LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 20/2012
Bible Quotation for today/Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
Luke 11/01-12: "One day Jesus
was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said
to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
Jesus said to them, When you pray, say this:
Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come.
Give us day by day the food we need. Forgive us our sins, for we
forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard testing. And
Jesus said to his disciples, Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at
midnight and say, Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine
who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!
And suppose your friend should answer from inside, Don't bother me! The door is
already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you
anything. Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give
you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you
everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. And so I say
to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door
will be opened to you. For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will
find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Would any of you who are
fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? Or would you give him a
scorpion when he asks for an egg? As bad as you are, you know how to give good
things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from
miscellaneous sources
Shadow of another war hangs over southern Lebanon
borderظMichael Young /The National/April
19/12
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous
Sources for April 19/12
Obama ready to yield on Iran's
nuclear transparency. Israel:Tehran will cheat
Netanyahu
links Holocaust to Iranian threat/Aviad Glickman
/Ynetnews
Now Lebanon news reports
for 18/04/12
When Assange meets Nasrallah, you learn the most about Assange (+video)
Iraq lawyer hopes Hezbollah prisoner to be freed
Chinese envoy condemns Geagea assassination attempt
STL Appeals Chamber makes decision on Sayyed case
STL: Fransen’s Deadline for Challenging Jurisdiction Milestone Towards Trial
Siniora slams Hezbollah’s Fadlallah
Merhebi calls for deploying UN monitors on Lebanese-Syrian border
Sleiman: Lebanon’s role ‘very important’ amid Arab developments
March 14 welcomes sending international observers to Syria
Gemayel: Stability without democracy, ‘a recipe’ for future struggles
Chamoun: March 8 trying to ‘corner’ Sleiman
An-Nahar: Lebanon prevents UN Syria observers from using Qoleiat Air Base
Fadlallah Hits Back at March 14 over Karam Release, Marouni Slams 'Treason
Accusations'
Russia Said to Halt Syrian Arms Supplies After U.S. Pressure
Chinese, Syrian Foreign Ministers Meet in Beijing
World powers cling
to Syria truce despite violence
Ambassadors’ Wives Scold Syrian First Lady to Stop the Violence
EU planes carrying Syria-bound U.N. vehicles arrive in Lebanon
Clinton warns Assad of extra measures if peace plan fails
Hundreds rally as UN team tours Damascus
US: UN observers lack ability to monitor Syria
US sees “insincerity” from Syria regime
France: Foreign ministers to send 'strong' message to Assad
Protocol on UN Syria mission nearly finalized, says foreign ministry
New Poll Shows Obama, Romney in Dead Heat
Egypt's mufti angers Islamist groups with Jerusalem visit
Netanyahu links Holocaust to Iranian threat
Aviad Glickman /Ynetnews
Speaking at Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem PM says people who
dismiss Iranian threat as an exaggeration have learnt nothing from Holocaust .
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that people who dismiss the
Iranian threat as a whim or an exaggeration "have learnt nothing from the
Holocaust."
Speaking at the state ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Warsaw
Ghetto Square in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Museum, Netanyahu said: "I believe in
our ability to defend."
"A nuclear Iran is an existential threat on the State of Israel and also on the
rest of the world," Netanyahu said. "We have an obligation to prevent Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons. It's the world's obligation, but above all it is our
obligation.Remembering the Holocaust is not merely a matter of ceremony or
historic memory. Remembering the Holocaust is imperative for learning the
lessons of the past in order to ensure the foundations of the future. We shall
never bury our heads in the sand. "Addressing criticism following his
proclamations of Iran as an existential threat, the prime minister said: "I hope
the day comes when
we learn of calls for Israel's annihilation in history classes only, and not in
daily media reports. But that day is not here yet. The Iranian regime is openly
calling for our destruction and working frantically for the development of
nuclear weapons as a means to that end.
"I know that some people don't appreciate me speaking such uncomfortable truths.
They would rather we not talk about Iran as a nuclear threat, they claim that,
though it may be true, this statement serves to sow panic and fear."
President Shimon Peres also spoke at the ceremony. "The Nazi dictator's
crematoriums created a global disaster and a Holocaust for my people," he said.
"Holocaust deniers are denying the actions of their predecessors to cover up for
their own actions. The lie of denial will not extinguish the fire of the
inferno."
Peres addressed the tragic accident in Mount Herzl in which Sec.-Lt. Hila
Bezaleli, 20, was killed when a lighting fixture collapsed. He offered his
condolences to the officer's family and to that of a Combat Engineering Corps
soldier who died at an IDF base apparently due to a heart defect earlier on
Wednesday.
"On my way here, the bright lights of Jerusalem changed into the flames that
consumed my people. This is us, this is our nation. A nation bearing a great
light; a nation bearing fathomless orphanhood."
Linking the memory of the Holocaust and the Iranian threat, Peres said, "Today
we are a strong nation. Humankind has no choice but to learn the lessons of the
Holocaust and face existing threats, before it is too late."Iran stands at the
center of the threat to Israel. It is the terror hub. It presents a threat to
world peace. One should not underestimate Israel's unconcealed and hidden
capabilities to deal with this threat."
Gantz: IDF is a wall of protection
Speaking at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Kibbutz Tel Yitzhak, IDF
Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said, "Tonight, 70 years later,
standing in the land of Israel I look before me and see the embodiment of the
strength of the Jewish nation. The leitmotif that no enemy has ever been able to
cut off."
Gantz said that the IDF draws it strength from the determination of Holocaust
survivors and that never again shall the Jewish people stand defenseless.
"We are the arm of steel that will respond to any attempt to hurt us with a
harsh blow. We are the people's wall of protection," he said.
Minister Dan Meridor said: "There is a false claim that the State of Israel was
established because of the Holocaust. This is not true. The Holocaust happened
because there was no state of Israel and six million Jews instead of 10 million
live here now because of the Holocaust. "
**Boaz Fyler contributed to this report
Obama ready to yield on Iran's nuclear transparency.
Israel:Tehran will cheat
DEBKAfile Special Report April 18, 2012/.In the direct, secret exchanges between
the US and Iran which led up to the Istanbul talks with the six powers, of
Saturday, April 14, President Barack Obama quietly backed off from his demand
that Iran “come clean” on its nuclear activities and open up to international
inspection, debkafile reports.
This concession paved the way for Tehran’s consent to discuss his framework
proposal to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, halt work at its underground
facility for higher enrichment near Qom, and export its stockpile of highly
enriched uranium for final processing to 20 percent for use in medical isotopes.
This would be presented as a deal for settling the nuclear controversy.
debkafile’s military sources: The Iranians may find it worth their while to
accept this framework. After all, once sanctions are lifted by the end of June -
as Tehran demands - and they are freed of IAEA oversight, the Iranians can go
forward with their plans for building a nuclear weapon undisturbed and
Washington can celebrate a breakthrough.
Israel has not received word of this deal.
debkafile’s Washington sources report that in contrast with the downbeat mood in
Israel, Washington is already celebrating its success in resolving the Iranian
nuclear conundrum and averting war.
Our sources have two points to make in this regard:
1. Tehran has not yet put pen to paper to approve the American proposal and
agreed only to move forward in their back-door negotiations without prejudice:
2. Obama will eventually have to level with Israel, the American people and the
rest of the world on his deal with Iran.
There is no chance of Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu going along with agreements on
the lines under discussion between Washington and Iran, because they would allow
Iran to develop nuclear armaments relieved of the hindrances of international
oversight and sanctions.
The Israeli prime minister, when he addressed the state ceremony marking the
annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Wednesday night, spoke at length of the mortal
danger a nuclear Iran for the Jewish state. He said those who maintained Israel
lacked the military capacity for dealing with the Iranian menace were wrong.
“We can and will defend ourselves,” he said.“I won’t stop stating the truth
(about Iran) at the UN, in Washington and in Jerusalem.”
debkafile reported earlier Wednesday, April 18: Officials in Jerusalem angrily
dismissed reports of a breakthrough in last Saturday’s nuclear negotiations in
Istanbul between six world powers (P5+1) and Iran and most emphatically the
claim that “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played his expected role
in this choreography” by criticizing the negotiators for giving Iran a five-week
freebie for continuing enrichment without limitation, as cited in a Washington
Post article on Wednesday, April 18, by the columnist David Ignatius.
Iran is presented as ready to agree to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and
halt work at its underground facility for higher enrichment near Qom, and export
its stockpile of highly enriched uranium for final processing to 20 percent for
use in medical isotopes. Israeli sources say this report is false: Far from this
being the shape of an eventual settlement, it was the shape of American demands
relayed to Tehran in side-channels going via Paris and Vienna. Israel was never
informed of Iran accepting this formula or its presentation to the Istanbul
meeting.
Above all, they stressed, Netanyahu has not and will not play a role in any
choreography of this kind staged by the Obama administration.
The Americans appear to have been taken in by the Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s public pledge in February not to commit the “grave sin”
of building a nuclear weapon as representing the Islamic regime’s face-saver for
caving in to US pressure. The WP article is indeed captioned” “The stage is set
for a deal with Iran.” Nothing, say debkafile's military and intelligence
sources, is farther from the truth. According to our Iranian sources, there is
no sign of the Iranians caving in.
The article itself appears to represent Washington’s comeback for a radio
interview aired a few hours earlier, Tuesday, April 17, by Israeli Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon, in which he sharply
criticized the Obama administration for its handling of the nuclear dispute with
Iran: "We (Israel) no longer believe in the Americans, and on the Iran issue, we
are not in the same boat."“Three years ago, Iran had 1,200 kilos of low enriched
uranium; today it has five and a half tons,” he pointed out.
Ya'alon also warned that after the way the proceedings went in Istanbul, right
after the second round of talks on May 23 in Baghdad, “Israel will review its
steps,”
Citing the classical Hebrew adage: If I do not watch out for myself, who will?
(אם אין אני לי מי לי?) , he noted: “Obama too has said Israel has the right to
self-defense.”
The deputy prime minister was the first Israeli national figure to suggest that,
after May 23, the Netanyahu government would approach a decision on the date for
a countdown to an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
Yaalon certainly said enough to cause some agitation in Washington, judging by
the flood of phone calls debkafile’s sources report coming in from Washington
with requests for clarifications.
Earlier that Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in another radio
interview that the“P5+1” group’s talks with Iran must result in a clear-cut
resolution, the end of Iran’s nuclear program. He did not believe they would,
although he hoped to be proved wrong. The two Israeli
ministers would not have delivered their downbeat comments if indeed US talks
with Iran over and under the negotiating table had achieved, or even approached,
the breakthrough depicted in Washington.
Chinese envoy condemns Geagea assassination attempt
April 18, 2012/Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wu Zexian
met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday and discussed the
assassination attempt against the latter, according to a statement issued by the
LF’s press office.“China’s position is clear. It condemns any acts of violence
and terror, and [we] hope the judicial authorities’ investigation achieves a
result that reassures all the Lebanese,” Zexian said.
On March 4, snipers targeted Geagea outside his Maarab residence in the district
of Kesrouan, but failed to hit him. Zexian also said
that he and the LF leader discussed the Syrian situation.
“China has always attempted to put an end to the [Syrian] crisis. What we
suggest is to immediately stop all acts of violence,” the envoy said.
He also said that China did not interfere in Syrian domestic affairs and
respected Syria’s independence and sovereignty, adding that the will of the
Syrian people must be respected. Syria has witnessed
anti-regime protests since mid-March 2011. The United Nations estimated that
more than 9,000 people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown on dissent.
China and Russia have twice used their powers as permanent members of the
15-nation council to veto resolutions on Syria. They said the resolutions aimed
at regime change and that they opposed any sanctions.-NOW Lebanon
Fadlallah Hits Back at March 14 over Karam Release, Marouni
Slams 'Treason Accusations'
Naharnet /18 April 2012, 16:34
The evening round on the second day of parliamentary debate on the government’s
policies was rife with harsh criticism from the opposition and calls for better
performance from the ruling camp, amid several verbal clashes over Hizbullah’s
controversial arsenal of weapons. MP Hassan Fadlallah,
member of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, snapped back at the rival
March 14 camp over accusations that his party had notably remained silent over
the recent controversial release of Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam from prison, less
than two years after he was convicted of collaborating with Israel.“You are the
last party entitled to talk about this issue,” Fadlallah said, accusing the
March 14 camp of negligence in addressing the issue during its time in power.
“The Resistance’s stance on the judicial verdicts has always been
general, seeing the problem in the nature of verdicts rather than in the
individuals,” said Fadlallah. The Hizbullah lawmaker
stressed that his party’s arsenal of arms “protects all the Lebanese from
Israel, even those criticizing it.”Phalange bloc MP Elie Marouni hit back at
Fadlallah, saying “we have been killed without retaliating, and had it not been
for our resistance, there would not have remained any inch in this country for
them to fight for.”“If this rhetoric is aimed at accusing the other camp of
treason and at pushing us to take up arms again, then we are ready,” Marouni
added. He stressed that “with this government, there
is no political, social, environmental or food security,” accusing the
government of disassociating itself from the needs of “the country and the
citizens.” For his part, MP Estephan Doueihi, member
of Marada Movement’s Free Unified Lebanon bloc, said “we need a unifying
rhetoric more than ever that immunizes Lebanon against the repercussions of the
ongoing events” in the region.The accusations launched by the opposition
“contain a lot of injustice, as it is unacceptable to blame the government for
the accumulations of the past,” Doueihi added.
STL: Fransen’s Deadline for Challenging Jurisdiction
Milestone Towards Trial
Naharnet /18 April 2012/
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Wednesday that the decision of pre-Trial
Judge Daniel Fransen to set a deadline for challenging the court’s jurisdiction
is another milestone towards trial in the case of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s
assassination. Four Hizbullah members - Salim Ayyash,
Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra – have been indicted by the
STL in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 killing.
The tribunal said on its twitter feed: “Pre-Trial Judge's decision to set a
deadline for challenging STL jurisdiction is another milestone towards trial in
the Ayyash et al case.”
The “defense counsel can challenge the tribunal's legitimacy in court,” it said.
Fransen has decided that any preliminary motions challenging the
tribunal's jurisdiction must be filed by May 4.“All guarantees must be provided
for fair trial and protection of the rights of the accused,” the STL said on
twitter, adding: “It is only through fair and expeditious proceedings that the
truth behind the 14 Feb 2005 attack will be established.”The indictment against
the four members of Hizbullah listed charges of conspiracy to commit a terrorist
act and homicide.
The trial chamber has decided to try the suspects in absentia after Lebanese
authorities failed to arrest them.“The STL continues to work hard to ensure that
the trial begins swiftly,” the tribunal tweeted
STL Appeals Chamber makes decision on Sayyed case
April 18, 2012 /The Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Appeals Chamber has ruled in a decision issued on Wednesday that only relevant
documents that may explain why former General Security head, Brigadier General
Jamil as-Sayyed, was detained or why he should have been released must be
disclosed by the prosecutor. “The judges directed that
the relevant documents should be disclosed by May 18 at the latest. They also
decided that the prosecutor does not need to hand over exact copies of
previously disclosed documents,” a statement published on the STL’s website
said. It added that a “request by Sayyed to sanction
the prosecutor for contempt and misconduct was rejected.”
Sayyed was held on allegations of involvement in the 2005 assassination
of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Due to lack of evidence, he was released
in 2009 without being formally charged. He had filed a request for access to
court investigation files in order to prove the claim he was the victim of
slander and arbitrarily detained from 2005 to 2009.-NOW Lebanon
Chamoun: March 8 trying to ‘corner’ Sleiman
April 18, 2012 /National Liberal Party leader MP Dori
Chamoun said in comments published on Wednesday that the March 8 coalition was
“trying to corner President Michel Sleiman into signing a decree to allocate $6
billion to the cabinet for extraordinary expenses in 2011 under Article 58 of
the constitution.”“The March 8 group, specifically the Change and Reform bloc
and Hezbollah, is trying to corner [Sleiman] to issue a decree to [allocate] the
$6 billion under Article 58 by implying that this falls within the president’s
powers, while the Change and Reform bloc is denying the president’s right to
assign a head for the Higher Judicial Council,” Chamoun told Kuwaiti newspaper
As-Seyassah. Article 58 of the Lebanese constitution
stipulates that: “Every bill the Council of Ministers deems urgent may be issued
by the president within forty days following its communication to the Chamber of
Deputies, after including it on the agenda of a general meeting, reading it
aloud before the chamber, and after the expiration of the time limit without the
chamber acting on it.” The Higher Judicial
Council presidency, a post which is usually reserved for the Christian Maronite
sect, is reportedly a controversial issue between Sleiman and Change and Reform
bloc leader MP Michel Aoun.-NOW Lebanon
Siniora slams Hezbollah’s Fadlallah
April 18, 2012 /Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora on
Wednesday slammed Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah’s speech during the
parliamentary plenary session. “I will only [refer] to Prophet Mohammad’s
[statement] when he said: [There will be] years when the liar is believed and
the honest is disbelieved, [when] the traitor is entrusted and the faithful is
[called a] traitor and when a silly man speaks in the affairs of the public,”
Siniora said in a statement.On Wednesday, Fadlallah said that “false testimony”
has become a “profession.”-NOW Lebanon
Merhebi calls for deploying UN monitors on Lebanese-Syrian
border
April 18, 2012 /Future bloc MP Mouin al-Merhebi handed
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly a letter addressed
to UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling for “permanently deploying” UN monitors on the
border between Lebanon and Syria, the National News Agency reported on
Wednesday. “The Syrian government must be pressured to
stop the violations of [the Syrian] army which led to the [death] of many
[people] in border areas,” Merhebi said in his letter.
He added that the Lebanese cabinet must also be pressured to “activate the
presence of the Lebanese army on the border [with Syria] in a way that provides
security and limits Syrian violations.”“We hope that the Lebanese cabinet falls
under [international] pressure in order to prevent repeating the handing over
Syrian refugees to the Syrian authorities.”
Merhebi also thanked Ban for his efforts regarding the Syrian crisis, and voiced
hope that the UN chief’s efforts help achieve democracy in Syria.Syria has
witnessed anti-regime protests since mid-March 2011. The United Nations
estimated that more than 9,000 people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown
on dissent. Thousands have fled to Lebanon.-NOW Lebanon
March 14 welcomes sending international observers to Syria
April 18, 2012 /The March 14 General Secretariat on
Wednesday welcomed the UN Security Council’s decision to send international
observers to Syria. “[Such a step] is a clear sign
that Syrian developments have fallen under the care of the United Nations and
the international [community],” March 14 said in a statement following its
weekly meeting. The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously passed its first
resolution on the Syrian crisis, allowing an advance party of ceasefire monitors
to go to the country on the brink of civil war.It also addressed the
parliamentary plenary sessions which was held on Tuesday and Wednesday and said
that the MPs who supported Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet were speaking
as if they were opposing late Rafik Hariri’s cabinets.
“They are talking [as if they] are holding Hariri accountable after 20 years.
[We] remind these MPs that Hariri was martyred on February 14, [2005] and that
he was [killed due] to direct Syrian regional orders implemented by people who
spin in Hezbollah’s orbit.”Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the
UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of Hariri.
However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refused to cooperate
with the court. March 14 also addressed the
assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
“[The assassination attempt] confirms that the party behind it is aware
of the extent of regional changes and is [thus] attempting to [alter] the
political situation in Lebanon in order to compensate for what it has lost [due
to these changes].”On March 4, snipers targeted Geagea outside his Maarab
residence in the district of Kesrouan, but failed to hit him.-NOW Lebanon
Marouni: Mikati’s cabinet ‘dissociating itself’ from
Lebanon
April 18, 2012 /Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni said on
Wednesday that Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet was “dissociating itself
from Lebanon.” “With this government, there is no
security [on all levels],” Marouni said during the parliamentary plenary
sessions. He also said that the cabinet has not
achieved anything. “We ask about the uncontrolled
border in Bekaa and the North. Today, this cabinet is incapable of defending the
country and it is not [working] toward supplying weapons to the army because it
has to keep justifying the present illegitimate arms,” he said, in reference to
Hezbollah’s arms.
Marouni also slammed Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui saying the
quality of telecommunications has decreased. “We ask
about [telecom] data and blocking the security forces’ [access] to them. Will
[the cabinet] be responsible for any crime that happens?” he asked.
Following the assassination attempt against Lebanese Forces leader Samir
Geagea on April 4, March 14 figures have slammed Senhnaoui for allegedly not
transferring telecom data, and have said that such an action is hindering the
investigation into the incident.-NOW Lebanon
British envoy hands LAF protective suits for bomb disposal
units
April 18, 2012 /In an official ceremony organized by
the Lebanese army, British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher handed over 20
modern lightweight protective suits for bomb disposal experts,” according to a
statement issued by the British embassy on Wednesday.
“These suits will increase the safety of the brave Bomb Disposal Experts and the
Search Teams of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) who face high risks on
operations every day,” the statement said. “The UK is
proud to support the [LAF] in its essential duties especially in its stabilising
efforts in difficult times. This donation is a small part of the UK’s increased
support to the LAF,” it added. “Bomb search and
disposal is the most dangerous, vital and courageous work undertaken by the
military. By providing these suits, we want to help protect the lives of those
who are saving the lives of others,” Fletcher said.
The statement added that the ceremony was held in Baabda’s Yarzeh.-NOW Lebanon
Iraq lawyer hopes Hezbollah prisoner to be freed
Published April 18, 2012/Associated Press/
BAGHDAD – The lawyer for a Hezbollah commander jailed in Iraq for targeting U.S.
soldiers predicts that his client will be released soon because of flimsy
evidence.Attorney Abdul-Mahdi al-Mitairi said Wednesday that Ali Mussa Daqduq
could be freed after his first court appearance in the next few weeks.
Daqduq is accused of training Shiite militias and helping plot the 2007
killing of four American soldiers in the Iraqi city of Karbala.
Daqduq was captured in 2007 and held by the U.S. military until troops
left Iraq last December He has been in Iraqi custody
since. Washington fears Daqduq will be quietly freed by Baghdad's Shiite-led
government. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh
did not have an immediate comment.
When Assange meets Nasrallah, you learn the most about
Assange (+video)
Christian Science Monitor
Julian Assange, the embattled Wikileaks leader, started his new chat show with
an interview of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Julian Assange's new talk show debuted yesterday on the Kremlin satellite
channel Russia Today with a whale of a "get:" Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of
Lebanon's politically and militarily dominant Hezbollah. It's been years since
Mr. Nasrallah has given an interview to a foreigner. The conversation took place
in late February and there should have been plenty to talk about. There's the
awkward position that Hezbollah, which styles itself a lion of Arab resistance
to Israel, now finds itself in. The group is a client of Syria, where Bashar
al-Assad has spent the past year using his army to flatten his domestic
political opponents, and of Iran, which has been helping Mr. Assad and recently
crushed an opposition movement of its own.
Questions about the UN tribunal which indicted members of Hezbollah last year in
connection with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
would not have gone amiss. More general and obvious questions could have been
about Lebanese politics, and under what conditions Hezbollah might be willing to
give up its private army. Perhaps some challenges on whether Hezbollah is a
threat to Lebanon's fragile democracy, or the risks of the sectarian fighting in
Syria spilling over the border.
But while Mr. Assange touched on Hezbollah's ties to Syria, his highly
deferential and general interview of Nasrallah didn't press him very hard (this
was no Mike Wallace vs. Ayatollah Khomenei). Six years ago, Hezbollah's image
was soaring in the region as a direct opponent of Israel and of the US. Today's
environment is far more complex, with a clamoring for democratic change and
Hezbollah closely linked to two of its
greatest regional opponents. The word "Iran" wasn't mentioned at all. And the
choice of questions, the apparent lack of background knowledge, and Assange's
typically flat and robotic delivery, were all reminders that he isn't a
professional journalist.
He'd be probably respond that he wouldn't have it any other way. After all, he's
repeatedly lambasted the traditional press as an aider and abetter of perfidy.
For instance last year he said: "The media in general are so bad we have to
question we'd be better without them all together. They're so distortive to how
the world actually is that the result is that we see wars and corrupt
governments continue on... nearly every war that has started in the past 50
years has been the result of media lies."
Who is Julian Assange?
At the risk of being branded as hypocrite defender of the "mainstream media" to
which I (sort of) belong, to lay responsibility for Vietnam, the scores of wars
in post-colonial Africa and the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan at the feet of
"media lies" may be a bit of simplification.
But his own avowed disdain for propaganda and branding of himself as a tireless
seeker of the truth makes the station he's tied up with all the more
interesting. RT is a Kremlin propaganda channel, and its reporting on the Middle
East (the area of its coverage I'm most familiar with) isn't merely slanted by
the interests of the Russian government. It's often outrageously biased to the
point of making things up out of whole cloth. For instance, a string of reports
by the station from Tripoli, Libya in July and August of last year made
obviously false claims about advances for Muammar Qaddafi's army.
Even as Tripoli was falling, and throngs of celebrating rebels filled the
capital's main square (with footage carried live around the world) RT, insisted
it wasn't happening. The station's main on the ground reporter Lizzie Phelan
made her own biases clear as day on her blog: "While the journalists suffering
from cabin fever in Tripoli’s Rixos hotel, publish their dreams that
imperialism’s lackies (the rebels/rats) have taken Zawiya, Ghuriyan and Sorman,
they are ignoring a decisive moment in the crisis. That is the liberation of the
hitherto rebel-held area of Misratah." (No, Misurata was never retaken by
Qaddafi's forces).
Assange anticipated complaints about his work with RT. "There’s Julian Assange,
enemy combatant, traitor, getting into bed with the Kremlin and interviewing
terrible radicals from around the world," Assange told RT, describing what he
said would be the line of attack against him. "But I think it’s a pretty trivial
kind of attack on character. If they actually look at how the show is made: we
make it, we have complete editorial control, we believe that all media
organizations have an angle, all media organizations have an issue. RT is a
voice of Russia, so it looks at things from the Russian agenda. The BBC is a
voice of the British government. Voice of America is a voice of the American
government. It is the clashing of these voices together that reveals the truth
about the world as a whole."
No. The BBC, which has many flaws, has an independent board. The Voice of
America, far more directly an arm of the US government than the BBC is for the
UK, aint perfect, but has demonstrated far more faithfulness to basic facts over
the years than RT. These things are simply not equivalent, nor is the Russian
state analogous to the democracies of the UK and US, their warts aside.
Assange should know this. A US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks summarized
the comments of Jose "Pepe" Grinda Gonzales, a Spanish prosecutor who
concentrates on organized crime, this way: "Grinda stated that he considers
Belarus, Chechnya and Russia to be virtual "mafia states" and said that Ukraine
is going to be one. For each of those countries, he alleged, one cannot
differentiate between the activities of the government and (organized crime)
groups."
Assange, still under house arrest in England fighting extradition to Sweden
where he's wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations, is clearly
hoping his new show will be a hit. His organization is struggling for relevance
after its dramatic score of a huge archive of US diplomatic cables. Wikileaks
hasn't had a secure "drop box," the heart of its enterprise as initially
conceived, since the middle of 2010. Though its collaboration with Anonymous, an
amorphous group of hackers, led to the theft and publishing of internal emails
from the private intelligence and security company Stratfor earlier this year,
that was a bit of dud from the relevance standpoint. Stratfor, though it likes
to hype itself as a major player in international intelligence, mostly
repackages open-source information for paying clients. Beyond embarrassment for
them, there wasn't much there there. Assange says he has an advantage over
traditional interviewers. He told RT his interviews "revealed sides of very
interesting and important people that are not normally revealed because they are
not dealing with a standard interviewer, they are dealing with someone who is
under house arrest, who has gone through political problems that they can
sympathize with."
This advantage wasn't obvious in his discussion with Nasrallah, though there was
on bit of news. Asked "why have you supported the Arab spring in Tunisia, Yemen,
Egypt and other countries but not in Syria” Nasrallah responded:
"I personally found that President Assad was willing to carry out radical and
important reforms. … we contacted even elements of the opposition, to encourage
them and to facilitate the process of dialogue with the regime, but these
parties rejected dialogue and right from the beginning we’ve had a regime
willing to undergo reforms and on the other side you have an opposition that is
not prepared for dialogue… what it wants to do is bring down the regime.”
That was the first time Nasrallah has said in public that he's been in contact
with the opposition, and encouraged them (as has Russia) to compromise with Mr.
Assad. But the moment slipped away. Which opposition groups? How frequent have
the contacts been? What's your view of the level of disunity among Assad's
opponents? These obvious follows were not pursued. Assad's opponents? These
obvious follows were not pursued.
Assange, to his credit, referred to civilian casualties in Syria, and asked if
Hezbollah has a "red line," a specific number of casualties, at which point it
might withdraw support from Assad. Nasrallah responded that Al Qaeda, a Sunni
group and ideological opponent of the Shiite Hezbollah, has sent fighters to
Syria and complained that while "Certain Arab countries are prepared to have a
political dialogue (with Israel) for ten years non-stop, they won't give one or
two years or even a few months for a political solution in Syria."
The interviewer then turned to the question of Al Manar, Hezbollah's television
network, which has been blocked in the US since 2004 because the group is on the
State Department's designated terrorist list. Asks Assange: "The United States
is blocking Al Manar from broadcasting ino the US at the same time the United
States claims that it is a bastion of free speech. Why do you think the US
government is so scared of Al Manar?" Nasrallah answers that "they want to tell
people that Hezbollah are terrorists (and) we don’t have the very basic right to
defend ourselves.”
Assange follows that up with this hard-hitting question: "As a leader in war,
how did you manage to keep your people together in the face of enemy fire?” This
generated the predictable and usual generalities. His final question was, in
many ways, the most intriguing -- and certainly not one that a working
journalist would ever think to ask a politician whose organization is called
"The Party of God." It says a lot about how Assange sees the world.
"You have fought against a hegemony of the United States," says Assange.
"Isn’t Allah, or the notion of a god, the ultimate super-power, and shouldn’t
you as a freedom fighter also seek to liberate people from the totalitarian
concept of a monotheistic god?”Nasrallah's answer, in summary, is that he
believes in a benevolent God, that his struggle against the "hegemony" of the US
is a moral one that God would support.
Shadow of another war hangs over southern Lebanon border
Michael Young /The National/Apr 19, 2012
The negotiations in Turkey over Iran's nuclear programme last weekend were not
particularly high in the attentions of the Lebanese living along their country's
southern frontier with Israel. And yet if Iran is one day attacked militarily
because the talks have failed, the Marjayoun-Hasbayya district will probably
again become a front line in a destructive confrontation between Hizbollah and
the Israelis
This serene district, located in Lebanon's south-east corner, is a reminder of
the country's bracing contradictions and essential beauty, whatever its status
as a past and future battlefield. Lying at the foot of Mount Hermon, the area
includes inhabitants from most Lebanese religious groups. It's not wall-to-wall
harmony, but the intricacy of the communal geography, like the economic
challenges faced by all, has favoured collaboration over conflict.
Hizbollah remains the ultimate decision-maker. However, the party maintains a
low profile, and is largely unseen in the succession of non-Shia towns and
villages stretching from the majority Christian agglomeration of Marjayoun to
the mainly Druze Hasbayya. This contrasts with Hizbollah's much greater
visibility in the central section of the border area, principally around the
Shia township of Bint Jbeil. That may partly explain why United Nations troops
deployed in Marjayoun-Hasbayya seem more relaxed, and can be seen eating at
sidewalk cafes without perceptibly heightened security measures.
And yet all around there is precariousness, and an uneasy equilibrium. Israel's
northernmost settlement, Metulla, is so close as to seem a part of the Lebanese
landscape. Israeli listening posts dot the ridges leading from Mount Hermon
southward, and behind them is the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied in June
1967. Among the Israelis, Hizbollah, the Lebanese army and UN contingents, we
have one of the more heavily militarised of international boundaries.
One potential flashpoint is the Israeli-controlled town of Ghajar, which is
considered the westernmost extension of the territory taken from Syria. Half the
town belongs to Lebanon, but was again seized by Israel during the war of summer
2006. The inhabitants are Syrian Alawites who once thrived on smuggling. In
1981, when Israel annexed the Golan, they accepted Israeli citizenship.
I recall overhearing a conversation some years ago between two members of a Shia
political party walking below Ghajar. "Who are they?" one asked, wondering
whether he should return a wave from the villagers. "Even they don't know," his
comrade answered.
How true - of Ghajar and sometimes of the Lebanese in Marjayoun-Hasbayya, who
still are dealing with the legacy of the long Israeli occupation that ended in
2000. Many of those who remained during that time collaborated with Israel, or
in one way or another benefited from its presence. This was usually the
consequence of necessity, but it's also undeniable that thousands of Lebanese -
Christians, Shiites and Druze - had ties to the instruments of occupation, above
all the South Lebanon Army, the Israeli-backed proxy militia.
No one likes to mention it, but at the time the economy of the border region was
more prosperous than today. The combination of an open border and a substantial
number of people on the Israeli payroll meant a transit trade of sorts and cash
to spend. In contrast, Marjayoun-Hasbayya has today become Lebanon's dead end,
far from the centres of economic vitality, facing closed doors all around. The
situation there is more difficult than in the Bint Jbeil district, where Shia
money, bolstered by significant remittances from a dynamic emigrant community,
has produced additional work opportunities.
Everyone in the south, however, suffers from the fact that the Lebanese army
does not allow foreigners near the border without authorisation from the defence
ministry. Hizbollah in particular, ever worried about Israeli spies, is equally
reluctant to see travellers traipsing through a strategic area. The restrictions
are resented by the population, which is eager to benefit from Lebanon's tourism
trade. That's understandable, because the virgin region potentially offers a
wide variety of leisure interests. There is a consensus that if a new war were
to break out between Hizbollah and Israel, it would be far worse than that of
2006. The Israelis would probably re-enter Lebanon, and they have reportedly
been training for this eventuality. Marjayoun-Hasbayya, particularly the
Hizbollah stronghold at Khiyam, would be a prime target in any ground campaign,
as Israel strives to dismantle Hizbollah's infrastructure. The district also
provides ready access northwards, into the lower reaches of the Beqaa Valley,
where Hizbollah has built a defensive line that extends into the Jezzine
district.
If the Israelis were to remain in Lebanon for an extended period of time, to
impose a resolution on Hizbollah, Marjayoun-Hasbayya could turn into a
double-edged sword for the party. The topography makes it ideal to pursue a
guerrilla war. At the same time, however, the sectarian mix would require
Hizbollah to be careful when it comes to managing the aftermath. Everyone in
southern Lebanon, including Shiites, dreads having to endure yet another round
of fighting. But while the discontent among Shiites could be easier for
Hizbollah to neutralise, that would be less true for the other communities.
That's where the tranquillity of Marjayoun-Hasbayya, and much of the rest of
southern Lebanon for that matter, is most meaningful. The mild people of the
south are sick of the destruction that has been visited on them for decades.
Hizbollah risks quite a bit if it drags Lebanon into fresh hostilities, above
all on behalf of Iran. An idyllic setting hides myriad anxieties that still
remain unaddressed.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Beirut
Chinese, Syrian Foreign Ministers Meet in Beijing
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Wednesday that his country was
observing the cease-fire plan laid out by special envoy Kofi Annan, despite the
regime's continued assaults on rebel-held areas.
In a meeting in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, Moallem said
the Syrian government would "honor and implement" its commitment to withdraw the
army from cities and would cooperate with United Nations observers arriving in
the country. Syria will "continue to cooperate with
special envoy Annan's efforts at mediation," Moallem was quoted as saying in a
statement issued by China's Foreign Ministry. In brief
comments later outside the Syrian Embassy, Moallem said Syrian and Chinese
positions on the way forward were "very close together."
Since a truce formally took effect Thursday, Syria has violated key provisions.
Tanks, troops and widely feared plainclothes security agents continue to patrol
the streets to deter anti-regime protests, while the regime resumed its assault
on rebellious Homs, Syria's third-largest city, over the weekend, after only a
brief lull.
Moallem's visit is the latest show of Chinese support for Damascus despite
Beijing's tentative engagement with Syria's opposition.
China, along with fellow U.N. Security Council member Russia, has shielded
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime from U.N. sanctions over its deadly
crackdown on a popular uprising, although it has supported Annan's plan aimed at
ending the violence and beginning talks on Syria's political future.
The Foreign Ministry statement quoted Yang as saying China welcomed the "initial
implementation" of the agreement and hoped Syria would fully carry out its
pledge to cease fire and withdraw forces.
Damascus should then "sincerely embark on a process of inclusive political
dialogue and reform to bring about a just, peaceful, and appropriate resolution
to the Syrian question," Yang said.
As with recent comments by Russian officials, Yang's remarks were more pointed
and direct than in the past, an indication that Beijing is looking for progress
toward a reduction of violence that might dilute some of the criticism Beijing
has come under for blocking U.N. action on Syria.
Separately, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Vice Premier Li Keqiang
would visit Russia later this month, with Syria likely to be on the agenda.
The U.N. insists the fragile truce is holding, even though regime forces have
been hammering Homs with artillery for days.
China has sent envoys to meet with various parties in the conflict and says it
plans to host opposition figures soon.
Despite the continuing violence, the plan put forward by Annan, the joint
U.N.-Arab League emissary, is the only one a deadlocked international community
could rally behind and is seen as the only practical way forward. China and
Syria's other allies back the initiative because, unlike an Arab League plan
earlier this year, it does not require Assad to step down ahead of transition
talks.
China, sensitive to anti-government unrest in minority areas in Xinjiang and
Tibet, is habitually opposed to such outside intervention.
*Associated Press writer David Wivell contributed to this report.
Ambassadors’ Wives Scold Syrian First Lady to Stop the
Violence
ABC/The wives of the British and German ambassadors to the United Nations made a
harshly worded video appeal to Asma Al-Assad, the first lady of Syria, to use
her influence to stop the bloodshed in her country. A
powerful film, posted on Youtube, juxtaposing Mrs. Assad’s lavish lifestyle with
graphic pictures of wounded and dead women and children, asks the public to sign
a petition demanding that the first lady stop the violence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzUViTShIAo&feature=player_embedded
“Some women care for style,” says the video, showing a glamorous picture of Mrs.
Assad referencing her lavish shopping sprees in Europe. The film then dissolves
into a picture of a Syrian woman carrying a baby amidst children in what looks
like a chaotic and dark room. “And some care for their people,” the narrator
says. The contrast grows starker as the four and a
half minute video progresses, even using Mrs. Assad’s own words against her. The
first lady, who was born in the United Kingdom and is a British citizen, was
once considered an advocate for Syria’s transition to a more democratic society.
The film shows a clip of the first lady giving a speech where she says,
“We should all be able to live in peace, stability and with our dignities,” and
then asks,
“What happened to you Asma?”Asma Al-Assad, who is a British citizen, has come
under intense criticism for her lavish lifestyle and support of her husband
Bashir Al-Assad during the crackdown in Syria, which has lasted over a year and
killed an estimated 10,000 people. Emails obtained by the British newspaper the
Guardian show Mrs. Assad spending tens of thousands of dollars shopping on-line
and joking about the uprising, calling herself “the real dictator” in the
family. Sheila Lyall Grant, the wife in of British
U.N. Ambassador Sir Mark Lyall Grant, and Huberta von Moss, wife of German U.N.
Ambassador Peter Wittig, are the women responsible for the video and petition.
They issued a statement explaining their actions. “We
strongly believe in Asma’s responsibility as a woman, as a wife and as a
mother,” they wrote. “As the vocal female Arab leader that she used to be, as a
champion of female equality, she cannot hide behind her husband.”Besides the
private emails where she expresses love and support for President Assad and his
actions, she publicly declared she is standing by her husband in an email sent
to the The Times of London in February via a representative
“The president is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians,” the
statement read. ”And the First Lady supports him in that role.”
EU planes carrying Syria-bound U.N. vehicles arrive in
Lebanon
April 18, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Ten vehicles
destined to U.N. observers monitoring a cease-fire in Syria arrived in Lebanon
in the first days of this week, airport sources told The Daily Star
Wednesday.Three Czech military cargo planes carrying nine vehicles arrived at
Rafik Hariri International Airport, Beirut, late Tuesday.
A day earlier, an Italian military cargo plane, aboard which was a Land
Cruiser for the planned 250-strong U.N. mission, arrived in the Lebanese
capital. Amid the crisis in Syria, President Bashar
Assad has agreed to allow a small U.N. force to monitor the cease-fire born of
negotiations brokered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, envoy of the
United Nations and the Arab League.U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said
Tuesday that the mission may need to bring in its own aircraft and deploy more
troops to ensure that the cease-fire is effective.
Russia Said to Halt Syrian Arms Supplies After U.S.
Pressure
By Henry Meyer and Stepan Kravchenko on April 18, 2012
Russia halted deliveries of light arms to Syria to avoid exacerbating a conflict
between government forces and opposition groups, according to a person close to
the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin’s government ended supplies of
weapons including anti-tank missiles and grenade-launchers after reports in
January of a Russian shipment of ammunition to Syria provoked criticism from the
U.S., the person said by phone today, declining to be identified because the
information is confidential. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations, said then that Russian arms shipments to President Bashar al-Assad’s
regime were of “grave concern.”
Russia has contracts with Syria to deliver ammunition, pistols, sub-machine
guns, machine guns, anti-tank missiles and RPGs valued at between $250 million
and $400 million, according to the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and
Technologies, a research group in Moscow that advises the Defense Ministry.
Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms export
monopoly, declined to comment on sales to Syria when reached by phone today.
Thirteen months of violence since Assad started a crackdown on an uprising have
claimed more than 9,000 lives, according to United Nations estimates.
Veto-holding UN Security Council members Russia and China have blocked two moves
to condemn Assad, including a February resolution that demanded the Syrian
leader’s resignation.
Syrian Raids
Syria forces conducted raids in a town in Idlib, killing a civilian and heavy
fighting and explosions were heard in Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said in e-mailed statements today. Government forces wounded eight people
near Damascus and killed two in Homs, the group said. The Syrian army shelled
villages near Idlib and killed 13 people today, Al Arabiya reported.
Six Syrian soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Idlib today, the Syrian Arab
News Agency reported without identifying where it go the information.
“Terrorists” were behind the blast, the news service said.
Russia said opposition groups were trying to stage provocations against the
government to undermine the cease-fire brokered by United Nations special envoy
Kofi Annan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments broadcast on state
television today. Russia blames outside powers for seeking to undermine the
peace effort by arming Syrian opposition groups.
Following a meeting with Annan yesterday, Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Hamad
Bin Jasim Bin Al Thani said that the Gulf nation wasn’t supplying weapons to
Syrian rebels.
Allow Observers
Syria is willing to allow the observers to use its helicopters when necessary to
evacuate wounded people, Walid al- Muallem, foreign minister, said today in
Beijing. Muallem said 250 UN observers is a “reasonable” number to monitor areas
of tension, he said.
Some 57 of the countries belonging to the co-called Friends of Syria group
yesterday in Paris discussed efforts to assist the opposition, including the
provision of U.S. communications gear, a plan funded by the Gulf states to pay
salaries to opposition fighters and coaching by several countries, including the
U.S. and U.K., to help fractious anti-government groups become more cohesive,
according to European diplomats who aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
Russia in total has about $3.5 billion of arms contracts with Syria, according
to Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies data. The orders
include Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles, MiG-29 fighter jets and Pantsir
air-defense systems.
Lavrov has rejected U.S. criticism of arms deliveries to Syria, saying Russia
wasn’t acting illegally or influencing the outcome of the conflict.
To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at
hmeyer4@bloomberg.net; Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at skravchenko@bloomberg.net
**To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net