From Beirut to the Beltway

In the name of IranSyria, the decapitator and the holy resistance

Here are snippets from a speech made by Hassan Nasrallah, whom I shall refer to as the Decapitator. The Decapitator delivered these  holy words before the assembled supporters of all Arab resistance movements from Palestine to Lebanon and Iraq. Please note that the resistance to mass murder committed by Arab regimes such as Syria and Sudan was not represented at that conference.

Nasrallah begins his speech:

In the name of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon and the resistance in Lebanon

Why resistance?

Resistance is a natural and human choice for the oppressed…

The Decapitator tells us: Resistance is logical because it follows "Qur'anic logic"

And when God forgoes one resistance group:

God will replace them with another group of people to continue the holy resistance

In short:

Al-moqawama will stay and persist…and will be victorious…

And if you try to touch this resistance, the Decapitator will "cut" your "hands and necks" and if that's not enough, he will also "rip out" your "soul". 

And the resistance is NOT for sale. I repeat, NOT FOR SALE. At least not to its country of origin or the evil Americans. (Note: Iran and Syria are another story).

The Americans offered us money to stop our resistance. They said: take the money and the gates of the state will open before you. They said they would take us off the terror list. We refused.  (Note, the bribe was offered to Hizbullah BEFORE the gates of the state were flung open for them by Syria and then March 14!!!)

Yes, the Decapitator would rather hang out in the circle of terrorists, and never under the authority of a sovereign Lebanese state. Lebanese state? What is that anyway?

[They want us to] speak about Lebanon the country, Lebanon the people, Lebanon the entity, Lebanon the nation,  Lebanon the history, Lebanon the geography, and if this continues, two or three years from now we will arrive at Lebanon the god…

In the name of IranSyria, the Decapitator and the holy resistance, Lebanon surrenders to Hizbullah. 

"March 14" dazed, weakened and confused

One gets the impression that Siniora and Hariri are amateur politicians who have been outsmarted and outmaneuvered by their opponents every step of the way. Both Saad and the prime minister are seemingly playing centrist politics at the expense of the country. The latest fiascos in the Council of Ministers, Parliament and the Arab summit show their great shortsightedness and fantastic ineffectiveness.

In one year, Siniora shrunk from a respected statesman to a confused aspiring linguist who believes in word games as a solution to long standing problems. First it was "nobody has called the national resistance anything but by its name" that supposedly ended the boycott of the Shia ministers. And then he and his March 14 friends signed on to the "tarsim and tahdid" trap in regards to establishing the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa farms, which was followed by Berri affirming from Siniora's chair in parliament that the "resistance will stay, stay, stay". No wonder the Arab dictators and their representatives were bewildered when the confusing prime minister requested that the word "resistance" be dropped from the final statement. For doing so would have made no practical difference.

In a heated exchange with Syria's other Chargé d'affaire in Lebanon, Nabih Berri, Siniora was reminded that he and his camp agreed to the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa farms, giving a carte blanche to and legitimizing the resistance. Berri also reminded him that he cannot take part in an official delegation headed by the president and then oppose his president as if he was part of another.   

The national dialogue's organizer knows that he has the "March 14" in a corner. They were suckered into legitimizing the resistance without getting what they wanted: the president. Now, all they can do is storm out of cabinet sessions, yell and scream on television, and get ridiculed for being inconsistent and contradictory.

Siniora and Hariri have been emasculated by the consistency and boldness of their opponents and unless they act like men in charge, the country will continue its rapid descent into Bashar's inferno.

To make matters worse, Saad Hariri has inexplicably apologized for not agreeing to a Saudi initiative that would have handed Lebanese security back to Syria. He then jetted off to Egypt to seek Mubarak and Arab help in God knows what. This is more of the same ineffective politics that has brought ruin to the country. It is sad that everything we bloggers have warned about regarding Hizbullah's obstructive role, the futility of the national dialogue and the Shebaa farms trap proved to be true. It escapes me why March 14 continues down the same path of useless short-lived public protests and politics as usual. 

This comes at a time Nasrallah continues to, pardon my French, shit on the country, vowing to decapitate anyone who dares disarm his party. Nasrallah, and in front of delegates from Hamas and other Arab "resistance" champions, even complained about being expected to "speak about Lebanon the country, Lebanon the people, Lebanon the entity, Lebanon the nation,  Lebanon the history, Lebanon the geography, and if this continues, two or three years from now we will arrive at Lebanon the god…" This is a man who clearly does not believe in or deserves to be part of Lebanon.

