LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
December 29/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.december29.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to
be consoled, because they are no more
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 02/13-18/:"Now
after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and
said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain
there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by
night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was
to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I
have called my son.’ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,
he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two
years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise
men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A
voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her
children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."
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.
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 28-29/16
Turkish army like Iraqis stalled by ISIS pushback/DEBKAfile/December
28/2016
Soleimani’s Occupations by War, Peace or Agreements/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat /December 28/16
The Islamists of Sweden/Nima Gholam
Ali Pour/Gatestone Institute/December 28/16
The EU vs. the Nation State/ George Igler/Gatestone
Institute/December 28/16
The coming turbulence of 2017/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Obama played his last settlements trump card/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/December
28/16
Forecasting the world in 2017/Hussein Shobokshi/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
The Politics of a Constitutional Crisis/Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/Asharq Al-Awsat English/December
28/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News
published on on December 28-29/16
Hariri's
Cabinet Wins Parliament Confidence with 87 Votes
Hizbullah Delegation Meets Jumblat,
Affirms Keenness to Improve Cooperation
Drafting a State Budget Tops New Cabinet Agenda
Raad Tackles Situations in Lebanon, Syria with
Russian Delegation
Lebanese Army in Major Hermel Crackdown in Search of
Sergeant Killers
Lebanese General Security Confirms Bodies Found near Border Not of IS-Held
Troops
Geagea Refuses 'Aleppo Govt.' Label, Says Hizbullah-Proposed Electoral Law 'Has No Chances'
Future bloc discusses bolstering ties with Russian Senate delegation
Riachy from Press Club censures injustice targeting
journalists
Minister of Telecommunications: To place things on right track
Mother and baby daughter die trapped in house blaze
Baalbek Passenger Bus Blast Kills One Person
Fire Kills Syrian Woman, Infant Daughter in Jieh
Aoun commends performance of Lebanese security
agencies
Aoun says Lebanon stands by security forces
Aoun urges judges to resist political pressure
Local Christian Leaders Praise Freedom of Religion in Israel
Speaking in Arabic, Druze Diplomat Scolds Anti-Israel UN Assembly
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on December 28-29/16
No peace
unless Israel accepts Palestinian state: Kerry
US denies providing missiles to Syrian rebels
Russia, Turkey 'Agree Ceasefire Plan for All of Syria'
Mortar Fire Targets Russian Embassy in Damascus
U.S. Denies Erdogan Accusations of 'Supporting IS'
Iran’s interference threatens Astana conference
Turkish military kills 44 ISIS militants in Syria
Iran experimenting with a new missile system
Delegation of NCRI Women's Committee Partakes in International Federation of
Women Lawyers
Iran's Currency Depreciated by 17 Percent Following the Nuclear Deal
Iran: The Commander Who Repressed the Protests Was Promoted!
Iran Regime's Revolutionary Guards, Cooperation With Taliban Militants in
Afghanistan
Iran's Increased Military Budget at the Expense of Critical Healthcare
Situation
Iran: Fingers of Two Jailed Brothers Amputated for Theft
Shocking Report Shows Iran’s Poor Dwelling in Graves
Second Black Box from Crashed Russian Plane Found in Black Sea
Was a faulty wing behind the Russian jet crash?
Kerry Urges Israel, Palestinians to Agree on 1967 Lines with Land Swaps
Kerry touts 11th-hour vision of Middle East peace
Palestinians Can Talk Peace if Settlements Halt, Says Abbas
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on December 28-29/16
Hariri's Cabinet Wins
Parliament Confidence with 87 Votes
Naharnet/December 28/16/Prime Minister Saad Hariri won a parliamentary vote of confidence after 87
lawmakers voted in favor of his government on
Wednesday. Kataeb MPs Sami Gemayel,
Nadim Gemayel and Samer Saadeh, and MP Khaled Daher withheld their
confidence from the cabinet. MP Imad al-Hout, the only representative in the parliament of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya abstained from
voting. Only 92 out of 127 lawmakers were present during the vote. The
parliament convened on Wednesday for the second day in a row where Hariri
responded to the MPs remarks made a day earlier, he said: “We thank the
Lebanese army and security forces for the sacrifices they made. I hereby vow
that the government will follow-up on the issue of the detained servicemen
until they return safe to their homes. “I confirm that there some contentious
issues similar to the issue of arms,” he said in reference to Hizbullah's arms without mentioning it. “We want a new
electoral law. Each one of us has a role in that regard,” he added. “I believe
that no one has an objection with the regard to the woman’s quota in the
parliament.” “We have stressed commitment to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The
STL was primarily established to achieve justice,” said the PM. “A big part of
corruption can be eradicated by State mechanization. We will not allow any
violations in the telecommunications data sector and the cabinet decision will
soon be implemented,” he concluded. Although three days of parliamentary
debate, starting Tuesday, had been scheduled but the political forces agreed to
limit the number of speeches and the government won a vote of confidence on
Wednesday. On Tuesday and after delivering their speeches, the majority of MPs
gave their vote of confidence for the cabinet including ex-PM Tammam Salam, Change and Reform bloc, Lebanese Forces bloc,
Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, al-Mustaqbal bloc,
the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Democratic Gathering bloc, Development and
Liberation bloc.MPs that voted against were: ex-PM Najib Miqati who did not attend
the parliamentary session, MP Khaled al-Daher and Kataeb party bloc which
said that the government’s political vision “contradicts” with the party's
vision. For his part, MP Botros Harb
abstained from voting for or against confidence in the government in order to
“give the new president and premier a chance to honor
their promises.”
Hizbullah Delegation Meets Jumblat,
Affirms Keenness to Improve Cooperation
Naharnet/December 28/16/A Hizbullah
delegation held talks Tuesday evening with leader of the Progressive Socialist
Party MP Walid Jumblat, at
the latter's residence in Clemenceau, where talks focused on the electoral law,
As Safir daily reported Wednesday. The meeting was
held in the presence of Jumblat's youngest son, Aslan, and PSP officials, said the daily. The delegation
affirmed commitment to maintaining close relations with Jumblat,
and the necessity of “activating and continuing communication.”On
the issue of the electoral law, the delegation said that Hizbullah
leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
“understands the specificity of Jumblat's position in
that regard.”They said, when Nasrallah
spoke about the need to take into consideration the fears of some parties with
the regard to proportional representation, he had Jumblat
in mind. In a recent speech for Nasrallah, he said
“We support an electoral law fully based on proportional representation and we
call for a comprehensive dialogue. We understand the concerns of some parties
which must be taken into consideration. We do not back a return to the 1960
electoral law.”The delegation also stressed the need
for agreement and dialogue among Lebanon's different components on
an electoral law. "The Lebanese reality prevents approving a law that
fails to garner the support of all or majority of political components,"
it said. Discussions also focused on developmental and living concerns and the
future of the government. They stressed the importance of activating
communication between the two parties. After the meeting, it was reported that Jumblat expressed delight with the messages conveyed to him
through Hizbullah secretary-general's political aide
Hussein Khalil and Head of Hizbullah's
Liaison and Coordination Committee Wafiq Safa, “it can be certain that bilateral relations between
the two parties are restored,” added the daily.
PSP sources told As Safir “the delegation has
conveyed Nasrallah's keenness to understand Jumblat's concerns.”On the other
hand, Hizbullah sources said the meeting aimed to
“improve cooperation and coordination” and stressed that its
was “friendly and positive.”
Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an
electoral law based on proportional representation but other political parties,
especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, 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 is
influential. Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the
Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that
mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker
Nabih Berri has also
proposed a hybrid law. 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.
Drafting a State Budget Tops New Cabinet
Agenda
Naharnet/December 28/16/On the eve of the second
parliamentary session set to convene for the government’s vote of confidence on
Wednesday, the cabinet has a busy schedule ahead with drafting the state's
budget on top. The cabinet and parliament have a number of tasks to study,
mainly the preparation of a state budget draft, the first in many years, which
will take its way after the introduction of amendments prepared by Finance
Minister Ali Hassan Khalil under the previous
government, An Nahar daily reported. Unnamed sources
told the daily that the budget discussions could take several months until next
spring before being finalized. It will include the adoption of the
controversial salaries wage scale, for which the provisions will be provided
through a slight increase to the Value Added Tax. The second major issue that
the government will attend to, is devising a new
electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for May 2017. Due
to conflicts between the rival political parties, Lebanon has been without a state
budget since 2005 and its public debt has amounted to $70 billion.
Raad Tackles Situations in Lebanon, Syria with Russian Delegation
Naharnet/December 28/16/Head of Hizbullah's
Loyalty to Resistance bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, held
talks Wednesday with a visiting delegation from Russia's senate, or Federation
Council. The delegation comprised the head of the council's foreign relations
committee, Konstantin Kosachev, the committee's
deputy head, member of the committee on defense and
security Alexei Kondratiev, and Russian Ambassador to
Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin. The meeting was also
attended by Hizbullah MPs Ali Ammar,
Hassan Fadlallah and Ali al-Muqdad.
A statement issued by the Loyalty to Resistance bloc said talks tackled “the
parliamentary relations and the developments in Lebanon
and the region, especially in Syria,
in light of the latest developments.”Raad stressed
“the importance of bilateral ties and joint cooperation, and the importance of
the Russian anti-terror role in Syria.”He
also reiterated his condolences to Russia
over the death of the Russian ambassador in Turkey
and the victims of the Russian military plane that crashed in the Black Sea. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday
described the Syrian government's win in the strategic city of Aleppo as "a big victory for the side
confronting terrorism.""What happened in
Aleppo over these past long months... was a real war, one of the toughest
battles that Syria has seen, and one of the toughest battles that the region
has seen in years," Nasrallah said.In addition to help from Hizbullah,
the Damascus regime has been bolstered by its allies Russia and Iran, while
rebels have been backed by Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and some western
powers.
Lebanese Army in Major Hermel
Crackdown in Search of Sergeant Killers
Naharnet/December 28/16/Army troops and intelligence
agents carried out a major crackdown at dawn Wednesday in the Hermel town of al-Qasr in search
of culprits involved in the assassination of Sergeant Ali al-Qaq, state-run National News Agency reported. Five people
were arrested and quantities of arms and ammunition were seized in the raids,
NNA said. The army's Airborne Regiment staged a second wave of raids in the
afternoon that covered areas from the town of al-Qasr
to the border crossing in the Matrabeh region, during
which another five people were arrested and 10 motorcycles and three cars with
no registration papers were seized, the agency reported. The detainees and the
seized vehicles were transferred to an army barracks in the region as the
military continued to carry out patrols amid heightened measures on its
checkpoints in Hermel, NNA said. Al-Qaq was gunned down while on vacation in Damascus and members of the powerful Jaafar clan have claimed responsibility for the
assassination, describing it as a vendetta killing. Hadi
Mohammed Jaafar, 19, had been killed by army fire
around three months ago at a military intelligence checkpoint in Hermel. Members of the Jaafar
clan accused Sergeant al-Qaq of firing the gunshots
that resulted in Hadi's death.
Lebanese General Security Confirms Bodies
Found near Border Not of IS-Held Troops
Naharnet/December 28/16/The General Directorate of
General Security confirmed Wednesday that corpses recently discovered in the
Lebanese-Syrian border region are not of Lebanese soldiers kidnapped by the
extremist Islamic State group. The announcement was made after DNA samples were
taken from the families of the captive troops. “As part of the follow-up on the
case of the soldiers held hostage by the terrorist IS group, the General
Directorate of General Security obtained information about the presence of four
dead bodies in an area on the Lebanese-Syrian border,” a General Security
statement said. “A General Security patrol accompanied by a forensic doctor
headed to the location and took samples from the corpses for DNA tests,” it
added. “After comparing the samples with those taken from the families of the
captive soldiers, the results did not match,” the statement said. The fate of
nine Lebanese troops held by IS has been shrouded with mystery for several
months now and the families are demanding to know whether their sons are alive
or dead. The nine troops were among more than 30 servicemen who were abducted
during the deadly 2014 battle between jihadists and the Lebanese army in and
around the northeastern border town of Arsal.
While al-Nusra Front released 16 captives as part of
a swap deal in December 2015, nine hostages remain in the IS' captivity and
Lebanese officials have vowed to exert efforts to secure their release.
Geagea Refuses 'Aleppo Govt.' Label, Says Hizbullah-Proposed Electoral Law 'Has No Chances'
Naharnet/December 28/16/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has dismissed claims
that the new government in Lebanon is a reflection of the military victory of
Syria's regime and Hizbullah in the strategic city of
Aleppo. “Lebanon
is enjoying satisfactory stability compared to all of what's happening in the
region and in my opinion this stability will continue,” Geagea
said in an interview with pro-Syrian opposition TV network Orient News. Asked
about a pro-Hizbullah media outlet's labeling of the new government as “Aleppo government”, Geagea
said he is “totally against such labels.”“A media
outlet has decided to call it 'Aleppo
government' but it is not. It is Lebanon's
government and its political approach is as far as it can be from being labeled Aleppo
government,” Geagea added. "All the speeches of
General Michel Aoun ever since he assumed the
presidency until now confirm that the Lebanese presidency is committed to the
approach of the State and Lebanon's
positive neutrality, except for everything that has to do with the issue of the
Palestinian cause,” the LF leader explained. “The sovereign approach in Lebanon will
remain stronger than any other voices,” he stressed. Turning to the issue of
the electoral law, Geagea noted that a law fully
based on proportional representation as demanded by Hizbullah
“has no chances of being approved.”“Meanwhile, the
hybrid law that we have proposed together with al-Mustaqbal
Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party has higher chances,” Geagea said. “Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed a similar law and we are trying to
combine the two laws,” he added.
