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How Should the U.S. Respond to the Lebanon Protests?
American Thinker.com ^ | November 11, 2019 | John Hajjar

Posted on 11/11/2019 5:28:07 AM PST by Kaslin

I returned to the U.S. from Lebanon less than one month before the October protests began in Beirut and started spreading throughout its cities and towns, shaking the foundations of a regime that spent 30 years mired in corruption and backing Hezb’allah. During my field trip to my ancestral land, mandated by the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD), I met with students, politicians, journalists, former military, religious leaders and civil society activists. I also met with ordinary people in different places. The three major issues of discontent among all people I met were:

  1. Frustration with the economic and financial situation, crumbling under the heavy corruption eroding most of Lebanon’s institutions, both public and private;
  2. Fear from the constant domination of Hezb’allah and its peace-through-intimidation of their partisans and those opposed to their domination; and,
  3. Loss of trust in the ruling political, economic, and clerical establishment of the country.

The Protests: “All means All”

On October 18, tens of thousands of Lebanese filled the public squares in Beirut in anti-government demonstrations accusing the leaders of “stealing the people’s money,” and of abandoning the poor to their fate. At first, the demands were socioeconomic, but then the protests got larger and the official goal became bringing down the entire system: the Saad Hariri cabinet, Michel Aoun’s Presidency, and Nabih Berri’s Parliament -- all accused of being behind the mass corruption that the country has been suffering under for decades.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Egypt; Israel; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: djibouti; egypt; erdogan; eritrea; gaza; hamas; hassannasrallah; hezbollah; iran; isis; israel; jerusalem; jordan; kurdistan; lebanon; letshavejerusalem; putinsbuttboys; receptayyiperdogan; russia; sinai; sudan; syria; turkey; waronterror; yemen
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1 posted on 11/11/2019 5:28:08 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

How is it any of our business? Let Israel and Turkey work it out.


2 posted on 11/11/2019 5:33:08 AM PST by montag813 (Sheri Bruder)
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To: Kaslin

Send them a copy of our Declaration and Constitution. Let them figure it out.


3 posted on 11/11/2019 5:34:54 AM PST by PGalt (Past peak civilization)
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To: Kaslin

Staying out of it.

L


4 posted on 11/11/2019 5:37:24 AM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Kaslin

Thanks for letting us know what is going on over there.


5 posted on 11/11/2019 5:43:11 AM PST by jimjohn (2020: The year the Republicans can and should take back the black vote.)
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To: Kaslin

Not our circus. Not our monkeys.


6 posted on 11/11/2019 5:43:46 AM PST by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: PapaBear3625

It is not worth a penny of taxpayers’ cash or the welfare of any of our military to get involved in their uncivil society and its woes.


7 posted on 11/11/2019 5:49:52 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp???)
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To: hal ogen

80% Christian at one time. Make it the safe zone Trump promised.


8 posted on 11/11/2019 5:52:23 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: Kaslin
"I met with students, politicians, journalists, former military, religious leaders and civil society activists." "I also met with ordinary people."

I really don't know how to react to that... To me, this person comes off like the usual liberal bleeding heart looking for just another worthless cause to waste money and good American lives on...

9 posted on 11/11/2019 5:52:26 AM PST by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

The world gives the money and the Christians fight for their freedom.


10 posted on 11/11/2019 5:56:40 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: Kaslin

How Should the U.S. Respond to the Lebanon Protests?
It’s never:
Should the U.S. Respond to the Lebanon Protests?


11 posted on 11/11/2019 6:05:38 AM PST by null and void (Convicted spies are shot, traitors are hanged, saboteurs are subject to summary execution...)
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To: unread

“ordinary people”, in this context, means (to me) the very people that the media deliberately ignore. The categories the author lists before this phrase are the people used by media to portray what “ordinary people” are thinking - right or wrong (usually wrong).

A quiet conversation over coffee in a nameless cafe can often give more insight into the mind of “ordinary people” than a thousand interviews with self-promoting “elite” that use their access to media as a cudgel to shape (not measure) public opinion.

Just my $.02.


12 posted on 11/11/2019 6:07:46 AM PST by MortMan (Americans are a people increasingly separated by our connectivity.)
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To: Kaslin

Why do I care about the this crap. The bushes cured me of giving a damn. let’s just keep building bigger and better weapons


13 posted on 11/11/2019 6:09:16 AM PST by datricker (Cut Taxes Repeal ACA Deport DACA - Americans First, Build the Wall, Lock her up MAGA!)
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To: Kaslin

Read the Book” The Absent Superpower” by Peter Zeihan. We are in the first stages of his story with Trump the likely captain of this new world view. Zeihan sees the world in geographical and demographic terms. If he’s right we’re in good shape and the rest of the world is in trouble, and we don’t need to respond to every emergency and won’t.


14 posted on 11/11/2019 6:27:42 AM PST by JeanLM (Obama proves melanin is just enough to win elections)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“Make it the safe zone Trump promised.”

We think you ought to get over there and get it done.

The rest of us don’t care and are disinclined from spending a single penny or drop of blood.


15 posted on 11/11/2019 6:44:18 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Kaslin

How about.......... nothing.


16 posted on 11/11/2019 7:12:54 AM PST by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“Make it the safe zone Trump promised.”

After you.

L


17 posted on 11/11/2019 7:14:15 AM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Kaslin

How about we mind our own business. Wish them well and let them settle it amongst themselves.


18 posted on 11/11/2019 7:19:42 AM PST by kalee
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To: Kaslin

Hi.

The U.S. should respond like this: Hey Macron! Check out your southern flank. The Lebanese could use some assistance.

Thanks.

Uncle Sam

5.56mm


19 posted on 11/11/2019 7:23:43 AM PST by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! BUILD THE WALL!)
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To: Kaslin

Not our circus. Not our monkeys.
But if they’re in the market for weapons and ammo...


20 posted on 11/11/2019 7:51:56 AM PST by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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