LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 28/2012

Bible Quotation for today/
Mark 13/09-13: “You yourselves must watch out. You will be arrested and taken to court. You will be beaten in the synagogues; you will stand before rulers and kings for my sake to tell them the Good News. But before the end comes, the gospel must be preached to all peoples. And when you are arrested and taken to court, do not worry ahead of time about what you are going to say; when the time comes, say whatever is then given to you. For the words you speak will not be yours; they will come from the Holy Spirit. Men will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children. Children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Opening up to Islamists/By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain/November 27/12
Egypt's new dictatorship/By: Hussein Ibish/November 27/12
Mursi's constitutional decree: A bad decision/By Dr. Hamad Al-Majid/Asharq Alawsat/November 27/12

March 14 Delegation in Gaza as Soaid Rejects 'Monopolizing' Solidarity with Palestinians
Naharnet/A delegation from the March 14 opposition alliance visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as a show of support to the Palestinian people following the latest Israeli aggression on the territory.
March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid said in remarks to As Safir and al-Joumhouria newspapers, and LBCI TV, that the “one-day visit is aimed at (announcing our) solidarity with the Palestinian people and sending a political message that defending major causes is not the monopoly of any Lebanese or Islamic party.”
“The party that claims to be more patriotic than the other team will find out from the structure of the March 14” delegation to Gaza that the entire opposition shows solidarity with the Palestinian people, he said in reference to Hizbullah, which supports the Palestinian cause.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced on Sunday that Gaza militants had won "a clear victory" against Israel with their rocket bombardment.
But Soaid stressed that “Hizbullah should make recalculations and stop making treason accusations."
An eight-day Israeli offensive against Gaza ended with a truce last week after more than 166 Palestinians were killed, and hundreds others were injured.
But the conflict marked the first use by Palestinian factions of a long ranged Iranian-made rocket, the Fajr-5. It triggered air raid warnings in the heartland cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which have not experienced any sustained missile attack since Iraqi Scuds were fired in the 1991 Gulf War.
Soaid said the opposition represents the “conscience of Lebanese patriotism” that fits with the “nationalistic spirit of the Palestinians.”
“The March 14 presence in Gaza is a clear message that Arab support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people has no boundaries,” Soaid added.

LebanonPoliticsIsraelLebanon's SCC Holds 2-Day Nationwide Strike, Warns of Open-Ended Action
Naharnet /The Syndicate Coordination Committee went ahead with its general strike on Tuesday to press the government to refer the new public sector wage scale draft law to the parliament, warning of an open-ended strike if the cabinet failed to carry out its promises.
“We have been discussing the matter for 14 months now. The cabinet has to decide during its session on Wednesday whether to refer the draft law or we will remain on the streets,” head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud told protesters who gathered near the Ministry of Education.
The SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, has called for a general strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, urging employees to protest near the Grand Serails across Lebanon and public institutions in Beirut.
Member of Association of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Mohammed Qassem slammed the cabinet, holding it responsible for the “escalatory measures (undertaken by the SCC) for failing to meet its demands.”
“We will remain united until the wage scale is referred to the parliament,” head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib told protesters.
He urged teachers and public employees to heavily participate in Wednesday's protests.
Gharib hailed demonstrators, saying: “Our endeavors were successful. We paralyzed state institutions for two days and we will paralyze them for a longer period.”
Mahfoud added that officials “are wasting time but (the SCC) will not back down.”
But the general strike staged failed to attain the approval of the Catholic Schools as it announced on Monday that it will not close its doors.
However, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported that several Catholic Schools have committed to the strike on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mahfoud told VDL (100.5) that Prime Minister Najib Miqati “has to set a date to refer the new wage scale to the parliament.”
He criticized the premier, wondering if “strike will not lead to any results, then what would?”
Miqati said in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Tuesday that “all obstacles can be resolved calmly and through dialogue... Escalating the measures and making stubborn endeavors will only complicate the issue.”
He pointed out that the SCC has the right to express its opinion, however, he said that the “cabinet is responsible for the financial stability (of the country) and it can't take any risks without thoroughly examining all measures.”
The premier hoped that the SCC doesn't have “any hidden goals behind its strikes.”
The procrastination of the government in finding sources to fund the new scale has deepened the gap with the SCC, which is accusing the government of negligence over its failure to meet its demands.
However, the cabinet argues that it's delaying the issue to thoroughly discuss plans to boost the treasury's revenue to cover the expenses of the salaries boost.
The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.
Earlier this year, the cabinet approved the new salaries scale for public employees.
The wages increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012.