Future bloc discusses bolstering ties
with Russian Senate delegation
Wed 28 Dec 2016/NNA - A Future Parliamentary bloc delegation, headed by MP Atef Majdalani, met at the
Central House on Wednesday evening with a visiting Russian Senate delegation
headed by the chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, Costantine Kosachev, who visited
the Central House in the company of Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zaspikin. The meeting reportedly focused on the latest
developments in Lebanon
and the region, and on the best means to boost Lebanese-Russian bilateral
relations.
Riachy from Press Club censures injustice targeting
journalists
Wed 28 Dec 2016/NNA - Information Minister, Melhem Riachy, said on Wednesday that he utterly refused having
journalists be subjected to any sort of injustice. "The Ministry of
Information will be a ministry for journalists. It will support freedom,
professional ethics, and protect all those who are subjected to
injustice," Riachy said in a word he had
delivered at a reception dinner that was held in his honour at the Press Club,
in presence of Ministry of Information General Director, Dr. Hassan Falha, National News Agency Director, Laure Sleiman Saab, Press Club President, Bassam
Abou Zaid, and a huge crowd
of journalists. Riachy also promised that the
Ministry of Information would not remain idle in case of any professional
discrimination. "We will ferociously defend the rights of journalists. It
is true that I have said that I will be the last Minister of Information. I
will exert relentless efforts towards this end because the Ministry of
Information should be that of dialogue and communication. This doesn't mean
shutting down the Ministry's administrative sectors; I don't want the
Ministry's employees to fear their fate, but to rejoice higher achievements in
the making," the Minister said in his delivered word. "The Ministry
of Information contains official administrations that cater for officials and
their news. This should not remain the case. The Prime purpose of Radio Lebanon, Tele Liban, and the National News Agency from now on will be
relaying the needs and demands of the people to the country's officials," Riachy added, pledging to have these institutions be in the
service of the people.
Minister of Telecommunications: To place
things on right track
Wed 28 Dec 2016/NNA - Minister of Telecommunications, Jamal Jarrah,
said on Wednesday that the "workshop" that would begin by the
beginning of the new year would focus on Fiber Optics, 4G, wireless networks and power stations. The
Minister's words came during a reception he held earlier today in honour of the
Ministry's directors and employees. "It's not only achievement that we
seek, but rather more placing things on the right track," the Minister
said, stressing the importance of cooperation between all political parties
away from useless criticism. Jarrah said the
telecommunications sector needed to be modernized in favour of the national
economy. He also asked of the Ministry's employees put all their energy at the
disposal of "this sector in order to facilitate the affairs of the
citizens."
Mother and baby daughter die trapped in
house blaze
Wed 28 Dec 2016/NNA - Syrian national, Nisrine
Hussein Mohammad Khalil, born in 1990, and her
one-year-old baby daughter, ill fatedly died on Wednesday evening after being
trapped in a blaze that ravaged their residence in Jiyyeh,
NNA field reporter said. In further details, the fire was caused by a gas leak,
which rapidly set the entire house on fire. Civil Defence brigades immediately
arrived to the rescue of the remaining family members, whereas the bodies of
the two deceased were transferred to Dr. Monzar Hajj
hospital, NNA reporter added.
Baalbek Passenger Bus Blast Kills One
Person
Naharnet/December 28/16/One man was killed and
another was wounded Wednesday morning in a blast in Baalbek, the National News
Agency reported. The blast targeted a passenger bus that was passing through
the town of al-Ain, NNA. The wounded individual was taken to the hospital by
Red Cross rescue team. His condition was reported critical. NNA later reported
that Deputy Mayor of al-Ain
Municipality, Khaled Ali Houri, was killed in
the blast and his cousin Mahmoud was wounded.
Fire Kills Syrian Woman, Infant Daughter
in Jieh
Naharnet/December 28/16/Syrian woman Nisrine Hussein Mohammed Khalil,
26, and her one-year-old daughter Zahraa Wissam Kasseb were killed
Wednesday when a blaze erupted in their home in the coastal Chouf
town of Jieh,
state-run National News Agency said. “The entire house went up in flames after
a gas leak,” NNA said. Civil Defense firefighters
managed to rescue the rest of the family members, the agency added. The al-Saadiyat police station has since launched a probe into the
incident.
Aoun commends performance of Lebanese security agencies
The Daily Star/December 28, 2016/BEIRUT:
President Michel Aoun Wednesday expressed solidarity
with the Lebanese security agencies, describing them as the symbol of sovereignty. "Your sacrifices have safeguarded [the country's] security
and stability,” a statement from Aoun’s press office
said. “We will provide you with all the needed support to develop your
capabilities," the president said. Aoun was
speaking during separate meetings with the Internal Security Forces, Lebanese
Army, General Security, State Security and Customs Department delegations.
"You are role models for people, and they support you,” Aoun said.
He assured his visitors that politicians stand by the military and
security institutions’ side, providing them with immunity and any needed
support. Aoun, a former army general, described the
military as a symbol of "sovereignty and independence.” “The army
suppresses riots and not the people," he said. Aoun
added that when soldiers respect values and laws, security and military
institutions become stronger. The president also promised more technical
equipment to the ISF to help them improve their performance, praising their
recent achievements in fighting crime. In a meeting with General Security
officials, Aoun commended their contribution to
preserving security. Foreign countries have reacted positively in view of the
recent improvement of the situation in Lebanon, Aoun
added. He also encouraged security agencies to collaborate in order to overcome
security obstacles. Later, Aoun met the Presidential
Palace staff.
Aoun says Lebanon
stands by security forces
The Daily Star/December 28/16/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun
Wednesday expressed solidarity with the Lebanese security agencies, describing
them as the symbol of sovereignty.
Aoun's support was expressed during a separate
meeting with Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese Army delegations."Your
sacrifices safeguarded [the country's] security and stability, and we will
provide you with all the needed support to develop your capabilities," the
president said. He added that the "people support you and politicians
stand by your side and provide you with immunity and needed support." He
said that the army was a symbol of "sovereignty and independence. The army
suppresses riots and not the people."
Aoun urges judges to resist political pressure
The Daily Star/December 28/16/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun
called Tuesday for eliminating political influence on the judiciary. “Judges
must raise their voices against anyone pressuring them,” Aoun
said in a statement issued by his media office. Aoun
said he would support judges against any potential attempt to intimidate them.
He also called them to accelerate the processes of litigation to ensure the
implementation of justice. Aoun made the remarks
during a meeting with Justice Minister Salim Jreissati and members of the Supreme Judiciary Council.
Local Christian Leaders Praise Freedom of
Religion in Israel
Israel Today Staff/December 28/16/With Christians suffering in most of the
surrounding nations, local Christian leaders took this Christmas season as an
opportunity to thank Israel
for protecting them and their freedoms. That message was delivered by Greek
Patriarch Theophilos III during the annual Christmas
and Hanukkah gathering at the presidential residence in Jerusalem. Addressing Israel President Reuven Rivlin directly, Theophilos stated: "We take the opportunity of this
holiday gathering to express our gratitude to you for the firmness with which
you defend the freedoms that lie at the heart of this democracy – especially
the freedom of worship. “The State of Israel takes pride in the fact that [it]
was founded on democratic principles in the Middle East
and that it guarantees full freedom of worship; and we are confident, Mr. President, that you will continue to resist any restrictions
on religious practices.”Rivlin himself strongly
condemned the abuse of Christians in Syria and other neighboring
countries. He and Theophilos openly prayed together
for God’s protection over the Christians of the Middle
East.
Speaking in Arabic, Druze Diplomat Scolds
Anti-Israel UN Assembly
Wednesday, December 28, 2016 | Israel Today Staff/Nizar
Amer, Israel’s Counselor
for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN, laid into Syria’s representative for
accusing Israel of human rights violations. Amer
noted the hypocrisy of such an accusation coming from a member of the Syrian
regime, which has killed well over 100,000 of its own citizens in recent years.
He, as an Arabic-speaking citizen of Israel, went on to note that
minorities live very well in the Jewish state.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 28-29/16
No peace unless Israel accepts Palestinian state: Kerry
Middle East Eye/Wednesday 28 December 2016/Peace between Israel and the Arab
world is impossible unless Israel accepts the existence of a Palestinian state,
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a major policy speech on Wednesday. In
a speech responding to Israeli criticism of the US for abstaining in a United
Nations Security Council vote last week calling on Israel to halt settlement
building in the illegally occupied West Bank, Kerry said the US was committed
to a two-state solution. But he warned that Israeli government policies
appeared driven by "extreme elements" committed to a single state.
"If Israel
goes down the one-state path it will never have peace with the Arab world and I
can say that with certainty," said Kerry. "The [UN] vote was about
preserving the two-state solution. that is what we
were standing up for. A Jewish state living side by side with
its neighbours." "We reject the idea that this vote isolated Israel. Rather
it is the permanent policy of settlement construction that risks making peace impossible."Kerry also criticised the Israeli
government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing his coalition
government as the "most right-wing in Israeli history". Netanyahu had
said he was committed to a two-state solution, Kerry said, but his government's
agenda appeared geared towards a one-state solution that aimed at creating a
"greater Israel.""This is the most right-wing government in
Israeli history with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements," Kerry
said. He also said that the "settlement agenda" was defining Israel with the
proliferation of settlements inadvertently increasing the "security
burden" on the Israeli armed forces. "The settler agenda is defining
the future in Israel.
And their stated purpose is clear: They believe in one state: greater Israel,"
he said. Friday's resolution was deemed controversial by most of the Israeli
political establishment as it was the first time in 40 years a motion
condemning Israel had been
passed by the UN Security Council where the US
traditionally wields its veto on matters relating to Israel. It also comes weeks before US president-elect Donald Trump, who is
considered an ardent supporter of Israel, is set to take office,
replacing incumbent President Barack Obama who is considered to have had cool
relations with Netanyahu. Earlier on Wednesday Trump said that Israel was
being treated "with total disdain and disrespect" and urged it to
"stay strong."Kerry said that Obama's
administration had been "Israel's
greatest friend and supporter with an unwavering committment
to protecting its security and legitimacy"."We
have consistently defended the right of Israel
to defend itself by itself," he said, condemning Palestinian support for
militant groups that threatened Israel.
But Kerry also described the plight of 2.75 million Palestinians living
"under military occupation" in the West Bank.
"They are restricted in their daily movements by a web of checkpoints so
if there is only one state you would have millions of Palestinians living in segegated enclaves under a permanent military occupation
that deprives them of the most basic freedoms," he said. "Would an
Israeli accept that? Would an American accept that? Would the world accept that?"Kerry's remarks came as Israel approved a latest batch of settlements
being built in the occupied West Bank in
defiance of the UN security council resolution that
was passed last week. Following the passing of the historic resolution Israel suspended diploatmic
ties with with nations that voted for the UN
resolution after it summoned the members of countries who voted for the motion
that was tabled by New
Zealand.
US denies providing missiles to Syrian
rebels
Reuters, Washington Wednesday, 28 December 2016/The US State Department said on
Tuesday the United States was not providing any shoulder-fired anti-aircraft
missiles to the Syrian opposition. Russia
said on Tuesday that a US
decision to ease restrictions on arming Syrian rebels had opened the way for
deliveries of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, a
move it said would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria. “The fact is that we're not
providing any kind of MANPADS ... to the Syrian opposition,” State Department
spokesman Mark Toner said. “Our position on MANPADS has not changed,
we would have very deep concern about that kind of weaponry getting into Syria.”
Russia, Turkey 'Agree Ceasefire Plan
for All of Syria'
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December 28/16/Turkish state media Wednesday said
Turkey and Russia had agreed a nationwide truce plan for Syria but none of the
key players in the conflict offered an immediate confirmation. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the plan aims to expand a
ceasefire in the city of Aleppo -- brokered by Turkey and Russia earlier this month to allow
the evacuation of civilians -- to the whole country. If successful, the plan
would form the basis of upcoming political negotiations between the Damascus regime and the opposition, overseen by Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital
Astana, it added. But in a speech in Ankara
after the report was published, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no reference
to the plan, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said he could not answer on an issue "about which I don't have enough information."Meanwhile, a Syrian rebel source, who
asked not to be named, told AFP that details still had to be submitted to
opposition fighters and said there was no agreement as yet. "The armed
revolutionary factions have not received any official proposal for a ceasefire
in Syria,"
Labib Nahhas, head of
foreign relations for the powerful Ahrar al-Sham
rebel group added on his official Twitter account. "News talking about
their approval of a ceasefire is incorrect."An
official from the High Negotiations Committee -- which oversees political talks
of the Syrian rebels -- said there was no information about a ceasefire so far.
There was also no reaction from the Syrian regime.
Heading to Astana?
Anadolu said both sides were working for the
ceasefire to come into force at midnight but gave no further details on its
implementation. The report came after Ankara has
hosted a succession of closed-door talks between Russia and Syrian opposition rebels
over the last weeks.
Qatar-based channel Al-Jazeera said a new meeting is planned on Thursday in Ankara, this time between military representatives of
Syrian rebels and Russia.
Ankara and Moscow
have been on opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, with Turkey seeking the ouster of President Bashar Assad, who is backed by Russia
and Iran.
