English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 21/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid
Mark 06/47-56: “When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 20-21/2023
Bkirki prepares for Christian meeting as FPM says to attend
Berri awaiting 'official nominations' to call for presidential vote
Franjieh: A 'life-or-death' candidate for Speaker Berri
Mikati to head to Cyprus to ask for new border demarcation talks
Opposition to start intensive talks to agree on presidential candidate
Cabinet to convene in coming days over public sector salaries
Geagea says Berri's camp obstructing presidential vote, not Christian disaccord
Investigations into Riad Salameh's European assets
Lebanese MP criticizes France's approach to Lebanon and calls for serious political intervention
Christian parties respond positively to Maronite Patriarch's call for spiritual retreat
Majority of Christian MPs expected to attend prayer gathering with concerns over political discussions looming
Former President Aoun's political silence in Beirut's southern suburbs highlights delicate relations with Hezbollah
Regional constraints affect Lebanese politics: Amin Salam
Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade meets with World Bank officials to
LBP 2,000,000 for 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline
Ministry of Economy cracks down on price gouging by supermarkets and greengrocers
Lebanon to construct new terminal at Beirut airport

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 20-21/2023
Palestinian Terrorist Commander Killed in Syria
EU targets top Iran body, 8 officials over rights abuses
Iran Violations May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity, Says UN Expert
Eyeing Iran’s Nuclear Program, U.S. and Israeli Militaries Train Together in Nevada
Iran violations may amount to crimes against humanity - UN expert
Iran sanctions: UK targets financiers 'funnelling money' into 'brutal' military group IRGC
300,000 new troops couldn't get Russia's big offensive to work, and sending more to the front probably won't help, war experts say
Russia's spring Ukraine offensive may be winding down amid heavy troop losses, munitions shortages
Putin welcomes China's Xi to Kremlin amid Ukraine war
Biden calls Israel's Netanyahu with judicial plan 'concern'
Palestinian PM blasts 'inflammatory' Israeli minister's remarks denying Palestinians exist
Israeli injured in West Bank shooting as talks seek 'calm'
Israeli govt drives ahead with judicial plan despite outcry
Full text of Xi's signed article on Russian media
North Korea: Latest missile simulated nuclear counterattack
Yemen warring parties reach prisoner swap deal
Macron's leadership at risk amid tensions over pension plan
Canada's foreign minister says China peace talks in Moscow will prolong Ukraine war
Blinken offers US support to Armenia for peace talks with Azerbaijan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 20-21/2023
The Biggest Threat to Democracy/Nima Gholam Ali Pour/Gatestone Institute/March 20, 2023
How Does the US View the Iran-Saudi Understanding?/Camelia Entekhabifard/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/March 20/2023
Everything the Supreme Leader Wants/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/March 20/2023
Twenty years after invasion, is Iraq salvageable?/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 20, 2023
Chinese Grandstanding, Neo-Imperialism and the New Cold War/Charles Elias Chartouni/March 20/2023
Convert, Marry Me, or Die by Acid: Christian Women in Muslim Pakistan/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/March 20/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 18-19/2023
Bkirki prepares for Christian meeting as FPM says to attend
Naharnett/March 20, 2023 
The Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki is continuing its preparations for the “day of prayer and contemplation” that it has invited Christian MPs to attend on April 5, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday. Bkirki hopes “the general national affairs, including the election of a president, will be discussed after the prayer and contemplation,” the daily quoted unnamed sources as saying. A delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc had informed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday that the bloc will take part in the “prayer and contemplation day,” hoping the meeting will represent “an occasion to draw lessons from Christian teachings and values in approaching all national junctures.”Most Christian blocs had also announced that they would take part in the gathering.

Berri awaiting 'official nominations' to call for presidential vote
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he is awaiting for “official or public nominations” for the presidential election in order to call for a voting session. “So far, there is only one candidate, who is Michel Mouawad, amid talk about several candidates, but so far there are no other official candidates other than MP Mouawad. When the nominations become complete, I will call for an electoral session and let the best candidate win,” Berri said in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper. Decrying that the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces have rejected his calls for dialogue over the president, Berri stressed that “nothing positive can happen if people don’t talk to each other.”“Without dialogue, the result will be further paralysis of the country,” the Speaker warned.

Franjieh: A 'life-or-death' candidate for Speaker Berri
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
For Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, nominating Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh for presidency is a matter of "life or death," Nidaa al-Watan newspaper said Monday, as it reported that Berri is holding talks with France to find a settlement that would make Franjieh president. The daily said in another report that Paris is promoting a proposal that would make Franjieh president, former Ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam Prime Minister and Lebanese businessman Samir Assaf Central Bank governor. It added that Saudi Arabia and Washington insist on a president with a recovery plan, regardless of the identity of the candidate. But since Saudi Arabia hasn't announced that it opposes the election of Franjieh, and since the Vatican is discussing the presidential file with Hezbollah, and after the China-brokered deal between Iran and KSA, Franjieh's changes have improved, the report said.

Mikati to head to Cyprus to ask for new border demarcation talks
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will head to Cyprus in the coming hours at the head of a ministerial delegation to request new negotiations on an agreement that had delineated the maritime border with the neighboring island, media report said.“Signed in 2007 under Fouad Saniora’s government, the treaty contained flaws and cost Lebanon between 1,600 to 2,643 square kilometers of its exclusive economic zone, according to experts,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported. A panel formed by Mikati in 2022 had determined that the 2007 agreement with Cyprus was unfair for Lebanon and marred by flaws that resulted in the loss of an area of the exclusive economic zone. The panel back then recommended that the Lebanese Army be asked to devise a new demarcation mechanism and that Decree 6433 be amended to include the new coordinates. It also called for a new framework agreement with Cyprus to manage the common rights, in addition to asking the island nation to re-negotiate based on the new coordinates and lodging the new coordinates with the U.N. Al-Akhbar added that Mikati will inform the Cypriot side that what is needed now is to engage in dialogue in order to pave the way for “resuming negotiations after the election of president in Lebanon, seeing as negotiations over international treaties are part of the president’s powers.”Lebanon and Cyprus had agreed in October to move ahead with the sea border talks. a day after Lebanon inked a maritime boundary deal with Israel that opens up lucrative offshore gas fields. "There's no problem between Lebanon and Cyprus that cannot be resolved easily," said Cypriot envoy Tasos Tzionis following a meeting with then-president Michel Aoun. "We had very friendly and extremely constructive discussions" on demarcating maritime borders between the two Mediterranean countries, Tzionis said, expressing hope an agreement was within reach. In 2007, Lebanon and Cyprus signed an agreement to delineate their respective exclusive economic zones, but it was never ratified by the Lebanese parliament due to the then-unresolved dispute with Israel. Cyprus, which has aspirations of becoming a major energy player in the eastern Mediterranean, has a key exclusive economic zone, divided into 12 blocks and potentially rich in gas. Lebanon must also complete talks with its northern neighbor Syria before the maritime border with Cyprus can be finally demarcated. Syria, once politically powerful in Lebanon, has repeatedly refused border talks.

Opposition to start intensive talks to agree on presidential candidate
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
Opposition leaders will start intensive meetings and consultations this week, in an attempt to agree on a presidential candidate, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Monday. Top opposition leaders will meet with Change MPs, in a serious attempt to agree on one candidate who would face the Shiite Duo candidate, Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh. Senior Opposition sources told the daily that MP and presidential candidate Michel Mouawad will participate in the talks and that the aim of these intensive meetings is to push the Shiite Duo to find a consensual candidate, other than Franjieh, who enjoys Arab and international support.

Cabinet to convene in coming days over public sector salaries
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
Cabinet will convene in the coming days to discuss the education file and the public employees salaries, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Monday. The daily said it has learned from ministerial sources close to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the ministry of finance is preparing reports and tables for the salary adjustments and incentives to be given to the public sector employees, including the members of the armed forces. Public schools have been empty for most of the past three months, as striking teachers have been protesting to demand pay raises.
Most of the country’s children have not been in school for months — many since even before teachers, who say they can no longer live on their salaries, went on strike in December. Lebanon was once known for producing a highly skilled, educated work force. But now an entire generation is missing out on schooling, wreaking long-term damage on prospects for the country's economy and future. Teachers called their strike because their salaries, in Lebanese pounds, have became too low to cover rent and other basic expenses. Most teachers are now paid the equivalent of about $1 an hour, even after several raises since 2019. Grocery stores and other businesses now usually price their goods in dollars. Teachers are demanding adjusted salaries, a transportation stipend, and health benefits. The government only offered to partially cover transportation, saying it didn’t have the budget for more. Though schools partially reopened last week after some teachers returned to work, most chose to continue striking.

Geagea says Berri's camp obstructing presidential vote, not Christian disaccord
Naharnet/March 20, 2023
Lebanese Froces leader Samir Geagea said Monday that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's camp is the one to blame for the obstruction of the presidential election sessions, not the Christians' disaccord. Berri had accused in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces of rejecting his calls for dialogue, warning that "without dialogue, the result will be further paralysis of the country.”Geagea responded that the Axis of Defiance was obstructing the sessions and that Amal's MPs were leaving every session before the second round of voting. "We have a candidate but we failed to secure the needed votes," Geagea said, adding that the Shiite Duo has been obstructing the sessions until it secures votes for its candidate. He added that the Lebanese Forces problem is not with the Muslims or the Christians. "It is a political disagreement between a camp including Muslims and Christians and another camp also including Muslims and Christians." Geagea went on to say that he disagrees with Amal as much as he disagrees with the Free Patriotic Movement. On another note, Geagea said he would attend on April 5 the “day of prayer and contemplation” that Maronite patriarchate Beshara el-Rahi had called for.

Investigations into Riad Salameh's European assets
LBCI/March 20, 2023
In a report titled "Lebanon...Powered by Salameh's network," the French newspaper Le Monde published an investigation into the Governor of Lebanon's central bank, Riad Salameh. The article shows the Governor's foreign assets, from luxurious real estate properties in Paris to Swiss bank accounts and investment companies in Luxembourg. Le Monde mentioned Salameh's "opaque network," saying it helped him amass a fortune worth hundreds of millions of euros in Europe. This network is suspected of transferring tens of millions of euros from Lebanon's central bank to Europe for money laundering. However, according to Le Monde, one of the key pieces of evidence is a 2002 contract between Lebanon's central bank and a company called Forry Associates, registered in the British Virgin Islands and owned by the Governor's brother Raja Salameh. Under this contract, banks and financial institutions paid commissions to Forry Associates each time they bought or sold bonds or securities to Banque du Liban. Therefore, according to the UAE's The National newspaper, Forry Associates raised suspicions among European judges, especially since the Lebanese investigation did not find any evidence of the company's existence or a list of its clients. According to Swiss authorities, Le Monde presented figures indicating that around $330 million was transferred from BDL to Forry's account at HSBC Bank in Switzerland between 2002 and 2015. Of this amount, $250 million was reportedly transferred to Raja Salameh's personal account at HSBC Bank in Switzerland, with millions more deposited in other Swiss accounts. Swiss investigation also found that $40 million was transferred from Forry's and Raja Salameh's accounts to Riad Salameh's accounts. Le Monde also claims that Raja Salameh held over $207 million from commissions in five Lebanese banks, including BankMed, Bank Audi, Bank Egypt & Lebanon, Credit Libanais, and Saradar Bank. European judges obtained statements from these accounts during a visit to Lebanon in December 2022.

Lebanese MP criticizes France's approach to Lebanon and calls for serious political intervention
LBCI/March 20, 2023
MP Salim El Sayegh indicated on LBCI's Nharkom Said that "there is an axis that starts from Gaza to Haret Hreik and continues to Tehran and Moscow, and its presidential candidate is Sleiman Frangieh." "Our choice is clear and remains MP Michel Moawad, given his values. However, Moawad's opponents refuse to attend election sessions and refrain from securing the electoral quorum," he stated. He added: "I blame Lebanon's allies who were very late to help, and we need a serious political intervention, not just words, such as talking about a European sanctions system." "The Lebanese public opinion did not agree with France's approach to the Lebanese file, away from its distinguished historical values. In my opinion, France retreated from its positions in the fifth meeting, and Saudi Arabia does not encourage nominating Frangieh as president," El Sayegh added. Moreover, El Sayegh saw that "international allies of Lebanon did not object to the arrival of former president Aoun in the past because the governance model of Hezbollah was unknown, but it became clear now. Therefore, all international allies of Lebanon have their clear positions on the continuation of Hezbollah's ruling." He continued: "They turned the Lebanese people into beggars, and Saudi Arabia said that Lebanon had decided to move towards Iran, so let us bear the responsibility of our choice. We got to where we are today, and Lebanon has become isolated, and Saudi Arabia does not deal with us in a tribal way." "President Emmanuel Macron should have the dignity not to accept the image that appears about France in Lebanon, particularly regarding its efforts to market Hezbollah's axis," he concluded.

