LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
November 11/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.november11.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
Father, I desire
that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my
glory
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John
17/24-26/:"Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may
be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you
loved me before the foundation of the world. ‘Righteous Father,
the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent
me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love
with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
For the judgement following one trespass
brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings
justification
Letter to the Romans 05/12-16/:"Just as sin came into the world
through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because
all have sinned sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not
reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses,
even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a
type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass.
For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the
grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,
abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one
man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but
the free gift following many trespasses brings justification."
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on November 10-11/16
Will Lebanon's new president give up on old friends/Ali Hashem/Al Monitor/November 10/2016
A marriage of convenience in Lebanon/Marwan Asmar/Gulf News/November 10/16
Hariri frustrated by ministerial portfolio demands/Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/November 10/16
Jumblat: Aoun is not Made
in Lebanon President/Thaer Abbas/Asharq
Al Awsat/November 10/16
Lebanon’s New Presidency May Enact Anti-Refugee Agenda/ Kareem ChehayebRefugees Deeply.November
10/16
Canada: Parliament Condemns Free Speech/Judith Bergman/Gatestone
Institute/November 10/16
America's Know-Nothing Diplomacy/ Daniel Pipes/Washington Times/November 10/16
Iran's Threats Louder after Obama Appeasement/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/November 10/16
Is this the beginning of the end for the Iran deal/Julian Pecquet/Monitor/November
10/16
Syria: Building peace in the midst of war/ Harriet Lamb/Al Arabiya/November
10/16
Don’t fear Trump/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al
Arabiya/November 10/16
Arabs and the American elections/ Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November
10/16
Trump and the Middle East: ‘Ignore the campaign rhetoric’/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
Trump and Brexit shock the system/Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
Separate Assyrian Churches From State, Says Assyrian Confederation of Europe/
Assyrian International News Agency/November 10/16
Egypt's Severe Economic Crisis Sparks Harsh Criticism Of Regime's Economic
Policy, Calls To Topple Regime On November 11/By: C. Meital/MEMRI/November
10/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese
Related News published on on November 10-11/16
Several Obstacles Delaying Government Line-Up
Report: Hariri Angered by 'Unrealistic' Demands for Portfolios
Hariri Says 'Optimistic' on Govt. Formation, Calls for Cooperation
Aoun Vows to Put Oath into Action: Cooperation Leads
to Reforms
Jumblat: Govt. Formation Process Moving Slowly but
Steadily
Army Finds Hashish Factories in Hermel
Sami Gemayel: Kataeb would
not mind participating in government at service of Lebanon
Saudi, Lebanese Cultural Forum launched at Yarzeh
Cypriot Foreign Minister leaves Beirut
Moroccan Ambassador arrives in Beirut
Chehayeb launches climate change adaptation project
Rahi meets Swedish Ambassador
Memo of understanding between Beirut Municipality and AUB
Erasmus+ holds annual Lebanon National Information Day
Army Liberates Kidnapped Syrian Family in Masnaa
Aoun invites Trump to enhance security ties
Trump's victory not to affect Lebanon political scene soon: Siniora
Will Lebanon's new president give up on old friends?
A marriage of convenience in Lebanon
Hariri frustrated by ministerial portfolio demands
Jumblat: Aoun is not Made
in Lebanon President
Lebanon’s New Presidency May Enact Anti-Refugee Agenda
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on
November 10-11/16
Traces of ISIS ‘mass grave’ rot in Iraqi town
Battle for Mosul nears ancient Nimrud
Iraqi Forces Move on Two Villages South of Mosul
US strikes may have killed 119 civilians in Iraq, Syria: Pentagon
Top YPG commander assassinated in north Syria
Eastern Aleppo down to 'last food rations': UN
Excellent' first meeting for Obama, Trump
Trump election victory prompts protests across US
Israeli-Arab Mayor: 'I Taught Trump All He Knows'
EU invites Trump to summit, warns against ‘isolation’
France’s Hollande: Trump win ‘opens period of
uncertainty’
Sisi receives Abu Dhabi crown prince in Cairo
Trump threat is a joke, says Iranian military chief
Iran says has options if nuclear deal fails
Houthi projectiles leave 13 Saudis injured
Attack at Turkish government building in southeast wounds three
King Salman receives US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman
Egypt Freezes Assets of Anti-Torture NGO
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on November 10-11/16
Several Obstacles Delaying Government Line-Up
Naharnet/November 10/16/The optimistic atmospheres
regarding a “quick” formation of the new cabinet do not reflect the reality as
difficulties arise and hamper the mission of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, media reports said. Unnamed sources said that
things tend to tilt towards pessimism as for a close cabinet line-up as a
result of preconditions set by some political parties. The sources listed a
number of issues that the parties still have to agree upon which they say is
hampering a quick formation of the cabinet beginning with the shape of the
government, the number of ministers and the share that will allotted for each
political party. The distribution of sovereign ministerial portfolios on
political and partisan sides is another thorny issue that they still have to
agree upon. An understanding on whether the share of the newly elected
President Michel Aoun, who is founder of Free
Patriotic Movement, shall be separated from the share that will be allotted for
the FPM. Former President Michel Suleiman had a president share in the former
government because he was not part of any political party, which is not the
case with the current president. Determining the share of the Lebanese Forces
and balancing it with that of the Free Patriotic Movement also needs to be
agreed. Another issue is the stake of PM-designate Saad
Hariri and his inclination to choose Christian and Shiite ministers as part of
his share. The shares that will be allotted to Aoun,
Hariri, Hizbullah, AMAL Movement, MP Talal Arslan, Marada,
Kataeb, and the Syrian Social National Party, are not
final as yet. Whether MP Walid Jumblat
is going to include MP Talal Arslan
as part of his share still needs to be finalized. The process of forming a
government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries. Aoun
was elected last month as Lebanon's
13th president after a key endorsement from al-Mustaqbal
Movement leader Saad Hariri and crucial support from Hizbullah. Aoun also received
important support from the Lebanese Forces. Aoun's
election as president and Hariri's appointment as premier-designate have raised
hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a
sign that Hariri's task of forming a new cabinet might not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse him for the prime
minister post. Hariri is likely to struggle with his government's policy
statement, which will have to make reference to Israel,
as well as the war in Syria,
both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.
Report:
Hariri Angered by 'Unrealistic' Demands for Portfolios
Naharnet/November
10/16/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is holding
intensive consultations with President Michel Aoun
and Speaker Nabih Berri to
complete the formation of the cabinet which seems to limp under the demands of
some political parties to be given specific portfolios. Hariri is angered by
what media reports described as the “unrealistic claims” raised by some for
certain ministerial portfolios. He emphasizes the need to facilitate the
mission of lining up the cabinet in the near future in order to accomplish several
pressing issues, and to translate the oath of office and start implementing the
work plan posed, al-Joumhouria daily reported on
Thursday. Well-informed sources told the daily that Hariri is determined to
finalize his task in a maximum of 72 hours if there have been no obstacles to
delay it, and he plans to visit the Speaker after that to put the finishing
touches in preparation for the launch of the new cabinet. The sources added
that head of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Walid Jumblat told Hariri of his willingness to facilitate his
mission. The process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve around the distribution of
key posts like the finance, defense and energy
ministries. Aoun was elected last month as Lebanon's 13th
president after a key endorsement from al-Mustaqbal
Movement leader Saad Hariri and crucial support from Hizbullah. Aoun also received
important support from the Lebanese Forces. Aoun's
election as president and Hariri's appointment as premier-designate have raised
hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a
sign that Hariri's task of forming a new cabinet might not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse him for the prime
minister post. Hariri is likely to struggle with his government's policy
statement, which will have to make reference to Israel,
as well as the war in Syria,
both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.
Hariri
Says 'Optimistic' on Govt. Formation, Calls for Cooperation
Naharnet/November
10/16/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced
Thursday that he is “optimistic” the the new
government will be formed soon. “We hope to read together, build together, work
together and form the government together,” said Hariri during a visit to the
23rd edition of the Francophone Book Fair in BIEL. Asked when the new cabinet line-up will
be announced, Hariri said, “If we work together swiftly, the government can be
formed very soon.” “Like all Lebanese, I'm optimistic and God willing this
matter will happen soon,” the PM-designate added. Hariri's appointment as
premier-designate and the election of Michel Aoun as
president after two and a half years of presidential vacuum have raised hopes
that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a
sign that Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post. Hariri is likely to
struggle with his government's policy statement, which will have to make
reference to Israel, as well
as the war in Syria,
both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The
process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Aoun Vows to Put Oath into Action: Cooperation Leads to
Reforms
Naharnet/November
10/16/President Michel Aoun reiterated on Thursday
that he will make sure that his oath of office is implemented for the good of Lebanon
as he stressed that cooperation among all parties leads to better reforms. “I
will make sure that the oath of office is fully implemented, and as long as
there is cooperation among us, it will lead to better reforms,” said Aoun addressing a delegation from the lawyers syndicate at
the Baabda
Palace. President Michel Aoun pledged on his election on October 31 that “corruption
will be eradicated” during his presidential tenure, stressing that he will not
allow any politician to violate the constitution as part of his vision for a
“strong State.”Outlining his vision for the future of
Lebanon,
Aoun had added: “We will exploit our natural resources
and there are high hopes and a will among all Lebanese. That's why we have
reached the presidency carrying developmental projects.”The
elected president also pledged to “strengthen the army and boost its
capabilities to enable it to repel all kinds of attacks on our country and so
that it protects its homeland and its independence and sovereignty.”Aoun's
election ends a presidential void that lasted around two and a half years. The
FPM founder was tipped to become president after his nomination was formally
endorsed by al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and Saad Hariri (PM-designate) earlier this month. Analysts
have warned his election will not be a "magic wand" for Lebanon, which has seen longstanding political
divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria and has
struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. The
81-year-old former army chief had long eyed the presidency, and his candidacy
was backed from the beginning by Iran-backed Hizbullah,
his ally since a surprise rapprochement in 2006.
Jumblat: Govt. Formation Process Moving Slowly but Steadily
Naharnet/November
10/16/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced Thursday that the process of forming the
first government under President Michel Aoun is moving
“slowly but steadily.”“The government formation
process is moving forward slowly, but apparently steadily,” Jumblat
said in a tweet accompanied by an illustration of several people riding a
convoy of elephants. Jumblat discussed the issue of
the new government overnight Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. Jumblat's Democratic
Gathering might propose the appointment of MP Marwan Hamadeh and ex-MP Ayman Shqeir as ministers in Hariri's cabinet while leaving the
third Druze seat to Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal
Arslan, An Nahar newspaper
reported on Tuesday. Aoun's election as president and
Hariri's appointment as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can
begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political
class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a sign that
Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post. Hariri is likely to
struggle with his government's policy statement, which will have to make
reference to Israel, as well
as the war in Syria,
both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The
process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Army
Finds Hashish Factories in Hermel
Naharnet/November
10/16/The Lebanese army and an Intelligence unit discovered hashish factories
and massive amounts of manufactured hashish and Captagon
pills in raids in the outskirts of the northeastern
town of Hermel,
the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. The army carried out
raids in the al-Shtah area in the outskirts of Hermel and found two hashish factories, seized one ton and
a load of seven trucks of manufactured hashish in addition to one and a half
million Captagon narcotics pills. Ten pieces of
weapons were also seized in addition to ammunition and hand grenades. The army
apprehended five fugitive wanted on several crimes in
the same area, added NNA.
Sami Gemayel:
Kataeb would not mind participating in government at
service of Lebanon
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - Kataeb party
President, Sami Gemayel, tied the participation in
the government to "the formation atmosphere", revealing that contacts
are underway with all the political components over this matter. "If there
is a will to include and respect everyone, the Kataeb
would not mind participating in the government at the service of Lebanon,"
he said. "It is wrong to consider those who have not voted for the
President as opposition. The system in Lebanon is not presidential but
parliamentary, and therefore, the opposition is formed against the Prime
Minister," Gemayel explained, confirming the Kataeb's right to be represented in the government to come.
"Prime minister-designate, Saah Hariri, who has
been nominated by the Kataeb, has
decided, in coordination with the President, to form a national accord
government," he went on, uttering surprise over the attempts to isolate
the Kataeb party. "These attempts are clear in
every statement," he said in this regard, assuring that the party's
positions came in accordance with its stances over the past 10 years. "The
Kataeb never ceded its principles and it never will.
It is ready to wage all the political and national battles possible, and no one
can eliminate it. It is impossible to build a country if not based on the once
joint constants of the Cedar Revolution between the Kataeb
party, President Michel Aoun, Premier Saad Hariri and Dr. Samir Geagea. However, political calculations can separate
between comrades at some stages," he said. Gemayel
noted that "the presidential election happened via foreign settlement and
internal submission." "President Michel Aoun
is a man of surprises and he enjoys a strong personality. We and the Free
Patriotic Movement youth waged pitched battles between the years 1990 and 2005
against the Syrian occupation," he reminded, assuring that President Aoun's approach today seems more positive and open.
"We will give a chance to the new mandate, and we will hold it accountable
for its actions not for its intentions. A new page is open at the national
level, and we must give this phase a chance," the Kataeb
president concluded.
Saudi, Lebanese Cultural Forum launched at
Yarzeh
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - The Saudi embassy in Lebanon on Thursday launched the
Saudi-Lebanese Cultural Forum titled "Amine Rihani's
Arabism", organized at the residence of the Saudi ambassador Ali Awad Asseri in Yarzeh, In the presence of outgoing Minister of Culture,
Raymond Araiji.
Cypriot Foreign Minister leaves Beirut
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - Leaving Beirut on Thursday was the Cypriot Foreign
Minister Ioannis Kasulidis,
on his way to Cyprus after a two-day visit to Lebanon during which he met with
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, and
congratulated him on his election. Kasulidis also met
with caretaker Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Gebran
Bassil, and discussed with him the joint oil and gas
dossier and the issue of displaced Syrians.
Moroccan Ambassador arrives in Beirut
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - The newly appointed Moroccan Ambassador to Lebanon arrived in Beirut
to present his credentials to Lebanese officials upon receiving his diplomatic
mission in Beirut.
Chehayeb launches climate change adaptation project
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - Caretaker Agriculture Minister Akram
Chehayeb and the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), represented by its Director in Lebanon, Dr. Maurice Saadeh, launched from the Grand Serail
the project titled "effective adaptation to climate change in forest
across the Lebanese regions."The launching
ceremony was attended by a crowd of dignitaries and officials, as well as
economic, agricultural and environmental representatives. This project falls
within a series of projects previously signed to increase forestry in Lebanon,
mainly because of the tragedies suffered by forests, among which cutting trees,
fires, sanders and crushers, leading to the loss of the equivalent of 35
percent of the forest area in the country.It is to
note that threats to the ecosystem could worsen due to climate change. By the
year 2040, the proportion of precipitation is expected to decrease up to 10-20
percent and temperatures to rise by two degrees Celsius, leading to prolonged
periods of drought.
Rahi meets Swedish Ambassador
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rahi, met Thursday in Bkirki the Swedish ambassador to Lebanon
and Syria, Peter Semneby, with whom he discussed the situation after the
presidential elections in Lebanon,
as well as the challenges facing the new government. Discussions also focused
on the ongoing war in Syria
and the situation of the Christians of the East. "We shed light, during
the meeting with Patriarch Rahi, on the support that
the international community provides to Lebanon, whether on the political
or the humanitarian levels," said the Swedish diplomat after the meeting.
Regarding the crisis of Syrian refugees, Semneby said
solving this crisis requires major concerted efforts from the international
community.
Memo of understanding between Beirut
Municipality and AUB
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - Beirut Municipality signed with the American University
of Beirut AUB - Strategic Health Initiatives Unit - a memorandum of
understanding titled "Together towards a Healthy Beirut". The memo
aims at defining a health vision for Beirut
city for the year 2022, simultaneously with a clear and sustainable execution
plan. The ceremony, which was held at 'Beit Beirut'
in Sodeco, was attended by MPs Muhammad Qabbani and Jean Ogassapian,
former MP Ghattas Khoury
and a number of AUB academics. Beirut governor,
Judge Ziad Chebib delivered
a word on the occasion whereby he said "The American University with which
we are signing this memo of understanding today (...) deserves to be the
carrier of Beirut's message and the memory of Beirut city."
"During the last war in Lebanon
the surroundings of the American University of Beirut
were almost the only place where Lebanon's diversity and sense of
conviviality were preserved. Beirut
hosted, a few weeks ago, a conference for Francophone countries which dwelled
on that issue in particular," he went on. "We have chosen the AUB to
work on promoting the health of Beirut
inhabitants, but this choice is not exclusive. We are willing to work with
everyone who could serve this purpose. (...) It is high time to bring the
municipal action back to its normal pace," Chebib
concluded.
Erasmus+ holds annual Lebanon National
Information Day
Thu 10 Nov 2016/NNA - The National Erasmus+ Office in Lebanon organised its
annual Information Day on 10 November 2016 at the Auditorium Francois Bassil, Campus of Innovation and Sportof
the Saint-Joseph University. Erasmus+ is the EU programme for Education,
Training, Youth and Sport for the period 2014-2020. The event was held under
the auspices of Elias Bou Saab, Minister of Education
and Higher Education, in the presence of Ambassador Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU)
to Lebanon and in
collaboration with the Saint-Joseph
University. Presidents,
deans, directors and staff from the Lebanese higher education institutions
participated in the event, as well as representatives of the socio-economic
sector and organisations active in higher education.
Participants were informed on the different key actions of the Erasmus+
programme, good practices were presented and training on how to design a
project was conducted. Additional EU opportunities for higher education
institutions and individuals were also presented at the event. Ambassador Lassen said: "Universities have a very important role
to play: they have to respond to the needs of society, most importantly of the
most vulnerable, but also consider the demands of the public and the private
sectors, employers and students.Universities also
have a role in research, science and innovation, which are key to creating
decent and sustainable jobs''. She added: ''the EU will significantly step up
the scope for engagement of neighbourhood partners in Erasmus+, including a
higher level of funding to offer more individual grants for students from
countries from this region - and of course from Lebanon- who want to study in
EU countries.Erasmus+ also provides more support for
universities on both sides of the Mediterranean to strengthen their
international outlook and to create better and more durable networks."In
the last 13 years, the EU has been supporting Lebanese higher education through
several programmes including Tempus and Erasmus Mundus(2002-2013)
thathave contributed to the development of new
curricula, the creation of new structures for research, the modernisation of
governance systems and the building of new links between universities and the
labour market. The EU will extend its support until 2020 with programmes such as
Erasmus+. As a result of the last 2 calls for proposals under Erasmus+
(2015-2016)10 capacity building projects have been selected for implementation
over the next 3 years. Under the mobility and academic exchange initiatives,
ERASMUS+ has approved the mobility of 405 staff and students between 2015 and
2017 (314 from Lebanon to
Europe, and 91 from Europe to Lebanon)
and 577 staff and students in the period 2016-2018 (432 from Lebanon to Europe and 145 from Europe to Lebanon).
