LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

September 26/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.september26.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today
‘Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Messiah!" and they will lead many astray.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24/01-14/:"As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’Jesus answered them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Messiah!" and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. ‘Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But anyone who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come."

Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame
First Letter to the Corinthians 15/19-34/:"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection’, it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 25-26/16


Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 25-26/16


Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 25-26/16

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on September 25-26/16
 

Links From Christian Today Site for on September 25-26/16
Corbyn: Labour Can Learn Lessons From Faith Groups' Unity
Jeremy Corbyn Re-elected As Labour Leader, Calls For Unity
Respond With Love': Pope Francis Meets Grieving Nice Relatives
Aleppo's 'battle for existence': Russia bombards rebel-areas
Five Dead As Police Search for Motive In Washington
Christian Writer Shot Dead For Insulting Islam
Twelve Killed In Iraq In First Attack Of Its Kind Since 2015
Christians 'Hung On A Cross Over Fire', Steamrollered And Crushed To Death In North Korea
Christians And Mercy Killing: Is It Really Just Killing?
Boko Haram militants shoot Christians returning home from church in Nigeria, killing 8; 2 other attacks claim 10 lives

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 25-26/16

Rifi Warns against 'Surrendering Presidency' to Candidates of 'Assad, Iran Project'
Naharnet/September 25/16/Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has warned against what he called “surrendering the presidency” to the candidates of “Bashar Assad and Iran's project,” in reference to Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun. “We will not allow what's happening in Baghdad, Damascus and Sanaa to happen in Beirut and we will be fierce fighters in defending our Arab and Lebanese identity and in preventing the Iranian axis from changing it,” Rifi vowed during a meeting with popular delegations in Tripoli. “The nomination of any political figure who is close to Hizbullah or Bashar Assad is a great surrender and we would be selling ourselves cheaply should we nominate Suleiman Franjieh or Michel Aoun,” the minister warned. “Any candidate from this camp is a nomination against our principles and cause and we would be surrendering our country to the project of Bashar Assad and Iran. That's why we will object fiercely and we will never be lenient in this issue,” Rifi added. “We should not surrender the head of the state to those who are in the service of the projects of Iran and Assad,” he stressed. And calling for a “return to principles,” the resigned minister underlined that his hand is “extended to everyone.” “My project is to struggle for the cause for which hundreds of people were martyred, topped by slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri,” Rifi noted. The resigned minister has strongly criticized a decision by al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri to nominate Franjieh for the presidency. 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, demanding a prior agreement on the identity of the president. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between their two parties.

Salam Weighs Call for Cabinet Session as Moqbel Faces Two Choices
Prime Minister Tammam Salam has not yet taken a decision to call for a cabinet session and is still evaluating the situations in light of the declared boycott of the Free Patriotic Movement of the government's meetings, a media report said on Sunday. “Salam is holding up the decision on calling for a session pending the outcome of the series of contacts that he will hold once he returns to Beirut and, accordingly, the premiership has not yet distributed any agenda,” An Nahar newspaper quoted ministerial sources as saying. Salam has tasked Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq with exploring the stances of the ministers on the issue of holding a session. As for the thorny issue of the army chief post, the sources noted that Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is facing two choices in this regard. “He can propose candidates during a cabinet session, although no candidate will be able to garner two thirds of the votes,” and he also can extend Qahwaji's term through a defense ministry decree “without the need for a cabinet session to be held,” the sources pointed out, noting that the first scenario seems more likely seeing as “holding a session is better than 'smuggling' the extension decision.” A recent decision by Moqbel to extend the term of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir's term has been described as a “farce” by the Free Patriotic Movement. The movement, which says it opposes term extensions for all senior officers, has recently suspended its participation in cabinet sessions in the wake of Moqbel's decision to extend Kheir's term. The movement has also suspended its participation in national dialogue meetings and threatened street protests and a “political system crisis” over accusations that the other parties in the country are not respecting the 1943 National Pact that stipulates Christian-Muslim partnership. Qahwaji's term has been extended twice since 2013 despite objections from the FPM, which had been reportedly lobbying for the appointment of former Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz as a successor to Qahwaji.
Roukoz is the son-in-law of FPM founder MP Michel Aoun.

Hariri Returns to Beirut: Ties with Saudi Won't be Affected by Attempts to Harm Them
Naharnet/September 25/16/Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri returned to Beirut overnight from a several-week foreign trip during which he shuttled between Europe and Saudi Arabia. Hariri had hailed the Lebanese-Saudi relations in an interview with the kingdom's official news agency that coincided with the Saudi National Day.“The kingdom has always been keen on supporting and assisting the Lebanese, without exceptions, to enable Lebanon to overcome its internal crises and problems and to preserve its security and stability,” Hariri said. He stressed that the ties between the two countries “will not be affected by the attempts of some parties to harm them through insulting the kingdom's role and distorting its reputation over well-known regional calculations.” “The majority of Lebanese are keen on the continuation of this relation which is in the interest of the two brotherly countries and peoples,” the ex-PM added. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel 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. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman 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 Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between their two parties. 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.

Hizbullah MP Calls for Detaching Lebanon's Crisis from Regional Crises
Naharnet/September 25/16/Outspoken Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi on Sunday called for “detaching Lebanon's crisis from the regional crises that are surrounding it, especially the Yemeni, Syrian and Iraqi crises.”“The political forces must seek to pull Lebanon out of its crisis,” Moussawi urged. “We must take the necessary measures that can revive the normal work of state institutions,” he added. “Those who do not want partitioning or the disintegration of the Lebanese entity must seek a political understanding with the real and actual representatives of the Lebanese political community and civil society,” Moussawi went on to say, stressing that “Lebanon is the country of renewed settlements.”Hizbullah has recently showed solidarity with its main Christian ally the Free Patriotic Movement by boycotting a cabinet session that was held in the absence of FPM's ministers. The FPM, 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 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder MP Michel 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 Marada Movement chief MP 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.

Zahra Says 'Positive Discussions' with FPM on Hybrid Electoral Law
Naharnet/September 25/16/Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra revealed Sunday that there are “positive discussions” with the Free Patriotic Movement over a hybrid electoral law that mixes the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems. “The LF believes that the Christian role should be restored through an electoral law that ensures correct representation,” Zahra said in a TV interview. “The new electoral law must be on top of the agenda of the upcoming emergency legislation session,” he stressed. “We are currently endorsing the hybrid draft law and we are seeing a glimpse of hope through combining the two draft laws to ensure proper representation and ex-PM (Saad) Hariri and Speaker (Nabih) Berri have expressed their willingness to cooperate,” Zahra added.He also underlined that the LF cannot accept an electoral law that would turn Lebanon into a single electorate under a proportional representation system. “It is true that there is mystery in the hybrid law but it is an attractive and positive mystery and there is nothing called a return to the 1960 law,” Zahra added. “We are with holding the elections on time, but we have to voice a serious warning if (the electoral law) will lead to the previous outcome,” the lawmaker said, while emphasizing that “a president must be elected before organizing parliamentary elections.”

Mufti of Tripoli Defends Hariri against Rifi's Attacks
Naharnet/September 25/16/Mufti of Tripoli and North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar has thrown his support behind al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in the face of the latest verbal attacks from resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi. “Minister Ashraf Rifi is a companion of our path but what is the benefit from launching 'incendiary missiles' at the leader of a sect whose father offered his life, money and time for Lebanon and not for his sect?” Shaar said. “What has Saad Hariri committed? What is his crime? Is he guilty because he has engaged in dialogue with Hizbullah? We are with dialogue in general... A lot of people have said that dialogue has not achieved anything at all but I say that dialogue has rescued the country and prevented its explosion,” the mufti added. “A leader such as Saad Hariri does not deserve all these attacks,” Shaar stressed, addressing Rifi. He noted that Hariri visited Damascus as a premier because he was seeking to “preserve security, safety and peace in Lebanon” although Syria's regime is accused of ordering the assassination of his father, ex-PM Rafik Hariri. “How can you say that Saad Hariri has renounced his father's principles? What are those principles? If Saad has committed a mistake, we all commit mistakes, but the advice must be whispered in his ear not shouted on television,” Shaar added. “Tell me about a single national, Islamic, social, political or economic benefit from launching tirades against the Center House and the leader ex-PM Hariri,” the mufti went on to say. Earlier this month, Rifi claimed that Hariri has lost his influence in the Sunni community, noting that “Saad Hariri is finished and the Sunnis are awaiting a new Hariri.”The resigned minister has especially criticized Hariri's decision to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. A list backed by Rifi achieved a surprising victory in May's municipal polls in Tripoli in the face of a list backed by Hariri, ex-PM Najib Miqati, ex-ministers Mohammed Safadi and Faisal Karami, the Jamaa Islamiya, al-Ahbash and the Arab Democratic Party.

Bassil Rejects 'Any Equation that Puts Christians outside Power'
Naharnet/September 25/16/Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has rejected what he called “any equation that allows putting Christians outside power” in Lebanon. “We do not accept this Lebanon because it does not resemble us... We will keep struggling for Lebanon, its National Pact, sovereignty, independence, dignity and identity,” said Bassil during a meeting with Lebanese expats in California. “Which Lebanon do we want? We want the Lebanon of the National Pact – the National Pact upon which Lebanon was built,” the FPM chief added. “Do we want a president? Yes we want a president, but we want him to represent his people,” Bassil added, stressing that the electoral law and the government must also “represent all Lebanese.”The FPM, 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 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership. Bassil had recently 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.” The FPM has also announced that it will resort to street protests to press for its demands. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder MP Michel 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 Marada Movement chief MP 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.

Rahi from Riyak: For plurality to safeguard national unity
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bchara Butros al-Rahi, stressed Sunday that "we are all called upon to build our national unity with both its Muslim and Christian constituents," highlighting the importance of "plurality to safeguard national unity."Presiding over Mass at "Mar Roukoz Maronite Antonine School" in Riyak during his second day pastoral visit to the Bekaa Valley, al-Rahi said: "Lebanon can only exist with its Christian and Muslim citizens, and its value grows with its plurality and diversity which render it a democratic State in which we can all live together.""The Bekaa is a message of national coexistence," he added. "We are like a mosaic where every stone has a special significance, and we must learn that our diversity allows us to preserve our unity and prosperity," the Patriarch emphasized. Following Sunday Mass, al-Rahi attended a luncheon banquet held in his honor by Abbot General David Raidy, and then paid a visit to the Maronite Holy Family Sisters Convent in Riyak, where a remembrance plaque of his Central Bekaa tour was unveiled.

