Matthew 18 Who Is the Greatest

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 12/2012

Bible Quotation for today/The Two House Builders
Luke 06/46-49: "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and yet don't do what I tell you? Anyone who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them—I will show you what he is like. He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once—and what a terrible crash that was!

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Al-Assad: detached from reality/By Tariq Alhomayed/January 11/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 11/12
Romney wins New Hampshire Republican primary
.Iran says bomb kills nuclear scientist, blames Israel
West edges closer to confrontation with Iran over new plant
U.S. Ship Rescues Six More Iranians
Assad Cheered by Thousands, Vows to Defeat 'Conspiracy'
U.N. Says 400 Syrians Dead since Start of Arab Mission
As Arab Spring burns, Jordan's Abdullah is feeling the heat
Arab League Observer Quits, Slams Syria War Crimes
Cyprus Releases Syria-Bound Ammunition Ship
Future MP insists Ghosn should step down
Jumblatt admits dispute with Hezbollah over Syria crisis
Geagea: Assad Depicted Status Quo that Has Nothing to Do with Reality
Hariri, Geagea, Future bloc lambast Assad’s defiant speech
Lebanese Cabinet seeks unified stance on Ban visit
Assad speech draws West’s outrage
Sleiman, Mikati urge action on overdue issues
Mar Maroun monastery restoration undeterred by decades-old dispute
Israeli Fighter Jets Drop ‘Object’ in Southern Lebanon Valley
Mustaqbal: Positions of Some Hizbullah Officials May Negatively Affect Lebanon
March 14: Govt. Must Distance Lebanon from Syrian Crisis after Assad’s Hint of More Violence
Lebanon's Shura Council Approves Nahhas’ Wage Plan, Conditions Amendments
Aoun: We Hope Syrian People Will Be Diligent Enough to Thwart Strife
Ex-Ogero Employee Charged with Spying for Israel
Beirut MPs: We Will Now Meet with Various Political Powers over Establishment of Arms-Free City
ISF Confiscates More than 1,200 Unlicensed Motorcycles, Vows to Continue Crackdown
Reports: Nasrallah to Make Televised Speech on Saturday
Retired Ogero employee charged with spying for Israel

.Iran says bomb kills nuclear scientist, blames Israel
By Ramin Mostafavi | Reuters –TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said one of its nuclear scientists was killed on Wednesday by a magnet bomb fixed to his car by a motorcyclist and blamed Israel for the attack, intensifying diplomatic tensions the West over Tehran's nuclear program. The bombing, which Iranian officials said bore all the hallmarks of assassinations of other nuclear scientists in the past years, came as Washington sought to persuade a skeptical China to help efforts to toughen sanctions against Iran. Iran has blamed Israeli, British and U.S. intelligence for the attacks in the past, which it said were aimed at assassinating key people working on Iran's nuclear program. Both Israel and the United States have rejected the claims."The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and is the work of the Zionists," Tehran Deputy Governor Safarali Baratlou told the semi-official Fars news agency, referring to Israel.
"Iran's enemies should know they cannot prevent Iran's progress by carrying out such terrorist acts," state news agency IRNA quoted First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying.
Heightened tensions over the nuclear program, which major oil producer Iran insists is purely for civilian use but Western powers suspect has military goals, have driven oil prices higher, with Brent crude up more than 5 percent since the start of the year to above $113 a barrel.
The European Union has brought forward to January 23 a ministerial meeting that is likely to confirm an embargo on oil purchases, and big importers of Iranian oil are moving to secure alternative supplies.
Iran is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) second biggest exporter.
NUCLEAR AGENCY DEFIANT
The victim was a nuclear scientist who "supervised a department at Natanz uranium enrichment facility," Fars said.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation confirmed in a statement that chemistry engineer Mostafa Ahmadi-roshan was part of Iran's nuclear enrichment program and vowed not to be deflected from its development of nuclear technology: "America and Israel's heinous act will not change the course of the Iranian nation," it said.
Witnesses told Reuters they had seen two people on the motorcycle fix the bomb to the car. As well as the person killed in the car, a pedestrian was also killed. Another person in the car was gravely injured, they said. Other Iranian media also reported the death but there were differing accounts of the killing.
Two daylight bomb attacks on the same day in Tehran in November 2010 killed one nuclear scientist and wounded another. Physics lecturer Masoud Ali Mohammadi was killed in January 2010, when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near his car in Tehran. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack. "It is not our practice to comment on this sort of speculation," an Israeli official, when asked about Tehran's accusation over Wednesday's killing.
On Tuesday, Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, was quoted as saying that Iran should expect more "unnatural" events in 2012.
His comments, to a closed-door parliamentary panel in Jerusalem, were widely interpreted as alluding to previous acts of sabotage.
"For Iran, 2012 is a critical year in combining the continuation of its nuclearization, internal changes in the Iranian leadership, continuing and growing pressure from the international community and things which take place in an unnatural manner," Gantz was quoted as saying.
IRAN ON NUCLEAR COURSE
Despite public infighting within the Iranian ruling establishment, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran had no intention of changing its nuclear course because of tightened foreign sanctions. New U.S. sanctions against Iran have started to bite. The rial currency lost 20 percent of its value against the dollar in the past week and Iran has threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 35 percent of seaborne traded oil passes.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, visiting Beijing, appealed for Chinese cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran's move to enrich uranium near the city of Qom was "especially troubling."
"This step once again demonstrates the Iranian regime's blatant disregard for its responsibilities and that the country's growing isolation is self-inflicted," Clinton said in a statement after Iran's announcement it had started enrichment in the Fordow mountain bunker complex. Iran's decision to carry out enrichment work deep underground at Fordow could make it much harder for U.S. or Israeli forces to carry out veiled threats to use force against Iranian nuclear facilities. The move to Fordow could narrow a time window for diplomacy to avert any attack.
"It's impossible to say who is behind the apparently carefully targeted attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists over the past couple of years. But Iranian perceptions will be that Israel, the U.S. and other Western states are behind the attacks, seeking as they are to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program," said Gala Riani at IHS Global Insight.
"It's hard to say whether it (Wednesday's attack) could be in response to anything really, if it is being carried out by foreign intelligence services then its more likely to be part of a longer-term agenda to derail and set back Iran's nuclear program ... rather than a quick-reaction to the start of enrichment activities in Fordow," Riani added.
Stepping up pressure on Tehran, U.S. President Barack Obama approved a law on New Year's Eve that will sanction financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, a move that makes it difficult for consumers to pay for Iranian oil.
MORE SANCTIONS
Geithner is in Asia this week to drum up support for Washington's efforts to stem the oil revenues flowing to Tehran, and made his first stop in China, Iran's biggest customer.
China has backed U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment activities, while working to ensure its energy supplies are not threatened. As a permanent member of the council, China wields a veto.
It has said the United States and European Union should not impose sanctions beyond the U.N. resolutions.
Geithner is likely to face an easier task in U.S. ally Japan, the next stop of his tour on Thursday, where a government source has said Tokyo will consider cutting back its Iranian oil purchases to secure a waiver from new U.S. sanctions.Japan has already asked OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to supply it with more oil, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said on Tuesday.South Korea is also considering alternative supplies in case the U.S. sanctions cut off Iranian shipments.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany collapsed a year ago over Iran's refusal to negotiate over its right to enrich uranium.
The United States and Israel say they are leaving the military option on the table in case it becomes the only way to prevent Iran from making a nuclear weapon.

