EGYPT: Court wants Israel gas deal stopped

An Egyptian court has ordered a freeze in exporting the country's natural gas to Israel, stating that the 15-year deal with the Jewish state should be approved by parliament.

Earlier this year, the gas deal ignited a storm of fury after a prominent columnist wrote that Egypt sells natural gas to Israel at lower prices than that of the world market. This preferential treatment toward the Jewish state elicited a vocal campaign by  parliament members and activists to stop the deal.

In 2005, the government of President of Hosni Mubarak, without legislative approval, agreed to ship 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to Israel. Although Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in the late 1970s, any form of cooperation with the Jewish state invites scrutiny and even controversy.

Nevertheless, it is doubtful the court’s decision will actually break the deal. The Egyptian government may appeal the verdict or just turn a deaf ear, as it has with many court verdicts that contradict its interests. The Israeli government downplayed the significance of the ruling, expecting no interruption in  the flow of gas.

"We are absolutely certain that the gas deal with Egypt will be respected along with the trade agreements," according to a statement by Israel's National Infrastructures Ministry. "The Infrastructure Ministry has not the slightest doubt that the Egyptian firm will respect the commercial agreements it reached with its Israeli customers."

-- Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: Gas pipelines. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

IRAN: Secret dealings between U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia

Iran and the U.S. are bitter rivals now. But a report in the Los Angeles Times Friday delved into a time just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution when the two countries were the best of buddies, at least on the surface.

The report, based on a scholarly research paper just published in the Middle East Journal, prompted a flood of e-mails and commentary, both positive and negative. It suggested that the Nixon and Ford administrations sought to undermine Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi in an effort to roll back oil prices.

The plan worked. Oil prices went down. But the U.S. may have gotten more than it bargained for. A drop in oil prices in early 1977 led to dramatic instability in Iran that turned into the revolution.

Saudi Arabia worked behind the scenes with the U.S. to lower oil prices, according to scholar Andrew Scott Cooper's paper, entitled, "Showdown at Doha: The Secret Oil Deal That Helped Sink the Shah of Iran."

But it almost went the other way. As late as May 1975, the Ford administration and the Shah were conspiring against Saudi Arabia, according to declassified transcripts of conversations that Cooper uncovered. Here's a startling excerpt from the report, which describes a meeting between the Shah, Ford and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:

President Ford joined in the conversation by telling the Shah that Kissinger had broached the idea of seizing Saudi Arabia’s oil assets if a crisis arose: “Henry told me what he told you we would do if there were a Qaddafi-like development in Saudi Arabia. I reaffirm it.” The Shah seemed pleased to have Ford’s personal assurance — “That is good” — and said he thought Egypt should be invited to join an invasion force.

LEBANON: A solution for the electricity conundrum?

Many Lebanese organize their daily lives around electricity outages. In Beirut, the power goes out for three hours every day; in other cities, blackouts extend for an even longer time.

Many businesses and households have bought generators or resorted to private suppliers of power. As a result, people pay two electricity bills every month, one to the state-run power company and another to their backup providers.

The national utility company supplying electricity is crippled by many problems, including the failure to collect all bills, electricity thefts, corruption, outdated equipment and poor maintenance. The company is heavily subsidized by the government, which allocates the third largest part of its budget to electricity supply. With the rising prices of oil and Lebanon’s reliance on external energy supplies, the problem is surely worsening.

And while authorities have announced the privatization of the company, the prospects ...

LIBYA: Gaddafi son's arrest leads to oil embargo on Swiss

Libya does not react lightly to authorities in another country getting in the way of its leader’s son.

The brief detention by the Swiss police of the youngest son of Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal, last week for allegedly beating two of his servants in a luxury hotel has sparked a serious international row between Switzerland and the North African nation.

Libya decided Thursday to cut its oil shipments to Switzerland as a result. The state-run shipping company threatened to take more actions against the Swiss if they do not apologize for the arrest.

EGYPT: Lawsuits over Egypt-Israeli gas deal

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been sued by a citizens group over his government’s deal to sell natural gas to Israel at bargain prices. The suit is the latest in a national protest by the succinctly, if long-windedly, named Popular Campaign for Stopping the Export of Egyptian Natural Gas to Israel.

The group’s campaign includes a petition drive, mock trials of government officials and attempts to persuade clerics to issue fatwas against the deal. Since its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Egypt has had strained relations with its Jewish neighbor, especially over the Palestinian question. Many Egyptians would prefer to tear up the accord rather than carry on with what they regard as a peace that exists on paper, but not in their hearts.

The gas deal, an attempt to further normalize relations with Israel, has become an embarrassment to the Mubarak regime at a time of widening public anger over corruption, low wages and inflation. One of those leading the opposition to the sale is Anwar Esmat Sadat, the nephew of former President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamic radicals two years after making peace with Israel during the 1979 Camp David talks. 

The energy agreement reportedly calls for Egypt to annually sell 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas to the Jewish state at a much cheaper rate than it could charge on the world market.

“Banning the export of natural gas to Israel has become an issue which concerns all Egyptians,” reformist judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri told Al-Ahram Weekly. “You can hardly find an Egyptian who approves selling gas to Israel or dealing with such a state in any way or form.”

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi, left, and the Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Binyamin Ben Eliezer as posted on citizens group's blog.

LEBANON: University team builds Arab world's first solar-powered car

A team of engineering students and their professor have built what they describe as the Arab world's  first solar-powered car, according to a news release.

It is named "Apollo's Chariot," in reference to the Greek god of the sun. The steel and fiberglass one-seater (pictured) is about 18 feet long and 6 feet wide and weighs about 1,500 pounds.

A bunch of engineering wizards led by  professor Daniel Asmar at the American University of Beirut designed the car over nine months at a cost of $25,000, paid for mostly by corporate sponsors.

"With its aerodynamic design, the futuristic-looking vehicle glides over the road quietly," the news release said.

Three dozen photovoltaic cells on the car's body produce about 1,000 watts of electricity, stored in batteries built into the car.

During a demonstration this week, engineering student Elie Maalouf, one of the designers, drove the vehicle for a few minutes. He took it forward, backward, along a curb and up a hill.

So far, the car has reached a top speed of about 18 mph. But its designers say it can go as fast as 40 mph on the highway.

"It looks like a rocket, but moves like a swan," said Amin Kanafani, another student on the design team.

The designers hope to represent Lebanon in next year's World Solar Challenge, a 2,000-mile Australian car rally for sun-powered vehicles.

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Engineering student Elie Maalouf backs up the the solar-powered Arab-manufactured car on the American University of Beirut campus. Credit: AUB Press Office

IRAN: American public won't allow another war, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman says

Despite constant talk of war, U.S. officials have tried to reach out to the Iranian people in an attempt to get past the animosity between Washington and Tehran.

But Iranian officials have also been on a diplomatic offensive, reaching out to ordinary people in the Middle East as well as, more modestly, to Americans.

Known for his good looks, polite manners and kindly attitude toward the media, Iran's silver-haired foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammed Ali Hosseini has emerged as a frequent public face on his government’s policies.

In a lengthy interview in his office Wednesday, he described Americans as a peace-loving people who "hate violence" and are suffering because of the mistakes of their leaders. He said he believed economic pressures, the military entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and American public opinion would prevent war from breaking out between Iran and the United States. "The U.S. and the Zionist regime, thanks to the increasing economic, political, security and military crises in which they are stuck, are not logically in a position to tolerate the expenses of another massive and far-reaching crisis," Hosseini said.

He continued:

Public opinion in the world will not permit [President] Bush to exacerbate the pains and tragedies already inflicted on the nations of the region and the American people. Nowadays, the polling surveys carried out among U.S. elites, thinkers and, by and large, the American people, show they hate violence, further battles and anarchy. The surveys indicate that the Americans are seeking genuine peace, stability and security.

But he warned:

If there is a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it will be out of control and with unpredictable consequences. Thus, anyone with minimum rationality and political logic does not dare to step on this path.

Hosseini, 47, is a physicist by training and a career diplomat. A native of Tehran, he studied in India before joining Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs 20 years ago. He’s a family man, with a wife and three children. He sat down for an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times about Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. relations and turmoil in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, which have became contested terrain in the Cold War between Washington and Tehran.

Some of his answers were blunt. Asked why Iran won't suspend its controversial uranium-enrichment program for a temporary period to calm world fears and bolster Iran's diplomatic standing, he replied that Iran has "so far complied completely with its international and legal commitments and that compliance accredits our diplomatic standing."

But usually he was far more expansive, explaining Iran's positions on a number of topics, including the packages of proposals and counterproposals being bandied about by Iran and world powers to get talks started on Iran's nuclear program.

LAT: Would you consider the European "freeze-for-freeze" proposal in which Iran would stop adding new uranium-enrichment centrifuges in exchange for no new sanctions during a period of negotiations? Why or why not?

MOHAMMAD ALI HOSSEINI: Both the 5+1 incentives package and the Iranian package have valuable elements in common. If we concentrate on the common ground in the two packages, we can initiate a very serious dialogue. If diplomacy can deepen and consolidate the commonalities in the packages and create a mechanism toward confidence-building talks, without a doubt, the talks will help peace and stability in the world. Otherwise the misleading and aimless preconditions are somehow wasting time and cannot lead to settle any problems. Furthermore, there is not such a thing [as freeze-for-freeze] written in the incentives package.

IRAN: Scoffing again at Western incentives

Iran is pondering a Western-made offer for Tehran to drop its nuclear enrichment program. But the state-controlled local media has already scoffed at the package of political and economic incentives presented last week by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

According to an Iranian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, authorities in Tehran have explicitly requested local newspapers to play down the new offer.

In their Monday editions, newspapers close to the hard-line party of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the new package presented nothing important. The Persian daily Kayhan wrote on its front page: "After opening the package, it turned out that it was empty again." The newspaper was referring to an older package offered in 2006 by Western powers and rejected then by Iran.

IRAN: Electrical outages in Tehran

By Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

I headed to the bank the other day to pay the phone bill. No sooner did I go inside when the electricity went out. The tellers politely asked the customers to go to other banks.

But the problem was that the whole neighborhood was suffering from a power outage.

This is now happening frequently and is regarded  as outrageous by the people across the country, especially in Tehran, the capital.

Fars News Agency, a semi-official news website, has devoted an entire section to power outages in different parts of the country, including Bandar Abbas, a port city in the south, Sistan-Baluchestan, a province in the east, Esfahan and Shiraz in central Iran and Mazandaran province in the north.

The outage is so painful that, according to the Persian-language section of Fars News, "several lawmakers have warned the government and the energy minister on the frequent blackouts and power outages in the capital and many other cities and called for urgent action since summer is fast approaching."

The energy ministry has announced that as of June 21,the media will publicize blackout timetables so that people can adjust their daily routines.

"Total electricity production of the nationwide grid is 32,000 megawatts but the consumption is 34,000, so the discrepancy should be removed by less consumption," said Parviz Fattah, the energy minister.

He advised people to reduce their electricity consumption.

There are signs the ministry is in trouble. The newspaper Kargozaran quoted Mohammad Parsa, the head of the construction contractors' syndicate,  as saying that the "the debt of the power ministry to the contractors is increasing and the contractors are on the verge of bankruptcy "

Experts say that poor maintenance of the electricity grid is also a factor in  the frequent outages.

Some Iranians whisper that United Nations sanctions on Iran are restricting imports for spare parts to keep the grid robust.

SAUDI ARABIA: More oil flowing?

Pressure from the U.S. and fears that soaring energy prices are hurting the global economy are forcing Saudi Arabia to consider significantly boosting oil production.

The Saudis are contemplating a “sizable additional increase” in oil production, according to The Middle East Economic Survey. An announcement on possible measures to bring down prices that have reached nearly $140 a barrel is expected later this month when King Abdullah meets with oil producers and consumers in the Red Sea city of Jidda.   

In May, the king rejected a request by President Bush to make more oil available, saying that markets should dictate production levels. But costs have since dramatically climbed. Saudi concerns of a global economic slowdown and fears that escalating prices would compel countries to develop alternative sources, which ultimately would hurt the kingdom, have led to a shift in Saudi thinking.

Finance ministers for the Group of Eight nations -– the U.S., Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Italy and Russia –- urged oil-producing nations on Saturday to increase production.

Rising prices have shaken the world: Gas in the U.S. has reached as high as $4.43 a gallon and India, Indonesia and other Asian nations have cut fuel subsidies, creating anger and panic among drivers.