GOOD NEWS
Wind and solar power at record high in 2020, coal dips: analysis

Issued on: 13/08/2020 -

Despite a near-record drop in power demand due to the pandemic, renewables' share of the electricity mix was up 14 percent compared to the same period last year 

Christof STACHE AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Wind and solar produced a record 10 percent of global electricity in the first half of 2020 as the world's coal plant fleet ran at less than half its capacity, analysis published Thursday showed.

Despite a near-record drop in power demand due to the pandemic, renewables accounted for 1,129 terawatt-hours in January-June, compared with 992 in the first six months of 2019, according to a report by the Ember energy think tank.

Overall, the percentage of power drawn from wind and solar has more than doubled from 4.6 percent in 2015 -- the year of the landmark Paris deal on climate change.


On the other hand, generation from coal -- the most polluting fossil fuel -- fell 8.3 percent in the first half of 2020, the analysis showed.

This was despite leading emitter China increasing its share of the global coal fleet slightly.

"From 2015 it's an incredible amount of growth (in solar and wind), but even at 10 percent it's not completely transformational," Dave Jones, senior electricity analyst at Ember, told AFP.

"When we ask is it enough what we are really talking about is, how fast are emissions falling?

"Thirty percent of fossil fuel emissions globally are just from coal power plants, so coal fired power generation needs to collapse quickly in order to limit climate change," said Jones.

The analysis showed that many major economies -- including China, the United States, India, Japan, Brazil and Turkey -- now generate at least 10 percent of their electricity through wind and solar.

Britain and the European Union were singled out for particular praise, deriving 21 and 33 percent of their power from renewables, respectively.

- 'Not fast enough' -

Under the Paris Agreement, nations committed to limit temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit) above pre-industrial levels, mainly through sweeping emissions cuts.

The accord also aims for a safer cap of 1.5C of warming.

To reach this, the United Nations says emissions must fall 7.6 percent annually this decade.

Jones said that while 30 percent of coal's decline this year could be attributed to increased wind and solar generation, the rest was likely due to the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19.

"A large part of this is obviously due to the pandemic rather than long term trends and -- let's be honest -- it's not fast enough if your target is 1.5 C," he said.

A study published last week in Nature Climate Change found that absent a rapid switch away from fossil fuels, the unprecedented fall in emissions due to COVID-19 would do virtually nothing to slow climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that coal use needs to fall 13 percent every year this decade to keep the 1.5-C goal in play.

China, the world's leading polluter, reduced its coal production just two percent so far this year despite its economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.

"Where is China's plan to collapse that coal generation by 2030?" said Jones.

"At the moment it doesn't exist."

© 2020 AFP

Young Latinos vent pandemic fury after lost 2020

Issued on: 13/08/2020 -

Uruguayan Felipe Paz (front) poses with friends before playing football in Montevideo on August 6, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic

 Pablo PORCIUNCULA AFP

Montevideo (AFP)

For four young adults across Latin America, 2020 was meant to be a year of freedom and opportunity. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic brought confinement and frustration.

Classes went online and friendships faded, coming-of-age rituals were canceled and first loves were cut short.

Their only hope? That it may all soon be over.


- Sofia, 19, Chile, pirouette expert -

This year was supposed to be key for promising ballet dancer Sofia Shaw.

Originally from Chillan in central Chile, Shaw was able to move to the capital Santiago to pursue her dream thanks to her own perseverance and the support of her mother, who works as an in-house maid.

Shaw made it into Santiago's municipal ballet school in 2019.

With her father not around, both mother and daughter were dedicated to Shaw's dance ambitions.

"For this year, 2020, I am going to give it my all. I am going to really improve and it's going to go well for me," the 19-year-old told herself before the pandemic struck.

But in March, as the start of classes approached, her life came to a standstill.

"They said quarantine would only last two weeks. I was hopeful," she said.

But online classes are just not the same for the dancer, who has even installed a barre at which to practice in her small apartment.

"Sometimes I lift my legs and bang into the wall. But at least I can do the basics."

In Chile, the COVID-19 outbreak not only disrupted lives across the country, but it also cut short the social protests that had rocked the country since October 2019.

Shaw was in her first year of ballet school when she found herself surrounded by tear gas, rubber bullets and anti-riot tanks.

"I am so angry! I came to Santiago with the idea of becoming a professional ballet dancer, and all these situations happen in the country."

- Jazmin, 17, Argentina, graduation without classes -

Jazmin Islas is struggling to cope as her last year of high school in La Plata, Argentina was totally transformed.

"I had so many expectations. I thought this year was going to be non-stop fun," she said.

In Latin America, pre-university rituals start on the first day of the last year of high school.

When the special moment arrived for Islas, she and her classmates wore face paint, lit flares and danced to the rhythm of a samba-style "batucada."

Little did they know that the following day, the rituals would cease.

"We thought it would be a short break. No one ever imagined this," she lamented.

Islas chatted with friends by video calls, only to see the interactions dry up over time.

"Every day we do the same thing, so we don't have much to say," she said.

The blow of seeing the traditional graduation trip to snow-topped Bariloche -- a town in the southern Patagonia region -- possibly canceled was hard to take.

The pink and blue jumpers Islas and her friends had picked out -- which were meant to be the focus of numerous selfies -- are now being worn to keep warm at home during the southern hemisphere winter.

The future medical student wonders if the last ritual of the year -- the goodbye dinner scheduled for December 9 -- will even go ahead.

"I have lost all hope," Islas said.

- Felipe, 19, Uruguay, university student on pause -

Felipe Paz began his economy and communications course at Uruguay's oldest public university in Montevideo on a Tuesday.

By Friday, evening classes were canceled. Uruguay had just declared a health emergency.

It was a Friday 13 that Paz would never forget.

"For all of us, it's a year we aren't going to get a second chance at, we aren't going to experience that first year of university," he said.

However, unlike worse-hit neighboring countries such as Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay -- a rural country with four times as many cows as humans -- never imposed a lockdown, which meant Paz was still able to visit his girlfriend Victoria.

But with social distancing measures and online classes, Paz admits friendships have changed.

"Something so striking and unprecedented changes our vision, our way of seeing people. Now I appreciate one friend much more, and others are less important than I thought they were," he said.

- Francisco, 20, Argentina, love under lockdown -

Francisco Avalos only managed to celebrate one month with his new girlfriend Guadalupe before lockdown was imposed in Buenos Aires.

He recounts how she baked him biscuits and wrote: "One month and counting. I love you."

By the next monthly milestone, they were stuck at home.

There were no more celebrations for the couple, who live 40 kilometers (25 miles) apart.

By the fourth month, Avalos felt he had to find a new way to say "I am still here."

So he started ordering food to be delivered to Guadalupe: breakfast, tortas (similar to pancakes), burgers and once, even a dozen donuts.

Now taking the pandemic in their stride, the couple plan video calls a couple of times a week.

"It's a way of getting around the lockdown," said Avalos. "At the beginning we would talk a lot about how bad we felt, but now we are trying to avoid that and make the best of it."

Looking to the future, Avalos says: "The first thing I want to do when I get out is to spend an afternoon together, go to the park and drink (traditional Argentinian beverage) mate, from dawn to dusk."

© 2020 AFP

Biden's deep Israel ties could ease Obama-era tensions: experts

THAT MEANS THE DSA AND THE LEFT HAVE TO PUSH RECOGNITION OF PALESTINE

Issued on: 13/08/2020

Joe Biden giving a speech in Tel Aviv in 2010 

DAVID FURST AFP/File

Jerusalem (AFP)

During Joe Biden's first trip to Israel in 1973, he met prime minister Golda Meir, who chain-smoked as she detailed regional security threats days before the Yom Kippur War.

Biden, a newly elected senator at the time, later described that meeting as "one of the most consequential" of his life. In the more than four decades since, his career has been punctuated by a staunch defence of Israel, especially in its handling of the Palestinian conflict.

Biden, set to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee next week, will face in Donald Trump a president that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as Israel's best friend to ever sit in the White House.

Netanyahu's acrimonious relationship with Biden's old boss, former president Barack Obama, is well documented.

But some experts say a Biden win would be welcomed across Israel's political and military establishment -- not just by Netanyahu's rivals on the left.

Biden has long been a vocal supporter of the Jewish state, saying in a 2015 speech that the US must uphold its "sacred promise to protect the homeland of the Jewish people".

Such a history of defending Israel is key to winning the trust of Israeli leaders, perpetually sensitive to international criticism.

"We like people who love us," said Nadav Tamir, a past diplomat and foreign policy advisor to former Israeli president Shimon Peres.

"There is no doubt Biden is a friend who has very strong emotions for Israel," he told AFP.

But experts suggested Biden could also restore the traditional American role of interlocutor between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority has cut ties with Trump, accusing him of egregious bias towards Israel.

Biden "will do much better than Trump on the real issues because he understands that the Israel-Palestinian issue is not a zero-sum game," Tamir said.

- Not just Obama's VP -

Biden served in an Obama administration that often clashed with Israel.

Netanyahu was outraged by the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and, in an unprecedented diplomatic slight, took advantage of a Republican party invitation to condemn it in front of Congress without a presidential invitation.

Just weeks before Obama's term ended, Washington abstained on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Jewish settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, a decision that left Netanyahu fuming.

"We cannot hide it. There is a problem between Israeli officials and the Democrats," said Eldad Shavit of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.

But Shavit, a former military intelligence officer who worked in Netanyahu's office from 2011 to 2015, stressed that Biden was comfortingly familiar to Israel's political class.

"Biden knows us and we know him," Shavit said.

- Jerusalem embassy --

Biden's record on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict extends beyond the flashpoints of the Obama years.

He supported recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital two decades before Trump triggered global outcry by doing so.

Biden supported a 1995 Senate bill to establish a US embassy in Jerusalem by 1999, saying the move would "send the right signal".

His 2020 campaign says that if elected, Biden would not reverse Trump's embassy move, but would reopen a consulate in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem "to engage the Palestinians".

Biden has also dismissed Trump's controversial Middle East peace proposal as a "political stunt" and pledged to pursue fresh negotiations on a two-state solution with the Palestinians at the table.

The Palestinian Authority was not consulted on Trump's plan, while Netanyahu's government gave substantial input.

- Political comfort zone -

Tamir voiced concern that Biden is steeped in an American political tradition that urges disagreements with Israel to remain discreet.

During the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Biden pointedly refused to criticise a 2001 Israeli missile strike in Nablus that killed two children, saying disputes with Israel should be "aired privately", even after George W. Bush's administration had publicly condemned the incident.

While Biden has openly criticised Israel since then, Tamir argued that he remains naturally inclined to address pro-Israeli audiences and reference his affection for the Jewish state, absent any tough love.

"He needs to get out of his political comfort zone... (and) leverage his superpower force" on Israel, by pushing it to consider difficult but essential decisions, like seeking a viable resolution with the Palestinians, Tamir said.

As Shavit noted, Biden may be compelled to alter his approach towards Israel because the Democratic Party now includes "more progressive" Israel sceptics, notably supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, who has called Netanyahu a "reactionary racist".

Whether he is capable of adopting a tougher public posture towards Israel is an important but "open question", Tamir said.

He added: "You need to push us, because the Israeli political system is so deadlocked, you cannot reach a historic decision without being pushed."

© 2020 AFP

Kamala Harris is the choice Joe Biden needed to win over Silicon Valley

The California senator has glad-handed with tech elites for decades.

By Theodore Schleifer@teddyschleifer Aug 11, 2020

Sen. Kamala Harris has had a close relationship with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images


For months, Silicon Valley hasn’t been quite sure what to make of former Vice President Joe Biden.

But Sen. Kamala Harris? That’s a candidate the industry can get behind.

Biden’s selection of Harris — who has glad-handed with San Francisco elites for decades — as his choice for vice president is likely to usher in Silicon Valley excitement and money galore in a way that other running mates would not. For a top-of-the-ticket that has struggled until recently to excite the wealthiest and most powerful tech moguls, Harris will bring superfans from the billionaire class that will supercharge Democrats’ coffers, even though it makes Biden more dependent on these big donors.

On policy, the selection of the California senator offers some reassurance to the tech industry that has nervously watched the rise of the party’s far left. Biden has not made tech issues a priority during the campaign, which has created uncertainty about how seriously his administration would pursue regulation or even a breakup of tech giants. With Harris — a policy pragmatist who enjoys close relationships with many leading tech executives — Biden sends another signal that his administration will not veer toward the policies pushed by those like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a vice-presidential shortlister who wants to break up Big Tech.

Cooper Teboe, a top Democratic fundraiser in Silicon Valley, said about one-third of major West Coast donors that he’s spoken to have been waiting to see who Biden would choose as vice president before deciding whether to invest tens of thousands of dollars into Democrats this cycle. If Biden had chosen Warren, for instance, tech donors might have had concerns.

“She is the safest pick for the donor community,” Teboe said of Harris. “She will be the pick that the California, Silicon Valley donor community — who are worried about things like tech and repatriation and taxes and so on and so forth — she is the pick that they will be happiest with.”
“She is the pick that they will be happiest with”

Harris’s ties to this power set will be highlighted in just a few days when she headlines a high-dollar fundraiser with a Bay Area fundraising group, Electing Women Bay Area, according to an invitation seen by Recode.

Harris’s special touch with the ultra-rich has been integral to her political ascent in San Francisco, where she first served as district attorney before her statewide wins as attorney general and then US senator. Harris was a regular presence on the city’s cocktail circuit and has been profiled in society pages ever since her 30s. Her campaigns were funded by the old-money families that predated the modern tech boom.

When that boom did arrive, Harris capitalized and built an orbit of new-money fans that she will further bring into the Biden fold. Her biggest donors over the last two decades read like a who’s who list of tech moguls: Salesforce founder Marc Benioff has told Recode that Harris is “one of the highest integrity people I have ever met.” Early Facebook president Sean Parker invited Harris to his wedding. Fundraisers for her presidential bid included billionaire Democratic power brokers like Reid Hoffman and John Doerr.

Chris Lehane, a longtime adviser to Bay Area donors, recalled Harris as a “workhorse” when it came to making fundraising calls during her first run for California attorney general in 2009.

“She’d work the whole list,” he said, “and then ask for more names.”

One particularly close bond for Harris has been with Democratic mega-donor Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and wife of the late Steve Jobs. When Powell Jobs was invited to speak at the annual Code Conference in 2017, she brought Harris along with her.

“I thought you would find it more interesting” than having just herself, Powell Jobs remarked onstage. On Tuesday, she tweeted that Biden had “made a great choice!”

But all these ties will prove double-edged in a Democratic Party that has grown concerned about the wealth accumulated by these billionaires and their political influence. The same goes for their tech companies, which are now the subject of antitrust scrutiny and a broader rethink of Silicon Valley’s corporate power.

Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley investor who has expressed concerns about Biden listening too much to tech billionaires, said Harris could pull off a “Nixon-to-China moment.” In other words, only someone like her could push through certain regulations because of her credibility with the tech community.

“As senator from California, Kamala Harris was understandably aligned with Big Tech,” said McNamee. “As vice president, she has an opportunity to stand up for all Americans.”

Some activists are concerned that her personal ties to tech companies will temper serious regulations. Harris’s campaign manager for her first race for district attorney, for example, now runs the California state policy shop at Google. And Tony West, her brother-in-law, is the general counsel of Uber, where her niece worked until recently.

Harris also has connections at Facebook, a company at the burning core of Democrats’ ire these days. She has enjoyed a particularly cozy relationship with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg over the years, helping Sandberg market her book Lean In. Sandberg also sent her a congratulatory note when she won her Senate seat in 2016, as the HuffPost detailed.

Sandberg hadn’t publicly said anything of significance about Biden this cycle. But then on Tuesday, she took to Instagram to note the historic selection of Harris as the first Black woman on a major party ticket (although the longtime Democrat didn’t explicitly endorse Biden-Harris).

All of this leaves people wondering if Harris will be tough — or easy — on companies like Facebook if she becomes vice president.

Harris strongly pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he appeared before Congress. But she has equivocated when asked during her own presidential bid how she would handle antitrust matters. She has also consistently dodged when asked point-blank whether tech giants should be broken up, only saying that “we have to seriously take a look at that.”

“The tech companies have got to be regulated in a way that we can ensure and the American consumer can be certain that their privacy is not being compromised,” she told the New York Times.

She also tried at one point to get tough on Twitter, calling on founder Jack Dorsey to ban President Trump from the platform. That didn’t go anywhere — and Harris dropped out thereafter.

Now, she has another shot at reining in Silicon Valley, if she wants to take it.

'Impossible dream': Kamala Harris inspires in father's Jamaica
Issued on: 13/08/2020

Democratic vice presidential running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, speaks during the first press conference with Joe Biden Olivier 

DOULIERY AFP

Kingston (Jamaica) (AFP)

Kamala Harris's boundary-breaking run at the US vice presidency has inspired hope and dreams in her father's native Jamaica, where locals claimed her as their own.

She might have been born in California to an Indian mother, but it was her Jamaican roots and historic candidacy that got people in Kingston excited on Wednesday.

"My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this," said Felicia Mills, a 36-year-old executive secretary.

"This means a lot for every little girl who has ever dreamed an impossible dream," she said, describing Harris as an "honorary Jamaican".

Harris was the first black attorney general of California and the first woman to hold that post, while she was also the first woman of South Asian heritage elected to the US Senate.

The 55-year-old made history on Tuesday when Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden tapped her to be his running mate, making her the first woman of color on a major party's presidential ticket.

Her father, Donald Harris, served as an economics professor at prestigious Stanford University in California, where he taught and carried out research.

According to his biography on Stanford's website, he is a naturalized US citizen but "had a continuing engagement with work on the economy of Jamaica, his native country."

He served as a consultant to Jamaica's government and its prime ministers, the website said.

Her father and mother, breast cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan, separated when Harris was about five years old and she and her sister Maya were raised by her mother, who died in 2009.- 'Historic selection' -

Popular Jamaican political commentator Kevin O'Brien Chang said Harris's candidacy shined a positive light on the island.

"She has spoken positive about Jamaica in the past, she is aware of her heritage and proud of it," he said.

"It shows greatness, and it translates well, that the daughter of two immigrants born in the United States could aspire to the second most powerful job in America," Chang added.

Even Jamaica's top levels of government weighed in on the nomination, with the nation's foreign affairs minister Kamina Johnson Smith tweeting "Congratulations to Senator @kamalaharris on her historic selection!!"

With under three months to go until election day in the United States, people in Jamaica were already casting Harris's nod as a masterful step.

"Based on the reactions I'm seeing so far, it's a genius move," said University of the West Indies politics student Francine James.

"Any attempts by the Republicans at being nasty towards her... will likely backfire," James said.

Biden and Harris came out swinging on Wednesday, launching their ticket with a call-to-arms against President Donald Trump.

"America is crying out for leadership, yet we have a president who cares more about himself than the people who elected him," said Harris.

© 2020 AFP

Thousands join Thai anti-government protest, royalists hold rival rally

Reuters , Monday 10 Aug 2020

Pro-democracy students hold posters of a missing Thai activist during a protest at the Thammasat University in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Aug, 10, 2020 (Photo: AP)

Thousands joined an anti-government demonstration at a Thai university on Monday, the largest such protest by students, challenging the government and conservative establishment even as royalist rivals held their own rally.

About 3,000 to 4,000 protesters chanted "Long live democracy" at Thammasat University on Bangkok's outskirts, with fiery speeches calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who first seized power in a 2014 coup.

Earlier on Monday, dozens of government supporters rallied in front of Parliament House on Monday, saying the student protests could threaten Thailand's monarchy, which they consider a sacred institution.

In a sign of a more coordinated opposition to the students, nationalist activist Sumet Trakulwoonnoo, 46, announced a new pro-government group, the Coordination Center of Vocational Students for the Protection of National Institutions (CVPI).

"We're setting up to remind youth groups, parents, teachers and officials about the danger to the nation from these people who are instigating youth to become godless and obsessed with Western culture, do drugs and hate their parents and teachers," Sumet told reporters.

The anti-government protesters have made a growing number of references to the monarchy, a highly sensitive topic, and one speaker at a recent rally called for its reform.

The students accused the pro-government demonstrators of trying to create confrontation that could lead to another military intervention.

"We do not want this and will oppose it," Nick Thanawit, a student activist from Maha Sarakham University, told the crowd.

Two activists involved in the student protests were arrested on Friday on charges of sedition and breaking restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. They were later released on bail.

Human Rights Watch said that several other protesters around the country had been harassed.

"Legal action and harassment are intensifying despite Prime Minister Prayuth's promises that the government would listen to the dissenters' demands and concerns," said Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher on Thailand for Human Rights Watch.

Government deputy spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek denied blocking student activism.

"We don't want to see violence or expressions beyond the bounds of the law," Rachada told Reuters.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/thailand-warns-anti-government.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/thai-king-is-seen-in-public-alongside.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/testing-royal-taboos-inside-thailands.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/thai-protesters-demand-release-of-anti.html

U.S. Contractor Knew of Explosive Material in Beirut Since at Least 2016


An American contractor spotted and reported the potential danger at least four years ago, but U.S. officials denied they were aware of the findings until last week, after the blast.

An American contractor working with the U.S. Army warned at least four years ago about a large cache of potentially explosive chemicals that was stored in Beirut’s port in unsafe conditions, according to a United States diplomatic cable.

The presence of the chemicals was spotted and reported by an American port security expert during a safety inspection of the port, the cable said. Current and former American officials who have worked in the Mideast say the contractor would have been expected to report the finding to the U.S. Embassy or Pentagon.

BEHIND PAYWALL
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion-us-contractor.html

Islam Times - An American contractor working with the U.S. Army warned at least four years ago about a large cache of potentially explosive chemicals that was stored in Beirut’s port in unsafe conditions, according to a United States diplomatic cable.

The presence of the chemicals was spotted and reported by an American port security expert during a safety inspection of the port, the cable said. Current and former American officials who have worked in the Mideast say the contractor would have been expected to report the finding to the U.S. Embassy or Pentagon.

The chemicals — 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate — exploded last Tuesday, shaking much of Lebanon, damaging buildings across a wide swath of central Beirut, killing more than 160 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

The fact that the United States may have known about the chemicals and warned no one shocked and angered Western diplomats, who lost two colleagues in the blast and saw several others wounded.

A senior State Department official denied that American officials were aware of the contractor’s findings and said the cable cited by The Times “shows that they had not” been informed.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a cable that was not public, said the contractor “made an unofficial site visit to the port approximately four years ago, and was not at the time a U.S. government or State Department employee.” The official said the department had no record of the contractor communicating his findings until last week, after the deadly explosion.

Hizbullah and Beirut 

The Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah may make concessions in order to ensure the arrival of Western funding, but it is unlikely to lose its influence over the Lebanese state and society

Hassan Al-Qishawi , Wednesday 12 Aug 2020
Ahram Online is the English-language news web site published by Al-Ahram Establishment, Egypt’s largest news organisation, and the publisher of the Middle East’s oldest newspaper: the daily Al-Ahram, in publication since 1875.

Nasrallah

In the aftermath of the Beirut explosion on 4 August, fingers immediately pointed to the Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah.

The theory was that the explosion was a message to Lebanese Future Movement leader Saad Al-Hariri ahead of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announcement of its verdict in the case of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri in which four Hizbullah members are being tried in absentia.

In some versions of the theory, Hizbullah had been smuggling explosive substances through the port of Beirut. In others, Hizbullah had kept the substances in storage for use in the next war with Israel or, alternatively, Israel had bombed the highly explosive ammonium nitrate as a means to get at Hizbullah.

Such conjectures have since given way to the semi-official version, which maintains that sparks from nearby welding works ignited the 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that have been housed in the port for several years.

But even so Hizbullah still remains in the public gaze. The group is widely seen as being responsible for the deterioration that has brought Lebanon to its present state. Even before the explosion and as the Lebanese economy plunged deeper into crisis, there was mounting criticism of Hizbullah militias.

But the explosion focused popular anger on the Shia militant group more intensely than ever before, especially after the Lebanese 14 March Alliance started to mobilise its supporters to demand the fall of the current government, which is perceived as being Hizbullah-controlled.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has denied allegations that the group controlled the port or stored weapons and ammunition there. “We do not operate or control the port. We do not intervene in its management. We do not know what happens or what exists there,” he said.

Nasrallah demanded a fair and transparent investigation of what had taken place and appealed for a united front and cool-headedness in response to what he described as an “exceptional event in modern Lebanese history” that should not be politicised.

While its management falls under the office of the president, currently Michel Aoun who is a Hizbullah ally, the Beirut port, like other national facilities, “is subject to the influence of the political forces, and this is determined by numerous factors,” an informed Lebanese source told Al-Ahram Weekly.

“Basic government services and facilities are apportioned among the political forces. The port cannot be said to be controlled by any particular party by tradition. However, it is currently under the influence of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), given that Aoun is president.” Aoun founded the FPM in 1994.

“According to the available information,” the source continued, “Hizbullah does not exercise any exceptional influence over the port, in contrast to Beirut airport, which is situated near the predominantly Shia Dahieh district south of Beirut.”

Hizbullah has long exercised control over the airport, which the political party/militant organisation has designated as a red line. Defending that red line was one of the reasons it launched its takeover of Beirut on 7 May 2008 following the dismissal of the Hizbullah-affiliated security director at the airport.

According to the source, the very location of the seaport in Beirut limits Hizbullah’s ability to assert its control over it and use it towards its own ends. “For one thing, it is adjacent to Christian and Sunni neighbourhoods. For another, the Mediterranean teems with US and Israeli warships that inspect any vessel suspected of transporting military equipment or substances to Hizbullah,” he said.

“Hizbullah also has several ports in the south in predominantly Shia areas. More importantly, it relies on the land route from Syria, out of sight of western fleets, to obtain its needs.”

Would Hizbullah agree to relinquish its arms in order to bring Lebanon back from the brink of collapse?

“If forced to choose between a Lebanon reduced to famine and giving up its arms, it would choose famine,” the source said. “But this doesn’t mean that Hizbullah would not be open to making concessions. It knows as well as anyone else that Lebanon cannot survive the current crisis without international support. An indication of this awareness was seen in its positive reception of French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit.”

The Lebanese press reported that Macron, during his meeting with political party representatives at the French embassy during his visit to Lebanon, had had a separate conversation with MP Mohamed Raad, the head of the Hizbullah parliamentary group. Hizbullah sources have refused to divulge the substance of the conversation, which reportedly lasted several minutes.

The Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper described this as the first meeting between the French president and an official from Hizbullah, which Washington has designated as a terrorist organisation.

The Al-Jumhuriya newspaper reported that Raad had said that “we have no problem with regard to speaking to each other. The problem is that we do not carry out what we agree on. The proof is that we signed the Taif Accord, but we have not implemented it.” Raad was also reported to have described the French president’s propositions concerning what needed to be done in Lebanon as “realistic”.

The Hizbullah MP underscored the need to reinforce Lebanon and to preserve its strong points, “especially the power of the resistance that compensated for the inability of the state to fight for liberation, just as French freedom fighters did during the Nazi occupation” of France, he said, as quoted in Al-Akhbar.

It was also reported that Hizbullah had asked Iran to erase a tweet by the secretary of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, an Iranian government organisation, Mohsen Rezaee, criticising Macron’s visit to Beirut in the aftermath of the explosion. Hizbullah realises that Macron’s visit extended a last hope to salvage the Lebanese economy, and it wants it to succeed while having to make as few concessions as possible.

It appears that the conditions the French president made in order to martial international aid do not include the immediate disarmament of Hizbullah. However, they do include assurances of Lebanon’s “neutrality.” This is shorthand for the need for Hizbullah to refrain from intervening in the affairs of Lebanon’s neighbours and to cease its military adventures, already a tall order for the militant organisation.

According to some reports, Macron suggested deferring the question of Hizbullah’s arms until after the US and Iran had reached a new agreement over the Iranian nuclear programme. But while Macron’s proposal may be more consistent with Lebanese realities, it is unlikely to be acceptable to the US and Saudi Arabia, which both want to disarm Hizbullah and oppose keeping the question of Hizbullah’s control over the Lebanese state up in the air.

Aware of the potential resistance from Washington, Macron told US President Donald Trump that US sanctions against Hizbullah were counterproductive and that they only served to strengthen the very parties they sought to weaken.

On the eve of the international donors conference to support Lebanon, an Élysée Palace official said that Macron had told Trump by telephone that the US needed to “reinvest” in Lebanon in order to help with reconstruction. The French official added that his government believed there was sufficient evidence to presume that the explosion in the Beirut port was an accident.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was equally concerned over the precarious situation in Lebanon and cautioned against attempts to destabilise Lebanon and to exploit the crisis to pave the way for increased foreign influence. In remarks to the press, Maas spoke of “non-government agents” funded from abroad, such as Hizbullah, that could exploit the political and security vacuum in Lebanon.

The international donors conference was hosted by Paris on Sunday by video to secure pledges of financial support from participants and to discuss how to distribute aid in ways that reach its intended beneficiaries directly, rather than passing through the hands of corrupt officials.

Due to the urgency of the aid, it appears that European donors at least will not broach the question of Hizbullah’s arms and instead will focus on the fight against corruption, the need to empower Lebanese civil society and the need to hold new elections.

None of these issues present an immediate threat to Hizbullah’s influence. The group has extensive intelligence expertise, and it can continue to pursue its security and military activities despite a degree of foreign monitoring and plans to combat corruption.

Indeed, a not insignificant portion of civil society activists in Lebanon are close to Hizbullah. Ultimately, whatever concessions Hizbullah makes in order to ensure the arrival of Western funding, it is unlikely to lose much of its influence over the Lebanese state and society.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 13 August, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Lebanese prosecutor to question ministers over Beirut blast, amidst public outrage



Issued on: 13/08/2020

Demonstrators wave Lebanese flags during protests near the site of a blast at Beirut's port area, August 11, 2020. © REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Lebanon's judiciary will question several ministers, a judicial official said Wednesday, over a massive chemical blast at a Beirut port warehouse that ravaged the capital.

Survivors and volunteers were still sweeping pulverised glass off rubble-strewn streets a week after a large depot of industrial chemicals blew up at Beirut's port, a blast President Michel Aoun estimated had caused more than $15 billion-worth of damage.

The official death toll rose to 171, while 6,500 were injured and 300,000 left temporarily homeless in the country's worst peacetime disaster.

Top diplomats streamed into Lebanon to show solidarity and urge reforms to curb the corruption blamed for allowing a vast stock of ammonium nitrate, a compound often used in homemade bombs, to rot for years at the port despite repeated warnings.

An AFP investigation found that up until the day before the deadly blast, officials had exchanged warnings over the cargo, but did nothing despite experts' fears it could cause a massive conflagration.


A judicial official said Wednesday that the prosecution would question several ministers and former ministers over the disaster.

Meanwhile, at Beirut's main fire station, a stone's throw from the charred and ruined port, firefighters held an emotional funeral for one of 10 comrades they lost in the catastrophe.

"May God be with you, our hero," firefighters cried as they saw off the coffin of their lost friend Jo Noun during their fourth such ceremony since the August 4 disaster.

Ten firefighters are confirmed to have died, and six more are still among the missing, including three members of the same family.

Rina Hitti, the mother of one and related to the two others, said: "In one piece or several, we want our sons back."

Direct aid

Emergency crews on Wednesday were still searching the dusty "ground zero" where the explosion pulverised buildings and left a water-logged 43-metre-deep crater where a quay and warehouses once stood.

The human error that sparked devastation worthy of a major earthquake has sparked public rage, matched only by the speed at which officials are seen to be passing the buck.

Around 100 of the wounded were recently still listed in critical condition and it was feared the death toll could yet rise as Beirut's hospitals treat the casualties.

More than half of 55 healthcare facilities evaluated by the World Health Organization were "non-functional," the agency said Wednesday, adding that three major hospitals were out of operation and another three running at well below normal capacity, he said.

Among those killed was a diplomat from Germany, whose Foreign Minister Heiko Maas arrived in Lebanon Wednesday for a short visit of support.

In a social media message, he stressed the need for "profound economic reform".

He also announced a one million-euro donation directly to the Lebanese Red Cross, in line with a pledge that emergency aid should bypass a government that has lost its people's trust.

Jockeying

Angry protesters demonstrated for a third night running Tuesday to demand the wholesale ouster of a ruling political elite they see as directly responsible for the port tragedy.

Mock gallows and nooses have become the symbols of the new wave of protests, which have rekindled a revolutionary street movement that had lost steam in recent months amid economic hardship and the coronavirus pandemic.

Under intense domestic and foreign pressure, Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his government's resignation on Monday.

Many have bitterly dismissed his efforts to cast himself as a champion of the fight against corruption, labelling him instead as a puppet of the long-standing political elite.

Some saw the government's departure as a victory and a sign that continued pressure could finally force change in a country ruled by the same cartel of former warlords and their relatives since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Others feared that the resignation could herald the return of old faces such as former prime minister Saad Hariri.

According to the Al-Akhbar newspaper, Nawaf Salam, a former judge at the International Court of Justice, is favoured by some of Lebanon's top foreign partners, including France.

However, the paper said, Salam is not an acceptable choice for powerful Iranian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday warned Tehran against interfering in Lebanon, urging his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani "to avoid any outside interference and to support the putting in place of a government which can manage the emergency," the Elysee said.

Meanwhile, a return of Hariri, who resigned under pressure from the street late last year, could spark even more outrage among a protest camp re-invigorated by the disaster.

Parliament was due to convene on Thursday to approve a state of emergency, which would give security forces heightened powers to curb the street demonstrations.

(AFP)

Lebanese protesters call for downfall of president and political elite over Beirut blast

Angry and grieving protesters on Tuesday read aloud the names of at least 171 people killed in last week's explosion at Beirut port and called for the removal of Lebanon's president and other officials they blame for the tragedy.

Gathered near "ground zero", some carried pictures of the victims as a large screen replayed footage of the mushroom cloud that rose over the city on August 4 after highly explosive material stored for years detonated, injuring some 6,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

"HE KNEW" was written across an image of President Michel Aoun on a poster at the protest venue. Underneath, it read: "A government goes, a government comes; we will continue until the president and the parliament speaker are removed."

The president and prime minister were reportedly warned in July about the warehoused ammonium nitrate, according to documents and senior security sources.

Aoun, who has pledged a swift and transparent investigation, tweeted on Tuesday: "My promise to all the pained Lebanese is that I will not rest until all the facts are known."



Lebanon: Beirut falls silent to remember victims
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At 6:08pm in Beirut (15:08 GMT) Tuesday, church bells rang and mosques called for prayer to mark the precise moment that a portside fire ignited a vast stock of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, sparking a huge explosion that was felt as far away as Cyprus.

The fireball and subsequent shockwave, caught in dramatic videos posted on social media, wrought devastation across entire neighbourhoods of Beirut.

Watershed moment

A week later, the blast that left 6,000 people injured and made an estimated 300,000 people temporarily homeless looked like a potential watershed in Lebanon's troubled political history.


Beirut protesters clash with police outside Lebanon's parliament
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On Tuesday, Ali Noureddin joined thousands of people to march solemnly by the wreckage of Beirut port, where his brother Ayman had been stationed as soldier when the blast went off.

"My brother died because of state negligence and corruption," he said, holding a picture of his late brother, who was 27.

Ali dismissed the resignation of Hassan Diab's government on Monday as insignificant unless it were followed by the wholesale removal of Lebanon's hereditary political elite.

"Change will only happen when the entire regime changes," he said, holding back tears. "But I hope all these young people here and my brother's death can bring about change."

In his resignation speech, the 61-year-old Diab cast himself as a champion of the struggle against corrupt political overlords, despite the fact many see him as a puppet rather than a victim.

Some saw his departure as a victory for the protest movement that forced out the previous government last year.

But others warned that given the power of Lebanon's factions and clans, the same old faces may be back before too long.

"It's a long fight that won't end in a month or two," said Hussein El Achi, an activist and lawyer defending the protest camp.

"But (the political elite) are weak, they have never been weaker, even among their own people," he said.

Protests continued for the fourth consecutive night Tuesday, as dozens of demonstrators clashed with security forces and tried to break down barriers leading to the parliament in central Beirut.

The Lebanese Red Cross said 10 people had been taken to hospital while 32 were treated at the scene.


EN NW PKG F24 AR BEIRUT WITNESSES
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Search for next PM

The blast rocked a country already on its knees, with an economic collapse sending poverty levels soaring even before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Some observers argue that deep public anger over the tragedy will reduce Lebanese politicians' room for manoeuvre as foreign pressure grows to pass reforms as a condition for a bailout.

"They will find it very difficult to avoid the kind of structural reforms that the international community has made a precondition for any aid," said political science professor Bassel Salloukh of the Lebanese American University.

France has taken the lead in the international emergency response, organising an aid conference which raised a quarter of a million euros.

President Emmanuel Macron visited blast-ravaged neighbourhoods of Beirut two days after the disaster, adopting a tough tone with Lebanese officials and warning that they needed to strike "a revamped pact with the Lebanese people".

For now Diab's team will continue in a caretaker capacity, but negotiations were underway for a successor.

According to the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper, veteran diplomat Nawaf Salam is favoured by Paris, Washington and Riyadh, three of the key outside power brokers in Lebanon.

Iran, sponsor of Lebanon's dominant Hezbollah movement, also appeared to be on board with such a scenario, which would see Salam head up a neutral government not hostile to the Shiite group.

It was not clear how other factions viewed that solution.

Food 'catastrophe' looms

In the blast zone, the increasingly hopeless search for survivors continued, but rescue teams were only pulling lifeless bodies from the rubble.

The UN refugee agency said that 34 refugees were among the dead.

The blast ripped the sides off towering grain silos that shielded part of the city from the shockwave. But the blast spilt thousands of tonnes of grain, vital to the import-dependant country's food security.

On Monday, the head of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, said Lebanon needed all the help it could get because 85 percent of Lebanon's food used to come in through the port.

He warned that unless port operations resumed quickly, Lebanon would be without bread in two weeks.

Further adding to its woes, the country on Tuesday recorded its highest-yet daily number of deaths and new infections from the novel coronavirus, with seven fatalities and 309 new cases.

Health officials have warned that the chaos caused by the blast risked leading to a spike in infections.

The head a major public hospital warned that the next few days would be critical.

"The events of the previous week have, understandably, shifted attention away from the pandemic," Firass Abiad said on social media.

But, he said, "we cannot afford to allow the virus to go unchecked."

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

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