LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
August 10/08
Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 17,14-20. When they came
to the crowd a man approached, knelt down before him,
and said, "Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples,
but they could not cure him."Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse
generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him
here to me."Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour
the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, "Why
could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say
to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you."
Saint Thomas More (1478-1535), English
statesman, martyr
Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation"I do believe; help my unbelief!" (Mk
9,24)"Lord, increase our faith" (Lk 17,5). Let us consider, by Christ's saying
to them, that, if we would not suffer the strength and fervor of our faith to
wax lukewarm - or rather, key-cold - and lose its vigor by scattering our minds
abroad about so many trigling things that we very seldom think of the matters of
our faith, we should withdraw our thought from the respect and regard of all
worldy fantasies, and so gather our faith together into a little narrow room.
And like the little grain of mustard seed... we should set it in the garden of
our soul, all weeds being pulled out for the better feeding of our faith. Then
shall it grow and...through the true belief of God's word... we shall be well
able to command a great mountian of tribulation to void from the place where it
stood in our heart, whereas, with a very feeble faith and faint, we shall be
scarcely able to remove a little hillock. And therefore, as for the first
conclusion, since we must of necessity before any spiritual comfort presuppose
the foundation of faith, and since no man can give us faith but only God, let us
never cease to call upon God for it.
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
The Lebanese-Syrian Test. By:
Walid Choucair 09/08/08
What? We worry?NowLebanon.com
09/08/08
In the
Middle East, it's the extremists who are prevailing-By
Shlomo Ben-Ami 09/08/08
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August
09/08
Saniora Sets the Rule of Engagement
with March 8: Enough-Naharnet
Lebanese Forces For Commitment to State Authority-Naharnet
Alloush
Attacked by Angry Protesters in Tripoli-Naharnet
Barak
Vows to Strike Deep in Lebanon-Naharnet
Parliament Sees its First
Debate in Two Years-Naharnet
Alloush Predicts Tough
Discussion of the Policy Statement-Naharnet
Speedy Appointment of
Lebanon's Military-Security Generals-Naharnet
Jumblat, Geagea for Better
Coordination by March 14 Factions-Naharnet
Hizbullah Snubs Syria: We
Don't Believe in Negotiating with the Enemy-Naharnet
PSP-Hizbullah Committee to
Deal with Security Problems in the Mountains-Naharnet
Parliament holds first debate in nearly two years-Daily
Star
Hizbullah has more arms, fighters than in 2006 - MP
-AFP
EU
favors ending Syria's isolation - Poettering-Daily
Star
Mediterranean union hits snare of Mideast conflict-Daily
Star
Draft
ministerial statement as submitted to the Lebanese Parliament by the national
unity government-Daily
Star
EU favors ending Syria's isolation - Poettering-Daily
Star
Lebanon MPs debate policy statement-AFP
The best thing Sleiman can bring back from
Damascus: diplomatic ...Daily
Star
Draft ministerial statement as submitted to the
Lebanese ...Daily Star
Leading Lebanese banks show record profits despite recent political turmoil-Daily
Star
GLC demands minimum wage of
LL100,0000, threatens strike-Daily Star
Future MP attacked during speech at Islamist protest-Daily
Star
Cabinet to appoint new security chiefs soon - report-Daily
Star
The Third Lebanon War?
Sean Gannon
August 09, 2008
August 11th marks the second anniversary of the passing of United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1701 (UNSCR 1701). Adopted unanimously by both the
15-member Council and the Lebanese government and by a 24-0-1 majority of the
Israeli Cabinet, it ended the Second Lebanon War, launched by Hizballah in July
2006 with an attack on an IDF patrol near Moshav Zar'it which resulted in the
deaths of 10 Israeli soldiers.
