LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 02/2011
Bible Quotation for today/A
Mother's Request
Matthew 20/20-28: "Then the wife of Zebedee
came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor.
What do you want? Jesus asked her. She answered, Promise me that these two sons
of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King. You don't know
what you are asking for, Jesus answered the sons. Can you drink the cup of
suffering that I am about to drink? We can, they answered. You will indeed drink
from my cup, Jesus told them, but I do not have the right to choose who will sit
at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has
prepared them. When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry
with the two brothers. So Jesus called them all together and said, You
know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have
complete authority. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one
of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you
wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others— like the Son of Man, who
did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many
people.
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from
miscellaneous sources
Tightening the noose on Syria/By: Tony Badran ,
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/December
01/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
December 01/11
Barak vs US: We can't wait until
Iran declares it has a nuclear bomb
Barak: Israel isn't looking for war with Iran over its nuclear program
Obama to N.Y. Jews: No ally is more important than Israel
U.S. military chief: Unclear if Israel would alert U.S. ahead of attack on Iran
Germany probing alleged Iran plot to attack U.S. bases on its soil
Israel: We are Capable of Hitting Targets Deep in Lebanon, Syria
STL Funding Paves Way for FPM to Ask for Solution to Vital Issues
STL ‘Greatly Encouraged’ by Miqati’s Announcement of Funds Transfer
March 14 Praises Funding of STL, But Deems it as ‘Smuggling’
Mikati: Win-win
solutions achievable
Miqati Says Committed to Dar al-Fatwa Principles as Calls, SMS and Tweets Pour
on him
Higher Relief Council (HRC) Denies Tribunal Funds
Paid from its Budget
Timeline of STL events
Victorious Lebanese Cage Fighter Brandishes Hizbullah Flag in the U.S.
Geagea: If Hizbullah Has Any Credibility, it Would Recognize STL
Jumblatt
praises decision to finance STL
Bechara Bechara Boutros al-Rai meets with Gemayel, Siniora
MP Ali
Bazzi says STL funding mechanism “protects Lebanon”
Jisr: STL should have been funded through constitutional institutions
Aoun agreed on STL funding mechanism, says Salhab
Nahhas: STL was funded from PM’s budget
Tohme: STL funding indicates cabinet’s recognition of court
Safadi commends STL funding
Anti-Assad rally held in Lebanon’s Bekaa
U.S. bids to keep custody of Lebanese-born
Hezbollah operative
Man badly beaten by Hezbollah members
in south Beirut
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Dec. 1, 2011
Hout warns pilots will be fired if strike
persists
Concerns Raised over Federal Police Help in Arrest of Canadian in Lebanon
Arabs impose travel ban
on 17 Syrians - agency
Syrian envoy Ali Hails STL Funding, Says it’s a ‘Local Affair’
Clinton Pushes Reform, Urges Myanmar to Cut Ties with NKorea
Top Islamic Body Urges Syria to Cooperate with Arab League
Syrian
envoy: Syria knows how to deal with blockade
Arab
League, EU hold talks to team up against Syria
Rights Groups Urge U.N. to Refer Syria Crackdown to ICC
Amnesty Accuses Saudi of Repression
Rome Summons Iran's Charge d'Affaires over Mission Attack
Britain, Germany Urge EU to Financially Isolate Iran
18 Dead in Attacks in Iraq's Diyala
EU
ministers discuss fate of Iranian exiles in Iraq
Britain, Germany urge
EU to financially isolate Iran
Qatar urges West to embrace Islamists in wake of Arab Spring
U.S. congratulates Egypt on 'successful' start to election
Barak vs US: We can't wait until Iran declares it has a nuclear bomb
DEBKAfile Special Report/December 1, 2011/ Major US-Israel differences surfaced
suddenly Thursday, Dec. 1, over the timing and circumstances of an attack on
Iran's nuclear facilities, when Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US
Chiefs of Staff, said: "I don't know whether Israel would alert the United
States ahead of time if it decided to take military action against Iran." Three
hours later, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak maintained US policy would
enable Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon without the possibility of attacking it.
In an interview, General Dempsey went on to admit a range of differences between
the US and Israel on two key issues: The first related to their expectations
from the sanctions and the diplomatic moves being taken by the Obama
administration, “with the stated intent not to take any options off the table” –
language that leaves open the possibility of future military action.
“I am not sure that the Israelis share our outlook” on this matter, said the
American general.
The second issue on which the Americans and Israelis are divided is their
perspective on the future course of events relating to the Iranian nuclear
program and the Middle East: “And … because to them this (a nuclear-armed Iran)
is an existential threat I think probably that it’s fair to say that our
expectations are different right now,” said Gen. Dempsey.
