Turkey is not part of the EMGF, primarily because it does not recognize Cyprus.
As a result, Ankara contests Cyprus’ right to award drilling contracts to
Western oil companies, mainly by deploying its own exploration and drilling
vessels into Cypriot (and Greek) waters, often escorted by elements of the
Turkish Navy. While the Republic of Cyprus has the diplomatic upper hand in
being the internationally recognized government of the island, this does not
resolve the risk that conflict may arise due to some miscalculation by either
the Turkish, Greek, or Cypriot militaries. This would be a catastrophic
development that would engulf Europe into a state of war; at least two of the
warring parties would be NATO members and two would be EU states. The future of
a stable Mediterranean gas supply to Europe must come at the tail end of a
political solution to Cyprus. This would result in the reunification of the
island, with Turkey establishing full diplomatic ties with Cyprus. In doing so,
the question of contested waters, EEZs, and bilateral tensions would be
addressed through diplomacy, paving the way for conflict-free gas supplies to
reach Europe and further reducing Russia’s importance as a gas supplier.
Finally, and possibly tangentially, a U.S.-brokered Cyprus deal could ignite the
spark to rekindle American and Turkish ties, which began sharply deteriorating
over significant differences over Syria and the fight to eliminate the Islamic
State. Since then, the bilateral relationship between the supposed “strategic
partners” has worsened substantially, to the point that the Trump administration
was forced to sanction Turkey due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence
on purchasing Russian missile defense technology in 2019 instead of Western
alternatives. Driven by a fundamental loss of trust on both sides, the toxicity
in the relationship has reached unprecedented levels. President Joe Biden did
not speak with Erdogan in the first eighteen months of his term, while Turkey
continues to block Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO. An American
diplomatic investment in the Cyprus problem may be just what is required to
rekindle the partnership.
While establishing trust between the American and Turkish governments will be
hard in the short term, U.S. diplomatic efforts to settle the Cyprus dispute
could be seen as sincere by the Turks and could go a long way to re-establishing
meaningful dialogue between the Cold War allies. The benefit to the United
States and West could be huge: a reset between Washington and Ankara over the
Cyprus issue could incentivize Turkey to distance itself from Moscow, which it
has been reluctant to do since the mid-2010s. A dialogue focused on resolving
the issue could pave the way to rebuilding trust, offer Ankara alternatives down
the road to offload its Russian S-400 missiles, and help the Turkish military
acquire its much-needed F-16 fighters.
This brings us to the question of why Washington should broker a negotiated
settlement in Cyprus and how it could actually succeed. Put simply, the United
States is the only actor with enough diplomatic clout to be considered credible
by all sides in the dispute. The Obama administration missed an opportunity to
take on this issue, mainly because it considered it relatively unimportant. This
mistake should not be repeated. This is a festering issue that carries with it
the potential to embroil the whole of the Western hemisphere in a catastrophic
military conflict that would destabilize NATO’s eastern flank. But through a
settlement, NATO and European security could be enhanced by resolving the
Turkish and Cypriot objections that prevent defense integration.
Unfortunately, the EU is not a credible entity in the eyes of Turkey, as Cyprus
and Greece are already members. This is a non-starter. The UN is often thought
to be the next logical choice. After all, it was the main force behind the 2004
negotiations. However, in this climate, the UN does not have the ability to
arm-twist and offer incentives like the United States. A special envoy tasked by
the White House to oversee negotiations is the only viable option to resolve the
Cyprus quagmire.
The United States has several cards up its sleeve that could prove decisive in
moving the needle toward an equitable solution. First, Washington is a relative
novice with the issue and is looked upon less suspiciously by all parties.
Second, the United States has a proven ability to get conflicting sides to the
table. For instance, Washington brought together Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak
Rabin, Sinn Fein and the British government, and Israel and the signatories to
the Abraham Accords.
As far as convincing Turkey to come to the table and abandon its insistence on a
two-state solution, Washington could entice Ankara with conditional commitments
on F-16 sales, provided that Turkey moves decisively to divest itself of its
S-400 inventories (and generally become a more amicable member of NATO). Of
greater interest to Ankara would be for the United States to pitch a free trade
agreement. This would be an important gain, as it would provide an economic
dimension to anchor the U.S.-Turkish strategic partnership, which has always
been missing since the beginning of the Cold War. With increased economic ties,
Turkey and America’s likelihood of falling out with one another would be
reduced.
Arm-twisting the Greek Cypriots may be a little harder. That being said, they
are interested in acquiring U.S.-manufactured weapons systems, which could be
made contingent on their willingness to negotiate in good faith. America could
also convince the United Kingdom to transform its sovereign bases on the island
into NATO bases—something the Greek Cypriots would very much welcome. Obviously,
these are initial suggestions that only demonstrate the bargaining power that
the United States may possess. Reaching a negotiated settlement is likely to be
challenging due to long-standing issues such as the status of Turkish troops on
the island, property/land disputes, and the future of settled Turks on the
island.
It’s understandable that Washington is focused on the war in Ukraine and the
pacing threat of China. However, a price is attached to being the leader of the
liberal international order. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the absence of American
leadership in major theaters is being preyed upon by China and Russia. Cyprus is
one such theater. Peacefully resolving this intractable problem will yield much
more than merely mending relations between Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. It will
be a fundamental component of efforts to limit Russian influence over allies
such as Turkey, secure energy sources independent of Moscow, and integrate the
European and transatlantic security framework.
This is easier said than done. Prioritizing Cyprus will require vision and
leadership. Sadly, this is largely absent in Washington—a problem not confined
to the United States. The Western hemisphere is bereft of effective leaders.
Reuniting Cyprus through a negotiated settlement—and reaping the array of
rewards it would bring—will require not just a vision but a fundamental
rethinking. Western leaders must focus on the costs of not taking action rather
than the costs of taking action. This approach helped create a robust and
attractive world order after World War II. Without such leadership and strategic
foresight, turbulence and decay in the Eastern Mediterranean may lead to armed
conflict.
*Sinan Ciddi is a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD), where he contributes to FDD’s Turkey Program and Center on
Military and Political Power (CMPP). He is also an Associate Professor of
Security Studies at the Command and Staff College-Marine Corps University and
Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. FDD is a Washington,
DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and
foreign policy.
