Five Minute Time-Out

I'm always trying to slip in a non-political post but the near continuous problems in Lebanon won't allow anybody a breather.
We seem to be at a "low attrition" state, i.e. ongoing problems before the "next major event" whatever it is going to be, so I thought I'd slip this in:

Did you know that the singer that sings that beautiful song "A Place in Time" at the beginning of "4400's" is Lebanese? Her name is Amanda Abizaid. Of course she left Lebanon with her family at the age 9 , but then again, that's really more or less a Lebanese Trademark, isn't it?

Isn't it about time we grew up?

Well isn't it? Lebanon is like the perpetual child, always leaning on someone whether it is mama Fransa or baba America or Amo Saudia or Khalo Iran or "sister" Syria. Now, we have also been adopted by the UN.

Did we really have to wait for the UN to tell us we need to monitor our borders more?
Isn't it embarrassing that the Spaniards called Iran to order el-hizb to investigate the bombing in their mini-me country in the South?
Isn't it annoying that every time Arab league wants to do something to "help" the situation in Lebanon they have to go to Syria before or after?

What the fuck is wrong with us? We are a country full of educated, intelligent , hard-working people that seem to be psychologically incapable of stopping our dependence on outside elements.

Let's try this for a change: We're on our own, nobody is propping us up, and we can make it.

Teaching your child to be independent is one of the successes of child raising. It seems our "family" has failed completely in that regard, it may be because of their own selfish plans to keep us under control, or because we just refuse to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves.

And now the UN troops...

Yesterday 5 people who came from faraway lands to help this country were murdered. They were killed by a car bomb or a suicide bomber for no reason except that they existed. The soulless madmen who did this must be caught and punished before they drag us all into the abyss.

We mourn with Spain and Columbia for the loss of their children in our country.

NOT QUITE OVER.....

Like I said, it's probably not all over yet, we celebrated too early, you can't really blame us, we were so exited for our soldiers.

Reports of the PLFP joining the fight only shows how Syrian the whole plan is even more.

Yalla, we'll still here standing with firmly in support of our soldiers.
Go Army , Allah Ye7meekon.

One Army, One People, One Lebanon.

We Won

It's probably not completely over, but it sure looks likes We WON. WE WON WE WON WE WON.

I don't know why, but I feel like this is the first time we won as a real country.

Our thanks to our beloved army, to all those who fought and fell.

ONE ARMY, ONE PEOPLE, ONE LEBANON.

One more border crossing to go....

The Syrian Mafia is back on the rampage , this time economically. In a repeat performance, the Syrians are trying to isolate us from our export destinations. What can we do about this?

Let me preface this by saying I'm no economist, so this is pure amateur speculation.

From what I understand Syria mainly depends on Saudi-Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and more recently Turkey for their exports. Now if the Syrians shut down the borders to our exports (note to M8's : notice about how much they seem to care about you) then effectively we are stuck .....unless our allies clamp down on them.

This is when it gets great identifying with Arab allies. If the Saudis close their borders to Syrian trucks arriving via Jordan, that at least would put a serious squeeze on Bashar et Co. I don't know how dependent the Jordanians are on Syria for their own exports, so this may play against us in the equation, yet they are also allies and have big economic deals with the US who may push for the border closure against the Syrians.

The Turks have just signed a trade agreement with Syria, and I'm not sure they really care about us one way or the other to do anything to the Syrians, but the EU can and may impose sanctions if push comes to shove.

The Arab League itself may come into play, though who knows if that will go with or against us (just look at Qatar's recent performance at the UN).

The Question is: will anybody do any of this for us?

If anybody reading this knows more about the trade/economics in question, do post in the comments section, I'm really interested to know the details and effects of what could happen, and if there is anything we can actually do about it.

A Tale of Two Governments

The next fiasco in the Lebanese story is going to be the possibility of having two governments, one controlled by March 14 and the other by March 8. The question is will hizballah actually do it?

It is a simple formula: two governments= breakup of Lebanon
and if this happens, nothing will put humpty-dumpty back together again.

To form this government, Nasrallah is in desperate need for Aoun to be aboard the ship, or it will look like a Shiite Separation Act, and Aoun is showing no indications of being willing to be "the second government that nobody in the world recognises" again. I seriously doubt that Aoun will repeat that mistake twice. In fact Aoun just declared his readiness to fight in the by-elections, a clear split with Hizballah about the issue. Even that idiot Franjieh has agreed to the by-elections, though I'm not sure how they have anything to do with him, since they are out of the area of his jurisdiction. Are things falling apart in the March 8 camp?

Recently I had an argument with other bloggers (on BeirutSpring) about the reconciliation talks. I am for them , everybody else is against them. Apparently I'm letting down "the cause" if I think the M14 are wrong not to sit down and talk with the M8. I disagree. I think I'm right (obviously). The M8 have refused idiotically to come to the negotiation table for about a year now unless their demands were fulfilled first i.e. give us what we want, end of negotiations. Now the M14 are doing the same. I think the original move was idiotic on the part of the M8's and now I think the M14 are falling into the same way of thinking, the "we can win it all".

Well actually we can't win it all. This is not some sports competition, this is a country, and we're going to have to share. The M8's have their grievances and they must be addressed, the most realistic of which is proportional representation, which is fair enough if you believe in democracy. And how are we gonna talk them out of the standing with Syria against us if we don't talk to them at all ?

Worse of all if we become as stubborn as they have been, don't we become just as responsible for what is happening? This country is falling apart, there's no question about it. The question now becomes, will we be able to save it before it disintigrates completely?

For all of you out there arguing against the talks. What other (realistic) options do you propose to solve the problem?

Sawsan Darwich...an example of the lowest form of humanity

Of course, that is a compliment, because it gives her the benefit of the doubt about being human.
Instead of mourning the death of 10 people, this woman was laughing and sniggering and hoping for more carnage. Because in her world, everything is allowed as long as she gets her own political needs fulfilled.

Well, she got her due, she was fired. I'd be very surprised if she's employable anywhere, anymore.

I will now spit on her figuratively : tfoo aleiky ya Sawan ya hayaweneh, wahdeh mi-erfeh bala damm w bala aleb.

Yet Another Explosion

Another anti-Syrian MP is assassinated. This time along with his son, bodyguards, and several people passing by.

I'm not sure how the pro-Syrians factions explain these assassinations to themselves. I mean they have to justify it somehow or another to be able to live with themselves and who they've decided to join hands with. On Manar TV one of the commentators is blaming the Americans. How's about blaming someone a little closer? Is standing with Syria worth it Nasarallah, will you sacrifice the whole of Lebanon so you can have a route for your weapons?

As for the Aounists, I mean really, your whole thing was being anti-Syrian this and anti-Syrian that, suddenly you're on the Syrian side of the equation and Syrian politicians are praising Aoun and saying what a good president he'd make? Is it worth selling your soul so Aoun can become president?

So yet again, another post goes to condolences for people who lost their lives because of tragedy in our country. May God rest their souls in peace.

LEBANESE RED CROSS

Just in case anybody out there is in any doubt that the people we are fighting against are utter evil, yesterday they shot at the Lebanese Cross Ambulance and killed two members and critically wounded the third. These people are just psychopaths, pure and simple.

This phenomenon which is taking over the Islamic world should be wiped out wherever it is found. If us moderate Muslims (who's numbers seem to be dwindling as I write) do not halt the hijacking of our religion by the radicals, then really, what hope is there for this religion to go forward instead of backwards?

Recently, I've been wishing for an Ataturk to come and take over in Lebanon. I know it is extreme, but in the end when you separate (or wipe out) religion from politics, then religion becomes what it always should have been, a way to have a personal communication with God, not an excuse to kill and maim and rule and impose your opinion on everybody else.

I once read a quote by a Egyptian Traveller (who is famous but who's name escapes me). He visited Europe and said: I've just been to a place full of Islam with no Muslims, and came back to a place that is full of Muslims but no Islam.

I couldn't agree with him more.

Samir Kassir

With yesterday's journalism prizes being given out in his name, I realised that it's been two years since Samir Kassir was killed. I was surprised that so much time had passed and couldn't understand why it didn't feel like two years. Then the revelation: for all this time, there has not been one moment of peace or peace of mind. There has been a continuous assault on Lebanese senses and brains so that the events have not passed into the past, they remain as part of our present. To put an even in history, we need a break with which we can identify the post-event times, we have not had that break, hence, the tragic event feels like it has just happened and is part of this continuous stream of tragedies.
I have his book about Beirut sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read. Now he is part of its story.