tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-322550692024-03-07T20:06:35.933+02:00Jeha's Nail - مسمار جحاJehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.comBlogger280125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-71651987373740584282018-01-22T14:03:00.004+02:002018-01-22T14:03:59.551+02:00Caracalla's Dunce<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">With news of the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16905464/spyware-lebanon-government-research-dark-caracal-gdgs" target="_blank">antics of Lebanese "government" hackers</a>, one can't help but look back a bit. We're not that organised... something else is at work here. </span></span><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The hackers supposedly </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;">stole hundreds of gigabytes, from thousands of people, and did so all over the planet. The tools appear similar to the Kazakhstan guys, suggesting the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/01/lebanon-hacking-subscription/551009/" target="_blank">same "contractor" was at work</a>...</span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for lebanon old computers in government IT" height="133" 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l2NZ3QVaWw04bnImJ/Yb8Vq+GlafgcePgnSt3oe5RmnZYqF1Wxs4+O/8utdEZLOrre5wzpy4MrPZpiHPcZrxErnmWNc1WV5s9DDU8tGK7gISCp3K5Wb7Qb0bmys3asA7jmZbhWIvRUmtgOEZbosOV58vdRhpA67bG45H48/GuuniFomeZiMDLWSdy7cM4ntpNiGRbnV3b3AsPPr8qOMrLgu3PQjgcM4105KzWtipcTyGTFzMblQxQAW5J3eXqCffXLRhaCPTqzTkKTEnJY+fUgVSy6CXk95D7hvOEwuuOWC41ahsA6NbSdm8QPKo1KWfZ2LQquG44bOIJh2y4YjS/ZNy1MhTVfbqDYjwsKNCnNXpx10uu53/ADzHnJSWaTt/BHiJzqEZhClRqcLbuHRc2/cSyjz9atDROdr30Xfr+Xq+4Elss3r+loKpcLJI2rs9II2F17qDkAb7WHPlzOx6PKLjy2+r9ekNGcepGqArpZXNvtAC1yN773I+zb9m+/RODVvmivD15j8Wn2WzmTAzawQpuDYNbYnmDfqCNgOtvOmjG8bNb8vXmBzV73CIcNIrWC6Q9tNyO61yEHPfS4KfunzqVSlK12tt/lz81r8xo1YX0e/r76fI6jxawI05iayskartdAw1Na/mG9bCuXE0amkG97tvr6VitKrDVoWcS54MRFoihcaipZn0g2XcDYm/PrUqWHnF3Zp4im9Cq/U5Pun5V0ZJdCfFh1H/AAPrTEgEECRWX3gah/y/OoYim3C9ilKrHNa5Fm+RTLNJpjJXUbHbkdx1866KVOc4KSRy1cRRhNxctQWPJMQTYRH4r+dVVCo+RJ4ygldy+5y+TzDmh+I/Og6M1yCsXRf/AGI3y6UGxXf1H50HSknaw6xFNq6ZMcln/wAv5j86bgVOhP3yj+41/g833PmKHAn0D73R6nH+Fy6tOnfwuKHBne1g+80rXudf4RN9z5j86PBn0B73R/cCzwMhswsaSUXF2ZaE4zV4mLQMwJ+ZqT3OhbHsOefRI4bXhpSR91/Dyb86Zz1uTVL4bFPzrhaWDeWNwOpIuPiKrFxkc0uJB9wuy3BaX1odtJ294qtOnaV0Rr1s0Mst7k2GuZ4v4unrTRu6kSdSyoz8BLmf66T941z1O2z0MP8ApR+QODSFDq/OsY6je1FMWUbk43piT0LJgOHPtHv7Xtb58/7vXbDDc3qeXV9oX+Fad4/4M7TtJOzieNQoG4FiSx5fCuDHOWVKKsj0MCoXblJSZQJ8ROzMTquxLH3m+/xplnWha1J66E2CnnEiEhrK6k7dAwP8qMnUaaAlRTvoXHHLLIx7WMSMpddTAq/dY2BZCLiwJ38KpwtnG62221+YW6b0dmRxlrrGLKNSbKLWDOoPMk3IBNybnbwFBTdJNro/oh+HGVlYhnzF/wBK+oksw639ty52PLaMC1VgmnGPd9lb8gcYu+nq/wDR2mZSSAIrd920mwsSnM32tfpzNtvcsnKDzSeiV/H18jKEXolqO4MsCpp1G/P37X9xsf8AUa85+0Kt7p6HR7rT5or808kMjIZGBHIi24PK9hsb7236eG/pxqyrRUl69bHM6UYOxwMwcxmznZjuTb2kvz3+1H/4o3kp2fT7P+GbJG2nr1YlxDlgysbq7FiCAQVblf0bSedxba1Qcs0UnyVvH/VyigovQFgXs/1YCt3QDuSGJt3dRNrbb2v3hvRilz1X48hXCN9hDxBj3OJnIbbtH8OjW/lXNTnLItR50oOT0OcjxrjEQ94/rEHxYD+dCrJuDRoU4qSaQ74wzGZMSVWQgaVNtvAjw8qOGqzVNJMniMNSlPM46iT/ABaf/Nb3bfhV+NU6kPdaP7UabNJjzkO3p+Vbiz6hWGpftI3xshNy5JoOcm73GVGmlZImbNprbyH5flTcafUmsLR5RI/8XlH/ALh+VDjT6j+6Un/1RH/iMmrVra/jS8SV73G93hly20Ojmcn+Y1Hiy6g92p/tRFJOWN2JJ86Vyb3HUFFWSNqRRA7gUnM1F7nQtj6/icHegEkeJW2ZQQfEVjCDNPo9wU51KnZP96Pu/Ecj7xTxqSi9CVSjCasys4/6J5BKkkMq2W9wRYm/LcV0LErMpNeRxSwMsjgpXv1KHnn0W5krM4h7S7H2GU2HQ2JBNRlJSdzrpwlCKj0KbmGUzwG00Mkdtu+jKPcSLGlKagY60TGwKwGSRtaihZK5Zsm4ikVgGGtbW0hb33BFx1FxXZSxEr2Z5WIwMLXjo+89M4MzKOVnbSydQjDkB7/G59CKTHyc6UX3iezqap1px6pbHn2Kwqxu/eW6llsf2WItz8qClc6XG1wea5tuoHgNqdCO1ti9YWJpo1lXSRIFJ7yg6raZRYm9yy2/ioqvCKyt6r0vXcUSd7k+EyqETIsm0hIPSwAvu2/lYCuStUUk8uxVV8k4we7FT5TCxeG67aO9qtYqZFt7J89hy2rubWko768vk+qMnLW5DBw6sJ7QTqpA+8Dz9Y6jOMqqyy+3/kWVRRd19/6CcOjPe2JjFvFk/wCyoe4r9v0f8lPevWn8A2MyETEM06EgW2ZPXey1anTdFWivo/5ElWU3d/dA2IyBY1skoPeuTqXbSjbbDb2qpGLnLXp06td/cI6uVberBOKycewrd8Ku3Ru6NS+Rt+FcMZWblJ6XZvek63BS1tf+iCDJCP0rugWK8pBYajoW67A356V3+7VpTjKDjF6vT+fz5jOsozs+WveUR8rLMSZBckknzO561lR7xHiudg/h3JC2KhXWPbU/6TqP4VOrStB6jwxF2tCw5vw19axcgGIjTQqjveIF7c/OmwmHzU73I4zG8Oply/gAbggi3+9Q/H+tdXun/wAjh/5Vfsfn/RDiOFkW+nEo1uotb050XhVykGPtKTdnTfrwF+MylUUHtVJ8h/WpToqKvc6KWKlOVsjQPHlIddXbKPL+zU+Gmr3KSxTg7ZGcjJh/nL/fvpckeoXjH+xkc2Vqqau1U+QrOMbbjQxLlLLlOospBUN2q79P7NMqSavcEsU1LLkYFjIQjaQwbzFTmsrsdFKeeN7WI1agmO0RGkY59NZLnquoINTTGlGw/wANjwwpxQpZuorGJ48XWMTpiqxiRtDCzAEeBAP41jAcuRYR92w0J9Y0/KsHM+oBmfB2XzRmOTCRWPIqgRl81ZbEGsa75nz/APSBwDNl7l1vLhie7KBut+Sygey3S/I+XKmjLkxZQS1QNlOFjtcCzadtyeo6epFejShHlueFiatS9ntcccPYWf6wpkdRcFbC4J1cvXcCo4qhUqU229tS2ExNCnUUYp66XE/FvDrpjJFBHftIOf2tz/xBq5qMW4LU9CpWSlsLGyKUC5YAe+qqDfMm66SvYsnCWALo8DuAVvLGdz4CQWG52Ab3GoVqMl8SJVKlOrGz0a1TLKmTd0SrIGkQAb6gOZAJ67Db4VDhTvZ7EliKKiqkW3KK9NgePyBw57yjtFBHP220sOv3wOnJ676Eb00/2/bb7fVHX7wnbvX9/f7iHExndTb5/wB3qvYkVTzIB+rP4fMVbix6i5GFRIVXp4k71CUszKJWQRh4tbKh25s/SwNi99/uKg9SajOpki5+X4+t38gqN3Z+Pr5B0uIAV3a6u5ZFIFzoB32uPS9ealslsck6iSlOWkm2k+76fIQ8UTCGFYlJ1zWZrixEanui1za7b/w1WneUr9C+HoKlC/NlRvXQVsWXgLDasQZDyjUm/m3dHy1fCoYiVo2KU1qLczxXaTSSdGYkenIfK1dEFlikc83eVwQy0bgymdpRubKP+D+DcTmUhWEaUX25WvoXy/abyHypWx1E9Lj+hHDIB2uImduugKq+4EE/OluikVc5f6FsK3sTYhT+1oI/5aGYZxSJZPoNwwT/ANTMW/gt8NP861waAb/QjEOWKc+RVa1wNXB3+hJbbYpveooXQcpBL9DbgWGIUj90j+dHODh63uAv9Dc99p0+B/OhmQcrEWXZvJCeZtUjo3LnlHF4IAY0yZNwLJguJvO4o3EcR1BnCm1zRuBIa4fEhuRoDBcUta4LEjYgryo3NYjizC5saFw5DnGqjKySKHjcFWVhdWB5gg8xWuFI8T444FXL74rDl2g6bkmFjyDdSh5Bvcel7Uqqi9TjxNCctFa3MpQ4rnupGm6m4O5IO2/yFdHvc2cq9m0k73Zac/zd8ThUxaAa0HfAvy+2PcRf0JrgpVXTm4PY76mHjOKkmU188kPMD5118V9Dm91j1Y/4WxUl/rFj3HAVYxdnYC533soB3NjztSurm+F2Xexo4WMddS2YTiWVSxjhRG5urgg2uLEA2Gnbp/556sXFK7uuTRKVDhycqUUut/VrHGLzWSRdBZHuXYMAbDYXViOhA/DwrUsQ4Svay9a+BqdKKeXNmu279Ctu5dyBftCe8DcA+LEgWVhbvePMXO1drajHNLs8n+O9dPJnZGLk8sd/Xphgwq23Zr+Q2+ZvXE8ZrotD017NnbVq4HL3G71j9z2iG8CduhHs8yfLn1wkqsbx8e7116d+3BUpypSyzWowhg0IQ50lxdifsrq9n99tybdfSuGvVzytHZfX+lyJVUlFxk7X3fdfb5s7OJ02lkIK8o0VblvADUoJ9anTpOo8sfF9AU02+JN6ckl/KuVDiiB2dpzq7zAFXXSybd0DxXYi/l8elQ4aSun3os3fUQ3oilzQfUsAb7Sz/EAj+S7+rVz/AKlTuRXsw+ZTy9dVyFiXA4OWZwkMbyOeSopY/AULjWPWeDPofJAmzMlRzECMLkf/ANGHL0U38+lByGUT2DL2ghjWKCMRouwVQAB7qW4XFjBJwelEFibasAgmmWsYCmcVgoh7WlsMbFqxrm9ArWNmPmiRKBRA7xkcqFg3JsLmckZ53FYw6wHExvuaILFnyjijvXDe6hcbKXfLc6EgHQ1riuNhmMYORo3FsLc3YxqZU3A3NKysFfQU5hxRfB9qp7wdV+e/ypJS0L06Sz67CHJuNWLMmIAeGQaSD4EaT8ampuLOyWFhUhZbijiX6M0gHb4cvLhiL7EF47/e23X9r4+NenQ4c7JnzGMVei21t9gfhnLxCxRtopB9o/a5fMbEU+JwOaOaO6OPD+1EpZZcxXxLwYuHfYkxubqQdh4ofMfMe+p0VGcddzqrVpwemw34LaKMfVyG1O47M9CzWXS1gbbgb2pK+FUvi8w0cY9mN5csUy6TI2hdXeJBZbX1OCR/w8iNrda7FhYKne2r5cn3f3vfUEsRPNZ2sDyrEIyTeJDzIQ2ceIPMHy5edctbC04zyxd30vqvXpE1xpx+BJRe+m4ChVyWjvoIAVjzYDYi3O40Lz86468XCKg3rfb18z3cDZSzW2RswD73yP8AxeB8q5j1OM+nru6oixA0AN903ufsgbknyuqja53q+H1bj1+pw42WZKVtvL16RDJjBo7RQ0qi5C6NgbkkuxHyHyqkcM8+STS8fsjyVD/s9V0t9WxfLmzBg17hlF2GxseYT7gU3FupG9713Rw0XFrpy/nrf/QzqNO4PxnnSuow63LK13PTbYAeN73rz6VOzuWqTvoCcJZH2h7eUWhj335Mw/6R1+HjTVZtfCtxIJbvYjzF58wxQSCN3Psxoo3sObHw8STy2poU8isCUszPROEvobAIkzJ//oib/wDSQfgvxprjKFz1LCDDYOPRBHHCg6IAL+ZPMnzNK5pFIUXJlbxPGSNL2YO16jxbs7vdMsb8wvKc6WaQqp2U2qilc5qlLKrllWW1Pc52iOXHKvM0biWF02dID7Q+NG5rAq5urNa4oXDYklzML1rARCma3POgNY7OZN4UQHhAWlKEci1jA7LWCRNFWCZE7Kbg0BrloyfiNltqO9KMj0PJc9WdbE7iiK42HOFxQB0PurbeW9DuDbmiicX5UcNaJf1Ujl1PkB7Puv8ACoyunqejQcZxuiqz7e6hudEdCz8J8aSYayP3ojtvvYdfdWjNwYtfDQrLXca8U5LaP65gBrjO7xg/q/Fk/Y8R9n05exhsY7Wep8Z7Q9kxjJu1uugsy3OJJ07DEQXRhYMT8LnmPI0cRQqN8SnE58NiaEI8KrO/QX4rCYrAyJKIjLEjq2oEXFmBswHLla/L05VCM+KrNWZ2ZVT1UtBjmGIxQbtI4dcTglWU6hZuh8COXurvo1oyilLRrvFnHW6enyIM34xjjSL6xAVcEfowASAoIJsT7BuVsbE3PhevMblGq8rT9ffmdappwW6E+H+khe2scOiwWCKtgSgHJzsbk33HhbmRQmsyu+0PRThLfToWt88DDuxJpO+2+q/I3Gx5j1rj4luR6kad0tfl69ZfFlKzni1FxGkKGj3ElrG99rKeRt1PXl0vTxpNrNs+RzVayvlW33DcmzSBkkMAdtNu5YatIFhpW+687nc3uetGpGdSSUml3k4yik7CXC5fJIdxoRAdTEaVRb3Ykn1O1exKrCmr3u/uclm9AjL+G/rEr4ma8cBYsNXdZlvtz9kW6/DxrzXPIsq1ZR66vYNzjMe20YbDJ+juqqqjdzeygDwv0q1Olw1nluck6rqyyx2PRuFMDBlUFpCn1mTeVhuR4Rg/dX5m58K56tZJnrYfBylHQVZ9xyzErDsB18a5pVG9j1aWFhDfUrWIzaaQd9yRU9eZ1RSWyBSm9770y0EnG5YeAJCMUB0YNVIvVHDXj8LLfxLxSkF1G7CrORwKnpdnmGbcWzSk7kDyNa41kivSZ1KTzPxNEVk+D4hlQ31H4miDQc4TOJ5jYMd6wli/5JgjpBYm9ERssA0URTwJJaBY6Y3rGRnZXoBODDWCRlKwTarWCmMMszB4mBU0LBTPQsnzpJhYnelG+RZREk0fYzjUp9luoPQg+NBq+jGjNxd4nl3GuTTYSQKy3iY92Ubh+tj90+XWptW0PQpVFNXF0S3WkLtjvhTiyTBvY3aMncfjaim4u6JVKcKqtLzGHEN4ys+GQvh57sgX7DfajPhbmPL0Ne5gsXKcLb2Phva3spUKrzOyYJl3GcyWRsMxUbG53+Y+RrV6Squ+Vpk8PLgq3EUo9Onj+BqsRcF8KZIC25QGyk+aX29VNclSNWn+pC66+vydtKpQq6U52fT+v4KRnWWYkSl2w4kvzKtrJPiQQD8ulLHFU9rHQ8NPlITY3GqAFbC9nbncWJ+Iqiqx5IV0J9SaHilkiMSrZT+7cA8wrc1B8BWcqbeZx1NGnWUcufQHy/Ek6tOF7QnYWUm3vtQdaK3DwJPmOcsyXEEhhGIT94tZh6Bd/wAKnPF0rWtcMcLUvfMXFs2w8EVpr4iQWsGI0hh10gWFvEkmhCEp6xjlQs5xhpKWZldx3GXbnQYFC+A5fhvXbQ4dPRRu+pwYmnWqaudlySLLkuJSCE49olRt48OthudxJKfTdR/F5VzY7EJu0Uen7D9myu3N39fkpuLzR5pGd2JJN687L1Pq5ySSUdjuN6FhVNEOLxQA2NMosWdVI4wWbhjYggj3i38qZwIqvfQtvAmJBxYCC5KtYDodvlQaasLOalFpjrO+C3bVJNMFvc2H5mqRi+ZyTqxbtE83zbBqjEK+q3WmJsUzC1EU1g4C7hR1oinqXDuUpEoJrCsb5hn0cK7EXphcrZQ8Vxkxc2brWuNlKqklAwUjVghUbVgm3F6xjnsaAyOuwrBsZ2NAJ3BIyG6negwov3B+f9p+jc2PnWQz6ouEgjmQ4fEKHRvH5EHofOs0nowRk4vNE874m4Klwt5IdUsPPUBdl8nA/wCbl6VJwsdtPEqXzKQ82rYULFr3LRwRm4bVgpW7sttBP2JR7B8h0PkTT0aro1FNHPj8IsZQlB78hVmPECxyNG0LK6MVcG1wykgg+hFe575B7I+IXsuqrqUkNcl40hW/axl1tsDp5++neJUl0Ir2fKnK9k/W5zNx1D2+oYYiKw7twdxe5Hh0+FccoUJdqPiehFYmKvGfg9fqGYn6QsKbBcGwHUm1Q92o35+SOjjYi3LzZwePMJb/ANGb/wANb3aj1fl/YOPiekfN/wAEWG+kKEBteDuTstiNvM3/AJVo4ejzT+g0quI5NfUDxXFkEi2aNvTZR8jXZH3WHZgefKnjpy+Kpp3GZlxPgTAUiwQDkAazp2PiOtGVaHJfRBp4Wq7Ju22t2b4GyuPGNYQFY4+9NIBfa+yJbcu3IeG56VCdemo6LU66eCrTqrNP4Sz8R8OZhi3UQ4RkgQBY1LRoFQCwspe428RXltSlLNY+qpVaNCnkUlfmLoPoqzFt9MUdvvyf9ganUZdCcsVT6jGD6LcwI774ceB1Mf8ApFHK+hF4iC2b8id/oelI72JjH8BP/UK2SXcF4mj0bCMF9EkUbBpcUWUc1VQgPqbk0crJvEJ6RiWvLzl+EQrB2aHqRbUT5nmT60UoonJVZbo87474p7QmNG7vlQZWKUUedzTb0UhWwWUk0RBllDBTqNYFiyS8R2WwNY2UqmY5m7k77VjbC41gEiSURdw2OSsGwRDJvWCwuNqwbBsMd6xkT/V6AxC8FYJz2FAJykZUhlNiPCgOtC0Ybituz0uO8ORoamsr3LPkPG0ZsrNYnxopiyp32JOIOFMBj+8toZjykjtuf205N8j50HFPYaFapDfVHlvFfCWJy2QFjrjJGiZNlJ52I+y3l+NTkuTO2jXUtUNMTho8dCMWoHbIFTEKObWAVJfwU+7zruwMlL4Jbnge26UqcuLDYGhyZPD5V7CoRPlZYufUmXJE6r8qZUIiPGT6mzk0f3K3Ah0AsXU6kcmUoPsfKg6MegyxU3zB5spU/YPwpHRXQrDFTXMDkyhR9k/Cpuiuh0LFy6lg4D4WgnlaTED9FDYlTsHY8gfLbfx2rhxU1SVup6mApyry+R63BxHBCFjTQqjkqgAAeQFcSqxPZeEna4VPn8RAItc9fSi5xQsaE3vsJcfxhHFYM4uaHEHWHuJ8T9IKAXUkjkKDqdCqwseYrxv0km9lG1q2dhVCmiHA8UHEE6r28K2+5mkuyIs5yNmbtB3Ubzo5UK6r2uKcZAirbmfGjYm2I5YawDgQVgHQjIomNNFWA2DyRVhTjs6wLi6OYinJJ2DYsQDStFYyQTDLQHDY5awRlgsTRuCwxTEjwrDWJNjQCjCgoGRzYeFAoRPH5UQNA7wHmBWBqifLc0lgcMLkDpekaKxlfRl2wPGMOLT6ri47rINO/LysehHMHoaDd9GZ0srzwZVnyXEZViBIVMuEfUC63KtE3dKy/cax6+6gpODvzGko14ODOViiixzxn6zJCACoR0B3VGUksQCCGr2qFWU9Y6/b7nx+Lw8KTcallZ9NfsWq+DIB7HEqP/ng3v43mrpTrI4HHCS2f2/KK3xIu+vC/WOzjU9oS6OFY2sC0bECw8T1pZTnz+hSnSpbJX23S/grcGJkJu8kpAIJAcgkXF+ZsPU1JSk92/M6JU6cdIxXkXFpcvIK6MQSb2P1iAn1H6S21qreb6ef9nPalHX4v/z/AOIoz7BQtF/u8WKD7WJkiK26k6XJ+FLOnNrbyf8AY9GtSjLWa8V/SDcvnWDD9kkcgkdVd2ZkZSwuLDSbg23sd687H0JOKbWx7fsfFwVVpS3FM08jG/Q+dcEaaPo51iY5rKAiqT3AQd/E3o5LMR1bxA5Q8jEtuTvTJE2zoYA+FGwt2QyYBvCmEJYA6ctqxjeIx0zbaiRWAwIwMedAUwYesY0YaIpyYaIpowVgMieGiAiMVYxXZgQbHp/OqS0djnjZq6MeNltdSL8rgis01ujRkpbMlhxJHOl0HUmg6HGA9aGUoqgzhxAtsa2VjKcQyLFelGz6B4keoUcXpHe7vrcfjRySfIV14LmAvnigkX+RoZGZV4vYKw2OdozIqFkF7sqkhbC5LW9ketr0eHK1zPFwTs2cx5mp31A0rg0Oq8ZbBq4o26UuqKXTI5SSOlKx42F7s17qOXKtYZysencE8ZXi7Kf0HgRYDe9I520YHRz/ABReoBx5hcPCFxkUPao2mJo1kMQQn2HUqDtsFI9LV0Yarl+GJ5mPw2d5qnIV4bNVxKJDHgNfZAt3ZnBAYgEu3Z7i5A38q9G8up41qf7fsU/NGEc0paPTpY3iLMSALBkLkar7He1I3a7LxipWSVhzk/EmEjSS2AC9qpjYPO7nT1teM6f6DwoQbtfYaoo3slfyBc/wgTsj9UbDq4YjU7uXBUWI1gbDUD76NuojfQkyrPQjRIMMLqLdqZZAGIvzUCw8LWp4TnmykqtKlkcnv0LLiMDNiw5RYFbTfV2kt1AIFwtgOoq1SErWbVmcdCtSzXimmteRXs6wcmGVRJpYsSLxm+9ifZNulcFXCuCuj3ML7VU5ZWD4XumzOpPwNc8qcluenDF0pq8WMStjvsbdduY2qeVllUi0dJON9+VazM5o7jOr2e9bnYE26dKOVg4kepy2GPW49RQsxs8TQhFYVmmXwoinMkNAAO0VEDIdFYU5ZaJgaWsBgxNYBWooWdwqgsxNhbe5/vrVFFuVluc0pxjHNLRBGIV1kXtwznY2ZrkqegIPnTyUlL49ScHCUG6Vl4EM+FZCOoPIjf1HqL0HBxY0KkZI0I2PT5CtZhzRXMZYRQVCtYFTcG25vYBSPtAW5eZqsVpqc1STvdevEFklcEgklr72/OkbkmVUYNXWxkssrm7M3qTc7bDc78tvdWbmzJU1sRPOzWUHZeZ8fM/hSuTegygo3fU7ieUqVBbSbXF7A25XHW2/peiszNLhrcjMbAFt9re7oKDT3CpRvYb5W0hQsZCPAWuTTxpuUbtk54nhzUUrh7dsAvaBlDC4vyIsDceW9QlBndDERZyHa9lJ9aSz2LZ0zEeUGwLfG1K1cpCrGIZjc1f6u8bsxB0m+zWKsCOfXblVcPRyXmzz8bilVapokwOazRE6+yUrtePC4UGxsQSTDyIIPvFd8Yfv+h5c67aXDt4nWcoTEpcL2coDAx4fCoTu23aRRBlbunu3v4ixrOMHpdmVWtpeK9eIvfHsrt2ccRVmDHtoYZWGs76WdCbeQtzoT1lp6uNQlkhq/LuHkExkmRFMWtyqgnCYXYmwXcxHlsKo4QjzZCNerPSyFs2J0h5A5MgJkGqKPTqF9iltNt/ZtbyppWyt3dycLuok4q224xyXFYpu0vOF5D9FBhwGRrkX/R7g6eValCUr3k9BcTWhC2WC16/YZPkazorzYxrBrC0MaWa3UqgHLzNPKk27Zm/IjDExjHNkS5aX/wBCLiLCSGcpHJGUvqv2SFrPqLHUVLG2jkTYXFudSq0pOeh0YbEU1SvJbX526fLqD4jCSBgrzGwCqpZENk+zbunSoB5DlSyoW5/QrDGXWi+rAM7wEsCtFqLWY6m3DeGnzU7EVGdLKro6qWIzStLRor8TGx3NwfE8qjG9jrk9QiLGSDkzD3mtua9tguPO50HPUPOg4lI1mMMLxKNgwIPU9PK399KRxKqt1HMWOD7qbilsyimmY8hNYNyGWU1hWDyTGsYGklrCsDMlEwoxWGCEWa4PIkWPO3K+1UlHLzOSE817olwM/Z9+ytcOpBIJIYWuBa62532NNF5dQTTl8K0IjPqIvdQPA7AdbDqffQzXNkstNSIKel6WzHuuZPFC99VyCOt6dRluTlOFrEG+qyk/Gk52RTldo2UY8r286Nma8Ubjw7E2A3Pn7/6+6soPYDqRtdhWXYQue8zBLXuDzF7bX58jT04OT7idapGC0SuWnDZaGg2ZTGrNJommRTeNN2CW1MLNpA6k8tiRe0UjkvOTunb5CrBYwr3UklQkqq6WB3YgXtblbpffbelTtpdjuN9bJ9QPM8diG/RvK773ILlhe/T86nJy2LU4018SViCNpo+TEehpcskU4kWSdtiHIBdrXAvfxt4VlGTdgSqRUbno8UOHbRhZpcZJqKKUb9WWuLd0LuL+FdfDUdzzlWnU1WgLiZOzMzwPiVXvMSraVOgWBI0Ai4W+/jTOKauxI1HBpL5bAeRzYpnXtsTMUdC47NtL6RYXOxt3rj+E+VSpUcz1OjEYrJH4etgw4XCyLLJI2JZhoDF21vzGkhuzsLEW7xHKrZIrTU5eLUfxaaGs5LBITh8Ri1Z30fp3LL7J035W3A93SlqUbJNFKGLzNp7JA+GnDxD63JiGViVIWSykqxB7pBuLWoxppxuxamIkqjUUtB2BgURHimxMQmXlG4W4RytjZdxe/l8KKipO1xXOUI3tuVnF4mZZJSmKmMScgzd5r6NO/qzdOnnskoNSersVjVjKC+FXf9lcjzzELJrL3cbd+52DA23PK6ioKrNM654elONradw9yzNEmFp5HRkWy/piEIA2VVKkDyFXhOMu1p4nHVpVIdhJrvWpHmEKae40p25mTb05UZx00b8xaNR31S8ivtlp30g/jXNwnyPQ94XMEmwrLzBHrSODRWNWMtiEpS2KXOpYxsQdiL+niD7/AOVZoCfUyHEMh7pIoXGGUGfuPa3rXQyk0M8Hm6ysFA3N+fkCbeu1ayM6tldnM2ZRii42MqqZBJixp127t7XuOfpzoZNLgdZXy8xe+PF+VayDmYvdyTc0G7ipWVkYCKxtTdx5/H+lbQ2psMPP4/0o3QLMzWOt/j/StdAszLr4H41tA2kT4eHVyB+NPGNyc5ZdxthMDJHqKhhqUqbPzU2JBsNxtyq8aTXI454iMtL/AEB8TNpNyrL3QoCsRYAdOvn6k+NJJ5SkI51o0/AjSYlSxfSB4ynUfRQCaCk7Xv8AUZwSla1//rp5g/1oagSXYruLnkfK9JnV7leHK1lZGoArkAK1/HV/StG0nt9TSzRV2/oWzJuBpZxqQNtyuSPmQK61hkldux5sse3LLBX6lmTgg6j9ZxcEbO+sl5/0pb94m5/oKKjFdRZVKkndNbc2reRe8D9H7lRfH4kjoUxU1vd36lKdNaZX5nRTpYhq7nHwSIOJuBNGDxDnF4hgkTsRJiZ2UhVLEMC9iCBax2pYzp37P1ZSVKuldTXkik8McNYjE2lw7zIY4o1LQy9i15NUmm4B6EbV0Ph6ZnbQ44SrRb4cU9WWR+CMxFv98xhuwG2MlNgbXO8XIG/wqadLr9jok8T0XkzWJ+jzFMytLiMRL2Z1qJJjIAw9kgMgsfSnjKiub+hCqsU1a0fqVPgzJ8TippYhisRClu1VIZGRd+z3K8r98C/7NK42bcn8ikajcVGmk+t9db2/Ba5fo/xQ5Y7GH/7j+VFOnzb9eBOXvK2jHyf8go+jOQhy80jM4sTIwZtjtuRv76fNS2uyeXEOztFdyv8AyefcTcDT4cliHYHe53J9/Wo1MNf4ou500Mfa0Kkcr+hUni6A773vtyFcriekpcwmPFFQB2kmnwVrDl4cutOptc2RdJS1yq/yLNlGWLMLjFst7c5lWxO24NdcIKSvmfmedVqSg7OnHxQLicgZh7cjE+JvQlhm+bDDHxi9khTisjkTobelc8sPKJ208bTnzFrrbxv51Fqx1J3MXfnWTuF6bGFN7Vra2BfS5KIGG5BU8wfypsrEzp6LUjZix3Pj86W99x0lHY4pRjAprWBc1WCZWMZWMZWMZWMbAvyrGuE4dZB7IPwNUiprYjN03uTNi5xzuPdTOdRCKlRewHNMzbsSanKTe5eMIx2RHSjGwtGwLjDAQzr3kUjzI/OrU41Fqkc1adGXwyYzxPE2OClO1IHXRt8xVZ163NnPSwWGvdJ+b+xXmYsbkkk9Tufia5dW7s9BJRVkXzhDNM3MYjwjHQOWobfEiuyHElHl4nmVvd6c7Xd3yj/HIsGOy/iCeJ45GQo4IYalBKnmPfWebb4QRdNa/Hpr61GnDeHzvCq64VMMkbaDpmN21CNUJBHTu8qFWN3y+o2Gmox57vpzb6jSTOeIxzGC91/zpFSvyX1LPEW5vyQDi+JuIVBuuF9wv/OnVBvZLzZGWNgu05eSK9kuJzHC2mw8a9sY2SYSqdJ/SAr2drXNgCatKnOUVdLzOWnXownJpuz7hm/GuegXMMHuVvzpOBP9q8yyxtFvtS8v6Ap+Ps6HOGL/AEN+dLwqi/6/cb3ii/8A3H9P4FWZ8Z5pKumSOIg+CH86ZOrDVR+4k44arpKb+n8FDxwkdyzKFJ52FheuSpmk7tHo0XThG0XcDNTLokw+IZDdTajGbjsLOnGatIawcQYn7JBt5V0RxNXkcU8Bh+f3Om4hxJFrD/TR96qsC9n4dO/5FmLxDP7QA9BaoTk5bnZTpxh2WDVMqdFqNwWNmQ+NbMwZUcUBjZNYxqsYysYysYysYysYkijuaaKuLKVhnhgq7mrxsjjm5SJJs1A5U0q1hY4VvcV4jFs/M1zym5HZClGGxBSFCSFbmniriSdkEjFBPZAv4mnz5diXCz9pkcuNkb2nJ8r7fCldST3Y8aMI9lGjOSLVsxlBJ3H3DvDzSkM3s+tdeHwzm7vY83HY+NJWjuet5RmKYeMRxrYD513zoZjw6WOyLbXmGvxEehNIsMUftFvYnw2dMRz6X60sqCRWnjXLckkzoAm96CoDSx0U7MxMYzdaGRIMa0pGziW8a2VB4kgf/F7bGn4JD31LRguLzS42p40iNXF3WglnxF9ya6FocVm3dlfznDK4vauetBSPRwtVwKLmWB0kkV5VSnY+joV8ysxYagdhLBOVNxTRk0JOCktRtBmVxuK6I1epwzw9noSMyN0pnlYqU4i/FYcVGcTqp1GAMLVFqx0JmLWRmbYWrNGTOaATKxj/2Q==" 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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Indeed, something else is at work here. </span></b></span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;">What strikes me is the time-line, this was initiated about 5 years ago, It was around the time </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;">the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;">top security chief <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2012/10/19/why-wissam-al-hassan-security-official-killed-in-beirut-blast-matters-for-the-middle-east/?utm_term=.cd13cbdefa67" target="_blank">Wissam El-Hassan was killed</a> (Oct 2012). Not sure if this was related to the earlier assassination of internal security's IT Specialist, <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/parents-of-assassinated-lebanese-police-captain-still-hoping-for-justice-1.433872" target="_blank">Captain Wissam Eid was killed</a> (Jan. 2008). Both were linked, politically, to Hariri and his "Future" movement. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Around that time, <a href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/677" target="_blank">a clown</a> was</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"> in charge of the Ministry of Interior (July 2008 to May 2011). During his tenure, a few IT specialists were also disappeared, but he was too busy chasing after "valet parking" offenders... </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Trebuchet MS, TazuganeGothic, sans-serif;"><b>Nothing happens in a vacuum. And it doesn't happen overnight. </b></span></span></div>
