LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِFebeuary 01/2010

Bible Of The Day
Mark 12/12-17: " They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away. 12:13 They sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words. 12:14 When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.” 12:16 They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 12:17 Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Turkish Supreme Court Rules Against Assyrian Monastery/AINA/January 31/11
Freedom and double standards/By: Hanin Ghaddar/January 31/11
Interview with MP, Ahmad Fatfat/Al-Anbaa/January 31/11 
Radical political religion will soon shape the Mideast/By Ron Leshem /Haaretz/January 31/11

The butcher & worst ever dictator preaches democracy
Assad: Middle East must ‘upgrade/Now Lebanon/ January 31/11
 
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 31/11
Israel urges world to curb criticism of Egypt's Mubarak/Haaretz
Stuxnet returns to Bushehr reactor. Russia warns of nuclear explosion/DEBKAfile
Miqati's Cabinet Might Not See Light before Hariri's Murder Anniversary/Naharnet
Egyptian standoff: Mubarak stays, army won't oust him and people stand fast/DEBKAfile
Mubarak tells new PM to cut prices, blames rioting on Islamists/Reuters
Mikati meets Syrian ambassador in Lebanon/Ya Libnan
Williams meets Mikati, stresses importance of meeting international obligations/iloubnan.info
Phalange to consult with allies over participation in new government/Ya Libnan
Critical moment for Mikati as cabinet decisions begin in earnest/Daily Star
Jumblatt urges his party to support resistance, ties with Syria/Daily Star
Hariri sees foreign hand behind his ouster/Daily Star
Ferzli: Political attacks on Hezbollah will continue/Daily Star
Hariri group asks Mikati not to shun Lebanon tribunal/Reuters
Suleiman Stresses Importance of Unity and Government that Solves Social Problems/Naharnet
Government Formation Enters Distribution Game/Naharnet
Berri Snaps Back at Hariri, Saying Order to Bring Down Government Came from U.S. Not Syria/Naharnet
halange Reportedly Heading Towards Participation in Miqati's Cabinet/Naharnet
Heavy Israeli Presence Across Lebanon Border/Naharnet
EU Expected to Announce Readiness to Fund Tribunal/Naharnet
First Batch of Lebanese Evacuated from Egypt Arrives in Beirut/Naharnet
PSP: Leaks Proved Tribunal Deviated from Course of Justice/Naharnet
Arab-Israeli Gets 9 Years for Allegedly Spying for Hizbullah/Naharnet
Protesters at Egypt Embassy in Beirut Demand Mubarak Resign/Naharnet
Assad Pleased that 'Transition Between 2 Lebanese Governments Happened Smoothly/Naharnet
Jumblat Slams Saniora, Advises Hariri to Learn Geopolitics/Naharnet
Assad: Middle East must ‘upgrade/Now Lebanon

Assad Pleased that 'Transition Between 2 Lebanese Governments Happened Smoothly'
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad said he was pleased with the "smooth transition" between the two Lebanese governments, unveiling that any conflict would have evolved into civil war in Lebanon. "What pleases me is that this transition between the two governments happened smoothly, because we were worried," Assad told The Wall Street Journal in a rare interview published Monday. "It was very easy to have a conflict of some kind that could evolve into a fully blown civil war," he said. This month, the U.S. returned an ambassador, Robert Ford, to Damascus for the first time since ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination. Assad said that while he sought closer ties with Washington, he didn't see this coming at the expense of his alliance with Iran. The Syrian leader said that he shares the U.S. goals to target al-Qaida and other extremist groups, but that Tehran remains a crucial ally to Damascus.
Assad told The Wall Street Journal that the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen are ushering in a "new era" in the Middle East, and that Arab rulers would need to do more to accommodate their people's rising political and economic aspirations. "Syria is stable. Why?" Assad said. "Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue. When there is divergence…you will have this vacuum that creates disturbances." The Syrian president said he would push through political reforms this year aimed at initiating municipal elections, granting more power to nongovernmental organizations and establishing a new media law. Beirut, 31 Jan 11, 09:06

