LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 20/2012
Bible Quotation for today/A Lamp under a Bowl
Luke 08/16-18: "No one lights
a lamp and covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. Instead, it is put on
the lampstand, so that people will see the light as they come in. Whatever is
hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will
be found and brought to light. Be careful, then, how you listen; because those
who have something will be given more, but whoever has nothing will have taken
away from them even the little they think they have"
Latest analysis,
editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha/By
Tariq Alhomayed/February 19/12
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
February 19/12
U.S. official: Signs pointing to increasing likelihood of
Israeli strike on Iran
U.S. military chief: Israeli strike on Iran would not be
'prudent'
Barak: World must impose 'crippling' sanctions on Iran
over nuclear program
Iran poised to expand uranium enrichment at underground
facility, diplomats say
Egyptian Parliament Commission Overturns Coptic Eviction
Decree
Thousands of Syrians Rally for Assad Ouster
Lebanese soldier
succumbs to wounds sustained in Tripoli fighting: report
Lebanese demonstrate
for legal protection against domestic violence
Aoun Says Cabinet Crisis Will be Resolved, Denies Party
Linked to Red Diesel Scandal
Miqati Stresses ‘Teamwork’ Necessary to Safeguard
Lebanon’s Interests
U.S.
official: Signs pointing to increasing likelihood of Israeli strike on Iran
By Barak Ravid and Amir Oren /Haaretz
U.S. wants Israel to wait a few months in order to give the international
sanctions against Iran a chance before deciding on an attack.
As senior U.S. security adviser Tom Donilon arrived in Saturday night to discuss
the Iranian nuclear issue with top Israeli officials, a U.S. official has told
Haaretz that all the messages from Israel in recent months pointed to the
likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran. U.S. National Security Adviser Tom
Donilon is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and advisers on
Sunday, as part of preparations for Netanyahu's scheduled visit to Washington,
D.C. next month, which will include a meeting with President Barack Obama. That
visit is also expected to focus on Tehran's nuclear program, and U.S. concerns
that Israel is planning to attack Iranian atomic facilities within a few months.
Speaking to Haaretz off the record, a senior U.S. official said that in the past
six months the messages reaching Washington from Jerusalem have increasingly
pointed to the likelihood of an Israeli strike.
The U.S. administration wants Israel to wait a few months in order to give the
international sanctions against Iran a chance before deciding on an attack. A
few days ago, officials in Tehran expressed a readiness to resume negotiations
with the six main powers. Israeli officials have expressed some satisfaction
with the latest anti-Iran sanctions. On Friday the Belgium-based SWIFT, which
provides banks with a system for moving funds around the world, bowed to
international pressure and said it was ready to block Iranian banks from using
its network to transfer money. But Jerusalem does not believe that even these
measures will lead Tehran to reevaluate its nuclear plans. On Sunday, Netanyahu
is expected to tell Donilon that the only test of the sanctions is a positive
outcome. "Any measure that doesn't stop Iran's nuclear program is inadequate," a
senior Israeli government aide said recently.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Saturday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said
Israeli military action against Iran is not on the table for now, and called for
"crippling and consequential" sanctions against Iran. The Israeli government
source said U.S. and Israeli teams will work together during Donilon's visit.
The Israeli team is headed by national security adviser Yaakov Amidror, with
representatives from the defense, foreign and strategic affairs ministries, as
well as from army intelligence.
Donilon will leave Israel tomorrow. His entourage includes senior White House,
State Department and Department of Defense officials such as Gary Samore, White
House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, and White
House Middle East Adviser Steve Simon. Donilon is scheduled to meet with Barak
and will presumably also speak with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo. The White House said in a statement that talks will
also include the situation in Syria. In other news affecting the region, U.S.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned on Friday of the dangers facing the
United States in the Middle East. Speaking at a "town hall meeting" with
officers and soldiers at a U.S. Air Force base in Barksdale, Louisiana, Panetta
recited a long list of challenges facing the United States military
establishment in an era of deep government cutbacks. "We face the whole issue of
rising turmoil in the Middle East," Panetta said. "I mean, God, any one of those
countries in the Middle East could blow on us - from Syria, which is already in
turmoil, to Egypt, to Yemen, to a number of others." Panetta's warning came just
days after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, failed, in a visit to Egypt, to dissuade Cairo from going ahead with
criminal proceedings against 19 Americans affiliated with prodemocracy
organizations in the country.
Officially, U.S. military authorities said that Dempsey's trip "was planned long
before this situation developed and caused tension between the two nations."
Speaking to a reporter with the American Forces Press Service on his flight from
Cairo to Washington, Dempsey said: "We discussed that [situation] very
professionally," adding, "I expressed the fact that it caused us concern, not
only about the particular NGOs and individuals currently unable to leave the
country, but rather more broadly." Dempsey's relationship with his Egyptian
counterpart, Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, as well as Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein
Tantawi, began in 2007 when Dempsey was deputy commander of U.S. Central Command
and continued after he became acting commander in 2008. Dempsey said he asked
the defense leaders, "What signal should I take from this in terms of how you
see Egypt's future? Are you going to become isolated? Are you going to preserve
individual freedoms or deny them?" He noted that "they don't have the answers
right now." Dempsey said he found the Egyptian military "quite eager" to get out
of the country-running business. Meanwhile, on Friday it was reported that two
Iranian naval ships sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.
"Two Iranian ships crossed through the Suez Canal following permission from the
Egyptian armed forces," a source in the canal authority said, adding that the
destroyer and a supply ship could be on their way to the Syrian coast. Iran and
Syria agreed to cooperate on naval training a year ago, and Tehran has no naval
agreement with any other country in the region.
Egyptian Parliament Commission Overturns Coptic Eviction
Decree
Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA) -- A public meeting was held on February 16 in Alexandria, after the
fact-finding commission delegated by parliament went to investigate the facts
surrounding the decision made on February 1 by a village tribunal, composed of
villagers and parliamentary members, mostly from Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood
parties, to forcibly evict eight Coptic families from Sharbat village (Ameriya),
in Alexandria, and seize their property, based on allegations of a video clip of
an illicit relationship between a Coptic man and a Muslim woman (AINA
2-9-2012).The fact-finding commission, made up of two Copts, two Liberals and
the Salafi members of parliament, Shaikh Sherif Hawary, who was responsible for
the tribunal of February 1, met with representatives of the evicted Coptic
families, the tribunal's members and two priests.The commission issued a
statement at the public meeting, which was attended by village residents, that
all Coptic families are to return to their homes, and nullified the rulings of
the tribunal of February 1.
The commission asked for the safe return of the Abaskhayron Suleiman families to
their homes, stressing their legal rights and the rule of law, which does not
conflict with Sharia. The committee said the Suleimans have the right to reside
in their own village. The Suleimans were not involved in any way with the
alleged video clip, but were still evicted. The commission deferred a decision
on the return of the three families of the Coptic man Mourad Girguis, accused of
having the video clip in question, and the Muslims who burned down the homes of
Christians, leaving these matters for the judiciary to decide.
Attorney Marian Malak, a member of the commission, said the purpose of the
meeting was to set a date for the return of the Christian families back to the
village, through a consensus among the people of Ameriya, but the issue of
compensation to affected Copts have not yet been resolved. Sherif Hawary, member
of Parliament for Ameriya, said there was a split among the members of the
commission about the term "eviction," pointing out that members of the tribunal
described the departure of some Christian families to be for security reasons
and fear for their own lives, while a number of other members insisted on
describing what happened as eviction. Hawary prevailed and the committee
statement said the Christians left the village for security reasons.
After the reading of the statement, heated arguments broke out between some
members of the delegation of the Maspero Coptic Youth Union and the
parliamentary commission regarding the failure of the police to arrest the
perpetrators and instigators of the torching and looting of Coptic homes during
the violence on January 27th and 30th (AINA 1-28-2012). The commission said that
prosecution had issued arrest warrants for some of the defendants. The Maspero
delegation also asked about the woman accused of having a relationship with
Mourad Girguis, as records of the prosecution investigations failed to identify
her, as well as the absence of photos to prove the incident actually took place.
A question during the meeting was raised regarding whether the return of the
families includes also the Mourad Girguis family, but Sheikh Sherif Hawari said
that they will not come back, since what Mourad did was an "outrageous act."
Mourad Girguis was released on bail on February 15, after having been charged
with spreading false rumors. Mohammad Toema, the barber who started the rumor,
was also released on bail. "The video about a Muslim woman was not found," said
member of Parliament Dr. Emad Gad, "and there is no evidence of the woman having
existed. This proves that, as suspected, the accusations were fabricated in
order to forcibly evict Mourad Girguis and his family from the village."
The commission will present its findings to Parliament on Sunday.
By Mary Abdelmassih
Copyright (C) 2012, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use.
Reform Party of Syria
Can Obama say Ana Souri as Kennedy said Ich Bin Ein
Berliner?
Farid Ghadry Blog
According to my sources, some 30,000 people in Bab Amro are in danger of mass
extermination.
The pounding of this Homs district has been relentless over the last week.
Without communications or access, no one knows how many have died. Certainly in
the hundreds but it could also be in the thousands because we all know the
history of the Assads in Hama.
Food and water are scarce. People have no access to any of the necessities to
sustain life, including medical attention. Children are dying in their sleep
even when hiding in corridors. Mothers weep with pain for the son that died and
the daughter who is about to die from hunger or from an artillery shell.
We urge you all to press for humanitarian aid to the city of Homs. Humanity has
a moral obligation to stop this mass Genocide through action. Today, we are all
wearing the humanitarian badge of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty and therefore
have an obligation to save lives.
If Angelina Jolie has so courageously tried to help save Syrian children, why is
First Lady Michelle Obama not standing for all children? I strongly believe her
title is a duty to all humanity and not a privilege to the few.Because of their history, I can understand why the Russians are heartless but I
cannot accept that this US administration cannot muster the morality to react to
the Syrian tragedy.
When in 1945, the Russians starved Berlin, the way they are starving Syria
today, President Kennedy reacted with courage to save innocent lives.
Can Obama say Ana Souri as Kennedy said Ich Bin Ein Berliner? Or is that too
much to expect from this American President?
Copyrights © Reform Party of Syria (Project Syria, Inc.) 2003-2011
Reform Party of Syria
"Why the Arab League is busy concocting unrealistic ideas? It is trying to look
busy and responsive to an Arab street openly hostile against its lack of support
for a military solution against Assad."
Arab VP's: Soon the Most Endangered Species
Farid Ghadry Blog
We Arabs know how to stifle liberties, pay for empty skyscrapers erected out of
jealousy, and support lost causes. We know how to dispatch observers to Syria
led by an exterminator and we know how to protect Genocidal rulers.
We know how to build Mosques over Churches and invite the Christians to pray
with us and we know how to spread hate in the service of self-adulation. We know
how to pervert Islam by demeaning non-Muslims and we know how to exploit honor
and shame to strip the masses from all reason.
But, best of all, we know that we can get away with almost anything because
others, much more powerful, bow to us either out of the weakness of their souls
or the weakness of their pockets.
Why am I negatively jabbering away? Because I want to add that we Arabs also
know how to sell sand to comfort those we can't buy with oil.
The Arab League wants Assad to relinquish his powers in favor of his
Vice-President Faruq al-Shara'a. Anyone with any knowledge of how the Assad
regime operates, or any Arab regime for that matter, would stop and think twice
about this oxymoronic concept.
Why would Assad agree to be replaced by a man he can easily kill? Why would the
Arab League ask Assad to relinquish his powers to a man Assad decides his fate?
The UN, the US, and Europe are all expanding resources and time in pursuit of
this dead-end plan because they were sold Arab sand. But then it may well suit
everyone's purpose while waiting for the inevitable implosion they have been
promised.
If I had to guess though, Assad will keep his VP alive just in case he can
hoodwink this new demand by the Arab League to leverage himself. In other words,
Assad sees al-Shara'a as a mean to keep him in power, not to replace him. But if
he feels any danger, he will kill his VP just to remove this option off the
table. Honestly, and thanks to the Arab League, Arab VP's just made the list of
the most endangered species.
Either way, Syrian VP al-Shara'a died the moment he was publicly named by the
Arab League as a replacement to Assad.
Why the Arab League is busy concocting unrealistic ideas? It is trying to look
busy and responsive to an Arab street openly hostile against its lack of support
for a military solution against Assad. So when next time you read stories in the
paper telling you the Arab League is embracing the Free Syrian Army or
supporting its cause, it's all hogwash intended to ease the anger felt by the
street.
When this plan fails, I vote for Omar al-Bachir, the butcher of Darfur, to lead
a Transitional Syrian Government out of Khartoum until the next brilliant Arab
League plan.
Maybe Assad will then kill this highly prized mass-murderer and a source of
pride to the Arab League the way the League killed Assad's VP Faruq al-Shara'a.
Copyrights © Reform Party of Syria
Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha
By Tariq Alhomayed
Asharq Al-Awsat
Hassan Nasrallah, who is akin to a member of the Syrian pro-regime Shabiha
militia, during a speech on Thursday, asked “could any Arab king, emir or sheikh
put forward the same reforms that have been put forward by al-Assad and the
Syrian leadership?” The simple answer to this question is: no, for no Arab king,
emir or sheikh would kill seven thousand of their own citizens simply to cling
to power!
Since Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha, is not familiar with Arab history, as he is
too wrapped up in Persian – and Khomeinist – history, let us take this
opportunity to inform him that King Farouk of Egypt abdicated the throne without
bloodshed, whilst in Saudi Arabian history, Imam Abdullah Bin Saud surrendered
to the Ottoman forces of Ibrahim Pasha in 1817, after Diriyah – then capital of
the country – was besieged. By doing so, he protected innocent lives, although
the Turks took him into custody and later executed him in Istanbul. This is not
the only such case in Saudi Arabian history, for Imam Faisal Bin Turki also did
this, surrendering to the forces of Hursid Ahmed Pasha after Dalam was besieged;
therefore Imam Faisal took the decision to surrender to spare the blood of his
people, and he, along with his sons and his brother, was placed under house
arrest.
As for today, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz was amongst the first to raise his
voice about reform in late 1998, long before the so-called Arab Spring. King
Abdullah spoke about the role of women and minorities, and he launched national
dialogue; most importantly, he rallied his people around him when elsewhere in
the Arab world, people being ruled by military dictatorships were revolting.
Therefore what Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha, is not aware of is that the kings,
emirs, and sheikhs of the Arab world are not imitating the “republic” of al-Assad,
for indeed it is the tyranny of al-Assad the son which has transformed Syria
into a false republic ruled by military dictatorship.
When Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha, defends what he describes as al-Assad’s
reform, by which he means the drama being played out over a new constitution, he
is intending to mislead public opinion. The new al-Assad endorsed constitution
says that any Syrian president is allowed to have two terms in office, whilst
each single presidential term is seven years; this means that al-Assad wants to
rule Syria for 25 years, for he has not said that he would not stand at any
forthcoming elections. Indeed, all the Syrian president is interested in is
“resetting the clock”, according to the expression coined by Yemeni President
Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Hence, when Hassan Nasrallah, the Shabiha, speaks, he is not just
misrepresenting the facts, he is completely perverting the truth, and putting
forward Shabiha rhetoric par excellence that is akin to the speeches made by
Syrian Envoy to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari in New York, or Syrian ambassador to
the Arab League Youssef al-Ahmed in Cairo. The morals and customs of monarchy
are being completely misrepresented by Nasrallah, the Shabiha, for we have seen
King Abdullah II of Jordan say that if he were in al-Assad’s position, he would
step down; whilst the King of Morocco has invited his opponents to be partners
in ruling the country. As for the King of Bahrain – a country Nasrallah claims
is “oppressed” – he brought renowned and respected statesman Mahmoud Cherif
Bassioun to head an independent Commission of Inquiry [into the events that took
place in Bahrain from February 2011], whilst al-Assad met with [Arab League
Observer mission head] General Mohammed al-Dabi, who put forward a shameful
report regarding the situation in Syria, equating the killers with the victims!
Therefore, this is the ethics of kings, emirs, and sheikhs; they do not kill
their own people, like al-Assad, nor do they live in caves, like Hassan
Nasrallah the Shabiha.
Aoun Says Cabinet Crisis Will be Resolved, Denies Party Linked to Red Diesel
Scandal
by Naharnet /Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that
officials are working on resolving the cabinet crisis, stressing that his party
is not linked to the red diesel scandal.
“We are working on legalizing the cabinet’s decree concerning the transportation
allowance instead of raising the issue to the Shura Council,” Aoun said during a
dinner banquet for his party’s Engineers Association.A decree on the transportation and education allowances that Labor Minister
Charbel Nahhas, who is part of Aoun’s parliamentary bloc, is refusing to sign is
at the center of the cabinet’s deadlock.Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the ministers of Aoun’s Change and Reform
Parliamentary bloc have bickered over the premier’s decision to appoint top
civil servants in state posts reserved for Christians without consulting them.Their dispute worsened last week after Miqati said ministers who don’t want to
abide by the cabinet’s decision should resign. But Aoun slammed the premier,
saying he should quit.He stressed that officials are working on “resolving the cabinet crisis.”
Aoun denied that the FPM is linked to the red diesel scandal.The scandal erupted after complaints that huge amounts of red diesel were sold
to oil distribution companies by the Deir Ammar refinery in northern Lebanon on
January 18 - the last day of the government subsidy of LL3,000 per jerry can.
The oil companies have reportedly made millions of dollars in profits after
selling an alleged 8 million liters at a nonsubsidized price.“Those who want to express an opinion do not insult others while they don’t have
any evidence on what they claim,” he noted.
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is loyal to Aoun, has been accused by the
opposition of being involved in the scandal, but according to media reports he
has tasked an investigation committee with probing the distribution of red
diesel during subsidized and non-subsidized periods since 2004.
Aoun said that rumors are more important than facts in Lebanon “but if people
who speak the truth didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be able to continue.”“You should
be aware of the continuous fabrications,” he warned.He urged officials to “return to their morals to safeguard the nation’s rights.”
“Don’t let corruption become a way of living; don’t turn theft into a virtue.
Robbery remains a crime and there’s a punishment against those who commit it,”
Aoun said. The FPM leader remarked that there is no control over the spending of
the financial institutions in Lebanon.
“I will not address the grants and money transfers that were stolen and lost,
nor the fake companies that are collecting the TVA,” he said.
“They can deprive us from everything but no one can take away our dignity and
freedom,” he added.
Thousands of Syrians Rally for Assad Ouster
by Naharnet /..Embattled Syrian president Bashar Assad's forces unleashed their
heaviest pounding yet of the central protest city of Homs, monitors said, as
thousands rallied for his ouster.
The protesters emerged from mosques after the main weekly Muslim prayers on
Friday, including in Damascus, following a call by Internet-based activists for
a rally for a "new phase of popular resistance."
"Get out! Get out!" they chanted at gatherings across the unrest-swept country,
according to YouTube videos.
"We want revenge against Bashar and Maher," some shouted, in reference to the
president's brother, who heads the feared Fourth Armored Division.
Activists said the scattered protests were among the most widespread in Damascus
of the 11-month uprising against the Assad regime inspired by the Arab
awakening.
The protesters turned out after the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly backed
an Arab League initiative calling on Assad to step aside, and ahead of a visit
by a Chinese envoy pushing for peace.
Assad, in remarks to visiting Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed
Laghdaf, said reforms have to be synchronized with a "return to peace".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 people were killed on Friday,
one of them at a demonstration that was fired upon in the capital.
At least 10,000 people demonstrated in the southern town of Dael, in Daraa
province, where the protest movement was born in March 2011, said the
Britain-based monitor.
In Homs, rockets crashed into strongholds of resistance at the rate of four a
minute, according to an activist, who warned the city faces a humanitarian
crisis.
Thirteen of the dead were in the Homs district of Baba Amr.
"It's the most violent in 14 days. It's unbelievable -- extreme violence the
like of which we have never seen before," said Hadi Abdullah of the General
Commission of the Syrian Revolution.
"There are thousands of people isolated in Homs ... There are neighborhoods that
we know nothing about. I myself do not know if my parents are okay," he told
Agence France Presse.
A tank fired into a residential part of Homs, before bursts of machinegun fire
clattered across the neighborhood, a YouTube video showed.
Swedish mobile live video streaming site Bambuser said Friday its services had
been blocked in Syria shortly after a user had broadcast a bombing in Homs.
"Dictators don't like Bambuser," company chairman Hans Eriksson told AFP, adding
it appeared Assad's regime saw the site as a "major threat."
Human rights groups estimated the two-week assault on Homs has killed almost 400
people, and a medic reached on Skype said 1,800 have been wounded.
"There are injuries that cannot be treated because of a lack of medical
equipment," Dr. Ali al-Hazzuri told AFP.
The violence came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed an
"overwhelming international consensus" against Damascus after the U.N. General
Assembly voted on Thursday to demand an immediate halt to the crackdown.
The strongly worded resolution, adopted by a 137-12 vote, calls on Damascus "to
stop all violence or reprisals immediately, in accordance with the League of
Arab States initiative."
It was referring to a peace plan put forward by the pan-Arab bloc calling on
Assad to hand power over to his deputy and for the formation of a unity
government ahead of elections.
Russia, China and Iran opposed the non-binding resolution. The vote came just
days after Beijing and Moscow vetoed a similar resolution at the U.N. Security
Council.
The vote "demonstrated an overwhelming international consensus that the bloody
assaults must end," Clinton said at a press conference with EU foreign policy
Chief Catherine Ashton.
"In the face of this global condemnation, the regime in Damascus, however,
appears to be escalating its assaults on civilians, and those who are suffering
cannot get access to the humanitarian assistance they need and deserve," she
said.
"So we will keep working to pressure and isolate the regime, to support the
opposition and to provide relief to the people of Syria."
France and Britain pledged to help the opposition in its struggle against
Assad's regime but said conditions were not right for a foreign intervention, as
in Libya.
Meeting for a summit in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British
Prime Minister David Cameron expressed support for a conference to form an
international coalition in Tunis next week dubbed the Friends of Syria.
"We cannot accept that a dictator massacre his own people, but the revolution
will not be brought from outside, it will rise from inside Syria, as it has done
elsewhere," Sarkozy told a joint news conference.
"What is happening in Syria is appalling, for the government to be butchering
and murdering its own people," Cameron said.
The two said France and Britain were working together to help the opposition,
with Sarkozy urging anti-Assad forces to unite and be better organized.
Meanwhile EU foreign policy chief Ashton denounced the arrest of blogger Razan
Ghazzawi, rights campaigner Mazen Darwish and several other Syrian activists,
calling for their immediate release.
Agence France Presse.