LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 24/2011

Bible Quotation for today/The Death of Judas
Matthew 27/03-10: "When Judas, the traitor, learned that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death! he said. What do we care about that? they answered. That is your business!  Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; then he went off and hanged himself.  The chief priests picked up the coins and said,  This is blood money, and it is against our Law to put it in the Temple treasury.After reaching an agreement about it, they used the money to buy Potter's Field, as a cemetery for foreigners. That is why that field is called Field of Blood to this very day.  Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: They took the thirty silver coins, the amount the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him, and used the money to buy the potter's field, as the Lord had commanded me.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Bye-bye Bellemare/Michael Young/December 23/11
50 US experts implore Obama to press Syria harder/By OREN KESSLER/December 23/11 
Russia’s UN proposal on Syria buys time for Assad/By: Tony Badran/December 23/11 
Vaclav Havel and the power of the powerless/By Amir Taheri/December 23/11 
How can we remain silent while Christians are being persecuted/By Fraser Nelson/The Telegraph/December 23/11 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 23/11 
Canada Further Expands Sanctions Against Syria
Syria Says 40 Dead in Capital Suicide Blasts, Opposition Blames Regime
Suleiman to Assad: Terrorist Bombings Aimed at Targeting Arab Plan
Hariri on Syria Bombing: Syrian Foreign Ministry Statements are Fabricated by it and Lebanese Pawns
Hizbullah: U.S. and its Regional Proxies are behind Damascus Bombings
Sunni fighters launch war of terror in Damascus and Baghdad
Syria Government Says 30 Killed, 100 Wounded in Suicide Blasts
Suicide bombings in Syria capital kill 30, report says
Berlin Summons Syria Envoy over Deadly Crackdown
Report: Israeli company sold surveillance equipment to Iran
Israeli Officials: Hizbullah Trying to Intimidate UNIFIL over Monitoring Activities
Sarkozy Urges Mutual Respect as Erdogan Accuses France of Committing 'Genocide'
Turkey is behaving like a regional 'bully,' Cyprus FM says
Turkish ambassador leaves France amid genocide row
Russia and US clash over NATO bombing probe
Sleiman: Attacks on UNIFIL aimed at forcing troops’ pullout
Berlin summons Syrian envoy over deadly crackdown
Lebanese Army Intelligence Arrests Suspect for Rocket Launching in South
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman: Lebanese officials must get used to ‘different’ Syria
U.S. urges calm after Iraq bombings kill 72
Lebanon growth hinges on regional developments
Suleiman to Assad: Terrorist Bombings Aimed at Targeting Arab Plan
Qahwaji Discusses with French Counterpart Ways to Boost Military Cooperation
Abboud Criticizes Nahhas’ Wage Hike Proposal but Says No Political Message behind it
Nahhas Expresses Relief over Wage Plan
Future bloc MP Atef Majdalani: Wage increase consequences will be catastrophic
Jumblat Urges Cabinet Ministers to Close Ranks after Wage Hike Division
Al-Lino Says Palestinian Suspect Admitted to Killing Fustoq but Maqdah Denies Involvement
Egyptians rally against army after woman beaten

Canada Further Expands Sanctions Against Syria
(No. 390 - December 23, 2011 - 10:15 a.m. ET) Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today announced new sanctions on Syria’s Assad regime in response to its ongoing and escalating repression of Syrians:
“Despite increased international condemnation, the senseless violence against the Syrian people continues to claim lives.
“Canada is therefore continuing to step up its pressure on the regime and those who support it by introducing additional targeted sanctions.
“These measures prohibit all imports, with the exception of food, from Syria; all new investment in Syria; and the export to Syria of equipment, including software, for the monitoring of telephone and Internet communications. Canada is also imposing an assets freeze and prohibiting economic dealings with additional individuals and entities associated with the Assad regime.
“Canada stands with the Syrian people in their efforts to secure for themselves a brighter future. We look forward to a new Syria that respects the rights of its people and lives in peace with its neighbours.
“Canada remains committed to working with our international partners to bring pressure to bear on the Assad regime.
“Sanctions imposed by like-minded partners, including the United States and the European Union, and recently by the Arab League are having an impact in isolating the regime.”
On December 15, 2011, Canada announced a voluntary evacuation of its citizens in Syria and expedited efforts to help them leave the country as soon as possible. We continue to urge all Canadians in Syria to leave immediately, while commercial means are still available.
For more information, please visit Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Syria) Regulations.
Backgrounder - Additional Sanctions on Syria
Effective immediately, the amendment to the Special Economic Measures (Syria) Regulations prohibits all imports, with the exception of food, from Syria; prohibits all new investment in Syria; prohibits the export to Syria of equipment, including software, for the monitoring of telephone and Internet communications; and imposes an assets freeze and a prohibition on economic dealings with additional individuals and entities associated with the Assad regime.
The additional individuals and entities announced today, and named below, bring the total of those targeted by Canada’s sanctions to 81 individuals and 31 entities.
Individuals
Tarif Akhras
Issam Anbouba
Emad Ghraiwati
Jumah Al-Ahmad (Major-General)
Lu’ai Al-Ali (Colonel)
Jasim Al-Furayj (Lieutenant-General)
Aous Aslan (General), (a.k.a. Aws Aslan)
Ali Abdullah Ayyub (Lieutenant-General)
Ghassan Belal (General)
Abdullah Berri
George Chaoui
Zuhair Hamad (Major-General)
Amar Ismael
Mujahed Ismail
Saqr Khayr Bek
Wajih Mahmud (Major-General)
Kifah Moulhem
Nazih (Major-General)
Bassam Sabbagh
Fu’ad Tawil (Major-General)
Mustafa Tlass Tala, (Lieutenant-General)
Ibrahim Al-Hassan (Major-General)
Fahid Al-Jassim (Lieutenant-General)
Mohammad Al-Jleilati
Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar (Doctor)
Mohammad Al-Shaar
Khald Al-Taweel
Ali Barakat (Brigadier)
Ghiath Fayad
Nazih Hassun (Brigadier)
Maan Jdiid (Captain)
Talal Makhluf (Brigadier)
Khalil Zghraybih (Brigadier)
Entities
Al Furat Petroleum Company
Al Watan
Business Lab
Centre d’études et de Recherches Syrien (CERS)
Cham Press TV
Handasieh - Organization For Engineering Industries
Industrial Solutions
Mechanical Construction Factory (MCF)
Syria Trading Oil Company
Syronics-Syrian Arab Co. for Electronic Industries
For more information on Canada’s sanctions against Syria, please see Syria.
Context
On May 24, 2011, Canada announced targeted sanctions against the Syrian regime and some designated individuals and entities in response to the ongoing violent crackdown by Syrian military and security forces against Syrians peacefully protesting for democracy and human rights. These measures, which remain in place, were a blend of administrative measures and actions taken under the authority of the Special Economic Measures Act and were consistent with initiatives taken by like-minded partners, including the United States and the European Union.
On August 13, 2011, Canada expanded sanctions by seeking to freeze the assets of four additional individuals and two additional entities associated with the Syrian regime and to ensure that those people believed to be inadmissible to Canada would be prevented from travelling to Canada. Measures implemented by Canada included a prohibition on dealing in the property of listed individuals and entities—including the provision of financial services and making property available for their benefit—and travel restrictions.
Canadian Measures
Travel restrictions: Canada ensured that persons associated with the Syrian government who are believed to be inadmissible to Canada are prevented from travelling to Canada.
An asset freeze: Canada imposed an asset freeze against people associated with the current Syrian regime and entities involved in security and military operations against the Syrian people.
A ban on specific exports and imports: Canada placed a ban under the Export and Import Permits Act on the export from Canada to Syria of goods and technology that are subject to export controls. These items include arms, munitions, and military, nuclear and strategic items that are intended for use by the Syrian armed forces, police or other governmental agencies.
A suspension of all bilateral cooperation agreements and initiatives with Syria.
The measures announced are consistent with Canada’s foreign policy priority to promote freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law around the world. Canada stands with the Syrian people in their calls for a brighter future for Syria.
A news release announcing the May 24 sanctions can be found at PM announces sanctions on Syria.
For more information on the August 13 announcement, please visit Statement by Minister Baird on Situation in Syria.
On October 4, 2011, Canada imposed the following additional measures:
A prohibition on the importation, purchase or transportation of petroleum or petroleum products from Syria.
A prohibition on new investment in the Syrian oil sector.
A prohibition on the provision or acquisition of financial services for the purpose of facilitating the importation, purchase or transportation of Syrian petroleum or petroleum products.
A prohibition on the provision or acquisition of financial services for the purpose of investing in the Syrian oil sector.
For information on the October 4 announcement, please visit Canada Expands Sanctions Against Syria.

