New Page 5

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotation For Today/If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you
Luke 17/05-10: "The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea", and it would obey you. ‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, "Come here at once and take your place at the table"? Would you not rather say to him, "Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink"?Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, "We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!" "

Bible Quotation For Today/ If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly
Letter of James 01/01-08: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord."

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 30-31/15
Lebanon, the Country that has Turned into a Garbage Dump/Dr. Mordechai Kedar/Arutz Sheva/August 31/15
Egypt sends Assad secret arms aid, including missiles, with Russian funding/DEBKAfile/August 31/15
Analysis: Unrestricted Europe-Iran trade will help empower regime’s oppression of citizens/BENJAMIN WEINTHAL/J.Post/August 31/15
Refugee death scenes are the West’s moral failure/Brooklyn Middleton/Al Arabiya/August 31/15
We cannot be hard-headed in fighting homegrown extremism/Y.M. Yassin//Al Arabiya/August 31/15
Bashar al-Assad’s fate: Is a ‘face-saving’ deal in play/Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/August 31/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 30-31/15
Iran-funded Hizballah recruiting Muslims in Judea for jihad attacks against Israel
Lebanon, the Country that has Turned into a Garbage Dump
Report: Salam Preparing Delegation to Attend U.N. General Assembly
Berri to Call for Dialogue in September, Urges Protesters to Demand 'Civil State, Electoral Law'
Hariri Welcomes Berri's Dialogue Call, Says Presidential Void a Priority
MP Denies Hizbullah, FPM Seeking Vacuum, Voices 'Conditional' Support for Protests
Mustaqbal Hails Civil Society Protest, Urges Politicians to Heed its Call
Jumblat Advises 'You Stink' Activists to Avoid Falling Victim to Political Manipulation
10 Arrested after Saturday Rally Marred by Rioters

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 30-31/15
Iran is 'True Enemy' of Gulf Arabs, Says Kuwaiti MP
S. Sudan Rebels Accuse Army of Violating Ceasefire
11 Dead, 219 Hurt in Fire at Saudi Oil Giant Housing Complex
Taking on Immigrants in U.S. Could Be Time-Bomb for Trump
Mounting Toll of Turkey's 'Martyrs' Stirs Controversy
Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas at Separation Barrier Demo
Egypt Summons British Envoy over Criticism of Al-Jazeera Trial
Egypt Elections to Start on October 17
Women Register to Run for Election in Saudi First
Watchdog warns Netanyahu against appointing another minister to cabinet
Worth their weight in gold: ISIS reveals new coins to replace 'satanic conception of banks'

Iran-funded Hizballah recruiting Muslims in Judea for jihad attacks against Israel
Jerusalem Post, August 30, 2015/Hezbollah has been working intensively to enlist former operatives from Fatah’s armed wing, the Al Aksa Brigades, in order to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank and inside Israel, a Palestinian security source was quoted as saying on Sunday.Saudi daily Okaz quoted the source as saying that “among those Hezbollah members involved in the operation is Kayis Ubayid, who was behind the kidnapping of Col. (res.) Elahanan Tenebaum in 2000.” Tenenbaum was released to Israel from Hezbollah captivity as part of a prisoner exchange in 2004. The source added that Palestinian security forces believe that recent shootings and the use of explosive devices such as that thrown at an IDF position near Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem, earlier this month, are part of the Lebanese Shi’ite group’s efforts. The Palestinian source claimed that Israel is well-aware of the Hezbollah activities. He added that some of those Palestinian operatives approached by Hezbollah reported the Shi’ite group’s efforts to Palestinian Authority officials. “We estimate that there are a number of youths who were drawn into joining Hezbollah’s ranks and are now operating in the West Bank, because of economic hardship or the deterioration in the security situation,” the source said. “We don’t know how many people there are, but there is no doubt that the phenomenon is gaining momentum among former Al Aksa Brigade youths that have been approached by Hezbollah to work in exchange for economic support. The matter is a personal choice of these youth, who have chosen to take action against Israeli targets.”…The source said that in the mid-2000s, Hezbollah had tried to enlist West Bank youth, offering salaries which reached tens-of-thousands of dollars per month. “In the years 2004-2005, the Al Aksa Brigades claimed responsibility for terror attacks which were all funded by Hezbollah, whose main enlister was Kayis Ubayid. This would not mark the first time that Palestinian security forces have warned of Hezbollah attempts to enlist fighters in the West Bank. The move could potentially be tied to Hezbollah’s patron – Iran.In January, Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehghan warned that Israel “will not escape revenge” for its alleged assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ General Muhammad Allah-Dadi and of Jihad Mughniyeh in an air strike in the Syrian Golan Heights attributed in foreign reports to the IAF. Dehghan said at the time that Iran would continue to arm the West Bank and Hezbollah. “Tehran will continue to strengthen the axis of resistance in order to deal with the Zionist entity.”

Lebanon, the Country that has Turned into a Garbage Dump
Sunday, August 30, 2015/Dr. Mordechai Kedar/Arutz Sheva
Sanitation services in Beirut have been at a standstill for several weeks due to labor disputes and endless arguments about the proposed location of garbage dumps. No one in the city will agree to having a dump in his backyard and for that matter, anywhere in his neighborhood. Thousands of tons of smelly trash are piled up in the city, and the hot weather that has hit the area over the last few weeks has made them even more unbearable than usual. A joke going around Beirut says that the price of clothespins is rising, as people have been buying them to stop up their noses.
The trash problem is also the result of a non-functioning officialdom. The government of Tamam Salam does not seem to be able to make any decisions, the parliament has not been able to appoint a president for over a year, and even the parliamentary elections have been put off in the legal vacuum that prevails. Lebanon is barely functioning, its citizens have no recourse. Their protest against the sanitation removal situation is really a protest against their dysfunctional state.
Add to that the population's furor at the rampant corruption in government corridors that has been going on for years, but it is clear that the main problem paralyzing Lebanon's government is that one basic truth lies behind everything that happens in the country: the fact that nothing, absolutely nothing, can happen in Lebanon without Hezbollah's sanctioning it. That terror organization has turned into the largest, most organized and most influential entity in the country. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a "state within a state". Hezbollah has significant economic power, including many public companies that deal with infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, construction, communications, water and electricity.
And Hezbollah is not alone. Iran stands right behind it. Opposing it are the Christians, Sunnis, Druze and some Shiites who are against Hezbollah's role in Lebanon, backed by Saudi Arabia. The growing tension between Iran and the Saudis over the nuclear agreement with international powers has spilled over into Lebanon, causing the rival groups to widen the chasm between them. Everyone knows how the billions of dollars that Hezbollah will probably receive from Iran as a result of the agreement will be spent. The terror group will be able to buy politicians, media personalities and the media itself, in addition to arms and weapons, making their control over all of Lebanon just a question of time.
The large demonstrations in Beirut that erupted last week are a reflection of the situation. The army – that obeys Hezbollah's orders – killed four protestors and wounded scores of them. The army surrounded the government's offices with a concrete wall in order to protect the buildings, but the citizenry used the new barrier to post their protests.
Among the graffiti on the wall were some that are particularly interesting: "Our thanks to the government for providing us with the paper to voice our protests"; "There are monsters on the other side of this wall"; "The Class-Separation Wall"; "The Wall of Shame"; "The Wall of Oppression"; "I prefer to live on the border with Israel"; "You stink"'; "The Theft Authority Pimps"' (= a takeoff on the expression in Arabic for "Ministerial Council meetings)". In fact, Facebook has a new Lebanese account named "You stink."
On one of the news websites a Lebanese citizen wrote: "Demonstrators must break into Dahiya (the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold), the shameful Shiite suburb, filled with those who collaborate with Iran and Russia - and behead the snake." The reference is clearly to Hassan Nasrallah, who involved Lebanon in the Syrian conflict, which many, including Shiites, consider an unnecessary war. Nasrallah is careful to repeat that "we are in the place we are supposed to be" meaning the battlefields of Syria. A Lebanese took this mantra and drew it on a trashcan with Nasrallah in its center.
The one feeling shared by all the different ethnic groups in Lebanon is the sad realization that the Syrian conflict is going to reach them in the near future. There are constant clashes in the northern city of Tripoli between the Sunni neighborhood Bab al-Tabbaneh that backs the Syrian rebels and the Alawite neighborhood Jabal Mohsen that backs Assad. This has been going on since 2011 and scores of people have been killed in these clashes.
In Ain El-Helweh, the southern Lebanese Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, Fatah militants are battling the Islamic group Jund al-Sham over the demands of the Islamists to allow them to draft residents to aid the rebels in Syria. Fatah is opposed to that for fear that Hezbollah will take revenge on the Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon it they join the rebels, the way Assad did to the Palestinians in the Yarmouk camp who did not help him fight the rebels.
The tensions among the Palestinian factions raise tensions in other refugee camps in Lebanon. The fear is that other camps will find themselves embattled soon enough.
Lebanon is on the brink of an abyss where every unusual event can ignite a civil war worse than the one that took place from 1975 to 1989. Israel, Europe and the rest of the world must be prepared for this eventuality, because the flood of refugees from Lebanon will rival that of Syria, while the Syrian atrocities may repeat themselves in that hapless country.
**Written for Arutz Sheva in Hebrew, translated by Rochel Sylvetsky