Syrian rebels destroy Assad’s radar station facing Israel
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 26, 2012
In a resounding blow to the combat capabilities of Bashar Assad’s army against external enemies, Syrian rebels destroyed their most important electronic warning radar station facing Israel – M-1 – Monday, Nov. 26, debkafile reports exclusively from its military sources.
This Russian-built station monitored Israeli warplanes' takeoff and landing activities at air bases in the Negev and Hatzerim in the south and tracked them up to the Syrian border. The facility was designed to guide Syrian missiles targeting any point on the Israeli map, in sync with air defense facilities south of Damascus and on the Golan Heights. The radar’s range also covered naval movements in Mediterranean waters off the shores of Israel and Lebanon.
Western military sources told debkafile that the destruction of this vital facility has blinded the two eyes which Syrian air, air defense and missile forces had trained on Israel. It has therefore crippled, though not completely dismantled, Bashar Assad’s ability to got to war against Israel, Jordan or Saudi Arabia.
M-1 radar also swept all parts of Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia where the important Tabuk air base is situated. Deployed there in addition to the Saudi Air Force are French fighter-bombers ready to go to war against Syria.M-1 also relayed current data on Israeli military movements to Hizballah and would have been a vital source of intelligence in a potential Lebanese Shiites offensive against the Jewish state.The Syrian ruler and his spokesmen have frequently threatened since the eruption of the popular insurrection that if Assad had his back to the wall, the entire Middle East would go up in flames, especially Israel. In the last two days, the Syrian rebels have made additional gains: They were able to capture areas abutting on the Jordanian border, excepting only the Ramtha border crossing. They also seized the Marj al-Sultan military air field southeast of Damascus and adjoining Syrian Army 4th Brigade bases.
Most of the men of the 82nd Infantry Brigade guarding M-1 were killed in the fighting, fled or were taken prisoner.
Our military sources notes that after M-1, the Assad regime still retains two key radar stations: M-2 in Shanshar south of Homs, which covers central and northern Syria; and M-3 near Latakia which keeps an eye on the northern region up to the Turkish border and the eastern Mediterranean up to Cyprus.
All three radar stations were linked to the Syrian general staff, air force, air defense, missile and navy operations rooms and fed them the essential real-time intelligence data needed for decision-making at the highest level. However, the loss of M-1 seriously hampers the Syria army’s capacity to take on Israel or Jordan

Pope, alongside Rai, calls for peace in Mideast November 27, 2012/By Daily Star Staff Agencies
VATICAN: Pope Benedict XVI launched a new call for peace in the Middle East Monday after meeting with Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch and elevating him to the level of cardinal.
Benedict, who visited in September, said the church wanted to encourage all peace efforts in the Middle East.
“The church encourages all efforts for peace in the world and in the Middle East, a peace that will only be effective if it is based on authentic respect for other people,” he said.
The pope’s comments came as he addressed the Lebanese pilgrims after Beshara Rai, 72, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, was named as a new cardinal at a ceremony called a consistory. The pontiff said he was glad he had the opportunity to visit Lebanon and the Church in the Middle East, and described the visit as joyful.
Pope Benedict also made a new appeal for freedom of worship for Christians, following deep concern over reports of violence and intimidation in Syria and Egypt.
“I want particularly to encourage the life and presence of Christians in the Middle East, where they must be able to live out their faith freely, and to launch once again a pressing appeal for peace in the region,” Benedict said in comments addressed to Lebanese pilgrims at the Vatican.
The appeal follows last week’s call for an end to the conflict in Gaza, where a cease-fire was agreed Wednesday.
The pope has made a number of statements related to Lebanon and the Middle East leading up to Rai’s visit.
After meeting with President Michel Sleiman Friday, the pope called for dialogue to resolve the problems between rival groups and for bolstering the nation’s commitment to diversity. He called for Lebanon to be a model of tolerance and diversity despite the increasing tensions in the region.
The pope formally elevated Rai to cardinal and five other prelates at a ceremony Saturday at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, bestowing red hats and gold rings on them. The new cardinals and their families had a private audience with Benedict Monday.
On Sunday, the pope told the newly named cardinals they should avoid trying to be powerful and instead focus on spreading their religion.
“To be disciples of Jesus, then, means not letting ourselves be allured by the worldly logic of power, but bringing into the world the light of truth and God’s love,” he said.
“To you, dear and venerable brother cardinals – I think in particular of those created yesterday – is entrusted this demanding responsibility: to bear witness to the kingdom of God, to the truth,” Benedict added.His choice to elevate Rai is seen by observers as a sign of Vatican support for religious diversity in Lebanon, which Benedict said was a “model” for the region during his three-day visit in September. The visit was his first to Lebanon and the last papal visit was in 1997 by John Paul II.

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

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vows to strike Tel Aviv if Lebanon hit
November 27, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has warned Israel that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and other cities if the Jewish state attacked Lebanon.
In a televised speech commemorating Ashoura Sunday, Nasrallah warned Israel against trying to regain momentum following what he said was its “defeat” in the Gaza Strip.
His speech came four days after an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire ended eight days of ferocious fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, during which Palestinian factions lobbed missiles that hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Some 166 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed in the fighting.
“Israel, which was shaken by a handful of Fajr-5 rockets during eight days – how would it cope with thousands of rockets which would fall on Tel Aviv and other [cities] ... if it attacked Lebanon?” Nasrallah said, drawing cheers from thousands of Hezbollah’s supporters assembled at Al-Raya Stadium in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The crowd, including women and children, was dressed in black marking Ashoura, the day when the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein was killed in battle 13 centuries ago.
“If the confrontation in the Gaza Strip, given its blockade, included missiles with a range of 40 to 70 kilometers, the battle with us will range over the whole of occupied Palestine [Israel] – from the Lebanese border to the Jordanian border and the Red Sea,” Nasrallah said, speaking through a huge screen via video link.
“From Kiryat Shmona to Eilat,” he added, referring to Israel’s northernmost town on the Lebanese border to the Red Sea port furtherest south.
Nasrallah has in the past warned that Tel Aviv would be targeted with rockets in any future war with Israel.
The Fajr-5s, with a range of 75 km (45 miles) – able to strike Tel Aviv or Jerusalem – and 175 kg warheads, are the most powerful and long-range rockets to have been fired from Gaza.
Nasrallah, who heads the March 8 coalition, reiterated Hezbollah’s willingness to attend a new session of National Dialogue which President Michel Sleiman has been trying to convene in an attempt to resolve the political crisis sparked by last month’s assassination of police intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan.
However, Future bloc MPs hit back at Nasrallah, saying his speech did not contain anything new concerning the National Dialogue.
The opposition March 14 parties have demanded the government’s resignation before attending any Dialogue session with the Hezbollah-led March 8 bloc.
“We are ready to respond to [Sleiman’s] invitation for [National] Dialogue on Nov. 29 but we reject conditions by anyone with regard to Dialogue and those being pompous [toward us on this matter],” Nasrallah said.
He added that his party wanted to prevent any Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon following the sectarian tension stoked by the 20-month-old bloody conflict in Syria.
He also said that his party did not consider the March 14 parties as “enemies but merely as political rivals.”
“We do not see any Lebanese party as an enemy but a rival ... our only enemy is Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that his party was keen on preserving civil peace in the country.
He warned against attempts to “portray Israel as the friend and Iran as the enemy,” saying the Islamic Republic was the true friend of Arabs and Muslims.
On the conflict in Syria, Nasrallah said Hezbollah supported all “oppressed people around the world,” and described Syria with all its people and army as oppressed.
“Victory in Syria today requires an end to the fighting, bloodshed, destruction and everything that is happening there ... Syria as a whole is a target,” he said.
“Sayyed Nasrallah tried to tell [March 14 parties] that you must come to Dialogue under my own conditions and you must come subdued,” MP Ammar Houri told Al-Sharq radio station. He reiterated the March 14 stance that the solution to the political crisis lay with the government’s resignation.
Future MP Atef Majdalani called on Hezbollah to put its arms aside and sit equally with March 14 politicians at the Dialogue table.
“Dialogue is not possible between heavily armed people and unarmed people. The one who is being pompous is Hezbollah, which accuses others of treason,” Majdalani told Future TV. “We are ready for dialogue but on condition of equality, and let them put their arms in the custody of the Lebanese state.”

