[Uncle Hal]

This is not good. The middle east is really a tinder box.

[Abathar]

Just the headline for now on CNN, this isn’t good at all.

[SolidWood]

Israel and the Lebanese Army should get together to wipe out Hizbullah. The Christian, Druze and Sunni Lebanese will be the first to die when Hizbullah totally takes over.

[dinoparty]

Oh boy. What is the reason for this, other than holding onto power? Hamas?

(Forgive my ignorance.)

[Beckwith]

Is this guy from the same Lahoud family that Clint wiped out in “Behold a Pale Rider?”

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

["...hours before his terms ends."]

Looks like we have a new "President for Life". It's the new political fashion statement.

[American Quilter]

Poor Lebanon. I remember when Beirut was referred to as the Paris of the middle east.

[Abathar]

" Beirut - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Friday handed over the task of securing law and order in Lebanon to the country's army commander until a political consensus is reached and new president is elected. In a televised speech only few hours before he ends nine years in power, Lahoud declared "a state of emergency in the country and (that) the army should take over the security of country."

Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri postponed a vote on Friday that would have been the last chance to choose a president before pro-Syrian Lahoud left office at midnight.

Berri, who is also a Shiite opposition leader, delayed the election for a fifth time due to a deadlock between rival factions. He set a new session for November 30 "to allow for more consultations," he said in a statement.

The decision means Lebanon will be without a president for at least a week. Unless a consensus candidate emerges, many fear the dispute may lead to two competing administrations and violence in a country still scarred by its 1975-1990 civil war. "

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/146993.html

[UKrepublican]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7110202.stm

[maquiladora]

I wonder if Syria will make a move here.

[maquiladora]

[Pride in the USA]

Things are never very stable in the Middle East.

[maquiladora]

21:07 Lebanese cabinet rejects Lahoud`s transfer of security control to army (AP)

[jveritas]

His actions are illegal, he has no authority to declare anything because the Constitution give these authorities to the Cabinet not the President.

Lahood is a traitor of Lebanon and an agent of the terrorist regime of Syria and Iran.

[AdvisorB]

The epicenter (sarajevo circa 1914) of the modern day powder keg seems to Beirut, Lebanon. The fundamental issue is will Lebanon survive as an independent state, or will it become a permanent vassal of the Syrian/Iranian axis of evil?

I’m hoping that the courageous Siniora Government hasn’t been thrown under the Nasrullah bus in order to get Syria to participate in the upcoming Paleosimian/Israeli peace talks in Annapolis. That would be a particularly cowardly form of appeasement, and to paraphrase Churchill, an appeaser is one that feeds the crocodile hoping to be the last one eaten.

[G8 Diplomat]

Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud declares a state of emergency and orders the army to take over.

Sounds exactly like Pakistan

[cake_crumb]

Hezballah?

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

My post from a little earlier today... on this related and excellent thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1929718/posts?page=7#7

‘Israel’s best friend’ firmly backing Arabs at Annapolis conference
Posted by GovernmentIsTheProblem to Cicero
On News/Activism 11/23/2007 1:08:27 PM PST · 7 of 13

Peretz WAS defense minister. He’s gone now - Barak is DM and Olmert has been PM since Sharon took ill.

This conference will only lead to conflict. All I can think is, either Bush is a dope, or he’s TRYING to trigger Syrian and/or Iranian overt intervention so we can use it as a cassus belli. I don’t think he’s that smart, but there’s a good chance of it ending up that way down the line.

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