UNSCR 1701 calls for a long-term solution in Lebanon based on "principles and
elements" designed to preclude any return to the status quo ante. It therefore
demands the expulsion of Hizballah from the area south of the Litani River and
the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and a 15,000-strong "enhanced"
UNIFIL force in its place, Hizballah's disarmament under the terms of previous
Security Council resolutions, and an international embargo on its re-supply with
weapons. Confident of the UN's commitment to "genuinely and fully" implement
UNSCR 1701's provisions, Israel withdrew from Lebanese territory, placing
responsibility for its national security in international hands. However, two
years later it is clear that the UN has utterly failed in its task.
For, despite UNIFIL's assertion that it is "applying 1701 to the maximum,"
Hizballah has rebuilt its military capabilities. Its commander, Claudio Graziano,
assured the Jerusalem Post last year that there is "no open hostile activity...
no evidence of any rearmament... no one going around southern Lebanon with
weapons." Yet as early as November 2006, Hizballah was back on the border
collecting intelligence and by January 2007, the Israeli Military was warning
that it was rapidly replenishing what it lost in the war, a warning reiterated
in a Knesset intelligence briefing the following June. One year on Hizballah has
successfully re-militarised swathes of south Lebanon, not only by largely
limiting operations to urban areas which UNIFIL does not enter, but by adopting
a more aggressive approach to the peacekeepers who, in the wake of attacks such
as that which killed six Spanish soldiers in June 2007, have become more
concerned with self-preservation than with executing their mandate. Indeed, the
UN itself admitted in April that UNIFIL has been concealing information about
Hizballah's military activities and funking confrontations with the operatives
involved (this led the Shi'a Mufti of Tyre to dismiss UNIFIL troops as
"faint-hearted tourists" who "pretend not to see anything"). This has resulted
in the rehabilitation of Hizballah's strength in south Lebanon to something
apporaching pre-war levels.
The UN has been equally ineffective in enforcing UNSCR 1701's demand for an
embargo on Hizballah's re-supply with weapons. Within three months of its
passing, Lebanese civilians living near the border with Syria were claiming that
consignments of arms were being smuggled across, something subsequently
confirmed by Hizballah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Despite repeated Israeli
requests for action such as UNIFIL's deployment along the Syrian frontier, it
took the UN until May 2007 to properly acknowledge the problem and send the
Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team (LIBAT) to investigate what its own
special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, described as the "steady flow of weapons and
armed elements across the border from Syria." LIBAT reported back in late June
that the Lebanese security agencies' lack of skills, resources and experience
rendered them incapable of preventing arms trafficking. In fact, although UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon admitted that Iran and Syria were transferring
arms to Hizballah "on a scale [that] would allow it to reach a level of armament
equal to that of [2006] or beyond", LIBAT was unable to document a single
successful seizure during its three-week visit.
Yet the UN did nothing and, one year later, Hizballah has almost trebled its
pre-war stockpiles. According to a March 2008 Israeli intelligence estimate,
these include up to 40,000 short and medium range missiles as well as
Iranian-made Zelzals which can strike well south of Tel Aviv (in fact, according
to Nasrallah, all of "Occupied Palestine" is now within range) . These missiles
are today deployed mainly along the north bank of the Litani where Hizballah is
buying up land from non-Shia residents and has, with the effective collusion of
an LAF (which due to combination of blood, religious and ideological kinship has
consistently turned a blind eye to its activities), essentially constructed a
new military front line.
The UN's reaction? Yet another Security Council statement calling for the "full
implementation" of UNSCR 1701's provisions and stressing "the need for greater
progress on all the key issues required for a... long-term solution" in Lebanon.
But, given recent developments such as the Lebanese government's recognition of
Hizballah's independent right to "resistance" against Israel, and Hizballah's
reported installation of an advanced anti-aircraft system which would severely
hamper the IDF's ability to respond to a 2006-type attack, the time for talking
is (as Israel impressed on world leaders this week) unquestionably over. And
only immediate UN action on UNSCR 1701 can prevent an inevitable Third Lebanon
War.