Additionally, 8 Lebanese students have been selected for the Joint Master
degrees 2015 and 2 students from Europe to come to Lebanon.
Erasmus+ will continue to support public and private universities in their
efforts to modernise their systems and curricula through transnational partnerships.
It will offer scholarships to enrol in high quality Joint Master Degrees and
will provide more opportunities for students to study, train and gain
experience abroad and for staff to teach and train in EU universities.
Army Liberates Kidnapped Syrian Family
in Masnaa
Naharnet/November 10/16/An army
intelligence patrol on Thursday managed to liberate five members of a Syrian
family from their captors in the Bekaa border region
of Masnaa, an army statement said. The kidnappers had
demanded a ransom for the release of the abductees, the statement said. “A
Honda CRV SUV with no license plates was seized as one of the captors was
arrested and efforts are underway to capture the rest of the culprits,” the
army added.
Aoun invites Trump to enhance security ties
The Daily Star/November 10, 2016/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun
Thursday called for greater cooperation between Lebanon
and the United States to
fight terrorism and bring peace to the Middle East. In a message
congratulating Donald Trump over his shock election win in Tuesday's
presidential vote, Aoun also praised the U.S. as a “great country with bonds of
friendship and mutual respect with Lebanon.”He described Trump's victory as a remarkable democratic
achievement, hailing a system in which the citizens vote to elect a president,
as opposed to Lebanon's
system whereby Parliament chooses the country's leader. Aoun has
previously proposed Lebanon
adopt a direct-voting system to elect the president, but it was shot down by
rivals who argued that they should stick to the system outlined in the
Constitution. Trump
has long called for a tougher approach against terrorism, and has said he would
like to cooperate with Russia
and other countries to defeat ISIS. On Wednesday, Change
and Reform MP Alain Aoun, who is the nephew of Michel
Aoun, also congratulated Trump on his victory,
likening it to his uncle's recent election. "Within
two weeks, two non-traditional presidential candidates, opposed by the
classical political class, were brought [to power] by popular will,” he said,
referring to Aoun, who was elected on Oct. 31, and
Trump. Trump, a
Republican populist who has never served in public office, has taken pride in
his position as a Washington
outsider, repeatedly vowing to rid government of corruption. Aoun, a former
military general, has served in Parliament since 2005 when he established his
own political party, the Free Patriotic Movement. Both speak in a very blunt manner with
little regard to political correctness, however Aoun has moderated his rhetoric in the months leading to
the election in a bid to reach out to rivals and present himself as a potential
president who could represent the country as a whole.
Trump's
victory not to affect Lebanon
political scene soon: Siniora
The Daily Star/November 10/16
BEIRUT:
Future parliamentary bloc chief Fouad Siniora downplayed the possibility of Donald Trump’s
victory in the U.S.
presidential elections having a direct effect on the Lebanese political scene
in the near future. In an interview with As-Safir published
Thursday, Siniora called on “everyone” in Lebanon to
reduce their demands and expectations for the “new era.”“What
is needed from both the politicians and people to be realistic and avoid
disappointment,” Siniora said. The former Lebanese
Prime Minister said it was “deplorable” that most of the public opinion polls
predicted the victory of Trump’s Democrat rival, Hillary Clinton. He said that
some poll takers may have been “embarrassed” to reveal their decision to vote
for Trump, adding that their “instincts” supported him after he was able to
play on their fears and emotions.
Trump’s victory on Wednesday has
been welcomed by many of Lebanon’s
politicians.
Will
Lebanon's
new president give up on old friends?
Ali Hashem/Al Monitor/November 10/2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/ali-hashemal-monitor-will-lebanons-new-president-give-up-on-old-friends/
BEIRUT — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif was the first
foreign minister to congratulate newly elected Lebanese President Michel Aoun in person in Beirut
on Nov. 7. It was a significant step for Iranian diplomacy to convey a message
of support to Lebanon’s
new head of state and to hint that Lebanese-Iranian relations will improve.
This was echoed by outgoing Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran
Bassil on Nov. 8 at a conference for Lebanese and
Iranian businessmen in which Zarif was in attendance.
Bassil called on Lebanese investors to go to Iran. “We need
to boost our economic relations to parallel our political relations,” the
Lebanese official said, adding, “Iran was encircled for years, and
this gave the Iranians great benefits in relying on themselves.
Now it's time to share it with the world.”
Zarif began his visit to Lebanon on Nov.
7 by meeting Aoun at the presidential palace and
describing his host’s election as “a victory for all the factions of the dear
Lebanese people.” Aoun vowed that Lebanon will continue its fight against
terrorism, reiterating that there’s no substitute to a political solution in Syria. Zarif’s meeting with Aoun came
just hours after a Syrian presidential envoy delivered to the new Lebanese
president a congratulatory message from Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. Mansour Azzam,
the minister of Syrian presidency affairs, told reporters there was no need to
open “a new page” in bilateral ties following the election of Aoun. “There was no old page in order to open a new page.
It is a continuing page of constant and balanced relations,” he said.
Zarif also met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, along with senior party officials in what is
seen as an obligatory stop for any Iranian official visiting Lebanon.
Additionally, the top Iranian diplomat held meetings Nov. 8 with Speaker Nabih Berri and outgoing Premier Tammam Salam. It was Zarif’s
visit to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri that
raised eyebrows in Beirut, given Hariri’s
affiliation with Saudi
Arabia, which is in the middle of a bitter
war by proxy with the Islamic Republic around the region. According to an
Iranian official who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Iran wanted to say clearly that it is committed
to Lebanon’s
stability and to dealing with all branches of the state regardless of any
external aspects.” The source added, “Iranian diplomacy has a message of peace
to all parties in Lebanon.
The only enemy in this region is Israel. Therefore, Tehran
is going to exert all possible effort to help the new government in Lebanon
succeed.” After the meeting, Zarif told reporters
that he discussed with Hariri the crises in the region, “We stressed the
importance of having closer views on regional issues to reach appropriate
solutions.”
The Syrian-Iranian rush to Lebanon
was immediately mirrored by ambassadors of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
states to Lebanon,
who paid a visit to Hariri on the same day, expressing support for him and the
president. The Iranian-Syrian-GCC race in Lebanon confirms fears that the new
Lebanese administration is going to face serious challenges with respect to
regional differences. A Lebanese political source close to the presidency told
Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Lebanon is going to stick to what
the president said in his inaugural speech: We’ll have good relations with all
sides, and we might play a role in bridging the gaps. Yet it’s better for
everyone to rid Lebanon
of the burden of taking one side against the other; this is not to the benefit
of the new administration if they care for its success.”
Indeed, while many observers have suggested in local and international
media that the latest developments in Lebanon highlight an Iranian
victory, there is a point of view that suggests this might be an overstatement.
Stances expressed by Bassil in an interview with the
Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat
over relations with Saudi
Arabia and Aoun’s
alliance with Hezbollah could be an indication of the repositioning of the
president’s camp. For instance, Bassil called on all
factions involved in the Syrian war to withdraw and leave Syria for
Syrians. When asked to comment on several GCC countries’ dismay with the
position adopted by Lebanon
at the Arab League after the attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Iran in
January, Bassil said, “We cannot build on a mistake
that was committed in the past.” The Lebanese foreign minister, who heads the
Free Patriotic Movement — which was founded by Aoun —
said that the president “was Hezbollah’s ally when he was the leader of the
Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, but after his election, Aoun became the ally of all Lebanese.”
Indeed, while Aoun need not necessarily have to
give up his old friends, being president and having to successfully cross the
minefield before him entails giving up some
liabilities. If anything, letting go of commitments that don’t fit his new
position might lift a heavy burden.
A
marriage of convenience in Lebanon
Marwan Asmar/Gulf News/November 10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/marwan-asmargulf-news-a-marriage-of-convenience-in-lebanon/
It is political consensus that has
suddenly prevailed, bringing ideologically opposed views and groups together
Yesterday’s foes are today’s
friends. That sums up Lebanese politics. Despite the political doldrums,
stalemates and even verbal annihilations, Lebanese politicians, of whatever
sects and colourings, seem to have come together at the final hour and forged
their swords into plough-shares.
The Lebanese presidential
handshake and the final installing of Michel Aoun as
President in Baabda
Palace, after nearly two-and-a-half
years of parliamentary deadlock, mark a crossroads for the wayward morass of
politics in Lebanon.
Despite the intractable way that Lebanon seems to have been assuaged and labyrinthed with the politics of the region, the Gulf, Iran
and also internationally, the Lebanese have to be given a pat on the back for
standing up and saying “enough is enough, we are going to choose a president,
come what may”.
Of course, it was political will
in the end. Aoun and Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri stood their guard and came up with a formula
basically saying — “I’ll take the presidency and you can be a prime minister” —
which has characterised the way in which the country’s political leaders have
been chosen since the 1940s, but has become increasingly difficult over the
years.
It is political consensus that has
suddenly prevailed, coming out of nowhere to bring two, three, four and even
more ideologically opposed views and groups together. Finally, the stronger
formations among them agreed to set aside their differences and try their hands
at ruling the country. What happened in the electing of a Maronite
president with the support of Shiite Hezbollah and forged by a Sunni prime
minister, who is still putting together his Cabinet, can only be seen as a
typically Lebanese way of doing things and nothing else.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the
end of the road, it’s not the end of another chapter
either. Aoun himself, judging from past meanderings,
is not going to be a lame-duck President, despite his age (81) and in spite of
his predecessors. He wants to bring about a revival of Christian power and
vote, which he says has long been sidelined by the 1989 Taif
Agreement and which shifted the weight of political power in favour of a Sunni
prime minister and a Shiite Speaker of the parliament. Regardless of the actual
day-to-day run-of-the-mill affairs, he wants the Christians to have a higher
standing in the Lebanese pecking order despite the fact that their numbers over
the years — and because of the 15-year civil war — have dwindled as migration
to other countries has increased.
A charismatic person
It is a dream
come true for Aoun, but how he grapples with
the situation and his responsibilities in the next six years is what many will
be watching for. Notwithstanding the Hezbollah support since 2006 — which he
still refuses to term as a strategic alliance, but a tactical one — and his
proven determination to become president since May 2014, when the office fell
vacant, Aoun’s character is that of an old fox. He is
known for his independence, he has a maverick reputation, he is stubborn, a
charismatic person, but one with a temper. At least this is what many say of
the military general who could probably prove to be an ace for Lebanese and
Arab politics for that matter.
All his character traits may
certainly prove Aoun will not take stick from anyone
— not his allies, states known to meddle in Lebanese affairs, his political proteges, his rivals in parliament or his Muslim friends.
He is courting the spirit of the politics of revivalism. It also speaks much
about the old and trusted adage: Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.
Whatever may be the outcome now, it is making the wheels of Lebanese politics turn: Aoun’s Free Patriotic Front and Hariri’s Future Movement
have strong heels in parliament and a strong following. Other parties,
including Christians and Sunnis, may still feel heartbroken by the new
arrangement, but they probably can’t do anything about it. The momentum for a
new political stage has finally been set — sweeping them along as well.
What awaits the new Cabinet,
provided it is formed quickly, are pressing parliamentary business and
legislations that were allowed to rot by the wayside as session after session,
45 in all, were held to choose a president, but had to be disbanded because
there was no quorum and Aoun and his Hezbollah
supporters were blamed for the bedlam. The latter, in a new arrangement under
the Hariri government, is likely to make a comeback, demanding its pound of the
flesh in terms of ministerial berths. It is likely to have its way, but at what
cost and how will it now manoeuvre its presence in Syria remain to be seen. There is
much more to be untangled, but Lebanese politicians are perhaps playing it one
step at a time.
**Marwan
Asmar is a commentator based in Amman. He has long worked in journalism and
has a PhD in Political Science from Leeds
University in the UK.
Hariri
frustrated by ministerial portfolio demands
Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf
News/November 10/16
Beirut: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is engaged in traditional horse-trading
negotiations with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, and others, both to
complete the formation of his national unity cabinet as well as satisfy a
motley-crew anxious to reap benefits from their most recent political
compromises. Local
media sources revealed Hariri’s frustrations with the process, with some
underscoring how unrealistic these demands were. Apparently, three specific
portfolios complicated talks, and are delaying his wish to complete the task
over the next 72 hours.
According to Al Jumhuriyyah daily, Hariri is emphasising the necessity to
accept a turnover of several key posts, including finance, defence and foreign
affairs, though the real fight is over the energy and telecommunications
ministries because those are seen as financial goldmines to officeholders. For now, the prime
minister-designate seemingly believes that a quick resolution of pending
differences will help accomplish key issues and translate the oath of office
into effective results. Towards that end, he sought and reportedly received
pledges from both Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party boss Walid Jumblatt, to facilitate his
mission. The
pro-Hezbollah daily Al Safir reported on Thursday
that the Speaker insisted the finance ministry must remain with his Amal bloc, clarifying: “the Ta’if
Accords stipulate that it should be part of the Shiite sect’s share on the
basis that the finance minister’s signature on decrees is the only Shiite
signature in the executive authority”.
Both of the Free Patriotic
Movement and the LF expressed a desire to fill the finance post but were
willing to negotiate alternatives that raised the ante. One of the alternatives
put forward by the LF is to let Amal keep the
Ministry of Finance in exchange for the Ministry of Defense,
something that Hezbollah rejected. The Ministry of Interior is expected to
remain with Hariri’s Future Movement. Hariri will now sort these opposing views and submit his
list to President Aoun, whose first few days in
office were preoccupied with a slew of protocol visits. Though the presidential
election glow continues to permeate over Lebanon, few expect dramatic
transformations in the near future, even if the October 31 coronation occurred
only after Saad Hariri switched his backing from
Suleiman Franjieh.
Hariri’s endorsement of Aoun unravelled Hezbollah’s obstructionist steps, and while
the party declined to endorse the Future Movement leader for the premiership,
it entrusted negotiations to Speaker Berri. He must
now demonstrate patience to reach the next stages, and as important as the
cabinet challenge is, the Prime Minister-designate must also winnow through the
government’s policy statement, which will not only have to make a reference to
Israel, but must also tackle the ongoing civil war in Syria, both of which are
potential flashpoints with Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s wary citizens are anxious
for Aoun and Hariri to succeed, and are awaiting a
government that will tackle various challenges, including how to restart a
stagnant economy.
In the past, the policy statement
focused on key economic matters and included the wooden triptych of the
“army-people-resistance” formula to defend the country, which the LF dismissed,
although Aoun and Hariri (along with the LF that will
now be entrusted a vital cabinet post) must reformulate to find the right
balance. Will the triptych survive intact and, in the affirmative, will that
bode well for Hariri’s anticipated national unity government?
Jumblat: Aoun is not Made in Lebanon President
Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al Awsat/November
10/16
Beirut-Progressive Socialist Party
leader MP Walid Jumblat has
urged the rival political parties to seize the “historic” opportunity that
brought President Michel Aoun to power and work on
the swift formation of a new government.
“All parties should work swiftly
on the cabinet lineup because the election of the
president after more than two years of vacuum should be followed by the
formation of the government,” Jumblat said.
The PSP chief told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that
the rivals would facilitate the cabinet formation if they stop insisting on
certain shares.
“We have to seize the historic
opportunity,” he said.
Jumblat
also rejected claims made by some politicians that Aoun’s
election late last month was a pure Lebanese decision.
“Some are saying that the
president was made in Lebanon
but such remarks are not accurate,” he told the daily.
“There has never been a made in Lebanon
president,” the lawmaker told Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview.
“There was a sudden largescale international and regional consensus on the
election of a president,” he said.
Such a consensus means that the
international community wants to distance Lebanon from the region’s wars, Jumblat added.
When asked whether the
presidential elections are aimed at temporarily preventing the collapse of the
state, the Druze politician said: “We have never been on the verge of
collapse.”
Asked about his share in the new
cabinet, Jumblat told his interviewer that he hasn’t
insisted on certain portfolios as part of his bloc’s share in the government
but asked for a services ministry and left it for Aoun
and PM-designate Saad Hariri to decide.
“The share of the Druze sect in a
30-member cabinet will be three and I will have two representatives in it,” he
said.
The MP told Asharq
Al-Awsat that the visit of Saudi Arabia’s Arab Gulf
Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan
to Beirut last month was “very important because it gave positive signs” that
Saudi Arabia is returning to play a constructive role in Lebanon by possibly
allowing Saudi and Gulf tourists to return to Lebanon and backing the country
financially.
Jumblat
denied that the Lebanese parliament’s term would be extended again.
“If there is a need for an
extension, then it would be a short technical extension. There is no way out of
the parliamentary elections,” he said.
The PSP leader advised politicians
to liberate themselves from the March 8 and 14 alliances.
“We can no longer keep ourselves
captive to the March 8 and 14 equation,” he said.
“This division is over. Centrism is over too.”
Asked about the new equation, Jumblat said politicians should no longer line up along
different camps.
“We should instead focus on
supporting the army and security institutions, and the economy,” he said.
“Political line-ups became
obsolete when we all voted for Aoun” as president, he
added.
Jumblat
also stressed that it is currently “not necessary to convince Hezbollah” to
stop sending fighters to Syria
in support of Bashar Al-Assad.
“This is an Iranian-regional
issue,” he said.
“Let’s forget that Hezbollah is in
Syria and deal with Lebanon’s
affairs. There are matters that are more important than Hezbollah’s presence”
in the neighboring country, Jumblat
added.
