Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 27-28/2023
The Fate Of Those Who Lack Faith and Worship Earthly Perishable Riches/Elias Bejjani/September 27/2022
Lebanese army says it exchanged smoke-bomb fire with Israel
Saudi FM meets French Envoy for talks on Lebanon, regional affairs
Bukhari heads to Riyadh to 'meet Aloula and Le Drian'
Lebanon's tourism sector: Booming revenues and job opportunities
TotalEnergies' exploration impact: A brighter future for Lebanon?
Bassil from Dar Al-Fatwa: If we cannot reach an understanding, let's head to Parliament to elect a president & let whoever win
Unveiling the treasures: 6 must-see destinations in the Middle East on World Tourism Day 2023
2023's Lebanese tourism odyssey: Challenges and triumphs keeping the 'party alive'
Amin Maalouf's bid for the French Academy: A historic opportunity
Breaking boundaries: Lebanon's Professor Sami Richa's 'historic' election to the French National Academy of Medicine
UNWTO Secretary-General encourages private sector to support education
On the Resistance and Jargon of Lebanese Militants’ Rhetoric/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/27 September 2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 27-28/2023
UN chief cites 'madness' of nuclear arms race, as N.Korea warns of war
Azerbaijan: 192 soldiers killed, over 500 hurt in Karabakh offensive
Azerbaijan arrests the former head of separatist government after recapturing Nagorno-Karabakh
Ayatollah Khamenei 'approves' direct US-Iran nuclear talks
Celebration of Saudi National Day in Tehran
US imposes sanctions on Iranian drone procurement network
Iran says it has successfully launched an imaging satellite into orbit amid tensions with the West
6 Palestinian citizens of Israel are killed in crime-related shootings in the country's north
Arab family of five shot dead as crime rates in Israel soar
Ukraine asks UN court to hear genocide case despite Russian objection
Scattered Wagner fighters returning to Ukraine battlefield have had ‘no significant impact’
Ukraine says it moved a missile factory out of the country so that Russia can't blow it up
Turkey senior diplomat 'disappointed' by Canada's ongoing arms-export embargo
UN peace envoy, Egypt working to restore calm along Gaza fence
Judge says Trump committed fraud by inflating value of assets

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 27-28/2023
Equal Injustice: Menendez Indictment Does Not Prove Equal Justice/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute./September 27, 2023
Arab renewal is increasingly becoming a key factor on the global stage/Raghida Dergham/The National/September 27/2023
Where Is the Equality? Where Is the Religious Freedom? Where Is the Law?’ Egypt’s Christians Wonder/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/September 27/2023
“Sidi”/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/27 September 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 27-28/2023
The Fate Of Those Who Lack Faith and Worship Earthly Perishable Riches
Elias Bejjani/September 27/2022
Many people do not recognize consciously who they really are, and willingly with a vicious mind hide behind fake faces, or let us say they put on deceiving masks.
Why do they so? It is definitely because they hate themselves, and are mostly burdened with devastating sickening inferiority complexes.
These chameleon like-people do not trust or respect themselves, have no sense of gratitude whatsoever, lack faith in God and worship Perishable Earthly Riches
In general we know that the majority of these faithless were initially poor, but suddenly became rich.
Instead of investing their - God graces riches in helping others and making them happy, especially their own family members.
They alienate themselves from every thing that is related to human feelings, forget what is true love, and deny that Almighty God is love.
They still fall into temptation, live in castles of hatred, ruminate on grudges and contemplate revenge.
Not only that, but they venomously and destructively envy everyone who is happy, respected and decent. They go astray and misuse their riches and influence to inflict pain and misery on others.
These faithless people become mere sadists who satanically enjoy pain, misery and the suffering of others, especially inflicting them on their own family members who refuse to succumb to their twisted mindset and become evil like them
No matter where we are, when we look around, it is very easy to identify many people who possess this evil nature.
The Question is, how will they end?
Definitely, they will end up paying for all their destructive and vicious acts, if not on this earth, then definitely on God's Day Of Judgment.
May Almighty God safeguard us from such evil people.

Lebanese army says it exchanged smoke-bomb fire with Israel
BEIRUT (Reuters)/Wed, September 27, 2023
Lebanon's army said on Wednesday it had exchanged smoke bombs with Israeli troops at the border, the second such incident in a week. The Lebanese army, in an online statement, said Israeli troops had fired smoke bombs at a Lebanese patrol that was accompanying workers removing "infringements" that the army said had been set up by the Israelis north of the Blue Line. Tensions have flared along the frontier this summer, with rockets fired at Israel during flare-ups of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and members of the heavily armed Lebanese group Hezbollah or its supporters facing off with Israeli forces.
Neither the Israeli military nor the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment. The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line, a frontier mapped by the United Nations that marks the line to which Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000. Lebanese army troops "responded by firing smoke bombs toward enemy troops," the statement said. It was the second such incident in a week after the troops exchanged tear gas and smoke bombs over a similar dispute at the Blue Line.

Saudi FM meets French Envoy for talks on Lebanon, regional affairs
LBCI/September 27, 2023
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received the special envoy of the French President to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian. During the meeting, they discussed the bilateral relations between the Kingdom and France and ways to enhance joint coordination in various fields. Additionally, according to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they tackled the latest developments in the Lebanese file and the regional and international developments and efforts related to it. The advisor to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Nizar Al-Aloula, and the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, attended the meeting.

Bukhari heads to Riyadh to 'meet Aloula and Le Drian'
Naharnet/September 27, 2023
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Wednesday traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. Lebanese newspapers said that Bukhari will join a Riyadh meeting between Saudi minister Nizar al-Aloula and French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian. Lebanon’s al-Markazia news agency said Bukhari left Beirut “in a hurry” after he was “summoned” to the kingdom, canceling all his appointments.

Lebanon's tourism sector: Booming revenues and job opportunities
LBCI/September 27, 2023
As expected by the World Tourism Organization, tourism will double over the next ten years. This means a significant economic boost for countries with essential resources, including "our beloved Lebanon."To complete the beautiful picture, look at the positive numbers achieved by tourism in Lebanon:
Around 3.45 million visitors have come to Lebanon this year, up by more than 30 percent from last year; 38 percent of visitors are foreign tourists, especially from Europe and America and from neighboring Arab countries such as Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq, while 62 percent are Lebanese expatriates, who, at every opportunity, choose to spend their vacation with their family and friends. With this increase in the number of tourists and expatriates, the tourism sector is likely to achieve revenues of about 7 billion dollars by the end of this year, according to experts, after bringing in revenues of 5.3 billion dollars in 2022. This is a number that is considered very important compared to the size of this small country's economy (about 20 billion dollars) As a result, there is a complete economic cycle moving from the smallest bakery in the village to the largest nightclub in Beirut. Let's not forget the taxi drivers, hairdressers, businesses, and many others, and of course, the US dollars that entered the market, which helped stabilize the exchange rate and create monetary stability. Tourism and Travel is a "dynamo" of job opportunities in the sector, reaching 370,000 jobs by the end of the year, the highest number among Arab countries, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. All these indicators are evidence that Lebanon can double its numbers and have a larger share of global tourism, especially with the Lebanese diaspora, the ambassador of Lebanon, and its tourism.
Today, Lebanon has the opportunity to cooperate with countries that preceded it in planning, such as Saudi Arabia, which announced its initiative to revive tourism in the region and finance Arab tourism projects so that they become competitive with countries of the world.

TotalEnergies' exploration impact: A brighter future for Lebanon?
LBCI/September 27, 2023
At the end of October, TotalEnergies is expected to announce whether there is a gas and petroleum reservoir in the well being drilled in Block No. 9. In December, TotalEnergies is expected to tell whether the discovered quantities are commercially viable.
Thus, if the discovered quantities are commercial, Lebanon's immediate benefits will be as follows:
First, this discovery will encourage international companies to participate in the second licensing round for the remaining blocks because they will be assured of the extension of the geological layer containing these resources to other blocks. This will compel the Lebanese authorities to ensure political and economic stability to secure these investments.
Second, this discovery will lead to an upgrade of Lebanon's credit rating, with all the economic and financial implications that come with it, and initiate the process of restoring international financial engagement with the market, banks, and international financial institutions. Third, this discovery will increase the state's assets, which will be highly valued. This will allow the country to engage with global markets and financial institutions, with guarantees that enable it to negotiate with these markets and institutions more effectively. It will also lead to higher financial revenues for the country. Fourth, the announcement of a commercial discovery will increase job opportunities and introduce new jobs into the market, especially as companies will be established to keep pace with the development and operation of Lebanon's gas and oil sector.

