Greece offers olive branch as search for allies begins

Greece sought to repair relations with its international creditors on Saturday (Jan 31) as the new anti-austerity government began a charm offensive in European capitals, even as Germany insisted it would not support any debt relief...

Just hours before Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis headed to Paris to seek support for a renegotiation Greece's massive loans, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he believed a deal could be reached with the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on Greek debt," Tsipras said in a statement issued to the Bloomberg news agency.

In its first meeting with creditors since it took office, the Greek government clashed with the head of the Eurozone finance ministers on Friday over its plans to rethink its rescue package and to halve Greece's debt.

Tsipras, who will himself visit Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande next week, said Greece had no intention of reneging on its commitments to the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

"My obligation to respect the clear mandate of the Greek people with respect to ending the policies of austerity and returning to a growth agenda, in no way entails that we will not fulfil our loan obligations to the ECB (European Central Bank) or the IMF," he said. "On the contrary, it means that we need time to breathe and create our own medium-term recovery programme."

This includes aiming to balance the budget - excluding debt repayments - and clamping down on tax evasion, corruption and policies which favour only a wealthy few, he said.

"I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole," Tsipras said.

GERMANY HOLDS FIRM

Varoufakis was to leave for Paris on Saturday night with talks scheduled with French finance minister Michel Sapin and economy minister Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. Neither he nor Tsipras are intending to visit Germany, which has shouldered the bulk of Greece's loans and which strongly objects to Athens' plans.

Merkel on Saturday ruled out fresh debt relief for Greece, telling the Hamburger Abendblatt daily: "There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt."

"I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation," she said, as a new poll for broadcaster ZDF found 76 per cent of Germans oppose any reduction in debt.

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho also opposes any renegotiation of Greece's debt, saying it would "go against the interests of Portugal and the Portugese people".

Despite a restructuring in 2012, Greece is still lumbered with a debt pile of more than 315 billion euros, upwards of 175 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) - an EU record.

But in its first week in power, the government scrapped the privatisation of Greece's two main ports and the state power company and announced a major raise in the minimum wage.

Varoufakis also raised the stakes by saying that Greece wanted direct access to its EU-IMF creditors and would no longer work with their widely hated fiscal audit staff team, known as the "troika".

Martin Schulz, the German head of the European Parliament, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine on Saturday that this position was "irresponsible".

GREEK BANK FEARS

Varoufakis's comments followed a strained meeting on Friday with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who represents finance ministers from the 19-nation Eurozone. Dijsselbloem warned Athens that "taking unilateral steps or ignoring previous arrangements is not the way forward".

Greece has been promised another 7.2 billion euros (US$8.1 billion, S$10.9 billion) in funds from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank (ECB), but this is dependent on the completion of a review of reforms at the end of February.

• Varoufakis has said his government does not want the loans, but there are concerns Greece cannot survive without them. These concerns are focused on Greece's banks, which are helping the state stay afloat by purchasing its treasury bills - and which are being supported by the ECB.

• "If the ECB turns the tap off, it's over," Alexandre Delaigue, economics professor at the elite French military academy Saint-Cyr, told AFP.

The stunning success of Syriza in last Sunday's polls sent shockwaves through Europe and gave encouragement to other anti-austerity parties.

Tens of thousands of people, meanwhile, took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday in support of the Spanish party Podemos, which has been surging in polls ahead of elections later this year. Like Syriza, Podemos has found popular support by targeting corruption and rejecting austerity programmes aimed at lifting the countries out of deep economic crisis.

- AFP/fl
[channelnewsasia.com]
31/1/15 --1/2/15
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• Greece warned against trying to reverse bailout deals

Israelis demand govt resignation after Jerusalem attack

Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated in west Jerusalem on Tuesday to demand the government's resignation in the wake of a deadly attack on a Jewish synagogue in which four Israelis were killed.