Christian parties respond positively to Maronite Patriarch's call for spiritual retreat
LBCI/March 20, 2023
The spiritual retreat called for by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai on April 5th has become official after nearly all Christian parties responded positively to the invitation, particularly the major ones. While all eyes were on Maarrab to see its position regarding the invitation from Bkerke, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, announced after the Strong Republic meeting that he would accept the invitation.  The Kataeb party also declared its participation after its mini-political bureau meeting on Monday. Its sources told LBCI that the Kataeb party had already stated that it did not reject any request for dialogue or from Bkerke. In this context, Change MPs Paula Yaacoubian, Melhem Khalaf, and Najat Saliba held a meeting on Monday morning, leaving it to each MP the freedom to decide whether to participate or not.  Although she appreciated Bkerke's invitation, MP Paula Yacoubian told LBCI over the phone that she would not attend any meetings where all system factions would be present. After the announcement of the Strong Lebanon Bloc, the Armenian Bloc, the National Independent Bloc, and many Christian MPs from non-Christian blocs of their participation, the quorum for Thursday's prayer becomes almost complete.  But what will be the participants' positions if the discussion turns to politics?

Majority of Christian MPs expected to attend prayer gathering with concerns over political discussions looming
LBCI/March 20, 2023
In an attempt to unite Christian members of Parliament, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi has invited them to participate in a spiritual retreat on April 5th in Harissa. While the invitation is religious in nature, both the Patriarch and the Christian MPs are well aware of its political implications. Consequently, the decision to accept or decline the invitation will require careful consideration. Sources within The Strong Lebanon bloc have confirmed its attendance to LBCI. Meanwhile, the Strong Republic bloc will discuss the invitation during their meeting on Monday to determine their final stance, as reported by Lebanese Forces sources. Similarly, the Lebanese Kataeb party, which is open to dialogue initiatives, will hold a political bureau meeting on Monday. The National Independent Bloc (Takatol Watani Mostakel) and the Armenian MPs' bloc have also confirmed their attendance, as reported by LBCI sources. As for the Renewal bloc (Tajadod), MP Adib Abdel Maseeh will represent the bloc due to MP Michel Moawad's prior commitment to the Rene Moawad Foundation event in the United States. MP Michel Moussa from the Development and Liberation bloc, MP Raji Al-Saad from the Democratic Gathering bloc, and MP Saji'e Attieh from the National Moderation bloc (Eatidel Watani) have all confirmed their participation in the retreat, expressing enthusiasm for the opportunity. Independent MPs Michel Daher and Neemat Frem also welcomed the invitation from Patriarch Al-Rahi and confirmed their attendance. The Change MPs are still consulting on whether to participate or not. Christian MPs agree that accepting the invitation to pray at Bkerki is essential and cannot be declined. However, concerns arise regarding potential political discussions that may follow the spiritual retreat. The readiness for debate and the spirit in which they participate in the spiritual exercise remains to be seen.

Former President Aoun's political silence in Beirut's southern suburbs highlights delicate relations with Hezbollah
LBCI/March 20, 2023
What former President Michel Aoun didn't say in politics, he summarized by asserting his presence deep in the southern suburbs. In his hometown of Haret Hreik, the stronghold of understanding with Hezbollah, Aoun refrained from saying anything that might increase tension in the relationship with the ally, especially after the Free Patriotic Movement announced hours earlier its intention to re-calibrate its ranks by regulating the debate and limiting the positions of the Movement to those responsible. Hezbollah welcomed Aoun through the participation of its deputy Ali Ammar in the divine sacrifice for the Feast of Saint Joseph and his presence in the public meeting. In response, Aoun maintained political silence, reflecting a positive attitude. Therefore, the divorce between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah has not occurred, but the relationship is at a sensitive crossroads. Aoun's reception came after a fierce attack launched by the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, against Hezbollah without naming it, when he said they wanted to bring in a corrupt president. Ammar declined to comment on this, saying that the place and occasion were not for debates, and asserting that Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy is serious and not intended to be sabotaged. Unlike the circumstances that led General Michel Aoun to the presidency, the two allies have not yet reached a common denominator to bring a new president. While the relationship needs to be reorganized, the outlines of a comprehensive settlement have not yet matured.

Regional constraints affect Lebanese politics: Amin Salam
LBCI/March 20, 2023
In recent years, Lebanon has been facing a financial meltdown caused by soaring inflation and the devaluation of the Lebanese lira, which pushed more people into poverty. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Lebanon's Caretaker Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, discussed that the collapse has continued for the past three years, especially on both the economic and the political front, adding that politics have run Lebanon. He said that everything is impacted by regional constraints that the Lebanese politics are affected by. Minister Salam added that after the civil war, Lebanon still lived with warlords, which left the country without an economic vision and proper management. He also stated that Lebanon has the opportunity to join the oil and gas clubs. During the interview with Al Jazeera, he expressed that Lebanon inherited a "failed system" that "destroyed" the economy, the people's savings, and the dreams of future generations.

Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade meets with World Bank officials to
LBCI/March 20, 2023
Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade meets with World Bank officials to discuss food security projects Amin Salam, the Minister of Economy and Trade in Lebanon's caretaker government, met with the World Bank's Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa region, Ferid Belhaj, and Regional Director Jean-Christophe Carret. The meeting focused on the World Bank's projects in Lebanon, particularly the implementation of the bank's loan agreement for wheat imports. The meeting also addressed the measures taken by the Ministry of Economy to ensure food security for the Lebanese people, with wheat being one of the key components, in light of the current economic and living conditions. Minister Salam discussed with the delegation the new project related to food security, The Gate, which aims to enhance food security in Lebanon through agriculture, alternative energy, and irrigation projects. He emphasized the "need to complete the support of the social safety net and increase the number of beneficiaries in the coming months." In a related context, Salam affirmed "the commitment to securing stability in bread prices, which is achieved through the loan agreement and the measures taken by the ministry to prevent the manipulation of Lebanese bread," according to a statement from his media office.

LBP 2,000,000 for 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline
LBCI/March 20, 2023
Fuel prices hit new highs, surpassing LBP 2,000,000 for 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline
Lebanon has been experiencing an acute financial and economic meltdown. Amid the currency crash, the Lebanese people carry worthless stacks of cash, and gasoline prices have increased to record new highs.
The price of 20 liters of 95 and 98-octane gasoline increased by LBP 54,000 on Monday, March 20, 2023, while 20 liters of diesel oil increased by LBP 51,000, and the price of a 10 kg gas canister increased by LBP 36,000.
The prices of hydrocarbon derivatives became as follows:
- 20 liters of 95-octane gasoline: LBP 2,044,000
- 20 liters of 98-octane gasoline: LBP 2,092,000
- 20 liters of diesel oil: LBP 1,932,000
- Gas canister (10 kilograms): LBP 1,361,000

Ministry of Economy cracks down on price gouging by supermarkets and greengrocers
LBCI/March 20, 2023
The Lebanese Ministry of Economy has conducted a series of raids on supermarkets and greengrocers throughout Beirut, in response to mounting complaints from consumers about price gouging and fraudulent pricing practices. Many supermarkets have been accused of not displaying the exchange rate of the US dollar, as required by law, while others have been caught using misleading pricing tactics to deceive customers. Some stores have displayed prices in Lebanese lira, only to charge customers in US dollars at an inflated rate, allowing them to pocket extra profits. In some cases, products have been priced differently on the shelves and at the checkout, causing confusion among customers. The ministry found instances where some items, such as bread, were sold at a price exceeding the legal profit margin of 15 percent. During the raids, the ministry issued dozens of citations to offending businesses and levied fines. The Ministry of Economy has announced plans to propose new legislation that would empower the Consumer Protection Agency to enforce pricing regulations and impose steeper penalties on violators, including sealing stores without requiring judicial approval. The ministry is also partnering with the World Food Program to launch an electronic application that will ensure the prices of essential commodities remain stable and prevent unscrupulous traders from manipulating prices. The program will monitor and verify prices of approximately 60 essential commodities and link them with supermarkets and greengrocers across Lebanon. The program will also be accessible to consumers, enabling them to verify prices of goods themselves. If successful, these efforts could help alleviate some of the financial burdens faced by Lebanese consumers, who have been grappling with soaring prices for basic goods and services amid a dire economic crisis. The Ministry of Economy has vowed to continue to monitor prices and take action against businesses that engage in unfair practices.

Lebanon to construct new terminal at Beirut airport
AP/March 20, 2023
Lebanon’s only international airport had a major facelift after the country’s 1975-90 civil war and has been working at full capacity for years
The airport has not undergone an expansion since 1998
BEIRUT: Lebanon will construct a $122 million terminal at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport to be operated by a leading Irish airport company when it’s completed in four years, officials said Monday. Lebanon’s only international airport had a major facelift after the country’s 1975-90 civil war and has been working at full capacity for years. The airport has not undergone an expansion since 1998. Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie said Terminal 2 will bring in private sector investments worth $122 million and will handle 3.5 million passengers annually when operations begin in 2027. It will add six docking stands as well as remote ones, he said in a ceremony at government headquarters to announce the launch of the new terminal. Terminal 2 will be built where the airport’s old cargo building used to stand, according to Hamie. The project comes as Lebanon is in the throes of its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s political class. “The project opens more horizons for air aviation between Lebanon and the world,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. He added that it will help in solving several problems, including crowding at the current terminal. The project will create 500 direct jobs and 2,000 related jobs, Hamie said, adding that Terminal 2 will be for chartered and low-cost flights. Hamie said once Terminal 2 is ready it will be operated by leading European company daa International, an airport company in Ireland. Ireland’s Minister of State James Browne attended Monday’s ceremony in Beirut and was quoted in a statement released by the Lebanese prime minister’s office as saying that the contract signed will deepen business relations between the two countries. The airport currently handles 8 million passengers a year, and the plans are to reach 20 million in 2030, according to the website of national carrier Middle East Airlines. Lebanon’s economic crisis that began in October 2019 has left three quarters of the country’s 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, in poverty. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 20-21/2023
Palestinian Terrorist Commander Killed in Syria
March 20/2023
Latest Developments
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) accused Israel on Sunday of assassinating one of its commanders in Syria amid signs of escalating activities by the terrorist group in the West Bank. Ali Ramzi Al-Aswad, 31, was shot dead outside Damascus in an operation “bearing the fingerprints of the Zionist enemy,” PIJ said in a statement. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas mourned Al-Aswad as an “engineer” — often a byword for bombmaker.
Expert Analysis
“Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the cat’s paw of the regime in Iran against Israel and a terrorist group that does not have Hamas’ political constraints. We have long known about coordination among anti-Israel terrorist groups in Lebanon and Syria, encouraged by Iran, which has sway in both countries.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO
“With the Muslim fast month of Ramadan beginning this week, Israel will be on high alert for — and possibly looking to preempt — any Iranian or Palestinian attempt to escalate the violence. If Palestinian Islamic Jihad is making tactical inroads among Israel’s Arab minority as well as in Palestinian areas, that could significantly escalate the violence.” — Joe Truzman, Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal
Damascus as a Terrorist Base
Damascus has long served as base for PIJ, which fought a brief war with Israel across the Gaza border last August and has been expanding operations in the West Bank. Last week, a spokesperson for PIJ in Gaza called on Israeli Arabs to join in a “war” against Israel. Israeli officials declined to comment on today’s attack, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in televised remarks to his cabinet that he may have intended for PIJ ears, said, “We are reaching the terrorists, and their leaders, in every location.”
A Surge in Terror
On Thursday, undercover Israeli commandos killed two PIJ and Hamas terrorists, and narrowly escaped a mob lynching, during a daylight raid on the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin. That came days after a rare roadside bombing in Megiddo junction, just 15 miles away, that Israel said had been carried out by an infiltrator from Lebanon who may have had links to Hezbollah. Five days after the bombing, a PIJ delegation held talks with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. “During the meeting, they discussed the situation in the area and the challenges in the face of the Palestinian rebellion,” said a statement published by PIJ.