As Mustapha rightly pointed out in a recent post:

What I’m seeing instead is Hariri shrinking in stature and Lahhoud and Hezbollah getting bolder and closer. The more Hariri appeases, apologizes, and explains, The More Nassrallah threatens of cutting off hands and heads… Never did the March 14 people appear so insecure, feeble and directionless.

A new beginning

More than three decades have passed since a small baby was born into a big war in an old world. In a few months, a baby will be born in peace in a new world. Here’s to fresh starts and new beginnings. Here’s to baby Kais, my hope for a better world.

                           

Pity the humiliated nation

Seriously, who whispered in Siniora's ears to attend the Arab summit with Lahoud heading the delegation? Who is the bright person who thought it would be a good idea to pit the prime minister against the agent-president in an arena refereed by despots and mass-murderers?

Siniora tried to make the summit's resolution on Lebanon appear like it supports a people's inalienable right to resist occupation and not one armed militia's. Lahoud shut him down and so did his friends in the dictators club. Siniora walked out humiliated not only because he chose to challenge the authority of his president in the wrong place, but because he appeared like a modified Arab leader who still clings on to tired notions about "resistance" and "people's inalienable rights" that lost their meaning and their legitimacy, especially in the Lebanese context. What right is that the Lebanese people have to resist an occupation that the UN Security Council says does not exist?

Al Balad called the Arab summit a "summit of humiliation and embarrassment" for Lebanon. I think attending such a gathering was by itself shameful. Perhaps now they realize that counting on an Arab role to remove Lahoud is like hoping for the desert to grow cedar trees. It just won't happen.

Enough with wasting people's time by engaging in futile "national dialogue" and cyclical talks that are making the country beg for a Syrian change of heart.  It should have become apparent by now to Hariri, Jumblatt and their allies that they have no choice but to go on the offense. They are losing people's respect by letting Hizbullah, Lahoud and the Syrian master walk all over them. Hariri and Siniora are more powerful than they allow themselves to be. They have the influential business sector and the world's financial community that can provide them with the necessary hooks to lure people away from the likes of Hizbullah. Send the government to the south and assume economic control over the autonomous Hizbullah land. What's the point of accusing a militia of hijacking state sovereignty when there is no will to spread the sovereignty in the direction of the militia's territory? If the army can't be sent there tomorrow, send other civilian forces to pave the way for state authority. Do SOMETHING as opposed to nothing.

What a sorry state of affairs.  We have allowed the sponsor of Darfur's killer militia tell us that we need a militia to protect us. We acted like our fate was in the hands of butchers and oppressors who would eat their own children alive to remain in power. How can Lebanon become a modern nation by allowing and inviting such hateful figures to dictate its internal affairs?

In Gibran Khalil Gibran's words:

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own winepress…

Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Khartoum: Let the hosing begin!

The foreign minister of the dictatorship next door to Lebanon has counseled Lebanon to write a new electoral law "which would constitute a basis for all change and all reform is inevitable."

Speaking to As-Safir, he imparted his democratic wisdom on us:

"After agreeing to an electoral law, legislatives elections, which would constitute a transparent referendum, could be held to allow new deputies to find a solution to the pending problems."

He then went on to bash Lebanon's army:

"Is it in Lebanon's interests to deploy its army on the border, given the current balance of forces," he asked. "A clash could lead to a one-on-one between two regular armies, and would Lebanon be able to make war with Israel?"

So what if the Lebanese agree the farms are Lebanese. They are no such thing, says the master of doublespeak.

"For now, the Shebaa Farms are neither Lebanese nor Syrian, because they are occupied (by Israel). If Roed-Larsen wants to do something good, he should get Israel to withdraw, and then there would be no problem."

Shall we conclude the following from the above statements?

Syria is a democracy with a modern electoral law and a reform-minded leadership that is not afraid of "change".

Transparent elections are held all the time in Syria and deputies debate policy and criticize the leadership freely.

Syria's army is cowardly and weak, having lost many humiliating battles against Israel. Better use a militia based in another country.

The Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza are neither Syrian nor Palestinian. They are Israeli occupied.

After hosing us down with the above trashy logic, Mouallem passed the hose to the temporary king of Arab hoses, who vowed more genocide in the name of all Arabs gathered.

Addressing the summit amid tensions, its host, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, warned that Khartoum would not accept the deployment of foreign troops in its troubled western Darfur region.

"The African Union forces are capable of accomplishing their mission in Darfur without any foreign intervention," Beshir told the one-day gathering in Khartoum.

Instead, Beshir called on "Arab countries and the international community to support financially the AU forces," which are cash strapped and undermanned.

The UN Security Council voted on Friday to speed up plans to deploy peacekeepers to replace the African Union mission in Darfur.

While Arab foreign ministers agreed to a raft of draft resolutions over the weekend, the members remained divided over Darfur and wrote a text that stopped short of Khartoum's demand for outright support.

An Arab League official said that the resolution, which stipulates Khartoum must approve any deployment of UN peacekeepers to replace the African Union force in Darfur, still lacks full support and is not assured approval.

Only Egypt and Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa are backing full implementation of the UN Security Council resolution on Darfur, the source said, while other members are lining up behind Sudan.

Before you start cheering for the chief of Arab delusion, here's his latest contribution to the Arab world and humanity:

The Arab League chief called upon Arab countries Tuesday to start using nuclear energy for scientific purposes and to meet the growing need for water and energy.

"The entry of the Arab world into the field of peaceful use of nuclear power quickly and forcefully is necessary," Amr Mussa told Arab leaders who convened in the Sudanese capital for their 18th annual summit.

He said such usage is a right for all countries that are members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.

"We should use this right like others did, to support the Arab scientific base and ... meet our people's increasing demand for water and energy," he added.

Moussa did not explain what he meant by "Arab scientific base."

Meanwhile, has anyone seen the Lebanese-Syrian agenda?

Siniora, who is attending the summit despite the presence of his arch foe, the pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, had a brief meeting with Assad and shook his hand, a source in the Lebanese delegation said.

It was their first encounter since July 2005.

"He expressed to Assad his wish to visit Damascus," the source told AFP requesting anonymity.

Assad, whose relations with the new government in Lebanon have been strained over the assassination of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri in February last year, welcomed the idea.

"Our agenda should be prepared carefully," Assad responded, the source added.

Siniora had said on his arrival in Khartoum for the one-day summit that he would seek a meeting with Assad "as Lebanese-Syrian relations should be healthy and perfect."

It's probably missing because all matters Lebanese-Syrian are top secret.

And finally, a romantic souvenir shot with commentary.

Lahoud: My presidential tongue is sore.
Bouteflika: Répétez après moi: wahed, ithnayn, thalatha… euhhhh, qatrarba3a?
Assad: Hands off Qujo!
Qadhafi: Forget the Lebanese, son, come see what's under my big tent.

Saving Lola

Not all victims of torture are Lebanese, Palestinians or Syrians. Not all torturers are Syrians, Lebanese, Israelis or Palestinians. And not all victims and torturers are human.

Consider this:

Have you ever been forced to eat cigarettes because they just think it’s funny? Have you ever been forced to burn under the stifling sun continuously for twelve hours, with no shelter, never having the luxury of voluntarily tanning for a little while instead?

Have you ever been brought to the brink of death by the freezing cold, with nothing resembling even a cardboard box to cover and warm your ailing body, let alone a blanket?

Have you ever eaten, defecated, slept and rested, confined to one minuscule place for four full years? Have you ever been left with no other choice?
Have you ever been beaten so harshly and incessantly, with no fair chance to at least attempt to defend yourself?

Has anyone ever used your home as a waste bin, discarding their trash over your head, making the humiliation and pain of such a life even more unbearable?

Have you ever been constantly exposed to bullies twice your size, treated like a slave in an absurd little circus, where everyone can freely kick you around and use you as a cathartic outlet for all their personal inadequacies, insecurities and complexes?

Meet our Primate cousin Lola.

      

She experienced Lebanese hospitality for four years, during which some of our fellow "citizens", who claim superiority to her kind, fed her cruelty and cigarettes.

While assisting an international investigation into the smuggling of chimpanzees in Lebanon, one of BETA’s rescuers and co-founders spotted Lola in one of the most ghastly, appalling and abusive pet shops ever, in one of Lebanon’s shadiest areas. It was a matter of minutes: after few phone calls, the BETA team decided to work hard and work miracles if they have to in order to remove Lola from her misery and give her a much better life: the bare minimum of what she deserves!

This blogger wishes to extend the warmest human appreciation to BETA for securing the release of Lola and constantly proving that Lebanon is not bereft of humanity. BETA rescues animals, mostly cats and dogs, on a daily basis in our country. I urge all my readers to support their efforts by donating money to their unique organization.

Thanks to BETA, more animals in Lebanon are finding adoptive parents to take care of them. The BETA team makes sure that even the most sick and tortured of the animals spend their last days on earth in the warm and loving company of the humans who domesticated them.

As for Lola, she is now in Wales, where she will receive better treatment. Wales is not her natural home, but at least it's not cruel and inhumane Lebanon.

Time off!

Time for a short vacation. Back on Monday.  Meanwhile, the Newswire continues to carry live updates.

OTV: Crap goes digital

Michel Aoun has a new seat-based project. The aspiring president wants his own television station. This is a good idea for him, potentially stinky for the country, which would have to deal with his toxic political waste matter, caused by a chronic diarrhea of the mouth.

The reason behind launching our own TV station, which will be called OTV, is that our political views are not being transmitted properly by some television stations," Hashem said. "Without having our own TV station we will not be able to reflect our political and social program properly." (Daily Star)

Reflect this, Roy:

Aoun: All the candidates suggested worked at some point for the local or Syrian intelligence... According to polls conducted by foreign embassies, I am the leading candidate... with public support like that, I am the natural candidate. And now we find them trying to convince some to choose anyone but Aoun. And they tell me: name someone other than you and tell us what you want. There's a feeling that they are irresponsible and immature.

This is coming from the former army general who recently found himself with Syria's numero uno agent in Lebanon, Emile Lahoud. Not to mention other blatantly pro-Syrian parties who have been smoothly riding Aoun's presidential obsession to deliver the country back to the Syrian regime. 

I suppose the general needs "digital techniques" for his message to get across to the thick-headed Lebanese, who, though they allegedly support him in large numbers, still can't get him.

"We seek to have a transparent, objective and law abiding station," Hashem said. "The station is going to be equipped with the newest digital techniques, and our objective is to provide continuity and quality," he added.

I don't need digital techniques to receive this:

Aoun: At the dialogue table there is the Rustom Ghazaleh of money and the Rustom Ghazeleh of political feudalism.

The above are references to Saad Hariri, whose father was massacred by Ghazaleh, and Walid Jumblatt, who thinks Lebanon should not have a foreign-backed militia doing the job of an army. Yes, the army, or the military institution that Aoun and Lahoud both romantically invoke to explain their new dreamy bond and infallible characters.

But wait, the objective of the new channel is far more reaching and noble:

Hashem said Aoun had also insisted on his own conditions before he gave the project his blessings, namely that "all Lebanese" would be shareholders in the station and that through its broadcasts would attempt to attract Lebanese living abroad to return to Lebanon.

"In addition, all the main programs would be produced in Lebanon and by Lebanese. That way the issue of Lebanon's brain-drain would be solved," he added.

As soon as Aoun opens OTV (O as in Orange, not zerO), I and millions of others will pack our bags and rush to reverse Lebanon's brain drain. When we arrive in the country, we will put our skills at the disposal of OTV, Lebanon's all-digital saviour. We will breathe liberty as conceived by delusional "patriots" and formulated by their supreme leader.  And then I will undertsand what a fool I have been all those years for not realizing that my salvation and the end to Lebanon's woes has always been a television station called OTV that has the following sacred duty:

"Our main target and sacred duty is to respect the media law in Lebanon, and that is why we respected every aspect required from us in the media book's terms," he said.

Did I mention that I will renounce all my beliefs to worship Lebanon's holy media law?  The FPM is really visionary. Who cares about the viewers and the citizens who will have to smell Aoun's digitized crap? Their lives, concerns, and the journalistic duty to communicate their grievances are of secondary importance. The Lord of the Flies comes first.

Just what the country needed. More of the same crap.

Who forgot about Muhamad Mugraby?

On Monday, the illegal trial of human rights lawyer Muhamad Mugraby began without him. Mugraby, who has not left Lebanon, is being tried in-absentia in a closed military court on charges of criticising the pro-Syrian Lebanese government in 2003.

Mugraby was charged after he delivered a speech on November 4, 2003, to a European Parliament delegation in Brussels, where he criticized the Lebanese government’s practice of using military courts to prosecute civilians for dissent. He also told the delegation that the military judges lacked adequate legal training, and he condemned the use of torture to coerce confessions from suspects appearing before the military tribunals. 

Mugraby told IRIN that he didnt expect much.  “I’ve learnt not to forecast the actions of the military officers – they work by a different set of rules,” he said.

Mugraby and his lawyers have filed a list of complaints with the court, explaining why the trial is not, in their view, legitimate. “The most important thing is that Article 20 of the Lebanese Constitution guarantees the right of every Lebanese civilian to a fair trial before a court constituted of judges,” Mugraby said. “These are military officers.” He went on to say that the charges violated his right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Lebanon is a party.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that

“the prosecution of Dr. Mugraby casts doubt on Lebanon’s commitment to human rights reform,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at HRW. “No one should face jail for peacefully criticizing the government or the military,” he added.

The trial was called a "perversion" by the International Commission of Jurists.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists called the trial a “perversion” of the law and called for all charges to be dropped unconditionally. “This process before the military court constitutes an aberration and its article of indictment is a gross violation of fundamental rights,” the commission noted in a statement.

Lebanon's military courts do not conform to international fair trial standards, says HRW.

In 1997 the United Nations Human Rights Committee noted, in its Concluding Observations on Lebanon, its concern regarding “the procedures followed by these military courts, as well as the lack of supervision of the military courts’ procedures and verdicts by the ordinary courts.” 

HRW adds:

This is not the first time that the Lebanese authorities have prosecuted and harassed Mugraby. In August 2003, officials arrested Mugraby and detained him for three weeks on apparently politically motivated charges of “impersonating a lawyer.” That arrest followed repeated attempts by the Beirut Bar Association to prevent Mugraby from practicing as a lawyer. This harassment took place while Mugraby was campaigning for investigations into judicial corruption and for an inquiry into the “disappearances” of two Lebanese who had been transferred to Syrian custody in 1997.

Mugrabi's illegal trial began during the Syrian era, and it continues after the alleged independence. Samir Geagea was freed, Islamists were pardoned, Hizbullah freely receives weapons via another country, Palestinian factions are allowed to carry arms, but Muhamad Mugraby is still being tried in a closed military court for rightly criticising the actions of the government and its unfair practice of using military courts. He faces a three-year prison term if found "guilty."

Sadly, this trial is largely ignored by the Lebanese media and I should add, public!

Aoun, Lahoud and why Lebanon should support regime change in Syria

15 years after he took part in the massacre of pro-Aoun Lebanese army soldiers, and as the recently discovered remains of ten of those were being laid to rest, Emile Lahoud, the Syrian-appointed president of Lebanon, delivered a sulfurous interview to al-Jazeera claiming he and Aoun were similar, among other vile things.

With a vote of confidence like that, Aoun must be happy. The Original General, in fact, echoed Lahoud’s call for early elections in an interview with VDL on Saturday. Now, both Lahoud and Aoun are ridiculing the authority of the parliament’s majority. And both are holding the country hostage to Hizbullah, Syria and Iran.

Followers of the Free Patriotic Movement must have felt a dagger in their hearts as Aoun and Lahoud became one on Saturday. One hopes some of them noticed how their opportunistic leader managed to bury their past struggles and losses with the bodies of those killed in the name of liberation.

And as Lahoud was vomiting on the Arab World’s favorite fundamentalist network, we learned that 3 trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition crossed the Syrian border shortly after midnight on Thursday/early Friday morning, heading towards Baalbeck, Hizbullah Land. The convoy of terror reportedly carried a permit from the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. (no link yet, 14march.org cited An-Nahar)

There you have it. A National Dialogue assures Syria that Lebanon will do it no harm and gives the “resistance” a greenlight to wage an illegal war on behalf of Syria. Two days later, Syria responds with a shipment of weapons. The week ends with the acting Syrian high commissioner undermining the authority of state institutions and towing the country back to the dumpster of Arab dictators. And Aoun is happy, very happy and optimistic in fact, now that he’s had a “spontaneous lunch” with Saad Hariri during the insipid dialogue.

The deadline for Lahoud’s resignation has passed. And now even the “consensus candidate” Pierre Dakkash, “elected” MP by default, is against Lahoud’s removal through popular means.

Consensus with Aoun and Hizbullah clearly leads to capitulation to Syria. What will March 14 do? What can they do?

My previous post suggested that they link up with the newly formed Syrian National Salvation Front. If Bashar feels that he has the right to impose a president on Lebanon and force Lebanese to play politics by Syrian rules, then our only option is to support the efforts to topple his regime. As I said in my previous post, we should no longer allow Hizbullah and Lahoud to equate Syrian interests with those of the current regime. An alternative has emerged that March 14 has to acknowledge and incorporate into their political efforts to rid Lebanon of Syrian hegemony, and to weaken the arguments of the pro-Syrian forces and their opportunistic allies.

Jumblatt said it at Brookings but few listened. You cannot reconcile democracy in Lebanon with a Syrian regime bent on sabotaging this democracy.

Now is the time for pro-democracy Lebanese politicians to PUBLICLY support regime change in Syria.