NewsTrust - Lebanon - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

James Zogby: Unhelpful Provocations

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By James Zogby - Oct. 16 - In "Arab Voices" I describe Lebanon as "a tinderbox, with too many groups still playing with matches". Iranian President Ahmadinejad's visit to that dear but...

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Right Wing Thought Police - An Analysis

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Lawrence Davidson - Jul. 10 (Opinion) - Lawrence Davidson writes: 'The American right wing is achieving its long-term goal of becoming the nation's thought police. They are realizing this goal through the timeless practices of extremists (be they on the right or the left, religious or secular), which are intimidation, slander and harassment.' Lawrence Davidson, Reader Supported News

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Saudi Arabia: A Player in Middle East Elections

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jamal Dajani - Jun. 12 (Opinion) - It is a contradiction to mention Saudi Arabia (an absolute monarchy) and elections in the same sentence; however, no country in the Middle East, as of late, has been more invested in this democratic process than Saudi Arabia. For the record, election is part of the democratic process; Saudi Arabia is not.

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Contrary to popular belief, things are looking up

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

sharqawsatee.wordpress.com - By Stephen Dockery - Jun. 12 (Editorial) - There is this conclusion that has been added on to numerous analysis pieces that says the next phase of politics of prime minister and cabinet making will plunge Lebanon into instability. Its the violence refrain, we heard it before the elections and now we hear it again Its the “hey this is Lebanon, people are bound to start shooting” line. Well frankly I don’t see it.

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Lebanon: Terrorist attack in Tripoli

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Global Voices - By Moussa Bashir - Aug. 13 (Opinion) - A terrorist explosion killed 11 people, including nine soldiers, and wounded 30 others in Tripoli, Lebanon. Moussa Bashir gathers the Lebanese bloggers first reactions to the tragedy

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'Prolonged Crisis' in Lebanon Reflects 'Cold War' in Region

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman, Michael Young - May. 13 (Interview) - Hezbollah's latest efforts to show off its military power may spawn genuine hatred between Shiites and Sunnis in Lebanon. "Things could get a lot worse before they get better," Young says.

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Lebanon's Third Civil War

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Commentary Magazine - By Michael J. Totten - May. 11 (Opinion) - With Iranian money and weapons, Hezbollah has built its own state-within-a-state in South Lebanon and South Beirut which is used as a base to wage war against Israel. Hezbollah also wishes to violently yank Lebanon from its current pro-Western alignment into the Syrian-Iranian axis. Roughly one-fourth of the population supports this agenda. No country on earth can withstand that kind of geopolitical tectonic pressure. For more than a year members of Hezbollah have tried unsuccessfully to topple the elected government with a minimal use of force, but their patience is at an end and they have turned to war.

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Lebanon: Strike Gone Sour

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Global Voices - By Moussa Bashir - May. 08 (Opinion) - May 7 should have been a day for general strike and demonstration to contest the Lebanese government's economic policies, price rise and low wages. The situation quickly erupted into street fights between political factions and here's a review of what bloggers had to say about the escalating crisis.

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Noam Chomsky, Terrorists Wanted the World Over

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Tomdispatch.com - By Tom Engelhardt, Noam Chomsky - Feb. 26 (Opinion) - On February 13, Imad Moughniyeh, a senior commander of Hizbollah, was assassinated in Damascus. "The world is a better place without this man in it," State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said: "one way or the other he was brought to justice." Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell added that Moughniyeh has been "responsible for more deaths of Americans and Israelis than any other terrorist with the exception of Osama bin Laden." Joy was unconstrained in Israel too, as "one of the U.S. and Israel's most wanted men" was brought to justice, the London Financial Times reported. Under the heading, "A militant wanted the world over," an accompanying story reported that he was "superseded on the most-wanted list by Osama bin Laden" after 9/11 and so ranked only second among "the most wanted militants in the world." The terminology is accurate enough, according to the rules of Anglo-American discourse, which defines "the world" as the political class in Washington and London (and whoever happens to agree with them on specific matters).

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No Exit

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

NOW Lebanon - By Iman Azzi - Dec. 23 (Comment) - Lebanon views Iraqis who enter illegally or who overstay their visas as illegal immigrants, regardless of their intent to seek asylum. Of the approximately 530 Iraqis in Lebanese jails, most are there for overstaying their visas, but they are being jailed alongside ordinary criminals.

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Jenin comes to Lebanon. So where is the outcry?

Tue, 29 May 2007 06:15:16 -0700

Canada.com - By Jonathan Kay - May. 29 (Opinion) - For years, we have been told that Palestinian suffering and "humiliation" is at the root of the Middle East conflict, as well as the Western-Muslim clash of civilizations more generally. This is nonsense: The 200,000-plus Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanese camps are treated worse than dogs -- with no access to decent schools or good jobs -- and no one in the Arab world cares a whit. In fact, many Arabs seem to embrace the same blind anti-Palestinian hatred of which Israel is typically accused. When Lebanese armoured personnel carriers rolled through Tripoli on May 20, they got a standing ovation from local residents. "We wish the government would destroy the whole camp and the rest of the camps," one local told The New York Times. "Nothing good comes out of the Palestinians."

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Another Bloodbath in Lebanon?

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:16:13 -0800

Information Clearing House - By Mike Whitney - Dec. 05 (Opinion) - When Hezbollah puts a million people on the streets of Beirut, it doesn't appear on the front page of the New York Times. That spot is reserved for Bush's "made-in-Washington" extravaganzas like the Cedar, Orange or Rose revolutions. Those bogus revolutions were cooked up in American think tanks and engineered by US NGOs; that's why they got headline coverage in the Times. The Beirut demonstrations don't promote the political agenda of the America's ruling elite, so they're stuck on page 8 where they'll be ignored.