EU targets top Iran body, 8 officials over rights abuses
Associated Press/March 20/2023
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran's Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and 8 officials, including judges, lawmakers and clerics accused of links to the security crackdown on protesters. The protests began after the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the Islamic Republic's morality police, and have grown into one of the most serious challenges to Iran's theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. At least 529 people have been killed in demonstrations, according to human rights activists in Iran. Over 19,700 others have been detained by authorities amid a violent crackdown trying to suppress the dissent. Some people linked to the protests have been executed. The EU said it had imposed asset freezes and travel bans on the 8 officials and frozen the assets of The Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution due to their involvement "in serious human rights violations in Iran." The EU said the council is "a regime policy body" that "promoted several projects undermining the freedom of girls and women, setting limits on their clothing and education. Its decisions have also discriminated against minorities." It's the sixth round of sanctions that the 27-nation bloc has imposed on Iranian officials and organizations — including other ministers, military officers and Iran's morality police — for alleged rights abuses.

Iran Violations May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity, Says UN Expert
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 20 March, 2023
Iran's authorities have committed violations in recent months that may amount to crimes against humanity, a UN-appointed expert told the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing cases of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, sexual violence and persecution. Iran has been swept by protests since the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody last September. Addressing the Geneva-based council, Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, said he had evidence that Amini died "as a result of beatings by the state morality police". Iran's state coroner has said Amini died from pre-existing medical conditions, not blows to the head and limbs. Rehman added that the scale and gravity of crimes committed by authorities as part of a broader crackdown against protests following her death "points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity". He voiced outrage at the Execution of at least four people linked to the protests and said that a total of 143 people had been executed in the country since January following "grossly unfair trials".Iran's Ambassador Ali Bahreini told the Geneva-based council that the allegations were imaginary and Iran was being singled out and targeted in the council.

Eyeing Iran’s Nuclear Program, U.S. and Israeli Militaries Train Together in Nevada
March 20/2023
Latest Developments
The United States and Israel are conducting the Red Flag-Nellis 23-2 combined aerial military exercise in Nevada, which runs March 12-24. The training comes as the top U.S. military officer in the Middle East, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, testified on Thursday to the Senate Armed Services Committee that “Tehran can now produce sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon in less than 14 days.” The military exercise at Nellis Air Force Base features American and Israeli F-35s and air refueling tankers — just the kind of aircraft that would play an essential role in airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program.
Expert Analysis
“The American and Israeli militaries are rehearsing the capabilities necessary to strike the Iranian nuclear program, but it is unclear whether Tehran believes Washington has the political will to actually employ those capabilities if push comes to shove. That increases the chance Tehran might decide to roll the dice and sprint to a nuclear weapons capability. The United States and Israel missed an opportunity to refuel Israeli fighters with American KC-46s during the January Juniper Oak exercise. It would be a mistake to miss that opportunity again during Red Flag 23-2.” — Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power
“The credible threat of a military option is necessary to prevent the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism from acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapon.” — Ryan Brobst, Research Analyst at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power
Red Flag 23-2
The Red Flag exercise emphasizes “readiness for high-end warfighting and strategic competition,” according to a U.S. Air Force press release. The Israeli Air Force tweeted that the exercise will include drills focused on “long-range aerial scenarios, achieving aerial superiority in the region, joint aerial strikes, area defense, interception of enemy aircraft, low-altitude flights and flights in areas abundant with anti-aircraft equipment.”
Juniper Oak
The United States and Israel conducted the Juniper Oak 23 multi-domain military exercise in late January in Israel and the eastern Mediterranean. The Pentagon called the exercise the “largest” and “most significant” bilateral U.S.-Israel exercise in history. The missions practiced in the exercise and the American and Israeli messaging surrounding it made clear that a major objective was to demonstrate the capabilities necessary to conduct a successful strike against Iran’s nuclear program.
KC-46 Aerial Refueling Aircraft
U.S. KC-46 aerial refueling aircraft participated in the Juniper Oak exercise but did not refuel Israeli aircraft. Along with additional steps featured in pending legislation introduced by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), refueling Israeli aircraft with American KC-46s would help Israelis prepare for the arrival of their own KC-46s and hasten the day when Israel could use the tankers to support combat operations. That would reinforce — not undermine — American diplomacy with Iran. Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot expressed support in February for the idea of American KC-46s refueling Israeli aircraft in future training exercises.

Iran violations may amount to crimes against humanity - UN expert
Emma Farge/GENEVA (Reuters)/Mon, March 20, 2023
Iran's authorities have committed violations in recent months that may amount to crimes against humanity, a U.N.-appointed expert told the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing cases of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, sexual violence and persecution. Iran has been swept by protests since the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody last September. Addressing the Geneva-based council, Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on Iran, said he had evidence that Amini died "as a result of beatings by the state morality police". Iran's state coroner has said she died from pre-existing medical conditions, not blows to the head and limbs. Rehman, an independent expert, added that the scale and gravity of crimes committed by authorities as part of the repression following her death "points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity". Iran's Ambassador Ali Bahreini told the body that the allegations were imaginary and Iran was being singled out and targeted in the council. "They try to portray their imaginations as the reality of the situation in Iran," he said. Some 527 people were killed in the protests including 71 children, Rehman continued, including some who were beaten to death by security forces. Women and girls were targeted with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, he added, citing Iranian doctors. "Children released have described sexual abuses, threats of rape, floggings, administration of electric shocks and how their heads were maintained under water, how they were suspended from their arms or from scarves wrapped around their necks," Rehman said in his speech. He voiced outrage at the execution of at least four people linked to the protests and said that a total of 143 people had been executed since January following "grossly unfair trials". The 47-member council, the only body made up of governments to protect human rights worldwide, voted in November to appoint an independent investigation into Iran's repression of protests which is currently being established. Evidence assembled by other investigations set up by the U.N. rights council has sometimes been used before international courts.

Iran sanctions: UK targets financiers 'funnelling money' into 'brutal' military group IRGC
Sky News/Mon, March 20, 2023
The branch of the Iranian armed forces is responsible for the internal and external security of the country. But in recent months it has been at the forefront of the violent crackdown on protests since the death of Mahsa Amini in September. The protests have seen more than 500 killed and tens of thousands imprisoned. They mark one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An asset freeze and UK travel ban was imposed on five members on the board of directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation. This was first established by senior IRGC officials, to manage the group's investments in the Iranian economy. The sanctions have been handed out now as the foundation has broadened its remit to funding the IRGC's "repressive activities in Iran and abroad". This includes the external militant group IRGC-Quds Force - which is responsible for carrying out lethal activities outside of Iran - the government said. Two senior IRGC commanders operating in Tehran and Alborz provinces were also handed sanctions on Monday. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: "Today we are taking action on the senior leaders within the IRGC who are responsible for funnelling money into the regime's brutal repression.  "Together with our partners around the world, we will continue to stand with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental change in Iran." The IRGC was first established in 1979 to protect the Shiite clerical ruling system. It has an established 125,000-strong military, and commands the Basij religious militia - an auxiliary force with various duties, including internal security, law enforcement, special religious or political events and morals policing.Since October, the UK has imposed new sanctions on more than a dozen senior IRGC officials and more recently, in February, on a number of senior commanders under the UK's Iran human rights regime.

300,000 new troops couldn't get Russia's big offensive to work, and sending more to the front probably won't help, war experts say
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/March 20, 2023
Russia mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to fight in Ukraine and fuel a spring offensive. But these new soldiers have been unable to turn Russia's advances into a major success, war experts say.
Ukraine now appears positioned for its own push, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops called up to fight in Ukraine have been unable to turn Moscow's new offensive into a battlefield success, war experts said in a new analysis. And throwing more soldiers into the fight most likely won't help. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military mobilization in September 2022 to fight off a personnel shortage, and 300,000 reservists drafted. These soldiers — many of whom were sent into battle poorly equipped and with limited training — have since been committed to Russia's ongoing spring offensive, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a Sunday assessment. But Moscow's offensive is "likely approaching culmination" because advances along several fronts in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region have so far failed to yield more than "incremental tactical gains," the assessment said. ISW noted hostilities around the war-torn city of Bakhmut, where intense fighting has raged for months, and cited Ukrainian military officials in its analysis. "If 300,000 Russian soldiers have been unable to give Russia a decisive offensive edge in Ukraine it is highly unlikely that the commitment of additional forces in future mobilization waves will produce a dramatically different outcome this year," ISW wrote in its assessment. "Ukraine is therefore well positioned to regain the initiative and launch counteroffensives in critical sectors of the current frontline," it added.
This image provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and taken in February 2023 shows damaged Russian tanks in a field after an attack on Vuhledar, Ukraine. This image provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and taken in February 2023 shows damaged Russian tanks in a field after an attack on Vuhledar, UkraineUkrainian Armed Forces via AP, File. Experts, NATO officials, and Western intelligence agencies concluded in February that Russia had started its much-anticipated offensive in eastern Ukraine. On February 20, just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Britain's defense ministry said Russia was pursuing advances along several fronts around Bakhmut, Kremina, and Vuhledar. This push by Russia marked a pivotal moment for Ukraine's military, which was tasked with blunting Moscow's assault and stopping its numerically larger force from advancing long enough to allow for the delivery of advanced Western armor, such as tanks, artillery, and infantry fighting vehicles, and other weaponry.The massive influx of Russian troops into Ukraine was aimed at overwhelming the Ukrainians with numbers, even if it meant accepting a high casualty rate, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month. "What Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity, meaning that the leadership, the logistics, the equipment, the training, don't have the same level as the Ukrainian forces, but they have more forces," he said at the time.
Meanwhile, Russian forces sent to fight in Ukraine have taken a beating. Western intelligence and US officials estimate Russia has likely suffered up t0 200,000 casualties in Ukraine. Over 60,000 soldiers alone may have been killed, according to a brief from the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Russia's spring Ukraine offensive may be winding down amid heavy troop losses, munitions shortages
Peter Weber/The Week/March 20, 2023
U.S. officials are quietly warning Ukraine to conserve its dwindling supplies of artillery shells and other ammunition, air defenses, and experienced soldiers for a major spring counteroffensive to regain territory from Russian invaders, expected to start in May, once Western armor and weapons are in place. Ukraine is especially running through artillery shells and suffering heavy losses holding on to Bakhmut, a razed town U.S. officials see of limited strategic value. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainians say Russia is using more ammunition and suffering much heavier losses in Bakhmut and elsewhere along the front lines for only incremental, halting gains. "And Ukrainian commanders on the front lines say that they sense that Russian units are hollowed out and could collapse in the face of a strong Ukrainian counteroffensive" in the spring, The New York Times reports. After Russian forces came dangerously close to encircling Bakhmut in February, Ukraine pushed back and has kept open its western supply routes. Statements from Ukrainian military officials and warnings from Russian pro-war military bloggers "suggest that the overall Russian spring offensive may be nearing culmination," with few "operationally significant gains" to show for it, the Institute for the Study of War think tank assessed Sunday. If 300,000 conscripts "have been unable to give Russia a decisive offensive edge in Ukraine, it is highly unlikely that the commitment of additional forces in future mobilization waves will produce a dramatically different outcome this year. Ukraine is therefore well positioned to regain the initiative and launch counteroffensives in critical sectors of the current front line."What Russian war bloggers call Moscow's mass-casualty "meat assaults" on Bakhmut, Vuhledar, and other contested cities have also prompted a new flurry of videos from Russian troops begging Russian President Vladimir Putin to change tactics, The Washington Post reports. "People die for nothing," a balaclava-covered recruit from the 5th Motorized Brigade said in one video. "We are not meat. We are ready to fight with dignity, not as meat, in frontal attacks."The close combat in Bakhmut is "hell" for Ukrainian forces, but it's worse for Russia, Ukrainian war veteran Yevhen Dykyi recently told Ukraine's First Western TV channel. "This amount of Russian losses hasn't caused an explosion in Russian society yet, but it resonates a lot inside the Russian Army," he said. "And the longer these crazy losses — unjustified in the opinion of lower- and middle-rank soldiers — go on, the lower the morale of the Russian Army will be at the time of our counteroffensive."

