Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 20-21/2023
New NATO member Finland swears in government regarded as country's most right-wing in decades
HELSINKI (AP)/Tue, June 20, 2023
Finland, which recently became NATO's 31st member, swore in a new coalition government Tuesday that is considered the most right-wing one in the Nordic country’s modern history. President Sauli Niinistö appointed the 19-member Cabinet of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, the leader of the conservative National Coalition Party, after Finnish lawmakers approved the lineup of ministers. The National Coalition Party won the most seats in an April 2 parliamentary election. Following seven weeks of coalition talks, the party announced a deal to form a government with three other parties, including the far-right, euroskeptic Finns Party. The two junior partners in the coalition are the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party of Finland. Due to the dominance of the two senior partner parties, Finnish media described Orpo’s government as “national conservative” in nature. The four parties hold a majority of 108 seats in the 200-member Parliament. Political analysts said the new Cabinet was Finland’s most right-wing government since World War II. Finland's economy was the central issue in April's election. While campaigning, conservative candidates accused the center-left Cabinet of former Prime Minister Sanna Marin of excessive spending, contributing to rising state debt and other economic problems. Despite Marin's personal popularity and high international profile, voters shifted their allegiances away from her Social Democratic Party and to parties on the political right. The Social Democrats finished third in the election, after the National Coalition Party and the Finns Party. Orpo, a 53-year-old veteran politician, is a former finance and interior minister and has headed the NCP, Finland’s main conservative party, since 2016.
The party's other key Cabinet posts include Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen, who is the NCP's vice chair. Häkkänen’s post is particularly significant since Finland joined NATO in April. The country of 5.5 million, which shares a long border with Russia, is in the process of integrating its military systems and infrastructure into the alliance. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to abandon decades of military non-alignment and to seek NATO membership together with Sweden in May 2022. Under Marin's leadership, Finland was one of Ukraine's most vocal and active European supporters in terms of military and civilian aid. Häkkänen offered assurances that the new government would not change Finland's position toward Ukraine. “Finland's support to Ukraine will continue to be very strong. There will be no changes to this policy," he told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the new Cabinet's first news conference. The populist Finns Party, which follows a largely nationalist and anti-immigration agenda, received several important Cabinet posts. Party leader Riikka Purra was made finance minister in the new government, and other party members were named to lead Finland's interior and justice ministries. While Finland's strategy on Ukraine may stay the same, Orpo’s Cabinet is expected to carry out major social policy and labor reforms, as well as budget cuts, over the next four years. It seeks to substantially decrease Finland’s government debt and is taking a hard stance on immigration, including tightening the requirements for residence permits and citizenship.

Four killed in Palestinian attack after deadly Israeli gunship raid
Mohammed Najib/Arab News/June 20, 2023
RAMALLAH: Palestinian attackers killed at least four people and wounded several others when they opened fire on an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday. Hamas said a member of its armed wing took part in the attack in response to Monday’s Israeli raid on Jenin, where six people died and dozens more were injured. Tuesday’s shooting set off a spiral of violence as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and damaged cars on the road linking Ramallah and Nablus, and beat residents in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus. Reports said that at least two Palestinian gunmen arrived at the entrance of the Eli settlement in a black Chevrolet armed with M16 rifles. They shot at the guard then killed settlers as they walked to a nearby petrol station on the edge of the settlement. The gunmen then entered a restaurant and opened fire. One was killed by a settler, while another fled in a stolen car and was later shot dead by Israeli forces near the northern city of Tubas. The attack came a day after six Palestinians were killed and 91 were injured in Jenin as Israeli forces used Apache helicopter gunships for the first time in several years in a raid on the city’s refugee camp. Ghassan Al-Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst, told Arab News that he expected violence to escalate as settlers and Palestinians launch reprisal attacks. Saleh Al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader abroad, said: “We warned (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that harming the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque was like playing with fire and that our people and their valiant resistance will continue to defend Al-Aqsa no matter how many sacrifices are made."Hazim Qasem, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said: “The West Bank revolutionaries are striking everywhere. This great intifada will continue and will not stop until the Palestinian goals of freedom and independence are achieved."The Islamic Jihad armed group called Tuesday’s attack “a natural response to the escalating crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people.”It said the “heroic guerrilla operation” was a part of the Palestinian “legitimate right to self-defense” and demonstrated “the vitality of the resistance.”The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the “Israeli enemy would pay from the blood of its soldiers and settlers for its crimes against the Palestinian people.”

Israel troops kill Palestinian near Bethlehem
Associated Press/June 20, 2023
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in fighting in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said as the death toll from clashes earlier in the city of Jenin rose to six. The fatalities were the latest in a surge of violence that has wracked the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry said late Monday that 21-year-old Zakaria al-Zaoul was shot in the head in the town of Husan, west of Bethlehem. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that he was killed during clashes with the military. The Israeli military said a suspect threw a firebomb at troops stationed along a West Bank highway near Husan. The troops responded with live fire and confirmed a hit, the army said. Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by months of violence, focused mainly in the West Bank, where at least 126 Palestinians have been killed this year. Monday saw one of the fiercest days of fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday that 48-year-old Amjad Abu Jaas succumbed to wounds sustained in the gunbattle. That fatality brought to six the number of Palestinians killed in Monday's fighting in Jenin, with over 90 wounded. Eight Israeli soldiers were also wounded, according to the army. The fighting saw Israel use helicopter gunships in the West Bank for the first time in several years, and Palestinian militants detonated a large roadside bomb under an Israeli armored vehicle. Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian violence early last year. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have surged during that time. Israel says most of the Palestinian dead were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed at least 20 people this year. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

Palestinian attacker opens fire at West Bank gas station, kills at least 4 people
JERUSALEM (AP)/Tue, June 20, 2023
A Palestinian attacker opened fire at a gas station near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding several others, Israeli medics said, as violence continued to roil the occupied territory. Israeli security forces said they shot the gunman and were still searching for other attackers near the Jewish settlement of Eli north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Palestinian media reported that the attacker's driver had fled the scene.The condition of the attacker was not immediately clear. Photos circulated of a man lying bloodied and face-down in the street beside an automatic rifle.
The Israeli rescue service said it had evacuated two seriously wounded men, ages 20 and 38, to nearby hospitals for treatment. It said that four more people were wounded at the scene, three of them unconscious. The identities of the victims were not immediately clear. Tuesday’s shooting followed a deadly Israeli military raid into the northern West Bank Jenin refugee camp on Monday that triggered the fiercest fighting in years, killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens more. In a rare move, the Israeli military deployed helicopter gunships as its forces cleared the area to evacuate wounded soldiers who had been stranded in disabled military vehicles after Palestinian militants targeted them with powerful roadside bombs. Late Monday night, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man who they alleged threw a firebomb at troops along a West Bank highway in the Palestinian town of Husan, west of Bethlehem. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man killed as 21-year-old Zakaria al-Zaoul. Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by months of violence, focused mainly in the West Bank, where at least 126 Palestinians have been killed this year. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed at least 20 people this year.
Also on Tuesday, 48-year-old Amjad Abu Jaas succumbed to wounds sustained in Monday’s gunbattle in Jenin, Palestinian health officials said. His death brought to six the number of Palestinians killed during the raid, with over 90 wounded, a dozen critically. Eight Israeli soldiers were also wounded. Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian violence early last year. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have surged during that time. Israel says most of the Palestinian dead were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

Israeli Bar Association holding elections
Mohammed Najib/Arab News/June 20, 2023
RAMALLAH: Elections for the Israeli Bar Association were held Tuesday against the backdrop of controversial judicial reforms. The two strongest candidates for the chairmanship of association are Amit Becher, the interim head of the organization and head of the “Hope for the IBA” slate, and its former chairman, Efi Nave. In 2019, Nave was arrested on suspicion of advancing the judicial appointments of women in return for sexual favors. The State Attorney’s Office eventually declined to prosecute since crucial evidence against him was obtained by illegally hacking his phone. Nave has expressed support for legal reform, though has said he opposes “large portions” of the radical proposals made by Justice Minister Yariv Levin at the outset of his judicial overhaul program. Regardless, Nave is backed by senior coalition figures and government allies and is seen as likely to cooperate with Levin.
Becher, meanwhile, is seen as the anti-government reform candidate. The Bar Association has 77,000 members, including around 10,000 Arab lawyers. Mohammed Naamneh, a member of the Judges Appointment Committee, told Arab News he was working to get Arab lawyers to vote to maintain a solid Arab presence and representation in the association. “The essence of the heated debate between the right and the left, and the government coalition today, is about the judicial appointment committee, which includes two members from the Bar Association,” Naamneh told Arab News. “We expect positive results in our favor so that we maintain an independent Bar Association.” Attorney Majdi Halabi, from Haifa, told Arab News after casting his vote that most of the country’s participating lawyers are against the judicial reforms, championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Political analyst Jalal Banna told Arab News that a win for Nave would weaken the Bar Association and the Arab vote within it. Attorney Alaa Alaeddin said the Arab vote in the elections is crucial to the image and future of the union. “The Bar Association elections have been politicized in an unprecedented way, as politicians in the government coalition want to control the Bar Council, which elects the Committee for the Appointment of Judges in the State of Israel,” Aladdin said. “The Bar Association elections affect every lawyer and citizen in Israel.”Arab lawyers have formed a joint list called “The Path of Arab Dignity and Integrity,” which declared support for Becher. Aladdin hopes that if the list succeeds in obtaining many votes, it will have a role in influencing the union’s policies in the future. “We do not want to be affiliated with other candidates, but rather to be a strong independent list with the largest number of delegates,” Aladdin said. Israeli legal experts say the elections will affect the image of Israel and the independence of its judiciary. Many Palestinians living in Israel and with Israeli citizenship believe a weak bet on the independence of the Israeli judiciary is all that is left for them. “The independence of the judiciary is the last thing left to defend democracy with the minimum that we benefit from,” said Aladdin, who believes that the Arabs will be the first to be affected if the Israeli right-wing takes control of the Bar Association’s board of directors. Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and National Unity MK Gideon Sa’ar, support Becher, who has pledged to “restore honor to the profession, to protect the legal system’s independence.”The results of the elections may be declared by Wednesday morning.

People demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/Tue, June 20, 2023
Israeli lawyers held a leadership election on Tuesday with an eye on candidates' potential influence over the make-up of a panel for selecting judges, which is at the core of a contested bid by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the courts. The Israel Bar Association provides two of the Judicial Appointments Committee's nine members. The others are a mix of Supreme Court justices, cabinet ministers and parliamentarians meant to encourage give-and-take in bench picks. Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition wants to expand the panel to give the government more clout - among reform proposals that have sparked unprecedented nationwide protests and brought unusually intense public scrutiny of the Bar's role. Among candidates for Bar chairman are Amit Becher, who has openly identified with the anti-reform demonstrations, and Efi Naveh, a confidant of a conservative former justice minister who championed reining in perceived over-reach by the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has not commented on the Bar election, whose results are due on Wednesday. It has been front-page news in Israel and featured a spray of campaign robocalls and text messages - including to non-lawyers - by at least one candidate.
'COMBATIVE CHAOS'
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich came out against Becher, branding him "a prominent leftist, among leaders of... the unbridled, extremist, quarrelsome and combative chaos on the streets in recent months", in remarks to reporters on Monday.Becher denies having a partisan objective, saying lawyers of all stripes back his pledge to prevent a "political takeover by the government of the Judicial Appointments Committee". Naveh has said that, if elected, he would be nobody's "proxy".Netanyahu announced he would resume the judicial overhaul this week after suspending it in March to enable compromise negotiations - so-far fruitless - with opposition parties. They accuse Netanyahu of seeking to restrict the courts even as he argues his innocence in a long-running corruption trial. The coalition argues that the reforms would balance out the branches of government, and plans on Wednesday to begin work on a fresh bill to limit some Supreme Court powers.

'Massive' overnight drone attack on Kyiv
Agence France Presse/June 20, 2023
Russian forces launched a major drone assault on Kyiv overnight as well as attacking other regions, Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. "New massive air attack on the capital," wrote the Kyiv City Military Administration, adding that it was the first attack on the city in 18 days to use Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones. "According to the usual tactics for mass UAV attacks, drones entered the capital in waves, heading from different directions. The air alert lasted more than three hours," it said on Telegram. "Almost two dozen enemy targets were detected and destroyed by the forces and means of our air defense in the airspace around Kyiv. "There is no information regarding casualties or destruction at this time". In Lviv to the west, "critical infrastructure" was hit by drones, the head of the regional administration Maksym Kozytski wrote on Telegram, without giving further details. The military administration of Zaporizhzhia said the southern city and its surroundings had been the target of a "massive attack" aimed at civilian targets. Three Shahed drones were also shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv, governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. The Ukrainian General Staff later said that, of the 30 drones launched by Russian forces overnight, 28 were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

Russia warns Ukraine against striking Crimea with U.S., British missiles
Reuters/Tue, June 20, 2023
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Moscow had information that Ukraine was planning to strike Russian-controlled Crimea with longer-range U.S. and British missiles and warned Russia would retaliate if that happened. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but considers it to be outside the scope of what it calls its "special military operation" which is focused in eastern and southern Ukraine where Ukraine is fighting to retake territory. Kyiv, which says it is battling for its survival in a war of colonial conquest, says it wants to reclaim all of its territory however, including the Crimean peninsula which hosts Russia's Black Sea naval base. Shoigu told a meeting of military officials that Moscow had information that Ukraine planned to strike Crimea with U.S.-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket systems and with British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. "The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine," said Shoigu. Ukrainian generals and politicians have said many times they do not announce their military plans ahead of time. Shoigu said Ukraine's armed forces had carried out 263 attacks on Russian forces' positions since June 4, referring to what Moscow regards as the start of Ukraine's counteroffensive. "Thanks to the smart and selfless actions of our units all of them (the attacks) have been repelled, the enemy has not accomplished its goals," said Shoigu. it has recaptured eight villages in the early stages of its counteroffensive and a defence official has promised that Kyiv's "biggest blow" lay ahead despite tough resistance from Moscow's troops.

Russian air strikes hit Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities far from front lines
KYIV (Reuters)/Mon, June 19, 2023
Russia on Tuesday struck at military and infrastructure targets in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and across other parts of the country, including western areas far from the front lines, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's Defence Ministry said for its part that Russian forces had hit and destroyed eight ammunition warehouses across Ukraine in the last 24 hours and repelled Ukrainian attacks in three different directions. Also on Tuesday, Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region with drones and three civilians were wounded, TASS news agency reported, citing the local Russian-appointed authorities. The Russian attacks took place as attention has been focused on Ukrainian actions against Russia's defensive positions in the south and east - the initial stages of a counteroffensive seeking to push President Vladimir Putin's troops back from territory seized since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv says it has already recaptured 113 square km (44 square miles) of land from Russian forces. But the latest strikes showed that Russia was well capable of waging war beyond the southern and eastern front lines.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said drones attacked the Kyiv region in several waves, with the air alert lasting for over four hours. Several commercial and administrative buildings and some private houses were damaged, it said. There was no mention of any casualties in the overnight air strikes. Ukraine said it had shot down 32 of 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones fired from Russia's Bryansk region and the Azov Sea. But a "critically important facility" was struck in Lviv, far from the front lines and around 70 km (43 miles) from the border with Poland, regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said. He gave no other details. The air force said Ukrainian air defences had been in action in most regions. "However, the main direction of attack by Iranian drones was the Kyiv region. More than two dozen Shaheds were destroyed here," it said on Telegram. The Energy Ministry said debris from falling drones damaged electricity lines in the Kyiv region and also in the Mykolaiv region in the south, cutting off electricity for hundreds of residents. The air force said Russia had also hit the southeastern industrial city of Zaporizhzhia with Iskander and S-300 missiles. Yuriy Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region's military administration, said Russia had targeted telecommunication infrastructure and agriculture and farming properties. Ukraine's military said Russia had fired seven missiles at Zaporizhzhia. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
REPULSED
The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had attempted attacks towards the Russian-held eastern city of Donetsk and south of it as well as the southern Zaporizhzhia region but they had been repelled. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow had information that Ukraine was planning to strike Russian-controlled Crimea with longer-range U.S. and British missiles and warned Russia would retaliate if that happened. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea from Ukraine in 2014, but considers it to be outside the scope of what it calls its "special military operation" focused on eastern and southern Ukraine. "The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine," Shoigu told a meeting of military officials. Shoigu also said Ukrainian armed forces had carried out 263 attacks on Russian forces' positions since June 4, referring to what Moscow regards as the start of Ukraine's counteroffensive. "Thanks to the smart and selfless actions of our units all of them have been repelled, the enemy has not accomplished its goals," Shoigu said. Ukraine says it has recaptured eight villages in the early stages of its counteroffensive. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it saw scant chance of peace talks with Ukraine due to Kyiv's stance - which demands a total withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine before any peacemaking - despite the efforts of a mediating mission by African leaders. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to root out security threats posed by Kyiv's pursuit of integration with the West. Kyiv and Western supporters say Russia is waging an unprovoked war of conquest.
Putin had held "very productive" talks with African leaders on Saturday and remained open to dialogue and contacts on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. But Peskov told reporters that what he called the history of Kyiv's position meant "one can hardly talk about stable grounds" for peace negotiations.