About 300 Israelis chanted slogans for the government, amid chants against Palestinians and Arabs, according to Israeli Channel Two.
Earlier Tuesday, four Israelis were killed and seven others injured in an attack by two Palestinians on a Jewish synagogue in West Jerusalem. The attackers were shot dead by Israeli police in the immediate wake of the attack.
No group has thus far claimed responsibility for the incident, which is the eighth such Palestinian attack on Israelis to have occurred in Israel or the occupied territories within the last month.

Israeli wounded in fresh stabbing attack in E. Jerusalem
An Israeli settler was wounded Tuesday after being attacked by two Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
Two Palestinian youths attacked an Israeli settler with a metal rod in East Jerusalem's Old City, leaving him with minor injuries, a source in the Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency service, was quoted as saying by Israeli Channel 7.
According to the channel, Israeli forces have launched a manhunt for the attackers, who fled the scene on a bike after the attack.
Israeli police have yet to comment on the incident.
Six Israelis, including two security personnel, have been killed – and several others injured – in a spate of attacks by Palestinians since late October.
Tension mounted further on October 30, when Israeli authorities sealed access to East Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Asqa Mosque complex for several hours after an extremist rabbi was shot and injured by a Palestinian man in West Jerusalem.
www.aa.com.tr/en
18/11/14

Turkish government gets OK for military operations in Syria, Iraq. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year.

A comprehensive motion authorizing the government to deploy the Turkish army into Iraq and Syria and to allow the deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soil was approved Oct. 2 in Parliament, providing the necessary legality for Turkey’s potential contribution to the international coalition’s efforts to destroy jihadists.

The motion, based on Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution, received 298 votes in favor and 98 against.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmakers voted in favor of the motion while the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the People’s Democracy Party (HDP) voted against the mandate.

• The Iraq-Syria motion gives a green light for the use of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as for foreign forces to be deployed on Turkish military bases and to transit through Turkish territory in operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year. The government merged two existing motions on Syria and Iraq into one, arguing that the threats and risks posed by terrorist organizations are using both countries’ territories. 

“The threat against Turkey has gained a new dimension. It’s our obligation to take measures against this threat and to protect our citizens in the frame of international law,” Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz told Parliament. Yılmaz cited the efforts of the international coalition to battle against extremist jihadists in Syria and underlined that Turkey was also part of these efforts.

But just hours before the parliamentary session, Yılmaz stressed that the adoption of the motion did not mean that Turkey would take immediate steps in line with the scope of the motion. The three priorities Turkey has already outlined are to establish safe havens inside Syria to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrians in their own country, establish no-fly zones for the protection of these zones and train and provide logistics to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Turkey. Turkey is yet to decide what measures it will take in this framework but it has made it clear that all such potential measures to be carried out with the participation of coalition forces should also target the Syrian government. 

‘Assad is the main source of unrest’

“The main source of ISIL is the Syrian regime,” Yılmaz said, adding that Damascus had increased its oppression against dissidents in the country, committing massacres against its own citizens in various ways. “The developments in Iraq have proven that there is a need of a holistic and comprehensive strategy to respond to the regional clashes and humanitarian tragedy. The region will be dragged into further conflict in the event the international community does not take a decisive step,” he added.

Mehmet Şandır, a deputy parliamentary group leader of the MHP, stressed that they were voting in favor of the motion because of their sensitivity to national causes and security while adding that that did not mean that it approved the ruling party’s foreign policy line. “If there is a possibility of an attack against our country, we should take measures to defend our country,” Şandır said.

CHP: Motion is a battle cry

Akif Hamzaçebi, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CHP, described the motion as a “battle cry” and stressed that it was not aimed at fighting against ISIL but the Bashar al-Assad regime, which could drag Turkey into war with Syria. “Where is ISIL in this motion? Mr. President was caught red-handed yesterday with his address to Parliament as he outlined that their main objective was to topple the regime,” Hamzaçebi said. “We simply do not want to draw Turkey into this fire.”