Analysis:
Lebanon’s
New Presidency May Enact Anti-Refugee Agenda
Kareem ChehayebRefugees Deeply.November
10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/kareem-chehayeb-lebanons-new-presidency-may-enact-anti-refugee-agenda/
https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2016/11/10/analysis-lebanons-new-presidency-may-enact-anti-refugee-agenda
Lebanese analyst Kareem Chehayeb examines what
the election of a new president after two and a half years of political
stalemate will mean for the million Syrian refugees in the country.
The election of a new president in Lebanon after a vacuum of two and a
half years marks the beginning of the end of the country’s political deadlock.
The country’s legislative process had essentially ground to a halt. While
parliament can pass laws, a president is required to put them into effect.
Apart from passing several urgent bills this October, the Lebanese parliament’s
last legislative session took place in November 2015.
Many Lebanese may welcome the formation of a more active government
capable of addressing the nation’s many challenges.
Yet it may be bad news for the 1 million-plus Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.
Most of the Lebanese political elite have taken an anti-refugee stance
since large numbers of people began fleeing from neighboring
Syria
in 2011. Lebanon’s
new president, Michel Aoun, and his political party,
the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), are no different.
Now there is fear in Lebanon
that the new president and his government will actually implement this
anti-refugee agenda.
‘Safe Zones’
Most concerning for refugees in Lebanon is the possibility that the new
government will send them back to Syria.
President Aoun used his inaugural speech to
parliament last week to call for the swift return of refugees to Syria, claiming
that the refugee camps may turn into “security threats.”
The idea of returning refugees to “safe zones” inside Syria has been
circulating among the highest echelons of the Lebanese government for a while.
Lebanon’s foreign
minister, Gebran Bassil,
told E.U. foreign ministers last October that identifying and sending refugees
to safe zones in Syria
is “the only solution.”
Some Lebanese officials have identified locations for possible safe
zones. Social affairs minister Rashid Derbas has
referred to the border town of Jarablus, which Turkish-backed
rebel forces seized from the so-called Islamic State in August. While some
Syrian refugees in Turkey,
seeing few prospects of a political solution to the conflict, did start moving
back to Jarablus in September, the area is still far
from safe.
In September, Lebanon’s
labor minister Sejaan Azzi disclosed a plan to incrementally send back refugees
to Syria.
The plan includes the formation of a committee of U.N. and government officials
to relocate Syrians near the border to designated safe zones or alternative
locations of their choice, to mitigate what he calls “terrorist infiltration.” Azzi called on the U.N. to cooperate with his two-year
repatriation plan starting in 2017.
That cooperation is not likely to be forthcoming. Sending refugees back
to a country where they are not safe and face the threat of persecution
violates international law, specifically the principle of non-refoulement.
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has not yet commented on the labor minister’s plan. But UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abu Khaled said in September, “Current conditions in Syria are not appropriate
[for return].”
Lama Fakih, the Middle East and North Africa
deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said there are no areas that would
qualify as “safe zones” in Syria.
“These measures which have been discussed in the past are clearly inadequate
and in violation of international law,” she said.
Lebanon’s
newly elected president Michel Aoun speaks before
thousands of supporters at the presidential palace, Nov. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanon’s
newly elected president Michel Aoun speaks before
thousands of supporters at the presidential palace, Nov. 6, 2016. (AP/Bilal Hussein)
Ties to Assad
Without U.N. cooperation, Lebanon would likely find it
difficult, both politically and practically, to return over 1 million refugees.
Yet the new president’s relationship with the Syrian government means
that sending refugees from Lebanon
back to Syria
is no longer a far-fetched notion.
Aoun has the support of the Syrian government,
as he formed an alliance with Lebanese Shiite political movement Hezbollah in
2006. Hezbollah is a key ally of the Assad regime, and its involvement in the
Syrian battlefield helped shift the momentum of the war. In 2014, Assad
endorsed Aoun as a presidential candidate, and his
election was celebrated by state-allied media last week.
Aoun’s call for refugees to go home echoes
statements from President Assad, who has also called on refugees to return. The
Syrian government is trying to promote an image of legitimacy, and the return
of refugees could help them in that.
Many Syrians displaced by war, however, fear retribution or forced
conscription were they to return to government-controlled areas.
No Respite
Even without the mass return of Syrians, the new Lebanese president is
unlikely to change recent policies that have made life harder for refugees in Lebanon.
No Lebanese government has yet expressed interest in easing barriers for
refugees to enter, register or integrate into the country.
In January 2015, Lebanese authorities started implementing policies that
made the process of renewing residency permits for Syrian refugees onerous and
expensive. Without residency permits, Syrian refugees have no freedom of
movement, access to public services, or even the ability to report abuse to the
police. The lack of legal status also makes refugees more vulnerable to
arbitrary detention and deportation to Syria.
Lebanon
has also rejected a U.N. proposal that all host countries provide the
opportunity for refugees to apply for temporary citizenship. As most Syrian
refugees are Sunni Muslims, making them citizens would have a significant
impact on Lebanon’s
fragile “confessional” political system, which ensures sects are proportionally
represented in all branches of government. Gebran Bassil recently warned that Syrian refugees “threaten the
Lebanese identity.”
Last week, Rashid Derbas reiterated Lebanon’s
refusal to discuss the naturalization of Syrians. “The Lebanese government has
no land to sell or lease and no passports to lend,” he said.
If there is one thing that Lebanese politicians agree on – regardless of
political affiliation – it is that Syrian refugees need to go back as soon as
possible. Now with a new president and a reinvigorated government, there is a
danger that these plans will be put into action.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
November 10-11/16
Traces of ISIS ‘mass grave’ rot in Iraqi
town
Reuters, Hammam Al-Alil,
Iraq Thursday, 10 November 2016/On the banks of the Tigris river, men sit and
watch, smiling with relief as Iraqi policemen, soldiers and local youths bathe
in muddy spring water in a town that was recaptured from ISIS just a few days
ago. Across town, there is a grimmer scene: two stinking corpses, their feet
tied together, rot in the sun in a large dirt quadrant
walled by four man-made earth berms. One body is
intact. The other has parts missing. A severed head lies next to them, its
skull mostly visible. What appear to be several other corpses protrude from the
dirt and detritus. A policeman cautions not to approach or touch the bodies, in
case they are booby-trapped. Narrow, shallow trenches up to 20 yards long have
been dug in some parts of the quadrant. Residents of the town, Hammam al-Alil, say this is the
site of a mass grave which Iraqi forces reported to have uncovered on Monday
after driving out ISIS militants. Iraq has launched an investigation into what
would be further evidence of the ultra-hardline
group’s brutality against people living in areas under its control since it
established its self-styled "caliphate" across much of northern Iraq and Syria more than two years ago.
An operation involving the Iraqi army, Kurdish forces, Shi’ite
and tribal militias and backed by US-led air strikes has driven the jihadists
out of many areas surrounding Mosul, with the
aim of recapturing its last major city stronghold in Iraq. As ISIS
has retreated, it has lashed out, with local residents such as those of Hammam al-Alil paying the price.
“Some were beheaded, and some were shot,” said 35-year-old Odeh,
whose brother was taken away by ISIS militants in the town near the start of
the Mosul
operation last month. “They rounded up people from the town, and from other
areas, and killed them there, where the grave is. It was revenge, they took it
out on anyone over the age of 15,” he said. ISIS
held the agricultural college, 200 yards from the site, as a base and a place
to torture or kill people, residents said. Many estimated that up to 200 people
were killed in the weeks before ISIS withdrew
from the town. Reuters could not access the college because Iraqi police said
it had not been cleared and might still be rigged with explosives. Aid
organizations and local officials have cited reports that Islamic State
executed dozens of people in Hammam al-Alil and barracks nearby on suspicion of planning
rebellions in and around Mosul
to aid the advancing troops. The Iraqi military said its forces at the complex
discovered the decapitated corpses of at least 100 civilians.
Bodies dumped in Tigris
The militants transported 1,600 abducted civilians from the town of Hammam al-Alil
to Tal Afar last week, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes,
and told some they may be taken to Syria. They also took 150 families
from Hammam al-Alil to Mosul. Most of those
executed in Hammam al-Alil
were former members of the Iraqi police and army, taken from villages the group
was forced to abandon, a local official said. Residents confirmed most of those
taken were police or their family members, including the brother of Mohammed
Hassan, himself a former policeman. “My brother Ahmed was killed - I heard he
was among those executed. They (ISIS) pulled him out of my car, because he had
been in the police. He might be in the grave,” said Hassan, who was sitting by
the river. “He might also be in there,” he said, pointing at the water. “They
killed people here, too. They would execute them on the bank and throw them
into the river.” Local ISIS leaders used the
lush tree-lined spa area of Hammam al-Alil, a thermal water resort, for themselves and would not
let anyone else in, Hassan said, watching as mud-caked youths took photos in
the water.
Battle for Mosul nears ancient Nimrud
AFP, Baghdad Thursday, 10 November 2016/The battle for Iraq's second city Mosul
neared the remains of ancient Nimrud on Thursday, the military said, raising
fears for the famed heritage site already ravaged by militant bombs and
sledgehammers. Troops and allied militia were advancing on two villages held by
the ISIS group near the ancient site some 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Mosul, the Joint
Operations Command said. "Units of the 9th Armored
Division and the Hashed al-Ashaeri (tribal militia)
are beginning to advance to liberate the villages of Abbas
Rajab and Al-Nomaniyah, toward Nimrud," it said. Nimrud
was the one of the great centers of the ancient Middle
East. Founded in the 13th Century BC, it became the capital of the
Assyrian empire, whose rulers built vast palaces and monuments that have drawn
archaeologists from around the world for more than 150 years. Many of its
monumental stone sculptures and reliefs were taken way for display in museums
around the world but some of the more massive structures remained in place when
the militants swept through in mid-2014.In April last year, ISIS posted video
on the internet of its fighters sledgehammering
monuments before planting explosives around the site and blowing it up. It was
part of a campaign of destruction by the militants against heritage sites under
their control that also took in ancient Nineveh
on the outskirts of Mosul, Hatra
in the desert to the south and Palmyra in neighboring Syria,
ISIS says the ancient monuments are idols that
violate the teachings of its extreme form of Sunni Islam. But that has not
stopped the group from trafficking artefacts it purports to revile on the black
market to fund its operations. It is unclear what still remains of Nimrud's ancient ruins as
Iraqi forces move closer. But it is just one of a number of treasured heritage
sites that are threatened with further damage by the offensive that the
government launched on October 17 to retake Mosul,
the militants' last major stronghold in Iraq. The area where ancient Hatra is located may see fighting between ISIS and
pro-government militias who aim to retake the town of Tal
Afar, which commands Mosul's
western approaches. Ancient Nineveh
is also in the path of advancing troops. Iraqi artist Dusan
Abdullah works on reproductions of sculptures, that were destroyed a year
before by ISIS at the archaeological site of Nimrud,
at his workshop at Qasr
al-Abbasi Palace in Baghdad
on March 10, 2016. (AFP)
Iraqi
Forces Move on Two Villages South of Mosul
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 10/16/The battle for
Iraq's second city Mosul neared the remains of ancient Nimrud on Thursday, as
the offensive against the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold Raqa was hampered by a sandstorm.
Backed by a U.S.-led coalition,
Iraqi forces and a Kurdish-Arab militia alliance are advancing on Mosul and Raqa in separate assaults aimed at driving IS from its last
major bastions. The coalition, which launched air strikes against IS two years
ago, is looking to deal a fatal blow to the self-styled "caliphate"
the jihadists declared in mid-2014. Launched on October 17, the Iraqi offensive
has seen federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters advance on Mosul
from the east, south and north, pushing inside the eastern city limits last
week. On Thursday the military said troops and allied militia were moving
forward on two IS-held villages near Nimrud,
which is some 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Mosul. "Units of the
9th Armored Division and the Hashed al-Ashaeri (tribal militia) are beginning to advance to
liberate the villages of Abbas Rajab and al-Nomaniyah, toward Nimrud,"
the Joint Operations Command said, later announcing that Abbas
Rajab had been retaken. Nimrud was the one of
the great centers of the ancient Middle East.
Founded in the 13th century BC, it became the capital of the Assyrian empire,
whose rulers built vast palaces and monuments that have drawn archaeologists
for more than 150 years.
Third of the way to Raqa
In April last year, IS posted
video on the internet of its fighters sledgehammering
monuments before planting explosives around the site and blowing it up. It was
part of a campaign of destruction against heritage sites under jihadist control
that also took in ancient Nineveh on the
outskirts of Mosul, Hatra
in the desert to the south and Palmyra in neighboring Syria.
IS says the ancient monuments are idols that violate the teachings of its
extreme form of Sunni Islam. In Syria,
the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said their advance on Raqa was being held back by a sandstorm that had hit the
desert province. "The situation is dangerous today because there is no
visibility due to a desert sandstorm," an SDF commander told AFP, speaking
on condition of anonymity. "We fear that Daesh
will take advantage of this to move in and launch a counter-attack," he
said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Speaking in Ain Issa,
the main staging point for the operation some 50 kilometers
(30 miles) north of Raqa, the commander said the
sandstorm was also impeding visibility for coalition warplanes.
The SDF launched the offensive on
Saturday and has been pushing south from areas near the Turkish border towards Raqa. The commander said SDF forces advancing south from
Ain Issa and Suluk were
close to converging at a position some 30 kilometers
(20 miles) from Raqa. "We have been able to
cover a third of the distance that separated us from Raqa,"
SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said, adding that
15 villages and hamlets had been taken.
Thousands flee homes
Ahmed said thousands of civilians
had fled their homes since the start of the assault and pleaded for
international assistance. "More than 5,000 displaced people have arrived
in regions liberated and secured by our forces. They are coming from combat
zones through a corridor we opened for them," she said. "We need
international help because our capacities are limited and, with winter coming,
there is no camp to host them," she said. Dozens of families have been
seen fleeing towards SDF lines in recent days.
Many have been arriving in trucks
and cars around Ain Issa, loaded down with belongings
and in some cases with livestock including cows and sheep. Raqa
had a population of some 240,000 before the eruption of Syria's civil
war in 2011 but more than 80,000 people have since fled there from other parts
of the country. Mosul
is much bigger, home to more than a million people, and more than 45,000 people
have fled since the offensive began. Aid workers have expressed fears of a
major humanitarian crisis once fighting begins in earnest inside the city,
where IS is expected to use civilians as human
shields. Rights groups have also raised concerns for fleeing civilians, amid
accusations of abuses by some Iraqi forces. Amnesty International called
Thursday on the Iraqi government to investigate the killings of six residents
south of Mosul
who it said were executed by men in federal police uniforms during the
offensive. Iraq's
federal police issued a statement denying its forces had been involved in
extrajudicial killings.
US strikes may have killed 119 civilians
in Iraq, Syria: Pentagon
AFP, Washington Thursday, 10 November 2016/The Pentagon said Wednesday that US
air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the ISIS group may have killed 119
civilians since 2014, a figure far lower than casualty estimates by monitoring
groups. The figures released by Centcom, the US
military command in the Middle East, came from a months-long review of reports
and databases, it said, adding that the deaths and injuries stemmed from 24 air
strikes. London-based NGO Airways estimates coalition bombing has killed 1,787
civilians since the air campaign to destroy the Islamic State group began in
August 2014. “We have teams who work full time to prevent unintended civilian
casualties,” Colonel John Thomas was quoted as saying in the Centcom statement. “We do all we can to minimize those
occurrences even at the cost of sometimes missing the chance to strike valid
targets in real time.” The Pentagon’s investigation found that “in each of
these strikes the right processes were followed; each complied with Law of
Armed Conflict and significant precautions were taken, despite the unfortunate outcome,”
Thomas said. The United
States, which carries out 80 percent of the
coalition bombing, says it uses precision-guided munitions that limit civilian
casualties.
Accusation against Russia
Meanwhile Russia is accused of using conventional bombs that are much more
deadly to civilian populations. Amnesty International estimates that there have
been at least 300 civilian victims in Syria alone from coalition strikes.
The number of casualties has risen sharply since the start of the coalition’s
campaign in late 2015 to lay the groundwork to take back IS strongholds in Mosul, Iraq
and Raqqa,
Syria.
Top YPG commander assassinated in north
Syria
Naharnet/November 10/16/Ali Boutan,
who reportedly headed the YPG's special
forces, was killed in a roadside bombing near the Syrian-Turkish border.
BEIRUT - A top
commander in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has been assassinated
in mysterious circumstances near the Syrian-Turkish border, according to local
media outlets. On Wednesday, the activist Hasakeh
Press reported that an improvised explosive device blast killed Ali Boutan, who the outlet called a
“YPG leader,” and two of his bodyguards as they drove along the road linking
the border city of Qamishli
with the nearby town of Qahtaniyeh (Tirbespiye
in Kurdish). A number of other local outlets and activists, including pro-YPG
ones, wrote similar accounts of the incident, without going into details on the
possible perpetrators of the attack or Ali Boutan’s
role in YPG. The YPG, for its part, issued a terse statement Wednesday that a
taxi laden with explosives detonated on the Qamishli-Qahtaniyeh
road at approximately 5:30 p.m., killing “two fighters.”However,
the Kurdish fighting force did not identify the victims of the blast. Less than
a day after the IED explosion, Turkey’s Anadolu News
trumpeted the assassination, saying that Ali Boutan,
also known Haji Kurkhan,
was the “leader of the YPG special forces.”“Boutan
was responsible for sending [PKK] fighters to Turkey to conduct terror
operations,” the report further claimed. The state-run agency account of his
death echoed earlier ones from northern Syria, with Anadolu
citing “local sources” as saying the YPG commander was killed in an armed
attack targeting his car on the Qamishli-Qahtaniyeh
road near the Syrian-Turkish border. NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report.
Eastern Aleppo down to 'last food
rations': UN
AFP, Geneva Thursday, 10 November 2016/The last remaining stocks of food
rations are currently being distributed in Syria's rebel-held eastern Aleppo
and there will be nothing left to hand out next week without a resupply, the UN
said Thursday.
"The reports we have now from within East Aleppo is that the last food
rations are being distributed as we speak," the head of a
UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria, Jan Egeland,
told journalists.