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Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-72186938992927848762018-01-20T20:32:00.000+02:002018-01-20T23:53:58.599+02:00Legacies...<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ah, the legacies of our (many) mistakes... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">...so little has changed, <a href="https://stateofmind13.com/2018/01/15/lebanon-bans-steven-spielbergs-the-post-because-of-his-support-of-israel-proving-the-country-is-run-by-stone-age-airheads/" target="_blank">really</a>... except for, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-economy/lebanon-gets-a-new-government-now-it-needs-a-new-economy-idUSKBN1530KW" target="_blank">economy</a>. That has <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/lebanon-set-oil-bonanza" target="_blank">changed</a>. </span><br />
<h3>
<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It got worse. </span></b></h3>
<span style="background-color: #f8f8f9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A divided country with a </span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://qifanabki.com/2009/12/11/should-lebanon-default-on-its-debt/" target="_blank">debt-to-GDP</a> ratio around at least 140% and no revenues. Any shock can shake it, especially now that <a href="http://www.executive-magazine.com/economics-policy/where-do-we-go-now" target="_blank">we've pissed off Saudi Arabia</a>, loaded our banks's balance-sheets with <a href="http://www.executive-magazine.com/business-finance/from-foggy-to-cloudy" target="_blank">12%-15% in low-performance real-estate assets</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f8f8f9; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://qifanabki.com/2009/12/11/should-lebanon-default-on-its-debt/" target="_blank"><img height="134" src="https://qifanabki.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/lebanese-national-debt-graph2.png?w=750" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f8f8f9;">And 2018 may be a <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/03/2018-national-security-threats-yemen-venezuela-216214" target="_blank">year of economic shocks</a>, regardless of all the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/lebanon-hires-mckinsey-to-help-revamp-economy-minister-says" target="_blank">high-priced consultants'</a> and their "<a href="https://en.annahar.com/article/735022-lebanon-looking-at-28-percent-economic-growth-this-year" target="_blank">talk-talk</a>".</span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>March 2018:</b></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #222222;">Russian "Election":</b><span style="color: #222222;"> The United States may potentially extend <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-27/bond-sanctions-could-have-more-impact-than-russia-is-making-out" target="_blank">sanctions to cover Russian sovereign debt</a> → Bond sell-off on Russian Bonds → </span><b><span style="color: red;">Rouble</span></b><span style="color: #222222;"> downturn. Not sure how this <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-syrias-reconstruction-lebanon-sees-economic-opportunity" target="_blank">will play out in Syria</a>. </span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<img alt="or-234_1.jpg" class="shrinkToFit" height="200" src="https://russian-crafts.com/images/detailed/51/or-234_1.jpg" title="" width="200" /></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">Italian Election:</b><span style="color: #222222;"> <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/907134/Italian-election-2018-date-polls-Italy-next-elections-Berlusconi" target="_blank">Berlusconi</a>’s Forza Italia is </span><a href="https://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/italian-election-two-months-and-counting-201801050710" style="color: #222222;" target="_blank">in the lead</a><span style="color: #222222;">, in part thanks to a coalition partner who's eager to tell the European Union to "<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/01/20/right-wing-italian-election-favourite-blasts-the-eu-can-fck-itself/" target="_blank">go fuck itself</a>"... It won't be much more polite if the "5-Star" movement <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/italys-five-star-movement-blossoms-into-poll-frontrunner-878l8gxpr" target="_blank">wins</a>, anyway... let's see what the </span><b><span style="color: red;">Euro</span></b><span style="color: #222222;"> does. Not sure how our backers will like it. </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">May 2018:</b></span></h3>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Lebanon "<a href="https://stateofmind13.com/2017/03/08/lebanese-parliament-is-going-to-extend-its-term-a-3rd-time-we-last-voted-in-2009-its-2017-bass-hek/" target="_blank">election</a>":</b> The Saudis are <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2018/01/16/Dirty-money-and-the-coming-wave-in-Lebanon.html" target="_blank">hinting at new sanctions</a> against a major Bank. Maybe even the central bank. The US is <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/jeff-sessions-justice-department-hezbollah-team-336396" target="_blank">reviving</a> "<a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/" target="_blank">Project Cassandra</a>", and may <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/19/its-time-for-the-justice-department-to-hold-hezbollah-accountable/" target="_blank">not renew</a> the "Iran deal" past May. So much for Obama's "<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/18/barack-obama-was-a-foreign-policy-failure/" target="_blank">legacy</a>"...</span></div>
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<a href="https://images1.ynet.co.il/PicServer5/2017/12/18/8224259/Big.jpg"><img alt="Big.jpg" border="0" height="112" src="https://images1.ynet.co.il/PicServer5/2017/12/18/8224259/Big.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">...beyond... all bets are off. </span></b></span></h2>
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<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">...Oh, one more thing. That high Debt-to-</span><a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/051415/how-calculate-gdp-country.asp" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">GDP </a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ratio? Well, for our <a href="http://www.synaps.network/abracada-broke" target="_blank">remittance-based economy</a>, it's likely even <a href="https://bayanatbox.info/lebanon-trapped-vicious-debt-circle/" target="_blank">worse</a>, <a href="http://web.macam.ac.il/~arnon/Int-ME/extra/RECONSTRUCTING%20LEBANON.htm" target="_blank">much worse</a>. </span><a href="https://books.google.com.cy/books?id=S1dT0TkB7fwC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=the+gdp+of+lebanon+is+overestimated&source=bl&ots=0d9VFA3dTH&sig=g0UQKYxeP_q5hAQFg9pWwuW43Ns&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRqc72gufYAhXCDuwKHSqNCT8Q6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=the%20gdp%20of%20lebanon%20is%20overestimated&f=false" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Unserviceable</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, even. Consider one key parameter: </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/28903e3a-60a8-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">real-estate</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> plays an excessively central role in the computation. It accounts for 20% of GDP, but is worth much </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cfa32898-c0bd-11e7-b8a3-38a6e068f464" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">lower</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">... er...</span><a href="http://www.arabbusinessreview.com/en/article/lebanese-real-estate-sector-heading-towards-crisis-cliff" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">non-performing</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://bayanatbox.info/lebanon-trapped-vicious-debt-circle/" target="_blank"><img height="200" src="https://bayanatbox.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/DN_Leb_PublicDebt_Eng-1.png" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0Beirut, Lebanon33.8937913 35.50177669999993733.8410668 35.421095699999938 33.946515799999993 35.582457699999935tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-59216601654919872342016-11-23T15:14:00.000+02:002016-11-23T15:21:38.710+02:00Brave new world<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's been a while...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">...but </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">there had been nothing really, fundamentally new; Lebanon was on its path to a renewed civil war, and the world was just watching. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;"><b>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span>hange is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">H</span>appening..<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Finally</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></b></span>
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<a href="http://asendos.deviantart.com/art/General-Michel-Aoun-Caricature-318839950" target="_blank"><img alt="http://asendos.deviantart.com/art/General-Michel-Aoun-Caricature-318839950" border="0" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Yv5V2HIia8/WDWWhFvVRRI/AAAAAAAAE_M/HOLoZbqh39k2wouZR9e0_xFiEcPxbhy0QCLcB/s200/general_michel_aoun_caricature_by_asendos-d59tuha.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lebanon is still on its path to a </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">renewed civil war, but the world is no longer just watching. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b>It's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span>etting <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span>razier </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the US, an ignorant lunatic has just succeeded an arrogant amateur... At the very least, we can be in no doubt the US <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-legacy-of-us-military-failure-in-the-middle-east-over-the-past-three-decades/2016/04/08/fd9812e6-f822-11e5-9804-537defcc3cf6_story.html" target="_blank">legacy</a> of <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/04/07/History-will-judge-Obama-s-foreign-policy-legacy-as-one-of-failure.html" target="_blank">failure</a> in the Middle East is secure; it did not start <a href="http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/08/20/obamas-legacy-of-failure-in-the-middle-east/" target="_blank">with Obama</a>, and seems <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/22/trumps-thinks-kushner-could-help-broker-peace-in-middle-east/" target="_blank">set to continue under Trump</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XeS8CxVEo3A/WDWVtGn-FjI/AAAAAAAAE_I/50ZMH5IZHSEQJOs4oTdJHnAk6e2vW2McgCLcB/s1600/Cartoon%2B-%2BObama%2Bforeign%2Bpolicy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XeS8CxVEo3A/WDWVtGn-FjI/AAAAAAAAE_I/50ZMH5IZHSEQJOs4oTdJHnAk6e2vW2McgCLcB/s200/Cartoon%2B-%2BObama%2Bforeign%2Bpolicy.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If he makes it that far... The "president-elect" is <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-22/long-war-trump-presidency-has-only-just-begun" target="_blank">already embattled</a>; the election is barely over that there is already talk of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/could-hillary-clinton-appeal-us-election-results-hacking-russia-claims-wisconsin-a7433221.html" target="_blank">hacking in some key states</a> while his "base" is <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/11/22/in-extraordinary-overreach-trump-team-says-he-will-not-seek-criminal-charges-on-clinton.html" target="_blank">starting to revolt against him</a>. In the meantime, the neo-cons are clawing back their position in the administration, and the <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-22/emotionally-fcking-pissed-media-blows-embargo-and-lashes-out-trump-fck-him" target="_blank">media's getting ready</a> to pin on him the upcoming </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Trump</span>cession and Trumpflation.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LpfVW7CBof4/WDWVhvSMbBI/AAAAAAAAE_E/_yrD6lZbbmgLZLNMj9ZzGPmmqHk1tQvawCLcB/s1600/tumblr_m5xp7tjI0V1qeaqak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LpfVW7CBof4/WDWVhvSMbBI/AAAAAAAAE_E/_yrD6lZbbmgLZLNMj9ZzGPmmqHk1tQvawCLcB/s320/tumblr_m5xp7tjI0V1qeaqak.