LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

April 01/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april01.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24/36-45: "While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures."

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him
Letter to the Romans 10/04-12:"For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that ‘the person who does these things will live by them.’But the righteousness that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" ’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or "Who will descend into the abyss?" ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 01/16
Down and out in Beirut/Michael Young/Now Lebanon/March 31/16
The Syrian truce and pressuring Turkey/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
Why Nowruz face-off poses a new challenge for Rowhani/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
The Salman doctrine and the Obama doctrine/Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
On a Saudi King’s royal visit to the cinema/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
Russian State-Owned Media Outlet Reveals Which Russian Military Hardware Will Remain In Syria After Withdrawal/MEMRI/March 31/16
Europe Courting Godfather Erdogan/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 31/16
Journalism in Turkey: Newsroom vs. Courtroom/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/March 31/16
Who will be the next chair of Iran's Assembly of Experts/Rohollah Faghihi/l-Monitor/March 31/16
Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa: Iran needs to change its foreign policy behavior/Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya English Thursday, 31 March/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 01/16

Down and out in Beirut
Lebanese police free 75 girls from sex traffickers
Hariri stresses against ‘interventions’ in Lebanon elections
Report: Salam to Meet King Salman in Istanbul
Diplomatic Sources: Russia Promised Efforts to Resolve Presidential Crisis
UK Foreign Secretary Meets Salam, Berri and Bassil
Asiri Calls for Unanimity in Electing President
MP, Sami Gemayel: Who Gave Sayyed Hassan Authorization to Choose Lebanon's President?
'I Want Freedom in Europe', Says Baghdadi's ex-Wife in Lebanon
U.S. Delivers Huey II Helicopters to the Lebanese Armed Forces
Two Vehicles Torched in Southern Towns
At Least 4 Internet Stations Working Illegally, Cost $200 Million Annually
Once a beacon, Lebanese Dailies Lose Regional Sway

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 01/16

Six police killed in bomb attack in Turkey’s Diyarbakir
Fidel scoffs at 'Brother Obama’s' call to forget the past
Assad Says Willing to Hold Early Presidential Vote
Losing momentum in delivering aid to Syria, Egeland says
Iraq PM Heads to Parliament to Present Cabinet Lineu
Syria Regime Strikes Kill at Least 10 Civilians
French Protesters Clash with Police over Labor Reforms
IS Commander Killed in Strike near Syria's Raqa
Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Attacker
Thousands of Palestinians, Arab Israelis Mark 'Land Day'
Saudi Executes Citizen for Murder
Erdogan Says West Ignores Turkey on Terror Threats
Pig's Heads Found on Fence at Moroccan Ambassador's Paris Home
Brussels Attacks: Iranian State Television claims Europeans ‘only have themselves to blame’ for terror attacks

Links From Jihad Watch Site for April 01/16
Obama: “The Republican base had been fed this notion that Islam is inherently violent”
France drops plan to strip jihadis of their passports
Belgian vice PM admits: Muslims celebrated in the streets after Brussels jihad massacre, media ignored them
Oklahoma: School evacuated after “Middle Eastern” woman says she came there to “take the kids to heaven”
That “Low-Level Hum”? It May Be Your Conscience.
Robert Spencer in PJ Media: Hackers with ‘Syria Ties’ Infiltrate Water Utility’s Control System
Massachusetts: Another Virgin Mary statue defaced, “Allah” painted in Arabic on its base
Hugh Fitzgerald: Fierce Hugs and Great Frittata Recipes

Down and out in Beirut
Michael Young/Now Lebanon/March 31/16
The former prime minister, Saad Hariri, must be wondering what he did wrong. The latest reason for his disbelief came because of an interview given this week by the Saudi ambassador in Lebanon, Ali Awad al-Assiri, to Al-Araby al-Jadeed.
In remarks to the newspaper, Assiri was quoted as saying that Saudi Arabia did not intend to intervene in the Lebanese presidential election, but supported any candidate whom the Lebanese chose. He then added that the Kingdom had not backed Sleiman Franjieh, but rather had supported an initiative around which it thought there was a consensus. However, the ambassador added, “we did not see this consensus.”
Hariri is the main backer of a Franjieh presidency, and at the time Assiri’s comments were made he was traveling to Moscow to gauge Russian intentions toward the election. That’s why the ambassador’s comments were, effectively, a disavowal of the former prime minister’s position, and at a particularly sensitive moment.
Perhaps sensing the Saudi mood, or because of the rapprochement between Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea, another major backer of Franjieh’s candidacy now apparently has second thoughts about supporting him. Walid Jumblatt is not hiding the fact that today he is less than committed to Franjieh.
It could be that Jumblatt does not want to find himself on the wrong side of a unified Maronite community, with all the repercussions this might have in the mountains. Or it could mean, simply, that he has understood that the Franjieh moment is now gone. Whatever the reason, these developments mean that Hariri is effectively on his own in favoring the Zgharta politician, with no signs his strategy will come to fruition.
In Hariri’s calculation, a Franjieh victory, made possible through his support, served one main purpose: it would mean that Hariri himself could return as prime minister. It appears that he sees this as a lifeline, at a time when the Kingdom has not only failed to help him financially, but also when its approach to him and the Sunni community in general has changed. The Saudis no longer wish to deal with Hariri as their main interlocutor in Lebanon, but have pushed the former prime minister to open up to other Sunni leaders in the country, many of whom were previously his political rivals. This includes the likes of Abdel Rahim Mrad and Najib Mikati.
If Hariri were to become prime minister, the situation would change in the view of the Hariri camp. The Saudis would have no choice but to bolster Hariri financially, since they could not afford to undermine their ally in Beirut. But also, politically, he would be in a better position to marginalize other Sunni politicians, since he would again emerge, by virtue of his status and popular support, as the leading Sunni figure in the state.
The problem is that Hezbollah has other thoughts when it comes to Hariri. Their problem was never with Franjieh, it was with the fact that the Franjieh presidential project was initially sponsored by Hariri and Jumblatt. The party does not want Hariri to return as prime minister, since he would be in a position to unify the Sunnis and potentially galvanize the community.
But does that mean that Aoun’s chances are rising? Here, Hezbollah is in something of a dilemma. If Hariri were to switch his support to Aoun, in that way becoming a kingmaker, Hezbollah would be unable to hinder his election, as it did after Geagea’s endorsement of the general. The reason is that the Hariri bloc, along with the Aounist and Lebanese Forces blocs, would have an absolute majority in a second round of voting. That essentially would mean that Jumblatt, not wanting to be isolated, would go along with Aoun too, while Hezbollah could not avoid supporting the general, and would have no option but to push Nabih Berri to do so as well, in the name of national unity.
But might Hariri really gravitate toward Aoun? At a time when the Saudis are focused on opposing Hezbollah and consider the general a peon of the party this seems very unlikely. Hariri is in an impossible situation: the Saudis are cutting him no slack, Hezbollah is blocking his return to the premiership, Franjieh, if he ever becomes president will do so under conditions set by Hezbollah, and the former prime minister has lost his main Christian ally and cannot really trust Jumblatt. It has been a difficult return to Lebanon for Hariri, who must be little reassured the future will bring better.
**Michael Young is a writer and editor in Beirut. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Lebanese police free 75 girls from sex traffickers
Reuters, Beirut Thursday, 31 March 2016/Lebanese security forces have broken up a human trafficking network and freed 75 girls, mostly Syrians, they said were beaten and forced into prostitution. A statement by the internal security forces, published on the National News Agency, said they arrested 10 men and eight women who had been guarding the girls during raids earlier this week on nightclubs and apartments in Jounieh, north of Beirut. It said the girls had been beaten and tortured and forced into prostitution by various means including threats to publish pictures of them naked. Two members of the group, which the security forces described as the most dangerous human trafficking network in the country, were still on the run, the statement said. The five-year conflict in Syria has driven more than a million refugees into neighboring Lebanon. Many are impoverished and vulnerable. A security source said some of the girls were believed to have been lured from refugee settlements or sold to the group by other Syrians.

Hariri stresses against ‘interventions’ in Lebanon elections
Al Arabiya/Thursday, 31 March 2016/Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has confirmed that Moscow is working with all Lebanese political components to make Lebanon overcome its internal crisis as soon as possible. Lavrov also stressed his country's interest in maintaining the basic foundations of the Lebanese society and the Lebanese state institutions during his meeting with the Future movement leader Saad Hariri, who stressed the importance of consultation with Moscow on the interventions in the region, and especially in Lebanon, to prevent the election of a president of the republic.

Report: Salam to Meet King Salman in Istanbul
Naharnet/March 31/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam is expected to meet with Saudi King Salman at the Islamic Summit Conference that is set to take place in Istanbul next month, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday. The meeting between them at the 13th session of the conference that will be held April 10-15 would be an opportunity to discuss the deteriorating ties between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, it said. The talks would be the first since relations between the two countries took a negative turn in February following Saudi accusations that Lebanon was siding with Iran and was under Hizbullah’s control. Riyadh cut billions of dollars of aid to the Lebanese army and security forces and then spearheaded efforts by the Gulf Cooperation Council to label Hizbullah a terrorist organization. The Arab League walked in its footsteps and officially blacklisted Hizbullah earlier this month. Salam decided last month to embark on a Gulf tour to shore up relations. But the Gulf states seem not to be enthusiastic about welcoming him.

Diplomatic Sources: Russia Promised Efforts to Resolve Presidential Crisis
Naharnet/March 31/16/Russia has promised al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri to help resolve Lebanon’s 22-month presidential deadlock, al-Joumrhouria daily reported on Thursday. The newspaper quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Hariri asked Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his visit to Moscow on Wednesday for Russian assistance on the issue as a result of its influence in the region, mainly on Iran and Syria. Despite considering the presidential polls an internal matter, Lavrov expressed readiness to help resolve the crisis and promised to exert efforts to push towards the election of a president, the sources said. Lavrov said at the meeting with Hariri that Russia is “keen to see Lebanon succeed in overcoming its internal crisis as soon as possible,” according to a statement issued by the former PM’s press office.
He reiterated that the Lebanese people must solve their problems on their own, while respecting Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, and away from any external influence. “We look forward to seeing all external partners take the same stance and respect these principles, in order to contribute to create the conditions that will enable Lebanon to overcome its problems,” stressed Lavrov. As for Hariri, he said: “There are interventions taking place in the region, especially in Lebanon to prevent the election of a president, and we must discuss this issue.” “We appreciate the great role that Russia is playing in the region, and we look forward to a Russian role in Lebanon as well, and to cooperate with you to combat terrorism particularly what is happening on our borders,” he added. During his Moscow visit, Hariri also met with Lebanese Ambassador to Russia Shawqi Bou Nassar.
"We all hope that there is a political solution in Syria as soon as possible,” he said. Asked about Moscow’s role in resolving Lebanon’s presidential crisis, he said: “They (the Russians) have a big role in the region.” “We hope this role would be consolidated in Lebanon,” Hariri added.