Excellent' first meeting for Obama, Trump
The Associated Press, Washington Thursday, 10 November 2016/In a cordial
beginning the transfer of power, President Barack Obama and President-elect
Donald Trump met at the White House Thursday. Obama called the 90-minute
meeting "excellent," and his successor said he looked forward to
receiving the outgoing president's "counsel."Afterward,
Obama said to Trump, "We now are going to want to do everything we can to
help you succeed because if you succeed the country succeeds."The
two men, who have been harshly critical of each other for years, were meeting
for the first time, Trump said. The Republican said he looked forward "to
dealing with the president in the future, including counsel."Obama
blasted Trump throughout the campaign as unfit to serve as a commander in
chief. Trump spent years challenging the legitimacy of Obama's presidency,
falsely suggesting Obama may have been born outside the United States.
But at least publicly, the two men appeared to put aside their animosity. As
the meeting concluded and journalists scrambled out of the Oval Office, Obama
smiled at his successor and explained the unfolding scene.
If Trump makes good on his campaign promises, he'll wipe away much of what
Obama has done during his eight years in office. The Republican
president-elect, who will govern with Congress fully under GOP control, has
vowed to repeal Obama's signature health care law and dismantle the landmark
nuclear accord with Iran.
First lady Michelle Obama also meet privately in the
White House residence with Trump's wife, Melania,
while Vice President Joe Biden prepared to see Vice President-elect Mike Pence
later Thursday.
Trump traveled to Washington from New York on his private
jet, breaking with protocol by not bringing journalists in his motorcade or on
his plane to document his historic visit to the White House. Trump was harshly
critical of the media during his campaign and for a time banned news
organizations whose coverage he disliked from his events. Also on Trump's
schedule were meetings with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to discuss the GOP legislative
agenda. Ryan, who holds the most powerful post in Congress, was a sometime
critic of Trump, was slow to endorse him and did not campaign with the nominee.
Pence intended to join both meetings. As scores of journalists waited to be
admitted to the Oval Office to see Obama and Trump together, they saw White
House chief of staff Denis McDonough walking along the South Lawn driveway with
Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. A handful of Trump aides trailed them. The
anticipated show of civility at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue contrasted with postelection
scenes of protests across a politically divided country. Demonstrators from New
England to the heartland and the West Coast vented against the election winner
on Wednesday, chanting "Not my president," burning a papier-mache Trump head, beating a Trump pinata and carrying signs that said
"Impeach Trump."
Republicans were emboldened by Trump's stunning victory over Hillary Clinton,
giving the GOP control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
"He just earned a mandate," Ryan said. In an emotional concession
speech, Clinton
said her crushing loss was "painful and it will be for a long time"
and acknowledged that the nation was "more divided than we thought."
Still, Clinton
was gracious in defeat, declaring: "Donald Trump is going to be our
president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead."In
Washington,
Trump's scant transition team sprang into action, culling through personnel
lists for top jobs and working through handover plans for government agencies.
A person familiar with the transition operations said the personnel process was
still in its early stages, but Trump's team was putting a premium on quickly
filling key national security posts. The person was not authorized to discuss
details by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. According to an
organizational chart for the transition obtained by The Associated Press, Trump
was relying on experienced hands to help form his administration. National
security planning was being led by former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who
previously worked for the FBI. Domestic issues were being handled by Ken
Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor and Ohio secretary of state.
Trump was expected to consider several loyal supporters for top jobs, including
former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for attorney general or national security
adviser and campaign finance chairman Steve Mnuchin
for Treasury secretary. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Tennessee Sen.
Bob Corker were also expected to be under consideration for foreign policy
posts. As president-elect, Trump is entitled to get the same daily intelligence
briefing as Obama - one that includes information on US
covert operations, information gleaned about world leaders and other data
gathered by America's
17 intelligence agencies. TheWhite House said it
would organize two exercises involving multiple agencies to help Trump's team
learn how to respond to major domestic incidents.
If Trump makes good on his campaign promises, the nation stands on the brink of
sweeping change in domestic and foreign policy. He's pledged to repeal Obama's
health care law and pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran. He's
vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and temporarily ban
immigration from nations with terror ties.It's
unclear whether Trump will embrace many of the traditions of the presidency.
He'll enter the White House owning his own private jet as well as a hotel just blocks away on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Trump election victory prompts protests across US
AFP, Washington Thursday, 10 November 2016/Thousands of protesters rallied
across the United States
Wednesday expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump’s election, vowing to
oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the
presidency. In Washington, several hundred gathered in front of the White House
for a candlelight vigil on a damp, chilly evening, criticizing what they called
Trump’s racism, sexism and xenophobia, and carrying signs reading “We have a
voice!” and “Education for all!”
One of the organizers, Ben Wikler – Washington director of the liberal advocacy
group MoveOn.org – told the crowd that others were coming together in hundreds
of communities around the country. “People are justly frightened,” he said. “We
are here because in these darkest moments, we are not alone,” he added, before
leading chants of “We are not alone!” Ethan Miller of the workers’ rights group
Jobs with Justice said organizers held the vigil to show that civil society was
resilient. “It’s a hard time for a lot of Americans,” he told AFP. “We saw a
campaign that was filled with racism and misogyny and whole host of other
terrible tactics that ultimately were successful for winning the electoral college.” “But we’re not going to let a Donald
Trump presidency stop the progress in this country,” he added. “We’re going to
continue to organize and fight for the rights of all people and to protect the
safety of our brothers and sisters.” Supporters attending the rally appeared
less optimistic. Joanne Paradis, 31, who was born in Mexico and works in international communications
for a non-profit group in Washington,
said she attended the rally to “share some solidarity.” “I feel pretty down,”
she said. Asked if the country could weather a Trump presidency, she said, “I
don’t know.”“But we have to acknowledge what happened
to deal with it, to face it and talk about it and be honest about it.” “I just
came here to mourn,” said Chris Hassan, 28, who works for an NGO. Growing,
mostly peaceful protests were held in other cities across the country,
gathering thousands of people in Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, Seattle
and other cities under the slogan “Not my president.”In
New York City, demonstrators gathered in Union Square
holding signs saying “Love Trumps Hate” and “Trump Grabbed America by the
Pussy!” before marching uptown in the thousands to chant in front of Trump Tower.
“The electoral college is broken,” protester Nicholas Forker
said of the US
indirect voting system. “I think it definitely needs to be reformed... I think
it’s ridiculous.” In Chicago, several thousand
people gathered around Trump
Tower, blocking downtown
streets and traffic while other staged a counter-protest on the opposite side
of the building.Across the country, high school and
college students also staged campus demonstrations and walkouts from classes.
In Los Angeles,
hundreds of teens and young adults rallied outside City Hall chanting “Not my
president!” In Oregon, demonstrators blocked
traffic in downtown Portland,
forcing a delay on two light-rail lines. The crowd there grew to about 300
people, local reports said, including some who sat in the middle of a road to
block traffic. Others burned American flags. In Pennsylvania,
hundreds of University
of Pittsburgh students
marched through the streets, with some in the crowd calling for unity. The
rallies followed protests overnight on Tuesday as voting results were being
tallied, when at least one person was seriously injured in Oakland, California,
where demonstrators broke store windows and set garbage alight.
Israeli-Arab
Mayor: 'I Taught Trump All He Knows'
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 10/16/An Israeli
mayor said Thursday he taught Donald Trump how to win elections, despite never
having met him.
"It is a fact that Trump
learned from me, he learned everything from me," Ali Salam, the Muslim
mayor of the largely Arab-Israeli city of Nazareth
in northern Israel,
told local radio. One of his claims seemed to be that after victory Trump told
supporters "I love you, I love you, I love you," a phrase Salam says
he himself used before. "That's what I did when I won," he said.
Salam did not claim to have ever met Trump or provide evidence the
president-elect knew he existed, but said that the 2014 battle for the Nazareth municipality had been ferocious like the U.S. election.
The two men shared a lot of personality traits, he added. "Like me he is a
businessman, who pursued his career and ignored anyone who stood in his way to
get to the top." "He does not take anyone into account when someone
accused him of harassing women."The interview,
conducted on Arabic-language radio, was widely shared between somewhat
disbelieving locals. Salam, who has stirred controversy in the past, met with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January. Asked if Trump and Salam
could perhaps have had similar ideas without coordination, the mayor said
"this is no coincidence."
EU invites Trump to summit, warns against
‘isolation’
AFP, Brussels Thursday, 10 November 2016/The EU’s top leaders on Wednesday
invited US President-elect Donald Trump to a summit as soon as possible as they
warned of uncertainty in relations and a need to respect democratic values.
“I do not believe that any country today can be great in isolation,” European
Council chief Donald Tusk told reporters in Brussels, referring to Trump’s campaign
slogan of “Make America Great Again”. “Europe and the United States
simply have no option but to cooperate as closely as possible.”Tusk
and European Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker said
in a letter that they wanted to discuss “unprecedented challenges” including
the ISIS group, the conflict in Ukraine,
and a troubled EU-US trade deal under negotiation. “We would take this
opportunity to invite you to visit Europe for
an EU-US summit at your earliest convenience. This conversation would allow for
us to chart the course of our relations for the next four years,” they said in
a letter of congratulations to Trump. But former Polish prime minister Tusk
struck a more sober tone in a statement to journalists at the 28-nation
European Union’s headquarters as he recalled that “Italians, Irish, Poles,
Germans, Spanish” had helped build America. “While respecting the democratic
choice of the American people, we are at the same time aware of the new
challenges that these results bring. One of them is this moment of uncertainty
over the future of our transatlantic relations,” he said.
‘Warning sign’
With the EU still reeling from the shock of Britain’s recent vote to leave,
Tusk added: “The events of the last months and days should be treated as a
warning sign for all who believe in liberal democracy.” Juncker
later said in a speech in Berlin that the EU
should not “upend its relations with the United States” out of “annoyance”
with the shock outcome of the presidential election. “We remain partners
because the world needs the United
States and the European continent working
side-by-side. That is why I strongly urge us to seek common ground,” he said.
Following Trump’s victory, EU foreign ministers will hold a special meeting in Brussels on Sunday at the
invitation of the bloc’s foreign policy supremo
Federica Mogherini. They will have an “informal
dinner to exchange views on the way forward in EU-US relations following the US elections,”
a spokeswoman for Mogherini said. Separately Martin
Schulz, the head of the European Parliament, urged Trump to show
“responsibility” after a divisive campaign, adding that he had “managed to
become the standard-bearer of the angst and fears of millions of Americans.”
France’s Hollande:
Trump win ‘opens period of uncertainty’
AFP/Reuters, Paris/Bordeaux Thursday, 10 November 2016/French President
Francois Hollande, who once said Donald Trump made
him want to retch, warned Wednesday that the Republican billionaire’s stunning
victory in the US election “opens a period of uncertainty.” In an initial
televised reaction, Hollande offered only brief
congratulations to the Republican billionaire, in which he stressed Washington’s key role in
world affairs. But the French leader later penned Trump a letter, saying he was
keen to “immediately” start discussions on a number of key issues. “What is at
stake is peace, the fight against terrorism, the situation in the Middle East, it’s economic ties
and the preservation of the planet,” he wrote. “On all these subjects, I would
like to immediately start discussions with you in light of the values and
interests which we share,” he said, hailing Trump’s conciliatory victory
speech. “We must find answers which allow us to overcome fear but also to
respect the principles which bind us: democracy, freedom, respect for every
individual,” he wrote. Hollande has been an outspoken
critic of Trump, telling journalists earlier this year that the Republican’s
excesses “make you want to retch”.
‘France is not the US’
“The French never vote like the Americans,” a politician told a rally for
presidential favorite Alain Juppe on Wednesday as
France wondered if it would be the next country to prove the opinion polls
wrong. Juppe, mayor of the southwest city of Bordeaux and a former prime minister, has
topped the polls for months. Surveys predict he will win both a primary later
in November to be the center-right’s candidate and the presidential election in
six months. But after pollsters failed to predict US voters would make Donald
Trump their country’s 45th president, like their British colleagues who got the
United Kingdom’s vote to
leave the EU wrong, France
has started bracing for a possible surprise next year. “Juppe is ahead in polls
and he will also win. The French are not like the Americans, we're not crazy,”
Juppe supporter Mbacoye Balde,
35, told Reuters at the Bordeaux
rally.
Sisi receives Abu Dhabi
crown prince in Cairo
By Staff writer Al Arabiya English Thursday, 10
November 2016/Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi
received Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme
Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, in Cairo
on Thursday. The two leaders held a meeting at Al-Ittihadeya
presidential palace in Cairo.
During cordial talks, Sisi stressed on the
exceptional bilateral relations between Egypt and the UAE, adding that his
country is committed to stand next to the UAE against any regional threats,
presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef
said. For his part, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed stressed
on his country’s firm support for Egypt, and commended the special
ties between both countries.
Trump threat is a joke, says Iranian
military chief
The Associated Press, Tehran Thursday, 10 November 2016/Iran's semi-official
Fars news agency is reporting that the armed forces chief of staff has
criticized Donald Trump for his past harsh words about confronting Iranian
boats in the Gulf. The Thursday report quotes Gen. Mohammad Hossein
Bagheri as saying, "The person who has recently
achieved power, has talked off the top of his head! Threatening Iran in the
Gulf is just a joke."He said American
presidential candidates during their campaigns "eat too much sugar,"
a reference to a Farsi proverb about those who talk nonsense. In September,
Trump said Iranian ships trying to provoke the US "will be shot out of the
water." In January, Iran
took 10 American sailors prisoner ship veered off course into Iranian waters;
they were released a day later.
Iran says has options if nuclear deal fails
Reuters Thursday, 10 November 2016/Iran wants all parties to stay committed to
an international nuclear deal signed last year, but has options if that does
not happen, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. He spoke after the US presidential
election victory of Donald Trump, who had said he was opposed to the nuclear
pact during campaigning. "Of course Iran's options are not limited but our
hope and our desire and our preference is for the full implementation of the
nuclear agreement, which is not bilateral for one side to be able to
scrap," Zarif told a news conference in
Bratislava after meeting his Slovak counterpart Miroslav
Lajcak.
Houthi projectiles leave 13 Saudis injured
By Staff writer Al Arabiya English Thursday, 10
November 2016/Projectiles fired by Houthi militias in
Yemen left at least 14
people injured in the Saudi city of Dhahran,
South of the Kingdom, Saudi Civil Defense reported.
The Civil Defense Directorate announced on its
Twitter account, that 13 Saudi citizens and one expat were injured in the
attack that simultaneously damaged three houses. Last week, Saudi artillery
responded by directly hitting Houthi targets
following similar rockets attacks in the border towns of Jazan
and Najran.
Attack at Turkish government building in
southeast wounds three
The Associated Press, Ankara, Turkey Thursday, 10 November 2016/Turkey’s
state-run news agency says Kurdish rebels have attacked a government building
in southeast Turkey with rocket launchers, wounding three people including a
district governor. The Anadolu Agency says rebels of
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, attacked the district governor’s
office in the town of Derik
on Thursday. Haber Turk television said the district governor, Fatih Safiturk, was slightly
wounded in the attack. A fragile peace process between the state and the PKK
broke down last year, leading to renewed violence in Turkey’s mainly-Kurdish southeast
region. At least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish
militants have been killed since then. Turkey has been rocked by a series
of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by the PKK or ISIS
militants.
King Salman
receives US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
SPA, Riyadh Thursday, 10 November 2016/King Salman
bin Abdulaziz received at al-Yamamah
palace the Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford and the accompanying delegation currently on a
visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the meeting, they discussed
aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the latest
developments in the region.
Egypt Freezes Assets of Anti-Torture NGO
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 10/16/Egyptian
authorities have frozen the assets of a prominent human rights group that works
with torture victims, the head of the organization said on Thursday. The move
came months after authorities tried on two separate occasions to shut down the
El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of
Torture and Violence. "Today they informed us that the legal department at
our bank had received a ruling from the Central Bank to freeze our
account," the group's head Magda Adly told AFP. She said the central bank linked its
decision to the group's "legal status" and conforming with a
repressive NGO law that dates back to the rule of president
Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011. London-based watchdog Amnesty
International denounced the move, and urged authorities to revoke the decision
against the center, which provides psychological support for torture and
violence victims and documents complaints of torture in detention. "The
Egyptian authorities' decision to arbitrarily freeze its bank account is a
cruel blow to human rights in the country," said Amnesty's regional
advocacy director Philip Luther. "This is yet more evidence of the
Egyptian authorities' chilling contempt of perceived critics," he added in
a statement. "The El Nadeem Center for
Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence is a lifeline for hundreds of victims of
torture and for families of people who have been subjected to enforced
disappearance," Amnesty said. It added that the center "has operated
as a registered clinic with the Ministry of Health and does not need to be
registered under the law on associations." In February and April, authorities
issued orders to close the center with the health ministry saying it was
carrying out "activities other than those allowed" in line with its
association permit. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the government
of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of violations,
including forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions.
Egyptian and foreign NGOs operating in the country are governed by a stiff law
which allows the government to supervise their activities and finances. In
September a court froze the assets of five prominent human rights defenders and
three NGOs, who had been under investigation for allegedly receiving foreign
funds in a case dating from 2011.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 10-11/16
Canada: Parliament Condemns Free
Speech
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/November 10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/judith-bergmangatestone-institute-canada-parliament-condemns-free-speech/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9296/canada-parliament-condemns-free-speech
"Now that Islamophobia has been condemned,
this is not the end, but rather the beginning." — Samer
Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum. Majzoub is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
What exactly are they condemning? Criticism of Islam?
Criticism of Muslims? Debating Mohammed? Depicting
Mohammed? Discussing whether ISIS is a true
manifestation of Islam? Is any Canadian who now writes critically of Islam or
disagrees with the petitioners that ISIS
"does not reflect in any way the values or the teachings of the religion
of Islam" now to be considered an "Islamophobe"?
The question, naturally, is whether Canada's motion will be replicated
in other parliaments in the West. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
is particularly active in Europe, having
opened a Permanent Observer Mission to the European Union in 2013.
In what parallel universe can the efforts of the OIC to stifle free
speech possibly be considered advancement of freedom of speech and religion?
As the OIC steps up its media campaign and efforts in Europe, European
parliaments are likely to experience initiatives like the petition in Canada. The
European Union, for one, looks as if it would be to happy facilitate
such a motion.
