LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
November 27/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
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Bible Quotations For Today
Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/39-45/:"In those
days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When
He destined us for adoption as his
children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Letter to the Ephesians 01/01-14/:"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him
in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his
grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up
all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also
obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him
who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who
were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his
glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the
promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption
as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory."
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
November 26-27/16
Lebanon to try Shiek Bachir
Gemayel assassin in absentia/Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/November 26/16
Families of Lebanese Captives Optimistic After Arrest of ISIS Commander/Paula Astih/Asharq Al Awsat/November
26/16/
Hezbollah unveils its military might in Syria/Nicholas Blanford/The
Arab Weekly/November 20/16
Iran’s attack on Lebanon/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/November 20/16
Question: "What does the Bible say about thankfulness/gratitude/GotQuestions.orgNovember 20/16
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies aged 90/Reuters, Havana/November 26/16
After Mosul battle, is Syria next for the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)/Ammar Alsawad/November 25/16
UK: Two Systems of Justice/Douglas Murray/Gatestone
Institute/November 26/16
Dear Fillon, you’re wrong on Syria/ Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/November
26/16
Trump’s promises to shakeup US energy face a reality check/Talmiz
Ahmad/Al Arabiya/November 26/16
What does a Trump presidency mean for the Middle East/Hisham
Melhem/Al Arabiya/November
26/16
These Cold War Lions Could Teach Trump a Lesson or Two/David Ignatius/The
Washington Post/November 26/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese
Related News published on on November 26-27/16
Lebanon to try Shiek Bachir
Gemayel assassin in absentia
Families of Lebanese Captives Optimistic After Arrest of ISIS Commander
Dispute on Lebanon’s ‘Electoral Services’ Ministry
Boutros Harb urges political forces to exit trade
bazaar over ministerial portfolios
Baabda Palace continues to receive wellwishers on Independence Day
Bassil: Dominican Republic to open Embassy in Lebanon
Pharaon discusses tourism cooperation methods with Brazil
Berri offers condolences to Raul Castro, House
Speaker
Hariri receives Turkish and Chinese delegations
Hariri inaugurates Future Movement's 2nd General Conference: We are a Movement
of coexistence and parity between Christians and Muslims
Hezbollah unveils its military might in Syria
Iran’s attack on Lebanon
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on
November 26-27/16
Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the death of former Cuban
President Fidel Castro
Thousands take to streets of Miami to celebrate Fidel Castro’s death
Syria regime forces retake largest Aleppo rebel area
Iraqi Sunnis reject parliament legalizing PMU
Kuwaiti royal 1 of 3 killed in brutal Salwa murder
Iran detains three railroad staff over deadly train collision
Saudi Arabia destroys ballistic missile targeting Khamis
Mushait
ISIS claims deadly attack on Egyptian soldiers in Sinai
Australia: ISIS recruiter arrested in Turkey
Indonesia arrests militant planning bomb strike on Myanmar embassy
Wisconsin agrees to statewide recount in presidential
race
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for on November 26-27/16
Germany:
Muslim migrant child brides discovered, refugee workers say marriages should
remain.
Maryland
Muslim arrested for threatening to blow up Southwest Airlines plane.
Wilders:
“The elite facilitated complaints against me with pre-printed forms brought to
the mosque by police”.
Islamic State leader who ordered U.S. Muslims to murder Pamela
Geller killed by drone strike in Syria.
Leader
of Switzerland’s largest Islamic organization investigated for jihadist
propaganda.
Vast majority of Muslims entering Europe from Africa not refugees,
but migrants seeking welfare benefits.
Muslim
group claims responsibility for devastating wildfires in Israel.
French
retailers ordered to label products that come from Israeli “settlements”.
Robert
Spencer is as dangerous to America as ISIS”.
Netherlands:
Authorities thwart Amsterdam mosque members plot for jihad massacre at
synagogue.
Links From Christian Today
Site for on November 26-27/16
Targeted
By ISIS And Used As Human Shields: The Brutal Reality For Iraq's Families
Caught In The Line Of Fire
Senior
Anglican Bishop To Preside At LGBT Eucharist
Transforming
Lives: How Alpha Has Reached 28,000 Young People With The Gospel In Kenya
Fidel
Castro Dies Aged 90
Barbaric'
Forced Organ Harvesting Targets Christians In China, Investigators Claim
Christians
Believe In Truth – How Should We Respond To Post-Truth Politics?
Christianity
At Risk In Vietnam Amid Restrictions On Religious Freedom
Prince
Charles Condemns 'Appalling Suffering' Of Syria's Christians
First
Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress Praises Trump For
Decision Not To Prosecute Clinton
Iraqi
Christians Revisit Historic Town Abandoned By ISIS
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on November 26-27/16
Lebanon to try Shiek Bachir Gemayel
assassin in absentia
Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/November 26/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/26/joseph-a-kechichiangulf-news-lebanon-to-try-shiek-bachir-gemayel-assassin-in-absentia/
Beirut: Although Lebanon’s President-elect Bashir Gemayel was assassinated on September 14, 1982 — along with
26 others who perished when a bomb exploded in the Phalange Party headquarters
in Ashrafieh — the country’s Judicial Council finally
launched a trial in absentia, calling on Habib Shartouni, who confessed to planting the bomb before
escaping from prison, to turn himself in. Jean Fahd, the magistrate entrusted
with the case, issued a statement that gave Shartouni
an ultimatum to hand himself over to the judiciary “within 24 hours at the
latest from the March 3, 2017 trial session”, though it is unclear what meaning
that ultimatum has.