In an early morning radio interview, Ehud Barak laid Israel's cards on the table
with unusual frankness: He said he would be happy if diplomatic moves and
sanctions were to stop Iran’s nuclear program and make it possible to give up
the military option, but he does not believe that is the case.
“They (the Americans) tell us - What’s the hurry with an attack on Iran? Wait
until (Ayatollah) Khamenei announces that Iran is abandoning the NPT (nuclear
non-proliferation treaty). The Iranians will break the locks (IAEA inspection
seals at Iranian uranium enrichment plants) and then it will be clear to all
that they have a nuclear weapon.”
Barak added: “The difference between us and the Americans is this: We say that
because the Iranians are busy moving their nuclear program to underground
facilities, they can announce this (that they have a nuclear weapon) after it is
no longer possible to attack it." He went on to warn that If Israel is pushed
into a corner, “it will have to act.”
In other words, Israel is not willing to wait, as the Obama administration
proposes, until diplomatic moves and sanctions against Iran have achieved their
aim, mostly because Israel is not ready to let Iran complete the transfer of its
nuclear facilities to underground facilities and so make them safe from attack.
According to debkafile’s military and intelligence sources, Israel gives Iran no
more than six to eight months to complete this transfer, i.e., by June to
August, 2012.
Another point made by the Israeli defense minister was that some of Iran's
nuclear facilities have already been hidden underground and are therefore
impossible to monitor, even by military satellites. He was referring especially,
our sources say, to the Fordo bunker site near Qom where, according to
intelligence data, Iran is about to start enriching 20-percent grade uranium to
60 percent. This would bring the program to a few weeks away from weapons grade
uranium for a bomb or a warhead.
On Tuesday, Nov. 29, former IDF military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. (res.)
Amos Yadlin estimated that Iran had already accumulated sufficient enriched
uranium to build 4 to 5 nuclear bombs.
In his interview Thursday, Defense Minister Barak also answered former Mossad
chief Meir Dagan's persistent arguments against an Israeli military strike
against Iran on the grounds that it would immediately trigger a regional war:
Syria, Hizballah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad would launch attacks on Israel,
seriously battering the country and inflicting heavy casualties, in Dagan's
view.
Israel, Barak replied, is nowhere near being paralyzed by messages of doom. The
degree of damage and number of civilian casualties would not, in his view, be
alarmingly high. He repeated his estimate of early November that the casualty
figure from a combined Arab missile assault resulting from an attack on Iran
would be “a lot less than 500” – especially if people took cover.
The defense minister concluded this comment by saying: I have no idea what may
happen tomorrow morning in Syria, or in Egypt.” debkafile’s military sources
interpret this as meaning that the danger of a new Middle East regional war is
already present - unrelated to a possible Israeli attack on Iran, but rather as
a result of the volatility set up by the uprising in Syria and the predicted
rise to power in Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Islamists.
Israel: We are
Capable of Hitting Targets Deep in Lebanon, Syria
Naharnet/Newsdesk 7 hours agoIsraeli Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai
said Wednesday that the Jewish state has the ability to hit targets deep inside
Lebanon and Syria. Israel has airpower and the intelligence ability “to hit
launch sites everywhere -- from a range of a few kilometers in Gaza and Lebanon
to a range of hundreds of kilometers deep in Lebanon and Syria," Vilnai said.
"And beyond that, at far greater ranges, including if we find ourselves involved
in the matter of Iran," he told the annual Israel Aerospace International
Conference and Exhibition in Jerusalem. But Vilnai, a retired army general,
voiced cautious confidence in Israel's superior firepower. He stressed that
Hizbullah and Hamas are deterred by the Israeli army’s power, but said “that is
something that is true as of this morning and could change at any moment."
STL ‘Greatly Encouraged’ by
Miqati’s Announcement of Funds Transfer
Naharnet/The Special Tribunal for Lebanon praised on Wednesday Premier Najib
Miqati’s announcement that he had transferred Beirut’s share of funding to the
court probing the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. “We are greatly encouraged
by the Lebanese PM's announcement that 2011 contribution to the STL has been
transferred to our account,” the court said on twitter. “We look forward to
receiving the money. When we do we will confirm that it has arrived,” it said in
another tweet. Miqati said that he transferred Lebanon’s share of funding in a
decision aimed at protecting the country from the upheavals shaking the region.
Lebanon is responsible for meeting 49 percent of the STL's financing, which
amounts to some $33 million this year.
