LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJUNE 21/2011

Bible Quotation for today
The Good News According to John 15/1 -11: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.  Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.  I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. 15:8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.  Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.  I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources 
From SPIEGEL: Interview with German Defense Minister Thomas de De Maizière/'We Will Not Get Involved' in Syria/June 20/11
The dark future/Future Web Site/June 20/11
Canadian farmer held in Lebanon fights extradition to Algeria/The Daily Star/20 June/11
Liberal MP Wayne Easter:  Canadian Farmer jailed in Lebanon disowned by government/CBC/June 20/11
Syria exodus is the Nakba no one's talking about/By Salman Masalha /Haaretz/June 20/11
Assad needs to give much more than a speech to halt Syria protests/By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/June 20/11
Will Assad regime survive/By: Ron Ben-Yishai /Ynetnews/June 20/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 20/11
Hezbollah shocked over Israeli spies'/Ynetnews
Lieberman: Iran Involved in Lebanese Developments, Suppressing Syria Protests/Naharnet
Timeline: Violence in Syria/Reuters
Syrian President Says 'Saboteurs' Exploiting Legitimate Reform/VOA
HIGHLIGHTS-Syrian President Bashar Assad's speech on unrest/Reuters/Daily Star
Syria Activists: Assad Speech Deepens Crisis, Revolt Must Go On/Naharnet
Syrians call Assad 'liar' following speech/Ynetnews
No compromise in Assad speech - only vow to keep on battling terrorists/DEBKAfile Special Report
Protesters take to streets in Syria after Assad speech/J.Post
Russia to urge Syria opposition to talk to government/RIA Novosti
Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest - live updates/The Guardian
US Weighs War Crimes Charges for Syria/NYT
Wikileaks: Syrian Intelligence murdered martyr Hariri//Future Web Site
Lebanese M.P, Fatfat: Mikati can confiscate weapons if he wants to /Future Web Site
Lebanese M.P Jisr: /Mikati’s cabinet supports Syria to confront international community/Future Web Site
Lebanese M.P: Hadi Hobeish supports ‘Tripoli free of weapons’ motto/Future Web Site
Future Block politician Mustafa Allouch: Cabinet age linked to developments in Syria/Future Web Site
Beehives stolen in south Lebanon/The Daily Star
Lebanese M.P. Elie Marouni: new government formation is a Hezbollah coup/iloubnan.info
Mikati: Security forces to protect citizens without discrimination/The Daily Star
Estonian minister to meet Lebanese PM over kidnap/The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - June 20, 2011/The Daily Star
Siniora blasts Aoun as delusional over remarks/Daily Star
Arslan’s resignation from Cabinet ‘final’: party official/The Daily Star
Lebanese Opposition Members in Paris to Agree with Hariri on Next Steps/Naharnet
Maronite patriarch asks that new Cabinet be given a chance/Daily Star
Jumblat: Out of Keenness on Syria’s Stability, Tripoli Mustn’t Be Dragged into its Crisis/Naharnet
Phalange Holds Cabinet Responsible for Any Confrontation with International Community/Naharnet
Nahhas: Abdul Monhem Youssef’s Days in State are Numbered/Naharnet
Foreign Ministry Tells Ban Lebanon Opposes Israel-Cyprus Economic Zone/Naharnet
Berri Says ‘Golden Triangle’ Consolidates Lebanon/Naharnet 

.Lieberman: Iran Involved in Lebanese Developments, Suppressing Syria Protests
Naharnet/Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated on Monday that even though the international community has focused its attention on the developments in the Arab world and negotiations between Palestine and Israel, the real danger in the region comes from Iran, Confronting this danger should be a priority for Israel’s foreign policy, he added.
“Iran is at the head of the axis of evil,” he declared. “It is taking part in suppressing the protests in Syria and it is involved in all developments in Lebanon and Yemen,” Lieberman stressed.
Source Agence France Presse

Spy ring 'shocks' Hezbollah
Kuwaiti newspaper claims members of alleged espionage ring discovered among Shiite group's ranks infiltrated top position within organization; had 'unimaginably' close ties with Israel
Ynetnews/20 June/11/Following reports suggesting Hezbollah has arrested several of its own members on suspicion of syping for Israel, the Kuwaiti daily "Al-Rai al-Aam" reported Sunday that the Lebanese Shiite organization "was dumbfounded over the Israeli infiltration." Reports claimed that one of the suspects is a relative of a senior Hezbollah official, while another detainee was the liaison between the organization, Iran and Syria. The Kuwaiti report stated that the number Hezbollah operatives believed to be linked to Israel at various posts within Hezbollah’s ranks "is more than 10 collaborators.” The newspaper also claimed that many of the suspects hold senior positions within the organization's administration and that their contact with Israel "exceeds imagination." The detainees, the report states, were uncovered during the past three months. Al-Rai Al-Aam noted that the first piece of information leading to the arrests was obtained when Hezbollah intentionally leaked false intelligence on Israel in order to measure the response and "expose the enemy collaborators within the organization's ranks."
According to the report, "Israel was unable to hold back its response in this 'mind game' against Hezbollah, leading its agents right into the trap that exposed them."
In the past two years, Lebanese media outlets have published a slew of reports on the exposure and arrest of espionage networks that allegedly spied for Israel and attempted to obtain information on Hezbollah. Experts estimate that at least some of the reports are meant to deter Lebanese citizens from cooperating with Israel. Lebanese news agency reported that over the past two years, some of the suspects were accused of espionage and sentenced to death. Just last week, Lebanon's new Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the establishment of a new government in Beirut. Hezbollah holds18 of 30 portfolios in the 30-member cabinet lineup, which was announced five months after Mikati was named for the post. It is unclear what effect, if any, the discovery of the alleged espionage network would have on Hezbollah's political operations in Beirut.

Timeline: Violence in Syria
Sun, Jun 19 2011/Reuters/
LONDON, June 20 - Here is a timeline of events in Syria since protests started in March.
March 16 - Security forces break up a gathering in Marjeh square in Damascus of 150 protesters holding pictures of imprisoned relatives. Witnesses say 30 people are arrested.
March 23 - Syrian forces kill six people in an attack on protesters in the Omari mosque in Deraa and open fire on hundreds of youths marching in solidarity.
President Bashar al-Assad sacks Deraa governor.
March 24 - Assad orders the formation of a committee to raise living standards and study lifting the law covering emergency rule, in place for 48 years.
March 29 - Government resigns.
March 31 - Assad sets up a committee to look into replacing the emergency law with anti-terrorism legislation.
April 3 - Assad asks Adel Safar, a former agriculture minister to form a new government.
April 8 - Demonstrators protest across Syria; 22 people killed in Deraa, according to security sources. In the east, thousands of ethnic Kurds demonstrate for reform.
April 9 - A Syrian rights group accuses security forces of committing a crime against humanity by killing 37 people during Friday's nationwide demonstrations.
April 14 - Assad unveils a new cabinet and orders the release of detainees arrested during a month of protests.
April 19 - Government passes bill lifting emergency rule. Assad ratifies the law ending emergency rule two days later.
April 22 - Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad kill at least 100 protesters, a rights group says.
April 23 - Security forces fire on mourners calling for the end of Assad's rule at mass funerals of pro-democracy protesters shot a day earlier, killing at least 12 people.
April 25 - Troops and tanks pour into Deraa, killing 20.
April 29 - The United States imposes new sanctions on Syrian figures including Assad's cousin Atif Najib and his brother Maher, who commands the army division which stormed Deraa.
Some 50 members of the ruling Baath Party resign, according to a human rights activist.
May 3 - Security forces take control of the coastal city of Banias, where demonstrators have challenged Assad.
May 9 - Assad sends tanks to Homs, Syria's third city.
May 10 - EU sanctions come into effect. The EU had agreed to impose travel restrictions and asset freezes on up to 13 Syrian officials for their part in the crackdown.
May 12 - Tanks advance in the southern towns of Dael, Tafas, Jassem and al-Harra before Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.
May 20 - Security forces kill at least 44 civilians in protests across Syria, a Syrian human rights group says.
May 23 - The EU adds Assad and nine other senior members of the government to a list of those sanctioned.
June 2 - Syria's exiled opposition calls on Assad to resign and hand over power to the vice president until a council is formed to transform the country to democracy, says a communique issued by 300 opposition delegates in Turkey.
June 3 - Security forces kill 63 protesters around Syria. At least 53 were killed in Hama.
June 4 - In the town of Jisr al-Shughour, between the city of Latakia and Aleppo, at least 120 members of the security forces are killed, state television says.
June 8 - Turkey calls on Syria to rein in violence against civilians and promises not to turn away refugees.
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal hand the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protesters, despite the risk of a Russian veto.
June 10 - At least 36 protesters are shot dead across Syria activists say.
June 12 - Armed forces take control of Jisr al-Shughour as thousands of residents flee to Turkey.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group organising protests, says the crackdown has killed 1,300 civilians since February.
June 17 - Activists say security forces kill 19 protesters as thousands rally across the country.
Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of the president, and focus of anti-corruption protests, is quitting business, state media says.
June 18 - Armed forces storm the town of Bdama, a town which has been providing food to thousands of Syrians who have escaped from frontier villages but stayed in Syria.
June 20 - Assad says "saboteurs" are behind unrest against his rule and that no political deal can be reached with gunmen.
In his third speech since protests began, Assad pledges to pursue a national dialogue on reform and holds out the prospect of expanding a recent amnesty. Assad also calls on the 10,000 refugees who have fled to Turkey to come home.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