Rahi calls on Christians, Muslims to unite
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Bshara Boutros Rahi, called upon Christians and Muslims in Lebanon to unite in order to show the world that the coexistence existed.
Patriarch Rahi’s stance came on Sunday during a mass service officiated by him at Mar Roukoz School for Antonine Monastic in Riyaq. He was assisted by a number of bishops in the presence of a number of political and religious figures.The Patriarch expressed his sorry for demolishing most of the Christians-Muslims religious sites built together in the East.

Khalil: National responsibility imposes reactivation of institutional work
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - "The national responsibility imposes the reactivation of the institutional work for the country's sake and stability," Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, said on Sunday acting at the behest of House Speaker, Nabih Berri. "All the Lebanese components should reconsider their political positions and enable cabinet's work," Minister Khalil added. The Minister called on Deputies to attend parliament's sessions in order to endorse laws that protect and preserve the country's economic and financial situations.

Zahra: No return to 60s electoral law
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Lebanese Forces MP, Antoine Zahra, said that there would be no return to 60s electoral law, indicating that positive discussions were underway with the Free Patriotic Movement regarding mixed electoral law. In a televised interview on Sunday, MP Zahra said that Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, wants to convene the cabinet next week. "No one is in favor of the vacancy in army command's position. If the government does not solve the issue, Defense Minister, Samir Mokbel, will," the MP added. He underscored that Saudi Arabia never vetoed a presidential candidate, but had a preferred one, and it did not even interfere in the elections.

Bazzi: Political wisdom needed to face terrorism
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Member of Development and Liberation Bloc, MP Ali Bazzi, said that "nowadays political wisdom is needed more than ever to face any upcoming terrorist threat against the country."Deputy Bazzi, whose words came during a funeral ceremony in Bint Jbeil, added that "this critical time requires from everybody to review their positions in a bid to reactivate the work of the Legislative Constitutional Institutions.The Deputy also urged all politicians to quit their incitement and racist discourse. Bazzi stressed that Amal Movement Party would always show openness towards any possible endeavor that would enhance the country's unity and stability. He praised the work of the security apparatuses against terrorism which was embodied by arresting the terrorist Imad Yassine.

Harb partakes in Apple Farmers march in Tannourine, promises to raise issue with Salam
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Tele-Communications Minister, Butros Harb, took part, on Sunday, in the march by apple farmers in Tannourine, called for by the Agriculture Municipal Council and Cooperative Society for fruit production in Tannourine, in wake of the apple season's recession caused by shortage in production markets. Harb promised to bring the matter to the attention of PM Tamam Salam on Monday, in addition to taking the issue to Cabinet in order to find a suitable solution. "We are here today to emphasize that we, as a government, have to assume our responsibilities and lift off the suffering experienced by our people," said Harb, adding that "we refuse that farmers in various Lebanese regions, villages and mountains would live in humiliation without income, burdened by debts as a result of the situation we are in.""We shall never leave this matter unattended," stressed Harb, vowing to support the apple farmers' cause until a solution is found the soonest possible.

Mokdad calls for returning to dialogue table
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - "Loyalty to the Resistance" Parliamentary Bloc Member, Deputy Ali Mokdad, called Sunday on all political leaders "to return to the table of dialogue and benefit from the continuous meetings organized by House Speaker Nabih Berri, especially that Lebanon can no longer bear the problems at stake.""All Lebanese have the right to be represented in Parliament through a fair electoral law based on proportionality," said Mokdad, speaking during his patronage of the 2nd Scientific Conference on Infectious Diseases organized by al-Batoul Hospital in Hermel. Mokdad applauded the recent remarkable achievement by the Lebanese Army Intelligence in arresting "Head of Daesh" in Sidon, in whose possession lies very important security information.

Hezbollah condemns Hattar's assassination: He was a resounding voice against takfiris and genocide
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - In an issued statement on Sunday, Hezbollah Party condemned the assassination of writer and journalist Nahed Hattar, who "battled against the Zionist project, and was a huge defender of the Palestinian cause, an axis of the Resistance and a loud, echoing voice in the face of takfiri acts and genocides."Hezbollah expressed sincere condolences to Hattar's family, friends and comrades over his loss, while calling upon Jordanian authorities "to punish the perpetrators and those who stand behind them, in order to preserve freedom of speech and liberal stands in the region."

Parliamentary delegation heading to London to attend British parliamentary conference
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - A parliamentary delegation chaired by Deputy Yassine Jaber left Beirut on Sunday heading to London to attend a British Parliamentary conference at Oxford University.

Deputy Chief of Mission Joins Teaching Women English Graduation Event
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Danny Hall participated September 25 in a graduation ceremony in Beirut for 420 participants of the Teaching Women English (TWE) program funded by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. has committed more than three million dollars to the Teaching Women English program since 2008, and nearly 8,000 women have benefitted from the classes. TWE is one of many educational programs in Lebanon funded by the U.S. Department of State and is implemented in the southern half of Lebanon by Hayya Bina.The TWE program provides women, many in rural areas, with the opportunity to learn English and become active citizens in their communities, promoting the values of tolerance, moderation, and economic opportunity. During the ceremony, DCM Hall commended the graduates, telling them "We are proud to see how you have succeeded, and we are excited to hear what you will do next."

Jumblatt, Erslan meet over most recent developments
Sun 25 Sep 2016/NNA - Head of the Democratic Gathering, MP Walid Jumblatt, met on Sunday at his Mukhtara residence with MP Talal Erslan over most recent developments and the political situation in the country.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 25-26/16

Pressure is on Clinton, Trump in First Debate
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/Who is going to win? Who is going to choke? The pressure is intense for Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton -- phenomenally different candidates -- who clash in their first debate on Monday. Stakes are as high as they get since there are just six weeks until the November 8 election. Polls show a close race, with Clinton, 68, enjoying an edge. As many as 90 million Americans, some estimate, will be glued to their television to catch the showdown. Many analysts say debates usually don't win a candidate the election but can well lose it for them. A single sentence, or the slightest slip, can do serious damage. Plenty of American voters will have made a decision by now, to be sure. Most have.
But nine percent by some estimates still don't know who to vote for, after a long campaign in which bitter attacks have often replaced substance. And this year has been like none in the past, with Trump, 70, using social media around the clock in combative fashion, while often making mistakes, misstatements and blunders without troubling his base.
Clinton cram session
On Saturday, the New York Times endorsed Clinton, who ahead of the debates has been cloistered with aides and her papers at home in Chappaqua, north of New York, even practicing with relatives playing Trump. She has been focusing on his psychological profile, with a goal to get Trump to crack, to show that he can't control himself and lacks the even-handed temperament a president needs. If he reacts by attacking, Trump also risks losing women's votes; he already has a harder time with women voters, and they make up 53 percent of those who turn out. And any slip is sure to be a TV news sound bite. Clinton's campaign released a long list of lies it attributes to Donald Trump ahead of the debate. Trump in turn says preparations are "going very well," trying to at least appear relaxed. Friday he won the endorsement of former conservative rival Senator Ted Cruz. Trump took Friday to prepare, and still had to work Sunday on the debate. But he continues with campaign rallies on other days, including Saturday night in Roanoke, Virginia. Trump seems unwilling to train with a Hillary stand-in. But he has watched videos of his opponent in previous debates. Supporters in Roanoke said they hoped Trump could keep his cool. "I expect him to be more presidential but still tough," said Amanda Phillips, 36, and a social worker. She said she was "not 100 percent for the wall (with Mexico), and hopes Trump will be "more humane and not too hardcore."
'Be yourself'
Clinton, making her second presidential bid, is an old hand at debates and considered solid. In some ways, she may have more to lose. After almost 40 years of public service, she is very well versed on the issues, and 88 percent of Americans believe she is smart. But 65 percent say they do not find her honest. And 52 percent have a negative opinion of a woman they see as cerebral, distant or cold. Her image has been sullied by Trump attacks over her email scandal, the Clinton Foundation's alleged pay-to-play donations, and her ties to Wall Street. "Be yourself and explain what motivates you," President Barack Obama suggested to his former secretary of state, who as president would carry on the legacy of his two administrations. Runningmate Tim Kaine has said of Clinton: "When the spotlights are at the brightest and the pressure is the most intense, that's when she brings her A-plus game." Trump has not yet experienced a presidential debate: 90 minutes of intense questioning, with only one opponent and a moderator, who on Monday will be NBC news anchor Lester Holt. But that does not worry the former reality TV star. He is good on his feet, and unpredictable, more comfortable in the limelight than on issues. He has promised to be "very respectful" with Clinton. Trump is still perceived more negatively than Clinton: 61 percent of Americans have a negative view of him, many saying they are put off by his personality and aggressiveness.