Miqati Says Committed to Dar al-Fatwa Principles as Calls, SMS and Tweets Pour
on him
Naharnet/Thousands of phone calls, text messages and tweets poured on Premier
Najib Miqati upon his announcement that he had transferred funds to the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon which he said was an interpretation of his commitment to
Dar al-Fatwa principles. In remarks to al-Liwaa daily on Thursday, Miqati said
that he had personally participated in the drafting of the principles which were
approved by all Sunni political and spiritual leaderships. At a broad meeting
attended by Miqati, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other top Sunni
personalities in Dar al-Fatwa in February, the conferees said: "The Lebanese
have adhered to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as a guarantee to justice and
stability.”
Miqati averted a political crisis on Wednesday when he announced that Lebanon
paid its share of funds for the STL that is investigating the Feb. 2005
assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and 21 others.
“My insistence on funding the STL emanates from my keenness on protecting
Lebanon, the people, the army and the resistance,” Miqati said.
Though he did not announce how the funds were transferred, media reports said
the premier asked Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh to open an account to pay
Lebanon’s share, around $32 million, through the Higher Relief Council. Last
week, Miqati threatened to step down if the government refused to fund the
tribunal at a cabinet session. Hizbullah and its allies, mainly the Free
Patriotic Movement, hold a majority in the government and had vowed to block the
funding. Miqati’s sources expressed their satisfaction with the way the funding
was done and hoped in remarks to Ad-Diyar daily that the next stage would
witness an activation of government work, the appointment of civil servants in
vacated posts and the approval of the wage boost.
Those were among the conditions set by the FPM ministers for their return to
cabinet sessions. Last Friday, the ministers boycotted a government meeting.
As Safir newspaper said that Miqati received hundreds of phone calls locally and
from abroad upon his announcement of the transfer of funds.
He spent the entire afternoon and evening answering his calls and tweeting to
his followers. According to As Safir, the premier had received by Wednesday
night around 1,423 text messages that he had not read yet. “We need to keep up
the good work, at all levels, in both the public and private sectors,” Miqati
tweeted, saying “our country needs us and deserves everything from us.”
“I'm doing what my conscience and beliefs stipulate I should do! Time will tell
if my decisions were good for my country or not,” he told one follower.
He promised that the cabinet’s next step is to prioritize stability,
tranquility, reform, debt management, economic recovery, job creation and
growth.
Sources told al-Liwaa that the first cabinet session since the approval of the
funds will be held at Baabda palace next Wednesday on the eve of President
Michel Suleiman’s visit to Armenia.
STL
Funding Paves Way for FPM to Ask for Solution to Vital Issues
Naharnet /The Free Patriotic Movement has given its consent to the funding of
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to avert the collapse of the government
although it was not yet clear on Thursday if it agreed to the way the transfer
was made. “The citizens’ problems are more important than the funding of the
tribunal,” Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud, who is loyal to FPM chief Michel Aoun,
said on Thursday. He told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the FPM ministers
will attend the upcoming cabinet session to assess Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s
keenness on resolving the vital issues. Abboud criticized the mechanism followed
by the premier to pay Lebanon’s dues, saying: “We have repeated the illegal
technique of the distribution of funds, as if the PM became the president.”
Miqati said Wednesday he had transferred Lebanon's share of funds for the
U.N.-backed court probing the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. He also said on
twitter that it was time to prioritize stability, tranquility, reform, debt
management, economic recovery, job creation and growth. Lebanon is responsible
for meeting 49 percent of the STL's financing, which amounted to 32 million
dollars this year. Media reports have said that Miqati asked Central Bank
governor Riyad Salameh to open an account for the transfer of the funds from the
budget of the Higher Relief Council, which is under the prime minister’s office.
But the HRC president has denied. Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas, who
represents Miqati in the cabinet, told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Miqati’s
decision “doesn’t defy anyone, and what happened is a victory for all Lebanon.”
“Lebanon escaped foreign pressure and avoided measures that would have affected
it,” Nahhas added. He was referring to alleged Western threats that the U.N.
Security Council would impose sanctions on Lebanon if it fails to fund the STL.
For his part, Change and Reform bloc MP Naji Gharios told Free Lebanon radio
that the FPM isn’t against the STL “in principle.” “Aoun was among those who
called for its establishment but within the legal restrictions,” he stated.
Another FPM minister, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said in comments published
in An Nahar newspaper that resolving the STL funding dispute “doesn’t mean that
the crisis facing the cabinet has been resolved or that the conditions for our
return have been attained.”
“If (Miqati) was seeking to preserve stability and safeguard Lebanon, then
stability is achieved by implementing productive projects, development and the
social stability, while safeguarding Lebanon would be by protecting it from
those who are corrupt.” FPM ministers announced last week that they would
continue to boycott cabinet sessions until their demands to approve several
development projects were met.