Fahd further demanded proof that Nabeel Al Alam, a second culprit involved in the plot, is dead. Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Social National Party
(SSNP), was born into a Maronite Catholic family in Aley (Chouf Mountains) and served
in one of the SSNP stations there though he fled to Cyprus and France at the
beginning of the civil war where he attended university and obtained a business
degree. During a 1977 visit to
Al Alam knew that Shartouni’s
family members lived in the same building where the Phalange Party kept a
headquarters, which most probably justified the recruitment. Two days after the
assassination, the 24-years-old Shartouni was
arrested by the Lebanese Forces and handed over to the Lebanese judiciary. In
his confession, he called Bashir a traitor and
accused him of selling the country to
The assassin spent eight years at the Roumieh prison
without a trial, but escaped on October 13, 1990 under mysterious
circumstances, during the final Syrian offensive in
The latest trial, even if it is in absentia, relating to the assassination of
an elected head of state at the height of a civil war that saw the country
simultaneously occupied by both
Families of Lebanese Captives
Optimistic After Arrest of ISIS Commander
Paula Astih/Asharq Al Awsat/November
26/16/
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/26/families-of-lebanese-captives-optimistic-after-arrest-of-isis-commander/
Beirut- The families of nine soldiers taken captive by ISIS in the northeastern town of Arsal in
August 2014 were optimistic on Saturday after the Lebanese army arrested a top
militant in the border area with Syria. According to the relatives and sources
following up the case of the captives, the arrest of the
After Amoun’s arrest, the Wadi
al-Araneb area witnessed heavy clashes between the
Lebanese army and ISIS militants who had taken cover in a Syrian refugee
encampment, the state-run National News Agency reported. But the situation
calmed thereafter. The army’s special operation came days after the families of
the captives criticized the authorities over celebrations held on the occasion
of Independence Day. They said the ceremonies were being held at a time when
the fate of their loved ones was unknown.
The relatives of the soldiers also asked Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji “to liberate them in any possible way.” Informed
sources told Asharq Al-Awsat
that the arrest of Amoun and the other 10 militants
will help locate the captives after reports that they could have been moved to
the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri also
congratulated the military on the successful operation. As for the so-called
Hezbollah, it said the arrest is a “confirmation of the army’s essential role
in protecting the border and clearing it of terrorists in defense
of
Dispute on Lebanon’s ‘Electoral Services’ Ministry
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/November
26/16/Beirut- The dispute among Lebanese parties on the Public Works Ministry
reflects the importance of the portfolio for different parliamentary blocs,
mainly ahead of next May’s legislative elections. The ministry that is headed
by Caretaker Minister Ghazi Zoaiter, who is close to
Speaker Nabih Berri,
remains one of the last obstacles to the formation of the new government.Berri refuses to give up the ministry – which
has been largely taken advantage of during parliamentary elections – as part of
his share in the cabinet while the Lebanese Forces and the Marada
Movement are bickering over it. Zoaiter stressed in
remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat
that Berri’s request to keep the ministry is in no way
linked to electoral campaigns. “This is an insult to the Lebanese people,” he
said. Rabih Haber, the Managing Director of
Statistics Lebanon Ltd, said however that the Public Works Ministry is dubbed
the ministry of “asphalt” for being active in paving roads in the areas of
influence of the person heading the ministry and the party backing him ahead of
general elections. Economist Sami Nader also said that the services provided by
the Public Works Ministry largely contribute to the results of the polls. In
his remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat,
Zoaiter acknowledged that his ministry has not
implemented all the projects it intended to do during its tenure. The main
reason lies in the political situation and the limited budget, he said. The
situation would not change for the new cabinet because its main mission would
be to agree on a new electoral law ahead of the elections next spring, he
added. Zoaiter has come under severe criticism for
allegedly not being fair in carrying out projects across
Boutros Harb
urges political forces to exit trade bazaar over ministerial portfolios
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA - Outgoing minister of Telecommunications
Boutros Harb hoped "the political forces would
exit the trade bazaar over ministerial portfolios," urging them to
remember that the ministries are to serve the state and the community not to
achieve electoral profits. Harb words came during his
patronage to the "Free Connected Mind" conference organized by May Chidiac Institution on Sarturday
at
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA -
Bassil: Dominican Republic to open Embassy in Lebanon
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA - "The Dominican Republic want to open an
embassy in Lebanon,"Caretaker Foreign Affairs
and Expatriates Minister, Gibran Bassil, said on
Saturday during a visit to Santo Domingo, his second stop in a tour in Latin
America and the Caribbean Islands. During his visit, Bassil
held talks with Dominican President Danilo Medina and
his counterpart Miguel Vargas accompanied with Lebanese Ambassador to
Pharaon discusses tourism cooperation methods with
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA - Outgoing Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon was briefed on the situation of the Lebanese
Diaspora in
Berri offers condolences to Raul Castro, House
Speaker
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA - House Speaker Nabih Berri offered his condolences in a telegram to the
President of the Council of the State of Cuba, Raul Castro, on the death of
Hariri receives Turkish and Chinese
delegations
Sat 26 Nov 2016/Saad Hariri, received this evening at the "House of
Center" a delegation from the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP),
headed by the Party's Deputy Chairman for Foreign Affairs, former Minister of
Economy Mehdi Eker. The
Turkish Ambassador in
Hariri inaugurates Future Movement's 2nd General Conference: We are a Movement
of coexistence and parity between Christians and Muslims
Sat 26 Nov 2016/NNA - Prime Minister-designate, Saad
Hariri, patronized, on Saturday, the inauguration of the Future Movement's 2nd
General Conference at "Biel" in Central Beirut, with the
participation of 2400 voting members and 400 monitoring members, in presence of
senior political officials and prominent figures. Following a minute of silence
in memory of the late Martyr PM Rafic Hariri, the
PM-designate addressed the attending crowd saying, "We are a Movement of
coexistence and parity between Christians and Muslims."
