LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 15/08

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1,14-20. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

Releases, Editorials, and reports
Keep the US 'freedom agenda' alive-By Ammar Abdulhamid. January 14/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 14/08
Fneish: No Partnership with Opposition, No Solution to Lebanon Crisis-Naharnet
Nasrallah Attacks Bush, Says its Honor to be His Enemy-Naharnet
Berri: Any Dialogue without Arab Ministerial Committee is Impossible-Naharnet
A Pointless Quest: Moussa's Mission to Lebanon-Naharnet
Berri: Any Dialogue without Arab Ministerial Committee is Impossible-Naharnet
Mubarak: Arabs will Wash Their Hands of Lebanon if Arab Plan Not Implemented-Naharnet
Sarkozy Begins Gulf Tour in Riyadh-Naharnet
Bush: Iran is World's Leading Sponsor of Terror-Naharnet
Bush slams Iran in pro-democracy speech-Los Angeles Times
Bush exhorts Gulf states to rally against Iran-AFP
Lebanon 'will be lost' unless it heeds Arab plan - Mubarak-Daily Star
'A war starts with words:' Sfeir warns politicians to reconcile-Daily Star
Region should declare Bush persona non grata - Fadlallah-Daily Star
ISF arrests 18 men in Halba for various felonies-Daily Star
Israeli drones violate Lebanese airspace-Daily Star
Bekaa Chamber of Commerce picks new manager-Daily Star
Cold weather claims victim in South-Daily Star
Ban condemns UNIFIL blast, rocket attacks on Israel-Daily Star
Arab impatience with Lebanon says a lot-Daily Star
Sarkozy starts Gulf sales tour in Riyadh-AFP
IMF ranks Lebanon 87th for central bank autonomy-Daily Star
AUB's worldwide alumni group vows commitment to Lebanon-Daily Star
Beirutis weigh in after latest postponement of election-Daily Star
Lebanese and foreigners alike make tracks down Faraya's slopes-Daily Star

Nasrallah Attacks Bush, Says its Honor to be His Enemy
Naharnet/Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah attacked U.S. President George Bush for accusing Iran of supporting militant groups in the region and calling them "terrorist," saying he is honored to be an enemy "of the Great Satan." "I won't hide it. I felt honored when Bush spoke about Hizbullah and resistance movements because when the Pharaoh and the Great Satan accuse us and consider us enemies ... it is an honor for us," Nasrallah said in a Sunday night speech that was broadcast on a giant screen in front of thousands of Hizbullah supporters. His comments followed remarks critical of Iran and Hizbullah made by Bush during his visit to the United Arab Emirates. Bush said from Abu Dhabi that "Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror. It sends hundreds of millions of dollars to extremists around the world -- while its own people face repression and economic hardship at home. It undermines Lebanese hopes for peace by arming and aiding the terrorist group Hizbullah." Nasrallah said that since Bush could not say anything about Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. president accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. "Wherever there is resistance, Iran is accused of supporting resistance movements, and these movements, in Bush's point of view are terrorist," Nasrallah said. Nasrallah accused Bush of supporting "the nation of terrorism, killing and wars," a reference to Israel.
"When a country like Iran or Syria support resistance movements that are defending their children, women, land, homes and holy places against the strongest country in the region, then this is a terrorist state that supports terrorism," He said. Beirut, 14 Jan 08, 07:40

Fneish: No Partnership with Opposition, No Solution to Lebanon Crisis
Naharnet/Resigned Hizbullah cabinet minister Mohammed Fneish on Monday warned that there will be no solution to the Lebanon political crisis unless the government accepts partnership with the opposition. "Lebanon's crisis will not be resolved unless the opposition will partner in political decision making," Fneish said.
"If the pro-government team did not respond to the partnership demand, this means it is deviating from the democratic rules of the game to leave the country in vacuum," Fneish charged. The ruling March 14 coalition accuses the opposition of obstructing the presidential election under orders from Syria and Iran, which back Hizbullah. In turn, the opposition claims that March 14 follows U.S. policies. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has blamed the political deadlock on the ruling coalition which he said "wants to fully control authority and rejects partnership with the other party.""A veto power means that the opposition becomes a partner (in government)," Nasrallah has said. Beirut, 14 Jan 08, 13:00

