LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 01/14

Bible Quotation for today/ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another

John 13,31-35/When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, "Where I am going, you cannot come." I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
In the difficult moments of life, Christians can turn to the Mother of God and find protection and care.
Pape François ‏
Dans les moments difficiles de la vie, le chrétien trouve refuge sous le manteau de la Mère de Dieu.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources For June 01/14

The Daily Star Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For June 01/14

Al-Rahi Back in Lebanon after Controversial Jerusalem Visit, Refuses to Make Statement at Airport
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi returned to Beirut on Saturday afternoon after his controversial visit to Jerusalem, but rejected to make any statement upon his arrival at the Rafic Hariri International Airport. "Al-Rahi returned to Beirut at 4:30pm on board a private jet coming from the Jordanian capital Amman,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
He was accompanied by his envoy Boulos Sayyah and Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad, the NNA noted. But the same source remarked that the patriarch headed directly to Bkirki without making any statement at the airport, which is contrary to his rituals each time he leaves or returns to the country. However, his latest trip to the occupied Palestinian territories was surrounded with a great deal of controversy, with many politicians and prominent figures openly criticizing it. On Friday morning, the Bkirki media office announced also that al-Rahi will not head a mass on Sunday, June 1. The patriarch has repeatedly defended his visit to the Holy Land. “We have several times repeated that this visit is purely religious. I did not come here to make political deals … I did not come here to make commercial, economic, military or security deals. I came here to see our loving people,” al-Rahi underlined during a visit to the Druze village of Isfiya near the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Friday. He added that he was “profoundly hurt” by those who have criticized his historic visit to Israel and the Holy Land. “Can't we perform our duties? Has compassion died? Have social duties died?” the patriarch asked.
And on Wednesday, al-Rahi celebrated mass with exiled Lebanese at Saint Peter's church in the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Christ is said to have delivered many of his most famous teachings. He considered that the Lebanese state must not deal with its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000 as “criminals.”However, al-Rahi's comments sparked outrage among Hizbullah officials, and Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Meqdad announced on Saturday his rejection of the presence of “Israeli agents” in Lebanon, adding that the party is “not proud to call them Lebanese.”
Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and bans its citizens from entering the Jewish state. But Maronite clergy are permitted to travel to Israel to minister to the estimated 10,000 faithful there.
Hizbullah Rejects Presence of 'Israeli Agents' in Lebanon: We're Not Proud to Call Them Lebanese Naharnet/Hizbullah announced on Saturday its rejection of the presence of “Israeli agents” in Lebanon, in an apparent response to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi “who went to the Palestinian occupied territories to convince them to return" as the party said. "Someone went to occupied Palestine to convince some agents who withdrew with the enemy's soldiers in May 2000 to return to Lebanon,” Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Meqdad said at a party event in the Bekaa city of Baalbek, expressing that “this issue has annoyed” him. "Theye have become Israelis and do not want to regain the Lebanese and Arab identity,” he stated. Al-Rahi on Friday said during a visit to the Druze village of Isfiya near the northern Israeli city of Haifa that the Lebanese state must not deal with its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000 as “criminals,” rejecting also that their possible return to the country be tied to “an amnesty or international resolutions.” Meqdad added: “We tell those who are preparing a draft law on these traitors' return that they themselves have announced their rejection of such a decision.”
He continued: “The resistance acted with high morality after the liberation. It did not retaliate or penalize agents, but left this issue to the judiciary. It did not seek revenge against their families, but on the contrary, it dealt with them as our religion and our culture stipulate with openness and without retaliation.”"We do not want Israeli agents among us in Lebanon, what we suffered during the occupation was enough, and just like they are not proud of their Lebanese identity, we are too not proud to call them Lebanese.”Thousands of Lebanese fled across the border with Israeli forces in 2000 when Israel ended its 22-year occupation of Lebanon. Trained, financed and armed by Israel, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) battled Palestinians and Hizbullah fighters during the occupation of southern Lebanon.
Many SLA veterans feel they have been abandoned by Israeli authorities in their adopted home, often working in low-paying factory, restaurant or cleaning jobs, but unable to return home for fear of retribution from Hizbullah and others who considered them traitors. But others, like former commander of an SLA special forces unit Victor Nader, said he was content with his new life in Israel.
"We are very happy here and my son is serving in the Israeli army," he told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

Hizbullah Rejects Presence of 'Israeli Agents' in Lebanon: We're Not Proud to Call Them Lebanese
Naharnet/Hizbullah announced on Saturday its rejection of the presence of “Israeli agents” in Lebanon, in an apparent response to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi “who went to the Palestinian occupied territories to convince them to return" as the party said. "Someone went to occupied Palestine to convince some agents who withdrew with the enemy's soldiers in May 2000 to return to Lebanon,” Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Meqdad said at a party event in the Bekaa city of Baalbek, expressing that “this issue has annoyed” him. "Theye have become Israelis and do not want to regain the Lebanese and Arab identity,” he stated. Al-Rahi on Friday said during a visit to the Druze village of Isfiya near the northern Israeli city of Haifa that the Lebanese state must not deal with its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000 as “criminals,” rejecting also that their possible return to the country be tied to “an amnesty or international resolutions.” Meqdad added: “We tell those who are preparing a draft law on these traitors' return that they themselves have announced their rejection of such a decision.”He continued: “The resistance acted with high morality after the liberation. It did not retaliate or penalize agents, but left this issue to the judiciary. It did not seek revenge against their families, but on the contrary, it dealt with them as our religion and our culture stipulate with openness and without retaliation.”
"We do not want Israeli agents among us in Lebanon, what we suffered during the occupation was enough, and just like they are not proud of their Lebanese identity, we are too not proud to call them Lebanese.”Thousands of Lebanese fled across the border with Israeli forces in 2000 when Israel ended its 22-year occupation of Lebanon. Trained, financed and armed by Israel, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) battled Palestinians and Hizbullah fighters during the occupation of southern Lebanon. Many SLA veterans feel they have been abandoned by Israeli authorities in their adopted home, often working in low-paying factory, restaurant or cleaning jobs, but unable to return home for fear of retribution from Hizbullah and others who considered them traitors. But others, like former commander of an SLA special forces unit Victor Nader, said he was content with his new life in Israel. "We are very happy here and my son is serving in the Israeli army," he told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

Hezbollah to Rai: No to 'Israeli agents' among us
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Ali Meqdad Saturday indirectly criticized Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s visit to Israel and his meeting with the Lebanese who fled to the Jewish State in 2000 by saying “we do not want agents among us.”“There is an issue that really irked me. Some people went to occupied Palestine to convince [Israeli] agents who withdrew with the Israeli enemy in 2000 to come back to Lebanon, and their response was that they have become Israeli citizens now and do not want either the Lebanese or Arab identity,” Meqdad said during a ceremony in Baalbek, east Lebanon. “The resistance was very careful after liberation and it did not take revenge or hold any of the agents or their families accountable but left things up to the judiciary,” he said.
“We tell those who are preparing a draft law or a proposal to bring back those agents who betrayed the country ... We do not want Israeli agents among us here in Lebanon,” Meqdad said, referring to former members of the South Lebanese Army, a militia that worked with Israel in south Lebanon. After Israel’s hasty withdrawal from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, dozens of families fled to Israel out of fear of retribution. Some have returned and received light sentences while others remain in Israel and a few even immigrated to the West.
Israel’s withdrawal ended 22 years of occupation. “We suffered enough from them during the occupation. They are not even proud of their Lebanese citizenship and we are not proud to call them Lebanese,” Meqdad said. Hezbollah, among others in Lebanon, had been critical of Rai’s visit to Jerusalem let alone his meeting with former militiamen and their families who are widely seen as traitors in their home country. During a meeting with them in the northern Israeli village of Kufr Birim, only a few kilometers away from south Lebanon, Rai reassured the Lebanese that he was working with authorities to solve their problems. Various local media outlets however quoted some former SLA members as saying that they were satisfied with the Israeli nationality. Although Lebanon bans citizens from traveling to Israel, religious figures have immunity. Rai has become the first Lebanese religious leader to visit the Jewish State despite the formal state of war that exists between the two countries.
The patriarch has rejected criticisms of his visit and repeatedly said that he went to Jerusalem to both welcome Pope Francis to the region and to visit his parishes spread out across the globe.
He also said that the region falls under his prerogative as patriarch of the east and the Antioch.

Lebanon asks refugees to refrain from entering Syria
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Interior Ministry Saturday asked Syrian refugees to refrain from entering Syria starting June 1 or risk losing their refugee status. The new decision comes as part of the government’s measures to organize the overwhelming presence of refugees in the country. “In the framework of organizing the entry and exit of Syrians in Lebanon, all Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR are asked to refrain from entering Syria starting June 1, 2014, or else they might be stripped of their refugee status,” the ministry said in a statement. “The Interior Ministry hopes municipalities commit to this policy for the safety of refugees in Lebanon,” it added. It also said that this new measure was aimed at preserving security in Lebanon as well as the relationship between “Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens in host communities in order to avoid tensions.”The ministry asked U.N. agencies and other international refugee organizations to take this matter seriously and inform Syrians of the new policy. Lebanon has been working on a mechanism to govern the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon particularly that many enter under a refugee status in order to benefit from international aid. The number of Syrian refugees fleeing into Lebanon has skyrocketed in the past year with more than one million registered refugees. Thousands of Palestinian refugees from Syria have also sought refuge in Lebanon as the war rages over the border.