"If the Future Movement was entrusted to us by Martyr Prime Minister
Rafic Hariri, you are hereby confirming, at this
Conference, the will to preserve this trust," he added. "The
Conference is taking place at a phase that is the most difficult and critical
in the history of Lebanon and the Arab region...And we intended it to coincide
with the political initiative that we have launched, which ended the vacuum in
the presidency with the election of President Michel Aoun;
thus, moving Lebanon away from the danger of stagnation, despair and disruption
in State departments, and saving the legitimacy from collapsing," Hariri
underscored. He went on to stress that, "We have determined this Movement
to be a project of building a nation, a path we shall continue to follow, God
willing," adding that, "this inaugural session is an occasion to
reiterate the set of constants which are integrated with our vision of the
Lebanon we aspire for." "We are a Movement of Lebanon's Arab identity,
which is unrivaled with the country's identity, for
Arabism is a deep affiliation to a civilized, cultured and humane
environment," Hariri stressed. "We are a Movement of Lebanon First,
the Movement of legitimacy, of a strong State which does not yield to any other
authority nor share its arms with any other; a legitimacy of the Lebanese
Republic and the Taif Accord - a legitimacy of the
constitutional institutions that emerge from the will of the people and the
national consensus, and not from foreign directives," he emphazised. Hariri concluded by highlighting that the
Future Movement is intended to be a model of democracy and a pioneer in
defending the Lebanese democratic system. "We are a democratic Movement in
the service of Lebanon, a Lebanon of Arab identity, strong in its State, its
Army, its free economy, its equal education, health and work opportunities; a
Lebanon of coexistence between Christians and Muslims; a Lebanon of civil
regime whose central value is the human being and human dignity," Hariri
underscored.
Hezbollah unveils its military might in
Syria
Nicholas Blanford/The Arab Weekly/November 20/16
BEIRUT - A military parade on November 11th by Lebanon’s Hezbollah to mark
the Shia organisation’s annual Martyrs’ Day revealed
the extent to which the war in Syria has augmented the Iranian-backed Party of
God’s military capabilities.
The parade in the Syrian town of
Hezbollah also possesses Iranian anti-ship missiles, a fleet of unmanned
aerial vehicles — some of which may have missile-carrying capabilities — with
ranges that cover all of
Much of Hezbollah’s arsenal, let alone its sophisticated communications
assets, would not look out of place in a European army.
The Lebanese daily As Safir quoted Hezbollah Deputy
Secretary- General Sheikh Naim Qassem,
as saying: “We now have a trained army and the Resistance (Hezbollah) does not
need to rely on guerrilla tactics” — a statement retracted later by the
group.
Hezbollah’s traditional military doctrine is rooted in small unit, hit-and-run
guerrilla-style warfare adapted to confront the powerful Israeli Army but,
since Hezbollah began intervening in
Hezbollah now fights in relatively large formations, alongside other military
units, such as the Syrian Army and Shia
paramilitaries from
Some Hezbollah fighters have even parachuted from high-flying helicopters into
combat zones, specifically the besieged Shia
villages of Kefraya and Fouaa
in Idlib province.
In September 2015,
Among the vehicles displayed were T-54, T-55, T-62 and T-72 tanks, BMP-1
armoured fighting vehicles, T-55 tank chassis mounted with 57mm anti-aircraft
guns (used by
Hezbollah in a ground support role) and what appears to be R-330P electronic
warfare vehicles that detect and jam radio communications. The parade included
several all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) mounted with Russian Kornet
anti-tank launchers, each carrying four missiles, and a large number of
pick-up trucks, some fitted with twin-barrelled 23mm or 57mm anti-aircraft
guns.
Curious additions were several US-made M113 APCs
armed with 23mm anti-aircraft guns. The Syrian Army does not possess M113 APCs, which suggests that the vehicles must have come from
Another possibility is that the APCs in Hezbollah’s
possession were taken from southern
The parade in Qusayr was attended by Sheikh Hisham Safieddine, head of
Hezbollah’s Executive Council, who gave a speech to the assembled combatants.
Photographs of the event were released on Hezbollah-supporting social media
sites. Qusayr was the scene of one of Hezbollah’s
first major engagements in
The mainly Sunni population of the town fled and has not returned. Instead, Qusayr has become an important military base for
Hezbollah. The ruins of the town are used as an urban warfare training site in
which company-sized Hezbollah units, armed with paintball guns, learn to attack
and defend, according to a Hezbollah fighter who has served in Qusayr. Hezbollah’s conventional-style military tactics in
If Hezbollah and
**Nicholas Blanford is the author of Warriors of God:
Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel
(Random House 2011). He lives in
Khairallah Khairallah/The
Arab Weekly/November 20/16
Zarif later travelled in
Zarif’s visit to
Can
The natural tendency is to be pessimistic about that happening. This springs
from the very nature of the Iranian regime with its tendency to export its own
crises and its belief that
The best illustration of that is
Zarif’s visit to Beirut could have been an
opportunity for Iran to show that it can offer Lebanon something other than
trading in its deals with what it calls the “great Satan”, the United States,
and perhaps on in its deals with the “minor Satan”, Israel. For two-and-a-half
years,
Zarif went to
In his visit to
While waiting for the day when no illegal weapons would be allowed on Lebanese
soil, whether belonging to Hezbollah or to Palestinian organisations
manipulated by
**Khairallah Khairallah is
a Lebanese writer. The commentary was translated and adapted from the Arabic.
It was initially published in middle-east-online.com.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on
November 26-27/16
Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada
on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro
Antananarivo, Madagascar/November 26, 2016
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the
death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro:
“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving
President.
“Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost
half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made
significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors
recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a
deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.