Russian mercenary boss says his fighters have yet to receive promised medals
Reuters/Tue, June 20, 2023
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin complained on Tuesday that most of his fighters had not yet received medals promised by President Vladimir Putin for their role in the Ukraine war's bloodiest battle, the latest twist in a feud with the top brass. Prigozhin's Wagner private army spearheaded the assault on the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured last month by Russian forces after nine months of fighting. Putin congratulated Wagner and the Russian army at the time and said that all those who distinguished themselves would get state awards. But Prigozhin, who has publicly accused the Defence Ministry and its leadership of incompetence and of failing to adequately supply his forces, said most of his men had not been decorated. "Of the state awards for Bakhmut, only Hero of Russia stars have been received. Nothing has been awarded to the fighters, the bulk of the fighters. The lists are with the Ministry of Defence," he said in a statement released by his press office. "According to my information, there is a fuss over signing off on the awards. Everybody has already forgotten that they fought and died there," Prigozhin added, accusing generals of instead "adorning themselves with trinkets". There was no immediate reaction to his criticism from the Defence Ministry which has ignored his public complaints. His outburst comes as he remains locked in a murky standoff with the Defence Ministry over an order for mercenary groups like his to sign formal contracts with the ministry before July 1. The move would more closely integrate Wagner and Prigozhin into the Defence Ministry's command structure in a subordinate position. Prigozhin initially refused to sign anything, and has since said, without providing details, that he is proposing an alternative contract himself.

Ukraine destroys major ammo dump behind Russian lines
Joe Barnes/Telegraph/June 20, 2023
Ukraine struck a “significant” ammunition dump in a Russian-occupied village deep behind the front lines, new satellite imagery has shown. “This was a very significant ammunition depot. It has been destroyed,” said Odesa’s military administration.
The images, released by Planet Labs, appeared to show a series of warehouse buildings razed to the ground, while an adjacent railroad was completely destroyed. Rykov is located on the railway between occupied Crimea and Melitopol.
The village, which had a pre-war population of around 4,000, is considered an important logistical hub for Russian forces. The strike may have been designed to disrupt Russian lines of communications as the Ukrainian counter-offensive gathers pace. Air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles, donated by Britain to Kyiv’s forces, have a typical range of 155 miles, enabling Ukraine to strike deep behind the front lines. The GMLRS rockets Ukraine fires from its Himars and M270 multi-launch rocket systems are usually described as having a range of about 50 miles.
Russia on Tuesday claimed that Ukraine was planning strikes on Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles. Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said: “The use of these missiles outside the zone of implementation of the special military operation will mark the full involvement of the US and Great Britain in the conflict and will entail immediate attacks on decision-making centres on Ukrainian territory.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have warned Russian troops are still trying to advance despite Kyiv’s counter-offensive.
Ukraine’s general staff said Moscow’s forces had launched “offensive actions” in both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in its daily update on Tuesday. The report said Russian troops had attacked villages close to the Donetsk region town of Lyman, and in other areas. Russia has made small gains near the towns of Svatove and Kreminna in the neighbouring Luhansk region, according to a report by the US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank. “Despite the fact that the offensive of our armed forces continues in several directions in the south, the Russians also have their own directions of attack, and they are also going on the offensive,” Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said. Her boss, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said on Tuesday that the counter-offensive would be much slower than the rapid gains made last September, when Kyiv’s forces liberated much of the Kharkiv region in weeks. He said Ukraine’s armed forces were battling terrain, poor weather conditions and a Russian enemy that is well-prepared to defend territories it occupies. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said late on Monday: “In some areas our warriors are moving forward; in some areas they are defending their positions and resisting the occupiers’ assaults and intensified attacks.” Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

Saudi foreign minister reaffirms Kingdom’s support for Sudan
Arab News/June 20/2023
RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Monday participated in the High-Level Pledging Event for Sudan and the Region, which was held virtually under the joint presidency of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Germany, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the EU, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In his speech, Prince Faisal expressed hope that the commitments resulting from the conference would “promptly” assist the Sudanese people “in facing the humanitarian challenges and harsh conditions” they are currently experiencing. He reiterated Saudi Arabia’s keenness to stand by the Sudanese people and find a political solution to the crisis, referencing the Kingdom’s hosting of the conflicting parties in Jeddah last May as part of a Saudi-American initiative to promote dialogue and de-escalate the situation in Sudan. The Kingdom, in cooperation with the US, has succeeded in reaching an agreement between the conflicting parties with the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, which has been followed by multiple humanitarian ceasefires, the latest of which was announced a couple of days ago, Prince Faisal said. He expressed his hope that these efforts would succeed in protecting civilians and ensuring the delivery of aid to those affected. Prince Faisal underscored that the Kingdom has spared no effort in supporting the Sudanese people since the beginning of the crisis. It has provided humanitarian aid worth $100 million through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and operated an airlift involving 13 planes to date, as well as a sea bridge involving two ships carrying food, health and shelter supplies, and other necessities. Since the beginning of the Sudanese conflict in April, the Kingdom has conducted maritime evacuation operations for those stranded in Sudan, including citizens and residents of friendly countries. This has contributed to saving 8,455 people from 110 countries, Prince Faisal said. He praised the distinguished cooperation between the Kingdom’s aid agencies, UN organizations, and other international institutions specialized in providing humanitarian assistance. Prince Faisal said that the Kingdom has contributed to the establishment of a humanitarian hub for the World Food Programme in Jeddah, which serves as a center for storing and sending aid to Sudan and neighboring countries affected by the crisis. This facilitates the operations of the UN Humanitarian Air Service, managed by the program. He emphasized the importance of restoring humanitarian operations, protecting civilians and aid workers, and ensuring the safety of humanitarian corridors for the delivery of essential aid. In this regard, he called for efforts to be strengthened to provide the necessary support for the people of Sudan.

Destination Riyadh: crown prince boosts Saudi bid to host Expo 2030
Arab News/Updated 20 June 2023
PARIS: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the Kingdom’s official reception in Paris on Monday to present its candidacy to host Expo 2030. Representatives of 179 member countries of the Bureau International des Expositions, which organizes the expo, also attended the event in the French capital. The crown prince toured an exhibition held by the Royal Commission for the City of Riyadh that showcases Saudi Arabia’s rich heritage and culture, and the cultural depth of the Kingdom and its capital. The exhibition takes visitors through a virtual journey in Riyadh in 2030, starting with arrival at King Salman International Airport and then a tour of the most prominent landmarks such as the Sports Boulevard, King Salman Park, Diriyah Gate and Qiddiya. Monday’s reception was an important part of the nomination procedure for countries to host the expo. It will be followed by the General Assembly of the International Bureau of Exhibitions on Tuesday and Wednesday at its headquarters in the French capital. The General Assembly will listen to the detailed candidature dossier submitted by four competing countries. Voting will take place next November to choose the host city. In addition to Saudi Arabia, Italy, South Korea and Ukraine are competing to host the expo in Rome, Busan and Odesa. The project examination phase for World Expo 2030 is currently underway. The host country will then be elected by BIE member states at a General Assembly in November.

Kuwaiti parliament elects Ahmed Al-Saadoun as its speaker
Arab News/June 20, 2023
KUWAIT: Kuwait’s National Assembly on Tuesday elected Ahmed Al-Saadoun as its speaker by acclamation, a post he has served before, according to state-run KUNA news agency. The announcement came during the 17th term of the National Assembly inaugurated by Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Tuesday morning. Al-Sabah said the National Assembly must use constitutional means wisely to achieve their political objectives. “There is no room for wasting effort and time in conflicts, settling disputes and creating crises” said Al-Sabah. He said the National Assembly must complete the delayed legislation to achieve the aspirations of the people. “We look forward to democratic practices that contribute to achieving resurgence and activating the role of the National Assembly," he concluded. A general election in September had delivered a mandate for change, bringing 27 new lawmakers to the 50-member assembly. However, in March, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court annulled the decree dissolving the previous parliament and reinstated it. A few weeks later, the ruling Al Sabah family dissolved that parliament for a second time, setting up the most recent vote, in which most of the lawmakers elected in September regained their seats.