Time For Palestinian Leaders to End “Pay-to-Slay” Terror
Bounties
Enia Krivine/Townhall/January 31, 2023
Earlier this month, Israel’s new finance minister Bezalel Smotrich withheld just
under $40 million of tax revenue that Israel collected on behalf of the
Palestinian Authority (PA). Smotrich told reporters at a press conference that
he is pursuing “justice” by transferring the $40 million to Israeli victims of
terrorism.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called it “another nail in the Palestinian
Authority’s coffin.” Smotrich, when asked whether withholding revenue from the
cash-strapped authority could result in its collapse, responded: If the PA
“encourages terror and is an enemy, I have no interest for it to continue to
exist.”Smotrich’s condemnation of the PA refers to Ramallah’s longstanding
policy of paying generous monthly salaries to terrorists serving time in Israeli
prisons, or to the families of those killed while attacking Israelis. In 2021,
the PA spent more than $175 million on these payments, which critics have dubbed
“pay-to-play.” The payments even increase for terrorists with more blood on
their hands.
A 2018 Israeli law attempted to pressure Palestinian leaders to end pay-for-slay
by requiring the Israeli government to withhold as much tax revenue as the PA
spends on payments to terrorists. In an arrangement that dates to the 1993 Oslo
Accords, Israel collects what are called “clearance revenues” (taxes, basically)
on behalf of the PA. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Israel
collected $2.9 billion of such revenue in 2021. This gives Israel considerable
leverage since the money it transfers makes up the largest source of the PA’s
income.
Smotrich’s declared lack of interest in the survival of the PA runs contrary to
the traditional position of both Washington and Jerusalem, who prefer to prop up
the PA because they believe its corrupt governance is still preferable to a
power vacuum or a Hamas government in the West Bank.
The idea of applying financial pressure on the PA to end pay-to-slay was
inspired by the horrific murder of a young American Army veteran in Tel Aviv and
legislated by the U.S. Congress long before the law passed Israel’s Knesset.
The Taylor Force Act of 2018, which bars the U.S. government from providing aid
that directly benefits the PA while the “pay-to-slay” program remains in effect,
sought accountability for the murder of Taylor Force, a 28-year-old U.S. Army
veteran and graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. A
Palestinian terrorist stabbed Force to death while Force was touring Tel Aviv
with his fiancée. Israeli police killed the attacker, however, his family began
receiving monthly payments equal to several times the average Palestinian wage
through the PA Martyr’s Fund, the vehicle for pay-to-slay expenditures. In
response, 169 members of the U.S. House of Representatives co-sponsored
legislation in Force’s name that prevents American taxpayer dollars from being
sent to the PA and eventually becoming pay-to-slay payments. The Taylor Force
Act became law as part of a major appropriations act in 2018, with a handful of
carve-outs for humanitarian projects including funding for a hospital network
and child vaccinations. Presidents of both parties have respected the Act,
contributing to the current fiscal crisis of the PA. But pay-to-slay remains in
place.
After years of budget shortfalls and a $1.26 billion deficit in 2021, the PA has
given Jerusalem reason to fear it is on the brink of collapse. With
Iran-supported terrorist organizations — mainly Hamas and the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad — sowing chaos in the West Bank, where violence has reached a
15-year high, the previous Israeli government decided that Israel’s security
depended on continuing cooperation with the PA. In 2021, the government of
former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett found workarounds that took the bite out
of the pay-to-slay law, such as granting the PA loans in an amount similar to
the funds withheld. In short, previous governments prioritized the PA’s
financial viability over holding it accountable for pay-to-slay. Now with
Smotrich’s decision, Palestinian leaders will have to weigh the benefits of
pay-to-slay against the pragmatic need for revenue to run their government.
Perhaps they can afford to hold fast. The funds subject to withholding
constitute approximately six percent of the total revenue Jerusalem collects on
behalf of the Palestinians. Yet it’s hard to know which straw will break the
camel’s back with the PA already losing control of its domain.
There is no question that financial incentives for terrorism are reprehensible.
Yet the weakening of the PA and empowerment of Hamas and Islamic Jihad could
cost even more Israeli lives. The new Israeli government should strike a balance
between justice and pragmatism.
To the extent it can, the White House should continue to push the PA to finally
do away with pay-to-slay. But most importantly, Palestinian leaders must decide
whether they are willing to risk the PA’s demise to maintain the program.
*Enia Krivine is the senior director of the Israel Program and the FDD National
Security Network at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow Enia on
Twitter at @EKrivine. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research
institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
ماثيو ليفيت/معهد واشنطن: بإمكان الإتحاد
الأوروبي وينبغي عليه تصنيف الحرس الثوري الإيراني كمجموعة إرهابية
The EU Can, and Should, Designate the IRGC as a Terrorist Group
Matthew Levitt/The Washington Institute/January 31/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115405/115405/
Legitimate policy debates aside, and contrary to recent
statements by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Europe has more than enough legal
authority and evidence to designate the organization.
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure calling for
the European Union to designate the IRGC, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps, as a terrorist organization on Jan. 18. The vote was 598 to 9, with 31
absentees. Just the previous day, European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos and publicly backed the idea of
an EU designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. But when EU foreign
ministers met in Brussels just a few days later to discuss the issue, they opted
to add more individual names to the bloc’s list of people sanctioned for human
rights abuses rather than to list the IRGC as a terrorist group.
The reason, according to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, is that such a
designation first requires a decision by a European court. “It is something that
cannot be decided without a Court. A Court decision [is needed] first. You
cannot say: ‘I consider you a terrorist because I do not like you.’ It has to be
[done] when a Court of one [of the EU] Member States issues a legal statement, a
concrete condemnation. And then we work at the European level, but it has to be
first a Court decision.”
This, however, is not the case. There is no shortage of evidence—all admissible
under the rules underpinning the EU terrorist designation process—to support
designating the IRGC as a terrorist group.