Sleiman insists on impossible dialogue
November 27, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The fate of a new National Dialogue session set for this week hung in the balance Monday amid a March 14 boycott and a determined President Michel Sleiman’s goal of bringing rival factions together for talks on breaking the current political stalemate that threatens to destabilize the country.
Also Monday, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt unveiled the PSP’s “initiative” aimed at defusing tensions and narrowing the wide gap between the March 8 and March 14 parties on a solution to the political crisis. The initiative essentially called on all parties to commit to National Dialogue as the only means to resolve the crisis sparked by last month’s assassination of the country’s top security official.
The Dialogue session proceed as planned Thursday despite the March 14 coalition’s decision to boycott all-party talks until the government’s resignation, a source at the Baabda Palace told The Daily Star.
The source said Sleiman still insisted on convening the session, hoping his more-than-monthlong efforts would succeed in bringing political rivals together at the Dialogue table.
However, the opposition was adamant on its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government before attending any talks with the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance.
“The March 14 stance on National Dialogue has not changed. No dialogue before the government’s resignation,” Beirut MP Ammar Houri told The Daily Star.
Houri, who belongs to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc, said he expected Thursday’s session to be postponed due to the absence of March 14 representatives.
Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, chief of the police’s Information Branch, was assassinated in a car bombing on Oct. 19 in the Beirut district of Ashrafieh.
The killing has thrown Lebanon into a political crisis following the March 14 coalition’s call for the resignation of the government and the formation of “a neutral salvation Cabinet” before attending any Dialogue session which Sleiman has been trying to convene.
The uncertainty surrounding Thursday’s session came as Sleiman renewed his call for March 8 and 14 parties to accept Dialogue with an open heart, while indirectly blasting the two sides for setting preconditions for attending the talks and for betting on developments of the 20-month-bloody conflict in neighboring Syria.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at Baabda Palace, Sleiman also criticized the March 14 decision to boycott Dialogue, the government and all Cabinet-related meetings in Parliament as part of the opposition’s tactics to force a government resignation.
“Of course, democracy is not founded on boycott. It’s true that boycott is a democratic right but it is not the basis of a democratic action. On the contrary, democracy requires sitting together, voicing one’s opinion and listening to the other’s opinion,” he said.
Citing Israel’s devastating airstrikes on the Gaza Strip last week, the ongoing fighting in Syria and violent street clashes between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi, Sleiman said: “We all know that we have an independent state and a democratic system ... Let’s come to Dialogue with an open heart and talk and express our opinion. Let’s drop gambles by the two sides who are betting on external [Syrian] conditions. Let’s drop preconditions. The two sides are putting conditions.”The president also called on March 8 and March 14 parties to abandon an exchange of accusations and their “mutual pompous behavior.”
“I repeat, let’s come here [to Baabda Palace] to say what we want to say at the Dialogue table, which is open. Everyone’s opinion will be heard,” he said.
Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, which support the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, have accused the March 14 parties of betting on the downfall of the Syrian regime in order to regain power in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Jumblatt announced the broad outlines of the PSP’s initiative aimed at promoting a solution to the political crisis. The initiative called on all parties to accept National Dialogue as the only means to resolve the crisis and avoid involvement in the Syrian conflict. “The initiative stipulates a commitment to National Dialogue as a means to resolve crises and the need for political parties to commit to the state as the sole authority,” Jumblatt told a news conference at his residence in Mukhtara. “Only dialogue will pull the country out of the crisis.”
The initiative is based on the “Baabda Declaration,” a commitment by all parties to the state as the sole authority, stopping media incitement and avoiding involvement in the Syrian crisis, Jumblatt said, but added that he did not expect positive results from the initiative. “But we cannot stand with our arms folded.”
The “Baabda Declaration” agreed by rival March 8 and March 14 leaders at the June 11 National Dialogue meeting called for “keeping Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts and sparing it the negative repercussions of regional tensions and crises.”
Jumblatt said the PSP’s initiative was in line with Sleiman’s “great efforts” to resume inter-Lebanese dialogue in cooperation with Speaker Nabih Berri.
He called on the feuding parties to avoid “fiery statements” in order to defuse political and sectarian tensions stoked by the turmoil in Syria.
Jumblatt said Hezbollah and some March 14 parties were not adhering to the government’s policy to disassociate Lebanon from the repercussions of the Syrian conflict. “[Parties] should refrain from meddling in the Syrian crisis ... Lebanese political parties are mere tools in a conflict bigger than what Lebanon handle,” he said.
Referring to the March 14 demand for the formation of “a neutral Cabinet” to supervise next year’s parliamentary elections, the PSP leader said : “We cannot enter into a neutral Cabinet without consultations ... A neutral Cabinet must win the approval of all [parties].” He added that if no agreement was reached on “a centrist or technocrat Cabinet,” he would again name Mikati for prime minister.

Israel finds Gaza easier to attack than Lebanon
November 27, 2012/By Nicholas Blanford The Daily Star
BEIRUT: As the cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian groups in Gaza continues to hold, analysts are debating whether the broader basis of the weeklong conflict was motivated by looming Israeli elections or perhaps as a test for a possible strike against Iran.
Israel holds elections on Jan. 22 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party is expected to fare well.
Pre-election military offensives by Israeli leaders against Israel’s enemies are not uncommon as an attempt to build up the government’s security credentials and send voters to the polls amid an atmosphere of martial triumph.
But they do not always go according to plan.
Perhaps the most infamous example is the 16-day Grapes of Wrath offensive against Lebanon in April 1996 when the electoral lead of then-Israeli premier Shimon Peres was being whittled away by Netanyahu, his then-Likud challenger.
Under pressure, Peres launched a broad air and artillery blitz against Lebanon with the tacit support of the United States. However, Peres’ political calculations came undone when Israeli artillery gunners shelled a base for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in Qana, killing over 100 Lebanese refugees who had sought shelter there. An international outcry hastened an end to the campaign, which concluded with an agreement that enshrined Hezbollah’s right to resist the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon and, four weeks later, with Peres losing the election.
The results of inconclusive conflicts such as those waged in recent years in Lebanon and twice in Gaza leaves the perception of victory open to spin and the eye of the beholder.
Hamas was quick to claim victory against Israel while Netanyahu has been criticized by the Israeli right wing which was clamoring for the thorough crushing of Palestinian militants in Gaza.
But some analysts view the Gaza campaign through the prism of the Israel-Iran confrontation, suggesting that it has weakened one of Iran’s retaliatory options in the event of an Israeli strike against Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
Salman Masalha, writing in Israel’s daily Haaretz, said the Gaza conflict could be called “the little Iranian operation” as it was designed to “paralyze Iran’s southern wing” while the next one could be dubbed “the little northern Iranian operation” against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Such analysis may be a little premature, however. The weeklong aerial bombardment may have killed some of Hamas’ top military figures and smashed some military infrastructure, but it is negligible in the broader context of the Israel-Iran confrontation.
Gaza is not a principle means of Iranian retaliation against Israel if the Islamic Republic is attacked, partly because of the limited retaliatory assets at the disposal of Palestinian groups but also because Tehran’s influence with Hamas is not as strong as its influence with Hezbollah. Iran and Hamas have divergent views on the civil war in Syria and, while there is still cooperation between the two, the Palestinian group is unlikely to jeopardize its political interests in Gaza for the sake of assisting Tehran defend its nuclear ambitions.
While Israel can attack Gaza with some impunity, launching an operation in Lebanon to neutralize Hezbollah ’s military assets ahead of an attack on Iran is a very different matter.
Since 2006, a genuine deterrence has emerged between Hezbollah and Israel in which both sides have been preparing for another round of fighting while being fully aware of the terrible consequences for Lebanon and Israel should a new war erupt.
Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, established his party’s deterrence strategy through a series of carefully phrased speeches between 2008 and 2011 in which he spelled out the consequences of any Israeli attack on Lebanon: If Israel bombs Beirut, Hezbollah will bomb Tel Aviv; if Israel imposes a naval blockade on Lebanon, Hezbollah will sink Israeli ships; if Israel invades Lebanon, Hezbollah has the means to invade Galilee.
Nasrallah wastes little opportunity to reinforce this deterrence posture. At the Ashoura commemoration Sunday, he asked “how will Israel tolerate ... thousands of rockets that will rain down on Tel Aviv and other areas if it attacked Lebanon?”
A battle with Lebanon would reach all Israel “from Kiryat Shemona [in the north] to Eilat [in the south],” he added.
These are threats that Israel is obliged to take seriously and that Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza cannot replicate.
Even the relative success of the Iron Dome anti-missile system at intercepting Hamas’ rockets cannot really be considered a test-run for dealing with the consequences of a strike on Iran, as some U.S. commentators have posited. Hezbollah’s arsenal of rockets include systems of a size and range beyond the present capabilities of Iron Dome. Israel is developing a second anti-missile system called David’s Sling which is supposed to be able to cope with the larger rockets in Hezbollah’s possession. Israel held a successful test last week of David’s Sling’s Stunner interceptor missile, but the system is not expected to be operational until 2014 or 2015.
Israel also has the Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system capable of intercepting Iranian Shihab-3 missiles and is developing a third generation version of the Arrow to knock out ballistic missiles in space. But the Arrow 3 is two or three years away from entering service.
Rather than a calculated precursor to an Israeli attack on Iran, the Gaza offensive appears simply to have been another of the pummelings by air and artillery that Israel mounts every few years against Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Israeli right-wingers cynically refer to these periodic offensives as “mowing the grass” to degrade Hamas’ military assets and kill commanders, sparing them the need to make the compromises necessary for a balanced and durable peace. The military weakness of Palestinian factions in Gaza allows Israel to carry out such offensives at relatively low-risk, something that cannot be said about a strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon or against Iran.

Pope expresses joy at Maronite Patriarch’s nomination as cardinal
November 26, 2012 /Pope Benedict XVI expressed his joy on the occasion of the nomination of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rai as new cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, the National News Agency reported. “I welcome you with great joy among the new cardinals. The universal church that has been called by God rejoices today,” the pope addressed Rai as saying during a meeting with the newly appointed cardinals on Monday. The pontiff also addressed the Christian of the Middle East, urging them to become “people of peace and forgiveness.”
On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI officially named six new non-European cardinals to the body that will elect his successor, including the Lebanese patriarch.
-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese political activist to be released soon, lawyer says
November 26, 2012 /The lawyer of Lebanese political activist Pierre Hashash said that his client would be released in the coming days. Lawyer Bassem al-Aam told NOW on Monday that Military Judge Sami Sader dropped all charges against Hashash and that his release was imminent. He added that the Lebanese Public Prosecution ordered the release of the activist without bail or travel restrictions.
Artist and political activist Pierre Hashash was allegedly apprehended by plain-clothed army intelligence officers on Wednesday and severely beaten with rifle butts at a restaurant in Batroun. Hashash’s sister claims to have been beaten unconscious by an army intelligence officer when she tried to film the scene of her brother’s arrest.
-NOW Lebanon

Kataeb Party calls for distancing Lebanon from regional turmoil
November 26, 2012 /The Lebanese Kataeb Party warned against using Lebanon to settle scores between regional powers in light of the latest security incidents in South Lebanon that coincided with the flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip. “Lebanon should not be used as a regional post box. We condemn all the attempts to implicate it in the troubles in Gaza or any other event in the region,” the statement issued on Monday following the party’s weekly meeting said. “The different Lebanese political factions should deal in the utmost caution with the situation in the country. The attempts to fire rockets toward Israel… are a clear and dangerous indication that the [authority] of the state is violated and that its sovereignty is facing internal challenges.”
Last week, two rockets were fired from south Lebanon towards the Israeli border. The incident came amid a flare-up in violence between Gaza and Israel that ended in a truce after eight days of cross-border attacks killed 166 Palestinians and six Israelis. The Kataeb Party also addressed the controversies surrounding the upcoming parliamentary elections, saying that a decision by the Lebanese authorities to postpone the polls scheduled to take place in 2013 “could not be taken under any pretext.” “The issue of the electoral law should be separate from the question of boycotting the government.”
Lebanon has witnessed deepening tension between the March 14 opposition coalition, to which the Kataeb Party is affiliated, and the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, led mainly by Hezbollah-affiliated March 8 politicians.The tension came to a head when March 14 announced in late October that it would cut all ties with the Miqati government, including parliamentary meetings.
-NOW Lebanon

LF MP Fadi Karam retorts to Nasrallah over dialogue remarks
November 26, 2012 /A Lebanese Forces bloc MP retorted to the latest fiery speech by the chief of the Shiite group Hezbollah, throwing back at him the accusations he had targeted the opposition with.
“Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah refuses to attend a dialogue with pre-conditions, but hasn’t he always imposed pre-conditions before any dialogue session?” MP Fadi Karam was quoted as saying by the National News Agency on Monday.“The most prominent of these conditions was his refusal to discuss the issue [of his party’s] weapons.”
The LF MP’s statement added that the slanderous remarks made by the Hezbollah chief were unfounded since the opposition’s stance was based on efforts to “defend Lebanon from the danger of [illegal] arms.”“Our refusal to attend dialogue with you is because you are not ready for such dialogue. It is not a matter of arrogance, but simply an attempt to protect ourselves and defend Lebanon from the danger of [illegal] arms.”In his latest speech on the occasion of the Day of Ashura, Nasrallah said on Sunday that his party was “prepared to answer the invitation for dialogue on November 29 but will not accept any pre-conditions or the arrogance of [our opponents].”Lebanon’s National Dialogue Committee convened on several occasions under President Michel Suleiman’s persistent request over the past few months to discuss Lebanon’s defense strategy and the thorny issue of illegal arms in Lebanon, with particular focus on Hezbollah’s weapons stockpile.
Recent calls for dialogue have, however, been the center of controversy after the March 14 opposition coalition, to which the LF is affiliated, announced in late October that it would cut all ties with the government – mainly comprised of March 8 politicians – including parliamentary meetings.-NOW Lebanon

Hamas: Iran losing Arab sympathy for backing Assad
November 26, 2012
Iran must reconsider its support for the Syrian regime if it does not want to alienate Arab public opinion, the deputy chief of the Iranian-backed Palestinian movement Hamas said on Monday.
"Iran's position in the Arab world, it's no longer a good position," Mussa Abu Marzuk, whose movement's politburo had been based in Damascus, said during a briefing to reporters at his new headquarters in the Egyptian capital."It has to address its position, so as not to lose public opinion," he said.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, relocated its leadership from Damascus to Qatar and Egypt after a rift with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his brutal crackdown on the revolt against his regime that began in March last year.As a result, his Islamist movement is no longer as close to Tehran, which supplies weapons to Palestinian militants, as it once was.
"Iran asked Hamas to adopt a closer position to Syria. Hamas refused, and this has affected our relationship with Iran," Abu Marzuk said.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal confirmed last week that Iran "had a role in arming" the movement's militants in Gaza during their eight-day conflict with Israel, and thanked Tehran, despite the disagreement over support for Assad.-AFP

Egypt's new dictatorship
By: Hussein Ibish, November 26, 2012
A protester stares down police in Cairo during riots following President Mohammad Morsi’s power grab. (AFP photo)
"Article VI: The President may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution." Read that aloud slowly, and let the words roll around your tongue as they ooze out like dark, thick molasses.
It's the centerpiece of Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi's recent "Constitutional Declaration,” accruing to himself powers and authority—at least on paper—undreamt of by his autocratic predecessors Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.
Anyone surprised by this naked and extremely aggressive power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood was either woefully naïve or grossly misinformed about its deep-seated authoritarian orientation and agenda. It is inevitable that it will attempt, if it can, to impose a dictatorship in Egypt more oppressive and thoroughgoing than anything in the past, as the declaration demonstrates.
Brokering the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza gave Morsi the domestic and international space to act decisively. He has proven, if nothing else, a ruthless political butcher, wasting no opportunity to bring the knife down whenever he can.
The Brotherhood is trying to mollify Egyptians with two extremely unconvincing sleights of hand.
First, attention is being directed to other, far more specific, articles. Some measures will be popular, such as replacing the widely reviled prosecutor-general and reopening or retrying cases involving abuses by members of the former regime despite the double jeopardy involved.
More alarm was caused by Article II, which makes all of Morsi's decisions since he took office "final and binding." It forbids any form of judicial review or legal challenge, including retroactively annulling any rulings already issued against them.
It is Article VI, however, that really establishes a new and unprecedentedly arbitrary dictatorship in Egypt, giving Morsi virtually unfettered powers. It's hard to imagine any executive action or decree whatsoever that couldn't be justified as "protecting the country and the goals of the revolution." At least in his own opinion, and that's the only one that counts, because, remember, his decisions are not subject to any checks, balances, lawsuits or other form of challenge whatsoever.
His word, quite literally, is law. In Egypt now, at least according to his declaration, there is no recourse at all.
The second sleight-of-hand the Brotherhood is using to try to mollify Egyptians is the idea that this is all simply "temporary," to be rescinded once there is a new Constitution in place and a new parliament elected. CK MacLeod reminded me of Carl Schmitt's observation that emergency decrees or temporary suspensions of the law are often the norm in political modernity, not the exception. Hitler, for example, never rescinded the Weimar Republic Constitution. He merely suspended it every four years following the Reichstag fire, until the Soviet army overran Berlin.
It's an apt point. Almost every autocratic Arab state has used "temporary" or "emergency" laws to justify dictatorial rule and human rights abuses. Israel, too, relies on "emergency" laws promulgated by the British mandatory authorities in 1945, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories. So why should Muslim Brotherhood-ruled Egypt be any different? The tediously predictable answer is, left on its own, it won't be. It will be, if anything, more oppressive than the (also "temporary") nationalist one-party dictatorship that preceded it.
Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood will not relinquish these unprecedented dictatorial powers unless they are forced to. Even then, they will cling onto as much as possible. It's going to be up to the Egyptian opposition to unite and force their hands. It will be very difficult -- but the way things are going not impossible and possibly even not neccessary -- for Morsi's government to block new parliamentary and presidential elections supposed to take place in the foreseeable future.
If the Egyptian people are to avoid new and even worse dictatorship than they just overthrew, they must avoid political domination by the Muslim Brotherhood. But in order to achieve that, the opposition is going to have to unite and provide an alternative which they can support, not a morass of bickering.
The government and the Brotherhood have reacted to the protests against the declaration with a combination of violence and nonchalance. They clearly think this is a temporary storm they can weather, with the already secured support of their Salafist "frienemies." In terms of the fundamental state stability, they're probably right. Street protests probably won't be enough at this stage to undo the damage.
Protests and criticism at all levels, and as much litigation as possible, should be focused on discrediting or even undoing Morsi's declaration of dictatorship. But real hopes for Egyptian democracy in the long run depend on removing from power, presumably by the ballot box, the person and party brazen, power-mad and tyrannical enough to promulgate Article VI.
Assuming, of course, that there ever is another election in Egypt.

Syrian Kurds form unified army, call for feralism
By Shirzad Shikhani
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat – A Syrian-Kurdish source, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, revealed that “Kurdish forces represented in the People’s Council of West Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Council arrived in Erbil to pave the way for the unification of fighters inside Syria’s Kurdish regions, to establish a popular army as an alternative to the armed militias that have run the security situation in Syria for a number of months”.
This group of Kurdish parties and forces, along with coordinating bodies, met in Erbil a few days ago to reach an agreement on unifying Kurdish efforts. This is in order to confront the threats that Kurdish regions are currently facing from Salafi groups, who in recent days have engaged in military confrontations with members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which effectively controls the situation on the ground in Syria’s Kurdish cities.
A leading Kurdish source informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “talks were conducted in Erbil under the auspices of the leaders of the Kurdistan region. These talks brought about a consensus to activate the remainder of an earlier agreement signed by the two Kurdish councils (the People’s Council of West Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Council) several months ago in Erbil, known as the Hewlêr [Kurdish name for Erbil] Agreement”.
The source stressed that “a comprehensive review was conducted of developments since that agreement was signed, as well as discussions about what has been accomplished and what remains in progress. Developments on the ground that have taken place in the region, namely the radical [Salafi] Islamist forces intensifying their confrontation with the Kurdish people in Syrian cities, necessitates the accelerated implementation of the rest of the agreement’s terms. Thus we reached an agreement to unite our armed forces inside Syria and to link them to the Kurdish Supreme Committee that represents both councils and the coordinating bodies”.
The source added that “there was also an agreement to increase the number of members in the Kurdish Supreme Committee to 21 members from each council. Each council now provides 16 of its own members in addition to 5 further members drafted from the coordinating bodies or independents”.
On the military front, the Kurdish source informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “it was agreed that a new armed force will be formed to replace the existing forces - formed previously by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party - who currently run the security situation in the liberated Kurdish cities. The new force will also consist of armed elements affiliated to that party, but in addition to 650 young Syrians who were previously trained in Iraqi Kurdistan. This force will be tasked with defending the liberated Kurdish regions in cooperation with all other parties, and it will also be ready to contribute to the liberation of the rest of the Kurdish cities and regions, should this be necessary”.
The source added that “this new joint force will be the nucleus of a wider local entity that will take over security operations and fill the vacuum that is left after the fall of the ruling regime in Damascus”.
In terms of politics, the source said that “the latest Erbil meeting raised democratic slogans for an independent Syria and for federalism in West Kurdistan. Furthermore, the Kurdish Supreme Committee, consisting of the People’s Council of West Kurdistan, the Kurdish National Council and local coordinating bodies should be the sole legitimate representative of the Kurdish people in Syria”.

Obama "betting" on Mursi – US State Department source
By Mohammad Ali Salih
Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat – Following White House silence on the controversial constitutional declaration issued by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Thursday, a US State Department source, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, revealed that President Barack Obama is “betting” on Mursi not just to emerge from the current crisis with the Egyptian opposition, but to help bring together the Arabs and Israelis.
The US State Department source revealed that “during the war of the rockets between Israel and Hamas, presidents Obama and Mursi spoke on numerous occasions over the telephone for long periods of time. It appears that Obama is not only grateful to Mursi for his role in mediating between Hamas and Israel, but he want him as an ally over the next 4 years.”
The source added “don’t forget that Obama’s dealings with former president Hosni Mubarak were not enthusiastic because he knew that he did not represent the true desires of the Egyptian people. And do not forget the contradiction in Obama’s 2009 speech about freedom and democracy for the Arabs which took place in Mubarak’s Egypt. However today, following the revolution in Egypt and the rise of the Islamists to power, Obama is also not enthusiastic, fearing Egyptian Islamist hostility towards Israel and the abolition of the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel. However Obama is optimistic regarding Mursi’s role in Gaza. I believe that Obama liked what he saw of Mursi in terms of viewing him as a moderate Islamist figure, a doctor in engineering in America, whilst some of his children are American citizens.”
As for the official US State Department response to Mursi’s controversial constitutional declaration, this drew fire from both sides, with some criticizing it for being too soft, and others viewing it as interference in Egyptian affairs. The US State Department announced that Mursi’s decisions and declarations “raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community” adding ‘we call for calm and encourage all parties to work together and call for all Egyptians to resolve their differences over these important issues peacefully and through democratic dialogue.”
For his part, Daniel Greenfield of the Freedom Center linked Mursi’s decision to the ceasefire the Egyptian president mediated between Hamas and Israel, saying “a day after the ceasefire, Mursi assumed near-dictatorial powers in Egypt. The timing of that is not likely to be a coincidence.”
He opined that “either Mursi had cleared the assumption of such power beforehand with Obama or assumed that he had demonstrated his importance to such an extent that Obaam would not dare protest this action” adding “the Jan 25 Revolution is now becoming more and more explicitly an Islamic Revolution, just like Iran.”
Whilst Bernard Avishai, a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, wrote “Our working hypothesis must be that Mursi, like the Nasserite Sadat in 1974, sees himself not only as a nominal leader of a pan-Arab movement and advocate for Palestinian grievances, but as the president of a poor, difficult, yet central country, with interests that go beyond any ideology.”
An Egyptian court received 12 legal challenges to President Mursi's decree which prompted violent clashes across the country and a sharp drop in the country's stock market. The legal challenges claimed that Mursi's decree was unconstitutional and illegal.
For his part, Chaiman of Egyot's Islamist-dominated Shura Council, Ahmed Fahmi, also criticized the Egyptian president, saying "we had hopes that President Mursi would put the constitutional declaration before a national referendum." He called on Mursi to conduct a national dialogue with all forces to put an end to the crisis.

Mursi's constitutional decree: A bad decision?
By Dr. Hamad Al-Majid/Asharq Alawsat
Egypt has fallen victim to two forces; the power of the Islamists’ popularity and the political, judicial, economic and media influence of the liberals. These two forces have competed ever since the Free Officers’ revolution in the early 1950s, but recent events show that the relationship between them has now gone beyond antagonism to fierce hostility, and from lawful strikes to violent blows below the belt. This now threatens to plunge the country into a swamp, filled with the bacteria of unrest.
The newspaper al-Yaom al-Sabaa, affiliated to the liberal current, reported from its own sources in the presidential palace that some liberals were planning to use the judiciary to strike a fatal blow to President Mursi, after they had failed to use the military to that end. Thus the President announced his recent and dangerous constitutional decrees to eat his opponents for breakfast before they ate him for lunch. Thanks to the very nature of this case we are not able to deny or confirm this hypothesis, but the reality on the ground says that the civil trend, the remnants of the former regime, businessmen and the majority of the Egyptian media - despite the many contradictions between them - are launching accusatory arrows at the Brotherhood and its elected president from the same bow. These forces do not have the asset of widespread popularity, but they have the means to be effective and powerful, and some of them have escalated matters to the level of violence. We all saw the hired thugs who tried to storm the Interior Ministry and who did destroy several of the Freedom and Justice Party’s headquarters, setting fire to a number of them without one leader of the “civil” opposition criticizing these irresponsible acts.
The liberal current’s recent hostility has transformed it from a civilized opposition using criticism and observation to evaluate the Islamists’ term in power, to an opposition that wants - as we have already seen - to spoil President Mursi’s experience at all costs. Mursi had only been in office for a few weeks when demands first surfaced to overthrow the president and withdraw confidence from his government. Some of these calls made by the opposition seem indifferent to the reality of the situation, such as the fact that the majority of Mursi’s cabinet ministers are not affiliated to the Islamic movement. Furthermore, the president has achieved success in restoring something of Egypt’s diplomatic role, which diminished during the reign of the Mubarak regime, and in dispelling the rumors about Egypt strengthening relations with the Iranian regime. Mursi has in fact acted to the contrary, as a number of Western newspapers have commented, and has dealt blows to Iranian influence in the region by redirecting the Hamas’ compass towards Cairo instead of Tehran, and by strongly criticizing the Bashar al-Assad regime whilst on Iranian soil. Finally, President Mursi recently achieved further diplomatic success in the signing of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, during which time America realized the importance of having a negotiator stemming from a popular base, rather than an alliance whereby the stronger ally simply dictates to the weaker one.
At the same time, the euphoria surrounding these achievements has emboldened President Mursi, and he has begun to take tougher decisions to consolidate his authority and to prove that he deserved to be elected. We first saw this with his difficult decision to dismiss the strong military figure [Field Marshall] Tantawi and his assistant [General] Sami Anan, and most recently with his latest constitutional decrees. However, not every decision can be a success, for Mursi’s latest decrees, unlike his decision to neutralize the military, have created sharp divisions within Egyptian society. Now he has entered into a dangerous confrontation with a strong judicial regime that not even the semi-totalitarian Mubarak regime could tame.
Mursi’s constitutional decrees have also reinforced the traditional accusation long repeated by the opponents of the Islamists, namely that they participate in elections only as a means of seizing unilateral power. The Brotherhood’s experience of governance in Egypt is particularly under the microscope, unlike the less prominent case of Brotherhood rule in Tunisia, and in its fragile beginnings such dangerous doses of controversy could thwart it in its infancy.

Opening up to Islamists
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, November 27, 2012
Now Lebanon
By opening up to Islamists in the Middle East, the Obama administration would be throwing all moderates in the region under the bus. (AFP photo)
The Arab Spring is undisputedly turning into an Islamist one. This has divided the world over how to deal with it. The realism school of Henry Kissinger supports opening up to Islamists, the same way Kissinger reached out to Communist China in the 1970s. The Chinese turned out to be more pragmatic than Communist, and eventually became America's biggest trading partners and the world's second-biggest capitalist country.
As far as the president of the United States is concerned, governments can call themselves Islamist and anti-American all they want, as long as they realize that it is in their best interests to grab America's hand, extended to Iran since Obama's first day in office.
Obama, like many world and Arab intellectuals, reasons that once in power, the Islamists—like the Chinese Communists before them—will be forced to behave realistically in order to maintain their rule.
This realism approach is not partisan. Kissinger was a Republican. Obama is a Democrat. Other Republicans who see benefits in ignoring Islamist rhetoric in favor of engagement include former Senator Chuck Hagel, a man who made a fortune off his investments in China and a close friend of Obama. Before he retired in 2008, Hagel advocated repeating the China experiment with Iran and preached "engaging" with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce, a very Republican-leaning body, received delegations from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood not so long ago. Talks focused on common trade and commercial interests. While the chamber is a staunch Israel supporter, its position did not seem to bother the visiting Brothers. Maybe when financial interests are at stake, anti-Zionism can take a hike.
John Brennan, President Obama's counter-terrorism tsar, has gone on the record several times to call for talks with Hezbollah. Lebanon might not offer Washington lucrative business, but if Hezbollah settles for becoming a bunch of businesspeople in return for giving up their arms, that would be a worthwhile deal for the US government.
But realism can also misfire. If opening up to America does not yield economic benefits—and therefore social and political stability despite the lack of freedom and democracy like it did in China—the Islamist regimes of Egypt, Iran and elsewhere will certainly rebound, fold and endorse more anti-Americanism.
The realism option may bring America success with the mullahs of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in some Arab countries. It certainly spells trouble, however, for Arab and Iranian liberals and pro-democracy activists.
A prerequisite for America's "opening up" would be Washington's relinquishing of any support of freedom and democracy in Iran, Egypt, Iraq and other countries. Any tangible support for the spreading of these principles, save for lip service and the annual human rights reports from the Department of State, would be seen as a deal breaker for the Islamists.
The Islamists would then get a free hand to tighten their grip on power. The Iranian state will continue basking in its self-bestowed divinity, forcing women to cover their heads and men to grow their beards, censoring the press, destroying art, killing homosexuals, and prohibiting alcohol. By opening up to Islamists, America would be throwing every non-Islamist in the Middle East under the bus.
While still not there yet, Egypt is on its way to recreating a medieval state similar to the one in Iran. Several post-revolution reports have it that Coptic Egyptian women are now covering their heads when in public to spare themselves unwelcome stares, jeers and harassment. Being able to consume alcohol in public places will become as rare in Egypt as it has in Baghdad, Tunis and Tripoli. Such changes are taking place without even being enshrined in any constitution or state law.
Popular uprisings in Arab countries are only half the work toward an Arab Spring. Completion would require the cultivation of the principles of freedom, democracy and liberty, and that is impossible with Islamists in control.
Neither the Mullahs nor the Brothers intend, or even know how, to lead their countries to becoming prosperous and stable democracies. Their idea of government is a hodge-podge of divine teachings and archaic national chauvinism.
Yet the problem is that no alternative to Islamism is anywhere to be found in Iran or many parts of the Arab world. Arab liberals are weaker than Islamists, who usually go underground during the days of dictatorship and emerge after revolutions, mostly unscathed, to take over governments.
America's realism might pay off in the short and medium terms. But a world where democracy is only practiced in a handful of nations does not look like a happy or stable world.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai