The uprisings sweeping the Middle East have started to blow down some very dark doors – the doors that lead to the dungeons and prisons where Arab security services do their work.
In Alexandria and Cairo, Egyptian protesters broke into the offices of state security, where they discovered some of the tools and torture devices used to make prisoners more pliant. Perhaps more important, they unearthed files detailing the nature of the work, and on whose behalf it was done. When the dust has settled, Washington may find its Arab allies much less willing to chase down and detain terrorist suspects, lest they be accused of collaborating with the Americans.
But what about the dark work Arab regimes do with the aid of other Arab states? Libyan rebels last week reportedly brought down two Syrian fighter pilots flying on behalf of Qaddafi’s besieged regime. Arab sources have told me there may be more than two dozen Syrian pilots flying planes in Libya — Qaddafi pays well and Damascus can use the money. Besides, the Syrian-Libyan relationship goes back several decades and the ties between their intelligence services are strong.
Those same sources explain that a delegation from Syrian intelligence services was recently dispatched to Tripoli to scrub the Libyan intelligence archives clean of all the records detailing past projects that the two countries had collaborated on, including terrorism. One Arabic-language website claimed that former Syrian vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam was involved in these joint operations, including the “disappearance” of Moussa al-Sadr, the Iranian-born Lebanese cleric who went missing in Libya in 1978 and is presumed to be dead. A discovery that Syria really was complicit in Sadr’s death could cause Bashar al-Assad’s regime some trouble with Lebanon’s Shia community, which revered the cleric. With Syrian officials likely on the verge of being indicted in the assassination of a major Lebanese Sunni figure, the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, Syria can hardly afford to alienate the Shia, the one Lebanese sect still unequivocally supportive of Damascus.
khazen.org, "Our joy has no limit!." Glory to our New Patriarch!!! The Glory of Lebanon is given to you – All of the khazen will serve as your servants Patriarch Mar Bechara Al Raai. The khazen family pray for the new Patriarch to continue, in strengthening and lead he Maronite Catholic Nation all around the World. It is a day of extreme hope, unity and happiness for Khazen.org! Rai, 71, who was the Archbishop of Jbeil, is the 77th patriarch of the Maronite Church, a position. Rai was elected after almost a week of deliberations by 38 bishops at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkirki. His election was celebrated by a televised mass while Maronite churches across the country rang bells at midday in celebration. “The elections took place with love and peace,” Rai said in a televised speech.
Monsignor Youssef Tawk, head of the Council of Maronite bishops, announced the news from the church’s headquarters in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut, after days of meetings behind closed doors during which the Bishops voted on who would succeed the long-serving Sfeir.
Well-wishers, including politicians and clergymen, immediately began to pour in to Bkerke upon hearing the news, some shedding tears of joy.
Cardinal Patriarch Boutros Nasrallah is very happy of the election of the Patriarch and has said of Raii "He is one of the pillars of the church (in Lebanon) and is open to all the communities, he added. "He is a very qualified person from a spiritual standpoint, he listens to everyone and greets everyone the same, whatever their background."
Worshippers attend a ceremony for the newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai at the the patriarchate church in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 25, 2011. Lebanon’s Maronite Church Christian community held an official ceremony to assume the new Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai in his new post on Friday held at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerki . REUTERS/ Dalati Nohra/Handout
Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir (L) blesses the newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai during a ceremony at the patriarchate church in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 25, 2011. Lebanon’s Maronite Church Christian community held an official ceremony to assume the new Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai in his new post on Friday. REUTERS/ Dalati Nohra/Handout
"The El Khazen family represented by two members (Ghosta Branch and Ajaltoun Branch) will have the honor to guard Bkerke during the next election of the Maronite Patriarch. This is a special power and preeminence that Bkerke has over the El Khazen family, as a consequence of its sovereignty and safety of election. The main duty is to ensure that there will be no interference or influence from any outsiders. Cheikh Farid Haikal El Khazen will represent the Ghosta branch and Cheikh Amine Keserouan El Khazen will represent the Ajaltoun Branch.
His beatitude Patriach Sfeir has accomplished tremendously for Lebanese, ensured freedom, Maronite safety and growth throughout the last three decades. The El khazen as a whole are very thankful about the great and unique accomplishments of His Beatitude Patriarch Sfeir and they will remain always servants of the Patrarch at his service."