On October 26, Canada's
parliament unanimously passed an anti-Islamophobia
motion, which was the result of a petition initiated by Samer
Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum. The
petition garnered almost 70,000 signatures.
According to the text of the petition,
"Recently an infinitesimally small number of extremist individuals
have conducted terrorist activities while claiming to speak for the religion of
Islam. Their actions have been used as a pretext for a notable rise of
anti-Muslim sentiments in Canada;
and these violent individuals do not reflect in any way the values or the
teachings of the religion of Islam. In fact, they misrepresent the religion. We
categorically reject all their activities. They in no way represent the
religion, the beliefs and the desire of Muslims to co-exist in peace with all
peoples of the world. We, the undersigned, Citizens and residents of Canada, call
upon the House of Commons to join us in recognizing that extremist individuals
do not represent the religion of Islam, and in condemning all forms of Islamophobia".
While a motion will have no legal effect unless it is passed as a bill,
the symbolic effect of the Canadian parliament unanimously condemning "all
forms of Islamophobia," without making the
slightest attempt at defining what is meant by "Islamophobia,"
can only be described, at best, as alarming.
What exactly are they condemning? Criticism of Islam?
Criticism of Muslims? Debating Mohammed? Depicting
Mohammed? Discussing whether ISIS is a true
manifestation of Islam? Is any Canadian who now writes critically of Islam or
disagrees with the petitioners that ISIS
"does not reflect in any way the values or the teachings of the religion
of Islam" now to be considered an "Islamophobe"?
No one knows, and it is doubtful whether the members of the Canadian
parliament know what it means themselves. It would seem, however, that the
initiator of the petition, Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Samer
Majzoub, knows. This is what he had to say in an
interview with the Canadian Muslim Forum after the motion passed:
"Now that Islamophobia has been condemned,
this is not the end, but rather the beginning ... We need to continue working
politically and socially and with the press. They used to doubt the existence
of Islamophobia, but now we do not have to worry about
that; all blocs and political figures, represented by Canada's supreme
legislative authority, have spoken of that existence. In the offing, we need to
get policy makers to do something, especially when it comes to the Liberals,
who have shown distinct openness regarding Muslims and all ethnicities... All
of us must work hard to maintain our peaceful, social and humanitarian struggle
so that condemnation is followed by comprehensive policies."
Whereas the Canadian parliamentarians seem entirely unaware of what
Muslim organizations have in store for them in terms of "comprehensive
policies", it is clear that to the parliamentarians, the motion
constitutes "virtue-signaling" at its
worst. Whereas the parliamentarians might now feel good about themselves, does
their vote mean that those Canadians who dare to criticize Islam and disagree
vehemently with the premises of the motion are likely to be considered (even
more) beyond the pale of civilized society? Does it mean that only one view is
correct and that any view that differs from it will now be, by default,
incorrect -- if not criminal?
It will almost certainly deter people from speaking up,
for fear that they will be labeled
"racists" or "Islamophobes" by
arbitrarily creating a threatening atmosphere of political correctness, where
those who do not adhere to the groupthink are shamed and ostracized. Such
strangulation of opinion also cannot be beneficial to any country's national
security. How can anyone warn the authorities about virtually anything if they
have to worry first that their warning might be considered "Islamophobic"?
There were, of course, no parallel motions in Canada's parliament to condemn
"Christianophobia" or "Judeophobia," the latter being much more prevalent
than "Islamophobia." In fact, according to
statistics, Jewish Canadians are more than 10 times as likely
to be the victim of a hate crime than Muslim Canadians.
It was exactly this kind of toxic, politically correct atmosphere in the United States that enabled Major Nidal Malik Hasan,
an Army psychiatrist, to gun down 13 people and to wound 29 others in the Fort Hood
massacre in 2009. His former classmate, Lt. Col. Val Finnell,
told Fox news at the time that, despite Hasan's
suspicious behavior, such as giving a presentation
justifying suicide bombings, nothing was done about Hasan
to see if he might be a security risk. Instead, he was treated with kid gloves.
"The issue here is that there's a political correctness climate in the
military. They don't want to say anything because it would be considered
questioning somebody's religious belief, or they're afraid of an equal
opportunity lawsuit", said Lt. Col. Finnell.
In December 2015, a man who had been working in the area where the San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook lived told CBS Los
Angeles that,
"he noticed a half-dozen Middle Eastern men in the area in recent
weeks, but decided not to report anything since he did not wish to racially
profile those people. "We sat around lunch
thinking, 'What were they doing around the neighborhood?'"
he said.
The fear of being labeled an "Islamophobe" is real and has had lethal consequences.
It is this fear that the Canadian parliament has now elevated into a
parliamentary motion, signaling that this sentiment
is shared by the highest echelons in the country, those who make the laws.
A democratic parliament presumably should not be cowing its citizens into
silence. The term "bullying" comes to mind. Parliamentary bullying
and reckless disregard of the freedom of speech should have no place in a
society that cares about the values of freedom and national security. Canada has
already seen, to its disgrace, attacks on free speech against Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant, among others. Is this the country Canada wishes
to become?
The motion is reminiscent of the US House Resolution 569,
"Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the
United States,"
which was introduced in the House of Representatives on December 17, 2015. This
Resolution is more detailed than the short condemnation of Islamophobia
from the Canadian parliament, but the essence of both appears to be the same:
Criticism of Islam or of Muslims is wrong and should be condemned, if not
outright criminalized.
In condemning "all forms of Islamophobia",
Canada's parliament has in
effect done everything the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) --
consisting of 56 Muslim states plus "Palestine"
-- could wish for. Fighting "Islamophobia"
is at the very top of the agenda of this organization, which is headquartered
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The OIC is
aggressively promoting the so-called Istanbul Process, which aims to forbid all
criticism of Islam and make this ban a part of international law.
Ironically, the Saudi Arabian flag flew on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 2, as Canadian public officials met
with a so-called "human rights" commission from Saudi Arabia.
This commission publicly supported Saudi Arabia's mass executions in
January 2016, in which 47 people were executed by the authorities, saying that
they "enforce justice, fulfill ... legitimate and legal requirements, and
protect the society and its security and stability". That, apparently, is
not problematic in the eyes of Canadian parliamentarians.
As recently as October 24, the General Secretariat of the OIC held a
meeting "to review the media strategy for countering Islamophobia".
The meeting was scheduled to:
"discuss the OIC media strategy and ways to counter Islamophobia in light of the recent developments and hate
campaigns in different parts of the world, especially with the increasing
number of Muslim refugees in Western countries and the mounting hate discourse
in a manner that causes serious concern. The meeting aims to come up with clear
and practical mechanisms for a counter-Islamophobia
media campaign that highlights the true noble image of Islamic and contributes
to halting the ongoing deliberate defamatory campaigns waged in different
Western fora".
The question, naturally, is whether Canada's motion will be replicated
in other parliaments in the West. The OIC is particularly active in Europe, having opened a Permanent Observer Mission to the
European Union in 2013. The OIC also recently formed the so-called Contact Group for Muslims in Europe, whose formation was
announced at the OIC Istanbul Summit in April 2016, and includes Turkey, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan,
Algeria, Egypt, Somalia,
Malaysia and Jordan.
The establishment of the OIC Contact Group for Muslims in Europe
"aims at ensuring the effective cooperation between the relevant
parties, in order to lay out strategies to eliminate hate speech, physical
assault, practices of intolerance, prejudice, racial discrimination and Islamophobia, and to support intercultural dialogue and
social inclusion. Further, the Group can be a platform through which Muslims from various
nationalities can exchange experiences, define best practices, with a view to
increase Muslim participation in the political and social life in Europe".
[emphasis added]
The EU apparently sees the OIC as a friendly and benevolent organization
with shared values. According to the EU's European External Action service (its
diplomatic service, which assists the EU's foreign affairs chief):
"The OIC has undergone important changes during the last decade: it
made advances in support of freedom of speech and freedom of religion/belief.
It enlarged its cooperation to economic, cultural, development and humanitarian
fields."
Seriously? In what parallel universe can the
efforts of the OIC to stifle free speech possibly be considered advancement of
freedom of speech and religion?
As the OIC steps up its media campaign and its efforts in Europe,
European parliaments are likely to experience initiatives like the petition in Canada. The
European Union, for one, looks as if it would be happy to facilitate such a
motion.
*Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
© 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.
America's Know-Nothing Diplomacy
Daniel Pipes/Washington Times/November 10/16
http://www.danielpipes.org/17066/americas-know-nothing-middle-east-diplomacy
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, recently said
something astonishing in defense of his foreign
policy ignorance: "The fact that somebody can dot the i's
and cross the t's on a foreign leader or a geographic
location then allows them to put our military in harm's way." In other
words, not knowing where a place is is a good thing
because, in Alice Ollstein's witty summary, "you
can't get into a war with a country you can't find."
Gary Johnson was widely ridiculed for asking "What is Aleppo?"
As a student of U.S.
foreign policy this struck a chord – not because it's an outlandishly whacky
statement but precisely because it is mainstream. Really. Here are three notable precedents from the last
century:
Crane plumbing's well known logo.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson dispatched the International Commission
of Inquiry (commonly known as the King-Crane Commission) to Palestine
and Syria
to ascertain the political wishes of their residents. The leaders of this
potentially influential commission monumentally lacked qualifications for the
undertaking. Henry C. King was a philosopher and president of Oberlin College;
Charles R. Crane was a busybody, antisemite, and heir
to the fortune from his family's plumbing fixture company.
Strikingly, their ignorance was seen as an advantage; a presidential aide
explained that Wilson "felt these two men
were particularly qualified to go to Syria because they knew nothing
about it."
Secretary of State Robert Lansing, who thought Wilson wrong on this, explained that the
president did not want to appoint "persons who are familiar with the
subject" of political and territorial questions. Instead, Wilson thought that "an empty mind is
more receptive of the truth than one affected by experience and study."
Indeed, ignorance is an "essential qualification for an
investigator."
The King-Crane Commission, July 1919, at the Hotel
Royal in Beirut.
Seated left to right: Henry C. King and Charles R. Crane.
Standing left to right: Sami Haddad (physician and interpreter), William Yale,
Albert H. Lybyer, and George R. Montgomery (technical
advisers), Donald M. Brodie (secretary), and Laurence
S. Moore (business manager).
In 2003, the Bush administration announced John S. Wolf as the new U.S. presidential Middle East envoy (more
formally, "chief, U.S. Coordinating and Monitoring Mission for the Middle East peace process"). The Washington Post (in
an admiring article titled "For Mideast
Envoy, Rookie Status May Be an Advantage") quoted a senior administration
official saying that "It's a good thing that he has exceptional
negotiating skills and very little direct experience in the area."
Wolf himself admitted a complete lack of experience in the Middle East and later admitted his surprise at the
appointment: "I asked Secretary [Colin] Powell, National Security Advisor
[Condoleezza] Rice and President [George W.] Bush - why
me?" Because they wanted "someone with a
fresh view." Wolf agreed on this approach, saying "My lack of
experience was an advantage. I learned that in the Middle
East, people always tend to look back, and I was asking them to
look to the future."
Not surprisingly, like the King-Crane Commission, Wolf's diplomatic foray
had negligible impact; a mere fourteen months into his mission, he wandered off
to became the [Eisenhower%20Fellowships%20John%20S.%20Wolf]president of the
Eisenhower Fellowships, a non-profit.
The "Iraq Study Group Report" enjoyed more attention than
influence.
In 2006, the U.S.
government's Iraq Study Group consisted of ten members embodying the same
"know-nothing" approach. James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton
served as co-chairs, with Robert Gates, Rudy Giuliani, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.,
Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and
Alan K. Simpson the members. Not a single one of these individuals brought
expertise on Iraq
to the table, virtually guaranteeing that the commission would produce a
politically nuanced but strategically useless report.
Indeed, the Iraq Study Group Report turned out to be even worse than
expected and had minimal influence. As I wrote at the time, it "dredges up
past failed U.S. policies in
the Middle East and would enshrine them as
current policy. Most profoundly, regarding the American role in Iraq, the
report moronically splits the difference of troops staying or leaving."
Through a century, American presidents and other leaders celebrate Mark
Twain's "innocents abroad" mentality that Gary Johnson has just
regurgitated. As someone who's spent his near-50-year career working on this
topic, the notion that ignorance makes for better diplomacy is pretty
depressing; what have I been doing and for what purpose all this time?
That said, given the abominable state of Middle East
studies and the wretched record of Foreign Service Officers like the Arabists, I must admit that avoiding specialists may have
some merit. But surely that does not mean turning to ignorami.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is
president of the Middle East Forum. © 2016 All rights
reserved by Daniel Pipes.
Iran's Threats Louder after Obama Appeasement
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute/November 10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/majid-rafizadehgatestone-institute-irans-threats-louder-after-obama-appeasement/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9293/iran-threats-appeasement
Chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel"
were heard across Iranian cities as thousands of Iranians marked the
anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the taking of 52
American hostages for 444 days by militant students.
The State Department's reaction is classic: ignoring these developments
and continuing with appeasement policies.
These anti-American demonstrations are not rhetoric, but are the
cornerstone of Iran's
revolutionary principles and foreign policies, which manifest themselves in Iran's support
for terrorist proxies, support for Assad's regime, and the scuttling of US and
Israeli foreign policies in the region.
Many other Iranian officials who were engaged in attacks against the US currently
serve in high positions. Hossein Salami, who enjoys
one of these high-level positions, is the deputy commander in chief of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He stated at the rally: "America
should know that if they do not honor their agreement
in the nuclear deal, we will resume uranium enrichment..."
After eight years of President Barack Obama's policies of appeasement,
Iran's threats, such as "Death to America," and "Death to
Israel," have grown even louder.
This week, the Iranian government orchestrated one the largest
anti-American and anti-Israeli demonstrations, since 1979, echoing Iran Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's recent messages.
The government provided facilities for the protesters. Chants of
"Death to America"
and "Death to Israel"
were heard across Iranian cities as thousands of Iranians marked the
anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the taking of 52 American hostages
for 444 days by militant students.
According to the Tehran-based bureau of the Los Angeles Times,
"The demonstrators brought by buses to the former embassy complex
included young and old, university students, military staff and employees of
state-run companies who voiced opposition to the nuclear deal Iran signed with the United States and world powers...
Many echoed Iran's
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.... Almost 1
in every 10 demonstrators at the former embassy -- now widely dubbed a
"den of espionage" -- carried placards with Khamenei's
words: 'We do not trust America.'"
Iranians protest outside the former US
embassy in Tehran,
on the anniversary of its storming by student protesters in 1979. (Image
source: AFP video screenshot)
The chants were accompanied by burning American and Israeli flags, and
Stars of David. This all is occurring in a country that is presided over by the
so-called "moderate" president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani
and his foreign minister, Javad Zarif;
both continue to argue that Iran is a constructive state actor, does not hold
hostility against any country, and that Tehran is looking to improve ties with
the West and the international community -- so long as Iran's objectives are
met.
The State Department's reaction is classic: ignoring these developments
and continuing with appeasement policies. State Department spokesman Mark Toner
stated that the White House is not going to change its policies towards Iran:
"Like any country, there's heated political rhetoric that comes out,
and I'm just not going to respond to every instance of that in this case. No
one likes to see this kind of hyper-charged rhetoric on the part of any
government anywhere, and anti-American sentiments expressed. But again, we're
not going to base our whole relationship going forward ... on these kind of
heated political remarks."
However, these large-scale anti-American demonstrations are not rhetoric,
but are the cornerstone of Iran's
revolutionary principles and foreign policies, which manifest themselves in Iran's support
for terrorist proxies, support for Assad's regime, and the scuttling of US and
Israeli foreign policies in the region.
In fact, alleging crimes against the US
plays very well within the political establishment of Iran. For
example, one of the hostage takers who occupied the US embassy, Masoumeh
Ebtekar, has climbed the political ladder remarkably.
She was first the editor-in-chief of Keyhan
International, an Iranian state-owned newspaper, and close advisor to the
Supreme Leader. Later she was appointed as the head of the Environment
Protection Organization of Iran during the "reformist" administration
of President Mohammad Khatami. Afterwards the
"moderate" President Rouhani appointed her
as the Vice President of Iran, the first woman to serve such position.
The Agence France-Presse
(AFP) news agency scored an interview with her during the "Death to America"
rally. She boasted about taking US
hostages and US documents from the embassy: "Revealing these documents was
very similar to what WikiLeaks is doing these days.
It was the WikiLeaks of that time." According to
the AFP,
"She now regrets the diplomatic isolation that followed the embassy
siege, but she is still proud of their work in releasing documents found in the
CIA's files -- some painstakingly reassembled after embassy staff frantically
shredded as many as possible when the students stormed the building."
Many other Iranian officials who were engaged in attacks against the US currently
serve in high positions.
Hossein Salami, who enjoys one of these
high-level positions, is the deputy commander in chief of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). He stated at the rally, in reference to the
role of the IRGC in the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon, "In 1983, the flames of Islamic
revolution flared among Lebanese youth for the first time, and in a courageous
act, a young Muslim buried 260 United States Marines under the rebels east of Mediterranean Sea."
Last week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reasserted
his stance against the US
more firmly, saying, "The US system is far away from values of humanity,
death to America
means death to a system which has nothing to do with humanitarian values."
Khamenei also dismissed diplomacy with the United States,
arguing that these negotiations "will not resolve our problems... We
should resolve the problems ourselves and with reliance on our capabilities and
the young forces inside the country."
Iran's anti-American
policies are buttressed and supported by Iran's
powerful military institutions, domestic militia groups such as the Basij, Iran's
proxies such as Hezbollah, and the hundreds of thousands of people who join
these kinds of "Death to America"
demonstrations. Iranian leaders evidently enjoy powerful loyalist employees and
supporters.
As a passionate protestor told the Euronews,
"We are here to chant slogans, and our slogans are a strong punch in the
face of America.
America can never touch our
country, and as our leader said, America can't do a damn
thing."
In addition, Hossain Salami, the acting
commander of the IRGC, pointed out at the rally that: "America should
know that if they do not honor their agreement in the
nuclear deal, we will resume uranium enrichment and send the agreement ... to
the museum."
Accordingly, "crowds chanted support for the Syrian government and
other Shiite Muslim-led regimes in the Middle East,
saying, "We will never give it up."