Bassil from Dar Al-Fatwa: If we cannot reach an understanding, let's head to Parliament to elect a president & let whoever win
NNA/September 27, 2023
Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Derian, received at Dar Al Fatwa on Tuesday the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation. On emerging, MP Bassil said: “Today we were honored to visit His Eminence the Mufti of the Republic, first to congratulate him, and secondly to express our well-wishes...It was an occasion to discuss the situation in the country, and to emphasize many matters that are fully agreed upon..."He added: “We reaffirm that this country is a country of partnership, and in order to change said partnership under any circumstance, all the Lebanese must be in consensus, taking into account the balanced partnership...We are now at the stage of the presidential entitlement, alongside other entitlements, and every attempt to exclude one of the Lebanese parties is a violation of the constitution, the charter, and the spirit of coexistence."Bassil regretted the missed opportunity and the wasted time currently happening in the country in regard to the presidential vacuum. “The issue of the presidency of the republic has no solution except through understanding and balanced partnership, as we previously mentioned, and understanding naturally requires dialogue, which we have always advocated...But in order for dialogue to be useful and reach an outcome, we emphasized to His Eminence that dialogue has its conditions, and in order to achieve its success, it must, for instance, be held around a round table and allow for bilateral and tripartite consultations, which lead to the election of a president according to broad lines, agreed upon by the Lebanese, whether in terms of personality or specifications and the program that he pledges to implement," underlined Bassil. He went on to stress that "His Eminence the Mufti affirmed, and so did we, our adherence to the constitution which emerged from the Taif Agreement, because the spirit of partnership and its concept are embodied in its content and meaning, and whoever seeks to tamper with the Taif actually violates the constitution..."Bassil considered that in order to preserve the Taif Accord, it must be properly implemented, in terms of having a senate, a civil state, the abolition of sectarianism, and far-reaching decentralization. “We also discussed the issue of the trust fund that achieves national development and prosperity for this country," the FPM Chief went on, noting that they will remain in continuous consultation with the Mufti of the Republic, praising his national stances that unite all the Lebanese. Bassil hoped that the Lebanese could all join hands together to pass the presidential entitlement, either through unanimous understanding or with the approval of the majority. "If we cannot reach an agreement, let us go and vote for a president at the Parliament Council, and let whoever win..." he underscored.

Unveiling the treasures: 6 must-see destinations in the Middle East on World Tourism Day 2023
LBCI/September 27, 2023
Tourism in the Middle East is a diverse and growing industry that attracts millions of visitors worldwide. This region, often associated with ancient history, rich heritage, and genuine beauty, offers various travel experiences, including historical and cultural tourism, natural beauty and adventure, culinary and religious and pilgrimage tourism. Tourism in the region continues to evolve, with countries investing in infrastructure, marketing, and cultural preservation to enhance the visitor experience. On World Tourism Day 2023, here are six notable places to visit in the Middle East: Petra, Jordan: Often referred to as the "Rose City," Petra is an ancient archaeological site renowned for its stunning rock-cut architecture. In 1985, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The most iconic structure is The Treasury or Al Khazna. It is nearly 40 meters high and intricately decorated with Corinthian capitals, friezes, and figures. Although its authentic function is still a mystery, The Treasury was reportedly constructed in the 1st century BC. However, the urn represented a memorial for royalty.  Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai is a modern marvel known for its futuristic skyscrapers, luxury shopping, and vibrant nightlife. Once a fishing village, Dubai shares the limelight among the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Among the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the second largest emirate. Home to hundreds of nationalities, it offers visitors an unforgettable experience, whether by the banks of the Creek, at the top of the Burj Khalifa, or along the unparalleled coastline.

2023's Lebanese tourism odyssey: Challenges and triumphs keeping the 'party alive'
LBCI/September 27, 2023
Nestled along the Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is known for being a gem for all-year-long tourism, as it is home to beautiful sandy beaches in the summer and snowy peaks in winter. Despite the many crises that have been engulfing the country for years now, Lebanon and its citizens never failed to be a generous host for tourists from all over the world, presenting a rich array of heritage and culture to everyone visiting. In 2023, Lebanon witnessed a revival in its post-pandemic tourism, with the Lebanese expatriates on the "front lines," coming to visit their families and help boost their country's economy. In fact, recent data compiled by the Ministry of Tourism and the Lebanese General Security shed light on the significant contribution of Lebanese expatriates to the tourism sector in Lebanon. According to these figures for 2022, Lebanese expatriates accounted for 63 percent of the total visitor arrivals, while in the first quarter of 2023, their share increased to 68 percent. The capital, Beirut, and various Lebanese villages saw numerous music festivals and long-awaited concerts this summer, including the concert by Egyptian pop star Amr Diab, whose show was attended by thousands of fans, reflecting how the Lebanese could keep their sense of living despite it all.

Amin Maalouf's bid for the French Academy: A historic opportunity
LBCI/September 27, 2023
In the Middle Ages, literature transitioned from Latin to Old French, and oral literature became written. Later, as the Old French language rapidly evolved during the Renaissance era, efforts were made to develop the language further. This included making the first linguistic dictionaries and the establishment of the French Academy by King Louis XIII in 1635. The academy aimed to regulate the language through rule references and synonyms to make it eloquent and beautiful. After 388 years of steadfast existence, the French Academy was led by only 32 permanent secretaries whose task was to manage it. The elected individual remains in the position until resignation or death. However, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, the 32nd permanent secretary of the French Academy, passed away on August 5, 2023, after holding the position since 1999. From the outset, the name of the Lebanese-French literary figure Amin Maalouf, one of the 40 elected members of the academy since 2011, was widely circulated for the position of permanent secretary in the absence of any other candidates. Furthermore, Maalouf stands out with a mosaic of identities, with a grandmother of Turkish origins and a Maronite Lebanese grandfather who emigrated from Egypt, and he holds both Lebanese and French nationalities. However, just hours before the nomination deadline on September 25, writer and doctor Jean-Christophe Rufin submitted his candidacy for the position, challenging his friend Amin Maalouf of over 30 years, a move that surprised many. Amin Maalouf is 74 years old. He studied sociology and economics and migrated to France during the civil war. At the same time, Jean-Christophe Rufin is 71 years old and is a French writer and doctor who has held diplomatic positions. Some of Amin Maalouf's award-winning works include:
- "The Rock of Tanios": Goncourt Prize in 1993.
- "Deadly Identities": European Essay Prize in 1998.
- Prince of Asturias Award for Literature for his entire literary works in 2010.
However, some of Jean-Christophe Rufin's award-winning works include:
- "Red Brazil": Goncourt Prize in 1997.
- "The Abyssinian": Mediterranean Sea Prize in 1997.
- "Lost Causes": Erwan-Bergot Prize and Interallié Prize in 1999.
The French Academy will witness a 'duel' between two friends who share a love for literature and writing on Thursday.
So, will the academy members elect Amin Maalouf to the position of permanent secretary, making history by choosing a writer of Lebanese descent for the first time?

Breaking boundaries: Lebanon's Professor Sami Richa's 'historic' election to the French National Academy of Medicine
NNA/September 27, 2023
Professor Sami Richa, the head of the Psychiatric department of Hotel-Dieu de France in Beirut, has become the first Lebanese psychiatrist to be elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in France since its establishment nearly 200 years ago.
Richa was unanimously elected as a corresponding member of the Academy within the "Medicine and Society" department of the National Academy of Medicine. Founded in 1820, it is France's foremost body of physicians. The Academy works to gather medical expertise and enhance France's global reputation in healthcare. The French government often requests reports and positions on medical topics from it, making the opinions it provides a reference point. Richa, 54 years old, founded the Department of Psychiatry at Hotel-Dieu de France hospital in Beirut and led it for 12 years. He is also a member of the Lebanese National Advisory Committee for the Ethics of Health and Life Sciences. Richa founded the "Association Francophone pour Les Maladies Mentaux" (AFMM) and has about 150 scientific articles published in leading specialized journals. His next book, "12 cas cliniques en éthique psychiatrique" ("12 Clinical Cases in Psychiatric Ethics"), will be published in France and Lebanon in October. --- LBC ENGLISH NEWS

UNWTO Secretary-General encourages private sector to support education
LBCI/September 27, 2023
The Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, clarified that the idea is to support member states in the field of education, considering that the best possible way to gain money is by investing in education.