Lebanese University postpones exams in protest
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Lebanese University decided Saturday to postpone all exams until June 9, in a bid to pressure the government to meet the demands of the educational institution and its teachers. “Given our keenness on the interest of teachers and their rightful demands, and the university’s decision to restore all of its powers, we agreed to postpone all exams in all university branches and colleges until Monday June 9,” a statement by the board of deans at Lebanese University said. “The board discussed the university's situation, a result of the negligence of its demands,” it added.
It also called on a large solidarity campaign with the demands of the university. The decision came days after LU professors said they would hold a strike on June 5-6 to further pressure the government to promote contract lecturers. The professors had asked the government to assign deans to the university council to replace the acting deans who have been in the post since 2004.
The university argues that the governments’ failure to appoint deans has led the council to lose much of its power, placing LU under the rule of its president and the education minister.
The protesters are also demanding that contract teachers become permanent staff. Despite holding doctorate degrees and having worked at the university for years, contract professors earn their salaries every two years and are not allowed to enroll in the National Social Security Fund. Education Minister Elias Bou Saab has said that the issue of appointing deans had been politicized but nonetheless vowed to resolve it and implement reforms during his term. The government is trying to achieve a sectarian balance in the appointments, and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement has vetoed the 300 or so hoping to become full-time professors. Lebanon's education sector has also seen a major setback with teachers of public and some private schools boycotting correcting and monitoring official end-of-year examinations in protest of Parliament's failure to approve a draft law to raise their salaries.

U.S. denies making deal to end presidential void
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon Saturday denied that ambassador David Hale tried to strike a deal with Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun to end the presidential stalemate, saying it was up for the Lebanese to choose their own president. “Rumors that ... [Ambassador Hale] made proposals or deals for the #Lebanese presidency are false,” the embassy said on its Twitter feed. “The #US has not and will not propose candidates for the #Lebanese presidency,” it added. Political sources told The Daily Star Friday that Hale proposed a deal to Aoun in which MP Robert Ghanem or Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb would run for the presidency instead of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. As part of the deal, Aoun’s son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, would be given the Batroun parliamentary seat uncontested and Brig. Shamel Roukoz, his other son-in-law, would be made Army commander. Aoun’s share of seats in the Cabinet would also be increased, the sources said, adding that the former Army general rejected the proposal. The U.S. Embassy said that it was for the Lebanese to choose their own president, urging they do so “as soon as possible.” Lebanon plunged into a presidential vacuum on May 25 after former President Michel Sleiman’s term ended without a successor, with no candidate able to garner needed majority to win the election.

Iran Guards Commander Killed in Syria and Tunnel Bombing Leaves 20 Soldiers Dead
Naharnet /A commander from Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been killed in Syria, media said Saturday, a disclosure that runs counter to Tehran's insistence it is not fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces. Reports that Abdollah Eskandari died while "defending" a Shiite shrine emerged earlier this week but neither the elite military unit nor Iran's foreign ministry have passed comment.
However, the Fars news agency reported that a funeral service would be held for the commander Sunday in the city of Shiraz. Eskandari was formerly a commander of the Guards' ground forces and also headed a state-run charity in southern Iran that helps war veterans and families of fallen soldiers. Neither the circumstances of his killing nor details about his role in the Syrian civil war -- where Iran has staunchly backed the Assad regime -- have been officially confirmed. Since the conflict's outbreak in March 2011, Iran has provided Damascus with intelligence, materiel and military advisers.
But Iran insists it has never sent combat troops to Syria, rejecting such claims made by mostly Sunni rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.
Despite the denials, Iranian media occasionally reports the deaths of Iranian volunteer fighters killed in Syria. Among them was Guards commander Mohammad Jamali Paqale who was killed in November while "defending" the Shiite holy site of Zeinab shrine in Damascus. Iran is backing Assad to win a third seven-year term in a Tuesday election that rebels, their Western and Arab backers and critics are dismissing as a farce. The poll will only be held in government-controlled areas inside Syria and not in large swathes of territory that are in rebel hands. "This election will strengthen the legitimacy of the Bashar Assad government," Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior foreign policy adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said Friday.
"His people have realized (Assad) has prevented Syria from disintegrating or falling to occupation," Velayati added. Also on Saturday, at least 20 Syrian soldiers and militia were killed in a fresh attack by Islamist rebels, who planted explosives in a tunnel under an army position in Aleppo, a monitor said. The historic Old City area has seen horrific violence ever since a major rebel offensive on Aleppo in July 2012. It is a flashpoint area that sees daily fighting, and the army has set up multiple positions there. "Islamist rebels detonated a tunnel near the Zahrawi market in the Old City of Aleppo, killing at least 20 army soldiers and pro-regime militiamen," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Fighting broke out after the explosion, and at least one rebel was killed, said the Britain-based Observatory. The attack was claimed by the Islamic Front, Syria's largest rebel alliance, which groups thousands of fighters across the strife-torn country. The Front posted a link to a video on its Twitter account, showing a huge blast throwing a massive cloud of debris up into the air. In recent weeks, the Islamic Front has frequently used tunnels to plant massive amounts of explosives beneath army positions.
The tactic has been used mainly in Aleppo and neighboring Idlib provinces. The latest blast came a day after the Observatory said some 2,000 people have been killed since January in regime bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo city and nearby towns and villages. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 160,000 people. Source/Agence France Presse

Fire destroys Syrian refugee tents in e.Lebanon
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: A fire erupted in Syrian refugee tents set up in east Lebanon at dawn Friday, destroying several makeshift homes. Civil Defense teams were able to put out the blaze, which some local media reports said destroyed 17 tents. The Internal Security Forces arrived to the scene of the fire and launched an investigation to determine the cause. No causalities were reported. A video circulating online showed the fire in the Bekaa Valley town of Jdita raging with several people standing and watching.

Aoun shuns deal from Hale over presidency: sources
May 31, 2014/By Antoine Ghattas Saab/The Daily Star
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale proposed a deal to Change and Reform bloc chief Michel Aoun in which MP Robert Ghanem or Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb would run for the presidency instead of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, political sources told The Daily Star.As part of the deal, Aoun’s son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, would be given the Batroun parliamentary seat uncontested and Brig. Shamel Roukoz, his other son-in-law would be made Army commander, the sources said. Aoun’s share of seats in the Cabinet would also be increased, the sources said.
But the offer was opposed by Aoun, who also rejected the prospect of running against Geagea in the election, although he told Hale that he was more popular with Christians than the LF leader and had a stronger chance of being elected to the presidency. Aoun was heard saying that “it is 1,000 times better for Geagea to be president than for Boutros Harb [to win].”
The U.S. ambassador praises Aoun in all the events he participates in, though he declares that his country does not favor one candidate over another for the presidency, the sources said.
Diplomatic sources said that Western envoys in Lebanon have been instructed to encourage the timely election of a president, regardless of internal alliances and outcomes.
Though the envoys consider Aoun a strong man who can engage with everyone internally and externally, they want a president who can contain the conflict with Hezbollah rather than one who embraces completely the idea of the resistance in the way that Aoun does. Western ambassadors tell visitors that they would prefer a non-provocative president who is chosen as a result of consensus among Lebanese political factions rather than external, behind-the-scenes deals, the sources said. This is because the coming period carries many dangers and requires critical decision-making, which is not possible under a weak president. The envoys do not consider the size of the parliamentary bloc a measure of strength, but rather the timely ability to take the necessary decisions and to stand up to anyone in defense of Lebanon’s interests. They also want the strong president to be a link between local factions, and even between regional rivals, given Lebanon’s natural role as a setting for religious, cultural and political dialogue. Speaker Nabih Berri will not return from Rome until the weekend, and has scheduled a parliamentary session to elect a president for June 9. But diplomatic sources believe the issue requires more time, awaiting the results of a possible Saudi-Iranian rapprochement and the June 18-19 negotiations between Iran and the West over the former’s nuclear program, as well as clarity in the aftermath of the Egyptian and Syrian presidential elections and their impact on Lebanon. Three other upcoming events will likely have an impact on the presidential election. The first is the visit by Kuwait’s Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to Iran in the coming days and its impact on Iranian-Gulf relations. The second is the outcome of the Syrian presidential election and secret discussions in Arab and Western capitals on solutions to the Syria crisis. The third is an anticipated summit in Riyadh that will include U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers and perhaps the Saudi crown prince.

Lebanon sentences late Hezbollah member to life
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Military Court sentenced a late Hezbollah member with hard labor and life in prison for attempting to assassinate Telecoms Minister Butros Harb in 2013.
The court, headed by Brig. Gen. Khalil Ibrahim, issued the sentence in absentia after the suspect, Mahmoud Hayek, never showed up to the trial. The tribunal said Hayek, a member of Hezbollah’s security apparatus, is convicted of an assassination attempt on Harb by planting a bomb in the elevator of the building housing the lawmaker's office and trying to detonate it. The assassination attempt failed due to reasons outside of the attacker's control. The detonators were found on top of the elevator after Harb’s bodyguards grew suspicious of a man standing outside the building. But the man, suspected to be Hayek, took off after the bodyguards moved to detain him. Earlier this week, Hezbollah announced that Hayek had been killed in Syria where the group is fighting alongside regime troops against opposition fighters. For the court to end the trial, authorities must present documentation and proof to the tribual that Hayek was in fact killed in Syria. Despite repeated calls by Harb for Hezbollah to hand over the suspect, the party never turned Hayek in, denying any involvement in the assassination attempt on the minister.