Al-Assad: detached from reality
By Tariq Alhomayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat
Bashar al-Assad’s speech, which lasted almost an hour and forty minutes, and consisted of over 11,000 words, can only be described as an act of begging, and evidence of his detachment from reality. From reading the speech, rather than listening to it or watching it, you feel that you are facing a man living in his own world, like Gaddafi, specifically when he addressed the prominent families of Libya by name!
Al-Assad’s fourth speech came after a long silence, which he acknowledged by saying “I know that I have been away from the media for a long time”. He still wanted to tell the Syrians that there is a foreign plot in the country, and that it has gone unnoticed. Then he proceeded to explain, justify and deny aspects of his interview with an American television network [ABC], when he said that “they [the army] are not my forces” and that no government kills its own people unless it is led by a crazy person. He elaborated and dwelled on this extensively, yet it is striking that he again repeated his original denial, namely that there were no orders to kill in Syria! This means that the repercussions of the ABC interview are still ongoing and causing Bashar al-Assad embarrassment within the regime’s corridors of influence. [During his speech] al-Assad also begged for public sympathy for the security services, reminding the Syrians that the soldiers have not seen their families in months.
Al-Assad’s speech not only provided evidence of begging, but some have even interpreted it as an unprecedented attack on the Arab League, and the Arabs, but this is an inaccurate assessment. The al-Assad regime has previously attacked [the Arabs] over more than what al-Assad said yesterday, whether from the President’s own tongue in the past, or through his ambassador to the Arab League. However, al-Assad’s speech yesterday was an attempt to justify his position, and question why the Arabs have condemned him. He was begging to the Syrians because he knows the danger of being an outcast from the Arabs and the international community, which could put an end to his legitimacy and make him vulnerable to an internal coup, perhaps in the near future. He elaborated on this extensively when he claimed that the Arabs are dealing in a cordial manner with Israel, while they are strict and hostile towards Syria!
Al-Assad’s speech also confirms that he is a man detached from reality. He wants the Arabs to keep quiet about his regime’s crimes, such as the murder of a girl who was only 5 months old, only because the killer this time is a Syrian, rather than an Israeli. This is the age-old naivety of the Syrian regime, and it is time now for it to come to an end. This is not all; further evidence of al-Assad’s detachment from reality can also be found in his criticism of what happened to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. This is exactly what Gaddafi did before he was overthrown, when he defended Mubarak and Ben Ali!
Thus, al-Assad’s speech and his talk about the Arabs, the pseudo-Arabs and others, is nothing more than evidence of his begging and detachment from reality. It is like an upgraded version of Gaddafi’s famous “Zenga Zenga” speech, but is in fact more similar to Saif-al Islam Gaddafi telling his people to forget water and electricity, and forget oil, especially when al-Assad elaborated extensively in his speech about olives and olive oil.
Indeed, the most prominent inspiration for the Syrian revolution over the past ten months has been al-Assad himself, whereby through his gross errors he has been able help the revolution maintain its internal momentum, and has forced the Arabs and the international community to take a stand against him. He demonstrated this yesterday par excellence.

Lebanon's Shura Council Approves Nahhas’ Wage Plan, Conditions Amendments
by Naharnet /The Shura Council approved on Wednesday the new wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas on condition of introducing amendments to it.
The Council conditioned some modifications to the decision that was submitted by Nahhas, who didn’t put his proposal to vote at the cabinet yet.Head of the Shura Council Judge Shukri Sader told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that “the council had comments on the transportation allowance article.”“We urge officials to take into consideration our modifications,” he said.The new proposal of Nahhas, who is loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, suggests a 100 percent increase on the first bracket under LL1 million and 25 percent on the second bracket above LL1 million. But LL200,000 will be deducted from the wages due to the raise approved by the government in 2008, which indicates that the new minimum wage will be LL800,000.However, the minister’s proposal flared up controversy after he refused to approve a deal sponsored by Prime Minister Najib Miqati between the General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees at the Baabda Palace for lacking the “legal terms.”They agreed in December to set the minimum wage at LL675,000 – a sum that excludes the transportation allowance.The dispute is mainly on whether the new wage hike would include the transportation allowance.The Shura Council’s verdict was issued as the price index committee is expected to hold a meeting on Wednesday at 4:00 pm.

March 14: Govt. Must Distance Lebanon from Syrian Crisis after Assad’s Hint of More Violence
by Naharnet /The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s speech on Tuesday, urging the international and Arab communities to take action to halt the regime’s ongoing crimes.It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The Lebanese government should distance the country from the Syrian crisis after Assad’s speech hinted at more violence on the internal scene.”It also voiced its solidarity with the Syrian people, demanding the Arab monitors to reveal the truth in the developments in Syria and “uncover the massacres being committed by the regime.”
“Experience has proven that the regime seeks to exploit any diplomatic initiative in order to gain more time and exercise more oppression against its people, who are demanding freedom and democracy,” it added.“The international community and Arab League are therefore required to take a firmer and more effective stand to halt the daily massacres,” continued the statement.Addressing U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s trip to Lebanon on Friday, the general secretariat noted that his visit will test the Lebanese officials’ commitment to international resolutions.
The U.N. Security Council resolutions on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese-Syrian border, and Special Tribunal for Lebanon require the government to assume its responsibilities on these issues “away from media maneuvers that seek to avert the implementation of these agreements,” it said.Assad on Tuesday accused foreign parties of seeking to destabilize Syria but stressed that he would not step down over increased demonstrations against him."Regional and international parties who are trying to destabilize Syria can no longer falsify the facts and events," the embattled leader said.
He slammed the Arab League, saying it helped spread sectarian divisions across the country.Assad pledged that his government would tackle terrorism with an "iron fist.”
"There can be no let-up for terrorism -- it must be hit with an iron fist," he said. "Our priority now is to regain security which we basked in for decades."

Assad Cheered by Thousands, Vows to Defeat 'Conspiracy'
by Naharnet /President Bashar Assad made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, vowing to defeat a "conspiracy" against Syria a day after he blamed foreign interests for stoking months of deadly violence."Without a doubt we will defeat the conspiracy, which is nearing its end and will also be the end for (the conspirators) and their plans," Assad told tens of thousands of cheering supporters in the capital's central Omayyad Square.Casually dressed in a jacket and open-necked shirt, a confident-looking Assad stood at the edge of the throng, security guards in front of him, and said: "I came here to draw from your strength. Thanks to you, I have never felt weak."Whoever wants to talk should come down into the street," said Assad, as he thanked his backers, many of whom were holding up his portrait or waving Syrian flags, for "supporting the institutions of the state and the army." The United Nations estimated last month that more than 5,000 people had been killed in the crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in March, and many of them have been gunned down during peaceful street protests. Damascus accuses "armed terrorist gangs" of fomenting the bloodshed. In a speech on Tuesday, his first public appearance in months, Assad vowed to crush "terrorism" with an iron fist. "Regional and international parties who are trying to destabilize Syria can no longer falsify the facts and events," the embattled leader said in the nearly two-hour speech.
That prompted opposition movements to accuse him of pushing the country toward civil war and world powers to accuse him of trying to shift the blame for the 10 months of bloodletting in the protests against his regime.Source/Agence France Presse.

Algerian monitor quits Syria mission in disgust
January 11, 2012 /By Elizabeth A Kennedy/Agencies/Daily Star
BEIRUT: An Arab League observer has left Syria, accusing the authorities of committing war crimes and turning the Arab monitoring mission sent to check its compliance with a peace plan into a "farce".
"They didn't withdraw their tanks from the streets, they just hid them and redeployed them after we left," Anwar Malek told Al Jazeera English television at its headquarters in Qatar, still wearing one of the orange vests used by the monitors."The snipers are everywhere shooting at civilians. People are being kidnapped. Prisoners are being tortured and no one has been released," the Algerian former observer said. "Those who are supposedly freed and shown on TV are actually people who had been randomly grabbed off the streets."
The Arab League monitoring mission, now about 165 strong, began work on Dec. 26. Its task is to verify if Syria is complying with an agreement to halt a crackdown on 10 months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed.
Malek's resignation was the latest blow to a mission already criticized for inefficiency and whose members have come under attack this week from both Assad supporters and protesters.
"The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled," Malek said. "The regime orchestrated it and fabricated most of what we saw to stop the Arab League from taking action against the regime.
"What I saw was a humanitarian disaster. The regime isn't committing one war crime but a series of crimes against its people," he added.
Syria has barred most independent media, making it difficult to verify conflicting accounts of events on the ground.
There was no immediate comment on his remarks from the Arab League, which decided on Sunday to keep the monitors in place at least until they report again on their mission on Jan. 19.
Under the Arab peace plan, Syrian authorities are supposed to stop attacking peaceful protests, withdraw troops and tanks from the streets, free detainees and open a political dialogue.
Malek criticized the mission's leader, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, already under fire from human rights groups concerned about his past role in the conflict in Darfur.
"The head of the mission wanted to steer a middle course in order not to anger the (Syrian) authorities or any other side," said Malek, who had earlier drawn attention for critical comments he posted on Facebook while still in Syria.
A U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had accelerated its killing of protesters after the Arab monitors arrived, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said.
"The under-secretary-general noted that in the days since the Arab League monitoring mission has been on the ground, an estimated 400 additional people have been killed, an average of 40 a day, a rate much higher than was the case before their deployment," ambassador Susan Rice told reporters in New York.
Rice was speaking after Lynn Pascoe, U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs, briefed the 15-nation Security Council behind closed doors on Syria and other major crises.
Syria says it is facing a wave of "terrorism" by Islamists armed and manipulated from abroad who have killed 2,000 members of the security forces. Assad said in a speech on Tuesday that his country was the target of a foreign conspiracy.
Malek said he had seen snipers on rooftops, but that some of his colleagues had turned a blind eye.
"Some of our team preferred to maintain good relations with the regime and denied that there were snipers," he said.
Malek also said the authorities had sent "spies and intelligence officers" acting as drivers and escorts for the monitors in order to get the information they collected, adding: "As soon as we left an area they attacked people."
He said he had spent 15 days in the rebellious city of Homs, where armed insurgents as well as protesters have been active.
"I saw scenes of horror, burnt bodies, bodies that had been tortured, people who had been skinned, children who had been killed... Houses have been shelled with heavy weapons and destroyed," he said, citing the Bab Amro area as the worst hit.
"From time to time we would see a person killed by a sniper. I have seen it with my own eyes. I could not shed my humanity in such situations and claim independence and objectivity."
Malek said he had visited a political security prison and found people "in tragic conditions subjected to torture and starvation where they only eat a light meal a day".

Jumblatt admits dispute with Hezbollah over Syria crisis
January 11, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Jumblatt has admitted that there is a dispute with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah over the crisis in Syria, now in its tenth month.
“Both sides [the PSP and Hezbollah] know each other’s position on Syria. But the problem lies in that the party [Hezbollah] holds on to its position,” Jumblatt told Al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview published Wednesday. In response to a question as to whether he had requested to meet Nasrallah, Jumblatt said: “I did not and will not ask for a meeting.”However, the PSP chief acknowledged that dialogue with Hezbollah was essential to protect the country from ramifications of the unrest in its neighbor.The United Nations estimates over 5,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, have been killed in a crackdown by Damascus, which has faced anti-government protests since “Dialogue with Hezbollah is important in order to spare the country any repercussions of what is happening or will happen in Syria,” Jumblatt said, adding: “This [Syria] is the point of contention. So what’s the use of debate?” Jumblatt also said Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman had also told him during his visit to Lebanon that “Americans, too, encourage dialogue with Hezbollah. They also praise [Prime Minister Najib] Mikati’s management of political issues.”“This is a significant shift compared to their [U.S.] position a year ago,” Jumblatt added. He said that regular meetings between the PSP and Hezbollah are aimed at maintaining security and stability in mixed Druze-Shiite-Sunni regions of Lebanon, particularly in Shoueifat and surrounding areas, all the way to Iqlim al-Kharroub, southeast of Beirut. The PSP chief also praised Mikati for having managed to spare the country of civil strife and said there was a need for the Cabinet to remain.While he described as “good” his relationships with both President Michel Sleiman and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the PSP chief said there is “no row” with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun. However, Jumblatt criticized Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, a member in Aoun’s FPM, over his controversial wage hike proposal, voicing agreement with a deal reached between the private sector and the General Labor Confederation.

Retired Ogero employee charged with spying for Israel
January 11, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: A Lebanese former employee with the state-run telecoms operator Ogero was charged Wednesday with spying for Israel. Security sources, speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, said Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged the man on suspicion of having met with Israeli officials abroad and provided them with telecoms data in return for money. The retired Ogero employee was not identified in accordance with the law. He was referred to examining military judge Riad Abu Ghida for interrogation.If convicted, the suspect faces the death penalty. Another former Ogero employee arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel was released by Lebanese authorities in November 2011 after three months in detention.Lebanon has already charged two employees working for state-owned mobile telecoms firm Alfa with spying for Israel

West edges closer to confrontation with Iran over new plant
January 11, 2012/Agencies
TEHRAN/VIENNA/MOSCOW: Iran’s showdown with the West slid closer to dangerous confrontation Tuesday as international alarm over a new uranium enrichment plant raised the stakes. Both sides were digging in, with Iran’s defiance hardening and the United States and European Union actively taking steps to fracture the Iranian economy through further sanctions. China, which rejects the sanctions, warned of disastrous consequences if the Iranian nuclear row escalated into conflict, while Japan said it was “very concerned.”The U.N. atomic agency’s confirmation Monday that Iran had begun enriching uranium in a new, underground bunker southwest of Tehran was seized upon by the U.S., Britain, France and Germany as an unacceptable “violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Russia, which has relatively close ties with Iran, also voiced concern over the new plant. “Moscow has with regret and worry received the news of the start of work on enriching uranium at the Iranian plant,” a Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency. “We should recognize that Iran is continuing to ignore the demands of the international community [and] that it [should] respond to their concerns regarding its nuclear program,” the official was quoted as saying. Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, tagged the West’s stance as “politically motivated.” The underground Fordow plant had been revealed two years ago and documented, he said. The 20-percent enriched uranium it was to produce would be used for “peaceful and humanitarian” purposes, namely isotopes for cancer treatment, he said.
An official at the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said inspectors were expected to visit Iran “soon” to discuss their worries about possible military aspects to its nuclear program.Both Soltanieh and the IAEA stressed the U.N. nuclear watchdog had 24-hour cameras there and inspectors to keep it under watch. That seemed unlikely to reassure the United States, though, or its chief Middle East ally, Israel, analysts said. “Israel, which has already warned Iran that it could take military action against installations, is very, very worried by this facility ... We are moving into dangerous territory,” said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.But while Iran downplayed the significance of Fordow – and affirmed it was ready to resume nuclear talks with world powers that collapsed a year ago – it continues to send tough signals to states contemplating further sanctions. Its elite Revolutionary Guards have said they are about to launch new navy maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf, a move aimed at showing the Islamic Republic can close the waterway if its oil exports are blocked or severely curtailed.
China, which buys 20-22 percent of Iran’s crude oil, warned against conflict. “We urge all relevant nations to ... refrain from taking actions that will intensify the situation and make common efforts to prevent war,” Chen Xiaodong, a top Chinese diplomat on Middle East affairs said in an online interview with his country’s state press. “Once war starts in this region not only will the relevant nations be affected and attacked, it would also ... bring disaster to a world economy deep in crisis,” he said.
The United States has said closing the strait would be a “red line” and it would continue deploying its warships to the Gulf. Oil prices stayed high on the threats and counterthreats, amid buoyant U.S. consumer data. West Texas Intermediate crude was over $102 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude was over $113. The European Union, meanwhile, is poised to declare a ban on Iranian oil imports. An EU foreign ministers’ meeting on the issue scheduled for the end of this month has been brought forward a week, to Jan. 23, an EU official in Brussels told AFP.
France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said other major oil exporters would increase their production in order to steady world markets if the embargo is imposed. “We have made discreet contacts in this direction. The producers don’t want to talk about it, but they are standing ready,” Juppe said.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law on New Year’s Eve sanctions against Iran’s central bank due to come into effect within months.His Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was in Beijing Tuesday in an effort to get China to drop its steadfast opposition to new sanctions on Iran and to come on board, at least to some extent. Japan’s foreign minister, on a Gulf tour to seek assurances over oil supplies, also raised the alarm and called for a diplomatic solution. His country buys about 14 percent of Iran’s crude. “Japan is very concerned about the latest developments,” Koichiro Gemba said. “We believe that we should solve the problem diplomatically and peacefully. That is why dialogue with Iran should continue.”Japan asked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to supply it with more oil, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said Tuesday, if tighter Western sanctions threaten to reduce its oil imports from Iran. Foreign Minister Gemba, who has been on a visit to Turkey and Gulf Arab countries since last week in what some analysts said could be a sign that Tokyo is seeking assurances from Gulf producers that they would compensate for any potential loss of Iranian oil.
“We want an increase in the quantity of oil that Japan needs [from these countries],” Gemba, speaking through an interpreter, said at a joint news conference in Abu Dhabi with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan. Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Masaru Sato declined to discuss the quantities of extra oil sought by Japan but said a team of technical experts was to travel to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to discuss the details

Future MP insists Ghosn should step down
January 11, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Future MP Khaled Daher called on Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn Tuesday to resign, saying his clarification over his allegations on the presence of Al-Qaeda members in the Bekaa town of Arsal was not convincing. “We heard yesterday Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn in the [Parliament] Defense Committee. But we were not convinced of his clarification because he made matters more ambiguous and suspicious despite his denial that he had accused Arsal of sheltering Al-Qaeda,” Daher told a news conference in Parliament.He said Ghosn tried to make his statement on the presence of Al-Qaeda in Arsal as a warning against terrorism.Speaking Monday before Parliament’s Defense and Interior ministries and Municipalities Committee, which summoned the minister for questioning on his remarks about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Arsal, Ghosn said the Bekaa town was not meant to be targeted and was used as an example of a larger problem based on Lebanese Army reports.
Citing last month’s killing by the Syrian army of three Lebanese in the area of Wadi Khaled near the border with Syria, Daher accused Ghosn of not caring for the protection of the Lebanese border.“Therefore, I call on him [Ghosn] to resign in order to preserve the dignity of Lebanon, the military establishment and the entire state,” Daher said.

Cabinet seeks unified stance on Ban visit
January 11, 2012/By Hasan Lakkis The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Cabinet is still attempting to forge a united stance on the issues that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon may raise during his upcoming visit to Lebanon, governmental sources told The Daily Star Tuesday. Ban is scheduled arrive in the country Friday, and is set to meet with President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri, and members of the opposition. It is not known whether U.N. Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen will be among the delegation accompanying Ban, especially in light of recent comments by the head of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, Mohammad Yazbeck, calling Larsen “phony.”
Yazbeck accused Larsen, who is tasked with overseeing the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, of being biased toward Israel. UNSCR 1559, adopted in 2004, calls for Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon and for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Yazbeck also said the U.N. chief was not welcome in Lebanon sparking an uproar from the March 14 alliance.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is expected to deliver a speech Saturday, the day after Ban’s arrival. Speculation is rife about the topics Nasrallah will tackle, and whether he will address the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the U.N.-backed international tribunal set up to investigate and try those responsible for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the others killed with him, or other controversial topics. Hezbollah play an integral role in the current Cabinet.
Grand Serail sources told The Daily Star that Ban will meet Mikati twice during his visit. On Friday the two leaders will hold discussions, and on Saturday Mikati will hold a dinner banquet in Ban’s honor.
Government sources expect Ban to bring up U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon following the 2006 summer war. The sources expect Ban to call for UNSCR 1701’s full implementation, and ask about the decrease in the number of Lebanese Army personnel deployed in the south.
These sources added that if Larsen does accompany Ban, there is a strong possibility that the U.N. delegation will address the issue of non-state arms.
Ban is also likely to bring up the STL, the sources said. He will ask the government about efforts to cooperate with the tribunal’s prosecutor general and to arrest the four accused men, all of whom are members of Hezbollah.
The U.N. delegation will also raise the Syrian situation and its repercussions on Lebanon, as well as Lebanese Minister Fayez Ghosn’s recent statements that Al-Qaeda operates in Lebanon, according to the sources. The sources also expect Ban to ask that the porous Lebanese-Syrian borders be kept under control, and will offer the help of the U.N. in this regard. Lebanon has its own issues to raise. Officials will bring up the subject of maritime border demarcation and oil exploration off the Lebanese coast, both subjects that Nabih Berri Monday said would be the first topics he spoke about with Ban.
As for the issue of non-state weapons, Lebanon will tell Ban that this issue will be discussed during national dialogue talks that Sleiman is attempting to revive.
Lebanon is expected to tell Ban that the government is still studying the STL issue, and will inform the U.N. of the its position about renewing the court’s mandate and extending the protocol between the government and the U.N. at a later date, the sources said.
It will also say Lebanon is cooperating with the STL and will tell the U.N. if it needs help resolving the issue of Syrian refugees in the country.
Other politicians have weighed in on Ban’s visit. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Tuesday criticized “some discordant voices that have made statements that are not compatible with the presence of a state in Lebanon, since official authorities are the ones who welcome or do not welcome [visitors] in Lebanon.”
Future Bloc MPs said the “visit confirms the importance that the Lebanese government behave in a way that befits a state that respects its people, its Constitution, the relations that link it to the United Nations ... and the Security Council’s decision to establish the STL.”

Hariri, Geagea, Future bloc lambast Assad’s defiant speech
January 11, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, his Future parliamentary bloc and other leaders in the opposition March 14 coalition Tuesday lambasted embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad for his defiant speech in which he vowed to crush his opponents with an “iron fist.”
The Future bloc criticized Assad for failing to talk in his speech about a peaceful transition to power after 10 months of massive public protests demanding his removal. However, Assad’s speech won praise from the rival March 8 camp, with a Muslim religious leader saying that the Syrian president’s “historic speech” has put Arab political action on the right path of “confronting conspiracies and strife.”
Hariri dismissed Assad’s speech as “ridiculous.” Asked by one of his followers to comment on Assad’s speech, Hariri said on the popular social networking website Twitter: “It’s actually ridiculous.” Assad “is in self-denial.”
Hariri, the head of the Future Movement which is leading the March 14 coalition, said Assad’s speech resembled his previous ones since a popular uprising engulfed Syria in mid-March, posing the most serious challenge to the Syrian leader’s 11-year rule. “[It’s the] same thing, it’s all a conspiracy,” Hariri tweeted.
In a speech lasting nearly two hours, Assad blamed what he called “a foreign conspiracy” for 10 months of public protests against his regime, pledging to restore order and strike terrorism with an “iron fist.” He also slammed some members of the Arab League as serving foreign interests and defended his conduct in dealing with the unrest in Syria.
“The foreign conspiracy is no longer a secret to anyone because what was planned behind closed doors is now clear before the people,” Assad said in his fourth public speech since the uprising began in March 2011.
“The priority today is to restore security and this will be achieved by striking terrorists with an iron first. There will be no compromise with terrorists or those who terrorize citizens or those who conspire against this country,” Assad said at Damascus University.
Assad scoffed at calls, mainly by the U.S. and French presidents, to step down as the only solution to end the bloodshed in Syria. He gave no sign that he was willing to relinquish the power he inherited on his father’s death in 2000. “I am not someone who abandons responsibility,” Assad said.
Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc criticized Assad’s speech for ignoring the main objectives of the Syrian revolution: freedom and a peaceful transition to power.
“What was contained in President Bashar Assad’s speech today explains the Syrian regime’s ignorance of the magnitude of the political crisis facing the regime and its members. The main objectives of the Syrian revolution such as freedom, justice, dignity and a peaceful transition to power were completely ignored in today’s speech, while it contained a continuing and repeated condemnation of the Arab League and its role in protecting Syrian civilians and their just demands,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The bloc again stressed the need for the Syrian regime to comply with all provisions of the Arab League initiative to end the bloodshed. It said the Syrian regime’s obstruction of the Arab initiative was part of a policy “to pursue military operations against the Syrian people.”
The bloc also strongly regretted the continued killing by the Syrian regime’s forces of peaceful demonstrators despite the presence of Arab League observers.
A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since Dec.26, trying to assess whether the Assad regime is complying with the Arab League initiative aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent. Although the initiative calls for an end to Syria’s violent crackdown on protesters, withdrawal of the Syrian army from restive cities, release of political prisoners and the granting of access to Arab observers and international media, the violence has continued unabated claiming more lives from both protesters and Syrian troops every day.
At a meeting in Cairo Sunday, an Arab ministerial committee gave their widely criticized observer mission to Syria the green light to carry on and pledged to boost the number of monitors. The committee’s decision came amid growing calls by Syrian opposition groups and protesters for the Arab League to cede to the U.N. the lead role in trying to end the bloodshed in Syria.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Hariri’s ally, criticized Assad’s speech, saying that it did not touch on the “reality of the crisis.”
“Ten months after the Syrian crisis began, Assad’s speech dealt with everything except the reality of the crisis. My first impression is that what he [Assad] presented were garbled ideas in a Byzantine logic. Assad painted a situation that has nothing to do with the existing reality,” Geagea told reporters at his residence in Maarab, north of Beirut.
He scoffed at Assad’s argument that “a foreign conspiracy” was behind the turmoil in Syria.
“Are all media outlets throughout the world participating in a conspiracy against Assad? I do not understand what is this conspiracy that can mobilize at least hundreds of thousands of Syrians since the revolution began? How can more than 10,000 Syrians be killed? Is it because they are agents of foreign powers?” Geagea asked.
As a solution for the Syrian crisis, Geagea called for a U.N.-sponsored referendum which, he said, can determine whether Assad should or should not stay in power.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul-Amir Qabalan, vice-president of the Supreme Shiite Council, praised Assad’s “historic speech” which, he said, was characterized by “courage, transparency and clearness.”
“The speech re-redirected Arab political action toward confronting conspiracies and strife hatched by imperialist departments,” Qabalan said in a statement. He said the speech gave momentum to all free and honorable people in the Arab nation to rise up and confront the “dens of collaboration and terrorist gangs that are threatening Arab security in Syria.”
“President Assad has enhanced Syria’s standing and its regional role in embracing the plan to resist imperialist projects. This has buttressed Syria’s standing as a resistance fortress defending the dignity of the nation,” he said.

Geagea: Assad Depicted Status Quo that Has Nothing to Do with Reality
by NaharnetظLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Tuesday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s speech earlier in the day, saying that he addressed everything but the country’s crisis. He said before reporters in Maarab: “Assad depicted a status quo that has nothing to do with the reality on the ground.”He stated that Assad spoke of a conspiracy against his country, “but I don’t understand how a conspiracy can mobilize hundreds of thousands of protesters since the beginning of the revolt.”“How can over 10,000 Syrians be killed just because they are alleged foreign agents?” he wondered. “If the developments in Syria truly are a conspiracy, then it could have been resolved simply by holding a poll, under the United Nations’ supervision, to determine whether the people support Assad or not,” Geagea remarked.“Only then can Assad’s claims of a conspiracy be verified,” he stressed.“Should the regime be overthrown, then Hizbullah’s position in Lebanon would change … and I hope the party would act in a manner that best suits that current regional situation,” he noted. Addressing U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s upcoming visit to Lebanon on Friday and some sides’ statements that he is not welcome in the country, he said: “Only the official authorities have the right to state who is welcome in the country or not.”“Such statements completely disregard and undermine the government, president, people, and official institutions,” noted the LF leader.“Can Lebanon only support Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem?” he asked.
“The sides behind the statements are presenting the ugliest image of Lebanon after their allies presented another bad image by claiming that the al-Qaida terrorist group had infiltrated the country,” Geagea said.“Speaker Nabih Berri statements that Ban can help Lebanon in several issues are comments by a true man of state because he is seeking to achieve the country’s interests,” he added.
Hizbullah had stated over the weekend that Ban is not welcome in Lebanon. Senior party official Mohammed Yazbek slammed the visit, saying: “Ban, (U.N. Special Envoy) Terri Rod Larson, and the messenger of evil and conspiracy’s (U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs) Jeffrey Feltman are unwelcomed in Lebanon.”

U.S. Ship Rescues Six More Iranians
by Naharnet /A U.S. ship on Tuesday rescued six Iranian mariners in the Gulf after their vessel broke down, the Pentagon said, in the latest such gesture despite soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran. The Iranian crew, stuck before sunrise some 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) southeast of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, used flares to seek help from the passing U.S. Coast Guard cutter Monomoy, according to the Pentagon. The Iranian ship's master "requested assistance from the cutter indicating that the engine room was flooding and (the vessel was) not seaworthy," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters. At least one of the Iranians suffered burns from a fire onboard the troubled ship and is receiving treatment from the U.S. Coast Guard, Little said.
Pentagon officials said that the United States would repatriate the Iranians, although it has not yet been determined when or how.
The United States says that its forces routinely rescue sailors in distress regardless of nationality but officials have been eager to highlight efforts to assist Iranians amid Tehran's threats to close the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Iran's threat -- which analysts say it may not be able to carry out -- came as the United States expanded sanctions against the Islamic regime and the European Union considers a total ban on oil exports from Tehran. Last week, the U.S. Navy rescued 13 Iranians held by pirates. Iran welcomed the gesture, despite its opposition to U.S. forces in the area.
Western powers have been seeking to increase pressure on Iran due to fears it is developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists its uranium enrichment is solely for peaceful purposes.
Source/Agence France Presse.

Mar Maroun monastery restoration undeterred by decades-old dispute
January 11, 2012/By Rakan al-Fakih The Daily Star
HERMEL, Lebanon: A long-running dispute over control of Hermel’s historic Mar Maroun monastery has not stopped the Maronite church from beginning a project to renovate the cliffside church. The monastery, carved out of rock near the source of the Orontes (Assi) River, has been in decline for many years, as natural forces and shepherds seeking shelter from winter storms have taken their toll. But Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s visit to the Baalbek-Hermel region last summer, and his stop at the monastery, helped to jump-start restoration.
But this has not been without controversy. The Baalbek-Hermel Maronite Archdiocese, former MP Ghassan Ashkar and members of the local Dandash family have been locked in dispute over control of the monastery and the land it sits on for decades.
According to some historians, Roman engineers were the first to inhabit the site, staying in an opening they carved into rocks while they worked to irrigate the surrounding areas. The Orontes River emerges just 50 meters from the original cavern.
In the 4th century A.D., a Syriac monk is said to have inhabited the opening, and it became known as “the monk’s cave.” Later, this monk was joined by others who were early students of Mar Maroun, the priest whose teachings founded the Maronite sect.
After the monks left the cave, the area fell under control of the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Later it was left abandoned and vulnerable to decay.
According to Mohammad Dandash, whose family lays claim to some of the land where the monastery sits, ownership disputes first began in 1934. It was then that his grandmother sued the Maronite Patriarchate because it had taken over the monastery’s land after the family was forced to leave the area for Syria in 1923 by the ruling French Mandate.
Dandash’s grandmother won her legal bid in 1957, and later a member of the Ashkar family bought a majority of the land from the Dandash family. That land now belongs former MP Ghassan Ashkar.
Ashkar says that there is “a conspiracy between the state, a [Maronite] bishop, and a governmental official” regarding the land. He says that resolving the dispute is now the responsibility of Rai, President Michel Sleiman, and Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Some 10 years ago, the property where the Mar Maroun monastery sits was acquired by the Energy and Water Ministry’s Directorate of Water Resources, as part of a bid to build a dam on the Orontes River. Work on the dam was stopped by the 2006 war and has not been restarted.
The Archdiocese objected to the ministry’s move, and the issue was eventually resolved when the government signed a contract with the Archdiocese, retaining ownership of the land but allowing it to renovate the church and open its caverns once again.
According to Bishop Semaan Atallah, the parish priest of Baalbek-Hermel, the monastery was once owned by monks, but historical circumstances caused the property to change hands, and the Archdiocese only wishes that it remain a sign of life in the heart of the East.
“We seek to renovate the monastery out of our spiritual, pastoral and national responsibilities, and to state that the Christian presence in Lebanon and the region is fine,” Atallah said.
“[The renovation] is a return to the roots and identity of the Christian church, and a way to achieve ... coexistence in Lebanon, especially as the monastery once received both Christians and non-Christians, and embraced dialogue between religions,” he continued. “It is more a national than a historical site.”
So far, the inside of the Mar Maroun monastery has been cleaned, but renovation work has not yet begun.

As Arab Spring burns, Jordan's Abdullah is feeling the heat
Jordan's King Abdullah has signaled that he understands his people's frustrations. But as calls mount for reform, and even regime change, he now finds himself with little wiggle room.
Haaretz Editorial / Zvi Bar'el
Perhaps strangest among the sayings and chants the Arab Spring has engendered is "I've understood you," (fahimtkum) made popular by the deposed president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after the large demonstrations in his country.
Now I've understood you," Ben Ali said hoarsely at one of his last public appearances, signaling that at long last he was acknowledging the demands for reform.
"Now I've Understood You" is also the title of Jordanian playwright Ahmad al Zoubi's satirical play about the revolutions, which has been running for about two months now at a theater in central Amman.
The play tells the story of a Jordanian family in which the father, Abu Saqer, played by the talented actor Musa Hijazeen, rules his family with an iron hand and at the same time mocks the corrupt ministers and politicians who are running the country.
The big surprise came in November, when the large audience at the theater was joined by Jordan's King Abdullah and his wife, accompanied by a number of other royal family members. According to the Jordanian press, the royal couple laughed and smiled throughout the performance, came onstage when it was over and congratulated the actors and the playwright, who in turn praised the king for the freedom of expression and the kingdom's grants to the arts.
However, beyond the compliments and the royal gestures, King Abdullah also "understood" that the play expresses the anger and frustration felt by many Jordanians because of the situation in the country and especially because of the deep-seated corruption that is being exposed in the media.
A Jordanian newspaper, for example, recently revealed that in 2006 the Jordanian government headed by Marouf al-Bakhit granted a company registered in Brunei rights in perpetuity to mine phosphates, in violation of the law. Other reports have exposed corruption in granting of waste management franchises in Aqaba or the indictment of previous Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi in the "casino affair."
At the center of that affair is the casino that Mahmoud Rashid, who was Yasser Arafat's economic advisor, wanted to build on the Dead Sea shore. The permit to build the casino was revoked during al-Dahabi's time in office and Rashid was supposed to be compensated with $1.5 billion for the cancellation of he agreement. Instead, the al-Bakhit government gave him land to which he was reportedly not entitled.
The Jordanian parliament, which discussed the affair, decided there was no justification for indicting al-Bakhit and the outcome was a series of demonstrations at the end of which the king dissolved the government and appointed a new one.
These corruption scandals are the reason for the orders the king issued prohibiting members of his family from expressing opinions on diplomatic and political issues, running private businesses or entering into business partnerships unless they pay for the investments out of their own pockets and disclose to the public the way they are managing them, with complete transparency.
The weekly demonstrations in various parts of the country against the royal family have left the king without much wiggle room. On January 17 he is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Brack Obama in Washington and his enemies are already organizing a series of demonstrations in the United States at which they will call not only for reform but also for regime change.
Jordanian sources note the weak language the king used to talk about the demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia, and the alacrity with which he rushed to amend the things he had said in a television interview to the effect that if he were in Syrian President Bashar Assad's shoes, he would leave the government - in order not to elicit Assad's wrath against him.
Moreover, when the Arab League decided to impose sanctions on Syria, the king asked for a special exemption for Jordan because of the wide-ranging economic ties between the two countries. About 60 percent of Jordan's imports from Europe come overland through Syria or its ports.
Hamas looks for a home
A new dilemma concerning Hamas' intentions to find a new home for itself outside Damascus has recently been added to the cauldron of Amman's troubles. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh has made it clear that the reopening of the Hamas offices in the Jordanian capital is not on the table and that in the meantime there is merely an "opening up" to the Hamas leadership, "with which relations have never been cut off."
However, when the king himself comes to Ramallah and plays the role of mediator between Israel and the Palestinians at a meeting in Amman - he cannot ignore Hamas' changed tune, much less when the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas ripens into the establishment of a national unity government that will demand Arab recognition.
Jordan has not succeeded in leveraging itself into the status of a real mediator, like Egypt, and it is not within its power to influence Israel's policy; hence the "rapprochement" with Hamas could well give it a diplomatic card it has not held until now.
Possibly it is Tunisia that will release the king from the dilemma. Over the weekend, there were reports that the prime minister of Tunisia had informed Hamas Gaza head Ismail Haniya, who was visiting in Tunis, that his country "would be glad" to host Hamas' leadership.
Though Hamas has vehemently denied any intention of moving from Damascus to Tunis, after the disagreement between Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashal and Assad it is doubtful Hamas will continue to be headquartered in Syria much longer.
One can only assume that King Abdullah is keeping his fingers crossed regarding the continued amity between Hamas and Syria. He certainly does not need any new pressure at home or abroad.