Report: Salam Preparing Delegation to Attend U.N. General Assembly
Naharnet/August 31/15/Government officials are carrying out the necessary preparations for Prime Minister Tammam Salam's upcoming trip to the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly set for September, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Sunday. The officials are holding the necessary contacts with Lebanon's permanent Ambassador to the U.N. Nawwaf Salam. Government sources told the daily that Salam will head the delegation that will be comprised of Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and other officials.The premier is scheduled to make a speech at the assembly, which will begin on September 15.

Berri to Call for Dialogue in September, Urges Protesters to Demand 'Civil State, Electoral Law'
Naharnet/August 31/15/Speaker Nabih Berri revealed Sunday that he intends to call for a dialogue conference in September, as he urged anti-corruption protesters to demand a “civil state” and a new electoral law based on the proportional representation system. “In the first third of September, I will call for a dialogue limited to (Prime Minister) Tammam Salam and the heads of parliamentary blocs,” said Berri in Nabatiyeh, where he delivered a speech marking the 37th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the founder of the AMAL Movement which Berri currently heads. “In form, it won't be any different from the 2006 dialogue, but it will be different in content. The agenda will tackle the presidency, the work of the parliament and the government, the electoral law, the law on restoring citizenship (for emigrants of Lebanese origin), the administrative decentralization project, and equipping the army,” Berri explained. Separately, the parliament speaker said he will not “bargain over the people-army-resistance choice.” “Either legislation or the chaos whose signs we have started to witness,” added Berri, referring to the recent anti-corruption protests. “I'm afraid that we're growing accustomed to our woes that are the result of paralyzing the lives of citizens amid a continued presidential vacuum, suspension of legislation and a governmental confusion,” he lamented. However, Berri stressed his keenness on the survival of the embattled government and “the activation of its work so that it can respond to the legitimate demands.”“The presence of the government is a national necessity and attack on legislation is an attack on the people and their representatives … Change has a single door: the parliament,” the speaker added. He noted that the parliament is not for Shiites, the government is not for Sunnis and the presidency is not for Maronites. “State institutions are for entire Lebanon.”“All these crises have pushed Lebanon's citizens to stage protests and they are right … I tell every honest demonstrator that the problem is in this system … The first problem is sectarianism and the other is deprivation and there can't be reform without abolishing sectarianism,” Berri said. He reminded that as Speaker, he tried “three times” to establish the so-called National Commission for the Abolition of Political Sectarianism and to “merely devise its mechanism.”“This sectarianism was always stronger than me and my will. Dear brothers, demand a civil state and an electoral law based on proportional representation,” Berri added, addressing the activists of the You Stink campaign and other groups. He also noted that the country managed to thwart sectarian strife through “the open dialogue between our brothers in Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal in Ain el-Tineh.” Berri's remarks come a day after tens of thousands of protesters from across Lebanon staged a rare non-sectarian mass rally in downtown Beirut against a political class they accuse of corruption and failing to provide basic services. It followed demonstrations last weekend that descended into violence when some protesters clashed with police. The demonstration was organized by the "You Stink" movement, which began in response to a crisis that started with the closure of Lebanon's largest landfill in mid-July, resulting in garbage piling up on the streets of the country. Since then there have been small protests that have broadened to include demands for a political overhaul of government institutions seen as corrupt and ineffective by many Lebanese.

Hariri Welcomes Berri's Dialogue Call, Says Presidential Void a Priority
Naharnet/August 31/15/Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri welcomed Sunday Speaker Nabih Berri's decision to call for a dialogue conference in September, while stressing that the priority is for resolving the presidential deadlock. “We will surely react positively when we receive the invitation. Agreeing on resolving the problem of the presidency would be the proper opening to discuss the other issues,” Hariri tweeted. He added: “Preserving the government and reactivating the work of parliament are the two pillars of Lebanon’s stability during this period.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 due to sharp political disputes between the rival camps and electoral rivalry. Earlier on Sunday, Berri revealed that he intends to call for a dialogue conference in the first third of September. “The agenda will tackle the presidency, the work of the parliament and the government, the electoral law, the law on restoring citizenship (for emigrants of Lebanese origin), the administrative decentralization project, and equipping the army,” he said. The remarks of the two leaders come a day after tens of thousands of protesters from across Lebanon staged a rare non-sectarian mass rally in downtown Beirut against a political class they accuse of corruption and failing to provide basic services. It followed demonstrations last weekend that descended into violence when some protesters clashed with police. The demonstration was organized by the "You Stink" movement, which began in response to a crisis that started with the closure of Lebanon's largest landfill in mid-July, resulting in garbage piling up on the streets of the country. Since then there have been small protests that have broadened to include demands for a political overhaul of government institutions seen as corrupt and ineffective by many Lebanese.

MP Denies Hizbullah, FPM Seeking Vacuum, Voices 'Conditional' Support for Protests
Naharnet/August 31/15/A Hizbullah lawmaker on Sunday denied accusations that his party or the Free Patriotic Movement are seeking “total vacuum” in the country, voicing conditional support for the growing anti-corruption protest movement. “Accusations by some parties that Hizbullah and the FPM are seeking total vacuum and a constituent assembly are baseless,” MP Hussein al-Moussawi of the Loyalty to Resistance bloc said. “Citizens who support Hizbullah are also frustrated and demanding electricity, water and clean streets,” he noted. His remarks come a day after tens of thousands of protesters from across Lebanon staged a rare non-sectarian mass rally in downtown Beirut against a political class they accuse of corruption and failing to provide basic services. It followed demonstrations last weekend that descended into violence when some protesters clashed with police. The demonstration was organized by the "You Stink" movement, which began in response to a crisis that started with the closure of Lebanon's largest landfill in mid-July, resulting in garbage piling up on the streets of the country. Since then there have been small protests that have broadened to include demands for a political overhaul of government institutions seen as corrupt and ineffective by many Lebanese. Noting that Hizbullah is keen on “stability” in the country, Moussawi said the party supports the popular protests “on the condition that they seek reform and combat corruption in a 'clean' way and that they don't be exploited by a certain party or group.” “We cannot reach a solution if these people don't transcend sects and confessions and the failure of this experience will lead to everyone's frustration,” the MP warned. Turning to the garbage crisis, Moussawi pointed out that “180 countries around the world have found solutions to the trash problem.”
“But in Lebanon we have yet to find a solution because the issue is not technical, but rather about the distribution of shares,” he lamented.