Police Capture Gunman in U.S. Mall Shooting that Killed 5
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/Authorities on Saturday arrested a Turkish-born man suspected of shooting five people dead, including a teenaged cancer survivor, at a shopping mall in the U.S. state of Washington.
State Patrol spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis named the suspect as Arcan Cetin, a 20-year-old resident of the nearby town of Oak Harbor, saying he was arrested about 24 hours after the killings. There were no other suspects. Police had initially described the suspect as a Hispanic man in his late teens or early 20s. A Facebook page that appeared to belong to Cetin said he was born in Adana, Turkey, went to Oak Harbor High School and had worked at a grocery store on the town's Whidbey Island. In February, he posted a link to a "Call of Duty" first-person shooter videogame practice session, in an eery foreshadowing of real world violence he was to perpetrate.
YouTube users posted lewd comments on that page and Cetin's Twitter page Saturday in response to the mall shooting.
Motive unknown
The gunman opened fire with a rifle in the makeup section of a Macy's department store late Friday, killing four women and a man, according to police. The FBI office in Seattle said it had no evidence the shooting was terror-related. The shooter later left the store on foot, triggering an intense manhunt. A weapon was recovered at Cascade Mall in Burlington, a town of about 8,000 people some 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle. "I don't know what his motivation was to do this," Chris Cammock, police chief in the larger nearby town of Mount Vernon, told a news conference. "But I certainly plan to find out through the investigation, to the best of our ability."
The youngest victim was named as Sarai Lara, 16, who survived cancer as a young girl. Relatives named another victim as 52-year-old Shayla Martin, who worked as a Macy's makeup artist.
"We're really having a tough time right now," her sister Karen Van Horn told The Seattle Times.
'Senseless act'
It was the latest chapter in America's epidemic of gun violence. Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton's voice trembled as he noted that the randomness of gun violence in America -- which causes an estimated 30,000 deaths a year -- had hit his small town. "This was a senseless act, the world knocking on our doorstep. It came to our little community," Sexton said. The shooting came amid fierce debate in America over gun control laws. It is a hot issue on the campaign trail ahead of the November 8 presidential election. The shooter had walked in without a weapon, and appeared on security cameras about 10 minutes later with a rifle, said Cammock. Police received calls around 6:58 pm Friday (0158 GMT Saturday) that shots were fired at the mall. The suspect was last seen walking toward a highway from the mall before officers arrived. The mall was evacuated, police swarmed the area and medics rushed to the scene after the mall was initially placed on lockdown. Local and regional law enforcement from more than 26 agencies responded to the scene, with about 200 officers on site at the height of the incident. Police took hours to clear the sprawling building. "We are devastated by the tragic events that occurred last night at Cascade Mall," Macy's said in a statement on its Facebook page Saturday. At a vigil held for the victims Saturday morning in Burlington's Maiben Park, Kelly Couture, who exited the mall through a Target store as the chaos was unfolding, told The Seattle Times there were "just sirens and people were yelling and running out of the building." The mall was closed Saturday as a mark of respect for the victims.

EU Says Attacks on Civilians in Aleppo 'Breach' Humanitarian Law
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/The attacks on civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo amount to a "breach of international humanitarian law," top EU officials said Saturday, urging the international community to intensify peace efforts. "The indiscriminate suffering being caused among innocent civilians... is an unacceptable breach of international humanitarian law," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and humanitarian commissioner Christos Stylianides said in a statement. They denounced the "fire-bombing and shelling" as well as the "deliberate targeting" of a humanitarian convoy last week and the "cutting off of water supplies to the majority of civilians still in the city."The aid convoy was hit by an airstrike that U.S. officials have said was carried out by Russian planes backing President Bashar Assad's regime. U.N. officials say nearly two million civilians were left without water in the devastated northern city after regime bombardment damaged a pumping station and rebels shut down another in retaliation. In their statement dated Brussels, Mogherini and Stylianides called the suffering caused by the attacks "an affront" to the whole world. "It risks to take us ever further from a negotiated settlement of the conflict, which remains the only way of bringing it to an end," they added. The pair called on those with influence on the regime and those dealing with the armed opposition "to apply the maximum pressure to cease the attacks." They also urged them to work to "allow unhindered and continuous humanitarian access to those in need, and resume political negotiations under the auspices of the U.N. in Geneva as swiftly as possible." A truce deal negotiated between Moscow and Washington brought a few days of respite in Aleppo earlier this month, but no humanitarian aid before its total collapse this week.

Gunman Kills Jordanian Writer Charged over Anti-Islam Cartoon
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 25/16/A prominent and outspoken Jordanian writer on Sunday was shot dead in front of the courthouse where he had been on trial for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam. There were no immediate details on the identity or motive of the gunman. But a witness described the shooter, who was immediately arrested, as wearing a long grey robe and long beard characteristic of conservative Muslims. The shooting was the latest in a string of deadly security lapses in Jordan. Witnesses and police said Nahed Hattar, 56, was preparing to enter the courthouse for a hearing when the lone gunman shot him at close range. "He was standing at a short distance of about one meter (yard) in front of Nahed on the stairs of the Supreme Court," the witness told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions. The official Petra News Agency said Hattar was shot three times. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani condemned the killing as a "heinous crime." "The government will strike with an iron hand all those who exploit this crime to broadcast speeches of hatred to our community," he told the Petra agency. But supporters of Hattar said they held the government responsible for the shooting, accusing Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki of creating a hostile atmosphere that encouraged violence against the writer. "The prime minister was the first one who incited against Nahed when he ordered his arrest and put him on trial for sharing the cartoon, and that ignited the public against him and led to his killing," said Saad Hattar, a cousin of the writer. Hattar has long been a controversial figure in Jordan. Years ago, he claimed that the late King Hussein had arrested and tortured him many times for his critical writings and vowed not to mourn the king, who died in 1999. While born a Christian, he considered himself an atheist. He was a strong supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad and an outspoken critic of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.Hattar was detained in August after sharing a cartoon on Facebook. The caricature depicted a bearded man in heaven, smoking and in bed with two women, asking God to bring him wine and cashews. Relatives said the cartoon was meant to illustrate what Hattar viewed as the twisted religious views of Islamic State extremists. The post was quickly deleted after many angry responses.Hattar was briefly detained for two weeks before he was released on bail. In a statement, the family called on the government to hold accountable all those who had incited against Hattar. "Many fanatics wrote on social media calling for his killing and lynching, and the government did nothing against them," they said. Jordan is a close Western ally and has been largely spared from the violence engulfing neighboring Syria and Iraq. But a series of recent attacks has raised concern about security in the kingdom. Late last year, a Jordanian police captain opened fire on instructors at an international police training center in Jordan's capital, killing at least five people, including two Americans, before being shot dead by security forces. In June, a suicide car bomb attack near the Syrian border killed seven Jordanian soldiers. Hundreds of Jordanians have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about links to IS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence. But on Sunday, social media accounts of prominent Islamists in Jordan and elsewhere were celebrating Hattar's death, saying he deserved it for blasphemy. Anja Wehler-Schoek, resident director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Jordan, said she found the social media posts "shocking." The German foundation promotes democracy and political education in the region. "This is clearly a very dark day for Jordan, which has long been celebrated as a model of peaceful co-existence," she said. "I am very worried we are seeing the end of an era here and more and more problems to come in the future."

U.N. Holds Urgent Talks as Air Strikes Pound Syria's Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/The U.N. Security Council met for urgent talks on Sunday as Syrian and Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held east Aleppo in the worst surge of bombing to hit the devastated city in years. Britain, France and the United States called the emergency meeting to turn up pressure on Russia and press demands that it rein in its ally Syria to halt the intense bombing campaign on Aleppo. "War crimes are being committed here in Aleppo," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters, adding: "They must not be unpunished and impunity is simply not an option in Syria."
"Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse in Syria, they have," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said. "The incendiary munitions that are dropping on Aleppo are indiscriminate and a clear breach of international law -- the barrel-busting bombs that are falling from the skies likewise," he said. Residents and a monitor reported heavy air raids overnight and early Sunday on the besieged east of the city, which Syria's army has pledged to retake. US Ambassador Samantha Power said more than 150 air strikes had hit the city over the past 72 hours. She accused Russia and Syria of launching an "all-out offensive" to re-take Aleppo. At least 115 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syrian and Russian bombardment of eastern Aleppo since the army on Thursday announced an operation to take it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The monitor said at least 19 children were among those killed in the assault, which has included missile strikes, barrel bomb attacks and artillery fire. Residents said cluster bombs rained down on Saturday night on eastern parts of the city, where an estimated 250,000 people are living under a government siege. "All night long they were dropping cluster bombs. I couldn't sleep until four in the morning," said 62-year-old Ahmed Hajar, who was out looking for bread in the al-Kalasseh neighborhood. "Today the streets of my neighborhood are full of unexploded cluster bombs. One person was killed when he disturbed one and it exploded," he added. "It tore him apart... it was an awful scene."
'We're civilians here'
In the nearby neighborhood of Bab al-Nayrab, 30-year-old Imad Habush was baking bread in a small wood-burning oven outside his house. "None of the bakeries are open any more because of the bombing and the shortages of fuel and flour, so people have started making their own bread," he said. "I don't know why the regime is bombing us in this barbaric way. We're civilians here. We're not carrying weapons, and we're besieged. We have no way to escape."Air strikes were continuing on the eastern neighborhoods on Sunday, the Observatory said, with at least 14 civilians, including two children, killed since dawn. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by war and roughly divided since mid-2012 between government control in the west and rebel control in the east. The eastern portion of the city has been under near-continuous siege since mid-July, causing food and fuel shortages. A truce deal hammered out by Russia and the United States this month was meant to allow aid to be trucked into the east of the city.
But the ceasefire fell apart before any assistance was brought in. And the army and its Russian ally have since pounded the eastern neighborhoods with a force that residents say is virtually unprecedented. More than 300,000 people have been killed and over half the country displaced since the war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. Successive attempts to reach a political solution have failed, and the latest bid by Moscow and Washington has virtually collapsed, despite ongoing talks to save it.
'Chilling escalation'
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday he was "appalled by the chilling military escalation" in Aleppo and warned that the use of advanced weaponry could amount to war crimes. The United States and its European allies said Saturday it was up to Moscow to save the truce.
"The burden is on Russia to prove it is willing and able to take extraordinary steps to salvage diplomatic efforts," read a joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and European Union. "Patience with Russia's continued inability or unwillingness to adhere to its commitments is not unlimited," the statement added. But Russia has blamed Washington for the ceasefire's failure, saying it did not uphold its commitment to ensure moderate rebels distanced themselves from jihadist groups like former al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front. Syria's foreign minister said Saturday that his government was confident of "victory" with support from "true friends" including Russia, Iran, and Lebanon's Hizbullah. "Our belief in victory is even greater now that the Syrian Arab army is making great strides in its war against terrorism," Walid Muallem told the U.N. General Assembly. But on the ground, the army was pushed back from the strategic Handarat camp north of Aleppo city that they captured on Saturday, the Observatory said.

