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.
GotQuestions.org
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