Syria Says 40 Dead in Capital Suicide Blasts, Opposition Blames Regime
by Naharnet /..Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on Friday, killing at least 40 people, in attacks the regime blamed on al-Qaida but which the opposition said were the work of the regime itself. The bombings, which officials blamed on al-Qaida, were the first attacks against Syria's powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began and overshadowed new protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"The new toll for the two attacks today is established at 40 dead and 150 injured," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told Agence France Presse.
One bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives into the compound of the General Security Directorate, Syria's most important plain-clothes security service, in the Kfar Suseh neighborhood of Damascus, witnesses said.
A second blew up a vehicle outside a nearby military intelligence building.
State television showed pictures of a huge crater at one of the bomb sites and pools of blood on surrounding pavements.
Bystanders were seen carrying away charred and mangled bodies wrapped in makeshift shrouds.
"On the first day after the arrival of the Arab observers, this is the gift we get from the terrorists and al-Qaida but we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad told reporters at one of the bomb sites.
"We said it from the beginning, this is terrorism. They are killing the army and civilians," Meqdad added.
Asked to comment on suggestions that the bombings had been engineered by the regime itself, Meqdad shot back: "Anyone who makes such allegations is a criminal."
The opposition group, the Syrian National Council, made just such a claim.
"The Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct responsibility for the two terrorist explosions," said an SNC statement received by Agence France Presse.
"It wanted to send a warning message to the observers for them not to approach security centers."
The regime is trying to give the world the impression "that it faces danger coming from abroad and not a popular revolution demanding freedom and dignity," the statement added.
The SNC also accused the regime of having transferred "thousands of prisoners (who were being held in jails) to fortified military barracks," to which the observers would not have access.
Earlier on Friday, Omar Idilbi, an SNC member and the spokesman of the Local Coordination Committees, called the explosions "very mysterious because they happened in heavily guarded areas that are difficult to be penetrated by a car."
"The presence of the Arab League advance team of observers pushed the regime to give this story in order to scare the committee from moving around Syria," he said, though he stopped short of accusing the regime in the blasts.
"The second message is an attempt to make the Arab League and international public opinion believe that Syria is being subjected to acts of terrorism by members of al-Qaida," Idilbi added.
Assad’s main Lebanese ally Hizbullah accused "terrorist" Washington of orchestrating the attacks.
The party said such bombings are "the specialty of the United States", which is seeking revenge for its "defeat" in Iraq, days after its forces completed their withdrawal from the country.
For his part, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman condemned the blasts as "terrorist attacks" and said they were aimed at disrupting the Arab League's efforts to resolve the crisis.
Syria's deputy foreign minister was accompanied to the bomb site by Arab League Assistant Secretary General Samir Seif al-Yazal, head of the observer mission's advance team that flew in on Thursday.
Yazal offered his condolences to the families of the dead.
"What has happened is regrettable but the important thing is that everyone stay calm," he told reporters.
"We are going to press on with our work. We have started today, and tomorrow (Saturday) we will meet (Foreign Minister) Walid Muallem."
Yazal heads a nine-strong team which is making the necessary logistical arrangements for the arrival of a first 30 observers on Sunday. The mission will eventually number between 150 and 200.
The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that also calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.
The Syrian foreign minister has said he expects the Arab observers to vindicate his government's contention that the unrest is the work of "armed terrorists," not overwhelmingly peaceful protesters as maintained by Western governments and human rights watchdogs.
State news agency SANA said Thursday that more than 2,000 security force personnel had been killed in attacks by armed rebels.
But opposition leaders have charged that Syria's agreement to the mission after weeks of prevarication was a mere "ploy" to head off a threat by the Arab League to go to the U.N. Security Council over a crackdown, which the world body says has left more than 5,000 people dead since March.
There was no let-up in the bloodshed on Friday with human rights activists reporting at least 12 civilians killed by security force fire.
The opposition Syrian National Council charged on Wednesday that regime forces had killed 250 people in 48 hours in the run-up to the observer advance team's arrival.
SourceAssociated Press.