“I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity
to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his
three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro
during my recent visit to
“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the
family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro. We join the people of
Thousands take to streets of Miami to
celebrate Fidel Castro’s death
By Adrian Sainz, Ian Mader
and Tamara Lush/The Associated Press
November 26/16/MIAMI — Within half an hour of the Cuban government’s official
announcement that former President Fidel Castro had died, Miami’s Little Havana
teemed with life — and cheers. Thousands of people banged pots with spoons,
waved Cuban flags in the air and whooped in jubilation on Calle
Ocho — 8th Street, and the heart of the neighborhood — early Saturday. Honking and strains of salsa
music from car stereos echoed against stucco buildings, and fireworks lit up
the humid night sky.
Police blocked off streets leading to Cafe Versailles, the quintessential Cuban
American hotspot where strong cafecitos — sweetened
espresso — were as common as a harsh word about Fidel Castro.
“
Celebration, not grief, permeated the atmosphere. That was no surprise. Castro
has cast a shadow over
Cubans fled the island to
Many others believed they would not be truly free under Castro and his
communist regime. Thousands left behind their possessions, loved ones, and
hard-earned educations and businesses, traveling to the
The ones that made it to
Syria regime forces retake largest Aleppo rebel area
AFP, Damascus Saturday, 26 November 2016/Syrian government forces have retaken
“full control” of the rebel-held district of Masaken Hanano in northern battlefield city Aleppo, state media
said on Saturday. State television said “the armed forces retook full control”
of the largest rebel district in the east of the city, and official news agency
Iraqi Sunnis reject parliament legalizing
PMU
Associated Press, Baghdad Saturday, 26 November 2016/Iraq’s parliament on
Saturday voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite
Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) as a “back-up and reserve” force for the
military and police and empower them to “deter” security and terror threats
facing the country, like ISIS. The legislation, supported by 208 of the
chamber’s 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and
lawmakers who said it was evidence of what they called the “dictatorship” of
the country’s Shiite majority. “The majority does not have the right to
determine the fate of everyone else,” Osama al-Nujaifi,
one of
“The Popular Mobilization will represent and defend all Iraqis wherever they
are,” al-Abadi said. The vote comes at a time when
the government is waging a major campaign to dislodge ISIS from
Kuwaiti royal 1 of 3 killed in brutal Salwa murder
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Saturday, 26
November 2016/As Kuwaitis woke up to elect their new parliament on Friday, they
also received news of the brutal murder of three individuals, including a
royal. Two Kuwaiti citizens, Sheikh Sabah Mubarak Al-Nasser Al-Sabah and Saleh Al-Othman, and an Indonesian woman were found inside
an apartment in Salwa area with their hands and feet
tied and their mouths covered. They were killed execution style and there were
other bullet wounds on their bodies, according to local media. Several suspects
have been detained for questioning including a Kuwaiti citizen, a Bedoun and an Iranian, according to security sources.
Kuwaiti voters elect new parliament
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Saturday, 26
November 2016/Polls have closed in Kuwait's parliamentary elections as voters
cast their ballots in five districts to elect 50 new lawmakers for the next
four years. In total, 293 candidates including 15 women are competing for seats
in the parliament. Around 483,000 Kuwaitis are expected to vote in 100 polling
stations under the watchful eye of 15,000 security forces and civilians working
at the Ministry of Interior. Reporting from Kuwaity
city, Al Arabiya correspondent Adel Eidan said that the remaining two hours are the most
crucial during the elections as independent voters make their final choice.
"This what differentiates Kuwaiti elections
during the last two hours of polling, when there are independents who wait
throughout the day and observes the exit polls. They’ll see who has done better
in the polls and will vote accordingly," our correspondent said. Electoral
silence was not observed in some districts, Eidan
reported, saying that he saw campaign supporters standing near the entrances of
voting centers and handing out posters. "But there has been heavy security
and electoral officials observing to make sure such violations are being
recorded," he added. The elections are taking place under five electoral
districts, where each constituency will field a total of 10 candidates. *This
article can also be viewed in Arabic on AlArabiya.net
Iran detains three railroad staff over
deadly train collision
The Associated Press, Tehran, Iran Saturday, 26 November 2016/Iran’s judiciary
is saying authorities have detained three employees of the state railroad
company over Friday’s train collision, which killed 45 people. The Saturday
report by Mizanonline.ir, the judiciary news website,
says authorities are continuing to investigate the incident. The accident took
place about 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of the
capital Tehran, when a moving passenger train slammed into a second train that
was parked at a station. Several of the train cars caught fire, and the
official IRNA news agency said Saturday that some of the victims were so badly
burned that the bodies had to be identified through DNA testing.
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Saturday, 26
November 2016/Coalition forces say they have destroyed a ballistic missile
launched by Yemeni militias targeting the city of
ISIS claims deadly attack on Egyptian
soldiers in Sinai
Reuters Saturday, 26 November 2016/ISIS claimed responsibility on Friday for an
attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint in northern
Reuters,
Indonesia arrests militant planning bomb strike on Myanmar embassy
Reuters Saturday, 26 November 2016/Police in Indonesia have arrested a
suspected extremist militant and seized a large quantity of bomb making
material that he planned to use in attacks on government buildings and the
Myanmar embassy in Jakarta next month, a police spokesman said. The suspect was
identified as Rio Priatna Wibawa,
23, who is believed to be a member of an Indonesian group that supports
Wisconsin agrees to statewide
recount in presidential race
Reuters, Washington Saturday, 26 November 2016/Wisconsin’s election board
agreed on Friday to conduct a statewide recount of
votes cast in the presidential race, as requested by a Green Party candidate
seeking similar reviews in two other states where Donald Trump scored narrow
wins. The recount process, including an examination by hand of the nearly 3
million ballots tabulated in Wisconsin, is expected to begin late next week
after Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign has paid the required fee,
the Elections Commission said. The state faces a Dec. 13 federal deadline to
complete the recount, which may require canvassers in
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 26-27/16
Question: "What
does the Bible say about thankfulness/gratitude?"
GotQuestions.org
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/26/what-does-the-bible-say-about-thankfulnessgratitude-2/
Answer: Thankfulness is a prominent Bible theme. First Thessalonians 5:16-18
says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Did you catch that? Give
thanks in all circumstances. Thankfulness should be a way of life for us,
naturally flowing from our hearts and mouths.
Digging into the Scriptures a little more deeply, we understand why we should
be thankful and also how to have gratitude in different circumstances.
Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures
forever.” Here we have two reasons to be thankful: God’s constant goodness and
His steadfast love. When we recognize the nature of our depravity and
understand that, apart from God, there is only death (John 10:10; Romans 7:5),
our natural response is to be grateful for the life He gives.
Psalm 30 gives praise to God for His deliverance. David writes, “I will exalt
you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies
gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O
Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the
pit. . . . You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and
clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my
God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:1-12). Here David gives thanks
to God following an obviously difficult circumstance. This psalm of
thanksgiving not only praises God in the moment but remembers God’s past
faithfulness. It is a statement of God’s character, which is so wonderful that
praise is the only appropriate response.
We also have examples of being thankful in the midst of hard circumstances.
Psalm 28, for example, depicts David’s distress. It is a cry to God for mercy,
protection, and justice. After David cries out to God, he writes, “Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord
is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart
leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song” (Psalm 28:6-7). In the
midst of hardship, David remembers who God is and, as a result of knowing and
trusting God, gives thanks. Job had a similar attitude of praise, even in the
face of death: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the
LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).
There are examples of believers’ thankfulness in the New Testament as well.
Paul was heavily persecuted, yet he wrote, “Thanks be to God, who always leads
us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the
fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). The writer of Hebrews
says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let
us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews
12:28). Peter gives a reason to be thankful for “grief and all kinds of
trials,” saying that, through the hardships, our faith “may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus
Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
The people of God are thankful people, for they realize how much they have been
given. One of the characteristics of the last days is a lack of thanksgiving,
according to 2 Timothy 3:2. Wicked people will be “ungrateful.”
We should be thankful because God is worthy of our thanksgiving. It is only
right to credit Him for “every good and perfect gift” He gives (James 1:17).
When we are thankful, our focus moves off selfish desires and off the pain of
current circumstances. Expressing thankfulness helps us
remember that God is in control. Thankfulness, then, is not only appropriate;
it is actually healthy and beneficial to us. It reminds us of the bigger
picture, that we belong to God, and that we have been blessed with every
spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Truly, we have an abundant life (John
10:10), and gratefulness is fitting.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies
aged 90
Reuters, Havana/November 26/16
Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the
doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied US efforts to topple
him, died on Friday, his younger brother announced to the nation. He was 90.
Castro had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in
2006 and he formally ceded power to his younger brother two years later.
Wearing a green military uniform,
“At 10.29 at night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died,” he said, without giving a cause of death.
“Ever onward, to victory.”
“I am very upset. Whatever you want to say, he is public figure that the
whole world respected and loved,” said
Castro’s remains will be cremated, according to his wishes.
The bearded Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and ruled
He was demonized by the
“I lament the death of Fidel Castro Ruz, leader
of the Cuban revolution and emblematic reference of the 20th Century,” Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Twitter.
Transforming
Captain Heinrich Lorenz, left, of cruise ship MS Berlin, proposes a toast
to the success of Fidel Castro’s government in
He fended off a CIA-backed invasion at the
His alliance with
Wearing green military fatigues and chomping on cigars for many of his
years in power, Castro was famous for long, fist-pounding speeches filled with
blistering rhetoric, often aimed at the
At home, he swept away capitalism and won support for bringing schools
and hospitals to the poor. But he also created legions of enemies and critics,
concentrated among Cuban exiles in
In the end it was not the efforts of Washington and
Cuban exiles nor the collapse of Soviet communism that ended his rule.
Instead, illness forced him to cede power to his younger brother Raul Castro,
provisionally in 2006 and definitively in 2008.
Although Raul Castro always glorified his older brother, he has changed
Six weeks later, Fidel Castro offered only lukewarm support for the deal,
raising questions about whether he approved of ending hostilities with his longtime enemy.
He lived to witness the visit of
Castro did not meet Obama, and days later wrote a scathing column
condemning the
In his final years, Fidel Castro no longer held leadership posts. He
wrote newspaper commentaries on world affairs and occasionally met with foreign
leaders but he lived in semi-seclusion.
Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro treats visiting Senator George
McGovern, D-SD, to ice cream Wednesday, May 8, 1975, in
His death - which would once have thrown a question mark over
Still, the passing of the man known to most Cubans as “El Comandante” - the commander - or simply “Fidel” leaves a
huge void in the country he dominated for so long. It also underlines the
generational change in
Raul Castro vows to step down when his term ends in 2018 and the
Communist Party has elevated younger leaders to its Politburo, including
56-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, who is first
vice-president and the heir apparent.
Others in their 50s include Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and economic
reform czar Marino Murillo.
The reforms have led to more private enterprise and the lifting of some
restrictions on personal freedoms but they aim to strengthen Communist Party
rule, not weaken it.
“I don’t think Fidel’s passing is the big test. The big test is handing
the revolution over to the next generation and that will happen when Raul steps
down,”
Revolutionary icon
A Jesuit-educated lawyer, Fidel Castro led the revolution that ousted
US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan 1, 1959.