Higher Relief Council (HRC) Denies Tribunal Funds Paid from its Budget
Naharnet The head of the Higher Relief Council denied on Thursday that the funds
of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were transferred from the budget of the HRC.
In remarks to al-Akhbar daily, Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Bashir said the payment of
Lebanon’s share to the STL was not done through the Council. Media reports have
said that Prime Minister Najib Miqati asked Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh
to open an account for the transfer of the funds from the budget of the Council,
which is under the prime minister’s office. According to al-Akhbar, the funding,
around $32 million, was made from an account put at the disposal of the premier
at the Central Bank. Most of the funds were from donations made locally and from
abroad, it said. Miqati stressed Wednesday that the funding was not a victory
for one faction over another, and said the tribunal must go on with its work
while making sure it remains "unpoliticized, neutral and just." In his press
conference at the Grand Serail, Miqati did not specify how he secured the
funding. Lebanon is responsible for paying 49 percent of the tribunal’s share.
Geagea: If Hizbullah Has Any Credibility, it Would Recognize STL
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Wednesday Prime Minister
Najib Miqati’s funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying that
Hizbullah and its allies can no longer claim that it is an American-Israeli
product. He said before reporters in Maarab: “If Hizbullah has any credibility,
then it should recognize the tribunal.” He also stressed that the party should
also capture the four suspects, accused by the tribunal of being involved in the
assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, in order to further demonstrate
its credibility. In addition, Geagea attributed the decision to fund the
tribunal to political reasons, renewing his call on the government to resign.
Miqati announced that he had transferred Lebanon’s share of the STL funding on
Wednesday morning. “My insistence on funding the STL emanates from my keenness
on protecting Lebanon, the people, the army and the resistance,” he said from
the Grand Serail. Lebanon is obligated to fund 49 percent of the tribunal
budget, which amounts to some $33 million.
Jumblatt praises decision to finance STL
December 1, 2011 /Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt commended
Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s decision to finance the UN-backed tribunal probing
the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. “We salute PM Mikati and
highly value his move…which reflects [Lebanon’s] commitment to international
resolutions,” Jumblatt said in a statement.
“This exceptional step was made in order to preserve the government amid a
sensitive phase witnessed [in the Middle East],” Jumblatt added. He said that
the current regional developments “require all Lebanese to be rational and calm,
instead of being distracted by personal aspirations.”Jumblatt also praised
Speaker Nabih Berri, adding that “the latter contributed in reaching a solution
to the [STL funding] issue.”Mikati announced on Wednesday that he transferred
Lebanon’s annual share of funding to the UN-backed court. The Netherlands-based
court has indicted four Hezbollah operatives in connection with the murder but
they have not surrendered to the court. Lebanon is responsible for meeting 49
percent of the STL's financing, which amounts to some $35 million (25.2 million
euros) this year.
-NOW Lebanon
Bechara Bechara Boutros al-Rai meets with Gemayel, Siniora
December 1, 2011 /Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai on Thursday met with
Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel and later held talks with Future bloc leader MP
Fouad Siniora.
The National News Agency reported that the two meetings were held at the Bkirki
Patriarchate. However, the report did not elaborate further.-NOW Lebanon
Clinton Pushes Reform, Urges Myanmar to Cut Ties with
NKorea
Naharnet /U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won promises of further
reforms from Myanmar's rulers in historic talks Thursday, but said it was too
soon to end sanctions after decades of repression. Paying the most senior U.S.
visit in more than half a century to a nation long distrustful of the West,
Clinton offered only cautious incentives to encourage more action, despite a
call by China for Western sanctions to be lifted.
Clinton said Myanmar's leaders "assured me that progress would continue and
broaden" and she welcomed the removal of restrictions on democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi, whom she will meet later Thursday in the commercial hub Yangon. "We're
not at the point yet that we can consider lifting sanctions that we have in
place due to our ongoing concerns over policies that have to be reversed," she
said after talks with President Thein Sein, a former general.
"But any steps that the government takes will be carefully considered and ...
will be matched because we want to see political and economic reform take hold,"
she told reporters in Myanmar's isolated showcase capital Naypyidaw.
Thein Sein, who took charge in March after Myanmar nominally ended decades of
military rule, himself hailed a "new chapter in relations" as he met Clinton at
his imposing palace decked out with chandeliers and gold-leaf chairs. Since last
year, Myanmar has freed Suu Kyi from years of house arrest, held dialogue with
the Nobel Peace Prize winner and released hundreds of political prisoners. Suu
Kyi hopes to run in by-elections early next year.
Clinton's delicate Myanmar trip is a test-case for President Barack Obama's
policy of engaging U.S. adversaries. Upon taking office, Obama promised to reach
out to all who "unclench their fists" but regimes such as Iran and Syria have
instead led deadly crackdowns on the opposition.
Obama personally announced Clinton's visit during a trip last month to
Indonesia, part of his administration's renewed focus on Asia amid concerns in
much of the region about an assertive China.
She announced few immediate steps by the United States, where laws set by
Congress maintain a sweeping ban on trade with Myanmar and require Washington to
block international assistance to one of the world's poorest nations.
Clinton said the United States would open talks with Myanmar to start joint
searches for the remains of troops killed in World War II, when the
strategically placed country was a major battleground. Clinton also invited
Myanmar to join as an observer the Lower Mekong Initiative, a U.S. program that
offers cooperation on health and the environment in Southeast Asian nations.
"These are incremental steps and we are prepared to go further if reforms
maintain momentum. In that spirit, we are discussing what it will take to
upgrade diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors," Clinton told reporters.
"Over time, this could become an important channel to air concerns, monitor and
support progress and build trust on both sides," she said.
The United States has been represented by a lower-ranking diplomat, a charge
d'affaires, as a protest since Myanmar's military rulers refused to accept the
results of 1990 elections swept by Suu Kyi's forces.
The opposition leader holds sway in Washington -- where Myanmar exile groups
keep up a vocal lobbying campaign against the military-backed government -- and
any easing of U.S. sanctions on Myanmar would almost certainly need her
approval. Clinton will meet twice with Suu Kyi -- first for dinner Thursday and
then for more formal talks on Friday morning.
Suu Kyi's opposition, which boycotted last year's poll, plans to contest
by-elections next year that will be a major test of the new political climate.
Clinton also welcomed what she said were efforts by the regime to resolve ethnic
conflicts in the country formerly known as Burma, which has been torn by decades
of intractable insurgencies.
"But as long as the terrible violence continues in some of the world's
longest-running internal conflicts, it will be difficult to begin a new
chapter," she said.
The top U.S. diplomat also called on Myanmar to cut "illicit ties" with
nuclear-armed North Korea and said the regime had given assurances that it was
not cooperating with Pyongyang.
"I was frank that better relations with the United States will only be possible
if the entire government respects the international consensus against the spread
of nuclear weapons," she said.
Her aides have, however, played down defectors' accounts of nuclear cooperation
between the two authoritarian countries, saying the top U.S. concern relates to
missile technology.
Top
Islamic Body Urges Syria to Cooperate with Arab League
Naharnet /Foreign ministers of the world's largest Muslim body urged Syria on
Wednesday to cooperate with the Arab League, which imposed unprecedented
sanctions on Damascus over its crackdown on months of protests. Ministers from
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on the regime of President
Bashar al-Assad to "respond to the decisions of the Arab League," according to a
statement released at the end of emergency talks on Syria. The OIC also urged
Damascus to "immediately stop using excessive force against civilians ... to
spare the country the danger of internationalizing the crisis," it added. The
statement, issued after the meeting that was attended by the Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid Muallem, urged "all parties in Syria to renounce violence and
resort to peaceful means."
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, speaking after the meeting, said the
group "urged Syria to stop violating human rights and to allow Islamic and
international human organizations access to Syria." The meeting was also
attended by Ali Akbar Salehi, the foreign minister of Iran which is a key
regional ally of the regime in Damascus.
Earlier, Ihsanoglu reiterated the Jeddah-based group's rejection of any moves
"to internationalize the crisis."
"We also refuse any military intervention and affirm our respect to Syria and
its sovereignty ... and welcome international and Arab efforts" to reach a
solution, he said.
But the OIC chief expressed frustration at the lack of any breakthrough to end
the violence since March that the United Nations says killed more than 3,500
people, mostly civilians, in its first eight months.
"We have exhausted all our mechanisms and powers in our attempt to bridge the
gap and end bloodshed" in Syria, he said.
The Arab League approved on Sunday sweeping sanctions against Assad's government
over the crackdown -- the first time that bloc has enforced punitive measures of
such magnitude on one of its own members. Measures include an immediate ban on
transactions with Damascus and its central bank and a freeze on Syrian
government assets in Arab countries.
They also bar Syrian officials from visiting Arab countries and call for a
suspension of all flights to Arab states to be implemented on a date to be set
next week.
The vote on sanctions came after Damascus defied an ultimatum to accept
observers under an Arab League peace plan and put an end to the eight-month
crackdown.
