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The Wrong Side of History in Lebanon
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BobW
said:
Lebanon was also once known as the Riveria on the eastern Med - similiar to the French Riveria. "Arab unity" and democracy really can't be supported.
The National Convenant of 1943 is part of the problem. The balance makes Lebanon very fragile. We know Arab birth rates are higher than Christian birth rates. Does the ratio in the legislature change? Again, note that the legislature is not geographic oriented but rather ethnic. (A common denominator can be seen with Israel here. Israel do not have geographic electorial districts either.)
Lebanon's 1943 National Pact was established when France also was split - into 3 blocs; Vichy France, occupied France and DeGaulle's Free French in London exile.
The National Convenant of 1943 had some major principles. One was the Muslim obligation to protect the independence of Lebanon. Yet, Lebanon joined the Arab League. The area's political development can't support this affiliation concurrently with independence. Another major principle of the Covenant obliged the Christians to stop identifying themselves with the West. This inherently undermines why Lebanon obtained nicknames like "Paris" and "Riveria". Lebanon was no Abu Dhabi because it did have a western outlook and identification with the West. Western culture made Lebanon grow. Arab culture.....
Plus, with changing times, what accomodations did the National Covenant give to socialists and Communists? With no legal platform to rant and rave their views, they expressed themselves via extra-legal means. Now, we're not dealing in law but politics. Plus, this is the Middle East. Strong governments have problems with these matters. Here we have a very fragile government (in my opinion). With Nasser's pan nationalism and the Cold War's Communism, only a spark is needed.
I believe Lebanon's visa requirements forbid entry to anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport. If this is correct, it is a unifying regulation. I know the Druze leadership was always antiIsrael (Jumblatt & son).
That mentioned democratic path has thorns, spider webs and land mines. The Kyrgyz Republic is still called the Switzerland of Central Asia. It qualifies because of the scenery and not the government form. I anticipate it to merge into PR China.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on March 27, 2005 08:36 AM
The Wrong Side of History in Lebanon
By Andrew L. Jaffee; netwmd.com
Fascists struck against Lebanese Christians today, on the eve of Easter, their most meaningful high holiday. This is the third attack against Christians in a week, not only because they largely oppose Syria’s occupation of the Cedar Land, but because they represent what the fascists consider an abomination, a free and democratic homeland for people of all faiths -- those “western” ideals that Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah’s terrorist leaders fear most.
Their fears are based on a lie, on a distortion of history, on a coerced amnesia. They want to forget the Lebanon which once was the flower of Arab unity and democracy in the Levant – when Cedar Land was fondly known as the “Switzerland of the Middle East” and its capital, Beirut, was known as the “Paris of the Middle East.”
The terror/puppet masters want to forget Lebanon’s “National Pact” of 1943, when Christians and Muslims came together
Christians are the focus of the rotten root system of Lebanon’s ills, the weird combination of the Iranian-financed Hezbollah terrorist group and Syria’s Baathist/Socialist/Alawite minority despots, the Assad dynasty. These are strange bedfellows perhaps, but united in their fear of losing power.
These false gods; these overlords; they can only dwell on the rage that may be unleashed against them if they for one second loosen their grip on the millions they have so efficiently oppressed for decades. Drunk on power and fear, the axis – Syria Iran, and Hezbollah -- cannot see the beauty of people power, the Cedar Revolution, trying now to bud.
The terrorists cannot appreciate a time when “Lebanon finds unity in street rallies,” when 1 million Christians and Muslims march together in Beirut, peacefully demanding democracy. The phony photo opportunities – “pro-Syria rallies” -- orchestrated by Hezbollah, Syria, and Iranian terror masters could not marshal the numbers which Lebanon’s opposition produced spontaneously, using only cell phones, Internet connections, and word of mouth to organize.
This people power is what the terrorists are most terrified by. Lebanon’s opposition is the real thing, la vraie chose, people power at its best. The dictators may have a coerced amnesia of Lebanon’s history, but they are clever enough to remember what Gandhi achieved in India, what Martin Luther King, Jr. achieved in the U.S., and what Vaclav Havel achieved in Czechoslovakia -- all “velvet revolutions” fueled with peaceful people-power. Democracy is breaking out everywhere.
The democratic domino theory is no theory anymore. Kyrgyz, Afghans, Iraqis, Ukrainians, Abkhazians, and Romanians have all voted, all in the span of a year. The path is clear. The path is peaceful revolution. The terrorists will not give up without a fight, but they are on the wrong side of history. Lebanon will be free sooner than later. That is an undeniable fact.
Cross-posted at IsraPundit and netwmd.com
Posted by Andrew Jaffee at March 26, 2005 06:58 PM