Putin welcomes China's Xi to Kremlin amid Ukraine war
Associated Press/March 20/2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Kremlin on Monday, in a visit that sent a powerful message to Western leaders allied with Ukraine that their efforts to isolate Moscow have fallen short.
As he greeted Xi, Putin also said he welcomed his plan for "settlement of the acute crisis in Ukraine." Xi's visit showed off Beijing's new diplomatic swagger and gave a political lift to Putin just days after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Kremlin leader on war crimes charges related to Ukraine. The two major powers have described Xi's three-day trip as an opportunity to deepen their "no-limits friendship." China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy, and as a partner in standing up to what both see as U.S. domination of global affairs. The two countries, which are among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, also have held joint military drills. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that over dinner on Monday, Putin and Xi will likely include a "detailed explanation" of Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Broader talks involving officials from both countries on a range of subjects are scheduled for Tuesday, Peskov said. For Putin, Xi's presence is a prestigious, diplomatic triumph amid Western efforts to isolate Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
In an article published in the Chinese People's Daily newspaper, Putin described Xi's visit as a "landmark event" that "reaffirms the special nature of the Russia-China partnership."Putin also specifically said the meeting sent a message to Washington that the two countries aren't prepared to accept attempts to weaken them."The U.S. policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not bend to the American diktat, is getting ever fiercer and more aggressive," he wrote.Xi's trip came after the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced Friday it wants to put Putin on trial for the abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine. China portrays Xi's visit as part of normal diplomatic exchanges and has offered little detail about what the trip aims to accomplish, though the nearly 13 months of war in Ukraine cast a long shadow on the talks.
At a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Xi's trip was a "journey of friendship, cooperation and peace."On the war, Wang said: "China will uphold its objective and fair position on the Ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks."
Beijing's leap into Ukraine issues follows its recent success in brokering talks between Iran and its chief Middle Eastern rival, Saudi Arabia, which agreed to restore their diplomatic ties after years of tensions. Following that success, Xi called for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs.
"President Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with President Putin on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern," Wang said. He added that Xi aims to "promote strategic coordination and practical cooperation between the two countries and inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations."Although they boast of a "no-limits" partnership, Beijing has conducted a China First policy. It has shrunk from supplying Russia's war machine — a move that could worsen relations with Washington and turn important European trade partners against Beijing. On the other hand, it has refused to condemn Moscow's aggression and has censured Western sanctions against Moscow, while accusing NATO and the United States of provoking Putin's military action. China last month called for a cease-fire and peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautiously welcomed Beijing's involvement, but the overture fizzled. The Kremlin has welcomed China's peace plan and said Putin and Xi would discuss it. Washington strongly rejected Beijing's call for a cease-fire as the effective ratification of the Kremlin's battlefield gains. Kyiv officials say they won't bend in their terms for a peace accord. "The first and main point is the capitulation or withdrawal of the Russian occupation troops from the territory of Ukraine in accordance with the norms of international law and the UN Charter," Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, tweeted on Monday.
That means restoring "sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," he wrote. The Kremlin doesn't recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court and has rejected its move against Putin as "legally null and void." China, the U.S. and Ukraine also don't recognize the ICC, but the court's announcement tarnished Putin's international standing. China's Foreign Ministry called on the ICC to "respect the jurisdictional immunity" of a head of state and "avoid politicization and double standards."Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said the ICC's move will have "monstrous consequences" for international law. "A gloomy sunset of the entire system of international relations is coming, trust is exhausted," Medvedev wrote on his messaging app channel. He argued that in the past, the ICC has destroyed its credibility by failing to prosecute what he called U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also cautioned that the court in The Hague could be a target for a Russian missile strike. Medvedev has in the past made bombastic statements and claims. Russia's Investigative Committee said Monday it is opening a criminal case against a prosecutor and three judges of the ICC over the arrest warrants they issued for Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. The committee called the ICC's prosecution "unlawful" because it was, among other things, a "criminal prosecution of a knowingly innocent person."

Biden calls Israel's Netanyahu with judicial plan 'concern'
Associated Press/March 20/2023
President Joe Biden has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express "concern" over his government's planned overhaul of the country's judicial system that has sparked widespread protests across Israel and to encourage compromise. The White House said Biden reiterated U.S. concerns about the measure to roll back the judiciary's insulation from the country's political system, in a call a senior administration official described as "candid and constructive." There was no immediate indication that Netanyahu was shying away from the action, after rejecting a compromise last week offered by the country's figurehead president. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the leaders' private call, said that Biden spoke to Netanyahu "as a friend of Israel in the hopes that there can be a compromise formula found."The White House in statement added that Biden "underscored his belief that democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship, that democratic societies are strengthened by genuine checks and balances, and that fundamental changes should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support."
"The President offered support for efforts underway to forge a compromise on proposed judicial reforms consistent with those core principles," the statement said. Netanyahu told Biden that Israel will "remain, a strong and vibrant democracy," according to the prime minister's office. Netanyahu said Sunday the legal changes would be carried out responsibly while protecting the basic rights of all Israelis. His government — the country's most right-wing ever — says the overhaul is meant to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power and prevented lawmakers from carrying out the voting public's will. Critics say it will upend Israel's delicate system of checks and balances and slide the country toward authoritarianism. Opponents of the measure have carried out disruptive protests, and has even embroiled the country's military, after more than 700 elite officers from the Air Force, special forces, and Mossad said they would stop volunteering for duty. The conversation followed a Sunday meeting in Egypt between Israeli and Palestinian officials in which they pledged to take steps to lower tensions ahead of a sensitive holiday season. Administration officials praised the outcome of the summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. A joint communique said the sides had reaffirmed a commitment to de-escalate and prevent further violence.
Biden in the call "reinforced the need for all sides to take urgent, collaborative steps to enhance security coordination, condemn all acts of terrorism, and maintain the viability of a two-state solution," according to the White House. The Israeli and Palestinian delegations met for the second time in less than a month, shepherded by regional allies Egypt and Jordan, as well as the United States, to end a yearlong spasm of violence. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners have been killed in Palestinian attacks during that time. These include pledges to stop unilateral actions, it said. Israel pledged to stop discussion of new settlement construction for four months, and to stop plans to legalize unauthorized settlement outposts for six months. "The two sides agreed to establish a mechanism to curb and counter violence, incitement and inflammatory states and actions," the communique said. The sides would report on progress at a follow-up meeting in Egypt next month, it added. The Biden administration remains concerned about a repeat of the nightly clashes and other violent incidents between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem during Ramadan two years ago. Clashes at the Temple Mount in 2021 helped trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there. But in recent years, the number of visitors has grown, with some quietly praying. Such scenes have raised fears among Palestinians that Israel is trying to alter the status quo.

Palestinian PM blasts 'inflammatory' Israeli minister's remarks denying Palestinians exist
Agence France Presse/March 20/2023
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday blasted as "inflammatory" remarks made by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Palestinians do not exist."There are no Palestinians, because there are no Palestinian people," Smotrich said Sunday, quoting far-right French-Israeli activist Jacques Kupfer, speaking at an event in Paris according to a video circulating on social media.

Israeli injured in West Bank shooting as talks seek 'calm'
Agence France Presse/March 20/2023
A shooting in the northern West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday seriously wounded an Israeli, the army and rescuers said, as Israeli and Palestinian officials in Egypt agreed to "restore calm". The attack in Huwara came three weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli settlers, also in the same occupied West Bank town, adding to a surge in violence this year and to fears of escalation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting in the coming week. Officials from Egypt, Jordan and the United States attended the "extensive discussions on ways to de-escalate tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis", in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, according to a joint statement. It said that, in efforts to "restore calm," both Israeli and Palestinian authorities had agreed to "immediately work to end unilateral actions for three to six months", a commitment similar to that made last month in Jordan, when both sides pledged to prevent more violence. An Israeli government official, requesting anonymity because not authorized to speak publicly about the talks, implied a longer timeline. The official said Sunday's renewed commitment to the agreements formulated at Aqaba included "holding a dialogue regarding possible agreements on the cessation of unilateral measures". According to the joint statement, Israeli officials also committed "to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months" and to not legalize any unofficial wildcat outposts for six months. The West Bank, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War, is home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers who live in state-approved settlements considered illegal under international law. The five parties will meet again in Egypt in April. Sunday's talks took place as "a terrorist opened fire toward an Israeli vehicle" at a junction in Huwara town, the Israeli army said in a statement.
It added that "soldiers and one of the injured civilians responded with live fire toward the terrorist and hit him". The suspect initially fled but Israel forces later caught him, the army said. Tomer Fein, a rescuer from the Magen David Adom emergency response service, said medics had found one wounded person "in serious condition, with wounds in the upper body". A second person was "in a state of shock," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday: "Anyone trying to harm the citizens of Israel will pay the price." According to the Israeli government official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, "to prevent escalation during Ramadan and after, we must act against terrorism with determination and without compromise". Neither the militant group Hamas nor Islamic Jihad claimed the attack, but they released similarly worded statements describing it as a "normal response to the crimes of the occupation".
Revenge
Militant Palestinian factions rejected the efforts being made in Egypt. During the Jordan talks on February 26, when officials on both sides committed to "de-escalation", two Israelis were shot dead in an attack on their car in Huwara by a Palestinian member of Hamas. That attack led to more unrest, when dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Huwara, burning cars and buildings in revenge. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the town to be "wiped out," a statement he walked back after it drew international condemnation. Days later, on March 7, during a raid on Jenin to the north of Huwara, the Israeli army said it had killed Abdel Fatah Hussein Khroushah, 49, who it accused of killing the two settlers and called a "terrorist operative". He was among six men killed, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Violence intensified last year but has worsened in the West Bank during the tenure of Netanyahu's government, which took office in December, a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jewish and extreme-right allies. The government of Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, has vowed to continue the expansion of West Bank settlements. Earlier Sunday, Israeli police said a resident of southern Israel had been arrested over "a violent incident" at a church where the Tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in annexed east Jerusalem. The suspect entered the church with an iron bar but there were no injuries, they said, though a witness, Bilal Abu Nab, told AFP a priest had been hurt on his forehead. The Greek Orthodox Church denounced what it called a "heinous terrorist attack". The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 86 Palestinian adults and children this year, including militants and civilians. Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

Israeli govt drives ahead with judicial plan despite outcry
Associated Press/March 20/2023
A firebrand Israeli minister claimed there's "no such thing" as a Palestinian people as Israel's new coalition government, its most hard-line ever, plowed ahead on Monday with a part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul — which would give the coalition control over who becomes a justice or a judge — before the parliament takes a monthlong holiday break next week. The development came a day after an Israeli and Palestinian delegation at a meeting in Egypt, mediated by Egyptian, Jordanian and U.S. officials, pledged to take steps to lower tensions roiling the region ahead of a sensitive holiday season. It reflected the limited influence the Biden administration appears to have over Israel's new far-right government and raised questions about attempts to lower tensions, both inside Israel and with the Palestinians, ahead of a sensitive holiday season. As the negotiators were issuing a joint communique, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich delivered a speech in Paris saying the notion of a Palestinian people was artificial. "There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language," he said in France late Sunday. He spoke at a lectern draped with what appeared to be a map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank and parts of Jordan.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called Smotrich's remarks "racist, fascist and extremist."A far-right settler leader who opposes Palestinian statehood, Smotrich has a history of offensive statements against the Palestinians. Last month, he called for the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank to be "erased" after radical Jewish settlers rampaged through the town in response to a shooting attack that killed two Israelis. Smotrich later apologized after an international uproar. During Sunday's talks in Egypt, a Palestinian gunman carried out another shooting attack in Hawara, seriously wounding an Israeli man.
The new violence, along with Smotrich's comments, illustrated the tough challenges that lie ahead in soothing tensions after a year of deadly violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners have been killed in Palestinian attacks during that time. Sunday's summit was held ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week. The Jewish festival of Passover is set to take place in April, coinciding with Ramadan.The upcoming period is sensitive because large numbers of Jewish and Muslim faithful pour into Jerusalem's Old City, the emotional heart of the conflict and a flashpoint for violence, increasing friction points. Large numbers of Jews are also expected to visit a key Jerusalem holy site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount — an act the Palestinians view as a provocation. Clashes at the site in 2021 helped trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. The heightened tensions with the Palestinians coincide with mass demonstrations inside Israel against Netanyahu's plans to overhaul the judicial system. Opponents of the measure have carried out disruptive protests, and the debate has embroiled the country's military, where some reservists are refusing to show up for service. Netanyahu has rejected a compromise by Israel's figurehead president.
During his call with Netanyahu, Biden appealed for caution, the White House said, "as a friend of Israel in the hopes that there can be a compromise formula found." The president "underscored his belief that democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship," the White House said, and added that "fundamental changes should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support."Netanyahu's government says the plan is meant to correct an imbalance that has given the courts too much power over the legislative process. Critics say the overhaul would upend the country's delicate system of checks and balances and push Israel toward authoritarianism. They also say Netanyahu could find an escape route from his corruption trial through the overhaul. The protests, along with the rising violence with the Palestinians, have posed a major challenge for the new government. So far this year, 85 Palestinians have been killed, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Fourteen people in Israel, all but one of them civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks. Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their future independent state.