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yes, </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Obama prepared him quite the "<a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-21/kunstler-obamas-shit-sandwich-why-events-are-now-charge-not-personalities" target="_blank">shit-sandwich</a>", but <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-personally-blasts-the-press" target="_blank">he helped it make it so much worse</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Bu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t </span>Who <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span>ares? </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>We all do</b>; what they do in the US <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-places-to-find-shelter-from-the-growing-bond-storm-2016-11-22" target="_blank">affects the rest of us</a>, in many ways, and there is little we can do. O, for the emergence of a multi-polar world; we'd have some <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/paris-climate-change-donald-trump-china-1.3862682" target="_blank">checks and balances</a> to one country's ignorant arrogance. </span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Pres. Obama and VP Biden share an embrace: "I've lost elections before, Joe hasn't." <a href="https://t.co/VOV72IJtz7">https://t.co/VOV72IJtz7</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DIRtW1f1g">https://t.co/7DIRtW1f1g</a></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">— ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/796404747796234241">November 9, 2016</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Joy. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At least, we have a new president in Lebanon. He may be the first "<a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/11/02/aoun-has-been-appointed-the-president-of-lebanon-again/" target="_blank">made in Lebanon</a>" president for a long time, but he will be the last Lebanese President, if he fails to deliver. Much depends on how he works (or doesn't) with <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-politics-idUSKBN13G1JF" target="_blank">Hariri</a> and his <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/11/21/Lebanese-President-looks-to-revive-ties-with-Saudi-Arabia.html" target="_blank">patrons</a>, but more depends on how or if he can ensure the Lebanese Army is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollah-showed-off-us-made-weaponry-in-a-parade-in-syria-2016-11" target="_blank">the only army in Lebanon</a>... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.asendos.com/president-next/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.asendos.com/president-next/" border="0" height="101" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6j4TIa9Vc-k/WDWXBMDNvFI/AAAAAAAAE_U/Fln-VP0wOdgZsQIcrNBZxT0mWKBu07yaQCLcB/s200/usual-candidates-hq.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-69636704279826292242016-10-30T14:59:00.000+02:002016-10-30T14:59:55.051+02:00Hallow Presidency...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXDnjuYDrOs/WBXuc8zQLrI/AAAAAAAAE-w/9uCEBiMQhXUvKolC-gXqW6ctCE49BCvJgCLcB/s1600/Oct31-2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXDnjuYDrOs/WBXuc8zQLrI/AAAAAAAAE-w/9uCEBiMQhXUvKolC-gXqW6ctCE49BCvJgCLcB/s400/Oct31-2016.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_171915380"></span><span id="goog_171915381"></span><br />Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-2075894699885843412012-12-10T12:59:00.001+02:002012-12-10T12:59:36.987+02:00Breaking Tripoli? <div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 7px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">s the Syrian War spilling into Lebanon? <b>No</b>. Will Tripoli burn, as Homs and Hama did? <b>Lilkely</b>.<br /><br />What kind of <b>Yes/No</b> answer is this? Well, there are, indeed, some very <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/06/dj-fools.html">obvious actors and actions</a>... But the marionettes are never the only</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"> consideration here. There are two considerations; one "</span><i style="background-color: white; color: black;"><b>fundamental</b></i><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">", and one "</span><i style="background-color: white; color: black;"><b>immediate</b></i><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">".</span></span></div>
<h2 style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">First, the </span>Fundamentals</b><b><span style="color: red;">: </span></b></span></h2>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>No</b>, Syria's war is not spilling into Lebanon. Rather, <b>the war in Lebanon has spilled over into Syria</b>.The Syrian regime fell the day it left Lebanon, in 2005. It endured for a while, but the Assad Dynasty's needed the resources of Lebanon to survive as Masters of Syria. In their struggle to regain power, they <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-now.html">made things worse for themselves</a>:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><span><span lang="EN-CA">The Syrians will miss those supports on the long run, since few Americans c</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-CA">an now seriously consider “engagement” as an option. And as they look for alternatives, <b>pity the neighbourhood</b>, and its weakest link; </span><span lang="EN-CA">Lebanon</span></i></span><span lang="EN-CA"></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This has always been a regional war among tribes and city-states. The <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/08/tribes-with-flags_16.html">veneer of nation-states</a> that was applied over us was just that; <b>a veneer</b>. Nothing more. And the faulat was not merely in Lebanon. To be sure, Lebanon has <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/02/creation-myth.html">many faults</a>. But it was all in the open, "<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/02/sins-of-sons.html">warts and all</a>", </span><span style="font-size: small;">contrary to all the hypocrites who surround us</span><span style="font-size: small;">. While we struggled in the face of those contradictions, nearby dictatorships and <a href="http://thedisgraceofgod.blogspot.com/2011/11/jeffrey-goldberg-enables-extremists-by.html">pseudo-theocratic</a> pseudo-democracy had fun with us... But now their chicken are <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/12/no-mass-moussa.html">all coming home to roost</a>. Yet, rather than focusing on their own ills, they did their best to kill of the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-coal-mines-in-addition-to-restricted.html">Canary in the coalmine</a>... </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And as they did so, they were putting nails into their own coffins. Ensuring Lebanon's war could spill over at their <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2011/09/dark-side-of-altruism.html">first sign of weakness</a>. </span></div>
<h2 style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">Second, the Immediate</span></b><b><span style="color: red;">: </span></b></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We're on our way to a divided Syria. One in which Bashar will be lucky if the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2012/07/cher-nobyl.html">Alawites keep him in charge of their little Canton</a>... But for now, the immediate aftershock will <b>likely </b>be felt in Tripoli. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why?</b> It all depends on how <b style="color: red;">crassly sectarian</b> this conflict will be... In Syria's current sectarian perspective, much of
the Alawite elite needs to secure its coastal enclave around Lattaqieh. This enclave has three vital economic links; <b>Northward</b>, towards Turkey, <b>Eastward</b>, though Homs, and <b>South</b>, towards Lebanon and through Tripoli. So it has <b>three priorities</b>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1- The North</b> is closed off by the Turks, who do not want to see any linkages with Antioch... They may smarten up as the Kurds reassert themselves, but this will be a while. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>2- The East </b>is closed off by the takeover of the rest of Syria by Salafis and Ikhwans. But the control of Homs would allow them to split the rival cities of Aleppo and Damascus, and act as spoilers in the new "Syria".</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>3- The South</b> links them to their Shiite Allies is closed off by Tripoli. So, to secure a Alawite stronghold, the Tripoli lock needs to be broken. It must break. It may well break ...</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #4c1130;">
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">And this brings in an "interesting" sectarian <b>sub-plot</b>;</span><span style="font-size: small;"> as ever, the Christians are "in the way". </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>; the Christians are divided between Aoun and Geagea. Having failed to assassinate Geagea, will the Alawite Elite jettison Aoun and reconcile themselves to Geagea?</i> </span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">Some notes / perspective</span></b><b><span style="color: red;">: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This blog is <b>not inactive</b>... But it is not "<b>reactive</b>". Rather, it is just tracking events from a perspective of history, not the news. I am no journalist, no political analyst who follows the "news schedule", nor do I listen to news much. I am just someone who's tired to see "big white chiefs" lecture us on how to live, and I have the arrogance to think I have something more meaningful to contribute to the understanding of the region... I just know enough history to see when it repeats itself, or when it rhymes. <br /><br />And for now, <b>history rhymes</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And, If/when Tripoli falls, we will soon see epic fights among the Walis of Damascus, Aleppo, and Lattaqieh/Antioch... Time will tell how the Mohafaza of Jabal Loubnan will react, and if the Wali of Acca-Jerusalem decides to grow a brain. </span></div>
Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-37381084822898927252012-09-11T16:55:00.004+03:002012-09-11T16:55:43.777+03:00Stand in our shoes... <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Welcome to Lebanon, Holy Father. As you wave to the cheering crowds from your PapaMobile, look closer at the people who are welcoming you, at the land they stand on</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.thequotefactory.com/quote-by/joseph-stalin/the-pope-how-many-divisions-has/84620"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XnHLworb8Ms/UE9CDFJMiYI/AAAAAAAAEMA/W_TwpFQfEj4/s200/17GHPSJ60J1G_1AO25UO_IL_L_LS.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This land is sacred to us, not because of religion(s), but because it is all we have to stand on, because of the life our forefathers extracted from the hard terrain through toil and labour, allowing us to flower our modern gardens and live in (relative) plenty and (very relative) harmony among misery and bigotry. </span></div>
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<a href="http://cdn.motinetwork.net/religifake.com/image/religion/1204/strength-poland-jaruzelski-john-paul-great-religion-1335464479.jpg"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D6Ldh3DU0ic/UE9BvKVsF3I/AAAAAAAAEL4/KrUHtvHPiF0/s320/strength-poland-jaruzelski-john-paul-great-religion-1335464479.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>We are now at war and genocide</b>, in all but name. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There is no way Iran can come to term with the world's powers. There is no way Israel will grow past its land claims. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There is no way Lebanese "leaders" will accept to be ever accountable. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">Would you commit to really help them? To really speak to the World on behalf of the Arab world, and, most importantly, to the Arab world on behalf of the World? </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">Would you commit to more than speak, and actually do something about the rising bigotry and hatred that surrounds (what's left of) secular Lebanon? </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br />At the end of your trip, you will be back safely in Rome. At the end of your trip, the Lebanese will still be emigrating from there. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br />You believe you stand in God shoes. We must wear our own. And we can only hope to remain standing up at the end of the day.</span></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="228" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ngN2y6i_SOc" width="320"></iframe></span>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-60368884800732542802012-08-24T22:50:00.000+03:002012-09-10T15:56:06.312+03:00Fal-Salafi-ers<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Exit the Baath, enter the Wahabis, Islamic
“Brotherhood”, Salafis… More Falsifiers. Far from being “conservative” Moslems,
those guys are past <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdjxh9_tariq-ramadan-face-a-son-hypocrisie_news">Tariq Ramadan's sophisms</a> (Sarko happened to be right on this one), and have moved beyond an initial claim to "<a href="http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/salafi.htm">exclusivism</a>", to evolved and become a <a href="http://www.spittoon.org/archives/8466">different religion altogether</a>.</span><br />
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<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://sheikyermami.com/2009/03/19/tariq-ramadan-tries-again/"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VA_ke83NEdg/UAxXlQYcd8I/AAAAAAAAEKM/YSs1_cZnWJw/s200/jpg_tariq_ramadan-600-c74d6-6fdf4.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am not a scholar of Islam, but those guys do
not make sense. The simplest explanation would be that that those guys have
hijacked Islam and falsified it, with <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/08/fils-de-ptain.html">dangerous
implications for the rest of us</a>. They do not emphasize the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi">salaf</a>” as much as wipe out the
predecessors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Does Big Brother even exist? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Of
course he exists. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">No, I mean...
does he exist like you or me? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- You do
not exist..<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To be fair to them, the <a href="http://www.drtomoconnor.com/3400/3400lect04asecure.htm">hijacking did nothappen recently</a>. My point is that this process started a long time ago, even before many of today's "strains". It started soon after the death of the prophet, when <a href="http://www.studytoanswer.net/myths_ch1.html">all but one version of the Koran were burned</a>... This is <b>not</b> to say that the <b>essence of the message was altered; </b>only that the text is not<b> exactly "as spoken"</b>...<b> Indeed, </b>"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Quran">m</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Quran">ost Muslim scholars believe" that this "Uthmanic Koran" is the entire revelation</a>, but <b>consensus is not proof</b>... Remember the consensus on <a href="http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/aristotle_dynamics.html">Aristotelian physics</a>? ... So, f</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">rom then on, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">what followed was nothing but the result of a long and slow process of