The EU’s Designation Process Explained
The EU’s legal basis for designating a terrorist group is Common Position 931,
or CP 931, created in 2001 as a means of implementing U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1373, which requires member states to implement measures to “prevent
and suppress the financing of terrorist acts.” Under Resolution 1373, states are
called upon to criminalize terror financing, freeze the funds or other assets of
those who commit or facilitate terrorist acts “without delay,” and prevent those
engaged in such activities from using one state’s territory to “finance, plan,
facilitate or commit terrorist acts against other states or their citizens.”
Under CP 931, any person, group, or entity involved in terrorist acts can be
designated “when a decision has been taken by a competent authority in respect
of the person, group or entity concerned.” Such a “decision,” the EU’s fact
sheet on CP 931 explains, could be the instigation of an investigation or
prosecution for either a terrorist act or even just an attempt to carry out or
facilitate such an act “based on serious and credible evidence or clues.” The
fact sheet adds that designations can also be based on “condemnation for such
deeds,” even without a conviction. The “EU Terrorist List” policy document on
the European Council’s website notes that a terrorist designation must be based
on “precise information indicating that a decision has been made by a judicial
or equivalent competent authority” concerning the initiation of an
investigation, the prosecution of a terrorist for an attempt to carry out or
facilitate such an act, or the conviction for any of those actions.
In other words, an EU designation can be based on a court conviction or even a
condemnation by a court, but a court decision is not a necessary condition for
designation. CP 931 states that a judicial authority or “an equivalent competent
authority” can issue such a decision. Moreover, even just the initiation of an
investigation could suffice to support a designation, and these would be carried
out by police or other investigative authorities, prosecutors, national
designating authorities, or others.
Moreover, contrary to Borrell’s statement, CP 931 specifically notes that a
proposed terrorist listing can be made on the basis of third-party information,
not just EU member state information: “Persons groups and entities can be added
to the list on the basis of proposals submitted by member states based on a
decision by a competent authority of a member state or a third country.” In
fact, when listings are made on the basis of information from a non-EU member
state, it is specifically the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy—that is, Josep Borrell—who is supposed to initiate the
designation proposal, according to CP 931 guidelines.
As several European officials have recently noted, the European Court of Justice
specifically clarified that investigations or convictions from outside the EU
can also be used to justify adding a group to the EU’s terror list. On this
basis, investigations and prosecutions—and in some cases designations by other
countries or multilateral bodies—could qualify as well. The U.S. Justice
Department has conducted such investigations that could help build the basis for
EU designation, as I discuss below.
At the end of the day, while a proposal to designate an entity is made to the
European Council, the final decision is up to the 27 EU member states, which
must vote unanimously in favor of adopting a designation. (Unanimity is the
voting rule with the European Council on all foreign policy matters, whereas
other matters, like trade policy, require only a qualified majority.) In
practice, the European Council is reluctant to initiate any processes requiring
unanimous agreement if it is not certain that all member states are willing to
discuss it. In other words, the absence of a debate over something like
designating the IRGC as a terrorist group is itself a symptom of the lack of
unity among member states on the issue.
Evidentiary Basis for Designating the IRGC
In addition to there being no structural impediments to designating the IRGC as
a terrorist group, there is significant evidentiary basis for such a designation
under the common position. CP 931 defines “terrorist acts” and offers a list of
examples, such as “attacks upon a person’s life which may cause death,”
kidnapping or hostage taking, the “manufacture, possession, acquisition,
transport, support or use” of weapons or explosives, and participating in the
activities of a terrorist group. To be considered terrorist acts, they must be
carried out with the aim of “seriously intimidating a population” or “unduly
compelling a government or international organization to perform or abstain from
performing any act.” A terrorist act could even be one aimed at “seriously
destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic
or social structures” of a country or an international organization.
By any measure, the IRGC is actively engaged in exactly these types of
activities, both in Europe and beyond. According to a data set maintained by
this author of Iranian foreign operations (including assassination, abduction,
and surveillance plots), over just the past five years Iran has instigated at
least 33 plots in Europe. These include plots in EU member states like Cyprus,
Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Other plots elsewhere in Europe
occurred in Albania, Sweden, and the U.K. In each of these cases, investigations
have been opened, and in many cases judicial authorities are engaged in active
prosecutions targeting IRGC and other Iranian operatives. Consider, for example,
the assassination plot targeting Bernard-Henri Levy in France; the plot
targeting an Iranian dissident rally in Paris in 2018; plots surveilling and
targeting Iranian dissidents in Albania, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden,
Scotland, and the U.K.; and attacks on German synagogues in North
Rhine-Westphalia. According to a recent report issued by Austria’s Federal
Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, Iranian
intelligence services—including the IRGC’s intelligence organization and its
Quds Force—have spread in the country.
Beyond Europe, the latest evidence of Iranian terrorist plotting abroad came out
last Friday, when senior U.S. officials gathered for a press conference to
reveal the indictment and arrest of three criminals charged with the attempted
murder-for-hire of an American-Iranian journalist in New York. The three were
part of an organized criminal organization based in Eastern Europe with ties to
Iran. The leader of the group, who was based in Iran, was enlisted by Iranian
agents in 2022 to assassinate the victim in the United States. Speaking at the
press conference, FBI Director Christopher Wray underscored that this was an
Iranian terrorist plot: “The conduct charged shows how far Iranian actors are
willing to go to silence critics, even attempting to assassinate a U.S. citizen
on American soil.”
In August, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted IRGC personnel behind
assassination plots targeting former senior U.S. government officials in the
United States, among others. In 2019, two Iranian operatives pleaded guilty to
charges stemming from their surveillance activities targeting Iranian dissidents
and Jewish targets in the United States. More recently, the IRGC agreed to pay
an assassin $300,000 to kill John Bolton and offered $1 million for the
assassination of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to the FBI
affidavit underpinning the Department of Justice criminal complaint against IRGC
officer Shahram Poursafi. Poursafi is wanted by the FBI and is accused of the
precise crimes the EU considers terrorist acts, including murder-for-hire and
attempting to provide support for terrorist acts. In other cases, U.S. officials
indicted four Iranian operatives on kidnapping charges after they plotted to
kidnap Masih Alinejad, an American citizen of Iranian descent, from New York and
forcibly remove her to Iran, via Venezuela, “where the victim’s fate would have
been uncertain at best,” as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New
York put it. According to U.S. authorities, the Iranian official behind this
plot directs a broader network of Iranian operatives actively targeting victims
in other countries, including Canada, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates.
Several months later, police arrested a man with a loaded assault rifle near
Alinejad’s home. Moments earlier, he stood on her front porch taking photos or
video with his phone, footage of which was captured on her door camera. This
man, along with two others, are the defendants charged with murder-for-hire last
Friday.
Both in the U.K. and Canada, law enforcement officials have reached out to
members of the Iranian expatriate community warning them that Iranian agents may
try to target them. Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents have warned
Canadian citizens of Iranian descent that “Iran had developed a list of people
living abroad whom it deemed a threat to the regime” and encouraged them to take
precautions. The British government filed an Interpol notice stating that IRGC
operatives were involved in planning “lethal operations against Iranian
dissidents in the UK in 2020.” According to the head of Britain’s MI5 security
service, there were at least 10 Iranian kidnap or assassination plots targeting
British or U.K.-based persons from January to November 2022. In other words,
there is no shortage of European and other credible investigations,
prosecutions, and even convictions related to IRGC terrorism around the world
and in Europe.
Not all national administrative designations, however, would qualify as a
“judicial or equivalent competent authority” based on recent legal precedent. A
Nov. 30, 2022, judgment issued by the Court of First Instance of the European
Court of Justice in PKK v. Council of the EU ruled that U.S. administrative
designation decisions are not admissible because they do not sufficiently
guarantee the applicant’s rights of defense. This means that the EU could not
rely on the 2019 U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group. However, the
ruling did allow for the use of actions taken by administrative (as opposed to
judicial) authorities when they are “vested in national law” with restrictive
powers such as designations, noting the applicability of the U.K. home secretary
as a “competent authority.” It remains an open question whether the EU could
rely on Canada’s 2012 designation of the IRGC’s Quds Force, its 2022
announcement listing the IRGC as inadmissible to Canada for engaging in
terrorism and human rights abuses, or the Saudi Arabian and Bahraini decisions
to list the IRGC as a terrorist group.
The EU should be able to rely on its own designation decisions targeting the
IRGC for terrorism-related activities, such as the 2020 measure targeting Iran
for its activities in Syria. That measure included Iran’s Quds Force, which the
EU defined as “a specialist arm of the IRGC.” That designation noted that the
IRGC’s Quds Force helps the Syrian regime terrorize its own people. The EU has a
long record of designating IRGC officials, in part to prevent terrorist
financing. A 2012 EU measure specifically highlighted the IRGC Quds Force as
being “responsible for operations outside Iran” and as Tehran’s principal tool
“for special operations and support to terrorist groups.”
Benefits of Designating the IRGC
An EU designation would make it a criminal offense to belong to the IRGC,
support the group, attend its meetings, or display its logo in public. Beyond
criminalizing such activities, an EU designation would subject the IRGC to
“enhanced measures relating to police and judicial cooperation in criminal
matters” and make any funds the group maintains in Europe subject to an asset
freeze. In addition, no funds or economic resources could be made available to
any part of the group, directly or indirectly. The resolution adopted by the
European Parliament also called for an expansion of travel sanctions to target
all Iranian leadership.
Designating the IRGC would do more than just serve as a messaging campaign. Iran
engages in activities the EU defines as “terrorist acts”—even at times of
sensitive negotiations and even when it may be exposed as the culprit—because
Iranian officials believe they can do so at little to no cost. As evidenced by
its continuous pursuit of violent activity, Iran assesses the potential benefits
of such actions to be high, whereas the costs of getting caught are low. If the
EU were to seriously hold Iran to account for the acts of terrorism it has been
carrying out over recent years and months, both in Europe and beyond, Iranian
leaders would be forced to reconsider their cost-benefit analysis and the
utility of such aggressive and malign policies as plotting to murder and abduct
people on the streets of Europe.
Conclusion
The IRGC should be designated as a terrorist organization only on the basis of
the terrorist activities it carries out and the material support it provides to
its terrorist proxies. Iran’s grave human rights abuses and provision of drones
used by Russia to target Ukraine are better addressed using sanctions
authorities specific to human rights or other applicable violations.
And there are serious issues to debate when it comes to such a designation. As
the EU debates designating the IRGC, a parallel discussion has been taking place
in the U.K., which, while no longer an EU member state, plans to proscribe the
IRGC on terrorism grounds after debate in the U.K. Parliament also demonstrated
broad, cross-party support for proscribing the IRGC. In the U.K., other policy
issues came up for debate, such as whether such an action would undermine
existing U.K. sanctions authorities. The U.K. government’s Independent Reviewer
of Terrorism Legislation posted a legal note cautioning against proscribing the
IRGC for technical legal rather than policy reasons. In the end, it appears the
U.K. government will nonetheless designate the IRGC.
Some may not want to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization for fear of
Iranian retaliatory sanctions or in the interest of keeping open prospects for
renewed negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal. Those are legitimate policy
debates. But as a matter of legal standards, the EU has more than enough
authority and admissible evidence to designate the IRGC.
EU foreign policy chief Borrell is not wrong when he says that the EU cannot
designate the IRGC just on the basis of not liking the organization. But he is
patently wrong when he asserts that a designation cannot take place until a
court in an EU member state issues a judicial ruling against the group. There is
ample evidence admissible within the CP 931 framework of the IRGC engaging in
what the EU defines as “terrorist acts,” both in Europe and around the world.
*Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Reinhard Program
on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute. This article
was originally published on the Lawfare website.
حمداد مصطفى/موقع ممري : الملكيون الإيرانيون لا يمثلون 'إيران
المتعددة الجنسيات'
The Iranian Monarchists Do Not Represent The 'Multinational Iran'
Himdad Mustafa/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 452/January 31/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115405/115405/
Most of the opposition figures and groups want a new democratic
republic to replace the authoritarian Islamic Republic. However, it recently
made the news that a Persian-led group nostalgic for Iranian monarchy is
endorsing exiled Reza Pahlavi, son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of
Iran, to "lead a transition" when the Islamic Republic falls. It was also
reported that an online campaign was launched to give power of attorney to Reza
Pahlavi, who has not yet apologized for the violation of human rights under the
cruel Pahlavi dictatorship (1925-1979).
