LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 08/15
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Bible Quotation For Today/those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them
John 14/21-27: “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.”
Bible Quotation For Today/What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’
First Letter to the Corinthians 02/01-10: “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
Maronite Corrupted Leaders, both Clergymen and Politicians
Elias Bejjani/June 07/15
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/06/07/elias-bejjanimaronuite-corrupted-leaders-both-religious-and-politicians/
The main issue in my Arabic piece of today that is addressing the Maronite evil visit to Syria, is focusing on the Maronite historic “values of faith and sacrifice”, that are deeply rooted in history, no matter if Mr. Brown’s story is right or wrong, false or fabricated. What I am trying to stress on is the margin of the Maronite leaders decision making process. Our historic leaders put always Lebanon and the Maronites’ independence, freedom, and existence first, never bowed to foreign dictates, refused strongly to be subservient and were always ready to carry the consequences. Two of our great Patriarchs were burnt to death by the Mamlouks in Tripoli because they refused to go into any compromise on their faith or the fate of their church and its believes. Sadly our current Maronite Patriarch and his council of bishops as well as the majority of our political Maronite leads and the so called Christian parties are all willingly following the wishes and decrees of others, mostly foreign powers either those powers who finance them or those whom they fear. In conclusion we are losing on all levels and in all domains because those Maronite leaders, both politicians and clergy lack the ABC of faith, hope, vision, sacrifice, self respect, honesty and most importantly in their hearts there is no fear of God or of His Day of Judgment.
Al-Rahi Arrives in Syria for Pastoral Visit
Naharnet 07.06.15/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi arrived Sunday in war-torn Syria for a pastoral visit during which he is not scheduled to hold political meetings. “Al-Rahi has arrived at (the border area) of Jdeidet Yabous in Syria and was welcomed by Maronite Archbishop of Damascus Samir Nassar and Greek Orthodox Vicar General Bishop Ephraim Maalouli,” LBCI television reported in the afternoon. “We came for peace and for peaceful solutions in Syria and for the endurance of Christians and Muslims in their land,” LBCI quoted al-Rahi as saying during a visit to the French hospital in Damascus. The seat of the Maronite church had announced Wednesday that al-Rahi will not hold talks with Syrian officials during his visit to Damascus. Bkirki’s press officer Walid Ghayyad said the trip is “pastoral and will not include any political meetings.”Al-Rahi’s visit to the Syrian capital has three objectives — inaugurating the Maronite Social Center, participating in a Christian spiritual summit and attending the inauguration of the Orthodox patriarchate, he added. This will not be the first time that al-Rahi travels to Damascus as a patriarch. He visited the Syrian capital around two years ago when he attended Greek Orthodox leader Youhanna X Yazigi’s enthronement. More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government demonstrations that were met with a regime crackdown.
Amine Gemayel accuses FPM of prioritizing family interests over national ones
The Daily Star/June. 07, 2015/BEIRUT: Kataeb Party chief Amine Gemayel accused his Free Patriotic Movement rivals Sunday of pursuing personal and family interests under the guise of protecting Christian rights. Gemayel called on the FPM to “separate personal and family interests from Christian rights.” “In their perspective, it’s that either an FPM member reaches the presidency or any other post, otherwise the rights of Christians are being lost,” Gemayel told Voice of Lebanon radio. He called on the FPM to employ a sense of “modesty and consider the interests of the country because the interests of Christians should not be restricted to one person or party.” Gemayel’s comments come one day after FPM leader Michel Aoun complained that the government was trampling over the rights of Christians by preventing them from choosing new security chiefs or a representative president. Aoun’s comments largely echoed those of party minister Gebran Bassil at a news conference last week in Rabieh in which he complained of the “persistent targeting of Christians in this government and those preceding it.”Bassil said that the government prevented the most credible and certified Christians from reaching positions in the judiciary, the presidency and the military leadership, noting that the FPM would no longer tolerate subordinate treatment.Critics of the FPM accuse the party of trying to get the government to appoint Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, Aoun’s son-in-law and head of the Army Special Forces unit, as Army commander.As for the presidency, lawmakers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah MPs and their March 8 allies, have thwarted a quorum since April 2014 by boycotting parliamentary sessions. Political rivals accuse the FPM of preventing the ascension of any candidate other than Aoun to the country’s top Christian post.