Erdogan Says Turkey Won't Join U.S. Raqa Op if Kurds Involved
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey could join a U.S.-led operation in Syria to retake the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqa only if Kurdish fighters are not involved, a newspaper reported Sunday.U.S. support for Kurdish forces in Syria is a sore point for Ankara, which considers such fighters to be "terrorists" linked to the Kurdish rebels waging a bloody insurgency across the border in southeast Turkey. Washington, however, sees the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia as the best forces fighting IS jihadists on the ground in Syria. Erdogan said that if the U.S. conducted its Raqa operation with Syrian Kurdish forces, Turkey would "not have any place" in the offensive. "If they do not insert the PYD and YPG into this business, then certainly, we can get (involved) with the U.S. in this fight," he told reporters on the plane back from this week's U.N. General Assembly in New York, quoted in the Hurriyet daily. Adding that it would be a "shame" if the U.S. and Turkey could not counter the 10,000 IS jihadists on the ground in Syria, he called for a "national army" of Syrian rebels to take the region's security into their own hands, saying there were 65,000 such fighters. U.S. military chief Joe Dunford said last week that Washington was considering arming Syrian Kurdish forces ahead of a Raqa offensive. On Thursday Erdogan accused the U.S. of sending "two planes with weapons" to Kobane in northern Syria for the YPG and PYD, but added that he had raised the issue with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden who insisted he had no information. Ankara, a NATO member and member of the U.S.-led coalition against IS, launched an unprecedented ground operation in Syria last month, sent dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops to back pro-Turkish rebels fighting the YPG as well as jihadists. Speculation grew of a possible joint Turkey-U.S. operation to seize Raqa and possibly IS-held Mosul in northern Iraq after Erdogan revealed he had discussed the issue with U.S. President Barack Obama at this month's G20 summit in China.

France at U.N. Says War Crimes Committed in Syria's Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/France's envoy to the United Nations asserted Sunday that war crimes were being committed in Syria's battered city of Aleppo, as the Security Council met for urgent talks on the escalating military campaign. "War crimes are being committed here in Aleppo," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters, adding: "They must not be unpunished and impunity is simply not an option in Syria." The Security Council was holding urgent talks after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was appalled by the "chilling" air bombardments on Aleppo and warned that the use of advanced weaponry could amount to war crimes. "Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse in Syria, they have," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said. "The incendiary munitions that are dropping on Aleppo are indiscriminate and a clear breach of international law -- the barrel-busting bombs that are falling from the skies likewise," he said. The meeting was called by Britain, France and the United States to turn up the pressure on Russia to rein in its ally Syria and halt the intense bombing campaign on Aleppo. Residents and a monitor reported heavy air raids overnight and early Sunday on the besieged east of the city, which Syria's army has pledged to retake. At least 115 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syrian and Russian bombardment of eastern Aleppo since the army on Thursday announced an operation to take it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Netanyahu Sorry after Comments on Soldier Accused of Manslaughter
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized Sunday after facing criticism for comments in which he seemed to compare a soldier currently on trial for manslaughter with troops killed in combat. In an interview broadcast on Saturday night, Netanyahu was asked if he regretted telephoning the father of Elor Azaria, on trial for shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground without posing any apparent threat. "Not at all," Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 2 television from New York, where he had attended the United Nations General Assembly, saying he told the soldier's father to trust the military and its judicial system. Asked if he telephoned other parents of soldiers accused of breaching the army's code of conduct, Netanyahu said "No". The premier, however, said that he "called many parents who were in distress after their sons were killed in action or had gone missing, or were killed in action and went missing.""The citizens of Israel are greatly distressed here," he said of the Azaria case. The front page of Sunday's Yediot Aharonot, Israel's top-selling newspaper and often hostile to Netanyahu, called it an "infuriating comparison."
Netanyahu responded on Sunday. "I'm sorry if my remarks were misunderstood," Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page. "In no way did I intend on comparing between the pain of bereaved families, pain I'm very familiar with, to the condition of other parents in distress," wrote Netanyahu, whose brother Yonatan was killed while commanding a military operation. "There is no comparison, nor can there be any." Azaria's case has deeply divided Israeli public opinion, with top military brass condemning his actions and rightwing politicians arguing he has been unfairly treated. A military court in Jaffa was on Sunday holding a hearing in Azaria's trial, which began in May.A widely circulated video of the March 24 incident showed the Palestinian lying on the ground after stabbing and moderately wounding an Israeli soldier, according to Israeli authorities. Azaria, who was not at the scene during the alleged attack, then appears in the footage and is seen shooting him in the head without any apparent provocation.

Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/A suicide bomber killed six people in western Baghdad on Sunday, a security spokesman said, a day after bomb and gun attacks hit a city north of the capital. The bomber detonated an explosive belt in the Iskan area, also wounding 18 people, according to a statement from security spokesman Saad Maan. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group frequently carries out suicide bombings targeting both civilians and security forces in Baghdad and other parts of the country. The Baghdad attack came a day after militants killed 12 people in gun and bomb attacks claimed by IS in the city of Tikrit. Iraqi forces are preparing for a push on Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country, after regaining much of the territory the jihadist group seized in June 2014. But even as it loses ground, IS retains the ability to carry out deadly attacks in government-held areas, and is likely to increasingly turn to such insurgent tactics if it loses Mosul.

Senior Yemeni Rebel Killed on Saudi Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/The Saudi-led coalition fighting in support of Yemen's government has killed a senior Yemeni rebel leader on the border, a source close to the coalition said on Saturday. Hassan Almalsi, head of Huthi rebel "special forces", was killed two days earlier "during an infiltration attempt along with his squad at Najran," which borders Yemen, said the source who asked for anonymity. He said Almalsi held the rank of rebel "major general."The Huthis are allied with soldiers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. In late 2014 they seized Yemen's capital Sanaa before moving into other parts of the country. Saudi Arabia in March 2015 formed an Arab coalition to begin air strikes and ground support for forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who fled to Riyadh. More than 30 civilians have been killed in rebel bombardments of the Najran area since the coalition intervention began. Riyadh faces mounting international scrutiny over civilian casualties in its Yemen air campaign.

Top Pakistani Taliban Commander Killed in Afghanistan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/Afghan security forces have killed one of the top Pakistani Taliban commanders along with at least 10 other militants in a border area operation, sources said Sunday. Raeas Khan, also known as Azam Khan Tariq, had a 20 million rupee ($190,740) bounty on his head and was the fourth-highest ranking commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). "I confirm the killing of Azam Tariq along with at least 10 other Pakistani Taliban in Paktika province," a senior commander loyal to Tariq told AFP, requesting anonymity. The nature of the operation was unclear, but three sources in the militant group said Tariq and his associates were killed in the Laman area of the Afghan province, which is near Pakistan's South Waziristan region. Tariq worked as chief TTP spokesman from 2009 until 2013 and was a close aide to former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2013. In 2009 the Pakistani government offered $5 million for information leading to the capture of TTP commanders. Tariq was top of the list as three other commanders had been killed -- either in U.S. drone strikes or in Pakistani military operations. He had been working as spokesman for the Mehsud faction of the TTP prior to his death. Pakistan has demanded that Kabul hand over fugitive TTP chief Maulana Fazlullah, who is reportedly hiding in eastern Afghanistan. Both nations have accused each other of allowing militants to shelter in the border regions and launch bloody attacks that threaten regional stability.

U.S. Air Force Set to Replace Intercontinental Nuke Arsenal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 25/16/Hidden underground in steel-and-concrete silos across rural America, more than 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles point to the skies, poised for launch -- and ready to obliterate cities across the world. First designed in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War, the Minuteman nuclear weapons are starting to show their age, and replacement parts are difficult to find for the weapons designed in an analog age. Also aging are their silos, many built in the 1950s and now rusting as water seeps through the decaying concrete.
Over the next 20 years, the U.S. Air Force will switch out the entirety of its Minuteman III fleet with an as-yet-unnamed new missile known only as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). The Air Force estimates the cost of the GBSD, to be introduced late in the 2020s and phased in over the following decade, will be around $86 billion over the missiles' life cycle of about 50 years. Critics point to the Defense Department's long history of projects going way over budget and say the cost of replacing the nukes and maintaining their launch facilities is not warranted, given the tactical threats the United States currently faces. The Air Force "doesn't know how we are going to afford this," said Laicie Heeley, a nuclear expert at the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan anti-nuclear proliferation think tank in Washington. "Nuclear is crowding out more conventional systems that are (better suited to) the threats of today."
America's nuclear triad
The Air Force issued requests for proposals in July for vendors to replace the Minuteman, named after colonial militiamen who eventually fought against the British in America's Revolutionary War.
The prize will likely go to one of the three US defense giants: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing, and the new missile will be equipped with state-of-the-art electronics while being protected from any cyber threats. America's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are just one leg of its "triad" -- a three-pronged nuclear attack force also comprising submarines and bombers. The Pentagon wants to replace or modernize all three legs of the triad, at a cost experts estimate will hit $1 trillion over the next 30 years. "We flat can't afford it. And from a priorities standpoint, it's the wrong priority in the world that we face," Democratic Congressman Adam Smith told a Washington forum last week, noting that the ICBM force is the part of the triad best suited for reduction. The lawmaker said countries like China are able to boast a "spectacular deterrent" with far fewer nuclear weapons. "What they have is enough to say 'Don't screw with us, or we will obliterate you,'" he said, adding that even if the United States were to enter a major nuclear fight, "we're pretty much all toast anyways." The Pentagon insists it is imperative to push ahead with a complete overhaul of America's nuclear force. While the United States and Russia signed a treaty in 2010 to reduce the numbers of nuclear launchers, Moscow is modernizing its own triad. "The Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans are upgrading all of their systems," an Air Force official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the nuclear program.
"They are upgrading all of their legs of the triad -- in that environment, I am not sure it makes sense" to do nothing. Another Air Force official said many of the vendors who first built or equipped the missile silos have long gone out of business, making it an arduous task to find replacement parts. He said he'd heard anecdotes of colleagues scouring Ebay or other sites looking for antique components. The Minuteman fleet is currently dotted across locations in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will on Monday visit Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, where control centers for that state's nukes are located. The Air Force has in recent years battled flagging morale among its "missileers" -- airmen in charge of the land-based missile force. A series of embarrassing revelations in 2014 described the state of the nuclear force, with dozens of airmen disciplined cheating on a test. Other investigations have probed drug use. The trouble began after the demise of the Soviet Union, as the mission gradually received a lower priority and offered a less-promising career path.

