Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 16/12
LF's Karam Wins Koura Election by 1,300-Vote Margin amid 47% Turnout
LF candidate wins Koura by-elections, preliminary results show
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea: LF victory in Koura vote paves way for 2013 elections
Israel PM accuses Hezbollah of Cyprus attack plot
Relatives of detained military members protest in Akkar
Report: France Studying Possibility of Providing Lebanese Army with HOT Missiles
Lebanese Army to conduct joint maritime maneuvers with French navy
Two People Wounded in Family Dispute in Baalbek
Assad receives last warning to stop moving his WMD: Top generals defect
UN pursues probe into Syria village killings
Russian president to meet Annan for Syria talks
Heavy fighting erupts in Damascus, activists say
Fiercest fighting yet reported inside Damascus
Ship with Helicopters for Syria Heads Back to Russia
Egypt's army chief raises stakes with Islamists
African Union Summit Opens to Discuss Conflict, Vote on Top Job

Assad receives last warning to stop moving his WMD: Top generals defect
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 15, 2012/Several high-placed generals bolted Bashar Assad’s inner circle Sunday, July 17, including such key figures as two security services chiefs who were operations commanders of the Alawite Shabiha militia plus the former head of Syria’s chemical and biological administration who took six other generals with him. They all fled to Turkey and defected. A fourth senior general from another security service was assassinated in Aleppo. This is reported exclusively by debkafile’s military sources.
The loss of the generals orchestrating the pro-Assad paramilitary Shabiha’s savage crackdown on the opposition has seriously weakened Assad’s protective circle of trusties and reduced his military and security options. Also today, the Syrian ruler was given a “last warning” through intelligence channels in the West to leave the warheads and shells loaded with mustard gas, sarin and cyanide where they are. If he dared move them out of the northern and central locations where he deployed them last week, they would be destroyed from the air.
debkafile names the defecting Shabiha commanders as: Gen. Mohamed Tatouh, Deputy chief of Syrian political intelligence, and Gen. Mohamed Kodissia, deputy chief of the “Palestinian” Intelligence agency (a misnomer: it has nothing to do with Palestinians).
The murdered general, Ali Khallouf, was ambushed by rebels in Aleppo. Maj. Gen. Adnan Nawras Salou, a Sunnite, who headed the chemical warfare authority until 2008, will no doubt have important intelligence to offer the West about the Assad regime’s current activities and plans for his WMD.
debkafile points to three singular features of the latest wave of defections:
1. They all managed to spirit their families out of Syria well before they absconded themselves, an operation that must have required weeks of careful and secret preparation. The failure of Assad’s many-tentacled, clandestine agencies to discover what was up and foil the walkouts, attests to serious lapses in their notorious efficiency.
2. All the defectors served in Damascus at the regime’s nerve center for suppressing the revolt.
3. They all made tracks for Beirut before making their way to Turkey. Neverthetheless, the extensive spy networks run by Iran and Hizballah in the Lebanese capital failed to pick up on the city’s use as a way station for Syrian defectors in flight to Turkey. 4. Despite their active roles in crushing the civil uprising in Syria, those generals clearly hoped to escape the consequences of their actions and becoming liable for prosecution. The Red Cross Committee in Geneva, the first international organization to call the violence in Syria a full-blown civil war, made it clear Sunday, July 15, that international humanitarian law applied henceforth throughout the country and provided a basis for war crimes prosecution, especially if civilians were attacked.

Israel PM accuses Hezbollah of Cyprus attack plot
July 15, 2012/ By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM: Israel accused Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and Iran on Sunday of plotting to attack its citizens in Cyprus after police on the Mediterranean island arrested a foreigner on suspicion of security offences. The suspect, who was arrested in Limassol port on July 7, was described by Cypriot media as a Swedish passport-holder of Lebanese descent. He was detained after tracking the movement Of Israeli tourists on the island, according to some reports, but has not been charged with any crime. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident "the attempted terrorist attack by Hezbollah against an Israeli target in Cyprus". He accused the Shi'ite guerrilla group's sponsor, Iran, of overall responsibility. Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by bombers who Israel said struck on behalf of Iran. Though Tehran has denied involvement, some analysts believe it is trying to avenge the assassinations of several scientists from its controversial nuclear programme, which the Iranians have blamed on Israel and its Western allies. "This terror is conducted under Iran's auspices. It is part of the Iranian plan," Netanyahu said in the statement. Hezbollah has its own scores to settle with the Jewish state. Two years after their 2006 border war, the Lebanese militia lost its commander to a Damascus car bomb it said was the work of Israeli spies, and vowed revenge.
ATTACKS
Israel has since said it has foiled several Hezbollah attacks on its citizens abroad. In Beirut, Hezbollah had no immediate comment on Israel's allegation on Sunday. Nicosia has been reticent about the case. Its police spokesman said on Saturday a 24-year-old foreigner was in custody "for specific, serious offences". He did not elaborate. Cypriot Justice and Public Order Minister Loucas Louca said authorities were awaiting for the results of their investigation before releasing further information. "This is a serious and delicate case and any statements may harm the case," he told reporters on Sunday. A Cypriot government source said the arrest took place following information from foreign intelligence agencies. An Israeli official said Israel's Mossad spy service was involved in the investigation. Asked if a Mossad tip-off had prompted the arrest, the official declined comment. The suspect's reported July 5 arrival on Cyprus coincided with the country assuming the presidency of the European Union, an event marked by the gathering of a host of EU officials and commissioners on the island. Cyprus lies just west of Syria and Lebanon but has been largely unscathed by the violence and upheaval in the Middle East.
Its last major security incident was a botched car bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in May 1988, which killed three people

LF's Karam Wins Koura Election by 1,300-Vote Margin amid 47% Turnout
Naharnet/15 July 2012/ Lebanese Forces candidate Fadi Karam on Sunday won the Koura by-election by an unofficial margin of 1,300 votes, following a fierce electoral battle with Syrian Social National Party candidate Walid al-Azar. The LF’s campaign said Karam won the election with 12,507 votes as Azar received 11,262 votes. For his part, Hanibaal Karam, media officer of SSNP's campaign, acknowledged the defeat. “Tomorrow is a new day and the LF must prove that it will work for the sake of Koura's residents and that it is a party of openness and culture and we welcome whoever works for the sake of the Lebanese,” Karam said. “This by-election will boost our enthusiasm in the future and we would have preferred this battle to remain among the district's residents instead of depicting it as a regional battle and we thank everyone who stood by us,” he added. Polling stations closed at 7:00 p.m. in a vote that did not witness any security incident despite a heated political battle. The Ministry of Interior announced a voter turnout of 47 percent, a rate similar to that recorded in the 2009 parliamentary elections.LF leader Samir Geagea told LBCI: "We considered that the victory of the SSNP candidate would have represented a victory for the Syrian regime which is suffering one defeat after another in its country."
"If they are accusing us of receiving foreign funds, which is untrue, we will tell them that they are supported by foreign forces financially, materially and morally," Geagea added.
Geagea stressed that the victory does not only belong to the LF, “but also to the public opinion in Koura and all March 14 forces.”
He also noted that the entire March 8 camp was defeated. Geagea’s ally, former premier Saad Hariri, congratulated the victorious Karam, noting that "Koura's choice today is an indisputable indication of the adherence of the Lebanese to the project of the state." The names of 57,537 eligible voters appeared on the electoral rolls. Those who participated cast their votes at 128 polling stations.
The majority of voters belong to the Greek Orthodox sect, followed by Maronites, then Sunnis, and then Shiites.
According to preliminary numbers announced by Karam’s campaign, the by-election witnessed the participation of 37% of the Greek Orthodox voters, 43% of the Maronites, 45% of the Sunnis, 53% of the Shiites and 53% of the Alawites. Meanwhile, as the rival candidates and their campaigns traded accusations of electoral bribery, the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections -- an activist group that monitored the vote -- said it was not able to verify any report of electoral bribery. “The LF's candidate is enjoying a clear lead and remarks about electoral bribe are shameful,” LF bloc MP Antoine Zahra told al-Jadeed television. For his part, Hanibaal Karam, media officer of SSNP's campaign, told MTV: “We're optimistic and our result will be honorable in any case. Our rivals failed to turn the by-election into World War III.” During the electoral day, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel met with Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn at the latter’s Koura residence, in the presence of ex-SSNP chief Jebran Araiji and former SSNP MP Salim Saade.
Speaking to reporters outside a polling station in Kfar Aaqqa, Charbel announced that voter turnout hit a rate similar to that recorded in 2009.
Meanwhile, the LF slammed the surfacing of a fake website attributed to candidate Karam and containing remarks against the Sunni voters.
“LF sources have cautioned that there is a fake website attributed to candidate Fadi Karam that is publishing fake news and comments about the Sunni voters,” Radio Voice of Lebanon (100.3-100.5) reported.
But SSNP's campaign spokesman Karam denied any link to the fake website.
“We have nothing to do with fabricating the fake website attributed to candidate Karam and our ethics do not allow us to do that,” he told MTV.
LF's media department said the fake website “resembles the ‘Shabiha’ who fabricated it and their masters,” noting that the party “will file a lawsuit with the relevant judicial authorities.”
In another incident, the Army Command denied remarks by MP Nicolas Ghosn that army vehicles were used to transport voters in the town of Kosba, stressing that "the army has nothing to do with the electoral process and its details except concerning preserving security for citizens so that they can perform their right to cast their votes."
The election will serve as a trial for the 2013 parliamentary elections due to the LF and SSNP political campaigns that pitted the March 14 candidate against the March 8 one, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday. Besides Karam and Azar, four other candidates contested the empty seat: Youssef Skaff, Jean Mefrej, Naeem al-Oujaimi and Georges Matar.
Azar told MTV after casting his vote in Amioun: “This is not a strictly democratic battle despite the positive atmosphere at the polls.”
“We are confident of victory and the turnout is not bad so far,” he added. Karam had also cast his vote in Amioun.
Charbel hoped in remarks to Radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) that the election would take place without incident, stressing that the necessary security measures were taken to avert any unrest.
He is set to announce the official results of the election on Monday morning, reported MTV on Sunday. Deputy Speaker Farid Makari voiced to An Nahar his confidence that the LF candidate would win, expressing his satisfaction with the security measures that were taken in the area. He declared that every vote counts, reiterating LF leader Samir Geagea’s remarks on Friday that the by-election would mark the first stage in the battle to topple Syrian influence in Lebanon. SSNP official Hassan Saqr stated that the elections would take place in a “civilized manner.”“The party is heading to the election to win it,” he told An Nahar. He expected that a small number of votes would separate the winner from the loser, noting an increased presence of expatriates heading to the polls. The Koura by-election was aimed at filling the Greek Orthodox parliamentary seat left vacant by the death of MP Farid Habib.

LF candidate wins Koura by-elections, preliminary results show
July 15, 2012 /Lebanese Forces candidate Fadi Karam won Sunday’s Koura by-elections after he secured 12507 votes, according to preliminary results carried by the National News Agency.
In turn, SSNP candidate Walid al-Aazar won 11262 votes. The special election in Koura kicked off on Sunday morning to elect a successor for Lebanese Forces bloc MP Farid Habib (1938-2012), who passed away on May 31 after a struggle with an illness.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea: LF victory in Koura vote paves way for 2013 elections
July 15, 2012 /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that the victory of party candidate Fadi Karam in Sunday’s Koura by-election “paves the way toward the” 2013 parliamentary elections.
He also told LBC television that the Syrian Social Nationalist Party was “glued to” the Syrian regime and that if their candidate had won the vote it would have been a success for the Syrian regime.
Geagea added that the “[electoral] battle with SSNP candidate Walid al-Aazar was not personal, but political.” The LF’s relations with its March 14 allies was based on common “suffering and vision [regarding] Lebanon’s future,” he said.Geagea also denied that his party bribed voters during the polls. “If they are accusing us [of bribery], we say that they are [seeking the assistance] of outside [parties for everything].”Karam won Sunday’s Koura by-elections after he secured 12507 votes, according to preliminary results carried by the National News Agency.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Army to conduct joint maritime maneuvers with French navy
July 15, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said Sunday it would conduct tactical maritime operations with French naval forces.In a statement, the army said the operations would take place along the coast of the capital Beirut from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday.The Lebanese military will conduct the maneuvers with member of the French Navy’s “Jean Bart” frigate, “which will remain in Lebanon for a few days.”

Relatives of detained military members protest in Akkar
July 15, 2012 /Relatives of military members who had been detained in the case of the killing of a Sunni cleric staged a “symbolic” sit-in at Akkar’s Abda on Sunday, the National News Agency reported.
The report added that the protesters voiced their support for the Lebanese army and called for fair trials and the release of their detained relatives. Army troops shot Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Wahed and his bodyguard dead in May when his convoy allegedly failed to stop at a checkpoint in North Lebanon, the scene of deadly clashes linked to the uprising in Syria. -NOW Lebanon

Russian president to meet Annan for Syria talks
July 15, 2012 /Syrian peace mediator Kofi Annan was due in Moscow on Monday for talks with President Vladimir Putin that come amid growing pressure on Russia to finally back the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. The Kremlin said Sunday the UN-Arab League envoy would arrive in Moscow on Monday and meet Putin the following day for talks in which "Russia will underscore its support the peace plan of Annan.""The Russian side proceeds from the premise that this plan is the only viable platform for solving internal Syrian problems," the brief Kremlin statement added.
Annan was also scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after first paying a visit to China – a country that along with Russia has blocked two UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning Assad's regime. The Moscow visit will be Annan's second since he won support from former President Dmitry Medvedev for his initial six-point peace initiative for the brutal conflict during talks at Vnukovo 2 airport on March 25. Russia has firmly resisted any form of outside pressure on Assad to step aside and make way for a transition government that foreign powers agreed on June 30 in Geneva should emerge in Syria in the coming weeks and months. -AFP/NOW Lebanon

Heavy fighting erupts in Damascus, activists say
July 15, 2012 /Tires burn in Damascus’ Nahr Aisha neighborhood Sunday evening amid reports of fighting throughout Damascus neighborhoods and suburbs. (Syrian Revolution 2011)
Heavy clashes between rebels and regular troops erupted in Damascus on Sunday, in the "most intense" fighting in the capital since the start of the anti-regime revolt in Syria 16 months ago, a monitoring group said. "The regular army fired mortar rounds into several suburbs" where rebels of the Free Syrian Army are entrenched, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "They have never been this intense," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
He said the fighting was heaviest in the Tadamon, Kfar Sousa, Nahr Aisha and Sidi Qadad neighborhoods. "The security forces are attempting to take control of these neighborhoods but so far they have not succeeded," he added. The Local Coordination Committees, which organizes anti-regime protests in Syria, said plumes of black smoke were Sunday night billowing out of Tadamon and that loud explosions were heard in Nahr Aisha. The Observatory earlier said violence across Syria on Sunday killed at least 55 people, including a girl who died along with three other people when the army rained shells on the town of Rastan, a rebel stronghold in the central province of Homs. The Britain-based watchdog estimates that more than 17,000 Syrians have died since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime began on March 15, 2011. -AFP/NOW Lebanon

African Union Summit Opens to Discuss Conflict, Vote on Top Job
Naharnet/15 July 2012/African Union leaders opened their biannual summit on Sunday in Addis Ababa to discuss the continent's hotspots including DR Congo and Mali, although elections for the bloc's top job overshadowed the agenda. South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is challenging the sitting chairman of the commission, Gabon's Jean Ping, after neither won the required two-thirds of the vote at the last summit six months ago, leaving Ping in the post. Security issues are a top priority at the meeting, with leaders focusing on instability in Mali, renewed violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the ongoing crisis between Sudan and South Sudan. Ping opened the summit saying that the AU was ready to send troops to the restive eastern DR Congo as part of a peacekeeping force, where Rwanda is accused by U.N. experts and Kinshasa of supporting a mutiny by Congolese troops. "The AU is prepared to contribute to the establishment of a regional force to put an end to the activities of armed groups," Ping told African leaders, including DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwanda's Paul Kagame. Rwanda has denied involvement and in turn accuses Kinshasa of renewing cooperation with Rwandan Hutu rebels, who have been based in eastern DR Congo since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
But Ping also warned that other African hotspots remained a major concern, with the ongoing crisis in Mali "undoubtedly one of the most serious threats to security and stability of the continent."
The warning follows meetings by African leaders on Saturday, where they called for a speedier political transition as Mali's interim government struggles to tackle Islamist militants holding the vast desert north.
"The situation in the north of Mali... is alarming and is a threat to the region and beyond," said Jan Eliasson, the U.N. Deputy Secretary-General.
"We must also continue working together, as well as with the transitional government, to restore territorial integrity and security."
More hopeful areas include Somalia -- where Islamist fighters are on the back foot -- and the disputes between Sudan and South Sudan, following fierce border battles in April and March along disputed regions of their oil-rich frontier. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir of South Sudan shook hands warmly as leaders filed into meeting, following their first face-to-face talks on Saturday since the border fighting took them to the brink of all-out war. Ping noted "with satisfaction the end to the fighting and advances made recently" in talks between Juba and Khartoum, who have been holding months of slow-moving AU-led talks to resolve a raft of contentious issues. "Their people desperately hope for security and prosperity, we have a common duty not to shatter their hopes," Eliasson added.
For once, Ping noted positive changes in war-torn Somalia, praising the nations who had sent troops to battle the Al-Qaida linked Shebab, including Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda in the 17,000-strong AU force, as well as Ethiopia. "The prospects for peace have never looked so encouraging," said Ping.
However, the AU leadership race is expected to dominate proceedings later in the day, and both candidates have issued strongly worded public statements ahead of Sunday's vote.
Earlier this week, Ping dismissed South African media reports that he was quitting to allow Dlamini-Zuma to stand unopposed, prompting the Southern African Development Community to accuse him of abusing AU resources in his election bid. Analysts say unwritten tradition is that continental powerhouses do not run for the post -- leaving smaller nations to take the job -- and that South Africa's decision to override this rule has sparked bad feeling. If no chair is selected this time around, Ping -- who has held the post since 2008 -- could legally be asked to stay on as leader until the next summit in January 2013.
SourceAgence France Presse.

Clinton’s dangerous visit to Egypt?
By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
Hillary Clinton’s visit to Egypt will not be an easy one; rather it will take place amidst a turbulent political atmosphere that no American official has experienced in previous decades. One source of tension surrounding the visit is that it comes at a time of heated internal unrest, leading to deep polarizations among various political forces.The US administration has sent is Secretary of State to visit the Egyptian capital at time when America’s political wager is at a historic crossroads. The US administration is changing its wager from gambling on the military, which ruled Egypt since the 1952 revolution, to gambling on the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. This new choice has an impact on the old ally (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)); a force which the sun is setting on, and on the Muslim Brotherhood; a force which is now shining bright! Between the sunrise and sunset of these emerging and fading forces, Hillary Clinton comes at a very delicate juncture in the conflict between the two sides.
As Clinton comes to Egypt there are numerous constitutional, legal, populist and media disputes, almost reaching the extent of a bloody conflict.  Clinton is visiting a country where half of the electorate voted against the victorious Muslim Brotherhood candidate, who was supported by the US administration.  As Clinton’s visit approaches there is almost a sense of certainty among SCAF that the US Secretary of State’s trip aims to support America’s new ally and provide US backing to the Muslim Brotherhood’s desire, through a new presidential decree, to force SCAF generals into retirement, instead appointing Brotherhood leaders to high profile positions in the general intelligence services, state security, and the ministries of justice, foreign affairs, interior and defense.This would be a political knockout blow if it had US blessing. It would open the door wide open in Egypt for three possibilities: The long and stable rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, a military coup within a matter of days, or the country descending into a state of permanent chaos. The recent comments from the White House and US State Department about the Egyptian power struggle and attempts to administer powers between the new elected president, with his democratic legitimacy, and SCAF, with its constitutional grounding, can only be interpreted as America’s new inclination towards the Muslim Brotherhood. This has put the Egyptian military as a whole, and not only senior leaders, in a heightened state of concern, high alert and suspicion regarding American intentions. All this makes Egypt’s generals very confused, considering the reassurances they received only two weeks ago from their counterparts in the Pentagon, compared to the provocative statements now being administered by the US State Department. Who should they believe: the generals of the Pentagon or the US Secretary of State?

Sodomy "For the Sake of Islam"
by Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute
http://www.meforum.org/3285/islam-sodomy
Not only did the original "underwear bomber" Abdullah Hassan al-Asiri hide explosives in his rectum to assassinate Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayef—they met in 2009 after the 22-year-old Asiri "feigned repentance for his jihadi views"—but this "holy-warrior" apparently had fellow jihadists repeatedly sodomize him to "widen" his anus to fit the explosives—and all in accordance with the fatwas of Islamic clerics. A 2010 Arabic news video that aired on Fadak TV gives the details. Apparently a cleric, one Abu al-Dema al-Qasab, informed al-Asiri and other jihadis of an "innovative and unprecedented way to execute martyrdom operations: place explosive capsules in your anus. However, to undertake this jihadi approach you must agree to be sodomized for a while to widen your anus so it can hold the explosives." Others inquired further by asking for formal fatwas. Citing his desire for "martyrdom and the virgins of paradise," one jihadi (possibly al-Asiri himself) asked another sheikh, "Is it permissible for me to let one of the jihadi brothers sodomize me to widen my anus if the intention is good?"
After praising Allah, the sheikh's fatwa began by declaring that sodomy is forbidden in Islam,
However, jihad comes first, for it is the pinnacle of Islam, and if the pinnacle of Islam can only be achieved through sodomy, then there is no wrong in it. For the overarching rule of [Islamic] jurisprudence asserts that 'necessity makes permissible the prohibited.' And if obligatory matters can only be achieved by performing the prohibited, then it becomes obligatory to perform the prohibited, and there is no greater duty than jihad. After he sodomizes you, you must ask Allah for forgiveness and praise him all the more. And know that Allah will reward the jihadis on the Day of Resurrection, according to their intentions—and your intention, Allah willing, is for the victory of Islam, and we ask that Allah accept it of you.
Two important and complementary points emerge from this matter: 1) that jihad is the "pinnacle" of Islam—for it makes Islam supreme (based on a Muhammad hadith); and 2) that "necessity makes permissible the prohibited." These axioms are not limited to modern day fatwas, but in fact, were crystallized centuries ago, agreed to by the ulema, or Islam's leading doctrinaires.
The result is that, because making Islam supreme through jihad is the greatest priority, anything and everything that is otherwise banned becomes permissible. All that comes to matter is one's intention, or niyya.
From here one may understand the many ostensible incongruities of Islamic history: lying is forbidden—but permissible to empower Islam; intentionally killing women and children is forbidden—but permissible during the jihad; suicide is forbidden—but permissible during the jihad, called "martyrdom."
Indeed, the Five Pillars of Islam—including prayer and fasting—may be ignored during the jihad. (So important was the duty of jihad that the Ottoman sultans, who often spent half their lives on the battlefield, were not permitted to perform the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca.)
More recently, these ideas appeared in different form during Egypt's elections, when Islamic leaders portrayed voting as a form of jihad—leading to the abuse and even killing of those not voting for the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to these two doctrines—which culminate in empowering Islam, no matter how—one may expect anything from would-be jihadis, regardless of how dubious the effort may otherwise seem.
Even so, this uncompromising mentality, which is prevalent throughout the Islamic world, especially along the frontlines of the jihad, is the same mentality that many Western leaders and politicians think can be appeased with just a bit more respect, well-wishing, and concessions from the West.
Such are the great, and disastrous, disconnects of our time.
**Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.