Off Blogging for a While

Thanks to all my readers. I don't know when I'll be back.

Stay well, one and all.

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"?

Michel Suleiman-Bashar Assad Lovefest

From Naharnet (April 30, 2008):

Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman has spoken to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by telephone to thank him for his supportive stance, local media said Wednesday.

Allo Hayati? Supportive of what? His blocked (by Syria) bid for the presidency? I guess it’s always good to kiss up to Bashar if you want a political future in Lebanon, or even if you just want to live if you happen to be a high ranking official living next to your lovely neighbor.

Assad, in an interview with Qatar's Al Watan newspaper last week, praised Suleiman, describing him as a "good" person.

Thanks Bashar, we all know you are the final arbiter of good and evil in the region. I hope Michel-Sally-Fields is happy: “they like you Micho, they really like you!”

"This is Syria's point of view (regarding Suleiman). It is also the (Lebanese) opposition's point of view," Assad said.

Syria does not meddle in Lebanese affairs. It does however have a point of view on the presidential election (and everything else Lebanese) and speaks for the independent opposition. It’s one of those Zen-middle-eastern things, like the sound of one hand clapping, that only Hassan Nasrallah and his useful idiot Michel Aoun understand.

Here’s the best part:

Suleiman also thanked Assad for going back on his decision to receive Lebanese army officers for military training [in Syria].

You see, Lebanon stopped sending officers for, ahem hem, “training” in Syria after the assassination of PM Hariri. We all should be very thankful now because our officers were missing out on important military lessons: how to defend impregnable positions like the Golan, or how to shoot down dastardly enemy planes bombing innocent North Korean facilities.

And lastly, another cliche straight out of 1984 and good old Soviet era Newspeak:

Suleiman and Assad also discussed "ways of coordination and cooperation" between the two armies.

Haven’t we had enough “coordination and cooperation” during the 30-year invasion of Lebanon by Syria? How about a little break from all that cuddling? And how about calling things by their real name like: “infiltration and endoctrination”?


PS In the meantime, that impotent master of the obvious and of the lame, Pat Sfeir, was telling us, well, the obvious and the lame, yet again.