Hassan Nasrallah and his allies just sat down and refused to budge. They resisted the almost hurricane-force winds that were swirling around them. Today, those winds have ebbed... they've been replaced by utter stillness. Hassan is still there sitting down... with a big smile on his face. And all he had to do was sit!
Now we're back. Nasrallah is the new center of gravity of lebanese politics. nothing can get done without the approval of this new gatekeeper. we are all stuck. held on a tight leash.
I hope for something drastic to happen at the international and/or regional level. I hope it is not too late.
"Those Lebanese need to be delegated to Damascus. They're too difficult to deal with."
In the early 90s the first Bush Admin. paid his despicableness, Hafez, with coveted Lebanese soil for Arab cover of the first Gulf War. I am sure the Gulfies (and maybe even Americans) are thinking along similar lines today: "hey, ditch the Iranians, and we'll give you Lebanon." What a disaster!!!
Why am I so distressed?
- The US appears to have no options against the Nuclear Mullahs of Tehran.
- The Arabs...
- The Syrians are reportedly "cautiously optimistic" about the situation in Lebanon
- Karami, Franjieh and other Syrian lizards are starting to walk around like peacocks
- "The Opposition" is for all intents and purposes a non-entity
- Hariri appears to have forgotten that his father was murdered (and by whom)
Are there any more reasons for me to list?
3 comments:
So you are what one might call more American than the Americans.
Cynic
Sorry Raja, but I get the feeling you're being too much of a drama-queen here. In case you missed it:
1- Iran is a few years, perhaps even an entire decade, away from developing a nuclear weapon. Plenty of time left for diplomacy and for egging on an internal "revolution."
2- America has long since given up on Syria and on the prospects of rehabilitating that midget player into joining the "Peace train." The US has been trying to cajole Syria into a middle east conflict resolution for close to 20 years. The Assadocracy has been stonewalling for equally as long. As far as this Bush administration is concerned, Syria is an irrelevant non-entity, and the region is going forward with tectonic changes with or without Assad.
3- The world of today is different from the one Bush Senior was dealing with. Islamo-fascism is on the rise, and America must make room for that contingency. Massaging Iran's feelings and bending over backwards for Syria no longer makes sense.
3- Things might not be moving as quickly as we might have hoped in Lebanon. But thirty years of occupation and cultural, political, and psychological atrophy cannot be undone with wave of a wand. The de-Nazification of Europe took more than a decade (and this was Europe, not the superstitious paranoiac Middle East) and under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of American boots, administrators, diplomats, and Marshall plans, ON THE GROUND! Russia is still dealing with the psycho-sociological remnants of the Soviet era; weeding out its gorillas might take years. Lebanon is no different. Slowly, but surely, we WILL move on and put that dark era behind us.
"Ce qui m'étonne dit Dieu, c'est l'espérence, et je n'en reviens pas!" said Charles Péguy once.
Raja,
Your history is a bit off.
America didn't sell out Lebanon in a bargain over Iraq in 1990.
Everyone in Lebanon loves to claim the victim here, but let's not forget that everyone in the country - every damn warlord and political faction except Aoun - pushed for Syrian invasion to end the war and implement Taef. Even Geagea was on board. Salim al Hoss made the big push in DC.
Syrian support did not come about through some backroom bargaining over Lebanon. Syria had the choice to either offend the entire Gulf, offend the US right when Russia was falling apart, and provide cover for an enemy.
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