LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 27/2012

Bible Quotation for today/The Coin Of the Poor Woman
Saint Luke 21/01-04: "When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Hezbollah: The Enemy of the Lebanese state/Now Lebanon/November 26/12
The Brotherhood’s true colors/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/November 26/12
Mursi kills Egypt’s spring/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat/November 26/12
Violence! Brought to you by the Arabs/by Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/November 26/12

Lebanese leader blames Iran for Hezbollah UAV
By JOANNA PARASZCZUK 11/26/2012/Sleiman: Tehran at fault for drone downed over Israel; Hezbollah threatens rocket fire on Israel "from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat." Photo: REUTERS/Andres Stapff Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has sent a letter of protest to his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, complaining about the recent Hezbollah drone launch into Israeli airspace, the Lebanese daily Al Mustaqbal reported on Sunday. The report cited a high-level official who accompanied Sleiman on his visit to Rome over the weekend as saying that the president wrote to Ahmadinejad via Iran’s Energy Minister Majid Namjoo during his recent visit to Lebanon.
“This step is an utter disregard of the feelings of the Lebanese and their commitment to national sovereignty,” Al Mustaqbal cited Sleiman as writing in his letter to Ahmadinejad. Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah said it launched the Iranian-made drone, dubbed the “Ayoub,” which Israel downed on October 6.
Iran’s state-controlled media and news sites linked to the IRGC have reported extensively on the drone, claiming it had obtained images of top-secret Israeli sites.
However, a senior Israeli military official later said he did not believe the drone possessed a camera. “To the best of our knowledge, no,” the official told Reuters.
The report of Sleiman’s letter came after a visit by Iran’s powerful Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani to Beirut on Saturday, following a short visit to Damascus.
During his Beirut visit, Larijani leveled criticism at some Arab countries for sending arms to Syrian rebels fighting against Tehran’s ally, Bashar Assad.
“Sides sending arms to fuel internal fighting in Syria aim at dealing a blow to defiance and resistance against Israel,” Larijani said. Alluding to Hezbollah, Iran’s parliament speaker also lauded Lebanon’s “resistance” against Israel, saying that it and Hamas were “strategic forces.”
Al Mustaqbal cited the same official source as saying that Sleiman was angered by Larijani’s criticisms, saying that they went against the Baabda Declaration, the resolution adopted by Lebanon’s national dialogue committee in June which aims to distance Lebanon from regional conflicts.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened on Sunday to fire “thousands of rockets” at Israeli cities if Lebanon was attacked.
The Iranian-backed terror group would be “able to target the entire occupied territories, from the Lebanese border to Jordan to the Red Sea, from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat,” Nasrallah said, according to Lebanon’s As-Safir newspaper.
In a speech in southern Beirut to mark the Shi’ite festival of Ashura, Nasrallah urged Arab and Islamic governments to arm “resistance factions” in Gaza.
Nasrallah vowed to bomb Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities with thousands of rockets in any future war.
“If Israel is shaken and confused by a small number of Fajr-5 rockets, less than 10 in eight days, how will it cope with thousands of rockets that will hit Tel Aviv if Lebanon is attacked?” he said.
Echoing remarks made last week by Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Nasrallah urged Arab and Islamic governments to send military aid to Gaza.
“Gaza and Palestine don’t only need your sympathy and visits, but they also need your weapons and money,” Nasrallah said, according to As-Safir.

Pope tells new cardinals to shun lure of power
November 25, 2012/ By Philip Pullella/Reuters
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict on Sunday told six prelates newly elevated to the rank of cardinal that all Catholic leaders should shun the "worldly logic of power" and stick to spreading the gospel.
The pope presided at a solemn mass in St Peter's Basilica with the six men from the United States, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Lebanon and Colombia the day after they became cardinals at a ceremony known as a consistory.
"To be disciples of Jesus, then, means not letting ourselves be allured by the worldly logic of power, but bringing into the world the light of truth and God's love," he said.
"To you, dear and venerable brother cardinals - I think in particular of those created yesterday - is entrusted this demanding responsibility: to bear witness to the kingdom of God, to the truth."
The new cardinals are American Archbishop James Michael Harvey, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, a major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in India, Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja.
Indian women at the mass wore saris and African women wore traditional dresses. Prayers were read in Arabic, Hindi, Yoruba and Tagalog as well as English, French and Italian.
"I think it's about time that we have a diverse and more colourful bunch of cardinals," said Leslie Ryan, a pilgrim who attended the consistory.
"If you want to bring all the Catholics together you need to have a diverse group of cardinals and it's about time."
The choice of the cardinals, ranging in age from 53 to 72, looked like an attempt to counter criticism that he has in the past neglected the needs of the developing world.
All six are "cardinal electors", under 80 years old and therefore eligible to enter a conclave that will one day choose Benedict's successor.
Two of the new cardinals, Beshara Boutros Rai, 72, of Lebanon, and Onaiyekan, 68, of Nigeria, are from countries with significant Muslim populations.
In Nigeria, which is about 50 percent Muslim, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in attacks since 2009. Many of the attacks have been on Christians and churches.
"The Boko Haram, the young men who are throwing bombs all over the place in Nigeria, have been rejected by the mainstream of Islam in Nigeria. But somehow, the way the Islamic religion is organised there's nobody who can tell them 'Stop it!'," Onaiyekan told Reuters in an interview.
"So the rest of us are actually, you can say, suffering because of the inner difficulties within Islam. But that's the reality we have to live with and we are doing our best. What is important for people to know is that it is not a case of Nigerian Muslims at war with Nigerian Christians."
Tagle, 55, of Manila, heads the largest Catholic church in Asia, where Christians are minorities in most countries.
"I think we have been used to a humble and hidden type of existence and it doesn't lead us to pessimism," he told Reuters.
"Being a small minority doesn't mean the church is dead," he said. "Of course, who doesn't want the numbers to increase? But there are things in life that are not measured only by numbers."

Hezbollah: The Enemy of the Lebanese state
Now Lebanon/November 26, 2012
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah appears baffled (and not a little hurt) by March 14’s reluctance to take part in the latest round of national dialogue scheduled for November 29. He is clearly unable to wrap his head around the opposition’s basic objections, or indeed its right to harbor grievances in the first place.
He is the master of turning the tables. “We have always believed that political dialogue and communication is the best way to solve national, economic and social crises in Lebanon,” Nasrallah declared on Sunday at a ceremony to commemorate Ashura. “We have never once rejected dialogue.”
Of course he hasn’t. He and his party have nothing to lose because it is always dialogue on their terms. This is Nasrallah par excellence. The wounded voice of reason: We want to talk, but the others have objections. Therefore, they are the obstacles, not us.
But now Nasrallah may be drifting into the world of the delusional. “We are keen on averting strife, and Israel is our only enemy,” he said, throwing out his trademark sound bite. “Political divisions exist, but we do not view any camp as an enemy. We have no enemies in Lebanon.” Another rhetorical sleight of hand. We don’t have any enemies, ergo no one dislikes us. Not quite, Hassan.
His statement goes beyond semantics. It goes beyond convincing Hezbollah’s obedient rank and file that the enemy (unequivocally hated) is external, while divisions (differences that can be resolved) are internal. He has lost the proverbial plot and is clearly out of touch with half of the country. (Many would argue he was never in touch with them, except perhaps when his men were trying to kill or intimidate.)
We only have to consider what the party has done in the last 12 years to warrant many Lebanese seeing it as an enemy, from arguably the biggest con job of all—the declaration in 2000 that the occupied Shebaa Farms was Lebanese and that Hezbollah would not give up the struggle until the worthless strip of land was liberated—to the sinister allegations that the party brought technical know-how to the murder of Brigadier Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut last month.
Sandwiched between these events have been multiple layers of outrage, the thickest being Hezbollah’s implication in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, its attempted coup in May 2008, and its successful toppling of Saad Hariri’s democratically elected government in January 2011. And we haven’t even mentioned the July War in 2006, a conflict that Hezbollah started.
To claim that these events have not made enemies out of those who do not buy into the Hezbollah madness is, quite frankly, bonkers. A significant portion of the Lebanese hates Hezbollah because it has stifled all growth—national, economic and social—and has done so with the barrel of a very big gun.
But let us take our rebuttal to a loftier height. Hezbollah is also an enemy of the state because it does not believe in the notion of the state. It is clear, and it is becoming clearer every day, because for some reason the party seems not to care one jot that Hezbollah, now more than at any time, takes its orders from Iran.
Those of us who never bought into the Resistance narrative have known this for decades, but many Lebanese found it easier to accept the nationalist line that the party’s sole object was to protect Lebanon from Zionist aggression, that its fighters were stout southerners, village men who at the drop of a hat became the backbone of the brave moqawama. Iran was there solely for moral support. Today we know that it is nothing more than an adjunct of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and that its activities in Lebanon reflect the interests of Tehran.
Hezbollah may not want to believe it, but the party does have Lebanese enemies… and their number is legion.

President Michel Suleiman Hinges on Foreign Support for Successful National Dialogue
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman is hinging on foreign support to guarantee the success of the national dialogue set to be held on Thursday at the Baabda Palace, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported.
Sources told the newspaper published on Monday that the March 14 opposition is expected to attend the all-party talks to express its support to Suleiman's recent stances.
Top western leaders, including French President Francois Hollande, have recently expressed support for Suleiman's calls for the national dialogue.
The sources said the opposition will separate between its decision to boycott the dialogue and all political activity linked to the government until the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Miqati steps down.
However, the March 14 coalition previously stressed that it will not attend the dialogue session before the government resigns, demanding the formation of a neutral salvation cabinet as the only way to defuse the tension in the country. The last round of national dialogue was held on September 20 at the Baabda Palace.
The assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan on October 19 has raised fears about unrest in the country, which is divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose country supervised its small neighbor for nearly 30 years.
The Ashrafiyeh bombing in Beirut deepened the gap between the March 14 alliance and the March 8 coalition, which says that there's no alternative for the current cabinet but through the formation of a unity government.
Agence France Presse

Armenian President Hails Suleiman, Says Security in Lebanon Linked to Middle East
Naharnet/Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan praised on Saturday the efforts exerted by his counterpart Michel Suleiman locally and in the Middle East to boost peace and stability, stressing that Lebanon's security is linked to the situation in the region.
“Lebanon will advance,” Sargsyan told reporters in a joint press conference with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace.
The Armenian president said that talks with Suleiman were “fruitful,” pointing out that the two officials discuss improving the ties between the two countries.
“I discussed with Suleiman the importance of cooperation on international levels,” he told reporters.
Sargsyan arrived in Beirut on Monday on a three-day official visit to meet senior Lebanese officials, including Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
Suleiman and the first lady, Wafaa, welcomed Sargsyan accompanied by his wife, Rita, at the Baabda Palace.
Concerning the situation in Damascus, Sargsyan expressed concern regarding the Syrian people, noting that that his country rejects “bloodshed and violence.”
“The crisis can be only solved through dialogue,” he added, hailing the mission of U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to promote stability in Syria.
For his part, Suleiman said that talks focused on the developments in the Arab world, stressing the importance of seeking a swift solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Asked about the March 14 alliance's decision to boycott the national dialogue session, which is set to be held on Thursday at the Baabda Palace, Suleiman said that “any decision to boycott the session is a democratic right.”
However, he said that “democracy indicates that we should all sit at one table and listen to what others' have to say.”
Suleiman and Sargsyan inked a number of agreements at the end of their meeting.
Sargsyan will attend on Tuesday a lunch banquet in Ain el-Tineh, held in his honor by Berri, in the presence of lawmakers from both the March 14 and March 8 coalitions.
Berri had canceled a parliamentary session that was scheduled to be held on Tuesday during which Sargsyan was planned to address MPs.
The speaker instead invited lawmakers to attend the lunch banquet in honor of Sargysyan.
Berri explained that the invitation is “personal.”
Sharp differences surfaced recently between the March 14 coalition and Berri after the opposition accused the speaker of luring it to attend parliamentary sessions despite vows by the coalition to boycott all legislative activity. The alliance rejected attending the session and another one planned to show solidarity with the Palestinian people against the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The opposition decided to boycott parliamentary activities after the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan in October.
The alliance accuses the Syrian regime of being behind the murder and blames Miqati's cabinet for covering the crime.

Lebanese Boy Freed after 2-Day Abduction in Baalbek
Naharnet /A 10-year-old Lebanese boy was released on Monday after security forces and Army intelligence besieged his kidnappers in the eastern city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said that Hussein Samaha, who was kidnapped in the town of Shamstar west of Baalbek on Saturday night, was set free in Iaat valley after the abductors came under the pressure of the armed forces. Police and the Army had discovered the parties behind the abduction and set up several checkpoints in the area.
The agency did not give further details except for saying no ransom was paid in exchange for Samaha's release.

Bakri Says Training UK Islamists for 'Jihad' in Syria at Lebanon Camp
Naharnet/Four British Islamist extremists are being trained to fight in Syria at a camp run by radical Islamist preacher Omar Bakri in northern Lebanon, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported on Sunday.
Bakri boasted of his “military-style courses for Islamic fanatics on the lawless border with Lebanon,” The Sun said.
In an interview with the newspaper, Bakri revealed one recruit was a computer programmer in his 20s from London, while another was a Midlands-based IT worker.
And he claimed: “Others like them will follow.”
“Of the four, two of them have Syrian connections. But they are all born in UK and have professional backgrounds,” Bakri added.
“After their training they will do their duty of jihad (holy war) in Syria and maybe Palestine.”
Bakri, 52, came to Britain in 1986 and stayed until 2005, during which time he praised the 9/11 attacks.
The Syrian-born cleric claimed to have trained “many fighters” from other countries, including Germany and France, since setting up home in Lebanon.
He boasted of exploiting the clashes between Israel and Gaza to focus on “military activities.”
He added: “I’m involved with training the mujahideen (fighters) in camps on the Syrian borders and also on the Palestine side.”
The Islamist militant leader was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading another Islamist organization, al-Muhajiroun, until its disbandment in 2004. For several years Bakri was one of the best-known, high-profile Islamic radicals based in London, and was frequently quoted and interviewed in the UK media. For example, in December 2004 he vowed that Muslims would give the West "a 9/11, day after day after day," if Western governments did not change their policies.
He has been described as "closely linked to al-Qaida" – having released prepared statements from Osama bin Laden after the 1998 United States embassy bombings.
In 2005, following the July 7, 2005 London bombings the Times reported that "a dozen members" of his group al-Muhajiroun "have taken part in suicide bombings or have become close to al-Qaida and its support network." Shortly after, he left the UK, where he had sheltered for 20 years, for Lebanon. While in Lebanon he was informed by the Home Office that he would not be allowed back into Britian.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said on November 12, 2010 that Bakri was among 54 people sentenced by the Military Court to life in prison with hard labor after being accused of acts of terrorism. But a retrial was ordered as he had not been present in court and the 50-year-old was released on bail.
The Syrian-born cleric, who also holds Lebanese nationality, has denied he has any links to al-Qaida although he says he believes in "the same ideology."

Jumblatt says a return to dialogue only means to end crisis
November 26, 2012/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: MP Walid Jumblatt said Monday his initiative to resolve the political crisis in the country stipulates a return to dialogue and an end to Lebanon’s involvement in the Syrian crisis. “The initiative stipulates a commitment to National Dialogue as the only means to resolve crises and the need for political parties to commit to the state as the sole authority,” Jumblatt said during a news conference at his residence in Mukhtara. He also said that Lebanese media outlets should “stop incitement,” and play a more effective role.
“[Parties] should refrain from meddling in the Syrian crisis … Lebanese political parties are mere tools in a conflict bigger than what Lebanon can handle,” Jumblatt said.
Following the assassination of a top intelligence chief last month, the country plunged into a political crisis with the opposition group boycotting all government work, adding further pressure on the Cabinet to resign. Lawmakers with the March 14 coalition has also accused Prime Minister Najib Mikat’s Cabinet of providing the necessary cover for the Oct. 19 car bomb that killed Brig. Gen. Wisam al-Hasan. Jumblatt’s so-called initiative to resolve the ongoing stalemate between rival groups surfaced after President Michel Sleiman’s efforts to convene all-party talks failed.
The Future Movement has rejected Dialogue, demanding Mikati’s resignation and the formation of a neutral government to oversee the 2013 parliamentary polls.
Speaker Nabih Berri, Sleiman, and Mikati threw their support behind Jumblatt’s efforts, which he said prevents Shiite-Sunni strife.
During his chat with reporters, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party said there were two contentious issues obstructing political life
in the country: the international tribunal and Hezbollah’s arms.
Although a supporter of Hezbollah’s tripartite formula of “The Army, the people, and the resistance,” as means to defend the country, Jumblatt said such a formula was ambiguous and needed revision.
“One day after we resume Dialogue we should come up with a new formula because we can no longer have a formula that is unclear and confuses the role of the Army with that of the resistance,” he said. “The sole jurisdiction over arms should be in the hands of the Army,” the PSP leader added.
He also noted that the dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was the other issue, defending the Cabinet’s record in dealing with the U.N.-backed court.
“Despite internal obstacles, the Cabinet funded the court twice and maintained its international obligations in coordination with U.N. Chief Ban ki-Moon and is still committed to the tribunal,” Jumblatt said. The court indicted last year four Hezbollah members of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The resistance party has denied the allegations. “Reminding everyone that [four members were indicted] only deepens the divided between the two sects [The Sunni and Shiite],” the PSP leader said.
Jumblatt also discussed regional players using Lebanon to achieve certain goals.
“No to [Arabs] seeking to fight Iran via Lebanon and we refuse to be just another Gaza Strip,” he said. “We reject Iran using Lebanon as a base to gain leverage over Arabs.”

Ehud Barak quits politics but stays in defense until elections
DEBKAfile Special Report November 26, 2012
In a surprise announcement Monday, Nov. 26, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he was quitting political life after 47 years and would not stand in the January 22, 2013 general election. He would however stay on in defense until the incumbent government ends its term in three months. debkafile: This means that a sudden Middle East war eruption in the next three months forcing the postponement of voting would find him still holding down defense in the Netanyahu government. But his words decisively debunked wide media speculation that he was planning to merge his small Independence Party with one of the left-of center opposition groups preparing to run against Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
Our military and Washington sources believe Barak’s action ties in closely with President Barack Obama’s decision to embark on direct US-Iranian nuclear talks in the next few days and the steps Israel and the US pursued for bringing Iran to the table in a suitably amenable frame of mind.
One of those steps was the just ended Israeli Gaza operation which aimed at signaling Iran before those talks opened that even combined Iranian-Hizballah missile might would not determine the outcome of a military confrontation. Above all, Tehran was given to understand that dragging out nuclear diplomacy inconclusively as heretofore would now work to its detriment: its allies would start dropping off and be weakened like the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip and most likely Jihad Islami in its wake. The precursor to Israel’s eight-day Gaza operation which ended in a ceasefire on Nov. 21 was the Oct. 24 raid on the Yarmouk industrial complex near Khartoum and the destruction of its Iranian long-range missile manufacturing plant and a shipment of rockets destined for the Gaza Strip The two operations were a foretaste for Tehran that if the US and Israel joined forces for a military strike, they would not only cripple its nuclear program but also the military and intelligence networks Iran has planted under cover across the Middle East – from Lebanon up to East Africa. As seen from Washington and Jerusalem, Iran’s rulers are now confronted with a hard choice between serious negotiations that end in its giving up the option for building a nuclear bomb or facing all-out military confrontation across the region with the Americans and its Western allies, including Israel.
Ehud Barak’s decision to retire from politics frees him from the taxing burdens of running election in January at the head of a small party in order to spend all his time leading the US-Israeli contest against Iran. In answer to a reporter's question about the Iranian issue, the defense minister said: “This is the most important and central issue on the agenda and it will occupy me until I retire in three months.”
He is taking a chance: If the combined strategy for bringing Iran to heel fails to reach its target or falls down, he will have to make good on his pledge to retire from politics. But if it goes forward according to plan, he will be in a position for a triumphant comeback. After a brief lackluster stint as Labor prime minister in 2000-2001, Ehud Barak served as defense minister in three governments spanning seven and-a-half years. He shepherded the Israeli armed forces’ recovery from the 2006 Lebanon War, helped cement and expand security ties with the United States and upgraded Israel’s munitions, notably promoting the development of the Iron Dome which distinguished itself in the recent operation which was triggered by Hamas’s missile blitz against the Israeli population. He praised the Chief of Staff Benny Gantz for inculcating in the soldiers a spirit of quiet confidence without arrogance. Barak offered the explanation frequently heard from retiring politicians of wanting to spend time with his family and make way for fresh talent – which often comes before a comeback.

Israel's Barak says quitting politics
JERUSALEM, (Reuters) - Defence Minister Ehud Barak, a main architect of Israel's policy towards Iran's nuclear programme, said in a surprise announcement on Monday that he was quitting politics and would not run in the January 22 national election. "I have decided to retire from political life and not to run for the next Knesset ... I will end my term as defence minister once the next government is established, in about three months," he told a news conference. "I want to dedicate more time to my family. I feel I have exhausted dealing with political life, which has never been a passion of mine, and I feel there is room to allow other people to serve in senior roles in Israel," he said. Opinion polls had predicted a poor showing for the small party that Barak currently leads, Atzmaut, but recently indicated voter support had strengthened as a result of Israel's eight-day offensive in the Gaza Strip that ended in a ceasefire on Wednesday.
Barak, 70, has been a key player in Israel's tough policy towards curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and a pointman in the Jewish state's strategic relations with the United States.
He has been defence minister since 2007 and served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001.

Violence! Brought to you by the Arabs!
by Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
A close look at any recent news bulletin on any satellite channel would make you think that violence, danger, abuse and despotism, as well as political, ideological and sectarian division, exists only in the Arab world. For example, let us consider the headlines of a recent news bulletin:
1. Fights break out in Libya between the national army and remnants of tribes loyal to the Gaddafi regime.
2. Fighting in the streets of Rif Dimashq governorate and major Syrian cities between the regime's troops and the Free Syrian Army.
3. Fierce battles between demonstrators and Egypt’s Central Security Forces, in the vicinity of the Ministry of Interior in Cairo, continue for a fourth day in a row.
4. The headquarters of the ruling Freedom and Justice Party's headquarters in Alexandria and Suez are set on fire.
5. Unrest heightens in Amman between demonstrators and the Jordanian police, in protest against soaring prices.
6. Medium-range missiles launched in a war between al-Qassam Brigades and Islamic Jihad on the one hand, and the Israeli army on the other.
7. Militant groups attack several government facilities in Sana’a, with one of the groups’ leaders being arrested.
8. Violence and demonstrations erupt between Salafi jihadist factions and state police forces in southern Tunisia.
9. Massed demonstrations take place in Kuwait with the police using tear gas in response.
10. Elements inciting against the regime in Bahrain, having been funded by Iran, inciting are arrested.
11. The returning scenes of collective massacres in Algeria, which prevailed during the earlier war between the government and religious groups.
12. Tensions on the Turkish-Syrian border.
13. The fear of an outbreak of terrorism again in Beirut and Tripoli, targeting senior political figures.
14. Lebanese Hezbollah party leaders stress the resistance will not put down its arms until Palestine is liberated.
15. The emergence of new organizations loyal to al-Qaeda in the north and south of the Sinai Peninsula, with arms smuggled from Gaza.
16. Military hostilities erupt between South Sudan and Sudan.
17. A coup d'etat, plotted by former senior leaders in the Sudanese army, is uncovered in Khartoum.
All this makes the Arab world an investment-free zone; a zone where terrorism is encouraged and security and stability are threatened.
Is there a scientific and logical reason as to why tension, anger, violence and unrest seem to be exclusive to the Arab world?

Mursi kills Egypt’s spring
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
It was very difficult for anyone to imagine President Mohammed Mursi doing what he did, but his spokesman announced it clearly, effectively declaring that the president is now above all other authorities. The spokesman said that President Mursi’s decisions are “final and cannot be contested”, adding that “all constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made since Mr Mursi assumed power cannot be appealed or cancelled by any individual, or political or governmental body”.
This statement is a bombshell announcing the end of the January 25th revolution, and inaugurating the solitary rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mursi’s decisions shocked many and united all other Egyptian political forces the same night to warn the public that their president was overthrowing the revolution to become a dictator.
Mohammed Mursi had not yet completed five months as Egypt’s new president when without any reason or provocation he buried the Egyptian revolution and dealt the biggest blow so far to the Arab Spring. This confirms what the skeptics said about Islamist groups not being able to operate in a democratic manner. Mursi and his Brotherhood group have committed the same mistake as Hamas, when the latter turned against the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. Hassan al-Turabi and his Islamic Front did the same in Sudan when they overthrew the only democratic government in the Arab world at that time. Before both of these examples, Ayatollah Khomeini drove away his revolutionary partners in Iran and sought to monopolize power for himself; a policy that continues to this day. All these regimes came to power in the name of fighting against dictatorships and calling for the establishment of civilian and democratic rule, but they seized power for themselves in the end.
The extraordinary presidential decrees issued by Mursi three days ago were not announced by the president himself. He authorized his spokesman to publicize them and this indicates that these were the decisions of the Brotherhood group, further strengthening the rumors that Mursi is not the real decision maker in Cairo. Earlier, when Mursi took the decision to dismiss the Egyptian public prosecutor, he was forced to back down when judges challenged him saying that the appointment and removal of such figures did fall under his jurisdiction. When political leaders protested against his decision to incorporate parliamentary legislation within his powers, Mursi said he would only resort to such powers in an extremely restricted manner, but three days ago he used them to the maximum level.
The presidential decrees are equivalent in terms of their importance and danger to the events of the revolution itself. Mursi has now become the president, the judiciary, the parliamentary councils and the guardian of the constituent assembly. Prior to this he dismissed the commanders of the army and intelligence services, securing all powers for himself in a brazen manner that even Hosni Mubarak didn’t dare adopt when he was president, although he did assume such powers under the pretext of emergency rule.
If President Mursi does not reverse his decisions within the next few days, Egypt will enter a new tunnel of tension and its short period of democratic spring will come to an end. If this dark tunnel continues we will witness further decrees to intimidate and control the media, to remove more judges and administrators, and to seize more state-owned companies. This way the Muslim Brotherhood will strengthen its grip on the facilities of government, not as an elected party but as an entity seeking to seize permanent control.

An Analysis that Obama needs to Read because his administration helped the Muslim Brotherhood to take over Egypt
The Brotherhood’s true colors
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=31934
One can only be astounded by those in Egypt and the Gulf, specifically some in Saudi Arabia, who are shocked by what the Muslim Brotherhood has done in Egypt, where the President has granted himself new powers not held by any ruler since the pharaohs. It was as if they, i.e. those who are shocked, were waiting for the Brotherhood to rule democratically along the lines of America and Europe.
With respect to everyone, this is not the time for courtesies. Since the January 25th revolution, a very small number, particularly in this newspaper, were alert and warned of what the Muslim Brotherhood was doing in Egypt. This was not because these writers were fortune tellers, but rather because they had read history well, and they knew that past experiences of Islamic rule were not commensurate with democracy. Rather, Islamic currents have traditionally pursued an irreversible and uncompromising road to seizing power, using a simple means whereby they speak in the name of God and denounce all those who oppose them as infidels, outside agents or Zionists.
Thus, what is happening in Egypt was expected, and we warned of it at length. We said: Fasten your seatbelts! And we were told: Give Mursi a chance! The Egyptians, particularly the political and youth forces were told: Put the constitution first. Do not simply be firewood for the Brotherhood’s battles with the military, do not become preoccupied with the stories of remnants, and do not become absorbed in hatred for Mubarak, because revenge does not build nations. The Egyptians were also told: To vote for Shafik is to choose the civil state, and to vote for Mursi is to choose the religious state, along the lines of Iran, and this is what is happening in Egypt today. No one listened, and distrust and incitement prevailed.
In the Gulf, specifically in Saudi Arabia, we have seen the Brotherhood bloc suddenly emerge on some satellite channels, in newspapers, and on social networks. A wave of misinformation and incitement has spread to trigger chaos across the Gulf, with Brotherhood members and those allied with them trying to deceive everyone for different reasons but with the same goal; to normalize the Muslim Brotherhood model in the Gulf, taking heart from what has happened in Egypt. In addition to the great incitement in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Jordan was also targeted. Yet the irony here is that those inciting for the Jordanian King to abdicate today and also justifying the Egyptian President’s moves to monopolize power! We are now being overwhelmed by justifications, between those trying to tailor democracy so that it fits with the Brotherhood’s objectives, and between those who have been shocked by what has happened but do not want to say they were wrong to trust and defend the Brotherhood in the first place!
Indeed the justifications of the Brotherhood members themselves, and those affiliated with the group, are the most laughable. Some of them say that the road to democracy requires certain dictatorial decisions, whilst others say that Mursi’s actions are only temporary, and that he must be given a longer chance. This is a bigger joke than “give him a chance for the first 100 days”!
Hence, what the Muslim Brotherhood did in Egypt was to be expected, and some rational minds warned of it. This was not a case of fortune telling; for in politics you cannot overlook history, geography, culture, constitutions, experiences, and the actors involved. Anyone who went to the trouble of reading one book about the Muslim Brotherhood would not have been shocked by what they have done, and there would be no need today for these ridiculous justifications!

أرهاب حزب الله في لبنان ودكتاتورية جماعة الإخوان في مصر: وجهان لعملة واحدة
الياس بجاني/الأخوان المسلمين في مصر وانكشاف العورات، مقالة رائعة لطارق الحميد نشرت أمس في جريدة الشرق الأوسط بالعربية واليوم بالإنكليزية وهي تكحي دون قفازات ودون خوف أو تردد حقيقة حكام مصر الجدد الذين يعيشون في عقلية القرون الوسطى وهم وبعد أن اغتصبوا السلطة يحاولون جر مصر إلى العزلة والتأخر والعصبية واستعباد شعبها واعطاء الرئيس مرسي نفسه صلاحيات الفرعون والحاكم بأمره بداية الظلم والإستعباد. في اسفل المقالة باللغتين. وفي لبنان المحتل يقوم حزب الله بمنهجية متواصلة بتفكيك الدولة وبتعهير كل ما هو قوانين وانظمة وتعايش وقضاء استعداداً للإنقضاض على الكيان واسقاطه. هنا تكمن خطورة الراعي-الذئب الذي امسى مسوّقاً وقحاً لمشروع حزب الله وحامياُ لمجرميه والقتلة. في اسفل المقالة باللغتين
طارق الحميد/من ميدان التحرير إلى ميدان التبرير/25 تشرين الثاني//12
The Brotherhood’s true colors
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
http://www.aawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&article=705781&issueno=12416
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=31934