This move was highly criticized, especially by Iran's minorities. In fact, many
Iranians do not think that Reza Pahlavi, the son of a dictator, is the right
person to lead a "transition." He was only 18 years old when he left Iran in
1979 and lived most of his life in the United States. He therefore has no
experience ruling a country. Nevertheless, Iranian monarchists seem to insist
that Reza Pahlavi is Iran's sole representative and that monarchy is the only
political system that should replace the Islamic Republic. This attitude makes
many people believe that the "transitional period" is just a euphemism for
"forever period," just as Ruhollah Khomeini was supposed to be a "temporary"
Supreme leader.
The Essence Of "Iranianness"
Qajar Iran, which preceded the Pahlavi dynasty, was made up of loosely connected
mamalek (i.e., kingdoms) with a great degree of political-economic independence
from the central government in Tehran. This was evident in the the Qajar
Empire's official name: Mamâlek-e Mahruse-ye Irân ("the Guarded Domains of
Iran"). The central power was not able to exercise its authority over the ethnic
kingdoms until the 1921 Persian coup d'état by Reza Shah Pahlavi who, in order
to homogenize a heterogeneous empire, undertook a forcible Persianization of
ethno-nations through ethnocide, linguicide, and violent wars and deportations.
A 1925 editorial published in the pro-Pahlavi Ayandeh ("Future") newspaper
explained that national unity could only be attained "by extending the Persian
language throughout the provinces; eliminating regional costumes; destroying
local and feudal authorities; and removing the traditional differences between
Kurds, Lurs, Qashqayis, Arabs, Turks, Turkomans, and other communities that
reside within Iran." The newspapers also added that "we will continue to live in
danger as long as we have no schools to teach Persian and Iranian history to the
masses... and no Persian equivalents to replace the many non-Persian names in
Iran. Unless we achieve national unity, nothing will remain of Iran."[1]
Iranian scholar Majid Sharifi stressed that "state elites represented Persian
language, history, and culture as the essence of Iranianness." Hence, "the rich
tapestry of other languages and dialects was represented as inferior,
incomplete, backward, and alien."[2]
The Islamic Republic that replaced the Pahlavi dynasty continued the
Persianization policy and "internal colonialization." It sought to create a
notion of Iranian identity that fused together both Islamiyat ("Muslimness") and
Iranyat ("Iranianness"). The Islamic Republic could therefore be defined as a
"religious Persian monarchy" that promoted Islamiyat, contrary to its
predecessor Pahlavi regime which was a "secular Persian monarchy." While the
state ideology of the Pahlavis was centered on "Persianism," the Islamic
Republic has adopted "Shi'ite-Persianism." [3]
Generally, the Pahlavists and Persian nationalists tend to portray the Islamic
Republic as "anti-Iranian" or "anti-Persian," portraying its leaders as
"non-Iranian" or "non-Persian." Rumors were even spread alleging that Khomeini
was Indian. This is done to hide the fact that the Islamic Republic is also
pursuing Persianization and to rally "Iranians" around Persian opposition groups
and figures, such as Reza Pahlavi.
The ideology of Iranyat is inherently exclusionist, as it demands the
assimilation of differences in religion, language, and ethnicity into a unitary
notion centered on Persianness. Consequently, ethno-nations are considered a
threat that undermines the project to unify the country under one Persian
nationalist identity.
For example, in 2019, Reza Pahlavi downplayed the right of minorities to study
in their mother tongue, stating that he does not see the "logic" of it, as he
does not find it possible for a country's national education system to be taught
in different languages other than in the official Persian language.[4] However,
as it has been pointed out by several democratic figures, the education and
teaching of the mother tongue along with an official and administrative language
can be embedded in the structure and education system of the country as happens
already in many Western countries.
Neither The Shah Nor The Mullahs
In early January 2023, for the first time, Reza Pahlavi called on Iranians to
give him the power of attorney to represent Iranians.[5] Pro-Pahlavi Persian
activists in the West have launched massive online campaigns and hashtags to
present Reza Pahlavi as the favored representative of all Iranians from all
walks of life.
Between February 17-27, 2022, The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in
Iran (GAMAAN) carried out a survey, titled "Iranians' Attitudes toward Political
Systems." As reported on the GAMAAN website, the final sample used in the report
consisted of 16,850 Iranians living inside Iran, of whom 74.2% speak Persian at
home (which may imply that they are ethnically Persian). When asked about their
preferred type of government, 34% chose a "secular republic," 22% the "Islamic
republic," 19% a "constitutional monarchy," 3% an "absolute monarchy," and over
21% declared that they are "not sufficiently informed to answer this question."
However, 53% of those who chose "absolute monarchy" believe that the function of
the head of state is not for life, and only 27% of the proponents of
"constitutional monarchy" are in favor of "giving life tenure to the head of
state." Finally, 95% of those who chose a "secular republic" are "against life
tenure" for the head of state.
Iranian scholar Aidin Torkameh wrote: "If we turn our attention from the
mainstream media and focus on what is happening on the ground it appears that
the actual presence of the Pahlavists is not significant." "Their huge
propaganda machine has failed to fully reach the masses, and many segments of
the masses are actively rejecting it. It is worth noting that even this existing
level of support for the old Pahlavi regime should not be taken as the result of
an entirely organic process. Most of the pro-Pahlavi protesters are passive
defenders of the Pahlavis because alternative views have been eliminated. Their
worldview has been largely shaped by, and is limited to, the
nation-state-centric (Iranist/Farsist) viewpoint that has developed over the
past century," Torkameh said, adding that "in an open political environment
where progressive groups can operate freely, Pahlavi's supporters are likely to
become even less influential."[6]
This is also reflected in anti-regime protests, as one of the main slogans is "Marg
Ba Setamgar, Che Shah Bashe Che Rahbar [Death to the Dictator, Be it Shah or
Ayatollah]." This slogan refers to a 120-year-old historical struggle of all the
multi-national Iranian groups for freedom against dictatorial regimes that were
brought about after the 1905-1911 Constitutional Revolution.