Syrian rebels kill 20 troops in tunnel blast
May 31, 2014/Associated Press/BEIRUT: Syrian activists say rebels have blown up a tunnel packed with explosives in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 20 pro-government fighters. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blast took place Friday near the Zahrawi market not far from the citadel in Old Aleppo. It says clashes followed the explosion. A powerful rebel alliance called the Islamic Front claimed responsibility for the blast. It said in a tweet that it killed at least 40 government gunmen. The Islamic Front also tweeted a video of the explosion. It shows a massive blast erupting from a skyline of rooftops and satellite dishes, throwing chunks of brick and a huge cloud of dust into the air. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press reporting.
In early May, rebels also used bomb-packed tunnels to level a historic hotel in the Old City of Aleppo that was being used as an army base. Such explosions have provided a reminder that the rebels, despite setbacks in other parts of the country, remain a potent force. Now in its fourth year, Syria's conflict has killed more than 160,000 people and caused a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations has said that some 9.3 million people - more than 6.5 million displaced by the fighting - are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance inside Syria. Late Friday, a U.N. spokeswoman said that a 15-truck convoy delivered food aid to Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouses for 30,000 people in rebel-held areas in western parts of the Aleppo governorate. Stephane Dujarric said the convoy also carried in medicine for 15,000 people, and household items for another 10,000. "This aid is part of the plan approved last week by the governor of Aleppo to help some half a million people both in opposition and government-held areas," Dujarric said. Humanitarian aid has not been able to reach many areas where people are in need, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution in February demanding unfettered access.
Now, Australia, Luxembourg, and Jordan are planning to circulate a new U.N. Security Council resolution that diplomats say would authorize the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syria through four border crossings without approval from President Bashar Assad's government. Currently, all U.N. aid must go through Damascus - a practice which U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has repeatedly criticized.

Aoun’s last stand
May 31, 2014/The Daily Star/The race to convince Michel Aoun to accept a compromise over electing a president in Lebanon has been on for some time, as the Free Patriotic Movement leader receives delegations of people trying to change his mind. The interlocutors have ranged from Aoun’s own March 8 allies and the Maronite patriarchate to his political rivals and even foreign diplomats.
While their intentions might be good, their optimism is largely misplaced because they have misread Aoun’s stance on the presidency, a position forged in the last few years of the Civil War.
Back then, when Aoun believed that he alone had the answers for the country’s ills, he opted to confront all sides – the Syrian Army, his rivals in the Lebanese Forces, members of Parliament and even the international community. But in contrast to the late 1980s, Aoun today enjoys much more political support, in the form of allies at home and in the region. Aoun is now, after helping scuttle the election of a successor to Michel Sleiman, talking about holding early parliamentary elections and trying to disrupt the functioning of the caretaker Cabinet, which is embarrassing to even his allies.
Aoun believes that his age won’t let him stand as a viable candidate six years from now, meaning today is a case of “now or never.” While he has the right to take such a stance, the simple fact is that he doesn’t qualify as a consensus candidate, which is what the search for a compromise is all about. Aoun also realizes that the advantages he currently holds might not last particularly long, which is another reason for him to hold out – for himself as president, but not for a compromise that serves the country’s interests.

The US President’s foreign policy leaves Ukraine’s chocolate king in a box
DEBKAfile Special Report May 31, 2014/The chocolate factory owned by Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko in central Kiev is the 18th largest in the world. In the Soviet era, it called itself the Karl Marx Chocolate Works. Today, its owner has depoliticized its name to Roshen Sweets, which hasn’t done his business much good. His product is now banned in Russia on grounds of “health and safety,” while the Europeans are no kinder to its pro-EU manufacturer, having clamped a 48 percent tax on the boxes of candy, temptingly labeled “Kyev Evenings.”
Next Wednesday, June 4, President Poroshenko arrives in Warsaw for his first date with US President Barack Obama, who is coming to round off his three-part foreign policy treatise with assurances for East European leaders that America is there to defend them and their independence against the expansionist designs of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He will find its leaders hard to convince - especially after they heard his “hammer and nail” analogy last Wednesday. Putin’s withdrawal of most of the 40,000 troops he parked on the Ukrainian border, except for a few thousand, holds no real guarantee for their security. After all, they understand that it would take the Russian army just a few hours to restore the full complement to their former positions - or even place them deep inside Ukraine, if Moscow so decided. The East European members of NATO are seriously worried by President Obama’s policy thrust for the two-and-a-half years remaining of his term in office, as he defined it in the speech he delivered at West Point on May 28. “US military action cannot be the only or even primary component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” European leaders within range of Moscow are uncomfortably certain that their security is not enough of “a problem” to rate the use of the American “hammer.” The key policy trend revealed in that speech was that Obama sees only one major threat to America in the Middle East, and that is terrorism, i.e. al Qaeda.
He did not refer to Syrian President Bashar Assad by name, despite the horrors of the unending Syrian war, or the role of Iran and the Lebanese Hizballah in fueling that war. He made it clear that Syrian rebels would be awarded US assistance as a force for pursuing the war on al Qaeda. Obama’s attitudes toward the Ukraine crisis and Iran’s nuclear program bear comparison: “Our ability to shape world opinion helped isolate Russia right away. Because of American leadership, the world immediately condemned Russian actions.” But then, he went on to boast: “… at the beginning of my presidency, we built a coalition that imposed sanctions on the Iranian economy, while extending the hand of diplomacy to the Iranian government. Now we have an opportunity to resolve our differences peacefully.”
For Obama, therefore, everything is hunky dory on the Iranian nuclear scene, even though diplomacy is stalled and the six major world powers failed to turn Tehran away from its drive for a nuclear weapon.
The US president sees no nails demanding the application of the American hammer - either in East Europe or in Middle East trouble spots.
Poroshenko may have had an inkling of this when he was still running for the presidency. This would explain his secret visit to Israel in April, revealed here by debkafile’s intelligence sources, among other things, for secret rendezvous with Russian oligarchs close to Putin, in search of an understanding. They didn’t turn him down, only advised him as president to refrain from aggressively provocative actions against pro-Russian rebels in East Ukraine - or face Moscow’s ire. The future Ukraine president promised to heed this warning. However on May 27, two days after his election, the chocolate king decided to show he had muscle and launched the Ukraine army on an offensive against the insurgents of Donetsk and Slaviansk. Poroshenko ought to have stuck to producing candy; he clearly failed to realize that, with the Ukraine army in its current low state, he was biting off more than he could chew. To save face, the Ukraine army Col. Gen. Koval Mykhailo claimed Friday, May 30, that large parts of East Ukraine had been brought under control and the military operation would continue. This was no more than a lame attempt to conceal the scale of this fiasco and restore a vestige of military pride, after the rebels downed a helicopter causing the death of 14 Ukraine soldiers, including a general. Moscow responded by sending two units across into E. Ukraine - the Vostok (Chechen) Battalion and a Cossack force – while at the same time disavowing any military intervention in the fray. But even the finest “Kyev Evenings” chocolates, if presented by Poroshonko in Warsaw Wednesday, are unlikely to change Obama’s mind about using the American hammer for the sake of Ukraine and East Europe. The words uttered at West Point will not be rewritten in Poland.

President Obama marks career with words, words, words
Saturday, 31 May 2014 /Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/President Obama’s political career is marked by seminal speeches. He is a compelling orator. His books and speeches show his affection for words and his linguistic gifts. He mastered the art of delivering speeches. He has the voice and the poise and he knows how and when to employ the pause for most effect, and he always get the right cadence. Obama introduced himself to America in his nationally televised speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004. For most of the next ten years audiences at home and abroad were mesmerized by Obama’s words, whether he was talking about strictly American themes, like his speech on race in Philadelphia in 2008, how to improve relations with the Muslim World, in his Cairo speech in 2009, the demands and challenges of war and peace when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2009, or his moving speeches following nihilistic violence, at memorial services for the victims of massacres in Tucson, Arizona and Newtown, Connecticut.
The elusive ‘Vision Thing’
However, in the last couple of years the master has begun to lose some of his magic. Speeches became almost his only shield to fend off what looks at times as endless withering wave after wave of sharp arrows from his admittedly merciless and at many times unfair Republican critics, to his growing legions of international detractors including disillusioned old supporters. Obama’s West Point commencement address of May 28 belongs to this latter category and will not be remembered as a seminal speech.
“Speeches became almost his only shield to fend off what looks at times as endless withering wave after wave of sharp arrows”
Hisham Melhem
The White House framed the speech as a new post-9/11 broad vision of foreign policy that is “both interventionist and internationalist, but not isolationist or unilateral”. It was clear that the address, was designed inter alia to rebut the harsh criticism of President Obama’s handling of the Syrian crisis, particularly his failure to deliver on his promises to punish the Syrian dictator Assad after he used chemical weapons against his people, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its continuing belligerence in the Ukraine and China’s flexing of its military muscles in its territorial disputes with Japan and the Philippines. The president was eager to show his supporters at home and his worried allies overseas that he is regaining the mantle of leadership. It was ironic that a president in his sixth year in office will be compelled, again, to explain in broad strokes the underpinnings of his foreign policy and how and when the lone superpower will exercise its right to use military might.
American leadership in a new world
There were many references to ‘American leadership’ in the speech for those who believe that Obama’s leadership is wanting. Obama went as far as telling his critics at home “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being”, something that he rarely says, or he used to qualify. The president told the cadets that the US is winding down its longest war in Afghanistan, after ending his second longest war in Iraq, as well as going beyond the war on al Qaeda core in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre after the successful hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Obama’s embrace of containment and his defense of non-military tools in dealing with crises were in stark contrast with George W. Bush’s aggressive speech at West Point 12 years earlier. Bush was then preparing the nation for war with Iraq, a country ruled by a dictator, Saddam Hussein; Bush believed he could not be deterred from secretly providing weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations.
President Obama presented a spirited defense of his belief that unless core US interests and interests of allies are not seriously threatened, international crises that impact the US should be dealt with by applying a combination of diplomatic and economic tools in collaboration with allies and friends. The address was another re-iteration of the President’s well known abhorrence of war and reluctance to use conventional military force, even in a limited way except in extreme cases. As Brian Katulis, a sharp and insightful interpreter of Obama’s presidency reminded us, one of the guiding themes of Obama’s foreign policy is the one he outlined during the 2008 campaign: “I don’t want to just end the war, but I want to end the min-set that got us into war in the first place.” Obama at West Point in 2014 was erasing Bush’s mind-set that was articulated at West Point circa 2002.
Narrow military doctrine
President Obama was emphatic in saying that military force should not be too prominent as a tool in the conduct of foreign policy. The U.S. will use its military might only in those cases “when our core interests demand it- when our people are threatened; when our livelihood is at stake; or when the security of our allies is in danger.” It seems that Obama’s threat to use limited military force (in the memorable John Kerry’s phrase ‘unbelievably small attack’) against Assad’s military would not be contemplated, since one could argue that it does not threaten the “core interests” of the United States. It would be illuminating to ask President Obama if his reluctant use of military force against the Libyan regime of Qaddafi in 2011 would fit neatly with this doctrine.
Obama believes that in the foreseeable future “the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism.” Particularly from decentralized al Qaeda affiliates. Then the president said “we must shift our counter-terrorism strategy” and learn from the failures and successes of our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan “to more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold”. Isn’t that one of the main missions in Afghanistan for the last 13 years? Didn’t we do that at a great cost in Iraq? Aren’t we doing the same thing in Yemen with limited success for more than a decade? The president announced a new Counter-Terrorism Partnerships Fund of up to $5 billion to train, build capacity and help partner countries fighting terrorism, such as training the Yemeni military against al Qaeda and helping military operations of European allies such as France in Mali.
Straw men
It was in this context that Obama approached the ongoing crisis in Syria. After repeating his old conviction that there is no military solution to the “terrible suffering” of Syria anytime soon, he blatantly added “As president, I made a decision that we should not put American troops into the middle of this increasingly sectarian civil war. And I believe that is the right decision”. Once again, the president was disingenuous, and once again he was engaging in a shameless campaign against straw men. None of his senior current or former advisors proposed dispatching US troops to Syria. At various times, his former CIA director David Petraeus and secretaries of State and defense Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta did recommend arming and training vetted moderate rebels, but the President repeatedly turned them down, because he did not want to get involved in “somebody else’s civil war”.
The address, coming after leaks from senior officials that Obama has decided to ramp up support for the moderate Syrian rebels including broadening training by putting the limited CIA training program in Jordan under the supervision of the Department of Defense DOD, which would signal a serious shift given the resources and capabilities of DOD, the promises of the President were ambiguous, tentative and vague. Obama said that in “helping those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own future, we also push back against the growing number of extremists who find safe-haven in the chaos”. The president seemed to be trying to delay any concrete decisions by entering into open ended discussions with congressional leaders when he said. “I will work with congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and a brutal dictator.”
The president was discussing the war in Syria as if it has been raging for three months only and not for more than three years. There was no hint or acknowledgement, that the administration’s dithering, its refusal to help the moderate rebels before the regime began igniting the fires of sectarianism, has helped create the toxic environment that was ideal for the spread of sectarian violence, and the entry of the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the al Nusra Front and other radical Islamists to Syria to do battle against the extremist Alawite militias, the professional killers of the regime and its extreme Shiite allies from Lebanon, principally Hezbollah and Iraq.
‘We are not going alone’
What the president alluded to, was said an hour later by a senior administration official who spoke on background with reporters. “So this is a conversation that we want to have with congress as they develop their approaches, as we develop ideas for how to increase resources that can flow to the Syrian opposition”. The official made it clear that these discussions with congress will take place “in the coming weeks and months”. It is shocking, to think that after more than 160,000 thousand Syrians killed, three million refugees and more than 6 million displaced, and after extensive discussions and contingency planning by DOD and other US agencies, and contacts with the Syrian opposition and the ‘friends of Syria’, the president of the United States needs few months of talks with congressional leaders to figure out how to help the Syrian rebels. The president seemed to be condemning Syrians to another hot summer of slow, steady dying.
In a subsequent interview with National Public Radio, the president stressed again that with conflicts like the one in Syria, if the situation require a judicious use of military force, it has to be in cooperation with other countries; “we are not going alone”. Sources familiar with the internal deliberations told Al-Arabiya Eng. Web that a decision was made by the president to ramp up support for the Syrian rebels, but the nature and extent of this support is not determined yet, and that putting DOD in charge of training and arming has not been finalized yet. The sources added “there will be progress, but it will be measured in centimeters, not in meters. Don’t get your hopes too high”.
Words, words, words
A president, however eloquent does not live by words alone. President Obama’s sometime impressive use of speeches and the power of words to heal, explain, inspire, cajole and admonish makes him look like a man who believes that eloquent words could have the impact of actions. That giving a powerfully articulate speech, by framing complex issues rationally, one could accomplish most of one’s mission. In Cairo, President Obama, was erudite in framing the complexities of America’s relations with the equally complex Muslim World. Afterwards, when there were no serious follow up, it looked as if the speech itself was the objective and not the work that should follow. And this is not the exception.
The ancient Greeks developed the concept of Praxis, a process by which intellectual, philosophical constructs can be acted upon. Praxis, evolved in Western Philosophy from Aristotle to Karl Marx and on to the last century also as action, or the ‘practice’ part of the dichotomy of ‘theory and practice’. Theory and Praxis or action is an integral part of politics as in many other human endeavors. Man cannot live fully by one component without the other. The built-in tension in man between the active life and the contemplative life (theory and praxis), is at the core of some of the outstanding novels in modern times. This tension is at the heart of Hermann Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund, and Nikos Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek. Mr. President this brief history of Praxis, is to remind you that presidents cannot live by eloquent words alone, or attractive pronouncements and promises delivered in speeches, or by being cerebral and contemplative while avoiding the rough and tumble and the challenge of Praxis.

The folly of General Haftar’s coup attempt in Libya
Saturday, 31 May 2014
Jamal Khashoggi/Alarabiya
Defected General Khalifa Haftar is attempting a military coup, saying he wants to end chaos, terrorism and lawlessness, and to build a new Libya. Haftar lived in the United States, where there has never been a military coup despite the abundance of weapons there. He received his American citizenship and exercised his right to vote. Therefore, he must have learnt there the values of democracy, justice and law.
Read also: Old CIA links return to haunt Libya’s Haftar
Haftar could have easily become a member of the Libyan parliament to protect his legitimacy, strengthen his position, and conduct new elections that may grant him the majority of votes. By virtue of his extensive military experience, he would have gathered a real national army, not just a military faction. He could have become a consensual national leader like the founding fathers of the United States.
“The Libyan people revolted against Muammar Qaddafi because of his tyrannical ways. They do not want another dictator, regardless of how much they want an end to chaos and insecurity”
Jamal Khashoggi
The late U.S. President George Washington established the basic framework for democracy, which is the rotation of power, and that no leader should hold a monopoly on authority, because one day they will be normal citizens who can be held accountable. Why did Haftar not learn from this example?
He wants to “cleanse” Libya of his political opponents and put elected members of parliament on trial. How will he do this, by sentencing them to death or detaining them? How many prisons are needed to house all those who oppose him? People who take part in coups do not usually like opposition. In fact, they fear it. This is why they often rely on oppression, ensuring a cycle of violence. Is it worth it?
Haftar as a salvation?
The Libyan people revolted against Muammar Gaddafi because of his tyrannical ways. They do not want another dictator, regardless of how much they want an end to chaos and insecurity. Some may see Haftar as their salvation, but his success will lead to oppression, because he will eventually face massive opposition, and will send his opponents to prisons and guillotines. This cannot be victory or a permanent situation. Fear prevails over the current regime and the people. If he does not end this battle, Libya will not be settled for years.
In 1934, the United States was going through a very difficult period economically. American businessmen and industrialists told General Smedley Butler that they would financially support him if he carried out a coup against the government, and that they were ready to finance and equip half a million troops to invade Washington.
Butler did not like the idea and reported the plot to the press, saying: “I believe in the value of democracy, and if you can rally 500,000 troops to fight for fascism, then I can rally 500,000 more who would fight back fiercely for democracy, but then we would find ourselves in the middle of a devastating civil war.”
Haftar failed to learn from this wisdom during his 20 years in the United States. If you are able to rally tens of thousands of soldiers to fight for what you believe is right in Libya, there are others who can rally fighters, resulting in a raging civil war.
*This article was first published in al-Hayat on May 24, 2014.