Blogging the democratic revolution
Very busy today, but Daniel is covering the whole thing over at Bloggledygook. Make sure to check it all out. I seem to have a fetish with them, so I’ll do a huge post on the implications of Hizb’allah in Lebanon’s political stratosphere tomorrow.
That’s what the banners are saying in the latest protest in Beirut: The crowd included a number of die-hard protesters who have been camping out at Martyrs’ Square, homemakers, men who took the day off from work, university students and others who traveled from other areas of the country. In a jab at Syrian President…
Up to 150,000 opposition activists rallied in Martyr’s Square chanting, “Syria Out!” and waving Lebanese flags: Monday’s demonstration marked three weeks since the Feb. 14 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri that began a peaceful campaign against Syrian control. The massive crowd, chanting “Freedom, sovereignty, independence!” began marching through the streets to the site of…
With the anti-Syrian protests underway in Lebanon right now grabbing the headlines, a reader asked for some background on the situation and an explanation of the various factions involved. The purpose of this post is to provide that background. THE OTTOMAN ERA (1517-1918) It might be said that modern Lebanon has its roots in the…
While most of the sources I use for the daily Lebanon sources are indeed local sources (Lebanon Wire, Daily Star, Naharnet), they are more favorable to the events going on specifically because they are local. But what is the rest of the Arab world saying? How do they view this? In this post, we’ll peruse…
First the revolution; now the aftermath. Well, for Syria that is. Just about everyone and their mother is taking shots at what soon will be the next regime to surrender in the war of ideas. NEWS: The Lebanese opposition is keeping up the front, and have put forward a list of several basic demands that…
Lebanses President Emie Lahoud set about today to form a new government while opposition leaders – Muslim, Druze and Christian – are expected to meet Tuesday to plan for what comes next: It wasn’t clear if they would seek to keep up the street pressure or – as some have urged – step back to…
Back from the school. Now here’s what I’ve got from Instapundit. I’m trying to get as much insight and information in here as possible so here we go. So far there is Ed Morrissey, Sissy Willis, and Jim Geraghty who are all talking about it. Keep watching Tony as well. Michael Ubaldi has just informed…
At Bloggledygook I have a post on Walid Jumblatt, sometime raving conspiracy theorist, sometime pragmatic politician, sometime pan-Arab nationalist. This person will likely be a prominent figure in coming events in Lebanon. Jumblatt has acted at times as one of Syria’s most vocal critics but seemed to come back into the fold when the US…
The AP and Fox News are reporting that Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami has announced his government’s resignation in parliament. No link yet. This came before the debate on a no-confidence vote was to begin. Stay tuned. UPDATE: Boston Herald: Karami made the announcement during a parliamentary debate called to discuss Hariri’s Feb. 14 assassination…
I just caught wind of this on the news. The Israeli government will shortly announce a transcript of orders delivered by the Syrian government to the terrorist group that carried out the attack in Tel Aviv. I haven’t been able to find an article on the net as of yet, but will post one as…
UPDATE: Read this post, and then continue on to my new post following the protests that are under way. In the latest developments from Lebanon, the government fears a showdown: Lebanon was headed for a showdown between the opposition and the security forces as thousands of demonstrators massed late today in Beirut in defiance of…
Not anything to get worked up over: BEIRUT, Feb 25 (AFP) – Syria, under intense international pressure to end its tight military and political grip on neighbouring Lebanon, prepared Friday to redeploy its troops toward the border, Lebanese officials said. That news came as Al-Arabiya television said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had demanded that…
Not only are people taking to the streets in huge numbers, but now business, banking, and industrial leaders will be totally shutting down on the Monday vote of confidence in the government. BEIRUT, Feb 23 (AFP) – Leaders of Lebanon’s banking, industrial and commercial sectors said they would shut down next Monday to demand the…
I must apologize for not being able to feature especially large segments related to Lebanon due to personal time constraints. I hope to be able to do something big and comprehensive for the Kyrgyzstan elections on Sunday. However, Arthur Chrenkoff has done a great job day by day rounding things up on Lebanon, just like…
A sly man by the name of Tony let me know about his blog today, called Across the Bay. This is not a paid advertisement — I could only be so lucky — but this blog is of special note because it is totally about Lebanon. Here is a little bit about the author: Ph.D….
Do I ever say how much I love news roundups? Yes, quite often. Even though I have many posts on Lebanon already, Arthur Chrenkoff offers a fantastic multi-dimensional roundup of his own!
Thomas L. Friedman makes an eye-opening personal account in the Houston Chronicle regarding the rules Syria plays by, namely, none: When Syria’s Baath regime feels its back up against the wall, it always resorts to “Hama Rules.” Hama Rules is a term I coined after the Syrian army leveled ???????? and I mean leveled ????????…
There are two noteable articles on Lebanonwire that I noticed. The first is that Chirac is being accused of aiding the opposition. BEIRUT, Feb 19 (AFP) – Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad accused French President Jacques Chirac Saturday of encouraging the opposition during a visit to pay condolences after the assassination of former premier…
In a sweeping post, The Faces of G comments on the new alignments: Several key anti-U.S. states have been more public in their movements and alignments. A week ago, North Korea boasted of its nuclear weapons. Syria and Iran get together to build a ‘common front’ Änothing new, just a PR stunt reallyÅ. Today, Russia…
Sweet: BEIRUT, 19 February 2005 ???????? The opposition parties in Lebanon declared an ???????uprising for independence??????? yesterday and called for the pro-Syrian government to step down so that a new government can be formed to oversee a Syrian military pullout. This escalated a war of words following former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri????????s assassination on Monday….
There are a couple of more reactions to the events on Lebanon that I thought were worth reading. The first comes from Ali at Free Iraqi: It seems that the horrible crime that took place in Beirut won’t go unpunished. Despite the continues allegations of the Syrian and Lebanese government and the crocodile tears their…
For background on ex-PM Rafik Hariri, Wikipedia has it, and this post by Kirk H. Sowell is a great primer to Lebanon. I guess moral support really does help: BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bush (news – web sites) called on Syria on Thursday to withdraw its forces from Lebanon as Lebanese opposition leaders vowed to…
Michael Ledeen of NRO has a strong piece on the movement toward democracy and revolution throughout the globe. The tidal wave has even reached into the planet’s darkest corners, most recently shaking the foundations of the North Korean hermit kingdom. A new leader is announced at the same time the monsters in Pyongyang whisper “We’ve…
John Burgess posts an unsigned editorial in Arab news condemning Syria for the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It may take weeks, if not years, before we know who killed Rafik Hariri. Whoever was behind the dastardly deed clearly wanted to achieve two objectives. The first was to deprive the emerging Lebanese opposition front…