Hunter Biden will plead guilty in a deal that likely avoids time behind bars in a tax and gun case
WASHINGTON (AP)/Tue, June 20, 2023
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offenses and avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 52, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will also spare him prosecution on a charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. It's somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time charges are filed in court, but it's not totally unheard of.
The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks of distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department. While it requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans are likely to continue to try to use the case to shine an unflattering spotlight on Joe Biden and his family business dealings and to raise questions about the independence of the Biden Justice Department. Trump, in a post on his social media platform, likened the Hunter Biden deal to a “mere traffic ticket,” adding, “Our system is BROKEN!”
The White House counsel’s office said in a statement that the president and first lady Jill Biden “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.” Two people familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend probation for the tax charges, meaning Hunter Biden will not face time behind bars. But the decision to go along with any deal is up to the judge. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra 38 special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user. The count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the terms of the agreement, the case will be wiped from his record. Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, said in a statement that it was his understanding that the five-year investigation had now been resolved. “I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” Clark said. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”The agreement comes as the Justice Department pursues perhaps the most consequential case in its history against Trump, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The resolution of Hunter Biden's case comes just days after a 37-count indictment came down against former Trump for mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate, another case with even more dramatic political implications. That indictment had already brought an onslaught of criticism from Republicans, accusations of “politicization” of the Justice Department and a renewed crescendo of questions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans continue to pursue their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.
Republicans on Tuesday called the federal charges another example of “a two-tiered justice system.”Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the younger Biden is “getting away with a slap on the wrist,” despite ongoing investigations in Congress that they say show — but have not yet provided evidence of — a pattern of corruption within the family’s financial ties.
“These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the Oversight Committee’s investigation,” he said in a statement Tuesday. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said the Trump charges came from a special counsel he appointed specifically so the investigation would remain independent. The Hunter Biden charges, meanwhile, were filed by the U.S. attorney for Delaware, Trump appointee David Weiss. The Justice Department investigation into the president's son burst into public view in December 2020, one month after the 2020 election, when Hunter Biden revealed that he had received a subpoena as part of the department’s scrutiny of his taxes. The subpoena sought information on the younger Biden’s business dealings with a number of entities, including Burisma, a Ukraine gas company on whose board he sat. Hunter Biden said in a statement at the time that he was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.” Since then, a federal grand jury in Delaware has heard testimony related to his taxes and foreign business transactions, including payments and income he received while on Burisma’s board. Justice Department officials, per protocol, have generally avoided discussing the status of the inquiry in public, and the White House has assiduously steered clear of any questions about it. Still, there have been periodic reminders of its activity. In February 2021, for instance, the department sought the resignation of Trump-era U.S. attorneys but made a point of noting that it was leaving Weiss in place as a way to ensure continuity in the probe. And at a congressional hearing last August, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that the investigation remained active out of the bureau’s Baltimore field office and said it was a matter that “I expect our folks to pursue aggressively.” Garland pledged not to interfere in the probe at another hearing in March. An unnamed IRS special agent, though, later alleged mishandling of the investigation in a letter to Congress in which he sought whistleblower protection. The younger Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then Barack Obama's vice president, was helping conduct the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine. Trump and his allies have long argued, without evidence, that Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration’s policies toward the Eastern European nation.
Senate Republicans said in a 2020 report that the appointment may have posed a conflict of interest but did not provide evidence that any policies were directly affected by Hunter Biden’s work. Years before the case was brought, Hunter Biden surfaced as a central character in the first impeachment case against Trump, who in an apparent bid to boost his own reelection bid had asked Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a telephone call to announce an investigation into the younger Biden. Republicans later sought to make Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine a prominent issue during the 2020 presidential election. In October of that year, the New York Post reported that it had received from Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. The story was greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, including Giuliani’s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the November election. No evidence has emerged since of any Russian connections to the laptop or the emails, and several news organizations have said they have substantiated many of the emails on the device. Hunter Biden later asked the Justice Department in a letter from his lawyer to investigate Trump allies who accessed and disseminated personal data from the laptop.

Turkish drone strike kills 2 Kurdish local officials and their driver in north Syria, officials say
BEIRUT (AP)/Tue, June 20, 2023
A Turkish drone attack killed two Kurdish local officials and their driver in northeast Syria on Tuesday in the latest such strike in the war-torn country, officials said, as talks on Syria’s conflict began in Kazakhstan. The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria said Tuesday’s strike hit a car near the town of Qamishli, killing the co-chairperson of the town’s council, Yusra Darwish, and her deputy, Liman Shweish, as well as their driver. An additional local officials was wounded in the attack. The attack is the latest in a series of such strikes by Turkey’s military that has been targeting Kurdish officials and fighters in northeast Syria for months. Turkey says the main Syrian Kurdish militia is allied to the outlawed Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, has led an insurgency against Turkey since 1984, which has killed tens of thousands of people. The authority said in a statement that the four were visiting institutions run by the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria when they came under drone attack while on the road outside Qamishli. Also Tuesday, a two-day round of talks aimed at resolving the broader conflict in Syria opened in the Kazakh capital, Astana, among officials from Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Attempts at reconciliation between Syria and Turkey, which has troops in Syria and backs opposition fighters, have been slow. Syrian state media quoted Syrian Assistant Foreign Minister Ayman Sousan saying that “any active results” that come out of the meetings should be based on Turkey agreeing to withdraw its troops from Syria with a “clear timeline.” The meeting follows ongoing improvement in relations between Syria and Arab countries that once backed opposition groups since the conflict began in March 2011, which has killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. President Bashar Assad attended the Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia in May after Syria’s membership was reinstated 12 years after it was suspended. In southern Syria, U.S.-based organization the Syrian Emergency Task Force announced Tuesday the first aid delivery to a remote desert camp near the Jordanian border housing some 8,000 internally displaced people since September 2019. Damascus and Moscow blame U.S. troops stationed nearby for failing to provide security for aid shipments to Rukban camp, allegations denied by the Americans. Jordan closed the border years ago over security concerns. The humanitarian and advocacy group said the delivery includes seeds and irrigation tools for residents to sustain themselves, as well as school supplies for the over 1,000 children in the camp who have been deprived of education. The aid group said it is preparing to send baby formula, prenatal vitamins, school books, and food items in the coming weeks. “The world for a long time has been forgetting the crisis of refugees, especially those besieged within Syria,” Omar al-Shogre, the group's director of detainee affairs, told The Associated Press. It took a few years of talks with the Department of Defense to approve the facilitation of assistance to Rukban via its Denton Program, which aids U.S.-based non-governmental organizations with transporting humanitarian aid. The organization purchases the aid and it is stored on whatever space is available on United States aircraft in the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq’s Anbar province already scheduled to fly to the Al-Tanf garrison near the camp. Mouaz Moustafa, who heads the organization, says efforts to deliver aid for years formally through the U.N. has “obviously failed” due to the Syrian government’s obstructions. “You cannot rely on a process that is under the control of the powers besieging the camp,” Moustafa said.