On the Resistance and Jargon of Lebanese Militants’ Rhetoric
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/27 September 2023
When a senior Lebanese Hezbollah official talks about the criteria that make a president of the republic acceptable to the party, he mentions phrases and terms like: "American pressure does not scare him," "Israel fears him," "he defies...", "he stands strong... ", "he confronts..."
The fact is that this language brings to mind a good boxer or a wrestler more than it does a good politician. Very rarely do Hezbollah officials say anything about the positions of the president they want on the country's economy or education system, his views on social issues, or how he sees the world, nor do they mention anything about his integrity or even his readiness to abide by the constitution. These are the matters on which a politician is questioned and held accountable.
This cannot be attributed to the fact that Hezbollah is a "resistance" force and can thus only see the world from this perspective. To refute this idea, it suffices to give the example of the French Resistance. It included some of France's most prominent intellectuals, both the Gaullists and Communists, and fostered intellectual and creative contributions that came to be seen as pioneering works of the 20th Century, not only in France but across the globe.
Thus, being a "resistance" force does not excuse those behind it. In principle, this does not explain why it sees nothing but violence in the world around it, especially since this view does not only apply to its criteria for endorsing a president.
The fact of the matter is that everything the resistance sets its sights on or puts its hand on is violence or violent. And if living on the brink of death and in constant danger engenders contemplation about life and its conditions, then we will have found no contemplation whatsoever.
If giving one’s life for a cause is a source of tension that raises questions about relationships to love, the body, and desires, then this is all nothing more than an unfulfilled aspiration in our case. Thus, we find ourselves, over 40 years after the founding of the resistance, without a single novel set within its context, nor a single creative work, neither literary, artistic, or any other.
However, if watching Hezbollah’s broadcaster, Al-Manar TV, gives us all the evidence we need of this glaring lack, then the output of the media apparatuses that support the resistance share Al-Manar's narrow, belligerent view of the world.
Nonetheless, this tendency peaks in discussions of the "enemy," both American and Israeli, and in the epithets used to describe it. The enemy is often "panicked," "its teeth chatter" and "it trembles" in fear, and "its vulnerabilities are exposed;" meanwhile, those confronting him "are martyred", but they "humiliate" him, "teach him a lesson," "warn him of dire consequences," "threaten him, forcing him to retreat," and they "thwart his aggression" and "rattle him with their strikes" as well...
Militaristic rhetoric, with its singular focus on war and its wealth of psychological and clinical introspection, as well as epic paintings, does not only lack works of literature and art. It did not produce a single military theorist either: as far as we know, we do not have a Sun Tzu, the Chinese general who lived around 2,500 years ago. Nor do we have a figure like the Prussian General Von Clausewitz or the Vietnamese general Nguyen Giap...
What this "vocational" deficiency suggests is that those lacking, like a wrestler, assume that strength is an organic trait that some are granted a priori, and that it is thus self-sufficient and does not need to be thought about or honed.
On the other hand, what we only have is a mix of what we call "man talk," that is, the lingo associated with "tough guys,’’ and the leftovers of the rhetoric of security and military regimes in the Arab Levant. Like the village tough guy, the resistance fighter says that he could do this and that to his opponent, because this opponent is "more frail than a spiderweb," as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah once famously put it. We know that, in a past era, village "tough guys" had rituals and symbols that signaled their raw strength (such as lifting troughs) or their commitment to their word (twirling their mustaches with their fingers after they pledged to do something).
As for the rhetoric of the regimes, especially the Baathists, it presents their countries as functions rather than homelands. These countries live in a perpetual state of steadfastness, resistance, and confrontation, constantly foiling plots and thwarting agendas. However, very rarely do they say anything consequential about their economy, education, or the health of their children, and when talk of these matters does come out of their mouths, they are inevitably lying.
Moreover, "man talk" is not equipped to address any public opinion whose support is sought. On the contrary, it alienates the public. Indeed, using force when it is necessitated by occupation or injustice is different from using it because we are strong and mighty and seek to exert power. In the same sense, while strength draws the understanding and sympathy of others when it is a necessity, it is a source of fear and cause for mistrust when it is presented as an inherent predisposition.
Here, we find a crucial distinction between politics that is served by force, and force that it is intended for politics to serve, which leaves us with a universal generalized sense of fear and being afraid until God decides otherwise.
 

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 27-28/2023
UN chief cites 'madness' of nuclear arms race, as N.Korea warns of war
Agence France Presse/September 27, 2023
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned against a new atomic arms race bringing the threat of "annihilation" to the world, as North Korea charged that its peninsula was on the brink of nuclear war. With nuclear-armed nations expanding and modernizing their arsenals, the U.N. chief called for a revitalized push to reduce and eventually eliminate those weapons. "A worrisome new arms race is brewing. The number of nuclear weapons could rise for the first time in decades," Guterres told the General Assembly on the final day of its yearly session. "Any use of a nuclear weapon -- anytime, anywhere and in any context -- would unleash a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions," he said. "Nuclear sabers are again being rattled. This is madness. We must reverse course," he said. Russia and the United States have by far the largest arsenals, but China's has been growing quickly. North Korea has also defied the world with its nuclear program and repeated missile tests. In its own speech, one of the last of the week-long marathon of September's U.N. General Assembly, North Korea accused arch-rival the United States of driving the peninsula "closer to the brink of nuclear war."Kim Song, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, denounced South Korea's actions under President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who has worked to build tighter cooperation with the United States as well as historic rival Japan. "Due to its sycophantic and humiliating policy of depending on outside forces," Kim said, "the Korean peninsula is in a hair-trigger situation with imminent danger of nuclear war."He pointed to the recent formation of the Nuclear Consultative Group, through which the United States hopes to integrate its nuclear capacity better with South Korea's conventional forces, with the two allies increasing information sharing and contingency planning. Kim alleged that the group was "committed to the planning, operation and execution of preemptive nuclear strike against the DPRK," the official name of the North, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Rising nuclear investment
An envoy from South Korea, formally known as the Republic of Korea, took the floor to object to the remarks by North Korea, which routinely lashes out at the United Nations. “Do you really believe, as the DPRK pretends, the Republic of Korea together with the United States conspires to provoke a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula without reasons that will cause catastrophic casualties: he asked. Hours earlier South Korea staged its first military parade in a decade, with some 4,000 troops marching through a rainy Seoul. "If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the ROK-US alliance," Yoon warned at an air base north of Seoul as he hailed the expansion of US ties. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in June that the world's nuclear powers, and China in particular, increased investment in their arsenals for a third consecutive year in 2022. While the total number of nuclear warheads held by Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States had fallen by about 1.6 percent to 12,512 warheads over the previous year, SIPRI said the declining trend was on the cusp of a reversal. Excluding warheads slated for dismantling, the number of usable nuclear weapons had actually increased, according to SIPRI. The bulk of the increase was in China, which increased its stockpile from 350 to 410 warheads. Guterres warned that nuclear powers are making their arsenals faster, more accurate and more difficult to detect and called for the strengthening of treaties. "The world has spent too long under the shadow of nuclear weapons. Let's step back from the edge of disaster," Guterres said.

Azerbaijan: 192 soldiers killed, over 500 hurt in Karabakh offensive
Agence France Presse/September 27, 2023
Azerbaijan said on Wednesday that 192 of its soldiers and one civilian died in its lightning offensive last week against ethnic Armenian separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
The Azerbaijani health ministry said that more than 500 Azerbaijanis soldiers were also wounded in the one-day operation that ended with a rebel pledge to disarm.

