Lebanese Hypocrisy

Recently watched an old interview of Bachir Gemayel back when he was president and he spoke about alliances and issues with other countries which was really just a strange telling of how the Lebanese government has been acting today and how Lebanese are now more strongly divided in views on their country's future.

Check out the video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lvCiEI4g0xk

Talk about straddling the fence. This guy talked about a united [sic] Christian front but wasnt even open to dialog with its opposition. (Even if you cant negotiate with barbarians[sic] doesnt mean it's right to forego diplomacy).

The sad thing is Christians in Lebanon seem to be just as f-ed as the extremist Muslim supporters of Hezbollah because they are just as prejudiced. Listen to Gemayel and tell me that's not how some Christian Lebanese feel these days. The Christians want the Muslims out but they've been outnumbered and overshadowed since ohh... the 1970's? and they dont speak out or do enough to make a difference. They just want to be left alone in the mountains. Even Aoun has become a strange bedfellow with the Muslim constituency because of his odd alliance with Hezbollah. Muslims want unity but they want it in a militant way. And what about prejudice among Arabs in general? Let's put more salt on that wound. It's no secret that male chauvinism and bigotry still exists here. This cant be the Paris of the Middle East. No wonder prosperity wouldnt last. Too many divisions and despise of diversity eventually killed the fire.

It doesnt really seem to matter anymore that a small minority truly want peace and prosperity for Lebanon. All this tells me is that prejudice is always going to be at the heart of it and the more Lebanese try to weed each other out (and the people who try to help them), the smaller their voice gets.

So recently another anti Syrian politician was assassinated. People are restless and scared about the recent violent incident. Locals are once again fearing they have to leave their country. Let's see where shall they go... the U.S., Canada, anywhere else but where they should really be.. their own country. How ironic is it that they speak vehemently against the violence one minute and then say they're leaving the next. I especially love the part when the U.S. gets blamed again by those who've left Lebanon and are currently living in parts of America that have embraced diversity better than their own Christian neighborhood. I'm not hating. Really I'm not. Just tired of the same cyclical hypocrisy.

Can't wait to see what happens in the upcoming elections.

This is not Islam

Zawahiri is seriously pushing bad karma on the Muslim faith if he thinks extremist claims like this are imminent.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/04/zawahiri.video/index.html

Al Qaeda's No. 2 says end of West imminent, video shows
Story Highlights
Ayman al-Zawahiri appears in videotape Wednesday similar to "fireside chat"
He says that the "enemy" is trying to forestall the inevitable
He urges Muslims across the globe to fight the West
(CNN)-- In a newly released videotaped message similar to a "fireside chat," al Qaeda's second-in-command issues advice and directives for the Muslim world, terrorism expert Laura Mansfield said Wednesday.
In the one-hour, 34-minute video, titled "The Advice of One Concerned," Ayman al-Zawahiri includes clips from other videos and news broadcasts, including one from al-Furqan, the video production arm of the Islamic State of Iraq, according to Mansfield, who obtained the video.
Al-Zawahiri says in the message that the defeat of the West is imminent, and that "the enemy" is trying to forestall the inevitable, Mansfield said.
"The good omens of the new dawn of victory have begun to loom on the horizon, with Allah's permission and will," he says.
"And the stage preceding victory is normally, in the history of nations, the stage in which there is most seen an increase in conspiracies, plots and inciting of discord in an attempt by the enemy, who has begun to see his defeat approach, to push back and delay the defeat as much as he can."
Al-Zawahiri does not reference the recent terrorism incidents in the United Kingdom in the video.
Mansfield said it appears to be more of a "state of the ummah [community]" style of address "intended to try and provide advice to the Muslim world in a manner similar to the 'fireside chat.' "
Al-Zawahiri advises people in Iraq and the Palestinian territory, Mansfield said, and renews his call for young men to join the jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Included is a video clip of the late Sheikh Abdullah Azzam -- an extremist in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation -- reminding Muslims that jihad is their responsibility.
Al-Zawahiri also rebukes Fatah for battling Hamas in the Palestinian territory, telling party members to "return to your religion, your Islam, your honor and your Arabness."
Last month, al-Zawahiri, in an audiotaped message posted on several Islamist Web sites, voiced his support for Hamas leaders who maintain control of Gaza after a split with Fatah, a more moderate Palestinian faction.
"We say to you, now that you are in control of Gaza, you should remember two things: One is that being in power is not a goal in itself, but the goal is, rather, to implement the rule of Allah," al-Zawahiri said in that audiotape, according to a CNN translation.
"Two, this control is incomplete and unstable, for the [Israeli] plans are being made to invade Gaza. Unite with your mujahedeen brothers in Palestine and do not stir up problems with them.
"Unite your ranks with all of the mujahedeen in the world for the upcoming battle [of Gaza] that I expect the Egyptians and Saudis to participate in."
The audiotaped message was a reversal of al-Zawahiri's previous criticism of Hamas, issued after its leaders agreed to form a unity government with Fatah leaders.
Hamas fighters wrested control of Gaza from Fatah security forces two weeks ago, prompting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, based in the West Bank, to replace the Hamas leadership with an emergency government.
Since then, the United States, the European Union and Israel have agreed to release funds to the new Palestinian government. The money had been frozen after Hamas won legislative elections last year.
All AboutAyman al-Zawahiri



Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/04/zawahiri.video/index.html

Who Wants Peace?

I do. But obviously it would take a miracle for the entire world to experience peace at the same time. It's all relative.
And for the Middle East, let's just say at this point it's just not going to happen for a while.
I firmly believe that if someone wants something so bad, they'll find the strength and the courage within themselves to achieve it even if it means having to put up or shut up.
We all know the conflicts in the Middle East open up huge (HUGE) cans of worms and it appears that each time a country steps up to get involved whether to help or attempt to forge resources for economic or political reasons, it never achieves anything relatively positive. Everyone is always viewed from an extremist point of view. Seems like a majority of Arabs today feel like they've been served up an eternal lemon of life and they do not want to make lemonade. They just want to kill anyone who comes in their way. It feels like pages from the bible have been exhumed and reenacted into history again. I mean come one already.
Take this recent editorial from Shimon Peres. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/06/08/2003364361
Good, rational commentary. (I couldn't agree more on the part about Iran's motives to increase influence in the Middle East. ) But I bet if a non-Jewish Arab or Anti Israel were to comment, this piece would get reamed. It's like a dead-end marriage. Constant bickering and no one comes close to an amicable agreement. The goal towards peace is gone. Point is, biases are starting to build up. Even I find myself these days fighting to suppress opinions that border on prejudice against Arabs because the hardcore ones have so strongly built their own bigoted views on Americans. I'm not perfect but at least I make an effort not to act on them. All this madness about how the U.S. has been getting unnecessarily involved in the Middle East may be true but I think it's secondary to the real reason that alot of Arabs are blinding themselves with old grudges. And don't get me to elaborate further on sectarian conflicts. That's a whole other blog entry to struggle with. The frightening conclusion is that achieving peace seems to mean an entirely different thing in the Middle East.

300

Iran is angry. Again. At Hollywood, at the U.S, at anyone. This is a movie people. If anything shouldnt they be angry with the Greeks who came out looking noble in this depiction of the battle at Thermopylae? It's not the point. This is a movie. But I suppose anything to point fingers at the U.S. ... Here's a thought. You dont like it? Dont watch it. Tell your other friends. And let them make their own decision. It's called freedom of speech.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17599641/?GT1=9145

Obvious viewpoints that dont get enough press

-Religious propaganda in the Middle East has long gone out of control.
-Iran and Syria are Hezbollah's puppet masters.
-Syria is involved in Lebanon's political turmoil.
-Lebanon is just as involved and responsible for its own political turmoil.
-Conflicts in Lebanon are largely about ethnic origin, not just land.
-Lebanon is likely to turn into a Shia Muslim majority constituency.
-Iraq is in a state of civil war.
-Lebanon could revert back to civil war if the people dont take responsibility for their own weaknesses in establishing a more cohesive message.
-U.S.'s level of involvement in Iraq could have been executed differently but now that they're in deep, there's no turning back.
-Many people criticizing the U.S. for their involvement in the Middle East, are from the Middle East and comfortably living in the U.S.
-While Iran criticizes the U.S. for its 'Western' culture, lack of religion and political agenda in the Middle East, many of its own people are suffering from secular and gender discrimination and are cloaked in secrecy over their own involvement with countries like Lebanon and Syria.