Source Agence France Presse
Concerns Raised over Federal Police Help in Arrest of Canadian in Lebanon
Naharnet/ Canada's opposition decried Wednesday its federal police having a hand
in the arrest in Lebanon of a Canadian potato farmer for allegedly selling
"dangerous" spuds to Algeria. Henk Tepper, 44, one of Canada's largest potato
farmers, was arrested on an international warrant in March while on a trade
mission organized by Canada's agriculture department.Algeria is seeking his
transfer to prosecute him for allegedly selling 3,800 metric tons of potatoes to
Algeria in October 2007 which it claims were "dangerous to humans if consumed."
Algeria further claims he forged Canadian documents certifying the quality of
the potatoes to sneak them past its customs. Tepper, through his Canadian lawyer
Rodney Gillis, has denied the accusations. "Today we learned the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police sent his private information to Algeria before he was arrested.
This sounds like the Maher Arar scandal all over again," said opposition MP
Jinny Jogindera Sims, referring to a Canadian computer engineer detained in New
York in September 2002 following a tip-off from Canadian police who suspected
him of terrorism. Arar was then expelled to Syria by the United States, where he
was detained and tortured. Documents obtained by public broadcaster CBC show the
RCMP compiled financial details about Tepper's farming business, as well as
personal information about his wife, their house and their assets. The
information was provided to Interpol, run by Algeria's civil police force in
that country. Tepper's lawyer believes the exchange of information helped lead
to the Algerian warrant and Tepper's arrest in Lebanon. In parliament, Public
Safety Minister Vic Toews confirmed the RCMP had "assisted Interpol with a
criminal investigation" but added its cooperation "was done in accordance with
Canadian law."Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, meanwhile,
said Ottawa was "very concerned" about Tepper and was working on his behalf
"through quiet, diplomatic channels."
Source Agence France Presse
Amnesty Accuses Saudi of Repression
Naharnet/Amnesty International has accused Saudi Arabia of conducting a campaign
of repression against protesters and reformists since the Arab Spring erupted,
in a newly published report.
"The last nine months has seen a new wave of repression in Saudi Arabia as
authorities have cracked down on protesters and reformists on security grounds,"
the rights watchdog said in a statement issued late Wednesday. Philip Luther,
Amnesty's director for the Middle East and North Africa, said peaceful
protesters had been targeted in a bid to "stamp out the kinds of call for reform
that have echoed across the region." "While the arguments used to justify this
wide-ranging crackdown may be different, the abusive practices being employed by
the Saudi Arabian government are worryingly similar to those which they have
long used against people accused of terrorist offences," he said.
Saudi Arabia has been spared much of the unrest that has swept the Arab world
this year and toppled autocratic leaders in three countries -- Tunisia, Egypt
and Libya.
And Amnesty accused the authorities in the conservative Sunni kingdom of
detaining "thousands of people, many of them without charge or trial, on
terrorism-related grounds."
"Torture and other ill-treatment in detention remains rife," said the
London-based rights group.
In April, a judicial source said, 5,080 "terrorist" suspects either faced trial
or had already been tried before a special Saudi security court which has come
in for criticism from lawyers.
Saudi Arabia witnessed a wave of deadly al-Qaida attacks between 2003 and 2006,
prompting authorities to launch a security crackdown on the local branch of the
jihadist network.
Amnesty also accused the Gulf state of having "carried out a crackdown that
included the arrest of hundreds of mostly Shiite Muslims in the restive Eastern
Province."
Shiites in the oil-rich region have rallied since March in support of their
fellow believers in Bahrain, where democracy protests were crushed in March with
backing by troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Last month, four Shiites were shot dead during clashes between protesters and
security forces in the same region. The interior ministry said two policemen
were wounded.
Amnesty said 300 people who took part in the protests were detained.
"Most have been released, often after pledging not to protest again," said the
watchdog, adding that "many face travel bans."
"Elsewhere in the country, protests have been stifled by warnings by the
Interior Ministry that the authorities would 'take all necessary measures'
against those who tried to 'disrupt order'."
Amnesty described as "grossly unfair" the trial of 16 men including nine
prominent reformists who were sentenced to jail for up to 30 years after being
found guilty on November 22 of charges including attempting to seize power.
The rights group alleged Saudi authorities had drafted a secret law that would
allow them to "prosecute peaceful dissent as a terrorist crime and permit
extended detention without charge or trial."
Source Agence France Presse
MP Ali Bazzi says STL funding mechanism “protects Lebanon”
December 1, 2011
Development and Liberation bloc MP Ali Bazzi said on Thursday that the mechanism
used to finance the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) “protects the country.”
“The mechanism preserves and protects the country…and tomorrow is another day,”
Bazzi told LBC television.
He also voiced hope that “the government would be capable and productive.”
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Wednesday that he transferred Lebanon's
share of funds to the tribunal.