UK Foreign Secretary Meets Salam, Berri and Bassil
Naharnet/March 31/16/Visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond held talks on Thursday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at his residence in Beirut’s Msaytbeh area. The meeting did not take place at the Grand Serail because Salam is in mourning over his mother’s death. Hammond said after the meeting that he discussed with the Lebanese PM Britain’s military support to Lebanon. He pledged to continue in the future to consolidate Lebanon’s security in the confrontation with jihadists. "We are delighted by the way that the UK support has been translated by the Lebanese armed forces in strengthening border security and enabling the armed forces to take the fight to Daesh and keep Lebanon safe from the incursions of Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. Hammond also held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain el-Tineh. Later in the day, Hammond met with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. In a joint press conference after the meeting, the British official declared that the UK will maintain its support for the Lebanese army and that the refugees in Lebanon are temporary guests. He also stressed that Lebanon must not await the regional developments to fill its presidential void.Bassil for his part warned that Lebanon "considers the long residency of refugees a permanent residency that violates the Lebanese constitution."

Asiri Calls for Unanimity in Electing President
Naharnet/March 31/16/Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri denied that Riyadh has been backing Marada chief Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency, reiterating that it will welcome any candidate chosen unanimously. “There should be a president who would fill the vacuum and activate the institutions. We will give our blessing to the one chosen by the Lebanese through unanimity,” Asiri told An Nahar daily published on Thursday. The diplomat’s remarks came after receiving some criticism over a statement he made to TheNewArab newspaper, saying there was no consensus on the initiative made by al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri to nominate Franjieh for the country’s top Christian post. But Asiri stressed to An Nahar that “the Kingdom neither backs nor names any candidate for Lebanon’s presidency.”The ambassador hoped that the election of a new head of state would result in the formation of an operational government and would lead to stability in the country. “Lebanon’s success in choosing a president who would fill the vacuum is very important amid the developments in the region and the world,” he said. Riyadh “has been keen on the sovereignty and stability of Lebanon,” Asiri added. He also stressed that the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council will continue to take measures against Hizbullah and its supporters following its decision to label the party a terrorist group. The GCC blacklisted Hizbullah after it warned its residents to leave Lebanon and following a Saudi decision to cut billions of dollars of aid to the Lebanese army and security forces. Riyadh claims that the Lebanese government is controlled by Hizbullah and is backing Iran against it.

MP, Sami Gemayel: Who Gave Sayyed Hassan Authorization to Choose Lebanon's President?
Naharnet/March 31/16/Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel stressed Thursday that the Lebanese have not given Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah an “authorization” to choose their president. “When did we give Sayyed Hassan an authorization to choose Lebanon's president and why would we accept to give him such an authorization,” Gemayel asked rhetorically during a meeting with Kataeb's cadres in Northern Metn. “Sayyed Hassan is a partner in choosing the president and we are all partners. There is only one way in the Constitution for picking a president: holding a vote,” Gemayel added. “Sayyed Hassan has declared that we either elect his candidate, (Free Patriotic Movement founder) General (Michel) Aoun, or else there won't be a president, and this is what has been happening for the past two years,” Gemayel lamented. He warned that if the Lebanese “agree to his demand, and General Aoun becomes president, six years from now presidential candidates will form a line from Dahieh to Jounieh to seek Sayyed Hassan's approval, because he would decide the identity of the next president.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the FPM, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions. Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties, including Kataeb, as well as Hizbullah. Hizbullah and the FPM, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

'I Want Freedom in Europe', Says Baghdadi's ex-Wife in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/An ex-wife of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with whom he had a daughter, wants to live in Europe "in freedom," she told Swedish daily Expressen in an interview published Thursday. "I want to live in a European country, not an Arab country," Saja al-Dulaimi said in the interview filmed in Lebanon. Dulaimi was freed several months ago from a Lebanese prison, where she had been held since 2014 with her children on suspicion of links to extremist organizations. "I'm branded a terrorist but I'm far from all that," lamented Dulaimi. "I want to live in freedom," the 28-year-old said, while praising Islamic Sharia law which she said provided "freedom and rights for women."Her seven-year-old daughter, Hagar, said she wanted to go to Europe to "study." A DNA test conducted by Lebanese authorities confirmed she was Baghdadi's child. Born into a well-heeled Iraqi family, Dulaimi said she had been married to an Iraqi member of Saddam Hussein's personal guard. They had twins together. Widowed, she married again in 2008, on the advice of her father, to Bagdhadi. Dulaimi described Baghdadi, who also had children from an earlier marriage, as "a normal family man" and university professor adored by his offspring. Baghdadi was at the time fighting in the ranks of Al-Qaida in Iraq, from which the Islamic State group was born. In 2010, he took over the reins of IS. Washington has put a $10-million bounty on his head. Dulaimi said she left him after just three months of marriage, when she was pregnant with their daughter. "How he could become emir (caliph) of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world is a mystery," she said. "The last conversation we had was in 2009. He asked me if I wanted to come back. But I'd made my decision," she said. "Where is my guilt? I was married to him in 2008. We're divorced now," she said. She has since remarried, to a Palestinian man with whom she also has a child.

U.S. Delivers Huey II Helicopters to the Lebanese Armed Forces
Naharnet/March 31/16/U.S. Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Ambassador Richard Jones announced on Thursday that the United States has delivered a shipment of three Huey II helicopters to the Lebanese Armed Forces at the Beirut Air Base as part of a U.S. Military assistance valued at $26 million, a U.S. Embassy statement said. Brigadier General Manuel Kirejian, Director of the LAF Logistics Brigade, represented LAF Commander Jean Qahwaji. “The arrival of three Huey II helicopters demonstrate America’s continued commitment to support the modernization of the Lebanese Armed Forces’ airlift capacity,” said Jones. “They significantly expand the army’s aerial capabilities and range, and improve the Lebanese army’s ability to quickly and efficiently transport reinforcement troops to remote areas of tension along the border in support of the army’s fight against terrorists and extremists. With the addition of these three helicopters to its fleet, the Lebanese army now possesses nine Huey II multi-mission helicopters provided by the United States,” added the ambassador. “Today’s delivery demonstrates America’s sustained commitment to ensure the Lebanese Armed Forces has the support it needs to be the sole defender of Lebanese territory. Since 2004, America has provided over $1.3 billion in security assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces, including both training and equipment. We have no plans to slow down or alter that level of support. In fact, America has also recently delivered an additional weapons system for Lebanon’s fixed-wing aircraft fleet as well as more ammunition requested by the Lebanese army,” stressed Jones. Emphasizing the U.S. confidence in the army's determination to defend Lebanon Jones said: “I want to state clearly that the Lebanese-American security relationship has never been stronger than it is today, due to its strong foundation of partnership and shared values. “The United States has absolute confidence in the army’s commitment, determination, and capacity to defend Lebanon and defend the Lebanese people against terrorist threats. This is why the American people are providing you with the weapons and munitions that you have requested, on an expedited basis. Just as the Lebanese army is continuing to defend Lebanon, you can count on America to continue to support the LAF’s needs,” concluded the ambassador.

Two Vehicles Torched in Southern Towns
Naharnet/March 31/16/Unknown assailants torched a vehicle that was rented by Lebanese national Hassan Meselmani in the southern town of al-Shaatieh, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. NNA said that Hassan had worked as a broker with Mohammed al-Meslmani, aka al-Brazili, who is in detention on charges of fraud and for collecting and freely dispensing of millions of dollars from his townspeople. In another similar incident in the southern town of Jwaya, an assailant set ablaze a vehicle that belongs to Kh. Jasshi. Police opened investigations in the case.
Over the past week, the town has witnessed several individual disputes between youth and some are still held by the police.

At Least 4 Internet Stations Working Illegally, Cost $200 Million Annually
Naharnet/March 31/16/Four illegal internet stations have been proven to exist so far in the mountainous terrains of al-Dinnieh, Ayoun al-Siman, Faqra and Zaarour amid information that suspects involved in the case have not been unveiled or apprehended so far, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.
According to the daily, the ministers of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, Telecommunications Butros Harb and Defense Samir Moqbel are following up closely on the file and have reiterated during Wednesday's media committee meeting the persistence to resolve the case. Head of the committee MP Hassan Fadlallah had said that discussions focused on the security fears with relation to Israeli breaches and the financial part related to squandering the state's funds, considering the normal place to hold the government accountable is in the parliament. Fadlallah had confirmed that four unlicensed stations were operational in Mount Lebanon and asked that the judiciary and security authorities to expedite their investigation. Minister Khalil had said that the smuggled internet cost the state around $200 million on an annual basis. Early in March, the committee unveiled what it described as a “mafia” that is taking advantage of internet services by installing internet stations that are not subject to the state control. The owners of these stations are buying international internet bandwidth with nominal cost from Turkey and Cyprus which they are selling back to Lebanese subscribers at reduced prices. It has been reported that wireless internet towers and technical equipment were placed illegally in some mountainous terrains including Tannourine, al-Dinnieh, Sannine and al-Zaarour.Smuggled internet services initiate risks namely the possibility of security breach as it lacks the basic control standards exposing Lebanon's security to third parties including Israel.