Protesters take to streets in Syria after Assad speech
By BEN HARTMAN AND REUTERS
06/20/2011 16:09
AMMAN - Protesters took to the streets across Syria on Monday to denounce a speech by President Bashar Assad which they claim did not meet popular demands for sweeping political change, activists and witnesses said. "No to dialogue with murderers," chanted 300 protesters in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, a witness told Reuters by telephone, with the slogans echoing in the background. In a speech at Damascus University dominated by security concerns, Assad accused "saboteurs" among protesters demanding and end to his 11-year rule of serving a foreign conspiracy to sow chaos. Under mounting international pressure and facing wider street protests despite a military crackdown that has killed more than 1,300 people, Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, said political reforms he had launched since the 3-month uprising would stabilize the country and diffuse grievances.
"I don’t think Syria has gone through a period in its history without a conspiracy that was linked to other interests," Assad said. "Conspiracies are like viruses, they increase and multiply and must be eradicated but we can't become immune to them." Assad claimed that around 64,000 armed extremists are responsible for violence against the army and security services, and that "this extremist mindset has tried to infiltrate into Syria and harm the unity of Syria. This mindset has not changed; only the means and the faces have….this is the biggest obstacle to reform, we must contain this mindset and this extremist thinking." But in the Sunni Sleibeh and Raml al-Filistini districts of the mixed coastal city of Latakia, where several Sunni neighbourhoods have been surrounded by troops and armor for weeks, protesters chanted "liar, liar." "People were still hoping he would say something meaningful that would result in tanks and troops leaving the streets. They were disappointed and started going out as soon as Assad finished talking," one activist in Latakia said. In the city of Hama, scene of a 1982 attack to crush an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood that killed thousands of civilians during the rule of Assad's father, Hafez Assad, protesters chanted "damn your soul, Hafez." Demonstrations also took place in the eastern city of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, the southern city of Deraa and other towns in the Hauran Plain, cradle of the uprising, now in its fourth month, and at the campus of Aleppo University, activists said.

Assad outlines roadmap to Syria reform
 June 20, 2011/The Daily Star BEIRUT: In the face of mounting regional and international pressure, Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first speech in two months Monday, outlining a roadmap for reform, with the possibility of dialogue in the coming days which he said could pave the way for elections and the adoption of a new constitution.
Speaking at Damascus University, Assad said a committee would be formed to discuss reforming the country’s constitution, adding that recommendations would be made within one month.
He said that the process should involve all groups. "This dialogue is a very important issue which we have to give a chance because all of Syria's future, if we want it to be successful, has to be dependent on this dialogue in which all different parties on the Syrian arena will participate."Assad said that the national dialogue process could also lead to elections in August, although he did not commit to a specific date. "The parliamentary elections, if they are not postponed, will be held in August. We will have a new parliament by August and I think we can say that we are able to accomplish this package [of reforms]..in September.”
Syria has been gripped by civil strife since March, when protesters, inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, demanding reform, were faced with a violent crackdown from security forces.
Monday’s speech was the third since the uprising began, but the previous speeches have done little to temper protesters’ anger and demands for complete government collapse.
International rights groups and domestic opposition parties say over 1,400 people have been killed since the uprising began, and around 10,000 detained.
Some 11,000 Syrians have also fled to neighboring Turkey over recent weeks, and Assad urged them to return home, saying that they had nothing to fear in Syria. "There are those who give them the impression that the state will exact revenge, I affirm that is not true. The army is there for the security.”
Offering his condolences to the familes of “martyrs,” Assad said that the country was now at a turning point, but that there could be “no reform in the face of sabotage and chaos."
Assad drew a line between protesters with honest demands, and extremist elements, seeking to take advantage of the situation.
"We make a distinction between those [with legitimate grievances] and the saboteurs who represent a small group which has tried to exploit the goodwill of the Syrian people for its own ends."The president warned that without “working together,” Syria will risk economic collapse. "It is important now to work together to restore confidence in the Syrian economy. The most dangerous thing we face in the next stage is the weakness or collapse of the Syrian economy, and a large part of the problem is psychological."
As Assad spoke, European foreign ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss stepping up sanctions against the Syrian government. At the beginning of the one-day talks Monday, British Foreign Minister William Hague urged Turkey to use its influence on Damascus to tell the government that "they are losing legitimacy, that Assad should reform or step aside".The uprising in Syria has threatened the normally friendly relationship between Damascus and Ankara, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledging to keep his borders open to refugees and labeling the Syrian government crackdown "savagery."
Britain and France have also drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown in Syria, but permanent member Russia has said it will vote against any such resolution.In an interview with the Financial Times Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev criticized the way Western countries had interpreted U.N. resolution 1973 on Libya which he said turned it into "a scrap of paper to cover up a pointless military operation". "I would not like a Syrian resolution to be pulled off in a similar manner," he added.German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, speaking in Luxembourg Monday, said Moscow's position "goes in the wrong direction.""You don't give up on helping one country because you have in another," he said. Westerwelle said images of events in Syria were "inhumane" and accused Assad of "causing much distress.""It is essential for the international community to act together and agree on widening sanctions," he said. "Pressure must be exercised on Assad's regime. His political isolation must be upheld."

Syria Activists: Assad Speech Deepens Crisis, Revolt Must Go On
Naharnet/ Pro-democracy activists said the three-month-old "revolt" in Syria must go on after a speech by President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that they said only deepened the crisis.
The Coordination Committee, an umbrella group of activists calling for street protests, called for "the revolution to carry on until all its aims have been achieved."
"We consider any dialogue useless that does not turn the page on the current regime," it said in a statement received by Agence France Presse. Assad's speech on the three-month-old unrest only served to "deepen the crisis." Witnesses and opposition activists said the speech was followed by protest marches in the northern city of Aleppo, in the flashpoint province of Idlib in the northwest, and in the central regions of Homs and Hama, as well as in the suburbs of Damascus.
"The protesters condemned the speech which branded them as saboteurs, extremists ... The demonstrators are calling for freedom and dignity," the head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, told AFP by telephone.
An opposition figure said the speech failed to specify concrete steps such as the army's withdrawal from population centers.
"There were a lot of ideas in the speech. But the withdrawal of the army and security forces was not raised, which is not very reassuring and puts the emphasis on a military solution," said Hassan Abdul Azim, a lawyer.
The president "did not mention any dialogue with the Syrian opposition," said the 80-year-old Abdul Azim, spokesman for the National Democratic Gathering, a coalition of leftist opposition movements.
Prominent human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, who was freed from five years in prison last month, called Assad's speech "disappointing."
"The key demands made by the people were not mentioned and the existence of a political crisis has been ignored," Bunni told AFP.
"The president spoke of a military and security solution and reaffirmed the thesis of a conspiracy and armed men," blaming gunmen for sowing chaos in the country, said Bunni.
"A real political solution must be based on ... the army's withdrawal from cities and must respect the right to peacefully protest," he added.
Source Agence France Presse

HIGHLIGHTS-Syrian President Bashar Assad's speech on unrest
June 20, 2011/
Reuters BEIRUT:
Syrian President Bashar Assad gave a speech on Monday, three months into popular unrest against his 11-year rule.
Here are some of the highlights of his speech given at Damascus University.
ON NATURE OF UNREST:
"The solution is to solve the problem with our own hands."
"What do we say about these political positions? About the pressure from the media, the advanced telephones that we started seeing spreading in Syria in the hands of saboteurs, the fabrications? We cannot say these are acts of goodwill, this is definitely a conspiracy."
ON PROTESTERS:
"We have to distinguish between them (protesters, and others who have legitimate demands) and saboteurs. The saboteurs are a small group that tried to exploit the kind majority of the Syrian people to carry out their many schemes."
ON EXTENDING AMNESTY:
"I will ask the Justice Ministry to carry out a study about extending the parameters of the amnesty, even if it's in another decree..."
ON EXTREMISM:
"Those are (people) characterised by having fundamentalist ways of thinking ... He sows destruction under the name of reforms and spreads chaos under the name of freedom."
ON NATIONAL DIALOGUE:
"The committee does not hold dialogue, it presides over dialogue. It has decided to hold a consultative meeting in the next few days and will invite more than a hundred personalities to discuss with them the criteria and mechanisms, and after that dialogue will begin immediately."
"A schedule will be specified that says the time for dialogue will be a month or two depending what the participants decide in the consultative meeting.
"This dialogue is a very important issue which we have to give a chance because all of Syria's future, if we want it to be successful, has to be dependent on this dialogue in which all different parties on the Syrian arena will participate."
ON POLITICAL LEGISLATION:
"If we complete the Parties law and the Elections law -- the most important legislation in political reform -- we can immediately start national dialogue, which will discuss all of these laws."
ON DEPRESSED ECONOMY:
"It is important now to work together to restore confidence in the Syrian economy. The most dangerous thing we face in the next stage is the weakness or collapse of the Syrian economy, and a large part of the problem is psychological."
"We cannot allow depression and fear to defeat us. We have to defeat the problem by returning to normal life."

Syrians call Assad 'liar' following speech
Ynetnews June 20/11
Protesters took to the streets across Syria on Monday to denounce a speech by President Bashar Assad they said did not meet popular demands for sweeping political change, activists and witnesses said. "No to dialogue with murderers," chanted 300 protesters in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, a witness told Reuters by telephone, with the slogans echoing in the background.
In a speech at Damascus University dominated by security concerns, Assad accused "saboteurs" among protesters demanding and end to his 11-year rule of serving a foreign conspiracy to sow chaos. Under mounting international pressure and facing wider street protests despite a military crackdown that has killed more than 1,300 people, Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, said political reforms he had launched since the 3-month uprising would stabilize the country and diffuse grievances. "What is happening today has nothing to do with reform, it has to do with vandalism," Assad told a crowd of supporters. "There can be no development without stability, and no reform through vandalism. ... We have to isolate the saboteurs."
But in the Sunni Sleibeh and Raml al-Filistini districts of the mixed coastal city of Latakia, where several Sunni neighborhoods have been surrounded by troops and armor for weeks, protesters chanted "liar, liar". "People were still hoping he would say something meaningful that would result in tanks and troops leaving the streets. They were disappointed and started going out as soon as Assad finished talking," one activist in Latakia said.
In the city of Hama, scene of a 1982 attack to crush an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood that killed thousands of civilians during the rule of Assad's father, Hafez Assad, protesters chanted "damn your soul, Hafez". Demonstrations also took place in the eastern city of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, the southern city of Deraa and other towns in the Hauran Plain, cradle of the uprising, now in its fourth month, and at the campus of Aleppo University, activists said. Meanwhile the European Union said on Monday it was preparing to expand its sanctions on Syria in response to worsening violence by its regime. "The EU is actively preparing to expand its restrictive measures by additional designations with a view to achieving a fundamental change of policy by the Syrian leadership without delay," a statement agreed by EU foreign ministers said. EU diplomats said they expected a decision to expand the sanctions later in the week.

No compromise in Assad speech - only vow to keep on battling "terrorists"
DEBKAfile Special Report /June 20, 2011,
In his first address to the nation in two months, Syrian President Bashar Assad accused a "minute" number of "terrorists" backed by "conspirators at home and abroad" of exploiting legitimate demands for reform to serve their longstanding plots to control Syria because of its geo-strategic importance.
While hinting at possible reforms, Assad insisted that this depended on overcoming "obstacles" - the outcome of "external and internal conspiracies" - which could take months if not years. At the beginning of the disturbances, he said he had counted 64,000 "common law offenders" on the streets, equal to five army brigades. Some had turned themselves in. Many were in jail. He also blamed "fundamentalists" – external and internal – who had again raised their heads after many years and were obstructing reform
debkafile: Condemned worldwide for the savage crackdown of protest he has ordered since it erupted in March, Assad gave not the slightest hint that he intended dismissing his brother Gen. Maher Assad for leading soldiers shooting protesters - much less stepping aside himself. Indeed he spoke in the pained tone of a wronged and misunderstood leader: "We have gone through difficult times and many innocent people paid a painful price," he said and called on the thousands of Syrians who fled their homes [more than 10,000 to Turkey and many more to the hills] to return.
(At the same time, Syrian soldiers blocked roads to the Turkish frontier after burning the Syrian villages which had been giving food to people in flight from their homes.)
The audience of regime dignitaries did not greet him with its usual enthusiasm. They clapped politely only when he touched on reforms and the need for national dialogue – such as when he acknowledged that many ordinary people had legitimate needs and it was the government's duty to serve them. There was no response when he accused "terrorists" of being paid by foreign forces to stage riots and spread videos across the world, or when he said, "Gunmen in Jisr al-Shoghour had sophisticated weapons and communications" and Syrian security had caught them" driving 4x4s with machine guns."
Assad's cure for all Syria's ills was "national dialogue" with all sections of society to sound out the real needs of the people. A differentiation must be made between protesters and terrorists. But this process must take place in full respect of national institutions, said Assad. Recovery would take time, he said because the conspiracies from aboard had weakened the nation's immunity. But Syria must deal with its own troubles

Syria exodus is the Nakba no one's talking about
By Salman Masalha /Haaretz
For some reason, recent days have reminded of the events of Black September that took place in Jordan in 1970. At that time, the Jordanian military was exerting so much pressure on Palestinian militants that some of them actually chose to turn themselves in to Israel Defense Forces troops in the Jordan Valley.
This is coming to mind now because of what is happening in Syria, where another Arab Nakba is taking place before our eyes. This Nakba is the lot of the Syrian people. But this time, those behind the Nakba are not Zionists. They aren't Jews or French or godless British or Americans. Neither the Little Zionist Satan nor the Great American Satan is behind this Nakba. This time, the Satan is Arab, flesh of our flesh.
When thousands of Arab citizens - men, women and children - are massacred, when many others flee an Arab country because they fear an Arab regime with pretensions to waving the flag of Arab nationalism, then this so-called nationalism becomes dubious and ought to raise questions.
This is all the more the case when non-Arab Turkey is the country to which people are fleeing. Yes, the same Turkey that is regularly mentioned in Arab national discourse as the height of defilement and the source of all Arab ills. And all because of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over the Arabs for hundreds of years and to which Arab nationalists have long attributed all the falterings of the Arab world.
Several years ago, when I asked a Turkish friend about this Arab complaint, he burst out laughing. I asked him to explain why he was laughing and he told me that the Turks had a similar complaint, in reverse: There are some who argue that Turkey was left to falter because it had ruled over the Arabs.
Let's set aside the nationalists on either side for a moment, since salvation is not going to come from them. On the contrary, nationalism is a sick evil, and nationalists love to either join together or chafe against one another. They feed off each other and create new nationalist mutations that are more dangerous than their predecessors and more resistant to remedies.
And so the tribal, ethnic, Syrian Ba'ath regime, which is massacring Syrian Arab citizens just because they are seeking freedom, makes a joke out of all the Arab nationalist ideological slogans that Syrian and similar governments have been promoting for many years.
These governments have never been nationalist and have never attempted to build a nation-state worthy of its name. The nationalist slogans served as opiates for the uneducated masses, the foolish advocates of nationalism. Military, tribal and ethnic Mafias lurked beneath the sugar coating of these slogans.
Recently, Lebanese novelist and playwright Elias Khoury, one of those foolish advocates of Arab nationalism, got angry at Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun, who said at a conference at a Beirut university that there was no such thing as the Arab world.
Ben Jelloun should be cautious about those kinds of statements, wrote Khoury, adding that the things you say in a cafe should be different to the things you say from a university podium. In other words, Khoury wants Ben Jelloun to be a hypocrite, to feel one thing in his heart - as expressed in private or in cafes - but say something else before the public at large.
This "deviant" Moroccan author is thus intended to serve some kind of fictitious nationalist concept that is supposed to rule Arab discourse. He is being called on to be a populist trumpet for this concept, irrespective of whether it has any foundation in reality.
And so it seems that our Nakba is also a cultural Nakba. As long as the Arab discourse seeks to cautiously stay away from the sensitive nerves of the Arab experience, as one stays away from fire, no remedy is in sight for the sickly situation. Indeed, it will remain uncorrected