Miqati's Cabinet Might Not See Light before Hariri's Murder Anniversary
Naharnet/Premier-designate Najib Miqati might not form his government before the 6th anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, media reports said Monday.
Political circles following up the contacts on cabinet formation ruled out in remarks to An Nahar daily a final government line-up before mid February. They said two major events could prevent Miqati from forming the cabinet as soon as possible – an Appeals Chamber hearing on Feb. 7 at the international tribunal's seat at The Hague and the anniversary of Hariri's Feb. 14 murder. As Safir daily wondered whether the billionaire businessman would have a cabinet line-up ready before Feb. 14, a day that ex-Premier Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal movement is seeking to invest to make a "show of force." However, a March 8 source said that Miqati is giving some groups in the March 14 coalition until Tuesday to decide on whether to join the new government. "Miqati is hoping to announce the formation of his government Thursday so that he can go to Tripoli as prime minister Friday to attend the prayers there," the source told The Daily Star. The premier-designate's sources told As Safir that reports about the line-up and potential ministers were not accurate. Furthermore, it is not yet clear whether there would be a 24 or 30-member cabinet, they said. If the March 14 forces refuse to participate in the government, Miqati has the other option of forming a mixed government of politicians and technocrats, As Safir said. Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Jumblat Slams Saniora, Advises Hariri to Learn Geopolitics
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused former Premier Fouad Saniora of hoping for the failure of Saad Hariri as prime minister so that he returns to the premiership. In an interview with the Qatari al-Watan daily on Monday, Jumblat said: "If I was Sheikh Saad I would have participated in Najib Miqati's government without hesitation."
Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Saniora "hopes (to see) Hariri failing so that he returns to the premiership," the Druze leader said without naming him. When asked about Hariri's remarks that he was betrayed by his former allies who named Miqati as premier, Jumblat told al-Watan: "Betrayal and political assassination are emotional words." Hariri "is out of the government today but could return tomorrow. This is the political game in democratic systems," Jumblat said. "The best thing for him is to learn the lessons of geopolitics. Geopolitics means (to have) special ties with Syria based on the Taef accord and (to consider) Israel the enemy." The PSP leader reiterated that he named Miqati as premier when he saw that "the door to the Syrian-Saudi settlement's success had been shut." He stressed that Damascus was not interfering in the cabinet formation process. "Our interests lie in having good relations with Syria. Saad Hariri had a historic chance to strike a personal deal and a political trust deal with President Bashar (Assad) when he went to Damascus but I don't know why he didn't succeed."
Asked why he stopped backing the international tribunal, Jumblat said: "The court could be used to attack Lebanese unity and civil peace. Eventually, such tribunals could be seen as seeking justice but in reality they would be after political gains." Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Phalange Reportedly Heading Towards Participation in Miqati's Cabinet
Naharnet/Premier-designate Najib Miqati held talks with Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel on Monday, a day after another alleged meeting between the two men.
Miqati had also held a telephone conversation with Gemayel on Sunday. The phalange party's representative in ex-Premier Saad Hariri's cabinet Caretaker Minister Salim al-Sayegh told As Safir daily in remarks published Monday that he did not rule out the party's participation in Miqati's government. However, he stressed that the Phalange would take its time to hold consultations and then take the appropriate stance from the participation or the boycott of the cabinet. Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat ruled out however the party's representation, saying that the Phalange would stress its commitment to the March 14 forces' position that it would participate in the government only if Miqati accepts the coalition's conditions on the international tribunal.
The sources close to Miqati also told An Nahar that the Miqati-Gemayel meeting on Sunday only came as part of consultations and that the former president's stances did not contradict with the March 14 position. Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Suleiman Stresses Importance of Unity and Government that Solves Social Problems
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday the importance of preserving national unity and security to consolidate the democratic atmosphere that Lebanon enjoys.
A statement released by his press office said Suleiman told his visitors that the future cabinet should confront the latest challenges and solve social and administrative problems.
The governmental work should help state institutions function, he said. Caretaker Minister Adnan al-Qassar, who visited Suleiman on Monday, said that the president will continue to play the role of the arbiter among bickering Lebanese politicians. "He hasn't saved an effort in achieving internal consensus," Qassar said about the president. Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Heavy Israeli Presence Across Lebanon Border
Naharnet/Israeli troops on Sunday carried out patrols along the Jewish state's border with southern Lebanon and monitored Lebanese territories, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.
The soldiers also carried out maintenance work at several positions from where they monitor Lebanon, the newspaper said. At some point, a three-vehicle patrol spent more than 30 minutes watching Lebanese farmers at Abbasiyyeh, Asharq al-Awsat added. Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Freedom and double standards
Hanin Ghaddar, January 31, 2011
My Facebook friend Nabila posted a status message this weekend: Are we near to saying "I am proud to be an Arab?" or shall we wait a bit for Morocco, Jordan and at least one more country?
I know Nabila from college. We were very good friends, but as we grew older, we grew apart. After college, she became more religious, began wearing the veil and turned into a vehement Hezbollah supporter. Apparently, according to common friends, my “different opinions” on Hezbollah and religion poisoned our friendship. Despite this, we maintained a minimum level of communication over Facebook. When I read her status, I could not resist commenting: Syria next! I was wound up because I read in the papers that a Syrian citizen set himself on fire that same morning in the town of al-Haskah. My friend didn’t like my comment and replied: Wishful thinking, Hanin. It was the only Arab country who said NO to Israel and your beloved country, USA. What have Israel and the US got to do with it? Why does everything need to be about them? I was shocked, perplexed and disappointed by her reply. I thought she would agree with me that Assad’s Syria is similar to Mubarak’s Egypt in many ways: the lack of democracy, plenty of political prisoners and the undemocratic elections that keep the same leader in the same job year after year.
Wishful thinking? It suddenly came to me that my friend and all those who did not wish the Syrian people to take to the streets do not mind a dictatorship or an autocratic regime as long as it publically says no to Israel, even while behind closed doors negotiations are well underway. Then I remembered. In 2009, when the Iranian Green Revolution took place after the presidential elections, the same people who are cheering for Egypt today said nothing. Except for a few opinion writers here and there, and one petition published in newspapers, the Lebanese people remained silent.
My friend Nabila and her fellow Hezbollah supporters, including many who belong to the Lebanese Left and are now organizing daily demonstrations against Mubarak in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut, said and did nothing to support the Iranians who demonstrated peacefully in 2009 against their dictator. Why? Because Iran dislikes Israel.
Democracy, free speech and the simple right to demonstrate without being raped or executed all are unnecessary for many educated pro-Hezbollah Lebanese. That’s exactly why they stood behind Hezbollah as it went about destroying the pillars of the 2005 Independence Intifada bit by bit, and secretly celebrated the recent coup against March 14 when Hezbollah-led ministers withdrew from the cabinet, leading to the appointment of Najib Mikati, the party’s choice for prime minister.
On Facebook and Twitter, the case is similar. People in Lebanon have turned social media into a political tool to support the Egyptians in their uprising. I could not but feel sad for the young Iranian people who feel abandoned as they watch Lebanese rally behind protesting Egyptians and Tunisians. Both the Syrian and the Iranian regimes must be happy with these double standards. Iranian state media has been portraying the demonstrations in Arab countries as a struggle against Western puppets in the region, taking inspiration from Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Of course there was no mention of the masses and their demands for economic reform, political freedom and democracy, which mirror those of the Green Revolution and the Lebanese Independence Intifada. Following the Tunisian uprising, Hezbollah also issued a statement via its media relations office offering praise to the Tunisian people. “Hezbollah believes it is the Tunisian people’s right to choose their representatives and elect whom they find appropriate to rule their country… Hezbollah calls upon leaders to learn from what happened in Tunisia… Hezbollah recalls history when the Iranian people exiled the Shah, who was not received by any of those countries he used to serve,” the statement read.
And yet, in 2009, and in response to questions about Hezbollah’s stance on events inside Iran, Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem said that Hezbollah has nothing to do with Iran’s internal affairs. “We do not side with anyone. What is happening has nothing to do with our situation,” he said, while Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah labeled the protests an “internal Iranian matter.” Double standards if ever there were.
But this we have come to expect from Hezbollah. However, it is still surprising to see that its educated supporters and those activists on the Left do not realize the hypocrisy of the party when it comes to the fight for freedom and justice. On the contrary, they adopt the same double standards as if reasoning is a sin and criticizing Hezbollah is unimaginable.
Tunisians and Egyptians are calling for freedom, democracy and economic reform. They speak for everyone in the Arab world who believes in these principles. Hezbollah and Iran have no right to take advantage of the mood created by them to boost their status. On the contrary, this should make them more concerned.
My dear Nabila, the man who burned himself in Syria Saturday morning did it for a reason. I’m sure he did not do it for fun.
**Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon

Turkish Supreme Court Rules Against Assyrian Monastery
GMT 1-30-2011 22:2:12
Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA) -- In a ruling issued on January 26, 2011, Turkey's Supreme Court granted substantial parts of St. Gabriel Monastery, an Assyrian Christian religious center established in the 397 A.D. in south-east Anatolia, to the Turkish Treasury. This decision reversed a June, 2009 ruling by the district court of Midyat, which had rejected the claim of the Treasury, sending the case to the Supreme Court in Ankara. Kuryakos Ergün, the chairman of the foundation of the monastery, could not comment on how the monastery will react to the verdict, as the details are not clear yet.
The trial is part of an orchestrated effort since 2008 by three neighboring Kurdish village heads associated with the ruling party AKP and the Turkish State to expropriate the monastery's lands (full coverage). The treasury claims land inside and adjacent to the monastery, which the monastery has owned for decades and has paid taxes for, belongs to the State. The many trials concerning this case have been closely followed internationally and have raised many concerns about religious freedom of Christians in Turkey. The monastery is one of the oldest monasteries of Christendom.
Symbol of repression of Christianity in Turkey
Erika Steinbach, the spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Parliamentary Group, said in a statement on January 27th, "The deprivation of the land of the monastery of St. Gabriel stands as symbol of repression of Christianity in Turkey. Even though we do not yet have the verdict and the full-text available and it has not yet a legal force, this landmark decision is a major setback for Christians in Turkey. The negative trend in religious freedom in Turkey is incompatible with human rights."
Dr. Renate Sommer, member of the European Parliament and an expert on Turkey, characterized the verdict as "expropriation." She regards the repeated postponing of the trials against the monastery as a demoralization effort towards the remaining Assyrians in Turkey, to induce them to leave the country. Regarding the plaintifs, she said "Unfortunately these fanatics are supported by the Turkish government, which has put a spoke in the monastery's wheels for decades. Since 1980 the monastery has been prohibited from educating priests. In addition to that the governing AKP supported the plaintiffs against the monastery."
Ironically on the day of the verdict the Turkish President Abdullah Gül, while visiting Strasbourg, criticized in another context the discrimination against Christians by the authorities of his country. However, such statements are perceived as camouflage. While recent constitutional changes in the course of the EU accession process might indicate compliance with formal requirements of Turkey towards rule of law (Article 2 of the Turkish Constitution), the legal practice, at least as applied to Christian minorities, is obviously far from that. As some observers conclude, the undemocratic composition of the some constitutional organs, such as the courts, in tandem with a state ideology enshrined in the Constitution, do not allow a viable application of rule of law.
According to the 2010 EU Progress Report on Turkey, "the number of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finds that Turkish violations of the ECHR continued to increase. During the reporting period the court delivered a total of 553 judgements finding that Turkey had violated the ECHR. The number of new applications to the ECHR went up for the fourth consecutive year. Since October 2009, a total of 5,728 new applications were made to the ECHR. The majority of them concern the right to a fair trial and protection of property rights. As of September 2010, 16,093 cases were pending before the ECHR regarding Turkey."
In the same report, the case of St. Gabriel is highlighted too, stating that Assyrians "...continue to face difficulties in property and land registration procedures. A number of court cases are in progress concerning both individuals and religious institutions. The St. Gabriel Syriac Orthodox monastery court cases regarding land ownership continued throughout the reporting period."
As an example, Turkey has yet to implement the ECHR judgment from March 2009 on the property rights of a Greek Orthodox church on the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos).
One option for St. Gabriel would be to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
By Abdulmesih BarAbrahem
Copyright (C) 2011, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Arab Rebellions and Israel
By Kenneth Bandler
Published January 29, 2011
| FoxNews.com
As popular rebellions spread across the Arab world, one fact has become clear. The Arab-Israeli conflict is not the hub of the region’s problems.
For too long authoritarian Arab rulers have deflected attention away from their internal challenges, perpetuating the myth that corruption, soaring food prices and unemployment are caused by the conflict with Israel. The yearnings of Arabs across the region, more than 50 percent of whom are under the age of 25, would need to wait until Israelis and Palestinians reach a final peace accord.
Since Arab countries, except for Egypt and Jordan, resisted establishing relations with Israel, inaction became the method of entrenched Arab rulers.
The ingredients for the protests underway had been accumulating over decades. “In most Arab countries, the public has become restive in the grip of authority fashioned in a bygone age, and the state’s hold on power grows more fragile each year,” concluded the Arab Human Development Report www.arab-hdr.org, which offered detailed recommendations for improving the economic and social conditions of Arab societies.
A young fruit vendor’s self-immolation in a remote Tunisian village signaled that the cauldron of Arab discontent had boiled over. That dramatic act of protest has spurred a movement that brought down the Tunisian government, forced its president to flee, and generated mass protests in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak is struggling to hold onto power, as well as in Yemen and Jordan. One cannot exclude the possibility that frustrations in other Arab countries, even in the Gulf, will surface. Another reason why Washington must develop an energy policy to end our reliance on Middle East oil. Israelis, long accustomed to being the center of global opprobrium, can smile a bit as the international media focus on the turmoil in Arab lands. Yet, Israelis are concerned about what may transpire in each Arab country facing internal strife and the uncertainty of what will result.
In 1994, Tunisia established low-level diplomatic relations with Israel, but severed them when the second Palestinian intifada began in 2000. Will a new Tunisian government emerge dedicated to both improving the conditions of its citizens and building constructive ties with Israel? Or will a different leadership take power and lead this ostensibly moderate country in a different direction?
The outcome in Egypt, however, will have a greater impact on the region. Whoever emerges as President Hosni Mubarak’s successor, whether through the scheduled presidential elections, if they are allowed to be held fairly, or by Mubarak going into exile, or by a military coup, the future stability of Egyptian-Israeli relations as well as U.S.-Egypt ties will be at stake.
Uncertainty will prevail in the weeks and months ahead in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, as each troubled country sorts out its own internal crisis. If Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood emerge as power brokers, the prospects for both peace with Israel and the consolidation of democratic rights will suffer. But there also may be a silver lining. Perhaps some Palestinians in Gaza will find inspiration from the protests in Arab countries and rise up against the Hamas terrorist regime which has brought them nothing but misery. Hamas, remember, is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now that would be an intifada, an uprising, worthy of the name.
**Kenneth Bandler is the American Jewish Committee’s director of communications.

Egyptian standoff: Mubarak stays, army won't oust him and people stand fast
DEBKAfile Special Report January 30, 2011, The popular uprising against the Egyptian regime reached a standoff at the end of its sixth day, Sunday night, Jan. 30: President Hosni Mubarak made it clear to the armed forces chiefs whom he met at military headquarters during the day that he has no intention of bowing to the massive popular call to step down .
It is from there that operations to quell the uprising against his regime are being conducted. Mubarak clearly had not intention of heeding the pressure from Washington and European capitals to listen to the people and their call for an orderly transition to "a democratic government responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people" – reiterated by President Barack Obama Sunday. The generals then continued to pour divisions into Cairo and Egypt's main cities in an effort to assume control. However, this tactic is not working: The officers and men on the ground realize they and their tanks are extras in a show of strength to the cities without the power to exert it: they can't shoot the protesters or exercise any other form of violence.
In Cairo, for instance, vigilantes protecting private property in the suburbs handed looters over to the soldiers who passed them to the police. In Alexandria, Egyptian tank officers were seen directing traffic in the town center.
Against the regime, the opposition groups - of which there are at leas ten - are just as hamstrung by their failure to produce a leader able to stand up and challenge the president. For lack of any representative figure, they picked the retired nuclear watchdog director Dr. Mohamed ElBaradi to speak for them in negotiations over the transfer of power. Hardly anyone in Egypt knows him: He is better known outside the country having spent many years abroad.
debkafile's Middle East sources report that the Egyptian crisis looks like being in for a protracted period of uncertainty unless the army, which holds the key to breaking the deadlock, decided to step in and pick a side -Mubarak or the people. The generals alone have the clout to force Mubarak to step down and get out, as happened in Tunisia, or smash the street demonstrations. This would mean a massacre, the army's identification with a repressive regime and the end of its historic acceptance as the people's army.
It will be noted that the new Vice President Gen. Omar Suleiman, 76, is seen more as a loyalist of the president, whom he served as intelligence minster and strong arm, than the military.
He appears to be behind the steps ordered Sunday, such as sending Air Force fighter jets to swoop over Tahrir Square and building up a military presence in the main towns. None of these steps have broken the back of the uprising or intimidated the protesters. State TV announced accordinglty that the police would return to the streets Monday, two days after they were chased away by the protesters.The curfew which has been consistently flouted is to be extended: From 1500 hours Monday, Jan. 31, no one will be allowed on town streets until the following morning

