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“Bashar ilal iyada wa Maher ilal kiyada”

In Syria, they shout: “Bachar to the Asylum and Maher to the Leadership”… Such is the new battle cry in many “pro-Regime” villages… Now that we’re smack into a Syrian civil war, expect more radicalism. You can’t choose your camp; it’s been done for you, at your birth.

Lest we forget, the armed gangs on both sides of this conflict were both happily shooting us down in Lebanon… When they left, they learned all the wrong lessons from us, and left with all our defects, and without our (legendary) sense of humour… This will leave the Syrians with no “exit strategy” from their civil war, unless they get really lucky. At this rate, the new borders will be drawn in blood, with hardly a way back. And if you think you can stay in the middle of this road to hell, remember that;

“In the middle, there’s a Yellow line and a dead Armadillo”

As for the other players in this conflict, the fire you’re dousing will burn you. Let me just say this. For Turkey, remember the Kurds? And the Armenians? As for Qatar, you’d like to think otherwise, but size does matter… As for Iran, maybe you guys ought to look closer to home, without resorting to Photoshop; maybe Iran tunest, after all.

As for us in Lebanon, expect more radicalization of the “pro Syrians” as well… And more paranoia. They forget that others have bee there before, with bad consequences. And they will keep digging themselves into that hole. No one told them “you cannot fight geography”, I guess.

Not sure, yet, what the way out is for them. Their current crop of leaders left no obvious alternatives; Hezb and Amal have really cornered the Shiite political “market”, leaving no alternatives… Till Iran’s money runs out. Then, maybe others, like the (few remaining) communists, pose a credible challenge to them.

Till then, we’re condemned to keep on repeating and un-learning Ibn-Khaldun’s lessons.