LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

August 18/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.august18.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?".
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16/09-12/:"I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?".

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life
First Letter of John 05,/13-21/:"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal. We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols."


Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 17-18/16

Walid Phares And Trump are Addressing the Jihad Terrorism The Right Way/Elias Bejjani/August 17/16

Comparing Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s approaches to ISIS/PBC NEWSHOUR/August 16/16
Is Trump really wrong about Obama and ISIS/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
Why Trump’s ‘Second Amendment’ Comment Hit a Nerve/Raymond Ibrahim/August 17/16
Khamenei and IRGC's Increasing Popularity/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/August 17/16
Egyptian Writer: Democracy Is A Destructive System Used By The West To Dismantle Arab Countries/MEMRI/August 17/16
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: July 2016/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/August 17, 2016
Yemen and the failure of the rebel project/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
The curious case of a hijab at the Olympics/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
Not everyone is a winner at the Olympic Games/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
 

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 17-18/16

Walid Phares And Trump are Addressing the Jihad Terrorism The Right Way

Lebanese Man Shot Dead by U.S. Racist Neighbor

Report: Lebanese Banks Await New List of U.S. Sanctions
Report: Cairo Reactivates Arab Role Through Lebanon
Shoukry Completes Meetings with Officials, Holds Talks with Aoun and Geagea
Kataeb leader meets Egyptian Foreign Minister over presidential void
Sleiman receives Shukri
Report: Moqbel to Postpone Retirement of Higher Defense Council Chief
Explosive Device Discovered in Arsal
Report: Berri to Launch 'Summary of Initiatives' to Solve Political Crisis
Berri: Country to Face Crossroads by Year's End if No Agreements
Army Refers Four Terror Suspects to Judiciary
Minister of Interior, Nouhad Machnouk,, Shamsi address bilateral relations
Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Yohanna X, meets Polish President, calls for peaceful political solution in the region
Aoun receives delegation of Muslim Scholars Gathering
State Security arrest dangerous wanted in Wadi Khaled
U.S. Military and Lebanese Army Conclude Joint Military Exercise
Kanaan meets Geagea, says Meerab agreement bridge of communication among all sides
Pharaon launches first time Tripoli Festivals

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 17-18/16

France’s Hollande to meet Pope Francis after priest killing
UN chief warns of unprecedented ‘catastrophe’ in Syrian city of Aleppo
Syrian Media Say 7 Killed in Aleppo Shelling
Russia Launches Second Syria Bombing Raid from Iran
Russian Forces in Deadly St. Petersburg Raid against Caucasus Militants
Peshmerga forces gain ground east of ISIS-held Mosul
Saudi Cop Gunned Down in Shiite District
Israel Arrests Hamas Election Committee Member
Palestinians take tentative step towards local elections
Turkey Submits Israel Deal to Parliament for Approval
Turkey to release 38,000 jailed for pre-coup crimes
Turkey dismisses more than 2,000 police officers
Mexico president says he’s willing to meet with Donald Trump
Iran ‘tortured’ prisoners before executions
IRAN: Call for an international inquiry into the torture of Sunni political prisoners before their execution
60 boys and girls arrested in Iran capital for attending mixed-gender party
Brazil’s Rousseff ahead of trial: ‘I'm innocent’
Trump vows to reject bigotry if elected US president
FBI delivers documents on Clinton email probe to US Congress
Putin hints at war in Ukraine but may be seeking diplomatic edge

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on August 17-18/16
CNN turns to hard-Left hate group Southern Poverty Law Center to define Sharia
Abuse of Muslims is now mainstream”? Really?
Germany: Muslim arrested for Islamic State plot to explode nail-filled bomb at town festival
Oklahoma: Judge rules Muslim who beheaded coworker not competent to enter guilty plea
Kashmir: Muslims tell Hindus to “leave or face death”
Hugh Fitzgerald: Just Who is in the “Perpetual Crosshairs of Bigotry”?
Twin Falls pol repents, personally apologizes to family of girl raped by Muslim migrants
Muslim refugee brought to Maine by Catholic Charities dies waging jihad for the Islamic State
#NotMyPope trending in Europe as Church handles Islamic crisis worse than sex abuse crisis
Pakistani clerics who praised jihad killer welcomed to UK, start mosque speaking tour

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 17-18/16

Walid Phares And Trump are Addressing the Jihad Terrorism The Right Way/وليد فارس وترامب يسميان الأمور الجهادية بأسمائها
Elias Bejjani/August 17/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/08/17/elias-bejjani-walid-phares-and-trump-are-addressing-the-jihad-terrorism-the-right-way/
What Dr. Walid Phares and Donald Trump are saying courageously and academically about Iran, Hezbollah, Isis and their bloody -Jihad stone age terrorism all over the world, we in Lebanon have been saying it too for years and more loudly and more precisely, and more knowledgeably, but because we are weak and marginalized no body wanted to hear us or take our cautioning and warning rhetoric seriously.
Why? Because the Jihad terrorism was not yet attacking them and threatening their countries.
It is worth mentioning that our late, great politician and philosopher, Dr. Charles Malek did in the early fifties caution the whole world in regards to terrorism.. Verbatim he said:” If you do not now recognize, face and fight terrorism and terrorists in Lebanon, they will very soon hit in Paris first and then in the USA”. What he said did happen and now the whole world is suffering from Jihad terrorism. Meanwhile and in the same context, the whole world is forced to hear Phares and Trump because this devastating Jihad terrorism has reached their societies and is hitting and killing their citizens.
Due to the sad fact that politicians and officials specifically in the Arab countries and in the Western world were completely hiding all the truth about Jihad terrorism and avoiding to openly tell their people what actually it is and who stands behind it.. Now Phares and Trump are creating a real awakening shock and exposing them all, especially that they are naming things with their real and actual names without any false cosmetic appeasing and cajoling approaches, masks, Dhimmitude, or lies.
We strongly believe that it is only a matter of time and all officials as well as citizens all over the world will be desensitized to hearing from Phares, Trump and others the absolute truth about Jihad terrorists, their ideological affiliations, planes and dangers. And most importantly naming things with their real and actual names without fear, Dhimmitude or camouflage. To make the argument simple and conceivable, Let us In Lebanon and the Arab countries in particular wisely and thoroughly look where Hezbollah’s Terrorist leader, Hassan Nasrallah’s aura (هالة وقداسة وعظمة) and glory were three years ago and where they are now after all his Iranian-Jihad masks of deceive fell…It is only a matter of time and all those who know exactly what is Jihad and its terrorism will have no choice but to echo and more loudly what Phares and Trump are now sayingand causing rejection, harsh criticism and shocks.
In conclusion, No matter if Donald Trump wins the USA presidential elections or not, He and Walid Phares have paved world-wide the right way for serious, practical and knowledgeable approaches to encounter and defeat Jihad Terrorism.

Lebanese Man Shot Dead by U.S. Racist Neighbor
Asharq Al-Awsat/August 17/16
Khalid Jabara was shot and killed by his neighbor Stanley Vernon Majors who repeated called him and his family names such as "dirty Arabs," and "filthy Lebanese," the family said. The Lebanese Jabara family has been terrorized by their Tulsa neighbor for years now. Stanley Vernon Majors, 61, killed last Friday his Lebanese next-door neighbor on the front porch of Jabara family’s home, weeks after being released from prison for running over the victim’s mother, U.S. media reported. The shooter had a longtime fixation with the Jabara family whom he called as “dirty Arabs,” “filthy Lebanese” and “Mooslems.”
In a report published Tuesday, The Washington Post described how Majors opened fire, fatally wounding the 37-year-old Khalid who was talking on the phone with his mother when he stepped outside to get the mail. Khalid was telling his mother not to come home because Majors had a gun.
Majors was waiting for him, police say. Before the shooting “Khalid called the police stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen,” the family said in a statement. Officers arrived on scene but they couldn’t go inside Major’s home to check, so they left, said police spokeswoman Ashley Leland. “This certainly is a tragedy … but this is not a whodunit,” Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker told The Washington Post, citing one eyewitness account as well as the history of problems between Majors and his Lebanese neighbors.
LONG HISTORY OF HARRASEMENT
Earlier in September 2015, the victim’s mother Haifa Jabara was taking a walk in the neighborhood when Majors ran her over with his car, leaving her with a broken shoulder, collapsed lung and fractured ribs, among other injuries. Police charged Majors with felony assault. Initially, he was held in custody without bond. But even though Majors confessed to trying to run over Jabara because he hated her and, a judge allowed his release three months ago, until his trial in March 2017. “We can’t help but question, could things have ended differently?” said Jenna Jabara, the victim’s sister-in-law.
“If police had made contact with him, stuck around a little longer, if he hadn’t been out on bond, if there had been more questions before bond.”Khalid Jabara’s family immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s from Lebanon. They settled in Tulsa and raised three children. One brother became a lawyer, the sister works in marketing, and Khalid Jabara ran the family catering business with his mother. “He was hilarious, quirky, very intelligent, and really would give all of himself for anyone he loved,” his brother wrote in a Facebook post. The Jabara family moved into their current home 12 years ago. A few years later, Stanley Majors moved into the house next door. The harassment and intimidation began almost immediately, they say.
 

Report: Lebanese Banks Await New List of U.S. Sanctions
Naharnet/August 17/16/U.S. authorities are in the process of preparing a new list of persons and institutions who will be included in the financial sanctions imposed on Hizbullah, al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday. Sources close to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said that the regulations will not trigger additional complications to the “political scene”, especially between Hizbullah and the BDL governor Riad Salameh, now that all Lebanese banks have committed to the application of the mechanism that does not allow the expansion of punitive measures to include people and institutions not covered by the sanctions, added the daily. U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act on December 18. The U.S. regulations say Washington will target those "knowingly facilitating a significant transaction or transactions for" Hizbullah or any individual, business or institution linked to the group. Those under sanctions include Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and slain top commander Mustafa Badreddine as well as some businessmen. The list also includes the group's al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio. Earlier, two banks have reportedly suspended Hizbullah-linked accounts in what they said is in conformity with the U.S. sanction. The move drew the ire of Hizbullah circles which they said it “crossed the line.”Later, Salameh had assured that Lebanese banks will abide by the restrictions but he stressed that they must “offer justifications” and consult with the Central Bank before suspending accounts suspected of violating the anti-Hizbullah U.S. sanctions law. In June, an agreement was reached between Salameh and Hizbullah, under which it stressed the necessity to comply with the conditions laid down by the Special Investigation Commission (SIC) to prevent the banks from taking individual decisions in this regard.

Report: Cairo Reactivates Arab Role Through Lebanon
Naharnet/August 17/16/Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry's talks in Lebanon came in coordination with Saudi Arabia, France, the Vatican, Russia and the United States amid reports that the Egyptian initiative began a year ago but was halted until it gained momentum lately, An Nahar daily reported on Wednesday. Ministerial sources told the daily that the proceeds of Shoukry's meeting with Lebanese officials will be conveyed to these countries. They added that the timing of the visit has a great significance at the Arab level after an almost total absence of Arab interest in the happenings in Lebanon. Other sources said that the Egyptian initiative towards Lebanon was launched early this year, but was halted when the Egyptian ambassador sensed that the conditions were not ripe yet. They pointed out that Cairo has initiated the step in the framework of reactivating its own Arab role and that it has coordinated the efforts with some Gulf countries, according to the daily. Shoukry arrived in Beirut Monday evening and held meetings the next day with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Speaker Nabih Berri and his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil. He reiterated Egypt's readiness to provide the needed grounds for Lebanese officials to hold talks and help them solve the political crisis.

Shoukry Completes Meetings with Officials, Holds Talks with Aoun and Geagea
Naharnet/August 17/16/Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry completed on Wednesday his meetings with Lebanese officials and met founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea. After a meeting with Aoun, the two men stressed the need for “continued communications.” Shoukry said that he discussed “several ideas with Aoun that might help in achieving some progress with regard to the political impasse that the country is witnessing.”“We discussed the ways to achieve stability in Lebanon and we have a vision for a solution which we will suggest to all political leaders. There are international and regional concerns for Lebanon” stated Shoukry. “We are working to meet the challenges facing the state,” said the Minister after meeting Geagea. On Tuesday, Shoukry met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. He had stressed that his country will provide the needed ground to help Lebanon overcome its political crisis, as he assured that Egypt only seeks stability and peace in the world and region. On Tuesday, the Egyptian diplomat held a dinner banquet and invited ex-President Michel Suleiman, ex-President Amin Gemayel, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil who represented Berri, Head of al-Mustabqal bloc Fouad Saniora, MP Michel Aoun, Bassil, Minister Raymond Araiji who represented Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea. The Egyptian embassy in Lebanon issued a statement and affirmed that “Egypt will continue its deliberations on ways to back Lebanon,” and Shoukry expressed satisfaction “with the positive atmospheres that prevailed during the Lebanese -Egyptian talks.”He stressed that “Egypt will spare no effort in working to achieve all what is good for the state of Lebanon and its people.”

Kataeb leader meets Egyptian Foreign Minister over presidential void
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Kataeb Party leader, MP Sami Gemayel, met on Wednesday with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister over the obstacles hindering the election of a Lebanese president and the negative repercussions of the lengthy presidential void, especially on national institutions."The pair broached the possible solutions to end the lingering vacuum," a statement by Kataeb press bureau said. Gemayel seized the opportunity to laud the Egyptian role in support of the Lebanese state, its democracy, as well as its free parliamentary system. "These factors are the sole guarantee for national stability and safety," the statement read.

Sleiman receives Shukri
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Former Lebanese President, Michel Sleiman, on Wednesday received Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shukri, and discussed with him developments. Sleiman hailed Egypt's role in helping Lebanon overcome its crisis.Sleiman also received National Defense Minister, Samir Mokbel, Agriculture Minister, Akram Chehayeb, and others and stressed in front of them the necessity to preserve the military institution and elect a president for the country as soon as possible.

Report: Moqbel to Postpone Retirement of Higher Defense Council Chief
Naharnet/August 17/16/The term extension of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, whose term ends in September, will not be discussed during Thursday's cabinet meeting, while the Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir awaits one of two decisions that either extend his term or grant him leave from duty. A ministerial source told al-Joumhouria daily on condition of anonymity that the military appointments file and the extension of Qahwaji are not on the cabinet's agenda. Defense Minister Samir Moqbel will issue a decision Sunday postponing the retirement of Kheir for another year, said the source. Moqbel had in August last year postponed the retirement of Qahwaji, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Walid Salman and Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir, extending their terms by one year, after the political forces failed to reach an agreement on security and military appointments. The Defense Minister had met earlier with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail and told him of his tendency to extend the term of Kheir for another year. On the other hand, reports said that Moqbel plans on Thursday to put for discussion the retirement of Kheir, due on August 21, which calls for a quick action to fill the vacuum at the post. Although reports anticipate that Kheir's term will be extended for another year, the source said that Moqbel has several other names nominated for the post and that they will be put for discussion. The two-thirds majority of the 24-member cabinet must vote on the decision, and if it fails to agree then Moqbel will be compelled to postpone Kheir's retirement. The path of the military appointments will probably take shape after the issue of the Higher Defense Council chief is settled, as it has become a foregone conclusion that Qahwaji's third term extension is inevitable despite the objection of the Free Patriotic Movement.

Explosive Device Discovered in Arsal
Naharnet/August 17/16/An explosive device was discovered on Wednesday in the restive northeastern border town of Arsal, state-run National News Agency reported. A military expert was working on dismantling it, it added.
The finding comes two days after a roadside bomb targeted an army vehicle in Arsal's Ras al-Sarj area lightly injuring five soldiers. Militants from the extremist Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front -- formerly al-Nusra Front -- are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.
The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in the captivity of the IS group.

Report: Berri to Launch 'Summary of Initiatives' to Solve Political Crisis
Naharnet/August 17/16/Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to launch a new initiative that summarizes all previous suggestions, the latest was that of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in an attempt to break the political deadlock in the country, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. The daily said “it is expected that several initiatives and positions might be made in the coming days and that they would reach their peak by the end of August where Berri is expected to make an initiative that summarizes all.”Berri's position will come five days ahead of the national dialogue sessions scheduled to start on September 5. Nasrallah had hinted in a speech on Saturday that Hizbullah does not mind the appointment of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as premier in return for the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun as president and the re-election of Berri as parliament speaker. Berri has voiced support for the re-designation of Hariri as prime minister, following Nasrallah's remarks. The Speaker had launched an initiative earlier that aimed at ending the impasse. He called for shortening the term of parliament and that the elections be held based on the 1960 law should political forces fail to agree on a new electoral one. He also called for staging the presidential elections after the parliamentary ones and forming a national unity government. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival.The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Berri: Country to Face Crossroads by Year's End if No Agreements
Naharnet/August 17/16/Speaker Nabih Berri warned Wednesday that the country would face a “crossroads” at the end of the year if the rival political parties do not agree on solutions to the current crises. “The country's situation at the end of the current year will be at a crossroads if we do not agree on appropriate solutions for the pending issues,” the MPs who visited Berri in Ain el-Tineh quoted him as saying.“The situation cannot withstand further procrastination and decay in state institutions, which are reflecting negatively on citizens and aggravating their daily burdens while also affecting the general situations and order in the country,” the speaker added. “I reiterate that we need to expedite the agreement on a comprehensive solution that starts with the presidency, seeing as the element of time is not in anyone's favor,” Berri He also stressed anew that the parliamentary polls will be held on time and that the legislature's term will not be extended for a third time. “This requires us all to speed up our efforts to reach an agreement on the electoral law,” Berri said. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community. Berri has recently proposed a so-called package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.

Army Refers Four Terror Suspects to Judiciary
Naharnet/August 17/16/The army's intelligence directorate referred Wednesday four terror suspects to the judiciary, the military said in a statement.It said the Syrians Abdullah Mohammed Zakaria, Abdul Halim Abdul Hakim Bakkar, Ahmed Abdul Hamid Shahadeh and Mohammed Tareq al-Daher were referred to the relevant judicial authorities on charges of “belonging to terrorist groups and taking part in attacks against army units in the Arsal region.”Militants from the extremist Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front -- formerly al-Nusra Front -- are entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles. The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in the captivity of the IS group.

Minister of Interior, Nouhad Machnouk,, Shamsi address bilateral relations
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Minister of Interior, Nouhad Machnouk, received on Wednesday the UAE Ambassador Mohammad Said Al Shamsi, with whom he discussed bilateral relations. The ambassador thanked Machnouk for the positive role he had played in the inauguration of the hospital of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Shebaa. On another level, Machnouk met with the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mireille Girard. The pair discussed refugees' conditions and ways to ease the burden of the displacement crisis on Lebanon.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Yohanna X, meets Polish President, calls for peaceful political solution in the region
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Yohanna X, met on Wednesday with Polish President, Andrzej Duda, at the presidential palace in Warsaw, within the framework of his visit to Poland. The meeting focused on the role of the Polish church in conveying a vivid picture of what’s been happening in the Middle East and Syria in particular. Yohanna X emphasized the importance of finding a peaceful political solution for the simmering situation in the region. "We are counting on the role that countries and governments could play," he added, stressing the importance of the Christian presence in the Middle East. The patriarch also denounced terrorist acts that contradict with the principle of coexistence in the region, not to mention the abduction of Aleppo bishops for more than three years amid international silence. For his part, the Polish President clarified that Poland was endeavoring to find a peaceful political solution to the Syrian crisis and to help Lebanon, which has been great support to Syrian refugees.

Aoun receives delegation of Muslim Scholars Gathering
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Head of the Bloc of Reform and Change, General Michel Aoun, on Wednesday received in Rabieh a delegation of Muslim Scholars Gathering headed by Sheikh Hassan Abdallah. Both reviewed the local situation, with Sheikh Abdallah saying that both national positions regarding the situation were similar.

State Security arrest dangerous wanted in Wadi Khaled
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - A State Security patrol managed to apprehend one of the most dangerous wanted people in the Wadi Khaled town of Rameh, National News Agency correspondent reported on Wednesday.30-year-old Gh.Gh., aka Sanan, was arrested today for human trafficking, abduction, gunfire, and other criminal charges.

U.S. Military and Lebanese Army Conclude Joint Military Exercise
Naharnet/August 17/16/The U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Army on Wednesday concluded Resolute Response 2016, an annual, bilateral military exercise with the Lebanese army involving explosive ordnance disposal, diving exercises, and maritime vessel visit, board, search and seizure procedures, the U.S. Embassy said. The exercise ran from August 8-17 at the Jounieh Naval Base and included both land and sea-based exercises. Resolute Response is one of more than 60 military exercises conducted by U.S. Central Command with partner nations each year. The exercise provided an opportunity for U.S. military subject matter experts to “share information and best practices with their Lebanese counterparts in order to increase soldiers’ proficiency in these areas,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. “It is another example of America’s continuing partnership with Lebanon, and our commitment to building the LAF’s readiness and capabilities as it protects Lebanon’s borders from extremist threats,” it added.

Kanaan meets Geagea, says Meerab agreement bridge of communication among all sides
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Lebanse Forces Leader, Samir Geagea, met in Meerab on Wednesday with MP Ibrahim Kanaan, delegated by Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc leader, Deputy General Michel Aoun. In the wake of an hour and a half long meeting, Kanaan gave an address in which he reiterated the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces' keenness on the existing agreement between both parties, especially at the level of joint work involving constitutional institutions and other dossiers of interest to the Lebanese. "This is not a mere agreement between two parties, but rather an agreement between two sides that enjoy national representation as a whole," Kanaan said, deeming Meerab agreement "a bridge, but also hand that's extended to all sides en route to the much-need solutions to the crises that we endure." Moreover, Kanaan said that despite the fact that the agreement is an inter-Christian one, but it remains a national initiative that aims to protect partnership and the Lebanese presidency. "It is also ensures proper, just, and constitutional representation at the House of Parliament by means of reaching agreement over a new electoral law and granting all sides their right to Parliament renewal for attaining all the required steps to move forward," Kanaan added.

Pharaon launches first time Tripoli Festivals
Wed 17 Aug 2016/NNA - Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon, launched, during a press conference at his Ministry on Wednesday, Tripoli Festivals, which are held for the first time this year, in collaboration with the city's municipality. "The capital of the north was the epitome of the success of the national security plan; this gave new momentum for tourism in Lebanon," Pharaon said. "We want to always shed light on the civilized facet of the city and erase the negative image of the past, especially in Tripoli, the rock upon which strife is wrecking," he added. "Tripoli has an exceptional role," he maintained.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 17-18/16

France’s Hollande to meet Pope Francis after priest killing
AFP, Paris Wednesday, 17 August 2016/French President Francois Hollande will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday to discuss the aftermath of the ISIS murder of a French priest, Hollande’s office said. An official told AFP the meeting was organized “following the events in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray”, the northern town where 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel was killed by two teens claiming allegiance to ISIS. They are also expected to discuss the situation facing Christians in the Middle East. Hollande may also visit San Luigi dei Francesi (Saint-Louis-des-Francais), a French church in central Rome, to pay tribute to the victims of terrorism. Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean stormed Hamel's church on July 26 and slit his throat in front of a small group of worshippers while he was conducting mass. The attack was the first committed in the name of ISIS against a church in the West. Both Kermiche and Petitjean were shot dead by police. It will be Hollande’s second visit to the Vatican, after a trip he made in January 2014. Relations between the Socialist Party leader and the Holy See have seen periods of tension, triggered by Hollande’s failed attempt to appoint an openly gay diplomat as ambassador to the Vatican and a 2013 law in France that approved same-sex marriage.
 

UN chief warns of unprecedented ‘catastrophe’ in Syrian city of Aleppo
Reuters, UN Wednesday, 17 August 2016/United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Tuesday of an unprecedented “humanitarian catastrophe” in Syria’s Aleppo and urged Russia and the United States to quickly reach a deal on a ceasefire in the city and elsewhere in the country. Fighting for control of Aleppo, split between its government-held west and rebel-held eastern neighborhoods, has intensified in recent weeks causing hundreds of deaths and depriving many civilians of power, water and vital supplies. “In Aleppo we risk seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unprecedented in the over five years of bloodshed and suffering in the Syrian conflict,” Ban told the UN Security Council in his latest monthly report on aid access, seen by Reuters. Aleppo is one of the bastions of the rebellion to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose army is backed on the ground by Shi’ite Muslim militias from neighboring countries and from the skies by Russian air strikes. “The fight for territory and resources is being undertaken through indiscriminate attacks on residential areas, including through the use of barrel bombs, killing hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children,” Ban said in the UN report. In this frame grab provided by Russian Defence Ministry press service, Russian long range bomber Tu-22M3 flies during an air strike over Aleppo region of Syria on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. (AP) “All parties to the conflict are failing to uphold their obligation to protect civilians,” he said. Ban reiterated a UN call for at least a 48-hour humanitarian pause in fighting in Aleppo for aid deliveries and also pushed Moscow and Washington to rapidly reach a deal on a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday discussed securing a ceasefire, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russia used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants for the first time on Tuesday. The Russian Defence Ministry said it takes great care to avoid civilian casualties in its air strikes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said heavy air strikes on Tuesday had hit many targets in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, killing dozens. The United States had been targeting Islamic State militants in Syria with air strikes for nearly two years.

Syrian Media Say 7 Killed in Aleppo Shelling
Associated Press/Naharnet/August 17/16/Syria's state-run news agency says seven civilians have been killed and nine wounded by rocket rounds fired by armed groups on a government-controlled district of the city of Aleppo. SANA says the rockets struck the Salaheddine residential district in the northern city on Wednesday. The city has been divided into a rebel-held eastern part and a government-controlled western part since 2012, and is now the focal point of the civil war.
On Friday, nearly 20 civilians were reported killed in airstrikes in eastern districts.

Russia Launches Second Syria Bombing Raid from Iran
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 17/16/Russia on Wednesday launched warplanes from Iran for the second time to bomb the Islamic State group in Syria, denying the action violated a UN Security Council resolution. The strikes came after Russia on Tuesday began flying warplanes from an Iranian airbase in a major switch in its bombing campaign in Syria, prompting concern from the United States. On Wednesday, Russian Sukhoi-34 jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and carried out a group aerial strike against IS targets in Deir Ezzor province, the defence ministry said in a statement, calling the operation a success. The strikes with high-explosive fragmentation bombs "destroyed two command centres and large field camps for training terrorists in the area of the town of Deir Ezzor, killing more than 150 fighters including foreign mercenaries," the ministry said. Russia had previously only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Wednesday that using the Iranian base did not breach a UN Security Council resolution that requires its prior approval for the supply, sale or transfer of warplanes to Iran. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Russia's use of an Iranian base was "unfortunate" and "could very well be a violation" of the resolution. "There are no grounds to suspect Russia of breaching the resolution," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. "In the case we are discussing now, there was neither the sale, nor supply, nor transfer of warplanes to Iran.""These warplanes with the consent of Iran are being used by the Russian air force to participate in an anti-terrorism operation in Syria at the request of the legal Syrian authorities," he said. "There's nothing even to discuss here." Defence consultancy IHS Jane's said Wednesday that Moscow's use of the Mozdok airbase in southern Russia, from where long-range bombers had been flying their Syria raids, may have been disrupted by apparent expansion works. "Flight operations may have been disrupted by the construction of a second runway" which began some time between May and June, according to satellite imagery, it said in a report. Iran and Russia are the two staunchest backers of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground while Russia provides airpower. Both oppose calls for Assad to step down as a way of resolving the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Russian Forces in Deadly St. Petersburg Raid against Caucasus Militants
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 17/16/Heavily-armed Russian special forces on Wednesday raided an apartment building in Saint Petersburg in an operation targeting North Caucasus militants, reportedly killing two suspects. The FSB security service said in a statement quoted by Russian agencies that the raid was part of an operation to detain "wanted persons accused of participating in illegal armed groups in the North Caucasus." "Criminals were destroyed by return fire when they attempted to resist," the FSB said, without specifying how many suspects were killed. Local online newspaper Fontanka.ru reported that two alleged militants were killed and three arrested. TV footage showed heavily-armed men in balaclavas cordoning off the multistory apartment block on the outskirts of the northwestern city famed for its tsarist-era palaces. "I heard several explosions and then a series of what sounded like gunshots," a man who said he was a resident of a neighboring apartment building told Rossiya 24 television. Special operations against suspected Islamists are frequent in Russia's North Caucasus region but have been rare in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in recent years. Russia has battled a simmering insurgency in the Caucasus ever since fighting two brutal separatist conflicts with Chechnya. Many Islamists have left for Syria and there has been little violence linked to the North Caucasus spilling out of the region in recent years, with the last such attacks in the southern city of Volgograd in 2013.

Peshmerga forces gain ground east of ISIS-held Mosul
Susannah George and Balint Szlanko, The Associated Press Wednesday, 17 August 2016/A small unit of Kurdish peshmerga forces huddled in an abandoned home on the edge of Qarqashah, one of a dozen villages east of the Iraqi city of Mosul that the peshmerga captured from ISIS this week.
The advance aims to lay the groundwork for the battle for Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which has been held by ISIS for more than two years. Like almost all of the villages retaken this week, Qarqashah is small and was almost entirely empty of civilians. This allowed the US-led coalition to clear territory using air strikes, rather than relying on ground troops to engage in street-to-street battles. But peshmerga military leaders said their forces still took significant casualties.In Qarqashah village alone, peshmerga commanders estimated they lost 10 men. Even after the operation was declared complete on Monday, fighting was ongoing. Maj. Gen. Hama Rasheed sat on a plastic chair inside the simple home his men were using as a base. Outside, his fighters exchanged fire with IS militants holed up in a neighboring village. What south Mosul looks like after ISIS were defeated
Fields of dead grass burned from IS-launched mortar rounds. Kurdish and coalition forces stationed atop a nearby hill responded with volleys of artillery fire onto the IS fighters below. “The main aim of the operation was to open a strategic road to the Christian areas of the Nineveh plain,” said Brig. Gen. Dedewan Khurshid Tofiq, one of the peshmerga commanders overseeing the operation. The Nineveh plain stretches north and east of Mosul. Tofiq added that a bridge, taken on Monday and leading to southeastern Mosul, could facilitate a troop buildup along an eastern Mosul front once it is repaired. The operation, which lasted just under 48 hours, is expected to be one of many operations aimed at encircling Mosul, the last major ISIS urban stronghold in Iraq. The long battle for Mosul is continuing amid violence in much of the rest of the country. At least 15 people have been killed since Monday in a series of separate attacks across Iraq.

Saudi Cop Gunned Down in Shiite District
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 17/16/Gunmen have shot dead a Saudi policeman in the kingdom's east where most minority Shiites live, police said on Wednesday. The drive-by attack happened early on Tuesday in Qatif, a Shiite-dominated district on the Gulf coast. Four masked men opened fire, wounding the officer who died on the way to hospital, provincial police said in a statement. "The police building and a patrol car were damaged," said the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. It was the fourth fatal shooting of a policeman in Qatif since January. Eastern Province is home to most of Saudi Arabia's Shiites, who have long complained of marginalisation in the Sunni-majority kingdom. Parts of the eastern area have seen repeated security incidents since 2011, when a wave of protests began among Shiites demanding reform. Eastern Province residents have said clashes with police are also sometimes linked to criminal activity including the drug trade. Sunni extremists from the Islamic State group have claimed attacks against Saudi security personnel elsewhere in the kingdom. A Yemeni accused of running over and stabbing a policeman this month in the southwestern Asir region had pledged allegiance to the IS group, the interior ministry said.

Israel Arrests Hamas Election Committee Member
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 17/16/Israeli troops arrested the Hamas representative on the organizing committee for October Palestinian municipal elections on Wednesday, the Islamist movement said. Hamas condemned what it called an "attempt to influence" the outcome of the elections, the first in the Palestinian territories since 2012. "We condemn the arrest of Sheikh Hussein Abu Kweik," a Hamas statement said, adding that he had been detained in the early morning in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army confirmed the arrest, accusing Abu Kweik of involvement in "Hamas terrorist activity" without giving details. The October 8 vote will be only the third Palestinian municipal elections since Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993. Hamas has agreed to field candidates this time after boycotting the last elections in 2012. Registration began on Tuesday. There have been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since 2006 when Hamas won by a landslide. The following year conflict broke out between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, leading to the ouster of his loyalists from Gaza and the formation of rival administrations. Repeated attempts at forming a unity government to rule both Gaza and the West Bank have all failed.

Palestinians take tentative step towards local elections
Reuters, Gaza/Ramallah Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Palestinian political parties began registering candidates for municipal elections on Wednesday, the first step in years towards a democratic vote but one that threatens to re-inflame tensions between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.
The Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah, in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, has called the elections for Oct. 8, with an estimated two million Palestinians eligible to cast ballots. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, has given its backing to the process and is ramping up its electoral machine, hoping to mount as strong a challenge as possible to the Western-backed Fatah led by President Mahmoud Abbas. In that respect, the municipal ballot is seen as a proxy for legislative elections, which were last held 10 years ago. No new date has been set for either legislative or presidential elections, despite the mandates having long since expired. The electoral process has repeatedly been scuppered by tensions between Fatah and Hamas, which have frequently spilled over into violence, and it remains to be seen whether the municipal vote will in fact go ahead as planned.
“If this election succeeds, it will be the first breakthrough towards reconciliation,” said Hanna Nasser, the chairman of the Palestinian Central Election Committee. “Better to begin late rather than never.” The last municipal ballot was held in 2012, although voting only took place in a fraction of the West Bank’s 350 municipalities, and Hamas in Gaza did not recognize it. The last legislative election was held in 2006 and Hamas scored a surprise victory. That laid the ground for a political rupture - Hamas and Fatah fought a short civil war in Gaza in 2007, since when Hamas has governed the small coastal enclave. While some hope local elections will help mend fences between the factions, there are doubts whether either party will recognize the outcome and whether it will foster stability. “Whether they happen or not, it will not change the current status,” said Hani Habib, a political analyst based in Gaza. “The same factors that have undermined all previous attempts to end the division still exist, first among them the lack of will by either side to end the division,” he said. While registration has only just begun, the rivals are already exchanging accusations. Hamas says the Fatah-backed Palestinian Authority is cracking down on Islamist rivals in the West Bank, arresting some and hindering its campaign there, while Fatah says Hamas has threatened its members in Gaza. “Arrests will only increase the support for Hamas and despite our condemnation, we are determined to go ahead with the vote,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Fatah’s spokesman, Osama Al-Qawasmi, said: “Hamas must stop sabotaging the election. We want these elections to be a road towards unity and not to prolong division.”

Turkey Submits Israel Deal to Parliament for Approval
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 17/16/Turkey on Wednesday submitted to parliament a deal to normalize ties with Israel delayed by the July 15 military coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. The agreement has been forwarded to parliament for ratification before the legislative body goes into summer recess later this month. In June, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore their ties which hit an all-time low after the 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship that left 10 Turks dead.
The text of the agreement submitted to parliament reaffirms that Israel will pay Turkey $20 million (17.8 million euros) in compensation within 25 days. The legal case targeting the Israeli commandos who staged the raid will also be dropped, the report said. Israeli cabinet ministers in June approved the deal reached with Turkey, leaving Ankara to make the final ratification step. But the Turkish government failed to send the deal to parliament because of time pressure created by the failed coup attempt by rogue elements in the military, which Turkey blames on U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. Once the normalization deal is ratified by parliament, Turkey and Israel will begin the process of exchanging ambassadors to fully restore their diplomatic ties. It is not clear on which day the deal will be Israel had already offered compensation and an apology over the raid but with the agreement it also eased the naval blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, allowing Ankara to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians there.

Turkey to release 38,000 jailed for pre-coup crimes
AFP, Istanbul Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Turkey will grant early release to some 38,000 prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday, amid reports of prison overcrowding after the failed coup. Bozdag said in a series of messages on Twitter that the move was “not an amnesty” and the convicts were not being pardoned but released on parole. It will not apply to convicts guilty of murder, terrorism or state security crimes, or the thousands jailed after the putsch which took place on July 15. “The regulation refers to crimes committed before July 2016. The crimes committed after July 1 2016 are outside its scope,” Bozdag said. “As a result of this regulation, approximately 38,000 people will be released from closed and open prisons at the first stage.”The timing means that it is impossible that anyone detained for complicity in the coup can be released as part of the mass parole move. There have been reports in Turkish media that jails in the country were suffering severe overcrowding due to the influx of tens of thousands of prisoners in the wake of the failed July 15 coup. According to Turkish officials, over 35,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt although almost 11,600 of them have since been released. It is likely that releasing convicts not linked to the coup will make room for the alleged coup plotters who still face trials and heavy jail sentences.

Turkey dismisses more than 2,000 police officers
Reuters Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Turkey issued two decrees under emergency rule on Wednesday in which it dismissed more than 2,000 police officers and hundreds of members of the military and the BTK communication technology authority over last month’s attempted military coup.
Those dismissed were described as having links to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed putsch on July 15. Gulen denies involvement in the coup. The decrees, published in the country’s Official Gazette, also included a decision to close the TIB telecoms authority and another decision under which the president will appoint the head of the armed forces. Under previous emergency rule decrees, Turkey had already dismissed thousands of security force members as well as ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions suspected of links to Gulen. The latest dismissals included 2,360 police officers, more than 100 military personnel and 196 staff in the BTK technology authority, according to the decrees, issued under a three-month state of emergency which came into force on July 21. Alongside tens of thousands of civil servants suspended or dismissed, more than 35,000 people have been detained in a massive purge since the failed coup, when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters in an attempt to overthrow the government.

Mexico president says he’s willing to meet with Donald Trump
Reuters Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Tuesday he was willing to meet with Donald Trump, months after comparing the Republican presidential candidate to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. “Yes, I would meet with him,” Pena Nieto said, referring to Trump in a pre-taped television interview broadcast on Tuesday night. “I have never met him. I can’t agree with some of the things he has said, but I will be absolutely respectful and will seek to work with whomever becomes the next president of the United States.”Trump has sparked outrage in Mexico with his campaign vow to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, and to make Mexico pay for it. In a Mexican newspaper interview in March, Pena Nieto said Mexico would not pay for the proposed wall under any scenario, likening Trump’s “strident tone” to the World War II era dictators. But at a June summit in Canada, Pena Nieto said he only drew the comparison as a reminder of the devastation wreaked in the past. Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he plans on building a wall between US and Mexico and that the latter will pay for it.

Iran ‘tortured’ prisoners before executions
Staff writer, AlArabiya.net Wednesday, 17 August 2016/A human rights organization said the families of the Sunni-Kurdish prisoners whom Iran executed earlier this month revealed that Iranian intelligence members had tortured their sons prior to executing them by hanging. The Defenders of Human Rights Center in Kurdistan quoted the families of the executed prisoners as saying that they’ve seen torture marks on their son’s bodies in addition to broken legs and arms. On August 2, members of the intelligence and masked members affiliated with the Iranian special security units raided the political prisoners’ section in the Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, and led 36 Sunni Kurdish activists, who were sentenced to death at the time, to an unknown location. The next day, news of executing 25 of them was released. The Defenders of Human Rights Center quoted an activist in Sanandaj, capital of the Kurdistan province, as saying that Iranian intelligence members threatened to arrest the family members of the executed men if they speak to the media about the torture marks on their children’s bodies. The activist added that security forces also warned them of holding funerals for those hanged. The Human Right Activists News Agency (HRANA) had reported that prior to executing the Sunni Kurdish activists, security officers handcuffed, blindfolded and physically assaulted them up and then held them in solitary confinement. The execution of the 25 Sunni activists, who included young preacher Shahram Ahmadi, was met by a wave of international condemnation against Tehran. The UN, EU, US and international human rights organizations have condemned the executions and criticized their trials for lacking transparency, for basing the verdicts on confessions made under torture and for not allowing the defendants to defend themselves. In letters they leaked from jail to international human rights organizations, most of the executed men denied performing any armed acts and confirmed that their activity focused on the activities on religious teachings and that they were not members or supporters of any extremist movement.

IRAN: Call for an international inquiry into the torture of Sunni political prisoners before their execution
Wednesday, 17 August 2016/The Iranian Resistance calls on international human rights bodies, especially the thirty-third session of the UN Human Rights Council that will be held next month in Geneva, to carry out an international inquiry into the brutal torture of Sunni political prisoners before their mass execution on August 2nd. The execution of political prisoners particularly after their brutal torture is a crime against humanity toward which silence is absolutely unacceptable.
On August 1 these prisoners, while in shackles, with their mouths shut and bags pulled over their heads, were removed from the prison ward by the wardens. Reports indicate that they were subsequently severely tortured in a way that, according to their families, signs of torture were quite apparent on their bodies. Their bodies were blue and black from the beatings, the hands and feet of some of them were broken, and their bones had stuck out. The Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) has threatened families that they do not have the right to publish news or hold ceremonies for their children. The Sanandaj branch of the MOIS has also summoned and threatened a number of religious figures and protesters to the execution of the prisoners, telling them that they are not allowed to issue statements or to meet with their families.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/August 17, 2016

60 boys and girls arrested in Iran capital for attending mixed-gender party
Wednesday, 17 August 2016 /NCRI – Iran's fundamentalist regime has arrested more than 60 boys and girls for attending a mixed-gender party in a park near the capital Tehran.
The arrests took place during a raid on the party which was held in Tehran's Sorkheh Hesar National Park, east of Tehran, the Fars news agency, affiliated to the regime's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), reported on Tuesday, August 16. The raid was carried out by the IRGC's para-military Bassij force with a warrant from the regime's Judiciary signed by Tehran's deputy prosecutor.
The youngsters were caught dancing and partying, and the state-media report claimed that the young women had violated the regime's so-called Islamic dress code.The report added that the prime suspect behind the "unlawful" party was an individual, identified only as Fariborz G., who had organized the event via social media on the internet. Commenting on a recent spate of similar arrests, Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said: “The clerical regime has never been so isolated at home and loathed by the Iranian people, in particular by the youth and women. As such, it is resorting to more and more repressive measures to confront this growing trend. This once again proves that the notion of moderation under Hassan Rouhani is a total myth. But it also indicates the vulnerable and shaky state of a regime that cannot even tolerate private festivities of the people, particularly the youth. It is becoming more evident that the mullahs are totally paranoid of any social gathering in fear of a popular uprising.”
Last month, the regime arrested 150 boys and girls for attending a mixed-gender birthday party near the capital Tehran. The arrests took place at an overnight party in a garden in the vicinity of Islamshahr, south-west of Tehran, according to Colonel Mohsen Khancherli, the regime's police commander for the west of Tehran Province. Khancherli told the Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the regime's terrorist Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, on July 25: "After we obtained a report about a mixed-gender party in a garden in the vicinity of Islamshahr in the west of Tehran Province, an operation was carried out by the police and another organization, leading to the arrest of dozens of boys and girls."
"Some 150 boys and girls had gathered at the mixed-gender party under the guise of a birthday party in this garden which is situated next to a studio where unlawful music was produced and recorded. Upon arrival of the police, all those present were arrested and sent before the judiciary," he said.
Khancherli claimed that given the popularity of gardens in the west of Tehran Province, the regime's suppressive state security forces (police) are constantly monitoring venues and gardens in that area, with police commanders carrying out snap inspections of sites."With the arrival of summer, the police surveillance at these sites will be stepped up," he added. This followed news days earlier that more than 50 young Iranians were arrested by the regime's suppressive state security forces at a party near Tehran. The Tasnim news agency reported on July 22 the arrest of more than 50 young men and women at a party in the town of Davamand, east of Tehran. Tasnim quoted Mojtaba Vahedi, the head of the regime's judiciary in Damavand, as saying that the organizers of the party had invited people to attend via online social networks.
Vahedi added security forces initially monitored the social sphere and after carrying out the necessary investigations obtained a warrant to clamp down on the party and arrest the party-goers.
Judicial files have been opened against those arrested at the party, Vahedi said. He added: "Families must be more vigilant regarding their children to make sure they do not end up in such circumstances."
Some 35 young men and women were flogged in May for taking part in a mixed-gender party after their graduation ceremony near Qazvin city, some 140 kilometers northwest of Tehran, the regime's Prosecutor in the city said on May 26. Ismaeil Sadeqi Niaraki, a notorious mullah, said a special court session was held after all the young men and women at the party were rounded up, the Mizan news agency, affiliated to the fundamentalist regime's judiciary, reported on May 26. "After we received information that a large number of men and women were mingling in a villa in the suburbs of Qazvin ... all the participants at the party were arrested," he said.
Niaraki added that the following morning every one of those detained received 99 lashes as punishment by the so-called 'Morality Police.'According to Niaraki, given the social significance of mixed-gender partying, "this once again required a firm response by the judiciary in quickly reviewing and implementing the law." "Thanks God that the police questioning, investigation, court hearing, verdict and implementation of the punishment all took place in less than 24 hours," Niaraki added.
The regime’s prosecutor claimed that the judiciary would not tolerate the actions of “law-breakers who use excuses such as freedom and having fun in birthday parties and graduation ceremonies.”
Similar raids have been carried out on mixed-gender parties across Iran in recent months.
 

Brazil’s Rousseff ahead of trial: ‘I'm innocent’
AFP, Brasília Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Brazil’s suspended president Dilma Rousseff admitted Tuesday she had made mistakes but said she had done nothing worthy of impeachment in an address just over a week before she goes on trial. Rousseff, accused of using illegal budgetary maneuvers to cover up the depth of the country’s economic problems during her 2014 re-election, faces trial in the Senate starting August 25. In a letter to the Brazilian people that she read out in the capital Brasilia, Rousseff struck a humble note. “I have listened to the tough criticisms of my government, for the errors committed,” she said. “I accept these criticisms with humility and determination so that we can build a new way forward.”But Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured under the military dictatorship in the 1970s, repeated her insistence that forcing her out through impeachment amounts to a coup. “It would be an unequivocal coup, followed by an indirect election,” she said. “We have to strengthen democracy in our country and for this it will be necessary for the Senate to close the impeachment process underway, recognizing, given the irrefutable evidence, that there was no crime of responsibility,”. “I am innocent,” she said. Rousseff also reiterated her backing for a referendum on holding early elections and electoral reform to carry out a “deep transformation” of a system that most Brazilians consider rotten. The Senate must vote by a two-thirds majority at the end of the judgment session in order to remove her from office. If that happens, the current interim president Michel Temer will stay on until scheduled elections in 2018.

Trump vows to reject bigotry if elected US president
The Associated Press, Wisconsin Wednesday, 17 August 2016/Donald Trump on Tuesday accused rival Hillary Clinton of “bigotry” and being “against the police,” claiming that she and other Democrats have “betrayed the African American community” and pandered for votes. “We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton, which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes – that’s all they care about,” the GOP nominee said in remarks delivered not far from Milwaukee - the latest city to be rocked by violence in the wake of a police shooting. Trump, who is lagging behind in the polls, accused Clinton of being on the side of the rioters, declaring: “Our opponent Hillary would rather protect the offender than the victim.”“The riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee is an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and to live in peace,” he said.
Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri responded with a statement early Wednesday accusing Trump of being the bigot instead. “With each passing Trump attack, it becomes clearer that his strategy is just to say about Hillary Clinton what’s true of himself.”“When people started saying he was temperamentally unfit, he called Hillary the same. When his ties to the Kremlin came under scrutiny, he absurdly claimed that Hillary was the one who was too close to Putin. Now he’s accusing her of bigoted remarks”.“We think the American people will know which candidate is guilty of the charge,” she said.

FBI delivers documents on Clinton email probe to US Congress
Reuters Wednesday, 17 August 2016/The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday it had turned over to the US Congress a number of documents related to its probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The Democratic presidential nominee has for over a year been dogged by questions about her use of a private email account while she was the nation’s top diplomat. Republicans have repeatedly hammered Clinton over the issue, helping to drive opinion poll results showing that many US voters doubt her trustworthiness. “This is an extraordinarily rare step that was sought solely by Republicans for the purposes of further second-guessing the career professionals at the FBI,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement. “We believe that if these materials are going to be shared outside the Justice Department, they should be released widely so that the public can see them for themselves, rather than allow Republicans to mischaracterize them through selective, partisan leaks.”Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced last month that she would step down as DNC chairwoman, after some of the 19,000 emails, were posted to the website Wikileaks. (AP)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, said in a statement that an initial review of the material showed most of it was marked unclassified, and urged the FBI to make as much of it public as possible. FBI Director James Comey told Congress last month that Clinton’s handling of classified information while using private email servers was “extremely careless.” But he said he would not recommend criminal charges be brought against her. Comey’s statement lifted a cloud of uncertainty from Clinton’s White House campaign. But his strong criticism of her judgment ignited a new attack on her by Republicans, including Donald Trump, her Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 election.
‘Not clear evidence’
The Oversight committee, chaired by Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, had asked the FBI for the complete investigative file from its review of Clinton’s use of a private email server. The FBI has also provided documents from its investigation to the House Judiciary Committee, an aide said. Clinton’s fellow Democrats were scornful that Republicans were refusing to let the matter . “The FBI already determined unanimously that there is insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing,” said Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight committee. “Republicans are now investigating the investigator in a desperate attempt to resuscitate this issue, keep it in the headlines, and distract from Donald Trump’s sagging poll numbers.”

Putin hints at war in Ukraine but may be seeking diplomatic edge
Reuters Wednesday, 17 August 2016
Ukraine says it thinks Vladimir Putin is planning a new invasion, and it’s not hard to see why: the Russian leader has built up troops on its border and resumed the hostile rhetoric that preceded his annexation of Crimea two years ago. But despite appearances, some experts say Putin is more likely seeking advantage through diplomacy than on the battlefield, at least this time around. “It’s about sanctions,” Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think tank close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Reuters. “It looks like a way of increasing pressure on Western participants of the Minsk peace process,” he said of a peace deal set up for eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have battled against government forces. For two years, Russia has been under US and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. This week, tension escalated dramatically after Putin threatened to take unspecified counter-measures against Ukraine to retaliate for what his spies say was a plot to bomb targets across contested Crimea. Putin said two Russian servicemen were killed in a clash with Ukrainian saboteurs sent to Crimea. Kiev says the incident never happened, and was concocted to create a phoney pretext for a new invasion. The United States and European Union also say there is no evidence it took place.
Talks run into sand
European talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meant to ensure the peace deal’s implementation have so far run into the sand. And talks between Victoria Nuland, US assistant secretary of state, and Vladislav Surkov, a Russian presidential aide, have not generated a breakthrough either.
In the meantime, pro-Kremlin separatists continue to control two self-declared republics in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, where low-level fighting with Ukrainian government forces continues, despite the ceasefire. Under the deal, Kiev committed to grant Donbass special status, to pardon separatist fighters, and to organize elections. But in a country ripped apart by more than two years of war that has lost control of giant chunks of territory, following through on such pledges is politically toxic. Kiev justifies its slowness to act by accusing Russia of failing to meet its own obligations: continuing to stir conflict in the east, and failing to give back control of Ukraine’s eastern border. Kortunov said the aim of Putin’s latest saber rattling is to persuade Ukraine’s Western allies “to exert influence on Kiev to get it to fulfill its side of the bargain”.Ultimately, Putin wants the world to forgive and forget Russia’s Crimean annexation and for the conflict in the east to freeze, leaving a pro-Russian stronghold inside Ukraine, outside of Kiev’s control. It is a long-term settlement that Kiev would never officially accept. Meanwhile, as long as the peace deal is stalled, the sanctions remain in place, with the EU’s preconditions to lift them growing no closer.
With Russia’s reserve fund set to run out next year and Moscow’s access to Western credit markets still closed because of the sanctions, for Russia the clock is ticking.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on August 17-18/16

Comparing Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s approaches to ISIS
Vidio Interview Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares and Clinton campaign adviser Wendy Sherman
PBC NEWSHOUR/August 16/16
ISIShttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/comparing-hillary-clintons-donald-trumps-approaches-isis/
How the U.S. should fight the Islamic State is a major 2016 campaign theme. Donald Trump recently proposed “extreme vetting” of immigrants to the U.S. and joint military operations abroad, while Hillary Clinton favors U.S. airstrikes and support for local ground troops. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares and Clinton campaign adviser Wendy Sherman for details.
Below the link for the Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaDGLQQDeRU
HARI SREENIVASAN: One of the most contentious issues during the current presidential election is how to confront ISIS and who was responsible for the rise of the extremist group.
Margaret Warner reports.
MARGARET WARNER: This was the scene recently in a village not far from Mosul in Northern Iraq. Newly uploaded video purports to show Islamic State fighters doing battle with Iraqi Kurdish forces. Despite battlefield setbacks in Iraq and Syria, the militant group remains lethal.
How to fight ISIS has become a central theme in the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
DONALD TRUMP (R), Presidential Nominee: ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MARGARET WARNER: That was last week. Yesterday, Republican nominee Donald Trump delivered a fuller anti-ISIS message in Youngstown, Ohio.
DONALD TRUMP: My administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS, international cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence-sharing, and cyber-warfare to disrupt and disable a their propaganda and recruiting.
MARGARET WARNER: He also proclaimed that he would end what he called an era of nation-building, and would take harsh steps to stop ISIS from penetrating the United States.
DONALD TRUMP: The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting.
MARGARET WARNER: It would screen out those who sympathize with terror groups and those who have, in his words, any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles.
DONALD TRUMP: Those who do not believe in our Constitution.
MARGARET WARNER: In a Web video released last night, Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign tried to turn Trump’s own words against him, saying he would fail the test he’d set for immigrants.
Last November, Clinton said she would defeat ISIS by massing more U.S. ground troops against the group, though with limits.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee: And we should be honest about the fact that, to be successful, airstrikes will have to be combined with ground forces actually taking back more territory from ISIS. Like President Obama, I do not believe that we should again have 100,000 American troops in combat in the Middle East.
MARGARET WARNER: That fits with the picture of Clinton in a joint Washington Post/ProPublica report today about the early Obama administration debate over whether to fulfill his campaign pledge to pull out of Iraq altogether.
It notes that Clinton was — quote — “one of the most vocal advocates for a muscular U.S. presence in Iraq after the withdrawal deadline at the end of 2011.” Clinton lost that argument, and all U.S. fighting forces left.
It’s also been widely reported that, in 2013, Clinton and then CIA Director David Petraeus proposed arming and training the so-called moderate rebels in neighboring Syria, but that the president rejected it.
Those U.S.-backed rebels are still doing battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but with mixed results, in the brutal five-year old civil war that continues to this day.
For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Margaret Warner.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, what are the differences between how Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would combat ISIS?
For that, we turn to Walid Phares, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump. And Wendy Sherman, she was undersecretary of state for political affairs while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. She’s now an outside adviser to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Walid Phares, what’s the key strategic difference that Donald Trump wants to make in the fight against ISIS that the Obama administration has not?
WALID PHARES, Foreign Policy Adviser, Trump Campaign: Well, first of all, very important to know that, between now and 2017, many things will change on the ground, and they will change for either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump. So, anything we’re projecting right now has to do with the moment.
There are major differences. First, in looking at the three battlefields, one is Iraq, Syria and, of course, Libya has to be dealt with. Three levels are important in terms of difference.
Level number one is who — what forces are going to be engaging ISIS on the ground? Is it Kurdish forces, the Iraqi army or others in Syria? And why do we ask this question? Because we don’t want to end up with a sect controlling another sect on the ground, which will found the next war.
Second is also, who would take over after liberation from ISIS? Should it be the locals, national, the government, or a coalition of regional forces that would help them? And, thirdly, of course, what is the future of civil wars such as in Syria? Who will stay? Who will go?
And I think we have tremendous differences in how to go in, how to manage and, of course, the negotiations for the future.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, Mr. Phares, one of the things that Donald Trump has said in a debate in March is that he’s open to up to 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops being on the ground. Is that necessary? Is that the right course?
WALID PHARES: Mr. Trump made that statement. He may make other statements.
These are decisions that only when Mr. Trump is the president, hopefully, with his national security Cabinet, will decide upon the time. President Obama, for example, didn’t want to send forces to the region after the withdrawal from Iraq. He had engaged in a warfare situation in Libya. He is sending forces.
So, these are national security decisions that would be decided once there is an evaluation of the situation on the ground. The American public in general has no appetite for sending tens of thousands, but each situation has a condition.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Ms. Sherman, Secretary Clinton has also called for ground troops, but in a limited capacity.
What do you see as the differences between what Mr. Trump is proposing and what Mrs. Clinton would carry out?
WENDY SHERMAN, Former State Department Official: Well, first of all, all of the things that Walid just outlined were not discussed in Mr. Trump’s speech at all yesterday.
In fact, the strategy that Mr. Trump put on the table, other than the extreme vetting, is exactly what President Obama and Secretary Clinton have worked toward. That is an international coalition with local troops on the ground, having a very aggressive strategy in the cyberworld to stop the financial flows.
All of these are part of a multivector strategy that has been under way under President Obama for quite some time now and is actually having success.
Just today, Secretary of Defense Carter said that Syrian democracy forces had indeed taken back Manbij, which is a very key transit point, and now opens the way to ultimately getting to Raqqa, which ISIL has said is its centerpiece for a caliphate, which is disappearing on the ground in Syria.
There is a very complex environment in the Middle East. In that, Walid is correct. But it can’t come without some knowledge and some background. And every day, we get a different message from Mr. Trump. I would like to know, does he still support torture, which is not the American way and doesn’t bring results?
Does he still believe that we ought to be killing innocent civilians if there is a family of terrorists that have nothing to do with the terror? Is he someone who still believes in, as you pointed out, Hari, sending thousands and thousands of troops? Mr. Trump has been on all sides of that issue over the history of the last several years.
So it’s very difficult to know whether Mr. Trump stands and whether he has an understanding of the complexity of the situation and the progress that’s being made, but the progress that is still absolutely needed to protect our homeland and to make sure that Americans feel safe and secure.
HARI SREENIVASAN: One of the things that she said about extreme vetting, what does that mean? We have heard that there might be an ideological questionnaire. But if I’m a terrorist, wouldn’t I just lie?
WALID PHARES: The final goal of this is to interdict jihadists from coming to the United States. Everything else could be reconstructed.
He needs to have the input of national security agencies. One of the problems with our analysts and our national security agencies over the past eight years have been encountering is that the ideological discourse that the jihadists have among themselves has been removed, removed from the analysts.
So it would be very difficult to be preemptive in the sense to understand when there is radicalization. This is something that our liberal democratic allies in France, in Britain and also in other countries and also in the Arab world have not done.
We have retreated from the ideological element. It’s not that we are against one or the other ideology. But we need some indicators that these people are Salafis, are Takfiri, are jihadists, so that we can vet them.
Extreme vetting is not a physical extreme vetting. It’s an intellectual exercise that would bring us back to where we should have been, understanding better the ideas that radicalizes these jihadists.
HARI SREENIVASAN: One of the things that Mr. Trump also said yesterday was that he was — the similarity that existed between Orlando and San Bernardino, the attacks, were that they were carried out by children and grandchildren of immigrants.
Is there a particular generation where Americans are patriotic enough where they wouldn’t be — fall under the spell of ISIS?
WALID PHARES: What he meant by that was not actually a sociological interpretation of how these communities would work, because we also have immigrants and sons and daughters of immigrants from the Arab and Muslim war who fought in our armed forces and who died for America.
What he meant by that is, despite the fact of integration, the French are telling us the same thing, the Germans are telling us the same thing. So, integration is not the answer. It’s basically deradicalization.
So, we want to make sure that this ideology doesn’t go and thrust through the generations to a third one. It would be the same case for a neo-Nazi or an anti-Semite or a Bolshevik. It’s not about a social problem. It’s about an intellectual, ideological problem.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Wendy Sherman, one of the distinctions that I think exists between Hillary Clinton and President Obama is the institution of a no-fly zone over Syria.
President Obama, even as recent as the G20, said that that would be counterproductive. What would a President Clinton do in that case to make it work?
WENDY SHERMAN: First of all, Hari, in answer to your question about what extreme vetting is, quite frankly, I didn’t understand Walid’s answer.
This is not an intellectual exercise. This is about our immigration policies. And they are very strict, and the vetting is very tough. And our authorities are always looking at ways to make sure that we are as clear as we possibly can be.
As Walid himself knows — he’s not a Muslim, but he came here himself in 1990, when he no longer felt personally safe in Lebanon because of his own history, which we could discuss at another time.
So, I don’t quite understand yet what extreme vetting means, other than a nice sound bite on television.
To your point about a no-fly zone, Secretary Clinton has said that she wants to explore whatever alternative may deal with the really tragic humanitarian disaster which has played out in Syria. You know that there are literally millions of people who are now refugees.
There are millions of people who are internally displaced. The leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has used starvation as a weapon of war, has used chemical weapons against his own people, has used chlorine gas probably against his own people.
And so the question is, in fact, how do we create some humanitarian safety for all of these millions of people who are really in a desperate, desperate situation? We have put enormous pressure on Turkey, on Jordan, on Iraq, and now on Europe, as migrants and refugees pour out of Syria looking for safety.
So, I applaud Secretary Clinton in wanting to explore every alternative, even knowing some of these are quite tough to do. And she will look very carefully to see what is doable. But we can’t not try to see if there is an answer to this humanitarian tragedy.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Wendy Sherman, Walid Phares, thank you both.
WALID PHARES: Thank you.
WENDY SHERMAN: Thank you.

Is Trump really wrong about Obama and ISIS?
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
Whatever you think of controversial US presidential candidate Donald Trump, one of his traits is breaking political stereotypes, perhaps to the extent of insanity for some. A few days ago, he said his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The statement came as a shock, as it goes beyond fierce criticisms by Republicans such as senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham that Obama’s weak policies created the environment that gave birth to ISIS. Trump clarified on Twitter: “Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) ‘the founder’ of ISIS... THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?”
Grain of truth.
However, sarcasm aside, Trump was not far from the truth. Obama’s weak, confused, hesitant and malicious policies on Iraq and Syria did contribute to the birth of ISIS. However, its emergence in Iraq and then Syria is not due to Obama’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011, as the decision to do so was made toward the end of George W. Bush’s presidency. Policies such as prohibiting the proper arming of the Syrian resistance, and pursuing any country that wants to do so - in addition to the lenient reactions to the crimes of the Syrian regime and Iranian militias - created an atmosphere of anger and desperation. Al-Nusra Front was the first to take advantage of this atmosphere, followed by ISIS.
Trump was not from the truth. Obama’s weak, confused, hesitant and malicious policies on Iraq and Syria did contribute to the birth of ISIS
If Obama had been decisive about his famous red line regarding the regime’s use of chemical weapons, and if he had supported the resistance from the start, Syrian nationalists would not have been weakened in the face of extremists. This does not exonerate Muslims from their own cultural problems. Many Muslims have discussed this and will continue to do so.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s wild imagination took Trump’s accusation seriously. Nasrallah accused the United States of founding ISIS, not limiting the accusation to Obama. Nasrallah thinks the aim is to harm the ‘axis of resistance,’ primarily Hezbollah. So for him, Obama - the nicest U.S. president to Iran and to the ‘axis of resistance’ - founded ISIS and Al-Qaeda to harm the sacred axis led by Tehran, with which Obama has strived to reconcile.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Aug. 15, 2016.
 

Why Trump’s ‘Second Amendment’ Comment Hit a Nerve
Raymond Ibrahim/August 17/16
Donald Trump recently said that “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick — if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don’t know.”
This assertion prompted mass shock and outrage in the media, with any number of politicians—including the Hillary Clinton campaign—and other talking heads accusing the Republican presidential candidate of inciting violence and calling for an assassination attempt on Clinton. Trump went on to say he meant that Second Amendment supporters, including the NRA, could make a difference by coming out in large numbers and voting for him in November.
All mudslinging aside, there may be another explanation behind the unprecedented outrage prompted by Trump’s comment.
He touched on the one option—the one that must never be named—that is proven to work against tyrants, including the leftist crybully variety: revolution.
You see, the one thing every American is indoctrinated in from cradle to grave is that “violence is never the answer.” And why should it be? If we want change, we have the right to vote, speak freely, and even protest peacefully.
But what happens when these rights slowly erode, losing form and meaning? When elections become a circus and the presidency something of an oligarchy; when the voting public has been incrementally dumbed down generation after generation and programmed to vote in certain ways (emotionalism, sensationalism) catered to by the media?
What happens when people forget that free speech and peaceful protests have no intrinsic value in the political arena unless they first have a real capacity to effect change? Words and protests, for words and protests’ sake, serve no purpose—other than to give the illusion of freedom and thus create complacency against encroaching authoritarianism, including of the “liberal” variety.
Many of us, for instance, have been exposing the dangers of Islam for decades now, offering concrete, unassailable proofs concerning that creed’s incompatibility with the West; and many, perhaps the majority of Western people, agree. Yet regardless of their words, votes, and demonstrations, Western governments continue to import millions of Muslims, some of whom go on to massacre the very citizens Western governments are first and foremost charged to protect. European nations like Sweden are already on the verge of collapse thanks in whole to the policies of their governments.
So what are free peoples to do when their governments insist on acting against their interests?
Historically they revolted—such as the Founding Fathers of this nation did in 1776: Americans stopped protesting against the British, took up arms, revolted, and forced change, namely by creating their own nation.
And that may be what the current powers-that-be don’t want remembered: sometimes violence is the only way to bring about reform. History confirms this unfortunate assertion.
What if Trump was suggesting that if a Hillary-led government decided to abolish that ancient American right to bear arms—including as a final defense against said government—Americans need not surrender their arms and go along like sheep.
Is this an incitement to violence? No. It’s seems more an acknowledgment or warning that when push comes to shove—when free speech becomes a meaningless concession to be ignored, when the government regularly violates the interest of the people—revolt often looms in the shadows.
After all, the movers-and-shakers—not the recyclable political puppets set before the public’s eye, but the social engineers, the special interests groups, those who know that disarming a nation is easy if you first disarm it of its reason—have never been and are not now going to be “talked” or “demonstrated” out of power.
Hence why liberal media and elite may, if only subconsciously, be going crazy against Trump: he dared mention—and thus legitimize—the one thing that must never be mentioned, not even as a remote possibility, perhaps because it is the one thing guaranteed to oust them from power and influence: revolution.

Khamenei and IRGC's Increasing Popularity
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/August 17/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8681/khamenei-popularity
The same state-run media that shapes the Iranians' views of the West also pushes them to favor hardline candidates.
The new poll shows that Ayatollah Khamenei, his media outlets, and the Revolutionary Guards generals appear to be preparing the platform for a hardline President who will pull out of the nuclear agreement. The new poll also shows that so far their campaign has been successful.
The number of hardliners in Iran is on the rise, according to the latest poll. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, appears to be preparing the social base so that a hardline president would replace President Hassan Rouhani after the sanctions are lifted by foreign powers. Khamenei seems to be achieving this by using Iranian media to slander the West and improve the image of hardline politicians. Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears to be getting ready to take Rouhani's place, and is reportedly preparing his hardline platform to run in Iran's 2017 presidential elections.
Rouhani's popularity and standing are evidently not what they used to be. This seems to have come about largely because of changes in the economy. The overwhelming majority of Iranians believed in Rouhani's economic promises when they elected him; after the nuclear deal was settled, 63% of Iranians believed that they would witness improvements in the economy and living standards within a year. However, a new report shows that 74% of Iranians said that there have been no economic improvements in the last year.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left) appears to be preparing the social base so that a hardline president would replace President Hassan Rouhani (right).
A number of factors have slowed economic growth, including the high unemployment level, the state-owned and state-led economy, financial corruption at high levels, lack of an open market and business opportunities for the public, the increasing gap between the rich and poor, and the accumulation of wealth among the gilded circle in power and other major players -- such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the connected elite business class -- who hold control over major socio-political and economic sectors of Iran.
The Iranian government has also not done all that it could to help improve conditions. For example, after the flimsy and incomplete nuclear agreement, the Obama Administration immediately began transferring billions of dollars to Iran's Central Bank. One of the payments included $1.7 billion transferred in January 2016. Of this sum, $1.4 billion came from American taxpayers. Iran immediately increased its military budget by $1.5 billion from $15.6 billion to $17.1 billion, rather than investing it for creating jobs.
Khamenei has already begun his campaign of blaming the West for Iranian economic problems. He fails to acknowledge the true reason that Iranians are not benefiting from the lifting of sanctions. Instead, as is his method of operation, he blames the West so that he himself is never blamed or held accountable in the eyes of the public. He stated recently "Weren't the supposed sanctions lifted to change the life of the people? Is any tangible effect seen in people's life after six months?" Although Iran's oil exports have reached pre-sanctions levels, and although Iran is freely doing business on the state level, Mr. Khamenei claimed in a speech that, "the U.S. Treasury... acts in such a way that big corporations, big institutions and big banks do not dare to come and deal with Iran."
An official from the State Department said that Iran should not blame the US for companies not doing business with Iran. Most likely, large corporations are just not yet prepared to make deals with Iran.
Khamenei's rhetoric has a significant impact on public opinion in Iran. According to a poll, 75% of Iranians believe that the U.S. is to blame for Iran's stagnant economy. They believe that the U.S. has been creating obstacles to Iranian business with Western companies, and to Iran's ability to fully rejoin the global financial system.
It is true that since the nuclear deal, Iran's unemployment rate has increased from roughly 10.8% to 12%. During the course of Rouhani's presidency, the unemployment rate has increased by two percent. The government has also cut subsidies.
It is possible that Iran's problems trading with American corporations and rebuilding its economy are due to other Iranian leaders' rhetoric, the Iranian state-owned media narratives, and lack of clear understanding of the terms of the nuclear agreement among the general public. Approximately 65% of the population still watch only Iran's domestic news channels to gain information about the latest news in comparison to the 25.4% who use internet, and 18.2% who watch satellite television. Notably, the states viewed most unfavorably by the Iranian public are the Islamic State (97.6% very unfavorable), Saudi Arabia (81.3% very unfavorable), and the United States. The overwhelming majority of Iranians, roughly 80%, believe that it is very important that their country should continue developing its nuclear program.
The same state-run media that shapes the Iranians' views of the West also pushes them to favor hardline candidates. The new poll reveals that former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity is increasing. Ahmadinejad previously mentioned that he was retiring from politics, but the latest signs indicate that he is repositioning himself to lead the Islamic Republic again. During his presidency, people enjoyed subsidies on petrol, gas and electricity, and his government paid monthly cash handouts of approximately $17 to everyone. In the next presidential race, the poll shows that Ahmadinejad now trails Rouhani by only 8 percentage points compared to 27 points in May 2015.
Finally, another intriguing finding is that the person who has the highest level of respect, "very favorable," among Iranians is General Qassem Soleimani, the head of IRGC-Qods Force (the external operations wing of the IRGC, which operates in foreign countries). His popularity has increased in the last year. This could be because he is portrayed by the Iranian media as the savior of the Shia in Iraq and Syria, a patriot, and the protector of Iranians from the Islamic State and other types of Sunni extremism. In general, the favorability of the high-profile, hardline and conservative politicians such as Muhammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ali Larijani appears to have increased. These could threaten Rouhani's reelection.
Khamenei, his media outlets, and the IRGC generals appear to be preparing the platform for a hardline President who will pull out of the nuclear agreement. The new poll also shows that so far, their campaign has been successful.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, political scientists and Harvard University scholar is president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He can be reached at Dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
 

Egyptian Writer: Democracy Is A Destructive System Used By The West To Dismantle Arab Countries
MEMRI/August 17/16
In a June 29, 2016 article in the official Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, writer Hani 'Asal attacked the concept of democracy, arguing that it damages, divides, and even ruins countries where it is implemented. Democracy, he said, has produced leaders obsessed with wars and blood, such as Hitler, Mussolini, and George W. Bush, and is used as a weapon by the West to dismantle Arab countries one by one, for instance by giving professors and ordinary citizens an equal voice. According to 'Asal, anyone vehemently defending democracy should first be burned by it and suffer from its defects before trying to market it to others.
The following are excerpts from his article:[1]
"What joy do I get from democracy, which turns countries into pawns in the hands of their peoples[?]
"What democracy is, where a country goes to bed sovereign and independent, and wakes up to find itself half a country, or a quarter of a country – or even that it has been eradicated from the map?
"What democracy is this that divides instead of unites, that splinters instead of joins, that disperses, that threatens interests, that destroys countries and regimes, that causes peoples, and the entire world, billions in damage overnight, and that sketches out a dark future with no benefits or profits for anyone?
"What democracy is this that places the fate, and the very existence, of nations in the hands of voters who are driven by emotions, feelings, inclinations, and sometimes [also] interests?
"What democracy is this at whose ballot boxes, or shall we say gambling boxes, an educated person's vote is equal to the vote of an ignoramus; the vote of a professor is equal to that of a worker and manual laborer, the vote of a doctor is equal to that of riffraff, or the votes of experienced adults are equal to those of little children?
"What democracy is this that is still not ashamed of people it has produced throughout history – such as Hitler, Mussolini, Jorg Haider, Bush Jr., Tony Blair, Barack Obama, 'the ousted one' [referring to ousted Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi], and their ilk, who are obsessed with wars and blood, and who trade in the [Arab] Spring, change, freedoms, and human rights?
"What democracy is this that allows intimidation and persuasion by means of accusations of treason and threats, fabricated or directed opinion polls, and a mobilized media, with the aim of serving a particular attitude or camp – as happened with [the Brexit] referendum in Britain, whose results [actually happened to] defy these intimidation attempts and [turned out to be] completely different than results of public opinion polls [prior to the referendum]? And this [scenario] will likely recur in the U.S. presidential election.
"What democracy is this that has divided us, and for whose sake we are fought against, and preached to, as though it were a new religion or the Hubal[2] of this era, that must be worshipped...? Isn't this, too, a worthless stone edifice...?
"What democracy is this in which [the West] rejoices? Is it not their soft weapon, aimed at dismantling the entire Arab region, country by country, particularly Egypt, in a way that does not violate its [Egypt's] laws? What has democracy brought, besides destruction, ruin, schism, and sectarian division? How many Iraqs are there now? Wasn't Iraq better off with the dictator Saddam [Hussein]? And what about Syria and its democracy, Yemen and its freedom, and Libya and its change? Have we forgotten that they tried to dismantle Egypt too, with the democracy of referendums after [its January] 2011 [revolution]?
"Have we forgotten the attempt by the drafters of the 2012 [Egyptian] constitution to include a clause that enables future referenda to determine the fate of the minorities in Egypt? Have we forgotten the prominent individuals who vehemently defended this idea? Have we forgotten the plans to establish a state for the Copts in the south [of Egypt] and another for the Sunnis in the north? Have we forgotten the calls to incite the Nubians [in southern Egypt and North Sudan] against Egypt, or the proposals to divide the Sinai?... Have we forgotten the calls for independence in Port Said following the stadium disaster?[3]
"If democracy was truly the best and greatest system... with no alternative but dictatorship, then we would welcome it. But all those who spread it and who vehemently defend it must first be burned by its fire, sip from its bitter chalice, and suffer from its defects and drawbacks before they present it to people..."
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), June 29, 2016.
[2] A god worshiped in pre-Islamic Arabia, specifically at the Ka'ba in Mecca.
[3] Referring to the 2012 soccer stadium riot in Port Said, in which over 70 people died. In the aftermath there was intense protests against the Mursi authorities' handling of the riot, and some activists reported that calls were made to announce Port Sa'id's independence from Egypt. Dailynewsegypt.com, February 19, 2016.
 

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: July 2016
"Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany."
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/August 17, 2016
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8705/islam-germany-july
Figures released in July by Destatis, the government's statistics agency, showed that more than 2.1 million people migrated to Germany in 2015.
More than 33,000 migrants who are supposed to be deported are still in Germany and are being cared for by German taxpayers. Many of the migrants destroyed their passports and are believed to have lied about their countries of origin to make it impossible for them to be deported. Others have gone into hiding so that immigration police cannot find them.
An investigative report by Bavarian Radio BR24 found that deradicalization programs in Germany are failing, because many Salafists do not want to become deradicalized.
"My impression is that we all underestimated a year ago what was in store for us with this big refugee and migration movement. Integration is a Herculean task that does not end with a three-week language course." — Jens Spahn, CSU politician.
July 1. A court in Bavaria ruled that a law that prohibits Muslim legal trainees from wearing headscarves is illegal. The district court in Augsburg ruled in favor of Aqilah Sandhu, a 25-year-old law student who filed a lawsuit against the state for barring her from wearing the headscarf at public appearances in court while performing legal training. The ruling said there was no legal basis for the restriction and "no formal law that obligates legal interns to a neutral worldview or a religious neutrality." Bavarian Justice Minister Winfried Bausback, arguing that legal officials as well as trainees in the court needed to present the appearance of impartiality, said he would appeal the ruling.
July 3. A 24-year-old woman, raped by three migrants in Mannheim in January, admitted to lying about the identity of her attackers. Selin Gören, a Turkish-German woman, initially said that her attackers were German nationals, when in fact they were Muslim migrants. In an interview with Der Spiegel, Gören, the spokeswoman of Germany's left-wing youth movement, Solid, said she lied because she was afraid of fueling racism against migrants.
July 4. The newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reported that the 30 biggest German companies listed on the DAX blue-chip stock market index have employed only 54 refugees, including 50 who were hired as couriers by the logistics provider, Deutsche Post. The report casts doubt on Chancellor Angela Merkel's promise to integrate the 1.1 million migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015 into the German labor market as quickly as possible. Company executives say the main problem is that migrants lack professional qualifications and German language skills.
July 4. A court in Frankfurt sentenced a 35-year-old German-Turkish Salafist to two-and-a half-years in prison for weapons possession, but absolved him of charges relating to terrorism. Halil D. was originally accused of plotting to attack a bicycle race in Frankfurt. At the time of his arrest, police found an arsenal of weapons, including a pipe bomb, in his basement. Halil D. claimed he built the bomb to spring open the contents of a cigarette vending machine. Police also found Islamic State propaganda videos, as well as copies of Dabiq, the Islamic State's online magazine, on his computer. At the time of his arrest, Halil D. said: "I believe in the Sharia. German laws do not apply to me." The court said there was insufficient proof that Halil D. was a terrorist.
Halil D. was accused of plotting to attack a bicycle race in Frankfurt. At the time of his arrest, German police found an arsenal of weapons, including a pipe bomb, in his basement, as well as Islamic State propaganda materials on his computer. The court said there was insufficient proof that Halil D. was a terrorist.
July 7. The Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, unanimously approved changes to the criminal code to expand the definition of rape and make it easier to deport migrants who commit sex crimes. Under the bill, also known as the "No Means No" ("Nein heißt Nein") law, any form of non-consensual sex will now be punishable as a crime. Previously, the only cases punishable under German law were those in which the victims could show that they physically resisted their attackers. As Germany's politically correct justice system, is notoriously lenient when it comes to prosecuting, sentencing and deporting foreign offenders, however, the reforms are unlikely to end Germany's migrant rape epidemic.
July 7. More than six months after mobs of Muslim men sexually assaulted more than 1,000 women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve, a German court issued the first two convictions: The District Court of Cologne gave a 20-year-old Iraqi, identified only as Hussain A., and a 26-year-old Algerian, Hassan T., a one-year suspended sentence and then released both men. Hussain, who was 20 at the time, was sentenced under juvenile law and was ordered to attend an integration course and do 80 hours of community service. The newspaper, Bild, published photographs of a jubilant Hassan smiling as he left the courtroom. An observer said the light sentence was a mockery of justice and would serve as an invitation for criminal migrants to do as they please with German women.
July 8. Teachers at the Kurt Tucholsky secondary school in Hamburg boycotted this year's graduation ceremony to protest a Muslim student who refused to shake hands with a female staff member. The school's director Andrea Lüdtke, sided with the student: "I accept his decision," she said. A German columnist, Heike Klovert, defended Lüdtke by arguing that teachers should not be tasked with integrating students:
"She took her Muslim student seriously. She did not try to bend him to adapt to a supposedly German way of doing things. She understands that respect is not dependent upon a handshake, and that not everyone who does not want to shake hands is a misogynist extremist."
July 10. A Federal Criminal Police Agency (BKA) inquiry into the sex attacks in Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and other German cities on New Year's Eve found that more than 1,200 women were victims of attacks, which were perpetrated by more than 2,000 men, many of whom are believed to be from North Africa. BKA President Holger Münch admitted: "There is a relationship between the attacks and the strong wave of migration in 2015."
July 10. More than a hundred Shia Muslims took to the streets of Bonn to commemorate the death of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed. Ali was assassinated in 661. Evoking scenes from seventh century Iraq, 130 shirtless men, hypnotically beating their chests and chanting to beating drums, wound their way through downtown Bonn for more than five hours (pictures here). Local health officials reminded doctors they had a legal responsibility to treat anyone with self-inflicted injuries.
July 11. In a new survey, the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Germans believe the recent influx of refugees will "increase the likelihood of terrorism in our country." The survey also found that 61% of Germans believe Muslims in their country "want to be distinct from the larger society."
July 13. The Platanus-Schule, a private bilingual school in Berlin, apologized to a Muslim imam after a teacher at the school called him "misogynistic" and "ill-adapted to German life" because he refused to shake her hand. The imam's lawyer said the apology was insufficient; critics accused the school of "capitulating" and endangering the principle of gender equality in Germany. CDU politician Philipp Lengsfeld wrote on Twitter: "The essence of the handshake debate is not about religion or an individual's opinion, it is about the authority of the state and gender equality."
July 14. Figures released by Destatis, the government's statistics agency, showed that more than 2.1 million people migrated to Germany in 2015. More than 633,000 arrived from Asia, including 309,000 from Syria, 84,000 from Afghanistan and 65,000 from Iraq. More than 113,000 migrants arrived from Africa.
July 14. During a parliamentary investigation into the migrant sex attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve, it was revealed that one of the women who was raped became pregnant. She failed to report the attack to police because she felt ashamed.
July 14. Ruprecht Polenz, a former secretary general of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that the German law which regulates name changes (Namensrecht) should be amended to make it easier for Muslim migrants in Germany who feel discriminated against to change their legal names to Christian-sounding ones. German law generally does not allow foreigners to change their names to German ones, and German courts rarely approve such petitions. By custom and practice, German names are only for Germans.
July 15. At least 24 women were sexually assaulted at a music festival in Bremen. The attacks were similar to the "taharrush gamea" [collective harassment] attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve. Police have been able to identify only five perpetrators, all of whom are migrants from Afghanistan. Harald Lührs, the lead investigator for sex crimes in Bremen said: "We have never experienced such massive attacks in Bremen. That groups of men surround women in order to grope them, this has never happened here in this magnitude. This is a new problem that the police have to deal with."
July 16. A document leaked to the newsmagazine, Der Spiegel, revealed that more than 33,000 migrants who are supposed to be deported are still in Germany and are being cared for by German taxpayers. Many of the migrants destroyed their passports and are believed to have lied about their countries of origin to make it impossible for them to be deported. Others have gone into hiding so that immigration police cannot find them.
July 17. An investigative report by Bavarian Radio BR24 found that deradicalization programs in Germany are failing because many Salafists do not want to become deradicalized. The report also showed that many jihadists who have returned to Germany from Iraq and Syria are producing propaganda videos for the Islamic State.
July 18. An Afghan asylum seeker wielding an axe was shot dead by police after he injured five people on a train in Würzburg. The man shouted "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the Greatest"] during the attack. Green Party MP Renate Künast criticized the police for using lethal force. In a tweet, she wrote: "Why could the attacker not have been incapacitated without killing him???? Questions!" Künast's comments provoked a furious backlash, with many accusing her of showing more sympathy for the perpetrator than for the victims. The outpouring of anger against Künast indicates that Germans have had enough of their politically correct politicians.
July 18. Lutz Bachmann, the leader of the anti-migration Pegida movement, announced the formation of a political party, Popular Party for Freedom and Direct Democracy (Freiheitlich Direktdemokratische Volkspartei, FDDV). The move is in response to government threats to ban the Pegida movement.
July 19. Three teenage jihadists who bombed a Sikh temple in Essen on April 16 were formally charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and "bringing about an explosion." The teenagers, who said they were upset about the way Muslims are being treated by Sikhs in Northern India, were not charged with terrorism offenses.
July 19. The managers of a German Red Cross refugee shelter in Potsdam were accused of covering up the sexual abuse of women at the facility.
July 20. The Federal Labor Office (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) reported that the educational level of newly arrived migrants in Germany is far lower than expected: only a quarter have a high school diploma, while three quarters have no vocational training at all. Only 4% of new arrivals to Germany are highly qualified.
July 22. Ali Sonboly, an 18-year-old Iranian-German who harbored hatred for Arabs and Turks, killed ten people (including himself) and wounded 35 others at a McDonald's in Munich.
July 23. A mob of men shouting "Allahu Akbar" barged into a nudist beach in Xanten and "insulted and threatened" the beachgoers. Police kept the incident hidden, apparently to avoid negative media coverage of Muslims "in these sensitive times."
July 24. Mohammed Daleel, a 27-year-old migrant from Syria whose asylum application was rejected, injured 15 people when he blew himself up at a concert in Ansbach. The suicide bombing was the first in Germany attributed to the Islamic State. Daleel had fought with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in Iraq before coming to Germany. In a cellphone video made before the attack, Daleel vowed that Germans "will not be able to sleep peacefully anymore." Although German authorities had tried to deport Daleel in early 2016, the effort was blocked by German Left Party MP Harald Weinberg, who demanded that Daleel get medical care for a knee injury. "After everything I knew at that time, I would decide the same today," Weinberg told the newspaper Bild.
July 24. A 21-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker murdered a 45-year-old Polish woman and her unborn baby in a machete attack in Reutlingen.
July 24. A 40-year-old migrant from Eritrea raped a 79-year-old woman in a cemetery in Ibbenbüren. The woman, who lives in a local nursing home, was visiting the grave of her late sister at 6AM when the attack occurred. The migrant, who has been living as a refugee in Germany since 2013, was arrested at the scene. He is unlikely to be deported, however, because Eritrea is considered a conflict zone.
July 25. A 45-year-old Palestinian brandishing a "Rambo knife" and shouting "Allahu Akbar" tried to behead a doctor in Bonn. The attacker's 19-year-old son had complained about the doctor's treatment for a fractured leg. While holding the doctor down on the floor, the man said: "Apologize to my son. Go down on your knees and kiss his hand." The attacker was arrested and then set free.
July 25. Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the Left Party (Die Linke), lashed out at Merkel's open-door migration policy:
"The events of the past few days show that the acceptance and integration of a large number of refugees and migrants presents significant problems. It is much more difficult than Merkel tried to persuade us last fall with her reckless 'We can do it' ['Wir schaffen das']. The government must now do everything possible to ensure that people in our country can feel safe again."
July 25. Frank Henkel, a CDU Senator from Berlin, said:
"No one should delude themselves: We obviously have imported some brutal people who are capable of committing barbaric crimes in our country. We have to say this clearly and without taboos. This also means that we must deal aggressively with Islamism. If we do not, we risk that German politics will be perceived as being detached from reality."
July 25. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière revealed that German authorities are currently investigating 59 refugees because of the "suspicion that they are involved in terrorist structures."
July 25. Following a series of Islam-related attacks in a week, the President of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer, said: "We must know who is in our country."
July 26. Seehofer, said: "Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany."
July 27. Police raided a mosque in Hildesheim. They also searched eight apartments belonging to members of the mosque. Boris Pistorius, the interior minister of Lower Saxony, said: "The mosque in Hildesheim is a national hot-spot for the radical Salafist scene. After months of preparation, with these raids today, we have taken an important step towards banning the group."
July 27. Police in Ludwigsburg arrested a 15-year-old who they said was planning a mass-shooting similar to the July 22 attack in Munich. During a search of the teenager's home, police found more than 300 rounds of ammunition, as well as knives, chemicals and bullet-proof vests.
July 28. Speaking at an annual summer press conference in Berlin, Merkel insisted there would be no change to her open-door migration stance: "We decided to fulfill our humanitarian tasks. Refusing humanitarian support would be something I would not want to do and I would not recommend this to Germany.... Anxiety and fear cannot guide our political decisions." She also said: "Let me be clear, we are at war with Islamic State; we are not at war with Islam."
July 29. Thomas Jahn, the vice chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU), lambasted Merkel's open-door migration policy: "We need to control our borders. That is the most important thing at the moment. And we need to send the dangerous people with Islamist ideology back to the countries outside Europe and the European Union."
July 30. CSU politician Jens Spahn said: "My impression is that we all underestimated a year ago what was in store for us with this big refugee and migration movement. Integration is a Herculean task that does not end with a three-week language course." He also called for a burqa ban: "A ban on the full body veil — that is the niqab and the burka — is overdue... I do not want to have to encounter any burqa in this country. In that sense, I am a burqaphobe."
**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.
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Yemen and the failure of the rebel project
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
I do not know why Yemen’s legitimate government is angered by the declaration that a presidential council made up of its rivals has been formed, as it is an illegitimate council because it consists of two rebel groups.On Sept. 21, 2014, Houthi militias took over the capital Sanaa through deceit and the excuse of protesting against the government. They deployed in squares and agreed with deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh to plan a coup against the government, which was formed upon a U.N. Security Council decision and had been recognized by the Houthis and Saleh. The militias seized control of the headquarters of the Council of Ministers, the Defense Ministry and state radio and TV. They besieged President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s presidential palace and put him under house arrest. If they had settled with seizing Sanaa and some of the northern provinces, their conspiracy would have succeeded and various powers would have been forced to accept the new reality. A struggle would have most probably erupted between the rebels themselves, especially since Saleh had waged wars against the Houthis between 2004 and 2010. Hadi escaped from the presidential palace to Aden. Had the rebels accepted what happened, it would have been possible to declare the division of the country, where Saleh and the Houthis would keep the north while Hadi would keep the south. Accepting this would have automatically revived the system of two Yemeni republics.
Options in Yemen today are limited as long as the Houthis and Saleh want power and not only political participation
In 1990, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, whose capital was Aden, collapsed after the collapse of its ally the Soviet Union. Its then-President Ali Salem al-Beidh decided to go to Sanaa and hand over governance to his rival Saleh as part of a distorted unity plan. Saleh merged the two states, expanded his republic, and managed it the same way he had managed North Yemen.
Strategic mistake
The strategic mistake, or perhaps it was a deliberate plan, was that the rebels did not stop at seizing Sanaa as they were quick to occupy southern Yemen and besiege Aden. They destroyed large neighborhoods of the city and committed brutal massacres. The president and government members sought refuge in Riyadh, and began a new chapter from there. Saudi Arabia realized that occupying Aden and the rest of the south meant complete control over Yemen, which would be used to target the kingdom for the benefit of foreign countries, particularly Iran, which had not stopped threatening to open new fronts against Saudi Arabia in response to pressure on Tehran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This is what is happening in Yemen today. Statements about the failure of a solution in Yemen due to parties’ inability to reach an agreement are untrue. Iran invented the Houthi militia to threaten Saudi Arabia. Now, Yemeni forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition surround Sanaa and are fighting in several areas.
The rebels are trying to proceed south toward Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which is strategic due to its location on the Red Sea, as they aim to control it, threaten navigation and smuggle arms by breaking the naval siege imposed by a U.N. Security Council decision.
A few days ago, a shipment of advanced weapons sent from Iran to the rebels was seized. Since the war began, the rebels have lost control of airports as the coalition only allows the passage of planes carrying relief. The coalition has also besieged many ports. This does not prevent supplies from reaching the rebels, but it makes it a difficult task. Options in Yemen today are limited as long as the Houthis and Saleh want power and not only political participation. What they want violates U.N. Security Council decisions, goes against the desire of the Yemeni people who revolted against Saleh in 2011, and violates the pledge the rebels previously signed. They have transformed into groups that work in favor of Iran against Saudi Arabia. All of this means that confronting them is the only option.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Aug. 17, 2016.