20 years after US invaded Iraq, Iraqis are still trying to emigrate
Associated Press./June 20, 2023
Ammar Rashed has a stack of letters from U.S. troops attesting to his work during some of the most dangerous days of the Iraq War. But six years after he applied to immigrate to the United States under a program for interpreters who helped America, he is still waiting.
"You don't have to keep me and my family suffering for, for years waiting," said Rashed during a Skype interview from Jordan, where he lives. "It's really frustrating."Rashed is among thousands of Iraqis, many of whom risked their lives by working closely with Americans during the war and its aftermath, trying to enter the U.S. An estimated 164,000 Iraqis already have found homes in America. U.S. officials cite multiple reasons for the delays, including an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a hack of a refugee database, the COVID-19 pandemic and cuts to the refugee program under then-President Donald Trump.
Sometimes the process is slowed as applicants struggle to prove their ties to the U.S. Mohammed Subhi Hashim al-Shafeay, his wife and four children have been in limbo for a dozen years while he tries to document his work for a U.S. security contractor at the Iraqi Justice Ministry.
They are living as refugees in Jordan. But al-Shafeay cannot work and cannot afford to send his oldest child, a high school senior, to college. His youngest children feel resented at school because Iraqi refugees this year were exempt from paying school fees, unlike low-income Jordanians.
"This is not a life. We want a future for our children," he said.
The U.S. invasion in 2003 unleashed a vicious sectarian war that engulfed Iraq. Then militants seized large swaths of territory. Iraqi forces reclaimed their country in intense fighting, but huge challenges remain, including rampant corruption, a lack of basic services, continued violence and more than 1 million people still internally displaced. Between the invasion and this year, as many as 300,000 Iraqis were killed along with more than 8,000 U.S. military, contractors and civilians. Recognizing the role Iraqis played in helping the U.S., as well as the violence they faced for it, the U.S. established ways to help them emigrate.
According to the State Department, 106,000 have applied for a program, known as direct access program, intended for people affiliated with the U.S. such as those who worked for an American nongovernmental organization. There are also about 100 Iraqis who applied for a more narrow special immigrant visa program for Iraqis who worked directly for or on behalf of the U.S. government. That program stopped accepting applications in 2014, but applications already in the pipeline are still being processed. Rashed applied under yet another route, which allows for 50 visas a year for interpreters who have a recommendation from a general. Almost since the beginning there have been complaints the process to come to America takes too long. Multiple administrations have considered making the programs more efficient without compromising security.
The State Department declined requests for an interview for this story. But in reports, U.S. officials noted steps such as added staff to speed up visa processing. The embassy in Iraq's capital just reopened limited consular services last fall after closing for three years following a 2019 attack. The government also noted the toll that the pandemic took on its visa processing around the world and the shifting of federal resources to the crisis in Ukraine. The U.S. refugee program, which endured historic cuts under Trump, only in recent months has started to show signs of recovery.
In January 2021, the U.S. suspended the direct access program after three people were charged with stealing information from a U.S. refugee database to fraudulently help Iraqis trying to emigrate. The program was not restarted until March of last year. At the time it reopened, the U.S. said it was "committed to ensuring those who sacrificed their own safety for our collective interests have an opportunity to seek refuge in the United States."
For the Iraqis still waiting, it can be confusing.
Al-Shafeay said he was hired by a U.S. contractor to work as a bodyguard for the Iraqi Justice Ministry from 2003 to 2006, when he left Iraq. He said he has been told the holdup is confirming his employment, but it is challenging so many years later and from afar.
He and his wife are worried about their children. Jordan has played host to tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees over the years, but those refugees face challenges getting authorization to work, especially in major professions, and are essentially barred from becoming citizens. Al-Shafeay questions what future his family has there. The family relies on handouts from aid groups. Al-Shafeay said the family is scared to ever go back to Iraq because a former in-law, who is now a member of an Iranian-backed militia, has repeatedly threatened them. His oldest child is a high school senior but barely leaves his room. He says there is no point in studying because his parents cannot afford the university fees in Jordan. Ali Al Mshakheel is a former Iraqi journalist now living in Maine. He said he hears almost daily from Iraqis in America trying to assist family or friends still in Iraq. Al Mshakheel himself has four siblings and a father whom he has been trying to help emigrate. During the program's suspension, he wrote an op-ed calling on the Biden administration to unfreeze it. Even now he sees little progress.
Both Rashed and al-Shafeay still want to come to the U.S.
Rashed spent most of his life in Iraq. Now, it is too dangerous for him there due to the work he did for the American military. He said he worked with U.S. troops in 2008 who were fighting the Mahdi Army — supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. But now, as al-Sadr has become an important political figure, his supporters are increasingly in positions of power. Rashed is both a Jordanian and Iraqi citizen, but he does not see a future for his children in Jordan. "I need them to live better with a better nation and a better future," he said.
The people working to help him are frustrated, too. Rashed's lawyer, Wes Pickard, said Rashed completed his consular interview in 2019. At that time, there was a reasonable expectation that the process to get his visa would move quickly after that. Since then Rashed's been stuck in what's called "refused for administrative processing" — background checks — with little indication as to when the process will be finished. Jennifer Patota, a lawyer for the International Refugee Assistance Project, said there are a number of reasons why people could be stuck in background checks — their name is similar to someone else's that the government has suspicions over, for example. Kevin Brown worked with Rashed over two tours in Iraq and wrote him a letter of recommendation. Now retired from the military and living in Connecticut, Brown said it is frustrating to hear that someone he worked with so closely — "his right hand man" — is still waiting. Brown said he would love for Rashed to become an American citizen "But if he can't be, I'd like to know why."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 20-21/2023
The Greens' Program: The Suicide of Europe
Drieu Godefridi/Gatestone Institute./June 20, 2023
Beyond Growth is the annual ideological gathering of European environmentalists, and their countless relays in the world of government-funded, supposedly "non-governmental" organizations (NGOs).
What do most people remember when they look at the Beyond Growth report? The European Parliament. The link between Beyond Growth's radical proposals and the European Parliament is presented as perfectly natural: If the European Parliament wants radical environmentalism, how could you, a small local voter, oppose it?
Most [activists] announce what, if they attain power, they will do. Let us, then, listen to the "proposals'' of a charming, smiling Ms De Wever...
[T]he reasoning seems to go, it was the West, embodied by Adam Smith in 1776, that "invented" economic growth, and the West at the time was largely white, so by destroying white supremacy we destroy the very idea of economic growth.
If, according to Adam Smith, economic growth for everyone is the key to being lifted out of poverty – with the goal of making the poor richer, not the rich poorer – then destroying growth does not appear as an economic model that will provide much help. Worse, there are now those pesky choices such as: Would you rather encourage growth by allowing people in poor countries to use fossil fuels -- coal, oil and natural gas -- or drive these people even further into poverty by denying them fossil fuels?
This reluctance to describe "the world after" ["degrowth"] is understandable. In the context of a Europe that is up to its eyebrows in debt and already taxing its citizens just to pay the interest on the debt, reducing economic output means facing the question of who will be left to die first. Healthcare, for instance, is already being rationed and has seemingly become more about cutting costs than delivering services, and more about growing an administrative bureaucracy with massive paperwork than investing in more doctors and better and timely patient care.
The dream EU of environmentalists starts to look like a version of Atlas Shrugged: a dystopian country in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws, regulations and bureaucrats.
[D]espite attempts by the state to enslave minds by force, people emerge victorious in their commitment to freedom. The human mind is the power that moves the world, not coercion.
Beyond Growth is the annual ideological gathering of European environmentalists. What do most people remember when they look at the Beyond Growth report? The European Parliament. The link between Beyond Growth's radical proposals and the European Parliament is presented as perfectly natural: If the European Parliament wants radical environmentalism, how could you, a small local voter, oppose it? Pictured: The European Parliament in Brussels.
We must recognize that European environmentalists, and the far left in general, have an enviable ability to communicate. While conservative movements are still too often embodied in what seem like dehumanized caricatures of policies, European environmentalists, apart from a hysterical Greta Thunberg, have given themselves fresh and pleasant faces as spokespersons who state the worst horrors in an appealing, calm and articulate manner.
Take, for instance, the recently concluded Beyond Growth 2023 conference in Brussels, Belgium. Beyond Growth is the annual ideological gathering of European environmentalists, and their countless relays in the world of government-funded, supposedly "non-governmental" organizations (NGOs).
Beyond Growth does not meet in the lounges of a prestigious hotel or some country mansion, but confers and gathers directly in the European Parliament buildings. This does not happen by chance: when the press lovingly reports on the Beyond Growth conference, it broadcasts images of people gathered and speaking in the tidy rows of the European Parliament. What do most people remember when they look at the Beyond Growth report? The European Parliament. The link between Beyond Growth's radical proposals and the European Parliament is presented as perfectly natural: If the European Parliament wants radical environmentalism, how could you, a small local voter, oppose it?
The star of the most recent conference was the Anuna De Wever, a Flemish Belgian representing the young greens.
You have to read and listen to what these activists are saying. Most announce what, if they attain power, they will do. Let us, then, listen to the "proposals" of the charming, smiling De Wever:
"We must redistribute the wealth", De Wever begins. To whom, how? No details. This has been a standard feature of every self-respecting, moonstruck European speech for a century. Would it be out of line to suggest starting wealth redistribution with the salaries and assets of the Green Members of European Parliament (MEPs)?
"Cancel climate debt": In the minds of environmental activists, countries in the "global North," which have undergone significant development, have an ecological obligation to the countries in the "global South." Even though Western capitalism has rescued the greatest number of people from poverty in the history of the world, apparently the West also created the greatest emissions of greenhouse gases. In addition, Europe and the US still allegedly "exploit" and "colonize" many regions in the "global South" through their multinational corporations, systematically depleting natural resources. Therefore, the "debt" to the "South" must be cancelled, even if this "debt" might have nothing to do with the climate.
Let us introduce a "universal basic income" immediately, tomorrow. One can imagine the eagerness of China, Russia, Japan, the U.S. and Cuba to introduce a common universal income -- which is of course is probably only conceivable through the establishment of a "universal" world government: a mere formality.
The West must decline. Indeed, the West is evil. The proof is that it is "rich". Therefore, the West must be punished, by throwing it into a collapse -- a "degrowth" -- while others not in the West will continue to grow, of course.
Universal public services must be increased (doubled? tripled?). How, in a context of decline, will this increase be financed? Those details are not specified.
"All this," De Wever continues, to a great deal of applause, "will of course only be possible if we destroy... white supremacy."
White supremacy? What does white supremacy have to do with economics, you might ask? It would seem that in the minds of many environmentalists, economic growth and white supremacy are effectively synonymous. After all, the reasoning seems to go, it was the West, embodied by Adam Smith in 1776, that "invented" economic growth, and the West at the time was largely white, so by destroying white supremacy we destroy the very idea of economic growth.
They seem to be into a kind of magical thinking which, seeing two realities in the same whole — "whiteness" and capitalism — they then postulate a causal link between them.
If, according to Adam Smith, economic growth for everyone is the key to being lifted out of poverty – with the goal of making the poor richer, not the rich poorer – then destroying growth does not appear as an economic model that will provide much help. Worse, there are now those pesky choices such as: Would you rather encourage growth by allowing people in poor countries to use fossil fuels -- coal, oil and natural gas -- or drive these people even further into poverty by denying them fossil fuels?
This strange goulash of Marxist remnants -- imperialism, decolonization and badly digested Critical Race Theory -- creates a program that is unlikely to unite the majority of Europeans. The program even has been given a name: Immediate European Suicide. If Europe engages in economic "degrowth," as the Greens wish, this "degrowth" implies the destruction of entire sections of the European and Western economies. "Degrowth" and economic destruction are perfect synonyms. "Degrowth" means curtailing economic activities -- or taxing them so punitively that they cease to exist.
These green advocates represent 10% of the seats in the European Parliament, and seem to be in the process of being electorally eradicated in many EU member states. No matter: the undemocratic, unelected, untransparent, unaccountable EU offers them a recourse: in the EU institutions, Greens are everywhere. The "Green 10," for instance, is a coalition of ten of the largest environmental organizations and networks active on the European level. They work to ensure that the EU prioritizes the climate, the local environment, biodiversity and human health within and beyond its borders. To spread their ideas, these unelected NGOs are generously financed by the EU institutions themselves.
The fundamental problem with Beyond Growth is that "degrowth" -- what happens next -- is never defined. If Marxists, and before them socialists, including German national socialists, have always tried to define an economic theory -- concrete projects, and the destruction of what exists -- environmentalists have never bothered to do that. Or is throwing Europe into energy dependence on Russia the main agenda of environmentalists?
This reluctance to describe "the world after" is understandable. In the context of a Europe that is up to its eyebrows in debt and already taxing its citizens just to pay the interest on the debt, reducing economic output means facing the question of who will be left to die first. Healthcare, for instance, is already being rationed and has seemingly become more about cutting costs than delivering services, and more about growing an administrative bureaucracy with massive paperwork than investing in more doctors and better and timely patient care.
What would happen if there were "degrowth"? How, for example, how can we conceive of an obligatory decrease in economic activity without subjecting any technological innovation to control by an "administrative agency"? The dream EU of environmentalists starts to look like a version of Atlas Shrugged: a dystopian country in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws, regulations and bureaucrats. Perhaps the Greens should ponder the message of the book: despite attempts by the state to enslave minds by force, people emerge victorious in their commitment to freedom. The human mind is the power that moves the world, not coercion.
*Drieu Godefridi is a jurist (Saint-Louis University of Louvain), a philosopher (Saint-Louis University of Louvain) and a doctor in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is the author of The Green Reich.
© 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.

