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Thursday, October 27, 2005

Lebanon vs. Arab failure

Arab rug politics have reared their ugly head again. The failure to admit that an Arab state is responsible for terrorism against another Arab state has galvanized some of the Arab press, not to mention Arab officialdom, into feeling sorry for a bunch of criminals who would throw every single Arab and Muslim to the lions just to stay in power.

I have been trying to stay moderate since the Mehlis report was published. Other blogs have expressed this frustration admirably. But this has gone too far.

We, the few Lebanese bloggers who have mobilized to blog the Mehlis report and show its significance not just to Lebanon but to the Arab world as a whole, are being accused of being blind to a wider US/Israeli plot to change the Syrian regime and destabilize the entire region. We are being lectured about the dangers of US interventionism and asked, not very politetly, to wake up and smell the scent of US conspiracy. We are being told to forget about our own independence as a nation, about justice within our borders, just to spite an “imperialist” nation that’s out to get a bunch of thugs holding their people hostage.

Rafik Hariri, the man whom Syria murdered (quit living in denial, they killed him), was one of the few Arab leaders who actually made a useful effort to support the Palestinian cause. He didn’t send weapons. He didn’t fire missiles. He didn’t fund stupid suicide attacks. He funded projects to bring their case to the international community through legal means. His foundations sponsored Lebanese victims of the Israeli occupation. He used his connections to spare Hizbullah and Lebanon the wrath of pro-Israeli policies. He was not a perfect man, nor a saint. But he did not deserve this fate.

It was Hariri who protected the resistance against Israel, not Syria. It was Syria that destroyed whatever was left of the cause, not the US or Israel. The blame rests on Syria’s shoulders this time. And it is a shame that very few so called Arabs out there refuse to come out in support of the country and the man who worked harder than many to support the cause they defend in the most inane way imaginable.

Let’s face it, we live in a region infested with shortsightedness and utter and unforgivable stupidity.

Arab leaders have made it clear that they have no time for Lebanon, a founding member of the Arab League, arguably the only country that keeps Arabs from the "ocean to the gulf" entertained and their companies running. They are worried about the threats against Syria, a bastion of Arab failure (and a reflection of their own). They will not tell the Syrian regime to cooperate in the investigation. They will stand watching and lamenting the self-destruction of a regime and blame it on foreign intervention. And they will do nothing of consequence. All that money and power will be channeled into growing their expanding bellies. All they can do right now is impale themselves on failure.

Comments:
We're talking about a (modern Arab) political culture which has spawned stupidity, incoherence, and paralysis.

They don't want peace, but won't or can't wage war with Israel.

They accuse the US of supporting Saddam/Assad etc..They then scream bloody murder when the dictator are removed. (When the USSR was supporting same characters: no problem)

etc....
 
thanks for picking the issue up, man. the entire Lebanese blogosphere should do the same! There should be some sort of uproar!
 
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 
What is all the fuss about? Historically, the only resason the enlightened views of the arab masses are quoted is strictly for comic relief. As for their glorious dictators, they cannot let down one of their own, so they have to support Assad Junior.As for bloggers' reactions, at least I am starting to read crtiticism of the world-famous expert, the brilliant Professor Tishrin Landis himself. It is a hopeful start.

PA.
 
Kais,
You just don't understand, do you. I didn't understand. I posted many times on this issue. But finally, my commenters made me realize that the life I live is actually a lie.

I really don't live in Lebanon. I live in political hole in which America, Israel, Syria, and Arabism battles.

I thought I was responding to bombs going off in my country. I thought Rafiq Hariri was responsible for having the vision and financial capabilities to build the downtown. However, I'm wrong. The United States and Syria, using Saudi money, built Beirut's downtown to use as their Hollywood backdrop for their ensuing conflict.

You see, why should leftwing Americans and pro-Baathists look at the lives of Lebanese people? They are fighting for the workers of the world. We are just a bunch of Gucci clad automatons responding to television propaganda. Lebanon definitely is not a poor country that makes itself look respectable in the face of poverty by buying knock-off Gucci loafers from Syria. Lebanese people are definitely too shallow to understand that bombs going off in Lebanon do not effect Lebanon; they only effect the US and Syria.

Kais, you are blinded by your hate of reality. Lebanon does not actually exist. It's merely an abstract token over which other countries fight.
 
At least there is something positive comming out of this.

we the Lebanese are united in anger.
 
Ok, I just submitted this suggestion for a round-up to global voices:

"Hello,

The Lebanese bloggers are all very angry with the Arabs' and the American Left wingers' reactions to the Mehlis report.

Raja writes in anger: "the whole Arab world is turning against us"

http://lebaneseblogger.blogspot.com/2005/10/ooooof-entire-arab-world-is-turning.html

Lebanon.Profile asks the Syrian apologists:
"Where is your righteous indignation? Are you even slightly concerned about the fate of Lebanon?"

http://lebop.blogspot.com/2005/10/this-isnt-all-about-syria.html

Kais Elaborates further:

http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/

and Yours truly wrote: "Why is the Syrian regime suddenly the victim? What’s wrong with the European and Arab public opinion?"

http://beirutspring.blogspot.com/2005/10/whiners-and-appeasers.html

I hope you publish this stuff, it seems we're being outnumbered."
 
I'm preparing something on this to come out soon. It's very heartening to see your reactions, considering the variety of sectarian backgrounds we all belong to. It goes to prove that quote about Lebanese identity I recently posted about.

Hang in there compadres!
 
Mustapha - There are American's who support your struggle for freedom. I guess you are right, it is not the 'Left Wingers' though.

I wish all of the political murders that occurred in your country would be exposed / solved.

IF the US did any of them, punish the guilty, if my mom (she didn't) did any of them punish her, etc....

I am at a loss to understand the public opinion / government statements coming out of the Middle East. It is as though finding out the real truth is of secondary importance.
 
UNITED WE STAND TOGETHER IN YOUR SUPPORT MR. PRESIDENT SIR!

- Comerade Antonov of TeX-Aviv Trotskyite fame said:
"It's very heartening to see your reactions, considering the variety of sectarian backgrounds we all belong to" (sic)

Yeah sure dude: it's just like "De Pluribus Unum" and all that founding padres American ethos stuff- not to mention the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet back in the 1950s with lotsa Georgians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians all sharing a common/unifying dream!!

I sometimes wonder if that Neocon/Marxist propaganda shit will ever stop...

I mean like Jeez: first we're told that the whole yellow cake uranium Saddam dossier was cooked in Italy by Berlusconi and his highly imaginative friends at the PR, Propaganda & Public Truth Department of the Israeli embassy in Rome...
And now it's a guy named SCOOTER who's indicted for being the mastermind of the whole Neocon cabalist column within the White House!!

It's high time we sue Vespa Motors Co. if you want my opinion!
:-)
Eternally Yours in Liberty,

Dr Victorino de la Vega
Chair of the Thomas More Center for Middle East Studies
http://www.mideastmemo.blogspot.com/
 
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