Mustaqbal Hails Civil Society Protest, Urges Politicians to Heed its Call
Naharnet/August 31/15/The Mustaqbal Movement praised the “You Stink” civil society campaign protest that was staged on Saturday, blaming the current situation in Lebanon on the failure to elect a new president, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday. It called in a statement on “political powers to listen carefully to the demands of the youth and immediately elect a president.” Powers should also launch a “real reform workshop” that will resolve daily concerns, it proposed. Moreover, the movement remarked: “The rise of a modern civil state in Lebanon is among the most basic rights of the Lebanese youth.” The “You Stink” campaign staged a massive rally on Saturday to condemn the current political deadlock in Lebanon and officials' ongoing failure to resolve the garbage management crisis. Thousands of protesters rallied at downtown Beirut to demand the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq and to hold Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq accountable for the use of force during a similar protest held a week ago. They also called for the election of a new president. They gave the government 72 hours to meet their demands, warning that after the deadline expires it will take escalatory measures not just in Beirut. Lebanon plunged in a trash disposal crisis following the closure of the Naameh landfill in July without finding an alternative for. This has consequently led to the pile up garbage on the streets throughout the country as politicians failed to reach a solution to the problem. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a consensual candidate have thwarted the polls.

Jumblat Advises 'You Stink' Activists to Avoid Falling Victim to Political Manipulation
Naharnet/August 31/15/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat acknowledged on Sunday the “rightful” demands of the “You Stink” civil society campaign, warning against the manipulation of the movement. He remarked via Twitter: “The activists should be cautious of attempts to politically manipulate and hinder their movement.” Moreover, he advised the campaigners to “carefully study” their current situation. The MP noted that it remains to be seen how the movement will be able to achieve its demands. "I do not claim to know the answers because I am part of the political class that the demonstrators protested against," Jumblat remarked. “Yesterday's rally differed from previous ones in that it truly reflected the pain of the people,” he added. He also hailed the movement's achievement of creating a new wave in the country away from the March 8 and 14 rival political parties. On Saturday, the “You Stink” civil society activists staged a huge protest in downtown Beirut against the current political deadlock in the country and officials' ongoing failure to resolve a waste management crisis that erupted in July. The crisis started when the Naameh landfill was closed amid a failure to find an alternative which led to the piling up of garbage on streets throughout the country. Thousands of protesters on Saturday demanded the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq and called for holding Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq accountable for the use of force during a similar protest held a week ago. They also called for the election of a new president.
They gave the government 72 hours to meet their demands, warning that after the deadline expires it will take escalatory measures not just in Beirut.

10 Arrested after Saturday Rally Marred by Rioters
Naharnet/August 31/15/Security forces announced on Sunday that ten people were arrested following Saturday's civil society protest that took a violent turn as night set in. The Internal Security Forces said that investigations are underway with the detainees in connection with the rioting that erupted at the end of the peaceful rally. They added that two of their members were slightly wounded in the scuffles. The unrest broke out in Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square. Earlier on Saturday, the “You Stink” civil society activists staged a huge protest against the current political deadlock in the country and officials' ongoing failure to resolve a waste management crisis that erupted in July. The crisis started when the Naameh landfill was closed amid a failure to find an alternative which led to the piling up of garbage on streets throughout the country. Thousands of protesters on Saturday demanded the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq and called for holding Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq accountable for the use of force during a similar protest held a week ago. They also called for the election of a new president. They gave the government 72 hours to meet their demands, warning that after the deadline expires it will take escalatory measures not just in Beirut.

Iran is 'True Enemy' of Gulf Arabs, Says Kuwaiti MP
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday described Iran as the "true enemy" of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states, in a sign of growing tensions with the Shiite power. "It has become clear to all that Iran is an enemy plotting to swallow up our states and resources and is the true enemy of the region," Hamad al-Harashani, the head of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign relations committee, said in a statement. It was the strongest Kuwaiti criticism in years of Iran, with which Kuwait has traditionally had better ties than its fellow Gulf Arab states. Harashani singled out an apparent bomb attack Friday in Bahrain as "yet further evidence of Iran's aggression" in the region. The blast killed a policeman and wounded seven people, with Bahraini officials saying explosives used in the attack were similar to material seized by authorities last month which "came from Iran." "Iran is seeking to spread chaos and undermine the ruling regimes" in the region, Harashani said, calling on Gulf states to boost security coordination. Kuwait and Iran were on relatively good terms for years until the Gulf state this month broke up a "terrorist cell" and seized large quantities of weapons and explosives. Local media reported that the cell belonged to pro-Iranian Lebanese group Hizbullah. There has been no official confirmation of the claim. A decades-old row between Kuwait and Iran over the disputed offshore Dorra gas field then resurfaced last week. Kuwait summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to protest Tehran's apparent offer of investment opportunities in the Dorra field.The move followed a report by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) about investment possibilities in the Islamic republic, which "covered areas located near the Kuwaiti oilfield," the KUNA news agency said.

S. Sudan Rebels Accuse Army of Violating Ceasefire
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/South Sudan rebels on Sunday accused the army of violating a ceasefire, just hours after it came into effect, by bombarding their positions along the White Nile river. "A military convoy -- two barges, seven gunboats -- has been moving from Bor to Panijar. Whenever they see our positions on the banks, they shell," said rebel spokesman Dickson Gatluak. Bor is the capital of the eastern Jonglei state while Panijar is in Unity state. Both are on the banks of the White Nile. "The cessation of hostilities started at midnight on Saturday but the government has broken it. They are not committed to it," he added. The spokesman added that the rebels would on Monday report the situation to the regional eight-nation IGAD bloc which helped broker the pact. Neither the South Sudanese government nor the army were immediately available for comment while IGAD was unable to independently verify the rebels' claim. President Salva Kiir on Wednesday signed a peace accord, already signed by the rebel chief Riek Machar.
The ceasefire aimed at ending a brutal civil war in South Sudan came into effect on Saturday evening, hours after fresh clashes between government forces and rebels, which sparked concern for the hard-won peace deal. The truce brokered by the IGAD bloc, along with the United Nations, African Union, China, Britain, Norway and the United States, came into effect at 2100 GMT Saturday (midnight in South Sudan's capital Juba).
Doubts over ceasefire
On Saturday, South Sudan's army and rebels accused each other of sparking fresh fighting in the preceding 24 hours in the north-east.
After the alleged ceasefire violations on Sunday it was unclear whether the peace deal would hold. "We wanted to give the government some time to cease hostilities but on Monday we are going to notify IGAD and we will tell the world. The chairman (Machar) will give a press conference," said Gatluak. At least seven ceasefires have already been agreed and then shattered within days or even hours in the world's youngest nation.Over two million people have fled their homes in a 20-month conflict marked by ethnic killings, gang rapes and the use of child soldiers. Some 200,000 civilians are sheltering inside U.N. bases. Army spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer on Saturday called on IGAD to establish a ceasefire monitoring mechanism "in all the counties." South Sudan broke away from Sudan four years ago to become the world's newest nation. The civil war began in December 2013 when President Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy, of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the impoverished country along ethnic lines. Faced with the threat of international sanctions, Kiir finally signed the peace deal but annexed a list of reservations that he said would have to be addressed for the deal to take hold. Machar has said the reservations cast "doubts" on the government's commitment to peace. The U.N. Security Council on Friday threatened sanctions against anyone who undermines the accord. The agreement gives the rebels the post of first vice president, which means that Machar would likely return to the job from which he was sacked, an event that put the country on the path to war. The 12-page list of government reservations on the peace deal says his return would spell "humiliation" and a "reward for rebellion."