It is worth noting that key figures of the Iranian opposition – such as the
president and spokesman of The Association of Victims' Families of Flight PS752,
Hamed Esmaeilion, actress Nazanin Boniadi, and activist Masih Alinejad, as well
as political figures and other groups that represent Iran's minorities – have
not endorsed Reza Shah.
London-based broadcaster Manoto TV (known for its "distinctive pro-Pahlavi
bent"[7]) recently claimed that Seyyed Nasreddin Heydari, a leader of the
Yarsani Kurdish community, has endorsed Reza Pahlavi. However, this news was
later refuted, as the source of the endorsement came from a fake Twitter
account. Kurdish journalist Kaveh Kermashani commented: "A media that, despite
the existence of possibilities, without the least knowledge and research, turns
the writing of a fake account into the desired news of its advertising machine,
is not only unprofessional but also unethical."[8]
Labor rights activist group Haft-Tappeh Factory Workers from Khuzistan described
the pro-monarchist coalition as a "one-sided, anti-majority, power-seeking
group," and added: "They are irrelevant to our real struggle. The practical
leaders of our struggle are ourselves and our imprisoned friends."[9]
Iran's Minorities Reject The Monarchy And Its Ideology
The majority of Iranian minoritized ethno-nations have remained very much
attached to their ethnic identity, prioritizing their ethnonational identities
over Persian-centered "Iranianness."
Since 1905, the incompatibility of the minority-majority positions has led to
heightened tensions that have regularly exploded in deadly and protracted ethnic
conflicts. In recent years, Iran has witnessed the rise of ethnonational
sentiment that has become a greater challenge for the Islamic Republic and the
"pan-Iranists" in the diaspora, as many members of ethnic minority groups such
as the Kurds, Balochs, and Ahwazi Arabs increasingly mobilize and push for
greater cultural and political rights.
As opposition groups in the diaspora are trying to form alliances to encounter
the Iranian regime, suppressed minorities have found themselves marginalized
once again as none of the Persian-led opposition groups have publicly addressed
minorities' demands.
Kurdish people in Iran assert that they will not allow another monarchist
authoritarian regime to exercise its control over Kurdistan, as they say that
there is no difference between the Pahlavi regime and the Islamic Republic. On
Twitter, a Kurdish activist, known by the name of Fariba, wrote: "It is time for
Kurdish political parties to form a united coalition with Lurs, [Azeri] Turks,
Baloch, Gilakis, Turkmen, Arab activists, parties and the leftist forces [i.e.,
non-monarchist forces] and with all [the forces] that are not represent by Reza
Pahlavi."[10] The user then called on the president and spokesman of The
Association of Victims' Families of Flight PS752, Hamed Esmaeilion, who has
expressed his support for Kurdistan, to lead this coalition, saying: "You can be
the center of gravity of this coalition, you are both sympathetic and known and
reliable among all these peoples, you are a symbol of sympathy and unity for
overthrowing the Islamic Republic."[11]
Ahwazi activist Wael Saffah further wrote: "First of all, the majority of people
in Iran [belong to] non-Persian nations, [and] reject centralism totally.
Second, none [of Iran's non-Persian nations] accept any more dictator[ial]
systems like [the] monarchy. The problem is [that] the Pahlavi family continues
living in their dreams supported by fake media."[12] In response to the online
campaign to give power of attorney to Reza Pahlavi, Saffah wrote: "The
supporters of the monarchy and the centrists once again voted to confiscate the
rights of the marginalized nations and went along with tyranny in order to
create a future for themselves by concentrating our power and accumulating our
looted wealth in the center. This hypocrisy puts the future of the country on a
dangerous path."[13]
Washington-based Ahwazi journalist and activist Rahim Hamid tweeted: "The ethnic
non-Persian political and human rights groups are completely marginalized, their
voices are censored, and even they are subjected to online bullying and threats
and even physical assaults by Shah Pahlavi supporters when attending rallies in
London and Washington D.C." He then added: "The voices and true demands of the
current protests in Iran are censored and misrepresented on a large scale by
Persian media and Shah Pahlavi supporters. The major demands are the
decentralization of Iran's future rule and the end of the ethnic oppression of
non-Persian nations... The current protests' demands in Iran are not merely on
individual civil liberties but the major issue is the cause of marginalized
peoples in Kurdistan, Ahwaz, Balochistan, and South Azerbaijan [that] endure
brutal ethnic oppression and fight for their national ethnic rights."[14]
Hamid also stressed: "Fanatic fans of the son of the former despotic Shah
Pahlavi... use social media in spontaneous clicktivism, prompting the
restoration of Shah's dark times to Iran. This group expresses their nostalgia
towards the Persian nationalist authoritarian rule. They have a clicktivist
cyber army that launches online petitions and hashtags in supporting the son of
the former dictator Shah. Their campaigns are backed by Persians TV channels.
This group of Persian nationalists is rejecting the national and ethnic rights
of Ahwazi Arabs, Kurds, Balochis, and Azerbaijani Turks."[15]
On January 20, 2023, during the Friday protests against the Islamic Republic,
Balochi protesters showed also their disdain for Reza Pahlavi, showing posters,
stating: "Reza Pahlavi is not our representative. Understand we have our own
parties," "Iran is a country of 70 nations. A coalition of parties. One person
[referring to Reza Pahlavi] is not an attorney for the whole country. Any
coalition of any kind, if it is going to happen, must be formed with all
parties," and "No to Mullah and No to the Shah; No to Pahlavi and No to Rajavi
[leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK)]; IRGC Terrorists; Freedom."
A placard held by Baloch protesters reads: "Reza Pahlavi is not our
representative. Understand we have our own parties." (Source: Twitter)
A placard reads: "Iran is a country of 70 nations. A coalition of parties. One
person [referring to Reza Pahlavi] is not an attorney for the whole country. Any
coalition of any kind, if it is going to happen, must be formed with all
parties." (Source: Twitter)
It is also worth noting that, since the beginning of 2023, the hashtag #KurdistanRepublic
has trended on Twitter.
Pro-Monarchists Attack Hamed Esmaeilion On Social Media
Hamed Esmaeilion, who was born in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah, is an
Iranian-Canadian social activist, author, and dentist. On January 8, 2020,
Esmaeilion's wife, Parisa, and their only child, nine-year-old Reera, were
killed when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp shot down Ukraine
International Airlines Flight 752 with two surface-to-air missiles, shortly
after it took off from Tehran's international airport. The missiles killed all
176 passengers and crew aboard.
Esmaeilion and a group of families of victims of Flight PS752 established The
Association of Victims' Families of Flight PS752. "The missions of our
Association are to unite the grieving families, keep the memories of the
passengers alive, and most importantly seek justice. We are determined to
uncover the truth and find out why a commercial flight was shot down by IRGC’s
missiles. We will staunchly seek justice until the culprits, perpetrators and
commanders of this atrocious crime are identified and brought to justice before
an impartial and independent court," wrote the association, headed by Esmaeilion.[16]
See MEMRI TV clip No. 10070, Iranian-Canadian Activist Hamed Esmaeilion At
Ceremony Commemorating Ukrainian Flight Downed By The IRGC: We Live For A Day
Without The Islamic Republic And Without The Criminals Who Ruin Beautiful Iran,
January 8, 2023.
In December 2022, in an article in the Washington Post, Iranian-American
journalist Jason Rezaian described Esmaeilion as "a moral leader" for Iranian
protesters in the diaspora: "Now Esmaeilion has become a leading voice outside
Iran in the anti-regime movement — an essential bridge between Iranians in the
diaspora who want to promote a freer future for their homeland and the millions
inside Iran who live under an abusive system that has long operated with
impunity."[17]
It is actually worth mentioning that Esmaeilion was the main figure behind the
organization of the October rally in Berlin against the Islamic Republic that
gathered 80,000 participants, which was "the largest gathering in history of
Iranians" opposing the Islamic Republic.[18] Addressing the Berlin rally,
Esmaeilion said: "We have a dream that will be realized with the fall of
Khamenei's empire of fear and crime. In this dream, the wind will blow through
women's hair, and no one will attack schoolgirls."[19]
However, since Esmaeilion did not state that he gives the power of attorney to
Reza Pahlavi (as football legend Ali Karimi did), many pro-monarchists have
tried to tear his image. Accusations leveled against him have included among
others being "a lover of the IRGC,"[20] despite the fact that he has repeatedly
condemned the Iranian agency and called on Western governments to designate it
as a terrorist organization in its entirety.[21]
After writing a tweet in Kurdish to condolence the father of Hooman Abdullahi
from Kermanshah, who was killed by the regime, Esmaeilion was accused by many
pro-monarchists of "promoting separatism," and of "causing sedition" among
Iranians.[22]
"Dear father of Hooman Abdullahi, my brother, as you said, we have no weapons
other than our tongue. We will overthrow the murderers and bring them to
justice. Thank you for remembering me. We will keep the memory of Hooman and all
those who were killed in our homeland alive. Long live Kurdistan, long live
Iran." (Source: Twitter)
An Iranian woman tweeting under the name of @JinaFreeIran wrote: "Dr. Esmaeilion...
is one of the most respected and courageous figures of this revolution... He has
many supporters inside and outside Iran, including Kurds who started this
revolution. We, who support him, are constantly being attacked by Pahlavi fans
on tweeter."[23] She then added: "[The 2022] Iranian revolution is to bring
peace and democracy to Iran, but Pahlavi's fans have already shown that all they
care [about] is to push their agenda..."[24]
An Iranian Bahai user, Syed Jamal Shervin Ashrafi, also stated: "It seems that
Prince Reza Pahlavi's fans are looking at Hamed Esmaeilion as [his] a
competitor... for this reason they are trying to destroy his image... This kind
of behavior shows the true face of [the] Prince's fans."[25]
"QasemShahrists"
In a 2017 interview with the Israeli channel i24, Reza Pahlavi said: "The most
important component of this [regime] change would be the tacit cooperation of
the existing military and paramilitary forces [i.e. the Basij] in this scenario
of change... Today, the Iranian people...demand some kind of intervention from
the international community rushing to their support... As you can realize, it
is very difficult to overcome extremely repressive regimes by simply relying on
peaceful disobedience, it has to be at some point an element of protection for
the people. Now, this element of protection can only come from the military and
paramilitary forces. I am not saying that all of them will come in, but a great
majority of them will join with the people if they know they can survive beyond
this regime... they'll have a place in the future and in fact become the
protective shield should the remainder of the regime try to pursue a policy of
genocide like Bashar Assad did against his own citizenry and at the same time
not be in no man's land."[26]
In a 2019, interview with VOA, Reza Pahlavi also stated: "Are all Sepah [i.e.
IRGC] terrorists? No. And this is the reason, I tell Iranians who are in
uniform, whether in the military, Sepah, Basij: Dear Sir, the time has come to
back away from these forces and join the Iranian people. You guys are not
terrorists, you guys are people in Iran, who have stood face-to-face with the
Iraqi army and fought in a war.[27] You sacrificed your lives. You have given
martyrs, both in the military and in the Sepah. You guys are part of the Iranian
people."[28]
Most recently, in a 2023 interview with the German TV Channel, Deutsche Welle,
Reza Pahlavi's stances were slightly modified. In the past, he used to say that
the military, the Basij, and the "current Sepah" would be the ones to preserve
peace, once the ruling system would be replaced. Instead in a recent interview,
Reza Pahlavi stated that the IRGC was the problem, but not the Iranian military:
"As a matter of fact, I think most Iranians know that the Iranian military [has]
never been against the people. In fact, from the very beginning, when the IRGC
was created it was a mechanism of guarantee [for] the regime's survival because
the regime did not trust the military. The IRGC was not created to support the
country The IRGC became a mechanism with a mandate to export an ideological
revolution. It is not the military that opposes the people. It is the IRGC that
is a major problem."[29] Reza Pahlavi also tweeted: "Our request is clear: put
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the terrorist list," using the
hashtag #IRGCterrorists.[30]
Online users consider many of Reza Pahlavi's positions to be contradictory. Some
people even coined the sarcastic term "QasemShahrists" to refer to
ultranationalists. The term relates to the Sassanian concept of "Eranshahr,"
meaning the land and empire of Iran, and to the fact that the
ultranationalists/monarchists call themselves Eranshahrists. Claiming that the
ultranationalists/monarchists are just another version of IRGC commander Qasem
Soleimani in terms of extremism, Pahlavi's critics refer to them as
QasemShahrists instead of Eranshahrists. However, a QasemShahrists is a term
also used to define ultranationalists/monarchists as people with contradicting
positions that are ready to use all means to reach power.