A Canadian citizen was taken hostage in Libya, Global Affairs confirms
The Canadian Press | September 25, 2016/Ottawa has confirmed that a Canadian is among three people taken hostage in Libya earlier this week.
In a statement Sunday, Global Affairs spokesman Michael O’Shaughnessy said the Canadian government is “diligently pursuing all appropriate channels to obtain more information about this troubling incident.”He said the government will not comment further or release any information that may compromise efforts to secure the hostages’ release or endanger the safety of Canadian citizens. Earlier in the week, a Libyan official said authorities were investigating the abduction of three foreigners working for a maintenance company near the border with Algeria. Hassan Osman Eissa from the Ghat municipal council told The Associated Press on Thursday that the abductors are not al-Qaida members, as some reports stated, but rather “a local group of outlaws.” The three foreigners seized — two Italians and one Canadian — were held at gunpoint Monday along the highway linking the southwestern cities of Ghat and Ubari. Eissa said a team of five Italian investigators have arrived in the town where the Italians and Canadian were abducted. Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, who were abducted in the Philippines in 2015, were both beheaded by their abductors from the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, earlier this year. Almost a year into its mandate, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has dealt with several high-profile abduction cases and has repeatedly said that it does not pay ransom to kidnappers. With files from Marie-Danielle Smith, National Post and The Associated Press

Iran: Oppressive clothing regulations for female and male students
NCRI Iran News/Sunday, 25 September 2016
According to “Daneshju” state news agency on September 18, one of the forms the admitted students at Beheshti University are obliged to fill out an follow, is the Student Disciplinary Pledge. Failure to comply with these criteria will be considered a disciplinary violation and dealt with according to the university’s disciplinary regulations.
Parts of students’ code of conduct
Compliance with the regulations concerning Islamic clothing, avoiding to gather or stand within the university campus, avoiding any attempt in order to join or cooperate with pagan groups or emerging religions (like Satanism,…) are parts of this code of conduct for female and male students in Beheshti University.
Clothing regulations of female students
Parts of the clothing regulations for female students in the University are as follows:
Clothing should be simple and away from outrageous fashions and different from the clothes worn in other places, like parties, ceremonies or recreational places.
Clothing colors should not be too loud so as to draw attention. Shoes should be simple. High heels (over 5 centimeters), long boots (knee-high boots) and shoes which are worn in parties and special ceremonies are not allowed. Wearing socks in the university campus is necessary. Jewelry and ornaments worn in the campus should be of acceptable ones (like wedding rings, watches, …).
Wearing strong fragrances is not allowed. Length of nails should be appropriate , wearing nail polish, nail extensions and jewelry is not allowed. Wearing hats instead of wimples is forbidden. Wearing tight, short or ripped pants and open-front, no-button mantles is forbidden.
Clothing regulations of male students
Parts of clothing regulations for male students in the University are as follows:
Using ties or bowties of any kind is forbidden. Wearing tight, thin or ripped pants is forbidden. Too short clothes like sleeveless shirts or A-Shirts are forbidden. Wearing ornaments like necklaces, chains, wrist bands or bracelets is forbidden.
Wearing hair colors or outrageous hairstyles (curling, braiding, picking eyebrows), and having long hair is forbidden.

Iran: Protest by vendors in Ahvaz continues
Sunday, 25 September 2016/NCRI - According to reports, a group of vendors in downtown Ahvaz (south-western Iran) gathered in front of Khuzestan Governor’s office, demanding that their problems be addressed. This was the second gathering in recent weeks. The previous one was held three days ago at the same place, during which the vendors protested over their unresolved problems. One of the vendors in downtown Ahvaz said: “None of the officials attended these job-related gatherings nor did they respond to vendors’ demands.” He added: “After the rounding up of vendors’ stands form the Ahvaz Central Market, the vendors in downtown Ahvaz have become displaced and jobless.”

Yazd: Merchants hold gathering in protest to lack of security
Sunday, 25 September 2016/NCRI - A group of merchants and shopkeepers in Yazd, central Iran, held a gathering in Yazd Market on Thursday September 22 for the second consecutive day to protest against lack of security and the murder of a jeweler. According to the state-run Shirazeh website, the demonstrators closed their shops in Khan Market and protested against the security situation in the city while chanting some harsh slogans. On Wednesday September 21, about 400 merchants had closed their shops and held a gathering at the same place. Separately, the Tehran-North Freeway workers went on strike and refused to go to work to protest against not being paid during the past six months. The workers say that they have gone on strike from Tuesday September 20, demanding their overdue salaries to be paid. The workers stress that despite having to work inside a tunnel with a huge amount of dust, their job is not subject to the Law on Hazardous and Harmful Jobs which has led to their bad situation.

Iran plans to expand misogynistic and oppressive measures at universities
NCRI Statements/Sunday, 25 September 2016/The mullahs' anti-human regime, on the eve of new academic year, has resorted to new repressive and misogynistic measures in universities and educational centers in fear of student protests. The suppressive plan, called "chastity and the veil," reflects the fact that women's oppression is still among the chief policies of the regime. The plan was instructed by the Rouhani government to universities. According to this outrageous plan, the size of heels and fingernails and color of female students’ clothing are specified, and female students must commit to respecting these medieval and insulting instructions. For male students some criteria have also been specified such as: "The use of tie and bow tie of any kind is prohibited. Use of short and tight pants, tight and thin pants and deliberately torn and patched pants, long hair… so that it falls lower than the collar... is prohibited." (Mehr News Agency September 19, 2016) . On these suppressive plans of the clerical regime, the chairwoman of the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said: “Such plans and implementing these criteria in the universities’ campuses is tantamount to meddling in the most private aspects of people’s lives and is simply indicative of the clerical regime’s fear of Iranian women and the young generation. Their implementation only adds to the hatred of the regime by the Iranian people at large and their unity and solidarity to spread their protests until the realization of freedom and democracy in Iran.
Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/September 23, 2016

Iran: organizations using Telegram in their administrative affairs to be indicted
Saturday, 24 September 2016/NCRI - Khoram Abadi, the Iranian regime’s Deputy Attorney General has said: “If we are notified that some organizations use Telegram social network in their administrative affairs, then they will definitely be indicted and dealt with.”According to ISNA news agency on September 21, on the sidelines of signing a memorandum of understanding between Attorneys General of Iran and Malaysia, Khoram Abadi told reporters that some organizations had been using this network which were warned over that. He stressed that if it becomes clear that some organizations are using this messenger (Telegram) in their administrative affairs, they will definitely be indicted and dealt with. He continued: “I hear that at some schools affiliated with the Ministry of Education, Telegram is used for communication between the students and schools and the parents and teachers community. I hereby warn them not to use this foreign messenger.”It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Intelligence’s “Mehr” news agency had reported in July that nearly 20 million people in Iran are using Telegram. It should be pointed out that in an attempt to pave the way to shut down Telegram, Tasnim news agency quoted on August 23 from Mahmood Vaezi, Minister of Communications in Rouhani Government, as saying: “We don’t agree with the continuation of Telegram’s activity in Iran. Besides, it is not acceptable security-wise that the information related to 20 million Iranians be stored outside of Iran providing them with the possibility to manipulate these data.”

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on September 25-26/16

Iran's 'Resistance Economy' -- and Stalled Reform Efforts
Matthew Levitt and Katherine Bauer/Wall Street Journal/September 25/16
Rather than honoring its pledge to comply with international norms on money laundering and terrorist finance, Iran may point to two prominent banks in particular as safe spaces for Western engagement.
Iran caught a break in its efforts to court global banks in June, when an international task force that sets standards against money laundering and terrorist financing suspended for one year its call for countries to take "proactive countermeasures" to protect their financial systems from illicit Iranian schemes.
In return, Tehran pledged to improve controls to help counter the financing of terrorism and other illicit financial conduct rampant within the Iranian financial system. The chances of Iran implementing the reforms by next June are small, a point likely to surface this week as Iranian officials continue to meet with other diplomats on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Financial Action Task Force has included Iran on its blacklist since the list's inception in 2008. By next June, Iran is expected to show progress on an "action plan" to end illicit financial conduct, including financing terror groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militias, and Iran's own Qods Force. Otherwise, countermeasures are to be re-imposed. Iran wants to persuade foreign banks to serve as channels for much-needed investment and trade. But there may be little progress to show.
Debate in Iran over the relevant law, and its definition of terrorism, has stymied progress. A meeting with task-force officials who focus on high-risk jurisdictions was scheduled to be held in Rome last week, but Iranian officials canceled less than 48 hours before the subgroup was to convene.
Iranian officials at the UN General Assembly this week are expected to highlight the difficulty of implementing reforms to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.
Measures to reduce or cut off funding for Iran's terrorist proxies are strongly opposed by hard-liners close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian officials are likely to argue that the issue could be used against President Hassan Rouhani next year when he runs for re-election and that the West should revise its expectations in an effort to neutralize this as a political issue.
Mr. Rouhani called for high-level meetings in New York to air Iranian complaints that banking sanctions have not been fully lifted. He wants the West to unilaterally ease what many Iranians consider uncalled-for banking "obstacles."
The cycle is clear: Banks are wary of engaging with Iran because Tehran has yet to curb the illicit conduct that makes it a financial risk. Meanwhile, Iranian officials have yet to address the technocratic issue of complying with international standards against money laundering and terrorist finance.
Rather than complying with international norms, Iran may point to two prominent banks -- Bank Sepah and Bank Mellat -- as potential safe spaces for Western engagement. Letters published in Iranian media outlets appear to show these banks -- historically among the most egregious violators of international sanctions -- refusing to conduct foreign-exchange transactions on behalf of Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC's massive engineering and construction company; the letters cite its inclusion on U.S. sanctions lists.
Holding up these two banks as an example may be an effort to present an alternative to full compliance under Iran's deal with the international task force. It's effectively saying: We may not be able to implement everything being asked of us, but here are two clean banks through which the international financial community can do business in Iran.
That's not how anti-money-laundering efforts work. Without systemic reform, there's no reason to believe that these banks would not continue to engage in deceptive activity. That is exactly how the Iranian system weathered sanctions and facilitated illicit financing in years past. Absent substantive reforms, it is how the Iranian economy is likely to continue to function.
*Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute

*Katherine Bauer is a senior fellow at the Institute and a former Treasury Department official. This article originally appeared on the Wall Street Journal blog "Think Tank."

