Monday, June 28, 2010
In Solidarity with Those Arrested for "Slandering" Jackass Suleiman....
TO PRESIDENT MICHEL SULEIMAN OF LEBANON (SYRIAN)
TO PRIME MINISTER SAAD HARIRI OF LEBANON (SAUDI)
TO SPEAKER NABIH BERRI OF LEBANON (IRANIAN):
YOU ARE ALL COLLABORATORS, DOGS, AGENTS, MERCENARIES, TRAITORS TO THE DICTATORSHIPS IN SYRIA, SAUDI ARABIA, and IRAN.
YOU ALL CONTINUE A LONG LINE OF LEBANESE POLITICIANS AND LEADERS WHO HAVE, OVER AND OVER, BETRAYED YOUR OWN COUNTRY AND YOUR OWN PEOPLE:
SO MY MESSAGE TO YOU IS - IN PLAIN ENGLISH AND LEBANESE:
F U C K Y O U - روحو إنتاكو
Now come and arrest me....
Hanibaal
"Freedom of Speech" in Lebanon? What's That?
In Lebanon, you cannot insult politicians. The law protects the politicians, but not the citizens who vote them to power. That's democracy upside down. That's a dictatorship. That's a police state. That is where Lebanon is آNOT a democracy, where Lebanon is more like the Syria or the Iran of the Middle East, and is definitely NEITHER the Switzerland NOR the Paris of the Middle East. Forgive us Switzerland, and forgive us Paris, for we, the Lebanese, use your names in vain.
Three people were arrested while a search warrant was issued for a fourth person for insulting President Michel Suleiman on Facebook.
Who is this Suleiman, anyway?
Hanibaal
Like Father Like Son: Stupidity of Investing in War-Torn Lebanon
Lebanon's Premier is repeating his father's mistake, thinking he can improve Lebanon's economy with the 500 pound gorilla Hezbollah - armed to the teeth and threatening to turn Lebanon into an Islamic theocracy - holding the entire country hostage to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His father Rafik Hariri believed he could attract foreign investments and turn the Lebanese economy around by refurbishing a few buildings in downtown Beirut. He was a politically ignorant businessman who made his fortunes by constructing buildings for the Saudi royal family during the oil boom years of the 1970s. It does not take a genius to know how to build buildings AND whore oneself to the Saudi royals. The proof is that after he bought his way to political pre-eminence, thanks to Saudi pressures and interference, Rafik Hariri, a newly minted Prime Minister of Lebanon, accepted the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and became a lackey of the Asad dictatorship. He also believed that by cleaning downtown Beirut from the rubble, he would begin Lebanon's recovery. But what he missed is the most basic fact of Business 101: Investments and business like stability and hate insecurity and uncertainty. And low and behold, Rafik Hariri, the idiot pimp of the Saudi royal family, turned billionaire businessman, went from one failure to another between 1991 and 2005, thinking he could bring stability and security under the boots of 40,000 Syrian soldiers. His ultimate failure was to cower like a dog to Bashar Asad and amend the constitution in 2004 to re-elect the Syrian dummy president Emile Lahoud, and still get killed by a Syrian bomb in February 2005 because - after realizing his utter failure and stupidity - he turned to the Americans, and his bosses in Syria killed him in retaliation.
Now his equally imbecile son, Saad, who not only has the genetic makeup of his father but also never earned his own money or his political career thanks to hard work and genius, inheriting instead the billions and the prime ministership because he was once a sperm swimming in his father's right testicle, is committing the same exact mistakes as his father. Like his father he is cavorting to the Asad dictatroship (who killed his father, remember?). He travels to Damascus every other week to receive his orders from Bashar Asad. He defends Hezbollah and its weapons. In line with Syria's instructions, he attacks Israel as the most perfect "enemy" with all the conspiracy ambitions that such an enemy can harbor. Like his father, Saad Hariri is everything to everyone: He says the right things to the Americans, to the Iranians, to Hezbollah, to Syria, to Saudi Arabia. He is with war against the enemy Israel and supports Hezbollah's smuggling of missiles into Lebanon to one day start a new war of devastation, but he also wants peace, development, growth. Like his father, he loves to sit on the fence of every issue, and as such he is a much lesser leader than anyone wants you to believe.
Now Saad want to attract foreign investments to Lebanon (read below). Somehow, it escapes him (out of idiocy) or he chooses to ignore (out of duplicity) that business and economic growth need certainty and security, and Lebanon - under Hezbollah, its warmongering on behalf of Iran, its 40,000 missiles pointing at the nuclear Israel south of the Lebanese border, its Islamic fundamentalism, and its subservience to a Syria that does not fight Israel itself but pushes the Lebanese to fight on its behalf..... - this Lebanon cannot attract investments and cannot develop economically.
So Saad is traveling along the same route that his father took. It might take him another 15 years to come to terms with his untenable proposition of [Hezbollah+Syria+Warmongering = Economic development and foreign investments], turn again to the West and to the US for help, and become the victim of the vengeful Syrian dictator who thought he had Saad under his thumb.
The only thing I pity in all this lack of statesmanship by this idiot who was made to be my Prime Minister because of his genes and his Saudi connection is the Lebanese people. They have to put up with another 15 years of fumbling - while the country is decaying and falling apart - until this idiot wakes up.
Perhaps the Lebanese people themselves should wake up, take to the streets, and demand PEACE. Like Syria, like Jordan, like Egypt, like the West Bank, like every other Arab fucker who is peacefully engaged with Israel with peace treaties, permanent ceasefires, economic ties, etc.. Lebanon is entitled as much as any fucking Arab country to live at peace until a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem is found. Lebanon should not - like Hezbollah and Syria wants it, and like Saad Hariri and Michel Suleiman acquiesce under distress - Lebanon should not be the only Arab country at war with Israel.
That, Mr. Hariri, is the answer to attracting foreign investments to Lebanon. For once, Sunnis of Lebanon, be men. Have balls. Speak the truth from the start. Steer events, instead of reacting and be steered by events, which is usually when it is too late. Basically, be a leader Mr. Hariri, and don't be a dummy in the hands of the Syrians who killed your father. The memory of your pathetic father and his pathetic death should make you think of a different way of doing things, a way that is consistent with the facts and the truths, and not a way that is hypocritical and duplicitous as the Arabs wants you to think and act.
It takes strength and courage to tell the truth. It takes courage to say that Lebanon should step out of the ring of death in which it has been forced by the coward Syrians and Arabs, and now the Iranians. It takes courage to say that Lebanon CANNOT fight Israel alone. It takes courage to say that Lebanon SHOULD NOT fight Israel, period. It takes courage to say: Let the Palestinians fight their own wars of liberation. We will support them morally (if we believe in their cause), but we will not bankrupt and ruin Lebanon to fight a war that no one else wants to fight, not the Syrians, not the Palestinians, not the Egyptians, not the Jordanians... It takes courage to take Lebanon to the place where everyone knows it should be, when no one has the balls to say so, except one man, one giant Lebanese leader, who today lives in exile because the Lebanese government has an arrest warrant against him because he always told the truth and he remained faithful to his principles. That man is the only statesman that Lebanon has today, and because Lebanon is run today by mercenaries and criminals and warlords - all of whom have blood on their hands - that man is the only one they want out of the country and whom they will kill if he stepped in Beirut.
Hanibaal
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Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday said the government is determined to eliminate legal obstacles that get in the way of foreign investments in Lebanon.
He was speaking at a workshop on the issue at the Grand Serail.
“Improvement of the business environment is one of the basic conditions to create job opportunities in our economy,” he said.
Hariri said the ministerial statement includes a strategy for improving business.
“We have drawn up a series of objectives which we are working to achieve by strengthening security and guaranteeing electricity supply,” Hariri said.
Referring to last week’s cabinet approval of a plan to improve the power sector, Hariri said, “We are determined to resolve the legal complications that hinder investment.”
He also underlined the private sector’s role in shoring up Lebanon’s economy, burdened with more than $50 billion in public debt.
“External and internal crises have affected our economic system,” Hariri added. “We are trying to protect this economy by protecting the citizen and the consumer.”
His father Rafik Hariri believed he could attract foreign investments and turn the Lebanese economy around by refurbishing a few buildings in downtown Beirut. He was a politically ignorant businessman who made his fortunes by constructing buildings for the Saudi royal family during the oil boom years of the 1970s. It does not take a genius to know how to build buildings AND whore oneself to the Saudi royals. The proof is that after he bought his way to political pre-eminence, thanks to Saudi pressures and interference, Rafik Hariri, a newly minted Prime Minister of Lebanon, accepted the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and became a lackey of the Asad dictatorship. He also believed that by cleaning downtown Beirut from the rubble, he would begin Lebanon's recovery. But what he missed is the most basic fact of Business 101: Investments and business like stability and hate insecurity and uncertainty. And low and behold, Rafik Hariri, the idiot pimp of the Saudi royal family, turned billionaire businessman, went from one failure to another between 1991 and 2005, thinking he could bring stability and security under the boots of 40,000 Syrian soldiers. His ultimate failure was to cower like a dog to Bashar Asad and amend the constitution in 2004 to re-elect the Syrian dummy president Emile Lahoud, and still get killed by a Syrian bomb in February 2005 because - after realizing his utter failure and stupidity - he turned to the Americans, and his bosses in Syria killed him in retaliation.
Now his equally imbecile son, Saad, who not only has the genetic makeup of his father but also never earned his own money or his political career thanks to hard work and genius, inheriting instead the billions and the prime ministership because he was once a sperm swimming in his father's right testicle, is committing the same exact mistakes as his father. Like his father he is cavorting to the Asad dictatroship (who killed his father, remember?). He travels to Damascus every other week to receive his orders from Bashar Asad. He defends Hezbollah and its weapons. In line with Syria's instructions, he attacks Israel as the most perfect "enemy" with all the conspiracy ambitions that such an enemy can harbor. Like his father, Saad Hariri is everything to everyone: He says the right things to the Americans, to the Iranians, to Hezbollah, to Syria, to Saudi Arabia. He is with war against the enemy Israel and supports Hezbollah's smuggling of missiles into Lebanon to one day start a new war of devastation, but he also wants peace, development, growth. Like his father, he loves to sit on the fence of every issue, and as such he is a much lesser leader than anyone wants you to believe.
Now Saad want to attract foreign investments to Lebanon (read below). Somehow, it escapes him (out of idiocy) or he chooses to ignore (out of duplicity) that business and economic growth need certainty and security, and Lebanon - under Hezbollah, its warmongering on behalf of Iran, its 40,000 missiles pointing at the nuclear Israel south of the Lebanese border, its Islamic fundamentalism, and its subservience to a Syria that does not fight Israel itself but pushes the Lebanese to fight on its behalf..... - this Lebanon cannot attract investments and cannot develop economically.
So Saad is traveling along the same route that his father took. It might take him another 15 years to come to terms with his untenable proposition of [Hezbollah+Syria+Warmongering = Economic development and foreign investments], turn again to the West and to the US for help, and become the victim of the vengeful Syrian dictator who thought he had Saad under his thumb.
The only thing I pity in all this lack of statesmanship by this idiot who was made to be my Prime Minister because of his genes and his Saudi connection is the Lebanese people. They have to put up with another 15 years of fumbling - while the country is decaying and falling apart - until this idiot wakes up.
Perhaps the Lebanese people themselves should wake up, take to the streets, and demand PEACE. Like Syria, like Jordan, like Egypt, like the West Bank, like every other Arab fucker who is peacefully engaged with Israel with peace treaties, permanent ceasefires, economic ties, etc.. Lebanon is entitled as much as any fucking Arab country to live at peace until a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem is found. Lebanon should not - like Hezbollah and Syria wants it, and like Saad Hariri and Michel Suleiman acquiesce under distress - Lebanon should not be the only Arab country at war with Israel.
That, Mr. Hariri, is the answer to attracting foreign investments to Lebanon. For once, Sunnis of Lebanon, be men. Have balls. Speak the truth from the start. Steer events, instead of reacting and be steered by events, which is usually when it is too late. Basically, be a leader Mr. Hariri, and don't be a dummy in the hands of the Syrians who killed your father. The memory of your pathetic father and his pathetic death should make you think of a different way of doing things, a way that is consistent with the facts and the truths, and not a way that is hypocritical and duplicitous as the Arabs wants you to think and act.
It takes strength and courage to tell the truth. It takes courage to say that Lebanon should step out of the ring of death in which it has been forced by the coward Syrians and Arabs, and now the Iranians. It takes courage to say that Lebanon CANNOT fight Israel alone. It takes courage to say that Lebanon SHOULD NOT fight Israel, period. It takes courage to say: Let the Palestinians fight their own wars of liberation. We will support them morally (if we believe in their cause), but we will not bankrupt and ruin Lebanon to fight a war that no one else wants to fight, not the Syrians, not the Palestinians, not the Egyptians, not the Jordanians... It takes courage to take Lebanon to the place where everyone knows it should be, when no one has the balls to say so, except one man, one giant Lebanese leader, who today lives in exile because the Lebanese government has an arrest warrant against him because he always told the truth and he remained faithful to his principles. That man is the only statesman that Lebanon has today, and because Lebanon is run today by mercenaries and criminals and warlords - all of whom have blood on their hands - that man is the only one they want out of the country and whom they will kill if he stepped in Beirut.