Suleiman to Assad: Terrorist Bombings Aimed at Targeting Arab Plan
by Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman condemned the "terrorist" bombings in Damascus on Friday, saying they were aimed at targeting the Arab roadmap intended to resolve the Syrian crisis.
In a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Lebanese head of state said the bombings which “coincided with the arrival to Syria of an observer mission's advance team aim at targeting the Arab plan that Syria and the Arab League had agreed to.”The Arab plan, which was endorsed by Syria on November 2, intends to oversee an end to nine months of bloodshed, calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts and a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. The suicide bombers hit the compound of the General Security Directorate and a military intelligence building in Damascus, killing more than 30 people. The bombings, which officials blamed on al-Qaida, were the first attacks against Syria's powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began in March.

Hariri on Syria Bombing: Syrian Foreign Ministry Statements are Fabricated by it and Lebanese Pawns
by Naharnet /Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Friday that some members of the Lebanese government are seeking to drag Lebanon onto a path of terrorism through covering up the Syrian regime’s crimes.He made his statements in light of the twin bomb attacks that took place in Damascus earlier on Friday and the Syrian Foreign Ministry’s statements that Lebanon had warned earlier this week that members of al-Qaida had infiltrated the country. Hariri said via Twitter: “The Syrian Foreign Ministry’s statements are fabricated by it and some of its Lebanese pawns.”In addition, he stated that the regime in Syria “is specialized in exporting terrorism.”Asked if the bombings were a sign that the regime was targeting the Arab League observers, the former premier replied: “This is a great possibility.”
“The regime does not hesitate to commit the most heinous of crimes,” he stressed. Arab League observers arrived in Syria on Thursday to monitor its implementation of a League initiative aimed at ending violence against anti-regime protesters. Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on Friday killing more than 30 people and casting a pall over the first day of work of an Arab observer mission intended to oversee an end to nine months of bloodshed. The bombings, which officials blamed on al-Qaida, were the first attacks against Syria's powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began and overshadowed new protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Sunni fighters launch war of terror in Damascus and Baghdad
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/December 23, 2011/ rThe Sunni Muslim war on the Shiite-Allawite ruler of Syria and the Shiite-led regime of Iraq has gained deadly momentum in the last 48 hours, debkafile's military sources report. Friday, Dec. 23, two suicide bombers blew up cars loaded with explosives at the Syrian state security building and intelligence center in the heart of Damascus, killing at least 40 military personnel and civilians, and injuring dozens more. It was the first such attack to take place in the Syrian capital in the 10-month uprising against Bashar Assad.
In Baghdad, Thursday, more than 70 people died and at least 200 were badly hurt by a series of roadside bombs, an exploding ambulance and sticky bombs. Most were directed against Shiite targets.
Since Assad and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki share the same backer, Tehran, the spate of terror which erupted this week was not just a trigger for civil war in both their countries but signaled a new and violent round in the Sunni-Shiite struggle for control of the Middle East.
Standing to one side are Iran, the Damascus and Baghdad rulers, Hizballah and the Palestinian extremist Hamas and Jihad Islami. Ranged against them are the Muslim Brotherhood and elements or associates of al Qaeda. They are backed with arms, funds, training and fighting strength by several Sunni Arab regimes, chiefly Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and Libya.
Our counter-terror sources report an expanding flow of extremist Sunni infiltrators from Iraq into Syria and Lebanon. Not all are al Qaeda, as Assad claims. Some belong to the "Awakening Councils" which have evolved into the Iraqi Sunni tribal community's principal military arm. They were originally set up by Gen. David Petraeus, presently CIA Director, to fight al Qaeda. With US funding, training and commanders, these Sunni tribal fighters were successful from 2006 to 2008 in beating al Qaeda into the ground.
But the final US military departure from Iraq this week left the Awakening Council fighters high and dry by. Prime Minister al-Maliki, who takes his orders from Tehran, refused to honor the contract to pay their wages and their families are destitute.
As a result, many Iraqi Sunni fighting men decided to join up with al Qaeda. Their pursuit of a source of arms and a livelihood is taking them across borders into Syria and Lebanon where they join the ranks of anti-Assad Sunni militias, including the Free Syrian Army.
Seasoned in the ways of violence, they were fully competent to carry out the deadly terrorist attacks in Baghdad and Damascus. More such outrages are certain to come, adding a whole new dimension to the popular campaign to unseat Bashar Assad as well as post-war Iraq.


Israeli Officials: Hizbullah Trying to Intimidate UNIFIL over Monitoring Activities
by Naharnet /Israeli defense officials have accused Hizbullah of involvement in the latest roadside bombing on French peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL near the southern city of Tyre, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The newspaper said the defense officials believe French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe is right in accusing Hizbullah of having a hand in the bombing that left five troops injured.
Juppe has said he believes Damascus probably ordered the attack and that its ally Hizbullah assisted in carrying it out. Haaretz quoted the defense officials as saying that the Shiite group “is trying to intimidate UNIFIL, particularly the French troops … so that they won’t monitor Hizbullah’s activities in southern Lebanon too closely.” “The attacks are apparently carried out by proxies, smaller organizations, so that they cannot be linked directly to Hizbullah,” they said. The Israeli officials are probing possible connections between the Shiite party and the two recent firings of Katyusha rockets, Haaretz said.
These developments may indicate a change in Hizbullah’s policy and may be linked to the erosion of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, it added.
“Hizbullah is in a turbulent state,” one of the Israeli defense officials said. “On the one hand, Assad’s regime faces collapse; on the other, Iran has been forced to cut back its financial aid to the organization due to the international sanctions that Tehran faces. “Under such circumstances, Hizbullah is liable to make a mistake and pursue courses of action that would further complicate its situation.”

