LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

September 10/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 09/36-38/:”When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’”

There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved
Letter to the Romans 10/12-21/:’For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’”

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 09-10/16

Aoun’s lust for presidency cripples government/Hasan Lakkis & Ghinwa Obeid/The Daily Star/September 09/16
The March 8 Alliance and looking with one eye/Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
Time for Lebanon to elect its President, independently/Hugo Shorter/Al Arabiya/September 09
Does Geagea understand the constitution/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
Hezbollah “secretly” deploying in Quneitra: report/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
Lebanese Diaspora: Reclaim your rights/Justin Salhani/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
The Death of Atatürk's Vision/A briefing by Svante E. Cornell/Middle East Forum/September 09/16
Khamenei remarks meant to escape Hajj debacle blame/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
Prosecutors close in on Assad/Alex Rowell/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
Riyad Hijab – “We Don’t Want Another Saleh”/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/ASharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
Trump Too Leads a “Resentment Rainbow”/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
Muslim women’s group demands complete ban on Shariah courts/Satya Prakash/Hindustan Times/New Delhi/September 09/16
The Middle East: The Other Main Sources of Law/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16
Iran Expert Tells Congress: Obama Administration Might Have Given Tehran Over $30 Billion in Cash, Gold Payments/Barney Breen-Portnoy/the Algemeiner/September 09/16
Did Mahmoud Abbas Finance the 1972 Munich Olympic Takeover/Michael Young/Mahmoud Abbas/From the Archive/2013
An Inherited Culture of Hate/Tharwa Boulifi/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 09-10/16
Aoun’s lust for presidency cripples government
Lebanese Shi’ites Object to Hezbollah’s Support of Iran’s Recent Hajj Policy
Al-Rahi: National Pact is the Spirit of the Constitution
Report: Berri Says Won't Go into War on Hariri's Behalf
Report: Aoun Complains of Being Distanced from Political Deliberations
Report: IS Planned to Rock Dahiyeh and Hizbullah's Morale
Fayyad after meeting Mashnouq: For containing government crisis rather than escalation
Karam: LF adamant to bring Syrian officers who blew up Tripoli mosques to justice
Abi Ramia, Jreissati urge Finance Minister to cancel land surveys following land dispute in Aqoura
Report: Saudi Oger Faces Debt Restructuring
General Security: Ksara bombing perpetrators arrested
Salam meets diplomats over current developments
Daher: Will pursue criminals
Shorter after meeting Berri: Election of president is crucial for Lebanon
The March 8 Alliance and looking with one eye
Time for Lebanon to elect its President, independently
Does Geagea understand the constitution?
Hezbollah “secretly” deploying in Quneitra: report
Lebanese Diaspora: Reclaim your rights
Justin Salhani/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
UN nuclear agency says Iran sticking to nuclear deal
Let’s light 30 candles in honor of 30,000 executed compatriots in Iran
The PMOI/MEK is a natural ally of those seeking civic freedom, human rights and democracy in Iran
A big victory for the Iranian opposition PMOI as the last remaining members in Camp Liberty, leave Iraq for Albania
Israel to build underground barrier against Hamas
UN urges Kuwait to abolish migrant labor system
N. Korea Carries out 'Biggest Ever' Nuclear Test
Canada welcomes completion of chemical weapons removal from Libya
Canada condemns North Korean nuclear test
Group urges Egypt to enact penalties for female circumcision

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 09-10/16
Khamenei remarks meant to escape Hajj debacle blame/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
Prosecutors close in on Assad/Alex Rowell/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
Riyad Hijab – “We Don’t Want Another Saleh”/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/ASharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
Trump Too Leads a “Resentment Rainbow”/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
Muslim women’s group demands complete ban on Shariah courts/Satya Prakash/Hindustan Times/New Delhi/September 09/16
The Middle East: The Other Main Sources of Law/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16
Iran Expert Tells Congress: Obama Administration Might Have Given Tehran Over $30 Billion in Cash, Gold Payments/Barney Breen-Portnoy/the Algemeiner/September 09/16
Did Mahmoud Abbas Finance the 1972 Munich Olympic Takeover/Michael Young/Mahmoud Abbas/From the Archive/2013
An Inherited Culture of Hate/Tharwa Boulifi/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on September 09-10/16
Iran may have received $33.6 BILLION in secret payments facilitated by Obama administration
Islamic State invokes Qur’an to call for blood of infidel youth in parks: “killing them is a form of worship to Allah”
Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral jihad massacre suspect was engaged to Muslim who murdered priest in church
UK: British police may allow burka-uniform
Pakistan: High court orders police to investigate why wine shop in Muslim-majority area hasn’t been closed
Honor Killing Your Own Sister for Islam — Anni Cyrus’ “Unknown”
NY Times calls Aleppo capital of ISIS, then capital of Syria while chastising Gary Johnson for asking, “What is Aleppo?”
Video: Robert Spencer on CBN on the global threat from Iran and other jihad forces
Two Muslims arrested as UK police smash “significant” Islamic State jihad massacre plot, search London homes
Three more Muslims arrested over Notre Dame Cathedral jihad bomb plot
Italy expels Muslim cleric who said Islam “fully incompatible” with Italian law

Links From Christian Today Site for on September 09-10/16
Christian militias help fight ISIS into retreat in Iraq
Chinese bishop arrested as tension with Vatican grows
Iraqi Christian who fled ISIS: 'I know that God is with me'
Kerry tries again with Russian counterpart on Syria; US patience 'not infinite'
Church of England synod members call for 'greater clarity' around status of LGBT people
Same-sex marriage: Why some Churches are coping better than others
Shared Conversations: Can the Church of England prevent a split over gay marriage?
Leading conservative Christians welcome 'gay' letter to bishops
Steve Chalke slams government's grammar, faith school plans as 'counter-productive'
Donald Trump to speak to conservative Christians at Family Values Summit
Francois Hollande: Secularism is not a religion and there will be no burkini ban

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 09-10/16

Aoun’s lust for presidency cripples government
Hasan Lakkis & Ghinwa Obeid/The Daily Star/September 09/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/09/hasan-lakkis-ghinwa-obeid-aouns-lust-for-presidency-cripples-government/
BEIRUT: The Free Patriotic Movement’s push to have founder MP Michel Aoun elected president has now crippled all state institutions. The party boycotted a second consecutive Cabinet meeting Thursday, prompting its allies to join in. Just a few days after Speaker Nabih Berri suspended national dialogue sessions when tensions emerged with FPM leader Gebran Bassil, Prime Minister Tammam Salam has opted not to set a date for a new Cabinet session. There is no indication that a solution to the political crisis will be easy, but according to ministerial sources Salam could follow in Berri’s footsteps by suspending Cabinet sessions in order to pressure political factions to compromise. The hope is that such a move could save the Cabinet, the only constitutional institution that remains active. Salam will head to New York later this month to participate in the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and is not expected to return before the end of September. Asked by visitors whether Thursday’s boycott was meant to block the Cabinet’s work, Berri said: “It seems we have to get used to this for a long time.”
Berri said that the window for electing a president would last till the end of the year, after which the country would enter the parliamentary elections phase. He reiterated that the elections would not be postponed, indicating for the first time that the vote could pave the way for ending the political deadlock.
“Maybe by holding the [general] elections, we could reach a solution,” Berri said. “First by holding them, then electing the Parliament’s office and afterward electing a president. But all this requires prior agreement,” he said. Thursday’s Cabinet meeting was boycotted by the FPM, Hezbollah, the Marada Movement and the Tashnag Party and attended by only 16 ministers, the exact number required for a quorum. The ministers did not make any decisions during the session. During the meeting, Salam said the suspension of the national dialogue sessions had negatively affected the overall political atmosphere in the country, including that of the Cabinet, according to Information Minister Ramzi Joreige, who spoke to reporters afterwards. “I have always warned of the policy of paralysis. I tried to unite the words, unify the vision and provide national immunity to preserve Lebanon amid the ongoing destructive events in our area, where there appear to be no solutions within reach,” Salam reportedly said.
“Today’s session is constitutional and in line with the National Charter, but we can’t not take into consideration the emerging political dimension, that we hope we can overcome, and move forward in bearing national responsibility at this tough stage.” The prime minister said he would make space for deliberations and give ministers a chance to find solutions. But Salam also underscored that the Cabinet’s productivity is vital. “We should not ignore the consequences of obstruction, and I hope that everyone knows that the absence of the government’s productivity raises a legitimate question over the point of its continuity.”
The FPM has expressed growing concern over the implementation of the National Charter, which enshrines equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians.
The party previously boycotted a Cabinet session on Aug. 25. Its decision was triggered by the issue of military appointments and the extension of a senior military official’s term. The country’ political crisis has been deepening ever since Parliament failed to agree on a successor to former President Michel Sleiman. The absence of a president has put the Parliament’s work on hold. With the country’s top Christian post vacant, Aoun has put himself forward as a presidential candidate. He is running against Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh. But lawmakers from Aoun’s bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and some of their March 8 allies have boycotted parliamentary sessions to elect a president.
After the Cabinet session ended, Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said many ministers agreed with Salam’s directive to put off decisions and provide room for ministers discuss potential solutions. Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon visited Aoun at his Rabieh residence following the meeting.
“Today there was a promise and commitment by Salam, who turned the session to one of discussion or dialogue, without delving into any item,” Pharaon said afterward. Nevertheless, he said he thought that suspending Cabinet meetings was still the best option.
“I think that moving forward with the dialogue over the presidency will solve a lot of issues, but at the same time it’s important to protect the government in order to overcome the big crises,” he said. “It’s better to suspend the Cabinet session as we wait to find new solutions.”
Ministerial sources said Thursday’s Cabinet session was marked by compromise, with “no winners and no losers.”They said those boycotting the session were pleased that their demand that no decisions be taken was acceded to. Those opposing the boycott were content that the session was held as scheduled.
But not all of those who were absent from the session objected to its being held. Some March 8 ministers said that their boycott wasn’t intended to be seen as being against the government or against Salam, but was instead undertaken to give room to discussions between different constituents, that they may find common ground and reactivate the Cabinet’s work. “In order to give space to more discussions to find a solution for the current political crisis, I announce I will not participate in the Cabinet session. But I express my readiness to attend the first session that the prime minister calls for,” Culture Minister Raymond Areiji, who belongs to the Marada Movement, said before the meeting.
Although Hezbollah’s two Cabinet ministers had been expected to participate, neither attended the session.
Hezbollah Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Fneish told the Central News Agency that their boycott was also to allow for solutions to be found for the ongoing the political crisis.“We boycott the session in solidarity with our ally the FPM, whose position toward the National Charter cannot be ignored, but we should look into what it is affecting, and work to find solutions so that it doesn’t affect the overall situation in the country,” Fneish said. “Our boycott today was to give a chance for solutions to be found, as it’s not acceptable for the current situation in the country [to deteriorate further] – especially after what happened in the national dialogue session – and head toward greater tension.” In their weekly meeting, Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc said that all dialogue sessions should resume, and that not continuing with such talks will only complicate the situation further.
The bloc also clarified its position regarding the Cabinet session, saying the “bloc is convinced of the importance of the government continuing its work,” but that its absence was intended to provide room for ongoing discussions to resolve the crisis.

Lebanese Shi’ites Object to Hezbollah’s Support of Iran’s Recent Hajj Policy
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 09/16/Beirut- Lebanon’s so-called Hezbollah group’s latest enactment of boycotting this year’s Hajj pilgrimage carried on gathering resentment and objection among Shi’ites in Lebanon. The sect realizes that the decision taken by the party is nothing but a parallel measure backing Iranian stance. Lebanese MP Amin Wehbi says that a large number of Shi’ites have moved forward with their Hajj pilgrimage for this year, despite the so-called Hezbollah requesting otherwise. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Wehbi said that Hezbollah’s decision is defined as an official politicization of religion, under Iranian request. He added that the pilgrimage is attended by millions of Muslims from around the world, and that the event being prone to stampedes, no incitation should go about harming the well-being of pilgrims. The Lebanese politician explained that all Iranian efforts are poured into politicizing the religious event, so it is made available for exploitation and employment into the regime’s totalitarian agenda for the region. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah group is largely built on local support of Lebanese Shi’ites. Wehbi adds that Hezbollah, by activating such a sectarian approach- answering to Iranian demands, has overlooked the safety and best interest of all Muslims and Arabs. The Shi’ite politician said that as Hezbollah takes this very grave move, it will call about deep aftermath within the Lebanese Shi’ite community costing it its support. Wehbi adds that Shi’ites will never negotiate the obligatory nature of Islam’s fifth pillar, and Hezbollah doing so is rejected by all Lebanese Muslims regardless. The decision of dropping religious obligation towards Hajj had been announced by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and solely addressed his followers—why would Hezbollah promote for such an approach miles away?said Wehbi.

Al-Rahi: National Pact is the Spirit of the Constitution
Naharnet/September 09/16/The 1943 National Pact is “the spirit of the constitution and a constitution without spirit would be dead letters,” Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said on Thursday. “Through the Pact, the Lebanese said that they want to live together as Christians and Muslims in full trust, coexistence, equality, dignity, cooperation, integration and diversity,” al-Rahi said during a mass in the Jbeil town of Hsarat. “We cannot build the national structure without being all one hand and one heart,” the patriarch added. “But that requires rising above partisan interests, inflexible stances and bigoted viewpoints in order to think of a solution together with the other parties,” he said. The Free Patriotic Movement, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact. The National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership. The FPM's boycott of cabinet meetings was initially linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments. The movement has long voiced reservations over the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president. Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday, FPM chief Jebran Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil on Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”

Report: Berri Says Won't Go into War on Hariri's Behalf
Naharnet/September 09/16/Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Friday that he will not go into a war on behalf of the al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and that the latter must “shoulder the responsibility”, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday. “Although Berri supports Hariri, but he believes that the government is his responsibility. We will not go into a war on his behalf,” sources close to Berri quoted him as saying. “The battle is that of Mustaqbal and Hariri should shoulder the responsibility,” added the sources. “There is no doubt that Mustaqbal is currently confused and is exerting efforts to resolve the crisis,” they added. Berri had backed a suggestion announced in August by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah where he said that Hizbullah does not mind the appointment of Hariri as premier in return for the election of MP Michel Aoun as president and the re-election of Berri as parliament speaker. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Report: Aoun Complains of Being Distanced from Political Deliberations
Naharnet/September 09/16/Founder of the Free Patriotic Movement and a runner in the race to become president MP Michel Aoun complained on Friday that none of the political figures are speaking or holding discussions with him, as he stressed that he did not request to dissociate himself, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. “No one is talking to me now that the main Christian candidate has delivered his word...I never said I don't want to consult with anyone! They are the ones who do not want to talk to me,” visitors to Aoun quoted him as saying. They added that Aoun speaks positively about al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, but is furious towards the Mustaqbal bloc head MP Fouad Saniora because he believes him to be the spearhead behind the Movement's rejection to bring Aoun as head of state. Aoun is pessimistic about the future particularly if things did not move positively towards the election of a president, Aoun's visitors added. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.Hariri's move prompted Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Report: IS Planned to Rock Dahiyeh and Hizbullah's Morale
Naharnet/September 09/16/Investigations being run with detained Islamic State group militants have shown that the IS had plans to carry out three massive attacks in Lebanon during the holy month of Ramadan and that one of the schemes was to target the southern suburbs of Beirut with 3 tons of explosives in a suicide attack that would "shake the esteem of Hizbullah's leadership", al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. The IS planned to carry out “centralized and quality” operations in each of the attacks with the aim of striking a blow to the economic sector and social environment, added the daily. According to information, the attack against Dahiyeh planned to impact the social environment of Hizbullah as well as its security leadership because it designed to send the explosives in an ambulance to ward off suspicions and facilitate the passage of the vehicle into the depth of the area. Streets leading into powerful Hizbullah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut are mostly cordoned off, as guards in civilian clothes search cars. Media reports say that such measures reinforce the fortress-like image of the southern suburbs, where the Lebanese army and police rarely venture. The daily pointed to another terror scheme that was to launch a major suicide attack against the Casino Du Liban to disable an important sector within the wealth and economic sources of the tourist country. Attacking a densely populated street in Beirut with many cafes and restaurants, the goal of which if to hit the tourist life in the country, according to the daily.

