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The rich heritage of Tunisia, maybe the only place where the Arab Spring stands a chance Modern-day Tunisians, more Westernized than most Arabs, see themselves as descendants of the great Carthaginian general who invaded Italy. The Arab Spring began in Sidi Bouzid, a small Tunisian town, at the end of 2010. In a desperate protest against the corrupt and oppressive government that had made it impossible for him to earn a living, food-cart vendor Mohamed Bouazizi stood before City Hall, doused himself with gasoline, and lit a match. His suicide seeded a revolutionary storm that swept the countryside and eventually...

As Lebanon plunges deeper into ruin and chaos as a result of Hizballah’s “gang war” tactics against Israel’s expanded military campaign to degrade the power of the Islamist party, Hizballah, Syria, and its allies in Lebanon are devising plans to subvert an international agreement on a multinational force to guard the Israel-Lebanon border. They are also preparing for a political comeback in a postconflict Lebanon by riding the wave of the victory Hizballah is sure to claim whatever the outcome—a supposed triumph that in reality will be at best a Pyrrhic victory. Hizballah’s Political Offensive From the time the...

The American Lebanese Coalition will be commemorating the Lebanese Cedar Revolution and it will be honoring the US Administration for its great support to free Lebanon and its people. US ambassador to the UN Mr. John Bolton will be awarded the Cedar Revolution's medal of honor. Many Lebanese leaders will be present. We hope to see you all there.

Two months ago, MP Michael Aoun paid a visit to the USA where he met with Congressmen Eliot Engel and Eliana Ross-Lithenin. At this meeting, Aoun requested to address the US Congress, but his request was rejected. Congresswoman Ross-Lithenin's rejection of Aoun’s request was based on the fact that he has too many opponents in Congress due to his latest treacherous positions in Lebanon, especially his relationship with Hizbullah and Syria. Prior to the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, Aoun was praising the US Administration’s stance regarding its backing of Lebanon's freedom and for its calling on Syria to end its...

Case Study: Lebanon Case mnemonic: Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution Title: The Cedar Revolution: Mission Unaccomplished-Reasons and Remedies. http://www.alcc-research.com/perspective/CedarRevolution.html

...Beirut is where the taboos in the region--against alcohol, dating, sex, scandalous clothing, homosexuality, body modification, free speech and dissident politics--break down. Its culture is liberal and tolerant, even anarchic and libertarian. The state barely exists. The city's pleasures are physical and decadent. Beirut is where American and European tourists used to go to loosen up, gamble, drink booze and pick up women--and that was in the 1950s. Today it is where Saudis and other Gulf Arabs like to vacation because they can do, think, wear, and say whatever they want. Last month the Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Political...

If the US government is to be believed then the "cedar revolution" is proof of the effectiveness of its Middle East policy. But with Beirut's new leader, Saad al-Hariri, the situation in Lebanon is not quite as different as Bush would like to believe. Everyone comes to see him: Christian and Druze leaders, Sunni sheikhs and Shiite dignitaries. Their suits are dark, their expressions are somber and their briefcases, which they watch like hawks, have locks on them. They bow silently before the photograph of the prime minister, framed in black and displayed at the building's entrance and submit to...

BEIRUT -- Saad Hariri swept to victory in the first round of Lebanon's post-occupation elections yesterday and immediately proclaimed the result a triumph for his father, the victim of a still-unsolved assassination in February. Saad (R) and Nazek (L) Hariri, the son and the widow of former slain Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, celebrate. Nazek al-Hariri, widow of the slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri Supporters of the Lebanese Forces, the main Christian militia during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, wave their group's flag and celebrate during election day in Beirut, Sunday, May 29th, 2005. Lebanese supporters of Saad al-Hariri, the...

When President Bush began the war on terror he also began the process of planting the seeds of Democracy in the Middle East. No President has succeeded in sucessfully bringing Democracy to the region, but now we have had elections in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iraq. We have seen Syria pull out of Lebanon and we now have Lebanon's long-awaited legislative elections. They will begin Sunday in Beirut and in other regions over the following three Sundays in a four stage process. . .

Lebanese voters went to the polls yesterday at the start of the first parliamentary election in 30 years that has not been marred by civil war or heavy-handed Syrian meddling. The campaign, led by Saad Hariri, 35, the son of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister who was assassinated in February, was celebrating victory after incomplete results showed it had swept Beirut's 19 parliamentary seats. The official results are not due until today, and voting in the rest of the country is still to come. But a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Associated Press that...

Lebanon's first parliamentary polls without heavy-handed Syrian meddling began Sunday, and loyalty to the former premier whose assassination catalyzed the political turmoil that drove Syrian forces out was displayed at the capital's ballot boxes. ‘snip’ Many observers expect voters will sweep the anti-Syrian opposition to power and install a new parliament, removing the last of Syria's political control. Syrian forces withdrew in April, ending a 29-year military dominance, after mass demonstrations in Lebanon and relentless international pressure sparked by the February assassination. This is the first election where Syrian or Lebanese intelligence agents or their allies do not appear to...

Rafik Hariri's widow was among the first to vote A leading opposition bloc in Lebanon says its candidates have won all the seats in the capital, Beirut, in a landmark parliamentary election.Beirut voters took part in the first poll to be held for more than 30 years without Syrian troops in the country. People in the rest of Lebanon will cast ballots over the next three Sundays. The anti-Syrian opposition in the capital is led by Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. Syrian troops withdrew last month, following a wave of opposition protests...

Rafik Hariri's widow was among the first to vote Voters in Lebanon have taken part in the first parliamentary elections to be held for more than 30 years without Syrian troops in the country.The first round was confined to the capital, Beirut. Voting will take place elsewhere over the next three Sundays. Syrian troops withdrew last month following a wave of opposition protests blaming Damascus for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Mr Hariri's son Saad and his opposition allies seem set to win seats in Beirut. The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says turnout appears to...

THE last Syrian troops are due to leave Lebanon today as Damascus bows to concerted international and Lebanese pressure following February’s assassination of Rafik Hariri, the billionaire former prime minister. The swift withdrawal, a few days ahead of schedule, coupled with last week’s formation of a new Lebanese government after weeks of political deadlock, raised expectations that parliamentary elections will be held on time next month. Syrian army trucks towing covered tanks drive towards the Lebanese and Syrian border at Masnaa in the Bekaa valley April 24th, 2005. Syria withdrew hundreds of soldiers from Lebanon on Sunday, entering the final...

The Cedar Revolutionaries briefly lost their focus after the million-person demonstration in Martyr's Square. They weren't sure what to do next, exactly, aside from setting up a tent-city next to Rafik Hariri's grave site. Some dissidents felt like they had already won - when they clearly had not. Others were worried they would never be able to bring yet another million people down to the square for demonstrations. The Syrian puppet regime in Beirut has been playing for time, changing the subject, and coming up with all manner of public distractions - the Pope's funeral was only the latest. People...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - There were people in wheelchairs, fathers pushing strollers, young men in T-shirts and designer sunglasses, all in all at least 20,000 Lebanese took part in a run Sunday to demonstrate unity after two months of political turmoil. AP Photo Under a warm spring sun, the runners set off from Beirut's Riad Solh Square on three-mile course that passed near the seafront boulevard where former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 19 others were killed in a massive bomb attack on Feb. 14. They finished at Martyrs' Square, the scene of a demonstration that brought down the government and...

THE CEDAR REVOLUTION HAS TAKEN so many interesting narrative turns, it is easy to forget that the Lebanese opposition confronts a criminal regime in Syria that is more isolated than ever and for that reason quite possibly more dangerous than before. While some repentant skeptics have grudgingly begun to credit the Bush vision for democracy in the Middle East, the White House has prudently refrained from gloating because the outcome is far from resolved. For all the appeasing noises the Damascus regime has made, it may decide not to leave Lebanon without a fight. Some analysts believe that Bashar al-Assad...

Officially, Syria is making plans to pull back its occupying forces from Lebanon. But according to sources inside the “Cedar Revolution,” the grassroots pro-democratic movement that has sprouted in Lebanon in recent weeks, Syria has no intention of relinquishing power over its puppet state. Working in concert with its counterparts in Iran, Syria has developed what we may call a “Lebanon Plan.” The plan entails pulling out its regular troops while deploying a plethora of terror and intelligence networks inside Lebanon. Through the agency of this network, Syria hopes to orchestrate a series of subversive activities inside Lebanon. Syria’s aim...

Until recently, Nancy Soderberg was just another blissfully forgotten face of the Clinton administration.... But she gained some notoriety this month during an appearance on "The Daily Show," in which host Jon Stewart was half-marveling, half-despairing at the turn of events in the Middle East after the Iraq elections, which seemed to vindicate President Bush.... Soderberg: "Well, there's still Iran and North Korea don't forget..." Begin with the simplest errors of fact.... [W]hen Ms. Soderberg snickers about how candidate Bush struggled through a foreign-policy pop quiz in 2000, one is compelled to snicker back. Next ... errors of analysis. "It...

A growing sense of optimism about democracy in the Middle East is boosting President Bush's standing in the world and dampening domestic criticism of his policies in the region. The good news abroad has yet to register in the president's approval ratings, which are weighted down by concerns about his plan to privatize part of Social Security. But the White House has sought to get political credit for the positive developments overseas, with Bush linking the Iraqi elections, renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks, and burgeoning democracy protests in Lebanon to his policies, including the decision to go to war in Iraq. ''The...