Aoun Warns of Plot to ‘Displace Christians through Emptying Christian State Posts’
Naharnet 07.06.15/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun warned Sunday of a possible plot to “displace” Christians from Lebanon through “emptying Christian posts in state institutions.” “Today, we are the oppressed component of the country, especially Christians, because those who displaced Christians from the Levant through arms and blood might be plotting to displace us through emptying Christian posts in state institutions,” Aoun told a popular delegation in Rabiyeh.“They are picking puppet officials who fill the posts in an artificial manner,” he lamented. “From now on, we won’t accept to be ‘background actors’ or tools for anyone,” Aoun stressed. Aoun has been lobbying for political consensus on the appointment of Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army chief as part of a package for the appointment of other top security officers. The government failed last Thursday to agree on the appointments of high-ranking security and military figures. Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, who is a member of the FPM, has warned that Change and Reform bloc ministers would block any cabinet decision before security appointments are made. “Nowadays, we are voicing political objection, and me might reach a phase of popular objection, that’s why we might summon you in the critical junctures to be by our side,” Aoun told the popular delegation on Sunday. “Most members of the political class are suspected of stealing public funds, and therefore they don’t have the right to accuse others of harming the interests of the Lebanese,” added Aoun, referring to a possible suspension of the cabinet’s sessions.
We won’t back down over security appointments: Aoun
The Daily Star/June. 07, 2015/BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun complained Saturday that the government was trampling over the rights of Christians by preventing them from choosing new security chiefs. “Christians today have had their rights stolen from them,” Aoun told a delegation of Baabda residents. “And our [rivals] refuse to give back what they have taken.”“So we will confront them and we will not change our convictions for whatever the reason, because this is the final battle.” The FPM has been accused by its political rivals of seeking to paralyze the government over the issue of security appointments after party ministers said last week they would not allow the Cabinet to discuss any topics until successors to retiring top security officials are chosen. Aoun said that it was a duty for every person to revitalize the Christian presence in Lebanon. Based on the results of the 2005 and 2009 parliamentary elections, Aoun said his party was “clearly” the most representative of Christians in Lebanon. “We represent Christians in government and this means that we have the right to appoint officials,” he noted. “It’s either [Christians] are granted their rights, or there will be a confrontation,” he said. Aoun’s comments largely echoed those of party minister Gebran Bassil at a news conference last week in Rabieh in which he complained of the “persistent targeting of Christians in this government and those preceding it.” Bassil said that the government prevented the most credible and certified Christians from reaching positions in the judiciary, the presidency and the military leadership, noting that the FPM would no longer tolerate subordinate treatment.
Lebanese Army Shells Gunmen Positions on Outskirts of Arsal
Naharnet 07.06.15/The army shelled on Sunday the positions of gunmen near the border with Syria, reported the National News Agency. It said that it targeted with artillery the armed groups on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal. Al-Manar television meanwhile reported that Hizbullah fighters are advancing on Harf al-Dabboul, south of Arsal’s outskirts, where fierce clashes are ongoing with the armed groups. A number of members of the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front were killed in the unrest, it added. Members of the group have also been seen fleeing the scene of the fighting. They fled to the heights of al-Hosn and Wadi al-Khayl east of Arsal’s outskirts towards the encampments of Syrian refugees. Hizbullah and Syrian regime forces have in recent weeks been engaged in fighting with armed groups from Syria in the border region of al-Qalamoun. The party has made gains in the area and its chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah claimed Friday that it managed to “liberate dozens of square kilometers” of land in al-Qalamoun, pushing back al-Nusra Front and its allies. He vowed that Hizbullah will next turn its sights on the Islamic State group which has seized chunks of Syria and Iraq. Hizbullah insists it is fighting in Syria to prevent extremist groups from entering Lebanon.
