LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
December 23/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.december23.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
I have come
as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain
in the darkness.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint
John 12/44-47/:'Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever
believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me
sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who
believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who
hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but
to save the world."
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were
disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
Letter to the Hebrews 11/23-31/:"By faith Moses was hidden by his
parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was
beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when
he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing
rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting
pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater
wealth than the treasures of Egypt,
for he was looking ahead to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, unafraid
of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer
of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed
through the Red Sea as if it were dry land,
but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls
of Jericho fell
after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab
the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had
received the spies in peace."
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 22-23/16
Lebanon, /Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now
Lebanon/December 22/16
Lebanon’s new government: Winter and summer under the same roof/Makram Rabah/Middle East
Eye/Tuesday 20 December 2016
Lebanon — the ‘post-Aleppo’ government/Diana Moukalled/The
Arab News/December 22/16
How can the international community stop the next Iran/Yonah
Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/December 22/16
Political Revolution Is Brewing in Europe/Geert
Wilders/Gatestone Institute/December 21/ 2016
Azerbaijan, Israel’s mistress on the Iranian border/Prof. Eli Podeh/Ynetnews/December 22/16
Assassinating an envoy; between crime and propagating terrorism/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December 22/16
On justifying Russian envoy’s assassination/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December
22/16
Saudi Budget 2017: Significant break from the old mold/Dr.
Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/December
22/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on December
22-23/16
U.S. Denies Lebanese Army APCs Given to Hizbullah
Ayrault Visits Senior Lebanese Officials in Show of
Support
Aoun Says Government to be Guided by His Oath of
Office
Report: Aoun Sets Rules for Running Effective Cabinet
Sessions
Bassil, Ayrault Stress Need
to Confront Joint Challenges, Terrorism and Migration
Hariri meets Jordanian, Egyptian ambassadors, Iranian official
UNIFIL commander Beary meets with Speaker Berri
Kaag Meets Hariri, Hails 'New Chapter' in Lebanon's
History
Khoury: Combating Corruption Priority for New Tenure
Hariri Receives Call from Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Meets Iran Deputy FM
Bassil Hails Christian Representation in Govt., Says
Two Proposed Hybrid Laws Can't Pass
UNRWA Strongly Condemns Renewed Violence in Ain el-Hilweh
Ceasefire Reached after 1 Killed, Several Hurt in Renewed Ain el-Hilweh Clashes
Rahi at Maronite Diaspora
Institute General Assembly: Influx of refugees jeopardizes Lebanese entity
Handing over ceremony at Ministry of Agriculture between Chehayeb,
Zoaiter
Sarraf during handing over ceremony at Defense Ministry: Fortifying army my key priority
Lebanon, Inc.
Lebanon’s new government: Winter and summer under the same roof
Lebanon — the ‘post-Aleppo’ government
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 22-23/16
European Populists Link Berlin Attack to Merkel Policies
Merkel Hopes for 'Quick Arrest' of Berlin Market Attacker
U.N. Security Council Postpones Vote on Israeli Settlements
Rebels Say Aleppo 'Great Loss' for Anti-Assad Revolt
Syrian Army Says Aleppo City Fully Retaken
World Had to Hear Aleppo Children,' Says Syrian Girl Blogger
With Iron Will and Key Allies, Syria's Assad Defies Expectations
Saudi Arabia Projects $53 bn Deficit in 2017
Israeli Arab MP Held in Phones for Prisoners Case
Trump Calls for Veto of U.N. Resolution on Israel Settlements
Trump Campaign Manager Conway Named White House Counselor
HRW Says Iraqi Kurdish Militias Using Child Soldiers
Egypt Court Suspends Sentence for Anti-Graft Chief
Iran's State-Run Media: Rouhani's Charter of Human
Rights Is Demagoguery
Iran: Rouhani's Scandal on Announcing Fake Economic
Growth
Iran: A Prisoner Was Executed in Public, a Juvenile Prisoner on the Verge of
Execution
Iraqi Prime Minister: "Iraqi Paramilitaries Who Are Fighting in Syria Do
Not Represent Us."
Iran:
Girls to Marry at 13 in Hot Climate Regions
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on on December 22-23/16
U.S. Denies Lebanese Army APCs Given to Hizbullah
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/ The United States denied Wednesday an Israeli claim that U.S.-supplied armored vehicles seen being operated by Hizbullah
in Syria had been given to the Islamist militia by Lebanon's official army.
Last month, footage emerged of Hizbullah fighters
operating M113 armored personnel carriers in Syria, where the militia -- blacklisted by Washington as a
terrorist organization -- is fighting in support of Bashar
Assad's regime. On Wednesday, a senior Israeli military official speaking on
condition of anonymity said Israel
believes these vehicles were drawn from stocks supplied by Washington to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
But, in Washington, State Department spokesman
John Kirby said U.S.
officials have investigated and do not believe that Lebanon has violated its agreement
not to transfer on U.S.-supplied equipment. "When this allegation was
raised in November, the Department of Defense did a
structural analysis of the armored personnel carriers
in question at that time and concluded that these vehicles were not from the
Lebanese Armed Forces. Our assessment remains the same now," Kirby told
AFP. "As we noted when this first came up, the Lebanese Armed Forces
stated publicly that the vehicles depicted online were never part of their
equipment roster," he added. "The Lebanese Army fully complies with
end use monitoring requirements, continues to have an exemplary track record
with U.S.
equipment and remains a valued partner in the fight against ISIL and other
extremists," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
Captured APCs
The United States supplies Lebanon's official army with arms on condition they
are for official use and would be obliged to review military ties if it were
proved the APCs ended up in Hizbullah's
hands. Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge told AFP that Hizbullah
does indeed have a "small number" of M113 armored
personnel carriers in its inventory. "They've had them for a number of
years," Trowbridge said. "They could have come from a variety of
sources because it's a relatively common vehicle in the region." Neither U.S. spokesman
said where Hizbullah's M113s might have come from if
not from the Lebanese army. But last month some officials noted that Hizbullah is thought to have captured armored
vehicles from the defunct South Lebanon Army, an Israeli-backed Christian
militia that collapsed in 2000.
Earlier, the anonymous Israeli military official had told reporters that
Israeli intelligence had "recognized these specific APCs...
as those given by the U.S.
to Lebanon".
He said new information had been shared with the United States "a few weeks
ago" but did not specify how many armored
personnel carriers were involved. Israel fought a devastating war
with Hizbullah in 2006, and closely monitors the
group's activities. More recently, the Iranian-funded Hizbullah
movement has been fighting alongside Assad's forces in Syria's civil
war.
Sporadic sorties
The APCs were probably handed to Hizbullah
as part of a deal with the Lebanese army, the Israeli official said, asserting
that the group had "tightened its grip" over Lebanese institutions.
Images shared on social media in recent weeks showed Hizbullah
staging a military parade in the Syrian town of Qusayr, which it
retook from rebels in 2013 in its first major victory since it intervened.
Photographs of armored vehicles and anti-aircraft
batteries displaying the movement's yellow flag could be seen. Washington said last
month that the United States would be "gravely concerned" if military
equipment it supplied to the Lebanese army ended up in Hizbullah's
hands. According to the Israeli official, Hizbullah
has "about 8,000 people in Syria,"
estimating that 1,700 of its fighters have been killed there since the war
began in 2011. Watchtowers built by the Lebanese army on the Israeli border
were constructed according to Hizbullah instructions
and the country's military and Iran-backed Shiite
militiamen conduct joint patrols, the Israeli official said. Israel has sought to limit its involvement in
the Syrian conflict, but has carried out sporadic sorties against Hizbullah inside Syria. Israel
says it reserves the right to stop the group acquiring sophisticated weapons
from Syria and Iran and threatening the country from both its
Lebanese base and positions in Syria.
Ayrault Visits Senior Lebanese Officials in Show of Support
Naharnet/December 22/16/ President Michel Aoun held a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his accompanying delegation at the Presidential
Palace in Baabda, the state-run National News Agency
reported on Thursday. Ayrault
who arrived Wednesday evening, left the Baabda Palace without making a statement, NNA
added. However, media reports said that Aoun had
reiterated during talks with the French diplomat “Lebanon's keenness to improve and
develop the relations between the two countries.”For
his part, Ayrault was quoted as saying: “France will continue to provide aid to Lebanon.”Later, the FM held talks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri after which he made a statement and said: “We
will exert efforts that Lebanon
is kept away from the regional turmoil. “I present my support for Hariri who
has a difficult mission ahead. France
will continue to provide financial aid to help Lebanon
as it seeks to contain the fallout from the war in neighboring
Syria.”
According to MTV channel, Ayrault suggested holding a
conference next March, of political character, to support Lebanon to be
dedicated to tackling the issue of the displaced. Ayrault
held talks later in the day with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh. France is a strong supporter of Lebanon's army,
which is fighting the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's Syrian branch in
border areas. Both countries have been hit by a wave of terror attacks that
killed scores of people over the past two years. Lebanon is also home to some 1.2
million refugees, around a quarter of the country's population. Ayrault said France
has given Lebanon
105 million euros ($110 million) to help it cope with
the influx. Ayrault's visit is the first by a senior
French official since Aoun's election as president on
November 31.
Aoun Says Government to be Guided
by His Oath of Office
Naharnet/December 22/16/President Michel Aoun announced Thursday that the new government will be
guided by the presidential oath of office, a day after the 30-member Cabinet
held its first meeting and devised a panel to devise its policy statement. “It
is necessary to respect the laws and not to violate them... and the government
will work according to the oath of office to achieve that,” Aoun
told his visitors at the Baabda Palace.
“Lebanon
went through a very difficult period but what's coming is more difficult, not
at the security level but rather in terms of reform and change in state institutions,”
the president added, noting that “the State needs renewal.”Aoun's
election as president and Saad Hariri's appointment
as premier have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling
challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the
influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. Analysts have warned that Aoun's election will not be a "magic wand" for Lebanon, which has seen longstanding political
divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria and has
struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In
addition to pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun
said in his oath of office that Lebanon
must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their
country.
Aoun also pledged to endorse an "independent
foreign policy" and to protect Lebanon from "the fires
burning across the region."
Report: Aoun
Sets Rules for Running Effective Cabinet Sessions
Naharnet/December 22/16/During the first cabinet
session held at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on
Wednesday, President Michel Aoun made a number of
“commandments” advising members of the cabinet to abide by in order to hold
productive meetings away from “stalling and political debate,” al-Joumhouria daily reported Thursday. Aoun
expressed satisfaction with the course of the first cabinet meeting, saying it
reflected the “current balance of power in the country.” But well-informed
sources told the daily that the President set some rules for conducting
productive cabinet sessions, he said: “The meetings must not exceed a time
period of three hours no matter what the circumstances are.”“The
sessions must strictly focus on work and discussions, not political bickering,
for maximal productivity,” added the daily. “Preparations for projects must be
conducted as fast as possible away from hastiness. If the current government
fails to put them into implementation, then the next cabinet will,” the sources
quoted Aoun as adding. The President finally
concluded stressing the need to “keep the deliberations during the cabinet
meetings clandestine,” away from media spotlight. Chaired by Aoun, Lebanon's council of ministers held
its first meeting on Wednesday, after its formation over the weekend, and
formed a committee designed to draft a new ministerial statement. Lebanon formed
a new 30-minister government on Sunday, bringing together the entire political
spectrum except for the Kataeb Party that refused to
be represented by a state minister post. New portfolios include an
anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women's
affairs. Hariri was nominated to form the new government on November 3.His
nomination and President Aoun's election after two
and a half years of presidential vacuum have raised hopes that Lebanon can
begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political
class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.
Bassil, Ayrault Stress Need to
Confront Joint Challenges, Terrorism and Migration
Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil
held a joint conference on Thursday with his visiting French counterpart
Jean-Marc Ayrault where talks focused on boosting
relations between the two countries to confront joint challenges, the National
News Agency said. “Both sides are called forth to re-establish and boost
Lebanese-French ties facing common challenges, terrorism, and migration,” Bassil stated. He noted that Lebanon was suffering the burden of
a gigantic Syrian refugee crisis, adding that the sole solution remains in the
refugees' return to their homeland. Lebanon is home to some 1.2 million
refugees, around a quarter of the country's population. Ayrault
had disclosed earlier that France
has given Lebanon
105 million euros ($110 million) to help it cope with
the influx. “We are more than confident that the forthcoming stage will herald
positive accomplishments at the economic level. We will work hand-in-hand to
revive the livelihood cycle in Lebanon,”
Bassil added. He also said that a meeting would be
held by the International Support Group for Lebanon
in an attempt to swiftly recover an active institutional life in Lebanon. For
his part, Ayrault said his country is keen to
distance Lebanon
from the Syrian conflict. He also welcomed the Lebanese President Michel Aoun's impending visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
"Lebanon is an example
and a reference in the Middle East region,
that's why it should maintain a good relation with all its partners, away from
regional conflicts," Ayrault said. He finally
lauded the efforts of the Lebanese security forces safeguarding Lebanon and its
borders by means of relentlessly fighting terrorism.