Hanibaal
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday said the government is determined to eliminate legal obstacles that get in the way of foreign investments in Lebanon.
He was speaking at a workshop on the issue at the Grand Serail.
“Improvement of the business environment is one of the basic conditions to create job opportunities in our economy,” he said.
Hariri said the ministerial statement includes a strategy for improving business.
“We have drawn up a series of objectives which we are working to achieve by strengthening security and guaranteeing electricity supply,” Hariri said.
Referring to last week’s cabinet approval of a plan to improve the power sector, Hariri said, “We are determined to resolve the legal complications that hinder investment.”
He also underlined the private sector’s role in shoring up Lebanon’s economy, burdened with more than $50 billion in public debt.
“External and internal crises have affected our economic system,” Hariri added. “We are trying to protect this economy by protecting the citizen and the consumer.”
Sunday, June 27, 2010
More Saints in the Most Corrupt Country in the World
Isn't it odd that Lebanon's only successful industry is the production of saints, in this one of the most corrupt countries on earth, that has been at war for 50 years, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, maimed, and kidnapped, where some of the most notorious terrorist organizations operate freely, and one of the most racist people on earth?
Just contrast Lebanon with any of the countries that have no corruption, that are as peaceful as a dove, where the top priority of government and people alike is to protect basic human rights and protect the environment, and where everyone is respected and honored regardless of the color of their skin or their religion.... and you'll find that such countries have not produced a saint in hundreds of years.
So mathematically, there is a direct relationship between "primitiveness" and "saints production": The more primitive a country is (like Lebanon), the greater the production of saints. It makes sense - the more people live in a primitive, uunpredictable, dangerous, corrupt "jungle-like" environment (like Lebanon), the more they rely on supernatural stupid beliefs in God and Saints that are going to help them. Conversely, the mathematical relationship can be re-phrased as an inverse relationship between how advanced and rational is a country and the degree of its religiosity. The greater the degree of rationality (the use of reason instead of religion) in the conduct of the state's and citizens' affairs (meaning, respect for people, for human rights, for the laws, for the environment, etc.), the less the religiosity and the production of saints.
So, my fellow Lebanese who believe in God, Jesus, Mohammad, Maroun, Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb, the Mahdi, the Vatican, Hassan Nasrallah, Patriarch Sfeir, Michel Aoun, and other members of the Lebanese pantheon of religious and political heroes.... the maths applies to you: As long as you rely on God and his cohorts of sons, virgins, prophets, saints, mullahs, priests, nuns, sheikhs, generals, bayks, Effendis, and other charlatans, magicians, and black voodoo shamans, your lives will not improve. You will continue to live in a state of decay, corruption, wars (of resistance and occupation), backwardness, and miserable lives. The moment you start using your reason and relying on it to save yourselves and rescue your country, to fight for your rights to a decent life in this world (not the hereafter), you will truly be liberated.
Hanibaal
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Pope Benedict XVI’s representative, Archbishop Angelo Amato, declared the beatification of Venerable Estephan Nehmeh in Kfifan in northern Lebanon on Sunday at a ceremony attended by President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, cabinet members, MPs and a large crowd, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
This comes after the Pope and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints decided to beatify Nehmeh earlier in March.
Reading the Pope’s message during the ceremony, Amato said Nehmeh’s beatification will be celebrated every year on August 30, “the day he was born in the sky.”
However, a minor incident marred the otherwise happy occasion. As the ceremony was concluded, the mayor of Kfifan brandished his gun and shot Archnishop Amato in the butt, shouting "We want more saints, we want more saints. The Vatican is denying the sainthood of Sulayman Frangiyeh and Michel Aoun. We will continue to protest until they are both beatified." Amato was treated for minor scratches to his butt which was protected by divine intervention as his thick gold-laced tunic took the brunt of the bullet. The mayor was arrested by the police but was later released on bail pending a psychiatric evaluation. The Vatican declined to press charges and asked the Lebanese to refrain from submitting more requests for beatification and sainthood because the backlog of Lebanese saints application has skyrocketed and there are not enough Vatican experts to process the claims.
Just contrast Lebanon with any of the countries that have no corruption, that are as peaceful as a dove, where the top priority of government and people alike is to protect basic human rights and protect the environment, and where everyone is respected and honored regardless of the color of their skin or their religion.... and you'll find that such countries have not produced a saint in hundreds of years.
So mathematically, there is a direct relationship between "primitiveness" and "saints production": The more primitive a country is (like Lebanon), the greater the production of saints. It makes sense - the more people live in a primitive, uunpredictable, dangerous, corrupt "jungle-like" environment (like Lebanon), the more they rely on supernatural stupid beliefs in God and Saints that are going to help them. Conversely, the mathematical relationship can be re-phrased as an inverse relationship between how advanced and rational is a country and the degree of its religiosity. The greater the degree of rationality (the use of reason instead of religion) in the conduct of the state's and citizens' affairs (meaning, respect for people, for human rights, for the laws, for the environment, etc.), the less the religiosity and the production of saints.
So, my fellow Lebanese who believe in God, Jesus, Mohammad, Maroun, Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb, the Mahdi, the Vatican, Hassan Nasrallah, Patriarch Sfeir, Michel Aoun, and other members of the Lebanese pantheon of religious and political heroes.... the maths applies to you: As long as you rely on God and his cohorts of sons, virgins, prophets, saints, mullahs, priests, nuns, sheikhs, generals, bayks, Effendis, and other charlatans, magicians, and black voodoo shamans, your lives will not improve. You will continue to live in a state of decay, corruption, wars (of resistance and occupation), backwardness, and miserable lives. The moment you start using your reason and relying on it to save yourselves and rescue your country, to fight for your rights to a decent life in this world (not the hereafter), you will truly be liberated.
Hanibaal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pope Benedict XVI’s representative, Archbishop Angelo Amato, declared the beatification of Venerable Estephan Nehmeh in Kfifan in northern Lebanon on Sunday at a ceremony attended by President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, cabinet members, MPs and a large crowd, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
This comes after the Pope and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints decided to beatify Nehmeh earlier in March.
Reading the Pope’s message during the ceremony, Amato said Nehmeh’s beatification will be celebrated every year on August 30, “the day he was born in the sky.”
However, a minor incident marred the otherwise happy occasion. As the ceremony was concluded, the mayor of Kfifan brandished his gun and shot Archnishop Amato in the butt, shouting "We want more saints, we want more saints. The Vatican is denying the sainthood of Sulayman Frangiyeh and Michel Aoun. We will continue to protest until they are both beatified." Amato was treated for minor scratches to his butt which was protected by divine intervention as his thick gold-laced tunic took the brunt of the bullet. The mayor was arrested by the police but was later released on bail pending a psychiatric evaluation. The Vatican declined to press charges and asked the Lebanese to refrain from submitting more requests for beatification and sainthood because the backlog of Lebanese saints application has skyrocketed and there are not enough Vatican experts to process the claims.
Friday, June 25, 2010
To Hassan Ezzedine and Nawwaf Moussawi: I Criticize Hezbollah For Free
Hassan Ezzedine and Nawwaf Moussawi - both Hezbollah jerks who are paid by Iran to criticize the US and Israel - are complaining that the US is paying 500 million dollars to bribe Lebanese into criticizing Hezbollah. Now, these people have learned from that idiot Ahmadinejad to put a smirk on their stupid faces and make stupid statements like him - remember his Columbia University statement, "We have no homosexuals in Iran"?
Well, Hassan and Nawwaf, you'd better shut up and go fuck your own mothers (veiled, of course, so you don't have to see their ugly inbred faces and lose your appetites) to make more inbred Shiites like you - you are "أولاد المتعة" - the bastard children of fornication (I am no Sunni, but that is how Sunnis refer to Shiites). Here is news for you: I have always criticized, and will always criticize, Hezbollah as primitive simian inbred organization of hoodlums and hooligans parading themselves like degenerate Nazis bent on killing every Jew and Christian and getting paid by Iran to do just that - kill anything that is not Shiite fucking Muslim, and I do all this for FREE. I never received a licked stamp from the US Embassy in Awkar, and I don't need the money of the Americans to say the truth. I have my tomato patch, my maskabit baqdounis and na3na3, and I make my own beer and arak.... and I don;t need anything else, other than a connection to the Internet to keep bashing Hezbollah and every other fucking retarded imbecile Muslim and his Mohammad and his Ali and Aisha and Fatima... the whole bunch.
Not one penny, not one piaster, not one قرش, not only ليرة .... But you, you get paid by Iran to bash Lebanon, bash the US, bash Israel, and bash the Lebanese who are not afraid of you. So go fuck yourselves and your mothers and sisters.... If I have to choose between you and the Americans, I'd choose the Americans, even though some of them are just like you, numskull inbred cretins who think they are God's own fart on earth.... See, I am free to criticize whoever I want, when I want, and for no reason at all.... That's my freedom that I cherish, along, of course, with my boyfriend, my tomato patch, the masqabit baqdounis and na3na3, and the karake I make Araq and beer with....
Hanibaalé
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Well, Hassan and Nawwaf, you'd better shut up and go fuck your own mothers (veiled, of course, so you don't have to see their ugly inbred faces and lose your appetites) to make more inbred Shiites like you - you are "أولاد المتعة" - the bastard children of fornication (I am no Sunni, but that is how Sunnis refer to Shiites). Here is news for you: I have always criticized, and will always criticize, Hezbollah as primitive simian inbred organization of hoodlums and hooligans parading themselves like degenerate Nazis bent on killing every Jew and Christian and getting paid by Iran to do just that - kill anything that is not Shiite fucking Muslim, and I do all this for FREE. I never received a licked stamp from the US Embassy in Awkar, and I don't need the money of the Americans to say the truth. I have my tomato patch, my maskabit baqdounis and na3na3, and I make my own beer and arak.... and I don;t need anything else, other than a connection to the Internet to keep bashing Hezbollah and every other fucking retarded imbecile Muslim and his Mohammad and his Ali and Aisha and Fatima... the whole bunch.
Not one penny, not one piaster, not one قرش, not only ليرة .... But you, you get paid by Iran to bash Lebanon, bash the US, bash Israel, and bash the Lebanese who are not afraid of you. So go fuck yourselves and your mothers and sisters.... If I have to choose between you and the Americans, I'd choose the Americans, even though some of them are just like you, numskull inbred cretins who think they are God's own fart on earth.... See, I am free to criticize whoever I want, when I want, and for no reason at all.... That's my freedom that I cherish, along, of course, with my boyfriend, my tomato patch, the masqabit baqdounis and na3na3, and the karake I make Araq and beer with....
Hanibaalé
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BEIRUT, June 25 (Xinhua) -- An officer of the Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah on Friday denounced what he called "the U.S. Embassy's flagrant interference" in Lebanon's internal affairs.
The comment of Hezbollah Arab Relations Officer Hassan Ezzeddine came in reference to the claims of Hezbollah member Nawwaf Moussawi earlier in the week that the United States and its Arab allies have spent 500 million U.S. dollars to bribe Lebanese into criticizing Hezbollah.
"The aim of the 500 million U.S. dollars, which has been spent on institutions and figures, is to tarnish Hezbollah's image and twist facts," Ezzeddine said.
"This interference threatens the unity of the Lebanese and their political stability and security," he added.
Moussawi has recently called on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon to provide a list of the parties and figures who have received funds from the U.S. administration for political use.
However, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson issued a statement which called Moussawi's allegations baseless, Lebanese OTV reported on Monday.
U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Officer Ryan Gliha on Thursday expanded the details of U.S. aid to Lebanon, saying that "part of the aid went to the International Bank to cover some of Lebanon's debt there, and the other part went to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and all of these details are available on the Internet."
The comment of Hezbollah Arab Relations Officer Hassan Ezzeddine came in reference to the claims of Hezbollah member Nawwaf Moussawi earlier in the week that the United States and its Arab allies have spent 500 million U.S. dollars to bribe Lebanese into criticizing Hezbollah.
"The aim of the 500 million U.S. dollars, which has been spent on institutions and figures, is to tarnish Hezbollah's image and twist facts," Ezzeddine said.
"This interference threatens the unity of the Lebanese and their political stability and security," he added.
Moussawi has recently called on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon to provide a list of the parties and figures who have received funds from the U.S. administration for political use.
However, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson issued a statement which called Moussawi's allegations baseless, Lebanese OTV reported on Monday.
U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Officer Ryan Gliha on Thursday expanded the details of U.S. aid to Lebanon, saying that "part of the aid went to the International Bank to cover some of Lebanon's debt there, and the other part went to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and all of these details are available on the Internet."
