LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 20/2011


Bible Quotation for today/
Confessing and Rejecting Christ
Matthew 10/32-33: "Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven".
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Hezbollah Waits and Prepares/By NICHOLAS BLANFORD/November 19/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 19/11
Israel beware: China arms Hezbollah
Lebanon ranks 8th regionally in terms of ease of paying taxes
Tripoli residents march in solidarity with Syrian people
Windsor police frustrated that Big 3 Auto fraud suspect allowed to travel to Lebanon...

Beirut Bar Association rival members set to cast their votes Sunday
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Nov. 19, 2011
Lebanese surfers embrace the winter’s waves
Heavy rain in Lebanon causes floods, strands drivers
Beirut Bar Association rival members set to cast their votes Sunday  
Britain's Hague to meet Syrian rebels Monday: ministry
- 2 hours ago
Egyptians rage against military rule in Cairo
- 2
Celebrities campaign against HIV/AIDS
Christians should not let others define them by religion, says Rai
Fears Syria is in midst of sectarian civil war
Growing defections in Syria signal development of protracted stalemate
Syria accepts Arab League plan 'in principle'
Clinton on Iran, Syria, Penn State -- and a half-naked man/By David Jackson/USA TODAY

Britain's Hague to meet Syrian rebels Monday: ministry
- 2 hours ago
Egyptians rage against military rule in Cairo
- 2
Tunisia: Islamist Named PM, Leftists Named President, Speaker
Powers mull Syria sanctuaries

DECKER & TRIPLETT: Israel beware: China arms Hezbollah
Beijing weapons proliferation benefits Iran and Islamic terrorist groups

|By Brett M. Decker and William C. Triplett II
The Washington Times
Thursday, November 17, 2011
It doesn’t take a lot to exacerbate the broiling political crisis in the Middle East, and Beijing’s international arm sales pour fuel on the Muslim-Jewish fire. During the Second Lebanon War, a Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile struck Israel’s INS Hanit off the Lebanon coast. Four Israeli sailors were killed in the incident - Yoni Hershkovitz from Haifa, Shai Atias from Rishon Letzion, Tal Amgar from Ashdod and Dov Shtienshos from Carmiel. The oldest was 37, the youngest just 19. All of them had families.
The casualties could have been much worse. The majority of the Hanit’s 80 crew members were sitting down to a “Sabbath eve dinner, an error of complacency that ironically in retrospect ended up saving lives.” Most of the crew was in the ship’s mess, a central location away from the spot where the missile struck.
There could have been a more direct hit on the vessel. The Hanit is a corvette (called a Saar 5 class ship by the Israeli navy), which is substantially smaller than an American frigate or destroyer. It’s about 1,200 tons loaded, built at the Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. The Chinese C-802 anti-ship missile is a sea-skimmer, an advanced conventional weapon - not a ballistic missile - and carried a 400-pound time-delayed semi-armor-piercing high-explosive warhead that blew up near the fan tail of the ship. As it was, the explosion caused substantial damage, engulfing the aft section in flames and caving in the ship’s helicopter pad. But the Hanit didn’t sink. If the Chinese missile had struck amidships where most of the ship’s company was eating, or had impacted at the water line, many more crewmembers would have been killed or permanently injured, and it’s unlikely the ship would have survived.
Fortuitously for the Hanit, a second C-802 fired at the same time flew over the ship, zeroed in on a small freighter 40 miles away, and sank it. A ship the size of the Hanit could never have taken two missile hits.
Illustration: Bowing to BeijingThere was never any doubt about who fired the missiles. The chief of the terrorist organization Hezbollah announced the attack first, declaring, “You wanted all-out war - and that is what you will get! You have no idea who you are dealing with!” Israeli officials believe Hezbollah may have had its hand on the lanyard, but Iranian specialists manned the firing batteries, and Lebanon’s military radars provided the guidance for the missile.
The Israeli Board of Inquiry determined that the Hanit suffered no technical malfunctions prior to the attack. Rather, it attributed the ship’s vulnerability to negligence by the commander and other crewmembers. Apparently, the sailors had such little apprehension of danger that a junior officer turned off the ship’s defensive systems, rendering the Hanit effectively blind to the threat. The ship’s captain lost his command and other officers were disciplined.
The Chinese missile attack on the Hanit came about primarily due to intelligence failures, but it highlighted a tragic blindness in the Israeli military: It simply refused to believe that Chinese authorities would put a dangerous missile system of this magnitude in the hands of a nonstate actor. At the Board of Inquiry, the Israeli navy commander explained that the prospect of Chinese advanced conventional missiles in the hands of Hezbollah seemed “unrealistic and imaginary.”