destruction, a series of small steps that culminated in the falsified “new
normal” that we face today.</span><br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>In the Beginning ...</b></span></h2>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This happened in at least <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>three</b> </span>major steps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">First </span></b>comes Abu Huraira… This guy claims to
have known the prophet better than mos, and has 15.56% of the whole traditions
in Sahih Bukhari traced to him. He knew the prophet for 2 years, yet managed to
narrated 5374 Hadith. Compare this with the 142 Hadith attributed to Abu Bakr
al-Siddiq, who knew the Prophet for 23 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am no scholar (but I play one on the blog), but something is really wrong
with this picture. Especially since many of Abu Huraira’s narrated Hadith
contradict one another, and are contradicted by others, like Aisha, the Prophet’s
Wife and “Umm al-Mu'minin”, with only 2210 Hadith attributed to her. Methinks
she ought to be given precedence… </span></div>
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<a href="http://silkroadsandsiamesesmiles.com/tag/wahhabism/"><img border="0" height="162" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GeHOo-t3WXo/UA57ulRBj1I/AAAAAAAAEKY/v3Ok2NV2XmE/s200/noname.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>...The dude had a thing against women, tabla .... </i></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Doublethink: The power of holding two
contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Second comes the decision to equate the Hadith
and the Koran. <i>OK, I’m skipping the step where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic">diacritics</a> were added to the
Koran; this goes to the root of Arabic’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_diacritics">peculiar form of script</a>.
But that’s one polemic too much… For now</i>… So, back to our point; how can a
Revelation be placed on equal footing with acknowledge hearsay? Then again, I
am no scholar, and many will find that I missing <a href="http://forums.understanding-islam.com/showthread.php?9971-The-Three-views-of-Hadith">subtleties</a>.
But this is beside the point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://tulisanmurtad.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html"><img border="0" height="143" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--NqsXnrNMqk/UA6BoR0FyyI/AAAAAAAAEKk/rkHVcBXkxiQ/s200/cartoon_moderate_taliban.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All animals are equal, <i>but some
animals are more equal than others</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Third comes the “no more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijtihad">ijtihad</a>”. Now that’s a doozy. I
am not sure of the deep philosophical reasons for this, but it does not make
sense. Chiites generally do not accept this decision; maybe because they were
in opposition, while the Sunnis were in power. Would be interesting to see how “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/06/legacy-systems.html">Khomeini’s
true heirs</a>” view his Legacy, now that Shiites are on the ascendance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Orthodoxy means not thinking-not
needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>...and to what End?</b></span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Now</span></b> comes the Stone Age. Or the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning">stoning age</a>”, to be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/31/sudanese-woman-stoning-death-adultery">precise</a>. We’re at a stage now where a new religion is flourishing:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi">Wahhabism</a>. </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At this stage, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Abdel_Wahab">Muhammad Bin Abd El
Wahab</a> (or his entourage) could safely state that “this stick in my hand is
better than Muhammad because it benefits me by enabling me to walk. But
Muhammad is dead and benefits me not at all”. Their Falsafi cousins are <a href="http://www.cifiaonline.com/prominentsalafigroups.htm">not far away</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://silkroadsandsiamesesmiles.com/tag/wahhabism/"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CKRfn1GMX08/UA6Is_ywfGI/AAAAAAAAEK8/5I5J2ccw8pI/s200/scottstantisviolencewrong.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The objectives of this <a href="http://atheism.about.com/od/islamicsects/a/wahhabi.htm">new religion</a> is not universalist, it is <a href="http://www.argee.net/DefenseWatch/Wahhabi%20Islam-the%20Real%20Enemy%20of%20the%20West.htm">political</a>. After the mid 1960's, It evolved from the early days when they just wanted to control over the Arabian Peninsula. Now, flush with oil wealth, they just want to take over the world. So, b</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">eyond the Arab world, they need to take over Islam. They have the muscle; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/saudi-charity-pakistan-extremism">oil wealth</a>... </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><i>The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power (Benito Mussolini)</i></b></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.iags.org/fuelingterror.html"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P0y9r2lg0o0/UA6Eg_ITgbI/AAAAAAAAEKw/4lpeWxzQPJk/s200/MullahMoolah.gif" width="178" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Only one thing stands in their way; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Arabian_Peninsula">history</a>.</b></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Umar had already done half the job for them, by expelling the "non believers" from the Hejaz. To do so, he claimed that the Prophet had <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh3/bh3_530.htm">stated that</a> "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">No two religions must remain in the land of the Arabs". It's odd that so so many subsequent (hearsay) <a href="http://www.searchtruth.com/searchHadith.php?keyword=expelled+Jews&translator=1&search=1&book=&start=0&records_display=10&search_word=all">Hadith</a> are used to supersede the (revealed) Koran... But it's <a href="http://repository.upenn.edu/phr/vol15/iss2/4/">politically convenient</a>. And, after a first falsification, once you get used to it, why stop there?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, once they've consolidated their power over the Arabian peninsula and established themselves "mainstream", those <a href="http://www.correctislamicfaith.com/wahhabism.htm">pseudo-Sunnis</a> (a charitable description) proceeded by wiping out memories, and thus remove any trace of the early days of Islam. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They do so </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">By <a href="http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/destruction_of_islamic_architectural_heritage_in_saudi_arabia_a_wake_up_cal">destroying
the house of the prophet</a> and many other sites, they move to consolidate their
control over Islam.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“He who Controls the Past, Controls
the Future”: All others accepted the lie imposed, all records told the same
tale, now the lie passed into history and became truth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At the present time, there is little left from the early days. Gone are the women who went "Barza" (<a href="http://middleeast.about.com/od/religionsectarianism/f/me080209.htm">unveiled</a>). Gone is his coptic wife, Mariam (and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_al-Qibtiyya">wiki's sources are biased on this one</a>)... The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/us-mali-crisis-timbuktu-idUSBRE8620R520120703">remaining challenges</a> come from such remote places as "<a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister">Piss-Poor-Little-African-Countries</a>" or Uzbekistan, so they can be easily dealt with easily, one at a time, regardless of any "<a href="http://islamopediaonline.org/editorials-and-analysis/destroying-shrines-timbuktu-some-arab-responses">critical</a>" responses... I wouldn't be so sure the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/world/middleeast/in-egypt-rumor-of-pyramids-demise-proves-flimsy.html">Pyramids are safe</a>; even if right-wing blogs are no stranger to hyperbole, Salafis are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/opinion/timbuktus-tomb-raiders.html">no stranger</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan">cultural genocide</a>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Gone are so many things the Prophet did that contradict those nasty clowns. Little evidence of what was before the vociferous “barbudos” came along. And we
find ourselves a “new normal”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Welcome to the new fascism.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #ffeccc; color: #330000;"></span></div>
<pre style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This fascism is still "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and [oil] leadership, together with belligerent [religious] nationalism." Adapted from; The American Heritage Dictionary, 1983. </span></pre>
<pre style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">
</span></pre>
<pre style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But it remains on weak theological footing, as long as there are thinking Arabs and Moslems. There are a few of those... </span></pre>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">... for a perspective from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatema_Mernissi">real scholar</a>...</span></div>
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<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?showShareButtons=true&docId=-5267290915665326156%3A0%3A3600000&hl=en" style="height: 326px; width: 400px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Till we overcome this new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism">fascism</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #131313; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i></i></span></span><br />
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<dt class="quote" style="color: #383838; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 9px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>A book, a woman, and a flask of wine:<br />The three make heaven for me; it may be thine<br />Is some sour place of singing cold and bare,<br />But then, I never said thy heaven was mine.</i></span></dt>
<dt class="quote" style="color: #383838; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 9px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #272727; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i><strong>Omar Khayyam</strong> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubaiyat_of_Omar_Khayyam">The Rubaiyat </a>- XII, 1120)</i></span></dt>
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Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-32329975364435074892012-08-15T22:56:00.000+03:002012-08-15T22:56:00.224+03:00Arab Spring, Eh?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So now the “Arab Spring” is
supposed to be an “Islamic Spring”? Well, not exactly… The whole thing is an
over-simplification. And worse; it is a <b>Disinformation</b> with an <b>Agenda</b>…
Or many intersecting agendas.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And before you shout “<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30320">CIA military
coup</a>”, accuse me of conspiracy-phobia “a al Nasrallah”… <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2009/03/wtf.html">Maybe</a>... But <b><span style="color: red;">read on</span></b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">IMH(BA)O, There are at least
aspects to this lie, and each shows a different agenda, or a biased “vision” of
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>First</b>, there is no <st1:place><st1:placename>Arab</st1:placename> <st1:placename>“</st1:placename><st1:placetype>Spring</st1:placetype><st1:placename>”</st1:placename></st1:place>. No more than we “knew”
ours was supposed to be a “Cedar Revolution”, the rest of the Arab world did not
think about its current upheavals as a “spring”. What is happening now is just the end of a <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/08/post-mortem-part-3-week-ahead.html">normal rotting process</a>. It is simply the natural evolution of regimes that had refused to evolve. Not merely change,
but simply evolve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Rather than evolving, they
just <b>grew</b>. Not up. <b>More</b>. The <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/07/ah-ira.html">parasite</a> was outgrowing the host. In most cases, the demands of
the parasitic dictators got bigger just at the same time as the economies were
slowing down. After all, each now had large families (and hungry) families to
provide for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZfR220LxM9U?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, when the economic crisis
hit, they had been ripe and lost big. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/31/goldman-sachs-libya-investment">Very
big</a>. Whether some “outside force” picked them up or whether they just fell
down is irrelevant. They were just walking corpses of lies and failed ideas. No
amount of police force could compensate for the lack or Panem, and Circemses… One
more unintended consequence of the “<a href="http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=all">formula
that killed Wall Street</a>”; <b>our <a href="http://qifanabki.com/2012/07/17/what-wikileaks-tells-us-about-assads-foreign-policy-record/">crooks</a> fell victims to bigger crooks</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2012/04/16/DE_Shaw_PAG_back_Haitongs_18_billion_offer_IFR_b/"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4VWKePopuD0/UAuhhv6HB2I/AAAAAAAAEKA/dqif4YP6PS0/s320/0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So what if there was a ton
of <a href="http://www.infowars.com/manufactured-realities-the-truth-about-the-arab-spring-occupy-movement-and-anonymous/">manufactured
news</a> in the prelude? There was a market for it since the people had gotten
tired of the bullshit… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And it’s just as well.