Once a beacon, Lebanese Dailies Lose Regional Sway
Its slogan was "the voice of the voiceless", but after four decades the prestigious Lebanese daily As-Safir is in danger of falling silent, illustrating the unprecedented crisis rocking the country's media. Lebanese newspapers, long seen as a beacon of freedom in a tumultuous region, are suffering because of the country's political paralysis and a slump in funding from rival regional powers. As Safir's main competitor, An Nahar, is also struggling to survive and its employees have not been paid for months. "Our ink has run dry," said Talal Salman, founder and editor-in-chief of As Safir. "The Lebanese press, a pioneer in the Arab world, is undergoing its worst crisis ever." The paper has downsized from 18 to just 12 pages, and the fate of its 159 employees remains uncertain. "We've run out of funds and we're desperately looking for a partner to finance the paper," Salman said. He blames the country's political stalemate, with existing divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.
Lebanon is dominated by two main blocs: one backed by the West and Gulf kingdoms, and the other by Iran and Syria. The rift means there have been no parliamentary elections since 2009, and lawmakers have failed for nearly two years to elect a president. "Without politics, there is no media, and there is no politics in Lebanon today," Salman said.
Freedom to criticize
Experts say the crisis is being driven by several factors, including an advertising revenue slump that has hit media worldwide and is exacerbated in Lebanon by a fragile security situation. The long-standing reliance of Lebanese media on political financing from the Middle East's rival powers is also key to the problem. Many of the region's most influential journalists have written their best stories for Lebanese newspapers, relishing the freedom to be critical that one could only dream of under other more oppressive governments. But the freedom was never complete. Some journalists have paid the ultimate price for their work, including An Nahar's Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni who were both murdered as the Syrian army pulled out of Lebanon in 2005.
As Safir's Salman escaped an assassination attempt himself in 1984, when Lebanon was mired in civil war. At its core, Lebanon's media sector has long been a playing field for the region's competing powers, and without their financing, newspapers and TV stations simply cannot survive. During the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Yasser Arafat were key financiers.
As Safir acted as the voice of Arab nationalists and defenders of the Palestinian cause while An Nahar stood for Lebanese pluralism. After the war, Saudi, Qatari and Iranian money took over, but a few years on, even Riyadh's oil-fuelled coffers are running dry.
Lost authority
With social media and citizen journalism taking center-stage in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the region, regimes have taken to setting up newspapers on their own turf. The Lebanese media "has lost its impact and its authority, and that means a commensurate decrease in interest from the Arab regimes that were funding them," said Georges Sadaka, dean of the journalism faculty at the Lebanese University. In 2015, Wikileaks revealed that a Lebanese TV station received $2 million in donations from Saudi Arabia -- 10 percent of what it had asked the kingdom to pay. The editors of An Nahar, founded in 1933, have denied rumors that it may face closure, but its journalists have not been paid for seven months and several have been let go. Staff at English-language The Daily Star as well as the al-Mustaqbal newspaper and television station owned by billionaire former Prime Minister Saad Hariri say they too are owed pay. "The crisis of the press is a key part of the crisis of Lebanon," said Mohammad Farhat, managing editor of the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, which has offices in London and Beirut.
"And the death of politics means the death of the press."

Six police killed in bomb attack in Turkey’s Diyarbakir
AFP, Diyarbakir, Turkey Thursday, 31 March 2016/Six police officers were killed and at least 23 people wounded on Thursday in a bomb attack targeting a Turkish police vehicle in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir, a security source said. The attack took place a day before Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose government has waged a relentless campaign against Kurdish rebels since last summer, was to make a rare visit to the city. Speaking to AFP, the source said a remotely-operated car bomb went off as a police vehicle drove past the city’s main bus terminal. Of the 23 wounded, nine were civilians and the rest police. Ambulances rushed to the scene, where images showed the police bus reduced to a burnt-out wreck by the force of the blast. Turkish forces have been engaged in an ongoing operation against rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the region that has resulted in ferocious clashes and heavy casualties on both sides. Hundreds of security force members have been killed since the PKK resumed its more than three-decade insurgency last summer. The new upsurge of violence between the security forces and Kurdish rebels erupted in July 2015, shattering a two-and-a-half year truce. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that 355 members of the security forces had been killed in the fighting, along with 5,359 members of the PKK. It was not possible to confirm the toll on the rebel side. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey’s biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy. A radical PKK offshoot, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for two suicide car bombings in Ankara this year that left dozens dead. Turkish air force planes have bombed PKK hideouts in mountains across the border in northern Iraq as well as in remote areas of southeast Turkey. Ankara has vowed to smash the PKK, and authorities have imposed curfews in several towns in the region because of the fierce clashes. Kurdish activists have accused the government of masking the extent of the civilian toll from the fighting and also vastly exaggerating the PKK losses. The government denies the claims, saying the operations were an essential move against the PKK which had put up barricades and dug trenches in a bid to take over Turkish urban centres.

Fidel scoffs at 'Brother Obama’s' call to forget the past
Al Arabiya/hursday, 31 March 2016/"We don’t need the empire to give us anything,” asserted revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in a recent article criticizing President Obama in the wake of his trip to Cuba. Obama made history this month as the first standing U.S. president to visit the neighboring island nation in 88 years.

Assad Says Willing to Hold Early Presidential Vote
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Syrian President Bashar Assad has said that he is willing to hold early presidential elections if the Syrian people want them, in remarks released Thursday. "Is there popular will to hold early presidential elections? If there is, I don't have a problem with it," Assad told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, according to an Arabic-language transcript provided by Damascus. Assad's term is set to end in 2021, but a peace process backed by world powers envisages U.N.-monitored parliamentary and presidential elections within the next 18 months. Assad's future -- including whether he would be allowed to run in those elections -- remains controversial. The opposition insists he must stand down. Elections for parliament, which has a four-year term, are scheduled for April 13. The previous round was in May 2012. Syria last held a presidential poll in June 2014, when Assad was re-elected for a seven-year term with 88.7 percent of the vote.At the time, polling took place only in government-controlled territory and in several dozen countries that have not cut diplomatic ties with Syria's government, including Lebanon. Assad said all Syrian citizens would have the opportunity to vote in a future presidential vote. "It would include every Syrian, whether he is inside Syria or outside Syria... Every Syrian citizen in every part of the world has the right to vote," he said in the interview. Since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, more than 270,000 people have been killed and nearly five million have fled the country.

Losing momentum in delivering aid to Syria, Egeland says
Reuters, Geneva Thursday, 31 March 2016/The United Nations voiced concern on Thursday that it is losing momentum in gaining access to deliver aid to besieged areas in Syria, with convoys delayed or surgical equipment being removed. “We still have not gotten access, a greenlight to go at all to Douma, Daraya, east Harasta - three areas,” Jan Egeland, chairman of the task force on humanitarian aid, told reporters after major and regional powers held a weekly meeting to review progress. But he was confident that the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) would be able to start regular air drops of vital supplies to the 200,000 people trapped in ISIS-besieged Deir al-Zor in the next two weeks.

Iraq PM Heads to Parliament to Present Cabinet Lineup
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi headed to parliament to present his list of candidates for a new cabinet on Thursday, the day a deadline for him to do so expired. Abadi's office said he would present "a list of names of candidates for the ministries and their resumes." The candidates "were chosen by a committee of specialised experts on the basis of their professionalism, competence, integrity and leadership ability," the premier's office said in a statement. After arriving, the premier went into a meeting with parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and other senior officials, a parliamentary source told Agence France Presse. Abadi has repeatedly called for the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers to be replaced with technocrats, but has faced resistance from powerful blocs and their ministers, who rely on their positions for patronage and financial gain. Parliament voted earlier this week to give Abadi until Thursday to present his proposed lineup, and Abadi announced on Wednesday that he would do so. Abadi is also under pressure from powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who has orchestrated an 11-day sit-in at entrances to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where the government has its headquarters. Sadr had threatened that his supporters would storm the Green Zone if Abadi failed to present a line-up of technocrats. But buying Abadi a little more time, Sadr entered the Green Zone alone on Sunday, asking his supporters to remain outside the perimeter. The scion of an influential clerical family from the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Sadr first made a name for himself at the age of 30 as a vociferous anti-American cleric who raised a rebellion. His influence ebbed after the 2011 US pullout but he retained strong support among the lower classes and is now casting himself as the champion of the fight against graft.

Syria Regime Strikes Kill at Least 10 Civilians
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Syrian government air strikes killed at least 10 civilians Thursday in the worst ceasefire violation yet in a key rebel bastion east of the capital, a monitoring group said. Dozens more were wounded in the raids on Deir Al-Assafir, a town in the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The toll, which included two children and a civil defense volunteer, represented "the largest ceasefire violation in Eastern Ghouta," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. A fragile ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia has been in place across parts of Syria, including Eastern Ghouta, since February 27. The truce does not include areas where the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's local affiliate Al-Nusra Front are present. Eastern Ghouta is dominated by the powerful Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel group, which has agreed to the truce, although Al-Nusra is also present. The ceasefire has largely been hailed as a success by the United Nations, which says the lull in fighting has allowed the pace of humanitarian aid deliveries to besieged areas to pick up.
More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.

French Protesters Clash with Police over Labor Reforms
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Clashes broke out on the streets of France on Thursday during fresh protests over labor reforms, just a day after beleaguered President Francois Hollande was forced into an embarrassing U-turn over constitutional changes. A nationwide strike shut the Eiffel Tower, disrupted train services and saw dozens of schools closed or barricaded by students. Riot police used tear gas against stone-throwing protesters in the western cities of Nantes and Rennes, among 200 demonstrations drawing tens of thousands people nationwide despite rainy weather. Police said around 10 youths were arrested in Paris, where demonstrators threw firecrackers and yellow paint at security forces. Adding to Hollande's miserable week, a separate strike by air traffic controllers threatened headaches for thousands of passengers, while drivers faced more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) of tailbacks on motorways around Paris. The Socialist government is desperate to push through reforms to France's controversial labor laws, billed as a last-gasp attempt to boost the flailing economy before next year's presidential election. But it has faced a wave of often violent protests by unions and students angry over plans to make it easier for struggling companies to fire workers, even though the reforms have already been diluted once in a bid to placate employers. Hollande's government was still reeling from his decision Wednesday to abandon constitutional changes that would have allowed dual nationals convicted of terrorism to be stripped of their French citizenship. The measure had been derided as ineffective and divisive, including by left-wing rebels within the Socialist party -- many of whom also oppose the labor reforms.
Least popular president
Already the least popular president in France's modern history, Hollande's numbers continue to fall, with a new poll Thursday showing his approval rating at a new low of 15 percent. Another poll on Wednesday showed he would not even make the second-round run-off in the presidential election. Hollande, 61, has vowed not to run again if he cannot cut the country's stubbornly high unemployment figures -- long stuck at around 10 percent -- and he hoped the labor reforms would encourage firms to hire more staff. Pressure from the street and parliament's back benches caused the government to water down the proposals two weeks ago so that they apply only to large firms. Some reform-minded unions have backed the changes, but the unions behind Thursday's protests said in a statement on Thursday: "Clearly, this bill will not lead to the necessary job creation, will make insecurity more widespread and will deepen professional inequality, notably for women and youths."A recent opinion poll found 58 percent of the public still opposed the labor reform bill. A video of an officer punching a 15-year-old boy on the sidelines of a protest last week went viral and fueled further anger. The officer was detained for questioning on Thursday. Joblessness is nearer to 25 percent among the young, with many stuck on an endless cycle of short-term contracts and internships.
Not a blank check
Bosses are also unhappy with the reforms, particularly over the removal of a cap on compensation paid for unfair dismissal, and the scrapping of plans that would have allowed small- and medium-sized companies to unilaterally introduce flexible working hours. Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri said this week that she understood why "such a profoundly reformist text has raised questions and requires debate," adding: "It is not a blank check for companies."Parliament is set to vote on the reforms in late April or early May. Aviation authorities told airlines to cancel 20 percent of their flights from Paris Orly airport on Thursday and a third of flights from the Mediterranean city of Marseille as air traffic controllers went on strike again. Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport was not expected to be affected by the 36-hour walkout over job cuts and a lack of investment in new technology.The Airlines for Europe lobby group said it was the 43rd strike by French air traffic controllers since 2009. It was due to end at 5:00 am (0300 GMT) on Friday.