Commenting on the attitude of "QasemShahrists" toward minorities, and in
particular towards Ahwazis, Iranian activist Ali Ebrahimzadeh wrote: "Now #QasemShahrists
say we do not have a minority at all! Someone wrote a while ago that we do not
have Arabs in Iran at all! [And that] They are Arabic-speaking Iranians!"
"I see that people have forgotten what kind of a person a QasemShahrist is.
Friends, a QasemShahrist is more or less such a person:" (Source: Twitter)
Many Iranian users have also criticized a recent video broadcast by London-based
Manoto TV, known for its pro-Pahlavi stances, in which a female reporter stated:
"I thank the men, we, myself and many like me, are ready to hold a (democratic)
referendum together with Reza Pahlavi and the people of the revolution and of
the Revolutionary Guards. And I say to the members of the Revolutionary Guards,
we were never dependent on the West and never will be."[31]
Conclusion
The monarchists form a minority group in Iranian politics. Furthermore, as a
Persian-centrist political group, they do not represent the country's
ethno-nations that comprise almost half of Iran's population. In view of the
pro-monarchists' approach to minorities' demands, a new Iran ruled by the
monarchy is unlikely to undergo major changes in terms of minorities' rights and
democratic rule of law. Hence, it is important to heed lessons from the past to
avoid repeating the same mistakes that led to the creation of the current
situation in Iran.
It is important for the international community to pursue a "periphery
strategy," i.e., supporting the ethnic minorities found in Iran's border
regions. This will achieve two goals. First, ethnic minorities would finally
enjoy the freedom and human rights they have been deprived of since the early
20th century. Second, this would ensure that any new regime in Iran would not be
able to continue regional expansionism in the Middle East.[32]
Iran's minorities – which are largely sidelined by the Persian opposition – aim
to establish independent ethno-states or at least a decentralized entity, based
on democratic confederalism, which could work as a temporary, transitional,
intergovernmental project in a post-Ayatollah Iran until the establishment of
new ethno-states in the Kurdistan, Balochistan, Khuzestan, and Caspian
regions.[33]
It is worth noting that pro-monarchy media outlets do not provide a realistic
picture of the demands of the "multinational Iran." Furthermore, many of these
media continue to whitewash the crimes committed by the repressive Pahlavi
dynasty – among others including the building of the notorious Evin prison in
1972 – and their widespread corruption that led to the Iranian revolution in
1979.
* Himdad Mustafa is a Kurdish scholar and expert on Kurdish and Iranian affairs.
[1] Majid Sharifi, Imagining Iran: The Tragedy of Subaltern Nationalism.
Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2013, pp.79-80.
[2] Majid Sharifi, Imagining Iran: The Tragedy of Subaltern Nationalism,
Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2013, pp.80-1.
[3] Near East/South Asia Report, Issue 2765, Foreign Broadcast Information
Service, 1983, page 96.
[4] Azadi-b.com/arshiw/?p=74886, August 3, 2019.
[5] Iranintl.com/en/202301227710, January 22, 2023.
[6] Links.org.au/rhythm-revolution-iran-name-zhina-mahsa-amini, November 3,
2022.
[7] Politico.com, December 14, 2018.
[8] Twitter.com/KavehKermashani/status/1615735194215907329, January 18, 2023.
[9] Instagram.com/p/Cm610r-Ncis/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D, January 2, 2023.
[10] Twitter.com/fariba312/status/1616025505676857344, January 19, 2023.
[11] Twitter.com/fariba312/status/1616041911961391109, January 19, 2023.
[12] Twitter.com/Waelsaffah/status/1560383171002351616, August 19, 2022.
[13] Twitter.com/Waelsaffah/status/1615902238215639040?cxt=HHwWgMDQycah6-wsAAAA,
January 19, 2023.
[14] Twitter.com/samireza42/status/1616285457607696387, January 20, 2023.
[15] Twitter.com/samireza42/status/1616282098805116930, January 20, 2023.
[16] Ps752justice.com/about/
[17] Washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/28/iran-protests-leader-hamed-esmaeilion/,
December 28, 2022.
[18] Lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/24/tens-of-thousands-of-iranians-march-in-berlin-against-the-regime_6001581_4.html,
October 24, 2022.
[19] Iranintl.com/en/202210222845, October 22, 2022.
[20] Twitter.com/amirancan/status/1614733940425728007, January 15, 2023.
[21] Twitter.com/esmaeilion/status/1615739420795174914?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet,
January 18, 2023.
[22] Twitter.com/esmaeilion/status/1615044304061300736, January 16, 2023.
[23] Twitter.com/JinaFreeIran/status/1609267617222508545, December 31, 2022.
[24] Twitter.com/JinaFreeIran/status/1609268806068862976, December 31, 2022.
[25] Twitter.com/Shervin_Ashrafi/status/1613816668420988929, January 13, 2023.
[26] Youtube.com/watch?v=jkU5G1LqPY4, May 25, 2017.
[27] As reported in Reza Pahlavi's website: "As an accomplished jet fighter
pilot, Reza Pahlavi volunteered to serve his country's military as a fighter
pilot during the Iran-Iraq War, but was declined by the clerical regime."
En.rezapahlavi.org/aboutrezapahlavi/
[28] Youtube.com/watch?v=Epv_erSjK7U,April 9, 2019.
[29] Twitter.com/PahlaviReza/status/1614406319481708544, January 15, 2023.
[30] Twitter.com/PahlaviReza/status/1614698938468282369?cxt=HHwWgsDR6aSIyOgsAAAA,
January 15, 2023.
[31] Twitter.com/ManotoNews/status/1618286826942517249, January 25, 2023.
[32] See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 428, The Islamic Republic Of Iran Will Collapse
Only If Its Ethnic Minorities Are Supported, November 11, 2022.
[33] See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 426, A Roadmap Towards Confederalism For The
Future Of Iran, November 3, 2022.