Israel must oppose the Iran understandings with all it’s got
Jacob Nagel/Israel Hayom/June 20/2023
The emerging deal with Iran will make it very difficult for Israel to attack alone if it concludes that the time has come.
According to all indications, the negotiations between the United States and Iran on a nuclear deal known as “freeze for freeze” – which is actually “quiet for money” – are on the verge of finalizing what the sides call “understandings” (as opposed to an official agreement).
The idea is to freeze Iran’s progress when it comes to highly enriched uranium in exchange for partial sanction relief (oil sales), the release of some frozen funds, and the freeing of prisoners. Presenting this as understandings and not as an agreement will likely allow the administration to avoid going to Congress, where it is likely to face fierce opposition.
Israel must highlight up front – and loudly – the dangers of the provisions being formulated and express firm opposition even at the cost of harming the prospect of a possible deal with Saudi Arabia, which in itself is very important but much less so than concessions given to Iran on its nuclear program. Some of the reporting on this issue says that during a confidential Knesset meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel could live with these understandings. These reports stem, in my opinion, from an incorrect interpretation of his words. Such a statement is unreasonable and inconsistent with his consistent positions on Iran’s nuclear program. These words were probably never said, or perhaps misunderstood.
The understandings allow Iran to continue enriching its uranium to 60% purity without increasing the accumulated amount. The meaning is a de facto approval for Iran’s enrichment to that level.
Since the idea of a “less for less” agreement was first raised, Tehran has enriched massive amounts to 20%. This is the main problem, which is intensified by the understandings currently being formulated. The need to prevent enrichment to 90% has been stressed, but it is mostly semantic. Nonetheless, the assertion by Israel that enrichment to 90% would trigger a kinetic reaction was very important, and it is a pity that the US didn’t join this and only opted for the wording “severe reaction”.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency closed two cases against Iran over nuclear traces, while still having not received answers on another two open files. How can an agreement (which apparently includes a promise to close the remaining open files later) be reached without getting answers? This would further deteriorate the agency’s shaky standing.
The agreement will legitimize all previous Iranian violations and allow Iran to retain the assets obtained through the ongoing violation of all agreements and treaties it has signed while injecting billions of dollars to revitalize the economy. It will also enable Quds Force’s continued support of terrorism in the Middle East and around the world.
How can someone agree to a freeze, when Iran, under the understandings, continues to develop and manufacture advanced centrifuges and possess ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads?
Iran will also secretly continue to develop weaponization capabilities, which is what really separates it from having nuclear capacity, while its true status continues to be largely hidden.
If freezing is on the table, why is there no requirement to completely freeze the construction of the two underground sites at Natanz: One where the advanced centrifuges are stored and the other (still under construction) is to be used for future enrichment to high levels?
The Biden administration’s only goal is to achieve calm through the November 2024 presidential elections. The understandings will stop all action against Iran’s nuclear program, based on the mistaken assumption that it would put the nuclear issue “back into a box.” Jake Sullivan and now Barbara Leaf, both high-ranking White House officials, have already stated this belief. The understandings will also make it very difficult for Israel to attack alone if it concludes that the time has come. It is true that under the “understandings” it will be a little easier to attack than under an agreement, but it is still going to be very difficult.
In the background, the Iranians continue with their attacks on American interests in the Gulf and in the Middle East; violate human rights and kill women and girls in Iran; continue lending massive support to Russia; and transfer advanced weapons that help kill Ukrainian women and girls.
Instead of reaching those flawed understandings with Iran, it would be better for the US to trigger the snapback mechanism that would reinstate all canceled Security Council sanctions – including a total ban on uranium enrichment – before this mechanism expires in 2025. Such action would hollow out the Saudi desire to seek legitimacy for an independent nuclear fuel cycle.
The agreement will once again come with a heavy price for Israel, so Israel must act against it loudly and in one voice. This critical issue must not be drowned out by the noise of political debates or be compromised by the desire to reach a Saudi deal.
Iran is trying to draw Israel into a multi-theater conflagration while staying out of direct confrontation for the time being. Israel must continue to improve its military capabilities while at the same time send a clear message against the understandings being formulated. Every hint that there is anything to talk about will convey that Israel is weak – like the US – and cannot be trusted. The message will reach our friends in the Gulf, those who have signed agreements with us, and those who may sign in the future – but only if Israel will remain strong against the Iranian threats.
**Brigadier General (res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a visiting professor at the Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. He previously served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security advisor and head of the National Security Council (acting). FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

The one place in the Middle East where minorities are thriving
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Times Of Israel/June 20/2023
Those who accuse Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' should look elsewhere in the region – especially Lebanon
Palestinian propagandists want you to believe that Israel is engaged in the “ethnic cleansing” of non-Jews. A closer look at demographics, however, proves otherwise.
On the occasion of Jerusalem Day last month, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics published numbers showing that close to forty percent of the residents of Jerusalem are Arabs, a level unchanged since a census was taken as far back as 1947, a year before the founding of the state.
Israel is a Jewish state. Its minorities are Arab: Muslim, Christian, and Druze. Their numbers have grown steadily along with the country’s overall population. In areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), everyone is Arab. Muslims are the majority and Christians a dwindling minority that fears for its security. In neighboring Lebanon, whose population is overwhelmingly Arab, Christians were a majority when the state was founded in 1920, although not anymore. If one asks where minorities thrive in the Middle East, the answer is Israel.
The percentage of Christians living in areas now under the PA has been declining rapidly, from 51,000 out of 435,000 in 1949 – or 12 percent – to one percent in 2017.
Christians are now minorities in Palestinian cities where they had historically maintained a majority. In Bethlehem, they shrank from 84 percent in 1922 to 28 percent in 2007, when the PA carried out a major census. For the same period, in the West Bank towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, Christians decreased from 99 and 81 to 81 and 65 percent, respectively.
In 2020, when the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) asked Christian Palestinians “how they felt under Israeli occupation,” 70 percent responded that they felt safe, 94 percent said they were free to travel, and 57 percent said they never felt harassed when crossing Israeli checkpoints.
If Israel does not make Christian Palestinians feel unsafe, then who does? According to PCPSR, 87 percent of Christians worried about a surge in crime in PA territory, 77 percent feared radical Islamist groups, including Hamas, and 67 percent of Palestinian Christians said they felt unsettled about a provision in the Palestinian Basic Law that stipulates that “the principles of Islamic sharia are a main source of legislation.”
Admittedly, the number of Arab Christians in Israel has declined, but only by one percentage point, from 2.9 percent in 1949 to 1.9 percent in 2021. Interestingly, the decrease in the number of Christians mirrors that of the Jewish majority. Both communities have been outpaced by the rapid increase in the number of Muslims. Therefore, while the populations of Jewish and Christian Israelis grew, their share of the population shrank.
Christians of the Middle East have not been vanishing from Palestinian cities only. To the north, in neighboring Lebanon, the percentage of Christians since 1932 has shrunk by nearly 20 percentage points, from 53 to 34 percent. Even though Lebanon has not carried out any census since the French took one in 1932, lists of eligible voters (those over 21) are regularly and automatically updated. And since parliament seats are allocated along sectarian lines, the religion of candidates and voters is marked on the lists and on voter ID.
The Lebanese population has grown substantially since 1932, from 790,000 to roughly five million. But the relative size of different groups has changed dramatically.
Since 1932, Lebanese Sunnis and Shia have increased from 22 and 19.5 to 29.7 and 29.1 percent, respectively, as the percentage of Christians has declined.
This long-term trend remains visible even if one focuses on more recent data. Since 1992, when the end of Lebanon’s civil war enabled it to hold its first election after a 20-year hiatus, voting lists show that the Sunni population is growing at a faster rate than the Shia. Since then, the percentage of Christians and the Druze have continued to decline.
The Druze, once the rulers of Lebanon between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, saw their share of the population decline from 6.7 percent in 1932 to 5.5 percent today. Meanwhile, their coreligionists in Israel enjoyed a tenfold increase in their numbers between 1949 and today, so the size of the Druze community kept up with the Jewish state’s overall population growth. Their share of the population has held constant at 1.6 percent since 1949.
One Lebanese minority has all but vanished: The Jews. Lebanon’s Jews numbered some 3,600 in 1932, or 0.5 percent of the population. Today, they stand officially at 0.11 percent, or 4,000 total, according to voter lists. But those figures are a bureaucratic fiction. Efforts to locate actual Lebanese Jews have turned up fewer than thirty. Many of the Jews supposedly living in Lebanon are over 100 years old according to voter lists. The problem is that Lebanon relies on families and religious communities to report an individual’s death. But there are almost no Jews left in Lebanon to report such deaths, thus creating an illusion of immortality.
Had the Jews of Lebanon grown demographically at the same rate as the Shia, they would have numbered some 35,000 today. But in Lebanon, Jews have not been welcomed since the birth of Israel in 1948.
By contrast, Israel today is the only Middle Eastern country that affords equal rights to Muslims, Christians, and Druze. And while the system is far from perfect, the numbers of these minorities reflect a heartening reality. Israel’s demographics are holding steady. So much for “ethnic cleansing” or other forms of systemic discrimination.
**ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-partisan organization focused on national security and foreign policy.