11 Dead, 219 Hurt in Fire at Saudi Oil Giant Housing Complex
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/At least 11 people were killed and 219 injured in Saudi Arabia Sunday when a fire broke out at a residential complex housing employees of oil giant Saudi Aramco, authorities said. The fire started in the basement of a tower in the eastern city of Khobar, the kingdom's civil defense said on Twitter. It added that several of the injured were in a "critical condition" and that the casualties were from "various nationalities," without giving details. Photographs published on the civil defense website showed plumes of black smoke rising from the windows of one of the buildings. Authorities said that residents of nearby towers were evacuated as helicopters took part in the firefighting operations. Firefighting teams "are combing all towers to ensure there are no people" trapped inside, said the civil defense. "The incident is currently under control and cooling operations are ongoing," it said in another tweet later in the afternoon. Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports, released a statement confirming the fire at the residential complex, adding that the incident was being investigated. The company says it employs more than 61,000 workers worldwide from 77 countries.

Taking on Immigrants in U.S. Could Be Time-Bomb for Trump
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/ Billionaire Donald Trump has soared in opinion polls for the Republican presidential primary, but inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric could cost him the crucial Latino vote in the 2016 White House race. "What Trump is doing is political suicide," says Patricio Zamorano, executive director of the consulting firm Infoamericas.info. Since launching his campaign in June, "The Donald" has catapulted to the top of the Republican polls, ahead of 16 other candidates, and at 28 percent this week he is streaking away from his nearest rival by 16 points. Immigration has dominated the agenda since then, with Trump, 69, promising to build a wall to keep Mexicans -- who he has attacked as drug traffickers and rapists -- from entering the United States illegally. He has also promised to deport the more than 11 million people living in the United States illegally and to eliminate their U.S.-born children's right to nationality, which the outspoken Trump sees as a magnet for undocumented immigrants. With his blunt speaking style and refusal to bow to mainstream political correctness, Trump -- whom some Republicans slam as not conservative enough -- actually has won a lot of support from the party's most conservative, who are also the most active in primary voting. But at the same time, the mega-rich developer has drawn anger and scorn from Hispanics, the fastest-growing U.S. minority group, numbering 54 million, and 10 percent of voters. Unsurprisingly, Trump is the least popular Republican candidate among Hispanics, a Gallup poll released this week found. "This is personal," said Jorge Ramos, a Mexican immigrant and star news anchor on the top U.S. Spanish language network, Univision. Trump kicked him out of a news conference in Iowa this week, further enraging Ramos fans. Trump's meteoric primary surge has set off alarms among Republican leaders who had been planning on delivering a strategy to woo Hispanics. After their candidate Mitt Romney proposed "self-deportation," he helped hand a win to Barack Obama in 2012. In 2016, to win the White House, Republicans will have to draw 47 percent of the total Latino vote -- double what Romney won and more than the 44 percent that helped George W. Bush win in 2004, according to pollsters Latino Decisions."The Latino vote is essential in getting the next president elected," Zamorano said. Michael Cornfield, a political scientist at George Washington University, argued that Trump's stands such as they are -- with no other Republican candidate challenging them -- end up making the whole party look bad to Latinos. "The candidates, donors, and party elites are dazed by the public reactions to Trump. No one expected him to alter the agenda and last this long," Cornfield said. In fact, instead of trying to get away from what critics say is Trump's bombast, many of his Republican rivals have taken hardline stands themselves over immigration in an apparent effort to get some media attention in a very crowded primary field. Former senator Rick Santorum, who is polling at one percent, said he would ask Mexico to "stop facilitating the lawlessness on the border and cooperate with our efforts."He also said he would back the idea of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border -- a Trump idea also embraced by Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor polling sixth at six percent. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal also urged ending the right to U.S. citizenship by birth, as Trump does. Jindal is the son of immigrants from India, and Trump himself the son of an immigrant from Scotland.
Jeb Bush, son and brother of former presidents, is married to a Mexican immigrant. But Jeb Bush incensed immigrants rights groups by criticizing "anchor babies," a negative term that refers to people who come to the United States from abroad to have a child on U.S. soil since the child gets U.S. nationality automatically. Eventually parents gain rights as well. Five months ahead of the primary vote, and after the original shock at Trump's run and plenty of criticism, many analysts now see him as a viable candidate. "At this point, anyone who says he can't win the Republican nomination is in deep denial," columnist Eugene Robinson wrote in The Washington Post. But what Trump might do after that, on the road to the White House, is significantly less clear. Trump's strategy is a "risky" one because after clashing with Hispanics, it becomes quite difficult to return to the political center, Zamorano said. Indeed, there has never been a candidate like Trump -- a billionaire developer and reality television star unaccustomed to playing nice with others, or following rules he sees as not applicable to himself. He lashes out at mainstream candidates for needing money from fundraising, when the reality is, his opponents say, that he would not be where he is politically without simply having had vast enough personal wealth. "The sudden and sharp rise of an anti-immigrant candidate -- and he is more than that -- is unprecedented in the context of a presidential contest," Cornfield said. "We do not know yet how consequential it will be for public discourse, the elections, and policy."

Mounting Toll of Turkey's 'Martyrs' Stirs Controversy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/It has become a familiar scene in Turkey over the past month. Another soldier is laid to rest, parents grieving as the coffin is draped with the Turkish flag under the merciless glare of television cameras. Some 60 members of the Turkish security forces have been killed over the past five weeks as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has hit back at a relentless government air and ground campaign, in the most significant losses sustained by the military and police in recent years. Far from being hidden away, their funerals have been broadcast almost daily on state and pro-government television, with footage openly showing the grief of loved ones as they weep over the coffin. The fallen are hailed as "martyrs" ('sehitler' in Turkish) who have given their lives for a glorious cause, with the government trying to foster patriotic fervour at a time of national crisis. But with the toll rising, questions are mounting within Turkish society about the price and purpose of the operation. Tightly-choreographed, many of the funerals have been tense affairs with government ministers even heckled by the mourners. In extraordinary scenes that captivated Turkish media, a Turkish soldier whose brother was killed in an attack by PKK militants on Sunday launched a stinging attack on the government's "anti-terror" campaign during his funeral. "Who has killed him? Who is the cause of this?" yelled Mehmet Alkan, a lieutenant colonel in full military uniform who was in tears. "It's those who said there would be a solution who now only talk of war," he said, questioning the government's failed peace process with the Kurds.
'Cannon fodder' -
Few in Turkey have failed to notice that many of the victims have been young soldiers from the poorer regions in the centre of the country, their families unable to pay the 18,000 Turkish Liras ($6,100/5,500 euros) to let them off military service. "People are really questioning whether they are really in a just battle against an enemy, or just some cannon fodder in a political game," Halil Ibrahim Bahar, a security expert at Ankara Strategy Institute and a professor of sociology told Agence France Presse. "Most see it as a political game that denigrates their deaths," he added. Turkey will on November 1 vote in new elections after coalition talks following a June poll collapsed, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoping nationalist votes can tip the balance in favour of the ruling party. Earlier this month Erdogan triggered outrage by saying at a soldier's funeral: "How happy is his family" that the young man had become a "martyr".He added: "This homeland, soaked with the bloods of martyrs, will have more martyrs." Earlier this year, Turkey marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I, in commemorations that extolled the sacrifices of the young "Mehmets" who died to prevent an invasion of the country by Allied forces. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has also said Turkey was ready to "sacrifice our sons" for the sake of the campaign. The controversy has also spread to football, with Turkish Super Lig teams making military salutes and the topflight Besiktas club sporting shirts with the words: "Martyrs don't die".
Victim of politics
"Parents no longer feel happy that their sons have become martyrs," explained Mehmet Guner, president of the Association of Martyrs' Families. Most, he said, feel that they have become "victims at the hands of politicians who can start or end a war with just one sentence". "Who are we fighting? Russia, America? I don't want to sacrifice my son to a war we don't wage against another country," said Guner, himself the son of a soldier who died three decades ago. "If politicians sent their sons to the war and they were hurt like us, they would do anything to stop the violence," he said. "But in this war, the rich are not dying."Last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, a pious Muslim like all prominent members of the Islamic-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also entered the fray after declaring he wished to become a "martyr".His words drew a sharp response from Alkan, the officer mourning his brother at Sunday's funeral. "There is really nothing like sitting around in a palace with 30 bodyguards and going about in an armoured car and saying 'I want to be martyr'," he said. "If you want to become a martyr, go then. Go!" The Turkish military on Wednesday opened an investigation into Alkan's remarks, with some pro-government media outlets branding him as a "PKK supporter".

Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas at Separation Barrier Demo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades on Sunday to disperse a protest in a Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem against renewed work on Israel's West Bank separation barrier. Dozens of Palestinian and foreign protesters marched in the West Bank village of Beit Jala towards an area where military bulldozers have uprooted olive trees to clear space for the barrier.
Two protesters were arrested for allegedly throwing stones at soldiers guarding the construction zone, police said. The former Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, denounced the work that began earlier this month. "This land belongs to us," he said."Whatever they do, whatever their courts say, this land belongs to us and it will return to us one day. You are stronger with your guns, but you are not the strongest when it comes to humanity."Israel began building the barrier of walls and fences inside the occupied West Bank in 2002 at the height of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), saying it was crucial for security. The Palestinians see it as a land grab aimed at stealing part of their future state and call it the "apartheid wall." U.N. figures show that around two-thirds of the barrier is so far complete. The network of towering concrete walls, barbed-wire fences, trenches and closed military roads will extend 712 kilometers (442 miles) when finished, separating the West Bank from Israel, 85 percent of its length running through Palestinian land. One of the most iconic symbols of the occupation, it will cut off more than nine percent of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, in places separating farmers from their fields or villagers from water sources, the U.N. says. Where it approaches Beit Jala and the adjacent Cremisan Valley there has been fierce opposition from the local Palestinian Christian community, which has enlisted papal support. The case grabbed special attention when the wall was slated to separate Cremisan monastery from the neighboring convent and vineyards. Israel's High Court ruled in April that the work must stop and told the government to consider alternative routes. But in a new decision on July 6, the court said work could go ahead, ruling that the previous ban referred only to an area of a few hundred meters alongside the monastery and the convent.

Egypt Summons British Envoy over Criticism of Al-Jazeera Trial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/Egypt's foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the British ambassador over his criticism of prison sentences handed to three journalists from Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera.
"What counts is the Egyptian people's confidence in the transparency and independence of the Egyptian judiciary," the foreign ministry said, calling ambassador John Casson's comments "unacceptable interference."
"Egypt needs lessons from no one," it said. A Cairo court on Saturday sentenced Australian journalist Peter Greste, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed to three years in prison for having broadcast "false" news and for having worked without the necessary permits. They were accused of having supported the Muslim Brotherhood with their coverage, after then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted the Brotherhood's president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. After having attended Saturday's court hearing, the ambassador criticized the proceedings in a statement on his Facebook page. "This case... has become a symbol of the basis for stability in the new Egypt," he said. "The question today is whether this will be a fragile and temporary stability on the basis of suspending freedoms of media and expression and depriving individuals of their rights in the Egyptian constitution? "I am concerned that today's ruling will undermine confidence in the basis of Egypt's stability, both in Egypt and abroad," he said. Fahmy and Mohamed were immediately detained after the verdict on Saturday, but Greste was tried in absentia after being deported earlier this year. The verdict sparked condemnation worldwide.
Canada urged Egypt to allow for Fahmy's immediate return to Canada, after he renounced his Egyptian nationality in order to be deported like his Australian colleague. Washington said it was "deeply disappointed and concerned" by the trial's outcome.

Egypt Elections to Start on October 17
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/Egypt's legislative elections, the first since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office, are to be contested in phases starting October 17, the electoral commission announced on Sunday. Analysts say the polls, with Sisi loyalists heavily favored to emerge the big winners, will serve to appease Egypt's backers in the West who see the president as a rampart against jihadist violence despite concerns over repression that has eliminated any meaningful opposition. A new parliament will be in place "by the end of the year", according to Ayman Abbas, head of the electoral commission. The polls had initially been scheduled for early 2014 but were repeatedly delayed on legal grounds amid charges from rights groups of repressive measures during a crackdown on the Islamist opposition. The October 17-December 2 elections will be contested more than two years after the military under Sisi, who was then army chief and won a presidential election last year, toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, whose now-banned Muslim Brotherhood had swept Egypt's last legislative vote in late 2011. The constitutional court had ruled in March that part of the electoral law was unconstitutional, prompting the latest delay before the electoral commission began work on setting the new dates.
The same court had dissolved the previous Islamist-dominated parliament, which was elected after the 2011 uprising that forced longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak from power. It ruled that parts of the law under which parliament was elected were unconstitutional. That decision granted broad legislative powers to the presidency in the absence of an assembly. Lawyers who appealed against the electoral law argued that it did not divide districts in a way that would adequately represent voters. After Morsi's ouster in July 2013, Sisi announced plans for a new constitution, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections. A new charter was adopted in January 2014 and Sisi was elected president in May of last year.
Complex voting system
Critics say that with the Brotherhood having been crushed and banned, the elections are bound to be dominated by Sisi loyalists.The elections are important to Sisi as he seeks to shore up his standing in the eyes of Western governments that condemned his overthrow of Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected leader. Even secular and liberal activists, including several who played a prominent role in the 2011 revolt, have been jailed for holding unauthorized protests. In a complex electoral system for the 568-member parliament, a sector of the electorate living abroad will vote on October 17, followed on the following two days by voters in 14 of the country's 27 provinces. Runoffs in the same constituencies will be held on October 26, 27 and 28. Remaining voters abroad and inside the Arab world's most populous country will take part in a first round on November 21, 22 and 23, followed by runoffs on November 30, December 1 and 2. Twenty-seven of the seats in parliament will be appointed directly by the president, with the rest contested through party lists or on an individual basis.