The Lebanese-Syrian Test
Walid Choucair
Al-Hayat - 08/08/08//
The Lebanese crisis will experience a period of vital tests over the next few
months, to render the current summer season full of political activity. In
parallel, an active summer season thriving with tourists is underway in Lebanon,
a country, which has perpetually been wounded and crisis-ridden.
Although many aspects of the Lebanese crisis are subject to a period of watching
and waiting for what current negotiations over regional crises will bring, in
the wake of the Doha Agreement, the national unity Cabinet that was recently
formed will take up its duties next week, after if got a vote of confidence. It
will provide some dynamism to the handling of some aspects of the crisis, which
might lead either to cooling down some of the crisis components, or to seeing a
new phase of security and political crisis in Lebanon, or to both. One issue
might cool down while another heats up instead.
There is no "summer vacation" for crisis-related issues in Lebanon. It is likely
that the period of political vacuum and paralysis that official Lebanon
experienced for a year and a half will be compensated for in the coming months,
when the country's political groups immerse themselves in election campaigns, in
the run-up to general elections. This poll will be a crucial moment in defining
the way the Lebanese "arena" will be used in the future development of regional
crises. Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, along with Syrian-Israeli and
Iranian-American tracks, will make Lebanon's "arena" ready for all
possibilities, while a given state, or a negotiating track, will be awaiting yet
another event, namely the US presidential elections. However, there are issues
in Lebanon that cannot wait, even if some can be put on hold, as a part of
negotiation tools used by each regional or international party. In fact,
"freezing" of a given issue, which might affect one of the negotiation tracks,
could require the revival of some other issues in Lebanon. This is because the
preparation for big-time "deals" might necessitate a period of harmony with
those deals in Lebanon, requiring political transformations that might also see
"security incidents" take place at times.
Yet, the first meaningful test for Lebanon involves the approach to a new
formula of Lebanese-Syrian relations; this big test alone might sum up a number
of key aspects of the Lebanese crisis.
The Lebanese-Syrian Summit, scheduled for next Wednesday, will set out a new
type of challenges for the two sides taking part in it. For the Lebanese, the
challenges begin with the degree, to which Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's
can approach the relationship between him and his Syrian counterpart on new
foundations, different from those of his predecessors, and mainly Emile Lahoud,
Suleiman's direct predecessor. Lahoud subjected this relationship to the
principle of not refusing any request by Damascus, no matter to how extent it
would require conceding the simplest basics of the Lebanese presidency.
There is a set of "equipments" for such an approach; to start with, the security
aspect usually dominates the relationship, especially when officers and military
personnel take responsibility for daily matters of governance, or when they
limit themselves to relaying instructions from politicians, no matter how big or
small these politicians are. If Suleiman became used to some of the security
aspects of this relationship, from the time he became commander of the Army nine
years ago, he now faces the challenge of managing the new relationship and
leaving behind the rituals of the past. After all, Suleiman's inaugural address
did call for a relationship of equals. The parliamentary majority, in turn,
faces the same challenge: It has long raised the issue of correcting the
Lebanese-Syrian relationship. Now, it has the task of determining what this
relationship should consist of, and how it should be approached so that even
rivals from the ranks of Syria's allies would be forced to play along, on a
realistic basis, benefiting from Arab and international pressures exerted on
Damascus to leave behind its decades-long policy of dominating the Lebanese.
From now on, the approach that is acceptable for March 14th can no longer be
subjected to the logic of slogans that mobilize the masses. Instead of issuing
haphazard statements, the majority must now make clear what it accepts, in the
way of details, when it comes to bilateral relations and the early-1990s Treaty
of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination.
Meanwhile, the challenge for Damascus is to prove that is has left behind its
desire to control Lebanese political decision-making, even in indirect fashion,
following the withdrawal of its troops from the country. In fact, international
resolutions on demarcating the countries' borders are not just technical
matters, which topographers carry out. In the first place, the border issue
symbolizes the limits of Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs, which is what
western and Arab countries are watching, as they link their openness to Damascus
with progress on this front, through tangible measures that involve no
maneuvering