Berri: Any Dialogue without Arab Ministerial Committee is Impossible
Naharnet/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that any attempt to relaunch inter-Lebanese dialogue without being overseen by the five-member Arab ministerial committee is "absolutely impossible." "Dialogue is very important," Berri told As Safir. "However, we are for a productive dialogue and not just dialogue for the sake of dialogue because this would be completely useless." "Any dialogue without the attendance of the five-member Arab Ministerial Committee and Amr Moussa would be seen as an alternate to the Arab initiative, and this is absolutely out of the question," he said. The daily An Nahar on Sunday said that Arab League chief Amr Moussa was preparing to relaunch the long dormant inter-Lebanese dialogue after failing to get the country's feuding leaders to agree on an Arab plan to elect a new president and end the deepening political crisis. An Nahar said some Lebanese political parties suggested to Moussa that the talks be conditional to the participation of the five members of the Arab ministerial committee that forged the Arab plan to resolve the presidential crisis. They include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar and Oman. Beirut, 14 Jan 08, 08:58

A Pointless Quest: Moussa's Mission to Lebanon
Naharnet/Arab League chief Amr Moussa is set to return to Beirut in yet another bid to persuade the feuding Lebanese political parties to agree on a compromise that would allow the election of a new president. The daily An Nahar, citing sources within the majority March 14 Forces, said it was clear that Moussa's trip will not change anything in the Lebanon crisis "unless regional mines obstructing the (Arab) plan were defused." Moussa said he will return to Beirut on Wednesday after talks with rival factions failed to install an Arab initiative aimed at ending the ongoing presidential crisis. "I am coming back because the situation remains dangerous" with the presidency left vacant since November 24, Moussa said before leaving Lebanon on Saturday. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed for a 12th time a parliamentary session to elect a president until January 21 because of the continued standoff between the majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition.
"Efforts and consultations with Lebanese political figures... and the Arab and international parties continue," Moussa said. "A lot of details, and even key issues, still have to be discussed." The three-point Arab plan calls for the election of army commander General Michel Suleiman as president, formation of a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and adopting a new electoral law. Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down with no elected successor because of bitter rivalry between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps. Although March 14 has given the Arab plan its full support, Hizbullah is insisting that the opposition have a third of the seats in a new 30-member government in order to have veto power. Beirut, 14 Jan 08, 08:16

Mubarak: Arabs will Wash Their Hands of Lebanon if Arab Plan Not Implemented
Naharnet/Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said the Arabs would "wash their hands" of Lebanon if the Arab plan aimed at ending the ongoing political crisis was not put into effect. Mubarrak also warned that Lebanon will be lost "it the Arab initiative was not implemented since it represents the content of Arab states without exception." "If it's not implemented everyone will wash their hands of Lebanon and the country would be lost and no one knows what the future will look then," Mubarak said. He urged the Lebanese to find a settlement to the standoff "because if they do not agree they destroy Lebanon." Beirut, 14 Jan 08, 07:41