Women Register to Run for Election in Saudi First
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 31/15/Saudi Arabia allowed women to register to stand in local elections on Sunday, in a historic first for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom. In a country where women face a host of restrictions including a driving ban, the move was welcomed as an important step forward. But it also faced criticism from hardline conservatives and from rights groups who said it does not go far enough in providing women with equal rights. It came after another first earlier this month, when women started to register as voters for the December local elections at centers run by all-female staff, separate from registration facilities for Saudi males.Saudi blogger Eman al-Nafjan, who has registered as a voter in Riyadh, told AFP that taking part in the elections is "a positive step" but warned that "there are major obstacles that prevent women from participating, such as transportation." Women in the oil-rich Gulf state, which applies a strict segregation of the sexes, are banned from driving and have to cover themselves in public from head to toe.
They also have to obtain the consent of a male guardian to travel, work, apply for a passport or to marry. The late king Abdullah in 2011 granted women the right to vote and to stand as candidates in this year's local elections. Saudi-funded newspaper al-Hayat reported this month that around 200 women had expressed an interest in standing as candidates in the December 12 vote. Candidate registration is to run until September 17, while voter registration ends on September 14. Out of 1,263 polling stations in 284 municipalities across the monarchy, 424 have been reserved for women voters. "I am very excited to take part in this new experience," said Amal Mohammed, 35, as she registered to vote in the port city of Jeddah.
'Significant step forward'
Abdullah, who died in January and was succeeded by King Salman, introduced municipal elections to Saudi Arabia in 2005 when he was crown prince. This year, two-thirds of municipal council members will be elected and the rest appointed by the authorities. In the last all-male vote in 2011, half of the members were elected. As he registered at an office in Jeddah, 35-year-old Fawaz Abdullah said his wife would "of course" take part in the vote. "A woman's vote is essential and her role must not be marginalized," he said. But on Twitter, more conservative Saudis have created a hashtag in Arabic The danger of electing women in municipal councils to oppose the move. Some users referred to recent religious edicts reportedly prohibiting women from joining the elections. "I will only vote for a woman if her plan is to make cupcakes for the neighborhood!" wrote one critic on Twitter. Human Rights Watch this month praised Saudi Arabia's "significant step forward" in allowing women to participate in the elections. The "move allays concerns that King Salman, rumored to be closer to the country's hardline conservative religious establishment than his predecessor, could slow the already gradual process of women's rights reforms shepherded by the late king Abdullah," it said. In February 2013, Abdullah also for the first time named women to the country's Shura Council, an all-appointed consultative body. But HRW said that "allowing women to stand and vote in elections... is not enough to secure women's full integration into Saudi public life."The New York-based watchdog urged the kingdom to "scrap the male guardianship system" and "ensure Saudi women have full control over all of the major decisions that affect their lives."Only then will Saudi Arabia's women be able to contribute to society on an equal footing with men."

Watchdog warns Netanyahu against appointing another minister to cabinet
GIL HOFFMAN/J.Post/08/31/2015 /Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not appoint another Likud minister in place of former science, technology and space minister and new Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, the Movement for Quality Government wrote over the weekend in a letter to Netanyahu. The same day that Danon ceased to be a minister on Thursday, United Torah Judaism leader Ya’acov Litzman got promoted from deputy minister of health to minister, due to rulings of the High Court of Justice and the UTJ Council of Torah Sages. That kept the number of ministers in the cabinet at 21. But sources close to Netanyahu said he intended to appoint another minister from the Likud soon, either coalition chairman Tzachi Hanegbi or MK Bennie Begin. They said the appointment was likely to take place around the time the Knesset comes back from its extended summer recess in October. Netanyahu’s coalition partners have given him permission to appoint another Likud minister. They have told the prime minister that he should not be punished for the court-imposed promotion of Litzman to the cabinet. But the Movement for Quality Government said he should keep the cabinet at 21 ministers and combine rather than split ministries. “The prime minister should maintain a government that benefits the people, in which every minister will have a role that justifies its cost,” the movement wrote Netanyahu. “It is important to maintain the public’s trust in the its leaders and use the public’s resources fairly and wisely.”The group said there was no reason to appoint another minister, because the cabinet is expected to approve the appointment of Minister- Without-Portfolio Ophir Akunis as science, technology and space minister on Monday. Akunis was given the portfolio as a consolation prize for him losing out on the UN ambassadorship to Danon.
A governmental commission that checked how many ministers Israel needs came to the conclusion that only 15 were needed. “The movement believes that a government with too many ministers wastes public funds, is unhelpful, and harms the ability to govern and make decisions,” the watchdog group wrote. “The public should not be held hostage to coalition demands that force the appointment of unnecessary ministers that have no professional need.”

Worth their weight in gold: ISIS reveals new coins to replace 'satanic conception of banks'
RO YEGER/J.Post/08/30/2015 /ISIS has revealed its plan for minting its own gold and silver coins in it's latest hour-long video entitled "The Rise of the Khilafah and the Return of the Gold Dinar," released on Saturday. The video, narrated in English with Arabic subtitles, begins with an extensive analysis on “the capitalist financial system of enslavement, underpinned by a piece of paper called the Federal Reserve dollar note,” and the corruption that allowed for the American destruction of the monetary system intended by Allah with the production of paper money used to finance oil trade. The new ISIS currency comes in several denominations of silver gold and copper. The coins are imprinted with Islamic symbols and "are completely void of human and animal images in accordance with Shariah law."
The reverse side of one coin shows seven wheat stalks, "representing the blessing of spending in the path of Allah," says the narrator. Another coin is imprinted with a map of the world, "representing the extent of territory Mohammad's reign would reach, including Constantinople, Rome and America," and another is imprinted with a spear and shield "showing that the source of provision of Mohammad were from jihad in the name of Allah."An ISIS activist is seen on camera walking through the streets, presenting the newly minted coins to shop keepers, armed men, and civilians with their smiling children. The activists explain to the people that the gold coins hold their value and are worth more than paper money in the bank. The dinar coins are intended to return the power of the money to the people. "We are witnessing the return of days, like those during the time of the prophet," says one shop keeper, hugging and kissing the ISIS activist. My dear brothers this will be achieved by our promise and then by our blood for there is no other path to victory except through sacrifice and jihad for the sake of Allah. The video concluded with a three minute lyrical music video showing ISIS warriors fighting against different backdrops. The song runs through different reasons the warriors fight and each paragraph is inter-cut the chorus which sings, "For the sake of Allah we will march through the gates of paradise where our maidens will wait. We are men that love death just as you love your life, we are soldiers that fight in the day and the night."

Egypt sends Assad secret arms aid, including missiles, with Russian funding
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 30, 2015/Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi has begun supplying Bashar Assad with arms, including missiles, after concluding a secret deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his consent to pick up the tab, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reveal. The first batch of short-range Egyptian-made surface missiles has reached the Syrian forces fiercely battling rebels for weeks for the recovery of the strategic town of Zabadani without breaking through (See picture showing missile with Egyptian factory markings.) It is not clear if the Egyptian missiles have also been passed to the Hizballah forces fighting with the Syrian army, considering that El-Sisi and Hizballah are at daggers drawn. Our sources also reveal that the Egyptian arms consignments are freighted from Port Said to the Syrian port of Tartus by Ukrainian cargo vessels. These ships are today the most popular means of transport for clandestine and Black Market arms freights across the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. Sums and quantities are yet to be determined, but Western intelligence sources report that Ukrainian vessels called in at Egyptian ports at least three times from July 22 to Aug. 22 and sailed off to Syria laden with weapons.
It is a deal that may affect the fate of the Assad regime from five, often conflicting, perspectives:
1. By providing Assad with an additional source of weapons, Cairo is reducing his dependence on Iran. This suits the Syrian ruler very well at this time, because he is fully aware of Tehran’s latest steps to draw Gulf rulers and Moscow into supporting a plan for ending the Syrian war, by installing a provisional government in Damascus and so easing his exit.
2. A certain parting-of-the ways has developed between Moscow and Tehran on how to terminate the Syrian conflict. By sending Assad arms, Cairo casts its vote for Moscow’s perspective in preference to Tehran’s.
3. El-Sisi is now diametrically opposed on Syrian policy to the GCC led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who are patrons of the rebel movement dedicated to toppling Assad.
4. He is also on the opposite side to Israel and Turkey. Israel backs the rebels fighting in southern Syria to create a barrier against the encroachment of Hizballah and Iranian Al Qods Brigades up to its northern border and the Golan. Turkey and the US have reached terms on Syrian policy. Saturday, Aug. 30, Turkish jets carried out their first air strikes in Syria against the Islamic State, as part of its deal with the US.
5. The Russian-Egyptian understanding on the Syrian question is a signpost that clearly marks the way to deepening military and strategic relations between Moscow and Cairo. Taking the lead on a resolution of the Syrian question, the Kremlin staged a discussion last Tuesday, Aug. 18, with three Arab visitors: Jordan’s King Abdullah, UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Egyptian president. It was led by Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Middle East Affairs, and followed by individual tête-à-têtes between Putin and each visitor in turn. The Russian and Egyptian leaders did their best, according to debkafile’s Moscow sources, to draw the Jordanian and UA rulers over to their pro-Assad policy, or at least accept common ground for a measure of cooperation. In effect, Putin and El-Sisi were out to convince Jordan and the US to back away from the Syrian rebel cause and the Saudi line. Their future actions may indicate how far they succeeded.