Tourist Actvities in Lebanon: Reality TERRO-TOURISM"
Beirut - June 25, 2010
Lebanon Iznogood
Would you like to feel the thrill of flying into Beirut Airport, be kidnapped and chained in a dingy basement for a couple of days, then wrapped in Saran-Wrap and taped to the belly of a car and driven through Beirut's smoky polluted traffic? Or experience the high adrenaline rush of walking into a street gunfight between Israelis and Hezbollah fighters, feel a gut-wrenching supersonic boom from a low-flying jet and the bombing of a building on the street you just happen to be walking by? Or be taken hostage and driven to the Greco-Roman city of Baalbeck (now Hezbollah's headquarters) and be entangled in an international intrigue between Syrian intelligence, the Israeli Mossad, German negotiators, and US diplomatic acrobatics, then be "released" in Damascus into the hands of Syrian Intelligence and be congratulated by US embassy and State Department officials and be interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN? Or, since Lebanon is a very liberal country like Switzerland and Holland, you can arrange for your own death under such exciting conditions - a form of Reality Assisted Suicide. It definitely beats dying in a bed with a shot of phenobarbital like a loser.
Any of those scenarios and more can be arranged by one Hassan Labloub, a Lebanese Shiite from the southern suburbs of Beirut and a Hezbollah supporter who is on a mission to promote homegrown Lebanese tourism. Eco-tourism has not taken root in Lebanon, because the country is unsafe and is constantly at war, the forests are gone because of quarries and deforestation, the beaches have all been taken by private developers in cahoots with government officials and are inaccessible to ordinary people. So, Hezbollah is on a campaign to promote tourism for modest income foreigners - who must also sympathize with Hezbollah's Islamic liberation theology and have a basic hatred of Jews and Christians - which is a uniquely Lebanese form of tourism: "TERRO-TOURISM". This consists in experiencing the thrills of what the Lebanese have been living with for decades: Wars, street battles, refugee camps massacres, kidnappings, assassinations, bombings, insecurity, all of which by actors of an international caliber: Iranians, Israelis, Syrians, Americans, Palestinians, Europeans, UN, and of course, the very hospitable hosts, the Lebanese themselves. With tours ranging between $2,000 (a simple kidnapping at Beirut Airport, followed by a drive down the Southern suburbs with Hezbollah fighters, then a release in front of the cameras) and $10,000 (the whole kaboodle described above), Hezbollah hopes to encourage terro-tourism as a homegrown form of tourism and raise funds to continue its struggle for the liberation of non-existent occupied lands in southern Lebanon.
In order to make the prospects of the business more appealing to non-Muslim tourists, Hassan Labloub's partner in this enterprise is a member of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, Danny Aoun, a distant relative of General Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM and a political partner and ally of Hassan Nasrallah. This ensures some religious and sectarian balance in the business and encourage foreigners from all walks of life to come to Beirut and enjoy the excitement of life in the war-torn country. Jews are welcome as well, as long as they formally renounce any allegiance and sympathy to Israel upon arrival at Beirut Airport (a simple form to fill out) which is controlled by Hezbollah and by the pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian, anti-American General Security Services.
For further information, please contact the Hezbollah representative at any Iranian embassy or Consular offices. For those Americans in the US, they should contact the offices of Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) who worked very closely with General Michel Aoun and is believed to have maintained ties with him. Congressman Engel's office staff will happily refer you to the appropriate contacts in Beirut.
Hanibaal
P.S. The following are examples of thrilling conditions currently existing in Lebanon. Make sure to protect your personal valuables (money, missiles, bombs, etc.) since a wave of weapons and missile thefts is currently sweeping Lebanon.
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Fundamentalists steal missiles from South Lebanon - June 25, 2010
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyassah that factions belonging to fundamentalist organizations acquired rockets from an arms depot in South Lebanon. However, he did not say to whom he was referring.
The missiles were stolen from the storehouse by an unidentified third party and sold to the fundamentalists, the source added.
“A clash broke out between the thieves and guards [of the arms depot], resulting in the injury of three watchmen,” he said, adding the stolen merchandise may soon be used to launch an attack against Israel.
----------------------------------------------
New Unidentified Missiles in Southern Lebanon, Report - June 25, 2010
Kuwait's Assiyassah on Friday said members belonging to radical organizations have obtained several rockets through a third party which managed to rob an arms warehouse in southern Lebanon and steal a number of rockets.
It said fierce clashes broke out between the robbers and the warehouse guards that left three guards wounded.
The injured men were taken to a hospital in south Lebanon that belongs to one of the parties amid total media blackout.
Assiyassah said these missiles are likely to be used soon against Israeli territory.
Kuwait's Assiyassah on Friday said members belonging to radical organizations have obtained several rockets through a third party which managed to rob an arms warehouse in southern Lebanon and steal a number of rockets.
It said fierce clashes broke out between the robbers and the warehouse guards that left three guards wounded.
The injured men were taken to a hospital in south Lebanon that belongs to one of the parties amid total media blackout.
Assiyassah said these missiles are likely to be used soon against Israeli territory.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Report: Islamists Mounting Attacks on Christians in Sidon - June 25, 2010
The Lebanese government has ordered its security forces to prepare for a crackdown against Islamist insurgents who have targeted the Christian community in the south, the World Tribune newspaper reported.
It quoted officials as saying that the government has ordered the military and security forces to conduct a sweep through the Sidon region where Christians have come under steady attack from Islamists believed aligned with the al-Qaida terror network.
Several bombings around Sidon in the past two years have been traced to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, the World Tribune said.
The camp is said to have a significant presence of al-Qaida supporters, it added.
The Lebanese government has ordered its security forces to prepare for a crackdown against Islamist insurgents who have targeted the Christian community in the south, the World Tribune newspaper reported.
It quoted officials as saying that the government has ordered the military and security forces to conduct a sweep through the Sidon region where Christians have come under steady attack from Islamists believed aligned with the al-Qaida terror network.
Several bombings around Sidon in the past two years have been traced to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, the World Tribune said.
The camp is said to have a significant presence of al-Qaida supporters, it added.
-------------------------------------------------------
Armed Clash in Beirut Southern Suburbs - June 25, 2010
A dispute in Beirut's southern suburbs at midnight developed into a gunbattle between Moussawi and Rabbah family members from one side and men from the Dandash family on the other.
H.R. opened fire on Y.D. and Aa.Mo. threatened to use a hand grenade and toss it although no one was hurt in the clash in al-Barakat neighborhood in Mreijeh, the National News Agency said
Voice of Lebanon radio said no arrests were made in the dispute, which was caused by previous differences between the family members.
A dispute in Beirut's southern suburbs at midnight developed into a gunbattle between Moussawi and Rabbah family members from one side and men from the Dandash family on the other.
H.R. opened fire on Y.D. and Aa.Mo. threatened to use a hand grenade and toss it although no one was hurt in the clash in al-Barakat neighborhood in Mreijeh, the National News Agency said
Voice of Lebanon radio said no arrests were made in the dispute, which was caused by previous differences between the family members.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Testimonial on Lebanese Racism
I doubt very much that Mr. Ahmed Moor would want really to return to Palestine as he claims (see further down in his article) - in fact, why doesn't he go there now? - Like many wide-eyed immigrants or descendants of immigrants to the new world, they wax nostalgic about returning to the old country, not realizing that, in the course of their adjustment or acculturation to the new countries, they lost the genetic association with the old country. And like Mr. Moor who romanticizes his return to the Arab world, they realize and discover that the homeland sucks as much as the new country when it comes to navigating entrenched social mores and prejudices, let alone the abject lack of infrastructure... Welcome to the new old world, Mr. Moor. And thank you for bringing up the racism of my people, the Lebanese...
Hanibaal
---------------------------------
Ahmed Moor
Guardian.co.uk
Thursday 24 June 2010 09.30 BST
I moved to Beirut from New York nine months ago and began looking for an apartment. After 10 continuous years in America, I wanted to return to the Arab world – and returning to my family's roots in Palestine wasn't an option.
I knew that in Beirut, I likely wasn't going to be renting from a faceless, impersonal property company; real people mostly own the real estate here – and often, they are interested in knowing their tenants personally. That's how I learned, to my dismay, that being a Palestinian in Beirut is mostly a liability; anti-Palestinian racism is a fact of life here.
During my second month in Lebanon, I responded to an ad for an apartment in East Beirut, which is now predominantly a Christian district. The building owner called me and we arranged a viewing. The apartment seemed fine, and on my way out, the owner invited me into his apartment on the first floor of the building for a coffee.
The coffee turned out to be an interview – or rather, an interrogation. It began with a series of inquisitive but reasonable questions. Why did my family leave Palestine? What was my business in Lebanon? Why didn't I go back to Palestine? Why didn't I go back to America?
But from there, it became aggressively adversarial. The man suggested my father had behaved in a cowardly fashion by leaving Palestine – or that he left for love of money. I was shocked, and only said that it was clear that the man resented Palestinians. Needless to say, he didn't want to rent the apartment to me and I didn't want to rent it from him.
But my experience here in Lebanon has been a privileged one. I have the luxury of looking for an apartment in East Beirut – and I can afford the rent. Furthermore, I'm an American citizen, which makes life immeasurably easier. The vast majority of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees (10% of the population in Lebanon) who were born and raised in Lebanon do not have anything approaching the privilege I do. Today, Lebanon is the most hostile country to Palestinian refugees after Israel. They are second-class citizens here, but they are not the only ones.
Foreign guest workers also have a notoriously hard time in Lebanese society. Racism is so widespread that African and Asian guest workers are openly barred from attending the beaches where Lebanese people frolic. And that's saying nothing of the often inhumane working conditions they are subjected to on a daily basis.
There is an anti-Syrian current, as well. I remember encountering a barking dog while hiking somewhere in the northern part of the country. The owner rushed up and quieted the animal, remarking to me: "See how quickly he calmed down when I told him you're not Syrian."
The difference, of course, is that the Syrians, Ethiopians, Filipinos and others have consular support and countries to return to (although that is a serious problem for many guest workers, who are functionally indentured servants). The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have no such recourse.
Lebanese hostility to the Palestinian refugees is far from uniform. But it's explosive and dangerous where it exists. For instance, the Lebanese Forces militia massacred up to 2,500 Palestinian refugees and others in the Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982 in coordination with the Israeli army. In the 1980s, the Amal militia besieged the camps, killing hundreds and starving thousands. More recently, the Lebanese army bombarded the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north of the country in an attempt to root out terrorists unaffiliated to the camp.
The Arab world is rife with hypocrisy when it comes to the Palestinian issue. Arab leaders frequently and rightly cite the chronic human rights violations in which Israel engages, but fail to address the marginalisation of Palestinians within their own societies. Historically, Lebanese citizens have declared that naturalising Palestinians will act as a disincentive to their eventual repatriation and the exercise of their inviolable right of return. But this is a specious and cynical misrepresentation of the issue.
First, many diaspora Palestinians who have been naturalised in foreign countries, including myself, still seek to return to Palestine. Second, an individual ought to have the right to lead a complete and fulfilling life in his/her country of birth, irrespective of national or racial identity; it is not up to the Arab leaders to safeguard the Palestinian right of return against the prospect of a meaningful life lived outside Palestine.
More plausibly, Lebanon's miserable record regarding the human rights of Palestinian refugees (and others) is a result of the country's sectarian structure. Lebanon has never been a cohesive political entity and remains divided by sectarian allegiances. Most Lebanese citizens are members of one of three communities: the Sunni community, the Shia community and the Christian community (each of which is further subdivided into competing forces). The country is less divided today than it was in 1991, in the aftermath of the 15-year-long civil war, but it remains fractured.
In this context, it matters that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are mostly Sunni Muslims. There is a fear that if Palestinians are integrated, they will upset the delicate confessional balance that prevails here. It is therefore difficult to see how Lebanon will undertake to improve the lives of the refugees before the Lebanese solve their own sectarian problems.
There has been some official movement on the issue, however. The current prime minister, Saad Hariri, recently remarked that "we included the ministerial statement with an article related to the Palestinians that guarantees their human and public rights".
Major parliamentary leaders, like Walid Jumblatt and Nabih Berri, favour extending civil rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, but their efforts are being stalled by others like National Liberal party leader, Dori Chamoun. At the end of parliamentary proceedings on the issue last week, Chamoun said: "We hold on to Lebanon first and foremost and not onto the Palestinian cause at the expense of the Lebanese cause, and the Christians speak one language in this regard."
But the issue is far from deadlocked. Elias Muhanna, a prominent blogger, writes that "several analysts are very optimistic that the law will be passed when it comes up again, thereby rolling back several decades' worth of institutionalised discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon."
Hanibaal
---------------------------------
Ahmed Moor
Guardian.co.uk
Thursday 24 June 2010 09.30 BST
I moved to Beirut from New York nine months ago and began looking for an apartment. After 10 continuous years in America, I wanted to return to the Arab world – and returning to my family's roots in Palestine wasn't an option.
I knew that in Beirut, I likely wasn't going to be renting from a faceless, impersonal property company; real people mostly own the real estate here – and often, they are interested in knowing their tenants personally. That's how I learned, to my dismay, that being a Palestinian in Beirut is mostly a liability; anti-Palestinian racism is a fact of life here.
