Blogging the democratic revolution
As the Bush administration moves towards disengagement in the Middle East from those regarded as extremist — including Syria, Iran, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias in Iraq, Hamas in Palestine, and Hezbollah in Lebanon — the result has been a vacuum of power left from the absence of traditional diplomatic channels. In the post Cold War era, this meant typically working with, and in the least, involving the United States. But in recent months as American policy becomes more rigid and inflexible, Middle Eastern diplomatic channels have rerouted outside of Washington and back into the Middle East proper. In this…
Yesterday’s siege of Beirut by Hezbollah yesterday was a pivotal turning point in the Lebanese story, one so often torn by strife and grief. The fact that the shutdown degenerated rapidly into a showdown shows that they have taken the decided step to escalate tensions in the country to the breaking point. Reports of fist-fights, rock-throwing, and even sprays of automatic gunfire rocked the news. Police reports say that most of these injured were punctured with bullets. Lebanese are once again fighting Lebanese, with over 100 people injured and several dead. On day two fights broke out in Tripoli. Now,…
For months now, Hezbollah has been leading mass protests against the democratically elected government of Fouad Siniora. It’s calculations as to the result were off, to say the least. Judging from how anti-Syria protests in 2005 toppled the government, on the surface it would appear as if the same strategy could work for Hassan Nasrallah. He studied the tactics and pulled off the demonstrations without falter. Perhaps what he only saw was the surface. The demonstrations in 2005 were against a foreign occupier, not a democratically elected, domestic government. Unfortunately for Nasrallah, things did not go as planned. Despite all…
YouTube is a great site. I’ve seen videos thay have ranged from the hilarious to the downright terrible; a feature of user-driven content. Perhaps another feature is that everyone who posts video is merely trying to become the most popular user by appealing to the masses, usually through comedy, which is why it is rare to find incredible quality and depth of message in a site where so much time is dedicated to making people laugh. Here at Publius, not only did we extensively cover the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, which revealed a strong desire in its public for a…
Relatives of assasinated Lebanon minister Pierre Gemayel mourn Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News Following the assassination of Lebanon’s Pierre Gemayel in a hail of gunfire by Syrian agents this week, the funeral in Beirut has rapidly turned into a gigantic anti-Syria demonstration. Lebanon’s leaders have lashed out at the Syrian tyrants who are attempting to suborn democracy through murder. Victor Davis Hanson has pointed out that this assasination could be the spark that sets off a world war. Hugh Hewitt describes why it is an anschluss. It’s begun with a huge funeral that is rapidly building toward another Cedar Revolution,…
As Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz es-Saud meets with Turkish leaders this week, the Sunni Arab world’s desperation should be kept in mind. Though economic concerns have been paramount in Turko-Arab relations for many years, and have grown since the election of the Turkish PM Erdogan, the Saudi King made a few remarks indicative of the Sunni Arab world’s fearful position. At a meeting with the Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Abdullah called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, obviously aimed bolstering Turkish support for the Arab position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He then stated that ???????Like you…
???????Israel has besieged and ravaged our country.???????? ???????For all this carnage and death???????we demand an international inquiry into Israel’s criminal actions in Lebanon and insist that Israel pay compensation for its wanton destruction.???????? ???????We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law…which it has repeatedly and willfully violated.???????? Are these the words of a raging terrorist? Mr. Nasrallah perhaps or another Hezbollah fighter? No. They were written by someone to whom George W. Bush said only four months ago, in reference to his leadership: ???????There’s no question in my mind that Lebanon can serve as a great…
There may be an Arabo-Iranian Cold War brewing, if the Arabs make themselves relevant again As the Arabs furiously try to guilt Syria into curbing Hezb Allah????????s activities and ???????rejoining??????? the Arab world, one cannot help but see an almost laughable, but certainly pathetic, last ditch attempt at salvaging what influence the Sunni Arab states have in the Middle East. Ever since the American invasion of Iraq, the strong men of the Sunni Arab world have become less and less relevant in a region that has become increasingly polarized on various fronts. On the one hand, with the liberation of…
For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the next round of “Islamist propaganda Clue,” our friend Jim at Gateway Pundit, along with some particularly acute commenters, has apparently busted the New York Times participating in a Hezbollah photo op. It’s unclear at this point who staged what… UPDATE: LGF has this obvious photoshopped fake, by the same NYTimes photographer. You can also see a slideshow of his photos, which he narrates, here.
Charles at LGF caught Reuters in what looks like an obnoxious faked photo, with lots of dissection and discussion. A special correspondent who works for Reuters sent me this photo from the series, which I believes corroborates Reuters’ story. Judge for yourself: UPDATE: Now that Adnan Hajj has gone public, I feel it’s ok to share the rest of this story. Some readers may have questioned the authenticity of the original photo, even after I presented the above evidence, but surely we can all agree with Adnan’s explanation: As a ÄformerÅ Reuters photographer, I deny having deliberately attempted to manipulate…
Michael J. Totten reported a conversation with Lebanon expert Tony Badran (who blogs as “Anton Efendi at Across the Bay) about the current situation in Lebanon. Totten brings up several points in his piece, but two are especially striking. The first is Badran’s estimation that Hezb Allah has basically taken away the gains that were made by the Shia community in Lebanon, at the very least on the material level. The second is that a new moderate and modern Shia leadership is needed. The first point is troubling because Hezb Allah was able to rise because the Shia had become…
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recently issued a statement in regards to the large number of civilian deaths in the bombing of Qana this past weekend. Ironically, the statement was issued by Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. “The Russian Presidency in the Council of Europe profoundly deplores the mass deaths of civilians in Lebanon caused by Israel????????s attacks, in particular, the death of dozens of residents of Qana, including women and children. On behalf of the Council of Europe we extend our condolences to the leadership and people of Lebanon. The killings and wounding of…
When I was in Washington, D.C. last week, I had dinner with the relatives I was staying with at their good friends’ house. These family friends happened to be Iranian. They had a son and two daughters, the boy was the youngest and the girls were about four years apart from each other. I had a conversation with the oldest girl about a variety of things, and by about 15 minutes before her mother had finished making our dinner, it turned political. She was very intelligent, she has one year to go until she achieves her degree in biology from…
In his Washington Post article, Jackson Diehl argues that the recent ‘crises’ in Lebanon & Ukraine (two democratic revolution countries) will provide a dilemma for the Bush administration: should the United States continue to promote democracy even when it yields anti-West countries? The question really boils down to this: were the democratic revolutions about installing pro-West regimes in place of anti-West regimes or were they about installing democracies in place of dictatorships? Though I think Diehl overestimates the likelihood of Ukraine returning to authoritarianism, his larger point has wide ranging implications. Is America really promoting democracy because democracies are peaceful…
The recent crisis in the Middle East has enflamed passions and continued the argument over history on the originations of the conflict. However, I have no desire to take this issue to task or recount different versions of a tortured history, and instead will focus on the reaction by Israel towards Lebanon in the context of democracy and international responsibility. The problem for the West, Israel included, is not the terrorists themselves, but the atmosphere and conditions that create sympathy and participation in extremist behavior. Outside of Israel, there are three democratic states in the Middle East: Lebanon, Palestine, and…
Alvaro Vargas Llosa is now in Lebanon and writing of the experience from his brilliant political and economic perspective, as well as from his eyes on the ground. Like some of our Publius posters, he warns that Israel risks destroying Lebanon’s vibrant civil society, just as it’s beginning to regain its confidence, even as it must end the terrorism that is destroying it. It’s a very tragic picture. With the destruction of all Lebanon, what is likely to happen is that Hezbollah barbarians will fill that civil-society void, because they are never happier than when they are in a failed…
For many decades Israel has been the fundamental “enemy” of the Muslim Arab world, viewed as an abberation imposed on them by Western imperialist forces. Nowadays things are a bit different. Pan-Arabism is dead only to be revived on special occassions, like Friday or when Mubarak’s poll numbers are dropping. No one fights really hard for the Palestinian cause or even sticks to the anti-Israel line anymore. The issue is warming down and Arab dictatorships just don’t care like they used to. Perhaps something is in the air. Whatever it is, it smells like a wet mullah’s beard on a…
A major characteristic of authoritarian regime????????s whose domestic policies have created instability is the seeking of legitimacy through its foreign policy. In the case of Syria, it has raged against Jews as the enemy, the evil, that is the true source of the people????????s suffering. It has supported terrorist groups like Hezbollah for years, seeking the destruction of Israel ???????? impossible as that may seem ???????? because it believes that such a policy and its ???????benefits??????? can continue indefinitely. This is of course impossinble, but for a long time many people really buy it. The regime has been able to…
This is one of my all-time favorite magazine covers. A hot babe hoisted up in the middle of Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution, flashing only peace signs (and unfortunately little else). The girl at the top of this blog’s banner does the same. Democracy stirs in the Middle East, along with something else. Now that’s inspiration. The revolution expelled Syria for the most part from Lebanon, allowing it to hold free and fair elections in which an anti-Syria coalition was formed. However, given the regime’s longterm entrenchment, it’s elements are still very much active and large parts of the country are still…
Hezbollah has just announced that is ready for all out war with Israel, according to CNN. The declaration was made after Sheik Hassan Nasrallah’s home was bombed and Hezbollah’s headquarters were destroyed by Israel. Mr. Nasrallah is the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. As I have followed the rapid escalation of events in Israel, I have been impressed potential for prolonged violence and general instability. At the moment, I really question whether Israel’s response is warranted. True, Hezbollah has kidnapped several Israeli soldiers. According to Hezbollah, the hostages were taken so as to facilitate a release of Hezbollah militants being…
Stefania got it right. Israel did nothing other than protect itself. Remember that Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said two years ago, that when the Party of God will be ready, it will attack the cities inside Israel (and so they did, for the first time ever!) and kidnap its soldiers, to show the Arab and Muslim world that Israel is a weak country that can be easily defeated with guerilla attacks. Although one is Sunni (Hamas) and the other Shiia (Hezbollah), these two militias have the same sponsors, Syria and Iran. What happened with Gilad Shalit did not just fall out…
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has declared the latest attack by terrorist group Hezbollah an act of war. Israel has confirmed that two IDF soldiers were kidnapped, and they are currently searching for them in Lebanon. You can buy the IDF some pizza and soda, although it would seem to me far more useful if one could buy the IDF some bullets. You can also make a donation for a variety of uses to the IDF through LIBI.
Babes of Beirut cheer Brazil Source: AP, Reuters, AFP, via Yahoo! News What’s up with the Babes of Beirut? They’re busy cheering Brazil, which beat Ghana today, moving on to the semifinals in the World Cup! One day it’s a democracy struggle, and as democracy wins, next up, it’s soccer. It’s the same babes, and either way, you know what that means – they’re on the cutting edge of revolution. Today, they’re out in full force cheering Brazil, and according to this excellent post by Ya Libnan, they’re the team of choice. As Nouri has noted in this excellent post…
This hardly has to be said… but here’s another example of fanatical Islamists going nuts over humor. It’s just like the Danish cartoon controversy. Someone does a parody and suddenly hundreds of people are out on the streets causing trouble! The usual suspect, Hezbollah, is behind the latest street rioting in Lebanon, where a television station broadcasted a mock of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and they apparently got peeved. BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) – Hundreds of Shiite Muslims enraged by a TV comedy that mocked the leader of Hezbollah took to the streets of southern Beirut on Thursday night, burning car…
Confederate Yankee posts an interesting statement originating from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and looks at what it might mean. “Hizbollah is not a tool of Iran, it is a Lebanese project that implements the demands of Lebanese,” Kassem said in an interview in the Hizbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut. “Iran is a big country with real capabilities and can defend itself if it is exposed to American danger.” He believes that 1) “Hezbollah has reason to believe that a conflict between Iran and Israel is a near term possibility.” And 2) “Hezbollah believes that the conflict will be of sufficient magnitude…