LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 02/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Be vigilant at all times
Luke 21/34-36: "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing (festivities and partying) and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Fighting Obama by proxy/By: Michael Young/Now Lebanon/December 01/12
Syria’s DIY revolution/Michael Weiss/Now Lebanon/December 01/12
Why Christian Persecution is Islam's Achilles' Heel/By: Raymond Ibrahim/December 01/12
This is victory/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 01/12
Egypt: Heading towards disaster/By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/December 01/12
Kuwait's Election Makes Gulf Arab Rulers Nervous/Simon Henderson/Washington Institute/December 01/12

Youth Hold Sit-In in Tripoli, Demand Authorities to Unveil Fate of Men Killed in Tall Kalakh
Naharnet/Several youth from al-Mankoubeen area in the northern city of Tripoli erected on Saturday tents near al-Nour mosque to protest media reports saying that a group of Lebanese Islamists from the city were killed in the Syrian border town of Tall Kalakh. The National News Agency reported that the youth are demanding authorities to determine the fate of the Twenty-two men.
22 young men, including a Palestinian, were killed on Friday in Tall Kalakh in an ambush carried out by Syrian regime forces, various media outlets said. A security source told Agence France Presse that the victims were fighting alongside the Syrian opposition. “The tents will remain erected for the upcoming two days,” one of the protesters stressed. The youth demanded the government to intervene and determine the fate of the men, warning of moving their sit-in to the international highway in al-Badawi, which links Tripoli with the northern district of Akkar and the Syrian border. A security source told AFP that 14 of the bodies had been delivered to a Syrian hospital by government troops. The rival districts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli have been gripped by frequent fighting between pro- and anti-Syrian President Bashar Assad supporters, reflecting a split between Lebanon's parties where the March 14-led opposition backs the revolt in Syria, while a ruling coalition led by Hizbullah supports the Damascus regime. Agence France Presse

Future bloc MPs address death of Lebanese in Syria
November 30, 2012 /Future bloc MPs Khaled al-Daher and Mouin Merhebi talked to NOW and commented on the recent reports that over 20 people from Lebanon were killed in Syria on Friday.
Daher said that young Sunni men from the Bab al-Tebbeneh neighborhood in Tripoli were trying to enter Syria “to support the rebels especially after witnessing Hezbollah’s support for the Syrian regime.”
However, he said that “they were not armed, and they were killed on Syrian land. Also, they are not affiliated with any political party,” adding: “The Future bloc does not wish for anyone to go participate in the Syrian battle alongside the rebels.” Meanwhile, Merhebi said that the incident took place while the men “were on a bus.” “Some of them became martyrs and others managed to escape,” he said. “[These men must have] considered that it is their rightful duty to stand up for the women and children [who are being killed by the Syrian regime] every day.”Twenty-two young men, including a Palestinian, from the Lebanese city of Tripoli were killed on Friday in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalakh, a Lebanese security source and an Islamist leader said. Lebanon’s political scene is deeply divided between supporters of the Bashar al-Assad regime, spearheaded by the March 8 group, and its pro-western opponents represent by the March 14 coalition. -NOW Lebanon

Tripoli sit-in demanding follow-up on Lebanese fighters killed in Syria
December 1, 2012/A number of young men on Saturday set up a tent in the Tripoli area of Mankoubin near Jabal Mohsen to call for information on the whereabouts of more than 17 Lebanese fighters, who were killed in Syria on Friday.The demonstrators, gathered on a side road near the An-Nour Mosque, threatened to move to the main road linking Tripoli to Akkar if their demands were not met in two days.
Twenty-two young men, including a Palestinian from Tripoli, were killed on Friday in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalakh, a Lebanese security source and an Islamist leader said.
Future bloc MP Mouin Merhebi appeared to suggest Saturday that not all the group members were killed. “Some of them became martyrs and others managed to escape,” he said.
The Lebanese men were allegedly on their way to join rebel forces fighting the Assad regime. Future MP Khaled Daher said that the Lebanese men, who hail from Tripoli’s Bab al-Tabbaneh, were not armed.-NOW Lebanon

Over 20 fighters from Lebanon killed in Syria, local official says
November 30, 2012 /Twenty-two young men, including a Palestinian, from the Lebanese city of Tripoli were killed on Friday in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalakh, a Lebanese security source and an Islamist leader said. "There are reports that 21 Lebanese nationals and one Palestinian have been killed in Syria," the local official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Earlier, a security source said he was informed the men "went to Syria to fight with the rebels and were all killed in an ambush in Homs province," which borders Lebanon. The source said 14 of the bodies had been delivered to a Syrian hospital by government troops.
The majority of people in the predominantly Sunni port city of Tripoli back the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who belongs to the Alawite sect of Shiite Islam. "Young Islamists from different parts of the city left Tripoli this morning [Friday] and were killed in an ambush in Tal Kalakh by regime forces," an Islamist leader in the city told AFP. "According to our information, they were summarily executed and not killed in combat," he said. A security source reported gunfire in Tripoli on Friday night between the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the neighboring Shiite district of Jabal Mohsen, whose residents support Assad. He added that the army had been heavily deployed along the aptly named Syria Street dividing the districts, whose traditional rivalry has sharpened over the uprising in Syria.
A young Islamist activist from Bab al-Tebbaneh said two brothers from the neighbourhood, the sons of a local cleric, were among those killed on Friday. For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a group of 30 rebels "were caught in an ambush by government troops in the area of Tal Sarin near the town of Tal Kalakh." "It is unknown if they are being held prisoner or were killed," the monitoring group said. Clashes erupt almost daily along the Syrian border, pitting Lebanese Shiite militiamen with close ties to Hezbollah against anti-Assad rebels, according to local residents and activists. The Shiite movement Hezbollah, the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, is a key backer of Damascus and has been accused of sending its fighters across the border to fight alongside loyalist troops. "Nearly 5,000 armed men protect our villages, and the majority are close to Hezbollah," a resident of the Lebanese border village Zeita told AFP.-AFP

President Michel Suleiman Calls for Return to Dialogue, Adoption of Modern Electoral Law
Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman repeated on Saturday his call on political powers to return to the national dialogue. He also demanded the adoption of a “modern parliamentary electoral law that reflects the spirit of the constitution.” He made his remarks during a ceremony marking the launch of a youth political document. “We will not allow the constitution to be harmed and we will work hard to hold the parliamentary elections on time,” he stressed before the crowd. Suleiman lamented the current political state in Lebanon that “has marginalized every noble political act and the role of the youths.”
“The Lebanese are divided behind their leaders,” he noted. Narrow-mindedness is the greatest crime that can be committed against man, he declared. Moreover, the president called for lowering the voting age in Lebanon to 18 and age of candidacy to 21. Addressing the youths, he said: “Don't sacrifice yourselves and Lebanon for the sake of others.” “Time will not remain our ally forever. We must rise above personal interests and return to dialogue,” Suleiman demanded. The March 14-led opposition has been boycotting government-related activity since the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan. He was killed in a massive car bombing in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district on October 19. The opposition accused Syria of being behind the murder and the government, comprised of Syria's allies, of covering up the crime.

Lebanese people found March 14’s visit to Gaza outrageous, Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni says
December 1, 2012 /Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni on Saturday said that the Lebanese people considered the visit of the March 14 delegation to Gaza “outrageous.” “It would have been better to support the Palestinian people from Lebanon,” Marouni told MTV television. He also said that his party would have preferred the March 14 delegation to have met with officials from the Palestinian Authority instead of Hamas, “which works according to the same policies as Hezbollah.” On Tuesday, the March 14 delegation comprised of opposition politicians visited Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in the Gaza strip as part of a trip to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Palestinian residents of the enclave last Thursday celebrated their “victory” over Israel, after the Jewish state and Hamas agreed on a tenuous cease-fire to end the eight-day conflict, which left over 150 Palestinians and 5 Israelis dead.-NOW Lebanon

Sidon food cart brawl leaves five injured
December 1, 2012 /Five people were injured in a brawl in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon over the city’s decision to remove vegetable carts from the streets, according to the National News Agency.
A Sidon municipal police unit, with the support of the ISF and the army, was implementing the city’s decision when a clash broke out between supporters and opponents of the decision wielding sticks and knives, which left five people injured, the NNA reported. The report added that some of the people involved in the clashes were arrested and taken to the Mohammad Zgheib military barracks for interrogation. -NOW Lebanon

Future official warns of playing into Syrian regime’s hands
December 1, 2012/Lebanese Future Movement official Mustafa Alloush voiced the importance of Lebanon not allowing itself to be drawn into a situation desirable to the Syrian regime. “It is important not to get lured into a situation that the Syrian regime wants. Opening the [Lebanese] front is a favor to [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” Alloush told the Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station on Saturday. The Future official also confirmed the deaths of the 22 Lebanese men from Lebanon’s Tripoli killed in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalkh on Friday, but said that “there is controversy regarding their names.” The Lebanese men were allegedly on their way to join rebel forces fighting the Assad regime. Alloush added that “the situation in Syria has become open for everyone to interfere and the Syrian regime has harmed the Lebanese greatly, especially in Tripoli and the North. That might be the reason why some people want to harm this regime in return.”-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese interior minister says closing southern roads “forbidden”
December 1, 2012 /Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel commented on the protest to be held by Salifi Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir’s in Sidon tomorrow, saying that it is “forbidden” to close the southern roads and to display arms. “Closing the southern roads is forbidden and so is the appearance of arms; what is allowed is a peaceful celebration. There will be a [strong] expansion in security forces and army elements to assure that,” Charbel told Ad-Diyar newspaper on Saturday. Three Lebanese were killed in the southern city of Sidon earlier in November in a gun battle between supporters of the Shiite movement Hezbollah and Assir. Concerning the 2013 parliamentary elections, Charbel announced that next week he would “start checking the voter registration lists and the electoral lists because my decision is to hold the elections at the beginning of June in one day throughout Lebanon.”“When it comes to the electoral law, it will be the 1960 electoral law. Its adjustment or replacement, however, is up to the parliament and the parliamentary blocs and not up to me,” Charbel added.In August, the cabinet approved an electoral law based on proportionality and 13 electoral districts for the 2013 parliamentary elections. It seeks to replace the 1960 electoral law which is based on simple majority. However, many March 14 figures spoke out against the approved draft law, saying they would support it if it was based on smaller districts. Others said they backed the Orthodox gathering’s proposal, which states that citizens should vote for candidates affiliated with their own religious sect.
Charbel also confirmed the deaths of nearly two dozen Lebanese men killed in Syria on Friday, adding that the ministry “is following up with this issue and is making calls to clarify all aspects of the incident and the fate of the remaining victims.” Twenty-two young men, including a Palestinian, from the Lebanese city of Tripoli were killed in the Syrian border town of Tal Kalakh. The men were allegedly on their way to join rebel forces fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. -NOW Lebanon