The Key to Peace Is in Our Hands ... Only the West can guarantee victory for Ukraine
Bernard Henrilevy/The Tablet/June 20/2023
Only the West can guarantee victory for Ukraine
Ukraine cannot lose this war.
I’ve said it since day one.
But each passing day heightens my convictions.
On one side (Russia) is a demoralized, poorly led army and, in the case of the Wagner militia, one manned by criminals whose profession is death but who know not how to risk their own lives.
On the other (Ukraine) is a citizens army defending not just their country but also a certain idea of civilization and of Europe: So, as a consequence, they understand why they fight.
Add to this the fact that the Ukrainian army has become, by trial, the most highly trained and best of Europe.
The law that applies here, then, is not that of Thucydides, but of Herodotus.
The law posited following the Greco-Persian War that pitted the Greek hoplites against the “barbarians” Darius the Great and Xerxes.
The law confirmed by Polybius after the Punic Wars, where the Carthaginian mercenaries surrendered to the legions of the Roman republic.
This law states: Free citizens always end up winning over the vile courtesans who prostrate themselves before the Great King.
It establishes: Irresistible are the soldiers who, even outnumbered, take on, as at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea, slave armies.
This is why, at the end of the day, the outcome of this war is not in doubt.
What do we mean by “outcome”?
Set aside for a moment our pious wishes.
And let us speak of realism, the national security of our countries.
From that point of view, we have no choice.
A cease-fire would be disastrous, as it would have no other effect but to allow the aggressor to rearm and retreat to better attack another day.
A compromise, allowing the aggressor to “save face,” leaving it the slightest parcel of conquered territory, would have the same effect. Moreover, it would send a message to all the Erdogans, Khameinis, and Xis out there: “Invade, invade away; you’ll at least get something out of it.”
It would be suicidal to follow the example of Crimea and the (fallacious) idea that it had “always been Russian.” Putin wished, before the invasion, to turn it into a touristic land of plenty? She is nothing more than a giant naval base; a missile silo the size of a peninsula; a fortress whose cannons control Black Sea commerce and are liable, at any moment, to block the free circulation of grains to the poorest of destinations; in short, Crimea, under Russian occupation, is a tool for blackmail that menaces the region and the world.
Thus, the outcome is clear: Russia must capitulate.
It’s for the fall not only of Putin but of the whole regime that may be tempted to persevere after him.
And it’s for a sleepwalking people to finally wake up and to use the opportunity of defeat to take measure of the crimes committed in their name, like Germany after 1945, like Japan.
We would need a Budapest Memorandum in reverse, in which Russia would consent to placing its deadliest weapons under international supervision.
The hypothesis seems unimaginable.
But history has more imagination than man.
Who can predict the blast effect that, as in 1917, as in 1989, a third Russian revolution could perhaps have following a defeat?
When, then, will this total victory arrive? On what timeline?
I can only repeat here what I went to plead to the U.S. Congress, to the European Parliament, to France’s National Assembly, to the United Nations, and to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
We, not Ukraine, have the answer to this question.
It’s up to Western leaders, not Zelensky, to hasten the outcome and thereby save lives.
The key, and the only key, is the advanced weapons that we’re still hesitating to deliver—the fighter planes, long-range missiles, and Reaper drones.
Either we continue to measure out our aid in teaspoons, following the “incremental” path that will leave us systematically a beat behind, and the war will go on.
Or else we change the paradigm; we stop treating Zelensky like a beggar for whom the requirements for our indulgence keep changing; we understand that delivering arms is not a gift, but an act of self-defense and that their front line is, in reality, ours. We provide Ukraine, if we can, with exactly what she needs and is asking for in order to defeat the common enemy. In which case all will move swiftly and the war will end.
It must be made clear: Peace, the end to massacres, innocent lives lost tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that—the key is in our hands.
*Translated from the French by Matthew Fishbane.
*Bernard-Henri Lévy is a philosopher, activist, filmmaker, and author of more than 30 books including The Genius of Judaism, American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face, Who Killed Daniel Pearl?, and The Empire and the Five Kings. His most recent film, Slava Ukraini, will premiere nationwide on May 5, 2023.

Muslims Want to Benefit from—Not be Friends of—Austrians (and All Other ‘Infidels’)
Raymond Ibrahim/June 20/2023
The good people of Austria are shocked—shocked I say!—to learn that the Muslims they’ve invited to live among and benefit from them hold to various divisive, if not downright hostile, doctrines.
According to a May 10, 2023 article, “alarm bells are ringing” in Austria following the publication of a report on what Austrian mosques are teaching to Muslims.
One of these teachings, according to the report, is that “Muslim children should only have Muslim friends.” To underscore the magnitude of this finding, keep in mind that there are now more Muslims than Catholics in Vienna, Linz, and other Upper Austrian regions.
Commenting on these demographically significant findings, Manfred Haimbuchner of Austria’s conservative Freedom Party, said:
So Muslims should only be friends with Muslims? This is taught in the Upper Austrian mosques. What does [Austrian president] Van der Bellen say about this? What is the President’s opinion on this fact?
In fact, all Western leaders would do well to ponder and answer this question—not least as the call for Muslims not to befriend non-Muslims is not some aberration unique to Islam in Austria, but is rather a mainstream Islamic teaching that goes straight back to the Koran. Here, for example, is Koran 3:28:
Let believers [Muslims] not take infidels [non-Muslims] for friends and allies in place of believers. Whoever does so will have nothing to hope for from Allah—unless it is by way of taqiyya against them.
The latter portion of that verse referencing taqiyya means that, whenever Muslims are in a position of weakness, they may pretend to befriend and ally with non-Muslims, as long as they continue harboring hate for the infidels in their hearts (for other Islamic sanctioned forms of deception, read about tawriya and taysir).
Koran 5:51 is even more explicit, and names names:
O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians for friends and allies—for they are friends and allies of one another. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
But the matter is far worse than not befriending non-Muslims. Koran 60:4 calls for Muslims to perpetually hate all non-Muslims until they “believe in Allah alone.” Here is how Osama bin Laden explained that verse:
As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels, this is summarized by the Most High’s Word: “We renounce you. Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us—till you believe in Allah alone” [Koran 60:4]. So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart. And this fierce hostility—that is, battle—ceases only if the infidel submits to the authority of Islam, or if his blood is forbidden from being shed [i.e., a dhimmi], or if Muslims are at that point in time weak and incapable [of going on the offensive]. But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is great apostasy!… Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and the Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred—directed from the Muslim to the infidel—is the foundation of our religion. (The Al Qaeda Reader, p. 43).
Similarly, after quoting the hate-all-infidels verse, Koran 60:4, the Islamic State (ISIS) confessed to the West that “We hate you, first and foremost, because you are disbelievers.” As for any and all political “grievances,” these are “secondary” reasons for the jihad, the group said:
The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam. Even if you were to pay jizyah and live under the authority of Islam in humiliation, we would continue to hate you.
Many other hostile and divisive verses permeate the Koran (see also 4:89, 4:144, 5:51, 5:54, 6:40, 9:23, and 60:1). Koran 58:22 goes as far as to praise Muslims who kill their own non-Muslim family members.
Little wonder, then, that America’s supposed best Muslim friends and allies—such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar—have issued fatwas (in Arabic) calling on all Muslims to “oppose and hate whomever Allah commands us to oppose and hate, including the Jews, the Christians, and other mushrikin [polytheists, blanket term for non-Muslims], until they believe in Allah alone and abide by his laws, which he sent down to his Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him.”
The matter is such that, because enmity for non-Muslims is so ironclad in the Koran, mainstream Islamic teaching holds that Muslim men must even hate—and show that they hate—their non-Muslim wives, while enjoying them sexually, or for their wealth, etc.
Returning to an Austria that is shocked to learn that local mosques are indoctrinating Muslim children not to befriend non-Muslims, Manfred Haimbuchner, after pointing out that, for Muslims in Austria, “integration is apparently undesirable and actively prevented by teaching in mosques,” said,
We stand for the practice of religion within the framework of religious freedom. However, if an ideology is spread under the guise of religious freedom that is not compatible with the values of Austrian society, the state must take action.
In other words, if a “religion,” in this case, Islam, preaches things that go directly against the values of any given state—for example, that people should be hated on account of their religion—should that state tolerate it?
The answer is obvious, but will anyone do anything about it, or will they continue thrusting their heads in the sand in the name of “inclusivity,” “multiculturalism,” and the rest?