For eight years, Washington pursued
total appeasement policies with Iran.
The four rounds of crippling UN Security Council sanctions, which took decades
to put in place, were lifted immediately. Iran's ballistic missile ambitions
and test firings of missiles, in violation of the UN resolutions, were ignored.
The expanding militaristic role of the Revolutionary Guard was taken lightly.
None of these appeasement policies changed the political calculations of
Iranian leaders towards the US
and Israel.
In fact, based on these developments, Iranian leaders became more emboldened
and empowered, to the extent that they repeatedly harass naval ships of the
world's superpower without fearing any repercussions. Iran uses its
proxies to attack US ships.
"Death to America"
and Iran's anti-American
policies will not change if the US
continues to appease Iranian leaders. For Iran, appeasement policies do not
mean diplomatic initiatives; concessions mean only weakness.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh,
political scientists and Harvard University scholar is president of the International
American Council on the Middle East. He can be
reached at Dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights
reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
Is this the beginning of the end for
the Iran
deal?
Julian Pecquet/Monitor/November 10/16
Advocates of the nuclear deal with Iran are convinced the pact is in
mortal danger following Republican Donald Trump’s upset election. Deal skeptics on
Capitol Hill have already prepared a raft of bills that have a far better
chance of making it into law with the threat of a White House veto now out of
the way. But the president-elect himself can just as easily send what he’s
called a “disastrous” deal to the dustbin of history by simply refusing to sign
off on sanctions relief.
“That’s why I find it so hard
to believe that the deal survives,” said Richard Nephew, a former State
Department sanctions official who now heads the program on Economic Statecraft,
Sanctions and Energy Markets at Columbia
University. “At some
point, [Trump] will have to make an affirmative decision to support its implementation.”Under the deal, the United States
isn’t scheduled to provide additional sanctions relief until October 2023, well
into a second Trump term. But the deal does require the president to
periodically extend waivers on sanctions that remain on the books, as long as Iran abides by
its obligations under the deal.Iranian officials
rushed to reassure the world that they remain wedded to the deal. Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani told his Cabinet after
Trump’s election that the deal “cannot be overturned by one government’s
decision.”
But skeptics abound.
Tyler Cullis, a policy associate with the National
Iranian American Council (NIAC), said Tehran
is all but certain to test an incoming Trump administration.
“You can’t forget that Iran
tends to do dumb things that ignite political firestorms here in Washington,” Cullis said. Indeed, just hours after Hillary Clinton conceded
defeat, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Iran had
exceeded its threshold for heavy water allowed under the deal. While relatively
minor, such a violation could imperil the deal if a Trump administration
dismantles the State Department and National Security Council teams that were
put in place to prevent disagreements between the two longtime
foes from spiraling out of control.
“As much as I hear people say, ‘Well, [Trump] won’t kill the deal on Day One,’
can anyone seriously think that he’s going to allow his Treasury secretary or
his secretary of state to issue those waivers?” Nephew told Al-Monitor. “And
think about who those people will be. Can anyone seriously think they’re going
to do it?” A
Trump administration is also unlikely to reassure foreign banks that they can
do some business with Iran
without falling short of the deal. Already, Iran has been complaining that it
is not seeing the promised benefits from the deal because the international
financial system is wary of US regulators.
Then there’s Congress.
Lawmakers have introduced a rash of Iran sanctions bills ahead of the
election, both to score points with voters back home and to put political
pressure on the Obama administration not to go too far with sanctions relief. Cullis said he now expects the incoming,
Republican-controlled Congress to introduce less extreme legislation that may
not blatantly violate the deal but could irretrievably harm it. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC “will thread
that needle,” Cullis predicted. “And then you’re
going to have a bill that’s going to be very tough for Democrats to vote
against.” Theoretically,
the defeat of deal foes Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Kelly Ayotte,
R-N.H., helps provide Democrats with a firewall to defeat problematic Iran
bills (most bills need 60 votes to pass, and the Republicans will have 52
Senate seats if they win a Dec. 9 run-off in Louisiana). On the flip side, deal
opponent Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is taking over as minority leader, adding to
advocates’ distress. “I think you’re going to see a much more
measured approach from Republicans to knock a hole in it,” Cullis
said. “And if a bill like that passes, it’s certainly the case that a President
Trump will not spurn it, and he will sign it. It will cause immense damage to
the sustainability of the nuclear deal.”One such bill
is S. 3267 from Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., which has garnered seven co-sponsors, including
Democrats Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Joe Manchin
of West Virginia. AIPAC has lobbied for the bill, which would notably grant the
incoming administration new power to designate Iranian entities and individuals
for cyber, ballistic missile and other non-nuclear sanctions. “A
Trump administration will be less reluctant to utilize those authorities,” Cullis said. “It’s a strange thing to say, but I think
Donald Trump will be one of the more sane voices in a Trump Cabinet.”Potential
candidates for the secretary of state post include former Ambassador to the UN
John Bolton, who publicly advocated bombing Iran’s nuclear installations during
last year’s negotiations. Cullis sees Trump
outsourcing much of his administration’s Iran policy to his Cabinet,
potentially empowering such hard-liners. “Iran's behavior has
become significantly worse since the #IranDeal,” Bolton tweeted last week, adding, "Another
reason why we can't have a third term of Obama's administration.”While the Trump administration will likely put pressure on
Congress to pass more sanctions bills, Nephew predicted the reverse will also
happen: Lawmakers touting their freshly passed bills to their constituents will
likely demand that the Republican president use new powers given to him against
Iran.
Ironically, deal advocates are latching on to Trump’s past inconsistencies for
slight comfort. In
a CNN interview last summer, he lamented the “stupidity” of the nuclear pact
and said the United States
should “double up and triple up the sanctions and have them come to us.” In a
September 2015 interview, however, he clarified that he would not rip up the
pact upon taking office. “We have a horrible contract, but we do have a
contract,” he told MSNBC.
In that same interview, the president-elect took issue with US businesses
being shut out of the Iranian market under the deal.
“You see Russia selling missiles, and Germany’s
involved,” Trump said at the time. “Everybody’s involved now with Iran selling them stuff. We’re probably [going to] be the only ones that
won’t be selling them anything.”Cullis said NIAC and
others have floated the idea of trying to get Obama to open up Iran to US
businesses during his last days in office as a way to appeal to Trump the
businessman. But Nephew said doing so would take too long and not be in keeping
with Obama’s stated desire for an orderly transition. Nephew said the election offers Trump and
Republicans a chance to prove they could have negotiated a better deal. But he
predicted that the more likely scenario will see the United
States and Iran
revert to a dangerous game of chicken rather than getting Iran to give up
its nuclear program. “Rouhani is
supposed to be elected in May,” Nephew said. “If he were to agree to that, he
would not just not be elected, he would probably be
shot.”
Syria: Building peace in the midst of war
Harriet Lamb/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
“I am from the most beautiful city in the world - Aleppo,
and I get people talking across divides,” a Syrian woman told a delegation of
British visitors to Beirut.
They jumped in their chairs: Really? Aleppo?
Surely some mistake? Aleppo
is a city that continues to be a major battleground in the Syrian conflict; a
city that has been repeatedly bombed, resulting in unimaginable casualties. Had
she said “the most destroyed” or “desperate” city in the world, we would have
all nodded sagely and sadly. But her bubbly optimism was strangely unsettling.
She continued: “I have an MBA; I wanted to become a Minister. But now I am
committed to building peaceful co-existence through dialogue”. As a
child, I remember being amazed by my father’s stories of his war years. I
couldn’t believe that in the midst of World War Two, he seemed to undertake
many ‘normal’ activities, that he brought home presents for his mother. I had
to re-imagine the war, fitting together the horrors (and he saw those too) with
the mundane. So too, all of us have to re-think Syria, putting
together the positive energy of people building peace in the midst of the
brutality of war. Last week, I was on a visit to Lebanon with the British Council.
We met Syrian refugees whose children attend special English-language classes
run by the organisation. Muhammed told us how he and
his wife often think about returning to Syria, but every time they decide
to return, they hear about another bombing, about more relatives blown to
pieces. And they stay in Lebanon,
despite the hardships. And yet, in some parts of Syria, people are actively working
for peace. That always seems bizarre: Working for peace while Aleppo and other parts of the country are
being smashed? But the people doing this peacebuilding
work are not just deeply committed and courageous - they are also hard-headed
pragmatists. They are making a difference today and tomorrow in a thousand
small ways.
The people doing this peacebuilding work are
not just deeply committed and courageous - they are also hard-headed
pragmatists. One network of civil society activists (supported by the British
Council and International Alert) now boasts 4,000 members who help people meet
across divides, to receive psycho-social support and to prevent young people
from going to fight. They all said how at first their family and friends had
thought they were mad. Now everyone says they wish they had started their work
to build peace all those years ago. Some of these people are now part of the
wider circle around the peace process in Geneva,
inputting their views from the community. Their on-the-ground activities help
make a final peace deal more likely: the more they can work with communities,
the more they can build a consensus for peace, the better. As one woman said:
“We need to work at different levels: at the level of the peace table in Geneva, at the UN and at
the villages.”
The Colombian example
In case you doubt such work – look no further than the Colombian
referendum. The FARC guerrillas and the Government spent over four years
hammering out a comprehensive peace deal to end decades of conflict. But it was
rejected by the Colombian public in a tight referendum. That is why it matters
so much to build the constituency for peace – even before any peace deal is
signed. The more progress we can make now on Syria’s crossing divides, the more
chance that any peace deal will hold. Syrian people have been locked in the
most devastating conflict for over five years. The ravines of revenge and
resentment run deep. So work has to start now to help them talk through their
trauma, open out their feelings in a safe place, meet with those on the other
side of the war – and consider living and working together again. We heard of
one man whose apartment is right on the dividing line in Aleppo; every day he
looks out of his window and wonders how he will live again with those on the
other side of that blood-soaked line. So he came to the network for advice on
what to do. This work is not easy and too often overlooked. Which is in part why half of all peace deals collapse after five
years. And that is why we all have to redouble our efforts to support
all those Syrians preparing for peace. They are crying out for more support.
“Every country is supporting Syrians to kill each other; few countries
are supporting Syrians to talk to each other. But the road to peace is in Syria. We must
restore our humanity and break the vicious cycle of violence”, as Ciaran Devane, CEO of the British
Council and himself Irish, shared with the Syrians in Lebanon. “In Ireland,
the military and the negotiators brought an end to the conflict; but it was
community activists who won the peace.”
Don’t fear Trump
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
When Barack Obama won the presidential elections eight years ago, it was met by
a torrent of cheerful statements and writings. Back then, I wrote saying do not
be over-optimistic. And now, it’s only been one day since Donald Trump won the
elections and many rushed into making pessimistic judgments. To those I say, do
not be over-pessimistic. Do not look at President-Elect Trump but look at the US as a state
of institutions. There will be many stances, considerations and decisions which
Trump’s government will deal with according to new facts. The president-elect
will therefore have to make decisions based on the interests of his country and
we will then sense the difference between him and Barack Obama. We expect
changes but there will not be extreme changes in terms of foreign policy.
Trump won the American elections and the electoral debate has thus come
to an end. You will not hear any talk about Muslims and foreigners later. We
must not blame Washington
and fail to see that most of our problems and issues are the product of our
decisions and acts and that most solutions to them are in our hands
In about two months from now, the
president-elect will sit in the Oval Office and begin his work. The Middle East with its accumulating problems will take much
of his time and keep him busy. There is the war in Syria,
the fight against ISIS, Iran’s,
Russia’s and Turkey’s interventions, the war in Yemen and Libya, the issue of the refugees’
influx, the Palestinian cause, and above all that, the
confrontation against terrorist organizations. In the past, the Middle East was the region of the one issue but it has
now become the worst and most dangerous spot in the world. It’s a zone that’s
full of problems which are out of control. Will Trump deviate much from the
policy of his predecessor Obama? It’s possible that he will do that when
addressing the issues which previous administrations failed to resolve, and
which developments proved a threat to the interests of the US and its allies in Europe
or which are related to international balances.
Trump’s history with Muslims
Those who have been persuaded by what’s written
and said during the electoral campaigns, and who concluded that Trump is
against Muslims must take two important points into consideration: Trump’s
personal history and the system of the American state, its constitution and
judicial institutions. The president-elect has a long personal record of
dealing with Muslim people and there isn’t any racial stance documented against
him. He’s never been engaged in political or media campaigns against Muslims,
whether American Muslims or Muslims outside the US,
even following the phobia which spread after the September 11 terrorist attacks
although Trump is a resident of the traumatized city of New York. Meanwhile, the stance against
Muslims who are affiliated with terrorism and extremism must not be viewed as a
racial stance. As Muslims, this is our position too. Those who want to confuse
enmity towards extremism with enmity against Islam are ideological groups that
sponsor terrorist ideology and they aim to lobby to serve their political
purposes. Arab governments have plenty to do to communicate with the new
administration in Washington after it’s formed
and to deal with the US,
which is a superpower that influences the region’s stability and prosperity. At
the same time, we must not blame Washington
and fail to see that most of our problems and issues are the product of our
decisions and acts and that most solutions to them are in our hands. In
previous articles, I try to analyze the president-elect’s possible stances from
our issues as most developments change and are interrelated. There’s no doubt
at all that the next four years of Trump’s presidential term will be more decisive
and dangerous than Obama’s eight years in office.
**This article was first published Asharq al-Awsat on Nov. 10, 2016.
Arabs and the American elections
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
Do Arabs overreact when it comes to following the American elections?
If we take facts into account, the answer will be clear. American
presence in the Middle East and the Arab
region started with mutual interests, agreements and alliances based on the
Eisenhower principle. This continued during the war of the liberation of Kuwait and American intervention in Iraq in 2003.
Over the years, this part of the world has remained a zone of US influence. Of
course, relations between the Gulf and the United States have been more
honest, solid and productive. However, this changed during Barack Obama’s stint
in the White House. Arabs began to feel that America
let them down and gave Iran
the upper hand in the region. It withdrew from vital areas and allowed Russia to
dominate one area after another. Perhaps, handing over Syria to Russia is the clearest example of
the Obama-US retreat. Arabs’ US election fever is not an
exaggeration. They are keen to know about these elections as they influence
Gulf interests. They also go a long way in finding solutions to Arab problems.
American presence in the Middle East and the Arab region started with mutual
interests, agreements and alliances based on the Eisenhower principle
Right to understand
It is the Arabs’ right to follow up on American elections, and being
interested in the future of the strongest country in the world – perhaps the
strongest in history, as it controls policies, economy and wars – cannot be
called an overreaction. American values have become a global standard
whether they are related to food, clothing or tolerance. Other powers such as Russia and China do not have the American
values, which emerge from solid bases, laws and principles, refined over
centuries. That’s America
for you, with all its charm and madness!
**This article was first published in Okaz on Nov.
09, 2016.
Trump and the Middle East: ‘Ignore the
campaign rhetoric’
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/November
10/16
Donald Trump’s earth-shattering victory as the 45th President of the
United States has sent shockwaves across the Middle East. Questions about the
real estate mogul’s outlandish campaign promises such as taking Iraq’s oil or
restricting immigration from the “terrorist nations”, and whether those would
be implemented into actual policies, are being debated in Arab policy circles.
According to Arab diplomatic sources, who have communicated directly with high
level officials in the Trump campaign, Trump the candidate might not be Trump
the President. Unpredictability and lack of coherent foreign policy define his
policies in the Middle East, clouded by
differences with Vice President-elect, Mike Pence, on the major issues. This
could be a prelude to an internal debate within the Trump-Pence team and within
the Republican establishment before any strategies on the Middle
East are outlined. ‘Ignore the campaign rhetoric’. Three
months after Trump declared his infamous Muslim ban last December, his campaign
according to Arab diplomatic sources, reached out to different Middle East
embassies in Washington, DC. The message from the Trump campaign to
key Arab diplomats last Spring was a plea to “ignore
Mr. Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail.” The outreach which was done
by his staff mostly to key states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), had
Trump relay assurances to those governments and capitals where he has business
partnerships, that “what is being said on the campaign trail is different from
how he would govern”, and that he “looks forward to do business together and
explore opportunities were he to win the Presidency.”
Such messaging from Trump reflects a more calculated approach in reaching
different audiences and a readiness to abandon his campaign promises for doing
real time politics and business with foreign governments. His scorched-earth
tactics on the campaign were meant to rally anxious voters with
anti-immigration and populist economic slogans, while behind closed doors he
would focus on a more well-crafted message to use with
foreign leaders. This double-tongue narrative will likely continue in a Trump
administration with him firing up his base publicly, while being engaged in
outreach efforts -with the same people he is bashing- privately. The
message from the Trump campaign to key Arab diplomats last Spring
was a plea to “ignore Mr. Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail”
What does a Trump policy look like?
Trump’s lack of foreign policy experience and fiery rhetoric has left an
impression of unpredictability and vagueness about his policies in the region.
Added to that are his major differences with the second man in charge at the White
House, Mike Pence who is closer the Republican establishment. While Trump
has embraced a populist and semi-isolationist message that appeases Russia, distances itself from NATO, rejects
trade deals, proposes a wall with Mexico,
wants to keep the Iran deal
and condemns the Iraq
war, his Vice President is against all of the above. Pence has criticized
Russia, defended NATO, was a staunch supporter of the Iraq war, advocated trade
deals, criticized the Muslim ban, called for a safe zone in Syria and rejects
the Iran deal. Pence, for example, supports a missile defense
system in Poland and the Czech Republic
to counter Russia
and sees in NATO as an arch of global stability. He said on a trip to Berlin in
2014, “With continued instability in the Middle East, and Putin’s aggression in
Ukraine, I believe we must take immediate steps to strengthen our mutual
security by deploying a robust missile defense in all
of Europe – including Poland and the Czech Republic – to protect the interests
of our NATO allies and the United States in the region.” It was telling
yesterday that Trump’s first phone call as President-elect was to the Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In contrast, in 2008, US President Barack
Obama made his first phone call to the head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. The new Republican
President has signaled a pro-Israel shift by moving
the US embassy to and
recognizing Jerusalem
as the Jewish State’s capital. This would be an unprecedented departure from US
on one of the core final issues since 1960s. On Syria, Trump
and Pence will have to consolidate their differences on a safe zone that the
Vice President supports while the President doesn’t. Trump also has to
determine how on the one hand he wants to forge a closer alliance with Russia in Syria
while at the same time pledging to counter Iran
who is fighting alongside Moscow
in that conflict.
