<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">N’importe quoi<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Interesting article, especially the UPDATE.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Actually I have a ridiculous UPDATE too. I read an article a few days ago that declares as “FACT” that it’s Saad who killed his father in order to take full control of the Hariri Empire. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">What is also interesting is that asking for Hizballah’s support in the bid for the presidency is “non-democratic” but begging for the same support to win the parliamentary elections in several districts especially in Baabda-Aley is the ultimate form of democracy.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">The writer must be very disappointed to know that Commandant Aoun and the FPM are still running strong on every level, from the presidency bid to the syndicate and student elections as prove!
n by
FACTS in the statistics and results released this past week.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Thank God that Commandant Aoun is obsessed with the presidency; at least if he gets it we would know that there will be some sense amid all the nonsense that Lebanon is going through.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">At last, people trying to discredit the loyalty of the FPM to </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Lebanon</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">, and </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Lebanon</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> alone, should know better. As if our martyrs and political prisoners who gave everything they own to save </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Lebanon</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> form the Syrian hegemony when everybody else didn’t care could be forgotten in a split of a second.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>!
<div
class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">It’s very easy to do the right thing when everybody is supporting you, but very hard to do the right thing when everybody is against you. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Defending </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Lebanon</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> even when everybo!
dy
thought that all is lost is the honor that FPM members will always feel proud of the most.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Maybe it’s better to screen the articles before sending them next time.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">With all due respect<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div> <div> </div> <div><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </div> <DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Loai Naamani <loai@MIT.EDU></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=rep!
lbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> <META content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered)" name=Generator> <STYLE> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"; panose-1:2 11 6 2 3 5 4 2 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:"Arial Black"; panose-1:2 11 10 4 2 1 2 2 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:"\@MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} h2 {margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial Black"; color:black; font-weight:normal;} h3 {margin-top:7.5pt; margin-right:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.5pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#333333; font-weight:bold;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p {margin-right:0pt; margin-left:0pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.EmailStyle17 {font-family:Verdana; color:windowtext; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none none;} @page Section1 {size:1584.0pt 1584.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </STYLE> <DIV class=Section1> <H3 style="BACKGROUND: white"><B><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#333333 size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'"><A href="http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/2005/11/can-lebanon-leave-syrias-orbit-updated.html">http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/2005/11/can-lebanon-leave-syrias-orbit-updated.html</A></SPAN></FONT></B></H3> <H3
style="BACKGROUND: white"><B><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#333333 size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'">Sunday, November 13, 2005</SPAN></FONT></B></H3> <H2 style="BACKGROUND: white"><A name=113189080561813755></A><FONT face="Arial Black" color=black size=5><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Can Lebanon leave Syria¡Çs orbit? (updated)</SPAN></FONT></H2> <div class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#111111 size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'">On my last night in Lebanon, members of Amal and Hizbullah were roaming the streets of Beirut vowing eternal support for Syria and Bashar. Through obnoxiously loud speakers on generic looking cars, they offered their blood and their souls to Bashar, much to the dismay of many of their compatriots.<BR><BR>An LAU student I spoke to on the evening following the LAU student election that saw the Hariri and!
PSP
(Jumblatt) lists defeat an alliance of Aounists, Amal and Hizbullah, relayed an unsettling picture from his small Beirut campus. He said scores of Amal and Hizbullah students gathered to pledge support to Syria¡Çs Assad, who came third after Allah and Muhammad in their loud Ashoura-style chanting. Their style clearly turned the majority of the students off, driving them to vote for the Mustaqbal and Ishtiraki list.<BR><BR>During my short stay in the country, I would hear statements by Hizbullah MPs and officials that are not different from Bashar¡Çs Thursday <A href="http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/2005/11/bashar-declares-war-on-lebanon.html">speech</A>, even if they didn¡Çt resort to name-calling. Mohammad Raad, on one occasion, accused Mehlis of running his report by the Israeli foreign minister before submitting it to Annan. On Saturday morning, at Beirut¡Çs Rafik Hariri International airport, Naim Qassem could be heard on the small television screens near the departur!
e gate
loudly promising Bashar that Lebanon would not be a passage for conspiracies against Syria.<BR><BR>Any objective and non-sectarian observer would note that Hizbullah¡Çs talk of saving Lebanon from destruction is at odds with their insistence to keep the country in a state of chaos by allowing fringe Palestinian militants to roam freely in the country practicing offensive self-defense and receiving arms through a loose border with Syria. In Hizbullah¡Çs outdated and destructive rhetoric, Lebanon has only one option: war. Lebanon¡Çs enemy is external and Satan-like in its omnipresence. The only way to confront it is through a military fight. All internal problems are swept under the Syrian rug of resistance. In Hizbullah¡Çs world, the concept of dialog is very much like Syrian cooperation: an exercise in time buying until Providence sends an emissary to nuke Satan. Lebanon¡Çs fate, meanwhile, is made to <A
href="http://www.lebaneselobby.org/News__index/news%202005/10%2028%2005%20Nasrallah%20Aligns%20Hizbullah%20with%20Assad%20Regime%20Right%20or%20Wrong.htm">depend</A> on the fate of a dying regime—a death wish.<BR><BR>I used to think that Hizbullah¡Çs participation in the government was a positive development. But Hizbullah has been using it to <A href="http://www.iht.com/getina/files/288801.html">bully</A> the cabinet and obstruct any attempt to refocus policies away from a destructive subservience to Syrian ones. Emile Lahoud might be on his political death bed, but Hizbullah and to some extent Amal, have taken over his obstructionist role. Sadly, Hizbullah¡Çs growing influence never translates into work that could benefit their voters in the south and the Bekaa or even the Shia community as a whole. It is safe to say they are using their new power to obstruct and buy time for the cornered Syrian regime, and for themselves. Siniora even had to <A
href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=19924">postpone</A> the international donor's conference because Hizbullah and Amal still view foreign aid as a form of international hegemony.<BR><BR>Citing an American security official, <A href="http://www.alshiraa.com/alshiraa/index.asp">al-Shiraa</A> reported in its 14 November issue that security officials from Hizbullah and Amal continue to hold regular meetings with their Syrian intelligence counterparts in Damascus to coordinate strategies. Hizbullah is also reportedly providing logistical support to Iranian intelligence officers, who are monitoring ¡Èthe political and security developments¡É in Lebanon from their headquarters at the Iranian embassy. In countries where rule of law and some degree of healthy patriotism prevail, this amounts to treason.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, Islamists continue to pour into the country from Syria, taking up positions in the refugee camps of Ein el-Hel!
weh and
Borj Barajneh and in the north of the country. The word on the street is that it is a matter of time before these groups, funded by Iran and supported by Syria, begin <A href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-13T120017Z_01_KWA339192_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-JORDAN.xml">blowing up</A> hotels and other places in Lebanon. Al-Shiraa mentions the ¡ÈAnsar Allah¡É group, headed by former Fateh official Jamal Suleiman, as one such group that is training militants in al-Sufsaf in Ein el-Helweh and forming cells in other camps in Tyre and Beirut. The Lebanese weekly also reported that the ¡Èal-Da¡Çwa al-Salafiya¡É group headed by ¡ÈAbu Ibrahim¡É is ¡Èholding meetings in Tripoli with a group of Pakistani Salafists.¡É<BR><BR>I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports, but they do seem to confirm that Syria¡Çs plan of attack is nearing the implementation phase. If Hizbullah and Amal continue to buy time for Bashar and his group, the co!
untry
will be plunged into mini conflicts featuring these groups and the Lebanese army. <A href="http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2005/11/interpreting-bashars-speech.html">Judging </A>from Bashar¡Çs speech, the Syrian regime is incapable of realizing that such ploys will neither distract the international community nor pressure the Security Council into abandoning the Hariri investigation. After all, what options does a dying star have except collapse under its own gravity and suck everything around itself? It¡Çs Lebanon¡Çs misfortune to have been left in Syria¡Çs orbit for so long.<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT><B><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=black><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'">UPDATE</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#111111><SPAN style="COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'">. Al-Mustaqbal <A href="http://www.almustaqbal.com/stories.aspx?CategoryID=3&IssueID=962">claims</A> that Aoun,!
who
finally <A href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=20013">broke</A> his silence over the Bashar speech, has been sending his son in law and representative Gibran Bassil to Damascus to discuss destabilizing the Siniora government. The Hariri-owned daily said Bassil was in Damascus just days ago. Aoun, al-Mustaqbal argues, had reached a dead end in his quest to become president and is now taking the "non-democratic" Syrian route via alliances with Hizbullah and pro-Syrian groups to reach Baabda.<BR><BR>Patriarch Sfeir, in a significant move Sunday, <A href="http://www.alqanat.com/news/shownews.asp?id=64489">broke</A> with Aoun by saying that Lahoud has to decide for himself whether ¡Èhis remaining as head of state serves or harms his post.¡É The patriarch added that Christians alone cannot select the president and that a consensus similar to the one that led to the withdrawal of the Syrian army is needed to select a new preside!
nt. (The
Daily Star completely <A href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=20010">missed</A> the significance of Sfeir's comments). With Siniora becoming increasingly popular in Christian circles, even beating Aoun, and the rising popularity of Geagea, I think Sfeir can now more comfortably express his divergence from Aoun's <A href="http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/2005/10/hizbullah-and-aoun-are-playing.html">obsessive</A> policies. </SPAN></FONT></div> <div class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#111111 size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #111111; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'"></SPAN></FONT> </div> <div class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#444444 size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; COLOR: #444444; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'">// posted by </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="MS Mincho" color=#444444 size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE!
: 9.5pt;
COLOR: #444444; FONT-FAMILY: 'MS Mincho'">²¦ÌÀ»Ö</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" color=#444444 size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; COLOR: #444444; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'"> Kais @ <A title="permanent link" href="http://beirutbeltway.blogspot.com/2005/11/can-lebanon-leave-syrias-orbit-updated.html"><FONT color=#935781><SPAN style="COLOR: #935781; TEXT-DECORATION: none">8:55 AM</SPAN></FONT></A></SPAN></FONT></div></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>Lebanon-Articles mailing list<BR>Lebanon-Articles@mit.edu<BR>http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/lebanon-articles<BR></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><BR></DIV><p>
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