Full text of Xi's signed article on Russian media
BEIJING/Xinhua/March 20/2023
A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Forging Ahead to Open a New Chapter of China-Russia Friendship, Cooperation and Common Development" was published Monday on Russia's newspaper Russian Gazette and the website of RIA Novosti news agency ahead of his state visit to Russia.
Following is an English version of the full text of the article:
Forging Ahead to Open a New Chapter of China-Russia Friendship, Cooperation and Common Development
Xi Jinping
President of the People's Republic of China
At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will soon pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President 10 years ago. Over the past decade, I have made eight visits to Russia. I came each time with high expectations and returned with fruitful results, opening a new chapter for China-Russia relations together with President Putin.
China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination. We are both major countries in the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries uphold an independent foreign policy and see our relationship as a high priority in our diplomacy.
There is a clear historical logic and strong internal driving force for the growth of China-Russia relations. Over the past 10 years, we have come a long way in our wide-ranging cooperation and made significant strides into the new era.
-- High-level interactions have played a key strategic role in leading China-Russia relations. We have established a whole set of mechanisms for high-level interactions and multi-faceted cooperation which provide important systemic and institutional safeguards for the growth of the bilateral ties. Over the years, I have maintained a close working relationship with President Putin. We have met 40 times on bilateral and international occasions. Together we have drawn the blueprint for the bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, and have had timely communication on major international and regional issues of mutual interest, providing firm stewardship for the sustained, sound and stable growth of China-Russia relations.
-- Our two sides have cemented political mutual trust and fostered a new model of major-country relations. Guided by a vision of lasting friendship and win-win cooperation, China and Russia are committed to no-alliance, no-confrontation and not targeting any third party in developing our ties. We firmly support each other in following a development path suited to our respective national realities and support each other's development and rejuvenation. The bilateral relationship has grown more mature and resilient. It is brimming with new dynamism and vitality, setting a fine example for developing a new model of major-country relations featuring mutual trust, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.
-- Our two sides have put in place an all-round and multi-tiered cooperation framework. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China-Russia trade exceeded 190 billion U.S. dollars last year, up by 116 percent from ten years ago. China has been Russia's largest trading partner for 13 years running. We have seen steady increase in our two-way investment. Our cooperation on major projects in such fields as energy, aviation, space and connectivity is moving forward steadily. Our collaboration in scientific and technological innovation, cross-border e-commerce and other emerging areas is showing a strong momentum. Our cooperation at the sub-national level is also booming. All this has brought tangible benefits to both the Chinese and the Russian peoples and provided unceasing driving force for our respective development and rejuvenation.
-- Our two sides have acted on the vision of lasting friendship and steadily strengthened our traditional friendship. On the occasion of commemorating the 20th anniversary of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, President Putin and I announced the extension of the Treaty and added new dimensions to it. Our two sides have held eight "theme years" at the national level and continued to write new chapters for China-Russia friendship and cooperation. Our two peoples have stood by and rooted for each other in the fight against COVID, which once again proves that "a friend in need is a friend indeed."
-- Our two sides have had close coordination on the international stage and fulfilled our responsibilities as major countries. China and Russia are firmly committed to safeguarding the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. We have stayed in close communication and coordination in the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, the G20 and other multilateral mechanisms, and worked together for a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations. We have been active in practicing true multilateralism, promoting the common values of humanity, and championing the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.
Looking back on the extraordinary journey of China-Russia relations over the past 70 years and more, we feel strongly that our relationship has not reached easily where it is today, and that our friendship is growing steadily and must be cherished by us all. China and Russia have found a right path of state-to-state interactions. This is essential for the relationship to stand the test of changing international circumstances, a lesson borne out by both history and reality.
My upcoming visit to Russia will be a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. I look forward to working with President Putin to jointly adopt a new vision, a new blueprint and new measures for the growth of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the years to come.
To this end, our two sides need to enhance coordination and planning. As we focus on our respective cause of development and rejuvenation, we should get creative in our thinking, create new opportunities and inject new impetus. It is important that we increase mutual trust and bring out the potential of bilateral cooperation to keep China-Russia relations at a high level.
Our two sides need to raise both the quality and quantity of investment and economic cooperation and step up policy coordination to create favorable conditions for the high-quality development of our investment cooperation. We need to boost two-way trade, foster more convergence of interests and areas of cooperation, and promote the complementary and synchronized development of traditional trade and emerging areas of cooperation. We need to make sustained efforts to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, so as to provide more institutional support for bilateral and regional cooperation.
Our two sides need to step up people-to-people and cultural exchanges and ensure the success of China-Russia Years of Sports Exchange. We should make good use of the sub-national cooperation mechanisms to facilitate more interactions between sister provinces/states and cities. We should encourage personnel exchanges and push for the resumption of tourism cooperation. We should make available better summer camps, jointly-run schools and other programs to steadily enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples, especially between the youth.
The world today is going through profound changes unseen in a century. The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable. The prevailing trends of world multi-polarity, economic globalization and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible. On the other hand, our world is confronted with complex and intertwined traditional and non-traditional security challenges, damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying, and long and tortuous global economic recovery. Countries around the world are deeply concerned and eager to find a cooperative way out of the crisis.
In March 2013, when speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, I observed that countries are linked with and dependent on one another at a level never seen before, and that mankind, living in the same global village, have increasingly emerged as a community with a shared future in which everyone's interests are closely entwined. Since then, I have proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative on different occasions. All these have enriched our vision for a community with a shared future for mankind and provided practical pathways toward it. They are part of China's response to the changes of the world, of our times, and of the historic trajectory.
Through these ten years, the common values of humanity -- peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom -- have taken deeper roots in the heart of the people. An open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world with lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity has become the shared aspiration of more and more countries. The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order. The common interest of all humankind is in a world that is united and peaceful, rather than divided and volatile.
Since last year, there has been an all-round escalation of the Ukraine crisis. China has all along upheld an objective and impartial position based on the merits of the issue, and actively promoted peace talks. I have put forth several proposals, i.e., observing the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respect of the legitimate security concerns of all countries, supporting all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis, and ensuring the stability of global industrial and supply chains. They have become China's fundamental principles for addressing the Ukraine crisis.
Not long ago, we released China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis, which takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties and reflects the broadest common understanding of the international community on the crisis. It has been constructive in mitigating the spillovers of the crisis and facilitating its political settlement. There is no simple solution to a complex issue. We believe that as long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the crisis as well as a broad path toward a world of lasting peace and common security.
To run the world's affairs well, one must first and foremost run its own affairs well. The Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, are striving in unity to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese path to modernization. Chinese modernization is characterized by the following features: it is the modernization of a huge population, the modernization of common prosperity for all, the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement, the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and the modernization of peaceful development. These distinctive Chinese features are the crystallization of our practices and explorations over the years, and reflect our profound understanding of international experience. Going forward, we will steadfastly advance the cause of Chinese modernization, strive to realize high-quality development, and expand high-standard opening up. I believe that this will bring new development opportunities to Russia and all countries in the world. Just as every new year starts with spring, every success starts with actions. We have every reason to expect that China and Russia, as fellow travelers on the journey of development and rejuvenation, will make new and greater contributions to human advancement.

North Korea: Latest missile simulated nuclear counterattack
Associated Press/March 20, 2023
North Korea said Monday it simulated a nuclear attack on South Korea with a ballistic missile launch over the weekend that was its fifth missile demonstration this month to protest the largest joint military exercises in years between the U.S. and South Korea. The North's leader Kim Jong Un instructed his military to hold more drills to sharpen the war readiness of his nuclear forces in the face of "aggression" by his enemies, state media reported. The South Korean and Japanese militaries detected the short-range missile being launched Sunday into waters off the North's eastern coast, which reportedly came less than an hour before the U.S. flew long-range B-1B bombers for training with South Korean warplanes. The North characterizes the U.S.-South Korea exercises as a rehearsal to invade, though the allies insist they are defensive in nature. Some experts say the North uses the exercises as a pretext to advance its weapons programs. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the missile, which flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles), was tipped with a mock nuclear warhead. It described the test as successful, saying that the device detonated as intended 800 meters (yards) above water at a spot that simulated an unspecified "major enemy target," supposedly reaffirming the reliability of the weapon's nuclear explosion control devices and warhead detonators. The report said the launch was the final step of a two-day drill that also involved nuclear command and control exercises and training military units to switch more quickly into nuclear counterattack posture, properly handle nuclear weapons systems and execute attack plans. The exercise was also a "stronger warning" to the United States and South Korea, who are "undisguised in their explicit attempt to unleash a war" against the North, KCNA said. Photos published by state media showed Kim walking through a forest with his daughter and senior military officials and a missile the North described as a tactical nuclear weapon system soaring from the woods spewing flames and smoke.
Saying that his enemies are getting "ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression," Kim laid out unspecified "strategic tasks" for further developing his nuclear forces and improving their war readiness, KCNA said. This indicated that the North could up the ante in its weapons demonstrations in coming weeks or months.
Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesperson of South Korea's Defense Ministry, said it's clear North Korea with its ramped-up testing activity is making "considerable progress" in nuclear weapons technology. He did not provide a specific assessment about the North's claim about the successful warhead detonation.
North Korean photos indicated the latest launch was of a solid-fuel missile apparently modeled after Russia's Iskander mobile ballistic system that the North has been testing since 2019. The missiles are built to travel at low altitudes and be maneuverable in flight, which theoretically improve their chances of evading South Korean missile defenses. While these missiles have been mostly fired from wheeled vehicles, North Korea has also tested them or their variants from railcars, a submarine and a platform inside a reservoir. Photos of the latest test suggested the missile was possibly fired from a silo dug into the ground, highlighting the North's efforts to diversify its launch options and make it harder for opponents to identify and counter them.
South Korea's military said the launch took place at a mountainous northwestern region near Tongchangri, which hosts a site where the North conducted long-range rocket and satellite launches in previous years. North Korea likely has dozens of nuclear warheads, but there are differing assessments on how far the North has advanced in miniaturizing and engineering those weapons so that they could fit on the newer weapons it tested in recent years. While the North after six nuclear tests may be able to place simple nuclear warheads on some of its older systems, like Scuds or Rodong missiles, it will likely require further technology upgrades and nuclear tests to build warheads that can be installed on its more advanced tactical systems, according to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute. Sunday's short-range launch was the North's fifth missile event this month and the third since the U.S. and South Korean militaries began joint exercises on March 13. The allies' drills, which are to continue through Thursday, include computer simulations and their biggest springtime field exercise since 2018. The North so far in 2023 has fired around 20 missiles over nine different launch events. They included short-range missiles fired from land, cruise missiles launched from a submarine, and two different intercontinental ballistic missiles fired an airport near Pyongyang as it tries to demonstrate a dual ability to conduct nuclear attacks on South Korea and the U.S. mainland.
The latest ICBM test last Thursday preceded a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who agreed to resume security dialogues and take other steps to improve their oft-strained relations in the face of North Korean threats.
North Korea already is coming off a record year in testing activity, with more than 70 missiles fired in 2022, as Kim accelerates his weapons development aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating badly needed sanctions relief from a position of strength.
In response to the most recent ICBM launch, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency open meeting Monday morning at the request of the United States, United Kingdom, Albania, Ecuador, France and Malta. Security Council resolutions have long banned North Korean ballistic missile activity, but permanent council members Russia and China have thwarted punishment or further sanctions in recent years. The U.N. Security Council held an informal meeting Friday at which the U.S., its allies and human rights experts shone a spotlight on what they described as the dire rights situation in North Korea. China and Russia denounced the meeting as a politicized move. North Korea's U.N. Mission called the meeting about "our non-existent 'human rights issue'" unlawful. It also said the U.S. held Friday's meeting "while staging the aggressive joint military exercise which poses a grave threat to our national security."

Yemen warring parties reach prisoner swap deal
Agence France Presse/March 20, 2023
Yemen's Huthi rebels and the internationally recognized government have reached a prisoner swap deal during negotiations in Switzerland, the militants said Monday. "An agreement has been reached to implement a (prisoner) swap" that will see more than 880 people released in total, said Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the leading Huthi delegate to the Geneva talks, according to the rebels' Al-Masirah TV channel. Under the agreement, the Iran-backed Huthis would release 181 detainees, including Saudi and Sudanese nationals, in exchange for 706 prisoners, said Al-Murtada, who heads the rebels' National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs. "The swap will be implemented after three weeks," Al-Masirah TV quoted him as saying. The talks in Switzerland, overseen by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), started this month after more than eight years of war. The closed-door negotiations mark the seventh meeting aimed at implementing an agreement on prisoner exchanges reached in Sweden five years ago. Under that deal, the sides agreed "to release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest", held in connection with the conflict, "without any exceptions or conditions". The latest agreement comes almost a year after the Huthis said they had agreed to a prisoner swap that would see 1,400 rebels freed in exchange for 823 pro-government fighters -- including 16 Saudis and three Sudanese nationals. In 2020, more than 1,050 detainees were released following an agreement reached by the warring parties, according to the ICRC.

Macron's leadership at risk amid tensions over pension plan
Associated Press/March 20, 2023
A parody photo appearing on protest signs and online in France shows President Emmanuel Macron sitting on piles of garbage. It's both a reference to the trash going uncollected with Paris sanitation workers on strike — and to what many French people think about their leader.
Macron had hoped his push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 would cement his legacy as the president who transformed France's economy for the 21st century. Instead, he finds his leadership contested, both in parliament and on the streets of major cities. His brazen move to force a pension reform bill through without a vote has infuriated the political opposition and could hamper his government's ability to pass legislation for the remaining four years of his term.
Demonstrators hoisted the parody photo at protests after Macron chose at the last minute Thursday to invoke the government's constitutional power to pass the bill without a vote at the National Assembly.
In his first public comment on the issue since then, the 45-year-old leader expressed his wish for the bill to "reach the end of its democratic path in an atmosphere of respect for everyone,'' according to a statement Sunday from his office provided to The Associated Press.
Since becoming president in 2017, Macron often has been accused of arrogance and being out of touch. Perceived as "the president of the rich,'' he stirred resentment for telling a jobless man he only needed to "cross the street" to find work and by suggesting some French workers were "lazy."Now, Macron's government has alienated citizens "for a long time" to come by using the special authority it has under Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to impose a widely unpopular change, said Brice Teinturier, deputy director general of the Ipsos poll institute.
He said the situation's only winners are far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party, "which continues its strategy of both 'getting respectable' and opposing Macron," and France's labor unions. Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the country's last two presidential elections. As the garbage piles get bigger and the smell from them worse, many people in Paris blame Macron, not the striking workers.
Macron repeatedly said he was convinced the French retirement system needed modifying to keep it financed. He says other proposed options, like increasing the already heavy tax burden, would push investors away, and that decreasing the pensions of current retirees was not a realistic alternative. The public displays of displeasure may weigh heavily on his future decisions. The spontaneous, sometimes violent protests that erupted in Paris and across the country in recent days have contrasted with the largely peaceful demonstrations and strikes previously organized by France's major unions.
Macron's reelection to a second term last April bolstered his standing as a senior player in Europe. He campaigned on a pro-business agenda, pledging to address the pension issue and saying the French must "work longer."
In June, Macron's centrist alliance lost its majority in the lower house of parliament, though it still holds more seats than other political parties. He said at the time that his government wanted to "legislate in a different way," based on compromises with a range of political groups. Since then, conservative lawmakers have agreed to support some bills that fit with their own policies. But tensions over the pension plan, and widespread lack of trust among ideologically diverse parties, may end attempts at seeking compromise. Macron's political opponents in the National Assembly filed two no-confidence motions Friday against the government of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Government officials are hoping to survive a vote on the motions set for Monday because the opposition is divided, with many Republicans expected not to support it. If a motion passes, however, it would be a big blow for Macron: the pension bill would be rejected and his Cabinet would have to resign. In that case, the president would need to appoint a new Cabinet and find his ability to get legislation passed weakened.
Macron notably hopes to propose new measures designed to bring France's unemployment rate down to 5%, from 7.2% now, by the end of his second and final term. If the no-confidence motions fail, Macron could enact the higher retirement age but try to appease his critics with a government reshuffle. Either way, Macron would keep his job until his term runs out in 2027, and retain substantial powers over foreign policy, European affairs and defense. As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he can make decisions about France's support for Ukraine and other global issues without parliamentary approval.
France's strong presidential powers are a legacy from Gen. Charles de Gaulle's desire to have a stable political system for the Fifth Republic he established in 1958.
Another option in the hands of the president is to dissolve the National Assembly and call for an early parliamentary election. That scenario appears unlikely for now, since the unpopularity of the pension plan means Macron's alliance would be unlikely to secure a majority of seats. And if another party won, he would have to appoint a prime minister from the majority faction, empowering the government to implement policies that diverge from the president's priorities. Le Pen said she would welcome a dissolution. And Mathilde Panot, a lawmaker from the leftist Nupes coalition, said with sarcasm Thursday that it was a "very good" idea for Macron to disband the Assembly and trigger an election. "I believe it would be a good occasion for the country to reaffirm that yes, they want the retirement age down at 60," Panot said. "The Nupes is always available to govern."

Canada's foreign minister says China peace talks in Moscow will prolong Ukraine war
The Canadian Press/March 20, 2023
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says China's attempts to broker peace in Ukraine will likely just help Russia re-arm and prolong the conflict. Joly says in a statement today that the only way to end the war it for Russian President Vladimir Putin to "lay down his weapons and get out of Ukraine."
She says any ceasefire must include Moscow withdrawing troops from Ukrainian territory, otherwise it will only freeze the conflict and lead to more Russians killed in combat. She accuses Russia of "looking to buy time to resupply, recruit and re-attack." Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Russia, arriving today for peace talks after Beijing laid out a proposal that calls for an end to the conflict, although Xi has no plans to visit Kyiv. Canada and the other countries in the G7 have said since last October that they will support Ukraine "for as long as it takes" with humanitarian and military aid.

Blinken offers US support to Armenia for peace talks with Azerbaijan
Kanishka Singh/WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Mon, March 20, 2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered U.S. support in helping Armenia toward having peace discussions with Azerbaijan, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. Blinken and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone call on Monday, which was about two weeks after Azerbaijani troops and ethnic Armenians exchanged gunfire in Azerbaijan's contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing at least five people. Blinken "reiterated U.S. support for direct talks and diplomacy to support a lasting and sustainable peace in the South Caucasus and stressed that there is no military solution," the State Department said in a statement. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan have met several times as part of attempts to resolve the conflict, but periodic violence has hurt peace talks. Nagorno-Karabakh was the focal point of two wars that have pitted Armenia against Azerbaijan in the more than 30 years since both ex-Soviet states have achieved independence. Russia and Armenia are officially allies through a mutual self-defence pact, but Moscow also seeks to maintain good relations with Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but populated mostly by ethnic Armenians. In December, Azerbaijanis claiming to be environmental activists started a blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia says the blockade has led to food and medicine shortages, and that the protesters are government-backed agitators. Azerbaijan denies those claims and says the protesters are campaigning against illegal Armenian mining.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 20-21/2023
The Biggest Threat to Democracy
Nima Gholam Ali Pour/Gatestone Institute/March 20, 2023
Nima Gholam Ali Pour is a Member of the Swedish Parliament
[T]hose who took to the streets and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside -- these heroic people need and deserve immediate support.
More than 19,600 Iranians have been arrested during the protests; several have been executed. The information, coming from human rights organizations, about how Iran treats political prisoners is terrifying.
In addition, more than 1,000 schoolgirls have been poisoned as "retaliation" and to shut down schools in a move to stop education for girls. As the Wall Street Journal remarked, compared to Iran, Saudi Arabia is Switzerland.
Several members of parliament in Europe and North America have become political sponsors of political prisoners in Iran. The purpose of the political sponsorship is for parliamentarians to use their status and put pressure on the regime in Iran to release the political prisoners and draw attention to their cases. It is also a way to show the regime in Iran that the world sees and condemns them and cares -- with action -- about those Iranians who are fighting every day for the same freedom that we take so for granted.
This author has chosen to become a political sponsor for Soheila Hejab, who is now in prison after being accused of "propaganda against the state", "gathering and collusion", and "disrupting public order to create chaos". Like many other prisoners in Iran, Hejab has not received medical care; her health is rapidly deteriorating.
This article is a plea for more parliamentarians in democratic countries sponsor political prisoners in Iran -- to show that their protests are not in vain and that the world has heard their cries for freedom, democracy and human rights.
If the brave individuals who stood up to the mullahs are now ignored simply because the regime in Iran has a security apparatus that has temporarily succeeded in silencing them, fewer will feel compelled in the future to stand up to oppressors -- in Iran or other dictatorships -- thus empowering the normalization of dictatorships. When fewer people stand up to oppressors, dictatorships and oppression become "normal": that is the biggest threat to democracy.
The best way, therefore, to work for democracy and human rights is to support those who today risk their lives to overthrow dictatorships such as the one in Iran. If these brave people are prepared to risk their lives and the lives of their families for democracy, the least we can do is to give them totally committed support from the West.
We need to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a Foreign Terrorist Organization and expel Iranian supporters of the regime from Western and European countries. In addition to that, individual parliamentarians can stand behind and "adopt" a political prisoner to draw attention to their cases, legitimize the democratic revolution and above all, delegitimize the savage, expansionist regime of Iran.
Those who took to the streets in Iran and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside -- these heroic people need and deserve immediate support.
The protests in Iran against the regime's Islamist dictatorship have largely been quelled for the time being, but the conflict remains. It is between a regime that implements medieval and barbaric laws and a young generation that wants to live in a modern and civilized society; and between a regime that rejects the notion of, and constantly defies, an international community, and the Iranian people, who are increasingly longing for Iran to become part of the international community.
The conflict is also one between democracy and dictatorship: a democracy where the mullahs' gender apartheid imposed upon the public is abolished, where Iranians would be allowed to vote in free and democratic elections, and where the government would respect human rights.
Even if the mullahs, with their robust security apparatus, manage to put down the protests in Iran yet again, they and the Iranian people's longing for freedom will not disappear. Also not disappearing are all the brave freedom fighters being tortured in the regime's prisons. These heroes must continue to be supported. Now. They must not be forgotten or overlooked.
In a speech to the Swedish parliament, this author urged the government to support the freedom fighters in Iran:
"The mullahs' regime has a robust security apparatus that targets its own population. Therefore, it will take longer for this revolution to be successful. This is precisely why it is important that the Swedish and European support for the protests in Iran does not wane, but remains even next year, the year after and as long as the Islamist regime in Iran remains."
This position is reinforced when one realizes that those who took to the streets and protested the regime were all too aware that the most inhuman punishments and executions awaited them as retaliation for their struggle for freedom. Such courage and sacrifice for democracy and human rights must not be swept aside -- these heroic people need and deserve immediate support.
More than 19,600 Iranians have been arrested during the protests; several have been executed. The information, coming from human rights organizations, about how Iran treats political prisoners is terrifying. Among other crimes against humanity, as Amnesty International documents, Iran's regime refuses to give political prisoners emergency medical care, accelerating their deaths.
Information has also emerged that young people who have protested against the regime have been tortured: not a surprise. Rape and torture are common tools that the regime has used for decades to silence the population. In addition, more than 1,000 schoolgirls have been poisoned as "retaliation" and to shut down schools in a move to stop education for girls. As the Wall Street Journal remarked, compared to Iran, Saudi Arabia is Switzerland.
Several members of parliament in Europe and North America have become political sponsors of political prisoners in Iran. The purpose of the political sponsorship is for parliamentarians to use their status and put pressure on the regime in Iran to release the political prisoners and draw attention to their cases. It is also a way to show the regime in Iran that the world sees and condemns them and cares – with action -- about those Iranians who are fighting every day for the same freedom that we take so for granted.
This author has chosen to become a political sponsor for Soheila Hejab, who is now in prison after being accused of "propaganda against the state", "gathering and collusion", and "disrupting public order to create chaos". Like many other prisoners in Iran, Hejab has not received medical care; her health is rapidly deteriorating.
This article is a plea for more parliamentarians in democratic countries sponsor political prisoners in Iran -- to show that their protests are not in vain and that the world has heard their cries for freedom, democracy and human rights.
If the brave individuals who stood up to the mullahs are now overlooked simply because the regime in Iran has a security apparatus that has temporarily succeeded in silencing them, then in the future, fewer will feel compelled to stand up to oppressors -- whether in Iran or other dictatorships -- thus empowering the normalization of dictatorships. When fewer people stand up to oppressors, dictatorships and oppression become "normal": that is the biggest threat to democracy.
The best way, therefore, to work for democracy and human rights is to support those who today risk their lives to overthrow dictatorships such as the one in Iran. If these brave people are prepared to risk their lives and the lives of their families for democracy, the least we can do is to give them totally committed support from the West.
We need to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a Foreign Terrorist Organization and expel Iranian supporters of the regime from Western and European countries. In addition to that, individual parliamentarians can stand behind and "adopt" a political prisoner to draw attention to their cases, legitimize the democratic revolution and above all, delegitimize the savage, expansionist regime of Iran.
*Nima Gholam Ali Pour is a Member of the Swedish Parliament
© 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.

