LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 09/2012


Bible Quotation for today/A Living Hope
1 Peter 01-12:" Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope, and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time. Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed. You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express, because you are receiving the salvation of your souls, which is the purpose of your faith in him.0 It was concerning this salvation that the prophets made careful search and investigation, and they prophesied about this gift which God would give you. They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow. God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as they spoke about those things which you have now heard from the messengers who announced the Good News by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things which even the angels would like to understand.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Make Vladimir Putin reassess in Syria/By: Michael Young/
March 08/12
Reassurances for Syria’s minorities/By Tariq Alhomayed/
March 08/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 08/12
Top US danger rating for Syrian chemical-biological missiles - ahead even of Iran

Satellite images show Iran cleaning secret nuclear activity, sources say
Israel cautiously welcomes Western nuclear talks with Iran
Report: Iran testing key nuclear bomb component
Iran threat: I don't trust Obama
Nuke fears: Trust America’s president
Report: Iran testing key nuclear bomb component
Ahmadinejad heads new council to 'safeguard' Iranian internet values
Red Cross finds Syria's Baba Amr empty after regime crackdown
Hamas denies it intends to stay out of Israeli war with Iran
Syrian-made drones spy on rebel strongholds

Think-Tank: Syrian Opposition Can't Beat Assad's Forces
U.S. Weighs 'Non-Lethal' Aid to Syria Rebels
Baragwanath: 2012 set to be a year of major developments for the STL
STL 3rd Annual Report: Lebanon's Investment in Justice Starting to Pay a Return
Saniora: Those Calling for Freedom in Lebanon Can't Do so while Supporting Syrian Regime
Hariri Launches Mustaqbal Political Document on Arab Spring
Romney Tightens Grip on Republican Nomination

Lebanon government reminds foreign envoys to behave
U.N. chief: Baba Amr completely devastated
Lebanon government reminds foreign envoys to behave
Future manifesto sees Arab Spring as harbinger of local change
Record-breaking Messi hits Leverkusen with 5
Promising future for Lebanon SMEs
Lebanon launches LL182 bln fund for fodder farms
Unjustified hysteria on Nahhas’ decision  
Hariri calls for a modern democracy
Jumblatt draws fire from pro-Syrian rivals over his criticism of Hafez Assad
Berri Stresses Jumblat still Part of Parliamentary Majority 
Israeli Troops Cross Fence, Deploy Briefly on Wazzani Bank

Top US danger rating for Syrian chemical-biological missiles - ahead even of Iran
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 7, 2012/US military officials said on Wednesday, March 7, that contrary to the prevailing impression, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed not only their dispute over an attack on Iran at their White House meeting on March 5, but devoted considerable attention to the Syrian crisis, focusing on the hundreds of surface-to-surface missiles armed with chemical and biological warheads possessed by Syria. The peril of the Assad regime launching them now tops America’s chart of the threats looming over Israel and Turkey, those sources told debkafile. The US president accordingly prevailed upon his Israeli guest to hurry up and patch up relations with Turkey, which he was willing to assist, because it would take a combined US-Turkish-Israeli military effort to ward off an attack by Syria’s poisoned missiles. Indeed, if the Syrian conflict is not solved, America might be forced to turn its missile shield against Bashar Assad’s missiles before they are needed against an Iranian attack. The hazard could be accelerated by three elements, say American sources:
1. Assad might decide to respond with extreme violence to foreign military intervention in Syria, even an operation confined only to drawing the civilian population into security zones safe from the attacks of his security services.
On Tuesday, March 6, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reverted to his call for security zones, and last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman offered humanitarian aid to Syria’s beleaguered civilian population. Both such actions, say the American sources, might well be taken by Assad as provocations deserving of reprisal by missiles – first those carrying chemical warheads, then biological ones.
Minister of Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai said Tuesday when he dedicated 14 public shelters at the two largest Druze communities in the Carmel district, Daliat al-Carmel and Usufiya, that “the Haifa district of the Home Front command is expected to be very important in the next war and we anticipate that hundreds of missiles will be fired at the home front.”
These shelters can accommodate 3,000 people.
2. Assad might respond to an Iranian request to take part in a preemptive strike launched by Tehran or Iranian retaliation for attacks on its nuclear facilities by the US or Israel.
3. Assad might transfer the unconventional missions to Iran’s Lebanese surrogate, the Hizballah - in which case, the US, Turkey and Israel would have no option but to smash them.
US military sources say that although Israel possesses a strong air force and special forces able to sabotage Assad’s chemical and biological missiles, the United States and Turkey would have to pitch in with military resources to destroy them completely.
That arsenal is being closely watched by US surveillance drones after the lessons from the Libyan war when at least 5,000 advanced anti-aircraft missiles were spirited out of Qaddafi’s weapons stores, some of them smuggled into Gaza for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Testifying to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, the Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey said the Assad regime had ““approximately five times more sophisticated air defenses than existed in Libya covering one-fifth of the terrain” and “about ten times more than we experienced in Serbia.” He also has chemical and biological weapons. His words reinforced the testimony presented Tuesday to the Senate’s Armed Services Committee by two senior American generals. Marine Gen. James Mattis, head of the US Central Command which covers the Middle East and Gulf region, said: “Syria has a ‘substantial chemical and biological weapons capability and thousands of shoulder-launched missiles.” Admiral William McRaven, head of the US Special Operations Command, also spoke to the committee about Syria’s weapons of mass destruction and American preparations to deal with this menace. Those briefings were the first assessments of Syrian chemical and biological weapons capabilities to be given publicly by the heads of America's armed forces. This was the direct result, US sources say, of the candid and open conversation on the subject between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu Tuesday.

Baragwanath: 2012 set to be a year of major developments for the STL
March 08, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Wednesday released its third annual report, covering the activities of the court over the last year. The report covers the period from March 2011 to the end of January 2012, and documents the confirmation of the first indictment, issued in January 2011. It details the finding by the Pre-Trial Judge that three further attacks – against Marwan Hamade, George Hawi and Elias Murr – were connected, thus giving the Tribunal jurisdiction over them. It also covers the decision by the Trial Chamber to try the four accused Hezbollah members in absentia – the first time an international criminal court has done so. The report marks the beginning of the STL’s second mandate, which began on March 1 and which will continue for another three years. The annual report reveals that the approved budget for the Tribunal, between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012, is 55.3 million euros ($72.5 million). In the foreword, the court’s president, David Baragwanath, in the foreword says that the report “looks forward to the year to come, which we expect to be one of major developments, including judicial activity.” The conclusion states the key aims of the Tribunal: to continue with investigations, to “support the Lebanese people in coming to terms with the serious consequences of the assassinations and, more generally, to assist in restoring faith in the rule of law in a country where assassinations have been employed as a political technique,” and thirdly to deliver justice fairly, and promptly. Until Feb. 28, 2013, the report adds, “the Tribunal may be expected to start trial proceedings against the four accused and to “prepare to consider charges in any other cases.” The report reiterates that “after this ... phase, Lebanon will be able to leave this troubled period behind, remembering its ancient past as the cradle of modern civil law, and finally free to focus on the future.”

Make Vladimir Putin reassess in Syria

March 08, 2012 /By: Michael Young/The Daily Star
The Obama administration wants President Bashar Assad to leave office. He massacres his population. Washington refuses to arm Syrian rebels. Iran and Russia send weapons to Assad’s killers. This is the dispiriting equation with which Syrians are living today. What is it about the Syrian conflict that Barack Obama does not get? On Tuesday, the American president assured us that Assad would not last. “Ultimately this dictator will fall,” he declared, before adding that the United States would not engage in unilateral military action. Syria is “more complicated” than Libya, Obama observed. He was right, but its complications do not entitle him to formulate an unintelligible policy that only ensures the dictator slaughters more innocents. Adding to the sense of bewilderment among Assad’s foes is an ambient assumption that Vladimir Putin’s election in Russia might change Moscow’s approach to Syria. This presumes that Putin regards Syria primarily as a domestic issue, when it was always considerably more than that. And yet Russia’s behavior will be essential in facilitating Assad’s exit, provided that Putin is made to realize that the Syrian regime is a burden he cannot afford to carry for very long.
The Americans insist that they don’t want to provoke a Syrian civil war by arming the Free Syrian Army. That vindication is inaccurate, disingenuous and incomplete. It is inaccurate because Syria is effectively in a civil war of sorts, one propelled by the regime and its outrages. It is disingenuous because, while Washington does not want to resort to a military option, others will, including U.S. allies Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and the Obama administration probably won’t actively hinder such steps. And it is incomplete, because American officials have omitted from the conversation the sinister role played by Iran and Russia, confirming that they regard the survival of the Assad regime as a strategic necessity, mainly against American interests.
Assad’s tactic is to crush the rebellion, village by village, town by town, and city by city. How the Syrian president intends to govern his sullen citizens after that is an open question. But if the principal American motive is a responsibility to protect civilians, then issuing statements of condemnation and piling up sanctions are unlikely to change Assad’s behavior; and a new Security Council resolution will either be vetoed by Russia or so watered down as to be irrelevant.
Whether Obama likes it or not, the only way to put the Assad regime on the defensive is to devise a plan that includes both military and political components. No one is asking that the United States go to war in Syria; but the administration can, with its Arab and Western partners, assist in organizing, training, and coordinating the actions of anti-regime combatants. The ultimate objective would be to negate Assad’s military superiority and compel Russia to alter its stance.
What the Free Syrian Army needs is the means to establish territory outside the control of the Syrian regime. I’m no military expert, but the Americans and Europeans have plenty. They must, with their Syrian counterparts, determine the kinds of weapons that would permit the Syrian opposition to create defensible autonomous zones where a government could take root, toward which deserters and civilians could flock, that would serve as points of distribution for humanitarian aid, and that would affirm daily that Assad is losing ground, with the tremendous psychological boost this would bring.
If such territories are created and expanded and Assad’s efforts to impose his will by force are seen to have hit a wall, it would become easier to advance a diplomatic solution. Necessarily, the basis for such a solution would be the departure of Bashar Assad and his acolytes. The imposition of a stalemate on the ground would effectively undermine the Russian (and Iranian) scheme to give Syria’s president the leverage to negotiate with the opposition from a position of strength. If an alternative government is formed in “liberated” areas, and is recognized by the Arab states and the international community, Moscow would have little choice but to consider Assad’s departure.
In that case, the United Nations Security Council could ask the Russians to mediate a resolution, alongside Kofi Annan, the new U.N.-Arab League envoy on Syria. The rationale would be to give Moscow latitude to defend its stakes in a Syrian transition. In the end, it will be up to a new Syrian government to determine what it expects of Russia, but there do not appear to be insurmountable objections in Washington, Brussels, or even Israel to granting Russia the influence it seeks in Damascus, on the condition that it embrace a change of regime.
For this to succeed, the regime’s military advantages have to be offset. The confidence and determination of the rebels is high. It took weeks for Assad’s army to enter Baba Amr. Even then, the regime employed tremendous firepower and brought in its crack 4th Armored Division to finish the job. A calibrated, well-thought-out military aid program could prove decisive. The Americans and Europeans might study Hezbollah’s tactics against Israel during the 2006 war for ideas.
Much more can also be done to lay the groundwork for a post-Assad order. The analyst Michael Weiss has astutely suggested putting together a police force, to maintain security in areas freed from Assad rule. The Syrian National Council has been utterly incompetent, justifying Western and Arab hesitation. But the opposition leadership can be thrust in the right direction if the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Europeans collaborate in sponsoring a more effective coalition. After all, they hold the powerful weapon of recognition. Unchanged, the current dynamics will bring chaos. Some Arab states have promised to send weapons to the rebels. If this is uncontrolled, it could destabilize Syria’s neighbors, through which the weapons would have to pass; the impact could be limited; and it might strengthen the otherwise relatively weak Syrian Islamists, alarming many in the West. The Obama administration is keen to see a negotiated outcome in Syria. That is why it must embrace a military approach that defines a political endgame. Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin have to feel that their reliance on intimidation is going nowhere. Only then might Putin show Assad the door, so he himself remains in the house.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Lebanon government reminds foreign envoys to behave

March 08, 2012/By Nafez Kawas/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Cabinet Wednesday “reminded” foreign diplomats of their duty to adhere to national and international laws governing the behavior of representatives of overseas governments. A statement issued after a session of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut, said that diplomats were apprised that they should adhere to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Lebanese law, and “respect” Lebanese state institutions.
Ministers issued the reminder “in order to avoid any violation that could have an impact on Lebanon’s relations” with other countries. The government added that it sought to treat any divisive issues “in the context of open dialogue,” based on the laws in force. The statement said the reminder was connected to the government’s affirmation that state security bodies were playing their role in “controlling the country’s borders and protecting security.” Asked after the session if the reminder was directed at U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly, Information Minister Walid Daouk said the statement covered all diplomatic missions. Connelly had met earlier in the day with Mikati, and reiterated her country’s fears that turmoil in Syria could affect Lebanon. “She [Connelly] underscored U.S. concerns that developments in Syria not contribute to instability in Lebanon,” a U.S. Embassy statement said. Connelly, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Mills, discussed with Mikati both political and security affairs in Lebanon, the situation in Syria and bilateral cooperation, according to the statement. On Tuesday, Connelly visited Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and urged the authorities to protect “all disarmed Syrians, including members of the Free Syrian Army.” Her visit to Charbel came two days after several hundred Syrians streamed across the Lebanese border in the northern Bekaa, fleeing violence in the governorate of Homs.
The Lebanese authorities, according to security sources, arrested a number of FSA members Sunday, although the Lebanese Army has yet to issue an official statement on the matter. Connelly’s recent comments about the situation in Syria have earned rebukes from a number of pro-Syrian politicians, who have decried her behavior as interference in Lebanese domestic affairs.
A 1991 Treaty of Brotherhood and Cooperation between Lebanon and Syria stipulates that neither country may be used as a base for destabilizing acts against the other.
In the wake of dueling pro- and anti-Syrian regime protests Sunday in Downtown Beirut, which were not authorized by the government, the Cabinet said it “affirmed” the protection of free expression and called on all political factions to distance themselves from rhetoric aimed at incitement.
The government warned that such rhetoric might harm national unity and have negative ramifications for Lebanon’s relations with Arab and non-Arab countries “during this difficult phase the region is experiencing.”The Higher Defense Council will meet Thursday afternoon, chaired by President Michel Sleiman, and is expected to address the volatile situation on Lebanon’s border with Syria. The Cabinet pushed back by one day a session that was scheduled to take place Thursday, in order to give ministers the required 48-hour period to review the agenda, as stipulated by the government’s by-laws.
Friday’s Cabinet session is scheduled to be held at Baabda Palace and chaired by Sleiman.

Jumblatt draws fire from pro-Syrian rivals over his criticism of Hafez Assad
March 07, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The tension between Walid Jumblatt and his pro-Syrian critics continued Tuesday, in the wake of the Druze leader’s most recent comments on the situation in Syria and his criticism of the late Hafez Assad.
Jumblatt’s weekly article in Al-Anbaa newspaper, which was published Tuesday, contained harsh words about Assad’s actions and rise to power in the 1960s and 1970s.
Jumblatt stated that Assad’s treatment of the Palestinian cause resembled that of the Zionist movement, noting that Assad was responsible for the arrest of Yasser Arafat by the Syrian authorities. Jumblatt’s rival, Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab, took exception to Jumblatt’s comments and said the late Assad was responsible for “supporting the Druze community during the [1983] War of the Mountain, and supporting an election law [in 1992] that helped some people who [Assad] said were afraid in Lebanon.”
Wahhab was referring to the first rounds of parliamentary polls after the Civil War, when electoral districting was catered to the needs of Jumblatt. Wahhab said it was “shameful” for Jumblatt to have made such comments about a late political leader. Meanwhile, a leading Baath Party official said the rising level of criticism of Syria in Lebanon represented a violation of the law and bilateral treaties between Beirut and Damascus. A Sidon-based Salafist sheikh organized a protest Sunday against the Syrian regime in Downtown Beirut, alongside a rival rally by the Baath Party.
Baath official and Baalbek-Hermel MP Assem Qanso urged leaders to look into violations of the 1989 Taif Accords, “which stipulate that no threat to the security and stability of Syria should be made from Lebanese territory.”In a statement, Qanso said he wanted to issue “the strongest possible condemnation” of Sunday’s anti-Syrian protest, which was facilitated by the Lebanese authorities.

Satellite images show Iran cleaning secret nuclear activity, sources say

By Associated Press /Diplomat tells Associated Press alleged testing at site could indicate attempt to develop nuclear arms; other sources say images show vehicles at site, indicating crews trying to clean it of radioactive traces. Diplomats say spy satellite images of an Iranian military facility show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site that indicate crews were trying to clean it of radioactive traces. Two of the diplomats told The Associated Press that those traces could have come from what they said was the testing of a small neutron trigger used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that, but says any testing of a so-called neutron initiator at the site could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.  Download Haaretz.com’s updated app for iPhone and Android
Iran faces growing international pressure over its nuclear program, which it insists is peaceful. Israel has hinted that it might resort to a pre-emptive miiltary strike to stop Tehran's program.  The diplomatic account came only a day after the ISNA news agency reported that Iran indicated that it would give the UN nuclear watchdog access to the Parchin complex. An International Atomic Energy Agency report last year said that Iran had built a large containment chamber at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, to conduct explosives tests that are "strong indicators" of efforts to develop an atom bomb.

Reassurances for Syria’s minorities

By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
The talk these days revolves around the necessity of providing reassurances to Syria’s minorities in order for them to abandon the Bashar al-Assad regime. In fact, we cannot say that all Syria’s minorities are with al-Assad so much as that they are reluctant to take a decisive stance. There can be no doubt that these minorities, particularly the Alawites and Christians, are now aware that the al-Assad ship is sinking.
The best way for these minorities to secure their position is to participate in drawing up the future of post-Assad Syria, and this by itself is taking a clear position. These minorities must express their view now, in order to protect Syria as a whole, and guarantee their own future. Al-Assad’s fall is inevitable, and all indications point to this, including the recent WikiLeaks documents that confirm Tehran is attempting to prepare itself for a post-Assad Syria. The Syrian minorities, particularly the Alawties and Christians, must look at recent experiences that demonstrate the danger of reading the political situation based upon wishful thinking or denying reality, namely the Sunni experience in post-Saddam Iraq. The Sunnis wrongly took the decision to initially boycott the political process in post-Saddam Iraq, and we now see them paying the price for this today. Therefore, the Syrian minorities are capable of being different to the Sunnis of Iraq, and this is by participating now [in the revolution]. This participation need not necessarily be public, for some senior Gaddafi officers contributed to the collapse of his regime in coordination with the Libyan revolutionaries without announcing this publicly. There are, of course, many ways of doing this, what is important is that the minorities secure their future for themselves. Indeed it is the duty of all Syrians to secure the unity of Syria and the full integration of the country’s social fabric, thereby ensuring that Syria will be a state of law, not a state of majority and minority; hostility does not provide nations will long life.
Therefore the best party to ensure the future of Syria’s minorities is the minorities themselves, and this is by participating in this real revolution, which has made a lot of sacrifices. For what is happening in Syria today is that a minority is killing the majority, and there are those who reject this logic, however we must not forget that the truth has been twisted and that the people who are most taken in by this logic are those who are most defensive about the future of Syria’s minorities. How can anybody call for the necessity of providing reassurances to the minorities whilst the majority is being massacred? This is completely illogical. Therefore, it is important that these minorities provide reassurances to themselves by taking part in the post-Assad Syria project, rather than by committing themselves to this tyrant. It would be difficult to say that all Syria’s minorities are supporting the tyrant, however the problem lies in the misreading of the political situation – or the outright denial of reality – on the part of some of Syria’s minorities. However there are some indications that reveal that some of Syria’s minorities are actively taking part in the revolution. On Monday, there was important news about the formation of the first Alawite battalion in the Free Syrian Army [FSA].
In summary, the best party to provide reassurances for Syria’s minorities is the minorities themselves, and this is by taking the critical decision and contributing to drawing up the future of a post-Assad Syria. As for what is said and repeated about this being a Sunni revolution; this is not in the interests of Syria, its people, or the region as a whole. The tyrant must be punished for his crimes, and our region must turn the page on this dark chapter.