Lebanese premier congratulates Abbas on UN recognition
November 30, 2012/The Lebanese prime minister congratulated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently in New York, on securing the UN General Assembly’s vote to make Palestine a non-member state. “What was accomplished confirms without any doubt the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to their country, their land and their state,” Najib Miqati told Abbas on Friday according to the National News Agency. He added: “This should be a motivation for the [Palestinians] to put more effort into accomplishing their aspirations and going back home.”On Thursday, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to make Palestine a non-member state, handing a major diplomatic defeat to the United States and Israel. -NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Pro Axis Of Evil Axis MP, Hani Qobeissi criticizes March 14’s double standards on “resistance”
December 1, 2012 /Development and Liberation bloc MP Hani Qobeissi said that it is not possible to oppose the resistance against Israel in Lebanon but support the resistance in Gaza, the National News Agency reported. “A political party cannot be against the resistance and victory in Lebanon but at the same time be with the resistance and victory in Gaza,” Qobeissi said on Saturday during a memorial service, in a reference to the Hezbollah and Hamas parties, respectively. The MP also said that “there are many people in Lebanon adopting the policy of division; they cling to their positions that perpetuate division and disagreement.” “When it comes to foreign danger, both the opposition and supporters of the government must agree to face this danger,” Qobeisssi added. Lebanon’s political scene is deeply divided between supporters of the Bashar al-Assad regime, spearheaded by the March 8 group that includes Hezbollah, and its pro-western opponents represent by the March 14 coalition.
A March 14 delegation comprised of MPs Amin Wehbe, Jamal al-Jarrah, and Antoine Zahra left visited the Gaza Strip on November 27 as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Palestinian residents of the coastal enclave last Thursday celebrated their “victory” over Israel, after the Jewish state and Hamas agreed on a tenuous cease-fire to end an eight-day conflict that left over 150 Palestinians and 5 Israelis dead. -NOW Lebanon

Lebanese president intensifies "national dialogue" efforts - Source
01/12/2012/By Nazeer Rida /Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – The March 14 Alliance has renewed its refusal to participate in the national dialogue called for by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and which is scheduled to take place on 7 December, describing this as “the dialogue of the deaf” and dismissing it as a “waste of time.” This national dialogue aims to discuss the issue of Hezbollah’s arms and a unified defense strategy for Lebanon. A Lebanese presidential palace source, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, stressed that “the efforts being undertaken by President Suleiman to convince the parties to participate at the dialogue table is ongoing and will not stop.” The source also confirmed that “communications with all political parties are ongoing” adding that “new information regarding who is going to participate in the national dialogue may be revealed up till the date of the meeting.”
The unnamed source stressed that the Lebanese president is in touch with all March 14 Alliance leadership figures, including former prime ministers Saad Hariri and Fouad Siniora, as well as former president Amine Gemayel. Lebanese Forces party Secretary-General Dr. Samir Geagea has publicly announced his opposition to the proposed national dialogue, asserting that engaging in national dialogue with Hezbollah to resolve the issue of its arsenal would be futile. Speaking during a press conference on Friday at his Maarab residence, Geagea said “Hezbollah is not willing to discuss its arms. Therefore, on what grounds should we participate once more in [national] dialogue sessions?”He added “we support dialogue in principle, but not one that has produced nothing but lies and cheating.” The Lebanese Forces party leader also said “one of the decisions arrived at during previous national dialogue sessions was the formation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was established in 2007 to try those behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but Hezbollah lawmakers withdrew from the government when the decision was referred to parliament.” He added “we no longer trust them [Hezbollah] to engage in talks.”Geagea also criticized Hezbollah’s recent threats towards Israel, publicly addressing Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah saying “you are not authorized to take such stances. The president and the government have such authority from the Lebanese people, but you don’t.”Future bloc MP Jean Ogassapian revealed that “some assassinations have taken place, most recently that of martyrs Wissam Hassan, and we cannot return each time to this dialogue of the deaf as if nothing has happened.”
Whilst Future bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat stressed that “this dialogue should focus on one issue, namely arms and [Suleiman’s] defense strategy” adding “there must be credibility.”
He stressed that “at this point, there is one party that has no credibility present on this table, and this is because over the past six and a half years Hezbollah has agreed to numerous things during this dialogue that it has failed to implement. It withdrew over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, border demarcation and Palestinian arms.” For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated his criticism of the opposition’s boycott of government on Saturday.
“A boycott at this time is not right and we have to learn from the mistakes of the past; the mistakes of the Lebanese [1975-90] civil war and what the policy of isolation and boycotting has led to”, Mikati said in a Facebook post. Lebanon’s opposition forces have called for the resignation of the Lebanese government against the backdrop of the assassination of Intelligence Chief Wissam Hassan, pledging to use all democratic means in their power to pressure the cabinet to step down. March 14 Alliance figures have called for the formation of a “neutral salvation” government to replace the current government and oversee parliamentary elections scheduled for 2013. The opposition has also boycotted national dialogue, which was relaunched earlier this year by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, to address the issue of Hezbollah’s arsenal and a national defense strategy. Hezbollah is insisting that its weapons should remain under its own authority, in coordination with the Lebanese army, whilst the March 14 Alliance is demanding that all arms should be under the jurisdiction of the state.

Lebanese president says constitution will remain “untouched”
December 1, 2012 /Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said on Saturday that he will not allow that the constitution to be “touched.” “I will not allow the constitution to be touched. Since we are approaching the date of the elections, a new modern electoral law – that is in harmony with the constitution – has to be adopted,” Suleiman said during the launching of the Lebanese Youth Political Document. Parliamentary work in Lebanon has been disrupted since the opposition March 14 coalition announced that it would cut all ties with the current government, including meetings held by parliamentary committees to discuss proposals transferred by the cabinet. The boycott decision followed the assassination of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan on October 19 in Beirut’s Ashrafieh. Suleiman called on Lebanon’s youth “not to repeat what the youth of the former generation did and not to get involved in military adventures outside of Lebanon for reasons that are not agreed upon nationally.”The president voiced the necessity of “involving the youth in national political work through lowering the voting age to 18 and the electoral nomination age to 21.”
-NOW Lebanon

The answer lies within
November 29, 2012 /Riots following the assassination of intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan in October. The current government has done little to keep security in the country. (AFP photo)
Speaking at the inauguration of the 2nd Lebanese Economic Forum on Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Miqati told us something most of us have all known for the past year: “Lebanese disagreements have had a negative effect on the Lebanese economy.” No need to hold the front page there. But it is worth dwelling on the inescapable reality that this government—one that came to power using the veiled threat of violence and the promise of working together as a cabinet of “one color”—has been breathtakingly incompetent in its management of not only the economy, but also national security, an area that has a direct impact on the country’s economic prospects. Miqati admitted that his fears for the health of the economy were compounded due to the nearly two-year period of instability that has arguably seen the tectonic plates of the Arab world shift like at no other time since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Assuming that the responsibility of a democratic government is to act in the best interests of its people, our cabinet must take steps to ensure that Lebanon is both insulated from external threats and that the private sector, essentially the life blood of the country, is allowed to function unhindered to realize its full potential. It must also address its own responsibilities in creating a solid business environment, and that means take genuine steps to address issues such as Lebanon’s three-decade-old electricity crisis, lowering the cost of mobile telephony, ensuring faster internet and encouraging transparency in the work place, and, as previously mentioned, getting a grip on security.
The latter is especially important. Not only do Lebanese citizens need to feel that the state has their back, but investors and tourists are, not surprisingly, traditionally wary of countries where a political party—in this case Hezbollah—conducts its business at the end of a gun barrel and where criminal gangs can threaten to abduct foreigners with impunity. This year, Lebanon suffered a catastrophic tourist season due to these very security concerns, and the government only has itself to blame.
Similarly, if the situation along our border with Syria has seen increased sectarian tension and violence, the government has contributed to this by its reluctance to deal firmly and immediately with the numerous violations of Lebanon’s territorial integrity by the Syrian army and the rebels. In fact, the government’s term in office has been marked by a chronic inability to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty in the face of a bullying Syrian regime. This will not come as a surprise to those who see the government as one formed primarily to protect Syria’s interests in Lebanon, but the simple fact of the matter is that doing this and embarking upon a road map of prosperity and reform are fundamentally incompatible.
It has tried to show its can-do side by using the Free Patriotic Movement, which has always tried to sell itself as the party of technocrats, the transparent party that rails against Lebanon’s corrosive culture of corruption. The party was given, among others, the Telecom and Energy portfolios, but even it has failed to deliver. Energy Minister Gebran Bassil has been particularly useless. The son-in-law of Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM, admitted earlier this week that the Turkish ships that were meant to deliver extra electricity (Lebanon’s national grid continues to run at only 65 percent capacity) had yet to dock in Beirut because there had been a problem with payment. Meanwhile, his colleague Nicolas Sehnaoui at the Telecom Ministry, who may appear to be young and dynamic and perhaps even committed and talented, has failed to bring down the cost of a mobile phone call and give us significantly faster Internet, both important business tools. The FPM may yet have to prove that it can walk the talk, but Lebanon’s economic woes lie deep within a government that appears to care not one jot for the welfare of the people it is meant to serve. Most of the attendees at Thursday’s conference, listening to Miqati, know that all too well.

Egypt opposition ups pressure as new charter adopted
November 30, 2012 /Protesters clashed with police in Tahrir Square over the addition of constitutional powers on Thursday, November 29 and are expected to arrive in large numbers on Friday. (AFP
An Egyptian panel boycotted by Christians and liberals Friday adopted a draft constitution with an Islamist bent as opposition groups called rallies and warned President Mohamed Morsi of crippling strikes.
The draft constitution, which rights activists say undermines freedoms of women and religious minorities, is expected to go to a referendum within two weeks despite vociferous objections from Morsi's opponents. A coalition of leading dissidents formed last week after the Islamist president adopted sweeping and unprecedented powers has warned that an ongoing judicial strike could escalate into mass civil disobedience. Groups have called for protest rallies on Friday, including in Cairo's Tahrir Square where three days ago tens of thousands vented their anger at Morsi's decree, denouncing him as a "dictator" in the mold of toppled president Hosni Mubarak. A judicial strike, called by the top Cassation Court and several other courts in protest at the decree, could place the referendum itself in jeopardy, if judges who normally supervise elections refuse to grant the vote legitimacy. The Islamist-dominated assembly, tasked with drafting a new charter to replace the one suspended after president Mubarak's ouster in February 2011, approved the draft early Friday morning after an almost 24 hour-long session.
The panel's head, Hossam el-Ghiriani, said a delegation from the Constituent Assembly would visit Morsi on Saturday to present him the draft constitution. Morsi is expected to call for a referendum within two weeks. Rights activists have lambasted the draft charter, with the Human Rights Watch advocacy group saying it "protects some rights but undermines others.” "Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems down the road that won’t be easy to fix," the US organization’s Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement. The draft retained a vague Mubarak-era constitution article stating that the "principles of Islamic law" are the main source of legislation. But it added a new provision explaining that the principles of Islamic law were to be interpreted according to the tenets of Sunni Islamic rulings, a clause that Christian churches have opposed.
The draft also allows that state a role in "protecting ethics and morals" and bans "insulting humans," which rights activists say could censor political criticism of the president.
Nobel Laureate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei slammed the draft, saying "its fate will be the dustbin of history" in a television interview. Several private newspapers announced that they would not appear on the street next Tuesday to protest what they consider to be a lack of press guarantees in the new charter. Abdallah Sennawi, a member of the Committee to Defend Freedom of Expression and Thought, said private television channels would follow suit on Wednesday. The constitution has taken center stage in the country's worst political crisis since Morsi's election in June, squaring largely Islamist forces against liberal opposition groups. In a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Thursday night, Morsi repeated that his new powers, in which he can make decisions beyond judicial review, will expire once the constitution is ratified. "This is an exceptional stage; we are in a transitional phase," Morsi told state television on Thursday. "This constitutional declaration is temporary, and it will end once the people have approved the constitution." Morsi's decree last week had stripped the courts, which the president believes contain Hosni Mubarak-era appointees who are inimical to Islamists, of the power to dissolve the constituent assembly ahead of an expected verdict on Sunday. The courts cannot also void the Islamist-dominated senate, which was under judicial review. A court had previously disbanded parliament, dominated by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, on technical grounds. A senior member of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Islamists' end game was to put the referendum to vote to grant Morsi's decision democratic legitimacy. The movement is confident of its vote gathering skills after decades of grass roots work unrivalled by any other movement in the country, and believes it could also win parliamentary elections scheduled after the constitutional referendum.-AFP

US laws could gut-punch Palestinians on UN recognition
December 1, 2012 /US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice talks on her cell phone prior to President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday. (AFP/Henry Ray Abram)
Approval of Palestinian non-member UN status this week provoked no US funding ban on the United Nations, but irate US lawmakers have introduced measures that would do dramatic fiscal harm to the Palestinians and could also target the global body. The upgrade from "observer entity" to "non-member observer state" marked a diplomatic triumph for Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, but he will have the unenviable task of watching out for vindictiveness on Capitol Hill, and navigating tough new restrictions should the proposals become law.
"Nothing that happened yesterday triggers any sanction under existing law," Lara Friedman, director of policy relations at Americans for Peace Now, who is tracking Palestinian-related legislation in the US Congress, told AFP Friday. The concern, Friedman said, is with three new measures, all added into a defense spending bill set for a Senate vote next week, which could slash funding to Palestinian organizations, the United Nations and its entities, and even countries that support a Palestine status upgrade.
In other words, the potential exists for far more serious funding cuts in the future than the rescinding of some $60 million in US dues for UNESCO when it admitted Palestine as a member state 13 months ago. The United States and Israel were among just nine countries to vote against Palestine's UN elevation, while 138 countries supported the move, including France and Spain.
But the White House signaled Friday it would not seek to cut off UN funds or Palestinian aid, even though it sees the "unilateral" UN move as the wrong way to go about a two-state solution.
Still, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chuck Schumer were among several senators venting their fury, introducing legislation that would cut off as much as $935 million in foreign aid to the Palestinians – $495 million in frozen fiscal year 2012 funds and a reported $440 for 2013 – if they use their new UN standing to pursue Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Some $200 million of that funding is urgent, "direct budget support" for the PA, the State Department said. But it has been held up for months in Congress, even after President Barack Obama signed a waiver to free up the money that was frozen after the Palestinians' full state bid last year.
"Granting UN membership to the Palestinian authority is a nightmare in the making for the peace process," Graham said, adding that he would not allow taxpayer dollars to support Palestinians who could use the UN and ICC as a "political club" against Israel.
But Abbas would have to weigh the risk of losing crucial US funds for the cash-strapped PA if he were to pursue Israel in the ICC.
The Graham legislation would also force the closure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's office in Washington unless Palestinians are seen to have entered "meaningful" negotiations with Israel.
An official contacted there declined to comment on the proposed legislation or its impact on the PLO office, saying it was "all speculation."
Another amendment, filed by Republican Orrin Hatch hours before the UN vote, sought to eliminate all US funding to the United Nations if it changed Palestine's "current status."
A third amendment would slash US aid to Palestinians by half if the PA seeks a UN status upgrade "after November 25." The UN vote came on the 29th.
It would also cut US aid by 20 percent to any country which votes to upgrade Palestinian status.
"It's a bizarre scenario," said Khaled Elgindy, a fellow on Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"Is there an objective that is being met by imposing whatever punishment or sanctions, or is it purely retaliation for its own sake?" Elgindy posed.
"None of the measures that I've seen proposed would further what everybody says is the goal, which is a two-state solution – and would probably undermine it if not destroy it."
Archaic legislation came into play last year when the Palestinians sought full UN recognition.
That bid came up short, but had it gone through, Washington would have been bound to ban all US funding to the United Nations, thanks to a 1990 law forbidding authorization of funds to the UN if the body accords the PLO "the same standing as member states." Many lawmakers expressed frustration with the UN vote, but made no mention of congressional retribution. It remains unclear whether the harsh legislation will pass, but if it does, could Obama outflank Congress to ensure that the funding keeps flowing? He wields a veto pen, of course, which would send any bill back to Congress.
But George Ingram, who spent 20 years as a congressional aide, said such legislation is often crafted with a waiver that allows the president to override the law, often for what is deemed the interest of the United States."That frequently is the ultimate compromise," Ingram said.-AFP

US Senate approves new sanctions on Iran
December 1, 2012 /The US Senate unanimously approved new economic sanctions Friday aimed at further crippling Iran's energy, shipping and port sectors, a year after Congress passed tough restrictions against Tehran. The amendment, tacked onto a sweeping defense spending bill being debated by the chamber, passed 94-0 and should sail through the House of Representatives.
Senator Robert Menendez introduced the measure out of concern that Iran was pressing ahead with its nuclear weapons drive despite earlier sanctions that had been hailed as the toughest-ever against the Islamic republic. "Yes, our sanctions are having a significant impact, but Iran continues their work to develop nuclear weapons," said Menendez, a Democrat.
He cited last week's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran continues to defy the United Nations and world community by refusing to slow uranium enrichment, denying access to inspectors and conducting live tests of conventional explosives that could be used to detonate a nuclear weapon. "By passing these additional measures ending sales to and transactions with Iranian sectors that support proliferation – energy, shipping, ship-building and port sectors as well as with anyone on our specially designed national list – we will send a message to Iran that they can't just try to wait us out."
The vote came on the same day a defiant Iran denied it was pursuing nuclear weapons and threatened to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims to stop the spread of atomic weapons. Meanwhile, the P5+1 powers – the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany – said after a meeting in Brussels last week that they want talks with Iran "as soon as possible." This may happen as early as December. Building on the US sanctions passed last year, the new amendment would designate Iran's energy, port, shipping and ship-building sectors as "entities of proliferation" because they "support and fund Iran's proliferation activities." Under the new rules, the United States would sanction anyone selling or supplying certain commodities to Iran – including graphite, aluminum, steel, and some industrial software – that are relevant to the country's ship-building and nuclear sectors. Despite tough US and European sanctions, Tehran has been able to bypass certain restrictions by accepting payment in forms like gold for certain exports. The Menendez amendment targets such circumventions by seeking to prevent Iran's central bank from receiving payment in precious metals.
The sanctions would also designate the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and its president as "human rights abusers" for airing forced televised confessions and show trials.
Senator John McCain offered his blunt assessment of the need for expanded sanctions to counter Iran's intentions.
"The screws need to be tightened," the Republican told the Senate before the vote. "The centrifuges are still spinning in Tehran."McCain said the new sanctions "can – I emphasize can – lead to a way to prevent a conflagration in the Middle East." AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, praised the amendment as a way to "significantly ratchet up pressure on Iran," and pointed to earlier sanctions which have led to an 80-percent loss in the value of Iran's currency and a 50-percent slash in the country's oil exports. But the National Iranian American Council saw the new sanctions as a dangerous step toward "a military endgame" and one that would "undercut their aspirations for democracy and human rights." "Unbending sanctions do not buttress negotiations, they make diplomacy impossible and war inevitable," said NIAC Policy Director Jamal Abdi. The defense spending bill would have to be reconciled with the House version passed in July, and the Republican-led House has been highly supportive of previous Menendez sanctions legislation against Iran.-AFP