IS Commander Killed in Strike near Syria's Raqa
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/A drone strike near the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital Raqa killed a jihadist commander heading to Aleppo province on orders from the organisation's chief, a monitoring group said Thursday. His death is the latest in a series of blows to the jihadist group in recent weeks, and comes days after Russian-backed Syrian government forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from its grip. Abu al-Hija, a high-ranking Tunisian IS commander, was killed late on Wednesday in a strike by a drone that was "most likely operated by the U.S.-led coalition", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. He had traveled to Syria from Iraq just 24 hours earlier at the behest of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Britain-based monitoring group said. Abu al-Hija is the latest senior IS member to be killed in recent weeks. Last week, U.S. forces killed IS deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli. Earlier this month one of the group's most notorious commanders, Omar al-Shishani, also died. "IS's leadership is being debilitated," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse. "Without infiltration of IS, these killings would not have been possible."
The latest killing came after Syrian government troops backed by Russian forces seized Palmyra on Sunday. The recapture of Palmyra, known as the "Pearl of the Desert" for its colonnaded alleyways and stunning temples, was seen as the biggest blow so far in the war against IS in Syria. While Russia and the United States back opposing sides in the conflict between the Syrian government and rebels, both are intent on crushing the jihadists. "It is clear that Russia and the United States are coordinating in the fight against IS," Abdel Rahman said. Abu al-Hija had been ordered by Baghdadi to travel from Iraq to Aleppo province near Turkey's border, to oversee IS resistance to an offensive by U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. "The fighting, which has been especially fierce in the past four or five days, could lead to IS being expelled from the area and pushed eastwards into Raqa province," Abdel Rahman said. A top Pentagon official said earlier this week that IS was losing the fight against the U.S.-led coalition in both Syria and Iraq, even as it continues to mount attacks overseas, like the suicide bombings that killed 35 people in Brussels on March 22.

Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Attacker
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Israeli authorities overnight demolished the home of a Palestinian killed after fatally stabbing a Jewish settler in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli army and Palestinian sources said on Thursday. Israel regularly demolishes Palestinian attackers' homes in a bid to deter violence, but human rights activists say it amounts to collective punishment, forcing relatives to suffer for the acts of others. Palestinians threw stones at soldiers who arrived to demolish the apartment of Ihab Maswada, while the soldiers fired stun grenades, an Agence France Presse journalist reported. No one was in the apartment at the time. Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces forced family members to leave.Maswada stabbed Genadi Kaufman, 41, on December 7 before being shot dead by Israeli forces. Kaufman later died of his wounds. The incident occurred near the flashpoint holy site known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque. A wave of violence since October has left 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis dead. Two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have also been killed. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under political pressure over the attacks, has sought to expedite home demolitions as part of efforts to stop the violence. Critics argue that the policy is not an effective deterrent and feeds into a cycle of violence.

Thousands of Palestinians, Arab Israelis Mark 'Land Day'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Thousands of Palestinians and Arab Israelis gathered on Wednesday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Land Day" marking the killing of six Arab Israelis protesting plans to confiscate Arab land. In the northern Israeli town of Arraba, they waved Palestinian flags and banners that read, "The earth is the homeland" before observing a minute's silence in memory of the "martyrs" of 1976. That was the year that Israeli police and troops shot dead six Arab Israeli protesters on March 30 during mass demonstrations against plans to confiscate Arab land in Galilee. The High Follow-up Committee, the main representative organization for Arabs in Israel, had called for a strong turnout in Arraba and the southern Negev region, where about 1,000 people gathered. "Land Day is a central starting point in our struggle against racial discrimination and the policy of uprooting which was launched during the Nakba and still endures today," the committee said. Its statement was referring to the "Nakba", or "catastrophe" that befell them when Israel was established in 1948. "We are also witnessing an escalation of persecution and violence and restriction of freedoms," it added. Dozens of people also took part in similar rallies in the occupied West Bank, including Hebron and Nablus.

Saudi Executes Citizen for Murder
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Saudi Arabia executed a citizen on Thursday convicted of the murder of a compatriot, raising to 82 the number of death sentences the ultra-conservative kingdom has carried out this year.
Mohammed al-Khaweir al-Qahtani was found guilty of shooting dead Hussein al-Shayeb al-Qahtani following a dispute, the interior ministry said. He was executed in the southwestern city of Abha, a ministry statement published by the official SPA news agency said. Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword. The executions so far this year include 47 for "terrorism" carried out in a single day on January 2. In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder, according to an Agence France Presse count. Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for two decades. The kingdom is one of the world's top executioners, although its tally in 2015 was far behind those of China and Iran. Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Erdogan Says West Ignores Turkey on Terror Threats
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West Wednesday of ignoring his calls for a common stance against jihadist extremism and not sharing intelligence on the threat they pose. "We were left alone by Western countries. Our intelligence-sharing expectations were never met," Erdogan said in an interview with CNN, which aired excerpts. "We have been calling the nations for a common stance against terrorism, and many of the European member states seem to have failed to attach the significance that this call for action deserves," he added. Erdogan, who is in Washington for a nuclear security summit, was particularly critical of Belgium for not acting on information Ankara had provided about one of the bombers in last week's attacks in Brussels, Ibrahim El Bakraoui. Turkey arrested the Belgian national near the Syrian border last June and deported him to the Netherlands. Bakrouai managed to make it back to Brussels, where he blew himself up at the airport during the March 22 attacks. His brother Khalid blew himself up at a Brussels metro station. "The Netherlands nor the Belgians seem to have understood what the jihadis stand for," Erdogan said.
On Tuesday, Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said the Netherlands had notified Belgium a week before the Brussels attacks of an FBI report on the Bakraoui brothers' radical backgrounds. Ibrahim El Bakraoui had been on a U.S. terror watch list since September 25, 2015, he said. The United States has long seen Turkey as a key Muslim ally and a moderating force in the Middle East. But the two have been at odds over Syria in recent months, with Washington calling on Ankara to do more to fight Islamic State group jihadists.
Turkey, for its part, has been upset by U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, fearing it will strengthen Kurdish separatists in Turkey.

Pig's Heads Found on Fence at Moroccan Ambassador's Paris Home
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 31/16/Two pig's heads were found Thursday attached to the fence of the Moroccan ambassador's residence in a chic suburb of the French capital, police said. "The pig's heads were discovered by security staff on Thursday at 9:00 am. The ambassador was present," a police source told AFP. The embassy, situated in Neuilly-sur-Seine to the west of Paris, has filed a formal complaint to police. "We don't want to interpret this act, it's up to the authorities to investigate," an embassy official said. Anouar Kbibech, head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and the Morocco-linked Group of Muslims in France (RMF), said there was an "unhealthy atmosphere" in France "in which Muslims are the target of acts of stigmatization." "The attack on the ambassador's residence shows that this provocation has moved up a level," Kbibech said. "This latest desecration is aimed at the embassy of a country which is an ally of France, engaged in the prevention of radicalization and the fight against terrorism," he added. Pig's heads have been left outside mosques in several French cities in recent years and a rise in anti-Muslim acts was recorded in the wake of the gun and suicide attacks on Paris in November last year which left 130 dead.

Key U.S. Senator angry over UN inaction on Iran regime missile tests
National Council of Resistance of Iran/Thursday, 31 March 2016/The United Nations Security Council’s reluctance to sanction Iran's regime over its ballistic missile program is drawing an angry response from a key member of the United States Congress, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Reuters reported Wednesday that UN Security Council diplomats don’t think the case for sanctions is very strong because under the relevant UN resolution Iran's regime is only “called upon” to not conduct ballistic missile tests that could deliver a nuclear weapon – it is not forbidden from doing so.
That “directly contradicts assurances made by the administration,” U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said in a statement Wednesday. “As many of us feared, now it appears Iran can defy those restrictions with impunity, fearing no pushback from the U.N. Security Council.”Sen. Corker, like all Senate Republicans, opposed the Iran nuclear pact, which the U.N. Security Council approved in July by adopting U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which also called on Iran's regime not to launch nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. Since the deal was struck, Obama administration officials have insisted that the only sanctions that would be rolled back under the deal are those pertaining to the Iranian regime’s nuclear activity — all others would remain in place. Prior to the Iran deal’s conclusion, the case might have been easier to make. One of the UN Security Council resolutions that Resolution 2231 replaced said plainly that Iran's regime “shall not” launch or otherwise conduct activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. The Treasury Department has taken steps to sanction Iran's regime over the reported ballistic missile tests, blacklisting individuals and companies that it determined are working to support Tehran’s ballistic missile program. There is strong bipartisan support for coming down hard on Iran's regime for the missile tests as well, with several Democrats who supported the Iran deal arguing it is essential to the integrity of that deal to make sure the Iranian regime is held to account for its actions elsewhere. Sens. Corker and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), are expected to soon release legislation stepping up sanctions against Iran's regime over its ballistic missile program. “US & allies must respond w/ action,” Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) posted on Twitter Wednesday, citing the same Reuters report.

Brussels Attacks: Iranian State Television claims Europeans ‘only have themselves to blame’ for terror attacks
National Council of Resistance of Iran/Thursday, 31 March 2016/A Brussels-based NGO has condemned Iran’s regime for broadcasting “sarcastic” reports on its state television about the deadly terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital on 22 March. The Alliance to Renew Cooperation among Humankind (ARCHumankind) said in statement that it remains “outraged that Iranian State television would make a mockery of the High Representative Vice President Federica Mogherini on the basis of her human reaction to those who had lost their lives and were targeted by ISIL acclaimed terrorists.”
“The channel continued their ridicule by insinuating that Europe ‘only had themselves to blame’ and that perhaps now Europe might ‘feel close-up the fear and horror that the Syrian people have endured over the past 5 years, created by the interferences of their (European) politicians’,” the March 30 statement by ARCHumankind added. “These acts committed by Jihadist militants are acts of heinous violence and the Iranian State television implying that ‘European decision-makers are supporting terrorist acts’ can only be seen as an incitement for the continuation of the Jihadi aggression against Europe.”
“Whereas the European institutions have unduly decided to forget the well-documented co-operation of the Iranian authorities with the creation of an Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq in 2001 and the Syrian regime logistical support to this organisation from 2003 up to 2011 – in the vain hope this memory erasing exercise would make the theocracy to behave better – the insulting attitude of the Iranian authorities vindicates the point of view of all those who warned against this kind of appeasement attitude.”ARCHumankind noted that the “concrete operational steps from the former Al Qaeda branch in Mesopotamia towards the aggression of Europe started at least in 2012, well before the split of this Jihadi branch from her mother and the proclamation of the Caliphate. This fact is now well and publicly documented by Western information services (see for instance http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/europe/isis-attacks-paris-brussels.html?_r=1)”.Iranian State TV - 23 March 2016 : “Crocodile tears?”ARCHumankind reiterated its calls for the European Union to take “decisive action against all Jihadi forces slaughtering Syrian and Iraqi people and provoking a refugee crisis, may it be the case of ISIS, Hezbollah or any of the several other Islamic fundamentalist forces present in the area. This is the only coherent, logic and successful strategy to end the so-called refugee crisis.”ARCHumankind presented its “full solidarity with the High Representative Vice President Federica Mogherini” and considered the “insults to her to be insults to the European people and to all those who share humane values.”ARCHumankind is a non-profit organization, aiming to bring together people from the most diverse geographical, professional, and cultural backgrounds to contribute to stimulating sustainable cooperation for the promotion of democracy and a respect for human rights, while putting an end to religiously, politically or ethnically motivated oppression and violence.

The Syrian truce and pressuring Turkey
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
The primary winner from the ceasefire in Syria in the current circumstances is the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The US-led international alliance is taking back territories from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which mainly go back to regime control. Before the truce began, Russia attacked opposition-held areas in the north and cut supply routes from Turkey. Russian military activity harmonized with Western pressure on Ankara to curb the extremist opposition. Turkey should have thwarted the activities of rebel groups similar to ISIS, such as Jabhat al-Nusra, following the Paris attacks and the influx of millions of refugees to Europe. As the Russians and Europeans restrain Ankara, ISIS has carried out terrorist attacks against Turks. It is believed that they are acts of revenge after Ankara stepped up measures against the group. Meanwhile, Iran-linked militias such as Hezbollah have resumed military operations against the Syrian opposition. The truce is supposed to lead to a political solution that opposing parties are negotiating over in Geneva under UN auspices. There is no hint of any serious attempts to take decisive measures, nor a minimal commitment to a final formula. This implicitly means that Assad will stay in power within the context of a possible consensual solution.
Challenges
Can this bad situation, where he is being empowered and the Turks pressured, fulfil the Russian-Iranian project to rehabilitate the regime without making any fundamental changes to it? All indications are that we are heading in that direction, but the situation on the ground is challenging. The truce is not a peace project, but a project to slow the pace of the crisis. If it succeeds it will turn Syria into another Somalia. They cannot control 10 million Syrians who are either refugees or internally displaced, or put an end to the presence of militias at a time when the regime is so weak that it cannot impose its authority on its own. The truce is not a peace project, but a project to slow the pace of the crisis. If it succeeds it will turn Syria into another Somalia, where Assad stays in power in the capital and controls a small part of the state, while the rest of it remains in chaos. Some think the Somali model is the least bad scenario, as although violence in Somalia has been ongoing for years, it has not spilled over into neighbouring countries. However, this is a bad option for the Syrian people because it imposes the regime on them, and it is bad for the region because it will not stop violence from being exported.

Why Nowruz face-off poses a new challenge for Rowhani
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
Nowruz day (the vernal equinox and the first day of the year in the Iranian calendar) is considered the most festive and celebratory day in the country. Family and friends who may have fallen out with one another set their differences aside and reconcile on this occasion. Keeping this custom in mind, the messages of New Year’s greeting delivered by politicians are usually conciliatory while also elaborating a general policy that the supreme leader and the president like to pursue. This year, however, the messages of greeting turned out to be different. Iranians were stunned when just a few hours after President Hassan Rowhani’s message was broadcast, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei opposed his idea of national reconciliation on the issue. Hassan Rowhani spoke about the need for a second Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the nuclear agreement. As per this agreement, Iran has agreed to dismantle part of its advanced nuclear program and in return, the world power promised to lift the sanctions and help Iran boost its economy. The implementation of the nuclear accord perhaps was the most important part of the set of agreements, which Iran honored. However, the large part hasn’t yet been fully exercised.
The political instability and the random acts of certain groups and factions within the system have perhaps been the main obstacles to international investors entering Iran’s market. It was made clear in the early stages of the nuclear agreement that its implementation may take time and of course Iran’s behavior towards domestic and international events is important. In the recorded greeting message aired on March 20, Hassan Rowhani told Iranians of the need to adhere to the JCPOA. “Barjam 2 (the Persian name for JCPOA) is a joint comprehensive plan of action which begins with union, conciliation and empathy in our nation. This plan of action will come before the economy and begins with morality,” President Rowhani said. While most of the nation was watching television to hear prayers and messages of greeting, they instead witnessed the confrontation of the two most powerful men in the country.
Within hours of Rowhani’s message being aired, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared on television and rather bitterly opposed the president’s message. While most of the nation was watching television to hear prayers and messages of greeting, they instead witnessed the confrontation of the two most powerful men in the country. The supreme leader wanted to put the president in his place immediately. He bluntly said that there is no Barjam 2 whatsoever and rejected the idea. In this angry and direct tone, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the idea of proposing such things (domestic JCPOA 2) is nothing but the enemy’s fabrications.
New Year tussle
Iranians’ were surprised at this tussle in the beginning of the New Year. President Rowhani had mentioned that the recent parliamentary elections, on March 9, were nothing but the start of Barjam 2. By this he meant narrowing of the gap between ordinary Iranians and the system as a necessary action for the implementation of the nuclear deal in reference to political stability. In obvious disagreement, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his understanding of the president’s proposal as being the next plan of action. That is probably why he mocked Rowhani and his administration’s inclination of dialogue with the US as leading next to the constitution and called it action number 2, number 3, number 4. He expressed skepticism as to how all these actions could be necessary for people to live a comfortable life and resolve their problems. Ayatollah Khamenei called the American gestures – such as President Obama’s Nowruz greeting message and the Nowruz table set up in White House and the State Department – as tricks. “I am emphasizing my point about the enemy; I mean the United Sates.” Khamenei said. Khamenei made it clear to Rowhani that if he intends this year to stretch beyond the nuclear accord and speak of need for more talks with the US to implement this deal, he is wrong. This has turned out to be the first direct confrontation between Hassan Rowhani and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in full public view. This has almost ended the possibility of the president cashing in on his supporters’ victory in the recent elections and using it as a tool to back up his next action. Khamenei even indirectly questioned the president whether the nuclear deal has indeed been beneficial as the president had promised. The president of Iran faces immense challenges this year. The entire country awaits the fulfillment of his promise to improve the economy and regain Iran’s prestige and power at the global stage.

The Salman doctrine and the Obama doctrine
Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
In his interview with The Atlantic, US President Barack Obama criticized Gulf countries’ supposedly excessive dependence on Washington. However, he will visit Riyadh next month and meet with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. This shows that we may get angry and reproach one another, but we cannot do without each other. The article’s author Jeffrey Goldberg indicated that the Obama doctrine is a “policy of non-interference,” and that “it is better to resolve matters via negotiations rather than via resorting to power.” Europe adopts a similar policy, and Obama’s successor will most probably do so.
However, he has exaggerated in implementing it. This was evident in Syria, where he backed down from the red line he had drawn for the regime after it attacked Ghouta with chemical weapons in Aug. 2013. Obama’s inaction angered his allies, which were ready to intervene in Syria and end the crisis before it worsened. He has since been described as a passive president. However, it is important to deal with this doctrine as a general, ongoing US and Western policy. The “imperialist” mood has changed due to a change in Western voters’ mood, which is very different from that of the generation that came after World War II, which is always willing to engage in military adventures. For example, the West is hesitant to intervene decisively against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). However, in 1986 then-US President Ronald Reagan quickly intervened against then-Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi and shelled his regime’s headquarters in Tripoli without any international resolutions, because Reagan held him responsible for the deaths of two American soldiers in the bombing of a nightclub in West Berlin.
Saudi leadership
The doctrine of Saudi King Salman, which does not contradict that of Obama, provides initiative and leadership. This time last year, the Salman doctrine crystallized when the first Saudi jet took off to shell positions of the Houthis and of the forces of ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, after they staged a coup against the legitimate government. Riyadh has carried out its duties in Yemen and Syria, and is willing to bear more responsibilities by supporting a peaceful political transition there. The only thing required from Washington is to support its strong regional ally. Back then, I described the doctrine as representative of regional powers’ independence in formulating and leading initiatives while indirectly including Washington. “Powerful regional countries such as Saudi Arabia can lead and change history, or at least change its history,” I wrote. “When the United States sees decisiveness, it will respond and follow the regional leader as long as he is independent, decisive and persistent, and enjoys popular support and legitimacy.” I expected Operation Decisive Storm’s success in Yemen to lead to the Salman doctrine being adopted in other places. This is happening in Syria with Riyadh’s expressed willingness to send ground troops there.
US role
The Salman doctrine cancels Obama’s complaint that Gulf countries want a “free ride.” The doctrine shows that they are willing to lead and take initiatives, while the US role as a superpower is to be an honest ally that has their backs in the UN Security Council, and provides logistical and intelligence support when needed. Riyadh did not ask Obama to invade Syria, like his predecessor George W Bush did in Iraq. If the decision was in Saudi Arabia’s hands back then, it would have chosen that Bush not invade. All that Gulf countries want is for Obama to act decisively against Iranian expansion in the region, and help them end chaos and terrorism. The Syrian conflict is going through a defining moment. A few days ago, a round of talks in Geneva ended with a document stipulating an implementation mechanism for transitional governance.
The only thing that will deter the regime from rejecting this is direct US intervention that resembles that of former President Bill Clinton in the Balkans, when he intervened in Bosnia by shelling the Serbs - forcing them to sign the Dayton Agreement in 1995 - and when he shelled them again during the 1999 Kosovo war.
This is what Riyadh wants, and what the Syrian regime needs to accept the international community’s decisions. This will not happen if Obama continues his doctrine of non-interference. The Salman doctrine provides an exit for Obama. Riyadh does not want a “free ride” from Washington. It has carried out its duties in Yemen and Syria, and is willing to bear more responsibilities by supporting a peaceful political transition there. The only thing required from Washington is to support its strong regional ally, which is taking the initiative regarding causes on which they agree. Riyadh does not support a dictator or sectarian regime in Syria and Yemen, and does not impose an agenda on the Syrians and Yemenis, unlike Iran, which enjoys Obama’s admiration.

On a Saudi King’s royal visit to the cinema
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 31/16
On May 11, 1939, then-Saudi King Abdulaziz and his sons visited Bahrain, where they were welcomed by a people well-known for their generosity, kindness and high morals. Bahrain’s then-ruler the late Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifa (the first) honored and celebrated his visitors. In his book “Gulf Time,” journalist Khaled al-Bassam wrote about media coverage of the visit.
Media coverage
He cited a news piece by Al-Bahrain daily, which wrote: “In an act to further welcome his highness the Saudi king and his sons, his highness the ruler of Bahrain instructed the management of the Bahrain theater to book Saturday night’s shows to the royal group and ordered it not to sell any tickets. His highness King Abdulaziz went to the theater with his sons... and the accompanying delegation. Sheikh Hamad was also present, and they all watched the Egyptian movie The Fugitive.”Bassam wrote: “The Fugitive was an Egyptian movie produced in 1936. It is about two men who escape the military and live in the mountains for a while. One of them dies, while the other gets to live happily with his beloved, whom he later marries.” Bassam went on saying: “The visit marked a significant occasion for the cinema, and increased its popularity as it granted it a lot of legitimacy and ended whatever opposition was still present against it on the religious and social levels.”

Russian State-Owned Media Outlet Reveals Which Russian Military Hardware Will Remain In Syria After Withdrawal
MEMRI/March 31, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6368
On March 20, 2016, the Russian state-owned media outlet Sputnik published an article entitled "Not Coming Home: What Russian Hardware Stays in Syria After Pullout and Why." The article lists the military hardware slated to remain in the Hmeymim Air Base in Syria, after the withdrawal started on March 15, 2016. In a MEMRI report published on March 15, additional hardware is mentioned. On March 14, the day of the announcement of the Russian withdrawal, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia's naval base at Tartus and its strategic Hmeymim airbase will continue to operate as before. On March 17, while honoring Russian officers who participated in the Syrian campaign, Putin said that Russia can build up its military campaign in Syria in a "few hours."[1] .
The following are excerpts from the English version of the Sputnik article:[2] published on the sputniknews.com website on March 20, 2016 (the text has been lightly edited for clarity):
Russian Su-30 jets landing at the Hmeymim Air Base.(Source: Sputniknews.com, March 20 2016)
Putin: Russia Can Build Up Its Military Presence In Syria In Just A Few Hours
"Nearly 20 Russian combat aircraft, an air defense system and some 2,000 personnel will stay at Hmeymim airbase in Syria. According to experts, the task force has several goals – fighting terrorism, supporting President Bashar Assad, and controlling the region... A squadron of Su-24 tactical bombers, including 9-12 aircraft, will be kept on duty in Syria. During the main stage of the campaign, these aircraft were responsible for the bulk of the airstrikes.
"The newest Su-30 and Su-35 jet fighters will also stay at the Hmeymim airbase for aerial protection, a Defense Ministry source told the Russian daily business newspaper Vedomosti. A source close to the military command confirmed to RBK that Su-35 4++ generation jets will stay at the base. Russia deployed four Su-35s to Syria on January 31, 2016. The Defense Ministry has not reported their withdrawal.
"Moscow will also keep its air defense system in Syria. 'Russian air defenses will be on combat duty in Syria and will be used against all targets posing threats to the Russian forces,' Putin said [at a March 17, 2016 ,ceremony honoring Russian military and defense personnel who participated in the Russian air campaign in Syria].[3] He added that, an S-400 medium- and long-range complex and a Pantsir-S1 air-defense system will stay on duty in Syria. In addition, Ka-52 and Mi-28N attack helicopters have been spotted at the airbase, but their exact number is unknown.
"According to military expert Viktor Litovkin, the rest of the Russian task force will accomplish its goals. He outlined several main objectives: conducting airstrikes on terrorist targets, supporting the Syrian Army and its allies, and controlling the airspace in the region. 'All three aircraft [Su-24, Su-30 and Su-35] are capable of carrying out airstrikes against terrorists. But the Su-24 is not designed for aerial combat, and needs the support of jet fighters,' he told RBK..
"In addition to the jets, Syrian airspace and Hmeymim air base will also be protected by an S-400 air defense system,' Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Analytic Center for Strategies and Technologies, said. [.. ]He added that with an S-400 deployed to the base, the Russian Aerospace Forces could not only establish a no-fly zone over the Hmeymim airbase, but also over the entire province of Latakia where the bulk of the Syrian Army is concentrated. The system has a maximum acquisition range of 600 km and a maximum strike range of 400 km. 'Within this radius, any aircraft can be tracked and then escorted by jets, 'Pukhov explained.
Russian Su-24 tactical bombers at the Hmeymim airbase in the Latakia Governorate of Syria. (Sputniknews.com, March 20, 2016)
"According to Litovkin, attack helicopters may be used against small groups of enemies and armored targets which cannot be hit by bombers.' The Ka-52 and the Mi-28N are armed with the Vikhr and Ataka anti-tank missiles as well as a 30-mm gun,' the expert said...
"What is more, some 200-300 civil specialists will remain at Hmeymim base. Military personnel will not be able to maintain aircraft and helicopters on their own. 'As many as 2,000 [Russian] personnel are required to operate the base. However, not all of them will be involved in combat missions,' Pukhov concluded. Both experts agreed that the rest of the Russian forces in Syria will be sufficient for the current objectives. 'Amid the peace talks the intensity of combat has decreased. This is why the current configuration of the Russian forces in Syria is rational,' Litovkin said. At the same time, at his meeting with the troops [Russian military and defense personnel who had participated in the Russian air campaign in Syria], Putin stressed that Russian can build up its military presence in just a few hours…
"It is evident that this is not about a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. Russia will keep a small force at the Hmeymim base. It will also continue its technical and military assistance to Damascus…"
Endnotes:
[1] Sputniknews.com, March 17, 2016.
[2] Sputniknews.com, March 20, 2016.
[3] Sputniknews.com, March 17, 2016.

Europe Courting Godfather Erdogan
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 31/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7719/eu-turkey-migration
Erdogan has boasted that he is proud of boldly blackmailing EU leaders into paying him protection money.
Erdogan's threats were almost criminally sinister: "... the EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10,000 or 15,000. How will you deal with that?"
According to the agreement, 80 million Turkish citizens will have visa-free access to the European Union.
The nightmare scenario for a desperate EU is that no matter how much it bows to extortionist demands from Turkey, the migrant crisis will continue to grow. Even if Turkey closes down all migrant routes from Turkey into Europe, refugees could take new routes through North Africa or the Caucasus.
Meanwhile, 800,000 migrants are currently on Libyan territory waiting to cross the Mediterranean, according to French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian.
"We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and we can put the refugees on buses ... So how will you deal with refugees if you don't get a deal? Kill the refugees?" This was the question Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in true mafia style, asked European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on November 16, 2015 in a closed meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where the three met after the G20 summit.
While Tusk and Juncker have both declined to comment on whether the meeting took place, Erdogan has since then boasted that he is proud of the leaked minutes of the meeting, where he boldly blackmails EU leaders into paying him protection money.
Erdogan's threats were almost criminally sinister: "... the EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10,000 or 15,000. How will you deal with that?"
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has boasted that he is proud of blackmailing EU leaders, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker , into paying him protection money.
Finally, feeding into the denial/ignorance of the European elites, who were at that time reeling from the Paris terror attacks that had occurred just three days earlier, Erdogan -- who himself has hosted and supported terrorist groups from Hamas to Hezbollah to ISIS -- told his European colleagues, "The attacks in Paris is [sic] all about poverty and exclusion. These people... will continue to be terrorists in Europe".
The leaked minutes furthermore showed Tusk and Juncker pleading with Erdogan, almost begging him to see reason, pathetically telling him that the EU has been treating him "as a prince in Brussels."
"Like a prince?" Erdogan retorted, "Of course. I'm not representing a third world country." He also told Juncker, who is the former prime minister of Luxembourg, not to compare Luxembourg to Turkey: "Luxembourg is just like a town in Turkey."
In a speech in Ankara on February 7, 2016, referring to the meeting with Juncker and Tusk, Erdogan boasted: "I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them: 'Sorry, we will open the doors and say goodbye to the migrants.'" He then proceeded to repeat that very threat:
"In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said. ... We do not have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing. We will show patience up to a point and then we'll do what's necessary."
A little over a month after Erdogan's latest threats, in February 2016, it all paid off. Erdogan received the European Union's assurance that his wishes had been granted in the form of the March 18 "EU-Turkey Statement." According to this agreement, the EU will pay Ankara €6bn over the next two years to be spent on Syrian refugees already in Turkey. Furthermore, by June 2016, at the latest, 80 million Turkish citizens will have visa-free access to the European Union, tempered by the EU requirement that Turkey has met "all benchmarks" by then. The promise to lift the visa requirements for Turkish citizens should be seen as real, however, and unlikely to be turned down because of "benchmarks" not being met -- especially as another part of the agreement clearly constitutes lip service, namely the commitment to "re-energize" Turkey's accession process to the European Union.
What has Turkey promised to do in return for these very tangible benefits? It has agreed that all new "irregular migrants" crossing from Turkey into Greek islands as of 20 March 2016 will be returned to Turkey. The agreement stipulates that this will take place
"in full accordance with EU and international law, thus excluding any kind of collective expulsion. Migrants arriving in the Greek islands will be duly registered and any application for asylum will be processed individually by the Greek authorities in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Directive, in cooperation with UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]. Migrants not applying for asylum or whose application has been found unfounded or inadmissible in accordance with the said directive will be returned to Turkey."
For every Syrian being returned to Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU – up to 72,000 Syrians. Priority will be given to migrants who have not previously entered the EU and to those who have not tried to enter the EU illegally. Furthermore, Turkey will take any necessary measures to prevent the opening of new sea or land routes for illegal migration from Turkey to the EU.
By succumbing to what amounts to Turkey's blackmail, the EU hopes to stop the people-smugglers who operate out of Turkey, and end the stream of migration between Turkey and the EU -- or as the agreement says, "substantially and sustainably reduce it." They are also hoping that the agreement in itself will stem the flow by discouraging migrants from attempting the dangerous route, when they know that chances are that they will be returned to Turkey.
Seen from Europe's own, hallowed, self-declared humanitarian principles, the deal represents not only a cop-out to Erdogan's thuggish blackmail, but a complete sell-out: not even European leaders can pretend that Erdogan's Turkey represents a "safe third country." What will happen with the migrants, once they are returned to Turkey, no one knows. That much is clear from the EU's own answer to the question of how it can be sure that returned refugees or migrants will be given protection in Turkey. The EU's circular non-answer went: "Only asylum seekers that will be protected in accordance with the relevant international standards and in respect of the principle of non-refoulement will be returned to Turkey." As if Turkey under Erdogan has become world famous for respecting "international standards."
As late as March 18, on the day that the EU-Turkey Statement became official, Erdogan stated, "Democracy, freedom and the rule of law... For us, these words have absolutely no value any longer." The words "any longer" were only put there for show -- as any observer of Erdogan's Turkey will tell you, democracy, freedom and the rule of law, have never held any value for Erdogan.
Contrary to the views of the EU and the Obama Administration, Erdogan is not a democrat, and never has been. He has dedicated his career to transforming secular, ‎European-oriented Turkey into an Islamist state, and has repeatedly rejected Western attempts to portray his rule as an example of "moderate Islam." He ‎says that such a concept is "ugly and offensive; there is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam."
As a young man, Erdogan embarked upon a career in Islamist movements and parties, in direct opposition ‎to the secular Kemalists, whose goal it was to keep Turkey a secular democracy with religion a wholly ‎private matter. One of the parties in which Erdogan was active, the Refah Party, was described by the Turkish historian Soner Cagaptay as "an explicitly Islamist party, which featured strong anti-‎Western, anti-Semitic, anti-democratic and anti-secular elements." ‎Erdogan was arrested and convicted for religious incitement in 1998 after Refah was banned by Turkey's constitutional court.‎
When Erdogan returned to the scene in 2002 with the so-called Justice and Development Party (AKP), his Islamist credentials could hardly be swept ‎under the carpet in a Turkey that was still committed to a secular state.
So what do you do if you want to ‎appear palatable to the secularists and the West? You introduce Islamic sharia law slowly ‎and cautiously, in a piecemeal fashion. That is what Erdogan has done: gradually bringing all the former secular ‎bulwarks against Islamists under his own Islamist sphere of influence -- the educational system, the courts ‎and even the military.
The agreement with Turkey should not be cause for celebration in Europe. Erdogan's threats shaped the deal in a way that casts doubt on any hope of him actually abiding by the vain European dream of ending the flow of migrants from Turkey and Europe. The question, though, is not just a matter of his willingness, which is open to dispute. It is as much a question of whether Turkey is even capable of stopping the people-smugglers. The latter would appear open to doubt. "Ankara is likely to have made promises in Brussels that it can't and won't deliver,' said Aykan Erdemir, a former opposition politician, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. "Human smugglers will outsmart the Turkish authorities just as they have outsmarted EU authorities."
Even if one assumes that Turkey is both willing and able to close down the migration routes between Turkey and Greece, it is inconceivable that the Turkish people-smugglers will simply give up their blockbuster business. It is far more likely that they will open up even longer and more dangerous routes from Turkey to Italy. And if this contravenes the agreement with the EU, there is no mechanism to stop Turkey from turning a blind eye to them.
"Everybody knows that nobody can stop a smuggler -- they'll always find a way," Ahmad, a Syrian who was smuggled into the UK, told the Spectator; "It will simply become more expensive."
That is of course the nightmare scenario for a desperate EU: No matter how hard it tries, or how much it bows to extortionist demands from Turkey, the migrant crisis will continue to grow. Even if Turkey closes down all routes from Turkey into Europe, refugees could take new routes through North Africa or the Caucasus. The deal with Turkey, in other words, is a far cry from being a cure.
A German think tank has simulated expected migrant flows through Europe this year, and has come up with an estimated range of 1.8 to 6.4 million people -- the latter being a worst-case scenario that would include large numbers from North Africa. According to French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, quoted on March 24, 800,000 migrants are currently in Libyan territory waiting to cross the Mediterranean.
This is what Angela Merkel arguably started with her promise to receive every refugee in Germany, and this is what her EU colleagues are now desperately trying to stop. Perhaps they are not trying hard enough. In the leaked minutes from the meeting with Erdogan, Tusk told Erdogan, "...the EU can make itself less attractive to refugees, but that is not the solution we want." Many Europeans might not agree with him.
**Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 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.

Journalism in Turkey: Newsroom vs. Courtroom
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/March 31/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7717/turkey-journalists-trial
According to a report by the Turkish Journalists Association, 500 journalists were fired in Turkey in 2015; 70 others were subjected to physical violence. Thirty journalists remain in prison, mostly on charges of "terrorism." There are also many journalists among the 1,845 Turks who have been investigated or prosecuted for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he was elected in August 2014.
After the secular daily newspaper Cumhuriyet published evidence of arms deliveries by the Turkish intelligence services to Islamist groups in Syria, President Erdogan himself filed a criminal complaint against Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief, Can Dundar, and the Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul.
At a March 25 hearing, the Istanbul court ruled for the whole trial to be held in secret.
"We came here today to defend journalism...We said we would defend the people's right to access information. We defended that and we were arrested." -- Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet.
The trial clearly exhibits how Erdogan's authoritarian rule diverges from Western democratic culture.
"Turkey is where many journalists may have to spend more time at their attorneys' offices or in courtrooms than in the newsrooms, where they should be," a Western diplomat joked bitterly. "Don't quote me on that. I don't want to be declared persona non grata," he added with a smile.
He was right. According to a report by the Turkish Journalists Association, 500 journalists were fired in Turkey in 2015; 70 others were subjected to physical violence. Thirty journalists remain in prison, mostly on charges of "terrorism."
Needless to say, the unfortunate journalists are invariably known to be critical of Erdogan. There are also many journalists among the 1,845 Turks who have been investigated or prosecuted for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he was elected in August 2014.
One of them is Sedat Ergin, editor-in-chief of Turkey's most influential newspaper, Hurriyet. On March 25 Ergin had to appear before a penal court on charges of insulting Erdogan, with the prosecution demanding up to four years in jail for him. The veteran journalist says he is devastated to have been taken to court for the first time in his 41 years as a journalist on such an accusation. After his trial Ergin told reporters: "... in the year 2016 courthouse corridors and the hearing rooms have become the habitats of journalists in Turkey. Freedom of the press in Turkey in 2016 is now confined to court corridors."
On that same day, two more journalists were in a courtroom, but they are not as lucky as Ergin in terms of the prison sentences demanded by the prosecution.
In May 2015, the secular daily newspaper Cumhuriyet published on its front page video and photographic evidence of arms deliveries by the Turkish intelligence services to Islamist groups in Syria. A month later, President Erdogan himself filed a criminal complaint against Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief, the prominent journalist, Can Dundar, and the newspaper's Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul. In a public speech, Erdogan said: "He who ran this story will pay heavily for it."
Dundar and Gul were arrested and remained behind bars for over 90 days, until Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that their detention violated their rights. They were released, but must now stand trial on charges of espionage, as well as aiding a terrorist organization that aims to topple Erdogan's government. The case is a serious threat to the two journalists' liberty, especially when Erdogan's "weight" in the courtroom remains easily felt, if not seen.
Can Dundar editor-in-chief of Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Erdem Gul , Cumhuriyet's Ankara bureau chief, were arrested after the paper published evidence of arms deliveries by the Turkish intelligence services to Islamist groups in Syria. They remained behind bars for over 90 days, until Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that their detention violated their rights.
At the March 25 hearing, the Istanbul court ruled for the whole trial to be held in secret. A group of opposition MPs protested the decision and refused to leave the courtroom. The court decided to file a criminal complaint against them for "obstructing justice."
"We came here today to defend journalism. We gathered here before and said the same thing. We said we would defend the people's right to access information. We defended that and we were arrested," Dundar said.
It seems that Erdogan has no intention of leaving the journalists alone. The trial also clearly exhibits how his authoritarian rule diverges from Western democratic culture. On March 25, a group of Western consuls-general in Istanbul attended the journalists' trial in a show of solidarity. The diplomats included Leigh Turner, the British Consul-General, who shared images from outside the court and messages of support for the journalists on Twitter. Now Erdogan thinks he has new enemies.
The day after the court hearing, Erdogan spoke:
"The situation of those who attended this hearing is very important. The consuls-general in Istanbul come to the courthouse. Who are you, what are you doing there? This is not your country, this is Turkey ... Diplomats can operate within the boundaries of missions. Elsewhere is subject to permission."
Now is that a new jurisprudence in diplomacy -- that foreign diplomats in Turkey should be confined to their mission buildings and not observe most important political trials without permission from the Turkish government? In addition to the court's blackout on the Dundar-Gul case, Erdogan now wants political confinement for the journalists.
By pursuing life sentences so aggressively for the journalists, Erdogan is in fact trying to achieve another political goal: He is giving messages at many wavelengths to any other investigative journalist who may in the future publish another embarrassing report on his administration.
Not really peaceful and free times for Turkish journalism.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 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.