Azerbaijan arrests the former head of separatist government after recapturing Nagorno-Karabakh
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)/September 27, 2023
Azerbaijan said it arrested the former head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist government as he tried to cross into Armenia on Wednesday, following Azerbaijan’s 24-hour blitz last week to reclaim control of the enclave. The arrest of Ruben Vardanyan was announced by Azerbaijan’s border guard service. It appears to reflect Azerbaijan’s intention to quickly and forcefully enforce its grip on the region after the military offensive that has prompted a rapid exodus of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians. Vardanyan, a billionaire businessman who made his fortune in Russia where he owned a major investment bank, moved to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and served as the head the regional government for several months before stepping down earlier this year. Azerbaijan's border guard service said Vardanyan was escorted to the country's capital of Baku and handed over to “the relevant state bodies” that will decide his fate. It posted a picture of Vardanyan held by two border guards next to a helicopter. Also Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s Health Ministry said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during the offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. One Azeri civilian also died in the hostilities, the ministry said. Nagorno-Karabakh officials said earlier that at least 200 people on their side, including 10 civilians, were killed and over 400 were wounded in the fighting. The 24-hour Azerbaijani blitz involving heavy artillery, rocket launchers and drones, forced the separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and sit down for talks on Nagorno-Karabakh’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and separatist officials have since held two rounds of talks, but no details have been made available and prospects of “reintegration” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population into the mostly Muslim country have remained unclear. Despite Azerbaijan’s promises to respect the rights of the region’s residents, they have rushed to flee the region en masse fearing reprisals. Over 47,000 people, or nearly 40% of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population of 120,000, have left the region for Armenia as of early afternoon Wednesday, according to the Armenian authorities. Hours-long traffic jams were reported on Tuesday on the road out of Nagorno-Karabakh as residents hurried to leave, fearing that Azerbaijan could shut the only road leading to Armenia. Monday’s explosion at a gas station near the region’s capital Stepanakert, where people were queuing to fuel up their cars before leaving for Armenia, killed at least 68 people, according to Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan. Another 290 were wounded, and a total of 105 were considered missing as of Tuesday evening, he said. The massive blast exacerbated already dire fuel shortages. Tatev Mirzoyan, a 27-year-old citizen of Nagorno-Karabakh’s regional capital of Stepanakert who arrived in the Armenian city of Goris with her family after a 28-hour drive, said they used fuel they had stashed for emergency purposes.
“We were seven in one little car,” she said. “That was a horrible journey as people are in panic and nervous.” Mirzoyan said she and her family are planning to stay with her sister who lives in Yerevan, adding that she doesn’t want to think about the future for now.
Some of her relatives are still searching for fuel to leave Nagorno-Karabakh, she added. “My cousin is still under siege in Martuni, she is waiting to be taken out to Stepanakert, and after that figure out what to do next.” Azerbaijan's swift onsslaught followed a nine-month blockade of the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Armenia charged that the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents, while Azerbaijan countered by alleging that the Armenian government was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the region’s separatist forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region within Azerbaijan during the Soviet times and it came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in a six-year separatist war that began in the waning years of the Soviet Union and ended in 1994. Azerbaijan regained substantial territory, including parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020 that ended with a Moscow-brokered truce and the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to monitor the region. Russia, which has been Armenia’s main sponsor and ally since the 1991 Soviet collapse, has also sought to maintain warm ties with Azerbaijan. But Moscow’s clout in the region quickly faded as Russia's war on Ukraine diverted Moscow's resources and made it increasingly dependent on Azerbaijan’s main ally, Turkey. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the arrest of Vardanyan, who renounced his Russian citizenship after moving to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ayatollah Khamenei 'approves' direct US-Iran nuclear talks
The New Arab/September 27/2023
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly given the green light to negotiators to enter face-to-face talks with the US on its nuclear programme. Such a scenario would mark a major change in Iran-US relations. Relations between the two countries were frozen following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 and US and Iranian officials have had little direct contact since.  The US and Iran have engaged in talks attempting to revive the 2015 nuclear accord, designed to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme and open its facilities to more extensive inspections in return for sanctions relief.
Sources in Iran, cited by the news website Amwaj, claimed that top negotiator Ali Bagheri could meet Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and Africa, in Oman in a matter of weeks. The New Arab could not independently verify the report and approached the Iranian embassy but did not receive any reply. However, if confirmed the direct talks would mark a groundbreaking stage in relations between the two countries which have no formal diplomatic ties. Amwaj claimed talks have already been held in Europe this year between American and Iranian "thinkers" and former negotiators from both sides, who concluded that a "de-escalation of tensions" would be on the agenda. Meanwhile, Bagheri said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he met with representatives of the UK, Germany, and France, known collectively as the E3 to discuss the revival of the nuclear deal last week. Along with the US and Russia, the E3 countries were signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal. "In follow-up of our previous meetings, I met with E3 political directors in New York. We discussed a range of issues of mutual interests, including negotiations on lifting sanctions on Iran," he said, likely referring to the recent UN General Assembly meeting. Sources said direct talks could also pave the way for a critical meeting between Tehran and members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany.
This would be key to reviving the landmark nuclear accord, abandoned by former US President Donald Trump in 2018. Trump enforced crippling economic sanctions on Tehran and efforts to strike a new deal have so far been elusive.
Direct talks would also mark a huge policy shift for Iran's conservative Supreme Leader Khamenei, who in 2019 bluntly refused the White House’s invitation to enter into direct negotiations. Indirect talks did take place in 2021 in the Austrian capital, Vienna with US and Iranian negotiators staying in different hotels to avoid direct communication but to little avail. Further negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha also yielded no results. There appears to be little appetite among Washington's political circles for a return to the talks, following a brutal crackdown on Iranian protesters in Tehran and elsewhere by security forces last year, after the killing of Mahsa Amini. Another hurdle is the Joe Biden administration's reported demand for modifications to the pact, which is officially known as The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Washington's Gulf allies and the US are also wary of the growing influence of Iran's growing influence in the region, although there has been a recent scaling down in conflicts involving Tehran proxies, including the war in Yemen. Many US Republicans are also opposed to any new deal with Iran, claiming sanctions relief allowed Tehran to build an arsenal of missiles and meddle in the region.

Celebration of Saudi National Day in Tehran
LBCI/September 27, 2023
Continuing the rapprochement in the relations between the two countries and the exchange of their ambassadors, the Saudi National Day was celebrated in Tehran amid the playing of both the Saudi and Iranian national anthems. At the Saudi embassy in Tehran, the atmosphere of the celebration prevailed, and a cake decorated with the flags of both Saudi Arabia and Iran was cut.

US imposes sanctions on Iranian drone procurement network
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/September 27, 2023
The United States on Wednesday placed sanctions on entities and people based in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran for aiding the Iranian attack drone program, which Washington accuses of supplying such weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury said it put sanctions on five entities and two people who were part of a network helping procure sensitive parts - including servomotors, which help control position and speed - for Iran's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. The network facilitated shipments and financial transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' procurement of such motors used in Iran's Shahed-136 drones, it said, adding that a motor procured by the network was found recently in the remains of a Russia-operated Shahed-136 drone shot down in Ukraine. "Iranian-made UAVs continue to be a key tool for Russia in its attacks in Ukraine, including those that terrorize Ukrainian citizens and attack its critical infrastructure," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. Iran says it has not provided Russia with drones for use in Ukraine.
The United States and its allies imposed extensive sanctions on Russia after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But supply channels from Black Sea neighbor Turkey and other trading hubs have remained open, prompting Washington to issue repeated warnings about the export of chemicals, microchips and other products that can be used in Moscow's war effort.Washington has also previously said there is "poor sanctions compliance" in the United Arab Emirates. The Treasury named the sanctions targets as Iran-based Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company (PESC), which it said had procured thousands of servomotors with one-way attack drone uses, and its chief executive Hamid Reza Janghorbani.
The Treasury targeted Hong Kong-based Hongkong Himark Electron Model Limited (Hongkong Himark), which it said had fulfilled servomotor orders for PESC in Iran, and China-based Hongkong Himark official Fan Yang. In addition, the Treasury targeted two Turkey-based firms with long names - Dal Enerji Madencilik Turizm Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi and Anka Port Ic Ve Dis Ticaret INSAAT Lojistik Sanayi Limited Sirketi - accusing them of facilitating transactions in support of PESC's servomotor procurement from Hongkong Himark. The Treasury also put sanctions on UAE-based Farhad Ghaedi Goods Wholesalers LLC, accusing it of facilitating the shipment of servomotors via Dubai for delivery to PESC in Iran. Among the sanctions' consequences, all property of the targets that fall under U.S. jurisdiction must be blocked and reported to the Treasury. (Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and by Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn.; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Susan Heavey and Timothy Gardner)

Iran says it has successfully launched an imaging satellite into orbit amid tensions with the West
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/Wed, September 27, 2023
Iran claimed on Wednesday that it successfully launched an imaging satellite into space, a move that could further ratchet up tensions with Western nations that fear its space technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Iran's Communication Minister Isa Zarepour said the Noor-3 satellite had been put in an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth's surface, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It was not clear when exactly the launch took place. There was no immediate acknowledgment from Western officials of the launch or of the satellite being put into orbit. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran has had a series of failed launches in recent years. Zarepour said the aerospace arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has had success in launching satellites in the past, had carried out the most recent launch. Authorities did not immediately release images of the launch. The Guard operates its own space program and military infrastructure parallel to Iran’s regular armed forces and answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It launched its first satellite into space in April 2020. But the head of the U.S. Space Command later dismissed it as a “tumbling webcam in space” that would not provide vital intelligence. Western sanctions bar Iran from importing advanced spying technology. The United States has alleged that Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and has called on Tehran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The U.S. intelligence community’s 2022 threat assessment claims the development of satellite launch vehicles “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran abandoned an organized military nuclear program in 2003. Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket. A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of then-President Donald Trump. Tensions are already high with Western nations over Iran's nuclear program, which has steadily advanced since Trump five years ago withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers and restored crippling sanctions on Iran. Efforts to revive the agreement reached an impasse more than a year ago. Since then, the IAEA has said Iran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so. Iran is also building a new underground nuclear facility that would likely be impervious to U.S. airstrikes. Iran has expressed willingness to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, but says the U.S. should first ease the sanctions.

6 Palestinian citizens of Israel are killed in crime-related shootings in the country's north
JERUSALEM (AP)/September 27, 2023
Five family members were killed in a mass shooting Wednesday in an Arab town in northern Israel, police and advocates said, the latest victims of a recent surge of gun violence within the country's Arab communities. Another Arab citizen of Israel was killed in a separate shooting earlier Wednesday. Israeli police said that three men and two women were shot and killed at a house in the northern Bedouin town of Basmat Tab’un. They said they were treating the incident as criminal and hunting down suspected assailants. Israeli medics said that a sixth man was shot and wounded in the rampage. The Abraham Initiatives, a Jewish-Arab advocacy and monitoring group in Israel, identified the victims as an Arab couple and their three children. The police declined to provide further details on the shooting or the victims due to the ongoing investigation, which they said involved several national units “diligently pursuing all leads using advanced technological resources.” Previous such shootings have involved disputes between organized crime families. Earlier on Wednesday, masked gunmen ambushed and killed another Palestinian citizen of Israel, who was on his way to work in the nearby coastal city of Haifa. Police said they were investigating whether the two shootings were connected. Authorities in al-Halisa, the Haifa neighborhood where Wednesday's first killing took place, shuttered all schools and asked that students study from home for at least another day. Israel’s Arab communities long have suffered from poverty, discrimination, crime and neglect by the government. The country's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, promised to crack down on crime in Israel’s Palestinian sector when he took office late last year. But the violence has intensified, with 188 people killed this year, according to the Abraham Initiatives — more than double the number of such homicides for similar periods in recent years. Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority makes up roughly a fifth of Israel’s population. Less than 10% of the cases have been solved this year, the group added, describing the surge in violence as a symptom of both police indifference and Arab distrust of the police. Some advocates directly blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government for doing too little to fight crimes against Arab citizens. “Police do not have the willingness or the capacity,” said Thabet Abu Rass, director of the Abraham Initiatives, calling on Netanyahu to fire Ben-Gvir over the rash of killings. “People are afraid to go outside. It’s a very dangerous situation right now.”Lawmakers also expressed deep concern over the violence and demanded government intervention. “The blood of those murdered today in the massacre are on the hands (of Ben-Gvir) and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” said Ahmad Tibi, a veteran Arab lawmaker, urging Netanyahu to convene a meeting on crime in Arab communities “as it did for Jewish communities years ago.” Wednesday's shootings are separate from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has seen more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel captured along with the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.

Arab family of five shot dead as crime rates in Israel soar
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/September 27, 2023
Five members of an Arab family were shot dead in their home in Israel, police said on Wednesday, in the latest in a wave of crime-related killings in Israel's Arab communities that has reached a new peak this year. The shooting of the five, including a woman and two teenagers, in the northern town of Basmat Tab'un followed a separate incident in which a 50-year-old man was killed earlier on Wednesday. More than 180 Arab citizens in Israel have been killed in crime-related violence since January - a seven-year high - in a spate of killings that have continued unchecked, drawing accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist government was ignoring the bloodshed. "Israel has the abilities, the Israeli government understands what needs to be done, everybody understands what needs to be done, there simply is no will and no leadership," said Mansour Abbas, leader of one of the parties that represent Israel's Arab minority. Arab mayors have accused the government and police of deliberately neglecting their communities and of enabling criminals to act with impunity. They have refused to work with the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions of support for terrorism and anti-Arab incitement, and have demanded that Netanyahu intervene instead. With Israel facing its worst political crisis in decades, over Netanyahu's drive to push through divisive changes to the judiciary, Arab citizens say the collapse of personal safety in their communities must receive more government attention. Ben-Gvir, who did not immediately comment on Wednesday's incident, has rejected accusations of inaction. He has said fighting crime is high on his agenda and that police have stepped up crime-busting activity, including the seizure of weapons and funds from criminal groups. "As police, we will do everything to get to the killers," police spokesman Eli Levi told reporters at the scene of Wednesday's crime. Arab citizens, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who remained in Israel during the mass exodus of refugees in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, make up about a fifth of the country's population. They have for decades faced high poverty rates, poorly funded schools and overcrowded towns lacking services and say they are treated as second-class citizens compared with Jewish Israelis.

Ukraine asks UN court to hear genocide case despite Russian objection
THE HAGUE (Reuters)/September 27, 2023
Ukraine on Wednesday urged judges at the United Nations' highest court to dismiss Russia's objections and hear in full Kyiv's claim that Moscow abused international law by saying the 2022 invasion was done to stop an alleged genocide. "Your jurisdiction to resolve the dispute is clear. Your judgment remains urgently needed," Ukraine's representative Oksana Zolotaryova said. She said Ukraine needed the court's protection because Russia was not respecting international law as laid out in the 1948 Genocide Convention. Last week Russia urged the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to throw out the case, saying Kyiv's legal arguments were flawed. Ukraine brought the case before the ICJ days after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 last year. Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to stop an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine says there was no risk of genocide in eastern Ukraine, where it had been fighting Russian-backed forces since 2014. "Here in The Hague Russia paints itself as a victim. In Ukraine, Russia has continued to show its true colours," Zolotaryova said, listing alleged Russian attacks on civil infrastructure and grain supplies. Russia has so far ignored a preliminary ruling by the ICJ in March last year which ordered Moscow to stop its military actions and the court has no way of enforcing its decisions. Experts say a full ruling in favour of Ukraine can pave the way for compensation payments. The court adjourned on Wednesday to deliberate and is expected to rule in several months if the case can be heard on the merits. Cases before the ICJ usually take several years before there is a final ruling.

Scattered Wagner fighters returning to Ukraine battlefield have had ‘no significant impact’
The Telegraph/September 27, 2023
Several hundred members of Russia’s Wagner private mercenary group have returned to eastern Ukraine to fight but are not having a significant impact on the battlefield, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Wednesday. Wagner fighters played an important role in Russia’s capture of the eastern city of Bakhmut in May 2023 after one of the longest and fiercest battles of Moscow’s 19-month war in Ukraine. They left Bakhmut after the battle and some went to Belarus under a deal that ended a brief mutiny by Wagner in June 2023, during which it took control of a Russian military headquarters and marched on Moscow. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed on Aug 23 when a private jet in which he was travelling crashed in unexplained circumstances, and since then the Kremlin has sought to bring the group under tighter state control. Russian military bloggers have reported that some Wagner fighters have been returning to Ukraine. “We have recorded the presence of a maximum of several hundred fighters of the former Wagner PMC [private military company],” Serhiy Cherevatyi said. He said that Wagner fighters were scattered in different places, were not part of a single unit, and had not made a significant impact. “They do not constitute any integral, systematic, organised force,” Mr Cherevatyi said. “As they say, game over. These are pathetic remnants, nothing good awaits them here.” Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, said Wagner no longer existed. “Today there are only former militants of the terrorist group who have scattered in all directions,” he wrote on Twitter. He said some had gone to Africa, some were dispersed through Russia and some had contracts with the Russian defence ministry and were fighting in the Bakhmut sector. Reports of their return were intended to drown out news of Ukraine’s recapture of two villages near Bakhmut, he said.

Ukraine says it moved a missile factory out of the country so that Russia can't blow it up
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/September 27, 2023
Ukraine moved a missile plant abroad to protect it from Russian attacks, a Ukraine official said. Oleksiy Danilov declined to give specifics, saying that Ukraine's missile program is "classified". Ukraine has made ramping up its own ammunition production a key priority going forward. Ukraine said it has shifted part of its domestic missile production facilities abroad after Russia struck a Ukrainian assembly plant, according to Spanish media. "What I can say is that, unfortunately, Russia hit the place where these missiles were being assembled," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, told Spanish newspaper ABC. "Now we have moved a certain part of production outside our country," Danilov said. Danilov didn't specify when and where the attack took place, or where the facility was moved to. He also declined to give specifics on Ukraine's missile program. "This is a classified program, and no one will tell you how it is going," he added. Earlier this month, Danilov told Ukrainian Radio that Ukraine has been developing its own missiles since 2020, some of which are capable of hitting targets as far as 930 miles into Russian-held territory. He insisted the weapons would be used only against Russian military facilities, not civilians. In an interview with Ukrainske Radio last month, Danilov also said that a Ukrainian-made missile had destroyed a Russian S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile system in occupied Crimea on August 23. Ukraine's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, told The Economist last week that his country is working hard to rebuild its arms industry. "Anything that can be produced locally must be produced locally," he said. Umerov said he planned to ratchet up local production by overhauling state firms and rewarding private arms makers, who account for 20% to 30% of local production. Ukraine is intensifying its domestic production partly out of fear Western deliveries could fall behind its military needs, Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank European Resilience Initiative Center, told Insider. Sumlenny said Ukraine's allies have not increased ammunition production and delivery to the level required by a war of this intensity, assuming it will last another 12 months. "In such a situation, it is logical to have more sites of ammunition production," he said.

Turkey senior diplomat 'disappointed' by Canada's ongoing arms-export embargo
The Canadian Press/September 27, 2023
OTTAWA — Turkey's deputy minister of foreign affairs says Ankara still wants Canada to drop its arms embargo. Ahmet Yildiz said in a keynote address Tuesday, during a forum organized by the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy think tank, that Canada's restrictions on exporting drones and other material to Turkey amount to sanctioning a military ally. Yildiz said he's "disappointed" by the restrictions, arguing they curtail Turkey's efforts to secure the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, as well as to defend the interests of the NATO military alliance. Canada halted new export permits to Turkey in October 2019 after its military incursion into Syria, and renewed the embargo in 2020 citing evidence Canadian drones sent to Turkey ended up being used by Azerbaijan. At the NATO summit in July, media reports quoting unnamed Turkish officials claimed Canada reopened talks on the arms embargo. The Canadian Press has not independently verified the reports, but Canada's former military envoy to Turkey has said Ottawa might lift its arms embargo if Ankara supports Sweden's bid to join NATO, and if it agrees to restrictions on where Canadian drones can be used.

UN peace envoy, Egypt working to restore calm along Gaza fence
Nidal al-Mughrabi/GAZA (Reuters) /September 27, 2023
- International mediators have stepped up efforts to prevent a new round of armed confrontation between Israel and the Islamist Hamas group, which runs Gaza, amid an escalation in violent protests along the border fence. "The United Nations is talking to and working with all concerned to improve the lives of people in Gaza, particularly the most vulnerable," U.N. Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland said on social media platform X on Wednesday, a day after he met Hamas officials in Gaza. "The situation inside the Strip is dire and we must avoid another conflict that will have grave consequences for all. The people of Gaza have suffered enough and deserve more than a return to calm."A regional diplomat said Egypt, which brokered numerous truces between Israel and Gaza militants in the past, had also stepped up its efforts to prevent a slide into another war. Palestinians in Gaza have held protests along the fence for nearly two weeks, breaking from a period of relative calm. Gazans say they are protesting over issues including the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and Jewish visits to the Al Aqsa mosque compound, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews, who know it as the Temple Mount. Youths have thrown stones and improvised explosive devices at Israeli troops, who have responded with live fire, killing one Palestinian and wounding dozens of others. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari told Israel's Kan Radio the protests would fail to win concessions from Israel. "The priority is to mount a strong defence and prevent the incidents going beyond the fence. Whoever turns the incident into one of terrorism - gets hit and is killed ... They won't get concessions through terrorism," said Hagari. Israel had shut crossings and stopped workers from coming into its territory since early last week. Israel said reopening "will be subject to ongoing evaluation on the evolving situation in the region".
ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS
A Hamas spokesman had no immediate comment. The group has defended the demonstrations, saying they aimed to protest at Israel's closure and "assaults" against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Several wars and a 16-year Israeli-led blockade, backed by Egypt, have devastated the economy of Gaza and sent the unemployment rate to around 46% percent, one of the highest in the world. The regional diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said mediators sought more Israeli economic improvements, further ease up on crossings it controlled with Gaza, and an increase in the number of work permits. In return, he said, Hamas would curb protests and end the use of improvised bombs and incendiary balloons. He said the protests were not isolated from a financial problem Hamas is facing, worsened by Qatar's slashing of funds. Qatar has cut a grant it used to offer to support the wages of 40,000 Hamas employees to $5 million from $7 million. In August, employees received 55% of the wages, not the usual 60%. The group has not paid wages in full for many years. "Hamas understands that it is not in the interest of anyone in Tel Aviv, Washington, or the region to have wars or engage in open battles with Gaza and therefore, it began to activate tough tools and demonstrations along the border east of Gaza as tools of field pressure on the politicians in Tel Aviv and Washington," said Gaza economist, Mohammad Abu Jayyab.

Judge says Trump committed fraud by inflating value of assets
Agence France Presse/September 27, 2023
Donald Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years, a New York judge ruled. The ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron is a setback for the former president ahead of a trial in the civil case due to begin on Monday and a partial victory for New York state Attorney General Letitia James. James has accused Trump, his two eldest sons and other Trump Organization executives of lying to tax collectors, lenders and insurers for years in a scheme that routinely exaggerated the value of their properties. Trump's lawyers had asked the judge to throw out the case ahead of the trial by granting what is known as a summary judgment in his favor. James had also asked for a summary judgment, however, seeking that Trump be found liable ahead of the trial and the judge sided with the attorney general.
In addition to finding that Trump and his sons committed fraud, the judge also revoked the business licenses that allowed the Trump Organization to operate some of its New York properties. James is seeking $250 million in penalties and the removal of Trump and his sons from management of the family empire, the Trump Organization. James claims that Trump and his associates submitted "grossly inflated" numbers to banks and insurers each year between 2011 and 2021 "to secure and maintain loans and insurance on more favorable terms." They allegedly fraudulently overvalued the net worth of Trump company assets by billions of dollars, resulting in "hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten savings and profits." James has alleged that the overvaluation of Trump's assets was between $1.9 billion and $3.6 billion per year.
'Fantasy world' -
In his ruling, Engoron accused Trump, who gave a sworn deposition in the case, and his attorneys of "reliance on bogus arguments." "In defendants' world: rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land," the judge said. "This is a fantasy world, not the real world." Among the properties falsely overvalued -- by between $114 million to $207 million -- was Trump's apartment in Manhattan's Trump Tower, whose square footage was given as 30,000 square feet when it is actually 10,996 square feet.
"A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," the judge said. Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denounced the case as a "witch hunt," calling James, who is a Democrat and Black, "racist." In January, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million by a New York judge in a criminal tax and financial fraud case. The 77-year-old twice-impeached Trump also faces federal criminal charges for the mishandling of classified documents and conspiracy charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election results. He also faces charges in New York for alleged hush money payments to a porn star and in Georgia for pressuring officials to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election victory in the southern state. Trump was also found liable in a civil trial in May for sexually abusing a onetime magazine columnist in 1996 and for defaming her in comments made last year.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 27-28/2023
Equal Injustice: Menendez Indictment Does Not Prove Equal Justice
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute./September 27, 2023
In both the Menendez and Trump cases, prosecutors are engaging in the questionable tactic of seeking to influence the jury before trial.
Both show and tells [Menendez's gold bars and Trump's documents] are wrong. Both are intended to prejudice potential jurors and witnesses and to try the case in the court of public opinion before it is subject to the adversarial process to the courts of law.
Two wrongs do not make a right -- nor do they cancel each other out. They simply compound the injustices and demonstrate that this Justice Department -- and several others that came before it -- are willing to violate the spirit if not the letter of the law, Justice Department regulations and legal ethics.
No one should rush to judgment before all the evidence is seen and heard. Nor should Menendez be compelled to resign his seat in the Senate based on allegations, photographs and the kind of one-sided testimony that is heard by grand jurors. The presumption of innocence means just that: at this point in time, Menendez should be deemed no more guilty than other officeholders who have been accused of wrongdoing.
One irony of the Justice Department's publication of prejudicial photographs clearly intended to influence the jury and potential witnesses is the fact that the same Justice Department is seeking to impose a gag order on Trump, in part because of the claim that he will try to influence jurors and witnesses against the government.
Both Trump and Menendez have the constitutional right – under the 1st and 6th Amendments – to defend themselves in the court of public opinion. The government, on the other hand, has no constitutional right to try to influence jurors or witnesses. Its only legitimate role is just to seek objective and fair justice. In that regard, the Justice Department is starting off on the wrong foot in both the Menendez and Trump cases.
Regarding the recent indictment of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), no one should rush to judgment before all the evidence is seen and heard. Nor should Menendez be compelled to resign his Senate seat based on allegations, photographs and the kind of one-sided testimony that is heard by grand jurors. Pictured: Menendez speaks during a press conference at Hudson County Community College in Union City, New Jersey on September 25, 2023. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Many Democrats are claiming that the recent indictment of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) proves that the current Justice Department provides equal justice to Democrats and Republicans. Although it is necessary to wait for the evidence to emerge before judgment is passed on this most recent indictment, what appears so far may be closer to equal injustice.
In both the Menendez and Trump cases, prosecutors are engaging in the questionable tactic of seeking to influence the jury before trial. The photographic display of gold bars and cash in the Menendez case is an image that will remain with everyone who saw it. The same is true of the contrived photographic display by the Justice Department of allegedly classified documents spread on the floor. This "show and tell "was produced by the Justice Department and published in virtually every media outlet in the country.
Both show and tells are wrong. Both are intended to prejudice potential jurors and witnesses and to try the case in the court of public opinion before it is subject to the adversarial process to the courts of law. Both come close to ethically impermissible lines. And both should be opposed by all Americans who care about impartial justice for all defendants.
Two wrongs do not make a right -- nor do they cancel each other out. They simply compound the injustices and demonstrate that this Justice Department -- and several others that came before it -- are willing to violate the spirit if not the letter of the law, Justice Department regulations and legal ethics.
It is unclear whether either of these photographs will be allowed into evidence at the upcoming trials. That would depend on whether it was staged – as the Trump one obviously was – or whether the Menendez display simply recorded what was found and not touched by investigators. If the photographs were to be ruled inadmissible by the trial judge, the prejudice to the defendants would be compounded.
I don't know whether Robert Menendez is guilty, innocent, or somewhere in between. The courts have thrown out several cases in which it was alleged that items of value were given to elected officials in exchange for favors — including a previous one against Menendez. I suspect this will be an easier case to prove in the media than in the courtroom.
Menendez has been a very good Senator, especially with regard to foreign relations regarding the continuing threat to global security from Iran. He is among the more moderate and centrist Democrats in the Senate and is well known for performing constituent services. Whether he stepped over the line here will be determined by a jury after both the government and the defendant present their evidence and each is subjected to the adversarial check of cross-examination and confrontation.
No one should rush to judgment before all the evidence is seen and heard. Nor should Menendez be compelled to resign his seat in the Senate based on allegations, photographs and the kind of one-sided testimony that is heard by grand jurors. The presumption of innocence means just that: at this point in time, Menendez should be deemed no more guilty than other officeholders who have been accused of wrongdoing.
Menendez is up for reelection soon, and already a candidate has announced a challenge. It is fair for voters to look at the totality of information before casting their ballots, but the indictment itself should not become the heavy thumb on the electoral scale, since it is only a one-sided accusation.
One irony of the Justice Department's publication of prejudicial photographs clearly intended to influence the jury and potential witnesses is the fact that the same Justice Department is seeking to impose a gag order on Trump, in part because of the claim that he will try to influence jurors and witnesses against the government.
Both Trump and Menendez have the constitutional right – under the 1st and 6th Amendments – to defend themselves in the court of public opinion. The government, on the other hand, has no constitutional right to try to influence jurors or witnesses. Its only legitimate role is just to seek objective and fair justice. In that regard, the Justice Department is starting off on the wrong foot in both the Menendez and Trump cases.
So stay tuned. This case may unfold quite differently from the illustrated indictment we have seen thus far.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Arab renewal is increasingly becoming a key factor on the global stage
Raghida Dergham/The National/September 27/2023
Amid the UN's gradual weakening, smaller groupings such as the GCC have strengthened
If one is to read between the lines at the 78th UN General Assembly, there seems to be a quiet acknowledgment of the decline of the organisation and its institutions. This, at a time when groupings outside of the UN – such as Nato and the GCC – have grown in importance on the international stage.
US President Joe Biden failed to fill the void left by the absence of the leaders of China, France and Russia, all of which are permanent members of the UN Security Council. Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressing the assembly in person for the first time since the full-scale conflict with Russia began, his speech was underwhelming, particularly given the inconclusive equations on the battlefield.
Notably, Arab leaders and officials turned their attention to issues such as climate change and emerging technologies. Instead of using the stage to voice their criticisms, as some leaders sometimes did in the past, most of them presented initiatives and proactive positions.
Of course, traditional issues directly concerning them inevitably found their way into meetings and conferences both inside and outside the UN.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, for example, called on the UN’s members states, and its institutions, to once again focus on the escalating flow of refugees into his country as well as Lebanon due to recent developments in Syria.
At the Middle East Global Summit, held on the sidelines of UNGA, King Abdullah addressed the issue of Syria’s displaced people from the perspective of the Jordan-Lebanon bilateral relationship. This is a useful approach for both countries, especially due to the international community’s tendency to focus on the consequences of the Syrian refugee influx on Europe.
King Abdullah’s candour was notable when he said that the Syrian regime had not met the demands of the so-called “step-by-step” approach to resolve the conflict as well as the continued smuggling of drugs and weapons across the border.
What this means for Syria’s gradual rehabilitation into the Arab fold is difficult to say. But amid the regime’s struggles to resolve its outstanding problems, it continues to receive support from Iran and Russia. China and Syria, meanwhile, announced a strategic partnership during Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s visit to Beijing over the weekend.
Iran and Russia have their own priorities in Syria. Talks during Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu’s trip to Tehran last week covered the conflicts in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, with a commonly held view to stabilise the situations in both regions.
Mr Shoigu’s visit highlighted Russia’s intention to strengthen relations with Iran as well as North Korea, both of which have hostile relations with the US. It’s worth recalling that Mr Shoigu played a key role in getting Moscow closer to Pyongyang, with his efforts culminating in a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
The minister aimed to convey to Tehran that Moscow is an ally, and that Washington cannot be trusted. Indeed, Russia seeks to block US attempts to draw Iran away from it through gradual dealmaking. This includes the recent prisoner exchange agreement in return for releasing $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
Tehran is not necessarily optimistic about the prospects of US-Iran reconciliation, but it continues to bet on efforts made by key Arab powers to help lift American-led sanctions on its economy.
The Biden administration appears to be investing in the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement process, as it seeks Arab mediation between Washington and Tehran. But there is, of course, a realisation that divisions within Iran’s political system are preventing a qualitative shift in the Iranian regime’s regional doctrine and behaviour. For its part, Riyadh is bolstering its co-operation with the Biden administration, not only within the framework of the important bilateral relations but also within geopolitical and geoeconomic dimensions.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor project has political implications, with the US pursuing improvement in Saudi-Israel relations. As is well known, the UAE established relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords. As Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE President, said in New York earlier in the week, the Emirates has been at the forefront of a qualitative shift in the Arab approach to relations with Israel.
Meanwhile, at the Middle East Global Summit, Dr Gargash said that the UAE is seeking to reach a “rigorous” defence agreement with the US. This statement comes amid US-Saudi discussions to prepare a “defence pact” and Washington signing a defence and technology agreement with Bahrain earlier this month. All this reflects a qualitative change in relations between the Gulf countries and the Biden administration, with the latter having recognised its past mistakes in dealing with the GCC member states.
The Gulf countries’ approach to relations with the US, China and Russia, as well as with key European, Asian and African countries, is based on self-confidence and the ability to shape unconventional directions and impose concessions that were not considered in the past.It’s not just Nato that is reinventing itself. The GCC countries, too, have imposed themselves in new ways on the international stage.