Assad needs to give much more than a speech to halt Syria protests
By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz
Is Syria turning to democracy? Will its regime structure change? Will Assad step down? President Bashar Assad has answered each of these three questions, which stand at the heart of the Syrian civil rebellion, with a definitive no.
Assad's more than hour-long speech to the Syrian and international public on Monday showed that Assad believes that Syria is being subjected to an attack of schemes which can be prevented by the government's planned reforms, scheduled according to the regime's timetable.
The main principle of the reform he suggested deals with a series of laws that have yet to be written or approved and are meant to better Syrian bureaucracy, not the actual structure of the regime. He suggested changing the law regarding political parties, without mentioning whether the opposition will be allowed to have a vote, and to (maybe) change the constitution, without announcing a change of regime structure.
The initial reactions to the speech by the Syrian opposition show that Assad's address failed to convince the people, and they do not intend on ceasing their protests until Assad and his staff step down from power.
Assad's main outlook, that the state is the "merciful mother" whose citizens need to be loyal to at any price, has not changed. According to this view, Syrian citizens are divided into three types: citizens with legitimate demands which the state must answer; felons prepared to break the law (he even mentioned the number 64,000 felons) but who the state can rehabilitate, and a minority of terrorists acting according to a foreign agenda whose purpose is to destroy Syria and bring it back to the days when it was a "village country."
Assad abstained from specifically mentioning the foreign conspirators, and did not mention the U.S., Israel, or Turkey even once, but "every loyal Syrian citizen" knows well who the enemies of his state are.
Assad offered the "good" public a national dialogue through which the demands will be outlined and then be transferred to the operational stage by drawing up laws or handing out administrative instructions. The dialogue is also commanded by the same "fatherly" outlook: several hundred public officials chosen by the regime will be the participants and a committee set up by the regime will be choosing the topics and which subjects will be passed on.
Assad also said the crisis could last months and even years and that Syrians will just have to learn to live with it. His call on the public to support the military and to cooperate with it shows that even Assad is not deluding himself that his speech will end the rebellion. Assad's descriptions of Syria's bureaucratic and economic failures and his recognition in the need to change laws and battle corruption illustrate a rare self-criticism by the Syrian president not only in face of his staff but also in the face of Syrian history, including the period of his father's rule, Hafez Assad. This is the most serious and perhaps most critical crisis in four decades that the Assad family's reign has been entrenched in – and much more than a fatherly speech will be needed to put a stop to it.

Will Assad regime survive?
By: Ron Ben-Yishai /Ynetnews June 20/11
The thousands of refugees pouring into Syria, the YouTube videos showing mass demonstrations, and even the angry condemnations and international sanctions do not necessarily attest to the Assad regime’s imminent collapse. The opposite may be true: The above attests to the fact that the opposition and Muslim Brotherhood are unable to coalesce the mass demonstrations and sporadic armed rebellions cross Syria into a all-out popular uprising.
Most leaders and groups that are part of the secular-liberal opposition, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood leader, are not in Syria. They are indeed highly successful in their virtual campaign to enlist sympathy for the dissidents and erode Assad’s national and international legitimacy, but are weak when it comes to organization; very weak. They are also unable to offer an alternate regime or leadership.
Turkish Warning
Turkey to Assad: Fire your brother / Roee Nahmias
Erdogan's government to demand removal of Maher Assad, considered strongman man behind brutal suppression of Syria uprising, al-Arabiya says Saturday; according to report, Turkey willing to take him in
Hence, nowhere in Syria have we seen a critical mass of motivated protestors that would topple the violent regime (as was the case in Egypt, Tunisia and partly in Libya as well.) Moreover, after more than three months of upheaval, at this time it appears that the balance is starting to tilt in the regime’s favor. Why?
First, because the Assad family and Baath Party leadership are showing brutal determination in their efforts to hold on to power. There is almost no means – including mass bloodshed – that is off limits as long as they the rebellion is defeated. This determination of course stems from a desire to cling to power, but no less so – and possibly more so – as result of great fear as to the possible fate of members of the ruling Alawite sect and Baath regime activists.
Battle between sects
The main element that threatens them and the regime is the Sunnis at rural areas and peripheral towns, which are known to be greatly influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The regime knows that these Sunnis hold an overwhelming majority in the cities and villages in Syria’s north, where large Shiite concentrations of Alawites also exist. Many residents there have stashed weapons in their homes, which have been used in clashes with the regime. Hence, should the army fail to contain the Sunni rebellion, Alawite neighbors can expect a grim fate.
This is what the government means when it justifies the utilization of the army against “armed gangs.” This claim holds more than a grain of truth, but only half the truth. The regime’s propaganda arms make no mention of the thugs who operate against the Sunnis within and alongside the army. These are Alawite citizens and members of the Baath Party who in the 1980s and 1990s were members of militias set up by the Assad family in order to repress the previous rebellion against it. Today, many of them serve in the Syrian security arms and are those who direct sniper fire at unarmed protestors and physically clash with them.
In addition, Alawite citizens are playing an active part in displays of support for the regime and in “minor” clashes with their Sunni neighbors. And so, the main confrontation in Syria at this time is in fact a battle between sects, where the regime protects its own interests and mostly defends the Alawite minority vis-à-vis the Sunni majority.
Army commanders loyal
The Assad regime has been able to secure its objectives thus far because it has managed to maintain loyalty, obedience, and operational capabilities among its main power sources: The army, security arms, Alawite sect and the business community. Syria imposes a mandatory army service and military units are therefore mostly heterogeneous. Members of all sects serve and have been trained to obey, even if these are Sunnis or Kurds who secretly despise the regime. They also know that security officers operating alongside them, and even low-ranking officers within their units, will not hesitate to shoot them in the back should they refuse orders.
Despite this, quite a few Sunni soldiers and low-ranking commanders defected thus far. Yet for the time being at least, it appears that we should not be impressed with these rather sporadic defections. They don’t threaten the regime and cannot even paralyze the units in question. Shaul Menashe, an Iraqi-born expert on Mideastern affairs, says that as a rule, an army threatens the regime only when a significant number of senior commanders in the large corps switch allegiances and come out against the regime in an organized manner. The military key is held by top generals, division commanders and Air Force chiefs.
We should also keep in mind that rebellious ground forces can also be suppressed, as Saddam Hussein did in the past using massive air power. In Syria, 11 of the 12 division commanders in the ground forces are Alawite whose loyalty to the regime is almost absolute. The same is true for a large part of battalion commanders (including Special Force) and top Air Force commanders.
Moreover, the Syrian army includes two divisions – one commanded by Bashar’s Assad Maher and the Republican Guard division – who are almost entirely Alawite. Hence, they are used as the sphere head in suppressing the protests and armed uprisings. The regime mobilizes units form these divisions from one uprising center to another, where they utilize forces without any moral or legal constraints. They also ensure that other military units operating alongside them obey government orders. The same is true for the Air Force.
World is silent
A third reason for the Syrian regime’s survivability is the international community’s failure to intervene in any effective way in a bid to end the brutal suppression. The absence of effective military and diplomatic pressure grants the army and security arms time and maneuvering space to “take care of” every rebellious site one after the other, and at times simultaneously, until it’s neutralized. The main reason for the diplomatic and military inaction shown by the West vis-à-vis Syria is the fear that should the Assad regime fall, an all-out civil war between all Syria’s sects will erupt and spill over beyond the country’s borders, destabilizing the entire region. Such war would almost certainly draw the Lebanese Alawites and Hezbollah, who would come to the rescue of Syria’s Shiites on Iran’s orders and with its assistance, as well as the Sunnis and al-Qaeda from Iraq and possibly from Turkey, and the Kurds from Iraq and from Turkey. This would also prompt a huge number of refugees to seek shelter in Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.
A second factor preventing global intervention is Russia’s and China’s objection. Russia views Syria as a satellite state not only because of the arms it sells Damascus, but mostly because Assad grants the Russians a naval base, thereby allowing the Kremlin to exercise its influence in the area. China objects in principle to military intervention in the affairs of other states in order to prevent a precedent that may be applied against it should a popular uprising erupt in China as well.
The third reason that prevents military intervention is NATO’s limited force. In Libya it was already proven that European Air Forces lack the armaments and budget need for an effective air campaign against Gaddafi. NATO states headed by the US reached the limit of their economic and military abilities to manage a war through their actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya.
Moreover, Syria is not Libya. It has one of the world’s largest aerial defenses arsenals, requiring a major, expensive air campaign to neutralize it. Syria also possesses a huge arsenal of rockets and missiles and may be tempted to use against Israel. All of the above make Syria almost immune to international intervention, which allows Bashar Assad to “screen” calls from the United Nations chief and blatantly disregard Washington and Paris.

Maronite patriarch asks that new Cabinet be given a chance
June 20, 2011
By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai voiced support Sunday for the new Cabinet formed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in sharp contrast with the attitudes of March 14 Christian leaders, namely Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who have dismissed the government as one dominated by Syria and Hezbollah.
Rai said the government should be given a chance, calling on the Mikati team to restore unity between the Lebanese sharply divided into two rival camps: The March 8 and March 14 camps.
“We congratulate all the Lebanese with the new government which we wish it success and that it be up to the expectations of all the Lebanese people,” Rai told reporters at Beirut airport before heading on a one-week visit to the Vatican to attend the annual conference of non-governmental international social organizations. “I hope that the new government is given a chance to do its job,” he said. Asked if his congratulation amounted to blessing the Cabinet’s formation, Rai said, “The blessing had already been given when the president and the prime minister signed [the Cabinet decrees]. This is a sign of confidence. When the president and the prime minister-designate sign, this means that the Cabinet’s blessing stems from it. We add to [the blessing] the prayers and supplications that the Cabinet would really be up to the expectations of the Lebanese.”
Recalling his plea for partnership and love after his election as head of the influential Maronite Catholic Church in April, Rai said, “Lebanon is in dire need for partnership, love and unity. We need confidence and the building of the Lebanese social fabric. I think that the first of the new government’s priorities should be to work to rebuild this Lebanese fabric because we cannot live without confidence, nor without love and partnership. Otherwise, we will remain in constant differences.”
It was Rai’s first public comment on the government since Mikati unveiled a 30-member Cabinet last Monday dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies. The Cabinet was deemed one-sided because it did not include representatives from March 14 parties who had decided to boycott any Cabinet formed by Mikati. The Cabinet’s formation ended a political deadlock that had left the country in a power vacuum for five months.
Rai had criticized the delay in the Cabinet’s formation and even called for a government of technocrats as a means of breaking the deadlock.
Asked to comment on March 14 parties’ accusations that the government had been formed under Syrian pressure, Rai said, “The government has been formed. Lebanon, by virtue of its distinctive position among all states in the East and West, is known that all its public affairs are linked regionally and internationally. This is not something new. What I want to say is that the government is made up of Lebanese who must bear responsibility for anything we need at the humanitarian, developmental and economic levels and also with regard to the activation of public institutions, the people’s expectations and the economic crisis.”
“The [Cabinet’s] responsibilities are very big. The government needs to put its confidence in itself and we have to grant it confidence. We will hold it accountable and ask it about its responsibilities,” he added.
For his part, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt warned of attempts to plunge Lebanon in renewed sectarian strife.
“Two days after the government was formed, signs emerged of an attempt to plunge Lebanon into strife. Our mission is to ward off strife from Lebanon whatever the price is,” Jumblatt told reporters after visiting Minister for the Displaced Alaaeddine Terro at his home in Barja in Iqlim al-Kharroub Saturday. Terro is a member of Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc.
Jumblatt was referring to Friday’s clashes between gunmen of rival factions in Mikati’s home city of Tripoli which left at least six people dead and more than 20 wounded. The fighting pitted gunmen from the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh district against those from the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood after supporters of anti-regime protests in Syria staged a demonstration in Bab al-Tabbaneh.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Haj Hasan, who has retained his post in the new Cabinet, said the government has inherited “a heavy legacy” from the March 14-led governments. “The current government faces colossal difficulties and responsibilities because it has inherited a heavy burden and legacy from the previous governments of the March 14 team,” Haj Hasan told a rally commemorating the birthday of Shiite Imam Ali in the Bekaa town of Sareen al-Fawqa. He stressed that the formation of the government was “100 percent Lebanese.”

Siniora blasts Aoun as delusional over remarks
updated: June 20, 2011
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Future Movement parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Siniora blasted Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun Sunday, describing him as “delusional” after the former general claimed to have definitively ended the political career of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Aoun said Saturday that Hariri has been issued a “one-way ticket out of Lebanon and the government,” adding that the Future Movement leader’s “era of paralyzing state institutions in a bid to control the country” was over. Speaking in Sidon, Siniora said Aoun was delusional to believe he could end Hariri’s political career because it would imply the marginalization of millions of Lebanese.
“I don’t know if he [Aoun] made his remarks because he owns a travel agency or because he wants to encourage Prime Minister [Najib Mikati] to issue such a ticket [for Hariri],” Siniora said in a sarcastic tone. “I tell those who are delusional, seeking to issue one-way tickets to millions of Lebanese, that it is easier for them to issue their own tickets and leave the country. This way, they can relax and let the Lebanese relax,” Siniora said, before accusing Mikati of targeting Rafik Hariri’s legacy in Lebanon.
“We heard some of them want to eradicate the legacy of martyr [and former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. I would like to ask [Mikati] if he has been assigned the task of removing the legacy to repair what Hariri has [supposedly] ruined for the past 20 years,” he said. “The March 8 coalition is implementing its coup … proving its intention of seeking unilateral control,” Siniora said in reference to the ousting of Hariri’s government by Hezbollah and its allies, after he refused to stop cooperating with the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating his father’s assassination.
Saad Hariri, who left Lebanon nearly two months ago, has yet to return to Beirut amid reports of a plot to assassinate him. The French newspaper Liberation reported Friday that Hariri was taking “refuge” in Paris, as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia continued to believe the former prime minister’s life is threatened by the Syrian regime in a plan to divert attention from its domestic problems. The report said Hariri had arrived in Paris a week ago from Saudi Arabia. The report added that Syria had an interest in assassinating Hariri to fuel Shiite-Sunni strife in Lebanon to divert the international community’s attention away from the Syrian regime’s brutal crackdown on protests against President Bashar Assad’s rule. An earlier report by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai said the U.S. had uncovered a plot to assassinate Hariri, adding that it had been planned to take place in Beirut in May 2011. Quoting official U.S. sources, Al-Rai’s Washington correspondent said the U.S. had informed Hariri of the plot after the United States, France and other regional countries followed-up on “surveillance” of Hariri carried out by groups inside Lebanon who had been monitoring Hariri’s activities since August 2010.

Lebanese Opposition Members in Paris to Agree with Hariri on Next Steps
Naharnet/Several opposition officials have traveled to Paris to discuss with former Premier Saad Hariri the approach that the March 14 forces would take after the formation of PM Najib Miqati’s cabinet. An Nahar daily said that among the March 14 politicians who went to France are Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, MP Marwan Hamadeh and former lawmakers Fares Soaid, Samir Franjieh and Bassem al-Sabaa. Gemayel traveled alone while the other four officials went together on the same plane, the newspaper said. The conferees will discuss their next step after the formation of the new government and the latest incidents in Tripoli and other regional developments, it added. The meetings in Paris would be accompanied by talks that opposition members would hold in Beirut. They are expected to make stances on the Tripoli clashes, An Nahar said. MP Butros Harb confirmed to Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5) that March 14 leaderships traveled to Paris to meet Hariri, who is there for security reasons.“Meetings are being held away from the media spotlight to set plans for the next stage,” he said.

Berri Says ‘Golden Triangle’ Consolidates Lebanon
Naharnet /Speaker Nabih Berri urged the new cabinet to speed up the drafting of the policy statement by the end of the month to compensate the government formation delay, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.“PM (Najib) Miqati’s cabinet has the chance to accomplish achievements in different sectors,” he said. Asked about the formula of the “people, army and resistance” in the ministerial statement, Berri told the daily that this formula is indisputable, stressing that it’s the “golden triangle” that will consolidate Lebanon.“We will not find a better equation, it’s realistic and objective,” As Safir newspaper quoted him as saying. The speaker stressed that this government will not “avenge” or perform any “wicked” actions against March 14 members in the ministries and institutions. He added that the government “is for all Lebanon, it will not differentiate between a citizen and another.”Berri called on opening all corruption files without any exception. As Safir reported his readiness to probe alleged violations in the Council for the South. “If they find anything illegal, let justice take its course,” he said.Concerning the clashes that erupted in Tripoli on Friday, Berri praised the military’s role in “turning off the spark of sedition.”He noted that one of the advantages of forming the cabinet was “handling the situation in Tripoli swiftly.” Berri added: “If there was no government, the clashes would have continued.”

Jumblat: Out of Keenness on Syria’s Stability, Tripoli Mustn’t Be Dragged into its Crisis
Naharnet /Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Monday that the recent developments in Tripoli are an indication that the security situation could deteriorate rapidly and without warning.He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Even though calls for removing the arms from the city are important, it’s even more important to eliminate the reasons for the dispute to begin with.” On Friday, clashes broke out between gunmen from the rival Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods in Tripoli after the former held a demonstration in support of the Syrian people and the latter stage on in support of the Syrian regime. “Out of our keenness on Syria and its stability, it’s important to avoid dragging Tripoli into its crisis,” Jumblat said. “Its residents are therefore charged with overcoming the political disputes and tensions linked to positions that favor and oppose the regime,” the MP stressed.He hoped that the residents would have held a meeting to contain the situation and assert that the city won’t get involved in the disputes of others.
On the developments in Syria, the Druze leader hoped that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s speech on Monday would help pave the way for stability in Syria, seeing as he stressed the importance of reform and reviewing all laws that would increase freedom in Syria.  “We therefore look forward to launching dialogue immediately in Syria and implementing all reform,” Jumblat said.

War Crimes Charges Weighed as Crisis Continues in Syria
Daniel Etter for The New York Times
By THOM SHANKER
Published: June 19, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, seeking new ways to force the Syrian leadership to halt its violent crackdown on domestic dissent, is examining whether war crimes charges can be brought against President Bashar al-Assad, senior administration officials said.
One senior administration official disclosed that the United States was examining whether Mr. Assad’s actions constituted war crimes and whether it was possible to seek international legal action against him, his government or Syria’s police forces and military.
The official said the United States was “looking into” whether “there are grounds here for charges related to war crimes, and whether referrals on that are appropriate.”
The official said the administration was also examining “additional economic steps — and one, in particular, has to do with the oil and gas sector in Syria.”
There has been wide anticipation that Mr. Assad would address the issues of internal dissent in a public address.
His crackdown has brought international condemnation of a leadership that has ruled Syria for more than four decades. In advance of any public comments by Mr. Assad on how to deal with dissenters, another senior administration official said, “I think the Syrian people are going to be focusing a lot less on words and a lot more on what is the action, what are the changes that are on the ground.”
That official said the United States was “working unilaterally, regionally and internationally in order to try to build a broad-based approach to how to respond to the need to increase pressure on the regime.”
Britain and France have proposed a Security Council resolution that would criticize Syria but not include military action or sanctions, like those in a resolution on Libya. Even the relatively mild language on Syria faces stiff opposition from Russia, a Syria ally, which has veto power as a permanent Security Council member. In an interview published Monday in the Financial Times, President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia practically ruled out support for such a resolution, saying he fears it “may state one thing but the resulting actions may be quite different.”

Syrian President Says 'Saboteurs' Exploiting Legitimate Reform
VOA News /Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks in Damascus in this still image taken from video, June 20, 2011.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says "saboteurs" are trying to exploit legitimate calls for change, and there can be no reform in his country through vandalism. President Assad said during a televised speech to the nation Monday there can be no development in Syria without stability. The speech was his third major address since anti-government protests began in mid-March. Before the speech, British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Assad to either reform or step aside. Hague said he hoped Turkey would pressure neighboring Syria and tell Assad he is "losing legitimacy." Turkey is sheltering more than 10,000 Syrian refugees in tent cities near its border with Syria. In a speech two weeks after the protests began, Assad said foreigners had created a conspiracy to bring down his government. In mid-April, his address said the government would abolish the country's 50-year-old emergency law and that he was urging his Cabinet to consider measures to create new jobs.Assad's speech follows reports of Syrian troops ransacking a border village that had provided help to thousands of people fleeing a military crackdown on anti-government dissent.
Refugees and activists say that soldiers in the village of Bdama set fire to crops and buildings and shut down the village's only bakery. They say troops were setting up checkpoints to prevent people from fleeing to Turkey. On Sunday, Turkey said it also is distributing much-needed food aid to people camping on the Syrian side of the border. Food is scarce in Bdama, especially since the forced closure of its bakery. Bdama is a short distance from the Turkish border. An activist with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Bdama residents had been helping people who were fleeing violence in other Syrian towns as they headed to shelter in Turkey. The Syrian government has been intensifying its crackdown in the northwestern province of Idlib.Rights activists say that nationwide, more than 1,400 civilians have been killed and 10,000 have been detained since mid-March in the government's crackdown on protests.

The dark future
Future Web Site/Date: June 19th, 2011/The most dangerous aspect of this government is that it was malicious on the Christians. There is a kind of monopoly of the Christian representation in it which will push the believers to arrange their inner house. But in the mean time, the Christians will be fighting hard battles between them which would rather turn the government into one uncontested team. While the Druze will be busy solving their own problems as for the way the ministerial portfolios were distributed among their leaders, the Christians within the government will be working hard to exclude their opponents from the administration and the political life if they can. And the Sunnis who practically are out of the executive authority, the management of the country would be left effectively to one team that is heavily armed and strongly unified. The result, regardless of the affiliation of this minister or that, the real and strong bloc within the government would be that of ‘Hizbullah” and “Amal” movement whom they will be the true handlers of the country and its policy. Some are reminding today the dominants that it is nearly impossible on any team to dominate and monopolize Lebanon, but they are not listening. They want to achieve what they can today and leave the uncertainty of tomorrow to the Divine. The least we could say about this government is it has a dark future. That is for the participating parties within it.

Wikileaks: Syrian Intelligence murdered martyr Hariri
Date: June 20th, 2011/Future Web Site/In its Monday edition, the al-Joumhouriya daily published some of the Wikileaks documents, quoting a Syrian source close to the Syrian Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying members of the Syrian intelligence has a hand in the murdered of martyr President Rafic Hariri, who died in a car bombing in Beirut. The sources quoted one of the Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Walid al-Mouallem affiliates that the Syrian regime is not worried of the investigation into the assassination, however of the court that will arrest major Syrian figures like Rostom Gazali and Jameh Jameh.

Fatfat: Mikati can confiscate weapons if he wants to
Date: June 20th, 2011 /Future Parliamentary bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat said that it is in Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s hands to confiscate arms. In an interview to the Free Lebanon Radio Station on Monday, Fatfat said that “If Mikati insists on confiscating weapons, then it is in his hands to do so,” after Mikati said that he supports making North Lebanon’s Tripoli an “arms-free city.”He said that the residents of Tripoli support having their city weapons-free, as well as making state institutions have control over arms. However, the MP said that there is not an unanimous decision in the country regarding Hezbollah’s arms issue. Armed clashes erupted on Friday in the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods of Tripoli following a rally in support of anti-regime protestors in Syria. At least six were killed and several were injured.

Jisr: Mikati’s cabinet supports Syria to confront international community
Date: June 20th, 2011/Future Web Site/Future Parliamentary bloc MP Samir Jisr said that the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati was formed by a green light from Damascus, and this means it supports Syria in the face of the international community, explaining that the March 14 coalition did not regret non participation in the cabinet.In a special briefing to Alliwaa daily on Monday, Jisr said that the cabinet’s decision is in the hand of Hizbullah, Free Patriotic Movement, and House Speaker Nabih Berry’s alliance. On Tripoli’s incidents, Jisr considered that Mikati is trying to push us toward blood, asking “does his conscience and faith allow him that?”Armed clashes erupted on Friday in the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods of Tripoli following a rally in support of anti-regime protestors in Syria. At least six were killed and several were injured.

Hobeish supports ‘Tripoli free of weapons’ motto
Date: June 20th, 2011/Future Web Site/Future Parliamentary bloc MP Hadi Hobeish called for practically translating “Tripoli free of weapons” motto on ground through a decisive political decision forced upon all political parties and citizens. In an interview to the Voice of Lebanon Radio Station on Monday, Hobeish reiterated the necessity that legitimate use of weapons should be only restricted to the security forces. He pointed out that facts show that Hizbullah distributed weapons on some of its supporters in Tripoli. Hobeish confirmed, we have no interest except in having security in the country, hoping Premier Najib Mikati's cabinet would be able to disarm all the Lebanese including Hizbullah, pointing out that he supports having all Lebanon free of weapons. He added “we will form political resistance against the cabinet that stems out from a political coup and born by a Syrian decision and we are waiting the ministerial statement,” hoping it would be clear in tackling the international resolutions, funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and illegitimate weapons.

Allouch: Cabinet age linked to developments in Syria
Date: June 19th, 2011/Future Web Site/
Future Movement official Moustafa Allouch said in a statement to the Kuwaiti As-Sayash daily Sunday that Prime Minister Najib Mikati will try to evade in the ministerial statement the future entitlements mainly the Special Tribunal for Lebanon looking into the assassination case of martyr PM Rafic Hariri. “He will also evade mentioning the developments in Syria in the ministerial statement leaving it to be tackled in the cabinet,” said former Deputy Allouch. The ministerial statement will exclusively address public issues without raising problematic ones because Mikati is fully aware that these entitlements will be controversial among cabinet members that explains why the ministerial statement will be brief. Allouch pointed that Mikati’s cabinet age will be linked to the Syrian developments adding that “the situation in Syria is still open to a number of possibilities.”

SPIEGEL Interview with German Defense Minister Thomas de De Maizière/'We Will Not Get Involved' in Syria
Christian Thiel / DER SPIEGEL
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière in Berlin: "Significant progress must be made in Afghanistan."
The US has been critical of Germany for not supporting NATO in the mission in Libya. SPIEGEL spoke to German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière about Berlin's skepticism of getting involved in Libya and Syria, and about the future of the NATO alliance.
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SPIEGEL: Minister de Maizière, during his recent speech on the future of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, outgoing US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that there are two categories of NATO partners: those who fight and those who dig wells. Which category is Germany in?
Thomas De Maizière: In Afghanistan, we're demonstrating that the Bundeswehr (eds. note: the German military) is a fighting army whenever it has to be.
SPIEGEL: When it comes to NATO's mission in Libya, Gates recently said that Germany, among others, wasn't doing enough. What is your response?
De Maizière: Our decision to not participate in the military part of the Libya mission was based on carefully considered reasons. It remains correct. But that doesn't put us in the category of mere well-diggers, as you put it.
SPIEGEL: Have you no bad conscience at all, given that your NATO partners in Libya are running out of steam and munitions?
De Maizière: The Americans did ask us for military assistance again at the most recent NATO meeting. We turned them down. But we have made things easier for the alliance by allowing German AWACS planes to participate in the mission in Afghanistan. And there's one thing I'd like to add: When you start something, you of course always have to know how long you can keep it up.
SPIEGEL: On the eve of the first NATO airstrikes, you said on German public broadcaster ZDF: "Could the fact that we are suddenly intervening now have something to do with oil? We can't get rid of all the dictators in the world with an international military mission." Would you still say the same thing?
De Maizière: Yes. The "responsibility to protect" a country's civilian population if its government violates human rights is firmly anchored in international law. But does that mean we are allowed to intervene? Or does that mean we're actually required to? I believe that each military operation must be analyzed to determine whether its goals can be achieved with appropriate means and within an appropriate time frame as well as how one gets out at the end. Every one.
SPIEGEL: You are dodging the question. You have insinuated that Germany's NATO allies are only intervening in Libya because of oil.
De Maizière: No, I wasn't insinuating that at all. I strictly formulated that as a hypothetical.
SPIEGEL: But your formulation still implies it.
De Maizière: During the interview, I was pointing out that there have to be criteria for each and every decision about humanitarian intervention -- even if that presents me with a number of dilemmas. If I say yes once, then I'll have to justify why I say no the next time. Refraining from action is also a decision. One must make a decision, but one can't expect that -- no matter what the decision is -- that one can always emerge from this kind of matter with clean hands. I have to live with that.
SPIEGEL: You have said that you would like to "constructively examine" whether German soldiers can be deployed as part of a peacekeeping force once the war is over. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle would like to look into this as well, but not "constructively." How much of a difference is there between you two?
De Maizière: There's no difference. Incidentally, I'm the type of person who always examines things constructively.
SPIEGEL: Westerwelle has also insisted that Germany will maintain its position of non-participation in the military mission in Libya. He speaks of providing "aid for a political fresh start as well as economic and social reconstruction."
De Maizière: I agree with that statement completely. Having international peacekeepers is a hypothetical matter that will only become necessary if Libya collapses and conflicting parties must be separated. In a country that is developing in a hopefully democratic direction, that would be neither necessary nor desirable.
SPIEGEL: So both you and Westerwelle oppose getting involved militarily even after Gadhafi is overthrown?
De Maizière: No. That is not our position. I hope that things don't come to that kind of military mission. Hopefully Libya will remain united and will develop in a democratic direction.
SPIEGEL: You've been at the helm of Germany's Defense Ministry for three months. During that time, you've had to deliver condolences to the families of four German soldiers killed in Afghanistan. What are your thoughts and feelings in such a situation?
De Maizière: It is difficult, though nothing compared to the pain that the relatives feel themselves. It makes it clear just how directly I, at the top of the chain of command, bear personal responsibility for my soldiers. Furthermore, it has once again become clear to me how difficult it is to accept when parents must bury their children rather than the other way around.
SPIEGEL: Did these young people die in vain?
De Maizière: At first glance, their deaths are senseless. There is no political, military or moral sense to having someone who is trying to bring safety and development to a country be blown up by a small minority. At the same time, though, you can't send soldiers on dangerous missions and then call these missions off just because there are casualties. We have to accept and affirm the fact that killing and dying is part of it.
SPIEGEL: It's been almost a decade since the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, approved the country's involvement in Afghanistan. In retrospect, would you say it was the right decision?
De Maizière: Yes, the decision was correct. But the justification aimed too high. We not only said that we wanted no more terror to be exported from Afghanistan; we also promised a democratic Afghanistan, a place of stability and prosperity. We're still paying for these high expectations today.
SPIEGEL: A more modest goal may never have won approval.
De Maizière: That may be so. But if there is any lesson to be learned for Afghanistan, it would be this: You shouldn't promise the moon to guarantee a majority. Sooner or later, it will comes back to haunt you. Perhaps we should listen to military experts more when considering new missions. They tend to be more reserved in their recommendations, at least compared to many civilians. They know best what it means.
SPIEGEL: Apropos frankness, wouldn't it be more straightforward to tell people that there is going to be another eruption of chaos if NATO makes a swift withdrawal? And that we either have to live with that idea or stay in Afghanistan for decades to come?
De Maizière: No. We want to avoid that by gradually handing security over to Afghan hands. I'd also like to add that significant progress must be made in Afghanistan when it comes to the political process.
SPIEGEL: The tactic of "partnering" -- the close cooperation between NATO troops and the Afghan army -- has led directly to the deaths of German soldiers at the hands of their Afghan comrades. Is the concept nevertheless good enough to justify sticking with it?
De Maizière: At the moment, this "friendly fire" issue is still my greatest concern. Slowly incorporating the Afghans is actually a very sensible path. And since it is so sensible, the Taliban is of course trying to bomb away the growing trust with Afghan soldiers and officials.
SPIEGEL: Let's just imagine for a moment a time when we are no longer in Afghanistan ...
De Maizière: … that will be awhile! We are still going to be engaged in Afghanistan after 2014, even if it's just with trainers and military advisers.
SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, by that point, Berlin will no longer be able to reply to request to engage in new missions by pointing to Germany's involvement in Afghanistan. Will there, at that point, be increased pressure to participate in additional operations?
De Maizière: That is difficult to predict, but I'm trying to prepare for the possibility. The plan is for the new Bundeswehr to be in a long-term and sustained position to maintain roughly 10,000 soldiers in up to two major and several minor multinational missions at the same time, should that be politically desired. Heaven knows we also need to make sure that we don't overtax the 10,000, so I argue for restraint and accountability. But we can't always say: "Let the others take on the missions."
SPIEGEL: You have said that prosperity carries with it a responsibility for others. Does that mean that we should send soldiers to Africa because we are doing well and many countries there are not?
De Maizière: That would be a bit too simplistic. The fact is that one of the basic principles of a social market economy is that ownership comes with obligations, and solidarity is a basic principle of international politics, as well. That means that those who have more also bear more responsibility, militarily as well. There will surely be more calls for richer states to play more of a role in UN missions.
SPIEGEL: You have stressed the NATO principle of "collective defense" more strongly than your predecessors. Are you expecting an attack on a NATO member state?
De Maizière: No. However, during the long period of NATO's existence, we have been the main beneficiaries of the collective defense obligation. That is no longer the case, but we need to give some serious thought to the fact that others might need our help. We Germans are surrounded by friends, but that's not true for all 28 NATO member states. Just take a look at the map.
SPIEGEL: We have. And we saw that Turkey, a NATO member, borders Syria, where things are currently seething. Could this conflict spill over into the territory of an alliance member?
De Maizière: The world can't tolerate the regime currently in place in Damascus. But we also have to frankly admit that having Syria disintegrate would be very difficult for the entire region. There's no doubt that we have put too much value on stability in the past and too little on democracy. But developments in the Middle East also show that the best thing would be if we had democracy and stability.
SPIEGEL: Perhaps you will soon have to face the question as to whether NATO should intervene in Syria.
De Maizière: No. The same thing applies in this case as for Libya: We will not get involved.
SPIEGEL: No matter what NATO decides?
De Maizière: It's not unimportant. Either way, I don't believe that there will be a similar type of UN Security Council resolution for Syria.
SPIEGEL: Have you been surprised by the positive response to your plans for reforming the German military? Or by the fact that it came without your having said anything about how things will be paid for, the future of military bases or about armaments programs? You have yourself admitted that your promise to accomplish more with fewer soldiers sounds a bit like "hocus-pocus." How do you explain all the endorsement?
De Maizière: I can't explain it, but I'm still delighted. However, your description is somewhat negative. The finance-related issues are more precisely specified than budget deliberations allow me to say. We can only deal with the military base and armament issues once some fundamental decisions have been made.
SPIEGEL: Defense Secretary Gates singled out certain NATO partners for praise, including Norway, Denmark and Belgium. Despite enjoying considerably fewer resources than the Germans, he views them as having made more of "a credible military contribution."
De Maizière: We also want to accomplish more with fewer resources. The problem with our budget is not its size but, rather, its structure. A major share or our total-budget investments -- or roughly 22 percent -- go toward armaments. That's high compared with other countries. But almost all of that is tied to old orders, including some that we no longer need as much. Budget commitments need to be designed in a more flexible way.
SPIEGEL: The Dutch are making due without entire weapon systems, such as main battle tanks. What are you having to do without?
De Maizière: Almost all of my colleagues in NATO and the EU -- the Dutch, the Poles, the French -- are in the process of adapting their militaries to changed conditions. All of them want more agility, more quality instead of quantity. As an alliance member, we have to pay attention to making sure that things still harmonize or there could suddenly be no more main battle tanks at all. But such coordination already exists.
SPIEGEL: Defense Secretary Gates believes that NATO is in danger of "the very real possibility of collective military irrelevance." Is that how you see things, as well?
De Maizière: No, I consider that overstated. However, his note about how the United States bears three-quarters of the alliance's costs today whereas it only bore half of them during the Cold War did make me stop and reflect.
SPIEGEL: Gates warns that future generations of American politicians might no longer make such high investments in the trans-Atlantic alliance. Wouldn't an American withdrawal from Europe be the largest threat to Germany's security?
De Maizière: It is in our vital interest to make sure that the United States remains a European power and that it doesn't look primarily westward. I am always telling the Americans: We Europeans are exhausting and sometimes even difficult and at odds with each other. But, compared with everyone else, we are still the most reliable partner in the world when it comes to stability, democracy and, ultimately, money, as well.
SPIEGEL: Minister de Maizière, thank you for speaking with us.
*Interview conducted by Ralf Beste and Dirk Kurbjuweit
Translated from the German by Josh Ward