Arab impatience with Lebanon says a lot
By Marc J Sirois
Daily Star staff
Monday, January 14, 2008
FIRST PERSON Marc J. Sirois
How bad has the situation in Lebanon become? So bad that an Arab world intimately familiar with (and infinitely, fatalistically tolerant of) all manner of political dysfunction looks to be on the verge of giving up on this country. Amr Moussa, secretary general of an Arab League known for nothing so much as the fractiousness and ineffectuality of its members, has indicated that he is again running out of patience for Lebanon's squabbling political parties. Hosni Mubarak, who as president of Egypt has restored that country's status as a trusted benchmark by which the Middle East's political backwardness and mediocrity are measured, has warned that the Arabs are ready to "wash their hands" of Lebanon.
Think about this. The Arab League purports to represent something like a quarter of a billion people, but since the main thing its constituent regimes have in common is authoritarianism, the organization and its pronouncements have almost no relevance for private citizens. Even on those rare occasions when the group manages to "speak as one," the message typically has to be so watered down as to be meaningless. And, in any event, many of the governments that sign on to Arab League pronouncements agree to do so because they believe (and there is no reason not to) that they will never be called upon to put their moneys where their mouths are.
Now the organization's member states have unanimously approved an initiative aimed at resolving the power struggle that has paralyzed Lebanon for more than a year. The plan is hardly innovative and breaks no new ground, so there was nothing sufficiently controversial in it to provoke opposition from a single Arab government - including Syria's, which is widely accused of playing a key role in perpetuating the crisis. There is even some humor in it: How else can one view the idea of Lebanon receiving (and, apparently, needing) advice on democratic processes from a group composed principally of police states? No wonder Moussa is exasperated: His organization has invested time and energy in Lebanon at the expense of crises in places like Iraq, Occupied Palestine, Sudan and Somalia, but the Lebanese themselves have been invincibly unwilling to help settle their own dispute.
Mubarak's frustration is similarly illustrative of how absurd the stances and tactics of the Lebanese political class have become. On most issues, he speaks primarily for himself and the rest of the ruling family, but this time he has company both at home and abroad. For all his shortcomings, the Egyptian president is an astute observer of regional dynamics who understands that the coming year will focus Arab attention on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Some regimes will be trying to stiffen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spine so that he refuses to sign a lopsided deal; some will be questioning and/or undermining his already dubious mandate to enter into negotiations at all; some will be lobbying for anything that settles the issue (however imperfectly and therefore temporarily); and others will be concentrating on hunting down deviants, dissidents, terrorists and other "traitors," real or imagined: None will have much time for Lebanon's travails, especially when so many of them have local origins.
Some aspects of the Arab leaderships' impatience with the Lebanese crisis are the product of distorted worldviews caused by their own undemocratic systems. The Arab League plan, after all, offers more to Lebanon's opposition than any Arab regime has ever been willing to grant its own opponents, who are routinely subjected to mass arrests, frivolous legal action and other forms of intimidation and repression.
But Lebanon's feuding factions are risking so much for so little that even dictators who fail to see the eventual hopelessness of their own positions can only shake their heads at the mass penchant for fratricide at work in Beirut. Both camps have adopted the definitions that Israel applies, for example, vis-ˆ-vis the Palestinians, or that America does with regard to Iran: In this ludicrous lexicon, "compromise" is what happens when the other side makes concessions, it must submit to these before any serious negotiations can take place, and any demonstration of flexibility is to be interpreted as a sign of weakness that must be exploited with new and more onerous conditions.
So instead of engaging in a realistic process of give-and-take that provides each side with some of what it wants but preserves what should be the ultimate goal of shoring up national stability, the exercise results only in alternately raising and lowering the hopes of the Lebanese. Each side voices readiness to accept one element or another of a prospective arrangement, then changes its mind and/or issues new demands. The general population is therefore assigned a fate not unlike that of Sisyphus, who in Greek mythology was condemned to spend eternity rolling a boulder to the top of a hill, only to have it speed down the other side, requiring him to start all over again.
Sisyphus, though, earned his punishment by a variety of transgressions against deities and humans alike. Apart from a depressingly common tendency to countenance and even to worship idols of feudalism, however, the Lebanese have committed no crime, and certainly none serious enough to warrant their current lot. Instead, they are being made to pay for the failings - intellectual, moral and political - of their leaders. And this is not a myth cooked up a couple of millennia ago to help people understand why the sun comes up on one side and goes down on the other. It is real, here and now, and even the famously resilient Lebanese can only manage that boulder for so long before it sets its own course and crushes everyone in its path. Marc J. Sirois is managing editor of THE DAILY STAR