During my second month in Lebanon, I responded to an ad for an apartment in East Beirut, which is now predominantly a Christian district. The building owner called me and we arranged a viewing. The apartment seemed fine, and on my way out, the owner invited me into his apartment on the first floor of the building for a coffee.
The coffee turned out to be an interview – or rather, an interrogation. It began with a series of inquisitive but reasonable questions. Why did my family leave Palestine? What was my business in Lebanon? Why didn't I go back to Palestine? Why didn't I go back to America?
But from there, it became aggressively adversarial. The man suggested my father had behaved in a cowardly fashion by leaving Palestine – or that he left for love of money. I was shocked, and only said that it was clear that the man resented Palestinians. Needless to say, he didn't want to rent the apartment to me and I didn't want to rent it from him.
But my experience here in Lebanon has been a privileged one. I have the luxury of looking for an apartment in East Beirut – and I can afford the rent. Furthermore, I'm an American citizen, which makes life immeasurably easier. The vast majority of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees (10% of the population in Lebanon) who were born and raised in Lebanon do not have anything approaching the privilege I do. Today, Lebanon is the most hostile country to Palestinian refugees after Israel. They are second-class citizens here, but they are not the only ones.
Foreign guest workers also have a notoriously hard time in Lebanese society. Racism is so widespread that African and Asian guest workers are openly barred from attending the beaches where Lebanese people frolic. And that's saying nothing of the often inhumane working conditions they are subjected to on a daily basis.
There is an anti-Syrian current, as well. I remember encountering a barking dog while hiking somewhere in the northern part of the country. The owner rushed up and quieted the animal, remarking to me: "See how quickly he calmed down when I told him you're not Syrian."
The difference, of course, is that the Syrians, Ethiopians, Filipinos and others have consular support and countries to return to (although that is a serious problem for many guest workers, who are functionally indentured servants). The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have no such recourse.
Lebanese hostility to the Palestinian refugees is far from uniform. But it's explosive and dangerous where it exists. For instance, the Lebanese Forces militia massacred up to 2,500 Palestinian refugees and others in the Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982 in coordination with the Israeli army. In the 1980s, the Amal militia besieged the camps, killing hundreds and starving thousands. More recently, the Lebanese army bombarded the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north of the country in an attempt to root out terrorists unaffiliated to the camp.
The Arab world is rife with hypocrisy when it comes to the Palestinian issue. Arab leaders frequently and rightly cite the chronic human rights violations in which Israel engages, but fail to address the marginalisation of Palestinians within their own societies. Historically, Lebanese citizens have declared that naturalising Palestinians will act as a disincentive to their eventual repatriation and the exercise of their inviolable right of return. But this is a specious and cynical misrepresentation of the issue.
First, many diaspora Palestinians who have been naturalised in foreign countries, including myself, still seek to return to Palestine. Second, an individual ought to have the right to lead a complete and fulfilling life in his/her country of birth, irrespective of national or racial identity; it is not up to the Arab leaders to safeguard the Palestinian right of return against the prospect of a meaningful life lived outside Palestine.
More plausibly, Lebanon's miserable record regarding the human rights of Palestinian refugees (and others) is a result of the country's sectarian structure. Lebanon has never been a cohesive political entity and remains divided by sectarian allegiances. Most Lebanese citizens are members of one of three communities: the Sunni community, the Shia community and the Christian community (each of which is further subdivided into competing forces). The country is less divided today than it was in 1991, in the aftermath of the 15-year-long civil war, but it remains fractured.
In this context, it matters that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are mostly Sunni Muslims. There is a fear that if Palestinians are integrated, they will upset the delicate confessional balance that prevails here. It is therefore difficult to see how Lebanon will undertake to improve the lives of the refugees before the Lebanese solve their own sectarian problems.
There has been some official movement on the issue, however. The current prime minister, Saad Hariri, recently remarked that "we included the ministerial statement with an article related to the Palestinians that guarantees their human and public rights".
Major parliamentary leaders, like Walid Jumblatt and Nabih Berri, favour extending civil rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, but their efforts are being stalled by others like National Liberal party leader, Dori Chamoun. At the end of parliamentary proceedings on the issue last week, Chamoun said: "We hold on to Lebanon first and foremost and not onto the Palestinian cause at the expense of the Lebanese cause, and the Christians speak one language in this regard."
But the issue is far from deadlocked. Elias Muhanna, a prominent blogger, writes that "several analysts are very optimistic that the law will be passed when it comes up again, thereby rolling back several decades' worth of institutionalised discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon."
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lebanese are Equal Opportunity Racists-Black Sudanese Arab Brothers Abused
The Lebanese are universal, equal opportunity, racists with a good dose of inferiority complex towards Europeans. If you're Arab, you are beneath the Lebanese. If you are black, you are totally uncool - in fact, the Lebanese word for "Africans" or "Blacks" in the Lebanese jargon is still "slaves" (عبيد). In denigrating songs, the Lebanese refer to blacks as "eggplants". If you are Asian, you are "monkeys".
A Lebanese friend of mine who lives in the US once brought his Asian-American girlfriend to Beirut to introduce her to his family in anticipation of marrying her. His mother broke out in anger, saying to her son: "You can't marry her, your children will look like monkeys!". A Lebanese would look down condescendingly and with utter disgust at an Indian, Pakistani, or Sri Lankan PhD in nuclear physics, but would be drooling before a French taxi driver or an American garbage collector (as long as they have blue eyes and blond hair). Anything else is less than human. Of course, the Lebanese themselves are God's gift to Earth, according to them, of course.
Now you know the mindset of the Lebanese who - all 3 million of them - employ 300,000 maids (yes, 10% of the population consists of foreign maids) from "dark" or "Asian" countries. Now you understand why hundreds of those maids commit suicide every year in Lebanon from abuse and inhumane treatment.
Hanibaal
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanese Security Services Racially Abuse Fellow "Arab" Sudanese.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has postponed an apology to Sudan pending completion of the investigation into the "racial" abuse of Sudanese citizens by Security Service men in Lebanon, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has postponed an apology to Sudan pending completion of the investigation into the "racial" abuse of Sudanese citizens by Security Service men in Lebanon, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
Lebanon's ambassador to Sudan, Ahmed Shammat, said a group of Sudanese students staged a demonstration on Wednesday to protest against the attack on Sudanese workers in Ouzai.
He said the demonstrators handed him a note, demanding "impartial investigation" into the assault, "punishment" to those involved and a formal apology to the Sudanese people.
Shammat, in remarks to al-Jadid TV, expressed displeasure with protestors who scratched the Lebanese flag in red.
Asharq al-Awsat said the crisis was triggered earlier this week when Lebanese security men stormed a Sudanese-sponsored charity party in the Ouzai region of Beirut, beating up activists and insulting them because of the color of their skin.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
LEBANON ADVANCES INTO THE 19th CENTURY: 24/7 ELECTRICITY
The very advanced country of Lebanon, the "only democracy in the Middle East", the Switzerland of the Middle East, whose capital Beirut is the "Paris of the Middle East", is finally making a giant leap into the 19th century, thanks to the Industrial Revolution and the discovery of the electric bulb by Thomas Edison. The Lebanese will finally use electricity, which is nothing short of revolutionary considering that their neighbors still rely on dried camel shit to fuel their energy needs. Again, the Lebanese are proving that, despite their corruption and primitive social-political-religious society, they can be at the forefront of major technology developments.
After the advent of electricity in the country in 2015, the next step, according to Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, is to install three experimental traffic lights in downtown Beirut to test whether the Lebanese, who only recently replaced their donkeys with cars, can learn to distinguish red from green and be trained to stop on red and go on green. Once the Lebanese people pass this test, other traffic and modern life implements will be added, such as sidewalks for pedestrians, garbage collection, pedestrian crossings, organized parking, and a general respect for laws and regulations... These steps are expected to be implemented, still according to Minister Jebran Bassil, no later than2099, in time to celebrate the new century, at which time Lebanon will move into the 20th century, a mere 200 years behind everyone else. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah Cro-Magnon in Chief, and his Neanderthal psychotic poodle Michel Aoun, have both pledged to shave their heads and beards as soon as the first light bulb lights up above their heads in 2015. But Nasrallah, who lives in hiding in a rathole cave, quickly adds, "as long as the Israelis, Allah forgive them, don't kill me before then."
Hanibaal
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanese to Enjoy 24/7 Electricity Supply in 4 Years
Lebanese will finally enjoy round-the-clock power supply in 2015 after Cabinet approved a plan put forward by Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil.
Cabinet on Monday unanimously approved the comprehensive electricity sector reform plan, which is made up of 10 interrelated initiatives that cover the three basic axes of the sector: infrastructure, resources and legal frameworks.
"Bassil's plan includes initiatives related to the electricity infrastructure and the sources of alternative energy as well as the implementation programs and the financing channels," Information Minister Tareq Mitri told reporters after Cabinet's extraordinary session.
Mitri said Cabinet agreed that Bassil would provide a report every six months about the accomplishments made.
Bassil estimated the amounts allocated in the implementation plan at about $1.5 billion.
The plan gives priority to the types of energy which is the least harmful to the environment, depending mainly on gas and renewable energy.
The blueprint also ensures a tariff restructuring that will lead to gradual balance in the Electricite du Liban budget as an urgent necessity to add revenue to the state treasury and reduce financial burden on both the economy and consumers by eliminating the need for generators as part of 24-hour service.
The plan foresees a solid flow of power supply of more than 4,000 Megawatts in 2014 and 5,000 megawatts after 2015, in addition to a safe and reliable transmission network
After the advent of electricity in the country in 2015, the next step, according to Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, is to install three experimental traffic lights in downtown Beirut to test whether the Lebanese, who only recently replaced their donkeys with cars, can learn to distinguish red from green and be trained to stop on red and go on green. Once the Lebanese people pass this test, other traffic and modern life implements will be added, such as sidewalks for pedestrians, garbage collection, pedestrian crossings, organized parking, and a general respect for laws and regulations... These steps are expected to be implemented, still according to Minister Jebran Bassil, no later than2099, in time to celebrate the new century, at which time Lebanon will move into the 20th century, a mere 200 years behind everyone else. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah Cro-Magnon in Chief, and his Neanderthal psychotic poodle Michel Aoun, have both pledged to shave their heads and beards as soon as the first light bulb lights up above their heads in 2015. But Nasrallah, who lives in hiding in a rathole cave, quickly adds, "as long as the Israelis, Allah forgive them, don't kill me before then."
Hanibaal
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebanese to Enjoy 24/7 Electricity Supply in 4 Years
Lebanese will finally enjoy round-the-clock power supply in 2015 after Cabinet approved a plan put forward by Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil.
Cabinet on Monday unanimously approved the comprehensive electricity sector reform plan, which is made up of 10 interrelated initiatives that cover the three basic axes of the sector: infrastructure, resources and legal frameworks.
"Bassil's plan includes initiatives related to the electricity infrastructure and the sources of alternative energy as well as the implementation programs and the financing channels," Information Minister Tareq Mitri told reporters after Cabinet's extraordinary session.
Mitri said Cabinet agreed that Bassil would provide a report every six months about the accomplishments made.
Bassil estimated the amounts allocated in the implementation plan at about $1.5 billion.
The plan gives priority to the types of energy which is the least harmful to the environment, depending mainly on gas and renewable energy.
The blueprint also ensures a tariff restructuring that will lead to gradual balance in the Electricite du Liban budget as an urgent necessity to add revenue to the state treasury and reduce financial burden on both the economy and consumers by eliminating the need for generators as part of 24-hour service.
The plan foresees a solid flow of power supply of more than 4,000 Megawatts in 2014 and 5,000 megawatts after 2015, in addition to a safe and reliable transmission network
Monday, June 21, 2010
Jumblatt الكلب الدرزي: Druse Syrian-Israeli Dog
Walid Jumblatt is now concerned about the judaification of Jerusalem... If he is sincere, he should ask his own Israeli Druse - the only "Arabs" to take up arms with, and fight for, the Israeli Army - to renounce their Israeli citizenship, quit the Israeli army, and take up arms and "resistance" against Israel, just like Jumblatt's Hezbollah friends in Lebanon...
But Jumblatt - like his father - is an insane piece of shit. He stands for nothing. He inherited lordship over the herd of goats called the Druse from his father, and now he is transmitting it to his son Taymur - from one sperm to another. His so-called Progressive Socialist Party is just a cover for the sectarian feudalism under which he herds the idiotic Druse of Lebanon to follow him whichever way he goes - like a limp penis, he is one day on the left, and the next day on the right. In fact, by some strange coincidence of Lebanese "democracy", all the Progressive Socialists in Lebanon are Druse! And all the Druse of Lebanon are Progressive Socialists. There are no Druse Hezbollah fighters, nor are there Druse right wingers. Same thing with Hassan Nasrallah's "Resistance": All the Shiites are in Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is exclusively Shiite.... and all the Kataeb in Lebanon are Maronite Catholics and only Maronite Catholics are Kataeb.Yeah! That is one hell of a democracy!
One day Jumblatt is a rabid Lebanese nationalist (i.e. anti-Syrian, anti-Arab, pro-American...), and the next day he is the complete opposite (i.e. pro-Syria, pro-Iran, pro-Hezbollah, anti-ISrael and anti-America). It must be the food that these primitive inbred Druse cretins from the Stone Age eat. All you have to do is drive up into the Shouf mountains and you'll see Afghanistan-on-the Mediterranean: turbaned and wrapped men and women, herding goats and sheep, and pledging blind allegiance to Walid Jumblatt, regardless of anything else he might be or of his ideas or of his politics.... If this is not primitive, I don't know what is.
Finally, I, like millions of Lebanese, couldn't care less about Palestine or Jerusalem or the Palestinians or the Israelis. They can all go to hell or to their respective promised lands, and Mohammad and Moses can, for all I care, fuck one another and give each other blowjobs.... This whole charade of chosen people and last prophecy on earth, from the Jurassic or the Mesozoic is of no interest whatsoever. But Jumblatt, ever since his twentieth political reconversion in 2009 back into the pro-Arab, anti-Israeli camp (which happened when he went to Damascus, and Bashar Al-Asad personally inserted a bugging device up his ass, thereby knowing everyone of Jumblatt's thoughts, the moment they happen!), has been hollering against Israel (like, incidentally, Nabih Berri, the numskull from the Amal movement, the poor relative of Hezbollah). Damascus instructs them, by speaking to them through the buggering bugs in their assholes, to attack Israel verbally, and they do so. One day it is concern for Jersualem, the other day it is the Gaza blockade.... Meanwhile, these two idiots are members of a Lebanese government that can only provide 8 hours of electricity a day to its citizens, lives off handouts from the US, the EU, and the wealthy Arabs, and is the most corrupt country on earth (See the preceding posting on this blog). This filthy, retarded, ruined, beggar of a country called Lebanon wants to liberate the defunct, dislocated, hypothetical country of Palestine.... In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!
So, to Walid "Bek" Jumblatt, I say a simple FUCK YOU. "Bek" is a title the Ottoman Turks gave Jumblatt's ancestral feudal lords because he collaborated with them against his own people - like the Scottish nobles used to do, to collaborate with the English against their own Scottish peasants. Notice also that the Ottoman Turks occupied Lebanon and Syria and all the fucked up countries of the Middle East for 400 years (from 1516 to 1918), they treated the populations like shit, but no one ever complains about that occupation by the non-Arab Turks. Why? Because they are fucking Muslims! You could have the Indonesians come and occupy Palestine or Lebanon, and no one will be offended. But, Oh my God, the French came to Lebanon under a UN mandate between 1920 and 1940 - a mere 20 years - to help the Lebanese build institutions, draft a constitution, and start a semi-decent country, and everybody continues to this day to be scandalized by this abject French colonialism. Why? Because the French are Atheist Seculars, not Muslims.... Never mind that the Lebanese - assisted by the Palestinians, Syrians and the Israelis, and every other Arab son of a bitch - ruined the country that the French built for them...
Hanibaal
------------------------------------------------------------------
Jumblat: Israel's Expulsion of 4 Arab MPs from the Knesset is an Attempt to Judaize Whole of Jerusalem
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated Monday that Israel's expulsion of four Arab MPs from its Knesset is an attempt to Judaize Jerusalem.
But Jumblatt - like his father - is an insane piece of shit. He stands for nothing. He inherited lordship over the herd of goats called the Druse from his father, and now he is transmitting it to his son Taymur - from one sperm to another. His so-called Progressive Socialist Party is just a cover for the sectarian feudalism under which he herds the idiotic Druse of Lebanon to follow him whichever way he goes - like a limp penis, he is one day on the left, and the next day on the right. In fact, by some strange coincidence of Lebanese "democracy", all the Progressive Socialists in Lebanon are Druse! And all the Druse of Lebanon are Progressive Socialists. There are no Druse Hezbollah fighters, nor are there Druse right wingers. Same thing with Hassan Nasrallah's "Resistance": All the Shiites are in Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is exclusively Shiite.... and all the Kataeb in Lebanon are Maronite Catholics and only Maronite Catholics are Kataeb.Yeah! That is one hell of a democracy!
One day Jumblatt is a rabid Lebanese nationalist (i.e. anti-Syrian, anti-Arab, pro-American...), and the next day he is the complete opposite (i.e. pro-Syria, pro-Iran, pro-Hezbollah, anti-ISrael and anti-America). It must be the food that these primitive inbred Druse cretins from the Stone Age eat. All you have to do is drive up into the Shouf mountains and you'll see Afghanistan-on-the Mediterranean: turbaned and wrapped men and women, herding goats and sheep, and pledging blind allegiance to Walid Jumblatt, regardless of anything else he might be or of his ideas or of his politics.... If this is not primitive, I don't know what is.
Finally, I, like millions of Lebanese, couldn't care less about Palestine or Jerusalem or the Palestinians or the Israelis. They can all go to hell or to their respective promised lands, and Mohammad and Moses can, for all I care, fuck one another and give each other blowjobs.... This whole charade of chosen people and last prophecy on earth, from the Jurassic or the Mesozoic is of no interest whatsoever. But Jumblatt, ever since his twentieth political reconversion in 2009 back into the pro-Arab, anti-Israeli camp (which happened when he went to Damascus, and Bashar Al-Asad personally inserted a bugging device up his ass, thereby knowing everyone of Jumblatt's thoughts, the moment they happen!), has been hollering against Israel (like, incidentally, Nabih Berri, the numskull from the Amal movement, the poor relative of Hezbollah). Damascus instructs them, by speaking to them through the buggering bugs in their assholes, to attack Israel verbally, and they do so. One day it is concern for Jersualem, the other day it is the Gaza blockade.... Meanwhile, these two idiots are members of a Lebanese government that can only provide 8 hours of electricity a day to its citizens, lives off handouts from the US, the EU, and the wealthy Arabs, and is the most corrupt country on earth (See the preceding posting on this blog). This filthy, retarded, ruined, beggar of a country called Lebanon wants to liberate the defunct, dislocated, hypothetical country of Palestine.... In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!
So, to Walid "Bek" Jumblatt, I say a simple FUCK YOU. "Bek" is a title the Ottoman Turks gave Jumblatt's ancestral feudal lords because he collaborated with them against his own people - like the Scottish nobles used to do, to collaborate with the English against their own Scottish peasants. Notice also that the Ottoman Turks occupied Lebanon and Syria and all the fucked up countries of the Middle East for 400 years (from 1516 to 1918), they treated the populations like shit, but no one ever complains about that occupation by the non-Arab Turks. Why? Because they are fucking Muslims! You could have the Indonesians come and occupy Palestine or Lebanon, and no one will be offended. But, Oh my God, the French came to Lebanon under a UN mandate between 1920 and 1940 - a mere 20 years - to help the Lebanese build institutions, draft a constitution, and start a semi-decent country, and everybody continues to this day to be scandalized by this abject French colonialism. Why? Because the French are Atheist Seculars, not Muslims.... Never mind that the Lebanese - assisted by the Palestinians, Syrians and the Israelis, and every other Arab son of a bitch - ruined the country that the French built for them...
Hanibaal
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Jumblat: Israel's Expulsion of 4 Arab MPs from the Knesset is an Attempt to Judaize Whole of Jerusalem
- He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated Anbaa magazine: "It's not enough that Israel is building tunnels under the Aqsa mosque, destroying houses, and expanding its Jerusalem settlements, but its decision to expel the four MPs affirms its plan to completely change the city politically, economically, socially, and demographically."
Thursday, June 17, 2010
THE PRIDE OF THE LEBANESE PEOPLE: FILTH AND CORRUPTION
Bribes, paybacks, cronyism, are a norm in Lebanon amid rampant corruption.
Transparency International: Out of 180 countries, Lebanon ranked as the top 50th "Most Corrupt" country. It is the 6th most corrupt country out of 21 Arab countries.
World Bank's Worldwide Governance: Lebanon is 167th out of 212 countries in "controlling corruption".
[Excerpted and modified from Jocelyne Zablit's In Lebanon, 'aspirin' helps more than headaches - BEIRUT- Middle East Online]
Whenever Elie, a successful Lebanese architect, starts a new project, he loads up on bribe money doled out to officials. "You need to hand out a lot of bribes to municipal officials, police, building inspectors and anyone involved in a project in Lebanon to be able to keep it moving," said Elie, who asked that his last name not be used. "Otherwise they can find any excuse to delay the project for months if not years," he added. "And the amount of the bribe depends on the size of the project, its location and the rank of the official taking the bribe."
These officials are political appointees of people like Saad Hariri, Nabih Berri, Michel Suleiman, Walid Jumblatt, Michel Aoun, Amin Gemayel, Hassan Nasrallah,and all the buffoons of Lebanon's political establishment. In fact, the politicians - who are elected by a largely uneducated Lebanese electorate - pay back the people who vote for them with bureaucratic - and hence lucrative - positions. This is the essence of Lebanese "consensual" democracy: a system of patronage, a barter of political power (that the voter gives the politician by electing him) in exchange for lucrative appointments and protection against the law (by the politician to the voter).
In its ranking, Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog, found Lebanon as one of the world's most corrupt countries, placing it 130th - the same ranking as Nigeria and Libya -- among 180 nations (with 180 being the most corrupt) considered in a report it released this year.
Lebanon scored 14th out of 20 countries ranked in the Arab region.
The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators also painted a bleak picture last year, putting Lebanon at 167th out of 212 countries in terms of corruption control. In other words, not only is corruption rampant, but because the government itself is heavily engaged in the practice of corruption, there is no effort to combat the practice. So, one wonders what the prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, had in mind when he made the claim earlier this week that Lebanon can return to it former glory as a financial hub in the Middle East.
Experts say corruption is so rampant in the Mediterranean country of four million people that bribery has become the norm when applying for a building permit, a driver's licence, avoiding a high tax or electricity bill, or even getting a divorce.
The country's sectarian system also means that sub-state actors undermine the government's legitimacy with administrative jobs and contracts often allocated based on religious or political affiliation rather than merit.
"Corruption in Lebanon exists at all levels of society and state, and in its various forms including patronage, cronyism, vote-buying, and embezzlement," said Transparency International. Key factors contributing to this broken system are the successive crises Lebanon has experienced and the political stalemate, coupled with a reluctance among the various ruling clans and parties to change a system from which they benefit.
"Corruption starts at the highest level of government, and it's going from bad to worse on a daily basis," said Gina Chammas Mrad, a financial consultant who has worked in the public sector. In Lebanon, "if you are middle class, you either become corrupt or go down the social strata and, if you are poor, you either go criminal or die of hunger."
'The way you do business in Lebanon'
Mrad and other experts noted corruption's impact in Lebanon has translated into a loss of faith in the system and a collapse of the basic rule of law. It has also widely contributed to the country's staggering debt of more than 50 billion dollars, one of the highest in the world in terms of percentage of gross domestic product.
Rami, an electrical engineer, said he is never able to conclude a deal without first distributing cash-filled envelopes. "It goes from a clerk at a ministry to the head of an administrative department," he said, also asking his last name not be used. "For every deal or project we bid on, we have to factor in the amount of bribes to be paid. "It's part of the process. Otherwise your administrative paperwork can get stuck in between floors at a ministry and you won't get anything done.
"That's just the way you do business in Lebanon."
Rami said he knows to pay up when he gets a phone call from an official inviting him for a courtesy visit.
"When they tell you to come over for coffee, you know to get the envelope ready," he said laughing. "And let me tell you it ends up being a heck of an expensive cup of coffee."
The electrical engineer said 30 dollars slipped to a clerk can get a file moving faster.
"For someone at the senior level in a ministry it can be as high as 2,000 dollars," he added.
But despite the extent of the problem, tentative efforts are under way to remedy the situation, with the government promising reforms and a national anti-corruption agency set up in May last year.
"We need to change the mentality of the whole Lebanese population, not just blame the administration," Finance Minister Raya al-Hassan said. Imagine: This is the Finance Minister speaking, and she is blaming the Lebanese population for corruption, not her own administration. Of course, she cannot blame the system that brought her to power, so she passes the buck. Al-Hassan is herself the product of the corrupt political system. She was appointed to the government not on the basis of her credentials, nor with the goal of serving the Lebanese people. She became a minister in the government as a pawn, representing and serving one of the feudal-religious clans who run the country. So she can talk nice against corruption and pontificate at length about it, but the bottom line is, if she were truly free to manage her Ministry, she should be able to control the corruption in her own department. But she can't because her "boss" - the clan or feudal leader whom she represents in the government - would readily dismiss her. So, like all the Lebanese, she plays by the rules of corruption, and she does not have the power, nor the will apparently, to change the status quo.
Examples of corruption:
- It costs US$300 to renew a Lebanese passport for 5 years (compare it to $75 in the US for a 10-year passport). Why? Because all the "Securite Generale" officials have to skim their share off of that money.