Where Is the Equality? Where Is the Religious Freedom? Where Is the Law?’ Egypt’s Christians Wonder
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/September 27/2023
On September 5, 2023, a Muslim mob rose against and attacked a Coptic Christian man’s property on the false assumption that he was building a church. The incident occurred in the village of al-Khiyari, in the Abu Qurqas center.
The Muslims apparently confused two developments. Because the village has no church, a Coptic priest had been traveling to and meeting with the Christians of al-Khiyari in a certain area near the home of Imad Wajih, the aforementioned Coptic man. In that same area, Christians had submitted a request for a permit to build a church, so they could hold proper worship services, as opposed to meeting with a traveling priest in random spots.
In the meantime, Imad began building a smaller private home on his property. Although it had nothing to do with the proposed church, local Muslims began inciting one another, including on social media, where they complained that “the Copts are building a church without a permit!”
Accordingly, they attacked Imad’s property and stole building materials, including concrete blocks and reinforced iron. A fire also broke out in the vicinity.
To be sure, this scenario has played out countless times in Egypt: whenever there is even a rumor that a Coptic church is being built or repaired—local Muslim mobs riot and attack Christians. Authorities frequently respond by appeasing the rioters and permanently sealing up the “offending” churches on the charge that they are “security risks.”
Another similar case occurred on December 24, 2022—Christmas Eve in the West. Then, Muslims savagely attacked a church and its Christians after, and because, authorities had given them permission to fix their church’s collapsed roof, which had fallen on and hurt several worshippers. On the following day, the Muslim governor responded to the violence by rescinding the church’s permit to fix its crumbling roof, telling them to “pray in the rain.”
So much hostility for churches can be traced back to Article 2 of Egypt’s Constitution: “Islam is the religion of the State … The principles of Islamic Sharia are the main source of legislation.” As it happens, Islamic Sharia is decidedly hostile to non-Muslim places of worship. Strictly interpreted, Sharia forbids the building or renovating of churches in Egypt. Although that law is not strictly enforced, its “spirit”—which breeds hostility for churches amongst Egypt’s rank and file—clearly lives on.
Consider the recollection of one Moheb, a member of one of many Coptic churches shut down in 2018:
A great deal of Muslim young men, aged 16-26, from our village and nearby gathered in front of our church building, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and chanting hostile slogans against Copts and the Church, such as ‘We don’t want a church in our Islamic village…. They tried to break the front door … but we locked [it] from the inside. We immediately called the police who arrived and dispersed the demonstrators but they didn’t arrest anyone. They then closed the church building, sealed it and placed security guards with it.
Responding to those closures, Gamil Ayed, a local Coptic lawyer, voiced typical Christian sentiment:
We haven’t heard that a mosque was closed down, or that prayer was stopped in it because it was unlicensed. Is that justice? Where is the equality? Where is the religious freedom? Where is the law? Where are the state institutions?
After the closure of his church, another Christian, Rafaat Fawzy, expressed the undue hardships such unnecessary discrimination causes:
There are about 4,000 Christians in our village and we have no place to worship now. The nearest church is … 15km [nine miles] away. It is difficult to go and pray in that church, especially for the old, the sick people and kids.
He too continued by asking the same questions on the minds of millions of Christians in Egypt:
Where are our rights? There are seven mosques in our village and Muslims can pray in any place freely, but we are prevented from practicing our religious rites in a simple place that we have been dreaming of. Is that justice? We are oppressed in our country and there are no rights for us.
Incidentally, these incidents took place two years after Egypt’s much touted “church law,” which passed in 2016 and was meant to ease restrictions on churches, but which, in fact, “discriminates against the Christian minority in Egypt,” to quote Human Rights Watch.
The many difficulties Egypt’s Christians encounter in the context of church worship is just one of several violations against their human rights. Whether their daughters are targeted for abduction and forced conversion, or whether they are arrested and imprisoned on the accusation that they “blasphemed” against Islam, or whether they must be demonized and hated thanks to the teachings of often government-connected mosques and universities, Christians simply do not share in the same human rights that Muslims do in Egypt.
Just ask those of al-Khiyari village. No doubt, they are bracing for a rejection of their church permit on the claim that, since local Muslims rioted, no church can exist in the village—lest it too become a “security hazard.”

“Sidi”
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/27 September 2023
Unfounded stereotypes present a misguided and simplistic view of our region in the media. This is particularly true for coverage of Saudi Arabia. Some of this distortion is intentional, and some of it is not, but both stem from a drive to criticize, which reporters believe will validate their independence. This is their right, but the criticism should have a basis in reality.
hen I first started working as a journalist in Washington, the first thing we learned was the importance of understanding the local culture, history, and political system, to ask the experts. We learned to read up on these matters and keep ourselves informed to understand the area we were covering so that we could clarify things to the reader. Why am I saying this?
After Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s interview with Fox News and the National Day celebrations, and in the extensive Western coverage of international stars being purchased by clubs in the Saudi Pro League, we saw a lot of simplistic and lazy reporting.
For example, one foreign correspondent wrote about what he saw as excesses in the coverage of the Crown Prince’s interview, claiming that he even saw a poem entitled “My Master.” However, the Arabic title of the poem he (mis)translated is “sidi,” which is a very different term. Moreover, in this case, it was the title of a poem extolling the figures, achievements, and prospects for the future discussed in the interview.
In the West, “my master” is associated with slavery. There is no direct equivalent to this from the time era when slavery was allowed in our region. Slaves would call their “(paternal) uncle,” and in the Hijaz, grandfathers are referred to as “sidi.”
The meaning varies according to context and has no direct equivalent in English that captures all of its nuances; indeed, it can be used to refer in debate and as a term of venerable affection. Here, the King, the heir to his throne, and older persons are addressed as “may you have a long life,” which denotes respect for a person you do not know.
Do they not say “Long live the king” in the United Kingdom? Why the surprise then? Is it the result of a failure to understand the context and appreciate this cultural difference? Would the correspondent, for example, not have a duty to understand its history and roots in India before belittling the sari?
As for writing poetry, they recorded the history of the Arabian Peninsula just as art did in Europe. Here, we express our grievances and offer compliments through poetry. We hint at matters we do not speak of explicitly through it as well, one writes poetry even when one is not a poet.
As for the National Day celebrations, some people in the West or the region may not know this, but people are not bussed to such events by the “party,” nor are they compelled to do so because the “almighty leader” made them. Rather, they attended voluntarily and happily, and they are not interrogated about why they decided not to.
The people celebrated National Day because they had triumphed after a long social battle. Once upon a time, standing for the Royal Anthem had been prohibited amid controversy about whether National Day ought to be a holiday or not. Today, the people are sharing their joy at winning a national social battle.
The same applies to the enthusiasm around the arrival of football stars. As the Crown Prince has said, their arrival has augmented the country’s economy by 1 percent, and Saudis are passionate about football.
The celebrations were bolstered by the fact that women are now permitted to attend matches. Thus, the Saudi people’s reactions are not exaggerated; they reflect the sense of triumphalism engendered by the changes the Saudis want to see, and they were achieved under the leadership of the Crown Prince.
To every reporter writing about Saudi Arabia: “Sidi” (Sir), try to understand this society, its nuances, and its ways.