Syria Government Says 30 Killed, 100 Wounded in Suicide Blasts
by Naharnet /..Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on Friday killing more than 30 people and casting a pall over the first day of work of an Arab observer mission intended to oversee an end to nine months of bloodshed. The bombings, which officials blamed on al-Qaida, were the first attacks against Syria's powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began and overshadowed new protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. One bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives into the compound of the General Security Directorate, Syria's most important plainclothes security service, in the Kfar Suseh neighborhood of Damascus, witnesses said. A second blew up a vehicle outside a nearby military intelligence building. State television showed pictures of a huge crater at one of the bomb sites and pools of blood on surrounding pavements. Bystanders were seen carrying away charred and mangled bodies wrapped in makeshift shrouds.
"There are more than 30 dead and more than 100 wounded in today's two attacks," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad told reporters at one of the bomb sites.
"On the first day after the arrival of the Arab observers, this is the gift we get from the terrorists and al-Qaida but we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission," he added.
Meqdad was accompanied to the bomb site by Arab League assistant secretary general Samir Seif al-Yazal, head of the observer mission's advance team which flew in on Thursday.
Yazal offered his condolences to the families of the dead. "What has happened is regrettable but the important thing is that everyone stays calm," he told reporters.
"We are going to press on with our work. We have started today, and tomorrow (Saturday) we will meet (Foreign Minister) Walid Muallem."
Yazal heads a nine-strong team which is making the necessary logistical arrangements for the arrival of a first 30 observers on Sunday. The mission will eventually number between 150 and 200.
The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that also calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. The Syrian foreign minister has said he expects the Arab observers to vindicate his government's contention that the unrest is the work of "armed terrorists," not overwhelmingly peaceful protesters as maintained by Western governments and human rights watchdogs. State news agency SANA said Thursday that more than 2,000 security force personnel had been killed in attacks by armed rebels.
But opposition leaders have charged that Syria's agreement to the mission after weeks of prevarication was a mere "ploy" to head off a threat by the Arab League to go to the U.N. Security Council over a crackdown, which the world body says has left more than 5,000 people dead since March.
There was no let-up in the bloodshed on Friday with human rights activists reporting at least 12 civilians killed by security force fire.
Three people were killed in Daraa province, south of the capital, cradle of the protest movement against President Bashar Assad's regime, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by Agence France Presse in Nicosia. Six more were killed in the flashpoint central city of Homs and three in the eastern oil province of Deir al-Zour, the Britain-based watchdog said.
The Observatory released a grisly video to back its claim that security forces committed a massacre Tuesday in the town of Kafer Awid in Idlib province in the northwest, close to the border with Turkey.
The video zooms in on the faces of at least 49 men, some of them completely disfigured, before panning out to what appear to be rows of corpses.
The opposition Syrian National Council charged on Wednesday that regime forces had killed 250 people in 48 hours in the run-up to the observer advance team's arrival.
In Berlin, the foreign ministry said it had summoned Syria's ambassador to demand an immediate halt to the "brutal" repression against demonstrators.

Suleiman to Assad: Terrorist Bombings Aimed at Targeting Arab Plan
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman condemned the "terrorist" bombings in Damascus on Friday, saying they were aimed at targeting the Arab roadmap intended to resolve the Syrian crisis.
In a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Lebanese head of state said the bombings which “coincided with the arrival to Syria of an observer mission's advance team aim at targeting the Arab plan that Syria and the Arab League had agreed to.”The Arab plan, which was endorsed by Syria on November 2, intends to oversee an end to nine months of bloodshed, calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts and a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.The suicide bombers hit the compound of the General Security Directorate and a military intelligence building in Damascus, killing more than 30 people. The bombings, which officials blamed on al-Qaida, were the first attacks against Syria's powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began in March.

Qahwaji Discusses with French Counterpart Ways to Boost Military Cooperation
Naharnet/Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji discussed with the French chief-of-staff, Gen. Bertrand Ract-Madoux, ways to consolidate military cooperation between the two countries, the National News Agency reported on Friday. Their meeting took place at Qahwaji’s office in Yarze. The chief-of-staff of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Brig. Gen. Olivier de la Maisonneuve, also attended the talks. NNA said the two parties discussed ways to strengthen the military cooperation between the French and Lebanese armies, and the mission of the French contingent working as part of UNIFIL.
Qahwaji accompanied President Michel Suleiman to the South on Thursday during which the head of state vowed to provide greater protection to UNIFIL.Earlier in the month, a roadside bombing targeted a French patrol in the southern city of Tyre, injuring five peacekeepers. LebanonPoliticsFrance.Comments .

Sarkozy Urges Mutual Respect as Erdogan Accuses France of Committing 'Genocide'
by Naharnet /Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused France of committing "genocide" in Algeria after French lawmakers voted a bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian genocide.
"France massacred an estimated 15 percent of the Algerian population starting from 1945. This is genocide," Erdogan told a news conference after the French move on the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman-era forces. The Turkish premier accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "fanning hatred of Muslims and Turks for electoral gains." "If the French President Mr. Sarkozy does not know about this genocide, he can ask his father Pal Sarkozy... (who) had served in the French legion in Algeria in the 1940s," Erdogan said in his televised remarks. "I am sure he has many things to tell his son about the French massacre in Algeria," Erdogan said. France is home to around 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent and they are seen as a key source of support for Sarkozy and his UMP ahead of presidential and legislative elections in April and June next year.On Thursday, France's National Assembly voted the first step towards passing a law that would impose a jail term and a 45,000 euro fine on anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians constitutes genocide. During World War I hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turk forces. Armenia says 1.5 million died in a genocide, Turkey says around 500,000 died in fighting after they sided with a Russian invasion. France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on Turkey not to "overreact" to a bill that he insisted was a parliamentary initiative, and not a project of Sarkozy's government.

Jumblat Urges Cabinet Ministers to Close Ranks after Wage Hike Division
by Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat called for the consolidation of ties among the political parties that make-up the cabinet rather than engaging in disputes. In remarks to As Safir daily published on Friday, Jumblat said: “This government should work, and in order for it to function, it should limit” the upheaval. “The situation requires the consolidation of the broad alliance that includes us, the Amal movement, Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement, President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati,” he said. His comments came after Hizbullah, FPM and Amal ministers voted in favor of a wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, dealing a blow to another suggestion made by Miqati.
As Safir quoted Jumblat’s visitors as saying that the PSP chief has expressed frustration at the new cabinet crisis over the wage hike. Jumblat backed Miqati and delegated Minister Wael Abou Faour for talks with him at the Grand Serail on Thursday, the visitors said. Miqati had warned that Nahhas’ proposal, which was approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, could have negative economic repercussions.
On Thursday, the PSP leadership hoped the plan will not be struck down by the Shura Council. The new cabinet decision calls for raising the minimum wage to LL868,000 from the current LL500,000 – a sum that includes a LL236,000 transportation allowance.

Future bloc MP Atef Majdalani: Wage increase consequences will be catastrophic
December 23, 2011 /Future bloc MP Atef Majdalani said on Friday that “the economic consequences of the cabinet’s wage increase decision will be catastrophic.”“The decision shows again that the government is an Iranian-Syrian one,” Majdalani told Free Lebanon radio. Majdalani also commented on the conflicting statements of some ministers on the wage raise issue. “I do not know the reasons why some ministers—such as Fadi Abboud, Freije Sabounjian and Marwan Kheireddine—who voted for the decision although they said they were against it, suffer schizophrenia on the issue.”On Wednesday, the cabinet agreed on a new increase of the monthly minimum wage, this time from 500,000 LL to 868,000 LL.
-NOW Lebanon

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman: Lebanese officials must get used to ‘different’ Syria
December 23, 2011
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on Thursday night said that Lebanese officials need to adjust to a reality of a new Syria emerging. (AFP/Dalati & Nohra)
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said that “the Lebanese officials must know that they have to live with a different Syria.”
“Lebanese officials delivered stances distancing Lebanon from the events in [Syria], but President Bashar [al-Assad] will not remain the Syrian president forever,” Feltman told Al-Arabiya TV on Thursday night. Feltman also reiterated his country’s calls on Damascus to release detainees and withdraw its armed forces from the streets. The US envoy also said that “the Syrian National Council is the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.” “There are other opposition parties in Syria, but the SNC has made a remarkable progress,” he said. The United Nations estimates more than 5,000 people have been killed since mid-March in the regime crackdown's on dissent. Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of the Assad regime, led by Hezbollah, and the pro-Western March 14 camp.
-NOW Lebanon

Bye-bye Bellemare
Michael Young, December 23, 2011 e
Little was said in Beirut after Daniel Bellemare, the prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, declared that he would not renew his contract when it expires next February. Regardless of what you will hear from Lebanese supporters of the institution, the development represented a fresh setback in a long-awaited trial process.
Bellemare cited health reasons for his decision, and his apparently extended stay in Canada is not the first time the prosecutor has had to interrupt work because of an, as yet unidentified, ailment. However, this is not an imaginary illness, just as the late Antonio Cassese’s cancer was not imaginary, despite speculation from some in Beirut.
Unlike Cassese when he stepped down as tribunal president, Bellemare did not time his statement with the tribunal’s appointment of a replacement. The prosecution is functioning, but the possibility that there will be an interval between the termination of Bellemare’s mission and the arrival of someone else, like the fact than a new prosecutor will need time to become familiar with the file and may alter the legal strategy, suggests we may not see a trial soon.
There are other uncertainties as well. The tribunal’s indictment of four Hezbollah members will not be an easy one for the prosecution to make stick. An accusation based on so-called “co-location” analysis of telephone communications is largely circumstantial. Even if the evidence is compelling, the defense will find wide spaces to challenge the prosecution’s case on technical grounds, assuming of course that no stronger proof is presented to buttress the indictment.
We might also ask how the difficulty of the case will affect the search for a successor to Bellemare. An ambitious young judge may prefer to stay away from a trial that has a better than even chance of turning into a legal setback. That would favor a retired judge, as some observers of the tribunal have predicted. The risk in that case is that we will have someone brought out of mothballs with little professional incentive to aggressively deepen the investigation. At the same time, he or she may have a fine curriculum vitae, but not the experience of terrorist crimes necessary to expand the inquiry and win a trial.
And expanding the investigation is necessary at this stage. What we have is a crime without an articulated motive. We know that four Hezbollah members allegedly participated in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, but until now the special tribunal hasn’t told us why. That may be remedied, but for it to be remedied we need more indictments in what was a broad conspiracy. But to get more indictments, we need a forceful investigation building on motive.
Don’t’ hold your breath when it comes to a forceful investigation. However, might there be other indictments? Perhaps. Some believe there will be other suspects named, though at the operational level. Bellemare’s departure does not bode well if we’re expecting substantial progress in the coming months, or even beyond that. Had Bellemare intended to issue a second round of indictments, he would likely have announced them when informing the public of his exit--after agreeing with the special tribunal on a replacement. That Bellemare put out his departure statement without touching on indictments, and without a replacement being named, may be a hint that if there are further indictments, they will await a new prosecutor.
Understandably, skepticism reigns. I wager that the special tribunal will never indict, or at least not convincingly indict, senior decision-makers in the Hariri assassination. The reason for this is that the United Nations investigation went through two irreconcilable approaches. The strategy of the first commissioner, Detlev Mehlis, was to begin at the top and identify senior officials who were involved in the crime, before moving downward to the operational level.
Serge Brammertz, Mehlis’ Belgian successor, overhauled that strategy, exploring from the bottom up. He also focused on analyzing the crime scene, but much less on arresting suspects. Shortly before leaving, he admitted to his Lebanese counterparts that his investigation had not substantially progressed. To dispel doubts about this, remember that Bellemare needed a full two and a half years more to produce a final indictment. And even then he designated only four men from the middle and lower rungs of the conspiracy, on the basis of telephone data initially evaluated by two Lebanese police officers, Samir Shehadeh and Wissam Eid, not by UN investigators.
Bellemare’s return to Canada may slow the trial, but it will not, otherwise, cause more damage to an investigation that was flawed from the moment Brammertz took over. That doesn’t exonerate Bellemare from accepting, and defending, a botched enterprise. But such dissembling has been par for the course in the Hariri investigation, so that we’re impervious to bad surprises.
Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author of The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Turkish ambassador leaves France amid genocide row
December 23, 2011
Turkey's ambassador to Paris returned to Ankara for consultations Friday following a vote by the French parliament to ban the denial of the Armenian genocide, an embassy spokesperson said.
Tahsin Burcuoglu left from Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris with his wife on a 7:40 a.m. flight and is expected in the Turkish capital in the afternoon, spokesman Engin Solakoglu told AFP.
Turkey's embassy in Paris will remain open during the ambassador's absence, he said. The recall of an ambassador is a diplomatic protest and is not seen as a complete breakdown in diplomatic relations.
On Thursday, before leaving, Burcuoglu had told a news conference France's ambassador in Turkey would not be asked to leave, although French officials said he was already on a pre-arranged holiday in any case. "We are really very sad. Franco-Turkish relations did not deserve this," Burcuoglu said, blaming Paris for the row. "When there is a problem it always comes from the French side."
Thursday's vote in the National Assembly was the first step towards passing a law that would impose a jail term and a 45,000 euro fine on anyone in France who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians constitutes genocide. During World War I hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turk forces. Armenia says 1.5 million died in a genocide, Turkey says around 500,000 died in fighting after they sided with a Russian invasion. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on Turkey not to "overreact" to a bill that he insisted was a parliamentary initiative, and not a project of President Nicolas Sarkozy's government. "The damage is already done," responded Burcuoglu. "We have been accused of genocide! How could we not overreact? Turkey will never recognise this story of an Armenian genocide. "There are limits. A country like Turkey cannot be treated like this. We're not the Turkey of 2001 or 2006," he declared.
France has a 500,000-strong community of Armenian descent, many of whose forebears fled the killings a century ago, and French politicians assiduously court their votes every five years ahead of elections.
Turkey and many of Sarkozy's domestic opponents accuse him of jeopardizing relations with a key NATO ally and trading partner to win Armenian votes.
"There has been a dramatic change since he visited Armenia," the Turkish envoy said, referring to the French leader's October visit to Yerevan, where he publicly urged Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Berlin summons Syrian envoy over deadly crackdown
December 22, 2011/German's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had summoned Syria's ambassador to Berlin to demand an immediate halt to the "brutal" repression of anti-regime demonstrators by government forces. "The brutal acts by the security forces against the Syrian population are absolutely unacceptable and a flagrant violation of Syria's agreement with the Arab League," said Boris Ruge, in charge of Middle East affairs at the Foreign Ministry. "Given the crimes that have come out into the open, everyone should be asking himself if he can morally serve such a regime," he said in a statement.
The Germany government will continue to exert pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime to meet its international obligations, the statement said.
Germany's move came as an Arab League team was headed to Syria to launch an observer mission to oversee a plan to end the nine months of bloodshed after the opposition accused regime forces of "massacring" hundreds in two days.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Russia’s UN proposal on Syria buys time for Assad
Tony Badran, December 22, 2011 s
Russia's former president Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shake hands as they meet in Moscow's Kremlin in 2006. (AFP/Sergei Karpukhin)
This past week, Russia made headlines with a couple of calculated moves on the Syrian crisis. Namely, it introduced a draft resolution at the UN Security Council and advised the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to sign the Arab League’s initiative. While most commentary saw the move as a possible hardening of the Kremlin’s position toward Assad, it is, in fact, an obvious maneuver aimed at sabotaging US policy.
Following Moscow’s veto of a Security Council resolution in October condemning the Syrian regime’s violence, the Obama administration looked for another channel for action on Syria, namely the Arab League. Washington lent total support to the League’s initiative, calculating that in the event Assad rejected it, pressure would mount on Russia at the Security Council. Indeed, after weeks of fruitless negotiations with Assad, leading members in the Arab League were moving toward referring the case back to the Security Council.
By preemptively introducing a draft resolution of their own, the Russians sought to seize the initiative and change the terms of the conversation. Media analysis and initial official reactions in Washington and Paris focused primarily on the Russian resolution’s parity between the regime’s violence and the opposition’s armed resistance. However, that is hardly the only, or most problematic issue.
At the core of the draft is a call for holding a dialogue between Assad and an undefined opposition and for Assad-led political reforms. Such a call goes against declared US policy, which holds that Assad should leave power. Not surprisingly, Syrian regime propaganda seized on that point to present the Russian move as a victory for Assad, and a recognition that his departure was not in the cards, especially since the US-backed Arab initiative also calls for dialogue.
Russia, according to the regime’s reading, has therefore set the ceiling in both the international and the Arab forums at Assad-led reforms, and not regime change.
Assad sees two additional benefits in Russia’s maneuver. First and most obvious is the extra time he calculates he’ll be afforded as a result. Having signed the Arab initiative, he’ll spend the next several weeks haggling about implementation while the Russians keep the Security Council preoccupied with negotiations over their draft. Already Western states are complaining about the slow pace of the talks as Assad’s forces have killed some 300 Syrians in the last couple of days. Secondly, it’s likely Assad figures the Russian move neutralizes the Arab League and possibly provides him with another shot at fragmenting the Arab consensus against him, as he will undoubtedly quibble over the semantics of the protocol. Washington also expects this. Administration officials have already stated that they anticipate Assad not to implement the agreement. In all likelihood, the administration feels that just as Assad embarrassed and subsequently lost the support of the Turks, he will now do so with the Russians. Moreover, given that the regime’s violence will not abate, Moscow’s proposal of a dialogue with Assad will not be tenable.
The problem is that there’s a fundamental contradiction in the administration’s approach. On the one hand, it expresses willingness to work with the Russians on their draft, knowing that such negotiations may take a while. Furthermore, having already supported the Arab initiative, even dubbing it “the only game in town,” it continues to call for its implementation, even as that process is riddled with traps and time-buying gimmicks with no clear consequences. Yet, on the other hand, the administration maintains that time is of the essence, and that the longer the current situation persists, the gloomier the outlook for Syria. This sense of urgency requires unambiguous US leadership. But the administration’s initial reaction to the Russian draft was to suggest that the Kremlin consult with the Arab League, which, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it, “has taken the lead on the response to what’s going on in Syria.”However, abdication of leadership on the part of the US is at the heart of the problem and the reason why we now have so many cooks in the kitchen, and thus, much greater risk of spoilage. In the end, that is what Russian policy is: a spoiler act.
The wildcard in this overall unpleasant scenario remains the remarkable tenacity of the Syrian protesters and the fact that the street has taken a life of its own, regardless of Moscow’s chicanery or the lackadaisical attitude in Washington. Until the Obama administration finally recognizes that its strong leadership is irreplaceable as well as unavoidable, the Syrian people will continue to face Assad’s killing machine on their own while the Arab League and the Security Council are out on a wild goose chase.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets @AcrossTheBay.