Fayyad after meeting Mashnouq: For containing government crisis rather than escalation
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq, met on Friday at his ministerial office with "Loyalty to Resistance" bloc MP Ali Fayyad, with talks between the pair reportedly touching on most recent developments on the local scene, including the issue of Litani River pollution. On emerging, MP Fayyad said that they both saw eye to eye over the need to deal with the existing governmental crisis through the logic of containment rather than confrontation and escalation. "The country needs to deal with the current crises in a way that leads to finding solutions rather than escalating matters," the Lawmaker said. On the Litani River pollution issue, Fayyad said that he briefed the Minister on their action plan to deal with the River pollution predicament, disclosing that they are in the process of organizing a national day in cooperation with municipalities, unions and environmental. sports and scouts associations in this regard. In reply to a question, Fayyad stressed the dire need that the government works once again in an efficient and balanced manner in a way that resolves the Lebanese people's predicaments.

Karam: LF adamant to bring Syrian officers who blew up Tripoli mosques to justice
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - MP Fadi Karam underlined on Friday that the Lebanese Forces party was adamant to bring before justice the two Syrian Intelligence officers, recently indicted over the deadly attacks on Taqwa and Salam mosques in Tripoli. "The Lebanese Forces is determined and will strongly press for justice," Karam said during a rally organized by the LF students' department, who gathered in the northern town of Kousba to call for punishing the indicted criminals. "First of all, terrorist regimes that oppressed the Lebanese and the region's people, on top of whom Palestinians, must be held accountable," he indicated. "Today, Syrians are paying a high price because of the terrorist regime in Syria that backed terrorist institutions," he added. "Just recently, we discovered that this regime was behind the explosion of Taqwa and Salam mosques in Tripoli; this terrorist operation must not just go by," he continued. "We, as Lebanese Forces, are determined to press strongly to bring those officers before the Lebanese judiciary so that justice should be done," he concluded.

Abi Ramia, Jreissati urge Finance Minister to cancel land surveys following land dispute in Aqoura
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - Members of Change and Reform bloc, MP Simon Abi Ramia and former minister Salim Jreissati, urged, in a press conference on Friday, Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, to cancel his decision on conducting land surveys in the region of Aqoura. "We are still receiving many reviews about the memo issued by Minister Khalil in December 2015, to allow land surveys nationwide," Abi Ramia said. "Therefore, we decided to hold this press conference, to prevent political blackmail," he added. "Legally speaking, real state property law does not entitle the memo to include the towns and public lands in old Mount Lebanon, where Aqoura and other regions are situated," he explained. "Politically speaking, our land is sacred. Our history, present, future, and entire existence are related to it. Our land is red line," he stressed. For his part, Jreissati renewed calls upon Khalil to cancel his memo and replace with another which would only touch on private properties, "so that his decision should not remain dangerous, ambiguous."

Report: Saudi Oger Faces Debt Restructuring
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/Well-informed sources in Riyadh said that the Saudi government has finished the talks that were aimed at saving construction giant Saudi Oger that now faces the possibility of debt restructuring worth billions of dollars to avoid collapse, media reports said on Friday. The Saudi government owes Saudi Oger about 30 billion riyals (8 billion dollars) for construction works carried out by the company, a sign that the country's public finances are under pressure as the result of falling oil prices, according to a prominent source in Saudi Arabia. With the delay in collecting these huge amounts of money, Oger has struggled to meet its liabilities which include 15 billion riyals in loans and billions owed to contractors and suppliers and about 2.5 billion riyals overdue salaries and end of service benefits for workers. The reasons behind the Saudi government’s termination of talks to save the company from collapse were not clear, and its collapse may shock the Saudi banking sector and the economy in general. A mid-level Oger manager said that the ministry of finance had not made due payments on his multi-billion-riyal government project for almost a year. According to the source, the Saudi government owes Oger ten billion riyals that the government had approved to disburse but not yet paid. Negotiations were conducted between the company and the Saudi authorities to find a solution this year to the financial problems of the company, but a clear date has not been set for the start of these negotiations. Saudi Oger has built some of the most grandiose complexes in Riyadh, including the palatial Ritz-Carlton hotel. It employs about 50,000 people of various nationalities.

General Security: Ksara bombing perpetrators arrested
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - Following intensive investigations, the General Directorate of General Security arrested a cell belonging to a terrorist group linked to Ksara roundabout bombing on the 31/08/2016 which claimed the life of a woman and the wounding of others. As a result of confessions of the detainees a force of the General Security raided an apartment and seized a device which was used in remotely detonating the booby-trap. The General Security also seized a Renault rapid car used by cell members to transport the explosive device. Investigations are still ongoing with detainees under the supervision of the concerned general prosecution. Work is also underway to apprehend the remaining members who were involved in the explosion.

Salam meets diplomats over current developments
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, respectively met with US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, and British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, over most recent developments on the local and regional scenes. The PM also met with French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuel Bonne, with the pair reportedly touching on general developments and bilateral relations.

Daher: Will pursue criminals
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - Families of the victims of twin bombing Taqwa and Salam mosques held a sit-in in Tripoli after Friday's prayers, asking for the expulsion of the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, withdrawing the Arab Democratic Party's license, and lodging a complaint to the Security Council against the Syrian Regime. Deputy Khaled Daher who was present in the sit-in said that innocents alone were targeted in this terrorist attack, saying "we will pursue criminals in front of the Lebanese and International courts."The Lawmaker added "for the first time a security apparatus in Lebanon had the courage to arrest and prosecute criminals belonging to the Syrian and Iranian regimes, issuing strict indictments against them."

Shorter after meeting Berri: Election of president is crucial for Lebanon
Fri 09 Sep 2016/NNA - House Speaker Nabih Berri met on Friday at Ain Tineh residence with British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, with talks between the pair reportedly touching on most recent political developments on the local scene. On emerging, Ambassador Shorter expressed his belief that the election of the president of the republic is crucial for Lebanon, especially in the face of the current challenges and to move forward so that institutions would secure Lebanese citizens' needs. "This can solely occur through the election of the president through dialogue," Shorter said, urging the Lebanese leaders to cast their differences aside and engage in dialogue to fulfill their responsibilities and re-activate state institutions in the country. Speaker Berri also met with the new Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon, Wang Kejian, whereby they tackled current developments in Lebanon and the broad region. Current developments and bilateral Check Lebanese relations topped discussions between Speaker Berri and the new Check Ambassador to Lebanon, who is of Lebanese origin, Martha Shalhoub. Berri also received on Friday a congratulatory cable form Iranian Shoura Council head Ali Larijani, on the occasion of Adha Feast. On the other hand, Berri said that he will not be receiving Adha well-wishers, hoping that the Eid will bring about to all the Lebanese, Arabs and Muslims further prosperity, stability and unity, as per a statement by Berri's Media Bureau.

The March 8 Alliance and looking with one eye
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
The Lebanese March 8 Alliance started celebrating the US-Russian “agreement” assuming that the end of the Syrian crisis is imminent. They responded as if the agreement has already been reached and the crisis has come to an end. We do wish that the Syrian war ends as the Syrian people are suffering on a daily basis and scores of them are getting killed by barrel bombs which the Syrian regime continues to shell them with. Solutions to crises are often reached by foreign powers. These solutions are rather agreements that suit the interests of countries, which have fought on our land for 15 years. We are aware that halting of gunfire does not mean that the war has ended and that things have gotten back to normal or that there is security and institutions have gone back to performing their roles. The situation doesn’t become normal as long as some parties continue to send militants inside Syria in connivance with the regime and take the opportunity to control its resources. This is similar to what happened in Lebanon under the Syrian occupation after the end of the civil war. Halting of gunfire does not mean that the war has ended and that things have gotten back to normal or that there is security and institutions have gone back to performing their roles
Regime’s apologists
Those defending the Syrian regime and bragging about confronting attempts to dominate ignore last week’s development in the case of the 2013 mosque bombings in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli. Two Syrian intelligence officers were indicted for involvement in the criminal attack and the murder of citizens. It’s absurd how those who defend the Syrian regime call for holding the perpetrators accountable but do not condemn the regime that pushes them to commit these crimes. The two officers are not isolated from their superiors. March 8 leaders’ condemnation of just the perpetrators tantamount to concealing the real truth and suggests an implicit collusion. Condemning is thus limited to repeating the same statements to avoid public reprimand and to serve electoral purposes. This is not national responsibility as truth must be clearly seen; otherwise it’s not the truth. Looking with one eye resembles the ostrich burying its head in the sand as the threat still exists. In our case, the truth is as clear as the sun.
**This article was first published in an-Nahar on Sept. 05, 2016.

Time for Lebanon to elect its President, independently
Hugo Shorter/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
It is now a year since I took up my appointment as UK Ambassador (designate) to Lebanon. It’s time to admit that, for all the wonderful experiences of my first year in this beautiful and welcoming country, there has been one big disappointment: Lebanon’s failure to elect a new President. And this is fundamental, because the lack of a President of Lebanon for over two years now weakens the country and the model of co-existence it represents in the region. It means Lebanon is increasingly vulnerable to internal or external shocks, is falling behind in economic growth and job creation, and the institutions of the state are being degraded. As I make the diplomatic rounds of party leaders, deputies, ministers and religious figures to discuss the political impasse, one refrain comes back again and again: Lebanon cannot elect a President until foreigners agree. I am told that this has always been the case, that a detente between regional rivals, a political settlement of the Syrian war, or the green light of one or other outside power is necessary for a President to be elected. By allowing foreign powers to decide on Lebanese domestic issues the Lebanese are allowing others’ interests to take priority over their own, inside Lebanon
Foreigners’ agreement
My view is that the Lebanese people should decide that the agreement of foreigners cannot and should not be necessary for a solution to the presidential impasse. Why?
First, because however hard the UK and other responsible players work to resolve them, regional problems may not be settled for years. How much longer can Lebanon wait? Surely every Lebanese leader should be working their utmost to avoid testing Lebanon’s famed resilience to destruction by waiting for solutions to the region’s intractable problems. Second because, however much outside powers may care about Lebanon, they will put their own national interests first. This is an iron rule of international relations. The UK has shown over and over again that we are committed to Lebanon’s stability, security and prosperity. But in the end, our Parliament will hold our ministers to account over how the British government is advancing the British national interest. The British are not exceptionally hard-nosed about this – on the contrary, we take a broad, positive view of what is in our national interest. My point is that by allowing foreign powers to decide on Lebanese domestic issues the Lebanese are allowing others’ interests to take priority over their own, inside Lebanon. Third, because waiting for others’ decisions is a way of absolving oneself of responsibility. But when Lebanese voters elect their deputies and their municipal councils – as was clear from the results of the May Municipal elections – they expect those representatives to represent their, the voters’, interests. Not someone else’s, living hundreds or thousands of miles away. And not the politicians’ own personal interests either.
Finally, the system is patently broken. It’s now 28 months since President Sleiman stepped down. Many Lebanese politicians have been working sincerely to reach agreement on a successor. But it’s time to admit that trying to align diverse and opposed outside interests behind a single candidate has failed. The Lebanese constitution provides a mechanism to resolve this situation: a Parliamentary vote for President.
Fatalism?
When I express these views to Lebanese friends, they are too polite to remind me that I’m relatively new to Lebanon. But they tell me that foreign interference in Lebanese politics is just a fact of life, based on money, weapons, and religion. Remarkably, this is not particularly controversial in public debate here: is this fatalism? Or a sense that so long as everyone has their foreign backer then somehow everyone wins? If so, I disagree. Everyone who cares about the future of the Lebanese model of co-existence, everyone who cares about jobs and economic opportunity in this country, everyone who cares about a strong state to provide security and the rule of law, loses - as the current presidential impasse shows. The problems of foreign money, weapons and religious influences will take time to resolve. But the Presidency can be fixed, now, by the Lebanese. For more than two years now, it is Lebanese politicians who have decided to await foreign decisions. It is Lebanese members of Parliament who have a duty to vote for a President. It is the Lebanese Constitution that opens with the words: “Lebanon is a sovereign, free and independent country”.
So I say: it’s time for Lebanon to elect its President, independently. Time for Parliament to vote. Time for #IndependenceDay2!
 