Trade deals
A more isolationist tone will likely accompany a
Trump Presidency in abandoning trade deals and withdrawing from global markets.
Trump is also expected to shelve issues of reform and democracy in the Middle
East, and focus more on counterterrorism in dealing with Egypt, improving relations with Turkey’s Erdogan and
assuring the GCC on Yemen.
Trump’s rise that was built on a charged populist and Islamophobic
rhetoric will attempt to shift gears into deal-making as President. But with
major changes expected to come from Trump’s policies on the status of Jerusalem and aligning with Russia,
the newly elected President will be treading in the Middle
East’s muddy waters and running the risk of getting caught again
in a wave of Anti-Americanism and fueling terror
recruits.
Trump and Brexit shock the system
Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/November 10/16
The year 2016 has witnessed the most dramatic
electoral exercises of the 21st century – Brexit –
the referendum that saw Britain
voting to leave the European Union; and now Donald Trump voted into the White
House.
The full implications of the Brexit vote in June are
still far from clear and it will be months if not years before one can assess
the extent of the Trump surge to victory. In both cases, the implications just
grow and grow the more they are examined. Many try to link the two earthquakes.
It is tempting. Both were shocks way up on the political Richter scale
embarrassing pollsters. Both “insurgent” campaigns were notable for the
devastating poverty of a genuine political project. They were mass rejections
of the existing political order, where expertise and facts were rubbished and
ignored. The optimist slither of hope is that the young largely did not vote
for either. This was no youth revolution.
Worryingly both campaigns exposed just how bitterly divided these two
nations are. They are not alone. Next up is the rerun of the Austrian Presidential
election next month where Norbert Hofer of the extreme right wing Freedom Party
may well win. Who would dare rule out a Marine Le Pen victory in France’s
Presidential elections next year? Europe will
face a historic challenge to its democratic culture. Both are leaps into
the unknown fronted by derisory slogans such as “take back control” and “make
American great again.” Trump himself moved from now knowing what Brexit even was to promising to deliver “Brexit plus, plus, plus”. In both cases disillusioned
voters opted for a negative, a rejection of the existing order, in favor of a totally unclear path.
The elites had failed. The frontline salesman for Brexit,
Boris Johnson, could hardly work out what it meant. The British government
still cannot. And Trump policy statements have usually been spouted out in 140
characters or less. The reality is, barring a couple of key positions, nobody
is sure quite what President Trump will do, just us nobody knows what Brexit Britain will look like. Bigotry, hatred and
racism were the jet fuel in both campaigns, but in particular Trump’s. Racism
was an electoral asset. In Britain, although the remain campaign had no winning
answer to the fear of refugees and immigrants and increasing anti-Muslim
sentiment, it never even started to plumb the depths of Trump’s rallies.
Trump deliberately and openly ran the most bigoted, racist, sexist
fascist campaign ever seen in a supposedly democratic nation. Yet he knows as
his acceptance speech highlighted that while he can sadly win an election on
hate and division, he can only govern with a degree of consensus and unity. The
reality is, barring a couple of key positions, nobody is sure quite what
President Trump will do, just us nobody knows what Brexit
Britain will look like
Extremist crackpots
Across the world every far right extremist and crackpot is celebrating
from David Duke, to Geert Wilders, Nigel Farage and Viktor Orban. It will
be open season on liberal values and human rights. Historic struggles that many
liberals assumed they had as good as won on racism and sexism have regressed
decades. Walls that had been taken down are going back up, the worst walls
being those in the minds of too many far right foot soldiers.
It also exposes huge chasms in society in the United
States, Britain
and a host of other countries experiencing far-right surges. These splits are
not easily healed. To get elected Trump needed to expose these splits; to
govern he may need to heal some.
Yet like so many analogies it can only go so far. Britain deciding to leave the EU is a long term
decision that totally revises its relationship not just with Europe
but the world. It could also unravel the United Kingdom. The relief for
those who did not vote for Trump is that in four years they have the chance to
kick him out. Yet the division and hatred are deep rooted. Brexiteers did reject the European Union but all claim to
want to open up to the rest of the world and create new relationships.
Protectionist Trump, proclaims to be anti-free trade (despite being a long-term
beneficiary) who will shred the various trade deals the US has entered
into. Brexit was a dour campaign that hardly
inspired along with Clinton’s
lacklustre and visionless effort. Trump however was playing to the mob like a
Roman Emperor entertaining the mob in the colosseum.
From the get-go his campaign was energetic, entertaining and never out of the
headlines. Being grossly offensive became a campaign plus. He is unlikely to
govern in the same fashion.
Above all, it is hard how to see how either project will not end in
failure, complete or partial. Brexit could damage
Europe, not just the EU, for decades, and will not resolve the issues that so
many in Britain
hope it will. Trump has revealed so little in terms of policies it is hard to
believe that his little chubby fingers will pull rabbits out of a hat that so
many blue-collar voters expect him to. Yet progressives must learn some
painful lessons. Too many people have been left behind, see globalisation as a
threat and are scared of losing their core identity. Both in the US, in Britain
and across much of the rest of Europe huge
swathes of the population cherish change. These voters will not just
automatically return into the arms of centrist parties when the far right fails.
Fresh vision and leadership is required that can deliver real and lasting
change.
Separate Assyrian Churches From State,
Says Assyrian Confederation of Europe
Assyrian Confederation of Europe
Assyrian International News Agency/November 10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/10/assyrian-confederation-of-europe-separate-assyrian-churches-from-state-says-assyrian-confederation-of-europe/
The Assyrian Confederation of Europe is concerned by the growing influence of churches in Assyrian politics in Iraq,
which has been revealed in recent developments.
Recent meetings on the subject of the future of the Nineveh Plain conducted in Iraq between
Assyrian political groups have been initiated and attended by church leaders.
These meetings, and developments surrounding them, have made it clear that the
Christian leadership in Iraq
is seeking to facilitate the entry of the Peshmerga
into the Nineveh Plain.
We are alarmed by reports that church leaders are advancing the interests of
Kurdish nationalists whose clearly stated aim is the conquest of the Nineveh plain. We echo
the findings of Human Rights Watch in the
report "On Vulnerable Ground", which reveals how the KRG utilizes
church leaders to undermine the rights of the Assyrian nation. The HRW report
states:
"Kurdish authorities have tried to win favor
with the minority communities by spending millions of Iraqi dinars to build a
pro-Kurdish system of patronage in minority communities, financing alternative
civil society organizations to compete with, undermine, and challenge the
authority of established groups, many of which oppose Kurdish rule. The KRG
also funds private militias created ostensibly to protect minority communities
from outside violence, but which in reality serve to entrench Kurdish
influence. Finally, the Kurdish leadership has enriched the coffers of some
minority religious leaders, and paid for expensive new places of worship in
order to win over minority religious establishments."
What is most troubling about the fervor with which
church figures are now seeking to formalize the Kurdish nationalist annexation
of the Nineveh
plain is that it comes over two years after the Peshmerga
not only failed to protect Assyrian villages and towns in the Plain, but
betrayed the Assyrian people to genocide at the hands of the Islamic State. The
unnatural eagerness which drives these clergymen to endorse the invasion and
occupation of their own land by these same Peshmerga
forces (and the Assyrian sub-militias under their command which serve to
burnish their image) reveals either that they are not free to advocate for
positions that will allow their own people to survive and flourish, or that
they have decided of their own volition to actively endorse the oppression of
Assyrians. Both possibilities demonstrate the total lack of legitimacy and
suitability of church figures as representatives of Assyrians on the levels of
politics and security, re-affirming the need to distinguish between church
matters and national questions. Patriarch Gewargis
III of the Assyrian church of the east, patriarch Louis Raphael Sako of the Chaldean church, patriarch Aphrem
Karim II of the Syriac
Orthodox church and patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan
of the Syriac Catholic church must cease to interfere
in political affairs of the nation.
"The Assyrian churches are doing a great job in supporting displaced
Assyrians in Iraq, however we cannot accept clergy to engage in political
affairs or claim to represent our nation politically", says Attiya Gamri, President of the
Assyrian Confederation of Europe, concluding that: "State and church must
be separated within the Assyrian nation".
The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) is the legitimate military expression
of the Assyrian people in Iraq.
It is supported by the central government of Iraq and fights under the
international auspices of the Nineveh Liberation Operation. While the clergy
advocates for policies that will subvert and endanger the extraordinary efforts
of the NPU to liberate and secure their homeland from the scourge of the
Islamic State, many fighters drawn from the very congregations of these
clergymen are planting both the flag of Iraq and their own Assyrian nation
simultaneously in the soil of their forefathers, pointing to a future where
Assyrians can at last live without exploitation in the land they have inhabited
for thousands of years.
The churches of the Assyrian people have been historically, and are
presently, attached to their own institutional enrichment rather than the need
to assert the ethno-political rights of the Assyrian community. To assist the
evolution of Iraq
into a democratic and pluralistic state, it is essential that the secular
political representation of its ethnic communities be granted legitimacy over
religious and sectarian interests.
The Assyrian Confederation of Europe, which is made up of national federations
supported by tens of thousands of Assyrians from the different Assyrian
churches, calls upon the international community:
To disregard political statements made by religious figures
claiming to speak on behalf of the Assyrian people;
To maintain and expand support for the Nineveh Plain Protection Units
with arms, training and other resources.
Egypt's Severe Economic Crisis Sparks
Harsh Criticism Of Regime's Economic Policy, Calls To Topple Regime On November
11
By: C. Meital/MEMRI/November 10/16
Introduction
In recent years, Egypt has been suffering a severe economic crisis, [1]
expressed by a sharp drop of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, rising
prices, a shortage of staple foods such as rice, sugar and baby food, and
profiteering in these commodities.[2]
In order to overcome the economic crisis, the Egyptian government and state
institutions have formulated an economic reform plan comprising a series of
measures, including cutting expenditures of government ministries;[3] ending
subsidies on 95-octane gasoline, which caused gasoline prices to spike;[4] and
floating the Egyptian pound, which caused its value to drop even further
against the dollar.[5]
These measures have sparked rage among the Egyptian public and complaints about
rising prices and low living standards in the country. For example, in some
Egyptian governorates public transport drivers went on strike in protest of the
rise in gasoline prices, angering the public and even triggering fistfights
between drivers and passengers.[6] Students at the
American University in Cairo demonstrated against the measure of floating the
pound which, they said, caused their cost of living to rise.[7] Criticism of
the government's measures was also voiced by members of the parliament's energy
committee. They protested the sudden decision to raise gasoline prices, which
they said had been taken without consulting them.[8]
The rage among the Egyptian public was also reflected in videos about the
economic crisis that were circulated via the media and social networks and went
viral. On his show on the Al-Hayat channel, host 'Amr Al-Leithy aired a video in
which a tuk-tuk[9] driver ranted against the economic situation. After the
airing of the video, the security services in the Sohag
governorate initiated a hunt for the driver, who apparently disappeared for
fear of persecution. Another video presented the difficulties of a shop owner
in Port Said.[10] In response to these videos, journalist Ahmad Moussa, who is close to the regime, circulated a video showing
an interview with another tuk-tuk driver who denied
there was an economic crisis in Egypt. [11]
Another expression of the popular rage against the government's economic policy
was the establishment of the Ghalaba Movement
("Movement of the Poor"), which has called on Egyptians to take to
the streets on November 11, 2016 in order to topple the regime due to the
economic situation.[12] In an October 28, 2016 post on its Facebook
page, the movement's spokesman, Yasser Al-'Omada,
laid out the movement's beliefs and goals, including: "liberating all the
political prisoners and prisoners of conscience; arresting all the corrupt
regime loyalists who have stolen the money and the resources of the poor and
nationalizing all the property of these criminals...; abolishing the Civil
Service Law and raising civil servants' salaries; assisting the unemployed;
seizing lands that were sold or given to military and police officers and
businessmen who are close to the corrupt regime and giving them to young
people...; returning the army to its bases and confining it to developing and
manufacturing arms and defending Egypt's borders, rather than taking part in
the regime or in political activity, for [the army] is a state institution, not
a state within a state..."[13] In a video posted on the movement's Facebook page, Al-'Omada read out
a pledge and urged the Egyptian public to repeat it as a commitment to join
activity towards toppling the regime.[14] His call elicited positive responses
from many others on Facebook.
Though the Ghalaba movement stressed that its members
are "Egyptians unaffiliated with any particular party, organization or
political entity, whose sole commitment it to their homeland, where they wish
to live in dignity like all other nations," regime supporters claimed that
the movement members were Muslim Brotherhood (MB) activists and supporters of
the January 25, 2011 revolution trying to spark chaos in Egypt.[15]
Egyptian regime officials tried to repel the criticism and encourage the
citizens in light of the grave economic situation. Addressing the First Youth
Conference, held in Sharm Al-Sheikh under his
sponsorship, Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi said that, in his childhood, his family's refrigerator
had nothing in it but water.[16] In order to quell the
public protests, the army distributed subsidized food packages to the
citizens.[17]
The heated debate on the economic crisis also found expression in the Egyptian
press. Many Egyptian paper editors, including some close to the regime, leveled harsh criticism at the government's economic
policy. In an interview with the press editors, Al-Sisi
responded by accusing the media of publishing reports based on partial or false
information and thereby harming the state, and also complained that the discourse
on social media sowed frustration among Egyptians. He added that the role of
the media was to give people hope, rather than the opposite.[18]
The editorial board of the government daily Al-Ahram,
including chief editor 'Abd Al-Hadi
'Allam, echoed Al-Sisi's
sentiments. Articles in the daily defended the government's policy, and claimed
that the harsh criticism against it was incitement aimed at triggering popular
protest and instigating further upheavals in the country.
This report reviews the articles criticizing the economic measures of the
Egyptian government, and the response articles in Al-Ahram.
Egyptian Writers: The Government Is Helpless In Dealing With The Disastrous
Economic Crisis
Egyptian Newspaper Board Of Trustees Director: Government Handling Of Sugar And
Bread Crisis Is A Stratagem Aimed At Raising Prices
Muhammad Amin, director of the board of trustees of
the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm,
criticized the government in general, and specifically Egypt's minister of
supply Muhammad Meselhi, pointing out the sugar
industry's mishandling of the crisis and the mistakes in dealing with food
merchants and smugglers. He wrote: "How Egypt is managed remains an
unknown. Who is carefully considering [the situation] and making decisions
about it? How do crises suddenly spring up and just as suddenly disappear? Even
the innermost of the inner circles is clueless and lacks information... This is
as true for the dollar market as for the sugar market. We thought the new
supply minister[19] would rescue us from [the crisis]
we are in, but here we are, sinking even [deeper]. He neither saved us nor sent
us a lifeboat...
"We have seen such a miracle in recent days – the dollar is soaring and
fooling everyone, and no one can stop it. [The price of] sugar is rapidly
rising... and no one is stopping it. Egypt is being run without a
government to confront the chaos. The strange thing is that this 'savior minister' submitted a report to Prime Minister [Sherif Isma'il] stating that the
[sugar] reserves will last until March. [If that is so,] where are they?
[Officials] are saying the same things we are about the merchants' greed –
[but] aren't you the government and don't you know every detail about what is
happening in the country?
"And suddenly [they say] that the market is being starved of sugar – the
only sweet thing in our lives – in order to drive up
its price. Yesterday, Minister Muhammad Meselhi
issued a directive stating that the Ministry of Supply would sell sugar to
consumers at six Egyptian pounds per kilo, and would continue providing it to
[food subsidy] card holders at five Egyptian pound per
kilo. That means that this was a government stratagem for increasing the price,
and people surely realized this...
"The strange thing is that the minister is justifying this by saying that
his decision [to set prices at six Egyptian pounds] was aimed at controlling
prices and regulating the markets, as well as reducing smuggling, monopolies,
and price manipulation.
"I openly ask Minister Meselhi: Don't you
[government officials] know who the merchants are, and don't you know where the
monopolies are?... There are laws for dealing with
monopolies... Is it conceivable that you would not know who the smugglers are?
Or that you would not know who operates the monopolies? Where are the oversight
and regulatory mechanisms? People are saying that what happened was just for
show.
"Mr. Minister, did the state, with its much-vaunted capabilities, fail to
oversee the markets before it raised prices? And can it now miraculously curb
smuggling and monopolies after deciding to raise the prices? Will reserves
suddenly appear following the ministry's decision – or should we pound the
pavement [searching] for a kilo of sugar? ...
"Besides the loaf of bread and the sugar, all [prices] have been
manipulated – whether it was manipulation, just for show, or for taking the
[public] pulse, this nearly set Egypt on fire..."[20]
Poster on the Ghalaba movement's Facebook
page calling for protests on November 11 (Facebook.com/ghalaba2016, November 8,
2016)
Egyptian Newspaper Board Of Trustees Director To Al-Sisi:
Reassure The People About Our Economic Situation
In another article on the crisis, and the calls for November 11 protests,
Muhammad Amin demanded that President Al-Sisi speak to the people to reassure them, given the
economic pressures they are experiencing. He wrote: "No one but the
president himself should speak at this time – not the prime minister or anyone
else – just the president. Today's situation requires that he speak to the people.
I am not saying that he should do so from parliament, but directly to the
public – and not at a ceremony inaugurating some project. The people's courage
has surpassed expectations, and their [willingness to] sacrifice should be
actively encouraged. If I were the president, I would have done this without
delay.
"Mr. President, the people have never before needed you to appear as they
do now, and you have never before needed to speak openly to them as you do now.
The people want to be calm about what is happening around them – come tell them
about it. Tell them how important it is for us to undergo surgery to remove
this cancer. Explain to them how important this treatment is... It is in your
hands. Open a door of hope for the young people, Mr. President.
"Mr. President, I am not demanding that you speak in order to thwart the
attempts to incite against Egypt.
Much like you, I do not fear the so-called 11/11 [November 11 protests]. You
have shown that you do not fear the calls to protest, and that you are not
apprehensive about the calls of incitement following your authorization of
immediate [harsh economic] measures. You must know that most of the people
stand with you, and they need you to be open with them in all matters. It is
their right to know...