No one doubts that the Chinese have been and still are deeply engaged in illicit nuclear-weapons assistance to numerous countries. The bomb designs for the nuclear-weapon programs of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya and Pakistan were all Chinese. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is trading nuclear-weapons designs to Iran for oil and, through front companies, has funneled dual-use nuclear goods bought by North Korea to Syria. Specialists in the field widely agree that China also secretly trades in other types of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), ballistic missiles and advanced conventional weapons.
Israeli military officials knew it as well. But they didn’t understand what - advanced conventional weapons - China would sell to whom - nonstate actors. They knew the Chinese sell WMDs to rogue states like Iran or North Korea, but the Israelis, like national-security policymakers in most of the free world, assumed the PRC was just nasty, not crazy. Top Israeli security officials evidently thought, “Even the Chinese would not go so far as to arm terrorist groups with advanced conventional weapons.” They were wrong. To be fair to the Israelis, surprise attacks against America, like Pearl Harbor or Sept. 11, are reminders that the Jewish state is not the first to tragically underestimate its bloodthirsty opponents.
The C-802s fired by Hezbollah at the Israeli navy originated in China either as fully manufactured missiles or as kits assembled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. At any time, the PRC could have told the Iranians not to deliver them to any terrorist organization, but Beijing obviously issued no such instructions. The Chinese Communist Party simply thought the West and certainly the United Nations would never call out China - a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council - on its skullduggery.
The arming of Hezbollah, like most of the PRC’s illicit weapons trade, all boils down to money. Arms smuggling is highly profitable, and the Chinese Communist families that control Beijing’s end of the various arms-smuggling operations with the North Koreans, Iranians or the Syrians would have gotten their cut of whatever went down. As one expert recently noted, “Most remaining proliferation disputes don’t pertain to the actions of the government in Beijing, but to the practices of China’s state-owned defense industries. The country’s large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are some of the world’s most prolific exporters of weapons and dual-use technologies.” These SOEs are dominated by the so-called Princelings, sons, daughters and grandchildren of high-ranking officials who founded and ran the Chinese Communist Party with Mao.
In a private briefing in Hong Kong, a Chinese arms dealer described the relationship between the Chinese Communist elite and Beijing’s arms-smuggling trade. According to him, this lucrative business was carefully divided so that each family received a share of the profits depending on where they are in the Communist Party pecking order. His account immediately brought to mind the mafia families in “The Godfather” movie dividing up the New York crime scene. In discussing the most important arms exporting firm in Beijing, “Polytechnologies Inc.,” the gunrunner noted that the company’s officers were in the same hierarchical relationship with one another as their sponsors (fathers, fathers-in-law, and the like) were within the Communist Party. He explained that this implied a deliberate division of the arms-smuggling pie based on Party rank order. At the time of the briefing, Polytechnologies was headed up by none other than the son-in-law of Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of China.
*Brett M. Decker is editorial page editor of The Washington Times and a former Hong Kong-based editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal. William C. Triplett II is former chief Republican counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and bestselling co-author of “Year of the Rat” (Regnery, 1998).© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Christians should not let others define them by religion, says Rai
November 19, 2011/The Daily Star
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai called upon Christians Friday to resist attempts by others to define them based solely on religious identity. “Christians, and all of their friends ... should confront all attempts seeking to define our societies and countries on the basis of religious identity,” Rai said.
Rai warned that while current developments and changes in the Arab world expressed a “kind of awareness and commitment to national identity, we fear that [these changes] will result in sectarian conflicts, harsher regimes and the division of the region based on sect.”
The patriarch’s remarks came during the opening of a conference entitled “The Future of Christians in the Middle East towards Religious Freedom,” held at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik.
He said that the conference would tackle challenges facing Christians in their commitment to “partnership and testimony,” a variation on the slogan of “love and partnership” that Rai adopted upon his election in March.
Rai said that Christian presence in the Middle East was in need of “a proper and neutral political framework” so that Christians could perform their role and contribute to the development of societies.
“The civil state, which separates between religion and political institutions without sidelining religion to the margin of public affairs, seems to be the framework which suits the current circumstances in our country,” he said.
The patriarch said that three challenges face Christians: security, the protection of essential freedoms and the recognition of diversity.
Rai noted that security is the right of all people, and should be guaranteed by states. “That’s why this does not mean at all that the majority [necessarily] protects the minority, for this is a fundamental and shared right for everyone [that should be applied] without any kind of discrimination or fanaticism.”
He said that the concept of freedom is of “extreme importance” for Christians, citing the history of the Maronite Church.

Windsor police frustrated that Big 3 Auto fraud suspect allowed to travel to Lebanon
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Windsor+police+frustrated+that+Auto+fraud+suspect+allowed+travel+Lebanon/5734595/story.html
By Trevor Wilhelm, The Windsor Star November 18, 2011 7:25 PM •Story•Photos ( 1 )
The home of Jamal Hizme at 2248 Dandurand Blvd. is pictured in Windsor on Friday, November 18, 2011. It is believed the owner of Big 3 Auto has fled the country.Photograph by: Tyler Brownbridge, The Windsor StarWINDSOR, Ont. -- The alleged mastermind of a complex used car fraud scheme may have avoided justice by leaving Canada with the court’s blessing after he was charged.
The Crown agreed to grant Jamal (Jay) Hazime eight days to go to Lebanon to see his mother, after police slapped him with more than 17 criminal charges. Those eight days ended Nov. 3. According to police, he has not returned.
Windsor police say they did not agree to let Hazime go.
“It’s frustrating,” said Det. Kevin McCann of the arson and financial crimes unit. “We shut down his business. He’s gone. He can’t answer the charge here.”
Hazime, who moved here after the U.S. deported him for delivering heroin to an undercover cop, is the owner of Big 3 Pre-Owned Auto Sales and 5 Diamond Motors in Windsor.
The dealerships have been the focus of a lengthy joint forces probe involving Windsor police, OPP, RCMP and the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council.
Hazime, 42, along with finance manager Sabhi (Alex) Bakir, 32, and Five Diamond manager Souheil (Daniel) Yazbek, 47, each face at least 17 charges including fraud, forgery and public mischief.
They allegedly defrauded customers by sticking them with higher car prices, finance rates and loan terms than agreed to and forging their signatures on contracts. Police said the dealers also sold customers non-existent warranties.
Just hours before police went to raid Five Diamond on Nov. 3, someone torched the place. Despite that, police said they got the evidence they needed.
McCann said he’s received about 300 calls from customers who have been victimized, but not all of those cases will result in criminal charges. Police are investigating at least 60 of those as criminal complaints, but that number could grow.
McCann said Friday police anticipate laying more charges against Bakir. They are also looking at who else is involved.
“We’ve identified other people of interest,” said McCann. “Persons of interest that were tightly connected with Hazime.”
After police charged him, Hazime claimed he needed to go to Lebanon because his mother was sick. Assistant Crown attorney Gary Nikota consented to it. Nikota and Hazime’s lawyer went before a judge and the bail conditions were changed Oct. 25 to allow him to travel to Lebanon between Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.
After learning of the change in bail conditions, police and another member of the Crown’s office went to court to reverse them but were unsuccessful.
According to Hazime’s itinerary with Falcon Travel and Tours, he flew out of Toronto on Oct. 26. He was supposed to land back in Windsor on Nov. 3 at 12:15 a.m. He never returned.
Nikota was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. Other representatives of the Crown’s office didn’t return phone calls.
Sources told The Star that Hazime also owns a car dealership in Lebanon worth millions of dollars. Police were still trying to confirm conflicting reports about whether he does own such a business there. But they do know he has been shipping vehicles from Canada to Lebanon.
“We have information that a number of high-end SUVs have been shipped overseas,” said McCann.
Police aren’t the only ones who want Hazime back in Canada. McCann said it appears Hazime may have pulled a “classic bust out.” It’s a term police use for people who build up as much debt as they can before leaving the country.
“By bust out I mean you run up as much credit debt as you can and then you leave before paying it back,” said McCann. “It’s seems like a classic bust out because I’m hearing from other banks, ‘he’s into us for $40,000, he’s into us for $20,000.’”
There was a time when Hazime wasn’t quite so anxious to return to his native Lebanon. While facing deportation from the U.S. after a drug conviction, Hazime said he had “no one to turn to” in the Middle Eastern country. He argued returning there would cause him “unusual hardship,” according to U.S. court documents.
Hazime was 12 when he came to the United States with his family in 1982. He later gained permanent resident status there, but was deported in the mid-1990s after being convicted in a drug trafficking scheme. He was the lookout while his partner tried to sell $36,000 worth of heroin to an undercover cop, according to the court documents.
He was arrested July 20, 1989, and charged with possession with intent to deliver more than 50 grams of heroin.
An Aug. 3, 1989, story in the Canton Observer said Hazime and another man were arrested at Westland Center Mall in the undercover bust.
Hazime pleaded guilty to delivery of less that 50 grams of heroin and was put on lifetime probation. Deportation proceedings against him began Feb. 11, 1991. He fought deportation but lost the battle in 1994. At the time, Hazime was living in Dearborn and was self-employed as a used car salesman.
Instead of returning to Lebanon, Hazime came to Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency refused to comment on how someone with a heroin conviction would be allowed into the country.
“Due to privacy legislation, the CBSA will not discuss specifics of any cases,” spokeswoman Diana Scott said in an email.
She said people applying to enter Canada are “considered on a case-by-case basis.” Those considerations include a person’s involvement in human rights violations, organized crime and criminal activity.
twilhelm@windsorstar.com or 519-255-6850
© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star
Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Windsor+police+frustrated+that+Auto+fraud+suspect+allowed+travel+Lebanon/5734595/story.html#ixzz1e74ayjyO

Hezbollah Waits and Prepares
With new tensions over Iran's nuclear program, the militant group stands ready to retaliate against Israel.Article Comments more in Life & Culture | Find New $LINKTEXTFIND$ ».Email Print Save ↓ More ..smaller Larger By NICHOLAS BLANFORD/WallStreet Journal
.On a recent Saturday afternoon, a radar operated by French United Nations peacekeepers picked up a pilotless Israeli reconnaissance drone crossing into south Lebanon. It was given no more attention than any of the dozens of other surveillance missions flown by the Israelis in Lebanese airspace each month.
But when the drone passed above Wadi Hojeir, a yawning valley with steep, brush-covered slopes, it abruptly vanished from the radar screen. The startled peacekeepers contacted the Lebanese army, and a search of the rugged valley was conducted in the early-evening gloom. Nothing was found.
No one can recall the last time that an Israeli drone malfunctioned over Lebanon and crashed, and there were no reports of antiaircraft fire. The Israelis have said nothing. Neither has Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and arch foe of Israel. The peacekeeping force is now abuzz with speculation that Hezbollah may have found a way of electronically disabling drones.
It is food for thought as tensions escalate once more between the West and Iran, Hezbollah's ideological patron, over the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions. A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency released last week claimed that Iran has been engaged in "activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device." It was the IAEA's toughest report yet on Iran, and it was preceded by a flurry of articles in the Israeli press saying that the Israeli government was seriously considering a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran has delivered its own warnings. Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy chief of the country's armed forces, was quoted saying that "the smallest action by Israel [against Iran] and we will see its destruction." He added that plans for retaliation were already in place.
Many analysts believe that those plans could include directing Hezbollah to unleash its military might against Israel, pummeling it with thousands of long-range rockets, placing the Jewish state's heartland on the frontline for the first time since 1948.
Hezbollah and Israel last came to blows in July 2006, when the Lebanese militants fought the Israeli army to a surprise standstill in the valleys and hills of south Lebanon. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's charismatic leader, proclaimed a "divine victory" against Israel, but since then he has been careful not to provoke another round of fighting.
But the quiet has not stopped the two sides from making feverish preparations for another encounter, one that neither Hezbollah nor Israel wants but that both believe is probably inevitable.
The rate of recruitment into Hezbollah's ranks has soared. New recruits are bused to secret training camps in the Bekaa Valley, where they endure lengthy marches over the craggy limestone mountains carrying backpacks weighed down with rocks. They learn fieldcraft and weapons handling, and some go on to receive advanced training in Iran. The military instruction is interspersed with religious and cultural lessons, teaching them the importance of jihad, martyrdom and obedience to Hezbollah's religious figurehead, currently embodied by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the supreme leader of Iran.
Hezbollah never divulges details of its ever-improving military capabilities, but reports claim that the organization has amassed as many as 50,000 rockets, including guided missiles that can strike targets in Tel Aviv. Hezbollah fighters have repeatedly hinted that they are being trained to slip across the border into Israel in the next war, a development to which Sheikh Nasrallah himself referred for the first time in a speech earlier this year.
Still, even as it has evolved into the most formidable nonstate military force in the world, Hezbollah faces its greatest array of challenges since emerging in the early 1980s.
It is in the spotlight of an international tribunal based in the Netherlands which has indicted four party members for their alleged role in the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, an iconic Lebanese statesman. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the killing of Mr. Hariri by a truck bomb.
Of far greater consequence for the group is the bloody upheaval in Syria, where protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have left some 3,500 dead since mid-March, according to the U.N. For Hezbollah and Iran, the collapse of the Assad regime would upset the strategic balance in the Middle East, rupturing an alliance between Damascus and Tehran that has endured for 30 years and only grown stronger in the past decade under the presidency of Mr. Assad.
Syria is an important conduit for the transfer of arms to Hezbollah, but more crucially it is Iran's only solid ally in the Arab world, granting Tehran an influential toehold on Israel's northern border and providing strategic depth for Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's repeated declarations of support for Mr. Assad have eroded the party's popularity not only among the majority Sunnis in Syria, who make up the bulk of the opposition, but also more generally in the Arab world as the regional "cold war" intensifies between Shiite Iran and mainly Sunni Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Louay Zouabi, a Syrian Salafist cleric who was in Lebanon recently to drum up support for the opposition, listed Iran followed by Hezbollah as his two main enemies. The Assad regime came in third place. "Assad is third because it is natural for him to want to kill me because I am trying to overthrow him," he said. "But why do Iran and Hezbollah want me dead? What have I done to them?"
Hezbollah's popularity in Lebanon has declined since the heady days of the 1990s, when the Lebanese, regardless of sect, broadly backed Hezbollah's resistance campaign against Israel's occupation of south Lebanon. The Israelis left 11 years ago, but Hezbollah refused to disarm, and today the fate of its weapons lies at the heart of Lebanon's gaping political divide. Hezbollah insists that its robust military wing serves as a defense for Lebanon against possible Israeli aggression.
"Israel will not wage a new war against Lebanon—not because of its nobility, ethics, or commitments to international resolutions, but rather because it cannot guarantee its success," Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, said recently.
But skeptics point to Hezbollah's ties to Iran and accuse it of serving the deterrent needs of Tehran rather than the defensive interests of Lebanon.
The dilemma for Hezbollah is that launching a war against Israel in response to an attack on Iran will reap massive destruction on Lebanon and on Hezbollah's core Shiite constituency—all for the sake of defending the nuclear ambitions of a country lying 650 miles to the east.
Hezbollah officials remain coy on the organization's likely reaction to an attack on Iran. Much would depend on the scale of the strike and the political situation in the Middle East. Sheikh Nasrallah recently said that neither the U.S. nor Israel is in a position to launch a fresh war in the Middle East, describing media speculation about a possible attack on Iran as "intimidation."
Meanwhile, Hezbollah's cadres concentrate on their relentless training and military planning, with a single-minded focus on the next conflict with Israel.
"Let them attack Iran. It will be great," said a young, stocky Hezbollah fighter named Khodr. "It will mean that Israel is finished."
—Mr. Blanford is a Beirut-based correspondent. His new book is "Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel."
 

Lebanon ranks 8th regionally in terms of ease of paying taxes
November 19, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, in conjunction with PricewaterHouseCoopers issued a report termed “Paying Taxes 2012: The Global Picture” in which it ranked Lebanon 41st out of 183 countries and eighth out of 16 Middle East and North African countries in terms of ease of paying taxes.
In order to rank countries based on the aforementioned criterion, the study involves recording the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay in a given year, as well as measuring the administrative burden of paying taxes and other contributions.
A result overview shows Lebanon’s global ranking regressed from the 36th spot, while it retained its regional position from the previous survey.
This is in line with the performance of several regional jurisdictions which have fallen in this year’s report. According to the survey, in several locations, levied taxes are limited to social security contributions on national employees. That said, many of the jurisdictions in the MENA region are increasingly adopting other revenue raising measures to meet budgetary needs, thus impacting the cost of compliance of many businesses. These measures include increased fees and levies paid for licenses, permits and other government approvals necessary to operate a business. In addition to rising tariff rates, many businesses also need to employ an increasing numbers of back office staff to comply with these changes, which is resulting in higher overhead costs at a time when many businesses are struggling to survive.
The ease-of-paying-taxes rankings are compiled through three sub-indicators: the number of tax payments, the time afforded for compliance and the total tax rate. When it comes to tax payments, the study indicates that the standard case study in Lebanon paid a total of 19 taxes, 12 of which are labor tax payments, six are other miscellaneous tax payments and one is a corporate income tax payment. This compares to a regional average of 20 tax-related transactions, 12 of which are labor tax payments, seven are miscellaneous tax payments and one is a corporate income tax payment. Globally, Lebanon ranked 68th out of 183 countries in this indicator, while in the MENA region Lebanon came in ninth out of 16 countries.
The indicator for the time to comply assesses the number of hours per year the case study spends dealing with taxes. In Lebanon, the sample case study spends 100 hours dealing with labor taxes, 40 hours handling corporate income taxes and 40 hours dealing with consumption taxes. Therefore, it dedicates 180 hours each year to deal with taxes. It is worth noting that for this indicator, the longer time dedicated to handling taxes, the lower the rank. This compares to a regional average of 186 hours a year to deal with taxes, distributed into 76 hours to deal with labor taxes, 61 hours to deal with corporate income taxes and 49 hours to deal with consumption taxes. Lebanon ranked 62nd globally, and ninth regionally in this category.
Finally, when examining the indicator for tax rate, the case study in Lebanon appears to have a total tax rate of 30.2 percent of commercial profits, against a regional average of 32 percent. The labor tax rate was found to be at 24.1 percent of commercial profits, compared to a 17 percent average in the MENA region. The corporate tax rate was at 6.1 percent of total commercial profits compared to a regional average of 10 percent. Lastly, when it comes to miscellaneous tax rates as a percentage of commercial profits, the regional average was 4 percent, compared to 0 percent in Lebanon. For this indicator, the lower the rate is, the higher the ranking. Lebanon ranked 44nd globally and ninth regionally in this category.

Clinton on Iran, Syria, Penn State -- and a half-naked man
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/11/clinton-on-iran-syria-penn-state----and-half-naked-man/1
Comments 5 By David Jackson, USA TODAY
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did interviews today after President Obama announced she would visit Burma, but she covered a lot of other ground -- from the Middle East to the Penn State scandal to daughter Chelsea's new job to the man in a loincloth who recently interrupted one of her photo opportunities.
"I thought it was hilarious," Clinton told ABC's Jake Tapper about the streaker in Hawaii. "I mean, it, it happened so quickly, and when I turned my head, I just saw this, you know, very, you know, big man with a, holding a torch with a blue loincloth, running by. "I think he was late for his role at the luau," said Clinton, whose laughing response at the time went viral on the Internet. The incident occurred during an Asia-Pacific economic summit this year.
On more serious topics, Clinton:
-- Told ABC that the days are numbered for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham ClintonCAPTIONBy Susan Walsh, AP-- Said, "Iran cannot be permitted to have a nuclear weapon, and no option has ever been taken off the table" in terms of a U.S. response.
--Said she is "just sick at heart" about the Penn State child abuse scandal, telling ABC, "I am also the daughter and the sister of two men who went to Penn State and were on the football team. So we have a long tradition of supporting Penn State academically and athletically."
-- Spoke to MSNBC about daughter Chelsea Clinton's new reporting job with NBC News: "I was a little surprised that she decided to go for it, but I'm very excited for her."
Clinton did the interviews from Bali, Indonesia, where she is attending an East Asian economic summit along with Obama.

Question: "Why is it important to believe in biblical inerrancy?"
Answer: We live in a time that tends to shrug its shoulders when confronted with error. Instead of asking, like Pilate, “What is truth?” postmodern man says, “Nothing is truth” or perhaps “There is truth, but we cannot know it.” We’ve grown accustomed to being lied to, and many people seem comfortable with the false notion that the Bible, too, contains errors.
The doctrine of biblical inerrancy is an extremely important one because the truth does matter. This issue reflects on the character of God and is foundational to our understanding of everything the Bible teaches. Here are some reasons why we should absolutely believe in biblical inerrancy:
1. The Bible itself claims to be perfect. “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). “The law of the Lord is perfect” (Psalm 19:7). “Every word of God is pure” (Proverbs 30:5 KJV). These claims of purity and perfection are absolute statements. Note that it doesn’t say God’s Word is “mostly” pure or scripture is “nearly” perfect. The Bible argues for complete perfection, leaving no room for “partial perfection” theories.
2. The Bible stands or falls as a whole. If a major newspaper were routinely discovered to contain errors, it would be quickly discredited. It would make no difference to say, “All the errors are confined to page three.” For a paper to be reliable in any of its parts, it must be factual throughout. In the same way, if the Bible is inaccurate when it speaks of geology, why should its theology be trusted? It is either a trustworthy document, or it is not.
3. The Bible is a reflection of its Author. All books are. The Bible was written by God Himself as He worked through human authors in a process called “inspiration.” “All scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). See also 2 Peter 1:21 and Jeremiah 1:2.
We believe that the God who created the universe is capable of writing a book. And the God who is perfect is capable of writing a perfect book. The issue is not simply “Does the Bible have a mistake?” but “Can God make a mistake?” If the Bible contains factual errors, then God is not omniscient and is capable of making errors Himself. If the Bible contains misinformation, then God is not truthful but is instead a liar. If the Bible contains contradictions, then God is the author of confusion. In other words, if biblical inerrancy is not true, then God is not God.
4. The Bible judges us, not vice versa. “For the word of God...judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Notice the relationship between “the heart” and “the Word.” The Word examines; the heart is being examined. To discount parts of the Word for any reason is to reverse this process. We become the examiners, and the Word must submit to our “superior insight.” Yet God says, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Romans 9:20).
5. The Bible’s message must be taken as a whole. It is not a mixture of doctrine that we are free to select from. Many people like the verses that say God loves them, but they dislike the verses that say God will judge sinners. But we simply cannot pick and choose what we like about the Bible and throw the rest away. If the Bible is wrong about hell, for example, then who is to say it is right about heaven—or about anything else? If the Bible cannot get the details right about creation, then maybe the details about salvation cannot be trusted either. If the story of Jonah is a myth, then perhaps so is the story of Jesus. On the contrary, God has said what He has said, and the Bible presents us a full picture of who God is. “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89).
6. The Bible is our only rule for faith and practice. If it is not reliable, then on what do we base our beliefs? Jesus asks for our trust, and that includes trust in what He says in His Word. John 6:67-69 is a beautiful passage. Jesus had just witnessed the departure of many who had claimed to follow Him. Then He turns to the twelve apostles and asks, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” At this, Peter speaks for the rest when he says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” May we have the same trust in the Lord and in His words of life.
None of what we have presented here should be taken as a rejection of true scholarship. Biblical inerrancy does not mean that we are to stop using our minds or accept what the Bible says blindly. We are commanded to study the Word (2 Timothy 2:15), and those who search it out are commended (Acts 17:11). Also, we recognize that there are difficult passages in the Bible, as well as sincere disagreements over interpretation. Our goal is to approach Scripture reverently and prayerfully, and when we find something we do not understand, we pray harder, study more, and—if the answer still eludes us—humbly acknowledge our own limitations in the face of the perfect Word of God. 
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Recommended Resource: The Big Book of Bible Difficulties by Geisler & Howe.
 

Interview | Fondateur et directeur de l’observatoire des pays arabes à Paris, Antoine Basbous nous a accordé un long entretien lors de son passage à Genève, mercredi. Il vient de publier « Le Tsunami arabe », un livre qui fait le point sur le printemps arabe et ses perspectives dans les différents pays.
© dr | Antoine Basbous, Fondateur et directeur de l’observatoire des pays arabes à Paris.
Olivier Bot | 18.11.2011 | 17:23
La Ligue arabe vient de fixer un ultimatum de trois jours à la Syrie pour faire cesser la répression. Après son feu vert à l’intervention en Libye, cette organisation des pays arabes paraît moins divisée et impuissante que par le passé. Pourquoi ?
La Ligue arabe est à l’image des Etats qui la composent. Ils étaient endormis et ont été réveillés par l’esprit de jeunesse qui a soufflé. Le plus petit pays et le plus riche du monde arabe a pris le leadership de l’organisation au détriment d’une Egypte qui se réorganise pour ne rien changer, et d’autre part de l’Arabie saoudite dont les dirigeants sont vieillissants.
Des élections vont avoir lieu en Egypte, le 28 novembre prochain. Mais vous êtes très pessimiste concernant l’avenir de la révolution au pays du Nil. Pensez-vous que ces élections ne serviront à rien ?
L’armée a détourné la révolution. Elle veut changer la vitrine mais conserver le pouvoir. Elle a joué le pourrissement pour dire demain à la société, à la bourgeoisie qui ne sort plus de chez elle, et à l’étranger, après l’invasion de l’ambassade d’Israël, qu’elle est le seul garant de l’ordre. L’armée a une stratégie honteuse, dissimulée : laisser l’autorité se diluer avant d’être rappelée pour en finir avec les difficultés économiques entraînées par la révolution, dans le tourisme et l’investissement notamment. Les élections risquent en effet de ne rien changer au scénario. Le paysage politique est en effet marqué par quatre phénomène. Le premier c’est l’éclatement de la branche libérale, démocrate de la révolution en plusieurs formations naissantes qui n’ont eu le temps de se structurer avant ce scrutin. Il y a 48 000 bureaux de vote en Egypte. Il faudra donc 96000 observateurs. Qui disposent de ces troupes militantes ? Les Frères musulmans. Ils sont présents partout, y compris au fin fond du pays. Le deuxième phénomène, c’est l’arrivée en forces des salafistes, la version à l’exportation du wahhabisme saoudien. Il y a une semaine un chef salafiste a réussi à imposer le voile à une présentatrice d’une chaîne de télévision publique. L’intimidation a marché. C’est mauvais signe. Le troisième phénomène, c’est la banalisation des Frères musulmans. Ils ont les hommes, je l’ai dis, l’argent et existent dans le pays depuis 1928. Le quatrième phénomène c’est le retour du PND, le parti de Moubarak. Dans un jugement récent, un tribunal a autorisé ce parti pourtant décrédibilisé de se présenter, à tenter de rescussiter l’ancien régime.
Dans un livre qui vient de sortir Tariq Ramadan, estime que le mouvement démocrate est en décalage avec la majorité de la population, qu’il ne correspond pas aux aspirations profonde du peuple qui souhaite avant tout une gouvernance islamiste. Vous êtes en désaccord avec lui ?
Oui, ce qui gêne Tariq Ramadan, c’est que les islamistes ont toujours échoué à renverser les régimes qui sont tombés, soufflés par des aspirations à la liberté. Alors, il développe une théorie du complot, notamment avec le financement américains de certains groupes d’activistes. Je ne nie pas que quelques activistes, 500 personne peut-être sur l’ensemble des pays secoués par la révolution, ont été formés aux techniques non violentes de contestation, mais c’est une goutte d’eau dans l’océan. Les gens qui se sont soulevés ne veulent pas plus de voile et plus de barbe, ils aspirent à respirer librement et ont réussi leur révolution sans qu’une balle ne soit tirée par eux. Tariq Ramadan manque d’honnêteté intellectuelle.
Pensez-vous que le régime syrien va être emportée à son tour ?
Le régime alaouite est à bout de souffle. Les déclarations de l’oncle de Bachar el-Assad en exil à Paris l’invitant à quitter le pouvoir sont un signal qui risque d’être entendu par des officiers qui dirigent la répression. Il y a déjà des milliers de déserteurs dans l’armée. Ils tiennent depuis plus de trois semaines plusieurs quartiers de la ville d’Homs ; Des colonels ont fait défection. Quand ce seront des généraux, Bachar sera fini. Aujourd’hui, les pays arabes qui tremblaient face à Hafez el-Assad, sont ceux qui mènent la danse. Ce pouvoir est déligitimé. Qui l’aurait prédit, il y a encore quelques mois.

Bachar el-Assad a menacé d’embraser toutes la région. A-t-il encore un pouvoir de nuisance ?
C’est vrai, il peut encore mettre le feu en Turquie. D’ailleurs, l’attaque du PKK, le parti autonomiste kurde, qui a fait 24 morts dans les rangs de l’armée turque, l’a montré. L’insurrection dans un village à l’est de l’Arabie saoudite, dans la grande région prétrolifère du pays, est un autre message du régime syrien à l’intention de ses voisins. Mais sa capacité de nuisance s’amenuise de jour en jour. Pour l’instant la dynamique est dans l’autre camp. La Turquie a ouvert sa frontière pour recevoir des insurgés poursuivis et des militaires déserteurs. La Ligue arabe fait pression. Je n’exclus pas que ce contexte n’accélère le processus de sanctions au conseil de sécurité de l’ONU et au sein des agences des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies. Il est plus difficile désormais à la Russie ou à la Chine de bloquer. Et aux pays émergents comme l’Afrique du sud ou le Brésil de rester sur leur position irresponsable, de soutien au régime sanguinaire syrien.
Il faut bien voir que l’économie syrienne est très fragile, que le tourisme n’amène plus de devises, que les capitaux fuient, notamment au Liban, que la production de pétrole s’est arrêtée et qu’il est de plus en plus difficile pour Damas de payer les primes de ses soldats engagés dans la répression. De plus, la Syrie n’a plus d’amis à part l’Iran, qui est sous embargo et sous pression internationale dans le dossier nucléaire. Téhéran ne peut pas se priver non plus du Hezbollah au Liban, même si des hommes de ce parti chiite se sont engagés jusqu’ici comme cobelligérant en Syrie. D’ailleurs le Hezbollah rapatrie ses missiles de sa base arrière syrienne.
Vous dénoncez dans le livre la prise de position pro-Assad du patriache chrétien de Damas…
J’ai été choqué par son discours en défense du régime syrien. Il récite sur commande les arguments d’un pouvoir qui tire sur son peuple. La parole d’un patriarche chrétien en Occident, cela vaut 10 000 ambassadeurs syriens. Le problème c’est qu’il entraîne par ses prises de position toute une communauté avec lui. Elle risque d’être entraînée avec Assad dans sa chute. C’est une catastrophe pour les chrétiens de Syrie mais aussi du Liban.
Le président yéménite vient d’annoncer son départ dans trois mois. Le croyez-vous ?
Ali Abdallah Saleh est un menteur. Il ne partira pas dans trois mois. Il ne partira que contraint et forcé. Ce jour-là, il partira sur une civière.
Comment expliquez-vous que le Maroc et l’Algérie n’aient pas été submergés par la révolte populaire ?
Le régime marocain s’est ravisé très vite après les émeutes du 20 février. Le roi a annoncé des réformes et s’est tenu à son calendrier. Des législatives sont programmées et le premier ministre sera issu de la majorité sortie des urnes. La contestation a eu des retombées. Et la monarchie a une légitimité très ancienne.
En Algérie, la caste de septuagénaire au pouvoir est en fin de parcours. Elle ne veut rien céder. Elle a distribué des devises de son pétrole en augmentant les salaires et en faisant baisser les prix de quelques produits de première nécessité. Si le prix du baril baisse, elle ne pourra plus utiliser ce levier. Bouteflika et l’armée ont calmé l’attente mais le pays bout. Pas une semaine ne se passe sans une émeute. Une étincelle peut suffit à déclencher une nouvelle révolution. Le seul frein, c’est le souvenir des années de plomb, de la guerre civile. Et puis, les Algériens voient ce qui se passe en Libye. Mais le régime ne tiendra pas indéfiniment.
Faut-il craindre l’islamisme victorieux en Tunisie ?
Celui de Ghannouchi est éclairé. L’homme dit en arabe, comme en français ou en anglais qu’il préfère 10% de femmes qui décident de se voiler plutôt que 100% qui le font par contrainte. D’ailleurs, pour son exil, il n’a choisi Ryad mais Londres . Non seulement l’islamiste de Ghannouchi ne me fait pas peur, mais il me réjouit. Il n’est ni violent, ni liberticide. Cependant, il n’est pas sûr que son premier ministre soit sur la même ligne.
Et en Libye ?
L’islamisme est plus inquiétant en Libye. Le Salafisme qui s’est développé avec l’argent des Saoudiens dans ce pays qui est resté fermé durant une génération, face aux Frères musulmans soutenus par le Qatar. Les libéraux ont été balayés. Ce sont les femmes qui vont souffrir. Mais ce ne sera jamais pire que sous Kadhafi. Les Libyens vont faire l’expérience de la transition et des élections qui vont ouvrir l’alternance. Toutes les sociétés arabes ne sont pas au même stade de développement démocratique.
Critique du livre d’Antoine Basbous