But the two countries have recently started to cooperate more closely on Syria, especially after a deal in the summer to
normalize ties battered by Turkey's
shooting down of a Russian warplane last year. Turkey
remained conspicuously quiet as Assad's forces, backed by Russia, took control last week of Aleppo in the biggest
defeat so far for the rebels in the civil war. No date has yet been set for the
Astana talks and Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
said the meeting was still at the planning stage. But the direct involvement of
Turkey and Russia comes as Erdogan
is increasingly expressing impatience at the role of the United States in Syria. Previous ceasefire plans had
been brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart
Sergei Lavrov. They met with only temporary success
and failed to lead to a solution for the conflict. It remains unclear how the
latest ceasefire plan will apply to Fateh al-Sham,
formerly the al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front, which
has worked more closely with the rebels since changing its name.
'Considerable misinformation'
Erdogan had on Tuesday launched one of his most
bitter attacks yet on U.S. and Western policy in Syria, which he said was
marked by broken promises. He accused the West of not just supporting Kurdish
militia that Ankara
regards as a "terror group" but even Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
The Turkish strongman said the West was failing to back Turkey's own incursion inside Syria in
support of pro-Ankara fighters to oust IS from the border area, which has taken
increasing casualties in recent weeks. But in an angry statement, the U.S. embassy in Ankara
rejected the "considerable misinformation circulating in Turkish
media" about U.S.
operations against IS in Syria.
"Assertions the United
States government is supporting Daesh (IS) are not true," it added. In continued
bloodshed, air strikes carried out by unidentified aircraft killed at least 22
civilians, including 10 children, in a village held by IS in Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said. Syria's
conflict began in 2011 as an uprising against Assad but quickly morphed into a
civil war after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent. The war has killed more than 310,000 people and forced millions
more to flee their homes.
Mortar Fire Targets Russian Embassy in
Damascus
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December
28/16/Two mortar rounds were fired at the Russian embassy in Damascus on
Wednesday, the foreign ministry in Moscow said, adding that no casualties or
damage had been caused. "From 1:00 pm to 1:19 pm Moscow time (1000 GMT to 1019 GMT), the Russian embassy was bombarded by terrorists. One
mortar, which luckily didn't explode, landed in the courtyard inside the
embassy premises," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The
second mortar landed in the neighborhood" near
the embassy, the statement said, adding that deminers
intervened to defuse the explosives. "We consider this new act of
provocation by extremists seeking to derail the peace process in Syria, to be a
confirmation of their intention to continue to sow terror and violence" in
the war-torn nation, the ministry added. The Russian embassy in central Damascus has been the
frequent target of rebel fire ever since war erupted in 2011. In May 2015, a
man was killed when mortar rounds landed near the embassy complex. Moscow has been a key
ally of President Bashar Assad since the outbreak of
the war. Then in September 2015, Russia launched a military campaign
in support of the regime. With Moscow's backing,
Assad's troops scored their biggest victory in the civil war earlier this month
when they recaptured rebel areas of eastern Aleppo.
U.S. Denies Erdogan
Accusations of 'Supporting IS'
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December
28/16/The United States embassy in Ankara on Wednesday denied Washington had
ever supported Islamic State (IS) jihadists in the Syrian conflict after
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan claimed the extremists had enjoyed U.S.
backing. "The United
States government is not supporting Daesh," the embassy said in a terse statement, using
another acronym for IS. The United
States "did not create or support Daesh in the past. Assertions the United States
government is supporting Daesh are not true," it
added. The statement did not mention Erdogan by name
but said there was "considerable misinformation
circulating in Turkish media" about U.S.
operations against IS in Syria.
"For those interested in the truths, here are the truths," the
embassy said.
Erdogan had on Tuesday accused coalition forces led
by the United States of
supporting not just the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) in Syria but also
IS. "It's quite clear, perfectly obvious," he said, adding that Turkey could
provide proof in pictures and video. The YPG works on the ground with the United States against IS but is seen as a terror
group by Ankara
and the local branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
However, the embassy said: "The United States government has not
provided weapons or explosives to the YPG or the PKK –- period." Erdogan said that the U.S.-led coalition forces fighting
against IS in Syria had also failed to provide assistance for the Turkish
operation to capture the jihadist-held town of al-Bab.
Responding to this allegation, the embassy said the United States continues to
work closely with Turkey to "determine how we can increase our efforts to
defeat (IS)... and eliminate this scourge that threatens both our
peoples." It said the discussions included how best to help Turkish forces
and their Syrian opposition allies fighting the jihadists around al-Bab. The U.S.
backing of the YPG and criticism of the human rights climate in Turkey has angered Ankara in the final months of the
administration of President Barack Obama. Turkish officials have expressed hope
for a "new page" under President-elect Donald Trump including the
extradition of Erdogan's arch enemy Fethullah Gulen who he blames for
the July 15 failed coup.
Iran’s interference threatens Astana conference
Asharq al-Awsat, Beirut Wednesday, 28
December 2016/Optimism diminished over the success of a Russian-Iranian
conference over the Syrian peace process that is scheduled for mid-January in
Astana. Well-informed Turkish sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the Iranian leadership was imposing
vetoes on its possible representatives to the conference. Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that Iran would never coordinate with the
United States on the Syrian issue, because the US-led coalition “has no real
intentions” to fight against ISIS terrorists either in Iraq or in Syria. “We
have never coordinated our actions with the Americans. We will never cooperate
with them [on Syria],”
Dehghan said in an interview with RT television.
According to the minister, the US-led coalition “has no real intentions” to
fight against ISIS terrorists either in Iraq
or in Syria.
Hossein Dehghan also said
that Iran does not deploy
troops in Aleppo,
but can send military advisers there if necessary. “Iran does not have troops there.
The Syrian Army is responsible for accomplishing tasks in Aleppo,” Dehghan
said, commenting on the possibility of sending regular military units to the
city to help maintain security. “If necessary, we can send military advisers
there for consulting purposes,” Dehghan stressed.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov
said that during the recent meeting in Moscow
with his counterparts from Iran
and Turkey,
“we approved a joint declaration in which we confirmed our readiness to
guarantee a future agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition.”In an interview with Interfax news agency, Lavrov said: “Negotiations about that issue are going on.”According to Interfax, Lavrov
was referring to talks between the opposition and the Syrian government. The
High Negotiations Committee, a body grouping armed and political opponents of
President Bashar al-Assad, said it had no knowledge
of the consultations. “We in the High Negotiations Committee certainly have no
connection to this matter,” George Sabra, a member of
the HNC, told Reuters. This article was first published by Asharq
al-Awsat on December 28, 2016.
Turkish military kills 44 ISIS militants
in Syria
Reuters, Ankara Wednesday, 28 December 2016/The
Turkish military said on Wednesday it had "neutralized" 44 ISIS militants and wounded 117 as part of its operation
in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab. In a
statement, the military also said seven rebels had been wounded in clashes over
the past day, while 154 ISIS targets had been
struck by artillery and other weaponry. Rebels supported by Turkish troops have
laid siege to al-Bab for weeks under the
"Euphrates Shield" operation launched by Turkey nearly four months ago to
sweep the militants and Kurdish fighters from its Syrian border.
Turkey: Syria transition can’t involve Assad
Reuters Wednesday, 28 December 2016/Turkey and Russia have prepared an
agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said, adding
Ankara would not budge on its opposition to President Bashar
al-Assad staying in power. The comments by Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday appeared to signal a tentative
advance in talks aimed at reaching a truce, but the insistence that Assad must
go will do little to smooth negotiations with Russia, his biggest backer. Russia, Iran
and Turkey said last week
they were ready to help broker a peace deal after holding talks in Moscow where they adopted
a declaration setting out the principles any agreement should adhere to. “There
are two texts ready on a solution in Syria. One is about a political
resolution and the other is about a ceasefire. They can be implemented any
time,” Cavusoglu told reporters on the sidelines of
an awards ceremony at the presidential palace in Ankara. He said Syria’s opposition would never back
Assad. “The whole world knows it is not possible for there to be a political
transition with Assad, and we also all know that it is impossible for these
people to unite around Assad.” Last week, Russia’s
foreign minister said Russia,
Iran and Turkey had agreed that the priority in Syria was to
fight terrorism and not to remove Assad’s government. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu
Agency said earlier on Wednesday Moscow and Ankara had agreed on a
proposal towards a general ceasefire. The Kremlin said it could not comment on
the report. A Syrian rebel official said meetings between Ankara and rebel forces were expected to
continue this week, but could not confirm whether a final ceasefire agreement
had been reached.
Sticking point
The official told Reuters a major sticking point in
negotiations between rebel groups and Turkey
was that Russia wanted to
exclude the Damascus
countryside from the ceasefire, but the rebels refused to do so. A second rebel
official told Reuters there was no agreement yet from the side of the rebel
factions. “The details of the ceasefire deal have yet to be officially
presented to the factions, and there is no agreement so far,” the second
official said. Russia’s
foreign minister said on Tuesday the Syrian government was consulting with the
opposition ahead of possible peace talks, while the opposition group said it
knew nothing of the negotiations but supported a ceasefire. Russian President
Vladimir Putin has said that Russia,
Iran, Turkey and
Assad have agreed that Astana, the Kazakh capital, should be the venue for new
Syrian peace talks. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday United Nations
Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura
had spoken by phone with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
and supported the efforts to establish a ceasefire and new peace talks. The
Syrian opposition’s main political body on Tuesday urged rebel groups to
cooperate with “sincere regional efforts” to reach a ceasefire deal but that it
had not been invited to any conference, referring to the Kazakhstan meeting.
The Turkish military said on Wednesday it had “neutralized” 44 ISIS militants
and wounded 117 as part of its operation in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab. Rebels supported by Turkish troops have laid siege to
al-Bab for weeks under the “Euphrates Shield”
operation launched by Turkey nearly four months ago to sweep the Sunni
hardliners and Kurdish fighters from its Syrian border.
Iran experimenting with a new missile system
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 28
December 2016/The Islamic Republic of Iran Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base,
broadcasted on Tuesday morning, a video of the new “Zahra 3” air defense system. The Air Defense
remained silent on the S 300 missile system that Tehran
received from Moscow
a month ago and has not been experimented yet, without giving any clarification
on the reasons for the delay. The Air Defense base
unveiled the missile system, which appears to be the third generation of the “Ya Zahra system,” within the sky state maneuvers
which were launched last Monday. They also uncovered a new air defense missile system named Mersad.
Where are the S300 Russian air defense systems? In a
time when Iran is constantly developing and manufacturing new defense systems such as “Ya Zahra
3” and “Mersad;” the urgent question that arises is:
Why haven’t Iran tried the S300 missile system that it received from Russia
last month after long years of waiting. Moscow’s
delay in delivering the system in question caused tension between the two
sides. The commander of the Air defense base promised
to demonstrate the Russian missiles, but did not give any specifications on the
time, which raises doubts about the full commitment of Russia in this
regard.
Delegation of NCRI Women's Committee
Partakes in International Federation of Women Lawyers
NCRIDecember 28/16/ Invited by Maria Elena Elverin, president of the International Federation of Women
Lawyers, a delegation from NCRI Women’s Committee participated in an
international conference held by the organization. Held in Buenos
Aires, Argentina,
the 4-day conference was participated by prominent
women lawyers from North America, Latin America, Africa and Europe.
Messages of solidarity by prominent women from across the world were also read
in the conference, among whom were Hillary Clinton, US Presidential Candidate
of the Democratic Party, Bandana Rana, UN-elected
woman of the year 2016, and Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian Presidential
candidate. Also Iranian Resistance’s President-elect Mrs. Maryam
Rajavi sent a message to the international conference
in Buenos Aires.
The delegation from NCRI Women’s Committee in the conference tried to enlighten
the audience as to the campaign seeking justice for the martyrs of the 1988
massacre. In her speech, member of NCRI Women’s Committee Elaheh
Arjmandi explained the institutionalized repression
against women by Mullahs’ misogynist regime and outlined details regarding the
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. She then answered the questions asked
by the audience in this regard. The lawyers in the meeting described the 1988
massacre as a shame on the justice system in the modern world and stressed on
the necessity to put on trial the Iranian regime’s leaders as the perpetrators
and instigators of this crime against humanity. The conference came to a close
on its fourth day with speeches by Maria Fabiana
Tones, chair of the Argentine’s Parliament Women’s Committee, as well as Dr.
Mariana Elena Elverin. In their trip to Buenos Aires, the NCRI
Women’s Committee members also met with Ms. Estela Barnes De Carlotta, President
of the Association of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (an organization
seeking to identify those martyred or abducted during Argentine’s military
dictatorship). The representatives of NCRI Women’s Committee in the meeting
lauded Ms. Barnes De Carlotta’s 39 years of efforts to put on trial those
responsible for the crimes perpetrated during Argentine’s Colonel Dictatorship.
Expressing her pleasure over meeting NCRI Women’s Committee, Ms. Estella Barnes
De Carlotta also declared her support for the campaign seeking justice for the
martyrs of the 1988 massacre.
Iran's Currency Depreciated by 17 Percent
Following the Nuclear Deal
NCRI/December 28/16/Iran’s presidential election affected by currency
instability / how non-cooperation of international banks affects devaluation of
Rial. Revolutionary Guards’ Fars
news agency has quoted France Press as saying that the Iranian Rial continued its downtrend over the past six months,
reaching a new low against the US Dollar. In the past six months following the
nuclear deal, Iranian Rial has depreciated about 17
percent against the US Dollar, reaching 4130 today. This value was 3460 in
June, still far from the 3230 at which regime officials have tried to stabilize
the exchange rate. According to a report by Associated Press, the decrease in
the value of Iranian Rial has intensified with Donald
Trump winning US Presidential Election, since Trump had threatened to rip up
the nuclear deal once elected. A currency dealer in Tehran who requested
anonymity, said that the Central Bank used to inject currency into the market
to maintain the value of Rial against the US Dollar.