50 US experts implore Obama to press Syria harder
By OREN KESSLER /J.Post
12/22/2011 01:19
Petition calls for US president to demonstrate greater leadership, apply tougher sanctions, increase opposition contacts.
Around 50 US-based experts on Middle East policy and strategy signed an open letter to President Barack Obama this week imploring him to demonstrate greater leadership on the Syria crisis.
Their petition calls for tougher sanctions, greater contact with Syria’s opposition and the creation of havens for the protection of Syrian civilians. Signatories include expatriate activists from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt as well as commentators, academics and former top-level national security officials Elliott Abrams, L. Paul Bremer and Douglas Feith
The letter calls for four specific actions to help bring an end to the “brutality” the regime of President Bashar Assad has inflicted on its people.
First, it appeals to the White House to support “crippling” sanctions on Damascus proposed by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Kirk and Joe Lieberman, and representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Eliot Engel.
Next, it recommends the formation of a contact group of international allies to coordinate strategies for increasing pressure on Assad.
Third, it calls for greater interaction with the Syrian opposition, “especially the Syrian National Council, as well as those who have defected from the Syrian military,” to evaluate their leadership and weigh options for increasing their influence
Last, it suggests working with Turkey and other international partners to create havens for Syrians fleeing the violence, “as well as no-go zones for the Assad regime’s security forces.”
“The Syrian government, which has been on the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terror list since 1979, maintains a strategic partnership with Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
For years, the Assad regime also assisted the transit of foreign fighters who were responsible for killing numerous American troops in Iraq,” the signatories wrote.
“The emergence of a representative Syrian government that protects the rights of all of its citizens and opposes violent extremism in all forms would therefore be a significant blow to Tehran and dramatically improve regional security and stability.”
The letter also criticizes the Obama administration for warning all parties in Syria against “militarizing” the uprising.
Tony Badran, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies – the Washington think tank that released the letter on Monday, along with the Foreign Policy Initiative – said those remarks have been counterproductive.
“The administration has consistently expressed its preference for peaceful opposition, and has at times even made statements that could be read as actively discouraging an armed resistance, saying that could jeopardize international support,” Badran, a signatory to the petition, told The Jerusalem Post. “So there’s a problem in the administration’s conceptualization of a peaceful versus armed opposition.”
Regarding military intervention, the letter confines its recommendation to humanitarian measures to protect civilians in Syria. But Seth Cropsey, a fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former US national security official, said he personally supports the deployment of special forces to the country.
“Military intervention could be useful in the form of special operations forces that would help organize, train and equip groups that oppose Assad,” he told the Post. “I support the use of such forces, as well as intelligence assets” to help unseat the Syrian president,” said Cropsey, who also signed the petition.
Assad agreed earlier this week to allow monitors into Syria to oversee the implementation of an Arab League peace plan, but Badran said the move would not likely have a tangible effect on the ground. He noted that Damascus has agreed to allow them in only “in coordination with Syrian authorities” and has said it would bar them from “military areas” the government can designate at its whim.
“What happens when there is no real implementation? Will the Arab League still muster the consensus to condemn and refer to the UN Security Council? Will it maintain sanctions? Or will Assad, through this maneuver, succeed in further torpedoing Arab consensus against him, thus helping him further negotiate and buy time?” he asked.
“One thing also to keep in mind with these types of initiatives, is Lebanon during the civil war [of 1975-1990]. We saw countless ‘initiatives’ to stop the fighting... that amounted to nothing,” said Badran, who is Lebanese. “Let’s see the implementation. My sense is that everyone is expecting him not to abide by it. Then the question will be what happens next.”
Cropsey said he too puts little stock in Assad’s gesture.
“I don’t take Syria’s nominal agreement to accept Arab League monitors seriously,” he said. “Assad wants to stay in power and will do what he thinks necessary to achieve this.”