Beirutis weigh in after latest postponement of election
'All of the politicians are scum'
By Ayman Oghanna
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, January 14, 2008
BEIRUT: Efforts to resolve Lebanon's ongoing political crisis received yet another blow on Friday when the parliamentary session to elect a new president was postponed, once again, until January 21. Lebanon has been without a president since November 24 and an Arab League initiative announced last week to help bickering Lebanon politicians elect army chief General Michel Suleiman to the top post, seemed to have hit a wall on Saturday.
Amr Moussa, the Arab League head, visited Beirut last week in an effort to encourage politicians from the majority and the opposition to endorse the initiative and start implementing it - but he left four days later without results.
The Daily Star went to the popular promenade along the seaside Corniche in Beirut's Ain al-Mreisseh neighborhood to gauge public reactions to Moussa's mission.
"I don't think they will elect a president anytime soon," said Dalia, 20, who was waking along the Corniche with her father, a businessman. "Come January 21, we're still not going to have a president and the election will be postponed once again."
Many shared her opinion, expecting it to take months, or even a year, before Lebanon solves its crisis and elects a president. Nevertheless, some remained upbeat.
"It will take time, but they will reach an agreement," said Sania, who works at a hotel. "They will find a solution one day and I continue to be very optimistic."
Hanan, 39, also shared this view of optimism.
"We are a good-natured people, and we will come together to form one opinion," she said. "It will not be soon, but I have hope. There will be a good president for Lebanon, probably Suleiman."
Yet, Hanan added, a resolution to this long-standing crisis that has crippled Lebanon lies not with international players, but only with the Lebanese.
"Lebanon's problems can only be solved by Lebanese," said Hanan. "Outside forces have their own aims, but only Lebanon and its people can bring about a solution. We need to learn from our past. Whenever other countries have interfered in our politics there has been a crisis. Let's learn from our mistakes, come together and bring our own solution. "
Nearly everyone interviewed expressed some form of disillusionment with the country's politicians, such as businessman Hilal, 65.
"Our politicians do nothing for the people," said Hilal. "It's the people who struggle to pay the bills and it's us who are suffering. The politicians don't give a damn about the people."
Carol, a woman in her mid-thirties who works in finance, expressed great disappointment regarding her country's leaders.
"All of the politicians are scum," said Carol. "They will postpone the next election for sure, and the one after that. They're useless. Nothing is going to happen soon."
Khaled, a 24-year old student, blamed the Hizbullah-led opposition for the country's political deadlock.
"It is the opposition who are the problem," he said. "They're the ones who are making things difficult. March 14 want peace for all of Lebanon."
Despite the political disdain, few believed there would be another civil war or renewed communal violence.
"There is no possibility of violence," said Carol. "All Lebanese are well aware of what is happening and they don't want to see another civil war. In the end, people follow their leaders and their leaders don't want war."
Others, like Hilal, the businessman, believed that peace can only come at a price.
"Someone is working hard to jeopardize the situation and he won't let go unless a price is paid," he told The Daily Star. "If the Lebanese people want peace, they are going to have to pay that price. Unfortunately, that price is the dignity and integrity of the country."
But Bashir, who is 31 and jobless, enthusiastically welcomed the prospect of war.
"Actually, I hope there will be a fight," Bashir said as he took a drag on his cigarette, looking out to the sea. "A fight will solve things; a fight will give us a leader. If there is a fight, it will end the crisis sooner. If things stay the way they are, nothing will be solved. Things have to get worse before they can get better."
Ultimately, one thing is for certain: No one can truly predict how the crisis will turn out.
As Farid, a doctor strolling along the Corniche with a friend, put it, "anything is possible" in Lebanon.