But, currency injection has been reduced significantly by the Central Bank over
the past few weeks. A series of intensified sanctions against Iran in 2007
put a lot of pressure on Iranian Rial, decreasing its
value against the US Dollar from 1000 to 3500. Experts believe that the main
issue facing currencies is that despite the lifting of the sanctions, the
international banks are not willing to return to Iran,
which leads to a decrease in the security of trade and investment in Iran. “Big
international banks still don’t want to work with Iran
and are also reluctant to deliver Iran’s oil money. These banks don’t
want to enter an economy which lacks adequate transparency, worrying about
being trapped in US Punitive measures”, added the currency trader. There is also concerns about an increased inflation rate in the
coming months, since importers are under pressure to spend more in consumer and
industrial sectors
Iran: The Commander Who Repressed the Protests Was
Promoted!
NCRI/December 28/16/Hassan Zibaee Nejad
known as Hossein Nejat is
one of the commanders who repressed the protesters in recent years. He has been
recently appointed to the deputy of the Intelligence Corps of the Revolutionary
Guards. As the Iranian media report, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Jafari issued a new
decree for appointing Hossein Nejat.
Before being appointed to this position, he was the commander of Vali-e Amr Corps which is
originally founded to protect Khamenei and other
regime officials. He was also the deputy of cultural and social affairs in
IRGC; the position in which was given to the former commander of Basij Force Mohammad Reza Naghdi
by the Supreme Leader. During the presidency of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in Iran, Hossein
Nejat was also appointed as the Deputy of Domestic
Security of the National Security Council. During the clashes in the University of Tehran that accrued in the first period
of Mohammad Khatami's presidency, Hossein
Nejat was the planner of repressing clashes with
other military leaders as well as ousting Mohammad Khatami.
Hossein Taeb is now the
head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Intelligence Corps of IRGC
was established during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami
and in accordance with the Ministry of Intelligence.
Iran Regime's Revolutionary Guards,
Cooperation With Taliban Militants in Afghanistan
NCRI/December 28/16/Radio France, December 27, Iranian
Revolutionary Guards forces are active in the ranks of the Taliban, stated Jamileh Amini head of the Farah’s
provincial council in West Afghanistan, on Tuesday December 27. He further
added that 25 militias from Taliban who were killed
recently in this province, were members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The obtained information shows that the Iranian authorities held a mourning
ceremony for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who were killed along with
Taliban in Farah province as previously stated by Mohamed Nasser Mohri, Farah province’s spokesman. Earlier, Mohammad Asif Nang, the governor of Farah province, expounded the
Iranian regime's role in fomenting violence and the spread of insecurity in
Farah province. Fox News television quoted US
commander in Afghanistan who
said: Iran
regime is supporting the Taliban, who are killing American forces. Iran helps Taliban to undermine the government
of Afghanistan
and NATO efforts. Stated General John Nicholson, commander of
American forces in Afghanistan.
Iran's Increased Military Budget at the
Expense of Critical Healthcare Situation
NCRI/December 28/16/Despite the propaganda the Iranian regime’s President and
his government officials have launched since 2014 regarding the so-called
‘Health Transformation Plan’ and its effects on improving people’s health,
especially the low-income population, now in the final months of Rouhani’s government, his Health Minister has revealed that
“the budget dedicated to this plan has been reduced each year, so that its
budget this year is less than one third of other organizations.”In
an interview with regime’s Channel 5 on the budget dedicated by Rouhani’s government to the Health Transformation Plan, Ghazizadeh Hashemi said that the
plan funding has been reduced every year in such a way that its initial budget
of 1700 million dollars was decreased to 1000 million dollars a year later, and
even further reduced to 700 million dollars this year, of which only 300
million dollars has been funded through the targeted subsidies plan.”While acknowledging that the healthcare budget is
‘fading away’, regime’s Health Minister also pointed to the effects of
inflation on the budget.” The budget dedicated to this organization is less
than one third compared to other organizations”, he said. While people’s
healthcare budget is annually decreasing, the other side of the coin is the
annual increase in the budget of regime’s oppressive security forces,
especially the Revolutionary Guards, so that their budget increased by 35.5 percent
in 2015 compared to a year earlier, with the Revolutionary Guards alone
enjoying a 50 percent increase. In Budget Bill 2016, nearly 6500 million
dollars is dedicated to regime’s military forces which shows a 15.2 percent
increase compared to 2015, with the Revolutionary Guards’ 24.3 percent increase
being the most compared to other military forces.
Iran: Fingers of Two Jailed Brothers Amputated for Theft
NCRI/December 28/16/Iranian regime prison authorities amputated the fingers of
two jailed brothers by the names of Faramarz and Majid Bigham on charges of theft.
These hideous measures were carried out in Urmia
Central Prison in northwest Iran
after they served time behind bars for four and a half years. Prison
authorities also forced dozens of other inmates with similar charges to watch
the shocking scene to send a message to all. The inhumane mullahs’ regime is
implementing such vicious punishments for theft when huge cases of theft by
Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other
senior regime officials, including judiciary chief Sadegh
Larijani, are being unveiled. Larijani
himself is in charge of issuing such horrific verdicts. The exposure of 63 bank
accounts affiliated to Sadegh Larijani,
with sums totaling over $650 million and a monthly
profit of over $6.5 million, is only one such case. The total amount in these
accounts is the sum that the regime’s judiciary has extorted from prisoners and
their families under the pretext of bails. “They have raised the issue of some
bank accounts and they say [the judiciary chief] is filling his account with
government money… in previous terms of the judiciary chief, assets of this
branch would be transferred to an account under the name of the judiciary
branch, with permission from the leader… this has not been the case only under
my watch, it has also been an issue in previous terms, all under the leader’s
permission,” Larijani admitted as this huge
controversy continues to escalate. (State-run Mehr
news agency – November 23, 2016) All revenues of the huge financial empire
known as the “Setad Ejraiye
Farmane Hazrate Emam” – Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam,
under Khamenei’s personal control and its wealth
valued at over $95 billion, has been accumulated by confiscating the property
of dissidents, including families of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and plundering
the Iranian people’s wealth.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/December 27, 2016
Shocking Report Shows
Iran’s Poor Dwelling in Graves
Asharq Al-Awsat
English/December 28/16/Shocking footage of homeless people spending their
nights in empty graves outside Iran’s capital surfaced, shocking the cleric-led
regime even raising the alarms for the country’s president. Shahrvand
daily had first issued a report touching on the subject on Tuesday. Images by
taken by Saeed Gholamhoseini
were shot in Shahriar, some 20 kilometers
west of Tehran, and published in the Shahrvand daily,
which said some 50 men, women and children living in the cemetery. The
photographs only highlighted the never-ending economic struggles that hunt
Iranians today.Some of those who lived in the graves
had done so for 10 years, according to the daily. More so, many human rights
groups have been gravely alarmed by the report, Iran-based media outlet IRNA
said. The story and the haunting images of the homeless staring into the camera
from inside the unused grave slots spread quickly on social media, where users
and celebrities reacted with expressions of alarm and sadness. Oscar-winning
film director Asghar Farhadi,
upset by the images, wrote an open letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. In it, he suggested officials should go out in
disguise into the communities they represent to see what life is really like.
Unemployment is fairly high in Iran,
not to mention that its currency has fallen drastically against the U.S. dollar
leaving many citizens in dire situations. “Today, I read a shocking report
about men, women and children who are living in graves of a cemetery near
Tehran in these cold nights and now I am full of shame and have tears in my
eyes,” Farhadi wrote. In one of the images published
this week, a grime-streaked man rises out of a grave, smoke from a fire
providing warmth inside rising around him. Others gather for warmth, smoking.
Second Black Box from Crashed Russian
Plane Found in Black Sea
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December
28/16/Russian rescuers trawling the Black Sea
on Wednesday found the second black box from a Syria-bound military plane that
crashed at the weekend with 92 people on board, authorities said. "The
second onboard recorder from the Tu-154 plane has been found and raised from
the seabed," the defense ministry said in a
statement to Russian news agencies. The discovery of the black box comes the
day after rescuers found the primary inflight
recorder and should help provide vital clues as investigators try to work out
what caused the fatal crash. The Soviet-era jet, whose passengers included more
than 60 members of an internationally renowned Red Army music troupe, was
heading to Russia's military
airbase in Syria on Sunday
when it went down off the coast of Sochi
shortly after take-off from a refueling stop at the
airport. Russia's
FSB security service has said it is looking into four main suspected causes:
pilot error, technical failure, faulty fuel and a foreign object in the engine.
The FSB said that so far there were no indications to suggest terrorism was
behind the crash, but did not rule it out entirely. Russian rescue workers told
state media Wednesday that the second black box contained the flight
parameters, despite contradictory reports over the content of the recorders.
Private news outlet Life published what it said was the panicked exchange
between the pilots in the moments ahead of the crash decoded from one of the
black boxes, suggesting that a problem with the plane's wingflaps
might have been to blame. According to the transcript one pilot shouted
"the flaps, shit. What the fuck!" as an alarm sounds.
"Commander, we're falling" are the last words recorded. The discovery
of the second black box comes as searchers scramble to recover bodies and
remaining debris from the aircraft in a major operation involving divers,
deepwater machines, helicopters and drones. The defense
ministry told Russian news agencies that so far 15
bodies and 239 body parts from those onboard the ill-fated aircraft have been
found, with some of the remains transported to Moscow for DNA identification. The loss of
the plane has shocked Russia
at a time when the Kremlin was celebrating the recapture of Syria's Aleppo
by regime forces, the biggest success since it launched its bombing campaign to
support President Bashar Assad last year. The
military performers on the plane were set to stage a New Year's concert for
Russian troops at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria, Moscow's
main staging post in the war-torn country.
Was a faulty wing behind the Russian
jet crash?
By Andrew Osborn, Reuters Moscow Wednesday, 28 December 2016/Russian
investigators looking into the crash of a military plane that crashed, killing
all 92 on board, believe a fault with its wing flaps was the reason it plunged
into the Black Sea, an investigative source told the Interfax news agency on
Tuesday. The plane, a Tupolev-154 belonging to the Defence Ministry,
disappeared from radar screens two minutes after taking off on Sunday from Sochi in southern Russia,
killing dozens of Red Army Choir singers and dancers en route to Syria
to entertain Russian troops in the run-up to the New Year. The three black box
flight recorders from the aircraft were found on Tuesday, Russian news agencies
said, amid unconfirmed reports that authorities had grounded all aircraft of
the same type. The Defense Ministry confirmed one box
had been found. The Life.ru news portal, which has
close contacts to law enforcement agencies, said it had obtained a readout of
one of the pilot's last words, indicating a problem with the wing flaps:
"Commander, we are going down," the pilot was reported to have said.
There was no official confirmation of the readout. The Interfax news agency
separately cited an unnamed investigative source as saying preliminary data
showed the wing flaps had failed and not worked in tandem. As a result, the
aging Soviet-era plane had not been able to gather enough speed and had dropped
into the sea, breaking up on impact. If confirmed, the technical failure will
raise questions about the future of the TU-154, which is still actively used by
Russian government ministries but not by major Russian commercial airlines.
Interfax cited an unnamed source as saying Russia had grounded all TU-154
planes until the cause of Sunday's crash became clear. There was no official
confirmation of that. The Defence Ministry says the jet,
a Soviet-era plane built in 1983, had last been serviced in September and
underwent more major repairs in December 2014. Russian pilots say the TU-154 is
still flightworthy, though major Russian commercial
airlines have long since replaced it with Western-built planes. Experts say
only two are registered with Russian passenger airlines with the rest
registered to various government ministries. The last big TU-154 crash was in
2010 when a Polish jet carrying then-president Lech Kaczynski and much of Poland's political elite went down in western Russia
killing everyone on board. The Defence Ministry said search and rescue teams
had so far recovered 12 bodies and 156 body fragments
Kerry Urges Israel, Palestinians to Agree on 1967 Lines with Land Swaps
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December
28/16/In a stern parting shot, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel on
Wednesday that building settlements on Palestinian land threatens the country's
very future as a "democracy."Less than four
weeks before President Barack Obama leaves office, Kerry accused Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's government of allowing Israel to slide towards a
"perpetual occupation."With President-elect
Donald Trump taking office on January 20, and already urging Israel to
"stand strong" in the face of international pressure, it was not
clear what impact Kerry hopes to have on the peace process. But his
comprehensive and at times angry speech laid down parameters for a peace deal
-- two states within their pre-1967 frontiers and with a shared capital in Jerusalem -- that he hopes
will outlast Obama. Washington officials have
refused to say what they might do next, but Israel
fears the administration could attempt to codify these principles in a U.N.
resolution or statement by the Middle East
diplomatic quartet. And they were quick to reject Kerry's rebuke, which
Netanyahu said showed that Washington's
chief diplomat was biased towards the Palestinian cause. "For over an
hour, Kerry obsessively dealt with settlements and barely touched upon the root
of the conflict -- Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any
boundaries," he complained.