Consider this nastiest of the nasties, Kim Un aka Trois. His regime has
evolved. Not in the sense that we’d like. But the North Korean regime has kept
up with the latest in technologies, and thus has grown ever more efficient at
repressing people. Rather than pursuing an economic progress that would
ultimately undermine him, Kim-Un-“<span lang="FR-CA">Troisième </span>du Nom” has starved his country into submission. <span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Second</b>, this is not an Islamist
Spring. This is not a "<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/04/war-of-worlds.html">War of Worlds</a>". It is not an opposition between a “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/05/there-has-been-much-talk-about-talk-in.html">secular</a>” regime and a “backward” Islamist
clique. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> has been just as repressive
to the Coptic Christians as any Islamist would be. And <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s not even misunderstood (<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-way-to-cannae.html">with often bad consequences for us</a>). It's not even a regime; it’s a
family “Cosa Nostra”…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://browseyard.com/collegeessay/secularism-vs-religion-in-india-politics/"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2kMwIGhk6w/UAug2MDTiUI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/GjpIJK1O2QU/s320/05.01.25.SecularFace-X.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It so happens that those Fascists
have been the only organized force in many of the countries of the region… And
that they have many powerful allies; some rich Arab Monarchies, some <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/09/stupidity-12.html">simplistic American President</a>, and some very devious country whose claim to be the “only
democracy in the <st1:place>Middle East</st1:place>” would otherwise ring hollow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So enough of that. We’ve
been there already, even before this lie was ever proagated. This is one is not
related to some agenda, just a relic of Western Arrogance, and of Israeli chutzpah of claiming to be the "<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/07/betting-on-barak.html">only democracy in the Middle East</a>". Right. ...<i>Moi-y-en-a-bon-blanc</i>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WspQmKwwhVQ" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-60384329471039594942012-08-10T07:21:00.000+03:002012-08-10T07:21:00.305+03:00Security Details...<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<b><span style="color: red;">Bashar ilal iyada
wa Maher ilal kiyada”</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In <st1:country-region><st1:place><b><span style="color: red;">Syria</span></b></st1:place></st1:country-region>, they shout: “<b>Bachar to the Asylum and Maher
to the Leadership</b>”… 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lest we forget, the armed gangs on both sides
of this conflict were both happily shooting us down in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>… When they left, they learned <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/08/cassandra-in-lebanon.html">all the wrong</a>
lessons from us, and left with <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/07/risk-and-rewards-12.html">all our defects</a>, and without <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/11/lebanese-suicide-bombers.html">our (legendary)
sense of humour</a>… This will leave the Syrians with no “exit strategy” from
their civil war, unless they get <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/07/futility-and-hope.html">really
lucky</a>. 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; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“In the middle, there’s a <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/02/downside-of-selling-ones-soul.html">Yellow
line and a dead Armadillo</a>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As for the other players in this conflict, the
fire you’re dousing <b>will</b> burn you. Let me just say this. For <b><span style="color: red;">Turkey</span></b>, remember the <b>Kurds</b>? And the <b>Armenians</b>?
As for <b><span style="color: red;">Qatar</span></b>, you’d like to think
otherwise, but <a href="http://www.rt.com/news/qatar-russia-syria-usa-115/">size
<b>does</b> matter</a>… As for <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>, maybe you guys ought to look closer to home,
without resorting to <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/02/sounds-of-despair.html">Photoshop</a>;
<i>maybe <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2011/09/dark-side-of-altruism.html">Iran tunest</a>,
after all</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As for us in <b><span style="color: red;">Lebanon</span></b>,
expect <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/07/from-failure-to-collapse.html">more
radicalization</a> of the “pro Syrians” as well… And more <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/01/gimme-freakin-break.html">paranoia</a>.
They forget that others have bee there before, with bad consequences. And they
will keep digging themselves into that hole. No one told them “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/08/georgia-on-my-mind.html">you cannot
fight geography</a>”, I guess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">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 <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s money runs out. Then, maybe others, like the
(few remaining) communists, pose a credible challenge to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Till then, we’re condemned to keep on repeating
and un-learning <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2009/01/ibn-khaldouns-lesson.html">Ibn-Khaldun’s
lessons</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7I5ezmMFGTg" width="560"></iframe></span></o:p></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-81638416709761778512012-08-04T18:48:00.000+03:002012-08-04T18:48:00.831+03:00Son of a Rich!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">One gets mixed feelings when
one reads words that there is such a thing as “<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/201272381332627463.html">Lebanonization</a>”.
As if there was such a thing as a “<b>Syrian Exception</b>”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;">
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<a href="http://www.nonfictioncomics.net/category/news/"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-StQCyR5BG2A/UA7Cq2H652I/AAAAAAAAELc/wrBIJ4GyBEw/s400/1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;">It’s as if our civil war was
a peculiar disease that was for ever foreign to the Arab body politic. So the
Middle East has <b>no</b> religious fanaticism, <b>no</b> <a href="http://www.historyofjihad.org/egypt.html">oppression of minorities</a>, <b>no</b>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Genocide">mass massacres</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Anfal_Campaign">innocent civilians</a>, <b>no</b>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Lebanon_conflict">ethnic cleansing</a>,
<b>no</b> <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/wall-annexes-rachel-s-tomb-imprisons-palestinian-families-1.128118">disreguard
for private property and human rights</a>…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">...Gimme a
freakin’ break<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">We used to say that we’re
the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Switzerland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> of the </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Middle East</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">. We are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">It is just that the Swiss
neighbour the French, the Germans, and the Italians. And then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_in_the_Napoleonic_era">Napoleon
came along to put some sense into them</a>… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">We Lebanese have the
misfortune of neighbouring Arrogant Baathists, Self-centered Israelis, and
negationists Turks... And our own <b>hubris</b>... And we have <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html">Nasrallah and
Al-Asir stoking fires that will burn us all</a>… As a small country, we can only
“resonate” with all the drumbreats around us… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_915245568"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SffG1PVWsKU/UA7DK8XGGZI/AAAAAAAAELk/2JhaihYCLEs/s200/2.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/06/israel-climate-refugees/">Yes, I know. The link makes no sense :)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">Yet we managed to
endure in spite of all this…<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Syria</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> would be lucky if it
managed half as well/bad as we did. It would be lucky if its civil war slides
into </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> mode. Yes, lucky. It’s
simply because, throughout our own civil war, we Lebanese maintained a form of
state. We kept some sort of minimal contacts. We kept some sort of perspective.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">How did we do it?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">No, we’re no better than any
one else. There is no more </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> exception as there is
Syrian exception. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">We’re just better
deal makers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Even when we carp to foreign
powers, we’re <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jul-24/181735-lebanon-protests-over-syrias-border-violations.ashx#axzz21YIIOjlR">unreliable</a>;
we only follow those who pay last, not necessary those who pay more… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Syria</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">, they have a long way down
this road. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">The fact remains that the
Baath was the only link between all the parts of country and society, since it
controlled most large scale businesses across the country. The other links that
remain are religious/ethnic, and often regional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Now, as the Baath glacis
melts away, new divides will appear that Syrian have little experience in
bridging. <b><span style="color: red;">Today</span></b>, the divide is <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/48288009">between rich and poor</a>. <b><span style="color: red;">Tomorrow</span></b>, it could be between </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Damascus</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9423574/Syria-war-planes-bomb-Aleppo.html">Aleppo</a>,
since the regime has all but broken the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemins_de_Fer_Syriens">Homs node</a>…. The
day after, who knows? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.mahjoob.com/"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi7_bNsdo7P7uCYwskqsDgfk65ubsvg7iJIeuD1JkJpL89l9hW5_iNnqdsfcBo3v0iq3gtH2RJIpnj81a2r2IyoY7ARmmYMVWy31KdlsFc4IlkkvNaaU_SYpEmicI2YyG08qO1sQ/s200/3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">All the efforts of Bashar’s
“<a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=422170">allies</a>”
will not prevent this slide into hell. And all the efforts of Bashar aim at <a href="http://www.merip.org/mero/mero022412">facilitating this descent</a>… So, the
“<a href="http://world.time.com/2012/07/24/five-syrian-nightmares-the-mideast-cant-live-with-assad-but-living-without-him-wont-be-easy/">dialogue</a>”
that has began is being conducted with bombs and bullets… And <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/20/f-syria-chemical-weapons.html">chemical
weapons</a>, or is it just gas?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px;">…
And this “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/05/military-solution.html">dialogue</a>”
will soon spread <a href="http://arabiadeserta.com/2011/03/25/from-syria-with-love-a-saudi-carnival-with-princes-but-no-thongs.aspx">South</a>.</span>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-2726314073844347922012-07-23T06:37:00.000+03:002012-07-24T15:09:48.784+03:00Liars Ballet<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The thing about lies is that they come back to haunt you... For the Syrian regime, <a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2012/06/30/Raised_on_power_Assad_risks_all_l/">it's endgame</a>; they lied so much, no one would ever believe him, even if they were telling the truth... Which in this case they are not. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://suite101.com/article/elton-john-alberta-ballet-to-collaborate-a105012"><img border="0" height="127" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y86ypiz823o/UA6PoJX62aI/AAAAAAAAELI/v4i6tQzZ5kc/s200/1746954_com_elton196.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Enter "<a href="http://qifanabki.com/2011/01/31/haqiqa-leaks-hussam-hariri/">Houssam Houssam</a>", the so-called star witness in the Hariri Assassination. The "Free" Syrian Army now has him. Skipping the part of how he got there, he claims he has new revelations on his past revelations... Not that's a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4479278.stm">liar</a> that I would never believe. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://benjaminkahen.blogspot.com/2012/07/joke-of-week.html"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P_Lsl6uIcG4/UA6QZ_u0I8I/AAAAAAAAELQ/zto4D0CuCCQ/s200/bashar_assad.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Still, in Lebanon, we're so fed up with the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/05/divine-stupidity.html">Divine Idiots</a> that he'll find an audience... At least, now the regime's chicken are all "coming home to roost". The only downside is that, when they will be done with this gang of clowns, the new clowns will get not just get rid of the bad, but also of any good that was left there... </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qzUQ7VWZujs" width="320"></iframe></span></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-53149341819666704882012-07-19T09:54:00.001+03:002012-07-20T16:22:16.539+03:00Cher Nobyl...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Dear “<a href="http://www.carbonated.tv/blogs/bashar-al-assad-the-doctor-in-slaughter-house">Daktor</a>”
Bashar,</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So it’s endgame for
you… What do you expect, when no one really believes you anymore, even <a href="http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2011/08/09/syrian-defense-minister-killed-by-his-predator-president">when
(if?) you tell the truth</a>? So, you may last a year, you may last 10. But you’re
basically gone. At this stage, forget about all the “<a href="http://www.presidentassad.net/SAYINGS/Bashar_Al_Assad_about_Sayings.htm">praise</a>”;
your regime is bankrupt and all but gone. And forget about your Iranian
paymasters, they have <a href="http://www.bbehbudi.com/page.php?id=90&print=yes">troubles
of their own</a>… <a href="http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/19/178045.html">All sorts of troubles</a>. So you should be considering your <a href="http://www.ehow.com/list_6002305_stages-bankruptcy.html">options</a>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJmRBTv8tGc/UAh4OTlT7vI/AAAAAAAAEJQ/6MOagG0TJFE/s1600/assad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJmRBTv8tGc/UAh4OTlT7vI/AAAAAAAAEJQ/6MOagG0TJFE/s200/assad.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, at those last stages,
what are your options? Well, you would normally have a few. By now, none will
work… Consider this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Option 1:</span></b> high tail it outta there. <b><span style="color: red;">At first</span></b>, the British may still find you an exit;
they do have a <a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/pino-s03.shtml">soft spot for
dictators and their cash</a>. You once had a <a href="http://www.presidentassad.net/ASMA_AL_ASSAD/Asma_Al_Assad_News_2011/Asma_Assad_Vogue_February_2011.htm">few
useful idiots</a> there, but now you appear to have pissed off even the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9325230/Syria-Vogues-Anna-Wintour-disowns-Asma-al-Assad.html">stupidest</a>
and the most “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039365/Tony-Blairs-gushing-letter-Colonel-Gaddafi-invest-cash.html">grovelish</a>”
of them that they are actively trying to <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/the-only-remaining-online-copy-of-vogues-asma-al-assad-profile/250753/">forget
they ever knew you</a>. Still, in this case, you’ve stolen enough cash to
ensure that your children may survive, though I’m not sure if your son will live
out the Legacy of his name; I suggest you petition to change his name back to… <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/syria/hafiz-al-assad.htm">Al-Wahsh</a>. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YvaeZiOTO1w/UAh3wEsH4KI/AAAAAAAAEJE/GF81hcYjgPQ/s1600/clinton-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YvaeZiOTO1w/UAh3wEsH4KI/AAAAAAAAEJE/GF81hcYjgPQ/s200/clinton-c.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Then (where else)</span></b> you could have
considered joining (what’s left) of Ben-Ali in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> or <st1:country-region><st1:place>Qatar</st1:place></st1:country-region>? You may get past the Salafis, but <a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/03/23/the-assad-family-and-the-vogue-article/">pity
the shopping</a>… And the regime there is not any more stable than you are… Thank
providence for high oil prices. <b><span style="color: red;">So, further away?</span></b>
Maybe <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>; for all its support, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> may well be <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.it/aspenia-online/article/cautious-president-putin-chaotic-environment">reconsidering
some of its options</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.theipinionsjournal.com/2011/01/beware-of-arab-dictators-seeking-friends-on-facebook/"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X2JMQMuPEUA/UAh4_4C-ZnI/AAAAAAAAEJY/zUAfBjniVts/s320/egypttoon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Option 2:</span></b><span style="color: red;"> </span>You could try a “political rally”, in which case he will end “a la
Ceaucescu”. Not a good idea; with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18895643">Assef Shawkat gone</a>,
you may want to watch <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/syria/intro.htm">those who “escaped”</a>
the blast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Syria"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jHlqo16mWfY/UAlbYvl8QCI/AAAAAAAAEJk/9nj1-CDYG8M/s200/OETA_Syria.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Option 3:</span></b> You could try to hold on to that “Alawite
stronghold” of yours. But I am not sure how well <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazi_Kanaan">Ghazy Canaan</a>’s “suicide” (and
that of his brother) was received over there. At least, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/04/syrian-general-assassinat_n_116727.html">stay
away from the beach</a>. And again, watch those who “escaped” the blast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then again, you’re
smart enough to find a way out of this… As long as your <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/669da3aa-b5b5-11e1-ab92-00144feabdc0.html">arrogance</a> does not get
in the way. It’s a pity that you wasted all your intelligence and the <a href="http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/03/05/my-fickle-friends-by-bashar-al-assad/">“good
will” you had early on</a>. You’ve only managed to keep <st1:country-region><st1:place>Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> in the dark ages. Or maybe you had no choice; <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/assad-dynasty-crumbles-5224">your own
grandfather had predicted as much</a>.</span><br />
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</div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-48547668117050711832012-01-02T07:52:00.002+02:002012-01-02T08:09:36.365+02:00фашистской силой<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Best Hopes for a Happy New Year 2012. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >As I see my fellow Arab emerge from the slumber, I can only hope it’s a real awakening. The picture so far remains a bit blurry, but it is not hopeful. The danger is that Arabs may only awaken from the stupor of secular fascists to fall into the deadly embrace of religious fascists. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>Cave Semitii</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I am fearful for the Arab people because of our Arab Nature. <b>If we Semites have any redeeming qualities, it is our deep and spirituality and our passionate sense of honour and justice.</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">If we Semites have any damning faults, it is our deep and spirituality and our passionate sense of honour and justice. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So, when our prophets said it was “an eye for an eye”, this was not a licence to exact retribution from those who offended us (and more). Rather, this simple statement was meant to reminds us all of our humbling equality before the Creator. Yet we often forget it. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >And the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">clowns who (mis)ruled us forgot that while they acted as God incarnate. Some, like Gaddafi, may even have believed it. A few guys from Misrata reminded him otherwise. While no one can wish his end on anyone, but he who lived by the sword should expect to die by the sword (in the worse way possible). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So, <b>good riddance to bad rubbish</b>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">Or, if you feel hypocritical, may they rest in peace and let’s turn the page. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>And that was the easy part. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Trouble is, we may have many more pages to turn before our story even starts. Like so many other people over the course of history, after we get rid of the Czar, we still have to deal with the dung heap on which he stood, lest this dung heap take over. While those nasty clowns repressed liberals, they fostered and empowered even nastier forces in their dark shadows (ok, all shadows are dark, excuse the “balagha”). Those are the Bolsheviks of yore, the Khomeinists yesteryear… and today, we have Islamic Brotherhood, the Salafists, the National Religious....</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Those secular fascists were only the first page. We now face those religious fascists. We need to turn many more pages before we get to the end of our story. And as we turn the pages, beware of our Semitic passions. With the easy enemy gone, we have to face the demons within us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>So, best hopes for 2012. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Better be careful what we wished for this year, we're on our way to get it... Unless we wise up.</span></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-48024248603962096712011-09-29T12:11:00.009+03:002011-09-29T15:39:38.611+03:00The Dark Side of Altruism<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >... Long time no blog.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >Then again, there's isn't much to really report. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yes</span>, we had elections, then a new governement under a very Sad Hariri, a newer government under Mi-Kati who's making a lot of noise, while his government is on its way to selling Lebanon's soul.<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yet, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Fundamentally</span>, nothing has changed</span><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The one change is the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Arab Spring</span>... <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/06/dinosaurs-are-going.html">Finally</a>. Yeehaa. Allah kbir, Allah akbar. Yes, the bad ones are on their way... Now <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >Bachar, Bibi, Nasrallah, t</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >he Mullahs: Almost done... </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Tunis <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/01/iranian-voices-tunisia-and-exporting-the-revolution.html">Tunest</a>, Iran Natunest... Yet.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >Well, it's a long way from the dreams of March 14, 2005. Bachar's only "<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/10/carrots-and-sticks.html">Medium Well</a>", and he still have some "<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/03/anschlu-delayed.html">game</a>" in him, and a increasingly sophisticated <a href="http://iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/globalactionalerts/497.html">communications monitoring system</a>. So is Bibi, in spite of his similar performance, with Obama playing his usual <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/09/stupidity-12.html">speechifying figuring role</a>, on <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/01/02/the-huffington-post-israeli-occupied-territory/">home turf</a>. It was <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2011/05/25/bibi-and-the-yo-yos/">even bett</a></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2011/05/25/bibi-and-the-yo-yos/">er than Bachar's</a>; he even got more applause. More than the Knesset would have ever granted him. Nasrallah's still a bit "rare", and the Iranian clerics are only now marinating. But the natural (r)evolution that is taking place is ineluctable.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">But its not all for the good</span> </span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">In his latest <a href="http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/09/27/patriarch-rai-sticking-to-his-previous-stance-on-hezbollah-syria/">stupid rant</a>, Patriarch Rai put his finger on it... But the concern extends beyond a few turbans, and in choosing among evils, he is only choosing evil. One would have expected Rai not to fall for such <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2006/10/araftoun-again.html">skewed choices</a>... I'd like to see how he will "joumblat away" from all this...</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And one of the drivers is: </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/Social/?view=usa&ci=9780199738571">Altruism</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">..</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.scoop.it/IhnlrhFlSURU6VgIu36pjjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBU8NzMXDbey6A_oozMjJETc"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 232px;" src="http://img.scoop.it/IhnlrhFlSURU6VgIu36pjjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBU8NzMXDbey6A_oozMjJETc" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Fundamentally, however, his concern illustrates the <a href="http://followmehere.com/2011/09/10/the-dark-side-of-altruism/">dark side of altruism</a>. His intentions are good. <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/04/nobels-hell.html">At first</a>. Then something happens; it is reality? Is it hubris? Things take a life of their own, and <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/05/crying-uncle.html">intentions</a> lead them... Well, <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/01/so-it-begins.html">elsewhere</a>...</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Good intentions make excellent paving material. Like all things that are taken to excess, altruism develops into a pathology, and "society's most pernicious troubles arise under its guise". We should recognise the dangers of good intentions, lest they lead us to more of the same.. Robespierre came soon after Mirabeau, Hitler followed Bismarck, Stalin succeeded Marx... The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%27tazili">Mutazailites</a> are not too far away.<br /><br />Let's not forget that all those now shooting at Gaddafi were once cheering for him. Most of those now shouting down Bachar were once looking the other way when his father as pounding us. And most of us now cheering [Name of your favourite Lebanese Here] are all too happy to look the other way when he was comitting atrocities.<br /><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >Altruism is good. But it often exploited by unscrupulous leaders who make us commit atrocities. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0.0001pt 0in; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><br /></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; font-style: italic;color:black;" ><blockquote>How can we guard against the dark side of altruism? In any situation where we feel impelled to help others, it is crucial to step out of our comfort zone and examine the arguments from the other side. We must be willing to learn, in as open-minded a fashion as possible, from those with whom we disagree. In some sense, this means applying the scientific method to our lives. Like scientists, we need to play devil's advocate and actively seek ways of disproving a hypothesis, asking ourselves if an act that seems unquestionably altruistic can have broader negative consequences</blockquote></span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" ><br /></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> <p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></p> <p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;color:black;" >Our better nature can, and will, lead us to do things that end up harming the very people we are trying to help. So let us get rid of those dinosaurs. </span></p></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;font-size:85%;color:black;" >But let us keep a close eye on ourselves. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;">So, now that the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Arab Spring</span> is gearing up, yeehaa. Allah kbir, Allah akbar. If you're in Syria, more power to you... And to <a href="http://www.blogger.com/english.the-syrian.com/2011/08/24/what-is-happening-in-syria/">Thuraya</a>. If you're in Palestine, God speed; you're caught up between your own f<a href="http://www.blogger.com/english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/">lawed leaders</a> and shrewd enemies. In Israel, wake up, dudes; Leiberman's not what you claim to be about...</p></span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;">But if you're in Lebanon, enjoy the sidelines (for now)... </p></span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;">So pass me the Arak, O <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abo%C3%BB_Nouw%C3%A2s">wise one</a>...<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Today we drink, for tomorrow's serious matters will come soon enough.</p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;"><br /></p></span></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><p class="infuse" style="margin: 0in 15.1pt 0.0001pt 0in;">اليوم خمر وغداً أمر</p></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7oday_Fc-Gc" allowfullscreen="" width="420" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe></span><br /></div></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-66851481837027144752009-06-03T11:57:00.010+03:002009-06-03T11:57:00.245+03:00The Pitfalls of Power<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It is often the case that <b>triumphant powers</b> develop tend</span><span style="font-size:85%;">encies that make them vulnerable to weaker challengers.</span> </div><p style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD1_6UYWVI/AAAAAAAAEEk/Q7wv4xhy2-8/s1600-h/imager.php.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 116px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD1_6UYWVI/AAAAAAAAEEk/Q7wv4xhy2-8/s400/imager.php.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341539636396710226" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2cXXiyTI/AAAAAAAAEE0/pDD3fcHXRhY/s1600-h/ist2_2399853-asymetrical-warfare.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 57px; height: 63px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2cXXiyTI/AAAAAAAAEE0/pDD3fcHXRhY/s400/ist2_2399853-asymetrical-warfare.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341540125230942514" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">As they achieve repeated successes, they soon become to believe that, by constantly reapplying the same formula, they will continuously be able to achi</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">eve success by the same means. However, their once-novel metho</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">ds soon become “conventional” themselves, and a form of “<b>doctrinal complacency” </b>sets, reinforced by the ever increasing success. Such was the case in July 2006, when </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-CA">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">’s ossified, conventional thinking led to its defeat at the</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"> hands of a challenger who espoused novel, unconventional approaches. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2MjgdiLI/AAAAAAAAEEs/gYUytw36FKo/s1600-h/20060819issuecovUS400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 59px; height: 63px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2MjgdiLI/AAAAAAAAEEs/gYUytw36FKo/s400/20060819issuecovUS400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341539853611665586" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">This is the case of <b>Hezb’O</b> today; its victory in July 2006 led it to an increasingly dominant position in </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-CA">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">. Thi</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">s “new dominant” shows signs of <b>increased confidence</b> in the value of its past policies, since they led to so many successes. Indeed, after July 2006, their demonstrations and tent city led to the blockage of the country’s normal processes, a</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">llowin</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">g a continuous land grab and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124299352330147099.html">now a power grab</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">However, in doing so, Hezb is only exacerbating a “power dilemma”; the success of its offensive policy will create ever s</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">tronger incentives to strike first, since a successful attack will usually so weaken the other side that victory will tend to be relatively quick, bloodless, and d</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">ecisive. This is what happened during their invasion of </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-CA">Beirut</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"> in May 2008, w</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">hen it lead to cowing of Hariri’s, and more crucially, of Jumblat’s Druze.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2sJHY7MI/AAAAAAAAEE8/5e7-rFeNwLY/s1600-h/asymmetrical+warfare.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 103px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD2sJHY7MI/AAAAAAAAEE8/5e7-rFeNwLY/s400/asymmetrical+warfare.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341540396282997954" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">As it continued in this conquest phase, Hezb has consolidated “internally” by eliminating or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_el-Husseini">sidelining “barons”</a>, and is now expand “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8074848.stm">externally</a>”. Its “external” expansion is now carried out as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/lebanon-election-hezbolla_n_207790.html">part of the elections</a>, in which they are leading Aoun’s electoral offensive in the Christian. Whatever the <b>final result</b>, ShaterHassan’s allies would be sure to <b>score quite a few points</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3s1ZdBlI/AAAAAAAAEFc/hfQcbN4jCJE/s1600-h/china2402.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 43px; height: 54px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3s1ZdBlI/AAAAAAAAEFc/hfQcbN4jCJE/s400/china2402.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341541507681551954" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">But <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086861.html">Iran’s po</a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086861.html">wer grab over Lebanon</a> will be far from secure, and the downside will come soon enough; as the successes accumulate, Hezb’s doctrines will b</span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">e increasingly informed by the <b>rose-colored lens of previous victories</b>. Repeated victories make this offensive approach an easier choice because of the belief in the <b>possibility of quick victory</b> as well as the belief that<b> failure to act will exp</b></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><b>ose them to unacceptable risk</b>.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA">This doctrine of action will become increasingly rigid, and the party will become ever less likely to change and adapt. <span style="color:black;">As previous victories are celebrated, a culture of victory is increasingly emphasizing certainty in outcomes. Because this certainty belies the <b>complicated sets of factors that allowed victory</b> in previous engagements, Hezb is</span> increasingly developing a “static conception” of political struggle that<span style="color:black;"> does not allow</span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><span style="color:black;"> for change on the part of its adversaries. Soon enough, those adversaries will learn to exploit the weak</span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><span style="color:black;">nesses thus exposed, exposing dominants to defeat at the hands of inf</span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" lang="EN-CA"><span style="color:black;">erior parties.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3HBPKb3I/AAAAAAAAEFU/6m8_ya7UT3g/s1600-h/nasral_us.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 119px; height: 90px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3HBPKb3I/AAAAAAAAEFU/6m8_ya7UT3g/s400/nasral_us.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341540858024587122" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">Regardless of the result of this upcom</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">ing election, little will fundamentally change because of both the institutional dysfunctions of </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style=";color:black;" lang="EN-CA">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"> and the contradictions of regional power equilibriums. But time may choose for all; not only will there be <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/memberships/135653/analysis/20090410_iran_need_cut_back_its_spendthrift_ways">less Iranian cash in the future</a>, but at the present rate of consumption and decline, Iran is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/25/AR2006122500486.html">facing oil shortages</a> and may even become <a href="http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2006/01/iran-is-running-out-of-oil.html">unable to export much more oil by 2014</a>. true, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style=";color:black;" lang="EN-CA">Saudi Arabia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"> is <a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/node/4428">not doing much better</a>, but they’re not the ones challenging the </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style=";color:black;" lang="EN-CA">United States</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"> for regional d</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">ominance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3A6iQcFI/AAAAAAAAEFM/TL8RoPaTRYw/s1600-h/iranian-ballistic-missile-test.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 77px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD3A6iQcFI/AAAAAAAAEFM/TL8RoPaTRYw/s400/iranian-ballistic-missile-test.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341540753146409042" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">However, we’re still a long way from </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";color:black;" lang="EN-CA">Kansas</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">; if time is the fire in which we all burn,</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA"> we Lebanese are the ones closest to the flame</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" lang="EN-CA">s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD25Ttu7yI/AAAAAAAAEFE/wiz30Uq5KzA/s1600-h/Asymmetrical_warfare_w480.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 387px; height: 257px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SiD25Ttu7yI/AAAAAAAAEFE/wiz30Uq5KzA/s400/Asymmetrical_warfare_w480.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341540622466477858" border="0" /></a></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-16889679507505891822009-05-25T08:38:00.010+03:002009-05-27T07:50:56.155+03:00Monsters, Inc.<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" >Our Lebanese “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/01/reality-bites.html"><span style="">Our leaders” have <b>much to teach </b></span></a><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Colbert">the Great Colbert</a> about government</b>; judging from the uproar they generate, they have improved on the idea that “</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 102);font-size:85%;" ><i>the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the <span style="font-weight: bold;">largest possible amount</span></i></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 102);font-size:85%;" ><i><span style="font-weight: bold;"> of feathers</span> with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">smallest possible amount of hissing</span></i></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" >”. The amount of hissing is irrelevant if the <b>geese are busy <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_SQJNGN">hissing at one another</a></b>.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzDeO1NDnI/AAAAAAAAED0/4WnMX-P0tlQ/s320/politicians+1.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 66px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340358182299307634" border="0" /></span></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">For this reason, watching the Lebanese elections is <b>discomfi<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>ting at first look</b>. Almost everywhere <a href="http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/5278-lebanons-media-war-revived-after-assault-future-tv-reporter">political discussion</a> appears geared “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_and_rule">internally</a>”, towards “consolidating” one's core supporters. Voting in that case becomes little more than a census, where rea</span></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">l electioneering starts at conception, making sure the braying masses make enough voters, and guaranteeing that the economi</span></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">c system remains on the right side of failu</span></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">re to maintain them in a permanent state of patronage-enhanced servility. The only real debate is within middle class regions of Mount Lebanon, who happen to be mostly Christians. In that, they're leading the rest of <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=QkiAmnyuUsMC&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=lebanon+technocrats+in+charge&source=bl&ots=BbQHb4Ce7n&sig=zb3b2vQYCjk6kxLKKLeFMQgKX2w&hl=en&ei=QzUaStrROpSuMsuL_YsP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4">the Arab world's elites</a>.</span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEa_9o0UxXdo4rXfqk83R6edipVIh3ckrgZXyCDdjZrhq3UMdyX7ctwJHsXqs0cNPginhoxL8qmQ4dbk4kke9KjcagD8jY92n_xMz5pahn8n2ATWasKYLctyG0f0bxGqJCZpihg/s320/car-for-sale.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 101px; height: 76px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340358630118385778" border="0" /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">A deeper look, however, reveals a <b>less pessimistic view</b>; those who once claimed Lebanon as the Switzerland of the Middle East forgot that our region has nothing like the German's federative obsession, the French administrative zeal, or the British legal scruples. We can only be <a href="http://sietske-in-beiroet.blogspot.com/2007/11/halloween-beirut-style.html">as good as</a> one ca</span><span style="font-size:85%;">n be in this cesspool of dictatorships, where the only country pretending at being democratic is ruled by one ethnic group at the expense of others. And no, I do not mean Turkey.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw9Jo9i7pxR0npz2YHfzjnDpWNDEkhaYScGKLcIiPPmK-IEbRzWsKPZ7tNdEondd8lG3lQqSsv3sHl5mRI-gvt8jy2-BVwAPzQDNnyk41LCyJFu8R7kRDBEbcVfSB93grMVz2vA/s1600-h/monopoly1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 90px; height: 82px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXw9Jo9i7pxR0npz2YHfzjnDpWNDEkhaYScGKLcIiPPmK-IEbRzWsKPZ7tNdEondd8lG3lQqSsv3sHl5mRI-gvt8jy2-BVwAPzQDNnyk41LCyJFu8R7kRDBEbcVfSB93grMVz2vA/s320/monopoly1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340359648787917922" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">No wonder our search for <a href="http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/3/2/4/p253244_index.html">consensus and internal sta</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/3/2/4/p253244_index.html">bility</a> is so elusive. At least, we're the only ones <a href="http://www.lcps-lebanon.org/pub/breview/br6/tuenibr6.html">really trying</a>, even if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consociationalism">our model</a> is far from perfect, or realistic. And so <a href="http://michaelyoungscolumns.blogspot.com/2009/01/tiptoeing-around-death-in-south-lebanon.html">what if</a> Nasrallah has missiles and Iran. Doesn't <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2009/02/kahanes-own-yvette.html">Lieberman</a> have <a href="http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com/2009/02/isreal-used-white-phosphorous-on.html">Tsahal</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Weissman">AIPAC</a>, and <a href="http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Harvard_Report_Examines_Media_Coverage_of_Lebanon_War.asp">a little more</a>? I fail to see the core difference between those fine </span><span style="font-size:85%;">examples of <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/811/re85.htm">Shiite tribalism and Jewish tribalism</a>. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzFvUf8ehI/AAAAAAAAEEM/4lWM1jAFOIw/s1600-h/aounraje3-763830+%281%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 95px; height: 67px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzFvUf8ehI/AAAAAAAAEEM/4lWM1jAFOIw/s320/aounraje3-763830+%281%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340360674901785106" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>For the time being</b>, our only hope is to try and maintain some internal power balance, by voting our heads rather than our hearts, to maintain our local overlords as much on edge as possible. The pie is shrinking, and their old ways of goose-plucking will soon have to change lest they <a href="http://www.finance.gov.lb/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Ministry+FAQs/Public+Debt+Questions/">run out of feathers</a>... Or Until they weed themselves out of here.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzGESr6szI/AAAAAAAAEEU/2UaWE_CAF-M/s1600-h/JJPrison-769118.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 85px; height: 73px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzGESr6szI/AAAAAAAAEEU/2UaWE_CAF-M/s320/JJPrison-769118.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340361035192382258" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span>Or, more probably,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Until</span>, that is, we're all emigrated from here. By “we”, I mean the middle class; the <a href="http://uniset.ca/terr/news/ind_fisk_christianexodus.html">exodus of the Christians</a> from Lebanon</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> is only a symptom of the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/04/war-of-worlds.html">country's real tragedy,</a> the absence of opportunities <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=74716">for the middle class</a>, mostly made up of Christian, Druze, and Beiruti Sunnis. In the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/01/pyrrhic-peace.html">current state of affairs,</a> there is <a href="http://www.ekhoury.com/tag/lebanon/page/2/">little to do</a> for <a href="http://www.statisticslebanonltd.com/data_desc.php?data=news&id=55">all those</a> who just want to <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/24/international/i104820S77.DTL">earn a decent living</a>, without the need to pledge allegiance to petro-mullahs or armageddon-evangelists.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzGdl2FKaI/AAAAAAAAEEc/n5Uc2Bn93V0/s1600-h/sois+belle2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/ShzGdl2FKaI/AAAAAAAAEEc/n5Uc2Bn93V0/s400/sois+belle2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340361469832014242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:85%;">But there's <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892260,00.html">still some hope</a>.<br /></span></span></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-31137680883399016042009-04-19T09:54:00.010+03:002009-04-20T09:51:48.268+03:00Spring Greetings<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >One Lebanese asks another; "</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Did you watch the solar eclipse yesterda</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >y". To which the other replied; "</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Oh, for us, it's going to take place Tomorrow</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >".</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Alas, under this grand talk of "diversity", we Lebanese hide real divisions. It would not be so bad if they were limited to arcane matters of religion or taste. In our case, we've moved beyond <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-22128,00.html">absurdities of calendar</a>, we've each managed to <span style="font-weight: bold;">move to different planets while living in the same country</span>.<br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SerSPVbaA9I/AAAAAAAAEBw/hW5T2H_BzD0/s1600-h/080219-planets-life_big.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 99px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SerSPVbaA9I/AAAAAAAAEBw/hW5T2H_BzD0/s400/080219-planets-life_big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326300670210999250" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >... I kinda like the part about numerous vacations, though.</span><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span>But I digress</span>...</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">I've had little to blog about over the past few weeks. I see little merit in either side of this sorry saga of ours... In the coming election, there will be no real debate of ideas, just a "conscription" of the electorate, as we're each pulled by the rival tugs of the regional giants; an <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Iranian</span>-aligned "Shiite" party <span>with </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">money and "فهم"</span>, a <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Saudi</span>-guided "Sunni" grouping with <span style="font-weight: bold;">money and no "فهم"</span>, and a <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Christian</span> salad of ex-warlords with <span style="font-weight: bold;">no money and even less "فهم</span>".<br /><br />As for whatever <span style="font-weight: bold;">secular "center"</span> remains, we hide our hard earned money, as the looming global recession challenges our limited "فهم" of the world. In any case, whoever wins the current election will be of little real consequence; <a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3043">the real fight's taking </a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3043">place outside this ring</a>. The best we can do is continue our <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0415/p06s21-wome.html">bloody jockeying for position</a> within our little square in the regional chessboard.<br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SerSCxTHlKI/AAAAAAAAEBo/pyS7XYjmBqc/s1600-h/redwedgejb2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 268px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SerSCxTHlKI/AAAAAAAAEBo/pyS7XYjmBqc/s400/redwedgejb2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326300454354130082" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">....March 14, 2005 is so far away ...<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">...Still, it's not all bad; <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892260,00.html">we've got a few things going for us</a>...</span><br /></div></div></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-6744274593109098352009-03-07T15:27:00.003+02:002009-03-08T08:12:28.178+02:00Release the Hounds!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Driving around <st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:85%;"> has been an increasingly interesting experience of late. In most coastal areas, traffic was a lot worse. This is not just because of an influx of Gulf tourists, but it appears mostly due to an increase in the number of “strategically placed” public works. With the election nearing, the increase in number of government mandated potholes is supposed too help the rival fortunes of the rival Hariri and Hezb’O camps.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">In addition, the number of beggars and street salesman in most areas of the capital has skyrocketed. This can only be a direct indication of an influx of Syrian Mokhabarat who came to “cover” our elections, and whose retinue those poor wretches tend to be part of.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: center; font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style=";font-size:85%;">Alas, no <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4523229">Kaak</a> yet…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">So it’s a good thing Minister Baroud is enforcing those safety belt laws and the cellphone ban. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: center; font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style=";font-size:85%;">I feel safer already…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in; " align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">... Well, to be fair, the <a href="http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/141696/">cellphone ban is nice</a>. The seatbelt laws, however, for "<a href="http://www.minnesotasafetycouncil.org/sbcoalition/freedom.cfm">personal choice</a>" reasons only a libertarian could feel compelled to justify. But still, I would hope more could be done. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">But I digress. Still, </span>thanks to <a href="http://lebanessa.blogspot.com/">LaLebanessa</a> for taking me to task.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style=";color:red;">DoubleSpeak<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">I see those little local developments in the context of the announcement that <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOj4FMDsYo5zW8Yj3Nfi3E_UID8QD96OODK03">Britain's Foreign Office announced Thursday that it has contacted Hezbollah's “political wing”</a>(<span style="color:red;">WTF?!</span>)”. At the same time, their American masters are reassuring us that they will <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5ggkb0W3EnItElUblFtK6XnIOOAD96OHC700">still respect us</a> in the morning after that little flirtation while they continue to withhold equipment from our Army. If you can call that “<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068859.html">old equipment that the Jordanian kingdom wants to replace</a>” military hardware; I’ve seen <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chassepot">newer crap</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">Still, we may have a chance if the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horde">Golden Horde</a> decides to ride again. Just maybe; they still make ammo for those <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mle_1924">M24/29</a>, don’t they?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">I am not only <b>surprised</b> that there is such a thing as a “political wing” for what is little more than the Lebanese outgrowth of the Pasdaran, I am even more surprised no one yet considered <b>contacting Ben Laden’s political wing</b>? So what if his followers wasted a few limeys; isn’t our rag-head blood <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-told-you-so.html">just as worthy as theirs</a>? And furthermore, Ossama’s a <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/06/true-believers.html">far more reasonable</a> man than Ahmadinejad and his kin; Khatami’s a mere <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/645/re4.htm">fig leaf</a>, and rather than <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/06/legacy-systems.html">an end in itself</a>, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;">’s favourite troglodyte considers religion as a means to an end… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: right; font-family:verdana;" align="right"><span style=";font-size:85%;">… <i>But I digress. again.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">In the context of all those shenanigans, I fear those will be tough days ahead for </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;">. Regardless of which March you’re on, “<a href="http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/11/beware_the_ides.php">only a sword can cut this Gordian knot</a>” of conflicting alliances and rival interests. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">In the short term, I fear the hounds have already been released… And the longer term may even be worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style=";color:red;">The Ugly Short Term<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">On the short term, our election is set to be <b>a very dirty affair</b>. That the polls are all on the same day creates even more opportunities for the better organized party to play “under the table”, and I would not surprised to see those who claim March 8<sup>th</sup> to win the day. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">Indeed, the key players in the camp that claims March 14<sup>th</sup>, led by amateur-in-chief Saad Hariri, appear set to screw one another. Especially with “leaders” such as Amine Gemayel and Michel Murr, either of whom has yet to fathom a lie they could not utter.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style=";color:red;">The Uglier Long Term<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">On the long term, the Americans will re-learn the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/05/there-has-been-much-talk-about-talk-in.html">difference between talk and dialogue</a>, as their little flirtation with </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Syria</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;"> fails (again). On the longer term, <a href="http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/01/hezbollahs_cons.php">Hezb’O’s conservative revolution will not prevail</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: center; font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style=";font-size:85%;">By then, however, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;"> may well have <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7666.html">collapsed</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">Chances are there will be little left of the civil society that motivated the (true) Cedar Revolution. The best and brightest having emigrated away and moved on, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=";font-size:85%;"> could well be even more solidly infiltrated by Hezb’O. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">Yes, we Lebanese are no saints. But Israelis will hate <a href="http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=447">the alternative</a>… As they complain about their <a href="http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3423">(accidental) terrorists offsprings</a> that will go back to threatening their northern border, there will be <a href="http://www.reason.com/news/show/36846.html">little they can do</a> about it, they will be too busy glossing over <a href="http://nizos.blogspot.com/2009/02/apartheid-discourse-spreading.html">that dreaded A-word</a>, especially if “<a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2009/02/kahanes-own-yvette.html">Yvette</a>” gets a seat anywhere near the government table.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0in 6pt; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;">The Americans <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/40033/the_grave_consequences_of_supporting_war_in_lebanon/">will have a harder time as wel</a>l, and “the One” and his “<a href="http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2007/04/miss_syria.html">advisers</a>” will come to regret ignoring <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=1009448&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=4#article1009448">the opinion of wiser men</a>;<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 3pt 0.5in 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><i><span style=";color:navy;">It is easy to see how </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">Syria</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span style=";color:navy;"> gains strategically from a "peace breakthrough" with </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">Israel</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span style=";color:navy;">. It gains in </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">Lebanon</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span style=";color:navy;">; it breaks out of the isolation that the Gulf Arabs (and the </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">United States</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span style=";color:navy;">) had sought to impose on it because of its unholy alliance with </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">Iran</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region><i><span style=";color:navy;">. The Israeli strategic analysis is harder to discern. The bottom line is that the Israelis are short-sightedly playing here with American strategic chips, undercutting an American regional strategy toward </span></i><st1:country-region><st1:place><i><span style=";color:navy;">Iran</span></i></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><i><span style=";font-family:Tahoma;font-size:11;color:navy;"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">-which one would have thought they had an interest in.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-38550349810754306832009-03-03T18:23:00.001+02:002009-03-03T19:44:50.490+02:00WTF?<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Check out this excellent article by the <a href="http://middeno.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/hizbullah-penetrated/">Middle of the East</a>, especially the part in which it refers to this piece in <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090223/FOREIGN/98546967/1135">The National</a>.<br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >Odd...</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Was July 2006 a large scale </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=107">Coventry</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">?</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZyjMy_MaAmf7VLgJTmoweNhiR7ll_9pVQQDwwkUdOjRKInp97InTbyDfotTDFKADqd8eKSgxHJJHdVISWVVVaSNDJaYbzPe14a2dif4hTKZjWo8fZ9SaZdZCyMES9d-_06TdFg/s1600-h/wtf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 371px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZyjMy_MaAmf7VLgJTmoweNhiR7ll_9pVQQDwwkUdOjRKInp97InTbyDfotTDFKADqd8eKSgxHJJHdVISWVVVaSNDJaYbzPe14a2dif4hTKZjWo8fZ9SaZdZCyMES9d-_06TdFg/s400/wtf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309018668991242898" border="0" /></a></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-36363465218475278382009-03-01T11:22:00.010+02:002009-03-02T08:07:51.615+02:00Lost in Translation<p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So the election season is upon us. Each and everyone has started their specifying, and each in his/</span><strike><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">her</span></span></strike><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> own way.</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hariri</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, having had his Feb. 14</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Groundhog day, is now mouthing of about the sweetness of opposition... And odd way to motivate his partisans, but that's just me. Methinks he has </span></span><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=99726"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">far too much hope</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> in </span><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKLR898768"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">the tribunal</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, or is he making a </span><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/hariri-suspects-free-on-bail-20090227-8kc8.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">few political deals too many</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">?</span><br /></p></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308460417844508978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 128px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/Satwn-XX-TI/AAAAAAAAEAo/9xika7Hszn0/s200/PM_abdel-420x0.jpg" border="0" /></span> <p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hezb'O</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">'</span></span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3678704,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">MyGodThereAreZionistsAmongstUs</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> is, well, </span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3678704,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">closing the ranks</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">. Some see this as an the expectation of some </span><a href="http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/02/28/53s458847.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">tribunal-related</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> </span><a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=82108"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">questioning</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, and link it to </span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29426990/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">tourists</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">... Methinks t</span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6707315.stm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">he barbudos doth protest too much</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">... </span><br /><br /></span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308462705509232898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 201px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 127px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SatytIlJcQI/AAAAAAAAEBA/L5glicmcWFk/s320/weighing_heart_feather.jpg" border="0" />Either way, it is all part of an early </span><a href="http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/02/mtlebanon_bids.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">circling of the wagons</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> around each community's sacred cows. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308466909261258130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 188px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 119px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/Sat2h0xu3ZI/AAAAAAAAEBY/SKMtNgo0kBs/s400/06.08.20.DisproportionII-X.gif" border="0" />So </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Aoun</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> is now … well.. whatever he's doing, it may work. At least </span></span><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/02/10/lebanon-cell-phone-prices-to-drop/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">his ministers are doing a good job</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, especially considering the other incompetents around them.</span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Syrians</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> are </span></span><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1881844,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">moving their pawns around the chessboard</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, and </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/02/25/world/worldwatch/entry4827425.shtml"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">making "come hither" gestures</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> to the </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/assad-interview-syria-obama"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Americans</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, with those ever perspicacious Europeans in tow. </span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/Sat1M57EXsI/AAAAAAAAEBI/mQVphnljHaw/s1600-h/cartoon_bLind_justice.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308465450353712834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 49px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 59px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/Sat1M57EXsI/AAAAAAAAEBI/mQVphnljHaw/s320/cartoon_bLind_justice.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">But most importantly, consider the </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Americans</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. They are “</span></span><a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=43489"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">engaging</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">” the syrians. </span><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-21-voa2.cfm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Or they are not</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">. Or </span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1067510.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">not yet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">... Methinks, with all this talk of "</span><a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3017"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">balance</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">", they're going after </span><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ICG/e9c9427fd1773f61819dd841170147e5.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">meager returns</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, thereby showing again that they do not know their head from their ass. This is not a stretch, considering where their best "</span><a href="http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/1044"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">talent</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">" is...</span></span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">What does it all mean? Nothing Yet. </span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Or </span><a href="http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=15835"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Nothing New</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">...</span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WM5H1KthhUU&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><br /><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WM5H1KthhUU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></p><br /><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Or am I losing something in this "translation" of facts?</span></p><p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0.02in; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.04in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308466053443122130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 152px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 111px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/Sat1wAmyc9I/AAAAAAAAEBQ/sdipXMRi8Yo/s320/hospital+lost+in+translation.jpg" border="0" />Maybe </span><a href="http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2009/02/the-past-ends-here.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">AbuKais</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> is right, after all...</span></span></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-46161172904455155852009-02-20T15:49:00.008+02:002009-03-01T17:20:15.283+02:00Coincidences<div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It is interesting how little news Middle Eastern newspapers really provide us with. As they <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html">feed us misinformations in the service of shady policies</a>, one has often to read between the lines. In Lebanon, they more often serve us </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://michaelyoungscolumns.blogspot.com/2009/02/road-still-long-for-hariri-tribunal.html">tired </a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://michaelyoungscolumns.blogspot.com/2009/02/road-still-long-for-hariri-tribunal.html">tirades disguised as real analysis</a>. So we have to read “outside” the lines </span><span style="font-size:85%;">… Here’s a couple of little tidbits that we do not read about; <o:p></o:p></span></div> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZ65UiKBrbI/AAAAAAAAEAg/v8pk90oIj1k/s1600-h/madagascar-penguins-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 140px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZ65UiKBrbI/AAAAAAAAEAg/v8pk90oIj1k/s200/madagascar-penguins-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304881173506403762" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style="color:red;">1-</span></b> the February 12<sup>th</sup> <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=99346">kidnapping of Joseph Sader</a>, the Middle East Airlines (<st1:stockticker>MEA</st1:stockticker>) director of information technology operations. <b><span style="color:red;">Coincidence</span>:</b> he may have been related to the fact that he processed and prepared files related to the Hariri assassination case. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style="color:red;">2-</span></b> The February 18<sup>th</sup> <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=99470">assassination of Ghassan Miqdad</a>, the <a href="http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/0/C4AE270C89F23C64C2257562003B09AE?OpenDocument">MEA pilot</a>, found dead in his own car in <st1:city><st1:place>Beirut</st1:place></st1:city>’s Ouzai district. <b><span style="color:red;">Coincidence</span>:</b> he had transported the Hariri files to <st1:city><st1:place>The Hague</st1:place></st1:city> on Feb. 9. <b><span style="color:red;">Coincidence</span>:</b> 2 months ago, his brother, Mohammed, was similarly assassinated, in the same area. <b><span style="color:red;">Coincidence</span>: </b>2 weeks before that, his house was burglarized.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">And the biggest <b><span style="color:red;">Coincidence</span></b> of all; both the Airport and Ouzai district are under the control of Hezb’O. So as they <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/08/fils-de-ptain.html">hide their head up</a> their <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2007/08/ave-gluteus-osculi-te-salutant.html">own gluteus maximus</a>; <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Lebanon's great and good say it’s <a href="http://www.iloubnan.info/politics/actualite/id/32175/lebanon/Hout-says-pilot-Miqdad%27s-murder-is-a-personal-one">all personal</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">I say its just <a href="http://www.reason.com/blog/show/109583.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">business as usual</span></a>…</span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Bring on the <a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/10/salami-tactics.html">Salami</a>...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hv870vZgNtQ&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hv870vZgNtQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">...Paranoid, <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=80895">eh</a>?</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Update:</span></span> No. My source(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">s</span>) are <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">not </span>Al-Siyassa, which I do not read anyway. And <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump">that's all I have to to say about that</a>... <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">For now</span>.</span></div>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-7157115258232506832009-02-12T11:50:00.017+02:002009-02-13T12:43:04.819+02:00Kahane's own Yvette<div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style=";"><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Regardless who prevails to become the next Israeli Prime-Minist</span></span></span></span><span style=";"><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">er, he/she will have a heavy burden to bear. And no, it’s not “</span></span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1231/p09s02-coop.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Palestinian Terrorism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">”; it’s Avigdor “</span></span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232643739869&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Yvette</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">” Lieberman. His rise to </span></span><a href="http://kishkushim.blogspot.com/2009/02/another-option-unity-government.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">kingmaker </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">has two main implications for the region, both of which are far reaching.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; "><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP9umz5KTI/AAAAAAAAD_E/QBdL6VE5_sg/s1600-h/jet_bombers_cartoon.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 52px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP9umz5KTI/AAAAAAAAD_E/QBdL6VE5_sg/s400/jet_bombers_cartoon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301860163479218482" border="0" /></a></span><span><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In the Immediate...</span></span></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify; "><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-QzIzeNI/AAAAAAAAD_M/wfX8KZXleD0/s1600-h/279215267_10950f1257.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 59px; height: 39px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-QzIzeNI/AAAAAAAAD_M/wfX8KZXleD0/s400/279215267_10950f1257.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301860750903703762" border="0" /></a></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Whatever his merits(?), the home-made brew tha</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">t this guy’s spewing is far more toxic than </span></span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062338.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Kahane’s</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. Yes, the language is mild</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">er, but the undertones are the same, and worse, the whole venom is now accepted discourse in Israeli politics.</span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-aMm3nLI/AAAAAAAAD_U/Mu8fS4oTjJ0/s1600-h/1161904.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 59px; height: 46px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-aMm3nLI/AAAAAAAAD_U/Mu8fS4oTjJ0/s400/1161904.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301860912359513266" border="0" /></a></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Such venom has a uniquely corrosive effect; ever since its establishment, </span></span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Israel</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> claimed some form or moral right. Whatever the merits of the Zionist cause, this gave </span></span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Israel</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> a boost, especially considerin</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">g the dismal record of the regimes surrounding it. Today, this may well be all unravelling; by welcoming their own Ahmadi-nut-job within </span></span><a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2009/02/06/Bibi_Netanyahu_and_Tzipi_Livni_need_to_woo_Yvette_Lieberman/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">mainstream politics</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, Isr</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">aelis are </span></span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062347.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">losing whatever moral high ground</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> was left. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Even the </span></span><a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/12/not-even-stupid.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">stupid Gaza campaign</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> does not carry the same cost. As </span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Lieb</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">erman’s stature and influence grows, expect more comparisons to be made with </span></span><a href="http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090210-lieberman-le-pen-elections-israel-beitenu"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Le Pen</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> or </span></span><a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3666804,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Haider</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. And expect some unwelcome reactions. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP9Gjjpi2I/AAAAAAAAD-8/ARyXUtRj-mA/s1600-h/cartoon+fence.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 118px; height: 71px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP9Gjjpi2I/AAAAAAAAD-8/ARyXUtRj-mA/s400/cartoon+fence.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301859475411012450" border="0" /></a></span><span><b><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Externally</span></span></span></b><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, the rise of such right-w</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">ing racists will only feed western anti-Semites. But those nut-jobs hardly need an excuse anyway. The larger danger is </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Internal</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. Those</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> being constantly </span></span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/962767.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">accused of being a fifth column</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> may finally decide to become one, especially as the Settler movement continues to act with impunity. And then </span></span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Israel</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> will find that a home-grown Intifada is a far harder challenge to face, an inconvenient “fact on the ground” that no “security fence” can</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> hide away.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-qqPf80I/AAAAAAAAD_c/xd4Z_iOCLWc/s1600-h/457834262_d220c81bd0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 64px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-qqPf80I/AAAAAAAAD_c/xd4Z_iOCLWc/s400/457834262_d220c81bd0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301861195192464194" border="0" /></a></span><span><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On the Long run</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">An additional effect of Lieberman’s rise would be on the regional “pe</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">ace process”, </span></span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4031326/Israel-has-left-the-peace-process-in-ruins.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">whatever that still means</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-3sz7SNI/AAAAAAAAD_k/YDB0B0EAo7A/s1600-h/no-arabs-483.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 65px; height: 42px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP-3sz7SNI/AAAAAAAAD_k/YDB0B0EAo7A/s400/no-arabs-483.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301861419220420818" border="0" /></a></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The current Israeli leadership will have to contend and growing dissent among Diaspora Jews, most of whom are not really too far from </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hannah Arendt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. In addition, the current Obama administration is far less Likudnik than the previous one. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP_CKqPrkI/AAAAAAAAD_s/rJTTHHHLZ-s/s1600-h/slices283.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 56px; height: 42px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP_CKqPrkI/AAAAAAAAD_s/rJTTHHHLZ-s/s400/slices283.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301861599031569986" border="0" /></a></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">However, that does not mean that the curr</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">ent Obama administration w</span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">ill be much less tone-deaf than the previous one. As a result, the new Israeli government will be pressured to show some progress on the “peace track”. And rather than choosing the Palestinian track, it will buy time and "</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">keep Obama busy</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">" on the simpler "</span></span><a href="http://www.hudsonny.org/2008/12/the-damascus-disease.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Syrian track</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">", where it finds a </span></span><a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/06/lions-dinner.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">far more accommodating</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> partner. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;"><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP_QgmKUMI/AAAAAAAAD_0/hfsUk0oq4IA/s1600-h/img_5519-small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 68px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SZP_QgmKUMI/AAAAAAAAD_0/hfsUk0oq4IA/s400/img_5519-small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301861845438189762" border="0" /></a></span><span><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">...And so, for Lebanon...</span></span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style=""><a href="http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com/2009/02/lebanon-on-unsc.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Interesting times</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Ahoy</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">!</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 6pt; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Update/Modification:</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> It seems I'm not the only one feeling uneasy about Ol'Yvette</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, as there appears to be </span></span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063706.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">a similar mood south of the Mason-Dixon line</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. The video is therefore more fitting than the one I had previously selected...</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j3g2-26UMXA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j3g2-26UMXA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><span style=";" lang="EN-CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Excerpt from Yvette's speech </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">(</span></span></span></span><a href="http://lisagoldman.net/2009/02/12/eretz-nehederet-skit-liebermans-israel-the-day-after-the-elections/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">H/T Lisa Goldman</span></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">):</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; "></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">G</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">ood Morning, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Israel</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, Citizens, second-class citizens, third-class citizens - and Arabs</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> I declare the founding of a Jewish state called Yisrael Beiteinu.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Applause</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The elections </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">were a marvelous experience and they </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">were also a final experience.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> There will be no more elections. Mina <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">[</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">a famous pollster</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">]</span>, your next poll will be called, ‘What do you think of the leader?’ And the answers will be: </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">(a) He is excellent; </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">(b) He is great; </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">(c) He’s totally hot, I’d leave him nothing but his socks and do him right here and now;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">(d) All answers are correct with the addition of coconut oil.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Applause plus whistles</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Regarding the rest of the choices, I decide as follows. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On planes, regarding chicken or beef - beef. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">For weddings, garden or indoor event space - indoor event space. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On Galgalatz (army radio), Madonna or Shakira - Madonna. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:36.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left: 36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Regarding leftists:</span> If you voted Hadash, you will receive a new (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">hadash</span>) passport </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">[</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the leftwing party’s name is an acronym for the Democratic Party for Peace and Equality, but it also means ‘new</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">’</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">]</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Applause.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 36pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Now lower the volume of the applause. Raise it again. Now applaud according to a jazz rhythm</span></span></span></span></span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">...May the farce end here...</span></span></span></span><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><span id="ctl00_Main_GridviewPostsList_ctl03_PostCtrl_LabelQuestionText" class="QuestionText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">אף פעם לא</span></span><br /></span></p><p></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-70646822334379287702009-01-29T08:11:00.005+02:002009-01-30T08:14:12.248+02:00Diou, Qué Marinade!<p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">France</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="">, the bananas of the <i>nouveau regime</i> are no smarter than the tired cabbages of the <i>ancient</i>. One of those legumes, Osif sénateur UMP de l'Oise, fired up a little <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=77528">gem</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 36pt; text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">"President Assad told me he exerted his influence to ensure Hezbollah adopted a responsible attitude and showed restraint during the events in Gaza,<b> Syria's role has been positive</b> " President Nicolas Sarkozy's envoy Senator Philippe Marini told reporters in Beirut. after a visit to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Damascus</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">Has <i><a href="http://jehasnail.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-way-to-cannae.html">Le petit Nicola</a></i> really been convinced that his investment in Bashar was still worth it, he would have sent him a bigger banana. However, the rants of this second fiddle sound just like a stockbroker talking up some junk bond. But that maintains the link just enough, in case the Obama(-Clinton?) administration decides to keep Syria "</span><a href="http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2009/01/molotov-cocktail-and-fire-hose.html">showered with incentives to tempt it away</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">" from Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">Or maybe <i>Le petit Nicola</i> has assurances that Bashar will <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/well-still-respect-you-in-the-morning-22-esteemed,2085/">still respect him in the morning</a>, too. </span><span style="">But maybe not the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_contraception">morning after</a></span><span style="">...</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">Or will <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=77527">hassouna confirms that little tall tale</a>?</span></span></p><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >...Mais que diantre alloit-</span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" ><em style="font-style: italic;">il faire dans cette </em><em style="font-style: italic;">galére</em></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >! </span><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-38207057471942853472009-01-25T08:18:00.003+02:002009-01-25T08:34:41.675+02:00Tabarnak!<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span lang="EN-CA">The news this past couple of weeks has been replete with drunkenness. Faced with the latest demonstration of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA">’s illusion of living without its neighbours, our local <a href="http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2009/01/hassan-nasrallah-patron-saint-of-jihad.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Saint Jihad Chrisosphobos</span></a> decided to retaliate…</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">So, unable to do anything south of Nakoura, he sent h</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">is partisans <a href="http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.@AM43014.html">take over Churches</a>. </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;">Turn the other Cheek, eh?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">This led some of his Ninjas, <i><span style="color:red;">Modi Viarge Grises</span></i> for the occasion, to deliver some </span><i><span style="color:red;">esti de sacrament d'agrat</span></i><span lang="EN-CA">, at the Church in Haret Hreik, with the full regalia of <i><span style="color:red;">Ôstie</span></i> and and </span><i><span style="color:red;">tabarnak achalandé</span></i><span lang="EN-CA">. </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">And now he has manufactured a <i><span style="color:red;">Modit Rosaire</span></i>. </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=76457"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 135px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SXwHJZ_XONI/AAAAAAAAD-Y/NeSei6PiLgY/s400/bracelet420-012109062001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295115120057727186" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">What’s next; an <i><span style="color:red;">Ostie</span></i> with <i><span style="color:red;">Saint-Ciboire de Nasrallo</span></i>’s <a href="http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=76457">effigy</a> on? Well, Khomeiny tried to emulate the Saint Charbel look, but Shater Hassan's pushing too hard. Even with all ClAoun’s support behind him, I am not sure that it would sell in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA">. The Lebanese may not have more than mere words to oppose him, but some can have <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tabarnak">subversive power</a>…</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0pt; text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color:red;">Modit Côlisse</span></i><span lang="EN-CA">…!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">Never before has religion been so enmeshed with politics as in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-CA">Lebanon</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-CA">. Thanks to Nasrallah and his goons, we may be in the Middle Ages, but fear not; to everything <a href="http://bible.cc/ecclesiastes/3-1.htm">there’s a season</a>…</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="FR"><span style="font-family:verdana;">… La </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_Revolution">Révolution Tranquille</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> n’est pas loin.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="FR"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AjJafys40xs&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AjJafys40xs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255069.post-55345215126529194072009-01-22T10:07:00.001+02:002009-01-22T10:14:45.579+02:00Ibn Khaldoun's Lesson<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">The middle is a hard place to be, and a harder place to remain. To some, I sound like a “Zionist Apologist”, to others, like a “Naïve Idealist”. I am neither.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-CA">I am a realist.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">There is no such a thing as “Military Solutions”; it is a logical fallacy. The Military is a tool, and should be used in the service of a specific policy, itself the implementatio</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">n of a longer term vision. </span></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">The current situation is not new. The process we find ourselves stuck in has been described much earlier by Ibn Khaldun, the great Arab historian. Whenever a </span><span style="" lang="EN-CA">community united by ethnicity or common interest (“</span><span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA">العصبيٌة</span><span style="" lang="EN-CA">”; or “Assabiya”), needs to reach power and maintain its hold on it (“</span><span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA">المك</span><span style="" lang="EN-CA">”; or “Mulk”), it relies on a religious or political ideology (“</span><span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA">الدٌعوة</span><span style="" lang="EN-CA">”; or “Daawa”).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-CA">So, In countries like </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-CA">Syria</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="" lang="EN-CA"> and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="" lang="EN-CA">Iraq</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="" lang="EN-CA">, clans founded their claim to p</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-CA">ower on a “Daawa” such as the “Popular Democracy” and “Socialist Equality”, co-opting Arab nationalism of the Baath Party. And today’s Israelis are not much better, having mostly moved far away from early ideals. Across the region, all those nice members of the “Assabiya” have now secured their “Mulk” well in hand, and are focusing on securing power by all means, focusing on narrow self interests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span style="" lang="EN-CA">This was made easy in all our countries.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-CA">We have all inherited from colonial times an apparatus that had i</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-CA">nvested many more resources in military-security apparatus than in civil-legal institutions to maintain control either over restive societies or unaccommodating neighbours. In some countries, the mokhabarat enforce the prevailing orthodoxy. In others, a common ideological groupthink takes care of that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-CA">Care to move on?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><span lang="EN-CA">Then Challenge your own mindset…<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">Only there will you find the real “Infrastructure of Terror”.</span></span></p><p face="verdana" style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SXgqsKUdClI/AAAAAAAAD9c/1rUvT8t8wSU/s1600-h/untitled.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 173px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dcdi--LdAeQ/SXgqsKUdClI/AAAAAAAAD9c/1rUvT8t8wSU/s400/untitled.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294028300146772562" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">...Before this BF mess moves no</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-CA">rth...<br /></span></span></p>Jehahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08714767132428450071noreply@blogger.com6