LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 14/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april14.16.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006
Bible Quotations For Today
Very truly, I tell you, whoever
believes has eternal life
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 06/41-47:"Then the Jews
began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from
heaven.’They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven"?’Jesus
answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless
drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last
day. It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God."
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone
has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very
truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life."
Since therefore Christ
suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention
First Letter of Peter 04/01-11:"Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,
arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the
flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no
longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough
time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions,
drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that
you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they
blaspheme. But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to
judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed
even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone
is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. The end of all things is
near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your
prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a
multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good
stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each
of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of
God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God
may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and
the power for ever and ever.:
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on April 14/16
April 13 and no more leapers/Dr. Walid Phares/April 13/16
SSNP involved in unusual Tartous clash: report/Now Lebanon/April 13/16
41 ans après, il est temps de changer/Samir FRANGIÉ/Lorient Le Jour/April 13/16
Europe: Sharia-Compliant Fashion Goes Mainstream/Soeren Kern/Gatestone
Institute/April 13/16
The Islamist Threat To Central Asia/MEMRI/April 13/16
Will Egyptian schools strip religion from curriculum/George
Mikhail/Al-Monitor/April 13/16
Turkey plays both sides in Iran, Saudi conflict/Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/April
13/16
Obama’s doctrine: Half-friends/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/April 13/16
An Iranian canal from the Caspian to the Gulf/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/April
13/16
Children should carry school bags, not AK47s/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/April
13/16
'Panama Papers' expose Arab journalism too/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/April
13/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 14/16
Lebanese Urged to 'Turn the Page' on
Civil War Anniversary
Asiri Meets Hariri, Stresses Need for 'Constructive' Solutions to Crises
Hizbullah on Zaidan Assassination: Part of 'Hidden Hands' Plot for Camps
Rifi Insists on Resignation: Neither Aoun nor Franjieh Will Be Elected President
Israeli Force Violates Blue Line, Tries to Nab Shepherd
Joint Lebanese-Australian Panel to Probe Child Abduction Case
Australian Leader Supports Detained Child Kidnappers in Lebanon
Airport Customs Bust Drug Smuggling Operation
Lebanon Shocked over Sex Trafficking of Young Syrian Women
Maqdah: Assassination of Zaidan Aims to Rattle Sidon's Security
Normal Function Restored after 20-minute Airport System Glitch
Report: Lebanon Delegation to Islamic Summit to Confront Hizbullah, Nagorny
Karabakh Issues
Rahi to Discuss with GCC Diplomats Fate of Lebanese Expats
Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Guns to Buyers in Beirut
U.S. delegate arrives in Beirut
Director General of International Center for Migration Policy Development
confirms Vienna's continuous support for Lebanon
Hariri stresses importance of participation and parity in municipal elections
Moqbel discusses army support with British military officials
April 13 and no more leapers…
SSNP involved in unusual Tartous clash: report
41 ans après, il est temps de changer
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
April 14/16
2016 World Press Freedom Index: a
'deep and disturbing' decline in media freedom
Canadian imams on ISIL hit list for preaching against extremism and steering
Muslims ‘away from jihad’
Dutch Probe Airport Security Scare in Wake of Brussels Bombing
Syria Holds Parliamentary Polls in Regime-Held Areas
More than 100 killed in upsurge in Syria’s Aleppo
Iraq’s parliament meets over PM’s cabinet plans, protesters block streets
Assad departure ruled out ahead of talks
ISIS militant ranks are at ‘lowest level since 2014’
Sisi defends giving Red Sea islands to Saudis
Italian coastguard rescues 4,000 migrants
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for
April 14/16
Muslims using German military as a training ground for jihad.
Spain: Submachine guns, knives, Islamic State flag found at holiday hotspot.
Video: Ex-Muslim Hazem Farraj on why the Islamic State chose its flag.
Spanish police arrest man suspected of arming Paris kosher market jihadi.
Pakistan concerned about rising “Islamophobia” in the West.
Sharia Indonesia: 60-year-old woman caned for selling alcohol in Aceh.
Algerian PM: “Algeria, while fighting terrorism, doesn’t associate it with
Islam”.
Freedom House: Democracy in Europe threatened by “Islamophobia”.
Iran front group: Barring Iraqis & Syrians from visa waivers is “ancestral
discrimination”.
New Mexico: “Understanding Islam” event at Lutheran church spreads falsehoods
about Islam.
FBI top dog: Rise of “Islamophobia” a “concerning issue”.
The Hoax of “Countering Violent Extremism” — on The Glazov Gang.
London: Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar! Kill the Jews” harasses Jewish teens.
NYC: Muslim accused of Islamic State bomb plot pleads guilty to non-terror
charge.
Lebanese Urged to 'Turn the Page' on
Civil War Anniversary
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 13/16/Lebanese newspapers published
front-page appeals Wednesday for readers to "turn the page" on sectarian
divisions that persist more than four decades after the outbreak of the
country's civil war. On April 13, 1975, clashes erupted in Beirut between
Lebanese Christians and Palestinians, marking the beginning of the 15-year war
that left more than 150,000 dead. Although the conflict officially ended in
1990, Lebanon remained plagued by instability, corruption, and bitterly divided
political factions. "April 13: turn the page," read the boldface headline on the
front page of Wednesday's French-language Lebanese daily, L'Orient Le Jour. "The
Lebanese are therefore called to turn the page on conflicts and internal strife,
not to fall into denial... but to adopt an approach based on reconciliation," it
wrote. Lebanon's war ravaged the country and left 17,000 people missing, but an
amnesty allowed many of its key protagonists to subsequently become leading
political figures. Continued rivalries among those figures have paralyzed
government institutions: Lebanon's parliament has twice extended its own mandate
and the presidency has been vacant for nearly two years. Above a composite
picture depicting iconic Lebanese landmarks, cultural events, and ski slopes, An
Nahar also asked its readers on Wednesday to "turn the page". "You're fragmented
and sectarian. You think of your Lebanon... your religious sect, your interests.
So how can you say that you want to turn the page?" read its editorial section.
And al-Mustaqbal encouraged its Lebanese readers to "turn the page again. Let's
build a nation of love and peace." The As Safir daily, which faces possible
closure due to funding challenges, published the same headline alongside a story
about Lebanese women whose sons went missing during the war.
Asiri Meets Hariri, Stresses Need for 'Constructive' Solutions to Crises
Naharnet/April 13/16/Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri held talks on
Wednesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri, who stressed the
need for dialogue among the rival Lebanese factions. He said: “We are counting
on inter-Lebanese dialogue to reach constructive solutions given the difficult
regional and international situation.”He highlighted the depth of Saudi-Lebanese
ties and the kingdom's keenness on the unity of the Lebanese people. “We hope to
see our brothers in Lebanon working for the sake of the higher interests of this
fraternal country,” Asiri stated. The kingdom has encouraged and still
encourages any serious initiative that would end the presidential vacuum in the
country, added the ambassador. Furthermore, he remarked: “The warmth in ties
between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia has not faded and no one can deny the historic
ties that cannot be tarnished.” The Saudi leadership's support for Lebanon and
its people will continue, he vowed. The kingdom earlier this year halted a grant
to the Lebanese army in wake of virulent criticism made by Hizbullah against
Riyadh and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil's abstention from voting in favor of
Arab resolutions condemning attacks against the Saudi embassy in Iran. Riyadh
also issued travel advisories for its citizens, urging them against traveling to
Lebanon. Gulf countries also adopted similar measures.
Hizbullah on Zaidan
Assassination: Part of 'Hidden Hands' Plot for Camps
Naharnet/April 13/16/Hizbullah condemned Wednesday the “vicious” assassination
of Fatah Movement top official Fathi Zaidan in Sidon on Tuesday, warning that it
is “part of a scheme” that is being plotted against the Palestinian refugee
camps and the neighboring areas. “This criminal operation is part of the scheme
that is being plotted by hidden hands for the camps and their surroundings in
Sidon and the South,” the party warned in a statement. “This requires vigilance
and the highest levels of awareness and wisdom, in addition to full coordination
with Lebanese security forces, topped by the Lebanese army, in order to foil
this criminal plot,” Hizbullah added. Zaidan, Fatah's most senior official in
the southern Mieh Mieh camp, was killed Tuesday when an explosive device planted
in a car he was driving went off in the southern city of Sidon near the entrance
of the restive Ain el-Hilweh camp. Hizbullah called on Lebanese authorities to
“exert utmost efforts to identify the criminals and take the severest legal
measures against them to prevent them from continuing their crimes and tampering
with the security of our people in the camp.”“This would protect the Palestinian
brothers and entire Lebanon from the threats emanating from these crimes,” the
party added. More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the
U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, and many live in squalid conditions in 12
official camps. The camps are administered by Palestinian officials and security
forces, rather than the Lebanese authorities. In recent years, tensions have
risen between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the Jund
al-Sham Islamist group, especially in the Ain el-Hilweh camp near Sidon. The
rival factions in Ain el-Hilweh have clashed several times in the past year,
with each side accusing each other of assassination attempts.
Ain el-Hilweh has become the scene of score-settling between several factions,
and a breeding ground for extremist groups that have flourished on the back of
the poverty afflicting the camp.
Rifi Insists on Resignation:
Neither Aoun nor Franjieh Will Be Elected President
Naharnet/April 13/16/Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stressed Wednesday
that he will not reverse his decision on resigning from Prime Minister Tammam
Salam's government. “I insist on my resignation and I will not reverse my
decision because I no longer belong to the current government,” said Rifi in an
interview with MTV. The minister had submitted his resignation in protest at the
government's procrastination in referring the case of ex-minister Michel Samaha
to the Judicial Council and at Hizbullah's verbal attacks against Saudi Arabia
and other Gulf states. Rifi accused Hizbullah of blocking his efforts to
transfer the case against Samaha to the Judicial Council – Lebanon's highest
court – after the Military Court issued a controversial ruling to release him on
bail during a retrial. The ex-minister was later sentenced to 13 years in prison
with hard labor. Samaha was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting
to carry out terrorist acts over accusations that he and Syrian security
services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and
assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon. Rifi resumed his
duties as justice minister in mid-March by signing the ministry's mail and
following up on its files, although without being present at the ministry
building and despite the fact that Minister of the Displaced Alice Shabtini had
assumed duties as acting justice minister. According to legal experts, the
acceptance of Rifi's resignation requires a decree signed by the president of
the republic in addition to the PM's approval, the thing that is not possible
amid the current presidential vacuum. Separately, Rifi declared Wednesday that
neither Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun nor Marada Movement chief
MP Suleiman Franjieh will become president, citing “information” he has
obtained. The minister also floated the idea that the U.N.-backed Special
Tribunal for Lebanon could summon Franjieh, “at least as a witness.”“Franjieh
bears at least moral responsibility seeing as ex-PM Rafik Hariri was
assassinated during his tenure as interior minister” in 2005, Rifi told MTV.
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. Ex-PM Saad Hariri, the leader of the al-Mustaqbal
movement that nominated Rifi for the justice ministry, launched late in 2015 a
proposal to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected
by the country's main Christian parties 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.
Israeli Force Violates Blue
Line, Tries to Nab Shepherd
Naharnet/April 13/16/An Israeli army force crossed the line of withdrawal, or
Blue Line, in the South on Wednesday and attempted to kidnap a Lebanese
shepherd, the Lebanese army said. “Around 12:25 pm, a three-member foot patrol
belonging to the Israeli enemy violated the line of withdrawal by 30 meters in
the Burkat al-Naqqar area in the outskirts of the town of Shebaa,” an army
statement said. The force withdrew to northern Israel after “failing to abduct a
Lebanese shepherd,” the army added. Lebanese “army units took the appropriate
measures on the ground and are coordinating with the United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) over the aforementioned violation,” the army said.
Such incidents are frequent in that border area and Israeli forces have abducted
several Lebanese shepherds in recent years who were all released after
interrogation. Tensions have been high along the Lebanese-Israeli border since
late 2015, especially in the Shebaa area, which witnessed a Hizbullah attack on
an Israeli patrol in response to Israel's assassination in Syria of Hizbullah
top operative Samir al-Quntar.
Joint Lebanese-Australian
Panel to Probe Child Abduction Case
Naharnet/April 13/16/A joint Australian-Lebanese commission has been set up to
examine a controversial child abduction case in which several Australian
nationals have been charged, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil announced
Wednesday. Lebanese authorities on Tuesday charged Australian mother Sally
Faulkner and four employees of Australia's Channel Nine television over the
abduction of her two children last week.Bassil met with Australia's ambassador
Glenn Miles and said a joint committee would "resolve the legal crisis in the
custody case of the two children,", Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Faulkner has said the children's Lebanese father, from whom she is divorced,
took them for a holiday to Beirut and then allegedly refused to return them to
Australia. She had reportedly been working with a child recovery agency to bring
back the children, and the Channel Nine "60 Minutes" crew was recording the
operation. Faulkner and the crew, along with two Britons and two Lebanese
nationals, were preliminarily charged on Tuesday and are facing further
questioning. Both children, who Australian media said are a six-year-old girl
and a four-year-old boy, are now with their father in a southern Beirut suburb.
Bassil said he was working to ensure "the case takes its legal course in
accordance with Lebanese laws." But he pledged to take into consideration
Faulkner's "claim to her two children on the one hand, and on the other, the
case of the journalists who were trying to get a scoop."A statement from Channel
Nine on Tuesday confirmed that its journalists were faced with "being charged
with offenses related to kidnapping."It named the crew members as reporter Tara
Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David
Ballment. A spokeswoman for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the
allegations would now be considered by an investigative judge. A grainy video of
the incident released by Lebanon's al-Jadeed television showed the children
walking with an elderly person said to be their grandmother. Several figures
jump out of a nearby car and carry the children into the vehicle, which then
speeds off.
Australian Leader Supports
Detained Child Kidnappers in Lebanon
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 13/16/Australian government was providing
top-level consular support to an Australian television crew facing charges after
being caught up in a mother's bungled child-snatching attempt in Lebanon,
Australia's prime minister said on Wednesday. An Australian mother, a
four-member TV crew from Nine Network, two British agents from the Britain-based
Child Abduction Recovery International company, known as CARI, and two Lebanese
men have been in police custody since two Lebanese-Australian siblings Lahala,
6, and Noah, 4, were snatched from a South Beirut bus stop last week in a bid to
smuggle them out of the country. Prosecutor Claude Karam on Tuesday charged the
nine with kidnapping and referred them to an investigative judge who will decide
whether they will be referred to court for trial, state-run National News Agency
reported. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday that Australia's
foreign minister had raised the case with her Lebanese counterpart and
Australia's ambassador in Beirut was personally overseeing consular efforts to
support the TV crew. "We understand that the prosecutor has recommended charges
be laid against the '60 Minutes' crew and we'll be working very closely with ...
our officials on the ground ... to ensure their welfare is looked after,"
Turnbull told Perth Radio 6PR. Turnbull declined to say whether he thought the
TV crew was foolish to get involved in a child custody dispute in Lebanon. "I
won't make any comment on the case, but I just make the observation that
wherever you are in the world, you have to be very clear about recognizing that
you must comply with the local laws," Turnbull said. "Where children are
involved in a foreign jurisdiction such as Lebanon, it is the local courts — not
the Australian government and much less private citizens — who make decisions
about child custody," he said. The Australian mother said the children's
Lebanese father Ali al-Amin took them from their home in Brisbane city to Beirut
on a holiday last year and never returned. The network said its crew was in
Beirut to film and interview the mother after she was reunited with her
children. The network will not say whether it paid CARI to snatch the children
after grabbing from their grandmother in the area of Hadath south of Beirut to
smuggle them out of Lebanon by boat.