- Lebanese politicians temporarily change the law and the constitution for very brief periods of time (say, 2 weeks) - just enough time to allow some of their proteges and cronies to acquire beachfront public property - then change the law back to prohibit others from doing the same.
- If you travel through Beirut Airport, you'd notice upon disembarking from the plane that while most people line up for passport control, certain other passengers are swiftly processed through special lines because they have "connections".
- At Beirut Airport, security personnel and airport staff smoke right under the "no smoking sign." When you inquire (as I did once) about it, you are told: "This is Lebanon. Here, I can do what I want."
- To renew a driver's license, there is a broker (Simsar) system in place. You will never get your license renewed if you deal directly with the bureaucrat clerk. He will take your application, but he will never act on it, unless you hire one of the brokers swarming about in the Motor Vehicle Bureau and who is in cahoots with the clerks. For an additional fee (the bribe) of about 50% on top of the official fee, the broker will "process" your application with the clerk. You get the license renewed and the extra bribe is split between the broker and the government official.
This is Lebanon at its best - pre-War and post-War; Pre-Liberation and Post Liberation; Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial. This is the filthy land of the Cedars that claims to be the "only" democracy in the Middle East, or the Switzerland of the Middle East (really an insult to the real Switzerland), not to mention the Paris of the Middle East (another insult to the real Paris).
One last point: Beirut has no sidewalks. Ordinary pedestrians walk about like feral cats and stray dogs, dodging lunatic drivers for one, but also walking on the pavement itself because cars park on the sidewalks. You see, the Lebanese are a lazy bunch: They must park - double or triple, it does not matter. Block traffic: it does not matter - right in front of the store or the place where they are going. It is unthinkable for the neanderthal Lebanese to park, say, 50 meters away and walk. It is an insult to the ego of the proud Lebanese to have to walk. Only scum and Syrian workers walk. Walking is a sign of lower social class. No humility here whatsoever. To me, a Lebanese, my own people are really like characters in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez: They live with filth and scum around them and up to their eyeballs; yet they live in a fantasy world that keeps them figuratively far higher than the cesspool in which they wade every day of their lives. It's a compensatory mechanism to survive the harshness and the cruelty that is so endemic to our society.
Hanibaal
Transparency International: Out of 180 countries, Lebanon ranked as the top 50th "Most Corrupt" country. It is the 6th most corrupt country out of 21 Arab countries.
World Bank's Worldwide Governance: Lebanon is 167th out of 212 countries in "controlling corruption".
[Excerpted and modified from Jocelyne Zablit's In Lebanon, 'aspirin' helps more than headaches - BEIRUT- Middle East Online]
Whenever Elie, a successful Lebanese architect, starts a new project, he loads up on bribe money doled out to officials. "You need to hand out a lot of bribes to municipal officials, police, building inspectors and anyone involved in a project in Lebanon to be able to keep it moving," said Elie, who asked that his last name not be used. "Otherwise they can find any excuse to delay the project for months if not years," he added. "And the amount of the bribe depends on the size of the project, its location and the rank of the official taking the bribe."
These officials are political appointees of people like Saad Hariri, Nabih Berri, Michel Suleiman, Walid Jumblatt, Michel Aoun, Amin Gemayel, Hassan Nasrallah,and all the buffoons of Lebanon's political establishment. In fact, the politicians - who are elected by a largely uneducated Lebanese electorate - pay back the people who vote for them with bureaucratic - and hence lucrative - positions. This is the essence of Lebanese "consensual" democracy: a system of patronage, a barter of political power (that the voter gives the politician by electing him) in exchange for lucrative appointments and protection against the law (by the politician to the voter).
In its ranking, Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog, found Lebanon as one of the world's most corrupt countries, placing it 130th - the same ranking as Nigeria and Libya -- among 180 nations (with 180 being the most corrupt) considered in a report it released this year.
Lebanon scored 14th out of 20 countries ranked in the Arab region.
The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators also painted a bleak picture last year, putting Lebanon at 167th out of 212 countries in terms of corruption control. In other words, not only is corruption rampant, but because the government itself is heavily engaged in the practice of corruption, there is no effort to combat the practice. So, one wonders what the prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, had in mind when he made the claim earlier this week that Lebanon can return to it former glory as a financial hub in the Middle East.
Experts say corruption is so rampant in the Mediterranean country of four million people that bribery has become the norm when applying for a building permit, a driver's licence, avoiding a high tax or electricity bill, or even getting a divorce.
The country's sectarian system also means that sub-state actors undermine the government's legitimacy with administrative jobs and contracts often allocated based on religious or political affiliation rather than merit.
"Corruption in Lebanon exists at all levels of society and state, and in its various forms including patronage, cronyism, vote-buying, and embezzlement," said Transparency International. Key factors contributing to this broken system are the successive crises Lebanon has experienced and the political stalemate, coupled with a reluctance among the various ruling clans and parties to change a system from which they benefit.
"Corruption starts at the highest level of government, and it's going from bad to worse on a daily basis," said Gina Chammas Mrad, a financial consultant who has worked in the public sector. In Lebanon, "if you are middle class, you either become corrupt or go down the social strata and, if you are poor, you either go criminal or die of hunger."
'The way you do business in Lebanon'
Mrad and other experts noted corruption's impact in Lebanon has translated into a loss of faith in the system and a collapse of the basic rule of law. It has also widely contributed to the country's staggering debt of more than 50 billion dollars, one of the highest in the world in terms of percentage of gross domestic product.
Rami, an electrical engineer, said he is never able to conclude a deal without first distributing cash-filled envelopes. "It goes from a clerk at a ministry to the head of an administrative department," he said, also asking his last name not be used. "For every deal or project we bid on, we have to factor in the amount of bribes to be paid. "It's part of the process. Otherwise your administrative paperwork can get stuck in between floors at a ministry and you won't get anything done.
"That's just the way you do business in Lebanon."
Rami said he knows to pay up when he gets a phone call from an official inviting him for a courtesy visit.
"When they tell you to come over for coffee, you know to get the envelope ready," he said laughing. "And let me tell you it ends up being a heck of an expensive cup of coffee."
The electrical engineer said 30 dollars slipped to a clerk can get a file moving faster.
"For someone at the senior level in a ministry it can be as high as 2,000 dollars," he added.
But despite the extent of the problem, tentative efforts are under way to remedy the situation, with the government promising reforms and a national anti-corruption agency set up in May last year.
"We need to change the mentality of the whole Lebanese population, not just blame the administration," Finance Minister Raya al-Hassan said. Imagine: This is the Finance Minister speaking, and she is blaming the Lebanese population for corruption, not her own administration. Of course, she cannot blame the system that brought her to power, so she passes the buck. Al-Hassan is herself the product of the corrupt political system. She was appointed to the government not on the basis of her credentials, nor with the goal of serving the Lebanese people. She became a minister in the government as a pawn, representing and serving one of the feudal-religious clans who run the country. So she can talk nice against corruption and pontificate at length about it, but the bottom line is, if she were truly free to manage her Ministry, she should be able to control the corruption in her own department. But she can't because her "boss" - the clan or feudal leader whom she represents in the government - would readily dismiss her. So, like all the Lebanese, she plays by the rules of corruption, and she does not have the power, nor the will apparently, to change the status quo.
Examples of corruption:
- It costs US$300 to renew a Lebanese passport for 5 years (compare it to $75 in the US for a 10-year passport). Why? Because all the "Securite Generale" officials have to skim their share off of that money.
- Lebanese politicians temporarily change the law and the constitution for very brief periods of time (say, 2 weeks) - just enough time to allow some of their proteges and cronies to acquire beachfront public property - then change the law back to prohibit others from doing the same.
- If you travel through Beirut Airport, you'd notice upon disembarking from the plane that while most people line up for passport control, certain other passengers are swiftly processed through special lines because they have "connections".
- At Beirut Airport, security personnel and airport staff smoke right under the "no smoking sign." When you inquire (as I did once) about it, you are told: "This is Lebanon. Here, I can do what I want."
- To renew a driver's license, there is a broker (Simsar) system in place. You will never get your license renewed if you deal directly with the bureaucrat clerk. He will take your application, but he will never act on it, unless you hire one of the brokers swarming about in the Motor Vehicle Bureau and who is in cahoots with the clerks. For an additional fee (the bribe) of about 50% on top of the official fee, the broker will "process" your application with the clerk. You get the license renewed and the extra bribe is split between the broker and the government official.
This is Lebanon at its best - pre-War and post-War; Pre-Liberation and Post Liberation; Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial. This is the filthy land of the Cedars that claims to be the "only" democracy in the Middle East, or the Switzerland of the Middle East (really an insult to the real Switzerland), not to mention the Paris of the Middle East (another insult to the real Paris).
One last point: Beirut has no sidewalks. Ordinary pedestrians walk about like feral cats and stray dogs, dodging lunatic drivers for one, but also walking on the pavement itself because cars park on the sidewalks. You see, the Lebanese are a lazy bunch: They must park - double or triple, it does not matter. Block traffic: it does not matter - right in front of the store or the place where they are going. It is unthinkable for the neanderthal Lebanese to park, say, 50 meters away and walk. It is an insult to the ego of the proud Lebanese to have to walk. Only scum and Syrian workers walk. Walking is a sign of lower social class. No humility here whatsoever. To me, a Lebanese, my own people are really like characters in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez: They live with filth and scum around them and up to their eyeballs; yet they live in a fantasy world that keeps them figuratively far higher than the cesspool in which they wade every day of their lives. It's a compensatory mechanism to survive the harshness and the cruelty that is so endemic to our society.
Hanibaal
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
BOYCOTT HEZBOLLAH TERRORISM = BOYCOTT LEBANON TOURISM
This is a an advisory warning against travel to Lebanon by all decent people around the world. Cancel any tourism plans you may have this summer to Lebanon. It is the right thing to do. Money you spend in Lebanon goes directly to Hezbollah which runs the government, money that Hezbollah uses to kill and kidnap and hijack and bomb.
Lebanon is on the verge of a major war with Israel, led by the terrorist Islamic fundamentalist organization Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, now runs the Lebanese government, and has 40,000 missiles - including possibly chemical warheads and nuclear dirty bombs pointed at Israel from the Lebanese south.
Both Israel and the US on one hand, and Iran-Syria-Hezbollah on the other, have been issuing threats of a major devastating war between the two sides in Lebanon, primarily over Iran's nuclear conflict, which is reaching a point of no return, due to the failure of the international community at controlling Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
By boycotting tourism in Lebanon this summer, you would be sending the message that you do not support Hezbollah's warmongering and terrorism, and its hijacking of the country on behalf of Iran and Syria.
Lebanon has had enough wars, deaths, and destruction for the past 40 years, supposedly for the "Arab" cause - a disguise for Islamic fundamentalism and fascism. All Arab countries enjoy peace and development and some form of relations with the "enemy" Israel, while Lebanon is made to be the only stupid Arab country to fight Israel on behalf of all the Arabs. This has to stop.
To all foreign tourists contemplating visiting Lebanon this summer: Going to Lebanon this summer is walking into a DEATH TRAP.
Here are the reasons:
- By going and spending money there, you are supporting and collaborating with a HEZBOLLAH government. Hezbollah is second to Al-Qaeda in the number of Americans and Westerners it has killed, kidnapped, bombed, murdered, hijacked... since the 1980s. Denying the Lebanese Hezbollah government much needed dollars is one way to curb the warmongering by the Lebanese Hezbollah government and stop its Iranian-Syrian-inspired aggression and terrorism against the peace process. The Lebanese people have suffered enough, and they want the Hezbollah government of Michel Suleiman and Saad Hariri and Nabih Berri to cut off all relations with Iran and Syria.
- Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Israel are preparing for IMMINENT war.
- Syria just transferred SCUD missiles to Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
- The US Embassy in Beirut has issued a US citizen travel ban to Lebanon.
- Benjamin Netanyahu wants to "avenge" the apparent 2006 defeat of Israel by Hezbollah and Syria, and deflect attention from the Gaza aid flotilla raid.
- Between intensifying international pressure and internal unrest, Iran's options are diminishing. Years of sanctions and resolutions have not deterred Iran from proceeding with its nuclear bomb program. An Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites is IMMINENT, with the immediate repercussion in South Lebanon where Hezbollah - Iran's terror organization which currently runs the Lebanese government - will immediately retaliate against Israel, sending Lebanon into total mayhem.
- Compared with 2006, Israel threatens this time not to spare anything in Lebanon in case of hostilities. Because Hezbollah runs the Lebanese government this time, Israel says the entire country of Lebanon will be held responsible for any Hezbollah attack. Unlike 2006, when Israel mainly bombed roads and bridges, this time it will bomb "everything": institutions and facilities, cities, towns, buildings, Lebanese army...nothing is safe.
TOURISM IN LEBANON NOW IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND HELPS HEZBOLLAH.