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Foreign Policy Watch: Lebanon

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 00:24:17 -0800

Foreign Policy Watch - By Jeb Koogler - Dec. 05 (Opinion) - As I quipped last night, the poor press coverage of the protests in Lebanon is a shame. Thousands of protesters have been camped out in Beirut for the past few days and newspapers and tv channels have aired little discussion as to what exactly they are demanding or why they are demanding it. In the Western press, the Hezbollah-backed demonstrators have been largely disregarded as ignorant pawns of Iran and Syria. But such labels dangerously oversimplify the issues at hand and ignore the grievances of a large part of the Lebanese population.

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Hezbollah's ‘victory’

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:54:36 -0700

Jewish World Review - By Charles Krauthammer - Sep. 01 (Opinion) - So much for the "strategic and historic victory" Nasrallah had claimed less than two weeks earlier. What real victor declares that, had he known, he would not have started the war that ended in triumph? Nasrallah's admission, vastly underplayed in the West, makes clear what the Lebanese already knew. Hezbollah may have won the propaganda war, but on the ground it lost. Badly.

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How Washington Goaded Israel to Invade Lebanon

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 19:57:42 -0700

Common Dreams - By Stephen Zunes - Aug. 19 (Opinion) - There is increasing evidence that Israel instigated a disastrous war on Lebanon largely at the behest of the United States. The Bush administration was set on crippling Hezbollah, the radical Shiite political movement that maintains a sizable block of seats in the Lebanese parliament. Taking advantage of the country’s democratic opening after the forced departure of Syrian troops last year, Hezbollah defied U.S. efforts to democratize the region on American terms. The populist party’s unwillingness to disarm its militia as required by UN resolution -- and the inability of the pro-Western Lebanese government to force them to do so -- led the Bush administration to push Israel to take military action.

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Bush, Islamic Fascism and the Christians of Jounieh

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:19:47 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Aug. 08 (Opinion) - Bush is on vacation, his favorite place to be during a major crisis. The August retreat is the only open admission he makes that Cheney and Rumsfeld are actually running the country, and he just doesn't need to be in his office. The only difference between his stonewalling of Lebanon and the way he let New Orleans drown is that he has put away the banjo this summer, at least in public view. He had someone tie a necktie on him and stopped manically clearing brush for long enough to come out with Condi and hold a press conference. He lied, saying that no one wants to see the violence continue. He wants to see the violence continue. Otherwise he would insist on a ceasefire. You see, if you don't have a ceasefire, the violence continues. If you oppose a ceasefire, you are saying you want the violence to continue. He does.

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Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 23:16:08 -0700

Little Green Footballs - By Charles Johnson - Aug. 05 (Opinion) - OK, now things are getting weird. This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop “clone” tool to add more smoke to the image. (Hat tip: Mike.) It’s so incredibly obvious, it reminds me of the faked CBS memos. Smoke simply does not contain repeating symmetrical patterns like this, and you can see the repetition in both plumes of smoke. There’s really no question about it. But it’s not only the plumes of smoke that were “enhanced.” There are also cloned buildings. (See below.)

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Qana Massacre

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Baghdad Burning - By Riverbend - Jul. 30 (Opinion) - Although the sun is blinding this time of year in our part of the world, the Middle East is seeing some of its darkest days... I woke up this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction on the television and for the briefest of moments, I thought it was footage of Iraq. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually Qana in Lebanon. The latest village to see Israeli air strikes. The images were beyond gruesome- body parts and corpses being hauled out from under tons of debris. Wailing relatives and friends, searching for loved onesï¿½ So far, according to humanitarian organizations, 34 were children.

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Qana II: The Grapes of Hatred

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 17:59:22 -0700

Lebanese Political Journal - By Cedar-Guardian - Jul. 30 (Opinion) - As i am posting this, the UN Security Council is meeting again in order to discuss the latest escalations in Lebanon, mainly the unjustified attacks of the Israeli army against Civilians in the village of Qana in South Lebanon. Around 37 out of the 60 killed in Qana are innocent children. Such an atrocious agression is not new to Qana and to its inhabitants. Ten years ago, Qana had witnessed a similar bloody event which was labelled "The Grapes of Anger".

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Israeli cabinet: sleep tight, Assad

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 13:40:19 -0700

From Beirut to the Beltway - By Abu Kais W. - Jul. 27 (Opinion) - The reason for these concerns: The Syrian military has been put on high alert. Many in Lebanon know that the Assad regime is incapable of waging more than proxy wars through suicide attacks and political assassinations (and massacring its own people). These Israeli concerns about the Syrian military joining the fight are a joke, to say the least. What's even more pathetic is that they are "exhausted" after fighting Hizbullah in two villages for a week. Back to your planes folks, bomb Lebanon into oblivion. Who cares about Lebanese civilians, just don't piss off Assad.

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Israel to restrict operation to south

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 21:58:26 -0700

From Beirut to the Beltway - By Abu Kais W. - Jul. 25 (Opinion) - There have been reports in the Lebanese media (An-Nahar, Monday's edition) about Israel allegedly reining in its war machine by focusing its military operation on areas close to border. An AP report today seems to confirm this.

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Lost and Found in Lebanon

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 14:32:38 -0700

From Beirut to the Beltway - By Abu Kais W. - Jul. 01 (Opinion) - Found: Human remains belonging to slain journalist Gebran Tueni and bodyguards, forgotten by security agencies at scene of crime, accidentally recovered by foreign investigators months later, sent to family some six months after first burial Found: Famous Lebanese composer’s car, stolen by thieves posing as military intelligence, recovered by real military intelligence in swift raid on Bekaa village harboring thieves and smugglers on route to Syria and other countries.

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