Analysis: Unrestricted Europe-Iran trade will help empower regime’s oppression of citizens
BENJAMIN WEINTHAL/J.Post/08/30/2015
The pernicious results of European companies selling technology to the Islamic Republic are already well known: They range from widespread surveillance of Iranians to the transfer of dual-use equipment that can be used for torture, killing and the construction of nuclear weapons.Yet, with the lifting of sanctions, Western leaders have relegated concerns about Iran’s misuse of European technology to political oblivion. Current snapshots of European political comments and reports of trade deals reinforce the view that ordinary Iranians will suffer at the hands of their clerical leaders. According to an August 4 Persian-language report from the state-controlled Mehr News Agency, an Iranian information technology official announced a joint project with an unnamed “foreign company” to start phase two of a “targeted filtering” program that is designed to censor “websites and networks that commit social harm.”
There is a long history of nefarious business deals in the field of communications between Iran and the West. For example, in 2008, the Finnish-German venture Nokia-Siemens sold the regime advanced surveillance equipment. When Iranian democrats poured into the streets in 2009 to demonstrate against the fraudulent presidential election, the regime activated its Nokia-Siemens technology to block social media and mobile communications among the protesters. Berlin’s economic affairs minister, Sigmar Gabriel, and a representative of the German engineering giant Siemens AG were part of a business delegation that visited Tehran last month. In a second August report from Mehr News, Iran’s minister of information and communication technology, Mahmoud Vaezi, outlined a plan for “smart filtering” of social media to censor “immoral” content. Vaezi issued an ominous warning to Iranian mobile phone users: “But the [government’s] principle is that the people’s work is correct. If they correctly use virtual space, there will be no need for checking.”
He added, “It is incorrect that people think the government has knowledge about inside [the country] and no knowledge on the outside. Users must know that all information is transferred through a gateway and it all exists inside the country.”Iran’s enhanced censorship plan has three phases.
First, information technology experts will filter content that is viewed as ethically unsavory.
Second, the system will be restricted via an elaborate gateway mechanism “through Internet operators and companies providing these services.”Third, the “smart” filtering system will be embedded in data centers.Vaezi’s statements indicate the regime has not pulled back on its exploitation of Western technology to crush dissent in the Islamic Republic. And few European politicians have any desire to restrict exports of security equipment to Iran.However, Volker Beck, a Green Party deputy in the Bundestag, told The Jerusalem Post earlier this month, “Germany should not sell security technology to dictatorships like Iran, Saudi Arabia or Russia. And goods should not be exported which can be used there for torture or the implementation of the death penalty.”
Beck lamented that there is no legal requirement in Europe to stop the deliveries of sophisticated security technology to outlaw regimes.
His comments have not found an echo among European political leaders. Instead, the unbridled enthusiasm for business with Iran continues to mushroom in the EU.
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn declared, “Iran is back in the international community.”
Writing in the International New York Times on Tuesday in a column titled, “Few doubts in Europe on Iran deal,” Celestine Bohlen contrasted the opposition in the US to the nuclear deal with its near universal acceptance in Europe.Camille Grand, director of the Strategic Research Foundation in Paris, told Bohlen, “In Europe, you don’t have constituency against the deal. In France, I can’t think of single politician or member of the expert community who has spoken against it, including some of us who were critical during the negotiations.”
European political leaders appear to be, wittingly or unwittingly, in state of dogmatic denial about the dangers of the nuclear agreement. After all, it is worth noting that Iran and its proxies have murdered Iranian Kurds, European civilians and French service personnel across Europe and in Lebanon, The initial $150 billion in sanctions relief afforded to the Islamic Republic will be a massive shot in the arm for its terrorist activities.
After the celebrations over the revival of EU-Iran trade, ordinary Iranians are to pay an even heavier price for expressing dissent and calling for democracy.
**Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Refugee death scenes are the West’s moral failure
Brooklyn Middleton/Al Arabiya/August 31/15
Several tiny, doll-like bodies – with no visible injuries - washed ashore in Libya this week. At least one little girl wore a blue and white polka dot dress and at least a couple other young children still had shoes or socks on their lifeless feet. One small boy was still wearing his diaper. The exact death toll resulting from several families’ attempts to flee Syria and several other countries for Europe, on two boats, remains unknown. The latest reports indicate this one catastrophe has left approximately 150 people dead while at least another 40 remain unaccounted for. At the same time that search and rescue efforts continued on the Mediterranean, authorities discovered an abandoned truck filled with 71 refugees, including at least four children, on an Austrian highway. The majority were likely Syrian refugees and every single person inside was dead. Photos from the macabre scene show body fluids seeping out of the truck’s back doors, spilling onto the ground. They died under conditions so grim it likely compared to the horror the refugees managed to escape in Syria. Only two days later, Austrian security forces once again intercepted yet another truck packed full with refugees; at least three severely dehydrated children were among the 23 other people. The number of dead refugees – suffocated in a truck while temperatures climb to nearly 90 degrees or drowned in unforgiving seas - are stacking up so quickly in Europe, it is difficult to keep track of the reports. The failure to prevent thousands of Syrians, who miraculously escaped the murderous Assad regime, from drowning or suffocating to death, is a moral failure of the greatest proportions
In late June 2014, the United Nations reported that the world was facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. A calamity, the U.N. noted, caused mostly by the bloody conflict in Syria. According to U.N. figures, in 2014, at least 219,000 refugees and migrants attempted to reach Europe; approximately 3,500 of those people died or vanished.
Directly aiding Syrian civilians
This year the number of people attempting to do the same swelled to at least 300,000. Already in 2015, 2,500 people have died or remain unaccounted for. Boarding a boat with your children by your side - in full awareness the likeliness of death is extremely high - is tantamount to jumping out of a building engulfed in flames to avoid being burned alive. Without attempting to provide any sustainable solutions, the West and the Arab world are, unconscionably, telling thousands they should not attempt to flee and should instead burn to death. For the international community, especially the United States, to ignore the plight of asylum seekers as they’ve ignored the plight of trapped civilians in Syria would be yet another stunning failure. At what point does the West attempt to directly aid Syrian civilins? If not when the death toll skyrockets to 320,000 nor when chlorine attacks continue unabated, then perhaps when those who have remarkably survived such barbarity attempt to flee to safety. Last month, Al Monitor reported that by September the United States, “will have accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees for permanent resettlement.” Meanwhile, according to UNHCR reports, 1,938,999 registered Syrian refugees remain in Turkey, another 1,113,941 in Lebanon (though official registrations were halted in May) - and over half a million refugees have fled to Jordan. The fact that the U.S. has failed to find a more efficient and timely approach to resettling Syrian families underscores DC’s failure to confront the humanitarian toll of the conflict. At the same time, some Arab states have also failed to shoulder the responsibility; in December 2014 an Amnesty International Report revealed that Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had collectively resettled 0 Syrian families. In what is an initiative to be emulated, Germany has announced it will allow Syrian refugees to stay in the country and apply for asylum without risk of deportation. Most importantly, Berlin will no longer comply with the Dublin procedure, which dictates refugees must apply for asylum in whatever European country they first enter. The decision is hopeful but other European nations must show equally as proactive measures. The failure to prevent thousands of Syrians, who miraculously escaped the murderous Assad regime, from drowning or suffocating to death, is a moral failure of the greatest proportions. Every effort must be made to dismantle human trafficking networks whose leaders prey and profit on the utterly vulnerable. At the same time, refugees must not be forced to resort to such horrendously dangerous measures nor be told to stay in their violence-wrecked country and burn to death.

