LEBANONESQUE

Impressions, views, and steam-blowing by a lonesome cowboy.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Strike, Demonstrations, Mayhem across Lebanon


So Hezbollah cuts the road to the airport and shuts down the airport, something “unacceptable” we were told by the army a while back. Beirut seems paralyzed with burning tires, blocked roads and rolling clashes.

Headlines from Naharnet Live Update(Link probably good one day).

8:13 pm Premier Saniora met Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and telephoned Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman and Defense Minister Elias Murr to discuss latest developments.
Great! The top dogs are “discussing”. You have to wonder when is it exactly time to actually ACT in the Saniora calendar?

8:14 Hizbullah mouthpiece Manar tv station: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement said the government bears full responsibility of what happened today.
That’s right. YOU block the airport, the government is responsible. YOU shut down the downtown economy, the government is responsible. I agree with Berri on that one, only cuz the government has failed to blow all your asses to kingdom come already.

8:15 Saniora also contacted Saudi and Egyptian Foreign Ministers Saoud al-Faisal and Ahmad Abulgheit, and denied contacting U.S. official David Welch

Patheticus Ultimus Doofus Saniora is on the damn TELEPHONE again with people who live miles away and who could not care less about the average Beiruti. But God forbid, PC-correct asshole might speak with a US representative. Keep up appearances Foufou. Their knife is already cutting through your worthless throat, but appearances and your Arabist credentials are intact, ya air(head).

8:45 pm Lebanon Grand Mufti Mohammed Qabbani adresses [sic] the Lebanese

The head of the government, PMoron Saniora will discuss this with a Saudi newspaper, but only months from now. For now, the guy on TV in the middle of the crisis is, TADA: the Sunni MUFTI of the Banana Republic.

8:46 Hizbullah has become an armed force aims at occupying Beirut, Qabbani said
News to the downtown businesses that have been occupied for over a year now.

8:47 Qabbani warned Hizbullah against attacking the Lebanese civilians and hegemony over the Lebanese state and governmental institutions
OK but do the army and the government have a position on attacking civilians and property?

8:48 Hizbullah is trying to overpower Lebanon, Qabbani added
8:50 Lebanese Sunna are fed up with Hizbullah practices, Grand Mufti Qabbani said

Sunna fed up but here’s the big mystery: what do Armenian-Orthodox, Greek-Catholics and Bahais think of Hezbo practices? I wonder.

8:51 Qabbani called on Hizbullah leaders to pull their armed men out of Beirut's streets and its central district.
I am with Qabbani on that one, but what is the view of the security officers and ministers, or the PM, here? Still too early for a curfew or state of emergency?

And the night is young, but here is the PRIMARY reason for this post:


7:40pm March 14 forces asked Arab League and UNSC tp [sic} provide Arab-International protection for the Lebanese government and civilians against Hizbullah-led opposition’s armed groups
If this is true, and M14 is the government, could it be that the clueless bunch has figured out that the institutions of state are NOT working, contrary to Saniora’s Independence Day claim?

What does General Suleiman say about his guaranty that the army is willing and able to keep the peace?

And finally, if Hezbo leaders and allies are attacking the state and the people, isn’t it time to put their names on the wanted list and to stop calling them "resistance"?

16 Comments:

  • At 5/7/08, 5:35 PM, Blogger Marillionlb said…

    JW,
    Wlek (excuse my French)what do you expect from a bunch of cowards? Saniora could not even come with the decision to ask for a curfew, let alone a state of emergency.
    We have yet o her any comment from the army command as to what has happened; but we still want to APPOINT Michel Suleiman president.

     
  • At 5/7/08, 6:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have nothing much to add that you haven't already said. It's sickening. Yeah, I'd like to hear Michel Suleiman and his assurances that the army is ready to defend us from Israel...hah!

    Seriously, all these incompetent fucks and traitors need to be lined up against a wall and executed by firing squad.

    I know people hate to hear this, with all the PC-democracy claptrap. But Lebanon is ready for some kind of temporary military rule or somesuch. Someone needs to wipe the floor with all these asshats. Demonstrations need to be banned. Curfews need to be instated. People breaking the law, any law, should be shot on sight. It's the only way this godforsaken population is going to learn how to behave.

     
  • At 5/7/08, 6:30 PM, Blogger Marillionlb said…

    BV,
    I would volunteer to be part of the firing squad !

     
  • At 5/7/08, 8:32 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    Guys I agree,

    and I would pay MONEY to be on the firing squad.

     
  • At 5/8/08, 3:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    talk talk talk. That's all what these people know.