Faruk Loğoğlu, speaking on behalf of the CHP, termed the point Turkey arrived at a crossroads that would negatively affect the future of Turkey and the region. “This motion is the result of an adventurous foreign policy. And we should all vote against it,” Loğoğlu said.

HDP: Gov’t still supporting ISIL

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, a lawmaker from the HDP, argued that the Turkish government did have any concerns over ISIL’s existence in Iraq and Syria and that the motion was just an attempt to show off on behalf of Turkey for its regional ambitions. “You were bystanders to the ISIL massacres. You had no such issue until Barack Obama targeted ISIL,” Kürkçü said. “You were the ones who supported ISIL, and you are still supporting it.”

Linking the ongoing Kurdish resolution process to the clashes between ISIL and the Syrian Kurds’ Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the Kobane region of northern Syria, Kürkçü said, “If Kobane fails, the resolution process will also fail.” 
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-government-gets-ok-for-military-operations-in-syria-iraq.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72482&NewsCatID=338
2/10/14
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• Turkey’s ISIL mandate includes 'military action abroad, opening bases to foreign troops'

 

Turkey’s ISIL mandate includes 'military action abroad, opening bases to foreign troops'

The mandate the Turkish government is seeking from the Parliament to authorize the army to send troops into Iraq and Syria to deal with growing threat of extremist jihadists does also include opening its bases to foreign troops, a senior government official has said, signalling about potential Turkish contribution to the international military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“The motion we are about to send the Parliament is going to be comprehensive and to deal today’s and tomorrow’s threats,” deputy Prime Minister and spokesperson of the government, Bülent Arınç told reporters Sept. 30 following weekly cabinet meeting.

Upon a question whether the motion to be sent to Parliament will include sending troops to foreign countries to establish security zones, to allow deployment of foreign troops and to open Turkish military bases to foreign troops, Arınç said “Let me include one more option: All. The motion will refer to all of these points you have asked.”

“We are a determined government. We perfectly know what’s going on inside and outside Turkey. This issue of security zone and other issues all have diplomatic and military reflections,” he added.

After another question, Arınç said that the ISIL militants are advancing on Suleyman Shah Tomb in northern Syria, which Turkish soldiers continue to guard.

• Turkey is insisting to establish safe havens in Syria for the protection of Syrian refugees inside the country. Apart from a security zone, it does also ask coalition members led by the United States to establish no-fly zones over Syrian airspace.   

The motion is based on Article 92 of Turkey's Constitution that stipulates parliamentary authorization for sending troops to another country or to allow deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soils.

Arınç said the motion has two parts, its reasoning and demands from the Parliament, and underlined that it will be as comprehensive as possible so that the government will not need a fresh parliamentary mandate.

“We were planning to extend already existing motions on Iraq and Syria that will expiry in October. Their validity could be extended in a routine way but we have thought to work on a text merging these motions that would address all threats and risks Turkey is facing in its region,” Arınç stressed.

The motion is expected to be voted at the Parliament on Oct. 2 following a closed session due to sensitivity of the issue.
[hurriyetdailynews.com]
30/9/14

UN declares Iraq emergency amid clashes

Declaration of emergency will bring in more funds and aid for those displaced by fighting in the country....

The United Nations has declared its highest level of emergency in Iraq as fresh clashes between government troops and Sunni rebels killed four children west of Baghdad.
Fighting erupted early on Thursday in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, about 65km west of Baghdad.
The clashes on the city's northern outskirts killed four children, along with a woman and at least 10 fighters, said Fallujah hospital director Ahmed Shami.

Fallujah has been in the hands of the Islamic State since early January, when the group seized much of Western Anbar province along with parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi.
The fighting came as the UN declared the situation in Iraq a "Level 3 Emergency" - a development that will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, pointing to the "scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe."
The Security Council also said it was backing a newly nominated premier-designate in the hope that he can swiftly form an "inclusive government'' that could counter the threat from rebels, which has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the US troop withdrawal in 2011.
Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled the Islamic State group's advance to take refuge in the remote desert Sinjar mountain range.

The US and Iraqi military have dropped food and water supplies, and in recent days Kurds from neighbouring Syria battled to open a corridor to the mountain, allowing some 45,000 to escape.

• On Thursday, President Barack Obama said the US had broken the siege on Sinjar Mountain, but that airstrikes would continue.

Speaking at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, Obama said US operations helped thousands of civilians flee down the mountain, and that it was unlikely that more airdrops of food and water would be needed.
The UN said it would provide increased support to those who had escaped Sinjar and to 400,000 other Iraqis who had fled since June to the Kurdish province of Dahuk. Others have fled to other parts of the Kurdish region or further south.
A total of 15 million have been displaced by the fighting since the rebels captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, in June and quickly swept over other parts of the country.
The United States has been carrying out airstrikes in recent days against Islamic State fighters, helping fend back their advance on Kurdish regions.

Political turmoil
Meanwhile, Iraq's central government in Baghdad continued to be mired in political turmoil, after the president nominated a Shia politician, Haider al-Abadi, to form the next government, putting him on track to replace embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki on Wednesday said he would not relinquish power until a federal court rules on what he called a "constitutional violation" by President Fouad Massoum.
Al-Maliki insists he should have a third term in office but he is appearing increasingly isolated as the international community lines up behind al-Abadi, who has 30 days to come up with a proposal for a cabinet.
The UN Security Council urged al-Abadi to work swiftly to form "an inclusive government that represents all segments of the Iraqi population and that contributes to finding a viable and sustainable solution to the country's current challenges."
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/un-declares-iraq-emergency-amid-clashes-201481413510196963.html
14/8/14
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• Iraq's new PM backed by US, Iran

• Obama warns Iraq operation could take time

Iraq's new PM backed by US, Iran

Iraq's new prime minister-designate won swift endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the United States and Iran today as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.
Haider al-Abadi still faces opposition closer to home, where his Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority and irked Washington and Tehran.

However, Shi'ite militia and army commanders long loyal to Maliki signalled their backing for the change, as did many people on the streets of Baghdad, eager for an end to fears of a further descent into sectarian and ethnic bloodletting.

As Western powers and international aid agencies considered further help for tens of thousands of people driven from their homes and under threat from the Sunni militants of the Islamic State near the Syrian border, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would consider requests for military and other assistance once Abadi forms a government to unite the country.

Underscoring the convergence of interest in Iraq that marks the normally hostile relationship between Washington and Iran, senior Iranian officials congratulated Abadi on his nomination, three months after a parliamentary election left Maliki's bloc as the biggest in the legislature. Like Western powers, Shi'ite Iran is alarmed by Sunni militants' hold in Syria and Iraq.

"Iran supports the legal process that has taken its course with respect to choosing Iraq's new prime minister," the representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council was quoted as saying.
"Iran favours a cohesive, integrated and secure Iraq," he said, adding an apparent appeal to Maliki to concede.

Abadi himself, long exiled in Britain, is seen as a far less polarising, sectarian figure than Maliki, who is also from the Shi'ite Islamic Dawa party. Abadi appears to have the blessing of Iraq's powerful Shi'ite clergy, a major force in the land since U.S. troops toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Iraqi state television said Abadi "called on all political powers who believe in the constitution and democracy to unite efforts and close ranks to respond to Iraq's great challenges".
One politician close to Abadi told Reuters that the prime minister-designate had begun contacting leaders of major groups to sound them out on forming a new cabinet. The president said on Monday he hoped he would succeed within the next month.
Maliki angrily dismissed Abadi's nomination on Monday as illegal. But there was no further sign of opposition on Tuesday.

A statement from a major Shi'ite militia group, Asaib Ahl Haq, which has backed Maliki and reinforced the Iraqi army as it fell back from the north in June, called for an end to the legalistic arguments of the kind used by Maliki to justify his retaining power and urged "self-restraint by all sides".
It said leaders should "give priority to the public interest over the private" and respect the guidance of clerical leaders - a clear reference to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's indication that he favours the removal of Maliki to address the national crisis.
 http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/166930/iraqs-new-pm-backed-by-us-iran
12/8/14
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***Photo: Iraqi President Fuad Masum (2nd L) shakes hands with deputy parliamentary speaker Haidar al-Abadi (R) after he was tasked with forming a government during a brief ceremony broadcast on state television.

Obama warns Iraq operation could take time

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes have destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have used to attack Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current operation in Iraq could take some time.

“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks. This is going to take some time,” Obama told reporters.
“This is going to be a long-term project,” he said during a brief news conference before leaving Washington for a two-week vacation in Massachusetts.

Obama said the United States would continue to provide military assistance and advice to the Baghdad government and Kurdish forces, but stressed repeatedly the importance of Iraq forming its own inclusive government.
“I think this a wake-up call for a lot of Iraqis inside of Baghdad recognizing that we’re going to have to rethink how we do business if we’re going to hold our country together,” Obama said.
Obama on Thursday authorized the U.S. military to make airdrops of humanitarian assistance to prevent what he called a potential “genocide” of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in Iraq and conduct targeted strikes on Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, a limited operation to protect American officials working in the country.
In Saturday’s remarks, Obama described next steps, including creating a safe corridor for the Yazidis to leave the mountain. He also said longer-term operations must include counter-terrorism.

Last Update: Saturday, 9 August 2014 KSA 19:08 - GMT 16:08 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/09/Obama-says-won-t-let-ISIS-create-caliphate-.html

 

Kiev has no money to pay off debts, financial crisis to follow - Ukraine's ex-minister

Ukraine’s new government is saying that it would try to do its best to stabilize the situation in the country. We have got in touch with Victor Suslov, once Ukraine’s Minister of Economy and now Ukraine’s representative in the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Ukraine’s new Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk says that now, Ukrainians would have to toughly economize for some time. Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s National Bank Stepan Kubiv has said that Ukraine has enough money to pay back its foreign debts.
News has also appeared that European creditors have agreed to help Ukraine with money for it to restore its gas transport system. What is the real financial situation in Ukraine?

I don’t think that Ukraine really has money to pay back its foreign debts. Today, Ukraine’s National Bank ordered the country’s banks not to give currency deposits to individuals. Yesterday, the rate of Ukraine’s national currency, the grivna, to the dollar reached the point of 11.4 grivnas for 1 dollar, although only a few days ago, it was 8 grivnas for 1 dollar. All these facts are evidence of a serious financial crisis in Ukraine. The US and the EU have promised some financial aid to Ukraine, but in fact a very small one. However, the International Monetary Fund says it may give Ukraine a loan of up to $ 15 bln, but for this, Ukraine should fulfill some demands of the IMF, such as increasing the population’s pay for communal services and the like. At present, there are only from 3 to 4 mln grivnas in the Ukraine’s treasury, which is practically no money. The National Bank has already started emissions of big sums, but this is done for refinancing commercial banks. This will most likely lead to devaluation of the grivna and high inflation.

The new government of Ukraine was formed only yesterday but has already dubbed itself "a government of self-killers" for its unpopular measures. It is expected that this government would exist till the presidential elections, which are due to be held on May 25.

To stabilize the financial situation, the government should, first of all, stabilize the political situation, which is currently very aggravated, especially in the Crimea and some other regions.

Russia’s authorities have not recognized the new Ukrainian government. Russia has already withdrawn its ambassador from Ukraine.

• Many residents of the Crimean Peninsula want their region to become independent from the rest of Ukraine. Do you think that the new Ukrainian government may agree to that?

• I find it very unlikely that the new government may allow the residents of Crimea even to hold a referendum on whether their region should get at least a little more autonomy from the rest of Ukraine, to say nothing of a total separation. The government has already clearly said that in several official statements.

 http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_28/Kiev-has-no-money-to-pay-off-debts-financial-crisis-to-follow-Ukraines-ex-minister-1999/
28/2/14
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Related:

• UN chief calls on Ukrainians to find peaceful way forward amid current turmoil

Schulz: deal offers hope to Ukraine, violence must stop

European Parliament President Martin Schulz made the following statement on an agreement to end the crisis in Ukraine:
"The deal between the government and the opposition in Ukraine offers hope that the country has avoided the worst: escalation of violence and more deaths. I welcome the agreement although the road to rebuilding trust and stability will not be easy.

Violence must stop immediately. We owe it to the victims of the deadly clashes who we now all mourn. The crisis should end through a peaceful political process, which will require serious commitment of all sides, particularly the authorities, to form an inclusive government, start constitutional reform and organise early elections.
I hail efforts of the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Poland to help broker the agreement in Ukraine."
 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/the-president/en/press/press_release_speeches/press_release/2014/2014-february/html/schulz-deal-offers-hope-to-ukraine-violence-must-stop
21/2/14
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 Related:

• France and Germany demand sanctions against Ukraine

• The amnesty law is coming into force in Ukraine from February 17 

• Putin rejects meddling in Ukraine. -Pas de révision des accords avec l'Ukraine si l'opposition arrive au pouvoir

• Russia temporarily cuts gas price by one third to help Ukraine

• Ukraine : l'UE suspend les négociations, les manifestations se poursuivent/John McCain Visits Ukraine, Backs Opposition Protesters

Ban welcomes formation of new Government in Lebanon. -The United States welcomes Lebanon’s formation of a new government

15 February 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Saturday's announcement of the formation of a new Government in Lebanon, and congratulated Prime Minister Tamam Salam “on this important step”.
In a statement issued by his Spokesperson in New York, the UN chief encouraged Lebanon's political leaders to build on the constructive engagement which led to the formation of the new Government to ensure that the country's forthcoming presidential election is successfully conducted within the timeframe set by law.

“The Secretary-General pays tribute to outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati for his leadership,” said the statement, which added that the UN looks forward to working with the new Government in its efforts to serve the people of Lebanon and to ensure the effective implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 and other resolutions which remain essential to the country's stability.
Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbollah, calls for respect for the Blue Line, the disarming of all militias in Lebanon, and an end to arms smuggling in the area.
In the statement, Mr. Ban emphasizes that, given the severity of the security, humanitarian and economic challenges facing Lebanon, it will be important for the Government to be able, without delay, to act effectively to address such issues with the full support of all parties.
 un.org
15/2/14
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• Formation of New Government in Lebanon. -Press Statement, John Kerry, Secretary of State....

"The United States welcomes Lebanon’s formation of a new government, subject to the confidence of parliament. We have long said that the people of Lebanon deserve a government that responds to their needs and protects their interests.
We look to today’s announcement to be an important first step in addressing the political uncertainty that has hampered Lebanon in recent years. Amidst growing terrorism and sectarian violence, we look to the new cabinet, if approved by parliament, to address Lebanon’s urgent security, political and economic needs. The challenges ahead for Lebanon include addressing the needs of Lebanese communities hosting refugees from Syria; strengthening national institutions; countering extremist ideologies and redoubling counterterrorism efforts; encouraging economic growth, including offshore energy development; and holding presidential and parliamentary elections in a timely, transparent, democratic, and fair manner, in accordance with Lebanon’s constitution.
The United States reiterates its strong commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and stability. We will continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces – the sole legitimate security forces in Lebanon. We look to the Government of Lebanon to continue to support these institutions and to do all it can to ensure that all parties comply with Lebanon’s obligations and commitments, including UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701. All those in Lebanon must uphold the Taif Agreement and the Baabda Declaration, including Lebanon’s policy of disassociation from the Syrian and other foreign conflicts. This policy is the best way to ensure Lebanon’s stability and security.
The United States looks forward to working effectively with the new Lebanese government to bolster peace, stability and prosperity in Lebanon, for the sake of the Lebanese people."
 http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/02/221691.htm
15/2/14