Daily Star:
BEIRUT: Newly elected Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai was born in the Metn town of Hemlaya on Feb. 25, 1940. Before his election Tuesday, Rai was head of the Maronite Diocese of the coastal town of Jbeil, northern Beirut, from 1990. Rai received his intermediate and high school education at the College Notre-Dame de Jamhour. In 1962, he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology and in 1975 he received a PhD in canon and civil law. Rai also studied three years of law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
In 1995, Rai was appointed by Pope John Paul II as a member in the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants and he has served on the council since then.
In 2005, he was appointed by the Council of the Catholic Patriarchs of the Orient as a coordinator for the Episcopal Commission for the Family in the Middle East in 2005.
More recently in 2010, Rai was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
The new patriarch has also worked in academia. He has been a lecturer in pontifical theology and the sacrament of matrimony at Universite Saint-Esprit De Kaslik since 2001. He has also been a lecturer in legal rights at Sagesse University in Beirut since 2001.
In 1994, Rai received the Order of Merit, Commander Rank, by the Italian president of the Italian Republic and in 2007 he received the National Order of the Cedar. – The Daily Star
The first electoral rounds will begin Friday morning or afternoon after a secretary general – to preside over electoral rounds – and a committee to sort out votes is elected Thursday by the Synod of Bishops following hours of prayers. Former Kesrouan MP Farid Haykal El Khazen and former ambassador Amin El Khazen locked the patriarchate’s doors to visitors. By tradition, members of the Khazen family stand guard in Bkirki until a patriarch is elected. The tradition began in 1703 when a member of the Khazen family used to guard the monastery, which was then under construction, before it became the seat of the patriarchate in 1823. Thirty-seven Maronite bishops, among them several presiding over dioceses across the world, arrived in Bkirki by Wednesday afternoon after flying to Lebanon.
khazen.org The El Khazen family also would like to send its eloge, gratitude to His Excellency Mgr. Roland ABOU JAOUDE General Patriarchal Vicar Auxiliary Maronite Patriarcal Protosyncelle. Who has played a unifying role for all of the Maronites Nation, in bringing all leaders together and has offered tremendeously to the Maronite Church and to the Lebanese overall. It is through his leadership, unique actions and faith that we are stronger today.
Catholic news agency: "Pope Benedict XVI has formally accepted the resignation of Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, who is retiring at the age of 91.Cardinal Sfeir has led the Maronite Church since 1986. A new Patriarch of Antioch will be elected at a meeting of the Maronite Synod of Bishops, expected to be held at Bkirke, the headquarters of the patriarchate, in March.
At his request, Patriarch Rai will officially be installed on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25. Catholic patriarchs do not have their elections confirmed by the pope, but the new patriarch will request and receive spiritual communion from Pope Benedict XVI.
The 77th patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church said "Communion and Charity" would be his motto.
The Maronite Church exerts enormous public influence in Lebanon, where it is by far the largest Christian body. In his letter accepting the Patriarch’s resignation, Pope Benedict alluded to Cardinal Sfeir’s leadership during years of turmoil in Lebanon:
You began your noble ministry of patriarch of the Maronites amidst the torment of the war which bloodied the face of Lebanon for so many years. With the ardent desire for peace in your country, you led the Church and travelled the world to console those obliged to emigrate. Finally, peace returned, ever fragile but still extant.
The outgoing Patriarch will convene the Maronite Synod to elect his successor—according to reports in Lebanon, in the middle of March. He denied that he had his own favored candidates, stressing that the younger Maronite bishops would make the decision.
Lebanon’s President Suleiman chats with Lebanon’s outgoing Christian Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and newly elected
Reuters via Yahoo! News – Mar
Lebanon’s newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki
Patriarch Election History
by Richard Van Leewen – Notables and Clergy in Mount Lebanon "The political prestige of the El Khazen Sheiks, and even their position as Consuls of France, was partly founded on the endorsement of the Maronite prelates and the European missionaries. In the course of the 17th century, when the Khazens asserted their control over Kiserwan, the symbiosis between secular and clerical authority took the form of an all-embracing secular patronage over the church and the dominance of lay interests. It should be noted that this lay interference was not inconsistent with tradition, as no clear definition of the role of laymen in the church existed. The privileges acquired by the Khazens were not seen as an infringement of traditional practice or of clerical independence as it was justified by their secular authority and, moreover, provided the clergy with obvious advantages.