Media outlets reported that Mikati ordered the transfer of funds from the Higher
Relief Commission’s budget and not from the Justice Ministry after the
Hezbollah-led March 8 parties, which dominate the government, opposed funding
the tribunal.
The STL has indicted four Hezbollah operatives for murdering ex-Premier Rafik
Hariri and 21 others in a car bomb blast in Beirut in 2005.
-NOW Lebanon
Arab League, EU hold talks to team up against Syria
December 1, 2011
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi joined European Union foreign ministers on
Thursday for talks aimed at forming a united front to stop Syria from violently
repressing protesters.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "very pleased" with the
unprecedented sanctions that the Arab League slapped on Syria last weekend.
The ministers, who were set to adopt a new raft of EU sanctions against
Damascus, and Arabi will try to determine over lunch "the best and most
appropriate ways that we can collaborate," Ashton added.
"We want to work with the Arab League to discuss how they want to go forward and
how effective they think their sanctions are going to be," she said.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Arab League sanctions were
"historic" and that the EU would discuss how "we synchronize our measures."
"I think it is very important that our answer to the repression and to the
atrocities in Syria is a united answer," he said, adding that Europeans would
also keep trying to get a UN Security Council resolution on Syria.
EU ministers are expected to adopt bans on exporting gas and oil industry
equipment to Syria, trading Syrian government bonds and selling software that
could be used to monitor Internet and telephone communications, diplomats said.
European governments will also be barred from providing concessional loans to
Syria - credit at lower rates and longer grace periods than what is offered by
the markets.
The goal is to cut the regime's access to cash.
The EU will also add 12 more individuals and 11 more entities to a blacklist of
people and companies hit by assets freezes and travel bans over the regime's
crackdown on protesters, diplomats said.
The EU has passed nine rounds of sanctions against Syria, placing 74 people on
the list, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, enforcing an arms embargo
and banning imports of Syrian crude oil.
The UN says the violence has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Syrian envoy: Syria knows how to deal with blockade
December 1, 2011
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali said on Thursday that his
country “knows how to deal with all kinds of blockades.”
“If the Arab countries, especially neighboring countries, implemented the
sanctions imposed by the Arab League against Syria, they would be punishing
themselves,” the National News Agency also quoted Ali as saying following his
meeting with former Prime Minister Omar Karami.
Asked about the issue of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Ali said
that his country “favors every step that strengthens Lebanon and preserves its
stability,” adding that “it is a matter that concerns only the Lebanese.”
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Wednesday that he transferred Lebanon’s
annual share of funding to the UN-backed court probing the 2005 murder of
ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
The Syrian ambassador also voiced hope that “the Lebanese authorities make
greater effort to prevent arms and militants’ smuggling.”
He also voiced hope that “the Lebanese media outlets do not [participate] in the
media incitement.”
In an unprecedented move, the pan-Arab bloc on Sunday approved a raft of
sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly crackdown against
an uprising.
Last month, Syrian troops planted mines at Lebanon’s northern and eastern
borders with Syria to prevent weapons smuggling and dissidents from fleeing a
fierce crackdown by the regime in Damascus against an eight-month revolt.In its
most recent toll issued early in November, the United Nations estimated that
more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken Syria
since mid-March.
-NOW Lebanon
Tightening the noose on Syria
By: Tony Badran , Hussain Abdul-Hussain,
December 1, 2011/Now Lebanon
Following the Turkish government’s announcement that it was imposing sanctions
on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the White House issued a statement praising
Turkey’s “leadership.” Although allowing for nine months, and 4,000 dead
Syrians, to pass before finally taking concrete punitive action does not exactly
qualify as leadership, Ankara’s decision is still better late than never.
The Syrian regime has dismissed the impact of the economic measures taken
against it, most recently by the Arab League, with Turkey’s participation.
“Warnings and sanctions will not work with us,” Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem
defiantly declared on Monday. Regime officials have openly stated that as long
as Syria continues to have the support of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, it will
continue to have enough breathing room to get by.
The Assad regime’s bluster, however, is misleading. The unrest in Syria has
already brought tourism and the broader services sector, which forms 55 percent
of the economy, to a halt, dealing it its biggest blow. Sanctions by the
European Union targeting the energy sector, which accounts for around 40 percent
of all of Syria’s exports and one third of governmental revenue, followed. The
sanctions of the Arab League and Turkey will significantly weaken Damascus, even
if Syrian trade continues with Iraq and Lebanon.