Airport Customs Bust Drug
Smuggling Operation
Naharnet/April 13/16/The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that customs
authorities at Beirut’s airport have thwarted one of the biggest drug smuggling
operations in Lebanon after seizing 31 kilograms of cocaine. The ministry said
that customs officers found the cocaine hidden in the bags of a Lebanese man who
had arrived to Rafik Hariri International Airport from Brazil via Abu Dhabi. The
cocaine was placed in 29 packs in two bags, it said. The suspect who was
identified by his initials as A.J. was arrested and the drugs were seized and
handed over to the anti-drug unit, the ministry’s statement added.
Lebanon Shocked over Sex Trafficking of Young Syrian Women
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 13/16/Back in Syria, the young women were told
they would get well-paid jobs at restaurants and hotels in Lebanon. But when
they arrived, their belongings and mobile phones were taken away, and the women
were locked up in two hotels north of Beirut and forced into prostitution. What
followed was an ordeal of beatings, torture and abuse — until Lebanese security
forces raided the hotels and dismantled the operation in late March. The
discovery of the sex trafficking ring and the rescue of the women deeply shocked
Lebanon, a nation already overwhelmed by the influx of more than a million
Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war, and prompted calls for
investigation. The case, which involves 75 female victims, is considered the
worst sex trafficking scandal in Lebanon in decades and has raised questions
about who might have shielded and enabled such a vast network. When they were
found in the Chez Maurice and Silver Hotel in the town of Maamelteine, 20
kilometers north of the Lebanese capital, the women were said to have been in
miserable condition. The three-story Chez Maurice looked more like a jail than a
hotel when it was recently visited by an Associated Press crew, with bars on
balconies and windows. A whip was seen lying on one of the guard tables. The
premises have been sealed off and official documents were stamped on the gates,
barring entry. The Syrian women were brought to Lebanon in stages over the past
several months. Those who refused to work as prostitutes were repeatedly raped
and tortured until they submitted, according to Lebanese women's rights
activists. "Some reported that they were forced to have sex with 20 clients per
day," said Maya al-Ammar, an official with women's rights group Kafa, which is
Arabic for "Enough."
After the women were freed, the Health Ministry sealed a clinic belonging to
gynecologist Riad al-Alam, who authorities say was involved in preforming
abortions for trafficked Syrian women who got pregnant. Health Minister Wael
Abou Faour said the doctor "should be in prison where he should rot." Al-Alam's
license has been revoked by a medical workers' union. Al-Ammar, the women's
rights activist, said some 200 abortions were carried out at the clinic, though
she did not provide the source for the data. The case of the trafficked Syrians
went public after police raided the two hotels and freed the women. Lebanese
police spokesman Col. Joseph Musallem said several guards, both male and female,
were detained but the two ringleaders remain at large. According to Musallem,
police got the first lead on March 25, the Good Friday holiday in Lebanon, when
four Syrian women managed to flee from one of the hotels when the guards briefly
became lax in monitoring them. They took a minibus to an area in south Beirut,
where one of them told the bus driver that she knew some people. On the way, the
driver noticed something odd about the women and started asking questions after
which they told him their story, Musallem said. The driver called the police and
the women were taken to a police station near Beirut. Police then started
monitoring the hotels and on March 27 stormed the two buildings, detaining eight
guards and setting the women free. After being questioned by police, some women
left on their own while 35 decided to go to women's shelters where they have
been getting psychological treatment, according to Musallem and al-Ammar.
Although Lebanon is one of the least conservative countries in the Arab world,
prostitution is illegal, and foreigners can be deported for engaging in it. But
the implementation of the law has been lax.
"Syrian refugee men, women, and children in Lebanon are at risk of sex
trafficking," said a U.S. State Department report issued last year. "Syrian
girls are brought to Lebanon for prostitution, sometimes through the guise of
early marriage."The Associated Press was not allowed to interview any of the
victims, and was told by non-government organizations helping the women that
they are still in treatment and would prefer not to talk for fear of the
ringleaders, who are still at large. Sandy Issa, a Lebanese investigative
journalist who was able to interview some of the 75 victims, said their stories
were like "something out of a horror movie." The traffickers exploited personal
tragedies back in Syria, such as the death of a parent, promising a victim she
would have a "respected job" and a "decent salary," Issa said. The women
recounted how they could not go outside the building, "unless they were getting
out for an abortion," Issa added. "The prostitution was obligatory."Lebanese
security officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to discuss the case, estimate the gang was making more than
a $1 million a month from the prostitution ring. After leading Lebanese
politician Walid Jumblat suggested someone in the police might have been
involved in protecting the ring, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq ordered an
investigation. Last Saturday, dozens of Lebanese rallied outside the Ministry of
Justice in Beirut, demanding that those behind the trafficking be brought to
justice and punished. "We came here to say that we won't allow this to happen,"
said one of the protesters, who would not give her name, fearing repercussions
from the authorities. "Bring all these criminals to justice!"
Maqdah: Assassination of
Zaidan Aims to Rattle Sidon's Security
Naharnet/April 13/16/Head of the joint Palestinian security force in Lebanon
Munir al-Maqdah said on Wednesday that the assassination of Fathi Zaidan a day
earlier aims to shake the city of Sidon's security and trigger conflict in the
Mieh Mieh refugee camp. “The assassination of Zaidan targets the safety of the
(refugee) camps and the safety of the city of Sidon,” said al-Maqdah to the
Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).“So far we have no information on the side
responsible for the assassination,” he added. “There are some attempts to move
the conflict from Ain al-Hilweh to the camp of Mieh Mieh which is known for
being a peaceful one,” he stated. “We have meetings with the Lebanese army on a
weekly basis in order to fortify the security position.”Zaidan, a senior
Palestinian official with the mainstream Fatah Movement, was killed on Tuesday
in a car bombing in the southern city of Sidon. The bombing which went off in
Ain el-Hilweh injured four others, including two bodyguards. Zaidan, who goes by
the nom de guerre of Zoro, is the security official with Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group in Mieh Mieh. Fatah gunmen have recently clashed with
Islamic extremists in Ain el-Hilweh, the largest of 12 refugee camps in
Lebanon.Ain el-Hilweh has become the scene of score-settling between several
factions, and a breeding ground for extremist groups that have flourished on the
back of the poverty afflicting the camp. Lebanon is home to some 400,000
Palestinians.
Normal Function Restored
after 20-minute Airport System Glitch
Naharnet/April 13/16/A computer system malfunction at the Beirut Airport on
Wednesday quickly restored normalcy without affecting the air traffic at the
terminal. The electronic system at the Rafik Hariri International Airport was
down for almost twenty minutes before it restored normal functions without
affecting the flights activity. Head of the Beirut airport Fadi al-Hassan said
in a statement: “Media outlets and the social media have circulated on Wednesday
information on the failure of the computer system at the clearance desks of
departing passengers which developed some congestion.” “The airport management
confirms that what happened was only a partial glitch of one of the computer
systems of an airline operating at the airport and that lasted for a few
minutes. The passengers bags were manually registered similar to what happens at
world airports without any delay to be mentioned,” he added. Hassan concluded by
voicing hopes on media outlets “to be accurate and report responsibly before
publishing information that could affect the airport's reputation.”He urged them
to contact the airport's management or the National News Agency media office
located at the terminal before broadcasting news in order to ensure the validity
and accuracy of the information.
Report: Lebanon Delegation to
Islamic Summit to Confront Hizbullah, Nagorny Karabakh Issues
Naharnet/April 13/16/The Lebanese delegation to the Islamic conference taking
place in Turkey this week is expected to confront attempts to label Hizbullah a
terrorist group and recommendations to help Azerbaijan put the disputed Nagorny
Karabakh region under its control. The Lebanese delegation, led by Prime
Minister Tammam Salam, will try to stop labeling Hizbullah a terrorist
organization at the two-day Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit that
takes place Thursday. But diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria daily published
Wednesday that a new issue emerged on Tuesday when the Armenian Tashnag Party
urged Salam to be cautious about Azerbaijan’s attempt to draw the OIC’s support
for its claims of sovereignty on Nagorny Karabakh. Tashnag Secretary-General MP
Hagop Pakradounian visited Salam and discussed with him the matter, said the
sources. The premier promised him to carry out the necessary contacts with
Lebanese officials participating in the preparatory meetings for the OIC summit
to clarify Lebanon’s stance from the issue, they said. Armenia-backed
separatists seized control of Nagorny Karabakh, which is located inside
Azerbaijan's territory but populated mainly by Armenians, in an early 1990s war
that claimed some 30,000 lives. It ended in 1994 with a ceasefire. A
Moscow-mediated truce went into effect on Tuesday after the worst outbreak of
violence since the 1990s, but some clashes have continued. The flare-up of
recent weeks has left at least 92 people dead.
Rahi to Discuss with GCC
Diplomats Fate of Lebanese Expats
Naharnet/April 13/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is expected to discuss with
the Ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council the status of Lebanese
expatriates in Gulf states, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. The
newspaper quoted sources as saying that the Cardinal will invite the diplomats
to Bkirki on Thursday as part of routine meetings that he holds with the
representatives of regional and international powers. The sources said that
Thursday’s “meeting is very important because it comes following the tension in
Lebanese-Gulf ties” after Saudi Arabia halted $4 billion of assistance to the
Lebanese army and security forces, and GCC states labeled Hizbullah a terrorist
organization. Al-Rahi will discuss with the ambassadors “the conditions of
Lebanese in the Arab Gulf and will ask about their fate,” they said, adding that
the expatriates “should be protected because they have nothing to do with the
political tension.”The patriarch is also expected to discuss with the diplomats
Lebanon’s political deadlock caused by the vacuum at the helm of the country’s
top Christian post, the sources told al-Joumhouria. The Foreign Ministry said on
Sunday that reports of Lebanese nationals being deported from Gulf countries are
being exaggerated. According to the Ministry, there are only 74 cases that
include expulsion, deportation and non-renewal of residency permits for various
reasons including Lebanese groups working or residing in these countries. In
March, reports have said that around 1,100 Lebanese and Syrian nationals were to
be banned from renewing their residence permits in Kuwait for having direct
links to Hizbullah. The Gulf Arab states blacklisted Hizbullah as a terrorist
group earlier that month. Around 50,000 Lebanese live and work in the oil-rich
Arab countries, providing remittances that are vital to the domestic economy.
Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Guns to Buyers in Beirut
Associated Press/Naharnet/U.S. authorities have said that an Ohio man has
pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge related to the sale of 300 guns,
including 11 destined for Beirut.Forty-eight-year-old Richfield Township
resident Timothy Cassinger pleaded guilty Tuesday in Akron to a single count of
unlicensed gun dealing.He remains free on bond. His attorney declined to
comment. An affidavit from an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives says Cassinger sold guns online and at gun shows. The
affidavit says an undercover ATF agent bought guns from Cassinger, some of which
were taken from suspected criminals by police.Authorities said the Beirut guns
were confiscated in Spain and were sold by Cassinger to a man under
investigation by the ATF and the FBI Joint Terrorism
U.S. delegate arrives in
Beirut
Wed 13 Apr 2016/NNA - U.S. delegate, James O'Brian, has arrived in Beirut coming
from Dubai within the frame of an official visit to the country, NNA field
reporter said on Wednesday evening.
Director General of
International Center for Migration Policy Development confirms Vienna's
continuous support for Lebanon
Wed 13 Apr 2016/NNA - Michael Spindelegger, the Director General of the
International Center for Migration Policy Development in Vienna, on Wednesday
said after visiting Prime Minister Tammam Salam and other Lebanese officials
that it was highly essential to keep providing Lebanon with European and
international support facing the ramifications of the Syrian crisis. "Efforts
should be exerted in an attempt to resolve the main causes of the Syrian crisis,
and in a bid to end this calamity and ensure a safe and dignified return of
Syrian refugees to their homeland," Spindelegger said, confirming his country's
continuous support for Lebanon. He expressed an intention to employ his good
relations with EU institutions so as to provide the Lebanese government with its
most pressing needs. Spindelegger's political tour in Lebanon included visits to
many Lebanese officials including Labor Minister, Sejaan Azzi, Social Affairs
Minister, Rashid Derbas, head of the EU Commission to Lebanon, Christina Lassen,
and Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nouhad Mashnouk.
Hariri stresses importance of
participation and parity in municipal elections
Wed 13 Apr 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri received this evening at
the "Center House" the "Beirut Development Conference", in the presence of the
General Coordinator of the Conference MP Mohammad Kabbani and MPs Atef Majdalani,
Hani Kubaisi, Jean Oghassapian, Ammar Houry, Serge Torsarkissian and Sebouh
Kalbakian, former MPs Salim Diab and Mohamed Amine Itani, former Minister Hassan
al-Sabeh, mayor of Beirut Bilal Hamad and members of the municipal council,
president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Beirut
Mohammed Choucair, mayors of the capital, head of Press Federation Aouni Kaaki
and Beiruti figures. MP Kabbani thanked Premier Hariri for hosting the Beirut
Development Conference "which is practically the Beirut popular parliament,
consisting of elected bodies, MPs, municipal council, mayors, economic bodies,
syndicates, associations and others."Hariri said: "Beirut was the beloved city
of Rafic Hariri and his house even before he worked in politics. His eye was on
Beirut since the eighties, he came to it to work and began his political career
with you, the people of Beirut, he martyred in Beirut, and we are continuing
this path. There is no doubt that the development of Beirut is for us the goal
and the foundation to be able to enhance this capital, amidst the capitals that
are collapsing around us every day. Thankfully, we were able to preserve Beirut
and Lebanon amid the surrounding storms, our primary goal is to see a new
economic growth and real development, so that the Lebanese can live in dignity
without needing anyone. This was the main idea of Rafic Hariri, development to
give people jobs so that they can improve their lives.
During eleven years after the martyrdom of Rafic Hariri, we have only seen
attacks against each idea of Rafic Hariri, starting from the center of Beirut,
Solidere, right down to trying to thwart the determination of the people of
Beirut. But they are capable to develop their city. There is no doubt that
during this difficult, Beirut was affected by negative factors, especially the
tension and division, which led to a significant decline in the scope of
services. Our duty, as a political movement, and mine, as Saad Hariri, is to
give hope to the people. Beirut was much worse than it is today when Rafic
Hariri took charge of it. Now we just have to see how we can bring stability to
the country, and I am confident that with the election of the president and the
nomination of a new government, we will see the extent of hope that the people
have and how much they are able to do in this country, and Beirut's ability to
recover its position among the capitals of the world." He added: "Beirut's light
will not be dimmed, it will permanently remain lit, I highly believe in this and
that our project is the only one able to develop the country, and we will
hopefully work together with the people of Beirut and its young men and women
and we will be able to develop the country. There are many challenges and
problems, but that does not mean that we are not up to them.
Some might ask what are our achievements, we say if we look around us and we see
the extent of the storms that devastated the surrounding countries, Egypt ,
Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, or elsewhere, we realize we are in the heart of
this area but we managed to preserve the country and our unity and avoided being
drawn into sectarian fighting, and that is something we are proud of. We also
succeeded in saying that moderation is the solution and not extremism.
Nevertheless, it is time to elect a president, and now we have municipal
elections in all of Lebanon, and this is healthy for us, for Beirut and all
Lebanese areas because it brings some new blood. Hopefully I will stay with you
in Beirut, but as Rafic Hariri used to say, it is forbidden to lose hope, with
hope only can we can restore Beirut to how it was". Then there was a discussion
between Hariri and the guests that focused on the demands of the capital and its
problems, like establishing a central vegetable market, a modern garbage
treatment factory, non-stop electricity, in addition to providing Beirut with
drinking water from new sources and organizing the streets in the capital.
Hariri reiterated that "we are serious about the municipal elections, all the
preparations are taking place, and we ask the citizens to vote to elect their
representatives, whether in Beirut or in all the Lebanese regions". He added:
"These elections are very important for us, and we emphasize on parity between
Muslims and Christians, which we consider as a part of the legacy of Rafic
Hariri, and we must preserve it, especially in Beirut, which paid dearly to
consecrate this equation. Rafic Hariri was killed in Beirut because he was keen
on the capital, on parity and on coexistence, in deeds not in words".
Answering a question, Hariri said: "The problem is that some praise the
constitution in their speeches and positions, and do not abide by it in their
practices and political behavior. Sometimes they declares their adherence to the
Constitution and sometimes they disable it by not going to the parliament to
elect a president. Then they go to Yemen and other countries to fight without an
authorization from any Lebanese group, as "Hezbollah" is doing".
Premier Hariri talked about the parliamentary electoral law, and said: "The
problem is not the law but the mentality and the logic. We went to the "Doha"
conference and we agreed on an integrated basket of the controversial issues,
including the 1960 law. The last elections happened on the basis of the 1960
law, and we won the elections. Then the law that they called for, no longer
pleased them, so they asked to change it. We do not refuse changing the law, and
we agreed with the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party on a
draft law that combines the proportional system and the majority system, but
they refuse to examine it because they are unhappy with this law. And I wonder
how some of our allies, who won the elections with us, want to change the law".
Asked if the sons of Beirut are frustrated, and lack enthusiasm to participate
in the upcoming parliamentary elections, he said: "Some say that we were
frustrated and despaired. I personally, with everything I faced since
February14th 2005 , did not lose hope and never will. The ones who will lose
hope are the ones trying to take the country to where they want, because we will
confront them and will make them lose hope. They want to take Beirut and swallow
it, but Beirut cannot be swallowed, it is bigger than all of us. At the same
time we say, we can only live together." Hariri received a delegation from the
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, headed by Nicole
Roselle. Discussion focused on the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Moqbel discusses army support
with British military officials
Wed 13 Apr 2016/NNA - Minister of National Defense, Samir Moqbel, held a series
of talks during his London visit on Wednesday, over the support for the Lebanese
army and the means to develop military cooperation to fight terrorism.
Moqbel met in London with his British counterpart Michael Fallon, Chief of the
Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces Nicholas Houghton, and Defence Senior
Adviser for the Middle East Lieutenant General Tom Beckett. Moqbel hailed the
position of the British government, thanking it for what it has promised to
offer to the Lebanese army.
April 13 and no more
leapers…
Dr. Walid Phares/April 13/16
On Sunday April 13, 1975 I was on my way to buy Maamoul from Ward's ice cream
shop in Furn el Hayeck, Ashrafieh. I learned that some major shooting took place
in Ain el Remmaneh. Looping via Tabaris to come back to my home on Shehade
Street, I saw a lone man in olive green uniform with an AK 47 looking serious
and standing in the middle of the street in front of the al Jareeda building. He
was not a soldier from the Lebanese Army. At the time I was in high school at
the Lycee Francais. I asked him, what's going on?
He looked at me with a severe facial expression and said "ma fine' ellak." Then
he added: "rouh 3al beit, ahsan." I asked again if he knew anything about the
Ain el Remmaneh shootings and if it was between the PLO and the Kataeb. He had
no idea that at my young age I had already a pretty good knowledge about the
history of the country and the politics of the community. That I knew the name
and the evolution of every group within the PLO, the National Movement and the
ideology of each regime in the region. That I had read all books available on
Arab nationalism, Marxism, and Lebanon, as well as on Arab and Meditarrenean
history, in my brother's library.
He was standing proud with his machine gun and his fatigues as if Khaled Ibn el
Walid was about to erupt from Sodeco. But he couldn't tell the teenager I was
then, what was going on. How to blame him? It was the political culture then.
From 1943 to 1975 Lebanon's real, deep history was eradicated in the civil
education books. Only the leftwing and the Arab nationalists had a comprehensive
narrative that was constructed logically. But it was wrong when it came to the
identity of the country and its communities. The rightwing parties used not more
than six to seven terms, including the "6000 years of history" and "love it or
leave it." Beyond that it was zajal and poetry. Only Said Aql offered some
insights on a Phoenician linked Lebanese nationalism, but it was all about Gods
and Goddesses, Melkart and Adonis. The Islamist ideology was hidden deep
somewhere inside Tripoli and Saida, while the progressives intellectuals where
en vogue sipping espressos at Hamra's cafes.
Lebanon's pluralist identity was neutered in 1920, 1926 and 1943. My brother and
I had to go to hidden archives of our great uncle Father Joseph Phares who
advised Bishop Ignace Mubarak in the 1940s, and who had Fuad Afram Bustany,
Edouard Honein and at times Charles Malek as students. They used references to
Paul Noujaim's works from 1905. My brother Sami read Reverend Phares' archives
and I spent many hours with Fuad Afram Bustany later. We knew what was going on,
years before April 1975. We saw it coming. We warned about it. We met Bashir in
1973. Many have felt it coming but we placed it in its historical context. We
were too young to play the adults and few took us seriously.
It was so depressing that we had to write graffiti on the walls of Beirut to
wake up the unconscious people around us before the great explosion of April.
Sami called for a federal system or a political resolution to the identity
crisis already in 1970 while he was a first year law student. He wanted our
beautiful mother country to avoid the conflict. He was treated as a strange
marginal little guy.
That morning in Tabaris at the sight of that young militiaman armed to the teeth
and ready to enter a war he had no idea about, explained it all to me. An entire
country was heading towards the cliff. Communities were being mobilized to
engage in a conflict with no horizons. Those who were sophisticated had it wrong
and those who were too simple woke up late. The rest is as you know it and as
many among us lived it.
Today in April 13, 2016, the time distance between today’s Lebanon and the one
of 1975 is forty one years. More than the time distance between the year of
independence in 1943 and the year when the conflict erupted. More years were
spent at war, conflict and under occupation than under a peaceful and
independent Lebanon: 43 versus 32.
Every year an April 13 is remembered the Lebanon of memories is fading away.
Either a leap or a slow fall…But are there leapers in the mother country?
SSNP involved in unusual
Tartous clash: report
Now Lebanon/April 13/16
BEIRUT – A rare firefight erupted in the regime’s coastal of bastion of Tartous,
with a report indicating that the armed wing of the pro-Assad Syrian Social
Nationalist Party (SSNP) had clashed with local security forces. Overnight
Saturday, a pro-Assad news outlet based in the region posted an alarmist news
update asking if “lawlessness has moved to Tartous.” The Syrian Coast News
Network Facebook page explained that a clash had erupted between “two groups of
young men near the University of Tartous’s Faculty of Medicine.”“The competent
authorities are out of reach,” the group said while demanding to know “who is
responsible” for the fight they claim left one person dead. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights also covered the fighting, reporting that two armed
groups fought near the city’s Faculty of Medicine. However, the NGO did not
identify the belligerent parties, saying only that one person was killed while a
number of others were injured. The pro-Assad Tartous Today online outlet
identified the man killed in the fighting as Wassim Jadid, adding cryptically
that the clash was between a “group of young outlaws.” A death notice for Jadid
hinted that the clash pitted the Syrian army, or local security services,
against a pro-regime militia. The Tartous Khabar Facebook page explained that
Jadid—a soldier in the Syrian army—was shot to death by a “criminal” member of a
local unit of the National Defense Force, an auxiliary force for the regime’s
regular armed forces.
Dubai-based Al-Aan television reported that the clashes took place near a
recruiting center for the SSNP’s Eagles of the Whirlwind, the armed wing of the
party that is fighting on a number of fronts in Syria. “The fighting stopped
after security forces encircled the neighborhood… resulting in the death of two
Eagles of the Whirlwind members,” the network claimed. The station quoted two
residents of the city who both said that the fighting involved the SSNP’s
militia. “It is difficult for us to guess what happened, it could have been
infighting among members of the Eagles of the Whirlwind militia, or it may be a
clash between members of the security forces and the ‘Whirlwind’ because of the
ongoing transgressions of elements of the militia in the neighborhood,” one of
the residents, identified only as Assem, said. Al-Aan further claimed that a
number of SSNP members had been “dragged to an unknown location,” without going
into further details. The SSNP has made no mention of the event, while state
media has also remained mum on the incident, the latest instance of lawlessness
to rock Syria’s coastal heartland.
Coastal lawlessness
Militias and criminal gangs in Tartous and Latakia have acted with growing
impunity, kidnapping residents and stealing cars as complaints over lack of
security continue to mount. In late March, a group of men affiliated with the
pro-regime Desert Falcons militia opened fire on a police station in Latakia
after one of their cars had been impounded. The incident followed on the heels
of the kidnapping of a young man in downtown Latakia, the latest crime to spark
anger among residents of the city, which witnessed protests last year after a
resident of President Bashar al-Assad gunned down a Syrian army officer.
Armed militias have even gone as far as fighting security forces around Tartous.
In September 2015, members of National Defense Force chief Ahmad al-Houry’s
militia killed two policemen in a clash in the nearby Alawite town of Dreikish.
The Dreikish incident came weeks after NDF gunmen opened fire on residents in
the town of Safita, which is populated by a nearly equal mix of Greek Orthodox
and Alawites, approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Tartous. A pro-regime
Facebook page covering news in the town roundly condemned the incident and
called for a government crackdown.
“We call on the competent authorities to put an end to this chaos which is
increasing day after day,” a post on the pro-regime Safita News Network read.
The outlet demanded that the government “restrict [weapons] to the army and the
armed forces alone.”Only a week before the Saifta shooting, four Christian men
were kidnapped from the nearby town Khreibat by unknown gunmen, sparking tension
among the town’s residents. NOW’s English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola)
wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language source material.
SSNP fighters. The fighting stopped after security forces encircled the
neighborhood… resulting in the death of two Eagles of the Whirlwind members.
41 ans après,
il est temps de changer
Samir FRANGIÉ, ancien député | 13/04/2016
Lorient Le Jour
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/980655/41-ans-apres-il-est-temps-de-changer.html
41 ans après le 13 avril 1975, nous vivons toujours dans la crainte d'une
reprise de la guerre, avec un État qui ne parvient même plus à assurer la
continuité de ses institutions, une économie fragilisée par la crise avec les
pays du Golfe et les mesures financières adoptées contre le Hezbollah, un
chômage en progression et une crise sociale qui s'aggrave de jour en jour.
41 ans après le 13 avril 1975, les partis communautaires qui ont mené la guerre
sont toujours au pouvoir, paralysant l'action de l'État qui s'est retrouvé, à
cause de la corruption et du clientélisme pratiqués au nom de la « défense des
droits communautaires », incapable d'assurer les besoins les plus élémentaires
de sa société comme en témoigne la crise des déchets.
41 ans après le 13 avril 1975, la culture de la violence et de l'exclusion qui
repose sur l'opposition entre « eux » et « nous » est toujours dominante. Elle
génère une violence qui menace désormais l'ensemble de la région et commence à
s'étendre à l'Europe et à l'Afrique.
Pour tourner la page de ces 41 années de guerres chaudes et froides, la bataille
à mener est culturelle avant que d'être politique. Nous ne pourrons faire face à
la culture de la violence et de l'exclusion qui est aujourd'hui largement
dominante que si nous lui opposons une autre culture, une culture de la paix et
du vivre-ensemble.
Il nous faut pour cela sortir de nos ghettos communautaires jalousement gardés
par les partis de la guerre, refonder notre vivre-ensemble aux conditions de
l'État, et non plus aux conditions de nos différentes communautés, et jeter les
bases d'un État civil où la loi qui est l'expression de la volonté générale est
la même pour tous, où la justice est indépendante du pouvoir politique, où le
citoyen peut choisir de n'être plus régi par un statut personnel religieux, mais
civil, où la religion n'est pas instrumentalisée à des fins politiques, où la
femme n'est plus victime de mesures discriminatoires...
Ce changement ne peut pas être l'œuvre de la classe politique empêtrée dans ses
luttes pour le pouvoir. Il ne peut être initié que par les forces nouvelles qui
commencent à émerger au niveau de la société civile et qui, contrairement aux
partis traditionnels, fonctionnent sur un mode horizontal et décentralisé qui
permet une meilleure expression du ras-le-bol d'une large frange de la
population.
Les cartes politiques dont elles disposent sont importantes, à commencer par
l'accord de Taëf qui, s'il avait été mis en application, aurait mis fin à la
communautarisation de la vie politique et ouvert la voie à l'établissement d'un
État civil, et la résolution 1701 des Nations unies qui prévoit la reprise par
l'État du monopole de la force qu'il avait perdu avec l'accord du Caire en 1969.
Reste pour ces forces de la société civile à réfléchir à de nouvelles formes
d'action nécessairement non violentes, basées sur des valeurs qui relèvent de la
relation à l'autre, comme la solidarité, l'entraide, l'empathie...
Le vivre-ensemble est devenu aujourd'hui une condition à notre survie. « Nous
devons apprendre à vivre ensemble comme des frères, sinon nous allons mourir
tous ensemble comme des idiots. »
41 ans après le 13 avril 1975, cette phrase de Martin Luther King que j'ai
souvent citée demeure d'une actualité brûlante.
Lire aussi, dans notre spécial
Commémoration du 13 avril 1975 : Le silence pervers de l'oubli
Les familles des disparus attachées à « leur droit à la vérité »
Disparus de la guerre civile : s'ils pouvaient témoigner
Des élèves venus des « deux côtés du pont » tissent des liens
et les tribunes
La « mithaqia » au service des armes, par Hassane RIFAÏ Avocat
Une paix à reconstruire, par le général Khalil HÉLOU, vice-président de « Liban
Message »
La guerre du dedans, par Hanine GHADDAR, rédactrice en chef du site NOW
2016 World
Press Freedom Index: a 'deep and disturbing' decline in media freedom
Wed 13 Apr 2016/NNA - The 2016 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) will publish on 20 April, shows that there has
been a deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the
global and regional levels. Ever since the 2013 index, Reporters Without Borders
has been calculating indicators of the overall level of media freedom violations
in each of the world’s regions and worldwide. The higher the figure, the worse
the situation. The global indicator has gone from 3719 points last year to 3857
points this year, a 3.71% deterioration. The decline since 2013 is 13.6%. The
many reasons for this decline in freedom of information include the increasingly
authoritarian tendencies of governments in countries such as Turkey and Egypt,
tighter government control of state-owned media, even in some European countries
such as Poland, and security situations that have become more and more fraught,
in Libya and Burundi, for example, or that are completely disastrous, as in
Yemen. The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly
precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat
from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media
freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines. Throughout the world,
oligarchs are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds
the pressure already coming from governments.
All of the Index’s indicators show a decline from 2013 to 2016. This is
especially the case for infrastructure. Some governments do not hesitate to
suspend access to the Internet or even to destroy the premises, broadcast
equipment or printing presses of media outlets they dislike. The infrastructure
indicator fell 16% from 2013 to 2016. The legislative framework has registered
an equally marked decline. Many laws have been adopted penalizing journalists on
such spurious charges as insulting the president, blasphemy or supporting
terrorism. Growing self-censorship is the knock-on effect of this alarming
situation. The media environment and self-censorship indicator has fallen by
more than 10% from 2013 to 2016. Every continent has seen its score decline. The
Americas have plunged 20.5%, above all as a result of the impact of physical
attacks and murders targeting journalists in Mexico and Central America. Europe
and the Balkans declined 6.5%, above all because of the growing influence of
extremist movements and ultraconservative governments. The Central Asia/Eastern
Europe region’s already bad score deteriorated by 5% as a result of the
increasingly glacial environment for media freedom and free speech in countries
with authoritarian regimes. Published by Reporters Without Borders annually
since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom
available to journalists in 180 countries using the following criteria --
pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship,
legislative environment, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses.See the 2016
World Press Freedom Index on the RSF.org website from 20 April
onwards.--Reporters Without Borders
Canadian imams on ISIL hit
list for preaching against extremism and steering Muslims ‘away from jihad’
Stewart Bell/National Post/ April 13, 2016/TORONTO — Two Canadian imams are on a
hit list released Tuesday by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which accused
one them of steering Muslims “away from jihad” and the other of showing remorse
for “Canadian soldiers killed by Muslims.” Both were singled out in the latest
edition of the ISIL propaganda magazine Dabiq, which called for their killings
along with several other imams in the West on the grounds that they were
preaching against the terror group’s message. Calling them “obligatory targets”
according to Islamic law, ISIL urged followers to “make an example of them.” A
photo of one of the “apostate” imams was printed, as well as an image of a hand
holding a large blood-stained knife. The 69-page magazine was distributed on
Twitter and Telegram, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which said that
more than a dozen “imams of kufr (disbelief)” and “politically active apostates”
had been named. It’s unclear why those particular imams were singled out. Both
are Muslim converts. One was affiliated with the Canadian Council of Imams,
which has regularly denounced ISIL, and on Monday said it would open
“de-radicalization clinics” in the Toronto area to serve as hubs for dealing
with violent extremism.
Dutch Probe
Airport Security Scare in Wake of Brussels Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 13/16/Military police Wednesday probed a
major security alert at Amsterdam's busy international airport, with one man
still in custody in a jolt to Dutch authorities, three weeks after attacks in
Belgium killed 32 people. Dozens of heavily-armed military police swarmed
Schiphol airport late Tuesday, partially evacuating parts of the public areas
and arresting one suspect. The operation was triggered after a tip-off from a
bystander about an unspecified "suspicious situation", a military police
spokesman said.
"The man remains in custody and the investigation continues," Alfred Ellwanger
told AFP on Wednesday, refusing to reveal any details of the suspect's identity.
"The situation at the airport has returned to normal," he added and the
airport's authorities confirmed no disruptions were expected on Wednesday. The
scare at one of Europe's busiest travel hubs, with flight links to 319
destinations around the world, came exactly three weeks after the March 22
attacks on the Brussels airport and metro left 32 people dead and hundreds
wounded. The Netherlands tightened security and stepped up border controls in
the wake of the suicide bombings in its southern neighbor, which also followed
the coordinated attacks in Paris in November. But it remained unclear Wednesday
exactly what was behind the late-night security sweep at Schiphol, after the
Dutch bomb squad found nothing suspicious in the arrested man's luggage.
Tensions have been high since last month's attacks in Belgium, which like the
Paris attacks in which 130 people died, were claimed by the Islamic State (IS)
jihadist group. There have been concerns that the Netherlands could be targeted
in a terror attack, due to its proximity to both Belgium and France, and its
role in the US-led bombing campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria. Schiphol is
Europe's fourth-largest airport, and welcomes some 55 million passengers through
its gates every year.
No flights or train traffic were disrupted during Tuesday's operation, which saw
balaclava-clad and sub-machine gun-toting officers cordoning off a square at the
entrance to the airport's shopping plaza, which leads to the arrivals and
departures halls. Hundreds of passengers, many of them on long-haul flights,
waited for hours until the all-clear was given at around 1:30 am (2330 GMT) on
Wednesday. Earlier, another scare was triggered at nearby Leiden station but
police later said it was a false alarm. Dutch F-16 fighter jets have broadened
the country's mission in the US-led air campaign against IS, bombing jihadist
targets in Syria since February. More than 200 Dutch nationals, including about
50 women, are also believed to have joined the ranks of IS in Iraq and Syria,
according to Dutch intelligence services. Last month, at the request of French
authorities, Dutch police carried out raids on an apartment in Rotterdam,
uncovering about 45 kilos (99 pounds) of ammunition. French suspect Anis Bahri
was arrested at the flat suspected of trying to take part in a foiled plot in
France. He is now fighting his extradition to Paris. Investigators have
uncovered extensive links between the Paris and Brussels attacks, with many of
the same people involved. Adding to the jitters in The Netherlands, one of the
suicide bombers in Brussels, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, was found to have been
expelled from Turkey to the Netherlands last year, before he slipped back across
the border to Belgium.
Syria Holds Parliamentary
Polls in Regime-Held Areas
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 13/16/President Bashar Assad's regime held
parliamentary polls in areas of Syria under its control on Wednesday, with some
voting enthusiastically but others dismissing the elections as a sham.
Assad pressed ahead with the vote despite the start Wednesday of another round
of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the devastating five-year
conflict, with a political transition and the Syrian leader's future key
sticking points. Voters could cast ballots at some 7,200 polling stations opened
in government-held areas -- around a third of the country's territory where
about 60 percent of the population lives. Voting was extended by five hours by
the electoral commission until midnight (2100 GMT), state television said,
citing a "high turnout."Assad's Baath party, which has controlled the country
for more than half a century, is expected to extend its dominance of parliament,
although several parties are participating in the polls. "I voted because this
election will decide the country's future. I hope that the winners will be true
to the nation even before being true to the voters," Yamin al-Homsi, a 37-year
old who voted in Damascus, told AFP. Samer Issa, a taxi driver, told AFP he had
"fulfilled his national duty" by casting his vote. "Now, it's up to the winners
to fulfill their promises," the 58-year-old added. The presidency published
photos of a smiling Assad and his wife Asma casting their ballots in Damascus.
Polls in Palmyra
"We have been at war for five years but terrorism has failed to reach its main
goal, which is to destroy Syria's social structure and identity as safeguarded
in the constitution," Assad said. In the ancient city of Palmyra, where
Russian-backed Syrian forces drove out the Islamic State jihadist group less
than three weeks ago, four polling stations opened. "I wasn't afraid to come
vote today," one newly returned resident said. Last month, the domestic
opposition tolerated by the regime called for a widespread boycott, accusing the
government of using the vote to gain leverage in the peace talks.The High
Negotiations Committee, the main opposition body involved in the negotiations,
has branded the election "illegitimate."In Syria's divided second city Aleppo,
polling stations only opened in western government-held districts. "These
elections are a farce and I don't believe in them," said Mohammad Zobaidiyyeh,
who works as a mechanic in the eastern rebel-controlled neighborhoods. The vote
is the second parliamentary ballot since the beginning of the war in 2011. More
than 270,000 people have died since, and millions more have been forced to flee
their homes. The country's economy has all but collapsed and swathes of
territory remain out of government control. A record 11,341 candidates initially
sought to run for the 250 seats in parliament. About 3,500 candidates remain in
the race, after the rest withdrew "saying they had no chance of winning," Hisham
al-Shaar, the head of the Supreme Judicial Elections Committee, told reporters.
'Elections of resistance'
Walls across Damascus
were covered with campaign posters. From the top of one of the city's tallest
buildings a banner of the Baath party proclaimed: "The elections of resistance."
Outside a polling station at the Damascus governor's headquarters in the eastern
neighborhood of Yusef al-Azmeh, representatives of various candidates
distributed leaflets to potential voters. But Mayssoun, 45, said she will not
vote. "Most of these candidates are rich men who live abroad and are just
feeding us nonsense," she said. "I used to have an apartment in Yarmuk that I
left because of the clashes, and now I move around from place to place," the
waitress said. The Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk in southern Damascus was
home to 160,000 people -- including Syrians -- but has been ravaged by fighting.
The controversial polls come amid a surge in violence in recent days threatening
a fragile six-week ceasefire. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will try again
to reach a consensus at the talks starting Wednesday in Geneva on ending the
war. The negotiations are aimed at agreeing a roadmap to peace, including
forming a transitional government followed by general elections supervised by
the United Nations in which all Syrians would be eligible to vote.
More than 100 killed in
upsurge in Syria’s Aleppo
AFP, Beirut Wednesday, 13 April 2016/Over 100 troops, pro-regime militia and
rebels have been killed in four days of fierce fighting on a strategic front of
Syria’s Aleppo province, a monitoring group said Wednesday. Since Sunday,
fighting around Al-Eis and Khan Touman in Aleppo’s southern belt has killed 61
rebels and members of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and 50 troops and
pro-regime militia, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “In the past
24 hours alone, 42 rebels and Al-Nusra members died, as well as 34 regime
loyalists,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Regime troops are
trying to recapture Al-Eis, held by Al-Nusra and rebel allies, which in turn
have launched an offensive to take over nearby Khan Touman from the regime. The
fighting came as UN-brokered indirect talks resumed in Geneva, threatening to
break a fragile six-week truce that was brokered by the United States and
Russia. Neither Al-Nusra nor ISIS are included in the truce, but the fact that
rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked
concerns over its durability. Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime
assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to more moderate factions, and cause
the truce to collapse and derail the peace efforts. The area where the fighting
is focused is important because it is located near the highway linking Damascus
to war-ravaged Aleppo city, the Observatory said.
It is also key because it is near the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in
neighboring Idlib province, which are under siege by opposition forces. “Most of
the regime loyalists killed were militia fighters from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,
Iran and Afghanistan,” Abdel Rahman said. “For them, this is an
ideologically-driven battle to break the siege on Fua and Kefraya,” he told AFP.
Abdel Rahman said the fighting shows that neither President Bashar al-Assad’s
regime nor the opposition represented at the Geneva talks calls the shots in
fighting on the ground. “The real decisions are made by (regime backers) Iran
and Russia on one side, and jihadist factions and opposition backers on the
other,” he said. Syria’s war began as a popular anti-regime revolt but later
morphed into a brutal civil war after Damascus unleashed a brutal crackdown on
dissent.
Iraq’s parliament meets over
PM’s cabinet plans, protesters block streets
Reuters, Baghdad Wednesday, 13 April 2016/Iraq’s parliament began an emergency
session on Wednesday at the request of lawmakers who are protesting after plans
by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to introduce a cabinet of independent
technocrats to curb corruption were blocked. Several dozen members of parliament
held a sit-in overnight in the parliament building to demand Abadi stick to his
plans. In central Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, several hundred
supporters of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blocked the main street voicing
similar demands. “We’re staying here until our demands are met,” said one
demonstrator, setting up a tent in front of the provincial council building.
Sadr, whose opinion holds sway over tens of thousands of followers, agreed to
end street protests his supporters had been holding since late February after
Abadi presented his line-up for an independent cabinet of technocrats last
month. The 14 names, many of them academics, he put forward were part of reforms
aimed at freeing ministries from the grip of a political class he has accused of
using a system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led
invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence.
But he was forced to present a modified list on Tuesday after parliament’s
dominant political blocs rejected the initial one and insisted on putting
forward their own nominations. The cabinet reshuffle is part of long-promised
anti-corruption measures Abadi needs to deliver or risk weakening his government
as Iraqi forces mount a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from
Islamic State militants. Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri was chairing
Wednesday’s emergency session, state TV said. The vote on the modified cabinet
list is planned on Thursday. “We represent 137 MPs and we seek to depose the
three presidents and discuss the reforms,” said Nahida al-Daini, a Sunni
lawmaker, referring to the top three state positions -- the president, prime
minister and speaker of parliament. The dominant blocs in the 328-member
parliament back Abadi’s modified line-up, which includes some of their own
candidates. Pressure on Abadi to reform government has come from the clergy of
the Shi’ite majority and popular discontent at the lack of basic public services
in a nation facing an economic crisis caused by falling oil prices. Many of the
protesters inside parliament are Sadr’s supporters along with some MPs
representing the Sunni minority. Iraq, a major OPEC exporter which sits on one
of the world’s largest oil reserves, ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency
International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Assad departure ruled out
ahead of talks
By AP Damascus, Syria Thursday, 14 April 2016
A top Syrian official urged the opposition to let go of its dream of easing
President Bashar Assad out of power in a transitional government, complicating
peace talks that resumed Wednesday in Geneva on ending the five-year civil war.
As Syrians voted in parliamentary elections in government-held parts of the
country - balloting the opposition dismissed as a sham - Deputy Foreign Minister
Faisal Mekdad told The Associated Press that a transitional government amounts
to a coup d’etat and “will never be accepted.” A transitional government is the
centerpiece of the peace program that the United States, Russia and other world
powers agreed on at a 2012 Geneva Conference. The terms have been left vague
intentionally and are supposed to be worked out in the peace talks, but the
presumption, at least in the opposition’s mind, is that a transitional
government means one without Assad.
“This will not happen, not now, nor tomorrow nor ever,” Mekdad said, speaking at
his office in Damascus ahead of the resumption of the indirect talks in Geneva
that the UN envoy says will focus on a political transition. Assad recently
floated the idea of a national unity government, rejecting the opposition’s
demand for a transitional ruling body, and Mekdad echoed the rejection.
“We believe such an idea has failed, it is outdated, it will never be
acceptable. This amounts in fact to a coup d’etat. People organize a certain
rebellion and then they get power. This will never happen in Syria,” he said. He
said most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey - the two top backers of
the rebellion - have all but relinquished calls for Assad to step down, having
realized after five years of war that the president is fighting “terrorists” in
Syria. “We believe that if we have to proceed, then we need to forget or we need
others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years and to come with
factual, actual solutions to the problem,” he said. “This includes the
possibility of establishing a national unity government or a broad government
that includes members of the opposition.” Syria Staffan de Mistura told
reporters that his recent visits to Iran, Russia and Syria led him to believe
that those countries were “supportive to what we are trying to do in terms of a
political transition.”
But in Geneva, UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters that his
recent visits to Iran, Russia and Syria led him to believe that those countries
were “supportive to what we are trying to do in terms of a political
transition.”“There was no doubt on that. From Moscow to Tehran, even to
Damascus, (they) agreed with the fact that this is the agenda,” he said. US
Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to de Mistura about the talks and
urged all participants “to adhere to the cessation of hostilities.” “There is an
opportunity in these days ahead to be able to negotiate transition according to
Geneva Communique of 2012, which is precisely what they say they want,” Kerry
told reporters in Washington. “The Iranians have signed up to it, the Russians
have signed up to it. The Turks, the Qataris, the Saudis, the Emiratis, most of
the European countries, all of the countries that are part of the International
Syrian Support Group.”
Aided by Russian air power, the Syrian army and allied militiamen have reversed
the tide of the war in recent months, making rapid advances against its
opponents. Syria also has benefited from a US- and Russian-engineered partial
cease-fire, which has allowed it to focus on fighting extremists like ISIS and
the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the truce agreement. The new 250-member
parliament being chosen Wednesday is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for
Assad. Western leaders and members of Syria’s opposition have denounced the
election as illegitimate and a provocation that undermines the peace talks.
After casting his vote with his wife, Asma, Assad said the election was one way
to defy the terrorists - the term he uses to describe Syria’s armed opposition.
Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says
the vote is constitutional and separate from the Geneva talks. But the
opposition says the voting contributes to an unfavorable climate for
negotiations.