Aged 32, he quickly took control of
His government improved the living conditions of the very poor, achieved
health and literacy levels on a par with rich countries and rid
But he also tolerated little dissent, jailed opponents, seized private businesses
and monopolized the media.
Castro’s opponents labeled him a dictator and
hundreds of thousands fled the island.
Many settled in
But they could never dislodge him.
Generations of Latin American leftists applauded Castro for his socialist
policies and for thumbing his nose at the
Castro claimed he survived or evaded hundreds of assassination attempts,
including some conjured up by the CIA.
In 1962, the
Over the years, he expanded his influence by sending Cuban troops into
far-away wars, including 350,000 to fight in
He also won friends by sending tens of thousands of Cuban doctors abroad
to treat the poor and bringing young people from developing countries to train
them as physicians
‘History will absolve me’
Born on August 13, 1926 in Biran in eastern
Cuba, Castro was the son of a Spanish immigrant who became a wealthy landowner.
Angry at social conditions and Batista’s dictatorship, Fidel Castro
launched his revolution on July 26, 1953, with a failed assault on the Moncada barracks in the eastern city of
“History will absolve me,” he declared during his trial for the attack.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 1955 after a
pardon that would come back to haunt Batista.
Castro went into exile in
In December 1956, Castro and a rag-tag band of 81 followers sailed to
Only 12, including him, his brother and Guevara, escaped a government
ambush when they landed in eastern
Taking refuge in the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains, they built a guerrilla force of several thousand
fighters who, along with urban rebel groups, defeated Batista’s military in
just over two years.
Early in his rule, at the height of the Cold War, Castro allied
The alliance brought in $4 billion worth of aid annually, including
everything from oil to guns, but also provoked the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
when the
Convinced that the
Cooler heads prevailed. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and
‘Special period’
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, an isolated
Castro undertook a series of tentative economic reforms to get through
the crisis, including opening up to foreign tourism.
The economy improved when
Plagued by chronic economic problems,
For most Cubans, Fidel Castro has been the ubiquitous figure of their
entire life.
Many still love him and share his faith in a communist future, and even
some who abandoned their political belief still view him with respect. But
others see him as an autocrat and feel he drove the country to ruin.
Cubans earn on average the equivalent of $20 a month and struggle to make
ends meet even in an economy where education and health care are free and many
basic goods and services are heavily subsidized.
It was never clear whether Fidel Castro fully backed his brother’s reform
efforts of recent years. Some analysts believed his mere presence kept Raul
from moving further and faster while others saw him as either quietly
supportive or increasingly irrelevant.
After
Ammar Alsawad/November
25/16
As the liberation of
Calls for the PMU to intervene in
In addition, Assad’s call was not addressed to the Iraqi president or prime
minister, but rather directly to the PMU leadership, and such a call cannot be
conceived through official channels because it would be rejected.
Yet on the other hand, this call seems to illustrate Syrian support of the PMU
factions that want to intervene in
Meanwhile, Amiri’s statement regarding Assad’s call
could be an attempt to test the waters at the popular and governmental levels.
In this context, PMU security spokesman Youssef al-Kalabi told Al-Monitor, “The PMU will not make any move
without the approval of the armed forces’ general commander [Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi],” noting that
the PMU could be combing the borders for some “IS members,” but he did not rule
out the possibility of entering into Syria “if Iraq’s national security is
compromised and should the Iraqi government approve such action.”
Some PMU factions have entered
In 2012, the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas
Brigade had announced forming its first troops in
Shortly after the fall of
Then came Assad's call, marking the third phase of the
Iraqi intervention in
UK: Two Systems of Justice
Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/November 26/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8893/uk-justice
Tommy Robinson has not been -- as Choudary was -- at the
heart of a nexus of terrorists and terrorist-supporters going back years. He
has not been on friendly terms with numerous people who have beheaded civilians
and carried out suicide bombings.
Robinson is in an exceptionally unfortunate position. He is not a radical
Islamist and nor is he from any discernible minority. He is a white
working-class man who, it appears, can thus not only be harassed by certain
authorities with impunity, but can find few if any defenders of his rights
among the vast panoply of people in in our societies
who are only too keen to defend the rights of Islamists.
Civil liberties groups such as "
So farewell, then, Anjem Choudary. For two and half years
at least. On September 6, the radical cleric was sentenced by a British
judge to five and a half years in prison for encouraging people to join the
Islamic State. If he behaves himself in prison he could be out in half that
time, although whenever he emerges, it is unlikely that it will be as a
reformed character. But the law has taken its course and in a rule-bound
society has responded in the way that a rule-bound society ought to behave --
by the following due process. So it is useful to compare the experience of Anjem Choudary and the way in
which the state has responded to him with the way in which it has responded to
another person.
It is now seven years ago that a young British man from
Whatever its legitimate grievances when it began, the EDL did
undoubtedly cause trouble. Protests often descended into thuggery, partly because of some bad people attracted to it
and partly because "anti-fascist" counter-demonstrators often ensured
that EDL protests became violent by starting fights with them. But through most
of the time that Robinson led the EDL, there did appear to be -- confirmed by
third-party observers including independent journalists -- a sincere and
concerted effort to keep genuinely problematic elements out of the
organisation. To those who said that Robinson and his friends had no right to
organise protests, there are two responses. The first is that they had as much
right to be there as anyone else. And second, that the problems they were
objecting to (hate-preachers, grooming-gangs and so on) are real issues, which
the state has increasingly realised are such in the years that followed.
In 2013 Robinson left the group he started, and in the years since, has engaged
in a range of activities, including authoring a book. The book chronicles,
among other things, a campaign by the state of harassment, which began from the
moment Robinson formed the EDL. His own house and those of his nearest
relatives were repeatedly raided by police, and computers and other materials
taken away for examination. Any fair reading of the book -- whose details have
again been broadly confirmed by the few journalists who have been interested in
the case -- suggests that there was a very clear and concerted effort to find
something -- anything -- on Robinson to get him locked up.
In the end the police did find something -- a mortgage fraud matter -- for
which Robinson was eventually tried and found guilty. In 2014, he was
imprisoned for eighteen months. Even after his release, the effort to find
something on Robinson continued. His movements were restricted. His ability to
speak and congregate was restricted. He was repeatedly threatened with a return
to prison for alleged breaches of bail conditions. On one occasion, the nature
of the charge was a brawl Robinson had been involved with in prison, with a
Muslim prisoner who was allegedly in the act of attacking Robinson -- who had
repeatedly been placed in prison wings where there were large numbers of Muslim
inmates.
Since his release, as before, Robinson has been repeatedly assaulted in the
streets, including by Luton Muslims who have faced no subsequent charges for
their attacks, even when caught on camera. In February of this year, he was
hospitalised after being assaulted upon leaving a nightclub in
Then, this August, as he and his family were attending a football game in
Unlike Anjem Choudary
(left), who was at the heart of a nexus of terrorists and terrorist-supporters,
Tommy Robinson (right) is a white working-class man who can not only be
harassed by police and other authorities with impunity, but can find few if any
defenders of his rights among the vast panoply of people in our societies who
are only too keen to defend the rights of Islamists.
There will be those who think that such harassment of Robinson is correct --
that in order to keep the peace it is necessary to keep an eye on anybody who
may have any effect to the contrary. But if that is true, it is curious that
such measures were not routinely used on Anjem Choudary in all his years living freely in the community.
It would be interesting to know if there are any records of Choudary
and his family being harassed by police or removed from establishments while
the hate-preacher was on whatever down-time he used to have. Or whether the
British police ever routinely raid and search the houses of radical Islamists
in the hope of finding errors in their VAT returns and the like.
But of course the very comparison is unfair and in many ways lazy, because
Tommy Robinson has not been -- as Choudary was -- at
the heart of a nexus of terrorists and terrorist-supporters going back years.
He has not been on friendly terms with numerous people who have beheaded
civilians and carried out suicide bombings. There are not any occasions, of
which the author is aware, on which Robinson has called for violence or the
breaking of the law in the name of his political views. But in the eyes of the
law, much of the media and a certain number of people in the country Robinson is in an exceptionally unfortunate position. He is not a
radical Islamist and nor is he from any discernible minority. He is a white
working-class man who, it appears, can thus not only be harassed by certain
authorities with impunity, but can find few if any defenders of his rights
among the vast panoply of people in our societies who are only too keen to
defend the rights of Islamists.
Civil liberties groups such as "
**Douglas Murray, British author, commentator and public affairs analyst, is
based in
© 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.
Dear Fillon,
you’re wrong on Syria
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/November
26/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/26/amir-taheriasharq-al-awsat-dear-fillon-youre-wrong-on-syria/
On Sunday, France’s former Prime Minister Francois Fillon
may win the primary organized by the French Republican Party and centrist
allies to become their nominee in next year’s presidential election. As far as
I am concerned this should be good news.
The program that Fillon has published reflects
much of what I believe
For years he presided over the National Assembly’s Defense
Committee before joining various Cabinets in several ministerial posts, and
finally, becoming prime minister for five years. I first met Fillon by chance when I visited his hometown of
So, were I to vote in the French primary next Sunday, I should pick Fillon against Alain Juppe, also a former Prime Minister
who, as far as I am concerned, has the disadvantage of having started as a
protégé of the unlamented Jacques Chirac. And, yet, I find it difficult to put
the approving cross for Fillon.
The reason, in one word, is:
I think both reasons that Fillon cites for his approach
to
In fact, on numerous occasions he has complained about a chronic shortage
of manpower to embark on a sustained military campaign. He has increasingly
depended on cannon fodder from
In 1941 the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens were prepared to
fight on Stalin’s side against the foreign invader. In
Regardless of how this tragic conflict ends, no minority can ever again
hope to rule
•Amir Taheri was the executive editor in
chief of the daily Kayhan in
Trump’s promises to shakeup
Talmiz Ahmad/Al Arabiya/November
26/16
Throughout the election campaign, President-elect
Donald Trump had launched fierce attacks on what he called the Obama-Clinton
energy policies which he described as “anti-energy orders” that had “weakened
our (
During the campaign, Trump had said he would “cancel” the
Trump’s energy vision
Given this background, the
The US oil industry is now confident that the Trump presidency will prioritize
the development of fossil fuels at home, promote cross-country pipelines and
remove environmental protections in a holistic overhaul
There are widespread fears among environmentalists that all rules and actions
of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) are likely to be under scrutiny,
including the Clean Air Plan, limits on ozone pollution, fuel efficiency
standards and regulations relating to drilling technologies. They promise to
“build a wall of opposition” to stop Trump from pursuing what they call this
“big polluter assault.”
Observers believe that the first projects to be approved by the new president
will be the stalled pipelines - the 1800-mile Keystone XL pipeline from
‘Energy independence’
Trump had spoken in the campaign of making the US “energy independent,” while
creating millions of new jobs by developing the two trillion barrels of
recoverable oil that are believed to be available and can meet US needs for
nearly 285 years.
He had been particularly harsh on OPEC, he accused it
of illegal “price fixing” and promised not to import oil from OPEC members,
noting that some of them were enemies of the
However, Trump’s anti-OPEC remarks are likely to have been electoral bombast
rather than presidential policy. While US imports of oil have certainly gone
down to just a quarter of its needs (compared to 88 percent for the European
Union), the country still imports seven million barrels per day, of which 40
percent comes from Canada and 31 percent from OPEC members; OPEC production
contributes just 15 percent to the US’s daily consumption. But, this cannot be
replaced by domestic production since shale oil tends to be light while
imported oil is heavier and essential for blending purposes. In any case, since
the world oil market is a single “global” market and prices are determined
globally, it makes no sense to talk of “energy independence.”