This is victory
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Hamas chief Khalid Mishal has said that the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state by the United Nations [UN] achieved by President Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside the eight day war in Gaza, as if both of these things are part of a single bold strategy that could empower the Palestinians in their struggle with Israel. However this is completely untrue.
The Palestinian President secured the recognition of Palestine as an observer state at the UN; the 194th state to join the international body. This is the true victory for the Palestinian Cause that has preoccupied us over long decades, rather than what happened in Gaza. Today, the Palestinians have taken an important step in the quest towards the dreamed for state. The world has recognized the Palestinians’ state, and this is an important recognition, even if it is only symbolic. This recognition demonstrates the extent of the international sympathy towards the Palestinians right for a state of their own, which can be seen in the 138 yes votes, in comparison to just 9 no votes, particularly as the states that voted no are affiliated to America and Israel, and have no importance. In addition to this, 41 states abstained from the vote, whilst these abstentions also represented a victory because this did not hinder the recognition of a Palestinian state. In fact, these states abstained from the vote in order to protect their own political interests, particularly with regards to Israel and the US.
The Palestinian President was victorious at the UN despite everything that US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said. Her speech before this international body was one of the worst speeches that she has ever given, as was the Israeli speech. Rice said that the Palestinians will wake up tomorrow morning and not see any tangible change in their lives, however this is not because the UN recognition of a Palestinian state did not bring them anything, but rather because of the Israeli intransigence in the peace process, and Washington’s support for this approach.
What the Palestinians achieved, politically, is a great success, for the recognition of a Palestinian state, based on the 4 June 1967 borders, means that negotiations with Israel will no longer include this issue. This means that a very important card has been resolved regarding the negotiation file. Whilst the recognition of a Palestinian state also represents an important step in the journey towards the dreamed for state; the Palestinians are also now present within the corridors of the UN in an official capacity, rather than via mediators, as was the case in the past.
When we say that what happened at the UN was a victory, rather than what happened in Gaza, this is for a very simple reason, and was summed up by a high-level Arab diplomat, who said “the Gaza war was a tactical step that serves an unclear and indeed failed strategy, whilst what happened at the UN was a strategic move to serve the greater goal which is to establish the Palestinian state, that is why it is a great victory.” What Hamas is doing in Gaza, which it claims is a “victory”, is to seek a 30-year truce, whilst what Abbas did at the UN was to establish a Palestinian state, and the first step towards this is securing international recognition, which is indeed what was achieved. Therefore, this is the true victory, rather than what Hamas did and continues to do in Gaza. If Mishal, and others in Hamas, want to establish the dreamed for state, then the most important thing that they can do is implement inter-Palestinian reconciliation, without equivocation, as well as move away from serving Iranian objectives and endangering Gaza with pointless wars. What we must recall here is that Abbas secured recognition of the Palestinian state from the international community, whilst all Mishal is interested in is securing recognition for Hamas and himself, and there is a very big difference between the two, and that is the whole story.

Free Syrian Army [FSA]. air defense challenges al-Assad aerial superiority
By Asharq Al-Awsat/Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – Syrian rebels have shot down two al-Assad regime military aircraft in two days utilizing surface-to-air missiles in what may represent a major shift in the balance of power in Syria between the al-Assad regime and the Free Syrian Army [FSA]. The FSA managed to shoot down an al-Assad regime fighter jet on Wednesday, downing the aircraft in an olive grove approximately 2 km from Tourmanin, near Aleppo. This area is adjacent to the Sheikh Suleiman army base, which is the last foothold for al-Assad regime forces in this region. The military base has been under siege by rebel fighters over the past weeks. Eye-witnesses claimed that the fighter jet was shot down by surface-to-air missiles, with another witness informing Agence France-Press [AFP] that “two pilots used parachutes to jump out of the plane after it was hit” adding “one of them was taken prisoner.”Amateur video shot by activists and later posted on YouTube showed clouds of fire and smoke rising from the downed fighter jet. An unidentified man, speaking from behind the camera, can be heard gloating “this is your airplane, O Bashar” adding “the FSA has shot it down.”
A second amateur video, distributed by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, showed a group of men carrying a uniformed man identified as the pilot. One man can be heard saying “this is the man who was piloting the plane that bombarded the houses of civilians” whilst another man warned “we want him alive.”
The Ahrar Daret Ezza (Free People of Daret Ezza), a rebel group with ties to the FSA, claimed responsibility for the downing of the al-Assad fighter jet, according to a rebel in Tourmanin.
This was the second al-Assad regime aircraft to have been shot down by rebels utilizing surface-to-air missiles in the past two days. On Tuesday, Syrian rebels shot down a Syrian army helicopter with newly acquired heavy weaponry. Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the al-Assad regime air force has been forced to cut the number of air raids it carries out by 50 percent as a result of the improvement in the FSA’s air defense capabilities. The source denied reports that the Syrian rebels had received anti-aircraft weaponry from Turkey, stressing that all the surface-to-air missiles they have in this regard were looted from al-Assad regime bases that fell into rebel hands.
The well-informed Syrian source also revealed that the FSA is now in possession of SA-7 man-portable, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, adding that these had either been looted from al-Assad military bases or purchased on the black market. SA-7’s are also known as Strela 2’s by the Russians. In addition to this, the source added that the rebels are in possession of 23 mm anti-aircraft artillery, 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, most prominently Russian DShK heavy machine guns.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, the Syrian source revealed that the changing balance of military power in Syria is also the result of FSA operations targeting al-Assad regime air bases, stressing that this has strongly harmed the regime’s aerial capabilities. The source claimed that the FSA has been able to destroy or significantly damage many al-Assad regime fighter jets and helicopters on the ground during such attacks, whilst adding that the FSA is currently directly in control of a number of air bases abandoned by the regime. He also cited widespread defections from the al-Assad air force, adding that defectors often leave whilst in the possession of equipment and arms – which are then handed over to the FSA – whilst other defectors make sure to destroy and sabotage as much equipment as they can before leaving. The FSA reportedly seized Marj al-Sultan airbase in Rif Dimashq, in addition to a nearby radar center. FSA Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel Arif al-Hamud informed Asharq al-Awsat that the FSA had twice attacked this airbase, which is a home for al-Assad regime helicopters. He claimed that this airbase “oversees large areas east of Damascus, namely the area between Taftanaz and Saraqib.” He highlighted the strategic importance of this area, and therefore the FSA’s seizure of this base, particularly as this area includes the international highway that links Aleppo with Latakia and Damascus.

UN recognizes Palestine: Full text of Abbas speech
30/11/2012/By Asharq Al-Awsat
London, Asharq Al-Awsat - The UN General Assembly on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favor of upgrading the Palestinians' status to that of a non-member observer state, in defiance of Washington and Tel Aviv. 138 countries voted in favor of upgrading the Palestinians' status, 9 voted against whilst 41 countries abstained. The vote was held on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Prior to the vote, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly, calling on the world body to approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. The following is the full text of that speech as reported by the Palestinian Maan News Agency:
Mr. President of the General Assembly,
Your Excellency Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Palestine comes today to the United Nations General Assembly at a time when it is still tending to its wounds and still burying its beloved martyrs of children, women and men who have fallen victim to the latest Israeli aggression, still searching for remnants of life amid the ruins of homes destroyed by Israeli bombs on the Gaza Strip, wiping out entire families, their men, women and children murdered along with their dreams, their hopes, their future and their longing to live an ordinary life and to live in freedom and peace.
Palestine comes today to the General Assembly because it believes in peace and because its people, as proven in past days, are in desperate need of it.
Palestine comes today to this prestigious international forum, representative and protector of international legitimacy, reaffirming our conviction that the international community now stands before the last chance to save the two-State solution.
Palestine comes to you today at a defining moment regionally and internationally, in order to reaffirm its presence and to try to protect the possibilities and the foundations of a just peace that is deeply hoped for in our region.
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip has confirmed once again the urgent and pressing need to end the Israeli occupation and for our people to gain their freedom and independence. This aggression also confirms the Israeli Government’s adherence to the policy of occupation, brute force and war, which in turn obliges the international community to shoulder its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and towards peace.
This is why we are here today.
I say with great pain and sorrow … there was certainly no one in the world that required that tens of Palestinian children lose their lives in order to reaffirm the above-mentioned facts. There was no need for thousands of deadly raids and tons of explosives for the world to be reminded that there is an occupation that must come to an end and that there are a people that must be liberated. And, there was no need for a new, devastating war in order for us to be aware of the absence of peace.
This is why we are here today.
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Palestinian people, who miraculously recovered from the ashes of Al-Nakba of 1948, which was intended to extinguish their being and to expel them in order to uproot and erase their presence, which was rooted in the depths of their land and depths of history. In those dark days, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were torn from their homes and displaced within and outside of their homeland, thrown from their beautiful, embracing, prosperous country to refugee camps in one of the most dreadful campaigns of ethnic cleansing and dispossession in modern history. In those dark days, our people had looked to the United Nations as a beacon of hope and appealed for ending the injustice and for achieving justice and peace, the realization of our rights, and our people still believe in this and continue to wait.
This is why we are here today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the course of our long national struggle, our people have always strived to ensure harmony and conformity between the goals and means of their struggle and international law and spirit of the era in accordance with prevailing realities and changes. And, our people always have strived not to lose their humanity, their highest, deeply-held moral values and their innovative abilities for survival, steadfastness, creativity and hope, despite the horrors that befell them and continue to befall them today as a consequence of Al-Nakba and its horrors.
Despite the enormity and weight of this task, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and the constant leader of their revolution and struggle, has consistently strived to achieve this harmony and conformity.
When the Palestine National Council decided in 1988 to pursue the Palestinian peace initiative and adopted the Declaration of Independence, which was based on resolution 181 (II) (29 November 1947), adopted by your august body, it was in fact undertaking, under the leadership of the late President Yasser Arafat, a historic, difficult and courageous decision that defined the requirements for a historic reconciliation that would turn the page on war, aggression and occupation.
This was not an easy matter. Yet, we had the courage and sense of high responsibility to make the right decision to protect the higher national interests of our people and to confirm our adherence to international legitimacy, and it was a decision which in that same year was welcomed, supported and blessed by this high body that is meeting today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have heard and you too have heard specifically over the past months the incessant flood of Israeli threats in response to our peaceful, political and diplomatic endeavor for Palestine to acquire non-member observer status in the United Nations. And, you have surely witnessed how some of these threats have been carried out in a barbaric and horrific manner, just days ago in the Gaza Strip.
We have not heard one word from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process. On the contrary, our people have witnessed, and continue to witness, an unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade, settlement activities and ethnic cleansing, particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem, and mass arrests, attacks by settlers and other practices by which this Israeli occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and entrenches hatred and incitement.
What permits the Israeli Government to blatantly continue with its aggressive policies and the perpetration of war crimes stems from its conviction that it is above the international law and that it has immunity from accountability and consequences. This belief, unfortunately, is bolstered by the failure by some to condemn and demand the cessation of its violations and crimes and by positions that equate the victim and the executioner.
The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: Enough of aggression, settlements and occupation.
This is why we are here now.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a State established years ago, and that is Israel; rather we came to affirm the legitimacy of the State that must now achieve its independence, and that is Palestine. We did not come here to add further complications to the peace process, which Israel’s policies have thrown into the intensive care unit; rather we came to launch a final serious attempt to achieve peace. Our endeavor is not aimed at terminating what remains of the negotiations process, which has lost its objective and credibility, but rather aimed at trying to breathe new life into the negotiations and at setting a solid foundation for it based on the terms of reference of the relevant international resolutions in order for the negotiations to succeed.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization, I say: We will not give up, we will not tire, and our determination will not wane and we will continue to strive to achieve a just peace.
However, above all and after all, I affirm that our people will not relinquish their inalienable national rights, as defined by United Nations resolutions. And our people cling to the right to defend themselves against aggression and occupation and they will continue their popular, peaceful resistance and their epic steadfastness, and will continue to build on their land. And, they will end the division and strengthen their national unity. We will accept no less than the independence of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on all the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, to live in peace and security alongside the State of Israel, and a solution for the refugee issue on the basis of resolution 194 (III), as per the operative part of the Arab Peace Initiative. I don't think that is terrorism that we are pursuing in the United Nations.
Yet, we must repeat here once again our warning: the window of opportunity is narrowing and time is quickly running out. The rope of patience is shortening and hope is withering. The innocent lives that have been taken by Israeli bombs - more than 168 martyrs, mostly children and women, including 12 members of one family, the Dalou family, in Gaza - are a painful reminder to the world that this racist, colonial occupation is making the two-State solution and the prospect for realizing peace a very difficult choice, if not impossible.
It is time for action and the moment to move orward.
This is why we are here today.
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentleman,
The world is being asked today to answer a specific question that we have offered repeatedly: Is there a surplus people in our region? Tell us. The world must say it. Are we a surplus people, or is there a state which is missing which must be embodied on its land, which is Palestine. The world is being asked to undertake a significant step in the process of rectifying the unprecedented historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people since Al-Nakba of 1948.
Every voice among you supporting our endeavor today is a most valuable voice of courage, and every State that grants support today to Palestine’s request for non-member observer State status is affirming its principled and moral support for freedom and the rights of peoples and international law and peace.
Your support for our endeavor today will send a promising message - to millions of Palestinians on the land of Palestine, in the refugee camps both in the homeland and the Diaspora, and to the prisoners struggling for freedom in Israel’s prisons - that justice is possible and that there is a reason to be hopeful and that the peoples of the world do not accept the continuation of the occupation.
This is why we are here today.
Your support for our endeavor today will give a reason for hope to a people besieged by a racist, colonial occupation. Failure that almost amounts to complicity in Israel's aggression and in a state of paralysis that some are striving to impose on the international community. Your support, ladies and gentlemen, will confirm to our people that they are not alone and their adherence to international law is never going to be a losing proposition.
In our endeavor today to acquire non-member State status for Palestine in the United Nations, we reaffirm that Palestine will always adhere to and respect the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations and international humanitarian law, uphold equality, guarantee civil liberties, uphold the rule of law, promote democracy and pluralism, and uphold and protect the rights of women. This is what we are pledging today.
As we promised our friends and our brothers and sisters, we will continue to consult with them upon the approval of your esteemed body of our request to upgrade Palestine’s status. We will act responsibly and positively in our next steps, and we will to work to strengthen cooperation with the countries and peoples of the world for the sake of a just peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181 (II), which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two States and became the birth certificate for Israel.
Sixty-five years later and on the same day, which your esteemed body has designated as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the General Assembly stands before a moral duty, which it must not hesitate to undertake, and stands before a historic duty, which cannot endure further delay, and before a practical duty to salvage the chances for peace, which is urgent and cannot be postponed.
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The United Nations General Assembly is called upon today to issue the birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine. This is why, in specific, we are here today. It is our hope, ladies and gentlemen, our hope in God and in you.
Thank you, and peace be upon you.

Alarm in Tehran and Moscow over Bushehr nuclear reactor’s near-explosion in mid-October
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 1, 2012/Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr was shut down in mid-October for fear of an explosion. Saturday Dec. 1, an authoritative Russian nuclear industry source revealed the cause of its malfunction: “Indicators showed that some small external parts were… in the [Bushehr] reactor vessel….” They were identified as “bolts beneath the fuel cells.”
debkafile’s Moscow sources report this information came from a source in the office of Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian nuclear energy authority Rosatom, which supervised the construction of Iran’s first atomic reactor at Bushehr. According to our intelligence sources, Russian scientists and engineers were rushed from Moscow to Bushehr when Russian leaders including Vladimir Putin were warned that the danger of an explosion at Bushehr was high. Neither Moscow nor Tehran reported what was happening. Now they are racing against the clock to get the reactor back on stream.
Russian experts estimated that an explosion at the Bushehr reactor had the potential for causing a million Iranian deaths and hundreds of thousands of radiation victims in the Persian Gulf emirates, which supply the world with one-fifth of its fuel. The hazard was so great in October that Putin ordered command teams of the Russian emergency ministry trained to deal with nuclear disasters to set out for Bushehr in southern Iran and prepare the infrastructure for larger teams.
The engineers immediately shut down the reactor and removed its 163 fuel rods. The bolts which had turned up in the reactor vessel were examined to find out from which part of the plant they had come loose – from the fuel rods – which would have embarrassed Russia as their supplier - or some other part of the reactor. The Russian source which revealed the mishap made a point of saying that the bolts were “small external parts,” indicating that they were not from the rods.
Our intelligence sources in Moscow report that two possible outside causes of the malfunction are under scrutiny by Moscow and Tehran:
1. The bolts were deliberately unscrewed and dropped into the reactor vessel as an act of sabotage;
2. The Stuxnet virus which attacked Iran’s nuclear program two years ago was back and had tampered with the reactor’s computers.
Five months ago, Iran suspended operations at the Fordo underground enrichment facility near Qom after the power lines supplying the plant were sabotaged on Aug. 17 and some of the centrifuges blew up. The Iranians resumed work at Fordo in the second half of September without discovering who was responsible for the incident. However, the suspicion of sabotage at Bushehr immediately crossed the minds of the Russian and Iranian investigators, although they have not ruled an accident or incompetence.
Bushehr supplies the Iran’s national electricity grid with one-fifth of its fuel and it was therefore important to get it running again without delay. Our sources report that Monday, Nov. 26, Iranian and Russian engineers reloaded the fuel rods – still without explaining why they had been removed.
Friday, Nov. 30, shortly before the disclosure from Moscow, Tehran for the first time in its twenty-year nuclear program showed concern about the impact of “nuclear accidents” at Iran’s nuclear sites on the wellbeing of the population and environment.
Gholamreza Massoumi, head of Iran’s accident and medical emergency center, announced: “We believe all of our emergency services should be trained and ready to face nuclear accidents.”
He referred to “accidents” at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility where yellowcake is converted into highly toxic uranium hexafluoride and revealed: “People who have been in the region, for example – Isfahan’s UCF – have had some accidents for which they have been treated.”
He admitted that some employees at Isfahan had suffered from “health issues” and warned of “problems that civilians living close to nuclear sites could face.”
Massourni’s comments were removed from the semi-official Mehr news agency’s website a few hours after they were published.
Officials in Tehran, already jumpy over the near-catastrophe in Bushehr, must have realized that the comments about the urgent need to prepare emergency services for nuclear accidents, if tied in with the “health problems” at Isfahan and the near-disaster at Bushehr, were a recipe for a nightmare scenario of mass panic in the population and an outcry in the Gulf region against the hazards of Iran’s nuclear program – even before it produces a weapon.

Egypt: Heading towards disaster!
By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
This time, the rules of the game in Egypt will be very different than in the past.
This time the president is elected; he is a civil and legitimate ruler.
This time the army will not enter the fray unless under the written condition that if it does so it will not return to the barracks afterwards!
This time the police do not have the authorization to clash with demonstrators, and no police leader wants to be taken to court again accused of murder.
This time the street is not united against the regime, it is sharply divided between those protesting in favor of the regime and those protesting in favor of the opposition.
This time the political funding coming from abroad reflects a worrying trend of foreign expansion.
This time more than 15 million weapons have been smuggled from Libya and Sudan, and there are also local workshops manufacturing more.
This time many political forces are increasing their weapons stockpiles in a frightening manner.
This time the Copts feel extremely concerned over their personal safety.
This time there is no desire for dialogue, negotiation or settlement between the conflicting forces.
This time the judicial body is not a power to be exploited; rather it is a party to the dispute.
This time the president is sensing, through his narrow inner circle, that he is the target of many forces and therefore he feels that the atmosphere is subversive and dangerous.
This time the children on the streets will throw Molotov cocktails instead of stones; they might even replace these with primitive rifles and rapid-fire guns.
This time the hungry, the poor and the slum dwellers will come out not to demonstrate in Tahrir Square, but to plunder anything and everything they can get their hands on.
This time American or regional intervention will not be able to prevent the disaster.
This time all we can do is pray.

Kuwait's Election Makes Gulf Arab Rulers Nervous
Simon Henderson/Washington Institute/November 30, 2012
Gulf states seem to view Iran as a more important challenge than domestic unrest, but Kuwait's recent troubles indicate they are no longer immune to the pressures sweeping the Arab world.
On December 1, Kuwaiti voters go to the polls to decide who will represent them in the next national assembly, one of the Arab world's most well-established parliaments. But instead of celebrating a democratic tradition, the election will likely emphasize divisions within Kuwaiti society and perpetuate a months-long political impasse. Other conservative Gulf Arab governments, which tend to emphasize a cautious consensus approach to any evolution of their essentially authoritarian systems, are watching with concern.
Kuwait's parliament, which dates back almost fifty years, became an icon for the country's independence and freedoms in 1991, when U.S.-led forces liberated the emirate following the Iraqi invasion. Since then, Kuwaiti politics have often been fractious. Although the government is dominated by the al-Sabah ruling family, activist members of parliament -- namely, a loose coalition of Islamists, secular nationalists, and some tribal representatives -- make frequent use of their limited powers to question ministers. In frustration, Kuwait's eighty-three-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has dissolved the parliament five times since 2006.
What's different this time is trouble on the streets of Kuwait City. On November 15, protestors in the capital were beaten by police as they tried to march on the home of the prime minister, the emir's relative Sheikh Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmed al-Sabah. Turned back, the angry crowd then stormed the locked gates of the parliamentary building, entered the chamber, and sang the national anthem. Previous clashes involved police using tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators.
Yesterday, the opposition called on Kuwait's 400,000 eligible voters (i.e., men and women over twenty-one) to boycott tomorrow's election. Today, an estimated 15,000 protestors marched in the capital, carrying banners reading "sovereignty resides in the people" and "absolute power corrupts." One of their main grievances is that the emir has altered the already-complicated voting system (i.e., five districts with ten elected representatives each) so that voters have one ballot instead of the previous four. In simple terms, this move will likely favor tribal groups -- a scenario that has temporarily united Islamist and secular groups, who fear the resulting parliament will be more easily controlled by the ruling family.
For Washington, the latest events complicate the delicate balance between supporting democratic freedoms and acknowledging the importance of historical alliances with ruling families in the region, which enable U.S. military forces to protect Gulf oil exports from potential Iranian and other threats. Kuwait and the other Gulf Cooperation Council members (Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) appear to view Iran as a more important challenge than popular demands for political power. But Kuwait's troubles indicate they are no longer immune from the pressures sweeping the Arab world, which have already felled dictators in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. Recent GCC moves indicate growing anxiety; for example, ailing King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia changed his interior minister this month, and the Qatari government sentenced a citizen to life imprisonment for writing a poem critical of the ruler.
In other Gulf developments, respected Egyptian American jurist Cherif Bassiouni, who advised Bahrain on reforms following violence there in 2011, commented adversely on the island's progress last week -- likely complicating the decision on whether Defense Secretary Leon Panetta can accept an invitation to speak at a strategy conference in Manama next week. Meanwhile, human rights groups have condemned the UAE for recent actions against local Islamists. In addition, all GCC countries have significant Shiite constituencies (in Kuwait's case, some 30 percent of the population), which affects their approach to Shiite-ruled Iran. For now, though, the rulers of these states continue to seek U.S. protection from what they perceive as Tehran's malevolent gaze across the Gulf.
**Simon Henderson is the Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute.

Fighting Obama by proxy
Michael Young/Now Lebanon/November 30, 2012
Republicans are voting against Susan Rice for secretary of state, accusing her of making intentionally misleading statements after the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi in September, the aftermath of which is pictured here. (AFP photo)
Among the many psychodramas in the wake of the American presidential election earlier this month, a special place must be reserved for the fate of Susan Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations. It appears that she is a favorite to be named by President Barack Obama as secretary of state, replacing Hillary Clinton.
However, Republicans in the Senate have warned that they would not vote in favor of Rice if she were appointed. They accuse her of making intentionally misleading statements after the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last September, which took the life of the ambassador, Christopher Stevens.
Following the attack, Rice had stated that the consulate was targeted after demonstrators had gathered to speak out against an anti-Muslim film on the internet, following a similar reaction in Cairo. As she put it, the peaceful protests were then used by a group of Libyan jihadists, Ansar al-Sharia, as cover to fire on the consulate building.
This version was later shown to be false. In fact, the Benghazi assault was said to be, from the outset, a straightforward attack, not a spin-off from a demonstration. Rice was accused of having lied because the Obama administration sought to use the assassination of the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, as an election vote-getter. This could have been undermined had the administration admitted that the consulate was hit by an al-Qaeda affiliated group in Libya.
Now Rice’s promotion hangs by a thread. Obama will have to think long and hard about whether to go with Rice, who has been a close advisor from the days of his presidential campaign in 2008. If he forges ahead, Senate Republicans may use her confirmation hearings as a way of cutting down the recently re-elected president. Obama cannot be eager to begin his second term with such a defeat, nor to seek a confrontation with Republicans at a time when he needs their cooperation to advance his legislative agenda.
On the other hand, the president does not want to begin his second term by showing timidity toward the Republicans. That is even less the case when they have suggested that if Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is named instead of Rice, he would breeze through confirmation hearings. No president likes to be told who to choose, above all for the State Department.
Rice has pleaded innocent to politicizing her description of the Benghazi attack. She insists that she merely echoed intelligence information given to officials at the time. She met with senior Republicans this week, but the encounter turned sour. As one of the Republicans, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, declared afterward, “Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before.”
It may not seem like a big deal that Rice initially mistook the Benghazi assault as the extension of a demonstration. However, Republicans are still reeling from Obama’s re-election, and are seeking an advantage to put the president on the defensive. It is Rice’s misfortune that she has become a weapon in a partisan struggle, even if there is something legitimate in the senators’ insistence that the public was entitled to a more accurate report of what had happened.
However, it’s also true that most Americans are not overly concerned about Rice’s motives. The Benghazi debate has become an inside-the-Beltway thing, a preoccupation that is important to a small coterie of political figures in the American capital.
The irony is that Rice has displayed no obvious foreign policy identity. It is not as if Obama were bringing to office a specific agenda. Like Clinton, Rice would represent a powerful bureaucratic voice in the administration, in addition to being close to the president. This would give her great power—but power to do what? Rice has staked out strong positions on certain overseas issues, Syria and Iran among them. But it cannot be said yet that she stands for anything that could clarify the hopelessly fuzzy foreign policy line of the past four years.
That said, there are signs that Washington may be in for a mood swing, at least in the Middle East. Having won the election, Obama has more room to finally accept that the conflict in Syria represents a strategic advantage with regard to Iran. The president’s decision not to back an upgrading of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations showed instead how isolated Israel and the United States are. That could encourage a new diplomatic effort to save the two-state solution. Obama promised this back in 2008, but never delivered.
Unfortunately, foreign policy choices are absent in the dispute over Rice’s alleged transgressions. Washington remains a divided place, and for now Obama and his critics are locked in a tactical game to determine whether the president begins his second term on a high note or a low one. That’s a shame, when American urgently needs to explain to the world what it stands for. Rice may be a fine secretary of state, or she may be a dud, but her best bet with the Republicans may be to elucidate what a Secretary Rice will do while in office.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Syria’s DIY revolution
Michael Weiss/Now Lebanon
December 1, 2012
In the last three weeks, the military dynamics in Syria have shifted so dramatically that, although it’s too soon to predict an endgame, it is clear that the Assad regime is now losing the war. This has had a galvanizing effect on Western powers, now panicking about their lack of influence with the armed opposition.
The most significant development is the opposition’s use of surface-to-air missiles, which destroyed two Syrian aircraft within the space of 24 hours this week. On Tuesday, a Russian-made Mi-8 transport helicopter was struck in the skies near Aleppo by a heat-seeking missile, possibly a Russian-made Strela-2 (or an SA-7 in NATO parlance). On Wednesday, a Syrian warplane was downed by a missile near Darat Azzah, and its pilot was captured and given medical treatment by the people who downed it.
According to the Washington Post, Western and Mideast intelligence sources suggest that rebels might now collectively possess as many as 40 MANPADs, devices that sound like necessary indignities for the incontinent, but will take a more embarrassing toll on decrepit Baathists. Some of these missiles were reportedly supplied by Qatar, but the bulk was clearly confiscated from sacked regime airbases. The largest haul of materiel came from the 46th Regiment base near Aleppo, which was raided a fortnight ago after a two-month-long siege. The UK-based blogger Eliot Higgins (aka “Brown Moses”) has done yeoman’s work in cataloguing the booty from this successful operation. So far, it includes tanks, armored personnel carriers, “Dushkas” (the heavy machine guns rebels previously used to down aircraft), field artillery guns, howitzers, multiple rocket launchers and “up to 18 complete SA-7 MANPADS.” Tellingly, all the successful hits on regime aircraft in the last few days have been made with domestically obtained munitions, according to Human Rights Watch’s Emergencies Director Peter Bouackaert.
This means that Washington’s hiccups about providing the rebels with anti-aircraft weaponry are obsolete. Syria has become a do-it-yourself revolution, a fact that won’t be forgotten by the revolutionaries if the regime is ultimately defeated by its own hardware. The New York Times ran a story on Thursday suggesting that the Obama administration is having yet another serious rethink about its frozen-in-amber policy toward the conflict, and is reconsidering the wisdom of continuing to abjure its own gun-running program. The White House worries that it will soon find itself without friends or influence in a post-Assad state; I worry that American flags will start going up in flames before Ali Mamluk and Assad are sirloin. (Here’s a rebel toting a shoulder-mounted missile launcher explaining how it was used to down the MiG and the helicopter. Notice how he doesn’t thank the CIA for those helpful training seminars.)
Moreover, there is now nothing to stop groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaeda faction, from procuring their own MANPADs, which they may have already done by singlehandedly taking the Mayedin base in Deir Ezzor this past weekend. This YouTube video shows the jihadists, identifiable by their black shahada flags, driving down one of the eastern province’s highways in pickup trucks, motorcycles, even a tank. What happens if they capture flyable aircraft next?
British Prime Minister David Cameron seems to grasp this dilemma better than his Western counterparts, which is why he has prevailed upon the European Union to extend its arms embargo on Syria by only three months, instead of the anticipated year. In 90 days, in other words, Britain and France could start arming the rebels. I’ve been told by a credible source that the EU is pushing for former Syrian Prime Minister Riad al-Hijab to head an interim government under the umbrella of the new Syrian National Coalition, which London and Paris have both recognized as the sovereign government-in-exile. This seems a reasonable proposition. Not only does Hijab have more insider knowledge of how the regime operates (even if his short-lived premiership was powerless), he stands apart from others in the political opposition by having had direct involvement with rebels: They smuggled him and his family out of Syria and into Jordan last August. If Cameron and Monsieur Hollande are interested in sending candy-grams to key FSA commanders, the first ones ought to go to Abdel Jabbar Al-Oqaidi, Muhammad Hussein al-Haj, Mithqal al-Bateesh, Qasseem Saadeddine, Abdulrazzaq Tlass (though probably best to wash after shaking his hand), and Abdulqader Saleh.
Finally, growing rebel capability might actually benefit the Kremlin. Russian-made weapons are now shooting down Russian-made aircraft, all at Syria’s expense, and to the great remuneration of Moscow’s state arms dealer Rosoboronexport. This is why Putin continues to refurbish old helicopters and military spare parts and ship them back to Damascus, now via an air route through Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq that’s got to be more expensive (to Assad) than transporting such equipment by sea. If the copters get blown out of the sky, the regime will need more.
Thanks to this blockbuster scoop by ProPublica, we also know that Russia minted and transported 240 tons of Syrian bank notes to the regime in a 10-week period from July to September, despite American and European sanctions having depreciated the Syrian pound by 44 percent since the start of the uprising in March 2011. Putin, who came to power in 2000 vowing to correct the hyperinflation of the Yeltsin bust period, knows the money he’s moving is fast becoming worth less than the paper it’s printed on. But who cares when it’s another country’s economy on the brink of collapse?
Putin knows he can’t play this game forever. Assad’s cash reserves are now estimated to be between $6 and $8 billion, but he’s losing $500 million a month to pay regime salaries and ensure that the lights stay on in the Presidential Palace. This doesn’t seem like terribly winning mathematics to me. And if this communiqué showing that the Syrian Central Bank has upped its deposits to 2 billion euros in Russia’s VTB Bank, the opposition actually has cause to rejoice: VTB will likely spend the money defending one of its numerous civil lawsuits with defaulting loan recipients.
The stupidest thing I’ve heard all week is that Vladimir Vladimirovich would quit Bashar if only NATO gave up on a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. (By backing him so intransigently, the KGB thug now gets to see Patriot missiles stationed in southern Turkey.) Now there are some within the Beltway’s hard-knock school of soft power politics who believe that Putin really thinks this way. But it doesn’t matter. The chief benefit of Syria’s DIY revolution is that those who for so long thought they knew the way the world works have been rendered irrelevant in determining the way it actually does.

Islamists rally behind Mursi as Egypt's rifts widen
By Alistair Lyon and Tamim Elyan | Reuters
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist crowds demonstrated in Cairo on Saturday in support of President Mohamed Mursi, who is racing through a constitution to try to defuse opposition fury over his newly expanded powers. Many thousands assembled outside Cairo University, waving Egyptian flags and green Islamist emblems to show their backing for the president and the constitution he is promoting.
Mursi was expected later in the day to set a date for a referendum on the constitution hastily approved by an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly on Friday after a 19-hour session.
Mohamed Ibrahim, a hardline Salafi Islamist scholar and a member of the constituent assembly, said secular-minded Egyptians had been in a losing battle from the start.
"They will be sure of complete popular defeat today in a mass Egyptian protest that says 'no to the conspiratorial minority, no to destructive directions and yes for stability and sharia (Islamic law)'," he told Reuters. Demonstrators, many of them bused in from the countryside, held pro-constitution banners. Some read "Islam is coming", "Yes to stability" and "No to corruption".
Tens of thousands of Egyptians had protested against Mursi on Friday and rival demonstrators threw stones after dark in Alexandria and the Nile Delta town of Al-Mahalla Al-Kobra.
"The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Cairo's Tahrir Square, echoing the slogan that rang out there less than two years ago and brought down Hosni Mubarak.
Mursi plunged Egypt into a new crisis last week when he gave himself extensive powers and put his decisions beyond judicial challenge, saying this was a temporary measure to speed Egypt's democratic transition until the new constitution is in place. His assertion of authority in a decree issued on November 22, a day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, dismayed his opponents and widened divisions among Egypt's 83 million people.
Two people have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests by disparate opposition forces drawn together and re-energized by a decree they see as a dictatorial power grab.
Mursi has alienated many of the judges who must supervise the referendum. His decree nullified the ability of the courts, many of them staffed by Mubarak-era appointees, to strike down his measures, although says he respects judicial independence. A source at the presidency said Mursi might rely on the minority of judges who support him to supervise the referendum. Mursi, once a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, has put his liberal, leftist, Christian and other opponents in a bind. If they boycott the referendum, the constitution would pass anyway. If they secured a "no" vote to defeat the draft, the president could retain the powers he has unilaterally assumed. And Egypt's quest to replace the basic law that underpinned Mubarak's 30 years of army-backed one-man rule would also return to square one, creating more uncertainty in a nation in dire economic straits and seeking a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF.
"NO PLACE FOR DICTATORSHIP"
Mursi's well-organized Muslim Brotherhood and its ultra-orthodox Salafi allies, however, are convinced they can win the referendum by mobilizing their own supporters and the millions of Egyptians weary of political turmoil and disruption. "There is no place for dictatorship," the president said on Thursday while the constituent assembly was still voting on a constitution which Islamists say enshrines Egypt's new freedoms. Human rights groups have voiced misgivings, especially about articles related to women's rights and freedom of speech. The text limits the president to two four-year terms, requires him to secure parliamentary approval for his choice of prime minister, and introduces a degree of civilian oversight over the military - though not enough for critics. The draft constitution also contains vague, Islamist-flavored language that its opponents say could be used to whittle away human rights and stifle criticism. For example, it forbids blasphemy and "insults to any person", does not explicitly uphold women's rights and demands respect for "religion, traditions and family values". The draft injects new Islamic references into Egypt's system of government but retains the previous constitution's reference to "the principles of sharia" as the main source of legislation. "We fundamentally reject the referendum and constituent assembly because the assembly does not represent all sections of society," said Sayed el-Erian, 43, a protester in Tahrir and member of a party set up by opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei. Several independent newspapers said they would not publish on Tuesday in protest. One of the papers also said three private satellite channels would halt broadcasts on Wednesday. Egypt cannot hold a new parliamentary election until a new constitution is passed. The country has been without an elected legislature since a court ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated lower house in June.
(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Egyptians protest after draft constitution raced through
By Edmund Blair and Patrick Werr | Reuters –
CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested against President Mohamed Mursi on Friday after an Islamist-led assembly raced through approval of a new constitution in a bid to end a crisis over the Islamist leader's newly expanded powers. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Tahrir Square, echoing the chants that rang out in the same place less than two years ago and brought down Hosni Mubarak. Mursi said a decree halting court challenges to his decisions, which sparked eight days of protests and violence by Egyptians calling him a new dictator, was "for an exceptional stage" and aimed to speed up the democratic transition. "It will end as soon as the people vote on a constitution," he told state television while the constituent assembly was still voting on a draft, which the Islamists say reflects Egypt's new freedoms. "There is no place for dictatorship." But the opposition cried foul. Liberals, leftists, Christians, more moderate Muslims and others had withdrawn from the assembly, saying their voices were not being heard. Even in the mosque where Mursi said Friday prayers some opponents chanted "Mursi: void" before sympathizers surrounded him shouting in support, journalists and a security source said. Tens of thousands gathered across the country, filling Tahrir Square and hitting the streets in Alexandria and other cities, responding to opposition calls for a big turnout. Rival demonstrators clashed after dark in Alexandria and the Nile Delta town of Al-Mahala Al-Kobra, some hurling rocks in anger. An opposition leaflet distributed on Tahrir urged protesters in Cairo to stay overnight before Saturday's rallies by Islamists; the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies said they would avoid the square during their demonstrations backing Mursi. The disparate opposition, which has struggled to compete with well-organized Islamists, has been drawn together and reinvigorated by the crisis. Tens of thousands had also protested on Tuesday, showing the breadth of public anger.
POTENT MACHINE
But Islamists have a potent political machine and the United States has looked on warily at the rising power of a group it once kept at arms length now ruling a nation that has a peace treaty with Israel and is at the heart of the Arab Spring. Protesters said they would push for a 'no' vote in a constitutional referendum, which could happen as early as mid-December. If the new basic law were approved, it would immediately cancel the president's decree. "We fundamentally reject the referendum and constituent assembly because the assembly does not represent all sections of society," said Sayed el-Erian, 43, a protester in Tahrir and member of a party set up by opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei. ElBaradei said in a statement the constitution had "lost legitimacy" and called for ending the polarization of Egypt. The plebiscite on the constitution is a gamble based on the Islamists' belief they can mobilize voters again after winning every election held since Mubarak was toppled in February 2011.
Despite the big numbers opposed to him, Mursi can count on backing from the disciplined Brotherhood and Islamist allies, as well as many Egyptians who are simply exhausted by the turmoil. "He just wants us to move on and not waste time in conflicts," said 33-year-old Cairo shopkeeper Abdel Nasser Marie. "Give the man a chance and Egypt a break." But Mursi needs the cooperation of judges to oversee the vote, and many have been angered by a decree from Mursi they said undermined the judiciary. Some judges are on strike. The assembly concluded the vote after a 19-hour session, faster than many expected, approving all 234 articles of the draft, covering presidential powers, the status of Islam, the military's role and human rights. It introduces a presidential term limit of eight years - Mubarak served for 30. It also bring in a degree of civilian oversight over the military - though not enough for critics. An Egyptian official said Mursi was expected to approve the document on Saturday and then has 15 days to hold a referendum. "This is a revolutionary constitution," said Hossam el-Gheriyani, head of the assembly, urging members to campaign for the new constitution across Egypt, after the all-night session.
DEEPENING DIVISIONS
Critics argue it is an attempt to rush through a draft they say has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood, which backed Mursi for president in a June election, and its Islamist allies. Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in protests since the decree was announced on November 22, deepening the divide between the newly empowered Islamists and their critics. Seeking to placate opponents, Mursi welcomed criticism but said there was no place for violence. "I am very happy that Egypt has real political opposition," he told state television.
He said Egypt needed to attract investors and tourists. The crisis threatens to derail a fragile economic recovery after two years of turmoil. Egypt is waiting for the International Monetary Fund to finalize a $4.8 billion loan to help it out. An alliance of opposition groups pledged to keep up protests and said broader civil disobedience was possible to fight what it described as an attempt to "kidnap Egypt from its people".Several independent newspapers said they would not publish on Tuesday in protest. One of the papers also said three private satellite channels would halt broadcasts on Wednesday. The draft injects new Islamic references into Egypt's system of government but keeps in place an article defining "the principles of sharia" as the main source of legislation - the same phrase found in the previous constitution.
The president can declare war with parliament's approval, but only after consulting a national defense council with a heavy military and security membership. That was not in the old constitution, used when Egypt was ruled by ex-military men. Critics highlighted other flaws, such as articles pertaining to the rights of women and freedom of speech. A new parliamentary election cannot be held until a new constitution is passed. Egypt has been without an elected legislature since a court ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated lower house in June.
(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Alastair Macdonald)

Question: "How should a Christian view materialism?"
GotQuestions.org/Answer: Materialism is defined as “the preoccupation with material things rather than intellectual or spiritual things.” If a Christian is preoccupied with material things, it is definitely wrong. That is not to say we cannot have material things, but the obsession with acquiring and caring for “stuff” is a dangerous thing for the Christian, for two reasons.
First, any preoccupation, obsession or fascination with anything other than God is sinful and is displeasing to God. We are to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), which is, according to Jesus, the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). Therefore, God is the only thing we can (and should) occupy ourselves with habitually. He alone is worthy of our complete attention, love and service. To offer these things to anything, or anyone, else is idolatry.
Second, when we concern ourselves with the material world, we are easily drawn in by the “deceitfulness of wealth” (Mark 4:19), thinking that we will be happy or fulfilled or content if only we had more of whatever it is we are chasing. This is a lie from the father of lies, Satan. He wants us to be chasing after something he knows will never satisfy us so we will be kept from pursuing that which is the only thing that can satisfy—God Himself. Luke 16:13 tells us we “cannot serve both God and money.” We must seek to be content with what we have, and materialism is the exact opposite of that contentment. It causes us to strive for more and more and more, all the while telling us that this will be the answer to all our needs and dreams. The Bible tells us that a person’s “life is not in the abundance of the things which he possesses” (Luke 12:15) and that we are to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
If materialism was ever to satisfy anyone, it would have been Solomon, the richest king the world has ever known. He had absolutely everything and had more of it than anyone, and yet he found it was all worthless and futile. It did not produce happiness or the satisfaction our souls long for. He declared, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). In the end, Solomon came to the conclusion that we are to “fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Why Christian Persecution is Islam's Achilles' Heel
November 30, 2012 | Raymond Ibrahim
FrontPage Magazine
Which of the following three headlines is most difficult for the media—including the usual array of liberal pundits, apologists, academics, and politicians—to whitewash or rationalize away? Which most exposes Islam’s inherent intolerance?
A) “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims fire rockets into Israel
B) “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims riot and commit acts of violence in Europe
C) “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims torch a Christian church in a Muslim country
The answer is C—Christian persecution.
Why?
Because in both scenarios A and B, Muslims will always be portrayed and seen as the “underdogs”—and hence always exonerated for their behavior. No matter how violent or ugly, no matter how many Islamic slogans are shrieked—thus placing their behavior in a purely Islamic context—Muslim violence against the West and Israel will always be dismissed as a product of the weak and outnumbered status of Muslims—their status as underdogs, which the West tends to romanticize. And so they will always get a free pass, without further ado.
They may be screaming and rioting, firing rockets and destroying property—all while calling for the death and destruction of the “infidel” West and/or Israel to cries of “Allahu Akbar!” Still, no problem. According to the aforementioned array of pundits, apologists, academics, and politicians, such bloodlust is a natural byproduct of the frustration Muslims feel as an oppressed minority, “rightfully” angry with the “colonial” West and its Israeli proxy. Indeed, that is precisely how even the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. by al-Qaeda were rationalized away by many “experts”—even as al-Qaeda’s own words exposed their animus as a direct product of Muslim doctrine not temporal grievances.
Most recently, the New York Times, in the context of the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv, asserted that Israel “needs a different approach to Hamas and the Palestinians based more on acknowledging historic grievances,” thus taking all blame off the “aggrieved” and “underdog” Muslims and Palestinians.
But if Muslims get a free pass when their violence is directed against those currently stronger than them, how does one rationalize away their violence when it is directed against those weaker than them, those who have no political influence whatsoever? Consider the most obvious of these scenarios, the growing epidemic of Muslim persecution of Christians. From one end of the Islamic world to the other—whether in Arab lands, African lands, Asian lands, or Sinic lands, wherever Muslims are a majority—the largest non-Muslim religious group, Christians, suffer untold atrocities.
The rationalizations used to minimize Muslim violence against the West and Israel simply cannot work here—for now Muslims are the majority, and they are the ones violent and oppressive to their minorities, often in ways that would make the worst Israeli treatment of Muslims look kind and benevolent.
In short, Christian persecution is one of, if not the clearest reflections of Islamic supremacism. Vastly outnumbered and politically marginalized Christians simply wish to worship in peace, and yet still are they hounded and attacked, their churches burned and destroyed, their women and children enslaved and raped (see monthly “Muslim Persecution of Christians” reports for an example).
These Christians are often identical to their Muslim co-citizens, in race, ethnicity, national identity, culture, and language; there is no political dispute, no land dispute. The only problem is that they are Christian—they are the other—and so must be subjugated, according to Sharia’s position for all “others,” for all infidels—including Israel and the West.
Such is the true nature of Muslim rage throughout the world: it is a byproduct of doctrinal intolerance if not downright hatred for the other, who must always be kept in a state of subjugation and humiliation, according to the letter of the Quran.
Accordingly, while Christian persecution is the clearest example of this hate, it also explains why others are so despised, for example, Israel.
Consider: Christians and Jews are both constantly castigated in the Quran: Muslims are admonished not to befriend either of them (5:51) and to fight and subjugate them “until they pay tribute with willing submission and feel themselves brought low” (9:29). Christians under Islam are suffering accordingly—as despised dhimmis, abused and “brought low,” routinely plundered of their lives, dignity, and possessions.
On the other hand, Israel—the dhimmi that got away—actually has authority and power over Muslims. Now, if dhimmis are supposed to be kept in total submission to Muslims, how then when one of them actually lords over Muslims?
Hence Islam’s immense and existential rage against the Jewish state.