What’s the true nature of Tareq Aziz’s relationship with Saddam?
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya
Sunday, 7 June 2015
Some have claimed that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was a mere tool in the hands of his sly foreign minister Tareq Aziz. While others confirmed that Aziz was a mere employee in the court of a president who suffered from paranoia and treated his ministers like servants.The fact that Aziz, an intellectual who held a degree in English literature, worked with an uncultured and lowly officer like Saddam for a quarter of a century filled with tumultuous events remains an intriguing mystery. Saddam has been well-known as a world leader who committed stupid mistakes, mostly in relation to Iraq’s foreign policy. So what was the role of Tareq Aziz, Saddam’s comrade in the Baath Party, his friend, foreign minister and deputy premier?
Tareq Aziz died after a terrible prison ordeal. There have been several mediation attempts to release him and despite the conviction of many including his rivals that Aziz deserves compassion in his elderly years, Iraqi grudges led to the mystery man’s demise. It’s been said that Aziz spoke at length to American investigators while in prison and it is believed they compiled a wealth of unpublished information that can demystify the old iron regime. The information can also help up us understand modern history and can serve as a sermon and testament of our own collective history. Aziz had also spoken to the incumbent Iraqi government’s investigators. One of those he spoke to was Ali al-Dabbagah, a former Iraqi government spokesman. The latter’s meeting with Aziz was documented via a television interview however it did not provide solid details regarding past events as Aziz had suffered from a stroke while in prison and therefore was not in good health to speak at length.
Vindication and mystery
Supporters of late dictator Saddam Hussein have always made effort to vindicate him. One of the most common arguments is that Saddam was tricked by the U.S. to attack Iran and that then-American ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie lured him into invading Kuwait. Anyone who has studied history can figure that Saddam was an arbitrary leader and an authoritarian ruler. No one regardless of their status or position would dare oppose him. This is what made the role of former minister, Aziz, mysterious as no accusations were ever leveled at him, unlike many of his comrades who were sent to the gallows where Saddam had no quip ending the lives of his top aides and closest confidants. So then, was Aziz a cautious man who took into consideration the president’s paranoia and only fed his sense of greatness by telling him what he wants to hear? Or did Saddam exonerate Aziz and trusted his wisdom and loyalty as evident by entrusting Aziz with sensitive and dangerous issues?
Aziz is now gone and the world will not know the complete truth unless classified documents are made public or surface somehow
Saddam’s decision to engage in a war with Iran cannot be supported or advocated by a foreign affairs minister who is aware of the graveness of shifting geopolitics and who realizes that Iraq is militarily weaker and has a third of Iran’s population. Above all, Aziz was well-aware of the threats posed from involvement in the-then Cold War disputes. It is also impossible that Aziz did not know that the most dangerous move was Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, the world’s third largest oil producer and whose instability threatens the security of the Gulf countries who fall under Western nation’s sphere of protection.
Aziz’s case thus remained a mystery bewildering many. Aziz was an intellectual and knowledgeable man who travelled the world. He was more knowledgeable than his ignorant president, Saddam, who had a little formal education and who understood little about the world outside of Iraq other than the apartment he resided at in Cairo. Aziz’s body language contradicted his statements. When Saddam obliged him to wear a military uniform, he appeared on television while holding a fancy Cuban cigar while talking about the suffering of the Iraqi people as a result of economic sanctions. Aziz’s speech was not convincing although it was impassioned. Aziz is now gone and the world will not know the complete truth unless classified documents are made public or surface somehow. Aziz was the black sheep in Saddam’s flock and neither supported him nor could openly oppose him. He is reminiscent of current Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Mouallem in terms of his apparent intellect and position as well as misfortune that his president, Bashar al-Assad, loves him and thinks he’s important to the point of not allowing him to leave his side.