Hariri meets Jordanian, Egyptian
ambassadors, Iranian official
Thu 22 Dec 2016/NNA - Prime Minister Saad Hariri
received on Thursday evening at the Grand Serail, Jordan's ambassador to Lebanon, Nabil Masarwa, who congratulated
him on the formation of the government. Discussions focused on the general
situation, as well as on bilateral relations. Hariri then met the Egyptian
ambassador to Lebanon,
Nazih Najjari, with whom he
discussed the latest developments. Najjari said, at
the end of the meeting, that he relayed the congratulations of Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to Hariri, saying the
formation of the government was a reassuring approach for Egypt.
"Prime Minister Hariri has made major efforts in recent months to achieve
a partnership between the Lebanese political forces," he said in this
regard. The Prime Minister later met with the adviser of the Iranian Foreign
Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hussein Jaber Ansari, in the presence of Iranian ambassador to Lebanon,
Mohammad Fathali. "We discussed with Premier
Hariri the latest political developments and relations between Iran and Lebanon," Ansari
said, describing the meeting with Hariri as "fruitful and positive.""We hope that there will be cooperation
between the two countries during Mr. Hariri's term, especially in the economic
sphere," the Iranian official added. "I hope that the new government
will be able to overcome the obstacles faced by Lebanon," he finally said.
UNIFIL commander Beary
meets with Speaker Berri
Thu 22 Dec 2016/NNA - Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael
Beary today visited Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, in Beirut. In a press release by UNIFIL on
Thursday, it said: "During the meeting, Major General Beary
congratulated the Speaker on the recent political breakthroughs, namely the
election of a new President and the formation of a new Government."Release
added: "He expressed his hope for the positive effects of these
developments in UNIFIL's area of operations in south Lebanon."The UNIFIL head briefed the Speaker on the last
Tripartite meeting held in Ras Naqoura
on 15 December and on the situation along the Blue Line in south Lebanon.
Release said: "Major General Beary reiterated
his appreciation of the ongoing partnership and collaboration between UNIFIL
peacekeepers and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) which has contributed to a
decade of calm and stability. He underlined the essential role played by the
local authorities in the fulfillment of UNIFIL's
mandate under the UN Security Council resolution 1701." "I briefed
the Speaker on my latest series of meetings with local authorities and
religious leaders in south Lebanon
and stressed the importance of cooperation between UN peacekeepers and the host
community whose safety is at the heart of our operations," said the UNIFIL
Force Commander in his comments at the end of his meeting. "The
understanding and support of the people of south Lebanon is one of my central priorities."
"I thanked Speaker Berri for his personal
attention to our concerns and his appreciation of UNIFIL's
role in furthering our common goal for security and stability in southern Lebanon. I
expressed the hope that the efforts towards a more permanent peace can also
take place."Earlier today, the UNIFIL commander
also met separately with LAF Commander General Jean Kahwaji
in the Lebanese capital. The two discussed the continued cooperation between
LAF and UNIFIL peacekeepers in south Lebanon.
Kaag Meets Hariri, Hails 'New Chapter' in Lebanon's
History
Naharnet/December 22/16/Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks Thursday at the Grand Serail with the United Nations Special Coordinator for
Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, and the Deputy Special
Coordinator for Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini. The U.N.
has been “in Lebanon for more than 71 years, our presence is strong as well as
our commitment to Lebanon’s people and we need to work even more closely with
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the new government to
advance Lebanon’s stability and security and the prosperity of all those who
reside on Lebanon’s soil,” Kaag said after the
meeting. “We explored ideas around the possible meeting of the International
Support Group. The United Nations looks forward to the timely conduct of the
parliamentary elections next year for which we continue to provide support and
assistance,” the U.N. official added. She described the election of President
Michel Aoun as well as the formation of the new
government as “a new chapter” in the history of Lebanon. “We can all look forward
with confidence to the future of Lebanon and seize all the opportunities that
the country has and that the government should grasp and seize for the benefit
of the people, stability and security,” Kaag went on
to say. Lebanon
formed a new 30-minister government on Sunday, bringing together the entire
political spectrum except for the Kataeb Party that
refused to be represented by a state minister post. New portfolios include an
anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women's
affairs. The new government will have "preserving security against the
fires ravaging our region at the top of its list of priorities," Hariri
said on Sunday. He stressed that the government would act to "preserve our
country from the negative consequences of the Syrian crisis." Hariri was
nominated to form the new government on November 3. His appointment as PM and Aoun's election after two and a half years of presidential
vacuum have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a
stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a
million Syrian refugees. Hariri also announced the establishment of a state
secretariat for refugees, and called on the international community "to take
responsibility for helping our country bear the burden.""The
government will also work on the preparation of a new electoral law,"
Hariri said on Sunday.
Khoury: Combating Corruption Priority for New Tenure
Naharnet/December 22/16/Minister of Economy, Raed Khoury stressed on Thursday
that fighting corruption is one of the priorities that the new tenure and the
Free Patriotic Movement will focus on, the state-run National News Agency
reported. “Fighting corruption is the new era and the FPM's
priorities,” said Khoury, stressing that price
monitoring and control have begun with the start of the holidays. “There will
be no grace period in this issue. All violators will be referred to the related
authorities for appropriate measures against them,” the new Minister told VDL
(93.3). On other pressing issues that must be addressed by the newly formed
cabinet, Khoury said: “All the political factions
have agreed to solve pending files and those related to international
agreements and funds, as well as to address the citizens' livelihood issues.
“Dealing with this matter would be serious and the citizens will see a marked
improvement in the coming period,” the minister concluded.
Hariri Receives Call from Saudi Deputy
Crown Prince, Meets Iran
Deputy FM
Naharnet/December 22/16/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday received a phone call from Saudi Arabia's
powerful Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and
met with visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Jaber
Ansari. The Saudi prince congratulated Hariri on the
formation of the new government, wishing him “success in his missions for the
sake and benefit of Lebanon
and its people,” Hariri's office said in a statement. Talks tackled “the latest
local and Arab developments” and the deputy crown prince stressed the kingdom's
“support for Lebanon
and its keenness on strengthening and developing bilateral relations between
the two countries,” the statement added. Also on Thursday, Hariri held talks at
the Grand Serail with Iran's
deputy FM, who was accompanied by an Iranian delegation and Iran's
Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Fathali. After the
talks, Ansari lauded the latest “accord and harmony
among the political and social components that are influential in the Lebanese
arena, which eventually led to putting an end to a lengthy presidential void
through the election of General Michel Aoun as president.”The consensus “also led to the appointment of PM
Hariri and the birth of a national accord government, which we hope will be
able to resolve all the challenges and problems that brotherly Lebanon is
going through during this period,” Ansari added. “We
discussed the various political developments and the relations between the two
countries, and we hoped to witness further bilateral cooperation in all fields
during his government's term,” the Iranian official went on to say, describing
the meeting as “fruitful and
Bassil Hails Christian Representation in Govt., Says Two
Proposed Hybrid Laws Can't Pass
Naharnet/December 22/16/Free Patriotic Movement chief
Jebran Bassil on Thursday
lauded the Christian representation in Saad Hariri's
government, saying it “corrects” the implementation of the National Pact, while
noting that the hybrid electoral laws that have been proposed by the rival
parties have no chance of being approved. “The new government corrects the
implementation of the National Pact because it is the first government that
contains proper Christian representation,” said Bassil
after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabieh. “During the cabinet formation process, we agreed on
several issues, including that the ministerial policy statement should be
derived from the president's oath of office and that we are forming an
elections government that contains no norms, precedents or constant standards,”
Bassil added.Commenting on
the absence of the Kataeb Party from the cabinet
line-up, the FPM chief said the share that was offered to Kataeb
cannot be compared to that that was offered to the Marada
Movement, which was granted the important public works portfolio. “Marada took their portfolio from Speaker Nabih Berri's share and the two
cases cannot be compared,” Bassil explained. Kataeb had decided to stay outside the broad 30-member
Cabinet after it was offered a state minister post. Kataeb
has five seats in parliament whereas Marada has
three. Bassil also lamented that the Syriac community was not represented in the government and
that the Cabinet contains only one woman. Turning to the issue of the electoral
law, Bassil said the past two weeks “witnessed profound discussions over the electoral law and progress
has been made.”“We're insisting on rejecting
both the 1960 electoral law and a new extension of the parliament's term,” the
FPM chief said. The law that was proposed by the Orthodox Gathering, under
which each sect would elects its own MPs, “is the only law that achieves
correct representation, but we're willing to sacrifice in order to reach any
law that achieves equal power-sharing, fair representation and consistent
standards,” Bassil added. He also noted that two
so-called hybrid electoral laws that have been proposed by major political
forces have no chance of being approved because they are “not based on
consistent standards.”The first law was proposed by
Speaker Nabih Berri while
the other law was proposed by al-Mustaqbal Movement,
the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces. Both laws mix the
proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. “January should
not pass without the approval of a new electoral law, or else the intention
would be to keep the 1960 law or extend the parliament's term and we will
confront that,” Bassil warned. Hizbullah
has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional
representation but other political parties, especially Mustaqbal,
have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of
arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party
has clout. The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the
legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.
The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and
the next elections are scheduled for May 2017.
UNRWA Strongly Condemns Renewed Violence
in Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/December 22/16/The U.N. Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, condemns the armed violence at the Ain
el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon
which “has again prevented children from attending school and vital health
services from operating,” UNRWA Spokesperson Christopher Gunness
said on Thursday. Calling for “restraint,” UNRWA announced that due to armed
violence and increased risks to civilian lives, the agency had “suspended all
its operations in the camp and will continue to do so until further notice.”“Violent incidents in Ain el-Hilweh
continue to shock and frighten camp residents. They prevent children going to
school and patients going to clinics; and they threaten the safety and security
of civilians and their ability to access a range of services,” UNRWA said. “The
education and wellbeing of more than 6,000 children attending nine UNRWA
schools in the camp have been impacted. Two health centers, serving the health
needs of the Palestine
refugee population in the Camp, have been forced to close temporarily,” it
added. It noted that this is the fourth time in the past month that it has been
forced to close its services due to security incidents. “We again call on all
those involved to respect the rule of law, the sanctity of human life and to
ensure the protection of Palestine
refugees, particularly of children,” UNRWA urged. “UNRWA also continues to urge
all armed actors to respect the inviolability and neutrality of UNRWA premises
in accordance with international law and to take all measures necessary to
ensure the safety of UNRWA staff, students, Palestine refugees and installations,” it
said. The agency also noted that it will continue to monitor developments and
will continue its dialogue with all relevant actors to “advocate for the safety
and dignity of Palestine
refugees living in Ain el-Hilweh and to bring an end
to the violence.”At least four people were killed and
several others were wounded on Wednesday and Thursday in clashes at the camp
between the mainstream Fatah Movement and a number of hardline
Islamist militants.
Ceasefire Reached after 1 Killed, Several
Hurt in Renewed Ain el-Hilweh Clashes
Naharnet/December 22/16/A ceasefire was reached on
Thursday evening at the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian
refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon after renewed clashes killed a
person and wounded several others throughout the day. “A ceasefire has been
reached at the Ain el-Hilweh camp and two delegations
from the factions have headed to the areas of the clashes to verify that it is
being implemented,” LBCI television quoted the representative of the Hamas
movement in Lebanon
as saying. Earlier on Thursday, the National News Agency said a man identified
as Abdullah Mohammed al-Ghar was killed and several
other people including a woman were wounded in fresh fighting. The clashes
between the mainstream Fatah Movement and the hardline
Islamist group Jund al-Sham erupted after the funeral
of Samer Hmeid – aka Samer Nejmeh – and Mahmoud Abdul Karim Saleh, who both were killed in Wednesday's violence, NNA
said. “Clashes broke out on the al-Sifsaf-al-Briksat
frontier before spreading to the Taytaba-Arab Zbeid frontier,” NNA said, noting that “machineguns,
shoulder-fired rockets and hand grenades” were used in the fighting. Dozens of
families who were trapped in their homes in the Arab Zbeid
area urged officials to exert efforts to halt the fighting, the agency added.
Media reports said residents were fleeing en masse from the camp's eastern neighborhoods. Wednesday's unrest resulted in the death of
three people and the injury of at least six others.
Rahi at Maronite Diaspora
Institute General Assembly: Influx of refugees jeopardizes Lebanese entity
Thu 22 Dec 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi pointed out
that the Lebanese immigration has increased due to the souring economic
situation and political crisis, indicating that the influx of refugees
jeopardizes the Lebanese entity.
