LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 03/14

Bible Quotation For Today/More Than Conquerors
Romans 08/31-39/"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written : “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Patriarch Al Raei's High Tone Rhetoric Stances & Credibility
Elias Bejjani
November 02/14
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2014/11/02/elias-bejjanipatriarch-al-raeis-high-tone-rhetoric-stances-credibility/
Sadly Our Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al Raei is not a successful Politian at all, and by all standards and means. Not only that, but every time his Beatitude mingles with any political case, no matter big or small a definite disaster is the outcome. Since his election as Patriarch his political and patriotic stances on all levels have been questionable controversial, seen unwise by many, biased, unstable and totally in contrast with the Maronites Patriarchate national and patriotic historical convictions.
Looking thoroughly on the confusion that he has been generating in every political domain, one could not but feel disappointed and extremely frustrated in an era where the majority of the Lebanese political Christian figures are nothing but a total failure.
Historically the Lebanese people from all religious denominations have always looked at the Maronite Patriarch with pride, confidence, respect, reverence and considered him to be the genuine conscience of their beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In this context of high hopes and expectations the Lebanese can not but expect the Maronite Patriarch to side only with Lebanon and advocate vehemently for its sovereignty, independence, freedom, common living, distinguishable identity, rich heritage, and prosperity.
They can not but see the patriarch as the religious and patriotic figure that leads their country in times of hardships to peace, safety, stability, and prosperity. Sadly our Patriarch Al Raei is not fulfilling this role.
Initially, and only within few weeks after his election as Patriarch, Al Raei openly sided with the Syrian butcher and criminal president Bachar Al Assad, visited Syria to meet its officials, and toured the world advocating for Assad's alleged democracy and protection of all minorities including the Christians.
In his unjustified tours and official visits to many countries, Al Raei loudly promoted Al Assad's delusional protection of all minorities claiming he is a good man, and that his dictatorship regime is the only democracy in the Arab world.
Al Raei at the same supported the occupier of Lebanon, the Terrorist Iranian Hezbollah and walked all through the way with the horrible heresies of its weaponry and resistance.
At one time Al Raei even went too far in his blind support to the terrorist Hezbollah requesting that no one Lebanese has the right to address under any given circumstances the legal case of the Hezbollah criminals and killers, who assassinated ex Lebanese Raffic Al Hariri, or call for their arrest or surrender to the custody of the Special tribunal for Lebanon entrusted by the UN General Council to judicially handle the crime.
During his on going official visit to Australia, Al Raei uttered high tone stances and accused all the Lebanese politicians, with no exception to be mercenaries executing wishes of foreign powers and countries. He did not have the courage or needed faith to name Hezbollah and all the politicians who are mere followers to both Syria and Iran. Accordingly his stances came biased and merely empty of any credibility or effect.
We condemn such vague stances and deplore putting the patriotic Lebanese politicians in the same category with those who are mere Syrian-Iranian puppets and mercenaries.
We call on Patriarch Al Raei to be fair, and to loudly witness for Lebanon and for the truth without any kind of Dhimmitude.
In this realm we end our call on the Patriarch to merely witness for the truth with the following Biblical verse (Isaiah 05/20-21): "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."
Long Live Lebanon
Long Live the Truth

Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Tweets on https://twitter.com/phoeniciaelias
Face Book LCCC group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934

Background
Rai: Christian president trumps tripartite agreement
Nov. 02, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Only a Christian president can maintain the current power-sharing formula between Lebanon's Muslims and Christians, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Sunday, while warning against any attempt at adjusting the country’s current power-sharing model. Delivering Sunday Mass in the St. Charbel Church in Sydney, Australia, Rai said that Parliament's failure to elect a Christian president last March served as an existential threat to the only “Christian head of state in the Middle East," while arguing that only a Christian president could “ensure Islamic-Christian coexistence in Lebanon and maintain the Lebanese [power-sharing] formula that distinguishes Lebanon as a model in its Arab environment.” Rai warned Lebanon’s political elite against calling for a tripartite power sharing formula between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians, since the move would serve as a violation of the Constitution and the National Pact that guaranteed equal rights and representation for both Muslims and Christians. The patriarch reiterated his call for a swift end to the presidential vacancy that came after former President Michel Sleiman left office in May. On Friday, Rai said that some political parties in the country wanted to change the country’s power-sharing governance formula between Muslims and Christians and expressed his strong opposition to the idea. Rivals of Hezbollah often accuse the party of seeking a new tripartite power-sharing deal between Shiites, Sunnis and Christians, a claim the party strongly denies.

Patriarch al-Rahi: I Will Soon 'Spill the Beans'
Naharnet/01.11.14/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi lamented on Friday the “make or break” moral that the political parties raise their youth on, stressing that Lebanese politicians are still waiting for a green-light from foreign countries to elect a head of state. “Soon I will spill the beans,” said the Patriarch, expressing resentment at the almost five month delay in electing a president. He made his remarks during his ongoing trip to Sydney, Australia. The politicians are still waiting for a green-light from abroad to elect a head of state, he was quoted as saying. “I have come to the conviction that they want to change the Lebanese entity. They want a tripartite coalition government which we strongly reject,” he concluded. Lebanon has been left without a president since May when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the election of his successor.

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 02-03/14
Why President Sisi was right - and wrong/By: Zalman Shoval/Former Ambassador to the US/J.Post/November 02/14
A Heartbroken Turk Belly-Dancing to Persian Santouri/By: Burak Bekdil/Hürriyet Daily News/November 03/14
ISIS’s Online Battlefield/By: Mshari Al-Zaydi /Ashsarq Al Awsat/November 02/14
Emboldened Assad: Massacre at an IDP camp/Brooklyn Middleton /Al Arabiya/November 02/14
The man who killed Rabin killed peace/Eitan Haber/Ynetnews/November 02/14

Below Jihad Watch Posts For
Islamic State announces beheadings for all who insult Allah
CBC laments that online “Islamophobia” goes unprosecuted
Nigeria: Islamic jihadists murder eight with bombs at bus station
Appeasement fails: UK travellers warned of increased global jihad terror threat
Malaysia: Muslim women’s group appeals fatwa declaring they’re deviating from Islam by endorsing religious pluralism
Saudi women’s rights activist arrested for “insulting Islam”
Rep. Michele Bachmann under 24-hour guard after Islamic State threat
“Moderate” PA calls jihadist who shot rabbi “hero defending freedom”
German official warns about 1,000 supporters of Islamic jihad terrorism in the country
Switzerland: Three Muslims arrested, suspected of aiding Islamic State and planning jihad attack in Europe
Al-Qaeda leaflet calls for intensifying jihad and establishing caliphate in Bangladesh and eastern India
Australian police issue nationwide terror warning to teachers
Denver teen Muslimas talked for almost a year with Islamic State jihadis

Govt. Stance on Swap Not Final, Ibrahim to Seek Release of Syrian Women Prisoners
Naharnet /02.11.14
The Lebanese government has not given the greenlight for a swap deal with al-Nusra Front, a source said on Sunday, as media reports said General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim will seek the release of a number of Syrian women prisoners from the regime's jails.
“The members of the ministerial crisis cell were informed of al-Nusra's suggestions, but they are yet to take a stance on the proposals,” LBCI television reported in the afternoon. “The cell will convene in the coming hours to give its feedback on the suggestions to the Qatari envoy, who would then carry the answer to the outskirts of (the northeastern border town of) Arsal,” where the militants of the Qaida-linked group are entrenched, LBCI added. Sources close to al-Nusra told the TV network that “the proposals made by the Front are not different than those put forward by the Islamic State group and they are not new.”“The negotiators were in the picture (of the demands) but they had not been submitted in written form,” the sources added.
Al-Nusra “has not yet given the names of prisoners or detainees it wants released for two reasons: the first is that it is awaiting a clear response from the Lebanese government on the swap deal, and secondly it does not want to disclose these names over concerns that some of them might be implicated in problems should the negotiations fail, especially that not all of them are members or supporters of the Front,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, MTV said the families of the captive Lebanese troops and policemen are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing negotiations and “the return of the Qatari mediator to Arsal's outskirts, which might happen today.” “Maj. Gen. Ibrahim will play a key role by negotiating with the Syrian regime to secure the release of women prisoners from Syrian jails” as demanded by al-Nusra, MTV added. A source informed on the case had said in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Sunday that the IS and al-Nusra had only handed the main negotiator in the case the names of 45 to 64 inmates, whom they want released in exchange for the abducted servicemen.
“The Lebanese state has not yet given its final decision regarding the matter,” the source said. The source pointed out that there are differences between the offenders who have been tried and those who are waiting for their trials. Al-Nusra and the IS group have been holding several troops and policemen hostage since August 2, when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal and engaged in bloody clashes with the army. The two groups have since executed three troops and threatened to murder more hostages if Lebanese authorities didn't fulfill their demands. Sources close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam refused to comment on the matter, stressing the importance of “secrecy” to guarantee the safety of the soldiers and policemen.
On Saturday evening, the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front handed over a Qatari negotiator the list of names of inmates held at Roumieh prison, who it wants released in exchange for the captive servicemen. The group said on its twitter account that the Lebanese government has “agreed in principle on a swap deal.”The group added that the swap with the prisoners held at Syrian prisons should take place in Turkey or Qatar, while the exchange with the Lebanese authorities should take place on the outskirts of Arsal. The cabinet had previously totally rejected any swap deal with the jihadists. There are hundreds of Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison awaiting their trials. They were reportedly involved in terrorist acts, including planning suicide attacks, belonging to terrorist groups and other charges.

Aoun at the heart of parliamentary extension debate
Nov. 02, 2014/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Political parties from across the spectrum are still debating an almost-certain-to-pass extension of Parliament’s mandate, with some blaming the Free Patriotic Movement of hijacking the extension for the sake of the presidential vote. FPM leader "Michel Aoun is trying to change the current political structure in order to reach the presidency, through marketing the tripartite theory and changing the whole structure of the Lebanese formula,” Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam said. The lawmaker said that Aoun had rejected Parliament’s extension in an attempt to push for a constitutional conference that would establish a new tripartite power-sharing model between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians.
Change and Reform bloc MP Abbas Hashem called on Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party leaders to agree with Aoun over the means of managing the transitional phase that would follow the extension of Parliament. Hashem said that Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, which opposes the extension, also rejected the notion of a tripartite power-sharing model. However, “they do support a reconsideration of the leading Christian role in the country,” he added. “Aoun is capable of reconciling between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, but he doesn’t have the authority to do so,” Hashem said, while noting that dialogue was the only means of achieving common ground between rival factions.
During Sunday Mass, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai warned against changing the country’s power-sharing governance formula between Muslims and Christians and expressed his strong opposition to the idea since the move would serve as a violation of the Constitution and the National Pact that guaranteed equal rights and representation for both Muslims and Christians. Earlier this week, Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled a legislative session for Nov. 5 to vote on a number of bills, including one that would extend Parliament's mandate by more than two and a half years. The country's major Christian parties, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Kataeb Party and the Lebanese Forces, have spoken out against the extension, but it is unlikely that their members will boycott the session.
FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Sunday that a bloc meeting was scheduled before the parliamentary session Wednesday, during which the bloc would agree on a final stand with regards to a parliamentary extension.
The bloc “is leaning toward boycotting the session, however, the decision is not yet final,” he said. While the major Christian parties are still to decide their final stance on the vote, most view the outcome as almost certain.
“We are approaching a unpopular undemocratic decision in the coming days,” Amal MP Ayoub Hmayed said Saturday night. Despite misgivings about the extension, the lawmaker stressed on the need to preserve Lebanon from a “fatal vacancy,” especially since its implications on the coming phase remain unknown.

Geagea Concerned Rival Camp May be Seeking 'New System'
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has expressed concern that the rival Hizbullah-led coalition could be seeking a new political system in the country through its approach towards the stalled presidential vote, noting that the Sunni community in Lebanon is acting “under the pressure” of Hizbullah's fighting in Syria. “Unfortunately, I don't see presidential elections in the foreseeable future,” Geagea said in an interview. “We are now waiting,” the LF leader added. The parliament has failed to elect a new president despite having held 15 electoral sessions since April 23 due to a sharp political rift between the rival camps. The March 14 forces have been accusing the March 8 camp of impeding the election through its boycott of the sessions. “We can hold the presidential vote despite the presence of a crisis in the region should one of these two blocs change its stance,” Geagea added, referring to the parliamentary blocs of Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement. “The issue is now more complicated than extension or no extension” of parliament's term, Geagea said, warning that “some parties' attempt to push the country towards total constitutional vacuum could be aimed at paving the way for a new (political) system, which is something we totally oppose in the current circumstances.”The LF leader expressed his willingness to engage in talks with the rival parties “if the other camp is ready to discuss the name of a third presidential candidate.”“In this case, I would withdraw my nomination,” he added. He said he and rival candidate FPM leader MP Michel Aoun must seek an “understanding” over a consensual nominee because none of them is “convinced” of the other's candidacy. “Choosing the name of the third candidate will not be a problem,” Geagea added. Separately, Geagea pointed out that “Hizbullah's (military) role in Syria is putting the Sunni community in Lebanon under a big pressure,” while reassuring that “none of the main parties, even our rivals, has the intention to make a civil war in Lebanon.” “The Sunni community in Lebanon is under a great pressure due to Hizbullah's fighting in Syria and due to the fact that the Lebanese army deals with Hizbullah in a manner that is different from the way it deals with the rest of the Lebanese,” Geagea added. “You are fighting the Sunnis in Syria while asking the Sunnis in Lebanon to fend off sedition. You cannot make steps that lead to sedition while urging night and day that it must be avoided,” Geagea went on to say, addressing Hizbullah.

Nasrallah Denies Hizbullah Fighting in Syria Linked to Mahdi Prophecies
NaharnetظHizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday stressed that his party's military intervention in Syria has nothing to do with esoteric end days prophecies about the return of Imam Mahdi. “We are fighting in Syria to prevent American, Zionist and takfiri hegemony,” Nasrallah said in a largely religious speech marking the eighth night of Ashura. The televised address focused on the issue of Imam Mahdi, who in Islamic eschatology is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine, or nineteen years before the Day of Judgment and will rid the world of evil. “We do not need a religious justification to fight in Syria and we're not fighting to implement the signs which narrations say would pave the ground for the emergence” of Imam Mahdi, said Nasrallah.
“We are rather fighting to defend Lebanon and the region and to prevent a repetition of what (Islamic State chief) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did against the Iraqi Albu Nimr tribe,” added Nasrallah, referring to a fresh wave of mass killings by the IS extremist group in Iraq's Anbar province. Hizbullah's chief warned that “linking everything that is happening to the 'signs of emergence' has dangerous cultural and ideological repercussions, which can only lead to aberration.”Interest in Mahdi and end day prophecies increased among the ranks of some Shiites and Hizbullah supporters after the group sent thousands of fighters into neighboring Syria. There is no explicit reference to the Mahdi in the Quran, but references to him are found in hadith -- the reports and traditions of Prophet Mohammed's teachings that were collected after his death. Differences exist in the concept of the Mahdi between Sunni Muslims and adherents of the Shiite tradition. For Sunnis, the Mahdi is Mohammed's successor who is yet to come. For most Shiite Muslims, the Mahdi was born but disappeared and will remain hidden from humanity until he reappears to bring justice to the world. For Twelver Shiites, this "hidden Imam" is Mohammed al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam.

Patriarch Al Raei's High Tone Rhetoric Stances
Elias Bejjani
November 02/14
Sadly Our Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al Rai is not a successful Politian at all and by all standards and means. Not only that, but every time his Beatitude mingles with any political case, no matter big or small a definite disaster is the outcome. Since his election as Patriarch his political and patriotic stances on all levels have been questionable controversial, unwise, biased, unstable and totally in contrast with the Maronites Patriarchate national and ethical historical convictions.
Looking thoroughly on the mess that he has been generating in every political domain, one could not but feel disappointed and extremely frustrated in an era where the majority of the Lebanese political Christian figures are nothing but a total failure.
Historically the Lebanese people from all religious denominations have always looked at the Maronite Patriarch with pride, confidence, respect, reverence and considered him to be the genuine conscience of their beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In this context of high hopes and expectations the Lebanese can not but expect the Maronite Patriarch to side only with Lebanon and advocate vehemently for its sovereignty, independence, freedom, common living, distinguishable identity, rich heritage, and prosperity. They can not but see the patriarch as the religious and patriotic figure that leads their country in times of hardships to peace, safety, stability, and prosperity. Sadly our Patriarch Al Raei is not fulfilling his role.
Initially, and only within few weeks after his election as Patriarch, Al Raei openly sided with the Syrian butcher and criminal president Bachar Al Assad and toured the world advocating for his alleged democracy and protection of all minorities including the Christians.
In his unjustified tours and official visits to many countries, Al Raei loudly promoted Al Assad's delusional protection of minorities claiming he is a good man and that his regime is the only democracy in the Arab world.
Al Raei at the same supported the occupier of Lebanon, the Terrorist Iranian Hezbollah and walked all through the way with the horrible heresies of its weaponry and resistance.
At one time Al Raei even went too far in his blind support to the terrorist Hezbollah and requested that no one Lebanese has the right to address under any given circumstances the legal case of the Hezbollah criminals and killers, who assassinated ex Lebanese Raffic Al Hariri, or call for their arrest and surrender to the custody of the Special tribunal for Lebanon entrusted by the UN General Council to judicially handle the crime.
During his on going official visit to Australia, Al Raei uttered high tone stances and accused all the Lebanese politicians, with no exception to be mercenaries and executing wishes of foreign powers and countries. He did not have the courage or the decency to name Hezbollah and all the politicians who are mere followers to both Syria and Iran. Accordingly his stances came merely empty of any sort of credibility.
We condemn such vague stances and deplore putting the patriotic Lebanese politicians in the same category with those who are mere Syrian-Iranian puppets and mercenaries.
We call on Patriarch Al Raei to be fair, and witness for Lebanon and for the truth without any kind of Dhimmitude.
In this realm we end our call on the Patriarch to merly witness for the truth with the following Biblical verse (Isaiah 05/20-21): "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."
Long Live Lebanon
Long Live the Truth

Background
Rai: Christian president trumps tripartite agreement
Nov. 02, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Only a Christian president can maintain the current power-sharing formula between Lebanon's Muslims and Christians, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Sunday, while warning against any attempt at adjusting the country’s current power-sharing model. Delivering Sunday Mass in the St. Charbel Church in Sydney, Australia, Rai said that Parliament's failure to elect a Christian president last March served as an existential threat to the only “Christian head of state in the Middle East," while arguing that only a Christian president could “ensure Islamic-Christian coexistence in Lebanon and maintain the Lebanese [power-sharing] formula that distinguishes Lebanon as a model in its Arab environment.” Rai warned Lebanon’s political elite against calling for a tripartite power sharing formula between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians, since the move would serve as a violation of the Constitution and the National Pact that guaranteed equal rights and representation for both Muslims and Christians. The patriarch reiterated his call for a swift end to the presidential vacancy that came after former President Michel Sleiman left office in May. On Friday, Rai said that some political parties in the country wanted to change the country’s power-sharing governance formula between Muslims and Christians and expressed his strong opposition to the idea. Rivals of Hezbollah often accuse the party of seeking a new tripartite power-sharing deal between Shiites, Sunnis and Christians, a claim the party strongly denies.

Rifi calls for plan to revive Tripoli economy
Nov. 02, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: A concrete plan for economic development is needed to revive Tripoli’s economy, because the northern city possesses all the requirements, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said Sunday, pledging to maximize efforts toward revitalizing the city. “We call for a scientific study by experts, based on the economic situation and the dynamic facilities of Tripoli and the north, to create job opportunities for the city’s at least 15,000 unemployed youths,” Rifi said in a conference at the office of the Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Chamber of Tripoli. The minister underlined the city’s “real and important” potential for economic rehabilitation and stressed on the importance of compensating residents for the losses suffered during the clashes between Army and jihadists two weeks ago.
Rifi reiterated his call on the government to enhance its services and welfare activities in Tripoli to prevent more extremism. “Poverty and deprivation are the two most important causes of extremism,” Rifi said, praising the recent $20 million donation by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri designated to rehabilitate the city after the clashes. The conference was attended by many businessmen, officials and figures from Tripoli and north Lebanon, and moderated by the head of the chamber, Tawfiq Dabbousi.
Dabbousi stressed that the private sector was the main vehicle for economic growth, announcing that many development plans for the city’s economy had already been established and were being discussed with officials.

Salafist leader, Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahha calls on Lebanon to return weapons, lift warrant
Nov. 02, 2014/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: A prominent leader of the Salafist movement in Lebanon called on the government to return his weapons seized at his colleague’s residence in Tripoli, stressing his right to defend himself. Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, a pioneer of the Salafist movement in Lebanon, said in an interview with Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper published Sunday that the weapons seized at the residence of Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq Friday belonged to him. He called on the government to lift an arrest warrant that was issued against Deqmaq and to return the confiscated weapons. Shahhal said Deqmaq had moved the arms to his own residence after rumors about possible Army raids on Shahhal’s residence and that of hard-line Akkar MP Khaled Daher. “The situation in the city got tense, so I contacted Sheikh Deqmaq and asked him to prevent a security escalation,” Shahhal said. “In light of the events and due to upon my request, Sheikh Deqmaq volunteered to move the weapons from my house to his apartment to prevent strife or clashes.” The Salafist figure said that he had the right to own the weapons, which varied from machine guns to sniper rifles, and hand and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as other military equipment. “Like all religious security and political officials in the country, I have the right to own weapons to defend myself,” Shahhal stressed, claiming that the huge quantities of weapons that the Army seized Friday also belonged to his bodyguards. “A couple of years ago, I only had four to five rifles to use in personal guard, but after the events of May 7 and Abra, and the escalation of the clashes between Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, as well as the absence of the Army on many occasions, I decided to take more precautions in defense of myself, my family and the young men that work for me.”The extremist preacher, who is subject to an arrest warrant last week after he threatened to attack the Army in a recorded message, condemned the seizing of weapons from Deqmaq’s residence while other figures own arms warehouses all over Lebanon. The sheikh had said in the recording that the Army was a tool being used by Hezbollah against the Sunnis of Lebanon, and indirectly called on Sunni soldiers to defect. “Don’t you kill a Sunni believer,” he told them, warning they would face punishment in the afterlife if they fought against jihadists. The Army launched a crackdown on locations, warehouses and residences of militants in Tripoli and other north Lebanon villages since early last week. The raids came after days of fierce clashes with militants inside and near the city, during which the military took control of the militants’ headquarters in Bab al-Tabbaneh. After years of clashes in Tripoli, mostly between the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood and the mostly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, the Army has stepped up efforts to disarm militants in the northern city. Shahhal and the Salafist movement has taken a hard-line stance toward politics in the country, claiming that the Sunni people are being targeted by the Hezbollah-owned state. The speech is very similar to that used by the Nusra Front to incite Lebanese Sunnis against Shiites and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah slams Rifi as a 'burden on justice'
Nov. 02, 2014 /The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Hezbollah's MP Nawwaf Musawi Sunday slammed Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi's comments that called for raiding Hezbollah's warehouses, accusing him of becoming a burden rather than a minister for justice. “Who envisages justice should be a minister of it, and not a burden on it,” Musawi said in a clear message to Rifi. “Such attempts to compare the weapons of the takfiri with the weapons of the resistance are wrongful attempts that have no link to justice.” Rifi had made controversial comments Saturday, calling on the Army to raid Hezbollah’s warehouses in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas. He said the state should not discriminate by raiding the warehouses of Sunni militants in Tripoli while turning a blind eye to the Shiite party’s locations all over Lebanon. Musawi’s speech, preceded by another from Hezbollah’s MP Ali Fayyad, formed the strongest response to Rifi, who made his comments yesterday after defending himself against accusations of sending money to the jihadists holding Lebanese soldiers and policemen captives. “It is unfair to compare the men and jihadists of the resistance to the nationless murderers and criminals of the takfiri groups,” Musawi stressed in the speech he gave at an Ashoura ceremony at Marjayoun’s Mais al-Jabal village.
“There is a difference between a takfiri weapon killing Lebanese Army soldiers and innocent civilians and another whose carrier martyrs in defense of Lebanon and all the Lebanese.” Musawi slammed Rifi’s mention of “equality and justice between the Lebanese,” and considered his comments as extortion against Hezbollah and its allies. The Hezbollah official said that the attempts to picture the conflict as a battle between the takfiri ideology and that of Wilayat al-Fakih was for mere political interests. “They are extorting the Lebanese by saying ‘if our will as moderates does not prevail you will be facing takfiris,’" he said, saying his political rivals’ strategy was clear and will backlash on them. “If not for the blood of those martyr soldiers of Wilayat al-Fakih, the takfiris would have reached every Lebanese city and not only Tripoli and the north,” Musawi said. “So let those people stop their failed attempts, because no one buys them anymore.”

Al-Nusra Front Hands Qatari Envoy in Arsal List of Demands on Soldiers' Case
Naharnet/Al-Nusra Front handed on Saturday to the Qatari envoy three proposals in the case of the abducted soldiers, suggesting to exchange the kidnapped soldiers for the Islamists in the Lebanese and Syrian jails. Al-Nusra Front said: “We delivered to the Qatari mediator three proposals on exchanging the kidnapped soldiers for the Islamists in the Lebanese and Syrian prisons.”“The Qatari envoy expressed a semi preliminary approval to release the Islamist prisoners from the Lebanese and Syrian prisons and we handed him a list of some names,” it added. On Friday, the Qatari envoy who is in the outskirts of Arsal to negotiate in the case of kidnapped soldiers by extremist groups since last August, received the list of demands of the abductees. The Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front executed captive Lebanese soldier Mohammed Hamiyeh, describing him as the “victim of the Lebanese army's intransigence." It constantly threatens to kill Ali al-Bazzal and in its last statement it threatened to kill George Khoury, to pressure the government and the army, which has recently clashed with terrorists in Tripoli and the North. As for the families of the abducted soldiers protesting in Riad al-Solh Square they threatened earlier in a "black day" if they did not receive any reassurances in the case of their children, but they were postponed their escalation after the Qatari envoy went on Thursday to the outskirts of Arsal, waiting for the results of his meetings.

Scholars Committee Wants 'Govt. Mandate' to Resume Mediation in Arsal Captives Case
Naharnet /Muslims Scholars Committee delegation hoped on Saturday to resume their initiative in the case of the servicemen kidnapped by extremist groups, but with one condition "the government becomes the only guarantor." It demanded, " an official mandate from the government." “The abducted servicemen are our children and we will not end our initiative. Our visit is a visit of solidarity and sharing with them in their rightful stand ,” said the Muslim Scholars Committee delegation during their visit to the families of the abducted soldiers in Riad al-Solh.“Everyone should contribute positively to this case,” it added. The delegation called for resolving the case of the Islamists arrested and freeing the innocent ones since their fate is connected to the fate of the kidnapped soldiers. The Muslim Scholars Committee also called the government, “to become the only guarantor for it.” “There are groups saying that we are the political wing of the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front and we must prosecute who is saying that,” it added. It also called for, “a formal mandate from the state to secure adequate protection for the Muslim Scholars who are negotiating.” The Muslim Scholars Committee delegation was the first to work on negotiating to end the clashes in Arsal, that had erupted in August between the army and armed extremists. The clashes led to the withdrawal of the extremist groups into the outskirts of Arsal, while abducting soldiers from the army and police, who are still kidnapped until this moment by these groups. The Qatari envoy who came back to Lebanon for another round of negotiation in the case of kidnapped soldiers by extremist groups since last August, received on Friday the list of demands of the abductees while being in the outskirts of Arsal. The families of the abducted soldiers continued their movements demanding the freedom for their children, while camping in Riad al-Solh Square, amid receiving some good news sometimes and bad news other times.

ISIS’s Online Battlefield
Mshari Al-Zaydi /Ashsarq Al Awsat
Sunday, 2 Nov, 2014
If there were no social media websites on the internet, would the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) be as strong and effective as it is today? The short answer is no. ISIS would not have been as effective as this, nor would it have been able to expand in the manner that it has. This “no” is not an impression or hypothesis, but a reality that is confirmed by the daily news of the flow of adolescents and delinquents from across the world to join ISIS. The ISIS phenomenon, as I have said before, has nothing to do with Islam or religion. Yes, this is truly a global phenomenon, but it has nothing to do with real Islam. It is a global phenomenon like global warming or water scarcity or the Ebola outbreak, and therefore it is the duty of the world as a whole to address this. This does not mean that ISIS—and before it Al-Qaeda, and before that the Muslim Brotherhood, and the corresponding Khomeinism and the groups that adhere to this ideology—are not the result of deep crises involving Islam and Islamic self-identity and heritage. But, in addition to all this, we must talk about ISIS directly, and the global crisis that this group is nothing more than a symptom of. Otherwise, how else can we understand European Muslim converts who don’t speak Arabic and who don’t understand the complexities of jihad travelling to join ISIS? Therefore, I think that some countries, and particularly those in the West, should use some of the millions of dollars that they are spending on airstrikes targeting ISIS positions to establish new intelligence apparatus and place restrictions on travel and the movement of money in order to confront ISIS from another equally important direction. In particular, the West must do much more to curb ISIS’s interaction via social media, particularly Twitter, to prevent this terrorist group from attracting new members. The West believes in the freedom of expression and the value of liberalism. That is all well and good, but we are now facing an existential threat and we must deal with this accordingly. They say that we should work to raise awareness and that deterrence simply does not work, but this approach carries with it an inherent risk, particularly when dealing with a phenomenon such as ISIS. We simply do not have the luxury of time or patience to pursue this approach because this is a battle for survival. The West, where the internet was first launched from, is now seeking to contain the risks of the internet, after the fire has now reached their shores. Last week, Washington called on the allies who have joined its anti-ISIS coalition to expand the war to include the digital sphere. This came during a special meeting in Kuwait held to specifically discuss how to counter ISIS’s propaganda. Prior to this, the European Union held a meeting in Luxembourg during which it called on internet providers and social media companies to help the authorities in the fight against terrorism. This came after the number of Europeans among ISIS’s ranks in Syria and Iraq increased from just a few hundred in 2012 to more than 3,000 in 2013 while this has no doubt increased further. The latest news in this regard has been the report that a 17-year old French “Jewish” girl is among around 100 girls and young women from France who have left the country to join ISIS fighters in Syria, according to a French intelligence official. So, as the Arabic saying goes “Whoever summons an evil spirit is responsible for banishing it.” In other words, whoever is responsible for a problem is responsible for solving it. Well, the West is responsible for the evil spirits that have beset us thanks to technology, we are now eagerly waiting to see how it intends to deal with this.

Canada in the face of terrorism
Al-Hayat/Published: 31/10/2014
The recent terror acts in Canada have raised fears over the threat of extremist Islamist ideology in the multi-cultural country that includes a large Arab community
It is a phenomenon similar to black magic. Its victims in Canada, youths suffering from mental illnesses, found in the Islamic State jihadist group (ISIS) a “utopian” Islamic world that convinced them that killing Westerners and Arabs was a jihadist act that could grant them a ticket to heaven. On October 22, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot dead a guard at Ottawa’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before running into Canada’s Parliament, where he was killed by security. The gunman, a recent convert to Islam who sought to travel to the Middle East, went on his spree only two days after an ISIS supporter in Quebec rammed his car into two Canadian Armed Forces members, killing one. The attacks deeply impacted Canada, shaking the peaceful country’s conscience while threatening to harm the public perception of the growing Arab immigrant community. Omar Alghabra, a former Liberal Party MP of Syrian descent, spoke to Al-Hayat about the repercussions of the Islamist-inspired terrorist acts on Canada’s Muslims and Arabs.
“It is important to remember that the Arab community has an important role in fighting this phenomenon, and that we should not ignore this issue. We have become a part of this, whether we like it or not, and we need to counter and expose extremism,” the former parliamentarian said. “At the same time, we need to work for positive coexistence and political and social interaction with the environment we live in.”
“We will not abandon our role and responsibility. This is Canada, our country, our future and the future of our children. We should not hesitate to publicly denounce all forms of terrorism, because extremism is the worst way for change and self-expression.”
Rex Brynen, a professor at the McGill University’s Political Science Department and an expert on Middle East politics, said that the last two attacks may result in stricter and more developed legal and security measures. These measures have been the subject of discussions in recent weeks, especially since Canadian authorities have been monitoring more than 90 individuals who returned to Canada from Iraq and Syria. Martin Rouleau, the assailant who converted to Islam and killed a Canadian soldier in southern Montreal, was closely monitored by the authorities and banned from traveling to the Middle East because of his extremist leanings. “I do not think that the new measures will bring major changes, but they will certainly help protect people better. There is no magic bullet to resolve this phenomenon, but there will be a combination of political work and coordination with the [Arab] community to [help] reach a solution,” Brynen told Al-Hayat. “We are not dealing with criminal groups; we are dealing with people who suffer from psychological disorders, have criminal records, and adopted a wrong version of Islam and Salafist Jihad. ISIS has become very popular; it has been attracting people around it like a [cult]. It is driving its members to conduct acts that are mostly racist and sectarian,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lebanese-Canadian independent MP Maria Mourani, who has conducted extensive studies in crime prevention, called for a nuanced approach to facing the threat of jihadist ideology.
“There should be awareness and educational programs to counter extremist ideas. We need to allocate financial and human resources for these programs, and actively work with the Arab community in this context. This is an issue that we cannot solve simply through legal procedures, such as passports,” she said. “Canada is in a state of war as it is participating in a military confrontation in the Middle East. Reactions to what is happening in Syria and Iraq were anticipated. We do not want military involvement here or there, and we see that Canada is better at its role in making peace. However, regardless to our stance on Canada’s participation in the war, what matters is for Canada to be ready to foil any terror attempt on its territory and remain a country of peace and security,” the MP added.
“Every day on my way to work, I see in the parliament’s garden women practicing Yoga and other people playing music or walking. We want to preserve this country and the beauty of its culture.”This article originally appeared in Arabic on Al-Hayat.

Why President Sisi was right - and wrong
By ZALMAN SHOVAL/Former Ambassador to the US.
11/01/2014/J.Post
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Sisi in his important speech a few weeks ago to the Donor’s Conference on Gaza was right when he emphasized the correlation between the Arab world’s geopolitical interests – many shared by Israel – and the quest for a solution to the Palestinian problem. In fact, this is also the point of view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. He was wrong, however, in citing the so-called “Arab Peace Initiative” as a possible mainstay in achieving normalization between Israel and the Arab and Muslim worlds, or even Israel-Palestinian peace.
Like Lord Palmerston’s famous quip about the Schleswig-Holstein question, i.e. that “only three people had really understood the business – including himself, who had forgotten all about it” – this “initiative” not only has undergone numerous changes since it first appeared in Thomas Friedman’s New York Times column, but also has been an object of a plethora of sometimes ill-informed, more often disingenuous misinterpretations – while others have simply forgotten its details.
As I wrote at the time (The Jerusalem Post, March, 2002): “The ‘initiative’ can be compared to a Salvador Dali painting – a few beautiful, albeit distorted vistas – but scant touch with reality.” However, then Saudi crown prince Abdullah’s original wording, expressing, at least in spirit, a willingness to declare an end to the conflict and aiming at establishing normal relations with Israel – was changed at the 2002 Beirut “Arab League” meeting, mainly at the behest of Syria and its Lebanese client – with the result that the final document instead of being a genuine step toward reconciliation in effect became a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum to Israel.
One of its main faults was that while calling on Israel to withdraw unconditionally to the pre-’67 armistice lines, including in Jerusalem, it deliberately omitted UN Security Council Resolution 242, the universally agreed basis for Arab-Israeli peace – which had specifically related the location of future borders to the question of security. As a former American Ambassador to the UN put it, to ask Israel to withdraw to the former vulnerable line of separation (the “Green Line”) would be” incompatible” with said resolution. Furthermore, the comprehensive term “normalization,” being anathema to the Syrians, was also dropped – adopting “normal” or “normal peaceful” relations in its place.
The most objectionable part of the “initiative,” however, is its reference to the issue of the Palestinian refugees.
The Beirut summit calls for the matter to be resolved on the basis of UN General Assembly resolution 194, whose language reads: “The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.” The Arab interpretation of said resolution is the unequivocal “right of return” to Israel proper, while other appraisals, especially by the Israeli Left, are mostly based on wishful thinking – or on distorting reality.
So that there shouldn’t be any doubt about this question, a final document accompanying the formal Beirut resolution and elaborating its meaning with regard to this and other issues included a clause insisting on the realization of “all the Palestinian people’s ‘inalienable rights,’ including the ‘right of return’” – emphasizing the complete refusal of the Arab leaders to resettle the refugees outside their “ancestral homes.”
The explicit rejection of Palestinian “patriation,” i.e. permanent settlement and integration in the countries in which they or their descendants are living, is a clear indication of what 194 means in Arab eyes. There are those who prefer to fudge this issue by claiming that Resolution 194 and “right of return” mean settling the refugees (if one can still talk about “refugees” after three generations) in a future Palestinian state – but besides the point that this is not the way the Palestinians see it, there is also the question whether there is a realistic possibility in economic, demographic and cultural terms to increase the present population of the West Bank, let alone of Gaza, by several hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of immigrants.
Significantly in this context, former American national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, in a joint article in The Washington Post some years ago, proposed several alterations in the Arab Peace Initiative, including a specific denial of the “right of return,” as well as “strengthening steps to address Israel’s security concerns.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in the meantime, is pursuing the traditional Palestinian policy of achieving Palestinian statehood without peace. His total rejection of any sort of compromise during the recent well-meaning but futile negotiations conducted under the aegis of US Secretary of State John Kerry, is sufficient proof of that – as the late Yitzhak Rabin had experienced in his dealings with Yasser Arafat.
The way toward an independent Palestine for Arafat was a combination of cheating and violence – and for Abbas it is to play the UN card. Peace doesn’t come into it, certainly not if that were to be contingent on concessions on such items as refugees, Jerusalem, borders, etc. Thus for Abbas it isn’t “peace now,” but “state now” – with peace, whatever its contours, later – or not at all. If the Arab Peace Initiative had been presented, as Jordan’s esteemed foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, suggested at the time, as a straight-forward “simple and powerful explanation of the Arab position” and not as an “either or” dictate, it could perhaps have served as a suitable platform for meaningful negotiations.
In its present form it is not. Since the toppling of the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime, Egypt under Sisi has again become an important factor for regional peace and stability, as well as in the fight against terrorism. In light of this, Egypt – perhaps jointly with other Arab moderates with whom Israel has more than a few common interests, including the threat of a nuclear Iran and the nuisance of a neo-Ottomanist Turkey, as well as shared concern about the growing chaos in the Middle East as a whole – could indeed play a key role in making it clear to Abbas that the road to Palestinian statehood must lead through a genuine commitment to peace with Israel.

US administration to unveil peace talks proposal
J.Post/By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, TOVAH LAZAROFF/11/01/2014
The US administration is planning to present a proposal to resume the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians after the mid-term elections for Congress, slated for Tuesday, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported over the weekend.
The report came as State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced on Friday that a Palestinian delegation would arrive at the US capital for high-level talks on ways to move forward with the stalled peace talks and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
The delegation, headed by PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, is expected to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday. The two sides are scheduled to discuss ways of ending the recent upsurge in violence in east Jerusalem, a Palestinian Authority official said. On Friday, Kerry phoned PA President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed with him the possibility of reviving the peace talks amid ongoing tensions in east Jerusalem, the official added. According to the Al-Quds report, the new US proposal consists of three points: ending construction in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem; suspending the Palestinian bid at the UN Security Council for a resolution setting a timeline for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines; and resuming the peace talks from the point where they ended last April.
Early in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s second tenure as prime minister, the government imposed a 10-month moratorium on building starts in West Bank settlements. The gesture did not jump-start the peace talks, which at that time were also frozen.
Since then, Israel has refused attempts to halt West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in Jerusalem beyond the Green Line. The Prime Minister’s Office had no response to the Al-Quds report about a US plan. Kerry spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday night, but Psaki said the topic under discussion was the violence in Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s office said it would not discuss the contents of the conversation.
The Al-Quds report quoted a source as saying that the US administration believes that it is still possible to reach a peace agreement on the basis of the two-state solution. However, the US administration also believes that the “window for such a solution is narrowing in light of the absence of confidence between Israel and the Palestinians and rising tensions resulting from both sides’ unilateral measures.”Meanwhile, Erekat accused the Israeli government of working to destroy the two-state solution and “impose an apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.”Erekat told French diplomats and German parliamentarians that the Israeli government bears responsibility for the ongoing tensions and the collapse of the peace process because of its continued settlement activities and “assaults” on the Aksa Mosque. The Palestinians are determined to proceed with their plan to seek a UN resolution requiring Israel to pull back to the pre-1967 lines within three years, he said.
The Palestinians continue to push for unilateral recognition of statehood, separate from the peace process, in a move that has growing support in Europe, with Sweden becoming the first European Union member state to recognize “Palestine” on Thursday.
The UK and Ireland last month held non-binding parliamentary votes in favor of Palestinian statehood. Spain is excepted to follow suit this month. The US rhetoric against building in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem has grown increasingly sharp.
Last week, Netanyahu announced that 1,060 homes would be built in Jerusalem beyond the pre-1967 lines, and spoke of plans for 12 new roads in Judea and Samaria, including some to isolated settlements.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 on Saturday night that Netanyahu had spoken of new settlement activity to appease right-wing politicians. Such announcements, coupled with the rhetoric from right-wing politicians and ministers, are harmful to attempts to restart the peace process, she said. Livni said she feared Abbas had chosen a unilateral path to Palestinian statehood rather than a negotiated one, and called on Netanyahu to counter Abbas’s action by initiating a process together with moderate Arab nations and the Palestinians.
Israel must also stop announcing settlement activity, Livni said, blaming the recent tensions with the US on new settlement activity. It creates a feeling of mistrust, Livni said, adding that Netanyahu’s actions in courting right-wing politicians harm Israel’s security and its relations with the US.

A Heartbroken Turk Belly-Dancing to Persian Santouri
By: Burak Bekdil
Hürriyet Daily News
http://www.meforum.org/4875/a-heartbroken-turk-belly-dancing-to-persian
Everything [should] have come up roses between Ankara and Tehran. Certain things did come up roses. Trade, of both the conventional and shady varieties, actually did prosper. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while he was still the prime minister, said he felt that Tehran was his second home. He smiled and felt proud when former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised his good friend Mr. Erdoğan "for his clear stance against the Zionist regime." The "Passage to Persia" was in perfect progress.
But this column also noted times of less optimism: "Mr. Erdoğan and his men, for the Shiite mullahs in Tehran, are too Western, too little Muslim, too Sunni and too shrewd; they are probably a modern-day Trojan Horse in the eyes of their Shiite neighbors. And Mr. Ahmadinejad's Iran, for the Sunni mullahs in Ankara, is too Shiite, discreetly too hostile/rival, too ambitious and possibly too unreliable," (Apr. 7, 2011). A year-and-a-half before a coup against the Muslim Brothers in Cairo made Egypt Turkey's new regional nemesis, this column also predicted that "Mr. [then-Foreign Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu and his briefcase full of neo-Ottoman ambitions are simply not so wanted in Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus or in influential office rooms in Beirut. Soon they will be unwanted in Egypt and Libya, too … Ankara naively thinks that it can win hearts and minds in Tehran by opposing the [Western] sanctions … Professor Davutoğlu may confidently believe that his powers of persuasion work more than perfectly in Tehran and Cairo – like they more than perfectly worked in Damascus and Beirut … After the usual smiles, exchange of pleasantries and good wishes in his January visit to Tehran, [Davutoğlu] said 'the rise of a Shiite Crescent could turn into an opportunity if Turkey and Iran enhance their dialogue,' inspiring 'Turkish belly-dancing to Persian santouri,'" (Jan. 11, 2012). And part II of "Turkish belly-dancing to Persian santouri" provided an unwilling prologue almost three years before President Erdoğan put it in different wording: "Just like it took Ankara several years to find out that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a ruthless dictator, it has taken the Turkish foreign policy wizards even longer to see that their childish Iran policy could only cause thunder-like laughter in Tehran." Put in Mr. Erdoğan's heartbroken wording over the weekend: "We cannot comfortably work with Iran. They highlight a sectarian approach too much. I have repeatedly told prominent Iranians: Let's put aside the Alevi-Sunni [divide]. Before everything, we are Muslims. Let's view this matter [Syria] like Muslims. When we have bilateral meetings with them, they tell us 'Let's resolve this matter together.' When it comes to taking steps [for a solution], they unfortunately have working methods that are particular to them. This is, of course, very sad." Is it really very sad, Mr. President? Are you so awfully shocked? You expected that the Iranians would belly-dance to the Turkish saz, while in fact over the past few years it has been Turkish belly-dancing to the Persian santouri. It's the same Turkish malady: Let's have a (Sunni) Islamic approach to all things Middle Eastern. Unless, of course, we are in trouble and call for reinforcements from the Christian world. The Turks are smart. They finally discovered that the "Iranians highlight a sectarian approach too much." Sadly, they are not yet smart enough to see that the Iranians are smart enough to see that the Turks, too, highlight a sectarian approach too much and childishly think that the badly unconvincing "let's-sort-this-out-like-Muslims-would" rhetoric could only cause further loud laughter in Tehran. It's the same Turkish malady: Let's have a (Sunni) Islamic approach to all things Middle Eastern. Unless, of course, we are in trouble and call for reinforcements from the Christian world. It is indeed very sad, Mr. President. Not just that the mullahs in Tehran must be privately laughing at you and refuse to buy your rhetoric, but that you still believe you can cunningly impose a Sunni supremacist worldview in this very complex part of the world. But fortunately the game of pretension between the neo-Ottomans and neo-Safavids goes on. Just a couple of days ago, Iran's ambassador to Ankara, Alireza Bigdeli said "There are close personal relations between the leaders of the two countries [Iran and Turkey]." Is that not lovely?
**Burak Bekdil is a columnist for the Istanbul-based daily Hürriyet and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Canada Deplores Boko Haram’s Cowardly Acts
November 1, 2014 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada was disgusted to hear reports that girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been forced into marriage.
“There is no more cowardly and pathetic crime than preying on young girls and children.
“Canada calls on Nigerian authorities to redouble their efforts and bring this nightmare to an end, and bring those responsible to justice.
“Canada has made combatting child, early and forced marriage a priority, and reports like these will only strengthen our resolve to combat these acts in particular and terrorism in general.”

Saudi women's rights activist arrested for 'insulting Islam'
Nov. 01, 2014 /Agence France Presse
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has arrested a prominent campaigner for women's rights for insulting Islam, activists said on Saturday, accusing authorities of trying to crush all dissent. Suad al-Shamari, a co-founder of a liberal human rights group, is being held in prison, according to two activists who did not want to be named. Shamari recently posted pictures on Twitter of a man kissing the hand of a long-bearded Islamic cleric. She commented on his beard and said: "Notice the vanity and pride on his face when he finds a slave to kiss his hand."
In another tweet last month, she said she had been called "immoral and an infidel because I criticized their sheiks," referring to religious or tribal leaders. She recently appealed to King Abdullah and the interior minister over the case of two women who, she alleged, were arrested by religious police for taking a taxi driven by a man. Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia strictly segregates the sexes and women are not allowed to drive, although many do use taxis with male drivers, without incident. In September a Saudi court upheld a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for Raef Badawi -- who co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network with Shamari -- for insulting Islam. Before Badawi's arrest in 2012, the network had announced a "day of liberalism" and called for an end to the influence of religion on public life in Saudi Arabia. Shamari is "now in Jeddah prison, for insulting Islam," Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar said on Twitter on Friday. "This is the accusation they make against anybody defending human rights," said one of the activists. London-based watchdog Amnesty International in October said Saudi authorities "have sought to stamp out all critical voices demanding peaceful reform." Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry spokesman could not be reached for comment.

French president making first official trip to western Canada
The Canadian Press/By The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press
BANFF, Alta. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be playing tour guide on Sunday as he hosts the president of France in Banff National Park in Alberta.
Francois Hollande is the first French president to make an official visit to western Canada.
Harper will meet Hollande in Calgary and the two will then make the 90 minute trip to Banff by car.
They're expected to discuss greater co-operation on international security and threats, trade and economic development, innovation, and broader people-to-people ties.
Hollande will also address Parliament and is also scheduled to visit Montreal and Quebec City.
While in Banff both men will attend a state dinner hosted by Gov. Gen. David Johnston.
The last French president to make a formal state visit to Canada was Francois Mitterrand in 1987, although Nicholas Sarkozy attended a European Union-Canada summit in 2008.
Hollande will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers and a large business and academic delegation.
France is Canada's eighth-largest commercial partner, with bilateral merchandise trade totalling more than $8.5 billion in 2013.
A senior Conservative cabinet minister said it is significant that Hollande has decided to visit Western Canada.
"It's not a coincidence that President Hollande asked to come to Alberta because I think the Europeans increasingly see Alberta as an engine of the Canadian economy. I think the largest French investments in Canada are here," said federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney. "Many European and governments around the world are growing their footprint in Alberta for that reason."

Suicide bombing kills nearly 54 people near eastern Pakistani border with India, police say
The Canadian PressBy Zaheer Babar And Asif Shahzad, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
LAHORE, Pakistan - A suicide bomber detonated explosives near a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint near the country's eastern border with India on Sunday, killing at least 54 people in the deadliest attack to hit the country in several months, police and government officers said. The explosion hit near the checkpoint at the Wagah border crossing as hundreds of people were returning from a military parade on the outskirts of Lahore, provincial police chief Mushtaq Sukhera said.
Both the Pakistani and the Indian military conduct daily parades and flag-flying ceremonies on their respective sides of the border. The events draw crowds of hundreds, a number that would rise into the thousands on a weekend like Sunday.
The death toll was likely to rise because over 100 people were wounded, with several in critical condition, Sukhera said.
Police are investigating the bombing, and had intelligence reports in advance that there could be such a blast in the city, he added.
Another Lahore officer, Haider Ashraf, said some paramilitary troops were among the dead and wounded. The paramilitary forces' provincial Director General Tahir Javed said three soldiers died.
Dr. Khurram Shahzad at private Ghurki Trust hospital said that there were 10 women and seven children among the dead, and eight members of a single family. He said several of them had multiple critical wounds.
Live TV footage on private Pakistani news channels showed people drenched in blood and crying in pain as they were evacuated to hospitals.
At the hospitals, relatives of the dead cried and beat their chests and heads. "My brothers, my two brothers," private Geo News TV showed a man wailing. "They both are dead."
All the officers said they did not know what the target could have been. Javed, the paramilitary official, said the bomber exploded hardly 500 metres away from the checkpoint manned by the paramilitary troops.
Security has been increased in all major Pakistani cities to thwart possible attacks on minority Shiite Muslims observing Ashura, a 10-day ritual to commemorate the death of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
But, Haider, the police officer, said there was no such Shiite processions happening in the area where the bombing took place.
Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistani Taliban are made up of several local militant groups.
Ahrar was set up some months ago by half a dozen militant commanders who previously worked for the outfit but had evolved differences with its chief.
Its spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, said the suicide attack was part of the militants' war against the government and their attempts to enforce their version of Islamic law in the country. "We will continue such attacks," he told an Associated Press reporter by phone from an undisclosed location.
The militants have been waging a war against the state for over a decade, aiming to topple the government, killing thousands of Pakistanis.
At present, the Pakistani army is fighting the militants in their last safe haven, in the tribal area of North Waziristan where they say they have killed over 1,200 insurgents.
The militants have been on the run, some of them relocating them to other tribal areas and others managing to escape to neighbouring Afghanistan.
The suicide bombing was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since the military launched the offensive in mid-June. Shahzad reported from Islamabad.

Iranian elite Guards say U.S. ‘still enemy No. 1’
By Staff Writer | Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 2 November 2014
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard renewed its animosity towards the United States in a statement released on Saturday which described the U.S. as the “number one enemy of the Iranian nation.” The statement, carried by FARS news agency, was released to commemorate the upcoming religious holiday of Ashoura which is widely observed by Shiites all over the world. The IRGC also accused the U.S. of plotting the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants and other “takfiri groups.” “Contemplation on the bitter realities of today, specially the ISIL and Takfiri plots in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon more than any time before shows that the US is the house of the world's plots and corruption that never intends to compromise and have real friendship with a popular and independent system that manifests the powerful existence of the beloved Islam,” the statement said. This year, Ashura ceremonies will take place on Nov.4, which coincides with the anniversary of the 1979 take-over of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, which led to a hostage crisis which lasted for 444 days, sparking international condemnation and a case before the International Court of Justice. The IRGC called for rallies across the Islamic Republic on Nov.4, which according to FARS, has been designated as a national day against “Global Arrogance” with rallies held every year “marking the anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover in Iran.”The statement also decried the “crimes” committed by White House officials against the Islamic Republic during nuclear talks with the P5+1 bloc, calling for a restoration of its “inalienable rights” and an end to “cruel sanctions.”The military force, which was established to preserve Iran’s Islamic system of state, also reiterated that the “guidelines of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei” would “never allow the dignity and independence of the Islamic homeland to be threatened and harmed by the will of the enemies.”

Emboldened Assad: Massacre at an IDP camp
Sunday, 2 November 2014 /Brooklyn Middleton /Al Arabiya
At least one small child wandered near a badly charred, dismembered body while other people rushed about, lifting the dead or nearly dead from off of the grass that was littered with their possessions; in video footage capturing the aftermath of a Syrian military barrel bombing targeting the Abedin camp for internally displaced Syrians in Idlib province, the carnage - even for war-torn Syria - proves surreal. According to reports, one unidentified man at the scene says, “Let the whole world see this. It's a massacre of refugees.”
While some sources indicated the death toll in the double barrel bombing reached as high as 75, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) placed the total number of dead at 10. Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) - the Assad regime mouthpiece - failed to report the attack altogether – an omission that is tantamount to confirmation. The barbarity of the Assad regime has been overshadowed recently by the rise of ISIS and the constant media coverage of the militant group. Yet still, the risk of failing to seriously cover and address continued war crimes by Damascus isn’t limited to contributing to the mounting indifference toward the regime’s relentless brutality; the lack of any international set “red lines,” allows the regime to continue murdering with impunity. This is undoubtedly true but it also allows for the regime to become increasingly emboldened to carry out massive attacks against the most vulnerable.
Why Assad feels no fear
In the most embryonic stages of the U.S.-led coalition’s strategy on ISIS in Syria, plans of dealing with Assad directly were non-existent but any plans of the U.S. supporting rebels to defeat Assad remained nebulous; now, a statement made this week by leader of the U.S. Coalition against ISIS, Marine General John Allen, clarifies DC’s position on this matter and it borders on delusional: “What we would like to see is for the FSA and the forces that we will ultimately generate, train and equip to become the credible force that the Assad government ultimately has to acknowledge and recognize." The notion the FSA will prioritize helping coalition forces degrade ISIS – a monster the regime helped to create - over defeating Assad is unlikely. The notion that Assad would ever “recognize” the FSA is absurd. To now ask the FSA, alone in its struggle against the brutal regime for over three years, to help sustain the coalition’s gains made against ISIS with no coordination to help them defeat Assad is a particularly confounding development.
“The barbarity of the Assad regime has been overshadowed recently by the rise of ISIS and the constant media coverage of the militant group”
Brooklyn Middleton
As the U.S. continues mulling its best options for dealing with Assad – or not – the benefits for Damascus are two-fold; firstly, the Syrian military will be given a strategic boost resulting from the coalition’s aerial assaults against factions battling them – a fact which the United States has even publicly confirmed. Secondly, the Syrian military is likely highly inclined to capitalize on the world’s collective distraction from their own barbarity - carrying out a massacre at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp is the latest evidence of that.
After the chemical weapons deal, which saw the destruction of Assad’s declared arsenal, his military continued using chlorine gas “systematically and repeatedly.”Now, with the international community’s known history of a failure to respond to Assad, the regime continues to have little reason to fear repercussions for virtually any attack it carries out.

The man who killed Rabin killed peace
Eitan Haber/Published: 11.02.14 / Israel Opinion /Ynetnews
Op-ed: The three shots fired at Israel's prime minister 19 years ago completely changed the direction in which the state was headed and on which it was building its future.
No matter how we twist things, and say what is said and do what is done, we must admit that the murderer of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin accomplished his mission, for now. And I would like to stress the words "for now." What has been happening to the State of Israel recently is just the preview of the introduction to the introduction. With all due respect to seekers of good, and we would like things to be good for all of us, right and left, religious and secular, all signs point to a major deterioration of the State of Israel. I hope I am proven wrong, but the coming years are expected to be very bad for us.
Here's a small but important example: The country's economic growth may reach 2% this year or maybe a bit more. Economic growth is the foundation of our existence and life here. It's going down, and we're going down with it. Does anyone remember that the economic growth in the mid 1990s, in the days of Yitzhak Rabin's government, was 7.4-7.8% - a global miracle?
The murderer - may he be damned - succeeded because his three shots completely changed the direction in which the state was heading and on which it was constructing its future.
Dozens of states recognized Israel those days; Israeli flags were raised in envoys' offices in seven Arab states (including Egypt, where Menachem Begin led us to peace); dozens of kings, presidents and prime ministers arrived for state visits to Israel for the very first time; an Israeli prime minister set foot, also for the first time since the state's establishment, in countries such as China, Oman and Indonesia, which had refused to welcome such visits until then; the unemployment rate dropped, interchanges were built on Israel's roads, construction began on a massive new terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport, as well on as the Trans-Israel Highway. What more could we have asked for? It's very true that the terror activities increased. Dozens of Israelis were murdered. And what has happened since the prime minister's murder? Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, have been murdered through no fault of their own. The terror, unfortunately, will continue to increase, because 1.2 billion Muslims are the source of an abundance of manpower against about eight million Jews.
Did Rabin's agreements with the Palestinians bring about the terror against us? That's nonsense from a political school that knows how to sell slogans. Terror has increased and will likely increase further because Moses led us to a troubled address, and we must make every effort to live in peace with our neighbors.
There are indeed 1.2 billion Muslims lurking, and we are singlehandedly adding the Europeans to our list of enemies; recently - thanks to our own foolishness - we have also added the Americans, who are the sole reason (except for God, of course) that we are living on this land. In the eyes of the current government and its supporters, the worst disaster that could strike us is the evacuation of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. We have been paying for that stance for years with the blood of pure and decent people. And who evacuated Jews from their homes? Dozens of Jewish communities were evacuated over the years, some by the Begin government and some by the Aile Sharon government. Not one single Jew was uprooted from his land by the Rabin government. Not one.
The murderer succeeded. There is no peace, and there will likely be no peace in the foreseeable future. He is the one who fired the shots, he is the one who hit, he is the one who led us to the place we are all in today – diplomatically, economically, socially and in terms of security. And why am I stressing the "for now" in the murderer's success? Because all of us, rightists and leftists, secular and God-fearing Jews, want to believe that our situation will not get worse. And as I already wrote, I hope I am proven wrong, but our situation will become much much worse.
P.S. This is of course a completely non-objective article. Does anyone expect me to be objective?
**Eitan Haber served as the head of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's bureau.

Canadian warplanes launch first air strike in Iraq
The Canadian PressBy The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press
KUWAIT CITY - Canadian warplanes involved in the American-led bombing campaign against militants in Iraq had their baptism of fire on Sunday launching the first air strike since deploying to the region.
Two CF-18 fighter jets attacked targets in the vicinity of Fallujah, a statement from Defence Minister Rob Nicholson's office said.
"Coordinated with our coalition partners, two CF-18s attacked ISIL targets with GBU12 500 lb laser guided bombs," the statement said.
"The approximately four hour mission included air-to-air refueling from Canada's Polaris aircraft."
The three aircraft all safely returned to their base in Kuwait, the statement added.
Few other details of the strike were immediately released, but the statement said assessment of the damage was being done. Fallujah is roughly 70 kilometres west of Baghdad.
Canada has deployed a total of six CF-18s along with the C-150 Polaris and two CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft as its contribution to the American-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has occupied parts of Iraq and Syria.
The CF-18s, also called Hornets, left Canada Oct. 21. Some 600 personnel are involved in the air combat mission. Canada has also shipped about one million kilograms of military supplies to Iraqi security forces, who it is also helping train.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has committed to the mission for six months.
The decision to commit Canada to a combat mission was put to Parliament last month. The Conservative majority easily pushed through a motion supporting the measure.
Harper has said it is imperative to halt ISIL and reduce its capacity to launch terrorist attacks outside the region, including Canada.