Fewer than 1 percent of Syrian refugees in Jordan want to return home: UNHCR study
Raed Omari/Arab News/June 20, 2023
AMMAN: As Jordan steps up efforts to prepare for a voluntary return of Syrian refugees, a UNHCR study found that only 0.8 percent of them are willing to go back home.According to the recently published survey by the UN refugee agency, the majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan prefer to stay in the resource-poor kingdom.
The survey revealed that around 97 percent of Syrian refugees in Jordan have no intention of going back home in the coming 12 months, attributing the reasons to security and economic concerns, including a lack of housing and basic amenities in Syria.A total of 2,984 refugees were polled in the survey, which found that only 0.8 percent of them would be interested in returning to Syria, while 2.4 percent remained divided.
The study was conducted by the UNHCR between January and February this year, surveying Syrian refugees in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. It revealed that 96.8 percent of Syrian refugees residing in Jordan refuse to return to Syria in the next year (the highest percentage), compared with 95 percent in Egypt, 94 percent in Iraq and 91 percent in Lebanon.
The study revealed that a quarter of refugees who said they had no intention to return within the next year answered that they still wish to return to Syria within the next five years.
The publication of the study, however, coincides with Jordan’s move to begin coordinating with the Syrian government and relevant UN organizations to organize the voluntary return of some 1,000 Syrian refugees.
The decision was announced on May 1 following a landmark meeting in Amman of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, also attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
The Syrian government pledged to ensure the conditions and requirements for the return of the 1,000 refugees, a statement following the meeting said.
According to official figures, a total of 3,325 Syrian refugees returned to their war-torn country from Jordan in 2022.
From 2016 until the end of September 2022, a total of 341,500 Syrian refugees returned to Syria, of whom 64,278 came from Jordan, UNHCR said. The UN refugee agency announced the return of 38,379 refugees to Syria from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt in 2022.
Jordan said it is providing refuge to about 1.3 million Syrians, including some 670,000 officially registered with the UNHCR as refugees, making the kingdom host to the world’s second-largest population of Syrian refugees per capita after Lebanon. Turkey has accepted 3.6 million Syrian refugees, while Lebanon hosts almost 1 million, according to the UNHCR.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi recently said that a total of 200,000 Syrian refugees were born in Jordan since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011.
Around 155,000 Syrian students are enrolled in public schools, he said, adding that Jordan will suggest the establishment of a fund to provide a “secure environment for the return of refugees.”
Jordan hosts two camps near the Syrian border: the Zaatari camp, the largest in the Middle East, and the Azraq camp. Most Syrians in Jordan live in cities and urban centers, however, where they work in certain industries.
The UNHCR said that “a record 62,000 work permits were issued to Syrians” in 2021, amounting to “the highest annual number since work permits for Syrian refugees were introduced.”
Syrian refugees have been allowed to work in several sectors in Jordan since 2016, after donor countries pledged funding and expanded trade facilitation to the kingdom under the Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis.
Jordan said that the deficit in the JRP amounted to around $1.60 billion in 2022.
The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation said that the JRP’s deficit reached 70 percent of the annual budget of $2.276 billion allocated to support Syrian refugees in Jordan. According to the ministry’s data, Germany was the top donor for the JRP, granting the plan around $211 million, followed by the US at approximately $166 million, then multi-agency funds at $86 million, the EU at $29 million and the UK at $29 million.

Saudi-French cultural cooperation: 5 golden years
Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan/Arab News/June 20, 2023
Ninety-seven years passed between the first visit to France — in 1926 — of the then Saudi Viceroy of Hijaz, His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (later His Majesty the King), and the recent visit of the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to the Elysee Palace. During this period, Saudi-French ties saw considerable and significant developments, during which strategic cooperation expanded to advanced levels, especially in the cultural field.
The French Republic was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 1930s, and subsequently marked notable state visits such as the historic meeting between King Faisal and President Charles de Gaulle in 1967.
Over the years, the collaboration between Riyadh and Paris has brought benefits to both nations, with positive impacts felt beyond the bilateral relationship. Our nations have made significant strides in strengthening our cultural partnership since the first Saudi-French cultural cooperation agreement was signed in 1963. This has been followed by numerous partnerships to foster deeper cultural relations. The Arab World Institute, situated on the banks of the River Seine, serves as a testament to the potential of our cooperation in a complex and challenging world in which building cultural bridges is of utmost importance.
Over the decades, Saudi and French leaders have worked to strengthen the partnership. These efforts reached new heights following the visit of the Saudi crown prince to Paris in early 2018. This visit was a milestone that lifted the degree of our cooperation to historic levels, and fostered a greater cultural exchange, expanding areas of cooperation to include various sectors such as museums, filmmaking, heritage and antiquities, and culinary arts. The history of our cultural cooperation has undergone a significant change, coinciding with Saudi Vision 2030 which has placed culture and arts among its key priorities to achieve its strategic pillars of building a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. In June 2018, King Salman bin Abdulaziz made a significant move toward elevating the importance of culture in Saudi Arabia by establishing the first ministry dedicated to culture in a country that has a vast history of arts and culture. I was honored by King Salman’s trust as he appointed me as the first minister of culture. I have embarked on my mission alongside my colleagues to realize the ministry’s vision of flourishing arts and culture across Saudi Arabia that enriches lives, celebrates national identity, and builds understanding between people. Paris was one of the global capitals where we engaged across sectors and exchanged our perspectives and experiences, eventually leading to France becoming one of the Kingdom’s most important cultural partners.
Since the crown prince’s visit, we have made significant progress in our cultural partnership. Cultural cooperation between the Saudi Ministry of Culture and its French counterpart has been reflected in numerous sectors. It has entered promising and prosperous cultural spaces in films, museums, music, culinary arts, architecture and design, and underwater cultural heritage. I pray to God to help us deepen our relations and cooperation for the benefit of our countries and humanity. King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, first Saudi ruler to visit France. Located in the northwest region of Saudi Arabia, AlUla is home to the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra, which is located 400 km from the futuristic city of NEOM, where our successful partnership with France has paved the way for several notable achievements. The Royal Commission for AlUla and French partners translated the historic cooperation agreement between the Saudi and French governments in April 2018, which included knowledge sharing and exchange for the cultural, economic, and tourism development of AlUla Governorate. AlUla’s Scholarship Program, for example, is cooperating with leading French universities to enhance national competencies and capabilities in archaeology, architecture, urban planning, infrastructure, heritage, arts, agriculture, knowledge transfer, and technology localization, among others. Cooperation also extends to notable French partners, such as the French Agency for AlUla Development, Campus France Foundation, Arab World Institute, the Louvre Museum, Ferrandi Institute, and more. In December 2022 we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first French archaeological excavation mission to the Kingdom, after Saudi and French scientists penned compelling accounts of their findings while excavating in several Saudi regions. Over the past five years there have been qualitative transfers in our cultural cooperation, thanks to the Saudi and French leaders’ shared commitment and recognition of the importance of this cooperation to continue strengthening our bilateral partnership. Saudi Vision 2030 has opened vast opportunities and we are working with partners globally to leverage these opportunities. We have a deep history of science and scientific discoveries, and we have the potential to create sustainable and influential cultural sectors at both local and global, social and economic levels. There is always an opportunity for friends from all over the world, including our French friends, to join us on our ambitious journey. Despite the rapid and significant achievements we have accomplished in our bilateral partnership, there is still so much more we can build on to bring transformative and impactful outcomes in the cultural sphere for both nations.
*Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan is minister of culture and governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla.