From Beirut to the Beltway

March 14 wants Lebanese FM fired

Nobody disagrees that Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour speaks for himself and his political masters. Just today, he warned against establishing a no-fly zone in Syria, and defended Iran's nuclear program. And of course, he conveniently ignored the repeated Syrian violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the regime's daily massacres, and proclaimed that "what harms Syria harms Lebanon".

March 14, or what's left of it, will supposedly step up efforts to not only get him fired, but also kick the Syrian ambassador out of the country. While I encourage them to give it a try, I really do not recall a time since the 1990s when the Lebanese foreign ministry didn't act as part of the Syrian government, even during Hariri governments.

But hey, if March 14 leaders are feeling emboldened and want to step outside the comforts of Twitter, then by all means let them try. It is really annoying to see statements by Mansour attributed to "Beirut" or "Lebanon" in news headlines, further embarrassing and isolating the country.

A costly distraction: Lebanon's ISF fixated on gays

Speaking of "Shish Barak Country", an editorial in Now Lebanon lashed out at the Internal Security Forces in Lebanon (aka police force) and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel for picking on gay men instead of doing something to stop the wave of kidnappings and killings plaguing the country:

In the midst of a wave of kidnappings that the Internal Security Forces have apparently done absolutely nothing to stop (indeed, the clan claiming responsibility for many of them is holding press conferences with impunity), Lebanon’s police force found it appropriate to confront the real danger plaguing the country: homosexuals.

Indeed, the ISF has been raiding movie theatres and cracking down on men engaging in what they deem "indecent" acts. In the meantime, clans like the Muqdads go on TV and flaunt their illegal weapons and admit to kidnapping foreigners with complete impunity. 

The ISF's harassment of gays in Lebanon is certainly not new. It seems to come and go, and I can't tell you whether their morality police is being over active or just outshining the rest of their seemingly dormant departments. Against the current backdrop of chaos, it does seem outrageous that the ISF is taking a page from the Iranian authorities and waging a war against homosexuals. And if Charbel has any control over the ISF, perhaps he should instruct them to focus on probing criminal activity, instead of people's private parts. 

Shish Barak Country

The strength of the Mudqad clan's men stems from their women's Shish Barak, says one Muqdad woman.

The Muqdads, as some of you know, rose to prominence recently when they unleashed their "military wing" on Syrian and Turkish nationals. The sight of masked men flaunting guns and hostages on TV screens both terrified and provided comic relief to many Lebanese, who now joke about their own families having military wings.

But who are we to judge this clan? The Lebanese authorities are so occupied with chasing Syrian rebels and handing them over to the decaying regime next door, that they sometimes forget to pay attention to the needs of the homegrown thugs. And if the FSA can kidnap, so can Lebanese clans. Just ask Hizbullah!

With Hizbullah's own "military wing" busy in Syria itself,  the Muqdads were forced to turn to Shish Barak on the home front.

Shish Barak, incidentally, is a Lebanese dish of Turkish origins: meat dumplings in a yogurt-cilantro sauce. Quite tasty.  In addition to Shish Barak, the mighty Muqdad Avengers also  like lentil dishes, Burghul (cracked wheat) and Fattoush salad. These dishes hold the secret to their prowess, their women brag.

Fortunately for this world, these dishes, which I occasionally cook for myself and my family, are not propelling anyone in my surroundings to replace their manhoods with machine guns, rocket launchers, or whatever it is the Muqdads have sprouted. And I haven't held anyone hostage since I stopped playing army at the age of 8.

My parents, who raised me to be law-abiding, and to seek other attributes missing in Hizbullah's Lebanon, must not have had access to the Muqdad secret sauce.

Aoun attacks Tunisia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, US, Europe, Mars, etc.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the US and the whole of Europe are allegedly threatning "our existence", the former general, now in bed with Iran and Syria, said today during a fundraising event. 

Aoun, in his infinite wisdom, traced Lebanon and Syria's troubles back to the creation of the current Tunisian regime, which "moved to invade Syria, and then Tripoli and Akkar". 

Yes, how dare Tunisians rebel against a despot and infect Syrians (and apparently Tripoli residents) with this wretched bug called "Arab Spring"? 

You can't make this stuff up. But Aoun can. 

Mind you, Aoun was speaking during an event marking the first anniversary of the launch of the "Seven" group, a group allegedly created to "self-finance" the party. 

According to Naharnet, Aoun uttered this gem: "Whoever frequently changes his stances cannot build a nation".

Yes, Aoun has never changed his stances. And he might be right. Illusions of grandeurs rarely leave a person sane. So in that sense, the man has not changed.  

 

Lebanese military goes after MP

When so many of the headlines nowadays are of the security situation in Lebanon falling apart—organized kidnappings by a clan, two neighborhoods shelling each other, Syrian forces freely shelling the border —it's hard not to balk at the Lebanese Army going after the country's civilian leadership over comments an MP made, calling the army commander "unsuccessful" and an opportunist with presidential aspirations.

Is it really wrong for an elected official to be critical of the nation's military?

But then, is it really fair for an MP to point his civilian guns at an institution expected to play two roles outside its mission: police and local referee?

The answer to the above questions depends on where you stand in the political spectrum at this moment in time.  But some facts cannot be ignored. The army, not immune to the political and sectarian divisions plaguing the country, was thrust into playing a police role. A dysfunctional political system meant that army commanders are seen as presidential candidates, which automatically places their decision-making in a political context. More worryingly, the Lebanese army has always determined its external enemies through a local political prism, which meant that its involvement in local events is bound by domestic policies, some of which are subject to foreign agendas.

To quote one fictitious military commander: "There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people. "

 

 

 

What are we waiting for?

I suppose the world is waiting until the Assad regime implodes, so we're getting peace envoys and such to play the dialog game. I do wonder how much longer this world can really afford to wait. Dialog is the currency of despots, a way to buy time. Just ask the Iranian regime. They've been "talking" about their nuclear program for years.

The way I see it, the longer this is allowed to go on, the harder the recovery will be, even if the regime eventually falls. The more time we allow for the regime to kill, and the armed opposition to diversify and import AQ types, the deeper the wounds will be. 

The time is now, while there's a shred of national identity left, for those with the power to shape events to step up their efforts to help the change take place. We don't need another battleground for frustrated young Arabs to practice their jihad, or whatever it is they call it. And we certainly don't want all those sects and ethnicities to get different ideas. I don't know if the region can handle another Iraq. 

Or Lebanon, for that matter.

 

 

I guess I'm back

Let's give it another try, shall we? This time, I'll go for shorter, straight to the point posts. 

Indictment in Hariri assassination out; now what?

If we're to believe the media leaks, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon named 4 high ranking Hizbullah members as suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. 

A delegation handed over the indictment a few hours ago to Judge Said Mirza, and is reportedly on its way to Syria to hand over the Syria-related indictment: meaning the suspects include Lebanese and Syrians. 

The question that hovers like a black cloud over much of Lebanon today is: now what?

Prime Minister Najib Mikati went on TV with panic on his face, blubbering something about national unity and quoting the slain prime minister that "no one is greater than Lebanon". He appeared shaken and weak and concluded with a laughable vow to prove to" those who wagered that the indictment will divide Lebanese, that victory will be for Lebanese unity". Considering how he got his post, and all the intimidation and threats that got him his nomination, not to mention his alliance with the very party suspected of killing the main political leader of his sect, I would say that Mikati today is an unenviable position. 

And everyone in Lebanon knows that Hizbullah sees itself above everyone else, and greater than any man-made country, except maybe Iran. 

The four arrest warrants reportedly handed over to Lebanese authorities include one for Imad Moghnieh's successor, Mustapha Badreddine, and 3 other members or leaders of the group. Some of these members are not likely to have acted alone, and have deep ties to the Iranian revolutionary guards, as is the case with Badreddine (again, according to media reports).

Mirza has not officially announced the details of the indictment yet. And it remains to be seen how Hizbullah will react, or more importantly, how Hariri's supporters will react on the streets of Beirut.  Hizbullah, of course, has been preparing for this moment for months, if not years. The group is omnipresent, thanks to its demographic expansion, land-buying practices, and embedding with its Christian allies. It now has a more significant presence in the cabinet, and in most Lebanese security agencies, with the exception of the ISF's Information Branch. 

Mirza has 30 days to arrest the four suspects.  He has already paid a visit to Mikati. And the latter has to decide how far he can go opposing the international community and the sentiments of people from his own sect (and other Lebanese who still believe in the concept of justice).  

 

March 14 wants to be called "opposition"

March 14 have announced that they are now "returning" to the opposition?

Excuse me?

How can you call yourself "opposition" and still claim what Hizbullah did was a "coup d'etat"?

Who the hell formulates policy over at Hariri's Future Movement and March 14? By calling yourself opposition, you are legitimizing what the actual "opposition" did, and lending credence to those who now call themselves a "new majority".

Insipid speeches were made yesterday, six years after Hariri was killed and no one was brought to justice.

So dazed and confused March 14 have become, that they know are telling people, no, worse, they are EXPECTING people to pretend Lebanon is in a position similar to 2005, when it was under Syrian dominance.

Six years after wasting time as "majority", which was won thanks to the support of the very people they want to show up on March 14th, Saad Hariri and his fellows want to be seen as "opposition".

The very concept of opposition assumes a democratic system, which is not in existence in this country. What will March 14 be opposing? And with whose help? The Saudis who encouraged them to act as a minority for six years? The people they betrayed by not standing up to the very principles that first created them as "opposition", before they abandoned them to please the other "opposition".

Give us all a break. If it's a coup, then act like it. Act like the majority people elected. Not like the cowards that wasted valuable time and nearly killed the concepts of justice and rule of law by looking pretty and doing nothing.

Blogger Sandmonkey detained by Egyptian regime

My friend, Egyptian blogger The Sandmonkey, has been reportedly detained. His website was also shut down.

We are all with you, my friend, in your fight for freedom.