YOU WOULD BE HELPING THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE OF LEBANON BY NOT SUPPORTING THE LEBANESE ECONOMY WHOSE REVENUES GO STRAIGHT INTO FUNDING THE HEZBOLLAH GOVERNMENT IN BEIRUT. EVERY DOLLAR OR EURO YOU SPEND IN LEBANON IS A DOLLAR OR EURO YOU ARE GIVING TO IRAN AND SYRIA TO SEND MORE MISSILES TO SOUTH LEBANON.
In addition, Lebanon is one of the most polluted and dirty countries in the region. All commercial vehicles, trucks, busses, etc. run on the filthiest diesel gas that exists. Traveling to Lebanon is a serious health hazard.
There is no traffic code in Lebanon. No red lights. Roads and streets are unmarked, and the Lebanese drive like suicidal maniacs. Because 90% of the country is mountainous terrain, driving without laws and regulations on hairpin loop turns and twists is extremely dangerous. Cars will pass you at vertiginous speeds in double or triple lanes, from your right side and left side and into incoming traffic....
The beaches are filthy with petroleum globs that wash ashore, plastic bottles and containers of all kinds, and just plain trash that the "free and sovereign" Lebanese discard with utter contempt to their environment. The only good beaches are owned by corrupt government officials or businessmen with ties to them, and an elitist mentality excludes ordinary Lebanese while extracting exorbitant prices for exclusive access by the upper class.
All the Lebanese - poor or rich, villagers or urbanites, Muslim or Christian - have maids imported in a modern-day slave trade from poor countries, and the Lebanese treat them like cattle: Passports confiscated, held without leave and working 24-7 in atrocious conditions, and frequently abused, such that the rate of suicides - maids hurtling themselves from buildings out of desperation - is one of the highest. The Lebanese drive around with the maid sitting in the back of the car on the floor - not on the seat - to further emphasize who owns who. The Lebanese don't let their maids eat with them at the table, and the maids often sleep on balconies or in bathrooms. The main point is that Lebanese don't need maids. They are just lazy bums who, while unemployed for the most part, still who don't want to cook their own meals, clean their own children or their own houses. Their only reason for having maids is a status symbol. You could be the poorest of the Lebanese and have no job or income...you still must have the Mercedes or the Cherokee, and the maid. Otherwise, what would the neighbors say? That is the basic mentality.
Is this the country you want to support with your hard-earned money? Boycotting Lebanon is doing a favor to the Lebanese by cutting off the lifeblood to this filthy, corrupt, unstable society and its terrorist government.
Hanibaal
Lebanon is on the verge of a major war with Israel, led by the terrorist Islamic fundamentalist organization Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, now runs the Lebanese government, and has 40,000 missiles - including possibly chemical warheads and nuclear dirty bombs pointed at Israel from the Lebanese south.
Both Israel and the US on one hand, and Iran-Syria-Hezbollah on the other, have been issuing threats of a major devastating war between the two sides in Lebanon, primarily over Iran's nuclear conflict, which is reaching a point of no return, due to the failure of the international community at controlling Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
By boycotting tourism in Lebanon this summer, you would be sending the message that you do not support Hezbollah's warmongering and terrorism, and its hijacking of the country on behalf of Iran and Syria.
Lebanon has had enough wars, deaths, and destruction for the past 40 years, supposedly for the "Arab" cause - a disguise for Islamic fundamentalism and fascism. All Arab countries enjoy peace and development and some form of relations with the "enemy" Israel, while Lebanon is made to be the only stupid Arab country to fight Israel on behalf of all the Arabs. This has to stop.
To all foreign tourists contemplating visiting Lebanon this summer: Going to Lebanon this summer is walking into a DEATH TRAP.
Here are the reasons:
- By going and spending money there, you are supporting and collaborating with a HEZBOLLAH government. Hezbollah is second to Al-Qaeda in the number of Americans and Westerners it has killed, kidnapped, bombed, murdered, hijacked... since the 1980s. Denying the Lebanese Hezbollah government much needed dollars is one way to curb the warmongering by the Lebanese Hezbollah government and stop its Iranian-Syrian-inspired aggression and terrorism against the peace process. The Lebanese people have suffered enough, and they want the Hezbollah government of Michel Suleiman and Saad Hariri and Nabih Berri to cut off all relations with Iran and Syria.
- Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Israel are preparing for IMMINENT war.
- Syria just transferred SCUD missiles to Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
- The US Embassy in Beirut has issued a US citizen travel ban to Lebanon.
- Benjamin Netanyahu wants to "avenge" the apparent 2006 defeat of Israel by Hezbollah and Syria, and deflect attention from the Gaza aid flotilla raid.
- Between intensifying international pressure and internal unrest, Iran's options are diminishing. Years of sanctions and resolutions have not deterred Iran from proceeding with its nuclear bomb program. An Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites is IMMINENT, with the immediate repercussion in South Lebanon where Hezbollah - Iran's terror organization which currently runs the Lebanese government - will immediately retaliate against Israel, sending Lebanon into total mayhem.
- Compared with 2006, Israel threatens this time not to spare anything in Lebanon in case of hostilities. Because Hezbollah runs the Lebanese government this time, Israel says the entire country of Lebanon will be held responsible for any Hezbollah attack. Unlike 2006, when Israel mainly bombed roads and bridges, this time it will bomb "everything": institutions and facilities, cities, towns, buildings, Lebanese army...nothing is safe.
TOURISM IN LEBANON NOW IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND HELPS HEZBOLLAH.
YOU WOULD BE HELPING THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE OF LEBANON BY NOT SUPPORTING THE LEBANESE ECONOMY WHOSE REVENUES GO STRAIGHT INTO FUNDING THE HEZBOLLAH GOVERNMENT IN BEIRUT. EVERY DOLLAR OR EURO YOU SPEND IN LEBANON IS A DOLLAR OR EURO YOU ARE GIVING TO IRAN AND SYRIA TO SEND MORE MISSILES TO SOUTH LEBANON.
In addition, Lebanon is one of the most polluted and dirty countries in the region. All commercial vehicles, trucks, busses, etc. run on the filthiest diesel gas that exists. Traveling to Lebanon is a serious health hazard.
There is no traffic code in Lebanon. No red lights. Roads and streets are unmarked, and the Lebanese drive like suicidal maniacs. Because 90% of the country is mountainous terrain, driving without laws and regulations on hairpin loop turns and twists is extremely dangerous. Cars will pass you at vertiginous speeds in double or triple lanes, from your right side and left side and into incoming traffic....
The beaches are filthy with petroleum globs that wash ashore, plastic bottles and containers of all kinds, and just plain trash that the "free and sovereign" Lebanese discard with utter contempt to their environment. The only good beaches are owned by corrupt government officials or businessmen with ties to them, and an elitist mentality excludes ordinary Lebanese while extracting exorbitant prices for exclusive access by the upper class.
All the Lebanese - poor or rich, villagers or urbanites, Muslim or Christian - have maids imported in a modern-day slave trade from poor countries, and the Lebanese treat them like cattle: Passports confiscated, held without leave and working 24-7 in atrocious conditions, and frequently abused, such that the rate of suicides - maids hurtling themselves from buildings out of desperation - is one of the highest. The Lebanese drive around with the maid sitting in the back of the car on the floor - not on the seat - to further emphasize who owns who. The Lebanese don't let their maids eat with them at the table, and the maids often sleep on balconies or in bathrooms. The main point is that Lebanese don't need maids. They are just lazy bums who, while unemployed for the most part, still who don't want to cook their own meals, clean their own children or their own houses. Their only reason for having maids is a status symbol. You could be the poorest of the Lebanese and have no job or income...you still must have the Mercedes or the Cherokee, and the maid. Otherwise, what would the neighbors say? That is the basic mentality.
Is this the country you want to support with your hard-earned money? Boycotting Lebanon is doing a favor to the Lebanese by cutting off the lifeblood to this filthy, corrupt, unstable society and its terrorist government.
Hanibaal
Thursday, June 10, 2010
هيهات هيهات، كم تغير نباح الكلاب في بيروت بين 2007 و 2010
I will eventually translate the following into English for my English-only readers.
أيعقل أن يكون نباح الكلاب مثل سعد الحريري ووليد جنبلاط قد تغيّر بالشكل الذي نشاهده اليوم مم كان عليه منذ سنتين؟ قبلها، كان كلاب 14 آذار ينبخون ليلاً نهاراً ضد النظام السوري وما فعله في لبنان... أما اليوم فنرى الكلاب قد وضعت أذيالها بين رجليها وسارت على طريق دمشق تستجدي الغفران من طاغية الشام وحزبه البعثي العربي الإشتراكي الملكي الوراثي البدائي المعفّن؟
لم ولن نغفر لهم قلة المبادئ وآنية مصالحهم الضيقة والصغيرة التي هي - كما كنا نعرفها منذ زمن طويل - بحجم نزاهة وإستقامة أنفسهم. حرام على لبنان الذي يفتقر اليوم إلى رجال دولة عظام ويرزح تحت قيادات وزعامات قبلية رجعية طائفية من الأزمنة الغابرة، يبيعون حتى ذكرى آبائهم المغدورين ليستجدوا مغفرة الذي غدرهم. عيب وألف عيب.
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الحريري: الفراغ الرئاسي يدخل لبنان في وضع خطير .. والنظام السوري هو من يرتكب الاغتيالات
بيروت: «الشرق الأوسط» الاربعـاء 26 أيلول2007 العدد 10529
اكد رئيس كتلة «المستقبل» النائب سعد الحريري: «ان الحوار بين الاكثرية والمعارضة يقود الى التوافق على انتخاب رئيس للجمهورية يكون لكل لبنان ولجميع اللبنانيين»، محذرا من ان الفراغ الرئاسي «سيدخل الجميع من دون استثناء في وضع خطير لن يكون في مصلحة احد». واشار الى ان لبنان لا يحكم بفريق واحد او طائفة واحدة بل بتوافق كل ابنائه، جازما بأن «المحكمة الدولية ستنشأ لمحاكمة مرتكبي الاغتيالات في لبنان». واتهم النظام السوري بارتكاب هذه الجرائم.
وقال الحريري في مقابلة اجرتها معه قناة «فوكس نيوز» الاميركية: «ليس لدي ادنى شك في ان النظام السوري يلاحقنا جميعا. لقد قتلوا والدي (رفيق الحريري والنواب) جبران تويني وباسل فليحان وبيار امين الجميل ووليد عيدو وانطوان غانم. وسيقومون كلما استطاعوا باغتيال اكبر عدد من اعضاء البرلمان في الاكثرية والذين يمثلون ثورة الارز. لم يتوقفوا عن القيام بذلك، ولن يتوقفوا». واكد: «ان العدالة ستتحقق. وسيتم انشاء المحكمة الدولية. وآمل ان يتم ذلك مطلع العام المقبل من اجل لبنان واللبنانيين ومن اجل جميع اولئك الذين تم اغتيالهم، حتى الذين اغتيلوا قبل والدي، وكل الاغتيالات التي حصلت في لبنان، كجريمة اغتيال كمال جنبلاط وآخرين. كلها قام بها النظام السوري. لكن لم تكن هناك عدالة، والذين ارتكبوها لم تتم معاقبتهم. لكن الان وللمرة الاولى في تاريخ لبنان ستتأمن لنا العدالة. ولا نريدها عدالة مسيّسة. وسنقبل بأي حكم يصدر عن المحكمة الدولية».
واعتبر ان «الهدف من سلسلة الاغتيالات اعادة السيطرة (السورية) على لبنان». وشدد الحريري على «ان عامل الوقت مهم بالنسبة الى انتخاب رئيس جمهورية». وقال: «سننتخب رئيسا للجمهورية لاننا لن نسمح للنظام السوري بان يتغلب علينا بأمر كهذا. وانا اعتقد ان على اللبنانيين، وعلى المعارضة وعلينا نحن ايضا، ان نجد رئيسا لكل لبنان ولجميع اللبنانيين. سنتابع السعي من اجل ذلك. واننا نعتبر ان تجمع 14 اذار يمتلك الاكثرية. اننا نمثل الاكثرية. وسنتابع العمل من اجل انتخاب رئيس».
وحول امكان انتخاب رئيس بالنصف زائدا واحدا وعدم اعتراف المعارضة به، قال الحريري: «اننا نسعى للتوصل الى توافق. ونؤمن بانه من خلال الحوار مع المعارضة ستهدأ الامور حين سيرون ما هي الاخطار والتحديات التي ستواجه لبنان اذا لم يتم انتخاب رئيس للجمهورية. ان لبنان من دون رئيس امر خطير جدا للجميع، للمعارضة وللاكثرية على حد سواء. والمعارضة تدرك هذا الامر جيدا».
ولفت الى «ان لبنان تأذى كثيرا بسبب الاغتيالات وخصوصا اغتيال (والده) رفيق الحريري رجل الاعتدال. كما تأذى بسبب حرب يوليو (تموز) 2006 والتي استمرت 33 يوما والحقت الخراب بكل اللبنانيين. وبعدها حاولت المعارضة ان تحقق مكاسب سياسية جراء ما حصل في هذه الحرب ما ادى الى انقسام اللبنانيين. وهذا خطأ كبير ارتكبته المعارضة».