The curious case of a hijab at the Olympics
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
I did not know how to feel about the photo of two beach volleyball players - an Egyptian in a long-sleeved shirt and hijab, and a German in a bikini - as they competed at the Olympics. It was undoubtedly a good photo, which went viral and garnered global attention because it carried many interpretations. Some articles and headlines described it as a confrontation between the bikini and hijab. The attention received by this and other photos of Muslim female participants at the Olympics - some wore the hijab while others wore ordinary sports outfits - seems exaggerated. Discussion went beyond the idea of competition and performance, which are supposed to be the aims of such sports events. With the photo of the German and Egyptian volleyball players, we found ourselves amid a feminist and rights-related discussion on social media. People stated their opinions based on their status, and religious and identity prejudices. The extent of discussion reflected the idea that women’s bodies are public property. The bodies of both players were no longer theirs, but the property of those commenting on them. This was also the case with Olympic Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, whose swimsuit dominated her story of athletics and crossing the Aegean Sea as a refugee.
Individual freedoms
The controversy about players’ hijab at the Olympics takes us to a major issue about which we have not yet made up our minds: the extent of individuality regarding women’s wear. When we speak of individual freedoms, we overlook many influencing factors such as education, discipline, history, culture and religion. The decision to wear a hijab or swimsuit is influenced by one’s surroundings.
The controversy about players’ hijab at the Olympics takes us to a major issue about which we have not yet made up our minds: the extent of individuality regarding women’s wear
Life seems narrow when women have to engage in daily battles over what to wear. There is added pressure under patriarchal and religious authorities. This pressure influences personal choices, as it instils fear and imposes prohibitions that, when confronted, may be met with violent reactions and exclusion from family and society. Massive media interest in photos of Olympic female participants, whether they wear hijab or not, sums up social, political and cultural characteristics. When controversy about rival teams deviates into cultural and political discussion about what female players wear, we must admit that we have a very long and thorny path ahead of us.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Aug. 15, 2016.

Not everyone is a winner at the Olympic Games
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/August 17/16
Pierre de Coubertin, a French Baron who is regarded as the founder of the modern Olympics, asserted that “The important thing in the Olympic games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle…” Since the modern Olympic games started in Athens in 1896, the games, as much as sport as a whole, became more than just about participation – it is a reflection of us and our societies. The utopian ideal that winning comes second to sportsmanship has long been discarded, setting winning medals as the ultimate goal - preferably gold. It brings with it national pride, international recognition, celebrity status and monetary reward. Obsession with winning led to cheating via the abuse of performance enhancing drugs not only by individuals, but also through state sponsored programs.
One of the welcome novelties of the current games is the introduction of a team of refugees. It reflects the tragic reality that today there are more than 21 million refugees, out of 65 million displaced people; the number of a medium sized country. The participation of refugees from war torn countries such as South Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, is a victory of the spirit of the Olympic games not only through raising awareness of the magnitude of the plight of refugee people, but also the talent among them, not only in sport, which goes to waste while their situation is unresolved.
The nationalistic nature of our world
However, the games also underline biases, prejudice, discrimination and the very nationalistic nature of our world. It took women many years to gain equal opportunity to participate in almost all of the Olympic sports, but the commentary by some of the media outlets is still rife with sexist comments. One commentator on NBC news attributed Katinka Hosszú’s wonderful achievement of breaking a world record and winning a gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley to her trainer husband. Remarks about female athletes’ appearances, martial statuses and age are disproportionate compared to commentary on that of male athletes. More attention was paid to Doaa Elghobashi wearing long sleeves and a hijab in a volleyball match with Germany, than to her making history with her team mate Nada Meawad by being part of the first Egyptian female Olympic beach volleyball team – a combination of misogyny and Islamophobia.
For some it is all about winning, saluting the national flag and singing the national anthem. For others, it is about the inclusiveness and human endeavor to improve
Olympic games also act as a showpiece for the hosting city and country. The competition to host it is fierce and in many cases severe corruption is involved, followed by a ruthless approach to deliver the games, including gross violations of human rights. The 2008 games in Beijing and those of 2014 in Sochi were tainted by forced evictions, illegal home demolitions, and ill-treatment of migrant workers who built the sports facilities. Promises to regenerate the areas where the games take place seldom materialize and the facilities mainly serve elite sport when the games are over and rarely the wider public. In Rio, despite constant promises to the IOC to improve the appalling local police record on human rights abuses, including widespread homicide, temporary improvement was actually followed by further deterioration. The largest global display of fraternity is ostensibly not extended to everyone. In a country with a high level of poverty there are a copiously large number of empty seats in many competitions that locals cannot afford to buy tickets for.
And then there is a question of nationalism in a seemingly globalized world. Why is it so important for us that the winning athletes are of the same nationality as ourselves? Why don’t we judge the performance and efforts of individuals and teams on their own merit, instead of the athletes’ nationality? It is rather bemusing to see the Brazilians supporting everyone who plays the Argentinians, though rather inappropriate when an Egyptian Judoka refuses to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent. However, politics has played part, though usually negative, in many previous Olympics. Boycotts and demonstrations were part and parcel of previous games, whether in the fight against Apartheid in Montreal 1976, or shunning the 1980 Moscow Games as punishment for the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
A powerful message
In Constantine P. Cavafy’s powerful poem “Ithaka,” based on Homer's account of Odysseus's adventurous, though hazardous, journey home, the message is similar to that of Coubertin, placing value on the effort invested and the lessons learned from a journey rather than the final destination. “When you set out for Ithaca ask that your way be long, full of adventure, full of instruction… But don't in the least hurry the journey. Better it last for years, so that when you reach the island you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth. Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.”
The journey of the modern Olympics is 120 years old yet it still divides the world between those who focus on winning and fame, or even financial gain, and those who see it as a reflection of our changing societies. Universal (almost) participation underlines for instance changes of attitude towards those who have been disadvantaged throughout the centuries. It reflects the progress made in recognizing the rights of women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and refugees. Next month’s Paralympics, also taking place in Rio, are a testament to the changing attitudes towards disability. Yet, the Olympic Games are still a journey in progress, through which we examine what is important to us as individuals and as a society. For some it is all about winning, saluting the national flag and singing the national anthem. For others, it is about the inclusiveness and human endeavor to improve. In the four years until Tokyo 2020, we will have plenty of time to reflect on the meaning of the legacy of Rio 2016 for humanity on its long voyage.