Difficult Story That You Will Not Like to Read It
Hakim Haider/Gatestone Institute/September 25/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9013/difficult-story
Am thinking that, how it is possible that Some One is drink these? And, A female is drink these? And Muhammad is saying, "Listen all your disease go a Way"? What is it means Muhammad allow his companion to drink that?
"Your Status just equal to DOG and you are asking a questions to me about Islam, I know very well how to Run the Islam, you do not bark with me again like this again!" After saying this he free my Ears and Shove me in his feet again and I massage them.
On Next day I went to Different Islamic Scholars at Different Islamic Sects or Groups and asking same Question. Every One tells me "O That Sect is based on Lie you follow our Sects or Group".
Editors' note: To those of you who have enquired, the author is a real man living in the Middle East who sent us these pieces because he is unable to share them with anyone where he lives. At first we tried to tidy up the English, but that seemed to knock much of the soul out of his work. So we made the editorial choice to present his work basically as he sent it; what you are seeing is the result of that choice. It is the way he sees the world from his point of view, unobstructed by editors. Perhaps think of it more as a different kind of article, more as folk art but in words. It is not meant to offend anyone or any religion. It always seemed, living among people from different nations, as if wrongnesses in English were often "righter" than rightnesses. The painter Paul Gauguin reportedly said: "How do you see this tree? Is it green? Do not be afraid to paint it as green as possible." We apologize to anyone who may not like these postings. "Those who understand, understand."
Friday for Muslims is its Holy Day. On this Day, Muslims offering strange Prayer in Mosque who is near me. Before this, a Mulla presenting A Speech in a Mother Language, contemplatively he say. Mullah is tell Us different things about Islam. Once Mulla tell us, "Kill those all who does not beleave on ALLAH, until Pugnacity does not end. And you may not raise hand but just on those who does not beleave on Quran."
Am attending the Mosque regularly from my Childhood so that is why the Mosque near to my House. I went there five time in a Day for offering my Prayer and cleaning the Mosque on the order of my teacher (Mulla). If I do not do this than he is beating me in a Mosque and in night Mulla order me daily to Massage his Legs and Feet, So am do all this regularly.
After listening this, am surprized and Contemplative on my religion and my Self.
This Friday, Mulla is have A difficult story. Mulla say that Muhammad P.B.U.H. order his Lovers to Drink the Urine of Camels so that all of your World Diseases goes a Way. *
The Topic was al-Shifa, medicine to getting Well:
"Once Muhammad P.B.U.H. collect his urine in a Mud-Bowl at Night and place this in A special House under his Bed. On Morning, Umm-e-Aiman, Mother of Aiman, coming in and put this Mud-Bowl, which is full, and Drink it. When Muhammad P.B.U.H. come and Look at the Bowl, the Bowl is empty. He is asking to Umm-e-Aiman, "Aiman last night I fill this bowl but it is to Day empty, Where is this and why?" Umm-e-Aiman reply, "Master, My Lord am very Thirsity so that am drink this". Muhammad P.B.U.H. do not said that to wash mouth, take some medicines, wash hand or do a Vomiting. No he reply to Aiman, "Listen, from to Day all of yours Stomach and Belly Disease go a Way". She was happy to Listen this.
After that, all the men who are sitting and listening this was Saying loudly, "Subhan ALLAH!", Glory ALLAH!, but am too much confuse from my Inside to tell it. Urine, with the book, is "is discharged through the urethra. It is one of the body's chief means of eliminating excess water and salt, and also contains nitrogen compounds such as urea and other waste substances removed from the blood by the kidneys".
Am thinking that, how it is possible that Some One is drink these? And, A female is drink these? And Muhammad is say, "Listen all your disease go a Way"? What is this means Muhammad allow his companion to drink that?
When story ends I ask a question to Mulla, "Sir the story that you describe it is a very bad, it is perhaps a wrong?"
He answer, "Am not giving to you any answer but to Night when you serve me am telling there, and Now you may clean my room which is the Guest room." I answer "Yes Sir" and after this I clean the Room perfectly. After that, the Teacher (Mulla) coming and order me to massage his Feet. Am sit there and doing massage, Contemplatively.
After a few while I repeat my question He just looks and answers that "Why you are asking soo much question to me and How do you think that This incident was wrong?" The Teacher (Mulla) Voice was too loud and power full that am afraid he is beating me. But I ask Sir why there was no Water in a Muhammad P.B.U.H. House, and how it is possible that some One is drinking this from a Other One, And how Muhammad P.B.U.H. says All your diseases Go a Way?
Mulla sends to me a urine look. "He was a Muhammad P.B.U.H., a Prophet of ALLAH! No One can raise a Fingure!" That Time I was a 17 year Old. But Sir How is this a benefit that a Ways the diseases? He replies, "Muhammad P.B.U.H. Urine was a Holy!" I ask again "Sir but is this a Islam that A lady who was a companion of Muhammad P.B.U.H. was allow to drink this? That is not allow, if it is allow, Sir the story that you describe it is a very bad, it is perhaps a wrong?"
Suddenly he order me to come close because before this am sitting in his feet and now I full fills the order and comes close to Teacher (Mulla). He hold my both ears in his hand and pull them so they keep Pain. He Say to me that "Your thinking are related to Yahudis (Jews). You are a Yahudi (jew). Your Status just equal to DOG and you are asking a questions to me about Islam, I know very well how to Run the Islam, you do not bark with me again like this again!" After saying this he free my Ears and Shove me in his feet again and I massage them.
Suddenly a man is coming and enter into Room he was Incharge of Mosque, He collect currency and run the Mosque Expenses. He ask to Mulla (Teacher) "Why are you so angary?" The teacher (Mulla) reply "he (the son of Bitch) blame on me that I was wrong".
Am continue with massage the Feet of Teacher (Mulla). And after a few while Teacher (Mulla) order me "Get Out DOG". When I was out of room my eyes was Full with Tears about Teacher (Mulla) Treatment with me. Than I feel pain that My Ears are not with me. Some One it seams has cut them. Pieces of Ears is not there. Pain is soo High. Am looking on My Blood.
That Day am say on my Self there is No Humanity in my religion. There is no value on Person My religion are full with Torture Nothing more. Perhaps is right am discharge my religion. Perhaps good a Way to getting Well.
On Next day I go to Different Islamic Scholars at Different Islamic Sects or Groups and asking same Question. Every One tells me "O That Sect is based on Lie you follow our Sects or Group".
This Day am contemplating on my Self that maybe Islam are just based on Blame and Pugnacity nothing more, Every Muslim who raise a Fingure in Islam is Understood A Friend of Non-Muslim. And from this, every One Look at him with Hate.
From an Ottoman manuscript, two doctors telling a pharmacist how to make different medicines.
Hakim Haider is a Muslim based in the Middle East.
* Medicine Bukhari : Book 7 :: Volume 71 :: Hadith 590; Narrated Anas:
"The climate of Medina did not suit some people, so the Prophet ordered them to follow his shepherd, i.e. his camels, and drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they followed the shepherd that is the camels and drank their milk and urine till their bodies became healthy. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels. When the news reached the Prophet he sent some people in their pursuit. When they were brought, he cut their hands and feet and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron." (Editors' note)
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The Kerry bombshell: Moment of truth or a passing outburst?
Raghida Dergham
Finally, the US Secretary of State John Kerry has shown some anger at the UN Security Council. He has questioned the credibility of his dear colleague and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the Syrian question. The moment of truth has come, Kerry said, and the issue is no joke, said the secretary who has become himself the butt of jokes in some American and non-American circles describing him as a naïve pupil of the shrewd Russian top diplomat. The joke is now on Kerry and his department, which now answers every serious question by promising Kerry will be meeting with Lavrov soon as though it is this duo that is the determinant of Syria’s future in a corridor far removed from the actual daily tragedy.
The surprise at the Security Council this week did not come from a vacuum. The Obama administration has run out of patience as a result of successive Russian provocations and maneuverings and because of the human cost of the crisis in Syria hitting unbearable levels. So what does it mean that John Kerry has become emotional and Obama has frowned in the face of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in protest at Russian policies and practices in Syria?
The Kremlin will not have great cause for concern. Putin is confident Obama cannot stand up to him in practical terms as this requires an American-Russian showdown in Syria’s skies. The keyword here is “powerlessness” because Russia has constructed its entire Syria policy on the basis that the US under Barack Obama has become infirm and that Washington has tied up its own hands in Syria, unable to behave as a superpower not only because it does not want to fight but also because it wants to appease Iran to preserve the nuclear deal, including by bowing down to Iran’s will in Syria to hold on to Bashar al-Assad in power. Yet this does not mean that the master of the Kremlin is not worried.
Putin’s concern
Putin must be particularly concerned after US warplanes supposedly mistakenly bombed Syrian regime forces and Iranian-backed loyalists. This has forced some humility on Putin but also anger. He does not believe Washington’s claims that the strikes were the result of an error and sees what happened as a message addressed to Moscow as well as Damascus.
Putin understands that his situation is much more fragile than Obama’s, because there are no US troops in Syria while Russia today is a direct party to the civil war. Furthermore, the battle for Aleppo is crucial and the pressures on Putin at home are increasing after he put Russia on the frontline with ISIS and similar groups. This is not to mention the fact that Russia is committing what may amount to war crimes in Syria, as many international non-governmental organizations have said. As a result, Syria is looking increasingly like a quagmire for Russia, while the United States is gearing up – although belatedly – to take some kind of moral high ground relative to Russia on Syria.
The Americans and Russians will no doubt try to address the tension in the bilateral relationship because the issues in which they are both involved are not limited to Syria. The relationship will be mended, at least on the surface, because the two nations are keen to pursue their necessary partnership
This was Syria’s week on the sidelines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, attended by Obama but missed by Putin. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was everywhere, explaining his priorities in Syria, including establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria along the Turkish border, and pledged to preserve Syria’s political and territorial unity. He said Operation Euphrates Shield has protected Turkey and that it has turned Jarabulus from a threat in to a safe zone. Erdogan called on the Security Council to hold the Syrian regime accountable for its crimes, which some say include targeting an aid convoy in Aleppo last Monday.
France’s President Francois Hollande, for his part, said the Syrian tragedy would remain a stain on the global conscience unless it was immediately put to an end. Hollande proclaimed Aleppo a “martyr” city, where humanitarian convoys are attacked, the population is starved and chemical weapons are used. Hollande called on the backers of the regime, led by Russia and Iran, to “force it” to implement peace or bear the consequences of chaos in Syria. He called for holding accountable those who used chemical weapons in Syria, after a UN report confirmed the regime and ISIS used those weapons.
Jean-Marie Areault, France’s foreign minister, proposed a three-point initiative that would have the Security Council issue a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to condemn and punish those who used chemical weapons. He said no bargains should be acceptable, such as trading a truce for impunity for those who used chemical weapons. Areault proposed establishing a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire that would be jointly operated by the stakeholders including France, and not just the US and Russia. Among the proposals of the French minister also is forcing Syrian regime forces to remain in their current positions and grounding Syrian regime warplanes.
John Kerry demanded Russia to stop Syrian regime air sorties in the main areas subject to the ceasefire in northern Syria during a rowdy session of the Security Council, which saw a row between Kerry and Lavrov. The Russian FM protested what he said were preconditions from the American side, to which Kerry responded by saying that refraining from bombing hospitals, civilians, and aid convoys were not preconditions, but were an international agreement being violated repeatedly. Kerry asked how some could sit at the table and talk while the Syrian regime was bombing its own people using chemical weapons.
Russia, according to Lavrov, was still committed to the need to revise the list of terror groups and add new groups. He said Russia needed new guarantees that the United States has influence on the ground and on the groups it says will abide by the agreement.
Call for talks
What about the political process, which seems to be on the backseat of US and Russian concerns? The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the resumption of negotiations, saying the first session should focus on political transition, especially how the transitional governing body would exercise power. He spoke about negotiations that would lead to the formation of a transitional body with full executive powers, adding that his envoy Staffan De Mistura would present a new framework for the negotiations soon. De Mistura said he would present a proposal for a working framework addressing the issue of the exercise of power by the transitional governing body, including presidential powers, participation and creating transitional bodies to oversee ceasefires and humanitarian aid, as well as creating a favorable climate for peaceful political activity and continued international support for the process.
De Mistura was frank with the Syrian opposition. He said it must understand that any transition will not be about one person and transferring power from one political side to another. He then addressed the Syrian government, saying it must understand transition means a real transfer of power and not just bringing in the opposition to the government ruled by one person. Lavrov told De Misutra he continues to enjoy Russian support, but advised him not to surrender to “blackmail.” Syria’s week at the UN was not favorable for Russian diplomacy, which found itself isolated while the world set its eyes on the terrible violations against aid convoys and the starvation, dispossession and bombardment, all part of a policy pursued by the regime in Damascus backed by Russia, Iran, and allied militias. There have been mounting media and political pressures this week as Aleppo was present in New York during the UN General Assembly session and as a result of the US military operation in Syria - a new development be it ill-conceived or otherwise. The outcome of the week is the conclusion that the US-Russian political clash cannot be an indication that the conflict is about to end, rather the contrary. Yet the issue depends on what Vladimir Putin has in mind, not what Barack Obama and Francois Hollande say in New York, and also depends on the next steps of Turkey’s president.For his part, Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani kept a low profile, unlike with his previous appearances at the UN. Perhaps he decided it was best to hide away from the spotlight, and accusations regarding Iran’s actions in Syria. But clearly, he came under no serious pressures from his American or Western counterparts.
The Americans and Russians will no doubt try to address the tension in the bilateral relationship because the issues in which they are both involved are not limited to Syria. The relationship will be mended, at least on the surface, because the two nations are keen to pursue their necessary partnership, especially in Syria. The danger therefore lies in the terms under which the relationship will be mended. As long as the two countries place their bilateral relationship above all other considerations, Syria will remain collateral damage. The features and limits of the confrontation have been clear from the beginning and no sane person predicted it would evolve into a military showdown. The translation of this equation is that the containment of differences will lead to papering over the Syrian tragedy, in order not to expose that terrible shortage of principled positions by both sides.
The eventful week in New York was no random event. However, it will not be meaningful unless the US-Russian relationship is seriously shaken, not just through half-hearted speeches that do not hide previous immoral arrangements in Syria.
**This article was first published in al-Hayat on Sept. 23, 2016 and translated by Karim Traboulsi.

Obama’s problem from hell
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/September 25/16
President Obama has written off the war in Syria as somebody else’s problem from hell, refusing to admit that by his sins of commission and omission he did in fact help open the gates of hell to engulf millions of Syrians. Obama’s approach to Syria this week was exposed for the moral vacuity and naked impotence that it truly is. He may have proudly told the assembled leaders of the world at the United Nations about his diplomatic achievements, among them the Iran nuclear deal, but he did not mention that his non-intervention in Syria was part of his Faustian bargain with Iran, or that his abandonment of those moderate Syrian rebels who wanted to overthrow the tyranny of the Assad regime was the price of his budding partnership with Russia. On the same day Obama was lecturing other leaders that “wars like the savagery in Syria must be brought to an end and it will be brought to an end through political settlement and diplomacy, and not simply by bombing,” the UN and relief agencies suspended all humanitarian convoys in Syria following the barbarity reportedly displayed by Russia’s Air Force when it bombed a UN humanitarian relief convoy on its way to the besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo (although Moscow has denied the strike). What makes this flagrant violation of International Law so jarring is that it took place during what was supposed to be the initial testing period of the Cessation of Hostilities (CoH) agreement reached earlier this month in Geneva between Secretary of US State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Forsaken Aleppo
In his long (5,627 words) address to the United Nations General Assembly, Obama, to his eternal shame, did not mention Aleppo once. When Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson asked “what is Aleppo?” he was displaying his ignorance. When Obama avoids mentioning Aleppo he does that out of embarrassment and, yes, malice because he keeps dissembling about his real intentions and always besmirches and distorts the views and alternative proposals of his critics, claiming dishonestly that they wanted him to invade Syria or engage in bombings campaigns without a diplomatic component. Obama made two fleeting references in Syria to justify his policy of leaving the Syrian people under the tender mercy of the depredations of the Assad-Russia-Iran axis. Once again Obama went back to the canard of the “ancient hatreds” mantra, claiming that “no external power is going to be able to force different religious communities or ethnic communities to coexist for long.” In Syria, he intoned, “I do believe we have to be honest about the nature of these conflicts.” Keeping with his now worn out habit of selective pacifism in Syria, Obama said “in a place like Syria, where there is no ultimate military victory to be won, we are going to have to pursue the hard work of diplomacy that aims to stop the violence, and deliver aid to those in need.” Yet in the same breath Obama brandished his sword in the form of massive bombings of ISIS, an enemy that Assad’s atrocities and Obama’s dithering created the environment for. Obama sees “a military component” in being “united and relentless in destroying networks like [ISIS]...”
It was a week of carnage in Aleppo and other parts of Syria, another week of grand speeches by President Obama and Secretary Kerry, another week of Russian barbarism on the ground in Syria and Orwellian exercises at the United Nations
President Obama, who has subcontracted Syria with all of its thorns to John Kerry - his peripatetic, loquacious secretary of state (the Dr. Pangloss of American diplomacy), did not have Syria on his mind in his discussions with world leaders. By the end of the week, besieged Aleppo was relentlessly attacked by Russian and Syrian bombers killing and wounding hundreds of civilians and still Obama refuses to utter Aleppo’s name publicly to at least shame Russia, since no one expects him after all these years to extract a price for mass murder from the Assad regime, Russia, or Iran and its killer militias.
Haunted by the ghosts of Syria
In a moment of rare public candor about Syria, Obama confided in historian Doris Kearns Goodwin that the situation in Syria “haunts me constantly” and that he wonders sometimes “what might I have done differently along the course of the last five, six years.” But then Obama quickly returns to his true form - to his denial of moral and political responsibility for the abandonment of the Syrian people. In fact he goes full throttle, saying “the conventional arguments about what could have been done are wrong. The notion that if we had provided some more modest arms to Syrian rebels—that somehow that would have led to Assad’s overthrow more decisively. The notion that if I had taken a pinprick strike when the chemical-weapons issue came out, as opposed to negotiating and getting all those chemical weapons out - that that would have been decisive. All those things I tend to be skeptical about,” he said in the interview published midweek in Vanity Fair. But, since Obama was talking with a historian, the professor in him sprung up to defend his record. “But I do ask myself, was there something that we hadn’t thought of? Was there some move that is beyond what was being presented to me that maybe a Churchill could have seen, or an Eisenhower might have figured out?”
Both President Obama and Secretary Kerry spoke about the need to help Syrian refugees and to stop the killing of civilians, but both of them lacked the powerful righteous passion to convince friends and foes alike that their moral indignation will lead them to act on their moral outrage. Obama said that if we “avert our eyes or turn our backs” on refugees “I believe history will judge us harshly if we do not rise to this moment.” Well Mr. President, history has already rendered its harsh judgement on you because you did avert your eyes and turned your back not only on the refugees but on a half million Syrian dead, the tens of thousands who disappeared in Assad’s prisons, on burning Aleppo, pulverized Homs and shattered Hama. Yes, America is generous in providing food and medicine to the refugees, but great powers do much more when they lead decisively.
What cannot be forgotten or forgiven is the fact that even if peace is restored, it will be impossible to restore the human and cultural allure and richness of Aleppo, its diversity and artistic legacies. There aren’t many cities in the ancient and modern worlds that were at one time or another unique to Jews, Christians and Muslims like Aleppo. In Aleppo there are literally layers after layers of civilizations from time immemorial; Aleppo, before its destruction was OUR city. Great cities rarely belonged to one people. Alexandria was not destroyed physically, but the once cosmopolitan jewel on the Mediterranean has been shriveling ever since it lost that rich human mosaic tapestry that made its once elegant streets babel of Arabic, French, English, Hebrew, Italian, Greek, Turkish and Armenian sounds and sights. In terms of geography, Alexandria is still on the Mediterranean, but in reality it has become a desolate city in the hinterland. There are many ways to sack great cities.
A moment of truth
On Wednesday, during a session on Syria at the UN, both the US and Russia blamed each other for the collapse of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement, with Foreign Minister Lavrov providing a crude version of Orwellian deceptions and doublespeak about the various scenarios explaining the destruction of the aid convoy to deny Russian culpability. This led a clearly frustrated Kerry to say “I listened to my colleague from Russia and I sort of felt a little bit like they’re sort of in a parallel universe here.” Then he added ominously “now, those who believe the crisis in Syria cannot become even worse are dead wrong, as are those who believe that a military victory is possible. This could be like Carthage with the Romans, if you call that a victory.” But incredibly, Kerry kept appealing to the non-existing better angels of Putin and Lavrov, hoping to restore “the plan announced in Geneva,” which includes in its second phase the establishment of a center in Jordan to coordinate joint attacks against ISIS and the al-Nusra Front. That would involve the “sharing” of intelligence and information with the Russians. The scene was surreal. Here you have the secretary of the United States still pushing for US-Russian joint attacks against terrorists in Syria and working with the same Air Force that is killing Syrian civilians and allegedly destroying humanitarian convoys. This was a display of embarrassing impotence. Once again the US was admitting that it is Russia, since the deployment of its Air Force into Syria a year ago, and not the US, that has been calling the shots, politically and militarily, in the Syrian theatre. Kerry was pursuing this Chimera while the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Joseph Dunford was telling Congress “I do not believe it would be a good idea to share intelligence with the Russians.”
Later on, Kerry said that the situation in Syria represents a “moment of truth” for President Putin, for the Syrian opposition and those who support it and “a moment of truth for the international community too.” One would have liked Kerry to admit that this is a moment of truth for the Obama administration first and foremost. Towards the end of the week, with Russia and the Assad regime literally pulverizing the besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo, an indignant Kerry returned to pleading and chest beating; “what is happening in Aleppo today is unacceptable. It is beyond the pale.” But what does that means after Kerry and President Obama have been saying for years that there is no military options or solution to the war in Syria? We still remember Kerry’s infamous description of the military strike against Assad’s force in 2013 over the use of Chemical Weapons that Obama promised and then reneged on; Kerry assured Assad and Putin the attack will be “unbelievably small.” Simply put. the Obama administration deprived itself of serious military leverage in Syria.
It was a week of carnage in Aleppo and other parts of Syria, another week of grand speeches by President Obama and Secretary Kerry, another week of Russian barbarism on the ground in Syria and Orwellian exercises at the United Nations. One would hope that the ghosts of Aleppo for many years to come will haunt all those who made Syria a problem from hell.

A guardian of peace
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/September 25/16
Speeches at the UN reflect countries’ policies and strategies. Saudi Arabia’s speech, delivered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, presented the kingdom’s viewpoint regarding the region to the world. He said that the basis of political activity is maintaining peace, accepting political settlements to resolve disputes - such as the case with the Syrian, Yemeni and Palestinian crises - and supporting refugees and receiving them as brothers and sisters and not as mere refugees. He also talked about the unrelenting war which Saudi Arabia is fighting against terrorist groups and highlighted efforts to combat the funding of these groups as well as efforts to fight ideological incitement. He noted that to combat radicalism, the Saudi kingdom has devised plans and has begun to execute them. He added that an example of this work is the counseling program which the interior ministry is implementing with imprisoned terrorists.
Ever since the era of King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia has preferred the principles of peace over war and has met others halfway. This is how it has always been, apart from rough phases when the kingdom had to launch wars for the sake of achieving peace as per that venerable political principle. It fought wars in Iraq and Yemen but it did so for the sake of achieving peace, defending legitimacy and maintaining state institutions. Saudi Arabia does not allow itself to be surrounded by deserts and areas void of institutional discipline and to thus become a safe haven for rebellious monsters.
The crown prince’s speech conveyed the general policies adopted since the founding and unification of Saudi Arabia. There is no arrogance on display here as these initiatives have allowed Saudi Arabia to be a peace maker. The most successful of these initiatives were toward Palestine, resolving the Lockerbie case and reaching the Taif Agreement and the Makkah Agreement. All this grants Saudi Arabia the title of the guardian of peace in a disturbed region.
**This article was first published in Okaz on Sept. 25, 2016.

$38 bln can buy lots of weapons, but can it ensure security?
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/September 25/16
For a moment during the celebratory ceremony in which and the United States and Israel signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide Israel with $38 billion in American aid for a further 10 years, it was almost possible to ignore that the relations between the administrations in Washington and Jerusalem are at one of their lowest ebbs. The low key ceremony was a good indication of the lackluster Obama-Netanyahu relations. It prompted many expressions of bewilderment as to why an American administration in its dying days felt the need to sign such a deal with an Israeli government that it holds responsible for attempting to spoil the Iran nuclear deal, playing a major part in derailing the peace process with the Palestinians and generally interfering in American domestic politics. Negotiations for this deal were prickly to say the least, as both sides were unsure whether this was the most favourable timing or best terms that could be concluded in the current circumstances. Israel was requesting $45 billion for the ten year (2019-2028) duration of this deal, a major increase from the current military aid it receives of $3.1 billion. Signing now indicates that the Netanyahu government was far from convinced that the next occupant of the White House will be more susceptive to Israeli demands. Despite the various accusations against President Obama by elements close to Netanyahu, as not being supportive of Israel, it becomes obvious that Israel would prefer not to wait on the election of either the extremely unpredictable Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, who may prove to be a way tougher negotiator.
President Obama was presented with a tough dilemma of ensuring what his administration perceives as the long-term military needs of a close ally, without rewarding and strengthening a government and its policies that are seen as both damaging to US as much as Israeli interests. Obviously there is no easy formula to resolve the two and the US opted to separate between the two, but are they separable? In Obama’s words this agreement, which is unprecedented in its generosity, would “make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remains a dangerous neighborhood.” However, he hastened to add that because of this very commitment to Israel and its long-term security, “we will also continue to press for a two-state solution to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite the deeply troubling trends on the ground that undermine this goal.” His critics would argue that the commitment to Israeli security in terms of providing it with the most sophisticated weapons is never questionable, however, US investment in reaching a peace agreement, based on a two-state solution that provides security to both Israelis and Palestinians, is always more hesitant.
Improved deal
The Israeli prime minister and his advisors made a concerted effort to portray the new deal as a great improvement over the previous one. The accurate math of the agreement indicates that, at best, Israel gained an extra $200 million a year. For a number of years Congress supplemented the military aid with a further $500 million for the development of missile defence. In addition, the Israeli government accompanied the MOU with a signed letter pledging to give back any additional money that Congress appropriates, which nullifies any Israeli efforts to circumvent a future administration by appealing for more funds through the American legislative branch.
Obama has firsthand, and bitter, experience on how the Israeli government operates on Capitol Hill, very effectively playing Congress against the president in advancing its own interests. In extracting this promise from Israel, he did a big favor to next president in reducing Israel’s room to maneuver, at least on the military aid front. However, the biggest concession that Israel was made to agree to was a phasing out of a special long-standing arrangement that permitted Israel to use just above 26 percent of the American aid on its own defence industry, instead of purchasing American-made weapons.
This is a considerable hit to the Israeli arms industry and may affect its role in the Israeli economy and its technological edge. Still, the level of aid guarantees that the Israeli air, sea and ground forces will maintain the country’s superiority against any threat, including the one potentially posed by Iran, which Israeli strategists presently see as the most likely one. Prime Minister Netanyahu was criticized for signing the MoU both in Israel and in the United States. His critics in Israel, including his former Defence Minister Ehud Barak, say that had he been more level-headed in his dealings with Obama, Israel might have ended with the initially requested figure of $45 billion. In Congress, Senator Lyndsey Graham, who oversees the US foreign aid budget, suggested that basically Netanyahu lost his nerve and should have waited until there is a new American administration in place. Graham told Jewish American leaders that Netanyahu “pulled the rug out” from under Israel’s friends in Congress. Both, Barak and Graham, even if they have their own political agenda, may be correct in their observations.
A further question which is bound to be asked is why Obama did not take the opportunity to also press forward with a new peace initiative. This is would have made the US’ ambition to be regarded as an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a bit more credible. Even those who care mainly for the long term well-being of Israel in the region must realize that with the current situation in the MENA region, and definitely in its relations with the Palestinians, the most sophisticated weapons can only provide a partial answer. It even carries the danger of reinforcing the militaristic discourse instead of one that combines military strength with readiness to make the necessary concessions for peace with the Palestinians and consequently with large parts of the region.

Unity is the secret behind Saudi Arabia’s strength, greatness
Alaa Alghamdi/Al Arabiya/September 25/16
Thursday marked the 86th anniversary of national unity for Saudi Arabia. On this cherished occasion, we cannot fail to salute and be proud of our soldiers stationed along the border, risking their lives potentially in sacrifice for their country. This sends the message of the most beautiful love that these soldiers have for their homeland. These messages demonstrate their steadfastness and the highest loyalty and devotion toward the land that embraced their parents and grandparents. The celebration of the National Day means celebrating the anniversary of the day on which the unification of the Kingdom, which was once scattered and disparate, occurred in the Hijri year 1351 (1932 in the Gregorian calendar). On that day, founder King Abdulaziz, may God have mercy on him, issued a decree creating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd. Whenever this anniversary passes, we mark its historic significance across the entire nation, coming together to feel proud. It is the unity achieved by the country that is the secret of its strength and greatness; the bedrock of all the growth and the development and progression we have achieved. We must stand united in the face of danger and those who aim to demolish the gains that we have built up over more than eight decades
From here, we saw the beginning of standardization. Today, we realize the renaissance that has been achieved and the progress made over the last 86 years. We’ve been able to see how our country - in a very short period of time - went from an unknown small nation into a major state able to impose itself with prestige around the world, becoming a voice in politics and the global economy. This year, as we celebrate our National Day, it is important to remember that our country today faces difficult challenges, threatening nations and malicious people intent on harming us. It is our responsibility to ensure the continuation of unity to maintain our security. We must stand united in the face of danger and those who aim to demolish the gains that we have built up over more than eight decades. God bless our country and everyone who defends it.
This article was first published in Arab News on Sept. 23, 2016