We cannot be hard-headed in fighting homegrown extremism
Y.M. Yassin//Al Arabiya/August 31/15
We cannot deny that there is a homegrown extremism problem in Britain. Latest figures estimate that around 700 Britons have joined ISIS. Although this is a small number considering the 2.7 million British Muslims, it is enough to make the government set out plans to fight this problem. I am from a town where non-Muslims are the minority. Two boys that I grew up and played football with joined ISIS last year (they didn’t know each other). I was never close friends with them, but if we did pass each other by, we would shake hands and engage in small-talk. I don’t know how or what radicalized them and I have no interest in asking their family or friends about such a sensitive topic, but I know that their families are in a lot of pain right now. I want to give my recommendations – as a young British Muslim who probably knows extremism better than armchair commentators – on how prevent this problem. Part 1 of this article is for the Muslims and part 2 is for the Left and Right wing. Let us welcome and aid the government in their counter-extremism strategy, because it is for our benefit too.Homegrown extremism will not end unless there is compromise. Muslims, the right and the Left cannot keep pointing fingers at each other. Every side must accept part of the blame so we can deal with this issue. Can we just put our pride aside and think of the poor families who have lost their children?
Message to Muslims
Do not be suspicious of this government’s counter-extremism strategy. Measures such as PREVENT are not Islamophobic and they do not criminalize ordinary Muslims. The government only wants to fight extremists, radical Islamism.
Let us welcome and aid the government in their counter-extremism strategy, because it is for our benefit too. Firstly, those who commit terrorism in the name of Islam do not care if they harm Muslims also. Four out of the 52 killed in the 7/7 bombings were Muslim, which was bound to happen if a suicide bomb goes off in a city with a huge Muslim population like London. Secondly, if extremism is eradicated, there will be no need for the Muslim community to be constantly scrutinized and have to go on the defensive like we always have to. Are we not sick of constantly having to apologize for these extremists even though they do not represent us? Let us also understand what is meant by non-violent extremism. This doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to raise concerns for the plight of the ummah (Muslim world), nor take the government’s stance on foreign policy. No government would be stupid enough to expect Muslims to stop sympathizing with the plight of Palestinians. Non-violent extremism in the political sense, is to believe in the conspiracy theory that Islam is globally persecuted by the kuffar (non-believers). This grievance narrative creates a ‘them vs. us’ mentality between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is the belief that the believers and disbelievers will always be in a state of warfare, hence any western presence in Muslim lands is unacceptable. Although the grievance narrative is sometimes justifiable, because many Muslims in the world are suffering, we have to be balanced. Let us remember the times when the West actually did good things for the believers. Wasn’t it NATO that saved our Kosovan brothers and sisters from Serbian nationalists?
Muslims opposed to western involvement in our lands view it suspiciously. Many of us ultimately view these interventions, not as altruistic, but based on selfish business interests. As a result, some of us resent countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE for having western countries as allies. This is also a form of non-violent extremism and we need to shake it off. Let us view countries as humans. After all, they are run by humans. All humans are naturally selfish and want the best for themselves. Which human would willingly enter a friendship that is not mutually beneficial? For example, I am currently looking to get married. Can I just demand any random female’s wali’s (male guardian) number and begin negotiating mahr (dowry)? Of course not. I have to find to a woman that is nice, intelligent and whatever else appeals to my interests. Likewise, I would have to match what appeals to my potential spouse’s interests. The same applies to Muslim-Western relations. The west may only be there for our natural resources, but our countries are benefitting from their trade to help advance our economies and even protection to guarantee our security. Just look at the plight of my parent’s country Sudan. Years of diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions from the West mean that Bashir’s government doesn’t even have the funds to filter sewage from drinking water. Before we view any relationship with disbelievers suspiciously, let us also not forget that (by mainstream accounts) it was a non-Muslim (Abu Talib) who protected our prophet (pbuh) from Quraysh. The problem with non-violent extremism isn’t the opinions themselves. The most extremist person I’ve had the misfortune of knowing, holds all these opinions about how the kuffar (non-believers) will always persecute Muslims just because of our deen (religion) and how Muslims shouldn’t integrate (neither domestically nor internationally). He is even violently capable. But he is also anti-ISIS and deems them transgressors. Nonetheless, I still fear how his words could indoctrinate the impressionable youth who adore him, into acts of violent extremism. Nobody just wakes up one day and decides “I want to go to Syria now.” Radicalization builds up slowly but steadily, via non-violent extremism. The families of the people who join ISIS are also part of the ummah. Let us think of them, and prevent other families from the suffering of having to lose their loved ones in such a way – by getting rid of this ‘them vs. us’ mentality, once and for all.

Bashar al-Assad’s fate: Is a ‘face-saving’ deal in play?
Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/August 31/15
Recent meetings of key international and regional players have contributed to an emerging sense that the Syrian war is finally on track for resolution after almost five years. A well-informed Syrian opposition source told me that a framework for a political and mutually acceptable solution to the crisis is in the making. On the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, the source said: “A face-saving formula is being drafted.”Washington has toned down talk of Assad’s departure over the last year. In March, Secretary of State John Kerry said the White House would have to negotiate with Assad for a political transition in Syria. Assad has no place in a post-war Syria, but his replacement has to be decided during a transitional period by the warring parties, including the Russian-backed regime
Following dismay over this comment, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf quickly issued a clarification: “There has always been a need for representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of this process. It has never been and would not be Assad who would negotiate.” Harf’s statement lies at the heart of the current U.S. vision of a negotiated political solution for Syria in which the Assad regime, rather than the man himself, is a component. Assad’s departure is not as much a priority for Washington as is the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Iraq and Libya following the ousters of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi respectively, U.S. policy on Syria is centered around keeping the state’s institutions intact.
As such, the Assad regime – not the man – is what matters. The U.S. rebel-training program, and its anti-ISIS coordination with Jordan and Turkey, are components of its new policy on Syria whereby moderate rebels will be trained to fight ISIS rather than the regime.
Assad has no place in a post-war Syria, but his replacement has to be decided during a transitional period by the warring parties, including the Russian-backed regime. To avoid more tension with Russia and Iran, a veteran U.S. politician told me that the White House is studying two face-saving scenarios for Assad: either he leaves office within a transitional solution; or he remains in office until his term ends, without being allowed to run in the next presidential election. However, that may not be accepted by Syrian rebels, especially the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006