The influence of the El Khazen Sheiks in clerical matters concentrated on two aspects, which were, as far as the clergy were concerned, closely interrelated: the nomination of prelates and the founding and administration of clerical and monastic possessions. Traditionally, the main Maronite notables were consulted on the occasion of the election of the patriarch. In practice, from the 17th century onwards, this custom implied that the Khazen Sheiks had to approve the chosen candidate, before he could receive the pallium from Rome. It has been recorded, for instance, that the delegates who had travelled to Rome in 1633 to obtain the confirmation of the election of Jirjis IJmayra had to return to Mount Lebanon empty-handed, as they were unable to produce the endorsement letters from the Khazens which were required by the Vatican. In 1670 discord broke out between the Khazen Sheiks and the elected patriarchal candidate al-Duwayhi, since, according to some sources, Sheik Abu Nawfal had not previously been consulted. In 1710, finally, the Khazen Sheiks used their influence to have the mutrans depose Patriarch Ya^ub Awwad and appoint a Khazen protege, Yusuf Mubarak. These examples, which supposedly were recorded because they represented irregularities in the prevailing pattern, show that in the course of the 17th century the patriarchate came under the control of the Khazen Sheiks to a large extent.13
The authority of the Khazen Sheiks over the patriarchate was enhanced by their interference in the ordination of the mutrans, who were officially responsible for the election of the patriarch and provided the candidates. Moreover, the mutrans were, again officially, directly responsible for the administration of the dioceses covering the Khazen domains and for the collection of the "ushur. Mutrans who were ordained as a result of the intercession of the Khazen Sheiks in the 17th century were, as far as we know, Ishaq al-Shadraw! (Tripoli; 1629), Sarkis al-Jamri (Damascus; 1658) Yusuf Mubarak (Baalbek; 1683) and Butrus Makhliif (Cyprus; 1674). Eventually, the three main branches of the Khazin family acquired the privilege of selecting the mutrans of the dioceses of Aleppo (awldd Abi Nasif), Baalbek (awldd Abi Qansawh) and Damascus (awldd AbT Nawfal). This privilege was acknowledged by Patriarch Ya’qub ‘Awwad. It is, therefore, evident that the Khazen Sheiks also interfered in dioceses which officially had no connection with their administrative territory, an indication that they saw their role in church matters as an extension of their political power within the community as a whole.14
يكاد لا يمرّ يومٌ ، بل لا تنقضي ساعة، من دون أن نقرأ أو نسمع، أوحتى نرى في وسائل الإعلام، ما "يحور ويدور" حول " المحكمة الخاصّة للبنان" أو " الخاصّة بلبنان"، وبصورة أخصّ حول " القرار الظنّي أو قرار الاتهام" . ولم يقتصر الحديث أو التصريح أو المناظرة على السياسيين "وأصحاب الخبرة " بل تعدّاه إلى بعض رجال القانون .
وكنت آليت على نفسي ألاّ أدخل هذا " العراك " لعدّة أسباب، أهمّها، أن ليس لكلّ هذا " الجدال " أيُّ جدوى فعليّة، لأنّ الموضوع سياسيّ بامتياز، حتّى أنّه لو لم تكن "المحكمة " قد أُنشئت أصلاً، فَلَرُبّما طُرحت قضية أخرى تتصّف بالعنف نفسه، وكذلك بالتصلّب، فضلاً عن أنّ كلّ هذه الضوضاء الحافلة بالانفعالات، لا تأثير لها البتّة في مسار المحكمة، ولا طبعاً في وجودها .
ولكن، نظراً للجهل وللمغالطات، والأخطاء والالتباسات التي تُبَثُ يوميّاً، سواء عن قصد أو عن غير قصد، وتوقِع المواطنَ في حالة اضطراب، غالباً ما يؤدّي إلى شلّ فكره، وبالتالي إلى طمس رأيه الخاصّ، ممّا يُخضعه لتبعيّة الاصطفافات المعروفة، سواء أكانت مذهبيّة أم حزبيّة. ونَظراً خصوصاً لتقنيّة الموضوع،عدلت عن موقفي. وها أنا أتقدّم من القارىء، الّذي يريد أن يطّلع ولو عَرَضاً على مجريات المحكمة الخاصّة بلبنان، بإيضاحات حول نظام هذه المحكمة، والأصول المتّبعة لديها، والتي تختلف كليّاً عمّا ألِفناه في نظامنا الجزائي اللّبناني، المُقتَبَس عن النظام الفرنسيّ،علّ القارىء يتوصّل إلى تكوين قناعة شخصيّة عن هذه المحكمة، بمعزل عن المواقف والآراء المتداولة، فيدرك أنْ ليس ثمّة " قرار اتّهام" يصدر، لا عن المدّعي العامّ ، ولا عن قاضي الإجراءات التمهيديّة، علماً أنّه بمستطاع أيّ كان، أنْ يأخذ عن المحكمة نفسها، ما يجعله مُتيقناً ممّا ذكرناه،وذلك بمجرّد مراجعة موقعها الألكتروني .