وعما اذا كانت مبادرة رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري ستقود الى انتخاب رئيس للجمهورية صديق لسورية، قال الحريري: «نحن في ثورة الارز لدينا برنامج، نريد ان نعيش حياة كريمة. اننا نريد السلام. لا نريد ان نكون ضد سورية، لكننا نريد من سورية ان تحترمنا. ونريد علاقات دبلوماسية معها. وقد توافقنا على ذلك خلال جلسات الحوار.
فليس نحن من يغتال اعضاء البرلمان في سورية، بل هم من يغتال اعضاء البرلمان اللبناني. اننا نريد من سورية ان تتعاطى في شؤونها السياسية الداخلية وان تحل مشاكلها في هضبة الجولان المحتل. عليهم الا يتدخلوا في شؤوننا الداخلية. ليس عليهم ان يقولوا لنا كيف نقاوم او نحرر مزارع شبعا، فاننا سنقوم بذلك كحكومة لبنانية وكشعب لبناني.
نحن في 14 اذار لدينا برنامج اقتصادي ومشاريع للخصخصة. ونود ان نجد فرص عمل للشعب اللبناني. واولئك الذين يغادرون لبنان لانهم عاجزون عن ايجاد عمل في بلدهم، ما هو ذنبهم؟ لكن اود ان يقول لي احد ما هو برنامج المعارضة؟ لغاية الان لا نعلم ما هو برنامجهم».
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Jumblatts and Hariris of the Cedars Revolution
To all the Lebanese-American, Lebanese-Canadian, and Lebanese Australians (and every other hyphenated Lebanese exile, for that matter) "intellectual" idiots - and they know who they are - who fell in love with Hariri and Jumblatt between 2005 and 2008, and who today are "in shock" at how Jumblatt and Hariri are back on the Syrian leash, praising the Syrian dictatorship for upholding Lebanon's "Arabism" and "resistance": You were wrong.
When some of us used to argue that people like Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt - who spent decades serving as puppets and collaborators to Syria - cannot fundamentally change simply because Syria assassinated Rafik Hariri, but your answer was: "NO, they have finally changed. They have finally realized, after 30 years of Syria's war on Lebanon, what it is to be a "free, sovereign, and independent" state. They have finally understood the meaning of nationhood and statehood, and that their destiny and future is with their fellow Lebanese and not some Arabist, Syrian, or Muslim "nation". They have finally understood that, after all those years of working against their own people and country, they had made a huge mistake, and that it is time to build a genuinely sovereign Lebanon, for its people, not for other people's causes and machinations. The Cedars Revolution was indeed a rebirth of the Lebanese nation, a new National Pact, the final accession of Lebanon into a modern state rather than the sectarian cesspool of mercenaries, each working for an outside power to maintain their hold on power, that has been in place since 1921."
And yet, just look where we stand today, 5 years after the Cedars Revolution: Hariri and Jumblatt have forgiven Syria, even it killed Rafik Hariri, Saad's father, and Kamal Jumblatt, Walid's father. Like they used to do in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and for most of the 2000s, they go to Damascus every week to kiss ass and get their marching orders from the Syrian Baath Party about how to run Lebanon. And the lesson, again, is that these are people without principles, without conviction that Lebanon should indeed be "free, sovereign, and independent" of the Syrian and all the Arab fuckers out there. Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt now support Hezbollah (whereas they wanted the terrorist organization to be disarmed a couple of years ago) as a parallel army to the Lebanese army. They support Lebanon as the simpleton retarded Arab country among all other Arab countries to fight Israel, be destroyed by Israel year after year, to have an anemic economy, etc.. while all the other valiant Arabs watch, cheer, and otherwise enjoy life and economic development.
So again, to all those "activists", "intellectuals", "professors", "academics" and such, in the Lebanese Diaspora who have written thousands of articles, editorials and books about the rebirth of a new Lebanon, and who spent the most of 4 years attacking Michel Aoun because he turned to Syria: FUCK YOU because you are absolute idiots - especially the Maronite neanderthal tribesmen among you - who still uphold a traditionalist, primitive Maronite view of Lebanon under an impotent Maronite Church and archaic feudal leaders from the Middle Ages. The little brains that you have prevented you from seeing the obvious and the inevitable, and I don't hear you today screaming bloody murder at Jumblatt and Hariri like you did when Michel Aoun sold his principles and his honor to become a lackey of Syria and Iran. How do you explain yourselves and your naivete at believing for one second that feudal tribal sectarian people like Hariri and Jumblatt could in fact become rational and modern-thinking.
Here is an example of what Jumblatt and Hariri were saying a mere 2 years ago, before their re-conversion to Arab nationalists:
Hariri:
جنبلاط: هنيئاً للثقافة العربية بأن تكون دمشق عاصمتها
الخميس 31 كانون الثاني 2008 - السنة 74 - العدد 23253
أدلى رئيس الحزب التقدمي الاشتراكي النائب وليد جنبلاط امس بتصريح قال فيه: "هنيئا للثقافة العربية عاصمتها الجديدة، وهنيئا للمثقفين العرب أن تكون دمشق عاصمتهم المنتظرة، وهنيئا للفكر العربي المعاصر مدينته الأسيرة.
إنها من سخريات القدر ومفارقاته أن يحتفل بدمشق عاصمة للثقافة العربية والسلطات القمعية والديكتاتورية السورية تعيد إعتقال رياض سيف وتواصل أسر فداء الحوراني وميشال كيلو وعارف دليلة وأكرم البني وأحمد طعمه وعلي العبدالله وياسر العيتي وجبر الشوفي وفايز ساره ووليد البني ومحمد حجي درويش ومروان العش والعشرات من موقعي إعلان دمشق الذي يعد أول اعتراف سوري باستقلال لبنان وسيادته. كما أنه تعبير صادق عن طموحات الشعب السوري الى الحرية والديموقراطية في ظل استمرار اعتقال ما يزيد عن ستة الآف معتقل سياسي. ما الذي يحتفل به في دمشق عاصمة ثقافية عندما تعتقل الثقافة بكل رموزها؟ إنه فعلا جو حميم لاحتفالات ثقافية متنوعة تحت نظر الطغاة وفي ظلهم. إنه جو مثالي للاحتفالات الثقافية مع بنادق الاعتقال وسلاح الاسر. هل يستطيع من يقتل ويأسر ويغتال ويجعل السجون تفيض بالمعتقلين السياسيين أن يحتفل بالثقافة العربية؟
When some of us used to argue that people like Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt - who spent decades serving as puppets and collaborators to Syria - cannot fundamentally change simply because Syria assassinated Rafik Hariri, but your answer was: "NO, they have finally changed. They have finally realized, after 30 years of Syria's war on Lebanon, what it is to be a "free, sovereign, and independent" state. They have finally understood the meaning of nationhood and statehood, and that their destiny and future is with their fellow Lebanese and not some Arabist, Syrian, or Muslim "nation". They have finally understood that, after all those years of working against their own people and country, they had made a huge mistake, and that it is time to build a genuinely sovereign Lebanon, for its people, not for other people's causes and machinations. The Cedars Revolution was indeed a rebirth of the Lebanese nation, a new National Pact, the final accession of Lebanon into a modern state rather than the sectarian cesspool of mercenaries, each working for an outside power to maintain their hold on power, that has been in place since 1921."
And yet, just look where we stand today, 5 years after the Cedars Revolution: Hariri and Jumblatt have forgiven Syria, even it killed Rafik Hariri, Saad's father, and Kamal Jumblatt, Walid's father. Like they used to do in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and for most of the 2000s, they go to Damascus every week to kiss ass and get their marching orders from the Syrian Baath Party about how to run Lebanon. And the lesson, again, is that these are people without principles, without conviction that Lebanon should indeed be "free, sovereign, and independent" of the Syrian and all the Arab fuckers out there. Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt now support Hezbollah (whereas they wanted the terrorist organization to be disarmed a couple of years ago) as a parallel army to the Lebanese army. They support Lebanon as the simpleton retarded Arab country among all other Arab countries to fight Israel, be destroyed by Israel year after year, to have an anemic economy, etc.. while all the other valiant Arabs watch, cheer, and otherwise enjoy life and economic development.
So again, to all those "activists", "intellectuals", "professors", "academics" and such, in the Lebanese Diaspora who have written thousands of articles, editorials and books about the rebirth of a new Lebanon, and who spent the most of 4 years attacking Michel Aoun because he turned to Syria: FUCK YOU because you are absolute idiots - especially the Maronite neanderthal tribesmen among you - who still uphold a traditionalist, primitive Maronite view of Lebanon under an impotent Maronite Church and archaic feudal leaders from the Middle Ages. The little brains that you have prevented you from seeing the obvious and the inevitable, and I don't hear you today screaming bloody murder at Jumblatt and Hariri like you did when Michel Aoun sold his principles and his honor to become a lackey of Syria and Iran. How do you explain yourselves and your naivete at believing for one second that feudal tribal sectarian people like Hariri and Jumblatt could in fact become rational and modern-thinking.
Here is an example of what Jumblatt and Hariri were saying a mere 2 years ago, before their re-conversion to Arab nationalists:
Hariri:
وقال الحريري للصحافيين عقب محادثات مع الرئيس حسني مبارك ان أجهزة الامن اللبنانية تحقق في المعلومات بالتعاون مع أجهزة أمنية عربية أخرى.
وسئل الحريري عما اذا كان آصف شوكت مدير المخابرات الحربية السورية وصهر الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد وراء المؤامرة المدعاة فقال عندنا معلومات بهذا الشأن ونتابعها.
Translation: Hariri told reporters following talks with President Hosni Mubarak that the Lebanese security agencies are investigating the information in cooperation with other Arab security agencies.
Hariri was asked whether Asef Shawkat, the chief of Syrian military intelligence and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad, was behind the alleged consipracy, and he said: "We have information to that effect, and we are looking into it.
Hariri was asked whether Asef Shawkat, the chief of Syrian military intelligence and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad, was behind the alleged consipracy, and he said: "We have information to that effect, and we are looking into it.
Jumblatt:
ANN network, January 31, 2008
ANN network, January 31, 2008
جنبلاط: هنيئاً للثقافة العربية بأن تكون دمشق عاصمتها
الخميس 31 كانون الثاني 2008 - السنة 74 - العدد 23253
أدلى رئيس الحزب التقدمي الاشتراكي النائب وليد جنبلاط امس بتصريح قال فيه: "هنيئا للثقافة العربية عاصمتها الجديدة، وهنيئا للمثقفين العرب أن تكون دمشق عاصمتهم المنتظرة، وهنيئا للفكر العربي المعاصر مدينته الأسيرة.
إنها من سخريات القدر ومفارقاته أن يحتفل بدمشق عاصمة للثقافة العربية والسلطات القمعية والديكتاتورية السورية تعيد إعتقال رياض سيف وتواصل أسر فداء الحوراني وميشال كيلو وعارف دليلة وأكرم البني وأحمد طعمه وعلي العبدالله وياسر العيتي وجبر الشوفي وفايز ساره ووليد البني ومحمد حجي درويش ومروان العش والعشرات من موقعي إعلان دمشق الذي يعد أول اعتراف سوري باستقلال لبنان وسيادته. كما أنه تعبير صادق عن طموحات الشعب السوري الى الحرية والديموقراطية في ظل استمرار اعتقال ما يزيد عن ستة الآف معتقل سياسي. ما الذي يحتفل به في دمشق عاصمة ثقافية عندما تعتقل الثقافة بكل رموزها؟ إنه فعلا جو حميم لاحتفالات ثقافية متنوعة تحت نظر الطغاة وفي ظلهم. إنه جو مثالي للاحتفالات الثقافية مع بنادق الاعتقال وسلاح الاسر. هل يستطيع من يقتل ويأسر ويغتال ويجعل السجون تفيض بالمعتقلين السياسيين أن يحتفل بالثقافة العربية؟
Translation: It is one of the ironies of fate that Damascus is being celebrated as a capital of Arab culture, while the Syrian repressive and dictatorial authorities has again arrested Riyad Seif, and continue to hold Fida' Al-Hourani, Michel Kilo, Aref Dalila, Akram Al-Nabi, Ahmad Tohme, Ali Al-Abdallah, Yasser Al-Aiti, Jabr Al-Shoufi, Fayez Sara, Walid Al-Nabi, Mohammad Hajji Darwish, MArwan Al-Ish and dozens of others who signed the Damascus Declaration, which is the first ever Syrian recognition of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty, and an honest expression of the Syrian people's aspirations for freedom and democracy as more than 6,000 political prisoners continue to be held in Syria. What is it that is being celebrated in Damascus as a cultural capital, when all the symbols of culture are in prison? It is indeed a warm setting for cultural celebrations under the watchful eye of the tyrant. It is indeed an ideal cultural celebration with the guns of detention and the weapons of imprisonment. Can those who kill, imprison, assassinate and fill prisons to the brim with political prisoners celebrate Arab culture?e
Hanibaal
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