Wednesday, August 02, 2006

In Walid Jumblatt's Words

The Financial Times ran a story today about Lebanon based on an interview they conducted with Walid Jumblatt, one of the more prominent leaders of Lebanon's Cedar Revolution. I'd like to thank Lebanonwire for bringing the story to my attention.

Here is a selection of what I thought to be the most important sections of a very bleak outlook for Lebanon's future:
...the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas had dealt a fatal blow to Lebanese hopes of a strong independent state, free of Iranian and Syrian influence.

[Walid Jumblatt] accused [Hizballah] of working to an Iranian and Syrian timetable when it kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on July 12, triggering a devastating Israeli retaliation.

But he said that like many Lebanese he had to support the Shia movement in its resistance against “brutal Israeli aggression”....

“After the 12 July, Lebanon is now unfortunately being entrenched solidly into the Syrian-Iranian axis,” he said. “The hopes of a stable, prosperous Lebanon where we could attract investments is over for now. It is a fatal blow for confidence.”

...

Last year [Jumblatt] emerged as one of the Syrian regime’s fiercest opponents in an alliance of groups that came together following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and led a coalition government following the elections.

At that time, [he] held out hope that a new wave of democratic activism was sweeping the Arab world.

But on Tuesday he offered a bleak and outspoken assessment of the prospects for Lebanon.

He said among Syrian-backed politicians there was already talk of forming an emergency government to replace Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s coalition. He said he feared that an “organised mob” might be used to force the government’s resignation.

There was also little prospect that Hizbollah, having emerged as a champion in the Arab and Muslim world, would be willing now to incorporate its armed wing under the Lebanese state apparatus....

...

“We will be just a weak state next to a very strong militia. Our government will be like the government of Abu Mazen (Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas) next to Hamas or maybe worse like the government of [Nouri al] Maliki in Iraq.”

“All American policy in the Middle East is at stake,” he continued, “because their failure in Palestine, their failure in Iraq and now this failure in Lebanon will lead to a new Arab world where the so called radical Arabs will profit.

“This is the new Middle East. Not the new Middle East of Ms [US secretary of state Condoleezza] Rice. Darkness everywhere.”


16 comments:

Lirun said...

NO NO NO NO NO!

please dont give up!

lirun
tel-aviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
i believe in you guys!

Baroon said...

His word sound logic , unfortunatly

JoseyWales said...

Not much to disagree with except that this is a Lebanese failure, not a Bush/America/Condi whatever failure. The Lebanese live and have to live there not Bush (yeah I know what Walid meant)

Very sad and sobering. I am very pessimistic.

Lirun said...

its so easy to be pessimistic.. what an easy choice.. requires little imagination/foresight/vision/understanding.. it is such a safe bet.. if you are proven right then you were right and if you were wrong then who cares because everyone shall enjoy the fruit.. what a great risk free way to justify doing nothing positive.. nothing to gain = nothing lose..

well you're wrong.. everything to gain and everything to lose..

this status quo is not sustainable because it breeds political bacteria and rot.. the longer we stay in this twisted reality the more we forget the great things that our civilisations really represent.. and the more we deny ourselves the opportunity to fully materialise the contribution that we are destined to deliver to the family of nations of this world..

and while we stall the more accommodating countries of this planet progress and accumulate and strengthen and we get left further and further behind.. and in our bleak existence where of "have-not"ship the stress of basic needs is magnified and the stress is comparatively larger.. wnd so we bicker about stupid stupid things as we float out of perspective and into a cycle of stupidity..

in this sense not having peace is like having a huge mortgage on your house with a very very punitive interest rate.. you cant stop just stop repayments - because interest will kill you..

our hostilities are like a negative interest force.. they snowball.. we owe it to ourselves to cut them off now..

i believe withmy entire heart that lebanon will be restored and far exceed its recent achievements..

dont underestimate yourselves.. watching your country from the side.. was so inspiring to me..

i look forward to watching you flourish again.. this time for good..

lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
we are just a bunch of ME'ers

CMAR II said...

This is interesting:

* The Lebanese fail to oust a foreign backed militia, leading inevitably to an invasion caused by said militia's adventurism.

* The Palestinians, repeatedly, fail to grasp peace and independence when it was put on the table in front of them.

* The Iraqi Shi'a and Sunni Arabs fail (temporarily, I hope) to pull together patriotically to accept peace and modernity and to rub out recalcitrant Ba'athists and foreign Takfirs among them (the Iraqi Kurds don't seem to have "failed" in that regard).

Yet this is this the failure of those people?? NO. It is the failure of the UNITED STATES!

This reminds me of this recent post.

CMAR II said...

GSH - Observer,

they have a very limited freedom in choice and action since the steps to take are already determined and planed by the USA' policy in the region.

If that were true, then Arafat would have accepted the peace proposal that President Clinton's negociators arranged rather than rejecting it and starting a new intifada.

If that were true, the Lebanese would have invited the US to come in and help them expunge HA from their borders.

If that were true, the Iraqi Sunni Arabs would have laid down their arms and accepted the new democratic Iraq. And the Iraqi Shiya Arabs would have listened to Sistani rather than Al-Sadr.

No. The problem is that those entities rejected US policy for the region. What we have now, is what they chose instead.

Lirun said...

this is bizarre.. you'd would think that hatred was some binding precedent that we all had to comply with.. why are we all subscribing so passionately to failures of the past.. why is it so important for us to assure the continuity of such failures?

its time to change this $%^&

wishing us all peace and safety

lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
note that hatred is optional only

Lirun said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
deVoss said...

This is the fear that many of us have in the West (at least Americans like myself who are not incredibly sympathetic towards Israel). There is no denying that Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian front are using the tragedies of Qana and all other civilian deaths in Lebanon as propaganda to bolster the support of a "common cause" against Israeli aggression. There's also no question that these pro-Syrian elements, backed by Hezbollah, have had and continue to have every intention of dismantling Lebanon's inclusive democracy for one that favors militancy and radicalism. I can't fault decent, normal Lebanese people for siding with what they perceive as the lesser of two evils (Hezbollah). Yet if Hezbollah has their way--the backing of hundreds of thousands of moderate, non-Shia Lebanese and perhaps the tacit support of millions--they will not hesitate to capitalize upon it. This means that all Lebanese will once again be subject to the whims of Syrian hegemons and Nasrallah's agitators from the South. In the (hopefully near) future, Israel will give up this pointless, destructive campaign. Hezbollah will never surrender to Lebanon until the entire nation is sucked into their groupthink of martyrdom and aggression. This might be useful to consider next time you throw your support behind "the Party of God" and not "the People of Lebanon".

Lirun said...

seriously guys.. if this was about the sheba farms.. why did HA not attack syria for claiming its theirs? this is all so twisted..

plan to destroy? what are you a drone?

seriously dude.. its sad.. but no one in israel even thought about lebanon before the war except for the katyushas hailing down - but even that was just seen as a fact of life.. it was called the "quiet border"

israel has never planned to destroy lebanon..

the thing that pisses me off is that the peaceful people are simply that.. they are peaceful and quiet and unheard.. you do not represent your country lebnese liona..

i have learned that your views are not the common take..

i am comforted to know that there are people just like me and my friends that seek peace between our countries..

it'll come no matter what you say - notwithstanding your fears and in spite of your bias..

wishing everyone a safe day

lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
there are a lot of us

egyptianvoltaire said...

To hell with Walid,Nasrallah and all people of defeat and destruction .You are Phoenician,a clever and smart people.How this sonofbitch accumulate all these rockets and ammunitions under own eyes of lebanese people to demolish a state with full equipped army.He is a maniac but the people must be reasonable.I donot blame Israel for anything but I blame Lebanese for their stupidity.Get unite and regain your old glory.What a pity !!

Lirun said...

doha you megastar!! "http://www.smh.com.au/news/TECHNOLOGY/Blogworld-goes-into-hyperdrive-over-Lebanon-conflict/2006/08/03/1154198218406.html"

australia is writing about you..

loli.. dont give up.. these people arent expressing their views - they're just venting..

and even if they think this way - they are the infamous 10% as doha would call it..

wishing peace to all

lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
if sister marlena can do it.. so can we

Lirun said...

loli.. more and more people are participating on my blog.. close to 1000 clicks since i started 2 weeks ago and peace isnt even in vogue right now.. you yourself being a star commentator..

i have faith in what we represent.. i believe that you as a lebanese are doing great service to your people and i stand proudly for mine..

this conflict allowed us to learn of eachother's views and discover we have much more in common than we thought..

once the conflict subsides and war gets kicked off the political catwalk - hopefully the momentum we seek will reveal itself..

we need to make our peace grow.. but yo and i have peace

lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
everyone else can too..

Dry Gin Martini said...

And we all should take the words of Jumblat to heart, because he's such an honest, caring, selfless man.

/shoot myself

Lirun said...

guys what happened.. i thought we understood eachother yesterday

Lirun said...

some guy from lebanon who says he is near qana just emailed me that a bomb was dropped 5 buildings away and he flew in th eair 50 metres.. and his knees are now hurting and he has a scratch on his face..

does this make any sense?

50 metres?