Britain said Damascus’ decision to go ahead with the elections in the war-torn
nation, where hundreds of thousands cannot take part, shows “how divorced (the
government) is from reality.” Germany said it would not accept the results of
the vote. Assad’s main ally, Russia, welcomed the vote, calling it necessary to
prevent “a power vacuum” in Syria until a new constitution and elections are
agreed upon in the peace talks. In the tightly-controlled Syrian capital, voters
said they fully supported holding the elections. “My vote is like a bullet to
our enemies. I am here to continue the ongoing resistance since five years. I am
here to support the Syrian Arab Army,” said 18-year high school student Yazan
Fahes, holding up an ink-stained finger. Most voters said they were mostly
concerned about skyrocketing prices rather than security, which has become less
of a concern in the capital since the cease-fire. Marah Hammoud, a 21-year-old
journalism student from the central city of Homs, said it was important at this
moment in Syria for people to choose their representatives. “We want elected
officials who care about the people, who can help end this war and control
prices,” she said. “We live on this hope.”
The balloting, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time,
was carried out only in areas under government control. Voting stations were set
up in 12 of Syria’s 14 provinces. The northern province of Raqqa is controlled
by ISIS, and the northwestern province of Idlib is controlled by its rival, the
Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as other insurgents. The government has
no presence in either province. While some parts of Damascus had sizable
turnout, other less-secure areas on the outskirts of the capital and on the edge
of rebel-held suburbs saw fewer people vote. In Tadamon, outside the Palestinian
refugee camps of Yarmouk, which is largely under ISIS control, people were
hesitant to vote, and polling centers were nearly empty for most of the morning
despite the military presence. Polls were to close at midnight, after they were
extended for five hours because of high turnout, according to state TV. Results
were expected Thursday. As the Geneva talks resumed, de Mistura said the recent
fighting in Syria amounted to “incidents, and not a bush fire.”He said the
fragile cease-fire was holding despite a recent “deterioration” in some areas,
and he vowed to press ahead with his efforts despite the messages coming from
the Damascus government.
De Mistura said he hopes to go “deeper and deeper” toward reaching a deal on
political transition in Syria - his ultimate goal. He hosted a delegation from
the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee. A delegation from
Assad’s government is expected to arrive Friday.
The two sides do not negotiate directly in the “proximity” talks. Instead, de
Mistura meets with each side separately and shuttles between them. In Turkey, a
local news agency said shells fired from Syria hit a southern Turkish area
Wednesday, the fourth such cross-border incident in less than a week.
The private Dogan news agency said the shells struck two areas of the city
center of Kilis, causing panic despite hitting vacant land and causing no
casualties. Turkey routinely retaliates after rockets or shells land on its
territory.
ISIS militant ranks are at
‘lowest level since 2014’
AFP, Washington Wednesday, 13 April 2016/ISIS's ranks have been pared back by
international and local military action in Iraq and Syria to their lowest level
since Washington began monitoring the group, a senior official said Tuesday. The
comments from deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken came one day before
President Barack Obama was due to convene his national security team at CIA
headquarters to take stock of the anti-ISIS fight. "Working by, with and through
local partners, we have taken back 40 percent of the territory that Daesh
controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 percent in Syria," Blinken told US
lawmakers in prepared testimony. "In fact, we assess Daesh's numbers are the
lowest they've been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014," he added,
using one of three terms US officials use interchangeably to refer to ISIS.
Blinken did not put a new figure on the size of the militantgroup's fighting
force in his statement to the Senate committee overseeing funding for the State
Department's program to counter violent extremism. But in September 2014, the
last estimate to which Blinken referred, a US intelligence official told AFP
news agency that the CIA believed the group could put between 20,000 and 31,500
fighters in the field, both foreign fighters and local recruits. Since then,
US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS fighters back from the
cities of Tikrit and Ramadi and taken territory in northern Syria, while Syrian
forces receiving Russian support have recaptured the Syrian city of Palmyra. On
Wednesday, Obama and his top aides are set to evaluate the progress made so far
in the anti-ISIS fight and weigh proposals for upping the pressure on the
militants. "The president has asked them to come to him with suggestions for how
it is possible to reinforce those elements of our strategy that are showing the
most success," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday. When
asked about a possible increase in the number of US troops in Iraq, Earnest
refused to say if any announcements were on the horizon, saying only that Obama
would make a statement after the meeting."It's not uncommon for the president to
make decisions in the context of these meetings," he said. Washington has led an
international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. The
United States, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of
war, officially redeployed 3,870 troops to the insurgency-wracked country in
recent months. But the actual number is likely about 5,000, according to media
reports.
Sisi defends giving Red Sea
islands to Saudis
By The Associated Press Cairo Wednesday, 13 April 2016/Egypt’s president on
Wednesday sought to defuse a storm stirred up by his government’s declared
intention to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia,
arguing that he did not surrender Egyptian territory. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi
also reiterated Cairo’s position that Egyptian security forces had nothing to do
with the torture and killing of an Italian doctoral student abducted in Cairo,
an incident that has poisoned ties with Italy. Rome recalled its ambassador to
Cairo in protest of what it called a lack of cooperation by Egyptian authorities
in the investigation. Egypt’s government maintains that the islands of Tiran and
Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba belong to Saudi Arabia, which asked
Egypt in 1950 to protect them from Israel. Israel captured the islands in the
1967 Middle East war, but handed them back to Egypt under their 1979 peace
treaty.“We did not surrender our rights, but we restored the rights of others,”
Sisi said in comments broadcast live. “Egypt did not relinquish even a grain of
sand.”“All the data and documents say nothing except that this particular right
is theirs. Please let us not talk about this subject again,” he added. “There is
a parliament that you elected which will debate the accord. It will either
ratify or reject it.”Sisi went on to complain over what he termed as the
Egyptians’ chronic distrust of their leaders, saying it was pushing the country
to “national suicide.” “You don’t believe that there is a single patriotic man
in the foreign ministry, the army or the intelligence agency? They are all bad
people who are ready to sell off their country?” he said in a rhetorical
question. Cairo’s decision to transfer custody of the islands to Saudi Arabia
was announced when Saudi King Salman visited Egypt earlier this week. During his
stay, Salman pledged billions of dollars in aid and investment to Egypt,
tempting critics to link the generous Saudi aid to the transfer of the islands.
About two dozen activists staged a noisy protest over the islands’ case outside
the journalists’ union in downtown Cairo, carrying banners that asserted
Egyptian ownership of the islands. Others took to social media networks to
dismiss the president’s comments as unconvincing.
Some of the criticism in recent days has focused on Sisi, who acknowledged
Wednesday that negotiations with the Saudis over the fate of the islands were
conducted in secrecy to avoid unwanted media attention. Critics are calling for
a referendum on the transfer, arguing that a legislature packed with Sisi’s
supporters - who gave Salman a tumultuous welcome when he addressed the chamber
on Sunday, complete with standing ovations, chants of adulation and poems of
praise - can hardly be expected to give the agreement serious consideration, let
alone reject it. Sisi on Wednesday also denied that Egypt’s security agencies
were behind the killing of Giulio Regeni, the Italian scholar who disappeared on
Jan. 25. The day was the five-year anniversary of the uprising that toppled
Hosni Mubarak and police were out in force to prevent demonstrations. Regeni’s
body was found nine days later with signs of torture.“As soon as the death of
that young man was announced, people among us said it was the work of Egyptian
security agencies ... what happened is that evil folks in our midst did this,”
he said. The president also blamed the Egyptian media’s handling of the case for
the crisis in Egypt’s “very distinguished” relations with Italy. Sisi has in the
past accused unidentified parties of seeking to isolate Egypt and undermine its
government by engineering Regeni’s death. Italy is Egypt’s biggest trading
partner in the European Union and the two countries have been coordinating on
their handling of the rise of Islamic militants in Libya, Egypt’s western
neighbor and Italy’s former colony. Sisi said Egypt, whose economy has suffered
from years of unrest, could have taken advantage of the chaos in oil-rich Libya
and invaded it to avenge the killing there last year of 21 Egyptian Christians
by ISIS militants. “We cannot invade our friends there and usurp their land. It
could have happened, but we said ‘no,’” added Sisi. “That’s what my late mother
had taught me: never covet what belongs to others.”
Italian coastguard rescues 4,000 migrants
AFP, Rome Wednesday, 13 April 2016/Italy's coastguard said Tuesday it had
rescued some 4,000 migrants in the past two days, adding to fears of a fresh
push to reach Europe via that route as the number of migrants landing in Greece
sharply recedes. On Tuesday, 2,154 migrants were brought to safety in the Strait
of Sicily between Italy and north Africa, on top of the 1,850 rescued in the
area on Monday, the coastguard said. A vessel from the EU border agency Frontex
and a Greek cargo ship assisted the Italian navy in conducting a total of 25
rescue operations involving 16 dinghies and a rowing boat, officials said. All
the passengers survived. Migrants sit in their boat during a rescue operation by
Italian Navy vessels off the coast of Sicily in this April 11, 2016 handout
picture provided by Italy's Marina Militare. War-torn Libya is the main jump-off
point for migrants trying to reach Europe from north Africa. A spokesman for the
Libyan navy said that country's coastguard intercepted a further six inflatable
boats carrying 649 migrants off Sabratha, near Libya's border with Tunisia, on
Tuesday. On Monday, 115 migrants had been rescued by Libyan authorities after
their boat got into trouble near the capital Tripoli. The arrivals represent a
sharp increase on the average daily numbers landing in Italy since the start of
the year. According to the United Nations, 19,900 migrants have crossed the
Mediterranean to Italy so far this year, compared with 153,000 landing in
Greece. Calmer seas at the onset of spring are encouraging greater numbers of
migrants to attempt the perilous crossing to Italy after a winter lull. There
are also concerns that European efforts to shut down the migrant sea crossing
from Turkey to Greece will encourage more people to attempt the more dangerous
Mediterranean passage from Libya to Italy.
Europe: Sharia-Compliant
Fashion Goes Mainstream
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 13, 2016
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7833/sharia-fashion
Critics argue that by
jumping on the Muslim fashion bandwagon, European brands are encouraging the
visible public expression of Islam in Europe -- and promoting Muslim
separateness rather than integration.
"When fashion brands praise the skinny image with anorexic models, we say this
is dangerous for the health of young women. We can also say that those same
brands, when they promote Islamic collections, they promote an image that is
dangerous for the rights and freedom of Muslim women in France. ... in many
French neighborhoods, we see fewer and fewer women outside on the street, in
cafes. We see that fewer and fewer women are living freely in their
neighborhoods." — Laurence Rossignol, France's Minister Families, Children and
Women's Rights.
French feminist Elisabeth Badinter warned that cultural relativism was
preventing the French from seeing the alarming rise of Islamism in France. She
added that tolerance "has turned against those it was meant to help" with the
result that "the veil has spread among the daughters of our neighborhoods" due
to "mounting Islamic pressure."
The decision by a British department store to include Sharia-compliant bathing
suits in its summer swimwear collection has ignited a debate over the
"mainstreaming" of Islamic fashion in Europe.
Marks & Spencer (M&S), the iconic British retail chain, is now marketing the
burkini, a full-length swimsuit ostensibly designed to protect the modesty of
Muslim women.
Supporters of the move say it "liberates" Muslim women in Europe by giving them
the choice to wear whatever they want. Detractors argue the exact opposite: they
say the burkini "enslaves" Muslim women, many of whom are facing mounting
pressure to submit to Islamic dress codes, even though they are citizens of
secular European states.
Viewed more broadly, a growing number of European fashion companies are seeking
to profit from the rising demand for Islamic clothing. Business is business,
they say. But critics argue that by jumping on the Muslim fashion bandwagon,
those companies are encouraging the visible public expression of Islam in Europe
— and promoting Muslim separateness rather than integration.
According to M&S, the £49.50 (€62, $70) burkini (a neologism blending burka and
bikini) "covers the whole body with the exception of the face, hands and feet,
without compromising on style." Another selling point: "It's lightweight so you
can swim in comfort." Some Burkini enthusiasts say the garment is also ideal for
non-Muslim women who may be "worried about the damage that exposure to sun could
do to the skin."
A few days after the M&S launch, another British department store, House of
Fraser, unveiled its own burkini range. Also known as "modest sportswear," House
of Fraser's "legging and tunic sets cover the body from the neck to the ankles,
and also come with a separate hijab head covering." The burkinis are "designed
to encourage women to feel both comfortable and stylish when participating in
sports and provide extra sun protection."
Companies from across Europe are making forays into Islamic "modest wear."
In January 2016, Italy's luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana launched its
first-ever collection of abayas and hijabs. (Abayas are ankle-length robes and
hijabs are scarves that cover the head and neck but not the face.)
According to Dolce & Gabbana, the new line — named The Abaya Collection: The
Allure of the Middle East — is intended to be "a reverie amidst the desert dunes
and skies of the Middle East: an enchanting visual story about the grace and
beauty of the marvelous women of Arabia." The collection is available at all of
the brand's boutiques in the Middle East, as well as stores in Paris, London,
Milan and Munich.
Left: Marks & Spencer's Paisley Print Burkini. Right: An outfit from the Dolce &
Gabbana Abaya and Hijab Collection
In September 2015, Sweden's H&M, the world's second largest retailer, featured a
Muslim model wearing a hijab in an ad campaign for the first time. British media
portrayed her appearance in the video as a milestone for Muslim women in the UK.
The model, Mariah Idrissi, born in London to a Pakistani mother and a Moroccan
father, says she has no idea why she is being singled out for her role in the
ad: "I honestly have no idea why. It might be because hijab fashion has boomed
in the last few years and to finally see a hijabi [a woman who wears a hijab] in
mainstream fashion is a big achievement."
In June 2015, Spanish fashion retailer Zara launched a special fashion
collection for Ramadan. The collection was available online and in stores in the
Middle East and North-Africa. In May 2015, another Spanish clothing chain,
Mango, also launched a Ramadan collection for women. One reviewer wrote:
"The Ramadan collection may seem to be focused on Muslim women, but that doesn't
mean it isn't suitable for every woman. These clothes are only slightly wider
and they cover more. Apart from that, they're just as elegant and fancy as those
of other collections. A fashionable way in fact to show the outside world that
covering up isn't the same as being oppressed."
In July 2014, the New York-based fashion label DKNY launched a special fashion
collection for Ramadan, available exclusively in stores in the Middle East. In
June 2013, Italian designer Giorgio Armani launched a line of alcohol-free
luxury chocolates made especially for Ramadan. The product, "wrapped in a
precious box with motifs and geometric shapes inspired by Arabic architecture,"
was available not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe and North America.
Other Western fashion designers, manufacturers and retailers tapping into the
Islamic clothing market include Tommy Hilfiger, Oscar de la Renta, Monique
Lhuillier, Uniqlo, Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi.
According to Fortune magazine, Islamic fashion is an untapped market:
"Globally, Muslims spent $266 billion on clothing and footwear in 2013. That's
more than the total fashion spending of Japan and Italy combined, according to a
recent report from Thomson Reuters. The report also notes that that figure is
expected to balloon to $484 billion by 2019."
In an interview with Fortune, Reina Lewis, a professor at the London College of
Fashion, said:
"Globally, the Muslim population is a youthful and growing demographic. This
makes Muslims a very important consumer segment for anything.
"The market for Islamic commodities started out looking at food and finance.
I've been saying for the last few years that fashion is going to be the third
'F' — and this is indeed what is beginning to happen."
French officials have been especially vocal in their criticism of European
brands that cater to Muslim women. France banned the burka in 2011. The European
Court of Human Rights upheld that ban in 2014.
France's Minister Families, Children and Women's Rights, Laurence Rossignol,
said Islamic fashion was being promoted in Europe by Muslim activists and
Salafists seeking to impose political Islam on everyone else. In a March 30
interview with RMC Radio-BFMTV, Rossignol said:
"What is at stake is social control over the bodies of women. When European
brands invest in the lucrative Islamic fashion market, they are shirking their
responsibilities and are promoting a situation where Muslim women are forced to
wear garments that imprison the female body from head to toe. ...
"You cannot pass off as trivial and harmless the fact that big brands are
investing in a market that puts Muslim women in a situation of having to wear
those garments. It is irresponsible on the part of those brands. ...
"When fashion brands praise the skinny image with anorexic models, we say this
is dangerous for the health of young women. We can also say that those same
brands, when they promote Islamic collections, they promote an image that is
dangerous for the rights and freedom of Muslim women in France. ...
"What strikes me is that the managers of these brands insist that it is just
about the clothing, that they are not promoting any particular lifestyle. As if
there is no link between clothing and lifestyle. Of course, we observe that in
many French neighborhoods, we see fewer and fewer women outside on the street,
in cafes. We see that fewer and fewer women are living freely in their
neighborhoods. ...
"Our role should be to help Muslim women, to support them by putting them in a
position to confront political Islam."
In that same interview, Rossignol compared Muslim women who wear Islamic
clothing to "American negroes who approved of slavery." Her use of a racial
epithet ignited a firestorm of criticism, with some Muslims calling for her
resignation. She defended her remarks, saying that she was quoting from "On
Negro Slavery," an essay about abolitionism written by Montesquieu in 1748.
In a subsequent interview with Agence France-Presse, Rossignol said: "Apart from
the error of language, I would not retract a single word of what I said
regarding Islamic clothing."
Responding to Rossignol, the director of the Observatory Against Islamophobia,
Abdallah Zekri, asked: "Does a minister have the right to meddle in the way a
woman wishes to dress as long as she respects the laws of the French Republic
and does not hide her face?"
In an interview on RMC radio, former French Environment Minister Nathalie
Kosciusko-Morizet was asked her opinion about the growing popularity of Islamic
fashion. She responded:
"I do not like it. Islamic clothing is all about hiding the female body, and
also a part of the individual. For me it is the opposite of fashion. For me,
fashion is the expression of originality, a temperament. For me, [Islamic
fashion] is something absurd."
Echoing those views, French fashion mogul Pierre Bergé said that Muslim women in
Europe should "learn to live like most of the women in the rest of the world."
Speaking on the French radio station Europe 1, Bergé said:
"Fashion designers have no business being in Islamic fashion. I am outraged. I
have always believed that the job of designers is to make women more beautiful,
to give them their freedom, not to be an accomplice of this dictatorship which
imposes this abomination that hides women and makes them live a hidden life."I
am not an Islamophobe. Women have the right to wear headscarves, but I do not
understand why we are embracing this religion [Islam] and those manners that are
incompatible with the freedoms that are ours in the West.
"Creators who are taking part in the enslavement of women should ask themselves
some questions. All this to make money! Excuse me, but I think that belief must
come before money. Give up the money and have some principles."
In an interview with Le Monde, French feminist Elisabeth Badinter called for a
boycott of brands that are profiting from Islamic clothing. She warned that
cultural relativism was preventing the French from seeing the alarming rise of
Islamism in France. She added that tolerance "has turned against those it was
meant to help" with the result that "the veil has spread among the daughters of
our neighborhoods" due to "mounting Islamic pressure." According to Badinter,
many French citizens are afraid to speak out about the Islamization of France
because of fears of being accused of Islamophobia."
Back in Britain, the Daily Mail celebrated the Marks & Spencer burkini as "the
ultimate proof that Britain is truly multicultural." Others disagree. Allison
Pearson, a columnist for The Telegraph, asked:
"What on earth is our own dear M&S... doing lending its name to something which
is so alien to this country's values? It is yet more dismaying evidence that our
own culture has failed to stick up for itself and is allowing misogynist
attitudes to sneak in under the radar.
"Not long ago, a German court ruled that a young Muslim girl must attend mixed
school swimming lessons because the 'social reality of life in Germany came
above her religious beliefs.' Yet in the UK we go on making the same mistakes;
failing recently to clamp down on Sharia courts which regard a woman's evidence
as worth half that of a man.
"And now, unbelievably, we have one of the nation's favorite retailers marketing
the burkini as if it were just another jolly beach outfit, not a restrictive,
quasi-religious garment that treats the female form as lascivious and shameful."
Guardian columnist Catherine Bennet echoed this sentiment: "It is legitimate to
ask why a secular fashion business would produce women's clothing for which male
clerics created the entire market."
A Muslim-American commentator has noted that efforts by international brands to
cater to Muslim consumers will lead to the mainstreaming of Islam in the West.
Writing for the fashion industry website Racked, Fareeha Molvi observed:
"They signal a possible sea change for the way Muslims are viewed in America.
The fact that big corporations are willing to invest in marketing and branding
specific to Muslims has to constitute some level of acceptance of us, right?
"The thing about corporations, though, is that they rarely do things out of
sheer human goodwill. Financial gains are a far greater motivator, and the
recent foray into Ramadan marketing could be the next lucrative frontier....
"Historically, economic mechanisms have been the catalyst for much social
change.... Could capitalism be the answer for the normalization of Islam in
America as well?"
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He
is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de
Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on
Twitter. His first book, Global Fire, will be out in 2016.
© 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.
The Islamist Threat
To Central Asia
MEMRI/April 13, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6386
On January 19, 2016, the website of the pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Club
published a report by Andrei Kazantsev, director of the Analytical Center of the
Institute for International Studies in Russia, titled "Central-Asia: Secular
Statehood Challenged by Radical Islam."[1] Kazantsev wrote that post-Soviet
Central Asian countries face a threat from radical Islam that impacts prospects
for secular statehood and represents a serious obstacle to modernization of the
region.
The following are excerpts from Kazantsev's article:[2]
Afghanistan
"Post-Soviet Central Asian countries are facing problems caused by old security
challenges and the emergence of completely new threats. These threats may
influence the prospects for secular statehood in the region and represent a
serious obstacle to modernization. One of the old security challenges is the
situation in neighboring Afghanistan, where crisis phenomena are continuously
aggravated. The most dangerous threat is posed by the concentration of militants
in northern Afghanistan (on the border with Tajikistan,[3] Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan)...[4]
"As [a] UN Security Council paper stated, 'Afghan security forces estimated in
March 2015 that some 6,500 foreign terrorist fighters are active in this
country.'[5] There are 200 fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
alone (later renamed the Islamic Movement of Turkistan, IMT).[6] According to
Russian General Staff estimates, if the Afghans are also included the total
number of terrorist fighters in this country would amount to 50,000.[7] The
threat from Afghanistan is not only an ideological alternative to secular
statehood in the form of radical Islam, but also has a purely military
dimension..."
The Islamic State
"In 2014, and particularly in 2015, a 'second front' emerged in the Middle East
which has rapidly gained a Central Asian dimension: the Islamic State (ISIS).
First, ISIS is fraught with the threat of faith-motivated terrorism in view of
militants' migration potential... 500 militants arrived in Syria and Iraq from
Uzbekistan; 360 from Turkmenistan, 350 from Kyrgyzstan, 250 from Kazakhstan, and
190 from Tajikistan. Obviously, their recruitment would have been impossible
without the existence of ISIS 'sleeper cells' in Central Asian countries and
Russia. Militants often travel to Syria and Iraq through Russia. Guest workers
in Russia are also recruited. Second, ISIS is a serious ideological challenge to
all Islamic states, Central Asian states included, because as a caliphate it
claims supremacy in the entire Muslim world. Specifically, ISIS has listed
Central Asia and Afghanistan as Wilayat Khorasan [i.e. a province of the Islamic
State]…
"A special threat to Central Asia is posed by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(IMU), historically the most dangerous terrorist movement in the region... which
has joined ISIS. At the same time, ISIS banners were raised by Turkmen tribes
that inhabit areas bordering on Turkmenistan (many are descendants of the
basmachi who fought the early Soviet government).[8] ISIS is engaged in
subversion in the Central Asian hinterland as well. Kyrgyz and Tajik experts
report that ISIS has allocated $70 million for subversion in the region.[9]
Security threats to Central Asia from radical Islam in Afghanistan and Middle
Eastern countries are being aggravated by numerous negative domestic factors
that put the majority of countries in the region on the list of 'fragile
states.' These 'fragile states' may easily become 'failed states' that do not
control their own territory. These states are ideal ground for the entrenchment
of radical terrorist groups like ISIS..."
Drug Trafficking, Corruption, Poverty, And "Sultanistic Regimes"
"Factors contributing to these states' 'fragility' are as follows: first, the
large-scale drug traffic along the northern transportation route from
Afghanistan to Russia. The latter is the world's main consumer of Afghan heroin.
Security experts know well that the proceeds from drug trafficking are often
used to fund terrorism and religious extremism. The existence of this link is
clear from the Batken war: One of IMU's goals in invading Kyrgyzstan was to
create routes for heroin trafficking.[10]
"[Another] important factor contributing to their 'fragility' and the growth of
the radical Islamic threat is the extremely high rate of corruption in the
region... First, corruption is closely linked with organized crime, especially
drug trafficking, the proceeds from which may be used to finance terrorist
groups, as we have already mentioned. Second, it sharply reduces the efficiency
of government agencies in the fight against the threat of radical Islam. Third,
the high level of corruption and ensuing social inequality are one of the main
propaganda points used by radical Islamists, including ISIS, against existing
secular regimes in the region.
"Poverty is the next factor contributing to these states' 'fragility.' Regional
countries (especially parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan in the
Fergana Valley)[11] are characterized by a very high degree of rural
overpopulation aggravated by the shortage of water and fertile soil. This leads
to unemployment and large numbers of marginalized young people who are highly
susceptible to brainwashing by radical Islamists. The problem is worsened by the
degradation of the Soviet-era social support, education, and healthcare
systems... The increase in poverty is occurring against the backdrop of a trend
toward socio- economic 'de-modernization.' For example, due to civil war and
economic hardships, urban residents in Tajikistan dropped to 26% of the entire
population in 2010, which is comparable with the world's most backward
countries. Other manifestations of 'de-modernization' include an exodus of
highly-skilled specialists and intellectuals (both Russian-speaking and
ethnic)...
"[Another] critical factor threatening the statehood of regional countries is
the existence of personalized 'sultanistic' regimes ingrained in the clan
systems that determine the intra-elite network configurations. The two key
countries in the region – Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan – did not experience a
single power change in the post-Soviet period and the existing political
institutions in both countries are closely linked with the strong personalities
of their presidents. At the same time, by virtue of the age factor, a change of
supreme power will be on the agenda in the near future and this may lead to the
exacerbation of inter-clan conflicts within the elites and further
destabilization."
Clashes Over Water Resources And Conflicts Of Interest
"[Another issue is] serious interstate clashes over water resources between
countries in the upper reaches of rivers (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and those
in the lower reaches (Uzbekistan, and less so Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan).
These conflicts are serious obstacles to cooperation, including the joint
struggle against security threats.
"[Furthermore,] influential great powers (Russia, the United States, China, the
EU, and Islamic countries) are involved in the competition for influence in the
region. Conflicts of interest between them may increase security threats and at
best neutralize their efforts to help regional countries cope with various
challenges.
"The aforementioned external threats from radical Islam emanating from
Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries, threats that are dramatically enhanced
by domestic problems existing in a number of regional countries, clearly point
to some crisis in the secular statehood model that was established in Central
Asia in the post-Soviet period. Prospects for overcoming this crisis are
different in different countries and are largely determined by the nature of the
relationships between government agencies and Islam..."
Islamism In Tajikistan
"After the Central Asian countries gained independence, their elites began to
actively support what they considered politically appropriate versions of Islam,
in an attempt to create national forms of the religion that would legitimatize
existing political systems in secular states. The situation in Tajikistan is the
worst, in terms of instability and the influence of radical Islam. Among the
negative factors it is important to note its proximity to Afghanistan, a very
complicated domestic socio-economic situation, and the ongoing destructive
consequences of the civil war that took place during the first half of the
1990s. At the same time, the radicalization of society, including of law
enforcement, is accelerating.
Gulmurod Khalimov, a colonel in the Tajikistani riot police who deserted his
unit and joined ISIS in 2015.
"The most blatant incident occurred in 2015, when riot police [officer] Colonel
Gulmurod Khalimov deserted his unit and joined ISIS.[12] A military mutiny
headed by Deputy Defense Minister Maj.-Gen. Abdukhalim Nazarzoda occurred in the
fall of 2015.[13] The authorities also attributed this to the influence of
radical Islam. The central government of Tajikistan does not seem to exercise
strong control over some of its territories such as Gorno Badakhshan [an
autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan]. The defense of the Tajik-Afghan border
has also weakened following the departure of Russian border guards. This is
dangerous in view of the accelerated destabilization in Afghanistan's border
areas.[14] Excesses in the struggle against Islamism may also be conducive to
the dissemination of radical Islam. Such actions as the wide-scale shutdown of
mosques, the introduction of a tough dress code in opposition to Islamic
tradition, and the banning of the moderate Islamic Revival of Tajikistan party,
may consolidate the radical Islamic underground."[15]
Islamism In Kyrgyzstan
"Kyrgyzstan is also subject to serious threats. One of the specific risks is the
country's geopolitical split into north and south [following its independence in
1991, there is a possibility of a north-south split]. As the Batken war bore
out, Kyrgyz government agencies are traditionally weak and were further weakened
by two revolutions (2005 and 2010).[16] Radical Islamism presents the greatest
threat in the south of Kyrgyzstan, especially within the large Uzbek diaspora.
The situation in this area is complicated by an acute ethnic conflict between
the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks which led to pogroms in 2010."[17]
Islamism In Turkmenistan
The situation in Turkmenistan has traditionally been considered one of the most
stable in the region (as the above statehood ratings indicate). Nevertheless, it
seriously deteriorated in 2014-2015, after ISIS penetrated areas adjoining the
Afghan-Turkmen border. The negative aspects of Turkmenistan's neutral status are
becoming obvious.[18] The country does not have a strong army to protect its
borders, nor can it request military aid from Russia, for instance, as this
would contradict the concept of neutrality. The domestic situation leaves much
to be desired, too..."
Islamism In Uzbekistan
"Uzbekistan's standoff with extremist trends in Islam is characterized by
substantial contradictions. On the one hand, the region's strongest extremist
groups originated in Uzbekistan. In 1999, IMU staged massive terrorist attacks
in Tashkent. In May 2005, Akromiya (Akromiylar), a radical Islamic group,
organized an uprising in Andizhan (Fergana Valley). On the other hand, the
state's powerful law enforcement agencies and its generally repressive policy
have put the activities of religious extremists in the country under a measure
of control.
"Islamic propaganda and terrorist activities are increasing in Uzbekistan
against the backdrop of a worsening socio-economic crisis. Uzbekistan is second
after Russia in the post-Soviet space in terms of the number of militants who
went to fight in Syria and Iraq. Among other things, the growth of religious
extremism in Uzbekistan is a complicated issue, as it is linked with clan
policy. Uzbekistan has a traditional 'division of labor' between regional clans
that is nicely expressed in the proverb: 'A resident of Samarkand rules; a
resident of Tashkent counts money, and a resident of the Fergana Valley prays.'
This proverb emphasizes Islam's special role in the Fergana Valley and the fact
that all key clergymen in Uzbekistan traditionally come from the Fergana Valley.
During the post-Soviet evolution [one of the two most powerful Uzbek clans], the
Samarkand clan (the president himself [Islam Karimov] belongs to it) and the
Tashkent clan (in charge of the economy) came to power in Uzbekistan. Many
experts believe that the Fergana clan has traditionally used the threat of
Islamic extremism to enhance its influence. The aforementioned inter-clan
alignment of political forces is highly important as the prevailing problem of
the inheritance of power may seriously aggravate the inter-clan struggle."
Islamism In Kazakhstan
"Kazakhstan is least affected by religious radicalism owing to the following
specific factors: a stable economy (about two-thirds of Central Asia's GDP is
produced in Kazakhstan); a fairly high level of social modernization in the
Soviet period; the existence of a large strata of Russian speakers; and the
historical tradition of Islam's dissemination among the Kazakhs. The situation
in two regions is critically important in terms of the spread of radical Islam.
The influence of Islamic institutions has traditionally been strong in southern
Kazakhstan, which is an area with a settled population. Islam's revival there
has been characterized by the emergence of its more radical forms. A no less
complicated situation has been taking shape in western Kazakhstan over the past
few years. The intensive industrial development of the region's oil and gas
deposits has attracted socially marginalized groups..."
Countering Islamism: The Hanafi School And The Jadid Ideology
A cartoon portraying a Jadid reformer opposingthe traditionalists (Source:
Jadid.uz)
"Threats to secular statehood in Central Asia are fairly high. However, the
region's countries have the potential to counter them. Historically, Central
Asia, as part of the Muslim world was characterized by developed Islamic
science... and the high Sufi tradition of Islam including mystical poetry... It
is these local cultural traditions of Islam that are some of the main targets of
Islamic radicals, who deny national forms of Muslim religion and culture.
Central Asian Sufis (primarily the great Uzbek teacher of the Soviet era
Muhammad-jan Hindustani)[19] actively countered the spread of radical Islam (Salafism
and Wahhabism). Therefore, it is no surprise that religious extremism is much
less widespread in ancient Central Asian centers of civilization, such as
Samarkand and Bukhara, by virtue of the high traditional culture of the
population.
"The potential of the traditional legal Hanafi School should not be
underestimated either. It is one of the four Orthodox Sunni religious schools of
jurisprudence, whereas radical Islam (Salafism) is linked to the Saudi-adopted
Hanbali School in the radical Wahhabi interpretation. The development of
traditional Islam and the consolidation of the Hanafi School for official
recognition (which is the case, for instance, in Tajikistan) is a resource for
fighting radicalism...
"It should also be emphasized that Central Asian states have positive historical
experience in terms of successfully upgrading Islamic ideology, which may well
be leveraged in current conditions. The latter half of the 19th century and
early 20th century saw the emergence of the Jadid ideology... It was introduced
by Muslim liberal reformers in the regions, who were leaders in the
dissemination of such ideas.[20] This is a cultural tradition of development
along the strictly secular road, which is typical of the region's more advanced
countries such as Kazakhstan."
Countering Islamism: "Soviet Modernization Heritage," An Efficient Market
Economy, And Russia's Role
"Soviet modernization heritage also facilitates the preservation of secular
statehood. It led to many changes in Central Asia. Many Soviet-established
non-Muslim stereotypes of everyday life (for instance, high literacy and the
secular education of the population owing to the system of universal school
education, the consumption of alcohol and infrequent visits to mosques) still
make many residents of this region substantially different from their
brethren-in-faith in the rest of the Muslim world.
"In the post-Soviet period, the efficiency of reforms aimed at building modern
institutions was different in different countries of the region. Kazakhstan has
been in the lead in terms of developing a market economy and attracting
investment. An efficient market economy is one of the largest obstacles to the
return to archaic Islamic institutions as urged by radicals... It is Kazakhstan
that is a kind of a 'bastion of stability' primarily owing to its relative
(regional) socio-economic well-being. It ensures the security of Russia's
southern borders, China's western borders and eventually the security of the
European Union's eastern borders.
"The assistance of great powers is a major resource in the struggle against
radical Islamism in Central Asia. In this context special credit goes to Russia
which has key positions in terms of ensuring regional security. The
Moscow-backed Collective Security Treaty Organization is the main protection for
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan against possible invasions from Afghan
territory and potential ISIS expansion.[21] Russia is vitally concerned with
fighting Islamic radicalism in Central Asia. Its further spread and even
possible victory are linked to the growth potential of many cross-border threats
(terrorism, drug trafficking, the intensification of uncontrolled migration,
etc.). In the migration context, the security of Russia's several metropolitan
areas (Moscow above all) largely depends on the ability of Moscow and the entire
international community to render effective aid to Central Asian countries in
countering the growing threat of radical Islamism."
Endnotes:
[1] Valdaiclub.com, January 19, 2016.
[2] The original English has been lightly edited for clarity.
[3] The main phase of the joint command staff exercises involving the units of
the armed forces of Russia and Tajikistan started in March 2016. The command and
control units of Tajikistan's Defense Ministry and Russia's Central Military
District as well as motorized rifle, armored and artillery units, Special
Forces, airborne and air assault groups of both countries participated in the
drill. Sputniknews.com, March 14, 2016.
[4] Kommersant.ru, October 8, 2015.
[5] Letter dated May 19, 2015 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee
pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaeda and
associated individuals and entities addressed to the President of the Security
Council. S/2015/358.p.8.
[6] Letter dated 19 May 2015 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee
pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaeda and
associated individuals and entities addressed to the President of the Security
Council. S/2015/358.P. 9.
[7] Kommersant.ru, October 8, 2015.
[8] The Basmachi Revolt was an insurrection against Soviet rule in Central Asia,
which started after the Russian revolution in 1917 and was largely suppressed by
1926.
[9] Kommersant.ru, October 8, 2015.
[10] The Islamic Movement for Uzbekistan (IMU) has been blamed by Kirgizstan for
the Batken incidents of 1999 and 2000.
[11] The Fergana Valley, in Central Asia, spreads across eastern Uzbekistan,
south of Kyrgyzstan and north of Tajikistan. In March 2016, tensions rose
between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over an elevated territory in the valley
shared by the two countries.
[12] On April 2015, Gulmurod Khalimov joined ISIS in Syria. Khalimov, a former
commander of the special forces of the Tajiki Ministry of Interior, appeared in
a propaganda video confirming that he is fighting for ISIS. On February 2016,
his second wife, Humairo Mirova, left for Syria along with their four children.
[13] On September 2015, former Tajiki deputy defense minister General Abdukhalim
Nazarzodawas killed by Tajiki security forces, after gunmen loyal to Nazarzoda
clashed with government forces.
[14] On October 6, 2015, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon met with Russian
President Vladimir Putin to discuss security issues in order to defend the
1,200-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan. In the meeting, Rahmon said that
the situation in Afghanistan is worsening daily. "Hostilities are underway along
over 60 percent of the border. This is very alarming; therefore... I would like
to take up specifically matters of ensuring security in the region," he said.
Kremlin.ru, October 6, 2015.
[15] In January 2016, police in Tajikistan shaved the beards off nearly 13,000
men, and 1,700 women removed their headscarves in a bid to tackle extremism.
[16] The Tulip Revolution, or the First Kyrgyz Revolution, overthrew Kyrgyz
president AskarAkayev in 2005. The Second Kyrgyz Revolution ousted Kyrgyz
president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010.
[17] In the aftermath of the Second Kyrgyz Revolution, ethnic clashes between
Kyrgyz and Uzbeks erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The clashes resulted
in hundreds of people killed, and in the looting and destruction of property.
[18] On December 12, 1995, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Resolution on
the Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan.
[19] Muhammad-jan Hindustani (1892-1989) was an Uzbeki Muslim scholar. He is
considered to be the father of the Islamic renaissance in Central Asia.
[20] Jadidism was a movement of Muslim reformers in Central Asia, mainly among
the Uzbeks and the Tajiks, from the first years of the 20th century to the
1920s.
[21] The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was signed on May 15,
1992. Odkb-csto.org/.
Will Egyptian schools strip religion from curriculum?
George Mikhail/Al-Monitor/April 13/16
A call made by Nadia Henry, deputy head of the Free Egyptians Party’s
parliamentary bloc, to replace the religion course — which is mandatory for
students in public schools — with an alternate course on “values” has raised
considerable debate within the parliament, accompanied by an attack launched by
the Salafist Nour Party and Al-Azhar.
Egyptian schools teach religion from elementary school through high school, and
Christian students are separated from their fellow Muslims during religion
courses. However, despite the importance of this course in Egyptian education,
the students’ grades in religion are not included in their final grades because
religion exams taken by Christians differ from those taken by Muslims, and this
way everyone can be graded equally. Meanwhile, the Orthodox Church and Al-Azhar
contribute to developing the curricula for the religion courses for both
Christian and Muslim students.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Henry emphasized that she did not call for
eliminating the religion course, but rather wanted to replace it with a course
on values that would combine verses from both the Quran and the Bible that
underline values and ideals. “The values course should be taught by educators
who have knowledge in the science of counseling and psychology, in order to
plant the idea of citizenship in students’ hearts and teach them how to love one
another,” she said.
Henry refused the idea of teaching the values course along with religion,
stressing that the religion course and its results over the past years must be
evaluated.
Henry pointed out that the religion course did not produce clear results in
changing the concepts of ethics and values in society. She also criticized the
way religion is taught in schools by separating young Muslim students from
Christians, which increases sectarianism. “The values course would teach
students the principles of citizenship, without discrimination and without
separating between minority and majority. All institutions must work
hand-in-hand; the religious institution establishes doctrine, and the
educational institution applies it through educational and behavioral rules.”
She called on all those opposing her proposal to join her at the dialogue table
to develop the proposal, stressing that she does not aim at eliminating religion
from schools but to establish a more advanced way to teach it.
Henry responded to attacks on her proposal by saying that changes to
long-standing methods are always accompanied by societal shock, but it is
necessary to reconsider the method of teaching religion in schools. According to
her, the results of the religion course are negative because students are
separated based on their religion and have teachers who are not specialized in
teaching religion. She also argued that it would not lead to a decline in
religion, claiming, “The values course would hamper any inclinations toward
atheism among students, because they would [be taught] to understand and
tolerate one another.”
“I will continue to defend the proposal after the Free Egyptians Party’s
educational committee finishes preparing it in order to submit it to the
parliament,” she asserted.
The veteran member of parliament revealed that she is preparing to hold a
workshop for educators, clerics, experts in humanities, as well as media and
cultural figures in order to establish regulations and standards for a new
educational course under the name of “values.” Henry noted that she will not be
affected by the attacks against her. She welcomes all opinions, and she will
continue to implement her proposal. Henry expressed her hope that some religious
leaders would be welcoming, noting, “The new religious leadership within the
Evangelical Church shows how committed it is to teaching religion to the new
generation.”
Henry explained that the values course would “emphasize the concepts of moderate
Islam for Muslim and Christian students alike. Christian students will learn
Quranic verses about tolerance and love, while Muslim students will learn Bible
verses about being loving and giving. Thus, citizenship is truly achieved
without any [sectarian] slogans.”
Al-Azhar’s committee of senior scholars issued a statement March 10 describing
calls to remove religion from state curricula as “harmful to Al-Azhar’s status
and the Islamic identity of our country.”
Al-Azhar’s statement was welcomed by Salafist Nour Party’s members of
parliament, with parliamentarian Ahmed Sharif applauding Al-Azhar’s stance and
stressing that the proposal to remove the religion course was not appropriate.
Meanwhile, Abdel Moneim El-Shahat, a spokesman for the Salafist Call — the Nour
Party's political wing — warned about responding to those calling for
eliminating religious education from schools. In press statements published
March 15 he said, “All societal classes are in desperate need of an increase in
religion in schools, universities and the media.”
For his part, Mohamed El Shahat al-Gundi, a member of the Islamic Research
Academy, told Egyptian daily Al-Youm Al-Sabeh in early March that replacing
religion for values in school curricula would open the gate to the breakdown of
key provisions in the Muslim and Christian religions, and that it was an attempt
to resemble the West, which is not the right thing to do.
Henry’s proposal was met with various reactions within parliament. For one,
member of parliament Amina Naseer supported the proposal, saying, “Islam and
Christianity emphasize the need for ethics and an upright behavior in dealing
with others. The values material should include the values contained in
Christian and Muslim texts agreed upon by everyone.”
However, independent member of parliament Mohammed Ismail announced that he
would make an urgent statement to the Minister of Education to demand including
the grades students get in religious course in their final grades, in response
to calls to replace the religion course with values. Ismail expressed the need
to do away with the current pass/fail grading system for religion, which in his
view would eliminate religious illiteracy and prevent the infiltration of
extremist ideas into society.
***George Mikhail is a freelance journalist who specializes in minority and
political issues. He graduated from Cairo University in 2009 and has worked for
a number of Egyptian newspapers.
Turkey plays both sides in
Iran, Saudi conflict
Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/April 13/16
Ankara is developing a dual-track approach to the Middle East by simultaneously
courting bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to shore up its position in a
region that has defied its plans and ambitions to date. Foreign policy experts
say this new approach, which they consider to be a “work in progress,” has the
potential to make Turkey an influential regional player again if it is allowed
to mature.This new approach has already resulted in a spate of high-level recent
visits between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Turkey and Iran. Turkey remains
unhappy, of course, about Tehran’s support for the Bashar al-Assad regime, while
Iran is unhappy about Ankara’s support to anti-Assad groups in Syria.
Turkey also remains disgruntled about Saudi Arabia’s support for Egypt’s Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi, who is criticized by Ankara for relentlessly pursuing members of
the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have a personal affinity for members of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
But Ankara’s Sunni-based approach to the region and its overt pro-Muslim
Brotherhood sympathies provided little in the end other than ruffling the
feathers of both Sunni and Shiite powers. Saudi Arabia and Iran, nevertheless,
appear keener now to respond to Ankara’s outreach because of the common
interests with Turkey that have emerged.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud arrived in Ankara April 11
against this backdrop, with a large entourage of aides, for two days of talks
with Erdogan and Davutoglu on regional issues, with the focus expected to be
mostly on Syria.
These talks also come immediately before the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
summit in Istanbul later this week to be hosted by Erdogan. Salman will travel
to Istanbul from Ankara to attend the summit.
Salman’s visit to Ankara follows up on Erdogan’s “icebreaking” visit to Riyadh
in December, which took place only a month after Erdogan attended the funeral of
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
Diplomats have noted the relative improvement in ties after Salman came to
power. Officials in Ankara also say they detect signs of a new approach by
Riyadh toward the Muslim Brotherhood after Abdullah’s death.
Following Erdogan’s visit to Riyadh, there was much talk about a “Sunni
alliance” between the two countries, especially with regard to Syria. After it
was announced in February that Saudi fighter jets would be deployed at the
Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, speculation was rife that the two countries were
preparing for a joint intervention in Syria.
These claims were denied by Saudi Arabia, who said its jets would only join the
US-led coalition in strikes against the Islamic State and had no other mission.
Ankara and Riyadh, nevertheless, continue to support anti-Assad fighters
operating under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, which includes groups that
Iran and Russia say are terrorist organizations and which the United States is
also not too keen about.
Developing ties with Riyadh gives Ankara an important partner in the Middle East
and helps it not only overcome its regional isolation, but to also reinforce its
hand in Syria and Iraq.
Conversely, ties with Ankara provides Riyadh with an important regional and
predominantly Sunni partner at a time when it is in deep rivalry with Iran.
This is said to be particularly important for the Saudi side because it feels it
has lost ground against Iran following Tehran’s rapprochement with Washington.
Soli Ozel, a lecturer in international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has
University, and who has a column in daily Haberturk, said this is also driving
Riyadh to developing its ties with Ankara.
“The Saudis want Turkey as a counterbalance because they mistrust US intentions
about Iran. But this expectation in Riyadh is likely to be misplaced,” Ozel told
Al-Monitor. His remarks are corroborated by the fact that Ankara is eager to
overcome the impression that it is pursuing Sunni-based policies.
Turkey is unlikely, therefore, to enter any Sunni alliance that appears to be
against Iran.
Davutoglu’s surprise visit to Tehran in early March, and the positive statements
made there with regard to bilateral ties, was taken as an indication of Turkey’s
desire to build bridges with Iran.
Ozel pointed out that the Kurdish issue is also a shared factor in
Turkish-Iranian ties. “Both countries are wary about efforts by the Syrian Kurds
to establish an autonomous region for themselves,” Ozel said.
Ozel added that efforts to develop ties with Tehran and Riyadh simultaneously
also signals an effort on Ankara’s part to establish what he referred to as a
more “variegated” policy toward the region. He stressed that this policy has yet
to emerge fully.
An Iran that has been opening up to the world rapidly after its nuclear deal
with the West also provides a lucrative market, which Turkey cannot overlook.
But retired Ambassador Unal Cevikoz, whose past posts include Baghdad, pointed
out that while this is an added catalyst for improved ties with Iran, Turkey can
make little headway in this regard if its political relations are not in order.
Cevikoz told Al-Monitor that the apparent “dual-track” policy Ankara is
displaying toward Saudi Arabia and Iran now is a positive development that can
put Turkey back in the picture regionally.
“If this is allowed to mature, it will help make Turkey shed some of its
negative image and make it a respected player again in the Middle East,” Cevikoz
said. He added, however, that Ankara had to also improve its ties with Egypt and
Israel for this to happen.
“Riyadh can help bridge Turkey’s differences with Egypt,” Cevikoz said,
referring to the fact that Salman arrived in Ankara this week from Cairo where
he held talks with President Sisi.
On the other hand, retired Ambassador Bozkurt Aran, who currently lectures at
Ankara’s TOBB University, believes this “dual-track approach” by Ankara is still
a “work in progress,” and he doubts if we can talk about a new direction in
Turkey’s Middle East policy yet.
“We got to this stage after much self-created turbulence, which is not totally
over yet. Turkey’s policies also helped provoke the Shiite resurgence in the
region. Ankara has to still overcome all the damaging effects of this turbulence
before we can say that a new policy is in place,” Aran told Al-Monitor.
**Semih Idiz is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. He is a journalist
who has been covering diplomacy and foreign policy issues for major Turkish
newspapers for 30 years. His opinion pieces can be followed in the
English-language Hurriyet Daily News. His articles have also been published in
The Financial Times, The Times of London, Mediterranean Quarterly and Foreign
Policy magazine.
Obama’s
doctrine: Half-friends?
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/April 13/16
Notwithstanding his administration and his advisors, US President Barack Obama
has not been convinced of real cooperation between the US and Gulf countries.
From day one, he wanted a rapprochement with Iran. He had warmed up to the idea
and was fascinated by it to the extent of addiction.
Obama considered the nuclear agreement which he sealed with Tehran as a
historical achievement which will top the achievements of his presidential era.
What’s certain is that although his era achieved some economic success, it did
not achieve any political success. Obama’s era marked miserable failures in the
region, withdrawal from all of the US influential posts besides leaving the
arena for terrorists from al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah and Iran’s proxies. Obama’s
recent interview with The Atlantic gave a glimpse of his political doctrine. The
interview was clear and frank and exposed his real mindset during the two
presidential terms, and which led the US to its lowest levels of popularity. The
US failed on the Syrian front, Arab revolutions and almost on all political
matters. In The Atlantic interview, Obama said the Gulf region should be seen
differently from Iran. He also implied that Saudi Arabia is among “free rider”
countries who put many conditions. Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal responded to
these comments with information that refutes Obama’s claims. He said that Saudi
Arabia is not a “free rider” as it has efficiently contributed toward resolving
the region’s crises and is the partner of major countries in terms of fighting
terrorism. Since the US-Gulf Camp David meeting, Gulf countries, primarily Saudi
Arabia, have depended on themselves, fighting wars on their own and using their
own diplomatic channels . It has also contributed to curbing the negative
repercussions of Arab revolutions, spent billions of dollars from its budget to
help the needy in Afghanistan for three decades and extinguished the flames of
wars in several regions across the world.
“We offered boots on the ground to make that coalition more effective in
eliminating the terrorists,” Turki al-Faisal wrote.
“We initiated the support – military, political and humanitarian – that is
helping the Yemeni people reclaim their country from the murderous militia, the
Houthis, who, with the support of the Iranian leadership, tried to occupy Yemen;
without calling for American forces,” the prince said.
“We established a coalition of more than thirty Muslim countries to fight all
shades of terrorism in the world. We are the biggest contributors to the
humanitarian relief efforts to help refugees from Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Your
secretaries of state and defense have often publicly praised the level of
cooperation between our two countries. Your treasury department officials have
publicly praised Saudi Arabia’s measures to curtail any financing that might
reach terrorists,” he added.
'Thoughts on Obama doctrine'
Commenting on Obama’s interview with The Atlantic, Daniel W. Drezner, a
commentator in the Washington Post, wrote an op-ed entitled “Five thoughts on
Obama Doctrine,” and summarized what surprised him most in the interview, and
which are simply the following: “Obama does not respect America’s foreign policy
community. Obama respects Arab Middle East leaders even less. There’s a little
bit of Donald Trump in Barack Obama. Obama’s biggest foreign policy failure has
been domestic in nature. The United States has clearly been a force for good in
the world.”
Obama bragged that he backed down on attacking the Assad regime and also spoke
about the importance of stopping that “political doctrine in the US State
Department” that’s based on defending Saudi Arabia. He also considered that his
war fleets only mobilize to suppress terrorism or defend Israel against any
possible nuclear attack. Obama wants to turn his back to historical relations
with all their economic and political dimensions. Everyone noticed that ever
since the US-Gulf Camp David meeting, Gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia,
have depended on themselves, fighting wars on their own and used their own
diplomatic channels, establishing alliances and deterring opponents. The present
US situation may be good for us as we’d continue to balance our political and
security crises to protect our borders and our people’s well-being. Betting on
the Eisenhower Doctrine which defends Saudi Arabia makes us more negligent. The
US “withdrawal” from this region, and its subsequent denial, is not the end of
the world but actually the right beginning for Gulf countries to depend on
themselves and distinguish between true friends and half-friends!
An Iranian canal from the Caspian to the Gulf
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/April 13/16
The news of the construction of a bridge over the Red Sea to connect Saudi
Arabia and Egypt, and thus connect Asia to Africa, caught the attention of many.
This is indeed a historical step that has political and economic ramifications.
Within the same context of regional relations, the Iranian minister of energy
announced a plan that connects the Caspian Sea with the Arab Gulf via a canal.
The difference between the two projects is that the first one is realistic while
the second one is imaginary. Geographically connecting Saudi Arabia to Egypt is
possible at the construction level especially after finalizing of the
arrangements regarding the Tiran and Sanafir islands, which were returned to
Saudi Arabia. However, digging a canal that's more than 1,000 kilometers long
faces many considerable difficulties. Of course, there's nothing that obstructs
the residents of the Caspian Sea from cooperating to build a canal that ends the
isolation of the world's largest inland water body which Russia, Kazakhstan,
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran overlook. Iran is the only country that’s
talking about digging the canal which it says will cost $7 billion, i.e. double
the cost of constructing the Saudi-Egyptian bridge. Iran’s suggested canal only
serves five countries and there are many difficulties when it comes to digging
it due to the Iranian terrains. There are estimates which suggest that the real
cost of building the Iranian canal will be three times the announced cost as it
will require more than $7 billion to dig more than 1,000 kilometers and the
distance may be double depending on the path which is finally agreed upon.
Therefore, the project is most probably part of the Iranian government's
political propaganda. Proof of this is that the party assigned to dig the canal
is not a respectable construction company but said to be the Revolutionary Guard
Corps, the Iranian militia whom the Azerbaijani government accuses of terrorist
activities against it. This is in addition to its alleged armed activities in
Syria and Iraq!
The Iranian model
The Iranian model for a canal was inspired by the Suez Canal, which connects the
Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and which has always inspired Iran and the
rest of the Khazar Sea - the old name of the Caspian - residents with the idea
to build a canal similar to it. The Suez Canal serves the world and it was
improved last year as it was expanded. The New Suez Canal was built in record
time as it was constructed in just one year. However, Iran’s suggested canal
only serves five countries and there are many difficulties when it comes to
digging it due to the Iranian terrains and to the fact that it passes through
mountainous areas, earthquake zones and heavily-populated areas. According to
the description of an Azeri expert, Chingiz Ismailov, the project is an
environmental adventure that's dangerous to Iran itself and to the Caspian Sea
which depends on the water of the Russian Volga River. He voiced doubt about the
seriousness of the announcement to build the canal, adding that assigning a
construction task to a terrorist organization and granting it $2 million only
show that announcing this canal may be no more than political propaganda.
Does digging a canal that uses Gulf waters that ends in the Caspian Sea require
the approval of other Gulf countries, like the six Gulf Cooperation Council
countries and Iraq? I don't know, but Azerbaijan considers that Iran's
announcement of the canal project violates the rights of the Caspian Sea
countries as the latter's approval must be attained. Like the Gulf, the Caspian
is an important source of oil to the world, and in case the canal is built, Iran
will aspire to be a source and passage for petroleum instead of - or perhaps in
addition to - establishing the pipeline project the construction of which has
been obstructed for many years.
Children should carry school
bags, not AK47s
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/April 13/16
Armed conflict hurts not only combatants, but also civilians and in many cases
the most vulnerable among them. A significant and a very disturbing case is that
of child soldiers. It is unforgivable that in the 21st century children are not
protected from the evils of war and even worse are recruited to become
combatants, ending as both victims and perpetrators of war crimes. It is
estimated that there are nearly a quarter of a million child soldiers around the
world, and in current conflicts seven governments and 49 non-state groups are
engaged in this deplorable practice. Children are recruited in various places of
the world, especially in Africa and in the Middle East. As consequence of the
protracted turmoil in the MENA region, it witnesses an increase in this
phenomenon in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and South Sudan. The
long-term physical and psychological damage to these young people is
immeasurable and will most likely stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Misusing children under the age of 18 as fighters, suicide bombers, human
shields, messengers, spies, slave labour and also sexually exploiting them is
inexcusable, as it wrecks the lives of these children and also their societies.
As one would expect, the more underprivileged children in society are, the
easiest prey for would-be predators to force them into becoming child soldiers.
In most cases children are recruited by force. Most commonly they are abducted
following raids on villages and towns, sometimes even in their own schools. From
there they are forced onto lorries and then either sent straight into battle or
to training camps. The harrowing accounts by former child soldiers regarding
their experiences of the abuse they suffered and inflicted on others, requires a
coordinated and integrated response by the international community
These children can be as young as 10 years old and sometimes even younger. The
notion that some of them are joining of their own volition is extremely
misleading. Applying the judgement of an adult, who can assess the full risks
involved in being a soldier, to a child is utterly spurious.
Moreover, the prevailing perception, especially among male children in these
type of situations, induced by interesting parties, is that without enlisting
they are easy targets for rival groups and will end up being killed. This
creates pressure from the immediate social environment, which is almost
impossible to resist. When they are already in the heart of the battle, it is
next to impossible for them to leave.
General Dallaire’s trauma
I recently had the great privilege of hosting a talk by General Romeo Dallaire,
former force commander of the UN Mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide; a
genocide that left more than 800,000 people dead, many of which were children.
Not being able to prevent this horrendous mass slaughter of the innocent,
traumatized him personally, but at the same time made him the driving force
behind the UN endorsement of the concept of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
R2P puts the onus on states and their governments to protect populations from
mass atrocity crimes. When states fail to do so, it is the responsibility of the
international community to take timely and appropriate action to defend
civilians. For nearly a decade now, he set himself the mission, of eradicating
the recruitment and use of child soldiers worldwide, through the development of
new strategies and tactics.
Two of the most important pillars of his initiative have been to advance early
warning mechanisms when children are at risk of being recruited as soldiers and
to educate governments and rebel groups as to the futility of this practice. As
a former soldier he tries persuade them that, putting aside the morality of the
issue, it is also counterproductive to their own interests. On both fronts this
initiative has had a considerable success.
Whatever dubious merits recruiting child soldiers might have, international law
has made it crystal clear that the practice is illegal. Moreover, the 2015 UN
sustainable goals has reiterated the need to confine using children as
combatants to history. International humanitarian law states categorically that
the recruitment or use of children under 18 in a conflict is prohibited. It is a
war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which a
number of the countries that violate it belong.
World of abuse
The harrowing accounts by former child soldiers regarding their experiences of
the abuse they suffered and inflicted on others, requires a coordinated and
integrated response by the international community. Child soldiers that escaped
hostilities or were released, tell horror stories about the killing in
battlefields, murder of child soldiers by their own commanders to ensure total
obedience by others, rape and use of children as sex slaves, not to mention many
other forms of violence and torture. There is no single measure to stop children
from turning into soldiers. However, self-evidently, as a recent UNICEF report
argues, there is a need for the introduction of a range of policies, which would
prevent recruitment of children in the first place to military activity. Doing
so should take into account that the absence of peace, broken societies,
poverty, authoritarian regimes, and even the lack of universal birth
registration – all are major contributors to the persistence of the phenomenon
of child soldiers. Furthermore, no peace agreement should ignore the need to
demobilize children from the warring sides and sensitively address, without
stigma, the rehabilitation and reintegration of them, for their sake and for the
sake of their own societies. Bringing to justice those who destroy the childhood
of so many must become a priority. In the debate around child soldiers it is of
grave importance to ensure that the education system is protected. Without
schools serving as safe havens of normality and physical and psychological
support, the phenomenon of child soldiers will persist. After all, children who
go to school are the ones who will secure a better future for their societies,
not the ones that carry AK-47.
'Panama Papers' expose Arab
journalism too
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/April 13/16
We are so involved in current divisions and crises that we have forgotten the
essence of journalism. “Seeking the truth” is a beautiful slogan until we
distort it for political, sectarian or financial gain. The "Panama Papers" have
revived what we thought had perished - a profession designed to serve public
opinion and help build more knowledgeable and responsible societies. The papers,
which are considered the most important in the history of investigative
journalism, have exposed the extent of corruption and money-laundering
worldwide, including the Arab world. They show how corruption is rooted, and how
political and public figures - even in sports and culture - are involved. Some
400 reporters worldwide kept the papers secret for a year, restoring
journalism’s reputation and significance. It is disappointing that only six Arab
journalists were among them, although the papers expose people in the Arab world
and reveal a lot about Arab countries and societies. This is where the essence
of our crisis appears. Some 400 reporters worldwide kept the papers secret for a
year. It is disappointing that only six Arab journalists were among them. In
Lebanon, for example, many media outlets have voiced their intention to close,
while several have done so for political and security reasons. Other media
outlets are suffering from financial and political crises, or they have fallen
into the trap of political and sectarian polarization. This is not limited to
Lebanon, as journalists suffer from this in several Arab countries and have
repeatedly spoken out about it.
Obstacles
This is in addition to what some journalists go through - such as imprisonment,
intimidation and blackmail - when attempting to professionally defy the
authorities. Amid this bleak reality, the "Panama Papers" remind us that the
role of journalism has not come to an end, and that it is more important than we
thought. The profession is taking new paths based on global cooperation and
networking. This experience raises real questions about our ability to attain
and publish information. Publishing information can be as problematic as
attaining it, due to weak laws and many journalists falling into the trap of
political affiliations. These obstructions prevent the kind of journalistic work
that the "Panama Papers" achieved. Despite the papers, however, the space for
serious work to expose corruption remains limited. We need to learn and be
inspired by the collective work of journalists of different nationalities in
different continents.