Patriarch Rahi's fresh words on Thursday came during
his patronage of the annual general assembly of the Maronite
Diaspora Institute, at St. Pope John Paul II's Hall
in Bkirki,in the presence of
senior bishops. Rahi hailed the efforts undertaken by
the Institute in assisting the Lebanese Diaspora across the globe to register
their civil status records and preserve the Lebanese nationality, saying
"this is a mighty, essential and existential work in support of the
Church's work in all its institutions." The Patriarch extended well-wishes
to president of the Republic and the new government on the holy festive season
laden with peace and blessings, hoping that they would be able to address the
immense challenges ahead. Rahi concluded by imploring
the international community to shoulder its responsibility for peace in the
world. On the other hand, Rahi met with outgoing Defense Minister Samir Moqbel who presented well-wishes on the festive season.
Handing over ceremony at Ministry of
Agriculture between Chehayeb, Zoaiter
Thu 22 Dec 2016/NNA - A handing over ceremony took place on Thursday at the
Ministry of Agriculture between outgoing Minister, Akram
Chehayeb, and new Minister Former Minister of Public
Works and Transportation, Ghazi Zoaiter, in the
presence of ministry's senior officials and heads of departments and directorates.In his delivered word, Chehayeb
wished Zoaiter success in his new endeavors.
Chehayeb regretted the difficult circumstances in
which he had worked in the Ministry. "The country was drowning in the
political imbalance, in institutional chaos and in the presidential vacuum,"
he said. However, he expressed optimism about the new government. Zoaiter, for his part, hailed the efforts of his
predecessor, branding the agricultural sector an integral part of the Lebanese
economy. "We are all called to improve and develop the agricultural
sector," he concluded.
Sarraf during handing over ceremony at Defense
Ministry: Fortifying army my key priority
Thu 22 Dec 2016 /NNA - Handing over ceremony took place on Thursday at the Defense Ministry in Yarzeh
between outgoing Minister Samir Moqbel
and new Minister Yaacoub Sarraf.
Minister Sarraf laid a wreath at the monument of army
martyrs in the Ministry's premises, and he was welcomed upon arrival at
Ministry hall by Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji,
Army Chief of Staff Major General Hatem Madi and senior army officers. In his delivered word,
Minister Moqbel saluted the military institution and
security services' mighty efforts in the face of terrorism and maintaining
stability in Lebanon,
amidst the conflicts in the region. Minister Sarraf,
for his part, underlined that his prime concern and priority during his
assumption of his new mission at the helm of the Ministry would be fortifying
the army and developing its capabilities, to become capable of deterring all
sorts of attacks on our homeland, and to be the protector of independence and
sovereignty.
Lebanon, Inc.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now
Lebanon/December 22/16
From Trump’s America to
Putin’s Russia to Lebanon,
the marriage of business with politics is closer than ever.
Like America, Russia, Iran
and many other nations, Lebanon
has finally got a government full of billionaires and wannabe-billionaires
because, according to the newly emerging world trend in governance, who needs
middlemen politicians? Billionaires of the world, who have until recently been
influencers from behind the scenes, have finally decided to take over
governments and run countries. The dangerous coupling between power and money
will further entrench the kleptocracies of Russia, Iran
and Lebanon,
and will further define their American counterpart. This trend is known as the
Beijing Consensus, which replaced the Washington Consensus, which in turn was
built on slimmer governments unleashing the power of capital and the private
sector. Once governments unleashed the capitalists; now the capitalists are
back to swallow these governments.
The template of these newly ‘incorporated’ governments is clear. Talk populism
to the masses, divide them along the lines of religion and social issues rather
than economic interests, take over government and use its power to further
expand the fortunes of the class of billionaires, which has ballooned
worldwide, at the same time that the middle class has sunk closer to poverty.
The problem is that the masses are always ready to act against their interests.
Perhaps inheriting history’s oldest myth of a savior
who comes to burn down the temple and save the masses from the establishment
and its evils, Americans have shown how gullible they
are, and by extension how fragile their democracy is.
Reports are already surfacing about Americans who have voted for
President-elect Donald Trump but now regret their votes, mainly out of fear of
possibly losing the meager social services and health
care they receive, often partially subsidized by the federal government.
Russians have proven even more pliable than Americans. By getting riled up over
the worthless national bravado their everlasting president Vladimir Putin
offers them, they have seen their fortunes sink, their national currency
tumble, and their economy shrink. Yet many of them believe Putin has revived
their ‘national pride’ by standing up to America
and restoring Russia
to its former position as the world’s other superpower.
Then there are the Lebanese, the ones who have been duped the most. Lebanon’s Christians, whose numbers have been dwindling over the past
three decades, celebrate ‘regaining their rights,’ which mainly consist of the
election of Michel Aoun as president. As Aoun and his family continue to use their power to advance
their financial interests and amass fortunes they describe as “inheritance,”
Christian income per capita is shrinking.
More credulous still than Lebanon’s
Christians are the Shiites, who have been sacrificing their young men by the
thousands over the past three decades. Their neighborhoods
have been flattened more than once in the course of war with Israel. Like
other Lebanese, the Shiites have been forced to search for their livelihood
around the world. Yet in their particular case, their options for host nations
have withered thanks to Hezbollah’s antagonism of wealthy Gulf states.
Contrary to what many Americans think, there is no plan to install Islamic sharia law in the US. Sharia
law is often not even applied in countries with Muslim majorities, such as Egypt, Morocco
and Jordan.
And contrary to what many Shiites think, the Sunni masses do not seek to
exterminate them in a repeat of Karbala.
Contrary to what Russians think, America is not out to bully them,
and homosexuality does not threaten Russian traditions. Contrary to what
Christians think, their dwindling fortunes in the Levant
are not due to Muslim or Saudi or Iranian machinations, but rather their own
corrupt tribal chiefs who amass fortunes at their expense.
In Lebanon,
March 14 has been one of the biggest scams in the history of the republic.
After the 2005 shakeup with the killing of Rafiq
Hariri and the withdrawal of Syrian troops, Lebanon’s oligarchs fell out over
who would inherit the Syrian fiefdom. Hezbollah told the oligarchs to toy with
state resources and continue lining their pockets, on condition they leave
intelligence and military affairs to the Party of God. March 14, at times with
regional agitation, turned down Hezbollah’s offer and got accordingly pounded.
Some of those oligarchs would even go on to be killed. What was most
unfortunate was the murder of those who deeply believed March 14 offered a
chance to bring justice, liberty and the rule of law. In hindsight, honest
activists like Samir Kassir,
George Hawi, Walid Eido, and Mohamed Chatah, among
others, were the ones who sacrificed their lives for a cause that is now all
but lost. Congratulations to Lebanon’s
oligarchy for making up and resuming embezzlement, this time perhaps on an
unprecedented scale, and hard luck for all the Lebanese, American, Russian and
Iranian average citizens who believe their billionaire leaders will ever
improve their lives. You have been duped.
Lebanon’s new government: Winter and
summer under the same roof
Makram Rabah/Middle
East Eye/Tuesday 20 December 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/22/makram-rabahmiddle-east-eye-lebanons-new-government-winter-and-summer-under-the-same-roof/
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/lebanon-s-new-government-winter-and-summer-under-same-roof-1672919395
Hezbollah will only facilitate Hariri’s government if he
refrains from openly attacking, and publically appeases, them - an improbable
scenario
It took just under two and a half years for Lebanon to elect President Michel Aoun, making the 48 days it took Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri to hammer out a government look like a walk
in the park in comparison. Hariri struggled tremendously to appease and
convince the different Lebanese political factions to accept their share of the
government
The reality is more complex.
The 30-member cabinet which was announced on Sunday night from the presidential
place in Ba’abda, included eight ministerial appointments with no real
portfolios. Locally, these appointees are referred to as ministers of state and
are usually assigned less important ad-hoc responsibilities.
These imagined portfolios, trivial as they are, simply reflect the political
crisis that Lebanon
has faced for the past five years.
Despite the wide political support he received at the time of his naming as PM
designate, Hariri struggled tremendously to appease and convince the different
Lebanese political factions to accept their share of the government, including
the eight aforementioned cabinet positions.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese political establishment, led by Hariri, have attempted
to depict the announcing of the government as a triumph for democracy and a
resumption of the Lebanese political life.
This sentiment, however, clashes with the bleak reality which surrounded the
formation of the government as well as the main challenges that awaits Hariri,
who still needs the parliament vote to be confirmed to office.
Return to 2005?
The wider public saw in many of the cabinet’s pro-Syrian appointments – as well
as the timing of the announcement of the cabinet formation a few days after the
fall of Aleppo
– as the final victory of Hezbollah and, by extension, their ally Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
Rafik Hariri’s gamble to isolate his model from the
perils of the region failed as the persistence of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon
thwarted a milieu of stability from materialising
Before long, this claim will be put to the test, as the ensuing process will
entail Hariri preparing a ministerial statement for his cabinet that includes
an economic and political outlook for Lebanon.
This might be easier said than done, as Hezbollah and its allies will
unequivocally refuse to sanction any government platform which does not
recognise its role as a legitimate ‘resistance’ force, tasked with protecting
Lebanon against external aggressors – be it Israel or the perceived threat of
the Islamic State (IS) group across the border in Syria.
This probable scenario would virtually return Lebanon
to the pre-2005 arrangement, when former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri, under duress from the Syrian regime, relinquished Lebanon’s
foreign policy in exchange for allowing him to lead the country’s economic
resurgence and reconstruction process.
A billboard showing late Lebanese premier Rafik
Hariri with the Arabic slogan "The Era of Justice" on a main road in
Beirut (AFP)
This left Lebanon with two parallel contending spirits, Hanoi (resistance) vs.
the Hong Kong (economic prosperity) model, terms popularised during Rafik Hariri's time in office.
The former left Syria and Iran with unmitigated control over Lebanon’s regional policy that included waging
proxy war through Hezbollah against Israel,
who were occupying the south of Lebanon
at the time.
The latter Hong Kong model allowed Rafik Hariri to
make Lebanon
into a regional economic and technological powerhouse.
Ultimately, Rafik Hariri’s gamble to isolate his
model from the perils of the region failed as the persistence of Syrian
hegemony over Lebanon
thwarted a milieu of stability from materialising which is imperative to encourage
foreign investment.
Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005 in attack
widely linked to Hezbollah.
A determined Hezbollah
As it stands, Saad Hariri's prospects are even more
challenging as he faces a more determined Hezbollah who are fully immersed in
the ongoing Sunni-Shia struggle in Syria, Iraq
and Yemen
and who will certainly not allow anyone to sideline it.
Consequently, Hezbollah will only facilitate Hariri’s government if the latter
refrains from openly attacking them and publically appease them in the
cabinet’s ministerial decree, an improbable scenario to say the least.
Even if Hariri dodges these bullets and simply avoids these thorny topics, Lebanon’s regional and international standing
will continue to suffer as long as Hezbollah continues to peddle Iran’s agenda in Syria and elsewhere.
Moreover, it might be sound for the PM designate to always keep in mind that
while all political parties use violence and bullying to attain political
office, Hezbollah has no interest nor will in playing the Lebanese political
game. Hezbollah simply wants its parallel Hanoi
model to operate unbarred.
Saad Hariri might truly believe that he could steer
Lebanon through troubled waters and, consequently, jumpstart an economic
resurgence of his own, similar to the one pioneered by his late father.
However hoping for the Hong Kong model to coexist with its Hanoi antithesis is not very different from
having winter and summer under the same roof – an
impossibility.
- Makram Rabah is a
PhD candidate at Georgetown
University’s history
department. He is the author of “A Campus at War: Student Politics at the American University
of Beirut,
1967–1975” and a regular columnist for Now Lebanon.
Lebanon
— the ‘post-Aleppo’ government
Diana Moukalled/The Arab News/December 22/16
Preventing civil war was the pretext to justify a political settlement that
brought Gen. Michel Aoun to the presidency. Now the
same excuse is used to justify the contradictory formation of the government,
which was announced by Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
We can debate endlessly how accurate this pretext was, especially in terms of
the many concessions made, and the deep differences and contradictory visions
of the new Cabinet’s members. There is no guarantee that they will not fall out
even before the new government begins work.
How will it draft its ministerial statement? What policy will it adopt toward
the international tribunal investigating the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri, and toward Hezbollah’s weapons
and its fighting in Syria?
These issues represent the first month’s challenges for the government.
Regional circumstances have not given Hariri enough time to form a better
government, as he realizes that he is entering a new phase that is critical for
him and his movement. In addition, consensus will likely remain a requirement
for the formation of any government in Lebanon. Opposition will be only
allowed under the confines of loyalty to the ruling party. Therefore, the
country’s weakness and impasse will continue.
Since the end of Lebanon’s
civil war, the country has failed to establish an authority and institutions
that are independent of power-sharing among different sects and beliefs, in a
way that paralyzed the state. This has been driven by a regional Syrian-Iranian
push.
The mission of this interim government, which will only stay for a few months,
is to prepare for a new election law and hold parliamentary elections in
spring. However, several names in the Cabinet do not suggest that elections
will be its mission. This raises the possibility of a new political vacuum.
It is very hard to overlook all these clear-cut facts surrounding the new
government. Hariri, the most prominent opposition leader against Hezbollah and
its Syrian ally, and head of the largest bloc in Parliament, has made major
concessions. This includes his acceptance that Hezbollah has veto power and a
set of names in government that are a major provocation to him and the legacy
of his father.
Hariri’s government comprises many of his opponents: Hezbollah, Amal and Aoun’s party. It also
includes a bloc loyal to former President Emile Lahoud,
a very close ally of Hezbollah and of Syrian President Bashar
Assad.
The March 8 alliance, consisting mainly of Hezbollah and Aoun’s
party, welcomed the new government, considering it a “post-Aleppo” government.
This comes in light of the major concessions made by Hariri to appoint some
figures in the government.
The status quo will not improve in Lebanon without regional change,
which seems unlikely. The regional situation is getting more complicated,
especially after the fall of Aleppo
and the military progress achieved by the Syrian-Russian-Iranian alliance.
This means the government is making dysfunctional political balances,
especially when tested by the most crucial task. This government was invited by
Assad to contribute to the “post-Aleppo liberation” phase, in a blatant
challenge to Hariri, and to pressure him to submit to Syrian-Iranian influence
in Lebanon.
The ministerial statement is the first test of the government’s — specifically
Hariri’s — ability to counter the Syrian-Iranian alliance. It will not be the
last test.
• Diana Moukalled is a veteran journalist with
extensive experience in both traditional and new media. She is also a columnist
and freelance documentary producer. She can be reached on Twitter @dianamoukalled.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on December
22-23/16
European Populists Link
Berlin Attack to Merkel Policies
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Populists across Europe have seized on the truck attack in Berlin as a
way to criticise Germany's immigration policy but key players have held back on
jumping to conclusions as the investigation continues. Former UK Independence
Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, a key ally of US
President-elect Donald Trump in Europe, said
the attack which killed 12 people was "no surprise" and would be part
of Merkel's "legacy". "Merkel has directly caused a whole number
of social and terrorist problems in Germany, it's about time we
confronted that truth," he told LBC radio on Tuesday. UKIP donor Arron Banks, who was also a key funder behind the Brexit campaign, tweeted that Merkel "might as well
have" been driving the truck herself. A 23-year-old Pakistani asylum-seeker
was arrested immediately after the incident on Monday after reportedly fleeing
the scene but was released on Tuesday without charge. Police said on Wednesday
they were now on a manhunt for a new suspect, identified in German media as a
Tunisian citizen in his early 20s who applied for asylum in April and had a
temporary residence permit. Merkel has been criticised over her decision to let
in around a million migrants -- many of them fleeing war-torn Syria -- over
the past two years. - 'Last drop of patience' -Her policy has been polarising,
not just in Germany.
Just hours after Monday's attack, far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert
Wilders sharply blamed European leaders for admitting asylum-seekers into Europe. "Merkel, (Dutch Prime Minister Mark) Rutte and all the other cowardly government leaders have
allowed in Islamic terror and an asylum tsunami with their open borders
policy," he tweeted on Tuesday. Wilders, who heads the anti-Islam Freedom
Party (PVV), also tweeted a photo-shopped picture of
Merkel with her hands, face and jacket spattered in blood. The image was not
accompanied by any words, but implied she had blood on her hands for the
attack. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday said the Berlin
attack had been "the last drop in the cup of patience" in Europe's migration crisis. Matthew Goodwin, a senior
fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said attacks such as the one in Berlin represented a
"significant opportunity" for the "radical right" to
emphasise the issue of security. "Across much of Europe,
the radical right is increasingly linking the migrant crisis to security,"
alongside their traditional anti-elite and anti-immigration campaign messages,
he said.
- Merkel 'irresponsible' -Other populist forces have been more cautious,
however.
In Austria,
the far-right Freedom Party steered clear of making the link between Merkel's
policies and the attack. France's
National Front leader Marine Le Pen also made no connection. But the National
Front's deputy leader Florian Philippot
told French TV that Islamic State group militants had infiltrated Europe along with migrants. "When there are Islamist
terrorists who infiltrate themselves in a massive influx, we have the duty to
stop the influx," he said, calling Merkel's open-doors policy for migrants
"irresponsible". In Germany
itself, the Islamophobic and anti-immigration populist party AfD wasted no time
in laying the blame on Merkel. "The milieu in which such acts can flourish
has been negligently and systematically imported over the past year and a half,"
the group's co-leader Frauke Petry
said in a statement, in a clear reference to Merkel's decision to let in
refugees. "Germany
is no longer safe. It should be the responsibility of the chancellor to tell
you this. But since she won't do it, then I'll say it," Petry said, demanding "control over our territory, no
ifs and buts".
Merkel Hopes for 'Quick Arrest' of Berlin
Market Attacker
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced hope Thursday that the prime suspect in
Berlin's deadly truck attack would be caught quickly, after it emerged that the
Tunisian rejected asylum seeker was a known jihadist. In an act of defiance,
Berliners flocked to the same Christmas market that witnessed the murder of 12
people on Monday, as it reopened for the first time in three days. Just as
Merkel praised the country for not succumbing to fear in the wake of the
attack, she insisted that authorities would manage to track down the alleged
assailant. "I am certain we will meet this test we are facing," she
said, voicing confidence for a "hopefully quick arrest". "In the
past few days I have been very proud of how calmly most people reacted to the
situation." Prosecutors have issued a Europe-wide wanted notice for
24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, offering a
100,000-euro ($104,000) reward for information leading to his arrest and
warning he could be armed and dangerous. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the case against Amri
was hardening, with his fingerprints found in the cab of the 40-tonne truck, as
well as his temporary residence permit. The articulated lorry rammed through
the crowd late Monday, killing 11. The twelfth victim, the hijacked truck's
Polish driver, was found shot in the cab. Berliners returned Thursday to the
market at the central Breitscheid square, leaving a
sea of flowers and candles for the victims and signs reading "Love Not
Hate". Organizers dimmed garish lights and turned down the party music but
began serving cakes and mulled wine. Amid a low-key police presence, vendors
embraced each other, some weeping as they opened their stands.
'They did nothing'
The attack, Germany's deadliest in recent
years, has been claimed by the Islamic State group. Among the confirmed dead
were six Germans, 60-year-old Israeli Dalia Elyakim,
and a young Italian woman called Fabrizia Di Lorenzo.
A total of 48 people were injured. But as the manhunt intensified, questions
surfaced about how the suspect had been able to slip through the net, avoiding
arrest and deportation despite being on the radar of several security agencies."The authorities had him in their crosshairs
and he still managed to vanish," said Der
Spiegel's news website. The top-selling daily Bild's frontpage headline screamed "Deportation
Failure!" while local tabloid B.Z. charged "They knew him. They did nothing", next to a photo of the dark-haired Amri. Conservative lawmaker Stephan Mayer, a critic
of Merkel's liberal stance on refugees, told public radio that the case
"held up a magnifying glass" to the failings of her migration policy.
But Armin Laschet, a deputy leader of Merkel's
Christian Democrats, placed the blame with regional security authorities,
calling their inability to keep tabs on Amri
"shocking". Merkel herself said Germany had "known for a long
time that we are in the crosshairs of Islamic terrorism. And yet, when it
happens ... it is a totally different situation."She
hailed the "highly professional work" of federal and state police as
well as the "smooth cooperation" with international partner
organizations. But in a revelation likely to stoke public anger, officials said
they had already been investigating Amri, suspecting
he was planning an attack. The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia
state, Ralf Jaeger, said counter-terrorism officials had exchanged information
about Amri, most recently in November, and a probe
had been launched suspecting he was preparing "a serious act of violence
against the state". Berlin
prosecutors said separately that Amri had been
suspected of planning a burglary to raise cash to buy automatic weapons, "possibly
to carry out an attack."
But after keeping watch on him from March until September this year they failed
to find evidence of the plot, learning only that Amri
was a small-time drug dealer, and the surveillance was stopped. Since the
attack, police have searched a refugee center in Emmerich,
western Germany,
where Amri stayed a few months ago, as well as two
apartments in the capital. The New York Times reported, citing U.S. officials,
that Amri had done online research on how to make
explosive devices and had communicated with IS at least once, via Telegram
Messenger. He was also on a U.S.
no-fly list. Der Spiegel reported that German
government wiretapping against "hate preachers" had indicated that Amri had offered to carry out a suicide operation but that
his statements were too vague for prosecutors to use.
'In shock' Amri's family expressed disbelief on
hearing he was wanted. "If my brother is behind the attack, I say to him
'You dishonor us'," Abdelkader
Amri told AFP in a poor village in central Tunisia. Amri left his home country after the 2011 revolution and
lived in Italy,
where he served four years in prison for setting fire to a school, local media
reported. He arrived in Germany
in July 2015 but his application for asylum was rejected this June. His
deportation, however, got caught up in red tape with Tunisia, which long denied he was a
citizen. Germany had until
now been spared the devastating jihadist carnage that has struck neighboring France
and Belgium.
But it has suffered a spate of smaller attacks, including two assaults in July
that left 20 people injured. Both were committed by asylum seekers and claimed
by IS. The Berlin carnage evoked memories of
the July 14 truck assault in the French Riviera city of Nice, where 86 people were killed by a
Tunisian IS-sympathizer.
U.N. Security Council Postpones Vote on
Israeli Settlements
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/The U.N. Security Council on Thursday postponed a vote on a draft
resolution demanding that Israel halt its settlement activities as
President-elect Donald Trump weighed in and said the United States should veto
the measure.
Egypt requested the delay a
day after it submitted the draft text to the council, a move that triggered
immediate calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a U.S. veto to
block the resolution. A similar resolution was vetoed by the United States in 2011, and it remained unclear
whether Washington
would shift its stance this time, possibly abstaining to allow the measure to
pass but without US support. "Israelis deeply appreciate one of the great
pillars of the US-Israel alliance: the willingness over many years of the United States
to stand up in the U.N. and veto anti-Israel resolutions," Netanyahu said
in a video posted on his Twitter account. "I hope the U.S. won't
abandon this policy." Israel
launched a frantic lobbying effort to pressure Egypt
to drop the bid and reached out to its supporters in the United States
and at the Security Council for support. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said his government was deploying "diplomatic
efforts on all fronts to ensure that this disgraceful resolution will not pass
in the Security Council." A UN diplomat, speaking on condition of
anonymity, described the Israeli lobbying effort as a "diplomatic World
War III."
Trump calls for U.S. veto
Trump, who campaigned on a promise to recognize Jerusalem
as Israel's capital, said Washington should use
its veto to block the resolution. "The resolution being considered at the
United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed," he
said in a statement.
"As the United States
has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and
the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the
parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations,"
he said. "This puts Israel
in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all
Israelis." Arab ambassadors held an emergency meeting at the United
Nations to try to shore up the diplomatic push and press Egypt to move
ahead with a vote on the draft resolution. The ambassadors recommended that an
Arab League committee meeting in Cairo
on Thursday decide to hold a vote, said Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour. "We have a
text and we need the Security Council to act on it," he said. Mansour said Trump's call for a veto was in response to
pressure from the Israeli prime minister. "He is acting on behalf of
Netanyahu," he said. No new date or time was scheduled for action on the
resolution. But diplomats said the vote could happen on Friday, depending on
the outcome of the meeting in Cairo.
Trump has chosen as ambassador to Israel
the hardliner David Friedman, who has said Washington
will not pressure Israel to
curtail settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Saving the two-state solution
Israeli settlements are seen as a major stumbling block to peace efforts, as
they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. The
United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but U.N. officials have
reported a surge in construction over the past months. The draft resolution
demands that "Israel
immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied
Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."It states that Israeli settlements have "no
legal validity" and are "dangerously imperiling
the viability of the two-state solution" that would see an independent Palestine co-exist alongside Israel. The text stresses that
halting settlements was "essential for salvaging the two-state solution,
and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative
trends on the ground."U.N. diplomats have for
weeks speculated over whether the administration of President Barack Obama
would refrain from using its veto. Obama's administration has expressed
mounting anger over the continued expansion of the Jewish outposts and
speculation has grown that he could launch a final initiative before leaving.
Under Netanyahu's government, settlement construction has surged, with some 15,000
settlers moving into the West Bank over the
past year alone. The United States
joined the European Union, the United Nations and Russia
in calling for a halt to Jewish settlements in a report released in October by
the so-called diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East.
The report was to serve as the basis for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process, which has been comatose since a U.S. initiative collapsed in April
2014. Working to re-launch the peace process, France set January 15 as the date
for an international conference to restart talks and "reaffirm the
necessity of having two states," Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.
Rebels Say Aleppo 'Great Loss' for
Anti-Assad Revolt
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/return of Aleppo to full government control Thursday is a "great
loss" to the five-year revolt against Syria's President Bashar Assad, a rebel official said. The army said on
Thursday that Aleppo
had been fully recaptured after the last convoy of rebel fighters and civilians
left the insurgents' former stronghold in the east of the city. "On the
political level, this is a great loss," said Yasser al-Youssef
of the Nureddin al-Zinki
rebel group. "For the revolution, it is a period of retreat and a
difficult turning point. "The revolution is
currently facing a military setback," Youssef
told AFP. "The intervention of Russia
and Iran, blessed on the
international scene by Arab and Muslim silence, cost us heavy losses," he
said in reference to the two most powerful allies of the Assad For his part, Ahmed Qorra Ali, an
official with the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group, said:
"Aleppo is now under the occupation of Russia and Iran."
Syrian Army
Says Aleppo
City Fully Retaken
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/The army said Thursday it has retaken full control of Syria's devastated second city Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory against
opposition forces since the civil war erupted in 2011. The announcement came
after a landmark evacuation deal that put an end to a ferocious month-long
offensive waged on east Aleppo
by government forces and allied militia. Earlier, the Red Cross said more than
4,000 fighters had left rebel-held areas of the city in the final stages of an
evacuation. The loss of east Aleppo is the
biggest blow to Syria's
rebel movement in the nearly six-year conflict, which has killed more than
310,000 people. It puts the government in control of the country's five main
cities: Aleppo, Homs,
Hama, Damascus,
and Latakia. President Bashar
Assad's victory in Aleppo is a boon for his
allies in Moscow and Tehran
and a defeat for the opposition's backers, including Turkey,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some
Western states. Because of the intensity of these global rivalries --
particularly between Russia
and the United States -- the
international community struggled for years to respond to the bloodshed in Syria.
"The liberation of Aleppo is not only a victory for Syria but also for
those who really contribute to the fight against terrorism, notably Russia and
Iran," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying before the army
announcement on Thursday. The evacuation effort had been hampered by heavy
snowfall and freezing temperatures, leaving evacuees waiting in unheated buses
for hours. "Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, in one of the last
stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private
cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo,"
said Ingy Sedky, the
spokeswoman in Syria
for the International Committee of the Red Cross. She said about 34,000 people
had left rebel areas of Aleppo
under the evacuation plan.The United Nations said it
had deployed observers to monitor the final evacuations, under a Security
Council resolution adopted on Monday.
Pivotal moment
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian
agency, said 31 staff had been assigned for monitoring at the crossing point at
Ramussa, the government-held district of southern
Aleppo through which evacuation convoys have been leaving."It's
been a very difficult night. The weather is really harsh, and people are
leaving in hundreds of private vehicles at different levels of disrepair,"
he told AFP. Heavy snowfall from Wednesday, which blanketed Aleppo and the surrounding countryside, had
slowed down the evacuations. "The bad weather, including heavy snow and
wind, and the poor state of vehicles... mean things are moving much more slowly
than expected," Sedky said. Rebel forces, who
seized control of east Aleppo
in 2012, agreed to withdraw from the bastion after a month-long army offensive
that drove them from more than 90 percent of their former territory. The deal
was brokered by Russia,
which launched air strikes in support of Assad's regime last year, and Turkey, which
has supported some rebel groups.
As part of the Aleppo evacuation deal, it was agreed some residents would be
allowed to leave Fuaa and Kafraya,
two Shiite-majority villages in northwestern Syria
that are under siege by the Sunni Muslim rebels. About 1,000 people have been
able to leave the villages in recent days.The
evacuation of Aleppo's
rebel sector is a pivotal moment in a war that has triggered a major
humanitarian and refugee crisis. As well as a major strategic gain for Assad,
the rebel withdrawal from Aleppo
has given fresh impetus to international efforts to end the conflict. Russia, Iran
and Turkey agreed this week
to guarantee Syria
peace talks and backed expanding a ceasefire, laying down their claim as the
main powerbrokers in the war.
Powerful symbol
Repeated attempts at peace have failed, but U.N. envoy Staffan
de Mistura has said he hopes to convene fresh talks
in Geneva in
February. Formerly the beating heart of Syria's
commercial and cultural industries, Aleppo
has been split since July 2012 between rebels in the east and the government in
the west. East Aleppo became a powerful symbol for Syria's opposition, which set up
its own administration to run schools, electricity, and water there. Opposition
fighters lobbed rockets into government-held territory, and regime forces
battered the east with air strikes and artillery. Moscow's military intervention in support of
Assad marked a major turning point in the war. Defense
Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday the Russian air
force has killed 35,000 fighters in Syria since it began in September last year.Turkey launched its own campaign in Syria in late
August in support of pro-Ankara rebels, with the aim of ousting Islamic State
group jihadists as well as Kurdish militia from areas near its border. Turkish
air strikes killed at least 47 civilians including 14 children Thursday in the
IS-held town of Al-Bab,
which Turkish forces have been seeking to capture for weeks, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. The raids came a day after
14 Turkish soldiers were killed by jihadists around Al-Bab,
in the country's biggest loss of the campaign so far. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim vowed Thursday to
press on, saying: "Turkey
is in the midst of a great struggle -- our fight against terror continues both
in our country and outside our borders."
World Had to Hear Aleppo Children,' Says
Syrian Girl Blogger
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/The seven-year-old Syrian girl whose Twitter account provided a tragic
window for the world into the destruction of her hometown Aleppo on Thursday
described taking up blogging to give a voice to the city's children.
Bana al-Abed was one of thousands of people evacuated
from once rebel-held areas of Aleppo in the last
days under a deal brokered by Turkey
and Russia.
She was evacuated on Monday and taken to the Turkish capital along with her
family, including her mother Fatemah who manages the
account. "We wanted the world to hear the voice of the children of Aleppo. We spoke of the
bombardments and tweeted so that people could see the war," Bana told AFP in an interview in Ankara. Bana and
her family lived in east Aleppo, which was controlled by rebels fighting
President Bashar Assad's regime and backed by They
were evacuated as the area was being overrun by government forces, who are now
on the verge of clinching their biggest victory in the six-year war by taking
total control of "I fear the war because he wants to kill us," she
said in apparent reference to Assad. "I am scared. I fear for my brothers
and for my parents," she said in Arabic. On Wednesday she was given the
rare honor of being hosted along with her family by
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara.'Like
a hell' For her 330,000 online followers, Bana became
a symbol of the tragedy in Syria, as she and her mother sent poignant tweets on
the destruction of their city and the struggles of daily life. Assad's regime
has slammed her and her mother's messages as propaganda, and pro-government
critics even alleged the account was fake.
But her mother Fatemah, who runs the account @AlabedBana, said such allegations were purely motivated by
jealousy. "I think everyone says that because they are jealous. And they
know that we are real and want to make us feel upset. "So I think they
must see this and he will recognize that we are not a propaganda,"
Fatemah said, speaking in English. Fatemah said "our life in Aleppo was like a hell." "We could
not make our children go to school we could not sleep very well. Every time
there were bombs -- you can't imagine there the life that we were in.""We don't have enough food, we can't find
clean water we can't go to hospitals because they were targeted," she
added. Bana, speaking in English, added: "It was
difficult. I was afraid. There is always bombing. Even in the
night." Turkey
is hosting some 2.7 million refugees from the Syria conflict but has made clear
it now prefers to help look after the recently displaced, who are not injured,
on the Syrian side of the border. Most of those evacuated from Aleppo
are expected to be housed in refugee camps assisted by Turkey in Idlib province, rather than being brought across the
border. However it makes exceptions for special cases and the wounded. It was
not immediately clear if Bana would be staying in Turkey.
'No one helps us'
Bana's account has posted pictures of the destruction
in Aleppo including her rubble-littered street, while people have tweeted
messages of support and concern, notably fearing for her life when tweets
became less frequent. At least 15,000 children are among the more than 300,000
people who have been killed in the Syrian war. Fatemah
said the idea for the account came when "Bana
said 'Mum, why don't we hear about the situation in Aleppo and no one helps us?'""So
we decided to make this account to make sure all the world listens to the kids'
voice and help turn attention to the suffering."Fans
of Bana include the author of the Harry Potter novels
J.K. Rowling who sent the family electronic copies of her books. "I would
like to thank everyone who helped support the children of Aleppo," said Bana
in English.
With Iron Will and Key Allies, Syria's Assad Defies Expectations
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Written off by the West, Syria's
President Bashar Assad has defied all expectations of
his downfall, thanks to his iron will but also his crucial alliances with Russia and Iran. Syria's army declared
Thursday it has recaptured all of Aleppo, allowing the 51-year-old president to
deal a potentially knock-out blow to the opposition forces that rose up against
him in "The liberation of Aleppo is not only a victory for Syria but also
for those who really contribute to the fight against terrorism, notably Russia
and Iran," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying before the army
announcement. For nearly six years, Assad has been able to count on his
bloodied but loyal armed forces, his powerful intelligence services and the
support of many people in Syria
terrified by the rise of jihadist forces such as the Islamic State group. His
opponents, meanwhile, have often been deeply divided and disorganized, and
received timid backing from Western and Arab Gulf
allies unwilling to stand by their side militarily. Assad, analysts said, was
able to survive because he never wavered in his deep belief that he had no
choice but to fight on. "It has always been a struggle for life and death.
There was no question of stopping this war. It was either win or lose,"
said Nikolaos van Dam, a former Dutch ambassador and Syria expert.
The regime has half a century of experience of how to stay in power. It has the
support of the army and security services," he said. "Popular support
is not that decisive, but comes among others from minorities that feel
threatened by Islamists and jihadists."Having
arrived in power in 2000 following the death of his father Hafez, who ruled Syria with an
iron fist for 30 years, Assad was taken by surprise by the revolution.
Sure of 'ultimate victory'
Inspired by the Arab Spring movement sweeping the Middle East, opponents of
Assad's rule rose up in a wave of protests across the country. Assad did not
hesitate and the protests were violently suppressed, with the Syrian leader
denouncing his opponents as either jihadists, foreign agents of a conspiracy
concocted by the United States
and Israel,
or both. Opposition forces took up arms and many of the rebels were hailed in
the West and Sunni Gulf Arab states -- long enemies of Assad's Shiite-linked
regime -- as the vanguard of a democratic Syria. Still, despite some
tentative efforts to provide arms and training to opposition forces, the
revolution's backers never cracked Assad's conviction that he was going to win
the war, analysts said. "Assad advisers maintained from the beginning that
they were confident of success so long as the United States Air Force did not
bomb Damascus or get involved in the war,"
said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Even at the regime's worst
moment, when his forces were driven in March 2015 from Idlib
province, "Assad and his advisers brushed off their defeats as
limited," Landis said. "They always projected a strong sense of
self-assurance in their ultimate victory."Patience
was vital, analysts said, with Assad -- no matter how isolated from the West --
willing to hold out for as long as it took to put down the rebellion. "He
was from the same school as his father, and this school has always understood
the importance of time, how to turn bad headwinds into good," said Waddah Abed Rabbo,
editor-in-chief of Syria's influential al-Watan daily
newspaper.Still, the key to his victory, Abed Rabbo and others said, was the steadfast support Assad was
able to count on from his foreign allies. "He never doubted his victory
because he knew that his country had for decades nourished a solid strategic
alliance with Russia, Iran and
others," he said.
- Old, strong alliances-
Those alliances date back decades. The Soviet Union was a major supporter of
Assad's father, and Syria's
ruling elite -- hailing from the Alawite branch of
Shiite Islam -- have long had close ties with Shiite-dominated Iran. "Syria's relations with its allies are old and
founded on... interests that are still valid today," said Souhail Belhadj, a political
scientist at the Geneva-based Institute
of International and
Development Studies. "The Syrian regime has always shown itself to be a
loyal military, strategic, political, ideological and economic ally for as long
as this alliance has In contrast, as Syria's war dragged on, the opposition saw its support dwindle away. The
"Friends of Syria" group, formed in 2012 by Western and Gulf nations
to support the rebellion, backed the National Coalition as the country's
recognized opposition and imposed sanctions on the regime. But that support,
analysts said, never went far enough. "The weakness of Assad's enemies has
to a great extent been determined by insufficient support of the 'friends' of
the Syrian opposition," van Dam said. Emboldened by his win in Aleppo, Assad now has
little reason to make any concessions to the opposition. "He will rule much
as he has in the past, using a combination of intimidation and patronage,"
Landis said. "We have seen that the Assads are
unable to change the fundamental nature of the regime."
Saudi Arabia Projects $53 bn Deficit in 2017
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Saudi Arabia on Thursday projected a 2017 budget deficit of $53 billion,
a drop of almost half from a record shortfall reported last year after the
world's top oil exporter was hit by falling crude prices. According to a
cabinet statement, next year's budget projects spending of 890 billion riyals
($237 billion) and revenues of 692 billion riyals ($184 billion).
Israeli Arab MP Held in Phones for
Prisoners Case
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Israeli police said Thursday they arrested an Arab lawmaker whose
immunity has been lifted after he was suspected of secretly giving cellphones to two Palestinian high security prisoners.
Basel Ghattas of the Joint List, a coalition of Arab
Israeli parties, has denied the A police spokesman told AFP Ghattas
was detained after being questioned, and will appear before a judge on Friday
morning at Rishon LeZion,
about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Tel Aviv.
The 60-year-old Ghattas said on Thursday he would
accept his parliamentary immunity being lifted shortly before a planned vote in
the Knesset on the issue. Israeli media have reported that 12 mobile phones
were found on two separate prisoners in searches after Ghattas
visited Ktziot prison in the Negev
desert.One of the prisoners is serving time for the
kidnapping and murder of an Israeli soldier in 1984, news site Ynet reported. Police on Thursday said the lawmaker is
suspected of passing phones and SIM cards to detainees at the prison on an
unspecified date. As an MP, Ghattas is suspected of
using parliamentary immunity to escape the search and smuggle the mobile phones
into the prison. Arab lawmakers from the Joint List, the third largest force in
parliament with 13 seats, frequently clash with Israel's leaders. Arab Israelis
make up some 17.5 percent of the country's population. They are the descendants
of Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
They hold Israeli citizenship, but largely see themselves as Palestinians. On
Wednesday, parliament decided to restrict visits by deputies to high security
prisoners.
Trump Calls for Veto of U.N. Resolution on
Israel Settlements
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/President-elect Donald Trump called on Thursday for the United States to
veto an Egyptian-drafted U.N. resolution demanding that Israel immediately halt
its settlement activities in the Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem.
"The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council
regarding Israel
should be vetoed," the Republican said in a statement issued ahead of the
vote taking place later in the day. "As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians
will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through
the imposition of terms by the United Nations," he said. "This puts Israel in a
very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis,"
Trump added. Egypt
circulated its draft late Wednesday and a vote was scheduled for 3 pm (2000
GMT) on Thursday. A similar resolution was vetoed by the United States
in 2011, and it remained uncertain if the measure would be adopted this time.
Israeli settlements are seen as major stumbling block to peace efforts as they
are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. The
United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but U.N. officials have
reported a surge in construction over the past months. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United States to use its veto to
block the measure. Some in the Israeli government view Trump's victory as an
opportunity to expand settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian land occupied
by Israel
for nearly 50 years. The billionaire businessman has pledged to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to refrain
from pressuring it into deals with the Palestinians. Trump has chosen as
ambassador to Israel the
hardliner David Friedman, a man who has said Washington
will not pressure Israel to
curtail settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Trump Campaign Manager Conway Named White
House Counselor
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Donald Trump on Thursday named his campaign manager Kellyanne
Conway, credited with crafting much of the strategy that carried him to last
month's shock election victory, to the post of counselor
to the president.
Conway, who since the election has played a prominent role at Trump's side as
he prepares to enter the White House, will continue as a close advisor after he
is sworn in next month, a transition team statement said. "Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist
who played a crucial role in my victory," Trump said in the statement.
"She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing
insights on how to effectively communicate our message," he said. Conway,
49, the first woman campaign manager of either major political party to win a
presidential general election, said she was "humbled and honored.""I want to thank the president-elect for
this amazing opportunity," said Conway,
who prior to her work with Trump was a political pollster and
consultant specializing in targeting women voters. She made a round of
television interviews Thursday morning, elaborating on her White House role in
the Trump administration. Conway
told MSNBC she saw herself as "a discreet adviser" on Trump's
communications strategy, calling him a "brilliant communicator and connector.""That's how he won this campaign, how
he became president. If I can support that, I will."
HRW Says Iraqi Kurdish Militias Using
Child Soldiers
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/Two Iraqi militias linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are
recruiting child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The rights
group said it had documented 29 cases of Kurdish and Yezidi
children recruited by the People's Defense Forces
(HPG) -- an armed wing of the PKK -- and the Shingal
Resistance Units (YBS). The HPG has forces in Turkey,
Syria and Iraq, and is
fighting against Turkish forces and also against militias including the Islamic
State group. "In two cases the armed groups abducted or seriously abused
children who tried to leave their forces," HRW said in a statement.
"The groups should urgently demobilise children, investigate abuses, pledge
to end child recruitment, and appropriately penalise commanders who fail to do
so."
The PKK is a Kurdish separatist group which Turkey considers to be a
"terrorist" organization. The YBS is formed largely of fighters from
the Yezidi religious minority, which has faced a
campaign of extermination by IS. The jihadist group sees Yezidis
as infidels and massacred Yezidi civilians in Sinjar in August 2014, executing men and abducting women as
sex slaves.HRW said some of the children it
interviewed had taken part in fighting, while others had manned checkpoints or
cleaned and prepared arms. One, a young Yezidi at a
refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, said he had joined the HPG in 2014 when he was
14 and fought in Syria
until July 2016. "Even if the armed groups do not send children into
direct combat, they place them at risk by training them in areas that Turkey has attacked with air strikes in its
conflict with the PKK, such as Iraq's
Qandil mountain area," HRW said. Under
international law, the recruitment or use of children under 15 as fighters is a
war crime.
Egypt Court Suspends Sentence for
Anti-Graft Chief
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
22/16/An appeals court on Thursday suspended a prison sentence for Egypt's
former anti-corruption chief, who was convicted of exaggerating the economic
impact of graft on the country. Hisham Geneina, the former head of the Central Auditing Authority,
had been sentenced to a one-year prison term in July. The appeals court upheld
his conviction but suspended the sentence for three years, meaning he could be
jailed if he repeats the offense. The retired judge's troubles began after he
quoted a study by the authority based on 2012-2015 reports that calculated the
cost of corruption at about 600 billion pounds (about $30 billion). The study
highlighted the allegedly illegal acquisition of state-owned land by senior
officials and businessmen from the tenure of toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Geneina had faced an intense media campaign accusing him
and his family of tarnishing Egypt's
image and of membership of the banned Islamist opposition. The prosecution
accused Geneina of "spreading false news with
the goal of harming public interest" and of using "baseless
calculations" to exaggerate the cost of corruption. Watchdog Transparency
International ranks Egypt
as 88th out of 168 countries on its corruption perceptions index, and President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has publicly launched a
crackdown on the widespread graft that dogged the Mubarak years. "Putting Egypt's top
auditor on trial sends a clear message: the Egyptian government is waging a war
not against corruption but against those who fight against it," the group
had said.
Iran's State-Run Media: Rouhani's Charter of Human Rights Is Demagoguery
Thursday, 22 December 2016/NCRI - Following announcement of the so-called
“Charter of Citizens Rights” by the Iranian regime’s president, Hassan Rouhani, he is now facing widespread attacks and criticism
by the rival faction and even his own band.
In factional feuding in this regard, on December 20 state-run Javan Newspaper, affiliated to Rouhani’s
rival faction, wrote: “The honorable President
yesterday unveiled a Charter (of Human Rights) that is demagoguery and
projective (escape forward) from head to toe. While millions of people live
below poverty line due to mismanagement of economy and social damages are
getting close to crisis, Mr. Rouhani has sent a text
message yesterday about the Charter of Citizens Rights to all Iranian
citizens!”
“The President’s SMS message has reached 11 million people who live in slums
(and are excluded from the society) and 11 million unemployed and 12 million
unmarried youth as well as hundreds of thousands university graduates who have
no jobs a few months before the presidential election. And of course, those who
don’t have a mobile phone like 4 million children who don’t go to school and
are deprived of education did not receive the message and the president has no
message or even no SMS for them,” Javan Newspaper
continued.
The Newspaper then called all Rouhani’s actions
bureaucratic and theatrical and wrote: “In such circumstances where people are
faced with extreme high prices of all basic and essential goods, does any room
remain to address and display ‘farce and on paper’ Citizens Rights? Are the Citizens
(Civil) Rights essentially different than these same issues? Do the people,
whose pockets become emptier every day, need this bureaucratic and on paper
Charter of Citizens Rights? Does it solve any of their problems?”
Javan Newspaper concluded by calling Rouhani a demagogue and wrote: “There is no news about
following up the people’s main demands and addressing society’s basic and
fundamental problems… At a time when millions of Iranians are caught in the
social and economic hardships incurred as a result of the wrong policies of the
state, the head of government unveils a useless and repetitive bureaucratic (on
paper) text called Charter of Citizens Rights!”
Iran: Rouhani's
Scandal on Announcing Fake Economic Growth
Thursday, 22 December 2016/NCRI - Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce Industries
Commission, stating that the industry was stagnant in the first 6 months of
this year, said the central bank should announce and display its documentation
of the (claimed) 7.4% economic growth. In an interview with state-run Tasnim news agency affiliated to the terrorist Quds Force, Abolfazl Roghani regarding the claimed 7.4% economic growth stated:
“As an economic activist, I have not seen any growth in the industrial sector
in the first half of the year.”
“The central bank that claims the economy has had this (7.4%) growth rate must
prove it, based on documentations,” he said and continued, “Currently, there is
no serious mobility or growth in the industrial sector and stagnation still
reigns in this area.”“As in previous years,
industrial growth is still slow,” Roughani
emphasized. Meanwhile, Mohammad Osmani, board member
Iranian regime’s parliament also demanded the head of central bank to clarify
the 7.4% economic growth. He stated that 7.4% economic growth in the first half
of current year was unrealistic and unacceptable and said: “If this number is
correct, at least 800 trillion Tomans ($2,475 billion
dollars) new cash must have been injected into the economy, but such a large
amount of money has never been pumped into the economy.” “I was surprised to
hear from the head of central bank about 7.4% economic growth. This growth rate
is a huge figure and its first effect should be seen in employment growth. In
other words, 7.4% economic growth means 3% growth in employment rate, but this
situation (employment) has not changed at all,” he added. On the other hand, a
member of the regime’ parliament economy commission, said: “The basis for the
7.4% economic growth announced by the government is unclear.”Mahmoud
Bahmani, in an interview with Khaneh
Melat or Nation’s House (parliament’s news agency)
regarding the 7.4% economic growth announced by the President and confirmed by
the Central Bank said: “I do not know how and from what sources these figures
have been extracted and announced.”
Iran: A Prisoner Was Executed in Public,
a Juvenile Prisoner on the Verge of Execution
Thursday, 22 December 2016/NCRI - This morning, December22, a prisoner was
hanged in public in the city of Ilam
– Western Iran. The public execution was
carried out this morning, in the city center of Ilam
in the presence of chief Justice, the public prosecutor, criminal justice and
police chief, the state run Mehr news agency
reported. Also on Monday, December 20th three Baluchi
prisoners were hanged in Birjand Prison – Eastern Iran. Meanwhile Mohammad Reza Haddadi
who was 15 years old at the time of arrest (2002) on charges of robbery and
murder is due for execution. He has repeatedly denied all the charges during
the whole interrogation process which has been confirmed with the ones who
share the same charges with him, he has been also deprived of having access to
lawyers.
Iraqi Prime Minister: "Iraqi
Paramilitaries Who Are Fighting in Syria Do Not Represent Us."
Thursday, 22 December 2016/NCRI - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi said the Iraqi groups that are fighting in Syria, do not
represent us. "Iraq
does not want to be involved in regional tensions.” Stated
al-Abadi on Wednesday December 12 in the weekly press
conference at the government building in Baghdad
after a cabinet session. Abadi also asked all
the members of the paramilitary groups coalition
called "Hashd al-Shaabi"
to adhere the policies of the Iraqi government in not interfering in the
internal affairs of other countries. This announcement comes while,
a number of Iraqi militia groups from the "Hashd
al-Shaabi" coalition are fighting against the Bashar Assad’s opposition forces in Syria right
now.
Iran: Girls to Marry at 13 in Hot Climate
Regions
Thursday, 22 December 2016/NCRI - Secretary of the Iranian regime’s so-called
‘Assembly of Islamic Revolution’s Educated Women’ claimed that “in hot climate
regions, some (girls) may be well prepared to marry at 13 or even lower, and
they may fall into corruption unless they get married.”According
to ‘Etelate Rooz’ news
agency on Sunday December 13, Zahra Sajjadi,
Secretary of the regime’s Assembly of Islamic Revolution’s Educated Women,
pointed to the attempts made by a number of representatives to amend article
1041 of the Civil Code, and said that “the efforts made by some MPs seeking to
gain religious scholars’ favor for their own programs
and plans is basically wrong and futile.”
“To determine if a boy or a girl under 13 years of age is not able to get
married depends on regional conditions, meaning that in hot climate regions
such as Khuzestan and Bandar-e Abbas, you see girls
and boys with early puberty, and there are certain conditions there that brings
them more capabilities even from an economic point of view. So they are capable
of managing their life at a much lower age.”, added Sajjadi.
She added: “some think they can change clerics’ minds by forming committees or
think tanks. They also attempted once before to change clerics’ minds regarding
the Stoning punishment to avoid being condemned by international communities. I
pointed out at the time that stoning is an issue that is clearly stated in
Quran, not something raised by religious scholars. Likewise, what they are
saying now that father’s permission should not be regarded as the sufficient
requirement for marriage, is exactly the same. These
issues are letter of the Quran.”
According to Fars news agency, a member of the cultural commission of the
Iranian regime’s parliament had stated last week that “we are seeking to attract
religious scholars for amending article 1041 of the Civil Code on marriage age,
so that father’s permission and age requirement are not regarded as the only
factors to go ahead with the marriage and that with the amendment of the
article, legal authorities be obliged to decide on underage marriage cases and
that more supervision be done on registration offices and courts to avoid
violations. “
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
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December 22-23/16
How can the international community stop
the next Iran
Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem
Post/December 22/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/22/yonah-jeremy-bobjerusalem-post-how-can-the-international-community-stop-the-next-iran/Outlawing
and sanctioning dual-use materials in the illicit nuclear weapons materials
trade could significantly help Western countries stop the "next Iran"
and reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation to rogue countries, according to
a new paper by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation
Studies.
Until now, the UN Security Council and a range of agencies have monitored the
nuclear weapons materials trade and prevented the spread of these overtly weaponizable materials to rogue countries with some
success.
However, according to the paper released on Wednesday, none of these bodies
have honed in on dual-use materials, and none have put forward punitive or
enforcement measures in time to prevent major crises, enabling countries like
Iran and North Korea to develop programs over decades under the radar.Those countries have used materials from the US, UK,
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, China,
India, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine – most of whom would oppose their materials
being used for weaponization programs.
Iran and North Korea
have taken advantage of dual-use materials, products which could ostensibly
used for civilian purposes - with the advantage being that they do not set off
alarm bells, along with concealing the true destination of illicit goods.
Faking a destination consists of using “transit states” such as Bahrain, China,
Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand, Turkey, the United
Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, before smuggling the
materials to their true destination.
The report says that the consequences of this loophole have been massive.
“Iran and North Korea each set in motion and maintained a continuous assault on
the nuclear technology controls of numerous UN member states, lasting more than
fifteen years and involving many hundreds of attempts to acquire goods for
their respective nuclear programs. Unfortunately, this onslaught proved all too
successful, despite important new efforts to curtail this activity,” it says.
It added that, “Telling evidence of the success of illicit procurement programs
can be seen in the increase in the number of centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility, which increased from
zero operating centrifuges when the facility was exposed in 2002 to 10,000
operating centrifuges and 9,000 additional centrifuges ready for use in 2016.”
The position paper anticipates opposition from rogue countries, as well as
nations like Russia and China, who have
huge amounts of trade in illicit dual-use materials.
Providing an answer to this obstacle, the report says, “Nonetheless, if the
proposals suggested here can be moved by a group of prominent states and framed
in a fashion that does not intrude directly on Russian interests, progress may
be possible… All of these initiatives are future-focused, with the goal of
deterring the next state-sponsored illicit procurement program. Thus, these
initiatives can be framed to target newly launched procurement programs,
thereby exempting Russian and Chinese procurement activities.”
Even the punitive measures would not kick in immediately, making them appear
less threatening to potential opposition.
At the same time, the main purpose would be to set the stage for moving much
more quickly in future cases toward punitive measures, such as sanctions, which
until now has been a slow and laborious process.
A new framework would encourage “intervention in the next proliferation case at
an early stage, as soon as a pattern of illicit procurement activities is
observed, well before a violation of IAEA safeguards” – meaning well before
interventions were seriously considered with North Korea or Iran.
It would also pave the way for individual countries like the US or a group
of allied countries to more quickly pass unilateral sanctions.
Regarding less-developed nations and certain other non-nuclear weapon-state
parties to the NPT, “it would be hard for them to oppose the possibility of
taking responsive measures against states violating the export controls they
have put (or are required to put) in place… Moreover, the right to enjoy the
peaceful benefits of nuclear energy hardly can be said to include the right to
attain those benefits by illegal means.”
This would be another tactical benefit, that “concerted demand for goods would
sustain pressure on the offending state to cease its violations of the export
controls… and negate its claims that its program should be considered above
suspicion and the product solely of national technological prowess,” an excuse
Iran has used time and again to avoid or delay enforcement against it.
The position paper, which was authored by the center's Deputy Director Leonard Spector, concluded that, “Most importantly, such concerted
action can unambiguously affirm the principle that state-sponsored procurement
programs are an offense to the international community, to be deterred through
the threat of future punishment, and can launch a process of engagement leading
to a broader consensus over time.”
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/How-can-the-international-community-stop-the-next-Iran-476186
Political Revolution
Is Brewing in Europe
Geert Wilders/Gatestone
Institute/December 21/ 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/22/geert-wildersgatestone-institute-political-revolution-is-brewing-in-europe/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9619/political-revolution-is-brewing-in-europe
The German authorities are dangerously underestimating the threat of Islam...
They have betrayed their own citizens.
Let no-one tell you that only the perpetrators of these crimes are to blame.
The politicians, who welcomed Islam into their country, are guilty as well. And
it is not just Frau Merkel in Germany, it is the entire political elite in Western
Europe.
Out of political-correctness, they have deliberately turned a blind eye to
Islam. They have refused to inform themselves about its true nature. They refuse
to acknowledge that is all in the Koran: the permission to kill Jews and
Christians (Surah 9:29), to terrorize non-Muslims
(8:12), to rape young girls (65:4), to enslave people for sex (4:3), to lie
about one's true goals (3:54), and the command to make war on the infidels
(9:123) and subjugate the entire world to Allah (9:33).
We will have to de-islamize
our societies.... But it all begins with politicians with the courage to face
and speak the truth.
More and more citizens are aware of that. This is why a political revolution is
brewing in Europe. Patriotic parties are
rapidly growing everywhere. They are Europe's
only hope for a better future.
Yesterday, the Islamic State claimed the Berlin
terror attack of Monday evening, in which twelve people were killed with a
truck at a Christmas market.
The killer managed to escape. However, in the truck the police found identity
papers belonging to Anis A., a Tunisian who came to Germany as an asylum seeker in
2015.
When last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany's
borders to almost one million refugees and asylum seekers, she invited the
Trojan horse of Islam into her country. Among the so-called refugees were many
young men of Islamic background, filled with hatred for the West and its
civilization. One of them was Anis A.
It took almost a year for the German authorities to reject his asylum request,
but meanwhile the man had disappeared. The police are now looking for him as a
prime suspect of Monday's attack in Berlin.
The German authorities are dangerously underestimating the threat of Islam.
They signs are there for all to see. In October, an Afghan asylum seeker raped
and murdered a 19-year old German girl in Freiburg.
And a 12-year old Iraqi boy was caught before he could explode a nail bomb at a
Christmas market in Ludwigshafen.
Last Summer, an Afghan with an axe attacked train
passengers in Heidingsfeld, a Syrian murdered a
pregnant woman with a machete in Reutlingen,
another Syrian detonated a suicide bomb at a music festival in Ansbach, a Palestinian attempted to decapitate a surgeon in
Troisdorf. And
who has forgotten last New Year's eve, when migrant
sex mobs assaulted hundreds of women in Cologne?
This year, 1,500 police officers will be patrolling the streets in Cologne on New Year's eve. Ten times more than last year.
But how many police officers will be needed next year? And
the year after that? And what will happen when they are outnumbered?
What is needed are not just more police officers; what
is needed is a democratic political revolution.
The Politicians Are Guilty
Let no-one tell you that only the perpetrators of
these crimes are to blame. The politicians, who welcomed Islam into their
country, are guilty as well. And it is not just Frau Merkel in Germany, it is the entire political elite in Western
Europe.
Out of political-correctness, they have deliberately turned a blind eye to
Islam. They have refused to inform themselves about its true nature. They
refuse to acknowledge that is all in the Koran: the permission to kill Jews and
Christians (Surah 9:29), to terrorize non-Muslims
(8:12), to rape young girls (65:4), to enslave people for sex (4:3), to lie
about one's true goals (3:54), and the command to make war on the infidels
(9:123) and subjugate the entire world to Allah (9:33).
Instead of informing themselves, they have opened their country's borders to
mass immigration and invited asylum seekers in, despite the fact that IS had
announced that it would send terrorists to the West as asylum seekers.
They even allowed Syria
fighters to return to Europe, instead of
denaturalizing them and blocking their re-entry. They have not even imprisoned
them. In short, they are guilty of serious negligence. They have betrayed their
own citizens.
The asylum tsunami of 2015 has only exacerbated an already terrible situation.
Almost a decade ago, in 2008, a study by the (very leftist) University of Amsterdam
revealed that 11% of all Muslims in the Netherlands agree that there are
situations in which they find it acceptable for themselves to use violence for
the sake of their religion.
This means that, in my country, the Netherlands, alone, there are
100,000 Muslims who are personally prepared to use violence. The Dutch army,
however, is less than 50,000 soldiers strong. Hence, even if we deploy the entire
army to protect Christmas markets, theaters, night
clubs, festivals, shopping malls, churches and synagogues, we cannot guarantee
the safety of all our citizens.
That is why there is little doubt that 2017 will bring Germany and the entire
West more violence, more attacks on our women and daughters, more bloodshed,
more tears, more sorrow. The terrible truth is that, in all likelihood, we ain't seen nothing yet.
But this does not mean that there is no hope.
Just as the present dangerous situation has been created by politicians
refusing to see the horrible reality of Islam and refusing to do their duty,
the solution to the gigantic self-inflicted problem the West is currently
suffering from, needs to be a political one.
Fixing a broken Europe
We will have to de-islamize
our societies. Indeed, every single measure we take to achieve this goal, from
ending all immigration from Islamic countries, to preventive detention of
radical Muslims, to the promotion of voluntary remigration, to the
denaturalization and expelling of criminals with dual nationality, will be a
step towards a safer society for ourselves and our children. But it all begins
with politicians with the courage to face and speak the truth.
More and more citizens are aware of that. This is why a political revolution is
brewing in Europe. Patriotic parties are
rapidly growing everywhere. They are Europe's
only hope for a better future.
We have to drive politicians, such as Angela Merkel, my own weak Dutch Prime
Minister Mark Rutte, and their like minded colleagues
in other countries, from power. We must liberate our countries.
And believe me, my friends, that is exactly what we
are going to do. Terrorists, who hope to break our resolve with bloody atrocities will not succeed. We will choose new and brave
leaders, we will de-islamize,
we will win!
© 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.
Azerbaijan, Israel’s
mistress on the Iranian border
Prof. Eli Podeh/Ynetnews/December 22/16
Analysis: While the Shiite country tends to vote against Israel in international forums, it has become a favored target of Israel’s ‘new periphery’ policy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Azerbaijan
and Kazakhstan is another
layer in Israel’s
policy to strengthen its ties with what former Minister Ephraim Sneh refers to as “the new periphery.”
Similar to the “old periphery” idea of the late 1950s, when Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion searched for allies in the region against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Nasserism
and found Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia – the revolution in Iran, the Soviet
Union’s dissolution, the occupation of Iraq, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein
and the Arab Spring created new circumstances for cooperation.
The changes in the international and regional arena have, therefore, created
new opportunities. Cooperation with Azerbaijan
is allegedly surprising as this is a Shiite country which borders on Iran and is economically and religiously
connected to the Islamic Republic (Iran has 16 to 25 million Azeri
Shiite residents). As opposed to Iran,
however, Azerbaijan
is a secular state driven by pragmatic considerations rather than by a radical
religious ideology, which has turned it into a desired target of the Israeli
periphery policy.
Three main interests guide Israel’s
policy in Azerbaijan: First
of all, a foothold in an advanced post on Iran’s
border, which could bear intelligence and diplomatic fruit in the battle
against Iran
on the issue of nuclear weapons and international terror (primarily ISIS and
Hezbollah). In this context, the media have raised the possibility of Israel using bases in Azerbaijan
for landing and fueling purposes as part of a
possible attack on Iran.
Such an option was raised in the Saudi context as well, but both countries
denied these reports.
Second, an available and relatively cheap solution for Israel’s fuel
needs. According to different sources, Israel
purchases 40 percent of its oil produce from Azerbaijan. It is transferred
through an oil pipe from Baku to Jihan in Turkey
through Georgia, and from
there in tankers to the Ashdod
Port. It’s ironic that Azerbaijan is thereby replacing Iran, which was Israel’s main oil supplier until
the Khomeini revolution in 1979.
Third, Israel has become an
important supplier of arms, boats and remote-piloted vehicles to Azerbaijan’s
army. Netanyahu’s visit, according to different reports, has to do with the
sale of the Iron Dome defense systems. The scope of
these deals amounts to billions of dollars.
An alliance of interests
The regional interest in cooperating with Israel is based on a number of
elements: First of all, the need to purchase military resources in the war
against Armenia over the landlocked Nagorno-Karabakh region, particularly in
light of the refusal of different countries in the West to get involved in the
conflict and the support Armenia receives from Russia and Iran. This
cooperation does not end in the military field, but also includes
collaborations in the fields of medicine, technology and agriculture.
Second, the fact that Iran
is a political, economic and religious threat to Azerbaijan. The problem is
that Iran’s geographical
proximity and its military strength are forcing Azerbaijan to wisely manage its
policy to prevent a deterioration in the relations.
Third, there is an expectation that the Jewish lobby in the United States will help Azerbaijan fight the Armenians, who are working
to be portrayed in the West as the victim not just in terms of the holocaust in
Syria,
but also in terms of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Moreover, the good relationship
between the two countries is based on the existence of an Azerbaijani Jewish
community, the majority of which has immigrated to Israel
(about 70,000 of 100,000) since the USSR’s collapse, but serves as an
active bridge in building the relations between the countries.
Relations below the surface
Like Israel’s relations with the Gulf states
and other countries, its relations with Azerbaijan
suffer from the “mistress syndrome” as well: While the two countries maintain
diplomatic relations, Azerbaijan
doesn’t have an embassy in Israel.
Moreover, in international forums it tends to vote against Israel, so as not to alienate the Islamic
countries and mainly in order to win their support in the conflict with Armenia. There
is no wonder, therefore, that Azerbaijan’s
President Ilham Aliyev was
quoted in one of the WikiLeaks telegrams from 2009 as
saying that 99 percent of the relations between the two countries are held
below the surface.
Nonetheless, the frequent visits by senior officials (Netanyahu, late President
Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Avigdor
Lieberman from the Israeli side, and the foreign minister from the Azeri side)
indicate that Azerbaijan has
a need to demonstrate an independent foreign policy, particularly vis-à-vis Iran and Turkey.
It’s interesting to see that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has spurred the
tightening relations, although the Azerbaijanis are ideologically on the
“Palestinians'” in this conflict; in other words, Armenia
occupied about 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
territory in 1992 and banished a large part of the population (a million
residents, according to Azerbaijan).
Even if the comparison between the two conflict is not
entirely accurate, it shows that in many cases diplomatic and economic
interests – rather than ideology – play a key role in international relations.
**Prof. Eli Podeh is a lecturer at the Department of
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a
board member at Mitvim – the Israeli Institute for
Regional Foreign Policies.
Assassinating an envoy; between crime and
propagating terrorism
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December 22/16
Assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey is of major significance and
is yet another terrorist operation that serves the interest of Iran and the
Syrian regime. It also harms the cause of the Syrian people. The crime
suggests, all over again, that global security is threatened more than before.
Unfortunately, some people continue to mix terrorism and regional affairs as is
the case with Syria.
The man who assassinated Russian Ambassador justified his crime by saying it
was to avenge what is happening in Syria. Around the same time,
another terrorist ploughed into a market in Berlin
in Germany
which supported the Syrian people and looked after refugees the most. During
the same week, ISIS bragged that one of its members killed 10 in the Jordanian
city of Karak.
Those justifying the murder of the Russian envoy link it to Aleppo
and Syria’s
tragedy. They in fact try to exploit people’s anger toward Russia and use it to support ISIS,
the organization which is responsible for turning the world against the Syrian
people and their revolution.
Yes, there is anger toward Russia
but we must not mix that with acts of terrorism. Russians had a decent image in
the Middle East, particularly among Arabs,
because they raised the slogan of fighting colonization and supporting
liberation movements and supported the Non-Aligned Movement. Russians were
known for their stances toward major Arab causes, such as the Palestinian
cause, and they did not get themselves involved in regional military
adventures. Even when they invaded Afghanistan in the 1970s, many here
thought it was a chapter of the axes’ struggle in a faraway area. Although
there’s very little hope right now, Russians can play a positive and decisive
role in Syria in order to achieve a reconciliation that eliminates extremists
and extremism within the Syrian regime
Intervention in Syria
All this changed after the Russians strongly and brutally intervened in Syria. Moscow thus ran out of
its historical, moral and humanitarian capital which it had developed over
decades. Reactions toward them became negative as their actions in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, triggered people’s anger. Now,
extremist groups want to ride this wave of hatred against Moscow
in the region as they realize that the region’s governments want to negotiate
with the Russians and try to persuade them to reach a reasonable political
solution that’s accepted by the majority in order to end the war in Syria. Some
governments in the region do not want to lose a major country like Russia and do not want to push Russia further towards Iran and the
Syrian regime as there’s no political dispute with it.
If the Russian command wants a role in the region, then this role can be
comprehended, and it is also possible to narrow the gap as this role is
positive. There are no camps which oppose Moscow
in the Middle East, including in countries
which are close to Washington and the West in general, and these countries
refuse to divide the region into opposing camps, like what happened during the
Cold War. Although there’s very little hope right now, Russians can play a
positive and decisive role in Syria in order to achieve a reconciliation that eliminates
extremists and extremism within the Syrian regime that is responsible for
massacres during in recent years.
ISIS and other terrorist organizations want to
sabotage these efforts and they know that by targeting Russian officials, it
would be appealing to an angry popular sentiment and embarrassing regional
governments which seem incapable of providing aid and protection to millions of
Syrians.
Justifying positions
Russia
is aware that its reputation has hit a new low. Its propaganda through the Russia
Today television channel and other state media platforms have not succeeded in
justifying its stances, actions and responsibility for supporting the Assad
regime and the Iranians in Syria.
Perhaps Russia
does not care much about the opinion of the majority of millions of Arabs and
Muslims as they do not elect and do not influence their governments’ policies.
However, we do know for a fact that terrorism benefits a lot from this
difficult situation, i.e. from people’s anger and government’s inability. Most
of those who approve the murder of the Russian ambassador are those who
sympathize with ISIS and other groups, and they are not less dangerous than
terrorists themselves. It is certain that by expressing their joy and
justifying this crime, they push naive and angry people toward supporting
terrorist groups; therefore, they grant terrorism the oxygen it needs in the
form of propaganda and sympathy. ISIS and al-Nusra
Front are two groups that are not less dangerous than the Syrian regime and the
Iranian militias fighting in Syria.
Glorifying the crime in Ankara
should be categorized as crime itself because it helps terrorists recruit and
receive donations and grants them legitimacy. It also restores the popularity
which terrorists were about to lose during the past phase as a result of the
opposing propaganda against them. **This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on December 21,
2016.
On justifying Russian envoy’s
assassination
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December 22/16
Following the assassination of Russian Ambassador to
Turkey Andrei Karlov, a debate has erupted among
Twitter users. Some people mix up injustice taking place in some countries with
the strong relations that stay intact even during the most difficult
circumstances. Even during wars, ambassadors and embassies are considered among
sanctities. It’s everyone’s right to be different and to reject Russia’s intervention in Syria. However,
going as far as cheering for the assassination of an envoy and a diplomat
reflects flaws in thinking and lays bare mistake in the attitude as
international laws and conventions prohibit harming envoys no matter what the
circumstances. Even when fierce wars erupt between two countries envoys are not
targeted. Assassination is a crime which the Saudi Arabian leadership has
condemned.
Going as far as cheering for the assassination of an envoy and a diplomat
reflects flaws in thinking and lays bare a mistaken attitude
Threat of terror
This episode also shows the persistent threat of
terrorism as recruitment for terror groups is happening even among police
ranks. This indicates a serious and grave threat the consequences of which we
may witness in the future. What we can conclude from this dramatic scene is
that terrorism feeds off crises and tries to invest in them. The murderer of
the envoy shouted out against Russia
and tried to use the tragedy of Aleppo
to gain sympathy and support. What’s happening in Aleppo is a bold crime and assassinating the
envoy is a heinous onee. This is how the situation
must be viewed.
This article was first published in Okaz on December
22, 2016.
Saudi Budget 2017: Significant break from the old mold
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/December
22/16
The Saudi 2017 budget announcement has broken from the traditional budget mode
with some significant steps in the pipeline, with measures that were
highlighted in the Vision2030 and National Transformation Plan 2020 being
implemented.
Unlike previous budgets, the 2017 budget is based on a four-year budgetary
cycle for the period 2017-2020, the first of its kind and in line with the
newly established Ministry of Finance general fiscal unit to ensure a fiscal
balance program in reducing unnecessary expenditure and maximizing non-oil
revenue. Taking a medium to longer term budgetary cycle is more important for
national development and transformation plans rather than reacting to short
term revenue fluctuations based on a single commodity like oil. The Saudi
government has stated it will not shy from taking some tough decisions on
subsidies and announced that all subsidies will gradually be removed over the
medium term budget cycle and that to alleviate hardship amongst lower income
citizens a direct cash support will be made.
Expatriate remittances tax and fees had been rumored
to be introduced but was not implemented, with the government committed to
implementing the 5 percent GCC-wide VAT tax from fiscal 2018 on the so-called
sin commodities like tobacco and fizzy drinks.
Taking a medium to longer term budgetary cycle is more important for national
development and transformation plans rather than reacting to short term revenue
fluctuations based on a single commodity like oil
Expenditures have been set at SAR 890 billion compared with budgeted 840
billion riyal in 2016, and an actual expenditure of 825 billion riyal, or a 8
percent rise, indicating that despite low oil prices, the Saudi government is
still pursuing a fairly accommodative budget expenditure program bearing in
mind that a new element of budget expenditure has to meet the implementation of
the ambitious Vision 2030 and National Transformation 2020 programs which are
estimated to cost 217 billion riyal over the period 2018-2020 with an
allocation of SAR 42 billion in the new fiscal year. Revenues have been
forecasted to reach SAR 692 billion, compared with SAR 514 billion for 2016,
and an estimated 2016 actual of SAR 528 billion, indicating a deficit of SAR
297 billion for fiscal 2017, lower than the previous year and seemingly based
on a forecasted average oil price of $55 per barrel for fiscal 2017.
Beyond oil
Non-oil income is estimated at 212 billion riyal, up over the SAR 181 billion
estimated for 2016 with an actual 199 billion riyal, indicating a rise in this
element as the Public Investment Fund acquires more international investments
over the new budget cycle and the Kingdom tries to wean itself gradually from
dependency on oil revenues. Unlike previous budget statements, the Ministry of
Finance gave a very detailed breakdown of non-oil revenues with an estimated 62
billion from SAMA investments in 2016 and 35 billion riyal in the previous
year.
Setting the budget oil price level at $55 per barrel indicates that the Kingdom
is keen not to see oil prices rise too sharply above the $60 bpd benchmark and,
as Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih,
commented following the OPEC and non-OPEC agreement in December, the Kingdom
would be prepared to intervene again to cut production if need be to ensure
that there is a steady path towards balancing market supply and demand.
Capital expenditure is set to rise compared with 183 billion riyal for 2016,
sending a positive signal to the local stock market which had been worried
about a potential slowdown in government project expenditures, especially in
the contracting sector.
Job creation and an invigorated localization program is at the heart of the new
budget, especially in the defense sector, as well as
implementing the government’s competitiveness and procurement laws to optimize
on capital expenditure and to ensure these projects are consistent with
national priorities. Again these are significant breaks from traditional Saudi
budget announcements.
Public debt is estimated to be a 316 billion riyal or 12.3 percent of the GDP
for 2016 and is forecasted to rise to 30 percent of GDP over the period 2020,
with the government announcing its intentions to raise more international debt,
following the successful international mega bond placement of $17.5 billion in
2016. The budget announcement did not mention any change to the current fixed
exchange parity for the Saudi Riyal and this is not expected to change over the
current four-year fiscal cycle.