Three weeks after the election results, Trump has said he has an “open mind” on
the
**Talmiz Ahmad is the former Indian Ambassador to
What does a Trump presidency mean for the
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/November 26/16
Given the paucity of President-elect Donald Trump’s clear views on the Middle
East’s myriad crises and challenges, after a long campaign of contradictory
positions and since he has not fully staffed his National Security team, it is
difficult to analyze with great certainty how the 45th American president will
deal with a rapidly changing region that has been accustomed to strong American
leadership. The president-elect will soon realize that his outlandish claims
and demands during the campaign, such as taking over the oil resources of
countries where the
But, Mr. Trump knows, or should know, that the
Eastern skies
Mr. Trump’s views on Middle Eastern crises and problems are vague, incomplete
or simplistic declarative sentences such as “we will bomb the hell out of
them.” However, he has stuck to few positions during the campaign and based on
what he said and did not say, one can make some
preliminary, tentative observations. Somewhat surprisingly, some of his views
are in sync with the Obama administration. Mr. Trump, like President Obama,
does not see the removal of the Assad regime as
Mr. Trump repeatedly and erroneously claimed that
One potential problem that could impede close American-Russian collaboration in
Mr. Trump’s views on Middle Eastern crises and problems are vague, incomplete
or simplistic declarative sentences
Candidate Trump’s tough and hostile rhetoric against Tehran and the P-5 + one
nuclear agreement with Iran is one the reasons some Arab and Israeli leaders
are welcoming the arrival of the Trump era. But those hopes may be dashed
relatively soon. During the campaign Trump issued statements of varying degrees
of opposition to the deal. It is the “worst deal ever negotiated” vowing at
times to get rid of it, or re-negotiate it, while his top advisors like Newt
Gingrich were urging him to tear it apart on his first day in office. But to
propose opening the thorny negotiations will give the hardliners in
A confederacy of autocrats
The game of exaggerated Arab expectations from
American presidents should be tempered by the disillusionment of Arabs with
both the Bush and Obama administrations. Arabs were hopeful when George W. Bush
was elected, thinking that he will be like his father and continue the search
for an Arab-Israeli peace. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed everything
and led to
President-elect Trump shares President Obama’s refusal to get involved more
deeply and militarily in the
*That’s in part what the Trump presidency means for the
These Cold War Lions Could Teach Trump
a Lesson or Two
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/November 26/16
Before President-elect Donald Trump brings in the bulldozers to “drain the
swamp” in Washington, I hope he will consider the career achievements of two
people who embody the nation’s tradition of bipartisan foreign policy leadership,
Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft.
The two former national security advisers came from vastly different worlds to
join in constructing the foreign policy tradition Trump seems ready to
demolish. Brzezinski, now 88, is a Polish refugee who served Democratic
President Jimmy Carter. Scowcroft, 91, is a Mormon ex-military officer from
Both were Cold War hawks who were honored recently by
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter with the
Distinguished Public Service Award, the Pentagon’s highest award for civilians.
But both were also outspoken critics of the
What these two shared was a vision of an outward-leaning
With Trump’s election, this global architecture seems to be cracking. Trump is
so inexperienced that it’s hard to predict just where his foreign policy views
will settle out. But many of his supporters (and kindred spirits abroad) are in
open revolt against what they see as the menace of globalization.
Trump should think carefully about what he would cast aside. This is the
structure of enduring American power.
Whatever egregious mistakes the
The “globalization” that Trump supporters oppose is nearly impossible to undo
on an economic level: Today’s corporations and financial markets are instantly
connected and integrated. But on a political level, the global system is
already unraveling, and that should worry Trump, not
cheer him. As this American-led system weakens, the beneficiaries will be a
rising
Here’s where I wish Trump would listen to Brzezinski and Scowcroft and the
traditional foreign policy consensus they represent. Eight years ago, I
moderated a conversation with the two of them that was published as “
Scowcroft spoke at a luncheon in his honor hosted by
the Aspen Strategy Group, a bipartisan foreign policy organization that
epitomizes the elite that Trump wants to overthrow. Scowcroft, frail and
struggling for words to convey the lessons of a lifetime of public service,
implored the group to cast aside their misgivings and put the country first.
“If you’re asked to serve, please do,” said Scowcroft. “This man needs help
badly.”
Brzezinski was honored a week ago at the Pentagon.
Carter described him as “one of the finest strategic thinkers and policymakers
of our time.” He said Brzezinski had understood that
I asked Brzezinski what advice he would give Trump. “Mr. President,” he said,
composing the memo in his head, “don’t assume that strong verbiage conveys
strength. It has to be convincing. Be honest and frank, but don’t kiss ass. You
could do the world a service if you said to President Putin: ‘Don’t be an
adventurer, especially when you’re carrying a loaded weapon.’ ”
In Trump’s eagerness to show he really means to bring change, he has been signaling disdain for all the traditional centers of power,
from environmental scientists to economists, from diplomats to generals. Some
Americans who resented these traditional sources of power must enjoy watching
the Faculty Club burn to the ground.
But Trump needs to be careful. Unless he’s very foolish, he will want to be a
good and successful president. He inherited a nation that is still the world’s
only superpower. New reports Thursday night said Trump planned to name Lt. Gen.
Michael Flynn, a combative and very political retired Army officer, to the
national security adviser post held by Scowcroft and Brzezinski. Is he a person
who can sustain the structure of alliances and power built over 70 years? Or is
he someone who would undermine that structure? That’s the right question for
Flynn and Trump.