إلاّ أنّه يقتضي التمييز بين الإجراءات القضائيّة التّي تمّت في لبنان، بدءاً بالنيابة العامة التمييزيّة والمحقّق العدليّ، والإجراءات التّي تقوم بها المحكمة الخاصّة في مراحلها كافة بدءاً بالادعاء الممثل بالسيّد ميليس،مروراً بالسّادة "بلمار" وقاضي الإجراءات التمهيديّة "فرنسين"،والمحاكمة الابتدائية، وانتهاءً بالهيئة الاستئنافيّة، وستقتصر مداخلتي هذه على عرض مبسّط للاجراءات المتّبعة لدى المحكمة الخاصّة بلبنان، مقابل تلك المتّبعة في لبنان.
Lebanese prime minister-designate Mikati addresses journalists during a news conference in Baabda
President General Michel Suleiman, Najib Mikati
Anger in cities of Tripoli and Saida and other Lebanese cities as Hezbollah-backed Mikati named PM
Angry Hariri supporters and protesters remove a poster of former premier Najib Mikati in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011. Thousands
Soldiers advance towards stone-throwing PM Hariri supporters of outgoing premier Saad al-Hariri, near Tariq al-Jadidah in Beirut
PM Najib Mikati won 68 votes out of the parliament’s 128 seats to achieve the required parliamentary majority he needed to become Lebanon’s new prime minister. President Michel Suleiman asked the billionaire Sunni tycoon to form a government amid a "day of rage" by fellow Sunnis who blocked roads and burned tyres in anger at his nomination, Mikati shortly after his appointment rejected attempts to cast him as "Hezbollah’s man" and said he would cooperate with all Lebanese in a bid to form an inclusive government. "Don’t prejudge me or my behaviour, please, especially the international community," the 55-year-old billionaire businessman told AFP in an interview at his Beirut home where well-wishers gathered to congratulate him.
"I say in all honesty that my nomination by Hezbollah does not mean I am bound by any of their political positions, except as concerns the protection of the national resistance," he said, referring to the Shiite militant group’s struggle against neighbouring Israel. "I will cooperate fully with all Lebanese to form a new government that protects their unity and sovereignty," he said. "My hand is extended to all Lebanese."
Mikati told AFP that he would seek to address the thorny issue through dialogue. "Stopping the tribunal today is no longer a Lebanese decision," he said, adding that Lebanon’s cooperation with the tribunal was another question altogether.
The win came two days after the discussions held between lawmakers and Sleiman and almost two weeks after the collapse of Hariri’s cabinet due to resignation of 11 opposition ministers. The collective resignation was in protest at a potential move by the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) to issue an indictment against Hezbollah.
Protests had turned violent in the northern Sunni bastion of Tripoli, where frenzied demonstrators torched an Al-Jazeera van and ransacked offices of a local Sunni lawmaker who backed Mikati. Mikati’s appointment has angered Sunnis who see it as a bid by the Iran- and Syria-backed Hezbollah to sideline outgoing premier Saad Hariri and impose its will in Lebanon. Lebanese Armed Forces on Friday deployed its troops in all regions of the country, in a bid to maintain security amid the crisis raised by a UN-backed probing of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri’s murder case. In a statement issued Friday, The Lebanese Army Guidance Directorate said that within the context of preserving peace and calm throughout the country, the army will adopt security measures such as setting mobile and fixed military checkpoints and regular patrol in different region.
Please click read more for more detail and more Pictures of these unfortunate events – We just want peace and democracy:
Lebanese opposition ministers announce their ministerial resignation during a news conference in Rabieh, near Beirut
From left, Lebanese Ministers Ali Abdallah, Mohammed Fneish, Abraham Dedeyan, Hussein Hajj Hassan, Jibran Bassil, Mohammed Jawad Khalife, Fady Abboud, Charbel Nahhas, Youssef Saade and Ali Shami hold a press conference to announce their resignation in the northern Beirut suburb of Rabieh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011. Lebanon’s government collapsed After this press conference a Minister from the coalition of President Suleiman minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein presented its resignation too which conclude 11 ministers resigning 1/3 of the government. Hence the government collapse
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) meets with US President Barack Obama Wednesday at the moment that Hezbollah and its allies resigned from the Lebanese government, according to an AFP photographer. The two men were meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, smiling as they posed for photographers, without making any statements. (Nader Hariri was in company with PM Hariri
Lebanese opposition Ministers : Gebran Bassil (C), Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water and allied to Hezbollah, announces a resignation statement as Mohammad Khalifeh (R), Minister of Health, and Hussein Haj Hassan, Minister of Agriculture, listen during a news conference in Rabieh, near Beirut, January 12, 2011. Lebanese minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein resigned on Wednesday, the state news agency said, bringing to 11 the number of ministerial resignations and effectively collapsing the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri
A Lebanese official says Hezbollah ministers and FPM (Free Patriotic Movement) leaded by MP General Aoun and Marada Party leaded by Frangieh allies have resigned from the Cabinet, bringing the government to the brink of collapse.
Energy Minister Jibran Bassil told a news conference Wednesday that 10 ministers are pulling out. They need just one more minister to resign in order to force the government to fall and an 11th minister could resign later in the day.
The ministers are stepping down from the 30-member Cabinet over tensions stemming from a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the assassination of a Former Prime Minister Rafik Harir
resignation of eleven ministers including a minister that represent President Michel Suleiman that reresent from the government’s unity coalition Wednesday, which would topple the government and raise concerns of new protests and paralysis in Lebanon.
The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that the resignations, which were to be announced this afternoon local time, were due to Hezbollah and its allies being rabuffed in their demands for an emergency cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss Lebanese cooperation in the United Nation’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). The STL is investigating the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, father of current Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who has refused to end Lebanese participation in the US-backed tribunal. Several Hezbollah members are expected to be indicted by the tribunal for involvement in the assassination.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence even as Hezbollah ministers forced the year-old unity government to collapse.
Hariri made no public comment after the Oval Office visit and immediately departed for France to consult with President Nicolas Sarkozy before returning to Beirut, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic moves
A White House statement issued after the meeting said Obama had commended Hariri for his "steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability and consensus in Lebanon under difficult circumstances."
A source told the Daily Star that Hezbollah and Free Patriotic movement sought the emergency cabinet meeting "to stop payment of Lebanon’s share toward the financing of the S.T.L., withdraw the Lebanese judges from the tribunal, end Lebanon’s cooperation with the S.T.L., and prosecute the ‘false witnesses’ linked to the U.N. probe into Rafik Hariri’s killing…" They warned that failure to hold the meeting would result in the mass resignations of its cabinet members, bringing down the government.
حاوره: فؤاد دعبول وايوب خداج
تقويم الصفحات الاخيرة، من العام الماضي، كان مع النائب في كتلة التغيير والاصلاح الدكتور فريد الخازن، ناقش الاحداث بتداعياتها والوقائع باسلوب سياسي، وبفكر جامعي وثقافة سياسية.
في نقاشه لملف الأحداث، يرى الدكتور فريد الخازن ان الازمة الآن مرتبطة بالمحكمة الدولية وتداعياتها من جهة، وبالوضع السياسي القائم حالياً، خصوصاً قضية شهود الزور.
ويشدد على وجود قضايا طارئة ولا نقوم بها. امامنا موضوع مطروح يتعلق بترسيم الحدود البحرية بيننا وبين اسرائيل، لان هناك نفطاً وغازاً في قلب البحر، وموضوع يتعلق بكيفية ادارة الشؤون المالية للدولة.
ويدعو الدكتور الخازن الى اداء سياسي مختلف ووضع حد للهدر، وتحسين الادارة اللبنانية.
ويحث على انشاء السلطة القضائية المستقلة، وهذا هو مفتاح حل المشاكل الطائفية السياسية، لأنهم يتحولون الى طوائفهم، لعدم ثقتهم بالدولة والقانون، لانه عندما يطبق القانون ويأخذ القضاء دوره باستقلالية عن السياسيين، تنخفض نسبة الطائفية واحتماء الاشخاص بزعماء طوائفهم.
واعرب عن امله بمخرج للازمة المتعلقة بالمحكمة الدولية، وان كانت مضامينها غير معروفة، واعتقد اننا سنصل الى تسوية تجنبنا اي انعكاس سلبي على الوضع العام. وهذه هي وقائع الحديث:
نحن في مطلع عام جديد، هل تتوقعون ان يكون عام ازدهار وخير على لبنان ام عام مشاكل يعجز عن حلها؟
– لا يزال لبنان يواجه عدداً من الملفات المأزومة ولم يتعاف بشكل كامل من سنوات الحرب الماضية، ومن مرحلة ما يُسمى بالوصاية، ولا نزال نبحث لايجاد نقطة توازن في النظام السياسي وعمله. علماً انه منذ العام ٢٠٠٥ ولغاية ٢٠٠٨، مر لبنان بأزمات سياسية. وهذا النظام السياسي اللبناني لم يكن قادراً على التعامل مع المرحلة الانتقالية التي جرت بشكل سريع وغير مسبوق في العام ٢٠٠٥. واعني هنا بالتطورات الكبيرة كاغتيال الرئيس رفيق الحريري، وانسحاب الجيش السوري، وانتفاضة الاستقلال والتحول الكبير في العلاقات الاميركية – السورية والتحول السياسي الدولي تجاه لبنان. هذه كلها حصلت في فترة زمنية لا تتجاوز ٩٠ يوماً.
Please click Read More to view Michel Hayek predictions of 2011
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News ) As Lebanon bids farewell to 2010, it also bids a bittersweet goodbye to the hope that some 500 items on the Cabinet’s agenda – and on the agenda of the Lebanese people – would receive the attention they deserve.
Lebanon’s politicians have been busy warning the public daily that civil strife and unrest could break out with the issuing of an indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of Rafik Hariri.
Unrest related to events in The Hague is a possibility. But so is the outbreak of unrest that springs from the failure to address people’s needs and grievances.
The daily business of government is not a luxury. When the government fails to act on the poor situation of electricity, water supplies, sanitation, road safety, infrastructure, or the economy, to name just a few items, resentment and despair grow to dangerous proportions.
If a given community feels it’s getting short-changed by the government, while other parts of the country “get their share,” tension over seemingly trivial things like a broken power line or unfinished road works can easily become a mini-sectarian war. It doesn’t take grand statements from the Hague to push the country to the brink.
It is no cliché to state that poverty, like the Cabinet’s paralysis, affects all sects. The political stalemate is eating away at the reputation of the government, and of the political system itself. If left untreated, it will eventually have a negative impact on investors and the business community, and lead to a drying up of political support from abroad. A government mired in such an impasse will find itself less and less capable of earning others’ respect, or securing their much-needed cooperation.
Lebanon has in the past lurched from one year to the next, suffering from an acute lack of planning and political vision. But 2010 will be remembered as the year of the infamous 500-item Cabinet agenda, which brings to mind the way the government allows garbage dumps to grow to frighteningly large sizes, until a bout of bad weather brings collapse, with disastrous consequences.
Lebanon has entered the Guinness Book of World Records of late, for its giant plates of tabbouleh and hummus, but the pile of accumulated policy paralysis also deserves mention in a record-book somewhere.
Elsewhere, countries will be entering the new decade by making huge efforts to provide better lives for their citizens. In Lebanon, the political class lives in denial, subsists on grandiose rhetoric, and waits for solutions from the outside world. But no solution will be durable unless Lebanese shoulder their portion of responsibility in 2011, acting with courage, creativity and inspiration. Otherwise, another lost year awaits.
Please click read More for exclusive Michel Hayek Video and Predicitons for Lebanon, Lebanese and Middle East in 2011. Prediction that covers the whole middle eastern region.
Khazen.org prays for all of the Christians executed around the World in this Christmas this include our thoughts and prayers for the Christian Families of Iraq, India, Egypt, Somalia and many more.
Two episodes of the very "Christianophobia" described by Benedict XVI in his address to the Curia. A website close to Al Qaeda publishes a list of "dogs in diaspora" responsible for conversions. In Somalia, the Islamists destroy and burn down an "underground" Christian library.
VANCOUVER, Canada (AsiaNews / Agencies) – Canadian newspapers report that more than 100 Arab-Canadian Christians have been put on a list published by a website close to Al Qaeda, apparently charged with encouraging conversions from Islam. The website Shumukh-al-Islam, often seen as an Al Qaeda propaganda tool, has created a list with photos, addresses and phone numbers of Coptic Christians, most with dual Egyptian and Canadian nationality, who spoke openly against Islam.
Three web pages, in classical Arabic, entitled "Complete information on Copts" are meant to "identify and call by name all the Copts in the world who hope to defame Islam" and refers to them as "dogs in diaspora".
In the website forum a member, who goes by the name "Son of a sharp sword," writes: "We will return to Islam and all the mujahideen will cut off their heads." One of the people included on the list told reporters: "This is a direct threat to our lives. They are trying to inform one another in the hope that someone can carry out this threat. It could be here, or in Egypt. " Some of the people only found out they were on the list when the Canadian security services contacted them. The existence of such sites is often criticized even by the defenders of freedom of expression, but some security experts say that in reality they are a great resource for those fighting terrorism.
Minty Clinch, As the Lebanese ski mostly at weekends, the agenda makes a lot of sense. From Sunday to Thursday, visitors have the slopes to themselves. On Fridays and Saturdays, they can watch the locals flaunt their cutting-edge designer clothes on the slopes. Frequent direct flights from Abu Dhabi take just two-and-a-half hours, and Beirut’s city-centre airport makes for short transfers, so Lebanon is a highly practical alternative to a short break in the Alps.
Although it’s a tiny country, Lebanon punches way above its weight in many areas, not least the spectacular Roman ruins at Baalbek, the ancient port at Byblos and the impressive grottos at Jeita. Geographically, it has parallel mountain ranges with the fertile Bekaa Valley – home to what it claims are the world’s oldest vineyards – in between. The Cedars and Mzaar, the two resorts with international appeal, and half a dozen local hills are scattered along the western coastal range overlooking the Mediterranean.
The French introduced skiing in Cedars, in the north of the country towards the Syrian border, during the mandate years in the last century. From the mid-1920s, they rode up the mountain on donkeys, accompanied by villagers carrying their skis. During the Second World War, British soldiers on leave from North Africa headed to Beirut by train, rented leather boots and long hickory skis and hitch-hiked the 130 kilometres to Cedars to flounder up and down the hillside as best they could.
The base station is at 2,000m and the pioneering chairlifts which were installed in 1953 are still running today, backed up in 2005 by some triple chairs that only operate when there are enough customers to justify the expenditure on electricity. The iconic cedar trees, the emblem on the national flag, are conspicuously absent in the large bowl that makes up the ski zone. I’d imagined from old photographs that I’d be weaving my way among them in knee-deep powder. Wrong on both counts.
here is a small plantation of mini cedars at the bottom of the resort next to a longish street of stalls selling cedar memorabilia. The trees are supposedly protected, but their slow growth combined with an increasing commercial imperative don’t stack up too well for the future. In a bad snow year, with no skiing until the beginning of February and rapid melt down by the end of it, the powder was also conspicuously absent.
World leaders are queuing up to affirm their commitment to Lebanese unity, but all have picked their sides and placed their bets.
"We focus our efforts on helping Lebanon maintain its unity," Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proclaimed generously in Beirut last week. He is quite clear that Turkey does not favour any sect or party over another.
Bravo, we need more like him, you might say, except that we do in fact have too many like him. Erdoğan’s visit is highly reminiscent of that by President Ahmadinejad of Iran last month.
Ahmadinejad also trotted out the familiar refrain of unity, reconciliation and peace in Lebanon, The Iranian president visited the Shia south and addressed a crowd of Hezbollah supporters, whereas the Turkish premier travelled to the Sunni Akkar region in the north for a pro-government rally with the prime minister, Saad Hariri. Saad Hariri’s "March 14" coalition came to power with a campaign for "the truth" about his father’s murder. The Hezbollah-led opposition, however, has cast doubt on the UN investigation’s legitimacy with accusations of false witness.
Foreign powers have been competing to show the most "support for reconciliation" in Lebanon. Syria and Saudi Arabia, the main Arab sponsors of Hezbollah and March 14 respectively, have made much of ongoing but mysterious "efforts: to defuse the situation.
Erdoğan made a point of his participation in the "Saudi-Syrian initiative" on Wednesday, and on Thursday the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon made a statement that "Iran is in constant contact and consultation" with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Western leaders have been singing to the same tune: everybody wants peace. But everybody wants peace on their own terms. It is only because so many world powers have seized upon this dispute that the two sides have become intractable
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