Does Geagea understand the constitution?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
The Lebanese Forces leader should follow his own advice and trust the constitution fully, argues Hussain Abdul-Hussain
For all the reading that he presumably did and the wisdom he accrued during his decade in prison, Lebanese Forces Chief Samir Geagea sounded alarmingly superficial and misinformed in his most recent speech in Maarab. Trust the constitution, Geagea said, only to add that the solution to the Lebanese crisis mandates the election of MP Michel Aoun for president, and the appointment of MP Saad Hariri as Prime Minister. What Geagea fails to understand is that trusting the constitution means trusting the process, regardless of its outcome. Respect for the constitution means subscribing to the results of each and every election, especially those elections whose results do not please this or that individual or group. When Geagea suggests that the constitution “protects” the Lebanese, and that they should trust it, it means that because all the Lebanese are under their constitution and go by its mandates, the political process will keep going while even those who oppose the outcome play the game as they voice their opposition and try to change the rules constitutionally.
For a long time, Lebanon’s leaders have used the Lebanese “coexistence formula” to tweak the system in such a way as to make it impossible for them to lose any election.
Under the “coexistence formula,” nothing happens without consensus. While consensus, in theory, means acquiring the approval of each one of the eighteen sects, it has come in practice to mean the acquiescence of the de facto leaders; those who are usually invited to the “dialogue table,” a tribal council of sorts that has undermined what remained of the Lebanese state over the past decade. Consensus therefore undermines democracy, which is the rule of the majority, not of every one of the sects. And consensus in Lebanon, often underwritten by Hezbollah’s military might, applies to state affairs; that is, parliamentary and presidential elections and cabinet formation. As for other issues, such as “resistance” and Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war, these never required consensus because, according to Hezbollah, “resistance” is plain common sense.
So while Hezbollah controls Lebanon’s military, intelligence and foreign policies and keeps them outside state control, the party leaves smaller issues — like presidential and parliamentary elections — to the state. And even there, Hezbollah insists on consensus, which, if not acquired, makes the party cry foul over Shiites being kept out of decision-making. Now back to Geagea, whose influence is perhaps the least among the Big Five: Hezbollah, Aoun, Hariri and Jumblatt. Geagea clearly has no clue what a constitution means. In the same speech that he praises “our martyrs,” Lebanese Forces fighters killed in the civil war, and promises more of them if “the enemies of Lebanon try [to attack] Lebanon,” he also calls on hanging on to the constitution. In the same speech that Geagea praises the concept of militias, and promises more militias in the future, he defends the constitution — which is the staple of a state and an army that is the opposite of militias, whether Hezbollah or the Lebanese Forces. And in the same speech that Geagea insists that the constitution should be respected, he attaches the condition of electing Aoun and Hariri as president and prime minister respectively, as if anointing the de facto tribal oligarchs will change much.
Then, when former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora — one of Lebanon’s finest statesmen with an intricate knowledge of the constitution and the state — rebutted Geagea by saying the Lebanese Forces leader could not possibly call for respecting the constitution while attaching strings to it, Geagea responded with a surreal statement that has become the trademark of Lebanese politics: “With all my respect to the public principles that you mentioned […] which I completely subscribe to, I pose to you one question: what do we do now?”So Geagea says he respects the tenets of the constitution, but that to be realistic and save the republic, the Lebanese have to violate some principles. But if Geagea thinks realism trumps the Lebanese constitution, then who needs a constitution? Let realism rule.
Geagea’s flawed understanding of the constitution might explain what the Lebanese should expect from leaders who come from military and paramilitary backgrounds, and whose understanding of the concept of the state and the constitution looks alarmingly inadequate.
Perhaps the Lebanese better keep this rule in mind: If reality is the issue, then militias are the answer. If the state is the issue, then the constitution is your only bet.
 

Hezbollah “secretly” deploying in Quneitra: report
Now Lebanon/September 09/16
BEIRUT – Hezbollah has allegedly started to “secretly” deploy its members to Quneitra to replace regime troops stationed in the province near the Golan demarcation line with Israel, according to a pro-opposition outlet. Al-Etihad press reported Thursday that pro-regime troops in Madinat al-Baath and Khan Arnabeh—both government strongholds northeast of the rebel-held Quneitra border crossing—were being “withdrawn in batches” for redeployment near the western Ghouta suburbs of Damascus. The outlet’s report mirrored that of local correspondent Omar al-Joulani, who reported on Tuesday that pro-regime forces as well as Hezbollah withdrew a number of their combatants and tanks from the two Quneitra province towns. However, Al-Etihad press cited local sources as saying that Hezbollah members “came out with the regime forces in public,” but returned in secret to positions under the guise of being local militiamen. “Hezbollah fighters… returned under the name of the Golan Regiment,” the sources claimed, in reference to the predominantly Druze force that fights under the banner of the regime’s auxiliary National Defense Force.
On Monday, Iran’s Fars News reported that Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces are readying a major offensive against rebels along the Golan demarcation line with Israel. Syrian military sources said that Hezbollah deployed fighters “in the vicinity of the Quneitra border crossing.” “[Hezbollah] aims to put an end to the presence of armed men in the area close to the border,” the sources told the Iranian outlet. The Fars News report comes after the leader of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force, General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, toured Syria’s border with Israel near Quneitra in July, the first such visit of a top-ranking official from Tehran to be publicized in Iranian media.
Cross-border incidents
In past weeks, pro-regime forces have bombarded rebel positions in Al-Hamidiyah and other rebel-held villages along the Golan border near the Quneitra crossing, with a number of mortar rounds hitting Israel, prompting Tel Aviv to launch retaliatory strikes on at least five occasions. On July 4, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit two Syrian army targets in the Golan after stray fire damaged the technical fence stretching across the demarcation line between the two countries in the mountainous region. Two weeks later, an unmanned aerial vehicle crossed over the border into Israeli territory in the central Golan, prompting Israel to fire two Patriot missiles in an unsuccessful attempt to shoot down the drone.
An air-to-air missile fired by an Israeli jet also failed to bring down the drone, which Tel Aviv suspects is Russian-manufactured. In the latest incident, Israel once again responded to a stray cross-border mortar strike on September 8, hitting a Syrian army target east of the Druze-populated town of Hader in Quneitra, as per Tel Aviv’s standard practice of retaliation to errant fire. A local pro-Assad fighting force also claimed that Israel conducted a missile strike on one of its convoys in the Quneitra province, although Tel Aviv has made no official comment on the accusation while Syrian state media has also stayed mum. The Golan Regiment announced on July 28 that two Israeli Nimrod missiles hit one of its positions, but did not name the specific location of the strike. “The commander of the Golan Regiment’s Fist Battalion, Majid Himoud, escaped the Zionist [strike],” the group, which is part of the Syrian regime’s auxiliary National Defense Force, announced on its official Facebook page. The militia, which is predominantly Druze, added that Israel fired the missiles from its side of the divided Golan Heights, but did not specify whether the Nimrods were launched from an aircraft or the ground.
NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language material.
 

Lebanese Diaspora: Reclaim your rights
Justin Salhani/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
My father left Beirut in the mid-1980s. A decade of war was his limit, so he packed a bag and a French passport he acquired through his first marriage, boarded a flight to Paris, and decided to never return. When I was born in 1987, I was blessed with the freedom to travel almost anywhere. My mother passed on her American nationality and my father passed on the French. Memories of Lebanon were still too raw, too recent. He wanted his children to have nothing to do with the war or the people who fought in it. Growing up, my only connection to Lebanon was from my father’s stories. There was pain in his recollection but also a certain romanticism and comedy. He told me about stuntman-like driving down Hamra’s narrow backstreets and his bravado during interactions with armed militiamen (he was more afraid of the armed children, he said). One of my favorite stories was the one he told about new visitors to the Commodore hotel bar who would dive for cover when they heard the whistle of incoming shells. When laughter replaced the sound of explosions, they would glance up and see that the bar’s resident parrot learned to expertly mimic the whistling sound of falling bombs.
The thing about stories though, is that they are better told first-hand. When I finished university, I felt it was time to gather my own stories and stop telling my father’s. I took a teaching job in Beirut and lived in the city for nearly five years.
I started my professional career as a journalist in Beirut. It’s also the city where I met my wife. If I was tied to the land by heritage and culture before then marriage surely means my ties to Lebanon are inescapable. The only connection that still eludes me is the Lebanese nationality--one that my wife wants me to have so that we can pass it on to our children. It’s also a way to avoid visiting General Security for residency renewal.
The recent decision taken by the cabinet of ministers to simplify the process of acquiring nationality is a big help to my case specifically. You see, I’ve inquired about the process multiple times. Here is what I was told:
Step 1: My father’s divorce from his first wife was never registered in Lebanon. I have to send the divorce paperwork to the Lebanese embassy in Paris (where the divorce took place).
Step 2: Once that paperwork is filled, I have to send the registration of my father’s second marriage (to my mother) to the Lebanese embassy in Washington, D.C. (where the marriage took place).
Step 3: Then, I must send the Lebanese consulate in Brussels (where I was born) proof of the previous paperwork with my birth records and proof that I am my father’s son.
Meanwhile, I have to rely on the embassies and postal services to make sure they don’t lose any of my paperwork. I’ve started this process a couple of times and haven’t yet gotten past step one.
The new process, however, appears as though it will be much simpler. As I look through the www.lebanity.gov.lb website – a new initiative launched by Lebanon’s foreign ministry to encourage members of the diaspora “to apply for Lebanese nationality and to benefit from their business, financial, consular, personal, social and political rights as Lebanese” – it looks simple and straightforward (though my state isn’t listed in the drop-down menu under address). It may have a few bugs to work out (the website was down when I tried to look the other day) but either way, having an online process is certainly an improvement from the Lebanese government’s favored communication device: the fax machine.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 09-10/16

Top commander of former Nusra group killed in Syria
Reuters, Amman Friday, 9 September 2016/The top military commander of the militant Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria, was killed in an aerial raid that targeted a meeting of the group's leaders, two rebel sources said on Thursday. They said the commander, whose alias is Abu Omar Saraqeb, was killed at a location in the countryside of Aleppo where the group has been playing an instrumental role in ongoing battles against the Syrian army troops and Iranian backed Shiite militias. The nationality of the jets that hit the location was not immediately known. An Islamist source told Reuters the militants were in a secret hideout in the village of Kafr Naha. There were unconfirmed reports that several other senior figures were either injured or killed. Al Qaeda's powerful Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, announced last July it was ending its relationship with the global militant network founded by Osama bin Laden, to remove a pretext used by world powers to attack Syrian civilians. The move appeared to be an attempt to appeal to Syrians who have long had deep misgivings about Nusra's links with al - and the presence of foreign jihadists in its ranks. The move was dismissed by Washington, which said it did not change its stance on the organisation that is listed as a terrorist group. Washington said the move was cosmetic and a rebranding that did not signal a shedding its ideology,

Air Strike Kills Top Jihadist Rebel Commander in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/An air strike near Syria's battleground second city Aleppo has killed the commander of the largest rebel alliance in the biggest blow since its formation early last year, a monitor said Friday. The strike on a meeting of leaders of the Army of Conquest alliance came hot on the heels of a major defeat for the rebels, which saw them under renewed siege inside Aleppo after an army advance this week. Former Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, renamed Fateh al-Sham Front when it broke ties in July, announced on Twitter "the martyrdom" of commander Abu Omar Saraqeb in an air strike. The jihadist Fateh al-Sham is a leading member of the Army of Conquest alliance, which groups its fighters with those of Islamist factions like Ahrar al-Sham. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said unidentified aircraft hit the Army of Conquest meeting on Thursday night, killing Saraqeb and another rebel commander named as Abu Muslim al-Shami. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said it was not immediately clear whether the strike was carried out by the US-led coalition, the Syrian regime or its Russian ally -- all of whom are conducting bombing raids in northern Syria.
"This is undoubtedly the biggest blow ever inflicted on Fateh al-Sham and the Army of Conquest in Syria," Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse. According to the Observatory, Saraqeb was a leading member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq in its fight against the US-led occupation after 2003. He went on to become a key commander of Al-Nusra Front and then Fateh al-Sham in Syria. - 'Islamist unifier' -Abu Omar reportedly also founded Al-Nusra Front's Lebanon branch which has claimed responsibility for several bombings in Syria's western neighbour. He operates under different noms de guerre, making it difficult to know his nationality. He led a major offensive by the Army of Conquest in spring last year which saw it seize control of nearly all of the northwestern province of Idlib. But the alliance has been less successful in and around Aleppo, where it was dealt a major blow by regime forces this week. In early August, Saraqeb led an offensive against pro-government fighters encircling the rebel-held east of the divided city and opened up a new supply route from the south that broke the siege. But this week regime loyalists backed by Russian warplanes recaptured nearly all of the territory taken last month and reimposed the blockade on the estimated 250,000 civilians living in rebel-held neighbourhoods. Pro-jihadist accounts on Twitter mourned Saraqeb's death, calling him a "heroic martyr." "The targeting of the symbols of this blessed revolution will only increase our determination to achieve our goals," pledged one brigade of the Army of Conquest. Jihadism expert Charles Lister said Saraqeb had helped found the the Army of Conquest last year and once served as the "emir" of Idlib province. Amid Syria's fractious rebel movement, he was "seen widely as an Islamist unifier," Lister wrote. "The strike targeted a meeting that had been called to plan a new opposition counter-offensive to break the re-besieging of Aleppo," he added. Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting since the rebels seized eastern districts in 2012, transforming the former commercial hub into a divided and bombed-out city.

No US involvement in Syrian rebel leader death
By AFP, Washington Friday, 9 September 2016/The Pentagon on Friday said it played no role in the death of the commander of Syria’s largest rebel coalition, who was killed in an air strike near Aleppo. Abu Omar Saraqeb, who led the former Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, which took on the new name of Fateh al-Sham Front in July, reportedly died when a strike hit a meeting of rebel leaders. The militant Fateh al-Sham is a leading member of the Army of Conquest alliance, which was meeting Thursday night, killing Saraqeb and another rebel commander. “It was not a US strike,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said. “Whatever happened there, it was not something that the US military did.” A US-led coalition is conducting daily strikes in northern Syria, but its focus is on ISIS and it has steered clear of the carnage unfolding in Aleppo, where Russian and Syrian government forces are battling rebels. “We don’t have any reason to be in Aleppo, it’s not a place where ISIS is,” Davis said. A US defense official later told AFP that Russia was the “leading suspect” in the strike.

Kerry in Geneva to push Russia on Syria ceasefire
AFP, Geneva Friday, 9 September 2016/US Secretary of State John Kerry flew in to Geneva on Friday to meet his Russian counterpart once again, seeking a deal with Moscow to restore a ceasefire in Syria. Senior officials travelling with Kerry said he would not have travelled to join Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unless he thought there was a chance of making progress. But they warned they could not guarantee a final agreement would be reached within the narrow window available before both men return home later in the day. Washington wants concrete steps from Russia to force its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad to stop bombing his own people and to lift the siege of the city of Aleppo. “We need to see a situation where it’s clear within whatever is being agreed with the Russians that there won’t be a siege of Aleppo,” a senior US official told reporters. “If we conclude that we can get there then we’ll keep going,” he said, suggesting the marathon negotiation could be prolonged still further, but not indefinitely. “If we conclude that it’s being dragged on for no other purpose than to gain time then there’ll be no purpose in us continuing,” he warned. In exchange for reining in its client in Damascus, Russia wants closer military cooperation with the United States in the battle against extremist groups fighting in Syria. This would help its jets target the ISIS and Nusra Front groups, while giving it de facto political cover as a partner working more closely alongside US forces. Asked whether a deal was possible on Friday, another senior US official said: “All I can say is we can’t guarantee at any point that we are on the cusp of finishing. “That said, I think that if we didn’t think ... that there remained a possibility of getting this done, we wouldn’t be going back to Geneva,” he added.
 