Time to choose
Kerry's speech did not depart from U.S. policy of many years, nor from his warnings in recent months, but critical and
supportive observers alike noted his detailed breakdown of the problem as he
sees it. "Today, there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians
living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,"
he told an audience of diplomats. "They have a choice. They can choose to
live together in one state, or they can separate into two states. "But
here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or
democratic -– it cannot be both -– and it won't ever really be at peace,"
he argued. Kerry was speaking against the backdrop of a diplomatic firestorm
that was triggered last week when, on Obama's instruction, U.S. diplomats opted not to veto a U.N. Security
Council resolution criticizing Israel,
instead abstaining. The resolution, backed unanimously by the rest of the 15
powers on the council, effectively declared Israel's
settlements in areas of east Jerusalem and the West Bank beyond its 1967 border illegal. Kerry said that
the resolution was allowed to pass as a warning that Israeli settlements are
harming efforts to revive peace talks, not in an effort to prejudge the final
status of territory. But, in welcoming Kerry's speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made it clear that
he regards the resolution, UNSC 2334, as an element of international law that
would underpin future negotiations. In a statement, Abbas
said the Palestinians are ready to resume talks "the minute the Israeli
government agrees to cease all settlement activities... on the basis of
international law... including UNSC 2334."Netanyahu, whose right-wing
coalition is backed by the settler movement and who has insisted the home
building is no threat to peace, was furious and accused Obama and Kerry of
orchestrating the Security Council vote.
Disdain and disrespect
Trump, who has picked a future U.S.
ambassador to Israel who
strongly supports settlement building, was also angered, tweeting: "We
cannot continue to let Israel
be treated with such total disdain and disrespect."But
Kerry was undeterred, insisting the U.S.
could not "in good conscience" have vetoed a resolution it broadly
agrees with, and piling on more criticism of Israel in his landmark speech.
"The vote in the U.N. was about preserving the two-state solution,"
he declared. "That's what we were standing up for: Israel's future as a Jewish and
democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors," Kerry said, warning that such a solution
is now in "serious jeopardy." Kerry warned the "settler
agenda" was leading Israeli policy and imperiling
prospects for peace. "Trends indicate a comprehensive effort to take West
Bank land for Israel
and prevent any Palestinian development there," he said. And Kerry added:
"The settler agenda is defining the future in Israel. And their stated purpose is
clear: They believe in one state: greater Israel."
Curious timing
Already, last week's decision to allow the U.N.
resolution to pass has angered Israel's
many supporters in Washington,
including both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and major Jewish American
lobby groups. The speech did nothing to appease their concern, and some
observers questioned its "curious" timing. "A speech of this
gravity really should have been delivered before such a permanent move as the
Security Council resolution, rather than after," scholar Jonathan Schanzer told AFP. Schanzer, vice
president of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, argued that Israel
should have been given time to respond to Kerry's complaints before being
ambushed at the United Nations. Ilan Goldenberg of
the Center for a New American Security was more supportive of Kerry's goals in
the speech, but he also noted: "It would have been better two years
ago." Kerry, he suggested, was attempting to lay down the framework for a
peace process that might bear fruit before Trump arrives in office and
radically changes the U.S.
position.
Kerry touts 11th-hour vision of Middle
East peace
AFP, Washington Wednesday, 28 December 2016/With fewer than four weeks left in office, US Secretary of State John Kerry will on
Wednesday lay out a vision for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The
goal of a two-state solution, with Israel
and a future Palestine
living side-by-side within agreed borders has eluded generations of US
diplomats. But in the final days of President Barack Obama's administration,
and with Israel's
government openly hostile to outside pressure, Kerry wants to leave his mark.
"He feels it's his duty in his waning weeks and days as secretary to lay
out what he believes is a way towards a peaceful two-state solution," his
spokesman said. "It's always important to try to keep the process moving
forward, to lay out constructive visions for the future," spokesman Mark
Toner told reporters.
Negotiations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's administration are
already a dead letter. And if Kerry wants the sides to pay attention to his
"comprehensive vision" of a settlement, he faces two stark challenges
that even his ill-fated predecessors did not. Firstly, Netanyahu is already in
a towering fury over Obama's decision last week not to veto a UN Security
Council motion to condemn Israeli settlement building. Secondly, incoming US leader Donald Trump has signaled
he will take a much softer line, nominating an ambassador who wants to move the
US embassy to Jerusalem. Arab leaders
warn such a move would provoke a regional diplomatic backlash and Palestinian
protests, and Netanyahu has no incentive to act before Trump's inauguration.
Nevertheless, Obama and Kerry are clearly not ready to give up on the region
yet, hoping the UN resolution and the Washington
speech will save a moribund process. Already, earlier this month, Kerry showed
his frustration with Netanyahu's refusal to curtail Israeli settlement building
on disputed West Bank and Jerusalem
land.
Greater Israel
"There's a basic choice that has to be made by Israelis, by the leadership
of Israel, by all of you who
support Israel and care
about Israel,"
Kerry warned US and Israeli officials. "Is there going to be a continued
implementation of settlement policy, or is there going to be separation and the
creation of two states?" he demanded. Netanyahu had already told the same
meeting of the Saban Forum that the main impediment
to peace was the failure of much of the Arab world to recognize Israel.
Kerry insisted the accelerating program of Jewish settlement building on land
Palestinians claim for their future state acts as a "barrier" to
peace. This has been US
policy for decades, but Kerry went further, accusing members of Netanyahu's
right-wing coalition of actively opposing a peace deal. Washington,
and the bulk of the international community as reflected by UN votes, foresees
two states based on Israel's
1967 border with some land swaps. According to Kerry, the Israeli right --
despite Netanyahu's protests that he is ready for direct talks without
preconditions -- wants to thwart this. "They don't want peace. They
believe it's greater Israel," Kerry told Saban, an annual US-Israeli leadership forum. "And
they want it to block the peace process because they want those places to
belong to Israel.
That's the history of the settler movement, my friends."This
year Obama awarded Israel
the biggest US
military aid package in history -- $38 billion over ten years -- but Netanyahu
is unimpressed. On Wednesday, a Jerusalem
planning committee is to discuss issuing building permits for hundreds more
settler houses in the mainly Palestinian east of the city. "We'll discuss
everything that's on the table in a serious manner," Jerusalem's deputy mayor Meir Turjeman told AFP. And on his Facebook
page he added: "I'm not concerned by the UN or anything else trying to
dictate our actions in Jerusalem."Netanyahu's
government has also accused Obama of colluding with the Palestinians and with Egypt behind Israel's back to push last week's
UN resolution. Toner denied this, insisting it was "not accurate" to
suggest that the motion had been "pre-cooked" before Egypt
unveiled it last week. But he confirmed that US officials had seen draft
resolutions and suggested "what further changes were needed to make the
text more balanced."
Last word? -
And Washington
clearly did nothing to dissuade other UN members from bringing forward the
resolution -- the first passed against settlements since 1979. "It's not
like our views regarding settlements or regarding resolutions with respect to Israel
aren't well known," Toner said. So will Wednesday's speech be the Obama
administration's last word on the conflict before he leaves office on January
20? Might Kerry attend a Paris
peace conference on January 15, despite deep Israeli hostility to the project?
"I don't want to predict anything," Toner said. "Certainly this
administration's going to continue to work until January 20."
Palestinians Can Talk Peace if
Settlements Halt, Says Abbas
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December
28/16/Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he was ready to resume peace efforts
with Israel if it stopped settlement building, reacting to a major speech by
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "The minute the Israeli government
agrees to cease all settlement activities... and agrees to implement the signed
agreements on the basis of mutual reciprocity, the Palestinian leadership
stands ready to resume permanent status negotiations on the basis of
international law and relevant international legality resolutions... under a
specified timeframe," he said in a statement. Kerry's speech included
sharp criticism of Israeli settlement building and came after last week's U.N.
Security Council resolution calling for an end to such activity. The United States
abstained at the Security Council, allowing the resolution to pass 14-0.
Washington and others say continued settlement building is steadily eroding the
possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Kerry's speech as biased
against Israel,
and accused the outgoing secretary of state of paying only "lip
service" to Palestinian violence.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 28-29/16
Turkish army like Iraqis stalled by ISIS pushback
DEBKAfile/December 28/2016
Wednesday, Dec. 28, hours before US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to
deliver a major speech on his vision for the Middle East, Turkey and Russia
announced a ceasefire plan going into effect the same night for the whole of
Syria, and in all regions, where fighting between pro-government forces and
opposition groups were taking place - excepting for terrorist organizations. Moscow and Ankara
assumed the role of guarantors of the process. This accord will be brought for
approval before the Syrian peace conference to be convened in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana, this week, attended
by Russia, Turkey, Iran,
the Syrian government and Syrian opposition groups. The US and Europe were not invited. Not content with kicking Washington out of any
role in resolving the Syrian crisis, the Turkish president Tayyip
Erdogan accused the US, leader of the Western war on
the Islamic State, of supporting “terrorist groups.” He claimed Tuesday to have
evidence of the US “giving support to terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD,” adding, ” We have… pictures, photos and
videos.”
While Erdogan is scoring in the diplomatic arena, he
faces nothing but frustration militarily over the failure of the large,
professional Turkish army to gain ground in the battle for Al Bab in northern Syria. This is Turkey’s first
face-to-face with the Islamic State in its four-month old Euphrates Shield operation
in northern Syria - and it is not gong well. The fighting is deadly with no end
in sight. This may partly account for Erdogan’s oddly
inconsistent behavior. Tuesday, Dec. 26, he quietly
asked the Obama administration to step up its air support for the Turkish
campaign to capture Al Bab, 55 km north of Aleppo and
the only major town in ISIS hands in northern Syria. He accused the US of not
doing enough. It was doubly odd in that Turkey has a large air force of its
own, and if that force was not enough to support the campaign against ISIS, Erdogan’s obvious address for assistance would be his ally
in the Syrian arena, Russian President Vladimir Putin. After all, Ankara, Moscow and Tehran are in the middle of a shared effort to set the
rules of the game in Syria,
which has pointedly excluded the US under the Obama administration.
As to the state of the fighting, on Dec. 21, Erdogan
claimed: “Right now, Al-Bab is completely besieged by
the Free Syrian Army and our soldiers.” In fact, this siege has been in place
for weeks and, worse still, the casualties are mounting. Wednesday, Dec. 28,
the Turkish military said it had "neutralised" 44 Islamic State
fighters in Al Bab and wounded 117 in Al Bab, while 154 Islamic State targets had been struck by
artillery and other weaponry. No casualty figures have been released for the
Turkish army fighting for Al Baba. They are conservatively estimated at 90 dead
and hundreds injured. The losses of Free Syrian Army (FSA), the local rebel
force fighting alongside the Turkish army, are undoubtedly heavier still. Our
military and counterterrorism experts explain how the Islamic State’s
beleaguered fighters are not just holding out in Al Bab
against a superior army, but running circles around it. The jihadists took the
precaution of clearing back passages from Al Bab to
their headquarters in Raqqa, 140km to the southeast,
and Palmyra, 330km away. This heritage town, which the Russians took from ISIS
several months ago, was recaptured by the jihadists earlier this month, when
Russian forces were fully engaged with capturing Aleppo. The US
air force has in the last few days redoubled its strikes on Palmyra
- both to cut off the flow of reinforcements and supplies to the besieged ISIS fighters in Al Bab and to
clear the way for Russian forces to recover the lost town.
This US-Russian cooperative effort is at odds with the Obama administration’s
presentation of Washington’s prickly relations
with Moscow.
Notwithstanding the forces ranged against it, ISIS
has so far managed to repel almost every Turkish bid to break into Al Bab – thanks to the new tactics it has introduced to the
battles for Syrian Al Bab and Iraqi Mosul, which mark
a turning point in the war on Islamist terror in those countries. Those tactics
hinge heavily on maximizing enemy casualties in order to knock the opposing
army off the battlefield. This is achieved by a deadly mix of guerilla and terrorist methods, and includes car bombs,
bomb belt-clad suicides, improvised explosive devices (IED), sniper squads,
gliders carrying explosives with small parachutes, as well as the increasing
use of anti-air missiles and poison chemicals. Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar Al-Abadi estimated that
the Iraqi army needed another three months to beat ISIS in Mosul. He was trying to buck up the Iraqi
people by concealing the true situation. The fact is that the Iraqi military
offensive against ISIS in its Mosul
stronghold has ground to a halt – and no wonder, when some units have suffered
a 50 percent manpower loss.
Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of American troops in Syria and Iraq,
was of the opinion last week that at least two years of fighting were needed to
drive ISIS out of its two capitals, Mosul
and Raqqa. He did not spell this out, but his meaning
was clear: to achieve this objective, a far larger army was needed than the
military manpower available at present.
Soleimani’s Occupations by War, Peace or Agreements
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat English/December 28/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/28/eyad-abu-shakraasharq-al-awsat-soleimanis-occupations-by-war-peace-or-agreements/
Those who are familiar with how Iran’s political institutions work explain
General Qassem Soleimani’s
intended appearances in pictures and films shot in Arab battlefields where his
militias fight, and the broadcasting of them on TV and online social networks,
as part of the ‘psychological warfare’ that Tehran has mastered.
Soleimani, Commander of the IRGC’s
‘Quds Brigade’, is himself engaged in a fight for
influence within Iran’s security and military establishment which is currently
the backbone of the country’s power structure under the nominal ‘legitimacy’ of
the ‘Vali e Faqih’.
‘Elected’ and selected councils, as well as religious authorities, the
presidency and the prime minister’s posts are now of secondary importance
compared to the real ‘centre of power’ which comprises the interests networks
of the security and military apparatuses – led by the IRGC – and its financial
mafias; albeit, under the cloak of ‘the Supreme Guide’ Ali Khamenei.
Thus, Soleimani and his mates in the IRGC and other
security and military apparatuses are the ones who today call the shots, decide
the national political agenda, and plan and execute Iran’s adventures abroad.
Furthermore, even, when recalling that most of what is being uttered in the now
familiar arrogance may not be true but is primarily reserved for ‘local
consumption’, and that Iran’s internal situation is much worse than we are led
to believe by Tehran propaganda organs, one has to accept that the better part
of Tehran’s arrogance is helped by very helpful and accommodating regional and
global conditions.
Indeed, it was recently reported that things are not all well between Tehran’s leading players and some of its influential
lobbyists in Washington
who have different approaches and tactics. However, reliable observers do not
see these emerging differences as a critical problem in dealing with Washington under Donald Trump unless the anti-Iran forces
and those at the receiving end of Tehran’s
aggression and expansionism succeed in establishing a solid understanding based
on common interests with the incoming Trump administration.
Frankly, one has to regard Tehran’s achievements
in both Iraq and Syria as
outright victories. Tehran has also managed to
reach an agreement with Washington leaving it
the freedom to do as it pleased throughout the Middle East, and tie up its tactical
interests with those of Russia
despite the historical Russo-Iranian animosities in the southern Caspian Sea basin.
The Iranian de facto occupation of Iraq began with the 2003 US-led attack and
occupation, and gathered pace under the Coalition Provisional Authority which
dismantled Iraqi state institutions and ‘gifted’ the country to pro-Iran
sectarian factions; and now this Pax Iranica is obvious after the successive governments of
Ibrahim Jaafari, Nuri Al-Maliki and Haider Al-Abadi. In the meantime, while the Kurdish north is all but
an ‘independent state’, the only part of Iraq whose position remains ambiguous
in the atmosphere of Iranian hegemony is the Arab Sunni part awaiting the
outcome of the battle for Mosul and the clarification of the relationship of
the Mid-Euphrates (Al-Anbar) with the central
government in Baghdad.
The overall picture is not much different in Syria
now that the Russia – Iran alliance
is applying the final touches on the desired demographic change in ‘Useful
Syria’ through systematic mass population displacement under full international
auspices. This displacement, or rather ‘cleansing’ is being meticulously
conducted regionally and internationally through multi-party talks and meetings
that began in Geneva and may not end in Astana,
the capital of Kazakhstan.
In other Syrian areas, while the situation in the ‘militarily-frozen’ south
seems to be controlled by coded messages between Israel
on one side and the Assad regime, Soleimani’s bunch,
and Putin’s protectorate on the other, Washington
continues to bet on Kurdish secessionist ambition in northern Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS. Finally, eastern Syria,
i.e. Deir
Ez-Zor Province is left to share the same fate
with the Iraqi part rest of the Mid-Euphrates basin.
Last but not least, there is Lebanon.
Here the majority in both the Christian and Sunni Muslim communities thought
they finally managed to “save” Independent Lebanon by electing a ‘strong’ Maronite Christian with majority support as President, and
appointing a ‘strong’ Sunni with a majority support as Prime Minister. They
felt that the two men (Michel Aoun and Saad Al-Hariri) would be able to end Lebanon’s
‘political vacuum’ which lasted for around two and a half years. But while most
level-headed Lebanese knew deep inside that the ‘vacuum’ was only the tip of
the ‘iceberg’, and that the reality was much more serious, they gave this
development the benefit of the doubt, and trusted yet again promises that have
been proven to be worthless. The grantor of these promises was the ‘force of
the Status Quo’ – i.e. Hezbollah – that receives its orders from abroad while
exercising its ‘occupation’ of the country, permeating all government
institutions, and unilaterally fighting regional wars that serve the interests of
its regional master, Iran.
This ‘occupation’ is now about to be legitimized by an ‘electoral law’ demanded
by Hezbollah, and would contribute to the ongoing process of the IRGC’s occupation of Syria; noting that the latter is
taking shape through sectarian cleansing of regions, towns and cities like Qusair, Homs and Aleppo, as well as that in the greater
Damascus region with the intention of bolstering its defences and linking it
with the Shi’ite human reservoir in neighbouring
Lebanon.
In fact, Hezbollah – an organ of the IRGC and a follower of Vali
e Faqih – has done its share in changing the
demographic map of Lebanon,
through its military adventures that damaged the country’s economy, driving
hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to emigrate.
Thus, one needs to reflect when seeing Qassem Soleimani’s pictures in front of Aleppo’s historic citadel,
the weeping displaced being driven away in the regime’s green buses in a
journey of sectarian population exchange, and hearing of forced ‘conciliations’
under threat of famine and murder.
Yes, one must reflect and think, as the international community chatters about
fighting terrorism, fighting extremism, and supporting ‘legitimacy’ through
conferences and deals designed – in reality – to facilitate the redrawing of
the Middle East map.
We are indeed at a threshold of a regional situation totally different from the
one in place around 100 years ago. In this new situation there will surely be
winners, losers and the departed; and it is our duty to realise the magnitude
of its critical challenges.
The Islamists of Sweden
Nima Gholam Ali Pour/Gatestone Institute/December 28/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9603/sweden-islamists
It seems clear that Muslim civil society in Sweden has an ideological direction
that is close to the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology, while they criticize the
laws and measures that prevent Islamic terrorism.
The Islamic Association of Sweden (IFIS) writes on their website that they are
members of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE). There are
strong links between FIOE and the Muslim Brotherhood. When the United Arab Emirates
decided to list the Muslim Brotherhood and all branches of the movement as terrorists,
they also listed IFIS as terrorists.
The strength of the political influence of Sweden's Muslim civil society
is evidenced by a 1999 agreement between the Muslim Council of Sweden and the
Social Democrat party, that "Muslims' participation in social democracy
will evolve so that: in 2002 there should be among social democratic elected
representatives Muslims in 15 municipal lists, 5 county lists and on the
parliamentary lists in at least five counties."
When a debate started in 2014 on making it illegal for Swedish citizens
to travel to other countries to participate in jihad, the Muslim Human Rights
Committee claimed that such a law would be racist. Furthermore, they argued
that people who fought in jihad abroad were not even a threat against Sweden.
The greatest threat from Islamism comes not from the suicide bombers who
carry out spectacular attacks, but from Islamists quietly infiltrating our
democratic institutions and normalizing their ideas among us. It is a threat
that must be recognized and addressed.
In Sweden,
there are a number of Muslim organizations that together constitute what is
known as "Muslim civil society" (Muslimska civilsamhället). What is important, when discussing Muslim
civil society in Sweden,
is their political influence, their ideology and their structure.
IFIS
One of the most important organizations in Sweden's Muslim civil society is
the Islamic Association of Sweden (Islamiska Förbundet i Sverige
-- IFIS), established in 1981. Some of the goals of IFIS, which you can read
about on their website, are to "influence and form opinions on issues that
concern the Muslim group and its interests in Sweden" and "increase
participation, influence and representation of Muslims in public institutions
and bodies". In other words, IFIS works as a lobby organization for
Muslims in Sweden.
It is a lobby organization that has been successful.
Former IFIS chairman Abdirizak Waberi represented the second largest party, the Moderate
Party, in parliament between 2010 and 2014, when this party was in government.
When Waberi sat in parliament, he was a member of the
defense committee, which decides the policies for the
Swedish Armed Forces.
Waberi's time in parliament was a remarkable
experience for many Swedes. In several interviews before 2010, Waberi said he believed in a literal interpretation of the
Koran. In an interview from 2006, he supported the idea that men could have
four wives. In another interview from 2009, he said that he does not shake the
hand of a woman; that men and women should not dance with each other, and that
he would rather live in a country with Islamic sharia
law. After these interviews, clearly revealing that Waberi
is an Islamist, and that he got to represent Sweden's second-largest party in
parliament, apparently without Swedish media or anyone else providing scrutiny
over his past statements.
Omar Mustafa, who took over as chairman of IFIS in 2011, after Waberi, was elected to the leadership of the Swedish Social
Democratic Party (SAP) in April 2013. Mustafa's election into the leadership of
Sweden's
largest party triggered a reaction in which the media actually started to write
about IFIS operations. The media reported that shortly before Mustafa was
elected to the SAP leadership, IFIS had organized a conference in Stockholm, where it had
invited speakers with anti-Semitic views. When the media began to examine IFIS's operations more closely, Omar Mustafa was forced to
resign from the Social Democratic leadership.
Despite the scandal around Omar Mustafa, IFIS continues to have a close
relationship with both the largest party, the Social Democrats and the second
largest party, the Moderate Party.
Mehmet Kaplan and "Swedish Muslims for
Peace and Justice"
Mehmet Kaplan is an example of how a person
with origins in Muslim civil society can climb up into the Swedish government.
Kaplan was secretary of the Swedish Young Muslims (Sveriges
Unga Muslimer -- SUM)
between the years of 1996-2000. Then he became the chairman of this
organization, until 2002. Between 2005 and 2006, Kaplan was the press secretary
for the Muslim Council of Sweden (Sveriges Muslimska Råd). In 2008, Kaplan
founded the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice (Svenska Muslimer för Fred och Rättvisa
-- SMFR).
Kaplan was a member of the Green Party's leadership between 2003 and
2011. He represented the Green Party in parliament between 2006 and 2014.
Between 2014 and 2016, Kaplan was Sweden's Minister of Housing.
After "alternative" media outlets in Sweden started writing about Kaplan's
dealings with various kinds of extremists, the Swedish mainstream media started
to examine Kaplan. In 2014, Kaplan had already been criticized for having
compared the Swedish jihadists who travel to Syria
to join groups such as ISIS, with the Swedes who had gone to Finland during WWII to defend Finland from
the Soviet military aggression.
When the media began to examine Kaplan, it emerged that in the summer of
2015, he had participated at a dinner where the leader of the fascist Turkish
organization, the Grey Wolves, was in attendance. The media also found that
Kaplan for several years had held meeting with the Islamist organization, Milli Görüs. It then emerged that
Kaplan in 2009 compared Israel's
treatment of Palestinians with the Nazis' treatment of Jews.
Mehmet Kaplan was a minister in Sweden's government until April 2016, when he
was forced to resign after revelations that he compared Israel's
treatment of Palestinians to that of the German Nazis' treatment of Jews.
(Image source: Wikimedia Commons/Jan Ainali)
Kaplan also sat for several years on the board of an organization called
Charter 2008, which defends dangerous jihadists and criticizes the war against
terrorism.
When Mehmet Kaplan founded Swedish Muslims for
Peace and Justice (SMFR) in 2008, its "vision statement" stated:
"If you want to participate and influence the development of
society, it is inevitable to become politically involved. Everything that is
connected to power is ultimately linked to politics. Without power, it is not
possible to create change. As an individual, organization and society, active
players constantly seek power to get through various forms of changes, push
through solutions to various societal problems, as well as the ability to
express themselves about, as well as define, various
societal challenges. One of SMFR's goal
is to gain power to change the world for the better."
This "better" world is an Islamic world. In the same
"vision statement", SMFR writes:
"Islam should be the starting point for SMFR's
operations. It is on the basis of Islam where the main inspiration,
commitment, drive, motivation, guidance and values will come from."
SMFR embodies its goal by writing in its program that Islam should be a
natural part of Europe's cultural heritage.
SMFR wants to work for a Swedish Muslim culture. In other words, SMFR works for
the Islamization of Europe and Sweden.
SMFR is actively trying to realize their vision. The organization's
spokesperson and secretary-general, Yasri Khan, was
nominated for the Green Party leadership and would certainly have been elected
into the leadership, before a journalist in April 2016 revealed that Yasri Khan did not shake hands with women.
Members of the Green Party, which sits in the government of Sweden,
apparently knew Yasri Khan refused to shake hands
with women, and yet they were helping to elect him into the party leadership.
The Green Party spokesman and Sweden's
Minister for Education, Gustav Fridolin, told the
media:
"I knew about it. I had not realized how offensive some women think
that it can be."
Fridolin's former press secretary is a woman
named Anwahr Athahb. Only
two years before Athahb became Fridolin's
press secretary, she had been elected to the vice-chairmanship of SMFR. Before
that, she was the secretary of the organization. In 2014, Athahb
was one of the Green Party's leading candidates for the European Parliament.
Her campaign-slogan was "The EU needs more Muslim women in
Parliament".
Today, Athahb works at an Arabic talk show on Sveriges Radio,
Sweden's national
public taxpayer-funded radio broadcaster.
Muslim civil society's political influence is great, reaches all the way
up to the government, and that it exists in almost all major parties in Sweden.
Because there are so many examples of Muslim civil society's political
influence, it is not possible to include all examples in this article. But a
final example may clarify how strong this influence is. Already in 1999, the
Muslim Council of Sweden (SMR) signed an agreement with Sweden's Social Democrat
party that:
"In the coming term, Muslims' participation in social democracy will
evolve so that: in 2002 there should be among social democratic elected
representatives Muslims in 15 municipal lists, 5 county lists and on the
parliamentary lists in at least five counties."
There are few lobbying organizations that can get the largest party in Sweden to sign
an agreement with such clear and concrete promises.
Ideology
The Islamic Association of Sweden (IFIS) writes on their website that
they are members of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE).
There are strong links between FIOE and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Besides IFIS's links to the Muslim Brotherhood
through FIOE, IFIS often shows sympathy and support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
In August 2013, IFIS held demonstrations in Stockholm
in support of Egypt's
former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, who had been
deposed. The entire Muslim civil society in Sweden criticized the military coup
against Morsi. Yet, the same Muslim civil society
never criticizes the Islamist regimes in Iran
and Saudi Arabia.