Mubarak tells new PM to cut prices, blames rioting on Islamists
By Reuters /President Hosni Mubarak, facing a popular revolt against his rule, ordered his new cabinet on Sunday to preserve subsidies, control inflation and provide more jobs, state television reported. Although he acknowledged the grievances of the demonstrators, he blamed the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement for the disorder and looting of recent days, saying that Islamists had "striven to cause chaos". Egypt State TV broadcast of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Vice President Omar Suleiman, January 30, 2011.
Protesters who have rocked the nation of 80 million people, a key U.S. ally in the Arab world, complain about surging prices and the gap between rich and poor but have also called for a new political system. Mubarak sacked his cabinet on Saturday after days of unprecedented demonstrations across the country, appointing former air force chief Ahmed Shafiq as his new prime minister. But Shafiq has yet to name his cabinet. "I require you to bring back confidence in our economy," Mubarak said in a letter to Shafiq read on TV. "I trust your ability to implement economic policies that accord the highest concern to people's suffering." "I stress that subsidy provisions in their different forms must not be tampered with and that your government just challenge all forms of corruption," Mubarak said.
Mubarak's letter to Shafiq hinted opposition parties could gain more freedoms but was short on specifics. "I also stress the need for moving seriously and effectively towards more political reforms, in the constitution and legislation, via extensive dialogue with the parties ... allowing their wider participation." Mubarak said Egyptians had expressed their legitimate demands during the past week of protests but that "religious slogans" had penetrated their ranks -- a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group banned by the government.
Security forces suddenly withdrew from the streets of Egyptian cities en masse on Friday after spending the day combating the protests.
A report on the state news agency Mena on Sunday night said Mubarak had also discussed political reforms with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call.
"(Mubarak) expressed his determination to continue with more steps on political reform that respond to the aspirations of the Egyptian people for a free, democratic society," the agency said. The six days of unrest have killed more than 100 people, rattled global investors and stunned regional and Western leaders who looked to Mubarak as a bulwark against Islamists and support for Middle East peace negotiations. Army troops have left Egyptians to express their rage at Mubarak's 30 years of autocracy, though the generals have yet to show whether they will keep the 82-year-old leader on or ease him out. Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced out on January 14 when his army refused to crush weeks of street protests with similar complaints against poverty, corruption and political repression

Critical moment for Mikati as cabinet decisions begin in earnest
By Hussein Dakroub /Daily Star staff
Monday, January 31, 2011
BEIRUT: This week promises to be a decisive week for Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati as he attempts to either form a new government which includes some March 14 personalities or a mixed cabinet of politicians and technocrats excluding the March 14 coalition altogether, political sources said Sunday. “The government should be formed by the end of the week because the region is on the boil,” a March 8 source told The Daily Star, referring to the popular uprising against the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “We have to act to consolidate the internal situation.” Mikati briefed President Michel Sleiman Saturday on the results of two days of consultations he held with parliamentary blocs on forming a new government to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s toppled national unity Cabinet.
Sleiman and Mikati discussed “the formation of a government to confront the challenges lying ahead and the living, social and administrative requirements, in addition to preserving national unity and the democratic climate for which Lebanon is distinguished,” said a statement released by the president’s media office.
Mikati, 55, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, has repeatedly said he wants all political parties to be represented in his government. But he has indicated that he would form a mixed government of politicians and technocrats if Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc and its allies in the March 14 coalition decide to stay out.
Mikati was appointed by Sleiman Tuesday to form a new government after winning the votes of 68 lawmakers against 60 for Hariri in parliamentary consultations to name a new premier. Hariri has said he would not join a government headed by a March 8-backed candidate.
A source close to Mikati said the president is demanding to be represented with five ministers, including the interior and defense portfolios, in a 30-member cabinet.
However, this demand did not immediately win Mikati’s approval, the source said. In Hariri’s Cabinet, Sleiman had five ministers, including the interior and defense portfolios.
Mikati is giving some groups in the March 14 coalition until Tuesday to decide on whether to join the new government, the source said.
“Mikati is hoping to announce the formation of his government Thursday so that he can go to Tripoli as prime minister Friday to attend the prayers there,” the source said.
Among difficulties facing Mikati is how to reconcile the conflicting demands of Sleiman and Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun with regard to Maronite representation and portfolios, the source said.
Billionaire Mikati, a telecoms tycoon with close ties with Syria, met Sunday with the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, in the latest meetings he has held with Arab and foreign ambassadors since he was appointed to form a new government.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has welcomed Mikati’s appointment, saying Syria is ready to cooperate with his government.
Mikati was backed by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies in the battle for the premiership after Hariri’s Cabinet was brought down on Jan. 12 with the resignations of ministers of Hezbollah and its allies in a dispute over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The STL’s indictment is widely expected to implicate some Hezbollah members in Hariri’s assassination. Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the assassination.
Mikati, who had served briefly as prime minister in 2005 following Hariri’s assassination, is yet to respond to a list of demands presented to him by Hariri’s Future bloc, urging him to uphold the STL in the face of repeated calls by Hezbollah and its allies to sever all links with the tribunal. The bloc also sought a public commitment from Mikati that he would not disavow the STL.
Meanwhile, Hariri has implicitly accused Syria of ousting him from power via its Lebanese allies. He also said that a Saudi-Syrian-brokered settlement to end Lebanon’s months-long political crisis was dead.
“Our exit from power was not a coincidence when the results of the parliamentary consultations were announced. It was the outcome of an external operations order that had been prepared for months and they had worked to implement it by local tools,” Hariri said in a statement after chairing a meeting of his Future Movement’s political bureau Saturday.
“We were aware of the details of this operations order. We have dealt with it from the very beginning as a reflection of a firm attempt to impose prime ministers and the remaining presidencies with the force of external intervention and internal intimidation,” he said.
Hariri’s remarks seemingly referred to Syria, whose relations with the caretaker premier have been strained since October when Syrian authorities issued arrest warrants against 33 people, mostly Lebanese politicians, security officials and journalists closely linked to Hariri. The 33 are tied to the case of “false witnesses” who allegedly misled the U.N. investigation into Rafik Hariri’s assassination.Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt reiterated his support for Syria and Hezbollah, according to a statement issued after the PSP’s special general assembly held to discuss the group’s future policies. “I wanted from this party meeting to explain some important political historic landmarks in the PSP’s history,” Jumblatt said.
Jumblatt, once a pillar of the March 14 coalition, quit the alliance in 2009 and has reconciled with Syria and its Lebanese allies, mainly Hezbollah.
During last week’s consultations to name a new prime minister, seven of Jumblatt’s 11 lawmakers voted for the Hezbollah-backed candidate, tilting the balance in favor of Mikati.
Renewing the PSP’s commitment to civil peace, the statement slammed the STL, saying that the leaks and tapes about the tribunal’s work “have proved that it had deviated from the course of justice and has become contrary to stability.”

Jumblatt urges his party to support resistance, ties with Syria
By The Daily Star /Monday, January 31, 2011
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt told party members Sunday that the PSP ought to endorse distinguished and strategic ties between Lebanon and Syria and protect the resistance against Israel. During a 35-minute speech, following an exceptional general assembly of the PSP, Jumblatt spoke about the main stances espoused by his party during the last four decades, the bulk of which were pro-Syrian. Following the meeting, the PSP leader said the aim of the gathering was to “discuss in details with party members the historical periods that we [PSP] witnessed starting from the [civil strife of] 1958, [the Israeli invasion of] 1982, [the civil strife of] May 7, 2008, the [1983] mountain war and other periods.”
The meeting was held at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut. PSP MPs Ghazi Aridi, Wael Abu Faour and Alaaeddine Terro, and 860 party officials attended.
“The party will continue this national and pan-Arab policy manifested in distinguished and strategic ties between Lebanon and Syria and the protection of the resistance,” said a statement read by secretary-general Sharif Fayyad. “The PSP will deal with the upcoming period based on those principles,” he said.
Fayyad said the party’s general assembly was briefed on policies adopted by the PSP in the aftermath of May 2008 events, when pro-Hezbollah fighters overran Western neighborhoods of Beirut after a decision by then-Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s Cabinet to dismantle Hezbollah’s private telecommunications network.
“At that period, we took a major decision to support compromise, dialogue, and the protection of civil peace,” Fayyad said.
In June 2009, Jumblatt, who adopted an anti-Syrian stance following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, withdrew from the March 14 coalition and got closer to its rival Hezbollah, and to Syria. “The reconciliation with Hezbollah and the meeting with [Syrian] President Bashar Assad took place, and we opened a new page in the history, position and stance of the PSP,” Fayyad said.
“We also discussed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon [STL], which has deviated from the path of justice because of leaks,” he said.
Earlier this month, Al-Jadeed TV channel broadcast a number of recordings of interviews carried out by STL investigators with several Lebanese figures including caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The U.N.-backed STL is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A number of media reports have speculated that the indictment – which has been issued by the STL, but is currently secret pending review by the pretrial judge – will implicate Hezbollah.
Jumblatt fully sided alongside Hezbollah after caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government collapsed over issues surrounding the STL. During parliamentary consultations on the formation of a new government, the Druze leader’s Democratic Gathering bloc of 11 lawmakers split. Seven MPs, including Jumblatt, voted alongside the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, guaranteeing the latter the parliamentary majority that brought Najib Mikati to the premiership. Jumblatt announced afterward that his parliamentary bloc would go back to its earlier name, the National Struggle Front, after four lawmakers withdrew and supported Hariri. “The latest stances espoused by the PSP safeguarded Lebanon’s civil peace “for which the [party] had sacrificed at several periods,” said Fayyad. – The Daily Star

Hariri sees foreign hand behind his ouster
‘Our exit from power was not a coincidence … it was the outcome of an external operation’
By Hussein Dakroub /Daily Star staff
Monday, January 31, 2011
BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri has implicitly accused Syria of ousting him from power through its Lebanese allies, saying that a Saudi-Syrian-brokered settlement to end Lebanon’s months-long political crisis was dead. “Our exit from power was not a coincidence when the results of the parliamentary consultations were announced. It was the outcome of an external operations order that had been prepared for months and they had worked to implement it by local tools,” Hariri said in a statement after chairing a meeting of his Future Movement’s political bureau Saturday. “We were aware of the details of this operations order. We have dealt with it from the very beginning as a reflection of a firm attempt to impose prime ministers and the remaining presidencies with the force of external intervention and internal intimidation,” he said.
Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati was appointed to form a new government by President Michel Sleiman Tuesday. Mikati will replace Hariri’s toppled Cabinet after winning the 68 votes from lawmakers in parliamentary consultations to name a new premier, against 60 for Hariri.
Mikati was backed by Syria’s allies, the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, in the battle for the premiership after Hariri’s Cabinet was brought down on Jan. 12 with the resignations of ministers of Hezbollah and its allies in a long-simmering rift over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The STL is probing the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and its impending indictment is widely expected to implicate some Hezbollah members in the assassination. Hezbollah has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has welcomed Mikati’s appointment, saying Syria was ready to cooperate with his government.
In the statement released by his office, Hariri said he decided to seek a new term as prime minister despite pressure by Hezbollah and its allies to oust him from power and despite his prior knowledge of the results of this battle.
“The developments that accompanied the president’s parliamentary consultations were held against the backdrop of a calculated plan and extremely fierce external pressure aimed at changing the rules of the democratic game similar to what happened in 2004 when the [mandate] of the President [Emile Lahoud] was extended,” Hariri said, clearly referring to Syria’s intervention with Lebanese lawmakers to vote for the extension of Lahoud’s term for another three years. Rafik Hariri and his Future MPs were among those who voted for the extension of Lahoud’s mandate. Hariri said that attempts by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies to oust him from power triggered nationwide public protests by the Future Movement’s supporters last week. Protestors took to the streets throughout Lebanon, blocking roads with burning tires.
They destroyed and burned a vehicle belonging to an Al-Jazeera TV news team in the northern city Tripoli and torched the mopeds of other media outlets considered loyal to Hezbollah.
Hariri’s remarks were apparently referring to Syria whose relations with the caretaker premier have been strained since October when Syrian authorities issued arrest warrants against 33 people, most of them are Lebanese politicians, security officials and journalists closely linked to Hariri. The 33 are tied to the case of “false witnesses” who allegedly misled the U.N. investigation into Rafik Hariri’s assassination. Hariri visited Syria four times last year to improve Lebanese-Syrian relations soured since his father’s assassination, which forced Syria, under local and international pressure, to finally withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending nearly three decades of Damascus’ grip over its smaller neighbor. The March 14 factions have accused Syria of responsibility in Hariri’s killing, a charge Damascus has repeatedly denied.
Hariri sought to wash his hands of the Saudi-Syrian-brokered settlement aimed at breaking the Lebanese deadlock over the STL. “In order to put an end to any speculation, interpretation or fraud, I hereby declare before the Future Movement leadership and through you to the Lebanese people that anything connected with the so-called S.S. [Saudi-Syrian efforts] has become a thing of the past that does not exist in Saad Hariri’s dictionary or in the dictionary of the Future Movement,” Hariri said. He denied reports that a Saudi-Syrian draft agreement dealing with the work of the STL and its relations with the Lebanese state had been endorsed or signed. “The Future Movement now finds itself in its natural position, the first defense line defending the democratic system,” he said.
He urged Future officials and members to avoid sectarian speeches.

Ferzli: Political attacks on Hezbollah will continue
By The Daily Star /Monday, January 31, 2011
BEIRUT: Political maneuvers against Hezbollah aimed at destroying its image in Lebanon will continue in different ways, said former Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli Sunday. “The maneuvers [against] the resistance and its culture will continue in different forms and this is why we must protect the resistance and support it in defense of our honor and dignity,” Ferzli said during a meeting chaired by Hezbollah to discuss recent political developments and held in the Bekaa Valley town of Mashghara. “Unfortunately, the official Arab stance is supportive of such maneuvers,” said Ferzli, in reference to the ongoing disputes over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. – The Daily Star

Assad Pleased that 'Transition Between 2 Lebanese Governments Happened Smoothly'
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad said he was pleased with the "smooth transition" between the two Lebanese governments, unveiling that any conflict would have evolved into civil war in Lebanon. "What pleases me is that this transition between the two governments happened smoothly, because we were worried," Assad told The Wall Street Journal in a rare interview published Monday. "It was very easy to have a conflict of some kind that could evolve into a fully blown civil war," he said. This month, the U.S. returned an ambassador, Robert Ford, to Damascus for the first time since ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination.
Assad said that while he sought closer ties with Washington, he didn't see this coming at the expense of his alliance with Iran. The Syrian leader said that he shares the U.S. goals to target al-Qaida and other extremist groups, but that Tehran remains a crucial ally to Damascus. Assad told The Wall Street Journal that the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen are ushering in a "new era" in the Middle East, and that Arab rulers would need to do more to accommodate their people's rising political and economic aspirations.
"Syria is stable. Why?" Assad said. "Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue. When there is divergence…you will have this vacuum that creates disturbances." The Syrian president said he would push through political reforms this year aimed at initiating municipal elections, granting more power to nongovernmental organizations and establishing a new media law. Beirut, 31 Jan 11, 09:06

Miqati's Cabinet Might Not See Light before Hariri's Murder Anniversary
Naharnet/Premier-designate Najib Miqati might not form his government before the 6th anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, media reports said Monday.
Political circles following up the contacts on cabinet formation ruled out in remarks to An Nahar daily a final government line-up before mid February.
They said two major events could prevent Miqati from forming the cabinet as soon as possible – an Appeals Chamber hearing on Feb. 7 at the international tribunal's seat at The Hague and the anniversary of Hariri's Feb. 14 murder. As Safir daily wondered whether the billionaire businessman would have a cabinet line-up ready before Feb. 14, a day that ex-Premier Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal movement is seeking to invest to make a "show of force." However, a March 8 source said that Miqati is giving some groups in the March 14 coalition until Tuesday to decide on whether to join the new government. "Miqati is hoping to announce the formation of his government Thursday so that he can go to Tripoli as prime minister Friday to attend the prayers there," the source told The Daily Star. The premier-designate's sources told As Safir that reports about the line-up and potential ministers were not accurate. Furthermore, it is not yet clear whether there would be a 24 or 30-member cabinet, they said. If the March 14 forces refuse to participate in the government, Miqati has the other option of forming a mixed government of politicians and technocrats, As Safir said. Beirut, 31 Jan 11, 08:23

Jumblat Slams Saniora, Advises Hariri to Learn Geopolitics
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused former Premier Fouad Saniora of hoping for the failure of Saad Hariri as prime minister so that he returns to the premiership.In an interview with the Qatari al-Watan daily on Monday, Jumblat said: "If I was Sheikh Saad I would have participated in Najib Miqati's government without hesitation."
Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Saniora "hopes (to see) Hariri failing so that he returns to the premiership," the Druze leader said without naming him.
When asked about Hariri's remarks that he was betrayed by his former allies who named Miqati as premier, Jumblat told al-Watan: "Betrayal and political assassination are emotional words."Hariri "is out of the government today but could return tomorrow. This is the political game in democratic systems," Jumblat said. "The best thing for him is to learn the lessons of geopolitics. Geopolitics means (to have) special ties with Syria based on the Taef accord and (to consider) Israel the enemy."The PSP leader reiterated that he named Miqati as premier when he saw that "the door to the Syrian-Saudi settlement's success had been shut." He stressed that Damascus was not interfering in the cabinet formation process. "Our interests lie in having good relations with Syria. Saad Hariri had a historic chance to strike a personal deal and a political trust deal with President Bashar (Assad) when he went to Damascus but I don't know why he didn't succeed."Asked why he stopped backing the international tribunal, Jumblat said: "The court could be used to attack Lebanese unity and civil peace. Eventually, such tribunals could be seen as seeking justice but in reality they would be after political gains." Beirut, 31 Jan 11,

Heavy Israeli Presence Across Lebanon Border
Naharnet/Israeli troops on Sunday carried out patrols along the Jewish state's border with southern Lebanon and monitored Lebanese territories, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.
The soldiers also carried out maintenance work at several positions from where they monitor Lebanon, the newspaper said. At some point, a three-vehicle patrol spent more than 30 minutes watching Lebanese farmers at Abbasiyyeh, Asharq al-Awsat added. Beirut, 31 Jan 11, 12:44

Freedom and double standards
Hanin Ghaddar, January 31, 2011
My Facebook friend Nabila posted a status message this weekend: Are we near to saying "I am proud to be an Arab?" or shall we wait a bit for Morocco, Jordan and at least one more country?
I know Nabila from college. We were very good friends, but as we grew older, we grew apart. After college, she became more religious, began wearing the veil and turned into a vehement Hezbollah supporter. Apparently, according to common friends, my “different opinions” on Hezbollah and religion poisoned our friendship.
Despite this, we maintained a minimum level of communication over Facebook. When I read her status, I could not resist commenting: Syria next!
I was wound up because I read in the papers that a Syrian citizen set himself on fire that same morning in the town of al-Haskah. My friend didn’t like my comment and replied: Wishful thinking, Hanin. It was the only Arab country who said NO to Israel and your beloved country, USA.
What have Israel and the US got to do with it? Why does everything need to be about them? I was shocked, perplexed and disappointed by her reply. I thought she would agree with me that Assad’s Syria is similar to Mubarak’s Egypt in many ways: the lack of democracy, plenty of political prisoners and the undemocratic elections that keep the same leader in the same job year after year.
Wishful thinking? It suddenly came to me that my friend and all those who did not wish the Syrian people to take to the streets do not mind a dictatorship or an autocratic regime as long as it publically says no to Israel, even while behind closed doors negotiations are well underway.
Then I remembered. In 2009, when the Iranian Green Revolution took place after the presidential elections, the same people who are cheering for Egypt today said nothing. Except for a few opinion writers here and there, and one petition published in newspapers, the Lebanese people remained silent.
My friend Nabila and her fellow Hezbollah supporters, including many who belong to the Lebanese Left and are now organizing daily demonstrations against Mubarak in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut, said and did nothing to support the Iranians who demonstrated peacefully in 2009 against their dictator. Why? Because Iran dislikes Israel.
Democracy, free speech and the simple right to demonstrate without being raped or executed all are unnecessary for many educated pro-Hezbollah Lebanese. That’s exactly why they stood behind Hezbollah as it went about destroying the pillars of the 2005 Independence Intifada bit by bit, and secretly celebrated the recent coup against March 14 when Hezbollah-led ministers withdrew from the cabinet, leading to the appointment of Najib Mikati, the party’s choice for prime minister.
On Facebook and Twitter, the case is similar. People in Lebanon have turned social media into a political tool to support the Egyptians in their uprising. I could not but feel sad for the young Iranian people who feel abandoned as they watch Lebanese rally behind protesting Egyptians and Tunisians.
Both the Syrian and the Iranian regimes must be happy with these double standards. Iranian state media has been portraying the demonstrations in Arab countries as a struggle against Western puppets in the region, taking inspiration from Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Of course there was no mention of the masses and their demands for economic reform, political freedom and democracy, which mirror those of the Green Revolution and the Lebanese Independence Intifada.
Following the Tunisian uprising, Hezbollah also issued a statement via its media relations office offering praise to the Tunisian people. “Hezbollah believes it is the Tunisian people’s right to choose their representatives and elect whom they find appropriate to rule their country… Hezbollah calls upon leaders to learn from what happened in Tunisia… Hezbollah recalls history when the Iranian people exiled the Shah, who was not received by any of those countries he used to serve,” the statement read.
And yet, in 2009, and in response to questions about Hezbollah’s stance on events inside Iran, Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem said that Hezbollah has nothing to do with Iran’s internal affairs. “We do not side with anyone. What is happening has nothing to do with our situation,” he said, while Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah labeled the protests an “internal Iranian matter.” Double standards if ever there were.
But this we have come to expect from Hezbollah. However, it is still surprising to see that its educated supporters and those activists on the Left do not realize the hypocrisy of the party when it comes to the fight for freedom and justice. On the contrary, they adopt the same double standards as if reasoning is a sin and criticizing Hezbollah is unimaginable.
Tunisians and Egyptians are calling for freedom, democracy and economic reform. They speak for everyone in the Arab world who believes in these principles. Hezbollah and Iran have no right to take advantage of the mood created by them to boost their status. On the contrary, this should make them more concerned.
My dear Nabila, the man who burned himself in Syria Saturday morning did it for a reason. I’m sure he did not do it for fun.
**Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon

Khoury says March 14 parties are sticking together
January 31, 2011 /Either all parties of the March 14 coalition will participate in the upcoming cabinet or no one within the alliance will, said outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s aide Ghattas Khoury Monday. He told LBC that March 14 did not yet take its final decision whether it will take part in PM-designate Najib Mikati’s government, adding the PM-designate should answer the Future bloc’s “two main questions” clearly. During their Thursday meeting with Mikati for consultations on cabinet formation, Future bloc MPs asked Mikati to clarify his stance on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and non-state weapons. Hezbollah brought down Saad Hariri's government on January 12 after a long-running dispute over the STL investigating the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, which the party worries will implicate its members.Mikati, backed by March 8, was appointed to the premiership last week, giving Hezbollah and its allies increased leverage in the country and provoking widespread protests.-NOW Lebanon

Assad: Middle East must ‘upgrade’
January 31, 2011 /The Middle East is diseased with stagnation and its leaders must "upgrade" themselves and their societies to keep up with the demands of their people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday.
"We have took keep up with this change, as a state and institutions," said Assad in a rare interview with the Wall Street Journal newspaper as protests in Egypt entered their seventh day.
"You have to upgrade yourself with the upgrading of the society. This is the most important headline."
Many analysts see Syria – "in the middle of the Middle East," in Assad's words – as a potential bell-weather for how other Arab leaders will respond to demands for change.
"Real reform is about how to open up society and how to start dialogue," said Assad, who took power in July 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who himself ruled Syria for three decades. Decades of political and economic stagnation, ideologically weak leaders, foreign interventions and war have driven the discontent that exploded in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt, he said. "If you have stagnant water, you will have pollution and microbes, and because you have had this stagnation for decades ... we were plagued with microbes," said Assad, 45, drawing metaphors from his background in medicine. "So what you have been seeing in this region is a kind of disease. That is how we see it."
This month's uprising in Tunisia inspired the ongoing revolt in Egypt, analysts say, prompting speculation that the Arab world is on the threshold of a period of greater democracy.
"It is a new era," said Assad, "but it did not start now. It started with the Iranian revolution. What is new is that it is happening inside independent countries in the Arab world."
The Syrian leader refused to address events in Tunisia and Egypt directly, saying it was too early to judge their impact on the region, but he said the situation in his own country was stable.
"Syria is stable although it has more difficult conditions than Egypt, which enjoys financial support from the United States while Syria is under embargo by most countries of the world," he said. Sketching out his vision in Syria, Assad said 2011 would see political reforms geared towards municipal elections, as well as a new media law and relaxed licensing requirements for non-governmental organizations. "You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people," said Assad. "So the beginning is dialogue and the institutions."
He said Arab societies had become more closed-minded since the 1980s, leading to extremism and less development and openness. The challenge for leaders was how to open societies and build up institutions. "If you didn't see the need of reform before what happened in Egypt and Tunisia, it's too late to do any reform," he said, cautioning however against rushing through reforms in response to events in those two countries.
When he took power, Assad hinted in his inaugural speech at a new era of openness and reform for Syria, but the so-called "Damascus Spring" by most accounts was brief.
According to Human Rights Watch, Syria has detained political and human rights activists, restricted freedom of expression, repressed its Kurdish minority and held people incommunicado for long periods, often torturing them. Assad has put economic reforms at the top of his agenda, but he said Western embargos were hurting Syria -- still in a state of war with Israel -- at a time when it needs technology to upgrade its institutions and enhance its economy. "Today is better than six years ago, but it is not the optimal situation," the president said. "They tell you move faster and at the same time they impose an embargo."-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Ahmad Fatfat
January 31, 2011
On January 31, the independent Al-Anbaa newspaper carried the following report by Zeina Tabbara:
Member of the Future Movement parliamentary bloc, Deputy Ahmad Fatfat, stated that the participation of the March 14 forces in the government depended on the written response of Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati to the paper of conditions that was presented to him by the aforementioned bloc during the parliamentary consultations. He indicated that any participation in the government without there being a clear, blunt and unquestionable response from Prime Minister Mikati to the conditions of the March 14 forces would be like providing a political cover to the coup that was staged against the constitution and the Lebanese national pact, assuring that the March 14 forces will not provide such a cover considering that the strategic dimensions of the coup feature the toppling of the international tribunal, or at the very least the discontinuation of the collaboration of the Lebanese state with it.
He stated that this violated the simplest constitutional rules which clearly stipulated Lebanon’s commitment to international legitimacy and the decisions issued by it. He stressed on the other hand that the conditions featured in the paper of the Future bloc could be implemented and easily ratified, since Prime Minister Mikati himself said, following the completion of the consultations, that they were not impossible to meet. Asked about the March 14 forces’ possible falling into the same mistake that was committed by the Christians when they decided to boycott the 1992 [elections], and their possible reaping of the same results which were translated at the time with their exclusion from the political arena, Deputy Fatfat indicated in statements to Al-Anbaa that the aforementioned possibility was one of the points being debated by the March 14 forces. He added that despite it, decisive positions must sometimes be adopted, especially when the country is standing before a similar coup that has led to the appointment of a prime minister for Lebanon by political sides and under the threat of arms.
He indicated on the other hand that the March 14 forces were convinced that the current position of Prime Minister Mikati was alongside the party that adopted his nomination and presented him – via General Aoun – as being the opposition’s candidate, adding that Prime Minister Mikati informed the Future bloc he will not take any decision in regard to the international tribunal and the headlines related to it except through national consensus and not a ministerial one. He described this talk as being positive, saying it could be capitalized on if Prime Minister Mikati shows his commitment at this level by including it in the ministerial statement in a clear way that is not open to interpretation.
Regarding the insistence of the March 8 forces on seeing the participation of the March 14 forces in the government, to the point where General Aoun revealed that the latter would be granted the blocking third inside the Cabinet, Deputy Fatfat pointed out that in accordance with the calculations of General Aoun which are based on size or proportionality, the March 14 forces are entitled to fourteen ministers out of thirty ministers in the Cabinet, considering it has sixty deputies in parliament. He assured however there was no talk for the time being about the allocation of the portfolios or the seats, adding that Prime Minister Mikati should firstly respond in writing to the paper of conditions before any decision is taken.
Regarding the extent of Syria’s involvement in the recent developments on the Lebanese arena, whether in terms of the resignation of the former opposition ministers from Prime Minister Al-Hariri’s government and its toppling in a constitutional way, or the arrival of Prime Minister Mikati to the premiership, Fatfat assured that the Syrian role in and fingerprints over all these developments were clear, ever since [Ali Hassan Khalil and Hajj Hussein Khalil] met with the Syrian command in Damascus and were followed by Minister Gebran Bassil for that same purpose. He thus recalled that Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s attempt to open up to Syria and build the best possible relations with it was one-sided, as his efforts were not met by the Syrian side which was awaiting the opportunity to attack this attempt.

Stuxnet returns to Bushehr reactor. Russia warns of nuclear explosion
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 31, 2011, Iran's atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Jan. 29 that the Bushehr nuclear power plant would be connected to the national grid on April 9. He "forgot" about Tehran's promise to fully activate its first nuclear reactor Tuesday, Jan. 25. debkafile's intelligence and Moscow sources reveal that on that day, Iran's hand on the switch was held back at the last minute by Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of Rosatom (the Russian national nuclear energy commission which oversaw the reactor's construction. He came hurrying over to warn Tehran that Stuxnet was back and switching the reactor on could trigger a calamitous nuclear explosion that could cost a million Iranian leaves and devastate neighboring populations. He complained to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Iranian nuclear and engineering staff were ignoring the presence of the malworm and must be stopped.
Kiriyenko told the Iranian president that the Russian engineers employed at the reactor notified Moscow that Stuxnet was again attacking the Bushehr systems after apparently taking a rest from its first onslaught last June. There was no telling which systems had been infected, because a key feature of the virus is that the systems' screens show they are working normally when in fact they have been fatally disarmed. Activating the reactor in these circumstances could cause an explosion far more powerful than the disaster at the Russian reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine in April 1986, which released 400 times more radioactive material than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The impression the Rosatom chief had gained from his staff at Bushehr was that the Iranian teams had been ordered to activate the reactor at any price to prove that the Islamic Republic had beaten Stuxnet. This concern overrode security. The consequences of ignoring this fearful hazard, said Kiriyenko, were unthinkable and would destroy the revolutionary Islamic regime in Tehran in their wake.
Kirienko began worrying when he heard the Iranian nuclear commission's spokesman Hamid Khadem-Qaemi claim on Jan. 17 that Bushehr had not been affected by Stuxnet.
Our Iranian sources report that, after seeing the Russian official off, Ahmadinejad ordered the reactor to stay shut down.
This week, Salehi, who is also Iran's foreign minister, hinted at the cause of the delay when he said: "The reactor has started its operation and the next step is to reach critical phase which will happen by the end of Bahman (February 20) in presence of Russians. We have said before that due to some tests, we may have to face delays but these delays are around a week or two." He added, "We aim at launching Bushehr nuclear reactor safely not to merely launch it."
In Jerusalem, Maj-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, the new head of IDF military intelligence - MI, who appeared before the Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee for his first briefing on Jan. 25 said Bushehr could be quickly converted from producing electricity for civilian use to a military reactor and incorporated into Iran's weapons program.
The next day, Jan. 26, Moscow took the unusual step of demanding a NATO investigation into last year's computer attack on the Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said: T"his virus, which is very toxic, very dangerous, could have very serious implications," he said, describing the virus's impact as being like "explosive mines"."These 'mines' could lead to a new Chernobyl," he said.

Radical political religion will soon shape the Mideast
The parties will be myriad and fragmented, colorless and disappointing, left-wing and right-wing - and all of them hostile to Israel, of course.
By Ron Leshem /Haaretz
When the time comes for genuine elections in Egypt, the country's future will be determined not by university graduates in Cairo but by 70 million villagers. And also, for example, by the one million people living in the City of the Dead, the cemetery in northern Cairo. They will vote for the Muslim Brotherhood because no liberal party can give them the rapid change desperately longed for by the masses, who suffer from shortages of flour, clean drinking water, jobs and housing.
The parties will be myriad and fragmented, colorless and disappointing, left-wing and right-wing - and all of them hostile to Israel, of course. An unstable, rudderless transition period, a parliamentary democracy in the Turkish model, if not the Iranian, will give rise to a religious regime that within a few years will presumably be in control of the best-trained and best-equipped army in the Middle East.
Many urban, educated city dwellers will calmly accept the will of the people, seeing it as an alternative to the futile, fawning pursuit of the culturally hollow West, which gave birth to exploitative dictatorships. The people love Islam - the culture, the tradition. The proponents of sane and secular freedom will wake up too late, just like the socialists and liberals who took to the streets to bring down the Shah of Iran, only to be hanged in the city squares when the transition government in Tehran was replaced with darkness.
Those who believe that the fear of losing the U.S. lifeline will rein in this process underestimate the Egyptian people. Radical, political religion is what will shape the Middle East in the coming decades.
Even in states where a tiny, tired minority rules over an oppressed majority, like Syria, the alternative's day will come. Freedom, in our secular interpretation of the concept, will not easily represent an alternative. The Gaza Strip is already in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, which took the election decisively, and Lebanon will be controlled by Hezbollah. Islam is the solution, according to the slogan of the movement that was born in Egypt 90 years ago.
The masses in the dictatorships are losing their dread of the regime. For them, the new and relevant "leader," who rules and stirs the spirits, is freedom of information and of technology, the most effective manipulators of which and often its big winners are the fundamentalists. That is the case with the Al Jazeera television network, which is controlled by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood but which cynically benefits from the support of international human rights organizations, which see it as battling for freedom of expression in the Arab world.
The world does not necessarily move forward; it generally goes in circles. And progress does not necessarily lead to advancement. In late 1970s in Iran, too, it was audio cassettes of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's sermons that spread the revolutionary message. It is entirely possible that within a decade or two Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the West Bank will be part of the axis of political Islam. In two decades or so, more than half of Israeli youth will be either Arab or ultra-Orthodox Jews. Most of the Arabs will presumably support the Islamic Movement. The Haredim, for their part, will join the workforce, even high-tech, but their support for political religion and for a justice system ruled by Jewish law will not change. People can become accustomed to anything, and we too, presumably, will gradually get used to religious edicts and a changing reality. Many of us, members of the productive, liberal public, will give up and flee in desperation. Others will remain optimistic. Or skeptical.

Israel urges world to curb criticism of Egypt's Mubarak
By Barak Ravid /Haaretz
Israel called on the United States and a number of European countries over the weekend to curb their criticism of President Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the region. Jerusalem seeks to convince its allies that it is in the West's interest to maintain the stability of the Egyptian regime. The diplomatic measures came after statements in Western capitals implying that the United States and European Union supported Mubarak's ouster. Israeli officials are keeping a low profile on the events in Egypt, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even ordering cabinet members to avoid commenting publicly on the issue. Senior Israeli officials, however, said that on Saturday night the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to around a dozen key embassies in the United States, Canada, China, Russia and several European countries. The ambassadors were told to stress to their host countries the importance of Egypt's stability. In a special cable, they were told to get this word out as soon as possible. EU foreign ministers are to discuss the situation in Egypt at a special session today in Brussels, after which they are expected to issue a statement echoing those issued in recent days by U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Obama called on Mubarak to take "concrete steps" toward democratic reforms and to refrain from violence against peaceful protesters, sentiments echoed in a statement Saturday night by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. "The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren't considering their genuine interests," one senior Israeli official said. "Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they're not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications." Netanyahu announced at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that the security cabinet will convene Monday to discuss the situation in Egypt. "The peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these relations will continue to exist," Netanyahu told his ministers. "We are closely monitoring events in Egypt and the region and are making efforts to preserve its security and stability." The Foreign Ministry has called on Israelis currently in Egypt to consider returning home and for those planning to visit the country to reconsider. It is telling Israelis who have decided to remain in Egypt to obey government directives.