How Does the US View the Iran-Saudi Understanding?
Camelia Entekhabifard/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/March 20/2023
As the Iranian new year of 1401 is drawing to a close, grand developments are occurring in the region. It used to be that the final days of the year were politically calm. State and the nation would pay more attention to domestic and home affairs and not international relations. But the events of the second half of the year has awoken the regime out of its slumber and disabused it of its illusion of grandeur.
The big news in the last week of the Iranian calendar year was the announcement of resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Following mediation by China, the two countries have pledged to normalize their relations and re-open their respective embassies within two months. This means that, before the Hajj period begins, the relations between the two countries will be normalized and the traveling of Iranian Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will be eased.
Following this news, there is also some news about the possibility of normalization of ties between Iran and Bahrain.
The Abraham Accords (normalization of ties between Israel and three Arab countries) led to worsening of relations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates and especially Bahrain. The contradictory behavior of the Iranian regime in the region and the security threats it had for its Arab neighbors, especially Bahrain and the UAE, left these countries no solution other than creating a defense shield and strengthening of their ties with Israel.
Normalization of ties between the Iranian regime and countries of the region is a sign of its failed foreign and regional policies. Events of the last five months showed the policymakers of the Islamic regime that isolation could drive them toward destruction and that they must immediately establish ties with countries of the region and draw back the militias and mercenaries connected to them in the region.
The Iranian regime is wishing to improve its relations with regional countries to come out of siege and the trap it had created for itself unknowingly. The regime policymakers previously looked down on certain countries in the region and considered them hapless slaves to the West who did nothing but serving them. Now, in practice, they see that an active diplomacy can further national interest while also safeguarding a country’s dignity.
The Saudi Arabia of today is not the Saudi of yesterday that the Islamic Republic used to consider a “slave to the West.”
The normalization of relations with Tehran serves the de-escalation plan by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman which is a part of his attempt to further economic development and social welfare as encapsulated in Saudi Vision 2030. This plan aims to secure welfare and security for Saudi citizens and it naturally needs a calm and secure atmosphere in the region.
This is why the Saudi Crown Prince first restored ties with Qatar and then Turkey; both of which had created a lot of tension in the region when he was first chosen in 2017.
I regard the improvement of ties between Riyadh and Tehran in line with the same plan and goals of the Vision 2030 which requires security and calm in the region. I’d like to be so bold as to question the conventional wisdom that believe the agreement to be a sign of China’s rising power in the region.
China has signed many economic agreements with Saudis. Saudis have also signed significant investment deals and other agreements with Russia and the US. China’s mediation had a few different aspects. China is currently the only powerful country which maintains relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Saudi investment on non-oil economy and opening the country’s door to the industry of tourism, job creation, better use of natural resources, eschewing of Islamic extremism and granting of individual and social rights to citizens will quickly change the conditions in the country. The US and Saudis can, in near future, be big rivals for production and export of crude oil to global markets.
As someone who constantly travels between East and the West, I can clearly see a growth and dynamism in the East which has led to increasing jealousy in the West.
The tired and bankrupted West which has problem paying the cost of heating and health for its own population is too tried to easily escape its current crises.
In contrast, the sunny, rich and young East pledges welfare, labor, security and social freedoms to many.
This is why, for Saudi Arabia, holding calm and friendly relations with countries with which it shares a geography is part of the long-term plan aimed at economic development and national security. It is natural for the West to be the main obstacle to the developments that smacks of its own decline.
During the seven years of Iran and Saudis not having diplomatic relations, some other events also occurred which deserve a review.
In the summer of 2019, drones attacked Aramco oil installations. The US, under the Trump administration, did nothing to defend its strategic partner (the UN considered the Iranian regime to be culpable.) When Joe Biden was elected president, he took the Yemeni Houthis off the foreign terrorist organizations list of the State Department (2021).
For seven years, Iran and Saudis didn’t have diplomatic relations. What did US, China or Russia do to stop the war in Yemen? What military and intelligence help did they give?
The US has clearly shown to have lost its interest in the Middle East and it now focuses on the Far East. The Americans don’t want regime change. Nor do they want to take part in interventions. They have also distanced themselves from the War on Terror discourse. We see how they gave Afghanistan up to the terrorists of Taliban, paused peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and gave a cold shoulder to the attempts to solve the crisis in Yemen.
But the events that took place in Iran and the national uprising of the people there has showed the regime that its overthrow is not impossible. The regime attempts to reduce tensions as a way of escaping the current dead-end for the regime rulers (if they can do it successfully). On the other hand, the Islamic Republic has been given two months to rethink its provocative acts and its arming and support of militias that are dependent on it. Saudi diplomacy is coherent and clear and other countries of the region are also treading on their own path. It is the Islamic Republic which must change its ways and prove that it seeks to resolve differences. In simpler words, it must prove its so-called good will.
In the last five months, the countries of the region have smartly looked at the Western actions vis a vis the people of Iran and the Iranian regime. They have exercised caution, exercising an innovative politics aimed at safeguarding their security and growing economies.
The US has said that it will welcome these talks and the betterment of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia but I believe that the American interest was in continuation of the Yemeni crisis so that it could go on selling arms and challenge Saudis in their pursuit of Vision 2030 (In an important point of time, Saudis refused to increase oil production to secure reduction of oil prices in the world market.)
If the war in Yemen ends, Saudi Arabia will show another capacity in addition to its reforms and its strengthening of economy: its diplomacy!

Everything the Supreme Leader Wants
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/March 20/2023
The resumption of Saudi-Iranian relations shows that everything in Iran falls under the absolute authority of the supreme leader, who’s so far the only decision-maker there, even if he wanted to take an imminent decision to end the crisis of the nuclear deal that is almost dead now.
“Last September, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lost patience with the slow pace of bilateral talks (with Saudi Arabia) and summoned his team to discuss ways to accelerate the process, which led to China's involvement,” two Iranian officials have told Reuters.
Him losing patience is the result of isolation and the difficulties that the Iranian regime is facing locally and with the outside world. That’s why the Saudi-Iranian agreement was struck to resume relations through intense negotiations in Beijing and in only five days, while the nuclear deal is deadlocked for almost three years. Evidence on the supreme leader losing patience and his insistence to resume relations with Riyadh lies in the presence of a different Iranian delegation in China. “Those representing Tehran in Beijing were the representatives of the real authorities and not those with decorated suits.” Among those present was a representative of the Revolutionary Guards.
During the five rounds of negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Iran had wished for Saudis to meet with a representative from the Guards but that never happened because the talks were taking place between two countries and not between a state and agencies.
When the supreme leader lost patience and wanted to speed up the resumption of relations and give the needed assistance, Iran reacted how it should have. Even Iran’s followers in the region were surprised by the resumption of ties.
Sources say that Hezbollah was among those surprised by the move.
Bashar Assad even said in an interview carried out with him in Russia that news on the resumption of the Saudi-Iranian ties was a “great surprise,” at a time when Saudi Arabia was behaving normally and informing allies about the agreement on “appropriate occasions.”
So the question is: Why is Iran procrastinating in the nuclear deal or in responding with a better initiative at a time when the agreement with Saudi Arabia was swift? Does Iran intend to have nuclear weapons? Which means Tehran has gone on an adventure with uncalculated consequences on itself and the region.
The Saudi-Iranian negotiations did not deal with the Iranian nuclear file, and this is understandable because Riyadh’s stance from the issue is clear. It rejects the proliferation of weapons in the entire region, and this position remains unchanged even after resuming relations with Iran.
Riyadh’s position is clear because this cause should be dealt with by Western powers and it's necessary for the region’s countries, and mainly Saudi Arabia, to be represented in any step to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran if it was possible to do so. There is information that there are attempts to revive the deal. To summarize, the Saudi-Iranian agreement in Beijing says that the supreme leader is the sole decision-maker and he can resolve the problems of the nuclear deal quickly, mainly because no one believes in the fatwa of banning the possession of a nuclear bomb as Iran keeps saying.
So the question is: Will the supreme leader surprise everyone and allow the speeding up of negotiations on the nuclear agreement as it happened with the deal with Saudi Arabia? Or will the looming danger continue?

Twenty years after invasion, is Iraq salvageable?
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 20, 2023
The cataclysmic Iraq invasion was built on lies and fraudulent motivations, shattering the balance of the region in a manner that still has ramifications today, particularly after the subsequent destruction of neighboring Syria.
Baghdad and Iraq for centuries constituted the beating heart of Arab civilization and culture. Yet 20 years after the invasion, and following the deaths of about 500,000 Iraqis, this keystone Arab nation remains a fragmented wreck, despite its immense natural resources.
One legacy of this war was that Iraq became one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, with up to $300 billion of its wealth plundered since 2003. Iraqis are meanwhile mired in poverty, unemployment, environmental pollution, non-functioning services, spiralling drug addiction and sectarian tensions.
It’s not as if President George W.Bush and his Vice President Dick Cheney weren’t warned. Arab leaders were among the most vocal in predicting the outcome of the invasion. “Anyone who thinks he can control Iraq is deluding himself,” the late Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned on the eve of invasion. But the Arab world also made a catastrophic mistake in walking away from Iraq, severing the nation from its Arab heartland. Similarly fateful errors are being made with Lebanon and Syria.
The Americans disproportionately heeded advice from a small cabal of Iraqis with a dangerously distorted agenda, leading to the wholesale dissolution of the army and the civil service. Thousands of teachers, police, medics and career civil servants were summarily sacked because of possible Baathist sympathies. Sectarian death squads repurposed registers of these disgraced personnel as kill lists.
Shiite paramilitary forces who returned to Iraq in 2003 had been reared on slogans of “Death to America,” but these forces concluded that the best route to consolidate power was to smile sweetly and whisper in the Americans’ ear. Thus, entities such as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq became US partners of choice, despite these émigré groups being regarded with suspicion by most Iraqis.
Nouri Al-Maliki’s tenure as prime minister took these tendencies to extremes; his interpretation of de-Baathification essentially meant purging all Sunnis. The horrors of the 2005-2008 period are difficult to exaggerate, as thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered each month by Shiite militias and Sunni extremists, resulting in massive demographic changes, particularly in Baghdad.
The US managed to dismantle Al-Qaeda in Iraq by mobilising Sunni Awakening forces, but Maliki saw these forces as a threat and remorselessly eradicated them, creating a vacuum that Daesh was perfectly configured to fill. Militias responsible for mass killings were forged by Maliki into Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition — a force supposedly constituted to combat Daesh, but which in the long term has arguably done more damage to Iraq than Daesh ever could.
Successive bouts of mass demonstrations throughout the south have been suppressed by Hashd paramilitaries with brute violence and bouts of assassinations of journalists and activists. In contrast, Sunni regions have recently been relatively quiescent, largely because these impoverished communities are now so marginalized from political affairs that they lack any meaningful voice.
There is nothing redeemable or salvageable about Iraq’s political system. Speaking to Iraqis these days, there is a remarkable lack of hope and a perception that nothing will ever improve.
Hashd militias became further corrupted through wholesale involvement in economic activities, reaping billions of dollars from illegal checkpoints, oil smuggling, extorting businesses, and prostitution. Drug addiction was practically unknown in Iraq before 2003, but it has now reached epidemic levels as these militias have swamped the country with illegal narcotics.
Despite these militias being wholly rejected by Iraqis during the previous round of elections, they still imposed their choices of government on the electorate. As well as subverting every branch of the central political administration, they have carved the country up into mafia fiefdoms.
What ramifications will the Saudi-Iran deal have for Iraq? I have been told that Iraq was at the top of Riyadh’s priorities during negotiations, some early rounds of which took place in Baghdad. In recent years, Arab states have been making serious efforts to reengage with Iraq, including the return of ambassadors, ambitious electricity projects, major investments, encouragement of pan-Arab trade, and the facilitation of travel and tourism for reopening Iraq to the Arab world — on the model of the highly successful recent Arabian Gulf Cup football tournament in Basra.
Iraqis have only to look across their southern borders at how Gulf states are flourishing, even at a time when the global economy is falling apart. Iraq, with its immense oil wealth, could aspire to a similarly flourishing social model, if it could address the challenges of corruption, militia dominance and political dysfunction.
That Iraq still exists as a unitary state and holds elections every few years has been interpreted by some distant observers as demonstrating that the outcomes of the 2003 invasion weren’t all bad. But Iraq in 2023 is a smouldering volcano. The country came close to civil conflict in 2022, as rival militias faced off in tense encounters in central Baghdad. Given that both sides had tens of thousands of militiamen at their disposal, one wrong move could have triggered carnage.
There is nothing redeemable or salvageable about Iraq’s political system. Speaking to Iraqis these days, there is a remarkable lack of hope and a perception that nothing will ever improve. The danger for Iraqi political factions is that they have so destroyed trust in their governing system that citizens no longer believe in the possibility of reform through voting or civic participation, and instead will seek more radical means for eliminating those forces that have ravaged Iraq.
The Arab world should energetically support the Iraqi people in regaining their rightful dignity and prosperity. We should not rest until Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen are wholly restored to the Arab fold and provided with the emergency assistance they require to return to their former prosperity and splendor.
If this aspiration were realized — and I believe that one day it will be — this would transform the global stature and pre-eminence of the entire Arab world, making this once again a mighty region to be reckoned with.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Chinese Grandstanding, Neo-Imperialism and the New Cold War
Charles Elias Chartouni/March 20/2023
The re-election of Xi Jinping at the helm of the Popular Republic of China, the reinstated merger between the Communist party and the State, and the diplomatic simulations highlighted through the Saudi-Iranian brokered accord, the official visit to Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin is indicted for war crimes and egregious Human Rights violations, the open contestation of the post WWII Order, the exponential rise of military build up, the ostentatious bullying of South Eastern Asian neighbors, and the blunt reaffirmation of cultural incommensurability, are quite indicative of the incipient New Cold War era. The rising bipolarity and the attempt at driving a wedge between Europe and the United States, are foreshadowing an impending sequence of surrogate conflicts and active sabotaging of prevalent demarcation lines in murky playgrounds, where frozen conflicts, rickety authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, perceive China as a bulwark against their undermined internal legitimacy, the brunt of American pressure to democratize and normalize their international positioning, and a rising platform to build an international counter-Order which likens the erstwhile Cold War Iron Curtain.
Contemporary China, in contradistinction, with the defunct Soviet Union, is able to provide a counter-model where authoritarian economic development impugns the correlation between development, democratization and liberalization. The political paradigm set by China, however functional in the short term, proves its limitations when confronted with glaring contradictions displaying the discrepancies between stated yearnings and practical achievements. Featured as an alternative model of development, it fails to uphold its stated objectives and features the lability of transient political alliances. The late Saudi-Iran accord should sustain repeated tests throughout the Larger Middle East, where Sunnite and Shiite power politics are disputing controversial zones of influence (Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon…), and both experiencing the challenges posed by domestic actors and reformist agendas, non pliability to the clashing neo-imperial agendas of Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the contending and irreconcilable reformist programs highlighted by the determination of Saudi Arabia under MBS, and the interlocking blockades of a waning Islamic dictatorship under Khamenei and the Pasdaran.
The shared economic interests between the three autocracies are not enough to mend the strategic, ideological and legitimacy rifts that can hardly be dissociated from the intertwining international dynamics, notwithstanding the fact that the rules of Chinese economic imperialism are not congruent with the idiosyncratic rules of governance, National interests, and finicky sense of self determination. Trying to build on the self defeating contradictions of sturdy dictatorships unable to reform themselves and normalize their international status, this sort of diplomacy surfing on self fulfilling prophecies awaits the hard tests of reality.
As for the visit to Russia, it unveils a set of unstated yearnings and pent up complexes: A/ the compulsory need to spotlight the Chinese hegemonic aspirations and set unilaterally the rules of engagement of the New Cold War, laced with a sense of ideological preeminence which replicates the self righteousness of the Marxist vulgata; B/ Seal the subordinate status of Russia tied to its dire financial straits, military mediocrity and its trailing moral degradation, and the outmaneuvering of the petulant autocrat tracked by international justice. C/ Try to sabotage the Transatlantic Alliance and downplay the strategic and ideological divides, without truly engaging the military dynamic in Ukraine; D/ The instrumentalisation of the Economic vector as the springboard for a divide and rule politics (Divide et impera), overlooks the renascent Transatlantic consensuses, the redefinition of the geo-economic configurations and the multilateral dependencies of the Chinese Economy. Doing away with the post WWII Order is not a matter of political voluntarism, and the institutions of the Liberal World Order are stronger than the ideological ruminations and platitudes of the Marxist doxa. While listening to the Chinese ambassador in Paris, i was dumbfounded by the juvenile arrogance of a rising Chinese Imperialism that sees itself ultimately victorious. Marxist teleologies are not only myopic, but inherently blind to the appeal of liberalism and its corroding effects within the elusive Chinese bubble and the Russian panopticon.

تقرير موثق لريموند إبراهيم من موقع معهد كايتستون يحكي عذاب واضطهاد ومعاناة النساء المسيحيات في باكستان المسلمة
Convert, Marry Me, or Die by Acid: Christian Women in Muslim Pakistan
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/March 20/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/116782/116782/
A Muslim man recently splashed acid onto the face of a teenage Christian girl, permanently disfiguring her. Her crime was to refuse his advances that she convert to Islam and marry him.
On her way to work on Feb. 1, 2023, Sunita Munawar, aged 19, stepped out of her bus. There, according to the report,
[S]he noticed that Kamran Allah Baksh, a local neighbour who had been stalking and harassing her for several years, was already waiting at the bus stop. Despite a sense of foreboding, Miss Munawar bravely exited the bus and headed towards her workplace. As she passed by Mr Baksh, without warning he threw something on Miss Munawar’s face. She could feel intense pain in her eyes and on the skin of her face, arms, torso and legs and knew immediately, that something was seriously wrong. She screamed and tried to wipe away the acid but found that the pain would not stop, a pain so severe that at some point Miss Munawar fainted and collapsed to the ground.
She was taken a nearby hospital, where it was confirmed that she had suffered 20 percent acid burns. From her hospital bed she said of her assailant: He wanted me to be his girlfriend but I refused his advances. I can’t believe what he has done to me, I did nothing to deserve this. It feels like he has destroyed my life. I have bright scars everywhere he sprayed the acid on me, it’s so hard to take.
Sunita’s uncle offered more background: He would try to force her to renounce her Christian faith, assuring her that he would marry her once she became a Muslim, but she refused to surrender to his illegitimate demands…. Sunita had informed her siblings about Kamran’s harassment, and they had repeatedly complained to his parents, urging them to stop him, but that did not work.
After being apprehended, Allah Baksh confessed to his crime. “In his statement,” authorities reported, “Kamran claimed that he had fallen in love with Sunita and had attacked her with acid in retaliation after she rejected his marriage proposal.”
Whatever punishment—if any—might be meted out to Baksh, the damage is irrevocable, said the girl’s uncle:
Sunita is just 19, but now her whole life has been physically and mentally scarred by Kamran. Even if he is convicted for his crime, will Sunita be able to live a normal life again? We all know how our society treats acid attack survivors, even though they are the victims of this heinous crime.
Sunita Munawar
Sunita’s case is, unfortunately, not isolated. In April, 2018, a Muslim man doused a Christian woman with acid and set her aflame in Pakistan. She too had earlier refused to convert to Islam and marry him. With burns covering nearly 90 percent of her body, Asma Yaqoob, 25, died five days later. According to her father, on that day, soon after Asma had answered the door, “we heard her screaming in pain.” They “rushed outside to see what had happened” and saw Rizwan Gujjar, 30, a onetime family friend, fleeing “while Asma was engulfed in flames.” Three months earlier Gujjar had begun pressuring Asma to marry him. She, “not wanting to recant her Christian faith,” politely declined and tried to avoid him, to no avail.
Acid attacks against women—especially minority women, chiefly Christians—are a common form of “retribution” for scorned Muslim men (as these many horrific images demonstrate).
In Karachi alone, where Sunita was disfigured, at least a dozen acid attacks have occurred in the last few months. According, moreover, to the “NGO the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), between 2007 and 2018 there were 1,485 reported cases of acid attacks in Pakistan. Close to a third of victims were children splashed with acid when family members were attacked. Most acid attackers are men, and the majority of victims are women.”
Discussing this shameful trend in the context of the most recent attack on Sunita, Juliet Chowdhry, of the British Asian Christian Association, said: Acid throwing attacks are extremely violent crimes. Perpetrators seek to inflict severe physical and mental suffering on their victims, the large majority of whom are women. In Pakistan, the most common reasons for such attacks are domestic violence, refusal of a marriage proposal, or the denial of a sexual advance. These attacks are vicious, pernicious and involve a high degree of premeditation. More responsive police could have prevented this attack when Sunita first reported stalking and harassment. Instead their inability to act, now means that Sunita will suffer years of disfigurement and treatments.
Not all acid attacks on Christian women are from spurned Muslim would-be suitors; some are motivated simply because the women are Christian.
In 2012, for example, Julie Aftab, a Christian woman who had fled her native Pakistan to America, recalled how Muslim men had permanently disfigured her when she was 16-years-old. After one of them entered her place of employment and noticed her wearing a cross around her neck, he “became abusive,” telling her “that she was living in the gutter and would go to hell for shunning Islam.” Then—and in keeping with the aforementioned charge that many acid attacks “involve a high degree of premeditation”—the man “left and returned half an hour later, clutching a bottle of battery acid which he savagely chucked over her head”: As she ran screaming for the door a second man grabbed her by the hair and forced more of the liquid down her throat, searing her esophagus. Teeth fell from her mouth as she desperately called for help, stumbling down the street. A woman heard her cries and took her to her home, pouring water over her head and taking her to hospital. At first the doctors refused to treat her, because she was a Christian. ‘They all turned against me… Even the people who took me to the hospital. They told the doctor they were going to set the hospital on fire if they treated me.’ … 67 per cent of her esophagus was burned and she was missing an eye and both eyelids. What remained of her teeth could be seen through a gaping hole where her cheek had been. The doctors predicted she would die any day. Despite the odds she pulled through.
While this article has focused on acid attacks on Christian women who resist Muslim advances, it should be noted that generic, though often more fatal, attacks for the same reason are even more commonplace.
In 2021, for example, the bloated bodies of two Christian sisters were found in a sewer. Two months earlier, the sisters, Sajida (28) and Abida (26), who were both married and had children, were reported as missing. According to their husbands, the two Muslim men for whom they worked had regularly pressured the sisters to convert to Islam and marry them. Even though the young women “made it clear that they were Christian and married, the men threatened them and kept harassing the sisters.”
After their decomposed bodies were discovered, their Muslim supervisors “confessed that they had abducted the sisters,” said Sadija’s husband: “and after keeping them hostage for a few days for satisfying their lust, had slit their throats and thrown their bodies into the drain.” The widower described the families’ ordeal:
When police informed us that they had identified the two bodies as those of our loved ones, it seemed that our entire world had come crumbling down…. I still cannot fathom the site [sic] of seeing my wife’s decomposed body.
Around the same time the two sisters went missing, two other Muslim men murdered another young Christian woman: Five months earlier, one of the murderers, Muhammad Shehzad, had started to harass Sonia Bibi, 24, to renounce her faith and marry him. She refused. Accordingly, Muhammad and an accomplice drove by her while she was walking to work and shot her dead. In the words of Sonia’s grieving father,
A few days before the incident, Sonia was again harassed by Shehzad. Since she was a committed Christian she did not betray Jesus and sacrificed her life for her faith.
Last reported, her father, who had at least hoped for justice, said: “We are being harassed and pressurized to withdraw the case against culprits.”
In yet another example, in June, 2021, a young Christian woman was beat and raped in her home, also for refusing to convert to Islam and marry her rapist. Neelam Masih said she was home alone when Faisal Basra “entered my home at gunpoint.”
[He] dragged me to my bedroom and began to punch and kick me. He threw me on the bed and started to rape me. He demanded I marry him and convert to Islam. I refused. I am not willing to deny Jesus and he said that if I would not agree he would kill me. He hit me on the face with his pistol and I shouted and screamed and tried to escape but he kept pulling me back, dragging me by my hair.
Eventually Neelam’s Christian neighbor heard her cries and came rushing to the house, prompting the rapist to flee.
Perhaps the following incident best captures how some Muslim men see Christian women in Pakistan. In January 2016, a group of Muslims in a car stalked and sexually harassed three Christian girls walking home from work. When the girls tried to run away, the Muslims chased them down in their car and ran them over, killing one of the girls, aged 17. After the Christian girls had refused their advances, and right before the chase began, the surviving girls had heard one of the Muslims mockingly say, “Christian girls are only meant for one thing, the [sexual] pleasure of Muslim men.”
And if they dare resist, they get splashed with acid if not outright murdered.
Incidentally, none of the above stories were reported on any mainstream media, with the exception of the American refugee, Julie Aftab—and even then, no mention was made that such attacks on Christian women, acid or otherwise, follow a pattern in Pakistan.
Perhaps this is something for all those “woke” elements that obsess over the “patriarchy” in America to think about.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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Convert, Marry Me, or Die by Acid: Christian Women in Muslim Pakistan :: Gatestone Institute