First Joint Transatlantic Letter Sent to White House, European Council Regarding Syrian Protests
by Walid Phares /Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Following is a press release on the Syria situation issued by the two co-chairs of the Transatlantic Group on Counter Terrorism after its summit in Washignton DC this week. A more comprehensive declaration on the Greater Middle East will be issued later.
http://myrick.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=22&sectiontree=21%2C22&itemid=879
(WASHINGTON, DC)— US Representative Sue Myrick (NC-09) and Member of European Parliament Jaime Mayor Oreja (EU-Spain) today sent an historicjoint letter to US President Barack Obama and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy asking them to push the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Assad and his regime for the attacks against innocent civilians in Syria. This is the first time a joint letter from a Member of Congress and Member of European Parliament has been sent to world leaders regarding unrest in Syria. The letter also points to greater transatlantic cooperation surrounding the revolts in the Middle East.
“We have been told by Syrians that the Assad regime has directly ordered military force in order to suppress civilian protesters,” they wrote in the letter. “The military there is now using tanks, machine guns, snipers and helicopters in an effort to harass and harm Syrians. We are also greatly troubled by reports stating that Syrian security forces have invited Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to assist them in their violent oppression of Syrian civil society”.
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Members of the US Congress and Members of European Parliament met on Capitol Hill to discuss global counterterrorism efforts following the death of Osama Bin Ladenand the new Arab Spring. This meeting was held by the Transatlantic Group on Counterterrorism, or TAG. This was the third meeting of this group of international leaders.
The goal of TAG is to create a working relationship between legislators from Europe and North America to address terrorism and the threat it poses to democracies. The first TAG summit was held April 30, 2008, in Washington, DC.
Click berlow for the full text of the letter.
http://myrick.house.gov/uploads/06152011_TAG_Letter_Syria.pdf

Arslan’s resignation from Cabinet ‘final’: party official
June 20, 2011 The Daily Star
BEIRUT: State Minister Talal Arslan’s resignation from Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s newly formed government is “final,” a senior official in Arslan’s Lebanese Democratic Party said Monday.
“Revoking his resignation is out of the question,” the party’s secretary general Walid Barakat told The Daily Star.
Barakat also said LDP politburo member Marwan Kheireddine, Arslan’s brother-in-law, will replace Arslan as minister of state. “This is the party’s latest decision.”
Arslan resigned just hours after Mikati’s Cabinet was announced last Monday, though he has yet to submit his resignation in writing.
Arslan had said that his resignation was an expression of dissatisfaction over not being chosen defense minister, as he had requested.
Barakat said the issue of submitting a resignation request in writing was “being dealt with.”
Arslan, nevertheless, was still determined to deny the new government his vote of confidence, a gesture of protest against what he says is the unjust representation of the Druze community in the Cabinet.
But he expressed regret for lashing out at Mikati in what he described as a “moment of anger.”
“I want to express on this occasion my regret for my angry statement at the last news conference when my remarks surpassed political [criticism] of the prime minister and became personal. This is a mistake that goes against our traditions, which have always united rather than divided the Lebanese,” Arslan said Sunday.
Arslan had accused Mikati of “lying and piracy” during the talks on the Cabinet’s formation.
“It is no honor for me to sit by his side in this government after Mikati spent five months lying,” Arslan said in a news conference hours after the government’s formation.
Baalbek-Hermel MP Assem Qanso, a member of the Baath Party parliamentary bloc, has also said he would not give the new government a vote of confidence.
Qanso protested the non-representation of the Baath Party, just like the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, in the new government.
State Minister Nicolas Fattoush was also reportedly on the voting sidelines. No details were given, however
 

Liberal MP Wayne Easter:  Canadian Farmer jailed in Lebanon disowned by government
CBC/ Jun 20, 2011
A New Brunswick farmer in jail in Lebanon should be getting more help from the Canadian government, said Liberal MP Wayne Easter
The P.E.I. MP said Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to do more to secure the release of Henk Tepper — the potato farmer who has been in a Beirut jail for nearly three months, in a dirty, crowded cell with no light. "It's a mantra of Stephen Harper's, you get in any kind of trouble as a Canadian abroad we'll disown you practically at the political level," said Easter.
"We need to have political involvement."Tepper was arrested in March on an Interpol warrant issued by Algeria. That country's government wants the Grand Falls farmer extradited to face charges of importing potatoes unfit for human consumption. The imports in question had ringrot, which is not a danger if consumed. The shipment included potatoes from P.E.I., although Island farmers say the problem potatoes were from Quebec. Henk Tepper was detained March 23 and remains in a jail in Beirut. CBC  The parliamentary secretary to Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Deepak Obhrai, said Canada won't intervene on behalf Tepper, but said officials with the Department of Foreign Affairs have met with him to ensure he is being treated well. Obhrai said Canada has no say when it comes to another country's judicial system. "This process has to go through the local system, judicial system. Canada cannot intervene in any country's judicial system. We need to respect that, as we expect everyone else to respect our judicial system."Easter said Tepper should be returned to Canada to face the charges. "Let the legal system deal with whether there's right or whether there's wrong, but the Canadian government has the responsibility to ensure that this individual is brought back to Canada, and treated fairly under the law," he said. Tepper's lawyer in Beirut expects an answer Monday about whether he can be released to her custody. She has made an application to the state prosecutor. There are lawsuits underway in P.E.I., New Brunswick and Quebec over the potato shipment, as potato producers seek to recover lost money, as well as compensation for damaged reputations.

Canadian farmer held in Lebanon fights extradition to Algeria
June 20, 2011/ By Brooke Anderson The Daily Star
Since his arrest Tepper has been held in a cell at Beirut’s Justice Palace.
BEIRUT: The lawyers of a Canadian farmer who was detained nearly three months ago in Lebanon are working to secure his release and ensure he is not deported to Algeria, where he is wanted on charges of selling rotten potatoes. State Prosecutor Said Mirza, who only recently received Henk Tepper’s file from the Algerian government after requesting it last week, has since asked Algeria for additional papers, a judicial source told The Daily Star Friday. The source said the documents in Mirza’s hands were not enough to establish whether Tepper should be deported to Algeria or not. His Lebanese lawyer, Nayla Hatoum, declined to comment for fear of compromising the case but has previously said that she is working to secure his release and to prevent Tepper’s extradition to Algeria. The 44-year-old New Brunswick potato farmer owns Tobique Farms near Grand Falls, one of the largest family potato farms in New Brunswick. He was on a trade delegation to Lebanon when he was detained by authorities on March 23 upon arrival after his name was flagged for having an international “red notice” arrest warrant issued by Interpol. The warrant was over Algerian charges that Tepper had sold potatoes with ringrot, a bacterial disease causing brown rot in vegetables, and fabricating documents in 2007.Since his arrest Tepper has been held in a cell at Beirut’s Justice Palace. "We have been working daily on this matter with different officials," his Canadian lawyer Rodney Gillis told the June 16 edition of New Brunswick paper the Telegraph Journal, declining to comment further due to the sensitivity of the case. "I cannot comment on anything for concern about how it will be received and a change of course in the direction of assistance." The office of parliament member Mike Allen from Tepper’s district told The Daily Star that they have been providing consular support to the farmer. However, Tepper’s father, Berend, who last spoke with his son two weeks ago for two minutes, told The Daily Star he didn’t think the Canadian government was doing enough to secure the release of his son. “I want [Canadian Prime Minister Stephen] Harper to send a letter to Beirut and to Interpol, but they won’t do it,” he said. “I don’t know why, but the government doesn’t want to do it