Vaclav Havel and the power of the powerless
By Amir Taheri
Asharq Alawsat
he first time I heard of Vaclav Havel was in 1968 when a Czech theatre company was scheduled to perform his play “Open Air Feast” during the Shiraz Festival. In those pre-Khomeini days, Shiraz, having consolidated its position as Iran’s cultural capital, was trying to establish a claim as a leading centre of art and culture on a global scale.
In every field, the organisers of the festival looked for shortcuts to help them fly over decades, if not centuries, to reach the modern world. Not surprisingly, therefore, when it came to playwrights they sought to offer the then fashionable “theatre of the absurd”.
Havel was presented as a young dramatist in the line of festival favourites such as Samuel Becket, Eugene Ionesco, Jerzy Grotowski, Bob Wilson and Peter Brook among others. With hopes raised by the Prague Spring, everyone waited for the Czechs with great expectations.
However, just days before the festival opened, Soviet tanks moved into Prague. We had to be content with a reading of a translation of Havel’s play. Here was a free man, thinking outside the iron frame fixed by Communism and speaking of “the precarious state” of all dictatorships.
Over the years, Havel emerged as a symbol of resistance against totalitarianism. Together with other Czech freedom fighters he showed that even the most powerful armies are “helpless when facing a force they are not trained to fight.”
According to Havel, dictatorship operates by terrorising, neutralising and eventually co-opting its victims into the cobweb of corruption it weaves in society. Those fighting for freedom should protect their dignity by projecting “the power of the powerless.”
Havel challenged not only the hard Communism of Novotny and Husak but also the “soft” Socialism of Alexander Dubcek. He showed that a despotic system can not be reformed.
As fate would have it, Havel, who became one of the most famous dissidents of the 1970s, the age of dissidents par excellence, was to have a trajectory all of his own. Unlike Alexander Solzhenytsin, who replaced the cult of Sovietism with that of Slavophilia, Havel did try to replace one totalitarian ideology with another. And unlike Sakharov, Havel did not believe in the amoral neutrality of science.
Of all the dissidents of the Soviet bloc who ended up as political leaders, Havel was alone in being propelled into political power without ever wanting it. In “Interview from a Distance”, Havel relates an evening with Alexander Dubcek, the father of the “Prague Spring” and his close advisors in the fateful days of the summer of 1968.
Initially, Havel is intimidated by the presence of those powerful people. However, very quickly, he realises that his sole weapon, his words, are more powerful than Dubcek’s paraphernalia of state. That realisation enables Havel to tell Dubcek the kind of narrative no Communist leader, even one dreaming of “Socialism with a human face”, would hear in a lifetime.
Havel’s later writings reveal a long struggle with the very idea of entering the political arena as a leader rather than a dissident. We see him wonder whether an intellectual could become a politician without becoming a consummate liar. More importantly, he seeks an answer to the question whether it is possible to practice politics without becoming amoral? Havel’s answer is a brave “yes”.
One key Havellian concept is that of “change generated by patience”. To Havel, human societies are constantly changing entities that, over time, could move from one position to its very opposite. As 2011 draws to its close, one could consider this year as a perfect illustration of that concept. We have seen how a string of despotic regimes, in countries where dissent was the privilege of a handful of desperados, have been toppled by “the power of the powerless”.
One could name 2011 “The Year of Havel”. In the “Arab Spring” countries, in Iran, in several Latin American and African nations, in Russia and, even in China, the “powerless” rose to challenge the powerful with bare hands as the walls of fear, built over generations, began to crumble.
In all those countries, the despot failed to see how society changed without his spies and minions realising what was going on. Thus, when found hiding in a sewage drain, Muammar Gaddafi was simply unable to understand that things had changed. “But what have I done to you?” he kept asking his captors. We also see Bashar al-Assad telling rare visitors to his hideout in Damascus of “the profound love my people have for me.” And did you see Vladimir Putin’s face the other day as he delivered one of his televised homilies? He looked like a jilted lover, unable to understand why his sweetheart has had enough of him.
Taken to its logical conclusion, Havel’s theorem shows that the only thing that a political leader can really control is the time of his or her own exit from the stage. Leaders are swept into power by factors largely beyond their control, as Havel’s own case illustrated.
Did Havel’s theorem apply to him as well, bearing in mind that in the final period of his presidency he had lost much of his popularity?
When I met him during his presidency, Havel offered a mini guided tour of the presidential palace in Prague. He showed me a Persian carpet presented by the Iranian parliament in the 19th century to a king of Bohemia.
A few lines by Saadi, the great poet of Shiraz, adorned the carpet:
Humans are members of a single body
For in creation they are from the same essence
He who is unaware of the suffering of others
Does not merit the name of human!
When I translated the lines, Havel shook his head and said: That is a lesson for us all!