    You can't blame a dog for barking so I don't blame Hezbollah for the current problems. I blame those spineless March 14 leaders, for their pusillanimity and their lack of for sight. What is happening know is so predictable, I feel that I could have written the scenario 3 years ago.

     
  • At 5/8/08, 5:28 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    Good to hear from u Vox,

    Yep most of us actually wrote the scenario years ago, on this blog and elsewhere.

    For some reason, we're not making any converts in any significant numbers.

     
  • At 5/9/08, 9:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Partition NOW, partition ALWAYS...
    Allah yer7am Emile Eddé w Robert De Caix.

     
  • At 5/9/08, 1:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You seem to be one of the only guys who "gets it" fully, JW.

    I find myself agreeing with you on pretty much every comment (Partition, M14 cmoplete failure, the idiocy of those who think M14 has a plan)...

    As you put it in the above comment: "For some reason, we're not making any converts in any significant numbers."

    People have an amazing ability to delude themselves, apparently.

     
  • At 5/9/08, 2:17 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    Thanks BV,

    Now that Lou Harfouche (welcome back) has commented here, you have on this here one page the only 4 people who agree with me/us.

    OK , maybe there's another 2 over at AK's but that's it.

     
  • At 5/9/08, 2:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I've noticed this about the Lebanese in general. There is a tendency to want to live in a fantasy world of dellusions and denial, rather than face reality.

    Not to get into mass psychology here, but to me, it seems like a direct result of trauma (years of war and anxiety). It's basically the same catatonic reaction you see at the individual level on people who have been victims of rape, sexual abuse, or physical abuse at home. A lot of "Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine. It was just a small misunderstanding." that sort of thing.

    I see that on a larger scale in the Lebanese psyche. People on all sides refuse to actually accept that Lebanon is a complete failure. They're so desperate to refute that assertion that they will cling to all sorts of bizarre fantasies. I still can't believe people actually honestly believe that M14 did all this as a "gotcha!" to provide some kind of justification to the UN/US/whoever to come help take out HA....I mean, talk about fantasies! I'm pretty sure the Lord of the Rings has more chance of being real than that scenario. Hah!

    I'll tell you one thing. I, for one, have absolutely no shame in admitting, quite openly (as politically incorrect as it may sound) that I am ashamed of being Lebanese, and that i wish i had been born in some other country.
    I have absolutely no regrets about having left that shithole, and have no intention of ever going back.

    (Sorry for the rant, but I need to vent!)

     
  • At 5/9/08, 2:33 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    Be my guest BV. ;)

     
  • At 5/9/08, 5:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'd hate to say I abdicated first,t BV ;) but I've always tried to be PD (politically direct, ha) rather than PC.. and I signed off about 6 months ago.

    To his credit, smelly Nasrallah is a good student of Lebanese huckstering and placating the loudmouthed and thugs. It doesn't take a genius to see that a crybaby government that still grovels and gives murderers, bullies, traitors and their foreign puppeteers the benefit of the doubt deserves to go down.

    What Saniora and his goons don't understand is what's been said many times here and elsewhere: in a predatory ME, you cannot "speak softly" if you don't "carry a big stick"...

    I say good day and good riddance.
    and in the words of a famous dead Lebanese, "sittiin siné w sab3iin yom 3laykun w 3ala hal 2adiyyé".. afterall, people get what they deserve in life; and what they deserve is often a function of their efforts.

     
  • At 5/10/08, 2:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You are critisizing the news, because you're getting misinformed wording...

    With all respect to Al Nahar, the Tueni family, in which I adamantly favor and respect, Naharnet's choice of wording and titles are Biased towards the government.

     
  • At 5/10/08, 4:02 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    inner

    So what? What is your point? All outlets are biased and we know the side of the bias.


    I am biased to the M14 side though I criticize them all the time.

    Nahar is reporting here facts and statements that are beyond doubt.

     
  • At 5/13/08, 4:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    yalla jw... it's been a week almost. with everyhting going on how can u not post them faster. i c a statelss/civil war situation in the making. or are we in it already? oh i forgot the army is playing its role now. so we are safe? why doesn't suleiman take over the serail? all the ingredients for a military takeover are there. what's the hold? ha stamp of approval?

     
  • At 5/14/08, 11:17 AM, Blogger Joel Rosenberg said…

    Maybe, Josey, it's time you reconsider your nomenclature -- the people fighting against the Hezbollah Syria/Iran catamites (few though they are) are the resistance in Lebanon.

     

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