Who will be the next chair of Iran's Assembly of Experts?
Rohollah Faghihi/l-Monitor/March 31/16
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian voters shocked Principlists on Feb. 26 in elections for the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body tasked with choosing the supreme leader and supervising him. The list of the moderate Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a big blow to ultraconservatives as two prominent Principlists, Ayatollahs Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi and Mohammad Yazdi, lost their seats in the assembly.
Rafsanjani is currently chairman of the Expediency Council and had previously served as president for two terms. By contrast, Mesbah Yazdi had never held a governmental position but was considered the spiritual leader of the hard-line Endurance Front faction. Yazdi had been chairman of the Assembly of Experts at the time of the February elections and had formerly headed the judiciary.
The Tehran voting district has 16 seats in the 88-seat assembly, and Rafsanjani’s ticket won 15 of them. The ultraconservative Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati struggled to keep his spot in the assembly, but managed in the end to grab the 16th seat. Now, conservatives and moderates alike have their sights set on the assembly’s election of a chairman on May 24.
Many assume that Rafsanjani, who headed the Assembly of Experts in the past, will be a candidate, but according to a well-placed Iranian source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, the ayatollah will not be trying his luck unless “he senses that danger is approaching.”
Indeed, a few days after the February polling, Yaser Hashemi, Rafsanjani's youngest son, said, “If he [Rafsanjani] determines that another person has the capacity to be chairman, it is highly unlikely that he will run.” In fact, according to Al-Monitor’s source, Rafsanjani and the moderates have asked Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini to step forward and seek the assembly's chairmanship.
Amini, 91, is a former Qom Friday prayer leader and is highly respected among all factions. That he appeared on both the Principlists’ and Rafsanjani’s ticket for the February elections serves as an indicator of his stature. Amini has moderate views and is close to Rafsanjani. Indeed, after the 2013 presidential elections, Rafsanjani offered him the leadership of the Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic Research, which Hassan Rouhani headed until assuming the presidency that year.
Of note, Amini has been critical of the Principlist and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, publicly lamenting his actions on several occasions. In one instance, Amini, indirectly referring to what he characterized as Ahmadinejad’s dishonesty with Iranians, remarked, “Why do you say there is no problem in the country? Lying leads people not to have trust in government officials.”
Moreover, Amini is a supporter of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. “I urged Seyyed Hassan Khomeini to run for the [Assembly of Experts] elections, and I think the assembly will be more effective with his presence,” Amini revealed.
Darush Ghanbari, a political analyst and former member of parliament, told Al-Monitor, “Ayatollah Rafsanjani deserves to be the chairman, because he obtained the most votes in the elections. Nonetheless, if Ayatollah Rafsanjani backs Ayatollah Amini, which is possible, his chances will be great. Plus, Ayatollah Amini is well respected among all of the clerics in the assembly.”
Meanwhile, according to some reports, conservatives have asked Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, a temporary Friday prayer leader in Tehran, and Ayatollah Mohammad Momen, a member of the Guardian Council, to run for the assembly chairmanship. In this regard, the ultraconservative Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said, “The next chairman, for at least the next two years, will be a person who has similar characteristics to [former Assembly of Experts Chairmen] Ayatollah Yazdi, Ayatollah [Ali] Meshkini and Ayatollah [Mohammad Reza] Mahdavi Kani.”
Added to the mix is speculation about the potential candidacies of the conservative Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and the moderate Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani.
Nevertheless, it is possible that no one will step forward if Amini decides to run. Such a scenario has played out in the past. Ayatollah Meshkini was chairman of the Assembly of Experts for 24 years because everyone respected and accepted him. Indeed, no one ever challenged his leadership of the assembly during his tenure.
Ghanbari, the analyst, told Al-Monitor, “In the case of Ayatollah Amini’s nomination, moderates and even hard-liners will support him. It is also possible that hard-line candidates will not run for the election when they realize that their rival will be Ayatollah Amini.” Yet, it is not clear whether Amini has accepted Rafsanjani’s reported proposal. Of note, Amini declined Rafsanjani’s previous offer to head the Center for Strategic Research, citing his old age.
A Rafsanjani candidacy is dependent most of all on who ultimately runs. The last time the Assembly of Experts held a vote for the chair, Rafsanjani did not want to run and was willing to stand to the side in favor of other moderate figures. After seeing the hard-liners put forth a candidate, however, he stepped forward, but ultimately lost to Yazdi.
Perhaps Rafsanjani's position has not changed since the last election for a chairman. As Yaser Hashemi said, “If he [Rafsanjani] senses that the chairmanship will fall into the hands of those who don’t deserve it, he will definitely run in the chairmanship election.” In the meantime, one can only wait to see whether Rafsanjani ultimately feels compelled to step up to the plate.

Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa: Iran needs to change its foreign policy behavior
Ismaeel Naar/Al Arabiya English Thursday, 31 March 2016
In a wide-ranging interview with Al Arabiya News Channel and Al Arabiya English, Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa spoke of Iran’s initiative to dialogue with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) but cautioned that Iran had to change its foreign policy behavior with the region before any meaningful talks can take place.
Despite documented evidences of Iranian interference with the Gulf, especially Bahrain, the foreign minister said “Iran will remain its neighbor despite shifting developments”. During the interview in Bahrain’s capital Manama, he also spoke on Bahrain’s recent decision to deport several Lebanese citizens for ties to Hezbollah, the group recently labelled as a “terrorist organization” by the GCC and Arab League.
He also spoke on what to expect when United States President Barack Obama visits Riyadh next month as a GCC during their annual summit despite controversial comments made about the US’ longest-serving ally Saudi Arabia.
Al Arabiya: What are your reactions to the recently published Obama Doctrine statements in which there were signs Obama was “irritated that foreign-policy orthodoxy compelled him to treat Saudi Arabia (and Gulf) as an ally?
Bahrain’s relationship with the United States is a historical one which goes back more than a century that eventually tied both countries economically and culturally. Regarding the statements that were published in a series of interviews with the Atlantic magazine, we are being very cautious regarding the accuracies of the statements. What was said were probably made from a personal point of view.
We don’t see the case as being a shift in policy toward our region.
Al Arabiya: Obama said he believes the GCC and Iran need to “learn to share the neighborhood.” Do you think Iran and its Gulf neighbors can coexist peacefully?
Yes, we’re ready to live with Iran as neighbors as we’ve been doing for ages. Iran is our neighbor even when there are shifting developments in countries in the region... Iran will still remain a neighbor. But without a doubt there have been problems, one longstanding example is the occupation of the Emirati Islands by Iran.
There were moments, however, of good working relationships and we had hoped that they would develop but unfortunately they didn’t materialize.
Al Arabiya English journalist Ismaeel Naar interviews Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. (Al Arabiya)
Al Arabiya: What essential step does Iran need to take to reopen the door for dialogue between your countries?
The first priority Iran needs to take is to widely change its foreign policy towards our region. We have seen Iran capable of shifting its foreign policy with the world and an example of this is when it used to call the US the “great Satan” and it used to have a global network of spies and cells. But now its agreement with the P5+1 has led to a change in their behavior but the only remaining file it needs to change is with the Arab region and it hasn’t yet.
If Iran does not take crucial steps in fixing its behavior, such as working through proxies in the region like Hezbollah and exporting arms to certain countries, then no progress can be made.
Al Arabiya: There have been recent suggestions that Iran took an initiative through Kuwait to open talks with the Gulf countries. We haven’t heard any new updates or comments from your side.
Yes, it’s true that there was an initiative from one of Iran’s officials who sent a letter to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who then forwarded the letter to the GCC leadership with the hope of bringing together officials from both sides. There was efforts from the Kuwaiti Emir to move that initiative forward, which we don’t refuse and none of us do.
However, the day after the invitation was received we heard statements from the Iran’s Supreme Leader against our Kingdom. During the same day, another Iranian senior figure stated that Bahrain had to “be returned to Iran.” Obviously these statements are prevocational in nature. So which side do we listen to?
The door for dialogue with Iran has always been open in the past but recently we had no choice but to cut off diplomatic ties.
Al Arabiya: Why did Bahrain label Hezbollah as a terrorist organization? What was the point in doing so?
We wanted to send a message to Iran and all its followers in the region that we are serious in confronting challenges. That message also includes that we will not hesitate in defending our countries and interests in the region and this issue is vital.
Al Arabiya: Bahrain recently deported several Lebanese citizens from the country for sympathizing and supporting Hezbollah. Should other Lebanese citizens fear that their turn is next?
The Lebanese are not new to our country. Bahrain and Lebanese ties are historical in nature that goes back ages. Lebanon, at one point in history, was the cultural center of the Arab region. But now, that open-minded society and culture is being hijacked by some relations in the country to Iran.
Those who were deported had documented evidence of their relationship with Hezbollah while living in Bahrain. But what we have to be clear about is that we’re talking about several people here and not the majority.
BAHRAIN'S FM ON CURRENT US ELECTIONS
Al Arabiya: Some analysts have said that the GCC has been waging a media and political campaign against Iran and that there are fears it might turn into logistical and militarily after the North Thunder exercises. Are the Gulf sending another message to Iran through that campaign?
The North Thunder exercises is a message to anyone who still thinks that they are capable of hurting the region, and they include Iran as most of our problems come from them. But if you are talking about media campaigns, compare their campaigns against us with how we converse with Iran. We haven’t talked about any of their internal affairs in recent history but they are - on a daily basis - spreading lies and rumors about us.
Al Arabiya: Bahrain recently agreed with the United Kingdom to build a naval base on the island. Is it true that there is an agreement that Britain will aid in defending Bahrain should any foreign aggressive actions take place?
First of all, let me be clear that these are facilities that Bahrain are providing to our allies and are not military bases that are understood generally under international terms. These partnerships with our allies go back ages and its primary goal is to provide maritime stability in the waters surrounding our region. These partnerships also involve counter-terrorism policies.
Al Arabiya: There have been suggestions that the Gulf view the Iranian threat is a greater threat to the Arabs compared to the Israeli threat. Is this your view of the situation?
We have our differences with Israel and Iran. Our differences with Israel is well documented where we are against its occupation of Palestine. We have religious and spiritual relationship with the sacred al-Quds mosque and we have had dialogue about the parameters surrounding the compound.
But our differences with Iran has become a daily occurrence. We wake up every day with a new issue - be it with them supporting terrorism or asking for changes in regimes in the region.
With Israel, we’re constantly trying to find solutions to the problem but with Iran, it’s not the same.
Al Arabiya: So is the Iranian threat great than Israel?
Right now, at this moment in time and history, yes, the Iranian threat is the greatest one based on face value.
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Al Arabiya: Onto the question of the United States elections. Some analysts say the current US foreign policy places the Gulf in an “impossible situation” with the Americans; Should Clinton win, the question begs whether her policies will match those with Obama and his doctrine comments. And should a Republican candidate win, while many promising to “shred the Iran nuclear deal on their first day of office” be better for the Gulf given their widely anti-Muslim rhetoric these days?
Bahrain’s assessment is that it would like to see America go through this process of election year and we will have a new president that we will look forward to working with, whoever the American people choose.
But if you will ask me not as a diplomat but as a person who lived in America, worked in American campaigns – I worked for Mr. Jimmy Carter in 1980 – I’ve never seen what I’m seeing today. What we’re seeing in American presidential campaign today on TV is unprecedented. So let’s wait and see until November to see the outcome.
Al Arabiya: Finally, you are one of a few Arab diplomats who are active on Twitter, amassing more than 250,000 followers in the process. Is this a new form of “high-tech diplomacy”?
In started in 2009, I was talking to the Minister of External Affairs in India Mr. Shashi Tharoor, who was very well known on Twitter then, and he told me about Twitter and I said that it sounded interesting. Twitter today was different than Twitter in 2009. There were only 1,500 Tweeters in Bahrain back then and now there are how many thousands.
It’s not really about high-tech diplomacy but more about moving along when the world develops in its technologies and its tools in getting the world to the people. So in order for us not to be distant from the masses of the people and to get the message clear to them, you’ll have to use the tools that they use.
This is why we’ve been active on Twitter. This is why politicians are reaching out otherwise no one would be listening.