Ticking Time Bomb of Foreign Fighters Returning from Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/With the Islamic State group on the back foot after a string of military defeats, foreign volunteers for the jihadist group are returning home and creating a massive security challenge, experts say. These radicalised individuals, who have often received weapons and explosives training, are a "time bomb" as they flee IS and Syria and return home, France's top prosecutor has said. The risk is especially acute for France, which has been attacked in the past year by jihadists hardened from time spent with IS in Syria and Iraq. "At some time or another we will be faced with the return of a large number of French fighters and their families," Francois Molins, France's anti-terrorism prosecutor, told the daily Le Monde. "Nearly 700 jihadists who are either French or live in France are in Iraq and Syria at the moment," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week. "Their return represents an additional threat to our national security... We have to be prepared to fight back. It's going to be a long fight." - Tightened legislation -Like many countries, France has tightened its legislation surrounding returning extremists. Suspects identified after being tracked by security services on their journey to Syria -- in the vast majority of cases by passing through Turkey -- are now systematically arrested when they try to re-enter France. Many face trial and are given prison sentences. Molins, the prosecutor, said nearly 1,000 individuals "are currently, or have been, investigated for Islamist terrorism". Around 280 have been charged and 167 of those prosecutions have led to jail terms. But the limits to placing dangerously radicalised individuals under surveillance were shown in July, when two young extremists, including one wearing an electronic tag after twice attempting to go to Syria, killed an elderly priest near Rouen in northern France. "Straight away there are questions about them being held in custody," Yves Trotignon, a former anti-terrorist analyst at France's foreign intelligence agency (DGSE), told AFP. "Will they be radicalised in prison? These are dangerous individuals and if they are tried on the facts set out by the prosecution, they will get two or three years. What happens to them after that?"- IS 'will go underground' -Trotignon said that of greater concern to security services were the hardcore jihadists who had years of experience staying under the radar. "There won't be too many of them, but the real danger is those who are going to come back and are still convinced of the righteousness of their cause and who are going to plan attacks. "We have known for a few months that IS are preparing for defeat militarily, so it is going to once again become an underground movement." Foreign fighters returning home to Europe who still intend to carry out attacks will bide their time, Trotignon believes. "They are not going to take a direct flight to western Europe. They are going to go on a winding route and make stops on the way and it could take several months. They might go to countries where they will change identity -- we've already seen that happen.
"They will disappear into gaps, only to re-appear later."Turkey's role is crucial. The Turkish army has seized control of several kilometres of the border with Syria that IS formerly used to pass fighters and equipment. "The border is now very much sealed," a diplomat told French journalists. "The Turks have done a huge amount of work, they have filled in holes and built walls. If you try to get into or out of Turkey illegally, you will be shot at."More than 50,000 people are now barred from entering Turkey, the diplomat said, and 150 French nationals have been arrested in the country and returned to France in handcuffs.

Iraq, Syria May Not 'be Put Back Together Again', Says CIA Head
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/Iraq and Syria have been so thoroughly damaged by warfare, sectarian conflict and killing that it is unclear they "can be put back together again," CIA Director John Brennan said. In an interview this week with the CTC Sentinel, a publication from the West Point military academy's Combating Terrorism Center, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency said the current system of governance in the two countries might change altogether. "I don't know whether or not Syria and Iraq can be put back together again. There's been so much bloodletting, so much destruction, so many continued, seething tensions and sectarian divisions," Brennan said. "I question whether we will see, in my lifetime, the creation of a central government in both of those countries that's going to have the ability to govern fairly." He added that he could envision some type of a federal structure governing autonomous regions. In northern Iraq and parts of Syria, for instance, Kurdish populations already have established de-facto states. Brennan also described how the Islamic State group (IS) is now collaborating in Yemen with rivals al-Qaida to fight common enemies, such as the Houthi rebels and Arab coalition-backed government forces. "The farther away you get from that (IS) heartland of Syria and Iraq, the more likely you're going to see collaboration between al-Qaida elements, (IS) elements, and others," he said.

"We see it right now in Yemen.... There are indications that, in fact, they're working together."

U.S. Pushes Russia on 'True' Syria Deal as Rebels Advance
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/The United States and Russia will make a fresh bid to end the bloodshed in Syria Friday, as Moscow-backed regime forces make new advances against rebel fighters on the ground. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Geneva for crunch talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, with Washington warning talks could not go on forever without a breakthrough. The two powers back opposite sides in the five-year conflict, with Moscow supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the US behind the rebels. Senior Kerry officials said he would not have flown out to the high-level face-to-face talks with Lavrov unless he thought there was a chance of progress. But they warned there was no guarantee of a final agreement within the narrow window available before both men return home later Friday.

- 'Back to square one' -Washington wants concrete steps from Russia to force its Syrian ally Assad to stop bombing his own people and to lift the siege of Aleppo. "We need to see a situation where it's clear within whatever is being agreed with the Russians that there won't be a siege of Aleppo," a senior US official told reporters. Pro-regime forces have taken back a strategically important district on Aleppo's southern outskirts, rolling back nearly every gain from a major month-long rebel offensive there, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. The government advance further seals off Aleppo's opposition-held eastern districts and regime troop backed by the Russian air force have completely encircled opposition-held neighbourhoods. And in a further setback for the rebels, the top military commander of the Army of Conquest, the largest Syrian rebel alliance, was killed in an air strike during a meeting of the leaders of the anti-government group, Islamist sources said Thursday. The former Al-Nusra Front, renamed Fateh al-Sham Front, announced on Twitter "the martyrdom" of commander Abu Omar Sarakeb.
"Rebels are now back to square one, under an even more ruthless siege," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory, told AFP. Shops in the east of Aleppo have been struggling since Sunday to secure goods and prices are skyrocketing. "The price of a kilo of meat rose from 3,000 pounds to 6,000 (from $6 to $12)," complained father-of-three Ahmad in the strike-hit district of Bustan al-Qasr. - 'Reducing violence' -Ahead of the Geneva talks, the US pressed Russia for a "true cessation of hostilities" against a backdrop of continued military turmoil but warned that its patience is running thin.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter told BBC radio on Thursday there was "quite a long way to go" before a final peace deal could be struck.
He called for "a true cessation of hostilities -- not what you've seen, which is a partial cessation of hostilities," adding: "Our patience is not unlimited."The Geneva talks "will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving toward a political solution needed to end the civil war," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. Adding to the flurry of diplomatic efforts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also agreed to intensify efforts for a ceasefire "as soon as possible" in Aleppo, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. Lavrov has suggested that problems in another part of the world -- namely, US sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis -- may be hampering efforts between the former Cold War rivals to resolve "regional conflicts," a reference to the Syrian war. And Carter noted: "We have our differences, serious differences, with Russia elsewhere, especially here in Europe with Ukraine."- IS chaos -While diplomats wrangled, fighting in the complex war continued to claim lives, with Turkish shelling over the border into Syria killing six Kurdish fighters aligned with US forces on Thursday.
Syrian rebels supported by Turkish and coalition air strikes pushed further west into areas held by Islamic State (IS) group militants in northern Syria. The Syrian war -- which began as a pro-democracy revolt in 2011 but morphed into a multi-front conflict after the regime unleashed a crackdown -- has killed more than 290,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes. IS has used the chaos to spread throughout the country and into Iraq.

CIA head says Iraq, Syria might not ‘be put back together again’
AFP, Washington Thursday, 8 September 2016/Iraq and Syria have been so thoroughly damaged by warfare, sectarian conflict and killing that it is unclear they “can be put back together again,” CIA Director John Brennan said. In an interview this week with the CTC Sentinel, a publication from the West Point military academy’s Combating Terrorism Center, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency said the current system of governance in the two countries might change altogether. “I don’t know whether or not Syria and Iraq can be put back together again. There’s been so much bloodletting, so much destruction, so many continued, seething tensions and sectarian divisions,” Brennan said. “I question whether we will see, in my lifetime, the creation of a central government in both of those countries that's going to have the ability to govern fairly.”He added that he could envision some type of a federal structure governing autonomous regions. In northern Iraq and parts of Syria, for instance, Kurdish populations already have established de-facto states. Brennan also described how ISIS is now collaborating in Yemen with rivals Al-Qaeda to fight common enemies, such as the Houthi rebels and Arab coalition-backed government forces. “The farther away you get from that (ISIS) heartland of Syria and Iraq, the more likely you’re going to see collaboration between Al-Qaeda elements, (ISIS) elements, and others,” he said. “We see it right now in Yemen.... There are indications that, in fact, they’re working together.”

Iraqi police clashes with militia near Baghdad
AFP, Baghdad Thursday, 8 September 2016/Several people were wounded Thursday when Iraqi police clashed with members of an Iranian-backed militia near the capital, both sides said. The violence in Zaafaraniya, south of Baghdad, involved exchanges of fire that lasted more than two hours between police forces and the Harakat al-Nujaba group. “The clashes started when the security forces arrested a member of Harakat al-Nujaba, whose forces then attacked a police base to release him,” a police colonel said. The officer said a policeman and a civilian were wounded and added that the detained senior member of the Shiite militia was still being held. The group, a splinter of the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary organization that has played a key role in the fight against the ISIS militant group. Harakat al-Nujaba gave a markedly different account of the clashes and accused the police of collaborating with ISIS. It said in a statement posted on social media by its spokesman Nasr al-Shammari that one of its intelligence cells had arrested an IS commander after “tracking him for three months in cooperation with the security services.”It said the Nujaba force was then stopped at a checkpoint and asked by the police to report to a nearby base and officially record the arrest. “When they arrived at the base, they arrested the (Nujaba) force and released the Daesh (IS) commander,” Shammari said. He said Nujaba forces that arrived at the base later were shot at by the police, adding that three of them were seriously wounded. Shammari said the incident in Zaafaraniya was evidence police were colluding with IS and that “the situation in the country will not be stable until the security apparatus has been purged.”The Hashed al-Shaabi – “popular mobilization” in Arabic -- is nominally under the authority of the prime minister but the allegiance of some of its most powerful components is first and foremost to Iran. Harakat al-Nujaba, which was formed in 2013 and led by Akram al-Kaabi, is believed to have strong ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization and is known for taking part in operations in neighboring Syria.

Additional US troops reach Iraq before Mosul push
AFP, Washington Friday, 9 September 2016/More than 400 additional US troops have deployed to Iraq in recent days, a defense official said Thursday, as local forces prepare for an assault on Mosul, the ISIS’s last major Iraqi stronghold. Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition that has been attacking ISIS in Iraq and Syria for the last two years, said the number of US troops in country had grown from about 4,000 a week ago to 4,460 today. The deployments had been previously authorized earlier this year. Dorrian did not say what the troops would be doing, but their arrival comes as Iraqi security forces continue “shaping operations” around Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Much of the work is focused on an airfield near the town of Qayyarah, which will provide a staging area for Iraqi forces pushing toward the northern city Mosul. Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the new commander of the US-led coalition, told the Wall Street Journal late Wednesday that the assault could begin within the next month. Dorrian, however, soft-pedalled his boss’s remarks, saying it was the Iraqis who would determine any timeline.General Joe Votel, the head of the US military’s Central Command, last week said coalition-backed Iraqi forces can retake Mosul by the end of the year. Iraqi security forces from the south and Kurdish peshmerga forces from the north are expected to conduct the push from multiple directions. Dorrian said an estimated 3,000 to 4,500 ISIS fighters are in Mosul, though he noted it was hard to say how many were “hardcore” fighters compared to “people that are not as committed to the fight.”

Turkey hopeful on EU visa-free deal for citizens
By The Associated Press, Ankara, Turkey Friday, 9 September 2016/Turkey’s foreign minister says he believes Turkey and the European Union can come to an agreement on granting visa-free travel for Turks. Turkey has threatened to scrap a key deal with the EU on stemming the flow of migrants heading from Turkey to Europe if visa restrictions for citizens traveling to Europe are not eased by October.Plans to loosen visa rules came to a standstill after Turkey voiced reluctance to amend anti-terrorism laws that were part of a list of criteria the country is required to fulfil. During a news conference with top EU officials, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday Turkey had suggested “alternative proposals” and “a common understanding” between Ankara and Brussels was starting to emerge.
Cavusoglu said: “I believe that with this understanding we will overcome the problem.”

The Death of Atatürk's Vision
A briefing by Svante E. Cornell/Middle East Forum/September 09/16
http://www.meforum.org/6265/cornell-death-of-ataturks-vision
Svante E. Cornell, director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University, briefed the Middle East Forum in a conference call on August 30, 2016.
Multimedia for this item
Audio Recording
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator
The failed July 15 military coup in Turkey brought to a head a long-standing struggle between President Erdoğan's overtly anti-Western approach and the alleged pro-Western orientation of the Fethullah Gülen movement led by the Pennsylvania-based Turkish preacher.
On the face of it, Erdoğan emerged as the coup's undisputed winner because he survived the challenge and has become more assertive than ever. Yet the mass purges he unleashed have not only dented his international standing but have created a void in Turkey's public life that will make his rule increasingly tenuous. Hence the regime's conspiracy theories holding Washington culpable for the coup and hence its Syria intervention as a show of strength and an attempt to restore national pride. Turkey is no longer a state the West can work with to solve the Middle East's daunting problems.
Similarly, while Ankara's rapprochement with Moscow is in keeping with its anti-Western tendencies, the pragmatism of the Turkish leadership is likely to prevent it from breaking with the West. This pragmatism has also led to the normalization of relations with Israel, a tactical move to counterweigh Ankara's failed bid for regional leadership, while persisting in its anti-Semitic and Islamizing policies. This pragmatic manifestation notwithstanding, Erdoğan's attempt to consolidate power while flaunting the constitution and the most basic human rights is setting the stage for a chaotic and unstable Turkey. As there are no active pro-Western political forces remaining in Ankara, it is no longer a place that the West can work with to solve the Middle East's daunting problems. Policies need to be adjusted accordingly.

UN nuclear agency says Iran sticking to nuclear deal
Reuters, Vienna Thursday, 8 September 2016/Iran has kept to a nuclear deal it agreed with six world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of substances that could be used to make atomic weapons, a report by the UN nuclear agency found. The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seen by Reuters did not point to any violations in Tehran's observance of the deal which was opposed by hardliners inside Iran and by skeptics in the West. Throughout the reporting period, Iran had no more than 130 metric tonnes of heavy water ... Iran’s total enriched uranium (up to 3.67 percent purity) stockpile did not exceed 300 kg," the report said, citing the nuclear deal's limits on the two substances. Earlier this month, a US think-tank said Iran had been secretly allowed to overstep certain thresholds in order to get the deal through on time, but a diplomat said no limits had been exceeded apart from one incident which the agency reported in February. The Institute for Science and International Security think-tank, headed by a former IAEA inspector, said one of the secret concessions exempted unknown quantities of low-enriched uranium contained in liquid, solid and sludge wastes. It also said Iran had been allowed to keep operating 19 radiation containment chambers more than set out in the deal. These so-called "hot cells" are used for handling radioactive material but can be "misused for secret, mostly small-scale plutonium separation efforts," it said. The diplomat in Vienna said any hot-cell activity that could be used to breach limits would be reported by the IAEA, which it had not done. No secret deal The White House has denied there were any secret deals and says the agreement, also negotiated by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, does ensure Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons. In exchange, international sanctions on Iran were lifted. Iran has also given fresh documents to the IAEA, it said, to move towards further normalisation of its status under the so-called Additional Protocol, under which it is supposed to give more detailed information on its nuclear activities than most other IAEA members. Under last year’s nuclear deal, Iran is allowed to conduct certain atomic research and development activities beyond uranium enrichment with its elderly IR-1 centrifuges. Thursday’s report mentioned Iran has resumed making rotor tubes for advanced models. The diplomat said these rotor tubes were for centrifuges of the IR-4, 6 and 8 types, adding this was not in conflict with the nuclear deal.

Let’s light 30 candles in honor of 30,000 executed compatriots in Iran
Friday, 09 September 2016/NCRI - A group of young Kurdish writers in Iran in a letter commemorated the memory of thirty thousand political prisoners who were executed in the summer of 1988 in Iran. They called on the UN Secretary General to refer the dossier of the Iranian regime human rights violations particularly the dossier of the 1988 massacre to international courts.
The following is the full text of the letter:
Let’s light 30 candles in honor of 30,000 executed compatriots...
Honorable Secretary General of the United Nations, you may not understand the suffering that the execution and massacre of 30,000 innocent fellow countrymen in Iran has inflicted on us and the wounds it has left in our hearts. And perhaps you don’t realize why the murderers and assassins who have executed 30,000 of our compatriots are still ruling the country and are at the highest levels of the government, and like Mullah Pour-Mohammadi (current Justice Minister in Rouhani’s government) are proud of the massacre. Yes, these are the same killers and criminals who still freely decide about the current issues and the fate of our homeland. We have complaints against them and present our complaints to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran because today the only way to deal with these executioners and rulers is through this campaign and this organization and international pressures. So, you should not sit silent either, you should support tens of thousands of innocents who were killed by these bloodthirsty slayers and prosecute the murderers of Iranian people and refer them to International tribunals to face justice.
A group of young Kurdish writers in Iran
Wednesday, 7 September 2016

The PMOI/MEK is a natural ally of those seeking civic freedom, human rights and democracy in Iran
Friday, 09 September 2016/As understanding of the Iranian resistance grows, support should follow
NCRI - Wesley Martin, a retired U.S. Army colonel, served as the senior anti-terrorism officer in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and the senior operations officer for detention operations in from 2005 to 2006. He wrote an article for the United Press International on Friday, September 9, subsequent to the successful completion of the resettlement of Camp Liberty residents from Iraq to Europe. He mentioned that simultaneous with growing calls seeking justice for 30,000 massacred political prisoners in Iran, the victorious transfer of PMOI members opens a new chapter for the Iranian people and Resistance. The following is the full text of his article:
This summer marked the 28th anniversary of an extraordinary massacre of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the span of a few months in 1988, upwards of 30,000 people were put to death as a result of minutes-long trials that were little more than loyalty tests for the regime. The vast majority of those victims were members and supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and recently revealed information has helped to confirm that the massacre was primarily motivated by a longstanding desire to snuff out the opposition of the MEK to the increasingly repressive theocracy.
Predictably, then, the 1988 massacre was an early incident in what would become a long history of hardship for the MEK. That hardship would follow the resistance group beyond the borders of Iran, and would be made worse over the years not only by the direct action of Iran and its proxies, but also by the inaction of much of the world community.
At the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, thousands of members of the MEK were relocated out of the community they had built there during the '80s. After two massacres of the residents by the Iranian regime's proxies in the Iraqi government, under an agreement among the Iraqi government, the United States, the United Nations, the Iranian exiles began to be settled in the former U.S. military base of Camp Liberty near the Baghdad airport. But before the relocation could even be completed, Camp Ashraf was brutally attacked by Iraqi affiliates of the Iranian regime, resulting in over 50 deaths. No one has ever been held accountable for the crime.
On Friday, the final group of dissidents left Iraq through a scheme organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugee assisted by the U.S. Embassy. The Iranian regime resorted to all means to prevent the relocation but it was lost a battle for the mullahs and their Quds Force, which intended to eliminate the movement by in particular arresting and extraditing its leadership in Iraq. The MEK and its members' steadfastness resulted in massive international support from U.S. dignitaries, to members of Congress and European parliamentarians.
Camp Liberty was only intended to be a brief stopping point on the way to the MEK members' relocation to foreign countries where they would not be under constant threat from Tehran. But years passed with barely a word being said about the 2011 agreement. The MEK has always had staunch supporters in the U.S. Congress and other Western legislatures, and those individuals made repeated inquiries into the situation, but for far too long the response was tepid at best. And in the meantime, the MEK community has suffered five missile attacks, a blockade of medical supplies, and denial of basic services, resulting in dozens more deaths.
The MEK is by all accounts a natural ally of those seeking civic freedom, human rights and democracy in Iran. The 10-point plan of Maryam Rajavi, the president of its political coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been described as embodying the essential principles of any democratic nation in the modern world. It outlines a future for Iran that will be based on secularism, free and democratic elections, the active promotion of the rights of women, and avoidance of the current regime's policies of aggressive intervention.
As time goes by, there are more and more reasons to be confident that an altogether new era for the PMOI has emerged. It is an era that promises to expose the crimes that the Iranian regime has perpetrated and continues to perpetrate against pro-democracy organizations and the Iranian people as a whole. And it is an era that may finally give rise to recognition of the Iranian resistance as the force for bringing freedom and democracy to Iran and subsequently contributing to end extremism and stabilizing the region.
The resettlement comes at a time of a newfound atmosphere of awareness regarding the nature of the Iranian regime, its past crimes, and the just motives of the resistance against that regime.
In recent weeks, political discourse inside the Islamic Republic has changed dramatically, following the release of an audio recording made in 1988, at the time of the massacre of political prisoners. In it, then-heir to the supreme leadershipAyatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri upbraided the leading participants in what he described as "the worst crime" in the early history of the clerical regime. Montazeri's account of the massacre has provided for unprecedented recognition of its true severity, and it has spurred Tehran's victims and their families to come forward with their own accounts.
Slowly but steadily, the discourse surrounding the massacre of the PMOI is making its way beyond the borders of the Islamic Republic and into the West. There, it is finding a growing population of advocates for support of the Iranian resistance and a long-term policy of regime change. As more information leaks into the West, it will be increasingly difficult to deny that the past and present crimes of the Iranian regime solidify that regime's status as an enemy of the world community and modern times. Conversely, both the principles and the historical suffering of the MEK make it clear that the Iranian resistance deserves a much closer alliance, and much greater effort, than we have given it so far.

A big victory for the Iranian opposition PMOI as the last remaining members in Camp Liberty, leave Iraq for Albania
Friday, 09 September 2016/NCRI - Today 9 September 2016 Struan Stevenson former member of the European Parliament and President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) issued a statement on successful completion of the resettlement of Camp Liberty residents from Iraq to Europe and failure of the plan to arrest PMOI officials and to launch missile attacks against Camp Liberty following is the full text:
This afternoon the main Iranian opposition PMOI, moved their remaining members who were previously trapped in Camp Liberty near Baghdad airport. This successful huge transfer took place while the Iranian regime planned to either eliminate or rip apart its main enemy while they were still in Iraq. This final round of departures marks the successful conclusion of the process of relocating members of the PMOI to countries of safety outside Iraq despite the Iranian regime’s conspiracies, obstruction and threats, which continued until the very last day.
I was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014 and President of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq during my final 5-year mandate. I was able to learn at first hand about the Iraqi government’s repeated attempts to annihilate the defenceless PMOI refugees in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, under the guidance of the Iranian regime. Since the American occupying forces transferred control and jurisdiction for the residents of Ashraf to the Iraqi government under Nouri al-Maliki seven years ago, there was a constant state of intense siege imposed by the Iraqi government, puppets of the mullahs in Tehran, which continued to the last day. This siege involved the complete imprisonment of the residents of Camp Liberty in a small compound vulnerable to repeated rocket attacks. The residents suffered a sporadic blockade against fuel, food and essential equipment and a determined resistance by the Iraqi authorities against the provision of protective concrete T-walls inside the camp. In addition a medical blockade of the camp cost many lives and much suffering and there was constant psychological torture involving bogus so-called ‘family members’ from Iran, who were allowed to penetrate the security perimeter and shout abuse and threats at the residents through loudspeakers, while carrying out reconnaissance missions to prepare for further rocket attacks. These serial violations of the basic human rights of the civilian residents of Camp Liberty were ignored by the UN. Three massacres at Camp Ashraf, five missile attacks on Camp Liberty, two cases of abduction of defenceless residents, and the imposition of a fully-fledged eight-year siege, which left 177 residents dead, constituted parts of this vicious, although ultimately futile, plan.
As far as the mullahs are concerned they wanted to eliminate all of the people in Liberty or to make them give up and surrender. This did not happen due to the courage and resistance of PMOI members who stood up against numerous conspiracies, as well as the inspiring leadership of Mrs Maryam Rajavi and the active backing of thousands of parliamentarians and Iranian communities all around the world. The victorious transfer of the PMOI members and the regime’s ultimate major defeat in this regard, opens a new chapter for the Iranian people and its Resistance. Now that the main organized democratic opposition is safely out of Iraq, we need to focus on the human rights situation, the end of executions and a democratic change; a free Iran. We also need to redouble legal efforts to bring those to justice in Iraq who orchestrated the serial abuse and murder of the Ashraf and Liberty residents and who looted their property worth tens of millions of dollars.

Israel to build underground barrier against Hamas
The Associated Press, Jerusalem Thursday, 8 September 2016/Defense officials say Israel has begun work on an underground barrier along the border with Gaza meant to block Hamas militants from tunneling into Israel. The officials say the concrete barrier is set to run dozens of meters (hundreds of feet) deep and will ultimately stretch along the entire border with Gaza. Israel is currently building an initial phase of the barrier over a small stretch of land measuring dozens of meters. Work crews were busy along the Israel-Gaza border Thursday using cranes and heavy machinery. Caravans are scattered around the site, while large metal pipes run along the ground. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a classified matter, say the barrier's construction could take years. Hamas militants have used underground tunnels to attack Israelis.

UN urges Kuwait to abolish migrant labor system
AFP, Kuwait City Thursday, 8 September 2016/A UN rights expert on Thursday urged Kuwait to abolish its ‘kafala’ system for foreign workers which has long been criticised as a form of bonded labor or even slavery. Under the system, domestic workers are forced to work long hours, mistreated and beaten, prompting hundreds to flee every year, said Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, a UN special rapporteur on people-trafficking. “The kafala system... creates a situation of vulnerability which favors abusive and exploitative work relationships,” she said. The kafala system restricts workers from moving to a new job without their boss’s consent before their contracts end, leaving many trapped. Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented widespread abuses under the system, including non-payment of wages, long working hours with no rest days, physical and sexual assault, and no clear channels for redress. Similar systems operate in all six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, where about 25 million foreigners live and work. Kafala should be “replaced by a different regulation allowing migrant workers to enjoy substantial freedom in the labor market,” Giammarinaro said at a news conference after a five-day visit to Kuwait. She welcomed a number of “positive” developments in the Gulf state, including the opening of two government-run shelters for female domestic workers who leave their employers. In July, Kuwait became the first Gulf state to set a minimum wage for its hundreds of thousands of mostly Asian domestic workers. In its 2016 “Trafficking in Persons” report, the US State Department upgraded Kuwait from tier three, the worst level, to tier two while keeping it on watch list, citing an improvement in its treatment of migrant workers, including maids.

N. Korea Carries out 'Biggest Ever' Nuclear Test
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 09/16/North Korea claimed Friday it has successfully tested a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile, drawing condemnation from the South over the "maniacal recklessness" of young ruler Kim Jong-Un. The blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site was the North's fifth and most powerful yet at 10 kilotons -- approaching the might of the bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945, experts in Seoul said. Pyongyang's state media said the test, which comes after a series of ballistic missile launches that have drawn international condemnation and UN sanctions, had achieved its goal of being able to fit a miniaturised nuclear warhead on a rocket. "Our nuclear scientists staged a nuclear explosion test on a newly developed nuclear warhead at the country's northern nuclear test site," a North Korean TV presenter said. "Our... party sent a congratulatory message to our nuclear scientists... for conducting the successful nuclear warhead explosion test," said Ri Chun-Hee, a veteran who has delivered all the North's biggest announcements. The news drew swift condemnation from U.S. President Barack Obama who warned of "serious consequences" and said he had called the leaders of South Korea and Japan to confer over the crisis. The South's President Park Geun-Hye spoke out against the "maniacal recklessness" of Kim, who since taking control after the death of his father in 2011 has carried out a series of purges and weapons tests designed to show strength and consolidate power. "Kim Jong-Un's regime will only earn more sanctions and isolation... and such provocation will further accelerate its path to self-destruction," Park said, warning his obsession with creating a nuclear arsenal posed a grave challenge. "We will step up pressure on the North by using all possible measures, including more, stronger sanctions on the North with the international community and at the UN Security Council," she said.
- Search for clues -News of the test emerged when seismic monitors detected a 5.3-magnitude "artificial earthquake" early Friday near the Punggye-ri nuclear site, where the last test took place in January. "The 10-kiloton blast was nearly twice the fourth nuclear test and slightly less than the Hiroshima bombing, which was measured about 15 kilotons," said Kim Nam-Wook from the South's meteorological agency. If Pyongyang can make a nuclear device small enough to fit on a warhead, and bolster the range and accuracy of its missiles, it might achieve its oft-stated aim of hitting U.S. targets. But its claims to that in the past have been discounted. Scientists will now attempt to analyse the blast to try to determine what kind of a breakthrough it represents, including whether it is a standard atomic bomb or a more powerful hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb. But verifying the claim to have created a weapon-tipped missile will be difficult, said Melissa Hanham, a North Korea expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. "It's not really possible for us to verify that the test was of a compact warhead from the seismic data," she told Agence France Presse. "We would need to see it tested on a missile like China did in the 1960s. Nobody wants to see that. There is no way they could do that test in a safe way, and it could easily start a war."
- 'Caught off guard' -Japan condemned the move as "absolutely unacceptable" while the head of the UN atomic watchdog said it was a "clear violation" of numerous Security Council resolutions. North Korea has been hit by five sets of United Nations sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006, but has insisted it will continue, arguing it faces an existential threat from U.S. aggression. A series of ballistic missile launches has also drawn intense criticism, with another three fired on Monday even as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China. Nuclear tests are usually heralded by chatter among analysts about preparations at Punggye-ri, but this time observers were largely caught off guard, said Kim Jin-Moo from the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "The test has been carefully planned out for months by the North to maximise the impact of the show of force to the international community," he told AFP. The nuclear test is another slap in the face to the North's chief ally China which has been under pressure to rein in its increasingly embarrassing behaviour.
China said Friday it "firmly opposes" the test but it has limited room to manoeuvre, given its priority is to avoid a collapse of the regime that would create a crisis on its border and shift the balance of power on the Korean peninsula towards the U.S. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, which had warned Thursday of "new activity" at Punggye-ri, said the latest development made plain that the U.S. and South Korean strategy on restraining North Korea "has clearly failed". "No one should be surprised that North Korea continues to conduct nuclear tests to enhance the capabilities of its growing arsenal. Nor should they expect China to solve this problem for the United States," said the institute's Joel Wit. North Korea claimed its January test was of a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, which can be far more powerful than other nuclear devices. But scientists say the estimated yield of around six kilotons was similar to the North's previous nuclear test in 2013, and far too low for a thermonuclear device. Initial indications from Monday's blast pointed in the same direction. "What we can tell from the seismic waves so far is that this is likely not a thermonuclear test," said 38 North managing director Jenny Town. "We are still in the preliminary stages but our analysts believe they tested a basic nuclear device not an advanced device," she said. "If we were looking at a thermonuclear test, we would see very different seismic waves."

Canada welcomes completion of chemical weapons removal from Libya
September 9, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today welcomed the news that the final remnants of Libya’s chemical weapons stockpile have been safely delivered to a facility in Germany for destruction. The removal of these chemicals marks the last chapter in a multi-year international effort to help Libya eliminate its chemical weapons program.
Through the Global Partnership Program (GPP), housed within Global Affairs Canada, approximately $725,000 was provided toward the multinational operation for the destruction of Libya’s remaining chemical weapons stockpile, underlining Canada’s commitment to concrete disarmament and counter-terrorism measures and to strengthening the global non-proliferation regime. This funding, through a direct financial grant to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), will support the OPCW in helping Libya eliminate its remaining chemical-weapons precursors. The OPCW will use this Canadian funding, for instance, for the deployment of verification teams and for the provision of verification equipment.
The maritime operation to ship these materials from Libya to Europe was led by Denmark and was supported by the British, Spanish and Italian navies. The operation as a whole would not have happened without the financial and in-kind contributions of Denmark, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Canada has played a leading role in the elimination of Libya’s chemical weapons program since 2012, when it contributed $6 million through the OPCW to destroy Libya’s sulphur mustard stockpile and hundreds of tons of precursors, as well as repackaging all leftover chemicals into seaworthy containers. In July, Minister Dion visited the OPCW in The Hague, where Canada’s support for eliminating these terrible weapons was discussed directly with OPCW’s Director General, Ahmet Üzümcü.
The removal of the last chemical weapons precursors from Libya ensures that they will not fall into the hands of Daesh or other armed groups in North Africa.
Quotes
“Preventing non-state actors, including terrorists, from acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction is a top priority for the Government of Canada. Canada salutes our partners for their financial and in-kind contributions to this operation. We also commend the OPCW for coordinating this complex undertaking and Libya’s Government of National Accord in requesting and then facilitating the removal of these chemicals.”
- Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Quick facts
The OPCW is an independent, treaty-based body established in 1997 to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). With 192 states parties, the CWC is one of the world’s most widely subscribed treaties. Libya acceded to the CWC in 2004.
The OPCW is the only multilateral institution charged with eradicating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. To date, it has verified the elimination of 93 percent of the world’s declared chemical weapons. The OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its achievements.
Canada has been a leading voice at the OPCW since 1997. We are the largest voluntary cash contributor to the organization, having provided $22 million since 2012 to help destroy chemical weapons in Libya and Syria and investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in the Syrian conflict.
Canadian funding to eliminate Libya’s chemical weapons program is provided by the GPP. Housed within Global Affairs Canada, the GPP was established in 2002 to reduce the threat posed by the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, materials and expertise.
The approximately $725,000 from the GPP is being channelled through the OPCW to cover destruction and verification activities.
Associated links
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
Canadian National Authority (Chemical Weapons Convention)
Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction
Contacts
Chantal Gagnon
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
343-203-1851
chantal.gagnon@international.gc.ca
Media Relations Office
Global Affairs Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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Follow Minister Dion on Twitter: @MinCanadaFA
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Canada condemns North Korean nuclear test
September 9, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:
“Canada condemns in the strongest terms North Korea’s announced detonation of a nuclear ‘warhead.’
“North Korea continues to blatantly ignore international law and the will of the United Nations Security Council by acting with complete disregard for its international obligations and for the safety and security of its own people and those of all of the neighbouring countries in the region.
“These acts represent a direct threat to international security and accomplish nothing but the further isolation of North Korea from the international community.
“We call on the UN Security Council to take strong and decisive action in response to North Korea’s illegal and provocative nuclear test and its numerous recent ballistic missile launches.‎
“We call upon North Korea to comply with its international obligations, take concrete steps toward denuclearization and re-engage in meaningful negotiations for a peaceful political solution.
“Canada will continue its steadfast support for South Korea, Japan and other partners in the region and will examine further actions, in concert with the international community, in response to North Korea’s behaviour. We support efforts to forge multilateral solutions to enhance security in the Asia-Pacific region.”
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Group urges Egypt to enact penalties for female circumcision
By The Associated Press, Cairo Friday, 9 September 2016/A leading international rights group on Friday called on Egypt to enact new and harsher legal penalties for the widespread practice of female gentile mutilation. The appeal by Human Rights Watch came over a week after the Egyptian parliament voted in favor of toughening penalties for FGM, adopting amendments that will punish perpetrators with 15 years in prison if a child dies and up to seven years for performing the procedure. Rothna Begum, the Middle East women’s rights researcher at HRW, said that the stricter penalties now “reflect the horrific and potentially deadly consequences of this discriminatory practice.” But she added that a “broader law reform is needed to adequately combat this horrific practice” and warned that tens of thousands of girls remain at risk. The centuries-old practice, misguidedly believed to control women’s sexuality, was criminalized in Egypt in 2008. However, it remains widespread and an estimated 90 percent of Egyptian women have undergone some form of the forced procedure. Genital mutilation is practiced among both Muslims and Christians, and social pressures are strong - many families fear that an uncircumcised daughter will be unable to marry. While the amendments passed without much resistance, a lawmaker sparked an outcry after saying in remarks published in media last week that FGM is needed to curb women’s sexuality and to counterbalance allegedly widespread male impotence in Egypt. Ilhami Agena claimed that 64 percent of Egyptian men suffer from impotence, citing increased sales of Viagra. “If women are not circumcised, they will become sexually strong and there will be a problem,” an imbalance leading to divorce, he added. In response, female activist Janet Abdel-Aleem mocked Agena, suggesting the government should subsidize Viagra instead of circumcising women.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on September 09-10/16

Khamenei remarks meant to escape Hajj debacle blame
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/September 09/16
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who enjoys the final say on Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, has repeatedly labeled any opposition to his rule and policies (including those by Iran’s reformists and supporters of the Green movement) as “Fitna”. The term “Fitna” comes from an Arabic verb that means to “seduce, tempt, or lure.” Khamenei uses these words to describe those who divide Muslims, endanger Islam, prioritize their own interests over Islamic duties, or those who desire to change the political establishment of the Islamic Republic. “Fitna” is Khamenei’s “red line” and anyone who engages in “Fitna” should be eliminated. But if pursuing policies and rhetoric that divide, rather than unify, Muslims is “Fitna” for Khamenei, doesn’t his own recent remarks make him a “Fitna” as well? Using incendiary and provocative language, Khamenei recently labelled a series of accusations and criticism against Saudi Arabia. He called the Saudi leaders names, and even asked the Muslims to challenge Saudi Arabia’s custodianship of Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah. Khamenei’s remarks come at a critical time when Muslims are performing the Hajj, a religious pilgrimage to Islam’s most holy sites. Khamenei wrote on his website: “The world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of Hajj.”The Hajj is supposed to be a symbol of unity between all Muslims. Khamenei decided to prevent Iranians from performing the Hajj. This suggests that he gives priority to his political interests over Muslims’ holy duties. But why has Khamenei felt the urge to issue such provocative remarks? Khamenei is harshly criticizing Saudi Arabia so that the Iranians who missed the Hajj because of his policies would not point finger at him and blame him
Politicizations of Shiite Islam
Politically speaking, Khamenei’s remarks contradict his political and religious interests. Khamenei’s political interests – that dictate the idea that he should reassert Iran’s power and preeminence in the region – trumped the religious need of Iranian citizens who desire to perform the Hajj. To serve his political reasons and further Iran’s regional hegemonic ambitions, it is Khamenei, not anyone else, who is preventing the Iranians from traveling to Saudi Arabia.
Khamenei’s fallacy
Religiously speaking, Khamenei does not consider himself to be only the Imam (leader) of the Iranian people or the Shiite community. From his perspective and the modern theory of Shiite theology, he views himself as the leader of the Umma (all Muslims) across the world. This transformation in the Shiite theology - to view Iran’s Supreme Leader as the religious and political leader of all Muslims - was materialized and set up by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Once Khomeini obtained power, he argued that a religious leader should not be working in separation from politics, but should be the ultimate ruler of all the nation’s affairs. For hundreds of years, in traditional Shiite theology and among most respected Shiite religious leaders, religion and the divine spirituality were separate from politics. Many Shiite theologians still oppose Khomeini’s and Khamenei’s perception. That is why many well-known scholars before Iran’s revolution, including Dr. Ali Shariati, completely miscalculated by ruling out the idea that Iran would be run by the Shiite clerics after the revolution. However, with hard power and brute force during the early years of the Islamic revolution, Khomeini and his team set up and operationalized the concept of Vilayat-e-Faqih (the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, also called the Governance of the Jurist). This idea gave Iran’s Supreme Leader (the Imam) custodianship over all people (not only the Shiite). But what he lacks to fully fulfill his mission is the custodianship and control over Makkah and Madinah. This significantly decreases his leverage in the Muslim world.
Khamenei’s modus operandi during, his nearly three decades rule, has been to dodge responsibility by holding other people accountable for the repercussions of his policies. He is harshly criticizing Saudi Arabia so that the Iranians who missed the Hajj because of his policies would not point finger at him and blame him. Khamenei’s incendiary remarks also suggest that Iran’s interventionist, aggressive, and militaristic actions are spiraling toward extremism rather than moderation, most significantly since the United States reached an agreement with Iran on the nuclear program. Khamenei’s decision to prevent Iranians from performing the Hajj suggests that he keeps political interests above religious duties and this approach is most likely to backfire.

Prosecutors close in on Assad
Alex Rowell/Now Lebanon/September 09/16
From Lebanon to Leidschendam, it’s been a bad week in court for the Syrian regime
A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on January 15, 2015 shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad giving an interview to the Eterarna Novina Czech newspaper in Damascus
You wouldn’t know it reading the international news, but it’s been a bad week in court for Bashar al-Assad. From Beirut to The Hague, prosecutors have inched closer to unearthing Syrian regime involvement in two mass-fatality crimes; both of them, incidentally, committed outside Syrian soil.
To take them in order, a week ago today Lebanese Judge Alaa al-Khatib issued a 44-page indictment in the case of the Tripoli mosque bombings of 23 August, 2013, naming two Syrian intelligence officers, Captain Muhammad Ali Ali of the so-called ‘Palestine Branch’ and a lesser official, Nasser Jowban, as the “planners and supervisors” of the twin car bomb attacks. Judge Khatib also initiated an inquiry into the identities of those who gave Ali and Jowban their orders, adding investigations had revealed a “high-level security apparatus” within the Syrian mukhabarat was responsible.
An ‘inquiry’ is a nice idea, but unless you’re prepared to believe Assad was unaware of the activities of his own intelligence agencies (and was equally oblivious to the presence inside Syria of several other key suspects wanted by the Lebanese judiciary, including Arab Democratic Party founder Ali Eid, who died in Tartous in December), then it’s an ‘inquiry’ that’s answered as soon as it’s asked. Which is why Lebanon’s former police chief and justice minister, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, wasted no time after Khatib’s filing in demanding the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador and the lodging of a formal complaint with the UN. Needless to say, nobody (besides Samir Geagea) dared echo his call, which shows the general level of respect among the establishment for its own judiciary, to say nothing of national security and sovereignty.
Meanwhile, 2,600 miles away in The Hague’s suburb of Leidschendam, prosecutors at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon made a disclosure on Monday rightly described by Judge David Re as “hugely interesting” with regards to the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. While no Syrian officials have been indicted by the Tribunal (despite widespread suspicions that Damascus stood behind the bombing), the prosecution has occasionally hinted in recent months at a Syria angle to their case. On Monday, during a lengthy discussion on the east Lebanese border town of Anjar, prosecutor Nigel Povoas suggested for the first time that this was the town from which “explosives were brought back to Beirut for the construction of the car bomb.”
Why is this significant? Anjar is a small, sleepy settlement known chiefly for three things: its quietly spectacular UNESCO-listed Umayyad ruins; its 20th-century repopulation by Armenian refugees; and its selection by Syrian intelligence as the location of their Lebanese headquarters during their decades of occupation. Mr Povoas was unlikely to have been implying Hariri’s killers obtained the explosives from the local Tashnag Party official. When defense counsel Thomas Hannis, clearly caught off-guard (“this is news to me”), asked Povoas just what the hell he was implying, Povoas turned coy. The court would have to wait until “the evidence develops at the end of the Prosecution case,” at which point “there would be an inference available to the Trial Chamber.”
Well, when you put it like that, there’s an inference available to anyone who understands English, and it goes something like this: one way or another, and whether the judges choose to emphasize it or not, the evidence trail will end up pointing at least partially in the direction of Damascus.
Which is not so unusual these days. The Tripoli and Tribunal examples are two in a growing list of similar cases around the world that are slowly but inexorably building momentum. In July, the family of the late Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin, killed in Homs in 2012, filed a lawsuit in Washington accusing the Assad regime of deliberately murdering her and her French photojournalist colleague Remi Ochlik. The family’s lawyers reportedly obtained documents showing that Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamluk (who was also implicated in the Michel Samaha bomb plot) tasked a Brigadier General Rafiq Shahadah to start killing foreign journalists in Syria shortly before Colvin’s and Ochlik’s deaths. (Incidentally, the documents are also said to reveal involvement by Lebanese intelligence officials, who allegedly passed information to their Syrian counterparts about CNN, BBC, and Sunday Times reporters who had crossed the borders.) The surprise is not that such indictments keep coming out – as former Rwanda and Sierra Leone prosecutor Stephen Rapp told The New Yorker in April, the evidence incriminating Assad is more abundant than anything since Nuremberg. The surprise is rather how little attention and esteem they seem to receive, not just from the media but from policymakers and so-called ‘world leaders’. In the case of Lebanon, this might be written down to indifference to its citizens’ dispensable lives – were it American places of worship or British prime ministers being blown up, one imagines a different attitude would hold. Still, Colvin was American, and Dr. Abbas Khan was British. Is it not about time Western governments grasp that when they entertain leaving Syria in Assad’s hands for the indefinite future (“it doesn’t have to be done on day one, or month one, or whatever”) they are lending legitimacy to a man who will one day be an officially certified war criminal?

Riyad Hijab – “We Don’t Want Another Saleh”
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/ASharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
There is always hope for a military settlement or a political solution during conflicts, and this also applies to Syria. The Syrian political opposition held a meeting in London this week and was represented by the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) which announced its plan for a political transition. This coincided with the negotiations that took place at the G20 summit in China. I don’t want to suggest something that is not certain and say that the parties concerned have come to an agreement, and that the only matter that needs to be negotiated is where Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will be exiled to. The negotiations focussed on the discussion surrounding the beginning of new negotiations within an unclear vision. The most important thing that we heard is what the coordinator and the “leader” of the political opposition Riyad Hijab said. He said in a clear voice that there should be no place for Assad in any solution, and cited the important and convincing examples of Yemen and Iraq. He reminded everyone that a weak solution which leaves space for an ousted president later leads to greater destruction.
In the agreement to end the crisis in Yemen, the opposition parties agreed to the mediators’ condition that Saleh would leave government but stay in the party. The result is that Saleh took advantage of this right and worked with the Houthi opposition to interfere at the beginning and create political sabotage. Then he built a relationship between his armed troops and the Houthi rebels and they carried out the coup together. As a result, the crisis in Yemen became considerably worse, more people died and institutions were destroyed. Now, reaching a solution has become harder due to Saleh’s presence in Sana’a.
The second example cited by Hijab is that of the former Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri Al-Maliki. He disrupted the state for nearly two years in order to dominate it and refused to leave when the time came for him to do so, citing security conditions as an excuse. Then he tried to take advantage of his authority in order to stay. When Iraqi forces unanimously turned against him and international forces intervened and threatened him, he withdrew but remained in the shadow, retaining his power and leading militias under various names, and succeeded in marginalising the prime minister who replaced him.
Today we see the result; the chaos on the political arena, the disruption of state affairs, and Iranian penetration in governance and the administration of the military. Assad in Syria may not resemble Al-Maliki in Iraq because the latter was a legitimate ruler, but the Saleh situation is identical to that of Assad. Yemenis revolted against him across the country during the Arab Spring and there was consensus on the fact that he needed to be deposed. Allowing him to stay and work in Yemen was a mistake.
Hijab is right to be afraid about the Yemeni example being repeated. If Assad remains in any capacity within the proposed system or even just sits on his sofa at home watching television, he will remain a source of danger. He is able to subvert and sabotage the situation, and the war will continue because of him.
If the Russians and the Americans want a serious solution, they have to agree that Assad must leave. Who will govern, who the electorate will be and the constitution are merely details, and differences over these are limited. The majority of Syrian forces accept a system that ensures coexistence and secures the rights of minorities, and they also accept the principle of the ballot box. Other details regarding the political solution, as presented by Hijab over three phases, reflects the maturity of the opposition and its willingness to accept a realistic solution. Of course, it will just remain an idea unless it is supported by the major powers. Without such a solution, the world will later be forced to sit at the table with terrorist groups, accept the departure of Assad and hand over rule to a group like the Taliban of Afghanistan. Assad will then leave at a later stage and the political opposition will have lost its popularity by then.
 

Trump Too Leads a “Resentment Rainbow”
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/September 09/16
I don’t know if there ever was a time when an American presidential election was mainly about hope. However, I believe that in 2008 and 2012 US presidential elections centered on resentment.
President Barack Obama won thanks to a coalition; call it the “resentment rainbow”, built on ethnic, religious and ideological minorities that together account for 32 per cent of the electorate.
The current Democrat Party standard-bearer Hillary Clinton hopes that the same coalition consisting of African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, gays and lesbians, ecological militants and crypto-Socialists will carry her to the White House. Only this time, Obama’s “resentment rainbow” has a mirror-image in a rival “resentment rainbow” symbolized by Donald Trump.
This rival “rainbow” consists of a different set of minorities, notably white men, Christian Evangelists, gun enthusiasts, rust-belt working classes and people regarded by leftist elites as “the poorly educated”, not to say “the unwashed.” (Trump says: “I love the poorly educated”.)
To mark out his “rainbow of resentment” from that of Obama and Clinton, Trump needed to identify the “others” who are the objects of hatred for his constituency. He chose two: Muslims and Hispanics. He has said he would ban the former from entering the US until further notice. As for the second, he promises to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
There are many similarities between Obama and Trump. Both are outsiders who hovered on the margins of the American elites thanks to expensive education in Obama’s case, and family wealth in Trump’s case. Both entered the presidential race with little or no political experience and both won the nomination of their respective parties against heavy odds. At the same time, neither could be fully identified with his “resentment rainbow” coalition.
I remember chatting with Reverend Jesse Jackson in Evian, France, in 2008 when he was castigating those who said “Obama isn’t black enough”. Many also said that Obama wasn’t “poor enough” or “Socialist enough” or “pro-Israel enough” or “Muslim enough”. The “coalition”, however, ignored such quibbles.
As for Trump, he certainly isn’t “Christian enough”, if only because he is a thrice divorced self-boasting philanderer who claims the Bible as his favorite book but puts his foot in his mouth when trying to offer a quotation.
Nor is Trump the typical rust-belt victim of globalization, being an Upper Manhattan tycoon surfing the waves of globalization. Also, despite his talent for showing off, Trump isn’t rich enough to symbolize the ever-receding Eldorado.
Trump isn’t even Republican enough, having joined the party a few months before the primaries. Yet, 78 per cent of self-styled Evangelists say they will vote for him, the highest for any Republican nominee. Jerry Falwell Jr, heir to a Bible-touting dynasty, describes Trump as “God’s man to lead our nation.” Former Education Secretary Bill Bennet, one of the Republican intellectuals I respect most, endorses Trump without qualms.
Trump’s anti-Muslim pose isn’t surprising. Rightly or wrongly, in the US today, Muslims don’t have a good image. Having emerged as a noticeable minority only in the past two or three decades, Muslims are easily excluded from the American historic-national narrative.
It is different with Trump’s attacks on Hispanics. For the United States has contained a Hispanic element almost from the start of its history or at least since the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Being overwhelmingly Christian, Hispanics cannot be pointed out as “outsiders” with the same ease as is the case with Muslims.
Had he studied American history a bit more seriously, Trump would have found Hispanics in all walks of the nation’s life. He would know of such military figures as General Beauregard, Admiral Farragut and John Oretga, the “sailor hero”. In literature, Trump would have noticed the novelist John Dos Pasos, the poet Juan Felipe Herrera and the writer Richard Blanco. In the Hall of Fame, Trump would have seen Hispanic sports champions at the peak of honor.
Could Trump ignore Aida de Costa, the first woman to fly a solo motor aircraft? And, what about one of baseball’s greatest champions Al Lopez? Cinema, the quintessential American art form, offers a galaxy of Hispanic stars. Would Trump keep Rita Hayworth, Maria Montez, Joan Bennet, and Dorothy Lamour behind his wall? Or, to be politically correct and respect gender equality, would he banish Rudolf Valentino, Ricardo Montalban, Cesar Romero, Mel Ferrer and Anthony Quinn?
Being old enough, Trump must have shaken a leg with music by Xavier Cugat and his wife Abbe Lane of heavenly legs, or at least Gerry Garcia’s The Grateful Dead, and Manuel Perez.
In affixing identities on people, Trump would do well to use Ockham’s razor. Trump describes Gonzalo Curiel as “the Mexican”, although the judge was born and bred in Chicago. Also, the Curiels were originally from France; the judge’s ancestors moved to Mexico sometime in the 19th century just as Trump’s German forebears left Europe for the New World.
In politics, nostalgia can be a powerful potion, hence Trump’s slogan of “getting our country back.” In real life, however, rewinding history is a futile pursuit, much like trying to re-run yesterday’s river. The river is always there but you never swim in the same river twice.
A nation is both a being and a becoming, with the latter defining the former.
The US is what it is because of what it has become.The essentialist approach to identity could only lead to hatred, violence and, in sadly not so rare cases, mass murder. Only an existential approach could teach us to accept each other as we are right now and not as our ancestors were in their times.
In many walks of American life today, things are not as Trump and some of his supporters might like. But, so what? In other walks of life, things are not as Trump’s opponents would like.
Whether Trump likes it or not, the concept of gender equality has become part of American culture. A majority also accept gay and lesbian marriages. In many places, soft drugs have become legal, and no one could push the genie of abortion back into the bottle. Gun control is stricter than ever before. More and more states are abolishing capital punishment and adopting environmentally friendly laws. And, horror of horrors, this primary season millions of Americans in 22 states voted for a self-declared Socialist as their favorite to be the Democrat Party’s nominee.
No one can revive the Rust Belt industries by reversing globalization. A wise way would be to move beyond old industries by further building up “brain” industries of which the US is already the pioneer.
Having appeared from the 1960s onwards, hyphenated identities have done damage to social cohesion in the US, making it easy to create “resentment rainbows” based on real or invented identities.
The US is the first country created as a corporation in which every citizen has a share, and the first not to name itself after any ethnic group, race or religion.
The rival “resentment rainbows” should learn to live and progress together. To do that they would have to stop excluding each other with hyphenated identities and move the debate to the political rather than subliminal racial, gender, life-style and, yes, grievance arenas. A pious hope? Maybe.

Muslim women’s group demands complete ban on Shariah courts
Satya Prakash/Hindustan Times/New Delhi/September 09/16
A Muslim women’s group on Tuesday demanded a complete ban on Sharia (religious) courts, saying they can’t be allowed to function as a parallel judiciary in the name of mediation, conciliation, speedy and less expensive justice.
In an affidavit, the Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality, which has petitioned the Supreme Court against arbitrary triple talaq, also demanded that organisations such as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA)“should be abolished to save the country and Indian Muslims from the clamp of fundamentalists/ activists having the ideology similar to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his organisation Jamat-ud-dawa (JuD).”
“Some people and NGOs are misusing the freedom given by the constitution. They want to keep Muslim education in Muslim extremist’s hands, entirely free from the government control,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit comes days after AIMPLB defended the practice of triple talaq, saying it’s better to divorce a woman than kill her. The government told the Supreme Court that it would file its response to the petitions against triple talaq in four weeks.
The AIMPLB, a non-governmental institution that oversees Muslim personal law, also said the Muslim law gave husbands the power to divorce as they were emotionally more stable.
“Shariah grants the right to divorce because men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not take a hasty decision,” the board said in an affidavit.
Triple talaq, under which a Muslim man can repeat the word talaq thrice to divorce his wife, violated women’s right to equality, several women have told the Supreme Court.
The affidavit of Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality filed through advocate Farha Faiz said: “There should be a complete change in madarsas education system and a Muslim university under government supervision is the urgent need to impart religious as well as worldly education to the Muslims.”
It accused Muslim clerics of creating a gulf between country and Muslims and brainwashing Muslims who always faced a dilemma “whether the country is above or the religion”.
The affidavit blamed vote bank politics, especially by Congress governments, for the plight of Muslims. Accusing Congress governments of dumping people in favour of clerics or fundamentalists, it said they never encouraged Muslims to integrate.
India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce, succession, adoption and maintenance. While Hindu law overhaul began in the 1950s and continues, activists have long argued that Muslim personal law, which has remained mostly unchanged, is tilted against women. To end the confusion over personal laws, the court has been advocating a uniform civil code, a political hot potato. The AIMPLB said constitutional provision on uniform civil code was not enforceable.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/muslim-women-s-group-demands-complete-ban-on-shariah-courts/story-kgNMV7LwDSgEaMRAOIecfI.html

The Middle East: The Other Main Sources of Law
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8879/saudi-law-sources
Apparently what Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal understands of democracy is totally different than what the term means in more civilized parts of the world.
If Prince Al-Waleed so passionately defends democracy, he should spend less of his office time in showing solidarity with undemocratic leaders, and more in giving at least a bit of democratic breathing space to his own people.
In the Saudi Kingdom, the primary source of law is the Islamic sharia, based on the principles of a school of jurisprudence (Hanbali) found in pre-modern texts. Ultra-puritanical judges and lawyers form part of the country's Islamic scholars.
But there is another main source of law: royal decrees. Simple death penalty along with beheading, stoning to death, amputation, crucifixion and lashing are common legal punishments. In the three years to 2010, there were 345 beheadings. But the legal system is usually too lenient for cases of rape and domestic violence.
The common punishment for offenses against religion and public morality such as drinking alcohol and neglect of prayer is usually lashings. Retaliatory punishments are also part of the legal system, such as, literally, an eye for an eye. Saudis can also grant clemency, in return for money, to someone who has unlawfully killed their relatives.
It is not surprising to anyone that Saudi Arabia is widely accused of having one of the worst human rights records in the world -- the Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world not to accept the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is capital punishment for homosexuality. Women are not allowed in public places to be in the presence of someone outside the kinship. They are not allowed to drive.
But what makes Saudi Arabia an even uglier country than all of that medieval legal absurdity and systematic and cruel torture of its own citizens combined, is the fact that those pre-modern laws do not apply to all Saudis. One powerful visual evidence of this was a few photographs showing a Saudi prince vacationing on an ultra-luxurious yacht off Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The very strict Quranic ban on all forms of extravagance and the command for modesty are probably not printed in Saudi copies of the Muslim holy book. But there was more than that.
Prince Nawaf al Saud spent four days with his friends and bikini-clad Swedish models on the yacht, which he rented for one million euros for a week, and was photographed partying all day. There were reports of a 4,500-euro dinner on a nearby Greek island and 1,000-euro tips for the waiters. Turkish columnist Ahmet Hakan wrote that the prince could have accommodated at least 80 Syrian refugees with the million euros spent for the chartered yacht:
"You in your country immediately draw your swords if a poor Bangladeshi [laborer] has accidental eye contact with a woman in her full niqab ... What does your [holy] book say about your extravagant partying with models in bikinis?"
Good question.
But Turkey saw another Saudi prince recently. Business magnate, investor and, according to some, philanthropist Al-Waleed Bin Talal visited a Turkish resort on the Mediterranean coast shortly after Turkey's failed coup of July 15.
Al-Waleed is a grandson of Ibn Saud, the first Saudi king, and a half-nephew of all Saudi kings since. Forbes listed him in March as the world's 41st richest man, with an estimated wealth of $17.3 billion. While in Antalya, the Turkish resort, he was interviewed by the leading Turkish daily, Hurriyet. His messages were:
"When the coup took place in Turkey I said to myself I should go to Turkey immediately [in solidarity with President Erdogan]."
"Erdogan and I defend a 'progressive Islamic' understanding."
"Some say that Islam and democracy cannot cohabit. But the Turkish example shows that this [argument] is totally invalid. Turkey is the best indication that Islam and democracy can cohabit. It is a country that is taken as precedent. We can see how much Turkey could internalize democracy."
If the honorable prince was not joking, he must have come to Turkey to tell millions of Turks suffocating under Erdogan's autocratic regime fairy tales from an Arab kingdom. With the third-world democratic culture it features, Turkey can be taken as a precedent only by North Koreans, almost all inhabitants of the Gulf and Arab countries and by Iranians. Apparently, what the prince understands of democracy is a totally different thing than what the term means in more civilized parts of the world.
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, May 6, 2015.
And if Prince Al-Waleed so passionately defends democracy, he should spend less of his office time in showing solidarity with undemocratic leaders, and more in giving at least a bit of democratic breathing space to his own people.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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Iran Expert Tells Congress: Obama Administration Might Have Given Tehran Over $30 Billion in Cash, Gold Payments
Barney Breen-Portnoy/the Algemeiner/September 09/16
While the Obama administration has admitted to transferring $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year to Tehran, even more cash might have been given by the US to the ayatollahs following the January 2014 implementation of the interim nuclear agreement reached by the Islamic Republic with six world powers, an Iran expert revealed at a congressional hearing on Thursday.
According to the testimony of Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “the worst-case scenario here is that Iran may have received as much as $33.6 billion in cash or in gold and other precious metals” between 2014 and 2016.
Addressing a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Dubowitz said that during the negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the P5+1 nations allowed Iran “to repatriate $11.9 billion dollars from restricted, overseas oil escrow accounts. Taken on average, these payments from accounts in foreign banks amounted to roughly $700 million per month.”
Alluding to the prospect that these payments were made in cash, Dubowitz asked, “If no mechanism existed in the formal financial system to transfer the $1.7 billion to Iran, what mechanism was used to transfer the $11.9 billion?”
Dubowitz went on to say, “In July, the Associated Press cited US officials who estimated that Iran ‘brought home less than $20 billion.’ Were these funds repatriated to Tehran in cash or in gold and precious metals? Through the formal financial system? Or through some combination? The administration should also clarify if the $20 billion dollars is inclusive of the $11.9 billion in JPOA (Joint Plan of Action, i.e. the interim nuclear deal) funds, or if the $20 billion was in addition to the $11.9 billion. Either way, it is important to understand how funds were sent.”
The FDD head made three recommendations to Congress — “pass legislation requiring the administration to be fully transparent on details surrounding its transfer of cash to Iran”; “prohibit large cash and precious metals tranfers to and withdrawals by state sponsors of terrorism”; and “create a legal mechanism to move escrow funds to a global bank in a country where Iran wants to shop.”
Concluding his testimony, Dubowitz stated, “The illicit financial consequences of cash transfers to Iran warrant further congressional investigation beyond whether such a payment was a ransom. It is important to investigate the possibility that the Obama administration authorized the movement in cash of many billions of dollars related to JPOA and JCPOA sanctions relief as well as Tribunal claims.”
Furthermore, he said, “the transfer of this cash, which is untraceable, easy to hide, and valuable to a regime like Iran’s with billions of dollars in illicit activities, would have severe consequences for American national security and that of our regional allies. If the administration refuses to answer fundamental questions about the nature and extent of the movement of cash to Iran, Congress needs to pass legislation to force much-needed transparency and disclosure.”
Meanwhile, in a reference to the Iran cash controversy, Texas Senator and former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz tweeted, “Americans deserve an explanation of why the Obama Admin is using their money not to fight terrorism, but to fund it.”
In an interview with The Algemeiner last month, former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller said the “cash-for-prisoners” controversy has played into the hands of Iranian hardliners and helped bolster the image of growing US weakness in the Middle East.

Did Mahmoud Abbas Finance the 1972 Munich Olympic Takeover?
Michael Young/Mahmoud Abbas/From the Archive/2013
As Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas prepares for a meeting Friday with President George W. Bush, he knows that the U.S. administration, in its evolving cosmography of Palestinian-Israeli relations, believes him to be a real gentleman. Abbas, known by the nom de guerre Abu Mazen, is said to be everything Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, is not: sincere, responsible, and conciliatory.
In fact, many Palestinians see Abu Mazen as too conciliatory. They've accused him of selling the farm to Israel, leading him to tender his resignation a few weeks ago. He later withdrew it after agreeing to a power-sharing deal with Arafat. For the Bush administration, Abu Mazen's ability to stay in office may decide the fate of the Palestinian-Israeli "road map." His credibility is based on a belief that, in the words of one writer, "his name has never been associated with violence." He was one of the first PLO officials to open contacts with Israelis in the mid-1970s, signed the 1993 Oslo Accords, and last year stated that the violence of the intifada was leading Palestinians nowhere.
This portrait of Abu Mazen may be too convenient, though. A founding member of Fatah, the PLO's main faction, Abu Mazen headed some of the organization's most sensitive departments in the 1960s and '70s; it would have been remarkable if he was not involved in violence. Indeed, if we are to believe the autobiography of former PLO official Muhammad Daoud Oddeh published in France in 1999, Abu Mazen was involved in the hostage takeover at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, which led to the death of 11 Israeli athletes.
Oddeh, known as Abu Daoud, wrote that he was the mastermind of Munich, which was carried out by the so-called Black September organization. He recalled that the plan was concocted in Rome at a meeting he held with senior PLO official Salah Khalaf, better known as Abu Iyad, and another colleague. Soon after, Abu Daoud began planning the operation. The only people he dealt with on the matter were Abu Iyad and Abu Mazen, who, Abu Iyad said, was to secure the funding.
Abu Daoud's account was surprising. For years the man held responsible for Munich was Ali Hassan Salameh, a flamboyant PLO official who was assassinated by Israeli agents in 1979. Salameh was always thought to be Black September's leader. Abu Daoud confirmed that Salameh had headed a group by that name, but he claimed it was a counterfeit version. It was the "real" Black September, set up by Abu Iyad, Abu Daoud, and Abu Mazen as a tributary to Fatah, that was responsible for Munich.
Because Abu Daoud's book is not yet published in English, his revelations have had no impact in the United States. However, the story has been picked up by right-wing pro-Israel groups seeking to discredit Abu Mazen, and, therefore, talks with the Palestinians.
Can Abu Daoud be believed? It's difficult to say, since Abu Iyad was assassinated in 1991. But Abu Daoud didn't want to blacken his former collaborators; he wanted to earn credit for Munich, which he still defends but says was not supposed to provoke bloodshed. He made his assertions to dispel the belief held by some Palestinians that he gave testimony in 1973 to the Jordanian intelligence services that both absolved him of responsibility for Munich and blamed men supposedly close to Salameh—men later killed by Israelis acting on the information.
What does this have to do with the Palestinian prime minister? Abu Daoud thought Abu Mazen could confirm his story. He apparently believed this would enhance his credibility among Palestinians so they would also accept that he didn't betray his assassinated comrades. Abu Daoud didn't want to destroy Abu Mazen's reputation; he wanted to use Abu Mazen to salvage his own.
If Abu Daoud was telling the truth, does that make Abu Mazen less credible as Israel's interlocutor? Hardly, since Palestinian-Israeli peace was always going to be built on short memories all around. Still, it does show what a preposterous game the issue of Palestinian representation has become, with some officials issued a more wholesome past to make them palatable to non-Palestinians, while others, like Arafat, stay tainted.
Abu Daoud, ended his book with an important—and relevant—thought: "Our past is what it is. … That's why I believe that real peace cannot be built on details that remain obscure to this day."

An Inherited Culture of Hate
Tharwa Boulifi/Gatestone Institute/September 09/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8770/tunisia-culture-hate
"I hate Christians and Jews. I don't know why. I don't have any apparent reason to hate them but I always hear my mom talking badly about them. She hates them too, and this is why I hate them, I guess. Mom has always told me that Muslims are Allah's favorite people," — F., a 15-year-old Tunisian girl.
"They said that non-Muslims deserve to die; we should have no pity for them. They will burn in hell, anyway." — M., a 16-year-old Tunisian boy.
People who do not read tend to fear things they do not know, and this fear can turn into suspicion, aggression and hate. These people need to fill the void, to remove the discomfort, so they turn to terrorism to create a goal in their lives: defending Islam.
As most Tunisians do not read, they watch TV a lot. "After watching 'The Sultan's Harem,' I wanted to be one of the Sultan's concubines, to live in the Ottoman Empire era; I wanted to be like them," said S., a 14-year-old Tunisian girl.
A Pew Research Center report, published in 2013, entitled, "The World's Muslims, Religion, Politics and Society," explored attitudes and opinions of Muslims around the world regarding religion and its impact on politics, ethics and science.
A sample of 1450 Tunisian Muslims from all the 24 governorates of Tunisia were interviewed between November and December 2011. According to the study, 50% of Tunisians consider themselves living a conflict between their religion and the modern world. According to the report, 32% of Tunisians consider divorce unethical -- the highest rate in the Arab and Muslim world -- compared to 8% in Egypt, 6% in Lebanon and 3% in Jordan. Although 46% respondents said that religion is compatible with the modern world, the study indicated that the Tunisian population is more prone to advocate individual choice -- with 89% favoring -- in wearing the niqab (face-veil).
Similarly, based on the United Nations report and research from the Quilliam Foundation in 2014, Tunisian terrorists represent the highest number (3,800) of foreign terrorists in Syria and Iraq. Syrian authorities also confirmed that the number of Tunisian terrorists is more than 10,000, out of a total of 48,000 terrorists in Syrian territory.
What are the main reasons for Tunisia's high rate of terrorism?
Religions in general are double-edged: they contribute to solving many social problems and help to establish security and safety, due to the ethical laws they impose. It is expected that the majority of people will not commit crimes because they fear God and his punishment. Religion can also represent psychological security and stability for some people who need to be reassured by believing that an unlimited strength of goodness is watching over them.
On the other hand, many people have misinterpreted religion -- sometimes deliberately, sometimes not -- often creating conflicts between different ethnicities and religions, such as the conflict between the Jews and the Muslims. Religion, therefore, has also been used to incite violence, hate and wars -- just as ISIS, a salafi jihadist group that is recruiting more and more soldiers all over the world, has been doing.
The majority of jihadists are indoctrinated from their earliest childhood by television programs. For example, Spacetoon, an Arab children's program, created a fictional female character named Fulla. The program usually shows Fulla as a pious person, praying and wearing a hijab -- an image that influences a lot of children. Y., a 15-year-old girl, explained:
"When I was younger, about seven or eight years old, I used to watch Fulla and ask my mom to wear hijab like her, since I thought this is how a woman is supposed to dress. I also tried to wear hijab several times and asked my mom to let me wear it."
Kindergartens also play a major role in influencing children.
"In kindergarten, the teachers used to tell us about how we will be punished after our death, how we will burn in hell if we behave badly. I was so frightened hearing these stories that I imagined terrible scenes in my head", said T., a 15-year-old boy.
Schools in Tunisia teach compulsory religious education beginning in the first grade, to help children discover and understand their religion's fundamentals.
"I used to cheat on the religious education's exams that come at the end of each term," said E., a 15-year-old girl.
"I wasn't doing it because I was lazy, but because we had only an hour each term to study theology in class, with a teacher who gave us a long surat [section from the Quran] and some ahadith quotes from the prophet to learn. We did not understand anything in class; some of us would just learn it by heart without understanding the meaning. Others just cheated because they couldn't learn something they didn't understand. The problem is, school did not give us the opportunity to discover other religions, since Jews and Christians are considered for most of Muslims as kuffar [infidels]."
This inherited culture of hate towards other religions has created an extremist way of thinking and a feeling of superiority.
"I hate Christians and Jews. I don't know why. I don't have any apparent reason to hate them but I always hear my mom talking badly about them. She hates them too, and this is why I hate them, I guess. Mom has always told me that Muslims are Allah's favorite people," said F., a 15-year-old girl.
"After the Nice attack, I had some friends on social media expressing their disapproval of people who empathized with the victims. They said that non-Muslims deserve to die; we should have no pity for them. They will burn in hell, anyway," said M., a 16-year-old boy.
This extremist way of thinking is bolstered by the fact that 80% of Tunisians do not read books, according to a study conducted in March 2015. People who do not read are living in an emotional void: they tend to fear things they do not know, and this fear can turn into suspicion, aggression and hate. These people need to fill the void, to remove the discomfort, so they turn to terrorism to create a goal in their lives: defending Islam.
"I know this Tunisian boy who lives in Saudi Arabia with his parents, and who comes to Tunisia to spend the holidays, in my neighborhood", said R., a 14 year-old-girl.
"He was a normal 15-year-old teenager, and he used to play football with my brother and his friends. Recently, they all noticed the boy isolated himself and started to read books on faith and Islam. One day, he came to my brother and his friends and told them to stop playing football; it was haram [forbidden]. Soon after, he was seen in the neighborhood, walking in the darkness and reading the Quran."
As most Tunisians do not read, they watch TV a lot. "Hareem Al Sultan" ("The Sultan's Harem"), a Turkish TV series, is popular in Tunisia. The series shows how the attractive concubines try to seduce the Sultan by dancing, singing, and being obedient and submissive -- all of which can encourage girls to join the jihad al-nikah ("sexual jihad"), by which girls provide sex to jihadists.
"After watching Hareem Al Sultan, I wanted to be one of the Sultan's concubines, to live in the Ottoman Empire era; I wanted to be like them," said S., a 14-year-old girl.
"The Sultan's Harem", a Turkish TV series popular in Tunisia, shows attractive concubines trying to seduce the Sultan by dancing, singing, and being obedient and submissive -- all of which can encourage girls to join the "sexual jihad", by which girls provide sex to jihadists.
All of these factors contribute indirectly to forming an extremist and a terrorist way of thinking. We always think that it is in Iraq or in Syria that we should fight terrorism. But the battleground is in schools, in homes, on TV and on social media. It is there that we need to fight extremist ideologies and racial and religious hate -- they are the starting point of every terrorist.
Tharwa Boulifi, aged 15, lives in Tunisia.
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