LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember 15/2011

Bible Quotation for today/A Woman's Faith
Matthew 15/21-28: " Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. Son of David! she cried out. Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition. But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise! Then Jesus replied, I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.  At this the woman came and fell at his feet. Help me, sir! she said. Jesus answered, It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. That's true, sir, she answered, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters' table. So Jesus answered her, You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you. And at that very moment her daughter was healed.
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources 
Syria: the countdown has begun/By Tariq Alhomayed/November 14/11
Al-Qaeda returns to Egypt under Iranian cover/By Huda al Husseini/November 14/11
Is this the next U.S.-NATO armed action?/By Aaron Klein/November 14/11
On sale: Just 499 casualties in a war with Iran/By Amir Oren /Haaretz/November 14/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 14/11
Senior Iranian's son murdered by same method as Hamas' Mabhouh
Jerusalem Post: Israel Preparing for War against Hizbullah or Iran
Bahrain Judiciary Links Busted 'Terrorist' Cell to Iran
Netanyahu: Iran is closer to a nuclear bomb than people think
Iran official: Officer killed in army camp blast was missile expert
Iran admits to facing attack by new 'Duqu' computer virus
Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit as Arabi Says League Seeking to Protect Syrians
Syria scrambles to thwart Arab ban
Thousands of Syrian refugees face dire living conditions
 Syria’s Arab League suspension will spare Beirut markets
Economist Mario Monti Picked to Form New Italian Govt.
Gemayel Calls for 'Leaving Behind Resistance Approach'
March 14 Mulling Withdrawing Lebanon's Ambassador to Syria
Berri Urges Saudi King to Push for Inter-Syrian Reconciliation
Experts: Economic sanctions on Syria will backfire on Lebanon
Hariri slams Sleiman, Mikati for defending vote stance
Calls for new round of National Dialogue draw skepticism
Islamic Council: Don’t undermine premiership
Conflicting reports emerge on recovered Ain al-Hilweh arms
Syriac community voices outrage over decision to revoke citizenships
Moody’s: Lebanese failure to fund STL may lead to sanctions
Sleiman tours Tripoli, says further development needed
Mikati to visit Vatican Nov. 28

History shall have no mercy for Al Assad and his puppet Lebanese Mercinaries
Elias Bejjani/14.11.11/Note: The end of the criminal Syrian Al Assad regime is looming and it is only a matter of time before it is toppled by the Syrian people. Meanwhile all those Syrian and Iranian Lebanese puppets, mercenaries, merchants of fake libration, obstruction and resistance including Hezbollah, Aoun, Mikati, Suleiman and all the other cheap and mean subservient evil creatures will experience the same end as their master Al Assad and dictatorship regime. History shall have no mercy for them and their ultimate rest will be in its dust bin with disgrace and  shame. No matter what Lebanon will be liberated and its peace loving people by God's will shall again enjoy independence, Freedom, and sovereignty. With Profit Isaiah (33-01) we loudly remind the oppressors with their definite end: " Our enemies are doomed! They have robbed and betrayed, although no one has robbed them or betrayed them. But their time to rob and betray will end, and they themselves will become victims of robbery and treachery".

Senior Iranian's son murdered by same method as Hamas' Mabhouh
DEBKAfile Special Report/ November 13, 2011/Shortly after two big explosions rocked Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases near Tehran Saturday, Nov. 12, Ahmed Rezaie, 31, was found dead in Dubai's Gloria Hotel. He was the the son of a high-ranking Iranian official, Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the powerful Expediency Council and former IRGC commander. The cause of his death strongly resembled the method by which Hamas' contact man with Tehran Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was slain on Jan. 19, 2010 in another Dubai hotel. The local authorities laid that death at the door of Israel's Mossad. For instance, Rezaie's body showed no signs of violence. He appeared have been injected with the Suxamethonium muscle relaxant and then smothered with a pillow.
debkafile's intelligence sources report that Ahmed Rezaie was physically fit. He did not take drugs or medication. The Iranian news agency reported that he died in suspicious circumstances at a Dubai hotel without comment. An Expediency Council spokesman said the case was scrutiny and more information would be released soon.
Our Iranian sources add that Ahmad Rezaie left for the United States in 1998 when his father was at the highest point of his career. There, he gave interviews to American and Western media, including the Voice of Israel's Farsee station, in which he openly criticized Iran's rulers especially Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
At one point he contacted Israelis with an offer to help run down what happened to the Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing since 1986 when his plane went down over Lebanon and he was captured by Shiite groups and believed handed over to Tehran. Rezaie offered to travel to Dubai and use his contacts in the Expediency Council to discover what happened to the Israeli navigator in return for a handsome down-payment. His Israeli contacts eventually turn him down.
Over the years, the Supreme Ruler leaned hard on Ahmad's father to bring his son home, promising he would not be harmed. In 2005, the young Rezaie returned to Tehran. He lived quietly, but was kept under surveillance as a suspected American spy. During that time, he married four times, once to a South Korean woman. Because of his frequent trips overseas on business, the authorities in Tehran began to use him as an informal pipeline for passing information to the West.
He then took up residence in Dubai, with frequent side trips to the Iranian capital.
debkafile's intelligence sources take into account the possibility that he was murdered on the direct orders of Ayatollah Khamenei – partly as a warning to his father to cool his close ties with former president-turned opposition figure Hashem Rafsanjani.
Rafsanjani took up the cudgels against the regime at the time of the 2009 anti-regime riots which were sparked by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rigged reelection as president.
The untimely death would also have aimed to caution Rafsanjani himself to continue to keep his head down although in the last two years, Khamenei has managed to strip of honors, high office and political clout. It would not be the first time that a political enemy of the Supreme Ruler dies in suspicious circumstances, but in most other cases, the deaths occurred in Iran and faked to look like accidents.

Bahrain Judiciary Links Busted 'Terrorist' Cell to Iran
Naharnet /The Bahraini judiciary on Sunday linked an alleged busted "terrorist" cell to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a day after announcing the arrest of five Bahrainis planning attacks in the Arab kingdom. The five men are accused of belonging to a "terrorist group" with ties to the intelligence services of a foreign state, a judiciary spokesman said, quoted by state news agency BNA.He said the five were to be "sent to Iran to receive military training," notably with the elite Revolutionary Guards.
On Saturday, the interior ministry said a cell had been broken up that was planning to attack the ministry, the Saudi embassy in Riyadh and the causeway which links the archipelago state to Saudi Arabia. Citing alleged confessions from the suspects, the judiciary spokesman said the cell had been set up by two men he named as Abdul Raouf al-Shaieb and Ali Mashaima, living abroad, through contacts with the five accused. "They coordinated with military structures abroad, including the Revolutionary Guards ... in Iran to train the recruits of the group in handling arms and explosives," he said, without giving further details of the two alleged masterminds.
The spokesman said the plan was launched by sending cell members in small groups to Iran, but it was unclear if those arrested had been the first earmarked for an Iranian trip.
Four members of the cell were detained in Qatar and turned over to Manama, according to the interior ministry, which said the fifth Bahraini was arrested inside the country.
The four arrested in Qatar had been traveling by car from Saudi Arabia. Authorities seized "documents and a computer containing information of a security nature (and) details on certain vital sites," as well as dollars and Iranian rials," an interior ministry spokesman said. "They then confessed that they had left Bahrain illegally at the instigation of others," planning to travel on to Iran via Qatar and Syria, to form an "organization to commit armed terrorist acts in Bahrain," he added. Source Agence France Presse

Syria: the countdown has begun
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
The most important term out of eight issued yesterday by the ministerial council of the Arab League regarding the situation in Syria, was without doubt clause number six, which states “the invitation of all Syrian opposition parties to meet at the Arab League headquarters within three days, to agree upon a unified vision for the transitional period in Syria”.
This means that the Arabs have actually begun considering a post al-Assad phase in Syria, or in simpler terms, the Arabs have now thrown the proverbial brick at the regime. The Arab League’s statement yesterday, and especially the sixth paragraph, also means that the countdown for the al-Assad regime has begun. This will have many implications, whether internationally or regionally, especially between the Arabs and the Turks, and this is another story which is more important now than at any time in the past. Likewise, it will have many implications for the decision making process inside Syria itself. Hence Arab officials noted how the al-Assad regime reacted to the news aggressively, through its Arab League representative, who directed insults towards both the Arab League’s Secretary General and the Qatari Prime Minister, who in turn reacted like a gentlemen when he said: “I will rise above responding to such profanities, I was brought up not to respond to anyone in this manner, and I say to him [the Syrian representative], may God forgive him”. Of course, what the Syrian representative did was nothing new; this kind of action is typical of the Baath party. There is no difference between what the Syrian representative did and what was said either by Izzat ad-Douri or Taha Yassin Ramadan in the past, but it is important to be aware of what the Syrian representative meant. He threatened that a storm will begin shortly, and this is a threat similar to al-Assad’s threats in the past, and likewise the threats of Hassan Nasrallah, who merely repeats what is reported by the Iranian “Fars” news agency, as if Nasrallah is the one breaking the news!
Therefore, the importance of the Arab sanctions against the al-Assad regime lays in the fact that the Arabs have arrived, although they are late in doing so, at the well-known conclusion that the al-Assad regime cannot be trusted. It was notable that the Arab League, in the preamble prior to releasing its statement, issued the following words: “Due to the lack of commitment from the Syrian government to fully and immediately implement the Arab League initiative”. This means that the Arabs, with the ridiculous exceptions of Lebanon and Yemen, have become convinced that the al-Assad regime has lost its credibility. Therefore, the Arabs have deliberately sought to de-legitimize the regime, and have suspended the regime’s membership, but they have not targeted Syria itself. This could spread optimism that recognition of the Syrian National Council may be imminent, especially as the Arab League’s statement had called upon Arab states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, which is an important and imperative step.
Of course, another noteworthy aspect of the Arab League’s statement was the third clause, which “calls upon the Syrian Arab Army not to engage in acts of violence and murder against civilians”. The question here of course is: Is this a call for the Syrian army to stage a coup? Is it conceivably that the Syrian army is now in an important position? This is something that I will discuss tomorrow God willing.

Jerusalem Post: Israel Preparing for War against Hizbullah or Iran
Naharnet The Israeli army is conducting intense training over a possible strike against Iran, which may possibly lead to a war with Hizbullah, reported the Jerusalem Post on Saturday.
The training comes at a time when the media spotlight has focused on a possible war between Iran and the Jewish state over the former’s nuclear ambitions. A war against Iran also entails preparing for a war with Iran’s close ally Hizbullah, added the Israeli newspaper. The army is focusing on achieving a victory against the party should a war erupt with it, it said. A high-ranking army officer stressed that the army is working on being as prepared as possible should a war break out, said Jerusalem Post. On Tuesday, a U.N. report said there was "credible" evidence suggesting Iran's atomic program was being used to research putting nuclear warheads in ballistic missiles. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that “a war against Iran and Syria will not remain limited to Iran and Syria,” and that it would rather spread to the entire region.

Gemayel Calls for 'Leaving Behind Resistance Approach'
Naharnet/Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday called for “leaving behind the approach of resistance” against Israel and “endorsing the approach of defending the Lebanese state.” He noted that armed resistance against Israel lost its purpose “after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and the issuance of (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701,” – which ended the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah. The Lebanese state must only use the means of diplomacy and its national army to defend the country, Gemayel said. “The approach of defense strengthens the country’s unity, immunizes it diplomatically and safeguards it against any foreign conspiracies,” he added.
“Any defense entrusted to a group, a community or a sect would fragment the country instead of uniting it. So it is necessary today for us to leave behind the approach of resistance and endorse the approach of defending the Lebanese state, which preserves Lebanon and its components,” Gemayel stated. “Any other approach is a factional approach that brings about further divisions and threats at the expense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence,” he warned. But Gemayel called for “a serious dialogue on how to transit from the approach of resistance to the approach of defense.”“Lebanon is in a dire need for a new plan that preserves the country’s unity and immunizes it against the foreign threats, while keeping in line with U.N. resolutions,” Gemayel added.“We need stability and we need to reassure the Lebanese people concerning their future,” he went on to say.

March 14 Mulling Withdrawing Lebanon's Ambassador to Syria
Naharnet/The March 14 forces are weighing the possibility of withdrawing Lebanon’s Ambassador to Syria, Michel Khoury, in light of the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership at the organization, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday. A prominent March 14 source told the daily that the forces are also mulling the possibility of suggesting the expulsion of the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim Ali.The source slammed Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s position on the Arab decision saying that it expressed the opinion of the “Hizbullah government.”Furthermore, it said: “Through abstaining from voting on the decision, Iraq respected the sensitivities of its government with Syria and Iran, as well as the sensitivities of its internal scene.”Lebanon failed to take into consideration the different positions on its internal scene, it added. “Where are they taking Lebanon after Mansour’s decision not to recognize Arab decisions?” asked the source. On Saturday, Lebanon voted against a decision taken by the Arab foreign ministers to suspend Syria’s membership in the Arab League. 18 countries agreed to the decision, while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained. Mansour told al-Manar television, hours after the decision was announced, that the “the resolution taken by the Arab League is dangerous, because it was taken against a member state.” “These decisions will not help solve the crisis in Syria but will push it towards a very critical stage,” he stressed.

Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit as Arabi Says League Seeking to Protect Syrians
Naharnet /Damascus on Sunday called for an urgent Arab summit to address the crisis in Syria, a day after the Arab League suspended the country's membership over its failure to implement a plan to end bloodshed. "Syria demands an emergency Arab summit to address the crisis and its negative consequences in the Arab world," state television SANA reported.
Meanwhile, the Arab League said Sunday it is studying measures to protect civilians in Syria after suspending the country's membership over its failure to implement a deal to end bloodshed.
"The Arab League is studying mechanisms it could implement to protect civilians in Syria," the League's secretary general, Nabil al-Arabi, told reporters in the Libyan capital, without going into details. Arabi hailed the League's decision to suspend Syria on Saturday as "historic" and said the regional bloc called for the "international protection" of civilians in Syria as the organization did not have the means to act alone. "There is nothing wrong with going to the U.N. Security Council because it is the only organization able to impose" such measures, he added.The League said the suspension would remain in place until President Bashar Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for economic and political sanctions and transition talks with the opposition.The eight-month crackdown on dissent and related violence in Syria has left more than 3,500 people dead, the majority of them civilians, according to U.N. figures. Source Agence France Presse

Syria scrambles to thwart Arab ban
November 14, 2011/By Daily Star Staff Agencies
BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government Sunday requested an emergency summit aimed at thwarting Saturday’s Arab League vote to impose an imminent suspension from participating in the organization’s meetings. Damascus’ suspension from the organization’s operations is scheduled to be enforced Wednesday when league ministers are due to meet in the Moroccan capital Rabat to discuss the crisis.
Syrian state television said the objective of its proposed summit would be to discuss the “negative repercussions on the Arab situation.”
Syria also invited Arab League officials to visit before Wednesday, and said they could bring any civilian or military observers they deem appropriate to oversee implementation of an Arab League plan for ending the bloodshed.
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci appeared to give the summit some momentum Sunday when he said that the decision to suspend Syria from attending meetings was not final.
“The decision to suspend Syria from attending meetings is temporary and can be lifted as soon as possible. This can happen even before Wednesday since there is a meeting in Rabat on that day,” Medelci told reporters at a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Mohammad Kamel Amr in Algiers. The Rabat meeting will take place on the sidelines of a Turkish-Arab world forum.
The League’s foreign ministers at a meeting in Cairo Saturday voted 18 out of 22 to suspend Syria from attending meetings with effect from Wednesday over its failure to comply with an agreement to end its crackdown on protests.
Syria, Yemen and Lebanon voted against the move while Iraq abstained.
The foreign ministers recommended the withdrawal of Arab envoys from Damascus and agreed on sanctions, while inviting “all currents in the opposition” to meet at its headquarters in Cairo to map out a possible transition.
It said the decision would remain in place until Assad implements the Nov. 2 accord which his government signed, in which Damascus was to release detainees, withdraw the army from urban areas, allow free movement for observers and media, and hold dialogue with the opposition at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was also scheduled to meet with members of a Syrian opposition group, The Syrian National Council, which is trying to form a united front against Assad.
The council, a broad-based opposition umbrella group, was formed in Istanbul in September.
However while opposition groups appeared buoyed by the new level of legitimacy, the League chief Nabil Elaraby said in Libya that it was too soon to consider recognizing Syria’s opposition as the country’s rightful authority, calling the move “premature.”
Elaraby said the pan-Arab group would be “studying mechanisms it could implement to protect civilians in Syria.”
The resolution won widespread praise from the international community, with the U.S. and the EU welcoming the decision and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon praising the “strong and courageous” call, while the Syrian National Council said the decision was a “step in the right direction.”
The League’s decision prompted an outpouring of indignation from authorities Saturday who accused the body of working for foreign interests.
Late Saturday, hundreds of angry demonstrators had attacked the embassies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which were among the countries that voted to suspend Syria. The attacks sparked howls of international condemnation from leaders who claimed Syria had orchestrated the attacks.
“The Saudi government strongly condemns this incident and holds the Syrian authorities responsible for the security and protection of all Saudi interests in Syria,” SPA quoted the Saudi Foreign Ministry as saying Sunday.
Anatolia news agency said thousands of protesters had also attacked Turkey’s diplomatic missions in Syria, furious over Ankara’s support for the Arab League decision. Turkey Sunday ordered the evacuation of non-essential diplomatic personnel from Syria, Anatolia reported and summoned the Syrian charge d’affaires over the incident.
“The attitude of the Syrian government … demonstrates the need for the international community to respond with a united voice to the serious developments in Syria,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
France also condemned protesters’ attacks on diplomatic missions in Syria and summoned the Syrian ambassador.
“These attacks are an attempt to intimidate the international community after the Arab League’s courageous decision because of ongoing repression in Syria,” the French Foreign Ministry said. Assad supporters surged in their tens of thousands into central Damascus Sunday to show their support for the president.
“The Syrian people are filling the squares of the nation and announce their rejection of the Arab League decision,” state television said, showing more protests in the commercial hub of Aleppo and other cities.
Meanwhile, both Iraq and Iran condemned the league’s decision.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement Sunday that the decision will only serve to complicate the situation in Syria because the league will lose all communication channels with Damascus.
Iran said Sunday the Arab League’s decision on Syria was “unhelpful” and played into the hands of foreign countries “at a time when President Assad’s reforms should be given a chance.”
“The statement of the Arab League about developments in Syria will not only not help solve the problem but will complicate the issue,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB.
“The issuance of the Arab League statement happened as foreign forces are trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Syria,” Mehmanparast said, calling for dialogue and actions “in line with maintaining peace and stability.”
Russia, which has consistently backed Syria and vetoed a security council resolution aimed at punishing Assad’s crackdown, said Sunday it will continue exporting arms to Syria since no international decision has been made outlawing it.
“Since there is no restriction on arms deliveries to Syria, Russia respects its contractual obligations with the country,” deputy director of the Russian Federal Military and Technical Cooperation Service (FSVTS) Viacheslav Dzirkaln said at the Dubai air show, as quoted by the news agency Interfax.
Meanwhile, violence continued Sunday as Syrian security forces reportedly shot dead eight people who shouted anti-Assad slogans at an organized pro-regime rally in the central city of Hama against the League decision.
“Security forces were leading public workers and students into Orontes Square when groups broke away and started shouting ‘the people want the fall of the regime.’ They escaped into the alleyways but were followed and four were killed,” said one of the activists in Hama.

Syriac community voices outrage over decision to revoke citizenships
November 14, 2011/ By Van Meguerditchian/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Members of the Syriac community voiced their outrage over the weekend at a recent government decision to revoke Lebanese citizenship from nearly 200 people, among them some two dozen Syriac families.
Dozens of Syriac Lebanese gathered at Zahle’s Lady Mary Church Sunday to protest the state’s decision to cancel citizenship for the families who, according to Syriac officials, have lived their entire lives in the country and have served in the Lebanese Army.
President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel signed a decree last month to revoke Lebanese citizenship from individuals who, according to a ruling of the Shura Council eight years ago, attained it in a fraudulent manner.
A statement made by the Syriac Union Party over the weekend strongly condemned the move, arguing it targets a Lebanese community that, like other sects, has served the country and fought in its defense in times of war.“Doesn’t our sect [Syriac] deserve Lebanese citizenship after having 1,132 martyrs in defense of the nation?” said the statement.
The government’s decision became official last week when the Cabinet published the names of more than 200 people in two separate decrees, one for Palestinian refugees and another for people from various ethnic and religious backgrounds.
According to decree 6691 published on Oct. 10 in the official gazette, the people whose names are included in the decree are believed to have gained Lebanese citizenship “by mistake or “through various fraudulent manners.”
Article 1 of the decree says “Citizenship is revoked from all those whose names are listed above and others who have gained their citizenship through them, whether by marriage, birth, judicial or administrative decision.”
Ibrahim Mrad, the head of the Syriac Union Party, attacked the government’s decision and vowed to reclaim the rights of 25 Syriac families through legal and judicial channels.
“We are collecting all the necessary documents from the Lebanese Syriac families and we will file a lawsuit against the Shura Council’s decision, which the government ratified,” Mrad told The Daily Star Sunday.
“There is a two-month deadline for us to file a lawsuit against the council’s decision … we are prepared to challenge the decision with a group of lawyers and strong evidence that the families have, proof of ownership and family records,” Mrad noted.
“These families’ roots have been based in Lebanon for more than 50 years and many of them hold positions in the public sector and serve in the army,” Mrad explained.
Mrad said that their case against the decree won’t be simply a “reaction but an action to regain basic rights.”
According to Mrad, the families were surprised when they were notified that their names were listed in the official gazette last week, in which most of them were listed as Turkish.
“None of these families have any Turkish documents or Turkish roots whatsoever, many of them resided in Lebanon during the Ottoman era but failed, like so many others, to receive their Lebanese citizenship until the early 1990s,” said Mrad. Despite having legal residency permits, nearly 200,000 people were given a special status, “citizenship in review,” until 1994 when former President Elias Hrawi signed a decree granting them citizenship.
“The community’s campaign to regain their rights is also being supported politically,” said Mrad, who held meetings all day with MPs and community officials in Bekaa’s Zahle.
“I have recently met with the Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and he agreed to follow up on the matter,” said Mrad, adding that the community has also received support from the March 14 coalition. When asked about the community’s options should the legal action against the Shura Council fail in the next two months, Mrad said all options would remain on the table.
Zahle’s Syriac Orthodox Bishop Bulos Safar described the move as the “displacement of people in the name of the law.”
“We were displaced from Iraq under bloody oppression,” he said, “and today families are being displaced from Lebanon under the pretext of the rule of law.”

Calls for new round of National Dialogue draw skepticism
November 14, 2011/By Mirella Hodeib/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Despite calls by top officials to embark on a third edition of the National Dialogue, analysts are skeptical arguing that due to internal tension and developments in the region these talks are likely to be nipped in the bud. “Initially, the National Dialogue didn’t have such a great outcome,” said International Crisis Group analyst Sahar Atrache, who described the call for dialogue at this time “unrealistic.”
“The current uncertainty [in Lebanon and the region] would make [dialogue], if it was to be held, even more useless.”
In recent weeks, President Michel Sleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri have stepped up efforts to revive National Dialogue sessions frozen since late 2010 when Hezbollah and its allies the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada Movement boycotted deliberations in light of escalating tension regarding a divisive U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. While Berri urged Lebanese leaders last week to immediately engage in dialogue so that the country could decide on its future in light of the wave of protests that have swept the Arab world, his opponents in the March 14 alliance say they will only take part if Hezbollah’s arms are the sole topic on the agenda.
The alliance is also asking for the implementation of decisions agreed in the 2006 edition of the Dialogue, mainly collecting Palestinian weapons outside of refugee camps and demarcating Lebanon’s border with Syria. Conversely, the March 8 alliance proposes reviewing Lebanon’s agreement with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during any future dialogue sessions; furthermore dimming chances of the deliberations taking place. “Requiring that Hezbollah’s weapons be the sole topic of discussion is a way to bury the National Dialogue before it even starts knowing that this is the only thing Hezbollah is not willing to discuss,” said Atrache.
Several rounds of talks have made no progress on the formation national defense strategy that could integrate Hezbollah’s weapons into the regular armed forces.
Mohammad Bazzi, adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said it remains unclear what March 14 would gain if Hezbollah’s weapons are not addressed.
“If the central issue is off limits why would March 14 bother to participate?” he asked.
Bazzi said the March 14 coalition would accept to take part once the political jockeying inside and outside Lebanon, mainly in Syria, unfolds.
“Only then will they accept to engage in dialogue so they are not considered a stumbling bloc,” he said.
A source close to the speaker, however, told The Daily Star that Berri, a strong backer of unconditional dialogue, was optimistic that talks will get under way. “Speaker Berri reasons that dialogue would be a chance for the March 14 to regain its role as an integral part of the country’s political decision-making process,” said the source.
According to the source, Berri who had held talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the leader of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc, MP Fouad Siniora, last week was awaiting Siniora’s response to his proposal on dialogue.
“So far signals coming from various components of March 14 are positive,” the source added.
But Future Movement MP Ammar Houri said while his group welcomes the call for dialogue, talks should begin from where they ended in 2010, when politicians were working out a defense strategy.
Houri added that expanding the agenda of talks was considered by his party as an attempt to draw attention away from the “central issue” of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and impeding justice to be achieved in the case of the assassination of the founder of the Future Movement.
Atrache argued that the Future Movement-led March 14 alliance does not see dialogue as beneficial to them in the short term at least.
“Frankly,” she added. “Why would the March 14 coalition accept to go to dialogue at a time when they were sidelined from political power and when, in their view, they expect that the uprising in Syria will change the Lebanese balance of power in their favor.”But Atrache ruled out the idea that dialogue was a means to draw the attention from the STL, saying Hezbollah had resorted to direct means to undermine the Netherlands court. “I don’t think that neither the Party nor its allies expect that National Dialogue could be helpful in that regard,” she said.
“On the other side, a national dialogue won’t dissuade the March 14 from backing the tribunal.” Atrache and Bazzi, however, agree that Lebanon’s political class were in a wait-and-see mode that doesn’t allow for much maneuvering.
Atrache explained that parties who are calling for the national dialogue or adhering to it, mainly Sleiman, Berri, Mikati and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt are worried about the impact of the Syrian uprising on Lebanon and its spillovers. “One has to notice that all players in Lebanon are in the wait-and-see mode,” she said. “Even if a National Dialogue were to be held, it would be just filling the void until the political landscape in the region and in Syria, more notably, becomes clearer.”
Bazzi, meanwhile, said for any dialogue to be effective in the current circumstances, it ought to address core topics the Lebanese political class failed to address since the end of Lebanon’s 15-year Civil War over two decades ago. He cites abolishing sectarianism, in addition to the full implementation of the requirements of the 1989 Taif Accord, which put an end to the Civil War, among the fundamental issues that need to be addressed during dialogue talks.
“When we look at what is happening in the region these are huge changes and it’s time for Lebanon to address the real problems that have been put off since the Taif Accord; otherwise any dialogue is doomed to fail,” said Bazzi. Atrache is not more optimistic. The analyst said previous experiences show that there is not much to expect from National Dialogue sessions.
“With the current political landscape, Lebanese [political frailty], regional changes and stakes, one tends to be skeptical more than ever.”

Islamic Council: Don’t undermine premiership
November 14, 2011/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
Mikati and Siniora attend the meeting at Dar al-Fatwa.
BEIRUT: The Highest Islamic Council, Lebanon’s highest Sunni religious body, has warned against attempts to undercut the premiership’s prerogatives, a day after ministers from Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement strongly objected to the exception of the prime minister from a draft law to ban MPs from serving in the Cabinet.In the meantime, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora rejected Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s linking the payment of Lebanon’s share to a U.N.-backed court to the funding of UNESCO.
The Council’s warning came in a statement issued after a meeting chaired by the Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, at Dar al-Fatwa (the seat of the Sunni mufti) Saturday. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Siniora, former ministers and Sunni religious leaders.
The council warned against attempts to “touch or weaken the premiership’s position or any other national position or to deal with revenge with any official in the public departments and institutions.”The council also urged the government to honor Lebanon’s commitments to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its funding, which is currently a major bone of contention within Mikati’s Cabinet itself and also between the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition.
The council underlined the need for all the Lebanese to be “wary of the dangers of the [current] stage, fortify our internal arena, stay away from any struggles or shirk the Lebanese government’s commitments toward the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in order to avoid exposing Lebanon to a confrontation with international legitimacy and the international community.”
The council’s warning came a day after the Cabinet approved a draft law to ban MPs from serving in the Cabinet, excluding the prime minister. Political sources said that ministers from Aoun’s FPM strongly objected to the exception of the prime minister and engaged in a heated argument with Mikati about the provision.
Responding to Aoun’s ministers, Mikati was reported to have defended the premiership’s position, stressing that this position was not different from the positions of the presidency and the speakership.Apparently referring to Syria’s brutal crackdown on an eight-month-long popular uprising demanding a regime change, the Council expressed its “deep concern and pain over the scenes of systemic killings and violations of sanctities and man’s dignity which accompany a popular upheaval demanding freedom, dignity and an honorable life in some Arab states.”
Before the council’s meeting, a meeting was held behind closed doors between Qabbani, Mikati and Siniora.
Emerging from the meeting, Siniora commented on Nasrallah’s call for the Arab League and friendly states to pay Lebanon’s more than $30 million share to the STL. Siniora had called on Arab and friendly states to finance UNESCO after the U.S. decided to cut off its aid to the U.N. agency after its members voted to admit Palestine as a full member.

Conflicting reports emerge on recovered Ain al-Hilweh arms
November 14, 2011/ By Mohammed Zaatari/ The Daily Star
SIDON, Lebanon: Conflicting reports have emerged about a supply of arms and ammunition discovered over the weekend in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, and their connection to a cache of Fatah Movement weapons that recently went missing from the camp.
Sources told The Daily Star that the Palestinian Armed Struggle, a Fatah-dominated police force in the camp, tracked several arms dealers and Saturday found a number of the items stolen from a Fatah warehouse in the possession of a man identified as Suleiman S. Fatah displayed the weapons and ammunition after their alleged recovery.
Thirteen AK-47 rifles, an M16 rifle, a box of hand grenades, two boxes of ammunition and 40 AK-47 magazines went missing recently from a Fatah warehouse in the camp.
Sources from the investigation committee formed by Fatah, and headed by Major General Subhi Abu Arab, said that the movement bought the arms back from Suleiman in order to end speculation that the arms were smuggled into Syria. However, another Fatah source told The Daily Star that the arms discovered on Suleiman may not be those stolen from the Fatah warehouse, and that the news that the weapons were discovered and purchased back – as well as the display – may be a way for Fatah officials to put an end to the issue.
The source said that the investigation committee did its work after the Palestinian Armed Struggle, headed by Colonel Mahmoud Issa, received information that some of the missing arms were with arms dealers inside the camp.According to the source, when officials from the Palestinian Armed Struggle visited Suleiman, who is a known arms dealer, he told them that he had purchased the weapons from a man known as “Hussein Sh.” Hussein was the guard of the burgled Fatah arms warehouse, and he vanished at the same time as the arms.
Suleiman said he did not know the arms were stolen, adding that he immediately sold them. The source told The Daily Star that Suleiman said he had similar weapons, which were bought and displayed by the Palestinian Armed Struggle.

Moody’s: Lebanese failure to fund STL may lead to sanctions
November 14, 2011/The Daily Star/
BEIRUT: Moody’s Investors Service indicated that the failure of the Lebanese government to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon could lead to economic or financial sanctions from the international community. It added that any sanctions, particularly if they are aimed at the banking sector, would be credit-negative for Lebanon given that the country relies on its banks’ capacity to attract deposits and buy government debt, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.
The agency said the STL was established in March 2009 with the purpose of holding trials for the people accused of carrying out the attack on Feb. 14, 2005 that killed 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The STL published its findings in June, charging four Hezbollah members and reviving tensions between communities within Lebanon.
It noted that the current Lebanese government has to manage competing pressures from its domestic political base, which rejects the STL’s role and findings, and concerns about possible international sanctions. According to Moody’s, a decision to fund the STL could lead to a domestic political crisis, and potentially a fall of the current government.
It said the dispute over the STL already caused the resignation of the previous government in January 2011, which was followed by five months of negotiations over the composition of the Cabinet.The country is required to transfer $32 million, or 49 percent of the STL’s annual budget to the United Nations. Failure to fund the STL could lead to economic or financial sanctions from the international community. Moody’s considered that sanctions appear unlikely, but cautioned that potential consequences could be severe.
The stability of the Lebanese banking sector rests largely on the banks’ capacity to attract a stable inflow of customer deposits. Customer deposits fund 83 percent of Lebanese banking system assets and are supported by remittances, which account for over 20 percent of Lebanon’s GDP. Moody’s added that sanctions that reduce the inflow of remittances or deposits could pose a threat to the stability of the banking system and the sovereign’s finances. Lebanese banks are the main lenders to the highly indebted Lebanese sovereign and their capacity to fund government debt depends on the stability of their depositor base.

Sleiman tours Tripoli, says further development needed
November 14, 2011/By Antoine Amrieh/ The Daily Star
Fadel presents Sleiman with a bronze statue of the Tal Clock Tower in Tripoli.
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: President Michel Sleiman toured development projects in the northern city of Tripoli Sunday, where he said that the state’s pledge to develop the north is being realized, though there is still much to be done. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who accompanied Sleiman during the tour, described the visit as “unique in its occasions and its goals,” while also underscoring Lebanon’s second-biggest city’s need for further development. The president began his tour with a visit to the Lebanese University’s campus in Tripoli, which is currently under construction.He was welcomed by LU President Adnan Sayyed Hussein, and was updated on the progress of the 180 square-meter-campus by Nabil Jisr, the head of the Council of Development and Reconstruction.
After touring the campus, Sleiman told reporters that the project “is vital, of extreme importance and in line with balanced development.”
Sleiman also said that when he was Army commander, he saw to it that two buildings on the site, originally used as residences for Army officers, were given to the Education Ministry for the university. The move facilitated the construction of the university campus, where Lebanese from different areas and sects will gather, he added.
The president expressed his support for decentralization at LU: “There should be several campuses like the one that is being constructed.”
Sleiman’s second stop was at the new Justice Palace that is being built in Tripoli, where he was welcomed by Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, Transport and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, Tripoli lawmakers Samir Jisr and Badr Wannous and head of the Tripoli Bar Association Bassam ad-Daya.
The president toured the building site and was briefed by Aridi on the pace of construction.
Aridi said that the new Justice Palace could be an example for similar structures throughout the country and expressed hope that his ministry would receive adequate funds from the Cabinet to complete such projects. Sleiman and Mikati visited Tripoli’s harbor as well, where they examined a new pier under construction.
With a length of 600 meters and a depth of 15 meters, the new pier will be able to accommodate more ships and increase productivity.
“I became confident through my tour today … that [promises] that we made about Tripoli and the north are being fulfilled,” Sleiman said. “Of course there is still much to do,” he acknowledged. The president said that Tripoli’s port was fundamental to developing the city.
From there, Sleiman moved to the city’s corniche where he launched festivities for Tripoli’s “car-free day,” an event organized by the Tripoli Youth Network in collaboration with the cities’ municipalities and sponsored by Sleiman and the Maurice Fadel Prize association. The president kicked off a solar car race aimed at promoting a car-free city and planted an olive tree on the corniche for the occasion. Tripoli MP Robert Fadel presented Sleiman with a bronze statue of the Tal Clock Tower in Tripoli.
At the end of his tour, Sleiman attended a luncheon held in his honor by Mikati at the Rashid Karami International Fairgrounds where around 1000 guests were on hand.
Speaking during the lunch, Mikati said that Tripoli welcomes Sleiman, whom he called “the symbol of this country’s unity.”
“Tripoli tells you today that … it relies only on the state,” Mikati said. “It hopes that your visit is sign that the city and the rest of the north will make up for lost development.”
Mikati said that the people of Tripoli were keen to hear Sleiman and the prime minister pledge that the state would not abandon its responsibility toward Tripoli.
For his part, Sleiman said he that his tour left him “with great satisfaction.”
He highlighted the necessity of relaunching the Rene Mouawad Airport in Qulaiat, along with repairing and re-opening the railway in the north.
“These are necessary measures to establish administrative decentralization and balanced development,” he said, adding that Tripoli reflects Christian-Islamic coexistence, with churches standing side by side with mosques.

Hariri slams Sleiman, Mikati for defending vote stance
November 14, 2011/ By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
Sleiman, Aridi and Mikati tour Tripoli’s Justice Palace.
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri lashed out at President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati Sunday for defending Lebanon’s vote against the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership, saying their stance put the country on the side of “murder and dictatorship.”
In the meantime, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri sent a cable to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, urging him to mediate in the Syrian crisis and bring about a reconciliation between Syria and Arab states.
Referring to the Arab League’s decision to isolate Syria, Berri said in his cable: “Following what has happened and is happening, I see no one, after God, but you to bring about a reconciliation, not only among Syrians, but between the Arabs and Arabs.”
Commenting on Lebanese leaders’ reactions to Lebanon’s stance at the Arab League, Hariri told his supporters on the social network Twitter: “Justifications attempted today for Lebanon’s shameful vote at the Arab League are simply unacceptable. Those claiming to want to keep Lebanon neutral and shielded from Syria’s repercussions have thrown the country in the middle of the storm and on the wrong side, the side of murder, dictatorship and anti-Arab identity.”
“They will be judged by the Lebanese and the Arabs and by history for their immoral and subservient abandonment of all national and human dignity,” he added.
Hariri, who along with the Future Movement-led opposition March 14 coalition have come out in support of the pro-democracy protesters in Syria, said now that the regime of President Bashar Assad has lost legitimacy following the Arab League’s decision, “all they need to do … is to leave Syria.”
Hariri’s remarks came a few hours after both Sleiman and Mikati defended in separate speeches during a visit to the northern city of Tripoli Lebanon’s stance at the Arab League, whose foreign ministers decided Saturday to suspend Syria’s participation and impose political and economic sanctions on Damascus in response to the Syrian government’s failure to implement an Arab plan to end the seven-month unrest there.
Sleiman rejected the Arab League’s decision to isolate Syria, warning that it could lead to a foreign intervention, but he called on the Assad regime to implement the Arab initiative and open a dialogue with the opposition.
“Lebanon’s basic position is known. Lebanon supports democracy and rotation of power in all states surrounding us, be it in Syria or in other countries. But it does not advocate at all the achievement of political goals by violent means,” Sleiman told reporters after touring a Lebanese University campus under construction in Tripoli.
“Hence, our position stems from the need to implement the Arab initiative which has been launched. We hope that the Syrian side will act to quickly implement it with all its provisions in the next two days, open a dialogue with the Syrian opposition with all its factions and quickly proceed with reforms. This will lead to the return to the Arab initiative,” Sleiman said.
“With regard to [Lebanon’s] stance on the issue of isolation or the suspension of membership of a certain state, Lebanon is in principle against the isolation of any Arab state in view of the damage it causes. While we adhere to the Arab League’s resolutions, we consider that isolation punishes the people and not only governments,” he added.
Sleiman said that isolation cuts dialogue and channels of communications with the isolated states.
“Hence, [Syria’s] membership can stay but at the same time the League can take firm decisions it deems necessary. Also, I would like to point out that isolation might entail risks that could lead to a foreign intervention which Lebanon rejects,” Sleiman said.
The Arab League also decided to withdraw Arab ambassadors from Damascus in a move that further isolates the Assad regime which is already facing tough U.S. and European sanctions over Syria’s brutal crackdown. Lebanon, Syria and Yemen voted against the decision, which would take effect Nov. 16, while Iraq abstained.
Sleiman reiterated his support for the payment of Lebanon’s more than $30 million share to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
“We are with the funding of the international tribunal. If we had criticized it because of some mistakes or because it had lost some credibility, the tribunal must itself work to regain its credibility,” Sleiman said, adding: “But the credibility of the Lebanese state with the resolutions of international legitimacy must never be lost.”
For his part, Mikati defended Lebanon’s position at the Arab League, saying that Arab countries understood the Lebanese peculiarity.
“The position Lebanon adopted at the Arab League … was based on historic and geographic considerations and facts that take into account the Lebanese peculiarity which we know that Arab brothers understand and realize that Lebanon will always remain interacting with its Arab environment and uphold the solutions that preserve the unity of Arab states and their peoples on the basis of the latest Arab initiative,” Mikati said in a speech at a luncheon he hosted in honor of Sleiman in Tripoli.
Mikati said his government was giving priority to the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese, as well as to the country’s stability and civil peace. He reiterated his call for an all-embracing National Dialogue grouping all rival factions to address questions on Lebanon’s future and lay the foundations for reconciliation.
Earlier Saturday, Hariri praised the Arab League’s decision but described Lebanon’s stance as “shameful.”
“This is not the Lebanese will that voted, it’s [that of the] Hezbollah government headed by Mikati,” Hariri told his supporters on Twitter.
He said as a Lebanese citizen he was “ashamed” of the position the Lebanese government had taken. “It is shameful. I hope the Syrian people know that this government doesn’t represent the Lebanese will,” Hariri said. Meanwhile, Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia arrived in Beirut Sunday for talks with Lebanese religious and political leaders. He arrived from Syria where he held talks with Assad.

Mikati to visit Vatican Nov. 28
November 14, 2011/By Hasan Lakkis/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati is expected to travel to the Vatican Nov. 28 where he is to hold talks with Pope Benedict XVI. President Michel Sleiman, for his part, will visit Armenia in December and preparations are under way for a tour to Australia and some African states next year. Separately, the Cabinet is set to hold two sessions this week, one Tuesday under Mikati at the Grand Serial with regular items on the agenda, and the other to be chaired by Sleiman at Baabda Palace Wednesday to continue discussing a draft law forwarded by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel for the 2013 Parliamentary elections. Among the items on the agenda of Tuesday’s session is a request by the Energy Ministry to take steps to install high voltage electricity lines in the Metn town of Mansourieh. Metn residents and March 14 MPs have voiced their opposition to the plan and prevented Electricite Du Liban workers from performing their job last month, arguing that the high voltage lines pose a danger to public safety. On the agenda is also a request by the Defense Ministry for LL3 billion, including $200 billion to be spent on undisclosed projects and to obtain items needed by the ministry. A request by the Interior Ministry for LL200 million to be spent on undisclosed projects and the appointment of Brig. Michel Munir to the military council to replace retired Brig. Michel Mnassa are expected to be addressed by ministers as well.

Is this the next U.S.-NATO armed action?
Surprise move seen as step toward military campaign
November 12, 2011/By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WND
In a surprise step that could precipitate a future U.S.-NATO military campaign, the Arab League today suspended Syria and called on its army to stop killing civilians. The League announced it will impose economic and political sanctions on Syria's government and has appealed to member states to withdraw their ambassadors. Arab League diplomats, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said that if Syria does not adhere to its demands for immediate reform, the organization will work to unify Syrian opposition groups into a coalition similar to that of Libya's National Transitional Council. A next step, the diplomats said, would be to recognize the opposition as the sole representative of the Syrian people in a move that would symbolically isolate the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Those moves mimic the diplomatic initiatives taken to isolate Muammar Gadhafi's regime before the NATO campaign in Libya. Similar to Gadhafi, Assad's regime has been accused of major human-rights violations, including crimes against humanity, in clamping down on a violent insurgency targeting Assad's rule. Mass demonstrations were held in recent weeks in Syrian-insurgent strongholds calling for the international NATO coalition in Libya to deploy in Syria.
Damascus officials claimed to WND that NATO troops are currently training in Turkey for a Turkish-led NATO invasion of Syria.
Any deployment would come under the banner of the same "Responsibility to Protect" global doctrine used to justify the U.S.-NATO airstrikes in Libya.
Responsibility to Protect, or Responsibility to Act, as cited by President Obama, is a set of principles, now backed by the United Nations, based on the idea that sovereignty is not a privilege but a responsibility that can be revoked if a country is accused of "war crimes," "genocide," "crimes against humanity" or "ethnic cleansing."
A Turkish-U.S.-NATO strike could have immediate implications for Israel.
The Syrian president warned in a recent interview with a U.K. newspaper that foreign intervention in Syria would cause an "earthquake" across the region and create another Afghanistan, while directly threatening the Jewish state.
Assad reportedly made similar comments in a meeting in early October with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu. He was quoted stating, "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv."
Assad also reportedly warned that "all these events will happen in three hours, but in the second three hours, Iran will attack the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and the U.S. and European interests will be targeted simultaneously."
George Soros-funded doctrine with White House ties
The Libya bombings have been widely regarded as a test of a military doctrine called "Responsibility to Protect."
In his address to the nation in April explaining the NATO campaign in Libya, Obama cited the doctrine as the main justification for U.S. and international airstrikes against Libya.
The Global Center for Responsibility to Protect is the world's leading champion of the military doctrine.
Know your enemy: 'Red Army' exposes the radical network that must be defeated to save the country
As WND reported, billionaire activist George Soros is a primary funder and key proponent of the Global Center for Responsibility to Protect. Several of the doctrine's main founders also sit on boards with Soros. WND reported the committee that devised the Responsibility to Protect doctrine included Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa as well as Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, a staunch denier of the Holocaust who long served as the deputy of late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.
Also, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy has a seat on the advisory board of the 2001 commission that originally founded Responsibility to Protect. The commission is called the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. It invented the term "responsibility to protect" while defining its guidelines.
The Carr Center is a research center concerned with human rights located at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Samantha Power, the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights, was Carr's founding executive director and headed the institute at the time it advised in the founding of Responsibility to Protect.
With Power's center on the advisory board, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty first defined the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
Power reportedly heavily influenced Obama in consultations leading to the decision to bomb Libya.
Two of the global group's advisory board members, Ramesh Thakur and Gareth Evans, are the original founders of the doctrine, with the duo even coining the term "responsibility to protect." As WND reported, Soros' Open Society Institute is a primary funder and key proponent of the Global Center for Responsibility to Protect. Also, Thakur and Evans sit on multiple boards with Soros. Soros' Open Society is one of only three nongovernmental funders of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect. Government sponsors include Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda and the U.K.
Board members of the group include former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Ireland President Mary Robinson and South African activist Desmond Tutu. Robinson and Tutu have recently made solidarity visits to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as members of a group called The Elders, which includes former President Jimmy Carter.
Annan once famously stated, "State sovereignty, in its most basic sense, is being redefined – not least by the forces of globalization and international co-operation. States are ... instruments at the service of their peoples and not vice versa."
Soros: Right to 'penetrate nation-states'
Soros himself outlined the fundamentals of Responsibility to Protect in a 2004 Foreign Policy magazine article titled "The People's Sovereignty: How a New Twist on an Old Idea Can Protect the World's Most Vulnerable Populations."
In the article Soros said, "True sovereignty belongs to the people, who in turn delegate it to their governments."
"If governments abuse the authority entrusted to them and citizens have no opportunity to correct such abuses, outside interference is justified," Soros wrote. "By specifying that sovereignty is based on the people, the international community can penetrate nation-states' borders to protect the rights of citizens.
"In particular," he continued, "the principle of the people's sovereignty can help solve two modern challenges: the obstacles to delivering aid effectively to sovereign states, and the obstacles to global collective action dealing with states experiencing internal conflict."
More George Soros ties
"Responsibility" founders Evans and Thakur served as co-chairmen with Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp. Charitable Foundation, on the advisory board of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which invented the term "responsibility to protect."
In his capacity as co-chairman, Evans also played a pivotal role in initiating the fundamental shift from sovereignty as a right to "sovereignty as responsibility."
Evans presented Responsibility to Protect at the July 23, 2009, United Nations General Assembly, which was convened to consider the principle.
Thakur is a fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, which is in partnership with an economic institute founded by Soros.
Soros is on the executive board of the International Crisis Group, a "crisis management organization" for which Evans serves as president-emeritus.
WND previously reported how the group has been petitioning for the U.S. to normalize ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition in Egypt, where longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak was recently toppled.
Aside from Evans and Soros, the group includes on its board Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, as well as other personalities who champion dialogue with Hamas, a violent offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
WND also reported the crisis group has petitioned for the Algerian government to cease "excessive" military activities against al-Qaida-linked groups and to allow organizations seeking to create an Islamic state to participate in the Algerian government.
Soros' own Open Society Institute has funded opposition groups across the Middle East and North Africa, including organizations involved in the current chaos.
'One World Order'
WND reported, that doctrine founder Thakur recently advocated for a "global rebalancing" and "international redistribution" to create a "New World Order."
In a piece last March in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, "Toward a new world order," Thakur wrote, "Westerners must change lifestyles and support international redistribution."
He was referring to a United Nations-brokered international climate treaty in which he argued, "Developing countries must reorient growth in cleaner and greener directions."
In the opinion piece, Thakur then discussed recent military engagements and how the financial crisis has impacted the U.S.
"The West's bullying approach to developing nations won't work anymore – global power is shifting to Asia," he wrote.
"A much-needed global moral rebalancing is in train," he added.
Thakur continued: "Westerners have lost their previous capacity to set standards and rules of behavior for the world. Unless they recognize this reality, there is little prospect of making significant progress in deadlocked international negotiations."
Thakur contended "the demonstration of the limits to U.S. and NATO power in Iraq and Afghanistan has left many less fearful of 'superior' Western power."

On sale: Just 499 casualties in a war with Iran
The crux of the matter is the immediate urgency to carry it out ourselves, alongside the proper judgment, good faith and good intentions of Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
By Amir Oren /Haaretz
A gruesome old joke tells about a World War II quiz, in which the leading candidate annoys the judges with his tiresome erudition. In the final question he is asked to give the exact number of war fatalities each nation has suffered. When he accomplishes this mission impeccably, to the judges disappointment, one of them says dismissively, "names, names."
Ehud Barak did not list the names of the First Iran War fatalities, when he predicted they would be less than 500. Pity, because had he done so, perhaps the controversy over the equation of the possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would have sobered up.
Instead of a tie, as a survey of Israeli public opinion indicated, perhaps a crushing majority would have supported Barak and heaved a sigh of relief at being off the list. And only 499 families, at the most, would have spoiled the celebration.
Barak said he had taken the alluringly low magic figure from on-paper simulations of war scenarios.
By so doing he erred twice, in principle and intrinsically. The scenarios are drafted by professionals, not decision makers. Performance-research and system-analysis experts in the IDF Planning Division, air force, Home Front Command and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, who calculate the fortifications' thickness and the warheads effectiveness, on both sides, sprinkle a little population behavior ("if the people are sure to enter the houses" ) and bring it to a boil. They cannot say when the fire is to be put out, because the attacked side might rebel against the role it was cast in and continue a war of attrition far beyond the attacking side's desires.
If Barak is relying on professional data, then he admits the importance of the planning and operating staff work. Yet he repudiated that when he scorned the significance of the chief of staff and the chiefs of Military Intelligence, Mossad and Shin Bet, at least insofar as they reportedly refused to help him lay the groundwork for war.
His figures are wrong. The Defense Ministry, which the defense minister finds acceptable as far as we know, provided in the summer a scenario predicting more than 1,000 fatalities in the next war. The scenario of the IDF drill Turning Point 5 consisted of a downed passenger plane and numerous civilian fatalities, mostly from rockets and missiles fired into crowded places by Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and other jihadists. These are only Iran's partners and allies, before taking the Shahab missiles into account.
The use of scenarios for operative planning is intended to grade priorities among various alternatives of ideas, routes and arms; prepare for evacuation to hospitals; supervise supplies and know when the suffocation grows to such an extent that Israel would depend on an American shipment of supplies. This use of simulations is essential, on condition the users are aware of their limitations.
A sophisticated chief of staff like Barak did not foresee in 1992 that killing Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi would generate a terror attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina - bringing into the equation a quality factor that is not subject to quantity calculations. We received Hassan Nasrallah, an enemy more crafty and resolved than his predecessor.
Performance research relies on imperfect intelligence. This is how bombing Salah Shehada's house was planned without knowing there were civilians nearby. The scenarios do not include hitches in the drills (the Tzeelim II training disaster ) and in operations (abandoning Ron Arad's plane ) and "friendly fire," which has killed hundreds of IDF soldiers in wars and training.
If, when saying Israel is stronger than anyone else in this region, from Tripoli to Tehran (it's a good thing he didn't add, from Istanbul to Islamabad ), Barak is hinting at some capability, but this assumption has not been proved yet. The implication is that it would be successful, but there is no certainty.
The figures, in and of themselves, are not self-evidently meaningful.
"Only" 20 fatalities a year drove Israel out of south Lebanon, because the necessity of being there had lost its broad public support.
The crux of the matter is the immediate urgency to carry it out ourselves, alongside the proper judgment, good faith and good intentions of Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The doubts regarding all these is a denial of support for them, both in the public and in the army.

Al-Qaeda returns to Egypt under Iranian cover
By Huda al Husseini/Asharq Alawsat
With the rising of tension in several areas of the Middle East, Iran feels that nothing should detract it from its plan. On the contrary, it is seeking to take advantage of everything. In the past it invested in relations, particularly with al-Qaeda, and now it is time to reap the fruit.
At the time when the whole world knew that the United States would withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, hoping that it would leave behind some troops or bases, it emerged that US President Barack Obama has not spoken to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki since February, and that contacts were only resumed following his recent surprising announcement that US troops would withdraw completely. Throughout this period of time, Iran was busy working on its investments at all levels. Once it was clear that Al-Maliki had carried out every order, Ayatollah Khamenei breathed a sigh and described the US withdrawal as a “new page” and a “golden victory”.
However, Iraq alone is not an adequate area for Iran`s activity. Iran is also seeking to manipulate other Arab areas for its plans. Egypt appears very important in this regard, a country which Iranian Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has "attempted to reorder".
A meeting was held last May in Tehran, between Atiyyah Allah al-Libi, an al-Qaeda leader (who was later killed in July), and Heydar Moslehi. They agreed on a set of activities to infiltrate Egypt, to be carried out by active "Islamic Jihad" members of Egyptian origin. The aim was to promote Islamist movements, which would then support Iran’s regional policy. They discussed the cases of dozens of prominent "Islamic Jihad" militants whom Iran had released from prison along with their families. A number of them, most of whom were of Egyptian and Libyan origin, were released before the start of the revolutions in the Arab world, as part of a clandestine agreement between Iran and al-Qaeda. Others were released after the start of the disturbances, on the condition that they would join those who were already active in Egypt, and maintain contact with Iran.
However, Iran realized that the long-term objective of the al-Qaeda was to create an infrastructure in Egypt that would promote its dream of establishing an Islamic caliphate, something that is not in Iran`s interests.
During the Tehran meeting between Moslehi and al-Libi, the latter agreed to receive a sum of money to cover the cost of some necessary measures, including the cost of fake passports for those who had been released from Iranian prisons. Instructions were given by the Iranian intelligence services to those who had entered Egypt, through certain routes, to set up al-Qaeda cells and establish infrastructures to carry out activities and logistical work in order to destabilize Egypt, through tactics of sabotage and terrorist attacks. They were to take advantage of the weakness of the Egyptian security services (The Financial Times published a long report on Egypt on Saturday 29th October, in which Egyptian people complained of the decline in the role of the Egyptian security forces, and the open spread of drug smuggling). At the meeting, it was agreed that the funds should be used to purchase documents for those who had been recruited earlier in Egypt, in order for them to be sent to training camps, particularly in Sudan, and to be provided with equipment and weapons: explosives, machine guns, RPG missile-launchers and so on.
Until his death in July, Atiyyah al-Libi was in charge of coordinating relations between al-Qaeda and Tehran, through the instructions he was sending to the al-Qaeda infrastructure based in Iran. He was killed in North Waziristan by a drone-fired missile, and this deprived al-Qaeda of one of its most prominent visionaries. Following the dispersion of the Al-Qaeda leadership, as a result of the US campaign in Afghanistan in 2011, he had worked as the organization`s representative in Iran, and as the regional envoy of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula.
In his book on Hezbollah, published in 2008, Al-Libi tried to convince his jihadist followers that Iran`s foreign policy was not based solely on religion, but that it was also pragmatic and opportunistic. In March, he wrote an open letter to the people of Misrata, Libya, in which he used his real name, Jamal Ibrahim Ashtawi al-Misrati. He called on the Libyan people to ensure the supremacy of Islam in governance, and enshrine Islamic Sharia in the constitution, as stated by al-Qaeda.
The returning members of Islamist organisations have benefited from the reforms introduced by the "new regime" in Egypt, which under an amnesty annulled the court sentences that had been issued against them, completely oblivious to the agreement that had been struck by Iran and al-Qaeda. Hence we witnessed the return of no fewer than four of the most prominent members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya to Egypt after forty years. Among them was Muhammad Shawqi al-Islambouli, the brother of Khalid al-Islambouli who killed President Anwar al-Sadat, and was sentenced to death in the 1990s. His family and a great number of the leaders of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya welcomed him at Cairo Airport in August. He surrendered to the representative of the Egyptian Army, and he will be tried in accordance with Egyptian laws.
Among other prominent returnees is Hussein Shamit, who was involved in the assassination attempt on President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995. He returned with al-Islambouli, and was acquitted of all accusations of terrorism. Ibrahim Muhammad al-Saghir was also pardoned. He was known as " the religious authority” in al-Qaeda, and returned to Cairo in May with his wife and three of his children.
As a condition for their release from Iranian prisons, these men agreed to be Iran`s mouthpieces in Egypt, and to encourage the emergence of radical Islamist regimes in Arab countries, particularly in Egypt. As before, al-Qaeda promised not to undertake any sabotage activity against Iran, and work with it against Arab regimes.
The junior members and the less known figures in the Islamic Jihad organisation were smuggled out to Egypt through other routes, without the knowledge of the authorities. Among them was Hisham Ramadan, who returned secretly to Egypt from Iran after spending years in Afghanistan.
The secret deal between Iran and al-Qaeda was no secret to the US intelligence service. On the 28th July, the US Treasury announced sanctions against six individuals, whom, according to the US announcement, were members of the Iran-based Izz-al Din Abdul Aziz al-Khalil network, which was helping to transfer funds to al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The announcement compliments US Executive Order 13224, which imposed sanctions on organizations that support terrorism. US Treasury Secretary David Cohen said that part of the "secret deal" between Iran, the "leading country in the funding of terrorism", and al-Qaeda, was Tehran`s approval of the transfer of terrorist funds through Iran.
This coming month will be decisive. The Egyptian elections will be held. The IAEA report is expected to reveal noticeable progress in the Iranian (military) nuclear program. Iran may try to anticipate reactions by launching an operation in an Arab country, after its attempts failed in Washington. For its part, Washington is concerned over possible Israeli military action against Iran following the publication of the IAEA report, as any military action would not necessarily converge with US interests. US Republican and Democrat hawks are pressing for an Israeli military strike against Iran before the US withdrawal from Iraq. The Syrians and the Iranians, and their supporters in Lebanon in particular, are offering counter threats, saying that thousands of missiles will strike Israel if the Syrian regime is threatened, or if a NATO attack is launched against it.
What is being talked about behind closed doors is that Iran is not concerned with the interests of Arab countries; it sees them as mere arenas to carry out its plans. A US journalist put it to me this way: Iran and Israel agree on one thing, which is to maintain the status quo in Syria, but keep President Bashar al-Assad weak. The official told me that Israel will not attack Iranian nuclear facilities, and Iran will not attack Israel with nuclear weapons. Iranian nuclear capability grants legitimacy to Israel’s nuclear capability.
In conclusion, if Arab countries are not attacked by Israel, they will certainly be attacked by Iran, and al-Qaeda is ready to help.