How can we remain silent while Christians are being persecuted?
By Fraser Nelson/The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/8973118/How-can-we-remain-silent-while-Christians-are-being-persecuted.html
Father Immanuel Dabaghian, one of Baghdad’s last surviving priests, is expecting a quiet Christmas. To join him in the Church of the Virgin Mary means two hours of security checks and a body search at the door, and even then there’s no guarantee of survival. Islamist gunmen massacred 58 people in a nearby church last year, and fresh graffiti warns remaining worshippers that they could be next.
The Americans have gone now, and Iraq’s Christian communities – some of the world’s oldest – are undergoing an exodus on a biblical scale.
Of the country’s 1.4 million Christians, about two thirds have now fled. Although the British Government is reluctant to recognise it, a new evil is sweeping the Middle East: religious cleansing. The attacks, which peak at Christmas, have already spread to Egypt, where Coptic Christians have seen their churches firebombed by Islamic fundamentalists. In Tunisia, priests are being murdered. Maronite Christians in Lebanon have, for the first time, become targets of bombing campaigns. Christians in Syria, who have suffered as much as anyone from the Assad regime, now pray for its survival. If it falls, and the Islamists triumph, persecution may begin in earnest.
The idea of Christianity as a kind of contagion that is foreign to the Arab world is bizarre: it is, of course, a Middle Eastern religion successfully exported to the pagan West. Those feet, in ancient times, came nowhere near England’s mountains green. The Nativity is a Middle Eastern story about a child born to a Jewish mother, whose first visitors were three wise Iranians and who was then swept off to Egypt to escape Roman persecution.
His Apostles later scattered to Libya, Turkey and Iraq, to establish the Christian communities that are now under threat. For most of history, they have coexisted happily with Muslims: dressing the same way, even celebrating each other’s festivals. The rise of the veil, and other cultural dividing lines, is a relatively modern phenomenon.
These dividing lines are now being made into battle lines by hardline Salafists, who are emerging as victors of the Arab Spring. They belong to the same mutant strain of Sunni Islam which inspired al-Qaeda. Their agenda is sectarian warfare, and they loathe Shia Islam as much as they do Christians and Jews. Their enemy lies not over a border, but in a church, synagogue or Shia mosque. The Salafists may be detested by the Muslim mainstream. But as they are finding out, you don’t need to be popular to seize power in a post-dictatorship Arab world – you just need to be the best organised. The West is so obsessed with government structure that it doesn’t notice when power lies elsewhere, and Islamist death squads are executing barbers and unveiled women in places like Basra.
Two years ago, the idea of such bloody sectarianism would have sounded like a macabre fantasy in a country as civilised as Egypt. After al-Qaeda bombed a church on New Year’s Day, Muslim elders sat in the front pews forming a human shield and defying the terrorists. But moderate Egyptians are now losing this power struggle. The killing has started, with another 25 Copts murdered in October. Tens of thousands of Egypt’s Christians have already joined their Iraqi counterparts in exile: as Iraq proved, one death can lead to a thousand emigrations. The Salafists are finding it staggeringly easy to realise their fantasy of a “purer” Egypt.
The Arab Spring was always going to mean danger for religious minorities, unleashing the Islamic extremists who previously were kept at bay. For all their evil, the old secular tyrants abused their victims equally, whether they wore the cross, hijab or skullcap. This year’s revolutions are marked by the utter absence of any leaders-in-waiting. History has repeatedly shown how, under such circumstances, regime change can be followed by a descent into sectarian chaos. Extremists can easily start fights along religious or ethnic lines by assassinating a leader, or blowing up a shrine. The result can be civil war (as with Bosnia and Rwanda), even leading to partition (as with India and Cyprus).
The Foreign Office has been typically slow to recognise the gathering threat, despite repeated warnings. The biggest one of all came a fortnight ago, when the Archbishop of Canterbury opened a gripping debate in the Lords about the widening persecutions, and what the Government ought to do. Lord Patten, the former education secretary, revealed that he spent a year failing to persuade the Foreign Office to help a group of Anglicans in the Anatolian peninsula, who are banned from worshipping in any public place. “'The answer was no,’ he said. 'They would not approach the Turkish government to ask, 'Please can you ease up a bit?’” But when German Catholics were having trouble in the same place, Angela Merkel’s government intervened immediately, working with the Turks to send a Catholic priest to hold public worship.
So why the British reticence? It might be that the Foreign Office sees this as part of a soppy equalities agenda, unworthy of diplomatic attention. Those who have raised the issue directly with William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, say he is unenthusiastic. When Mr Hague visited Algeria recently, he did not raise its ban on any Christian activity outside state-licensed buildings.
When challenged, ministers deplore persecution in general – but, seemingly, not so much that they’d do something like pick up the phone to Ankara. Yet there is plenty Britain can do. Countries could be denied aid until Christians (or Jews, or Sunnis) are allowed to worship freely. British diplomats could be empowered, even instructed, to advocate freedom of religion. When a peer of the realm alerts the Foreign Office to some persecuted Anglicans, a red alert ought to sound. Mr Hague might even publish an annual audit of religious freedom in various countries, making clear its importance to Britain. It might make its own estimate about the scale of the flood of refugees.
The Foreign Office did not realise the full evil of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans until it was too late: it did not take civil tensions seriously enough. It can do better now, making clear that it regards religious cleansing as an emerging evil that ought to be confronted wherever it is being incubated. Article 18 of the UN Charter of Human Rights guarantees freedom of religion – and yet outright religious oppression is quietly ignored, from Saudi Arabia to the Maldives. For ages, Iran has been able to persecute Baha’is with a minimum of fuss kicked up in the West. The ayatollahs are now turning the screw on Christians, with 300 arrested in the past year.
Speaking in that House of Lords debate were men to whom the idea of religious cleansing is anything but abstract. Lord (Dolar) Popat fled Uganda when Idi Amin turned on the Indians in 1971. Hindus, he said, are taught that it is a sin to be prejudiced against anyone. But it is “an even greater sin to witness persecution, then sit back and do nothing to stop it”. Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, said his parents were once victims of the same evil that now confronts Christians. He quoted Martin Luther King: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
Our friends in the Middle East are all waiting to hear from HM Government. Perhaps, in the new year, it might have something to say.