When the United Arab Emirates
decided to list the Muslim Brotherhood and all branches of the movement as
terrorists, they also listed IFIS as terrorists, because the authorities in the
UAE assessed that this organization in Sweden was part of the
international network of the Muslim Brotherhood.
When a debate started in 2014 on making it illegal for Swedish citizens
to travel to other countries to participate in jihad, the Muslim Human Rights Committee
(Muslimska Mänskliga Rättighetskommittén), one of the organizations within
Swedish Muslim civil society, claimed that such a law would be racist.
Furthermore, they argued that people who fought in jihad abroad were not even a
threat against Sweden.
So when it comes to ideology, it seems clear that Muslim civil society in
Sweden has an ideological direction that is close to the Muslim Brotherhood's
ideology, while they criticize the laws and measures that prevent Islamic
terrorism.
Structure
To understand the structure of Muslim civil society in Sweden, we need to look at Kapellgränd
10, in Stockholm,
the official address for at least 15 different Muslim organizations, including
the Stockholm Mosque. Muslim organizations such as IFIS, the European Muslim
Rights Council, the Forum for Young Muslims, Sweden's
Imam Council, the Ibn Rushd
Educational Association and the Swedish Muslim Scouts, use this same address
for their organizations. The bulk of Muslim civil society in Sweden is
controlled from Kapellgränd 10. Thus, the structure
of Muslim civil society appears quite centralized.
The centralization of Muslim civil society can also be seen in that a few
people sit in the leading positions of different Muslim organizations. If, for
example, you take the organization, Ibn Rushd, which is an Islamic educational association in Sweden, its
chairman is Helena Hummasten, who was chairman of the
Muslim Council of Sweden until 2014. The principal of Ibn
Rushd is Omar Mustafa, who was chairman of IFIS until
2016. The development manager of Ibn Rushd is Mustafa Tumturk, who is
also a board member of the Muslim Council of Sweden. Mohammed Fateh Atia, who is responsible
for digital development in Ibn Rushd,
has also been vice-chairman of the Swedish Young Muslims (SUM). These are just
a few examples of how a handful of people have strategic roles in several
organizations in Sweden's
Muslim civil society.
Conclusions
Conclusions that can be drawn about Muslim civil society in Sweden include:
Muslim civil society has significant influence in almost all major
Swedish political parties.
Muslim civil society's influence is strong enough that one of their
representatives was a government minister.
Muslim civil society in Sweden
is an Islamist movement with organizational and ideological links to the Muslim
Brotherhood.
Muslim civil society consists, on paper, of several organizations but in
practice, it operates as a single organization in which a few people have the
leading roles.
We have been talking mostly about Islamism as something foreign, not
among us in the Western world. But the influence of Islamists, or extremist
Muslims, in a Western country such as Sweden is large; there have been
Islamists in the Swedish government and parliament, without the media or
establishment even reacting.
The greatest threat from Islamism comes not from the suicide bombers who
carry out spectacular attacks, but from Islamists quietly infiltrating our
democratic institutions and normalizing their ideas among us. It is a threat that
must be recognized and addressed.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour
is a member of the board of education in the Swedish city of Malmö and is engaged in several Swedish think
tanks concerned with the Middle East. He is
also editor for the social conservative website Situation Malmö.
Gholam Ali Pour is the author of the Swedish book
"Därför är mångkultur förtryck"("Why
multiculturalism is oppression").
Follow Nima Gholam
Ali Pour on Twitter and Facebook
© 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.
The EU vs. the
Nation State?
George Igler/Gatestone Institute/December 28/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9654/eu-nation-states
The question remains, however, why any nation would want to throw out its
sovereignty to institutions that are fundamentally unaccountable, that provide
no mechanism for reversing direction, and whose only "solution" to
problems involves arrogating to itself ever more authoritarian, rather than
democratically legitimate, power.
Previous worries over unemployment and the economy have been side-lined:
the issues now vexing European voters the most, according to the EU's own
figures, are mass immigration (45%) and terrorism (32%).
The Netherlands' Partij Voor de Vrijheid, France's
Front National and Germany's
Alternativ für Deutschland
are each pushing for a referendum on EU membership in their respective nations.
Given that the EU's institutions have been so instrumental as a causal
factor in the mass migration and terrorism that are now dominating the minds of
national electorates, some might argue that the sooner Europeans get rid of the
EU, which is now doing more harm than good, the better.
Attention is beginning to focus on elections due to take place in three
separate European countries in 2017. The outcomes in the Netherlands, France
and Germany
will determine the likely future of the European Union (EU).
In the Netherlands,
on March 15, all 150 members of the country's House of Representatives will face
the ballot box. The nation is currently led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose VVD party holds 40 seats in the legislative
chamber, ruling in a coalition with the Dutch Labour party, which holds 35
seats.
In contrast, the Party for Freedom – Partij Voor de Vrijheid (PVV) – led by Geert Wilders, currently holds 12 seats.
According to an opinion poll, issued on December 21, Wilders's
party has leapt to 24% in the polls, while Rutte's
party has slid to 15%. Were an election to happen now, this would translate to
23 MPs for Rutte's VVD, and 36 MPs for Wilders's PVV.
Given the strict formula of proportional representation in the Netherlands,
however, coalition governments are the norm. Should Wilders's
PVV come first in March, he will likely need to negotiate with one of his
staunchest critics to form a government.
In France,
two rounds of voting in the presidential elections are set to take place on
April 23 and May 7 – with the two leading candidates from the first round
facing each other in a runoff in the second round.
The most likely candidates to make it through to the second round,
François Fillon, of the centre-right Les Républicains, and Marine Le Pen, of the populist Front
National, remain tied in first-round polling.
A survey, published on December 7, gave each candidate 24%. Le Pen's
party, however, has previously fallen afoul of France's dual-round voting system,
in which voters for other parties have used the second round to swing behind
the more moderate candidate.
A separate BVA poll, which solely simulated a run off between Fillon and Le Pen, showed the former the potential victor
by 67%.
For all the discussion of a populist revolt in European politics, the
parties agitating for change against the continent's open borders, and its
centralized, unaccountable and un-transparent law-making – originating from the
institutions of the EU – continue to face an uphill climb.
In Germany,
despite the calamities associated with the decision of its Chancellor, Angela
Merkel, to accept 1.5 million Muslim migrants into her nation in 2015, she is
seeking re-election.
On a date yet to be determined, between August 27 and October 22, German
federal elections will take place to decide the members of the Bundestag, the
country's federal parliament.
Despite having been founded only in April 2013, the populist Alternative
for Germany
party – Alternativ für
Deutschland (AfD) – has recently risen to an
unprecedented 16% in the polls, in the wake of the attack on Berlin Christmas
shoppers on December 19. Terrorism is proving a driver of voters' intentions.
The increasing levels of support being enjoyed by Europe's
populist Eurosceptic parties are clearly associated
with issues which are coming to dominate popular concern. Previous worries over
unemployment and the economy have been side-lined: the issues now vexing
European voters the most, according to the EU's own figures (pp.4-5), are mass
immigration (45%) and terrorism (32%).
Breaking these Eurobarometer numbers down
further, country by country (p.7), Dutch voters picked
immigration as their greatest concern by a startling 56%, with terrorism
following at 33%.
French voters, despite being subjected to more recent terrorist
atrocities than any other European nation, picked immigration and terrorism by
a margin of 36% and 35%, respectively, according to the latest EU report. The
parlous state of the French economy continues to be a major concern to French
voters.
The elections scheduled next year in the Netherlands, France, and
Germany, are doubly significant in that they make up three of the six original
signatory nations of the founding treaty which eventually gave rise to the EU.
The Netherlands' Partij Voor de Vrijheid, France's
Front National and Germany's
Alternativ für Deutschland
are each pushing for a referendum on EU membership in their respective nations.
Signed in March 1957, by Italy,
France, West Germany, Belgium,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Treaty of Rome established both
the European Economic Community – proposing a
single market for goods, labour, services and capital within the bloc – and
also, crucially, brought the European Commission into existence.
The executive body of the EU, which also has the sole remit for
initiating legislation at the European level, is led by the controversial
Jean-Claude Juncker, whose own grim opinion of the
nation state's role in the likely future of the European continent was made
clear in a speech on December 9. On the 25th anniversary of the drafting
of the Maastricht Treaty, which paved the way for the Euro – the single
currency shared by 19 countries within the 28 member EU – Mr. Juncker delivered a stark message:
Europe is the smallest continent. ... We
are a relevant part of the global economy: 25% of the global GPD. In 10 years
from now, it will be 15%. In 20 years from now, not one single Member State
of the European Union will be a member of the G7. ... And from a demographic
point of view, we are not really disappearing, but we are losing demographic
weight.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Europeans represented 20% of
the human kind. Now, at the beginning of this century: 7%. At the end of this
century: 4% out of 10 billion people. So those who do think that time has come
to deconstruct, to put Europe in pieces, to subdivide us in national divisions,
are totally wrong. We will not exist as single nations without the European
Union.
In short, according to Juncker, the European
nation state simply no longer has a future. Many, including voters this year in
Britain and Italy, and potential
supporters of the PVV, the AfD and the Front
National, would emphatically disagree.
In the 2017 elections in the Netherlands
and France,
Geert Wilders (left) and François Fillon
(right) have good chances of being elected.
Critics of the EU, whose philosophical foundations were laid between the
two World Wars, have often claimed that its purpose was to tie together the
economic fortunes of each member state so that exiting the bloc would become
practicably impossible.
As one of the founding fathers of the EU, the French diplomat Jean
Monnet, argued in 1943:
"There will be no peace in Europe if states are reconstituted on a
basis of national sovereignty ... Prosperity and vital social progress will
remain elusive until the nations of Europe form a federation or a 'European
entity' which will forge them into a single economic unit." [1]
This "fusion of (economic functions)," Monnet explained in
1952, "would compel nations to fuse their sovereignty into that of a
single European State." [2]
Despite the historic vote by the United Kingdom to exit the EU on June
23, the procedural mechanism for Britain's departure has yet to be implemented,
and has been the subject of extended legal and parliamentary debate.
Those who had hoped that Britain would have already demonstrated a clear
economic future for a nation outside the EU bloc, to embolden populist parties
in other European countries seeking independence, before next year's pivotal
elections, have had their wishes caught up, temporarily at least, in the cogs
of procedure.
The question remains, however, why any nation would want to throw out its
sovereignty to institutions that are fundamentally unaccountable, that provide
no mechanism for reversing direction, and whose only "solution" to
problems involves arrogating to itself ever more authoritarian, rather than
democratically legitimate, power.
However, the EU claims that support for the euro within the currency bloc
is at an all-time high (70%), and a majority in countries like Hungary, Romania
and Croatia
would, in fact, like to join the EU's currency union.
Given that concerns about mass migration, and the increase in crime and
terrorism that have accompanied it, are only likely to grow, and that
cross-national security cooperation is necessarily undermined by the EU's open
internal borders – Anis Amri, the Berlin
truck assassin, was shot dead in Milan – Europe's populist parties nevertheless face a sizeable
challenge.
Despite voters' concerns about mass migration, in the absence of
presenting their electorates with a compelling economic vision outside of the
EU, polling numbers still favour the political mainstream.
Given that the EU's institutions have been so instrumental as a causal
factor in the mass migration and terrorism that are now dominating the minds of
national electorates, some might argue that the sooner Europeans get rid of the
EU, which is now doing more harm than good, the better.
**George Igler, between 2010 and 2016, aided
those facing death across Europe for
criticizing Islam.
[1] p.148 – BAUDY, T. (2012) The Significance of
Borders, Why Representative Government and the Rule of Law Require Nation
States, Brill.
[2] ibid. op.cit.
© 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.
The coming turbulence of 2017
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/December
28/16
We have been through another bloody year that was
marked by several significant shifts and quakes in international relations that
seem to have left the remains of the political system established after World
War II in ashes. In the current circumstances, the forecast for 2017 is rather
gloomy. The main player shaking up the international system is the new
president of the US.
Too much in 2017 will depend on Mr. Trump and on how the Senate and Congress
will limit his adventurism. But what is clear is that Donald Trump will step
into power in January of 2017 and will hardly stabilize the international
situation. His administration, if we are to judge by its composition, is
dangerously hawkish with a dominance of representatives from military circles.
His policy is not clear. His agenda is not clear as well. He is a businessman
and apparently will treat politics and international relations as a business to
be done with the most benefit to the United States. Such an approach, on
the one hand, can ease tensions on the Russia-US track. In terms of leading the
country, his personal attitude toward other nations influence
his political approaches. But easing the tensions on one front he will raise
tensions to new extremes on the other tracks. His policy toward China has all
chances of raising tensions between the two countries and any hostility and
strain where at least one superpower involved is dangerous for global
stability. His anti-migration stance will boost xenophobia and racial disputes
within the country on the one hand and deepen the already severe gap between
Trump supporters and his opponents on the other. In foreign politics, his blind
support of Israel has all
chances of upsetting US relations with the Arab world, especially taking into
account his seemingly xenophobic attitude toward the Middle
East and Muslim world. The prospects of the hard-reached Iranian
deal seem negative. The cancelation of the Iranian deal will
most likely fuel regional strain and increase the nuclear threat.