Another rocket attack challenges Israel’s military planners to tackle ISIS and Hizballah inroads in Gaza
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis June 7, 2015/The IDF’s automatic air strikes Saturday night, June 6, against Hamas training camps evacuated in advance – following the third rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in two weeks – indicated that Israel had run out of answers for the new escalation less than a year after last summer’s war. This time, after a rocket struck Ashkelon, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon also shut the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings, except for “humanitarian traffic” and only temporarily “until the security situation settled down.” But Israeli officials have carefully avoided fingering “Islamic State” or “Al Qaeda” as responsible for the rocket fire – referring only to “rogue organizations locked in a power struggle with the ruling Hamas.” Israel continues to name Hamas as the only destination for reprisals. Indeed, Amos Gilead, politicy coordinator at the Defense Ministry, stated in the Meet the Press radio broadcast Saturday: “Our deterrence is powerfully effective. Hamas understands this and is doing everything it can to prevent the [rocket] fire.”
Three hours later, red alert sirens sounded across Ashkelon and the Lachish districts, warning civilians to run for shelter to avoid casualties. Israel has vowed zero tolerance and a swift response to any repetition of the rocket raids that threatens to keep a large populace in shelters for yet another summer. But the truth is that Hamas has no answer for ISIS’s descent on the Gaza Strip, any more than the rest of the Middle East to the Islamists’ inroads on Syria, Iraq and Egypt.
Months ago, the “Omar Haddad Platoons”, which claimed the last three rockets attacks, and other extremist Salafi groups operating in the Gaza Strip, hooked up with neighboring Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as the “Sinai Province of the Islamic State.” This organization is now run by ISIS officers smuggled through Jordan into Egyptian Sinai and across the Rafah border into the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The Islamic State is not the only terrorist group to have infiltrated its officers to Gaza. The Iranian-backed Shiite Hizballah followed a similar route from Lebanon. DEBKfiile’s military and intelligence sources report that Hizballah officers in the Gaza Strip have established a new pattern in Yemen and Iraq – and now in the Gaza Strip, where it has formed a new Palestinian militia of dissident Islamic Jihad factions at odds with the group’s leadership which has fallen out with its sponsors in Tehran. It was this new militia which fired the long-range Grad missiles at Gan Yavne on May 27, while the Islamic State’s “Omar Haddad” followers were responsible for the June 3 attack on Netivot and the rocket strike against Ashkelon Saturday. None caused casualties or damage.
However, the tiny Gaza Strip has acquired the dubious distinction of being the only patch of land in the Middle East where the Sunni ISIS and the Shiite Hizballah terrorists operate simultaneously though separately against the same two declared foes: Hamas and Israel.
This situation is no less volatile than it is in Iraq, Syria or Lebanon given these groups’ innate tendency to constantly change sides and escalate their violence. It cries out for both Israel and Egypt to step in without further delay.
Ashkelon mayor Itamar Shimoni said Saturday that Israel’s government was facing “the moment of truth.” Residents, he warned, would not be “held hostage” to internal Palestinian struggles and urged the government to curb the trickle of rocket fire before the situation deteriorated. However, the situation facing Israel’s military planners today is not the same as it was last summer. The terror infrastructure Hamas built over many years in Sinai has been taken over by ISIS, and its control of the Gaza Strip is slipping, as yet more radical and violent organizations eat away at its authority and seize control of the rocket offensive against Israel.
Bombing empty Hamas training centers is more than ever an exercise in futility. A repetition of summer’s campaign against Hamas would not serve any useful purpose: ISIS and Hizballah are a threat of a different order and will not be affected by this plan of operation.
Binyamin Netanyahu at the head of a new government, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and the new Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott are still looking for a formula for deterring the new adversaries. There may be no easier options than to start from scratch with good intelligence on the new terrorist organizations and the use of special operations fighters for pinpointed raids of their strongholds and leaders. Building and planting a new infrastructure for this strategy takes time. Purely defensive tactics, including Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries, are not the answer. And indeed the batteries deployed Friday did not stop the rockets fired the next day.
Saudi Supreme Court Upholds Jail, Lashes for Blogger
Naharnet/Saudi Arabia’s supreme court has upheld a sentence of 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes against blogger Raif Badawi on charges of insulting Islam, his wife said on Sunday. The judgment came despite worldwide outrage over his case and criticism from the United Nations, United States, the European Union, Canada and others. “This is a final decision that is irrevocable,” Ensaf Haidar told AFP in a telephone interview from Canada. “This decision has shocked me.” Badawi received the first 50 of the 1,000 lashes he was sentenced to outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on January 9. Subsequent rounds of punishment were postponed on medical grounds.Amnesty International slammed the “abhorrent” decision to uphold a “cruel and unjust sentence,” describing it as a “dark day for freedom of expression.””Blogging is not a crime and Raif Badawi is being punished merely for daring to exercise his right to freedom of expression,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director.Badawi’s wife expressed fear that the implementation of the flogging sentence “might resume next week.” “I was optimistic that the advent of (the Muslim fasting month of) Ramadan and the arrival of a new king would bring a pardon for the prisoners of conscience, including my husband,” she said. Badawi co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group. He was arrested in June 2012 under cyber-crime provisions, and a judge ordered the website shut after it criticized Saudi Arabia’s notorious religious police.The co-founder of the online venue, Suad al-Shammari, was released from jail in February. But Badawi’s lawyer, Walid Abulkhair, who is also a rights activist, remain behind bars. Badawi and Abulkhair have been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian member of parliament Karin Andersen.His supporters have launched a campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #backlash that has gathered momentum, and posted pictures of people with lashes drawn on their backs with red lipstick. Saudi Arabia in early March dismissed criticism of its flogging of Badawi and “strongly denounced the media campaign around the case.” In his first letter from prison published by the German weekly Der Spiegel in March, Badawi wrote how he “miraculously survived 50 lashes.” Badawi, 31, recalled that he was “surrounded by a cheering crowd who cried incessantly ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greatest)” during the whipping.”All this cruel suffering happened to me because I expressed my opinion,” Badawi wrote. Badawi’s wife and their three children have received asylum in Quebec, in Canada. Quebec’s Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil said in March that her government would “continue its defense of Mr. Badawi,” saying this was a “clear case of human rights violation.”Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Canada, Naif Bin Bandir al-Sudairy, complained officially.
Analysis: Hamas is not behind the latest Gazan rocket fire
YAAKOV LAPPIN/06/07/2015
Hamas does not appear to be behind the latest increase in rocket fire on southern Israel, and is in fact attempting to quell the attacks by repressing the Gaza-based Salafi jihadis who are firing the projectiles at Israel. Israel’s defense establishment has received indications from Gaza that Hamas has no interest in the recent attacks, and that it is making arrests to try and put a stop to the rockets, driven purely by its own interests.A radical Jihadi-Salafi group calling itself the Omar Hadid Brigades, named after a key figure who assisted Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi set up and run al-Qaida in Iraq nearly a decade ago, is challenging Hamas’s rule in the Strip. The Omar Brigades group is responsible for a growing number of rocket attacks on Israel, and is threatening to spark a new conflict that will weaken Gaza’s rulers and enable it to fill the resulting power vacuum.
The Omar Brigades released statements demanding that Hamas free its members who are incarcerated in Gazan prisons, and protested the killing of a Salafi Jihadist who was shot dead in a standoff with Hamas security forces in his home in Gaza last week.
There is good reason to believe that Hamas’s attempt to distance itself from the latest rockets is credible. It stands the most to lose from a renewal of hostilities with Israel at this juncture. The Gazan regime has not chosen to reengage Israel now, when it is still in the early phases of replenishing its rocket stockpiles and reconstructing its tunnel network.
Hama’s military wing needs more time to recover from last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, and its political wing is preoccupied with the poor state of Gaza’s economy and civil reconstruction efforts.This is not the first time elements in Gaza aligned with the global jihad have posed a challenge. These are elements that reject Hamas’s brand of Muslim-Brotherhood Islamism and its fusion with Palestinian nationalism, and who wish to see Gaza become another front for the worldwide caliphate jihad movement, led by the Islamic State across the Middle East.
Although their numbers in Gaza are small, such elements seem determined to undermine the year-long truce, and they could destabilize the south if their actions do not immediately cease.A failure by Hamas to rein in the pro-Islamic State rocket cells will mean that its grip on Gaza is slipping, and that Israel will have to rethink its approach of counting on Hamas to keep – and enforce – the truce.
In the meantime, although there is no concrete information of additional, imminent rocket attacks, the IDF’s Southern Command will be preparing itself for all scenarios.
After Iran gets a nuclear deal
John-Michael Kibrick/Ynetnews
Published: 06.06.15 / Israel Opinion
Obama’s comments to Israeli media reveal an unspoken truth: No strategy exists to reign in an economically prosperous Iran.
Yes, Mr. Obama, the impending nuclear deal with Iran due to be signed at the end of June, if all goes according to plan, is a good deal – probably the best you’ll ever see from a negotiated solution with the Islamic Republic. It does not, as your colleague Mr. Netanyahu claims, pave the road for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
The US president indirectly admitted to the deal’s biggest weakness however, during an interview with Israeli media that aired last Tuesday. Obama correctly and deftly brushed aside concerns that Iran may cheat on the deal, citing an agreed upon process in which sanctions would snap back into place and no one would be worse off than they are now.
But perhaps a more dangerous scenario is one in which Iran abides by the rules and sanctions are lifted. Money will funnel back into the hands of the Ayatollah who could, and judging by the past, most likely will use the new state funds to oppress his people and spread Iranian influence and power across the Middle East through the funding of proxy organizations like Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
What does America have to say for Israelis who fear not only a nuclear Iran, but an emboldened Hezbollah and other destabilizing forces throughout the Middle East? “We shouldn’t assume we can perpetuate sanctions indefinitely,” came Obama’s flimsy reply.
Obama’s comment reflects two truths that have not yet been openly discussed. Firstly, sanctions are unsustainable in the long run. An attempt to maintain the status quo would eventually bring tensions to a head, resulting in a messy military conflict at best and a nuclear armed Iran at worst. Both scenarios would make sanctions irrelevant.
Secondly, the president’s answer confirms that in the face of unpredictable circumstances, the US has no plan against an increasingly influential Iran controlling vast territories in the Middle East fueled by their new-found economic prosperity. Iran’s actions in the wake of sanction relief are difficult to predict and under normal circumstances would be much easier to handle than a nuclear Ayatollah. Thanks to Obama’s deal however, the West will have its hands tied.
If Iran effectively turns Iraq into a vassal state, orchestrates the full and final collapse of the Lebanese government, continues funding massacres in Syria, or threatens Saudi Arabia through the victory of their proxies in Yemen, how will the US respond?
Under the nuclear agreement, these actions don’t break any of the rules, but do threaten security in a region that controls the world’s oil supply and houses Israel, one of Obama’s greatest allies – despite current political tensions. If 2016’s presidential elections give way to a like-minded leader to Mr. Obama, say Hillary Clinton, resuming economic sanctions on Iran would be the preferable tool to use against the Islamic Republic, particularly after seeing how this campaign worked to bring the Ayatollah to the negotiating table over the issue of nuclear weapons.
Renewed sanctions, however, would mean the cancellation of the nuclear deal, allowing Iran to then sprint for a nuclear weapon, arguing that it must insure its security against hostile forces.
The West’s only option to avoid the invasion of Iran would be to refrain from further sanctions and fund its own allies and proxies in the Middle East, resulting in a cold war – that is, cold in the Middle East, somewhere around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Battles would rage in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. Iran may resume funding and support for Hamas, while Hezbollah would test Israel’s resolve with rockets and cross-border attacks in an attempt to harm America’s interests by harming her Jewish friends.
These possible scenarios paint an undesirable picture, one in which the US is locked in a battle it can neither afford to fight, or to lose. Appetite among Americans will be low for Middle East intervention of any kind and the further funding and arming of groups in the region will, as in the past, lead to more chaos, more hate and more broken lives.
Certainly, the current agreement with Iran will provide the US time to confront these new challenges that will arise. But with the end of June fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about how the West can make the most of this historic moment in the days to come.