"Mr. President, many experts are predicting a wave of investment and
tourism, and an economic revival for Egypt. [But to hear it coming] from
them is one thing, and [to hear it coming] from you is another. Your words have
credibility with the public and will ease the pressure on the security
apparatuses [who must cope with the protests]. A regime cannot be based on the
fist of the security apparatuses. The solution lies first and foremost in
honesty and [information] sharing. You alone can thwart these incitement
attempts...
"Mr. President, if I were in your place now – and
who would want to be? – I wouldn't wait another day... Speak to the people.
First thank them for their courage, and then speak to them openly. Then we will
strip these misguided organizations of the opportunity [to harm
Egypt]..."[21]
Magazine Editor: The Government Must Set An Example For Austerity Measures And
Economic Reforms
Ibrahim Khalil, editor of the government Roz Al-Yousef weekly, also criticized the Egyptian government,
stating that it had been remiss in regulating the markets and eliminating food
industry monopolies. He wrote:
"In its next session, the Sherif Ismail
government must take steps to reduce [expenditures], especially in the prime
minister's office, and must also apply these measures to all government offices
and travel [expenses], in order to set an example of the austerity measures and
economic reforms that it would roll out in the coming period.[22]
"However, the government must not harm the regular income of civil servants
who have become impoverished due to rising prices and to the daily, weekly, and
monthly pressures that surprise citizens [ever so often], whether in the form
of a shortage of some product, or a price rise of another. In general, the poor
have nothing left that can be harmed by economic reforms...
"The demands and the suffering [caused by] the economic reform should be
borne by those who can bear it – the wealthy – since this is a fundamental
[principle] of the social justice that people have demanded for so long.
"Additionally, the Egyptian government and prime minister should issue
directives to all governors in Egypt stating that their decisions must be made
transparently and objectively, and that they cannot rescind their promises to
people – in order not to leave the door open for the terrorist MB movement to
fan the flames and incite against the state, as happened in Port
Said..."[23]
"The incitement and the spread of rumors have
not stopped for a single moment, and [in this climate] any misstep or random
act is leveraged [by terrorists to prompt] people to leave their work, take to
the streets, and protest, so that the [Twitter] users and terrorists can paint
[a picture] for the world showing that the country is chronically unstable.
"In their daily lives, people neither notice nor care about... the
distractions peddled by the terrorist brigades that launched their 11/11
[campaign]. The [people] have chosen stability and security, and have great
confidence in the president and in the positive achievements such as the
large-scale national projects...
"But on all these issues, it is the citizens who pay the price of the
[government's] trembling hands and lack of vision, [or of its] hesitance in
making painful decisions. It is time for us to look for new and original ways
to properly and quickly solve our problems. To the ones who are demanding that
people take to the streets, we say that it is too late to do so, because the
street can never give them a carton of milk, a job, or reduced prices for staple
[food] products. Those who preach this are far removed from the people's
problems; they live in skyscrapers, surrounded by creature comforts, and are
themselves incapable of taking to the streets. All they do is incite others.
"This is Egypt's
fate. There are unending attempts to pull it backwards, but that is not
possible, because anyone betting that the 11/11 [protests] will succeed will be
surprised to discover that all levels of society agree on
stability..."[24]
Daily Editor To Egyptian President, Government: Act Now Before Society Explodes
'Imad Al-Din Hussein, editor-in-chief of the
independent Egyptian daily Al-Shurouq, also
criticized the government's handling of the economic crisis, but did not hold
it solely responsible for the crisis itself. According to him, the citizenry
does not care about the causes of the crisis; the important point is for the
country's leadership to act to bring relief to common people. He wrote:
"I hope that the president, the government, and other relevant mechanisms
act before society explodes due to the economic crisis, which would be
disastrous and very dangerous. First, the government should realize that there
is a difficult problem, because if it does not, it will be a disaster.
"Second, the government should take clear steps on the ground to confront
the rising tide of public anger... now, before it becomes a raging torrent.
"The worst response [possible] is for the government to say it has done
everything it can and that it is focusing on the [economic] infrastructure, and
that people are ungrateful and do not appreciate its efforts. This will repeat
the fatal mistakes made by both [Hosni] Mubarak and [Muhammad] Mursi in their final days. In this matter, the principle
[to follow] is that 'the customer is always right.' The government must do one
of two things: either convince its citizens that all
its policies benefit them, or abandon [those policies].
"Like many others, I realize that the current government is not
exclusively responsible for this corrosive economic crisis, and in fact only
bears a small amount of the blame, and the same goes for all of Al-Sisi's governments and the Muslim Brotherhood government as
well, as this crisis is the result of a decades-long buildup
[of problems], during which Mubarak bought the people's silence with practical
economic support, [and they] in return [forgave him for] not implementing
reforms many years ago.
"But ultimately, the common citizen does not care who caused the crisis –
Mubarak, Mursi, or the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces! For the citizen, there is a president and a government who accepted the
mantle of responsibility and must [therefore] wear it and ease his burden...
"I also understand that in order to realize reforms, there is no escaping
hard decisions that will lead to a rise in prices of basic commodities as a
result of the expected increase in the value of the dollar against the Egyptian
pound, and the cut in energy subsidies. But the question is,
what is the point of implementing any economic plan if it leads to starvation
riots? The government should sensitively balance enacting economic reforms and
not destroying the lives of the poor and the lower middle class.
"It would be absurd to blame the MB of being behind it all – first,
because they are weaker than we think; second, because in repeating this
allegation, the government shows that [the MB] is still strong and endangers
[it]; and third, and most importantly, because complaints of rising prices are
almost universal, although the MB undoubtedly will try to ride any wave of
future social protest...
"It makes no sense to demand that the common citizen take austerity
measures and bear the burden of high prices so long as the people who hoard
sugar, rice, and other products, as well as dollars, in order to make
astronomic [profits] have not been executed. There is no escaping sending a
special message to the people, that the government is
actively working in their favor...
"Regular citizens don't care about big words regarding budgetary
deficits... They care about going to the store or supermarket and finding a
kilo of sugar at a reasonable price, not ten pounds, and the same is true for
rice, oil, bread, and the other staple foods. The merchant or the investor
wants a real and immediate solution to the tragedy of the dollar, because the
only ones who benefited from the events of the past months are the corrupt, the
thieves, and the price gougers..."[25]
Egyptian Columnist: Government, Parliament Must Implement Al-Sisi's "Refrigerator" Policy And Tighten Their
Belts
Amin Salah, a columnist for
the Egyptian daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi',
which takes a pro-regime line, complained of the massive waste in the
government, parliament, and among Egyptian governors, and argued that this
budget could be better used to benefit the public. He demanded that authorities
adopt Al-Sisi's "refrigerator policy"
(i.e., austerity measures), named after a story Al-Sisi
told about his impoverished childhood.
Salah wrote: "'For 10 years my refrigerator had
nothing in it but water.' This is what President 'Abd
Al-Fattah Al-Sisi said... at the youth conference in Sharm Al-Sheikh. Some believe that this was a message to Egypt's poor so
they will remain patient with the state at this difficult time. In truth, this
message is directed at all citizens – both the government and the people – and
more than calling for austerity, it calls on everyone to reexamine
their expenses.
"For starters, let us discuss the government's 'refrigerator': Many
Egyptian ministers have fancy cars and massive offices, and when they travel to
foreign conferences, they stay in exorbitantly-priced hotels... If the
ministers viewed the president's message from inside his refrigerator, the
expenses of Egyptian [government] ministries would have completely changed, and
the country could have saved large sums.
"[As for] parliament's 'refrigerator': The millions that parliament pays
to the Al-Tahrir parking garage so that MPs can park
their cars before each session, and the various conferences that parliament
holds to celebrate various events at a cost of millions – all this should come
under the 'refrigerator' policy, and instead of all this waste, we must save
this budget as part of measures to protect public funds due to the economic
situation currently afflicting Egypt.
"Many do not know that some governors spend their entire terms staying in
palaces and villas owned by their governorates... All these phenomena should
also be brought under the president's 'refrigerator' [policy].
"Many products imported by stores and trade centers are luxuries that
serve only certain [richer] levels of society, but cause big problems for the
Egyptian economy, since they increase imports that Egypt pays for with hard
currency. All these products should [also] be brought under the president's 'refrigerator'
[policy].
"The garbage piling up on the streets of the republic should also be
brought under the president's 'refrigerator' policy, as some countries see it
as a national resource [and benefit from it] by recycling. Moreover, some
countries sign annual agreements to import garbage from other countries in
order to recycle it and benefit from it.
" Egypt's
rich pay no taxes in their palaces and villas, although the buildings
themselves cost millions. Is it not the state's right to receive a few Egyptian
pounds every month as a tax on such buildings? They too should be brought under
the 'refrigerator' policy.
"When President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi spoke of his personal refrigerator, he did not mean
that the poor alone should bear the burden, but rather that all Egyptians
together should bear the cost of the economic reform. Therefore, the government
should have a refrigerator like the president's, as should parliament, the
governors, and all state institutions..."[26]
"The floating of the Egyptian pound": "Al-Sisi's
water refrigerator" saves the drowning Egyptian currency (Al-Arabi Al-Jadid, London, November
7, 2016)
Egyptian Establishment: The Government Is Facing Nasty Rumors
And MB Incitement
In response to the harsh criticism from both political and senior media figures
in Egypt regarding the government's handling of the economic crisis, the
government daily Al-Ahram published a number of
articles that, like President Al-Sisi, attacked the
media for criticizing the government and justified the latter's policies.[27]
Al-Ahram Editor: The Egyptian Media Does Not
Understand The Root Causes Of The Economic Crisis
Al-Ahram chief editor Muhammad 'Abd
Al-Hadi 'Allam wrote in his
weekly column that the economic crisis stemmed from decades of neglect by the previous
Egyptian administrations, and that the Al-Sisi regime
was offering profound and well-thought out solutions for it:
"The [economic] reforms in Egypt are approaching the stage of formulating
the full picture for improving the economic and financial situation in the
country, after months of shaping and elaborating their details and offering
alternatives for addressing our shaky situation. For years, the political
leadership has been speaking frankly to the people regarding [our] real
economic situation... This has displeased certain [people], who decided to
accuse [the government] of failure, inability to resolve [the issues] and a
lack of [economic] vision. But, in actual fact, these people failed to
understand that Egypt
was not in an optimal situation when its people took [to the streets] crying
'life, liberty and social justice' on January 25, [2011], over five years ago.
"[Economic] crises in Egypt are nothing new, and what [some] media figures
are saying – that before January 24, 2011 things were much better than they are
today – makes no sense, because the causes and roots of the crisis are anchored
in long decades of neglect. In the last five years, this has taken on
additional aspects, which stem from several factors, including the rising violence
and terror and their effect on the security situation. [All]
the abovementioned factors affected Egypt's
image in the world, [causing] a drop in tourism and in the revenues from the Suez Canal. The state budget was stretched after
salaries and wages were increased due to sectorial
pressures, whereas Egyptian export declined and the import of basic commodities
increased and their prices rose. Egyptian manufacture ground to a halt and
state income decreased due to a string of consecutive crises and in the absence
of a clear plan for the period after the ouster of former president Hosni
Mubarak. Furthermore, the catastrophic rise to power of the Muslim
Brotherhood... brought the country to a worrying [economic] condition in
several domains...
"The political leadership believes in the need to propose in-depth
solutions leading to a comprehensive reform. That is the purpose of the
president's current actions, [so] there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The government has made huge investments in infrastructure and road networks,
and resolved the electricity crisis with unprecedented speed... People now
forget how domestic security was restored following the wave of violence in
2013-2014, whose planners wanted to drown Egypt in sectarian conflict and
internal fighting among the sectors of society...
"The political leadership is now working to mend... the accumulated
problems of previous eras. We can no longer leave the country at the mercy of
the changing variables of the political situation around us in the Arab region
and the Middle East. Even if we resolved the
issue of restoring tourism and increasing the revenue from the Suez Canal, or
relied on [funds] transferred by Egyptians abroad as our primary source of
national income and hard currency,[28] it would not
have helped given the current crisis, the rapidly growing population and the
large number of young people waiting for job opportunities in [this] country.
The best [way] to fix the problems that nobody speaks of is to renew production
by boosting agriculture and the manufacturing industries, whether [by means of]
direct foreign investment or by encouraging investment in small and medium
enterprises..."[29]
Al-Ahram Editorial: The Public Is Showing
Considerable Maturity In Face Of Painful Decisions; Most Egyptians Refuse To
Heed Calls For Protests
Three days later, on November 7, following the central bank's decision to float
the Egyptian pound and the decision to cut subsidies to fossil fuels , Al-Ahram published an editorial defending these measures. It
said: "Egypt
has successfully navigated the phase of floating the pound and cutting fuel
subsidies. Despite some grumbling, which is usual in such situations, it [all]
went smoothly. Those who follow [these matters] noted that the issue of
floating the pound was debated for a long time, and the ground and public
opinion were prepared for this type of decision, so when it was announced, it
was not a complete surprise.
It seems to me that, alongside the economic challenges and the security
threats, the Egyptian government has now begun tackling another issue having to
do with nasty rumors, the last of which concerned [a
plan] to fire millions of civil service employees. Egyptian cabinet spokesman Husam Al-Qawish hurried to deny
these repeated false reports about the dismissal of millions of civil servants
as part of the conditions [set out by] the International Monetary Fund [for
granting Egypt a loan]. Al-Qawish demanded that all
media outlets strive to keep their reports accurate.
"Though Egyptians have demonstrated considerable public maturity in
dealing with the painful economic decisions, the terrorist MB organizations
will not stop their ongoing incitement aimed at blowing up the situation in Egypt and
agitating the public. However, most Egyptians refuse to heed the calls for
chaos and destruction, and understand that expressing [their views] calmly on
the media and social networks is sufficient at the present stage, [because
right now] Egypt
cannot withstand further upheavals..."[30]
* C. Meital is a research fellow at MEMRI.
Endnotes:
[1] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1265, Three Years Into Al-Sisi's Rule: Difficult Challenges At Home And Abroad,
August 14, 2016.
[2] Rassd.com, September 3, 2016; Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), September 7, 2016; Al-Ahram
(Egypt), October 9, 2016; Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), October 10, 2016.
[3] On October 20, 2016, Egypt's
Ministerial Economic Committee decided on downsizing Egypt's diplomatic missions abroad
by 50%. Deputy Finance Minister Muhammad Mu'ait said
that this was part of a decision to cut government expenses in order to shrink
the budgetary deficit. See Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), October
21, 2016.
[4] Al-Shurouq (Egypt), November 5, 2016.
[5] "Currency floating" is an economic regime whereby the currency is
set by the foreign-exchange market through supply and demand relative to other
currencies. Thus, floating exchange rates change freely and are determined by
trading in the forex market. The decision to float
the pound was welcomed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
European Central Bank, and was defended by Egyptian economic experts. See Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt),
November 3, 2016.
[6] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt),
November 5, 8, 2016.
[7] Rassd.com, November 7, 2016.
[8] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), November 7,
2016.
[9] A tuk-tuk is an auto rickshaw used to ferry
passengers around the city.
[10] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), October 13, 2016; Al-Quds
Al-Arabi (London),
October 20, 2016. It should be mentioned that, following the airing of the
videos, the show went off the air for several weeks. A source at Al-Hayat TV explained that Al-Leithy
had been asked to take a vacation until things calmed down. Rassd.com, October
16, 2016.
[11] Rassd.com, November 3, 2016.
[12] Al-Misriyyoun (Egypt), September 7, 2016.
[13] Facebook.com/ghalaba2016, October 28, 2016. After additional Facebook pages were opened bearing the name of the
movement, Al-'Omada posted a clarification regarding
the original movement. See: Facebook.com/ghalaba2016, November 2, 2016.
[14] Facebook.com/ghalaba2016, September 21, 2016.
[15] Al-Misriyyoun (Egypt), September 7, 2016. The
Egyptian security services claim to have intercepted secret telephone
conversations between MB leaders who have escaped to Turkey
and Qatar and Ghalaba activists in which the former told the latter to
exploit Egypt's
difficult economic situation to incite people and prompt them to take to the
streets and attack state institutions on November 11, 2016. Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt),
November 6, 2016. The government daily Al-Ahram
reported, citing "sources close to the MB," that MB leaders outside
Egypt had met in one of the world capitals with economic and market experts,
following which they published instructions for inciting the Egyptian public against
the regime and using Friday sermons to call for protests. Al-Ahram (Egypt),
November 5, 2016.
[16] Rassd.com, October 26, 2016. The president's story met with criticism and
derision on the media and social networks. See huffpostarabi.com, October 26,
2016.
[17] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), November 2,
2016.
[18] Al-Ahram (Egypt), October 15, 2016.
[19] The new Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Muhammad Meselhi, replaced Khaled Hanafi, who resigned in August 2016 following allegations
of corruption. See Al-Yawm Al-Sabi'
(Egypt), August 21, 2016;
Al-Wafd (Egypt),
August 25, 2016; Al-Watan (Egypt), October 21, 2016.
[20] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), October
15, 2016.
[21] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt),
November 5, 2016.
[22] On October 20, 2016, the Ministerial Economic Committee approved cuts to
diplomatic missions (see Note 3). This indicates that the article was written
prior to this decision.
[23] On October 18, 2016, thousands of Egyptians who qualified for public
housing held a rally outside a government office in Port Said, blocking one of
the main roads in the area to protest the Real Estate Investment Fund's demand
for deposits of 20,000 to 40,000 Egyptian pound for each public housing unit
prior to recieving it. This contradicted the
conditions announced when the project was launched in 2013, which set the
deposit much lower, at up to 10,000 pounds. See Al-Quds
Al-Arabi (London),
October 10, 2016; Roz Al-Yousef (Egypt), October
22, 2016.
[24] Roz Al-Yousef (Egypt), October 22, 2016.
[25] Al-Shurouq (Egypt), October 15, 2016.
[26] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), October
27, 2016.
[27] Al-Ahram (Egypt), October 15, 2016.
[28] This refers to the U.S. dollar, whose value against the pound is currently
very high, due to the economic crisis.
[29] Al-Ahram (Egypt), November 4, 2016.
[30] Al-Ahram (Egypt), November 7, 2016.