2017 will be more nasty that 2016. Turbulence will grow. The first steps taken
by the new US
president will determine the future scene. An aggravation of ties with Iran will lead
to the domino effect, boosting sectarian conflicts and strengthening sectarian
components in already existing ones. Syria,
Iraq and Yemen are on
the list. The intensifying clash between Sunnis and the Shiites predicates the
rise of terrorist attacks and the spread of tension between Muslims. Iran’s intensifying interference in regional
affairs will toughen the Saudi Arabian response - the Kingdom will probably
raise its voice higher demanding the international community constrain Iran. What is
clear is that under the rug sectarian battles will become more violent claiming
more and more lives and weakening already extremely weakened regional balances.
A big question mark hangs over Syria,
the only hope is that Idlib will not be drowned in
blood. ISIS is not faring badly. Palmyra is once again in
its hands. The offensive on Raqqa continues to occupy
minds. The operation in Mosul
that will leave thousands of civilians dead is still going, with the end
nowhere in sight. Palestinians will most likely have to forget about any
justice for another couple of years. The spread of extremism and deadly
terrorism will continue as long as the international community is staying
impotent. So, 2017 will be marked by other attacks that will make the world
shudder again. 2017 will be more nasty that 2016. Turbulence will grow. The
first steps taken by the new US
president will determine the future scene we are doomed to face.
Obama played his last settlements trump
card
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Last Friday’s Security Council resolution calling for cessation of Israel’s
settlement activity was a decision waiting to happen. It has been a very long
time since this body sent such a clear and united message of disapproval of the
Israeli settlement project. Astonishingly, the last such instance was in 1980
with the passing of Resolution 465, which bluntly and totally denounced the
building of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land. One of the most
obvious reasons for this long delay was the US’s persistent exercising of its
veto power to block similar resolutions. This obstruction was reflective of
both the domestic power configuration in the United States, and the structure of
the Security Council, which entrusts disproportionate power in the hands of
five countries that do not necessarily use it wisely. However, on this
occasion, weeks prior to bidding farewell to the White House, President Obama
chose for his country to abstain and thereby allowed the resolution to pass
with the support of the other 14 members of the Security Council.
In the hours leading up to the vote, President-elect Trump did his tweeting
best to pressurize the outgoing Obama administration to avert the resolution
from passing. Obama, free from the need to appease his domestic political
rivals, opted for prudence, ready to absorb top-heavy and at times vile criticism
from the Israeli government and its allies in the United States. The Netanyahu
government overreacted in its characteristic counterproductive and hysterical
manner. It lambasted Obama asserting, “The Obama administration conducted a
shameful anti-Israel ambush at the UN.”
Netanyahu’s cavalier acts of bravado and opportunistic anger may gain him some
traction with the Right in Israel
and some elements in US
society, but they will only push Israel into a corner. An anonymous
diplomatic source briefed journalists stating, “this
is the last sting from President Obama. An act that revealed
the true face of the Obama administration.” In a rush of blood to his
head, Netanyahu conveniently forgot that this is an administration that only
recently signed the largest military aid agreement ever with Israel, and a
fortnight ago handed it the first of a few dozen of the most sophisticated
stealth fighters in the world, the F-35. Regrettably, Netanyahu was in no state
of mind to take a deep breath and reflect on his and his government’s
contribution to this international condemnation of its settlement policy. Their
deliberate actions to ensure the failure of the Kerry peace initiative, the
constant announcements of the expansion of settlements, and in the last few weeks
the passing of a bill allowing for the illegal confiscation of more Palestinian
land, compelled the members of the Security Council to act.
However, Netanyahu for his own domestic political reasons and due to a complete
lack of long term strategic thinking, embarked instead on a massive verbal
attack on all the member states of the Security Council. Serving also as a
foreign minister, Netanyahu, in an unusual act of folly, summoned and rebuked
all the ambassadors to Israel
from Security Council member countries, including US ambassador Dan Shapiro. While
some members of his own cabinet called for the annexation of the West Bank and intensifying the building of settlements,
Netanyahu opted to “punish” those who dared to support this UN Resolution.
He cancelled visits of senior dignitaries from these countries to Israel and of
Israeli officials to their countries. In addition, he suspended some of Israel’s funding to the UN and to Senegal, who
was one of the sponsors of this UN resolution. Even in a moment of rage he
should know that a small country such as Israel, as powerful as it is, makes
itself look utterly unreasonable and ridiculous, when it takes on a united
international front. Will the next step be to sever all diplomatic relations
with these countries or boycott them?
These cavalier acts of bravado and opportunistic anger may gain him some
traction with the Right in Israel
and some elements in US
society, but they will only push Israel into a corner and lead to
its international isolation. At this stage last week’s resolution has no more
than symbolic significance, but rejecting it out of hand may end in more
concrete measures against the Jewish state.
Anyone who cares to read Resolution 2334 carefully will recognize that it was
meticulously crafted to ensure that criticism of Israel did not go beyond its
settlement activity. There was nothing new in reminding Israel of its
obligations as an occupying power in accordance with international law under
the Fourth Geneva Convention. For the Security Council to reiterate that
Israeli settlements have “no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation
under international law,” not to mention that they present a major hindrance to
the prospect of two-state solution, can only be considered as stating the obvious.
At the same time, the resolution takes pains to emphasize that members of the
UN should differentiate in their dealings with Israel between the internationally
recognized territory of the State of Israel, and the territories occupied by it
in 1967. The resolution almost represents desperation on the part of the
international community to salvage the peace process, based more on hope than
conviction.
In reacting to the most recent Security Council resolution, Israeli officials
ignored the fact that the fifteen members also called for the prevention of
terrorism. Furthermore, two members of the Security Council, Venezuela and Malaysia,
which have no diplomatic relations with Israel,
supported the resolution which explicitly recognizes Israel and one which does not
exclude changes in the 1967 border as long as it is agreed by both sides.
Netanyahu might feel bitter and frustrated that Obama outmaneuvered
him so close to the latter’s departure from the White House. Yet, considering
his conduct during the nuclear negotiations with Iran, he deserves little sympathy.
To think that this was an act of revenge by a departing president is over
simplistic. It is more a case of acting on what he believes is in the best
interest of the United States,
Israel
and the region. Considering his successor and his choice for the US’s next
ambassador to Israel, an extreme right-wing supporter of the settlements, this
may have been Obama’s last act of establishing some sense in US foreign policy
towards Israel—an attempt to help it to stay Jewish and democratic. Maybe, just
maybe, had Obama been as assertive on the peace process all along as he was
last week, the peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians would
have stood a better chance.
Forecasting the world in 2017
Hussein Shobokshi/Al Arabiya/December
28/16
I am trying to understand the present by what happened yesterday but the task
is not easy and thus attempting to read the future through analysis of what
will happen is almost impossible to try at the best. Very soon, the year 2016
will end as the world prepares to welcome the New Year. How will the New Year
shape up and what are the most important factors that will affect it? This is
the most important question for discussion and deliberation as we look forward. As we all know, there is going to be a
new administration in the White House. With the entry of Donald Trump from the
Republican Party, a “package” of new policies is expected, especially on the
economic front. With Donald Trump at the helm, America
will take a stronger stand against Iranian influence in the Middle East region
and will raise its hand for outright intervention in Iraq
and Syria
to confront the extremist groups as the two have turned into an
inter-continental risk.
As for the economic policies, America
will be more “conservative” and will plan and encourage most of its industries
to apply “protectionist policies” and so the world will see America protect
itself economically. Therefore, the banner of globalization will go to China
which began to promote itself globally with traditional allies of America in
the heart of Asia (the Philippines and Thailand, for example) and it will
ensure the continuity of open markets by offering incentives and other
benefits. The world is looking forward to welcoming 2017 with anxiety and hope
for peace. China is already
doing so with South America, Africa and Europe and of course, Asia.
Africa will also witness tremendous competition in its promising and growing
market with intense competition between Japan
and China
in particular. European continent will not see any economic awakening because
it will be immersed in electoral duels to reclaim political space from the far
right, even if the latter fails to win decisively, but it will turn into an
influential political force as in the past many years it was not considered as
politically strong.
The world will undergo very important technological transformation with serious
tests for driverless cars, and a significant increase in the spread of
“artificial intelligence” applications in a lot of elements of life, whether
recreational, scientific or economic. This technology will create enormous
shift in the world of architecture and design so buildings and infrastructure
will have higher rate of “intelligence” in dealing with emergencies and natural
disasters. The
use of hard currency will be reduced significantly in favor
of electronic payments with effective and influential technology with overall
acceptance but it will reflect negatively on the labor
market. This in turn will see a huge increase in unemployment rate because
technical staff will come as an alternative to the traditional workforce.
China will increase its
domination in the South China Sea with significant influence at the expense of
the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan
and Japan and all of them
will not be able to counter China’s
lust for power in the region. Putin will exercise his presence in the center of
Eastern Europe, Middle East and areas of influence in the heart of the central
Asian republics and will have no objections from America. 2017 will be an
economically difficult year with absence of growth opportunities but India will see
significant leaps. The world is looking forward to welcoming 2017 with anxiety
and hope for peace!
**This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on December 26, 2016.
The Politics of a
Constitutional Crisis
Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/Asharq Al-Awsat
English/December 28/16
Many constitutional systems around the globe have been tested in 2016. Turkey, Poland,
the UK, the U.S. — each
case sheds some light on how different constitutional arrangements respond to
the challenges of political factions.
Begin with the worst constitutional crisis, the one that is taking place in Turkey in the
aftermath of a coup attempt against the government of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan. The
background is complicated: Erdogan’s AK Party won
national elections in 2002, 2007 and 2015; Erdogan
himself was directly elected president in 2014. All these elections were pretty
clean, and most observers accept that a plurality of Turks have preferred Erdogan’s party for a decade and a half.
During that time, the Turkish constitution has come under pressure both from
AK’s attempts to make it more religion-friendly and from the efforts of the
constitutional court to maintain the radical secularism enshrined in the
document. Beyond that, Erdogan has been slowly but
clearly eroding freedom of the press as he has become increasingly
authoritarian.
But the failed coup this past summer changed Turkey’s constitutional landscape
drastically. Not only did Erdogan purge the military,
but he took the opportunity to purge the judiciary, too, badly undermining the
rule of law. The purge was based partly in party politics, and partly on the
religious-cultural movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish leader in exile in the U.S. whom Erdogan blames for the coup attempt.
The lesson is that when a government believes one faction is trying to bring it
down undemocratically, it will be sorely tempted to suppress that faction
outside the constitution. Although Turkey’s constitution has been
fairly functional, the country’s prospects for remaining democratic have been
weakened considerably.
Poland
represents a less drastic but still worrisome case. Poland’s ruling right-wing
nationalist PiS party began 2016 by trying to rig the
constitutional court so it wouldn’t block the party’s planned encroachments on
democratic rights. By spring, there had been major protests by a democracy
movement, and the government hardened its position despite warnings from the
European Union.
This month, PiS imposed new restrictions on
journalists covering the parliament, which in turn triggered a new round of
protests.
PiS has
an outright parliamentary majority — the first since Poland became a democracy. The
Polish constitution, which has held up better than almost any other Eastern
European post-communist government system, hasn’t been given a chance to
establish norms for dealing with a government that wants to marginalize
minority voices. The turn to street-based protests is a consequence.
Poland’s
constitutional system may rally if international support and civil society can
pressure PiS to respect political liberties. The next
year will be crucial — and if the system doesn’t succeed, Poland could become a victim of gradual
constitutional failure, like Turkey
and closer to the heart of Europe.
The UK has the oldest
continuously operating constitutional system in the world, and unlike Turkey or Poland, it’s got lots of experience
in dealing with partisan politics. Broadly, the British solution has long been
to rely on constitutional traditions that aren’t found in a single, written
document, creating a system based on the theory of parliamentary sovereignty,
one that respects the rights of minorities. It’s a kind of miracle,
constitutionally speaking — and no other country has really been able to
replicate it.
Yet Britain
is changing. Since its accession to the European Union, the country has been
exposed to steady pressure to judicialize those constitutional
protections — the approach mostly used in Europe
and modeled in large part on the post-World War II U.S. Supreme Court. The
risks and benefits of that shift have been very much in evidence during the
debate about whether the Conservative-led government can formally leave the EU
after a referendum without a separate parliamentary vote.
In the past, this debate would have been decided in Parliament. Now it’s taking
place in the courts. In advance of the Supreme Court vote, Britons are learning
the pleasures of court-watching and vote-counting and partisan-based
predictions of who will win.
In comparative constitutional terms, this may seem like progress — but it’s
probably regress. Faced with a deep political divide over Brexit,
Britain
is relying on new constitutional technologies rather than its own traditions,
which have historically handled partisan division well.
The U.S.
is the archetypal example of how a constitutional system grapples with partisan
division using courts — and the limits of that approach. The Republican Senate
managed to block Barack Obama from naming a Supreme Court justice who would
have helped balance constitutional rights in the face of a Republican
government.
To be fair to Senate Republicans, they didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. They
were trying to defend their position rather than expand their party’s power.
But now a Republican Congress and Republican president will be limited by the
court only as long as the court does not have a strong Republican majority.
The fault lies partly with the Founding Fathers, who designed the Constitution
to avoid the creation of political parties, not take account of them. It’s hard
for the party that controls Congress to check the president when he comes from
their party. The courts have stepped in to try to fix this problem by
protecting minority rights.
But the worrisome fact is that constitutional protections in the U.S. now rest
at least partly on a gamble on the health of the court’s older, liberal
justices. For the most part, the U.S. system has worked. It’s going
to be tested in the months and years ahead.