Posted on 01/25/2011 4:56:57 AM PST by Dave346
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A prime minister chosen by Hezbollah and its allies won enough support on Monday to form Lebanon’s government, unleashing angry protests that continued on Tuesday, realigning politics and culminating the generation-long ascent of the Shiite Muslim movement from shadowy militant group to the country’s pre-eminent political and military force.
By nightfall, angry opponents of Hezbollah took to the streets in parts of Beirut, Tripoli and other cities, burning tires, shouting slogans and offering at least an image of what many feared Hezbollah’s victory might unleash: strife among communities in a country almost evenly divided over questions of foreign patrons; posture toward Israel; and the relative power of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims, represented by Hezbollah, and its Sunni foes.
Similar demonstrations continued in some of the same cities on Tuesday and in the northern port of Tripoli, protesters attacked a truck belonging to the Arab satellite channel, Al Jazeera, accusing the broadcaster of showing bias toward Hezbollah.
In Beirut, acrid smoke billowed into a nighttime sky, as barricades temporarily blocked some roads into Beirut before security forces dispersed the demonstrators. Hezbollah’s foes called for “a day of anger in all of Lebanon” on Tuesday, and martial language and cries of treason began punctuating the public discourse.
“Down with Hezbollah! Down with Miqati!” young men shouted in Beirut.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This will end badly.
A pox on both their houses...
Iran rejects Hariri tribunal verdict in advance - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101220/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_hariri_tribunal_1
There is going to be a lot of bloodshed over this I fear...
Just another typical day in the middle east.
I was a kid the last time Lebanon wasn’t tearing itself apart...makes me wonder how long the new PM will remain upright in one piece.
I fear it will be a return to the 1980's Beirut.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
See the “always dubios” Debka file for more info and Our Dear Leader’s set back with Syria...
http://www.debka.com/article/20586/
Excerpts from Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman's speech at the UN - July, 2006
The world has learned how deeply Hizbullah has penetrated Lebanese society. The world has learned again how ruthless and indiscriminate Hizbullah is. The same international community and this very Council has learned how right they were in repeatedly demanding the disarming of this terrorist monster.
We have been aware, for years, of this deadly, cancerous growth, insidiously invading this beautiful, potentially prosperous country, and we have warned about the danger repeatedly. This Council took the threat seriously, as witnessed by its Resolution 1559.
And now, sadly, the peoples of Israel and Lebanon are reaping the miseries of war, sown long ago, but nurtured by those who chose to turn a blind eye to what was so clearly happening.
Terrorism has occupied, ravaged, raped and pillaged Lebanon. Terror is the true occupying power of Lebanon. For years, Hizbullah has been amassing thousands of rockets, aimed at Israel, preparing for this attack. Its forces may be concentrated in the south, but its tangled web holds the entire nation of Lebanon hostage to its violent agenda.
The government of Lebanon, for its own political reasons, has chosen conflict with Israel instead of battling the cancer that occupies the body and soul of its very country. This cancer must be excised. It cannot be partially removed or allowed to fester. It must be removed without any trace, or, as cancers do and will, it will return and spread, striking and killing again.
This is also how cancer works, attacking healthy cells, invading and spreading through the whole body until healthy and malignant become inseparable. And this is exactly the point that Israel has been making for years. Terrorism has been sending its long tentacles through every level of Lebanese society, integrating itself into the very fiber of a nation. They live and operate among civilians, occupying their towns and villages, using them as human shields, and they have infiltrated the government itself.
We are told of a so-called "political branch" of Hizbullah. Do not be misled by this ruse - an attempt to paint a kinder face on cold-blooded terrorists who are intent on cold-blooded murder. The Hizbullah Member of Parliament and the terrorist in the hills launching rockets at Israeli civilians both have the same strategy and goal. These labels cannot be allowed to give legitimacy to a gang of thugs.
letting? You obviously know nothing about the lebanese civil war and the result of that civil war. Syrian control of lebanon for 15 years after the war ended allowed hezbollah to rise in power, allowing them to build a base of support. The entire country was disarmed by Syria with the exception of Hezbollah. You sit on a table governing a country and one person on the table has a gun, it is obvious he will get his way. It is well know that syria controlled even uptill 2005 who goes into the government, by calling in death threats to certain individuals that were running. The entire country was being held hostage.. the word “let” is very poorly chosen.
Yet another foreign policy success by the Obama Administration.
Unlike the '70s, when they were merely killing most of the Christians.
HF
Akin to the fall of the Shah as presided over by the Carter administration and the hostage crisis.
Obama has no foreign policy to speak of.
And it certainly is not a cheerleader for freedom and liberty throughout the world.
Obama is a complete and utter failure on the foreign stage.
This is certainly disturbing news, but Lebanon is one of the least important countries in the region.
What has me worried is popular uprisings (a la Tunisia) in Algeria or even worse Egypt.
If there are more “Tunisias” in the region, U.S. geopolitcal power could be cut in half very quickly.
Dance With The Devil.......
Fury and muslim; now thats something you don’t usually see together. /s
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