The significance of Turkish sanctions varies. Turkey’s trade relation with Syria
was already lopsided in favor of Turkish exports, which had steadily risen since
2003 to reach around $1.6 billion last year. However, all this changed after the
outbreak of the uprising, with trade decreasing dramatically. The drop in
Turkish exports, then, will ironically tilt the balance of trade and save
Damascus desperately needed hard currency, which would have otherwise gone to
Ankara.
Unsurprisingly, Turkish merchants and businessmen in border towns and provinces
feel that it is they who are getting the rougher deal. Similarly, the Turkish
transport sector, which carried goods to Syria and, through it, to the Arab
world, has also been hit hard, forcing Turkey to look for alternative routes,
especially via Iraq. It is partially for these kinds of reasons that Ankara had
long hesitated before finally adopting sanctions. By the time it did, the Syrian
market had become effectively moribund anyway, Turkish investments were
practically frozen, and Turkish banks had stopped issuing letters of credit.
However, the importance of Turkey's sanctions lies in cutting Assad’s ability to
connect to the world’s financial network through a third party. Ankara is
suspending all ties to the Central Bank of Syria, freezing any Syrian government
assets in Turkey and suspending any credit deals as well as all new dealings
with the Commercial Bank of Syria. With Arab countries also closing their doors
in the face of Assad, he must rely on Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.
But Iran is in a similar position, due to international sanctions. Disconnected
from world financial networks, Tehran is desperate for hard currency and often
offers countries like China barter deals for its oil.
For its part, Iraq, although awash with petro-dollars, lacks a sophisticated
banking sector behind which Syria can hide. If Iraq plans to come to Syria's
rescue with foreign currency, it will have to do so using suitcases. This might
be good enough for Assad and his immediate circle, but it would not be able to
keep the Syrian economy afloat.
As for Lebanon, its vibrant banking sector is already under international
scrutiny for fear that Iran could use it to circumvent its sanctions. Syria too
will find it hard to use the closely monitored Lebanese banks as a third party
for its financial operations.
What remains for Syria are its exports to Iraq and Lebanon, which account for
around 40 percent of Syria's $13 billion annual exports. While too little to
keep the Syrian economy going, these exports are not exclusively Syrian
manufacture and include transit trade. As Syrian transit trade drops to a
minimum, the Syrians will be left with exporting food, textiles and other staple
products as their only source of income.
A key element of the Arab League sanctions of the regime will be the compliance
of the United Arab Emirates, where Assad and his entourage presumably keep their
money, and where his family has reportedly recently purchased $60 million worth
of property. The UAE have yet to freeze Syrian assets. They possibly are either
holding out hope for a last-minute compromise, or they are giving the Assads
time to move out their money to another, as of yet unknown destination.
The reluctance of Turkey and the UAE, to say nothing of Iraq and Jordan, puts in
perspective the White House’s praise of these regional actors’ supposed
leadership.
The Obama administration’s continued desire to look for others to lead on Syria
will run against the vulnerabilities and hesitance of these states. The US will
need to press these allies hard to ensure the noose is tight around Assad’s
neck. There is no substitute to Washington’s leadership.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.
Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
He tweets @AcrossTheBay.
EU ministers discuss fate of Iranian exiles in Iraq
December 1, 2011
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday called for a
"satisfactory outcome" in the complex relocation of 3,400 Iranian dissidents due
to be expelled from a camp in Iraq.
As EU foreign ministers prepared to discuss controversial efforts to close Camp
Ashraf north of Baghdad, Ashton said she had held talks on the issue both with
US authorities and with UN officials monitoring Iraq's closure of the camp.
"The critical thing is to keep 3,400 people safe," Ashton said.
Camp Ashraf has been home to members of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of
Iran (PMOI) since the 1980s.
But Iraq is intent on closing it by year's end in what PMOI leaders say is a
plot designed by Tehran to eliminate the dissidents.
PMOI exiles in Europe, who staged a demonstration outside EU offices Thursday,
have enlisted the support of around 100 European parliamentarians (MEPs) who
have warned of the impending "slaughter" of the dissidents failing the presence
of UN or US forces to protect them.
"We are trying to work very closely with the UN who are in the lead on this, and
whose responsibility it is to try and find a suitable and satisfactory outcome,
to give these people a new home, to return them to where they wish to go,"
Ashton said.
Iraq says it is exercising its sovereignty in closing the facility which has
been home to the exiles for 30 years.
But PMOI and its MEP supporters fear harm may come during the relocation of the
dissidents to another facility pending one-on-one interviews by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees to determine where each wants to go.
"Plans have been developed to mount a massive attack on Ashraf within the coming
month, involving the Iraqi military, the Iraqi police," said MEP Struan
Stevenson.
Ashton is to ask ministers how many refugees each country can take, with others
going to the United States, Canada and Australia.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon